Humid!

Hot hot hot hot hot

My van has no air conditioning. It is incredibly miserable to be driving around with three kids in a minivan with no  AC and it's 86 and the humidity is in the 70's. I need to get that fixed soon!

We had a busy day... played outside on the swings for awhile again. Abby loved the game where I would dart out of her path just before her swing hit me. She was laughing and laughing....

Kiley and Kara woke up soon after and we all got into the van, put the checks in the bank (finally) and went looking for a park. We found one... near the zoo with big shade trees and an easy place to park (which is important to me!) turned out to be a good choice because I found one of my nurse friends there and I got to see her new baby :)

Abby loved all the kids but of course there were like 50 of them... and they were dressed in white t-shirts and blue jean shorts... and guess what Abby was dressed in... yep... white shirt and blue jeans. Come on... how often do I REALLY dress her in something like that? I love bright pinks, oranges and yellows. That was a nightmare trying to keep track of her. I almost panicked a few times and thankfully the kids didn't stick around too long. Keeping track of three little kids is hard alone.

(I ran over her duck with the van today... amazingly it didnt hurt it.. thankfully because Abby loves it)

We came home for Abby's nap and she was out fast... it was hot and humid out so she was tired. For some reason she thought that my mom would be here when she got back. She was really sad that Grandma wasn't here.

So we went swimming after her nap at the city pool (not our city pool... I wish we had one...) We swam for around an hour and a half with all of the kids. Abby sure loves the water! I have to admit it was a lot of fun to splash around even if it was pretty hot.

(Kiley Swimming)

(Kara slept for awhile before swimming... she was out)

Well Abby is crying and awake for the third time tonight already. I gave her some Tylenol but she is still crying. I think I need to go. Hopefully she isn't sick... maybe I need to take her in...

Summer Afternoons

Wow it's quiet... finally.

There are days I wonder how many times I put kids to sleep... and feed them. It seems my primary function in life right now is to make sure everyone is clean, fed and well rested. And that is harder than it may seem at first glance.


So how do I do it. I have no idea. I keep hearing that it gets easier as they get older but I'm not sure that is really true. Kiley and Kara almost need me more than ever now... and Abby too. Now they demand play time, snuggle time and they are getting into EVERYTHING. I feel like I heard children or try to contain a little of the madness. My house certainly doesn't look perfect. Believe me I've tried to get things under control but it is a simple miracle if I can get those loads of laundry done and dishes. Especially now that Kiley and Kara love to help me unload the dishwasher! I try to grab the steak knives out as soon as I open it... for safety purposes of course.

Tom and I went out on a date last night. Thank you to my incredible mom for allowing us to catch the late night movie and grab a bite to eat. Tom got called to help fix a tower just as we were going to go so that made it impossible to get to the earlier time.

It was great having a little alone time with my husband. Three years! Our years of marriage finally match the number of kids that we have :o) We went to Spezia and enjoyed a slightly European style of dining. (reminded me of Europe at least) then we hit up the Cheap Theater but played at the Rainbow Arcade until our movie started. Wow that was fun. Tom hit the jackpot and I won a "Let's make a Deal" game and we ended up with like 787 tickets. So Tom bought a coconut monkey... which might not have been that funny except that it had to come with us to the movie and everyone was asking us questions about it. Perhaps we should have told a more elaborate tale. The AC was out in our theater and it got quite hot but I really enjoyed watching Robin Hood. I'm into movies right now.

(Kara)

Kara is now crawling on all fours... when it suits her. She still likes to army crawl a lot. Kiley was soooo hard to get to take naps today. She really fought me and only took 2 very short cat naps. That was a little frustrating. We went on a walk to deliver the water bill, mail a few cds at the post office and then stopped to get some juice for Abby since she had been so good while we ran the errands. It was HOT by the time we got home and Abby was getting cranky but she loved her bug juice.

(Kiley looking down)

We played on the swings and the new baby swing (finally!) Abby loves to 'fly'. We made cookies too. yum.

Kiley is really giggly and loves to laugh. She also makes a beeline for the bathroom when she hears water. I think she is going to be my little fish. Today when I gave Abby a bath she was actually trying to lift her leg and get into the tub! I finally decided she could take a bath with Abby and she splashed and splashed.

I'm hoping that Abby isn't getting pink eye. Her eye was mattered shut when I got her up from her nap this afternoon. Wouldn't that just be nice. I'm sure we would all end up with it! We share things too much here. We went to Walmart the other day and wow did we get mobbed by people. They thought our girls were so beautiful... and that we were so busy. Yes... yes we are busy... very very busy. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

200

Hard to believe I've been blogging this long!

We've been enjoying family this week and have done several fun things. I've been so tired and exhausted at night that I haven't brought out the keyboard to type it all up, that and I've been editing like crazy! Tons of photos lately it seems like.

Today we spent the morning at home and later went out to my grandmas where we grilled out and the kids played plastic softball in the backyard. It really was a lot of fun and Abby had a blast. At one point I know she ran up to Tom and said "Foul Ball!" She picks up things so fast. She also was really enjoying running around the bases while everyone cheered her (or the actual runner) on. The mosquitoes even stayed away for the most part.

We had the small baby pool out in the frontyard but Abby wasn't really interested. By the time we got out there the water was hot! Apparently it doesn't take long when it is that hot outside!


Kiley is talking away now and if I ever get my small camera back with video I will record some for people to see. It is really cute. Kara still resorts to screaming when she wants things. Trying to put them to sleep tonight as they slept in the car on the way home and are now feeling pretty good... except for when they misjudge distances and hit themselves in the face with a toy, or their sister crawls on top of her or they fall down from standing up...

Yesterday we went to the waterpark and Abby had so much fun. I even got to go down a few slides and on the lazy river with my mom when my grandma and dad watched the girls for awhile. I believe that even Abby went down the 'big' tube slides with my sister a few times. She really enjoyed that and my mom spent some time working with her in the pool while I fed babies. I'm hoping she will get back to loving the water better and being less afraid when it gets in her face. :o)

And it was great. My dad can tell the story better but here is the best part... he broke... an aluminum bat at the batting cage. He went to swing and connected just right that the bat shattered. I guess the batting cave guys were a little shocked. Too bad he didn't keep it as a souvenir!

(Abby was helping me wash dishes... and she really loved helping!)

So yes... we've been having a lot of fun enjoying each other's company. Tonight when I asked Abby if she was ready to go home she told me "NO, I want to stay with my grandpa." lol And ... she promptly dragged grandpa out by his hand. She was also trying to get anyone and everyone to get her another ice cream bar. That girl loves ice cream and "happy birthday cake"

Quick Tidbits

Kiley is going through a screaming phase... and if I she's quiet it's probably because she has snuck back into the bathroom again and is trying not to get caught.

Kara is still very clingy, loves to lay her head on me whether it is my arm, leg, shoulder...

Abby and I played with blocks today for quite awhile. It is amazing how quickly her imagination and creative play is beginning already. She also loves to make me pretend coffee and feed it to the babies. Now if only I could keep her from sitting on top of the other two babies. For some reason that is incredibly fun for her and less so for the babies.

I put my head down as I picked something up and Kiley leaped *yes I said leaped towards my head laughing like crazy and actually brought me down as she pulled my hair with all her might. Seriously it was like a cougar attacking a rider on horseback out of a movie or something. She was that quick.

This brings to mind that I am in serious need of picture taking. I have nothing to post on the blog because I have nothing to post! I need to get my camera back it's driving me a little crazy.

Kara has slept through the night (woken up once at 3am) for the last two nights. Kiley on the other hand is driving me crazy and waking up 6+ times. Hopefully Kiley will figure it out pretty soon...

The 5th of July

Happy 5th of July! (And 4th too even if I am a day late)

For starters... Kiley fell down our stairs tonight. Yikes! Abby was extremely excited about her new toddler bed and wanted so badly to help daddy bring it in that she was going up and down the stairs to get her blankets and stuffed animals. Kiley and Kara were worn out and cranky from being in town and so were screaming. I put Kiley's pj's on and then went to change Karas's. Gate was securely latched and didn't think anything of it.

While I'm putting Kara's pj's on I hear this sound and I immediately got that sick feeling in my stomach. I knew. In my panic I almost ALMOST left Kara on the changing table... which would have been fantastic because then I would have had two babies that had fallen. Thankfully I recovered enough to set Kara down and run to the stairs just as Kiley finished falling down them. She was screaming and crying, Abby was screaming and crying. And our stairs don't have the guards on them yet so there are sharp edges. Gah. I'm calling them tomorrow to see if they have come in yet.

Thankfully there was no blood and after some good comforting Kiley settled down. I'm sure she will have a goose egg over her right eye but I will keep an eye on her tonight just in case. Scared me though!

So now I need to figure out a way to keep Abby from opening the gate all of the time. She does try to latch it occasionally and has been fairly good about trying but she's two... she just is too little to be responsible for that. And for most people that wouldn't be a big deal. Except that if I'm with one baby... there is usually another 'floating' around the house somewhere. And Kiley is so fast with her knee/hand crawling!

Hmmm....

We had a good 4th and spent most of the day at my parent's place. Abby was a little afraid of the firecrackers at first which isn't a bad thing. The babies were a little fussy though so I felt like I spent most of my time going from one to the other back to the first. I think it is a mixture of teething and feeling sick from before. (This darn 'cold' stuff is hard to shake! I still feel 'off' and it started on Wednesday!) I love the 4th of July and this year was no different. There is something special about it that is so fun and relaxed.

My uncle and cousins came in from Washington and we have been getting together with them which has been a lot of fun. We met them at my grandma's place and Abby remembered that their had been presents (Christmas) the last time she had been at the house. It was cute :o)

Abby loves watermellon. She could eat and eat and eat that stuff if we let her! Oh and chips and candy too. I swear she has radar for the stuff....

Kara has been especially cuddly lately. I'm not sure if that is her way of playing 'shy' or 'coy' but I love when she lays her head on my shoulder.

Kiley laughs and laughs sometimes when she crawls down our hallway. I think she really enjoys how fast she can cruise now that she is a better crawler. Kara still prefers to army crawl.

Our house is feeling short on food... need to hit up a grocery store sometime soon. Amazing how hard that can be sometimes. I have pictures but forgot my camera at my mom's place because we were in a hurry to leave because the girls were so tired the night of the 4th. Hopefully I can post them up soon!

I'm eating popcorn right now and it's... good

Yikes!

It's been a long time since I blogged. Life has been hectic and surprise surprise I haven't been online much in the last week or so. And the time I have been online I've been editing photos for the many different people I've done sessions for in the last few weeks..

We bought fireworks today. Abby thought they were candy and tried feverishly to stuff as many into the cart as she could as fast as she could without us noticing. K&K were well loved too and I was pleasantly surprised that my stroller could navigate the aisles as well as it did. We decided to go earlier in the hopes that it wouldn't be crazy busy. There were plenty of people but it wasn't too bad.

Onto exciting news. The occupational therapist is so thrilled with Abby's progress she is bumping us down to every two weeks and we are going to start phasing her out of going to therapy at all! We can still call if we need advice or come in if there are issues but Abby has made remarkable progress and we are so thrilled. It will make life around here much easier too without so many appointments to go to all the time. I can use the break! 

Kiley and Kara are both standing up while holding onto things. They love to clammer all over me and they even cling to Abby (sometimes she isn't too thrilled about that) Kiley crawls all over on her hands and knees and is remarkably fast. They follow me around the house now and sometimes it's hard to get things done because they love to be holding onto me. With one baby you can pick them up. With two they almost have you cornered! 

We had to cancel Kiley's feeding appointment yesterday because Abby was running a temp of 102 and she was so miserable and sick. Turned out to be a good thing because I ended up feeling worse and worse as the day went on and Kara came down with it too. It was a good day to stay home and rest! We certainly needed it after all of the running around we've done lately.

Yesterday we went down to my parent's place to celebrate Grandma Renae's birthday. It was a fun little family gathering and I made an ice cream bar cake (yum). I'm glad it turned out because they were all angry and clinging to me while I finished it. And I wonder sometimes why I don't cook more? 

What we've been up to when I wasn't posting...

(At a waterpark we went to to celebrate Tom's birthday... it was short but a lot of fun!)

(Kiley and Kara waiting for the parade to come (Kara has the headband on))

Kara and I at water park ... where we celebrated Tom's birthday (sorry out of order here)

(Kiley playing with the puppies)

Game of Catch up

I really wanted to do nothing more than crawl into my bed tonight (like I have these last few nights) but I really need to catch up a little on blogging. Our new floor is in! Tom's parents and my parents came up this weekend and put in a lot of sweat and hard work to get it finished. It looks fantastic and every morning I just marvel at how clean and beautiful it makes my house look. The house feels less chopped up and more connected too. There are a few finishing touches like getting the trim all back on and some stair noses but the rest is done! Of course it was in the upper 80's and humid and we didn't run the AC because the doors were open with all of the saws running on the deck and just outside the garage.

(kara)

Thank you to everyone that helped with that massive project. We are so thankful to have such loving families that chipped in to save us 2,000 dollars by installing it ourselves. I think we all had a good time and it was actually kind of fun to spend Father's Day weekend working on something. I love when we get together as a family.

(Kiley and I)

The girls of course were thrown off by all of the commotion and the change in schedules. It's Wednesday and I STILL feel like we are working towards getting back to normal. Kiley and Kara haven't slept well since then. Kara is really playing with her left ear so I'm hoping she doesn't have something with her ears. Kara pulls herself or tries to pull herself up to a standing position now. They learn and grow so fast! Kiley now crawls on her hands and knees (very meticulously) while Kara still opts for the faster left armed army crawl. Why change when it works so well?

Today we went to the pool in my parent's hometown. Abby actually took a nap before hand (even if Kara refused to sleep more than 10 minuets) so we went down to get out of the house a little bit. Oh did they have fun! Kiley LOVED the water and was even trying to crawl in it. Kara wouldn't even sit down, she didn't last long. Abby rode a little yellow plastic ducky thing around in the pool and even went in the big pool with my sister for awhile and down the little yellow slide. My mom helped me with the babies in the pool, it's just a job that is too big for one person and so much water!

After the pool I washed my rather crazy muddy van. Now I haven't done this in awhile and I'm sure you can tell... I rummaged up enough quarters, put them in, turned it to pre-soak... i mean anything with soak has to be pretty powered right? NO. So i walk around the van, turn it to rinse... high powered madness... then I notice the back van windows are still open. So i hurry to shut them and return back to get soap. By then I have less than a minuet remaining so I give up and just soak the darn thing before I leave. It's not spotless but all of the girls were screaming so I called it good. At least it isn't muddy...

And finally I have to document this little story. I have been working on reading more with Abby before she goes to bed and specifically from the Bible. So I took out the Little Girl's Devotional book and start reading about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. She is just enamored with the story and very concerned that Adam and Eve are crying and sad because God is mad. So I try to explain the story better to her about how they should have listened to God but that God still loved them very much. I get her down to her crib and she looks up at me and says "BE QUIET" Now I know she doesnt mean me but... where did that come from? So she says "BE QUIET SNAKE." Very firmly. She wanted the snake to be quiet because it got Adam and Eve in trouble! How funny. She is so clever and catches onto things so quickly. She wanted to read more stories but I told her we would read more tomorrow night. I'm glad she enjoyed it. The book has more words, less pictures so I wasn't sure she would.

She also loves to play baseball...

My night was a little crazy with Tom not getting home until the girls were already asleep so as Abby says "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!" Sweet Dreams

Farewell Carpet!

Abby and I found a baby bird perching on our fence this afternoon while we were out swimming in the kiddie pool. She was fascinated with the robin because it let her come so close. She was very concerned that the baby bird was sad and crying because it didn't have it's mom.

What a busy past few days. We spent the other day down at my mom's and enjoyed hanging out around the house. Abby got her 'bouncy' back as the guys got the trampoline out of the shelter belt (from the strong winds) we grilled out and enjoyed the night on the porch. Kiley and Kara played around the puppies. Kiley started crawling on her hands and knees and took a few crawling steps. Kara is still happily army crawling away with her left arm pulling all the weight.

We are getting ready to put our new floor in tomorrow! I'm excited and nervous. Hopefully everything will go ok. Tom's parents are coming up later in the afternoon and my dad and brothers are coming up earlier. Perhaps my mom will even come! It will be quite a party. I'm crossing my fingers that the weather will be nice and we'll be able to spend time outside with the girls.

Abby absolutely loves swimming and begs to play out in the pool. She played with my brother out in the pool and even enjoyed running through the sprinkler for awhile. Usually she's a little scared of water hitting in the face. I'm hoping that the pool and sprinklers will make it less traumatic at bath time!

Kiley is still puking, most of the time I don't catch it until I'm walking along and ... oh thats wet.... yeah I step in a nice little puddle of puke. I hate to think of what the carpet is going to look like when we rip it up! I'm so glad we are getting rid of it. She is also my little cuddler though, loves to bury her head in my shoulder and just cling to me for awhile. If I would hold her constantly she would be happy as a lark. Kara is the exciteable one and will literally tip over she gets so excited when she sees me coming. She also loves to yell randomly at things she finds funny or entertaining. Today while watching Super Why she kept yelling 'AHHH!" "Ahhh!" I couldn't figure out what was going on!

(Abby decided to try riding under the stroller lol)

We went out for a walk the other night. I'm loving that Tom is getting off at six. We have a whole hour more to spend together. We even got to play at the school playground and the babies watched a girls softball game that was going on. For awhile, untill they got tired and cranky. We stopped for icee's at the concession stand for 10 cents a piece and walked back home. It was so picture perfect (minus the babies' screaming- but hey we're used to that anyways) I love it... people are always like. "Oh they're so cute... man you have your hands full" Or... "Wow you have a busy house." Yes... yes we do. Never boring though!

Silly babies .Abby is starting to help me more with them. She will try to entertain them sometimes if I tell her I need help or to get things for me. Usually she ends up getting distracted but hey it's a start! She also calls both of them Kara... hasnt quite figured out they have different names. Either that or she just likes the sound of Kara lol

Well laptop battery is fading... and so am I. Night!

Attack of the moth

I was actually on my way to bed ... but Kiley woke up when we came into the room so now I'm trying to get her back to sleep. The night is cool and I love crawling into bed when the sheets are cool. I guess there are worse things than cuddling a baby at 11:30 at night.

Today we stayed home. After all of our weekend adventures and going down to visit my parents yesterday I decided it would probably be best for all of the girls if we just had a quiet day at home. My parent's had a nasty storm that took out a few trees, their trampoline and some shingles. It was a little funny when Abby was playing on the swings and decided to run over to the trampoline and discovered.. it wasn't there! I think they are planning on getting it out of the shelter belt soon. They will need some muscle power though. Abby picked strawberries with Grandma and played on the tire swing which is her favorite thing right now. When my mom was pushing her and my brother on it while holding Kiley every time the swing came back towards her Kiley would laugh and laugh and laugh. My little brother just loved making her laugh. Abby is hard to get back in after playing outside. When we leave she says "Bye Grandma, Bye Grandpa, (Goodbye to my siblings), Goodbye swing, Goodbye slide, Goodbye bouncy (Trampoline)" Its pretty cute.

We went on two walks today. The first one we took the water bill to the city and had to pass the elementary school on the way. Oh was Abby sad that we weren't stopping to play on the swings and slides. I tried to convince her we would come back. We did come back and play on the slides for awhile. It wasn't very long but K&K don't like sitting still for very long. I took a bunch of pictures today. Just snapshots because I honestly don't have tons of time for editing lately. But sometimes snapshots are more fun A nice mixture of both is great.We also made cookies, played with play dough and cleaned (sorta) Abby's room. I changed the bedding on Abby's crib and put a pillowcase on her pillow... she didn't like that and took the pillowcase off. I couldnt convince her that it was supposed to be like that.

Tom gets off at 6 now and I love it. Even if he has to go into work a little earlier. The first thing Abby said when I got her this morning was "Daddy's not here. Daddy's at work." She was a little sad but they played catch with a football and played on the swings when he got home. It was nice to have that extra bit more free time.

Kiley and Kara can get up into the sitting positions now from laying on the floor or crawling. Kiley is really on her hands and knees but hasn't got the distance that Kara can go. Kara made it all the way out onto the deck. Going to really have to watch those two now! They seem to find every miniscule piece of paper or plastic or ... battery on teh floor. I feel like I'm constantly taking things away from them. I suppose that's how it goes. Well we shut the lights off and there is a moth attacking my keyboard. I'll post pictures tomorrow! Night

One crazy weekend

We are home!

After a fun filled, action packed weekend at the grandparent's (Tom's parents)... 4 total hours in the car with screaming children... we are home.

And we are buying a portable DVD player... even if it means we watch hour after hour of Caillou. Books work some times... but when we go on our vacation this Fall there is no way we will attempt 6-7 hours in a car without one!

I had three photo sessions this weekend and did two because one got rained out. It was a fun weekend though even if it was busy. The kids seemed to enjoy it as much as the grandparents and Abby loved playing with her cousin. She included him in everything from her prayers to her teeth brushing moments. The two were practically inseparable. As we pulled away from their farm Abby was very concerned that we were leaving... even as we explained that we had to go home. She did much better on the way home driving then she did going there! Church was typical... we survived until the sermon and then left with screaming babies. Just as Abby has started sitting better in church... the babies have gotten worse. Perhaps some day I'll be able to listen to a sermon again! For now we get to know the other parents in nursery.

Kiley and Kara have grown VERY attached to me and love to crawl and climb over my lap as I sit on the floor. There were several times where they just were fussy until I held them. (silly babies) I love snuggling with them too I guess :o) Kiley has been very good about sleeping lately but Kara seems to make up for it. Kiley will get up once at night and Kara will be up 3,4,5,6 ore more times. Ugh. She also seems to like to get up around 7am or earlier too! I put her in the nursery tonight... hoping that works.

Abby loves to say her prayers at night. It is so cute because she giggles through them. Currently God blesses: Mommy, Daddy, Abby, Kiley, Kara, her cousin, Grandmas and Grandpas. Sometimes it changes to include  my sister (her aunt), Feebee our dog or Elmo. One night as I was doing her prayers I automatically said "God Bless: Mommy, Daddy, Brianna..." Yeah... I used to pray that when I was a little girl with my mom. :o) Abby was like... who is Brianna? (Not literally... I could just tell)

Well I'm exhausted and the girls will be up any moment I'm sure. Night!