Lions and Tigers and Bears

Another busy day! First, here are the kids when they woke up this morning:


Mr. B and Miss L shared a bed...and Mr. B did nothing but fuss at Miss L about the covers! Ugh! It prompted Mr. B to uninvite her to stay with him at his great grandmother's house tonight. He's been talking for MONTHS about them sharing a room there this summer. Grrr!


Miss E and Miss M shared, too.


That's Mr. C's pack-n-play around the corner. Of course it's hard to see around the big honking TV!

After we got up and dressed, we headed downstairs for the free continental breakfast (rather lame, but free), then off we went to the zoo. It was a small zoo, but very well maintained and quite pretty. The kids had a good time. We ate lunch there and surprisingly, they didn't offer kids' meals. The hot dogs and burgers were huge!! I wish the lady, who could clearly see the size/ages of my kids when I ordered, had given me a heads up. I hate wasting food! Oh well...

After the zoo, we rode on the mini train around the park then played in AnimaLand. This playground has been here forever! I played on it as a little girl when we visited my grandparents. I loved it then and my kids love it now. Unfortunately, just as we made our way to another playground (there are TONS at Gage Park), the weather didn't cooperate. The rain, though not heavy, came our way. Just enough to spoil our fun. We headed back to the hotel to play a few board games that I brought along.

I was also hoping Mr. C would nap a little. Who was I kidding? Of course, on our way to meet my parents and grandmother for dinner at 5:30, he fell asleep. I let him sleep a little more in my arms, but woke him up after we ordered. Surprisingly, he was in a good mood after his little siesta. We ended the evening at my grandma's house with some banana pudding--YUM!

So I'm a little lonely here tonight as I'm short one kid: Mr. B spent the night (without his Miss L) at his great grandmother's, where my parents are also staying. He was so excited about it! We'll meet up with him and tons of other relatives tomorrow!

I had a slide show for you all but I'm having techinal difficulties. Grrrr. I'll post it when I can figure it all out!

Road Trip

Well, I did it.

Packed the five kids up (Mr. J stayed home with his nurses) and hit the highway. By.My.Self. My husband has a business trip on Sunday and has to work Saturday, so he couldn't join us.

We travelled about 4 hours Wednesday and stayed the night in a 2-bedroom cabin at a state park. It was right on a lake. Pretty nice, as far as cabins in state parks go. As soon as we arrived, we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the swim beach.

The kids had a blast! Miss E was the only one who didn't get completely wet. And the weather couldn't have been better. It rained for the last two hours of our journey, but when we arrived, it was pleasant and sunny! I've posted a slide show of their fun. I'll point out these two things. First, Miss L is not wearing a swimsuit similar to her sisters. Why? Because, although she had a swimsuit at the cabin and said she was going to change, she apparently lost track, and only put on her cover-up. When I went to put her float on lakeside, she only had underwear on. So, I had Mr. C donate his swim shirt to the cause and she swam in a make shift suit of undies and a size 2T shirt that sadly fit her perfectly. Second, the kids were fascinated with rocks! Big, little, flat, round, you name it. They also loved that they could hurl the rocks without getting into too much trouble ("Don't throw them towards people!).

After about an hour, we headed back to the cabin to eat. I dumped quick-light charcoal in the fire pit and quickly (relatively) grilled up some hot dogs. While they ate, I cut up watermelon. The kids love watermelon! Then it was s'mores for dessert. Yum!


Miss M posing with her s'more.


Miss L roasting her marshmallow.


Group shot: I love how Miss M has her legs crossed! Miss Priss!

In the morning, we headed out for a walk on the paved nature trail.


All the pony tails were just a-swinging!

Mr. C rode in the backpack for about 90% of the walk and then my shoulders just couldn't take it anymore! He's heavy!


Group shot. Har har.


My little loonie toons. They were enthralled with all the informational signs--they stopped at every one!


Mr. C enjoying some time out of the backpack.

We had a really nice time during our brief visit. Mr. B announced that it was the "funnest place he had ever been to".

After the nature walk, we were back on the road again to our final destination: Topeka! That's right folks: capital of Kansas and childhood home of my father. We are here to attend a family reunion. Many of my father's relatives have never met the last 5 members of my family as the last time we were here, Mr. B wasn't even two. It will be nice for the girls and Mr. C to meet their extended family.

But the reunion isn't until Saturday, so tomorrow we are going to the zoo before we meet up with my parents who arrive tomorrow evening. Mr. B, who went to the reunion last year with my parents, is going to give us the grand tour of the zoo being the only one of us whose been there before. He's very excited. He LOVES maps. He brought his zoo map home with him last year and spent days (weeks?) recounting what he saw. Should be fun! ;)

Americana

We had a wonderful, all-American, 4th of July. We started off at a neighborhood parade. We have good friends along the route who share not only their lawn, but also their driveway making it really easy to bring Mr. J along! The kids love this parade. It's nothing fancy, but full-on patriotic. Of course, the kids are just their for the candy. :)


Group shot: Miss E managed to block out Mr. J and Nurse K was included, too!


Miss L and her kitty.


Mr. J had a good time.


Mr. B was surly until the parade, and candy catching, began.


Miss M.


Mr. C just plopped down with his sisters waiting for the parade to start--CUTE!


Miss E in tears...there's always tears at some point with this many!


Miss E and Miss L checking out the candy collection.


Miss M showing off her stash of candy.

After the parade, we headed home so the kids could rest and nap. I had lots of baking to do. Friday night, I made a cake for the Cake Wheel for the Knights of Columbus (the 4th is a big fundraiser for them), a peach/blueberry pie, and the custard for homemade ice cream. So, "all" I had left to do was make the key lime pie and churn the ice cream. Not too bad!



In the afternoon, we headed to my aunt and uncle's house for swimming and dinner. The kids had a ton of fun, but no pictures from me! Too busy keeping track of the kids as my husband had to work. Others took some, so I'm hoping to get copies soon. Suffice it to say, the kids had a blast swimming and ate like little pigs at dinner. They were worn out!! We headed home around 8 so I could give Mr. J his breathing treatments (we were nurse-less as of 7) and head for fireworks!

Luckily, there's a country club nearby and you can see their fireworks show from the library lawn just two blocks from our house. So, we walked there. Well, Mr. J got a ride in his chair and Mr. C ended up in a backpack. Mr. J had never been before! Although super tired, the kids had a great time watching the show.







Finally, here's little video of the fireworks. At the very beginning, you can hear Mr. C saying "bang, bang!". His speech is really coming along since his surgery! YAY!

It's all over now...

Mr. C discovered the big slide at the pool tonight. Daddy took him down. He immediately said, "Mo" which for him means "more" (all of his ear problems have delayed his speech; he can say the first part of many words, though). He went down several times on Daddy's lap, but soon was insisting on doing it by himself, displaying an independent personality trait much like big sister, Miss M.

So, Daddy let him go by himself, leaving me to do the catching. He LOVED it. "Mo!" The first few times down, he'd lose his balance at the end and roll on his side or belly, but he soon got the hang of it and was staying in a sitting position the whole time. He really liked watching Daddy come down the slide after him. Too cute. Of course, from then on he just wanted to go down the slide over and over and over again. "Mo! Mo!"

It'll be rough on me next time I go to the pool as Daddy won't be there. I'm going to have to figure out how to both let him go by himself and catch him.

Now if only Miss L would enjoy the slide. She's gone down twice this year and hated every moment. Did I mention she was the only girl to go down the slide by herself last year? She loved it. Now she loves jumping in off the side.

I'm having such a great time swimming with them this year. Mr B is swimming pretty good and the girls can get around independently with just vests (well, they're like vests) on. And the girls are really little fish this year. Jumping in, sliding, swimming with their heads under the water, wanting to be thrown and flipped--just having FUN!

Of course, I can't wait for the day when they can all swim on their own while I sit on my lounge chair, margarita in hand, reading. Ahhhh....


Here's picture of the pool we go to. The slide is off to the right: pretty big. I really love the covered baby pool, but we aren't using it that much this year!

My Litte Artist

Mr. C was walking around with his paper and crayon. A BLACK crayon. He'd walk around some, then stop and scribble. Walk, stop, scribble. I was sitting on the couch reading a magazine, taking a much needed break (except when someone "needed" something, which was every 2 minutes!). The other kids were watching yet another movie (Mr. B is still recovering from his tonsillectomy and not allowed out of the house).

After a while, I could hear that Mr. C had wandered into the foyer. He was knocking on the front door. I was thinking how cute that was until I remembered -- the last time I saw him, he was holding a BLACK crayon! I jumped up and ran to the front door. I was too late. Mr. C had left his mark all over it!

ARGH!! I reminded him that he was to draw on PAPER then grabbed my magic eraser (whoever invented those things deserves a medal) and scrubbed the door. Surprisingly, most of it came off!


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BONUS PIC

Yesterday, the upstairs AC unit stopped working, leaving the temperature in the kids' rooms at 90 degrees. HOT! Too hot to sleep. So, we gave the kids our room and my husband and I took the futon in the office. We put the girls sideways across the bed, Mr. B took a kid's inflatable bed, and Mr. C slept in the pack-n-play. When I went to get them up this morning, this is how the girls looked:



It reminded me of when they used to share a crib when they first came home. Precious girls!

And then there was one...

...one set of tonsils, that is. Mr. C is now the only kid in the house with tonsils. And there are no kids with adenoids. And three of the six have had their tongues clipped!

Mr. B and Mr. C did really well with their surgeries today. They both came out of the anesthesia well and seem to be tolerating the pain well. I'm proud of my brave little men!


Mr. B and his bear on the way to the surgery center.


Mr. C and his puppy on the way to the surgery center.


Mr. B and Mr. C watching "Milo and Otis" in pre-op.


Mr. B feeling the effects of the "happy juice" (versed).


Home again! Watching movies and eating fudgsicles.

We had a really busy day yesterday...busy having FUN! Kind of a last hoorah before our big surgery day. Here's a slide show of our outings:

Ear tubes and tonsils and adenoids, Oh my!

Please keep my little guys in your prayers. Mr. C is having his ear tubes replaced and his adenoids removed in the hopes that the tubes last a little longer this time. And Mr. B is having his tonsils and adenoids removed as well as having his tongue clipped. Though this is not our first rodeo so to speak (think surgeries #25 and 26! eeek!), it's still very hard to have your kids anesthetized and be in pain.

I'm really most worried about Mr. B. - this will be his first surgery. So far, most people have told me that at his age (6), he'll recover quickly. If any of you have some advice on how to comfort him and help in his recovery, I'm open to it!! Comment away! :)