Megan's family b-day party

Sorry it's been so long since I posted on here. First of all, I was spending time with my mother :) Secondly, Jack is getting four teeth and hasn't been sleeping very well, so I've been a bit tired. He finally had one of his top middle teeth break through (before that he had 4 - two in the middle on the bottom and the two on the sides of the middle ones on top - sort of interesting, but I've decided he was paying homage to the imminent release of the last book in the Twilight series) and actually slept (gasp!) last night, so hopefully the worst is over :)

We didn't do anything earth-shattering during the last week of Nona's visit. Nona and I worked on 2009's family calendar and just about finished it! Obviously, there are still some pictures that will be replaced or added as there are several months left in this year and many milestones - Jack's first b-day (approaching disturbingly fast!) and Travis's homecoming (yay!!!!) to name a few.

On Friday we drove Nona to Fidelity so she could go with Christy to the drop zone and watch her sky dive. On the spur of the moment, the kids and I went too. The kids LOVED the planes and watching the sky divers land. They had an air conditioned room with a movie on and bean bags for kids, but the kids didn't want to watch the movie. They wanted to stay outside and play with the rocks and chase dragonflies and watch skydivers. Beth was so funny! We told the kids where we were going and what we were going to watch. We got there and after watching the first set of skydivers land, Beth turned to Christy and said "OK! Your turn! Get going!" When Christy got on the plane, Beth said, with loads of pride in her voice, "that's MY Kiki!" We got some pictures, but they are on Christy's camera, so I'll have to have her bring it over and download them on here. We had dinner on the way home at IHOP (Nona's first time there). It was a really fun day!

On Saturday we took it easy, did our shopping, then Nona, Christy and I went out to dinner with one of Christy's friends. We went to a Mexican restaurant and found out that Nona doesn't like Italian food??? That was very surprising as my family is pretty big on Italian food and we (at least Christy and I) had no idea that Mom didn't like it! Saturday night Jack was up literally until 4:30am, with both Megan and Beth waking up at point too, so only Rob went to church. Nona took care of the kids and let me sleep :) Thank you Nona!!!

I think this was Sat night? Jack fell asleep on Nona's shoulder :)

Sunday evening Christy came over and we had a family birthday party for Megan. Her birthday is actually this coming Thursday, but we wanted to celebrate with Nona. Megan got to open her presents from Nona and Papa, Susan, and an extra one from Molly. Nona and Papa got her paper dolls from Alaska (which she LOVES) and they got all three girls a rolling pink suitcase that works as a carry on or will be great for sleep overs at Christy's. Susan sent down the watch she used to wear when she was younger. Megan promptly had Rob help her put it on and announced to me (after Nona told her not to get it wet) that she was never going to bathe again because she didn't want to take her watch off, plus she never got very dirty anyway (her words, not mine). Molly sent her another My Little Pony set. The girls are really getting into those. I have to say that they are much more interesting now then they were when I was growing up - they even have clothes that button and fancy horn rimmed glasses!

Meg and Kylie posing with Meg's paper dolls

Jack enjoying shaking a Walmart bag

Meg modeling her watch

Rob got a surprise graduation present, or rather two of them - Nona and Papa bought him a gas card to pay for two months of gas to take him back and forth to his boxing gym. The girls and I are giving him 6 more months of boxing lessons (he was going to stop with this month). Rob has a week left of this final class, then he is done with his MBA!!!!! We are so proud of him!!!!!
Megan got to pick out dinner and dessert for Sunday while shopping on Saturday. For dinner she wanted meats, cheeses, and bread with fruit. We had sopressata, prosciutto (Kylie's favorite), and ham, a smoked German cheese and colby jack cheese, a whole grain french bread and a whole wheat french bread, and canary melon, a yellow melon similar to a honeydew melon. We had an all natural sparkling pink lemonade to drink. She picked out a strawberry crunch cake and duck candles for this party. Susan and Papa helped to sing her Happy Birthday through use of the speaker phone.

Presents from Molly!

We had a package delivered to us today from Molly :) It had presents for everyone! The girls immediately ripped their presents open to unveil My Little Ponies for each of them! Beth's has a surfboard. Kylie's has dress up outfits including fancy horn-rimmed glasses and a cape. Megan's has two outfits including a cheerleading outfit complete with shoes, a pom-pom and barrettes! They started playing with them right away, and other than Beth (who is asleep on my lap), they haven't put them down since opening them two hours ago!

Jack got a box with brightly colored shapes that fit through holes in the top. He absolutely loves it! Kylie tried to sit down and "teach" Jack how the shapes fit in the holes and he threw a fit because he wanted to play with them himself - not have someone else showing him what to do :) He doesn't bother with the top for right now. He dumps all the shapes out, then puts them back in and stirs them around with his hand so they bang together (he's big on noises), then gets up and walks around holding the bucket. Thank you Molly!!! Your gifts were perfect!

Molly also sent me a box of beautiful shells that she collected for me at various beaches on the Cape (Cape Cod). Man, I miss New England sometimes! I really miss the beach especially! You're right Molls - you can smell the ocean on the shells :) Thank you so much for collecting them for me!



I forgot to mention the present Molly got Meg to wear at her birthday party - it's a set including a birthday girl crown, glittery clip on earrings, a beauty-queen style sash (complete with pink feathers!) and a star-topped glittery wand! I left it in the box so that it wouldn't get broken before the party, but we will be sure to take pictures of her wearing it!

Nona gets here!!!

Yesterday afternoon we loaded all the kids into the car and headed off to the airport to pick up Nona!!! Every summer my mom comes down to TX for the Mary Kay Seminar and she makes sure to get here early and stay late so that we get to spend some time with her :) The girls we so excited - all week they kept asking if that day was the day that Nona was getting here.

Once we got back to our house, the girls gave Nona the present we made for her - a huge sun hat with handprints made by Megan, Kylie, and Beth (in their favorite colors) and Jack's footprints in blue on the very top. We even found one that had pink on the inside because Nona loves pink since it was Mary Kay's favorite color. Within minutes, the girls had Nona on the couch surrounded by a mountain of books for her to read to them :)

We love you Nona!!!

Christmas in July

Yesterday we had the Footes over to play for the afternoon. The girls (except Jorja and Beth) created a play for us about Santa. Megan, with the help of a red skirt and sweater and beach ball, was Santa. Jalynn was Rudolph, Jessica was the little girl and Kylie was the dad.

Rudolph pulling Santa's sleigh

Santa putting the presents under the tree (you should have seen Santa climbing up the side of the fire pole to get into the house - not an easy task with a beach ball on your tummy!)

Jorja deciding to give an impromptu act and be a live doll under the tree

Santa going back to the North Pole after delivering the presents

The dad with his present from Santa

Curtain call

and a picture of Beth

Saturday at the park

Saturday evening we went to Sonic and picked up burgers and drinks and took them to the playground behind the library. (We were rewarding Beth for using the potty.) We brought all the girls' bikes, including Megan's "new" bike that does not have training wheels. Rob and I both worked with Megan on learning to ride by herself. Beth rode the whole way around the soccer field on her tricycle, but her feet don't reach the pedals very well, so she just walked her feet along the ground.

Kylie got Meg's old bike and loved riding it. Jack followed her down the sidewalk, enthralled by the decorations in her wheels.

The town just put up a new exercise area near the playground and soccer fields. Of course we ended up over there. Rob did some body dips (I think?) and again requested that we figure out some way to create some type of parallel bars at our house. I'll have to work on that one . . .
All the girls had to do pull ups, so Rob helped them. They are actually pretty good at them. They always have Rob help them do pull ups on our bar at home whenever they see Rob doing them, so they've had lots of practice.

Jack taste-tested the wood chips and apparently found them delicious

Jack rode back to the car on my shoulders and had a blast hanging on to my hair

Some candid shots

Looking through the card on my camera, I found a few shots that I forgot to post on here.

Jack after feeding himself yogurt (notice the yogurt on his ear)

Kylie undercover

Megan looking a bit like Groucho Marx

A bit blurry, but I like this shot

Jack walking - right side up!

I finally gave up on figuring out how to upload the video with it in the right direction and took another one ~


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Jack walking take two

I tried to upload this last night and it didn't work; let's see if it works this morning :)

Well, it looks like it won't let me upload any video that I have edited at all, so Jack is sideways in this. I'll try and figure out how to fix that . . . sorry!

Video of Jack walking and sliding

I tried to create a short movie by putting several really short clips together, but couldn't get it to upload on here, so I figured I would just try to post one and see if it worked :) Here is Jack climbing up, then sliding down the slide ~

Playing with the Footes and Exercising with Kids

Yesterday we had the Footes over for the first time in a month! We usually see them much more often, but first Megan was sick, then we were in OR, then they were in AR . . . Anyway, the kids thought it had been much too long! I did too! The girls played and played together. They came up with the most unique outfits ever :) I got some pictures of their "Fancy Nancy party".


Last night the kids all decided to help me with my work out. Megs and Kylie did crunches, push-ups, and squats with me, then Jack and Beth decided they needed in on the action too. Have you ever tried doing v-ups with a baby sitting on your tummy??? Well, it's not easy - especially when the said baby is laughing hysterically and keeps starting to fall off :) My second set of crunches were easier than the v-ups as I don't really need my hands for the crunches and could therefore hold Jack steady. It was quite a work-out! I'd be willing to bet that it tripled the effect the exercises had on me!

Playing in the pool

Last night after dinner we all went outside and played in the backyard. Rob set up the pool and filled it right after he got home, so the water warmed up a bit before we got in it. The girls have done a great job of helping to clean up their toys over the past few days, so everyone got popsicles as a treat. Last time we tried putting Jack in the pool, he didn't like it much, so this time I got in with him. He LOVED it! He splashed and splashed. He didn't even mind getting splashed by his sisters.

Megan and Kylie being kooky

Jack started to get a bit tired, so I took him out of the pool and brought him inside for a bath. The girls were still in the pool when Jack finished with his bath, so he and I went back outside and Jack played in the swing for a bit. He had such a good time! He babbled and sang as I pushed him. (It wasn't quite as dark as the pictures make it seem.)

Beth wore herself out and fell asleep in the pool!

Vacuuming and Tea Party

Jack's new favorite toy is the kids vacuum cleaner. He crawls over to it, grabs the handle, then stands up (on his own), pushes it forward and pulls it back and laughs :) I'm hoping this is the precursor to a child who loves to help vacuum! (For those of you in TX - no, we are not A&M fans - someone gave us the onesie.)


Today while Jack took his nap, the three girls had a tea party. I made them a teapot full of peppermint herbal tea and Megan requested sugar in the sugar pot and milk in the cream pitcher. They did pretty well - I was impressed with the amount of tea NOT spilled :) Megan even did her hair for the occasion.




Tonight after Rob gets home, we are planning on putting the kids in swim suits and letting them play in the small pool in the backyard while we grill dinner. It's not incredibly hot today - only about 91 at the moment - so we thought that would be fun. I'm usually at YW (the girls' youth group for our church) on Wed nights, but since many of the girls are on vacation, we are only having activity nights ever other week and I have tonight off!