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!

The girls in the dresses Kiki got for them in Panama

Every 4th of July we make a cake and cover it with whipped cream and then let the kids decorate it with red and blue berries. We usually use strawberries and blueberries, but this year we used raspberries instead of strawberries. The kids love it - although we always have to make sure we have lots of extra berries because at least half of them end up in the kids' mouths :) Jack even "helped" this year, well, he sat next to the girls and ate raspberries until he decided to go for the cake and grabbed a handful of the whipped cream, at which point we decided he was done helping! Kylie and Beth put on the blueberries. They put each one on individually and pushed it into the whipped cream. Megan did the raspberries and would take a handful and sprinkle them over the cake, then squash them in.

The finished cake!

Megan lost her 3rd tooth!!!

One of Megan's teeth has been hanging on by a thread for over a week now. Every time we tried to pull it out, she wouldn't let us though. I have no idea how it didn't fall out by itself - she even ate corn on the cob last night! Well today it was even more loose (didn't know that was possible). After her bath tonight I wiggled it and then popped it right out! Meg was quite surprised - I think she really thought it was going to hurt. She was so excited that she lost one of her top teeth! She ran in to show Kylie and Beth the gap and then came back to get the tooth to show them. At first she couldn't wait to put it under her pillow and even write a note to the tooth fairy, but then she realized that if she did that, she couldn't show Daddy her tooth (Daddy is out with "the guys" tonight watching a UFC), so she asked if she could wait to put it under her pillow tomorrow night. She wants take the tooth and pretend it's still there, then "pop" it out and surprise Dad :)

We took a few pictures of my little toothless wonder (complete with hair that dried right out of the tub) with her newly lost tooth (don't worry Mom and Christy - no blood) . . .

Our 4th of July

Well, I got strep again, so Christy took the girls to see the fireworks while Rob and I headed to the bookstore for a book on homeopathy. We've made a lot of changes to our lifestyle in the past six months or so such as eating organic and whole foods. The more we find out about it, the more sense it makes to us. I was put on antibiotics in OR and I knew that if I went to an urgent care center (the dr's were closed for the three day weekend by the time I finally figured out what it was), they would put me on a stronger antibiotic and I really wanted to find some alternative that worked. We found a book on homeopathy and it had several suggestions as to homeopathic remedies that might help me.

After going to the bookstore, Rob and I picked up our friend John (who is staying with my sister for the weekend) and took him to the airport to pick up his wife, Priscilla. They have stayed at our house several times and we love spending time with them! On the way back to Christy's house, we stopped and picked up a few things for me to try. Within a few hours, my throat was doing so much better! It didn't hurt nearly as much and the swelling had almost disappeared! We will definately be trying homeopathy again! We still want to use modern medicine, but hey, if there is a solution that is easier on your body and works just as well or better, then I'm all for it!

Anyway, the girls had so much fun with Christy (who they call Kiki)! Beth, however, did not like the fireworks much. During the 20 mins or so that the fireworks were going off, she kept saying "I don't LIKE fireworks, Kiki." She loved the bounce house and the snowcones though! After the fireworks, the girls had a sleep over at Kiki's house, which they loved!

Of course, since the girls were gone, Jack decided that last night would be a great night to wake up every hour and get up for good at 7am, so Rob and I didn't really get a break, but the girls had fun!

Rob left for the catering job around 11am and I put Jack down for a nap shortly before he left. Around noon, Jack and I went over to pick up the girls and bring them home. As a treat, we stopped at Sonic and each of the girls got their own strawberry slushy thing. We then drove home, where I vacuumed the house (it really needed it! It's amazing how messy things get when I am sick!) and cleaned up strawberry slushy off the kitchen floor and the dining room carpet. We took it easy for an hour or two because all the kids were tired and the girls watched Beauty and the Beast, their current favorite movie (this changes weekly).

After resting up, I wanted to do something fun with the kids, so we decided to make cookies. The girls helped make the dough, then I divided it into three sections, rolled it out for them, and let them go wild with the cookie cutters. We ended up with some interesting cookies, but the girls had a blast! Jack ate frozen blueberries instead of making cookies.

As the cookies were baking, Christy, Priscilla and John showed up with stuff to make for dinner. Christy and John ran out to get root beer and ice cream for root beer floats and Priscilla and I stayed with the kids and frosted cookies. We had been planning on using red, white and blue frosting, but Megan wanted green instead of white, so we had red, blue and green cookies instead.

Kylie did NOT feel like smiling for the camera . . .

We had hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner, with corn on the cob, potato chips, potato salad and a green salad. Cookies, of course, were for dessert.

Following dinner, I discovered that Jack had smeared frosting all over the side of his head, so I had all 4 kids take a quick bath and then tucked them in bed. They all fell asleep pretty quickly. Christy has two papers to write for her current class tonight and John and Priscilla needed to check on their dog, so the three of them left just after 9. Rob is scheduled to get home after midnight, so I decided to catch up on my blog :)

I hope all of you had a wonderful 4th of July! I don't feel like I did much to honor the holiday, but I guess that the freedom to raise my children in relative safety and the ability to put food on the table for a celebratory meal is honoring the sacrifices made to keep us free. I'm so thankful for all those who gave up so much to found this country and to keep it free! God Bless America!!!

Sliding down the slide and plans for the 4th

Sorry I've been MIA. I've been feeling under the weather. I think I just never took the time to recuperate from having strep and from the energy it takes to go on vacation with 4 small children. I've been taking it easy and am starting to feel a bit better.

The girls are so excited for the 4th of July! Roanoke has their fireworks on the night of the 3rd every year, so we are planning on attending that tonight. They also have $2 BBQ, free snowcones and bounce houses. We're meeting up with Christy, her friend John (who's wife is getting in later tonight - they have stayed with us several times and we love hanging out with them!), and another friend of Christy's, who is bringing her 2 year old son and her husband, so we will have lots of people to visit with :) Tomorrow Rob is working noon to midnight at a catering gig at the Westlake Country Club. We'll miss him! We will probably just hang out with Christy, John and Priscilla. We may hit more fireworks tomorrow night depending on the kids' response to the ones tonight. We usually have the kids decorate a cake with whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries, but I think we'll do that on Sunday.

Jack crawled all the way up the stairs on his own last weekend. I'm sure he could have done it sooner, but we always have the stairs gated off and we've never let him try. He figured it out pretty quickly!

A few pictures of the kids playing on the climber (taken last Friday after I had already posted my blog for the day) . . .


Jack figured out how to slide down the slide on his own on Tuesday. He started climbing to the top of the slide last week, but would sort of get stuck or fall (I caught him) as he didn't know how to get down. He now climbs up and as soon as his hands hit the top, he belly flops down and slides backwards to the bottom. He LOVES it! He laughs and laughs each time and he will do that for 15-20 minutes at a time.






We got three barstool-height chairs from Christy that fit our kitchen counter. The girls love sitting on them to eat breakfast and lunch. Jack doesn't want to be left out, so I pull his chair over next to them. Thank you for the chairs Christy!