Weekly Happenings June 6-12

Some fun things that happened this week:

Allie has been practicing riding her bike without training wheels for a couple weeks.  The first day Kevin took them off, she rode around the driveway with him holding on to the bike.  The last couple weeks, she practiced in the backyard all by herself.  She wasn't afraid of falling because the grass doesn't hurt too bad!  This week, Hayden and Kevin decided to take a bike ride down the street and Allie decided she wanted to go.  She took off down the street without thinking twice!  I love that she had no hesitation!  She did end up having a small crash in the driveway yesterday, but was back on her bike within an hour. 

Charlie is the sweetest snuggle bug when the kids go to bed!  He's been such a great kitty and we all just love him to pieces!

He follows me around from room to room during the day. 

I was telling Kevin that the hardest part of my day is when Austin and Krissy both want held (which usually happens 2-3 times a day).  They want to be held at the same times, but refuse to let me hold them both on my lap; so if I hold one, the other is sitting next to me crying.  And when I put one down, they immediately cry and the one that was crying stops.  Any suggestions?  Sometimes I can distract the one I'm not holding with my phone. 

I made one of my families favorite breakfasts this week!  Crescent rolls + scrambled eggs + cheese + sausage links.  You make the eggs and cook the sausage, then assemble.  Brush the tops with an beaten egg, then bake at 350 for 12-15 mins (or until golden brown).  Yum! (Oh yeah and I make a double batch because my kids eat the leftovers as a snack).

Allie has been asking me for at least two weeks if I'd take her shopping to buy high heels.  I kept putting it off, but on Wednesday decided I'd give in.  We went to Payless and told the lady working there we wanted something with a small heel.  She pulled out 4 pairs in Allie's size and our eyes both went to the bright pink pair.  She tried them on and loved them.  Krissy was with us too and picked out a cute pair of silver sandals (with some help from me - she actually went right for the rain boots that weren't on sale).

Kevin so sweetly bought me one of my favorite treats this week - chocolate covered strawberries!  Homemade ones just don't compare to Libs. 

Photos from Thursday

I have been in a picture taking mood lately!  Here are some pictures I took today :)

90% Girly Girl + 10% Tom Boy = Allie

Allie is a girly girl through and through.  She loves helping with all the domestic things I do:  laundry, cooking, cleaning, shopping...  I had so many cute pictures of her on my camera from the last month.  These pictures are from when we made brownies a couple weeks ago. 

But when she's outside, she turns into a bit of a tom boy.  She doesn't care to get dirty (but she does want to get cleaned up as soon as she comes in).  She does things I'd never think of doing (like the pictures of her holding worms yesterday - I seriously was gagging watching her pick them up).  I like she is a little more well rounded than I am.  Here are a couple pictures of her holding a frog that we keep finding in our yard.

Slip N Slide

This weekend was beautiful!  It was 80s/90s on Saturday and Sunday and the sun was shining all day!  I could just sense it coming.....Hayden and Allie on the verge of telling me they were bored, so I told them once they helped me pick up inside, we ate lunch, and I laid Austin down for his nap, I would get out the slip n slide Hayden got for his birthday.  

They were both so excited and ready to be outside and kept asking how much longer.  As soon as the house wasn't a disaster, they had some food in their bellies, and Austin was laid down, we started getting set up.  Krissy came outside with us during the set up.  She had scratched her leg earlier in the day and the gnats wouldn't leave her alone and she had no desire to be outside.  Once I got the water connected, I left the oldest two out to play and laid Krissy down.  Then I grabbed my camera and took these. 

After about an hour (I don't even want to guesstimate my next month's water bill!), I turned off the water and shut down the slide.  They kids weren't happy with me, but when we started rolling up the slide, we realized all the worms that were in the ground under the slide decided to come up and play.  I was completely disgusted, but the kids went crazy grabbing them by the handfuls.  I told them to make themselves useful and at least take them to my garden!  So I have about 5 or 6 handfuls of worms now working their way through my raised bed. 

Weekly Happenings: May 30 - June 5

We've been trying hard to enjoy our summer and the nice weather everyday!  The kids come in covered in dried dirt or wet clothes e.v.e.r.y. time they go outside.  I'm working on letting that bother me less and focusing on being thankful that my kids are all friends and they all enjoy playing together.  Besides, no one likes a grumpy mom!

Popsicles or ice cream has been our go-to snack

I've done a lot of baking the last week!  Most was for the shower I threw, but I wanted to make a couple of things just for my family too!

Chocolate and White cupcakes for the shower

We call these Crescent Puffs, but they are also called Resurrection Rolls.  Crescent rolls + marshmallow + cinnamon & sugar

Allie has always been my shopping buddy, but Krissy is really enjoying our girly shopping days the older she gets!  This child has transformed so much over the last 1-2 months that it's worth documenting.  She went from being the one that caused problems and fights with other kids to being the little peace maker and caretaker to the other three kids.  If someone hurts themselves she runs to the freezer to get an ice pack with no prompting from me.  She will frequently share with Austin whatever she's playing with, and she thrives off the positive praise we give her.  It is no secret she was my hardest baby to bond with, but I'm so thankful we've made up for that rough first year!  She insists on me calling her my little birdy (if I call her anything else other than birdy, she says "No, mom! I your birdy!".  She "tweet tweets" when I smile at her, she loves getting accessorized, when she holds my hand she really just holds on to one finger, and she so sweetly asks me to "hoed" her or "wock" her over and over during the day.  No words can explain how much I love this age/change in her!  Here are a couple pictures from our shopping adventures yesterday :)

Our littlest baby, Charlie, got neutered and front declawed last Friday.  He had to stay overnight and he was brought back home Saturday.  The vet recommended confining him to a room/crate for several days since one of his paws was experiencing some swelling (due to him batting his paws and constantly licking them - which they said was all normal behavior), so we kept him in the over-sized dog kennel for 2 days and on days 3-4 we confined him to our bedroom.  We would let the kids go pet him through the cage, but we were pretty strict about not letting the kids hold him.  In the middle of the week I finally gave in and let him have full run over the house.  We are still taking him off tables and tops of couches when we find him there.  He's recovered really well and I'm glad we took him to a nicer vet place to have the laser declaw surgery done!

I get Sephora emails all the time, and normally I just delete them, but I opened one this week and saw this spray for your hair.  I was so excited to read about it because it's made for hair just like mine.  It's now at the top of my list of things to buy!!!

Saturday, Tuesday, & Wednesday, Hayden's baseball team had tournaments to play.  These were the first games that they kept score, and all the parents/grandparents/fans got into the games.  The Championship game didn't disappoint!  The normal rules state that you play 4 innings.  Innings 1-3 you play till you get 5 runs or 3 outs, but the 4th inning you play until 3 outs, so you can get a lot of runs.  (On Tuesdays game we got 21 runs the 4th inning and they ended up just switching teams because it was clear we had quite a lead.)  Well Wednesdays game, we had a tie at the end of the 4th inning!  10-10!  So we played a 5th inning with the same rules as the 4th - 3 outs.  We ended up getting 11 runs which was so exciting!  Final score was 21-10.  The little boys were so excited to be The Champions  and I think the fans of the purple team were just as excited! 

Kevin's worked his bum off for these chicken .  He just finished building their run last night!  All that's left to do is stain the wood, add some plants to make it more colorful, and put a netting over the top of the fenced in area so they don't fly out!  None of those things are urgent though.