Rub-a-dub-dub

4 monkeys in a tub.
(I had a better picture of the kids, but the dolphin placement wasn't so good.)

Summer Vacation is here!!!!

The boys came home yesterday yelling and screaming. I'm still digging out from under notebooks, folders, crayons, and other "treasures" that they had in their desks all year. Maddox loves having them home, he's been following them around all morning trying to get involved in all of their games. I was brave, I took all 4 and headed out to the grocery store. It went really well. They helped me load the cart, unload the cart, and then it came time to pay... I left my wallet in the diaper bag, by the front door. We live right behind the grocery store, the older 2 decided they wanted to race me home. They completely misunderstood me and didn't stay there waiting for me, the van and the younger 2 kids. They went running back to the store!!!!! Needless to say, They were just sitting at the check-out laughing with the clerks when I got back there. Talk about a "frist day of vacation" adventure.



This picture has nothing to do with the post, but was just too cute to leave out! :)

Memorial Day Weekend

The Memorial Day weekend started with a great birthday party for our neice, Layna. She turned 2 and did it in style! She had the most amazing "Princess" birthday party ever! The cake was a pink and purple crown and she even had glass slipper sugar cookies. While at my brother's house Maddox decided to flex his big brother muscles. He sat on the floor, spread his legs, and declared, "I need Div to sit in mines lap!" Of course, I had to oblige.

Since there was a brief moment of dry ground and no rain we gave Nelson his birthday present a week (or 2) early. He got a new, bigger bike. He loves that he can now keep up with the rest of us on bike rides. We were even able to make it all the way around the block before the thunder and rain started again.
Toby did a great job of summing up most of our weekend! The rainy weather helped us all be really lazy.

All about Liv.

Olivia is growing so fast! Okay, not really... But she is slowly getting bigger. We went to the doctor on Friday for her 9 month physical. She's 16lbs and 11oz (that's a 10 lb weight gain in 9 months) and 26 inches long (that's a 7 in growth in 9 months). She's in the 10th percentile for both height and weight. That puts her right on par with her big brothers. She eats anything she can get her hands on or convince her brothers to give her. She has no teeth, and no signs of any, but still loves to chomp on crachers, cherrios, frozen veggies, and scrambled eggs. She squeals whenever she sees her brothers or the dogs. She has definately mastered sitting and reaching for anything and everything. This past week she started pulling herself up to the standing position. No crawling yet, just lots of rolling and scooting when she's sitting. Up until a week ago I was always in awe of the little coos, giggles, and girly sounding noises she would make while playing or "talking". Then she learned a new sound... It's a deep throaty growl! So not little girly, but it gets everyone's attention and she smiles and giggles whenever she makes it.
With the big 9 month birthday comes new explorations... Just this morning she took it upon herself to try to update the blog and listen to the charging i-Pod.

Super Tallie

It was only a matter of time before Nelson got to someone in the family. In his quest to take over West County and turn it into a land of good, he recruited another hero. Super Tallie now resides in our house!!!! She defends all that is good in our house. She rids the yard of squirrls, bunnies, and other small rodents. She protects the front door from leaves, sticks, and the random passing car.

Fun without Daddy!!!!

Travis has been really busy at work. This is great for him, but not always the best for the family. He loves what he is doing, but with the overtime freeze he gets "comp" time. This means he has free hrs to take the following week. So far, he's up to 16.5 hrs that he needs to use this week. (It's already Tuesday and he's working late again tonight.) It makes for really long days for me and the kids. Friday was the longest day! He left before 7AM and did not get back to the house until after 10PM. Instead of being all frusterated that I was alone with the kids all day, I decided to do something different for dinner.
We got pizza, a movie, and a big blanket and made an indoor picnic in the family room. We watched "Space Buddies" and ate pizza. It was a lot of fun. We are doing it again this weekend because Travis is going to "Man Camp" with our church... Yeah, I don't need to hear the details from that trip.