Water Fun

I've been a complete slacker with blogging this week. Evie has been taking swim lessons all week and absolutely loves being in the pool. She is way ahead of the rest of her class. She jumps onto her noodle and swims to the other end of the pool while the instructor is still trying to convince some of the other kids just to jump in. I'm not sure she is learning a whole lot, but she is having fun! Both kids finished up Summer Adventure at church this week. They enjoyed having time with their friends 2 mornings a week and mommy got a much needed break! We finally made it to the splash pad for the first time this year on Friday. As usual Evie didn't hesitate and ran right into the water. Andrew walked the perimeter for a while before he got brave enough to go in. They had a great time and exhausted themselves. Evie slept until 8:30 Saturday morning (she is usually up by 7:00). Andrew, of course, was still up at 6:30.

Pictures just aren't turning out at the indoor pool, but I promise Evie is in their with her instructor--If I didn't post a pic I know the grandparents would be asking for one :)

Evie running through the water

Andrew still trying to decide if this is a good idea or not

Funfest

We headed about 100 miles north this weekend to enjoy Funfest. We went to see hot air balloons on Saturday morning and the kids got to see their first fireworks that night. Lots of fun!

Sprinkler in the back yard to beat the heat
Auntie Laura and Evie
Mommy and Andrew
Breakfast with the balloons
Uncle Jeremiah and Daddy taught Evie to play poker while we waited for the fireworks. She loved it! Should we be worried?

Pool Day

Swimming around the pool

Evie took her first jump off the diving board
Snuggled up with jelly sandwiches

Random Monday Pictures & Videos

My hibiscus decided to bloom this weekend. This is such a beautiful plant and it requires very little care (meaning it would be really hard for me to kill it!). These blooms are about the size of a dessert plate. Huge!

Auntie Laura came down to spend the night with us and go berry picking this morning. I don't know if it was the wet weather or what, but we pretty much had the berry patch to ourselves. We ended up with 10 pints of blackberries and 5 pounds of blueberries. After about 10 minutes in the blueberries Laura and the kids abandoned me for the easier to reach blackberries. No pictures because we were just too yucky to be carrying around a camera.

After showers we headed to the mall to meet up with some preschool friends. The food court was packed by the time we finished lunch, and after about 15 minutes at the play area the mob descended upon us. I think we are finished with going to the play area at the mall. It is just too hard to have a bunch of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers all in a small confined area. One of the moms with a baby fussed at me because Andrew plowed past her kid to go down the slide. I don't know what the playground etiquette is in that situation. My 2 year old shouldn't have done it, but her baby can't sit at the top of the slide all day either. After that we called it quits at the mall and headed to Bruster's instead.

Papaw Rick sent the kids some cute cards. Pause the music player to hear the sound on the videos. Evie and Andrew loved them, but I'm wondering how long the batteries will last...

MOPS Playdate

Evie was finally brave enough to go down the pole alone
Drew and Andrew...TRAIN!
Kitely, Evie, and Kate
Elizabeth, Andrew, and Ms.Janet

Elizabeth, Evie, and Meg

Journal of a SAHM

My friend Allie blogged about her typical day as a stay at home mom this week, so I thought it would be fun to journal what my day was actually like and see what I really do all day!

5:50 am - Hear husband's alarm and try to ignore it

6:05 am-Grumble and roll out of bed for a shower

6:20- Andrew comes running into our bathroom

6:21-Evie runs into the bathroom

6:22-Beg children to lay back down until 7:00

6:45-7:20-Give in and let them get up, pour milk and make jelly sandwiches, eat cereal...Andrew knocks over the milk and the lid isn't on tight, so clean up the huge mess

7:20-Hit the road & talk to my dad on the phone

7:45-9:30-Wait for the blueberry patch to open at 8:00(we are early as usual). Pick blueberries, then talk to my mom on the way home

10:00-Arrive back home, wash a handful of berries for the kids, then wash all the berries and start freezing them, and talk to my sister on the phone

10:30-Kids are fighting, so turn on a Mickey episode and try to get some housework done. Load and start dishwasher, download pictures from this morning and put them on the blog, then get sidetracked playing on Facebook.

11:00-Start making lunch. Hot dogs and blueberries are a big hit!

11:45-Just finished cleaning up from lunch and run to respond to some emails while Evie talks my ear off

12:30-Talk to Rhonda and then Phil on the phone while the kids are playing nicely

12:45-Kids are starting to fall apart, so we have a dance party in the kitchen

1:20-"No more songs" the kids tell me, so I fix a snack for them. Evie asks to watch Snow White and it is raining, so I say why not...I put another batch of blueberries in the freezer and read from a book about how the food you eat affects your body (creating new eating habits is overwhelming stuff).

2:00-Andrew needs a hug, so we cuddle on the couch with books

2:20-Wrestlemania breaks out on the couch

2:30-Make a run to Sonic. I love that happy hour falls during rest time. We love 75 cent apple juice slushes!

3:00-Back at home and the kids are happy with their drinks. Run upstairs to throw in a load of laundry. Evie yells that Andrew stinks and she can't breathe. I worry this means she is having asthma issues, but she is just being dramatic about the smells coming from Andrew's pull-up. In the middle of changing Andrew and taking him potty the Knology man rings the doorbell. Both kids love company and excitedly run to the door. Knology kid gets an eye full of naked Andrew. He probably won't try to sell us cable anymore. The poor Fedex man had this same experience a few weeks ago. Andrew is just going through a naked potty training phase, so if you come to my door watch out!

3:15-Everyone is dressed and playing nicely, so I should do housework, but instead I call the American Girl Store to make reservations and start googling hotels to find a good deal. While googling, I also read some friends' blogs, look at Facebook, and start making notes for our MOPS leadership retreat in a few weeks.

4:00-The kids are still playing well. Toys are everywhere, but everyone is happy,so I work on the laundry again. As I walk by the kids bathroom I think it smells a little funky. I gather the trash from the all the bathrooms and put it by the door downstairs. What was I doing to start with...right, back to laundry. Finish that load of laundry and decide to wrap a birthday present. Can't decide how to wrap a 36 inch plush doll, so I put the presents into a gift bag. The birthday girl will still love it even if it isn't wrapped.

4:30-Start typing what I have written down today into this blog so I can save and post it tonight. All this is done while Andrew is driving a car up my legs, across my back, on my face...you get the picture

5:00-What do I fix for dinner? Daddy has a meeting at church so I'm off the hook on cooking a big meal. Decide on ham, pasta, and green beans. Ask children to pick up toys and then say "We are cleaning up; not playing" about a dozen times. I should record that and play it on a continuous loop. You can now see the floor in our living room, and dinner is prepared amidst whining and clinging preschoolers.

6:15-The playground is probably wet, so we hit the driveway after eating and piling the dishes by the sink, putting away the leftover, and packing lunches for Summer Adventure tomorrow. I talk to my grandmother on the phone while the kids run wild outside.

6:45-We take showers, put on pj's, dispense medicine, and brush our teeth. Evie wants her hair just like Ana's, so we do pigtails.

7:00-Daddy wants us to wait up to see him, so we take some pictures and then I send the kids to their rooms to play until he gets home. They are seriously tired at this point and we all want to see Daddy!

7:55-We are still waiting on Daddy. The kids drug out all their toys and then had to clean them up again. We took more pictures and sent them to all the grandparents via cell phone. We talked to Mimi on the phone. The kids wrestled around. It is starting to get ugly.

8:20-Everyone is delighted to see Daddy walk into the house! I have now been on duty for 14 hours and there are still dishes by the sink and laundry in the dryer. Mommy would like to spend some time with Daddy and read a few pages in The Screwtape Letters then fall into bed.

I have come to the conclusion that if my computer and phone were taken away I might get a little bit more done :) Seriously, if you came to my house right now it would look like I sat on my rear for a good part of the day. The kids don't need constant care and entertainment like when they were babies, but they do need almost constant supervision (don't choke your sister, stay out of the refridgerator, don't climb on the table, etc.) Most of the time I feel like I am barely keeping up with stuff and never really getting on top of it all. However, when I get to see these happy faces at the end of the day I think I must be doing my most important job fairly well.

Picking blueberries

We picked 3 pounds of blueberries this morning. Evie and Andrew picked a few, but the serious work was left up to mama. There were so many we could have stayed out there all day. We now have some berries to enjoy this week plus some in the freezer for pancakes and muffins. Yummy! A huge thanks to my friend Rhonda for inviting us to come along with her and her girls!

Only pick the blue ones, Andrew! Don't eat them yet!
We love blueberries!

Lovely Rose

We are enjoying the first rose from our backyard to make it to our table this year. This is actually the third time it has bloomed. The first ones went to Evie's preschool teachers and the second blooms occured while we were at the beach. The kids love to smell it. Nothing man can make and put in a bottle smells as good as the fragrance from this little pink rose.

Happy 4th of July!

We went to the Farragut parade this morning to celebrate the 4th of July. The kids had a great time, but I think we may have been bad luck. Check out the last two pictures.

Evie all decked out
Sydney, Kaitlyn, Andrew, and Evie
The Chick fil A cow took a tumble right after I snapped this picture
The Army jeep broke down right in front of us