Company Picnic

Don had his Company Picnic today and we all had a great time. You can see what sort of kids you have more clearly when they are around lots and lots of people they don't know. Apparently my kids are now social butterflies. Ryan immediately left the family to go play with some boys who were probably ages 5-13. Audrey went around and said "Hi" to everyone and would give everyone whatever she had in her hand (food, water bottle, toys etc). When she wasn't talking to people she was eating... I swear she ate for about 2 hours straight.

Cookies!

Making cookies is one of my kids favorite activities. Now Audrey is old enough to get involved and she loves it, her favorite part (and Ryan's) is of course the eating of the cookies after they are finished.

Popsicle Playdate

We went to a super fun Popsicle playdate today! Audrey is finally old enough to really enjoy this type of activity especially when surrounded by such good friends (and Ryan was certainly in his element). We played in the sprinkler and sand table, ate lots of popsicles and spread sand all over Amy's house (oops). All the kids seemed to have a really good time (as did the adults). Good times!






In this picture Audrey stole G's bag of goldfish and then offered them back one at a time. G was obviously not pleased with this game.

A good time cleaning this one up.

The Lucky Ones

I think that sometimes when you are a stay at home mom you lose perspective of the outside world. Especially when your children are small your world revolves around these little people who are depending on you for their survival. I feel like when I am reminded of all that is going on in the outside world I remember just how lucky I am. So when the kids are fighting, not sleeping, destroying things, when school costs a lot of money and I don’t have enough down time I need to remember all that I have:

• In 2010 there were about 925 million hungry people in the world. So when you don’t feel like making dinner that the kids are going to complain about anyway… remember you are lucky to have food to feed your children. Imagine looking your hungry children in the eye and telling them you have nothing for them to eat.

• It’s been hot here lately, about 100 degrees most days, but in Iraq this last week they had to actually shut down the government because it was over 120 degrees. Imagine being a US soldier in all that army gear, always having to watch your back and trudging around in 120 degree weather. Yeah I guess I can put up with my 100 degree days in my nice safe air conditioned house.

• 40% of the homeless population in the United States is made up of families with children. I not only have a nice clean, safe house to give my children where they have their own rooms, I am afforded the chance to stay at home with them. I never wake up in the morning wondering where I am going to sleep that night. My kids know that they always have somewhere safe to go.

Parenting is hard no matter where you are or what you have, but if you have a home and food and time to spend with your children you are luckier than a huge amount of people in this world. So when I start to feel overwhelmed I am going to try to have some perspective and realize just how lucky we are.

Family Brunch

Here are some pictures from a family brunch we had today. Everyone happened to be in town at the same time which doesn't happen often so here we are.. (also my mom bought a new camera which is why there are so many pictures of the event)

1 Year Stats

Audrey had her 1 year appointment today, everything went well, she is at or above all the milestone markers. Here are the stats:

Head Circumference: 47cm (90th%)

Length 29" (50th%)

Weight 20.1 lbs (25-50th%)

Passing the Time

While the kids get over the very last of this sickness we are trying to figure out things to do around the house... here is what we did by 9:30am :) (Plus breakfast and getting dad out the door).

Movies

I took Ryan to his first movie theater movie yesterday. He was so excited! We saw Winnie the Pooh which is a great first movie. 1) There aren't any scary bits 2) it's only like an hour long and 3) only children are in the theater so you don't have to worry too much if your kid is talking or moving around.

Well it was a big success, Ryan loved it. During every preview he said "Is it starting yet?" then when it did he got so excited he actually squealed. He got up and moved around a few times but he is three so that is to be expected. I think he saw it as a big treat, especially having some alone time with mom. He laughed so loud at one of the funny bits that he made the girl next to him laugh.... That has to be a good sign right?

Friday = Sick Day

My kids only get sick on Friday’s. You might think I’m kidding but I’m not. We have been in the ER twice… both were Friday nights. I think for sick visits we have only had 1 appointment on a day besides Friday. It’s one of the “special” things my kids do. The issue is that you have to commit on Friday to them being really sick or not, you can’t wait until the next day because getting a doctor’s appointment on the weekend is like winning the lottery… it’s not going to happen unless the Gods are looking down on you. Today was one of those days… luckily everything (including the weird rash Audrey has developed all over her body) is viral which means no antibiotics (as of yet). At 102 degrees outside it seems crazy that we could be a sick house but apparently that is the way the cookie is crumbling this time. Oh and when I was trying to get two sick kids out the door to go to the doctor’s office Audrey pulled a camera down from the top of a shelf by its string and hit herself in the face which turned into a purple oozing wound right under her eye. Needless to say the hubby and I are ordering in and relaxing for the night.

Birthday Cake

We finally got a chance to have our birthday cake celebration with Audrey! She goes to bed before Don gets home from work during the week so we needed to wait for the weekend to have a family celebration. Ryan and I made the cake and icing from scratch! It was a big hit and everyone seemed to enjoy the midday jolt of sugar!

Talkin'

From the mouths of babes:

* RYAN:

The background of this is that someone (Ryan) spilled milk/ left the milk cup under the seat of my car and then it hit about 100 degrees 2 days in a row and my car suddenly smelled like being trapped in an air tight 3 year old's (Ryan's) shoe.

Ryan: "It smells like a monkey in here, we should take dad's car, he can take this one."

*AUDREY:

Audrey can now say 6 words. This is how I found out she knew her sixth one. I was sitting on the floor with my arm laid out over the couch cushion. Audrey walks up to me like she is going to give me a hug but right when she gets to me she pokes me in the arm pit, giggled and said "POKE!." I feel like it is very telling that her words are "Hi","Mom", "Dada", "Hat", "poke" and "tickle"... she is so the second child.

Happy First Birthday!

My sweet baby girl Audrey turned one today! In some ways it seems like she has been here forever, on the other hand I can't believe we are already celebrating her first birthday! We had a great day... taking dad out to lunch and frozen yogurt, playing with all the new toys and a super fun special dinner thanks to Ryan. Thank you everyone who made this day so great for her.

Audrey enjoying one of the many gifts she received today.

The following are a few pictures of her in her special birthday outfit.

Ryan thought that a good special birthday dinner for Audrey would be chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancakes so he and I made them. Between the two of them they had about 8! We are making a birthday cake this weekend when dad can be with us to enjoy it.

Pirates!

One of the hardest parts about having two children is finding time to give one on one attention to each of them. Well Don and I are making an effort to have individual nights out with Ryan this summer. My night was last night and I took him to an outdoor symphony performance with a Pirates theme. They had pirates doing sword fights, wonderful music and lots and lots of people to watch. Ryan had a blast. At first he was a little nervous that the pirates were going to take him and then all of a sudden he decided he was safe and he loved them.


Memorable Quotes of the Night:

1.

Ryan: "Can I have a Milkshake?"

Me: "Not tonight, you already had ice cream today"

Ryan: "Calm down mom"

2.

Someone tried to give Ryan some food he didn't want, his response?

"Pirates don't eat that!"

3.

"Mom the sun went down, hurry we have to get home!"