July 31, 2009

Jamie enjoyed her last day at Pixies and Fairies camp today. She got to dress up in her fairy costume today and have a tea party with her friends.

This afternoon all the kids enjoyed having Madi over to play for a while. They had a lot of fun playing and then watched a Hello Kitty video together. Aunt Karen brought their new kitten with her when she picked up Madi. Jamie got to hold the kitty and thought it was the greatest thing ever.

Vic brought home a new car tonight. He traded in his Passat and the truck and got a new BMW. It is pretty and has that great new car smell! It even has a sunroof, which the kids were already hanging out of tonight. "Waking up in Vegas" was on the car's radio at the time, and it was perfect background music for the kids hanging out of the sunroof. It was parked in the driveway at the time, of course.

We are all happy about the new car except for Jamie, who has decided she will never love another car like she loved the Passat. Plus, she pointed out, the BMW doesn't have cup holders in the back. She sobbed for a very long time about that. That one can create drama out of anything!

Here she is:

July 30, 2009

We had a day of running around today. We dropped Jamie off at Pixies and Fairies camp, went to the grocery store, home to unload groceries, back to pick up Jamie early from camp, dropped Jamie off at a birthday party, home for about an hour, then back to pick Jamie up again.

Then I realized that I had forgotten one ingredient I needed for the dinner I was making tonight. I couldn't stand the thought of taking the kids out again, so I called Vic and requested Indian food. That was interesting. It was good, but apparently their oven was broken so no Mozzarella kulcha. Then they went crazy with the cloves and Vic's chicken curry was watery. It was like they ran out of a bunch of stuff and tried to make do with what they had. Oh well, at least I didn't have to cook.

Jamie had a great time at Pixies and Fairies camp and at the glamour girl birthday party she went to. At the party, the girls got their hair styled and their nails painted. There were tons of dress up dresses for them to try on, and at the end they put on a fashion show. We got there just in time for the fashion show. It was really cute.

I finally uploaded a bunch of pictures today. They are up in our web album. I still have more to upload from Vic's camera.

This picture is Jamie after the glamour girl party today. I think she is going to want her hair curled every day from now on.

July 28,2009

Jamie had fun on her second day of Pixies and Fairies ballet camp today. She colored a picture, made a fairy wand, and of course danced.

The boys and I made a trip to Publix and then hung out around the house until time to pick up Jamie. Carson sulked most of the time because he found out that he will be going with me to watch Jamie dance on Friday, and also because I wouldn't let him play games. He's also still upset with me because he doesn't like the haircut he got yesterday. I took him to a different place than the place where Vic takes him. He was not happy at all. I think his hair looks fine, though.

We picked up Jamie and dropped Carson off at Grammy and Grampy's house to spend the night. I'm sure he was happier there!

I took Caleb and Jamie to swim lessons this afternoon. They are both making great progress. Caleb is working on taking breaths while swimming, and Jamie is working on swimming with her face in the water. Tomorrow is their last lesson.

Off to finish up the last load of laundry for today and get some rest!

July 26, 2009

We went to Sunday school today, and I got to help out in Carson's class. Those kids were crazy! I don't know how the teachers haven't quit by now. No wonder one of them is taking the Summer off.

This afternoon was hot and we mostly stayed inside. I did go out with the boys for a while to try to launch the Titan blast rocket that I got for Caleb half price at Target last week. He has been wanting one for the longest time. We have watched the youtube video in that link about 100 times. The kids managed to tear the inflatable rocket opening the package, so we had to patch that with electrical tape, which is really only slowing the leak. Then we took it outside and roasted in the sun while trying to keep it balanced, inflated and get the water tank filled. We ended up with a deflated rocket, a bunch of mosquito bites, a couple of ant bites, and water mysteriously spewing out of the bottom of the tank but most definitely no rocket launch. Well, at least I only paid half price. Maybe we'll try again in a few days.

Jamie and Caleb were tired and went to bed early today. Carson stayed up later and played flashlight tag outside with some friends. Time for me to get some rest now. I have to get my little fairy to Pixies and Fairies camp early tomorrow morning.

July 25, 2009

We had a great time at the pool this morning with the family. Well, all the family except for Vic, who had to work all day. Jamie and Caleb showed us their new skills they learned in Swim lessons last week. We only ended up having two lessons last week and will have the other two next week. I can't believe how much progress they both made in only two lessons!

Carson and Jamie finished their Gym and Swim camp on Friday, and Caleb and I got to go watch them show off what they learned at camp. Carson is great at doing flips into the foam pit! Jamie loves the foam pit, too. I think she will have tiny pieces of foam stuck in her hair for a long time, since they went swimming first, and then came in with wet hair to jump into the foam pit. Jamie is excited about ballet camp next week. It is pixies and fairies themed, so that is pretty exciting!

The kids went home with Grammy for a while after the pool while I went and cleaned the church. Tonight when Vic got home from work he grilled some chicken for us and I baked some potatoes. While we were getting dinner on the table, poor Caleb was trying to get down off the counter when he slipped and bumped his chin on the counter and bit his tongue pretty bad. He got over it pretty fast, but I bet that will be sore for a few days!

Time to get some rest. I didn't get to have my tail kicked by Jillian today. I have no energy left after swimming, cleaning at the church and keeping up with the kids all day. No way I can keep up with Jillian now! I have managed to do the workout video five out of the last seven days. That's pretty good for me! I'll pick it back up tomorrow.

July 21, 2009

The a/c was fixed this morning, so I got to run the dryer today without sweating. The capacitor needed to be replaced. The two guys fixed it up in about 10 minutes - yay!

Carson and Jamie had another fun day at gym and swim camp. Then I took Jamie and Caleb over for their afternoon at Grammy and Grampy's, which turned into an overnight trip.

Carson played with William all afternoon and I got some cleaning done. The maid is coming tomorrow, and I can't let her know that I really need a maid. ;) Then I put in my time on the 30-day shred. Day four was much easier. I am not as sore, plus I used my ipod instead of listening to the DVD. It wasn't bad at all! Of course, I'm still on level 1. I guess I will move up to level 2 after day ten, but I'm going to enjoy level 1 for the next six days.

Tonight I went out to dinner with some friends from MOPS at my favorite Indian restaurant. It was lots of fun, and good to leave the island for a while!

July 20, 2009

I dropped Carson and Jamie off for their first day of Gym and Swim camp today. Then Caleb and I ran some errands and enjoyed a quiet morning.

We picked up Carson and Jamie at lunch time and headed home for the rest of the afternoon. I did day four of the 30-day shred with Jillian Michaels. Jamie asked me as the DVD was starting how long it was going to be before I was skinny like those girls on the TV. I told her it would take a long time for me to be that thin. She said, "Well, I think you're getting thinner already!" I thought that was very sweet. Then she added, staring at my stomach, "Well, maybe just a little bit. . . just a teeny tiny bit." lol. I made it through the DVD, but it was tough today because I am sore from days 1 & 2. I am very much afraid of day 30!

Today was another cooler, overcast day. I am loving this Summer weather we have had this year. It's not unbearable to be outside! Yay!

All the kids were in bed tonight by 8:45. Not bad for Summer time. I am going to be heading to bed soon, too. I am doing a good job of going to bed by 11:00 every night lately. It makes it harder to write at night, though. I am going to try to write more during the day. Vic brought home a device I can use to upload pictures to the computer. As soon as I get it figured out, I promise to start getting pictures on the blog again!

The A/C repair guy is coming out in the morning to fix our downstairs unit. I hope he can fix it easily. Even though the weather is fairly mild, it is pretty hot downstairs, especially if the dryer or oven is on.

July 17, 2009

We made it through our week in Ancient Rome at VBS. It was actually a lot of fun. I loved the curriculum. It was easy to follow, took very little work, and the kids learned a lot and even got a great history lesson about ancient Roman culture.

Of course, we didn't make it through the week without incident. Our group's "home" was right next to two large, hard plastic columns and two walls made out of foam. During our opening time one of our kids accidentally leaned back on a column and it toppled over, knocking over the other column, which landed on the piano. Both walls also fell. I had flashbacks to Macy's back in 1995.

Carson played with friends this afternoon and the little kids played together. We are all worn out from bible school. I think I am way more tired than the kids, though. Vic brought home fajitas for us tonight so I didn't have to cook. :) I can't wait to get some rest! I hope the kids sleep until at least 7 tomorrow!

July 14, 2009

Another fun day in Rome today. I was really glad that none of the kids in my class were called on to recite yesterday's verse at the opening assembly!

After lunch Carson played some more baseball, the little kids played inside and rested, and I did some laundry. Jamie asked me this afternoon "When are they going to let that guy go?" She was referring to Paul (played by our pastor) who we visit every day in "prison" at VBS. I told her I wasn't sure how long Paul was in prison, and she said, "No, I don't mean Paul. I mean that guy that's locked up at our church. He's been there two days already!" lol.

Time to go study up for tomorrow and get some rest. VBS really wears me out!

July 13, 2009

The first day of bible school went well today. We only had six kids in our "family". A couple of them had a whole lot of energy, but it wasn't too bad. Oh, and I accidentally taught them all the wrong scripture reference with today's verse. Oh well, they can say the verse. They'll just never be able to find it in the bible. ;) I'll teach them the corrected version tomorrow.

The set up is pretty cool. We visit Paul in prison with his guard, Brutus, and then we are taken to the underground church to deliver messages from Paul. The underground church is in a cave created in a hallway with dark plastic sheeting. We have to go through a small dark jungle to get to it. Thank goodness the ancient Romans somehow had a fan inside their cave or it would have been very hot in there! Of course, the people in the underground church were very anxious to hear about Paul and his message. So, when they all began excitedly asking how Paul was doing and what message we had brought, one of our more energetic ones felt the need to break it to them that, "Paul's going to be beheaded soon. Hate to tell you." They pretended not to hear him.

It was really neat and the kids in my class weren't scared as I had feared they would be. I did hear, though, that Jamie was scared when her class went in.

This afternoon, Carson swam with a friend and then played baseball in the cul-de-sac with a whole bunch of boys. Caleb and Jamie were very tired and played inside most of the afternoon. I am very tired, too! Time to get some rest before I go back to ancient Rome tomorrow!

July 11, 2009

This morning, I took Jamie to sign up for cheerleading. She is very excited and can't wait to get her uniform! She will be cheering for the Talahi Tigers 8U football team. After that, we went to Walmart for the cheer shoes that we were told she needed. I had no idea that there were special shoes for cheering! We found them, so now she needs some pom pom socks and orange ribbons and we are ready. :)

After that we picked up the boys from Grammy & Grampy's house and went home. The kids spent the afternoon playing, and I spent the afternoon cleaning up. Vic had to go to work for a while, but ended up with two new listings so it was well worth a few hours work.

Tonight, Christy and Patrick came over for dinner. Christy was so sweet to bake me a birthday cake. It was great! She even brought ice cream. :) We ate steaks, potatoes, and a really good corn pudding that Christy also made, and then enjoyed cake and ice cream. It was a fun night. I am most definitely not winning the weight loss challenge on Monday, but I have enjoyed celebrating my birthday all week. I wonder how much longer I can keep celebrating and still be able to button my pants.

Off to finish up some stuff for bible school and then finally get some rest.

July 9, 2009

I had a very nice 34th birthday yesterday! It was my favorite weather, cool and rainy, and that almost never happens in July. Carson spent the day at gymnastics camp, Jamie and Caleb spent the day with Grammy, and I spent most of my day at Target! Woohoo! I even saw Miley Cyrus's mom there!

After that, I took dinner to someone in our church who just had heart valve replacement surgery. I feared his heart couldn't take my cooking, so I picked up a rotisserie chicken and some sides from the Publix deli. Actually, I just spent too much time at Target and didn't have time to cook, but Publix is probably a better cook than I am anyway. :)

I picked up all the kids and we baked birthday cupcakes for me and then Jamie and I iced them with chocolate fudge frosting with mini chocolate chips mixed in! Mmmmmmm! So, my diet is shot for the week. Then Vic brought home Indian food for us and McDonald's for the kids. I forgot to buy candles, so Vic lit one of my Yankee candles and I blew that out.

After that, Caleb and Jamie put on their new rain boots I picked up for them at my favorite store, and went out to play in the rain before bed. Carson opted to play Wii instead. It was a great day!

Today it was rainy most of the day. Caleb, Jamie and I went to Publix and I only had to fix my windshield wiper one time! I really need to get a new one of those. It is getting embarrassing to have to stop somewhere and stand in the rain trying to pop the blade back into place.

This afternoon the weather cleared up and it started to feel almost like Summer again. I picked Carson up from camp and then let all the kids play on the new playground at the Y. It is a really cool playground!

We had take out food again tonight(Japanese this time), as I am stretching this birthday thing out as far as I can! So, no dishes to clean up! The only thing standing between me and sleep is one load of laundry to be folded, so I'm going to tackle that and get some rest!

July 7, 2009

We dropped Carson off at camp this morning, with a swim suit this time. Then we headed to Toys R Us to pick up a couple of things the kids had earned as rewards. Jamie got a swimming baby doll that she has been wanting forever and Caleb got Better Batter Baseball, which is a reward he chose for potty training. So, we got those things, and looked at about 100,000 other toys and then headed home.

The weather was so nice today! It was in the low 80s with cloud cover. Pretty crazy for July, and a very nice break from the heat. So, the kids got to play outside. Caleb had so much fun with the Better Batter baseball. I was proud of myself for putting it together. It came in a whole bunch of pieces with a bag of screws and, thankfully, some instructions.

Caleb and Jamie also gave themselves a bath this afternoon. I heard water running and discovered that they had run themselves some bath water and hopped in. They played with Jamie's swimming baby doll. Then I washed their hair and declared them clean. Saved me some work at bedtime tonight!

Carson spent the night at Grammy and Grampy's house, and took every Wii game in the house with him. I'm sure he had fun. :)

July 6, 2009

Carson had his first day of gymnastics camp today. I was concerned that 9-4 would be too long, but he had a great time. They even went for a swim. Well, Carson didn't, since I didn't think to send a swim suit with him to gymnastics camp, but tomorrow I will.

The little kids and I had a quiet day at home and only ventured out once to go to Publix. They played outside some, since the weather was a little milder today, and made plenty of messes playing inside, too.

After Carson got home, things were much less quiet, since three of his friends came over. They played hide and seek inside and played Wii. I never knew that either of those activities could be so noisy! They were playing the Punch Out game that Uncle Brent brought over last night.

Vic brought home pizza for dinner - yay, no cooking! Then I set up our new voice mail system while he supervised bath time. We just switched our home phone service to T-mobile a few days ago, and I had no idea we had voice mail service until Grammy mentioned to me today that she had left me a message. So, I looked up instructions on line, and found out that we had 8 messages. Whoops! Good thing there was nothing urgent on there!

July 4, 2009

Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone had a fun day celebrating!

We all went to the pool today with Grammy and had lots of fun. Carson's friend was there again, and Jamie found someone to play with, too. Caleb tried his best to hang with the big boys. He is quite the little swimmer with those water wings on!

We had a quiet day at home this afternoon. Vic went to visit some of his friends who were staying at the beach for the weekend. The kids were tired from the pool, so we stayed home and got takeout from Applebee's for dinner.

I think the fireworks have died down now, so I am off to get some rest!

July 3, 2009

We had a great time at the pool with Grammy this morning. Carson found a friend to play with there, and Caleb and Jamie had a great time splashing around with me and Grammy.

This afternoon, Caleb and Jamie decided that they were kittens and played kittens quietly all afternoon. They also made a big mess downstairs, but at least they were quiet and happy.

Carson spent the afternoon swimming over at a friend's house, and now he has gone to watch some fireworks with Vic.

Caleb and Jamie are definitely not quiet right now because they are unhappy with me for not letting them go to the fireworks. They are tired and need to go to bed! Plus, they are watching the fireworks from a dock and I don't trust Caleb to not try to jump into the water.

So, off to put these two to bed and then take advantage of the quiet time to restore order to the downstairs!

Hope everyone has a great 4th tomorrow!

July 2, 2009

I took all the kids to The Flying Frogs this morning, which is an indoor play area and arcade that is similar to, but much more tolerable than its evil cousin, Chuck E Cheese, and has way better pizza. The kids played in the play area, blew through a whole bunch of tokens super fast, and devoured a whole pepperoni pizza. Carson won a stuffed animal for all three of them on the crane game. He really has a gift for that!

We spent the afternoon at home. The kids watched some TV and ate popcorn, and Caleb took a fairly long nap.

Later I went for a walk with the kids. It was overcast outside, so I thought the heat wouldn't be too bad. It was pretty bad, though, especially when pushing Caleb and Jamie (a total of 83 pounds) in the stroller. I only made it 25 minutes, but it's better than nothing. Vic has been jogging and is kicking my tail in the weight loss competition, so I have to get serious!

Time to get some rest now!