Backyard Fun!! Is it summer yet?

Weekend update!

I hope you all had a good weekend!

Ours was very busy. Friday Princess went over to AB's house. They swam and played and then we all met up for supper at a really kid-friendly/fun restaurant.

Saturday we went out with AB's family on their boat. We all had a blast! It was about 100 degrees so it was perfect weather for boating.

Sunday we went to church and then had AB over to play in the back yard.

Monday we went shopping and then took the kids swimming at the gym.

Busy busy weekend. I am heading outside with the boys right now before it gets too hot.

Princess Track and Field Day Pictures!

Princess's school had track and field day on Friday. It was a "full day of PE things" according to Princess. Here are some pictures from the day!

Prince's pre-school pictures!

Winding up the school year

These last few weeks have been crazy busy. Today is no exception.

This morning I will drop the Prince off for his last day of pre-school at 9:30. At 11:00 DadOf3, the Knight, and I will head back to watch his end-of-the-year program. He is so excited!!!

I received his report card on Tuesday. I hope you don't mind if I brag on him a little bit. In pre-school, the are graded "A" for Always, "M" for Most of the Time, "S" for Sometimes, "B" for Beginning, and "N" for Never.

My little Prince got "A" for always on everything! This includes

• letter recognition,
• number recognition,
• color recognition,
• shape recognition,
• sharing,
• cooperating,
• obeying the teacher,
• learning about God (it is a Christian pre-school),
• listening and following direction,
• working independently,
• Art,
• Music,
• PE,
• practicing self control,
• and the list goes on and on.

Needless to say, I am so proud of my little guy! He has had so much fun in pre-school.

The very best part of the report card is that it confirms my decision to start the Prince in Kindergarten in the fall.

I will post some pictures after the big show! If I can figure out youtube I will post some video too!

Wordless Wednesday - Failed Escape Plan!!

Busy week!

Yesterday Princess celebrated her un-birthday at school. She was so excited! Last week I picked up some goodie bags and we filled them with pencils, sunglasses shaped like stars, silly straws, and a bouncy ball. She had a great time handing them out. In addition, I had lunch with her and brough in muffins and juice. They do not allow cupcakes or cake unless it is a school party.

Last night we all went out to dinner to celebrate DadOf3's and my 8th wedding anniversary! So much has changed in these past 8 years that it isn't even funny. The majority of the changes happend during our first year of marriage. Within that year,

• we got married
• we found out we were expecting Princess (6 months after being married),
• we moved 1000 miles from home,
• we both quit our jobs,
• DadOf3 got a new job,
• I quite being a computer programmer
• We decided that I would stay home with Princess,
• we lived in an apartment for a year because our house would not sell,
• we moved into a new house even though the supposed sale of our house in Iowa fell through,
• we had 2 mortgages for over a year,

Thinking about all of those changes still makes me cringe. It was a wild ride and we made it though.

This afternoon I am heading to a Reader's Theatre put on my Princess's class. DadOf3 is coming home for lunch at noon so I can go alone. Princess will appreciate that she has my undivided attention!

Happy Anniversary!

8 years ago today, DadOf3 and I were married! Happy Anniversary, DadOf3! I love you!

18 Kids?

OK, I am just curious about what people think about this: http://www.duggarfamily.com/index.html.

This family is expecting baby #18.

I know it really is none of my business, but I have mixed feelings about this.

On one hand, they seem like a really nice family. The kids seem well behaved and well educated. They all take violin and piano lessons.

The problem I have is that I seriously doubt that the mother, Michelle, is really taking care of all of her kids. I think she is a good person, but being put into a situation where she is raising 17/18 children, she would have to delegate, wouldn't she?

Is she raising these children or is she supervising her oldest daughters while they raise her kids?

The pictures on their website show show just the girls in the laundry room and kitchen.

The girls are always in skirts or dresses.

I know I am being unfair. Like I said before, this is really none of my business. This family made the choice to have all of these children. Without this decision, these kids would not be alive.

With all the girls in long dresses wearing their hair as long as can be, I cannot help but equate it in my mind with all the talk about the polygamist sect in the news of late.

Are these girls free to be themselves? Are they expected to marry and produce as many offspring as their mother? They cannot all like this lifestyle, can they?

It is just hard for me to wrap my mind around having 18 kids. Wow....

Soccer Saturday!

Prince and Princess had their very last soccer game yesterday, followed by an award ceremony where they each received a medal! The medals have become prized possessions and have been worn constantly ever since. I nixed wearing them to church however. :)

Shout Out to At Home Daddy Blog!

Hey all!

I know most of you who read my blog are mommy bloggers, but if you want a funny read, check out the blog of a friend of ours. He is a stay at home dad to the Talker (Kindergarten) and Princess (pre-school). His blog is hilarious and now he is up for an award! His blog is called At Home Daddy.

If you feel so inclined, head on over to http://www.thebestofblogs.com/2008/05/12/best-daddy-blog-vote-here/ and vote for At Home Daddy!

Seaweed Smorgasbord

This afternoon, Princess's class is having a Seaweed Smorgasbord. I had no idea that seaweed was a part of so many kind of foods. Here is our menu for the Smorgasbord:

• Velveeta Mac and Cheese
• Healty Choice Ice Cream
• Sunny Delight
• Chocolate Milk
• Aqua Fresh Toothpaste
• Entenmann's Pastry (never heard of these before this week)
• Hostess Cupcakes

I thought this was interesting too:

ALL of the items (except the inedible things) will have one of the following ingredients:
· Red Algae
o Agar – used in making sweet gel, jams, and jellies, canned fish, ice cream
o Carrageenan – uses in making chocolate milk, sherbet, whipped cream, syrups, toppings, creamed soup
· Brown Algae
o Alginates, algin, sodium alginate, calcium alginate – used in making pudding, salad dressing, icing, bakery gel fillings, tomato sauces, gravies, frozen foods
· Green Algae
o Sea Vegetables – when dried can be used in salads as a seasoning

Anyhow, that is what we will be up to most of the day. I am bringing the mac and cheese. The party is at 1:45 - right during the boys' nap time, but we are still going.

Here's to hoping the boys are good!

A Little Excitement!

We had a little excitement last night.

Tis the season for storms and we had a doosy of a storm go by just north of us. When all was said and done we didn't even get any rain. It was about 9:00 when everything started happening. We got the kids out of bed just in case. Then we put Miney and Moe in their cat carrier.

I am an Iowa girl, so whenever we have storms down here I lament the fact that Texas houses do not have basements. We have a coat closet that we have dubbed the storm closet. It is underneath the stairs and completely interior.

DadOf3 and I took out a lot of stuff from the closet: vacuum cleaner, Christmas decorations, shoe organizer. Then we made sure we would all fit. I grabbed the kids bike helmets on a whim. I also stuck in some water and snacks.

We never actually made it into the closet - except for Miney and Moe. We put them in because we thought if we had to race to get everyone in the closet, it would be easier if they were already there. They were none too pleased about their fate and meowed the entire time they were in there.

The kids were really good. Princess tried to get a little melodramatic, but we were able to talk her out of it. We showed her the radar on TV and showed her were we were.

For being up until 10:00 last night, the kids were really good this morning. Princess popped out of bed and got ready in record time. The boys were up at their normal 7:00 so I am going to have some tired boys this afternoon.

The Knight and I are off to the grocery store this morning or maybe to the Party Store. Princess gets to celebrate her un-birthday next Tuesday. She has a summer birthday so that is nice of her teacher to let her celebrate. Next Tuesday just happens to be DadOf3's and my 8th wedding anniversary too so that is fun!

Anyway, I hope you have a nice, storm-free day!

:) MomOf3

Wordless Wednesday - MomOf3 and DadOf3!

We made it!

We made it through yesterday - barely!

It was such a super crazy day that DadOf3 and I put the kids to bed and hit the hay ourselves at 9:00! Luckily the boys were all tuckered out from avoiding their naps all afternoon and fell right to sleep. Princess is usually pretty exhausted by Tuesday night so she drifted off to dreamland in a timely manner as well.

I did manage to watch American Idol as planned. I really love our Tivo. There are not many shows that I just hate to miss anymore, but Tivo lets me watch the ones that I do!

Here are my favorites:

• American Idol
• Survivor
• The Biggest Loser
• House
• Grey's Anatomy

Today is going to be a much more calm day. The boys and I are heading over to MomOf2Boys's house to play. We usually meet at the park, but it is raining. I hope this does not mean that we are going to have as wet a summer as last year.

Super busy day

This is going to be a super busy day today. I am a little reluctant to start it....

6:00AM - All three kids woke up
6:15AM - Start some laundry
6:30AM - Breakfast for all kids
7:00AM - Princess catches the bus
7:30AM - Boys need to be dressed
7:45AM - Mommy sneaks in a shower (hopefully)
8:00AM - Make grocery list
8:15AM - Do Room Parent stuff
9:15AM - Take Prince to pre-school
9:30AM - Get groceries
10:30AM - Put groceries away
11:00AM - Head to lunch with Princess
12:00PM - Get the Knight lunch because he didn't eat what the school offered
12:15PM - switch laundry/ put in a new load
12:30PM - Small nap for Knight
1:00PM - Clean for a while
1:30PM - Swap laundry again
1:45PM - Pick up Prince from pre-school
2:15PM - head to the school to pick up Princess for girl scouts/entertain boys for 1/2 hour
2:45PM - Princess gets out of school
3:00PM - Princess has brownies
3;15PM - Take boys home and get them snacks
3:30PM - Put Knight down for a nap if he didn't nap earlier
4:00PM - Swap laundry
4:30PM - Pick Princess up from brownies
4:45PM - Encourage (bribe/insist/threaten) Princess to start homework
5:00PM - Start supper
5:15PM - Watch the boys/make supper/ supervise homework/referee
5:30PM - Pray for DadOf3 to come home soon
5:35PM - Welcome DadOf3 home!!!!
6:00PM - Supper
6:30PM - Supper clean up
6:45PM - Send DadOf3 outside with the boys and help Princess to finish her homework
7:30PM - Baths for anyone who needs one
8:00PM - Bedtime for the kids
8:00-8:30 - chase kids back upstairs/referee/threaten
9:00PM - Watch tivo'd American Idol and most likely fall asleep while watching it!

Yikes!

Mother's Day at Church

For Mother's Day, the pre-schoolers sang a song in front of the entire congregation on Sunday morning. Here are some pictures of my little Prince! He did such a great job! He was singing the words and doing the actions. My Prince is in the blue and dark blue striped shirt!

Happy Mother's Day from Our House to Yours!!

Thursday

Today we are off to see a program at the Prince's school. It is his Spring/Mother's Day program and we are picking up DadOf3 before heading out to pre-school. I will post pictures later!

I still have lots of pictures from GrandmaOf4's visit to post too!

My to-do list keeps growing and growing. I am so ready for summer - time to catch our collective breath.

(not so) Wordless Wednesday: Kindergarten Round-Up

I took the Prince and the Knight to Kindergarten Round-Up yesterday morning. The boys were surprisingly well behaved.

My little Prince looks so small and so big at the same time. Here he is standing next to the school.

Kindergarten Round-Up basically consisted of the principal and others talking about the school. Then there was a tour, then we filled out the paper work and showed all of the necessary documentation for Prince to begin school.

I brought colors for the boys and that helped hold their attention while I filled out all of the forms.

What a BIG day for my little Prince!

GrandmaOf4

GrandmaOf4 and DadOf3 took off for the airport this morning. We had a lovely visit that went way too fast. I will post pictures and stories this afternoon.

This morning the boys and I are off to Kindergarten Round-up for the Prince! It is hard to believe that he will be a Kindergartener next year, but he is ready and raring to go. This time around, I have all the necessary documents where I need them. I ordered his birth certificate from vital statistics about 6 months ago. Now I have one for each of my three kiddos.

We had such a nice time with GrandmaOf4. I am bumming a little bit this morning. It is always sad to say good-bye. At least we have our next trip planned so I will see her again in about two months. We will see GrandpaOf4 then too.

Voices - Day 2 - Kid Herding Voice

Someone once said that getting children to move somewhere as a group was like herding cats.

I have cats. They do not herd.

Neither do children!

This little fact can be both entertaining and annoying depending on the amount of time I have to get somewhere.

Since this is a MOPS morning, it brings to mind the times when I had three little ankle biters to get to MOPS by 9:00AM.

9:00AM is not that early, especially if you consider that I got up at 6:00 to begin the whole process. Three hours should be plenty of time to get everyone fed, dressed, groomed, and out the door.

But it wasn't. At least not all of the time.

Kids do not move like adults. They are easily distracted (so is DadOf3, but that is another story), they like to take their time, and hurrying them along actually has the opposite affect on them.

My oldest was 3 1/2 when my youngest was born. She was still in that toddler/pre-schooler age of independence. She had to do everything by herself and if I even attempted to help her, she had to put things back just as they were and repeat the process her way.

Forget about rushing her. The more I pushed, the more she would resist.

This is where Mommy Imagination comes into play.

Herding Mommy Voice: Come on, Princess! It is a MOPS Friday! Let me help you with your cereal so we can go!

Princess: No! I can do it by myself.

Herding Mommy Voice: I am going to eat it all because it looks YUMMY!

Princess: No no no! It's mine!

(And Princess proceeds to eat her breakfast.)

Herding Mommy Voice: Now let's go potty!

Princess: No! I don't have any potty in me!

Herding Mommy Voice: Well, let's have a race then and see who can go potty faster. You go in that potty and I will go in my potty. Ready. Set. GO!

(And Princess proceeds to go potty, happily beating mommy in the race.)

Herding Mommy Voice: Well, it is time to get in Otis the van!

Princess: NO! I don't WANT to go to MOPS!

Herding Mommy Voice: Well, I guess Prince and Knight are going to get buckled up first and win!

Princess: No!! I want to get in first.

(And Princess proceeds to the van, gets in and gets buckled before the boys.)

Child herding is not for the faint of heart! But if you have the right tone in your voice, it can be done!


Written for NaBloPoMo's Month of Voices!

Recipe Link

Coming soon!

Voices - Day 1

The folks over at NaBloPoMo have another theme for another month. I cannot believe that it is May but it is! This month's theme is "Voices". At first I thought this would be really, really hard, but as a mommy, I know that many different voices come out of my mouth. Here is my first attempt at this month's theme:

Science Voice Mommy!

Monday night was an absolutely beautiful night. Princess got her homework done in no time flat, and that is saying something for a Monday, the busiest homework night of the week. Because it was so nice outside, and because DadOf3 had had a crazy day at work, we decided to walk to Race Track Park. This is the park where we usually load the bikes up in the back of the truck and head on over to let the kids race around the parking lot, AKA The Racetrack.

They complained a little bit because it is over a mile and a half after we have walked there and back. It is so good for them though and for us too.

We got to the park and all was well. The kids played and DadOf3 and I chatted about our day. When it was time to head home, the kids came without too much complaint.

As we were walking down the sidewalk heading for home, my little Prince had to empty out his shoes. They had collected rocks from our time on the playscape. From his sitting vantage point, he saw a little big on the sidewalk, and it caught his eye.

Prince: "Mommy look! A bug!"

Science Mommy Voice: "What kind of bug do you think this is?"

Prince: "A Rolley Polley."

Science Mommy Voice: "Where do you think he is going?"

Prince: "Probably to go eat something."

Science Mommy Voice: "What do you think he will eat?"

Prince: "I don't know."

Science Voice Mommy: "Do you like this little bug?"

Prince: "Nope."

Science Voice Mommy: "Why?"

Prince: "Because he is icky and stinky and ooky and...."

Science Voice Mommy: "But he is also one of God's creatures. And this is his home. When bugs are inside our house, they are somewhere they are not supposed to be so it is OK to squash them, but when we are outside we are in his home. Look! I think he wants to crawl on you!"

(Rolley Polley makes the fateful decision to crawl toward the Prince.)

Prince: "Not today!"

(Prince stomps the bug....)

Science Voice Mommy: (Long lecture about respecting nature and God's creatures.)


So many things can be teaching moments with our kids. I am not always with it enough to seize these moments, but it makes me feel like a good mommy when I do.

Throwback Thursday!

Here I am with baby Princess in DadOf3's work office. This was her very first Halloween! We called her our little pumpkin so that is what she had to be that year.