Prince's Special Day

DadOf4 has been doing special days for the last several year.  During each child's special day, s/he gets to plan out an entire afternoon one on one with Daddy.  The kids have evolved from McDonald's and a movie to Cici's Pizza and Main Event.  Whatever they choose, the kids (and Daddy) have a great time.

Wordless Wednesday - Growing a Beard for a Good Cause (more later)!

(Illegal words: DadOf3 is growing a beard/mustache for a charity event at work. Luckily it is driving him nuts and he shows no signs of wanting to keep it! He is cute clean shaven or scruffy - I just prefer clean shaven!)

Successful Shopping Venture!

DadOf3 and Princess had a great time shopping yesterday! Here are some of their finds!

Daddy and Daughter Date Day!

I love posting this! My husband took a 1/2 day off from work today to spend with our daughter. He will do the same for our oldest son in the very near future.

Princess and DadOf3 are having a Daddy and Daughter Date Day!

Last year before Princess started Kindergarten, DadOf3 took Princess dress shopping. Oh my! She remembers that day well and has been asking for several weeks when she and Daddy can go dress shopping again! She loved getting some fun dresses and spending some special time with Daddy.

This year they are making a whole afternoon of it! They are going dress shopping, stopping at McDonald's for a bite to eat, and then heading to a movie.

I think it is so special for the Dads out there to spend one on one time with their children. Girl's will look at this time as a model of how boys should treat them when they are older. Boys will look at this time as a model of how to behave themselves. I am a stay at home Mom so I have many opportunities to spend one on one time with my kids. Dad's have to make a special effort to do this.

Did I mention that I married the most wonderful man in the world? :)

Friday Night, DadOf3's Party

We had a nice Friday night. Princess wanted to decorate for DadOf3's birthday and I thought, "what the heck"! It was a good chance for them to focus on someone else's birthday. DadOf3 got a call from his side of the family that night. Here are some pictures of the decorations.

Morning:DadOf3's Birthday!

The Royals and I have had fun this morning. We have been planning a fun celebration for DadOf3's birthday! The kids are at just the right age where celebrating birthdays is very important, so we are making this an all day event. Princess had a great idea yesterday: She wanted to decorate the kitchen with balloons and streamers. We went to the grocery store this morning, and in addition to buying some ordinary groceries (milk, juice, eggs) we got some extra-ordinary groceries (mylar balloons and streamers)!

Here are the kids with the balloons they picked "for Daddy"!

Celebrating DadOf3!

Tonight we went out to dinner as a family to celebrate DadOf3's birthday. His birthday is actually tomorrow so we got a head start. The kids were pretty good and the food was very good!

When we got home we had time for a half hour of reading and then it was time for the kiddos to turn in.

(I have 21101 steps...not quite 25000.)

Monday Update

We started Vacation Bible School this week! I signed the Prince and the Princess up and then decided that since the Knight and I would be in the car 2 hours a day (2 round trips) anyway, that it would be a good idea for me to sign up to teach and have the Knight go into the nursery. I do not regret it, but man! Monday was a tough day. I am teaching in a room full of 16 four year olds, including the Prince. Man! They sure do keep me on my toes. Unfortunately Monday it was just me and three 11 year old helpers. I was supposed to have another teacher with me, but she emailed and told me that she would not be able to make it on Monday. The logistics of delivering my 5 year old and my 2 year old to their classes and being in my class with my almost four year old before class begins and within a 10 minute time frame is a little tricky. One adult has to be in the classroom with the 4 year olds. We cannot leave an 11 year old to baby-sit. Today we taught the kids that "God is real!" We talked about real things versus fake things. I was actually proud of myself and got up in front of about 60 people and told the Bible story of the day. Talk about getting out of my comfort zone! Yikes! We have a total of 700 kids total at VBS this week. 700 KIDS! Isn't that amazing?

DadOf3's company went through another round of lay-offs on Monday too. Since DadOf3's team lost several people last time, they were spared this time. DadOf3 was not worried about his job but each time this happens it makes us think about where we are and where we want to be.

Saturday Update

We had a very nice day on Saturday. We were all invited to a birthday party for one of the Princess' classmates, AB. Their family has a swimming pool, so DadOf3 and I decided that I would take the Prince and the Princess while he stayed at home with the Knight. DadOf3 was very nice and got out the baby swimming pool for the Knight and they spent about an hour outside in the water. The Prince and the Princess had a blast at AB's pool party! They wanted to get right into the pool, and since we have not been swimming for a while, that meant that I had to get in too. It was a nice warm day so I didn't mind getting in the pool at all. AB had a boat that the Prince floated around in for a while until we discovered the life jackets! Both the Prince and the Princess borrowed a life jacket and then floated and swam around the pool for about 2 hours! After that, AB's parents provided a hotdog or hamburger supper for everyone. Wow! They really know how to throw a party! It was a Pokemon theme party. Before this year I really had no idea what Pokemons even were, but let me tell you that they are quite popular with the Kindergarten crowd!. After supper, games, and cake, we headed home to meet up with DadOf3 and the Knight. We were very sleepy after all of that swimming! I fell asleep on the couch that night, I didn't even attempt to stay up for Saturday Night Live!

VBS Kickoff

Tonight we had Vacation Bible School Kick-off! The kids had loads of fun. There were water jumpers and all three kiddos just got soaked! I picked up all of the stuff for my class. It is going to be very interesting to see how I do in a roomful of 15 four year olds! They didn't have the Prince in my class so I sent an email to see if I could steal him back. I want him with me! They had hotdogs and hamburgers for the kiddos to eat. DadOf3 and I opted out because we wanted to eat at home. The kids liked the hotdogs though and they especially liked getting a Sprite all to themselves! They don't get to have soda very often.

Princess's Last Day Of Kindergarten

Today is Princess's last day of Kindergarten. From what I have heard, going to First Grade is a reality check for students and parents alike. Kindergarten was a lot of fun, Princess made some good friends and had an awesome teacher! She got up this morning really well. DadOf3 drove her to school this morning in the truck and I am going to pick her up with the boys after school. She was very excited to not have to ride the bus. It gets pretty hot in there. One good thing is that although she is one of the first kids to be picked up in the morning, she is also one of the first kids to get dropped off at the end of the day, when it is a lot hotter. Princess likes to have her "Bubba" with her for breakfast. This winter she used to get cold in the mornings and wrap her blankets around her. She kept the habit even though it is warm enough in the mornings now that the A/C kicks on. She is a cutie pie. DadOf3 took over my reading duties with Princess this morning so I could grab a quick shower before they left for school. Our normal reading time is between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning. We will need to find some new quiet time this summer, most likely when the boys go down for their naps. I took some pictures this morning (go figure!) so I will post them now.

Saturday Morning

There was a free concert in town this weekend. We are lucky to live in a city where there are lots of music venues. One in particular holds free concerts 2 or 3 times per year. This year, the weather was perfect so we decided to go. That was not until the afternoon, however. Saturday morning was spent doing lots of stuff. DadOf3 went outside and finished the rails of the deck! Yippee! The kids and I went for a walk while DadOf3 worked on the deck and then came home for lunch and naps. The Prince wanted to ride his trike. He does a good job with it and made it almost the entire way! The Princess wanted to take her beloved Sea Star with her so she rode in the stroller with the Knight. She made the Sea Star at school and just loves it. It is made of plaster so I was a bit worried of the Sea Star meeting an untimely demise but all went well. DadOf3 and the Princess also went to Lowe's to get the wood needed for the deck stairs after Princess decided not to take a nap.

DadOf3 Celebrity Matches!

http://www.myheritage.com

Saturday Night Snazzball!

DadOf3 had a great idea for an activity for all of us tonight. Since we didn't know if we could get in at such a spur of the moment, we told the kids we were taking them to play Snazzball. Really, we wanted to take them bowling! We have a place in town where there is bowling, rock climbing, and laser tag. It was pretty pricey but we found out if we go during the week and not on a Saturday, there are breaks on price. The Prince and the Princess did great once we figured out how to get the bumper bowling to work. The Prince actually got the highest score. His technique would not work for everyone. He threw the ball as hard as he could against the bumper. The ball zig zagged back and forth and back and forth and back and forth down the lane until it hit some pins. The little stinker actually got several spares with this method! Princess was a little mad that she didn't beat the Prince, but she did well too! MomOf3 and DadOf3 take the 5th on how our bowling went. Let's just say that it has been years since bowling balls have touched our hands! The Knight was a bystander this time. DadOf3 let him throw one of his balls down the lane for fun but for the most part DadOf3 and I took turns holding him. It was a great Saturday Night out on the town! Since we gave the kiddos baths before we left, all we had to do before bed was give them bed-lunch (what DadOf3's side of the family calls before-bed snacks) and tuck in the kids. We bought some chocolate cake at Costco the other night so everyone got a piece of cake and headed to bed. Naps didn't go well today so I am actually tired too. I am hoping to make it up until the Saturday Night Live news. We shall see if that happens. Happy Saturday! :)

Friday Night

Every Friday night is allowance time at our house. The big kids each earn $0.25 per week. DadOf3 and I have put together a little store of items that they can buy with their money or save it until the next week when there might be something even better in the store. The Princess has become quite a wealthy young lady lately with all of her toothfairy money! At $1 per tooth, she has been able to buy some neat things like a jump rope, a pair of goggles, and some candy. The Prince likes to save his money and just buy bubble gum. The Knight is a little too young for allowance. We started the Prince after he kept his pull-up dry every day during nap time. That was about 3 years old. We had a pretty laid back kind of night Friday night. We turned on some music and DadOf3 and the Princess took a spin or two around the living room. See DadOf3 dipping the Princess? It just melted my heart. :) TGIF!

DadOf3 Traveling for Business - Blah!

This is a very strange day so far. DadOf3 and I were up at the "butt-crack" of dawn today, to quote a phrase DadOf3 liked to use pre-kids. Seriously, it was 4:30 when the alarm clock went off today. I am surprised that I am so wide awake 6 hours later. And I thought 6:00AM when I get the Princess up for school every day was early. Yikes! DadOf3 has to travel to a city about 3 hours away. We are lucky that he does not have to do this very often. It really is nice to have him working 8 minutes from home every day. I know that if ever there is a major crisis (which so far has been limited to the invasion of gigantic spiders and various other big bugs that this gal from Iowa has never had to deal with), he can be home in a matter of minutes. The Prince and the Knight are being pretty good today. The Prince was up before the Princess today. I don't know how in the world DadOf3 and I made a morning person, but we did. The Princess and the Knight will sleep until well after 8:00. The Prince is up at the first sound of movement downstairs. He told me last week that he heard me taking dishes out of the dishwasher so he had to come downstairs. Anyway, DadOf3 arrived safely. Now he has to endure a day of being on an expert panel anwering computer questions all day. He is going to be tired when he gets home and we will be very glad to see him.

Weekend Update - Steinmart or Bust!

We have had a great weekend here in FamilyOf5Land! Yesterday we all got up early (not MomOf3's ideal way to start the weekend) and had an early start to the day. After breakfast, DadOf3 headed out to get his hair cut. He has to travel next week and he always feels better after a haircut. His traveling next week was also a catalyst for our next adventure: shopping with three kids. DadOf3 needed some new, nicer, summery shirts, so we headed over to ye olde Steinmart for some fun family shopping. If the Prince and the Princess had just told me that they preferred to not shop yesterday, life would have been a little easier. Instead, once we arrived in the store, they declared matter-of-factly that they didn't want to shop and wanted to run around the entire store instead! Now, I like Steinmart. I have found some good buys at Steinmart. DadOf3 likes Steinmart. My one beef with Steinmart is that they have no carts. Carts are critical when you are dealing with a 5 year old and a three year old who do not want to shop and a 2 year old who likes to copy his big brother and big sister! Being the nice wife that I am, once we arrived at the store, I told DadOf3 to go shopping and I would take the kids over to the ladies clothes and look around. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this was a very BAD idea! The path from the store's men's section to the store's women's section took us directly through the store's gift section. This is a very scary place to be with three kids!! There were glass figuringes, glass photo frames, and collectible old-fashioned-looking cars and trucks. Once the Prince saw the cars and trucks, any hope of shopping with them alone had flowen out the window. As a stay at home parent, I must admit that one thing that I really, truly miss is shopping - alone. Currently, if I need new clothes, I order online and hope for the best. This was a chance for MomOf3 to actually TRY ON clothes before purchasing them. The Prince kept coming over to me when I called him and then running right back to the cars and trucks (and out of my line of vision) laughing his very best naughty-little-boy laugh. Grrrr! I turned into mean mommy at that point and threatened to take them out to to van if they didn't shape up. Instead, I just ended up leading them around and around the store in a fruitless attempt to run off some of their energy. DadOf3 came out of the dressing room after what seemed like hours, finding much success in his shirt selection. He was pretty happy with his finds and then offered to watch the kiddos while I went shopping. I jumped at the opportunity but I ended up taking the Princess with me. DadOf3 is an awesome daddy but dealing with the three of them in that situation would have sent him through the roof. The Princess and I went shopping and found some solid colored t-shirts for me! Yippee! T-shirts and shorts are all I need to get me through the extreme heat down here in the southern US. It was a successful if stressful venture!

Missing the BreadWinner

This blog has been sorely lacking in stories about the BreadWinner, MomOf3's hubby of almost 7 years. We are missing him today because normally, he comes home for lunch and then is home for the night around 5:30. Today however, was oil change day for the van so DadOf3 (I like this name better) took the van into the show. With no transportion, he was not home for lunch. Since he has to pick up the van from way far away, he will not grace us with his presence until after 6:30. With the Princess's shift to Miss Attitude today this MomOf3 is looking forward to some reinforcements. That and MomOf3 misses DadOf3.