A nice, normal day!

We have had a nice, normal day today. And that feels awesome! With all the traveling we have done this month, it felt really good to take the kids to the park this morning and then get groceries.

Yes, it was a little too much to do in one day and the kids made me pay for it at the grocery store, but it was good for all of us. Our time at the park is not, shall I say, a walk in the park. My kids play hard. They love the monkey bars (the Prince can do them now! Princess has been able to do them for 2 year), walking/running the trails, climbing the jungle gyms, and swinging. They play hard at the park and I encourage them to do so. We all need exercise.

Next week my plan is to get back to the gym so I can get some walking in while they play in the playroom and then let them swim. That is so good for us. Everyone comes home tired and happy. Tomorrow we are supposed to get some rain so I may take my trio to a free movie. They love going and it makes for a pretty easy morning for me.

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.

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!

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!

A Nice, Normal Day!

We just had a nice, normal day today. I originally planned to not go to Lifetime Fitness because I wanted to have lunch with the Princess. It turned out that DadOf3 had lunch plans so he could not come home and watch the boys. We will plan another day. The pastor of the church where I attend MOPS invited all of the Steering members to an Appreciation Lunch today. From what I understand, it is quite unusual for a church to be so supportive of the MOPS ministry. We are so very lucky though. The church takes care of paying the childcare workers and this very needed ministry has its own budget through the church. They boys had fun playing with some other kids and (I think) were glad to get out of the house. I know I was glad to do something different that sitting around being sick! Here are some pictures of the boys!

What a Night!

Yesterday was a busy day for us. We had some afternoon fun at a small water park here in town.

DadOf3 actually beat us home last night.

When we got home from the water park, things became chaotic. The Prince and the Knight tried to race up the stairs at the same time - the Knight lost and fell down two of the bottom stairs, hitting his head on the hardwood floor below. The Prince got a time-out for pushing past his brother and causing the fall. While in his room, he promptly fell asleep, having skipped his nap earlier in the day. After making sure the Knight was OK and feeding the Knight and the Princess because they were "super starving", DadOf3 went upstairs to get the Prince and have him go potty so he would not wet through. While he went potty, DadOf3 noticed a red, bumpy rash on the Prince's legs.

The Prince has very sensitive skin. My guess is that the water at the water park, treated with chlorine and other chemicals, caused the rash because after putting him in the tub and treating him with Cortaide, he is rash free this morning. Yippee!

Back to last night....

Because the Prince had a reaction to the water, we decided to throw the Princess and the Knight in the tub too. We normally doing this after playing in water anyway, but because it was so late we had opted out this time. Never again!

By the time everyone was bathed and fed and put into bed it was after 9:30 and DadOf3 and I had yet to eat supper. I quickly threw something together and we were eating by 10:00. It reminded us of our dating days when we never ate earlier than 9:00.

Whew!

I will post pictures and write about the water park in a bit!

Extreme Multi-tasking or ADD?

Have you ever tried to do too many things at once. That is where I am right now. My mother, GrandmaOf4, is coming into town tonight! I am trying to get the house ready for her, get through the laundry, entertain the boys, and plan activities to do while GrandmaOf4 is in town! She will be here for an entire week and, while we could happily sit and talk for that entire week, I want to show her a little bit of the City. We actually told the kiddos that GrandmaOf4 is arriving tomorrow morning because she gets into town around 11:00 tonight and hopefully the kids will be asleep by the time DadOf3 brings her home from the airport. Well, it was on my list to post today so I can check that off. I am including a cute picture of the Prince and the Knight too. They are settled in and watching Cars while I run around like a chicken with its head cut off. Hopefully I will be more entertaining later in the day!

Sunday Night

Well, DadOf3 made it outside to work on the deck again today despite the threat of rain. It was a little damp but it never did rain. The Prince woke up from his nap first and went right outside with DadOf3 to help him work on the deck. They even made a fun trip to Lowe's for more wood glue. It is a great day for the Prince when he gets a truck ride and a go-cart ride on the very same day! The Princess and the Knight slept until 4:00. Then the Princess wanted to do something so we painted her fingernails and toenails and then she worked on her paper chain. She wants to have 100 links and she is getting pretty close. After a supper of brats and beans, we all settled in to watch some Sunday Night Funniest Home Videos. DadOf3 was a little tired and snoozed some with the Knight on his lap. They are so cute! Have a great evening.

It Sure Is Monday!

Monday again, wow! It has been a busy day. I have run 4 loads of laundry through and am waiting on the 5th load. I have cleaned two bathrooms and taken care of the Prince and the Knight all morning. My goodness but they can be messy when I am trying to get other things done. It seems like they following me around and undo the cleaning that I have done or at least make things more and more messy. I know that they just want my attention but we need to get some stuff done today. I am going to go to a movie tonight with MomOf2Boys. She is a great lady and I am glad she is my friend. We met in the neighborhood and we go to MOPS together. She has 2 boys one who is almost 6 years old and one who is 3 1/2. We are going to see Reign Over Me at the Alamo Drafthouse. I like going to this theater because they have things other than just popcorn to eat. You can eat your entire supper there if you want to. It is good for me to get out of the house. I have been in a bit of a funk for the last few months, wondering what I am doing and why I am doing it. It is not good to have too much time without other adults around. Too much time to think, at least for me, is not a good thing. Anyway, we have had a great day of getting things done. We had a free HBO weekend this weekend so I tivoed lots of movies. I am going to fold laundry and watch a movie as a treat for getting stuff done!

Another Power Shower Day

Well, the Princess is off to school, the Prince got up at 6:00AM just like his sister. The Knight was up by 7:00 again. It is an early start to the day - that means another power-shower for this MomOf3. Power Shower = jump in, wash your hair, soap up as much as you can, rinse, and try to be out before the Prince and the Knight break anything (max. 5 minutes). Yawn! Last night was kind of fun. We made a family trip to Costco. (Exciting, I know!) We needed some staple household items (diapers and milk) and we were also ready to get out of the house for a while. It is web-worm time outside, and because I am not partial to having little worms falling on my hair from the sky, I vetoed playing out in the back. This only lasts for a little while. So, off to Costco we went... The Prince and the Princess had some major energy to burn. They took turns spinning and dancing through the isles of Costco. I don't mind them doing this as long as there are not other people around. I don't care that people see my kids dance, but I do care when my little dancers run into other people and/or their carts. But we got in and out of Costco in roughly an hour without taking out any other shoppers or their carts. Not too bad for shopping with three kids. Costco has some neat stuff! It is where we got our playset for the back yard two years ago - right around this time. The Knight was still a newborn, the Prince was 1 1/2 and the Princess was 3 1/2. It took DadOf3 about a week to get the thing put up, but it has been well worth it. It is our own little back yard park. (See pictures in this post.) We have a park about 1/2 mile away from our house as well - variety is the spice of life! We arrived home from Costco, and DadOf3 brought in our haul while I got the kids through the potty, bathed the Princess for school the next day, and put them all to bed - all in 15 minutes! I was pretty proud of that! OK, it helped that the kids were tired and it was 1/2 hour past bedtime - sometimes that works against me though! More later!

The Prince and the Knight

After 2 hours, the laundry that should have been done yesterday is now done. I have to say that the Prince and the Knight helped me out with this little task. Even though the Prince got up at 6:00AM and the Knight got up at 7:00AM, they still entertained each other long enough for me to get something done. It always feels strange to have all of the laundry done. I may have to wash sheets or towels again to feel better! The Prince, the Knight, the Princess, and I are starting on our rewards chart I am implementing this summer. I admit it, I stole the idea from Princess's Kindergarten teacher. I think I talked about it before. The categories are SUPER STAR, STAR, OOPS, and CHILL OUT. At the Princess's suggestion, we added a SUPER DUPER STAR. For the remainder of the school year, I told Morgan that if she comes home from school as a SUPER STAR, she can jump up to SUPER STAR on our chart too. Everyone starts the day on STAR. I am going to do my best to be consistant with this. I am going to braindump some rules later. DadOf3 is going to be home any minute to relieve me so I can head to a doctor's appointment. Yea...

Another rainy day

It would sure be nice if the sun would come out. I am not really an outside kind of person but my kids are. I would like to get them outside to play. It is Tuesday and it has been raining since Sunday afternoon. We need the rain and it will come in handy later when it get so hot in the summer but for now, the Prince, the Knight and I are going a bit stir-crazy.

One errand that I am going to do today is to head to the mall to pick up some pictures that I had taken when my sister and her famly were in town. I added the picture to this posting. Cousin turned 5 years old in February. He and the Princess think that they are hot stuff because they are both 5 years old. The Princess is ready to remind Cousin that she is actually 5 1/2 years old. Cousin worships the ground that the Princess walks on. While this is nice for the Princess, it is a bit annoying to the Prince and the Knight. They can sometimes hold their own when it is just the Princess fending for herself, but when Cousin joins in on the Princess's side, they usually win either by winning the agrument or by stomping off to the Princess's room and slamming the door. Miss Attitude comes out when Cousin is here. But they love each other and they are getting to know each other better and better each and every time they visit here or we visit there. I keep hoping that the Prince and Cousin will bond. They are only 1 1/2 years apart in age so there is potential for them to become good friends. In any event, don't they all look cute in this picture? I picked up the Princess's dress at TuesdayMornings when DadOf3's mom and dad (Grandma and Papa) were in town. It is fun to buy dresses for my pretty little princess!

Rainy Day

The Prince and the Knight are both upstairs. It is 1:00 and time for naps. The Princess is at school. It will be interesting to see how things change once the Princess is home for the summer. She and the Knight are my big sleepers. The Prince is a good napper but up at the butt crack of dawn, as the BreadWinner likes to say. The Princess will be 6 years old this summer though so the days for my mid-day break are numbered. I need to plan some fun activities for the Princess and the Prince who will be 4 years old this summer. It gets so god-awful hot down here that if we do not get outside in the wee hours of the morning (before 10:00) we don't get outside all day. It will be good to not have an infant to watch this year. The Knight is two years old now and he will actually sit in one place and play for a while as opposed to his one year old self who was here, there, and everywhere and wore his poor mother out! The BreadWinner is still at work. He called and said that some folks had brought chili in for their annualy chili cookoff. While pondering what bowl of Texas chili to try so as to not explode in the hours following, a security guard pointed out the chili he made. A little too late, he shared some of the secret ingredients. You should have come home for lunch, honey! But then when do you get a chance to eat caribou chili? This MomOfThree is happy with her toast and coffee for lunch.

My morning was filled with writing the Princess class newsletter. When I volunteered to be a room parent for the Princess's Kindergarten teacher, I had no idea that I was actually becoming a person assistant! It is a lot of work but it is also a lot of fun. Princess's teacher is going in for surgery next Monday. She is going to tell her class on Friday so I am going to try to prepare myself for some questions. Ever since traveling back home to Iowa in early March for my grandfather's funeral, the Princess has been obsessed with dying. Her comment yesterday was "When you are 91 you will die." Would't things be easier to explaine if that were true? Everyone would get a fair shot out of life and then have time to make plans for the end. I tried to put a positive twist on this and told her that some people actually make it past 100 years old and that the oldest person in the world is something like 125. That seemed to make her happy. I love my smart children but I wonder if I have all of the right answers for them. I guess we just make it up as we go along, huh?