Splish splash...

I realized something horrible yesterday.... Piper is almost 15 months old and I don't have any silver tub pictures of her... oh my goodness! She's almost too old for them, what have I been thinking.. luckily, Cameron was off today and got it out of the shed for me. Piper loved the water. Her brothers LOVED blowing bubbles on her and mommy LOVED taking pictures of sweet, precious Piper. Here are a few of my favs!

Having a blast...

We've been having SO much fun this summer... I'm so sad it's coming to an end. I have 2 more weeks off before going back to work. I feel like I've soaked up the kids each and everyday I've been home with them. I've loved it! Today I decided to take them to Target and let them each pick out a toy. This was a huge deal b/c they never get to pick out a toy. They were so excited!! The boys each got an IronMan and Piper Jane got a Refrigerator DJ ;)... it's from leapfrog. She LOVES our leapfrog alphabet fridge magnet so we got her the little radio magnet to play with also. Needless to say, she has spent a lot of time in the kitchen today;).

Tomorrow is a super busy day... I'm going to the chiropractor with the boys in the morning and then taking them to the dentist to get their teeth cleaned. Then I have to take Piper to a well child appt in the afternoon. Poor Sissy... speaking of docs... WHEW was I sick last week? I have never been so ill... Parker tried to wake me up a few times and I couldn't lift my head up.. I was SO dizzy. Finally I got up and crawled to the kitchen. Piper was crying and I knew I wouldn't make it.. I tried to call mom and dad but they were at a funeral. I called Cam and he was taking off and coming home but I knew it would take him close to an hour and Piper was crying to get up.. it was already almost 10:00 am.... uggh.... so I called Ms. Mindy, our nanny through the school year. Ahhhhh... Praise the LORD... she said she'd be right over. I just laid in the floor for a while and then managed back in bed. When Cam got home he tried to help me get up and I began throwing up pretty bad. He took me to the doc... ooo... what a visit. I couldn't even make it into the door. I just laid out by the front door with a bucket we brought throwing up. I felt so bad, people were trying to leave and there I was in their way getting sick ;/ SORRY people! They finally wheeled me in and gave me a shot to help me keep things down. I went home and pretty much slept the rest of the day. The doc said I had a bad case of gastroenteritis with vertigo. Whew... it was a WILD day... hmmm... maybe I should rethink the title of this post ....

Around here...

We had a great night tonight hanging out at UCA listening to a Drum Corp band practice. It was amazing. We stayed out there for several hours. DCI is Cameron's passion... he LOVES good marching bands. I'm sure he already has instruments picked out for our kiddos ;). Speaking of instruments, Andrew has been taking recorder lessons from Grandmommy. He's doing very good... he practices often, maybe too often;0).
Last night, I went in to the boy's room to wake up Parker to take him to the potty and they were both still up. Andrew had spread all of his covers on the floor while Parker was sitting in his bed. As soon as I opened the door, Parker said, "it was Andrew's idea" haha! Andrew said, "I was having trouble going to sleep so I thought I might sleep better down here" Cam quickly shut down that idea and I took Parker to the bathroom. While we were walking to the bathroom Parker said, "he was begging me to put down my covers, too... he was begging me like a man begs for money". I cracked up... where does he get this stuff?
Not sure what we'll do tomorrow.. we've kinda been couped up over the past couple of days and I'm ready to take the kids out to play... maybe the park. Speaking of going out to play, Andrew got into some poison ivy the other day collecting leaves for his art project. He was driving me nutso itching (before I knew he had poison ivy... bless his little heart). The other morning he came to our bed around 6:30 and was waking me up itching so I kept telling him to stop. When he got up he wrote me this note... sorry it's sideways, I couldn't get it to stay rotated when I uploaded it... anyway, you have to read the bottom line under the crayon line first, he ran out of room and had to finish on top of the page. It's SO sweet... he thought he was itching b/c of a mosquito bite so he wrote "mom I just have a mosquito bite sorry"

Bless her...

Well, it didn't hit the fan but it hit everything else. The other morning I was walking by Piper's room while she was napping and I smelled something... I sniffed my hands, went in the bathroom to check it out, couldn't figure it out... Then it HIT me! I forgot to put a diaper cover on sweet girl. Needless to say, she took her diaper off and THEN went potty! OHHHHHH it was BAD! She had it everywhere (except the diaper, of course)... the pics really don't do it justice... most of the poo was behind her on her animals :( it was under every finger nail and toe nail. It was all over the floor!!! Ewwww! She had to have a bath and then let all the water out and take another bath! Just be glad these pictures aren't scratch sniff ;).

Craft time

Our favorite thing to do during summer is making crafts. The boys have made a lot of crafts this summer. This morning, they collected leaves to make some frames. I let them pick out their favorite picture from a stack I had just developed to put in their frames. Parker wanted the one where he was telling a secret to Andrew and Andrew wanted the sea lion and mommy ;). We've also decorated their playroom with some of our crafts. I got this idea from the Kindergarten teachers at Wooster... I loved these animals! We're making a monkey today. I'm excited about it because it's the cutest!!



What does Piper like to do while we make crafts?? She likes to throw toys away... which is why the phone book is on the trash can... she also likes to recycle toys in the recycle box... she keeps us all on our toes! Right now she's being DJ Jazzy Piper and shuffling the CDs in our 5 disc CD changer... never a dull moment ;)

Smores

We have SO enjoyed this unusually cool weather in July! It's been wonderful. This weekend we started a fire and let the boys make their first smores! They loved them! ** Piper was asleep, of course, she misses out on all the fun;).

Hot Rod'n

The boys LOVE their little vehicles.. we actually have 4... crazy, huh? but two of them were $20 at a yard sale so ya can't beat that. Piper really wanted to ride today so I found a bungie cord and seat belted her in. She had a blast. They rode for about an hour, until lunch time. Parker acted like Andrew was chasing them and trying to get his girlfriend;). He kept saying, "I got my famous girlfriend" over and over... SO sweet!
**Update... tonight Parker wanted to ride Piper around on a "date". He was SO cute! Andrew later asked if he could have a turn at riding Piper around on a "date"... Parker obliged and then went away and hid and started crying. He was sad Andrew was riding around Piper:(. I told Cameron Piper is already a heartbreaker!

2 boys and a girl.... I think...

She may be a sweet and girly in her dresses and bows but she knows how to have a good time getting dirty with her brothers.

Here are a couple of pics of Piper in the pool... she is Miss Independent in the pool and does NOT want to be held. 

Mud soup anyone??

The boys are EXCELLENT cooks! They make mudsoup just about everyday! They have their own special herbs and spices that they mix in... we actually had to dispose of some earlier because it had been preserved in an old jug and it WAS toxic smelling... whew!!! anyway... Andrew built a special stand to sell his mudsoup from today:). He was so proud of it! Not sure of what he's going to be when he grows up but I'm sure it will have the word engineer attached;).
So if you're unsure of what you're having for dinner and don't mind spending a buck a bowl, I know where you can get some mudsoup... I might add, we are NOT responsible for any illnesses that result!!

Summer '09

We've had a GREAT summer so far! This has been the easiest summer I've had as a mommy. The boys are so helpful and really play well together. We've had tons of fun at the zoo, the library, the front yard and one of our favorites... the PARK! We're so fortunate to live close to a great park... one of the best parts is that no one is EVER there... it's like our own private park ;). There's plenty of play equipment, swings, a great walking trail and some fun cows just across the fence that are always entertaining.

A little camera shy... ;)

Andrew learned to ride without his training wheels a few months ago.

AND... did I mention... Piper learned to blow kisses this week!! :)

not quite sure what to say...

Today we celebrated July 4th. We had a great time with family ... ended the night with a HUGE... LOUD firework show.. it was a great day! BUT talking about all of it and the details kind of seems so insignificant after learning about little Kate. Kate is 5 years old... the same age as my oldest, this past Monday she began having tremors on her right side. They took her to the ER and found out she has a massive brain tumor that looks to be malignant and aggressive. She had surgery yesterday and the prognosis is not good. After the surgery, she hadn't move her right side for quite sometime but finally moved it (which they think was possibly involuntary). This family has a hard road ahead and it only began Monday. Uggghhh... my heart is so heavy for them... my eyes filled with tears and a huge lump in my throat. Please pray for the McRae family. Here's a link to sweet Kate's caring bridge site.

I love Parker Isaac!

Today I took Parker with me to the grocery store. He loves to go run errands with mommy and daddy. I've been wanting to do something special with him for a while because he's just SO stinking sweet.... so before going to the grocery store, we went to Sonic. I pulled up and ordered him a icecream cone. Then I went and got him out of his carseat and let him set up front with me. We had a great time talking. He loved sitting up front! I told him how proud I was of him being such a good big brother to Piper and how responsible he has become. He really is SO responsible for a four year old. He always takes his shoes off where they belong. He always puts up his dirty dishes, throws away all his trash. As soon as he wakes up, he picks out his clothes for the day and puts them on. He's an excellent recycler. He always puts his water bottle back in the fridge for the next time he's thirsty and if it's empty, he sets it by the sink for me to fill up. He's been working on coloring and practicing writing letters, straight lines, etc and he works so hard at them, without complaining. SO sweet! He is an absolute joy! He's also HILARIOUS! He says the funniest things always. He's full of energy. He's terribly passionate in every way. I can't even begin to imagine where life will lead him. I pray so much that God will open his eyes to His goodness and his passion will be used to further His kingdom. I'm SO honored to be Parker Isaac's mommy. I LOVE him!