Public Service Announcement

If your kids dump baby formula all over the floor (or any other powdery substance) and you vacuum it up, remember to empty the the vacuum cleaner IMMEDIATELY.

How did they get baby formula? Well we keep their diapers and diaper bags in the coat closet. And apparently one of the gift diaper bags they had given out at the hospital had a sample can of powdered infant formula. Somehow they not only managed to get the lid off but also the sealed top. I got it all cleaned up but forgot to empty the vacuum cleaner. So I come back to find more formula (only clumpier this time) all over the floor. So I'm trying to figure out where they found more when I see the canister missing from the vacuum. I then realized they just recycled the previous formula.

Fun Run Boosterthon Day

Last night I fell asleep while Rebecca was reading to me. She woke me up to see if she had read her required 15 minutes. Once I got her and Kendall off to bed Matthew suggested I go to bed, which I did at 8:30. I did get up to feed Elliott twice in the middle of the night. But come morning I realized that the sun was shining through my window. I jumped up to look at the clock on Matthew's side of the bed to see it was 7:30. The time the kids should be at the bus stop. Someone (a mysterious toddler I'm sure) had turned off the alarm. The weird thing is that I almost always awake before the alarm goes off. I guess I was a little tired.

Anyway we all rushed around getting ready and Matthew dropped them off at school. In the meantime I got the little ones up and fed so that we could go to the school for Rebecca's FUN RUN. It's the school's way of raising money for the PTO without having to sell wrapping paper or candy bars. Rebecca and Kendall were supposed to get sponsors for each lap they ran. I was surprised at how eager they were to call family and friends to hit them up for money. It was actually kind of hard for me to watch because I get a pit in my stomach doing that kind of stuff. But Rebecca did a great job getting pledges for her and Kendall.

Rebecca ran 36 laps (about 2 1/2 miles)

Wardrobe malfunction: Someone stepped on her shoe and it came off.

Then after an hour in the heat Corinna, Dakotta, Elliott and I headed home for lunch so that we could come back that afternoon to see Kendall.

Kendall waves at her fans. She ran 27 laps (about 2 miles)

The cheerleaders decided to wear the track cones.

Cheerleading stunts

We all had lots of fun. The little ones were a big hit with the big girls classmates. At one point after the run I was letting the twins go down the slide and looked over at Rebecca and about 15 of her classmates had surrounded Elliott's stroller. You would have thought we were celebrities. Of course leaving proved to be a bit of a challenge because the twins wanted some of the popsicles reserved for the athletes.

And apparently we wore my little man out because this is what we found a little later.

Notice how his little hand is still holding the fishy toy.

OK this little red mark made me smile because it reminded me of my Dad. He was notorious for falling asleep in church with his head on the pew in front of him. Whenever he woke up he always had one of the red marks.

Wood, Rocks and a Praying Mantis

Well if you have ever been camping with my husband you know he has an obsession with fires and firewood. He spends the winter procuring, chopping, splitting and stacking firewood. If you have a dead tree he may even ask you if he can cut it down for you. So with the hopes of cooler weather on the horizon today he began his yearly ritual of moving firewood. And like most years, at the beginning of the season the girls are eager to lend a hand. By February it will be a different story. So here are some pictures from today.

Kendall

Rebecca

Matthew not too happy about having his picture taken.

Kendall thought this piece was cool.

Rebecca's Rock Collection
A Praying Mantis

Random Thoughts

So I was told that I needed to update my Blog. It's been kind of a hectic week so I'll try to fill in some of the highlights.

Monday: I took the 3 little ones to the doctor. My prediction was wrong. Dakotta only had 1 ear infected and Corinna had 2. Elliott has a cold but his ears and lungs were all clear. Dakotta now weighs enough more than Corinna so that their prescriptions are different dosages. Just to keep mom on her toes.

Wednesday: I met up with some of my friends at the Mall. The twins were getting a little restless so we took them into the Disney store. My friend Kari was going to buy them some little stuffed animals. She let them pick from this shelf with all these cute furry stuffed animals. They had Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Piglet, Dumbo, Thumper, Dalmations, Marie the Kitty. And what did they pick? Mater the Tow Truck from CARS. We had to dig through the pile to find the 2nd Mater.

On a side note: I've never actually SEEN this movie. We have a DVD player in the van and I've HEARD it numerous times and could probably quote lots of it. So tonight as I was tucking the kids in I looked at their stuff trucks and realize he's "Tow Mater." I asked Matthew if he knew that and he said "I've never actually SEEN the movie" I'm guessing most people knew that.

Thursday: A friend of mine had mentioned how much fun the kids have pretending to wash dishes. So I filled the sink full of plastic dishes, and soapy water and put a towel on the floor under them. For the longest time they stood on their stools playing. I finished what I was doing in the kitchen and went into my living room but decided since they were playing so nicely to let them keep washing dishes. A few minutes later I hear lots and lots of giggling. I decide to see what's so funny. I walk in and my kitchen floor is flooded. My kitchen sink doesn't have a back splash or a wall behind it. They had figured out they could reach the faucet from behind the sink. Well that wouldn't have been so bad. Except they also realized that they could now reach the sprayer nozzle. So they took great delight in spraying water clear across my kitchen. The good news was I got my floor mopped. The bad new is it may have been foreshadowing.

Thursday Night: When I put Rebecca to bed I heard dripping in her bathroom. I see water on her sink and the floor is wet. She says Kendall must have been playing in her sink again. I clean up the water on the sink and put some towels on the floor. It's bedtime so I leave them there overnight.

Friday: I'm trying to get things together so that Matthew and I can go out for dinner. (Not to self: Post about mad frenzy involved before being able to take a break). Well why I'm trying to get things together I go into Rebecca's room and see the towels. They're soaked so I throw them in the washer and put a few more down while wondering what exactly Kendall did to make such a mess. About this time the kids are home from school and Rebecca points out that there is water coming out of the ceiling in our living room. At this point I call Matthew who tells me to turn the water off under the sink. Now I'm kicking myself for just assuming it was my kids and that it never occurred to me I actually had a plumbing problem.

When I was cleaning it up Rebecca says "This must be the worse day of your life" (She's always declaring days to be the worst day of her life). I said, "Nope, not even close. " She looked a little surprised and asked me what was worse. I replied "The day my dad died, or the day Dakotta had to have her arm cut open, lots of things are worse than having a leak." She gave me a thoughtful look and said, "Oh yeah." I wonder if we'll be hearing her declare days the of her life any time soon. Oh and we did have an enjoyable evening out so it couldn't have been that bad.

Saturday: Rebecca and Kendall were going to spend the night at their cousins house and I was headed to a Tupperware party. Matthew was helping me load all the kids in the car when he noticed one of the interior light were on in the very back. One of the twins must have turned it on the last time I was loading them up. The last time anyone drove the car was Wednesday so of course the battery was dead. Matthew was able to test the battery, realize it was dead, go to one store to see they were out, go to a second store and purchase the battery and get it installed all in about an hour. I told the kids he was faster than triple A and they just looked at me like I was crazy.

So those are the highlights of my week. I'll try to post more often. Maybe if this week will be a little quieter.

Is it a Stick or a Bug?

It's a Stick Bug.

Rebecca found a stick bug on our deck yesterday. She found one last week on our way to church but we were in a hurry so she didn't get to look at it too much. So when she saw one again she decided to catch it and put it in her bug cage. Last week she caught a moth and a grasshopper and when she went to get them she noticed that the moth was gone. We convinced her that she didn't want to hurt the stick bug so she let it go a little while later.



Then last night during story time she found a leafbug on the outside of the deck door. She wasn't as eager to catch that one since the last time she caught one it bit her (actually I think it pinched her). I didn't get a picture of that one.

In other news. My 3 little ones have had colds for almost a week now. I thought they were gettting better but yesterday Dakotta kept telling me her ear was "ouchie" and asking me to kiss it. So I'm going to call the doctor and see if I can get them all seen today. If history repeats itself Dakotta will have a double ear infection and Corinna will just have one. Not sure what to expect from Elliott since this is his first illness.

Diaper Math

Kendall was explaining Diaper math to me the other day.

If I ask for 1 diaper she gets 1 #2 for Elliott.
If I ask for 2 diapers she gets 2 #3's for the twins.
And if I ask for 3 diapers she gets 1 #2 and 2 #3's.

So if I need to change just 1 of the twins or Elliott and 1 of the twins I guess I have to get the diapers myself.

Diaper Duty

These are some pictures I took this morning. That's Dakotta putting a diaper on Rebecca's "lammy" a Beanie baby lamb she's had since she was 3. At first Corinna was helping but she got bored with the project while mommy was getting her camera.

First getting her cleaned up
Attaching the tabs to the front of the diaper

Making some adjustments.

Apparently #2 diapers are not the right size for a beanie baby.