Night Time Visitor

We've had a visitor to our yard at night. He likes to munch on my day lilies and has been nibbling my zuccini. We managed to see him today. Poor little guy was so scared as the kids chased him all over our yard.

Swim Graduation

Allie and Caden took their swim tests today and they both passed. Allie will be moving to Level 3 and Caden Level 2. The summer has been divided into 3 three-week sessions. We were going to skip the middle session because we have VBS next week and would miss the first week. I talked with the director and she's going to let me pay for half of the class and the kids will take the last two weeks of the next session. It works out to $5 a class (plus I might get one child free because Dan's deployed - I love deals). I'm excited that we'll be able to continue with the lessons with only a week break. Jaelyn most likely will be starting in Level 1 with all the little kids and she's okay with that. She won't go underwater without holding her nose and she needs 2 hands free to be with Caden's group.

Another Swim Video

Here's the video I shot this morning of swim lessons and then a few hours at the pool afterwards. Since I know you'll ask, Caden did not get hurt, other than a little scrape, when he fell backwards off the diving board (oh my) and wow, look at my Jae-Byrd! She might just become a fish yet. Allie and Caden are firmly in the fish category now. Wednesday, they test the kids and give them certificates. We'll have 3 weeks off to practice and then we'll do another round of lessons for all 3 kids!!!

Our 4th of July Weekend

We've had a good weekend, interrupted by only 1 explosion (progress over last weekend). Saturday morning, we packed snacks and water and headed to Jerusalem Mill. We only walked about 20 minutes on the trail because I knew we'd have to walk an equal amount of time on the way out. Sure enough at about 35 minutes, I heard "my legs are tired" and "when are we going to get to the creek." It was a fun walk...until we hit the mud. Allie is a mud magnet, let me tell you. I made them turn around and retrace their steps to a different exit trail.


We had a snack on a bench underneath a beautiful oak tree and then headed to our creek. It was such a pretty day. We picked wild daisies and day lilies to put behind our ears on the way.
We couldn't stay long unfortunately. There was a man painting at our favorite rock pitching spot. I didn't want to disturb him so we headed to our 2nd favorite spot and there were people fishing on the opposite shore. They didn't take too kindly to me letting the kids throw rocks. Oh well, it's a free country right? That's what yesterday was all about. I only put up with the dirty looks for about 5 minutes before heading the kids back to the car.

We had lunch and then Caden and I apparently slept through Tales of Despereaux. I wasn't planning on taking a nap. I really wasn't. I wanted to watch the movie, but Jaelyn woke me up when it finished and I'd missed a good hour. Caden was sacked out on the opposite end of the couch. I guess we both needed some beauty sleep.

Dinner was KFC/Tace Bell since I'd cooked at lunch and the kitchen was clean. I hate dirtying up a perfectly clean kitchen. Don't you? Putt Putt was nearly empty so after dinner, I let the kids play a round of golf. I gave up counting strokes after the 2nd hole. My kids don't hit the ball, they kind of nudge it along in one single motion until it's in the hole. I got tired of trying to show them how and just let them have fun. We had speed baths since we were late getting home and I had everyone in bed and asleep before I started hearing the boom boom of fireworks.

Today, we headed to church and Caden had a good time. He went into his room without looking back or giving me a hug. Little meany - I wanted a hug. We hadn't been in 2 weeks because of laziness and airport duty. The sermon was good today - all about Joy. I spent the afternoon cleaning and playing with the kids. Jaelyn and I had a Sequence tournament. I won 3-2, but that last game was tough! She's good.

Next week, we will be busy. We have swim lessons Monday and Wednesday. Anna is coming on Tuesday for my lonely time (yea) and then Thursday is a big day. Jaelyn is getting her braces in the morning AND RICH, JENNIFER AND THE KIDS ARE COMING TO VISIT. Yes, I'm yelling because I'm so excited. They are staying through the weekend and I think heading out on Monday. It's going to be so much fun. I know we are going to DC one day. I'm not sure what we'll do the rest of the time, but who cares because my bestest friend will be here!

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July. We have no plans for today. I might take the kids to the creek to have a picnic and throw rocks if they behave this morning. It's a beautiful sunny day!

Swim Lessons

I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but swim lessons are going wonderfully! Allie started the summer being really comfortable in the water, but she is blossoming as a swimmer. She is learning specific strokes and can swim underwater for the longest time. Today, she was working on swimming between my legs, retrieving a ring, and then swimming back through my legs before coming up. Caden has also advanced quickly. He now waves the life guard away when he jumps into the pool. I was only needed today to help him get a breath when he came up and then he'd kick off my legs and swim underwater about 7-8 feet to the steps (without holding his nose). He can float on his back for about 5 seconds. I talked with the swim director yesterday and they are moving him up to Allie's level for our next session in August. The biggest news about swim lessons is that Jaelyn has finally relented and agreed to take them. They are going to start her at level 1 and she is sooo not going to like Caden and Alliebeing ahead of her. I had to make Dan the bad guy to get her to agree to the lessons. When I told her she was taking them, she flat out refused and wasn't budging (hence sitting on the side of the pool and watching right now). A few days ago, I told her I'd talked to Daddy and he said she had to take swim lessons...period...end of sentence. And her response...okay! Insert a picture of me rolling my eyes here.

These pictures are from Friday when Kelley and Alyssa joined us at the pool.

Jaelyn balancing on a ball. She did some bobbing and putting her head underwater today. Progress!

Allie practicing her kicking and keeping her head way out of the water.

Caden loves his wobble goggles for swimming.

Allie is unhappy because the girl she was playing with wouldn't share her doll. :p

I tried my best to get a picture of all 4 kids playing, but they wouldn't cooperate.

Tuckered Her Out

Of all the kids, Allie is the fun, mischievous one at night. She loves for me to go downstairs so she can get out of bed and play. Well, today I wore her out so much that she went upstairs on her own before I announced it was bedtime. She got ready for bed, picked up her room, said her prayers (Please God, let me play with Alex tomorrow and help Jaelyn and Caden not be wild. Amen.) and tucked herself in. She put her book down and had her nightlight out while the other two were heading up the stairs to start the process. The hour at the pool in the morning, hour at IKEA playing and other 2 hours at the pool in the late afternoon apparently totally tuckered her out for the day! Now if Jaelyn "I'm not tired" will just give it up tonight, I'll have a peaceful evening.

Dirty Worms for Dinner

This is a 1st and I need to document it quickly, because it may never happen again. I know I've shared over and over with how picky Caden is when it comes to eating. His only vegetables are pickles and french fries (and do either of those really count as a vegetable?). He won't eat pasta of any sort. He gags and will throw up everything else he's eaten when I force him to chew a green bean or a piece of mac n cheese. Lately, I've been making him lick any food I know he doesn't like. That way, at least he gets the taste but without the throwing up.

So that brings us to tonight. We got home late from the pool and I heated up some frozen spaghetti for me and Allie. Jaelyn chose cereal and Caden chose peanut butter. In the middle of dinner, Jaelyn decided to eat plain noodles (which she does sometimes). She started telling Caden she was eating worms. He thought that was pretty funny and when I offered him a worm, he took it and ate it. I was shocked. Caden loves pizza and sauce so I told him spaghetti sauce was the same sauce on pizzas. He licked my fork to get the flavor and decided it was okay. Next thing I knew, his plate was filled with dirty worms (I picked out the noodles so he wouldn't have any meat - didn't want to push him too hard). He had a ball eating it. It took him several tries to learn how to suck in a noodle. I can't believe I was encouraging it, but anything to get him to eat something new, right? We can work on manners later. Jaelyn also got adventurous and tried the spaghetti with sauce. She asked me later if I'd fix it for her again sometime. I can't tell you how many times I've fixed spaghetti and had them turn their noses up at it.


Another big thing happened with Caden this week. I threw away all of his sippy cups. The girls lost theirs at 2 and 3 and Caden's 4 1/2. It was time! Lately, he's been bad about throwing them down on the furniture and a couple have leaked milk on my couch. That makes me very unhappy. I gave him 1 warning, I found another milk puddle and bye bye sippy cups. Oh, how he cried at me, but Mommy was feeling especially mean that day. No more sippy cups in our house!

Occupying Our Days

I think the most important thing to get us through this summer is going to be me filling up our days. Jaelyn needs structure and and purpose. She struggles the most when "there's nothing to do" and she's "bored." (You must go back and read the quotes in an extremely whiney voice to get the full affect)

Yesterday was swim lessons in the morning and our playdate in the afternoon. Caden pitched a huge fit about going to the pool that was totally out of character. He undressed in the living room - just stripped naked right there saying he wasn't going to wear his bathing suit. I made him get dressed and then he did it again in the car before he got in his seat. He was standing in the door for the world to see (good thing creepy man moved). He got himself a tough love pat on his hiney to help encourage him to get his bathing suit back up. I don't know what got into him, but once he calmed down as I was driving, he told me he was crying because he wanted me to sit on the side of the pool and watch him (which I've been doing everyday). Why he flipped out, I have no idea. Crazy!!! They both enjoy the lessons. Allie is really learning how to swim and Caden loves it. He is doing so well with going underwater. At the end of their lessons, they let the kids jump off the diving board if they want. A bigger kid in front of Caden ran down the diving board and did a cannon ball. When it was Caden's turn, he did the same thing (not so cannon ball at the end), but he ran down the board and jumped. Both life guards dove down for him - neither was expecting him to do what he did. I knew he was safe, but I think he scared us all. He swam all the way to the ladder underwater with the life guard's help. I'm impressed. I'm definitely signing them up for the last session of the summer.

Today, I occupied Jaelyn with a puzzle and MANY games of Sequence. I have to play just as aggressive as I would play an adult and she can beat me about half the time. She is so smart. I love to see her focused like that. We bought 2 more bags of sand for the sand box and then had a playdate at a park with friends from Caden's preschool class. We got there about 20 minutes early so the kids got to play a little, but right at 2, when everyone else was getting there, the sky opened. We've had lots of rain in the last few months, but no downpours like that. Oh my goodness - solid sheets of rain. Two of the moms followed us home and the kids had a ball playing in the basement. Not exactly as much fun as the park would have been, but fun and friends nonetheless.

In addition to all the other entertainment, Jaelyn has rediscovered an old game: Beauty Shop. When the girls were little, we'd spend hours putting all of our bows in and out of their hair. They loved to be "done up." Jaelyn runs the beauty shop these days instead of me. I am the client. I think the object is to put as many barretts and clips into my hair as possible. Since a picture is worth a thousand words...

What do you think? Am I ready for the ball???

Visit with Friends

I've been looking forward to this afternoon for a long time. My dear friend, Jenn, and her family drove through Maryland on their way home from New York to Florida today and stopped to see us. I met Jenn online of all places as we were both struggling to deal with infertility. We've been blessed to see each other many times over the last 6 years. God did pretty good, didn't He?
Between us, we now have 6 children: 3 children adopted from Russia and 3 unexpected biological children. Who would have thought? It was wonderful to get to spend an hour with Jenn, her husband Bob and their 3 adorable girls, Lina, Lydia, and Lila. Thank you so much for stopping to see us!!!!! It meant the world to me!

The Life of my Cat...I'm jealous

We have about 6-7 weeks before Dan comes home and I'm convinced now those are going to be the hardest of all. If only I could be like Zoe and lounge around the house all day. I honestly thought the summer would zoom by, but after last week (our first real week of summer just the 4 of us), I'm not so sure. 24 hours a day 7 days a week is a lot of togetherness, even when I did get to escape for 4 hours (that's 4 hours out of about 90+ awake hours). We did have a good week and stayed very busy with doctor's appointments, the pool, and swim lessons, but the busyness added to the tiredness which when added to Jaelyn's issues equalled a whole lot of tantrums this weekend. I'm not driven to tears easily, but I was today. I'm just tired. Sweet little Caden told me I could lay in his bed after I tried to explain to him why I was crying - maybe I did need a nap.

~~~

P.S. I should probably share that at least are bedtime issues are evening out. No more tantrums or screaming once Jaelyn is in bed and Allie has been staying in bed. I'm still rocking Jaelyn while Allie settles quietly in her bed with a book. Then I rub Allie's back for a few minutes. Thankfully, Caden goes easily to sleep without needing a lot of help from me (all that time of sleep training as a baby has finally paid off). For the last few nights, I haven't had to sit in the hall with a book. They've gone to sleep pretty easily. Of course, next week, everything could change, but for tonight, it's not quite 8 and all is quiet!

Pool Backwash - Bleh

All the kids were sitting on the side of the pool dangling their legs in and giggling with each other. The instructors were making their way towards the pool to start lessons. Then...the pool pump had a major issue and started spitting all of the nasty stuff from the filters back into the pool. It looked like someone had a major case of the runs all over the pool. Ewwww! Needless to say, swim lessons were cancelled for today. Bummer!

Our First Week of Summer

This has been a fun week.

Caden and Allie started swim lessons on Monday while Jaelyn and I sat on the edge of the pool and watched. Caden is in level 1 and Allie's in level 2, thankfully at the same times. I'm excited to see Allie attempting to learn actual strokes.

Tuesday, we grocery shopped in the morning. I was scared to take all 3 kids to the commissary. I made Jaelyn a scavenger hunt bingo board to find things as we shopped. Jaelyn enjoyed the game, but the other two were more interested in running in circles and hopping from one tile square to another. They thankfully, calmed down at the check (with the help of yogos to munch on) and received 2 compliments. Crazy. We spent the afternoon at the pool. I love going to the base pool. It's practically empty. There were a few teenagers playing on the diving board, but we had the rest of the big pool and the kiddie pool to ourselves. We stayed about 3 hours, which was probably 1 1/2 hours too long. Caden ended up with a pink back - he inherited his skin from his parents, poor guy. With the help of vinegar in his bath and aloe vera, the pink was gone the next day. The girls are already developing their deep brown tans - even with 70 sunblock on. Everyone slept so well that night.

Jaelyn is working on staying dry at night again. She's gone to bed without pull-ups about 5 nights now. Tuesday night was the 1st night she stayed totally dry. I would love to take the pull-up money out of my budget!

Wednesday, we headed to Target first thing to buy a swim shirt for Caden. The girls somehow ended up with new bathing suits too. I guess if we spend several days a week at the pool, they should have 2 suits each. Swim lessons went well again. The level 1 class is so large that they are making a level 1/2 split class and moving some of the more advanced kids to it. Caden is the smallest of the bunch. The kids got to jump off the diving board at the end of class. Some of the kids in Caden's class, trembled as they walked down the long scary board. Caden hopped right up, did a little jump at the end and went flying into the life guards arms. He has no fear of the water. After lessons, we had a picnic under a huge oak tree and then went back to the pool. He jumped right in to 3 feet of water before I got his water wings on. I heard the splash and jumped into the pool to get him. Talk about get used to the cold water quickly. He scared me, but it didn't phase him. Jaelyn enjoys floating around on a noodle and walking in the shallow end. She has no desire to learn how to swim. One day I'll push her, but for now, I've learned pushing is not the way to get her to do something.

Today, we started with a trip to the orthodontish for our consult. Jaelyn is getting her braces on July 9th. She got spacers today. She was tough and didn't cry or wince at all. She keeps telling me they feel funny, but with the help of tylenol, hasn't complained about them hurting. We are heading to our last day of swim lessons for the week (still have 2 more weeks to go) and then our babysitter, Anna, is meeting us at our house and I'm escaping for 4 hours of lonely time. Dan used to suggest to the kids that I needed "alone time" when I was stressed and would take them off my hands for a while. Somehow, Jaelyn turned "alone time" into "lonely time." So, I'm going to spend my lonely time with a neighbor at lunch and then wander around the mall or spend time with a book at Barnes and Nobles. I can't wait!

Swim Lessons and the Orthodontist

We started the morning with swim lessons. I thought I could talk Jaelyn into trying them and they offered her a free class, but she refused. Instead, she sat beside me dangling her feet in the pool while we watched Allie and Caden have an absolute ball with their lessons. While Caden got to practice blowing bubbles and dunking his head, Allie got to learn actual strokes. She was learing how to do the breast stroke and back stroke. Now, she's going to need a lot of practice, but she wasn't just flailing around in the water like she was last year. We'll do 3 weeks of lessons, 3 days a week, take a break over the middle session and then I might sign them up for the last session of the summer. Maybe between now and then I can get Jaelyn comfortable in the water. She has a huge fear of getting her face wet and going under. They really scared her two years ago when they made her jump into the deep end of the pool at the Athletic Club.

We picked up lunch on the way home and ate quickly until Kelley and kids came to watch Allie and Caden while I took Jaelyn to the orthodontist. I loved Dr. G! When we signed in there was no one at the reception desk. Dr. G walked by it and noticed us. He signed us in and took the paperwork, making sure I'd filled everything out. I don't know about most doctors, but I'd say from my experience it is not the norm to have a doctor help out behind the front desk. He was friendly and patient with Jaelyn and he suggested we do exactly what Dr. Karen has been telling me she'd do. We have another consult scheduled for next month, but I'm going to cancel it. He pretty much sold me on his practice the second he stepped up to help behind the reception desk. We did records which involved pictures, an xray and molds. We'll go back next week for the consult and then Jaelyn is going to be a very unhappy girl as they put in a RPE (rapid palatal expander) and braces on her top teeth. We need to expand her arch to correct her cross bite and move her front teeth together to get room for her lateral incisors to come in. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Danny's Playtime

Dan sent us a video this morning. They blew up a motorcycle at the bomb school and thought we'd like to see it. And of course, I thought you might to see it as well.

It's going to be tiny in the little window, but look for the tiny motorcycle in the background and watch it go ka-boom. The kids enjoyed watching.

A Few Extra Snappies

One of the many perks of having Grandma and Grandpa visit - spare change!

Allie playing with her new dollies.
Jaely and Allie - they can be so sweet sometimes.

Caden playing "Press Nose" with Granpda. Caden says whoever presses the hardest wins.

Me with the kids

Baba and Grandpa with the kids.

Baba helping Caden (aka Tattoo Boy) learn how to hula hoop.

Caden's getting ready to "get" somebody. They better watch out.

Baba and her girls.

The Grandpa Effect

I don't know what it is about my Dad, but my kids have always had the same reaction to him. It's the craziest thing...I call it the Grandpa Effect. All he has to do is be in the room and they go insane. He doesn't have to talk or interact with them in any way. He can sit on the couch to read a book and the kids start bouncing like someone pumped sugar into their veins. They scream and climb all over him like he's a jungle gym. Poor Dad - I keep trying to tell them he's getting fragile in his old age :p (totally kidding, Dad), but it doesn't matter, they can't control themselves around him. They make him mad sometimes, but secretly, I bet he's loves the extra attention.

Happy Birthday Dad and Jaelyn

My Dad's 64th birthday was Thursday. Since my parents won't be back for Jaelyn's birthday in July, we combined their birthdays and celebrated together with a VERY delicious chocolatey cake (that I've eaten way too many pieces of w/o a visit to the gym in between).

Anyway, we had a fun party and got to open a few presents. Jaelyn got a new ipod shuffle which she's been wanting. I've been letting her use mine as a calming technique when she feels anxious and it seems to help. She likes having her own so she isn't constantly asking to borrow mine. The kids also all got money that they enjoyed spending at the store. Jaelyn and Caden have no problem picking out toys, but Allie has the worst time deciding what to spend her money on. Toy departments have too many toys! No one had enough money for what they wanted, but thankfully we'd brought Baba with us so she floated everybody loans - which I'm sure will be repaid in hugs and kisses.

The Chicken Dance Hula

At Least They Are Temporary

This is what happens when you let big sister and little brother play with temporary tattoos unsupervised. At least they are bad quality and will come off in the bath tonight...right??