Saddle up your Horses!

This week is VBS at our church. Last year I volunteered and enjoyed every minute of it. But this year, I decided to give someone else the opportunity to fill that need. I've become one of the "drop-and-run" parents and I'm loving it :) This year's theme is "Avalanche Ranch, where kids take a wild ride through God's word!"

So, while Alex & Morgann go to Avalanche Ranch every day from 9-noon, Ian and I are enjoying our quiet time together. Right now, he's quiet...and I'm really enjoying it :)

Now, if the rain will just NOT come today, maybe we'll be able to enjoy our backyard oasis of fun! Granted, enjoying it means sloshing across a muddy backyard where the grass is too tall, fighting the mosquitoes that are at epidemic levels this year, and freezing our tooshies off should we dare to enter the pool - rain water makes it very cold! - but, hey, at least it won't be raining.... So, here's to hoping for a dry, rain-less day :)

Update: 11:20AM - It's raining - hard! Darn it....

A Good Day

Yesterday was a busy, busy day for us! We started by leaving the house by 8:40AM, heading off to the grocery store. But, this wasn't just a quick trip; it was a full-blown, full-cart, serious grocery shopping event. And, with summer in full-swing, I had absolutely no choice but to load up all 3 monkies for the adventure. Generally I choose not to take them with me, but we were desperate - out of literally everything - bread, lunch meat, fruit, juice, etc. We had nothing to eat for lunch, unless we wanted to suck peanut butter off of a spoon, but since Alex hates peanut butter, and I prefer mine with bread, I figured I would just have to suck-it-up and go. So, we did :)

After more than an hour, and a few extra sugary-sweet treats that I hadn't planned on, we were heading home to unload. The kids did remarkably well, and we even received a few words of praise from the store employees on how well they behaved! I was still a bit frazzled from trying to keep their squeels and laughter to a quiet roar, but I felt proud that my kiddos made it through the store without so much as a sniffle or whine! Granted, I'm not going to bank on everything always being that easy, but at least it was a good start to the day :)

Once we got the car unloaded (which turned into a 3-ring circus since all 3 kids wanted to help carry the bags into the house) I quickly separated the pantry items from the fridge & freezer items, put all of the cold items away, then loaded up the kids for yet another trip to the store. This time it was our local Target. It was here that Ian had a small melt-down, including a few high-pitched screams, but once I settled him down we made it through with almost no additional hoopla! By this point, my confidence was building.

Once home again, we happily (and quickly) ate our lunches, then headed out the door for a 3rd time. This time to play :) We made our way to my friend D's house where we loaded she & her son, then off we went to the bowling ally. Last week, while at the bowling ally with her son S, she had managed to secure a couple of free bowling passes (valid daily through the entire summer) for both Morgann & Alex. So we decided that an indoor game of bowling sounded like a splendid idea - and apparently the entire city of Tomball did the same! I don't think I've ever seen so many kiddos in one bowling ally in all of my life!!! They were everywhere, and, unfortunately for us, hogging all of the lighter kid-sized balls! So, it was up to me to help both Morgann & Ian when their turns came around. We made it through the 8th frame (with only one incident of the ball getting stuck on the lane because it just wasn't rolling fast enough), then decided to throw in the towel.

Our next stop, for the first time in almost 2 years, was the library! And, before you scold me for not taking the kids there more often, you have to remember that I have a very loud, hard-to-handle 2 1/2 year old little boy. I very rarely venture into a store with him, much less to a library where the #1 rule is to be quiet!!! But D had told me about a Science class they were doing with Bubbles, so we figured that it would be loads of fun for all ages. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we not only found out that the class she was told would be outdoors was being held indoors, it was limited to 50 children who's parents had made reservations. As you can imagine, we were all very disappointed. But, the librarian gave us a little sliver of hope by suggesting we stick around to see if maybe there would be a few spots left-open by 'no-shows'.

So we sat...for 30 minutes...hoping for at least 2 openings. While we sat, all of the kids found a few books to read, look at or discuss. Everyone of my kiddos was being extremely well-behaved, and my confidence was growing by the minute. When we hit that 30 minute mark, a well dressed, soft spoken woman came into the children's section and announced that they indeed had 5 spaces available for children aged 5-12, so off Alex & S ran, big smiles across their faces. But as you can well imagine, we also had a few tears from poor Morgann, who hasn't quite reached 5. She was completely heartbroken that she couldn't see the bubbles, and my heart hurt for her. It's no fun being too young. Thankfully, we were in a library full of books for her to look at, and D & I took turns reading to her, so her mind was quickly focused on other things, with thoughts of the bubbles all but vanished.

And so we sat, reading books to the remaining 2 kiddos for more than an hour! And, can you believe that little Ian had only 1 minor melt-down? I had to scoop him up and run him out the door into the hallway, then explain that if he didn't stop his tantrum, the library 'people' would make him go outside, by himself, without his mommy. His eyes got sort of big at that thought and he quickly quieted down, lifted his arms to me and said, "hode me". Of course, I couldn't say no to that, but my little false-hood worked - we had absolutely zero tantrums for the remaining afternoon.

By the time we finally made it back home, it was well after 5PM and all of us were completely worn out. Ian took a brief nap in the car between the library, D's house and home, but even he was still exhausted. What started out as a crazy, scary day, turned into a wonderful day for all of us :)

And, if you can believe this, I'm planning another library trip next Wednesday....someone talk some sense into me, will ya?

A Jumpin' Good Time

Daddy making the kiddos 'jump higher'!

Daddy making the kiddos 'fly' while Ian crawls to safety!

Mama Chris (Michael's mom) getting in on the act, and having to take a breather!

Ian catching air :)

Hope all of the daddy's out there had a great time making fun memories with their kiddos, and a wonderful Father's Day!!!

Just another rainy Saturday...

It's raining, again, and here we are, trying to set-up more playground equipment in the backyard! What's with the rain? Why can't it rain during the week when Michael is at work? Why is it that the heavens choose to empty on Saturday when Michael is home and we are attempting to work in the yard?

The rain has been off & on all day, so we've been in & out trying to setup our new trampoline - the one bought by the grandparents on the same Memorial Day that the first pool was purchased! It's been sitting in boxes in our garage, precariously laying on the ground between the 2 cars for several weeks now. Getting in & out of the garage without running over them has been stressful; avoiding them and not hitting the side mirrors on the brick walls while backing out or driving in has been even tougher, though I'm happy to report I've managed to successfully maneuver my van with no accidental dents or damage!

I'm also wondering about the death-wish Michael & I seem to have? I'm sort of tired of all of this manual labor!!! Isn't there someone we can call that will come do all of this set-up for us? You know, like movers - you just call them, then sit and watch them pick-up and load or unload a house-full of furniture and boxes; you don't even have to break a sweat if you play your cards right! So anyway, I'm wondering why we haven't hired someone to come make our backyard fun? But, no, we're doing it the hard way, one spring at a time. We started this morning and have gone back & forth between cloud-bursts all day - it's now 5:26PM. We're inside for about the 3rd time and still have lots of work to do. We managed to get the trampoline all set-up and in jumping order, but now we're working on the safety net.

Another beef I have...why is it that safety makes everything so much more difficult? Michael says that safety means 'no fun' and I'm beginning to agree with him. The trampoline was a piece of cake to set-up - the safety net that goes around it will take hours! So, while I sit here trying to dry out for the 3rd time today, I'm weighing the pros and cons of just letting the kids jump around without the net (for instance: PRO - the trampoline is finished and doesn't require anymore work; CON - ok, so maybe letting someone fall off the edge onto their head isn't the best choice a parent could make when considering the well-being of their children; at least the trampoline would be finished!)

Enjoy the pictures while I keep thinking...















P.S. No, it isn't even slightly chilly here! At the first sprinkle, Alex ran inside and grabbed his water-proof winter coat and gloves so that he would stay dry.

Everyone loves a Jumping Party...except Ian!

Today was our MOPS Leadership play date, a day set-aside for all of the new MOPS leaders for next year's group to get together, some of us actually meeting for the first time! Each year we set aside one morning to meet, visit and play, before diving into the planning phase for next year. As we did last year, we decided to go to a local inflatables party place. If you haven't ever experienced one of these places, you must find one - or open your own local franchise - because they are so much fun! Both kids and parents can jump, slide and climb to their heart's content. I always get such a workout when we go to this place, because my kiddos usually insist that I follow or lead them around the entire time we're there. We all get totally exhausted, but have a blast doing so, which makes my sore, achy muscles all worth it!

Today I happened to be lucky enough to (1) remember my camera for the first time in a very long time, and (2) catch an action shot of Alex & Morgann coming down one of the slides together. The other picture was taken of Ian, my less-than-enthusiastic non-jumper. For whatever reason, he opted to stick close to mommy today, as long as mommy wasn't on or inside of one of the 'cawy tings" (read scary things). He is usually right in the middle of the fun, but today, not so much! Oh well...