Spout park

The neighbor has been talking about a splash park near us and how much fun her little man has. Today with our 100 degrees I wanted to get them to water somehow and I knew I could not handle all four in a pool by myself. So we tried it out and they had a blast! There was only a swallow bit of standing water, about 4 inches or so, perfect for splashing in!

Brie was only shy for about 5 minutes and then was unstoppable, thus no group pictures with Brie, she was far too busy for a photo!

By the end she had no fear of the spouts, and once in awhile they really got her and she would just giggle!!

CHEESE!!

Time to dry off before leaving. I love PJ's face!

curious cat

Pete took the older ones shopping for fireworks today so I took out the little pool for the wee ones. They had a good time splashing everywhere. They would do a big splash and the water would hit the deck door and drops would run down the window and Melody chased everyone as they ran down. PJ splashed for over 30 minutes, creating lots of running droplets and Melody stuck with it determined to catch just one but never succeeded.

delays

No photos, just an apology for not updating in a few days. Life has been a bit stressful since hearing about the daycare, then company, and just keeping up with day to day things. We have not come a final daycare solution yet. I am holding out for one more interview and to hear final numbers on ours, because there is the possibility that ours may stay open. Just continue to keep us in your prayers and the right solution will hopefully work itself out very soon. Also for those far please keep the flood or threatened flood victims in your prayers. Everyone is just on edge around here not knowing if they are going to be safe or not. It was a little daunting driving home last night and seeing an Army truck with several men, a soldier walking along the levee, and look up and behold there is a black hawk helicopter flying overhead. Things we do not see on a regular basis around these parts. It made it a bit more real for me. Have a good weekend upcoming and we will see what this next week brings forth!

declawed!

Melody Monday night before the declaw.

Our 8 week old kitten went in Tuesday morning for a four paw declaw. Cruel yes a little, but so much safer for our house. Since Sunday she has turned into a spider kitty, one bounce and launch, all twenty claws into whatever was there. Sometimes it was the good couches, the old couch, the bed, your arm or leg. It really didn't matter she had discovered how to use them and she was!! I was happy I had it scheduled already and they were being removed. Upon check in she was 2# 4 ounces. Still growing and oh so much fun. She had to spend the night and everyone at the vet feel in love with the little tuxedo kitten! Melody has done great and is very mellow since coming home, I think we are dealing with some anesthesia leftovers here. I am glad it is done and she is back. Tuesday night was a bit weird not having her around after 6 1/2 weeks. We could walk easily and not be on guard of being attacked.

Melody Thursday after the declaw.

weather

Rumor has it that the mid west is in for some terrible weather this summer. This is clouds above our house Monday night @ 7:45, it was bright and super sunny before these very scary clouds rolled in! The kids were in bed and already asleep, our sirens went off for 10 minutes straight but the tv kept saying we do not see any tornadoes so we held tight. They apparently were going off to warn us of the 70 mph winds that this storm was packing. We ended up with wind, hail, rain, and then calm and much cooler. Our tornado area is now cleaned out, stocked with a flashlight and some water. Hopefully now that we have a plan and are ready we will never have to use it!!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all dads out there, I am sure you are the ones following my blog and would not feel complete is you did not get a Happy Father's Day wish from me! :~) The girls have a babysitter this summer who is fantastic! She helped the girls create this card.

We tried a group shot and Brie was not having it. Needless to say with that personality this is the only group photo taken.

I took the kids shopping and because of that Pete ended up with LOTS of new fishing stuff. When we left the house we were headed to get A tackle box, that lead to a fish shirt, a new pair of fishing sun glasses(because daddy's are broke and he HAS to have new ones), and then a new apron as his is old(it doesn't even have Brie on it !) After shopping we came home and put the kids handprint and footprints on the apron! The girls were so very excited for him to open his things. PJ too was very excited but do not quite know why. A great day was had here and hoping all fathers had a good day as well.

Hair and grandma

One never knows what is going to happen when my mom stops for a visit. Cutting PJ's hair was definitely not on the agenda but none the less here it is. My mom can do anything!! Together Jill and mom took care of my shaggy boy! Much cheaper and nicer I might add than the normal $16 haircut he gets. PJ did awesome, he held very still and allowed them to do what they needed to. I am not sure I am ready for the job but now I have more time to think about it. Thanks mom and Jill.

7 kids

My niece Jill and family came in Friday night for the weekend. She has three boys, so between us we have the seven kids. Her kids are the same as my top three, she did not want to join me on the fourth pregnancy! At any rate the kiddos had a fun weekend of just relaxing and hanging out doing kids things. I think aside from church we did not venture out with all seven at all, this is a first. It seems when we get together we want to make sure they have a blast and we usually are running somewhere to do something, this time we stayed put and it was nice! They left Sunday and took Kayla with them for a bible camp this week so we have reversed for a week, she has 4 and I have 3. I lost my helper out of the deal, I think all my kids will be ready for Kayla's return this weekend. She does seem to be having a wonderful time though. Jill said next year the next two kids are able to go????5 kids for a week?? time will tell. Maggie would feel so special.

dishes

When it comes to doing chores around the house my kids are typical. I do not want to help, I want to do it later, all the likely excuses. Melody thinks she could help though. Really kitty! no table food for you!! This was just before shutting the door to start the dishwasher. Next I swept the floor, again no one wanted to help expect THE CAT, she loves sweeping. Chasing the broom as I sweep is one of the favorite evening activities.

bad daycare news

These sweet, innocent, adorable little kids are going to be without a daycare on July 29th. I recieved the call Wednesday night that due to finances the hospital's daycare will be closing! There are plenty of very unhappy parents but I am afraid no matter how big the fight the decision has been made. So I am trying not to panic and I am saying lots of prayers. If anyone in our area knows of a daycare, nanny, or grandma who would want to care for these wonderful little people PLEASE let me know. I am not sure what the perfect scenario would be, I pray God will lead us in the right direction. For those that do not know of any daycare options for us say a prayer. PJ and Brie do not take change very easily so they need prayers as well. It is hard to believe that our daycare that we have used since Kayla was 2 1/2 is closing. We have grown to love the teachers and are so comfortable with how things are run there. Not only are many, many children being displaced, several teachers are without jobs as well. They too will need your prayers. These poor teachers are also being threated by flood waters as well. I just do not know what the hospital is thinking!, this is certainly not going to get them any postive PR! For now I will keep calling, taking tours, doing interviews and praying that everything will work out!

IPOD

We went to dinner with friends awhile ago and they had an IPHONE and the girls had a great time playing games. Well these wonderful people had an old IPOD that they are no longer using so they passed it on to the girls! When I showed it to them they screamed and said "we are the luckiest girls ever! They really haven't set it down since. I do not have any technology skills at all but this little gadget is pretty cool. The girlies have caught onto this thing much faster than I did! A HUGE thank you to our great friends!!

the water is rising!

Our commute has become longer due to rising waters! This is our normal route however as of Friday it has become overtaken by the water! When looking at the photo it is the exchange between two interstates in the upper center, my big green bridge is off to the right and my work is in the nonseen far upper left corner. Keep in mind that all of this water truly was farmland that is now just saturated ground. The river has yet to go over the bank or break any levees here, this is just plain ground that cannot hold anymore water. Also I might add that a typical normal picture would not show any water so this is amazing to us. They say that more water will be released on Tuesday, we are saying prayers that no more families lives become up-rooted due to the water.

weekends.....

Friday night I told Pete "I do not think we have much up for the weekend, how nice. The house is clean, the laundry is caught up and things overall seem to be under control". Well let me tell you I am not sure where I would have fit anything else into my weekend!
Saturday morning Melody had her first vet check. Told them her story and the vets response was something like, "your kitty is not going to die!" She is VERY healthy and has lots of energy! I think I got all my questions answered, one shot given, declawed scheduled for next week and we were on our way. She weighed in at 1#14 ounce! Cross your fingers and toes for her on June 21, that is declaw day! poor kitty but much happier owners! I tried to take a picture with her next to the token pop can and she was not interested!


Saturday afternoon we had two new babysitters who are extremely nice! The littles ones slept and so the big girls had a good time! We will be having them back again. This was just a trial babysitting job so we ran errands and were in and out often but all went great!

Saturday evening we went and got Maggie's very late 5 year old photos done, let her use her Build A Bear workshop gift card and ended at Dairy Queen using Kayla's gift card. What a fun night for one little 5 year old girl!!

My sisters and I came up with a girls day for mom for Mother's day. The Sound of Music was in town and so they came in for that and then out to eat after. In this photo are mom and my sisters.

This photo includes a niece Tami and my girlies.

A quick illegal photo inside the theater! The show was very well done and I think everyone had a nice time. It also was the arts festival downtown and so we had to come up with plan b for food as all the downtown places were full to the brim. None the less a fun time was had by all. Cutest line of the day goes to Makayla: on the way to the theater I was describing what we were going to and who was going, Auntie Jacie, Auntie Marilyn, Auntie Coke, Grandma and Tami. Kayla's comment was" oh yea all my favorite people!"

Corkscrew Willow

Our front yard is now home to a Corkscrew Willow that we "stole" from a neice of mine. It has soaked in a bucket of water since Easter and has a large root base, so we will see. Planting the tree was a family event Saturday night! Of course we chose to plant if the driest week of the year so far! I guess we will be watering a tree for awhile. It is a whirly kind of tree that seems very fun. If nothing else it will be an entertaining piece in the front yard. Each year I will have to take PJ's picture standing next to it as they are supposed to grow 8 to 10 foot a year!! (once established) Time will tell.....

Zoo

Saturday brought nice weather and a trip to the zoo. The kids had a great time. We feel bad that the little ones have not had nearly as much zoo time as the older ones, the unfortunate part of being number 3 and 4! We took in an IMAX movie as well and it was very good, highly recommend seeing Born to be Wild if you are able.

As we walked through the butterfly house one decided to hang out on Pete's head! The kids were all so jealous and got an upclose view of the blue butterfly! Nature is beautiful.

Brie 16 months

Miss Brie is 16 months old as of this past Friday. She has definately put on some weight in the last month, I think we are up to 24 pounds and is reaching things on my countertops! She enjoys tormenting and "playing" with the kitty!

Unlike last month her personality has become a bit sour! She is having a stronger opinion lately and not being nice. Daycare said Friday alone she had 13 biting attempts and 4 successful ones! SERIOUSLY I am so frustrated with her. She yells, bites, hits, and is really just having a mean streak! In her defense there is a lot of change at daycare, and she is pushing 3 of 4 molars. I have not had a biter before and I feel terrible for the victims! As you can tell from the photo the kitty likes to bite a lot lately as well, we are blaming it on teething. So did Brie Brie learn this from the kitty??? Any suggestions are welcomed with open arms!!! Let me know any tricks you have used or heard of! Monday I am sending her to daycare on Motrin and with a spray bottle! Maybe she is in pain and the motrin will make her mouth feel better. If not per the pediatrician the daycare teacher can spray her with the spray bottle if a bite or threat of bite insues! Wish me and her victims luck this week!!