playing around

After naps, we played around a little on the swingset. I tried taking more pics, but my battery died.

Water day

Today the kids and I headed to the pool with a friend and her kids for a day in the sun...except the sun wasn't really out. John has become much more comfortable in the water since last year. He was running around playing and didn't really need me for anything, except money for lunch. Rebecca was a big girl climbing in and out of the pool herself. She would crawl around the beach entry area, and not realize it was getting deeper until she was going under. I definitely had to keep my eyes on her. Natalie wanted nothing to do with the water. She was content to walk around the pool area, waving at sunbathers and playing with her toys. After about 2 hours she finally let me put her feet in the water, but that was it.




Remember when pools were just a big rectangle filled with water, and if you were really lucky they had a diving board? I'm still amazed at all the "stuff" community pools have now.

I kissed a fish Mommy!

Last weekend Mike and I headed out of town for our first trip to the Lake with all 3 kids. I wasn't sure what to expect. Thoughts of large bodies of water, 3 kids who can't swim, and a completely unchildproofed house were making me a little nervous. After a long car ride, with two babies who couldn't share, we arrived just in time for dinner. After dinner the kids played inside a little while we unpacked before bed. The girls went to bed just fine in their pack-in-plays, but John was scared to sleep in an unfamiliar bedroom. He kept telling me he wanted to go home to his "monkey bed." (His bed at home has monkeys on the comforter) He ended up sleeping on the couch with cartoons on the TV. I don't think he actually got to sleep until about 2 hours past his normal bedtime, but at least he was quiet so we didn't have all three kids up that late. The next morning he woke us up bright and early, ready for fishing. Mike took him on a little boat ride to go fishing and he had a great time. He is so obsessed with boats, this was the perfect activity for him. He caught a few blue gill and after much prompting touched one...and kissed one which kind of grossed me out. After they got back and everyone was fed, suited up, and sunscreend we headed down to the dock. My Dad had bought the neatest raft. It has seats all along the sides, and the middle area was mesh. It was like 2 couches facing each other with a place for the kids to sit and play in the middle. John and Rebecca loved it, but Natalie wasn't very impressed. She didn't even want her feet touching the water. I was a little worried about John not wanting to wear his life jacket (or water jacket as he called it), but he had no problem with it and even tried to get me to let him sleep in it. After lunch we blew up a little inflatable pool that squirts water for the kids to sit in on the dock. Again, Rebecca and John loved it, but Natalie, not so much. I was surprised because she has no problems with taking baths or playing in the pool. Maybe the water temperature wasn't to her liking. We spent pretty much the whole day outside and made it through without a single sunburn and only one splinter from the dock. That night John slept on the couch again, and was still awake at 10:00 when I was going to bed, so I put him in bed with me. That boy is so hard to sleep with. He kicks and tosses and turns all night long. Then he woke me up, ready for fishing, at 5:30 am. Sunday morning he spent a little more time fishing with Poppy and Daddy while the girls and I packed up and cleaned. We were back on the road after lunch, and luckily the kids slept on the way home. All in all, it was fun. Not the least bit relaxing, but fun. I'm glad we did it though. I get nervous sometimes about trying to do things with all three kids, but once we jump in and do it, it usually turns out all right.

But I NEED all 4 blankets in my lap!

I guess as long as I have my lovey, I'll be all right.

Look! A fish!

The neatest raft ever

Now, let's see if I can get this thing back on...

I think I'll just stay up here on the dock and check out the floaties.

Doesn't anyone want to come play with me?

Yes, this brown water does look pretty nasty, but Daddy dumped it out and got us some fresh water.

Uh! This thing is hitting me right in the face!

and it doesn't taste very good either!

Fathers Day 2008

Mike had a nice relaxing Father's Day this year. He was on call, but luckily didn't get paged so he got to spend almost the whole day at home with the kids. He has been working so late, this was the first real chunk of time he's gotten to spend with them in about 2 weeks. John painted him a picture frame and the girls put their handprints on a pencil holder, both of which he now has in his new office. He also got a new shirt and 2 new pairs of swim trunks (in the hopes that we will get to the Lake a few times this summer) Chelsey sent me a few pics of the girls she took on Father's Day. Natalie on the climber...and John in time out in the background

Natalie loves to slide

Rebecca and her tongue

Rebecca playing peek a boo

2 new videos

Here are a couple videos I took the other day.

John had been singing all afternoon, so I offered to tape him. He chose to sing Happy Birthday to the camera. :)

This is the girls getting up from their afternoon nap. Unfortunately I didn't catch them playing peek a boo this time, but they were adorable regardless.

New pics

I finally took a few pictures today. Enjoy.

Rebecca's "Popeye" smile

"This book is hysterical!"

Natalie wants to take your picture and drool on you.

I love that Natalie looks like she is saying, "What were you thinking?"

All My Children

An update, finally

I have been a very negligent mother and have not taken any pics of the kids recently, but I'll try to update anyway.

Natalie rarely crawls anymore. I feel like John started walking and a week later he was running around. Natalie is much more tentative. She finds her balance very easily, but really concentrates once she gets moving. You can tell she is so proud of herself whenever she gets where she is going though. She always has a huge smile on her face and when she gets within a few inches of her goal she throws herself toward it. She has started wearing her hair in a little ponytail on the top of her head because her bangs are always in her eyes and I cannot make myself cut them. Now that her balance is better she likes to carry things around with her as she walks around the room. Usually it's a little book, but sometimes it is something WAY too big for her to be carrying. She is a determined little girl though. She will take a few steps, fall down and drop her desired object, and get right back up and try again. For awhile she was the "fussy" girl, but lately, she has been so easy to please. Always happy and smiling. She still is not talking much. With a lot of prompting I can get a DaDa or BaBa out of her, but at least she is babbling more and making sounds. Our parents as teachers educator asked me once if she talks more when I have her alone with me...Alone? Huh? Mike and I have talked recently about trying to do more one on one with each kid, but being that summer is his busy season and he doesn't usually get home from work before they are in bed, this will be hard to coordinate.

Rebecca is our little ham. She says "hi" to everyone we see and then just grins and flirts. The ladies at the grocery store just love her. She has a new smile where she scrunches up her nose that is totally adorable (if I do say so myself). She loves to talk and has probably about 12 words she uses pretty regularly. We found out the other day that she does NOT want a little sister or brother (not that we were planning on giving her one). We were at a friends house to see their new baby. As I was holding little Vinny, she crawled over, said "Baby" and burst into tears! She wouldn't stop until I pulled her up on the couch with us and let her snuggle with me. She has teken a liking to one of John's old baby blankets and in inconsolable without it. She takes it everywhere. John was never one for security blankets or anything at that age, so it's cute to finally see. Rebecca is not walking alone yet, but she will if you hold her hands or if she has a walker to hold onto. I did get her to take 1 step towards me the other day, but that's it. If I am more than an inch out of arms reach she will get down and crawl. She is also becoming very sensitive. The slightest "No Rebecca" gets the tears going. Oh, and if Natalie takes a toy...watch out. The girl has definately discovered her voice. The screams that come from her body could be used as a torture device. Wow! She is still a great eater, and if you have something and she sees you eating it, you better be ready to share or she will let you know she is MAD!

John has discovered the question every parent loves...Why? Why Mommy? Why? Why? Agh! It's one of those milestones I knew was coming, but I was hoping he would hold out a little longer. Oh, and my new favorite, "I don't want to!" People always ask if he is good with the babies, and really, it depends on the day. Some days are a battle from morning to night. Others, he is the sweetest little boy, consoling the girls, bringing them something new to play with, sharing his snack. Those days are great. Today was not one of those days. He is very excited to start pre-school summer camp (or Pre-Skoo Summer Tamp and he says). He also suddenly loves to dance. In the car we usually listen to kids cds, as my taste in music isn't always kid friendly. After listening to Barney one too many times I made him a cd of 50's music and he is in love with it. He has me bring it in from the car so we can dance inside, and he wears me out. He wants to know "the dance" to every song. I have become quite the choreographer. He is even quoting the Big Bopper. The other day, out of the blue, he came over to me on the couch and said, "Hellllooo Baaaby!" Speaking of babies, i was watching Dr. Phil the other day (a rarity for me) and he was having a show about talking to your kids about the birds and the bees. It was obviously geared to kids older than mine, but they did mention starting the talks early, like John's age, with simple things like babies come from Mommy's belly. Then when they are a little older and want to know how they got there, explaining that when a Mommy and Daddy love each other and get married God gives them a baby (or whatever your faith or lack there of would dictate), and then moving into more specifics as their age and questions progress. So I took that opprotunity to ask John if he knew where babies come from. He said yes. When I asked where he pointed to the girls bedroom. Very true...I left it at that for now. :)

Hopefully I'll get the camera out and post a few pics later this week. And one of these days I need to remember to bring the video camera with me when I get the babies up from their nap. They are always so cute and so excited. It's a time I want to preserve because I know it won't last long. The other day I heard them babling to each other so I went to get them up, and as I walked in I saw Rebecca pulling the sheet off her head and saying "Peek a Boo!" as Natalie cracked up. My babies are so gosh darn cute!