31 cent day

Today's ice cream deal will be a bit trickier....It's at Baskin-Robbins, and the 31 cent ice cream cones are good from 5-10 pm only. We have to head to church tonight at 6 pm because our senior pastor candidate is speaking...So maybe we'll get ice cream afterwards? Not sure yet how it will work out, but I'm still working on it! Not one to pass up a deal like this!!!

The BEST afternoon snack ever!

"Oh man, this is GOOD!"
Carter's messy face after some ice cream!
Josiah, Anderson, & Carter
Josiah was a little concerned about why there was a cannon here, but after I assured him it was NOT real, he agreed to the picture.
Anderson definitely wins the "messiest ice cream eater" award!
Jacob sat like this for the entire time he was eating - very focused...didn't even lift his head up!

Thanks Ben & Jerry's - we enjoyed it!! :)

Don't Forget...

Today is free ice cream day at Ben & Jerry's!! I'm taking all 5 kids there after naps today...I'm sure I'll have some pictures of THAT!! :)

Carter meets SAND!

This was Carter's favorite part - "helping" with the sand mountain that we were working on. I think it was because it helped him try to get up on his knees a bit and try and "stand".

The little ones watching the big ones run in the water!

The kids and I went to the beach to play for a bit this afternoon. It was Carter's first introduction to the beach and sand now that he's old enough to be aware (according to Heather). He had good moments and bad moments with it! :) Callie wore the bathing suit that Kelli sent for her birthday - the legs are cut like shorts on it - it's the CUTEST!

Do Light Sabres Come in PINK?

The other night, Callie had finished eating and we let her down to play while the rest of us finished up. She went over to one of the boys' light sabres and picked it up and started making these crazy faces and noises. It was so funny - David ran to get the camera and she sort of stopped and started posing instead, but you can get the idea at least. I think the boys have already ruined her!!!

Saying Goodbye is Hard to Do....

My project today during naptime is pulling the boys' spring/summer clothes out of the attic. While I was getting those bins down, I decided it was time to pull down my bins of clothes that are up there - the ones that don't fit anymore. Once I started losing all the weight, I put the clothes in a bin and up in the attic. David has been harrassing me about saving them for months - "why are you holding on to them?" "It's like you're saying you're going to wear them again one day" - which of course I NEVER want to do! But the practical side of me has a hard time getting rid of perfectly good (albeit WAY too big) clothes. So i'm filling up bags to go to goodwill today. That always feels good, and at the end of the project, I should have some empty bins that I'll be able to use - which I always am in need of it seems! So goodbye old clothes!!! I'll NOT be wearing you again!

UNBELIEVABLE!!

I'm going to try and write this post without offending anybody. I realize that there are parents on all ends of the spectrum with discipline, structure, and certainly parents that are more on the "attachment" side of parenting than David and I are. However, my mouth is about on the floor! After getting back from my run this morning and getting showered, I turned on the TV to check the weather report. It was tuned on Rachael Ray's daytime show and she had Leah Remini on (anybody else used to watch King of Queens?? Hilarious!) All of a sudden, they point to a tower of 105 BOTTLES!!! So now I'm curious and have to see what they are talking about. Well, she & her husband were talking about their 3 1/2 year old daughter. She drinks 105 BOTTLES a week!!! - 3 1/2 years OLD...and drinking 15 bottles a day!!! Seriously even now, I can't hardly believe that! Leah was saying that she just can't stand to take them away, doesn't feel like it's worth hearing her cry about it, what's the big deal, etc. They had a pediatrician on telling her all about tooth decay, sleep deprivation, nutrition deficiencies,etc, etc. She said she just can't handle telling her no or hearing her upset. (which, granted, is not EASY for any parent, but....) Okay, so she acknowledged that she stopped giving her milk or juice bottles at night because of the damage it could do to teeth and only does water bottles at night. They give her 6 water bottles at night, and often times have to get 2 or 3 more during a night. She sleeps with them, and wakes them up almost every hour asking for another bottle of water. I would be exhausted!!! My second thought, after hearing all this, was good luck getting her potty trained!!! :)

The Difference between BOYS and GIRLS

This is NOT going to be a risque post, so calm yourselves down. I have had one of those realizations this week where I've been able to see one very clear difference between Callie and where my boys were at her age. Jacob (at this age) and Callie both LOVE the telephone. Jacob loved to play with them, push their buttons, hear the noises, etc. He didn't want to play with the plastic toy ones - he was too smart for those. He wanted the real deal!! Callie has all of a sudden started to love phones in the last week too - although she holds it up to her ear and pretends to TALK on the phone! She likes the buttons and all that too, but it's more than just playing with the toy - it's like she is pretending to TALK on the phone! It's hilarious! As soon as she hears the phone ring or sees someone on the phone, she smacks her little hand up to her ear likes she's answering her phone. it's hilarious! So there you go - boys vs. girls. Same toy - playing TOTALLY differently with it! I love it!

Bring Back the COLD Weather!!

Okay, I'm only half serious about this, so all you beach babes (SUE), don't freak out on me! But seriously, running in the HEAT is so much LESS fun!!! I ran 6 miles today and had to leave gatorade for myself halfway through because I knew the heat would wipe me out! And I was SO glad I did! I've been told that it will take me about 3 weeks to acclimate and then I'll be fine - which was the same thing when the weather got really cold. But still! Okay, that's all my whining. I'm really glad for the beautiful weather - hoping to get back to the beach today or tomorrow and enjoy it!

What a Weekend!!

This is the picture of the boys surprising David with the pretzel "light sabres" that we made...
Excuse the blurriness, but it was a light sabre battle!
Josiah is my kid that LOVES to match...and so these are the boys wearing their "matching" blue hats - I just got Josiah's on Saturday...he is so excited about having a blue hat like Daddy!
The eclair cake - VERY yummy. Josiah didn't understand why his cake didn't have anything on it - so he insisted on putting the light sabres on it...Of course birthday cakes have to have decoration on it! (He also asked if we were having goody bags for Daddy!)
The eclair cake was a BIG hit with Jacob - he gobbled it up!
Callie LOVED walking around at the beach. And she even kept her hat on for the most part - she didn't try taking it off until the last 15 minutes...and she was really throwing a fit because it was time for a nap!

Quick clarification - we still have 1 remaining fish. Josiah's died last week, but Jacob's is still doing okay. I titled my post "another one bites the dust", because ours was one of the last of the group from Alexander's party to have survived....

Okay, so it was a great weekend!!! Friday was a gorgeous day here, so the kids and I headed down to the beach in the afternoon for a few hours of relaxing heaven! It was Callie's first trip now that she's a "walker", so she LOVED it!! It was so warm that the cold water even felt good! We had a GREAT time! That night, David and I were able to go out and celebrate his birthday. We had a babysitter come over (always an exciting thing for the kids), and we were able to leave for the FIRST time in a YEAR without having to nurse a baby first, or be back in time for a feeding, or whatever. It was almost strange!!! We headed over to Cheesecake Factory for dinner and had intended to use a gift card that David got from a student for Christmas. However, after waiting 35 minutes for our food, the manager came over and told us that our server had forgotten to put our order in! She said our entire check would be on the house if we were okay with that. Of COURSE we were okay!!! So we had a FABULOUS meal - yes, we both ordered cheesecake for dessert - and STILL have our gift card to use another day! We walked over and saw a movie after dinner and just enjoyed being together and holding hands - not holding babies or little boys or diaper bags or light sabres for a change!!!

On Saturday, I did some SHOPPING!!! I literally had NO shorts and 2 t-shirts that fit for the spring/summer, so off I went!! Part of my other main agenda was finding a bathing suit. It was much less traumatic than last year - last year I had JUST had a baby and was very annoyed that bathing suits were not very nursing mom friendly!! Plus I had an extra 45 pounds carrying around. I bit the bullet and bought a REAL suit this year (thanks for the recommendation Courtney!!!!!) and it was MUCH more fun! After all, we practically live at the beach and pool during the summer, so I needed one that would last! anyways, I had fun buying some new clothes for myself - something that RARELY happens, so it was a treat!

Today is David's birthday!!! We had a wonderful morning at church, and then have enjoyed the rest of the day as a family. The boys were SO excited about it. They decided that since Daddy of COURSE loves Star Wars, he of course would want a Star Wars birthday! So we made light sabres our of pretzel rods dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles to eat (BIG hit!). We also did chocolate eclair cake - we decided we had had enough birthday cake from the beginning of the month from Callie's party and all our friends' with their april birthdays. It was delicious! We have had a very fun day celebrating David!!!

Another One Down...

Josiah's fish died last night. The sad thing about it is that David noticed it was not doing well last night...swimming not quite straight, etc. It was sort of creepy - I didn't even want to look at it. I told him to flush it this morning when he discovered it, but he felt like he needed to let Josiah see first. He told him and Josiah immediately buried his little head in the pillow. It was sort of sad. Jacob was very sensitive ("are you okay, Josiah? It's okay, we'll get another one") and then jumped up to go see the dead fish. Sad. He was fine when we got back from the gym - he was talking about how fish don't last forever and we'll get another fish one day. Oh well...

FREE (and cheap) ICE CREAM!

Mark your calendars everyone - 2 very important dates coming up!!!

1. April 29 - Free scoop day at Ben & Jerry's!! They do this every year for their birthday...we go almost every year. (We missed it last year because I had JUST had a baby, but David was so mad!)

2. April 30 - Small scoop of ice cream for 31 cents at Baskin Robbin's from 5-10 pm.

My calendars are marked!!!! And websites all back this up, so no snide remarks from any of those disgruntled friends still upset about the McDonald's incident!!! :)

Spring has Sprung!

This is the cherry blossom tree (of some type?) in our front yard. The boys LOVE climbing in it, but I LOVE how beautiful it is every spring!!! We've had a wonderful day so far - enjoyed a picnic lunch outside, Callie got to wear her sun hat for the first time (kept it on until she decided to throw a fit later...), and some good tree climbing. After naps, we get to go look at Callie's one-year pictures that we had taken last week so that should be fun. I think tomorrow it's supposed to be 80 degrees and sunny - we might have to head to the beach!!! David's birthday is on Sunday, so we're looking forward to some special surprises for him (stay tuned...).

Fish Update!

Our fish, Nemo and Marlin, are happily established in their new home (and no, that's not the toilet!) They are STILL alive - MUCH to my surprise. At my sister's insistence, I finally gave in and bought them an actual fish bowl with rocks and a plant (Kristen read me the riot act about not having them "housed properly" and assured me that a fish bowl was NOT expensive! Lucky for the fish, they had a bowl complete with net, gravel and plant for less than $8.). So they are still going - go figure! They survived the transfer and seem to be very happy in there!

The Mayor's Cup

Josiah and Jacob running the bases before the game officially started.
Jacob did this for probably 20 minutes - climbed up to the top of the bleachers and then jumped off and laughed like crazy!
The team with Riptide!!!
The girls!
Josiah was playing third base...but keeping an eye on Riptide!!!
Callie, by the way, was TERRIFIED of RipTide!!! Chuck E. Cheese didn't phase her at all, but this guy put her over the edge!
They were all SO cute sitting on the bench!!!

They had a really cute inflatable that blew air to keep balls in the air (creating like a tee) so the kids could hit it. Jacob tore it up - he was great!
Good game, good game!

Callie wearing Daddy's hat...so precious.
This was at the end of the last game...waiting for the other teams to finish up so we could get their medals. Jacob climbed up on the bench next to his brother, and who KNOWS what they were talking about. I am SO thankful that they are TRULY best friends!

Saturday morning was one of those "good mommy" kinds of days. You know - when you hear about something that you think might be fun for your kids and decide to go ahead and try it! Well, I had seen "The Mayor's Cup" T-ball game advertised at our library every week for the last month or two. I decided that it seemed like a fun thing that Josiah might enjoy since he's getting ready to play t-ball in May. It is put on by our city and is for 5-7 year olds to come out and play. Totally free too (the BEST!). So I signed him up and off we went! We were blessed with a beautiful morning (it was in the 70s and just perfect!), and the kids were so excited and happy just to be outside! It turns out that they've done this for the last 4 years and they did such a great job! Like I said, our city sponsored it, and the kids all got a tshirt, goody bag, certificate, and a medal. They had some raffle prizes at the end too (gave away a bunch of tball stuff, 2 bikes, and even a computer!), but as Josiah said, "our tickets didn't work for any of it". They had snacks and drinks (Krispy Kreme donuts - hello!) and their corporate sponsors had such fun things in the goody bags too. It was done much better than I anticipated!!!

Josiah LOVED playing - he's so excited for his "real" team to start now. It was a great way to "kick-off" the season for him. He caught on very quickly and loved batting and running the bases the best. There were some very entertaining moments - one kid hit the ball off the tee, and when it didn't go very far, picked it up and threw it farther out before starting to run!! So cute - they are all so little. We had a few kids fall over while swinging, and one boy that consistently ran the wrong way! But it was such fun. Jacob and Callie just loved playing on the bleachers and in the grass with me. It was a WONDERFUL Saturday morning!

I LOVE my legs!!!

We have SO been enjoying the sunshine yesterday and today - it's been almost 80 degrees both days, and it has been so nice to play outside again!!! Callie is wearing shorts today for about the first time, and has been grabbing her legs over and over - it's like she's so enthralled by seeing her knees for the first time!! She's been having a great time playing outside and being able to WALK around the backyard!! She's finally mastered standing up from sitting on her own, so she's all over the place out there!!

Did Simon get saved???

Anyone notice the amazing turn that American Idol has taken the last two weeks? Last week, the American Idol results show featured the Clark Brothers (winners of the Next Great American Band) played "This Little Light of Mine". Dolly Parton also sang a song about "Jesus and Gravity" something or other - about one keeping her grounded, etc, etc. (forgive me for not knowing more specifics, I sort of tuned her out...can only handle GOOD country, not the twangy kind!). Then this week, the results show began last night with the remaining finalists singing "Shout to the LORD". Seriously! Started off with "My Jesus, My Savior" - the whole bit! I was shocked!!! That's not even one of those "generic" Christian songs that everybody sings, whether they know Jesus or not - sort of like "Amazing Grace" or something - everyone knows that. "Shout to the Lord" - there's nothing "discreet" about it!! I LOVED it!!!!

Welcome Morgan Grace!

I got to go visit the newly expanded Wiedmaier Family at the hospital yesterday!!! Sandi and John David welcomed their third child yesterday morning. Morgan Grace Wiedmaier was born at 7:57 AM and was 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 3/4 inches long. She is beautiful and has DARK hair like her mommy! I was shocked at this - Samuel and Meredith both have always had such light blonde hair that the thought of a dark-haired Wiedmaier never entered my mind! I had a wonderful time getting to hold this sweet little girl that I've been praying for and waiting to meet for the last 9 months! Congratulations Sandi and John David - we love you so much and love this sweet little girl already!!!

Meet Marlin and Nemo

We celebrated Alexander's birthday today with his pirate party...no pictures from the party because were too busy trying to stay warm and dry...The kids had a ball with the treasure hunt and pinata and getting to be pirates for the afternoon. AND each of the kids got to take home a goldfish as their "loot" I suppose!!! So meet our newest family members...who are still alive at the time of this typing....Unlike Natalie, I did NOT rush out and buy them nice goldfish bowls and rocks and all this stuff...I guess I'm a pessimist...we'll see how long they last first.....(my sister Kristen is going to be SO mad when she reads this...) The boys are SO excited though!

Saturday with Tutu

4 of my absolute favorite people in the world!!!!

Josiah and Jacob playing the new game with Tutu

Look at this ADORABLE shirt that Callie got from Delaney...it says "little sister" on it - sooo cute!
Mom got Callie this baby doll and a little stroller too. The doll makes "kissing" sounds and says "I love you" - Callie was fascinated!

The always helpful big brothers helping Callie open presents...
Pushing her new stroller around
I know I've shown you this face before, but it cracks me up!!!! She's got quite a personality!
Doesn't she look so big sitting on her knees like this?

My mom came down for Callie's party and stayed to play with us on Saturday too, before having to head back home. She brought a very cool new game called "Walk the Dog" that the boys just LOVED! We had fun opening Callie's presents (she was asleep Friday night before getting to do presents!) and seeing all her fun, new GIRL stuff!!!