Catching Up

It's hard to believe that June's almost over. The last few weeks since school got out have FLOWN by! The first full week after school got out, we had VBS at our church. All 4 kids attended and I led Emily's group. It was a GREAT week, but very exhausting! We left the house each day at 8am and got home at 1pm. It doesn't sound any busier than our normal days, but for some reason we were all WAY more tired than usual! It was well worth it though, since we're all still singing the songs and talking about things we learned. Above is a picture of Daniel's class...the same kids he's with every time we're at church :)
Above you can see how sleepy Daniel was :) And below are Lexi and Lainey singing during the worship time at VBS.
And here's Emily on the last day of VBS.
The weekend after VBS, Dave went camping with his college friends while the kids and I found things to do at home....like playing hospital/fort with the bunkbeds.


That weekend we also attended a birthday party at Monkey Joe's. All 4 kids really enjoyed it this time--the first time they've ALL had fun there....usually I'm holding at least one of them when we go there. It was a wonderful break to have a bunch of 1st graders to help with my little 3 while I visited with the other moms!
We've made countless visits to the library and filled up our 20 hour reading logs in a matter of days. There's nothing more exciting to these kids than the trip home from the library with a bag full of new books to read!

The girls of course are still into putting on makeup and doing shows. Emily spent every afternoon last week at High School Musical 3 theater camp. In 4 days they learned choreography to each song and learned their lines to be able to perform HSM 3 on the 5th day. Emily had the part of Taylor and did an awesome job with all of her lines!!! She had so much fun. I may never get around to putting the video online, but I do have it!
I just loved the pose/look of Emily here. It's her classic big sister attitude where she's directing Lexi and Lainey how they are supposed to do the motions to a song. Talk about spunk!
Daniel still loves hockey and I'm pretty sure Dave's in heaven to finally have a little buddy to play hockey with (although Emily's pretty good at it herself).
And yes, I'm married to a man-beast :) Dave's been growing this beard for a couple of weeks but this is the first picture I've gotten of him with it. He has many new nicknames, my favorite being "Captain Sweet Beard". When he tells the girls to do something, they reply "Aye, aye, Cap'n!" Except Lainey, who always mixes it up and says "Cap'n my eye!" :)
Today we met some friends, a fellow Microsoft family, at the Schiele Museum. We had a fun time running around the museum (yes, literally running, as we had 7 kids ages 23 mos to 6 years). We also enjoyed the sandbox/beach area and walking a path to the Indian village. Afterwards we met the daddies at work for a big lunch together.
My best attempt at getting all 7 kiddos together for a picture :)
So, that's what we've been up to the past couple of weeks. Not pictured are several trips to Carowinds, playdates, and more bickering than I've heard in quite a while. I guess that's summer for you!
Oh, and I almost forgot another big accomplishment for Dave and I--we finished Day 90 of p90x! (workout videos) It was a long 90 days of getting up at 5am every day to exercise together, but we're glad we did it.

Daniel

Daniel's been saying the cutest things lately, here are just a few of them:

When I went to get him out of bed the other morning, this is the greeting he gave me as soon as I opened his door: "Good Morning, Sunshine!" How cute is that?!

This morning I told him "I love you so much!". He replied "Jesus yoves me so much. Jesus dine for me. He got up." (dine=died and "got up"=rose from the dead) I was surprised that he understood that and could verbalize it!

He LOVES to play hockey and even played hockey with Dave through dinner last night (while the girls and I wondered where they disappeared to!). This morning Daniel was asking me to play hockey with him and I was telling him that I didn't feel like playing hockey. His reply was "Play hockey with Mommy SOOOO badly!!" Awww....

Stressful moments for Lexi

This was our conversation in the car today:
Lainey: Grammie and PopPop had only 2 children and we have 4.
Me: Right, Grammie and PopPop had me and Uncle Jeff. We're they're children.
Lainey: And you'll always be their kid, right?
Me: Yes, I'll always be their daughter.
Lexi: WHAT?! So you're not our mom????!!!! I thought you were our MOM! You can't be a kid AND a mom! (she was looking very worried)
I then explained that you can actually be a mom AND someone's daughter, but I think it went over her head because she still looked pretty stressed about the idea that I'm not actually her mom.....

Yesterday Emily told Lexi to turn off the light and Lexi said no. Then Emily kicked into "Bossy Big Sister" mode and this is what followed:
Emily: "Well if you don't turn off the light, the electric bill is going to be really high. If Mommy and Daddy have to spend all of their money on the electric bill, they won't be able to buy you any more beautiful dresses. So if you want beautiful dresses, you better turn off that light."
Of course to Lexi, no beautiful dresses is the biggest tragedy she could think of, so this really shook her up.

Top 10 for our top guys

The kids compiled a top ten list for Daddy and PopPop this morning.....

Ten Things I Love About Daddy
By Emily

1. He loves me.
2. He gives kisses.
3. He plays with me.
4. He goes Japanese beetle hunting with me.
5. He plays chess with me.
6. He takes me on vacation.
7. He cleans the house.
8. He lets us play makeup.
9. He loves Mommy.
10. He's the best dad ever.

Ten Things I love about PopPop
By Emily, Lainey, Lexi, and Daniel

1. He comes to our house.
2. He loves us.
3. He babysits us.
4. He painted Easter eggs with us.
5. He dances with us.
6. He watched High School Musical with us and he cried.
7. Me sit on hims lap (this was Daniel)
8. We had Christmas at his house and it was SO FUN!
9. He gives us popsicles.
10. He laughs so much and I love his laugh. (Emily said this)

Happy Father's Day, Dave and Dad!!! I love you guys so much and we're all SO lucky to have you in our lives!!!

My Precious Daniel

Every night when I put Daniel to bed, we sing several songs together. I love this time with just him, lying in his bed in the dark, listening to his sweet little voice. This is one of the songs he sings with me. Others include "You Are My Sunshine", "This Little Light of Mine", and "My God is So Big". He's got quite the repertoire :)

Summer is here!

We're having a great start to summer. We're doing LOTS of reading. I have such wonderful memories of hiding away in the air conditioning and reading all day with my mom. We go to the library once or twice a week and spend the whole rest of the day reading our new books. Emily usually finishes all 20 that same day, so I have a feeling we'll have to up our visits to 3 or 4 times a week this summer!
The kids all LOVE their new jammies from Aunt Lynn. Here are Lexi and Lainey wearing them fresh from the wash. Thanks, Lynn!!!!
The kids all love the baby pool/slide and the slip n slide. I think we need a much bigger pool this year though, because when they all get in they can barely move!





Dave is so good at finding a shady spot to sit and read. Here is his newest hangout. :)

Daniel at 28 mos

Just a little video of my favorite boy in the whole world :) He's always saying that people "broke his heart"...he's got us all wrapped around his finger!! I'm sure he'll be mad at me one day for letting him join in the dress-up with his sisters, but for now he loves dressing up as a "go go"--his word for a cheerleader. I'm guessing because they say "Go! Go!" :)

6 Year Check up Extravaganza

As many of you know, Emily can certainly turn a routine check-up into an extravaganza. She knew that her check-up was coming today and had been telling me for weeks that she wasn't going to go. She even told me that the doctor's office had called and cancelled the appointment, in an effort to get out of going. She warned me that she was going to kick and bite the doctor (which she's done every time in the past, so I know she was serious) and that she wouldn't stand on the scale. We went over and over the rewards for cooperation and the consequences for resistance. When I told her that I wouldn't buy her the promised treat afterwards if she misbehaved, she assured me that "it's okay, I'll just take money out of my piggy bank and buy my own treat". The child just can't be outsmarted.
So this morning she woke up and once again assured me that she would have nothing to do with the doctor's office this morning. But of course I dragged her there, continuing the pep talk. You may remember the big shot mishap of '08, where she got double immunizations? She was given them in '07 and wasn't due in '08, but mistakenly got the same ones in '08....so after ALL of those shots, I was sure she wouldn't need any this year. Big mistake. NEVER promise that there won't be shots.
When they called her back, of course she went boneless and refused to stand on the scale, which looks really ridiculous when you're six years old. A two-year-old can maybe get away with that, but not six. FINALLY we managed to get her on the scale and determined that she is:
45 pounds (50th %)
44.75 inches (50th%)
Next we got into the little room and the nurse mentioned the Hep A vaccine. I told her that maybe she didn't remember that Emily got enough shots to cover her for a very long time, so she should check with Dr. Smoak on that. Dr. Smoak came in, and bless his heart, he has got to be the nicest, most gentle doctor I have ever met. He has won the hearts of this entire family. He always talks to Emily about his daughter that is 2 weeks younger than her, which seems to give him some credibility in her eyes. We were so excited to ask him about his baby boy he was adopting last month, and were devastated for him when he told us the heartbreaking story of his failed adoption. :( By this point Emily was totally at ease and I was swelling with pride at how calm and mature she was acting--a first for her at the doctor. She even let him check her ears and we discovered that her tubes are still in place!! It's been 14 months now and not a single ear infection in that time, so I'm very happy with that decision. He said we can keep them in but should check with the ENT to determine if/when they want to surgically remove them, since that's kind of a controversial topic.
Then the moment of truth: He looked over Emily's charts SEVERAL times and concluded that she did, indeed, need the hep A booster. I've decided that the only thing worse than taking Emily to the doctor for shots is taking her for shots after she's been told there would be no shots. All you-know-what broke loose. SCREAMING, kicking, flailing....it was quite a scene. I felt awful. She kept yelling "YOU PROMISED NO SHOTS!!! WHY DID YOU TELL ME NO SHOTS?!!" She felt betrayed, and she's at the age now where trust is very important to her. She wants to know the truth and gets very upset when she thinks I've broken a promise or tried to trick her. This just sent her over the edge. I apologized over and over again, assuring her that I would have never lied to her about this, but there was no leveling with her at this point. She was just hysterical. Lexi, Lainey, and Daniel were wide-eyed, especially since Lainey got FOUR shots last month and didn't even flinch! They were really trying to figure out what Emily's deal was! I used all of my strength to pin her down just long enough for the shot, then let her up to continue her tirade. It is a VERY good thing that she's a healthy child and hasn't had to undergo many tests, because she would need some major sedatives. I'm sure people could hear her from the waiting room, and this was all over one shot. But in reality, it wasn't all about the shot. It was also the fact that she wasn't mentally prepared for the shot.
So now they tell us she won't need any more shots till she's 11. She was very excited when she heard that, but I told her not to get her hopes set on that. I'd rather prepare her for shots every year than to go through this again!
After it was all said and done, we went to Sonic and feasted on ice cream sundaes. We all earned them. I'm so thankful for my quirky Emily, and the fact that she's growing so well. One day I'm sure this will be a distant memory :) Although, she still claims that she wants to be a nurse when she grows up so she can give kids shots. I think somehow that's payback in her mind :)

Atlanta Trip, Friday

On Friday we started the birthday festivities with cupcakes at Emily's school at lunchtime. The class sang Happy Birthday in English and Spanish, enjoyed cupcakes and juice, then I took Emily home early. We watched the Kit Kittridge movie in the afternoon, then picked up Dave at work to hit the road for Atlanta.
We made it to Atlanta in 3.5 hours and arrived around 6:45pm. Normally we would be getting ready for bed at this point, but not this weekend! The party was just beginning! We got ready for the pool and ordered pizza to be delivered to our room. The kids went wild jumping on every surface in sight, then gobbled up their pizza while watching Kung Fu Panda on the huge tv. Then we all headed downstairs for a late-night swim. Around 9:15pm we went back to the room to snuggle up in bed and watch some America's Funniest Home Videos. We all stayed up til 10pm then called it a night. We had 3 beds in the room, which worked out perfectly for our family of six!

Enjoying the couches in our room

Pizza party!

Snuggled up watching late night tv :)

Atlanta trip, Saturday

Saturday morning started at 6am, when Emily opened her presents and we got ready to head down to breakfast. We enjoyed the free breakfast at the hotel, then hopped on the shuttle van to the MARTA station nearby. The kids thought it was a thrill to ride in the van without any carseats!
The next thrill began when we navigated our way through the MARTA system. We all enjoyed the sights on the MARTA as we zipped along underground, then above highways.
We got off near Centennial Park, where we first stopped at the playgrounds. Next we moved to the World of Coke. This was what Emily had been asking to do for a while, and I think it surpassed her expectations. First we watched an adorable 3D documentary, that we all enjoyed, then we met the huge polar bear.





Emily was the only one to really like the bear, but the others were fine to watch from afar.



We meandered through the whole museum and Emily even wrote her own "coke story" to leave in the box to be displayed on the wall of stories. So cute :)
The end was the part they had all been waiting for--unlimited tasting of coca cola products!!! It should be known that we don't ever buy soda, or even juice--the options in our house are milk or water. So this was like the forbidden fruit for these kids! They went wild and enjoyed every moment of it! At the end we all got to take home a souvenir bottle of coke that was bottled right there at the World of Coke.

Sugar overload!!

After the coke tour, we walked over to Johnny Rocket's for lunch. It's such a fun atmosphere and added to the "party feel" of the weekend. We all enjoyed burgers and milkshakes, then walked back to the playground, then on to the MARTA station to head back to the hotel.

The sugar took its toll (see above)

This time we couldn't find the shuttle bus, so we hiked all the way back to the hotel from the MARTA station! Not a terrible walk, but we sure did get some looks from people driving by!

When we got back to the hotel, Emily told one of the employees that it was her birthday. They rolled out the red carpet for her and made her feel so special!!! They sang to her, gave each of the kids a candy bar, and sent us up to our room with some warm cookies! The service and value at this hotel blew me away!!

It was around 3pm when we got to our room, so we watched a little more of Kung Fu Panda while eating our sweets, then went back to the pool for another swim.

Eating leftover pizza under the couch

After we got cleaned up, my friend Katie, who I went to school with kindergarten through 12th grade, met up with us at the hotel. She lives just 3 miles from where we were staying, so it was a treat to get to see her on our visit. She came with us to the mall, where we visited the American Girl store. All of our girls LOVE the American Girl books, movies, and dolls. Dave's family gave Emily money for her birthday to pick out a doll, and we let Lexi and Lainey choose one too, since this was a special opportunity to actually be at the store. Emily chose Felicity, Lexi chose Elizabeth, and Lainey chose Emily Bennett. The funny thing is that they had all been talking about those particular dolls for months, but I thought when they got in the store and saw all of the others in person they may be swayed to something different. But no, they went straight to the ones they wanted and never wavered! It was fun having Katie with us for that, especially since Dave swooped Daniel out of the store right away before he could start asking for his own doll :)

Next we went for Emily's birthday dinner to the Cheesecake Factory. It was late by this time--about 8:00--and we had been going since 6am with no naps. It was an interesting dinner to say the least. Daniel spent most of the time playing with a pad of butter (and smearing it on everything in sight) and Emily spent a good portion of the time under the table. Around 9pm we headed home with our dessert to-go. Once again we stayed up in the hotel till about 10pm, then everyone crashed.