Playday

Last Friday we had a little playday at Lisa’s, and Kim and her family were in town to join us!  Here are some more pics from Kim’s blog.

Joanna, looking so snazzy with her chocolate chip cookie.

Sweet Callie, Abby, and Natalie, all munching on cookies!

I love Caleb’s face here.  It is so a Joanna look.  :)

But then they all wanted to pose! 

Bad bad picture though.  Have I mentioned I’m lusting after a DSLR?  ‘Cause I am.  This one, maybe.  Or this one.   Just for a couple.  :)

Anyway… back to my cute children.  :)

Jamesie boy!!

I love how the big kids will swing the little kids – warms my heart!!

And sometimes the big kids will push the bigger kids.  :)  Those girls are crazy about Caleb.  :)

James is chewing on a pink hairdryer.  It was handy.

Natalie loves to swing.  LOVES it.

Joanna happily pushing her bud Abby.

Lisa got their parachute out for a little fun!

In the next three pictures, take a look at the progression of James’ face.

Poor kid, can you tell he wasn’t having fun?!  Now go back and look at the progression of Natalie.  She was pretty done, too!

This next one is from Kim’s camera, but it’s the best of all the kids (not to mention crisper, clearer and an all around better picture).  My girls look happy, and James looks a little less than miserable.  :)

We had a great time – thanks for having us over Lisa!  More pics to come from the rest of our weekend. 

Stitches

Joanna’s last injury had begun to fade into memory, so it was time for a little more drama.  My pocketbook was apparently getting a little full as well.  :)

I got a call from one of the volunteers at Tennis Camp, which of course I immediately knew was not a good thing.  Joanna was walking/running to sit down against the wall for snack when she tripped over her own feet or something and fell head first into the corner of the tall, thick wooden baseboards.  Lovely.  Fortunately my mom was on call and at home so I stopped to pick her up on my way to the church.  I had a feeling.  I actually dropped my mom back off at her house so she could change and get her car.  The kids and I went to the ER, fortunately at a slow time.  (Thank you thank you thank you God.)  I am in favor of there being some kind of special parking for people alone with three children who need to get their kid into the emergency room.  :)  Ha!  I’m thankful for the double stroller, for sure!  When my mom got there, we were already back in a room.  She stayed for a few minutes then headed home with my little ones and to take care of Ray at my house.  I stayed with Joanna, because no other possibility was even an option or would have occurred to me at the time.  :)

I entertained myself by taking pictures.

Ew.

My mom left her ipad (wahoo!), and Joanna decided she wanted to watch Sid, the Science Kid.  I had my Kindle with me but couldn’t get it to connect to the hospital wireless so I couldn’t buy my next book (which I totally would have!!)  But there was plenty of miscellaneous stuff on there to read so it was cool.

We really didn’t have to wait long at all (about the length of a PBS kids’ episode, in fact).  I’m very thankful.

When it was time to get down to business, they swaddled Joanna up in a sheet.

Then I blacked out for the next few minutes.  Okay, not really, but I kind of wish I could have.  That was rough for me.  I know it was rougher for Joanna!  They shot her up (like nine thousand times) with lydocaine or whatever.  Oh she cried.  And she asked the doctor to stop.  It was awful.  Awful awful.  I got pretty quiet (and maybe a little pale) because the doctor asked how I was doing!  Then we counted to thirty (actually, and maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but I don’t think Joanna can count to thirty), and it was time for the stitches.  I know this part didn’t really hurt her, and it was so much better than the shots, but she was still pretty unhappy, you can imagine.  But I sang to her and talked to her as the doctor sewed her up, and she was relatively calm.  At one point I told her she was doing so good and I was so proud of her.  Then the doctor said he thought the whole hospital thought she was doing good.  (Proud Mommy moment!!)  Even though she was pretty upset, I bet they see worse.  Joanna’s always been good at going to the doctor, something I’m thankful for, for sure.

Her five stitches.  Later she told my mom that she got five stitches even though she wasn’t five yet.  Ha!

With the band-aid:

Showing off her hospital bracelet:

She wanted cheese sticks from Sonic for her treat, and now she’s in the playroom resting.  I wouldn’t be too too surprised if she falls asleep.  She was pretty whooped.  Oh my poor, sweet Joanna.

Conversations

Me: (on the way home from Tennis Camp) What craft did you make?
Joanna: A rainbow
Me: Why’d you make a rainbow?
Joanna: Just because.
Me: Well, what story did you read?
Joanna: Noah was a good man.  No, he was the only good man.  (She says this emphatically, using both fists to make the point.) 
Then she went on to tell the rest of the story.  I just can’t get over how she said it; she knew it was an important part of the story.  She’s so grown up!

 

Me: (calling Matt on the way home from a baby shower)
Natalie answers: Hi Mommy!
Me: Hi Baby…(we chat)… Where’s Daddy?
Natalie: right there (I find out later she’s pointing)
pause
Me: Can I talk to Daddy?
Natalie: You come home, you talk to Daddy.

I mean – what?!!  She’s TWO!  Where’d she get that from?  She didn’t say it really snarky, just pretty matter-of-fact.  She’s so funny.

June Begins

So somehow it’s June already.  It’s nine million degrees outside, and we’re settling in to our summer “routine.”

This is a terrible picture, but I just love Joanna pose.  She dressed herself.  (and it seems also poured some water down the front of her dress)

A better exposed but more blurry version:

Joanna took this one:

Natalie took this one.  :)

Auntie Kathryn got James all dressed up.  :)

Pretend it’s not a pink princess crown.

Pretend it’s manly.  That makes him Prince James.

My mom brought James a couple of outfits last week.  I’m in love with this color on him.

And also the fish on his bottom!

My mom went to Alaska last week and found herself at JCPenny.  In Alaska at JCPenny, there were tons of Carter’s two and three piece PJ sets for three bucks!  You see in Alaska I think even in the summer the little children cannot wear summer PJs.  It’s too cold.  I don’t have a picture of the the girls’ super-cute new jammies yet.  They mostly sleep in t-shirts and whatever’s laying around because I really don’t buy PJs for them anymore.  Sometimes though a girl needs something cute to wear at night.  :)

I will leave you with Joseph and Mary:

I love when the girls play dress-up and pretend.  :)

Groupon

So I’d been seeing around that the Groupon deal for today was $20 at Old Navy for $10, which is a pretty good deal.  But I’d resisted, even after my mother called to tell me about it because I really don’t need to be spending money on clothes.  I’m in a flux, weight-wise anyway.  But then…

I went shopping with Kathryn (not at Old Navy) and there were so many cute things around.

And then I got home and went to Swagbucks and saw that I could earn 200 Swagbucks when I made this Groupon purchase.

So I did.  :)

And tomorrow I should have an extra 200 Swagbucks (which is almost halfway to a $5 Amazon gift card) and $20 to spend at Old Navy (where I will buy something for me and not my children).

The last week or so.

I just haven’t taken many pictures lately (though there are some at the end of the rambles if you need to skip down.)  The days are sort of blurring together (and it’s only just June!).  I personally love sitting around the house all day, but most everyone else around here gets bored with that.  :)

Matt’s really good about taking the girls outside in the evenings to run in the cul-du-sac, ride bikes, take a walk, or play in the sprinkler.  I finish up dishes, put the baby to bed, and sometimes just sit on the couch!

Kathryn is here this week (yay!!) until Saturday so she’s kept us entertained the past few days.  :)

I’ve been devouring books on my Kindle lately.  Kathy (who since we were kids has turned me on to great books) recommended a couple of series, and I’ve gone broke enjoyed reading them.  :)  Have I mentioned I LOVE my Kindle?  Cause, I do.  A lot.  It is so enjoyable to read on it and then not have more books laying around or waiting to go back to the library.  And no matter what book I’m reading or how big it is or new it is or whatever, it fits into my purse.  Ahhhh…  Don’t get me wrong, I like print too, and I’ll be finishing the series I’m reading in print.  I’ve had to cut myself off.  :)  So anyway, the books I’ve been enjoying the past few weeks are:

• Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
• The Mark of the Lion trilogy by Francine Rivers
• Zion Counterpoint series by Bodie and Brock Thoene (this is the one that it turns out is like a million volumes long so I had to cut myself off of buying the Kindle editions.)

I’m going to borrow/check out the remainder of the series (and happily so!).  I enjoyed spending a little birthday gift card money on the Kindle books though.  A nice treat for the mommy!  Now on to some pictures!

I set up a little clothesline for the girls and filled a basket with small cloths, socks, and baby doll clothes.  They’ve enjoyed using clothespins!  I cannot wait for Joanna to be tall enough to help me hang clothes outside.  Standing on a (very sturdy) chair, she can reach some things to take off the line.  She LOVES to help with this!

Sprinkler fun!!

Joanna and Anna at swim lesson yesterday.  Look at Joanna with her face in the water!!  I think she was practicing blowing bubbles while kicking.

Natalie got to come too this time.  And Lisa had an extra set of goggle she could use.  Natalie was VERY excited about that!

She kept talking and talking about swim lesson and how excited she was to get in the water (she didn’t have a lesson; she just got in with me).  She had a DEATH GRIP on me in the water though.  It was funny.

Little tired girls drying off:

And just to round things out, a lovely picture of Natalie eating corn on the cob!

Green Beans, bananas, and French fries!

James got to taste his first French fry this week (McDonald’s, of course!) courtesy of his Gran.

He’s a fan, to say the very least.  :)

And there’s just nothing better than a fry in one hand and a banana in the other, right?

Turns out the giant hunk of banana was a little much for James.  He’s a shover, like his biggest sis.  :)

I steamed some fresh green beans last night, and James loved ‘em!

He did a good job of eating them too.

His absolute favorite food still remains Cheerios, but he’s pretty good about trying new things…as long as it’s not pureed.