Blove to Skype

Hi everybody! We have been quite the computer literate family this weekend! Gramma & Grampa Carr got a webcam so the kids were able to talk to Gramma on Skype on Friday and Sunday. Gramma Carr got to experience Austin's obsession with asking "WHY?" after everything you say and Caitlin's catch-phrase, "Can I see it?" They also asked if she could "jump out of the computer." They love to Skype! Austin was sad he didn't talk to Grampa because he wanted to ask him about basketball. His burning question? Can Gramps slam dunk? :)

Yesterday Austin got to mow and Caitlin flitted from activity to activity...bike riding, hopscotch, watching me, swinging, playing in the sand, asking for a juice box...sometimes she is very hard to keep up with! It was such a nice Sunday though...busy but relaxed and so nice to have our whole family together all day.

On Saturday we took the kids to shop for each other's birthday presents. We all went to Meijer and split up. Ryan & I were careful to keep reminding them that it was a "secret mission" and they couldn't tell what they got. The boys made it to the car first. Caitlin and I got in and she asked Austin, "What did you buy?" AND Austin told her, "Sissy, I got you a caterpillar game and a Tinker Bell dress!" Then he went on with a long explanation that he got her Tinker Bell because they didn't have any princess dresses! So, after all that, Austin asked, "What did you get me?" Caitlin said, "I can't tell you. It's a secret!" Did she work that in her favor or what?!?!?

I am happy to report that I made some serious headway on the birthday party decorations. I only have about 6 more lollipops to make and Lynn helped me make 5 "hard candy" decorations last night...have about 15-20 more of those to make this week so next week I can focus on the final shopping and food/organization...oh yeah, and house cleaning! BLAH!

Okay, time to get dressed and head outside for some playtime!

Some funny stuff...

Today Austin's speech teacher told me that during speech he burped, said, "Excuse me."  AND THEN SAID..."Do you want to smell my breath?"  EW!  Both kids find that amusing!

Last night Caitlin was reading "The 3 Bears" to herself...she is pretty accurate and even does the different voices for each bear like I do.  It is a crack up.  She also started singing the "Sleeping Beauty Song"...Ryan and I were sitting in the hallway just giggling at how funny and cute it was.

Right now Austin & Caitlin are snuggled in Caitlin's bed and Austin is reading her stories..."The 3 Bears," a couple "Spot" books, and "Just me & my Mom".  He is doing a great job.

A little bit ago, Austin was tearing around Caitlin's room putting things away.  He said, "I'm cleaning Sissy's room!"  Caitlin said, "Austin can clean my room.  It makes me soooo happy!"

BTW, all that prep for water day and it got rained out!!!  blah!  The kids were bummed.

Finally started tracing my circles for the lollipop decorations...tonight I'll begin cutting them (hopefully).  Then tomorrow I can glue on the sticks and cover with cellophane.  The kids are going to love it!

Ryan is home now...time for dinner!

Prayer Time

So, not sure how this started, but here are the kids' typical bedtime prayers...

Caitlin:  "Jesus I love you.  I love God with whipped cream and a cherry on top with sour lemons.  I love my dad.  Amen."

Austin:  "Jesus I love you with a cherry on top with sour lemons and Novembers.  Amen."

Typically after each kiddo says their prayer, Ryan or I will do the "family prayer" but Caitlin has been volunteering...tonight's was "Thank you for a beautiful day to play outside with Anna and Abby (Austin chimed in with "AND MAE").  Thank you for school and dinner.  Amen."

I love it!  So sweet.

Well, let's see...this morning Austin was running around with Mae and hit his head on the driveway and got a nice cut and goose egg.  AND skinned both knees...I told Ryan he's going to be one big scab by the end of the summer!  Not sure I'm cut out to mother a little boy...I'm too much of a worrier and I LOVE to baby him...after all, he's my little bear!!!  

After naps we went to the grocery store and then it was back outside.  They played with Anna and Abby (backyard neighbors who are 5 and 3.5)...running back and forth between the yards.  Then the girls had to go inside, but Mae came outside so they played with her for awhile.  Finally at around 6:45 we got inside, had a snack, and headed up for a bath.  Caitlin reminded me that tomorrow is "water day" at school so we had to organize all the gear for that...swimsuits, towels, change of clothes, water shoes, sunscreen...I'm glad she remembered because that would have been a scramble in the morning!!!

Currently, I'm policing the hallway to stop "Squatch" from sneaking into Austin's room.  SOOOOOOO hilarious...Ryan nailed it when he called her that...if you've seen the pictures of Sasquatch trekking thru the woods or wherever, that's exactly what Caitlin looks like as she tries to sneak back and forth between her room and Austin's at bedtime!!!  Austin's favorite way to avoid sleeping is to stand and look out of his window.  Our neighbor said he saw him up there the other night waving and saying, "Hi Mr. George!"  A few weeks ago Ryan snapped a cell phone picture of our little guy in his window watching the guy across the street mowing his lawn!  :)

Gonna try to get some decorations started for the big PAR-TAY...Ryan is still at work, kids are relatively calm...maybe I can do a couple before I head off to bed myself.

Sweet dreams!

BORRY!

that's what Austin would say instead of "sorry"...anyway, "borry" we haven't updated the blog in awhile.  it's been a little busy around here!!!

we have spent a ton of time outside enjoying the summer weather.  we do a little bike riding, hopscotch, drawing with sidewalk chalk, playing on the swingset, playing in the sandbox, running around with the neighbors...all the outside time leaves little time for the inside activities such as housecleaning and blogging (darn).  :)

we are also getting ready to celebrate austin and caitlin's FOURTH birthday!  HUH?  when did that happen?!?  on their actual birthday we will enjoy 2 mini cakes from a local bakery and open presents (they are getting "big kid" bikes from daddy & mommy!).  next thursday, they are taking some ice cream cone cupcakes to school for all of their friends.  then comes the big candyland party.  i love planning their bday parties!!!  we are having the neatest cake decorated like the game board (with candy, of course), a candy buffet, a bounce house, and a party game or 2.  i am making all of the decorations so that has been somewhat of an undertaking...if you know me well, you know i tend to overdo it with the festivities...martha stewart wanna be...

okay, more later...we now have a laptop so i can update as they play...HOORAY!!! :)  they are now playing duck duck goose with their neighbor friend, mae.  

Little Romeo

And no, I don't mean the "rapper"! Today Mae (our neighbor who's 7 that the kids LOVE) came over to see if they wanted to play. I told her they would be out after dinner. So while I cleaned up I told them both to use the bathroom before they were allowed outside. I heard Austin go in and turn on the water...sometimes he pretends to "tink" but instead just washes his hands! Well, I asked what he was doing...he told me "I wetted my hair so Mae doesn't see it all crazy." Yes folks...I do believe we have a little crush going on! :)

Not much planned for today...just some time with daddy...he returned late last night and leaves again tomorrow morning for a couple days. Austin is a wreck without Ry!!! Thank goodness Caitlin has been on her best behavior. That helps me out a ton. I don't think I could handle her going diva on me AND Austin acting out. Gives me an anxiety attack just thinking about it! :)

Tomorrow my mom and gramma are coming to visit. The kids are "buper" excited about that. They want to show her how they ride bikes (Austin is a pro now) and Caitlin wants to show how she can swing all by herself "like a big girl". That's all they have been talking about!!!

Okay...gonna go enjoy some cuddle time with the whole family! YAY! :)

Busy weekend!

Seems like we were on the go all weekend! Friday the boys mowed the backyard (always an exciting time for "mini Ryan" [Austin]). Then Caitlin & I went to Walgreens & I took her to Ritters for an ice cream treat. We surprised Austin with some ice cream for all his hard work mowing with Daddy. She was cute in Walgreens...pushing the little cart & putting the items up on the counter to be rung up. Saturday Ryan took Austin to his work to pick something up and then Austin wanted a haircut (YAY!)...so we each got some alone time with a kiddo. Which was very nice! Caitlin and I went to Target and then out to lunch. She was perfectly perfect the entire time. Ryan said Austin was great and so talkative on their adventure too! I think that even though they don't like it initially, it's nice for the kids to just have some time to themselves without competing for attention. Not gonna lie, it was like a walk in the park for me too....one 4 year old is waaaaaaay more managable than two! ;)

After naps on Saturday we went to buy a new grill to replace the one that bit the dust in a terrible wind/rain storm at the end of last summer. So Ryan spent a couple hours assembling it while the kids played. The new grill is almost exactly like our old one...soooooooooo excited that we got it....we are habitual bbq'ers in the summer! :)

Friday & Saturday Ryan & I had "movie nights"...it's something we enjoy but rarely get to do! I'm glad we took the time to do it...both movies were EXCELLENT! Friday we watched "Seven Pounds" which took awhile to get into, but was very good once we figured it out. Saturday we watched "Slumdog Millionaire". Our pastor's son spent a few months in India with an organization called Truthseekers International & said that the depictions of poverty were completely accurate. A very sad fact. So with that knowledge before seeing the movie, I watched it with a different perspective. In my adult life, I have seen & read 3 things that I would say have "haunted" me...the book "The Pact" by Jodi Picoult, the movie "The Kite Runner", and now "Slumdog Millionaire". Uplifting, eh?

Yesterday we did some things around the house....the boys mowed the front yard, Caitlin and I laid in the grass & chatted and then explored the ants that were on the sidewalk. Then we all went to Kroger to stock up on meat for the grill! Ryan cooked the burgers (YUM!), we had a family dinner (the kids' favorite was the "melon" - cantaloupe and watermelon) and then had bath time. After that the kids went to bed...they BOTH have the sniffles which usually equals a NIGHTMARE with Caitlin because she won't take any Benadryl which helps immensely at bedtime.

This morning we read about a million books. I LOVE that the kids love to read. Austin even stopped mowing to join in story time! They have these little ABC books (there is a small book for each letter of the alphabet) with a picture and its name on the opposite page (ie: cat - then there's a picture of a cat)...they enjoyed spelling out each word this morning. IMHO they are incredibly smart little kids! I created a matching game to help them learn their personal information (first, middle, last names; phone number; address; city; state) by writing each thing on 2 paint sample cards. Austin's set was blues & greens; Caitlin's was pinks & purples...anyway...we laid out half of Austin's set in the dining room & half of Caitlin's set in the office. I kept their other halves in the living room. The game was...I chose a personal fact from my cards, we went over it, then they took their card & ran into the other rooms to make a match & bring it back to me. THEY LOVED IT & didn't want to stop playing.

Some of their latest funny sayings...

*Caitlin saw a picture of Joe Biden on the internet and asked me, "Is that Bob Evans?" Oh my gosh, I was rolling!!!!!!!!!!

*Austin got some paint on himself & told us happily, "I'm a work of artist!" :) Sooooo cute!

*Caitlin also saw a picture of Nancy Pelosi and asked, "Is that Judge Judy?" LOL!

Today is going to be low key. It's supposed to be beautiful outside all week, so we'll be outside most of the time after naps. Austin's public school speech cuts down to one time a week starting this week, so for the summer we'll have Friday's free. Thursday they get to take their bikes to school for their version of the Indy 500. Austin is looking forward to that...Caitlin is not, due to her phobia of the buckle on the helmet.

Okay, gonna go play now!

Mother's Day

Ah, I LOVE homemade Mother's Day gifts! The kids each decorated a plate for me...SOOOO cute! I plan to display them in the kitchen once I get a couple plate stands. They also made some cute crafts at school...their handprint with a little poem (always a favorite!), a little milk carton vase with a foam flower with their picture in the center, an "interview" about their mommy (the answers were so sweet!), and a picture of me with each of them that they drew. A., C., & daddy also brought home a HUGE beautiful flower arrangement for my viewing & smelling pleasure. :)

This weekend was pretty low key...the kids spent all morning/afternoon with Bethany and her boys as I had my surgery Friday. Then Friday night they spent the night with Lynn & John so I could rest (& be in the "vicodin zone"). Ryan picked them up on Saturday afternoon and played with them while I rested. They were a little freaked out that I was not normal...Austin likes to say I'm walking "weird"! It has really sucked not being able to snuggle properly or lift them up. :( Yesterday I was off the vicodin and on 800mg ibuprofen...so more alert. Hoping today will be even more of an improvement....better be...Ryan's back to work!!! :) Anyway, all the surgery found was a polyp...still no help with my right side pain! Follow up appointment is in 6 weeks, so we'll see what's next (if anything).

Planning to go outside this afternoon....hoping to try a short walk to feed the ducks. Later in the week, maybe we will hit the zoo and plant some flowers around here.