4th of July 09

We started the celebrating on Friday night actually when we took the kids to see "Up". We hadn't tried taking them all to a movie theatre in about a year, and it worked a lot better than it did a year ago. We all enjoyed it.

Saturday we went to "our parade" in the morning then Richard took the big kids to Chuck-E-Cheese while I grocery shopped with Poochy. After naptime (which was late and longer than usual because of our fireworks plans) the kids watched Muppets In Space. We had our American meal of hot dogs, chips, and soda for dinner with Patriotic drinks for dessert. Then it was off to the carnival and fireworks. The day was a blast. Fun piled on top of fun. We've never taken the kids to fireworks before because it's so late, but they did great and really enjoyed them. Isaiah especially was so tired, but he still watched with rapt attention. It was a perfect holiday!

Check out Isaiah's hands in the photo below. He had his flag and sucker carefully balanced in one hand and his water in the other. He maintained this balance for a good ten minutes. Alternating between sucker-sucking, water-drinking, and flag-waving.

Naomi's favorite part is always the "fancy ladies".

Our Patriotic drinks:

Carnival rides!

Waiting for the fireworks to start:

Girl's Camp

On Thursday afternoon I turned the kids over to "Alex The Babysitter" and took off for the hills. When I left in the van, with no kids, carseats, or strollers it was a truly euphoric experience. I was seriously giddy. Who cares if you have to sleep on the ground if it means a break from Mommyhood. It had been a long week with Richard working so much and I was seriously in need of a break.

I got to camp in time for their skits, then it was quiet time which I used to catch up on the camp gossip with the other leaders. Two of our girls had already gone home with raging fevers thanks to Strep Throat that they were passing around. Another girl went home that night. Then we had a scrumptious dinner of home-fried french fries (with burgers and dogs on the side). That evening was the big testimony meeting and an incredibly well-planned spiritual "challenge" that had me in tears several times. We didn't get back to our camp-ground until after 11pm and didn't make it near a bed until closer to 12. I decided on sleeping in the back of the van (rather than setting up a new tent for just one night) which was great except that it was on a slight slant so I had to wedge my feet under the seats to keep from sliding forward. The next day flew by with goodbyes and cleaning up the camp and by noon I was back in the van on my way home with six tired, stinky, silly, punch-drunk girls.

I'm so glad I got to go. The girl's seemed glad to see me - which makes me happy. Girl's Camp was always such a special experience for me, so I'm glad I got to be a part of their experience. The leaders who were there the entire week kept saying how wonderful it was for me to come up and I kept replying that it wasn't as wonderful as staying up there the whole time like they had! Next year I'd really like to be able to go the entire time. I missed out on so much!

...Remind me of that next year, OK?

Planning the 4th

I've been thinking about our 4th of July plans today since I'll basically be gone until then at Girl's Camp. We're going to our usual parade and taking the kids to fireworks for the first time. But one other thing I know I want to try is these drinks from Chocolate on My Cranium. They just look like fun!

Therapy

I'm having a problem with motivation today. I should really be cleaning and organizing the house in preparation for tomorrow. But instead I'm sitting here on the computer wasting time.

Tomorrow I'm going to Girl's Camp. Just for 24 hours or so, but still, Mommy being away for any amount of time takes some planning. I leave tomorrow at 1pm. The babysitter, Alex, will have the kids all afternoon. She usually just is here for 2 hours in the morning. So I really need to write up some instructions and such. And Richard isn't sure when he'll be able to get off work (he's finishing up a big project) so Alex may even have to feed the kids and put them to bed. There is still a pile of stuff in the living room leftover from our garage sale this past weekend (anybody want a personal gym or DVD burner?). The dining room table is scattered with the stuff leftover from my project of decorating 20 hats for the girls at Girl's Camp. The dishes are a bit piled up. The last load of laundry should be folded. And a million other things too, really.

...This was very therapeutic. After looking over my pathetic list of things to do I have decided that I should just stop complaining and do it! I want to go to Girl's Camp - it was my choice, I don't have to go. And I want to be able to enjoy my time away from home. If I don't get this place cleaned up, I'll dread coming back to it. So, off I go. ... But I'm taking the kids out to dinner later. That's my compromise.

Thanks for your help!

A Ballerina is Born

Today was Naomi's first day in ballet class. She has been so exited about this. It's a miracle that she slept at all last night.

There were only two other girls in her class today. It's a 3-5 year old class, and Naomi was clearly the oldest.

Her face, throughout the entire hour long class, said it all. She was born to be here. She has just been waiting for this moment. Finally, I put her where she belongs!

She plied, sashaed, and learned "first position". She dressed up like a Princess, wore a tiara, and pretended to ride pink pony's. And she smiled through the whole thing. A sweet, totally content, nothing-could-be-better kind of smile.

This girl was born to be a ballerina.

Here's a little video of her showing off some things she learned in her first class.

Sunday Tradition

Breakfast for dinner. I highly recommend it.

(Asher is officially a little boy. He would rather make a funny face for a picture than smile nicely.)

Minimal dishes, minimal prep time, nice filling carbs, what could be better? ...What's that? A pork roast, mashed potatoes, corn, and a fancy dessert? ... OK, sure, that would be better. But who do you think I am? My Mom? ... I wish.

Kid's Day 2009

Background:

Richard's brother, Gary, was always a kid at heart. He loved to have fun and was always smiling. After Gary passed away, at the young age of 31, the Worth family decided to honor him on his birthday by celebrating "Kid's Day". There are no rules, really, about how you celebrate Kid's Day. Just, have fun. Richard and I like to make it a day all about what the kids want. We don't say "no" to them, we feed them what they want when they want, we give them presents, etc. And we always try to ride a carousel because that was one of the things Gary liked to do. There is a great series of pictures of him riding the same carousel and doing the same pose (reaching up with one arm to try to grab a ring at the top of the carousel) at several different times in his life, young and older. You can learn more about Gary on his website.

We started our Kid's Day with some presents waiting for the kids and a healthy breakfast of Lucky Charms.

Here's Daddy prepping his new Nerf gun (the grown-ups get presents, too).

The boys quickly figured out that I wasn't going to say "no" to anything when I didn't yell at them for eating on the floor. Within seconds this had escalated to eating in the family room in front of the TV. And they ate Lucky Charms on the family room floor, while watching TV, for at least an hour after that. Refill after refill. (Tomorrow morning is going to be a battle after that one!)

Here's Naomi coloring with her new crayons.

Alex (the babysitter) and I took the kids to the pool in the morning. That was their request when given the options of zoo, aquarium, or pool. Have I mentioned how much I love Alex?

After the pool we went home for a healthy lunch of Kraft Mac N Cheese (at their request, of course) followed by naptime. I thought about letting Naomi and Asher skip naptime, but Mommy needs her sanity in order to make everyone's wishes come true all day long, right?

Here's the boys playing in the sandbox with their new "dumptwucks and diggews".

In the evening, Richard met us at the mall for a carousel ride and dinner.

Isaiah enjoys the carousel but always has a very serious look on his face while riding it. Like he needs to study it and absorb it all.

Here's a great shot of Naomi in a pose much like Gary's famous one.

Asher prefers to sit in this bench seat that just nicely rocks back and forth. Daddy joined him.

Then we ate a healthy dinner of "Fre fries chicken" with a side or two of chocolate milk. Here's one messy, happy face. (Isaiah actually threw up a little just after this. It was a classic parenting moment where Richard was rough housing and picked Isaiah up and flipped him around and just as I said "You're gonna make him throw up!", he spewed. But at least he was happy and bonding with his Dad, right?)

And here's the whole happy crew.

Then Richard took the kids home to bed while I got to stay at the mall and buy myself some Kid's Day presents. What do you think of my new shades? Too bug-ish? Too trendy? Yeah, I think so too. But they're fun. And Kid's Day is all about fun!

Summer / 2 year Giveaway WINNER!

drum roll please ...

The winner of the Summer/2 year giveaway is WENDY!! Congratulations, Wendy. Random.org chose lucky #13 for me. Send me your address and I'll send the necklace right on it's way. Wendy is my sister-in-law's sister so I'm happy to keep the necklace "in the family".

Thanks to everybody who joined in the fun. Here's to another 2 (or more!) years of blogging!