We're back....

We made it back yesterday and I have not had a chance to look at any pictures much less blog about them. I promise, I will go back and fill in Fri/Sat/Sun soon. We had a blast at the Children's Museum and Holiday World. We did lots of fun stuff in a short time and the kids had a great time.....well so did the adults for that matter I believe!

First off, Little Miss is good. No phone call Friday = good news for us. Sure enough her fever was gone that day and she has been good to go ever since......well minus her little mishap yesterday morning while she was eating snack on top of the bed at the hotel and decided to crawl away to play ....yeah you guessed it....right off the bed. She has a nice carpet burn under her left eye. Woo hoo us! No really she only cried for a minute and she is good. =) {and we were sitting with her on the bed she is just THAT fast....swear}

Of course no trip is complete without someone being sick at all times. So Mr Mischievious didn't let us down last night he woke us up burning up with fever and congested. He must have a cold or a "virus" as I am sure they would tell me if I took him in. HE finally got back good and asleep after we gave him meds and turned on the vaporizer so he could breathe and then I had to wake him up to take Big Bro to school this morning. Poor thing.....don't go feeling too sorry for him though. His sickness didn't stop him from pouring out 1/4 of my new bottle of Dawn on several toys, toy bins and oh yes 1 hr later I find out my chair and a half. GREAT! Then later he brought me the pickle relish and an egg. {if he had just brought me tuna I could have mixed it up} And last but not least.....got the Desitin out and smeared it on a few things including the remote and his little sister and then passed it on to her no less so he would be in the clear. Yeah Right, dude, Mommy's not buying it!! All that was this morning....he is napping now, we'll see what the afternoon brings. =)

So updates on our mini vacation soon!

Children's Museum

Today we got up at NiNi's apartment and had breakfast and waited for what seemed like an eternity to the kids for Net Net and Gramps to drive up and meet us today.

Once they got there we went to the Children's Museum of Evansville. It is located in the old Library building so it has tons of character and the way this place was decorated was super cool also---although those specific features I'm not sure I took pics of. This place had 6 different sections to it. One of them was a water section which was closed to maintenance much to our dismay.The first one we went to was a temporary exhibit. It was one on accessability. This place showed you the different things you can do in everyday life no matter what type of disability you have.


Then there was the Work Smart area. This area was right up Will's alley you could build and create things and it was geared toward engineering things. Alaina Claire got in on the action here as there was a place for just toddlers to play which was nice! They also had a dig where you could uncover dino bones--Jake was all over it!


Upstairs there was a room called Live Big. This one talked all about the human body and how it functions. There was a huge talking brain and also a drum that if you held the handles in front of it then it would beat YOUR heartbeat. Pretty nifty!



The water area had an upstairs part where you can load plastic balls into a cannon type thing and shoot them down to the water. This area also had a play area with climbing and slide.


Last but not least was the Freedom Gallery. This place had a room with all kinds of different instruments and then another with household things used as instruments. There was an art section in here and a stage makeup place where NiNi gave them a few pointers.

Our FAVE was definitely the stage where you can act out a story on the stage and it shows up on a screen outside the little "theater" they have set up in there. You have a choice of 4 stories and then they have boo coodles of costumes to go along with the stories and you can even change the background on the stage. At first there had been a field trip there with us all morning which wasn't a big deal as they kept the place lively. BUT once we got to this place Jake wanted the stage to himself so he could act out Where the Wild Things Are---which just so happens to be is ABSOLUTE favorite book right now. Those kids left and buddy he put on a show. He even got Daddy and NiNi up there to help be Wild Things. It was too fun!!!


This place was excellent and all of the kids enjoyed it. Great pick Ni Ni. This makes me want to go to our local kids museum which I haven't been to since I was a kid to see what all they have now.

After the museum we were able to check in our hotel after eating lunch. Then we were supposed to go back to campus to do a few things with NiNi but ALL of us laid down to take naps and we ALL napped for 3 hrs at least. By the time we woke up we had to get ready to go out to eat tonight which we did. Looking forward to Holiday World tomorrow!!!!

One of Those Days...

Yep we all have them. Although I seem to have them quite often lately, especially after having 3 kids. So as I sit here in my sisters on-campus apt at college while she quietly sleeps on the futon and my children and hubby are asleep in her room and one roommate is gone and the other is in her room doing homework or maybe she is asleep now who knows....I can talk about it.

You have now obviously gathered that we are on a trip. Yes this was a PLANNED trip for some time now. We are visiting my sister and then tomorrow going to a children's museum here and then on Saturday the REAL fun begins as we go to Holiday World! Woo hoo! The kids are stoked not quite as much as running around like crazy people and showing off for NiNi's friends tonight but stoked nonetheless.

I digress....to what lead us to this point. Last night I was supposed to get stuff together because the plan was to leave straight from picking Jake up from school. We were going to go up to daddy's work {it's on the way} so all his coworkers could see the kiddos and then head to NiNi's. That was the PLAN. Therefore everything had to be packed and in the car by 2pm today before I headed to pick Will up first and then Jake. OH yeah and all the while taking AC to her 9 mo dr appt at 10:15.

SOOOO last night daddy had to work late and I put the kids down and you have to have been reading awhile see this post to understand why I don't like to put the boys to bed. Anyways I fell asleep. Woke up when daddy got home but regardless I had lost my mojo. It just wasn't happening. So I thought ok if I can get back from AC's appt by 11am {smoking crack} then I can feed her lunch and put her down and have almost 3 hrs to get everything together, download old pictures, wash some towels, take out trash and straighten up the house. {who likes to come home to a dirty house from vacation...am I right?!} I could spend all my time doing this because I will get up before daddy and get my shower and also after I take Jake I will come back home before Will has to be at school and I have an hour to get all the clothes together that we are going to take that will be one thing down.

SO here's how it REALLY went down:

AC wakes at 4:45am guess she's hungry...that's cool I need to get up earlier to take a shower. So I pick her up to feed her....good grief she feels hot....must be hot in this room. Yeah fall back to sleep. Don't wake up til AFTER daddy gets out of the shower....you know 6:30. By this point it is a mad rush to do the whole morning routine of breakfast, pack lunches, get dressed, brush teeth, get ME dressed and out the door. When I got AC dressed I decided to take her temp cuz she wasn't acting so hot either and out of the bed and in the high chair she felt really hot. YEP 102.7.....LOVELY! We haven't had a fever since all of our UTI and urinary reflux diagnosis now that we are on daily antibiotics. BUT hey! we have a dr appt anyway...score!

Get everyone out the door, AFTER I remembered at the last minute that today was Jake's asst teacher's birthday and OH YEAH.....they sent home a page for him to color for her that was due on TUESDAY {this is Thurs} So grab the crayons and pry him from his morning show long enough for him to make a bEUtiful picture for his teacher....put it in the bag....let's go! Get to school and all the kids have their green or things that start with D for share day....SHARE DAY...we forgot SHARE DAY....oh dear Lord....please help us!....it was a crisis for a minute but to my surprise he was ok with just talking about his green thing {a plastic little snake he was going to bring}. Shew....cleared that one.

Rush back home....well haven't had a shower so guess what takes up the majority of that 1 hr before Will goes to school....you guessed it! Along with packig his lunch, getting his bag together {thankfully he never has homework!} and comforting AC who was obviously not feeling well at all now.

Get W to school and then rush to the Dr office because I scheduled myself JUST enough time to get there and sit for a minute to let her nurse and then run in the office. That is just what I did.

We actually got back there in short order, but of course seeing the dr was no such luck. When he finally came in and I of course shared the 102.7 info......he said if he didn't find any other symptoms from the fever than we would have to do another cath to test her urine......WHAT??!! I know I know they are doing their job with the condition she has we don't need UTI's but I SWEAR it is a virus.....Will came home with it last Thurs lasted a couple days and voila....timing is right....see.....yeah he doesn't budge. So my baby had to have ANOTHER cathater put in to get urine to test. Of course it was a nurse who apparently NEVER does this with an experienced one holding AC....now does this make sense. Took forever botched the whole thing and all I can say is thankfully the experienced one grabbed the cup in time to catch the pee pee that was flying. Anyway, too much info I know.

So as if this wasn't enough torture for one day they still had to prick her toe for her hemoglobin count which is normal at 9 mo. Here she goes pricks her toe and one small tiny teeny tiny drop so she squeezes and she squeezes {AC is screaming BLOODY MURDER, of course} and she squeezes and she massages and she squeezes and still hardly anything and she finally says well this will have to do. I'd say so LADY! {I really do love her.......not today in this moment}

Well the rapid test came back clean so we are good to go....just a virus....treat the fever. {after the nurse told me but I had to wait on the dr for 20 more min to TELL ME THE SAME THING} been there done that people I got it. If it grows overnight you will call me. Which by the way it did last time and that is why I am not overly excited about the initial positive result today I will be better after lunch tomorrow and I haven't gotten a call from the dr.

SO remember that home by 11am? Try 12:30........remember I have to leave at 2 to pick up the boys........remember nothing is packed.......nothing!!!

I got off the phone with Kim even to complete this task as it could only be done with the most focused mind and determined will. SO needless to say after all that. I RAN MY HINEY off for a straight hour and a half to get everything packed for us to be gone for 3 days. This may not seem like a lot to you but when you have a 4, 2 and 9 month old.......you never knew you could pack so much stuff and still drive the vehicle down the road.

I DID IT!!!!! I was impressed and I think my hubby was a bit impressed too, I could be wrong.

Just goes to show you the best laid plans........... {what was that again}


So we made it up here and unfortunately AC still has her fever but with medicine she is still playing. We made it to daddy's work and got to see all of his work friends although I am quite sure they were glad when we left as they could hear themselves think again. {that is what they get for making a comment the first 2 minutes we were there that they are SOOOOO good I don't believe any of those stories your daddy tells about you...........yeah right} Oh well it didn't help his friend Shelley decided to chase them around either.....LOL! They had fun.

AND we're off for an exciting weekend. I will hopefully have lots of good pictures. I will also post AC's update if the dr calls and maybe I will write for my bloggy friends a post about what she has. She is good just have to prevent with antibiotics....which....well I digress I will save that for THAT post.

OH YEAH did I mention that Of course NONE of the housework part of that plan today got done just the essentials of packing. So who will be coming home to a messy house......ME! oh yeah can't wait

Enough of the rambling......if you are still here....thanks!

night

Gas Crisis?! REALLY people!!

SOOOO---in case you didn't know. My town which happens to be the capital of my state....has run out of gas. You read it right. It all started with the hurricane {Ike well actually Gustav before that}. Everyone heard we weren't going to have gas so GO FILL UP the night before it hits. Still gas...go TOP OFF because surely we won't have it the next day. Guess what now we DON'T!

SO all the crazies in my town have out demanded the supply of gas in our 620,000 or so people city. What the ?!!!! Every city around us has gas....it is just us!! This is the craziest thing I have EVER seen! We get our gas from the pipeline that runs from Houston to New Jersey. It was shut down after the hurricane and then gas was only coming up the pipeline at 20% but NOW it is at full capacity. yada yada yada There is lots more to it of course. But the point is that WE HAVE FUEL CRAZY PEOPLE HERE IN MY TOWN!!!! Quit getting all your lawnmower gas cans and weedeater gas cans and dusting all the cobwebs off any other gas cans you just happen to have in your garage {milk jugs} and topping off your car every time you see a station with gas!! YOU are causing this crisis! It's not a game people!! Get gas like normal and it will correct itself in a few days. duh!

No joke there are...hmmmm.....let me count them....1,2,3,4,5,6 gas stations within a 2 mile radius of us and ONE had gas the past 2 days.....that is it! And the line for it was a quarter of a mile long. I am talking like 75-100 people lined up to get gas and this isn't some big trucking gas station with lots of pumps---nope its a mom and pop joint with very little parking lot so it of course spilled out into the main road causing a traffic jam. I mean it is just ridiculous. Then what happens is when a station gets gas in SOOO many people rush to get it that the station runs out as soon as they get it. I drove past a station on Saturday on my way to the store that had just gotten a shipment and had a LOOONG line. I drove back by 1 hr later........out of gas.......

My hubby went out late tonight to get gas in both of our vehicles because---unlike everyone else we are just getting gas when we need it! We were both close to empty. He had to go several miles from our house after searching ALL OVER to find a station that had gas and then he had to wait in line.

Hopefully this crazy mess will end soon....I mean we are doing it to ourselves.....how do you explain that to people who can't see the BIG picture. wow! frustrating.............

8 years ago......

today was the Daddy and Mommy's very first date. It's amazing to look back at that and then look at our life now. How did we get here???? Wow....lots can happen in a short amount of time. Yeah 3 kids...that's what I'm talking about. Shew.....what will 8 more {yrs} bring. hee hee Love ya honey!! Too bad Copeland's closed down or we could have some more garlic mashed potatoes and reminisce. LOL!

Favorite Foto Friday

Sleep Yoga

{yes she fell asleep that way}

**Check back through the first of August as I have filled in a few posts for that month**

Lil' Ol' Will.......No...Never!

Just a few things in the past month that were picture worthy....

Tried to mail his sister off...I asked where...he said wherever

What is this kid's obsession with the butter?? Please tell me!

Carnation Instant Breakfast is fun to get out of the couch...ummhmm

Toothpaste....yep I think he was going for the camo look to match his shorts....I could be wrong....

Favorite Foto Friday

OMG! TXT ME LOL!!!

So I would say the world of Text Messaging has slowly taken over my life.....well part of it....the part that hasn't already been taken over by blogging. And by part I mean all of this is just one PART of my life.....yes there is still time for family.....I swear!

OK I guess you know you are addicted when you try to get the texts you know you have received and you can' t even get into the text messaging system of your phone. The day before, just fine, texted all day, the next day.......FROZEN. Well, who knew it was frozen beyond repair!! They literally laughed at me and when I say laughed, really I mean they looked at me sternly and said you REALLY shouldn't let it get this bad again. You should NEVER EVER have more than 100 messages in there total.

What?? You may ask. Well see I have a deleting problem......I never saw it as a problem before......but I think today I have been shown the light. I had so many texts still in my inbox and my sent folder and even in the drafts folder that all together they totaled like 1,000. Oh yeah you read it right! The reason I say deleting problem.....well I kinda have this issue with my email inbox too...I don't know you be the judge.....is 4,498 a problem??? I don't feel SO bad about this because I KNOW there are others worse than me on this {you know who you are and I won't link to you because you are in my sisterhood and I would never break that bond----HAHAHA!!} Then of course there is the stuff on my desk, you know all the things I NEED to keep that I KNOW I will do something with because it is stuff that has to do with SLAH or my kids or finances or you know ANYTHING. {what's the limit on how long it should stay before you say trash it---I think 3 yrs at least, huh?} Problem? anyone......oh my I'm getting anxious over here. I have an addiction and I never knew it----thanks cell phone company for opening my eyes!

SOOOOOOO........when I took my phone today to complain because it was not letting me text my little text messages, which is truthfully the only way I talk to my hubby during the day and lots of times the only way I talk to my sis {what is the world coming to?}......anyway took it in and they {4 different people} said well we can't help you---you will have to get a new phone, it's just frozen to the point of no fixes. {you jacked this one up you silly texter lady who knows nothing about cell phones and how they work} I'm positive that is what they were thinking. ANYWAY......lucky for me.....I got this phone less than a year ago and who knew but it is under a year warranty {never had to use it before} and I was able to get a BRAND SPANKING NEW phone. WOO HOO for me!!!

So all that to say, all is right with my texting world once again.
Hope all is well with you........TXT ME sometime! LOL!!!

**Edited to add: Phobia....maybe it is a phobia not a problem....a deleting phobia??????? Oh dear?!

Whoever said Girls..........

Can't make messes! HA! Just thought I would share what my 8 1/2 month old did while I was typing the previous post!! Needless to say she is in my lap as we speak. All of this stuff was either in bags or stacked on the desk shelf. Oh yeah, I'm in trouble...no need to include that in your comment cuz I'm already feeling the vibes!

What have I gotten myself into, O Lord?!
{this gets asked about a hundred times a day}

Caught in the act

The path of destruction

Favorite Foto Friday

Ok so I am trying to start some new weekly posts to make it easier for me to blog. =) Obviously I am having a hard time with it. We will now have Favorite Foto Friday where I will post a fav picture, it might be current or it might be old. Who knows just whatever I run across. So here is the first edition:


Just chillin' reading my mag with my sunglasses on {upside down} cuz its so bright in the house and don't worry......got my back up ready to go! {right side up} Ahhh the many faces of Will!

The Heavens parted

....and God said "Alaina Claire I will let enough of your hair grow back that your Mommy can at least put a bow in a few strands"

And it was SO!

Folks this is the first day that she had ACTUALLY been wearing a bow
in her hair---- all day people!!
It was about a month ago but just now getting to the picture.

ALLELUIA!!