For those of you not on Facebook...

... it may interest you to know that we are doing the Christmas Extravaganza early. As in, we're doing Christmas in July. So bring your tent, head to The Best Nest on July 24, party all weekend with Christmas cookies, Christmas lights, Christmas carols, and general silliness, and go home July 26. Come one, come all; the more the merrier! Just let us know you're coming. We'll have lotsa pop and cookies, but will be grilling out, so feel free to bring chips, buns (the edible kind along with your own), whatever!

Kids are having a ball with PaPa being here. We went to Maumee Bay and played on the beach with our friends Stacia, Hannah & Lydia yesterday. We're eating way too many treats and are goofing around a lot. I am getting as many errands accomplished as I can while I don't have to take 2 kids in and out of car seats. Hehe! Have a great weekend, everyone. Enjoy playing in the rain! =)

One shoe off...

Liam is up and was complaining that he couldn't get his second slipper on his foot. He gave up trying and is running around with one Spider Man slipper on and one bare foot. I told him he looks like Deedle Deedle Dumpkin:

Deedle Deedle Dumpkin
my son John
went to bed
with his stockings on.
One shoe off
and one shoe on.
Deedle Deedle Dumpkin
my son John.

He told me, "I'm not Dumpkin. I'm Liam. L-I-A-M."

I'm glad he's around to set me straight. =)

4th of July weekend in review

Dada had off on Friday so we all headed to Maumee Bay to play at the beach. The kids had a great time chasing seagulls (yes, yes, Mary Alice... I mean lake gulls, hehe), playing in the sand, and Carrie did get a little wet, but it was cooler than last Monday when we went. It was fun to have Dada there with us! Nobody even got sunburned- yay!

Friday night we drove back out that direction to the Drive In. It was Liam's first movie experience in a theater (so to say) and they saw Ice Age 3 and Night at the Museum 2. We had sleeping bags in the back of Pepe and Liam didn't make it through the second movie, but Carrie did. They enjoyed Ice Age and have been talking about Buck ever since.

Dada and Carrie ran errands on the 4th and came home with a 10'x10' screened tent! So we slept out in the yard that night. Liam fell asleep in his sleeping bag with his arms up over his head. When the neighbors started with the firecrackers, in his sleep he moved his hands to his ears and slept like that! I tried to take a picture with my cell phone but it was too dark. He looked adorable asleep with his ears covered up. The neighborhood quieted down around 2:30 and then the sun came blazing around 6, so we didn't get much sleep but had a good time... the kids did surprisingly well for it being their 1st time "camping in a tent." Even with it being screened in, Carrie managed to get munched on by some bugs, so the poor girl is all itchy with big red welts. Of course they nibbled her in annoying places like between her fingers, on her ears, forehead, back of her neck. Come to think of it, though, anyplace a bug bites you is an annoying place, right?

Yesterday we barely made it to the 10:45 service at church, I had babies at the 12:30, and then we had lunch and naps. The house looks like a tornado hit, PaPa comes to visit this week, and moms' group will be here Wednesday morning. Guess I better go get busy cleaning up! Have a great week, everyone!

Care Bear stats

I know, I know. I'm behind once again. I do have more to post, but since I'm already getting barraged with craziness from Carrie, I'll just give you her 6 year old physical stats:

She's 37 pounds. She's 44 and a half inches tall. She asked Dr. Jon when she could ride in the car with no car seat and he had the hardest time keeping a straight face as he told her, "Well, Carrie, you're what we call petite. Now, the law says, the law says, you have to be four years old and forty pounds. You're not there yet. And then the recommendation is to be in a booster seat until you're eight. But the law says you have to be in a car seat until you're 4 years old and forty pounds."

She interjects, "but I ride the school bus and there are no seat belts on the bus."

Poor guy. He starts, stops himself, and starts again with a laugh, "Carrie, Ohio is backwards."

Then he told her she'd need a shot and she wasn't pleased. But nurse Kim is awesome, stabbed her fast with her first Hep A round (the next one happens anytime after 6 months from now and within a year) and did her up with a Daffy Duck bandaid. Add lollipop and life goes on...

Fun at Manoj's new house

This is Jak. This is Liam. This is Liam lovin' on Jak. If you ask Liam what his favorite things are, he will tell you, "I love dogs and kitties and babies." See Liam's mama beam!

Lacking a photo booth...

...doesn't stop us from having fun! Love you, Dave, Meredith & Manoj!

Pretties for PaPa xxxxxxxx

Random pictures of life...

Dada in his new bomber jacket (thank YOU, Manoj!) by the lilacs...

Mama cleaning out something that died in the bottom of the fridge. Dada insisted on this picture. Boys.

Triskal hiding out from harmful UVA and UVB rays ;)

Liam with his fishie pillow (from Kohl's) that he was so proud of finding. I handed him the catalog when we first went in & told him to be on the lookout for that pillow. I never thought he'd actually find it. Sure enough, he did! He loves it!

Concentration

Dada's home! Tackle! Tickle! TRISKAL!

I think Triskal looks just like Janice from the Muppets' Dr. Teeth Electric Mayhem band in this next picture...

School days

This is how Triskal waits for Carrie to come home from school. She'd had her head down on the window sill, but moved as soon as I got the camera. She's so cute!

"Where's your girl, Triskal? Where'd she go?" Look at that face...

There she is! =D

Playground fun

Apparently clogs aren't the best choice for mulchy playgrounds. Liam kept having shoe issues...

Just hangin' out...

CRG and the doughboy

Last weekend we had our friend Chris and his girlfriend Katrena stay with us. One of their friends was getting married in the area, so they came to play with us! Aren't they so cute? =) Carrie quietly came up to me and said in a very small voice, "I wanted to marry Chris." I said, "oh sweetie, they're not going to THEIR wedding. They're going to a friend's wedding." She said, "so they're just friends?" I didn't dare tell her that they are dating...

And here Liam is helping me bake cookies for the kids at church. That rolling pin is HEAVY. Sometimes baking can be quite a workout!

We have a first grader now.

Here's Care Bear on her last day of Kindergarten. Her report card says she passed, so it's off to first grade next year. Wahoo!

Happy last day of school. Here's your toothbrush.

The kids have been terrible about chomping on their toothbrushes. I was telling Sharon about this and she suggested electric ones, because they'd be harder to bite. Brilliant! (Yes, I'm a little slow...) LOOK at these. The old ones I use for cleaning hard to reach places don't look this bad!

*shudder* I sure wouldn't want to put those in MY mouth...

So it was Spiderman to the rescue! The kids were absolutely thrilled. You'd have thought I'd given them solid gold. A ton of giggling and "that TICKLES" ensued and now they are so excited to brush their teeth. I can't wait to take them to the dentist in a few weeks and have Liam show off his Spiderman toothbrush...