Baseball, A Wedding Shower and a Wedding Reception

Saturday was pretty busy. Anna had baseball in the morning. She was very shy about playing catch with the other kids.



Then she and I got manicures before we headed to pick up my mom to go to a wedding shower for my cousin Jennifer. It was north of the airport so we had to drive a ways, but it was at a cute cafe where they have tea parties. She got a lot of nice things.



Then we dropped my mom off. My parents and Ben were meeting my other brother Zach and his wife to go to dinner with her parents for her birthday. I suggested they go to Ted's in the Power and Light District since Ben hadn't been down there. They also took Carter.

Kevin, Anna and I went to a wedding reception for one of my coworkers and friend Amanda. It was a luau and turned out very nice.



Anna was the dancing queen again. I can only imagine how she will be at Jennifer's reception next month. She told me yesterday that they are expecting 23 kids between 3 and 12. He is part Italian and apparently have a very large extended family. It's going to be a huge wedding - I think they invited 250 on his side alone.

Summertime

Yesterday I took both of the kids to the movies. I wasn't sure how Carter would do so I had prepped Anna that we might not be there very long. But he watched the first part of the movie and ate popcorn and then fell asleep. We saw Surf's Up which I wouldn't really recommend. Then we headed over to Town Center and did a little shopping to get a wedding shower gift for my cousin. We also walked around a lot after that and had some orange sherbert.




Then we had dinner at my parents house so we could see Ben again.



Then Papa gave them chocolate ice cream not knowing they had already had orange sherbert. Plus skittles at the movies.




Today we were going to go to Oceans of Fun but it was only 73 this morning so we changed plans and went to see the fountains "dance" across from Crown Center.




Then we headed over to Union Station to see the trains. We saw several Amtrak trains where all the Cardinals fans were getting off in time to see the series this weekend. I joked with a few of them in the elevator that they were here to see the Royals sweep them again.

We also saw a very very long coal train. Carter and Anna both loved it. You can stand right over the train tracks on an outside bridge and watch them go under. For some reason I didn't take any pictures of that.

Cozy Cartoon Watching

Hopscotch

When was the last time you played hopscotch? Anna asked me to draw hopscotch tonight and I had to think about it for a minute.



Also, my dad's birthday is coming up and I asked Anna what we should get him.

"A grownup toy."

"What would that be?"

"We could get him soap."

"Soap?"

"Grandma and papa don't have any soap in their kitchen. They just use dish soap."

"Oh, maybe that is a good idea!"

Just what every grandpa wants - soap.

Entertaining the Kids

On Saturday morning Kevin had to work so one of the girls across the street came over to watch Carter while I took Anna to baseball. She did much better this week than last as far as enjoying it and participating.

We headed over to S&C's on Saturday evening to hit their subdivision's pool. Carter was under water for a full two seconds before I realized it and pulled him up. S&C got a new couch from Restoration Hardware delivered that evening so Kevin helped Sam carry the other couch upstairs. Afterwards Carter said his first sentence

"Where'd it go?"

He's been putting two words together a lot but I think this was his first three word sentence. Anna's first three word sentence was "I like cheese."

On Sunday Kevin got up early and went fishing with Sam. I messed around online while the kids entertained themselves.



Then I took the kids for a one hour and fifteen minute walk. Then we ate lunch and tried to play outside but everyone kept crying so I decided they were too tired, even though Carter slept on the walk. So we headed back in and everyone slept from 1 to 3:30.

I woke up feeling like a new person. Anna and I slept together in the guest bed and wow is that cozy.

Then I let them play in the pool on the deck.






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We have a few new members of our household. We finally mailed in for our caterpillars which turn into butterflies. They've been busy eating and getting ready to make their crysalids which must be the technical term for cocoons. They look really disgusting to me but Anna is pretty excited to see them hang from the top of their cups. Once they make their cocoons we move them to the butterfly netting. I think that will be a daddy job. Hopefully some of them live. I think we have one dead caterpillar so far.

Inpsiring

Have you ever been to Etsy.com? It is the cutest site where you can buy and sell homemade items. Adorable, cute, unique items you would find in a hole-in-the-wall-artsy-shop-downtown-that-you-could-walk-around-in-forever.

I found this cute stitched bird art ready to be framed and these adorable monkey letters and this cute doggy window decal and these clever bird vinyl decals and these summery pillow cases and more girly bird art here and here.

I seem to be drawn to bird art lately, not sure why, other than Carter love birds right now. He screeches "BIR-EEEEEEEEEEE" and points when he sees one.

You can get lost on this site, lots of unique stuff that is super affordable. And as an internet addict I have to say that this site is VERY well done.

Couple of Monkeys

We went to the zoo yesterday with my brother Ben who is in town and my mom.

Girls Day

Dropped Carter off at daycare and Anna and I went two our second summer movie - Madagascar. I hadn't seen this one and it's pretty cute. Anna's favorite part is the dance sequence "I like to Move it Move it"

Next we went to lunch with Candi at a local greek restaurant. I think we could have chatted for at least another hour, we hadn't seen each other in two or three weeks.

Then Anna and I headed to get our hair cut and mine highlighted. Desperately past due. We took some back roads to get there and saw a snake slithering across the road. I tried to hit him but I think I missed. Anna kept talking about this for the rest of the day.

Afterwards we swung by the office to pick up the dry cleaning. They pick up and drop off at our office on Mon and Thur and it's 10% cheaper so I do this but since I'm off tomorrow I wouldn't have been able to pick up until Monday and didn't want to wait that long. Anyway...

Then to grocery store for dinner items then pick up Carter and go home.

My brother Ben is in town from the Air Force and he came over for dinner after him and Kevin went golfing today.

Our evening ended with a beautiful rainbow after it poured down rain and then the sun came out when it was still sprinkling.

Dunder Mifflin

So every Friday we have regularly scheduled meetings in the morning.



Last Friday it went something like this...


First, our CEO said something like "hitting the shitter" ... repeatedly.



Finally he paused - "I don't think that is exactly what I mean. I mean, it's going to shit. I mean, the shit is hitting the fan."

Right.

Another 10 minutes of meeting elapses. Suddenly he says

"BEN! Are you bored?"

Uh... "I was just moving in my seat."



It was like he had passed a note in class and the teacher asked him to read it to everyone.

Finally that meeting was over. It was the last day for one of our co-workers who is going into the Air Force.

Lisa had baked a cake and organized the send off in the conference room.



Our CEO felt like we should sing. I guess because there was a cake. "Well we can't sing happy birthday... Let's sing the Star Spangled Banner, that seems appropriate."

Really? Really? Ok?

In 4 months I might know what this is

Carter has a dr appt with a dermatologist for children... on October 1st.

So today he has a new rash on his leg. Maybe if I just post these online someone can identify them in the meantime?

Happy Daddy Day

Didn't get the suitcase completely emptied.
Did do Lots and Lots of laundry and put several loads away and got the mattress covers and sheets washed for all 3 beds.
Did meal planning and went grocery shopping and to Target.
Almost made it through Heartbreak Kid. I feel asleep on Friday night.
Watched Simpons movie on Saturday night.
Tried to take a nap but Anna wouldn't sleep so that didn't work out.
Did almost 6 hours of DEG work.

I think we wanted to give both of our children away at several points today.

Carter just pinched a sleeping Anna to wake her up and now they are both crying.

Happy Father's Day!

Weekend Plans

We are without our best friends this weekend so this always leaves me with... what am I doing this weekend?

Since I was gone last weekend this weekend will be spent mostly at home. So far on the to do list

Empty the suitcase from last weekend.
Laundry. lots and lots of laundry. and put it away.
Grocery shopping and meal planning for next week.
Watch two movies we have from blockbuster - Simpons Movie and Heartbreak Kid - I have no idea what this last one is.
Let the kids play in the kiddie pool outside.
Maybe a nap.

A kid is crying upstairs so I guess that's it for now... Carter is getting some serious big chomper teeth.

bisphenol A

So it has recently come to my attention that a chemical found in most plastics might be harmful to your health.

There are several articles like this one here and then several articles that say it's not an issue here and here.

Should I be concerned? Should you be concerned? My kids aren't on bottles anymore but they do drink every drink out of a plastic sippy cup. I can't seem to find out if they are safe. We use the Gerber sippy cups.

Hm, I just found an article here that says

"Certain plastics are made with BPA and leaches at low levels into food or liquids. Leaching from plastic baby bottles and food containers appears to happen at a much lower level than found in canned foods and baby formula. Nevertheless it is good to take simple precautions."

So I now feel a little better that I should actually be more concerned with canned foods - which we don't eat that many - and baby formula - which we always used powder which is not affected.

It also says

"BPA is found in polycarbonate plastic food containers often marked on the bottom with the letters "PC" recycling label #7. Not all #7 labeled products are polycarbonate but this is a reasonable guideline for a category of plastics to avoid. Polycarbonate plastics are rigid and transparent and used for sippy cups, baby bottles, food storage, and water bottles."

My kids sippy cups don't have any numbers on the bottom except for one which has what is either a 6 or 9, I can't tell. It's not in a triangle so I don't know if it applies. But nothing has a 7 so I guess that is good?

Anna says...

Mickey's sky has a giant. Our sky has a jesus.

First Field Trip

Anna has her first field trip today. They are going to the park and I had to send a sack lunch. She made me take the cookies out though, she said she didn't want them. Go figure.

She was very excited about riding a school bus to the park.

This afternoon she is going with my mom to pick up my brother from the airport. She is also very excited about this. Although I did have to reiterate that she is not getting ON an airplane.

This week her job at school is the flag holder.

Trip To OKC

Anna and I had a girls road trip to Oklahoma for Molly's baby shower. On the way there we had to go through 3 toll booths. The first two I had exact change and there were people in the booths. The last one needed exact change and I only had a $20 and no one was in the booth. There was a change machine so I stuck in the $20 and briefly noticed that it said it was going to drop change twice. I waited for it to drop the money and was trying to pull all these handfuls of coins out of the dispenser. Meanwhile a line is forming behind me. I kept dumping all the change into my lap. Finally I had it all, the toll was $1 so I pulled forward and threw in four coins.

A few minutes later I realized they were $1 coins. Oops.

The shower was fun and the cake was de-lish. We stayed with her parents who are definitely ready to be grandparents! Molly's dad really took to Anna and she enjoyed hanging out with him and yelling "GOBBLE GOBBLE" trying to get the turkeys to come out of the woods. She also LOVED the piano and Molly's mom was so sweet to play a few songs Anna could sing along to. Anna played a few originals as well. She woke up the next morning asking me why the fish wouldn't jump in the pond last night. Very cute.

I didn't realize I forgot the battery for my camera until we got there so hopefully Molly will send me our pics when she gets back!

Plan B

Plan B (instead of the movies) turned out to be a trip to Paradise Park (which I learned - from a client who is new to me - is considered a Family Education Center or FEC). We've been there several times before. Her favorite part is the cooking class where today they made "Fruit Turnovers" which consisted of a biscuit from a can, three blueberries and some cinnamon and sugar, baked for 15 minutes. She also dug in the sand for dinosaur bones - and found one! - pretended to make pizzas and grocery shopped a lot. I can only imagine how cool this place is when you're 4.

Carter's food allergy tests came back negative. Good and bad. Good that I don't have to change his diet, bad that I still don't know what is causing these horrible rashes and red areas mostly in his diaper area. It is really bothering him the last few days. Next step is to see a dermatologist. We're getting referred by our dr to someone at Childrens Mercy South I think.

Think good car karma thoughts tomorrow morning!

Oops, Shrek is next week

Small travesty ensues. "Why isn't Shrek at the movie tomorrow?" Because mommy had her dates wrong. Will replace with something equally as fun.

Brake Failure

This is the message my car alerted me to as I pulled into the parking lot at work this morning. Followed by Reduced System Performance. System Requires Engine. I have seen these message before, twice. But it is currently not under warranty so 60 bucks for them to even tell me what's wrong with it. A google search tells me I'm not the only one with this problem but there doesn't seem to be a consistent resolution.

Plus they have overbooked tomorrow so I'm going to attempt to drive it on my day off (I made it home from work today) and will take it in on Friday morning. Sure hope they fix it Friday. I'm driving to Oklahoma for Molly's baby shower on Saturday morning. And I definitely don't want to miss that!

Tomorrow the Dickinson summer movies start. These are $1 a piece and show at 10 and 12 M-TH. Since I'm off on Thursdays this works out great. So it's a Mommy-Anna day tomorrow. Shrek 3 is playing which she has been dying to see. If the car is working we'll run errands after that.

7 Years

That is how long Kevin and I have been married. Happy Anniversary (yesterday June 1st)! We had tickets to the Royals game so we celebrated by sweating with each other and the kids. Luckily the Royals won, which is quite unusual lately.

My husband is awesome.

He mows the grass.
He plants a garden.
He built me an entertainment center I love to look at every night.
He makes dinner.
Sometimes he does laundry and dishes.
He takes turns with me putting Anna to bed.
He'll help Anna at baseball practice and teach her how to not throw like a girl.
He takes me out to dinner for adult conversation and drinks when we don't have the kiddos.
He knows not to talk to me in the morning. I don't do mornings.
He lets me have an obsession with starbucks.
He replaces light bulbs which I could never reach.
He loves me unconditionally.
He's a great dad.
He buys me lots and lots of cute shoes.

Love you baby!

Overall we've been together 11 years. I feel very old. Our gifts to each other will be items for the house. Now I know I'm old :) The traditional gift for 7 years is wool (or bronze or copper or some metal I don't recall) so it was Kevin's idea to get new wool rugs for the house.

Oh, did I mention the best thing about my husband - he's great with gifts and he loves to give them!

Anna Said

"Mommy! Alex's hair looks just like David Cook!"

And it did. And it was sooo random and funny. (Alex is Sam and Candi's little boy.)