Zoo, Music Program and Tornadoes!

 Ever since we bought our zoo pass, we have been going almost once a week. The girls are so happy about that! Back when Brownie picked out the zoo animals for our shoebox zoo, I let the middle girls pick out tattoos. Here is Bug's elephant and...

 Boushka's giraffe.

 Our zoo recently added a temp penguin exhibit. In the weeks leading up to this exhibit, the zoo put out a bunch of penguin stuff. I got these three cuties to pose for a whole 10 seconds!

 This particular time we went to the zoo, our stroller was MIA. So sweet Scrunchie walked/got carried the whole time. She was so sweet the entire trip. She pointed at every little thing--it's so cool to see her see all of this stuff for the first time.

 I was told that we absolutely had to stop at the elephants--so we did. And this made some little girls happy.

 I think the snacks helped to make them happy too!

 This girl loved the ducks. She would point at them and say something in cute jibberish. Oh, I love this stage--no matter how exhausting it may be!

 I took about 25 pictures of them posing near these flowers, and this is the best one. Honestly, I think it's quite cute.
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 A couple weeks ago, Peach had her school program. Before her musical debut, we took the girls to a local burger joint. It's been around for 60 some odd years.  We noshed on old fashioned food and ended with shakes.

 This one had the best seat in the house--daddy's shoulders!

 And then we went to the school to listen to Ms. Peach sing her beautiful heart out.

 We got there early to grab a good seat. We were in the second row!! Brownie wanted to goof around prior to the beginning of the production. So we did (as pictured in the above photo). But when the show started, I honestly got a little verklempt. You know how sometimes weird thoughts pop in your head and they hit you head on??? Well, I had one of those shortly after her program started. I started thinking about all the moms, who for one reason or another, never get to experience what I was experiencing. I thought about all the kids who aren't here today to sing in their kindergarten program. I thought about moms serving over seas. I thought about moms who passed before their little ones were in kindergarten. I thought of them all--moms and kids. And I was overcome with bittersweet feelings--which I'm assuming are self-explanatory here. I know that everyday is a gift, but for one reason or another it just hit me hard at that moment in time. I'm just so happy I've been allowed enough time as a mom to these kids, to see the things I've seen, and to feel the things I've felt. The whole gamut of emotions I've felt since becoming a parent---I wouldn't trade any of them for anything in this world. And I hope I'm around for many more things to see and feel with them!
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 And then there was date night--a date night that I even wore a dress to--Shocking!!

A few weeks ago, Matt and I had our date night we get with our co-op group. We went to an early movie and saw 21 Jump Street (funny), and then we were stuck on what to do. Our original plans were to travel about 20 miles north to a casino, but there was a possibility of bad storms within an hour or two. It really didn't sound like much, so we got on the highway to go to the casino but at the last moment we exited to stay in town---just in case something crazy happened. I, of course, had visions of our destroyed city being barricaded and the police stopping anybody trying to get in. So the thought of me not seeing my kids was too strong--Matt felt this same feeling, but without all the crazy scenario stuff I think. We ended up going to a designer showcase house in our town. The moment we parked to get out of our car, the rain stopped. We happily went in to this gorgeous house, and we were presented with shoe booties. I sat down to put them on, and the tornado sirens went off--almost out of the blue. Usually, around these parts, we have a clue when they will go off. But I honestly thought everything was good because we had just listened to the weather report in the car as we parked. There were storms, but no tornadoes. 

 

So, a little panicked, we rush to the basement. We didn't even pay to get in. We're standing in this overcrowded basement with a lot of annoying people wanting wine, and all I want to know is where in the hell the tornado was. Matt, of course, is telling me not to panic. But he's not a mom, so he doesn't get it. There's some weird thing inside of moms that goes awry when there is the possibility of danger and her babies are not under foot or anywhere nearby. So I'm texting my friend Caroline (who has my kids) trying to make sure they know what's going on (because we were in totally different parts of town and I didn't know if the sirens were going off near them), while also trying to talk with my mom to figure out where the tornado is. I kept getting cut off mid conversation, but last I heard there was a funnel cloud near the high school. Which just a year ago there was a funnel cloud there and it hovered above several of my friends' houses before going away. Caroline's house was in this same pathway. 

 

 To distract myself, I took the picture of Matt and me above, and I also took this one of all the old people concerned about wine. I only say "old" because it was weird being just about the youngest one there, but also the most worried. Apparently, these folks have lived through enough tornadoes to not care about anything other than where the wine is. But whatever...

After 30 or so minutes of standing in this basement waiting on this tornado, my feet were so swollen that I could not even get my dang shoes on. But the sirens stopped and we got word that everybody was okay, and that there was only a funnel cloud. Since we knew our kids were safe and happily playing with their friends, we continued with our date. We walked through the house and went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants before picking up the kids. And when we got back to Caroline's,  I apologized to her and her husband for having to deal with 9 kids all 6 and under during something like a tornado. Still thinking about the path of the funnel cloud near the high school, I asked Aaron, Caroline's husband, if he knew anything about that funnel cloud. He then told me when he went outside to look it was right above their house.

Ahhh... I'm so glad I didn't know this during the time the sirens were sounding. I would've been a complete wreck had I known the location of that near-tornado. But needless to say, mother's intuition never fails! I'm just so thankful for two responsible friends who had my babies, and the angels looking over that house and the people in it.

I'm hoping for a rather uneventful date night next month!!!

The Parties

On Boushka's birthday we had the grandparents over for dinner and presents. The birthday girl chose to for everybody to have their own pizza. So we made 9 pizzas. She also wanted cheese sticks, salad, and pudding for her dessert. 

The cheese sticks, I think, were her fav. They were the first food she requested!

We served marinara and ranch to dip these homemade puppies in.

I think she enjoyed it all! This smile lets me know.

Our older two girls each made her a special birthday card. Here is Brownie's.

And here is Peach's card.

After dinner she opened her presents. The girl obviously doesn't want for much, but that is an even truer statement now. She made out like a bandit--new dress up, dolls, book bag, and a chair.

All her dress up stuff made her feel like a princess. Her sisters helped her get all dressed up.

And the Mickey book bag was a hit.

Her pudding dessert is in the background here--with her number 3 candle sticking up.

And finally, this weekend we had her actual birthday party. All Mickey Mouse themed. Except these cupcakes--I guess they were red/pink , and I did stick little Mickey toppers in them--so it works.

My friend Lynette made this awesome cake. To my knowledge, she recently got into making cakes--but she's doing a fantastic job.

And my friend Caroline--the same one who knows the sex of our baby--made these little tents. Aren't they awesome?

She also did the lemonade signs. Too cute! Bouska loved them!

Here's the party table. The kids decorated their treat bags here and were able to eat their food here.

A more close up view.

I set out some "handy helpers" for the kids to munch on while they worked.

We also set up a little dessert/treat table. At the last minute I threw this "3" banner together. I like it when cute things come out of a "I feel crafty" night.

What's a treat table without Pluto's Puppy Chow? I love puppy chow. Isn't one of the best things about having kids getting to revisit your own childhood. So glad I have a good reason to make this stuff! YUM!

I believe at one point some of the kids started eating the M&M's right out of the dish with a spoon. HA!

We also played Pin the Nose on Mickey. Isn't she adorable? Mwah!

We snapped a quick picture with our birthday girl. We love you sweet Boushka. Hope your birthday was everything you dreamed it would be. We adore you! Many blessings in your fourth year.

Love mommy and daddy.

The Weekend

We had a fun weekend. I picked Matt up from work on Friday afternoon so we could head to our doc and sono appointment. We have a good 30 minute drive to the doc, so we had plenty of time discuss if we would really go through with our plan to NOT find out the gender of our baby.

I was solid on not finding out, but as I like to say, Matt put ideas in my head. He started asking questions and putting what if' situations in my head. I started to think I wouldn't be able to hold off finding out if our baby was a boy or girl. But we made it through our sono without gaining a clue about our baby's gender. The sono tech didn't have much faith in us, but we made it out of the parking lot without opening the envelope. And we made it all the way home and handed it over to my friend, Caroline. She is the only other person to know the sex of our baby because she is going to reveal it to us and all of our friends and family. I'm getting very excited to celebrate this sweet life.

Matt and I were able to grab a bit to eat on Friday after our appointments. It was just the two of us, so we were able to enjoy some quiet time. We then came home and got ready for our baby Boushka's party (can I still call her a baby now that she's three?).

We woke up early Saturday morning for our first softball game--we had to be there around 8:30 for our 9AM game. Sweet Bug made her game debut as a player and Matt and I  made ours as coaches. Our older two played last year, so this was all old stuff to them--HA! The girls all played hard and did so well. At this age, we don't keep score or even have umps--in fact, the league is called instructional. So this is all a learning experience--which if I'm going to be coaching, is a good thing. I'm excited to see how the summer goes--though after our excruciatingly hot afternoon practice today, I can't say that I'm excited to be 7 months preggo coaching in the heat/humidity!

We came straight home and spent the next 5 hours prepping food and doing some cleaning for the birthday party. We had a Mickey theme again--as per the birthday girl's request. She didn't want to put on her Mickey dress, but she still looked beautiful in her Easter dress (the one she chose to wear). We had some friends and family to hep us celebrate, and it was a beautiful time to celebrate my Boushka beginning her fourth year of life.

Once the party ended, I took a seat and put my feet up. I was in a ton of pain after being on my feet from 8:30-6:30, but my baby is totally worth it. Thankfully, I woke up this morning with 90% of the pain gone. And good thing too because it was time to take care of the party hangover--the mess. We had a low-key day of laundry, groceries, and softball practice, but it was still enough to bring back the pain in my legs and feet. But I know this will all disappear after my sweet baby arrives.

So here's to the rest of the week being fantastic. The next few weekends are going to be Super Crazy with tons of activities going on non-stop. But as long as I can keep propping my feet up occasionally, then I say BRING IT ON!

My Boushka is Three

(I thought this posted a few days ago. This post is about a week old---oops!)

Somebody special turned three on Saturday.You'll have to excuse my tardiness for I'm still in disbelief that she is three years old! I honestly don't know how they  have made time fly even faster, but they have!

She woke up to a few goodies on birthday morning. I like to start their special day off right, so I always put out the "reserved" sign in front of their seat. I also put out a few small goodies.

 But before the birthday girl could even get to the table, we had to take a picture of her with big sis, Peach. These two are just like two peas in a pod. They are my verbal kids. They talked the earliest and have quite the grasp on the English language. These two were also my crazy-hair babies. They had such long hair at birth--and a ton of it. One just happens to have red, and one is more blondish.

She's showing off her goodies--Micky Bandaids. Does it get better than this? In her world--not much better! You can also see the new finger paints---yaaaayyyy (what the H-E-Double hockey sticks was I thinking???).

And more paint---this is the fingernail variety. She loves to paint nails.

She wanted to wear her crown, but it kept falling to the side. But we got a picture anyway. She also got a package of fruit snacks (which is a big deal when your mom never buys them for you) and some fake nails with Daisy Duck on them.

You can't see Daisy well, but here she is on these sweet little nails.

The rest of the day was kind of crazy with two soccer games, a sick sister (who threw up five times--mostly within minutes of each other) and another sister with a tick. I seriously couldn't write this stuff! But we did have a special birthday dinner in there for our girl complete with the seven of us, Grammy, Gram and Papa. She picked pizza (everybody had their own mini pizza), salad, cheese sticks, and lemonade for dinner. She also wanted chocolate pudding for dessert--so that 's what she got.

We will be celebrating with a party this weekend. Of course this is a Mickey Mouse and Friends party--just like we had last year. She's one big fan! 

Happy birthday to my sweet little Boushka. Everything I imagined you'd be by three years old, you are--and so much more. You have the pretty hair like I imagined. The big, dark eyes. A petite stature. A super kind heart. And an understanding of how to use words to convey anything and everything. But you are so much sweeter than I could've imagined. You've got the sweetest little girl voice that I want to capture on video just so I can hear it for always. The way you look at me when you're excited is something I never could've dreamed up. The way you love your sisters so much is something I hoped for, but the sweet ways you show your love is something else. You are my tiny--I tell you this all the time.  When I tuck you in at night, you always want me to "tuddle wif" you--and no matter what else I have to do or how tired I am, I always "tuddle" you. I can't get enough of you. Often times, you are my breath of fresh air when I need to relax. You calm me down and ground me--making me realize how deeply I can love and how happy I can feel. One of my six hearts belongs entirely to you, my precious girl. There is so much I want to share with you. To tell you. To teach you--and I hope I'm blessed with all the years it will take for me to do these things--- plus a whole lot more. Because I want to see you pass them on to my grandchildren--knowing that the love they feel from you was planted in your heart many moons ago. I love you, Boushka (thiiiiiisss much)!

Blasts from the Past

 As you probably know, I'm not the best at keeping up with blogging. I know I don't meet my own standards--sad as it may be. So here are some things I wish I would've blogged about--but this is the Cliff notes version.

Shortly before spring break (yes, like over six weeks ago) the four younger girls and I went with my mom to pick some asparagus. It came up a little early this year due to our very mild winter. This little place is a good drive away, but for this asparagus it'd be worth it.When we got there, we were told that all the asparagus had just been picked. So the nice gentleman took us for a ride out to the fields anyway. We thought it was fun!

And the cat in the above picture is a farm cat. She was due to give birth shortly after this picture was taken. From what I understood, she gives birth in front of live audiences all the time. The girls were wishing it would've been the day we were there!

My Brownie enjoying the tractor ride.

A few weeks later, we went out for BBQ. Well, Peach was missing because she was having her very first sleepover at somebody's (besides family) house. She had a blast, as did we.

These girls were in such good moods after dinner that they walked around the restaurant posing and asking to have their picture taken. I obliged... Shocked?

A couple weeks ago Brownie had Kindergarten Roundup. Here she is with her friend in front of the school. I can't believe my second little one is ready to start kindergarten---it just breaks my heart if I think too much about it!

Some Fun We Like To Have

In light of all the crazy that goes on in our lives, I do make it a point to get out of the house everyday and we try to do something fun while the preschoolers are at school. If anything, I'm always hoping this will help them have a good rest time once we come home and have lunch.

 So, I decided to buy a zoo pass.

 I am not a big fan of zoos in general, but I really don't care much for ours. I don't really know why, but I think I just associate it with boring school field trips when it was nasty hot outside during my childhood days. I must not have been a typical kid, but anyway...

 

I'm not particularly proud that I don't care for the zoo, so I didn't want to pass this on to the girls. Plus, we need some free activities (well, the pass isn't free, but it's darn cheap to include all members of my family--pays for itself in 1.5 visits) to do this summer. It also makes sense for us because I really don't like to spend a long day there, but for the price my family pays (without the pass), I feel like we should stay there the whole day to get our money's worth. Now with the pass, we can stay five minutes or five hours. I opt for five minutes {SMILE}!


The day we bought our pass, the younger four and I stayed for an hour or so. On the way out, I told them we'd stop by the store to cool off and look around--it may or may not have been a bribe to make them behave and not whine.




Well, they behaved so I let them pick out something. Boushka and Bug each picked a tattoo--elephant for Bug, Giraffe for Boushka. Brownie was diggin' the small, plastic animals. So I let her get those, and I told her what her Auntie and I used to do when we were bored in the summer at my Grandma's house in the desert of Arizona.

We made zoos out of shoe boxes.

 Brownie was in love with this idea.

 I told her we could make the zoo during quiet time someday while the baby was sleeping (because she makes it quite impossible to do anything besides chase, play, and feed her). Well, the opportunity didn't present itself for a few days, and in this time Peach also heard about this "craft." She, too, got excited to create the zoo. So we did.

There were two of several animals, but we ended up making a cage for lions, hippos and giraffes. And there are plans to add on to our zoo this summer!

Since I don't get as much time with these two cuties as I do the younger three, I like to take them out at night sometimes--usually after a soccer practice or dance class. About once a season, I'll take them to our FroYo place--we all love it (me for the add-ins, really).

We also play dress up. Yes, the kids do play dress up with princess clothes, but I also play dress up with my baby Scrunchie. I like to make her look like a little lady--with a bow when I can get one to stay on that pretty little head.

A handful of times this year, I've stopped by Peach's school to have lunch with her. Sometimes it's a surprise and sometimes it's planned. Just recently it was planned (last minute) the day when Matt left town and I had nothing other than a peanut butter sandwich to pack in her bag. It's rare that we don't have fruit, leftovers, or something good to pack--but we just didn't that day. So all four kiddos and I brought her a sandwich from one of our fav places. Peach's grade has recess immediately following lunch, and it's part of the norm to go to recess with her. Thankfully I had my stroller to contain Scrunchie while the other kids ran off to play, but that didn't stop a large crowd of kids flocking to my baby. They were touching her and patting her gently on the head. I was a little paranoid at first, but they all were so kind and didn't go near her eyes/nose/mouth. Peach ended up picking her up and holding her to show everybody her baby sister (so proud of her baby).

Another "free" place we often go is the Children's Museum. They have an area sectioned off for toddlers. This is perfect now that Scrunch can walk. She and Boushka can play all day in there and I don't have to worry because they can't get out of that area. And on this particular day, we were the only ones in there. So nice!

She inspects toys-- though usually with her mouth.

This sweet thing was all over the place discovering new toys and doing some learning along they way.

I really tried my best to make them pose... but I didn't get too lucky!

This is my little vet in training.. actually, she's one of two I may have someday. Peach is insisting she will someday be a vet.

And in my spare time I love to cook. I also love to recipe hunt. This is a gem I found last week and made from Pinterest. They are lasagna roll-ups. I made a few adjustments, but they tasted super good.

So that's some fun we like to have. of course, there's plenty more where that came from--and I'm sure I'll share that someday too.