Summer adventure #i think i'm killing us with these adventures

I haven't posted in a few days because my fingers have been too tired to type. My legs are too tired to walk. My brain is too tired to think. This is what over planning has done to me. Some people like to be constantly busy. I do not. I'm usually happy with one thing to do every day. With an occasional day thrown in where we do absolutely nothing.

So, why did I schedule swim lessons for the kids during the same week of VBS? Because it was the only week this particular swim instructor was going to be in our neighborhood. And I really didn't think it would be that bad. I thought we could handle it. But I was wrong. Jake could handle it. Emma Mae and her mama could not.

The kids had so much fun at VBS. I loved hearing them singing their new songs on the way home every day. FRIEND AIDEN! went with us so I was privy to some interesting conversations between Jake and his friend in the car each day. Hey boys? Talk about superheroes without ceasing!

My VBS class consisted of 13 very cute, very energetic two year olds. Immediately you can see why I'm tired right? We left the house at 7:30 each morning. Got home at 12:30 to shovel lunch in our mouths and then back in the car to make it to swim lessons on time. Jake and Em each swam for 45 minute sessions and then we were home by 3:30.

That is a normal day in so many people's world. But not ours. We totally missed rest time. I ate snack standing up. Oh, the humanity.

On the upside, Jake loved every minute of it. He thrived at swim lessons. The week before he gave up his swim floaties and he was just ready to swim. He even did some kneeling dives into the pool. I was so proud of him. Emma Mae loved her first lesson. Then she decided she didn't want to go back ever again. If you know Emma then you know this wasn't something she said just once. She whined. She cried. She threw fits. I did not give in. We're not raising a bunch of quitters around here. Really I was pretty sure this was just her old controlling ways rearing their ugly head again so I knew I couldn't give in to her demands. Because then she would have the upper hand. And that hasn't worked out so well for us in the past. Anyhow, by Thursday I was down to begging Mike to take her to her lesson. He did. She saw me there with Jake and started her whining. I left to hide in the back where she couldn't see me. Her instructor scooped her up and said "hey! no crying today." And she stopped. Problem solved. I was really proud of her too. She worked through her fear of getting her face wet and even swam a little ways all by herself by the end of the week.

Mike's dad and Sally came to visit late Wednesday night too. So the kids have also had their grandparents here spoiling them. Jake finally got to go on his first fishing trip with his grandpa. He was so excited. The fish didn't bite but apparently one stuck his booty in the air and said "na na na boo boo" at him. I didn't know fish were so childish.

To end our big adventures for the week we drove to Lockhart to eat at Black's barbecue. It was delicious.  And after stuffing myself with brisket I realized that I could go on to see another day. As long as another day included no set plans and a nice nap at the proper time.

Legoland

It's amazing how long a box of legos can entertain them!

Toy story

Today we got to have our friends Leo and Max join us for some playtime. We spent some time at the park, played superheroes and even had story time. Then my sweet hubby came home and said "I want you to get out of the  house for a few hours." He even offered me money so I could go see the new Tom Cruise movie. What a sweet hubby!

I didn't go to the movie, however, because I had an errand I needed to do. During the summer I like to sell things we don't use anymore to make cash. So a few days ago, I sold one of Jake's old toys online for $4 and arranged to meet the lady that wanted it at Kohls not too far away. Anyhow. I post things on this online yard sale page for people in our town and the small town next to us. Everyone has a picture and I haven't really thought about safety with it before.

The lady I was supposed to meet was named Amanda. I texted her when I got to Kohls and she said she was pulling in to the parking lot and asked me where I wanted to meet her. So I said that I would meet her out front. She said okay. I went out front and waited for a few minutes. No Amanda. Then she texted me again and said she was inside the store by the men's section. She said she was wearing a black t-shirt, a hat and she had a black goatee. I was all "wow". Here is a woman with enough facial hair to grow a goatee and she just owns it. Not embarrassed at all. Then reality kicked in and I realized she must have sent her husband to meet me. Turns out I wasn't meeting Amanda. I was meeting a man, duh? Would have been nice if she had told me that.

Anyhow. I walked to the mens section and found a man matching the description. I was feeling kind of weird about the whole situation. I had the toy stuffed in my purse and I sort of felt like some shady toy dealer. So I walked over to this man and said "hey, are you here for the toy?" And he just looked at me all weird and said "uh, no." I was all "oh." "Sorry dude." And I walked off. Then I saw a man, duh? waiting outside of Kohls that fit the description. Walked up to him and said the same thing and thank the Lord it was the right person this time. He gave me an extra dollar for my trouble. Score!

Little list

1.) My hamster bit me today. For the first time. I hope it's the last time. I'm not gonna lie-it hurt. He was actually hanging onto my pinky with his teeth. I had to fling him off while I screamed in terror. He drew blood. What is the life span of a hamster?

2.) Emma Mae came up to me today and just hugged me forever (like she does many times a day). I said "little girl, what are you doing?" and she just said "loving you". That was the sweetest moment of the day.

3.) I'm sitting here smelling peach/blueberry fruit crisp in the oven and smoked brisket on the grill outside. The kids are in their room playing and the Beatles are on the radio playing. Second sweetest moment of the day.

4.) Mike and I are considering eliminating or greatly reducing the amount of processed foods we eat. We have both grown a little thick in the middle. We considered giving up white sugar and white flour. But then we came to our senses. This all started with me reading a book of course. 7 by Jen Hatmaker. Who I just found out is a neighbor of ours. Great book about reducing what we have to increase God in our lives.

5.) I have to write about Duck Dynasty. Along with The Bachelorette this is my new guilty pleasure. These guys are so ridiculous they are cute. I need a show in my life that makes me laugh out loud.

Summer adventures #8&9

Yesterday I took the kids to the local bounce house. I had one last Groupon for it and I was really trying to hold onto it until later in the summer when we are desperate for something to do. But I just couldn't stand the thought of going to the swimming pool again so we went to bounce instead. I took my bag of stuff I need to teach VBS next week so I could sneak a peak and figure out what is going on there.

My friend Jana and I will be teaching two year olds this year. We're expecting to see some of our kiddos from mother's day out since most of them are turning two right now. I know right now that I will be busting out some "if you're happy and you know it" next week. Pre-school teachers are crazy. We have to be. Can you think of another profession where you need to break out in song at any given moment of the day to maintain order? Other than working at Disneyland or something?

On a bad day, two year olds are a cross between terrorists and little drunk people. They hit. They bite. They tackle one another. They steal. They fall down randomly. And most of the time you can't understand what they are saying. But if you break out in song something magical happens. They stop what they are doing. They look at you and listen. And if you tell them to clap, they will.

I wonder if this would work in war situations. What would happen in a battle if someone just climbed out of their tank and started singing "if you're happy and you know it" over a bullhorn? It is ingrained in our DNA to clap responsively. And everyone knows you gotta put down your gun to clap. Wow. I'm pretty sure I just came up with a peaceful solution to war.

Anyway. Speaking of busting out in song to entertain little ones. Our adventure today was driving down to New Braunfels to their public library so the kids could see Joe McDermott for the first time. Oh my word. This man is adorable. Jake and Emma Mae loved him! We had to buy his CD before we left and they listened to it all the way home.

After the concert we bought some sandwiches and drove to another new park to us in New Braunfels. The kids loved it and played very hard. Emma fell asleep on the way back home while Jake listened to his beloved Joe. He had a smile on his face the whole way home!

Lock and Key

You know how there are some items at the store now that you can't just go in and buy? Like razors and certain medications? Because somewhere some teenager discovered how to make bombs or drugs that make you act like a zombie from them?

Well. I've decided that I want to have one of those cabinets in our house. A cabinet with a lock that requires a key to get it open. With glass doors so you can see what's inside and realize that if you didn't abuse those items they could be readily accessible to you. Here's what would be inside my cabinet.

1.) All of Emma Mae's paint.

2.) Markers of any kind.

3.) The cat. She can't make trouble if she's locked in a cabinet.

4.) Glitter nail polish.

5.) Toilet paper. Seriously, how can they go through a roll of toilet paper every single day and still have dirty underwear?

6.) Gummy fruit snacks.

7.) The bullets for Jake's nerf guns.

8.) Stickers.

9.) Cheese.

10.) Rick Springfield. Just so I could take him out every day and talk to him and have him sing me songs and call him my precious. Then I would put him back and save him for the next day.

Summer Adventure #6&7

Yesterday I finally did what I say I'm going to do every summer. I invited some of Jake's classmates over for a playdate. Three of them showed up and we went swimming all morning long. The kids were wiped out afterwards. So was I. Totally worth it though seeing how excited the kids were to see each other after three weeks out of school.

Today I met my neighbor Misty and her kiddos at a park in Austin that we've never been to. You know you just can't beat free entertainment. This park had different playground toys than you normally see. It was very cool. There was also a pond with hungry ducks and geese nearby. The kids had a blast for an hour. And then everyone got hot, hungry and vewy cwanky. And I got lost on the way home. So a thirty minute drive turned into an hour drive. Because I am awesome.

I want somemore of these

Smores bars. Make these. Especially if you would like to be camping over your summer break but you live in a place that is hotter than Mercury so instead you just stay inside under a ceiling fan with the AC blasting. You can still have the taste of smores while in the comfort and coolness of your own home.

Summer adventure #5

Yesterday was Mike's day off so I dusted off a Groupon and we took the kids out for a bit. We went to the Book People in down town Austin. The groupon I had was for an hour long petting zoo/story time/craft making extravaganza. It was really pretty neat. The kids had a good time. Emma Mae was shockingly into the story time portion of the morning. She likes it when I read to her at home, but she's never done really well at story time at the library. But she was so involved during this story time, answering questions and everything! Of course, one of the questions the story teller asked was "what did so and so say to get what he wanted in this story?" The answer was "please" but Emma Mae shouted out "NO!" You can see how things go at our house right?

Little girl loved her bunny at first.

Jake held a bunny, a goose, a duck, a guinea pig and a tortoise.

Emma was not so excited by our albino guinea pig. He had red eyes. He can't help that he looks like a demon.

This was my favorite. A chinchila. I want one. They are the softest animals on earth. I want a bed of them. And Emma kept calling them "cachila's."

There were even bubbles. You just can't beat bubbles. Afterwards, we headed out to a new burger joint in our quest for best burger alive. Dead. You know what I mean.

All Star Burger at the Hill Country Galleria did not disappoint. Yummy. We had a great day exploring new places.

Artist at work

This morning Emma Mae came to me asking if she could paint. She has been painting for five days straight now. I said no this morning because yesterday her painting involved green and blue footprints on the carpet which I found disheartening.

Imagine my surprise when I saw her about ten minutes later with suspicious looking blue paint smeared all over her legs and face. So I questioned her. "Emma, did you get into the paint?" She said "no, mommy." I said "are you sure?" She just looked at me. I asked again, "Emma did you paint after mommy told you not to?" She said "no mommy." So I pointed to the paint all over her person and said "what's that?" Aha! Caught you! She said "mommy, those are just boo boos."

She is a little liar. How do you deal with lying? I've told her before that I will be more angry if she lies to me about something than if she just tells me the truth. Even if the truth hurts. Still, she lies. I was a liar too. I don't know if my parents remember or even if they knew. I was good at it. At some point though I had to force myself to stop telling little white lies. Even if they were told to make someone else feel better. I'm not sure what to do with my little mini me right now. Advice is appreciated!

Anyhow, after I got her cleaned up I went into the playroom to see if I needed to clean the carpet yet again. Not this time. This time she decided to redecorate the furniture. This chair is not supposed to be multi-colored. Although maybe it adds a little bit of flair to the room. What do you think?

Summer Adventure #4

Yesterday Mike and I took Jake to see the Avengers movie.This was only Jake's fourth movie to see in the movie theater so I think it counts as an adventure. The movie was really good if not a little intense at times. Jake's eyes were the size of dinner plates the whole time. I asked him if it was too scary for him and he just said "this is the best movie EVER!" I enjoyed it as well.

Emma Mae got to stay home and have my friend Leslie's daughter Taryn stay with her. She was pretty excited to have special "girl time" with Taryn. Apparently, she even told Taryn that they are now best friends. That hurts a little bit because I thought I was Em's best friend. But apparently, whoever is currently playing with Emma is her best friend. Where's the loyalty I ask you?

Anyhow, the kids have had friends over here to play with them every day for the past four days. It's kind of nice because they have entertainment, but I also see a future career as a referee in store for myself. Issues with sharing anyone?

Summer adventure #3-Hanging with the cousins

Mike's brother, Matt, drove in from Virginia last night to pick up his girls for the summer. He was sweet enough to drive out to our house today so the cousins could spend some time together. We don't get to see them nearly enough. Matt's cool too. Wish he hadn't moved so stinkin' far away. Anyway, what says summer like hanging out with your cousins playing in the backyard, making a trip to the swimming pool and eating bbq ribs for dinner?

No, there is nothing wrong with Jake. Physically, anyways.  He just acts crazy every time I tell him to smile.

Categories, such as...

I'm adding a new category to my life. It's called "Things I choose to do nothing about vs. Things I must do something about." Maybe it's actually two categories. Anyway. Some things that might go into the "Things I choose to do nothing about" might be:

1.) The wrinkly skin on my knees. I call it elephant knee syndrome. And I surrender.

2.) People who say "supposably" instead of "supposedly". I can't help you.

3.) The water that keeps leaking out all over the floor from the back of our refrigerator. Sounds expensive.

4.) The forever long baseball season. Who cares?

5.) The fact that neither one of our children pronounce the "L" sound. I wuv you sounds cute.

Some things that might go into the "Things I must do something about" include but are not limited to:

1.) The stray hairs that pop out all over my face.

2.) The pooch in my tummy, muffin top, whatever you want to call it. I know I must do something about it but I haven't figured out what yet. I do know that eating more brownies did not help.

3.) Organizing the endless stream of toys and toy parts around here.

4.) The hornet nest that has been built two feet away from the children's swingset. By the way, buying that playscape has produced a summer miracle. As of today, both children can successfully swing themselves!

5.) Teaching Jake that no matter how much he loves it, no matter how freeing it is, he must not walk around in only his underwear in front of people not in his immediate family. He is having such a hard time with this. He just doesn't get that it is not appropriate for the construction workers building the houses behind us to see him playing outside in his tighty whities. Or that he should put shorts on before going over to play with the neighbor children. And also, that his hands don't actually belong inside his underwear on a permanent basis. For real.

Summer adventure #2

I'm planning adventures for us for every week this summer. To make the time pass by more quickly. Groupons have been purchased and research has been done. Last week we took the kids back to the wooden playground in San Marcos. I wanted Mike to see it. He was impressed. After the kids played awhile, we went back down to the river to throw some rocks in the water. Why do kids love throwing rocks so much?

Then Mike and I got hungry and made the kids leave so we could grab some lunch. I had a Groupon to a place called Gil's Broiler Room. All the reviews of this place were so good. It is supposedly the oldest restaurant in San Marcos and they are supposed to have really good hamburgers. And Mike and I are on a crusade to find the best burger ever so we were pretty excited to go there. The girl who took our order was pretty cute. We told her we had never been there before and she couldn't believe that we had never even heard of Gil's until I saw the Groupon for it. She said and I quote "that's weird because we're kind of a big deal around here." I just thought that was so funny. I think I'm going to start saying that to people on daily basis until I believe it myself. I'm just going to introduce myself as Kim and say "I'm kind of a big deal" and see what happens.

I asked them to smile without being goofy and this is what I got. Work with me here people.

Okay. The burgers were good, but not the best burger I've ever eaten. In fact, I left almost half of it on my plate. But we also purchased these manske rolls which are also supposed to be a big deal. And they really were. Very good.

This is summer

This is one of my favorite things about summer. Fresh tomatoes out of our garden. On white bread. With mayo, salt, pepper and tabasco sauce. Delicious. I'm thinking about changing this recipe that my dad passed down to me years ago though. The basil in our garden has been calling to me. I think it's telling me to put it on my tomato sandwiches. We may be in the midst of a culinary revolution over here.

Things that are awesome

1.) Having all three of your cars in the shop on the same day.

2.) Reaching your hand into a carton of eggs to pull one out and having it break all over your fingers and drip down the inside of the refrigerator.

3.) Looking out your back windows where once you saw only blue sky and green trees and seeing a row of houses directly behind you.

4.) Waking up in the wee hours of the morning for going on a week now with a stomach ache.

5.) Getting back the car with the broken air conditioner that you just paid $260 to fix and driving it for two minutes when you realize that the AC is still broken.

6.) Taking it back and having them tell you that they fixed the problem you brought it in for but it has another problem now that will cost an additional $600 to fix. Having them tell you they didn't realize you wanted them to check and make sure the entire AC was working before they returned the car to you. Realizing that you have spent more in car repairs on said car in the last year and a half than the car is actually worth. That is really awesome.

7.) Having a cat who is determined to poop and pee on your newly cleaned carpet.

8.) Cheese.

9.) Grace, love, peace and mercy.

10.) Knowing God who is bigger than all of my problems. And prayer. If you think about it, could you send some of that my way today? Thanks!

**11.) I totally forgot this one! When the construction workers building the house next door dig up your internet cable and cut it into. Then they call Time Warner out to repair it and that guy screws up your Dish Cable TV somehow and then tries to blame it on your kids pushing buttons on the TV. Awesome.