The first 2 hours...

When Melanie was born, we joked that she was mischievous.  And, for all we knew, she was pretty sneaky.  Then we had Noelle! Now, Noelle made Melanie look innocent.  Noelle was the mischievous one.  Surely!

Enter Oliver!

This is the adventure that I have been on in just the 1st two hours of today.

5:15 am. his eyes fly open, and it's the beginning of the day.  Ready or not, he is up!  In case you are wondering, I didn't make up that time.  It was 5:15... and it is always 5:15.  I'm not sure how that works, but it is ALWAYS 5:15.  He hits the ground running.  The sound of his feet scurrying across the floor sounds eerily like a small villain in a horror film.  One that I haven't seen, but know that they make.   And where is he off to you ask?  I know the answer.  I ALWAYS know the answer.  It's always the same.  The Kitchen!  Specifically, the counter.  And some how, no matter how fast I am, he is always already on the counter before I get there.  The question isn't what will he be doing, but what will he find and what is he looking for.  Unfortunately, last night I feel asleep really early and didn't finish cleaning up the kitchen.  So, on the counter, there were some knives and glass dishes.  Luckily, he is still safe.  

I inform Oliver that it is too early.  He has to go lay down.  I give him options: a) My bed, b) the couch, c) his bed.  He chooses the couch.  I choose my bed.  Silly Mommy!  

5 minutes later, I hear a noise in the kids' bathroom.  Up and out I go.  There he is, in the sink, trying to paint his nails with the polish he found on the top shelf in the vanity.

Once again, I get him down and inform him that he has to go lay down.  This time we both choose the couch.  We drew pictures together.  Noelle joined us.  And at some point, I dozed off.  Silly Mommy.  

At 6:20 am, I heard a noise.  This one wasn't as easy to pin point.  I realized I had dozed off and jumped up.  I passed the kitchen, noted that he wasn't on the counter, and headed to the bathroom.  He wasn't in there.  I heard the noise again.  It came from the kitchen.  I walked into the kitchen and didn't see anything.  I said "Oliver?" and heard a faint giggle.  That is when I realized that the refrigerator door was cracked open just the tiniest bit (maybe an inch).  I opened it, and there I found Oliver... trying to sneak one of Brandon's mini candy bars.  Wow!  If he had been any skinnier, he would have been able to close that door!  I didn't see that one coming

So, I decided that I'm up for the day.  I am usually up by then anyhow, but I was tired after a bad night of sleep.  I got Oliver dressed for the day.  Then, Melanie got up.  The day has officially started (like it hadn't before?) I went to get Preston (who was also up), and came back down the hall to put him in the living room.  Passing the girls' room I caught a glimpse of the full moon.  A small version of the full moon.  Oliver.  Naked.  Jumping on his sisters' bed.  Nice!  I put Preston down and went back to get Oliver redressed.   Oliver wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of getting dressed, and ran away from me, screaming like a girl.  Eventually, I convinced him that putting clothes on was the best idea.

I got breakfast ready, fed the kiddos. Then went to feed Preston.  Of course, mom nursing is some sort of cosmic sign that more chaos needs to happen.  While I was feeding Preston, Oliver decided to wash his hands... but got distracted when he pushed the plug into the drain.  Next think I know, I hear the water STILL running and splashing.  I got Melanie to turn off the water for me, but there was nothing I could do about the splashing until I was done feeding Oliver.  It's a true test of patience to know that someone little is getting into trouble and you can't stop it.  I called his name, but he was momentarily deaf.

Once I was done nursing, he was out of there and smiling ear to ear thinking of his next adventure.

All that happened by 7:15.  2 hours!  I'm pretty sure today is going to be an adventurous day!

The Tooth Fairy!

We went to the dentist last Monday, and the dental hygienist let Melanie in on a secret:  She had a loose tooth!  The secret didn't stay so secret after that.  A Loose Tooth!?!  Melanie has never had one of those before, but oh has she wanted one.  After that, she wiggled that tooth and wiggled it.  Finally, it was looking pretty wiggly.  That's when mom stepped in and helped out.  On Friday, she wiggled her tooth.  Then mom wiggled her tooth.  We went back and forth for about 30 minutes.  Then I took a "before picture" 

 Then I wiggled it a little more and started pulling it.  We decided the best way to minimize pain (and therefore minimize the trauma) would be if I only pulled for 5 seconds at a time, then let her relax, take a breather, get a drink, hug her special blanket, etc. etc...  This was a good plan, but that last pull... well, she didn't want anything to do with that last pull.  She told me "never mind! We can get it later."  But I convinced her to let me pull one more time.  I started counting and by "2", it was gone.  I hugged her tight as she was still telling me "never mind", and then, suddenly, it dawned on her that the tooth was gone.  It was funny and very cute how her demeanor changed as soon as that realization kicked in.  Suddenly she was giddy and thankful.  Here is an after!   

 She wrote the tooth fairy a letter and stuck it with the tooth in a special box that she left on her dresser.  She even wrote a note for the tooth fairy that told her where to find the tooth and left it under her pillow.

 In the morning, she found that the tooth fairy had left her a special glittery note and a $1 coin.  I gave her a dollar bill that she could spend so that she could save the dollar coin in a collection.  She was (and still is) very excited.  I informed her that she is definitely looking like a 1st grader now!

Now, if only I could get her to stop looking in the mirror or sneaking into her room to look at her money and note.  O-well, it's pretty exciting, so I'll let her be.  Can time slow down?

Cashing in on the Summer Reading Program

Something special came in the mail this week.  The mail man dropped off 4 packages, one for each child in our family.  It is summer time, and, as tradition, our family has participated in the Maricopa County Library's Summer Reading Program.  They read all their minutes (or, in the case of the smaller of the small ones, they read and also participated in fun activities to earn their prize), and now their prizes awaited them. 

Here you go:

Before!

 Man... it's almost like Christmas.  The anticipation...  it's just too much to bare.

 "My Olaf Book!"

 Next up...  Rip it open, Noelle!

 Ta-da!  A Barbie book!

 Melanie's turn!

 Nice!  Another Barbie book (dad will be so excited to read those at night!  But not as much as mom when he starts using voices for the characters!)

 And finally, Preston.  Wait, Preston!!! You aren't suppose to enjoy the book that way!

Now for my commercial for the local library!  I have said it before, but I'll say it again:  I LOVE the library!  Maybe it's because our library is just too awesome.  The people that work there are very helpful, patient, and very friendly.  They host at least one family friendly (and completely free) INDOOR activity a week.  And on top of all that, they have a fun summer reading program for ALL ages.  (That's right, people, I got my own free book in the mail a few weeks back).  If you haven't signed up for the reading program, it isn't too late.  Just go to their website (http://mesalibrary.org/) and follow their links.  While you are on their site, check out the events calendar, because, honestly, the Summer Spotlight Series are always so much fun.  I have only ever been disappointed once, and that was last year with a one man skit about evolution and dinosaurs.  Yikes!

Side note regarding the Summer Reading Program: this year it is completely online.  I am not as impressed by this because the kids don't actually see their progress.  They do still have the game sheets and stickers though.  If you go to the library, you can pick them up from the children's desk.  I find that actually putting 

the sticker on the page is a better visual thing for them.  Perhaps if I actually let my kids on the computer, they could "see" their progress that way.  But, alas, I'm not that nice.

Speaking of summer reading programs and deals, check out the "loot" we picked up today from Half Price Books.

They too have a summer reading program.  It is by month (so we will be doing it again in July).  If you child reads or has been read to for 300+ logged minutes, they get a $5 coupon for any merchandise in the store.  So, what you see there is the product of my 3 oldest children's rewards.  You have to use the coupons in individual transactions and the merchandise has to be at least $5 before tax, so when all is said and done, we probably spent around $3 for those 7 books.  Not too shabby.  Barnes and Noble also have a program.  We will be checking theirs out soon as well.  As you can tell, we like books, especially free ones.

Happy Reading!

Camping near Big Lake

We went camping last weekend, just our little (or big, depending on how you define a family size) family.  We left on Thursday and headed up to Big Lake, Arizona!  We love camping up there because it is usually much much cooler and it typically rains.  This trip was rain-less, which was a little disappointing, but we still had a great time.  We camped for a few days and then headed home.  Here are some pictures from our trip.

Preston enjoyed some out door, big boy playing!

 Outdoor camping food is truly the best!  Seriously, nothing ever tastes as good as camp food.

 There was no such thing as clean while camping.  It's amazing how fast faces were covered in dirt.

 I love seeing how these kids imaginations work and what fun ideas they come up with.  I also really love seeing them play well together.  It's unfortunate that it isn't always the case.

 There he is... Mr. Wonderful.  Just had to throw that in there.  I think Oliver "took" this picture.

 Male Bonding Time!

 Preston's first hiking experience.

 And look who carried him!  This was a first for both of us.  He rode, and I carried.  Usually Brandon does the carrying.

 Exploring by Crescent Lake

 I mentioned the dirty faces... right?

 Melanie is truly a monkey.  We traded her in at the zoo a long time ago.  Don't let the zoo know though.  She is too cute to give back.

 More Male Bonding.

 Eating their desserts around the "fire".  (It turned out to be no burn this trip, so they had to imagine their fire, but they still insisted having a camp fire moment).

 Camping bath!  How do you like my awesome socks?  They were my Christmas present from Noelle last Christmas!

 More camp fire moments.

 Okay... the Oreos!  This little man may look so innocent, but let me tell you...  it's a facade!  ha ha!  See, we told the kids the last night that if they ate all their dinner, they could have dessert (which is what the girls were eating around their imagined camp fire).  Well, Mr. Red refused to eat his dinner (which was unfortunate because the aforementioned awesome-ness of camp food).  Needless to say, he didn't earn dessert.  The girls both got cupcakes.  Well, Brandon apparently also bought some oreos, which he informed me were dairy free (I'm dairy free right now).  I'm not quite sure what is in oreos that they can be dairy free, but alas, I didn't want to know that particular night.  I opened the package and ate two.  Then I started to get ready to give Preston his bath.  Next thing I know, Oliver has 2 yummy oreos, one in each hand.  He proceeded to do the most amazing "I stole the Oreos" dance imaginable.  It was quite a thing.  It was too cute that I told him that he had just better hurry and eat his stolen goods before it was time for his bath, or I'd take them away.  And he did just that!

In the end, camping was SO much fun.  We were about 2 miles away from any other campers.  I could let the kids go "free range chicken" and not worry.  As long as I could see them from the camp site, they were fine.  The weather was nice (a little hotter then we had planned, but much cooler than at home).  It was fun to spend time with each other and explore.  I can't wait until we can go again, and neither can the kiddos.

Cards

We make all our cards (Christmas, Valentines, Mother's Day, Father's Day, sometimes Thanksgiving... you get the idea).  Every time I try to think of something new... and our Father's Day cards were just too cute to not take a picture of.  So, here they are, in all their glory.  Preston's footprint made the tractor, Oliver's thumb is the farmer, and Noelle and Melanie's finger prints made the corn.  I'm in love! 

Nighttime Adventures

Oliver sleep walks!  Every night!  He gets up and relocates himself to a different part of the house.  I have found him asleep under my bed,  in the hall, on the couch, between the coffee table and the couch (that one freaked me out because it took me forever to find him).  He has relocated himself into his closet, his rocking chair, and pretty much every where you can think.  But last night... well last night he was somewhere a little more crazy.  Last night I was called to attention at 4:00 am having heard a plastic cup drop on the kitchen floor.  I was already awake, holding a baby that refused to go back to sleep.  I crept into the hall and noticed Oliver's door was open.  I didn't have my glasses on and it was dark, so I moved slowly, straining to see, and hoping I wouldn't step on him (I have done that before...  it always makes me feel really bad).  I made my way into the kitchen and peered around.  The got closer....  he was sleeping ON the counter!  I went back to the bedroom and got Brandon (for 2 reasons, I wouldn't have been able to carry Oliver while holding Preston, but really, because this was something that he had to see to believe).  Now Oliver isn't just a sleep walker, he is also a sleep climber.  Perhaps we should just call him a sleep adventurer.

I'm so grateful I heard that plastic cup drop.  I would hate to think of what would have happened had he continued to sleep there and rolled off.  Oh Oliver, how you keep me on my toes!

A Chocolaty Book Club

I love kid's book club.  We have had so many fun adventures!  I can't believe we have been doing it for a whole year now!

This month's book was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!  What a fun read!  In honor of the chocolaty fun book, we had to make chocolate.  I decided to let the kiddos dip some graham crackers and pretzels in the chocolate.  We also drew pictures of what our own chocolate factory would look like if we had one, and watched the newest version of the movie.  It was truly a great time.  Here are a few pictures.

Happy Chocolating!

Noelle's Stuffed Animal Party

Noelle has been planning a stuffed animal party since January.  At first, I thought it was a fleeting plan.  Something that she would do just playing around in the toy room, or something she would talk about but then give up on.  February came and went, and still that stuffed animal party was high on Noelle's list of things to talk about.  Then March and April slipped by.  Not a day went by without Noelle telling me something else that we would do at the party.  So...  When May seemed to be coming to an end and she was *still* planning this party, I decided to give in.  

We had a stuffed animal party.  It wasn't as grandiose as Noelle had planned (she wanted a lot of things that I didn't have the time or energy to do), but I think it was still a success.  Here are some pictures from the gathering.

We made party hats!

We played games.  (Don't laugh or judge them, I spent a bunch of time making them!)

Pin the carrot on the bunny!

This is random, but cute... Oliver pulling Charlotte on his trike.

Bean bag toss!

Ring toss!

Then they decided to make MORE hats. After that, we had a party treat of rice crispies.

The finale of the party was indoors.  We did the freeze dance with our stuffed animals.

In the end, everyone had a great time and went home exhausted, though probably not as exhausted as I was!  I'm so grateful for a daughter that is creative and thinks up things like a "stuffed animal party".  I'm also grateful that I was able to put it together for her.