Keeping Bazzy Busy

I'm in desperate need of more bottle caps. I've gotten so desperate that I've started to embarrass my husband by asking for them at bars and restaurants when we go out. I see nothing wrong with this...but I guess it might be a BIT wierd. We were at the Stokes downtown (man I love that place) and I asked the bartender if there was any way he could save bottlecaps for me. He said they have too many bartenders to keep track of it there, but he told me about another bar he works at and a friend of his would have a bunch for me.
I went the other day and got a great big bag full. I was a happy girl!

I needed lots of different colors and I was thrilled to see ones I hadn't even heard of before.
Slowly but surely my Toucan is starting to look like a Toucan.

Bazzy has been truly bored since his sisters went back to school.
What better way to keep a 3 year old busy than to give him tons of colorful objects and tell him to help sort them into piles.
Sebastian was WAY happy to help with this crazy project.

He loved putting the different colors into piles
and it was actually quite educational.

His favorite part was making this long curvy line of the blue ones.
He was happy as a clam to put them in a row and I was happy to have them all sorted and ready to add on to my mosaic.

PLEASE save bottlecaps if you have any at home.
Especially if you drink Boulevard. ;)
Don't be surprised if Kris and I show up for parties/get-togethers with drinks that have certain bottlecap colors or brands that might just possibly look like they could be part of a Toucan. LOL!

Airshow Pics

We went to the airshow for the first time this year and LOVED it.
Here's a few of my favorites pictures from the day.

For All the Moms...

Creative madness

I ordered scrabble tiles on ebay today. Soon we will have "craft day" at Roberta's. Let me know if anyone else is interested. :)

I have lots of pictures I want to post and things I want to write about...but my allergies have been making me miserable (I'm a puffy, sneezy mess!) and everyday Mommy stuff has been keeping me too busy. Not enough hours in the day I guess.

I have also found some fun things in the past couple weeks that I want to learn to make. Do any of you like doing "artsy" type things? I need to find a few people who would like to join me in my creative madness. Click here to see the newest thing I want to try.

The little girls

I realized that it is going to be cold soon...and some of the cute outfits Lulu hasn't fit into yet are going to be the wrong season. I put the girls in their tulip dresses for church so Charly could wear her outfit too (which is still huge, but at least she wore it), and TOTALLY meant to get a picture of all the kids together.
Yeah, that didn't happen.
BUT I did get a quick one of these two.
Mia still LOVES having a baby around. :)

My Dad

I wanted to ask if you all would please say some prayers for my Dad.
We got some hard news this week. My Dad has cancer.
Not something you ever want to hear.
He's been going through some tests for the last several weeks
and he was finally diagnosed with Stage 4 ~Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

We're all very thankful that he went in for bloodwork, just to get checked...because they were able to find the cancer and now he can begin treatment.
He will start Chemo the beginning of September.
Please pray that the Chemo does it's job and that he won't have bad reactions to it.

WE love you Dad/Papa! We know you're tough
and we're all praying like CRAZY!!!

* Dad- as I'm typing this...Bazzy is sitting next me saying
"That's my Papa! He's my friend!" :o)

What a Trouper

So we had about a 1/2 hour to occupy between dropping the girls off at school and going to Mia's not-so-fun appointment. Her teacher said to just keep her home and let her play before the shots...so Bazzy and I did everything we could to keep her happy. :)

She wanted to bring "Perry", her armadillo,
with to make her feel better.
Can you see Bazzy in the back doing his armadillo impression?
Not bad, aye? LOL!

We made funny faces...

...took pictures with Mommy's camera just for fun...

BUT then it was time to go to the dreaded appointment.

I was a WRECK~ cuz I thought for sure there would be lots of wailing and trying to run out of the room, cuz well, that's what happened with the older sisters. Not Mia though.
She voluntarily laid down on the table (I'm not sure she new exactly what she was in for here) and then Charly and I got very close to her little face and talked to her while the mean scary nurses gave her FIVE shots. Instead of wailing and carrying on like her sisters did...Mia said OUCH about 3 times
and then sat up and smiled because it was over.
HOLY SMOKES was I surprised!!! What a little trouper!

On the way out of the Doctor's office she proceeded to tell me that this was "one of the best days of her life" because she was done with her shots and she got to get a sticker, new bubbles, and have a sucker. Mia says MOST days are one of the best days of her life (such a positive little munchkin!)...but I can't say I would agree and call shots day a great day. What a kid!

She told me I HAD to take a picture of her cool band aid.
She told her teachers she had 2 shots when we got to school (um, actually Mia that would be FIVE . Just 2 band aids) and she was all smiles when she kissed me goodbye and ran over to her desk. Wow!
If we didn't have three dogs already,
I probably would have bought her a puppy! :)

Poor Mia and the CARS kid

Here's a few quick pictures of my Bazzy man and his new CARS gear from Grandma and Grandpa that he got for his Birthday. They were able to come up from Chicago to celebrate the birthdays we've had over the last month and Baz was THRILLED to have some new Cars things to wear. I have a feeling I'll be bringing him to the grocery store at some point in his pit crew outfit shown above. He wants to wear it constantly.

I have to bring poor Mia to the doctor at 10am this morning to get her kindergarten shots. It's a nurse appointment JUST for the shots because the school said we had to have them ASAP. So the poor thing doesn't even get to have any fun doctor interaction. Just shots.
Poor Mia. :(

Survival

I officially survived 2 days without Mia. I miss all the girls during the day...but I have to admit that it is definitely quieter in our house with only Baz and Lulu.
It's funny how easy only 2 kids are. LOL! :)

I'm really excited to watch the girls Olympic Gymnastics tonight. That little Shawn Johnson is amazing. And from Des Moines Iowa?
Who would have thought?



I did realize today that it's incredibly hard to get a lot done in a new house with a baby and a toddler. I was looking around at all the STUFF I have to do and I was completely overwhelmed. Besides feeding and changing a baby and taking care of Bazzy~ there was laundry, dishes, dusting, vacuuming, dogs to walk, floors to mop, boxes to unpack, pictures to hang, stuff that has been taken out of boxes but I'm not sure what to do with, toys randomly laying around, more boxes to unpack....AHHHHHHHH!!!

I know~ it will take time and it will all fall into place...
but I do feel like I have lost control.
Now if I could only get it BACK!!!

The First Day

Today was the big day. The FIRST day.
We were all up bright and early to eat breakfast, get dressed, feed the baby, and all the other things that need to be done every morning from now on. Busy -busy -busy. :)

Charly was all smiles this morning.
Sebastian can ALWAYS make her smile. :)

Here's Sofia all ready to go.

I love the backpack she chose.
Very cheerful and bright!
Just like Sofia.

Katryna looks in pain here, but it's because the sun was shining in her eyes.
She was all excited to have gotten a "messenger bag" this year instead of a backpack.

She's looking WAY too grown up for me.
Her stomach was in knots on the way to school.
She was excited and nervous to see her friends from a year ago.

And here's my little Kindergartener.
Doesn't she look cute?

She picked out this froggie backpack and she
was way excited to finally get to use it this morning.

The "drop off" at school was CRAZY!
There were kids and parents everywhere and I actually lost Katryna in the craziness.
I went to the office to write her a note because I felt so bad that I didn't get to see her walk in.
Fortunately I got to kiss Sofia and watch her get in her line.

After dropping off Sof, we looked for Trini and then I decided we need to get to Mia's line or we were going to miss that too. She was excited to see her teacher and her new friends that were already lined up and ready to go.

I already LOVE her teacher.
Such a sweet and happy Kindergarten teacher!
I know Mia is going to enjoy being with her.

And there she goes. Into the school and out of my life FOREVER!!!
Ok, that was slightly dramatic...but this was my train of thought as she walked through that door at her new school. I really do miss her today...but I know she is having the time of her life.

I was proud of myself that I didn't really LOSE it until I made it to my van. I cried when she hugged me goodbye...but the real tears didn't come until a little later.

Bazzy was NOT happy while we were at the school. Friends of ours tried to get him to smile, but he was having NONE of that. When we got to the car I saw his little lip quivering and I said "Baz, what is wrong? Why are you so sad?" He looked at me...paused....starting SOBBING...and then finally said "I want my SISTERS!" Awwwwwww.
Even Bazzy has a hard time with the first day of school. :(

How Can It Be?

How can it be that my sweet little Mia
is going to Kindergarten tomorrow morning?
I know, I know....I still have TWO at home~ but I have to tell you that it doesn't make this any easier. I don't do well when they "leave" me for school. I know it's exciting and I truly am excited for her to make this big step in her little life, but somehow it feels like the beginning of the end. I was relieved to talk to another mom of five (one of our new neighbors) that has her fourth child going to Kindergarten tomorrow too, and she feels exactly the same as I do.
Made me feel a little less pathetic.

I cried when Katryna went to school. I cried when Sofia went to school. I will DEFINITELY be crying tomorrow morning when Mia goes to school. Mia will not be crying. I can almost guarantee that. She will be all smiles and she is
SO thrilled to start the adventure of school.

I need to find my over sized sunglasses yet tonight...
so I can try to hide the tears. :(

Olympics and Getting Ready

Have you all been watching the Olympics? Kris and I watched the Opening Ceremonies finally on Sunday (we DVR'd them) and they were UNBELIEVABLE! I never thought they would be that artistic and just amazing. I'm actually planning to watch them again sometime. Probably when I'm up late sometime feeding a baby.

Maybe I'm old enough now to truly appreciate the Olympics and everything they stand for...but I have really been loving watching them this time. I only catch bits and pieces in the midst of all the craziness in our home, but what I've seen has been great.

I'm trying to get some last minute things done to try to gain SOME control of our house so that we can just have a fun day tomorrow before school starts. I am going to be a MESS on Wednesday morning. The closer it gets the more I can't believe my little Mia is going to school. :(

Charly Beans

We've been trying to get in as much "summer time" as possible the last several days before the girls start school (next Wednesday already. Ugh!)
Here are a few quick pics of "Beans" (her newest nick-name) and her sweet little smiley self.
She is such a good baby. We even took her to see The Mummy the other night when we got a babysitter for the other kids and she smiled her way through dinner at Roja and then ate and slept during the movie. We were very happy! :)

She's cooing in the pictures with her mouth open.
I'll have to try to get video soon so you can hear her too.
She loves to "talk."
I think she's going to be speaking in sentences at a year like Mia.
Yikes.

S.I.M.P.

I needed something to make me smile today.
We've been taping and watching episodes of Phineas and Ferb on Disney Channel. The show is HILARIOUS and Kris and I have really enjoyed watching it with the kids. The episode that was on a couple days ago had this song called "Squirrels in my Pants" on it and we were all cracking up.
If you need something silly to make you smile today...maybe this will help.

Day at the Durham

I had no idea that the Durham was so fun for kids. We had been there for a few functions with the hospital...but that was mainly in the lobby and this banquet hall-ish place.

The kids loved the Amazon exhibit (especially the Pirahna), the Native American area, and they also loved playing in the trains. For people from out of town~ the Durham is in the old Union Pacific building and there are actual train cars that you can walk through and play in. Bazzy was THRILLED! Enjoy the pics. :)

The NEW Sofia

"AFTER"

Cute, huh? :)

Bye Bye Hair

Sofia will be donating her beautiful long blonde hair this afternoon to Locks of Love. She has wanted to do this for awhile and I finally made an appointment today.

I'm going to be sad to see that gorgeous hair cut off, but I'm SO proud of her for wanting to do this. I'll post an "after" picture when we get back so you all can see. :)