So Soon?

So, we set up the white crib for Josie in the nursery. Most people would just say crib, but you see, we own 3. We have a brown one, a white one, & a portable crib. We got the brown one from some family friends when I was preggo with Carlise. Then when I was preggo with Wesley, we realized Carlise wouldn't be ready for a toddler bed, we started hunting for a 2nd crib. I ended up trading with a friend for the portable crib. Then my sister JaNae offered me her nice white crib. Around the same time I started watching my niece Mila for Jason & Michelle. So Wesley got moved to the white crib & Mila slept in the portable crib.

But after Josie outgrew the bassinet, we moved her into the portable crib. However that barely gave me enough room to pass sideways to get into my side of the bed. So we set up the white crib for her in the nursery just for naps to begin transitioning her to the big crib & out of our room. *I'm never really ready for them to leave our room. I love the closeness (not to mention not having to fully wake-up to get them & nurse them) & being able to peek in on them without leaving my bed. The only problem was I couldn't find some necessary hardware. I thought I knew exactly where it was, & I checked a couple of my back-up hiding places. But, they were gone & to order the parts would be over $30. So, I said a prayer to help me find them but I didn't get a chance to go look for them. Two days later I said another prayer & finally went to look for them. I went to the nursery closet, opened it up, picked up a bag off the floor & they were sitting right on top in the bag. Wow! Of all the unimportant things going on in the world, he listens to a neurotic woman asking about crib hardware. I am very grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that knows exactly what my needs are and listens to me when I pray.

Ok, so now the crib is assembled. Only one more problem, we've now run out of crib mattresses. I knew we had 2 crib mattresses, but somehow it didn't register that one is in the toddler bed. Well, great. Now its $50 for a crib mattress. Ouch! Oh, but you see I was offered a position to clean a home. And I got paid $60. So we got a crib mattress & Josie loves the feel of it so much, she now refuses to sleep in the bed we have for her in our room. I can't believe in one night she's out of our room. She's only 5 months. I like to wait until they're 6 months. Oh, but she's comfortable & we are, too. But still, did she have to go so soon?

Whoo!

Sorry we haven't been blogging. Or commenting on your posts. That's the evil of Google Reader. I read most of the blogs I keep up with in it and I always think, "I'll come back to this & comment later." But later never comes because I have children running around me wanting my attention. I don't know if I'll continue to use it for blogs of loved ones. So you might be hearing more from me. (is that a good thing?)

Anyway, we've been really busy cleaning up our home. Today I hosted a playgroup for some local SAHM (Stay At Home Moms). Ben actually took off 2 days of work last week, to help out. It was bad. We always love the way our home feels after we've done a major cleaning and we have full intentions of doing daily maintenance to keep it from getting really bad. But then throw in a couple hours of sleep (instead of a full night), not being on a schedule, kids tag-teaming for naps, and a sickness, and its gets right back to where it was. But we did more this time. We cleaned up the nursery, which was pretty much just a "Where does this go? I don't know- put it in there" room. But we cleaned it up, and put the white crib in there for Josie to nap in.
And then we cleaned out our storage/laundry room. We thought the room would just be too overpacked and we were going to store some boxes in his Mom's shed. But, we reorganized, got rid of some stuff, and everything fits. (Well, everything except for the cannonball bed for Anna & some stuff for a garage sale.) Now to save up and get a window a/c unit so we can keep our food storage in there!

We also successfully completely cleaned off our carport so the kids could play out there with chalk or ride tricycles & bikes. Then we did the usual cleaning of the kitchen, living room, & bathroom. It all looks lovely now. But it took alot of time & work. I always worry when we go through so much effort, no one will show up.

And how did it turn out? Playgroup was wonderful! There were 6 moms that showed up with their little ones in tow. And I invited nephews Garrett & Steven over to play so the older kids would have some playmates. For a total of 23 people over. And I love hosting because it allows my kids to get their naps. Ulterior Motive? you bet!

July 5th

Ok, so our 4th wasn't too exciting. But it was quite an adventure on the 5th. We went to Grayton Beach State Park in florida. It was nice & beautiful. Too much whale snot (seaweed) though. So surely you would think after our backyard swim disaster with our children we would learn. Well, I thought that Carlise would enjoy it if she saw her many cousins enjoying the beach. Ha! Oh yeah, it was that kind of day. The drive wasn't too long and the kids did really well. (a DVD player will do that, though) We paid $4 to get in (but they don't allow alcohol-- Yay!) Lots of white blistering hot sand. Carlise very quickly to inform us (as in right when we got on the beach) that she wanted to go home-Now! Ben tried taking her down to the water but she screamed the entire walk down there. Josie & Wesley enjoyed our wonderful sport pack-n-play that has a canopy and UPF 50+ rating. Carlise screamed until she realized we were ignoring her, then she willing went into the pack n play as well. I got burned really bad even though I used sunscreen. I tried spraying my back down when I was changing, but I couldn't reach what I sprayed. so, I got this fantastic drip mark burn. Wesley enjoyed the water. I got to use my solarveil pouch sling! I tried taking Carlise to the edge of the water and sitting on the sand. Even the waves coming in and just barely touching her toes, she freaked! And I got some ugly looks from folks for this cruel treatment of my child. I can't help that's she all drama. I took pictures of a couple food stands that swamp a small stretch of road w/ a speed limit of 35.

We got home around 5:30 and quickly showered & changed clothes and went to Jacob & Crystal's reception. I just need to say that Google's directions sucked & Aubrey was correct. We didn't get there until 7pm when everyone was leaving. But we can always go on a double date with them. The picture of Crystal & myself really shows my sunburn & just how bad I look.

Memorable part of the night- Jacob seeing Carlise for the first time since before his mission, him being surprised that I now have 3 children (Crystal was so ITK), and when Carlise said," Hi Jacob!" & his response was," *Gasp* She can talk!" =]

Field Day & Ice Cream Social

We recently went out to Landmark Park to let Ben participate in Field Day. No, not that kind of field day. It's a Ham thing. Field Day is an exercise for amateur radio operators (Hams). They essentially try to contact as many hams in as many places as they can during the 24 hour period of field day. They have it at Landmark Park to get more exposure for the Wiregrass Amateur Radio Club. Why is ham radio so important? during an emergency, it's the only thing that will work. Ben's had his license for almost 10 years. I'm working on getting mine as well.


It was also the annual Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social day at Landmark Park. I love going out there and enjoying the home made ice cream and seeing the animals, old houses & stores. It's quite a unique place. Here are pictures from that day. We also saw an educational presentation on milk cows. Like did you know- a dairy cow has to calf every year in order to keep producing milk? We met Lilly the preggo cow.

New Callings

So Ben was released from Elders Quorum President. It's such a relief, because I really need his help on Sunday morning. I was starting to feel like a single parent on Sunday. And it was crazy because the one day that should be our easiest day was my most stressful one. Which made it bad for Ben because he never knew what kind of attitude he would get from me once I made it to church.

He & I are now nursery leaders. Of course you realize that our whole family is in there now every other sunday. Are you laughing yet?

Oh, and Ben was also called as a Cubscout Den Leader. I think he'll enjoy it. 2 of our nephews are in there, it'll just be odd him having to be gone on Wednesday nights.

Fourth of July

Here are pictures from our Fourth of July. We didn't do much. My Dad flew out for his mother's funeral and my Mom left to pick up the my 2 younger brothers from EFY. We did go to my Mom & Dad's though and grilled with Jeremy & JaNae. We wanted to go swimming, but it started to storm. JaNae did give Wesley a big boy haircut, though. He was occupied with cheese puffs & 2 combs.

Diapers, diapers, & more diapers

I was in need of some more cloth diapers. I almost had enough for one day for both Wesley & Josie. But my budget had all been spent. So, I put a want out on my local Freecycle group. (I love Freecycle!) I was pretty sure no one would know what I was talking about. But a sweet mom named Lisa responded right away knowing exactly what I was talking about! She had some spare she could give me for both of them & even some wool covers (Wow!) And she was coming to Dothan the next day & could we meet at Target? (Seriously, I don't have to drive to Enterprise to get them? Target? Of Course!) She gave me more than I could've hoped for & in excellent condition, too!
What I spent the last of my diaper money on: a piggy complete with ears & a curly tail in back & a strawberry/watermelon diaper. (both Starbunz)

Wesley

It started with a bandana bib we picked up at Charisma's. Well once I saw the bib, she showed me the sheriff star paci clip. Then I found a great deal on a Happy Heinys one-size diaper in Moo cow print.Now I've found a hat in the cheap bins at Target. (I would say $1 bins, but it was $2.50). He loves his hat.

Josie

Josie is growing so fast.

I'm gonna weigh her tomorrow to see how big she's gotten.

For Nana

Here is Carlise in her big girl Pajamas. They are NOT from the baby section in the store.
She growing so fast! She wears 4T or 5. She JUST turned 3! But, I love my 98th percentile little girl. *Please disregard my stained cushion
And here is just another fun picture of her =]

What's that you say?

You'd like an update? Yeah, I know I've been bad. But I come bearing pictures! =]

Backyard Makeover

Yoda has had full run of our backyard since we first got him 2 years ago (on the fourth of July now that I think about it). He just gets so excited he knocks our kids over. So except for on two occasions, our children have never been in our backyard. Pathetic, I know. So we got a farm type of fence and steel posts to put up and divide our backyard so Yoda has half and we have the other half. Well, I went out and measured and put the posts where they needed to go and that saturday Ben & I got out there during lunch and starting putting it all up. I held the posts and he hammered them in with the sledge hammer. It was slow going but not too bad, until Ben somehow smashed the tip of his pinky between the post top and the hammer. That man bleeds really well. Eww! Well that put a stop to that project. Thankfully Mr. Brian T. was willing to come over (and George ok'd it too) and help us finish the fence so it wasn't half-way done until next saturday. Yayy!! It's done and Ben's pinky was healed in a week once it stopped bleeding.

Since we now had our own part of yard we got out there and cleaned it up and got all the misc. junk Yoda had dragged in there from the neighbor's yard. Because anytime the neighbor's dogs tore the wood planks off the fence (oh, yes, you read that right) to get in our yard, Yoda would go over there and confiscate their toys for his yard. So we cleaned all that up and cut the grass and sprayed it with a bug treatment. The next day we got out the pools I had gotten on clearance last summer. Only after blowing up the two smaller ones did Ben remember that we had a pump for air mattresses in the closet. Thank goodness he remembered!

We got so excited setting these things up for the kids and the kids are inside telling us how much they want to get in a pool. We even have a really cute splash kind of pool that Josie can enjoy near the end of the summer.We get the pool filled up while we got the kids dressed in swimsuits and slathered in sunscreen. We take them outside and a sprinkler hits Carlise's leg and she FREAKS! I mean totally screaming her head off like a giant spider was coming to bite her head off!! She refused to go near any of them. At ALL! Where we just a little annoyed after spending 5 hours total in the heat cleaning the yard up for them for this reaction and total disdain for the summer treat we had for them. Umm, YES! Because after she screamed Wesley followed suit and didn't want any part of it either.*sigh* We'll try again on another day and maybe I'll have playgroup over here and some of the older kids will at least get to enjoy it. *Andre'a - do you think this would work for playgroup?