Potty break when dripping wet = going in the woods!
Category Archives: Videos
Burning off some energy
We let the kids run wild after being cooped up all day…and gramma gave the kids their own bats and balls.
Car crazies
The kids did REALLY well on the loooong road trip today…until about hour 10 when they started to get restless. This was on the very last home stretch, a few miles out of town when they were a little slaphappy.
I have a growth.
She loves to come sit on me when I’m on the floor. I don’t like the knees or elbows in the back, but she loves it.
Fun…careful…oops!
Katie loves climbing on Owen.
Sometimes an oops happens.
She wasn’t hurt and didn’t even make a peep—but Owen still immediately apologized and gave her a hug. 🙂
Our new playground!
Technically it’s not that far from our house…if we could cut through a few yards we get the green route (believe me, I’ll be asking when we get back from vacation). Otherwise it’s a loooong trek uphill past seven houses, then backtracking past the same length around the block and down a few more houses (pink). Or downhill a few houses then straight up a big hill (yellow).
Today we drove because it was unbearably hot.
The kids first stops:
It’s not very big, but at least it’s something. And there are two decent-sized tables to sit at.
Katie likes climbing!
We were only there about 15 minutes before Owen declared it TOO HOT. Katie didn’t care. But I agreed it was too hot so we went home.
Today has been trying at best.
Everything was such a rush this morning that I left without even taking a final look back at our house. We were in it for eight years (combined) and have lots of memories…
The drive was long(ish) and my back hurt most of the way—even with using the lumbar support. Even now it’s killing me. I should have taken a pain pill but then I’d have to get out of bed to find them.
At our first stop, I grabbed the diaper bag to change Katie, rushed to get everyone inside because Maggie was stuck in the car without air, and discovered there were no diapers in the bag! WHAT THE—?!?! I know I put some in there! GRRR. At least she hadn’t pooped. So I had to change her on the front seat after digging for diapers in the trunk (I couldn’t even change her in the grass like I’d normally do because it was all fenced off). And it was hotter than hell. (We figured out later that Katie had taken them out while she was playing earlier. Tom found them in the drawer where we normally keep them…so she was putting them away!)
The house seems to be cooling okay (I was worried because there’s only one unit for whole house; we’re used to a dual system) but no ceiling fans is killer.
Maggie pooped in the house within 10 minutes of being here, even though she just came in from being outside and peeing.
Katie got into meds again. I debated taking her to the ER but I really didn’t think she ingested much, if any (there were lots of pieces all over which led me to think she spit them out when they didn’t taste like candy). I’m still watching her for symptoms. She is so much more evil—I mean inquisitive—with stuff like that than Owen ever was. It’s hard to re-train your brain.
The landlord is nice but can drive you crazy. I had to call him because the alarm was beeping (not an alarm beep but more of an “I’m not really turned on but you’re setting off room sensors” type of beep). He ended up unplugging it and disconnecting it entirely. (Apparently it was something the last renters put in.) Then he walked me through the house systems (which I had asked earlier to wait for Tom) and he’s just not very personable. I try to comment on things and make chit chat and he just doesn’t get it and/or doesn’t respond.
I didn’t pack the bath stuff well enough and shampoo got all over everything—even the stuff that was in bags—because the bottle was so tall the spout stuck out. Katie’s toothbrush got thrown away. Their sound machine got some inside (it twists to leave openings to make it louder or quieter). Just a yucky mess.
The MBA toilet doesn’t work, which of course I didn’t realize until I peed in it. I’m sure it’s a simple fix but it’s not what I needed to discover at bedtime.
And there’s lots of little annoying things about the house:
All the blinds are the cheap crappy metal ones and about half are broken somewhere or don’t open right. (We were spoiled as our house had all nice plastic wood-looking ones.)
There are TONS of colored stains on the carpet. In almost every room, in all sizes, and in all colors. It’s awful. It’s almost as if the carpet cleaners didn’t even try to clean it. (We had carpet people who got out red nail polish…so I’m thinking his cleaners sucked.) We’ll try to clean some of them because I really don’t want to look at these for three years:
Flat paint. Off-white. Everywhere. Need I say more?
No curtain rods. I’m so glad we get to buy these AGAIN.
Round toilets. This takes some getting used to after having the elongated ones. They seem SO tiny.
No door to the basement.
No room for a deck, even if he let us. I finally get a nice tree in my yard and it’s in the way.
Street noise. Ugh. Cars going by, cars beeping/being locked, dogs barking. I know it’s typical for this many houses this close together…but it sucks. I guess it’s better that our room overlooks the street instead of both kids’ rooms.
We need shower caddys in each bathroom.
There’s no light above the kids’ tub.
The kitchen is bigger…but the way it’s layed out there’s NO room for any of our current kitchen storage pieces (the island that holds the pet food/water, the big IKEA cabinet that holds all the big kitchen stuff, and the other cabinet that was in the laundry room). Some stuff might fit in the current cabinets…but not all. I don’t even know where the garbage will go!
Our sectional couch is too big for the living room. Or the dining room. Or even the den space. Hell, it will barely fit downstairs. We obviously have other pieces to use (like we did at the last house) but we had hoped to be able to use it full time again (like in Troy).
And of course the kids’ bedtime saga.
But I know it’s not all bad…
- I like our neighbors.
- I like that we have sidewalks.
- I like that the landlord will let us do things (of course, it benefits him—painting the garage, putting in a digital thermostat, putting in a peephole, putting in a few ceiling fans).
- I like that it’s a house and not a townhouse.
- I like that we have a two-car garage.
- I like that we’ll eventually be getting a fence.
- I like my gas stove and bigger kitchen.
- I like that we brought our awesome fridge with us.
And add crazy heat and humidity on top of everything.
Blurg.
Lorton, here we come!
Well, me and the kids anyway. And Maggie. Right on schedule at 10:00. With the Prius packed to the hilt with a crap ton of stuff for two nights (pillows, air beds, sheets, towels, stuffed animals, blankets, sound machines, night lights, food, snacks, drinks, kids’ med kit, toys, books, iPad, laptop…and Maggie and all her stuff)! Katie is back there, too, but I was lazy and didn’t take my phone out of the dash holder to take the picture.
The kids were really good—Katie watched Despicable Me 2 on a continuous loop and was perfectly content…and Owen alternated between playing on his phone and just watching the road. He did enjoy watching my mapping app (Waze) and kept notifying me of “yellow triangles” (road hazards like stopped cars) and police. When this came up he was like “WOW!! Look at all that stuff popping up!”
Katie had fallen asleep about 1:00 and Owen was adamant he didn’t need a rest. This was taken at about 1:15. 🙂
There were a few slowdowns around Stafford (when aren’t there?) but we made it in good time, even with the traffic snafus.
Welcome home! Amazon packages were waiting!
And the kids had A BLAST running around the house.
And they saw COOKIE MONSTER in the garage…so it had to come in immediately. 🙂
It was hotter than hell (and humid) so unpacking the car wasn’t fun. Katie also kept opening the garage door and coming outside—leaving the door wide open with Maggie right there. We’re going to have to put some kind of lock on the outside of the door, I think. Probably on the inside, too. (I’m not sure why these doors are so much easier to open than ours were—she could only open our lever-handle door, not the knobs.) She’s going to be a 180 from Owen on just about everything, escaping included.
Dinner was an escapade. I’d been planning on PB&J…except I apparently forgot the peanut butter and the bread I brought was moldy. Panic! We were all STARVING since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was almost 4! I ended up pulling pizza bagel bites from freezer (that we brought up two weeks ago). There’s lots of pantry stuff but it’s all packed away in the hot garage and not immediately accessible. There’s always take-out but that will be tomorrow!
They were happy, though!
Color, mama?
Lately, out of the blue, Katie will ask to color. She can even get up onto (and off of) our bar-height dining room chairs by herself so she’ll climb up there and wait for you to bring her crayons and paper. 🙂
“Happy” clapping and dancing!
This is one of her favorite scenes in Despicable Me 2 and if she’s not already in front of the TV she comes running to do this:
Katie and the bib
Ta da! Bracelets!
She was so proud of herself for getting these “bracelets” on (really Owen’s magnatiles)…
Until We Meet Again Party
We decided to have a going away party before we left—but I called it an “Until We Meet Again” party because I HATE goodbyes. It was also a perfect excuse to rent a huge waterslide for Owen because he loves them and our new house has zero place for one.
As it was being set up, the kids were VERY excited watching out the window. Katie was saying “Slide! Katie slide! Katie slide please!” 🙂 I was busy getting the last few things ready for the party and Tom was running our last errands so I made the kids wait until he got home…but then it was game on! Owen had no issues with it, of course, but Katie was a poop. She loves climbing on things but put her on the slide where she HAS to climb (and can pretty much climb without much caution) and she wanted NONE of it. This is where she’d stop:
Even after Owen went down a few times, this is the farthest she’d go:
Finally I had enough of trying to verbally coerce her into climbing up, so I got on the slide with her and basically pushed her up each rung of the ladder. Once we got to the top, she didn’t want to go down…so I put my arm around her and we went down together—AND SHE LOVED IT! And immediately went to the ladder…and climbed up all on her own (the little shit!)! I did go up again behind her to make sure she didn’t slip backwards, but she did it just fine!
And then at the top of the slide…I realized my phone was still in my pocket!!! @$&#%! I obviously hadn’t planned on going on the slide (I was still wearing clothes, too) but got caught up in the moment of being frustrated with Katie. 🙁 I yelled at Tom to come get it and instead of coming up the ladder calmly, he was a bit upset and wasn’t being careful…and instead tried to come up over the side of the slide and pulled a leg muscle while getting back off. Like pulled it badly enough that he was limping. 🙁 But the slide was a blast and I knew I’d be on it more throughout the day…so I just gave in and put my suit on right then. And since Katie was still going up and down, I put her in her suit, too.
This is where she liked playing the most. And she was pretty good about moving out of the way when you said “Katie, watch out!” She’d go wait on the side until Owen came down, then she’d go back in the water. 🙂
Even though the slide was fun, I thought it might be out to kill me. After the kids had been playing for a bit (while I was working on party prep), Katie refused to come down (it was her naptime but she didn’t know that—she was just being stubborn). I told Owen this was his one chance to push his sister down the slide—and he tried but he said she was too strong and he couldn’t do it…so I had to go up the slide again to get her down. So I climbed up and we came down together—and I smashed right through the end buffer and landed on the ground with Katie on top of me! HOLY CRAP. I knew it was possible (other adults have done it before) but I had already gone down “successfully” a handful of times so definitely wasn’t expecting it. Katie wasn’t hurt (or crying) so that was good, and for the most part I was okay, but I had actually smacked my head on the ground. Ugh—instant headache. Then Katie was trying to get back onto the slide so I had to grab her…and I slipped on the wet tarp while carrying her! Thankfully she wasn’t hurt and I wasn’t really, either, though my butt and back hurt. Good times, right? I handed her off to Tom and took some pain pills. AND THEN…I was going down the slide with Owen and we were having a blast…and he was excited and wasn’t following the rules (waiting for the area to be clear before sliding down) and just rammed his feet straight into my side. Needless to say it was time for me to take a break.
Once the other kids arrived, things got a little more hectic. Pool toys came out and were part of the slide and kids were going down together (as you can see here)…and the “rules” kind of went out the window. 🙂
The girls loved Katie and basically thought she was their own little doll. 🙂
Ursula was the first adult to go down and she went tandem with Virginia! She agreed it was a blast!
Everyone had fun and the slide was (of course) a hit. There were a few minor bumps and bruises once all eight kids were on the slide at the same time and Owen ended up with a sure-to-be bruised eye. But it was super fun and it all went really well. The only minor bummer was the weather—in the middle of the party we had a downpour just long enough and with just enough thunder and lightning to send everyone inside…for 15 minutes! So then it was back outside! It started to threaten a storm again about 7:00 which sucked because all the adults were going to get on the slide (and I had planned on being able to use the slide most of the evening)…so we just sent the kids inside and a few of us went down a few times in the rain. There’s even video of me catapulting over the end (which may get posted privately) but I’ll gladly post the one of Tom! 🙂
Once it started storming and we were all inside, the kids were watching a movie and the adults were visiting and snacking…and Jacqueline was doing my dishes. There was plenty of room in the dishwasher but she actually LIKES doing dishes so who am I to stop her? 🙂
It was a really great time and I am so glad we did it…and it wasn’t until everyone was gone that I got really sad thinking about how much we’re going to miss everyone. (It’s always sad leaving, but the last time we left, we were just going to be missing two families…this time, we have more friends that we’ll be missing so it will be even harder.) But at least we have some great memories!
Tunnel fun
She’s getting better on the slide!
Building frustration
A typical Katie pout
She was frustrated because she couldn’t get Owen’s underwear on (she had both of her legs in one hole).
So we got a typical Katie pout:
Kids + Laser + Maggie = Fun!
Hiding in the laundry room
Listen closely for a) the laughing and b) the moving hanger. 🙂
This is what happens lots of mornings.
Owen’s Pre-K Graduation—what an experience!
We were there early to make sure we got good seats. Unfortunately, we had no idea where Owen would be sitting, so we just picked seats in the front row.
Katie did pretty good, considering we had to wait about 35 minutes. We kept her occupied with my phone. 🙂
Then it was finally time for the graduates to enter. And surprise! Owen was the Line Leader (something which he LOVES and always begs to do)…except he apparently got a HUGE case of stage fright as they came into the room and he kept his face buried in his hands, rubbing his eyes, and was almost crying…and would not have made it down the aisle if Miss Ashley hadn’t grabbed hs hand and guided him to the seats. I couldn’t even get a picture of him until he was past me. Poor kid.
Trying to talk to Owen to make him feel better.
Nope, still upset. And here you can see I had just about the worst possible seat in the entire room to try and get a picture of him (which you’ll see better in the videos).
This was Owen pretty much the whole time everyone was singing or otherwise participating.
There were a few slightly more normal moments.
“Days of the Week” (no participation)
“Pete the Cat” (the song he sang outside the other day)—a partial, because he wasn’t participating at all.
This was “The World is a Rainbow” which I didn’t even try to record because by that point, there was no hope of Owen participating.
When I looked back up, they had finally pulled him to the side so he could sit by himself but I motioned him over to us. He didn’t want to sit on my lap, but instead just kind of layed in my lap and let me hug him. Katie reached out to touch his arm and say “It’s okay, Owie.” /sniff
Then I tried to get a picture of him in my lap and he was all smiles once he saw himself in the camera…
But he even refused to go up and get his diploma so Miss Ashley had to come hand it to him.
As soon as it was over and he realized he had to wait in the room while we left, he was upset again. We all filed outside to wait for the graduates to exit and walk down the sidewalk. Katie was happy to be let free.
Everyone else coming out of the doors was happy and running…and then there was Owen.
Being comforted by his sister. 🙂
I wanted a picture of Owen and Braxton—but even THAT very normal act couldn’t break through his funk.
Braxton really tried—even talking to him. I thought this was so cute…it looks like he’s giving him a pep talk!
At least we got a decent family pic snapped by the TA Miss Sam. 🙂
And then after he had a snack, he was back to his normal self and very willingly took a picture with Miss Ashley.
And in the packet we took home, we had this picture, obviously taken BEFORE the ceremony started. Our graduate. 🙂
Owen gives us a preview of his graduation ceremony
He started singing so I made him wait until I was recording. It’s a riot.
Here’s the second song, except as you’ll see, it’s maybe 97% prep and 3% song.
I can’t WAIT to see it for real Tuesday. 🙂
Outside time
Upset Owen wouldn’t drive her around:
“Help!”
Finally going down the slide by herself!
Skyping with Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob:
Pretending to sleep.
A snippet of a typical Skype session:
Almost four hours on a waterslide.
Friends of ours are moving (one of my mommy group friends; her husband retired from the USMC) and had a retirement/going away party…with a waterslide for the kids! Owen started sliding shortly after we got there at 4 and only stopped for about 10 minutes total to eat a granola bar and a few bites for dinner before we left at 7:45. This kid loves waterslides. 🙂
Click for a bigger version.
Power washer mist is great fun!
Tom was power washing some equipment on the back deck while the kids were riding around. Of course they liked the mist, and eventually got out of the car to run directly in it…then of course daddy started spraying them directly and that was even more fun!
Katie kept running at it with her mouth open!
Happy wet kids!
Our little parrot
Katie is very good and quick about parroting what you say. 🙂
Where’s Katie?
I walked in the room to see this:
Sleeping on the bench
Ok wanted to spread the towel out to lay down, so of course Katie had to follow.
Fun with a…sweet potato!?
Watch as Katie mimics what Owen does.
A new old toy
A bubble morning!
