Genius child

Megan has been trying to come up with ways to fight pollution and her latest idea involves a car that people push, instead of using gas. The drawing is hilarious but I am too lazy to figure out how to scan it in. Anyway, it shows 2 people pushing a car with one person inside and has a bunch of misspelled words around it explaining the idea. Instead of gas stations there would be water stations every mile, for example. So I asked Sean why in the world anyone would ride a bike to work if they could just get their kids to push their car for them? And he replied that is why you have 4 kids. Bingo!

Kansas Farmer's Market

I was attempting to be healthy and go get some local produce at the Saturday morning market here, but alas, the end of May brings mostly baked goods.

Signs of age 2 approaching

Patrick demanded a fork to feed himself a cherry icee thing. It actually kind of worked until he realized he got more by just using his hand.

Holding up the wall

Patrick is such the big boy now, or so we keep telling him in our sly attempt to get him ready to not be the baby anymore. We are teaching him many tricks too like all the animal sounds (and motions- tongue out for dog, hand up like a claw for lion). He also moves the tall chairs over to the counter and sits in them now and if I have forgotten to hide my laptop, he will flip it open and start typing away and saying "Pat". He likes to see his face on the background and calls himself Pat. We are working to correct this as he most certainly will not be going by Pat. He is just in that stage where he says the first syllable of most words. This is a very amusing stage, soon to be followed by the very willful stage...

15 weeks

I know, looks like 6 months but the fourth time around the abs just give up early. Also, this includes a big dinner from 4 Olives. I fear for what 9 months will look like. I like vegetables again so that should help. One should not live on cheese and mayonnaise sandwiches alone...

The Perils of Online Shopping

Jen P was right, you can't buy sunglasses online. This pair was super cute in Coastal Living so I ordered off Zappos, free returns, just in case. They looked cute right up until I looked in the mirror. Nicole Richie does not live in middle America.

Anna's Home!!

After 3 long days and nights, Anna is out of the hospital and gimping around the house. She had her appendix out on Wednesday afternoon and then Thursday night they found some pneumonia that had to be cleared up. Friday night we had her out walking around the hospital courtyard and she ate an entire cheeseburger, so we were pretty confident that she was on the mend and ready to be released. Megan is enjoying the bounty of gifts Anna got, but is still jealous of all the attention. Patrick is playing with the balloons and we are waiting for the screams when he finally pops one. Sean did the last 2 night shifts in the hospital so is due for a long nap. Now to figure out who is going to tell Anna no swimming for 3 weeks...

Definitely Sean's Kids

The girls beg Sean to play his video games so they can watch them. There is nothing I would rather not do, too many years of small apartments and forced video game exposure I think. Oh but here they are, pleading with him to play before he has to start working. Poor guy, doesn't want to disappoint his sweet daughters. Patrick meanwhile just wants to go downstairs with them so he can destroy the Little People village we set up for him. Oh and so he can go "jumping, jumping" on the couch while everyone is distracted by the game. Megan just shouted up that they are bored waiting for him to finish breakfast and start the game. Let the fun begin! And it is quiet upstairs... so I am not complaining.

Your Weekend Update

Excitement level is high in Kansas with another fun filled weekend under way. 66% of the kids are running a fever (according to my hand, still can't find the thermometer) and acting whiny and super tired, so we have been enjoying the confines of our house. Sean did hook up the new natural gas grill, almost 3 years after we had the gas line installed, and he did it while I was napping and thus could not call the fire department to suggest they do a drive by. House is still standing, let's see how the first test run really goes though. I will be back to "cooking" after a 2 month hiatus if this works. If Sean can handle the raw meat, then I can cook vegetables without throwing up.

We did make a break from the kids last night to bid farewell to some good friends who are headed to Seattle. Graduation weekend is not a good time to take a large group out to dinner but after filling up the entire bar for an hour our table was finally freed up. Lingering groups were oblivious to our dirty looks and my eyes that were crazy with hunger. The good news is that some random $20 Ann Taylor dress that fit a bit oddly last year, was apparently designed for the 14 week baby bump. Glad I didn't miss the window to wear it. I would wear it to church today if we could manage to go, but I think fevers rule us out.

Sean works this afternoon and I plan to negate that by taking advantage of an online furniture sale. If we could ever make it out of Manhattan I probably would have at least looked in a real furniture store, but I give up. The kids need furniture that wasn't thrashed in the last move and it is time to move them to the basement. No, not just because of the baby, but because the girls are so freaking loud at bedtime (and in the middle of the night... feverish Anna can make a real racket banging stuff around in the bathroom at 2am).

So that is the project for the summer, along with getting rid of all the old crap. One of Sean's moonlighting coworkers was told to dump a shift by his wife so he could help with their garage sale this weekend. We laughed and laughed... there is no way you could make enough at a garage sale to make up that lost income. So, we won't make that mistake... I think we may just put everything in the driveway, advertise a garage sale, and then put out a big FREE sign and hide inside while people go nuts. Now, that will be exciting! I may have to video it...

A Graduation to Remember

I feel kind of bad for the ND graduates tomorrow who are going to be lost in the chaos of protests and media swarms. I barely remember our graduation speaker, but of course a lot of memories are foggy these days (blame the children). Anyway, I think the whole issue is ridiculous and why people who have no connection to the university are getting involved is beyond me. President Obama is not coming to speak about abortion, nor is he going to receive holy communion. No president since JFK has upheld every Catholic position but apparently abortion is the only one that matters. Death penalty anyone? Immigration rights? Social justice? Father Hesburgh was very active in the civil rights movement, so honoring our nation's first African-American president is quite fitting (and he supports Obama coming tomorrow of course). No doubt the speech tomorrow will never be forgotten by those grads-- and they are the reason he is coming to speak, just in case the protesters are confused that it is somehow about them instead...

ps It really is University of Notre Dame, why is that so hard for CNN to figure out?

Silly Boy

Patrick loves to play with Megan's school bags and any pair of shoes or boots he can get on. He has combined his love of both here and then Megan accented it with a jacket. He has also recently decided that bed time is far too early because it is light so much later and he is confused. Tonight he yelled for a long time in his crib, calling for everyone at various points. When Megan checked on him (and thus woke him up) later she found him with everything thrown out of his crib, including his pajama top. Poor boy was sleeping in just his pants with no blankets, no doubt a little chilly.

Should have gone civilian years ago...

I am in shock... went for my civilian OB appointment today and the front desk staff were polite and pleasant, the nurse immediately took me back to the clinic room, the doctor walked in exactly on time. Oh, and there was no chaos anywhere which is just standard for the army hospital. So this is what it's like when you can fire incompetent employees without going through a 50 step union mandated firing process/ hoop jump circus.... I also look forward to the day when the epideral person wants to give me one because they get paid by the patient. Let's just say the army ones do more than drag their feet in that situation. Somehow they didn't manage to show up with the first two deliveries until after the girls were born. I'm sure they have a different attitude when they are out moonlighting, don't get me started there. Just going to be happy I finally figured this out the 4th time.

Big Day!

It is of course Mother's Day, but also our 12th anniversary. Oh, the things you don't think about when planning a wedding. Eight years ago it was also Sean's graduation from medical school, so both our families were gathered in Indianapolis when we announced that Megan was on her way. So it is rather fitting that today we told them another baby is due in November. It will most certainly be the last baby too as we are getting too old for this. I have been very nauseous this time around so I can't cook and I can barely grocery shop for essentials. Oh the money we are saving. The girls love Sean's cooking though so perhaps I will continue to get nights off once in a while for taco night...

We showed the kids the ultrasound pictures on Friday and had them guess the news. Megan is clearly the radiologist's daughter as she even identified a shot of the tiny hand. At first they thought it was Aunt Caroline's baby, then they thought it was pictures of one of them, then they finally figured out that there is currently a baby in my tummy. Anna wants a girl, Megan wants a boy, Patrick wants a motorcycle. Mo-mo!

Time to move??

I was leaving to take Anna to preschool today and couldn't figure out what was on our sidewalk by the porch, some sort of toy? I had my handy-dandy camera in the van since I needed it for Anna's class water day, so I quickly zoomed in and got some photos. Let me assure you, I was safely in the van, quite a distance away. There are few things I dislike more than snakes.

Then I called Sean at work, which I rarely do since it really has to be an emergency to be worth interrupting him reading a study (and nothing that important is ever going on around here, trust me). So I alerted him to the snake emergency, mostly so he wouldn't let it in the garage when he got home. He has since informed me that I can't tell him about a snake without him coming to kill it. So I feel kind of guilty (although, you see that head sticking up, clearly he was waiting for my baby boy to come down those stairs) because it is (was) probably just some harmless garden snake. Upon further study, I am imagining that it is poisonous, so good work with the shovel Sean!

He then threw it in the empty lot next to us, to serve as a warning to other snakes? Megan saw the pictures and is now freaked out about going outside. I don't blame her, I will walk around with the shovel for a few weeks at least... Oh, the funniest part (witnessed by neighbor Nancy!) is that Sean then went to the hose to wash the evidence off the shovel and a toad was sitting on the faucet and jumped at him, startling him a bit. He claims he did not scream. Hmm.

Angela & Joe!

Our last night there Sean and I took Patrick to meet Angela and Joe for dinner on the boardwalk. Angela is a good friend from our Indy days and Joe is her new husband, so we were glad to finally meet him. Too bad we didn't meet him at their fabulous Key West wedding but Patrick was a mere babe then and that would have been tricky. Anyway, Angela most certainly lives life to the fullest and when we get her Christmas letter each year we reflect back on our own pathetic year and wonder why we did so little in comparison. i think it's that combo of Army and children that hold us back. She most certainly needs her own blog so I can live vicariously through her between doing household chores and driving children around. Their current goal is to buy a boat to live on down there in Florida. Then they said something about heading to Somalia on some money making scheme, can't quite remember what that was but Joe is growing a beard and says "argh" a lot. Hmm. Watch out for snipers.

Epcot

Day 3, the energy was definitely starting to wane. How do people do a whole week?? Well, without a scooter at least... Anyway, one of our most favorite rides was Soarin' which was part ride, part movie and it makes you feel like you are really flying. The fun kind of flying, not the airplane with children kind of flying. Sean, Bridget and Dad were off riding some other fun stuff for a while and the rest of us spent a hot hour (or 4?) at a little playground/ fairy garden. The girls are all into those Tinkerbell toys, I mean, movies, too so they enjoyed it. At some point we had breakfast with the princesses and thankfully our little princesses did not notice nor beg for their own princess dresses to wear, even though they were sold for the bargain price of $65 right outside the restaurant. We also skipped the whole autograph ridiculousness. We did not need that to carry over into the park where people stand in line for autographs from various characters. I'm pretty sure I would have been forging some autographs myself to get us moving on then....

Hollywood Studios

We started off at some restaurant that is like a drive in theatre, where some crying by Megan resulted in getting some of our party moved into one of the cars, then off to see Beauty and the Beast which the girls loved, when they weren't playing with Patrick's new distraction toy. Then we lucked into some fast passes to this fun Toy Story 3D ride that was part ride/part arcade game. Patrick even got into it and thus ruined Sean's chance at a high score for the day. Then the girls got to go to the best princess store ever where they loaded up on the little polly pocket style dolls that they thought they were running short on? Whatever, they were happy and the toys were cheap (and vacuumable!). All they wanted to do was play with them (spread them out in Aunt Bridget's room...) when we got back, had to really encourage them to at least go to the pool instead.

Then we had dinner at the French restaurant at Epcot and watched the fireworks. Our hotel was within easy walking distance of there so that was a great perk. I think Anna rode in the stroller more than Patrick at the end of the day. He was all hyped up and obsessed with running to and pointing out every darn trash can, shouting "Gii, gii!" for garbage. Kept him going at least. He grabbed his blanket and just laid down on the floor when we got back to the hotel, didn't even want his diaper or clothes changed.

Dance Recital

Megan's one and only dance recital. I have it taped too (from the rehearsal) and perhaps will upload it for the grandparents at some point. She loved her teachers but didn't love having to rush right off to class after school each week. She just wants to come home and play at night, so I won't keep forcing her into activities. I'm not a fan of driving around either...

Animal Kingdom?

Whatever, that animal place... started out there on Tuesday. Did the animal safari ride first which was a highlight for all. Then some got soaked on some water raft ride and it wasn't quite hot enough for that. Anna and I toured some dinosaur area while the rest were off doing some big ride and then we missed a whole lot of the park and left before lunch for Hollywood Studios. Schedule is tight with only 3 days to cram it all in.

Texas Reunion

The main reason we timed our trip this particular week was so we could see our good friends from our San Antonio days. Brian is fresh off a 12 month deployment so they were celebrating and we were more than happy to join in! The adults got out to dinner on Monday night to a fabulous restaurant in their hotel, the Grand Floridian. We barely made the dress code but did the best we could considering we had to cram clothes for 5 people in one suitcase. And, at least we didn't bring our 6 kids along.... they do make the nice restaurants kid friendly since it is Disney after all, but that's no fun for the adults then. I didn't get any photos, but trust me, it was a memorable evening and we were so grateful to our sitters!! The next day we managed to meet up with the kids after the Beauty and the Beast show at some park... Hollywood Studios? It's all a blur... anyway, I do have a few photos from that meeting, but again, not enough. Why I didn't get some of the kids together I don't know. Chaos? I hope you got some, Heather!

Boardwalk

We somehow got upgraded to a 3 bedroom suite so we all stayed together which was a lot of fun. It was a really cool place but somehow I got no photos except of the pool which had a creepy clown slide. Oh, and check out the random back tattoos... classy.

D-I-S-N-E-Y

Well, we managed to keep Disney a secret from the girls until we arrived there Monday morning. In fact, we had to point out the sign as we went under it as Megan failed to notice and read any of the 167 billboards leading up to it. We had told them we were just going to another hotel that was near a place that had great toy stores, as they had been saving up their money for this for months. Oh, the lure of a toy store, especially one that had reached legendary status in their many discussions about it. Anyway, thanks to the extensive planning and researching, including many discussions at the Villages that involved code words and spelling, the morning went very smoothly and we made it to the Magic Kingdom just as it opened. Sean had used ridemax.com to plan out the day. (Why yes, as a child Sean would point out everything they missed on the map whenever they left an amusement park.... so he was trying to prevent the same torture being done to him by his own children).

So we started with what I would say are the nostalgia rides: It's a Small World, Snow White, Peter Pan, etc. There was no wait which I thought was an appropriate amount since I'd never been and thus it had no appeal to me. The kids loved them though so I guess that is why people were later wasting, I mean, waiting an hour to get on them. Then we rushed around getting fast passes for various things, again, according to the ridemax master. It's really all a blur for me... just trying to keep up with everyone and then hanging with Patrick while everyone went on the better rides. I feel like we did about 6% of the stuff there and I should have been off exploring instead of waiting outside rides, but I didn't want to deal with trying to find each other later. Fortunately it wasn't crowded at all (or so they say-- I cannot imagine going during the busy season, yikes!) and the weather was perfect, so no regrets on pulling the kids out of school, even though they missed their school carnivals and Anna's preschool program and some field trips. Fortunately we did all the same stuff last year and I think this was a tad more fun.

Okay, here are some photos from day 1 of 3. In no particular order... Bridget in It's a Small World, Patrick crashed out in the stroller again (amazing!), the crew minus me in front of the castle (duh), and a bad shot of some ride I didn't go on... Sean cut off on the left side, then Timer & Sharon, and then check the guy on the right side- hilarious! I have tons of photos of people I don't know from rides as I always timed those wrong...

More from the Villages

A random assortment... Patrick found plenty of things to play with, mostly yard decor. The pool at our hotel was gorgeous and it was on a lake, right down the street from the town center that has live music with dancing (and drinking!) every night. The kids loved that yet I don't seem to have any photos from there. Oh, and Patrick finally conquered his fear of sleeping in a stroller and took his first of many long long naps in the stroller. Best purchase ever, reclines easily and has a big sun shade. Made life much more tolerable at Disney.

In Bizarro World

Sean's Aunt Bev and Uncle Dennis brought their Harley to the Villages on Sunday so many photos were taken. Patrick is quite interested in "momos" as he calls them and being that it was Bike Fest that weekend, he saw quite a few including all the ones lined up in front of our hotel. Having read more than a few CTs on victims of motorcycle accidents, Sean would never ride one himself, nor allow his children to ride one, so these photos are as close as they will get.

On a side note, as we were entering our hotel one night a bunch of bikers were all sitting out in the rocking chairs on the porch and one of them was having some sort of seizure or stroke or something (it's a retirement community, always worried someone is going to have a heart attack and need some medical assistance) and I was very alarmed. Then I noticed that none of the people nearby (so called friends?) were concerned and so I just kept going. Sean then informed me that this guy was coming down off an acid trip. What the what?? This guy was at least 60. Glad the kids didn't seem to notice...

Trip to the Villages

The real reason we went to Florida this past week: to see Sean's grandparents at the Villages. My camera had been switched to manual focus somehow (someone with small fingers I am thinking) so the first day's photos are terrible, but here they are anyway. Anna declared the first day there the best day of her life.... the golf cart rides, the slot machine in the garage, the swimming pool, the Oreo cookies.... Little did she know we were headed to Disney two days later. Patrick enjoyed all the golf balls in the rock garden and got himself tangled in the Spanish moss.