Catching up.

 

I have been super busy lately and it seems that things aren't slowing down so I forced myself stop long enough to get this blog post up. Just so you know, I am putting off dishes, laundry, vacuuming, and sweeping to do this. I think I'm okay with that actually. So here it goes...*sigh*

 

The first weekend of summer, I got our jump n' slide out and the kids were on it all day long! Even the neighbor kids came over to play. I only got pictures of the girls though because Matthew didn't want his picture taken (there's a first for everything I guess).

(Probably my most favorite picture of these two EVER!)

 

We got to go to the air show at Tinker. It was EXTREMELY hot but it was so fun. The kids had a blast looking at all the planes (they even got to go inside some of them).

 

 Right after the airshow we went to a birthday party of one of Matthew's T-ball team mate. I can't remember why I don't have any pictures with Kylie or Matthew. Oh well, it was fun.

 

Then came the 4th of July. Here in the City of Newcastle, they have an awesome festival and all you have to pay for is the food and light up toys. All the rides were free (including the pony rides and inflatables). We had so much fun!

 

I made snacks for the kids in the shape of the American flag (strawberries, blueberries, mozzarella cheese, and marshmallows). I also made a red, white, and blue Ice-cream cake but for got to take a picture (it was so delicious though).

 We also had family home evening the night before and I taught the kids why we celebrate the 4th. We sang patriotic songs, ate American flag pizza, and signed the Declaration of Independence.

Then July 18th, came and I celebrated my 30th birthday...old age must be sinking in early because I already forgot what we did to celebrate and I don't have any pictures. LOL!!! I think we went to a movie.... then we celebrated Nathan's 36th birthday on August 11th. Can't remember his birthday either....

 

....moving on....

 

....here are some pictures of the last day of summer vacation. It was a beautiful day, so we went to 2 or 3 different parks and wore the kids out so they wouldn't be up all night from excitement for the 1st day of school.

 

 (How AnnMarie enjoys a day out to the park)

 

And now, the first day of school!!!!! I now have a First grader and a preschooler! OMGoodness! It's going by so, so fast!

Payton was so excited that she was getting to go to school. She got her backpack and waited with her brother and sister for the bus.....

 

..and then tried to get on the bus. So, I had to stop the video to get her down from the bus. She was extremely heart broken, and so was I. As cute as this video is, it's actually hard for me to watch and I cry every time. Mostly because I remember what happens next after the camera stops rolling. But, the kids had a great day and they both LOVE school. They never, not want to go. They actually race to see who can get out the door first. And there are still days that I have to hold Payton back and remind her that she can't go yet. Poor girl.

 (sorry if the videos don't work...they are super cute though)

 

 

Anyways, about a month after school started, the OKC Zoo had a "Zoofriends" appreciation day. So, if you had a membership, EVERYTHING was FREE. We finally got to go on all the rides. We rode the tram, the little train, got to see the sea lion show, and so forth. We were there from open to close. It was exhausting but super, super fun!

(Matthew couldn't contain his excitement on the train. He has wanted to ride that thing since he was 2!!!!...it only took 4 years, ha!)

(The girls and I...and my two nephews are in the backround. ;-)  )

 Now you are mostly caught up. Here some extra, random photos...Payton loves to help mamma, and the only time she isn't scared of the vacuum is when she's using it. Love that girl.

Miss AnnMarie Lynn Dill in all her beauty. She will be 9 months old tomorrow...and Kylie will be 5 years old tomorrow!!!! My how time flies!!!!!!!!!!


Worst....Day....EVER!

    I don't usually have bad days, but when I do, I guess when it rains, it pours! It all started off with me being sick (thank you Matthew), then while getting the kids breakfast, Kylie got mad and threw a glass bowl on the floor.....and it broke....and I wanted to go back to bed, and I should've. LOL! After cleaning up the mess I decided to clip AnnMarie's finger nails (they were ridiculously long). I clipped off some of her thumb instead of the nail! OMGosh! I have never ever had a nail clipping accident before (there is a first time for everything) after getting a band aid on to stop the bleeding, I was about ready to call it quits. But, being a Mom, that's not possible. The kids kept fighting over dumb things, and before I lost it completely, I kicked them out of the house. I gave them a HUGE cup of ice water and told them to stay outside until lunch. Well lunch time came and after they ate I sent them outside, laid Payton down for a nap, then I sat down to feed the baby. As soon as I sat down, I hear doors opening and blood curdling screaming coming from Kylie. I knew something was wrong...she never screams like that. So I put the baby down and go in to the kitchen as Matthew is helping his sister in the house and all I see is.....Blood!
   All down Matthew's arm and completely covering Kylie's shoulder. Matthew at once told me, "she hit her head on the fire hydrant!".......all I could think was, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!"
  I rush her into the bathroom (all while the baby is screaming her head off because I cut her off in the middle of lunch), and look at the bloody mass that was Kylie's head. I was finally able to locate where the wound was (no thanks to the gobs and gobs of hair....sometimes thick hair is not so great). Once I found the gash on her head, I realized...great she's going to need stitches. :-(
  After I finally found people to watch Matthew and Payton, I rushed to our Urgent Care facility in Newcastle (the whole time I was trying to get ahold of Nathan but he wouldn't answer the phone!) with Kylie and AnnMarie.
    Thankfully we were the only ones there and we got in relatively quick. And, the result....Kylie is now sporting three staples on the top of her head (another first for today, this was our first serious accident that a band aid couldn't help. I can't believe we've gone this long with out one). She was extremely brave and did not cry at all while they stapled her back together. After that I decided to get her a treat for being so brave. We went to Braum's and she asked for a large rootbeer! :-) And, of course who happens to call while in the drive thru??!!! NATHAN! Talk about bad timing!
  I'm surprised we made it home in one piece! All in all, it was a pretty crappy day! But since I am an optimist, I generally like to find the good in things. So here are the good things that happened on my worst day ever......Kylie doesn't have a concussion, Payton slept through the entire ordeal, family stepped in to save the day (thanks again Nola!!!), I was still able to get dishes clean and dining room cleaned up even though I am sick, none of my kids are sick with me, and I still love my husband (LOL). So there is my rant. Sorry, no pictures...um actually, you're welcome there are no pictures. Ha! Hopefully your day was better than mine!

"Schools...out...for summer....!"

  So Matthew's last day of school was last Thursday and we are still crazy busy! For the first official first day of Summer break, we decided to go to the zoo! I took all 4 kids, all by myself! I thought I could handle it...boy was I wrong! I knew I should've turned around and went back home when my baby decided to scream her highest, loudest scream as soon as we arrived. :-( But, instead of giving up, I went straight for the "nursing lounge" (we barely fit inside the room with all five of us squished in). I fed her, burped her, and changed her...and on with the show it went. After showing the zoo worker my zoo pass I then asked where I could get a waxed elephant. I should probably elaborate a little on that. THE ENTIRE REASON I WENT WAS TO GET A WAX ELEPHANT! I made a promise to an uncle to put said elephant on the grave of my uncle Chester (who died of Leukemia when he was very, very young), on Memorial Day. Well, considering the day I was already having, of course the zoo does not have the machines that make the wax elephants anymore because the machine kept breaking.....GREAT (oh "but they do have penny smashers"....not what I asked for but whatever)!
  Well, since we were already there, we decided to carry on. Every thing went pretty smoothly for the next two hours (except for the fact that AnnMarie screamed almost the entire time...there is more to the story but I don't feel like writing about all that). After making our way to the elephants, I noticed Kylie was crying and walking rather funny....CRAP...literally...she crapped her pants! I was actually really surprised at myself for not getting angry or frustrated. I calmly asked her why she didn't tell me she had to go and her response, "I didn't know they had bathrooms here." Bless her heart, who knows how long she was trying to hold it. So I threw away her panties (thank goodness she was wearing a skort...for those that don't know, it's a skirt with built in shorts). I asked if she had to go anymore and she said, "no." I then asked if she wanted to go ahead and see the elephants, or just go home. And this question brought on more tears because she really wanted to see the elephants, but at the same time she really just wanted to go home. Since we had already been there for 3 very LONG hours, I told her we can come back anytime since we have a zoo pass. So glad she chose to go home because as soon as we got to the zoo exit, I hear crying and look to see Kylie walking funny once again....CCCRRAAAPPP! Again???!!! Well at this point I felt like super mom because I still didn't get angry...in fact the entire trip was quite comical to me. Since I didn't have any extra clothes and we were leaving anyways, I put one of Payton's diapers on Kylie and wrapped AnnMarie's baby blanket around Kylie like a dress, and away we went. Kylie was extremely embarrassed and it took a while to coax her out of the restroom. So we hightailed it out of that zoo as fast as we could! So here are some pictures of the times we were having fun....(how I was able to take pictures at all is still a mystery to me, LOL).

I actually forgot to mention that two days before the zoo trip was Matthew's Kindergarten graduation! So proud of my little man, he is growing up way too fast! He is standing with his teacher, Mrs. Chlouber. We loved her and will miss her, such an AMAZING teacher!

The day after the zoo was Saturday, and it rained...pretty much all day long. Soooo we PLAYED IN THE RAIN!!! We had so much fun! I got lots of pictures and I edited them. I was doing some cleaning and found the disc that goes to my camera...didn't know it came with a disc. But, apparently it comes with a basic editing software. I had lots of fun playing around with it. I hope you enjoy. :-)

(Miss Payton after her dress got soaked)

(AnnMarie and I...she has my feet)

(My beautiful Kylie)

(Matthew...I had a hard time getting his picture because he wouldn't stand still!)

(Payton enjoying a big puddle)

(This brought back memories of my brother's tricycle floating away in a flood when I was 4(?), had to get a picture).