Monster muddin'

My dad got a wild hair a few weeks ago and bought the kids a new play structure. In addition to buying and building the structure, my dad bought the water slide attachment for the slide, then he rigged up a shower head attachment that we hook the hose up to and it sprays water on the slide, the attachment and the whole yard around the slide. We had some people over tonight and since it was stupid hot, we set up the water slide. The kids were a little tentative at first, because the water was awfully cold. Once they got over that, they LOVED it like a fat kid loves cake!

X-man and MT had optimum density and were able to shoot off the extension, way out into the mud.





Lightening McColin was a little lighter weight and didn't quite make it to the mud





X-man had some issue staying straight on the slide



Fortunately, Loosey wasn't horrified by the mess on her child



Bubba wasn't impressed with the cold of the water at first, but he got over that shortly





PG liked it until she had a crash





Quigs kisses the boo-boo away



Curious J went down once, then did his own thing for awhile. Bubba joined him to warm up a bit



Thunder McGavin so wanted to be with the big kids but the water was just too cold for his little body



Loosey, MacTroll and RF watch the fun



Quigs was appalled and horrified by the mud and the mess her kids were getting in to



RF and MacTroll act as "life guards" to the water play



Curious J rocked the sand box



Quigs may not have liked it but how can you say no to this much excitement?!

Wild Weekend

Yesterday morning, I went to Weight Watchers at 8:15. There, I found out that I lost 5.8 pounds and I was crazy excited. The leader asked if she could give me my 5lb star during the meeting and I said "are you kidding me, I'm screaming this one from the rooftops"! LOL Incidentally, I need to mention that I thought those little rewards were kind of lame. I mean a ball of name tags or a little fuzzy flower? Lame, really really lame. That is, until I got them. I got a 5lb star, a little bravo star for walking 3 miles on Monday and the baby biggest loser flower. I was outrageously excited to get those things, which is just a little sad.

After my meeting, I ran home and picked up the kids to go to our post-Easter egg hunt. Loosey is a genius for scheduling this like she did. First because it wouldn't conflict with the million other egg hunts that go on in town and second because everything was on clearance. The kids had a great time. Loosey did a fab job of roping off areas of the yard and separating the big kids from the little kids. MT was a little angry when she was done getting eggs and saw that the other half the yard was still full of them. She was able to be distracted by a cookie and quickly got over it :) TB ended up with the big prize egg, which had a Cars car in it.

We came home and sorted through their eggs and then headed to the Biology open house on campus. Originally, MT was supposed to stay home with my mom but because my aunt was in town she couldn't. I promised her that there would be a real crab, like Mr. Krabs and she decided she wanted to go. I lucked into parking just across the street from the building but it was near the back door (apparently, nothing said that) so we had to wonder around for awhile because there were no signs telling us where to go. We finally found someone that had a Biology shirt on who directed us to the right place. They got to see a baking soda and vinegar volcano, extract DNA from a strawberry, dig for fossils, hold and pet real crabs, and attempt to make their own ice cream. MT was much more interested in holding the crabs than TB was. He poked at them, but wouldn't hold them.

We came home and the kids played outside for awhile, then MT came downstairs, asked to lay down with a blanket and promptly fell asleep. After she woke up, we had dinner. My aunt and uncle are visiting and when they come down, he always gets steak and grills it for dinner one night. Last night was the night. I knew it was coming so I saved my points so I could have steak and a baked potato. I was little sad that I couldn't have a second baked potato because I didn't save that many points. I was going to have some popcorn to finish off my points, but I was too tired to actually make it so I passed and went to bed.

This morning we got up and I took TB to see Hotel For Dogs. It was cuter than I expected but it was a Nick movie so it wasn't stellar cinema.

After that, we went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. I was good, only having the salad bar. Apparently, everyone else was super starved so by the time I ate my one small plate, they were done so it was time to go.

After lunch, my mom and I took MT and TB to the library. TB wanted to go to the Pokemon club. My mom took MT and entertained her for awhile. I sat with TB and tried to figure out the rules of the game and I'm fairly certain so that if I really tried to understand it, my head would explode! There are so many rules and special exceptions and conditions and all kinds of stupid nonsense. However, he was in hog heaven and the guy that runs it is very helpful. He spent a lot of time helping TB figure out strategy and learn some of the rules.

When we left the library and headed for brain awareness day at Lincoln Square. They had several brain themed stations set up, including one where you could make a play-doh brain. They also had a giant ant farm, showing how they work as a collective brain, they had a sea slug that you could hold (MT did TB wouldn't). But the big hit of the day was holding the REAL brains. They had real human brains out for the kids to see and touch. MT picked it up, hefted it, showed it to me, talked about it, etc. TB poked at it, looked at it and said he was done. MT can't wait to go to school tomorrow to tell the kids she got a hold a brain. TB doesn't want to talk about it.

When they had their fill of brains, we went to Target to buy him a Pokemon deck so he doesn't have to borrow one again next week. We came home from there and I helped him sort his cards and MT watched TV.

Then we went to dinner at Monical's. I was STARVING but I knew we were going to be there so I saved plenty of points for running wild. The problem was, when dining with my aunt and uncle and other uncle, one should never plan on eating in ay kind of a timely fashion. It forever to order their food, just like it always does. This was even at a restaurant that offers a gluten free option. I went with the foot long turkey sub, no mayo, one bread stick, a dab of cheese (thanks Quigs for looking up those points for me) and a big salad. I'm very full but I ended up 2 points under for the day, even with that big dinner.

We came home and the kids played for about 5 minutes before MT melted down completely and asked to come in the house and watch TV. As soon as her show was over, she crashed and now I'm sitting here on the couch, deciding whether I want to do a little scrapbooking of if I just want to go to bed. I'm worn out and I'm thinking bed might win.

Fun in the sun

We decided to play outside yesterday since it was pretty decent.



Here is TB riding his bike.



Here is TB crashing his bike!



MT riding her trike



MT on the trampoline



This would have been a great shot, if she hadn't been almost jumping on me.



This is her favorite way to "jump" on the trampoline.



TB doing a trick



I'm falling!



Flippy boy



He is the most daring among us, by a long shot!

Getting Fit

I got my Wii Fit on Saturday. Of course, I was sick and couldn't play with it. Yesterday I felt a lot better so I was able to see what the big deal was all about. I did the body test and it determined that I was 25! Woohoo, go me. I did 40 minutes of various activites on it yesterday because I'm trying to unlock all the other activities. I may be unbalanced on the balance games, I can do yoga like nobody's business! I scored yoga trainer on all of them! Apparently, years of doing yoga on and off have done something for me. I spent 20 minutes on it today and would have done longer if TB hadn't been all in my face, demanding his turn. I also do a fairly decent job of hula hooping but the best thing I found today was a running game. You hold the Wii remote in your hand and run in place, trying to stay behind the lead runner. TB apparently loves this game and it is perfect for those days when he is crazy and needs to burn some energy. He has his little Mii and he can run wild on the fit. Who says that video games are worthless?

Quigs, my house has gone to hell with the kids being home. Give me a couple of days to get them back to school and get it cleaned back up and then you can come over and play on the fit with me after the minis go to bed :)

Meeting people

About a year ago, a new person joined our playgroup. She went to tons of meetups and I know because I was at most them. After about the 3rd or 4th one, I commented to RF "there is a new girl in the group and she is at all the meetups that I've been at recently and I'm just not sure what I think about her. Sometimes she is really funny and other times I'm just not sure how to take her. She'll say things that sound like things I would say but she sounds serious about them. I can't decide if she just has a super dry sense of humor or is just kind of a bitch" RF suggested that I take her how I would want to be taken which is with a painfully dry sense of humor. So I kept hanging out with her and taking her in the best possible spirit. After awhile, I figured out that I was taking things exactly the right way and not only was she not a bitch, but she was a super fab, awesome person!

Today, I spent the afternoon hanging out with her, Loosey, Harley and Ms. Lemonade, baking holiday cookies. I chose easy drop cookies so I walked in, threw them on a cookie sheet and tossed them in the oven. In 13 minutes, I was done and could sit and drink and talk and drink and talk we did! We had a super fab time discussing everything and snacking on the yummy goodies. I brought a little bit of each item home and now i'm trying to figure out if I should be a good wife and mom and share the bounty with my family or if I should be selfish glutton and hide it all for me. Naturally, I leave towards the selfish but I do try to be better occasionally :)

Memorial day

Pretty easy day. We tried to sleep in, although the kids were having none of that noise. Then we tried to make biscuits and gravy which was kind of a mess. The biscuits turned out ok, but we had the proportions wrong on the gravy so it never did thicken quite right. We ended up scrapping it and starting over and it came out much better the second time around. :)

By then it was nap time (we ate really late and nap pretty early). When Ms Thang got up, she layed around with my mom for awhile then it was time to get ready to leave. We went to Looseyfur's for a cookout with Libbygirl and her family. Quigs and her family was supposed to be there but Bubba was sick so they couldn't make it. We had a great time. MacTroll and Radioactive Freak spent some time being manly and grilling meat while Looseyfur and I played with the kids. Thanks to MacTroll for cooking the meat done for me, most people won't :) The food was fantastic and plentiful, the kids had a wonderful time playing, the adults had a grand time chatting and eating. We ended up staying way past bedtime but the kids were having a good time and actually behaving. It was the first time in a long time that I haven't left somewhere swearing that I would never be back because of my kids. I was highly impressed! :) Ms Thang was pretty upset when we left. She was crying (X-Man pulled her hair just as we were leaving) and RF said "I know you are tired and it hurt to have your hair pulled, but you need to settle down" She said "I'm not tired, I want Looseyfur" LOL

We brought them home, did the 10 second bath (I didn't even have them sit in the water I just poured water on them, soaped them up and rinsed LOL) then put them to bed. I'm there shortly, as soon as this last episode of One Tree Hill is over.

So much fun

We went to McDonald's today with my friend K and her kids M and S (which I totally wrote the other way first but decided to change it LOL). We had a really good time and spent 2+ hours watching the kids play and chatting. K is super fun and thinks a lot like me. Evan says he isn't quite sure how to take her sometimes because sometimes, she'll say something and he'll be like "she must be kidding, but wait, she sounded really serious. Did she mean that?" I told him to quit over thinking things. :)

Then we went to culture arts night at school which was fun. C did the theater makeup class and came away looking like a zombie. Then we did the acting class, glass blowing (boring, she wasn't doing anything just showing a movie :( ), story telling and photography. Photography was the only one I was able to ask intelligent questions but that was ok. We also saw "Recycled Rythms" which is a guy who scavenages stuff and makes them into drums and other percussion intsruments. Lots of fun. Now I'm going to read my book and go to bed so I can get up and go to CeC in the am. Sadly, K won't be joining us because M would totally love it :)

I think I posted before about C's friend J who isn't being a very nice friend. I keep telling C that he needs to work on making new friends, but he hasn't been too successful at it just yet. Earlier this week, C was playing with another boy after school (we stay most days to play, if the weather is decent) and J wanted to play. I don't know what happened exactly but either C was in his own world and didn't register that J had asked to play or he purposefully ignored him. Either way, C was having fun and J was left out, just the reverse of what usually happens. J got upset and ended up going home early over the whole thing. I feel mildly bad to admit that I couldn't work up enough compassion to care. Childish, I know, but I sort of felt like "turn abouts fair play". I have noticed that since then J seems to be a little nicer and less likely to tell C to go away. Maybe this finally made it sink in for him that he wouldn't like being treated the way he was treating C. Here's hoping that is that case because while there are only 6 more weeks of school and I'm working to get him playdates set up with other kids his age, 6 weeks is a LONG time to be snubbeed by the one person you want to be friends with :(

Productive today

So far this morning, I've been pretty darn productive. I have got dh's insurance straightened out (finally, it's only been going on for 2 months), I got the cell phone bill straightened out (apparently I had the wrong address so the payment was never processed, nevermind the fact that that is where I've been sending payments since August and all of them have been fine) and the correct amount paid. I called about a job that I'm interested in. And now I have to go put away laundry and finish washing (I love that we moved the dressers in the laundry room so stuff comes straight out of the dryer and gets hung up, but that means I actually have to hang it up and I can't just pull stuff out and shove the next load in) the rest of the clothes. And I have to create a spreadsheet for C's class Christmas party to see who is bringing what and what is already brought. I don't want another fiasco like Halloween since all the parents will be there as well.

In other news, I'm going roller skating tomorrow night! I love roller skating and haven't been in over 10 years. The last time I went was the one and only all night skate I've ever been to. It was ok but I should have gone with (had, in reality) a better class of friends because the it all drama all the time with them. Being locked in a building with 10 drama queens (guys included) and 100 other people to feed the drama was just asking for trouble, which we got in spades. Relationships were formed and destroyed, tears were shed, fights were nearly started, curse words were screamed, all in the course of less than 12 hours. It was insane. Tomorrow will be better. I'm going with C and my dad to celebrate the end of skating in PE and all the other Westie's will be there so I'm excited. :)