Air Show

Anyone who knows Sam is aware that he has a one track mind. OK, I guess we can says it's an obsession. The boy loves airplanes. His days are filled with comments about B-25s, bi-planes, and Blue Angels. I have become quite the expert when it comes to airplane lingo. So there was no question that when the air show came to town this past weekend that we would be in attendance.

We were lucky to get a gorgeous day considering how it it could have been for August. We came prepared with sunscreen, sunglasses and earplugs as well.

Even though the weather was great, the kids still heated up pretty quickly. Matt brought back some refreshments in the form of shaved ice and I thought he was going to be bombarded. Luckily he escaped unscathed.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching all the different types of airplanes, jets, and helicopters fly by. There were old WW II planes as well as modern day jets. Good thing we had the earplugs for those because they were LOUD.

The kids also got a chance to try on a fighter pilot helmet and to tour a few airplanes and helicopters. Sam was in heaven and was able to add a few more models to his ever expanding aeronautic vocabulary.

The only mistake was that we decided to stay until the end so we could see the Marine simulation. I wasn't aware that this would involve dropping fake bombs that would explode with fire and smoke. As the first jet raced by and dropped the "bomb," I had a certain 3 year old screaming while attempting to crawl up my leg.  Let's just say that Luke did not like the bombs. The only problem was that we really couldn't get away from the simulation. So I just had to hold him helplessly as each jet came screaming by. Then came the grand finale ...

The wall of fire was enough to send Luke over the edge and I ended the day chasing him through the airfield while he screamed to get away. It was terrifying for him. I'm hoping he isn't traumatized for life. No nightmares so far and he and Sam played "air show" when we got homes, so I'm hoping it wasn't too damaging.

Overall, it was a really fun day (minus the permanently scarring Luke part). I think we helped Sam reaffirm his desire to be a pilot when he grows up. He was disappointed that there were no Blue Angels, so we'll have to hunt them down one day in the future.

Picture of the Week - August 26

Look who decided to show me at 7PM that he had been wearing his PJ bottoms underneath his shorts all day. I wondered why he looked a little wider in the rear today ...

This Week in Pictures

The Boys' Room

We've been in the new house for two months and we finally have one room completely finished! Yay! When we move, we tend to be very good about getting all the boxes unpacked  and furniture set up quickly. Then, we hit a wall. It can sometimes take months for us to do the little things like hang pictures and shelves. The boys' room has been about 90% complete for a month, but we finally got to 100% when the pictures went up this weekend. So here you go!

I apologize in advance for the poor picture quality and lighting. My camera (or maybe it was me) was just not feeling it today.

Here's the view from the doorway as you walk into the room.

And here's the view from the opposite corner along the same wall. The door to the right of the beds leads to the boys' bathroom.

I just realized that the middle picture isn't straight, arrrrg! One of my biggest pet peeves!

This is the view from standing in the bathroom doorway.

The boys have four windows in their room, so they get a ton of light. It's been nice in the mornings when they tend to play in there a lot.

Also, just like our last house, we are not allowed to add any paint color to the walls. I know, it's so sad. So I've tried to make up for it with adding colorful rugs and window treatments.

The boys' beds straight on ...

I love the boys' iron beds and their quilts that match, but aren't the same quilt (I have not had as much luck finding the girls' matching-but-not-the-same bedding). Their bedside table is an old school desk that has been in my family for a while. And, as you can see, Luke still needs a little help to get into his big boy bed!

Here's the view if you turn around and face the dresser.

The dresser is from the triplets' nursery. I'm so glad that when we had it made we decided to go with something simple and BIG. The boys will be able to use it for a long time. I can fit all of their clothes in here with room to spare.

So that's the first finished room in the house! Maybe now I'll be inspired to finish off some of the others. The girls' room is almost done as well and our bedroom only needs window treatments to be complete. The dining and family rooms??? Lets just say that I'm hoping they'll be done before 2013. We are still acquiring some more furniture for those rooms, so they are on hold for now.

So let me know what you think. Anything that I could add to it to make it more fun? Is there enough color in the room to offset those poor, white walls? Hopefully some more rooms will be coming your way soon!

Picture of the Week - August 19

Wouldn't you feel this way if you found a flower as big as your head that also happened to be your favorite color as well?

Throwback

Just looking at this brings back memories of puffy paint, side ponytails, and shirts with side ties.

Mom of the Year

A few weeks ago I loaded up the kids in the van before dinner to head over to a local store that was hosting a sale for a local dinner delivery service. I'll admit that we mainly went because they promised lots of yummy appetizers to sample, but I also wanted to look into purchasing some things for our upcoming vacation as well.

*Just a quick disclaimer ... This event was billed as kid-friendly, so I was not taking the wee ones into uncharted territory. They knew that kids would be present and they even welcomed that presence. So I was not taking the kids into an adult only environment. I just want everyone to know that I'm not completely off my rocker.*

So we arrive at the store and the kids all rushed to the door, begging for a snack. I made sure that they understood that this was a "no touching" store, which to them is still a very loosely defined concept. They think a "no touching" store is just one where they get yelled at more for touching things, not one where we're not supposed to touch things. I'm guessing they're not going to perform well in reading comprehension once they hit elementary school.

I released the hounds and they quickly made a beeline to the food/appetizer table. They had things like chips and dip, watermelon wedges, meatballs, and the like all nicely displayed and ready for tasting. They also had a big box of doughnut holes on the back of the table. Now that I think about it, maybe that was supposed to be the kid-friendly portion of the appetizers, oops. At the time I was just concerned about herding the masses, so I just let them eat whatever they put their hands on.

What is it about little kids and only eating one bite of something and putting it back? I think they ate about 36 wedges of watermelon, but only one bite out of each one. They'd take a bite and put it back on the tray ... pick up another wedge, take a bite, and put it back on the tray. I was rushing around trying to find all the pieces that had a bite off the top so I could take them off the tray before someone picked them up to sample. Meanwhile, Luke decided to try his hand at the chipotle ranch dip. He dunked his chip in up to his wrist and shoved the entire thing into his mouth. I watched helplessly as his eyes got really wide and he started screaming because it was too spicy for him. I managed to get there just in time as he spit out a green globby mess into my napkin.

By this time, the kids had demolished the table and all of them were clamoring for something to drink. Luke was still pawing his tongue with tears running down his face from the spiciness of the dip. At this precise moment one of the women from the event walked up to us with a glowing smile and a tray of drinks. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and flashed her a grateful smile as she quipped, "Here you go mom!", in an extra chipper voice. Finally, I thought, someone to help! I thanked her profusely for recognizing my plight of four unruly, thirsty children and quickly distributed the juice to the kids. They started sucking the juice down immediately and then the looks on their faces started to change to ones of disgust.

"Gross, this is yucky!"

"Mommy, this juice tastes funny!"

"I don't yike 'dis stuff!"

"What?? It's apple juice, y'all! You drink it every day. Here let me taste some ..."


Can you see what's coming?

It's not like I didn't know that apple juice and white wine have the same exact pale orange hue, I just wasn't thinking about it at the time. And if a lady with a tray of cups walked up to YOU while all of your children were begging for drinks and said, "Here you go Mom", wouldn't you think she was offering drinks for the kids and not the mom? And wouldn't YOU have just given those drinks to your kids quickly to stop their complaining and to get the taste of chipotle ranch off of their tongues?

So apparently I gave all of my kids their first taste of alcohol at the ripe old ages of 3 and 4. I hope there aren't any studies out there that indicate children who try alcohol in preschool end up being underage binge drinkers or something of the sort. After I realized the mistake, I quickly rounded up the wine cups and hurriedly placed them back on the tray. Then, we hightailed it outta there! I didn't look around to see if anyone noticed my mistake, but you can be rest assured that I will NOT be showing my face there again.

Picture of the Week - August 12

Five minutes in the life of a worn out kid ...

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

The only reason this post is titled that is because I had to listen to Alvin and the Chipmunks butcher this particular Go-Go's hit yesterday while driving home from Florida with four kids, a dog, and my lonesome self. Well, that and because we were actually driving back from a really great two week vacation. We finally made it home and it seems the key to surviving an eight hour drive by yourself with four kids is snacks, the Fresh Beat Band, and movies. Just one word of caution: you WILL feel like chucking Alvin and his "chipwrecked" friends out the window once you arrive home.

Overall, we had a great couple of weeks of mostly pool and beach fun. Seriously, the kids swam every day we were there. I am not exaggerating, two straight weeks of swimming. They have all come so far in their swimming abilities and their dad is chomping at the bit to sign them all up for swim team next summer. We're still unpacking, but here's a good summary in phone pictures (of course I forgot my camera, along with my makeup and toiletries but that's another story for another day).

We found some fun critters in the pool (notice this is not the picture of the snake we found in there one morning, eek!)

The kids sat like this most of the time when they watched TV. I think they just like to be close to each other. Guess I should have bought a loveseat for the new house instead of a new sofa.

Beach Bums ...

Fun with family.

She's got a ticket to riiiiiiiiiiiiide!

Luke was concerned the train wasn't ever going to start moving.

My goofy boys ...

... and sweet girls.

What a great time! School is just around the corner!

Picture of the Week - August 5

Summer Popsicle attire ...

Kidspeak

While walking through the parking lot the other day, Peyton walked up to a sedan, grabbed the driver's side view mirror, and turned to me to ask ...

"Mom, why do cars have ears?"


Then she wanted to know why Diet Coke came squirting out of my nose. Where do they get these questions?