Marathon Wednesday

Wednesday was a lllllloooooooonnnnnnnngggggggg day, to say the least. It started for me at 5:15AM when Jonathan finally stopped hitting the snooze button and got ready for work. I heard him leave, heard the garage door close and then heard Harps wake up hungry. I fed her, and laid back down to try to go back to sleep. At 6:15 I gave up and decided to wake up and work out (ha, if I had a nickle for every time I said that), the dogs being excited woke up too and shook, their little dog tags banging together like an alarm signalling Cooper that it was time to wake up also. UGH. He was grumpy, miserable and a downright pill. But he did perk up a bit after some cuddling time. Thatch joined us at 7am and we were off on another whirlwind day.

I had a Dr. appointment with the podiatrist at 10 so we went there after running by Jonathan's work to drop some stuff off. I have Plantar Fasciitis, basically my right arch feels like it is going to rip in half, which it kind of is. It's extremely painful and I need to get it better before our vacation! They were great there, everyone felt the need to take their shoes off and to be examined. I hope we don't get charged 3 times!

After that I gave Thatch the option to decide whether we went to Barnes and Noble or to get Coopie's hair cut and he picked the hair cut! I guess he doesn't like his brother to look like he's in the Beatles either.

Coopie with Chom, the boys barber (is that the right word? I don't know boy lingo.) She's great with them, and quick which is most important when unfurring a squirmy fella.

After that was a quick lunch at McDonald's which they loved. McD's has Madagascar 3 toys right now and they got a train with the penguins on it. I guess we are going to be seeing that soon too! Then off to OT and a straight shot home for a nap. It was 2:30 by this time and Coop had been up for 8 hours. He was surprisingly not so bad like but still in dire need of a nap. We all were! And then the most miraculous event occurred. Everyone slept at the same time! Thatch said he wasn't tired but there is evidence to the contrary.

H was just relaxing on the couch, paging through his train magazine when he finally hit the hay. He did not wake up this well though.

Now for the busy part: Thatch's first soccer game outside! I was ill prepared for this. I got the stroller out for Harps, the rain gear because it looked kind of shady out, Thatch's soccer gear and what have you. It was a lot of crap in my car!

Harps is a Soccer Hooligan.

I asked Thatch to stand there so I could take a picture for his Grandma's and this was his pose. Then he told me that they were really going to like this.

After a lot of running around after him and just general kid shenanigans I put him in the stroller and held Harper. Having a caged Cooper worked out much better.

Thatcher said he scored a goal but I'm not so sure about that. It's hard to tell because it is herd ball but I didn't actually see that happen. We'll let it roll though.

Intense action shot.

You can't see it in any of the pictures but the sponsor of the team is Sani-Can. Hehe :) After the intense game of running around in circles we packed up and went to pick up some dinner. Bamboo Panda!! YUMMY, we love it! The boys especially love sweet and sour chicken, which we call chineese chicken nuggets and white rice, which Thatch calls "white food". Okay, we'll let that slide for now.

If you know how picky of an eater Thatch is you'd be amazed and how much he ate! If you knew how unpicky of an eater Cooper is you'd laugh at how much he ate too.

Afterwards I made Thatch take a shower and Cooper joined him. This was Coopie's first shower :)

After he was oiled up he ran to his dresser and pulled out undies like his big brother. He's never worn a pair before and was quite enthralled with the characters on them! He finally settled on Cars and couldn't stop looking at his man parts long enough for a picture. He slept in his diaper though :) When we get home we will start the potty training hard core!

Well poop, it won't let me finish in the normal blog so I'll finish it here. So that ended our marathon of a day and all the kiddos were asleep by 9pm. Today we rest and tomorrow, we grocery shop. That should be fun. Or not. Until later,
S

A couple quickies

Sorry I've been off the grid. You know the drill: busy, 3 kids, holiday weekend. Blah, blah, blah. So here we go!

1.The sleeping arrangements are going well! Cooper and Thatch are still bunking, no one has been kicked out of their beds (Well, except Cooper in the original bed moving). I've cleared the room out and it's almost time for Operation: Fancy Nancy. We're converting a little boy room into a little girl room, and by we I mean me. Jonathan can not grasp my vision for Harpie's room so I'm on my own. No bigs. I obviously will post the big reveal on here at a later date :)

I took this of the boys asleep the other night. They always sleep together now, even if I start them off in the same bed. They love each other :)

 Jonathan was off this weekend for the first time in 17 days. The boys missed their Daddy terribly, at night time especially. Here's a few pics of them and two videos of Jonathan and them.

I can not wait for one of those teeth to fall out! Especially the chipped one from when he was 9 months old.

http://youtu.be/8uU32WCv4IM

http://youtu.be/A1JDLdwRBK0

 2. We had a garage sale here on Saturday, in with new out with the old. Our house is so small and adding another little body with so many accessories has pushed our cabinets and closets to the brink. I find it's easier to just have a garage sale once a year and keep the clutter down. 

Thatcher was NOT happy about selling his stuff. He has the potential to be a serious horder. Most of the time I can slowly clean out his room when he is at school and he wont notice stuff is gone but on this particular day it was VERY clear what was missing!

He was allowed to pick 1 item and take it inside. This is him and Jonathan negotiating. I'm fairly sure he actually saved 3 things. The kid should be a lawyer when he grows up.

Cooper, the cannon ball, took a good fall on our driveway during the garage sale, which is made of rocks. This was the ensuing injury. My poor little, clumsy guy. He gets it from his Mommy.

3. We've had a mix of beautiful weather to down right rainy doldrums (which you know I love actually) but today it was beautiful so I went out with Harps and soaked in the Vitamin D. We planted my flower boxes and some perennials in the front. When it's all done I will snap a picture and show you all the resulting opulence. Well, it will be opulent in August, right now it's just kind of sad.

My little pale baby needs to soak up some sun before we head down to vacation! I also need to get her a cute little sun bonnet, and maybe some cat eyed sunglasses. Maybe that's pushing it.

4. Remember this 4 months ago?

January 29th, 2012- Yes, that's correct. It's COLDER than -60*.

May 28th, 2012- Yes, that's right it said 92*F on my deck...That's above zero! I actually do not enjoy hot weather but today felt wonderful. After snapping this we moseyed inside for an otter pop, it's officially SUMMER!!

Quickies

Here's a couple of quick things:

1. Cooper and Thatcher are officially roommates. Sunday night I disassembled the bunks because, as a mother, I feel it is my job to consider all worst case possibilities. I envisioned Cooper climbing the ladder to the top bunk to sleep with Thatch, Thatch not having any of that business and him kicking Cooper off the ladder. Seriously, it could happen. So, that being said, both beds are down. We made it a big deal and went to pick out new quilts to make it exciting, Thatch picked Spiderman and Coop, to my surprise, picked Toy Story over Cars. Coopie calls Woody WooWoo. So cute. Anyhoo, the first night was tough, lots of coddling and snuggles but after an hour I said "cry it out". I'm a softie most of the time but my patience runs thin at 8pm and is basically over at 9pm. He did and when I peeked in they were asleep together in Thatcher's bed, cuddling. Melted my cold, tired heart.

They're going to hate this one day :)

2. We met Grandma at Barnes and Noble to have a little play date and to get my Mother's Day/Birthday present (Yay!) where I captured these:

Where there are trains, there are Yarsleys. Imagine that.

She had threatened to do it and finally did. Grandma bought Harper her first pony. This one I approve of though. That's Harper's excited face.

3. Harper is 4 months old now!! I can't believe it's been 1/3 of a year already!

4 months into taking these and they still do not amuse her. Sorry about my feet, at least I've had a pedicure in the recent past.

A little frame of reference...Harpie at 2 weeks old :)

So that's it. We have a big day tomorrow, two Dr. appointments, OT and probably some Alaskaland action too. Busy bees are we.

Enjoy!

Love,
S

Another Saturday ending with aching feet

Guess what? I found out that Aviation Day (the proper name of what I referred to as Airplane Day) was not last weekend but luckily this weekend! Yay. (It is here where I wish the most that there was a sarcastic font.) I know that I could pretend that it wasn't actually happening and we could have a relaxing Saturday all peaceful and what have you but I take my job as Cruise Director seriously. Activities and entertainment are my specialty (especially since my cooking leaves much to be desired). And so here we find ourselves on another adventure.

Photographic evidence is submitted for your viewing pleasure:

We started off the day with a coffee for the kids an myself with our favorite barista, Ms. Emily Gray. We loves us some Emmy! After that we were supposed to have pancakes but my little coffee stop ended up making us late but I more than made up for that later, you'll see.

Here are my guys. Cooper was beside himself with excitement.

Yet another one of my comedian. His face is so expressive, I love it!

And here is where I make up for the pancakes. The boys NEVER get soda unless they're with one of their Grandmas (you know who you are), so this was my penance. We had a nice little hot dog lunch here.

After this we were going to go to the Farmer's Market for a little peekaroo around to see what was new and what was the same. This was really for me, the boys could give a crap about the market except for the kettle corn. So I sneaked in a treat, sue me :) I packed a picnic for us because were supposed to be eating lunch there after our delicious pancakes. We ended up snacking on half of a sandwich and drinking juice boxes. It was fun but we probably could have cut it out, Gretchen's Confections (the most delicious fudge on the planet) wasn't there so it really was kind of a waste of time. I did get these cute pics though.

Have you ever noticed that when he gives a genuine smile his eyes turn into half moons? I have, it's my job to find these perfect nuances in my little men.

Juice boxes. They're no joke.

Did I mention that it was 70 ABOVE zero out today? It was magnificent. Anyhoo, so we're driving home and I see a big sign at Creamer's Field that says "Fish and Game Day" and to that I said, "Oh what the hell, why not?" So we go to do some more man stuff.

This is Harper and Zariah. Her Mommy, Karrah, and I went to school together and were also pregnant a week apart. Harper cut in line and beat her out by 9 days because Ms. H was two weeks early, Little Stinker. I'm still upset about that epidural. Sorry, tangent. Anyhoo, I love Z's hair, I wish H's was that thick and hair bow ready already!

Cooper sticking his entire hand in a Musk Ox eye socket. I'm sure the ox does not appreciate it.

I spy, with my little eye...

H, doing what she does. Good God, I love those little eye lashes.

Thatcher wanted to shoot the bow and arrow just like in the Hunger Games. He literally said that. It's crazy what that kid picks up! I need to watch my words very carefully from now on, especially the naughty ones.

I wish you could zoom in and see his face better. I think he's a little shocked.

They even had a pond stocked with little fish for the kids to try to catch. I didn't see one person catch a fish. Cooper was only allowed to fish for about 5 minutes before I realized the immensity of the mistake I had made. Giving him a pole with a sharp hook on the end was extremely stupid. Rookie mistake. Or I was tired. Or he was tired. Or all of the above.

Thatcher had a great time fishing while I tussled with his brother. I might actually get him a little fishing pole and take him to our slough and fish. Well, actually I might make Jonathan do that. Putting bait on a hook is gross.

So we came home and Coop napped from 4-6pm while Harps stayed awake and was so stinking adorable that it was hard to be upset that she wasn't napping. When Jonathan came home we had a quick dinner and went over to our neighbors to meet their new baby, Taryn, who was born 10 days ago. Her mother and I have decided that Harper and Taryn will be best friends, so we can sit on our decks drinking frosty fruity drinks and just walk home afterwards. It's going to be epic. But for now, here are our loves and their first BFF picture.

Ms. Taryn Mackenzie Lewis and Ms. Harper Evelyn Yarsley. It's hard to believe that H was this size just 14 short weeks ago! Babies grow so fast, so quickly.

 And so we wrapped up another whirlwind day of exploring, discovering and widening our pitifully narrow horizons. Good times.

Love,
S

P.S. On a sad note I have to report that my camera is dying a slow and painful death. It lets me take two pictures and then decides to shut down and will only video for about 38 seconds before reporting an Error 32, which I have no idea of what that means. I'm going to squeeze every last drop of picture out of that camera and maybe my lovely, giving husband will agree to let me purchase a new one before our trip! Or maybe if I say "My birthday is coming soon" to a certain person he might get me a new one...ehem, ehem. (You know who you are.)

1st official week of summer for us.

Thatcheroo, student extraordinaire, is done with his school year. I'm not sure if everyone knows how our schedule went but here it is:

 Monday          Tuesday          Wednesday          Thursday          Friday    
                       OT-10AM                                 OT-10AM                    
                                                                                                                  
SCHOOL        SCHOOL                                  SCHOOL      SCHOOL
  2P-3P            2-2:30P                                      1:30-3P          2-2:30P
                                                    FAMILY
                       SWIMMING         NIGHT      SWIMMING
                          5-5:30P                 6P                    5-5:30P

It's pretty much the Thatcher show around here, poor Coopie. The toughest part was trying to squeeze Cooper's nap in between school, therapies and activities. In general Jonathan's regular work schedule was pretty compatible with this, one of us was able to work around and be home, unless he was on days or working days overtime which meant Cooper either stayed up late or had to be woken up early. I hate waking a sleeping baby up early, it's so sad and they're so grumpy. Needless to say that school being out and swimming be over is an IMMENSE relief to me. That last day I felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted off my shoulders.

So this week, we have played. Not hard, I'm trying to ease us into it. A little fun here, toss in some OT for Thatch, maybe a little movie/cartoon action. Nothing major. See photo evidence:

To celebrate our first day of freedom we had chocolate pudding for dessert. Cooper gave himself a unibrow-goatee combo with pudding. (When ever I think of pudding I think of Bill Cosby. Marketing at it's best.)

There really aren't words. I showered him in my bathroom, huge mistake. I have/had a white shower curtain. Looks like monkeys were throwing poo in there now.

My friend Melissa and I were at swim lesson sign-ups (aka Endurance Parenting, those who can get there earliest and wait it out get the swim spots). Here's Thatch, Barrett, Merrick and Coop in the background, who was too busy making mischief to be bothered with a photo opp.  Thatch and Barret are 1 month apart and have been play buddies for a few years. I had the older kids and Melissa was inside with the new babies, Harper and Kierran.

So that was Monday and Wednesday. Pretty chill...but Thursday we played hard :)

Thatch as been dying to help put gas in the car for some time but it was winter and I'll be darned if I'm going to spend more time than necessary outside of my toasty car in frigid weather. Today I relented and he was excited :)

He did a pretty good job actually, all the gas was in the car and the gas station didn't explode. Those are really the two worst case scenarios I envisioned.

After that we went to the hospital to take care of some insurance issues. I bribed them with Jello if they were good and they were. I LOVE hospital jello. I think I ate 2 lbs of it when I was there with Harps!

While we were in the cafeteria we saw my Midwife, Alex Montgomery, and she had to hold our little Harpie. She likes her I think :)

Then came the big show, I surprised them with a quick trip to Alaskaland. The train was running even but I didn't bring any cash because it was impromptu so we didn't ride. This boy loves his trains, especially this one.

Here's my Coopster on a swing. Love that big smile of his!

Here's the boys climbing up on the slide. Once up there, Coop wasn't to thrilled. I ended up climbing up and sliding down with him.

And here's the Harpster's first photo at Alaskaland. She's so stinking cute, I just love her to pieces!!!!

So that's what we were up to, yay for summer!!! It was magnificent out today also, sunny but not quite warm enough for shorts. Tomorrow I have no plans, we are going to hang out at home and do laundry and set up this little thing we got the boys. More on that later though ;)

Love,
S