June Catch Up

Kind of a lame post - but don't miss out on the poop story at the gym!  :) (second paragraph in the gym section)

Summer Fun!
We have been doing summer chores, summer goals & summer fun outings to help get us through this hot, chaotic summer!  We have gone lots of fun places, and the kids are starting to seem a little spoiled wondering where we're going everyday ... sounds like they need a few more summer chores!!

Before it got too hot at the beginning of the month, we headed to the zoo first thing one morning.  We were there for a few hours - I felt like the nicest mom in the world.  :)  It's just not my favorite place, but the kids love it.

We got a Pogo Pass for everyone in our family that gets us into lots of different venues for a year.  We went to a Rattlers game (indoor arena football) and a Diamondbacks game with the Johnson's and we also went to the Aquarium in Tempe (when it was 118 degrees outside) with our passes, and we'll be headed to Sunsplash at the end of the summer after we complete our summer goals.

Every once in awhile, we head to the mall on Thursdays for kids club and a free carousel ride, free ice cream and Chick-fil-A.  Kendall got to ride on the horse with Rachel this time, and she loved it almost as much as her big sister did when she was little.

Dad took them to Tempe Beach splash pad one Saturday morning while I was working.  I work on Saturday mornings, and Brandon does a great job with the kids (obviously!).  He keeps them busy and likes to go go go - he keeps them going from place to place all morning long, and it usually involves a trip to Home Depot or Lowe's.

We've gone swimming lots with our City of Mesa pool passes.  We also got summer movie tickets, but that was a bad idea with Kendall, so we've only seen one so far and I'm dreading anymore than that with her.

We love jumping places.  We went to Bounce U with Abby & Tyler (Suzi's kids), and we went to JumpStreet on our birthday with Kasey and her kids.  I love my college roommates and their cute kids!

Sick!
Mid-June Rachel experienced the worst kind of stomach bug we have ever had at our house.  She was sick ALL week long and it was coming out both ends.  We thought she'd was getting better, but then she'd throw up again.  She was having to miss out on all sorts of fun things (like Miss Arlene's summer camp that we'd signed up for with the Tompkinson boys) and she was really missing all the foods she loves!  Then Brandon somehow caught it at the absolute worst time he possibly could have.  It was right during his very first trial, but he luckily had a weekend in between to sort of recover, but it was not even close to ideal.  Poor Rachel and Brandon for having to experience that sickness, and poor me for having to take care of them both.

Dad's Day/Mom's Birthday!
Father's Day got squeezed in the middle of Brandon's first trial, which kept him very busy for an entire week.  I tried to make the day special by giving him the "day off" but that's hard to truly pull off - obviously he wasn't just going to sit there while I struggled to get the three kids ready for church.  We did our best, and hopefully he felt appreciated.  He does so much for our family and we love him so much!

The next day, I turned 30 and Rachel turned 5, and Rachel was nice to recognize that it was a special day for me too.  We went to Joe's Farm Grill for lunch (my pick), JumpStreet for some birthday jumping, and Rachel really wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese that evening; however, I did put my birthday-foot down so we stopped at Barro's pizza for dinner before heading to Chuck E. Cheese for lots of games and running around (I really dislike CEC pizza).  I have to say that turning 30 was overrated - it's nothing special, and oddly I was kind of disappointed.

More about Brandon's trial - he was on the case with one of the partners, but he did get a chance to question one of the witnesses and he also did the closing rebuttal arguments (hope I got that right!).  And they won, so that was good news!

The Gym!
I really don't like the gym.  But it is time to get back in shape!!  Kendall is 8 months old and I still weigh 20 pounds over my pre-baby weight (I'm done nursing so I can't blame it on that).  I really don't know what the problem is because my body was not like this after my first two pregnancies.  I feel like my body is already deteriorating due to turning 30 - and I'm kind of serious about that.  So I signed up for a race so that I can have the motivation to work out, and I tried running outside (which I totally prefer) but it was too too hot.  So with some of my birthday money, I got a 2 month pass to the gym with kid care so that I can go workout in the mornings.  And I'm sorry to complain, but treadmills are awful.  I am working out at least 5 times a week (running approx 3 miles each time because that is all I can stand on a treadmill), but I do not feel anywhere near ready for a race.  And I try to do my long runs early Saturday mornings outside, but again, it's too dang hot.  This was a miserable idea, but I didn't know what else to do.

The kid care is not my favorite either.  The facility is nice and it keeps the kids contained and safe, but there's usually only one worker (and I sometimes question if they even like children) and there are lots of kids and babies.  Thankfully, Rachel is a big helper and she keeps Kendall happy for the most part.  But occasionally, there's an issue and I have to end my workout early.  Crazy story - on our second day going to the kid care at the gym, they called me in after about 20 minutes.  They told me that Kendall had been spitting up a lot (yeah, she's a baby, it's not because she's sick), and they also told me that Andrew was in the bathroom with poop all over his hands because he had stuck them in his diaper.  WHAT?!  I'm not exactly sure what happened, but we high tailed it out of there.  I have to assume that maybe he tried to communicate to them that he had a poopy diaper, and they must not have understood, so then he was trying to take care of it himself or something because he has NEVER done that before.  I was just so embarrassed!!  And I didn't want to go back.  What makes the story worse is that right before they called me in, a mom had picked up her two kids and her little girl was holding out her dress away from her like it was wet or there was something on it.  The mom took them to the bathroom and I didn't think much of it.  Until we were both at our cars getting our kids loaded up.  She gave me the dirtiest look ever, and I panicked and thought that Andrew must have got poop on her daughter's dress!!  I was just mortified and didn't know how I'd go back.  I got a good pep talk from Kasey and Brandon, and I bravely went back the next day - it was at a different time of day to try to avoid that worker and that mom.  We got there, and it was a different worker and my kids were the only ones there - phew!  I started my workout and not 5 minutes into it THAT MOM walked in with her kids!  I thought for sure she'd freak out or yell at me or something, but nothing happened - I was so relieved!

Kids!
At Rachel's elementary school, Ishikawa, they offered a two-week summer school for kindergarteners to get them ready and excited for school.  Her teacher was Ms. Boop and she was so great with the kids.  (We discussed her name beforehand to avoid an embarrassing moment - yes, it sounds just like poop and is kind of a silly name.  I'm glad we got all our giggles out about it beforehand.)  Rachel loves school, and can't wait to go back in the fall.

Kendall is crawling everywhere!  She finds any and everything on the floor and easily finds the teeniest little crumbs to taste.  There is a lot of tile in our rental, so it is challenging to keep the floors clean.  She loves to sneakily crawl back to Andrew and Rachel's rooms to try to play with their toys.  I put her in her jumper to keep her contained when I need her to stay somewhere for a minute, and she prefers that over her exersaucer now.  She loves her pink blankie and it helps her go to sleep quickly.  She still loves baths and she loves playing with big brother and sister.  She is still so happy and easy going!!  She is getting much more difficult to handle at church, especially since it's right during her morning nap and she doesn't want to sit still (and Brandon is certainly bearing the brunt of that burden while I am in nursery entertaining the 2 year olds).

Andrew is developing quite the sense of humor.  We think he's a pretty funny boy!  He's getting good and making up songs and talking in funny voices - my personal favorite is his robot voice!  His favorite phrases right now are:  "not right now, mom" and still "can you get me a treat or otter pop?" (in his extra nice voice)

Diamondbacks Game!

Hide & go seek with dad is even funner, when your rental house has big ledges above the closets!

Fun at the Aquarium!

First "official" carousel ride for Kendall

All tuckered out at the zoo!

These two sometimes belong at the zoo!

"Mom, take my picture!"

"Mom, take my picture!"

"Mom, take our picture!"  Rachel's right here and she wants me to write, "The pearl was sparkly.  And we're the best friends"  

Me & my buddy

Thank goodness for the splash pad at the zoo.  I tried to get a picture of all three - fail!!

Abby, Rachel, Tyler & Andrew at BounceU - Suzi and I both have three kids that are the same gender and basically the same age!  So fun!

JumpStreet on Rachel/my birthday - we met Kasey and her kids and she snapped this picture of Kendall asleep on my shoulder.  This was a great birthday present - I love snuggles from my baby!

She is a princess!  And she didn't even mind the crown at all.

Party prep - we had to make sure the crowns fit right!

I love it when she does this - she uses her toes to help hold up her bottle sometimes.  

Brother & sister love to surround her with all her toys

First day of Summer School to help the Kindergarteners get ready at Ishikawa Elementary with Ms. Boop

The best picture we could get on Father's Day!

Cuddles with Kendall that I totally ruined by going in and clicking my camera which woke her up - oops!  Sorry, honey!