Wesley Goes Camping

Wesley and David went on their first Father - Son camp out Friday night.  Can you see how thrilled Wesley was at the beginning?

Still not looking too excited...

 Mom made sure to pack some late night snacks.

 Mom forgot to pack a football, so someone let Wes play with this one so he would stop screaming every time he saw someone playing with a football.

 How cute is this little boy?!  Not even two and a half yet, and he looks like such a big boy.

 Playing with flashlights - one of the coolest things about camping.  BTW - take note of his filthy dirty feet.  Only on a boys weekend camping trip can you go to bed with dirty feet.  Let's just say that he had a shower right when he got home.

 Time for bed.  Wesley was so excited to be in his sleeping bag in a tent.

This is my favorite picture.  David said that he loved to pick up rocks and wave sticks around.  All boy!  They had a great time and can't wait to go again next year!

Faces

The many faces I see everyday...

Happy...

Sad.

Tired and Annoyed.

 Happy

The "I'm too cute to be in trouble" face.  

This one drives me crazy - and yes, she still gets in trouble:)

Happy and Excited for a toy drive-by done by older siblings.

The "uh-oh we got caught - eating chocolate chips we took from the pantry while mom was brushing her teeth this morning" face.

The "shove chocolate in your mouth as fast as you can before mom takes it away and makes us eat a real breakfast" face.  

Good thing these faces are so cute - especially with chocolate chip smeared all over them at 8:30 in the morning!

Our Own Little Tea Party

The Saturday after David got back from Philmont ...


...we went out with some friends for a much needed date night.  We went to Babe's Chicken.  Yum!  Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to eat dinner there that night.  William was with us and we had placed his car seat in one of those sling things at the end of the table.  As they brought out the salad, he started fussing so David picked him up and held him in his lap.  A few minutes later out waitress comes out with a tray of drinks for the table behind us, and a different fool of a waitress knocks into her and spills a full glass of sweet tea into Will's car seat.  I'm talking soaking wet - as in we had to tip the car seat on it's side to POUR OUT the tea and ice cubes.  Tea is everywhere, and obviously the manager was sent over.  He took one look at the situation and said that dinner and dessert was on them.  We decided to take our food to go so we could get home and get started on the clean up.  The worst part was having to put Will in his tea soaked seat for the car ride home.  When we get home at nine, my friend throws the car seat cover into the laundry and I throw Will into the bath to rid him of tea.  So much for a relaxing night out after your husband has been gone for 14 days straight!!  Oh, and we didn't make it to church the next day because the straps on his seat were still wet - and Wes had a runny nose - but still - what a mess. 

This past Saturday night we went to a wedding reception while my MIL hung out with the kids while they were asleep.  Walked in the door to the reception and got bit on the eyelid by a mosquito.  No big deal right - just a little annoying.  By eleven that night I looked like Sloth from Goonies - minus the gnarly teeth and random tufts of hair.  And yes - I do love me a Baby Ruth!  The swelling still had not gone down by the next morning so we missed church again.  Trying to handle three kids at church is hard enough, let alone with the use of only one eye!  

We're going to try date night again this week - on a Friday - so I at least have a day to recover!

Oh, and in the meantime, we're working on this over here. 

Heaven help me!!  AGHHHHH!

This Is What Happens When Wesley Is Bored...

...he fogs up the inside of the toy bucket.  That kid cracks me up!

I Should Of Known...

...that they were playing too well in Emilee's room.  The giggling stopped as soon as I opened the door.

They knew they were in trouble...big trouble.  My two toddlers emptied out all of Emilee's dresser drawers and then found their little brother's Desitin lotion.  Half a tube later...

Emilee had a great time spreading it all over her little brother.

All smiles - don't think she realized how much trouble she was in!

After I got over the initial AHHHH! it was hard not to laugh at such a pathetic face.  Oh, and did not realize how difficult Desitin would be to get out of Wesley's hair - not fun!

Wesley is such a smart and clever little boy.  If only he would use his powers for good, and not for driving his mother crazy!

The Entertainers

Emilee and Wesley take their jobs as baby entertainer very seriously. 

Here Emilee shows Will the importance of a mirror to make sure that you always look your best.

And here Em decides to get in a little face time with the mirror herself to admire her beauty.

Sometimes they do what I like to call a toy drive by.  Em was worried that Will didn't have enough things to entertain him on his blanket so she added a few (a lot) for him to enjoy, and then took off to play with her own toys.

 Wesley likes to put on a show (and not just for Will).  You would understand if you ever had to sit near us at church.  I'll apologize in advance for that.

 Apparently entertaining a baby is exhausting work.  I agree Wesley, I agree.  If only you were this "exhausted" at bedtime!  Thanks to my helpers for always entertaining me and Will!

Zoo!

Or The Zoom is what the kids call it.

 This is one fat and happy alligator.  I, for one, am glad that he is not wanting for food.  He had beady little eyes.  Yek!

Em and Wes loved to watch the turtles swim.

Here we are in all of our stroller glory.  We're looking at that gigantic lizard that is about the size of me.  Again, yek!

This was Emilee and Wesley's favorite thing at the zoo, the statue of a kangaroo.  Forget all the real animals, they just wanted to pet the bronze kangaroo all day.  It might be a while before we go back to the zoo, next time we might just hit up the sculpture park!

You Do The Crime...

...you do the time.

One of the culprits tried to lighten his sentence.  Notice his wise older sister looking at him thinking, "running out on time out will just get you in more trouble."

Then momma made them clean up the mess. 

Wesley once again protested against what he considered cruel and unusual punishment and tried to make a run for it.

 

We'll probably be doing this all over again tomorrow.

Life with two toddlers - never a dull moment!

We Named The Dog Indiana...

Doesn't Wesley look like a little Indiana Jones in his hat?  This kid loves to be outside, but hates sunscreen and refuses to wear a hat - until we found this one at Gap Kids last week.  It's a little big on him, but we got the largest size they had as his head is ginormous and we feared he would soon outgrow anything smaller. 

Here is Emilee in her new hat for the summer.   Do you see the neighbor's dog peeking over the fence watching the kids play?  They love that dog, and I love that dog because even with all the kids noise, he rarely barks and is very well behaved. 

Here is William hanging out in the shade of the tree with his little hat on.  Isn't he so stinkin' cute?!  He is smiling and starting to "talk" which is nice since he doesn't really like to sleep at night - especially when Daddy is out of town all week the little stinker!

Wesley got this basketball and hoop for his birthday and he loves it!  Looks like we have a little basketball player in the making.

We have finally have tomatoes growing.  We had tomatoes before, but the kids got to them and I found them screaming BALL as they threw our tiny green tomatoes around the yard.  At least they had a good time destroying our tomato plant!

And here is our cantaloupe.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this little guy can handle the abuse from the Texas weather and two toddlers.  It's a rough life being a plant in our backyard!

Yesterday (last week) was terribly awful...

...you can say that again.

Monday morning started with Wesley waking up with a burst eardrum.  He had gunk caked all over his left ear, so we went to the Dr and they confirmed his left ear was infected, but the right looked fine.  We picked up our amoxicillian and ear drops on the way home, had dinner and stuck everyone in bed.  

Tuesday morning started bright and early.  5:15 AM - not a fan of that time of the morning.  Especially when you have a 2 month old that only let you get 4 hours of sleep the night before.  David had an early plane to catch, and Emilee and I had a date with Dr. Mehendale to put in her third set of ear tubes.  We were at the surgery center by six, they took her back at seven, and she was in recovery about ten minutes later.  As she was waking up, the nurse was telling me that she has never had a patient throw up when they have had tubes put in.  Not two seconds later Em hurls.  I should of told that nurse to shush!!  Poor thing threw up 5 times at the surgery center, once on the car ride home, and once when we got home.  

We got back home about 8:45, and grandma told us that Wesley had just woken up.  If you know Wes, you know that child doesn't sleep past 6:45 for anything.  Hmmm.  Left the kids with grandma while I ran to Target to get Emilee's ear drops and then ran back home.  Went to put Wesley's drops into his left ear and noticed that his right ear had burst - ear goo everywhere.  He also started to breathe a little funny and so I called the Dr and they said to bring him in.  Take Wesley in - hello again -yes we were here yesterday.  Right ear is crazy infected and his breathing is not good.  Do a breathing treatment in the office - which he loved!  Do you sense the sarcasm?  Wrestling a 30 pound little linebacker for 20 minutes got me my daily workout!  Take that Jillian Michaels!  They switch his amoxicillian to augmentin as they are concerned that his other ear that was fine the day before got infected so fast.  Throw away his brand new bottle of amoxicillian and we go to the pharmacy AGAIN, for his augmentin and his albuterol. 

Did I mention that he will need to do his breathing treatments every 4 hours  -including at night?  Oh joy - more time to be awake in the middle of the night.  Grab a Mountain Dew at Target while waiting for our drugs - Mama was dragging at this point in the day.

By Wednesday morning Wes was still having trouble breathing so the Dr wanted to see him again.  We go back - yes, hello again, we were here yesterday and the day before - please take all my money :)  He has improved a little, but they give him a little steroid to help things move along.  They give me samples instead of making me fill a prescription!!  Yeah!!  Don't think I could have gone back to the Target pharmacy for the 4th time in 36 hours without getting a few looks.

Wesley is finally back to his crazy self, but today Em started to come down with a little cold and cough.  Good thing she got her tubes put in last week.  Shouldn't have any ear infections with her.  

Whew!  Glad last week is over.

PS - Many thanks to MeeMaw (Grandma) and LAURIE!! (as the kids say it) for their help with the craziness.  Here's hoping this week is just full of our normal crazy!!

I Need A Raise...

Ever have one of these days?  This is what happens when big sister thinks it's fun to cover little brother in dirt.  Mom went inside for 2 SECONDS to change William and came back to this.  How can they be so destructive in such a little amount of time?  Guess we'll be taking baths a little early today...ARGGGGG!

My Favorite Things

With the craziness that comes with three small children and a husband that travels, I have found several things that make life a little more enjoyable when I get two seconds (usually around 11:30 pm) to myself.  These are currently my favorite things - besides my kids :)

 Haagen Dazs Rasperry Sorbet.  Yum!  Go and get you some, worth every penny!

Simply Lemonade with Raspberry juice.  Love this juice, and it made me love Market Street even more.  They use to not carry it, and I mentioned it to the check out girl, and she said that I should talk to the guy who was bagging my groceries.  Turns out he was the product manager for the store. (It was really busy and he was helping out the cashiers).  He said he would look into it and see what they could do.  Went back a week later and there it was on the shelf.  Love me some Market Street!!

After I got out of the hospital with William (who, yes, was named after my Dad and my Grandpa - shout out to cousin Denise for picking up on that!) David surprised me with the one thing, besides sugar and caffeine, that has gotten me through the sleepless nights with a newborn.  He got me a Kindle.  The digital reading device from Amazon that lets you buy books and then start reading them 60 seconds later.  It is slim, lightweight, and I can hold it in one hand while holding Will in the other.  Oh, and bestsellers and new releases are just $9.99.  Where you would pay $20 something dollars for the newest hardcover - it's just $9.99 on your kindle, and they also have all the classics that you can download for free.  No, I am not a paid spokesperson - I just love it so much I can't help but want everyone else to have one too!!

So there you have it - the latest favorite things list.  What are your favorite things?