This week is Vacation Bible School at our church. This is the first year Audrey has been old enough to participate and she is having a really good time. She is memorizing Bible verses like crazy! The first day the verse was: Before the mountains were born, or You brought forth the Earth and the World, from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. Psalm 90:2. They told the younger kids that they could just memorize the end, but Audrey already had the whole thing down by lunch time! I helped one day in the nursery and today with the Kindergartners. I wasn't signed up for tomorrow, but I just got an e-mail that Audrey's leader can't be there so they want me to help with her group. Audrey got into a lot of trouble at the ball game tonight. We usually just let the kids run around and play during the game. Up until tonight they had done really well and played nicely and followed the rules. I was just thinking that it was nice to be able to give them a little more freedom and not have to follow a step behind them all of the time. Well tonight I learned that we probably should be keeping a closer eye on them because Audrey, Ashton, and Logan decided to pee outside behind the shed. Audrey is somewhat obsessed with peeing outside after I let her do it once in an emergency situation. Logan, who is only 2, couldn't get his pull-up back up and was running around naked from the waste down. They were also "washing" walnuts in green scummy water that was standing around the horseshoe pits. (There are always moms close around and we are at a fairly secluded private Church ballpark/playground so the kids are safe). When we got home Audrey went straight into the tub and then straight to bed.

Last night before bed, Audrey was saying that her head and throat hurt. She sometimes has phantom ailments when she is tired and she didn't feel especially warm so we didn't think much about it. She woke up at about 11 and was really warm. I took her temp and it was 101.1 She was whining and crying so loudly that she woke up Henry. Luckily he went right back to sleep. We gave her Motrin and she went back to sleep, only for a couple of hours and then she woke up and puked all over Jason while he carried her to the bathroom. She didn't get much rest and neither did I. She came downstairs this morning and wanted to eat. She still has a fever but I think the Motrin might have upset her stomach last night and that's why she threw up. She had an empty stomach because she didn't eat but two bites of supper last night. She says she doesn't like rice, which is pretty funny because it's not like it has a strong flavor, and the kid eats asparagus and Brussels sprouts! Anyway, Henry can now walk half way across the floor, sometimes. He made pretty good progress in one day. He went from a couple of steps to half way across the room. By tomorrow he may be running around, if he isn't throwing up :) I am supposed to have a couple of friends over tonight to hang out and work on scrapbooks. I'm not sure if we will still get together and quarantine Audrey upstairs, or if we will just forget it.

First Steps

Sorry the quality isn't very good. I used my regular camera to take this video, not the video camera. Still don't have the cable for that.

We are sitting here waiting to see if there is going to be swimming lessons this morning. It is looking pretty rainy. Tuesday night I went to my first book club meeting. Some girls from our neighborhood have a book club and they invited me. It was fun to get out of the house and talk about a book that wasn't written for people under the age of 5! The girl that bought our old house was there. That was kinda weird, but she is really nice. She is in her late 20s and is a pediatric doctor at OSF. The girl who hosted the book club has a son who is 1 day younger than Henry, born at the same hospital. He is tall like Henry, and isn't walking like Henry. Henry has started to take steps the last couple of days. He is up to 4 or 5 before he falls or gives up. He is getting more interested in trying it now.

YUM!! Grandma's Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Glad Monday is Almost Over!

We went to Jason's parents this past weekend. We spent quite a bit of time in the pool and just hanging out. We didn't get home until 10:30 last night. When we walked in the front door I thought that it felt pretty warm in the house, but didn't think much of it because Jason had turned the air down while we were gone. Well, after resetting the thermostat and waiting for awhile it still wasn't getting any cooler. Air was blowing out, but it wasn't cold air. Turns out our A/C is broken. It wasn't unbearably hot last night, but was pretty humid and everything just felt sticky. We opened the windows and turned on the ceiling fans and attic fan. Early this morning we woke up to strong winds and pouring down rain, which meant that we had to turn off the attic fan and close the windows. I was watching the trees blow around and we turned the TV on to see if there were any warnings. Well, there was. There was a tornado warning. Usually tornadoes don't come into Peoria. It must be something about the river valley or something like that, but I'm not usually too worried about it. Then we heard the tornado sirens go off. I really didn't want to wake the kids up and take them downstairs, but it felt pretty irresponsible to ignore it so we each got a sleeping kid and headed for the basement. We still haven't cleaned or arranged the basement and there really isn't any furniture down there, just boxes. I stood down there holding Henry for about 30 sec. and decided I would take my chances and went back up to the living room. By this point it was obvious that neither Audrey nor Henry were going back to sleep, so we had a pretty early start to the day. There were a lot of tree branches down around town, but no tornado touchdowns. So, we didn't have air today. Someone is supposed to be coming out first thing tomorrow morning to look at it. Henry had shots this morning at 9:30. He did pretty well. It didn't take him long to calm down. Audrey, on the other hand, gets pretty worked up about Henry getting shots! She has now proclaimed that she isn't going to go to kindergarten because she isn't going to get shots! She said that she wanted to go to home school. I told her that she would still have to have shots even if she was home schooled, and then she said that she was going to skip kindergarten and go straight to 1st grade. She talks about wanting to go to home school because her good friend Emma is being home schooled starting this fall. We have started to look into schools for Audrey. It seems really crazy that she is going to be starting school next year. We are checking on tuition at a couple of private schools because we don't feel comfortable with the public schools in our area. I also just found out about a good public school a few miles away that takes out of district student for a tuition fee. I seems to be cheaper than private school but you don't know if there will be open spots until last minute. I think they wait and see how many kids from the district are enrolled before they open enrollment to other students. Anyway, it is thunder storming again, and we are sitting here with the windows closed, steaming. I think it is supposed to be cooler the next couple of days. It probably will cool off and be nice as soon as the A/C is fixed :)

Play Ball

We all had a pretty good time at the softball game last night. We picked up sandwiches from DQ before the game and ate while we watched. Henry didn't want me to pull his sandwich into pieces he just wanted the whole thing to gnaw on. Audrey was happy because her friend Ashton was there and they spent most of their time digging in the pea gravel on the playground. Jason had a couple of good hits and fell down once when fielding the ball. I was talking and totally missed it, but I guess he fell back and both feet went up in the air . I wish I had a picture of that :) Anyway the team won and is tied for 1st place.

"Bed" not "Bat"!

Henry just did the cutest thing! He was pretty tired because he didn't have a nap this morning. We were finishing up lunch and his eyes were starting to roll back in his head when he would drink his sippy cup. I was about ready to take him out of the highchair and he kept pointing and saying what I thought was "bat". He really likes his toy bat and carries it around banging on everything like Bam Bam. I didn't see a bat anywhere and didn't know what he was talking about. I took him upstairs and was trying to read him a book and rock him when he just kept pointing and then I realized he was saying bed not bat. He was telling me that he just wanted to go to bed, he didn't need a story this time. I carried him into the spare bedroom and when he saw his bed he pointed, smiled, and shook his head yes. He was happy that I had finally figured out what he was trying to tell me. I put him down in the crib and he smiled and waved bye-bye. He still cried a little when I closed the door, but I thought the whole thing was pretty funny.

Henry's room

Well, Henry's room isn't done yet. I didn't get a picture taken before Jason started so I don't have a before picture, but to give you some idea of what it looked like the wall color was the exact same shade of blue as that blue painters tape!! It took a couple of coats of primer to cover that up. Now his walls are "Bavarian cream". I like how it turned out. It matches well with his retro cowboy bedding. We decided to go ahead and pull up the carpet while the room was cleared out. We have someone coming on Thurs. to give an estimate to refinish the hardwood. If it seems too out of line we will just put down new carpet. So, everything is a big mess upstairs. Henry has been sleeping in the spare bedroom and the curtains in there don't block much light. He has been waking up really early because the sun shines directly in the window in the morning. I think we are going to have to move his crib back into his room even before it is all the way finished! Audrey used to like her room the way that it was and we thought we would wait and do her room last, but since we have been working on Henry's room she has changed her mind and now wants her room "all different". We have been talking about surprising her by sending her away for a weekend and redoing her room while she is gone. We will have to see. She wants a pink princess room. Audrey and I are going to have to compromise a little I think.

Last Weekend

Audrey went to stay the night with Aunt Sara on Saturday. We met in Bloomington and Sara took her back to Champaign with her. I tried to get her to take Henry too, but she wasn't ready for that. They went to the mall, had pizza, rode the carousel, went to the candy store, bought a Hello Kitty bracelet, went swimming, and went to see Kung Fu Panda all in one day. Needless to say Audrey did NOT want to come back home and was very tired. We met in Bloomington again on Sunday afternoon to pick her up. We decided to meet at the Children's Museum and check it out for awhile before coming home. It had heard it is a really fun place and we hadn't been before. Well I think Audrey was a little too tired from the day before. We checked out the first floor and had been on the second floor for about 10 min. when Audrey said she needed to use the bathroom. There was one pretty close so we headed that way, but first Audrey had to look one more time at the life-size cows that you could milk. Well that was a big mistake because she didn't quite make it to the toilet. She was literally a foot from it when she declared that she had waited too long and had an accident! I looked in the stall to see her standing on the floor next to the toilet peeing with her shorts pulled down half way. Luckily there wasn't anyone else in the restroom and there was a floor drain in her stall! We didn't have a change of clothes for Audrey in the diaper bag because she hasn't done this in months maybe even years! Sean (Sara's boyfriend) was parked right outside the museum and drove Sara to her car in the parking garage a couple of blocks away, where Audrey's overnight bag was. They brought it back to Jason who was waiting with Henry (who by this point was not in the greatest of moods himself) by the front door of the museum so they could ride the elevator back up to us and give us a change of clothes. All of this took 15 - 20 minutes so I stood with Audrey (naked from the waist down and whimpering) in a restroom stall. Sara and Sean decided they had had enough and went home and we only stayed 10 more minutes. We had to promise that we would come back sometime soon. Henry was really tired by this point and has decided that he doesn't want to nap in his stroller. We walked back to the van in the parking garage. The elevator wasn't working and we were on the very top level, so we carried Henry, the bags, the stroller, and Audrey's booster seat up ALL the flights of stairs. The whole time Audrey was complaining that she wanted to go back with Aunt Sara and that she was tired and hungry. Henry ended up screaming off and on the whole way home ( a 45 - 60 min trip). Now if you haven't experienced Henry's scream it is something else! He uses his most angry, top of his lungs scream for everything from I'm near death to you aren't getting me my bananas fast enough. Audrey decided to join in every once in awhile too! Bedtime couldn't come early enough last night! All of this made me really think that 2 kids was enough. A lot of our friends have just had, or are pregnant with their third and Audrey keeps saying that she wants 3 kids in her family. I keep telling her that 2 is the right number for us :)

Look at me Mom!

So there is really no reason that this kid isn't walking already. He can get to standing in the middle of the floor without holding on to anything. This morning he was standing up over and over again and smiling at me - he was so proud he doesn't try to walk once he is up he just looks around then sits down.
Here are some pictures of his new haircut. I don't know if you can see much difference, but isn't he a handsome little guy!

Today has already been a pretty busy day. Audrey had swimming lessons again today and right after that we picked up McDonald's and met some friends at the park for lunch. Audrey is upstairs napping right now, she should be pretty tired out! She changed from her swim suit to her play clothes in the van and was going non-stop all morning! They got so filthy at the park that they had to have a bath before getting into bed for nap time. For some reason every time Audrey plays outside lately she has a head full of sand and dirt when she is done. Maybe it is because she is always playing with boys :) Last night Jason had a softball game for the church league. The FUMC team is pretty good. They win most of their games. We usually go with him to watch and talk to the other wives and kids. We don't have any place to be tonight so maybe Jason will actually get to start painting Henry's room. Henry is sleeping in the spare bedroom because his room is all taped and ready to be primed and painted, but the evenings go by so quickly and not a lot of progress had be made so far. Right now his room is painted the most hideous shade of bright blue and there is blue carpet. I'm not really sure what the people who did that were thinking!! I love old houses for their character, plaster walls, hardwood floors, glass doorknobs, etc. but we have our share to bad decorating choices to fix. At least we aren't tripping all over each other anymore. We have about 2x the space that we had in the old house. I'll try to get some before and after pictures of Henry's room posted so you can see the progress.... eventually.

Swimming Lessons

Here are some pictures from swimming lessons today. They didn't turn out that great. I couldn't get as close as I wanted because I was afraid Henry would try to get into the pool if I stepped away from him. The girl swimmers have to wear swim caps so that they aren't distracted by their hair. It is actually a good idea and Audrey sometimes wants to wear hers when she is swimming other places. The swim caps are one size fits all and her head is so small that it sometimes starts to come off or come down over her eyes. I think it has gotten stretched out a little. Henry likes to watch and calls the pool "bath". After swimming we came home and ate really quickly and then went for haircuts. Henry even got one today. It was his first real hair cut, but I have trimmed from the back a couple of times when the "wings" got a little too crazy. It doesn't look a lot different, just a little less mullet-like. He still has his curls in the back :)

Anyone have a toothbrush?

Audrey won these "teeth" as a prize at the carnival birthday party we went to yesterday evening. Good thing she is going to the dentist next week :)

Happy 4th

Henry was in a bad mood this morning so just Audrey and I rode in the parade. Audrey had fun. After a little while she didn't want to wave her flag anymore, then she said her hand was tired of waving, and finally she said she was tired of smiling. Luckily by that point we were near the end of the parade route :) We saw quite a few people we knew along the route and met some new kids from our neighborhood. The kids are napping now and then we are heading over to the Green's for a cook out and possibly swimming. It is a really nice day today but only in the upper 70s. It doesn't seem warm enough for swimming to me, but I'm sure all the kids will still want to get in.

Finally new pictures

Henry received this ball pit for his birthday (thanks GAB and GURay!) A couple of weeks ago it finally got blown up and put in the play room. The playroom is actually a sun room attached to the living room, but for now it is filled with all the bigger toys and art stuff. It is really working out great because the kids are still close and I can keep an eye and ear out to what they are doing and I can truly say that they could do about anything out there and it wouldn't hurt anything. There is OLD carpet and wood paneling :( Someday when they have outgrown giant plastic toys I hope to paint the paneling and use it as a true sun room with a tile floor and white wicker patio furniture! Anyway, the kids have been having a blast in the ball pit or as Audrey calls it the jumpy-jump. She uses the rings for the ring toss as "necklaces" and insists that Henry really does like to wear them. They laugh hysterically at each other and thrash around wildly in there. Henry does occasionally fall on his head while trying to get out but he is learning.
Audrey had a good week at swimming lessons. On Tuesday she graduated to the next higher class. She was so excited. They get a little diploma and a fruit roll-up. I think she is the youngest one in her class. Henry got his first pair of walking shoes. We went to Stride Rite and they had to order the ones I wanted for him in size 4 1/2 extra wide! I love those chubby baby feet!!! He still isn't walking though. He has only really taken 1 step unassisted. He is the fastest crawler I have ever seen.
In this picture he has on a Spider Man pj top and Cars pj shorts. Yes daddy did get him ready for bed that night :) Our anniversary was on Tuesday. We waited too long to look for a sitter for the kids, so we took them with us out to eat. I told Jason that it wasn't nearly as relaxing as 6 years ago on that day. He is such a good dad because he replied "No, but it is more fun!" I'm not really sure how I should take that. I think I'll have to disagree. As much as I love my kids, eating at Red Lobster with them doesn't hold a candle to the beach at sunset in Maui. Plus most of the dinner conversation was Audrey asking questions about death and Heaven. She told me the other day that she wants to learn about muscles, blood, how the body works and dead. Sometimes she is too smart! Aunt Sara brought her a model of the human body that you can take apart, complete with bones and squishy organs. I think Jason and I have about as much fun with it as she does. Tonight Audrey and I went to see the American Girl movie Kit Kittredge. It was really cute. I love going to the movies with Audrey. She is so good and always wants to sit on my lap :) Her Grandma Karin told her that she could go to the American Girl store for her 5 year old birthday and eat lunch and pick out one of the bigger dolls. She has been saying that she wants Molly because we watched that movie a few months ago. I asked her tonight if she still wanted Molly or if she had changed her mind and now wanted Kit. She said that she didn't know and that she still had lots of time to make up her mind. On the way home from the theater she declared that she wasn't Audrey she was Kit. When she first got her hair cut in a bob, she looked in the mirror and said "I look just like Kit!" Well, I will have more pictures after tomorrow. Audrey and I are riding in the West Peoria parade with our neighborhood association. Henry may ride too, it just depends.