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.

So Busy!

So it has been a long time since I have posted anything. We have been super busy and I don't have any pictures to post because I'm not sure if what I need to upload them to the computer is even hooked up. We still have boxes stacked in the basement and spare bedroom. We have been working in the yard quite a bit. The previous owners left the back yard in pretty sad condition. Audrey has been swimming quite a bit at Emma's house and at swimming lessons. I think she is making some progress. The kids seem to have adjusted quickly to the new house. Audrey likes to watch golfers, and we have had a few golf etiquette talks about not yelling when people are teeing off, or talking to the golfers. Now she just waves. We have found 2 golf balls in our yard so far. Audrey should set up a stand in the front yard and sell lemonade and golf balls. When we moved in there was a HUGE, playful mastiff puppy that lived next door. The neighbor would take him for walks in the evening on the golf course to let him run. Sometimes he wouldn't put him on a leash and he would shoot out of the house and come bounding toward us. Now, the neighbor guy says the dog is friendly, but it is still frightening to see a dog that big bounding toward your kids! Audrey of course thought this was very amusing and couldn't understand why I wouldn't let her go play with him. The dog wasn't used to being around kids and Audrey is used to a dog that will pretty much tolerate anything. Well, the neighbor finally got wise and gave the dog to a new home. One where the people had lots of room for the dog to run. We don't have very big back yards in our neighborhood. I was pretty relieved. We had our first get-together at our new house last weekend. The Greens came over and we grilled hamburgers and then had a Drozd vs. Green Wii tournament. I am sad to say that we were creamed by the Greens in bowling, even with the home advantage. It must be that we have such full lives that we don't have time to waste practicing Wii night and day. Anyway that's the story I'm sticking to. Audrey and Emma put on a fashion show for us and Henry and Ethan gave a fine performance at the dinner table on how to throw every food that you are offered on the floor! Well both kids are napping so I better get stuff done. We have a dinner at church tonight and I need to give the kids baths and have everything ready to go when Jason gets home from work. I will try to get picture posted soon.

The Move!!

We are still living out of boxes, and trying to adjust to the new house. This weekend we will be making a real effort to get unpacking done. It was kind of a rough move for everybody. It started when I got the stomach flu a couple of days before moving day. The packing wasn't done and I was just laying around in bed. Luckily the kids were gone (they were with Grandma Karin and Grandpa John). We ran out of room on the moving truck, Ange offered to take Audrey for the night and Audrey ended up throwing up all that night and part of the next day. I told Ange she could bring Audrey back home, but she kept her until the next evening. Now that's a true friend!! We got to the new house and had electrical problems. Audrey and I still weren't feeling good so we laid in bed while the truck was unloaded. The day after the move Henry started having diarrhea, and then Jason had to leave early on Sat. morning for his trip for work. I was left to deal with a house full of unpacked boxes, sick kids and I had no over head lights in the kitchen, the garage door wouldn't go down, and couldn't use my dishwasher or washing machine. You realize how important your washing machine is when you can't use it and everyone has had the stomach flu! I spent a lot of time on the phone with my realtor. He has been really nice! He came over with a worried look on his face and cold diet pepsi. I think he was a little worried that I might snap and go postal or something :) The neighbors have been really nice and helpful too. Well, all electrical issues are now resolved, and Jason is back home as of last night so hopefully we will start getting some stuff done. Audrey started swimming lessons this week. We found out about a lady really close to our house that offers lessons from her home. It is a really nice set up with small classes and I think it is going to be so much more convenient for us. Audrey would spend every waking moment of summer in the pool if she could. I need to get Henry in the pool more often too. His first time swimming was while we were at Disney World. He loves the water too! If he hears water running in the bathroom he speed crawls from where ever he is to go check it out. He often cries when we take him out of the bathtub.