RED FINGERNAIL POLISH!!!

Oh. My. Word.

Aulora found red nail polish and decided to paint her nails. What a mess!

Luckily, I haven't found any mess except what was on her hands and feet and all over her dress. I hope I won't be coming across any red stains in my house in the next couple of days!

I wanted to take a picture of her, but my concern at the moment was to get her cleaned up. What was I thinking??? My child's welfare before my blog? Good grief....

By the way, does anyone know how to get nail polish out of clothes? I'm thinking it's probably pretty hopeless.....

Summer Time is Here Again.....

and I'm not too sure what we're going to do around here. Help!

I need to fill our days with constructive things that won't break the bank.

I have to consider what will work with a 16 month old, a 2 year old, a 5 year old, and an 8 year old.

Hmmmm....oh yeah, I also need to keep the house really neat and clean until we get a contract on it!

I think maybe a trip to the grandparents' house is the only solution here. =)

What are you doing to fill the long summer days???

(I liked this list of things to do!)

It Just Tastes Better This Way

Doesn't everyone eat breakfast with a helmet on their head?

Silly girl. She likes to sleep in the thing sometimes too....

Joshua's First Haircut

Little Man got his first haircut last Friday. He didn't like it too much, but he sure looks handsome! Now that he's walking good and has a haircut he looks so old!

I Was Robbed

I'm a huge LOST fan and I look forward to the show every week. When the season finale came on a week and a half ago I recorded it on dvr and have been anticipating the time I could sit down and finally watch it.

Yesterday Joshua was napping and the other three kids were with my parents. It was the perfect time (hahaha, davus).

I was not disappointed. It was great. I loved it. I was engrossed and on the edge of my seat.

And then came a weather report. A very LONG report. It took over the last FIFTEEN MINUTES of the season finale.

To say I was ticked would be an understatement.

Juliet!!! Are you okay? Did you do it, Ben? Did you kill Jacob? And what the crud is in the big box those people are carrying around? Sayid, did you die? Did you get her back, Jack? Did you???

Arghhhhhhh!!!!!

Snippets

• Julia lost her first two teeth!
• Joshua is walking finally - life is better
• We've endured bronchitis, pneumonia, tonsillitis, spider bites, scraped up knees, injured backs, and sprained ankles + several doctor visits and a couple ER visits too
• We saw the Lion King Broadway show (our second time but still wonderful!)
• Our house is on the market as of last Tuesday
• Living in a state of perfection is near impossible with so many kids - we need a contract fast!
• The fence is done and we're loving playing outside. We didn't really have a back yard for the kids when we lived with John's parents and even our house before that didn't have an ideal yard for kids to play in. I hope to never be without a good yard again!
• My parents just came for a 4 day visit. That's a long time for them and it was awesome.
• Mosquitoes are eating us up here
• I wish I was a bear so I could hibernate for a few months. That sounds really great.
• This is the last week of school. I'm not terribly excited about that.

I guess that's all the ground breaking news I have for now. You can wake up now. =)

Gearing Up to Sell

We're taking care of all the finishing touches needed to get our house on the market within the next few days. That means I'm really busy, plus it means I had to pack away my computer since it was just sitting on the bench in our bedroom. =( I'm trying not to go through any withdrawals, but suddenly not having my computer at my beck and call is not easy! I'm able to use John's a little before he goes to work and sometimes John David's computer will work. 

I'm dying to show some before and after pictures of my very first landscaping project, but now I have to be patient and wait for the right computer opportunity. Boohooohoo!

In other news, last week Aulora had bronchitis and then over the weekend we had to take her to the ER. Turns out she has tonsilitis and pneumonia. Poor baby was so so sick. She's mostly back to herself now - thank you Jesus for medicine!!! 

Pictures From The Zoo

Gran and I took the kids to the Tulsa Zoo a month or so ago.
It was a beautiful day and the kids had so much fun!

Gran and Joshua

Sisters on the Carousel

Julia by herself

How appropriate =)

Deep thoughts

Standing tall on the rock she climbed

I wonder if boys ever grow out of this kind of stuff

Aulora LOVED brushing the goats. It was near impossible to get her to leave the petting zoo. I think I had to trick her, if I remember correctly.

Julia had some cotton candy.
Don't worry - we went to the dentist this morning and she was cavity free!

I really love this picture.
I think I'll get it framed. =)

John David climbed a really big rock

My four monkeys!
(Julia was a very reluctant monkey.)

That's my Joshie Boy! I love him (and miss him since he's been in Tulsa the last few days)!

Riding the train with Gran

This problem will have to be corrected before their teen years, for sure.

Is any caption really necessary here?

Redbox.....Arghhhhhh

I love Redbox free movie Monday, but those Redbox guys are smart.

They know busy moms forget.

And then it's not free.

At all.

We're about $5 past free now - for a stupid movie my kids barely even liked or watched.

ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Thank you. I'm done now.

The Wichita Hillbillies

Yesterday, because of a painful back injury, it was decided that I needed to drive John to work 2 hours away. We also decided that we would take the two babies to stay with grandparents who live up that direction anyway. This was all a last minute thing and, as you can imagine, preparing to go on a trip with that many kids in about 20 minutes is not easy.

Let's see how many hillbilly-ish things we can boast about:

• Aulora wore her (2 sizes too big) Dora night gown
• Julia got dressed on her own and ended up wearing a black shirt missing a button which caused a gaping hole right in the middle of her chest
• Joshua had no shoes or socks on (and he's finally walking and needs them)
• I was wearing work clothes since I had planned on doing yard work all day
• We went to Chickfila to wait for the grandparents to meet us. Aulora had to potty and I didn't know what to do with Joshua while I held her. I wheeled his high chair in the bathroom into the handicapped stall while she went. Was that clever or gross? I haven't decided.
  
• Aulora pooped her pants (no diaper or pull-up on, by the way) in the top of the play area
• Joshua made his way to the top and I had to go all the way up there to get him
  
• Joshua grabbed my styrofoam sweet tea cup and made holes in the sides spilling the tee onto my lap and his

I'm pretty sure the workers were very glad to see us go. I don't know why though - we were only there for 2 hours......

Plunging My Life Away

I totally should have listened to the wise voice within my head yesterday, but the lazy side of me won out. Not to worry, the lazy side has been thoroughly kicked all last night and today because of it.

Aulora still uses her little training potty to do her "business" because that's just easier than me worrying about her falling in the toilet when I can't accompany her. For whatever reason, she put a wad of about 4 or 5 wipies (still nicely folded and unused) into her potty.

I would have just taken them out but they were then topped off with a couple rounds of "business", if you know what I mean. So I left them.

I left them in there and then dumped her potty junk into the toilet to flush.

Except it didn't flush.

Whah!

I knew I shouldn't have dumped those stupid wipies into the toilet, but I was so tired and was just hoping that somehow they wouldn't clog the pipes (even though they are frequently clogged with much less).

I spent the rest of last night and all day today plunging that gross toilet every hour or so.

I poured draino in there, hoping that would help.

I was trying to achieve the delicate balance of good plunging and clean, non-splashing plunging (a very difficult task indeed).

Finally, after thousands and thousands of plunges, I heard that miraculous sound of water (and other business) swooshing through the pipes.

It was the best moment of my day....although, honestly, with the day I've had, it's no wonder. ;)

***Plungers really are not my friends. I still have nightmares about this episode. And remember that time Julia, well, did this???***

Recent 2 Year Old Moments

Aulora and Joshua were both up on the counter eating strawberries faster than I could clean and slice them. There was sticky strawberry juice everywhere after that.

Baby booty crack - does that ever get old?

She recently found a baby pacifier in her dolly basket and has taken to laying in bed sucking on it. She didn't want her picture taken, but I got this one real quick.

A couple of Sunday afternoons ago - church wears her out!

Yet another episode of marker all over herself.

Life would be soooo boring without kids.

Here We Come!

Last weekend John and I made a long trip up north to check out where we felt God was leading us. It was a fast and furious weekend, but wonderful! (After traveling with four kids, being in the car with only another adult for even long hours is kind of fun!)

Can you guess from this picture where we're going?

This mural on one of the buildings is famous - probably more so with guys than girls. It's nicknamed "Touchdown Jesus".

Not a great picture, but this is the entrance to the main law building. It's brand new and gorgeous!

How great is this:

".....that you will always keep in mind that your legal career is but a means to an end, and as Father Jenkins told you this morning, that end is building the kingdom of God. You know the same law, are charged with maintaining the same ethical standards, and will be entering the same kinds of legal jobs as your peers across the country. But if you can keep in mind that your fundamental purpose in life is not to be a lawyer, but to know, love, and serve God, you truly will be a different kind of lawyer."

Amy Barrett
Professor of the year Commencement Speech

We're working hard to make this move happen fast since classes start in late August. All the final touches are being completed so our house can go on the market. We're looking for housing there and finding new schools for the kids.

There is Chick-fila, Krispie Kreme Donuts, and Chipotle - all very important places.

Texas Roadhouse, Starbucks, and Don Pablos are there too.

Walmart and Once Upon a Child will keep me smiling.

There's river rafting downtown that rivals the rapids of the Colorado River.

Almost all the houses have basements!

I've always wanted to visit an Amish community and there are many around the area.

We'll be within easy driving range of lots of great places, including Chicago in an hour and a half.

We are super excited and stinkin' busy trying to make it all work.

Notre Dame, here we come!!!