Weekend Trip--Focus on the Family

The kids and I had already been to Focus on the Family, but since it was raining today, it was a good place to get out, not spend any money, and let the kids have fun.  Everything is entirely free(except for food, but it was on sale today)!  They also had the Sheriff, Army, Fire Department and more with their vehicles for the kids to explore.

They collected sheriff badges, coloring books, stickers, crayons, coupons from Chick-fil-A, and they even made them personalized dog tags!

Inside is decorated like the Adventures in Odyssey type setting.

Junior climbing on the airplane.  He was too small to go down the several story slide with the girls.  (We thought that the climb to get to the top of the slide would wear them out--they are still going strong)

 

 Junior loved the touch screen coloring game.  (BTW I put that jacket to the side for my nephew since Junior has outgrown it, but he was fixated on it today.  At least he took the hood off inside.)

 

 Family pictures...

 There's a stage with costumes so Junior and Em put on a short play.  Abs was not into pictures today.

A puppet stage...

Toddler playground.  This is going to be great in the winter!

A frog on the log in the bog...

They also have a radio station where the older kids can sign up to do their own radio show.  They have a script, practice, and record the show with some of the parts taped already so it is just like an Adventure in Odyssey radio show.  They had a great time, and they gave us a copy of the show too.  It's a really cute story and the girls did a great job!

Hot dogs and ice cream to finish it off. 

They gave Gunner a freebie too.  I can't wait to read it!

 

Tomorrow there's a free kid friendly moving showing with popcorn and drinks.

I better search the paper tomorrow for next week's activities.

Electricity & Bananas

We lost power at 1 this morning.  Thankfully we still haven't unpacked our alarm clock--I'm starting to wonder if it made the trip--so we had our phones set to wake us up.  We got dressed in the dark and everyone went to school.  Junior's school was in the dark too.

I went to the gym, and since the power was out, I lifted weights for about half an hour.  The lights came on and I fit in a 4 mile tempo run.  I figured the lights must be on at home, but I returned home to a dark house.

I showered in the dark.  I couldn't do my homework so I decided to head to the thrift store.  I scored on a brand new scrabble deluxe for cheap, cheap, cheap--dictionary included.  I found one of those 400 piece lego sets of a UFO for cheaper, cheaper, cheaper.  A couple of books, some vintage tupperware, a gigantic coffee mug, and I called Gunner.

He agreed that I should stop off and get Thai food just in case the power was still out.  It was still out.  It came on briefly and then was out again.  I got the kids, stopped by the office to find out that they had no clue when we would have power. 

Finally the electric company agreed to take the power from the command and give it to housing over the weekend.  Come Monday morning if the problem isn't fixed, we will be powerless again.  I was not made to be a pioneer woman!  Especially when I have a paper to write and need to do some research.

Tonight at the community center they had a banana party.  They had a decorating party and contest.  Our entries:

 

And what happens to the groom after the wedding?  (Or after Junior sneaks away with the groom)

The bride went into mourning per her creator Em.

They had banana splits too, so how could we say no to that?

I better get started on my paper before we lose power again.

Please let this day be over....

and let no one else get sick.

Abs was off from school today, so I figured I would have plenty of time with her.  I got Em off to school and then Junior woke up screaming....that should have been a sign.

Abs was in a mood this morning too.  I manage to get them both dressed and out the door after Abs overflows the toilet.  We headed over to Em's school to get her, so that we could go to their dentist appointments--bless the person who came up with the clinic where all three can be seen at once.

We arrive at Em's school and I start going through the process of getting Emily out for her appointment.  I was holding Junior's hand, and then Abs decides to start throwing up....in the lobby. 

Abs has anxiety and is terrified of the dentist, which lead to the nervousness I suppose, and the barfing.  I drop Junior's hand and try to help Abs move to the area that isn't carpeted.  If I thought I was bad at barf, the office staff was worse.  I turn around to find Junior climbing over the balcony.  I run and grab him before he jumps, give him the iPhone to entertain him, and get back to Abs.  I finally get someone to give me tissues and a trashcan.  Then someone tracks down some plastic walm@rt bags to keep on hand.

Em finally shows up.  (Moms that have multiple children under the age of 10, I don't know how you do it!)

Em grabs Junior's hand, I get Abs, and we head to the car.  Abs reveals that she's nervous about the dentist.  I assured her that telling me and talking about it would be far more effective than throwing up.  We get to the dentist and I warn them of Ab's fears.  Thankfully they (the staff) were great.  They were very patient with all of them. 

Junior loved it and wanted to show everyone his teeth.  Abs finally got to the point where she would let them work on her, thanks to the iPhone.

Em was so dramatic, beyond dramatic.  She just had her teeth cleaned, nothing major done.  She needs sealants done, which we tried before and she was so dramatic about the pain those caused (yes, I know they aren't painful in the least) that we only had one done and were unable to complete the rest. 

Em needs braces too.  Woohoo?  She can barely stand her teeth getting cleaned.  Hopefully Junior will love the dentist as much as me.

So we leave the dentist armed with flossers, toothpaste and toothbrushes.  (Note to dental people--make sure if you give one child a bag with a coloring book, give my kids each one!  If one gets a sticker, give them all one!)  We get Em dropped off at school, and I race to Andrew's school.  We arrive there and he had pooped in his pants.

Change cute baby boy, drop him off in time for lunch, head home to deal with Abs and do school work. 

The electricity goes out.  Call housing and they said it was a planned outage that no one told them about.  So it finally comes on and my computer wouldn't work.  I give up and Abs and I head out to lunch.  We have a nice lunch, until she tells me her tummy hurts again.  We race home, and she was lying on the ottoman and moaning.  I finally turned the tv on, and she seems to be feeling better all of the sudden. 

So hopefully it was just Ab's nerves.  Hopefully Junior stays dry.  Off to locate an orthodontist for Emily, an eye doctor for all of us, print off some stuff for school, get some work done, write some papers, clean the house, toss in a few loads of laundry, and a few other things.  It's no wonder I live on Monsters. 

Vulture Day at the Zoo

I had a ton of school work to do on Saturday, so Gunner headed off to the zoo with the kids. I had forgotten it was vulture day, but the kids were excited and got to see what the stomach contents of a vulture looked like, flight feathers, and lots more. The kids loved it, and Gunner loves the zoo, so it worked out.


They found eggs, and had to try out each part.

Hanging out with the bronze animals.

A gigantic chair.

Another egg view.

We thought it would wear them out, but it didn't seem to phase Abs. Em went off to the balloon festival with a friend, and we put the little kids to bed. Abs snuck out and grabbed Chris' iPhone. He stood outside her room, and she cried out in disbelief "How did this get in here?". No idea Abs. Then I checked my email and she had requested me to be in Gunner's mafia on the phone. She cracks me up.