A long Thankful weekend

How!

We had a pretty good Thanksgiving weekend. Busy but good. I think even with breastfeeding I've gained a few more pounds. (grr!) I'm not even going to worry about weight until after Christmas though because I'll be fixing so much food and munching it's not even worth it. We spent a half day Thanksgiving with my Dad and half with my Mom. We were incharge of potatoes and making a few desserts so we spent the morning Thursday cooking before going anywhere. Tried to get my kids to watch the Macy parade but of course they wouldn't. Was I the only one as a kid that loved watching that? Every year ours just leave the front room. The funniest part of the day had to be that morning when my sister called frantic that she'd cooked pumpkin pie in graham cracker crusts. (she's not that great in the kitchen) It actually tasted really good! We also got to see Jennifer (step-sis from Co) whom we really don't see often so it was nice to chat with them.

The long weekend was great. First off, Daddy was home! YAY! He didn't have to work from Thursday until Monday so that was super nice. Friday and Saturday we let the kids stay in their PJ's all day.
Sadly it was for our benefit. We weren't going anywhere and it allowed us to catch up on some massive laundry in the basement piled 3 foot tall on our pool table. I'm not lying. Poor Dave hauled up 8-9 baskets worth for me and about a hundred pounds or so of shirts on hangers and I put it all away. Just when you catch up though it's piled back up. Sunday morning we went to church and that afternoon I decided to put up the Christmas tree and decorations. I cringe every year because every year we've had a tree, it gets a horrible makeover by a preschooler or toddler. Damien is more into the Santa and Rudolph under the tree than messing with anything else.Mia however is a different story. She ripped about 10 ornaments off in just a matter of minutes after we left the front room to figure out dinner.She was also interested in eating them as we were decorating. Crazy kid.I handed out ornaments and then Alex and Dom stuck them all on for the most part. Then I rearranged a bit. lol Because we have had so many kid-made ornaments broken the previous years, I left them all put away this year and we decorated with standard bulbs and ribbon. I was tired of gingerbread men missing heads or popsicle sticks being torn off an ornament made at school.

I think letting Dominic and Alex take charge and put together the tree decorations made them feel really big so if you come over expect them to say "look what i did!"

After decorating we decided to try to do a quick shot of the kids under the tree. 500 shots later, we got this one. I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Weekend

Once again this weekend, I refrained from spending any money! I am dying to go shopping for this little girl. Baby Depot would be my first stop. Then a few doors down Kohls and BRU. Then after that Old Navy, Baby Gap, and Children's Place. I can't believe I've held out this long. 5 days after finding out the sex? For me, that's LONG! The frugal mommy in me is figuring right now.....with gas......shop online I just haven't had a chance yet.

We did have a great weekend though at home. Daddy ended up working till about noon. He BBQ'd 3 times for us so that was nice for me. Back in the day before pest control, lol, he worked at Applebee's, Lonestar, Amarillo Grill, and Shoney's so he's an awesome meat cook. Dom's ball game was canceled due to a small storm that came through early morning. We spent most of the weekend outside like we have been and it was great. I'm still white as can be while all my kids (except Mia) are turning dark like their dad. Sunday Dave and I helped in the nursery at church and then the rest of the day was at home again. It was so nice. I told Dave yesterday if he had noticed how much we've been out already this spring/summer and he said "yeah because Mia isn't a baby!" So true. Although the kids can go out back by themselves for the most part, I like to go out there with them to keep an eye on things but last summer it wasn't easy to do much and I always had a baby monitor attached to me. Here's a few pictures of the kids this weekend.

The Pool Cleaner

Playing in Daddy's truck.

Damien on the glider

Sprinkler fun

Man if I could afford them, I'd buy all the Rainbow Reef fish.

I thought this was a cute pic of Dom and Alex.

Mia trying to ride a tricycle. She is so independent when it comes to any of the ride on's now wanting to do them by herself.

KidFest 2007

This weekend we went to Kidfest which is an insane kid day they put on every year with toys galore, moonwalks and giant slides, crafts, cartoon characters, clowns, Santa, etc. It is also for parents you could say with the massage chairs and booths for your sanity and well being. lol I thought it was cute how the Avon reps were talking to moms and were doing facials on the little girls! We actually had a lot of people praise us on our kids and how they thought it was great that we had 4. We stayed for about 3 hours and then went shopping at a few places. I bought Mia an adorable outfit with a blue suede looking coat from TJ Max. I finally bought Dominic some new jeans at Old Navy and we'll see how long they remain without holes. I wish there was a way to keep kids off their knees!!! The kids were happy because we let them look at Petco and Daddy got some new shirts at Eddie Bauer.

Sunday because of Daylight Savings we went to the early morning service at church. I was shocked that I was able to get everyone out the door and there by 8:30 but it helped that I was able to wake up at 6 due to the time change. lol The kids weren't happy though because the children's services don't start till 9:30 (except the nursery) so the older 2 had to sit in with us. We hadn't ever went that early and decided we probably won't again because it was all elders, we were definitely oddballs and the kids were so sad missing Sunday School.

Here's pics from the weekend although kinda crappy since we only had camera phones on us.

Getting ready to eat at Golden Corral.
Dominic and Santa
The boys happily posed infront of the police car

Sparky the Fire Dog shaking Domnic's hand
The bubble Man putting the kids in a big bubble
Dominic and Alex wouldn't pose with Dora! I was sad! lol
The Trains were the boys highlight. They were in love...

Picture Overload!

It's amazing how fast the weekend goes when you are busy. My backed up laundry? Still backed up. The house? Well I'll be home all week to work on it. lol We were gone nearly all weekend really for the heck of it. Saturday the kids spent hours upon hours at an indoor water park we have here in town and then that night my dad volunteered to watch the kids so we could go out for Dave's birthday. Well we had no idea WHAT to do with our free time so we ate out at our favorite mexican food restaraunt, went to a music/book store, and then Target! Then we went back! It was hilarious. We thought about venturing to a Spook house but didn't. So we picked the kids up at 10 and took them home to bed.

Sunday we went to church and then afterwards headed to Wichita where we took the kids yet again for another fun filled day at Exploration Place. I've shown pics before but it's a kid's museum but has something for everyone really. So we all had a fun afternon there then probably should have headed home but went shopping and then after eating at Olive Garden finally got on the road at 8 pm!! Uh yeah that's the kid's bedtime! It's a 45 minute drive to our house. Good thing was Mia and Damien fell asleep and we just transfered them to bed but Dominic and Alex took baths because I'm a germaphobic and with all the public toilets, toys and other things they had messed with earlier in the day they were taking showers.

I saw the most frightening thing yesterday when we were out. We pulled into Burlington Coat Factory and this old 70's Monte Carlo came speeding in and screwing around in the parking lot. Then we noticed a boy Dominic's age was sitting on this ladies lap as this black dude was racing the car around the parking lot gunning it and going in circles. I felt so sick.

Here's some pics from the past two days. All taken by cell phone so they aren't the greatest.
Dave took this picture Saturday morning when I went shopping for 3 hours by myself!

Dominic spent the afternoon showing everyone his crack. He's on his cousin smashing her. They love each other so much! lol

Damien's first time at the waterpark so he had a blast. Since it's in a hotel we don't go there much.

Alex shot so fast out of the slide I kept catching her in the water.

This is my neice Madison.

We have a space museum here so of course the water park is space themed. Dominic looks like a great astronaunt doesn't he? lol

That blur is supposed to be Alex.

Exploration place~ we had alot of fun sitting in this hand.

Alex making carbon nanos.

Damien listening about molocules.

Even Mia had a good time playing with all their toys in the tot room. This was her 2nd time to go but her first time to play! The hand again. It's in the Monkey King exhibit and I'm not sure what the meaning of it is.

Damien dumping chalk so he could scribble on the stone.

Peeking out the tee pee.

Smoke tornado. The kids love this thing because you can get inside of it.

Alex stepping in the tornado. Damien and I made this together while we watched ducks in the river.
Alex posing with the fossils in the archeology exhibit.
Dominic on a flight simulator. He would crash in about 1 minute after I would help him get it off the ground. Since Wichita is the "Air capital of the world" they a big flight department at the museum.
Dave was actually really good at driving a jet. He only crashed when I said time to go.
Damien wasn't real great at flying either. His airplane is going sideway here but it would also help if he paid attention. lol Of course we had to play with Thomas trains there. They have tables everywhere.

The boys racing the ride on toys down a ramp.