Hotter Than Mississippi

Other than the trip to Chattanooga, the past week hasn't been too exciting. We typically had something to do everyday, but before and after that "something" there was a lot of downtime.

Most of the time, Amy and Will play really well together. I think thats because Will is getting older and they can do most of the same things. That and he copies everything she does- who wouldn't love that?! He'll say, "Amy! Amy! Come on!" And they'll run off together. It's really cute.

Their latest favorite thing to do is lay on the stairs and read together. Or color together. Or throw things down the stairs together. They just love the stairs. This is the first place we've ever had with stairs, and the novelty hasn't worn off.

A few weekends ago, I started mopping and Amy begged to do it. Really, she did. I was completely ok with letting her. She did a pretty good job too!

On Thursday, we went to the Splash Out. They have these several times during the summer, at different area parks. The firemen open a hydrant and the kids run wild through the shooting water. Last year they just opened a hydrant, but this time they actually had it through a hose, spraying from on top of a ladder. Then they swished it back and forth. Amy had no fear and was in the thick of it the whole time. Will was a little more hesitant and stayed right by me. The real kicker was it was 105 degrees that day. Yes, I typed that correctly. I had no idea when we moved from Mississippi, that it would be hotter here.

Thankfully, there was a pavilion that offered lots of shade for me, Will and Tyler (who of course, slept through the whole thing). There was also a breeze that helped too.

I told some of the Mom's from Amy's dance class about it and we met up there. Then we saw another girl from dance as well. These girls are from dance class. We also saw a ton of people from church. I guess it was the place to be! It certainly made it more fun for me! I hardly recognized the heat I was talking so much. ;) 

 Oh, and what is Amy doing here?? If you guessed "she found the only beetle that hasn't died from the heat or from drowning," you are correct. She even found an equally interested new friend. The beetle came home with us ("because it was too scared to be alone") but somehow got lost in the van. I'm glad she's forbidden to touch snakes and rodents. 

We got a new tv for our bedroom and the goofballs wanted to crawl into the box. I have no idea how they fit in there as it's only about 9 inches wide, but they fit.

This picture cracks me up and really sums up my life right now.....

Amy is trying to play in the box, and Will is jumping on it, thus making Amy upset. And if you look behind the box, there is Tyler, laying there, I'm sure praying that Will doesn't land on him. Yes that is my life, keeping the kids entertained while avoiding harming Tyler.

We are taking it easy this weekend. No plans- which is nice. Of course its still above 100 degrees everyday, so it's not hard to stay inside. Seriously, CAN'T believe this place is hotter than Mississippi. I thought no where could be hotter than Mississippi.

Chattanooga

Today we got to spend the day at the aquarium in Chattanooga. Our dear friend, Kelli (Musick) and her daughter, Madison, chose Chattanooga for their mommy-daughter trip. We were more than happy to drive down and meet them!

It's been many, many years since I've been to the Chattanooga aquarium. They've added an entire new building! This one was the River Giants, or something like that. It focused on the creatures in the rivers.

Although not really having to do "with" rivers, at the bottom, they had animals out and workers telling about them. Amy jumped at the chance to touch a snake. The snake even liked her, it kept trying to get closer to her head, his tongue just a wagging. ewwww! The worker had to pull it away.

There was a hedgehog in here. It was an overly active hedgehog, apparently all the others are somewhat lazy and shy of people. Amy kept petting it, and petting it.... eventually the worker said, "Ok everyone, If you already pet the hedgehog, please let others have a chance." We were laughing.... knowing she meant "Amy." I sure hope this kid gets to be a zookeeper/veterinarian. She LOVES animals.

Amy and Madison posing inside the display with some fish.

Of course Amy loved touching this fish. I can't remember what it was.

And once we got to the ocean building, she also loved touching the rays. We stayed at this display for awhile.

Kelli tried to see if Will would touch one, he wouldn't. He was actually rather afraid several times. When we were in the jellyfish display, he grabbed Lee, screamed and buried his head into Lee's shoulder.

Kelli (a former 4th grade teacher and still teaches summer science camps) was telling the girls about butterflies in the butterfly area. It was fun to watch all the butterflies flying everywhere. Sadly, one did not land on Amy's finger.

Can you believe this girl was the flower girl at our wedding?? She was 2 then, now she's 10. She's so tall and even prettier now!

Being attached by a shark! Eeekkk!

Posing behind a spider crab.

Penguins! Apparently there were 2 babies, but we didn't see them. Maybe they were in the back?!?

After the aquariums, we went to TGI Friday's for lunch. Madison was stealing Kelli's drink...

And also let Amy wear some of her lipstick. Amy was in heaven!

We let the kids walk around in the little rivers (???) for a few minutes. Given the recent Sunday experiences, I was armed with clothing changes for all. Which was great! No one had to drive home wet!

Kelli and Madison continued their fun girls week with a trip to the IMAX. We hit Ben and Jerry's and headed home. We had a laugh at Amy's chocolate beard!

The kids passed out on the way home. Little Tyler was SO great the entire time. He slept the whole way there and stayed asleep until right before we ate lunch. I fed him, he stayed awake while we ate and then slept all the way home, waking just before we got back. It was a wonderful day. I just love Chattanooga. It's such a nice city with so much to see and do. And of course our day was made more wonderful by being with some of our best friends! (though we did miss the other 2 Musick's, Andy and Lauren, who were home having a daddy/daughter week). What a great family day!

One Day We'll Make It Through Church

We've been keeping it pretty low key lately. It seems there is always something to do and frankly I'm just too tired to do any of it. Not really "tired" as in yawning/can't get out of bed... but more like "I have 3 small children which rocks my world and this last minute move took so much out of me that I don't care to do anything else right now." On Saturday morning, we did clean out the garage. I had been working on it little by little. Lee took another load to Goodwill- getting rid of more "stuff," yippee!!! Now I can at least get the van in the garage, which trust me, is a huge accomplishment! And the rest of the stuff (pushed to one side) will get organized as other things (aka: the playroom) get more organized. But to do that, I need to take a trip to Ikea (in Atlanta) so..... everything is just on hold for now.

So last Sunday we had to leave church early because Tyler had a diaper blow out and I didn't have a change of clothes. This past Sunday? It was Will. I'm not sure what was going on in nursery, but I kept seeing nursery workers bringing kids out to their parents. And sure enough, eventually it was my kid brought to me. One whiff of Will and you could tell what the problem was. But this was a leaker, and of course I didn't have change of clothes for him, so we just left. I guess one of these days we'll make it through the whole block of meetings.

On Monday I took the kids to the splash pad. It's the greatest place. And the fact that it's free ranks it high on the list. This time the kids actually played in the water and I knew what to expect, so I got wet too. It was MUCH more enjoyable as it was incredibly hot out.

Today was Tyler's 2 month appointment. The kid weighs 13 lbs, 10 oz. Geesh! 2 weeks ago he was a pound less. Personally, I think he's growing so much as a subconscious defense mechanism against Will. Who I should mention, desperately wants to play with him!! But all is well and he's growing just fine. A happy, healthy baby (but we didn't have any doubt).

This afternoon (after seeing these in the church kids magazine, "The Friend" ) we made chocolate covered frozen banana pops. Amy loved covering the banana's in chocolate.

The kids then enjoyed eating the leftover chocolate.

When they were done, Amy gave a hearty thumbs up. They were actually pretty good.

So that's it for now. Nothing too exciting. Just going about our life day by day. :)

Happy Birthday Will!

... and Uncle Stratton!!

Will turned the big 2 today. We just loved celebrating him being a part of our family! Lee stayed home and we had a very low key/lazy morning. Mom and Dad stopped by on their way home from Kentucky. They were only here for about 45 minutes as they had to rush home for a concert tonight. (they were in their little Austin Healey, so the drives are longer as they try to stay off the highways) But it was fun to see them again!

For lunch, I made homemade pizza's... yum!

Then we had cake. I found this one the "it's going to expire tomorrow" discount rack about a month ago and quickly snatched it up. I threw it in the deep freezer (the best thing ever!!) and took it out this morning. A perfect cake, for a ball loving boy- and at such a deal! It was was easier and so much cheaper than making something myself.

Then we had presents! The wrapping paper is buried in the garage somewhere, so I just left his presents in the store bags. He didn't seem to mind.

He got a (play) tool set....

and a soccer ball... He was quite excited about both.

Little Tyler was a little fussy. Even a cupcake didn't calm him down. (teasing, of course we wouldn't give a 2 month old a cupcake!)

After lunch (we ate late) there was more play time and around 4pm we took the kids down to the pool. We attempted it the other day, only to find it closed for repairs. We were sooo disappointed! But today it was open. Tyler slept the whole time in his stroller, which was nice because we had to keep all eyes on Will! That child has NO fear of water! The pool area also has a 1 ft deep kiddie pool and that was really nice. We spent more of our time in there. After about a hour and a half of swimming, Tyler woke up and we headed home. I kept it simple with PB&J sandwiches and chips for dinner. As well as more cake for dessert.

It was a great, quiet, simple birthday for our two year old! :)

Two Months for Tyler

Little Ty-Ty has graced us with his wonderful presence for two full months now. And we've loved every moment!

He has grown so much, weighing in around 12 lbs, 10 oz now. Wowsers! He may have come out small, but he's quickly catching up to his brother! He smiles all the time and is a really good baby. He is well loved around here!

Haircuts

Since we still had the clippers out from Dad's haircut, I decided to tackle all of the boys.

First up was Tyler. His hair was falling out, in a ring. It looked crazy. And the back was starting to get a rat tail. I hate it when parents leave their kids hair looking stupid just because it's "baby hair." I have no problem making them look semi-decent. (I probably could have waited a little longer to do his, I cut Will's baby hair at 3 months. But it was just easier to get it over with today)

Yes, that's Will tackling a bald Tyler. I told you, he can't wait to play with him.

Next up was Will. Lee usually has to hold him for haircuts, but today we tried letting him sit in the Bumbo chair. Surprisingly, it worked.

Then I cut Lee's as well, but I didn't get a picture of that. :)  I have to say, being able to cut all of theirs at once, is great! (and cutting it myself saves a TON of money!)

MeMe and Papa Visit and Father's Day

Moving (within a week) and all that goes along with it, plus a newborn and night feedings had pushed me to my limit. I was literally numb from caring about much and this new place felt it. This house was in such a chaotic state that I had temporarily given up. I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't think straight.Well, who should come to the rescue!!?? Mom!!

Mom and Dad came to visit on Friday. They were on their way to a week long car show in Kentucky and stopped here for a few days before hand. I have to say, they were a life saver. I mean, really. Mom whipped this place into shape. She organized all my cupboards, the pantry, rearranged the living room, our room and Amy's room. She was a machine! Now everything flows. Everything works. Nothing falls on top of you when you touch it. It's so NICE to be in here now. My mother is a Godsend.

Dad helped Lee. We opted not to have our lawn mowed here, since it's such a tiny lawn. (We had it done at the other place). But that meant the lawn mower needing some tuning, so Dad helped Lee with that. As well as anything tool related.... hanging curtains, fixing drawers, etc. 

The kids loved playing on MeMe's iPad. 

On Friday, the air conditioner went out. Ahhhh!!! It was miserable. It was 86 degrees all night. I don't know how we all even slept. Actually, the nice thing is the upstairs bonus room has it's own unit, so Mom and Dad were able to sleep in comfort. But the good thing about renting is you don't have to fix anything yourself. So a call to the landlord Saturday morning, and 2 hours later we had cool air again. Whew! 

In the midst of all that, Mom even showed me how to make a cherry pie. She makes delicious ones, she's famous for it, but I had never seen her do it. Our ward at church has a tradition where they all bring pies for the dad's on Father's Day. Then the Fathers have "Pie on the Porch" after church. 

The pie was one of the prettiest she's even made! We were excited about how well it turned out. 


On Father's Day... well, that was an interesting day around here. We don't have church until 1pm. so you'd think by having all morning we'd be organized and it would be stress free. Huh, not so. 


Dad took an extra long nap and didn't even get up until the time we had to leave. About that time Lee realized that we could bless Tyler that day (since Dad was here), so he starts texting the bishopric to get that set up. Will wanted to wear a hat to church and refused to take it off....

Our meetings are reversed, with Sacrament last..... In Relief Society, Tyler wouldn't stop fussing and I realized I had forgotten his bottle. So I had to go a bathroom stall and basically pull my dress off to feed the kid. I was recently called as a the Secretary in the RS, and we had a meeting during Sunday School. Then when we went into Sacrament meeting, Amy accidently knocked Tyler, which woke him up, screaming. When he woke up, he realized he was hungry and really started crying. I would have taken him to the bathroom again, but it was time for his blessing. So Lee and Dad took a screaming kid up front (which is always lovely). I was trying to listen and make notes of what Lee was saying, but Will realized Lee was gone and starts screaming "Daddy!!!!" and tried running up the aisle. Lee finishes Tyler's blessing (which was rushed, given that he was also still crying) and I whisk Tyler away to feed him. (Which sends Will crying again, this time, for me). I feed him, start back for the chapel and he has a disaster of a diaper which, of course, goes all the way up his back. He's a mess. Literally. 


It was then, that Sarah, gave up on church for the day. 


We loaded everyone up, sliced half of the pie and took the rest of it home. ( I mean, Lee and Dad needed some, right?? Oh yeah... and me.... and Mom... and Amy.... hahaha)


What a day. After a little rest, I made dinner for everyone. Chicken, rice, salad, Watermelon and for dessert, a homemade ice cream cake. Although it was in a rather ill shape. I guess it was fitting for the day. (the day I made it, it was melting like crazy and I was in a rush, also messing with the kids. When I finished I guess it was crooked in the deep freeze, as it froze sideways). It may have looked crazy, but it was delicious and I guess that's the important thing. 

Tyler fell asleep with his arms back. It was so cute. Too bad I had grabbed a pink blanket to cover him up! 

Mom and Dad left Monday morning. Since we forget to take pictures on Sunday, given the chaotic day, we took a few that morning. 


Mom gave Dad a quick haircut...

Mom, Dad and Tyler (guess we shouldn't have taken the picture in the shade)

Mom was inside looking for her sunglasses, so this is Dad waiting on Mom. Usually it's the other way around!

So they are off to their car show. They'll also stop by here on their way home Friday.