We will, we will ROCK YOU!

This is not necessarily a song I would pick to have on my blog but I have included it for Evan.

A few months ago the 2nd grade classes performed for the parents and one of the songs they sang was "We will rock you" and it was so cute. We haven't talked about it since then but all of the sudden the other day Evan just started singing "We will, we will ROCK YOU" all around the house. It was the cutest thing!

So I got on my playlist to find it for him so he could hear the actual song and when I played it he started jamming out so hard - it was hilarious! I totally wish I had the video camera to capture it. He had his legs going, his arms going and he was singing his heart out! Absolutely PRICELESS! It was the best!

So Evan, this one is for you:

Everybody sing "We will, we will ROCK YOU!"

Just a little recap

If it weren't for our cell phones, we wouldn't have any pics. We never have our camera with us and so everything has been caught on our cell phone cameras lately.

It is only the 2nd week of summer but so far we feel like we have done so much. Here is a quick (ya right) recap:

Can you tell who is who?

Hailey wanted her hair cut short like Kayla's and ever since we cut it we can't tell them apart. If Kayla didn't have that 1-2" on Hailey, they would be identical from the back. People with twins must get asked a lot if their kids are twins because we get asked ALL THE TIME if the girls are twins and they are almost 2 years apart! It just happened again today at the grocery store. Hailey has always been in like the 80th percentile and Kayla has always been in like the 20th so put them together and they are almost the same size. It's crazy!

I can't remember where this is (remember it has only been 2 weeks - that's sad!) but look at how well mannered our kids are!

Kayla is our little potion specialist. I don't know what she made here but if you look closely you can see Sid from Ice Age apparently bathing in this concoction. I wonder if it reduces stress, aging, wrinkles? I might have to have her whip up a batch in our bathtub! Ha ha!

Here are some pics from our camping trip. I still have not received any from our friends (they took their camera thank goodness) but here is some of what we caught on Kurt's cell.

We went to Mercer Caverns in Murphy. It was really neat but the lady was trying to scare us out of the tour because we had "kids". She was not very sly about it either but we were not  detoured so much to her dismay we went and it was great. The first couple of rooms she was snapping at us over different things but by the end of the tour she chilled out and was impressed with how well the kids did. In her defense I am sure she gets families with kids down in the caves and the kids don't listen, complain the whole time and don't behave. But not our kids, they did great! This is outside the cave while we were waiting.

This is going down one of the steep stair cases. It was 16 stories down and 16 stories back up. Evan walked the whole thing! 

The one and only thing (besides the railings) that you could touch in the cave. I can't remember what it was called (bad memory again) but it had something to do with twins because there were 2 next to each other.

Playing by the river.

Saturday afternoon it rained while we were napping so when the kids woke up there was a lovely mud puddle right next to the trailer. Look at that face! Could he be any happier? That is all a boy needs - some toys and the mud!

A little family snap shot by the river.

While Kayla is our little potion specialist, Hailey is our little fashionista. She loves to have accessories and gets the cutest little "attitude" walk when she gets something new. It is so cute - for now!  When she is a teenager, I'm sure our opinion will change!

Saturday Kurt woke up and said "Let's go boating". Ummm, that wasn't in the plans for the weekend but since it was Fathers Day, I didn't argue. We called up our friends (who, luckily, are as spontaneous as us) and off to the lake we went. Here are the girls "testing" out the tube.

Flag man reporting for duty!

Cutest darn kids ever if I do say so myself.

Blogging just to blog

Well, I don't really have anything to blog about but I just felt like blogging so hmmm . . .

The kids are enjoying summer vacation so far. I came home from work today and Kayla was still in her pj's - lucky girl. I wish I was got to stay in my pj's all day long.

I am trying to come up with some fun activities, "field trips" or things to do with the kids this summer without traveling a long distance - like little day trips. My kids love learning and understanding how things work and why things are the way they are. I am open to any suggestions, if you have any.

I need to get some camping pics from my friend so I can post about our camping trip. We had a great time! We went to the Calaveras Big Trees Park in Arnold, Ca a week ago. The trees there are amazing! They are so huge! It was great!

Well, that is about it. Life has been extremely crazy (trying to catch up in the office after missing 2 weeks is not an easy task, let me tell you!) and that is all the energy I have to think of stuff. Pathetic, I know!

Oh, funny story. Last night Kurt took Hailey on a "date" and we were in the backyard when they decided to leave. Hailey was walking toward the slider door and goes "Peace, we're out" with this little attitude.

What? Where did she hear that? Where did she come up with that? It was the funniest thing. This child is growing up way faster than Kurt or I are prepared for. So in honor of Hailey:

Peace, I'm out!

And the working world tugs right back

Okay, so as of this morning, I now have an ex-employee trying to intimidate us by using the "discrimination" word.

WHAT?

It all makes no sense to me and is completely unfounded.

None-the-less, I am now (from home) trying to deal with that. Oh, the joys of owning your own business.

Hey, the good news - no one has thrown up in the last 24 hours! (knock on wood!) Ya hoo!

Stressed Out to the MAX!

Pardon me while I stress out for a second here:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

The war of motherhood vs. working is ragging big time - and it is awful! There is a reason moms should stay at home with kids, I get that, I really do and I totally agree with it but unfortunately it is not always possible. And for those of you who work too, you know the pain in which I am suffering right now.

I was not in the office last week because it was my mom's "sick" week (hopefully her last since they are switching her chemo). I decided not to stress about it but to enjoy being a stay-at-home mom, at least for last week.

Well this week motherhood has dealt me a nasty blow! The flu bug - 2 out of 3 kids so far with throwing up and all. Kayla was mostly just 24 hours and probably could have gone back to school yesterday but I kept her home "just in case". Hailey has not been so fortunate. The school had me come get her on Tuesday, she was sitting on the potty most of yesterday and today she is throwing up. Let me just add here that she has not mastered the "getting it in the toilet / throw up bowl" skill yet - oh, so fun!

I have been house bound all week and therefore, once again, not in the office. Here is where ground zero is on the war. I have so much work to do at the office, including paying bills (some of which were due yesterday and I never pay things late - it stresses me out to the max to pay bills late). Plus, I have no idea what is going on with anything and now poor April is sick with a cold so she is not there.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH again. Sorry.

Yet, I am needed more at home. My first responsibility is to my family. So that is where I am but that doesn't mean the stress of being needed at work goes away - especially when you live with your "boss" (he he, don't tell him I called him that - I would never hear the end of it! ha ha) and he is always saying stuff like "I need you to do this", "We need to take care of that", etc. and it is all REALLY IMPORTANT stuff to do - like collect money from people - muy importante!

So basically I feel like work has one hand and motherhood has the other and they are just pulling with all their might and I am being stretched so thin. Motherhood obviously has the stronger pull so that is where I will stay, at home, with throwing up kids and all.

On a positive note: at least I have finally found some time to get some cleaning done around my house!

Memorization

I don't know if all 2nd grades are like this but this year in 2nd grade Kayla had to do a lot of public speaking so the teacher would pick poems and the kids would have to memorize them and then say them in front of the class. Hailey, wanting to be just like Kayla, would memorize them along with her and of course, anything the girls are into, Evan is into so I have had a lot of memorization going on this year.

Well this got the girls into reading other poetry books and memorizing poems just for fun - GREAT! It has been a lot of fun listening to them help each other and have fun together "learning" (shhh, don't tell them).

So Evan has managed to memorize a poem and loves to repeat it over and over and over again. Normally I would be really excited for him and encourage him but . . . I don't really like the poem he has chosen. It goes like this:

Gardener

We gave you a chance
To water the plants.
We didn't mean that way -
Now zip up your pants.

And he really LOVES to emphasize that last line. There is nothing like going through a store with a 3 year old shouting "NOW ZIP UP YOUR PANTS." It really is a very humbling experience. We are working on learning a new poem but so far he really likes this one. All I can say is:

"Thank you Shel Silverstein, thank you"

Life is never dull!

Last night we went to some friend’s house for dinner. They have 3 boys almost exactly the same ages as our kids and their house was so clean! How does she do it? I have no idea but it was very impressive. So when we came home, I looked around our house and realized that, well, it just wasn’t clean. So today I have been on a mission to clean our house. It is almost 2:30 and I only have the kitchen and family room done. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought!! Ha ha!

Anyways, Evan has been my little helper in-between playing outside and upstairs in the toy room. Earlier he managed to go outside without me hearing him (I did have the music cranked a bit loud so this wasn’t too hard) and when I couldn’t find him in the house, I quickly found him outside.

So a little bit ago I realized I had not heard or seen him in awhile. I knew he was upstairs because I was in the family room and he had not walked by me to go outside. I went upstairs to find him but he was no where to be seen. I called for him – no answer. I looked out the window to see if he was outside - nope. I couldn't find him anywhere! Where could he possibly have gone? Before a full fledge panic sent in, I decided to calmly look around once more.

Can you see him?

(Please ignore the messy toy room!)

How about if I zoom in a bit?

Thank goodness my eagle-eyes were able to spot the little toes sticking out from behind the pillow!

Isn't he just so sweet? All conked out under the pillow.

Can you imagine the panic that would have followed had I not spotted the toes?


That would have been one embarrassing 911 call!