Slip 'n Slide

Last weekend I bought a slip 'n slide. We have been anxiously waiting for the weather to be warm enough for us to break it in. Today was our day... and for the record, this is much better than the blue tarp we used to use growing up!

Look at Olivia catching air!

Two Cute

This past Sunday morning before church Olivia asked if she could video Connor a little bit. I was in the other room and otherwise occupied, so I didn't see what she was doing. Tonight I went to upload the camera and watch the videos. This is what I found...

This first one is about a minute long and gives me a headache. I feel like I'm watching a Bourne movie with all the camera jostling. However, if you watch the first 15 seconds you have pretty much seen it all. Connor loves to play peek-a-boo by putting a blanket over his head. My favorite thing about the video is the evidence that someone sounds more annoying on camera than me.

This second one has somewhat of a surprise, and it's really short. Do you see what Olivia accidentally does to Connor?

This next one was the last video she took. Apparently, Connor got tired of the game.

Vicks VapoRub

As a child, I had terrible memories of Vicks VapoRub. I can remember my mom rubbing under my nose when I was sick, and having to sleep with that strong, strong smell all night long. I never thought that as a mom I would cross over to the "dark side". However, I am a fan. But I do not put it under my children's noses - or mine for that matter. I do not rub it on our chests, even. So, where do I put it?

I put it on the soles of our feet.

I heard it first from my neighbor. Then from the pharmacist. Apparently, it has something to do with the aromatherapy sensors or something in your feet. At the time I was having a hard time sleeping because I had a little cold or allergies or something that would only make me cough at night. I put on the Vicks, put on some socks, and went to sleep. I was amazed - it had worked! And as an added bonus, my feet were super soft in the morning...

Then Connor got a cold. You cannot give a baby anything for congestion anymore - and a baby who can't breathe through his nose is in big trouble at nursing time. So I rubbed it on his feet twice a day - in the morning when I got him dressed and at night when I got him in his jammies. I can't believe how well this stuff works!

Which brings me to this morning. Connor's nose was running all day yesterday and this morning. After I had wiped his nose for the 3rd time this morning, I remembered - it's time to pull out the Vicks. So here we are, about an hour later, and his nose is no longer drippy. I am such a fan of this stuff! I'm even starting to like the smell...

Anyone else have a miracle cure?

I Can't Resist

Okay, so I'm know I'm bombarding everyone with blog posts today, but I can't resist just one more. This morning I was trying to get some stuff done before the Land Run and Connor was bored with his toys. So I gave him something to play with that he never gets but is always reaching for - our headphones. How much damage can he do, right? So I hear him fussing a couple minutes later and look down. This is what I see:


Somehow, he has tied himself up in the cord... it really took some effort to get him unravelled...

I take away the headphones and he starts going playing with a DVD case on the floor. A few more minutes go by, and he is fussing again. I look down, and this is what I see:

Somehow he has managed to open the door on the entertainment center and pull himself into it. He doesn't crawl, so I'm not sure how this was managed. However, he IS stuck and can't get out. That little boy just cracks me up. Maybe I've been trying to tempt him with the wrong thing all these months. If I wanted him to crawl or be motivated to move on his own I guess I should have put technology just out of his reach instead of toys...

What a week!

I can't remember any week recently that has been quite as eventful as this one!

Monday - Ben flew out to SC to attend his Uncle J.W.'s memorial service and Kelsey came down with a stomach bug. Fun, but no biggie, right?

Tuesday - The girls had dentist appointments with Dr. Mohanna. I love his name - it reminds me of Johnny Lingo: "Mahana you ugly! Get out of that tree!" Afterwards, it was off to school and I came home and finished cleaning my house and rearranging my bedroom. Ben was still gone but the day went pretty smoothly.

Wedneday - About 3:00 a.m. I woke up with a nasty stomach bug myself. Fortunately, I got the worst of it out of my system before morning, because Olivia came in my room about 7:00 a.m. telling me she wasn't feeling good, either. So here was our day: Ben out of town, I had a fever and felt terrible, Olivia throwing up at least once an hour all day and evening, Kelsey bored out of her mind and antsy, and Connor playing (somewhat) contentedly on the bed next to me while I tried to rest and recover. However, survive we did thanks in part to my wonderful neighbor, Amber, who went and bought us a 2-liter of ginger ale. Since this was the staple of my and Olivia's diet on Wednesday, it was a lifesaver!

Thursday - Since Ben had gotten home about 1:00 (or as Olivia keeps telling me - 1:08 a.m.) in the morning, he slept in. I decided to run to the store really quick while he was eating breakfast because I had a bunch of stuff to get that I needed for the land run. So I quickly hustle out the door and down the road. Ben had told me the car sounded funny on his way home from Wichita the night before, so I'm listening closely to the engine trying to see if I hear anything. About 2 miles from the house the car completely drops out of gear. No acceleration. No moving forward at all. So I coasted into a parking lot and turned the car off. After a few tries, I got the car in gear again and headed for home. Another mile later, it happens again. After a few MORE tries, I got in gear again and headed home. I parked the car up by the mailboxes, and some day next week when I have a spare minute, we'll get the transmission looked at. I told Ben just how much God was watching over him for him to get home at all. He could have easily ended up stranded 100 miles from home in the middle of the night. It may be the end of the road for our favorite "old man" car. It's lasted us 100K miles and 4 1/2 years. Best $1500 we ever spent, and I hope it's not time to pull the plug just yet! Just look at her sitting there in all her glory!

Friday - This all brings us to today. Of course, we had the Land Run. But before the land run, I decided to grind wheat with a wheat grinder I borrowed from a friend of mine here. You know, in a normal kitchen grinding wheat flour is messy enough. In a black-tiled kitchen, it's attrocious! What CRAZY person thought that black tile counter tops were EVER a good idea?!

Then after the land run I stayed to help out with the "pioneer games". Since I had a baby with me, I got the cushy job in the pavilion - The Watering Hole. Fun, right? Yeah, whatever. But when Olivia's class got to my station, it was obvious that my little "pardner" wasn't feeling so great. Was it the jeans? The heat? The boots? Well, whatever it was she felt terrible. And on the way back to the classroom she did it. She threw up again. Fortunately for Ben, there was a trashcan right there. Olivia was getting ready to throw up into Ben's genuine leather fedora hat thingie...

And there's our week so far. It's not over yet, of course, but with any luck all of the drama is. I don't think I can take much more!

Our First Land Run!

Today we experienced our very first Oklahoma Land Run re-enactment! All of the 3rd graders at Olivia's school dressed up in prarie garb (sort of), and paraded over to UCO's practice soccer field with their covered wagons. Once the whistle blew, it was every "family" for themselves, as they raced out and roped off some land and pulled up a stake! Then it was a picnic lunch with the families and rolling down the hill for the kids. So much fun!

While we were waiting for the whistle to go off, Kelsey found a golf ball and put it in her mouth. Like any good mom, I took a picture before telling her take it out because it was nasty and she didn't know where it had been!

And I don't know what is up with Connor, but he loves to kick one of his feet up on the tray of his stroller all the time... so cute!

Ten-cha-pure

Sunday Morning Smiles

These days, Sunday mornings are pretty relaxed at our house. We don't go to church until 1:30 this year, so we usually get up and have a leisurely breakfast around 9:00, and then the girls and I get in our church clothes and go to choir practice (I sing, they play with the other kids) around 11:00. That way, when we get home afterwards around 12:15 all we have to do is have lunch and leave. Perfect, right? So here's some pictures from this last Sunday.

Olivia was chilling on the couch reading one of her daddy's old Peanuts books.

Kelsey's tights seemed to be falling down, so I hitched them up properly for her (Ben's not exactly a "pro" at getting on nylons) only to realize about 10 minutes later that they were really just about 2 sizes too small... and I've just never taken them out of the drawer. So like any good mom, I made her lift her skirt for a picture.



But the FUNNIEST part of our morning came when we decided to spike Connor's hair using my hair putty. Let me tell you - that stuff WORKS. And apparently, Connor's hair is longer than I thought...



This next picture had to be included because I don't know WHAT he's thinking, but when I see it I laugh. He sits on the floor and does this when he gets excited - just spazzes out!

But my absolute favorite was this picture Ben took. I was just trying to hold him for a good picture, and Connor was squirming. And of course I had to kiss him, and Ben snapped the picture at just the right time. Once he gets out of the snuggling phase, this is how it'll be for the rest of our lives. I'll kiss him and he'll say "aww, mom!"

Back to Blogging

What, Connie?! You don't like looking at a picture of a baby with a chunk of banana hanging off his nose? But it's classic!

Actually, the real reason I've been off the blogging bandwagon this week is in large part due to this cold I had for most of the week. It wasn't really bad, but enough to induce me to go to bed early three nights in a row. And leave me no motivation for the lighthearted frame of mind that I must be in to blog - sort of.

So although we didn't do much this past week, there's a couple cute things I wanted to share. Our back yard is separated from our neighbors by an old wooden privacy fence. Yards are generally so small around here that you HAVE to have a privacy fence in order to have... well... your privacy, I guess. However, our kids and our neighbors kids are die-hard playmates. And over the past 6 months or so, our privacy fence has been disappearing piece by piece. The other day I looked outside and saw our neighbor's kid Kenneth looking through the fence wistfully. He just wants to come over so bad...

Another day I decided it was time to use up the a few hard-boiled eggs I had sitting in the fridge. I'm ashamed to say they are NOT from Easter. (No, we didn't dye any eggs this year. I know that probably makes me a bad mom, but I just didn't have it in me.) So anyhow, Kelsey and I decided to make devilled eggs for lunch. We decided to be a little creative in our presentation. Rachael Ray, eat your heart out!

Finally, to finish up our week the kids and I went to a YMCA Healthy Kids fair in town this morning so that they could get their faces painted. Kelsey wanted a pretty pink flower, of course.

Olivia, on the other hand, couldn't figure out WHAT she wanted. She's at that age where she likes doing the kid stuff, but doesn't want to appear to ENJOY the kid stuff. And she's a "tom boy" so she can't like flowers, rainbows, butterflys, or anything else like that. She finally decided to just ger her initials done:

Breathless Anticipation

For all of you have been waiting with bated breath to know what that thing on Connor's nose is...

...a chunk of banana!

Ewww, gross!

Anyone want to guess what this is? And if you are thinking it's a boogie, you'd be wrong!

On your mark, get set, go!

Yesterday Amber, Valerie, and I had an Easter Egg hunt for our young'uns. Valerie and Amber hid the eggs in Amber's backyard while I stayed inside and helped the kids decorate paper bags to put their eggs in. Once we let them loose, this is what we saw...

This is one of my favorites. As you can see, the youngest kids still needed a little help to figure out this whole "egg hunt" thing.

And Connor even got his first egg! (Daddy and I ate the chocolate inside to save him from a tummy-ache. Aren't we nice?)

What's That Smell?

For years I have admired my sister, Dorothy, for her ability to teach her kids tricks that they perform on demand. My favorite one is when she wrinkles up her nose and sniffs in and out at them and they wrinkle up their nose and do it back. Adorable!

I'm proud to announce that my day has finally come!! I have finally achieved greatness, and have taught my son a trick. And yes, it's the nose-sniffing one. Olivia captured this video today - she's 8 so it's a little shaky. Observe and admire...

Kelsey is Five! (for real)

Well, yesterday was Kelsey's "for real" birthday. We were going to continue a Crews family tradition and sing happy birthday to her to wake her up before Ben left for work at 7:00. About 6:30 she came into my room where I was nursing Connor, and I had to send her back to bed. Ten minutes later Olivia got up, so we got Ben and snuck into Kelsey's room where she was huddled under the covers. Before we could start singing she jumped out from under the covers and hollered, "Boo!" We sang Happy Birthday to her anyway.

After breakfast, she had to work on putting away her clean clothes. Generally, our kids don't have to do chores on their birthdays, but this was something she was supposed to do Monday night, so here she is on her birthday hanging up her clothes.

After breakfast we set to work decorating her cake. I wanted to make a small cake because she had already had cupcakes at her party and I really didn't want a bunch of leftovers sitting around, so I baked a small cake in a casserole dish along with a few cupcakes. Then I looked online for ideas on how to decorate it. She really wanted a dalmation cake, so I did my best! I think it looks more like a speckled bear myself, but she was happy with it. Also, note Kelsey's hairstyle. She insisted.

Kelsey really wanted to have her birthday dinner at CiCi's Pizza. In order to miss the big dinner rush, Ben and I decided to meet up over there on his way home. We got there about 10 minutes before he did, and while we were waiting, I tried singing the Apple Cider song (girls camp, anyone?) with them to keep out minds off the delicious aromas permeating the air. This brought about one of the greatest pleasures I have - I embarassed Olivia. She started ducking down in the front seat of the van so no one could see here, and eventually ended up sitting on the floor of the van. When she saw me taking a picture of her, she started trying to get up, but I thought it turned out pretty good, still!

Also, here are a couple of pictures of Kelsey & Connor enjoying the birthday dinner at Cici's.

When we got home we invited our neighbors over the join in some birthday singing and cake-cutting with us. Danni was out, but Amber and the two boys came over. We all gathered around and sang Happy Birthday, but then the unthinkable happened....

Don't worry - we relit the candles and she got to blow them out this time.

All in all, Kelsey had a great birthday. We love you, Kelsey-girl!

Entertainment

I noticed Connor was very quiet this afternoon while I was ironing, so I turned around and this is what I saw :

So, tell me again why we buy him toys?