A Wee Little Mess

So Chris got a kind of last minute invite to go the Magic Finals game tonight. He came home after basketball camp for close to 2 hours, so he told the kids he would take them down to the pool for a short time. They were in a hurry, getting on swimsuits, grabbing towels, pool toys, etc. I stayed home to start dinner. When they got back home, everyone came in and went off in different directions to change clothes. Chris walks back into the kitchen at the same time that I look over to see Luke standing there in a wet puddle, trying to pull his swim shorts off. And then I hear Chris say "Oh Luke, did you go poo-poo?" And then I hear "Oh no. I forgot to put a swim diaper on." And then I think "Oh joy. This is going to be FUN!".

Sure enough, Luke had done a little "number 2" in his swim shorts, and he was standing in a puddle of some type of liquid. We weren't sure if it was just lots of water from his shorts (very small chance it was this) or if he had done a little pee there (very good chance that this was the case), so we treated it as he had used the floor as his personal toilet and started trying to clean it up. Oh yeah, need to make a note that Cole walked in from outside shortly after this and slipped on the puddle, landing on his bottom on the floor. Being the very caring and sensitive mom that I am (at least in this crazy moment), I laugh (and then I say "I'm so sorry for laughing - you just looked so funny. Are you o.k.?")

Did I mention I had a chicken quesadilla cooking on the stovetop? Thankfully it was the last one to be cooked and was an extra, because it got burnt in all the chaos. We quickly scrambled to clean Luke up, the floor, the bathtub and bathroom floor (from the mess of trying to clean Luke). The whole time Luke is standing in the bathtub going "yuh-ee, yuh-ee" (yucky) and pointing to the mess all around him. The kids are saying "Ooh, gross!" Chris is saying "I'm so sorry. I can't believe I forgot that." And I'm just laughing.

We got it all cleaned up and sat down to eat a quick dinner. Chris gave hugs and kisses and ran out the door to get to the game. Had to add this picture that he sent to me via text of the TV guys there at Amway Arena.

The long week

Luke started running a fever Monday morning, and it didn't go away until Thursday afternoon (after a trip to the doctor), so we stayed at home (and inside alot) for most of the week. We even pretty much chilled on Friday, since Luke was still not 100% by then. Cole had a dentist appointment Thursday morning (Luke was with Chris), so I was actually kinda looking forward to it by the time it came around - a reason to get out of the house!

I struggled with things to keep the kids busy (not used to having Cole home, too, and being at home all the time!). Here we made a "city", complete with roads, grass, a pond, buildings, etc. I forgot to take a picture of the completed project, so it's still a work-in-progress in these pictures. The kids had fun with it, and now Ansley has claimed it has her own for her Matchbox cars.

We had a picnic later that day - had to take advantage of the times Luke was feeling ok (when he had the Motrin in him!).

Water Park

A local park has a really nice area where there are all sorts of sprinklers and different types of water sprayers, etc. We went there on Monday and the kids had a blast.

Forever Young

So we're riding in the car the other day and had a conversation that went something like this:

One of the kids (can't remember which): "Mom, did you play basketball when you were younger?"

Me: "Yes, I did. That's why I can beat Cole when we play" (though that's not usually the case - he usually beats me because I am too scared to play very hard against him. The last time I tried to really get a rebound, he cut in front of me and under my feet, knocking me over so that I fell on the ground and skinned my hands up, just like when I was a kid!)

Cole: " I know that you played basketball because I saw a picture"

I reminded him that he had brought that picture of me in my basketball uniform (9th grade) back from Nana and Papa's house. I had curly hair, was two sizes smaller (size 0 at the time!), and definitely looking much younger.

Cole says "Yeah, you look the same Mom. Just like when you were in that picture. Same hair and skin and everything."

That was probably 16 years ago...while it's definitely not true that I look exactly the same, he did make my day! :-)

Ansley's Birthday Party

Ansley's 1/2 sleepover was Friday night... It was a pretty fun time for all of us, though Chris and I were pretty pooped after the 7 little 3-6 year girls left. When they first got her, the girls made a little craft.

Caleb came with his sister Katey so that Cole could have a buddy too. They watched a Tom & Jerry movie in our bedroom, played basketball and played with their Nascar cars. Luke joined them for a little bit of the action :-)

Playing a toss the pillow type game (kind of like musical chairs or hot potato) - to make it more of a treat instead of a disappointment for getting "out", the girls got their faces painted once they were out. No pictures of that since I was the one painting the faces (only flowers or hearts - had to keep it quick and easy!). They also got little sticker earrings put on their ears.

The picture below is with her two closest friends, Olivia and Katey.

Opening presents...

Originally she had told me she wanted one of those Barbie doll cakes with the actual Barbie doll stuck in the middle of it (and the cake is her dress). I wasn't too excited about that, because the cake from Publix is not cheap and I wasn't sure about making that one, but then she said she just wanted cupcakes. Hooray!! Very easy to do! I can't believe she's 5 now... she definitely has her fiesty moments, but I love her (mostly!) sweet and sensitive heart. When I picked her up from her class at church on Sunday, the teacher said Ansley had been a good friend to Cade, our precious little special needs friend. She is almost protective of him when she is around him, and I am so thankful for those little things that she sees, even at this young age. Happy Birthday Ansley Kate! We love you so, so much!!!

Chris the Snake Hunter

Ansley's party was to start at 5:30 on Friday night. I was frantically trying to clean up and get ready for it when Chris got home a little after 4. I heard the garage door go up, so I was glad to know that he was home...until he comes in and says he saw a snake go into the stripping along the bottom of the garage door. We all ran out and sure enough, there was a snake peeking his head out. We were afraid the snake might be poisonous because there were some red and gold colored spots all over the snake, so Chris went to work trying to get the snake out. I brought out these large grill tongs and Chris tried to push the snake out.

At first he couldn't get the snake to come out...I started to panic, because we should be getting ready for the party, and even worse, the snake could get into our garage, where our kids have all their bikes, toys, etc and where they're constantly playing in. Talk about sweating (especially for Chris!) Finally, Chris used his hands to feel for the snake and found him at the other end from where we first saw him peek his little head out. He was able to push Mr. Snake out and then eventually killed him (with a shovel, which I hurriedly grabbed and tossed to Chris - from a safe distance!). Here the kids are checking out the snake...

And then we looked up online and realized it was just a corn snake, which is not poisonous. I felt a little bad for killing him...but not that bad. Oh, I could just imagine finding him later in the week in our garage. Whew!

Memorial Day weekend

It was kind of a last minute decision to go to Jacksonville for the weekend. The kids were asking about seeing Nana and Papa, and since I can't really think of many ways to help them out right now, other than letting them see the kids, we decided to head there for a short visit. It was a lovely weekend (NOT) as it rained the entire weekend. Silly me, I took my bathing suit and all my beach attire, as if I thought we might actually enjoy a nice day at the beach. Chris and Papa did take the kids to the pool for a short time when there was a break in the rain, but I had no desire to do that (it was cold!). The kids still had fun playing outside (who says a little rain is going to stop them?). You can't see in these pictures, but it is raining...

Cole LOVES to build, especially at Nana and Papa's house. He has a wonderful little friend, Cooper, who lives across the street. Cooper is the same age as Cole (just finished Kindergarten also) and they are really good buds. They love creating all sorts of projects out of my dad's "stuff" in the garage. Cole started working on this one on his own.

And my sweet husband just cannot sit still, which turns out to be a good thing for my parents (especially Nana, as she gets lots of yard work done while he's there!). They have a HUGE corner lot and it is not an easy task to complete the mowing. You can't tell in this picture, but it is raining - he pushed on even through the rain (and no shoes - only brought his flip flops, which he shed after the first few minutes of mowing).

Saturday night dinner...Luke just loves corn - especially corn on the cob. I found that out last week when I cut the corn off his cob - he was not happy about that and wanted the cob that was on MY plate. At my parents house, he ate his own cob and finished off mine and Ansley's. I think he would have kept on eating till there was nothing left if we hadn't stopped him.

Ansley's officialy birthday was on Sunday, though we have been celebrating for the entire month now, or so it seems. We gave her our presents and one more from Nana and Papa (and took her out to dinner later that night, back in Orlando).


The birthday girl with Nana and Papa.