The big bathtub

We managed to get into my sister's pool and swim some while we were home. The water is a little cooler than we are used too. ha ha ha.

The kids favorite place to swim was their big "bathtub" aka the hot tub. The fact that its just a little warmer than our pool at home helped I am sure. ha

YUK

Peyton will eat or at least try anything to eat, she certainly doesn't get that from me. The other three are like their Mommy and very picky. She ate an entire bottle of pickled beets by herself while we were at Grandpa's house, she just loves them. The others wouldn't even try them.

I had to throw in the picture of Sydney dipping strawberries in chocolate, its just too cute.

Early Years Centre

We took the kids to a place called the Early Years Centre. What a great place for kids - and its FREE! We dropped in and did a class with singing and dancing and another exercise class. There are tons of toys and arts and crafts that the kids can play with too. Whats better than painting and playing with play dough and not having it all over your house! The only downside to it.........there is not one where we live :(

Happy birthday Paw!

It was my Dad's 75th birthday today. We went to my siter Sharon's for supper and cake. I am so glad we got to be there to celebrate with him. The kids were just thrilled with two birthdays so close together.Grandpa had a great time and was thrilled to be able to celebrate with all his grandchildren there. He also got lots of help opening his presents.

Hiking on the bruce trail

Poor little Caden caught what Peyton had so he stayed home with Daddy and Grandpa while the rest of us headed out to Spencer Gorge/Webster's Falls Conservation Area. My sister Sharon, my two nephews Shawn and Kevin and Alex a friend of theirs who is just like family all went. We had a great time. We must have walked about 5 miles and the kids did great. They got some rides on the boys shoulders to help out with tired legs. It had a great waterfall you could climb under and then part of the Bruce Trail ran through it. It was a beautiful walk with some awesome views of the Hamilton escarpment. My oldest nephew Shawn was a nervous wreck with the kids, there were some pretty steep drops and very few siderails.....we held on tight. Kevin caught the kids about a million daddy long legs in their bug catchers which thrilled them to no end too.

Happy birthday to me!

Had my birthday at home with family and it was fabulous. Bob and I took the kids to a park and traipsed through the woods in the morning, that is one of my favorite things to do. Unfortunately the critters keep me out of the bush in Texas :(

Then we went to my sisters for supper. She made me the best present I have ever received. She painted a picture of the kids from when we were in Oklahoma. She did an amazing job!!!!! Here is the painting and the picture she made it from.

My sister decorated my cake too, with faces of Bob, I and the kids, it was great. Its nice to have such a talented sister!!!

Poor pitiful Peyton

Poor little Peyton has a tummy bug now and feels awful. I took the other three to the park to see the animals and play on the swings while Daddy and Grandpa stayed home to look after her. She slept a bunch and feels better now.

We had a ball at the park and got to see some cool animals. There was an ostrich that was snapping its beak at us and Spencer asked to pet it. So I did what all good parents would do and told him yes. Well he was not too happy when it bit him, poor little guy and BAD Mommy.

We're here

We made it to Canada and it only took us two days to drive. LONG days though as its 1600 miles - 14 hours of driving each day. The kids were great and only got antsy an hour or so before we got here complaining that their bums hurt. The car seats do not have great padding and they can't move around as they are strapped in so tight. They had red little tushies, but otherwise no worse for the wear. Sydney was begging me to pick her up and then saying "pleeeeeaaaaaase Mommy pleeeeaaaaase". Broke my heart, but we were almost there and too close to stop at a hotel again. We certainly had a car full too, 4 kids, a dog and a cat.

Now we are invading my Dad's house, he doesn't know what he's in for. ha ha ha

Here they are crashed in the hotel room on the way.

coxsackie

Caden has been complaining about a sore throat for a couple of days and when I looked, it was covered in canker like sores. We are about to leave for Canada tomorrow so I wanted to get him checked out before we left. Turns out he (and everyone else) has coxsackievirus. They have the herpangina type with sores in the mouth and throat. Caden got it the worst. I have been giving them tums to coat their throats, maalox, benadryl, motrin and lots of ice cream.

Poor little guys are just miserable and you just have to wait it out.

He loves to swim, but just sat on the steps looking pathetic because his throat hurt so much.

Bye bye

My friends left this morning to go back home. I worked all day, not sure what is worse - driving all day or working. ha ha ha
I have been friends with Elizabeth since we were 5 so we had lots to catch up on and lots of laughs. We had a ball and did tons of swimming. We would spend almost all summer in the pool at the park when we were growing up.

Now I will just have to look forward to her next visit. Of course we are leaving for Canada on Thursday so I will see her again in a couple of days.

Family picture

We took Elizabeth and her family for pictures today and I just had to get one of us too.You can see Elizabeth's family shot on my July 2nd post. She got sucked in and spent a fortune and got some great pictures. I behaved myself even though it was really hard!!!!

Then Liz and I went for pedicures where they massaged our legs for an entire hour!!! Then we enjoyed a very leisurely dinner at Olive Garden all by ourselves. It was so nice to be able to eat and not have to cut anyone's food up or get up a thousand times during my meal.

Chuck E Cheese's

We went to the library this morning for story time and handed in our reading logs. The kids each received a free book and a bunch of great coupons, as we signed up for the summer reading program.
The story was about an opera singer and they had a real singer read it.

She sang a bunch of parts too, the kids thought that was great and tried to immitate her on the way home. My ears will never be the same again. ha ha ha
We took Elizabeth, Ronald and Noah to one of our favorite restaurants today....Chuck E Cheese's. Noah really seemed to enjoy it and my kids had fun as usual.

Happy 4th of July

We had a great day today. We started by going to see "Barnyard" with all the kids. It was a really cute movie. Then we had some small fireworks at the house before we headed off to the mall to watch the big show. The kids really enjoyed it. Noah unfortunately missed the fireworks at the mall because he was too tired. They had fun with the sparklers and made Mommy very nervous.

They're here!!

My friend Elizabeth arrived today with her husband Ronald and 2 1/2 yr old son Noah.
They drove from Canada to stay with us for a couple of weeks.
Now if it would just stop raining!!!!