November activities (Nov 2013)

Photos and short captions of our activities in early November.

Traiboy building with his Erector set

With the finished Lawnmower that actually ran around.

Cute Little Guy frequently tells me to take a picture. I usually oblige.

First weekend in November meant first overnight camp out for our new boy scout.

Dinoguy got to go on his first overnight camp out with scouts. He was thrilled. He had a blast.

We remembered to take the other kids to the Home Depot workshop and build ships.

It was kind of odd to not have Dinoguy with us, but they had fun because there was a bounce house too.

Bouncing!

Trainboy made a bow tie with a dollar bill that he wore to church several weeks.

Princess is posing for a picture here. No idea where she got these poses from.

Little Guy felt he needed a turn posing. He's not quite as exuberant.

We went to the park and played with a stomp air rocket.

It might have been rainy, but it was warm. They played with this for over 45 minutes and might have gone longer but I was hungry so we had to leave.

Almost 39 weeks pregnant, documenting my belly.

 In preparing for the new baby and labor, I purchased an exercise ball to use in labor. It was also a great chair alternative in late pregnancy. I had not gotten one before because I figured kids would pop it. I was hopeful I could get this one to last at least until baby came. It made it almost a month but did not make it to labor day. We tried lots of repair ideas listed on the internet, which was not the smartest thing because some of the fixes cost almost as much as the ball. In case you are wondering, none of them worked permanently. If your ball gets a hole, just replace it. Duct tape, filling it with slime, bike repair kits...none of these worked for more than 24 hours. Luckily the hospital had a ball already that I was able to use.

Sitting on my ball post hole.

At Trainboys' last soccer game, here is Little Guy waiting in the rain with me.

Selfie at Lowes workshop with Little Guy

Their finished cars

Princess building her car.

 After the building workshop, Princess and I went dress shopping for an upcoming family wedding. Cute purple dresses on sale! It was the first time she and I have gone shopping together just the two of us. It was pretty fun.

She liked this one, I didn't.

I loved this one, she said it was itchy. Love the face.

Neither of us were crazy about this one.

Her favorite and the eventual winner after I checked with the bride and Grandma.

Boys creating a radio with snap circuits.

40weeks & 1day pregnant. We went to the park and I walked (waddled) around and did a few squats. Maybe it helped because the next morning I was in labor!

And that is a summary of some fun things we did in November before our new arrival!

July 2013 Activities

July begins with Independence day. We did go and see fireworks, but I managed not to bring my phone camera. I did bring glow bracelets for the kids which were a big hit waiting for the show to start.

Princess and Little Guy making froot loop necklaces again.

July also meant we could go in for an ultrasound! Yep, in November we are expecting a new baby to join our family! We are very excited.

J

We aren't finding out the gender until the birth!

We took the kids to Home Depot for the monthly building project. They are getting very good at it. Here is Princess nailing on the sides - she is quite good at it on her own now.

Little guy needs a little more guidance from Dad.

These two don't even sit near me anymore, they just go build it on their own now. Silly big kids growing up.

Here we are with our finished "minion" cars.

Trainboy really likes building structures out of these blocks. I often find towers built in my room.

We had some school history projects to finish up, here we are making candy stew using a Shakespeare poem. Dinoguy was really into it. He has a dramatic flair!

We had our last swim meet and shaved the boys' heads for it. Dinoguy loved it, Trainboy cried about having his head shaved until his dad shaved his head in solidarity. Fixitman pushed for me to shave Little Guy's head too, but I couldn't get myself to shave his beautiful red hair. What if it didn't come in red again?

Trainboy waiting to swim

Dinoguy waiting to swim

Shortly after pushing off.

Boys and their good friend we went to the meet with.

Princess with a shape design when she asked me to take a picture/

She also wanted a picture of this coloring page she did for her grandma.

Home Depot Safety Fun

Before baby, at the beginning of the month. Munchkin's second time to get to build the project and of course the cool police helicopter, firetruck and meeting the Home Depot guy.

 

Afterward, Fixitman and Dinoguy headed off to a cubscout day camp that was boy heaven. I wish we'd atleast taken a picture of how dirty Dinoguy was when he got home (and Fixitman had hosed him off before bringing him home!)

Lost

We lost Dinoguy at Home Depot today. For 15 minutes we searched the store, employees scoured the parking lot and guarded the exits. Then Grandpa Actuary finally spotted him in an aisle walking around looking for us. Turns out he was hiding behind some paint buckets because he was upset with me. I had no clue. After both of us hugging and crying, I sorted out his story. He had wanted to show me something and was upset when I didn't come immediately. So he ran off and hid and didn't come out when we searched for him. Then he became scared that we had left him and came out to look for us.

The photo is of Dinoguy at 17 months when I took him to Disneyworld while Fixitman had a conference in Orlando. He's wearing his harness that I used whenever we were in public from the first time he ran off and hid at 13 months until he was about 3 and I could reason with him that he could not run away from me and hide in public places. (But I kept it in my purse for just in case use until he was probably 5.) I did not want to buy it initially but we could not come up with another solution, especially when he was 13-14 months old. If I did not use it, he got lost. I stopped going to Wal-mart because I lost him there twice and they were so slow in reacting and helping search for him both times that I decided I couldn't go there with my kid.

When your child wears a harness/leash in public, there are 2 visible reactions. The parents who have been there and have had children who needed leashes smile sympathetically. They sometimes point it out to their children and tell them "You used to have one of those". The other reaction is disgust from those who believe I am harming my child or treating them inappropriately.

If you have never had a runner, a child who for some reason just takes off at full speed and either just keeps running or finds a hiding spot, you probably fall into the disgust category. And I would probably be one of those people if I hadn't had Dinoguy. Trainboy and Munchkin are not runners. Trainboy is a dawdler, who studies things and moves slowly. If I lose track of him, it is because I am moving too quickly and not holding his hand. Munchkin is afraid of other people still and holds onto my leg if put down in public. Dinoguy never had stranger anxiety. He has always gone easily to anyone and will talk to anyone.Which triples my fear when he's lost because someone could take his hand and ask him a few questions and he'd walk away easily with them. I tried instilling a fear of strangers in him. It didn't work.

Fixitman said he was making a new harness when we got home and Dinoguy actually said he wanted one. He just has a hard time staying with us because he has to go see everything in new places. I don't think he actually needs one, since he was hiding more because he was upset with me than just for fun this time. It is tempting though.

Home Depot Safety Month

October is Safety month at the local Home Depot kids building projects which means police helicopters, fire engines, a bounce house, and more along with the building project (a firehouse bank).

Fixitman had a meeting all day so I got to take all three kids myself and help build two banks at once. I only messed up a little and was able to fix it luckily. (I am so bad with these projects, I have learned more than the kids have I think.) Luckily Munchkin was happy to sit in the sling and watch and wasn't too grabby b/c I don't know how we would have done it otherwise.

Home Depot / Lowe's for May

Fixitman took the boys to Home Depot for the project this month while we were in El Paso. Though we didn't remember their aprons, they had fun building a mini wheelbarrow. Then this past weekend we went to Lowe's kid project since we finally remembered to sign up. They made little planter boxes and got a tiny plant to put in it. All the hammering was very loud. It seemed to have a lot more kids than the Home Depot one. Lots of building fun!

Trainboy has gotten pretty good with the hammer, though he still needs a bit of help. Dinoguy is quite fast, which may stem from his desire to always be the fastest.