Mommy brain

My purple Christmas lights Fixitman put up for me

Today I woke up and remembered Baby had a doctor appointment that morning. So I got breakfast going and the boys started on their violin, chores and academics so we could go to park day right after the doctor. Got meat out to thaw for dinner and made graham crackers for snacks at the park. Great start to the day.

Looked at the calendar and the appointment isn't until next week. Oops. Well at least we're ready for the park. Loaded up the truck with my three bags (food bag, diaper bag, craft bag), four children, lawn chair, ipod (we're listening to Harry Potter 6 on it when we drive), sling, purse, cards to mail and grabbed extra blankets for baby in case it was windy (it was.) Only went back in the house twice for forgotten items before finally heading to the post office to mail the first stack of Christmas cards and then to the park! 

Had a nice time at the park. It was cool and windy when we first arrived but tolerable. After a bit the sun came out and it was quite nice and Munchkin shed her shoes and jacket. Didn't see the boys much, they were quite busy with friends.

All our friends left a bit early from the park today so we packed up and left a little before 2 PM. (Normally stay another hour or so.) Decided to go to the museum we'd skipped yesterday due to my not feeling well. Realized a blanket had been dropped while loading up the truck and sent Dinoguy back for it. Stopped by home to pick up the stroller and take care of baby needs while Munchkin and Trainboy napped some.

Arrive at museum and strap Baby on in the baby bjorn for back support. Put Munchkin in the stroller and we're off! We had fun at the animatronic dinosaur exhibit at the museum and all the other more regular ones. It's quite empty in the afternoon on week days and we mostly had it to ourselves. Started home, remembered we were going to go to Santa's village tonight but I am too tired. Tell kids we'll go tomorrow instead. Get home and as I'm unloading the truck I realize I'm missing my sling. Frantically search truck for it and house. Call Fixitman upset and tell him I've left it at the park and am heading back. He points out traffic is practically at a standstill in that direction right now and I should wait. Moreover, he's almost done for the day and can go for me. Grudgingly admit that is a better plan.

Force myself to cook for children. Make hamburgers instead of planned meal because they don't take thinking. I do manage to round it out with the fruited jello I'd made earlier, some tamales Fixitman had brought home and cookies. Nice well balanced meal? I consider it a victory because we didn't eat out.

Fixitman calls from the park to find out where we were and manages to find my sling. Hooray! (I made this sling when Trainboy was born, I am very attached to it.) It must have fallen out of my bag while first leaving. Boys help pick up the house and then we watch an episode of Avatar cartoon with kids and then its scriptures, prayers and bedtime.

Mommy brain - where you remember appointments you don't have and don't notice when you drop things.

Hot!

It is hot already! Trainboy asked me today if it was still spring. When I said yes, he said "But spring isn't supposed to be so hot!" Sorry honey. Where we live, it just is. These photos are from the park recently. The kids did play some, but I mostly hid in the shade. Thank goodness its cooler in the shade!

Ducks!

 Munchkin can say ma & da & dou (dog). Today she started saying duc (duck) in earnest. It started in the morning with her bath duck, she would say duc and throw it at me. Then we went to the park and she pointed to the ducks and said duc! She was very excited to see the ducks. Her ck sound is hard to hear, but it is there and occasionally comes thru clearer. It is clearly different from dou (dog) when she points to Sarge.

I've been signing words to her pretty reguarly for months now and she hasn't felt the need to sign back at me. She finds yelling and pointing to be fairly effective overall. I thought she signed nurse one day but she hasn't repeated it. We'll keep at it and maybe she'll become a signer. But she sure is trying to communicate!

Here is a video of us at the park and her saying "duc" as she walks towards the ducks and the pond. 

Thanksgiving trip part 3

We visited Vicksburg on the way back home. It was awesome. We learned all about the battle at Vicksburg, a key battle and turning point in the civil war. There was a 47 day siege here.

We saw the remains of the USS Cairo, the first ironclad sunk by an electronic mine. We saw a lot of monuments and read a lot of plaques. The boys loved it because basically, they played war all day with all the cannons. We counted 98! The ranger said there were 120+ but since a portion of the park was closed for repairs, we didn't get to see them all. They have preserved most of the dirt build up lines dug by the soldiers, putting trees down to keep the soil from washing away. It is neat to be able to realize that the mounds were used as defenses and to be there on an actual battlefield. The boys earned their Junior Ranger badges too, and will tell you all about the battle of Vicksburg if you want to listen.

Cannons!

Learning about the battles in the visitor center

Pretending to fire cannons

In a tunnel dug by the Union soldiers.

In front of the reconstructed USS Cairo.

Vicksburg National Military Cemetery

Munchkin climbed into this at a cool small local museum

A very awesome reconstructed model of the siege at the small private museum. Tons of cool ship models too.

Fish!

At the park this week we got to see them stock the pond for fishing! The man filling the pond with some more fish was very nice and let the kids look in his truck full of fish and talked with them lots. It was reminiscent of our trip to the Fishery last year.Dinoguy is in the camofluage shirt, looking into the fish tank in his trailer.

Family visits

My mom & 3 sisters stopped by for quick visits this past month. We went to the park with cousins, we played in the backyard on a homemade slip'n'slide. We played scrabble and ate yummy food. It was wonderful to see them.

(Please ignore the annoying (and incorrect I think) date stamp from my mom's camera. I turned it off for her after the fact, but am too lazy to go edit the pics and take it out.)Trainboy found a letter U on the ground at the park.

Munchkin walking with Auntie

2nd cousin

Gets a gift from Great grandma thru Great Auntie.

Dinoguy holds his cousin

Sweet munchkin w/Aunt

Me and my sisters

My sisters and my kids!

Sarge gets excited for the water play

She's a cute one.

Spies, slime and such

It's pretty hard to catch a spy on film. You have to be pretty sneaky. As it were, I couldn't get a photo of the other spy that's been trailing me lately. He was too fast!

The boys are so much fun! Today they asked to make slime so we made 4 kinds of slime from our slime kit and took them to share at the park. They were a big hit there too! Dinoguy learned chess at the park today and is quite excited about it.


This is a photo of Dinoguy's animals at the cantina a la the Lego Starwars game. Fixitman snuck a picture of it one morning. Imaginations are actively employed in our home.

Park crawling...

Or visiting 3 parks in one day by walking the greenpath between them with friends. It was a fun way to spend the day, though we were slightly sunburnt and tired when we went home!

Venturing out with Grandma

With Fishing Grandma's help, we managed some short trips out toward the end of last week. A short trip to a weekly park day was much needed for the kids and the next day Grandma treated us to a trip to Chuck E Cheese for a little bit.

Fishing Grandma snapped some pictures at the park, I pretty much sat in a chair and chatted with other moms. The boys had a blast; there is a great rock feature in the playground we were at this week that is popular.

First a photo of me as I added more blankets to cover Munchkin and I.

What is Trainboy contemplating?

He received a recorder for his birthday, though he sees it as a magic flute a la Little Einsteins. It was the favorite toy of the day. Did he give a concert to the ducks?

Dinoguy in the thick of it with kids atop the rock wall.

At Chuck E Cheese, we found new toys since we last visited and also that the boys skills had improved on some games. A virtual ride was very popular, it vibrated you and moved you as if you were flying/riding a roller coaster/etc. while you watched the animated graphics on a screen. Grandma got in more cuddles with Munchkin and multi-tasked by studying some of her poetry homework as well.

Park fun equals tired mom

I must be getting pretty pregnant. It is time to slow down I guess. Mom, stop laughing. 3 hours at the park was hard on me and we headed home not because our friends were leaving or the kids were tired - but because I needed a nap.

I love being in Texas where we have nice weather most of the fall and winter and park play is just as possible. It was a beautiful fall day at the park and the boys had a great time. Dinoguy was excited to have his own light saber for play. The back of our truck and the top of another car became a fort at one point; the kids dug to the bottom of the sand box and found the plastic lining - they had more slide + rock experiments and more. Good times were had.