Our New Summer Schedule

Let's get right down to business shall we?  

I'm a huge slacker of a mom.

There, it's off my chest...we can move on.

When it comes to the basics, my kids get fed and have clothes.  But thanks to home sickness, stress, pregnancy blahs (tired beyond belief, nauseous all day, grumpy, did something dumb and hurt my lower abdomen area and can hardly do anything without it hurting) things were getting neglected beyond that.  

And I knew that really needed to be remedied.

So in order to keep from going absolutely CRAZY this summer with Brielle out of school, leaving us schedule-less, I decided it was time to implement a new summer schedule.  

Plus getting a little slave labor out of my kids didn't hurt either.

We won't really be here long enough (at least we hope) to sign them up for any activities, and we won't get to Utah soon enough to sign them up there either.  Poor children...have to go without me spending hundreds on them this summer. I hope they survive.

Anyway, I came up with two different job charts, and a reward system to help get us through this summer.

The first job chart is for the girls.  It's their "Daily Chores":

Obviously these are pretty easy chores, and should go without saying.  But like I said, I'm a huge slacker and there are definitely days that none of the things on this chore chart happened.

Our second job chart stemmed from an idea I heard somewhere, sometime from someone.  I heard to split your home into zones, and focus on ONE zone a day, making that area look nice.  I really liked this because I have a BAD problem of starting to straighten one room, getting distracted by something in another room and working there, getting distracted again...etc., etc., and never actually completely cleaning one room.  So, we now have our "Weekly Zones".

When the Daily Chores and Zone for the day are completed, I created a "Fun Jar" full of little slips of paper with activities, that...get this...I do WITH my kids.  I think that was more exciting to them than anything.

And yes, I know it's not a jar...I fully expected my kids to say something about that, but so far they haven't.  I just didn't have a jar and am too cheap to go buy one.

So today's activity from the jar was "Trace your hands on paper, color on jewelry and paint the nails."

As you can see the girls were so excited I let them use REAL fingernail polish to paint the hands that they went a little hog wild.  But that's okay, they had a great time.

So let's hope this helps keep summer moving along without too much boredom, fighting or laziness.  Because those are three things that I really can't stand.

Kindergarten Graduation

It's hard to believe it...but Brielle graduated from Kindergarten today!  I've been counting down the days, so ready for summer to just start.  But now that she's actually graduated, it's crazy!  I can't believe she'll be in 1st grade next year!  

Brielle has done SO well in Kindergarten, we couldn't be more proud.  She's blown the "benchmark" reading goals out of the water and is really gaining a love of reading.  Her teacher loves her (who doesn't though?) and told us she is so sad we're leaving and is considering calling President Obama to make sure we stay here so the other teachers get the joy of teaching Brielle.  

Brielle is such a WONDERFUL girl. 

Right before heading off to her last day as a Kindergartner.

 

Walking in for the start of the ceremony.  Apparently they were told not to talk to people and stuff, so she's trying SO HARD to not look at us and laugh.  Such an obedient girl.

It's hard to see her, but she's standing up saying:
"Good afternoon, my name is Brielle.  When I grow up I want to be a radiologist, a tennis player and a cheerleader."

Our little graduate.

Outside of her classroom door.

Congratulations Brielle!  We love you!

Summer Fun!

So technically the first day of Summer was June 21st...however we are STILL IN SCHOOL here in Washington until Friday (for Brielle) and Tuesday for the rest of the kids.  Can you believe that?  It's ridiculous.  I guess the one thing that makes it okay is the weather has still been cold enough, for the most part, that we aren't tempted to skip school and go play outside.  May as well be in school if it's going to be raining, right?

Anyway, there have been a few WONDERFUL sunny days which we have taken full advantage of...in the few hours after school.  So pretty much get ready for a ridiculous amount of pictures as I show you far more of my kids playing in the sun than you could have ever hoped to see.

You're welcome!

The water table has been a HUGE hit.  Although getting Addison not to drink out of it has proven difficult.

 Here I'm getting a lecture from her about how the water IS just fine.

Running away from Daddy who has the hose.

 You can't get me!

He probably asked her if she wanted to be sprayed.

Can I take your picture Claire?

Singing "If You're Happy and You Know It!"  Her face definitely knows it.

 A rare Brielle sighting...this girl avoids the camera lately.

Another sunny day, we introduced Addison to "running" through the sprinklers...although I think Brielle is just aiming it at Addison's face.

 

Which she didn't seem to mind.
(I asked Claire if she knew where Addison's sun hat was...she came back with this which Addison insisted on wearing.)

This time the water startled her a bit.  It was COLD!

But once again...she didn't mind.

Brielle avoiding the camera some more.

Stupid human tricks on the trampoline.

 

Claire didn't want to run through the spinklers, which is why she wasn't in hardly any pictures, but she was more than happy to strike some poses for me. 

(She got this hat for herself when asked where her sun hat was...can you tell we haven't seen sun FOREVER so all that sun gear is packed away - who knows where.)

 

Addison fake laughing at her.

And that is basically how we spend the sunny days.  

The house is going to pot in the meantime...but the cleaning will always be there tomorrow.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Marty took Brielle and Claire to a Daddy Daughter Dance here on base.  It was a "princess" theme and the girls had a BLAST!  They got a wand and tiara, some balloons, a teddy bear, bubbles, a princess bag, a craft kit to bring home with them.  While they were there they got to make a paper craft for their daddy, eat cake and have punch, got to dance their little hearts out and just loved being with their daddy.  

Here they are just getting ready to walk out the door.  I wish Claire wasn't hiding behind Brielle, because her hair looked SO cute.  It's finally long enough that I was able to curl it like Brielle's is.  Oh well...look at those happy faces!

Marty took our old camera with him (since it's small) and took some pictures and video while they were there as well.

 These are the papers they made for their daddy's.  If I'm not mistaken, Brielle's is on the left and Claire's on the right.

 

 Two princesses.

They're looking a bit worn out.

I put the videos together here just for a short clip of some of the fun they had.  (including attempting the Macarena).

Kids Funnies

I haven't felt much like blogging lately...or really doing anything for that matter.  This pregnancy is kind of kicking my behind.  I can't decide if I truly feel sicker this time around, or if it's just harder because I have more going on.  I'm undecided.  I think it secretly makes Marty happy as he is hopeful that it is extra sickness due to the baby being a boy.  Anyway, one thing I have remembered is to write down funny things the kids have said.  

So...enjoy some kid funnies from the last couple months.

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Claire:  I like the name Fuchsia for a girl!

Brielle:  Hey, that's {my friend's} mom's name!

Me:  No, her name is Violet.

Brielle:  Oh.

(They're both in the purple family, right?)

Brielle decided she was going to take care of Addison lately.  She wants to do everything for her and keeps saying "It's so you can just relax and have a fun time.  If you need to work or shower or anything, I'll just take care of her."  At first I was really touched that she wanted to help...then the truth started coming out.  "When Addison goes to bed I'm going to be SO exhausted, I won't even be able to clean."  and "Taking care of Addison is my excuse for not cleaning."  At least she's honest right? 

Claire's Highlights in a prayer:

"Please bless Brielle will stop pretending my yellow coat is a frog."

"Please bless our dog can grow up bigger and take care of herself."

"Please bless we can stop getting the ice inside our souls giving us a cold." 

"Please bless we can play on the trampoline whenever we feel like it."

Brielle's Highlights in a prayer:

"Please bless our NEW baby can grow up healthy and strong and get married in the temple."

[As for the rest of the kids...well, they're on their own I guess.  Her prayers pretty much revolve around the "new baby" now.]

Me:  Claire, did you go potty and forget to flush?

Claire: No, I flushed, it was a quiet flush, but the toilet is out of batteries so it wouldn't work even though I kept trying. Did you know the toilet used batteries? Because they're dead. 

After doing a few loads of laundry, dishes, cleaning the family room, putting away some laundry and making a menu and grocery list, I sat down to check something on the computer. Brielle walked up to me "Mom, why do you just want to sit around and be so lazy today?" So unappreciated. ;)

Marty thought he smelled something stinky, and asked Addison if it was her, to which she grabbed her nose and yelled "stinky!" (A favorite of mine.)  Brielle said, "I'll check!" She runs up behind Addison, takes a big wiff and gets the most horrified look on her face "Ewww! It smells like a blow up." [You mean blow out?]  Then Claire comes running, "Hey, I want to smell!  Yep, it smells like a blow up!"  Really people...that's nasty.

Brielle has started her birthday wish list...already...even though her birthday was just in April.  Some of my favorites on the list:  Hair crimper, go on America's Got Talent, be a kid scout, learn kung fu, puppy {because "I'm pretty sure by my birthday we'll have gotten rid of our dog, so I'll want another one."}. 

Claire after I told her she was so nice for sharing a fruit snack:

"You should have named me Love, because I love one another."  

And there you have it...my hilarious kids.  I know you appreciate me sharing.

And since no post is complete without a picture:

 

You're welcome.

Be careful what you wish for

You always hear people say "Be careful what you wish for!" 

I am now starting to see the wisdom in that.

Back in April, I posted a status on Facebook saying:

"I could really go for some GREAT news.  Getting tired of the not so great."

The day after posting that on Facebook, I got some unexpected good news.
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SURPRISE......Baby Davis #4 is on it's way.

And trust me, nobody is more surprised than we were.

(Now, if you care to hear WHY we were so surprised, read on, but this might be lengthy.)

Let me take you on a walk through an interesting timeline.

April 6: Go to doctor to have IUD removed, there is speculation that it is one of the culprits in some unusual symptoms I was having. 

April 15: Get a letter from the doctor about an abnormality that would need a possible biopsy.  Awesome.

April 21:  Go to the regular doctor to have other blood work run, including a "standard" pregnancy test. Dr. gives me his theory of what is going on with me, which wasn't the best.  I post the status about wanting good news on Facebook.

April 22:  Doctor calls in the morning:

D: This is Dr. X (not his real name), I got your lab results from yesterday.
C:  Okay? (He said he would only call if something was positive...starting to worry.)
D: Everything came back normal.
C: Okay? (Confused why he's calling)
D:  Well, except for one.
C:  Okay? (I wasn't sure what else to say)
D:  The pregnancy test...it's positive.
C:  Oh. My. Goodness.
D:  I hope that's good news.
C:  Well, it's not something I'm mad about...it's just a little.....
D:  Inconvenient?
C:  Yeah, sure wasn't planning on that.

And that's how I found out we are expecting baby #4.
I hadn't even missed my period yet. Apparently, this baby was meant to come NOW.

Poor Marty found out when he called me while hiding in a port-a-potty out on the range.
 

So, Merry Christmas to us...because ready or not, Baby #4 is due December 27th!