School

School started this week for the 2 big kids and they were very excited. I was also very excited to get them back into school and a normal regular schedule without travel. Princess started one day and then Buddy started the next day. As for Munchkin, she is home with me and since she has no one to follow around, she is finding all sorts of ways to get into trouble. She likes water, trash cans, toilet paper, wipes, and emptying all the clothes out of her dresser. It has been a challenging week for mommy.

Toys Again?

And some people wonder why I have a headache at 8:30 in the morning. This was recorded a little too early in the morning for me.

She had been playing with these for a long time before I even thought to get the camera. Notice all the toys littering the floor behind her. She doesn't care about those.

Toys

Why do I buy toys when canned goods are just as fun?

End of summer

School started this week, but doesn't everyone need one last waterfight of the summer.

Cooking Experiments

At the end of July I took an Indian cooking class that a friend hosted. It was a fun night with lots of discussion and some great food. Since then I have made yogurt and realized it is relatively easy and is much cheaper and I can customize with fruit and honey to my taste.

This week I also made a complete Indian meal for my family. I made Dal (bean stew), Basmati rice, Mango Lassi, and Naan (bread from scratch) It took more time than my typical meals, but it was fun to make something new in the kitchen. After my husbands first reaction of "Where's the meat?" He loved it. Having fresh Naan made it really good too. Leftovers even disapeared quickly. Now I need to take another cooking class to try something new. Does anyone know anyone who will teach me Thai cooking?

Shark

Princess also got to try another new thing. She loved Sharking, she asked me when we could get a shark of our own, (nevermind the boat to go with it) Buddy wouldn't go on it, but she thought it was the best. At first she went on it with cousin J. Then she went alone. Then she got daring enough to try it standing up. It was her favorite thing to do all weekend and she would stay on this until we made her quit and get off. Our favorite boat driver for the weekend. Thanks S!! All Buddy wanted to do all weekend was ride in the boat. I think he rode in the boat more than any other person all weekend. He had a blast. Munchkin, not so much, she wanted to walk around and expore more, she hated being contained.

On the lake

The kids had a GREAT time in New York, they got to try lots of new stuff and had a blast with the extended family. We slept in 2 tents in their yard, so Daddy got to set up the tents. The big kids did great sleeping in their own tent. Princess is a very adept climber and had no problem climbing up the rope, or swinging on the huge swimngset. The big kids LOVED the see saw, and the huge fenced in sand box behind them. They also loved driving the tractor, and riding on it with cousin S.

The LAST road trip

We got back from the last road trip of the summer. While I enjoyed visiting all the people we got to visit, and we had a great time on each of our trips. We had too many trips for the summer. Our total for the summer:

• One camping trip, (45 minutes away)
• Two trips to see Grandma and Grandpa (4 hours away)
• One trip to Pennsylvania (11 hours away)
• One trip to Connecticut (11 hours away)
• One trip to upstate New York (12 hours away)

I don't ever recommend this much travel in one summer. Plus this doesn't include the random business trips that Daddy went on by himself. The whole family is ready for some time at home. It is good that school is starting this week!

Creative kids

I love watching my kids be creative, today they have been playing with the "Little People" house. They are pretending they are people taking swimming lessons and jumping off the edge of the desk into the deep end of the pool. It is fun to watch. I did not take any pictures because it was more fun just to watch.

Swimming

Princess has finally figured out swimming. For the first time she jumped into the pool at the deep end and swam to the ladder without any help. She has been in swimming lessons for a full year, but hasn't been able to figure it out. It was great to see her have some success.

Sorry, no pictures, I was in the water with her. Once she realized she could do it, she did it over and over and over again. I have a feeling we will be going swimming this weekend so that we can show daddy.

Bikes

Buddy has been telling us that he was going to ride a 2-wheel bike without training wheels when he turned 4. This week we took off the training wheels. He is a little bit anxious and did not want to practice for very long, but he did have a little bit of success before he told me he was done for the day. He was very proud.

Peanut butter baby

This little girl LOVES peanut butter. Especially when she gets leftover chocolate cupcakes after her peanut butter.

Norfolk Tides

This week we had Rob's official "wetting down" (party to celebrate his promotion) A bunch of his co-workers all went to a Norfolk Tides game. It was a hot day, and we were really thankful for seats in the shade. The Tides really got beaten and the score was 11-3, but it was fun. The kids got to run the bases after the game and they got to eat lots of junk food. We left Munchkin home with a babysitter, and that was the best decision we could have made. It was way too hot and confined for her.

It was a geat way to spend a summer day, however it would have been better if it was about 15 degrees cooler.

Rain

We have had really hot weather and with that comes afternoon thunderstorms. After one this week, Princess told me that we should go out and play in the puddles. Of course after being cooped up inside all day we went out. They got to use their rain boots. At the end of our walk, I think they had more water in their boots than anywhere else. They had lots of fun. Check out our little video.

Happy Birthday

This week was Buddy's 4th Birthday. He was very excited and kept asking when it would happen. We had an early celebration on vacation where he got a cool pirate hat, but it seems we had a pirate theme. He loved opening his presents and got a Pirate ship and pirate lego's. He was loving it. Though I think his favorite present was his guitar, he has been asking and asking to get one (for about a year). So of course we got one and he now wants to play his guitar and sing ALL the time. To protect my own ears I got a tuner so it would sound a little bit better. Now the problem is that I should probably start him on lessons, but most teacher won't teach guitar to a 4-yr old. If I can find someone, they will need patience. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG GUY!!