Play Dough

Today we made play dough. This is actually the first time I've made play dough with the kids, which is weird because I made it all the time with the kids I babysat when I was younger. They had fun and we'll definitely be doing it again in the future. We made it with Kool-Aid and it turned out well and smells so much better than store bought Play-Doh (I hate the way that stuff smells.)

Books!

The downtown library had a huge used book sale so we went to check it out. It was awesome, we got all these books for $25. We got tons of space books, which is great because Bella (and Corey) love space and he can't wait to teach her all about it. Plus a few text books we can use for homeschooling when they get older. As well as a bunch of children's books.

My Irish twins

Pun intended ;)

Merry-Go-Round

So the kids went out to play this morning and when Corey went to check on them a few minutes later he said they had their bikes on the trampoline. I got up to tell them they can't do that but when they told me what they were doing I had to grab the camera. They made their own merry-go-round.

Quote of the week

From Bella:

"When I get big and I'm a mommy and John gets big and he's a daddy, I want to marry him."

Hazel

Water Table

We got our first water table when Bella was Phoebe's age and to this day it's still one of the kids favorite summer activities. This one is three years old and still in great shape, even after being left out during the winers. So when the weather hit 74 degrees last week we washed it out and filled it up. Phoebe loves it too of course and they played out there for a long time. Of course it turned into a water fight and everyone shed tears at some point. They all LOVE dumping water on other people but no one wants it dumped on them. Bella chased John through the yard several times.

Phoebe

John

Bella

Planetarium

Lately Bella is very into space, planets and astronauts. Ever since seeing the movies Planet 51 and Fly Me to the Moon (about 10 times each.) She's decided she's going to be an astronaut when she gets big. Not before then though because Corey showed her a video of Challenger exploding and she decided it's probably not a safe idea for kids to go to the moon. So anyway we decided to take a trip to the planetarium this weekend. We had gone several times while I was pregnant with Phoebe but she didn't really get into it then. This time she was bursting with excitement over everything. We had tons of fun.

On the moon




walking on the footprints was her favorite part

A Day in the Life...

So last week I was watching a Dr. Phil episode about John Robinson's study on how much leisure time mom's have. He claims mom's have 30-40 hours of leisure time a week. I do feel that I have a sufficient amount of down time in my life (not sure it amounts to 40 hours a week though) though many times I feel like things are non-stop crazy. Anyway I was curious so I decided to track a day as it happened and see exactly how much I have. There was times it was hard to take the time to write down what I was doing. I guess in the long run it boils down to what you consider "leisure time." For instance I had time to watch tv, but I did that while I was folding laundry, or while I was feeding the baby. Same with computer time, I'm almost always doing something else. I start every weekday watching the 10pm news from the night before, eating breakfast and breastfeeding Hazel all at the same time. If you want to call that leisure time then go ahead, I do find it relaxing most mornings. But I certainly don't have the freedom to do any of the three uninterrupted or whenever I please.

11:00pm last night- went to bed

2:30am - wake up to feed the baby

3:00am - up to feed baby again


3:30am - finally wake up Corey to get the baby back to sleep. My rule is if I feed her twice in half an hour and she still won't go back to sleep he has to get up and take over (it's only happened twice now.)

6:00am - Feed baby again (hardly slept at all since the 2:30am feeding.)

6:30-8:30am - finally get some real sleep

8:30am - Get Phoebe up and hang out in bed for a few minutes.

9:00am -

• Take load of diapers out of dryer and take that and babies downstairs.


• Tell John and Bella to get dressed


• Change and dress Phoebe and Hazel


• Make breakfast for the 3 kids and myself


• Eat my breakfast while feeding the baby again (and watching the news from the night before)

10:00am - let the big kids out to play in the backyard

10:15am - fold diaper laundry and put it away. Put another load of clothes in the washer.

10:30am - Change Phoebe's diaper

10:35am- Unload dishwasher and reload it (while Hazel screams in the background.) And make Phoebe another sippy cup.

10:45am - Change Hazel's diaper and feed her.

11:00am - Start writing this post (with one hand while holding a fussy baby.)

11:15am - Change Phoebe's diaper (again)

11:20am - Clean kitchen/dining room

11:30am - Hold screaming baby while the other kids play Legos. Hazel falls asleep and I spend the next 40 minutes trying not to move while she naps on me. It's really not as relaxing as it might sound.

12:10pm - Change Hazel and Phoebe's diapers

12:12pm - Make the kids a snack

12:15pm - Put the laundry into the dryer

12:20pm - Feed Hazel

12:30pm - surf the internet for 20 minutes, while using my foot to bounce Hazel in the bouncy seat and keep her happy.

12:50pm - Help the kids clean up Legos

12:55pm - Change Phoebe and Hazel's diapers

1:00pm - Make the kids lunch

1:05pm - Feed Hazel

1:15pm - Change Phoebe's poopy diaper, spray it off and put her down for a nap

1:30pm - Eat lunch

2:00pm - Take shower

2:20pm - Get kids ready to go to doctor (change Phoebe and Hazel, do Bella's hair etc.)

2:45-3:15pm - My 6 week post partum check-up (with kids in tow.)

3:30pm - drop off prescription at Wal-Greens

3:35-4:00pm - Take the kids to McDonald's for ice cream and to play (their reward for being so good at the doctors office) Feed Hazel while there.

4:15pm - Trip to Target

5:15pm - Take Bella to get her hair cut

6:00pm - Get home and give John a haircut

6:15pm - Change Phoebe and Hazel's diapers

6:20pm - Feed Hazel

6:30-7:00pm - Clean the garage and hang out in the backyard with the kids while Corey mows the grass

7:00pm - Change Hazel's diaper

7:03pm - Put the big kids in the tub

7:05pm - Put load of diapers in the washer and fold and put away clothes from the dryer while the kids take a bath.

8:00pm - Feed Hazel while Corey makes the kids dinner.

8:30pm - Change Phoebe's diaper, put her in pajamas and put the 3 kids to bed

8:40pm - Clean up kitchen, dining room and livingroom

Now it's 8:45pm and I'm going to eat dinner myself and watch Survivor. My true leisure time. Then I'll change Hazel's diaper again, get her ready for bed, feed her and go to sleep. And do it all again tomorrow.

I love my life and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Quote of the Week

From Bella

"Mommy, you need to take a picture of this and put it on the blog!"

Tub Toys

The kids are now playing outside for most of the day and getting much dirtier than they did in the winter. So that means lots of baths. Today we got some new tub toys, since they were getting kind of bored with their letters. These are pretty cute and they had fun making different buildings.