Pajama Party

You probably didn't get an invitation, but tonight was Clara's big pajama party.

Planned at about 4:30pm this afternoon, I don't really know what put the idea in her head. But we all were told that we were invited to the pajama party this evening. The requirements were that you took a bath, went potty and put on pajamas (grown-ups included). Thankfully, the requirements were waived once it was decided that two girls were clean enough to skip bath (one of their favorite "treats"). Even the pj requirement was waived, but just for grown-ups. And nakey was okay for a baby (although he did get dressed during the "party" in his pjs).

The festivities were kicked off with an impromptu "song" with the girls holding their hula hoops and chanting a welcome for us. Then it was time for singing and music (provided by the pre-recorded songs on our lovely keyboard that Santa brought (from Wal-Mart) several years ago that will probably last until the kids are in their 20's). Next it was time for drum playing - turn over several large plastic containers from Costco and you have a great drum set. And in case you missed it the first several times it was announced, Clara is the teacher and Gracie is the helper. But Gracie doesn't have a clue what we are doing because Clara is in charge (this was a very important concept to her ... hard to relinquish that big sis power). Then Gracie left to go set up the next activity - resting. The rest of us (Clara, JM and me) got to sample the rest of the musical instruments (xylophone, slide whistle, drum, maraca) - of course John Michael loved this part. And in fact, we left him there with the instruments while we headed off for our resting time.

In the playroom and found nap mats and couch cushions laid out for everyone. I flopped down on the floor immediately and pretended to sleep. Clara and Gracie followed suit and then John Michael showed up and thought resting would be a good idea, too. He was pretty cute - he was sharing Gracie's nap mat and was lying on the bottom half of it, but would sit up and crawl on her a little and then settle back down. Then Mike came in and read JM's bedtime story to us all. Of course, John Michael had to walk around a little, flop on top of Clara (who loved it, of course) and also play with the doll house for a minute. But he was quickly frustrated with that when the Daddy Doll wouldn't fit in the chair - he just flung him out of the doll house. And unfortunately into Gracie's head. But miraculously, Gracie didn't get too upset and Mike just continued reading on (I think he missed seeing all of this).

The party was almost over (right?? - I thought it just had to be!). John Michael headed off to bed and I (un)wisely stayed behind to finish the party with the girls. They informed me that exercises were next and Gracie would be the teacher. Our first "exercise" required doing a nee-hah jump twice, spinning around and then a forward roll. I had to get my nerve up (and put an extra blanket down on our cork floor) but I actually did the forward roll... I think I should either practice those more or plan on not doing them anymore. Anyhow, when my head stopped hurting, we were on to the second "exercise." Walking the balance beam (my yoga mat rolled up lengthwise) and then tossing and dribbling the ball. After that, teacher Gracie informed us that the last "excercise" was really playing doctor, nurse and patient.

Well, I won't bore you with all the details of that but even as I'm typing this I'm thinking, "why did I let this go on so long?" Oh - and then there was a board game that followed this to end the party. Needless to say, it was a rough bedtime for Clara. Mike was great and took over after the game, I think I was all partied out.

So - a fun night, but too much, too late. And one of those things you look back on and think, what was I thinking?

But tomorrow is a new day - with opportunities for lots more fun, and of course, lots more lapses in judgment! (and maybe some new pictures on the blog!!)

Colorado - Treasure Hunting

So one of the things we like to do for fun (in Colorado or not) is go look for geocaches. If you don't know what this is, you get to go look it up on Google! We call it treasure hunting for the kids and we actually have our own treasure box that we maintain in Burleson.

Anyhow, there are some good geocaches in Colorado and we looked up some of them on a couple of different days.

The first day, we all tried to go, but by the time we got to the top of Bachelor (a road & a mountain in Creede), JM was asleep so I stayed with him while the others went looking.


Okay - I did go check out the treasure box once they found the one in sight of the van! (it was hidden in one of the tree stumps).


Clara picked a clear blue piece of glass for her "treasure."


This was Clara's favorite part of the that day's trip. As she put it,
"The burnt down cabin 'cause they didn't paint." Mike said that he always loved to come and see it when he was younger, too.


On the drive down, we saw lots of deer.

Aunt Mary Jo went with the girls & Mike for the next treasure hunt. I think they went back to Bachelor to find some different caches that we didn't have time for on the first day.


Here they are, heading into the forest...


Success, treasure located!


Happy girls with their treasure. Gracie got marbles and a compass. Clara chose tattoos. And I think Aunt Mary Jo got a magnet and maybe a geocoin(you move these from cache to cache & log on to a website so the owners can follow their movements - we have something similar to this in our treasure box!) Gracie loves her compass & has been guiding us with it in the van since she got it. I was informed just yesterday that I had parked "east."

Getting There - Colorado

Okay - Colorado. So we went back in May and now it's ... July. Hmmm. Well, here's how we made it up to Colorado with 3 small children:


Rest stop on the way to Amarillo. This one is our favorite - it has lots of slides, rings, ladders, etc. The girls love it & John Michael even had fun crawling around on the slides. It would be perfect if they would put a canopy over it. We were lucky and it was only in the 70s and overcast that day. During the peak of the summer you can't touch any parts of it - way too hot!


And what did we do when we got to Amarillo? Went to the park after dinner to see if the kids might be able to sleep better & handle being in the car all of the next day. It sort of worked ...


A stroll in the park in Amarillo.

And last, our big stop (although not our only!) in Raton on the way to Creede, CO from Amarillo.
There's a nice park there & we usually pack a lunch or buy Subway sandwiches, eat and let the kids play for awhile. This was Gracie's idea for this time:

VBS Photos

Alright - I'm finally getting around to pictures! Many things have happened to my good intentions, not the least of which was stomach flu for 2.5/5 of the household (JM & I are the only ones who seemed to have completely escaped!). Anyhow, here are just a few pictures from the week. You wouldn't think you could do so much in three hours, but the kids went to opening assembly, crafts, music, bible stories, snack & recreation, discovery and closing assembly. My kids were wiped out by the time we headed home (and that wasn't until around 2pm on most days). On Wednesday, JM summed up his point by doing the unthinkable:


Can you believe it? I don't think he's ever fallen asleep in my lap recently. But the next day, he actually fell asleep as I was carrying him around and trying to finish things up for the day. It was a tough week for him, but he was a trooper! And I think he had a blast in the nursery:




Here are pictures of Gracie's class & Clara's class. They were in our smaller classes. We had grouped the older grades (2nd & 3rd and 4th&5th) because we were told those were smaller groups in previous years. Ooops - not this year. We had almost 50 kids in the 2/3 class and35 in the 4/5.





The VBS kids also raised almost $240 in a week (in change) for a local charity that supports local kids with school supplies. We were amazed it came to that much! So here are the rest of the shots from the week (at least the ones that include my kiddos!). Enjoy.


Foot washing at the Last Supper


Taking a break in the shade for Duck, Duck, Goose. It was a very hot week! I think it was 100 degrees every day.


Craft time (making binoculars)


Singing at closing assembly. The VBS kids all got a chance to sing one of the songs they learned during the week on Sunday at mass (after communion). They had a blast & got a big round of applause from the congregation.

Our youngest cowboy

I had planned to post this when I did the girl's video (a few posts ago), but it wouldn't load for some reason.

He was doing great at first, but then got really interested in the button that you push to start the video and wouldn't look up.

What I learned today . . .

Chopsticks and shredded cheese aren't the best combination if you are the primary cleaner-upper!

Don't volunteer to be the one to hold the 4th of July pinata (my party planner's idea, of course) when you are going to have a 3 year-old and a 5 year-old whacking at it with their hobby horse sticks. (and yes - I have several bruises on my hands!)

It's apparently *thrilling* to get candy that has been sitting in the candy bowl since Easter, as long as it comes out of a pinata (even if it's just a brown paper sack that you decorated & Mommy stapled shut).

Sorry, still no pictures. Off to go out with just Mike! Will we know what to do with ourselves???

You know you've been tired lately when . . .

you find the tube of diaper cream in the basket with all the tubes of toothpaste!

Yes, we have many tubes of toothpaste. I think my kids think tooth brushing time is supposed to be like the all you can eat salad bar. Hmmmm, what flavor should I choose tonight? Ranch, Italian, Nemo Grape, Princess Bubble Blast, Colgate Strawberry Burst? And can I get a new brush everytime I come back to this sink??

One more funny. Clara and I were looking at one of her favorite books the other day, Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever. It doesn't really have stories, just descriptions of different things on each page (the dentist, the doctor, getting up & dressed, etc). We had gotten to the farm animal page and I decided to get Clara involved in reading/recognizing the things on the page. So I said, "why don't you name the animals on the farm?" Clara replied, "Okay. How about Henry Pig, Pretty Sheep, Duck Goose and Wilma Cow." And that is how a 3 (almost 4!) year-old thinks!

Still working on those pictures I promised. Maybe tomorrow if it's a quiet (ha!) day here.