Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!

I just want to begin by saying "Thank You!" to all of our servicemen for their dedication and sacrifice for our country.  I know I take it for granted and forget that FREEdom isn't free.  It costs time away from families and sometimes it costs lives.  I also want to say thank you to their spouses for the sacrifice you make as well.  I know it is so hard having your spouse away for weeks, months or even years at a time.  You deserve to be honored today.

We enjoyed a quick swim this morning with some buddies until we got rained on by a quick storm that came through after lunch...it was fun while it lasted!

        

Brayden's new buddy Mr. Froggy

Ellie...

My Lulu..it looks like she is doing a dance here haha!

Warming up on the concrete...the water is still a little chilly!

For some reason, there was a fascination with my sunglasses today by all of my children.  Lucy is trying to put them on here.  She hasn't quite figured it out haha!

Lucy is getting so much better at walking.  She walked most of the time at the pool today.

The sweet girls...

And the crazy boys...these 3 amigos are T-R-O-U-B-L-E!  The younger two are the main culprits...when these two get together, we have to keep a close eye on them!

One thing I LOVE about swimming is that it wears the kids out!  We came home, took baths, ate lunch and the kids fell asleep on their own without me telling them to about 3:00.  I woke them up at 6:00 when dinner was ready and Brayden still didn't wake up.  I woke him up 2 more times after that but he still didn't wake up.  Yes, he is ok, he does this every now and then and catches up on his sleep.  And we are ALL thankful when he does haha!  Since then I have been to Wal-mart (by myself...yep it was nice), unloaded groceries and it is now 9:30 and he is still sleeping.  I guess he is down for the night.  I am sure he will catch up on his missed meal tomorrow.  He ought to be in a GREAT mood in the morning!

Gotta run...Jay and I are taking advantage of this special time with Karis and finishing up Charlie and the  Chocolate Factory.  :)

Memorial Day cookout

For starters, I will throw in some pics of my kids before church this morning...

Then tonight, we had a cookout/get-together for our small group and some others because we are always looking for an excuse for a PAR-TAAY!  We started out at the pool and let the kiddos swim and the women all sat and chatted...it felt great outside!  The men worked on grilling our hamburgers and hot dogs and they did a marvelous job I must add!

This is Meila...2 months old.  She is soooo cute and sweet!

Ethan, Ellie and Karis

Story and Lucy meeting for the first time...Story was such the "little momma" and was giving Lucy food and her paci over and over again.  It was so cute!

Jennifer and Jake (he will be turning one on Thursday)

Paige and Whitney

Lucy wearing Paige's sunglasses...I love this picture!

Brayden hugging on baby Meila...he was being exceptionally "sweet" tonight to the younger ones.  This is our new friend Amy (Meila and Story's mommy...daddy had to work tonight).

Chelsea and Whitney

Sweet Jake

After we swam and ate, we decided to play Catch Phrase...it was so fun!

Todd and Jennifer (Jakes parents)

Clay (our youth minister) and his wife Whitney, Brandon and Mrs. Phyllis (she made Lucy's 1 yr. cake and did a MARVELOUS job!)

Jay, Chelsea (Phyllis' daughter) and Clay

Paige...what happens at small group, stays at small group! hehe 

Marybeth and Eli (he totally fell asleep in the floor while we were all screaming and yelling)

It was a grand time as always gang...it was over too soon!

Fun in the Sun!

We sure did enjoy the sunny weather today at the pool!  It was a good family day and fun was had by all!

                 

This one is for you Lolli!

Guatemala's Volcano

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, my mom, dad, brother Matt and his wife Tiffany, and my other sister-in-law Jenna are all in Guatemala on a mission trip.  They woke up to the news the morning after they got there that the Pacaya (I think that is what it was called) volcano had erupted and the whole city has been shut down.  So far 3 people have been killed and 11 are missing and 2,000 have been evacuated from the area.  I talked to my mom this morning and my family is not in danger because they are an hour away but their ministry has been interrupted some.  It has since erupted another time and even the largest airport has been shut down and flights can not go in or out.  They have said the earliest it might open up is Tuesday and they are planning to come home on Thursday.  Please pray that their ministry while there is not interrupted, their flight is not cancelled and that no more lives will be claimed from it.  Here is a video I found from the volcano...

Brayden dancing to "Pants on the Ground"

The other night I was watching the American Idol Finale and "Pants on the Ground" came on and the kids wanted to watch it over and over and over again.  I got a picture of B dancing to it.  Check out his moves...this is hilarious!

Brayden dancing to "Pants on the ground" from Amanda Lemonds on Vimeo.

I am so proud of my girls!

I have been dreading today for months since I made the appointment.  You really have NO idea how bad Karis HATES shots.  Like in January when I took them to get their flu shot, I had 3 nurses in there helping me with all the kids while they all got shots.  Karis stood in the corner making fists yelling "NOOOOOO!" and shaking like a leaf.  It took 2 of us to hold her down.

So today was a girl day for me and the girls and Jay had a boy day with Brayden.  I told Karis that first we were taking Lucy to the doctor and knowing she would be seen too, I chose not to fill her in on that part.  If I had told her, I promise she would not have slept last night and would be throwing up before we left.  She would have been miserable!  So, since she is like me and worries about everything, I knew if she didn't know until it was time, the better off we were.  And it was SOOO much better that way.

So I DID tell her (in the waiting room) that they would check on her to make sure she was healthy and she still was panicking about that, but no tears yet.  So they took us back and started checking on Karis...weight, height, blood pressure, hearing/vision etc.

        

You can see the "secret panic" in her face...

Then it came time for the finger prick...oh my word!  You would have thought they had cut off Karis' arm!!!  But it was over quickly and she was told to put on a gown...she didn't like that either because it meant "the doctor might see my panties!"  I assured her it was ok and she reluctantly put it on.  She was asking a million questions by this point.  I just avoided the topic and just kept saying, "It's going to be ok Karis...you are doing great!"  

Check out this face after the finger prick...

Then it came time for Lucy's prick...she wasn't fond of it either of course.  But I must recommend taking the stroller in to buckle them up for check-ups...it worked great!  They can't get away!  Oh and Lucy's ears were CLEAR!!!!  This is the longest time they have been clear ever so I am crossing my fingers she is growing out of these horrible ear infections!

Then we were waiting on our papers when she came in with the "big shots."  I expressed quietly to the sweet nurse that the "big one" didn't know yet what was about to happen and she quietly gave me the "game plan" and we went in for the attack haha!  I picked her up and sat her on there and said, "Karis we are going to go ahead and get your shots and get them over with..." and she was immediately in panic/screaming/flailing of arms and legs while I was trying to hold her down.  And it was over in about 10 seconds!  Immediately afterwards I said, "Karis those were your school shots and now it is over...no more!!!"  She said, "Those were my school shots?  It's over????"  And she was grinning amongst all the crocodile tears.  She was so relieved it was over and so was I!!!  I was sweating like it was 190 degrees and my heart was beating like crazy!  She did so good and was so proud of herself.  She kept saying, "Those didn't even hurt that bad!  The finger prick was the worst part!"  Check out this proud grin of her war wounds...

While we were at the doctor, Jay took Brayden to a bunch of "boy stores" like the fishing store, pet store, sports stores etc.  Then we met up at the mall for Karis to pick out a prize for her traumatic morning.  We shopped some and she picked out a lockable diary and pen that goes with it.  Then we met up with the boys and took the kids to Cici's for lunch.  Brayden ate FOUR pieces of pizza and dessert pizza!  Karis of course nibbled on her one piece of pizza but ate a HUGE salad...with Ranch of course.  Lucy was worn out from the morning and slept through the whole lunch...and I wasn't complaining!

Then we had to run a few errands and take Jay's truck in to get it charged.  I mean everybody needs some air in this 90 degree heat!  Then we came home and washed the car and I had some helpers...

And Brayden washed his bike...

And they played in the water because it's fun like that...

Later in the afternoon we got out and ran some more errands and grabbed some Sonic milkshakes and slushes on our way home.  My house is a disaster but I let it all go and watched a movie upstairs with the kids because they wanted me to.  I mean, I have only seen Hotel For Dogs 428 times, so why not?  

It has been a good day and I am sooo proud of my girls for being so brave!

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Now for the stats of the girls because I don't want to forget these later...

Lucy (at 12 months and 2 1/2 weeks)

Weight: 19 lbs. 8 oz. (25th %)

Height: 29 1/2 in. (66th %)

Head Circumference: 47 cm (90th %) 

Hematrocrit: 35%

Karis (at 5 1/2 yrs.)

Weight: 39 lbs. (25th %)

Height: 42 1/2 in. (20th %)

Body Mass Index: 14.8 (50th %)

BPressure: 90/52

Cholestrol: 159 

Hematocrit: 41%