Our Free(ish) Summer - Week 1

I really wasn't planning on officially starting this until June, but the opportunity presented itself, and who am I to pass up on a little neighborly fun. Our next door neighbor was over the other day, and the boys started playing a game of "flag" football without any prompting from me. "This counts", I thought to myself, so here we go with Free Idea #11 - Invite neighbors/friends over for a game of flag football, soccer, or basketball.

Ratings (on a scale of 0 to 5)

Cost - Free!

Fun - 5

Mom Stress level - 1 (would have been "0" except the "flag"football quickly turned into "tackle" football)

The boys had a blast with this one, and Carolena had the best time watching them run around. We didn't keep score or anything, just would run with the ball and tackle each other. It was pretty amusing to be honest with you. I think thew must have played for about 30 minutes or so. Probably would have played longer except I made them stop because the tackling was getting to rough. Ahh boys, I can always count on them to turn any sport into wrestling!

What started out as this...

Turned into this...

In the effort of full disclosure, today we attempted Free Idea #22 - Make some bubbles...bend wire hangers into loops to make giant interesting shapes. It didn't work out so much. Apparently bubbles = tantrums. We will leave it at that. So instead, we did this...

Carolenas first time in her swimming pool. She loved it. She thought she was hilarious every time she made the water splash. Love her! And yes, that is food on her chin, too lazy tonight to photoshop that out.

Next up on our list: Louisville Nature Center and kids eat free night! 2 down, 23 to go!

Our Free(ish) Summer

With summer quickly approaching and my fears of how we are going to fill our days, I was ecstatic when my Southeast Outlook arrived last week with the headline "25 ideas for free summer fun in Kentuckiana". "Perfect", I thought, "just perfect". You can only spend so much time at the pool and I had desperately been trying to think of things that we could do that didn't include making a run to Walgreens for some cheap toy to keep the kids occupied for five minutes. Sure, we have our Zoo Pass and Science Center/Art Museum Pass, and those things are great, but we are in need of something new and exciting. I was pleasantly surprised looking through the Outlook and found quite a few ideas that I had never thought of before. Sure, some of the things may not be quite age appropriate, but I can work with that. So then came my idea, "Let's try to do all of these things this summer and blog about it"! Cue the lightbulbs. So thats what we are going to do. We are going to pick a few different things from the list each week, do them, take pictures, and blog about it.

Anyone care to join us?

You know you do, I mean, how can you beat a summer full of free (or almost free) family fun! I am being realistic, I am sure even though something may be "free" entry my crew will find a way to spend money on something, but hey we will give it a shot. So come join us (if you dare) as we celebrate our Free(ish) Summer! Now the only question is "where do we start?" Posts will begin June 1st.

Holes

Can you believe that this sweet little boy has a tiny hole in his heart? I don't believe it, he is to full of love, and plus, I couldn't even really see it on the monitor while the doctor was doing his heart ultrasound. But there is a hole the doctor assures me, he called it a PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale). I knew he had one, we found that out when he was about 6 months old or so, but the doctor promised me that it would close up by the time he turned three. But that pesky little hole is still there, and now he is "hoping" that it will close up by the time Joe Finney is five. So "what does this mean", you ask? Well for now he can't scuba dive, and he can never be a Navy Seal. But he can do pretty much everything else, including sports (which is what I was worried about). We don't have to see the doctor again until his fifth birthday, and if at that point it hasn't closed up, he will have a 1% chance of surgery. I can live with that. I can live without him scuba diving too.

Six Months (Two Weeks Late)

Wow, just look at my little one! She is starting to get the best personality now! I am almost two weeks late with this post and Iam blaming it on being really "busy". But, truth be told, I am just in denial that she is so quickly moving from infant to toddler. This is the last the last baby we are going to have, so I am trying to enjoy every (messy) minute. This has been a really big month for milestones! Carolena can sit up by herself now, and I don't even have to surround her by pillows any more (incase she topples). We have been really consistent with the baby food now, and are starting to figure out likes and dislikes (likes=sweet potatoes, dislikes=everything else). She has just recently started sleeping in her bedroom, and has actually let me have some good sleep the past couple of nights. She loves being tickled and likes playing peek a boo with her daddy. She also loves giving kisses now, especially to her grammy. And she is still the happy girl that she has always been. I was blessed with such a sweet little pumpkin!

Can you see her teeth coming in down there at the bottom? She has two in and I think maybe working on another one up on top. They are some sharp little teeth too, I might have to stop nursing earlier than I had wanted to!

And just check out what we do every morning. No wonder I am always running late every day, I just love cuddling with these little monkeys!

A Birthday and a Heavenly Request (or two)

See this cute little guy in the picture above? Well it's his birthday today. 3rd to be exact. I can't believe my baby boy is three! He is such a sweet little darlin. When I drop him off at school, he says "mommy, I yuv (love) you" about 10 times and goes "one more kiss, one more kiss". We have at least a 6 kiss minimum before he lets me leave. His teachers probably think that he has me wrapped around his finger, but they're right. He does. And have I told you he has the smarts as well?? He can do a 48 piece puzzle in under 3 minutes and has the best sense of humor out of any kid I know. I just love this blue eyed blonde hair Irish (looking) boy.

On to Boy #1. This picture isn't the best, but I found one quickly so I could tell you a little story about my boy. So yesterday we were outside. I was sitting on the deck with Lena Lou, Joe Finney was resting inside, and Byrd was playing in the sandbox which is across the yard from the deck. After a few minutes of being outside I hear Byrd in the sandbox yelling at something, so I walk over....

Byrd: (muffled yelling) Argh! Argh!

Me: (rushing over)What's wrong??

Byrd: No Mommy, go away, I was talking to God.

Me: OK, I'm sorry. (walking away)

Byrd: (fists waving at the sky) GOD!!! GOD!!! There are ants in my sandbox, can you PLEASE take care of them?!?!

Well I am not sure if God took care of those ants or not, but I was pretty tickled that after 4 years of trying to get him to say his prayers, his picked that moment to start talking (or yelling)to God.

And then there is my Carolena.

We have had a rough week or so with her. I was trying to wait until she was six months old to introduce solid food to her, but when she was still eating every two hours, I decided to go ahead and start with some rice cereal about a week and a half ago. She loved it. Absolutely tore it up. So then I mashed up a banana and gave that to her. She loved that as well. So for the next few days, she got more rice cereal and banana. Here I am thinking "this is great, she is sleeping better, she loves eating, life is good, no problem". Well, I should have known better. To someone whose belly is only used to breast milk (which is like a natural laxative, seriously people), it was like a shock to the system. The poor thing was backed up for over a week and nothing seemed to help. I had to do things that no mom should ever have to do. We had to whip up a drink we called the "Poo Cocktail" daily and it still didn't work. But finally today, relief. It's amazing how a little thing like poo can control an entire week of your life. I am relieved that she is relieved!

Five Months

Carolena, my sweet little princess, my Lena Lou, baby sister, Lena Love, Carolena Margarita; so many names we have for you! Five months old already! First of all, I love you more and more everyday, little one. The sweet noises you make when you are trying to tell me something and even your precious cry noises are so sweet I can't even get mad when you wake me up a night (which you still do, by the way). This month you had your first taste of rice cereal and kind of enjoyed it. I will probably get you started on baby food sometime later on this month. I was trying to wait until you are six months old, so we will see if you can hold out that long my hungry little girl! You are rolling over from side to side now, and are even trying to sit up on your own. I think by this time next month you will be able to sit up all by yourself. I love the way you give me a big huge smile first thing in the morning and I love how you try to reach up for my face while you are nursing. Your eyes are the color of the ocean in New Smyrna Beach. That is the only way I can describe them. Not really light blue, but not too dark either. Also with a hint of grey. So beautiful. Mommy has been making you all sorts of things to wear this month. The ladies at your Parents Day Out Program said that they can't wait to see what you are wearing every Tuesday/Thursday, so I have gone a little crazy making you things. Everyone says I should start selling the hairbows I make you, but really I just have fun making them for you!

More posts to come!!

Just...can't ....make...it...

So tired he couldn't even make it upstairs!