Yummy!!

Isabella enjoyed her first icecream cone with Taylor. Extra bonus that you get to eat the thing that the icecream goes in.

Clean your Room Day

Today I have designated as a "Clean Your Room Day". I am happy to say that no one gave me a dirty look, and no one has a long face. I think they started cleaning at 11:00 this morning, and at about 1:00 I checked the progress. We are not going to break any records, but slowly things are getting done. Different music is blasting from each room, but there has been no door slamming. I think Taylor has had about 3 lunches. (Something that she does when she is stalling) And Shea has been outside riding her scooter and her Ripstick. I am not going to harp unless it is dinnertime and the rooms are still not done. I might be able to bribe them with the park in an effort to light a fire under their behinds.

Glamour Girls

Taylor and Shea are Home!!!

Taylor and Shea finally arrived on Tuesday evening from their long trip. It was so great to see them after 3 long weeks. Since they have come home, we have been very busy. On Thursday we spent the day swimming at Nana and Papa's house with Penny, Paige and Chloe. All the girls had a great time together after not seeing each other for so long. Paige and Chloe brought their butterflies so that we could all watch them be released. Initially, Isabella was afraid to get into the pool, but by the end of the day, she was jumping from the side to Penny. She insisted on wearing her Crocs while she swam, though. I wasn't going to push it.

On Friday, the four kids and I went to the mall. We spent the entire day there and by the fourth hour of shopping, Isabella and Nicholas were screaming and ready to go home. But did we? NO! We kept shopping for another hour and a half. Finally, at the last store, Nicholas fell asleep in my arms. We finally got Isabella strapped into the stroller against her will; her entire body sticky with Sprite and Ring Pop spit. For those of you who do not know what a ring pop is, it is a sucker in the shape of a huge gemstone on top of a plastic thing that sticks on your finger like a ring. It is very cool if you are a kid.

It's probably not the best decision to bribe a 22 month old who has not had a nap with pop and candy at a place where she is expected to not scream like a maniac.

Next week, we will be starting our rules and regulations. God, help me.

Premature Marker Purchase

And this, folks, is what happens when you turn your back on a toddler.

Let the Summer Festivities Begin!!

I spoke to the girls last night and they were somewhere by Reno, Nevada and making their way home. They seemed more than ready to be done with this extremely long vacation.
I now need to design my plan of attack for the summer, and lay down the law when they return early next week. This is what I have come up with:

No sleeping until 11:00 every morning.
No lounging around in your pajamas until 1:00 in the afternoon in front of the T.V. with a box of Big Cheez-Its.
No sitting in front of the computer for hours watching Smosh videos on YouTube.
No whining or complaining when you hear that our day will consist of cleaning our rooms and doing chores around the house.
No waiting until August 18th to read the required book and write the report that is due the first week of school.

This is what we WILL do:

We will plan our week in advance, which will include work, and fun.
We will keep our rooms clean throughout the week so that it is not an all day project that includes screaming, slamming doors, and long faces.
We will make ourselves something to eat and will clean up after ourselves so that our Mother is not constantly cleaning the kitchen, screaming and slamming doors.
We will have T.V. time, computer time, and Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, and Nintendo DS time. Obviously not in one day, but we will work something out.
We will go to the Library once a week to get new books.
We will have a job posting that will include various jobs around the house that need to be completed every week. You may choose the jobs you want to complete. It will be on a first come first serve basis.
We will get to choose our favorite fun things to do at the beginning of summer and they will go into a jar that we will take turns drawing from at the beginning of each week. (We have done this before and it is a lot of fun)
We can have our friends sleep over as often as we'd like as long as our work is done.
And last but not least, we WILL go see the Jonas Brothers on August 22nd!!!!!!!!! (As long as the preceding items are followed)

I will try not to bombard the girls with my demands as soon as they return from their trip, and I will work on my presentation so as not to incite a riot. Wish me luck!

Nicholas is 4 Months Old!

They Made it to California!

I received this picture from Taylor in response to my text asking if they were in Los Angelos yet. Before they left, Taylor insisted that they were going to meet the Jonas Brothers while they were in California. As of today, they have not seen them yet. While we were texting eachother, they were on their way to Johnny Depp's house and Orlando Bloom's house. Apparently, they saw the gates and a lot of cameras. I'm not sure that would have been on my agenda if I was on vacation in LA. Tonight they were going to some restaurant called The Ivy, which, they heard, is where the stars hang out. I told her and Shea to be careful because there are a lot of crazies out there. Her reply was....."Yeah, we have already seen Zorro, 5 Marilyn Monroes and a Pirates of the Carribean Johnny Depp."

They are going to Universal Studios tomorrow, and then are heading to northern California to see a few things before they make there long trek home. They should be home by mid next week. We can't wait!

On another note, we celebrated the 7th party at our house since January yesterday, and had a Father's Day cookout with 23 people. I think all 7 Dads had a great time. The weather was perfect and the steaks were grilled to perfection, thanks to my very talented husband. We now get to take a month off of party planning until August when we celebrate Isabella's birthday. Pheeew!

So Cute!

Because he is my only son, I feel completely entitled to dressing him up in silly outfits and documenting it for future reference.

Taylor & Shea in Arkansas

I received a text from the girls today that said that they were in Arkansas. They said that they were playing hide and seek in the hotel. They have told me about this game in the past when they travel with their dad. The girls have a stepsister who is 14 and a stepbrother who is 16. The four of them play hide and seek in the ENTIRE hotel, which I am sure involves a lot of running and screaming. They are probably banned from several hotels throughout the country. They often play this game at the YMCA as well, and usually get into trouble. The last time they played, Shea ripped open a shower curtain in the locker room hoping to find her stepsister, but instead, found a naked 50-something year old woman. Just imagine the shock of this woman. Needless to say, Shea got into big trouble. I don't know why they feel comfortable enough telling me these horror stories.

The Duck Pond

Taylor and Shea left on Saturday with their Dad for a 2 and 1/2 week trip to California. I was very sad to see them go. That is a long time to be without them. Isabella asks about them several times a day. This will be the longest that they have been gone since she was born. She is not going to want them out of her sight when they finally come home. I am already counting the days until they return.

We went to the duck pond on Saturday to feed the ducks and the fish. Isabella had a hard time grasping the concept that the bread was for throwing into the pond and not for eating. Isabella loved walking on the path, picking flowers and enjoying nature. While we were feeding the ducks, a mother deer and her 2 babies came up behind us. The babies were the smallest I have ever seen. The mother was not scared of us, but the babies shyed away from us when we tried to take their picture. Nick was able to get one picture of one of the babies, which we zoomed in. It was one of the coolest things we have ever seen.

We will have to stay busy so that we don't miss Taylor and Shea too much. One positive is that my house should stay much cleaner! I should be able to keep in touch with them daily as long as Taylor remembers to keep her cell phone charged! If they send some pictures, I will share them.

Escape!

Nicholas is no longer happy sitting quietly in his seat. He has figured out that if he wiggles enough, he call fall right out. So that's what the safety straps are for!!!!!

Last Day of Middle School!!

Today was the last day of school, and Taylor's graduation ceremony from the 8th grade. Next year she will be in High School! I cannot believe it. It seems like not long ago, I put her on the bus to go to kindergarten. She was one of the smallest kids in her class, and her pink Disney Princesses backpack was half her size. She got on the bus and never looked back. I watched the bus until I couldn't see it anymore. The rest of the day I prayed that the kids liked her and that she was not missing me. Before long, she was graduating from elementary school, and was leaving her safe haven of 13 classmates to enter the 6th grade in a new school system, with a class size of about 200. She transistioned flawlessly, and made several friends immediately. In 3 short years, this school has become her home.

I have so many vivid memories of her childhood, that it is hard to look at her and see the young woman that she is becoming. 14 years have gone by in a flash. It is difficult to think that I only have 4 more years of the wonderous, bright, beautiful and complex person before she leaves home. I intend to enjoy, and soak in every minute of her.

Country Living

You know you live in the sticks when you look outside and there is a turkey eating your birdseed.

Jealousy!

This activity arch was, by far, Isabella's least favorite toy as a baby. She would scream as soon as I tried to lie her under it. Now that it has been brought back out for Nicholas, Isabella will not let him play in it without her getting under it too. She has sat on him, pushed him out of it, and folded it up while he has been in it. If I turn the music and lights on, she shuts them off. I have warned her that they are only 18 months apart, and someday, very soon, Nicholas is going to pummel her for all the abuse he has sustained as an infant. Look out Isabella.........

Dangerous Toys

We have had two incidents in the last few days with Isabella using her toys as weapons. On Thursday night, she took her purple sparkly baton from Great Wolf Lodge and cracked her sister Shea on the nose while Shea was lying on the floor watching T.V. Surprisingly, there was no blood. The entire next day, all she talked about was mumble, mumble, Shea, mumble, mumble, boom, mumble, mumble, nose......
On Sunday, Isabella threw her V-Tech Phone at her Dad's face and hit him on the eyebrow. For some reason, I have this disease where anytime my husband gets injured, I laugh hysterically. I cannot control myself. As Nick was rolling around on the floor holding his face, I was trying to scold Isabella, but was having a hard time getting the words out, or the point across that throwing toys is very naughty. Eventually, I was able to compose myself long enough to punish her. Again, there was no blood, but Nick walked around for the rest of the day with a fat eyebrow.

Our Day at the Zoo

While Shea was on her class trip to Hershey, PA, the rest of us went to the zoo. Isabella had a blast seeing all the animals, or aminals as she calls them. I think her favorite thing was riding the train through the Australian exhibit. Nicholas does not love the sun and the heat, so I carried him most of the day, because he was a little cranky. Maybe next year he will be a little more excited about the zoo. Taylor's favorite part was the butterfly exhibit. Huge blue butterflies were flying right next to our faces. The butterflies were Nick's least favorite because it was about 90 degrees with extreme humidity. Good thing my hair was in a pony tail because I would have had an afro for the rest of the day. Shea was definitely missed, but she was having her own fun riding roller coasters all day.