"Deli"-cious

We went on a date tonight!  It was a lot of fun!  I came back recharged and ready to do stuff with the kids before bed with a good attitude!  This is exciting stuff!

We saw our babysitter on Sunday at church and she agreed to come over Friday so that Mike and I could go out.  I was a little nervous because we have never left Eliana with a babysitter.  I put her in the church nursery a couple of times and she pretty much cried the whole time, or had to be wheeled around in a stroller.  Being at  home with brother and sister really helped, though, and she did fine.  And she wasn't mad at us for abandoning her when we finally came home, either.  It was a successful experience. 

Mike and I ran one errand and then had a very casual but tasty dinner at:

I got a panini and some soup and he got a stuffed potato.   Now, I know I'm getting a little carried away with all this "take-a-picture-of-everything-you-do" business, but I really wish I had a picture of his potato.  I'm sure some of you have seen the likes of this kind of potato.  It was very large, like a foot long.  I told our server that Mike wanted a bigger potato and she looked at me with really wide eyes and said,"This is pretty big."  I'm not sure if she knew I was kidding or not, but saying that potato was "pretty big" is like saying Jabba the Hutt is "kind of" ugly.   The potato was enormous.  Then I felt pretty silly because our server told us that it was actually two potatoes cut in half and stuck together.  Maybe I should have known that. 

At any rate, we had good conversation and enjoyed our time together.  We haven't gone out alone for quite a while.  I love the kids, you know I do; there is a level of attention that you can give your spouse, however, when someone much smaller isn't vying.  You know what I'm saying?  "Look at my plate, mommy; I made a picture with my ketchup."  "Daddy, my crayons fell on the floor."  "I have to go potty."  "I have to go potty, too."  "I have to go potty again."

I think we ought to do it again soon.

Wednesday

A (rainy) day in our life...

We usually begin the day by taking Christian over to school and then beginning Michaela's math lesson.  We go over the calendar, talk about patterns, time, money, and solve a daily problem.  Today I thought it might be less distracting for Michaela if Eliana were on the floor playing.  I got on the floor with her and tried to go through Michaela's math from there.  It worked really well...see for yourself. 

Eliana moved on from the blanket to the Lego bin, and I thought I could capture some cute moments since I already had the camera there.  I thought,"I'll write something funny, like 'Think inside the box,' or 'Lego my foot!'  I took one picture:

Then Eliana managed to tip the bin over while holding on to the side and guess where she landed?

Can't tell here, can you? Yikes!  Branded by Legos...two perfect Lego marks on her forehead...Still a sweet smile.

Christian gets out early on Wednesdays, so we picked him up, had lunch at Chik-Fil-A, and then headed to Barnes & Noble on this rainy day.  We love to go there on rainy days. 

The afternoon went by relatively peacefully... 

We also spent time making some goodies for teachers... 

Here are some shots of our evening just before bath and bed:

Thanks for sharing our day!

A Fair Day

One of these shocking statements is true...can you pick which one?

a.  Christina ate a cockroach.

b.  Christina took her kids to the state fair.

c.  Christina bought the family a labrador retriever puppy.

The correct answer is "b!"  Mike and I did take the kids to the fair today, and what an experience.  It was "Over-the-Top-Ville!"  The smells, the sights, the sounds-something was coming at us from EVERY direction.  People were everywhere.  Food was everywhere.  Colors were everywhere.  And it was SO noisy.  Michaela and Christian loved it!  They were busy taking it all in, from the smell of the horses to the shouts of the gamers; from the music on the rides to the colors on the Midway; from the taste of the pizza to the smell of fried whatever-you-can-think-of (i.e. cheese curds!?).

  

When we first arrived we visited the horse barn and, of course, there were tractors out front: 

Right after checking out the horses, we tried to make a plan for our time at the fair, and headed to the Midway: 

We spotted the swings and both the big kids were going to ride but Christian was too short.  Michaela was brave, though, and she went on by herself.  She seemed to like it, and I just couldn't believe she was flying around in the air like that on her own.  She looked so big!  I was nervous she would be afraid or feel a little sick, but she was all smiles. 

Since Christian was a little small for the rides, we headed over to the games.  Both the kids enjoyed trying to hit their targets, and Mike got in on the action, too! 

We were able to watch some motorcycle stunts and some daredevil tricks:

Mike and Michaela enjoyed a ride on the Texas Star, our world-famous Ferris Wheel (well, maybe not world-famous), while Christian had a "Lemon Chill."

 

Here are some final images from our extravaganza:

Tuesday

I've decided to quit mopping.  Who needs to do all that work when you have such helpful children...

         

"I've been giving Lucy kisses!"  (meet Lucy here: www.fivewalkers.com/)

As if anyone needed evidence of my excellent parenting skills...

 

And a reward for said skills... 

Actually, the single rose is from a sweet friend at our church who dropped by yesterday and delivered it;"a little happy," she said.  The red roses were from Mike, who has been gone for a little while and just wanted to say,"I love you and I miss you."  (That is a paraphrase of his actual card.  I don't believe in sharing very personal things on the internet.)

Thus endeth a day in our life. 

Monday

Today was not unusual. I just happened to take lots of pictures, and I thought it would be fun to share them. Michaela took some of them (including the sweet close-ups of Eliana, and the one of herself-she looks so much older all of a sudden). One thing this slideshow lets me see is I'm heavy on photos of Eliana. She's doing so many new things, and it's so easy to capture moments digitally! However, I need to share the lens with my other offspring. I'll work on that.