The stuff besides writing.

Obviously I've been writing a lot this week.  But that's not all that's been going on around here.  Here are the pictures from this last week.  

Last week we had so much fun in Austin on Saturday that we decided to go back on Sunday.  Well not really.  Brandon was the highest ranking member of his team so when one of his team members got stranded in a town near Austin it was up to Brandon to go get him.  Now that we have the Pilot we had enough room for me and the kids to come along too.  (We still might have come along even if all we hand was the jeep and just made the guy ride in the back.)  So we enjoyed a nice Sunday evening drive to a town called Taylor.  

Brandon dropped the kids and me off at a park so the kids could get their wiggles out.  There was a small lake with an island full of birds on it.  It was pretty cool.   

The kids all wanted to swing.  There weren't enough baby swings which normally is a problem, but Charlotte was perfectly willing to try out the "big girl swing."

We saw a pretty sunset with the moon in the picture too.  The girls love seeing "pink clouds when sunset."

The kids all had fun playing in the sand at a volleyball court.  Brandon came back with his buddy and we waited for the kids to get tired.  Eventually they did and we all drove back to Fort Hood.

On Tuesday Derrick decided it was a good idea to grab the top of a fire ant nest.  He thought it was just a regular pile of dirt.  He had ants crawling up his arm and biting him within seconds.  The poor kid started crying and I hurried over to brush all the ants off.  Once they were done biting him he calmed down.  But his arm swelled up pretty bad.  Luckily for him, the bites done seem to make him itchy.

Charlotte and Lydia are getting excited for "Feronica" to join our family.  I often find them mothering their baby dolls.  In this picture they are feeding their baby's with bottles that are actually nobs from Derrick's dresser.  They were both sitting in the rocking chair and singing, "baby mine, don't you cwy."

Here is day two of the fire ant bites on Derrick's arm.  If you could see his other arm you would be able to tell that this one is pretty swollen.  He'd had a rough night sleeping.  I'd brought him into bed with me (Brandon was gone for overnight training) and all he did was fidget and rub his feet together.  Finally I gave him some medicine and he fell asleep.

When Brandon is gone things get a little funny around here. The first night he was gone we made a tent.  The second night I just put the kids to bed in their rooms.  I heard them come out into the hall, but then I didn't hear anything else.  This is what I found when I went to check on them a little while later.

When Derrick takes a nap I usually try to come up with something hands on for the girls to do.  This was the day that we decided to fix all the throw pillows that had stuffing falling out of them.  The girls loved unstuffing the pillows and then helping me sew them back together.  I had the girls take turns sitting on my lap while I used the sewing machine.  They had a hard time sharing on the first day so the project was put on hold until the next day when they were in better moods.  They loved playing in the stuffing, but eventually they wanted to help restuff the pillows.

One of the fun things about having three kids so close together is watching them play together.  They are all interested in pretty much the same things.  Here they are enjoying playing with their buses.

And here they are jumping on the chairs.  The girls will say things like, "look mommy, doing it 'gether." or "three babies all jumping."

Here is Day 3 of Derrick's arm.  This is the point where little puss capsules form on each of the bumps.

And here we have what I found on the floor outside my door.  I'd heard them hiccuping in the hall for about 15 minutes while I drew and scanned the graphs for my Supply and Demand economics post.

Derrick goes to sleep really easily - if it's what he wants to do.  He'll scream and carry on if I try to put him to bed when he's not tired.  But when he is tired he'll go right to sleep.  I can't believe how much he room he takes up in his crib.

On Friday afternoon the girls helped me make banana bread to take to a ward activity the next day.  They especially loved helping grease the pan.

On Wednesday I'd had the kids all ready to go to the splash pad to meet up with some friends.  They were in swimming suits with sunblock on.  I had them all buckled in their car seats.  And then I tried to turn on the car.  Nothing happened.  I'd left a light on by accident and drained the battery.  (One of the downsides to having a new car is all the unfamiliar buttons and switches.)

We were all super disappointed that we couldn't go to the splash pad.  I told the girls that I was so sorry and that we needed to wait until Daddy came home from training before he could fix the red car.  The girls comforted me by reminding me that, "Daddy fix jeep - Daddy fix red car."  So we got out of the car and just played in the back yard pool.

I could have found a neighbor to come over and jump the car, but we didn't need the car for anything else the next few days anyway.  So I just waited until Brandon come home on Friday evening.  I'm glad I waited because it turned out to be more complicated than just pushing the car out of the garage and giving it a jump.  The car wouldn't go into neutral without any power.  We had to take the battery out of the jeep and hook it up to the battery terminals on the Pilot.  That gave the Pilot enough juice to turn on all the auxiliary power and get it to shift into neutral.  We felt like we were stealing our own car.

After that Brandon pushed it out of the garage and jumped it with the jeep.  I'm so glad I have a husband that is good with mechanics.  

The girls were asleep while we worked on the car.  One of the first things Lydia said when she found out Daddy was home was, "Daddy fix jeep!  Go Splash Pad!"  It was too late to go to the splash pad, but we did take the kids to the out door movie that Killeen was showing that night.

Here you can see Day 4 of the ant bites.  This is when the little puss balls turn into scabs.  Everyone was really excited to watch Wreck it Ralph.  But unfortunately it started raining about 3 minutes after the movie started.  EVERYONE started leaving.  Brandon and I thought they were all wimps.  We were really upset when the people in charge turned off the projector.

The kids were super disappointed that the movie was cancelled - not to mention wired from their late naps.  We took them to a near by park and let them run around.  (And it only sprinkled a little while.)

On Saturday we went to our ward's Pioneer Day breakfast.  Lydia cried during most of the breakfast.  I think she was just overwhelmed by how loud everyone was in the cultural hall.  She kept asking to "go home now."  When we finally left the building Lydia caught sight of the rope monkey bridge that the scouts had set up to play on.

"What's that!" She asked.
"It's a bridge." I answered.
"I play on it."
"Daddy will help you." I answered.
Brandon came outside and Lydia grabbed his hand, "come on Daddy!" she said as she pulled him across the parking lot.

The scout leaders were just fine letting Lydia try it out.  She was up the ladder in no time.  

And then she crossed the bridge like a pro.  I couldn't help saying, "That's my GIRL!" Over and over again.

Charlotte didn't want to be left out so she was next across the bridge.  She had a little bit harder time, but she still did really well.  I loved talking her through it by telling her things like, "Okay grab the top rope."  I didn't think I'd get to talk my kids through a ropes course event for at least a few more years.

Later Lydia wanted back up again.  I loved how the scouts of our ward surrounded our little girls and made sure they were safe at all times.

Later in the day we finally went to the long awaited splash pad.  For some reason Charlotte didn't want to play in the water.  I asked her about it and she said she was scared because she "fall in pool."  I guess she's still worried about what happened while we were on vacation in March.

Derrick on the other hand loved running around and getting wet.  He'd run to touch something and then run back to where I was sitting with Charlotte.  He'd giggle and then keep running.

And as always Lydia loved the splash pad.  I love how happy she always is in her splash pad pictures.

The girls have found several pine cones.  They have a Daddy, a Mommy, and two Baby Pine cones.  Today I found them playing with the pine cone family in the doll house.  I love the girls' imaginations.  Charlotte says, "tender" when she means to say "pretend." It's so cute to hear her ask for "a tender keys."

Well that's us this past week. Expect more posts next week.  I'm getting closer to being "caught up" but there are still several things I want to write about.