This looks so cute, and it is, but it's also the bane of my existence - late afternoon naps. The twins will stay up all afternoon and then fall asleep around 5:00. They'll nap until around 8:00 and then be awake until 11:00 or later. It drives me absolutely crazy. And as of the last couple weeks Derrick has started doing it too - ugh.
There are positives to the late naps though. The kids are able to stay up late and we can all go outside and enjoy the cooler evening temperatures. Last Sunday we decided to try out the wagon for the first time this year. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that all 4 kids fit in it.
We went on our usual walk to the tire swing park. We were able to continue along the bike path and ended up looping around to the elementary school. Even though its really close to our house we haven't played there since last summer. The kids had lots of fun on the play ground.
Veronica was really happy too.
There was another play ground nearby and Charlotte wanted to pull the wagon over there.
There were a lot of rocks and Derrick was in heaven.
We stayed there for a long time before everyone got back in the wagon. It was almost dark as we walked home. I really like that Veronica is old enough to sit in the wagon.
We found a frog (or maybe it's a toad) on our front porch when we got home. It scared me so bad when it hopped over to the flower bed.
Monday was the last day of June and I still had unused hourly care hours for the month so I signed the kids up for "pre-school" that day even though I don't usually like to do anything away from home on Mondays. Somehow Charlotte's name got dropped from the list for that day and there wasn't an available slot by the time I noticed. So she and I had a "Charlotte and Mommy Day." I took her shopping with me. We had a lot of fun together. We NEVER get to do anything with just the two of us so this was really special. When we went to HEB Charlotte wanted to sit in the cart seat because for once Derrick and Veronica weren't in it. Well, after about 5 minutes the novelty wore off and she asked if she could walk again.
One of the stores we went to was the Dollar Store so I could get glow sticks for the Fourth of July. I let Charlotte pick out some toys. She got a horse for her barn, some lizards, and some Army Guys. Here she is with the Army Guys and lizards.
Monday was a crazy insane day. On top of the "Charlotte and Mommy Day"/ Preschool, we also had speech therapy for Derrick. And after that we went to my friend Elsa's house to pick up some things she was giving away in preparation for a move. She gave us some pillows that the girls love.
Here are the girls playing on the diapers that I bought at the store. We've been using disposable diapers since Brandon left. I figure the Spouse Separation Pay money that we get when he is away can cover paying for things like diapers. I don't know if we will go back to cloth diapers when he gets home or not.
I made these little alphabet papers for the girls. I wrote the alphabet and then laminated the papers. Then I gave the girls dry erase markers. They love to trace the letters over and over again. Lydia was already tracing everything I wrote anyway, so I knew that she would love this. She loved it so much she fell asleep doing it.
Veronica had her 9 month doctors checkup on Tuesday. I could have asked one of my neighbors to babysit, but I knew that it would be a quick appointment because she didn't need any shots. So I just took all four kids and then rewarded them with ice cream and lunch at McDonald's when we were all done. Derrick is so good at McDonalds. He just sits there and focuses on eating his ice cream cone.
Veronica has an uncanny ability to eat Chicken McNuggets. She beat her previous record of three chicken nuggets by eating 4 this time. She still only has 2 bottom teeth so I'm not sure how she does it, but I promise she eats them. I never find them on the floor or in her chair.
We had some good times on our patio with our pool. Here's Lydia jumping into it. She and Charlotte would take turns jumping and Derrick and Veronica would gut laugh every time they got splashed.
Here are the three older kids zonked on the couch for a late afternoon nap. That evening I was pretty upset when they woke back up - especially since Derrick was super grumpy and clingy. Thank goodness the kids were all going to pre-school the next day or else I might have completely lost it.
I'm supposed to have my backyard mowed by a company that the housing office hires to take care of mowing for the spouses of deployed soldiers. But I haven't seen anyone since April. Well I received a citation for my backyard this week. I was pretty ticked about it. I dusted off my "angry, authoritative voice" and called the housing office. They sent someone out the next day to mow my yard. They also claimed to have no record that Brandon was deployed, even though I have an e-mail where they thank me for sending them his orders. I submitted a complaint about that as well. I should mention that usually I don't have any problems with housing. They've been great about maintenance and pest control. I don't know what is wrong with the whole mowing situation.
Brandon got a four day weekend for the Fourth of July and so he was able to temporarily come back from gunnery. I was so happy to talk to him. It had been almost 3 weeks since the last time we talked. We talked to him on Thursday night and on the morning of the Fourth of July. I'd bought the kids coloring books and crayons as Fourth of July presents from Daddy. Lydia found out about coloring books a few weeks ago and she really really wanted one.
Brandon had to go to bed so we said goodbye to him. Then we had a really boring day. I didn't want to take my kids anywhere because I knew that everywhere would be too crowded for us. In the afternoon I successfully got Derrick to take an early nap. Finally it was evening and we could go over to my friend Ashley's house for dinner.
She and her husband also invited the missionaries over. We had a good time talking to them and feasting on all the good food Ashley had made.
After dinner all the kids went outside to play with the water toys. I can't get over how cute this picture of all four of my kids is. (Lydia didn't want to wear any of the Fourth of July clothes that I had for her to choose from.)
I'd brought swimming suits for my kids, but they all just wanted to play in the water in their clothes.
After they were completely soaked the girls wanted to get in their swimming suits so I changed them.
Here are Veronica and I. I'm sporting my brand new glasses. I got them from Zennioptical.com and they only cost $12. I bought another pair and the total for both plus shipping was only $26.00. That's $400 less than I almost paid for glasses at the shop that I went to on post. I love the internet.
Veronica started standing on her own for a few seconds at a time. Oakley started doing it too. She's older so she was able to stand for longer. It was funny to watch our babies "compete."
Ashley lives near a large field that had a perfect view of the Fort Hood firework show. So after I got the kids back into dry clothes (I always keep a bag of extra clothes in the car) we walked down there and waited for the show to start. I got out the glow sticks for the kids. Charlotte had helped pick out some butterfly wands for her and Lydia. We also had icecream sandwiches and root beer. The girls call it "rootbeery."
Veronica was really tired, but she did okay for the first little bit.
Charlotte entertained herself with my camera and took this picture of the first firework of the show. Then she just sat back and watched them. Lydia kept saying, "I like the sparkly ones."
The girls really liked the show. They have been looking forward to this ever since the end of the the Fourth of July last year.
Derrick on the other hand didn't have a good time at all. I think he was just super tired, but he screamed the whole time. For most of the time he wouldn't even look at the fireworks. We joked that he was the only two year old to have post-traumatic stress. Ashley was nice and held a crying Veronica while I held a crying Derrick. Then I was able to get Derrick calmed down enough to put him in the stroller. I held/nursed Veronica for the rest of the show.
When the show was over we all walked back to Ashley and Seth's house and I put the kids in the car. Charlotte and Lydia were asleep before we were even off of her street. It only took 5 or so minutes to get back to my house. Derrick was still awake, but everyone else was zonked. The girls were still holding their glow sticks so I put them to bed with the glow sticks. Derrick took some extra cuddling to get to sleep, but eventually he dropped off as well.
Brandon had staff duty for 24 hours so we weren't able to talk the night of the Fourth of July or anytime during the day on Saturday. The kids and I pretty much did nothing all day. Once again there were some late naps (grrrr). In the evening we did one of our favorite thing to do on Saturdays which is to water the tree and yard. It always turns into a water fight which is just fine because I just take the kids inside and start bathtime anyway.
They ended up soaked.
And Derrick ended up muddy.
We had a quick bathtime and then did movie night. We watched one of the Tinkerbell movies on Netflix. The Tinkerbell movies are surprisingly well done. This one was Tinkerbell and the Fairy Pirate or something like that. When the movie was over the girls decided that Lydia was going to be Tinkerbell for Halloween. Charlotte wants to be her sister Periwinkle. I think that's a way cute idea. They want me to be the fairy queen which I'm all for, but I'm not sure Brandon will go along with their idea for him to be the Winter Fairy king.
Brandon called us at 10:00 after movie night and we all talked to him for a little bit. Then I put the kids to bed and stayed up talking with him until 1:15 am. I knew I'd regret it in the morning, but it was so worth it. The kids actually all slept in until 8:15 today which was awesome. We missed all of Sacrament Meeting as a result, but we made it to the rest of church so it wasn't too bad.
Brandon has to go back for one more week of gunnery. So I wont get to talk to him again this week. However, once he's done with that he wont have to go into the field again. In fact, they'll start preparing to come home. Of course it will take like 3 months to get everything ready for that. Oh well, at least we are on the down hill side of things.
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