The Fireball

Many have been victimized by it and no one for sure knows exactly what it is. A Fireball is the favorite. A growl? A spell? Who knows but it was captured on film and follows as such....

Nac

Little man caught his first fish at Bebe and Pop's. He loved it as long as it stayed in the bucket. Audrey caught one as well. As you can see, she always likes to stay dressed up even at the lake.

Saturday Part 2

Well Clarky is really sick. He's got a bad stomach virus with high fever. So the rest of the weekend was spent trying to keep Audrey and Maddox away from Clark so they wouldn't get sick too. We went to the mall last night and saw Up (or at least part of it until Clark started spewing).

Today Josh, Audrey, and Maddox went to the park, Sam's, the mall...anything to avoid this hot house!

We've had so much fun with this little guy and know his mom and dad are missing him big-time. See you tomorrow!!

Saturday

After our Saturday morning tradition of Josh's blueberry muffins for breakfast, we decided to go to Pace Park today on Salado Creek. So the kids watched Cars while Josh mowed the lawn and I packed the bags. My favorite houseplant suffered an early demise while we were packing up. The boys used the leaves as swords. HOW do little boys know how to turn anything into weapons??




We love Salado! Marla, Nate and the boys met us there and we had fun with water guns and the boogie board. Nate and Josh are the best dads ever for such a fun family day--Marla and I just lounged chatting in the shade.










Audrey with her four brothers again.


Here's Audrey working on her obliques--never waste a moment!


Nate was a huge hit--he took huge 18 inch rocks and threw them in the creek so it would make a huge splash. Clark rewarded him with the loudest, fakest laughing I have ever heard and then pointed and said, "He's funny!"




We got a couple of delicious homemade pizzas from RoyT.'s for a Pace Park Picnic and headed home for naps. Unfortunately it looks our A/C is out again (third time in 2 wks!) so if you need us we'll be upstairs!

Friday

So glad Josh is home for the weekend!

We woke up and ate breakfast and I read in the paper it would reach 100 degrees today! I was just commenting last week how mild the summer had been so far--I guess I jinxed us. So where's cool and kid-friendly? The library of course!

I have a near perfect library system:

I always do my research at home and get the list of books I want with the catalog numbers so I don't forget a book or have to watch the kids while searching the online catalog. I bring a stroller so whoever walks out of my line of sight gets a time-out in the stroller (plus I can stuff all 19 books in there). I always go to the adult section first so that the children's section is a reward for good behavior.

What's that quote about best-laid plans?

Anyway, today both Clark and Maddox desperately wanted to ride in the stroller. So whoever wasn't in it sobbed loudly. Then, I couldn't find my list of books and catalog numbers anywhere! I dumped out my purse on the table, emptied the stroller. No list. I finally got the boys quiet and then Audrey said she had to go the bathroom. Since the ladies bathroom was in my line of vision and I knew it was a single stall, I sent Audrey to the bathroom by herself. While she's in the bathroom, I find my list! Chewed up in Maddox's mouth! Will he be the list-eater in 18 years when Baylor finally makes a bowl?!

I upset Maddox pulling the paper out of his mouth and then to quiet him I put him in the stroller which makes Clark scream. Then I realize Audrey's been in the bathroom five minutes and is frantically knocking because the door is to heavy to pull open. I get her out and she is scared to death bawling her eyes out. So I had three wailing preschoolers in the quiet adult section. It is a gross understatement to say all eyes were on me. I felt so bad for Audrey and apologized three times. She said, "Mom, you didn't make that door heavy!" What a little cutie.

We went to the foyer (pronounced foy-ay just for Black Sarah) to regroup and I'm proud to say we returned and had a successful trip to the library.

Lunch and nap went smoothly--today Maddox wore a tortilla as a hat but I couldn't grab the camera in time. I also decided to make some Kraft Macaroni & Cheese--I thought Maddox would like it and I vaguely remember Josh liking it, though I couldn't remember cooking or eating since I was pregnant with Clark. But I found a box and whipped it up. It looked a little strange--almost burnt orange. Sure enough, I guess the last time I bought mac&cheese I was pregnant with Clark!! The box expired in August 2007! So we dumped that and had peanut butter crackers with fruit and cheese.

He took a monster nap for 3 hours and 5 minutes. Why is it we can never just enjoy those crazy-long naps? Of course I went up to check on him every 15 minutes starting at the 2 1/2 hr mark.

Maddox got to talk to his mom and dad on the phone and it made him really sad but he recovered quickly. He is definitely missing them but overall having a great time, still exploring the new toys and admiring Audrey. When Josh got home from work I said, "Daddy's home!" Maddox ran to look, and then looked at me like I was crazy. "Josh!" The message was clear--that's not my daddy!

We did a little painting after nap and had tacos for dinner. Then a long bubble bath followed by stories and bed by 8!

I love how sweetly they all play together. We had good sharing today and fun art projects. Sorry no pictures--they were cute all day of course but I couldn't get in the habit of picking up the camera.

Except for this.

Guess who's been out of town all week? That's right! Sydni Cartwright.

Thursday

What a fun and busy day! We woke up early and watched Elmo's World. Then David, Ashleigh, and Ella Grace came over to play. They loved the tire swing and pushing the stroller and shopping carts.

Maddox bit Clark right on the thumb to get a toy (I was secretly glad Clark got a taste of his own medicine) but was very appropriately sad afterwards. We ate a big lunch when Josh got home.

Maddox used his slice of cheese as a hat.

Audrey was happy to pass on her old Baylor cheerleading uniforms to Ella Grace.

David and Ashleigh headed off to Austin after lunch. After nap, Shepherd and Owen came over to play. Here they are at dinner. Audrey said, "Look Mom! I have four brothers!"

Joel came over to help corral the kiddos.

Tonight the clouds were so freaky looking. I've never seen them look like this--almost like a painting. Tonight we have a tornado warning so hopefully it will cool off a bit.

Fun with Maddox

This week I'll be doing a bunch of detailed posts about our days because Maddox is staying with us! Sarah and Bret are on a getaway to NYC without their little man so I promised I would keep them up to date with all of his cuteness.

We had a great first day. Maddox woke up at 7:40 and we headed out the door to pick up donuts and go play at Cole and Kate's house. When we got in the car Audrey said, "YAY! We have another brother! God gave us a new brother!"

Cole and Kate live on Belton Lake and have an incredible backyard! It was nice and overcast and everyone played really hard. We brought Caroline and Abby home with us and I dropped them off with Audrey and Clark while I took Maddox to the grocery store. He was a little cutie pointing to all the produce and the lady at the checkout lane said he looked just like me! Hah!

We had grilled chicken and fruit for lunch, followed by a 2 hour nap. Maddox's favorite toy is the shopping cart, followed closely by the piggy bank. He woke up from nap with a runny nose but he seems to be feeling fine.

When Josh got home from work we all got on the bed for wrestling and "efe-hache" (family holding). Maddox seemed a little overwhelmed by all of this but he played along with our craziness. Dinner was spaghetti, corn, peas, and apple. He amused us all by sucking the sauce off his spaghetti and then kind of flossing his teeth with each noodle before sucking it up.

Quick bath, then stories.

Blogging Backlog...

Here's some pics from the last few months...

Audrey on Cowgirl Day at school



Every holiday people dress up the pigs at this park (for Mardi Gras they all had beads, for Easter they had bunny ears, etc.). They wore these masks during the Swine Flu frenzy.