Dancing, Birthday, Multitasking, Summer Begins...

During the last week of school we were really busy.  However, during the afternoon we had a few minutes break and Daniel would always beg me to play the Wii with him.  I kept trying to lay the youngest two down for a nap, but they, of course, were not tired at all.  I let them stay up and I played the Wii with Daniel.  It wasn't long until both of them crawled up in my lap and fell very much asleep.  So much for not being tired.  So I had to try and play while balancing both their heads on my arms.  Talk about multitasking, but I didn't mind at all. 

 Last Thursday was Aaron's birthday.  All Aaron wanted for dinner was something that everyone could eat including Daniel.  We had grilled hot dogs and I made a vegan cake from scratch so Daniel could eat it as well.  Of course, true to form, Daniel did not like how the cake looked and refused to even try it even though I let him pick out the flavor of the cake and frosting.  He can be so frustrating at times!!!  Anyway, we had dinner and cake and then Aaron opened his presents.  Look at all those candles--almost enough to go with all the gray hair he's getting. 

 Of course he had all kinds of help in blowing out the candles.

 Right after dinner, cake and presents we had to hurry to Sarah's dance recital.  She was so excited to get all doodered up.  Her favorite part was the makeup especially the lipstick.  She is one tom boy girly girl diva if that makes sense in any way and I LOVE it!!

 Here's her first dance:

 Here's her second dance:

 She was pretty proud of herself on the way home.  She looks so old with makeup--I don't like it!  

 She must have wanted to relive the dance recital experience the next morning because before she came out of her room for breakfast she changed of her pajamas and into her costume.  She even completed the ensemble with her Cinderella headband and some sweet bedhead and put her butterfly wings on sideways.  Of course when I told her to smile for the camera this was all I got:

 Saturday was National Trails Day so we had to do our part and get out to enjoy them.  Along the trail system the cities had booths set up.  The booths had everything from a prize wheel to coupons to bottled water to Super Heroes.  Of course all the kids had to spin the wheel.  That is one advantage of having so many kids--you get lots of turns to win stuff--WAHOO!!  We ended up winning a swimming pass and two bike helmets--AWESOME!! 

 Hiking along the trail we encountered some HUGE blow weeds.  I know that is not the scientific name for it, but that's what we will call it.  There was enough for everyone to try.

 Noah even got in on the action.  That lasted until Aaron started sneezing uncontrollably when the weed seeds blew right into his face.  He did not appreciate it very much.  Whoops.

 After enduring our 3 mile walk filled with whines and cries about the kids being hot and tired it was time for lunch.  It also was the first weekend of summer so we celebrated by going to McDonald's.  Holy cow our kids eat a TON!!  We ended up ordering 80 nuggets, 3 hamburgers, two large fries and four drinks and it was all gone within ten minutes.  I only got 6 nuggets and gave the rest to the cause.  I feared for my fingers in passing out the food--seriously.  Even after inhaling all that food they were asking for more, but we were the mean parents and said that everyone was done whether they were full or not because that was A LOT of food.  Josh even went back through the trays to pick out the stray fries that had fallen out of the container.  I stopped him before he could lick the tray clean, though--Jeez!

 Afterward we tried to go over to the Splash Pad on base to play, but it was not working.  Instead we came home and Aaron started unpacking the garage.  In the unpacking Aaron found the training wheels to the smallest bike.  He put them on and let Sarah try it out with her new helmet that she had won earlier in the day.  Wow, once she got on that bike she refused to get back off.  She loved it.  I tried to take her picture, but the sun was in her eyes so I just got a squinty look.  She thinks she is a big girl (boy) like her brothers.

 She may think she is a big girl, but she still needs Daddy snuggles.  She crawled up into Aaron's lap on Sunday afternoon and they both fell asleep.  Aaron loved it.  And, yes, Sarah still sleeps with her hands behind her head.  She has done this from birth and continues to do this.  I think it looks quite uncomfortable, but it doesn't seem to bother her obviously.

 Monday to celebrate the first day of summer the three oldest boys started the  Kids in the Park program again.  It is a recreation program that keeps the kids busy from 9-12 Monday through Wednesday and then Thursdays are field trip days.  They visit lots of places like the aquatic center, movie theater, etc.  I love it!  It gives me a chance to grocery shop, exercise or run errands with only two kids instead of five.  That's awesome for me and the kids love the stuff they do at the park, too.  It's a win win situation as far as all of us are concerned!!  After the first day of Kids in the Park we headed over to the Union Station Museums (aka the train museum).  We looked around, but since the kids have been there before they didn't spend a whole lot of time looking at the exhibits.  Here they are running by the mock rail car exhibit.

 There was a poor volunteer who tried to talk to us about different facts.  I was the only one who really heard him because I am able to tune my kids loudness out somewhat.  He was a quiet talker, too.  I stopped by and tried to fix a computer for Matthew to look at, but the computer just wouldn't turn on.  That's when Josh walked by and saw the old typewriter.  He then said, "Wow, I have never seen something so old!"  That sure made me feel old since I have actually used one before.

 Here's the kids just looking and playing with stuff:

 Noah was just happy to be there.  I was just happy he was strapped into his stroller and couldn't run away from me.

 About this point in the tour Matthew found his favorite place in the museum which is right by the emergency doors that look out onto the Frontrunner tracks.  Once Matthew saw that he wasn't going to go anywhere until he saw a Frontrunner train go by.  We had to wait 15 minutes, but Matthew's patience was rewarded.  He was so excited and thought everyone else was super excited about it, too.  He kept telling the lady sitting down next to him on the bench to pause her phone so she could see the train go by, too.  She was not as excited about the train as Matthew was, though.  Here's how excited Matthew got:

 While my attention was turned toward Matthew Sarah snuck off and 'took care of business' in her underwear and it wasn't just wet.  After the Frontrunner finally went by I ushered the kids out, but they had to look at one last train.  It was right here that Josh said very loudly, "This better be the last train we look at because I REALLY NEED TO GO #2!!"  Unfortunately, the lady that Matthew had kept telling to pause her phone so she could see the train was standing close by to us as well so she heard what Josh said loud and clear.  Luckily she was pretty laid back about it.  While I was over hiding in my corner from embarrassment she told Josh that he just said was a little 'TMI' and I couldn't have agreed more!!  We quickly left to come home by way of the bathroom so Josh could take care of his business not in his underwear and also so I could clean Sarah up.  Now it wouldn't have been too bad, but this was the third time that day that I had to clean up this particular mess.  **SIGH**  someday I hope my little girl will be poop trained.  Do they teach that in kindergarten?!  Here's Josh keeping his legs tightly crossed right after he'd made his 'announcement' of needing to go um...potty.

When Noah hears some rocking music he can really get his groove on:

Him and Sarah even like to get jiggy with it to Farmer in the Dell:

Needless to say these crazy kids keep things interesting!