Staycation

Well, well, well.  I think that I have concluded, once again, that I am spending too much time frolicking on the internet, playing with my blog friends and inventing ways to kill time on hot summer days, well, perhaps I am inventing ways to avoid things to do on these hot summer days.  Today we went to the Dallas Zoo.  It was a nice, relatively temperate day and it was begging for a day trip.  I rallied the troops and it took us awhile to get out the door.  We headed into Dallas for lunch at a true DIVE in Deep Ellum, totally cool, and then spent a couple of hours at the zoo.  (By the way, if you have AAA, then you get $3 off PER ticket!)  We played in water and talked to birds and monkeys and elephants.  We wandered around until we found my very favorite creature, the giraffe.  Long and lean and lovely and majestic.  The kids all took their turns talking to the animals, one of the favorites had to be the giant turtles.  GIANT.  At the end of this story, I know that I want more of those days.  More fun, more outings, more time exploring with my favorite little people.  We have so much fun together, well, unless we are annoying each other with tasks and such.  

(that's normal though, right?) 

Basically, I am going on "staycation" with my kids and I will document more as the time comes.  We will take pictures and tell stories.  School is starting back sooner than I would like and time is moving much faster these days.  So, enjoy your days, explore your homes and neighborhoods, play with your kids and families and bask in the joy of escape, wherever that may be.

A lot like how I feel today

105 degrees

It actually reached 105 today.  Now, at 6:39 pm it is still 103.  It is not record breaking, which would have to surpass 107, but really close.

In response to this heat, we headed out to a new water park in Rowlett today which boasted of cool water and a fair number of things for the kids to do.  We enjoyed a couple of hours there and then headed home.  On said trip home, Kyra began complaining of stomach pains.  She ended up crying by the time we got home.  And within a hour of being home, she showed the truest sign of inheriting Kierstin's "going bonkers" virus: she threw up.  Now she is sleeping comfortably in a 77 degree living room where you can hear the faint sounds of "I think I can, I think I can" coming from our worn out air conditioner.  

So, we chug along, one sick child today with high temperatures and take solace in popsicles and the knowledge that this virus is only 24 hours.  And then I only have one more child that can get it.  Kaden.  Start your stopwatches now...it's only a matter of time.

There ought to be a law.

There ought to be a law.

I know there should be a law against the Mom getting sick.  I actually feel that sickness altogether should be abolished, but you take the good with the bad RIGHT?!?!

Well, the law didn't apply to me today as I have,

 indeed gotten sick.  As I type this, Kierstin has come in to announce that she needs new panties.  And now she just slipped because her feet are wet.  Why, you ask.  She is not feeling like a big girl today, it seems.  

WhY nOt?

I am sick.  Kimball is sick.  Kierstin is better but difficult with the after-sickness grumpies.  On top of that, Kierstin is unsure about the whole potty training thing, again.  Let's just own up to the fact that she does, indeed,

 get it and that she knows when she needs to go as well as how and where.  She just chooses against it sometimes.  4 times this morning actually.  I don't even have the energy to figure out what to do to help Kierstin figure this one out.  Do I let her keep having accidents until she gets it?  Do I get mad at her?  Punish her?  All I want to do is sleep.  I did get the recommendation from Mom that perhaps a kind of punishment might be in order.  Good mom of the year award should be granted for this one:  I told Kierstin that Grandma said I would have to spank her if she had another :accident:.  She hasn't had one since.  Now, I didn't actually spank her, though I wanted to when she peed on my comforter last night at about 11:45 pm when she was sure that she didn't need to go to bed yet.  She had slept for about a 6 hour nap, so I tried to give her a break...but my blanket?  On my bed?  At bedtime?  It is currently in the dryer for what seems like hours as it is so big and having a hard time drying.  

Oh, and with all of this joy and sunshine, guess where Larry is today.  Can't guess, can you???  

ON a KaYaK in the OcEaN in DeEp CoVe.  

Mom is sure that a whale will eat him if he does it again.  You like him less right now don't you!  (I mean, of course I want him to enjoy but that was on the list of things I wanted to do when we were set to move up there.)

You should also know that Kaden and Kyra are intentionally staying as far away from Kimball and me.  They think it might help them avoid sickness.

She's a big girl now...or so she says.

So, as you can see by the droopy eyes, she doesn't feel great, but boy is she happy. 

Today, she decided to be a big girl.  

We sold her crib to another sweet family today.  We took that money and bought her this Tinkerbell bed.  We had promised her that when she was potty trained, we would get it.  Now, most of you know that she is not effectively potty trained, except that something changed for her today.  When she knew that her baby bed was leaving, she looked at me and said, "Mommy, I am a big girl now.  I want panties like Kyra."  And that was it.  She went upstairs, found the pair she wanted, put them on and has not had an accident yet.  (cross your fingers)  Now, this is not a science and in no way do I think that she is trained, but it was a sweet recognition that she is growing up.  She loves the bed, as you can see.  She is still sitting in it now, with babies and Pooh Bears all around.  

2:16 a.m.; 5:09 am

Well, that picture was taken on the 2:16 shift.  It is now 5:09 am and she has a fever.  Yep.  A fever.  She has not thrown up since 2 am, but she also won't drink anything because she says it will "burn".  That does cause problems when you want her to take some kind of medicine for the fever.  So, I am up with her again and I think it is likely official that she has caught something.  Perhaps at Going Bonkers???  Here's hoping for a short sickness, swift recovery and isolated incident.  (Translation: if any of my other children, or Amber's for that matter, get sick from this I am going to be really really mad at whomever got us sick in the first place)