Evergreen State Fair

Since Tuesday was pouring down rain, we changed our plan of heading to the Evergreen state fair to Thursday-Carter was off school and our original plans fell through.  Etienne was up visiting my parents so we said we'd take him.  When mom seemed hesitant to send me alone with 4 kids to the fair, I roped Amanda into bringing her two boys so we could divide & conquer. 

Amanda came to get Etienne from my house.  Etienne fell in the driveway, Henri fell on the sidewalk and got a big goose egg on his forehead, Carter fell within the first 5 minutes of the fair...

First we saw the special dinosaur exhibit that required separate admission.  It was pretty lame, I have to say, animatronic dinosaurs.  Carter refused to go near T-Rex. To explain the lameless.  This is the ride.

You sit on it and pay $2 for the priviledge.

At least it got way better after that.  Then Carter & Etienne tried a game, catch a plastic fish, they weigh it, you get a prize based on the weight, everyone wins.

Then we headed to the rides.  Henri was too short for any of them.

 so Henri waited...

while we were waiting we did run into my friend's parents, however!

The last ride, We only had 3 more tickets, so I gave them to Etienne to go on the slide, Amanda had her kids pick a number between 1 and 10 and Xander won their 3 tickets in order to go on a car ride.  Drew started crying when he figured out he and Carter didn't get to go and the operator felt bad and let Drew and Carter on anyways... 

Next we ate: Cotton Candy, Onion Rings, Funnel Cake, Scones and Lemonade slush

Then we headed indoors as it was getting hot, we watched a puppet show...

Then saw the animals...

then got in the car where everyone fell asleep.

Carter's first day of Kindergarten-Part 2

Carter's words:

I had Kindergarten today.  It was AWESOME! My favorite part was all of it.  We have two recesses.  1 is long, 1 is short.  My teacher has two kids, their dad is 33.  She has a girl that is 5 that started Kindergarten at my school, her boy is 1 and a half.  I like my teacher.  I ate all of my lunch for lunch and snack.  There are no naps at Kindergarten. 

Carter's first day of Kindergarten-Part 1

So of course since I wanted to be early for the first day since I accidently missed the open house, we were running late.  We walked and did make it right after the bell.  Carter is really excited for Kindgergarten and we dropped him off this morning.

Valerie 1 month appointment, at 5 weeks

At birth, Valerie was 5 pounds, 10 ounces.  She left the hospital the next day at 5 pounds, 4 ounces.  At one week she was 5 pounds, 11 ounces.

At 5 weeks, she is EIGHT pounds, 21 inches!  Woohoo!

Feedings are going well, I am also able to pump another 4-8 ounces a day to freeze for future use.  She's now getting up only every 2-3 hours to eat at night

Visit with Jane-Valerie 1 month old

Valerie turned one month old yesterday, I took some pictures today. We also visited Jane and took the kids to Terrace Park in Arlington.

Henri climbed to the top by himself, just walked up to it and started climbing.  Seriously, someone tell this kid he's not 5!  He also balanced today with no help for the first time!  I offered to help him, but he saw Carter do it with no help and pushed me away.  The first of many pushes away so he can do things himself, I'm afraid...

Valerie today-1 month

Does she look like her mom?

Erin at 3.5 weeks...

Lord, grant me rest!

Things have been busy.  I feel like I'm running from the time Henri wakes up to the time Carter goes to bed.  Every morning, Henri wakes up first, many times while I'm feeding Valerie.  If it happens after 7am, he's happy and full of energy.  He's figured out how to open his bedroom door, so he comes into my room and gets me.  I finish feeding Valerie and follow him downstairs and we figure out breakfast.  Then Carter comes down and joins us for breakfast, then I check e-mail and drink my coffee.  Then we all get dressed.

Then our day begins.  Henri is still taking one nap, but I have a feeling it will be gone by Christmas.  He's also showing interest in potty training, so I've decided between Carter starting school on the first and activities ramping up mid September, we'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

Then after a morning activity, we have lunch, then clean up lunch, then play for a bit, then Henri goes down for a bit and Carter and I do stuff we can't do with Henri around.  Henri's up from nap, then we play some more, sometimes run out for a bit, then start dinner.

After dinner it's bathtime, then bedtime for Henri.  He falls asleep while Carter gets one on one time playing a game or reading a story with mom or dad, then Carter heads for bed.  Then parents relax and get to bed.

Then about every 1-2 hours Valerie wakes up to eat, or be held or be reswaddled.

I think she's eaten every hour for the last 48 hours, which means I'm exhausted and hungry, so I'm going to bed early tonight and hoping for the best.  She's one month tomorrow (guess I'll have to post pictures-she's getting cheeks and a chin!) so she's due for a growth spurt.  They usually last 2-3 days, so I am hoping, hoping hoping that I'll get to bed at a decent hour and she'll start moving her feedings back to every 2-3 hours.

We finally got assignments for Carter's teacher.  He'll go to school Wed the 1st, then off the 2nd, then on the 3rd, then off for Labor Day, then starts school up.  I'm working on finding activities for me to do with the little ones in the mornings, then we'll have the afternoon for nap/rest before we go pick up Carter.  We live too close to the school to have bus service and the teachers want students to be picked up and dropped off IN their classrooms, which would require me to get all the kids in and out of the car, so I'm thinking we'll be walking there a lot, which is good because I'm now exercising everyday and sometimes it's tough to fit it in.

So, I'm still on the blog, just too busy to post these days!

Hot zoo...

It has been hot.  Like breaking records hot.  So we went to the zoo.  It was a surprisingly nice temperature in the shade when we arrived at opening.  So we fed some birds...

Then the kids passed out. One at a time.

Then we had bath outaide tonight.