A Room with a View

Todd and his dad worked on a major project at our house last week: replacing rotten siding. Sounds fun doesn't it? If it does, there's still more to do. So come on over...

This is what our living room looked like when the kids and I got home one day. The window was only gone for a few hours (not a big deal), but we do have some new pets as a result. We have a fly killing contest going on in our home right now. So far Todd is winning (but has been asked to stop displaying his victims on the kitchen sink) . Isaac and I are tied for second place. EG is too busy playing Polly's to kill anything. Owen is coming in 3rd because I swear he aimed his vomit at a few of them....

FYI: If you know people are going to be removing your windows, don't leave a chicken cooking in the crock-pot. Evidently, flies like chicken.

Here is one of the activities we did while the guys were working on the house. Owen has decided he loves the pool. He floated for over an hour - just chillin' and smiling.

Cousins don't shake hands.....

Cousins gotta hug.

When I was pregnant with Emma Grace, my s-i-l was pregnant with her first child also. Both having girls - five weeks apart. It was so much fun experiencing that together.

Kenlee got to play with us all last week while her parents worked and she gets ready to start kindergarten. These girls are so much fun to watch. Their favorite activities have been Polly Pockets (of course), dress-ups/princesses, and playing library. Isaac's favorite activity has been trying to destroy whatever they are playing with. Good times, good times. Poor guy - he just wants to be included.

Here they are at 7 and 8 months. (EG's on the right - the bald one that looks a lot like Owen).

2 1/2 yrs.

3 yrs.

Friday at the mall. 4 1/2 years.
(Oops....sorry! EG just corrected me - 4 and 3/4.)

I feel like I'll be posting pics of them in prom dresses soon.
Seriously, slow it down girls!

Ssshhhhhh.........listen...........

Do you hear that? What? You don't hear anything? Me neither. It's quiet. Eerily quiet. Spooky quiet. I don't know what to do with myself quiet.Nobody is asking for food. Nobody is asking me to watch this. Nobody is wondering if their Superman shirt is still dirty. Nobody is complaining. Nobody is laughing. Nobody is crying. Nobody is puking. Nobody is tattling. Nobody is yelling "I went poo-poo." Nobody is being bossy. Nobody is playing. It's just quiet. Crazy quiet. Unsettling quiet.

Did I lock myself in the bathroom again to try to steal 30 seconds of quiet? Nope. They are at the beach visiting grandparents for the night. They are having a blast. Me? Well - I miss them, but it's quiet. I literally don't know what to do with my time, but it's quiet. And you know what? I'm going to enjoy the quiet because soon.....well, soon there will be puking, asking for food, crying, giggling, playing, wondering if the Superman shirt is still dirty (it is), and noise. Fun noise. Crazy noise. I love it noise, but LOTS of noise.

But right now...........it's quiet.

Bubble Time

So the kids convinced me tonight that Owen was old enough to take a bath with them. They promised to be careful and even offered to hold him for a quick photo session.

While they were ready....I think Owen would have been fine to wait a little bit longer. Especially judging by the look on his face in the second picture.

Don't worry Owen - Isaac's scaring me too....

The bumbo seat was great. I was much less worried about Isaac dropping Owen and everyone was happy.

PS - We're locking this one up when she's a teenager. Seriously, look at those eyelashes!

A hot date....

Todd and I really make an effort to spend one-on-one time with the kids several times a month. Isaac and I had our date tonight and it was a blast. He is such a funny little guy and thrives when he gets all the attention to himself. We split a burger at Five Guys, went to REI so he could climb the big rock, picked up some medicine for Owen, and sat on the lawn of N. Hills listening to a band for awhile. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the evening:
"Mommy, I lost my Emma Grace; she's not here."
"Man, Owen sure does get sick a lot." (We had to pick up 2 different meds for him.)
"I can't. I lost the penny you gave me earlier to throw in the fountain." (I asked if he was paying for dinner.)
"I have to pull up my pants after I pee because nobody wants to see that bottom."

And my all-time favorite:
"Mommy, when is that baby going to come out of your tummy?"

Uuuummmmmm...........SIX months ago. His name is Owen, remember?



Here's my ham on his first birthday. He has always been a character. :)

A Crappy Trip to Target

I've decided that a mother's love is truly like no other.

I mean, think about it: if you were walking down the aisle at Target (where else would you be?) and a stranger came up to you and said, "excuse me, that man over there just pooped all over you and it is now running down your hip and lower back" you would FREAK out, right? There would be no controlling your wrath and you would probably strip down in the middle of the store and immediately burn the clothes you were wearing. (All the while realizing that your husband couldn't really get upset in that situation if you needed to spend money on new clothes to wear out of the store....)

But because it was this guy....I actually found it a little bit humorous.
(And rectified the situation with some free paper towels from the bathroom.)

This post is not meant to degrade Target in any way. This incident occured through no fault of their own, and in fact, the store clerk who realized I was too busy trying to keep my older two in sight to realize I had been shat upon pooped on, was quite informative and helpful. Had she not been on the schedule for the remainder of the night, she probably would have offered to follow me home and wash the soiled clothing for me after bathing and putting the cute little pooper to bed. :)

Cousins on "Bacation"

Being in the mountains was awesome. Mom's cooking was doubly awesome. Me not having to cook was awesome. Running with my sister again was awesome. (Running up the mountain with my sister was not so awesome.) Playing with bubbles, playing Candy Land and Memory, playing at the river, and hiking were awesome.....but, the biggest highlight by far was the time the kids got with their cousins.

These are my brother's two girls, about the same age as EG and Isaac. They are beyond adorable and absolutely hilarious.



This is my sister's first baby. He is as sweet as he looks and 5 weeks older than Owen.

Here's all 6 on the front porch swing. That's six kids, age 5 and under. Fun, but tiring.

One of my goals of the week was to get a good family picture to send to Ehiopia with Isaac's post placement report that is overdue. Not too bad. My mom should have charged a sitting fee, because taking pictures of my family is quite an event.

Family "Bacation" Part I

(Isaac replaced the V in Vacation with a B.)

Where have we been? The mountains for a week with my side of the family. We had a blast. My sister and her family flew in from TX and it was so much fun to see them. The last part of the week, my brother and his family came up as well, so we were all there. All 14 of us. Yes, 14. It was crazy and fun. I'm pretty sure my parents need a vacation from the vacation.

What did we do on vacation?
We ate a lot of good food (thanks Mom), went hiking, Stephen and Todd rode bikes, Sarah Ellen and I did some mountain running, the kids played outside...A LOT, they also did some neat art projects and played with bubbles (thanks Mom), we all played some pool and ping-pong, watched some movies, went into the awesome town of Sparta, and basically just had a good time being together.

Here's Luke and Owen "playing" on day 2.

Playing with a parachute at the New River State Park.

Swimming in the river.

What's next for the Fischer's? Catching up on laundry and housecleaning. Or blogging while we should be catching up on laundry and housecleaning.