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.

Owen's First Tea Party

Owen was invited to his first tea party the other day.

He was of course, beyond thrilled. And, if you look real close, you may notice some remnants of formula tea and pizza waiting to come back out. Oh the joys of acid reflux.

PS - Next time you're having company and don't have enough room at the table, break out the ironing board. I think it's a genius idea. I plan to use mine and leave some clothes on it in the hopes that one of my guests will get the hint and iron them.

3 Little Ethiopians Sitting on a Couch

Okay, technically it's just one Ethiopian, but you have to admit the other two look pretty dang cute as well. We cooked a huge Ethiopian meal last night and enjoyed eating, wearing our traditional clothes, and listening to the music. Uncle Kevin joined us and got his first taste of the cuisine. Our whole family loves Ethiopian food - even the diva (who usually turns her nose up at anything remotely spicy.) Maybe it's because each dish is rich in herbed butter. Yum.

This picture is blurry, but the boys crack me up.

Masters of Disguise

Bearded pirates invaded my bathroom the other day.
I was terrified, as I'm sure you would be too.