Tiny Carter

Alycia has church at 8:30 am and I have church at 2pm. Our church building is about two minutes from Alycia’s house, so it is really convenient to have dinner together right after our church ends (5pm). After dinner Alycia was comparing our baby boys, who are three months apart. The sad thing about it is Trey is really small for his age too. We meet with a nutritionist on Sept. 9th.

Kimball Art Museum

We went to the Kimball Art Museum to see the Impressionist Exhibit. It is on loan from The Chicago Art Institute. There were so many iconic images. My favorite of the evening was Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877 by Gustave Caillebotte. It was so impressive to see in person because it was 83” by 108”. It was absolutely incredible to see it on that massive scale. The Bedroom, 1889 by Vincent Van Gogh is powerful to see. No one makes brush strokes like Van Gogh. Paul Cezanne has always been a favorite of mine since I saw the Cezanne show in Philadelphia. I was able to see The Basket of Apples 1893 in this exhibition. At the Moulin Rouge by Heri de Toulouse-Lautreac was interesting to see because about 6 inches on the bottom and right of the painting were removed and then latter restored to the painting. You can see the patch work and can imagine that the painting would be quite different without the green face. There were five Stacks of Wheat paintings by Monet. He created about 25 Wheat paintings but Chicago owns the largest group which was interesting to see and be able to compare them. I highly recommend visiting the Kimball before the exhibit closes on November 2nd.

So how did it go with three kids? Well they did great for about 45 minutes. Gavin and Renée listened to the audio tour that even had kid audio sections. Be brought a stroller for both Renée and Carter. Carter played with my cell phone and then my brush with a mirror. Then he started screaming. The docent led us out to a court yard where they keep screaming kids. After that Sam and I took turns seeing the rest of the exhibit. After we were finished looking at the art, we went outside and the kids played on the grounds. So, all in all, the kids did pretty well for an art museum.

After School Swim Time

Since Gavin has started school, our pool schedule has changed. We have been going swimming after school instead of in the mornings. It is still really hot so the pool is refreshing. Gavin is usually all wound up after school, so it is a good way to get rid of some of his extra energy.

Afternoons with Rene'e

Does Renée miss Gavin? I don’t think so. I honestly think she enjoys the break from his constant teasing. I have been enjoying our afternoons. Carter takes a nap. Renée has an hour of quiet time where she gets to look at books. Then she gets to watch a movie. It is so quiet and I am realizing how nice of a girl Renée is when she doesn’t have to scream all the time. I think we are going to have a nice year together. This is her during her movie time. I am not sure why she sits on a stool on top of the couch. She, of course, chose a pink one.

My Batmans

We had to pick up a few things at Wal-Mart, so after I was finished I let the kids look at the toys. I was really doing reconnaissance work for Christmas, but they don’t know that. Gavin found the Batman masks. Renée, of course, wanted one on when she saw Gavin. To my surprise, Carter wanted one on too. He is just starting to mimic the older kids.

Kindergarten Cheers

The day has finally come and Gavin is in Kindergarten! This morning I read Jessica’s blog about how sad she was about her son starting Kindergarten. Gavin smashed a long florescent light into the van and was misbehaving all morning. After that, I was ready to have him go. Gavin was so excited. He got dressed in his new school outfit. I always imagined him looking a little nicer, but he wanted to wear a transformer t-shirt. He also picked out a transformer back pack. His favorite new school item was his aerator shoes. When we walked into JCPenney’s he had to have them. I have never seen a kid who loves his shoes as much as Gavin loves those shoes. He is always telling me about how he can fly in them. Gavin walked right into his classroom and sad down in his seat. The only one who cries was Carter because he was afraid I was going to leave him there. There are five LDS kids in his class. I didn’t have five LDS kids in my high school. Gavin also knows another girl in his class from our street. After the drop off we went to the Cheers and Tears party. Then I had a blissful three hours where Renée had quiet time and Carter took a nap. I got so much done. When I picked up Gavin that first thing he said was, “I only broke one rule.” For Gavin, that isn’t to bad. I guess he broke the jumping out of your chair rule. That is a tough one.

Auto Work

Sam helped Nick fix their cars and came home like this. Alycia said Nick didn’t look like this, so I am not sure what happened. Isn’t he a good sport for letting me take his picture?

Howdy

“Howdy, Howdy, Howdy, Howdy, We welcome you today. Dad, I know another language, Howdy.”-Gavin
“That isn’t another language.” – Sam
“Yes it is.” –Gavin


At church, our Primary has altered the traditional Hello song to the Howdy song. Gavin is confusing Texan as a second language and you can’t blame him.

Missing Sam and Cellulites

I survived my week without Sam. He was doing training in Maryland and got to visit with a lot of our friends from when we lived there. I really don’t know how single moms or moms whose husbands travel a lot do it. I was exhausted by the end of each day. I was so happy when Sam walked in the door on Saturday and not just because I missed his help.

To add to the crazy, I had everyone get on their bathing suits on Saturday morning so we could go to the pool. When Gavin walked past me I noticed that his left ankle was red and very swollen. It was so bad that I used web check in for urgent care and we all went to Wal-Mart to get Benadryl, after everyone got dressed of course. I thought Gavin must have been bit by something. We got called to go into urgent care an hour and a half after Gavin had the Benadryl and there was no change to his ankle. Luckily Sam had gotten home so I didn’t have to take everyone to urgent care. I was completely wrong and Gavin had cellulites. It is an infection and is treatable with antibiotics but can be very dangerous if it goes untreated. His ankle is still a little swollen but isn’t red and hot anymore. Good thing Debbie talked me into getting him checked out.

Styling

I got Gavin a squirt bottle to spray his hair with because it is so wild in the morning. He hasn’t really figured out styling yet.

Curls plus kicking and screaming

I curled Renée’s hair by rapping her hair around my finger and then bobby pinning it to her head. She screamed, kicked, and cried the whole time I was doing it because she didn’t want curly hair. I wasn’t going to give in so we both endured and her hair turned out beautiful. She liked it so much that she was willing to get her picture taken. Man girls are tough!

Lego Star Wars

There are some advatages to 2pm church. According to Gavin and Sam, playing Lego Star Wars all morning was one of them. It was so funny to listen to them play. Gavin asks questions and talks constantly.

Birds and the Bees

On Thursday night Gavin and Renée wanted me to read the How Everything Works book, focusing on the section about the body. While we were on the reproductive systems page I told them how babies were made. I didn’t want Gavin to go to school and find out from someone else. Gavin laughed and said, “That is so silly.” On Friday we ran into Tyler and Carrie at the pool. Carrie is 28 weeks pregnant and Gavin said to her, “You have a baby in your belly. Do you know how it got there? Giggle, Giggle, Giggle!”

Water Park Fun with a Gun

We went to the water park on Thursday with Carrie and Tyler. I couldn’t get any pictures of Tyler because he was always going down the water slides. Alycia and kids were there too but Lee brought her own friends so we didn’t spend that much time together. Gavin discovered the slides for the first time. He usually likes to climb in the “water factory” and shoot people with the spray guns. He was very excited to show me how he could go down the red slide. Listen for his yelling in the video. Carrie and I had a good time checking out everyone’s tattoos. This guy’s gun was our favorite.

Meet the Teacher

Tonight was meet the teacher night. Gavin got to see his class room and meet his teacher Mrs. Longsdon. I am not sure if I am ready to have a school age child. I am ready for Gavin to have something to do and get a few hours brake. Kindergarten is only half day so it is only three hours, but I still think I will be sad when he starts on Monday.

Jumping in the Rain

We had some pouring rain today. At one point it was dry and even sunny for a few minutes. I had the kids get out their bikes and ride in front of our house on the side walk. Then it started to pour rain again. Gavin and Renée rode in the rain for awhile but eventually got sick of it. Then Gavin discovered jumping on the trampoline in the rain. He probably spent a half an hour out there. It was fun to watch his joy from inside where I was dry.

Fire Station

My church playgroup did a tour of the fire station today. It was kind of a let down after visiting Frisco’s. Gavin kept asking, where are the other fire trucks. They only had one at this station. The kids did have a blast climbing all over the truck and honking the horn.