Thursday Night Baseball Game

On Thursday I took a little trip across town to drop off some stuff with Grandma Betty at her office, and then I swung by the hotel to double check my work schedule. In passing I asked if we were going to have a work party at the baseball game like we've done in past. The answer unfortunately was a 'no' but I scored a few tickets for a game this season anyways :) 

Perry and I have discussed taking the kids to a game, but hadn't actually done it this season. Earlier in the day there was a little storm that passed through town with wind, rain, and a some hail. I checked the forecast and it was supposed to be a pretty calm and not too warm evening, so I planned for us to go that night. (And because I didn't want to cook dinner.) As soon as I returned home from the hotel, I laid Charlotte down for a nap and broke the news to the boys. Perry wasn't too thrilled when I unleashed the plan on him when he was done with work...

 

Thursday nights are "kids eat free with a ticket purchase" night, so that was a good reason to go in of itself. Each kid received a hot dog, bag of chips and a drink. Hunter put up a fit and made Charlotte trade her Doritos for his Cheetos. Horrible trade because I had to not only sit next to her, but also had JP on the other side of me with his bag of Cheetos. By the end of Charlotte's bag, I had Cheeto residue all over me... Charlotte was all orange too.

Not long after the game started, a small rain cloud came through and sprinkled us a little bit. We scored two beautiful rainbows to look at out of it!

 Charlotte definitely enjoyed herself! For the most part she either sat on my lap or Perry's lap, and then she'd get to dance any time the music came on. She also always had her eye on Ollie the Osprey from the minute he stepped onto the field. Randomly throughout the game she would call out for everyone to hear, "Here birdie! Here birdie! Where's da birdie? Ollie! Ollie!" The guy in front of us would crack up laughing every time. 

I managed to snag a picture or two with cranky Hunter. He hated that it was sprinkling.

JP on the other hand was much more cooperative. Normally he doesn't like his picture taken, but this time he said we needed to take another one without his hat on. 

We all had a lot of fun at the game! There were numerous trips to the bathroom since they gave the kids a monstrous sized drink. During the last trip to the bathroom, Hunter and JP ran off ahead and went on their own to to the men's room. I could hear them laughing and messing around from outside... When they came out they blew past me and climbed over the seats to get a few rows down to our seats. They were promptly reprimanded by a worker, just as I was able to lose my cool. As I picked up Hunter to lift him over the seat to put him in his spot, he jumped up and his head slammed into my chin which cause me to bite my touch. Then I was over the game. I was done. My mouth tasted like blood and I was simply done. 

Before we left the stadium, I wanted to get a picture with the kids and Ollie. I asked Charlotte if she wanted to see the bird and she agreed each time, and once said she'd hug it. Different story when she was up close though! I love Hunter's expression! 

Sleepy Time for Charlotte

At the beginning of summer, I put the kabosh to naps for Charlotte. An afternoon nap would keep her up until at least 9pm. Fighting with the kids at bedtime is not one of my favorite things. Since we've eliminated her nap, bedtime has been a breeze! She's not too cranky during the day either. 

Yesterday I took the kids on an afternoon bike ride to the park. I've been busy quilting my hexagon quilt and was getting a little stir crazy. By the end of our time at the park, Charlotte was clearly exhausted. I'm surprised she didn't fall asleep on the way home! *In other news, she's potty training right now and we successfully went to the park for two hours with no accident!* As soon as we brought all of our park stuff into the house, Charlotte insisted she watch "Me Mouse." (The girl is obsessed with Minnie Mouse so as soon as she wakes up in the mornings she requesting to watch "Me Mouse Clubhouse, Come Inside!") I obliged since she was in need of some quiet time. A short while later I hear the credits roll, and thought it was odd she wasn't requesting it to be turned back on. Then I saw this....

I woke her up after the video and she kept her eyes open for a few seconds and then just laid down and passed back out. Poor girl was so tired! I let her sleep while I finished prepping dinner. Twenty minutes tops. Come bedtime at 7:30 though she was wired. 

By 8:30 she still wasn't asleep so I went in an checked on her. Bad idea. All she wanted to tell me was how much she wanted to watch Me Mouse. I told her it was bedtime and then left her room. From then on she was delirious. I sat on the couch listening and laughing to myself for the next hour while she spouted off random phrases she commonly uses, just so I'd go back into her room. Here's some of the things she would shout:

"Hunter hit me."

"No, that's my bah-bah"

"My blankie!"

"Stop it Hunter!"

(He was sleeping at this point in his room...?)

"Keep eating Jim."

"I watch Me Mouse Clubhouse! Come inside!" X a bajillion

"I go potty"

"ME MOUSE!"

Such a little stinker! I wish she'd have fell asleep at the dinner! Only Hunter has...

My Last Round House Post :)

So much stuff happens when we're visiting my parents! It doesn't help I take way too many pictures that I feel the need to share them all!

 We had a heck of a time with our swimming gear during our stay. The first afternoon we went swimming, I had everyone ready to get into the pool, and then I realized I left my swimsuit at home. Charlotte was livid mad that we had to leave before she even got in the pool. The trip to the house and back was a long 5 minutes... The next day my mom took just Hunter and JP to the pool. Not long after they arrived, she texted me asking if I could bring in Hunter's other swimming shorts because the ones he had on were a little too big. Not everyone wants to see his bum each time he gets out of the pool! (Later in the week, JP forgot his a home too!) I gathered Charlotte up and took her into town to drop the shorts off. We hung out at the pool for a little bit before I told the boys she and I were headed over to the park. They hopped out of the pool immediately. 

We were at the park for a total of 15 minutes. We had a rough go of it too. Within minutes Hunter cut the back of his heal on something and needed a band-aide. Not long after the boys pushed the merry-go-around a little to fast for Charlotte. She attempted to get off as it was slowing down but fell off instead. Of course the tears started rolling. A few minutes later JP tripped when he was pushing the merry-go-round and then Hunter didn't stop running with it so poor JP was trampled. We were a mess!

 When we arrived home from the park, I began to get ready to meet up with some classmates for dinner. As I put on my make-up, Charlotte did too. All the red on her face is my lipstick...the 24 hour kind. That was fun to try and get off! She was so proud of herself!

 Before I left, Hunter and JP lit off a couple fireworks with Nanny. Our neighbors gave them to the boys since we can't light any off in town. Lucky guys!

 Hunter and JP also had some fun playing in the tractor tires.

 I made them take a picture together where they acted as though they liked each other. Hunter always takes it to the next level.

 While I was out roaming the farm I snapped these. I can't tell you how hard it was to get JP out of the picture with the barn. "Take two steps backwards." Okay - takes two steps forward. UGH. 

 JP and I had to take a trip back home mid-week, and on the way home we drove through Helena to see one of my friends. Because of our little detour, we got home a lot later than I had planned. Just as I pulled into town though, the Bear Paw mountains caught my eye so I had to pull over and take a picture of them too. Beautiful!

 As I was packing up to hit the road Sunday morning, Papa thought he needed to get the kids on the combine. Hunter was the lucky one who actually rode with him while he was cutting earlier in the week. JP wasn't too interested. Casey, however, loves tractors, so this was probably a lot of fun for him! If Nanny and Papa get anymore grandkids, they won't all be able to fit anymore!

 Papa took the combine for a little drive in the yard so Casey could kind of experience it. 

 And baby Dyl had the best seat in the cab!

 Right on the wheel!

 I handed the camera to Kim while I finished up packing. I knew I should have requested the whole weekend, but it is what it is. 

 I wish I could have seen this in person, but he clearly enjoyed his time in the tires! Cutie pie!

The kids even had a short ride in the Ranger. Shhh...don't tell Nanny and Papa, but maybe next summer I'll ship Hunter to the farm for a couple weeks since he had so much fun "helping" out. We'll just have to see...

A Wedding for Miss Molly

Aside from swimming lessons, the other reason we took a trip to the Round House was to see a friend, who grew up with my little sister, Robin, get married. Miss Molly was like a sister to all of us growing up. (I'm sure she felt the same way too, especially since she didn't have any sisters!) Whenever she needed advice, I was her (and Robin's) go to gal. Everything was perfect! 

The wedding took place at her parent's farm north of town, and even though at point we were supposed to have a high of 70* (in JULY?!), the afternoon warmed up just enough to not be too hot. I dressed Hunter and JP for the 70* weather so they showed up in sweaters. #mommyfail. 

As soon as we arrived (an hour and a half early because my dad didn't want to be late, or stuck behind someone going 20mph on the gravel...), Hunter was ready to explore the farm. He took a liking to the big rock they had out front. JP LOVES babies. He's infatuated with them - and he's so good with them too! He loves baby Dylan and cousin Casey!

 

 Isn't she the cutest? I found I took more pictures of her while we were at the wedding than anything or anyone else. I couldn't resist!

 They had what I would call a "shabby chic" wedding. It looked great! Their alter was adorable!

 Halfway through the wedding, the boys were hot and tired. I love how they curled up the same on both mom and nanny. 

 Charlotte kept busy playing in the dirt at our feet. And then Hunter joined in, and then JP. During one of the really quiet spots in the wedding, Charlotte shouted, "Stop it Hunter! Please stop!" for everyone to hear. At least she has manners?

The newlyweds couldn't have picked a better day for their wedding. The day before was super windy, but the day of was perfect - as it should be! I'm so happy for these two! 

 Once the ceremony was over, everyone headed to the shops where the food & drinks and dancing was going to be held. Hunter and JP ran off to play with the other kids. Charlotte came with me to get in the food line. Lucky for her, it happened to run next to a dirt pile. The line kept moving, but she stayed put in the dirt. I left the line a few times while my mom held our place to go get a miscellaneous things, like the camera and kids. 

 Hunter and JP were in line for all of 30 seconds before they saw a cat and went chasing after it. 

 Hunter claimed it as his own and put up a fit when I told him it had to stay at the farm. He was even more crushed when one of the older kids chased it off. 

 Doesn't he look like such a big kid? #whendidthathappen

 We didn't start eating until close to 7pm, which is the kids' normal bedtime. Charlotte almost fell asleep under the table after dinner, but she pulled through and somehow stayed awake until about 10pm. 

 She spent the rest of the evening just being adorable!

 She and Hunter snuck off and found the extra coloring supplies. I love love love the sun peaking around the grain bins!

 I love everything about this one too!

 The sunset that evening was so beautiful! I hope Molly and Todd took a few wedding pictures in front of the Sweet Grass mountains at sunset!

I told you I took a lot of pictures of her! <3 p="">

That One Time I Passed Out at a Bar...

As I mentioned, we took a trip to the Round House last week. I think it's safe to say everyone had a lot of fun while we were up visiting for the week. I was fortunate enough to be able to catch up with three of my high school classmates, one of which I've known since pre-school, one I met in Kindergarten (who is also a relative!), and the other who I've only known since junior high, but who I'd consider one of my best friends. I was thrilled he and I were able to hang out not once, not twice, but three times! It was so good to catch up!

Since he just became a new daddy to a beautiful little girl, I dropped off a pile of clothes for her to grow into. (I'm so lucky my neighbors have twin girls a year older than Charlotte!) After a rough Friday night searching for literally an hour for Charlotte's blanket, because she CAN'T go to bed without it, I agreed to meet him at the bar for drink. Perfect timing since Kim and Kile and Chris were on their way back from Havre - they stopped in and joined us.

Not fifteen minutes after my sisters left, I started getting a really bad stomach cramps. To myself I thought, "As soon as this one passes, I'll head home." Before I could even finish that thought completely, I opened my eyes to see my friend staring down at me asking if I was okay. Then I heard the bartender was on the phone with 911. FML...get her off the phone! I just fainted. Apparently I was only out for about 15 seconds, which is nothing compared to sometimes....He said my eyes rolled into the back of my head and then I fell off my barstool. I WASN'T EVEN KIND OF DRUNK!! Screw you stomach cramps. For those of you who know me, believe me when I say I have a very low tolerance for pain. I laid on the floor for half an hour because I knew if I were to sit up, I'd have to throw up. And I was right.

I probably said, "I feel so stupid right now," at least a dozen a times. I haven't passed out for maybe 12 years. With my history, that's a long time! It's not pulling a sliver from Hunter's foot, or bandaging Perry's mutilated finger, or bandaging my arm that is nearly spraying blood everywhere that gets me. I stopped myself from fainting each of those times. It's these blessed stomach cramps. Here we go with too much info, but hey we all poop. Sometimes when I don't poop often enough, or eat out, or have other people's cooking too much, I get these horrible stomach cramps. I breathe through some like I'm in labor... Usually mine are fixed after pooping, but there have been plenty of times where I'm pooping, but the pain in my stomach is making me feel like I'm going to faint. Then I'm at this point where I have to put my head between my knees or else I'll pass out while on the pot. Sometimes the pain will then start making me nauseous... It's this vicious thing where I lock the door and tell Perry not to come in, no matter what, even if he hears a loud thud, in which case I probably fainted and he doesn't need to see that....

Needless to say, I refused to leave my car parked at the bar over night, so my friend took me home. When I got there, I attempted to wake Kim up to have her ride back with him and bring it back, but with no luck. By that point though I was feeling like myself again, so I rode back to town with him and took it home myself. There's only a handful of people who have actually been around me when I've fainted and I'm glad he was one of them. Not having everyone freak out was a nice change!

But really. Who passes out sober at a bar?

This girl.

Swimming Lessons at the "Blue House" Pool

It was time for our yearly trip to the Round House again for swimming lessons. A dear friend of my little sister, younger sister rather, was getting married on the 18th, and swimming lessons just so happened to be the week leading up to it, so I decided what the heck and signed them up for lessons at the last minute. Originally I was just planning on taking the weekend off of work for the wedding, because I normally work evening shifts and wouldn't be able to leave after work to make it to lessons on time. As luck would have it, I was scheduled in the morning so as soon as I was finished with work, the kids and I loaded up my car and we headed to the Dome Home for the week.

 Hunter had a good day one. I signed the boys up at different times because in the previous years they were more interested in playing with each other. I thought I'd try them at different times this year to see what would happen. It back fired in my face. Hunter had his lessons first at 8am, and JP was supposed to go at 9am, except he refused to get in the pool. I even put him in the pool myself - he quickly got out and cried the rest of the time we were there. 

 The next day, my mom came along with me and we had Hunter go at 9am to see if JP would get in the pool with him. Still no luck. (I even took him to open swim the day before and he swam around for two hours and loved it!) He sat on the bench with us for half an hour before one of the *pretty* lifeguards won him over. By the end of his lesson for the day, he didn't want to get out. Go figure. 

 On Wednesday JP got into the pool right at the beginning of the lesson and did well. Hunter did most of his lessons in the deep end. He can't swim out there on his own yet, but he's getting there. 

 After lessons on Wednesday, JP and I left to go back home to go to his eye appointment Thursday morning. I tried to reschedule it, but the next available wasn't until the end of August. This appointment was to check to see if his glasses were correcting his vision in the one eye. If they weren't we'd have to patch his good eye. Lucky for him no patching is needed. Yay! As soon as we were done there, we headed back to the Dome Home...again. Perry and I spoiled him while he was here alone though - he added three new green shirts to his wardrobe, ate Fro-Yo and stayed up late. 

 Charlotte had fun in the pool too! I took her on Monday with the boys and she was "that kid." She pooped in her swim diaper, I caught her peeing when she got out of the pool to jump back in, and then she also threw up a little in the pool when she swallowed too much water. Gah. With that life jacket on, she was able to swim by herself. She'd jump in and then kick her feet until she got to the ladder and would climb out and do it again. After an hour and a half she announced to me she was done. 

I brought her back on Friday and she had just as much fun as Monday. You'd never guess she'd only been in a pool once before this trip. On Friday I was more comfortable with her swimming alone for a few minutes at a time, so I'd take Hunter to the deep end to practice every so often. After an hour of swimming she was ready to get out of the pool. But she ended up standing in the shower for 15 minutes while I struggled to get my skinny jeans on. Won't wear those on a swimming day again!

My Best Friend's Wedding

Phew! June just flew by! July is nearly over now too and I'm falling behind in my blogging again... Regardless - I feel so honored for Kelsey to have picked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding! I have known her since I was probably 3 years old.

I'll tell you what - she went to two years of preschool, so her first year was with my older twin sisters, and I would get so mad when she came over to play with them and not me. The following year we did manage to get in trouble a few times for playing the hand stacking game under the table. I was sooo embarrassed. I also thought she was so weird for tapping on her pop can before opening it. What 4 year old does that? Lol! I also remember my mom suggesting that we don't sit by each other in kindergarten...Come on mom!

Growing up together we spent a lot of time sorting through my Polly Pockets only to have to clean them up to leave before actually getting to play with them. We washed my trolls' hair in the sink and played Barbies a lot at my house. At her house I remember making what we thought was going to be bread. Little did we know we needed yeast. The messes we made in her basement with flour and water... Going to her house was always a treat too because I didn't have a Nintendo 64 like she did. And sleep overs weren't complete without her dad telling us the story of the "Big Blue Ape." Maybe it was a gorilla, but to this day it's always been purple in my head...

I wonder how different both of our lives would be if she hadn't moved 8 hours away. But that's life for you! I was SO glad she said "yes" when I asked her to be in my wedding 3.5 years ago. She was my first friend, and is *obviously* very dear to me! It seems odd to say that I've known her for just under 25 years. That makes me feel so old... So how could I possibly say "no" to being in her wedding? I couldn't!

Her wedding, vow renewable actually since she tied the knot a few months before Perry and me, was perfect. Okay, the weather could have been at least 10 degrees cooler, but that would have still made it in the 90s - we all survived regardless! Like any wedding, there were a couple hiccups along the way - like how her cake baker backed out so I lent her my cake pans so she could make a "naked" cake... And how one of her hair people cancelled on her a few days prior, so it took me back to our younger years when she was curling my hair. But we made it all work! 

 

During the photo shoot before the wedding, Kelsey wanted a picture of her bridesmaids with her son, and as I knelt down on the grass, I managed to kneel on a wasp. OUCH! But I pulled through and brought out the "Tickle Spider" for Gavin. Soon after the other girls joined in and her photographer captured this gem! Perry took the other one of just me. That's the face I give him when I he takes my picture. It's the "really? Are you done yet?" face.

 While the reception was slow to get going, I made a point to get on the dance floor. Granted I had the help of *some* liquid courage. But whatever works! I was literally pulling people onto the dance floor. And I won the limbo. I never win but I rocked it this time. It might have helped that Perry was holding one end of the pole. I was so glad to hear Perry enjoyed himself too! He was really against going because he wouldn't know anyone...but I didn't either! By the end of the reception, I had a couple people tell me I should hire myself out as a bridesmaid because I'm so fun. Ahhhh! That would be more fun than I could handle...

 

Perry and I headed to our "campsite" around 1am, which was really just my Honda, which we parked at the park because we knew there was a chance neither of us would be able to safely drive home, nor would we want to because of the time. Just as Perry unrolled his sleeping bag in the back of the car, I heard the bridal party coming down the road saying, "pool." I hopped out of the car in an instant and the....twelve? of us used a ladder to climb over the eight foot fence to take a late night swim in the community pool. The water was so warm too! It was perfect! I'll tell you what, swimming in a dress is hard work! I don't know how the bride did it! I'd have drown. After our swim I made it back to the car and passed out until 8am, when Perry and I had to leave to retrieve the kids from Aunt Kile and Uncle Chris' house. I smelled like a pool for the whole day...

I'm so glad I was able to convince Perry to come along with me. We had such a good time together, and I kind of enjoy showing him off :) Best of wishes to the new newlyweds! Re-weds? Hahaha!