Rio at the zoo

So much fun!  We headed off to the zoo tonight to watch a movie outside.  They were playing Rio.  We grabbed some hot dogs at Thortons on the way and filled up on junk food when we got there (yes I know hot dogs can classify as junk food as well, but with the sugar we were downing the hot dog looked like a salad).  The staff had it set up so nice.  They entertained the kids with games.  In one game the kids played they passed out plastic sea horses and lobsters.  All the kids got in a circle and played hot potato passing the animals to the left and when the music stopped they would have the kids hold up the animal they were holding and then they picked lobsters or sea horses to be out.  They sent all the kids over to the prize tent and the kids walked away with tattoos, candy and Victoria even got a really cute little pencil case kit.  They had music pumping and had dance contests and Victoria got picked to go up on stage for the dance contest.  She was so excited and she did a great job!  I highly recommend taking your little ones or even if you want to go to watch all of the people that was pretty fun too.

Stucky Fur

Another reason I love school time is that the Kentucky State Fair is just around the corner.  It sucks that Victoria couldn't join us on our adventure with Grandma and Aunt Punkie.  We really missed her.  This year was a huge one for the twins as they were able to walk the whole fair, ride on the bikes in safety town and Anthony, to make room for Aunt Punkie rode in the "trunk" of my car.  This is also known as 3rd row seating to the common public.  My seats are ususally laid down to accomidate the stroller but Anthony's booster seat was placed in the back and I thought I would have to change his pants when the hatch opened and he saw where he would be seating for the ride.  I really thought he was going to pee his pants.  Addison exclaimed "I WANNA RIDE IN THE TRUNK!"  in her best whiny voice she could muster but Anthony explained to her VERY seriously "No you too tiny!"  Addison didn't like this answer at all as it is Anthony's favorite way to make her cry is to tell her how tiny she is and that she isn't a big girl.  One day she is going to pound you for this son or have her boyfriend do it.  :)  The whole way to meet up with G'ma and Punkie I heard from the back seat "I wide in da twunk to da stucky fur!"  He sang it the whole way there.  So stinking proud.  I put on 107.7 classic rock and she's got legs is playing.  He has his eyebrows going a 100 mph and his shoulders are in warp speed as he is so serious and grown jamming to the music in the trunk.  lol.

 When we got there the first thing we had to do was say hello to the giant.  I had to explain that this was Golith.  Addison was brave and walked right up and said hello as Antony clung to my leg like a spider monkey.  Addison was so overjoyed to have someone to talk to and just sit and stare at her.  It was heaven to her.  After we walked around the fair and was ready to go home Anthony decided that he wanted to say hello to Freddy.  After all he had been through the whole fair and didn't see him up and walking around so he must be alright to talk to for a minute. 

 Ugh this pic shows nothing but is of A and A riding on the tricycles at Safety town.  I have video of them on there too but wanted to save my time for a later moment that was so sweet of them.  Anthony ran into the McDonalds, bank, and needed a state trooper to guide him through the whole thing.  After he got off coming in last place and all the other kids had picked out their suckers and had left with their parents he is bringing up the rear yelling "I winned! I winned!"  The riding in the trunk was still going to his head.  :)

 They stopped to play with Aunt Punkie for a bit in the pop up school bus.  I tried to get Punkie to get inside but she wasn't going for it...

 After all that walking we needed some sugar STAT!  Addison decided on ice cream and Anthony and I snuck off to get some good ol cotton candy.  What is a fair without cotton candy?  He wanted to eat it on the stick and I explained to him that we were sharing.  He insisted he wanted it on the stick so I yanked the stick out of the cotton candy and put a basebal sized wad on the end of it and he ate away until he saw what sissy had and it turned into this.

This was one of my favorite things of the day to see.  This silly rabbit.  Addison laughed hysterically and said it didn't have any eyes.  The kids also enjoyed the boarder collies hearding the ducks.  That really tickled them.

My favorite part of the day is a mom moment had at the WLKY booth. My mom walks up to the booth and asks "When are the people coming?" The lady looks puzzled and says "What people?" Mom replies "You know the news people?" I snuck my head in and told mom "Um mom that is Natasha Collins and that back there is Eric King. THEY are on the news." Then handed her their picture for autographs that she was leaning over to ask "When the people are coming". Mom turned 4 shades of red and laughed at herself as we walked off. That was the ongoing joke of the day. Later that night while watching BB a storm alert came on from WLKY and I called mom as I knew she was watching as well and I told her "THAT guy wasn't there"

This was the sweet moment I was talking about earlier.  Anthony saw that sissy had ice cream and wanted some and Addison saw that bubby had cotton candy and wanted some. First they did the whole wedding toast thing and took a bite at the same time of each others stuff but then Anthony had an idea....

In the swing of things.

Wow are we reaching the end of the first week of school already?  The mornings are glorious around here.  I get a bit of time alone and can watch Victoria get on the bus from the window.  Such a nice treat!  Something I won't soon take for granted.  Victoria's first day of school didn't go exactly as planned as she came home defeated.  She got her name moved on the behavior chart the first day due to being a bit chatty.  Who MY Victoria being too talkative?  Naaaa! LOL!  I tried to cheer her up a bit but nothing I was saying was working.  Her anxiety is really bad at this new school.  She really likes it there but is so worried about making friends that it has taken top priority for her and I have been trying to rearrange things a bit in her mind.  She is making friends but not fast enough for her.  It will take some time and trying to be patient with her nerves in the process. 

Today I did get an awesome phone call from her teacher.  I answered and was told that she (Mrs. Smith) wanted to call and let me know that Victoria is having an awesome day and that she has even caught herself when she was getting ready to do something against the rules and stopped herself before she did it.  I am so proud.  I like to hear that she is catching herself before she does something.  So good to hear.

I have also been enjoying some special time with the twins as well.  We miss sissy on our outtings but have been out enjoying the day taking in the some fun days.  Today for example we headed to the Carnagie Center in New Albany and checked out the current art exhibits.  The kids really got a kick out of it and I was glad to see that.  While leaving the center I recieved the call from Victoria's teacher and I made a B line for Sweet Stuff to get her a treat (we got a lil something for ourselves too.  :)  After that we drove over to the library and wandered around for a bit picking out some books for the twins and Victoria.  Found some great book for her about being the new kid in school.  Hopefully that will help a bit.  After taking in the library we headed to Walmart to pick up a few things and then off to Community park to have a picnic and do some swinging.  They kids had a great day and so did I.  Victoria came home to a bed full of new books to read topped off with a double chocolate chip cookie sandwich.  The only thing that could polish this day off was to grill out and we did that too. 

The most wonderful time of the year

Start the day off with some strawberry frosted mini wheats

The first day of school pic with the rose bushes.

The Justin Bieber backpack.  I didn't pick this one out the kid has enough money he doesn't need any of ours.  :)

The neighborhood kids on the corner waiting on the bus.  Notice that Anthony and Addison are not there as they are still in bed HOORAY!

Victoria's wish came true.  She wanted a girl bus driver as she has had a boy the past few years.  She wishes she could have her Aunt Punkin but she is at a different school.

Nothing cooler than getting to sit on the back seat of the bus on the first day of school!  Love you honey go knock em dead!  You will do great!

Open house at Mt. Tabor

Wow that is some school!  Over 700 kids K-4th.  I was quite impressed with the principle and staff and her teacher is young and seems to be on top of things.  Her room was super organized and she was very friendly and put Victoria at ease immediately.  Walking around we saw many familiar faces in the hallway as parents and as staff too.  I have a good feeling about this year for Victoria.  I feel that she is really going to come into her own and blossom and a young girl.  I am very excited for her.

Sticking to your guns

Tonight at dinner Anthony was not cooperating.  He just wouldn't stay at the table and eat.  OK so mommy added her rice to her chicken salsa dish in the crock pot instead of making it separately to save some time, making a big ol rice mass kind of like a treasure hunt for chicken and bits of salsa and beans.  I told him that he would not be getting any snacks tonight because of it.  I had a late night snack myself of a turkey sandwich with tomato and potato chips in the sandwich (my fav!) and Anthony watched. 
"Mom I wanna thip!" (still working on that speech problem)

"Anthony I told you that you were not going to get any snacks because you didn't eat your dinner"

"Mooom you can't put thips on you thamwich nooooo.  Tha nasty!"

"Oh bubby that is good.  Wait till you get a chance to try it."

He reaches in to try again to grab a chip.

"Anthony I told you no and I mean no."

"Mommy when I get to my big boy burthday I wan thamwich with thips inside" (mental note this birthday is going to work well with the budget. lol)

I take my sandwich in the living room and Addison and Anthony follow.  Addison is allowed to have chips as she ate her dinner.  Anthony positions Addison between him and me on the living room floor.  He leans toward the bag.  "Anthony don't even think about it buddy!"  He backs away and begins to tell me that he again wants a sandwich with chips inside for his birthday along with a green and black Transformer and a quarter to play the Batman game at Kart Country.  Addison informs me that she wants a present with paper and a ribbon she can "snap" and then take the paper off.  Anthony looks down to find that Addison has made a mess of chip crumbs on the floor.  "OH MAN,THISSY YOU MADE A MESS!  Don't wowwy Mom I will keen it up fo woo"  I see him squat down and begin picking up the chips off of the floor.  "Thank you Anthony." (crunch crunch)  "Annnnthony?"  He doesn't even raise up off the floor.  Squated down he throws his hands up in the air and says "WHAT?  It not even a chip it crumb!"  Then starts crying on the way to his room "It's just a crumb!"

It is tough sticking to your guns as a momma especially when it makes your tummy hurt from holding in laughter.  What can I say his persistence will do him well in life as an adult.

I could but I won't

I finally have my Internet back.  I had some great posts to put on here during my week of no Internet.  I have had it back now for about 2 days and the twitching from withdraw has subsided a bit.  I could go back and post about my hilarious day of having to pay our first gas bill at the Laundromat (where you can also have something notarized, buy stamps among other really random things).  I could write a whole post about me setting up the blow up pool for the kids and blowing a fuse with the air compressor.  How we all walked down the stairs to the dreaded creepy basement only by the light of my cell phone and that my kids and I were all attached as we walked down the stairs because the kids were convinced that a monster was going to get us.  I could write about how the next day I attached the garden hose to the above mentioned pool to activate the high tech blow up waterfall only to have the whole thing rip off and collapse from the sudden burst of water pressure and clinging onto the side of the house as I wasn't ready to get wet just yet (that didn't work;).  I could write about my insane day of a very disappointing doc appointment followed by wanting to choke a lady at the State Street branch of Your Community Bank and followed that by talking to someone from India apparently about my Internet problem and dropping the call after an hour of squinting trying to understand one word that the man was saying to me.  I called back to find that there was no record of the last hour of my life spent on my computer typing in prompts and had to start all over with a man that wasn't near as friendly as the first.  I ended up hanging up on him after an additional 40 minutes on my phone.  Thanks mom for entertaining my kids in the process.  I followed all of that insanity by registering Victoria at her new school.  That took 2 hours and 7 lines.  Basically picture this... Ok you have a elementary school gym right?  Throw in about 12 teachers but first blind fold them spin them around for about 10 minutes. Add 12 tables each with a different purpose and booklet of papers to fill out. Now add about 200-300 parents straight from work hungry and confused accompanied by a few kids frantically trying to yell at their friends that they haven't seen since the school year and jumping constantly jumping (this is very important)  Top that off with 10 ink pens in the whole building and you have a good image of the registration process at Mt. Tabor. 

This day led to my second song written out of a frantic day.  You may remember my version of I will survive here.  In one day I had the doc appointment, two banks and a drive across town to make a simple deposit, 1 hour and 40 minutes of talking to someone I couldn't understand about my Internet problems with no results, and registration for two hours.  My kids and I are huge fans of the Lazy song by Bruno Mars.  Here is my version...

Today I didn't accomplish anything.
I just should have stayed in my bed.
Spent two d*mn hours on the phone
My Internet is still not on...

Stupid but laughing at it helped me not strangle anyone.  I had nothing else to do but laugh.