It's Not Over ...

... 'til it's over.  Every Cardinals fan knows that after the path to the championship the Cards took last year.  Even our littlest fan knows :)

And because we are a two-team family and because it's not over for the Tigers either...

We can only hope for another Cardinals-Tigers World Series!

Housework

I posted this on Facebook, but figured I'd put it here too for posterity's sake.

Side note: I often wonder how wise it is to rely on digital media to preserve all of these memories.  How likely is it that these mediums are still going to be around in 10 years and we'll be able to access them?  I hope I'm not sorry someday that I didn't do things the old-fashioned way and don't have hard copies of all of these things....

Millie proclaimed this afternoon that she LOVES housework and started singing and dancing around the house looking for jobs to do :).  Here is part of her song.  Her enthusiasm was contagious and Merrill decided to get in on the fun too.  Definitely made doing chores more fun for me!  We'll see how long this lasts and if it includes cleaning up toys and craft supplies!

Firsts

Yesterday was a day of firsts for the kids.  The girls had their first gymnastics class (they were SO excited and have been asking to do this for months!)  Even though they were both a little nervous and shy, they jumped right in and had HUGE smiles on their faces every time they got to do an exercise on the equipment.  I am so glad that they are in the same class -- makes things much easier logistically and it makes it easier for them to feel comfortable participating without ME also participating.  The instructors broke the class of 16 or so kids into three smaller groups after the warm-up exercises.  When they called Millie's name to be in a group Merrill automatically stood up and went with her (after the instructors figured out who she was :) ).  I don't know if they would have placed them together anyway or not, but it worked out in the end and both girls were happy.  After gymnastics class we all piled into the car and Teddy got to take his first road trip.  We headed to Terre Haute to visit our niece Katelyn at Indiana State University.  We were so thrilled when she invited us down for the family weekend events and loved getting to see not only her, but the rest of her family.  It's hard these days to make it up to Michigan to visit everyone, so having a meeting ground in-between is kind of nice!  Teddy slept all the way to Terre Haute and didn't scream until we got into town (as we were trying to figure out where the stadium was...).  Not too bad.  We heard a lot of "are we in Indiana yet?" from the girls, but overall the three hour drive wasn't bad.  While at ISU the kids got to go to their first college football game.  Since Scott and I did not got to big football colleges we aren't too invested in the game (unlike our Mizzou family and friends), but it was a fun experience and ISU won so that was good.  The girls enjoyed the band, the cheerleaders, the pom girls and the flag squad the most.  Teddy slept through a large part of the game and then just hung out for the last quarter or so.  I think they were all happy when the frat boys next to us left with their air horn!  We ended our visit with a yummy dinner at a pub and then headed home.  Thankfully all three kids fell asleep for the trip home (eventually)!  Teddy was a little less happy to be in the car on the way home, but after a few feedings finally went to sleep.  Millie was determined to stay awake the whole way home, but fell asleep right about the time the last sunlight disappeared over the horizon.  Merrill fell asleep within 10 minutes of getting in the car :). 

 gymnastics isn't so exciting when you are 5 weeks old...

 stretching and warming up with the group

 the bars!

learning floor exercises -- forward rolls and modified cartwheels!  Millie was so proud that she was able to do the cartwheel all by herself!

road trip!

 also not too exciting when you are 5 weeks old

 eating lunch in the car is always a treat for these two!

 Go ISU!

I Could Get Used to This!

Cleaning up her toys is a horrible chore, but she loves doing dishes with me (a skill she learned at my mom's while we were in the hospital with Teddy).  She washed the overflow dishes that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher and I rinsed, dried and put away.  It was very pleasant.  Doing dishes used to be my preferred chore too -- my mom had an automatic dishwasher for YEARS before she actually started using it.  I guess my brother and I were just too good :) (you know, other than breaking a whole set of dishes trying to put them away...)

A Smooth Day

Not everyday as a stay-at-home mother of three has been smooth around here, (hence the big holes in my blogging.  I totally have a backlog of posts that I want to get to before I forget these early days, the events we've celebrated in them, and the people we've shared Teddy with).  Today was one of the smooth ones though (once we got past the early morning irrational meltdown of a three-year-old).  Teddy napped well this morning while the girls were at school allowing me to make their rainbow skirts that they have been begging for.  After lunch my mom called and invited us over to play for the afternoon.  I had about half an hour to put together a casserole for dinner.  In that half hour the girls played well together and Teddy fell asleep on his own in the "rock 'n' play".  This was perhaps the best moment of the day!  I was able to get dinner prepped and the kids packed up and in the car and off to my parents for a fun afternoon.  I am quickly learning that if I want to get a home-cooked meal on the table for dinner I need to at least prep the meal when Teddy is napping -- even if that nap is at 1:00 in the afternoon...

 

ahhh.  A baby who seems to like to sleep.  Wonderful!

Snack time at Lainey's is always a favorite

Peyton trying to figure Teddy out :)

Teddy and Grandpa had a great chat this afternoon

{RaINbOwS}

The girls went to a rainbow themed birthday party last weekend and we made the birthday girl a rainbow tutu for a gift.  Super easy and super fun. 

Of course, we had to buy enough fabric to make tutus for the girls as well.  I think they are ready for the circus! :D

Achoo!

We've had lots of runny noses around here the past week or so and Merrill stayed home from school yesterday because of a fever the night before.  The fever was short-lived and she was able to go back to school today.  When I picked her up at lunchtime I asked her how she was feeling.  She said "good, but I bless-youed a couple of times."  I had to ask her to repeat herself a  few times before I got what she was saying!  Funny girl also says "bless you" after she sneezes.  Makes me smile every time.