Summer Vacation

We have been gone on a whirlwind of a trip!  We had a family wedding to go to in Oklahoma.  Since we live in the Chicagoland area, it ended up being about 16 hours in the car with 4 kids.  Yes, we know; we are insane.  We had some good times though.  Here are just a few of the hundreds of pictures we took for our highlights.  I hope you enjoy!

The St. Louis Arch

The Four at the St. Louis Arch

The St. Louis Arch

                                    Crazy Stuff 

from the Road

Horse Carriage on the Back of a Horse Trailer.
How'd they get that up there?

The Boy with Tow Mater!
That's right, this homemade Mater made his day!

Oklahoma Is Awesome

The Boy Riding a Tractor at Grandma P's Work.

The Boy Riding With Grandpa P.

The Cousin's Altogether for the First Time!

K's idea of a good time after a day of wedding chaos.
Yes, she is still in her dress Grandma P made her for
the wedding.

What would a vacation be without naps?
Or sickness?  The baby is sick; the mom
is taking a nap.

 Who doesn't love BOWLING?  It is fast becoming a
P family tradition, and even our little ones love it.
L won this round, but we will see who wins next time we go.

The Trip Home

We love trying out new parks on the road.
L loves the swings, and this one was right next to
a great Antiques store in Illinois.

Dad's love parks just as much as the kids.
This one was at our last rest stop before home.
The older girls like catching fireflies, but Mom and Dad
liked the old teeter-totter.

Springfield, Illinois

"The Big Girls" posing at the Capitol Building

Lincoln's Tomb.  We got there too late to go inside,
but the tranquility of the grounds was wonderful
after so much chaos. 

Lincoln's bust at Lincoln's Tomb.
Rub his nose for luck.

The Four at Lincoln's Tomb.
 Excuse the Mess Heads;
we had been in the car for almost two
days by this point.

These are just the highlights of a very long, but super fun trip.  It was so nice to go to things we normally just drive by.  We also took back roads the way home, and let me just say, SO PRETTY!  The crazy things we saw on the road was just a small fraction.  We saw some crazy stuff.  Thanks for stopping by, and leave a comment if you have seen some crazier stuff, or an experience of good ol' road trip fun.  Have a happy day!

Zoo Times

There isn't much to do on a lazy fall afternoon.  I should be doing my laundry (my kids think the laundry fairy does it, but it is her day off today), but I decided to enjoy the warm sunshine while it lasts.  Yesterday, we went to the zoo with about a million other families to celebrate Columbus Day.  We watched my two-year-old son watch the tiger pace his rocks waiting for his dinner.  We listened to my four-year-old daughter squeal with delight when the giraffe spread his legs so wide to nibble on the grass instead of eating the leaves.  Our ten-month-old was delighted she could stand toe to glass with sting rays as they glided by her.  The queen six-year-old has been searching all season for a peacock (they roam freely) and FINALLY found two females this trip (thank goodness).  Monkeys and bears, zebras and snakes.  PHEW!  I am bushed thinking all about it again.

Who says life is boring?

As a stay at home mom, I am constantly being asked:  "How do you do it all day long?  Aren't you bored?"
And I ask you:  Where can you be so much in one day?  In one day I can be a nurse, meal preparer, food critic, referee, laundress, project manager, editor, teacher, bread maker, couture fashion designer, and CEO decision maker.  I shop, research, and dish out kisses by the dozen.  Why! this morning I was hiding from pirates, searching for lost treasure, and learning addition and subtraction.  And that was just the fun stuff I did. 
I bet you didn't know that as a mom you have to wear so many hats (true most of them have just been cleaned out by four-year-old hands) that your own head spins.  This weekend I was a party planner, interior designer, weatherman, grounds crew, and chef. 
Bored?  You have GOT to be kidding me.

Let the Spoiling Begin

So my Daily Dose hasn't been very daily.  In my defense I did say it was an experiment.  This weekend was a marathon.
When my mother came back from her whirlwind trip of Paris and Rome, she was supposed to leave the next day, but her flight was canceled.  Cue more spoiling time!  Movie night, shopping, and a special dinner for our July birthday girl.
She left the next day, but we had a friend come into town . He read to the kids at any sign of weakness.  He must have read every book in the library two or three times over.  Rookie mistake--never start reading a book without setting up exactly when the reading time will be over.
The next day my husband's biological grandparents (adoption is a common word in our home, so if this seems weird to you, it is common enough here) came to spoil them some more.  Gifts, dinner, late night, and yet again more movie and books. They live in New Mexico so we don't get to see them often enough for this to be obnoxious, but by now my kids have had three late nights and counting.
FOURTH OF JULY, I hope you all had a safe and happy fourth.  We allowed the older three to stay up and watch the firework display for the first time this year.  So today, you can imagine just how my day had the potential to be.  Surprisingly enough, no such thing happened.  My kids have been GOLD; they even took naps today without the usual fit fanfare.  Hot Dog!  My kids survived the spoiling and continue to live to tell the tales!

Tell me I imagined that Black Eye

Yesterday I couldn't write down all of the episodes into one blog.  I needed some time to allow my mind to digest all that happened. Hopefully I will be able to give you an idea of just what happened in our home.  We woke up with nightmares from my two-year-old boy.  Little did he know it was just beginning.  His oldest sister (six-year-old) decided that her summer break has gotten boring so from the first she harassed EVERYONE.  She wanted a movie.  She stepped on her brother's stomach "playing." Five minutes later, she kneed him in the stomach "wrestling." She wanted something to color.  She wanted to go to the park (it was raining buckets). She didn't want to make her bed, or clean her room.
LUNCH TIME, and tag it off to the three-year-old.  She didn't want to take a nap.  If I made her clean then she wouldn't go to sleep.  Picking up this one block was too hard.  The book was too heavy.  She didn't want to take turns so she whacked the boy in the head.  She decided to play drums.  She whacked herself in the head.  The boy had a moment's peace so he thought to twrill around at the top of the stairs.  You guessed it.  While I was holding the six-month baby girl (who was hungry), he looses balance, falls, and hits his eye on the metal banister.  Thank goodness he didn't fall down any more stairs.
ICE PACK, but it is already bruised and puffy.  Feed the baby, try to calm the boy, while the two oldest act as if nothing happened.  An hour later, Daddy comes home and miraculously there isn't another issue.  Please explain to me how the car can make the most awful sound until the mechanic takes a look at it.  I swear sometimes my husband must think my imagination runs wild.