4th of July Festivities

Last Friday was Independence Day and our schedule included a parade that morning in Winter Garden.  This was the 10th annual kids' parade and we were excited to join the tradition.  I was happy to have Duncan come with us as I wasn't sure how long things were going to go and I was thinking of all three kids petering out along the route and my having to somehow get the three of them somewhere in my current physical state.  The route ended up being maybe a half mile at most and all three did fine so I didn't need to worry.  It was a neat experience.  It started at 10:00 but we got there a little early to decorate our wagon and scooter with free decorations they were handing out.  If we had gotten there at 8:00 we could have gotten a free breakfast too but that would involved us getting up early and I wasn't interested in that.  The parade was mainly just kids and their parents walking with their decorated conveyances but there was also a paddy wagon and a truck carrying three guys playing instruments.  We really enjoyed it all!

Waiting for the parade to start

Besties on their scooters

The paddy wagon.  I was so surprised when Brady was looking at the pictures on my phone yesterday and said "paddy wagon." How did he remember that??

Tangie and Jennifer and their broods.

The front of the parade.  It was on a divided road and since we were at the end, we could said the front coming by us on the other side.

Triplets.  Two boys and a girl just like our friend Ashley's.

The afternoon wasn't quite as fun for those able to do physical work.  I was happy to take a little snooze while Brady napped.  Duncan, the girls, and Ron and Elaine, who were so kind to come and help, all worked on our backyard.  We pulled the trigger on a play set and thus came all the work of preparing for it. Our backyard has a slight slope along the back so Duncan wanted to flatten it since we were going to put one end of it against the back.  I think the work ended up being a lot more than was anticipated.  They had to get rid of all the grass first and then the extra dirt.  This is quite intense on a July afternoon in Florida (at least I assume so since I wasn't doing the work!).  Let me tell you, Elaine was working like a dog.  This is a lady in her mid-60's and she blows me away with how much she is able to do.  Both she and Ron were a huge help to Duncan.  Aubree was also quite helpful.  We've come to the conclusion that of the two girls, she is the one who is more interested in working on projects or helping out.  She's definitely the gardener who helps Duncan with everything garden related.  She probably worked for at least a half an hour, shoveling dirt into the wheel barrow.  I was quite impressed with how long she stuck with it.  Then, when Calleigh heard that we were going to be paying Aubree for her work, she got very upset and started complaining that it wasn't fair.  It finally connected with her that SHE should start working and she would also get paid and at last, she picked up a shovel and contributed.

Aubree digging in.

Calleigh finally helping.  I'm sure she can't wait until her two brothers can do all of this work.

With all the dirt getting removed, we created a huge dirt pile in another part of the yard that has been a popular play spot for the kids.  I'll be sad to see it go (more on that later).  They pretty much completed all of that work on Thursday afternoon and then Duncan spent Sunday building a wall along the perimeter to keep the dirt from collapsing.  And to think the work isn't over because once the play set arrives (which should be by 15th), there will be many more hours of labor involved.  Any volunteers welcome.  Ha!

The semi-finished product.

To go along with that happening in our backyard, we're excited that our pavers will be installed next week.  It was all very up in the air because we have had very poor communication from the company we went with to do the installation but despite that, we're moving forward.  Even though they weren't getting back to us, they still have had us on their schedule this whole time to start on the 15th so hopefully everything will work out fine.  They will be here probably the whole week as we are getting the pavers installed from one end of the house to the other and then also getting three trees installed along the back fence.

But back to the 4th...we had planned on meeting up with Isidros and Bergherms in Winter Garden for early evening festivities and then fireworks but between not finishing up the backyard work until after 6:30 and then it raining, we put a hold on that and ended up treating Ron and Elaine to dinner at Mimi's instead.  It was a well deserved meal out for all the hard work by everyone (well, I did have to "work" hard on watching the kids play on the dirt pile and making sure they didn't drown in the kiddie pool.  Hehe).  We left the restaurant just in time to get into downtown Winter Garden for the fireworks.  As expected, there was no parking to be found so we just started circling around the block and watching the fireworks as we drove.  Calleigh was NOT happy with this and wanted to get out.  I had Duncan drop us off and we sat along a sidewalk to watch.  But then I started getting paranoid that it would end and they would block off the road because of all the people leaving at once and I would be trapped there with the kids at 9:30 at night.  After Duncan went by us once, I called him to hurry back.  As it turned out, he barely made it back because he said they indeed started closing roads and he had to sneak by two cop cars blocking the road off.  Whew!  That was close.  What we deciphered from the fireworks watching is that Aubree does not like the really big ones because they make the loudest noise (each time she would bury her face in my shoulder) but Brady isn't phased by any of it.  Tough guy.


Friday we were back on the yard sale circuit after several weeks on hiatus.  As per usual in the month of July, there are not millions to be found but we still found a few and had great success at one.  Calleigh found a set of 16 nature books that we got for $5 and we are all very excited about them.  The first one was about whales and dolphins, which we've already finished, and now we are on to bears.  It's great to see them so excited about nature.  But then, what should we expect from Nature Hunters?!

These books have a lot of meat to them!

Sabbath was the first week for the kids at their new Sabbath Schools.  Or, in Brady's case, old Sabbath School since he is now back at his real Sabbath School for the 0 - 2 year olds (which he hasn't attended in a year since he's gone with Aubree to the 3-year old one).  The girls were very excited to be together and although the new teachers (who are actually rotating each week with three others), did a great job, the reality of not having Miss Deanna and Mr. John there set in.  Oh, if only they hadn't retired!  Since we only have one kid that needs to be monitored in Sabbath School at the present moment, I'm able to handle that on my own so I told Duncan he has seven weeks to go enjoy adult Sabbath School before we're back to two kids again.



Saturday evening we were invited over to the Isidros for roll-your-own night (meaning, sushi).  It has really grown on me, I must say.  The best part is that I make Duncan make them for me since he's so good at the rolling bit.  There were several other families there so we had quite an enjoyable evening between the food and the company.




Sunday, as I mentioned, was more yard work for Duncan.  At one point, I took the kids all to Target for some shopping.  I think at this point I'll mention that we've started the Dave Ramsey for Kids program.  For those that don't know, Dave Ramsey is a financial guru who has a radio show and has written books about being debt free (basically, you should use cash to purchase everything with the exception of a house).  My parents had given the girls kits and books for Christmas and we decided it was time to implement it.  We set up a list of chores for them to do and decided they will get paid $0.50/chore each week.  This does not include things they should be doing every day like getting dressed, putting clothes in the hamper, making their bed, etc.  It does include, however, other things like dusting, clearing off the dishes, getting the mail, and other extra things we have them do.  They have three envelopes to put their cash in...Give, Save, Spend.  We've taught them about tithing, which is the envelope you first divvy out money to and then you split the rest between Save and Spend.  We paid them each a couple of dollars for the yard work and then also paid them on Sunday for that week's chores.  After putting money in Give, they decided to split the rest evenly between Save and Spend.  Dave advises that for "Save" the child picks something out and then you discuss how much you will put in each week towards purchasing it and how many weeks it will take.  Thus, they are working towards a goal.

That was the object of going to Target...to pick something out.  But they also each had $2 burning a hole in their Spend envelope.  As we walked around the store they kept asking how much everything was and my usual answer was $15 or $20 and you could see them getting more and more deflated that everything was so much money.  We finally came to the section that had some cheapo toys that they could afford with their $2 (or, $4 since they had already determined that they could combine money and buy something together).  But I was so proud when they finally decided that they weren't going to be buy anything at all that day and instead, move the $2 into their Save envelopes so they would have more for later.  Yes!



While we were at Target, Duncan sent me a text message that took me a moment to figure out.  It was a picture of our garage...with a black snake in it.  Just great!  I don't mind bugs, spiders, cockroaches, whatever, but snakes I do not like one teensy bit.  He got it out and I know it was a harmless racer snake but I will be thinking twice now when I walk around our garage or put my hand in a bin of clothes to get something out.  Yes, I know.  I live in Florida.  What do I expect.

So far this week we've had our carpet fixed (it was sticking up in some spots), been to the library, the playground, and then today we went to meet a potential new pediatrician.  The kids have been going to their old ones across town but with the baby needing to go much more frequently, I don't feel like a 35-minute drive each time.  Hence, the search for one closer to home.  I thought the doctor himself was pretty good but the problem is that it's just himself.  Meaning, if he's on vacation or sick or whatever, I have to go find some other doctor at a different office rather than just seeing a different one at the same practice.  So, that's a bit of a turnoff.  We'll be meeting another one next week that has three other docs at the practice so that may be more promising.

Monday evening we went out a day early to celebrate Jennifer's birthday.  We met up with them and Allen and the kids at Mimi's in Altamonte.  Thankfully it was pretty slow on a Monday night and we were able to sit in a semi-private room because the kids were all over the place and somewhat loud.  Some day I know we will look back on it all with nostalgia but for now, man, it's a pain in the neck.  Finally, towards the end of the evening we did a game to see who could stay quiet the longest.  Calleigh, Evan, and the twins quickly were out of the game and that left Blake, Aubree, and Braelyn who all lasted until the end.  I gave each of them $.50 for their victory.  Well, that set Calleigh off on a big tantrum.  It wasn't FAIR.  Oh, how many times do kids utter those words??  Now that she has her money envelopes, money has become far more important and she proclaimed that she didn't know you would get money for it because it was just a game.  This was going on and on as we left the restaurant but lucky me, I didn't have to listen to it all the way home because Duncan and I switched cars so he could take the kids home and I went to a movie with Jennifer.  Thank goodness!  We went and saw "The Heat" with Sanda Bullock and Melissa McCarthy and it was totally hilarious.



This evening Ron and Elaine came over with Elaine's sister and brother-in-law, Angela and Alan, who are on "holiday" from England.  They are so funny and part of the fun, of course, is listening to their accents and how they have a slightly different way of saying things.  A trash can is called a rubbish bin, for example. They had dinner here with us and Duncan took them for a walking tour of the neighborhood and then after the kids went to bed, we sat around trying to get some nice English name suggestions for the baby.  I'm not sure that Rupert will fly but we did come up with at least one good one by evening's end.  They are around until mid-next week so we will see them again.




So, the last few days Brady has become obsessed with his pockets.  Whenever he is dressed, all he wants to do is have his hands in his pockets.  I have no idea where this idea came from but it's rather amusing.  If he takes his hand out for a minute or two and then wants to put them back in, he often gets baffled with finding the opening again so he'll start saying "Where'd my pocket go?" like someone came and took it or something.  Other times he will get frustrated because he'll walk with his hands in his pockets to the car but then can't get them back in once his car seat is buckled up.  Then, this morning when we were in the waiting room at the pediatrician's office, he was playing with some toys with Aubree in a kids' section out of my line of sight and he started to cry.  I walked over and found him lying on the floor.  He was crying because his hands were in his pockets, he'd fallen over, and didn't know how to get up without taking his hands out. Oh, the frustration!



In closing, here is a question Aubree asked me this week...in all seriousness.  "When it rains, is that because Jesus is using his hose up in heaven?"

Have a great week.

We tried a few scientific experiments.  Pencils can be poked into a bag of water without it leaking.  Who knew!

Brady happily played with this big lump of Play-Doh for like 30 minutes by himself.

One of Aunt Wanda's students came over to give us a schpeel about some knives he sells for his company.   Very nice knives but at $600 a set, ah, we're good.

The cherry tomatoes in our garden are flourishing.

Sister torture...although he seemed to be a pretty willing participant.