Indiana - Circus City Parade

On Thursday, July 22, we left our house around 5pm and drove up to Peru, Indiana. It was 18 hours, and Shane drove probably 85% of it. He didn't appreciate my driving on the rumble strips while he was trying to sleep. Some people. But he drove all night (still being on his midnight schedule), so the kids slept most of the trip (yay!).

We got to Peru on Friday afternoon and were all ready for some sleep. Saturday morning, we went to the Circus City Parade in Peru. As we do every year, we sat in front of the First Christian Church parsonage. Pretty good seats!

Most of the gang walking down the sidewalk to the parsonage. Grandma and Grandpops had their hands full of grandkids!

The first part of the parade was the Air Force Color Guard (Grissom Air Base is just outside of Peru - and is were Grandpops works). Our patriotic family stood up with hands over our hearts.

Look at this! I actually was at the parade! See, I do exist.

Logan loved the fire engines with sirens blaring and lights flashing. He waved and waved at them.

Keegan (3.5 years), Jayden (8.5 years), and Logan (2.5 years). Good times with cousins!

Daddy Shane and his two favorite kids.

Aunt Jenn and Uncle Mikell with baby Abby (2 months). Kayleigh was no longer the youngest cousin at the the house. She did enjoy playing with Abby. She'd walk up, poke her, and say "Baba". Then she'd turn around, walk in a circle, and do it all again. She has gotten so that she loves "baba"s (babies).

Logan puts more candy loot in the bag. Yum! I feel a sugar high coming!

Kayleigh enjoys a Tootsie Roll. 15 month olds should not eat a whole one at once, just half. That seems to stay in their mouths better...

The Boilermaker Float - Go Purdue! Shane's alma mater.

Boys and their Grandpops. Logan enjoyed hanging out with Grandpops and Keegan.

After the parade, the grandparents took the kids home (and I think they took naps - the kids, not the grandparents, though I'm sure they needed it!). The parents (minus Monica - she was working) went "downtown" to all the booths. Lemon shake-ups, fried anything, elephant ears. YUM! It was fun to get to hang out with Mikell and Jennifer without 6 kids running around. Only one - Abby-bear, and she was pretty quiet, except for the occasional flatulence. Cute!

First haircut

Logan got his first professional haircut today at Sports Clips. He did amazing! He didn't squirm, or fuss, and sat pretty still and straight the whole time. Sometimes he shied away from the razor, but that's to be expected.

Here he is pre-haircut. Looking a little shaggy.

Getting it cut. Here he's almost done - she even used scissors on his head and he sat still for them. Amazing - I never get that kind of reaction. I also never get a giggly grin from him when I cut his hair.

Getting "styled". Looks like a little boy! (although he told me the other day as he sat on the potty that he was a baby, not a boy)

Miss Jackie and Logan. She did a great job! It'll be much cooler for summer.

Cheating the tricycle

Today, after the HUGE downpour we had (of course, it was right when we were coming home from Kroger and the kids were tired and hungry so there was no waiting it out in the driveway), we went outside to enjoy the sunny sky. Since the battery to Logan's F150 wasn't charged, we got out the tricycle (well, he calls it his bicycle).

He had a blast! And the he had even more fun cheating the tricycle - he had his sister push the trike! She loved it, and, at times, he didn't even pedal!

But then, she got a little side tracked by the wonderful puddles left by the rain. How glorious to get all muddy and yucky! By the time we went inside, she was soaked.

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed

I know, jumping on the bed is not good for the mattress, could be dangerous, blah, blah.

But seriously, it's so fun when the two of them climb into Kayleigh's crib, stick out their tongues, yell, and jump on the bed. Two little monkeys!

Loving...

I agree with Amy - sometimes, after all the hitting and screaming and crying, the kids show you that they really do love each other.

Today, Logan was going down for a nap, and Kayleigh had slept all church service, so she wasn't ready for one. Logan was in his toddler bed, and I told Kayleigh to give him a kiss night-night. She walked over to the bed, stood up on her tippy toes, and gave him a kiss. She came over to me by the door, made a U-turn and gave him another kiss. And another. And another.

Then they were both giggling and it became a game. At least loving on your sibling can be fun and not totally disgusting!

Yummy!

Proof that babies can eat cauliflower. I was putting away washed raw cauliflower in the morning, and Kayleigh wanted some. So she had a few florets of cauliflower at breakfast.

Logan eating lunch of broccoli and cauliflower (green and white trees) and peanut butter and honey sandwich. Super yum!

On Saturday, Hope came over to learn how to bake. Seriously! She's a great cook, but she doesn't believe in following recipes, which you have to do in baking (okay, there's a little leeway, like with flour - depending on humidity and how fluffy you want your cookies). So anyway, we made some Mrs. Field's style chocolate chip cookies and then some oatmeal cookies with Hope's special cinnamon in them. YUM! Kayleigh really enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies.

This morning, the kids had chocolate pudding and strawberries for breakfast - sorta healthy. Anyway, Kayleigh insisted on feeding herself. I had to change her spoon out once, and she got MAD at me. She screamed and threw her pudding on the floor, so it was taken away from her (and Bug got to clean up the mess - I love my dogs!). After about 15 minutes, we tried it again, and she finished most of it and then let me feed her the pudding on the bottom (because I had just fed Logan the rest of his). As you can see, the kids took a bath after breakfast!

Essercise

Shane and I have gotten on the bandwagon and have been doing P90X for the past month. It's a really good workout; I enjoy the mix of weightlifting, stretching, yoga, plyometrics, and kenpo. Keeps it interesting.

But Tony Horton did not make this for parents of toddlers! However, the kids are learning to exercise. Logan got out some bands the other day and was doing curls with us.

Kayleigh likes to sit between Shane's legs while he does wide leg sit-ups. Logan likes to "crawl through the hole" when we're in downward facing dog. And when we're throwing back kicks in kenpo, we really have to look back so we don't hit a kid in the head!

Anyway, as soon as Shane comes home from work, Logan says, "Mommy and Daddy essercise?" He likes it when we exercise, because when there are eight "0"s on the screen, we usually make a protein milkshake with bananas. And of course, "Logan want some, too!"

We are all feeling a lot more healthy!

Watermelon - yummy!

We really got a good watermelon this time. The kids loved it! Kayleigh got mad every time I had to put the rind up and get another piece for her. Woo! "Give me more, Mama!"

Okay, watermelon face, go give Daddy a kiss!

Wii wonders

Logan loves racing (his favorite movie is "Cars"; he watched Indy racing last weekend; he loves to watch Daddy play RC cars on the PlayStation). So Shane got out Mario Kart for him. And he loves it! AND he always wins, even when he looses. "Logan wins!"

Cute smile

Cute smile, huh? Her Daddy loves this munchkin smile.

Independence Day

July 4th was pretty uneventful for us. After making donuts with Daddy, the kids and I went to church while Daddy caught a few hours of shut eye (it's hard to stay awake until almost 1pm when you've been up since 3pm the day before!). To my disappointment, we didn't sing any patriot songs - one of my favorite songs is "The Star-Spangled Banner".

After naps, we went to Hope, Phil, and Angela's for dinner. Ironically, we had fish and chips (french fries) for dinner - a typically British meal. How funny! Hope makes the best fish - it has a beer batter on it. So super yum!

The kids had such a great time hanging out with the aunties. Both of them jumped up on the huge coffee table and started screaming and jumping off. I don't think that house has EVER heard noise like that!

Here they are on the table. Crazy, crazy kids.

Logan and Mommy - Daddy did Logan's messed up hair look. It was sort of cute!

Watching fireworks, sort of. We could see some but trees and fences were in the way. Angela was nice enough to pick up Logan so he could see better. We originally planned to go to a park and watch fireworks, but thought it would be too late for the kids. Haha! They stayed up late enough!

Kayleigh wasn't really sure if she liked the fireworks or not. But she did like to cuddle up to Phil.

Hope takes a load off on Angela's car. They're sisters - Phil would probably have a heart attack if anyone sat on her VW! It's her baby.

Our neighbor, Steve, set off a few fireworks (illegally, but we've been soaked enough by Hurricane Alex that there was no danger of catching the grass on fire). Logan took in the show on a seat in Steve and Jen's garage. Sadie, their daughter (on the right), and their niece were prepping their ears for the booms. It's funny, with Hope, Phil, Angela, the Flachmans, and Steve and Jen and Steve's brother and family, it was sort of like an impromptu block party! We had a great time hanging out with everyone...we'll have to actually plan one next time!

The kids stayed up until almost 10:30. And yet, they still woke up at 7am on Monday!

Donuts

When Daddy came home from work on the morning of July 4th, he and Logan made us some donuts. They took some tube biscuits, dunked them in the deep fryer, and then covered them in powdered sugar. Yum! Didn't say they were healthy, though...

The boys put the whole in the donut.

Wow, hot oil... and two kids on the helper chair - we're going to have to get two chairs.

I think most of the powdered sugar went into Logan's mouth. Some did make it on to the donut - mainly because Daddy was helping.

Thanks for cooking boys! It was a real treat - though cleaning up after you was not (powdered sugar on the floor, counter, dogs, etc).

Bubble boy

Logan loves to take bubble baths in our big jacuzzi bathtub. This time, he was swimming laps in the tub in the bubbles. He got bubbles all over the himself and the bathroom. Nice beard, huh?

Houston Zoo - in the rain, again

With Hurricane Alex baring down on the south Texas coast, we decided to go to the Zoo. Of course, the bands of the storm were hitting the Houston area - so what better time to go to the Zoo than when it's raining? It means fewer people and cooler temperatures.

We finally found the aquarium part of the Zoo! The kids loved it! The sea turtle was a hit, and so were these big fish. Kayleigh looks at them and says, "shhhh".

These jellyfish were some of my favorites. Look at how they glow! So neat!

We were so lucky that Hope came with us! Kayleigh loved being picked up to see the animals. The kids really enjoyed the moray eel - it was up and swimming around.

The fosse, a cat animal, was in fine form. It was climbing up the chain link, trying to get to the ocelot next door. Amazing, that even in the not great weather the cats were playing.

Also in fine form was the python. It was swimming all around the enclosure, raising its head, and flicking its tongue. I don't know what it was, but animals that we never get to see out, were roaming their enclosures. We saw a black leopard that was about the size of Bug with a curly tail like Zoe's. The red panda was out playing and eating (usually, it's a sleeping red ball of fur). Amazing!

A monitor we saw.

Logan looks at the Matamata. It was sort of like a turtle animal, with a snorkel like nose; it doesn't even lift its head over the water all the way.

This spiky tailed lizard was trying to get out and visit with Kayleigh and Logan. It was running up the glass window trying to get to them. How fun!

Logan hangs out in the piranha tank. Kayleigh climbed in too, but couldn't quite figure out which direction to go. And she also tried to stand up in the tube, but it was a little to short for her to stand up all the way, so she'd bonk her head and fall down. Sort of funny watching from the outside.

We had a really great time, even in the rain. I think that was Logan's favorite part in some ways - he jumped in a puddle right next to some YMCA Daycampers. And he was quite content not to have the rain shield on the stroller up. I think the car and carseats are going to need drying out!