Tales of a Fulltime Mom: The Fourth and Other Stuff

Despite the fairly crummy weather we experienced this weekend, we still managed to have an enjoyable holiday weekend. Sabbath School was pretty sparse, I'm sure because of the holiday, but it gave a little down time for those of us that are new leaders time to figure out how we're going to do things like adding name tags, a memory verse station, etc. This is the start of the new year in Sabbath School so I'm officially part of the leadership although my responsibilities as far as organizing the lessons and finding teachers won't happen until the fourth quarter which is next April - June.

Aunt Wanda's shoes were a major hit!

Aubree now kind of leans against her seat in Sabbath School. This is how she hangs.

Saturday night Ron and Elaine came over to babysit so that Duncan and I could have an evening out and use a Cheesecake Factory gift card that we had. One advantage of going out late is that we didn't have to wait to get a table. Duncan got the same old thing but I was proud of myself for branching out. After the meal, we hung out at Borders until it closed. That is one of the things that I miss about my pre-kid days - - just being able to browse through a book store and sit there and read magazines. I always enjoy that. We got home a little after 11 and everything went fine on the home front so that was good. Good thing that Aubree had gotten past her new room jitters.

Our big activity for Sunday (besides going to 50% off sale at Thriftko which I consider big!) was a trip to the Science Center where they were having a "Members Only" event from 6 - 10 pm. It was free for members and a nominal fee for guests. The evening included a laser light show in the IMax theater and then we would be able to view the downtown fireworks from the deck of the museum. Ron, Elaine, Tangie, and Braelyn met us there so we had a small group. We filed in for the 7 pm laser show (geared towards kids). Just as it was about to begin, an employee stands up and says "We've had something happen and we need you to leave." Thankfully pandemonium did not break out or anything as we all left the building but obviously we were quite curious. As we stood outside for the next 20 - 25 minutes, we found out that the popcorn machine had caught fire. It was promptly put out but not before we all had to vacate. Eventually we were let back in and they said the laser show would start in a short while and to go back to your seats. We were in the very back of the large group standing outside the museum so we knew we would end up with junky seats this time around. So we start filing in and of course, Calleigh and Braelyn both say they have to go potty. We told the others to go ahead and get seats and we'd be in shortly and then we went to separate bathrooms because the line was so long. After Calleigh finished up, we headed to the theater only to meet Tangie and Braelyn walking towards us and Tangie says they won't let us in because it already started. I was ticked! We were basically the last ones back in the building and no way were they going to penalize us for that. Aubree was in there and I was going to get to her! I was prepared to put up a stink but when we walked back, no employee was to be seen so we just busted through the closed doors that said "Do Not Enter, Show in Progress." And that was that. Elaine was standing there with a crying Aubree as soon as we walked in so I'm glad I made it. She calmed down pretty quickly once I got her on my lap. The show was pretty good but just lets say it was definitely geared toward a small kid. After the show, the kids played a little and we wandered around looking at exhibits. Then I took off with Aubree since it was getting late. Calleigh got to stay for the fireworks and then R & E dropped her and Duncan off at home.

Duncan had Monday off and I was hoping to go to Downey Park but with the poor weather, outdoor activities were a bust. We decided to go to Monkey Joe's. I thought it would be neat because Duncan had never been and plus, we hadn't been in a long time (since before Aubree was born). The one stinky thing was that they didn't have a discount (buy one, get one free) on Mondays like they used to so Aubree didn't get to go on anything (which was fine really but I did let her go on something just for a minute to see if she liked it). Calleigh had a really good time and Duncan was literally sweating from it all. You do get a workout with all the climbing, running, and bouncing. It was funny though because that big giant slide was still there from back in May 2009 when she climbed up without a second thought and scared me quite a bit. It is a VERY fast slide and it's pretty high. This time, she didn't want to go up by herself so Duncan had to go up with her and slide down. After a bit she did go by herself but it gave me a chuckle on how she had no fear when she was two but at three, it suddenly made her nervous.

Monday evening we went to R&E's for a cookout. Again, the weather wasn't the greatest but it didn't keep us out of the pool....which Calleigh did announce to us that she peed in. Thank goodness for chlorine! Ron and Elaine are without air conditioning so they are very grateful for the somewhat cooler weather that has accompanied this weather front. I don't think I could survive it though.

This morning we went to the Winter Park story time and then on to the splash fountain in Hannibal Square. That was the original splash playground that we went to about a year and a half ago. I haven't been back because we found other one that are fenced in (much better) but since we were in Winter Park anyway, we gave it a whirl. Aubree got a face full of water several times (the fountains go off and on intermittently) but it didn't deter her a bit. Meanwhile, Calleigh was fascinated by a little boy, probably about 18 months of age, who clearly had a deformed head that had gone through surgeries. The back of his head was flat and then there was a ridge on the upper part of it. Calleigh talked to him and his mother quite a bit but I was too far away to hear what they were saying. At one point she did come and ask me what happened to the boy's head but she took off again before I could answer. I wasn't sure what to say so it saved me but I probably should have addressed it later.

Aubree

Calleigh in the same suit at the same fountain (two months older though)

So that I have a record of it, I wanted to mention that Calleigh has now added another imaginary friend to her posse. Her name is Arina. So now we have Ire and Arina. A friend of mine had a kid with imaginary friends named Heather, Alyssa, Kelly, etc. Nope, no "normal" names for Calleigh. She seems to pride herself on just making names and words up. In fact, we keep asking her who Arina's parents are because it amuses us when she thinks really hard of some new names to make up. However, we have been impressed that she has stuck with the name "Adina" for Arina's mother. The funny thing is that Elaine actually thought there was a real Ire. She wasn't aware of Ire yet so when Calleigh started talking about her, she thought she was a real girl. And she talks about her a LOT. I understand this is normal for a kid though.

Before I close out with some pictures, I wanted to share a cute comment from Calleigh today. We were talking about Cape Cod and which relatives lived there. She then asked me "Where does Eric Armadillo live?" His name is Eric Badillo. I try so hard not to laugh but it's really hard.

Calleigh discovered that when you empty the ottoman, it makes a good bed. So we haven't been able to store anything in there since then because she keeps insisting it's her bed. I think she genuinely thought she was going to sleep in there. Mom, it doesn't lock so don't worry.

Trying to Hula Hoop at Sports Authority (note that shoes that I had just bought at Thriftko which are too big and don't match but she insisted on wearing).