Fun Stuff...

This weekend we took the kids to a carnival. The carnival was at Lakewood Elementary which is where the Pankratz kids go to school. I used to nanny for the Pankratz family who I met when I had their daughter, Kami in my preschool classroom when she was 2 turning 3. I guess that was around 2001. I started as their nanny when they had their 3rd child, Sam in 2004.

Sam loves to be around my kids and its crazy to me to see him with them and think I had him AND his sister when they were the same age as my kids are now! Anyway, he held their hands and showed them all around the carnival which they loved. Here Sam is trying to help Cash into the jumper.
Now over the wall. Riley never made it in. She had a little change of heart. She is not the go getter she makes herself out to be!

She did like the fishing though and kept trying to pull her line over the wall before they could get her "treat" hooked onto her line. Of course it was some crazy hard, chewy candy that she couldn't eat so that was fun for me to get away from her.

Riley did get a little present sent to her from her Grandpa Mel. When we were in Clearwater in February we went to the aquarium where she fell in love with a pink stuffed dolphin named Winter, but her dad would not hear of buying another $15 stuffed animal. So her Grandpa went back to the aquarium and sent her a special surprise. She was very excited and even after over a month, knew exactly what it was before she even opened it all the way. Cash was a little bummed and kept asking where his dolphin was. I told him that Grandpa wanted him to share the pink one with Riley, but he said no, he was going to get a blue one. How do they know that stuff? I mean you usually associate blue with boys and girls with pink, but they are not even 3?! Crazy. I did run downstairs and put some "new" toys that they had not played with in a while in the box so it seemed as if he got a new present too. He is not deprived by any means. He is usually the one that gets all the new hot wheels in the mail so, the fact that just Riley got a package from Grandpa was pretty cute.

And here is the Cash man...still sleeping, fully clothed, with his shoes and his hat on. His dad is afraid he will go bald at an early age if he keeps wearing his hat like this all the time, but Cash won't take it off. I finally found out why he likes to wear it backwards. One of the shows he likes to watch is Imagination Movers. His favorite on that show is Dave. Dave wears his hat backwards. Go figure. So here he is...fast asleep with his hat on. His dad, a HUGE Michigan fan, isn't happy.

But far away, his Grandpa Mikey is!!!

Kids say the darnedest things...

Cash was begging all morning for me to turn on the tv. When I finally gave in he said "Yay! I'm proud of you mom!". Pretty cute.

Riley wanted some chocolate covered raisins (for breakfast) and when I said no she crossed her arms and told me "I not talking anymore, mama.". That was cute too.

When I get the kids ready for bed at night I usually put Aquaphor on Tripp and Riley and sometimes I will put some on Cash's lips. He was sitting on his bed rubbing in the Aquaphor, looked at me and said "I am getting a makeover mom.". Made me laugh. I don't know where he got that.

Tripp...he just shakes his head and tells me "NO!"...to everything! =)

He look just like...

Darin and I have been trying to figure out who this little guy looks like. Most people say that he looks like me or Riley. When he was born he looked just like Riley, but then he started to look more like Cash. Now, we can't decide!

Here are some pictures of them all around the same age (16 months).

Tripp

Cash

Riley

I found this picture of their 2nd Halloween when they were Pebbles and Bam Bam. I had to put it up. Its crazy to see how little they were, but it doesn't seem like that long ago. Time does fly like they say!!!

Better late than never...

I always wait so long in between posts and then I feel like I have so much to jam into one update. I will just have to make this one a little shorter than I normally would I guess! My goal will be to update more often so I don't have so much to cram in one post!

This was just a cute photo of Cash and Riley. I was sitting on the couch and looked over at them sitting like this. I happened to have my camera right by me because I was deleting some old pictures so I was lucky. I think its so cute and was so happy that I was able to capture that little moment. So my sister, Sarah turned 30 on February 16th! And my Aunt Cathy turned a year older on February 20th! We all were able to get together in KC for a fun little weekend to celebrate their birthdays. Sarah and my mom came from Virginia. Aunt Cathy came from Minnesota. My brother, Adam, and his wife, Rachel and the girls came from Iowa.

On Friday night Sarah, Cathy, my mom and I all went to see Valentine's Day at the Cinema Suites...the best $25 ticket around. Not necessarily the movie, it was cute, but the Cinema Suites is awesome! You sit in a recliner and have a waiter bring you anything you want! It was the best. Between the four of us, we had enough food to feed us all day and it was good! We got drink drinks and they even brought us each a hot towel after the movie was over. A hot towel?! If you can ever get to a Cinema Suites and see a movie, do it. Awesome! Oh, and we got the biggest bowl of popcorn I have ever seen. It even had about a 1/2 cup of melted butter on the side! Wished I would have had my camera along. The photo I took on my phone wasn't very good. Trust me, it was HUGE!

On Saturday we hung out with the kids in the morning and when they laid down for their naps, we took off and headed to downtown KC. Darin stayed at home with the kids so we could have some adult girl time only! Cathy and Sarah went to get manicures for the birthday and my mom and I went back to decorate the hotel room.

Adam and Rachel got to the hotel with Becca and Libby...and the cake. Look at that thing! It was a double layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with Twix candy bars all around the edges and topped with peanut butter M&M's! It was soooo good and looked awesome too!

Rachel makes cakes and is really talented. Check out her Cake 4 Dinner group on facebook to see all her cakes. Wish she could make my Little Einsteins cake for C & R's bday!

Sarah & Cathy After the manicures and cake reveal, we headed out for dinner at a brewery, then back to the room for cake, then out for some drinks and fun.

Here we are with our $60 round of drinks. No, we didn't stay at that place for very long!

Mom, Rachel, Me, Sarah & Cathy We headed over to PBR where Adam rode the bull! He stayed on for quite a while too. I was impressed! Tried to get a picture of that it was too dark in there to get a good picture.

Mom and Adam
Adam and Sarah

On Sunday we woke up and headed to meet Darin and the kids at Little Monkey Bizness. I missed those little guys! They were excited to see all of us too. Darin said they did really well which I was a little worried about. I am with them 24-7 so me leaving them for almost 24 hours was kind of a big deal. Glad everything went smoothly, for my sake and for theirs!

We had a very busy week last week. I watched my friend, Tricia's 2 month old, Owyn for the week. She was without daycare for that week so I offered. My kids all loved having him around. Tripp kept pointing at him and saying "baby, baby." Tripp seemed so big to me with Owyn around. Owyn was a super easy baby. He only cried when he was hungry. Four kids under 4 years old wasn't as bad as I thought...but I didn't have him at night! =)

I already added these pictures to a previous post, but can't get them off of this one for some reason so here they are again.

Cash holding onto his new little buddy, Leo. He loves him!

Riley prefers Rocket.

Tripp looks so big in his crib. I wonder when we will have to switch him to his toddler bed?!

That's it. Happy weekend!!!

A Typical Day

At Kelly's Korner we were invited to share a typical day with other blog readers so here goes...

Just a note to those who do not know us~My husband, Darin and I will be married for 4 years on March 11th. We had boy/girl twins in April of 2007 and our third child (boy) in November 2008.

Anyway...

We usually wake up around 7:30 am.

I always go in and get Cash & Riley first, then we all go in and get Tripp out of his room.

We go downstairs, change diapers, change clothes if needed or we just stay in our pj's and then we have breakfast.

Cash usually asks me to turn on the tv because he is afraid that he might miss an episode of Little Einsteins!

The kids eat and play with their trains. You wouldn't think that I had any other toys in my house besides trains because that is all they play with. Well, I did buy a Little Einsteins Pat Pat Rocket off of Craig's List the other day that has been a big hit, but we are mostly a train family here.

If I have any errands to run or just want to get the kids out of the house, we usually do that in the morning around 10 or so. That usually depends on how long it takes me to get everyone dressed and ready. I love winter, but I can't wait for the warmer weather just so I don't have to get everyone all bundled up every time we want to go somewhere!

The kids eat lunch anywhere from 11 to noon. Then they take naps from about 1 until 3. Cash and Riley have started to not take naps everyday, but I still give them that down time up in their room for at least an hour. Why would you not take a nap? If you laid me down in a dimly lit room and kept the house quiet, I would certainly fall asleep. They will miss these days when they are older, that is for sure!

During their naps, I usually clean up, do a load of laundry, check my email, try to fit in a blog update or whatever I need to get done. I may even shower if I feel like it! =)

Lately I have been spending my free time planning Cash and Riley's 3rd birthday that is coming up on April 19th. I love to plan parties. If only I had a little bit more money, then it would be a little easier!

Everyone is usually back up around 3. We change diapers, have a snack and play some more. I like to watch Ellen if I can, but that is busy time. I am thankful for DVR!

Darin usually gets home around 6 if he is in town. He travels quite a bit. This week he left Monday morning and got home last night so I am sure he will like coming home tonight and having some time with the kids this weekend.

The kids usually eat dinner around 6. We get them changed and ready for bed usually between 7-8. They may even get a bath! I am embarrassed to say, but my kids are lucky if the get a bath twice in one week! It takes some effort to get them all bathed at once. I have tried giving them baths separately, but they all must go at the same time to avoid fights and meltdowns. Maybe if I gave them a bath every night this would decrease the appeal of bath time making it easier to bathe them separately. But, I have not the time or the will to do bath time every night, especially when Darin is out of town for 3 or 4 nights in a row. So we will continue squeezing all 3 kids in our little tub for the time being. They aren't that dirty anyway! =)

We may read stories or sometimes Darin makes up stories for the kids which they like. We tuck them in, fill up their waters and give them dinosaur hugs before they drift off to sleep.

After we get the kids in bed, we eat dinner and watch whatever shows are on. We are usually in bed between 9-10. Darin is sometimes in bed before 9 even, but he gets up around 4:30 and goes to the gym in the morning so he is usually pretty tired.

We always go into the kids' rooms before we go to sleep and check on them, cover them back up or whatever. The pictures below are from a couple nights ago when I had given them the Little Einsteins Rocket which they insisted on sleeping with. Oh, and yes, Cash is sleeping with his clothes and shoes on. He usually has his "Herkey Hat" on as well. He is a pajama hater lately, but that is okay. The shoes, I don't get it, but you know how they say "pick your battles"? Well, this is a battle that I choose not to pick. Hopefully he will grow out of this someday.

Good night little buddies!

Happy Birthday Aunt Sarah...

We love you!!!

Cash, Riley & Tripp

See you this weekend!!!

Happy V Day!!!

We started off Valentine's Day with some chocolate donuts with sprinkles. Cash and Riley were so excited about the donuts. They are just like their mom...they like to eat!!! We got out the easels and let them paint too. My mom sent them these paints that had the paint in the handle so they were very "mess free". Just what we like here at our house. They had fun painting and spent most of the day making awesome pictures!
Tripp enjoyed the balloon, that is, when Riley gave it up. She was probably the most excited about the balloon. The first thing she talked about, when she woke up from her nap, was the fact that she had a balloon waiting for her downstairs.

We brought out their ride-ons from the basement for something new to play with. I love switching out their toys. Bringing out new toys every few days keeps them happy and busy and I like that!

Darin was watching the Daytona 500 (I think) and the kids really seemed to like it too. They got on their cars and were riding around. Cash kept telling us that his favorite car was the blue car which was the Miller Light car. Riley's favorite was the red car which was the Target car. How fitting. Not that Cash is a big Miller Light drinker, but we do like Miller Light in the Johnson house. =) And of course we love Target!

Pretty low key, but we had a great day. Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day as well!