All opposed to playing dress-up need not apply...

Because that's pretty much all we do 'round here.  I often find photos like this on my phone:

This photo sums up Anna Kate's personality perfectly at the moment... mood swing princess:

Found this child-sized roll top desk at a shop on Kentucky Ave. in downtown Lakeland.  It's now where the girls keep all their treasures.  It's been almost a year since we left suburbia for the bright lights of the city!  I lost my suburban walking buddies Melissa and Jacquie (something about kids and homework and stuff), but my friend Kelli will come downtown to walk with me from time to time.  She got out her camera and started snapping pictures last time we walked the lake, so I got my camera out too:

My friend Alexandra had her beautiful baby girl Elena on February 19 and I got to come see her in the hospital the next day.  Aaaaaaalmost makes me wish I wasn't done having babies... almost.  On the other hand, I think I have all the girls I can handle as it is!  Playdate with Riley & Taylor later that afternoon. 

We had a new family at church over for dinner last Saturday night. This is how my girls prep for company.  AK stood watch by the door for more than an hour waiting on Aneres & Milio.  Dressed like a chicken.

Nothing like a missing child scare to add a little panic to your day! This was the day of Anna Kate's LCS Olympics and Tate had been kept up hours past his naptime.  When we got home, I thought he would crash for hours (I even had Khaysy pick up the big kids from school so I wouldn't have to wake him up!), and he ended up sleeping less than an hour. He wouldn't even let me rock him though, so I let him up.  A few hours later I was cleaning the kitchen when I realized I hadn't heard Tate for awhile (usually means he's somewhere making a mess).  I calmly looked around downstairs and started calling his name upstairs, and when he didn't answer, I got worried. I asked the kids to help me look... Wes went outside yelling his name, I kept calling for him and looking in every hiding place I could find downstairs while the girls raced upstairs.  It really wasn't that long before we found him, but it felt like an eternity!  I can't believe all our yelling didn't wake him up!!  I've never seen this kid fall asleep on the couch (unless he's sick) much less on the hard floor with his tushie up in the air! I ended up moving him to his crib and he slept almost another two hours.  I KNEW he wasn't done napping!!

My Thanksgiving-in-Spain amiga Madison was in Tampa on a business trip all last week and drove over to have dinner with us Tuesday night.  I asked her to come Tuesday because Michael had a late night meeting and didn't get home until around 10 p.m. Madison helped me wrangle the kids at Palace Pizza and then she helped me put them to bed!  I love how Madison strategically bumps into me all over the world!

The best thing that has happened to my productivity in a long time is Carigan's current favorite game to play - "Baby School."  This involves taking Tate upstairs and putting him in his crib (with the help of a stool that she lugs to his bedroom) and then entertaining him with books and toys and whatever else.  I actually don't really know what she does in Baby School, because I'm always down here utilizing the free time! All I know is that when I really need to work, all Carigan has to do is say, "Hey Taaa-aaate, want to play Baby School??" and he will take off running after her up the stairs.  It usually buys me 20-30 minutes and ends when Carigan inevitably climbs into his crib with him and then they can't get out.  They are always super silly when I appear to rescue them from Baby School-turned-Baby Jail:
 

Things I hope I don't hear when they're grown up:  "Hey Mom, take my picture in jail!"

-BELOW- Character Day at LCS... just another excuse to dress up like Elsa. As if we need one! And if one girl gets to go to school dressed up like Elsa, you bet the other one is going pick out the most Elsa-ish school clothes she can find!

Tate's 2nd birthday is just around the corner (Aaaaaacccckk!) so I needed to get some pictures of him to create an invitation.  I put a clean shirt on him and headed out the front door for a quick photo-shoot, but he was minimally cooperative. These were among the outtakes. 

The boy dances to the beat of his own drum!

LCS Olympics

Oak pollen is in the air and our thermostats fluctuate between heat and AC almost hourly.  Can only mean on thing... It's Olympic time at LCS!  Wesley was up first.  3rd Grade Olympics were Monday afternoon (It was hot. I got dehydrated and light-headed. Wished I had brought water, a visor, and sunscreen).  1st Grade Olympics were Tuesday morning (It was cool and breezy. I brought water, a visor and sunscreen but didn't use any of it and wished I had brought a jacket).
 

My hurdle boy.

Buddies since Kindergarten.  Doesn't get any better.  Soon-to-be-Vikings Natalie and Carigan:

Wesley competing in the mile run.  He kept a steady pace the whole time and never stopped to walk.  He came in 6th.  So proud of him!  And nothing says Christian love like Tug-of-War...

Wes Leaping up to get a ribbon during the awards ceremony.  -BELOW- I had managed to keep Tate confined to his stroller for over two hours at this point.  With all the events completed, I decided it was time to release the Kraken!  He was so excited - he made a beeline to the obstacle course.  And yes, he got up there all by himself.
 

And he carried this as-big-as-he-is orange cone around the field for about 10 minutes.  -BELOW- Tate & Olivia, partners in crime... they worked relentlessly until they managed to topple all the hurdles.  Love that Shireen and I have been getting these 4-days-apart babies together since they were newborns!

Poor Tate... it was right back in the stroller for Olympics Round #2 the next morning! Anna Kate & Ellie just before Palm's Penguins stormed the field.

February 24, 2015

Wesley's class happened to come outside to write in their journals during 1st Grade Olympics. I happened to notice Mrs. Nilius filing students into the bleachers, so I scanned for Wes, and sure enough he was waving wildly. I tried to get a pic of all four kids together when we made our way up to the bleachers for snacks, but only 50% of my children were feeling cooperative.  Carigan was so excited that Selah's sister Olivia came to watch her cousin Jacob. C spent most of her time across the field with them. She left them momentarily to have a snack with AK and Marin:

Some fierce Tug-of-War girls!  Celebrating their victory:

The Parent Vs. Teen tug-of-war barely lasted two seconds... may or may not have been solely due to the fact that we had a professional NFL player to put on the front of the line!

Once again, it was time to release the Kraken as results were being calculated. This time he dropped straight to his knees and started crawling around like a puppy. That's been his thing lately. I'm not sure if he's pretending to be a cat, dog, or some other animal, but it's pretty funny.

Sitting with Sissy during the ribbon ceremony.  Anna Kate came in 3rd place for the 50-yard dash!  Woohoo!

And Mrs. Palm's Penguins took first place overall!  Another Olympics in the books... next year I'll get to stand on the football field with Tate for 2 1/2 hours THREE times!  Yippee!

OM, gymnastics and the beach!

Nothing like sleeping in on Valentine's Day and enjoying a relaxing morning in your jammies with the fam... or not.  Anna Kate had an 8:00 basketball game, which Wesley missed because he had to be in Tampa by 8:00 for his Odyssey of the Mind competition.  He actually spent the night with Hyatt the night before so that Michael didn't have to make it to Tampa until their performance at 10:00 a.m.  Their spontaneous was at 8:15, but parents aren't allowed to watch that part.  I sent Michael this year because the girls had a birthday party (like every Saturday) and because I froze my tushie off volunteering at the sales booth during the OM competition last year!
 

This year they got to choose their prompt.  They chose to do Silent Movie: "Teams will create and present a performance depicting a Director character that produces and presents a silent movie featuring a humorous villain character that commits three silly acts of “villainy”. Characters that are in the movie may not speak as part of the presentation of the movie. Instead, like classic silent films, the team will use music played on a team-created instrument and creatively displayed subtitles to convey its story to the audience and judges."

This competition is all about creativity... and having fun. Wesley was a villainous ice-cream man. They have very strict rules (with adults signing waivers) that the kids do everything on their own.  Wes had to come up with his own costume and he came home and told me "I want to wear all black with a ski cap like a bad guy and then a pink apron for my ice-cream shop."  His name was Villain Ice.  Kid cracks me up.  So thankful for Pam Jackson and Lynda Jones for all the hard work they put in facilitating all these great minds and their wild ideas!  

Back in Lakeland, the girls were super-excited about Kerrigan Cooper's birthday party at Gymnastics, Etc.  I need to sign them back up for gymnastics... we usually do gymnastics in the fall and dance in the spring, but with all the stress of the move and the never-ending unpacking, this fall we did nothing.  They were so happy to be "back" and it was even more fun because they got to have the whole place to themselves with special friends!

♥Kerrigan & Carigan & friends♥  Love that these two girls have been celebrating their birthdays together since their very first ones!  They are beyond excited about being in Kindergarten together at LCS next year!  After the birthday party I was supposed to come home, pack up, and drive 2 1/2 hours south to Ft. Myers so the kids could spend President's Day weekend at the beach condo my mom is renting this month.  But I was so tired that I was struggling to keep my eyes open.  I sat there for about ten minutes dreading packing and driving before I declared it just wasn't gonna happen.  I told the kids if they didn't throw a fit over the change in plans (did you hear that... I dared to CHANGE a PLAN in the lives of four kids under the age of ten! Call FEMA!!), we'd drive down after church the next day.  After that they only moped non-convincingly.  Michael seized the opportunity and called his parents to see if we could drop them off for a couple hours, and he took me to dinner.  ON Valentine's Day.  With NO kids.  To a place with dim lighting and table cloths.  And not a child in sight!  It was amazing!!  It's the first time since becoming parents that we've gone on together ON Valentine's Day.  We tried a couple places with really long waits before settling on Palace Italian Restaurant, where we only waited about 25 minutes.  No too shabby for Valentine's Day with no reservations!    

With a better rested mom at the wheel, we made our way to Ft. Myers beach on Sunday afternoon.  Both days at the beach Mom took the big kids to the pool while I strolled Tate in the BOB down the beach.  I love strolling on the beach.  It's my favorite thing about going to the beach! When I got back from my stroll, I took the beach shift while Mom manned the pool.  I thought the girls were actually resting quietly here... shocked, I pulled out my phone to take a picture.  Five seconds later Anna Kate yelled, "Ding-a-ling-a-ling!" and they awoke from their fake sleep.  Should have known it was a game!  They're never that calm!

I enjoyed relaxing on the beach as much as you can with a baby grabbing the sunglasses off your face every five seconds:

Neither of the boys ever lasted long out there.  They found the condo much more entertaining. 

Monday night (President's Day!  I let them miss school Tuesday) we walked to the pier to find something yummy for dinner.  The sky opened up and I heard angels singing when I spotted a Greek restaurant called Plaka, right there in the main square!  The others did not share my enthusiasm and had to be bribed persuaded.

I promised them a balloon from the balloon lady if they would let me enjoy my dinner and not fuss.  This is how Anna Kate sat the whole dinner.  Totally worked. 

Monday, February 16, 2015.  You can see one of those performance art "statue" guys in the background.  He was painted all white.  The statue guy started packing up right as my kids were running up to him with quarters in hand.  He actually didn't take the money since he was no longer in character.  Ha.

Anna Kate finally got her balloon.  Everyone seemed to know the balloon chic.  She was either French or just milked tips by calling everyone mademoiselle.  People were constantly stopping, hopping off bikes and running from afar to greet her.  She said she's been here for 16 years.  After making the balloons she automatically instructed the girls to pose with her for my camera.  We Wrapped up the night with Grandma's treat... Blizzards all around and a cone for Tate!

We stayed up late Monday night watching Meet the Robinson's (my absolute favorite).  Tate actually fell asleep in my arms and Carigan put herself to bed!  Tuesday I got to stroll the beach with Tate again, Anna Kate spent hours in the pool playing with a trio of brothers, and we had more adventures in the "congo."  Grandma made tacos for one final treat before we hit the road.  I drove home in rain but it's better than the blizzard they were getting in Kentucky!!