Short and Sweet

This is going to be more of an update than a story. Since I can only type with one hand please ignore the typos!! Also, it takes two hands to spellcheck, so get over it if you notice a misspelled word! :) Now, with the disclaimers out of the way, summer seems to be moving right along. We are getting ready to go camping again this weekend. I am looking forward to the cooler temperatures, especially at night. Our poor boys are so sweaty at night, and keeping a fan in their room is not always an option. After camping is over we plan to invade their grandmothers house for a few days, a new place for the little monkeys to wreak havoc!

Stormy Weather

Yes our family has been experiencing some turbulent weather recently. Thanks to mother nature I am now not the only mother that irritates my kiddos! I get everyone ready to go outside and play and literally ten seconds go by and here comes the rain. My boys barely have time to go down the slide sometimes. We have been venturing out doors pretty early in the morning in order to have some time outside. Now don't get me wrong, I am loving the cooler temperatures and I have always loved a good thunderstorm, but keeping my little ones cooped up indoors is less fun than a sunburn! Despite all the rain, we still manage to spend a pretty decent amount of time out in the backyard. One problem is that everything is soaking wet and the other would be the new mud spots created by where the kiddos run and play! When the boys come in from playing they are pretty muddy sometimes, and when they are not wearing any clothes...well you get the picture, mud EVERYWHERE! I am lucky to keep clothes on the boys when they want to play in the front yard, forget about the backyard! As you can clearly see in the picture, they are only wearing their undies to play in the gutter. I am sure this phase will pass, Addy likes wearing clothes now and we all know how much she loved being naked. With last nights torrential downpour over, not to mention the insane lightning show that accompanied the rain, it seems we might be getting back to drier and warmer weather, so we can take the wild bunch back to the pool!

To the Library

With the rainy weather comes new ways to entertain the troops. We ventured out last Friday and went to the library. I know most associate the library with quiet, but our library has an entire section designated just for the kiddos! They have strategically placed the children's part of the library downstairs away from anyone who may actually want to try and read while they are there. We arrived at the library a few minutes before they opened and with my kiddos banging on the window and racing their cars up and down the windows, I think the staff was ready for us to leave before we even went in! Getting to the library and going in is always easy. My bunch all love to read and look at books. Apryl gets to go upstairs on her own and check out books that are more suitable for her age while Lexy can go on her own also but mom can still see her since her books are near the children's area. The rest of the group has to stay with mom and find books that they might be interested in for a couple of weeks. That is a challenge since not much can capture a two year olds attention for longer than thirty seconds. This particular trip I ended up picking out books for the boys because they were a little preoccupied with the computer games. Even though the games are educational, I had wanted to expose the boys to the library, not a computer. They are already familiar with computers and in some regards probably more than their mother! This is where the break down in communication began! As soon as I dared to utter, "it's time to go," I was in trouble! Immediately following I was met with total opposition from both boys. This included melt downs numbers one through thirty five as I attempted to check out our library books. Then I had shoes thrown at me or at least in my direction with a lot of screaming, all of which is happening in the middle of the library where everyone has to walk in order to enter or leave the library. So, I swat one of the boys on his bottom, I am now a villain in the eyes of every bystander, who was just moments ago wondering why their mother doesn't do something about their behavior! Swatting, spanking, whatever you want to call it, is not my first choice of discipline, and I can guarantee my little man didn't even realize he had been smacked on the butt because I still had to practically drag him out the door! Ugghh...so much for wanting to help facilitate a love of books in my kiddos, I think it can wait!

No, No, and NO!!

Today I am starting something new, I am trying my best not to have the word "no" be the only thing my boys hear from me. It feels lately like all I do is discipline. Who wants to be around someone that seems grouchy and only says "no" and "stop doing that!"? I know the importance of having rules and boundaries for our kiddos, but sometimes I feel overwhelmed with the task of chasing around three toddlers. I do not want my little ones to grow up and only have memories of mommy yelling and staring them down. That will only lead to some sort of therapy I will end up having to pay for! Everything single thing we do as a family comes with a pile of rules and restrictions, or so it seems since we were gifted our twins! I talk so much throughout the our day that I am surprised I don't lose my voice more often. I always have to repeat myself, it does not matter what I am saying, and I usually repeat the sentences four or five times. Our boys need CONSTANT supervision, which is a complete 180 from what I had become accustomed to. The girls are able to keep their damn hands off things while the boys can hardly wait to touch something that is off limits. I wonder how much of this defiance comes from them being boys or is it that their are TWO of them? If one little man is sitting and behaving himself, leave it to the other to act like a maniac! I think it is only fair for moms to be allotted one or two melt-downs a day. After seeing my guys throw a fit, kicking and screaming, they are usually pretty calm afterwards so maybe there is something to temper tantrums. It would be priceless to see my kiddos faces when they are watching their mother writhing on the floor, screaming at the top of my lungs. That would probably buy me a few minutes of alone time, "leave mom alone, I think she is going crazy!"

Fireworks of our Own...

Yesterday was another Fourth of July for the books! We took our gang to a BBQ hosted by our aunt and uncle, the same place we look forward to going to each year. Yes, it was a little warm out and every time I moved my face turned bright red, but it was well worth it! All five kiddos look forward to jumping on the trampoline more than anything else. Never mind the delicious food or the company, they can hear that trampoline calling their names from our house! They were jumping and running and laughing and giggling from the moment we arrived to the moment we left to start walking to the soccer fields. Apryl and Lexy are even going to get to KEEP the trampoline! I think a delivery is in the works for this week or next. Our guys jumped so much that Brenden fell asleep in my lap before the fireworks began! Garhett managed to stay awake for a little while longer, but soon he too was laying his head down. Also, they stayed in the same undies the entire day!! Yay, mini victory for mom and dad!! I actually have to revise that last statement, they did not have an accident while we were out, however they did not stay in their underwear all afternoon. While some intense volleyball was taking place, a streaker went running on by through the middle of the action. Once Garhett saw that his brother was naked, he felt he had no other option but to join him. It was an act of futility to get those boys to keep their undies on. Then it became a game that was only fun for the boys, I had had enough of the wiener brigade! Eventually, after retrieving their underwear and several other items from over the fence, the boys gave in and wore the underwear...for a while! I did get them to get fully dressed before we left to watch the firework show and that was an accomplishment! We had a great time listening to Garhett take ownership of every firework he saw, "that one is Garhetts!", and Addy only wanted the purple ones. Arvada put on an amazing show, and each year there is something a little different which is really great! The only problem is trying to explain to my little ones why there are not fireworks tonight!