Routines in the White House: Cleaning

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Halloween 2014

Happy Halloween from Jessie the Cowgirl, Buzz Lightyear, Strawberry Shortcake and Sheriff Woody!This was the first year since before Avelyn was born that it was actually decent weather to be outside for trick or treating: It’s always been cold, rainy and miserable! The kids had an absolute BLAST running around in the dark and knocking on doors, and they were surprisingly well behaved.

The Triple Toilet Training Terror

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Summer Stories {Part 4}

This past weekend we headed out of town, albeit only 1 night, to Hershey Park, for Matt’s family’s annual get together. We don’t go every year, because it would just be too much, but when we do we always have fun. The first year we went with all 4 kids we decided that instead of buying them a t-shirt every year or some such thing, we would buy 1 t-shirt in a bigger size and take pictures every year. Here’s the picture from 2 years ago…

For those of you that follow me on Instagram, you’ll already have seen this gem.

We did have a few side stops on the way down, the biggest one was for Daddy to go to Cabela’s, which was fine with me because the kids were quite enamored with all of the animals and the live aquarium they now have.

After Cabela’s it was onward to Hershey Park! We got to the campground, setup our tent, and…hold up, tent?! Yep, we slept the night we were there in a tent…6 of us. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds, but it wasn’t that great either. Matt, Ave and I were on the floor, the kids in the pack n play {they stayed some of the night in there}.

In the evening we went with tradition: Chocolate World, followed by ice cream.

The awesome t-shirts they got from Aunt Meggie and Uncle Matt.Finding out how they measure up!Henry was a bit overwhelmed by the busy, but Daddy didn’t mind.Riding the Chocolate World ride: I think James was impressed.Then it was time for ice cream!Back to the campground it was, and baths in Baba’Sunday morning we got up bright and early {not that we needed any help with that, since the kids were up at 3:30, until 5:30, then woke up at 6:30am}. Off to Hershey we went! They were a bit excited. See how much they’ve grown in those shirts?!James on his first ever ride: He loved it!Ellie wasn’t too keen on the whole bit of nonsense.Then it was time for Mommy to take the crazies on the Tilt-a-Whirl….one of my favorite rides. They LOVED it!Ellie didn’t like it at first, but by the end she loved it!Henry finally found a ride he liked, the cars {and Mater!}…that was the only way we could get him on it.Interestingly enough all of the kids went on their first big-kid roller coaster and LOVED it! After that we were all so hot it was time for the water rides.Soon after, it was lunch, meltdowns and time to go home, but not before one last ride.In the car and ready to roll.Literally 5 minutes later.We stopped about halfway home at Cracker Barrel, our first time taking all the kids out to eat since they’re more than 6 months old. It went surprisingly well, given the exhausted and meltdown conditions.We came home, put the kids in bed and mommy crashed with an exhaustion induced migraine. It was a great time though, it was so much fun seeing the kids with cousins and family, and riding all the rides.

Summer Stories {Part 1}

This week, I plan on catching you all up on life inside the White House. Renovations are going strong, we’re nearing the end….there’s just a lot of detail stuff inside that’s on hold while they finish the outside. The fairs over and things are finally starting to settle down in our “new” house. I told Matthew that this weekend was the first he’s spent in our home since March.

We’ve had a pretty busy summer, beyond the renovations that have been going on. For the first 6 weeks of “Summer” the kids had swimming lessons Monday-Thursday. They all did awesomely! Unfortunately, the triplets were put back in PACA {Parent and Child Aquatics} because they weren’t 3, which made things a bit more complicated, since we had to have 3 adults every day to go in the deeper pool with them, we managed most of the time. Ave did so well in swimming that she’s moved up to Level 1, and possibly will go in Level 2 next Summer.

And 2 of my lovely helpers: Oma and Mrs. Schicky

We even convinced Daddy one time to go to the pool with us. Despite his aversion to going, he and the kids had so much fun! The were so upset at the next day’s swimming lessons because daddy wasn’t there.

It’s really a shame that none of my kids enjoy swimming in the pool.