What has happened to my baby girls??

Oh my, oh my! A few weeks ago my darling monkey, Elizabeth, climbed out of her crib and into her sister's. Since then Kent has been rarin' to put up their "big girl beds." I haven't been too anxious, especially since they haven't been climbing out. Kent insisted it's time, so when we go on vacation they will be used to it, and they will be able to sleep where ever we are. All right, it makes sense, but it's going to be rough! He is in town this week so I finally agreed! Just getting the beds put together with three little helpers was challenging enough. We pretty much had to BOLT the door closed and scream through it. Brayden screamed in every few seconds to report about something that was happening. Finally through sweat and frustration Kent said, "Are you bleeding? Then I don't want to hear it, go away and we'll tell you when we're finished!" (This made me feel so good, Kent normally has an endless supply of patience, but this was enough to send him over the edge. I thought, 'this is why I can never complete a task/project there is always someone needing/reporting/fighting/hurting'.....) Back to the project:
Bed #1 being assembled.

Bed #2 being "converted" from a crib to a toddler bed.

The final products! (I know, it would be nice if they were at least the same color, but we got the toddler bed at a twins sale for a good price. Now they have their "own" styles of beds. Although, so far, they have switched back and forth twice).

Everyone was very excited and had to test them out! The first thing they did was jump on them! Kent put a ka-bosh on that right a way, we'll see how long that holds!

They were so proud to graduate to a "new big girl bed."

Brayden had to show everyone how he is almost too big for this one, and he needs his full bed because he is such a big boy!

The first hurdle was nap time yesterday. We were able to use Ally's party (see previous post) as a bribe to stay in bed and go to sleep. They did great!

Last night was a different story. Ellie fell out of her bed and was shrieking, I think it really scared her. Then it took her a long time to settle back down. Then today at nap time she did the same thing, except she woke Dani up and it was all over. No more nap. EERRR, not so happy about that. I think we will have to go out and buy another guard rail. By the time Brayden was big enough to get rid of his, it was trashed. The saga continues......

Parties, parties everywhere!

We had a busy weekend full of parties! First off, on Friday night Kent and I went on a date! He flew in at 2:30 and the baby-sitter was here at 4. I was ready to go! We went and saw "My Sister's Keeper," which is my favorite book of all time! Just as expected, I cried throughout most of the movie. I thought it was really well done, but they changed the end, which ticked me off a bit. I would recommend it to anyone.

On Saturday I went to my friend, Leigh's, baby shower, then we all went to Auntie Helen's retirement party! We had such a good time. The weather was perfect and the kids could just run and run in her HUGE backyard. They actually cried when it was time for us to go! Dani running and running.

Part of the fam.

Ellie pausing for a piece of chocolate cake!

A quick family pic. before we left. This is just about as good as it gets folks.

On to Sunday! It was my niece, Ally's, third birthday party. Holy smokes, it was crazy fun for the kids. THREE bounce houses, one of which was a water one. The kids just ran and played for hours. I don't think anyone saw Ally open presents, and a few stopped to watch her blow the candles out on her cake. Too fun!

Cool as can be; Dani Claire.

Ellie was one of the first ones in the water!

Keegan, Brayden and Ellie.

Takin' a cruise past all the peeps.

Auntie Helen, Grandma Phillips (aren't they so cute, they match perfectly, they claim it wasn't planned. We still had to make fun of them though). :)

Dani, Ellie and Ally

Ally and Auntie Sarah with the yummy cake! Ally's Grandma Weatherhead made those awesome "cake pops." They were incredible. Little balls of cake covered in chocolate, white chocolate or peanut butter. I skipped the chocolate cake and devoured a few of those! I am going to have to get the recipe and I will post it. It was perfect for the kids, they just couldn't walk around with them. :)

Blowing out the candles.

Catching up....again!

EERRR! In my hurry to get a post up, I uploaded all the pics. backward! I guess that's what I get for trying to rush! Bear with me, while we go in reverse....Kent was out of town all last week, so I made a big effort to go out and have lots of fun with the kids, in between my work schedule. It was a long week, but we all survived! One evening it was really nice out, so I put all the kids in their swim suits and loaded up a picnic dinner and headed to Liberty Lake Park. They were thrilled! After playing in the water, on the slides, and eating dinner, there happened to be a concert in the park. It was a kids recital from the local music lessons place. I ran into a friend from my book club and we were able to catch up and chat a bit. She has an older son and twin daughters too! They are 11 and 9 though. It's nice to see someone who has survived these years! (Besides my MIL of course)! Chillin' and listening to the music!

Trying to get a good shot of all three of them, still on my list of things to do.

Dani and I finishing up dinner. (I never realize that I actually LOOK as tired as I feel)! I need to start making a conscious effort of putting make-up on. That is kind of embarrassing!

Nutritious picnic dinner of cold pizza, doritos, pasta salad and grapes!

Grandma Phillips stopped by to play before she met some friends for Chinese food. Hhmmm, chinese food, or cold pizza on the grass???

My fearless monkey girl! Ellie keeps up with the big kids. It drives me crazy! She just goes for it. She leaps out and grabs the pole and slides down without a second thought! She is so coordinated and strong. I want to get her into gymnastics when she's old enough.

Dani tries to follow her, but she's not quite there yet. At least she waits until I can get there to help her (most of the time).

By the end of the night Ellie had huge red owies on the insides of her legs from sliding down the pole. Note to self: Never a good idea to slide down poles in a swimsuit. Those strippers must use lots of oil, I'm not really sure how that works. But Ellie was hurting for a few days. I guess next time I will just bring a bottle of baby oil and lather up the pole!

Brayden showing her how it's done.

YAY! Last week I got to go on a date with my boy, all by ourselves! We had such a great time. We had to go to a few stores and then we headed to the free movie at Regal cinemas. It was great! We had to watch Vegie-tales (not my first choice, I struggled sitting through it) but Brayden LOVED it! He was such a good, sweet boy. I always feel so bad after we have these times together, because I sometimes forget what a good boy he is!

Father's Day! We had a BBQ at our house with family, and we celebrated Auntie Helen's (family friend) retirement! It was a fun day, but rainy, so we were all inside.

The girls with Great-Grandpa Petrousek.

My parent's were also here for that weekend, but I have no pics. of them. It was great having them here and the kids LOVED it! Each morning they woke up asking, "Grandma go? Grandpa go?" (As in, where are they sleeping?)

Dani gets kisses from Dad.

Brayden made a wonderful card for Kent. He is amazing, he can sit and write for hours now. He just finds things and copies words off of the boxes, or pictures. He loves it, maybe he will be a journalist or a writer someday.

We had a wonderful Father's day, thanks to Kent. Somehow Kent ended up doing most of the work that day....he cooked everyone breakfast, cleaned the house for the BBQ, and grilled in the rain! I love you Kent, thanks for all that you do everyday of the year!