Pea up the nose!

Last night I had a fun night out with the gals. Great girl talk, great food and lots of laughs! Before I left last night I cooked dinner for Nate and the kids. Tonight during dinner we were eating up the left over peas (we had other great food as well, no worries) and the following happened:

Con- "Hey dad, put the pea up your nose like a booger again, k dad?!"
Nate- "Con (it's supposed to be a secret tone), what are you talking about (with weird smile)"
Con- "Dad, do it again and then blow it out like a booger"
Shay- "Booger dada"

Of course I do the slow head turn to look at Nate with eyebrows raised. He of course has a HUGE smile on his face. And then folks, up the nose went a pea and yes, he shot it out like a booger and the kids were DYING laughing. I love the little things he comes up with to entertain them! However, the next time they have peas at daycare, I'm sure I will get a "talking" to regarding a pea up Conley's nose.

I want more sleep...

For MY CHILDREN!!!!! I'm going crazy with bedtime craziness! I love my children, but they are awful at bedtime. I have no idea what to do! I have tried everything:

*We read books
*We have tried routines that they would become familiar with
*When they don't sleep or stay in bed, we spank
*When the above happens we have tried to bribe them (yes, bribe...remember I said I'm going crazy)
*When they don't stay in bed and/or cry for an hour, we ignore until they are sleeping AN HOUR OR MORE LATER!
*We try to calmly go in their room, put them in bed and exit without talking to them (saw it on some show, Super Nanny or something)...we have done this several times in one night and then we give up and spank (remember I'm going crazy)
*We up their bedtime and then we move it back trying to find the right time (there isn't a RIGHT time, I know I'm understanding that now)

We have very little time with them during the week. We leave the house around 7:15 every morning and get home around 5:45-6. The bedtime was always 7:30 ON THE DOT, but that gave me 1.5 hrs with my kids each night and I needed more time with them. So bedtime is 8 for Shay and 8:30 for Conley. They are gated in their rooms and both in full size beds, so they can get in and out of bed at anytime, but are forced to stay in their rooms. They both fight bedtime and Conley has every excuse or request formulated and ready to go each night. I'm exhausted and dread bedtime each night.

I would love any suggestions!!! I don't care if you do not know me personally or not, I NEED HELP!!!!! I want my children well rested to start their day and I want bedtime to not be stressful. I believe my children need more sleep. I don't think they are one of those types of kids who can operate on less. Their day is packed with activities and learning at daycare and they crash for naptime and can be whiny when not enough sleep is had the night before!

Can Man!

It was beautiful outside today!!! We took the kids on a walk down by the res to the playground. It was great and the kids had a blast. Of course on the way back Nate taught our son and daughter an extremely desirable life skill. He explained to Conley that pop cans are worth money (Conley loves putting coins in his piggy bank) and that campers usually throw some into the woods. Conley and Nate scoured the woods for any can they could find. $.25 later we were on our way home. Conley LOVED it! He proudly threw each can into the stroller and even shared one with
his sister! Tried a new format...I don't like it, but I'm too lazy to figure out how to change it. Next time I'll do better!!!!









Running to me with a newly discovered can! He was so excited!









Running back to dad to continue the hunt!









Shay was mad that she had to take a nap today, so she fell asleep crying on the floor of her room. She did sleep almost 2 hrs so it wasn't a total loss. She can be such drama and definitely doesn't want to miss out on ANYTHING!
We watched a friend's little girl today and the kids had a BLAST! Conley had a great time playing with someone his own age. We played hiho cheerios, watched a short movie, played kitchen, dress up, babies, trains, and a few other things in 2.5 hrs. I was exhausted and so was Conley. We ran an errand after she left and Conley was snoring by the time we were out of the driveway. It wasn't too bad having 3...but Nate says he is not interested. We will have to work on him a little bit more :)

It was so nice out the other day, my dad came over and we took the kids to a playground by the water. Conley rode his bike and dad pushed Shay in the stroller. It was so nice to get outside. We definitely got a little muddy, but still had a blast!!!

Conley on top of a play structure. My dad was awesome and would climb up and follow Conley's directions.

My dad going down the slide...per Conley's instructions!

Conley protesting his picture being taken.

Shay on top of the play structure. She loved climbing on everything.

I have a ton more pics of Florida, but thought I would give you all a break with some current photos.

More vacation pics

The kids were discussing major subjects...coloring, books, boogers and dirty diapers :)

I dropped the boys off this day to kayak/fish for a couple of hours.

When I went to pick the guys up I brought the kids and they got to go for a little ride. Conley had a blast and actually went out into the water far from the shore.

Shay was not liking sitting in the kayak with Nate. It probably didn't help that this fish was in there with him...so of course he decided to torment her with it, hilarious!

A sunny day for a walk and bike ride. Lovin' the shades!!!

Conley was loving his bike. He wanted to go out every second of everyday. He cried when it rained and he couldn't go for a bike ride.

Here are the kayaks loaded up for an adventure! Nate loves fishing and Tom loves to kayak, so they took several trips out onto the water while we were there.

Here is a shot at the front of their house from across the street. They only have 1 neighbor to the left. To the right is an empty lot and across the street there are no houses either. We were fortunate to be able to borrow the navy suburban from Tom & Mary's friends. This was helpful when the girls wanted to go shopping or to the beach and the boys went kayaking.

Loved vacation!

This play kitchen was at the recycle center in the plastic bin. Mary and Pat asked the guy why it was in there, and he said someone didn't want it and of course it is plastic. So they scored this free from the guy and the kids loved it!!!! Grammie was getting served coffee from the kids while reading this day.

Shay entertained herself for almost an hour one afternoon. And yes, she dressed herself in jeans and then pjs on top! She is quite the fashionista!

The only time Shay got in the water. She agreed to get in the hot tub (don't worry it wasn't that hot) with Nate and Conley for about 10 minutes.

Tom trying to convince Shay to get in the hot tub. Conley loved getting in both the pool and the hot tub. He couldn't get enough. Unfortunately it wasn't too warm, so we had to heat the hot tub for him to be able to get in. The pool wasn't too warm, but on a couple sunny days Conley braved the cool pool waters.

Shay was not a threat to drowning at all. She usually stayed inside far from the water.

This shows how the back of the house opens up to the pool. The pool area is completely screened in, so no worries of bugs getting inside the house or in the pool area.

This is the best swim device EVER!!!! My sister told me of this product last summer and I could only find it in catalogs. Mary found this recently at Target. Conley could stay afloat without tipping and I was never concerned with him being in the water by himself when he had this on. He also loved it, which made putting it on him a piece of cake. I would highly recommend this to anyone with young kids near water. It is awesome!!! It is called "puddle jumper", or that was the marking on the back.

If you enlarge this picture you can see he is wearing his turtle "watch". It is not a watch, but that is what we called it and told the kids. They wore this when we were in the house or out front and not swimming. If the turtle gets wet an alarm sounds inside the house (extremely loud and could easily be heard if we were out front). Basically meaning if they fall or get into the pool without us being there we will know instantly. This made me feel very secure with two young kids and a pool so close. I see us using this at Mary and Tom's in Iowa in the summer as well. Thankfully the alarm never had to sound while we were there. Tom also installed alarms on all doors leading to the pool area. We turned them on at night so that if the kids woke up while we were all sleeping and tried to go out to the pool an alarm would sound. I am so thankful he took the time to think all this through and make the house safe for our kids.