Bowling

Robin, Grandma, and I took our kids bowling yesterday. My sister, Nicole, told us about a website where you can get coupons to bowl for free. Check it out here!
Charlotte didn't care so much, she just liked picking up the balls.

Charlotte's hair cut

Charlotte got her first haircut the other day. She doesn't really have that much hair to begin with but there were a few straggly pieces so we decided to even it out a bit. I don't know if it's going to be curly like Brooke's or not. Brooke was about Charlotte's age when she started to get curly hair.

We had a great weekend. It started on Saturday with a trip to the Louisville Temple. Nathan's sister Rachel watched Brooke and Charlotte. I was kind of nervous because unfortunately the girls don't know Rachel very well. But I thought it would be good for them to all bond. They ended up doing great and had a wonderful time! She took them to house where they played barbies, watched movies, and played with the dogs. Sadly, George Straight (the dog) isn't doing so well. He's been around longer than I have, about 10 years. First he was Nathan's brother David's dog, and then he's been passed on to Rebecca, Jennifer, and Rachel. I think they all kind of share him. Anyway, looks like he's getting old and having seizures a couple times a week. I know I'll miss him and so will the girls. But anyway they went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and then they went swimming at a public pool that had slides and a jungle gym and all kinds of fun things for the kids. I wish I would've been there, it sounds like fun!!

We got to go to a Sealing for someone in our ward while we were at the Temple. I love going to sealings!! Then we got to finally eat at Red Robin which is where everyone has been telling us to eat at in Louisville. We will probably go again, there's so much more to choose from on their menu!

Sunday we went to church and Nathan and I left after Sacrament meeting to go to Big Rapids Michigan. He was having orientation at Ferris State University on Monday morning. It just so happened that Sunday, the 22nd of June, was also our 8 year anniversary. So we left the kids with the grandparents and Lauren and had ourselves a nice little getaway. Big Rapids Michigan is about 6 hours north of Indy. We actually drove to Grand Rapids with is 50 miles south of Big Rapids on Sunday night. Thanks to Nathan's grandma we can stay at any Marriott for about $40. We take advantage of that as often as we can. Don't know what we do when she no longer works there.

Monday was Orientation day. Lots of talk about the college, activities, financial aid, registering for classes, etc. We felt a little out of place with all the incoming freshman and their parents. But we weren't the oldest. There were a few others. We also found out we can move into our family student housing after August 15. And the kindergarten is only offered full day. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I know Brooke is ready for kindergarten, but I don't know if she's ready to be gone all day. I guess I'll get some quality time with Charlotte.

Summer plans

We've been doing lots of fun things so far this summer, or trying to anyway. I saw an ad in the kmart paper the other day for this really fun baby pool that had a slide going in and a slide going out. I decided to buy it the other day and invited some friends over to play in it. It was a big hit. I didn't take any pictures though. Nobody wanted to play in the slip and slide.

We have also been doing the summer reading program at the library. I did it as a child so I love passing on the tradition to my kids. You get points for reading to your children and your children get points for listening. Brooke loves redeeming her points for prizes. Some of the prizes are lame toys you'll just end up stepping on or throwing away but they also have books and free passes to museums, an Indians game, the fair, Indy Island, and more. I highly recommend it if you live here and haven't signed up yet. We go to the library at least once a week, sometimes twice. Don't go on Tuesdays though!! That's movie day at the library and boy is it packed!! We learned that the hard way.

We also went to the park today. It was supposed to be playgroup with some girls at church but I was the only one from my ward to show up. Thankfully Robin was coming to so the kids had someone to play with. We had a nice time and it wasn't too hot. They came back here and played some more and then we ate lunch.

Brooke started gymnastics through Indy Parks last Thursday. She has another class tonight. She really likes it. I like it because it's just for fun and not competitive at all. I think it is just for 8 weeks. And then swimming lessons start.

This weekend will be busy. We may be going to the temple. A couple in our ward is getting sealed. Then we found out it may be our Stake's turn to help the flood victims but we haven't heard anything yet. We've been waiting to make our plans until we found out about that. Sunday we're leaving for Michigan because orientation is on Monday. It's also our 8 year anniversary on Sunday. I can't believe it's been 8 years.

I will post more after our trip to Michigan. Still haven't sold our house though!! Please pray for us!

Fun in the Sun

Charlotte trying out the slip and slide

We had a fun day today. We bought a new slip and slide and decided to try it out. The girls (especially Charlotte) are a little young, but they had a great time. I think it was the best money I ever spent. My sister and her three boys came over in the afternoon and they had a great time too. I'm still thinking about buying a little kiddie pool. I saw an ad somewhere for one that has a slide. I was a bad mom though and didn't put sunscreen on the girls and Brooke got burnt on her shoulders. She didn't complain about it before bed though. Hopefully it's not as bad as I think.

In other news, Nathan is working like crazy this week. Monday he worked until 8 P.M. and yesterday he didn't get home until 12:15 a.m.!! And he went in at 7 a.m. He called me around 8:30 to say they were going to install a heat pump in someone's house. I thought he must be crazy!! Who wants someone working in their house until midnight!! I sure don't. I found out later though that the house is vacant but the owner was there for a little while. Tonight his boss made sure he was home by a more decent hour: 6 P.M. He got to play in the slip and slide with the girls. I think they all had fun.

Indiana Storms

This Indiana weather is crazy!! If you haven't heard on the national news by now, much of Indiana is under a state of emergency because of all the rain and tornadoes that we have had. Thankfully we have not had any major damage. We woke up this morning to no power which stayed that way for 3 hours. Dad, Nathan, and the neighbor Pat were working furiously to get the generator working so the basement wouldn't flood. Our backyard is pretty much a lake. Nathan and I tried to go to several different places today, but kept having to turn around because of high water. We finally just decided to go home. I've lived here all my life and have never seen anything like this! Click here to read about the storm and see some crazy pictures.

ATrip to the E.R.

As you can probably guess from the title of this post, we had a pretty exciting day. It all started when we went to the park with some friends at church. Brooke was playing with some girls and they found some rocks and were pretending they were earrings. For some reason she wanted to bring the "earrings" home. Ok fine. I gave her a baggy when we got home to put the rocks in. After lunch I decided to take a shower. Lauren was home and halfway through washing my hair I hear someone crying. Lauren is yelling through the door that Brooke put a rock in her ear. I quickly rinse my hair and get dressed and run to Brooke to look in her ear. I have Lauren call the pediatrician and they are at lunch. This was approximately 12:50. I decide to go on over there and see if they are there by the time I get there. I dialed their number again and find out they aren't back from lunch until 1:30. So I decide to go to prompt care. We get there and she tells me if they can get the rock out it will cost $265. Well we can't leave it there so let's try it. Fortunately we didn't have to wait too long, less than 5 minutes. The doctor tried a couple times to get it out with this long skinny tool that they use at the pediatrician to get ear wax. But she couldn't get it and she didn't want to bust her ear drum. She tells me to go on the E.R. No bill? I say. She acted like she would try to waive my fee, we'll see about that. We arrive at the E.R. at about 1:45. They take Brooke's vitals and then she starts crying. I didn't know if she was in pain or scared. She was in pain but now she was scared. We met a nice nurse though that hooked her up with a ton of stickers, a sucker, and some bubbles. She also found a friend to play with that made the 2 hour wait in the waiting room go a little easier. By 4:00 we finally got a room. A physician's assistant came in and took a look in her ear, tried getting it out with one of those long skinny tools again with no luck. She came back with the doctor who decided we needed to numb it with lidocane (sp?). She had to have that in her ear for twenty minutes before they would come back. A little after 5:00 they came back in with a tech as well and used the tool again and we all held Brooke down. Finally it came out. All during this time Brooke had been crying off and on because mostly she was scared, she wanted to go home, etc. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my afternoon. Brooke is fine now but she does have a little bit of blood in her ear. Hopefully she had learned her lesson and won't put anything in her ear again.


The rock: The arm bracelet (Charlotte is wearing it)
All of her goodies
Brooke being silly after we got home