I am no longer using this blog site.

The picture of the Boys with their Bikes tied together, did not last long. I just thought it was so funny when they did it, because it's something my brother and I have tried when we were younger! lol. Olivia had her first day of Second Grade and Channing had his first day of Kindergarten today! It didn't start out so well for Channing. He was very sad and clingy to me. Nervous. He didn't want to let go of my hand and if you know Channing, well, he never likes to hold hands. He's very independent. I was so glad I could be there with him on his first day. While playing on the playground, he fell and hit his head on the monkey bars. I had to take him to the nurse to get an Ice pack. Olivia blended right in well with her friends. She didn't have any problems whatsoever and LOVES her teacher! This year, her teacher seems very calm, nurturing and full of positive reinforcement. Last year's teacher never provided that kind of atmosphere. I left the school around 11 and prayed that the kids would have a great day! They did!!!
Luckily for Gavin, I am watching a 3 year old boy during the day so it gives him a playmate while his siblngs are away. Had it not been for the kids I watch, Gavin would be sad and longing for Channing and Olivia. He did ask me about 3 seperate times when they would be home. I love how close they are to each other.
I started watching kids yesterday. It went better than I thought it would!! It's so nice having some extra income come in and to top it off, these kids are awesome! Maggie, is the youngest. She is 15 months old and is soo teenytiny. She is still wearing size 6-9 month clothes. She is the sweetest little thing. The picture of Gavin holding hands with his new buddy Will! They get along so well!

Gavin's teachers stopped by for a home visit! Gavin will be in the PM Preschool class! He is so excited. He will be in preschool for 2 years. Olivia and channing's teachers are still on strke, so until futher notice, they will be out of school. Olivia will be in Second Grade and Channing will be in Kindergarten! They are excited to start.

The kids and I had a wonderful visit in Ohio! It was so great spending time with Julie and her kids. We miss them so much. On our last full day, Mike's dad and family met us at the Columbus Zoo. They could only stay for a few hours and then had to head back. The kids and I left on Tues to be back in time for school. Unfortunatel, our Teachers are on a Strike, therefore, the kids are unable to attend until further notice. :(

Olivia told me that she wanted bangs, so bangs is what she got! ;) We are ready for back-to-school! Their school supplies are sorted and ready for when we get back from Ohio. We leave tomorrow! Sooo excited! :) :) :)

Mommy/daughter time

The boys stayed the night at my best friend, Ashlee's house, while Olivia and I had a Mother/daughter night! We went to Kartville and had a blast! Olivia absolutely loved it! I had not been there since I was a kid. Funny, how it looked exactly as I remembered it! They have Dune buggies, go Karts, bumper boats and mini golf. We didn't make it to mini golf, but Olivia had a blast driving the karts around! When we returned home, we set up camp on the livingroom floor and watched, Soul Surfer! Great night!

The kids and I are counting down the last few weeks of Summer Break. Sad... :( We are Extremely excited for our upcoming annual Ohio trip to stay with The Gunnarson family! It has been a tradition that we all look forward to. Julie's husband goes on his annual fishing trip for a week, and during that time, the kids and I go and keep Julie company and re-visit all of our favorite hot spots!
When we return home, the kids will be starting school the very next day. Half day. It's crazy to think how fast the Summer really did go by this year. The kids are really excited to start school! I'm glad to see them excited and I try to keep them as excited as possible!
This past weekend, we took the kids along with Channing's buddy, Austen, to see the Smurf movie. It was really cute! Austen stayed the night and the boys had a blast playing together. The next day following, my good friend Cyndi, who is Oivia's best friend Emily's, mom, Took all 3 of my kids overnight so that I could have some time to myself to get housework caught up. It was extremely nice of her and MUCH appreciated!!! I was able to get everything accomplished that I had on my list! Mike has been working crazy long hours and I have been with the kids 24/7. Friday night, my good friend Ashlee is taking the boys overnight for me to spend time with them and I think I'm going to use that time to take Olivia to see a movie, just me and her time. :) Life is precious and it goes by too fast.

The kids are finished with Swimming lessons! Yay! They have all advanced onto the next level, except for Gavin,who advanced 2 levels up! :) More pics to come soon on Snapfish.

All of the kids are on their last day of Swimming lessons! It has been a great experience and they are all 3 jumping into the water with no fear. Channing and Olivia can both jump off the board without a jacket and swim without help to the side of the pool. Gavin is also jumping into the pool. Today in Lessons, he learned to jump off the side and then his Instructor let him go and he swam back to the side! Later, she told me that next year when Gavin takes lessons, he is going to skip ahead a class since he is already going underwater and jumping off the side without fear! She also informed me that he has helped a few other kids get over their fear of going under in the class. Channing was braving doing a flip off the board today, but chickened out last minute *whew* I was worried there!
Last week, my parents and I took the kids on their first Hike. It was a little stressful on them considering the heat. We are definitely going back when it cools off. The mosquitos were horrible and we forgot repellent. The kids did have a blast catching Butterflies and playing in the Creek!

I'm going to have to take Olivia to the Dr again. She has been notorious for getting boils on her skin. They usually form around her Torso area, legs, buttocks, etc. I'm just praying they stay far from her face. We have been to the Dr about this before in which he said to have her use Hibicleanse twice a week. Apparently, that doesn't seem to help. I hate when she gets them because she's in a lot of pain. :( When they come, we are very lucky it's one at at a time, but I have heard that they can also come in clusters. :(
Please keep her in your prayers that we find a way to keep these away for good!

Olivia finished off her Baseball season with a pool party. She recieved a trophy and was so excited about that! I wasn't able to stay for the entire party, but she was abe to stay and ride home with her BFF, Emily! Those 2 girls are such great friends! It reminds me so much of me and my best friend, Ashlee, when we were younger!
We have been going back to church since I no longer work! It has been so nice to be able to attend again. The kids are finishing up with Tues morning kids! Every tues Morning, they get to sing, make a craft, here a story and play fun games! We have gone to Tues morn kids every summer since living here. The kids love it!

Yesterday, all 3 kids started swimming lessons! Channing and Olivia are now jumping off the diving board without a lifejacket, surfacing and then swimming to the side. Olivia still needs to work on not plugging her nose. She didn't plug her nose last year. lol. Gavin is doing awesome, too! He is now jumping off the side and goes underwater! He's very brave and loves the water. All kids love to swim and I'm glad to have them all taking lessons!

I will be talking with a school counselor tomorrow! I am looking forward to the start of my career path. I'm also waiting to hear back from a potential job offer. It's 20 hrs a week and the hours are perfect!

Friday afternoon Olivia finally lost her top front tooth! She had been working on it all day long. It was so funny, while we were at the pool, she was walking around and the tooth was stickig out, so all you could see was lips and tooth! lol!!!!! It finally came out while she was bathing, she calmly pulled it out and said, "mom, the tooth fairy is coming tonight."

The other pictures are of Olivia with her BFF Emily! These 2 girls are so fun together! Here they are at their end of Baseball season pool party! They had a great season together! Olivia is really hoping for Emily to be in her class when school starts.

Summer is really flying by! I feel like we haven't done as much, but really we have been busy almost every single day of the week! Olivia had her last baseball game last night. My last day of lunch shifts was last week at 309. However, I will still continue to work Brunch shifts when they open that back in the Fall. I'm going to be speaking to a school Counselor and going back to College to become an Ultrasound tech!

The kids and I spent the day at a really fun park today! Afterward, we came back home and decided to fill the kiddie pool and have some fun in the yard. Turned out to be a mess since they were all wore out. Most of the pics, Gavin is throwing a fit!

We had a great 4th of July! On Saturday, the kids and I went to our Neighborhood firework show with some friends! It was a fun time. Gavin was a little scared at first but came around and did fine!
Monday, we went to my parents' house for a cookout and then downtown Peoria for the Fireworks! It was a great display!
Today, Channing had his 5 year check and Gavin had his ears rechecked.. Channing weighs 36 lbs. Gavin is 4 lbs behind Channing. Channing is 42 inches and Gavin is 30 inches tall. Everyone still asks me if they are twins. while we were waiting in the Waiting room, a lady asked me and when I said no, everyone in the room couldn't believe they weren't. Channing had to get 4 shots today and did great! He didn't even cry! He said he has big muscles like Popeye... Popeye is the new favorite movie choice around here.
Channing is a little fishy when it comes to water! He has no fear jumping off the diving board. He doesn't even plug his nose. Olivia has no fear but still insists on plugging her nose! Channing was bummed today because he couldn't go swimming due to ear infections in both ears. He also has allergies. The Dr put him on antibiotics and ear drops.

A normal 3 hour trip to Chicago, took 5! Stuck in accident traffic, the girls and I all had a very memorable trip full of laughs! Hannah, the little girl riding in our car, had to pee really bad and couldn't hold it. Our next exit was in about 2 miles. However, we were not moving in the traffic. We decided that she should just pee in a cup. With the help of her mother, she successfully managed to use the restroom without peeing her pants or messing everywhere! After about an hour, Cyndi, who was sitting in the Passenger seat, looked over with a funny look on her face and I could see the car next to us has a man just staring out the window at us, smiling. It was like something out of a scary movie. We laughed so hard I thought for sure we were all going to have to grab a cup ourselves! lol.
We left for our trip at 5:30 in the morning, we stopped at a mcds for breakfast, our arrival time was supposed to be 8:45, we did not get there until about 11.

The Shedd Aquarium was really nice! The girls had a blast! I definitely look forward to going back with my whole family. I know the boys would really enjoy it, too! As we were leaving, we visited the Gift shop and took a few pictures outside. We could not believe how long the line was to get into the Aquarium. It's definitly a shock when you are in a big city! Sadly, we did not see Vince Vaugn!