Bike Ride to Target

A couple of Sundays ago we decided to visit a little church plant in Midtown.  They meet in a little cafe down there, and they can't get their building until 5pm on Sundays.  I needed to go to Target that morning for a few little necessities, so we up and decided to ride our bikes!  All 3 kids can now ride their bikes without training wheels and have been wanting to go on a bike ride, so we took off.  Most of the ride was on a nice bike trail, but there was one busy road we had to cross and then ride down to get there.  We had the kids walk their bikes during that short stretch.  Before we left Jason gathered up the kiddos and gave them the rules.

 The baby rode in the buggy behind Jason's bike.  He had a blast in there and that also gave us some space to put our Target stuff.  We got a little ways into our ride before I realized Austin had this really awesome belt on with his outfit.  That kid has some style let me tell you.

 When we got to Target this cutie fell asleep and we were able to just lay him out right in the buggy.  But it didn't take long before he woke up and then he pulled himself right up!  This is one of the first times he'd ever pulled up all by himself.  (He doesn't do many things ALL by himself due to his three older siblings that try to do everything for him). :)

 During our adventurous bike ride we decided that we needed to purchase some helmets for the kids.  They probably should have always had them, but since they are now riding without training wheels, and taking such grown-up bike rides, they REALLY needed them. (Side note: Daniel has been riding without training wheels since last year, but he didn't get to ride near as much last summer and well, I guess we just forgot about the whole helmet thing then).

 It took us a little longer than we initially planned to get to Target, and then we ended up spending awhile in Target, so since it was lunch time we decided we better fuel up before we headed back home.  So we rode across the street to Wendy's for lunch and frosty's!

We got back around 3-ish and showered up and then went to church!  It was a WONDERFUL day.  We figured up that it was a 4.5 mile bike ride to go there and back.  FOUR AND A HALF MILES!!  And I'm telling you...those kids did GREAT!  It was a nice leisurely bike ride for Jason and I, but their little feet were pedaling the ENTIRE time and they never complained!  We did stop some for them to rest, but not near like you'd think.  And Peyton didn't cry once.  I mean, who would if they were getting carted around behind a bike with a cool breeze?!  It was so much fun.  We so could have driven to Target to get toothpaste and razors and body wash.  But instead...we turned a boring ole trip to Target into an adventure....thanks to my awesome hubby who thought of the idea!  I hope we do it again soon!

Eating...kid-style!

One night last week-ish, I decided to let the kids make dinner.  Yup...you read that right....the kids made their own dinner.  Years ago in college we went on a retreat where we made these foil dinners over the fire.  So I decided to re-create that with the kids one night for something different.  I made the ground beef into balls; cut up some onions, carrots and potatoes; and set out all different kinds of seasonings.  I gave each kid a piece of foil and let them put all their stuff on their foil and then season it!  I kinda forgot to get some pictures of them actually making their dinner...I guess the combination of a 7, 5, and 4 year old with raw ground beef made me a little cautious.  But here's a few right after...

 They said it was the best dinner they've ever eaten....they're kinda conceited if you ask me ;). The ground meat was actually deer meat and on top of that it cooked too long so it was actually not even close to the best meal we've ever made.  It's amazing what having kids help does to their overall dining experience.

I also thought I'd randomly share our breakfast experience the other day.  We dropped Jason off at work one morning and ran some errands after that.  We didn't have much at home to eat for breakfast, and I had to run by Kroger anyway, so we decided to grab some breakfast in there...

 The minute we started to step out from under the awning it started pouring rain.  I mean pouring.  I can handle some rain, but I in no way, was about to attempt to get 4 kids in the car in that.  So we plopped ourselves down right in front of Kroger and enjoyed our breakfast while waiting for the rain to let up.  Perfection. :)

 (side note: no, I did not feed my 8 month old baby a hard, crunchy cereal bar). :)

The kids enjoyed it and it saved us from the rain!  So there we go!  Who says you can't have fun running errands and making dinner with 4 kids? :)

Sick

Last Monday night, just over a week ago, Lily woke up with the stomach virus.  It carried over into Tuesday around lunch.  Ever since, our house has been in a constant state of sick.  It took Lily all day Wednesday and Thursday to recover from the stomach bug.  Friday morning we were ready to send her to school and she woke up with a rash all over her body (which has never happened to any of our kids before).  Friday after lunch, Austin began throwing up.  Poor Austin continued this ALL NIGHT LONG.  He really had a bad case of the virus.  Also on Friday night, Peyton began to run a fever of 101.  We watched him through the night, but by Saturday morning it was up to 102.6.  So off to the doctor we went and he was sent for an RSV test, a flu test, and a chest x-ray.  The RSV and flu were negative, and the radiologist didn't see anything on the x-ray.  My doctor was a little concerned about one spot in his lungs, but we decided to watch him overnight and see if his fever went down on its own.  Well, then his fever got up to 103.  So she decided to call us in some antibiotics and treat him for pneumonia.  Sunday, Daniel began to complain of his stomach hurting and showed other signs of the stomach virus...if you know what I mean..(I won't go into grave detail).  So yesterday, everyone stayed home from school.  Obviously we have been doing a whole lot of laying around and TV watching around here.  Since they were on the mend (so I thought), they wanted to paint yesterday, and I let them...

 They decided to write love notes to everyone in our family.  Note to family members...they weren't done yet, so if you don't see your name....never fear...I'm pretty sure they ended up covering EVERYONE! :)  As you can see, Daniel's were very efficient.....just like a man.  Same color, same saying...just a different name on each one.

 Lily on the other hand, took her time.  And changed colors with each line (so she put it).  And as you can also see, when she runs out of room...it's no problem.  She just puts it anywhere else it'll fit.  As long as all the letters make it on the page that's all that matters.  She actually has gotten much better with this when she writes, but I guess when you paint there are different rules....I mean it is harder after all. :)

 And I think Austin just put every color on his page and never dipped his brush in the water in between.  And he just did one and then was done.  I'm not sure who this masterpiece is supposed to go to...he named many different names while he was painting it.  I guess we can cut it into multiple pieces and send it to each person? :)

 And I just had to include this one.  My Papaw passed away a year and a half ago.  So Lily said she would take this one to heaven with her so she could give it to him.  So sweet.

I was thinking we were on the mend yesterday...until Jason woke up this morning feeling sick, and Daniel threw up.  Who knows why it seems that the virus has to wait 3 full days before it can implant into the next person in our family?  I sure don't.  But hopefully we can be in the clear soon!  Hope you all have a wonderful, germ-free day! :)

Tennessee Christmas

Christmas in February?  I think so.  So for Christmas this year we took a trek down to Tennessee.  We left early Christmas morning and headed to Dayton to see Jason's family (minus Molly and Mike...we missed you guys!).  Jason's brother and his family were in from Georgia (close to Savannah), so we got to visit with them as well!  We hadn't seen them in just over a year, so it was long overdue and we had such a good time!!  Here's a few pics of everyone opening presents...

 For the first time in our 8 years of marriage, we are at least an hour from a Sonic.  We may have never lived close to a Chick-fil-A, but we have ALWAYS had a Sonic within a few minutes.  So each time we go to Tennessee, Sonic (along with Chick-fil-A of course) is a must!  Peyton is trying his very best to get his first introduction to Sonic...

 So we stayed in Dayton from Christmas evening (Tuesday) until Friday morning.  And on Friday morning, we headed to Memphis to see my family.  My one sister and her family live in Memphis, and my other sister was able to come in from Charleston, SC.  It was so much fun visiting with everyone there too!  And of course we had more presents to open...

We stayed in Memphis from Friday evening until Monday morning.  Then Monday morning we headed back to Dayton, spent Monday night there, and headed back to Maryland on Tuesday.  I think in the span of that week (Tuesday to Tuesday) we drove over 2,000 miles.  It was a long trip, and we only got a couple of days with each family, but it was so worth it.  Our kids had an absolute blast with all their cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles; and Jason and I had a blast with everyone as well.  And Peyton...wow...for a 4 month old baby to travel 2,000 miles in a week, he sure didn't cry very much at all!  Of course at each destination, he had PLENTY of people who wanted to hold him, so he rarely was put down.  Each time I think about that trip it just brings warm feelings to my heart.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful families that we love spending time with!!  I can't wait til next time we are all together again!!

Merry Christmas!

Yes...Christmas.  We'll skip the whole routine where I say I'll keep up with the blog one of these days; and I'll just get right to the point.  We had a very Merry Christmas!  We decided randomly on the Sunday evening before Christmas that we'd just go ahead and open all our presents from each other on Christmas Eve morning.  That way we could get an earlier start to Tennessee on Christmas morning.  It also gave the kids a whole day to enjoy their toys they got here before we left.  It was lots of fun!

 

I think they all approved of what they got!  Especially Peyton...he looks pretty stoked about his presents!  The big present was an Xbox 360 Kinnect for all of them.  They each got their own game to go with it.  That was fun and we spent the majority of the day playing that (and of course getting ready for a lot of car-riding).  So...that was our Christmas (Eve) morning! :)  I sure hope you enjoyed yours as well!

A Trip to the Studio...

A couple of weeks ago, we took a trip to Sears to get the kids' pictures made.  I haven't had them made in a very long time.  And I needed a 3 month picture of Peyton to match the other kids' adorable 3 month pics hanging over my fireplace.  So we took off.  As expected, it was quite an ordeal trying to get 4 kids to all smile....I take that back...JUST LOOK at the camera at the same time!  I wasn't super happy with how they turned out overall, but we definitely got a few really good ones out of the whole experience.  Here's a peek...

 

 As you can see, these...

 And these...

...are the ones I am not exactly fond of.  We could not seem to get a decent one of the 4 kids or the family....which was not too fun.  I think after the whole entire experience, we have decided to start taking our pictures at home from now on...but I am glad I got some cute ones of the baby and of each of the kids individually.  So that's that!  AND...only 3 more days 'til Christmas!!  We're getting pretty excited around here!!