Week Two

Another week bites the dust! Addison started art camp and absolutely loves it. The teacher has nothing but great things to say about her. I think it helps that Addison loves all things art and can focus on a drawing for an hour if she has to!
Here was our schedule for the week:

Speaking of being occupied for hours, make a big blob of homemade playdough and Brianna will be happy all afternoon! Add some spaghetti, cheerios, and cut up straws and she is in heaven...

Baby Claire woke up while we were playing with play dough. If I could just figure out how to get her to play with it instead of eating it, we would have two occupied babies!!

Tuesday we headed to the library with a few books in mind to look for. I realized I have no clue how to use a library and with a cranky preschooler and tired infant, Tuesday wasn't the day to learn. We headed into storytime and a selected book was Mouse Paint, one of the books I wanted for Brianna! All was not lost!

Wednesday turned out to be the perfect day for lunch with Nana... long drive but we had a great time! 

All tuckered out from the drive

And last but not least, we did some watercolor for Father's Day and I finished up a Get Well pack for Pa. It's possible the recipients haven't gotten their presents yet so don't peek if you haven't gotten a package from us!

I cut out letters on clear contact paper and they colored around the letters. Addison thought it was great but....

Brianna didn't quite get it! She had fun painting though!

My attempt at a Clemson colored rice hot pack and a flax seed cold pack for Pa. It might be a little too girlie but if it works, I don't think he will mind.

We never got to do the Pepperoni Rolls and still haven't made it too far with the alphabet exercise flash cards but hey, we have a few more months, right?

And the week continued

I finished the bibs! Very cute! and Claire is enjoying one right now as she gums some fruit.

Our next big project was Pretzel Butterfly snacks. I melted some chocolate in pastry bags, gathered up all our sprinkles, covered the kitchen table and let the girls go at it! The butterflies didn't look anything like they were 'supposed' to look BUT they tasted good and we had a blast so that's all that matters.

Thursday was our day to 'be thoughtful'. We had planned on making Get Well cards for Amy's Dad but we found out that day he would be having surgery the following morning to remove a large malignant brain tumor. He is doing good and was just taken out of ICU yesterday. SO, this week we will be finishing our 'Get Well Pack for Pa'. 

Unfortunately we didn't go have lunch with Nana either. Mother Nature is making up for months of drought conditions and dumping it all on us over the course of a week. Instead, we went to Bounce U to get our sillies out!

Brianna LOVED this thing! 

The BIG girls on the BIG slide!

Hurricane Simulator... it wasn't on!

And through all of it, Poor little Claire had Roseola. So, I don't have any pictures of her. She was either sleeping, crying, or covered in a rash and at given point this past week and weekend. She's all better now and I promise to make up for the lack of her cute little face!!

School's out for summer!

Like most moms, I was excited that it was summertime but completely overwhelmed thinking, "what in the world am I going to do all day long every day for three months with three kids?!" Of course, I turned to the internet for help. I stumbled upon a blog with an idea I thought was FANTASTIC! A weekly schedule! It's laminated so we erase each week and start over. It is only Week One but it's going great. Haylee is staying with us this week too so we had to have some exciting things going on at Camp Kara. Addison checks out the schedule every morning and reminds me so I don't forget what to do. Here is this week's...

Monday - Make Something

Tuesday - Time to Read

Wednesday - What's Cookin'

Thursday - Be Thoughtful

Friday - Somewhere Fun

For Monday, I scratched the Baby Toy idea (so much for sticking to a schedule!) because I realized Claire was probably too old to play with a tag toy. Since I needed some more bibs for her, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to get something done AND entertain the kids! We got some fabric markers and each girl drew a picture on the plain white fabric that will be used for the front of the bib. I have yet to construct these bibs but I have big plans to get started on it tonight. Here is Addison making her first marks. I'll update with the finished products... when they exist. :) Hmmm, this one might have been a lot more work for me!

Tuesday we went to the library. The girls were so excited to go. Addison and Haylee understand the whole 'checking out' a book concept but I'm worried that Brianna won't understand why she has to give her Dora book back! We also went to a story time geared for 3-5 year olds and Brianna loved every minute of that. Haylee and Addison were a little too cool to do some of the dances but I still think they had a good time. We got a library card and each girl checked out a book. There is a playground right next door so we did a little playin' and a little squirrel huntin' too!! Tuesday was a busy day!

Haylee had her eye on a squirrel that she wanted to chase!

Brianna MIGHT have been more interested in blocks than books!

Somewhere along the way, we had some downtime and had our first Mani Pedi's of the summer.

So much more to come but the dishes and laundry (and bibs) are calling so we will post those pictures another day! Oh, and here is your daily dose of baby Claire - can't believe I almost forgot!

Quick Trip to the Zoo

We took a quick trip to the zoo today in the heat of the day to burn off some of the kid 'crazies' that had been accumulating. Mommy and Daddy don't really want to go outside much now that it's 90+ degrees!
We were greeted by some skink of some sort when we walking in and both girls were ready to pet it...

We spent a couple minutes checking out a few of the animals, who were panting, napping, and hiding out in the shade. Then we headed over to the real reason we were there... the Splash Pad.

Relaxin' after playing... just what we needed. EVERYONE was asleep when we got home!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Brianna!

One bit of advice you get from 'seasoned' mothers is "don't blink, time flies by".  Addison has one more month left of kindergarten, Claire is NINE months old (time to plan her 1st birthday!), and Brianna just turned 3. When did that happen? 

Some how I managed to turn into one of those Extreme Party Planning mom's and went all out for Brianna's Strawberry Shortcake Party. I blame Pinterest. I'm still recovering from all the paper crafting and sweet treat making!!

This is the dress I made Claire. I know, out of control.

Not to toot my own horn but these were good. I even bought a pastry bag and tip and piped my own homemade frosting.

Ahhhh, it's worth it to see my baby happy!

Gotta have a sign to know where you are, right?

And a pennant banner just in case you missed the sign

Even juice boxes and water bottles need to feel cute sometimes...

and so do the forks and knives.

The dessert table, yummy!!

I was just looking for things to melt chocolate on. Rice Krispie Treats...

and pretzels. This chocolate was molded into flowers, naturally.

I oozed my craziness onto my mom and she painted the Kiddie Corn Hole game for me.

But look at the smiles....

It was worth every second.

I know I have lots left learn about being a mommy but I now feel 'seasoned' enough to say to new mommy's "don't blink, time flies by".

We're Alive!

So, all those people who told me you don't skip a beat when you add in a third kid are CRAZY. It was best described to me from a fellow parent of three, who was obviously a daddy, that said "having three kids is a complete game changer... you have to go from man to man defense to zone defense." We are busy, busy from sun up to sun down and I seem to spend most my time in the 'swagger wagon' driving here, there, and everywhere. What scares me the most is that I know it's only going to get busier as the little ones get older! Addison is doing great in Kindergarten. She has been 'Star Student' TWICE this year and learns her sight words before I have a chance to make her flash cards. What's most amazing is that she is reading. It is so awesome to watch her read books that just last year I read to her. And it's adorable to watch her read those books to Brianna. Speaking of, Brianna is doing great as well. She loves school now and has two little friends that she runs around with. Those three girls are always hugging and holding hands. Brianna is also going to be our little swimmer. She jumps in and swims underwater just like a little fish! Baby Claire is doing fabulous. She had her 9 month appt today. There is lots to love of Claire... she is 22 lbs 1 oz (90-95th percentile) and 27 1/2 inches (50th percentile). She mumbles lots of momma's & dadda's and loves to wave to everyone... usually at inappropriate times but hey, she's learning! She has turned into a great sleeper and just has the best personality. She is such a happy baby, always smiling. She is a little slow in her motor skills but she's got a lot more to move around than most! Here are some pictures of us in the pool:

Fall is in the Air

It's finally cooling down and we were able to enjoy a family trip to the Pumpkin Patch! Last year was sweltering so it was a welcome change. Claire slept the whole time but Addison and Brianna had no problem picking out her pumpkin!

I found my pumpkin!

Me too!

The Irish Pumpkin Family

Lights out

World's Worst Mom

They say you have tons of pictures of your first born and then not so many of the second little one. No one warned me how much smaller the number of pictures would be for the third baby! I just turned on my camera and I don't have ANY pictures on the memory card right now. You will just have to take my word for it when I say she is just as adorable as the other little princesses. She has started smiling and cooing although I think the hours logged crying still outweigh the smiles! She is sleeping from about 9-10 until about 4-5 pretty much every night. Mommy can't complain about that too much. Addie and Brianna are doing great in school. Addison is very eager to go over sight words and work on math worksheets. It's so fun to watch start to learn to read. Brianna loves to paint. As long as painting is on the agenda in preschool, the teacher is able to keep her happy. Thankfully, the paint is washable. I'm not sure much ends up on the paper!! We have also started potty training. This house stays pretty busy!!

Here are a few shots from our newborn photo shoot with Andrea Keller Photography. She did a fabulous job AGAIN and made an adorable birth announcement that I can't wait to get out in the mail! Enjoy!