Ernesto!

Well after our day of swimming, we managed haircuts for our entire clan and with the bribe of a baby bottle pop (basically crack for children) Samuel managed a very uneventful cut with NO tears!

We started our day Wednesday with dentist appointments for the girls and then on to the theme park which turned out to be a really good decision because crowds were down so lines were short!

Sam rode the Avalanche with me and Hannah and Emma rode for the first time too! This is a major milestone, because their momma is a thrill-seeker and is grooming the young-uns to follow in her footsteps. We have a long way to go, but when I let Samuel know he actually had my permission to scream like a wild indian then the whole *scary ride* concept wasn't so bad!

We stayed until the early afternoon and then drove Emma to gymnastics. As I sat there watching my daughter swing from the uneven bars and spring across the mat I struggled to keep my eyeballs pried open. How do they do it? I was completely spent and she was a bundle of energy :)

Yesterday we had Open House for both girls (Emma-elementary) (Hannah-middle). It went well but I'll save that sappy post for later. We left and headed to an indoor playground for little tikes that just recently opened an area of big huge blow-up thingies for older kids. It's one of those places that you go to and say, "hey, I had this idea once" but somebody else beat you to the punch.

The kids and I had some shopping to do afterwards so we braved the beginnings of the Ernesto rain and forged ahead to Target (isn't that always a must?- frames are on sale like CRAZY), Old Navy (love those new doggie toys), Kohls, ya know-the regulars. Well, walking into Kohls my Emma says, "Momma, your purse is leaking" and at first I am thinking the rain must make it look like my purse is leaking, BUT NO! My purse is actually leaking! An entire bottle of Diet Coke (Kelly, I am also a struggling addict) has spilled into my (warning-name dropping ahead) VERA BRADLEY purse! Now if you know me, you know this: I don't spend much on much and I struggle terribly when I do. I love this purse and it was a birthday gift and at that moment the contents of my beloved purse were swimming in brown carbonation. We walked into the atrium of Kohl's, dumped the purse, held the tongue, took a deep breath and looked desperately for the teachable moment. Come on, Kim! The kids are watching! Another deep breath, mopping up with paper towels (thanks guy from Kohls) dumping contents into a plastic bag and then I manage to utter, "well, it's no good to get upset, now is it? It won't really change things, now will it?" The kids (who had sort of cowered in the corner awaiting some sort of volcanic eruption) start to ease out and release their deep breath. This event may turn into really good advertisement because I have used the kitchen sprayer on that sucker with no soap and you can't see any evidence a soda spill :)
Things stay exciting when we shop with Samuel because as we made our way into the store and I busy myself gathering a cart, Samuel had made his way up the mannequin stand (he always does this) and while giving them a firm *little man* handshake and a "how do ya do" he nearly knocks that ol' girl off her feet!

We have sort of kept Friday plans up in the air to see what the kids were up to and because of the rain we are limited to staying home but honestly that is what our family does best! We love to stay home and hunker down so thanks Ernesto for our great-big-huge-indoor-Tent Day!

Off I go to build the world's greatest playground of sheets! Blessings :)