whatever

I thought since I still have time to relax that i’d post some more pictures of our time at my mom’s.
She and I took my kids and my older niece to the Natural History Museum at KU. Lauren had been before so she was not happy to be back. the others LOVED it!
there was an exhibit going on called Play with Your Food letting the kids do experiments with food. They got to shoot marshmallows out of a tube/gun thing, make the baking soda volcano thing in a ziploc bag, and see something explode. it was very cute.
WE let them wander the whole place for a few hours. The grossest (is that a word?) thing was the bug part with these enormous grasshoppers in a tank. ugh – it was disgusting! They were alive and crawling around – at least 3 inches long and fat! so sick.
We took them to eat at the cafeteria at the Union. they thought it was the coolest place. We went through it all first showing them all their choices but they all came back to the Pizza Hut kiosk. Sean said halfway through his personal pan cheese pizza “This is way cooler than a regular dinner because we all get our own pizza!!” He had never had his own before. sweet boy.
Then on our way out we let them browse the KU Bookstore. They were all shouting “look! a jayhawk!” every 10 seconds. scott picked a KU basketball with his money.
we had a wonderfully quiet weekend. we hung out here at the house the whole time. it was great. craig said “did you ever know this house could be so quiet?”
ahhhhhh…i hate for it to end. . . about 1 more hour left. boo hoo.
Enjoy your day! I will enjoy my last hour.

i went to visit my parents yesterday with all the kids. we got to see my sister & her kids and my grandma too.
We went swimming at an indoor pool. it was very crowded but just what we needed. they are mostly big enough to be on their own. it made me nervous to let them go out of my reach but they did great!
annie stuck with me or my mom. she went down the baby slide at least a hundred times! each time was as exciting as the first one. too cute.
we got to see my youngest niece almost walking! she is 10 months old. you would just want to kiss her and squeeze her if you were holding her! So BIG already.
the bottom picture was taken by lauren.
The title is “all alone” because i left 3 kids with my parents and 2 kids with Craig’s mother for a weekend alone here at the house! it was a surprise for craig! it’s awesome. . . we are child-less for another 43 hours. thanks moms for watching them for us!

Yesterday it rained all day long.
Not good for spring break.
Talby really wanted to play in the puddles. At first I said no – i was feeling lazy. i didn’t want to dig out the boots or go out in the rain. But I gave in. I am so glad I did.
And i wasn’t going to take any pictures either. But after watching this for 10 minutes I couldn’t stand it any more.
So sweet.
The last picture was taken by Talby.

Our nephew had a birthday today and we forgot to call him.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY you big 14 year old boy!
I remember holding you all the time when you were a baby! You had the cutest little walk. I loved your little grin. Craig would flip you upside down and you would laugh like crazy. You always loved to drink our pop too!
One memory I have of you was when you were 1 or 2 and sitting on the floor with you in Nana’s kitchen in her old house lining up a very long line of Mathcbox cars? or dinosaurs maybe? The line was perfectly straight. We couldn’t move them at all. You’d turn your head and I’d switch one to be backwards or crooked and you’d immediately see it and fix it. I thought then that you were amazingly attentive and smart! and you still are.
I honestly can’t believe you are so grown up. A young man now!
Hope your day was great.
We all love you very much!

What an incredible weekend! I had the best time. All these women were sooo much fun. I haven’t laughed like that for a long time. Thank you girls for laughing with me (and at me).
I finished 18 pages!
It was so great to have no responsibilities and just CREATE all day and into the night! I was the last one to go to bed the second night at 3:18 AM.
We each had our own table but all in one room. It was a riot to see how much stuff we all had!
Notice the wonder woman-ish photo of me and my 7 bags for a 2 day trip. There were 8 of us with that much stuff or close. And see the 3 of us trying to lift my bag into the van. . . ha. It was heavy!
I never did get dressed – jammies only! so awesome.
I miscounted before – we left 26 kids behind with daddies (and grandmas helped too).
Thanks Craig for being so willing to let me leave you here alone just so I can have fun with the girls…love you for that.
Do we look like a group of happy mamas or what?!!

Its GREEN DAY at pre-school. She picked this outfit herself . . . so cute.

St. Patrick’s Day always make s me think of my Grandpa Osborne. He and I were pen pals. He sent me a poloroid once of his St. Patrick’s outfit. He had a green 3 piece suit with a green hat to match. I think he is standing next to his 3 wheel bike in the poloroid. He was always doing something funny. OH I wish i knew where that picture was!!! I would post it. If I find it this morning I will.

Craig is home today working on the house. He is so handy. I will show his finished product when it’s finished.

Later today I am off to Oklahoma to a “scrapbook” bed & breakfast for the weekend. I am so thrilled about it! It only sounds fun if you like to scrapbook I am sure. The house is all ours (8 friends and I). Everyone gets their own table & workspace. Then we get to be free of kids and housework for 48 hours to work on what we love! We can sleep when we want and eat when we want! It is going to be so great!

We are leaving behind 22 children with their daddies.

I have to go pack my clothes – 2 pairs of jammies and a toothbrush. I plan on staying in pj’s the whole time because I CAN!

Have a wonderful weekend.

We had TWO surprise visitors yesterday.

Illinois friend Chad Gifford emailed early yesterday morning saying he was in Kansas on business! He was way up in Kansas City but had no afternoon plans so he drove the 3 hours down to see us. He stayed for dinner and we gave him the tour of little Newton. It was so good to see you Chad! Thank you for going so far out of your way to see us. That was really special. Next time you come we will hit the antique stores! I hope your drive back was free of deer this time.
Then at the end of Chad’s visit Todd Davis (my brother-in-law) walks in! He was in Wichita for a few days for work all the way from Texas. We hung out with him for the rest of the evening. Great to see you Todd! I like that we get to see you a little more often thanks to work.
Anybody else want to come see us today?
i hope everyone reading this knows how welcome you are to call or show up anytime you are in the area! Please stop by anytime. It makes for a really fun day. But just be warned it may be a mess if you don’t call first. I am okay with that as long as you are.