To sleep and dream in 5 minutes

What a record!

Chelsi went to bed and within 5 minutes was in the hall crying a little.  Cole went to go check on her and she told him that she had had a bad dream.  She really didn't want to go to bed in the first place, so I guess she thought this would get her out of it.  She was really tired.  Swimming lessons is taking it out of her.

I think I may have already said that the kids chose to do one last round of swim lessons for the summer.  The big boys needed to build up their stamina, so we thought doing back to back since no one's playing ball might be a good idea.  I do think it's helping them.  I'm not sure if they're going to pass because it gets really hard at this level, though.  Kaelin will more than likely pass....at least I think so.  Chelsi will not.  She is already well aware though.  She is water up to her chin, but she gives it more than the tall kids.  She really tries hard and keeps on going no matter how much water she swallows and how many times she can't stop coughing after swallowing it all.

Put the remote DOWN!

I found out there is a rule by DishNetwork on VODs (Video on Demand).  Apparently, no matter how the video gets rented you pay.  No excuses.  Makes me wonder how many times people falsely call in and tell them a movie got rented. 

How did I find out this tidbit?

I had to call after scrolling through the guide and seeing "rented" next to a VOD.  I actually thought about renting one, my last freebie I had, and came across it.  So I called them because it wasn't playing or anything, so I wasn't sure if something had really been rented.  Well, they informed me this is the 2nd video we got this week.  Apparently, "Alice in Wonderland" had also been rented.  I remember Chelsi mentioning that movie, but I thought she was talking about the cartoon being on Disney.  Nope...she figured out how to rent it.  But what gets me is the 4 year old knows how to read, so she had to read that it was going to cost mommy $4.99.  AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN FINISH IT!  Jaemin (yes the 1 year old) hit enough buttons to manage to rent "The Bounty Hunter".  I cannot believe how long we've had satellite and never had this happen until now!  Luckily since VOD is all day we just made sure we watched it and got something out of these dang videos.

So, make sure to use the lock PPV!  I didn't even know that existed since we never do PPV.  And Dish, well they don't even slightly feel sorry for you.  Nothing.  Just a polite and sometimes not so polite "per our agreement" yada yada yada.  If there were a cable provider here I would switch in a second.  We get so little for $63/month and we need this just to see locals!

I was mad, but it's a tad funny now.  They're definitely the two that can give you a run for the money.

안녕히가세요

This is what my 4 yo said to me as I walked out of her room last night.  So proud of her.  A lady at a local Chinese restaurant, who was born in Korea, taught the girls how to say goodbye.  Chelsi asked me if Ok would know, so I told her to ask her.  And, of course, Ok obliged.  The girls and I always tell each other saranghaeyo (사랑해요) at bedtime.  Last night she said goodbye to me in perfect Korean.  

Slide!

Chelsi has been asking me to get another waterslide for a couple of years.  Last year we just didn't have time with baseball and Jaemin just coming home and the whole adjustment to that.  So, I finally got one the other night.  Last night after Cole got home from his birthday party we went out and put it on the hill.  We did stop when it finally got too muddy.  But, we'll probably go back out today and put it back down.  The kids really didn't get enough and Jaemin absolutely loved it!  Water is one of his favorites.  He's going to totally love that the big kids are going back to swimming lessons for the rest of the summer which means him and mommy can splash in the baby pool.

We couldn't keep Jaemin off the slide, so even if he looks terrified in these pictures he was having an absolute blast!  He laughed and squealed so much.  I sprayed them with the water hose after we picked up and Cole taught him to tell me to spray him, so he would yell "spray" at me.  :)  He's really starting to talk a lot. As a side subject he finally put together a real sentence and it was in the middle of my great aunt's funeral in church.  He yelled "I want book!".  :)

One of my favorites with all 3 of my boys.

This is Kaelin, but you can't really see her in the water.  :)

Tired kids and it's only the 2nd day

of the 3 day weekend.

Of course, we had the game Friday night.  We got home so late we all kind of laid around and didn't do too much yesterday.  But, we had promised Miss Chelsi, since last year, that we would go to the parade again.  So we all went to the parade and then Walmart for groceries and my flag supplies.  By the time we got home we had a message for an invite to go watch fireworks.  So, we got my new flag hung up and we were off again.

It was nice just to sit back and watch them and sit with friends.  The kids just ran around an played with each other and the little ones sang and danced while C played guitar.  It's so relaxing to just sit by a fire and do nothing, but chit chat and have fun.

The kids have played outside with the dog all day today and are tired already, so it was time to come in.  We had to give the house a good cleaning since we'd been running for the past two weeks with swim lessons and I worked up a major sweat trying to clean and wash all the sheets in the house.  I haven't done glass yet, but will be tonight or tomorrow....yeah!  Got our zucchini bread in the oven that Chelsi and I made though, so we're going to have some yummy burgers, steaks and zucchini bread tonight.  Really wished I would have bought the strawberries and ice cream last night for shakes.  I totally wasn't thinking clear.  Missed my ingredients for chapjae too.  I was going to make that tomorrow.

Here are pics of my flag and the 3 little kiddos at the parade.

Chelsi and her best friend Miss A watching the parade together.

Another Win!

We have yet to go to a game where the Cardinals lose.....hopefully that doesn't jinx them or us!  The kids had a good time as usual, though it was more crowded than the last game so there was no room to spread out and a night game,we have decided, isn't best for the two littlest.  They did make it through the whole game though.  Chase was still raising her arm for 'charge', but not yelling near as loud. 

1 month of summer is gone

We may not have done the crazy, running everywhere with baseball that we usually do, but it's still been plenty busy.  We've mostly just been trying to do stuff with the kids.

The big boys adopted a dog.  They had a couple of days where the fees were waived and paid for by a foundation and the boys found a 3 year old lab.  I can't complain though.  He's pretty good.  He's housebroken and though we don't have him in the house he's very well behaved because of it.  He doesn't jump or lick like most labs and he LOVES to fetch.  The boys spend hours throwing the ball for him.  He does sleep in the house at night though.  Night is rough for him.  He misses his brother who has a separate family.  For some reason our dog was one of the last ones left.  I think people are afraid of his size.  The boys are loving having an active dog again.  Our beagle is just getting to old to have fun, but he's more Jaemin's size, so Jaemin still likes to sit by him and pet him.

The kids have finished another summer of swimming lessons.  Chelsi has progressed to Level 1.  YAY Chelsi!  Her improvement between last year and this year is amazing.  Much like Kaelin's 2nd year of preschool level lessons were at the same age.  The big boys will be in Level 5 next year and Kaelin will be in 3.

Jaemin was tested for allergies today after getting sick again earlier this month.  We think he still has acid reflux, but we're trying to figure out the cause if he does.  The doctor sent us to an allergist.  They don't test kids this age for much, so there were some major foods and then mold and dust.  He really had nothing.  I even had them test for strawberries since his foster mother told us he was allergic.  Turns out he is no longer allergic to them either.  We're going to remove apples and eggs from his diet for awhile since they were the only things that even remotely showed up, but we're really just waiting on his pediatrician to decide what to do for him next.  I do wonder about the nurse practitioner who saw him today though.  She was real big on asthma diagnosis.  And while I'm not ruling it out I don't think that's it.  I'd almost rather find out if he has something else going on, but that would require a scope.  I'm going to try to sit back and follow the doctor or at least look to him for advice this time.  The allergist's nurse practitioner, however, wanted him AND me on all kinds of drugs and inhalers.  And of course they're a pretty good price too.  I need some proof first.  And we may take him off his ranitidine and see how he does first.  Hopefully, he finally outgrowing his acid reflux, but until this week's testing we hadn't taken him off long enough to tell.

1 1/2 months 'til school starts.  I'm not sure I'm ready for that again.  I like this flexibility and fun of summer.