Sno-cones, splash park and summertime

Tonight the temperature at 6:00 was 96 degrees. The heat index? Felt like 104. So what did we do??

We left the freaking air conditioning and spent the entire evening outside...FINALLY! The index has been over 100 degrees for the good part of the last 10 days. Needless to say, we've been avoiding going outside. Well by the boys' behavior and hyperactivity it was obvious that we NEEDED to get out of the house. Not just to get groceries or a treat but out, out. Let them run, burn off energy and be, well be boys. And it just so happened that this evening our city park was hosting a Jazz Festival.

There were about 6 artists taking the stage from 5-11pm as well as a Kid's Zone with petting zoo, insect zoo, bounce houses, etc. There were food vendors selling ice cream, sno-cones, pizza, hotdogs and BBQ beef sandwiches. There were Calvary horses and Army trucks/tanks and we took advantage of most of it. The kids loved the insect zoo and the bounce houses.

But their favorite part? The break we took from the festival. It was hot and they were sweating like pigs so we walked over to the splash park. At first they were all super hesitant but Bubba and Peanut warmed up quickly...Pooks took quite a bit longer and never did get quite as adventurous but they all had fun. Here are the pics in absolutely no order because blogger is being a pain in my ass hope you enjoy them :)

It has been decided!

Because it's in the lead on the name poll....Margaret will be our daughters' name. Yep, I've decided that I love my blog readers so much that I'm gonna name her whichever name wins the poll. Good thing I didn't put Mega-Tron as a choice.

I kid, I kid.

Well, sorta.

We really have decided on a name for Sweetcheeks. I can honestly say that it's not anything I had ever considered naming a kiddo previously but after giving it a lot of thought (and we've been talking about this for awhile, not just since Tuesday) we are going to be naming her after Great-Great Grandma B. This wonderful woman right here:
My Grandma's middle name really is Margaret and in honor of her, that will be our daughter's full legal name. However, my blatantly honest Grandma {whose first name by the way is Florence} hates the name Margaret. Hates it.

While I don't hate it, I do think it's a big name for a little girl. It's classic and old-fashioned and I love it for that. But I love, love, love the nickname Maggie. So for those reasons, Sweetcheeks name will be Maggie. Does anyone else picture a spunky, curly headed, down-to-earth little girl running around amongst all these boys?? Cause I do! And how cool is it that she will be named after her Great Great Grandma (Margaret) and her Great Grandma Virgina (RIP) and Nanaw (both of whom share the middle name Diane).

The name game...again!?

Okay so we had fully decided on a name for Ms. Sweetcheeks. We had bought cute little letters to hang above the crib and we shared the name with those who asked. Well lately B feels like we chose the wrong name...he doesn't really like it now that we keep using it. Instead of pronouncing it correctly, he's going the grade school route and saying things like Kingsley or Kinzie, instead of the name we had chosen prior {Kinley}.

So while I think this is going to be a repeat scenario of what happened when naming Peanut (where we like a name, agree on a name, then decide we don't think it's right, go back to the drawing board for months, baby is born and nameless for over 24 hours only to end up with the name that we had originally thought of 4 months prior) I'm entertaining name suggestions for Sweetcheeks. Again. If I get around to it before the kids wake up, I might even add a Poll over on the side so it's easier to see.

So far these are the names that either: a) one of us loves, b) both of us like, c) have no bad feelings about the name but aren't sure we love it or d) one of us loves and the other hates. I'm not going to categorize them; I won't tell you which and love or which B loves...wouldn't want anybody to play favorites. Here are the names that keep getting tossed around or suggested by one of us:

• Kinley
• Kylie
• Harper
• Olivia
• Sydney
• Margaret, would be known as Maggie
  
• Callie
  
• Avery
• Hailey

Typically we like names that are common enough that people can pronounce them with ease but aren't so common that they are top 10. We lean towards names of Irish/Gaelic or English origin and this is true for all of our boys as well. And traditional spelling, not a fan of adding extra letters for the heck of it.

Oh and the middle name is without a doubt going to be Diane (after both my mom and my grandma who has passed away who both shared that same middle name)

So here we go! Leave your comments, thoughts, opinions and suggestions. Thanks...again!

Ayi-yai-yai!

Well the weekend is over and what a weekend it was! Friday was a normal day and a regular Friday evening; B hosted a poker game at our house and stayed at home with the kiddos while I had a girls night. (Okay, girls 'evening'? I was home before 10pm, lol).

Saturday we hung around the house and didn't do much other than decide to take the boys to see a movie, after their naps. Our theater was showing both Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me in regular 2D so it was their choice. After picking Despicable Me, we were off. Movie was cute, a little harder to enjoy while wrestling/convincing/bribing a certain almost 20 month old to sit in his seat. Let's just say that he ate a lot more Twizzlers than he probably should have, m'kay?

We leave the movie, just like normal. Load up in the Swaggerwagon with no problems and leave the parking lot. We get to the stoplight immediately outside the theater and have a red light. We're waiting to turn, but had no chance to go right on red because of oncoming traffic. We'd been sitting there for a minute or two, not moving and at a dead stop, when all the sudden we were rear-ended...hard. At first, we couldn't figure out what happened then I realized we had been hit. The kids were crying but okay, just scared. Got out of the van to find that the Ford Ranger behind us not only had rear-ended us but had hit us so hard (from a dead stop mind you) that his airbags actually deployed. He was pissed, his daughter was crying but okay as well. I called the police and they wanted us to pull forward if possible so we weren't blocking the intersection and they were sending out an officer.

We pull forward and then get out to actually look at the damage. In the words of Ricky Ricardo: "Aye-yai-yai". I was floored at the damage that was incurred from being stopped and yet amazed that all 3 kids were perfectly fine. Esspecially bubba and pooks since their seats are in the third row and closest to the impact. Here are a few pictures of the damage (taken the following morning at home)
Obviously we can't open the trunk/gate at all. Amazingly our taillights weren't damaged and still work and the car is drivable. It does sound quite interesting; the muffler is hanging on sideways. From my non-professional opinion, it looks like they will have to replace the rear bumper, the gate door and possibly the left side panel (it's dented but I don't know if they'll be able to pop it out or if it will have to be replaced). The muffler needs replaced and they'll need to check the alignment on the entire thing; because our front wheels were angled to the right, now when we drive it it pulls to the right.

And his truck? Well his airbags deployed but other than that his front bumper had a tiny dent in it (that may or may not have been there previously). He willingly admitted that it was his fault; he was talking to his daughter about not running away from him in the parking lot and for whatever reason, accelerated. HE called himself an idiot and apologized, asking if the kids were okay.

The police officer filled out all the paperwork, asked if I wanted to go to the hospital to get looked at but I passed knowing that I could always go later if something was wrong. (I wasn't having any immediate pains or cramping, I wasn't bleeding and I knew that as long as I felt Sweetcheeks moving, she was okay.) Although no one was hurt, we will have to replace all 3 of the boys' carseats and possibly our stroller. The NHTSA recommends replacing a seat if it was involved in an accident where airbags deployed and if the door closest to the seats was damaged. Since the door closest to the boys is the rear gate...yeah it was definitely damaged.
While the seats look fine, apparently the impact the seats absorb around the straps can cause "stress fractures" in the plastic. The seat appears fine but is actually weakened...so if we were in another accident, they might not hold up like they should. (if the impact of another accident was severe enough, and the seat wasn't replaced, it's possible that the seat could break and be ejected from the vehicle seat or even the vehicle.) That is NOT a risk I'm willing to take. At all.

Our stroller was in the trunk and while I can't get to it now, I would imagine it took in quite a bit of the impact as well.
All the seats and stroller should be covered by insurance so hopefully they'll be replaced without a problem. I am completely and utterly grateful that no one was hurt and that everything should be replaced and not at our expense. I am going this morning to get an estimate and hopefully to replace the kids seats; I just need to figure out protocol before I do.

P is for Park

This evening all five of us loaded up in the Swaggerwagon and headed to the park. Besides being so humid out, it was only around 80 degrees which is unheard of here in July. I made sure to bring along my DSLR because it seems like it's been for.ever since I took pics at the park. (maybe not but my days all run together) Because it was overcast out I didn't have any crazy shadow issues and even shot in manual most of the time :) For the first hour we had the entire playground to ourselves and it was wonderful.

Here is peanut showing me his ''tuck"

Bubba looks so grown up I want to cry!

Pooks jumping off the Merry-go-round

landing while yelling ''YEAH"

Daddy showing them how to ''SUPER jump"and yes we told them they were not allowed to try it until they were very, very big and really it was a moot point because all of them are afraid to climb up that high to begin with. ahem.

Trying to get a good family pic...B was so busy showing Peanut where to look that he ended up looking ridiculous

Peanut swinging with his daddy

Bubba climbing up the ladder to the big slide

Whoosh! Down he came and landed while saying ''See Mom, I did it!"

Peanut thrilled to have spotted an airplane

Pooks playing with his digger and dump truck. (I ♥ that when he concentrates, he sticks out his little tongue)

Pooks climbing up the really really big slide, only to slide down

"Cheese"

Yours truly with Miss Sweetcheeks in da bump
(can you believe I'm over 6mos pregnant already!??)

Pookie running down the edging/wall, then jumping down (click to see full size)

We ended up spending over an hour and a half at the playground. As soon as we got home the boys went straight into the bathtub and as soon as they came out, I promptly cleaned the tub. I think we may have brought home 1/2 the playgrounds sand with us, but it was worth it.