This and that

This is my 3rd Father's Day without my dad. He was just 60 when he passed away and I was 30- way too young for both of us. I love this picture because his grin was so contagious. He loved to laugh and make a joke. He had a nickname for everyone. 

Sunday

This Father's day I celebrated Josh and what he means to our family. Being such the good wife that I am ;) Josh got to partake in all his favorite activities: golfing, sleep, and shooting guns. On Saturday he took Isaac golfing and I stayed home with the babies. On Sunday, I let him sleep in and got everyone ready for church and in the car! We hosted a cookout at our house with all the Allisons and      that evening Josh, his brothers 

    and dad went shooting at our homemade firing range. Happy Father's day Josh if you ever decide to read my blog! 

Monday, I started a new job with a local private practice in our area doing a bit of contract speech work. It was interesting getting 'back in the saddle'.  It's amazing how rusty I felt after just taking a year off. I may just work a few hours but I definitely want to stay current and keep up my skills- I've worked too hard for my brain to become Mommy Mush.

This was our dinner on Monday and I had to snap a quick picture. I baked chicken breasts with honey mustard sauce in the oven and made twice baked potatoes from our left over cookout potatoes from Sunday. My secret to twice baked potatoes or baked potatoes in general is an old favorite that my dad and grandmother got us started on- Dean's French Onion dip. Wow.. add a bit of Dean's dip instead of sour cream with bacon, cheese, and chives- it's so tasty!

Tuesday-
 Isaac went to baseball camp (he's been going all week from 9am to 12 pm) and the littles were up early. Eli went outside without asking (again!) so he was in trouble. When he sits in time out, I tell Siri to set my timer for 3 minutes- I don't know how effective it is since he did it again about an hour later! I'm thrilled Eli loves the outdoors, playing fetch with Sampson, and tramping through the woods- but it scares me to death that he might get bit by a snake, carried off by a coyote, or lost in the woods. I don't think those are unrealistic fears either. We have 40 acres surrounding our house and we border the forest preserve which is who knows how many acres! Eli has no fear and wants to take Sampson for long walks, deep in the woods. It doesn't even phase him that he can't see the house- being barefoot doesn't stop him either. Honestly I think the boy could give the ancient Indians a run for their money with his feet of steel and love for the outdoors.

I worked for about 3 hours again and then came home to rush all 3 kids out the door to take Isaac to an orthodontic consult. How excited was I when the orthodontist said he did not recommend braces, and that Isaac's teeth are nearly perfect! Isaac has a little spacing issue one side of his top teeth but that's it! The big issue is that his canines are completely sawed off from where he grinds his teeth so much. We actually hear him do this during the day- I think it's become a habit. So anyway the ortho recommended retainers for him to wear at night that will stop the grinding and fix the spacing issue. I'm pumped we won't have to shell out thousands in braces for this kid- let's hope the other two could be so lucky.

After the orthodontist appointment, I took the kids to the mall and bought Olivia some Stride Rite walkers. Both boys had the high top white walkers so I thought she needed some as well since she is getting closer to taking off. Yesterday she walked across the living room to me. We met Josh for dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant and Eli slept through dinner on my lap which never happens. He was so cuddly laying there with his mouth open and I kept stealing kisses on his cheeks.

I think his eyebrow looks like Tierra-able in this picture- for those of you that watched last season's Bachelor

To top the day off my mom had surgery. She has been having gallbladder attacks for a few weeks, so she had an appointment to see the surgeon, and he decided to take her gallbladder out later that afternoon. We didn't get to see her before her surgery, but she did great and is home and gallbladderless (is that a word?). I hope this helps her because she's felt really bad lately.

Wednesday-

Olivia had her educator and service coordinator come out around 9:00.  She is doing so well.. I really can't even keep up with how many words she's saying now. One of her new words this week is 'flower', and she goes around pointing to all the flowers in the house while saying "flower". We go back to Chapel Hill in July and will discuss an FM system at that time. I think it would be great because she is getting so mobile and doesn't always stay within an arms length of me now. She says "Isaac" and "Eli" now and likes to point up to Isaac's room while yelling for him (I have no idea where she got that from...sigh).

 After therapy, my sister and I worked on our business- entering data into Quickbooks... so fun. Audra's kids were at her mother-in-laws and Eli was with his Paw-paw so it worked out well. We've tried to do the books with all four little kids underfoot and it doesn't happen. I left to go pick up Isaac and his 3 cousins from baseball camp around noon and then we continued working.

                                 

                                       The boys lounging after baseball camp

Around 6:00, one of my best friends since pre-school, Kellie, came over to hang out with us. She brought cupcakes to make with Eli, and as you can see, he had a lot of fun. We had pizza and then went to go see her new house that she's building. It's in the woods with huge-- I mean bolder size rocks all around. Eli fell jumped into a mud puddle and his legs turned a different ethnicity. Kel has done a great job laying out the house and it's going to be adorable when it's finished. I have no desire to ever build again- that kind of stress is not enjoyable. 

Eli and the beaters

Kellie and Eli making cupcakes