NSC

We have unusually cool weather today ;) The high temp is suppose to be 68 and it feels awesome. I'm sorry to those in TX and AZ who are reading this.

So today, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go to the Greensboro Natural Science Center. It has dinosaur exhibit which Ian was looking forward to and was in awe of when we got there. They have a little bit of everything: rocks, minerals, aquatics, physics, play area for the kids; mini-farm, and mini-zoo (with tigers), iguanas, snakes, tarantulas, scorpions, and centipedes (those were creepy). We spent close to two and a half hours there this morning. The mini-zoo was especially nice because it was cool and the animals were out moving around. Payton enjoyed 'talking' with the fish - their mouths kept opening and closing.

There was a cool water table in which you could change the flow of water by moving partitions around. The kids thought this was pretty nifty.

Both kids were tuckered out after the action-packed morning.

Grandma, Grandpa....

play with me!

Ian and Payton have been enjoying their playtime with Grandma and Grandpa. They definitely are not shy about asking for time with their grandparents.

My mom and dad got her on Tues. We've been staying close to home, partly because our Murano is in the shop. It went to the dealership Tues. night - it is now Friday night - no car. Don't get me started about it. Bottom line is - I'm not happy. Breathe.

So, when we go anywhere, we've been squeezing into our little black Toyota corolla. We haven't gone very far - to eat out, to the store, and to the gym. It's been very exciting.

Of, course the kids could care less. They are having a blast. They played in the pool one afternoon. Grandma was brave enough to get in with them. The next afternoon, they played on the slip-n-slide. It was Grandpa's turn to get wet this time.

Just kidding, neither wanted to risk breaking something.

Ian's better

Ian is much better today. His fever was pretty much gone yesterday. He had a sore throat, but I think that is even better today. He had some good moments yesterday and Daddy took some pictures.

We also had a praying mantis on one of our sunflower plants - exciting stuff, I know. But that was our weekend :)

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Yesterday was Grandma's birthday. We called her and Grandpa on the speaker phone and the kids sang Happy Birthday. We made ginger snaps and ate Popsicles in her honor.

Ian didn't have a good day yesterday. He woke up from his nap with a fever. It was close to 104. We gave him ibuprofen and it seemed to help for about 3 hours and then it was back. We battled the fever alternating between ibuprofen and acetaminophen. He would get better for a little while and then you could tell when the fever hit him again. His eyes were droopy and a little pink around the edges. He just wanted to sit, be held and watch TV - so we did. I'm hoping it's just a virus that will go away soon.

Last night and today have been about the same. His periods of feeling better are getting longer today, so I hope it's getting better.

Payton's first day of Pre-K....

was rather uneventful. She was great. She had a great time. She likes her teacher - Mrs. Bane. She didn't like the snack - goldfish crackers - but she drank the juice. Her class got a tour of the school because some kids had never been to school before. She met some new girls, but she didn't know their names.

Mommy was fine. I wasn't nervous for her like I was last year. Ian and I had a good morning. I think I'm going to enjoy just hanging out with Ian. It'll be good for us.

Pictures: Just playing around.

Brady's birthday party

Yesterday we went to Brady's birthday party. Brady is a friend from Payton's school. They had a inflatable water slide in their backyard that was the highlight of the party. Payton did it 50 million times and loved it. I had to coax Ian to try it once and then that was enough for him. He played hoops instead.

Scott is in the middle of his MICU rotation, so he couldn't come. He's been in the MICU since Wednesday and we haven't seen him much. He was around a lot in July and the beginning of August, so now is when everything evens out.

Payton, what are you doing?

Scott and I have been asking this question of Payton quite frequently of late. Most of the time, it'll be when she's been playing by herself in her room. We'll hear her talking to herself and find her among her stuffed animal. She sets her animals up to have dinner together. They have birthday parties. and bubble baths. They even carry each other in make believe backpacks made out of pillows and blankets. But the other night, Scott found Payton setting up a 'microscope for her bear to look at the flower'. It was quite an elaborate setup in which she had to align boxes, bears, and tea pots.

Payton is always full of questions, why?, being one of her favorites. It's fun now to sometimes to ask her that same question.

VBS program

Friday, the kids put on a short program to celebrate the end of VBS. Scott left work early to come see it. The program was at noon and was followed by lunch. I got there about 5 till noon. I had talked to Scott about 10 minutes till noon and he was on his way. The mission project for VBS was the Heifer project and collecting items for the local Humane Society. We had a presentation from someone from the Humane Society. It was 10 minutes after noon and Scott wasn't there. I was a little worried. I text him and he said that he was on his way - he had gone to the wrong church.....

Now, I know that earlier in the week I had told Scott that Payton was going to VBS at Augsburg. Somehow, he ended up at St. Johns (where Payton goes to school). Evidently, they were having some type of end of VBS thing going on as well. Scott sat for a while at St. John's when one of my friends (who is a mom that I know from Payton's class) asked what Scott was doing there. She set him straight.

Scott arrived at Augsburg at 12:20. Thank God the presentation from the Humane Society took a long time. Scott got to see all of Payton's program.

Payton did very well. She actually sang this time and did the hand motions. She was given a triangle to play, but that seemed to be discarded early on in the show.

The Bookcase

Monster #2 is done. I shouldn't call it a monster. I mean, it's huge, red and brown, but it's also very useful and the kids love it. Yep, I'm talking about the bookcase that Daddy built. It's quite magnificent actually. We had the Holland's over for the unveiling on Sunday and ALL the kids enjoyed sliding down the slide, including Daddy. Ian is over the moon about Scott's masterpiece. I must admit, I'm pretty impressed with it as well. Monster #2 has quite a bit of storage and it's just fun for the kids to climb on and play in. We just have to enforce some ground rules like: 1) no jumping from the top of the 4.5 ft platform, over the step, to the Ian's bed; 2) only one person on the slide at a time; 3) no sliding down the slide backwards, head first; and 4) no using pillows as sleds. The rule list may need some adjusting, but for now, hopefully we'll avoid a major accident if we could follow these rules.

Side note for those that didn't know: The only reason I call the bookshelf Monster #2 because of the big, bright blue Monster #1 that Scott built for me back in our first years as a married couple. It was suppose to be our newspaper recycling organizer, but we just never used it. Poor Monster #1 crashed to its demise off of our second floor apartment balcony when we decided not to move it to Phoenix.

On the other hand, Monster #2 is going to be well loved and cherished :)

VBS

Today was Payton's first day at Vacation Bible School. I loved VBS as a kid. I loved the songs and the homemade cookies. The theme this year is Friendship Trek -with a mission of collecting donations for an animal shelter. There were all different kinds of animal footprints leading into the fellowship hall. The fellowship hall was decorated with several campsites. Payton and her friend, Samuel, were both blue chipmunks. She said she didn't like the snack - the chocolate pudding had 'stuff' in it. Evidently this was of the most importance because when I asked her what she did, she said, 'I don't know, but we had snack.' All in all, she said she had a good time and wanted to go back tomorrow. We are now listening to the CD sent home - VBS songs all about Jesus and friendship :)