"Gross Ology"

We've been wanting to take our kids to the Science Center's "Grossology" exhibit since it opened, but you know...life gets busy! Since we're members the exhibit is only an extra $1 each, so we thought why not! We are so glad we went! The exhibit is not for the faint or weak stomached individuals though! There are some pretty funky things you get to learn about in there! The kids got to walk inside a huge pair of nostrils, (luckily the only boogers it had, were kids!) and got to go down a "small intestine" slide. They got to learn all about the human "gas" and digestion cycles by making some dude gulp soda to make it burp and then learned how the sphincter down south worked by making some beautiful "toot" sounds with their fingers and some air! There were quizzes about different types of bugs and what color their blood was, different types of animals and being able to identify animals by the type of poop they had! We spent the majority of our time in there!

Maybe this is a good recipe?!! I thought I'd take a picture in case anyone wanted to try it!!!

The kids above are supposed to be climbing on zits, scabs, and scars. All the things that plague our skin! Gross! I definitely recommend it for all kids, especially ones obsessed with the "grosser" things in our anatomy! The exhibit closes Sept. 1st!

"Extreme Weather"

We also visited our other favorite exhibit on the 3rd floor. It's the "forces of nature" exhibit, that actually lets you sense the extremes! They have huge flat screen T.V.'s to picture what's going on and then in the case of a hurricane they mist water, rain, and wind. In a tornado it's just the wind and they have lights that flash for lightning, and heat lamps that turn on when there are forest fires! The floor rumbles when there's an earthquake, you get the drift. Well the last time we were here Madison opted out of this one, but this time, Phil decided to take her with him. As you can see, she didn't like it! I wonder what she thought would happen? My other kids loved it, of course. They even have a section about our own "Arizona" extreme weather monsoons!

She pretty much hated her extreme weather experience!

Since I'm such a nerd and can't get enough about weather facts and trivia. Phil got me a sweet book on weather at their bookstore! I haven't finished it yet, but so far it's pretty sweet! Soon I can quiz you all on more random weather facts that lie in the head of Summer!

Daddy's finally home!

After a VERY long week, of playing doctor, taxi, counselor, tutor, chef, coach, maid, garbage technician, ...etc.) all by myself, it was so nice to get my best friend back! He had a hard work week mixed with fun evenings. He enjoyed seeing the sights around Chicago, caught a movie, went to the famous Harry Caray's steakhouse, and even dodged his first Tornado! Ok, maybe there wasn't one that actually touched down, but he was on the "Navy Pier" in Chicago when the loud sirens went off, (the same one that evacuated Wrigley Field) Monday night. He said that Police men had to escort them all off the pier and into some type of shopping mall area. He said it was just sprinkling when they put him into this building and locked the doors, but within minutes the building was flooded with 4 inches of water and the winds outside were crazy! He made fun of Arizona Monsoon winds compared to this! I would have been freaked out of my mind, but he was just on the phone with me trying to pick out Souvenir's for the kids!!! He was mad because the whole ordeal lasted about an hour and a half and he was about a mile and a half from his hotel! We had fun later that night, me on my laptop, he in his hotel, watching the huge cell move east above Chicago! He got some super sweet lightning shots too!
His flight was delayed, so we picked him up around 8pm! The kids had a blast opening their gifts from dad, and we all had fun trying on the Harry Caray glasses he brought home! Seattle and Madison didn't get to show off their gifts, but Seattle had the cutest teddy bear that says "chicago princess" and Madison got a Chicago Tee!





Yeah, I know, some serious powder was necessary here, but in my defense it was muggy outside! I told Phil I only wanted a crossword puzzle for my present, so he got me one! ( I really do love crossword puzzles!)

While Daddy's Away...

It's been a long week so far, and I can't wait until Phil comes home! I had beautiful plans for my week alone...mainly plans that involved reading "Breaking Dawn"! Unfortunatly, Paris got sick last night, I'm not sure what it was, but she had a bad stomach pain that left us both up all night! Since Madison and Seattle got great rests and didn't feel like napping, I decided that we would just do "nothing" today. When the older kids got home, they came up with their own activities to keep them busy. They made paper airplanes and then decided to throw them up on the fan to make them fly off! They were laughing so hard, that it even cheered my tired mood up! So here's a few snap shots of the kids keeping themselves busy for mom! First there was Brooklyn standing on the couch...trying to aim for the fan!
Boston decided the coffee table was closer...so he'd try that approach.
It was a lot harder than it looked! It was hard to catch the planes in action...here's a glimpse of one flying down.
The one you just saw, looked like it was floating, but in actuality it was like a kamikaze fighter jet and hit Paris right in the head! Everyone was cracking up!
One flew down and hit Seattle too, while she was in her walker. She didn't seem to mind. So Madison is giggling at her reaction right now.
Here is another failed attempt at trying to catch the plain on the way down.
Here is a rare shot, when both plains were there at the same time, right before "take off"
Here's a shot right before the fan really got going to fly these things. The kids faces were priceless. It was like the greatest thing to ever happen!

"Breaking Dawn"

I ordered my copy of "Breaking Dawn" a couple of months ago on Amazon thinking that it would get to me the same day it came out...unfortunately, no. Oh well. I got it Monday night and was so excited to start to read it, but have just been way too busy! I know I'm way behind almost everyone I know! Anyway, so today I decided to race through my swimming routine, doing only a half mile instead of the full one, so that I could spend the rest of the time reading out by the outdoor pool at LifeTime. I know why read by their pool, when I have my own? Because they have babysitting! Yeah! So I had a full hour and a half of uninterrupted reading! So I'm finally 350 pages in and of course totally hooked. It's not quite what I expected, but I still totally love it! Hopefully my week will stay sweet and I can finish it before "flip" gets home!

Just Married...

Today Madison had her "best buddy" Talen, over to play. They both came over to show me their "cool" shades. I told them they were way cute and asked if I could take their picture and Talen said, "yeah, we're married"and then Madison chimed in "marry mommy!" It was too cute for words!!! I was so not expecting that! So of course I had to post their "wedding" pictures. I'm game if you are Sandy! We can have it all arranged! The coolest in-laws ever!!

Back to School!

Okay, so it's official...they're back in school! Wow! I was so proud of myself this morning! We slept in until 6:50! Without dad, our own alarm, we lost track of time! Anyway, I was able to get everyone fed, ready, and out the door by 8:00! Whoo Hoo! I'm not going to lie, I was pretty darn proud! That even included Madison, Seattle, and shockingly, Myself! Last night we rolled the girls hair in curlers! They were so excited! The best was watching Paris' face this morning as they unrolled! It was like the greatest thing she had ever seen before! I was able to take them all to their classrooms, but spent the most time with Paris since this was her first time!

She was very excited to just go and sit down! I can't wait to hear what she thought of her first day! Boston and Brooklyn know the routine, so they humored me and let me take a few pictures of them in front of their classrooms too. On the way out of the school, Madison was freaking out about the slides, so I took a picture of Paris' Kindergarten playground. I told Madison she had to go to school to go on the slides, and she said, "Okay Mommy" and turned around to start going towards a classroom! There was a couple people around to see and hear what was going on and they were cracking up! Oh...only a couple more years and she'll be here to stay!

Playing with Dad

Today is Phil's last full day home with us for like ever...ok...maybe just 6 days, but still...it might as well be FOREVER! He has to fly to Chicago (oh darn, right by Wrigley Field) for a week on business. Of course, he says he'll be too busy for it to be a vacation. Did I miss something? Hello...NO kids + business paying for EVERYTHING + Nice Hotel= VACATION! I don't know how you wives of traveling husbands do it! I don't play well by myself! Sure I can handle the day stuff, we're all busy and 60% of them will be in school, but it's the whole night time, put the kids to bed by myself stuff I'm going to hate. How am I supposed to put them to bed without the "bad cop"? It doesn't work with just the good one, trust me. I feel bad. Yikes. I guess they'll all be in my bed! We all went to Olive Garden and then he helped me finish the few last minute things we had to do before the kids start school, and then had some fun with the kids, playing keep away and "do as I did" with the basketball. It was pretty funny.
Phil thinking he's pretty sweet getting away with flipping me the bird...he says he was too busy playing the game, when he was young, than to practice cheesy ball spinning. (I can spin it longer)

Getting Ready For School!

School starts for the kids this Monday, August 4th! I can't believe it! We've been getting ready all summer, but we've just finished the official "class room lists" that each of the kids got on back to school night. It's funny, the more kids you have, the longer these nights...and shopping sprees take! We had basketball practice immediately afterwards, so luckily we were the first parents into each classroom. I have to say that I am very pleased at who my kids will have for their Kindergarten, 2nd, and 3rd grade teachers! They're all very excited to see their friends again! Stay tuned for their first day photos...

Each of the kids got to pick out their own backpacks, lunch boxes, and school shoes. They wanted to make sure that everyone could see them! So this is Boston's cool backpack, "Pirates of the Carribean" lunch box, and his "skull" shoes. His Nana won't like those, but Boston and his dad loved them!

Next is Paris' matching pink and black shoes and backpack along with her cool "Tinkerbell" lunchbox that she and her best friend chose together. Brooklyn decided to go "purple" this year instead of pink. She still has the pink on her shoes though...and yes you can see "Troy" from High School Musical in the background, on her cool new lunchbox! I'm sure she'll blog all her cool new things she got this year for school on her blog.