Lemonade, 25 cents a glass!

My youngest brother, Malachi, and I recently went to the Buffalo Museum of Science, to see the "Body World" Exibit. Very cool, esp. for anyone who has ever gone through an anatomy course! While we were gone, the kids, with the help of the babysitters, decided to set up a lemonade stand. Very cute! So, here, in no particular order, are some pictures from their day. After they wrestled the camera away from Lexi; as pictured below!

One of our sitters forever, Danielle. LOVE this girl, the kids love this girl, I would adopt her in two minutes if I could! We are SO going to miss her when she goes away to college next month! If you look, you will see Lexi and Joe's new way to get down the stairs

Customers! Look at Joe in these next two pictures, he looks like such a little customer service rep!

The perfect summer picture!

Trying out the lemonade while they wait

Our little entrapenours!

Blame it on the hormones?

This pregnancy has been the toughest yet. With the nausia, vomiting and total exhustion; not a whole lot of my summer 'to-do' list has gotten done. When my boss told me she was taking a vacation week this week, and that I needed to work for her, I was a little less than excited. I just didn't think I had it in me! Wednesday nights at the Conservation Club is wing night. (For those of you who are not native New Yorkers.... it's a fairly popular thing for bars and restarants to have chicken wing special nights). Anyhow, it's one of the busier days at the Club, and people kept telling me they were coming in for wings. I KNEW it was going to be nuts at work. I didn't realize HOW nuts last night was going to be though! Half of the town seemed to be there. All at the same time. All wanting drinks and dinner 10 minutes ago. Usually, I am in my element on busy nights, and can roll with it, but last night, I was tired and nausius, and achy and sore and just not in the mood. I TRIED to be nice, but some of the regular customers didn't try quite so hard. So. When one of my regulars came in and got in my face it was pretty much it. I threw a beer chip at his head and told him he was now at the bottom of the waiting list untill his attitide changed..... I have to admit, it was the first time in over 5 years of employment at the Club, that I threw anything at a customer. And it felt good! It took him 20 minutes, but all of a sudden, he was sweet as pie, nicely asking if I could take his order when I had time? All I could hear for the rest of the night was "Well, she IS pregnant you know...." and the understanding nod of the head, followed by 'Ohhh!' like, that explained it all.
I don't think Tina will be going on anymore vacations while I am pregnant!

Meet the new kid!

This morning I had my first "Official" OB appt. We had some problems a month ago, and the doctors didn't have much hope for this little baby. Judging from the misery of the constant nausia, I knew the kid had gone nowhere! So, today, I went to the doctor, for the first prenatal visit. I love the doctor I have this time around, but, he walked in, and said he would run an ultrasound, just to be sure we still had a baby. It sounded pretty ominus, but I was confident it was okay. Sure enough, the little gray blur on the screen, with a beating heart we could hear proved it! Number four is on the way! I called my mother after... she has had eight kids; she oughtta know. I asked her if it gets worse with each kid. The pain and sickness and all around everything. It was a cheerful "YEP!" Thanks ma.
The kids are all excited, and Lexi and Joe thought I went to go HAVE the baby, and demanded to see it the moment I stepped out of my truck.. (Would that it were so easy!) But, they have to wait... we aren't due till February 8, two days before Lexi's birthday.

Lotsa catching up!

I missed a lot, the last few weeks of June! Between work, and the final two weeks of school, which was clinical work at the hospital, everyday, all day, I was just not home. And when I was, there was two to four hours of homework to do. The guilt was unbelievable, as I missed field trips, Joe's Birthday, and the last day of the kid's school. which included an ice cream social for the parents, in Lexi's classroom. Combine 124 hours put in between work and clinical, on my feet, not including the homework, and the most miserable morning sickness I have ever experienced, and I was completely worn out by the end of those two weeks! So, here are some of the pictures taken during it all! Apperently, judging from the picture below, Joe was feeling a little washed out!

Lexi, Joe, and Margaret, Lexi's friend, at the Pre-K field trip. It's at Middway Park, which is a little amusement park, PERFECT for this age group, right on Chautauqua Lake. I was SO upset I had to miss this!
Joe's 4th birthday! The day before his birthday, he announced he needed a race car cake. Usually, I make these really cool theame cakes. Not happening this time around; I had no time and no stomach for it. So, the day before his birthday, after clinical at the hospital, I went to go find a cake and some wrapping paper and all that nice stuff. I get to the checkout, and OMG. I had forgotten my wallet. No money, checks or cards. Sigh. So, I asked them to hold it, drove the half hour back to my house, picked up my money and the kids, and all the way back. By the time I was done, I still had 4 hours of homework at bedtime. Joe loved the cake though, so all was good!

The last day of clinical, I went from there, to work. By the time I arrived home,after working from 6:30 AM, untill 11:00 PM, I was DONE. But, we had reserved an RV at Darien Lake for 3 days, and nothing was packed, ready or done, so we were up first thing Saturday to get ready to go. Below is a picture of our home for the weekend!

And our view

By this point, the two weeks of exhustion and morning sickness had caught up. I tried SO hard to be perky and cheerful for the kids, who had a really great time, but just watching the rides go around and up and down made me SO sick! I couldn't even watch! And, of course, the kids were all "Look at me Mom!!!! WAVE!!!" So, at each ride, I would dutifully smile and wave, while desperately looking around for the handiest thing possible to vomit in inconspiciously, should the urge become too much.
Below is a picture of the Giant Wheel. It was the only ride I went on

Me. trying not to throw up on said Giant Wheel...

And, what would a family outting be, without the bonfire?






Just because we were on vacation does not mean we can forget good hygine!

The conversation that followed the above picture was too much... Joe's favorite ride was the mini motorcycles. He would get off, run up to me every single time, and ask to go on again, and get right back in line. He must have ridden them 20 times in a row. Whatever; I got to sit! He would get on, and lean low over the handlebars, the most intense look on his face - he was really driving these cycles, and doing jumps, as far as he was concerned. Thats when the girl happened. She was maybe a year or so older than Joe, but she got on the back of his motercycle with him! The GRIN on my boy's face was like nothing I had ever seen. Later he told me "She hung on to me SO TIGHT, mom!!!" Every so often, he would gance over his shoulder, to check on her, as he seriously drove and jumped his cycle. When the ride was over, he undid her buckle, and helped her down, and then asked if she wanted to ride with him again. She said yes. It was love! So, she chose a pink cycle. Joe looked at it doubtfully; but, hey, if that's what she wanted...! So, preparing to take her for a spin, he began to climb into the front driver's seat, when she climbed into it first. Well. That was the end of that. A man can only stand so much. He drove the silver one in front of her.

Later on, Lexi and Joe were lying in their bunks talking about it. She must have made quite the impression, because Joe was going to try and find her the next day, and she was going to be his "girlfriend". Lexi, our apparent authority in all things romance, was coaching him. "What you have to do, Joe, is say to her in your deepest man voice, 'Do you want to go on the Sleigh Ride with me?' because that one is WAY more romantic, and you can put your arm around her, when you go through the tunnel!" "Oh, Okay Lexi! Am I big anough to go on it without Mom?" Jasin and I were laughing so hard we were crying!




And, pictured below, you can see the stay was relaxing for some of us!

There's no place like home!!!!