Day 350: Motorcycle Oil Change

As I was just looking through these pictures I had to ask Jess, "was this really all today?". It was a very long, but very good, day. We were camping with friends last night, and this morning they decided to go swimming again, but we had more plans for the day so we packed up and headed home.

When we got home we saw our new pharmacy next door to the gas station was having an opening day barbecue. Jess and I will take a free lunch any day, so we checked it out for a bit and had a cheeseburger.  They also had a 50% off special on vitamins, so we bought 4 bottles.

After lunch we did a little research on getting an oil change for the motorcycle, but the one shop we could think of in Eudora wanted to charge us $65 to do it. So instead we drove back into Lawrence to get my O'Reilly's discount on oil, and bought the filter at a Kawasaki shop. We took everything home and changed it ourselves, and ended up saving about $35! It went surprisingly well for a first time, self taught (via a YouTube video) deal; we did hit a roadblock or two, though. The oil filter was the original factory part, and so was tightened pretty well to the bike. We ended up having to whack a screwdriver through the old filter to torque it off. And then after the oil change was complete and we were dumping the old oil into the jug, we found a single washer... Luckily it was an easy fix as Jess put the washer back on the oil plug while I blocked the drain hole with my finger.

After the bike was all good to go, we decided to pack a backpack and ride out to Steven and Leslie's for the night since we'll be going to Grandma's birthday party at Smithville lake tomorrow anyway. Time to wrap this up, we just finished watching a Kevin Hart standup and we're about to go swimming to bring this busy day to a close!

A slow start camping.

Campfire breakfast.

Pharmacy barbecue.

Lunch at the pharmacy.

My rides.

Prepping for the operation.

Mystic laying down on the job.

Jess worked on cleaning her melted boot marks off the pipes.

Soaking the melted boot sole.

Pulling the plug.

Jess screwdriver hammering a screwdriver into the filter.

Our handiwork on the stubborn filter.

Jess stood the bike up while I refilled the oil.

Me re-assembling while Jess bottles used oil.

Jess eating Wendy's on the way to Steven and Leslie's (only a block away from their house).

Day 349: Trains & Fire

The highlight of this work day was taking my nanny kids and Andrew to see Thomas the Train with Mom and Papa.  Unfortunately Eric was at work for this, and had to miss chasing kids in 95 degree weather, haha!  Bryson didn't have much fun, until we got to a table where he could color.  Jack and Andrew seemed to love it all.  And the grown ups, well, we enjoyed seeing the kids have fun.

Then after Eric got off work, we picked the motorcycle up from Mom & Alan's house and rushed home to pack for camping.  I added Eric to the insurance today, and he raised it from $148 to $300/year (almost $100 of that because of his speeding ticket in August).  We packed my car with the camping gear, and then we drove out to Clinton Lake separately so he could ride the bike.

It was an interesting night - cooking and conversations around the fire, partially clothed swim in the lake (others were in various stages of dress, Eric and I remained clothed!), and the annual burning of confidential school documents!  This was a really fun event with Steven and Leslie last year, and this year our crowd was kind of a buzz kill about it.  The burn didn't exactly go smoothly, and instead of having fun with it, they just called us various names and moved to the other fire pit.  Lame x a really big number.  We headed to bed, and spent some time looking at the starts and using a sky map app to help us find constellations - very cool.

Andrew with my stuffed hippo - Mippo.

Andrew, Me, Bryson, Sit Toppemhat, and Andrew.

Bryson, Me, and Andrew on the train!

Jack, Mom, and Andrew on the train!

Bryson, Me, and Papa on the Thomas train!

Finally, something Bryson enjoyed!

Andrew's first (?) time in a bounce house, he loved it!

Mom and Andrew going down the slide.

A year of work up in flames!

Oops...it fell over...

Burn, baby, burn!

The papers were so scrunched together, it took forever to burn through.

Very cool to watch it burn!

Day 348: Well This Bites...

Today I had to quickly find someone to watch Andrew because he had bitten Jack once and Bryson twice!  Watching three boys at once is a little trickier than I'd hoped, and Andrew got his teeth on one kid while I was tending to the other.  I had a few panic attacks about it throughout the day, you know - how did I let this happen, what will their mom think, ARGH I suck, etc...  But everything ended up working out fine.

Alison watched Andrew for the rest of the afternoon (and he only bit Zach twice, oops!).  The rest of my nannying afternoon went well - a nap for Bryson and a movie for Jack.  After we all got home, we went on another walk to the park, and went about our evening routine.  Eric and I had TV dinners, and Andrew had hot dogs and cheese, mmm.  Then, this was the first time of his 2x/day breathing treatments that he was grumpy.  It was a long day, so I imagine he was tired.  Eric and I did bedtime stories together, and had a really good time watching him giggle.  It's too bad tonight is his last night with us, he has been such a good boy!

I took the boys on a walk after Andrew nibbled on all of the kids - a good way to keep everyone separate while figuring out who could watch Andrew.

A demonstration of how to squish two babies and a 7 year old into a hatchback!  (And my genius "Andrew, you may not grab Jack and bite him while I'm driving" wrap.)

Bryson's leg...

 Bryson's wrist...

Jack's stomach.

 Andrew on the big slide!

Mmm, toddler dinner!

 What a sad little boy!  Even while crying, he still sat criss cross and didn't pull it off his face.

Bedtime stories!

Our final round of baby laundry for this visit, it was too cute out on the lines!

Day 347: June Already?!

Wow!  It is already June...just a short 3 weeks until our first wedding anniversary!  Wow again!

Today was another Andrew/nanny & O'Reilly's work day.  Jack only had a half day of school, so I took all three boys swimming this afternoon!  The evening was a quick routine and then bed for everyone.  We were pretty wiped out from work and Andrew, zzzzzzz...

Bad Andrew!  Texting and driving!

Andrew LOVED the kiddie pool!  At one point he reached for a dive toy on the bottom and toppled in face-first, but he just looked surprised and kept splashing when I picked him up.  What a sport!

The boys sharing a puzzle...Andrew is squatting in a block container, haha!

And our happy crew at the end of the day!

Day 346: Two Babies?

Today is the beginning of my summer nanny job - Jack is still in school, but his brother's daycare is closed this week, so I'll be watching him.  Bryson is just about 19 months, and Andrew is almost 17 months.  Match made in heaven?  Sort of...  The morning started off rocky because as soon as I set him down, Andrew took a toy from Bryson's hands... It took us about an hour to figure out how to play nicely, and then they were gems for the rest of the day.

We took a trip to the Great Mall to visit Ashley and play at the food court.  Then we played and napped at home until Jack got home from school on the bus.  I'm so happy to be back at my summer job!

Also - starting today Eric and I will be carpooling for most of the summer.  Because we both work in Olathe I can drop him off at work, or at my parents house to pick up the motorcycle, and then pick him back up on our way home.  We are really excited to save some gas money (and miles on the car) by doing this.

Today he got out of work before I did, so his mom picked him up and we met up at their house.  Then Eric, Andrew, and I went out to dinner at China Star - yum!  Andrew is such a good eater, and ate his dollar's worth!  They charge $1/year old up until the regular price, lame!

Finally, some evening routine and bedtime for Andrew, and a movie for Eric and I.  Andrew woke up quite a few times during the night last night, but was able to get himself back to sleep.  Tonight he went to bed perfectly again, this time at 8:30.  He even took two naps at the same times as Bryson, it was great!

These guys are a handful, but so fun to play with!

Two boys?  No problem!

Mmm, Andrew loves Chinese food just as much as his aunt and uncle!

 Orange dessert plate?  Check!  

All three of our babies hanging out by the window.

Our first full day of cloth diapering went pretty well!  The lady I bought these from gave me the wrong kind of prefolds, so they did have some leak problems.  All we have right now is "G Diapers", and hopefully we can try some other brands in the future.

Day 345: Andrew is Visiting!

This was the last day of my summer break - it was filled with reading, napping, laundry, napping, dishes, and some more napping.  Eric spent another day on "the route" )Time and a half for Memorial Day, wooo!) and will be sad when his boss starts scheduling him for in town deliveries again.  He really likes the pace of the route and the hour of overtime because he doesn't have to take a lunch break.  Woo!

After he got home from work, Mom and Alan brought Andrew to our house for the week.  They stuck around for awhile to get Andrew settled, and to mingle with the cats - but then they headed out to enjoy their baby-free night.  Eric and I had been hoping to watch Andrew for a few weeks to help Sarah out financial and time-wise to help her get a job without the worries of scheduling babysitters and such.  That didn't end up working out, but we are really glad to have him visiting this week!

We started our night with a walk to the park, playing with other kids, playing at home, making/eating dinner, then some quiet play and stories before putting Andrew to bed at 9pm.  He went to sleep like a dream, which is lucky for him because we've got to wake up at 6:20 every day this week for jobs in Olathe!

One of our photo screens (the ones that were behind us during our wedding ceremony) fell over while I was napping today because the wind coming through the window was so strong!  So I tied a ribbon to them, nailed it to the wall, and went back to sleep.  Voila!

In the past two weeks since we've started recycling, 2/3 of our waste is recyclable!  Yea!

Andrew made some girlfriends at the park, it was too cute!

Peek-a-boo!

The pavilion was covered in broken glass, and Eric cleaned it up.  What a great guy!

 Andrew played "Here, have a wood chip" with Eric.

Going for a bike ride! (Just for the photo op, no actual bike riding occurred :p)

A yummy, healthy dinner - pasta, green beans, mashed potatoes, and rolls.

Andrew's pseudo-high chair.  He stayed on the sheet the whole time.  When he tried to stand up and walk off of it, Eric turned on his serious voice and said "Sit down."  Andrew promptly sat and kept eating.

When we thought we would have Andrew for most of the summer, I planned on cloth diapering him.  I bought a few cloth diapers on craigslist - and here is Andrew in his first ever cloth diaper!