Well Max is back to his happy self today. This morning we got ready and went over to my grandpa's house to visit and to pick the garden. Hailey asked grandpa for some M&M's right away, so he had me fill the candy dish. While we were sitting at the table visiting with grandpa, we saw a mother turkey with three of her babies out back. We watched them for quite a while. They didn't leave till Bruce went out to pick the garden. After he was done, we headed over to my mom's to get some tomatos out of her garden. The kids had fun playing on the slide again. Then we had to stop at a couple stores for a few things. Mykenzie came over shortly after we got home. Max was taking his nap, so I got out some art stuff for Hailey and Mykenzie. They wanted to do the foil art kit. Mykenzie helped me figured out how to do it. They made some pretty pictures. Then we got the foam hopscotch game out. After Hailey and Max got tired of playing it, Mykenzie and I decided to play it one time the right way, and Mykenzie won. After dinner we went outside to play. Max had fun pushing his little lawn mower around the yard while Mykenzie and Hailey played on the swings. I made an obstacle course for Mykenzie and she had me time her. She kept doing it over and over trying to go faster and faster every time. She was pretty tired out after the forth time through it. Then they played in the sandbox till I realized it was getting late. Mykenzie and Hailey put puzzles together while I got Max to bed. Then I got the girls to bed. Vikki will be picking up Mykenzie late when she gets out of work.

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Bruce got up with the kids this morning and let me sleep in since I was up till 2:00am last night. I didn't wake up till around 9:30 when the kids came in the bedroom and crawled up in bed with me. Hailey cuddled with me for a few minutes till Max came and climbed up on top of us. He's not too cuddly in the mornings. Once he's awake he's ready to go. He never needs any time to wake up. He just pops right up and wants to play. He must take after his daddy. But he still likes to cuddle when he tired before naps and at bedtime. Today he was pretty grumpy. He would cry and throw fits for no reason at all. Well, not that I could figure out anyway. We wanted to hang some stuff up on the walls in their bedrooms today, but Max was crying so much it was hard for me to think and I just couldn't make up my mind where I wanted to hang things. So we decided to do it another day. Bruce went out to the garage to work on some things so I took the kids outside thinking Max might be happier playing out there. He was for a little bit but he soon started having meltdowns again over silly litte things like dropping his tractor or getting stuck with his car. After we ate lunch I put him down for a much needed nap. Then Bruce had to leave for work. Max was a little better when he woke up from his nap but still a little grumpy. He even got mad about something and ran over to the corner by the dishwasher and pouted. It was kind of funny. After dinner I took the kids back outside to play. They played in their sandbox and on the swings. As I was about to take them in, Max went over to the pool and dumped a bucket of water over himself. He was soaked so he took his pants off. Then Hailey decided she wanted to take her pants off and get wet too. I let them play with the buckets and water for a little while. Then Hailey asked to water the flowers with the hose. Of course she didn't just water the flowers. She started spraying Max with the hose and he loved it. Then she started chasing me with the hose. So I got pretty wet myself. I wasn't really planning on getting wet but it was fun. After a while Max started shivering so I took them inside to dry off. Max got grumpy again soon after we got inside. So I set him up with all his cars in his room and let him play by himself for a while and that seemed to make him happier. So I asked Hailey if she wanted to play a game with me. She got all excited and ran to the closet to pick a game. She picked Shoots and Ladders, so we sat at the table and played it. She is getting a lot better at playing games. She is much better at counting and moving to the correct places now, although she does need a little help once in a while to show her which way to move. She also has a lot more patience than she used to. Just as we were finishig our game, Max got mad again and ran over to the same corner and pouted. So this time I grabbed my camera. I got one good picture of him pouting, but as soon as he noticed I had the camera he looked up at me and smiled. I started getting him ready for bed a little earlier tonight. I didn't really want to put him to bed too early or he'd be up at 6:oo in the morning, but he was just so tired. So I just slowed the whole bedtime routing down a little and read him a few more stories and cuddled a little longer. That made him happy. I got him in bed a little before 8:00. He was very happy to lay down in his crib. Then I started getting Hailey ready for bed and she was in bed by 8:30. I think it only took a few minutes for her to fall asleep too. She only had quiet time again today so she was pretty tired.

This morning my sister Kimmy came over with her kids. Hailey was still sleeping when she got here, and Max had just woke up. We took Max and Jacob out to play in the sand box for a little while. Then Hailey woke up and came running out to play too. Kimmy and I held Adam in the grass and watched them play for a little bit. It started to get very warm and muggy, so we got the kids in their swim suits and let them swim. Then I realized that Max and Hailey hadn't eaten any breakfast yet, so I brought out bowls of cereal and let them eat at the picnic table. After they ate their cereal they all got back in the pool for a while, and had fun sliding down the little slide into the water. We stayed outside till it was almost time for lunch. We let the kids watch a video while we got lunch ready. Then after lunch we all went to the park. My mom and Mykenzie met us there too. The kids had a lot of fun playing together. It was very hot out though so all the kids' faces got really red. Kimmy then had too leave for Adam's doctor appointment, so we took Jacob back to our house and put them all down for naps. But Max was the only one to fall asleep. He was pretty tired as you can tell in the picture of him laying on his car with his blankey. He does that alot when he gets tired. He puts his blankey on the car and lays his head down and drives around the house like that. It's so funny. Well, I better go finish up on my laundry now.

Here are some pictures from tonight. When Bruce got home he checked his email and there were pictures form Kimmy, so I thought I would quick put them on since I was still up. There's the one of all the kids helping Papa blow out his candles and I like the one of the boys begging for cake from Papa. So Papa kept taking turns feeding them bites. It was cute.

Well, I only took one picture today: the one of Max pulling his monkey in the wagon. He loves his monkey and he always says "wanna ride" and then puts him in the wagon or the doll stroller and gives him rides around the house. The picture of Hailey was from the other day when it was raining. She likes to go out in the rain with her umbrella, raincoat, and rainboots. Bruce worked some more on the computer going through files and files of pictures. He said he has over 30,000 to go through to find all of our pictures. It's going to take him a while , but at least we'll get our pictures back. Later this evening, I went over to my parents house. It's my dad's birthday today. I called to tell him happy birthday and my sister Kimmy was there. She made dinner and asked if we wanted to come over too, so I quick got the kids ready and headed over. My mom picked up my grandpa. Max was very happy to see him. He ran right over and hugged his leg. My niece Mykenzie made a cake. She did a good job decorating it. Then all the grandkids helped Papa blow out his all his candles and there were alot (Well, there should have been anyways. Ha Ha Ha!) We didn't get home till around 10:00. Hailey fell asleep in the van, so I carried her in and put her in her bed. She was sound asleep. I rocked Max and put him to bed, and then started to put a few things away. And when I came back from the utility room into the living room Hailey was sitting wide awake on the couch with a book and said "we forgot to read books, Mama". I can't believe she could be sound asleep one minute and so wide awake the next. So we had to go through her whole bedtime routine. She made sure that I didn't skip anything. But she did fall asleep right away after we were done, so that's good. Well, I'd better get off here now. Bruce will be home any minute now.

This morning I had a dentist appointment to get a crown for my tooth. Somehow I cracked it all the way through. It was a two hour appointment, so Bruce dropped me off and took the kids to get donuts and then to Menards to play. They have a nice indoor play area for kids there. Hailey loves to go to "Nards" as she calls it. They had fun while I sat in the dentist office all morning. Then we came home and put Max down for a nap. I let Hailey just have quiet time in her room today instead of having her take a nap today. She read books and played with puzzles while I got some laundry done. She gets so happy when I tell she doesn't have to take a nap but just rest for a little bit. She is at the point where she dosn't really need a nap every day. If she takes a nap she has a harder time going to sleep at night unless we keep her up really late, but if she doesn't take one she gets a little grumpy in the evening. So lately I've been setting the timer for an hour and I make her sit on her bed doing something quiet and if she is really tired she lays down and falls asleep before the timer goes off. But only if she goes to bed good and isn't grumpy, otherwise she has to take a nap. It's kind of nice. That way I still get my break and get some work done. After dinner I took the kids outside to swim. Max had fun running around the yard with the little football after he got out of the pool. Then while they were playing I picked up a bucket and got stung by a bee. I didn't see it on the side of the bucket and it stung me on my finger. So I decided it was time to go inside. I got both kids in bed by 8:30 tonight and now I'm just waiting up till Bruce gets home from work. He is working second shift this week so he won't be home till 12:30.