Looking forward to Summer!

Here at the Foutz household, we cannot think of anything better than SUMMER!!
Just last night we purchased a membership at our local Rec Center. We are so excited. Not only do they have a very fun indoor pool (above)- complete with a lazy river and a big tube slide, but they have fabulous outdoor pools as well. (below).












I took the girls swimming for a little bit last night (indoors) and they had a ball. It is next door to the Olympic Ice Arena (which is included in our membership), and has a couple of Olympic Size swimming pools in addition to the one pictured above. Bella will do swimming lessons in a week or two, so hopefully she'll pick it up quick. I can't take 3 non-swimmers to the pool by myself!

Also on our summer fun schedule are the summer movies. We bought our tickets today. Every summer there's a movie or two the moms have to suffer through, but the kids absolutely love it. It's every Wednesday at our local theater (10 minutes away). 10 movies, 1 each week, for $5 per person. A great deal!

We also now have a pass to "Discovery Gateway", our local Children's Museum and Science Center. It is so much fun and we look forward to attending over the next year. Since Bella will be going to school downtown, I think Sofie, Reed and I will be using it quite a bit!

Seasons, Schmeasons

Seasons . . . who needs 'em?

I was quite content with perfect and ridiculously hot.

A Surprise Donation

I had to post this because I think it is so awesome! I borrowed the info from Janell's blog - she's the YW Pres. in our former ward in Gilbert. Because I worked so closely with the young women while in Arizona - their successes always make me so happy!


From Janelle's blog:
"So we had a fund rasiser for Girls Camp today. I made some neon green signs and put them on the road. Some of the girls were out by the street, waving cars into the parking lot where we were having a Car Wash.

About 45 minutes before we finished, a black police car turned in and stopped. Cortney went over to the car because the driver rolled the window down and motioned for her to come over. She hesitantly walked over because she saw a big black man inside. He handed $200 to her and she thanked him. She asked if he wanted us to wash his car but he declined, wished us luck and drove to the other end of the parking lot. When Cortney turned around, she had a weird look on her face. I said to her, "That looked like Shaq, didn't it?" She said, "That's what I thought. He gave us $200!" It then clicked for all of us... THAT WAS SHAQUILLE O'NEAL!!! At this point, he was driving back toward the road, so the girls were screaming and swarmed his car, thanking him and asking him if he wanted us to wash his car. He again declined, so I asked if he would take his picture with the girls, to which he agreed. (I took the photo, so I'm not in it.)

Oh my goodness! We were all SO excited and the girls had a hard time focusing on washing the rest of the cars after that. Getting their photo taken with him was probably more important to them than the $200 he donated. Needless to say, today will be talked about for a long time to come."


Isn't that just crazy?

Back to the Emerald City we go!

So we embark on yet another journey tomorrow ~ our return home. I hired my niece Nani to babysit for us again tonight, because my parents wanted to take me out to eat. She assured me she was good, we had the kids ready for bed, Reed was in bed, and she had my cell phone number.

We came home and she said everything was great. Kids appeared to be happy and having fun, house was great. Then her dad came to pick her up. He was cracking up at the telephone call he had received.

Apparently Bella was crying because she missed her dad {not unusual, happened about 500 times this trip}. Then Sofie started crying, saying the same thing. Pretty soon, Nani started feeling bad, because before she came over to babysit, she was upset at her dad for arguing with him. So she called Dale in tears apologizing for how she behaved. Her dad accepted her apology, but had to chuckle, because here were the two kids crying, and their babysitter was boo-hooing right with them! I thought it was hilarious!

My fortune at dinner ~ Do something unusual tomorrow. Wish me luck, I'll need it!

Get your lemonade!

My cute niece Natalie (Nani as we call her) is 11 and babysat for me yesterday. It was her first babysitting job, and I think she did a fabulous job. She even changed 2 poopy diapers (which earned her a tip!).

While we were at the movie, she and Bella came up with the idea to do a lemonade stand. After seeing their cute posters, I couldn't say no. So I stood out on the corner with them for about an hour. Reed sat in his little chair and every time the girls hollered "lemonade" at a passing car, he would wave his little hand. I tried it today, and he still waves when I say the word!

They had little bells they found in Grandma's garage and would ring them and smile and wave when people drove by. They had a few buyers, and ended up each making $1.25 after the hour.

As a side note: Mom thought 25 cents a cup was highway robbery. She thought they should be charging 5-10 cents a cup. My dad asked "What? Did she grow up during the Great Depression?" I told mom, "the lemonade is 5 cents, the cute smiles and faces will cost you another 20 cents!"

Bella thinks when she gets home, her dad is going to do it with her!

Prince Caspian

I took Mom & Debbie out to see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie "Prince Caspian". We loved it. I felt it measured right up to the first and was such a great movie. If you're a fan - it is a must see!

Beautiful Botanicals

The last part of the River Festival that we participated in was a visit to Botanica.

We loved the many beautiful flowers, and the music that was being performed on the stage that you could hear throughout the gardens.

The kids all loved a visit to the "butterfly house", and the many activities going on around. They each got a balloon, a tattoo (Reed got a "praying mantis"tattoo), and planted a flower that Grandma will get to plant in her flower beds.

Once again, the weather was absolutely perfect, and we had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa.

We completely wore Reed out!

Exploring

Part of the Wichita River Festival today was that you could get into the children's museum/science center "Exploration Place" for free today (with your button of course). We had a very fun time. Here are some highlights.

There was a 'medieval' roller coaster that was so cute. It was wooden, and the coaster was a horse. The girls loved it.

The children's area was a giant castle, and inside were many medieval activities. Bella and Sofie loved trying out the many instruments available.

In the 'tot' area, there were these sunflowers that faced a mirror, so that you could see yourself. A sensor in the flower made it giggle when you put your face in the flower.

Reed is so close to walking it's not even funny. I am discouraging it so that his daddy can see him take his first steps. Grandma is encouraging it because she wants to see him walk as well. He loved this little bridge. There were a couple of steps on one side and a tiny slide down the other. He would crawl up the steps, stand up, and turn around to slide down the slide (like he's going down stairs!).

Just call him "Bubble Boy"!

It's all in the merchandising

So, I can understand retail a little bit. I get it that things on "end caps" sell better than something on an aisle. I understand that items on "action alley" can grab people's attention. But what I don't get is this combination found in the local Wal-Mart.
Cemetary flowers on one side, and coolers on the other. I suppose they're getting geared up for Memorial Day.

A FIRST for Mom

For my Mom's Mother's Day gift, I treated her to a manicure and pedicure. It was the first time in her 76 years that she's ever had a professional treatment. She loved it. She said that the time she really needed one was when she had a bunch of little kids at home. I agreed, and made sure I got a pedicure myself!

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo!

How about you, you, you?
I have always loved the Sedgewick County Zoo. They are constantly updating it, and we love to to every time we visit.
Sofie got a kick out of the goats. Personally, I thought she would be terrified!

Our highlight was watching one of the elephants take a bath. He was very trained to lift his foot when told to, and support his own weight. He loved getting hosed down and the girls (and adults for that matter) found it quite entertaining.

Bella got to feed a giraffe, and it's tongue got wrapped all around her hand. I'm not quite sure why she decided to set the food on the ledge after that and not feed him from her hand.

Why Oh Why?

Why on earth would you want to make Kansas seem more 'hick' than it is? Someone from here created this chapstick and it says on the package that it was made here. A tube of it was left here at my parent's house, and when I saw it I couldn't believe it was real. I thought it was a joke. Oh, no. There's a whole line of "poop" products! Check it out here.

Personally, I think it's stupid and tacky. I don't think it's funny nor would I ever buy it, let alone put it on my lips. I don't care HOW great it is.

Hicks {I'm not talking 'Taylor'}

My sister Dayna and I have often wondered why the media does the things they do. It never fails, when there's a tornado or something major that happens in Kansas, and they recieve national news, they always pick the biggest hick EVER! It's always someone with missing teeth, terrible grammar and looks like they just crawled out from under a rock. It always bugs me that they don't pick someone that is educated {past 8th grade} or appears to be living in the 21st century.

Well, as I was riding in the taxi cab yesterday, headed to the rental car facility, I realized the kinds of people interviewed on the news really do exist. The man was commenting on Reed being my first boy and was wondering if he'd started getting into trouble. Then he proceeded to tell me how HE handles little boys that do naughty things.

1. If the little boy likes to kick, he removes the child's socks and shoes so when they kick things {such as a truck in this boy's case}, he hurts his foot. {sounded rather logical to me}

2. If the little boy likes to throw things, he attaches a toy {such as a car} to a long rubber band and uses it like a punch ball. Throws it out and catches it with his hand. Naturally the little boy wants to try this and when he does, the toy car smacks him in the head. {didn't sound very nice to me}

3. If the little boy is rude and mean, he tells the boy that he wants to give him some candy and wants to be friends. In the instance he told me, the mean little boy said "I don't want to be your friend, but I'll take the candy". The boy takes the candy and eats it. Little does he know, it's EX LAX. {No that's just mean and nasty!}

The driver laughed at this and thought it was hilarious. I couldn't wait to get my kids out of the car, and the 5 minute ride seemed like 20.

Unbelievable. Good thing this man was on the Missouri side of Kansas City. I'm sure he doesn't live in Kansas.

There's No Place Like Home

To get my girls ready for our trip to Kansas today, they've been watching "The Wizard of Oz".

Bella used to LOVE to watch it when she was Sofie's age. Her favorite was the witch. Now her favorite is, of course, Glinda. They've been intrigued by it, and once Bella figured out that Dorothy is from Kansas, her interest has peaked even more.

So we fly out this morning, just the 3 kids and I. Call me brave, call me stupid, but I sure hope I don't end up like the Wicked Witch of the East.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Enjoy your Cinco de Mayo day. If you don't attend a fiesta today - at least eat some chips and salsa!

We Love GE!

Jeff works for GE Healthcare {General Electric}. Tonight was an Open House for their facility. They had tours of the different buildings and factory. It may not sound that exciting - but it was great! Since Aileen has been in town, and we've been not only trying to feed all 18 of us, but entertain {the hardest part} 11 little ones! So our huge crew descended upon Jeff's office!
They had a huge tent set up with all different kinds of carnival games for the kids with prizes galore. All the churros, cotton candy and sno cones you could eat as well. The kids thought they'd died and gone to heaven!

Then we went inside Jeff's building and they had tons of sandwiches and a tour of the different kinds of X-ray machines they make at this facility. A great dinner!






We went to another building and they had fabulous face painting and cheese and cracker trays. The kids had a ball picking their designs. Sofie refused to have hers painted, but everyone else did - including Reed {football}.
We didn't even make it to the last building that had brownies, cookies, and balloon animals! Definitely next year. We love that GE is so good to their employees and their families. They do activities that involve the families {and are typically free} 3-4 times a year, and even more for just the employees.
Believe it or not, somewhere in my archives of photos I have one of my friend Amy and me with our faces painted. Amy was a turtle {we still don't know why} and I had a rainbow on my face. Mine wasn't sparkly or nearly as fabulous as Bella's :(