The Quick 5 That Almost Wasn't (Or, Will Write for Blue Parrot)

I wasn't going to write this today.  It's been a slow week of much of the same, and I was feeling less than inspired.  Then my cousin mentioned Blue Parrot spaghetti, and my dad said something about taking her some (in Colorado Springs) and I said he should bring some by here on the way down, and he said "Not without a Quick 5."  I don't know if he's joking or not, but on the off chance that he's not, here you go.  (If he IS joking, that's really mean.  You don't joke about Blue Parrot.)

1.  I suppose it's common knowledge that we won the Chick-fil-a photo contest.  Barely.  We were neck and neck with another family.  I wrote last week about how we were ahead all week and would win unless something crazy happened.  Well, something crazy happened.  We were ahead by around 40 likes on Friday.  Then Friday evening I just happened to check through, feeling like a goob since we were ahead so far, and LO AND BEHOLD a family was ahead of us by a couple of likes!  So we spent Saturday calling family and making sure they liked it and shared it.  We were at my parents' house, and even my fabulous mother was calling and texting friends, making sure they liked it too.  Well, the lead between us and them kept changing, back and forth, all day.  At 4:55, we were behind by one or two.  The contest ended at 5:00.  Well, at 5:00 on the nose, we were ahead by ONE.  At 5:03, they were ahead by three or four.  We weren't sure if the people at Chick-fil-a were watching and checked at 5:00 or were just going to check after 5:00 sometime.  But they did.  Which means we won.  We had 130 likes to their 129 at 5:00.  And we got our prize in the mail yesterday: 17 free chicken sandwich meals and 18 free kids meals.  It was worth all the calling and texting, even though we felt so silly for caring so much.  It's a great prize.  (I also noticed that the other family got a second place prize.  I'm glad for them.)

2.  Swimming lessons ended today, and Alaina passed!  She sort of passed last year, with the condition that we practice bobs.  Well, we don't swim much, so we didn't practice bobs, and that's why I put her in Level 1 again.  But this year she passed with flying colors.  And Joya is very much looking forward to next year when she can get in the pool too.

3.  We hit another milestone with Bria this week: laughing at her sisters.  Until now, she would giggle if you tickled her (she's very ticklish) or flew her through the air like an airplane.  But the other night, after a very fussy day, I had her on my lap, facing out.  Alaina put a pillow on her head, let it drop, then fell on it.  And Bria started cracking up.  So both Alaina and Joya started falling over.  And Bria belly laughed every time.  Makes me wonder what would happen if we let her watch The Three Stooges.

4.  Have any of you been watching the new show Get Out Alive with Bear Grylls?  You should.  If you like adventure/survival/camping/Feast Pit type things.  Or Bear Grylls.  It's on NBC at 8:00pm. 

5.  It's been awhile, so it's time for another comparison:

Alaina - 5 months

Joya - 5 months

Bria - 5 months

My niece is being born today.  Yay!

Dad, I'm a meatball fan...although I would gladly give up the meatball for MORE spaghetti.  :)

Quick 5

Ah, summer.

1.  Cow Appreciation Day was a success.  It truly is one of our favorite days of the year.  I like to sit in the Chick-fil-a and shake my head at the people who walk in dressed in normal clothes.  Don't they know how easy it is to get a full free meal?  Sure, you feel dumb for about 5 minutes the first year, but after that it's no big deal.  And it's FREE CHICK-FIL-A.  Our local Chick-fil-a also does a photo contest on their Facebook page.  They take pictures of all the groups that come in, and the one with the most likes gets seven free meals per person in the photo.  I'm not gonna lie...we're really hoping to win.  And so far, unless something crazy happens, it looks like we just might.  The contest ends tomorrow, so we're still trying to keep our hopes at reasonable levels.  But it would be awesome.
**Shameless Plug**  There's still time to vote!  Just go to my Facebook page, scroll down and click on the picture of us dressed as cows.  :)  Make sure you like the actual picture, and not just the picture posted on my page!

2.  The biggest thing of the week has been swimming lessons.  This is Alaina's second year and she loves it, of course.  Joya had a rough couple of days at the beginning of the week, as she was overcome with jealousy.  But swimming lessons start at age 3, so she had to sit this year out.  Hopefully next year I can find a Tiny Tunas class at the same time that Alaina will have class, because there will be war in the camp if Joya can't go swimming next year too.

Bria just chills for the lesson

Waiting for her teacher

Doing bobs

Joya is Phase One of the lesson - eating snack

Joya in Phase Two - playing with toys

Joya in Phase Three - wandering.  She found a friend the other day

 Alaina's teacher is great.  It makes me wish I had taught swimming lessons when I was younger.  I could do what she does...except I'm not always that great with 3 to 5 year olds that aren't my own.  And I would just like to say that I love taking swimming pictures.  They turn out awesome.

3.  We've had a bunny problem in our yard.  I suppose it's not a big deal; they're not really hurting anything.  We've been worried that they'll get in our garden, but that hasn't really been the case yet.  they just annoy us with their brazen usage of our yard.  So Lee borrowed a live trap from his co-workers and set it out.  So far we've caught two bunnies, which Lee has taken away from our house and set free.  I'm not sure how humane it is, since he is setting them free in a place where they will probably get eaten by coyotes or something.  But at least we don't have to deal with dead bunnies.  Because one dead bunny per summer is enough for me.

4.  The Great Potty Training Tribulation is almost over, I think.  Joya is now wearing real underwear during the day, and has only had one accident this week.  I am always surprised when I remember that it's only been three weeks since we started this.  Joya is now at the phase where if she is bored or wants to be out of her room she tells me she has to go potty.  It happens often during room time, and once at swimming lessons.  I get her to the bathroom and she says she does NOT have to go, but can she please be done in her room, or can we go home. 

5.  We're on Baby Watch this next week or so.  No, not for Kate Middleton's baby.  Who cares about that.  My sister is about to pop with her third.  I love this phase of our lives, where I'm excited to hear my phone ring because one of my sisters is having a baby.  Hopefully Baby Watch will only last through the weekend.  I predicted she will be born on the 21st.  Make it happen, baby girl!

:)

Quick 5

1.  I had hoped to get this picture in last week's Quick 5, but the picture didn't happen until Saturday, right before Gramma and Grampa left.  So here you go.

2.  Every morning Bria swings in her swing while we eat breakfast.  She usually falls asleep, and then I just put her in her bed.  It's a lovely morning routine.

Sleeping with a death grip on her star

3.  The biggest news of the week is probably the shift of Bria's schedule.  Since we're schedule people, this was a really big deal for us.  I switched Bria from a 3 hour to a 4 hour feeding schedule.  She handled that like a champ.  There were no tears of hunger at all, which tells me I probably could have done this a couple of weeks ago.  Changing up the feeding schedule meant changing up her napping schedule.  She had been taking four naps a day.  Now she's down to three: a two-hour morning nap, a three-hour afternoon nap, and a 30-45 minute dinner time nap.  The napping thing was a bit harder to adjust to, and by harder I mean it took her a WHOLE DAY to adjust.  That's it.  So now my girls are all in rest time/nap time from 1:00 to 2:00 (Alaina's down from 1:00 to 2:00, Joya's down from 12:30 to 2:00, and Bria's down from 12:00 to 3:00).  So I now have a full hour of kid free time each day.  It's weird.

4.  The Great Tribulation is going relatively well around here.  Joya has her good days and bad days, but the good days seem to be happening a bit more frequently.  I am always surprised and delighted when she tells me she has to go, then actually GOES in the potty.  We're also doing great at weaning off the jelly bean reward.  Mostly she asks if she can have a jelly bean the minute she uses the potty, and I say yes, then we clean up and she forgets about it.  Maybe she just really likes the idea of the jelly bean, and doesn't need the actual jelly bean to feel rewarded.  We'll go with that.

5.  Today is one of our favorite days of the year: Cow Appreciation Day.  We missed it last year because we were in Alaska, but the Kimble family will be appearing at Chick-fil-a in all our cow glory for free food tonight.  Pictures to come.

So there you go.

Quick 5

Oh say can you see?

1.  Gramma and Grampa Kimble have been here all week, and it's been a blast.  Grampa has been making our house better once again, and Gramma has been entertaining the Littles and potty training Joya (who is doing great, by the way.  Maybe one more week and she'll graduate to REAL underwear.)  I should have kept a better list on all the projects Grampa has been doing around the house, because the list is long.  That and all the grilling has made the week excellent.  We weren't planning a vacation this summer, but this week more than made up for it.

Gramma and the Girls

Grampa and Bria

 2.  The girls got a sandbox from Grammy and Grandad for their birthdays this year, and already it has provided hours of fun.  Grampa set it up for them and has even tossed coins in there a few times for them to find.  Alaina proudly showed us her TWO coins one day (two pennies) and I know she felt she got the better deal to Joya's ONE coin (a dime.)  It might be time to teach about the value of coins.  Anyway, the sandbox is a hit, and we've had minimal sand end up in Joya's pants.

Thanks for the sand toys, Aunt Jamie and Uncle Nick!

3.  Grampa also blew up a pool that Grammy and Grandad had given us last year.  That too has been a big hit.  Even when Joya's lips had turned blue and she was shivering like a church potluck jello salad, she refused to get out.  And there were many tears when they were told it was time for dinner.  It's been wonderful to have so many adults around to supervise, since someone needs to be available for Bria while someone needs to keep an eye on the girls. 

4.  We celebrated the Fourth in low-key, Kimble favorite fashion: grilling brats, then going to the Gilletts for more grilled food.  The girls had tons of fun with their friends, and we were around all of our favorite people, including Lee's parents and my parents.  We didn't seek out any firework shows this year, as I'm too much of a fan of getting the girls to bed and Bria definitely couldn't have lasted in any fashion that would have been fun for me.  But I'm not sorry about it.  There will be plenty of years for fireworks.  Until then we'll just make do with our friends (and that's hardly a bad thing.)

5.  These two little girls are growing fast all of a sudden.  Maybe I'll have to rescind my view on kids growing fast.  It's just we were stuck for awhile, but now all of a sudden Bria no longer needs to be swaddled and is on the cusp of sleeping 12 hours at night, and Joya is almost potty trained and acting like a real little girl instead of a needy toddler.  I'm so proud I could bust.

Bria - 4 months

 We're so sad to see Gramma and Grampa go, but so glad they were able to come.  Just six more weeks of normal before school starts, I guess.