Who sleeps like that?

Answer: Ava

This is how Ryan found her in bed when he came home from work at one o'clock in the morning.

Look What the Wind Blew In

Michael had family event in Houston last week, so the Melink\Strickland clan hopped in their plane and made the 8 hour trip down to TX (better than 20+ hours of driving). Katie and Austin enjoyed a trip to a water park and hanging out with their cousins. However, what trip to TX is complete without a trip to San Antonio, so despite a very tight time line, thunderstorms, and too much traveling, they hopped back in their plane and took a detour to visit us. I think they were in town a total of 15 hours, but we made to most of the visit. Dinner at a local resturant with lots of picinic tables, a giant playgound, and astro turf field for the kids to play on. Austin was in heaven. Stayed up late talking. Then breakfast tacos brought back medical school memoires (or maybe nightmares) for Michael.

Gina-Mom and Katie got their baby fix.

Elizabeth got her plane fix. Ava found a new doll, "Little Katie." She made the real Katie carry around "Baby Ava." Austin ended up with minor surgery with a K-bar for a splinter. The time we had together was too short, we certainly wish we lived closer to all the grandparents. We enjoy their company, and I know they love seeing the kids grow up.

Happy Children

Included in this post are some random pictures of the kids at during their happy, not fighting with each other moments. Elizabeth and Ava are quite the fish. Swimming lesson have really helped. Even Ava is swimming now without floaties. True, she can only swim as far as one breath will take her, but she can hold her breath for a long time. Long enough for her to swim from one side of Gram's pool to the other.

Casey loves his crib and doesn't mind hanging out in it, the girls thought it would be fun to play in it with him. After about about 30 seconds of jumping around and trying to smoother Casey, I figured I better put them all on the floor before it turned into a cage match. Plus, I didn't the crib would withstand it either, but it has been a great hand-me-down crib, lasting through 5 kids. Good thing the crib mattress has a 20 year warranty.

Even at this young age, Casey enjoys reading. This is a beginner book for him, most of the time he reads 200-300 page hardback historical literature.

Casey is also very pleased that he can now climb into Ava's bed. The lower bunk is fast becoming a favorite hang out for the kids.

You did WHAT!

That was my mom's response when I told her that I took my girls to get their ear pierced. This was from a woman who didn't let me pierce my ears until I was 12. Personally, I thought I would wait until each girl was about 5-6 years old to let them get earrings. Ryan said he had no opinion in the matter. However about 2 weeks ago the girls started asking me to get their ears pierced. I am not sure who or what put the idea into their head, it is not like they know a lot of girls who have pierced ears. I told them it would hurt, I pinched theirs, and told them to think about it for a week. I figured it was no big deal. I already help them brush their teeth and wipe their butts, so what if I have to help them clean their ears for 6 weeks. Well, the week came and went, and they were still asking me, so I set a date for over the holiday weekend. On Sunday, we headed to the mall. At the store, there were a couple of other elementary school age girls debating getting their ears pieced. All of the girls watched and 18 year old guy get both ears pierce, which brought on a whole slew of questions of when could Casey get his ears pierced. My answer was not for a very long time. Still undecided, the bigger girls deferred their place in line to Elizabeth and Ava. The girls eagerly picked out their earrings. Elizabeth went with fake diamond, and Ava opted for pink jeweled flowers. Then I asked who was going to go first, each named the other. I thought that was going to be the end. I wasn't going to push the girls into piercing their ears. All of a sudden, Elizabeth told me that she would go first. She hopped up in the chair, but started to cry as they were marking her ears. I think she was a bit anxious about the pain, and the dozen people watching her. I asked her if she still wanted to do it, and she said yes. The store manager handed Elizabeth a lollipop, and the tears stopped. Two workers, two guns, two seconds later... earrings in... 20 seconds later all crying ceased. After seeing Elizabeth cry, even briefly, Ava said that she didn't want to get her ears pierced. I said that she could wait, and started packing up all of our stuff to leave. Then Ava started whining about wanting a lollipop. I told her that the lollipop was part of a package deal with earrings. She started to waver, and said that she wanted earrings and a lollipop. I put her in the chair, and as they were marking her ears, Ava tried to back out again. Knowing Ava, if she didn't go through with this I was going to have to listen to at least another week of whining about lollipops and ear piercing, so I told the ladies to load the guns and just do it. As with Elizabeth, they pierced both of her ears at the same time and she cried less than Elizabeth. She got her lollipop and couldn't be more pleased with her earrings. Both girls are tickled pink about their earrings (Ava complains minimally when I clean them), and they love showing off their sparkly earrings to their teachers, friends, and family. P.S. After Elizabeth and Ava got their ears pierced, one of the older girls followed through.

4th of July

Ryan had to work all of the holiday weekend, so the kids and I had a get together with our own friends. I made plans with my friend Christen, whose husband is an ER doctor currently serving in Iraq. When I think I have it rough, I just think of her trying to juggle three kids (Jenna 5, Ben 4, Ryan 2) by herself for 6 months. Elizabeth and Ben play on the same T-ball team, and the rest of our kids get along extremely well. Therefore, we had our own celebration at Christen's house with hot dogs, cake, and pool time (plus beer for the grown-ups). No fireworks, due to drought conditions here in San Antonio. It was a good afternoon, never as relaxed as you would hope it to be, but then again we were trying to referee 6 kids.