Thursday, August 28, 2008

My boys

I love this one of Micah and Curtis.


And I love this one of Curtis and Benjamin.
Don't they look sweet.... they've fooled us all!

Are you kidding?

This afternoon was my afternoon "off". I watched a friends son, and in return, she was going to take Elizabeth home for the afternoon. My plan was that I was going to clean, cook, and clean more. I had high and loft goals, people!!

Then Benjamin didn't go to sleep. Didn't he get the memo?!?! I've got stuff to do!!

Almost two hour after the first time I laid him down, he fell asleep. Well, at least I'll have a little break.

About 10 minutes later, out walks my sweet Micah.

Sigh.

Oh well! You know what they say about the best laid plans.....

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Backfire

This morning, we are getting ready to go to my Young Mom's Bible Study. It's been a bit of a crazy morning, and I felt like I wasn't paying much attention to the kids.... just throwing their food at them, bathing them, and slapping some clothes on them. After I finished doing Elizabeth's hair we had this conversation, which was my attempt to make her feel special.

Me: Elizabeth, you look so beautiful.
E: Thank you!
Me: Who made you so beautiful.
E: God.
Me: That's right! God made you very beautiful.
E: Yeah, God made me very beautiful, but only made you a little beautiful. God didn't make you as beautiful as me.

And off she went, and I was left thinking, "Gee, that plan really backfired!"

Monday, August 25, 2008

Stalling and braiding

This video clip was taken last night, right before Micah went to bed. He has become quite the master staler!

And just for the record, I don't know WHY that crazy boy thinks that there is something wrong with Grand-Daddy's orange car... yes, my father drives an orange car). More stalling perhaps?



And in other news, I can now do an inverted french braid!! But no, I didn't make that bow (you can tell because it's so little!).



Micah-ism and Elizabeth-ism

See my Dad's blog for a funny story about Elizabeth. That kid is NUTS!

This evening, I was bathing the kids. Elizabeth was out, and I was getting read to rinse the boys and get them out too. I said, "Krajca boys....." and before I could finish with, "... it's time to get out!" Micah says, " To the rescue!" I died laughing, which kept Micah saying, "Krajca boys to the rescue!!" which made Benjamin laugh and clap.

And for a fun flash back, see this post on my Dad's blog.

Our Fall

Maybe it's because I'm a teacher. Maybe it's because I crave the busyness of this time of year. Who knows, but I love this time of year!! With the new school year starting, with the hope of a break from the heat, with holiday plans already taking shape, we have been getting ready for our fall!

Here's what each of us will be up to this fall.

Curtis has gotten a part time job at Academy, working 15 hours a week. We decided to do this for several reasons, the most exciting of which is that it will allow us to get ready for him to return to school in the spring!! Curtis is half way through his master's degree program, but took time off when we started having all these babies! He only has three semesters left and I think he is very excited to finish what he started five years ago. As of right now, he will be going to Prairie View A&M, which is an hour away. Curtis will also continue with his deacon duties at church, and the church softball team. And I think the most exciting part of his fall will be when we celebrate his 30th birthday!

Elizabeth already has a very full schedule too! She will begin tap lessons next week, and the week after tap begins, ballet will start. Tap has been something she's wanted to do for a while now, and I'm excited about where she will be going, and the new opportunity for her. Next Monday, she and I will begin "school". I've been collecting some Pre-K curriculum, and the teacher in my is jumping at the opportunity to start really working with her!

Micah is looking forward to just tagging along with the rest of us in our craziness. He is also hoping that he will be able to finish potty training (the stomach bug that he had a couple weeks ago and the antibiotic induced diarrhea have made that a challenge). And on a side note, he is still doing GREAT in church with us! What a blessing it has been to have two of my children in worship! I think Micah's main goal for this fall will be to find an answer his favorite question.... "Why?"

Benjamin is excited about a much calmer time in his little life. Now that we're not going to Austin all the time, he's been able to get on a little more of a routine. He is trying to go to one nap a day, which I love!! He's also becoming much more animated and very comical! And we're at the fun point where he's learning to say more words, as well as learning many animal sounds. He is a true delight!

You can kinda see how my fall is going to be, based on everyones schedule. I'm planning on going back to the school where I used to teach to do some tutoring. I'll only be working about five to seven hours a week. I'm really excited to get back into the school setting! And of course, I'm really excited to start working with Elizabeth in our homeschool... which is an entire other post!

So there's our "little" recap of our fall. I'm very excited about all the changes that are taking place!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

The things that hide in the linen closet.


I heard Benjamin banging the linen closet doors last night, after bath time. I went to investigate and saw....
....fingers....
.... and a Micah .....
.... and then both boys were in "hiding" in the closet.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

"Art" time

Today we had Hannah and Nathan over for most of the day. Yesterday, at Target I had picked up these window markers. The kids loved them! Hannah and Elizabeth, hard at work on their art project.
Micah and Nathan also working hard.

I also picked up some really big crayons for Benjamin. As you can tell, he had fun. And when he was done coloring, he greatly enjoyed throwing the crayons!


Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Poor Micah....

.... just can't catch a break!

Sunday evening, after we thought he was doing well after his bought with the tummy virus, he crashed at 6:30. Very unusual! Yesterday, he continued to act very lethargic, and would occasionally run a very low grade temp.

This morning, I had an ENT appointment for him, to check on his tubes. (He had tubes put in when he was about 13 months old, and last we check one was almost out). One of the tubes had fallen out, which is totally normal, but the abnormal part was that Micah had an ear infection. His other ear, where he still had a tube, was fine. The doctor also asked me about the state of his nose. Runny. All the time.

So, the doctor, knowing Micah's history with ear troubles, is going to have us go back in a month. If there is even a little fluid in his ear, we will get tubes. While he's out, they are probably going to go ahead and remove his adenoids too.

Doesn't all this sound familiar?

I asked the doctor about the possibility of allergy testing, since that has been another problem of Micah's, even causing some asthma type problems. The doc said that we could possibly do some allergy testing while he was out too.

For now, he's just on some antibiotics to clear up his ears. And in a month, we'll see where we are. If Micah does require surgery, this will be our family's seventh surgery in two and a half years. :-) Thankfully, most of them have been fairly minor, as should Micah's. Now we just have to try to see if we can get a three-for-the-price-of-one deal on tubes with the Findleys!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Back in the land of the living!

We all feel great! We are all doing great! And we've had a really great weekend.

Yesterday afternoon, we started trying to think of something fun we could do AND see people! All five of us were anxious to get out of the house, and back to the land of the living. We ended up going to the pool with our friends the Haileys. But, we weren't able to actually swim, because the pool has started closing early. Oh, no!! We had five upset little kiddos, several of whom were already life jackets. Thankfully, Ben and Beth sweetly offered for us to come over to their house and play outside. And it ended up being a great evening! We had so much fun, the kids had fun, and we learned that Mr. Hailey can make quite the tasty drink.... a Pain Killer.

This morning we were able to go to church and worship. It was a very nice morning!! A great big thank you to Jamison for sitting with us while Daddy did his deaconly duties. You were a HUGE lifesaver during the prayer for the people! :-)

This evening we were supposed to have the Water Wars, but they were cancelled due to possible inclement weather. I was so bummed! Then the Ackermans called, and we were able to spend a fun evening with them. Other than the great company, the best part of the evening was eating food with flavor! Spaghetti!!! It was so tasty! Laura made Rice Krispy treats, which we polished off while watching the Olympics. A perfect end to a great weekend!

It was so nice to see people again this weekend!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Micah-isms

Earlier this week, when Micah and I were both really sick and I wasn't sure I was going to live to see the weekend, I was laying on the couch when Micah came up and said, "No Skittles for me. I throw up on the floor." With his little arms crossed, and resting on the couch arm, he was so serious, and I couldn't help but laugh!

Probably at some point that same day, I was laying in bed. Curtis had come in to check on me, and was followed by Micah who announced, "I need to throw up!" He went into the bathroom, put his hands on either side of the toilet seat, made some a lovely retching noise, stood up and sadly said, "I just can't throw up!" Here's a picture of Micah today. He fell asleep at about 11:30 while watching TV with Daddy.

Back down hill

I'm puking again, Curtis is having "issues" too. The big kids seem okay, but only if they eat BRAT. And we're not sure about the baby. He's been sleeping a lot, so I think he's trying to fight something off.

Bummer of a way to start the day!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

To take my mind off the poop....

**Don't worry! I added a little health update at the bottom. :-)**
To help take my mind off all the poop, and because I know I won't be able to for much longer, I treated Benjamin like my little baby. I gave him a bath, using Johnson's. I lotioned him up. And I put him in a sleeper. Yep, a fleece sleeper in the middle of August in south Texas!! The I snuggles him, and enjoyed the was he smelled and felt.
Looking at the pictures of Micah in the same sleeper really made me want to savor those little moment when I can treat my toddler kinda like a baby still. Or at least make him look and smell like my baby!Micah, on his first birthday.
Because I know all too soon, my sweet little baby/toddler will turn into a bouncing, full of energy, don't-take-my-picture, little boy.
A little update in the poop department (I know, you are all so very excited!)
  • I felt tons better today! Thank you all so much for your prayers!
  • Curtis is still a little iffy, but doing okay, and was able to go to work today.
  • Elizabeth, we're still not sure about. She has been very tired, kinda weepy but not major poo problems.
  • Micah was doing great today. Then he had a horrible, major, gross, and icky set back.
  • Benjamin seems to be doing pretty good.
So there's the latest and greatest. We really are doing tons better than we were a couple days ago! My poor children are so tired of crackers, apple sauce and Cheerios. Hopefully, more exciting food is in our future.

Blue Bell Pictures!

Good news! My stomach has decided to accept food! I have again joined the land of the living! And to celebrate, here are the pictures of our trip to Blue Bell.

The Krajca 3, sporting their cool hats, getting ready for the tour. And on a side note, don't you just love their matching monkey shirts?! My Mom got those for the kids, knowing how much I love matching clothes. I decided to put them in their matching shirts as an added safety measure. If one of the kids got lost, all I had to do was take one of my other monkey clad kids and say, "I'm looking for a child wearing a shirt exactly like this!" Aren't I smart?

Elizabeth with her Papaw and Memaw. Okay, let's take a quick moment to notice her bows. Yes, I made them. Yes, I made them the night before. Yes, I made them especially to match her monkey shirt. And yes, I wanted them to be that big! She loved them and looked adorable!

The good part of the tour.... ice cream!!! Benjamin sat right down and dug into his ice cream. Notice the monkey on his back? That's a "child leash" that we got for Elizabeth when I was pregnant with Micah. Before I had children, I swore that I would NEVER be one of THOSE parents who put her child on a leash! I would have perfect, obedient children who wouldn't run away from me. However, when I was nine months pregnant with an 11 lb baby, chasing a 21 month old, I knew I didn't want to be one of THOSE parents on the news, crying about losing her child at the mall. So we got this adorable leash. The monkey is a harness and a back pack, and the tail is the leash part. So cute! Elizabeth kept asking, "Can I walk Benjamin now?"

Elizabeth didn't care what flavor ice cream she got, as long as it was pink! Good girl!

Micah started out with green ice cream (mint chocolate chip) but decided he would rather have cookies 'n creme. Unfortunately, this is about the time his tummy started giving him the most grief, and he really didn't eat much ice cream at all.

The Krajca 3 by the Blue Bell truck. We have several cute pictures by the truck, but I'm afraid I'm reach my picture maximum for this blog.
It was VERY sunny outside, so I kept my sun glasses on and poor Elizabeth just had to squint.
My boys!
The Krajca 3 on the Blue Bell cow. The cow was rather hot, as you can tell from Micah's expression! Now, let's play a quick game called, Were's Daddy?
Papaw and Memaw with the tired, hungry, sick Krajca 3.
All in all, we had really fun time. The area outside of Blue Bell was BEAUTIFUL with lots of flowers, and landscaping. They had a fun little gift shop, and of course a little ice cream parlor. The tour itself wasn't that interesting, and since the kids were coming unglued, it made for a rough time. Next time, I think we'll skip the tour, just get ice cream, and play outside!
Thanks to Papaw and Memaw for coming to visit! We really enjoyed seeing you guys. We're so sorry that the trip ended with half of us sick. Maybe next time we'll all be well. We love you guys!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Time with Papaw and Memaw Part 2

I'm sure you're expecting to see all the adorable pictures from our little trip to Blue Bell. Unfortunately, those will come a little later. Here's why.

Monday morning, the morning of our trip to Blue Bell, we woke up at 5:30 to no AC. We called our home warranty company, fully expecting them to be able to come out that afternoon, once we were home, to fix our AC. Through a series of phone calls, most of which left me frustrated with stupid people, we find out that the AC company won't be coming out till Tuesday at noon. I used the three-young-kids-in-the-house card. That only guaranteed that someone would be out within 24 hours from when I called, which ended up being about noon on Tuesday.

Determined to enjoy our time with Papaw and Memaw at Blue Bell, we pressed on. The challenge to this "press on attitude" came in the form of lots of diarrhea from Micah. We could tell that he just didn't feel well when he didn't want to eat any ice cream at the end of our tour. Not a good sign! Then Benjamin started having some iffy diapers.

After lunch at McDonald's, several gross diapers, we went home to our hot and humid house. Our hope was that it wouldn't be too terribly hot, we could let the boys nap, then head to a friend's house till Papaw and Memaw came back and we could hang out at their nicely cooled hotel room.

By about 3:30, we were miserably hot! I somehow fell asleep in the heat, only to wake up with the same issues as the boys were having, though Benjamin seemed to be doing okay at this point.

Our very kind, dear, loving friends the Findleys let us crash at their house for about an hour. What a blessing it was! And Happy birthday Michael!!

At about 5:00, we headed to the Krajca's hotel, and they graciously took us out to dinner. Micah and I had to make several trip to and from the bathroom during dinner, but we were very thankful to not be in our hot house!

We stayed at the hotel, where Papaw and Memaw took Elizabeth swimming, while Curtis ran to the store to see if there was anything we could give Micah for his not stop diarrhea, and I laid on the couch in the hotel feeling miserable. By the way, there is nothing over the counter that you can give a two year old with diarrhea. We now know that their kidneys are too young to handle anything.

At about 9, we went back to our hot, humid, stuffy house, which wasn't nearly as cooled down as we had hoped. All three kids went down fairly easily, and our every kind and helpful friends the Arnolds let us borrow three fans to try to make the night bearable. Curtis rigged the fans up maximizing the amount of coolish moving air, and I dosed on the couch while watching the Olympics. At about 11, I woke up, ran to the bathroom, and puked everywhere. And hour later, Micah did the same thing.

If there's anything worse that having terrible tummy issues, it's having terrible tummy issues in at house that is well over 80 degrees.

Our night was rough. Both Micah and I continued to have our tummy troubles through the day. Thankfully, Curtis was able to stay home and help. And by 1:30 yesterday afternoon, we had AC again!

This morning, I woke up to the baby crying, optimistic that today would be a better day in the tummy department. Shortly after that, Benjamin puked all over me. So now he's down with the tummy troubles. Curtis is feeling pretty bad and having some mind tummy issues. Micah and I both feel pretty crummy, but our tummies are better off than yesterday. And so far, Elizabeth has avoided the whole thing!

So, that's the latest from the Krajca house. Terribly exciting, but not in a good way!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Time with Papaw and Memaw

Yesterday, Aunt Shannon had to head back north. But, we were lucky enough to have Papaw and Memaw come in yesterday late afternoon! Last night was a nice, quiet evening.

After naps this afternoon, we headed to The Bounce to play and burn some of that extra energy that my children seem to have so much of. Here are a few pictures from our fun evening with Papaw and Memaw!

Micah, mid jump in the mini ball pit.

Micah, Daddy and Papaw watching Elizabeth being daring. The last time we went to The Bounce, the rock wall was closed, so she was very excited to get to climb it this time.


She did an amazing job!
Papaw, a squirmy Micah, and Memaw.
Papaw, a stoic Benjamin and Memaw.
All three kids had a great time on the multiple slide available.I love how Micah almost looks on the verge of panic.
Benjamin going down the big slide to Papaw. Poor Curtis had to climb up with him, then toss him down. This picture was right before he did his flip/roll maneuver! Once he got to the bottom, he wasn't too sure.....
But then it was a BIG grin, and he was ready to go again!
Tomorrow we are heading to the Blue Bell factory. Should be another fun day, with Papaw and Memaw!

Friday, August 08, 2008

Ever wonder what you do with an art degree?


Fun outside

Last night, Shannon and I decided that we were waaayy too tired to try to go to the pool with the kids. But, since I am after all, SUPER MOM, I had water balloons and water guns ready for a fun evening outside. Watch out, he's armed!
So is Shannon, and she's had an exhausting day. Don't mess with her!
"I know there is way to get water into this gun...."
Check out the water balloon flying towards Shannon's head. Elizabeth was the thrower!
And the balloon flying towards Curtis' head. Elizabeth threw this balloon too.
It was a very fun evening. Wet, but fun!

Girl time!

This afternoon, we had some girl time! Curtis was able to work from home, so he worked while the boys slept. Aunt Shannon and Elizabeth
A very happy Elizabeth with Mommy
Sissyters! Elizabeth actually took this picture.
Elizabeth eating her worms in dirt dessert.


The girls!
No, it was not raining. But Elizabeth really wanted to bring her umbrella to stay out of the sun.


After out dessert at TGI Friday's, and a quick trip to the fountain, we went to Charming Charlie's. We had lots of fun and made some really great memories!