Today we ran to the commissary to pick up a few things we were out of and I guess God saw that it was my turn to be "that Mom" in the grocery store. I figure we all have to be "her" at some point. Christopher is standing up and reaching for everything saying we needed it. I'm going down the baby aisle to try to find diapers in his size and he grabs a bag putting in the cart. I'm a few feet away looking at a new one and tell him we don't need it and it's not even his size. So, he just picks it up and throws it on the floor. I'm still trying to look at the new diapers I'd just picked up and so I will get to it in a second. An old woman (yes, she deserves to be called "old") is walking by and gives me this look while picking up the diapers my son just threw down b/c apparently I'm too lazy to do it myself. Not an emergency in my opinion, but in hers I'm a bad mother. You can see it in her eyes. I finally grab the usual diapers and keep going. I get to the baby food to grab a little more for Sophie since we are headed out of town this weekend. And Christopher, again, says we needed the one he was reaching for and as soon as the words "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" come out of my mouth, the glass jar of baby food in his hand, the bottom one mind you, knocks the top one crashing to the floor. Baby food everywhere and another old couple walks by giving me a bad look. I'm not sure what was going on today b/c usually we can't get through the store without at least one or two sweet, sweet senior citizens stopping to gush over how adorable my children are, stopping every time we pass each other. And I love them for it! But today they were not so sweet. Finally after using the last of my baby wipes to try to clean up the mess a man says he'll get someone to come clean it up for me. Minutes later I hear, "Clean up on aisle 10!" Now I can say that I've joined the grocery store division of the "that Mom" club.

Brandon came home this morning and was up for going to the store with the kids and I. While he was walking around Target with Christopher they wandered into the toy section. Christopher kept finding things he wanted and would take them to Brandon saying he needed it, wanted it or they just needed to pay for it. Brandon tried to explain to him that toys cost money and knowing that a two year old doesn't understand that, he thought he'd ask Christopher how much the particular toy in his hand cost. His response was, "45." Brandon tried really hard to not laugh too much, but it was hard. Where he got the number "45" from we have no idea.

This afternoon Christopher woke up from his nap and saw the new Thomas the train bubble bath on the counter. He climbed up on the stool to reach it and tried to figure out how to open it. After a minute or two he says, "Mommy, need impact hamber." I said, "You need what?" He says, "Impact hamber. Open this." For some reason he now says hamber instead of hammer. You could tell he'd been watching his favorite digger movie earlier.

Here are a few funny things Christopher has said over the weekend:

#1 - Sophie bumps her head trying to pull up on the swivel chair at the desk for the 20th time and starts crying. Christopher comes running up and says, "Sophie come to my room feel better." I asked him if she'd feel better if she went to play with him in his room and he said, "Yup!" and took off running to his room turning to see if she was coming.

#2- Brandon is on call Sunday and Sophie is crying about something (probably bumped her head again) and Christopher says, "Sophie wants MY Daddy." Still hasn't figured out that they have the same Daddy, but I'm not quite ready to have "the talk" yet and I don't think he is either. I'll just let him keep thinking Daddy's name is My Daddy.

#3 - We went for a walk after dinner last night and used the double stroller b/c we didn't feel like stopping every time Christopher found a rock and after we are a couple houses down he says, "Where'd venture go?" I told him we were on an adventure and part of that means you are looking to see what you find. He says, "Gonna find al-gator." (I forgot to mention that he talked about finding an alligator on our adventure earlier that morning. Not sure where it came from.

He is definitely getting a broad imagination now b/c he is starting to talk about things or people that haven't happened or don't exist. I'll try to keep track and let you know the next time this happens! It's pretty funny!

There are yard sales here on base it seems like every Saturday morning, but we've never driven around to see what they are selling. This morning we decided to check them out. We told Christopher we needed to get some money and that we were going on an adventure to see what we can find. We loaded up in the van and took off. Christopher kept asking us, "What my doing?" and when we'd ask him he'd say, "Go on adventure!!" We drove past one, but it didn't look like they had much, so we kept going. We saw another house, but figured they were moving in/out and went past it as well. Then we saw a sign and realized the house we thought was moving was actually a big yard sale. So we go back and check it out. She had a lot of stuff and several great mirrors, but I didn't have a single place to put any of them in our house. (She didn't either and that's why she was selling everything.) She did, however, have 2 fake trees that were just what I'd been looking for. I've been trying to fix the house up a little more and the den just needed something else. I asked how much for a tree and when she said $10 I chased Brandon down and bought it. Then we drove around some more and couldn't find anything. Christopher started asking where the adventure went and so we decided to go back to the first one we saw and see what was left. They had a few things for kids left and when they came out they told us to just take everything for free. We took the two games they had, Hungry Hippo and Don't Break the Ice and paid them $2 for both. We didn't want Christopher to think he could get things for free so we made him pay the man. So we were very happy with our little adventure this morning and I think we might go on more of these in the future!

This morning, Brandon let me sleep in and suddenly Christopher comes running into our room telling me to wake up. I get out of bed and find out I've missed out on all the excitement. Brandon tells Christopher to tell me what they found this morning and he says, "Frog!!" I asked where he found it and he said, while pointing, "In toilet!" I look at Brandon and he said that they went in there this morning to go to the bathroom and when he opened the lid they found a huge frog sitting inside the toilet.

Here's the conversation Brandon said went on between he and Christopher about what to do:

Brandon: "What do you want to do with the frog?"

Christopher: "Flush him down."

(They attempt to flush him, but the frog refuses to go down and stays in the toilet fighting to get out.)

Brandon: "Oh no, he stayed."

Christopher: "Catch him Daddy! Dump him out."

Brandon: "You want me to catch the frog?"

Christopher: "Uh huh. Dump him out... in a tree... he make a nest in tree."

(I explained that was what the spectacaled bears do in Diego. But when they are retelling me this
story his answer was not to put it in a tree but to, "Kill it!")

Brandon: "Ok, what's his name?"

Christopher: "Pluto." (this is his name for any pet)

Brandon went and got a grocery sack and picked up the frog (after taking photos first) and they take it outside and set it on the ground and here's that conversation:

Christopher: "Daddy, he's looking at me." (sounding scared)

Brandon: "The frog's looking at you?"

Christopher: "Uh, huh. He's waving at me."

Brandon: "Ok."

Christopher: "I want to dig with crocadilly." (he's picked up a shovel by now and thinks it's a crocodile.)

Brandon: "It's a frog, Christopher."

Christopher: "Oh."

So, Christopher has always been kind of silly, but lately he's said some really funny things and I thought I'd put them on here to share, and so I don't forget!

#1 - We've been trying to get him to repeat prayers after us to help teach him how to pray. When Brandon's parents were here we told him to put his hands together to say the blessing, here's what happened:

Brandon: "Dear God... Christopher, we are praying now. Dear God."

Christopher: "DEAR GOOOOOD!!!!!!" (with his head turned up towards heaven)

Brandon: (trying not to laugh out loud) "Christopher, say Dear God,"

Christopher: "DEAR GOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!" (head still facing heaven)

Brandon: "Thank you for this food."

Christopher: "DEAR GOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Brandon: "Amen."

#2 - When Sophie does anything great he tells her he thinks so by saying "Good job, baby girl!" or when she wakes up from her nap he runs into her room saying, "Hey baby girl!!!" My favorite was when loading him in the car this morning he told me to "go get the girl" and when I came back with Sophie he said, "there's the girl!"

#3 - Monday night while sitting down for dinner we tried saying the blessing again. Here's how it went this time:

Brandon: "Dear God,"

Christopher: "Dear God,"

Brandon: "Thank you for this food,"

Christopher: "Thank you food."

Brandon: "Amen."

Christopher: "All aboard!!!"


Here are some funny words he says that will help you if you ever need a translator:

"bull bozer" = bulldozer

"e-on-a" = Fiona, from Shrek

"itty, bitty eyunch" = little bitty lunch = lunchable

"punk man" = pumpkin

"fwing" = swing

I know he's said some other funny things, but these are the ones that stand out the most. I'll try to do better to keep them posted on here from now on.

Here are a few photos of Sophie from last week. She's trying to do everything her brother does and it's really cute to watch her get around!


Here she is trying to get out on the patio where he is.

Every now and then she'll get up on her hand and toes and just hover for a little while. Sometimes she gets mad, other times she just gets back down and starts "worming" again.

Now she's figured out how to get up on her knees and pull up. Pretty exciting!

This week has been really good so far. Christopher is his funny self again and Sophie has learned how to pull up. She's been trying for a while and finally got it this weekend. Now she's trying to pull up on EVERYTHING! She's so proud of herself and I love it! She also got up on her knees and crawled a little, but gets around better like a worm. It's just a matter of time before she's up and running, I know it. On Monday I was highly motivated to get things done around the house that have been driving me crazy and I was hoping I could get it all done over the week, but God was good to me (like He always is) and Sophie slept for over an hour in the morning, instead of the 30 minutes she usually naps, and I got almost everything done in that time. Christopher found his finger paints and wanted to play with that, so I sent him on the patio to paint away. I pulled up the carpet we put out there so he could make as big a mess as he wanted and he had a blast. Then he wanted to take a bath to clean himself off and played there for a while. Sophie woke up and we had lunch and played a while before taking our afternoon naps. When they woke up we painted some more and then it was time to clean it up. Christopher loves water and cleaning anything, so he was more than happy to help. I had to take a couple photos b/c it was so cute. Then they found a sack of Halloween bibs and clothes that a friend passed on to us and they had to try them on. It was really funny!

I feel like there are so many thing to write about since the last time I was on here. Let's see, our little trip to the lab last Monday turned out to be nothing, so that was good. Then Tuesday I went to my first ever MOPS meeting at the church we've been attending and the kids did great in the nursery. Not that they have a hard time going there, but I wasn't sure how Sophie would handle being with strangers for that long. I laughed when I picked her up and they said she wanted everyone's bottle after finishing hers. That didn't surprise me. Wednesday - Christopher went to his first Wiggles & Giggles class at the church. He's pretty shy when he's put into group settings, so we just kind of walked around trying different things, but he warmed up when it was time to climb on the mats and jump off or run laps around the gym. Sophie, on the other hand, is going to be our little social bug b/c she was into everything and didn't care that it wasn't her class. She climbed onto the big parachute with all the other 2-3 year olds and then crawled under it. Christopher just stayed next to me and helped move the parachute up and down with the other parents. But he still had fun. Thursday - is our playgroup day, but this time we didn't meet in the morning b/c we were going to go see Sesame Street at the base theatre that afternoon and we needed to do early naps. It was a free event that was put on by USO and was awesome!! They gave each kid a free dvd of their choice, a light-up spinning Elmo toy (you'd pay $15 for one anywhere else!) and a piece of candy. They had lots of information for the parents about how to handle loved ones being deployed, the theme of the event. We got there early to get a seat and it was a good thing. The kids had a blast! It was very cute and lots of fun. We ended up having a reporter for the base paper sit next to us and Christopher kept pointing Elmo out to her. She thought he was funny and got our names and asked a few questions and tried to take photos, but Christopher would never look at the camera. I keep grabbing papers to see if we made it or not. I'll let you know if we do. Friday - Christopher goes to Mother's Day Out at our church and I spent the whole time running errands and made it back just in time to pick him up. He'd had a bit of a rough day and later found out he's cutting some teeth. Not fun b/c I think Sophie is cutting more as well. Saturday - Brandon is on call and my friend Rebecca is in town with her husband and new baby girl, so we meet them in Destin for lunch. It was great to finally meet Leighton and get to see Rich and Rebecca again. The kids did great at lunch and let me visit and do a little shopping too. Sunday - I wasn't up for trying to do the whole getting ready for church alone thing, so we went to hang out with our friends, Melissa, Landon and Kylan, who's husband/dad was taking over for Brandon at the hospital. I told Melissa about the great sales and we decided to load the kids up in the van and head back to Destin to shop some more. We had a lot of fun and were able to get some cute things for the kids. We picked up lunch on the way home and then hung out with Brandon after he woke up from his nap. It was a very busy week and I think it was more than Christopher was ready to handle, so I'm going to try to spend more time with him one on one to help him ease into our new schedule. I thought it was a great week and I think the kids did too. I'm going to bed now. I'll be back later with more updates and photos.

Most people don't like when Mondays roll around. I was one of those when I was working, but since I've been a stay-at-home mom I never really cared that much. Everyday is pretty much the same around here. But yesterday was full of funny comments and gross situations and I just had to write about it. It all started Sunday night when we were working in the yard and decided we needed some kind of weed killer to just kill everything in our backyard and start fresh. (There is no grass, just weeds we keep cutting.) I thought since Mondays are "laundry day" at our house that we could take a break and run to Lowes to buy some weed killer. To get Christopher excited about leaving the house I asked if he wanted to go to the "lawn mower store" to get something. Here's how that conversation went:

Me: "Christopher, do you want to go to the lawn mower store???"

Christopher: "Get a digger at the commissary."

Me: "No, we aren't going to the commissary, we are going to the lawn mower store."

Christopher: "Get a digger at lawn mower store."

Me: "No, we are going to get weed killer."

Christopher: "Go buy two auger drillers at lawn mower store."

Me: "You want to buy two auger drillers????"

Christopher: "Yes."

Me: "I don't think we can afford that."

Christopher: "Oh." (then runs off to play.)

Not long after that, I had what felt like the 35th dirty diaper in 3 days to change and Brandon happened to call. I told him the kids were still pooping like crazy and he thinks they might have something (he knows name, I have no clue) and that he'll call me back in a minute. He calls back and says to take dirty diapers from each kid, if I have any around (I laugh b/c I have 4 from the last 2 hours) and take it to the lab to drop off and they can get stool samples to see what's going on. So, I pull out 2 dirty diapers each from the trash can, put each kids in its own bag, load the kids up in the van and grab snacks, bottles and drinks in case we have to wait a while. It's 11:00 by now and I know that's about the worst time to ever go near any kind of doctor office. We pull up to the hospital and Christopher's response is, "Daddy's house!!!" My first thought is, how sad. We get loaded into the stroller, poopy diapers, snacks and all and start walking inside. Thankfully since we have the "samples" with us we don't have to take a number and find an empty seat, of which there aren't very many, and just wait off to the side until the unpleasant man working the desk tells us it's our turn. We finally are helped and he grabs the kits that are used for this "situation" and begins to tell me what I need to do. Here's how that conversation goes:

Man: "Take these bottles, place stool samples in each one......." (I'll spare you the rest.)

Me: "I'm sorry, you want me to do what?????? I was told I just needed to drop the diapers off."

Man: "The bathroom is that way. Turn it in when you are done."

So, off to the bathroom we go. I have no clue how I'm going to deal with getting stool samples with a 2 year old in a bathroom and a 7 month old who is quickly coming up on bottle time, but we go ahead. My saving grace was that the toilet had a lid and the bathroom actually looked clean, so Christopher starts climbing all over the toilet and then decides he wants a snack. I tell Christopher he's on his own, I'm going in. He's all over the place and I'm wishing I wasn't a mom at the moment. Sophie starts to fuss and spits her pacifier onto the floor. I can't get it b/c I'm dealing with poop. Christopher wants his milk. He decides to rest it on the railing behind the toilet. I'm dealing with poop! I've got Sophie's samples taken care of and move on to Christopher's. Here's what happens:

Christopher: "My LIGHTENING QUEEN diaper!! My POOP!!!! Mommy, me see my diaper! Me see my poop!" (In case you didn't pick up on it, he's yelling this as loud as he can.)

Me: "STOP!!!! Get down!!!!! Don't touch anything!!!! FREEZE!!!!!"

Christopher: "Whatcha doin' Mom?"

Sophie: "Waaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!"

Me: "Don't bother me right now. Don't touch that!!! Sophie, you have to wait, I'm sorry."

Meanwhile, the door where you put the samples keeps opening and closing on the lab side and I know they are wondering what in the world is taking so long. They have no idea. It sounds like people are gathering outside the bathroom during this too, waiting for their turn, but I only have about 0.01 second to think and care about them at this point. We finally finish, gather our things and wash mine and Christopher's hands with the hottest water we can stand and tons of soap. We turn to leave and I just keep repeating to him, "DON'T touch anything!!" We go sit in the waiting area, feed Sophie her bottle and then head home for lunch. Which I don't really feel like eating anymore. I feed the kids, put them down for naps and crash on the couch hoping the rest of the day goes cleaner and smoother. We do more laundry, change more diapers and by some miracle Brandon comes walking through the door at 5:00. I haven't even started dinner b/c he usually doesn't get home until almost 7:00 and there wasn't any point. He fixes dinner (b/c it was his idea, not b/c I didn't want to) while I push Sophie and Christopher in the swings and then we all sit and enjoy a nice meal together as a family. We never made it to Lowes and I only got halfway through the laundry, but it was a good day overall. Maybe next Monday will be a little less eventful. Doubt it!

Brandon's parents came to visit for the weekend. They were supposed to come last weekend, but told them to not bother since we (and the rest of the panhandle) might be headed their way instead. Tonight we decided to head towards Sandestin and get some seafood and then head to Baytowne Wharf to hear our favorite band. The best part of the night was when Mimi pointed out the fish tank near our table with a fish that looks like Nemo in it. Christopher about jumped out of his seat to get there, so I took him to see the "Nemo-looking" fish. He was practically shaking with excitement as he saw "Dory" swimming around with "Nemo" and his dad. (We watched Finding Nemo in the van on the way to dinner so I think this is why it was all the more exciting.) He starts waving and yelling, "Hey Dory!!!" and then starts hitting the tank with his hand and telling me that he just touched Nemo. It was adorable!!! Later Mimi comes to join in the excitement and he starts to yell back at Brandon and Papa John about the fish. Then she gets to laughing at how happy he is. Thankfully he got distracted with the beach outside the window and we were able to contain him long enough to eat dinner. I love our little man. : )

Ok, I'm not sure what kind of message God is trying to send with all the storms that keep coming up (other than the fact we are completely safe every time one hits), but I'm starting to get curious. First of all, the other night everyone had gone to bed, but I wasn't tired and so I decided to go back into the den to watch television so Brandon could go to sleep. I walk into the room, turn around and see a lizard sitting on the arm of our couch. It took all I had in me to not scream at the top of my lungs in horror and wake everyone up. It wasn't your typical green lizard, it was clear. It was small and clear and disgusting!!!! I've never been one that was ok with seeing bugs crawling around or anything that wasn't a dog or larger, but this beats a roach to me. I started freaking b/c I had no idea how I was going to get this thing off the couch and outside. I called my friend Kara and she said she'd stay on the phone with me until I got it taken care of and she's a great friend b/c she didn't laugh at the fact I had to call someone to get rid of something so small. Thankfully Brandon came out b/c he thought one of the kids was crying (no, it wasn't me) and he got rid of it.

Then tonight, while I was in the shower, he came back to inform me that a tree frog was sleeping on our couch. Now, if I believed in fairytales I would think he was waiting for a kiss from Sophie to turn into her prince, but I don't, and she's only 7 months old, so it had to be another reason. I just start laughing and realize that I am officially living in Florida. Roaches, lizards, crabs, frogs, snakes and you name it are all around me. And I hate them all! Ok, some frogs are cute and crabs are fun to watch in the sand, but they are meant to live OUTside, not on my couch! Let's just hope God isn't sending me a sign and that I should start building an ark anytime soon. Although I wouldn't have any trouble getting Christopher to help, he loves to hammer!

So here are some photos that have been taken recently. They aren't in any particular order. Sorry about that! Just trying to get new photos on here the best I could right now! (The older ones are at the bottom.) Oh, the hurricane thankfully went to the west of us. We got lots of rain and wind and some tornadoes in the area, but no serious damage, not even a branch in the yard!

We have a tradition of pulling out the tunnel that Mimi and Pa John gave Christopher for Christmas whenever we have severe weather. I know, most people are hiding in the bathroom with a mattress over their head or crouched down in the hallway, we are playing with a tunnel spread throughout the house! This was the first time that Sophie was able to crawl through it. She's not crawling on her knees yet, but does a very funny worm-Army crawl that is just as productive.




We called our friends that live behind us to come play during the storm and once the rain stopped we decided to grill burgers. This was what it looked like once Brandon got the grill working. We had to keep going b/c we'd already started fixing the food and Matt was making some awesome fries to go with it.





Here's Christopher and Sophie playing together. They get along really well and I am so thankful! Last night we went to see Kara and Philip and the kids played chase under their dining table. It was adorable! They both got to laughing really hard. One of those times you wish you had a camera with you.



I found Sophie with evidence on her face of her brother and daddy's favorite snack: Doritos. Christopher had been eating some and he wanted to share with her. Very sweet, but she's not quite ready for them yet. I think she feels otherwise.



Here are the kids having lunch one day. We go to get our neighbor every now and then to come play with us. His poor mom broke her foot and can't move around too well with a cast and crutches, so we like to help her out when we can. The kids love playing together so we love having him around!


Here are the kids before church on Sunday. Aunt Caroline had sent Sophie this dress in the mail and it was so cute that I just had to get a photo. Don't they look like Easter Sunday? I love it! She was the cutest little girl in her class that day!



Ok, here are the much wanted photos of the trampoline. It's kind of hard to get a good one, which I have to admit is why I haven't put them on here yet, but I gave up on caring and did it anyway. The only problem is we have it under a pine tree and it gets covered in needles so I have to sweep it off. But it definitely provides lots of entertainment and exercise.




Christopher found an empty diaper box in the house (imagine that?) and wanted to climb in it with Sophie. She didn't love it as much as he did and the box wasn't strong enough to hold the weight, but they lasted long enough for a photo.



We had to return something to Lowes the other day and didn't need enough stuff for the credit I had and so we wandered around to find things to spend it on. We found these Diego garden gloves and had to have them. Christopher put them on in the store and didn't take them off until he could pull weeds with them.