Hey Mandi! This is for you (and anyone else who is wondering), the John Deere sign was found by my parents when they were driving home from our house one day. There are tons of little houses/barns/places on the side of the road that sell old signs. You'll see them propped up against the outside walls. This one was a new sign. I've been wanting to stop at them for a while, but the kids are always asleep when we get to that point. Just go through Andalusia on your way to the beach the next time you come down and you'll find them.

I'm finally getting the photos on here I've been wanting to show you all. Again, computer problems. I got a nap today so I have the energy to do it tonight and using it. The first few photos are in backwards order, but the last ones about the yard are from today. It was a wonderful day at our house! We worked/played in the yard and the kids ate dinner (Christopher actually sat at the table with us too and not the counter!) with no complaints, which is a first in I have no idea how long. I think God knew I needed that! (Sorry for all the times I complained about what you fixed, Mom!!!) So, on to photos...


Here are two tops I "made" for Sophie. Yes, they are iron-ons, but aren't they cute? I found them at A.C. Moore and just had to get them. Found the tops at Target and I fell in love! Christopher wants a blue "pancake" as he calls them, but I got him a little stick boy with a fishing pole. It was a disaster and melted all over the place, so I'll be returning it. I had to show these b/c everyone has been showing these really cute things that they have sewn. Well, I don't sew. I never learned and probably never will. Not that I have anything against it, but my mom does and she has way more time to do it than I do. (No offense mom!) She LOVES doing it, is very fast and has an incredible spot to do it. I have absolutely no place in our home to put a sewing machine. Yeah, I know some of you don't either, but you just pull it out when you need it. I'd never do that. It'd stay in the closet.

Sophie trying to close the dishwasher. She loves to close things and put stuff away. She apparently knows when we are finished with stuff. We don't. I took this b/c she had found her hat and put it on by herself. She did this everytime she would find it around the house and I thought it was really cute! She gets everyone's shoes and finds her hat when we go outside. She also loves to put on sunscreen and bug spray saying, "uh! uh! uh!" (she says this all the time b/c it's easier than learning to talk) until we are finished.

Notice Sophie's bracelet? Take a closer look. Can you tell what it is? I might as well tell you, nobody will get it. It the track from Christopher's excavator. Yup! You might be a redneck if... Jeff, add that one to your list.

The kids enjoying a homemade popsicle after their naps one afternoon. They were super excited about this b/c I don't usually give them sweets unless it's a holiday or they went potty. (No, I'm not a mean "no candy" mom, just don't care to deal with the crying b/c they want more or the sugar rush they get from it.) Don't feel too bad, it's water and the syrup my husband bought to make them with. It's sugar free, but I think they taste like bad flavored water. We'll use fruit juice next time.

Christopher stopping to dig for a minute. Notice how he stuck his popsicle in the ground with it sticking up so it won't get dirty. He's not dumb! Sophie's trying to figure out why he'd put it down in the first place.

The kids watching our neighbor cut his yard. (I'd say grass, but let's be honest, everyone here on base just has weeds. Unless you spend lots of money and work really hard, which not many are up for that fight. He actually has more grass than we do though.) Notice the kids are under the trampolene? Yup. They thought this would be a good spot to watch from.

Sophie making her funny face to show me that she's done with something she just consumed. She first started doing this with a Capri Sun and I guess now it's being done with popsicles. Do you see how dirty she is? This is why I took their shirts off. We not only have sand for a backyard, but it's that dirty sand that is super fine and like dust, but you have to scrub it off with soap, water and a rag. Reason #1 why I don't like living in FL - the kids need 2 baths a day.

Don't you love Sophie's dress? I got it at Wal-Mart for $5 and think it's worth every little penny. She sooooo didn't want me taking her photo. I literally chased her around the house and this was the face I finally got on "film." I adore her!

Ok, here's the project that I wanted to get done today. Pretty scary huh? I left the rusty grill canister there for added effect. See how gross the yard is? (Remember we live on base, not in a sketchy neighborhood. It just looks like it with the chain fence.) We could plant grass seed, which we plan to do, but our yard floods so bad that it won't do a whole lot of good. How do we always end up living in a home where the backyard floods? The patio drops off pretty far and Sophie tripped the other day almost hitting her forehead on the edge. I'd been planning on adding some "trim" and plants to extend this and try to make the yard look nicer, but wasn't motivated until I heard about her fall. So, I went to Self Help (place for those families who live on base and can purchase things for their home for "free" - with a quarterly allowance) They actually had some plants in stock, so I went back today and snagged some of those. Unfortunately I don't have a good photo of the final project (b/c there is so much stuff all over that it really does look like a trailor park!) so I'm going to wait and post it later. We also realized that it slopes to the right and will try to fix it. I'm going to leave you with this:

Can you tell I'm in the mood for flowers?I found this cute background site and just couldn't resist changing it up again. I'm working on a project in the backyard and I'm hoping and praying that it will be completed this weekend and will go smoothly. Brandon doesn't want to do it, but I do need someone to use the saw b/c #1- it's not mine and #2- it's been years since I've used one and would rather someone else did it in case it broke or something worse happened. Things have a way of messing up when I use them, and I'm not even doing something wrong, it's just time for it to break. All I need done is four simple cuts into the wood that I got, but I'm better at distracting the kids than anyone else is so I'll just stick with it. I'll take photos and show them later... when it gets done! Happy gardening!!!

Here are the photos from our trip to the lake the week of Easter. The kids and I had a fabulous time and it was exactly what we needed.

The first morning we had bunny pancakes with chocolate chips for the eyes. The kids were absolutely wonderful this day! Soooooo happy to be away from a rainy home.

Riding the plasma car around the kitchen and chasing each other. This is the grandkids favorite thing to do! (Ok, the grownups too!)

Christopher always loves to feed the dogs when we are there and this time Sophie wanted to help. Huge surprise b/c she's always been so scared of dogs.

She carried her own cup of food, but wanted to drop them in the bowl one piece at a time. Grammie had to get her to dump the whole cup b/c it would have taken forever her way!

While Sophie napped, Christopher and I dyed easter eggs. He didn't understand the clear wax crayon and so I had to decorate them so he could dye them. He loved it!

Pop made a step stool wide enough for them to stand on together (I'm working on painting it now, will show final result later on, when I finish it!). They had more fun standing on it at the sink and playing in the water and helping Grammie with dinner!

Grammie made Rice Krispie treats and used a cookie cutter to cut out bunnies. I used the chocolate chips and m&m's to decorate the faces. I think we would have eaten the whole bunch that night if we hadn't walked away from them!

The kids are really into fishing these days. Christopher has two fishing poles and Sophie plays with the bathtub ones.

She had to put it on her tray when she ate too! When the girl finds something she likes, there's no taking it away from her!

The patio was covered in pollen and Grammie started to clean it and it took about 30 seconds for the kids to decide to help. They love to help clean and I try to use it to my advantage when I can.

Sophie (again, not wanting to let go) had to even help rinse the rag herself. It's really cute, I just hope it stays cute.

Christopher wanted to fish with Pop every chance he got. He can cast a line really far too! It's crazy! Thankfully he doesn't care that there isn't a fish on the other end.

Sophie enjoying her swing while the boys are fishing. She loves swinging and always wants Christopher to join her. Pretty funny!

Sophie and her best buddy having a snack at the counter together. She adores Pop and it's so cute b/c she is the only granddaughter, for a few more months at least!

Taking a break to read some books. She likes to do this on her own. I take too long and apparently have the book in the wrong direction too!

A friend of mine has two adorable posts that you must see! Since most of the blogs I look at seem to be wives of med students/interns/etc. You'll really appreciate this one! Here's the link.

We are so close to having real pigtails and I'm so excited!!! There is still some hair that isn't long enough to go up or over into the bands. But they actually worked this one day b/c of the way her hair on top was sitting. Some days it's straight in her eyes and others it's straight up in the air. She was so good and sat still so I could try and get these made and I was so happy all day just looking at how cute she was! We haven't had any luck since then.

(Check back soon, I finally have more photos downloaded and organized so I can upload them on here soon. Hopefully during naps tomorrow!)

Yes, I know that is a saaaaaad little tree in the corner, but I got it at a yard sale for $10 and it's sitting on a box behind that chair b/c it's not tall enough, but trees are expensive and we aren't in this house forever. So who cares!!! If you do, just laugh at me b/c I know how pitiful it is. Remember we live in base housing so it's not my dream house anyway. Christopher wanted to be in the photo too, and yes he usually wears shorts, but when you are potty training, you just don't bother sometimes. And if anyone knows how to decorate shelves, please come help me! I'm horrible at it!!! You are looking at dvd's, Wii games, a basket (b/c I was sick of looking at Wii controllers dangling over the edge) and a pitiful excuse for a clock that I bought on clearance at Target b/c once I finally gave up my VCR I needed to know what time it was. I'm off now, the kids are playing outside and it's so cute I gotta snap some photos!

Here's the photos from our trip to Montgomery. We were at the lake at Grammie and Pop's house for a couple days, but I forgot to get photos before we left, so I'll post those later. Here's what happened starting Saturday morning:



Our little friend Nicholas had his 3rd birthday party, Thomas the train themed, Saturday morning and the weather could not have been more perfect! It was absolutely gorgeous outside! This was the only photo that turned out showing the party. I hadn't seen Brandon in several days, so I wanted to visit instead of take photos. Forgive me for loving him! : )




After the party we went to Mimi and Papa John's for naps, which Christopher didn't take, and then Ame, Drexel, Cameron and Camille arrived. We were so excited to see them! Mimi had all kinds of activites planned and we started with the bunny cake. Christopher and Cameron had so much fun putting Cool Whip and coconut and jelly beans on it to decorate it. Christopher didn't understand it was supposed to look like anything and just stuck them all over the cake.

Mimi had found little fairy wings at the dollar store and the girls had so much fun wearing them! Sophie was hilarious b/c she started dancing as soon as she put them on. She LOVED them to say the least. Eventually if you held them up she back into you to put them on her. It was adorable!

Then it was on to the Easter egg hunt. Camille and Sophie totally surprised everyone by how well they did. None of us thought they'd catch on, but they were finding eggs and filling up their baskets as quickly as they could. It was really neat to watch both of them b/c Christopher had never gotten into the egg hunt in the past and this year went crazy!

Here they are racing each other to find more eggs. Sophie was trying to share with Christopher and he was more than willing to let her.

He's so proud of himself and kept wanting to go "Eastering" for more eggs. We had to explain that there were only treats in them the first time and every hunt after that was just for fun of finding eggs.

Isn't she beautiful? You've got to click on this photo to make it bigger. She was so proud of all the eggs she'd found! We were too! That night we had a wonderful Easter dinner and the kids played a little more. Christopher was so exhausted from the excitement of the week that he didn't nap for 3 days and was asleep by 6:30 Saturday night.

Sunday morning we had another egg hunt in the house to keep the kids busy while everyone got ready for church.

We did this a couple times, until it was time for them to get dressed themselves. We didn't show them their baskets until after church b/c I didn't want to deal with the fight of taking the items with them. Besides, the Easter bunny has to go to church to celebrate Jesus too, right?

Here's our baby girl in her sweet little Easter dress. (Thanks Grammie for making it! Twice!) You can't see them, but there are 3 little outlined bunnies on her collar. I can't tell you enough how much I love having a Mom that sews and loves doing it! Do you have any idea how much money this saves me? It kills me to think what some people spend on dresses for their girls. At Nicholas' party a friend told us they met a new mom who spent $280 on her 6 month old's Easter dress and didn't realize you don't have to. My heart still hurts for that poor woman when our friend told her that you can buy them for less than that.

Our family photo. Christopher refused to smile for any of them. He was still tired even though he'd slept for almost 12 hours the night before.

After church they got their baskets and loved them! Mimi had bought Christopher a dump truck basket for his first Easter and none of us had any clue how obssessed he would become with trucks. Notice Sophie in her dress in the background? Watch...

She had found chocolate and the dress comes off...

the chocolate goes in with pure delight on her little face (hair bow quickly removed to prevent any stains that may occur)...

and this is what the end result was. I think we cleaned her up just a little or maybe the damage wasn't as bad as I thought it was. The girl loves he chocolate!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Easter! We sure did and so glad we were able to spend it with lots of family over several days!

I have photos coming, but both of our computers are going SO slow that I can't get anything done. I think Brandon just has too many photos on his computer, but I feel like it's running on dial up again! (Remember that stuff???) And mine, well, it's a mac (an old one) and I love macs for some things, but if you know a faster way to download photos than iPhoto, PLEASE let me know! I think it took about 30 minutes for only 93 photos last night. That's ridiculous in my opinion!!! That's why I never use my computer to update the blog with photos. I don't have that kind of time and if I did, I wouldn't have any photos to upload b/c it means I wouldn't have any children. So, don't worry, they are coming, I just have to go without sleep to get it done and right now I'm not up for that. Plus, I think I forgot to take my Zyrtec last night and I have felt dizzy all day and just want to lie down. I'll be back later though, just keep checking.

I'm just going to put a link to my friend's post for all my friends who are not from the South to read. It will answer all of your questions you may have about things I mention that you don't understand. Here's the link. She's hilarious!!!!

Ahhhhhh......

I kept meaning to add the photos from the week of storms, but as usual, I got busy and forgot. Here they are. Terrible, but here. Not sure why the camera wouldn't focus, at all, but I put them on here regardless.


Keenan came to hang out with us for a few hours one morning so his mommy could run some errands before they went on their trip the next day. The boys heard the garbage truck coming and ran to watch it out the window. The kids and I were very excited to have his company b/c he is so sweet and was a wonderful and welcome change to the days stuck inside. Yes, Christopher still has on his pj shirt and big boy underwear. Deal.

He finally got dressed and wanted me to turn on Cars. I knew they'd just play and not sit like lumps on a log so I didn't mind. When the music came on they started dancing like crazy! Sophie fell down and Keenan tried to help her get up so he could dance with her. I told you he was sweet!

Here is the flooding in the backyard. I tried to get a better shot, but the screen porch just made everything blurry b/c there was so much water on the screen. Yes, that is a chain link fence in our backyard. Trust me, I hate looking at it as much as you do, but it's our only option with living on base. If I wanted to "fix up" a house I would have bought one, but we have too many loans to play that right now, so we live with yucky old cabinets and a cheap fence.

This is our driveway. It's not this wide. It was completely covered from one end to the other. Usually there is just one big puddle in the middle and dry everywhere else. Not this day.

That night I was so tired of being lazy that I pulled out the Wii and Christopher and I played baseball. He killed me!!! Twice. I never scored, barely got any hits and he had 3 or 4 homeruns and a triple.

Sophie is clapping for us. She had her own remote and acted like she was playing too. It was really cute! Soon enough she'll be beating up on me too.

Sunday Christopher went potty and got a sucker. Brandon had been putting up my new curtains (photo coming later, the lighting is terrible, so I can't get a good shot) and they figured out that if you put the sucker in the drill you can make it spin around while licking it.

Sophie wanted in on the fun too. She actually caught it in her mouth at one point and didn't want to let go. Christopher got to laughing so hard.