Here's some photos from yesterday. They finished the new playground by our house and last night it was not as hot (notice I can't say "cooler") so we took the kids to go try it out. And a few from our dip in the pool too.

I see it!!!! Christopher is back to normal! Well, I'd say 90%. Everything is staying in. Sophie's still loose as can be, but I'm just glad he recovered within a week. I was starting to get worried. We missed church this morning b/c yesterday they both were not well and I want to make very sure they are over this before we go anywhere. Christopher and I did have a little date this morning. He has to take a bucket to school with his clothes and lunch in it now and we had to go buy one. He picked out a blue bucket at Walmart and Tiffany told me that A.C. Moore had construction stencils and so we went and got those too. Then he wanted to go to "Make-on-Donald's" to get an ice cream. I told him he had to eat some french fries too. (Not concerned about healthy now, just keeping it in) He ended up just eating fries and I had his ice cream. We actually ran into the mother of a friend of ours who was taking their son to lunch and we ended up visiting with them. They are moving to VA this week and she was pulling grandparents duties by keeping him out of the way and the house.

When we got home Brandon told us that he and Sophie had filled up the pool, so we all put our suits on and heaed out back. I swapped some plants around and then jumped in (the best you can with a baby pool) and "cooled" off. I'm not completely happy with my plants in the back, but they are bought and I have to use them. It's just to sunny back there that some of them aren't working as well as I'd hoped. I dug up my $1 wildflowers b/c they looked more like weeds and planted some of the flowers that were wilting. I bought some new one yesterday that need lots of sun and put them right smack in the middle of it. Hopefully they will do ok in the ground b/c they look like the type that should be hanging over the side of a pot. I don't care. There are flowers out there.

And an update on yesterday's party. Apparently it went off perfectly! Brandon sounded so excited when I talked to him and said everyone had a great time! Brandon said that as people showed up they started helping out and 2 of the guys just stood there and grilled food for hours. (thanks everyone for helping out!) They actually stayed longer than planned, ate tons of food, rode in the boats, played volleyball, demolished the ice cream sundaes and finally went home. We were both very tired from our day and had the kids and ourselves in the bed by 8:30. It was fabulous! I'm off to relax some more while the kids nap and Brandon is off to a going away party.

I keep wondering when the sickness in our house will end. It has been almost a week now for Christopher, but he seemed well for 2 days in the middle. then he started up again. Now Sophie has diarrhea. And you can hear it from across the house when it happens. I am so thankful I got a heated steam cleaner for Christmas b/c I have used it more this week than ever! I'm not mad or complaining, just wondering how long can it really last? It's not like they are lying around miserable, they play like normal part of the day, but every now and then Christopher lies on the floor with no energy. I drug the kids to the garden center on base to get more dirt, but that wiped them out completely. At least they are staying hydrated. Not eating much, but you almost don't want to force food in their little tummies. Brandon got some medicine, but we aren't sure how we are going to get them to take it b/c it tastes absolutely horrible!

Speaking of Brandon, poor guy has had to deal with this silly party and the only available person in his class to help him got paged by labor and delivery right as they were walking out the door to take everything! The rest of the class is post call, on call, sick or has company in town (and she's helping as much as she can). The guy just can't catch a break. I think this party doesn't need to happen anyway. You already have one party for the new residents, plus they spend a month just learning about what they are going to be doing the next few years, they have families that are trying to get settled in and then we decide to throw 2 parties at them on top of everything else! This one is supposed to include all the techs, etc. who the doctors work with and Brandon didn't realize that HE was supposed to send out and email to invite them. They have enough food for 150 people and only about 50-60 showing up. Did I mention that he didn't ask to be in charge of this party? He was told he was in charge a month after it was decided. Who did the deciding I don't know, but they need to learn how to ask people of favors instead of telling them later. And by the way, when you put someone in charge of something they've never done before, make sure you give them all the details of what the job requires, don't assume they'll just figure it out. (I will stop here b/c I could go on and on about the bad luck my sweet husband has had.)

I want to end on a good note and tell you that he "graduated" from being an intern and is now a second year resident. I am so proud of him and hate that I had to miss the little ceremony that they had yesterday, but mommy duties were calling and unfortunately they take top priority. I'm so proud of him and can't believe we got one year down! It wasn't nearly as bad as they said it would be. That's not to say we didn't have our bad days, he did more than us, but we survived and they say it only gets better. I love you and I'm so proud of you doc!

Here's what we've been up to at our house this week:

Last night the residents had their annual banquet honoring the 3rd years who are moving on and give awards out to those in the residency who stood out. I'd heard about how great this banquet was, but you don't go until you finish your first year. With Christopher being sick, I wasn't sure if I'd be going, but thankfully he was well enough for school, so I was in the clear. It was so fun to see everyone dressed up and not have to worry about watching our children. It was also great b/c we found a babysitter and she was wonderful! The kids loved her and she said she'd love to come back, so now we may have the chance to go out with other couples instead of swapping nights with them. Yippeeee!!!!

That's what I said as I dropped the kids off at Mother's day out this morning. Christopher is better and Sophie never got sick (fingers crossed) and as I left the last kid I just stretched out my arms in relief. I don't think I'd normally feel that way, but since we have been stuck inside for 3 days straight we were all ready for a break from each other! I went to the grocery store and was very surprised at how quickly I was done. I've had lunch and now ironing clothes while watching So You Think You Can Dance. I think I'm really going to like this! I better get back to work!

Poor Christopher got sick Monday night out of the blue, then ran a fever all day yesterday. He did perk up after the Motrin that we went around the corner (stayed in the van with A/C on) to watch the front loader and roller work on the street. When Brandon got home from work, he got sick again. I had JUST put away the towels we'd been lying on all day thinking we were in the clear. (Thankfully I hadn't passed on our steam cleaner like I'd promised!) He started to feel better then got sick right before we put him to bed. This is a kid that is always hot, but he was cold from the fever and had on pants, long sleeves, a hoodie and socks yesterday. He woke up at 5:15 this morning and wanted to watch a movie. So, towels came back out on the floor and we watched the rest of our movie. He fell asleep and is still out. The kids missed their first day at mother's day out together and Tiffany and I didn't get the pedicures we'd planned to have to celebrate us both being child free for a few hours. But that's fine, she wasn't feeling well either and I'd give up anything to help my sick child feel better. Tomorrow night we have a banquet to go to and it's the highlight of the year for the residents and their spouses. The one time we will all be together no kids and have fun. I really hope I don't have to miss it, but am willing to if either child (b/c I'm counting on Sophie catching it, she drank after him twice yesterday and never does that) is sick. I'll add photos later of the little bit of fun we did have yesterday.

Here are some photos from the week. I didn't take very many b/c we were either at church or napping, but I did happen to get a few.

Sophie's looking cute in the new bubble that Grammie made her. She has another outfit she wore to church this week that Grammie made for her and it's adorable, but I never got a photo of it. Don't worry, she will be wearing it a lot and I will get a photo next time!


She loves to copy everything the person she is playing with does and the latest thing is lying on her tummy and kicking her feet. It's so adorable I think I actually squeak when I see her doing it. Here she is coloring with her daddy on our bedroom floor.


Christopher woke up later and she gets so excited as soon as she sees him, whether it's him or her that has just woken up. She immediately jumped up saying "yeeeeaaaahhhhh!!!!" and ran with open arms to him to give him a huge hug. (I think a tear started coming up in my eye.) This photo shows just how much she adores him, she wears his t's and underwear (over her diaper) as much as I will let her. She can almost get them on by herself now. Don't worry, I bought some girly underwear for her, but she still wants his most of the time.

and your kids can now dig inside and won't get a drop of sweat on them and just a very minimal amount of dirt on their hands. Just make sure you get big beans so that cleanup won't drive you bonkers. It was either pinto beans or a massive bag of rice and well, I never fix rice in our house unless it's in a casserole b/c of the clean up.



Finally, I'd filled up the pool the other day for the kids, but they napped so long that it was dinner time when they woke up and we were going out with friends. I left it for the next day and when we got home from church this is what we found in our now hot tub. Even Christopher said it was too hot to be outside and this kid is never bothered by temperature.

At least something enjoyed the water! It was too hot for us. He eventually jumped away. Hope you all find ways to stay cool this week! If you have any fun ideas, feel free to share them.

I didn't have any other title in mind, so I thought I would just use today. It's strange to get up and just lay around and play knowing you will still make it to church later on. We have our VBS Celebration Sunday today, but I don't have to be there until 11:00 and when your first child wakes up at 6:15 that gives you a whole lot of play time.

I probably should have started this out by saying Happy Father's Day to my husband, but we kind of celebrated yesterday. Sort of. He had to deliver a baby on Friday and she didn't deliver until 3:00 that morning and he was too tired to drive down the street to come home so he stayed there. People outside his room were too noisy for him to sleep, so he didn't. He got home around 8:00 and we gave him our cards and gift, even though Christopher told him what it was 3 times before it was opened. (Note: do not wrap gifts in front of Chrisotpher anymore.) We had breakfast and played for a little while before putting Sophie and Brandon down for naps. It took the whole time she napped for me to talk Christopher into going somewhere, so it was a good thing she woke up after an hour. We loaded up and headed to Chick-A-Fla and passed McDonald's on the way. Christopher wanted to go there, but I told him we weren't. He calls it Make-On-Donald's. I love it! After a quick lunch and no play area, we went across the street to Walmart. I told the kids they could pick out a new coloring book or puzzle. Sophie was very excited, but Christopher turned down every option I gave him and left with nothing. I bought tons of spray paint for my chairs and hope to have them painted soon. From there we went to Lowe's to buy some flowers, with no success. They didn't have what I wanted (had a page from BHG in hand) and I found out that one of the plants grows from 3-8 feet tall, so she had no clue why they put it in a pot. She showed me a hanging plant they had on sale that was perfect for the area. I bought it. Christopher was crying miserably by this point b/c he didn't want to buy flowers and he was so hot, so we left. We actually had to drive-thru Chick-fil-a to get more drinks b/c it was so hot! I had to put napkins under my legs b/c they were sweating in the leather seats so bad. By the time we got home, the napkins had practically melted. And I don't think I'm a gross sweaty person, but it's seriously that hot out!

Brandon was awake when we got home, so we showed him our new coloring book and then put the kids down for naps. I showered, I think I put it on cold b/c warm was even too hot! (sad isn't it!) We went to a welcome to the new residents party last night and it was fun to meet the new families. They had a bouncy thing outside, which C went nuts for, but we had to ban him to the house after a while b/c he was so red and sweaty. I think he only went potty 3 times all day b/c he was so hot! And he had a lot to drink! I don't like this weather at all. It's ruining the plans I had for outside the first few weeks the kids would be in MDO. Oh well. I will have to suck it up I guess.

Anyway, Brandon is on call again today and we miss him, but really, really looking forward to next weekend when he won't have to step one foot in that hospital from Friday afternoon to Monday morning. I better go, Christopher is in need of some attention and my bacon is ready for breakfast. Stay cool!!!!!

Let's just say that they weren't kidding when they said the first day of VBS is rough. For starters, I had to actually wake my kids up to go! I don't think I've ever woken them up for anything. I wasn't sure what to expect of 3rd graders since I've only been around babies and toddlers the last several years and before that I was in college and around no kids at all (of course that's always debatable, depending on who you're around!). I thought it would be a really nice change to dealing with diapers and potty training. I wasn't so sure when the end of the day finally rolled around. At least with toddlers you can put them in time out. Ok, I'm being harsh. I apologize. The girls were wonderful, the boys quite rowdy. But it was understandable. They are rushed from one thing to the next, first being recreation where they played chase. How can you ask any kid to sit still and listen to a Bible story after doing that? But my leader and my guide called me that night and we came up with a new game plan and I went to bed just after 8:30 last night, partly b/c Brandon made me. He said I was being grumpy and needed to. I didn't argue. Today went as smooth as could be! The kids were much better behaved and we all had a good time. My kids are enjoying it too. I'm glad to be a part of this again and look forward to when my kids can be more active in VBS themselves. It's so fun, what kid wouldn't want to come?

We are back in FL and glad to be here. I have to say that this past week was probably the quickest week of my life! We were gone for 5 days, but it felt like 3 and Christopher actually started to cry as we drove away and Grammie got smaller and smaller. Most of the way home he'd say, "I want to go back to Grammie and Pop's house. I don't want to go home!" It killed me b/c I love being at their house as much as he does. Especially now that the kids are getting older and can do more. I can't say enough about how much fun Sophie is now. She is hilarious!!!! She learned to say Pop and Buff, but still had nothing but fear for the poor old dog. She loved playing in the water and having meals with her buddy, Pop. Christopher went crazy for all the new toys Grammie had bought and wanted to bring all of them home. He jumped and jumped and jumped some more off the dock and swam like a fish. They both rode the lawn mower. We played with some friends at the playground in Wetumpka and had a picnic. We played play dough and swung (is that really a word? it looks funny written out) until we couldn't swing anymore. We watched Pop build a picnic table and a ladder for the dock. And we finished it all out with a baby shower for Aunt Jenny. She looks great and just has a cute 'ol bump out front! Christopher and I are counting down the days for that baby to get here. I just hope she won't notice if we move in with her and Uncle Trey so we can sneak peeks at Anne Morgan whenever we want! It's nice to be home and we are anxious to see Daddy. It's 9:00 in the morning and he still isn't home yet. (Just let the patient go home so you can too!! He/she isn't that sick, right? I'm kidding.) We need to get ready for William's birthday party this morning. We haven't seen them in 2 weeks, so it's going to be a good time! I'm going to also go ahead and tell you that I am busy every day through next Saturday, so if you don't see me on here for a while, that's why. I'm looking forward to helping with VBS again. I haven't done it since college. Our weekends are eaten up with events too. I'll give you a nice big post when I get back though. Here's a bunch of photos to keep you busy. Enjoy!

We made it to the lake in three whole pieces. We stopped at Mimi and Papa John's to play a little and have supper, then loaded up to reach our final destination. Christopher is so excited that he only napped for about 30 minutes and we were in Montgomery, so I had to wake him up. But he said so many funny things today that I just have to add them on here:

Brandon started his night schedule on Monday, which means the kids and I need to be out of the house as soon as we can in the morning to allow him to sleep. I usually stay here the first couple days and then leave mid-week to head to my parents house for about 7-8 days. This gives Brandon an empty house to sleep, guilt free, and a weekend to try to figure out when he should stay awake and when he should sleep. But this time I decided we would stay home for the first week and hit the road for the second. It's very difficult to come up with free, or inexpensive, things to do away from home every... single.... day. There are numerous "water parks"(aka splash pads) around town, but Sophie's still a little scared of them and it was scheduled to rain most of the week. So, here's what we did to stay busy...

MONDAY - we stay home and do laundry b/c Brandon is at work by lunch. I'm already bored, so we go to the consignment shop to get a toy to play with.

TUESDAY - we head to Target to play around and see what we can find. This time it was quite a fun trip to make, for all of us. It usually involves me yelling at Christopher to either "come here" or "get back over here now!" But since the only thing I really had on my list was to find a top to go with some shorts and to have the kids pick out a b'day gift for our dear friend William, I decided the kids could be "in control" of what we did there. I bought Christopher some of those little things you stick on your crocs and like an idiot thought Sophie wouldn't notice or care, but as soon as we got to car and he propped his little feet up, she began to flip out. We'd already loaded up the car and I wasn't about to undo the kids to go back in, so we went to Walmart, who I soon found out does not carry them. But I got some spray paint, so it wasn't a wasted trip. Then we went across the street to Chick-a-Flay (as C likes to call it) for lunch and some play time. After a little ice cream treat we went home to nap. Second day down and wasn't bad.

WEDNESDAY - Christopher wants to go to the library, and I love that, so we head out the door to check out some books. I soon found out that a kindergarten class is on it's way, so I try to shuffle the kids out, but they are having too much fun. Sophie refuses to leave and wants to join the class that has arrived. She is not intimidated by anyone. We swing by the BX to walk around and see what we see and try to kill some time. We were supposed to go to the splash pad with the Newells and have lunch, but it was pouring so we went to McDonald's and let the kids play. Then we head home for naps. After everyone woke up, we walked around the corner to see what the excavator had been working on the last few days. The sewer pipe had busted so they were trying to fix it. It had been installed in 1949, so that tells you how old the house is we are living in. The workers were very nice and even offered us each a powerade, which we declined b/c we weren't working. We love the construction and I'm loving how nice the construction workers are!


THURSDAY - Brandon comes home and feels pretty good and I desperately need to get some groceries so he tells me to go while Sophie naps and he can play with Christopher. I'm gone about an hour and he thought that was too long without kids. I inform him that was a quick trip without kids when you haven't been in over a week. I know he was just very tired, and he didn't sound mad, just exhausted, so I sent his poor sleepy head to bed while Christopher and I play. When Sophie woke up we headed to Ross (got Sophie's picnic backpack set she's wearing below) and played at the splash pad we were going to go to the day before and had a box of Ritz bits for lunch. I was so proud of Sophie b/c she actually put her hands in the fountain. Naps were awesome that day. When the kids finally woke up, we opened the picnic set that Sophie got and they played picnic while I fixed dinner.



(I noticed one of my plants had a HUGE weed growing out of the center, along with some clover. I thought it was kind of funny. Almost like the clover was laughing at me while saying, "Good luck with that one!")



FRIDAY - Christopher has Mother's Day Out, so we head out the door and Sophie and I have our last MDO girls' day together. We went to Destin and played in Michael's and Target then finishing up with lunch. It was a great day! Everyone who saw her told me how cute she was and I just beamed b/c I agree. Christopher fell asleep on the way home from MDO, so I put him down and let Sophie play with her new stroller some more. She loves playing with her babies now, and so does Christopher, which is why we needed to get the stroller. They fight over the other one she has. Christopher loves babies and is very excited about his new cousin Anne Morgan due next month and has already asked Aunt Jenny if she can come stay with us. He's practicing how to hold a baby and burp them too. It's adorable!

She kept taking the babies back and forth between the two strollers. It was so cute! She never pushed either one, just kept swapping them.

I'm trying to pull off Sophie's new beach hat. She wanted me to put it on so she could take my picture this time. If you think I'm kidding, I promise you I'm not. But I had to push the button.

The week wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and this explains why I haven't posted anything until now. I'm very grateful that my husband doesn't have to work the night shift every night. I am looking forward to getting away next week and having adults (that are awake and alert) to talk to. (My friend Tiffany that I see almost everyday went out of town.) It's 9:00 and Christopher needs to go to bed so I can watch Burn Notice's season premiere. If you haven't seen it, you must! It's on USA and if you like spy/CIA stuff with a little bit of dry humor mixed in, you'll love it too. I'm out!