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!