Brandon and I got our tax refund and have been trying to figure out what to do with the money. Obviously most of it will go to pay bills, loans and into savings, but we got enough that we could have a little "play money" for each of us. I've been going over and over (and over) in my mind what I would do with that money. New drapes for the house, something new for our bedroom, new clothes, new shoes (ahhh!!!!) or stuff for the kids. I finally decided that I want my own little "pocket" camera. We have a SLR, but it's not something I can just toss in my purse and take with me. I feel like I miss so many moments b/c I can't carry 2 kids, a purse/diaper bag and the huge sling/backpack camera bag we have. Sooo, this is where you come in, please give me suggestions on cameras. I want to hear the good and the bad. If you have one you hate I want to know those as much as the ones you love. The only requirements I have are that I can fit it in my purse without me feeling it and that it doesn't have a delay. You know the kind where once it finally takes a photo and the moment is way over? That's how our old little camera was and it drove me crazy! We don't get Consumer Reports (my fav!) anymore and so I can't just go there. If you can and happen to come across what they recommend, let me know! I look forward to hearing what you have to say!

Yesterday Brandon and our friend Adam were on-call, so Melissa and I decided we'd spend the day together. Well, the plan started out that we'd spend the morning together, but after having lunch we realized we didn't want to spend more time at home than we had to and thought we'd meet up after naps and go to Destin to shop and have dinner. That morning we took the kids to the fair grounds to something called Construction Junction. It was free and going have lots of big trucks and "diggers" (for those of you who don't know what a "digger" is, I've been asked a few times, it's anything used in construction. Just easier to say that then to name each one and have to explain what that is.) It could not have been a more perfect day! The sky was blue and it was about 64 degrees with a little wind (also very bright which is why the photos have a nice glow to them). They had a covered area with a Home Depot kids workshop set up giving the kids about 8 different options of things to build. We picked the firetruck, but Christopher was too excited about the cup of candy he got when we walked in to build it, so we brought it home to do later. They had a raffle with all kinds of diggers that would be given away later on. Christopher thought they were free to take, but I had to explain to him they were just to look at. We walked all around and saw everything from firetrucks to garbage trucks to sewer trucks to dump trucks to mixer trucks to backhoes to baby excavators to bulldozers to front loaders and finally a scraper. That was the only one I had to ask about b/c they look similar to pavers and hay balers. (Ok, so maybe they don't, but you don't see them as often as the others so I get them confused sometimes.) They also had a big sand pile with all kinds of shovels and molds the kids could play with. When we left there we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch and then home for naps. When my kids woke up we went to pick up Melissa and her kids to head to Destin. We forgot it was spring break and the traffic was backing up due to a wreck. Thankfully I've figured out a few back roads so we saved about 45 minutes by doing that. We shopped a little and then grabbed dinner and had promised the kids we'd let them play on the playground, which they loved! Next thing we knew it was 8:30 and we were still playing. We quickly gathered the kids and headed home. By the time we got to our house it was after 9:30 and I put Sophie to bed, picked up a few things in case Brandon got home earlier than expected in the morning and Christopher and I went to bed. It was a lot of fun, but we were all really tired this morning! I'm sorry Brandon and Adam missed it, but I know that the patients appreciated their help. One of them (a full bird colonel!!) actually called him later to tell him what a good job he did helping his son out. I'm proud of him!

Christopher and Sophie in front of one of the dump trucks. He was so overwhelmed he would hardly talk and wouldn't go up in most of the trucks. It's so funny b/c he's so obssessed with these things.

The kids sitting on the steps of what I think is the sewer cleaner. They have one of these on Christopher latest truck movie and it's used to help keep the sewers clear, works like a vacuum from my understanding. Gross job if you ask me! Don't worry all the trucks were very clean!

Christopher sitting in the garbage truck. It's the only one he'd climb inside of. I had to go up there and honk the horn b/c he was frozen. The other kids didn't have a problem though.

Sophie sitting on the claw of a material handler. If you aren't sure, it's like a dump truck with an excavator arm/claw. They use them to clean up demolition sites. (They have several on base down the street from our house. That's how I know.)

Christopher and Landon behind the dump truck. There was a nice man sitting in the cab and when kids climbed up there he'd show them how you make it dump. The boys got so excited and started jumping up and down. Once it started getting higher they backed up b/c they didn't want to get the dirt dumped on them. (There was no dirt and the back was chained shut.)

Christopher in front of a tire on the scraper. Sophie wouldn't stand there with him. She wanted to go to the sand pile.

The kids on top of the scraper. Christopher loved climbing on this and did it twice. Not sure why this was better than the others, but whatever!

Christopher by himself up on the scraper. He tried to figure out how to go higher, but I made him come down. One of the dad's said I looked like I was having as much fun as he was. (I did!)

Sophie walked all over pointing to the different trucks. It was really cute! It's so obvious she has a big brother b/c all she knows is trucks too. I'm not sure if she loves them as much as he does or just likes to see him get excited.

The kids playing in the sand. It was a great day!!! You should check and see if your city has one of these. It's free and the kids have a blast!!!

Sophie does some really funny things these days. Usually she's the first one to laugh at herself, which makes it even funnier. Last week we were out enjoying the warmer weather and I decided to sweep the carport and let the kids have room to play in the shade. She tried desperately to put on Christopher's helmet and get on this:

Which after some terrible screaming I saw it all unfortunately lead to this:

You can't really see it but there's a nice little bump on her forhead. She hit her head on both sides later that night while trying to hold onto my pant leg in the kitchen, slipped and somehow twisted slowly around and falling into the corner of the cabinets (inside "corner", not outside edge if that makes sense) hitting one cabinet and then the other. Maybe we should just let her wear the helmet all the time?

Since we put Christopher back in his bed he has been sleeping like normal. Even without his pacifier. I feel bad, but I guess he just needed his bed! It never crossed my mind that was the problem. But when you have company and he has the bigger room of the two kids, what do you do? Nap time I'm still working on. He falls asleep on the couch with me b/c he'd just play in his room if I don't. I transfer him after he's been asleep a while, but I'm not sure how much longer we need to do this. Brandon and I are very careful about having the kids rely on us to fall asleep and never put them in the bed with us b/c we don't want to create bad habits. Plus, we both need our sleep so bad that if we shared a bed with a kid it wouldn't be pretty.

We had Christopher's birthday party this weekend and it was so much fun! The Khans came in town Thursday night and the boys were too excited to sleep. They played all day on Friday and Grammie and Pop arrived later that afternoon. Mimi and Papa John came Saturday morning and it had been raining since we woke up. Thankfully it held off long enough for the party to happen and the kids had a great time! We grilled burgers that night at our house and the Ramages joined us and we finally called it a night after a round of pillow island. We played Sunday morning and then the Khans headed home. It was a great weekend and we'd do it all over again in a minute!


Here are the "babes" having lunch together. They were so cute together! Joshua is precious and is always smiling and seeing what he can get into. Nothing intimidates him. It's really cute!

Here are the "big boys" playing trains together. Nicholas LOVES Thomas the Train and that was the first thing he started talking about when he found out they were coming. We pulled it out into the main room so they'd have room to sleep in Christopher's room. It was nice too b/c we could see them playing.

Christopher's birthday cake. Mimi bought him the mold last year, but I'd just had Sophie so I wasn't about to decorate any cake for anyone. I used the chocolate icing recipe and the vanilla one I made for Sophie's cake. It was so yummy!!!

The three musketeers on the tire swing. These boys were so funny together! They would play together and then fight together all within the same breath. They could not have had more fun though!

Little Miss Sophie with Grammie. She had so much fun now that she's walking everywhere. She and Grammie were great buddies.

Christopher's party shirt. Grammie found this for me. I can't find anything John Deere in Florida. Guess it's not considered a "red-neck" state.

Mimi and Papa John walked over to the fire station by the park to see if they would make an appearance at the party. The guys were happy to and the kids loved it! Christopher is so funny b/c he gets SO excited when he sees big trucks, but won't move or say anything once he's close to them. He wouldn't get on the truck (I know a lot of it was due to lack of sleep), but the other kids had no problem.

Family photo for the day. The kids really were excited, they just don't look like it.

Sophie proud of herself and very happy to be with her daddy. (She adores him!!!)

Christopher opening his presents. He got lots of digger stuff and wanted to stop and play with each gift as he opened it. He got mad when we made him keep opening, but can you imagine how long it would take if we did?

Blowing out the candle on his tractor cake.

Sophie enjoying her cake with her daddy. She LOVES her sweets!!!!

Christopher never had any cake. He didn't really care for any. He just wanted to play with his new toys. The rest of us enjoyed it for him!

Eventually he moved back to the playground and dug in the sand with Papa John and Pop.

Here's the party kids all lined up in a row. How cute are they?

It started to pour after naps and Christopher and Brandon had to go jump in the puddles. The little ones just tried to watch them the best they could. Sophie was yelling at them the whole time and I finally let her go out there, thinking it would help cure her fear of the shower, it didn't.

Burt, Brandon and Christopher running, jumping and splashing around. It was cold!!! We still don't know how they stood it!

Nicholas enjoying pillow island. I PROMISE he's not as high as he looks!!! He just loves to kick while "flying" and Brandon was lying on the ground to take his picture. Our ceilings are low and there is a fan with a nice 70's bowl on it, so the kids didn't go high, it just looks like it.

The boys trying to keep the leftover balloons in the air. They had more fun hitting these things around!! It was funny!

Yes, that's true at our house. We gave up the pacifier like I said on Wednesday and it has been a nightmare since then!!!! The days that followed he has been kicking and screaming, refusing to take a nap in the afternoon. The only way I can get his to fall asleep is to make him lay on the couch with me and watch Mommy's show. He falls asleep within a few minutes, but wakes a little as I put him in his bed. He'll sleep for a least 2 hours or more so he's obviously tired. Now at night is even worse. He gone to bed at 9:00, then 10:00, then midnight, then 10:00 again. The last two days he never napped AT ALL. I know that giving up the pacifier was going to cause something like this, but I underestimated just how attached to it he really was. It was his ultimate comforter. It's so hard b/c the time changed this week and we had company coming in town for his b'day party and he's excited and has his friends and family around and lots of new toys and who would want to go to sleep? But seriously, he's got to crash eventually... right?? So, please, please pray for us. I really don't want him to give up his naps now. He's not ready for that and neither am I. As soon as we get past this I'm getting rid of Sophie's. We are not waiting this long ever again. I never wanted to in the beginning, but I definitely suggest that if your child has an attachment, start cutting back now and don't wait 3 years to cut it off. Trust me!!! If you do have encouraging tips, please pass them on!!! I'm desperate for help here.

I'm going to keep it short since I have a lot to show and I'm just waiting for Sophie to wake by the time I get the first photo picked out!

Christopher opening a gift from Hunter and Drake. (It was a cute sand digging set, but this was the only photo that turned out of all 7 I took!)

This is the third (and probably final) surgery his veryfirst digger has received this week. I finally got a toothpick and cut the tip off, glued it between the wheel and that bar to help give it some thickness. It obviously didn't work, even though it lasted longer than the previous attempts.

Christopher playing with the birthday card he got from Great. Can't go wrong with Bob the Builder!

Opening his other present that night when Daddy was home and very excited about his new tractor movie. (Thanks Hunter and Drake!)

Loving on his Pluto. He has always said that if we had a dog he'd name it Pluto, so when I saw this I just had to get it. (If you ask him his second favorite name for a dog, Mickey Mouse.)

Sophie in her swing with a rake, an excavator, a front loader and a cement truck. The shovel had already fallen out.

How many people do you know that look this good while playing with a digger? I challenge you to find one!

Christopher playing with his new bachoe that the Pacifairy brought him. We waited for Brandon to get home so he could take him to the mailbox to see what he got. It's all he's talked about since he got it. He wouldn't even go to sleep last night b/c he wanted to play with it. We're doing ok without paci now, but naps are the hardest. He falls asleep on the couch with me watching a show Mommy likes and I think that's why he's asleep so quickly. He's bored.

Landon came over for a little while this morning and the kids wanted to have a snack on the patio. An F-15 or 16 is flying overhead is why Christopher has his hands over his ears. I've been told the F-35's are WAY louder. I don't think they'll be coming until we leave, which is probably good b/c I might have to ask that they schedule their flights around naptime. Mommy beats USAF doesn't it?????

Sophie fell asleep after having lunch. I kept hearing a wimper and when I peeked at her she'd wake up every time her head dropped. Poor kid! It was only 12:30 and they are usually up another hour but they both went down early today. No complaints here! I have some more photos from our outing down to the water on Sunday, but too many to go through right now. I'll post them as soon as I can. Pray the rain will hold off until after Christopher's party on Saturday!

Today's the day we are getting rid of Christopher's pacifier. I've been looking forward to this and dreading it at the same time. I've looked around for different ideas of how to go about handling it and hopefully it's the right one.

Last night he was still awake at 11:00 and came to get me, so he's not in the best mood today and kind of cranky, which is either going to work to my advantage or against it. I'm hoping he'll be so exhausted that he won't cry as long as I think he will. This morning we put them in an envelope (he starts to get teary) and wrote a letter to the Pacifairy to tell her to give them to a baby that needs them more than he does. And I've told him that doing this makes her so happy that she gives you a toy to say thank you. I bought a little cast iron backhoe, since his bigger plastic broke beyond repair and plan to stick it in the mailbox for him to find when he wakes up. Unfortunately he's not up for napping without and is playing trains in his room with the lights off. I'll let you know how it goes! Hey, if anything he'll just go to bed early tonight. Right???