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!

and dragging cranes and tractors behind our rides.

Wednesday was spent playing with the Khan boys at the park in Wetumpka,

playing in the pool after naps,

watching Grammie give Buff a bath,

and playing grocery store.

Sophie loves having breakfast with Pop.

Christopher and I watching Pop work on the picnic table.

I found time to craft a little myself. This attempt at hair bows was much more successful.

Grammie pulled out the slip-n-slide,

and the whale pool (she's trying to catch Sophie, not push her), which Christopher wanted to wear the Spiderman floatation suit for.

Breakfast with Pop again and everyone posed nicely.

Christopher finally playing in the lake. He jumped so much it wore us out!

Sophie eating the food I got to share with her. She actually climbed up next to me, reached over and grabbed my plate to put in her lap. Didn't even bother looking at me to see what I was going to eat or think to share with me.

She loved the party!!!! She kept wanting to pass out gifts to everyone.

Sisters and kiddos. Soon, they'll be one more to add to this photo!!

The other craft I made while at the lake was a gift for William. I stole the idea from the one Caroline made for Christopher when I made Sophie's to match. William saw them one day and so it gave me the idea to make one for him. He had a Buzz Lightyear party, that's where the rocket came from.

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 completely forgot to put this on here, but last week I went to take a shower after putting Sophie to bed and Christopher was playing with his trucks in the den. I told him that if he had to go poo poo (hadn't been all day and knew he had to go) to come and tell me so I could help him. A little while later he comes darting into the bathroom and tells me he needs to go. I told him to go and get his potty (the kind that goes on the toilet) and bring it here and I'd help him. He runs off and comes back to tell me, "it's too heavy so I just brought this part" I pulled the curtain back to see he was holding his potty in his hand, the exact one I told him to get, but quickly realized he thought I wanted him to bring the entire toilet! I'm just glad I didn't slip in the shower from laughing so hard. I might have to send that one in somewhere...

We had a really good weekend here at the Hemphill house. Brandon woke up very early Saturday morning to go deep sea fishing with some resident friends and so Tiffany and I took the kids to the zoo near Pensacola. We had never been so Christopher was really excited. We had a great time checking out all the animals and Christopher loved feeding them. He's always scared once he gets up to whatever he is in awe of, so I was very surprised he would even do it, but like I said, he loved it! After the zoo, we went to Panera Bread for lunch and Publix for a few items and a free cookie. Everyone went down for naps and then the boys called to say they were back and to head on over when the kids woke up. The families all met at the "departure" house and we had fresh fish for dinner. It was fabulous! And I'm not much of a fish eater, but this was by far, the best I've ever had! The kids were more Sophie's age, which thrilled her like crazy b/c she's always around 3 year olds. I have never seen her have so much fun at someone else's house. Christopher has always loved babies, so he was giddy and would run up and touch the twin girls that just turned one and run away laughing. It was fun to watch!

On Sunday, I got to sleep in, I know, it should have been the other way around, but it was much appreciated. We had breakfast on the patio and the kids were in the pool by 8:30. We were going to the later service at church, so it was a very nice and relaxing morning together. Then we were off to church, home for lunch, finished the step stool and down for naps. Christopher and I were going to have a "date" that afternoon, but he slept so long that we didn't make the movie. Instead we went to dinner with one of my oldest friends. She and her husband were in town without kids and we haven't seen each other since we were pregnant with #2. It was great seeing them again!

This morning Brandon got to sleep in and I fixed coffee cake and we has breakfast on the patio again, followed by a dip in the pool. As I am typing this, the boys are back in the pool again and Sophie should wake up from her nap any minute. I've already done some laundry and cleaned up the kitchen. It's a great day! Brandon is starting his night rotation today, so I'm planning our morning adventures for the week to get us out of the house while he sleeps. Hopefully it will go smoothly and we will just pass each other as we come and go. Hope you all have a great week!