4 months early...



but i just couldn't resist! We went up to the BX to get out of the house today and I found this adorable dress. I showed it to Sophie and she loved it. She actually carried dragged it, through the entire store and refused to let me carry it for her. She loves it and that makes me love it. It's a little louder of a pink than I typically lean towards, but like I said, it makes her happy. It will be a perfect little party dress for her when she turns 2 in January. Oh, and here's a pic of her taking one of her baby dolls for a ride in an empty diaper box. The kids love doing this! Them in the boxes, not toys. She's really becoming quite the little girl. Right?


hot and cold

Seriously, it's fall? Maybe everywhere else in the country, but not down here in the deep south. (Ok, I know FL isn't considered "southern" by the rest of the south, but I'm going to as long as I live here.) Do you want to know what the weather is going to be like this week here? Let's start with today, 88 degrees. Tomorrow 89 degrees. Thursday, 90 degrees. Friday, 88 degrees. (Whoa! We're cooling off that day!) And don't forget the humidity we have on top of all of that. Some days it's not as humid, but most days it is. It doesn't slow the kids down at all, but I feel like I need a shower at lunch and dinner and bedtime. Ok, I DO need a shower that often, but who has time? I just want one day, night, afternoon, any time to bring us a cold snap and kills all those "stinkin' bugs" as Christopher says. That's the worst part! My children look like they have scab covered chicken pox b/c they won't stay in the house and are eaten alive. I keep covering them with bandaids, but they just pull them off to scratch some more.

Now about the cold part. Lemonade. Pink. That's how I'm surviving. A big tall, fat glass of it in a plastic cup with lots of ice. Preferably from Zoe's. It comes with a lid and a straw (help keeps the "stinkin' bugs" out and I can wash it in the dishwasher). The other cold part is that my children have them. Sophie is yucky and runny and Christopher is congested and coughing. Brandon is gone and nobody will play with us and I can't drop them off anywhere b/c nobody wants sick children these days thanks to the swine flu fear we all have. So, at home, in the heat is where you'll find us. Or wandering around in the BX like lost puppies just trying to find something to do. Hey, at least nobody is throwing up. I can handle this as long as nothing gross happens. Just pray that Christopher won't bring back his little attitude he's been popping up on me lately. That I can't handle. Seriously, I don't know how to handle it! But I'm trying. Hey, that's all we can do right? I'm going to leave you with photos of what the little dirty ones have been up to while I was writing all of this. Just know that this is what they look like most mornings, until I can tackle them, wipe their faces and put less clothes on them.







And these are just a fraction of the trucks we own. They are just the larger ones. Yup, we love us some trucks around here!

Saturday we planned to spend the day in Pensacola with our friends who's dad/husband is in TX with Brandon. Anyone who has had a spouse that has to work on weekends knows how incredibly long a weekend day is when they are gone. It rained here and there on the drive, but thankfully it stopped once we arrived at the mall. We shopped just a little and then went to Red Robin for lunch. After that we headed over to the Naval Air Museum for the afternoon. If you are ever at the beach and it's a rainy day, you have to go here. It's free and very cool!!! Now, I have to admit, normally this kind of thing would be an automatic no for me just from hearing about it. I'm picturing some boring museum with lots of things you have to read and yelling at the kids, "Don't touch! Get down! Stop running!" But our friends the Ramages have been several times and brag about this place, so when Melissa mentioned going to Pen. for the day, I told her we had to go here. It's totally worth the drive! There are all kinds of colorful planes there and they are on the floor, hanging from the ceiling, spinning over your head. They have a second level that is a loop above the first, b/c remember there are planes hanging from the ceiling, and they have probably 10-12 cockpits that you can climb into. They are just lined up along the walls and facing each other. It's really, really cool! Christopher can't wait to go back and I told him we would very soon. The older kids crashed as soon as we got in the car, while the younger ones took a little longer. It was a wonderful day to spend with the kids.






(Sophie putting dirty clothes in the dryer, just trying to help out!)


(The kids playing on the "rides" at the mall.)


(Landon and Christopher playing with a big gun.)



(Christopher wanted his photo under this helicopter.)


(I squatted to get a photo and Sophie always copies me when I do this. She doesn't understand that I'm trying to get down on her level. She's a cutie!)


(Christopher and Sophie in one of the cockpits.)


(Sophie prefers the side-by-side seating.)



(The kids area on the edge of the museum.)



(You can't see Christopher and Kylan, but they are crashed in the backseat.)

Thursday adventures

After we dropped Brandon off at the airport we went to get lunch at Chick-fil-a. Lowes is across the street and I was dying for some new plants. Of course we make it inside and Sophie has a diaper that leaks all over her shorts, so we have to head back out to change everything. Then the bottom falls out. I tell the kids we'll come back the next day and Christopher really wants to go back in. We grab our big umbrella and brave the storm. I got some mums and more, the little bitty pots were on clearance for 59 cents a piece. I figure if they die after a month they were still worth it. We got to the BX to buy some dirt and shovels b/c the best one we had (kid one from Target) broke. We each got a new one, the kids got Dora and Diego and I got The Backyardigans b/c "they are my favorite," as the kids would say. We planted most of the plants before everyone started melting and my pricey dirt was being used for things besides the plants. I was dripping with sweat so we went in for showers. (I've tried the cheap dirt, but here in FL you have sand to work with and Miracle Grow is the only thing that doesn't kill my plants.)














(Sophie giving herself a bath with wipes.)


(Demolishing their supper.)

My hero!!!!

I huge thanks goes out to Lori for figuring out how to change my header!!! I send you a million, billion thanks my dear friend!!!! I can't tell you how many hours you have saved me b/c I know that's how long it would take me. Eating up nap times, yard work, dirty dishes, mother's day out and not to mention sleep that I would have misused trying to fix this. It was quite the challenge and nobody knows why. If I had an entire day or two without any interruptions from a child or spouse then I might have figured it out. But if I had one of those then I wouldn't have anything to talk about on here. So, again I thank you, Lori!!! You rock!!!

header helper

i'm trying to figure out how to replace the header on our blog with a photo. it won't work i tell you! and it's driving me crazy!!!! i doing everything that it says to do, and what people have told me to do, but my blog won't let me do it. it tells me that i can't. how can a computer tell you that you can't do something? well, mine does. if anyone has any tips on how to fix this little problem, please let me know. i can only seem to get the photo AND the header that's on there now to show up together. i only want the photo. i will give you everything you need if you want to do it for me.  : )  by that i mean my blog info so you can do it for me.

and he lives it well.
(thanks to William's grandmother who got him the shirt!)

new photos

I haven't been posting too many photos lately, here are some of the more recent ones that haven't made the blog yet. Christopher wet his pants while playing outside this morning, something he hasn't done in a really, really long time. When I went to throw the wet clothes in the washer, I looked out the window and saw this little guy crawling around. We had to go investigate.

He was a fast little guy and as soon as we got out there he'd made it to our back neighbor's yard. Christopher and Sophie had to pet him and Christopher kept throwing little sticks to him. I had to explain that turtles don't eat sticks (right?) and to not get too close b/c he might bite. That sent both kids sprinting back to me. I don't think he was a snapping turtle, but I figure it wasn't worth getting bit to find out.


The other day Brandon pulled out the Auburn football uniform a friend bought at a yard sale for $1 (remember we're in FL and they have some other teams that they tend to favor more). Sophie was the first willing to try it on. That's how it goes in our house. The baby will do anything and eat anything, then big brother tries it.


Saturday we decided to head out for the morning and it all started at Waffle House. It's usually a father-son trip, but this time Sophie and I got to join them. It was delicious!!!! The least greasy bacon, egg and cheese sandwich I'd ever had from there. I wanted another, but thought that would be a bad idea.

Then we went to a thing at the convention center where they have vendors passing out stuff and it was ok. Something to do which was the more important thing. Then we headed to Target to walk around. It was my third day in a row visiting the store, but I never complain. Once we left there, Brandon looked at me and said, "Mellow Mushroom is just across the street." I told him it sounded good to me. It was a perfect time to go b/c it was practically empty and the kids could run around until our food arrived. Sophie preferred the ramps that lead up to the bar area, I was just glad nobody was there. It was 11:00 in the morning after all.

When we got home, the kids decided to go play in the backyard. Christopher loves to drive his little trucks through the puddles on the trampoline. (Our net broke during a storm many months ago, so now it's a huge eye sore.) He wanted Sophie to stand on the step stool with him. She didn't care to share as much as he did.

During a recent storm the boys pulled their ran jackets out and went for a run. This time Sophie joined them. It was really cute!!!

Here's what my back patio area looked like for several weeks. Dirty. Very, very dirty. The kids would drag dirt up from the digging area and dump it everywhere. They were filthy within seconds of playing outside.

See? I told you! Nasty, filthy, dirty, sweaty children!!! But they were having a blast and that's all that matters, right?


Once it would stop raining long enough for the dirt to dry out I was able to sweep it all up. Christopher was really mad, but I told this was "my" spot and the rest of the yard was "his" to mess up. You can only imagine the dirt that was drug through the house thanks to the people and the dog going in and out. Which reminds me, I need to vacuum again.

Finally, the day after Brandon finished his OB nights rotation, I gathered the kids up in the van and we took off before he had a chance to come home. We went to a yard sale around the corner where I got a mini crock pot for $4. I haven't used it yet, but I'm hoping it works. Our next stop was this place:

We only head over to this area once the tourists have all gone home. It's not worth it when they are here. I grew up going here, along with many of you, but now that I'm a local it's totally different. We don't feel like waiting in line like you do b/c we have 9 months out of the year we can pretty much just walk right up and get our order. The kids loved it!!!


Next we went to Target to kill some more time and then on our way home we saw this sign:

I've never been into any of the flea markets around here, but have driven by this one slowly to see what they have outside. This one in particular happened to be having free hot dogs from 11-2 and it was 10:55. We parked and went in to walk around and then went right back out for our free wiener. Well, Christopher had one. I was still full from doughnuts. If you have small children that like to touch things like mine do, don't go in these places. I knew what would, or could possibly happen and thankfully we made it out of there without having to buy anything.

The kids are getting a bit rowdy and I've had to stop several fights while posting this so I'm going to go for now. But I hope to be back again soon!

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