Christopher jumping off the dock at Turkey Creek... always a show off!



Whatcha' doin C-dawg? -- "nothing much, just chillin'"



Christopher practicing his "matrix" style jump.... actually, he's levitating right there.


Who loves water..... me?


who needs a hug? I got one right here, come and get it!

We have had a really good weekend here at our house. I think it's mostly due to knowing that Brandon is going to be home all next week and so he can relax (mentally that is) and the kids and I are just happy to have so much time with him.

Yesterday I got to sleep in until 8:30 (I know!) but still felt tired all day long. I think it's this dizzy thing I have going on. and I'm starting to think I'm allergic to my house b/c if I'm here for long I feel worse, but when I leave I feel better. How do you fix that? Anyway, we went to the BX and then to the commissary to get some groceries and came home to have lunch and put Sophie down for a nap. Brandon and Christopher went to go see How to Train your Dragon (is that right?) and seemed to have a good time. When they got home, they cleaned the pool in the backyard that has been hanging over the fence (very redneck, I know) and then we all got cleaned up and went to a birthday party for a sweet little boy that turned 2. He lives across the street from us and melts the heart of anyone and everyone he meets. We had a great time and are going to miss that family so much when they move next month. We came home and everyone (including Brandon and I) were in bed before 8:45. It was awesome!

This morning I was able to sleep in again (Brandon's been waking up at like 5 a.m. lately for work, so sleeping in for him is 6 a.m. or whenever the kids wake up-- just want to clarify I'm not that spoiled OR that selfish), but don't worry, it wasn't nearly as late as the day before. I was also told to not come out of my room yet when I did wake up, so I went back to bed (and played the coveted "hi-pod" as Sophie calls it) until they came and joined me with cards in hand. Even Brick brought me his own card. It was so cute! The kids were so proud of the pics they had made and I couldn't wait to get my hugs on! Brandon made me french toast (my fav!) and we all had a yummy breakfast while trying to figure out what we were going to do that day. Our S.S. class doesn't meet on Mother's Day b/c nobody comes due to other plans, so we just skipped church. Bad, I know. We went to Lowes and got wood to build an awesome step stool for the kids to use with the trampoline. It was WAY more than we thought we'd be spending, but the ground is soft and we needed something really sturdy.

The Ramages were more than happy to let us borrow their drill b/c both of Brandon's died before the first screw even made a dent. They hung out for a couple hours and the guys worked together. We love them b/c they make the most stressful project fun and manageable. The kids eventually started to melt and the stairs were done so we parted ways. Sophie napped, the boys tried and I worked on my next craft for MOPS. After Sophie woke up we loaded up and headed to Turkey Creek. The water was freezing, but it didn't stop the kids from playing in the water anyway. After that we drove through Dairy Queen and got blizzards. Note: the new Buster Bar Blizzard is delicious! We pulled over to a place on base so the kids could eat without us having to climb around every bite. Came home and played t-ball with the "new" t-ball stand we found on the side of the road on the way home. In think we will have two little players next year! Missed the sign up for this year.

It has been a great weekend and I'd add photos, but they just downloaded and there are about 400. No lie. I'll add them later. Hope you had a great weekend as well!!!

i know this is going to sound a little crazy, but my wish is to have a blog makeover. but it's not exactly "cheap" and so it's not in our funds right now. maybe for my birthday? but that's in february so maybe Christmas would be better. i'm just tired of the header thing and want something a little better. i don't want a crazy one with scrapbook looking stuff all over it. it's not me. i just wish that i knew how to do all of this myself.

maybe i should have paid better attention in that web design class i had to take one summer for my major.

who am i kidding. that was 10 years ago and that stuff wouldn't work now anyway!

some things are just easier to pay someone else to do.

The week has definitely gotten better. Thank you Lord! He knew that I needed a little break from the insanity that had been going on and I thank Him for His loving kindness. The other day we went somewhere, can't remember, but when we got home I opened the door to let the kids inside and I went to check the mail. Came back to find little miss sitting up here:

Yup, climbed up on top of a couple boxes and sat on them. Not sure why or how they didn't fall over, but thankful they didn't b/c it could have been some serious injury going on if she did. She has a little fan (you know the cheap $5 round ones?) on top of her kitchen in her bedroom and I went in to tuck her in one night and it was on. I didn't do it and she happily informed me that she had turned it on. Now, she has a sturdy kitchen, but it was not meant for 35 lbs. to be climbing, or standing, on it. We will be buying her a new tall fan to put on the floor today. She definitely takes after my brother in the scaling things that shouldn't be scaled. Christopher just never bothered to climb much of anything until he was about 2. He likes to climb now, but not like his sister.

After I took her photo and got her down we decided to have lunch. They looked so cute sitting there I just had to snap a photo. She hates when I fix her hair, but I LOVE it when she fixes it!

Brandon's been working a crappy rotation (not at our hospital, a different one and they treat our docs crappy) and today is the last day there. Tonight starts his vaca and I'm so pumped! We are starting it off right by returning a favor to the Ramages and watching their kids so they can go out. Tomorrow we have a b'day party at a park and wait, Mother's Day is Sunday! Who knew? Huh. Last year Brandon worked that day and was so busy he had to send a friend out to buy me a card! How sad is that? (In a sweet way, not a pity way.) I'm counting my new shoes as my present. (I'm sure you were too, honey and that's why I love you!)On Monday the kids have school so we will have several hours of freedom and I think we just might go to the beach during that time. Then a week of hanging out and his parents are going to come visit. Can't wait! Hope you have a great weekend!

I wanted to thank all of you who left me positive comments yesterday. And Christine, I specifically remember having a day exactly like that once! About near killed me. But the not staying in bed got better and I can finally take a shower during the day, alone, and pray the whole time that the mess I find when I get out will be one that is easy to clean up.

I know that other people have bad days, but you forget they can be just as bad as yours are. And yes, I have yelled at my child so loud it made them cry too. (I'm actually ashamed to admit it.) But I apologized immediately and hugged and kissed that child for like 30 minutes afterward. And I told an old neighbor (she has 6 kids) that I feel like the other neighbors all know us b/c I'm the one yelling at my kids all the time. But she told me you can't be a good parent and never yell at them at some point so she made me feel better. I figured if she had 6 kids she had to be doing something right!

So, thank you all for making me feel better about being so honest. I'm an open book, so just beware. You never know what you'll read on here! : )

The last 2 hours have been nice. I thought after such an awful post I should let you know the day is ending nicely. After fighting with Sophie, and getting yelled at by her, I decided she needed a nap.

She slept for over 2 hours.

Christopher was ignoring me all afternoon and spent a majority of it in timeout b/c he thought he was either too smart or too old to listen to me. Even William, who had come over to play with him, had enough and ran home crying. (I'm so embarrassed!!)

He played alone with the water hose and was happy after having that time.

I got all the bushes trimmed during the craziness and replanted my flowers into a pot that didn't have a huge crack in it and felt much better after doing all of that. Well, better in the sense that it was done. It was hot and humid and I thought I was going to either pass out or puke when I was done. Don't you hate that feeling?

I had 2 chocolate popsicles and got a shower.

Christopher and I cuddled on the couch and watched the rest of Bedtime Stories and had popcorn and cheez-its. Sophie woke up right before Brandon came home. He had just as bad a day as we did and he did absolutely nothing to deserve it. Why do people in the working world feel the need to dump everything onto someone who should not be doing their work? (Yes, I'm even talking about nurses and PAs that don't do their work and dump it on a doctor!! Where's the respect? Don't get me started b/c I can write a whole other post on that topic!)

He came home early and cuddled with us.

The three kiddos just left with the dog to go down to the water to play for a little while. The sun is shining, everyone and everything outside is clean and my house is quiet. Dinner is in the oven and so I think I might just start my new James Bond movie, that I haven't seen yet, while folding all the t-shirts that have been lying on the chair for 2 days. Life is good. : )

Bet you didn't think I'd say that did ya?

I'm not sure who is frustrating who more this week, me or the kids. Yesterday the kids had mothers' day out and we got home at 2:30. It was pouring outside so we were confined to the indoors. I put a movie on and it seemed to work for a while, but I was trying to finish something I'd started before I picked them up and Sophie just had to sit in my lap. She always has to sit in my lap. And I'm just short enough and she's just tall enough that I can't see anything I'm doing when she's in my lap. So I get annoyed. Why can't she snuggle up next to me? I would LOVE that! But nooooooo, she has to be right on top of me so all I can do is just be a chair. Have I ever mentioned that I have a very difficult time sitting down and not doing something else at the same time? It is extremely difficult for me.

So our afternoon just seemed to go downhill very quickly. The kids started picking at each other (while still picking at me) and before we knew it everyone in our house was either crying or yelling and I had a headache. Have your children ever made your ears ring? Mine do. Motrin wasn't helping either. I finally got a call from Brandon and could barely hear him, asked him when he'd be home and I got in the shower and stood there until it sounded like he was here. He wasn't. They were getting out the Wii Fit board b/c they wanted to play Wii.

They fought some more.

I yelled some more.

Nobody was winning.

We had dinner and then it was time to put them to bed. Actually Sophie only continued to get louder (I know, it's actually possible) and so I told her she was done for the day and Brandon took over with more love than I could have found at the time. (I adore my husband!)

I went to bed and said a prayer for a friend who is having with twins today and also for myself. I prayed that we'd both have a good day today b/c I knew we would both need it. Even if it was for different reasons. Her's was joyful and mine was out of desperation. (Can't wait to see photos Anna!!!)

Today, I was determined to have a better day, but was also a little realistic. We went to Kohl's b/c we had $20 credit to spend by tomorrow and Sophie needed new pj's. The kids were awful. I think at least twice I couldn't find Christopher and he wouldn't answer when I yelled for him. Yes, yelled. Loud. The first time was as soon as we walked in the store. If I didn't have the credit and she didn't need pj's I would have just left. We were only in there maybe 30 minutes and I hated it. I was the mom who was afraid she would end up on the news for jerking her child around and threatening to wear them out if they didn't behave.

Next we had to go to Sam's. I gave them a good talking to before going inside. They agreed to the terms. They run away or misbehave and they will be forced to sit in the cart. They were good for 5 minutes then sent to the cart. They were actually pretty good until Sophie decided to try to pull everything down that she could reach, I'd told her numerous times to stop and finally had to pop her on the arm. She was so mad at me that she screamed at the top of her lungs in anger. It was not in pain, but sheer passionate anger. We checked out and went home.

No Chick-fil-a for anyone today.

I'd left my coupon at home anyway.

I wish that I could freeze my margarita bucket I just bought and have some for lunch. But I'm not that mom. Even if sometimes I wish I was. (Really, my freezer is too full, but I would wait until Brandon was home to crack it open.) Instead, I was the mom that everyone stared at and I hated it. I can't stand to be that mom. I'd rather not be a mom then have to be that mom. Can I say that? It doesn't help that I feel dizzy today. Like I could just bump into the wall walking down the hall dizzy. Can barely see straight, want to knock myself out and lie down in bed until the earth stops moving kind of dizzy. Started yesterday and worse today. Soooooooooo not fun!!!

My kids have been fighting and picking at each other since we got home. I have things to do outside this afternoon so hopefully we can give each other a little space while I do them. Maybe trimming the bushes while dizzy isn't the best idea. I think that will have to wait until another day.