Today I was going to use my "kid-free" time to get a whole lot of stuff done. I made my list yesterday b/c it was so much stuff there was no way I'd remember it all. I get side tracked easily on Mondays b/c I don't have any kids for several hours.

We are loaded up and on our way to church for MDO. I'm really looking forward to the time b/c the kids seem to be fighting constantly these days. (You know, the whole, "he hit me!, she hit me first!, he kicked me first!, she's on my side!," etc.) I grab my cell phone and my ear piece, put it in my ear and realize it's the broken one. Throw it in the car door still on so it can just die out and put the new one in. Call the place that cuts my hair and get no ringing or dial tone or anything. I keep calling. Can't figure out what's going on. Realize it's b/c the "broken" one is working again and I'm the idiot. My phone rings and it's the hair place laughing and asking me if I'm having phone problems. I laugh and tell her more than just phone ones. I try to make an appt. with the girl who has cut my hair for the last two years only to find out that she moved to Oregon...... in February. I knew it'd been a while since I'd had it cut, just didn't realize how long. It was definitely before Christmas b/c I have had zero time since December 1st hit. My appt. is at noon and so I drop the kids off, run to Target, then to Walmart, then Old Navy (just for fun) and then head back to get my hair cut. Go next door to grab lunch then off to a nail place for a teacher gift and then to the Dollar Tree before going back to the church.

I'd crossed off my errand portion of the list, but the other half was phone calls I needed to make for VBS and doctor/dentist appts. I park the car, pull out my list, cell phone and start dialing. I get the VBS helpers taken care of. (Hopefully! I had to leave messages with them.)

Then I pull out the card we got in the mail from the dentist reminding Christopher and I we need to make our next appt. The date to make it in was.... July 2009. Yup, we got it in the mail over a year ago. We have seriously been so busy (and I hate going to the dentist) that I haven't had time (or motivation) to make the call. It's a tiny office and not enough room for a stroller or three people to be in one room and Sophie would have to come with us.

I call the number and get a message that tells me that our doctor has retired and all of his patients have been moved to a doctor in Destin. Seriously? Who knows when he retired!! I'm not going out to Destin for a teeth cleaning, so I guess we'll have to find a new one. (Joia, I heard yours was great, so I need to get his name.)

I go in and get the kids, we whine all the way home b/c I didn't have a snack, I offer to stop at Dairy Queen and am denied. (Seriously??? Who turns that down???) We drive by the pool to see if we can swim yet (they have strange hours) and finally the three of us are excited about the same thing at the same time. We rush home (at 35 mph) and grab our suits and life jackets and head to the pool. We swam for 2 hours and I had to make them get out and come home. They are exhausted and so am I, but it was so much fun! Finally the majority of the day was really good.

I'm going to reheat my leftovers for supper and look forward to an early bed time with my new book I got myself at Target. I picked up a cute dress that was on sale that I could wear to the graduation banquet we are going to in a few weeks, but I put it back b/c I found one of my favorite chick authors had a "new" book out. Priorities baby! I need a funny, mindless read more than a new dress.

Ok, Brandon is gone, as you all know, and last night we had a little something happen at the house with Sophie (nothing bloody, don't worry) and I had to call my neighbor to help me out. It was 9:30 and I know they don't stay up late, but I also knew the husband does not have a fear of critters, he actually kind of likes them. (W- can I say that?) Anyway, she wrote about it on her blog and I'm going to let you read what she wrote instead of posting it myself b/c her story is WAY funnier than mine! Click here to read it.

I hate it.

It sucks you in and before you know it you have completely wasted time you could have spent doing something else. Anything else. Like watching a movie or reading a book or going to sleep.

I hate it b/c I feel like the whole world can read every conversation I have with someone. Not that I say anything important or private, but I feel like it has gone even farther away from the "personal touch" than ever before. Now, you are probably thinking, well, you blog and you email and you have some sort of iPod don't you? The answer is yes to all of those. BUT the blog is how I scrapbook and keep family and friends up to date on what is happening in our lives. Email is how I keep from calling you at 2 a.m. b/c I just remembered what I wanted to ask/tell you at 2 p.m., but forgot. And my kids play with the iPod, not me. It keeps them quiet, unless they are fighting over who is playing with it.

Yes, I have a FB account and I've used it more in the last 6 weeks than I have since I started it 6 years ago, but that's b/c it was the only way to get in touch with some people I needed to talk to and right now it's the best way to stay in touch with Brandon while he's gone. But when he gets back I'm going to be going back to my old ways again. It's just too overwhelming for me. I don't know how the rest of you do it.

My next question is why? We can call each other. We can email each other. We can catch up on a blog to see how your kids are doing. Why do we need one more way to contact each other? Nobody has this much time, do you? I know I'm alone in my feelings, but if you have noticed my activity picking up on FB it's about to change. I just can't keep it up. Too exhausting! I'm stepping off my soapbox now.

Not that any stuck around to listen anyway.

But I'm ok with that.

I have a few photos left from our week at the lake, but I'm too tired to go through and put them on here. The big steps I have to tell you about are Sophie and her shrinking fear of water. She has been swimming a lot already this summer and she has gone from holding onto you with a death grip like you've never felt before to swimming across a pool all... by.... her.....self!!! Yup. I couldn't believe it myself. On Wednesday she went from holding Grammie's hand while jumping to me in the water to jumping all by herself on top of me to jumping without hands and going under. I was so proud of her! THEN, on Thursday we stopped to see my dear friends, the Websters (visiting from KS) and her parents have a pool. We all decided to swim and about halfway through our swimming Sophie decided she didn't need me to hold her life jacket anymore. She was so proud of herself that I just about had to jump in and pull her out. Her little legs were just kicking away. I think I had tears in my eyes, but wasn't about to let them show. I was speechless. And I'm not usually.

Now that I've had my bragging moment I read the funniest post I have read in a really long time. I hope she doesn't mind me linking up to it, but I thought it was so hilarious that everyone who is a mom of 2+ kids would find it just as funny as I did. Please take the time to read it b/c you will NOT regret it!!! Click here to read it.

Everyone has left and it's just the kids, myself and my parents at the lake now. We had a lot of fun the last two and a half days. Here are some photos to show you what we've been up to:

Aunt Jennifer with Anne Morgan, Drake, Sophie, Christopher and Hunter watching who knows what on tv. We actually didn't do much of this, but it was the best way of getting everyone distracted when fights were getting out of control.



We rode miles and miles on the plasma cars. Oddly enough you don't have to weigh the most to win races. Watch out for next month's issue of Hot Rod magazine. This little cutie just might make the cover.



And look for this little beauty anywhere her mommy and daddy are. She will be one in July and has been doing lots of walking lately. She is second to plasma cars on the list (the kids' list, not adults) of popular things when this family gets together.


The boys had their first crush this weekend. Mom and Dad's neighbors have two children that are so kind and love coming over to visit. Gracen (sp?) will be in the 3rd grade next year and the boys were totally smitten with her. Christopher would tell everyone she was here when she would come over to play. If you asked him where his "girlfriend" went he respond quickly without thinking twice about what you just said. Oh boy.


The boys went on an adventure to meet more neighbors. They love to make new friends and explore in the woods.


Lights that we hung up for the holiday weekend. I have a feeling they will make an appearance in several weeks when we all meet back here again.


Caroline was sweet enough (and smart enough) to help Sophie finish off Christopher's ice cream when he was full. Lots of these were eaten this weekend too!


Christopher, Hunter and Drake had more fun jumping off the dock and swimming this year. I can't wait until Sophie reaches this point, but she's a little afraid right now. There is peace in having your children comfortable around water. This is one of the things we work on at a very young age. Hopefully Sophie will be there by the end of the summer.





The boys playing in the pile of dirt next to the driveway. They love getting dirty. Then clean. Then dirty again. Then swimming. Eventually we just quit bathing them.

The kids and I are going to be around a little bit longer and are looking forward to visiting with some friends while we are here. This is my favorite place on earth and so thankful that my parents decided to live here. (Thank you to Kyle and Caroline for the photos. I never pulled my camera out the whole time.)

i appreciate those of you who appreciate my honesty. those who don't, well, you just don't understand what it's like to be us. and they probably don't read my blog very much. (or they won't after today.)

just wanted to say that we are having a better day. except i keep hearing, "mommy, you have to play with me." and "mommy, will you please play with me?" and no matter where i am i seem to be i have ZERO personal space. and i need that. just ask anyone who knows me.

what is it with little kids wanting to on top of you all the time? i'm losing train of thought. i figured out why the last few days have been so "moody" and that made me feel better. don't you hate that? you feel out of control and yell and stuff and then wake up one morning and think, "oh, THAT'S why!" gotta love it. ok, i better run before i get in trouble for being "too honest" again.

I am ready to get out of town. We are going to the lake this weekend and I can't wait. The kids and I are frustrating each other. I'm not exactly sure what is behind all of it, but I think we are just on each other's nerves. And now they fight with each other. Like punching each other fight. So far it hasn't been hard enough to seriously hurt anyone, but still. They are either being rude, pulling on my clothes, won't stop when I tell them to (after saying it numerous times and getting louder), making dirty messes, WHINING when asked to do anything, rubbing all over my legs (which I find totally annoying by the way) or constantly at my feet. I feel like I have these tiny little yippy dogs at my feet that I'm trying not to step on, but they won't go away either.

Now I want to make clear that I do not find my children as annoying as tiny little yippy dogs, but they are just always at my feet. My poor husband wonders why I don't want to sit next to him, much less cuddle, at night. It's b/c Christopher has rubbed all feeling off of my legs and Sophie has tried to rip my clothes off, literally, or climbed all over me (whether I'm sitting or standing) ALL... D A Y... L O N G.

Did I ever tell you about the time I was ordering lunch at Chick-fil-a and Sophie grabbed hold of my jeans pocket and swung from it? Feet off the ground and moving side to side. Yes, and she's 35 lbs. How this old pair of jeans did not rip I will never know, but I am thankful for me and the poor young man that was taking my order that they didn't.

On the upside Sophie is going potty more often. She went about 3 times yesterday. Maybe this is why I'm so grumpy? I hate potty training. It means extra work on my part, but it's worth it in the long run. I hate diapers even more. Well, maybe not. I'll let you know. I think I'm just worried how long it will take. Everyone swears, "Oh little girls are easy!" or "It only takes a couple days to train little girls!" I have my doubts. Sophie's not very girly.

On the downside, Christopher has been mean to everyone and even got sent to time out at school for calling people names. This trait annoys me to no end and I don't know how to fix it other than putting duct tape over his mouth. He makes up words to call people names, he also uses stupid, poopy, ugly, bad and all sorts of other combinations. He is so mean to his friend William that I don't even want to get together with them sometimes b/c I don't want to deal with the way he acts.

Surely there will be an upside to this weekend. Mostly b/c my family is all going to the lake and it always makes me happier when I'm with family. It will be difficult b/c Brandon is leaving this weekend to go on a 2 week mission trip to the Dominican and I always worry when he travels. I can handle being away from him for a few days, but the kids get grumpier when the "fun" parent is gone. I just have those fears that something will happen and we aren't even in the same country. Thankfully the kids keep me busy enough I don't have time to think about it. Now I feel bad b/c I sent the kids to any room to play b/c I was tired of the crying and constant asking to build something with legos that I have no idea how to build (doesn't care that I just spent 30 minutes building 2 different trucks) and they are back there as happy as they can be reading books to each other.

Talk about guilt.

Love you kids!

Another upside.... when we get back the splash pad on base will finally be up and running again!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Why they wait until the last day of May... in FLORIDA... to turn sprinklers on I will never understand.)