Brick did it again.
Let me know when you are headed over to clean it up.
: )

I let Christopher sleep with me last night, I'm tired of sleeping alone, and when Sophie came in to wake us up I asked the kids who wanted to go get donuts and I got a "MEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" in perfect unison. I've had today planned out for a while b/c it's the day Brandon gets home and I knew that we would need to have plans to keep us busy instead of just winging it.

We loaded up with our milks and drove to the little donut shack and each got our own little bag. We ate as we drove to Lowes. I was on a mission to get rid of the roaches that have decided to take over our house the last two days. On our way home I saw a sign for an estate sale and I had never been to one so I thought I'd try it out. Even with the kids along. We had our little lecture before getting out of the van and it worked for about 5 minutes. I did find a beautiful treasure that I just couldn't leave without:

Isn't it great??? (Excuse the vacuum/roach catcher next to it.) It has the perfect amount of "breaking in" and the colors are amazing. The photo doesn't do it justice. Oh, and get this, everything there was 50%, so I got this for only $65!!!!! I would have paid an arm and a leg for it anywhere else. Brandon, please don't kill me for buying it, but I seriously couldn't resist! I'm planning on having a yard sale with friends in a few weeks, is it so bad that I already spent the money I haven't made yet? My mom makes quilts and so I have a love for them for this reason. I just wish I knew the story behind it. Not that there is one, but every thing hand made has to have some kind of story.

The one thing that I really wish was 50% off was the house. Honestly, I didn't even get a great look at the front of it b/c we walked right into the garage, but the driveway was long, circular and covered in lush green bushes, flowers, grass and oak trees. Oh, how I love oak trees! The back of the house had a lush green yard that just lead you right on down to the water with a dock already in place. The house would be perfect for our family. But who wouldn't say that about a house on the bay, right? I dream of green grass like this (in case you've never read a post on here before) and of living on the water. I don't care for sand, I'd much rather do a cannonball right into the water instead of dragging stuff over hot sand down to it.

Brandon gets home tonight, hopefully the kids will be in bed asleep b/c we are going swimming this afternoon to help wear them out. I can't wait to have him home again. Hope you have a great weekend!!

Christopher was just singing I've Been Working on the Railroad. I didn't know he knew it. If you have ever heard him sing it's really funny b/c he does it in the funniest southern accent you have ever heard. He never sings when you ask him to, only when he thinks everyone is ignoring him. It was one of the funniest things I've witnessed in a while!

Our MOPS group was hving a playdate at the beach today. We were a little late b/c I had to go to a meeting, but we finally made it. To say it was hot was an understatement. And the water was filled with seaweed. It was fun considering it was the first time I had ever gone to the beach alone with the kids. Sophie always wants to be carried when we go so that's why I've never tried this before today. But I knew that it wasn't going to be much of a crowd so I thought I would go and be supportive. Overall we had a great time, except Sophie wanted to swim all by herself with no life jacket and was yelling at me to let her go. I didn't bring the jackets b/c I didn't think I would need it. Bad move. I think she needs swimming lessons and I hope it's not too late to sign her up. Christopher could use another round considering he wasn't quite two the last time he had them. The worst part was when we decided to leave and had to haul everything back to the car. That included 2 kids, 1 cooler, 2 big metal trucks that just HAD to come with us, and 1 beach bag. Then we had to strip down at the car and put the kids' clothes back on. (No place to rinse the sand or seaweed off either) and it was sweltering!!!! My sweat had sweat thanks to the numerous cars that stopped to wait for my parking spot. They each gave up on me. I wanted to give up on me too at that point. Don't think we'll be going back without Brandon again. I prefer the pool anyway.

Last, and most exciting, our best friends the Khans, had baby #3 this morning. That makes 3 boys for this sweet family, but Christopher says 4 boys b/c he counts Burt too. He is precious and I cannot wait to get my hands on him! We were hoping she'd have the baby by the weekend b/c we were going to be in Montgomery to pick Brandon up in Birmingham on Saturday, but thankfully he got his flight switched so he will be flying here instead. It was going to make for a very long weekend of driving for us, and I'm sad b/c we have to wait to meet the little guy, but thankful the kids and I won't be driving all weekend.

This is the first time that we will not have a baby with them. Brandon and Burt became friends first, then Melissa came along and finally I married into the relationship. Everyone always talks about having babies together with your friends, but we never did. Just kind of happened. Then it became a joke. We had our first kids, both had boys, less than 5 weeks apart. Then we had our second kids, a boy and a girl, 18 days apart. It's going to be new for all of us to only have 1 baby
when we get together. I think 6 kids at once would put us over the edge. We thank God that he brought our families together and look forward to watching the kids grow up together. Congratulations Burt, Melissa, Nicholas and Joshua!

Most people have pizza show up at their house.

I get the following:

Sophie poots in her diaper and poop shoots out the bottom onto the carpet. (I have no idea how this happened.) She was running to the potty at the time and so it dropped along the way. I get to clean that up. The kids are running circles around me while I'm cleaning. Literally. Glad they find carpet cleaning so exciting.

Next thing I know the kids are fighting because Sophie flushed Christopher's poop down the potty before he had a chance to wipe. He came out to tell me (his pants are still down) because apparently this is a big problem. I told him to go wipe and he can flush that by himself. He throws himself on the floor protesting my idea. Pants still around his ankles.

Meanwhile, Sophie has gone pee pee in the potty, comes running out to tell me (completely naked) and Christopher jumps up off the floor with excitement and everyone's asking for candy.

Sophie runs back to, I think, put her diaper on because I told her to go get it and she decides to unroll and place into the toilet what Christopher describes as "a million pieces of this stuff!"

I fish the mound of toilet paper out and throw everything from above that needs to be thrown away, away. Nobody gets candy because the wasting of toilet paper cancels out the celebration of going on the potty.

They get a refill of milk instead.

Now they are back in her room playing or reading or something, but it's quiet and happy. I just asked them what they are doing: Christopher: "We're putting stickers on her bed so it doesn't wobble." Me: "Umm... ok."

Who knew so much could happen in the time it takes to order a pizza.
I'm just glad we already ate.

Sophie was reading her favorite book, Eat Your Peas, and fell asleep one night. If you haven't ever read this book, I suggest going to your local library and checking it out. It's really cute!



We had one of the new resident families over to eat one night and baby Judah was set on the floor to kick around. Next thing we knew Christopher had come up and put his Mr. Potato Head glasses on him. He thought it was as funny as we did!



Yesterday Christopher and Sophie were playing with his "decorative airplanes that used to be hanging in his room but are now toys" and he came running up to me and showed me the latest feature he'd put on the planes. Gunshooters (aka clothespins). Didn't have the camera so when he wanted to play again this morning I dug the camera out of the bag it was hiding in and snapped some pics. Tigger was also added and had his "hair" with one of Sophie's rubberbands.




Hope you all have a great day!

I thought I'd let you know that the couch stayed in time out over night and when we woke up this morning (due to a wet bed) I was asked if I could move it back. It has stayed in it's original place all day with zero fights breaking out. I think I might be using this method more often.

I also had some funnies I thought I'd share with you. I was talking to my mom on the phone yesterday afternoon and she told me that she just couldn't seem to get that Lady Gaga song out of her head. WHAT??? She went in a store and it was playing one of her songs and now it was stuck in her head. I froze and then laughed b/c my mom just mentioned Lady Gaga and I couldn't tell you a single song she sings other than the one that sounds like it's saying her name over and over again. She had watched Glee the other night and that's how she knew it was LG singing. Now if you know my mom you know just how hilarious this comment is.

Later in the conversation she was telling me about the funeral that she and my dad had gone to for a very dear family friend of ours that passed away over the weekend. She was 90 years old and her husband passed away several years ago. I was able to go back for his, but couldn't make it They were an incredible couple (he was my dad's first partner when he began practicing) and if you ever had the pleasure of meeting them you most likely never forgot them. She raised 5 boys and was Italian and Catholic. Maybe that helps give you an idea of just how great she was. Anyway, this is a funny story b/c everyone was waiting at the graveside, but nothing was happening. Nobody was talking, the casket never came out, nothing. Finally, everyone realized that the keys were locked inside the hearse... with the casket still in it! They had to wait for someone to bring an extra set of keys so they could get her out. One of her boys came over and told my parents, "It's just like her to not want to get out for her own funeral." They all laughed. She was loved by so many people and such a sweet and happy and kind woman. She was just having too much fun to go home. I hope I'm like that.

Ok, I did something I don't think has ever been done before in the history of the world. (Besides your dentist retiring and you don't find out until a year later b/c you hate going.) I put the couch in time out. I'm serious. They both want to sit on the same side of the love seat every time they sit down and I'm tired of hearing about it so this was my solution.

I'd had enough when they made me get out of the shower this evening b/c Sophie was screaming so bad I was sure that her arm was caught in something or there was blood involved. The only thing that kept me from panicking was that Christopher didn't coming running to get me to help her. At first I figured they were just fighting and I'm trying to let them duke it out between themselves more. The crying got louder so I stuck my head out and yelled to Christopher to tell me what was wrong. I couldn't understand him and the cries got louder so I grabbed a towel and went running into the den (a room surrounded by windows mind you) to find them fighting over who was going to sit on the right side of the couch.

SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?

I told them to stop fighting and went back to shave the other leg. They were still fighting when I got out and so I gave them the following options: one of them moves to the other side of the couch or I was going to move the couch to where nobody could sit on it.

You guessed it, nobody moved. They just stared at me daring me to move a couch in just a towel with the whole neighborhood to see. They are both more stubborn than I thought b/c I got to 5, nobody moved so I pulled them off the couch and shoved the couch to the other side of the room. They were NOT happy about this, but I didn't care. They interrupted my shower.

Now, about an hour and half later they have teamed up and are racing down the hall and diving onto Christopher's PBK chair. Christopher is yelling, "Bring the heat girl! Bring it on down" before she runs down the hall and I am sitting on the couch looking like I've gone mad b/c I am clueless as to what is going through their little heads. They move into his room to play trains and getting along perfectly. Christopher comes to tell me that Sophie has pooped and asks her to come to me so I can change her. He even checks her diaper to make sure his nose was working correctly. He says sweet things to her while I'm changing her and now they are playing with stacking blocks and making houses and being very sweet to each other.

SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!

Thank you God for giving me a great ending to what has been a crazy day!

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.