Today started VBS at our church and again I learned that crafts is where I belong, not teaching. Last year I helped teach (if you can call it that) and swore I would never do that again. This year I'm in charge of the 3 and 4 year old crafts. They don't leave their rooms this year so they needed crafts to go to them. I had a huge team and they were awesome! We had fun and I'm looking forward to the rest of the week.

On the way home, I thought I'd ask Christopher and William what the Bible point of the day was and they got it, "God's Word is true. Let's go!!" Then I asked them if they heard a Bible story while they were there and to tell me about it. It went something like this:

Christopher/William: "Paul had to go to jail!"

Me: "Oh no! Why did he have to go to jail?"

C/W: "Because bad guys took 'em."

Me: "What did Paul do?"

Sophie: "Kick 'em in da face!" (she did NOT have a Bible story in her room)

Me: "HUH??"

C/W: "Paul was a good guy and bad guys took him, but he listened to God."

Me: "Good. I'm glad."

I think I need to have a little talk with Sophie. Saturday night William tried to do something to her, nothing serious, and she just grabbed him arm and twisted it around. Not sure where she's getting these self-defense tips, but I'm glad she has them??? Tiffany and I laughed at her little arm trick and William didn't bother her again. But maybe we need to work on our Bible stories.

I'm sorry that I don't have any photos from the weekend, but my camera battery died and I can't find the charger anywhere. Very annoying! It wasn't a blockbuster weekend around here. I wish I had some fabulous story about how Sophie magically became potty trained, Christopher started speaking Spanish and how Brandon and I solved the world's problems. Here's what we did instead:

We had been telling the kids all week that we'd take them to breakfast on Saturday, so when everyone woke up. Off we went. Went to the local donut shop for the kids and then the local coffee shop for the parents. It was yummy. Sophie had on big girl panties and no accidents happened. After breakfast we went to a local park on the water and played for a while. We tried to talk the kids into going to the pool on base, but they just wanted to go home and play.

When we got home I saw a little surprise for me at the back door. My neighbor has a Dyson vacuum and was letting me borrow it. I loved it. I want a new vacuum, so I'm trying out different ones. This was my first one. My mom got a new one, but can't remember what it's called. I'm going to try it next time we visit. Ours is over 6 years old (wedding gift) and it's just not keeping up with the kids or the long dog hair that we have. I'm thinking it's going to have to last another 2 years, but I'm still looking anyway.

That afternoon I went to meet some friends at the spa. Yup, that's right! They are all moving in a few weeks and it was fun to get together with them again. I had my first facial and decided that is what I will be spending my b'day, Christmas and money-that-anyone-feels-like-giving-me on. It was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!!!!!!

Last night we had two families over to grill out and it was so much fun! They are both moving in about 2 weeks and it was our last chance to get together. The kids were up way too late, the moms had some much needed fun and the dads had a great time too. We are going to miss all our friends that are moving and thankful that we were able to meet them.

Today was Brandon's day to sleep in and the kids and I ran to the commissary to get some bacon to make him breakfast, but we ran out of time and ended up eating it for supper. We got both kids to nap, something that hasn't happened in a really long time. What do YOU do with time like that? I worked on VBS stuff and Brandon worked on stuff for the graduation banquet. Fun times. We just hung out at the house and played all afternoon.

I hope you all had a nice weekend and were able to celebrate with the men in your life. See you later!

I was just looking at a People magazine with Sophie (it's about fashion, I never buy these, only to save money not b/c I think it's bad) and we came across a fragrance add for a new scent called Daisy. It has a photo of a girl wearing a teeny, tiny white bikini, holding a big bottle of perfume and lying on top of some hay with a big smile on her face. I don't get the connection either, but I'm sure there was one. Sophie got very upset and started saying, "He fall down Mommy. Why he fall down?" First of all I thought it was funny she thought it was a he and not a she. Then she wanted me to pick him up. I told her I couldn't do that b/c it was a picture. She became very concerned and kept saying, "He get dirty Mommy, pick him up!" I was laughing! We turned the page and she became upset again. I got up b/c I couldn't look at my magazine anymore, she tried to go back and find the picture, but couldn't and came to me crying "me no find it Mommy! he get dirty!!"

All so funny coming from a child that LOVES to be dirty!

On a completely different note, what do you do when you know that you are not going to have anymore children and you have all these clothes lying around? I know lots of people have them in bins and stored in their houses and stacked up to the ceiling, but I don't really care to do that. If I don't need it or haven't used it since we got married I want to get rid of it. (Exceptions are fine china, crystal and silver - which I'm still not sure why I have it, but I am from the south and think half of the people invited would have had a heart attack if I hadn't registered for it.) I've let friends borrow them and they've come back. I can save some girl stuff for my sister, but the Sophie was born in January and AM was born in July so they can't even share stuff. Do you just give it away? Sell it in a yard sale? Will anyone think I'm a terrible person if I don't hang on to it until the kids are in Jr. High and then drag it to Goodwill? Here's what I'm doing:

Next Saturday: yard sale with kids clothes out front.

I'm not the kind of person that likes to hang on to things. They are things. They are not going to Heaven with me when I die and I had fun while they were mine, but it's time for them to move on. I've got my friend Wendi to back me up on all of this. She feels the same way I do and I think that's only part of what makes us good friends. Earthly stuff doesn't matter. At all. We have this policy, you borrow it, you break it, we'll work out getting a new one if it's more than $30. Other than that, who cares!

I better run, Sophie is trying to dress up like Spiderman, Christopher has been playing ipod for over an hour and I need to get us ready to go to our last MDO and a gym class. Oh! Big news, twice Sophie has gone to the potty without me telling her to AND without a timer going off. Yeah!!!!!

Like I said before, we are really trying to work on getting Sophie potty trained and so I can stay more on top of it I set the timer every 20-30 minutes (depending on whether she went the previous time or not) to remind myself to take her. I have been misplacing the house phone more than I should and end up pushing the page button so I can find it. I guess setting the timer has worked for Sophie as much as me b/c at least 2 times yesterday, I hit the page button for the phone and Sophie would literally POP up from wherever she is and yell, "me need to go potty!"

This afternoon we'd been away from the house for a couple hours and when we got home I couldn't find the phone (again) and hit the page button to find it. As soon as it started beeping up popped Sophie and off she went to the bathroom yelling, "me need to go potty mommy!" I'm not going to worry about whether or not she will feel the urge to pee every time she hears a beeping sound, not yet at least. But I can just picture her 20 years down the road and it still working.

Here are some photos of what they've been up to lately:

The kids were SOOOOOO excited to wake up Sunday morning and see their daddy was home. Brandon got the kids each a pair of shakers and a necklace made out of wood. They had to dance around to music with the shakers and the jumped all over the house making noise. It was great!




Then everyone decided to see how many people and dog could fit into the hall closet. Couldn't believe it, but they all made it.



This morning Christopher told me that he could make an airplane out of legos all by himself. He sure did! He made a couple of them.


We went to play at Wendi's house with her boys for a little while and then came home and realized the sprinkler needed to spray more than the grass. It was so fun! Just like when we were kids and you didn't have a fancy sprinkler, just the regular ticking/spinning ones. Then we chased each other around with the hose. The guy that drives around on Tuesdays to check the yards and writes up the ones that need work was driving by while we were playing and he slowed down even more and said, "I'm thinking about pulling over and getting in myself!" We did NOT get written up today. : ) My camera was fogged up and I scratched the middle clean. That's why the photo looks like this.



The day that Brandon came home I found the kids playing in the hall. They had pulled out all the extra blankets, pillows, curtain, suitcases, etc. that we have stored down there and drug the stepstool on top of all of it and were trying to climb inside. I stepped in and helped. They both actually fit on here at the same time. Then we cleaned it up and pulled out the stuff I wanted to put in the yard sale.


Speaking of, if you have ever had a yard sale and have any tips, PLEASE let me know. I've never done this before and really need to, but I have no clue what to do, how much change to have on hand, etc. Better run, Sophie is complaining about another boo boo. That seems to be very frequent these days.

Oh, we had potty day for her today and we did really well. Only wore a diaper at nap time and just pooped in her underwear which I've been expecting all day. Had two accidents, if you want to call them that, b/c one was outside in her bathing suit and the other was in the bathtub. They don't count in my mind.

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!