Destin Vacation...First day at the beach!

We got to Destin around lunchtime on Saturday, but our room was not ready for us yet. ( We were expecting this, though). So I had packed all our swimming stuff in separate bags so we could grab them and head straight for the pools. And that's just what we did. I didn't take any pictures, so you'll just have to take my word for it:) We swam until around 3 when our room was ready and we got settled in. Then came making a list and heading to Walmart for food. Keep in mind that last year, when just the four of us came, it was September and pretty much a ghost town. So when we got to Walmart and had to wait just to walk down an isle, and with every lane opened for checkout and every lane having at least 8-10 people in it, we waited around 30 mins. just to check out! It was a nightmare!!!!! After that jolly adventure we were pooped and ready to just relax. We called it night pretty early, but had high hopes of hitting the beach on Sunday.

So yesterday, after getting our exercise in, breakfast eaten, a few loads of laundry done, we got ready to start packing up for our trip to the beach. We were getting ready to start making sandwiches, when we realized we forgot baggies to pack them in. So, off Day went to Dollar Tree, which I could spit at from our balcony, which I love! It seemed like it took us 3 days to get all the crap ready to go to the beach, but we eventually left the room only to realize that none of us had a room key. So, off I went to get a new key. Once we FINALLY got in the car it was 11:30 and we were all hungry so we ate under the pavilion, and watched the HUGE waves coming in. There is a tropical storm brewing in the Gulf, and we are catching the heavy winds, but no rain...so we have big waves. And apparently the jellyfish are really bad too. Once we got settled on the beach the "fun" began. Carter was in sandbox heaven, and dumped bucket after bucket over his head, and took great joy in destroying any attempt at a sand castle. We ventured out to the water a few times, but after finding and killing a freaky blue jellyfish we were pretty weary. The guys used their new body boards and me and mom even took a turn. We were definitely getting stung by something, but we aren't sure what. It only hurt for a little while, so who knows. After about an hour, the boys were saying..."I don't like the ocean, I want to go back to hotel and swim." They said that last year too, so hopefully when we venture to the ocean again it will be more enjoyable, but we'll see. Enjoy the pics.

Promised Playgroup Post

I promised a post of playgroup, so here it is. If I had to use one word to discribe what our playgroup means to me it would be...priceless! There is no amount of money, no family member, no event, bribe or trip around the world that I would trade for my playgroup! Now, let's be honest, the real playgroup belongs to the mommies! We have become like a little village of women, with our objective being to survive this insanity we call motherhood. I have no doubt that I could call any one of these amazing women and they would drop whatever they were doing to help me or my family! That is something that is not promised to any of us, and yet I am blessed to have half a dozen friends that love me and accept me for who I am, even the stubborn, strong willed, sarcastic part of me! (Wait, am I talking about me or Cooper?) Anyway...the fact that our kids love each other just as much is like icing on the cake! Today Cooper asked me..."Mommy when's playgroup?" I told him it was today and that we had to miss it because he and his brothers were still sick. He immediatly started crying saying, "But I miss my friends!!!" As much as I was annoyed by his crying, I must admit, I was crying on the inside too, because "I missed my friends, too!!!" WAAAAAAHHHH!

So, ladies, I love you and couldn't make it a day without you! Can you believe our kids are almost starting kindergarden? I'm glad we can all cry together, it just sucks that I have to go first...all by myself! But, I've always sort of been the "go first" girl, so here I go again. The blessing of having the oldest kid in playgroup. I guess once all of our kids are in school we might actually get to finish a sentence, a thought, a meal and an hour without one of our kids throwing a fit! Hey...something to look forward to! Thanks for always being there for me!
I tried to put the pictures in order, but I'm sure it's a little off. All we care about is our cute kiddos anyway, right?

Bodily Fluids...

Okay, so I'm officially sick and tired of cleaning up other people's bodily fluids! It started Friday night with Conner throwing up at Hawaiian Falls, followed by a full day of diarrhea. I felt so sorry for the little guy. On Saturday morning he was laying in my bed and he asked me, "Where does throw up come from?" I explained that it comes from your stomach, and whatever food is in your tummy when you throw up, comes out. A little while later, he had "the look" on his face, so I went and got him a bucket to throw up in. I asked him, "Are you going to throw up?" and he says..."I think I just threw up out my bottom." Thus the beginning of more bodily fluids. Carter came down with it on Sat. night and his lovely fluids of the #2 persuasion lasted until Monday night. And as of last night...Cooper was in my bathroom when I heard..."My poop is coming out like water. It's like swoosh, splash, sploosh!" Boys and poop do sort of go hand in hand. Only a boy would think diarrhea sounds were cool. Thankfully none of them have actually acted like they feel too bad. Which sort of makes it harder to make them take it easy.

Needless to say, we've been stuck at home all week and I'm losing my mind. We've missed out on playgroup today and who knows what else unless we can all get well. I'm shocked that neither Day nor I have gotten it yet. Is it sick that I was sort of hoping to get it just to shed a few pounds...yes, very sick. Day did have a good point that at least they're getting sick this week before we leave for Florida next Friday. Vacation can not get here fast enough!

Lifelong Friends...

I came across the first picture in this slide show and couldn't help but blog about the lifelong friendship that Cooper and Trinity have shared. It doesn't seem possible that five years have passed since they've been friends/born, but in some ways it seems like they've been in each other's lives as long as I can remember. It seems that the older they get, the more they tend to gravitate toward their friends of the same gender, but my hope is that their friendship will last a lifetime. Thankfully they have some awesome mommies who also happened to be best friends, and if we have anything to say about it...they don't have a choice:). I'm so greatful and blessed to have so many wonderful friends in my life, who in turn have been blessing to my children. This post has sent me to the fact that a need for a playgroup post is upon me, so stay tuned!

A Fun Filled Fourth!

We had a busy and fun filled Fourth of July this year. We started out the day with a trip to the movies with the older boys to see Wall-e. It was a little slow for Conner's taste, but overall it was pretty good. Then we headed over to my grandparents assisted living place for lunch. We had a nice visit with G.G and Dede then we headed home for naps. After nap and dinner we went out to the "country" a.k.a. Phillip and Angela's house to shoot some fireworks. Cooper decided that he would be more brave than last year (last year he sat in a chair with a pillow over his face the whole night because he was terrified of the fireworks). This year he did get a bit scared at first, but warmed up to some roman candles and sparklers. Carter was totally freaked out and cried after each one for about the first 15 mins, but slowly began to warm up. And after seeing Cooper and Conner hold the roman candles, he did one too! Pretty brave, I'd say! Overall, a great and celebratory day!

Potty Training...Day's 2 & 3

I'm totally blown away at how awesome Conner is doing! Yesterday we went to play at a friend's house and while he was playing in one of the kids rooms, he came out and said..."The poo poo's coming out mommy!" and off to the potty we went! He did have one accident while with the babysitter last night, but other than that...no other accidents. He even went into the bathroom this morning, by himself to go poop. WHOOO HOOO! After I came in to check on things, I asked him if he'd already flushed. He said, "Yes mommy." Then I asked, "Are you sure you pooped?" (There was no overwhelming odor this time:) To which he replied..."Yes mommy, it was a BIG POOP, a YONG(long) BIG POOP! Too bad daddy wasn't there, he'd been so proud!

As funny as it may seem to say...I am so thankful to the Lord for granting me this one blessing of an easy potty training experiance! I can't thank Him enough! Also, thanks to you all for praying and cherring Conner on! Let's hope it keeps up!

Potty Training Day 1! (Attempt #3)

I just had to take a second and cheer for my sweet Conner. Apparently he and my mom had a little chat the other day about how he's a big three year old now and he needs to go potty like a big boy, etc., etc. I'm not getting my hopes up too high, but it seems that this may have been the motivation we've been waiting for. He woke up this morning and I asked him if he wanted to wear big boy underwear...he said "Yes, and I'm gonna stay dry." And belive it or not, he DID! ALL DAY LONG! I even sent him outside this morning, knowing that in the past, this has been his pooping place while potty training. I told him that if he felt the poo poo starting to come, to run and get me. He had been outside about 10 mins, when he came in and said..."Mommy, the poo poo is comin' out!" So we ran to the potty, he asked me to leave and made a grand deposit in the potty! Not only that, but he flushed all by himself. (I didn't need to see the evidence, the lovely oder gave it away!) He went on to pee all day, and even stayed dry for naptime! We went over to my moms and while playing he ran to me and said, "Mommy, I need to go pee pee!" This is a huge step in the right direction! So, all my bloggy friends, please pray that this time it will stick and I will finally have only one child in diapers!! If someone had told me that someday, I would be beside myself excited about bodily fuctions from a 3 year old, I would have thought...Lord, I hope not, that would make for one pathedic life...but oh the joy I have found from a little pee and a little poop! Not to mention, there is nothing more pathedic I would rather do than devote my life to these precious boys...poop and all!

Diaz Campout...not the best time ever, but memories none the less.

We decided to take the boys camping for Conner's birthday weekend. Well, let me back up...the truth is, we booked the trip awhile ago, not realizing it was Conner's birthday weekend. Once we realized this fact, Day called to check on other dates. Apparently, by calling to check on other dates, the nice woman on the phone took that to mean that we wanted to cancel our spots. We did not realize this fact until about three weeks out, only to find that all the lakeside spots were booked up, and now we would be staying in an alternative site. Not on the water, but fine...right. We'll sort of. That was our first sign of things to come.

Next, we had planned for us, my mom and brother and Mark to all be going. Mark also has a pop-up and my brother was going to be sleeping in his camper. The day before we are suppose to leave, we find out that Mark has to work and will not be able to come with us, leaving Cory with nowhere to sleep. This was our second sign, but still we persevered.

So, on Friday, after a week of VBS and last minute packing we headed out around 3ish. After the two hour drive to Tyler, we found our spot and began the set-up, unloading process. Next thing we know, the camp "host" came to inform us that we couldn't set up any tents on these sights, so Cory got to sleep in the car that night. I had also made Conner a birthday cake to put icing on and decorate when we got there. During the unloading process, Carter decided the van would be his place to play. The cake was in the van, thus it was full of Carter sized crock footprints and no longer eatable. After a measly dinner of hot dogs and mac n' cheese we took a bike ride and showered and went to bed.

Saturday morning started bright and early, and after breakfast Day made a trip to Walmart to get a neted gazebo to try and keep the insane amount of flies away from us while we're eating and to find a replacement for the trashed birthday cake, and a few other things we needed like milk for the homemade ice cream we were going to make later. While the boys went to swim for the second time, mom and I started getting dinner ready...only to realize I had forgotten to pack the corn and the vanilla for the ice cream. When Day got back from Walmart with the screen, we opened the box to put it together, only to find that it didn't come with the frame, so back to Walmart he went, to return the screen and get me some corn. We borrowed some vanilla from our neighbor, and dinner was on again. Day has spent most of the afternoon smoking a yummy brisket in his smoker, and for dinner we had brisket tacos with corn and cole slaw...this was the BEST PART of the WHOLE WEEKEND. We ate ourselves sick. It was so YUMMY! Then we did a quick decorating job and singing happy birthday to Conner and eating some less than yummy ice cream (I didn't put enough vanilla in, so it tasted like ice milk). After dinner we cleaned up and the boys played baseball before it was time for showers and bed again. (Let me just mention that showering with three slippery naked boys is crazy and a bit dangerous. That floor is really slippery and it was like 200 degrees in there. I look forward to the day they can shower themselves.)

As we were getting the boys in bed, the thunder started to rumble and the lighting got closer together. Right about the time we got in bed, the sky fell out and it rained, and rained, and rained...ALL NIGHT LONG!!! About 4:00 I noticed my feet were wet, my side was wet and my head was wet. Needless to say, it was a very long night.

The next morning, I was less that happy and very sleep deprived, so we packed up and got ready to go home. During the hour long packing up process we had the boys in their car seats watching a movie in the van. They were getting restless, so when we were done we decided to go for a short walk before heading out. We walked down the street to the lake and right about the time we got there, it started to sprinkle, then rain, the pour as we ran back to the car as fast as we could. Needless to say, we were all drinched by the time we made it back. We towled off in the car and got the heck out of there! We made our traditional stop at DQ for lunch and made it home in time for more unloading, cleaning, drying out, and general desaster relief.

We will soon be listing our camper on Craig's List, so tell your friends. So long as they don't mind a few leaks. The a/c is awesome, that's about all I can say about it. Oh, and apparently it can sleep 7 people, if you put one on the floor and large boy and an infant on a twin bed. (Cory had to squeeze in with us during the monsoon.)

So, if you're still reading this long rant, you will see that we had a lovely weekend of ups and downs, but we made some memories and will look back on this and laugh, right? Right? RIGHT??? Maybe someday...until then, here are some pics from the trip. Enjoy and be glad it was us and not you;)

Cooper slid into a charcoal pit...SAFE!

Our short but sweet nature hike...it was too hot!

Daddys' well deserved nap!

Cooper found a girl (big surprise) named Megan and he chased after her all afternoon. (literally)

Conner on his new bike. What a big boy!

Conner's Birthday Festivities!! (White Trash Camper Style)

Conner is 3

We celebrated Conner's birthday a week early this year, since we will be camping on his actual birthday. So, as far as he's concerned he's already three, but technically he won't be three until Saturday. I spent almost an hour last night looking through three years worth of pictures, blown away at how fast the time has gone. Being the middle child, and the fact that Carter came so quickly after Conner did...much of his first few years is like a blur to me. One thing has not changed, he is still my little sweetheart. Those big brown eyes can get him pretty much anything he wants, and his sweet and tender spirit is like a breath of fresh air in the midst of a stressful and crazy life. His favorite things right now are...his blankie, his Mabrie and anything that Cooper thinks is cool. He doesn't like...to eat, to go potty or to sleep without his blankie. I had to use a slide show for this post...sorry...just too many adorable pictures to share over my little Conner's first three years. To all of you who have help us get Conner this far...thank you, and we love you!