Wild Adventures & Other Happenings

We have been having major issues with our cable and internet service over the past month. About 75% of the time I try to access the internet, it won't work. Or it will work for about 5-10 minutes and then drop. Needless to say, this has resulted in much less blogging than I'd like. And a lot more frustration than I'd like:). I guess the bright side is it keeps me from spending too much time on the computer...

A few weeks ago we met some family in Valdosta to spend a couple of days at Wild Adventures. Mom suggested we try it since we'd never been and it was a mid-way point between here and Savannah. Saturday was a bit rough but Sunday was a lot of fun. I don't know if you've ever heard of Lady Antebellum, but they were there in concert Saturday night:). My advice is to never go on a concert day. It was nuts!

When we first got there, the kids, Maddie and Steven jumped on this "kid-friendly" roller coaster. That basically took Grady out for the rest of the time. I'm still hearing about how he "never, never, never wants to ride the Ant Express again!" But, there were plenty of even more kid-friendly rides that he was brave enough to try. Like the Super Trucks:

Reese was too small to ride by himself, but neither Maddie nor I could fit in the cab with him. So he chaffeured us around the track a few times. Elle and Grady took care of the next rig.

In the 13-ish hours this girl is awake every day, she spends about 12 of them talking. Last night, we finished reading, turned out the light and she was detailing an idea to me. I said, "Elle do you like to talk a lot?" She said, "Yes, do you like to say 'No' a lot?" I had to laugh because she wasn't being smart, she was genuinely asking.

Saturday when we came in to the park, there was an employee standing there with a boa constrictor giving kids a chance to hold it. Both Elle and Grady fearlessly went right up and held the thing! Sunday, it was an alligator and they held it too! It's mouth was taped shut, but I was impressed all the same. All in all a fun trip and we enjoyed our time with family.

Bedtime for the boys has not been as smooth as the initial nights. I suppose the newness has worn off. For several nights now, we read, pray, tuck them in, give stern reminders to stay in their respective beds and head out. A bit later we go back in and Reese is sitting in Grady's bed, where Grady's head usually is, and poor Grady is under the covers all the way at the foot of the bed, trying to get away from his tormentor. Why is it that things are much funnier with the third? We move Reese back, give a more stern "reminder", this one involving our hand and his bottom. Sometimes it works the first time, and sometimes it takes three or four times.

We went up to Calera last weekend to check on our house. Thankfully, there was no major damage but it was a mess! They knew they were not getting their deposit back so I guess they figured they'd get their money's worth. They left stuff in every room: toys, clothes, books, kitchen stuff, food, lamps, garage shelves, tents, planters, etc., etc. We basically 'camped out' inside because there was nothing in the house {once we got all their stuff out!}. Elle and Grady slept in their old room in sleeping bags and Reese slept in his old room in his pack-n-play. I failed to pack much for Steven and me so we had an old futon mattress, one sleeping bag that can't totally unzip, and one pillow. Saturday morning, Steven said, "We are not staying again tonight." We worked hard and got it looking good again. I'm really praying the Lord would provide a buyer because it is very difficult to manage a property when you are almost 3 hours away and I'm not sure we can afford having a rental company manage it. Anyway, maybe I'll be back sooner rather than later, but Happy 4th weekend just in case!

Bye Bye Crib

We got a new mattress a couple of weeks ago. The plan was to put it in Reese's room with his crib until we got ready to move him out and in with Grady. Then Elle would move in to the big bed in a room all her own and the boys would share. Elle lasted one night before she had to sleep in the bed. We switched things around, moving the crib in to the room with the bunk beds. And the brothers became roommates.

Saturday, we took the crib down. Let's have a moment of silence please. This is the first time in a little over 6 years that we've not had a crib in our house. Kind of sad and weird but also exciting to be moving out of the baby years with finality. We broke the bunk beds down in to twins for the boys. Reese has done really well and hasn't gotten out of bed once. We put his bed {the top bunk} with the railings out and the other side against the wall. We thought we'd make him at least think he couldn't get out. And so he couldn't fall out of the bed, too.

Also wanted to throw out there that our house is available for rent again. Long story short, our tenants didn't work out very well. It was a struggle each month to get the rent on time or get checks that wouldn't bounce. And we are not in a place where we can fund two houses:). So, we asked them to leave and they are. We are praying and trusting that God will provide some more tenants quickly that can pay rent on time.  

Happy Birthday Reese!

We celebrated another big day yesterday. Our baby turned two! We tried our best to make it special, but it's difficult to know what a 2 year old really likes. It's not hard, however, to determine what they don't like.

We started off with chocolate chip pancakes and strawberries for breakfast. Then, he opened up a few presents from us. Next, he got to experience his first movie at the theater. We went to a 10 o'clock $1 showing of How to Train Your Dragon. We had lunch and naps as usual. For dinner, we met Poppey, Gigi, and cousin Powell at Chick-fil-A. He also got birthday packages from Grammy, GranGran, and Uncle Luke, Aunt Rhonda and Andi. It was just too soon after Elle's cake for me to attempt another, so we had chocolate chip cookies instead. I don't think he minded.

I just realized there was a lot of chocolate chips involved in yesterday's celebrations. He does love chocolate. We were swimming Wednesday and I was by him in the pool. He kept pointing saying "chocwhat". I finally figured out he was talking about my hair in the pool. Does that mean you are no longer a blonde when your child calls your hair "chocwhat"?

We are so thankful for this little guy. He was a surprise to us but we are so glad God knew what He was doing. Reese has blessed us so much in just a short two years. He is so mild-mannered and easy going. He loves to play with cars and trucks and playdough. He loves his big brother and sister very much. He sings himself to sleep most every night. And like most two year olds, he is emotionally unstable. This picture was about 3 seconds after the last one and he wanted the camera. And surely, the world was ending. Three seconds later, he was stable again. We love you so, little guy, tantrums and all!

Flying IPads & Broken Mirrors

We spent the weekend out of town {post to come!} so today, the kids and I headed off to Publix because the cupboards were bare. As I turned on to the four lane highway, something flew off the top of the car and in to the median. I wasn't sure what it was, but was anxious to get to the store. Then, I really felt like I should turn around and check. I thought it was one of the kids' DVDs that maybe Steven had put on top of the car when we unloaded last night. I whip around and pull in to the left turn lane, get out of the car and I see Steven's IPad {for work} laying in the road. It was in its leather case. I get back in the car, take it out and it works perfectly. Not a scratch on it. The case itself was beat up. I could not believe that 1) I had almost not gone back to see what flew off and 2) that it was in one piece and working.

I called him immediately and asked, "Do you know where your IPad is?"

He said, "Yes, I put it on top of the van."

I said, "No, it was just in the middle of Ross Clark Circle!"

I bought a couple of mirrors at Target last week and they were still in the bag laying on the floor in our bedroom. I was talking with my step-mom and sorting some laundry when I heard glass breaking. I looked up and Reese was standing on the bag playing with some car on the nightstand while he smashed my mirror to pieces. Thankfully, all that was hurt was the mirror.

And that was all before lunch. Never a dull day around here.

The start of summer

I have to say we thoroughly enjoyed our first full week of summer vacation. Our normal school schedule is probably more laid back than some people's summer, but it's been nice to not have school work to get done each day. Elle signed up for the summer reading program at the library and I set her goal at 20 books. She already read three over the weekend so I think it's safe to say she will meet her goal by July 29th. She's still very interested in the Magic Tree House series. I borrowed my sister-in-law's Little House on the Prairie series the last time we were in Greenville and we are looking forward to spending some time with the Ingalls.

I recently re-read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader because I'm a nerd like that and I like to read the books before I see the movie. I don't remember reading the Narnia Chronicles in school, but I did read them through when we lived in Kazakhstan. And I have re-read each one before seeing the movie. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed in the latest installment. Not that the movie was terrible. It's just 99% of the time, the book is always better than the movie. One of my favorite parts of the whole series occurs in this book. Eustace has been turned in to a dragon and cannot, for the life of him, figure out how he can turn back in to a boy. It's too lengthy to quote here, but he has an encounter with Aslan and he tears Eustace's dragon skin down to the heart, pealing it back until he is a boy again. And then he dresses him in new clothes. Makes me think about Jesus washing away my dragon skin and dressing me in white.

Some friends of ours are spending the summer at the beach and have graciously allowed us to use their pool in exchange for a little pool/yard maintenance. They have been gone a total of 10 days and we have been over four. It has been no trouble at all to turn on a sprinkler, water some plants, clean out pool skimmers and mow a little grass to be able to beat some of this intense heat with some swimming. Although it would be a little better if they were here swimming with us. But the kids are loving it! The first few times, Reese would not even come in the pool gate, but stayed on the patio or in the yard playing with toys. He progressed to the third step and then made the final plunge Saturday, drifting around happily in the baby float. Then, he threw his largest tantrum ever when we tried to get him out of the pool.

This week is Vacation Bible School at our church and Elle is so excited about going. We got to spend a couple mornings last week helping decorate and that raised the excitement level even more. The boys aren't quite old enough yet but I have a few fun things for us to do together while Elle is there. Although Grady did tell me last night that he had already learned about Jesus so he didn't need to go to VBS. After a short quiz revealed to him that he, in fact, did not know everything about Jesus, I kindly told him I hoped he spent his whole life learning more about Jesus!

She's Six

I tried several times over this last week to get some pictures on the computer so I could write, but something was not working correctly. And I am impatient so I moved on to other things. Finally, today I held my mouth right and got a week's worth of pictures uploaded. Most importantly, I got the pictures from yesterday's sixth birthday celebration!

Grady spent some time skating with big sister's skates. I remember thinking he had pretty good balance as a baby because when he started walking at 10 months, he hardly ever fell. However, he seems to have more trouble now walking without falling. But the skates were a different story. Very balanced and controlled.

Somehow one night, we ended up with 8 children over here. After battling the gnats and mosquitos in the backyard for as long as we could, they headed inside for a brief showing of Toy Story. Steven started the movie about 10 minutes before everybody was leaving. One was on the floor and another in the chair, but I though they looked so cute piled up on the couch together. Do you think my boys like to suck their thumbs?

In the middle of the week, my dad and step-mom graciously kept all three kids for a night so I could sneak off with Steven to Pensacola as a late anniversary present. We had a fun, short time on the beach, dinner and a movie when we got there. And while he worked the next morning, I sat on the beach and did nothing but enjoy the sun, water, and sand. For 4 hours. It was a wonderfully refreshing and restoring 24 hours for me. This was the view from our hotel room.

Yesterday was the big day. Our little girl turned six. I was asking her last night before bed:

"Did you have a good day today?" "Yes"
"Did you feel celebrated?" "Yes"
"Did you feel special?" "Sort of"
"Did you feel loved?" "Yes"

So I think we got it right:). She had banana oatmeal for breakfast (her choice!). Then the kids watched a couple episodes of the original 80's Tranformer cartoons. She got the complete first season in her morning birthday box, along with a new swimsuit, some goggles, pj's, sandals, Tangled, and gum!

Next up was a trip to our friends' pool to swim. She has improved so much just in the last few weeks. She finally will jump off the side. She is finally not afraid to get her whole head wet and she is attempting to swim. We came back home for lunch where she had her favorite again, a lunchable.

Steven's parents got here in the early afternoon. Then Dad, Sandi, Uncle Mark, Aunt Khaki, and cousin Powell came over for birthday dinner. Steven grilled some delicious hamburgers because "cheeseburgers" are currently at the top of Elle's favorite foods.

I found this cake about a month ago and I really wanted to try to make it for her birthday. I have always made their birthday cakes and it's something I really like to do. I'm not that talented in the "decorating" area, but they generally taste good at least. I talked it up and showed it to Elle but she kept insisting on a Transformers cake. I finally relented because it was her birthday after all and I think she should get to pick her cake. {And I'm going to make the rainbow cake for myself in July!}

This was my improvisation {is that the right word?} of the rainbow cake. Six layers for six years in none other than Optimus Prime colors. She picked yellow for the icing because of his lightning bolts on the hood. I think she was pretty excited about how it turned out. We had an awesome day with family celebrating our six year old!

Before I forget

The kids and I went to Atlanta again last week with Steven. It was really cool weather and I had been wanting to go to the Botanical Gardens so I thought we'd give it a try. I got my camera out and took one picture before the battery died. The gardens were really beautiful, the kids enjoyed themselves and Grady left his mark... literally. We were enjoying a leisurely stroll through the children's garden when we came upon a small waterfall where you could walk on a path behind it. The tree house playground was just ahead and Elle set her sights on it. I pushed Reese in the stroller and then noticed Grady was not following. I came back to the waterfall and there he was, behind the waterfall, pulling his pants up. Thankfully, not another soul was on the path {or either they were behind me and ran away the other way before I got there?!}. I managed to compose myself and explained that we could not go outside here, but we had to use actual restrooms.

These pictures are from my measly cell phone camera but I had to try to capture the moment.

That night, we went down to Centennial Park, had dinner in the CNN Center food court and then played on the playground in the park. The next day the kids and I went to the zoo. My friend Stephanie came up from Athens with her two girls. It was a bit crowded but worth it to spend a little time with friends. The kids got in the pool and hot tub both days and we had movie night one night and watched How to Train Your Dragon. All of us on the king size bed:).

Over the weekend, we got to pretend we were farmers. We went to our friends' family farm to pick green beans. And they were ginormous. And delicious. We also waded through a freezing stream, dodged poison ivy, discovered a skeleton identified by our resident archaeologist as a bobcat and were rewarded by seeing 500 year old cypress trees that are quite possibly, the biggest trees I've ever seen.  All of this without my camera. But I did get some of the beans.

Some of the farmers were just too hot to keep picking.

Tomorrow is our last day of school! I'm not sure who's more excited. It has been so fun but we are both ready for a break. We are gearing up for the big 6th birthday in just a week. Today, she wants a Transformers cake?!