I Spend To Much Time Driving

My dad turned 70 years old at the end of March. My mom planned a big birthday party for him Easter weekend. Since it was the beginning of spring break we decided to leave on Friday and be gone for 7 days.
My mom requested that everyone write a favorite memory of dad or papa, as the case may be. Some of us did 'extra credit' work- they shall remain nameless. Even the children colored pictures of their memories with Papa.After dinner we all took turns reading our letters to dad. Lots of tears were shed. It was really special to have Uncle Jim, Aunt Marlys, and Granny there as well.

JM Has Parts Removed

JM has always been a heavy breather from the moment he was born. I would be nursing him in public and people would ask if he was okay because it sounded like he was drowning. He seems to always have a snotty nose as well. When we took him in for his well child check up after his birthday I asked the dr. about his adenoids. The dr. referred us to a ENT.
The ENT confirmed what we were pretty sure needed to happen- adenoid surgery. Since he's never had a sore throat they decided to not mess with his tonsils and just take out the adenoids. The surgery was set for a week away. We stocked up on popsicles.
I took him to the hospital early on that Friday and during our time there read a whole C.S. Lewis novel. He was a trooper and had the nurses all wrapped around his finger. Amy Chicken was there through the whole thing. She also had her adenoids removed and I didn't even know chickens have adenoids.
Off to surgery in a wagon....I want someone to pull me around in a wagon.Back from surgery still loopy on drugs...makes Sesame Street that much more entertaining. All ready to go home.

More Old Friends

In March one of my best friends, Sarah, and her daughter Julia came for a visit and they brought Nathan's brother Peter with them. Nathan and Peter spent most of their time building a potato cannon and playing with that and I have no pictures of their vegetable abuse.
However, Sarah and I got matching Easter dresses for the girls and had fun dressing them up. Grasshopper was mad that he didn't get in on the action and Julia tried to console him. Not very successfully I might add.

Old Friends

I'm woefully behind.
In January we got to visit some friends of mine from high school days. My music teacher Mr. L and his wife Amanda were good friends my senior year in Nigeria. We connected last year on facebook and discovered that they only lived 3 hours away. We spent New Year's weekend with them and had a BLAST! Three of their children are very similar in age to ours.
In February they came for the weekend. We were so busy having fun I only took a couple of pictures.Grasshopper and Little Hannah hit it off. Can ya tell?

It Is What It Is

Last Week...

...we had company from Ohio. Nathan's brother Peter came down with one of my best friends Sarah and her daughter Julia. On Sunday we went on what has become known as the 'Day Trip from Hades'.Grasshopper and Peanut woke up with some allergy breathing struggles and had to be taken to Urgent Care. Then we had to wait for the W*l-M*rt pharmacy to open to get the happy happy steriods that allow my children to breath easily. Finally we were able to leave for the beach.I drove the girls,(Laura, Sarah, Julia, and myself) in her car. Nathan and Peter drove our four children. We got seperated, mainly because my husband is a poky driver when I'm not with him. And something about having make 5 stops for our children to go to the bathroom. They get that from their dad. I never stop to go to the bathroom. Thanks Dad for teaching me that! Sarah's GPS lead us on every back country road from here to Currituck.We finally made it to Peanut's lighthouse only to find out that it opens next week. Seriously, why would it be closed? How silly is that? And to top it all, the bathrooms were closed too.
The guys finally arrived with the food. Next time the coolers go in my car! We had a picnic at a nice little playground. Grasshopper had soaked his pants in the car. Apparently with 5 pit stops no one thought to change his diaper. It didn't seem to bother him at all. Of course it clouded up and got cold and windy after being sunny the whole day.We finally made it the beach and the ocean. The water was like painful icy needles but the kids had fun digging in the sand. I love the beach. I could sit and listen to and watch the waves All. Day. Long. I want to spend a month on the beach just watching the ocean.We left for home after about an hour and a half. I was afraid the children were going to turn into popsicles.
We made it home and started washing all the sand off the children. Nathan said that they did not sleep at all on the way home which would explain why they all fell asleep quickly after their baths.

A Bit Chilly!

and totally his own fault.

Kinghts Who Say 'Nee!'

AJ and JM have a couple of swords and shields from our Fall Festival at church. Last weekend we decided to see how well they would do facing off in the yard. This was just before the sadness occurred.
JM was very aggressive in his attacks and AJ played it safe, relying on his shield to do most of the work.





And in the end, JM chased AJ around the yard. Not much of a surprise.

Sunday Fun

Sunday we decided that it was time for a break. So we headed to one of my favorite places...Sonic! Cherry Limeade anyone? It was warm and sunny and the children had a blast playing in the sand.

Sadness

My Week In Review

Peanut was sick, along with Grasshopper and AJ.It started to snow.
15 min. later. No joke.
Watching a movie with Daddy.

Snow

February brought us snow. Note the sarcasm in my voice. I do not like snow. I will admit that it can be very pretty and that fun can had playing in the snow but I don't like it. It's cold, wet, gets dirty really quickly. It lays piled on the side of the road, it flies up on your windshield from the car in front of you. I just really don't like it.
However, melting snow gave me a chance to take this.
So I'll say, "Thanks snow. Now will you please go away?"

Lovely Weather

We had some beautiful days in January and we took advantage of them. The children were so happy to get out of the house and so was the cat.
Daddy home from work.
Miracle loves to be outside rolling in the dirt. She thinks she's a dog.
Grasshopper is busy with his truck.
Little Peanut playing on the slide.
I have two hams who love to pose for the camera, can ya tell?
And one who really doesn't like my camera.