A sign of what's to come..........

Sweet big papa and his little knees...........

Patios, Sunshine & Bag tags................

Patios..........

In the days "pre kids", patios were great for sunning, sippin & chillin..........so nice, so relaxing!!

In the days "post kids", patios are like........well, like CAGES......excellent for containment so mommies and daddies can sun (wipe noses), sip (break up fights) & chill (wipe noses, break up fights and ssh screeching girls 45 times)..........so nice, so relaxing!!

Sunshine..........

God blessed us with a gorgeous weekend and friends to stroll around the Jonquil Festival together. Not alot of shopping to be had but plenty of GERM GIANTS (the blow up bouncy things that snotty children love to play in, mine included), Puppet shows and only one direct hit in the GERM GIANT but no blood or broken bones !! Although, amazing to see how 3 year olds can be so different in their "fear factors"............Go Caroline!!


Bag Tag...........

The beautiful tag given when your ALTA team wins their division!!! That's right, first season with this team and I have secured myself a G E N U I N E bag tag........... AND My partner Susan and I actually won every match and hope to continue on the winning and make it to City !!

Peep.................

Peep is the response given by a 3 year old when told ..............................

Listen Girls, Do not move off this bench!!!

I don't want you to look at each other!!!
I don't want you to touch each other!!!
I don't want you to make any sound what so ever!!
Do you hear me????
Not a single peep.............

And staring straight back.....She says...........PEEP!!

Better idea the 2nd time around....................

Look! Lots of smiles...........

Friends (Mr. Townie and I share birthdays) and obviously share same taste in restaurants, coincidentally.......

A little dodging of the flame................

More smiles...........

What do you mean there's no appetizers???????

What a happy family and a very happy birthday...........

Now, let me tell you about the visit to Orient Express Hibachi/Sushi Bar that did NOT get photographed !!

Several months ago, while picking up the kids at daycare.........A mom (who will remain nameless) said "why don't we go get some dinner!" A simple idea, that normally includes Ruby Tuesdays or other similar restaurants. You know, SAFE............Child Friendly............Loud.............Usually equipped with chicken fingers and milk on the menu.........or equipped with giant indoor slides with giant amounts of germs.............Well, this NAMELESS MOM actually uttered the words................SUSHI...........Yes, that's right...........SUSHI..........I know, we should have immediately squashed the idea, given her a good laugh and then took 3 minivans to Chick a LAY and called it dinner........
But we didn't.
We went.
To an upscale restaurant that has a quiet, intimate sushi bar. 4 women, 5 kids.
Why? Excellent question........The same question that a nice childless couple asked. The same question that a group of business men asked. The same question ALL of the WAIT STAFF asked. And the same question we asked ourselves 10 minutes into being seated.

The evening is actually quite a blur.........but some highlights include lots of tears, tantrums, many visits outside to look at the koi pond, tears, tantrums, many visits outside to look at the koi pond. And so much chicken fried rice on the floor and in surrounding areas that I am surprised an application for the hibachi chef wasn't personally handed to my son.

An order of $5 scrambled eggs (idea given after the rice hit the floor 100 times) that had to come from the Worlds Largest Chicken EVER............ok, maybe like a dozen eggs, but seriously!

As I sat there and wondered what possessed us to come, what possessed me to have 2 children, what possessed to me let one of my children play with another moms pill box, could she share the pill box and WHY DID THIS WAITER JUST BRING ME RAW FISH??????? Well, that was because in the haste to order, I misread a description and ended up with Koi fish on a plate. Ok, maybe not Koi fish, but unedible, nonetheless.

So for $50 a person, we had unedible food, unpleasant atmosphere and the worst night in the history of MOMMMYHOOD.....EVER...............Or at least I hope so..............

***UPDATE*** apparently, I forgot the end of the meal where I violently waved the check over my head begging anyone to just take the money so we could get the hell out of there....Now, wouldn't you have thought that would have been the FIRST thing they brought us????

You say it's your birthday............

It's MY Birthday too!!

Thank you to all the many well wishers!! I am blessed with a beautiful and loving family and many cherished friends.............

And as Abraham Lincoln said...


And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

Can't wait to post some wonderful pictures of Birthday gatherings.......HINT HINT...........

Also, a Happy Birthday to Brad & Tripper who are blessed to share such a special day with me :)

I Love Faces............Easter/Spring

So, I stumbled upon a neat website that lets you enter a photo for a specific theme. This weeks theme is Easter/Spring.............And I just happen to have 200 really great pictures of MY KIDS from Easter Sunday!! Well, they will only let me enter ONE. I know, does not make sense to me either but anyway, rules are rules, right? Had a tough time picking and couldn't get one that had both the monkeys so I went with Big Papa this week.....Next week will be Em's turn!!

Here is the picture I chose..............


Be sure and check out the other awesome entries for this week's competition at
I ♥ Faces.

Happy Easter !!

Here comes Peter Cotton tail...............
Leaving quite a messy trail!! Not sure if the bunny does this to your counters, but he leaves dirty paw prints all over every where !!

We painted eggs with friends.........
Tore into our Easter baskets with a vengeance.....................

And hunted eggs like it was gold, of course to kids, chocolate is GOLD! And to us adults, as well :) Now, just so you know, Our Easter Bunny put stickers, bracelets and lip gloss into our eggs, but this other bunny dropped some real goodies in the lawn too....snickers, twix, gum........You know, all the no no's .........But, it is Easter!








What a beautiful day God blessed us with. We had a nice visit at church, Baby girl sang Hallelujah like there was no tomorrow, then a wonderful afternoon shared with my Mom's family at our home with friends, neighbors, and family..........I counted my blessings while the kids counted their eggs!!
And a special thank you for our Grandmother who made Big Papa's Easter outfit to match Em's Easter dress purchased by Aunt Wendi and all MONOGRAMMED by our little angel Tara!!

Final days at the beach..................

Just wanted to add a few more pics from our mommy & kids beach weekend.........just a few "spills" in the sand, happy times with friends and some close encounters with the "poop" kind!!

A walk, The beach, & finally some Sun................

DAY THREE....................
After breakfast, we took a nice walk to the pier..........3 moms, 3 double strollers.........Did I mention the stares? and the wows?





After a great walk and lunch it was time to head to the beach..............................
that is, of course, after 9 people got changed, suntan lotion applied, cooler got packed, beach toys gathered, umbrella and chairs loaded, towels, snacks and DID I FORGET ANYTHING?

Oh yes, load them all up!!!!!

But it was a beautiful day and all the kids had a blast................

Thunderstorms, cabin fever and MARGARITAS

DAY ONE..............
ok, Day one was technically the car ride, see previous post!

DAY TWO.............
Early risers arose to loud thunderstorms. To clarify, when I say early risers, I am referring to my jungle monkeys. Apparently, they were left off the "I love to sleep in" list that the other jungle monkeys signed......Anyway, up we were.

We enjoyed a great breakfast, princess videos, lunch, princess videos, coloring, princess videos and washing dolls in the "play" sink on the porch.........Some adult debate on dinner plans quickly began as soon as the lunch dishes were cleared, the 4th timeout had taken place, and all princess videos had been used for bribery, we immediately decided on an OUTING.....To eat Mexican at Peppers. I guess I have forgotten to mention for those that aren't familiar with Mexico Beach, Florida, it's NOT Destin......or Panama City....But what it might lack in abundance of restaurants and things to do, it more than makes up in little crowds and beautiful beaches. And considering what it was like when I was growing up and "forced" to vacation there, it is probably more like Destin and Panama City than I ever thought possible.............

Anyway, we loaded them up and off we went.
The sun might not have been shining outside but it was beaming on the inside........When they put us in the back "private party" room........Oh yeh, they knew what they were doing!! Great food, Disney on the flat screen and Margaritas for the mommies. Ok, I drank beer but the other mommies had margaritas and they were great!
We were all very relieved to have gotten out and about and enjoyed a great dinner.........

Time to leave.........To get out of the restaurant, the girls lined up and began to march.....with Big Papa following behind.......Mommy two with baby meryl and Mommy three with baby william pulled up the rear.....We got quite the stares!! Not sure what was so unusual about 3 mothers and 6 children but the stares kept coming......I actually think a hush fell over the restaurant.......But on we marched........listening to comments like "How many of them are there?" and about 14 "wow's".

AAAAAHHHHHHHH full belly's and sleepy babies...........Let's hope for some "late sleepers"

Brand new MapQuest ............

The Old Mapquest-----

Estimated Time: 5 hours 50 minutes
Estimated Distance: 322.82 miles

The new MOMMY version of Mapquest----

Estimated Time: 8 hours
Estimated Distance: 322.82 miles
Estimated Stops: 4--- 1 for dinner, 1 for diaper leaking, 2 for "mommy, i got to go potty, bad.............."
Estimated poops: 3--- 1 neatly held into diaper, 1 neatly plopped in potty at a very colorful gas station in the middle of nowhere, and 1 not so neatly held in pretty size 4T panties, left discreetly hidden in cracker barrel bathroom
Estimated Questions about "Drawings" on walls of colorful gas station bathroom in middle of nowhere: 19
Estimated DVD changes: 7
Estimated "mommy, are we at the beach yet?": 47
Estimated Sleep Time: 15 minutes shared between 4 kids
Estimated Arrival Time: 10:30 pm
Estimated Time Children actually fall asleep: MIDNIGHT

Happy Trails.............

BEACH............sounds fun, huh???

Aaaaahhhhhhh, the days at the beach........Relaxing, sunning, reading, smelling the salt water and listening to the waves crash..........

REALITY

3 Moms + 6 Children + forecast rain + 2 confirmed cases of Strep = Just another day in the jungle!!

Stay tuned for the ups and downs...........the good and the bad............the memories to cherish and the memories to prevent us from ever doing this again!! Happy Trails...................