Monday, July 26, 2010

Whole bunches of "adult" fun...

**CAUTION** This post is not going to be a pretty one! I put adult in " " because it's a bunch of adults, cutting looses for a day, paying for it for a week! This weekend was boat race weekend. The biggest party weekend in the Tri Cities. There is something for everyone on the river this weekend. Hydroplanes, air shows, art shows, and best of all...lots of people watching! We chose to people watch in the most comfortable way possible in the 100 degree weather... on a 50 foot house boat! The only way to go!! Here is a little piece of our day...enjoy!

I was smart and stayed BEHIND the camera...the only pic you will get of me this weekend!!



Ms. Dirty Byrd and all her diva'd out!



Party Patty soaking up the sun!



There is a reason we call him Dirty Old Man



Just in case his shirt didn't offend you enough...check out his hat! "Official Boob Inspector"



Oh to be young again...



They thought they were safe out on the raft...



Zach thought they looked a little too comfortable!



The Shot Ski. The culprit of much of the madness.



Smart enough to leave the Shot Ski to the young bucks, or too drunk to still do the shot ski? Your call!!



7 people on a 4 person raft.



Mike was pretty sure some one stole his other shoe right off his foot...



Then we saw this...



Little V & Big V...BFF's

Friday, July 23, 2010

Mom's that rock...

So I just got the coolest phone call. I'm going to leave her name out of it...just in case she doesn't want to be known. It was a mother of a little girl that we met while Jake was at Children's last December. Our family shared a room with theirs. They were by far one of our best room mates! If I remember the story right (and if I butcher it...I'm so sorry), anyway...dad went to daycare to pick the little girl up after work, just like any other day. When they got home she kept complaining that she couldn't walk. Dad felt like something was a little "off" with her, but couldn't put his finger on it, so he just continued to watch her for the evening. With in a few hours of being home, the little girl either collapsed or had a seizure. Dad took her to Children's...all I remember from there was that the little girl (about 3 if I remember right) had a huge brain tumor. A tumor that NOBODY ever knew anything about. Obviously the parents were so scared not knowing if their child had cancer or what was going on with her. She had also lost some use of one of her hands, and I think she was having a hard time walking. We ended up leaving a few days after she had been there & the parents were still waiting for her test results to come back. I, going thru what we went thru with Jake the previous 9 months knew a little bit of what this mom was feeling. And it was heart breaking to say the least. You just want to take all the pain and worry away and tell them it will be ok. But the truth is, you just never know. The only thing I could tell her was that she was in the best place possible & to be thankful her daughter was still with her. I also remember that the little girl was there on her birthday. You all know how big of a sucker I am for birthdays...so I went to the gift shop and got her a little necklace and a balloon. Ahh, it's all coming back to me now. I went from extreme happiness that her mom just called me, to heart ache just remembering what what little girl and her family went thru. Anyway, the little girls mom called to tell me thank you for being so upbeat and helpful to her in her darkest time. And to tell me that her daughters tumor was very low grade meaning if it did spread, it would stay in the brain and not go out into the rest of the body. How amazing is that?! She also said that she should probably should be worrying about it more than she does...but she isn't! I LOVE IT! That is EXACTLY the way I feel. Why worry when things are on the up and up. Enjoy these little people every second of every day. So for "mom" out there...THANK YOU for thinking of me/us and calling! You sounded so happy & I am so so glad to hear your beautiful baby girl is rolling with the punches like a champ! Good job!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

And then there was 3...

We just gained a "instant 4 year old". LOL! Our niece Delana is going to be staying a few more months with us! It's funny to us because, well...I guess we have to let everyone in on a little, secret. We have been kicking around the idea of adopting another child. We looked into it for about the past 4-6 months, thought hard on it...and decided that it isn't the right move for us. I am an instant gratification girl. After talking, and talking, and researching, and taking...we decided it just wasn't the right move for us. But we still want a 3rd child. We thought about having a 3rd one ourselves...that thought left our heads as quickly as it entered. For many reasons...one of which is the thought of me being pregnant in my late 30's...NO THANK YOU! I'm still in my early 30's right now, but there are some "issues" that would hold up the process. And taking care of the "issue" would not guaranteed that we would get another baby out of it. So what are we cooking up now...FOSTER CARE with the option to adopt! We are well aware that it is a process, and it takes time...but it's something that we are willing to take a stab at. Now you see why us having our niece is kind of funny. We were just getting ready to go to our 1st meeting to learn about foster care when it was decided that she would be staying with us for awhile! When she does go home, we will get back on track on getting a 3rd bugger eater in our home!

Here she is...Little Ms. Delana! And NO, I could not recreate this hair do if I tried! Beautiful isn't she?!



And here are a few pics of what we have been up to...

Another one of those things that I can't figure out why she does it...


But she loves it...and she does it every time!



Kind of like this...


The dinosaurs even cut loose and enjoyed the water!



Ms. Lexi got a kick out of waiting for T Rex to get a sprinkler enema!


These guys were quiet the show!


Jake...he just watched from under dad's huge umbrella. Beautifully covered in orange Cheeto dust!


It was a good day soaking up the sun with my babies, one of my besties, and her babies!


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

This & That...

I got a little tired of our endless vacation photos, so I thought I would break it up a little with bits and pieces of our summer! Our niece Delana came back from Florida with us & has been having tons of fun playing with Gracie. She is going back home to California next week so she and Gracie are making sure they do a little of EVERYTHING!! I could sit and watch these 2 all day long.
Remember when...

You backed your booty up to he sprinkler?! Who knows why we did it...but we ALL did it!



And you bet your booty you ran like this...



Water hop scotch anyone?



D is a hop scotch master!







Our big boy Jakey all ready for the 4th of July fun.

Beautiful Delana


Ahh, my sweet babies! She loves her Bubba so much!


All ready to go to a BBQ for some swimming and fireworks!


My silly little beauty queen...




In need of a Geek...

Sorry friends, my computer is not a happy camper these days & is need of a little Geek time...as soon as I can make that happen, I'll get back to the entertaining tales of my life! Until then, check out this site...AMAZING recipies!
http://www.justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com/

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Got Bleach?

This vacation post time out brought to you by the good people at Clorox. I'm sorry for what you are about to read and the words that are about to come out of my mouth on the beautiful Sunday morning...but here it goes...

Oh for shits sake...REALLY? REALLY? So, this morning the plan was, Zach was going to do a little lawn work for a few hours and I was going to take a "mommy time out" and go sit by a pool with one of my friends for a few hours. Here is how our morning really went...

Fixed everyone breakfast, girls finished and went off to play. Jake ate, and ate, and ate, until he looked like he was going to explode and we cut him off. I asked Zach if he could go get the bath running for the kids while I cleaned up the kitchen. "I will, right after I go poop". Me, "Never mind, I can get all 3 in and out before you are done". I get the bath water running and go into the playroom to collect up the kids and smell poop. The 4 year old pooped her pants. Off to the bathroom we go for clean up, pull up, and timeout. I get the house smelling like poop covered by air freshener, and move on to putting the other 2 kids in the bath. Can't stand the smell of the kids bath so I throw them into our tub. Somehow didn't notice the smell that Zach just left us, but it was too late...kids are in. I go to the other bathroom to collect up bath toys, and return to my tub to find Jake pooping. I laugh a little, get Gracie out before the big turd floats over and touches her and tell her to stand still (because she is now covered in "poop water"). I get Jake out, clean him up and get them both in the other tub. I go back to my tub to start the decon process to hear Gracie screaming at the top of her lungs, "MOM, JAKE POOPED AGAIN...LOTS OF POOP MOM...POOP EVERYWHERE MOM". Yep, he finished up in the other tub. I now have 1 kid crying in the bedroom for pooping her pants, 2 bathtubs that have been pooped in, and 2 kids covered in poop water. At this point, I'm at a loss as to what to do. I have nowhere to clean the kids up. I seriously thought for a split second (ok, it was 2 seconds) about taking the kids in the back yard and hosing them off. LOL. I didn't. Zach and I got the bathrooms all cleaned up, kids cleaning up and in the playroom. Everyone is happy, and poop free. So I thought. We are sitting there combing nice clean hair when I look over and see the F'ing cat throwing down some Hershey Highways (sliding her butt on the carpet to get the poop off) on my freshly shampooed carpets! I couldn't help it...the only thing that could come out of my mouth at that point...

"OH FOR SHITS SAKE". Then I laughed, cleaned up more poop and told Zach I was going to start drinking. Ya, it's only 10:00am by this point, but it's 5 o'clock somewhere right?

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Surfer Girl

Gracie's 1st time going in the ocean...she knew exactly what to do! And she did it like a pro!! Nobody told her what to do, she just watched the big kids and did what they did! I can hear her now at 18..."Mom, Dad, I think I want to move to So Cal to be a surfer". Good thing I work for a cardiologist...Zach and I are having chest pain already!








Ya, I rocked this beach...I'm outta here!


Next set of pics...Disney World!!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Florida's tasty beach...

We just got back from our 1st family vacation a few days ago & I can't wait to share some pictures! We went to Jacksonville, Florida to visit with my brother, his fiance, and our niece. Our first adventure, kiddies (4 & 5), and a toddler...to the beach. The water was beautiful, warm, and inviting. The beach, well...aparently...was TASTY. Jake couldn't get enough of it. Literally. We'll have to take his word for it!



Oh these toes...these beautiful, chunky, little angel toes...I LOVE them!
More beach pictures to come...but now...off to the doctor for Gracie's 5 year well check!!