TGIF!!!

Yesssss! It's finally Friday! This has been a very tiring and stressful week but it's now time to paaaar-tay! First up, is daddy's bday tomorrow. The big 3-1! He's not looking forward to it because it means he can no longer tease me about being older. We are going out to a trivia night thing with friends and I'm pretty excited about it. It's not often that he can hang with my friends without the presence of kids everywhere so I'm really looking forward to him meeting some of the other dads. It should be great fun!

Today was a great day. We went to bootcamp (typical, I know) and then to the pool. That seems to be protocol for our Friday's lately but with school quickly approaching, I know it'll be less and less and surprisingly - I'll miss it. Today we had a lot of "firsts" as well. With having 3 kids to keep track of, we've been only venturing out to the smaller pools. The pools that have larger baby sections and smaller adult sections. It appeals to Bryce but definitely not to Skylar. Well today, a lot of our friends wanted to go to a pretty popular pool. One that has a big play structure with slides and buckets of water and then has a HUGE slide that they can go off of with friends. It was one of our favorite pools last Summer while I was preggo. But now that Bryce is more independent and that baby is outtta my tummy - I was a bit hesitant but they did great. It's so nice to have Skylar swimming now and Bryce is so close to swimming, it's unreal. He's mastered knowing how to hold his breath and not venture out where he can not reach. Definitely something that makes this mama feel loads better. Bryce has now graduated from the baby slides to the big slide and when I looked up in time to see him go down, my heart stopped. Down he went and popped right back up out of the water, over to the stairs and on and on it went. He was so excited and I was so proud but also a little sad that my little boy is growing up so fast. And that Eva girl that was once in my tummy at this same pool was now out and enjoying the action. Can't ya tell....

And here's one of sweet Brycie with his buddies. He's really enjoying guy time lately....

First Sleep-over!

Sigh. I can't believe how fast time is going by. Just yesterday I announced that I was pregnant with this little gem and now she's 5 and having slumber parties. So not cool. She has a little bestie on our street that she simply adores. It's become a regular habit of ours this Summer to allow her to go and play at least once a week. Such a highlight for her since it's total girl time. No having to fuss with stinky little brothers or slobbering little sisters. Well on this day, Matthew went to pick her up to bring her home from dinner and when she got home, she came barreling through the front door begging and pleading for me to let her stay the night at her friends house. Just then her daddy walks in and says "it's okay with me." This of course led to a later discussion of not making mama out to be the bad guy and lets discuss things in private. Anyway, she flashed those big beautiful brown eyes (covered in bright blue eye shadow from their earlier fashion party) and I caved. I was a mess and trying my best to fight tears but a few snuck out and she just kept hugging me and thanking me.

Can you tell she's excited?! This was her first time to sleep away from me (outside of her grandparents). She did fantastic and of course begged to stay for breakfast and one more night. We went with breakfast but I snatched her back as quick as possible. While she was away, it meant more time for snuggles with these two...

...which was awesome! I adore my kiddos just wish that time would slow down some. Pretty soon it'll be my little man off to football camp or something...waaaaah.

Worst. Blogger. Ever.

Or it could even be titled "Worst. New Years Resolution Keeper. Ever." Both are fairly accurate. Fail. I will try not to spend most of my time beating myself up over this and instead focus on today and move forward. After all, it's been 2 months of complete and utter chaos and to commit to making an entry for each of those days is just ludicrous. In my defense (because there always is one), we really did have SO much going on. First was the umpteen number of birthday parties, outside of Skylar and Brycens, to attend to. And then Weddings. And finally the "purchase" of a new home. That's right, I did say purchase and it is in quotations for a reason. But first let me back up by saying that the house we found is in every sense of the word, our dream home. Buuuuuut, in this stage of our life - we are not quite ready for our dream home. We did sign on the dotted line and we did pick cabinets and flooring at the design center but two days before the final meeting, we got cold feet. Well, that's at least when we officially backed out. From the start of this, we never really felt comfortable with our decision and both of us had an extreme amount of stress that neither was conveying to the other. It just happened to be one Sunday afternoon that we were causally talking it over and how we didn't think it was the right decision and how I felt God was really trying to impress upon me that while we are excited, everything happens in HIS time not my own. So I backed out. And the minute we made that decision, it was as if you told us we won the lottery. You could almost see the dark cloud lifting off of us and floating away. Am I disappointed? Sure. But I am trusting that God knows what's best and in His perfect timing, we will stumble upon our dream house again. So there ya have it. With the normal day-to-day stress coupled with trying to sell our current home and keep it "show-ready" with 3 little ones, and then all of the different design center and builder appointments, etc; the daily blogging commitment took a back burner but here I am, back at it. My goal is to "try" and finish out the year but life often gets in the way so I'll do my best. Here goes.

Today...Day number...whatever :)
This morning was a fun filled morning with trying to get our sweet family of five ready and out the door for the 9am church service. It's always funny to me how we can be at each others throats and you begin to feel like this is just not worth it until you walk in those chapel doors and the stress of the morning seems to melt away. And then you pick the kids back up from the nursery... ha ha ha! No really though, it was another typical morning in May-wood trying to get out of the house but we managed it. The sermon was pretty cool as we had a guest speaker with a very thick Russian accent and he made a couple of jokes that really made the environment welcoming. We got the kids a bit early and brought them back into the chapel to hear the closing praise and worship (one of Skylar's favorites) and just then saw my parents turn around, smiling at us. How funny that we went through the entire church service not even realizing they were there. After church we all decided to go to breakfast which is always fun. Poor Matthew was not as amped up about the idea as the rest of us but was eventually glad we went. I adore my dad and have absolutely no way of telling him "no." Maybe all of those years of knowing he couldn't do it to me has now backfired. We had a really nice time and I am thankful for moments like that. Once we finished breakfast, it was off to the house to get chores done and naps in before we had complete meltdowns. My funny for the day was when Matthew and I were arguing over who would go outside to check if Skylar's neighborhood friend was home that she was begging to go see. Skylar stood between us and said "guys. GUYS! Seriously, calm down and no stress. Mama, you go see." Well, yes ma'am! Little stinker. It was a great day!

Day 162: Pool MADNESS

Don't you just love how you can plan your day out in your mind and it all makes sense but in reality NOTHING goes according to plan? Well, thats how today felt for me. I intended on us getting to the pool around 10:30 and swimming until 12:30 because Skylar had swim lessons at 3:45. There was a better part of me that felt like this was a bad idea but the kids had so much energy this morning that I just could not see us staying at home until then. When we got to the pool however, we all discovered that it didn't open until noon. So after discussing it we decided to head to a different pool that was already opened. When we pulled in the parking lot though, it started raining. After mulling it over and all of us texting each other on what to do, we decided to give it a go. So we got everyone out and into the pool. Thankfully the weather cleared up but wouldn't you know, we didn't get into the pool until close to noon?! Just my luck. The kids played their little hearts out and I tried my best to keep track of time so that they would have plenty of time to sleep before heading out for Skylar's lessons but again - mom fail. I guess I assumed we lived right next door and that they would just instantly fall asleep but no...it took us 20 minutes to get home because of the weather and then the kids all fought sleep so it meant trying to wake them up after only a 20-30 minute nap and I just couldn't do it. I chalked it up to a total mom-fail and from now on we will not be doing pool fun on the same days that Skylar has lessons. So while they slept, I called daddy and told him how bad I felt and if we can somehow make it up to her. We decided to take her out to dinner for a little pre-birthday celebration and going to swim lessons was just a distant memory. We all had a lot of fun celebrating her!

Day 161: No work for Nana means all play for Mama!

Today we went to bootcamp again (ya, ya, I know - same story; different day). Afterwards we played for a bit and then sent Nana a text to see if we could come swim since we were rained out yesterday. Much to our surprise we found out that she was home!! It's always nice to hear that because it means that she will take care of Eva while I get a chance to play with Skylar and Brycen. Even Papa joined in on the fun. Skylar and Bryce were so excited to see Nana and Papa and it was hard to convince Skylar that this wasn't a Friday night because she was so prepared to spend the night. Papa got out the floaties which were wonderful and if it hadn't been for having to be on mom-duty I swear I would've fallen asleep right there. It was a beautiful day.

Day 160: Lets go swimming!

So when asking the kids what they wanted to do today, this was the answer we got. They have to see their Nana and Papa at least once a week and it's just an added bonus that they have a pool. After getting everyone loaded up with all their belongings, then getting sunblock on, floaties, towels, etc - they finally jumped in the pool only to get out 20 minutes later because of rain. Boo. They still had fun though hanging at Nana and Papa's for a little while and now that Gigi lives there, we got to visit with her too! After eating lunch and saying our goodbyes, we headed back home to finish up some chores before starting our busy week. Daddy wasn't too pleased with this since he was really looking forward to just kicking back on this rainy day but since I'm a lot like my dad (who can't sit still), I had to have things done and first up was my car. What I didn't mention last Thursday is that Bryce spilled chocolate milk in my car on the way to our Restore class. I did what I could to clean it up but we were already late so it was just a quick once-over. In hindsight I wish I would've just skipped class and taken the time to thoroughly clean my car but we live and learn. After restore, we headed to the pool and it was after that I realized I made a huge mistake because now that milk sat in my car from 9 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon and the smells that were coming out of my van were awful. I tried all weekend to lift that smell and even took my van in to have the carpets professionally cleaned. The problem is that my car has a sliding middle row that can move all the way forward and all the way back and because of that there are these tracks that all of that milk seeped into and made it impossible to get to. So while the carpet cleaning lifted the stain and helped somewhat with the smell, it was what was under all of that. I had to literally use a tooth brush, vinegar and paper towels to finally get everything cleaned up. But alas, I finally did. We now have a new rule in our car which is "no food or drink unless it's water." I'm praying we can stick to it because I don't want to go through that again. On the bright side, all of the carseats are clean and my car smells like vanilla ice cream thanks to papa for giving us an extra smelly thingy. Sunday blew by with all of our chores but I guess in a way I'm glad it rained otherwise we would've been gone most of the day, leaving me Monday to clean everything up in my house with no help from daddy since he was back at work. Happy to be done!

Day 159: Party, party, party!

Today was an incredibly busy day with a lot of places to be and not enough time in the day. First up was celebrating our sweet friend Olivia's 3rd birthday. The kids were very excited because it was at one of their favorite places, Wonderwild. And I was really excited because daddy was actually able to come with us this time around. Surprisingly we showed up only 10 minutes late which was such a relief because I was so afraid they wouldn't get a chance to play and then we would have a meltdown right there at the party. The kids had a lot of fun running around, playing with their friends. Eva and I also had fun catching up with girl talk and daddy made is way around shaking hands and chasing Bryce. After leaving the party we grabbed some coffee, made a quick appearance at another party then headed home to change and head to Papa Jack's house. There we had fun playing at the park, then running through the sprinklers, then spraying every one with the water hose (be prepared to get wet when you give a 3 year old boy complete control of the water hose), and even a little baseball. We haven't seen Jack and Melissa in a really long time so this visit was long overdue. The kids really seemed to have fun and we had to deal with the normal "mama, can Bree and Aidree pleeeeease spend the night?" Sigh. But it was a lot of fun and we all vowed to make it happen again soon.

Day 157 &158

Thursday:
Today was another fun pool day. Since daddy okay-ed the purchase of our pool membership this season, we have to at least go 8 times in order to pay for the cost of the membership. So we are well on our way with all of our pool visits lately. Today was back at bear branch because the regular pool season hasn't quite started yet. I'm not a huge fan of this pool because they recently resurfaced the cool deck and it's torture on my kiddos feet. Especially Bryce. Poor boo must come out of there with 3 or 4 cuts on his toes each time. But since all of our other friends are going and they don't seem to complain to much (until we get home at least), we went. Today was a pretty memorable day because Skylar decided to test her bravery a bit and asked to go off the diving board. It took everything in me to keep from shouting "no, you're too little." But she's at that age now where it's good for her to see what she's capable of. So we walked on over and she waited patiently in line...

But once she got out there on the ledge she quickly changed her mind and despite Bryce and I doing our best to encourage her, she wasn't interested. So I leaned across the diving board to grab her and we walked back over to the baby pool. Of course she decides then that she wants to try again.  But I'm not convinced. And I don't want to have to get Bryce out again, explain to him how he can't go on the diving board again, or stand on the rough and very hot ground...again. But she gives me that look with those big brown eyes and I finally give in. So off we go. At first I wasn't going to take my camera because I honestly thought it was going to go just how it did last time and I was lucky I didn't drop my phone in the pool then. But just in case, I grabbed it and I'm so glad I did! Again she waited for her turn in line and I whispered to her that when she gets up there, she can't stop at the end and wait because she'll never go. But instead to walk straight out to the end and jump. And that's exactly what she did! I video taped it and you can hear Bryce and I both going bananas for her. I'm so proud of her!!!

Bryce was still disappointed that he couldn't go off of the diving board but quickly bounced back once we were near friends again.

Eva also had fun and even grabbed a quick catnap in the lawn chairs. Lucky girl.

Friday:
Today was a pretty uneventful day if you can even say that with my crazy bunch but it seems like every day this week we have been going nonstop and today was just more laid back then normal. We still made it to bootcamp but today I decided to let them play at the germ tree before heading home. That's right, home. No pool or splash pad or papa's house...home. The kids did get to pick out some new shoes while we were there but other then that it was just a laid back kinda day. Eva even got a chance to play...

Day 156

So today was supposed to be a rest day but with my bunch, no such word exists. After it was clear that they were going to try and kill each other from complete bordem, we decided to go to Papa's house for some pool time. I guess in a way it was kind of relaxing. It was just us and the weather was perfect. We listened to country music and swam our little hearts out. Even Eva-cakes got to join in on the fun.

Once it was obvious that they were going down fast, we headed for home and took a much needed nap. All of us. Which was great because Aunt Kelli and the girls came over so we had plenty of energy to play and entertain. Skylar was so excited to see her cousins and Roxy was happy to meet Aunt Kelli's new dog, Perla. I feel so ashamed that I didn't even snap one single pic but it was a very fun evening!

Day 155

I have a feeling these posts are all going to sound the same after a while now that school is out. Go to bootcamp. Go to the pool. Go to the park. Clean house. And on and on it goes. Soooo...Today was another typical day. We went to restore which the kids loved because it meant not sitting in a stroller for an entire hour and instead getting to play with friends their own age and do cool crafts on occasion. I was nervous dropping them off since Bryce is just beginning to get the hang of potty training but he did fantastic! I also love restore because it's a whole hour for just ME!! Sounds selfish, I know; but it's so nice to have an uninterrupted workout. So today Skylar's class got to play outside and Brycen's class went to Safari Stop which is this really cool indoor playground located inside of the church. They both were grinning from ear to ear and I could tell they had a blast. SO proud of my Brycen for not having an accident. We ran a lot of other errand afterward which led to tears and drama. Drama from them, tears from me. But rather then go down that road, we'll just focus on the good stuff and this morning was a really good start to the day!

Day 154: Busy little bee's

Today was a very busy day!! We started our morning off at bootcamp which was at the mall so it's usually a bit chaotic since there are a lot of hiding places. Bryce was not as good today as he has been the past few times. I think because the class size has grown with a lot of kids being out of school, he wants to be out playing too. But the problem is that he can not be trusted. After having just about enough of his screams and cries, I let him out of his stroller so long as he promised me to stay right by me and NOT go in the water. Yea, that lasted for about 1.2 seconds before I hear someone call out that Bryce is making his way right for the water. So back in the stroller he went; kicking and screaming. After class was finally over, we headed inside for a few minutes before heading to the pool. First stop was the bathroom since now Bryce is back at potty training. Of course Skylar had to go too once she saw her brother going and since we were already in there I figured we should probably give Eva a fresh diaper. After all of that was finally taken care of, we still had time to waste so I decided to quickly swing into Gap Body for some new sports bras. Of course, assuming anything will be "quick" with my bunch is pretty irrational but we dove in any way. Since, I didn't really have the time (or the patience) to try things on, I just grabbed what I needed and went straight for the register. Now mind you this is only after picking up the panties Bryce tossed on the floor, screwing the hand back on the mannequin that Skylar was determined to hold and it fell off, and trying to sooth Eva who acted as if she hadn't been fed in days!! I was so frazzled when we got to the register and then total fear took over when I realized my wallet was missing. I begin frantically retracing my steps mentally and getting ready to strap the kids to the stroller and dart through the mall in hopes of finding it, when I look under the table that I recently dragged Bryce out from under and taaadaaa, there it was. I take a deep breath, go back to the register, open it up and what's this?! Where's my debit card?? No, I'm not joking. This is just a normal day in my life. As I begin looking for it, I remembered that I stopped to get gas and must have left it in my cup holder of my car. I make my apologies, tell her I'll be right back and strap the kids down. I've got Bryce and Eva in the seats of our double stroller and Skylar on the nose as we are sprinting through the mall and parking lot. Now you must be thinking - those must be some pretty awesome sports bras to go through all that trouble but really I started thinking, what if I left my car doors unlocked? Or what if they're locked but the card is right there in plain sight. What would stop someone from breaking a window?! So I ran. I finally get to my car to find that it is locked, no windows are broken, and my card is sitting in my drivers side cup holder. We get the card, go back to purchase my items, then make our way to the germ tree to meet friends. But I had no idea it was already pool time so we left quickly. Finally after all the drama from the morning, we made it to the pool to have a nice relaxing time with friends. Well, not quite "relaxing" but much better then the mall that's for sure.

Day 153: Cinder-elly

That is what I felt like today. Not the princess part of Cinderella but the underpaid, overworked maid of the house. It started with a simple plan to do a bit of laundry so I didn't have to fuss with it tomorrow when we could be doing something fun instead. But then Bryce crawled in our bed and pooped which meant starting with the bed linens. And since we have a quilt, it takes all day to dry. But I was determined. Then after I had a handful of clothes to put away in Skylars closet, it occurred to me that today would be the best day to completely clean out her closet and dresser. Sigh. I do it every time. Then I pulled out some more of Skylar's old clothes to wash and get prepared for Eva as well as pack up the things that Skylar has outgrown. In between all of this was chasing Bryce down, feeding and changing Eva, paying bills, and cleaning up the rest of the house. "She spins around and 'round and 'round until she's very, very dizzy - Cinder-ellie!" After all of that, I am tired. So tonight's a short one...good night.

Day 152: Birthday Party Fun

Today we got to celebrate not just one, but two birthday parties! We first headed over to the park to have a "beach" party for our sweet friends Will and Elise. I was a bit worried about us making it on time since the party started at 10am and we are always late. But surprisingly, we actually made it on time. Daddy couldn't come with us because he is so slammed with work but we had a ton of fun. The kids enjoyed time playing at the playground and then running around through the splash pad. I wasn't able to snap too many pics because Eva just wouldn't let me put her down but trust me when I say we had a blast!!! Because we had my mom's birthday to also celebrate we had to head out a bit early but our sweet friends made sure the kids still got their cupcakes and goody bags! I was certain that by the time we got to my parents house the kids would fall asleep and I wouldn't have to worry about getting them in and out of the pool but no such luck. They were so excited to go see Nana and Papa. Again, since daddy wasn't with us - Papa spent a good deal of time playing with them in the pool while I took care of Eva. Once they were back inside, we had a quick bite to eat and then Bryce went straight to bed. Skylar, however, wanted mama to go and swim with her and I couldn't very well tell her no. Bryce was asleep, Eva was asleep, daddy wasn't there - what excuse did I have?! I was so glad I did too because we had a lot of fun playing just the two of us.

Day 151: Friday Fun-day!

Today was a really fun day. We decided to go to bootcamp even though it was at Market Street and I normally don't like to do that with all 3 kids but it's Summer time and we're ready to spend some time with our friends. I am definitely out of shape an should be going to more often because today was extremely hard. Bryce also did so good not going potty in his undies either so that was a huge success! Skylar was busy playing big-sis/mama to all of the other little girls running around. Once bootcamp was done, we let the kids play a bit while we waited for the splash pad to turn on....which took forever. But the kids didn't seem to mind too much and all had a fun playing a variety of different things. Luckily, one of the dads tagged along today and spent a good deal of time playing chase or catch with all the little ones. It was really sweet and so incredibly helpful! Especially since I needed to feed the kids, myself, and most importantly - Chubba Eva!

Finally after what seemed like hours of waiting on the water to turn on, it finally did. And like moths to a flame, the kids ran straight for it. Skylar kind of tip-toed around the edges of it because she's never been a fan of getting "kind-of" wet. It's all or nothing for her. But she still had fun hanging with one of her sweet little friends, smelling the flowers and chasing each other around the park. It was such a fun day hanging with friends and we are so excited that it's Summer so we can do this ALL the time!!

Day 150: Dr Visit HELL!

Excuse my language my sweet babes but there was no kinder way to put it. It really was just that - hell! It started out okay. We all had a nice breakfast, got dressed, and headed to Eva's appointment first. There we found out that she's growing right on track and is in the 98th percentile for height and the 77th for weight. She did have to get some nasty shots again which we all hated and she has more ear infections, but outside of that everyone did pretty good. Once we were done there, we headed to meet daddy for lunch and BJs and poor guy was so stressed. Stressed with work and stressed with the chaos of our kids. It was kind of a mess. Each kid took turns going back and forth to the bathroom, crawling under the table, fighting over the crayons, and on and on. He just looked at me and shook his head because he just couldn't understand how it wasn't bothering me. It's weird how you can just kind of check-out. I mean I'm still present for all of the mom-duties but for the high stress type of stuff, sometimes it's much easier to just kind of turn that part of it off. We finished lunch and daddy booked it out of there. Next up was to head to Brycen's ear appointment and that's when everything went downhill. To prevent myself from feeling the stress again, I'll just give the brief synopsis. While I'm able to check-out with "some" things, others I'm not. So it went a little something like this. First we wait, then we fill out paper work. Well, I fill out paperwork while my kids literally ran laps around the entire waiting area, screaming at the top of their lungs, and tripping over peoples feet. Turned in the paperwork and waited some more. Finally get called back and they did some testing while Skylar whined and complained that she didn't get to do it. Go back to the waiting area and repeat the running and screaming, despite the threats. Then Eva starts getting fussy because she's hungry. Start feeding her while also trying to hold my kids down in their seats and listen for our name to be called. Finally get called back again and to a room where we wait again! Bryce punts some kid of ear tool and it shatters, Skylar sits in the corner whining because Eva got to see the doctor and Bryce gets to see the doctor but not her and "it's not fair!" And what's this I smell? Smells like poop. Look at Eva - nope. I ask Skylar if she tooted and she shot me a look that could kill. So that only meant one other option - Oh please God, no. My potty-training boy decided to make a major mess of his batman undies and because I didn't want to risk losing our spot in line by taking him to the restroom, I decided to take care of it right then and there. I cleaned him up, got him some new undies, and picked up my screaming baby who was not happy to be back in the stroller -again. Once I had her settled on my lap, I hear her grunt followed by this big flushing sound. I pick her up to see that she's blown out of her diaper and all over the crotch of my white shorts. Perfect. So now the entire room reeked of poop and I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Finally the doctor comes in, looks in Brycen's ears and says he looks great. No infection and he passed his tests perfectly. I was relieved but at the same time just kind of felt that I had been kicked in the rear by this day. He suggested that if Bryce has another infection, we take the necessary steps to consider tubes being our only option which at this point I'm not sure I want to do. We finally left the office, loaded in the car and right before I pulled out, I took a long sigh and Skylar says "hey mama? Are you still in a bad mood?" That made me laugh. Just when you think you're doing a good job of not letting them sense your stress, the remind you that you're falling. Miserably. After I laughed, I pulled myself together and we all sang songs all the way home. Well, all the way out of the parking lot until they all completely passed out in the backseat. What. A. Day.

Day 149: The BEST MOM EVERRR!

This is what I heard from my soon-to-be 5 year old today. We had a very busy and productive day and just when I was feeling totally exhausted, her saying this was just a mental boost for me. We first went to bootcamp which was long overdue and I knew no one. Amazing how missing a few classes here and there over the past couple of months puts you as the "new girl." Despite the awkwardness, I was happy to get back to working out and the kids did so great1 Well, Bryce did have to pee-pee accidents but there was no running away or fighting me when I put him back in the stroller; it was great. Afterwards, we stayed a while and played at the park for a bit. Bryce and Skylar were having a blast but poor Eva was a hot and sweaty mess. When Bryce came over and laid down on my lap, complaining that he was hot, I took that as my cue to get out of there. But I wasn't quite ready to go home since I was sure our cleaning lady was still there. So I put in a phone call and found out that Papa's pool was "open." I decided not to tell the kids ahead of time and when we pulled in Skylar asked "why are we at Papa's house?" That's when I said "well, who wants to go swimming?!" The kids went bananas in the backseat with collective giggles and shouts of "me! me!" And that's when Skylar said "mama, you're the best mom ever!" It meant the world. Love these kids!

Day 148: Toyota smhoyota!

Never thought I'd ever say this but for the first time ever, we are disappointed in Toyota. They've always been great to us and clearly we love their vehicles since we've owned a 4-runner, Camry Solara, Tundra, and 2 Sienna's. And while we still love their vehicles, the service department has gone to crap lately. We've had issues where they've forgotten to put the paper mats down while driving the vehicle so oil stains were on the floor boards. They've promised to change washer fluids and such but as I pull out see that they "forgot" so I have to have Matthew do it instead. These are just small annoyances but this last time they didn't seal the oil plug properly and Matthew found oil all over our garage floor. Thankfully he was able to seal it off before all of the oil spilled out and we are super grateful it didn't happen on our trip. But I'm majorly disappointed in Toyota. They were very apologetic and offering to shuttle us if need be but I was just furious. I also made sure they documented that this was THEIR mistake so that if there are any other issues in the future we could remind them of this mishap. While we waited on the car to get fixed, we spent time walking the parking lot and I asked Skylar to show me which car she would like to have. At first she chose some ugly colored Vespa which for whatever reason made me think "yep, she's her fathers kid." lol. But when we walked back inside she stopped dead in her tracks and said "oh mama, that's it! I want this one!"

Now that's better! Hard to believe that in no time at all we really will be car shopping for her. Scary thought. The kids were beginning to get antsy and try as I may, I could no longer avoid the play-area so off they went! I hate going to those places because I'm certain Bryce picked something up from there last time but since we had already spent 30 minutes walking around, what was I to do? At least it kept them entertained.

Eva of course nursed during all of this since that's her favorite thing to do and I hate all of the sideways glances I get from people. Hate it. I mean c'mon people! I have 3 kids, one who's potty training, the other who gets bored rather quickly, and the last always hungry! Get over it!! FINALLY they called to tell me that our car was finally ready. After more apologies and a coupon off our next visit, we were off! Thankfully this little adventure had my kiddos pretty wiped so they went right to bed. Me, however, I was having bootcamp withdraws so had my very own workout in the backyard. Note to self: do NOT eat an egg salad sandwich prior to going out in 100 degree heat to workout. Bleh. Either way I got it done and had to send my husband a pic to hopefully encourage him to get his workout in too!

I came super duper close to barfing right after this pic but thankfully held back. In fact I laid down on my bed and passed clean out. It was only a 20 minute nap but it felt great. And it really helped that the kids all woke up in a great mood also. Hoping for a great week ahead. 

Day 147: The REAL Birthday

So today is the day. The day I turn 31 and my oh my how fast the year went. I can still remember celebrating 30, just newly pregnant with Eva-cakes and being surrounded by so many wonderful friends and family. I remember then saying how I was going to make sure to celebrate my "real 30th" next year when I wasn't pregnant. In fact, there was going to be two of us celebrating our 1st anniversary of our 30th birthday but that didn't happen. For starters, we just went on vacation so trying to plan a big celebration around that wasn't going to happen. Then there's the fact that I have 3 young kids so getting them prepared for the end of school as well as enrolled in upcoming Summer camps and such; it's all been just so busy-busy. Instead my birthday was spent doing the things that I always do; laundry, dishes, reorganizing, cleaning, making dinner and on and on. We did get a chance to get out with the kids and go to Sams which is something we all love. Who wouldn't love Sams?! Only thing is...every single time - we always forget to clean out the car. And every time we buy up the entire store making it almost impossible to fit it all in the van. But my husband always seems to work his magic and is able to somehow make it work. After getting it home and unloaded it was back to work for this mama. We also started Eva on solids tonight and it went very well. I delayed feeding her any cereal and decided to use my trusty Vitamix to mix up my own sweet potatoes for her. She did great and really seemed to enjoy it! Skylar of course was begging to feed her which I promised she'd be able to do once Eva gets better at eating. And you better believe she won't let me forget it! It was a busy but good day and this mama is tired...

Day 145 and 146

I'm so relieved we came home a day early because otherwise I don't know how I'd ever have enough time to get done everything I need to do. Thankfully, I did most of our laundry while were in Destin but all of the unpacking and cleaning seems endless. Our poor kids seemed to be bored out of their mind so after unpacking all of us and straightening up a few rooms in the house we decided to go swimming at Nana and Papa's. You'd think they'd be sick of swimming already but not my little fishy's. They would live in the pool if we'd let them. We had a really great time visiting and hanging out a while. Saturday really seemed to zoom by and the kids went right to bed. Sunday, my parents decided to host a small get together for me for my birthday and what did we do?1 Swim!!! Only this time we got to do some swimming with cousins which is always more fun!

Another good highlight to the day is that Skylar is swimming all on her own! No floaties. No mama. Just her and those long stems. She still gets a bit scared and we have to reassure her that she's fine and we are right there if she needs us but by the end of the day she was jumping off the hot tub rocks into the pool and swimming over to the steps. we are so very proud of her. Bryce and Jack had a bunch of fun too. They seemed to have their own kind of thing going on and even spoke in guy code. Bryce was totally eating it up since all he has to hang out with all day is girls. After we were all done with swimming, we went inside for cake and ice cream. The kids all helped in blowing out the candles and my favorite part was Bryce turning to me and saying "happy birfday, mama." Then he planted a big kiss on my cheek. Oh and before I forget...Skylar swimming isn't the only big news of the week but Bryce is back at potty training. He's doing so well too. We are crossing our fingers that maybe he'll be completely potty trained before his birthday! My sweet husband made me a beautiful video of he and the kids singing happy birthday that I'll cherish forever. These past two weeks have been glorious and today was just icing on the cake - literally!

Day 144: Back to The Great State

Oh. My. Word. That was the longest drive ever. We were able to get out on time but once in the car it was numerous stops. First 15 minutes in we were stopping for breakfast. Next 15 minutes we were stopping because Skylar had to go to the bathroom. Then Eva was hungry. Then dirty diapers. And on and on it went. Longest. Drive. Ever. Of course we completely forget that it's also coming up on Memorial Day weekend so that added to our misery. It's crazy how fast we blow through those smaller states but once you get into Louisiana...sheesh, it takes forever. Aside from the million stops we made, the kids did pretty good considering.

We were never so happy to see the "Welcome to Texas" sign until we hit traffic. Good ole Texas traffic. At one point, we had all 3 kids crying and I could tell Matthew was spiraling into insanity. Luckily he had just purchased in audiobook on his phone so he was able to tune them out. Kinda. But when all was said and done, we finally made it home safe and sound. And even though Destin is quite beautiful and we will miss it greatly, there truly is no place like home and it's great to be back!!

Day 143: Our Last Day in Paradise

Today was a bittersweet day. For starters, Nana and Papa left early this morning and surprisingly the kids took it quite well. They were pretty occupied by the pool and the promise of ice cream after lunch so maybe that had a bit to do with it. However, after Nana and Papa left and they went back to swimming, Bryce came in and said "nana?" "Papa?" I felt so bad for him. I guess he may of thought they were just going for a short while and coming back but when they didn't, he was a tad upset. Skylar paid no mind so long as we weren't leaving behind them. She's told us numerous times she wants to live here and I don't blame her. It has been such an amazing vacation. All of us really enjoyed our last day together...swimming, going for a drive, then watching movies. None of us really want to leave tomorrow - especially daddy since we are not stopping in New Orleans on the way back which means a very long 10-12 hour drive. But no sense thinking about that now...instead we enjoyed today!