Fun in the Sun

I had such an awesome day thanks to my hubby. I met the girls (Mom, Bre and Jo) at Mom's pool, completely kid-free. My kiddos aren't feeling great this week but Bry insisted that I go anyway. I do love that man. :)

Anyway, it was so awesome to actually be able to sunbathe and to swim. Normally, I am either applying sunscreen to the kids, handing out snacks, wiping noses, blowing up pool toys, trying to keep their swimmies on them, changing their diapers or I am in the pool with one of them hanging off of me, so I don't get to do either.

I was still surrounded by kids, but nieces and nephews are different. You can play with them for a while and then go back to reading your book. :) After a while, Jo and her kiddos went with Mom and Bre's babies back to her apartment. Bre and I got to relax and act silly while we watched Aussie swim. As usual, Bre tried to get me to stay longer than I needed to. She is such a bad influence. :)

Aaaaah, such a nice day. Thanks Babe.

Our "romantic" Stay-cation

Bryan and I had this big plan to go on a romantic vacation for our 14th anniversary. At first it was going to be somewhere tropical, like the Bahamas. Well, after thinking it through we decided that it would be better to wait. Bailey's tuition was due and we are trying to save up money to buy a new house... So we thought maybe we could go to this really cool water park in Mississippi. But then, we couldn't get a reservation at the hotel that we wanted. We were determined to spend some time together ALONE, so we reserved a room downtown and planned a "staycation".

Our plan was to leave Sunday morning. Mom came over and we were getting ready to head out the door when we hear knock, knock... My grandparents were at the door. They had driven up from Medon and had stopped by Mom's house and found out that she was at our house. So, we stayed and visited for a little while.

We finally took off for downtown. After checking into our hotel, we dropped our bags in our room and headed out for some hometown sight seeing. We rode the trolley all over downtown. I have never been on the trolley and it was actually pretty fun. After that we took a walk by the river and around downtown. I've never been down there on a Sunday. It was really quiet and peaceful and there are so many cool buildings and neat things to see. We went to the Peabody and saw the ducks and then walked over to Bigfoot Lodge and had dinner. After that we went back to the hotel and Bry went swimming while I layed out on the roof of the hotel. The water was like ice, no thank you. I did do some time in the jacuzzi though. We decided to hang out in the room and watch tv instead of going out. We don't really get into the party scene. It was nice to just hang out together and be lazy. The view from our room was AMAZING! The windows took up 3 whole walls. We could see the bridge, the pyramid and most of downtown. We had fun watching people on the streets below. There are some very interesting people downtown to say the least.

After sleeping in, which is around 8 am for us, we ate breakfast at the hotel's buffet. YUM! Then we walked all over downtown. We spent some time on Beale St. looking in the shops and goofing off. After we checked out of our hotel, we had lunch at Jillians and then headed for Graceland. I am a big Elvis fan and oddly enough have never been there. Well, that hasn't changed. There were hundreds of people waiting to get in and it would have been a couple of hours until our turn so we went through all of the gift shops instead.

We ended up going home earlier than we meant to because Mom had called the night before and informed us that Bay and Luke had a fever and were not feeling too well. Even though we started late, didn't stay very long and didn't do all that we wanted to we had a great time. Just being together was the best part.

Oh, I had to include the pics of the kids with their souvenirs. We got Luke some Elvis glasses. He was hilarious. He kept calling himself a rock star and saying Hey baby! :) Bay got a bracelet with her name on it and a new Webkin (of course). Presley got a t-shirt that says "Elvis is the king of rock n roll, but I'm the princess". They loved their gifts but mostly they were happy that Mommy and Daddy were home. So were we.

Morning Breath

O.k. so this is kind of embarrassing but really hilarious so I have to write about it...

Lately Presley has learned to smell by sniffing really deep, you know like sniff, sniff (I'm just realizing this sounds better when I tell it out loud, oh well).

Anyway, so this morning I go to get her out of her bed. I leaned over and said good morning to her and then I yawned really big. She looks up at me with her sleepy eyes and then she sniffs several times. She said "Mommy, I smell poo poo." I almost fell on the floor.

Normally, I would never go and yawn right in any one's face (especially first thing in the morning), but I guess I don't think about it with my kids. So I guess if I'm going to be doing that I will need to start brushing my teeth first. :)

A Good Father...

Today is Father's Day and I was thinking about different qualities that I believe a good father must have...

Strength and Loyalty...

A Spiritual Leader, Patience...

Sense of humor, A playmate...

Thoughtfulness, Generosity...

Kindness and Honor.

I am so grateful that my children are surrounded by men who possess these qualities.

Most of all, I am proud that they can see all of them in their own Daddy.

Happy Father's Day to all of the Dads in my life. And thank you to my hubby for being the Father that I always dreamed of for my children.

Cuz we all just wanna be a big rock star...

What is it about karaoke that makes people believe that they are rock stars??

I wish the video was longer but my battery died. You get the picture though. :)

(Too bad I missed Bubba singing along with Alecia Keys!!)

Bye, Bye Pacifier

My sweet Luke is no longer a "passie baby". We were really worried about how we were going to break his pacifier habit. We knew it would be hard because Presley still has hers and she is just not ready yet. At first we limited his passie use to bed time. We told him that it had to stay in his bed. If he wanted it then he could go lay down. That was actually pretty easy. He is so busy that he did not want to have to go to bed.

Well, we've been doing that for a while but he still was really attached to it at naptime and bedtime. Anyway, the other day he had a rash on his top lip. Right before bedtime Luke had gone and got his passie. He started complaining about his lip burning to his Daddy and Bry explained that the pacifier was making it hurt worse b/c it was irritating the rash. So Luke took it out and threw it on the ground. A little while later, as we were tucking him in he mentioned needing his passie. Bry reminded him that the pacifier was burning his lip and Luke just said "Oh yeah, bad passie." That simple. No more pacifier! That was 3 nights ago.

I am so excited on one level but at the same time I know that it is the end of another stage of his life. Just one more step closer to him growing up and leaving me. Motherhood is such an emotional journey.

My sweet baby boy. I just want to hold on to him and not let go.

Bry's blog

My hubby has a blog! Now maybe I will find out what is rolling around in that big head of his. :)

http://www.bamabryan.blogspot.com/

Crafty

I'm trying really hard to keep my kids from becoming couch potatoes this summer. So, each day I have been planning something that will at least keep them occupied until nap time. The other day we made pine cone bird feeders. We went out into the front yard and searched for our pine cones. Usually that wouldn't be too hard but our yard guy had just cleaned them all up the day before. Way to think ahead Mom. Oh well, we finally found 3 so it was fine.

Anyway, the kids loved making them, especially Bailey, she loves projects. :) Presley kept trying to eat the peanut butter which was grossing me out because it had dirt in it from the pine cone. I let them pick out where they wanted to hang them and then we sat back and waited for the birds.

We actually did get to see a few birds come and enjoy the food before the squirrels realized there was something new in the backyard. Bailey's was gone after a few hours, completely gone, pine cone and all! They were really upset at first, but I explained to them that the squirrels were hungry too. Anyway, Luke's was gone when we woke up the next day. That afternoon I heard him banging on the window. I went in there and he was yelling at a squirrel. He said "Hey! Squirrel! That's the bird's food!! Go away!!" It was hilarious. He was being so stern.

After the kids got over the fact that the squirrel was a thief, they did get some enjoyment from watching him try to get that last pine cone.

I miss my friend.

(photograph by Elizabeth Wiggs)

It seems like Bryan has been gone forever. Maybe it's because we are off our "school routine" or if it's because I know that he is going to be gone for 6 or so more hours this time. He had a busy schedule on this trip, so maybe it's because we haven't had many chances to talk on the phone. Whatever the reason, it sucks.

I usually only say nice things about Bry on special occasions. I don't want him to get a big head or anything. :) When he is home, we get on each others nerves. We pick on each other. We take each other for granted. Then he goes out of town.

I miss him being here to help me. I miss having him to pick on and to vent to. I miss his hugs and his foot massages. I miss the way I feel when I see him playing with our kids. I miss how we laugh at the same stuff. I miss sharing all of the sweet, funny and crazy things that our kids do. I miss sitting up watching t.v. together after the kids have all gone to bed. I miss how we can just sit together in comfortable silence. But most of all, I just miss my friend. Just having him here with me.

I can't wait for him to get home so I can go back to not liking him again. :)

OUCH!!

This is sunscreen.

This is your skin WITHOUT sunscreen.

Any Questions??

Happy Birthday Be!

Today is Gabby's birthday!!

She is one of my best and oldest friends. I met Gabby in the 10Th grade in Cosmetology class. As soon as I met her I knew that she would be one of those people who would be in my life for a long time. We just clicked.

We had so much fun as teenagers. She taught me how to drive, I taught her how to smoke. :) We went to prom together (with our dates, of course.) We saw each other through break-ups, rode to school together, had sleepovers, got ready for graduation together. We took our senior trip together, got into lots of trouble together!

We were in each others weddings, were there for the birth of our first children. We've seen each other through some really bad hairstyles. I threw her wedding and baby showers and she did mine. She has been there for many more times than I can count.

Recently, she moved to Nashville and I miss her so much! I am so grateful for the Internet because it helps me to at least keep in touch with her a little. But even though years and miles have separated us, whenever we get together it is like we haven't missed a beat. She is my family and I love her so much!!

Happy Birthday Gabs! And remember, you will always be older than me!! :) Ninuvnubefrie!!

*Enjoy the pictures, try not to laugh until you pee. (She's always had that problem.) hehe.

Some of our photo booth photos...

I can't believe how young we were! We thought we were so mature!!


Cosmetology class


Don't ya LOVE the hair and clothes?!


Hanging out at one of the many ball games that we've attended together.


Getting ready for graduation.


Class of 1993! Woo Hoo!


Ready for a night out, July 4th, I think.


Gabs came to my family reunion.


We figured out how to straighten our hair. hehe.


Gabs at my wedding.


At Gabby's bachelorette party.



After Gabby's bachelorette party. :)

Gabby's wedding.

Fun days with Gabs first born, Corey.

Visiting Gabs at the hospital after she had Riley (I think).

Gabs hosted my baby shower when I was pregnant with Bailey.

Gabs and Don visiting me when I was in labor with Bay.

Gabs and Me. (Am I hot or what??!) :)