So, So Excited

These are a few of the pictures Sara took on Sunday. She posted a preview on her blog and she is sending the rest on a CD in the mail. I was thrilled last night when I received her email alerting me that a few of our photos were ready. I was so excited about them that I had a hard time falling asleep! Nerd alert. Although it also could have been the on going packing list I'm trying to store in my brain.

Besides being excited about our beautiful photos, which by the way, aren't my kids adorable? Just had to state the obvious. Sorry, I'll move on. The kids are over the top on fire with enthusiasm about our upcoming trip to Michigan. We are staying in a hotel for 3 days and then going camping for 2 nights, but they can think of nothing else but tents and campfires.

You should have seen Luke's room yesterday when they were playing "camping". It was a disaster because they cut up paper for the "campfire". I'm a little nervous about the weather because on the days we are supposed to camp, the forecasters are calling for a 40% chance of rain. I am praying that they are wrong, which let's be honest, that wouldn't take a miracle. There is a 100% chance we will not be camping if it rains. The kids talk of nothing else: not the Cherry Festival, not seeing Great Grandpa Smith, not staying in a hotel, not spending more time with cousins. Just camping.

I have the laundry finished, but nothing else packed. Camping requires so much stuff that I'm tired even before I start. Mark is working so he is exempt from packing once again. Lucky little thing! Thankfully, my mom is coming over this morning and our babysitter is coming this afternoon so I can pack and run errands without losing my mind.

As far as my blog goes, I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to post from our hotel, but after that I may have to take a break until I we get home. Check back in a few days to see what's happening in Traverse City, MI this fourth of July weekend. Which, as I keep forgetting or possibly blocking out, is my 32rd birthday. Be back soon!

PS. Really I'm not sure where our kids got their good looks from, but I'd say they are ridiculously cute. That's my opinion of course, but my mother told me to never tell a lie, so it must be true... :)

Say "Cheese"

This morning we had our photo session with photographer, Sara Green, at Ault Park. She was a lovely, patient gal and because she was a stranger, everyone was on their best behavior...except Stella. If Sara were a man, I'm sure Stella would have been all smiles. She loves men and that's not excluding strangers.

Even though it was only 10 AM it was VERY VERY VERY hot. We forgot Stella's shoes too. I use the "we" loosely because Mark was the one that put her in the car shoeless. :) I forgive him because he posed for pictures all the while wiping sweat from his brow without complaining. If it were me behind the camera, it would have been a different story.

The scenery was amazing. I'm trying to figure out who I can convince to let me take their pictures at this beautiful place. I'll wait for a cooler day and then we'll see.

I took my camera along just because I rarely go anyplace without it. I didn't take very many because that would have just been tacky. At some points I just couldn't help myself. The measure of sucess with pictures is in the number of photos taken. The more you take, the better chance you have of getting a few good ones. Sara took a ton so I can't wait to see how the pictures turned out. I loved the opportunity to be photographed, but I think I prefer to be behind the camera instead of the subject.

By the end, I think Stella was still mad we forgot her shoes because she just lost it. That was until I gave her a snack and a drink.

The 30 minute nap in the car helped improve her mood too. :)

Nothing Says Home Like A Weedy Garden

We made it home safely this afternoon and while I'm happy to be back, I wasn't happy to see that our garden was over taken by weeds. As I type, my blister is burning and my back is still sweaty from trying to tame our unmanageable garden. Mark said that he would pay any amount of money to fix it so that we could actually enjoy being gardeners. In hindsight, I should have taken a picture of the monstrosity, but once we started filling up or trash dumpster, there was no going back.

The kids are getting the hang of sleeping in a hotel. After the initial jumping of the beds, they settled down and went to sleep very quickly and easily. It could have just been the exhaustion since the night before Brooke woke up at 12:45 AM saying that she'd wet the bed and then Luke came in at 6 to say that his Pull-up leaked. Brooke hasn't had an accident in months, so the chance of both of them having issues in one night was unbelievable. Times like that make me glad to be home. :)

Speaking of unbelievable, this morning at 9 AM we are setting up the DVD player, ready to hit the road when we discover that the DVD cord had been cut. We didn't have to look far to find the guilty party because Brooke readily fessed up to cutting it with her kid scissors right before we got to the hotel last night. She claims that there was a "knot" in the cord and so she had to cut the cord. Thankfully, our hotel was next to a Wal-mart so we could get a new one. If it was just Brooke in the back seat, you better believe she would have finished off the last 6 hours of our trip without watching a single movie. Lucky little sucker had an innocent brother sitting next to her!

I do realize that what I'm telling you has nothing to do with the pictures I've posted. I'm okay with that and I suppose that if you're not, you would have stopped reading by now. I do have to pause here to point out Stella's hair blowing in the wind and to say that she was a doll this trip. The entertainment for sure. I would keep singing her praises, but I'm still mad that on our 6 hour drive today that she cried for 1.5 hours and then only slept for 30 minutes. Not so cute. I thought kids lived to sleep in the car. All that movement and forced stillness due to being strapped down with nowhere to go? No? Okay. I will not mourn what I don't have.

I wouldn't normally weed the garden after unpacking, but we are leaving again in less than a week to go Michigan. I say "unpacking" but really we left the suitcases out and stacked up numerous things in the dining room ready to be loaded back into the car. We'll have just enough time for Mark to work a little, do some laundry, and get some new movies and books from the library. Such is life for the spoiled vacationers. I'd rather being going and going then not going at all. Someday we'll be to tired to go anywhere and then we'll stay home.

We are all really tired and in desperate need of showers and bed. By tomorrow I should have a fresh slate and be ready to move on from the annoying, childish things our kids were doing like Brooke knocking my wedding ring under the candy racks at Kroger tonight. It was an accident of course, but one that was born out of a bad attitude and crankiness. I'm ready to move on, after a nice long sleep. We will need all the beauty sleep we can muster since we are getting our picture taken tomorrow. If you recall me being chosen to have our picture taken by a local photographer...that's what we are doing tomorrow. Hope we have much better attitudes and are ready to smile. I'll let you know how that goes.

And now it's time to head home...

We are coming to the end of our vacation, but I'm not sure exactly how that happened. It feels like we just got here and now Mark and I are making plans for our trip home tomorrow. The kids have been so good and easy going that our trip has been really enjoyable. Sometimes being away from home is stressful, but the kids were all able to pretty much do the same thing at the same time and that makes life easier on Mark and I.

Stella was crazy in the pool. She jumped in once when Mark wasn't looking and jumped on him, busting her lip. Even that didn't slow her down much.

Be still my heart...I think one day Luke and Stella are going to get along well. Stella's going to boss Luke around and he's going to have to take it or she'll level him. That's my prediction. You heard it here first.

They look so sweet and innocent. And their hairstyles are almost the same. Actually, Stella's hair is coming around. She had enough that I gave her a mohawk this week with the help of a little sunscreen.

Brooke's swimming skills really improved this week of swimming at least twice a day. She learned to tread water and as a result, she can swim in the deep end because she no longer panics when she comes up for a breath. Those high dollar swim lessons were worth every penny!

If she's got her trusty goggles, there's nothing that can hold her back (not even the water shoes she's sporting).

There's nothing wrong with your eyes or your computer, my camera's been fogged up half this trip. It's been so hot outside that my camera lens and the "innards" of my camera were foggy. The low last night was 81 degrees if that tells you anything.

The foot shower is a family favorite and surprisingly, everyone waits patiently for their turn. Except Mark. :)

It's after we've been here that I wish we had a pool in our backyard. It's so convenient and available, but then the problem is that it's too convenient and available that I would worry about the kids getting in without adult supervision. Not going to happen anyway, so I don't even need to go there.

Tomorrow morning we'll be hitting the road to stop halfway at the Holiday Inn Express. I'll bet you $5 that I'll cry tomorrow morning when we leave. I'm a crier especially when I love this place so much and can't stand the thought that we have to wait until 2011 to come back. The bright side is at least we get to come back. :)

Hotter than Texas, but a whole lotta fun

We're on vacation. Again. It seems we are always some place or another. While I would consider myself a homebody, I also recognize what a huge blessing it is to be able to change the scenery frequently. We are currently gazing at the Atlantic and I have to say the view's not too shabby.

Being away from home does have it's challenges. For instance, we spent 2 nights in two different hotels before we came to Grandma's beach house. That is a lot of packing and unpacking and two cozy nights of five people in a hotel room.

I got smart this time and brought along an air mattress for Luke so that he and Brooke wouldn't have to share a bed and there would be a lot less fighting...covers and touching people. The air mattress was a hit. It doubled as a place to sleep and as a trampoline, which I'm sure the hotel people were glad we spared their beds.

Everyone was very well behaved and it only took my people about 45 minutes to fall asleep. I've noted that Luke and Stella both like to talk themselves to sleep which kind of explains why Luke wakes up and just keeps on going.

This was our second hotel in Kitty Hawk, NC. We (Mark's brothers and sister and company) all spent the night here to avoid getting stuck in the Saturday traffic of people trying to get on the island. A lot of the rentals go from Saturday to Saturday, so Saturday is about the last day you want to travel on or off the island. We were fortunate to be lounging by the pool while the other people were still driving.

This is the hotel with the pier I like to take pictures under or around or on... It seems I'm not the only one because on Friday night there was a wedding on the beach right beside the pier and they were taking pictures on, around, and under the pier too. Then the reception was held in a banquet room on the pier itself! That was pretty cool. The hotel owns the pier so they can do that if they want.

We had a balcony and the kids loved it. The got really excited when Mark went down to the car to get something and they got to yell down to him. Cute how those things get them excited.

The pier even with all its photographic potential makes me nervous. I've not been nervous in the past, but Stella seemed to bring out the nervousness in me. She doesn't want to be held or hold any one's hand. There really was no reason to be concerned because it is fenced in with railings that are too high for her to scale without someone noticing there was a problem.

And there really weren't any problems if you discount the sizable gaps in the floor boards. I only have a mild hesitation when it comes to heights and it's not so much a fear, but these floor boards made my stomach feel funny. We all lived, but it just made me very agitated... which isn't all the different from any other day.

If Stella's hair gets any blonder, I'm going to eat her up.

No bathing suit? No problem. Brooke was sad that she didn't have hers on because the water was so warm and she was so anxious to get in. Oh, the difference a year makes!

And last, but not least, Mark and I had a moment when on Saturday morning every single member of our family was in the ocean swimming and enjoying every bit of it. It only took five years for Brooke, 3. 5 for Luke and Stella, she doesn't count because she's our resident "dare devil" compared to the other two!

We went back to the beach this morning and were so happy to realize that we will have many more happy memories swimming and splashing in the ocean. The air and the sand were so hot that it prompted Brooke to say that it was "hotter than Texas" which is saying something. The temperature was 91, but the weather people said it felt like 103. Now that's hot. Thankfully, we know a good place to cool off.

Snippets

This is a very random collection of photos that I put together, some are new, most are old. This one was from yesterday when it was so, so hot. Yes, I realize it's not as hot as Houston, but comparing Kentucky to a jungle in the oven is hardly a fair comparison. I'm not sure if the kids were having more fun or Mark. Even our neighbor "Mr. Jim" came over to be hosed off after he finished cutting his grass.

This is also something new. I can already tell that payday is going to pay off big. Brooke wanted an allowance for a while and Mark and I were too lazy to do anything about it. Finally, I got off my lazy butt and made these chore charts so that we could keep track of what they were supposed to do and then actually follow through. That's the key to success, making it manageable for the parents. Brooke earns money by making her bed, opening the front shades downstairs, cleaning the table, and putting her clean clothes away. She gets $3 a week which we are making her divide up into 3 categories: spend, save, and charity. She is thrilled to be getting paid. She still has to clean her room and pick up toys all for which she is not paid. That's life.

Of course, Luke wants to do everything that Brooke does so I just went ahead and made a chart on the computer for him too. He gets paid $1 to make his bed, set the table, put the clean silverware away, and for putting his clean clothes in his drawer also. However, he does not have to split up his earnings since his paycheck is so small. Wouldn't it be nice if that were the case for adults too? So far we've all done well with the chores: the kids doing them and Mark and I following through. Can I get a star for my chart?

Besides it being so hot, I know it's summer because it's been storming a lot this past week. These are pictures of the storm that rolled through last night around 8:30. The clouds were so impressive, but thankfully it looked worse than it actually was.

It is almost the one year anniversary of the time that I took Luke's pacifier away and he stopped napping daily. We've all adjusted just fine. It probably was harder for me training him to stay in his room even though he wasn't sleeping. We've come to a nice agreement and usually it goes off without a hitch. Except the days Luke gets into mischief while he's supposed to be napping. That reminds me the beauty of paying our children for chores is that when they get into said mischief, we can make them pay. Literally. Yesterday, Brooke and Luke squirted out 1/2 a tube of toothpaste and Mark was able to tell them that if they pull a stunt like that we will take money from their allowance to replace what they've wasted. It's child's play I know, but I don't like when they waste stuff.

Ah, Sister Sue putting on her mama's running shoes too. Leave the laundry room door open and you never know what she's gonna get into. It's not enough to just try them on, she's likes to try to break her neck and walk in them too!

This one was just to freak you out. At least once a week Stella likes to sit on the potty. It looks more than it is because she's not once peed or pooped. I should probably get the little potty out so she can sit on it without risking her life. We've been using her cloth diapers again so if she were potty trained I could do a little less laundry. That should be motivating enough, but it's not. I'd rather wash diapers on my own schedule than try to force a kid to use the potty when they are not ready.

Trouble. It just finds her. Kids just like climbing into the doll strollers even though they are not all that sturdy. She lived. All is well.

And lastly, this picture of Brooke and Luke in the dining room was their attempt to block Stella from bothering them while they were creating. They piled up several chairs and the pack n' play in one doorway and then the gate and some other random stuff in the doorway that leads to the kitchen. Stella isn't too thrilled, but I secretly am proud of their ingenuity.

Now I need to be as motivated as my children and get packing. Next time I'm back on here I'll force you to look at my 3,ooo pictures from the beach. :)

Just What We Do

I guess you can tell from this picture that we ate S'mores again this weekend. I thought we were going to have to do the Heimlich on Stella, but she lived and then had some more.

She couldn't fit another morsel of food in her mouth if her life depended on it.

And that was likely because she was busy helping herself while I was stuffing my face and taking pictures of her helping herself.

Luke likes the idea of roasting marshmallows, but is afraid of getting too close to the fire. Mark found the perfect stick for him which was about 5 feet long and even still, we didn't have to worry about his marshmallow catching on fire. He's a hoot and a half.

Mark was lucky enough to get a rare snuggle with Stella this morning. She slept in until 10 AM. I wish I could take the hour that Brooke and Luke woke up and average that in with Stella's 10 AM and then I'd be in business.

And while she was giving out snuggles, she was also giving kisses for free. Those aren't so rare. That's why sometimes I call her "Stella Bella Kissy Bug" or "Love Bug" which ever strikes my fancy.

I'm always trying to get a group picture of these three and rarely does it ever work out. This is the best one because even though Brooke doesn't have a smile per say, she's not scowling either. Luke is also trying to give Stella a kiss. Nothing says love like your hands around your beloved's neck.

Lots of geese floated past the dock yesterday. Brooke really had to restrain herself because she very much wanted to swim out and get them. I should have let her so she could learn for herself that geese don't wanted to be petted instead of taking my word for it.

Crazy boat tricks. Good thing Grandma Kathy didn't see that one. She would have been worried, but really she's trained for stunts like these. Now if we can only train her to be kind to her brother, we'll be set.

Speaking of the brother, Luke shocked me this weekend by braving the lake by himself. He figured out how to "swim" with the life jacket on and wanted to swim by himself. It was a nice break for my neck since that's usually where he's hanging when he's in the water. He was really brave and I was very proud of him.

Miss Stella was not going to be happy until Mark let her "drive". After her turn was over, she wasn't happy all over again. That scab on her nose was from the pool this past week. She fell, face first on the cement. She lived, but it's healing a lot slower than Brooke's ear lobes.


I promise I'll give you a temporary break from the lake pictures. It's just what we do all summer long. We are getting ready to go to the beach and then we will be off to northern Michigan for the Cherry Festival in Traverse City. I can't decide which I'm more excited about, the beach or Traverse City. I love taking pictures in a new location. It doesn't really matter at this stage of the game which one will be more fun because I need to get the laundry done and some bags packed.