4th of July (In October)

I love the 4th of July. It is one of my favorite holidays. This year we drove down to the coast with Mandy & Colby and Chris & Megan and all our cute kids. It was one awesome weekend full of beach going, treat eating, little sleeping, and lots of memory making.
There are lots and lots of pictures to document our weekend. It must have been something about the fresh beach air, no laundry, being with our great friends and having a husband around because I felt the best that weekend that I had in a long time. Hooray for vacations!

Our sweet girls.

We brought just a little bit of food. Bwah. I ate my weight in treats.

 

The first night we went swimming at the clubhouse.

 

 

The next two days were spend relaxing at the beach. Heavenly.

 

 

 

I love this picture.  The Dads together, then the girls and then the little boys, and then all three moms taking the picture.

 

The weather was perfect.  There had been a hurricane the week before so we were a little nervous, but it ended up being perfect.  It wasn't too crowded, it wasn't too hot, and it only rained for about 10 minutes while we were in the ocean which was really neat.
The water was so warm! And it was shallow for a really long time so everyone had such a great time jumping the waves and pretending to be mermaids.  I was impressed with how all the girls just turned into little fish and would dive right into the waves.

 

The moms and their girls.

 

The dads and their girls.

 

 

Eating more food on the beach.

 

 

After a long day at the beach we would come home and let the kids watch a movie while we cooked dinner. Frozen lasagna. My kind of dinner while on vacation.
I love these kids.

 

We roasted smores one night. I am such a sucker for smores. 4th of July and smores together...a piece of heaven for me.

 

 

 

 

At night after we put the kids to bed the adults would stay up until at least 2 am playing games (mostly the Great Dalmuti), eating, doing all sorts of weird things that I can't remember now, but we laughed until we cried.

 

One night the moms were having major girl talk on the balcony and without us knowing our husbands had gone outside right under the balcony. Some really loud fireworks went off right next door and our husbands threw cold spaghetti noodles up onto the balcony all over us. We thought it was something coming from the fireworks and freaked out. It was hilarious. Just a little something I don't want to forget. And then they started spraying water on us from under the balcony and we couldn't go inside because they had locked us out. Do boys ever grow up? :)

4th of July. Of course all the kids had to match.

 

 

 

We found this awesome inlet to watch the fireworks. We could see lots of different shows going on all around us.

 

 

 

 

 

Watching all the firework shows around us. Thanks y'all for a perfect trip!

 

Driving down to the coast was pretty crazy. It was still raining from the hurricane and we had to drive through this to get there. It was worth is though!

 

No trip is complete without two stops to our favorite bbq place, Rudy's. It was a perfect way to begin and end our trip!

 

The 3.0.

Age is just a number.

On June 27th I turned the big 3.0. My birthday was on a Sunday (which I thought would be sad, but it wasn't... everyone at church seemed to know which was fun) so the night before we went to a movie (Grown Ups) and then to dinner with some of our great friends (we missed you M & C).

 

On my birthday morning, I woke up to this. Best gifts ever.

 

Celebrating after church. We went out to dinner. Don't judge. I felt so sick and nothing sounded good so anything Dave offered to make would sound good one second and then horrible the next. I ended up eating fried pickles and fish tacos. Yum.
And then this yummy cake my sweet kids made.

 

When people ask how old I am, Audrey responds my saying, "The thee zero". I guess I should feel a lot older now that I'm the three zero but I really don't. In fact I feel sorta numb to age. Maybe it's being pregnant, maybe it was because I was feeling so sick I didn't have the emotional room to "feel" anything about turning 30. I think someone could have cut off my arm and I might not have noticed. Life was one big ball of sick. I expected to feel older, more mature, but really I don't. Maybe I will wake up one morning and feel differently, but I still feel about 22.
We had a fun week planned for my birthday. Dave gets a week off in the summer and it luckily was the week after my birthday. We had lots of fun things planned...going to a water park, staying the night in a hotel, going swimming everyday... What really happened was I laid on the couch everyday and took naps and my sweet husband cleaned out cupboards. I was not feeling well enough to do anything fun. Bummer. But at least my kids were entertained by their dad. They had a great week with him, and I slept more in that week than I had in a long, long time. You can't beat that.
So my 30th birthday was planned to be great, but this little baby kinda ruined it (in the most loving way). But Dave's 35th birthday was totally LAME, so my #35 and his #40, will be awesome. I better not be pregnant.

Berry Picking

Hot summer day + cute kids + great friends + good berries = hot, sweaty, berry happy people
Back in June we went berry picking with Chris & Megan and their little ones. It was a good, hot time.

 

 

The berries, and the bugs, and definitely bigger in Texas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jammin

Every summer my mom would have a "jammin party". We would all help make strawberry jam to last us through the year. It got to the point where even after I left for college some of my friends (guy friends, and an old boyfriend...I had really cute younger sisters) would come help make jam. This summer Audrey and I had our own little jammin party. It made me feel old. No offense Mom.

 

6.19.2010

Girls Camp

Back in June I went to Girls Camp for one day. Bless all those leaders who were there for the whole week. It was fun to go see the girls, and in my bun-in-the-oven state, it was really nice to be able to come home and sleep in my nice cool house.
It was neat to see how other Girls Camps are run. I have never been to another one besides the one I went to growing up. It was interesting to see all the differences. The biggest being signs like this. And the antlers.

Love it.

Little Fish

Audrey took swim lessons back in June. I was feeling horrible, and they started at 8 am (good practice for school I guess), but it was worth it because she l.o.v.e.d. them. And I love her.

 

 

Audrey and her friend, Hallie.

 

 

Fly Catcher

I have a love/hate relationship with flies (mostly hate). While they are so annoying flying around the house, they do entertain my kids. Audrey spent so long this day trying to catch a fly under a cup. We were so excited when she finally caught it.

 

June 14, 2010

The Beginning of Baby #3

Pregnancy with #3 has been my hardest. I am feeling so much better and want to catch up with all that has been going on. I will start back in May, when I found out I was pregnant.
We found out we were pregnant on May 31st, Memorial Day. We were excited about hopefully becoming pregnant and after three tests from the dollar store came back negative, I finally splurged and got one that can supposedly tell three days before a missed period. I really wanted to find out on Memorial Day, because I am kinda physco about dates and we found out we were pregnant with Audrey on December 7, Pearl Harbor Day (not a great day in our history, but an easy day to remember), Joshua we found out on the fourth of July, so I wanted to find out on Memorial Day with this baby. After two positive pregnancy tests (the line was faint on the first one), we were thrilled to know we were pregnant!

Memorial Day, the one and only picture I have of the four of us. I hadn't taken my test yet, so I didn't know I was pregnant.

We told Audrey and Joshua later that week. It was earlier than I would have liked to tell them, but my parents were coming to visit that weekend and we wanted to tell them in person. We sat them down and told them we had a surprise for them. Dave told them there was a baby in my tummy and they were going to have a new brother or sister. Audrey was thrilled. Joshua looked confused. I had told Joshua the day I found out that he was going to be a big brother, and so he wanted to know where his real surprise was, since he already knew about the baby. Before I got pregnant, Audrey always said she wanted a sister, but once we told her I really was pregnant, she said, "And I don't even care if this baby is a boy or a girl! I will love it anyway!" Good thing, because clearly we have no control over giving her a brother or sister!

To tell our families about the news, Audrey made a book called, "Things I Love". This is her making the book.

 

The book: (Side note: I can not believe how much Audrey's handwriting and drawing has improved since she started school in August.)

Things I Love By: Audrey

 

I love my D and Grande (my parents)

 

I love my Memor and Fafa (Dave's parents)

 

I love going swimming

 

I love my Mom and Dad, I love my brother

 

I love my new baby brother or new baby sister. (I thoroughly enjoy the picture of me, the blue round one.)

 

Love, Audrey

 

When my parents came, I was so excited to tell them. We rehearsed with Audrey to have her tell her grandparents that she made them a book and she wanted to read it to them. She did it perfectly. After they came inside, Audrey told them to come sit by her on the couch and that she made them a book. It was classic.

 

They were really surprised and thought at first it was a joke, that Audrey was just hypothetically saying she would love her baby brother or sister. She assured them there really was a baby in there. It was a fun way to tell them the news. We skyped Dave's parents and told them the say way.
So baby #3, you are already very loved. And I want to thank you for letting me feel like a human again, not a flu infected zombie. Your Daddy thanks you too. Apparently I was pretty emotional. Glad that's over.

*'s

* We, and I really mean we, survived the first week of school. 2:45 is now the equivalent of Christmas morning.

* I felt the baby move for the first time on Sunday! I was 17 weeks and 2 days. I was laying on a bed in Mexico (lots of blogging to catch up on) with my sisters Sara, Melissa, and Jessica and my brother Andrew, and my brother in law Ryan, and I felt this sweet little baby give me a little tap. I have been feeling the baby more and more each day and I love it.

* Audrey had her 5 year well child check yesterday. It was the first time she had ever seen this particular Doctor. I am obsessed. After checking Audrey (and Joshua, he wanted to be just like Audrey), and letting both kids listen to their heart beat, the Dr looked at me and said, "Isn't God amazing?" It was so refreshing to hear someone say that and not be afraid he was going to "offend" me. He ended our appointment by quoting Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." He also talked about how disciplining our children should be called "discipling" instead. Loved it.

* Joshua was also obsessed with the Dr. All night he kept saying, "I want to pet Dot-ter". ? He loves petting dogs (most of the time) so maybe he was saying he loved the Dr as much as he loves dogs?

* When I went to pick up Audrey today, her teacher told me that Audrey missed me today and even cried a little. It made me feel better, in a selfish-mom kind of way.

* I was so tired yesterday. Audrey has been coming in at 4:15 am asking if it was time to go to school yet. So yesterday after school and her Dr apt, we came home and snuggled on the couch and watched Curious George. I was laying there with my eyes closed and Audrey leaned over and kissed my forehead. It was something I never want to forget.

Hurry Home

 

So much has happened this summer...I turned 30, Audrey turned 5, Audrey had swim lessons and started ballet, we swam, we played, we went to the beach. I have been really sick with this pregnancy so I am very behind on my blogging, but today I had to document this important milestone. Today was Audrey's first day of kindergarten, and I am heartbroken. She is in all day kindergarten (7:45-2:45) and we miss her like crazy.
Hurry home little one, we can't wait to kiss your face.

Big Trouble

I am in big, big trouble. School starts next week**. Apart from my own emotional/crazy/I can't send my baby to kindergarten/what will I do without her/I will miss her sooo much feelings, Joshua has developed some of his own. Audrey went to a birthday party on Tuesday then to a friend's house to play. Joshua wouldn't nap. He spent two hours laying in his bed yelling, "I wann my sisder!" And then, "Daddy home? Daddy home?" Back to, "I wann my sisder!!!" When Audrey did come home, Joshua ran to the door and they hugged. Just about melted my heart. And then Audrey said, "I sure love this little man." That did melt my heart.

Yesterday I took Joshua to a Dr apt and Audrey went to play at a friend's. All the way to the Doctor's Joshua cried, "I wann my Audey!"

I have so many feelings about sending my daughter to school. Most of these feelings are dreadful, but I am so excited for her because she is so excited. Tomorrow we get to meet her teacher.

**All the other kids start school on Monday. Except Audrey. We are getting on a plane and going on vacation with my family (sans Dave...his school isn't as nice as Audrey's). Audrey is missing her first week of kindergarten. What kind of mother am I? Well, I am one who thinks family vacations are really important. I learned that my parents. So Audrey, Joshua and I will have one more week together before Joshua and I go crazy missing her. We have made such a good little team, the three of us. Joshua and I were so very lucky to spend our days with her. We will miss you Audrey, more than you will ever know.