Lately...

I'm caught in this weird cycle right now where it feels like we're either moving at warp speed, or totally, and completely relaxed. There's just not a whole lot of "in between" going on right now.

In the past 3 weeks, we've been to North Florida, Long Boat Key and Orlando. Oh, and we have a family reunion quickly approaching. Just putting all of that down in words makes my head spin! No wonder my suitcase has found a nice cozy spot in the corner of my bedroom!

But during the travel, we've had so many incredibly relaxing days and nights. I've read more magazines and books and eaten more delicious meals in the past 4 weeks than I have in the past 4 months! So, despite the miles being put on the car, it's been a really fun month.

As I mentioned, I popped over to Orlando this week for a quick 24-hour trip to see my best friend Ashley and her kids who were in town from Texas. We had a great visit (sorry, no pics right now, Ash is going to email them to me when she gets home). And of course, the boys loved staying the night at Nana & Paca's... where the answer to any question is almost always "Sure!"

So to summarize the past week or so, here's what we've been doing lately...

Payton is doing a summer kickball league that started last week.

(That's him on the far left playing with his shirt)

 Finally...a sport he loves!

I guess it helps that all of his buddies are on his team.

 I've been shoving encouraging the kids to "get outside and play" (e.g. away from electronics) as much as possible. It's amazing what they come up with when forced to use their imaginations. Like this ramp made out of a boogie board and a shoe box.

 Finished up my school supply shopping this week. You can go ahead and hate me now.

 During the daily afternoon thunderstorms, we've been doing a LOT of Play-Doh.

Good thing we both enjoy it.

If you're ever looking for Parker and can't find him...check the stuffed animal basket. It's his favorite place to sit these days.

 The boys spent a lot of time in my parents hot tub while we were visiting.

(Yes, that's a lollipop in Parker's hand... safe, I know)

 And someone decided he wanted to try skinny dipping...

 I think he may grow up to be a firefighter. He LOVES the hose.

 My Dad took us all to see the new "Turbo" movie. It was Parker's first time in a movie theater, and he loved it.

These boys sure do love their Paca.

 Cuddled on the couch for bedtime stories. Melt my heart.

And this guy... well, we can't WAIT to welcome him home on Monday.

If Parker says "Mama, I wanna see Daddy" one more time, my heart just might break.

That's all for now. 

I'm planning to do at least one more post this week to share some reviews of my first Birchbox contents. It was like a little receiving a little Christmas present in July! So stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, please pray for Brian and his team returning from Haiti. For safe flights, for sound minds and for full hearts. We know they've made a huge impact while they were there, and we can't wait to put our arms around him again.

Catching Up

It's been a wild ride the past week or so, but things are finally starting to wind down. Yesterday was the last day of school - YAHOO - and now we have a little bit of a break until camps begin.

In the midst of all the chaos, I haven't been posting many pictures, so I am now playing "catch up" in an attempt to share our goings-on with our distant friends and relatives (and those of you not on Instagram). :)

So, here is a complete hodge-podge of photos from the past week or so...

Last weekend we went to our friend's Chuck & Monta's house for dinner. I am in love with their house. No, correction... I am obsessed with their house. It's my dream home.

The kids love visiting their house for many reasons, outside the obvious, being that they love to play with their kids. But they also love the second-story laundry shoot. And the fact that there are stairs. And their giant, lovable black lab. And now... their two adorable kittens. Oh yes, they were in heaven.

And while they were happily playing with the kitties. I was happily drooling over their house. Especially the kitchen. I mean, come on. Who wouldn't just want to live in this kitchen?!?!

Okay, now that I seem like a stalker, I'll move on...

The following day, we headed to Bradenton to spend the day with Brian's folks and their best friends (whom are also Brian's Godparents) who were in town visiting from Chicago. They are loveably referred to as "Uncle Ray & Aunt Sue" by the entire family. Probably because their friendship dates back to high school. Gotta love friends like that!

Uncle Ray & Dad

Aunt Sue, Parker & Dad

Once again, the kids had a ball playing with their cousin, swimming and getting loved on all afternoon by lots of family members!

Swimming at Grandma & Grandpa's pool. He said to me, "Mama, call me Super Guy."

Cousins playing the Wii and enjoying lollipops

To top off a fantastic weekend, we ceremoniously put the Diaper Genie out for the garbage. Yahoo!!!

Parker has been doing so good with his potty training. He has had a couple of pee-pee accidents, but for the most part he is doing better than expected. He even wakes up dry after naps and in the morning! I'm so thrilled with him... and even more thrilled to not change stinky diapers anymore. :)

Monday signaled the last week of school for Payton, which we are all excited about.

Every day this week was themed, and the kids had a ball doing things like "Wacky Wednesday" where they were encouraged to wear crazy clothes. Payton wanted to not only wear tie-dye, but have his hair spraypainted tie dye as well!

Sadly, we did have to say goodbye to our long-time crossing guard this week. She is retiring to stay home and take care of her ailing husband. It might sound strange to miss your crossing guard, but she was amazing. Always taking care of the kids and greeting them with a warm smile - rain or shine. We're gonna miss her!

This photo really shows off Payton's whacky outfit - even mismatched socks!

We were also fortunate this week to have a visit from our dear friends, Neal & April, who recently moved to Virginia. They were in town for a short visit and shared with us their exciting news that they are pregnant with a baby girl (they have 2 boys)! We were so excited for them, that we had to do a mini-baby shower when they came for dinner.

We also re-created a picture that we took a few years ago when April, Claudia & I were all pregnant together. This time, I got to be the one with the flat belly. Hee, hee! They both look beautiful... but man, I'm glad I'm not pregnant again. :)

It was really fun shopping for baby girl clothing though!

I have a slew of photos from the last day of school to share, but it's going to take me a bit to sift through them, edit them and get some from my friend Kristen. So, those will come later.

For now, I'm off to enjoy a relaxing Saturday with the fam as we enjoy our kick-off to summer weekend!

Memorial Day Weekending

It's almost 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening.
The house is silent except little scratches here and there from Mocha.
Everyone else crashed out early, so I just spent the past hour or so editing and uploading all of the pictures I took over the weekend.
It's a long, and sometimes tedious, process to go through the hundreds of pictures I take over the course of a few days. But at the same time, I find myself pausing on random photos, smiling - sometimes even laughing - when I see something that maybe I didn't notice when I originally took the picture. Sometimes it's an expression on someone's face; sometimes it's a moment that I had forgotten I had captured; sometimes it's just a sweet embrace between two family members that just makes me so happy for phone cameras... for without them, I would have only a fraction of the pictures that I do.
And although I would give anything for a big ol professional Nikon, my iphone has captured some pretty amazing pics this weekend. Tell me whatcha think...

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As I shared in my last post, I hosted a baby shower at our house on Saturday, so Brian took the boys to his parents' for the day. It was a huge help to have the house empty all morning to prep for the shower, but even nicer to have a quiet house all afternoon so I could rest after being on my feet for 8 hours straight. :) 

The boys were SO excited to go spend the day with Grandma & Grandpa. Here's a picture Brian snapped on his phone as they were leaving for their "Guys Day Out."

 

There was no shortage of fun that day, that's for sure!

They went to Payton's favorite breakfast spot when they arrived and then hit Walmart for a little toy shopping.

How precious is this picture? Good job Brian capturing such a sweet hug.

Then Grandpa to the boys out for some miniature golf.

Apparently that didn't tire them out enough, so Brian then took them swimming!

After that, Parker got his blanket and pacifier and climbed up in Grandma's lap for some snuggles...

and then...

CRASHED.

He slept like this for over 2 hours! My poor Mom-in-law, her arm must have been killing her. They ended up having to wake him up because it was getting past dinner time and Brian needed to head back to Tampa. Nothing like napping in Grandma's arms. The best place in the house!

On Sunday after church we headed out to one of our favorite local beaches with some friends of ours.

We were waiting in line to get into the beach and Brian had his window rolled down with his foot sticking out the window. I looked back and Parker is doing the same exact thing. Mini-Brian!

Parker had a great time playing with his friend Nathaniel and of course, big brother.

Parker did not want to come out of the water, so he wasn't thrilled when I took this picture. :)

My Dad sent us a "Memorial Day Care Package" with his famous "Paca-Corn" in it. So we made sure to bring it with us to the beach! {Thanks Dad!}

It was a beautiful evening and we stayed long after the crowds of people packed up and headed out, only to leave us with an empty beach and a spectacular show in the sky!

Stunning night sky.

Monday morning, I was treated to a pancake breakfast made by the boys.

 They were delicious!

Then we rallied the troops and headed up to our local pool with some friends to wear out the kiddos. It worked like a charm because Parker took a marathon nap and we ended up having to wake him up to go to our Memorial Day block party. Poor kid was so tired.

But nothing turns a cranky kid into a smiling one like giving him a special cupcake!

After the block party, we went to our neighbor's house for some swimming and sparklers.

It was a great way to end a fun-filled weekend.

Of course, even though we did do all of the traditional Memorial Day things like attend parties, eat hot dogs, and hang with family and friends, we also want to once again be reminded of the real meaning behind this holiday.

There are so many people who spend this day grieving over a lost loved one who gave their life for our country. The sacrifices that have been made are truly awe-inspiring if you stop to think about it.

So, thank you to all of our Veterans and current military service men and women.

Without you, our lives would look very different today.

We salute you.

We thank you.

We honor you.

Weekending...Phew...

Boy this weekend wiped me out...and not in a good way.

The stomach bug that we thought Payton had conquered not only came back; it came back with a vengeance. Which was so strange to me. I've never seen a child have a stomach virus, get healthy for two days (we're talking eating completely normal, playing, jumping on trampolines kind of healthy) and then get knocked back down again for 3 more days.

Needless to say, I spent a LOT of time doing laundry this weekend. And a lot of time cleaning.

Something about a person vomiting continuously for several days (even if he always made it in the bucket or toilet) makes me want to sanitize every inch of the house.

So I did.

Sadly, by Saturday afternoon, I realized my "Dr. Mom" skills were being outwitted. It was time to seek some real medical attention. So this is where we ended up...

Poor thing was so dehydrated that he needed almost a whole bag of fluids topped with a syringe of Zofran.

Fortunately, we have an excellent Children's After-Hours Urgent Care Center, so we were in and out in only 3 hours. Much better than a hospital ER. Although I'm sure we'll pay a pretty penny for it too. They don't exactly let you pay an ER co-pay for these places.

Can't wait to get that bill.

To make a long story short, Payton came home and slept. And slept. And slept some more.

Notice the 2 brightly colored Band-Aids? Yep, they had to go in both arms in order to get a vein for the IV. Poor thing!

But when he awoke on Sunday... he was a new man. He slowly regained his appetite and ate some toast and mashed potatoes. By Monday morning, he was asking for bacon with his pancakes! Kids recover so quickly. Thank you Lord!

But all was not lost this weekend!

We had originally planned to go to Brian's parents' house to celebrate his Dad's birthday. Obviously, Payton and I didn't make it. But Brian was able to take Parker, which worked out great. 

Parker has been talking non-stop about going to "Gama n Ganpa's" lately. He was so excited to go he didn't put up any fight when Brian drove off without me in the car. And he had an absolute ball!

He was showered with love and attention!

And even got some cuddle time in with Great Grandpa!

How cute is this picture?!?

So even though Payton and I were sad that we couldn't go too, it probably worked out for the best since I spent most of the day cleaning up puke and then watching an IV drip into Payton's arm. Clearly nothing that Parker needed to be a part of!

By the way, Happy Birthday Dad! We all love you so much and hope you had a fun weekend celebrating your special day!

So, let's just say, after the past week or so, I'm ready to go to sleep for about 4 straight days. Or take a vacation. Or go to a spa for the day. Or sit on the beach and veg out by myself. Hmm... these are all sounding very tempting... (hint, hint, Brian). ;)

What's that? It's 8:28 p.m.? Off to bed I go!

And no... I'm not kidding.

Nighty-night!