Fishing Day

The kids had a "fishing day" with Randy on a Saturday. He took them to the Skyway Pier. They only caught tiny little fish, but they didn't care - they had a blast! And Mommy got a little "me" time!

Quality Time...

Finally, after all the "festivities" of the weekend, Grandma and Grandpa got to spend some quality time with the kids. Randy took them to Gulfport Beach where they got to enjoy some peace and quiet and visit. I promise Randy was around for all of the weekend fun - I just didn't have many pictures of him (sorry honey!).



They climbed trees, took Roxie for walks, and visited their favorite little pond at the church down the road from our house...


Read on the couch...watched TV...and slept...





A relaxing ending to a busy weekend visit.

February 2009 AWANA Games

This was Brannon's first year competing in the AWANA games. They were the day after Grace's party, so Grandma and Grandpa got to go and watch him. It was a lot of fun -Brannon and Rusty were asked to stay and compete in the older kids games also because they were short on players...I thought I was a loud mom, but LJ definitely has me beat!!! It was great seeing all of our friends' older kids play in the games -tug of war, balloon pop, relay races...the kids have a blast and look forward to the games every year. Now I know why! It was madness in that gym - Grandma and Grandma survived, maybe a little frazzled, but they survived!

More Birthday Celebration...

The following weekend, we had a small birthday party for Grace at our house. The theme I wanted for this party was just for the kids to have some F-U-N. She was allowed to invite 5 friends. I set up a bouncer outside and had planned on setting up painting (sponges, paint brushes, fingers) outside also. However, it turned cold - and I mean FREEZING COLD! We decided to still set up the bouncer, but moved all of the art stuff inside. I rolled up the rug, cleared out the front room, and set up it up for the kids. The kids didn't mind the cold near as much as we adults did!

We also had a facepainter - "Fairy Princess Fun" - come out to paint the kids faces, which was a HUGE hit!











Birthday crew...










Brannon took all of the kids on a "Backyard Scavenger Hunt" for items to fill their goodie bags. He is such an awesome big brother - he planned the entire hunt and worked on it all week! The kids loved it!










The "art" table was a hit too!!!























Cake and presents...










Bouncing fun...










Grace's "big finale" birthday
present was her new Disney Princess Bycicle!


















And, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa who came down and helped tremendously with the party!


This song is a shout out NKOTB tribute for my peep Tricia!

Happy Birthday Gracie!

Our little Grace turns 4! This year, we decided we would take each of the kids to Disney on their birthday - since Disney was so graciously offering free admission on your birthday! I had 2 free day passes from singing in the Disney Choir (or was it lip synching - just kidding, that was Lori and Lisa, not ME!) Since we were going to leave VERY early for Disney - we decided to have her birthday celebration the night before and let her open her presents.


Anyway, Grace was very excited
to go to Disney with just her Mommy on her
birthday...even though it POURED RAIN every second we were there - we had a blast!














First, we went and saw all of the princesses and fairies - there were NO lines (thank you rain!).




Sleeping Beauty was Grace's favorite - she talked to her for a long time and gave her a tight, lingering hug before we left - it was so sweet!





Minnie/Mickey's Playhouses, Teacups, Merry Go Round, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, It's a Small World (4 times!), Mickey's Barnbuster Roller Coaster - we did it ALL! On "It's a Small World" Grace kept saying over and over - "Look Mommy, all the kids are reading their Bibles". Again, "thank you rain" for no lines!






Uh, did I mention it rained?













I just kept telling myself as I was
riding Aladin's magic carpet, as high up in the air as it would go, as rain was pelting me in the face: "I am the best Mommy in the world. I am the best Mommy in the world. I am the best Mommy in the world." The regular parades were cancelled due to the weather, but they did a cute little "rainy day" parade during the afternoon.




On the long hike back to the van that night, we took silly pictures on the trolly, and ran and stomped in every single puddle in the parking lot.




We stopped at Grace's favorite restaurant, Chili's, on the way home. After she got her little tummy full, she completely covered herself with whatever she could find and conked out before we even made it out of the parking lot of Chili's! Thank goodness I had brought her PJ's - we both had gone through 2 ponchos and were soaking wet from the day..I will always remember this special day with my little Gracie - just the 2 of us!


Happy Birthday Grace!

FYI - Grace's Birthday was in February! I am updating my blog a little late!

HEY SHAWTY - IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY...

A big SHOUT OUT to my birthday girl - MEA MEA!!!!! Miss you and wish you could celebrate it with me cause you know I am the funnest friend you got! We will celebrate it in May - HAPPY BIRTHDAY WOMAN & HAVE AN ABSOLUTELY AWESOME WONDERFUL DAY!!!!! LOVE YOU, ME :)

Gracias!

Many thanks are due Granny and Papa for keeping our kids the week after Christmas so Randy and I could have some alone time and a "kid-free" New Years Eve. They met us in Cedar Key after New Years to deliver our little munchkins back to us - then stayed in Cedar Key for the weekend for I am sure was a much needed retreat after a week with 3 little ones! We had dinner with them and then left them alone to enjoy the beautiful sunsets and quaint little town - ALONE!












My parents will have been married 40 YEARS this summer - this song's for you - Ma and Pa...

WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

"Roller Coaster" is a mild description of how our lives were in 2008 - but my bloggin' for that year is done!!! I am officially a "blogger" now and am printing a blog book for '08. My scrapbooking days are over as far as family albums go - much too stressful - I am sticking to small fun projects from now on and printing my blog as our family album each year.

I can't wait to see what God has planned for me, Randy, Brannon, Jessi, Grace - our entire family - in 2009. Lots of changes, ups, downs, highs, lows, took place last year - probably one of the hardest years I have ever had to go through in my life! But I know His plan is supreme and He has only greatness in store for us! '09 here we come!

And, you know what, I LOVE Roller Coasters!

New Year's Eve 2008

As with tradition for the past several years, we went out to dinner with 3 other couple friends of ours for New Year's Eve. This year we went to Roy's in Tampa - I thought the food was awesome, but the guys were less than impressed with the portion size! For the past two years, the girls have color-coordinated their clothing and this year's color was red - needless to say we were "red hot"! I managed to stay awake long enough to see the ball drop and then was out for the night - as were Lori and Adam who, both in training for whatever, went home...Randy, Marie, Mkie, Meagen and Chris - I think - stayed up until around 3 a.m.! Anyway, it was much fun and we rung in the new year with our BFF's!




Ladies and Gentlemen - Elvis has left the building...

Here's to old friends...this song's for you.