Florida Hotties!

This last weekend I was able to take a much anticipated trip to Florida with some of my girlfriends. My wonderful husband took time off work to stay home and give me my first overnight break or trip since Sydney's birth. It was nothing less than amazing! Our days consisted of laying out, going for shaved ice (at least once a day), relaxing, playing games, eating yummy food, and staying up into the wee small hours of the morning. It was so much fun, and so great for me to take a break from my kids before my month long trip to California without Cameron. Aggh, I am a bit nervous about that!

This was the BEST shaved ice I have ever had! It was delicious, cheap, and owned by the sweetest leather skinned pink lipsticked Florida grandma. She totally reminded me of the little old granny in "There's Something about Mary". Awesome.

Summer, myself, and Lisa shoppin' it up in old town St. Augustine.

"I'm so hot right now"After many nights of sleep deprivation, our eyes finally got the best of us on the drive home. I think I sersiouly was awake for about 40 minutes of the entire drive. I was exhausted!

Pretty Nails

This morning Dylan came out of my bathroom screaming, "look at my pretty nails mommy!" Where do you suppose the black came from considering that I do not own black nail polish? I found this bottle of mascara on the ground in my bathroom surrounded my a black smudgy mess. Urgh. He actually did a decent job painting his nails though. Quite impressive big D!

Roller Skating Frenzy!

A friend of mine threw an old school roller skating party at the roller rink in town called Dazzles. Could there be a more perfect name for a roller rink? I love it! Cameron wanted to dress up eighties, but bailed out when he realized he would be the only one sporting a head band and tight cutoff's. It's too bad, he would have been so HOT! Especially with his hair right now...dude...too, too bad.

Anyhow, it was Dylan's first time skating! They actually had little skates that fit him and that had been slowed down (around the wheels) so that he wouldn't fall as much. He loved it! He did fall a bit, but he would never let us help him up or even hold his hand. He is soooo independent, I never really knew that. He also didn't get down on himself for falling, he just kept right at it. It was awesome! He reminds me of me when I was a kid. Here he is with his friend Jack.Sydney even loved the rink! We were allowed to push her in her stroller, so that was awesome. I love this video because it shows her rocking out to Michale Jackson, how fitting right? She is such a little dancer. I am telling you, the second I start singing, or have music on she is bobbing back and forth...she has such great rythm!

Another Hair Cut!

I got my hair cut again and I love it! Dad really didn't seem to like it too much when he came out here for a visit, so he gave me some mulah to go get it highlighted, (which I have NEVER ever done), and cut again. It was very sweet and nice of him since he wanted me to look my best for my 2 upcoming vacations. Thanks dad!

(my camera broke this week, so this was the best I could do...sorry, but the shutter keeps closing) UGH!

Quote of the day

Recently Dylan has begun volunteering to pray...for everything. Most of the time he is mumbling, but I can always hear a few words in there such as, "bless grandma and grandpa to feel better", "thank you for today", and some random things like "bless the lemonade", etc. Before we pray for dinner I always remind him to bless the food. For a while there he would yell back at me that he would NOT bless the food, (he has hit that stage where when I ask him to do something he wants to do the opposite). But the last time I asked him to do this, this was his response:

Mommy: Don't forget to bless the food buddy.
Dylan: (In a somewhat annoyed voice) Why do I have to bless the food? Heavenly Father didn't make it. You made it mommy, and he didn't even help you.
Mommy: Heavenly Father gave us the food so that we could make it.
Dylan: No he didn't! The buyer man brings it to the store where we get it.

I thought this was pretty clever. What a smarty pants!

Airplanes!

After dropping off Grandpa West at the airport I decided to pull over and let the kids watch the planes coming in. This is something that my grandmother did with me as a kid, and I always loved it. Dylan too, loved it so much that I think it will have to become a regular tradition when picking or dropping off from the airport. (Make sure you watch the second video all the way till the end, its the best :))

The Mounts and The Wests

After Tim and Angela came back from Jamaica they had a few more days to spend with us and my dad. Our city has a lot of kid friendly things to do so we just hung around and kept it pretty low key. I think we bored dad to death, but what do you do when you have a bunch of kids? We slip-n-slided in the rain, fed the ducks, went to Jumpin Joeys inflatable play place, went to a baptism, and played lots of games. It was a fun few days! Thanks for coming ya'll!

Aunt Angela reading bedtime stories to the kids. Three hours later...

Some more slip-sliding fun!

The Boys

The Girls

Feeding the Ducks at Lake Carroll

Jumpin Joeys

Here are two of the happiest faces I have ever seen! I can't get enough!

What an amazing trip it was having Tim, Angela, Sam, Audrey, and my dad here in Georgia. I love you guys!

Three Toddlers and a Baby

This last week I was given the opportunity to watch my niece Audrey and nephew Sam while their parents went to Jamaica for their ten year anniversary. I was a bit nervous about it, but I have to say, it went so much better than I thought it would. Of course there were moments of total frustration, but for the most part, it was really great. The kids just played together and kept each other busy, and when things started to get a little rough we would have a dance party, play a game, or have quiet time apart. Easy Peesy! It was funny, the kids liked being here so much that in order to get them to keep playing well together I threatened them with the idea that they would have to go back to California if they didn't get along. This worked wonders as they would all say out, "but we wanna stay here with you", and Dylan would say, "but I don't want them to go". It always ended with hugs and "I loves you" to each other, so that they could stay here together longer. They truly all loved being around each other, it was awesome.

I didn't really think to take many pictures while they were gone, mainly because we just stayed home and played in the water all week. I took hundreds of slip-n-slides pictures, but we have posted a lot already haven't we?
What is better than coming in after a long day of cold water and sitting in a warm bathtub? The kids insisted on this everyday. On the morning that Tim and Angela flew in, we took the kids to the Olympic park in Atlanta to meet up with my dad who had flown in. The kids loved it even though the water was pretty cold. It was fun to see Sam and Audrey follow each other around everywhere. They never let the other out of their sight. It is very sweet.Before driving to the airport to see their parents, we stopped in for an ice dream cone at Chik-fil-e. YUM! All was good and well until right as I was pulling into the airport Sammy threw up. I felt so terrible for him, and so bad that his parents came home from an awesome vacation to see him like that. It was so sad, but I was so glad that it happened when they were there as opposed to them being on vacation. Dyan has had the same little fever the last two days since they left, it must have just been going around...but the timing for Sammy was impecable. Since The West's left Dylan wakes up asking for them, and asking if he can go on an airplane to California. I am so glad that Dylan has cousins and friends his age to grow up with. It makes visiting so much fun!

FOURTH OF JULY!!

After an exciting night of fireworks, we decided to go to our friends (the Andersons) to celebrate the fourth. They live on a massive property with their own private lake in the back. There was a volleyball net set up, kayaks, and the kids favorite, a mini atv. It was so much fun! And I have to say, it was the most impressive homemade fireworks show that I have EVER seen. It compared the the show we had seen the night before, it was awesome!

Dylan and I, and Angela and Sam hittin the lake.

My neice Madison and friend Scotlyn.

Tim and Audrey, and Dylan and I.

This is the little atv that the kids were chasing and fighting over all night. I was almost certain that somebody was going to get hurt and break a bone. Luckily, all injury was avoided. Woot!Take note of the outfit Syd is wearing. It only lasted about 30 minutes before it got hammered in the mud and she needed a change. Ugh, all I can say is her daddy was watching her!We had a lot of fun, and at the end of it Tim and Angela both decided that they could in fact live out in the boonies if they lived on a property like that one. It was awesome!

After going home and putting the kids to bed we had some firework fenatic friends come over to do more fireworks in the front yard. It was fun to introduce my family to the people I love out here. We were all kids again doing sparklers, smoke bombs, Roman candles, etc. Especially the part where I almost killed Brooks. (Sorry Dude, I swear I thought it only had one explosion not five!) Overall, we had a lot of fun and it was the ultimate way to celabrate our countries independance. Good food, family and friends made the day memorable!

The 3rd of July!

Our city does a big forth of July festival type thing on the third every year. It was so much fun! The fireworks were great, the company was awesome, the music was good, and the kids loved it all.

Daddy and CC. What you didn't see was what was on the front on the flags shirt which read "Rednecks for Obama" What what....WOOT! You don't see that too often in the South.We had to ask him to be in our picture. We were so proud!We did our best to keep the kids entertained. Tip to remember: sheets are life saver! We could swing them, hide them, fan them, etc. The kids were in H-E-A-V-E-N!Yummy Italian ice tonguesEverybody wants mommy...I can share can't I? Apparently not!The kids were fascinated by the black hawk! Dylan could hardly keep it together, he was screaming and squealing nonstop.The sparklers were a hit until Audrey dropped hers and started a little fire on the blanket. Poor girl, she was timid the rest of the night.
Family time at the fireworks. Sydney was 100 times better than she was last year. She babbled the entire time, it was so cute...but a little annoying to the people around us. Last year she screamed and screamed and continued even after we got home, it was so traumatizing! We figured she was old enough this time and used to noise (she does live around the Mounts and Silvas doesn't she :)

The Wests are Here!

Tim (my brother), Angela, Sammy, and Audrey have finally arrived! Tim and Angela are celebrating their tenth anniversary this year and they came to visit with us for a few days before leaving their kids with me and going to Jamaica. I am so excited for them and happy that they can have some much needed alone time. Here are some random pics of their first few days:

Dylan and Audrey of course playing princesses...should I start being wierded out over this? Dylan even knows how to pose and hold out his dress for a picture.

Mmmmm, yummm!

An afternoon at the little water park in town. The kids loved it! Timmy and Sammy!

The kids have been having a blast between the bitty pool, and the slip-n-slides at our house. I am sure I will have many more water pictures to come.That's our little Audrey girl. Could her smile be any more infectious?I love this one, the kids are having so much fun together!
Stay tuned for more!

The Silva's, Mounts, and Curtis's at Pine Mountain

Cameron and I were finally able to convince the Silva's and Curtis's that they needed to take their kids to Pine Mountain Animal Safari. We went a couple of months back with some friends and LOVED it, so we thought it would make for a fun family day. Unfortunately the giraffes weren't out but we still had fun without them.
Sydney was a bit more into it this time...but not my much. Dylan was actually much more scared (probably because of my screaming when the drool was dripping down my arm). Yuck!

Andrew was the only one other than Cameron who was bold enough to feed by mouth, I was quite impressed! Those animals could bite that nose right off!

Sammy was fearless! Check him out feeding that thing, that is my kind of kid!

After feeding the animals we went to have some lunch ourselves...
I LOVE this picture. Reagan took the kids out to give them a "talking to" about respecting their mom. Look at all the kid with their heads down, it was so funny to watch them try and come up with the right answers to Reagan's questions.Andrew and Logan could not be any cuter with Sydney. They are so good with her! Love you boys!Here I am trying to kiss a cow. Don't ask.We went for one last drive around the park before leaving and these were the chots that I got. This prehistoric looking animal FREAKS me out. He pecks so fast, you arne't sure what exactly he is peacking at. At one point some food fell between Ed's legs and oh man, lets just say, It was a VERY close call.Family Photos