Wednesday, July 11, 2007

FOURTH OF JULY

We went over to our friend Katie's house for the holiday. Jeff was in Costa Rica so it was just me and the kids (we missed you Jeff!). They had the best backyard, I felt like I should pay to get in :) The kids had a blast. Austin's favorite thing was the slip n slide, he went down non-stop for hours! Brenden's favorite was of course, playing with a ball. Afterwards, we shot off some fireworks.






Brenden went down all of one time and decided it wasn't for him.



















"How far can I hold this sparkler away from me, and still be brave in front of Jacob?"



Shannon-don't you think he looks a lot like Brandon in this picture??


Thursday, July 05, 2007

It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! (from Alexander's book, in case you are wondering :) Well, I have no pictures to post (for good reason), just a long story. My day started at 4:00 am (after 1 1/2 hours of sleep), I got up to head to the airport. I planned so well, the boys slept in the clothes they were going to wear, their carry-on bags were completely packed, cups already made, suitcases already packed, all I had to do was wake-up get in the van and leave. We got to the airport one hour and ten minutes before we had to leave, and I thought we were doing good. I took our luggage to curbside, and then I was going to park the van and get shuttled back to the airport. Well....because I had two carseats, the skycap had to finish my check-in inside, but first he took care of everyone else behind me in the line, went inside, and took another 10 minutes, and then FINALLY came out with my tickets. I am now 30 minutes away from my plane leaving. I explained to him that I still had to park my van, and he said, I am not sure you are going to make it. AHH! I rushed to a parking spot. I put my license in my pocket, knowing I would need it again, grabbed the kids and took off. I saw no shuttle in the parking lot, so we all started to run back to the terminal. Austin ran half the way, rode on my back the other half. I get to security, get through the line, and go to get my license out of my pocket, not there. AHH!! It must have fallen out with all the running. We take off running again, looking everywhere it might have fallen. We make it back to the van and still didn't see it, then to the left about 20 feet away, I saw something white on the ground. I was never happier, praising God very loud!! This time we did see a shuttle, but we still had to run to it. Got back to the terminal, ran to security, I am now drenched in sweat. I get to the front of the line, only to realize that I left the diaper bag and Austin's backpack in the van. It was either miss my plane, or go without it. I chose the latter. That meant no diapers, no toys, no breakfast, no sippy cups, no camera, no dvd player. NOTHING! I was so upset. I made it to the gate, literally the last one on the plane, but the lady at the counter gave me some diapers and wipes, and then we were off, praying that the kids would be fine (luckily Brenden still had his doggy). When we reached Dallas, we had a tight connection, and of course, our gate was on the exact opposite side of the airport, but we did have time to use the restroom, grab gummy bears and teddy grahams for breakfast, and again are the last ones to get on the plane. I am glad to say the kids were awesome on the plane!!! We got to Corpus only to have only half our luggage. What could I do but laugh. We went shopping, got a new diaper bag, and replaced everything else that was inside. Except for my camera, which I am so sad that I do not have this whole trip, therefore no pictures to post. My luggage arrived later in the afternoon, and we are here safe in sound. So my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day did get a little better.

Monday, July 02, 2007










More pictures from our vacation...we went to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and MGM Studios. I always say, if you want to see the worst behaved kids, go to Disney, and we did see quite a bit!! :) But I am happy to say, the boys were actually really good! Brenden would point and laugh at EVERYTHING!! Austin liked the rides, but his favorite part would have to be meeting the Green "Inja" (ninja) Power Ranger.
The petting zoo was Brenden's favorite part (imagine that...)
The boys were so sweet in the stroller. Brenden would lay his head on Austin, and Austin would rub his back. Awww!

I did it!! This blog has been 8 months in the making, and I finally added some pictures (from a little pressure from some of the teens...thanks alot Stephanie, Kylie and Catelyn!) These are pictures from our Florida vacation at the beach. Austin loved the water (of course, it took him awhile to warm up to it), but Brenden went right after it. Everytime a wave would come, he would just laugh and laugh (which was alot). If one knocked him under, all the better. When he finally got tired of it, he would tell the waves NO, NO!





Jeff, Austin, and Brenden all took turns getting buried in the sand. With Jeff's arms detained, Brenden took advantage by throwing sand in his face and pushing his "nippies" :)



Yes, that is Brenden putting sand in his mouth.