Sleeping Beauties

Visiting G-G-pa's Firehouse

G-G-pa took the kids to see the firehouse and the fire trucks today. Jaycob was like on information overload! He was so happy to be there but I think the size of the trucks intimidated him! He was so quiet the whole time we were there, but soon as we got back to the house he had so much to tell G-G-ma!

A Day During Alamaba Vacay

A little bit of TV in the morning. (I'll add that this is a Dora special the kids loved. Oh and not to mention that just look at them. How sweet is this??)

A little 'swimming'. Look at Abygail, she was so proud of herself for reaching the rope at the 'deep end'!

And a little bit of engineering!

Back to the Concrete!

Ok so in this pic I don't remember where we were going (remember I'm back-dating here!) but I thought it was a cute picture.

And then take a look at this... They're both away from the edge of the pool 'swimming'!

Sand Instead of Concrete

Today we went to the beach instead of the pool. G-G-ma and G-G-pa tried to take us to a section of beach that was super calm and super shallow, but the road was closed to that section. Driving down to the beach looked just like driving in the Outer Banks, NC. Anyway... We decided to stay anyway. The kids actually got their feet wet and wanted to weighed in a bit further, but the waves were pretty strong and I wasn't comfortable with that. I know mean mommy! But here's a few pictures!

I guess this is all damage from Hurricane Ivan! Look at all those trees!!

ETA: We did end up at the pool later in the evening, just no pics!

3 Feet and Counting

Just went to the pool again today! The kids got really brave today! Check out these pictures!! Mind you this is all 3 foot water. Jaycob actually walked off the steps and into the depths first. He started only hanging on the wall with both hands with a death grip! Then he branched out and as you can see he is barely holding on with one hand! And Abygail soon followed suit!

Better in the Pool!

This morning we went to a little thing the local firehouse put on that started with a home made boat race and then back to the firehouse for vendor booths and such. The kids each got a face painting.

Afterwards we went to the pool and the kids got a bit braver. Both would ride my back. Jaycob only as long as I was close to the edge. Abygail didn't care where and even let me turn her around and lay back a bit!

We're Here in Alabama

Well, we're here safe and sound. The rest of our trip in was pretty uneventful. The kids started saying they were done in the truck when we only had about 90 minutes to go. Not too bad I thought!

Today we headed to the pool. I was kinda worried because last summer the kids would barely walk in a foot and a half of water. But actually they did really well. They kinda stuck to the steps, but they did really well!

To Grandmother's House We Go!

G-G-ma and G-G-pa came in from Michigan during Jaycob's promotion yesterday, part of the reason he decided NOT to ride the bus home. They came in to visit because we then got up this morning to all drive to Alabama!! Yep, we're road tripping all the way to Alabama, without Daddy to top it off!

One of the stops we made for potty and maps was at a welcome center that was also a train station. We thought it would be cool if Jaycob actually got to walk across real railroad tracks. He was so excited about it all. But while talking to the guy there we discovered that a train was actually due to stop in about 15 minutes! So we decided to wait. It ended up being longer then that, but it was well worth it! A train came through all right, but it wasn't the train that was stopping it was just a cargo train with all the boxcars. He was so thrilled about that! Then the train that was supposed to come through came in and he actually recognized the CSX engine from one of the DVD's he has. It stopped and we watched people get on and it took off again. I think he was surprised at how big and loud the train actually was! While we were sitting there listening to him be excited we heard the sound of another train whistle in the distance so we sat a little longer. Sure enough another passenger train came roaring through! It was then time to get them back across the track and loaded into the truck.

The kids have done really well so far. We've stopped for the night at a Quality Inn appx half way to their home in Alabama. We stopped and ate lunch, had dinner here at the hotel, and now the kids are trying to fall asleep despite all their excitement!! I hope tomorrow goes as smoothly as today did!

Rainbow

This was after a huge storm we had. The kids stayed up a little later because of the thunder and lightening. We finally put them to bed and Daddy left only to call back and tell me that there was a huge rainbow out there. I ran upstairs to show the kids and not meaning to I woke them both up!! But they got to see it and loved it!

PA Trip

We took a mini vacation to G-ma and Pop-Pop's in PA for the holiday. The kids were so excited to go... So excited that they wouldn't stop asking us if we were there yet!! Wow was that annoying! But we got there safe and sound and the kids even got to ride their bikes on Pop-Pop's road!

We actually realized during this ride that Jaycob does in deed need a bigger bike. So off to Wal-mart we went! Though we bought it in PA he never did really get to ride it so I have no pictures. But he loves his new big red bike!

We also got a chance to go visit Great Grandma for her birthday where the kids chased bubbles with Cousin L!

Aby's Nose

I've gotten a few questions about what Abygail did. So the short of it is: She was running down a LONG concrete handicap ramp, fell, & her face caught her. She didn't have a scratch on her hands or knees. We were surprised that all scabs came off by the following Tuesday! Her nose is still quite pink where it was and I think its still a bit tender, but I think she'll be fine.

Funny note: Through it all she kept calling the scabs scales!! Even this morning she asked about her scales and it took me a minute to figure out what she was talking about!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Yep, we went to the zoo! We drove up to the Metro in a line with a couple other moms from our area only to meet up at the zoo with about 10+ more moms from other areas! We got to actually ride the Metro which I think was the kids favorite part, though it made me realize how much of a country girl I really am. All the mess of the Metro, I was completely lost! Thankfully, we had someone with us that does it often! Ok now to the pictures because I know thats all you really care about!

Riding the Metro with Breanna (her and Jaycob skipped school to make this trip!)

Awaiting everyone to gather and kids to use potties before we head off to see some animals!!

Some Flamingos for Pop-Pop! And the tiger!

Lion and kids with a tiger!

If you look really close the mama in the second picture is holding a tiny baby!

I loved this picture of a handful of the kids we went with!

Aby's Nose Dive

Aby Today

Funny thoughts from Aby today:
After taking her first recent try of a pretzel pizza Combo, "Momma, I like this! The sauce taste good!"
After seeing a mosquito she went to Daddy, "I want you to dead it with a paper towel."

Kid's Rooms

The kids rooms almost finished!

Nights

Well we've now had two nights here at the new house! The kids have done great. I thought for sure the first night would be bad. New place, new sounds, stressed, & new bed for Aby it all just spells bad night!! But nope, first night they both slept through the night. I chalked it up to being so worn out. Last night they were in bed early and still stayed in bed through the night!
Abygail got up at 6:30a and I told her it wasn't 7 yet and she needed to go back to bed. Off she went, back to bed until I got her when I got up a bit after 7a!! I really do hope this keeps up, Mommy needs some sleep!

Author

Abygail already wants to write and tell stories like Older Sister. Here's the one she came out with today!

One little horse stepped in the boat. The princess and prince and the baby. The horse takes them to the boat. They sleep on the boat. They wake up after they get off the boat. The princess is already dressed in a pretty blue dress and they go down stairs in the castle. They eat breakfast. They eat cereal and eat it all up. They go outside and play, but the baby doesn't go outside. It stays in the house all by itself. They take a rest because its all sunny outside. It takes a long time. They make lunch and go outside and play.

I'm sure it would have been more complete if something wouldn't have popped onto the TV, but hey!

Easter

Easter morning was kinda leisurely. All the kids sifted through their baskets. Compared what was the same and what was different. I'll tell you, it getting harder and harder for the Easter bunny to shop for Older Brother! Any suggestions? Anyway, I think we did alright this year. The younger two loved those big balloons you blow up with a rubber band on the end, and it kept Older Brother pretty entertained for quite a while too!! LOL Older Sister's favorite I think was the Twilight candy hearts I picked up. Heck, who doesn't love sparkly candy that says "Bite Me" or "Dazzle Me" on it!?! No, literally the candy had glitter or something in it, it was crazy!

Kids loved dying eggs this year. Last year was great but trading 4 cups of color between 4 kids was kind patient trying for a 2 and 3 year old. This year we had 8 cups going around and it went much smoother! Don't even ask me what Jaycob is doing in this first picture!

We joked about going to Chuck E Cheese like last year. Wasn't a bad idea actually, but we decided going somewhere new. We loved this new place for having kids of such varying ages. It had the moon bounces, video games, and go-carts! That was the best! The go carts all of us enjoyed. I think we just really love doing these family activities on Easter because we have Older Brother and Older sister and we know Daddy has the day off! It works for us! And this year we were the only people at this place the whole time!