Happy 4th From Us to You!

For 3 years now, we have traveled to St. Mary's, GA for their parade. We love it! St. Mary's is typical small town America. Their parade consists of old tractors and cars. Police cars, trucks, and tanks. Firetrucks. Radio stations. Tae Kwon Do academies. Day cares. Music Studios. Knights of Columbus. Boy Scouts. There are no marching bands or anything else that would make you think typical parade. We love it. The neighbors drive their golf carts to Osteola Drive. Moms walk their babies in strollers. It makes me think of 1950's America!

After the parade, we returned home for necessary naps for all since we would not only be up VERY late, a certain unnamed 9 year old slept for a whopping 4 hrs the night before keeping said child's mother up. Once said child fell asleep, a certain 7 year old woke 1 hour and 33 minutes later followed by a certain 5 year old 25 minutes later. These unnamed children only allowed their mother to sleep from 4-5:33am - she was a tad cranky!

  After naps, we prepared to go see the Jacksonville Suns play the Chattanooga Lookouts! The final score was 3-0, Suns. So, it was a bit of a boring game! However, Daddy did catch a ball for the kiddos. Also, Grandma was able to join us! Father David was supposed to come, but there was an emergency at our parish, so he was unable.

After the game, Winn Dixie sponsored a huge fireworks show. Normally on Friday nights they will have fireworks, but this was about double what is normally done. The kiddos loved every single second!

After the game, Grandma, Daddy, and I grabbed a kiddo and headed to the van. We parked in the garage across from the field and arrived to our van at 10:30. We were finally exiting the garage at 11:05. Once out of the garage, all we saw were brake lights in all directions. There are only a handful of ways out of downtown Jacksonville and every single one was backed up. We had to go over the Matthew's Bridge and we could see that things were not moving at all. Finally, at 11:40 we were over the Matthew's bridge and headed towards Grandma's house. We dropped her off and were home shortly after midnight....

The kiddos were still on cloud nine from everything, but after a little night time routine aided and snuggles, all were out by 1am, quickly followed by Mommy and Daddy.

It was a wonderful 4th of July. I love the tradition we have began of attending the St. Mary's Parade in the morning. As we were driving home, Daddy and I agreed that this is something we always want to do - even when the kiddos are grown and we are called Granny and Papa!

Wesley-isms

While at Home Depot today, Wesley accidentally scratched me. I brought it to his attention and this is what he said....

"Mommy, you need a band-aid brand bandaid. They heal the hurt faster!"

After a curious look, he says, "It's true. I saw it on TV!"

He then proceeds to sing the entire jingle!!

My Plans VS God's Plans

Before bed last night, I told daddy about all I wanted to do today - go swimming, get the tires rotated/balanced, and a visit to the playground for a picnic. After the chaotic days of Monday and Tuesday, I needed a day to chill and have fun with the kiddos....

Apparently God heard this and thought it was time to teach me a lesson...

2 weeks ago, our fridge/freezer went kaput. We fixed it, but knew the time was fast approaching when we would need to replace it...

That time came last night around 11. Daddy went to get his pre-midnight snack of ice cream and I could see him from the bedroom pressing buttons. This morning, when he woke at 5:30 for work, the first thing he did was go to the fridge and open the door. Between this and the sour face, I knew something was definitely wrong....

The fridge had died...

By the time he left for work at 6:15, we had a plan. I would go to Home Depot and check out appliances since they offered free delivery, set up, and haul away. We also knew that we wanted to replace everything as our dishwasher has not been available for almost a year and our oven was taking longer and longer to warm up.

At 7a, I trekked to Home Depot with my 3, sure that we would be in and out in less than an hour and home in plenty of time before my friends kiddos arrived at 9...

Again, God wanted to teach me a lesson...

The 4 of us arrived there around 7:20. We walked straight to the appliance section where I found plenty of vendors, but no employees. After 10 minutes of searching and waiting, not 1 but 2 employees came to my rescue. I told them I needed a fridge delivered today - tomorrow at the absolute latest. I wanted it to be white. I wanted to replace all of my appliances and needed them the same brand. And then I gave them my dimensions. This pair pulled out and measured every single fridge/freezer there and wouldn't you know that only 1 matched my criteria and dimensions! I said go for it and one of the guys left. The remaining guy, Sean, helped me pick out all of the other appliances. Numbers were plugged in and a quote was given. I thanked Sean and told him I would return shortly after I spoke to my husband...

It was now 9am and my friend was arriving at Home Depot with her kiddos...

I called daddy and we discussed everything. I now had second thoughts and daddy had concerns. I trekked back into the store and no sooner had I stepped foot in the Appliance section, was Sean back asking me what he could do to help. I told him my concern about the stove and daddy's concern about the fridge/freezer. We spoke for another minute and then I decided that maybe I would open the door to stainless steel. However, this would create the need for a new microwave as our current is white...

With Sean's help, we opened the door to stainless. We found one that could be delivered on Friday, but in the 5 minutes it took to call daddy, it was snatched! So we started over again...

Then again...

Then again...

Now it was 10:45. I was done. The kiddos were done. I am sure that Sean was done!

At this point, I had come around to the idea that it would be Monday before we had a fridge and we needed a way to limp along until then....

I had a light bulb moment and decided a deep freezer would be the answer!

Sean and I finally find everything and he creates an invoice. I call daddy for the final okay before making this gigantic purchase official. He gave it, I agreed. Sean smiled. We were done! It was 11:30, 30 minutes before Sean's 5 hour shift ended!

In the end, we got a heck of a deal. Between shopping the deals, asking for discounts, and thinking ahead, we bought just shy of $5000 worth of appliances for MUCH less. This included a $200 discount that paid for the entire deep freezer and gave us $50 left over!

I don't know what lesson God wanted to teach me, but I learned to keep my plans to myself and not tell anyone...that way He can't hear me ;-)

Daddy's Girl TuTu 5K

Many weeks ago, I came across an ad for a daddy/daughter 5k. The caveat was that they BOTH had to wear tu-tu's! After approaching Hannah, we chose to double team daddy - he had no choice but to agree!

Hannah and I had elaborate designs for the tu-tu's - they would be bright pink and purple with LOTS of glitter and ribbons/bows. However, once we arrived at Hobby Lobby and realized just how much work this was going to be, we quickly changed out mind and opted for the pre-rolled tulle and various ribbons! This greatly lessened our workload, but little did I know there was still a lot of work left!

Finally, 12 hours prior to the race, both Daddy and Hannah's Tu-Tu's were ready; tiara's, hair bows, and all!

When we arrived in Nocatee Saturday morning, our jaws hit the ground; there were dads in tiaras, boas, beautiful tu-tu's, etc! It was incredible to see what these dads did for their girls!

Both Hannah and Daddy had a great time and completed the 5k in 36minutes! However, regardless of their final time, or the fact that Hannah placed 3rd in her age group, they had a great time and made memories that will last a life time!

I am one proud mommy!

Memorial Day Hail Storm

  We had all just returned home and were cooling off when the horizontal rain began. Within minutes, it started to sound like someone was tapping their fingers on the window and I asked daddy if he thought it was hail. He opened the garage door and there it was - it looked like little gumballs bouncing on a trampoline! The kiddos were scared, yet quite curious and within moments, they all had their helmets on and were off to collect some hail before the lightening began again!


The hail was not large - dime to nickel size and only lasted 10-15minutes, but we all enjoyed the show!

Summer Adventure #1

Today we began our summer adventures! The kiddos are so excited to not have any school for the next 2 months - little do they know, Mommy is tricking them and they are doing plenty of school!

After Wesley finished his final speech lesson this morning, we headed over to Bertz-Tiger Point Preserve to do some exploring. While there, the kiddos learned about the Timucuan Indians. They learned about how they used the St. John's river. They laughed as they practiced saying the names of their Chiefs. They enjoyed having conversations, but only using a certain sound that mommy told them - just like the Timucuan's did with the English when they first arrived.

The kiddos also learned about plants and animals. We learned to identify poison ivy and various spiders, along with different shells.

However, I think the all time favorite activity was capturing the baby frogs! As we were walking towards the van, Hannah noticed these little creatures jumping through the grass. As she got closer, she realized what they were and the collecting of frogs began! At one point, Lil'Robert had 7 in his hands! They all had a great time - we had frog races and jumping contests. We even had a competition to see whose frog could stay in their hand the longest with the palm open (Hannah's won!) As our time at the preserve ended, the kiddos begged to keep their newest pets. Poor Wesley even cried as he wanted to be a daddy to his froggies, since he has never been a daddy before!

All in all, I think today was very positive! We had a great first Summer Adventure and will continue discussing information for the remainder of the week!

 

I'M BACK!

Well, I am back! I have greatly missed sharing the children's antics with my family 600 miles away. They are all there for each other, but only have the opportunity to see my kiddos when we make the trek out as a family. From here on out, this blog will only be about the kiddos and our family life. I will no longer share my private feelings...

Since I last wrote a year ago, a few milestones have occured...

• Daddy is now a TriAthlete
• Lil'Robert and Hannah have participated in 2 TriAthlons
• Daddy and Lil'Robert have done 3 5K's together
• Hannah, Wesley, and I have done multiple 1mi Fun Runs
• Daddy has completed 3 1/2Marathons in 3 months
• Lil'Robert plays Little League
• The kiddos are now 5, 7, and 9
• We went to the mountains in the Fall and picked apples and played in the waterfalls
• We returned in the winter and it snowed 3 times
• We celebrated with my sister and her husband as they welcomed their long awaited first born, Olivia Anne, into the family on 4/10
• My younger sister, Clare, graduated nursing school (Her husband graduates med school next spring!)
• My brother, Michael, graduated college (again!) with a second BA in Engineering

I am sure that there is MUCH more, but the kiddos are ready to go outside and play, plus laundry needs folding, and dishes need washing!