Making History

Today went down in history for a couple reasons.  First of all, the shuttle took off around 5pm from Kennedy Space Center.  Greg and I thought it would be a neat thing for the kids to watch.  It was pretty hilarious because none of them can actually pronounce the word "spaceship," so instead it was coming out as "face chip."  We did have to entice Landon to watch by telling him the "spaceship" was going up to find Buzz Lightyear!  Once he started watching you can see by the pic that he was excited.  Cool picture on the tv too!

Duke getting in on the excitement.

Sadie always has a cheesy smile.

The second reason for making history today was that the kids had their first night with their new babysitter!  She is so sweet and great with the kids.  They love her!  None of them cried when we left, which was a huge blessing because that always makes it harder on me.  I had her come over a couple days earlier to meet the kids and play with them.  They hit it off really well.  She's going to be a junior in high school.  She is a great Godly girl who comes from a great family.  She even gave all three of them a bath, which is a huge task in itself!!  Thanks Ashley for giving us a break and doing a wonderful job with our children!  I'm sure we will continue to use her.  Greg and I enjoyed a kid-free dinner at Bonefish Grill to celebrate his 32nd birthday.  I managed to swallow down a few bites of seafood.  I pretty much despise seafood and the smell of it, but figured the least I could do was try.  I ate 2 coconut breaded shrimp.  The first piece wasn't too bad, but the second one didn't go down as easy.  Next I tried a bite of crab cake...not too bad.  My last attempt at seafood was a bite of Greg's lobster tail.  I came very close to puking!  All I could say was "it tastes like grissle!!"  Greg could not believe I thought it tasted like grissle...I think it was the texture...I don't know.  Greg was proud of me for at least venturing out and trying.  Next we went to Target to pick up diapers and wipes and got some ideas for Landon & Sadie's birthday.  Then had dessert at Cold Stone Creamery...yum yum!!  We were both stuffed!!  What a great day!!

A few more pics of our Fun Day.

A little piece of Heaven

Sadie really took to Josiah.  This pic is too cute!

Can you see the pure excitement?!?!

I think Landon is trying to sit on it.

Adorable!

Love the face!!

I experienced something this morning that I have not experienced in a long time...a run by myself!!  No kids telling mommy "i don't want to go fast!"  No sippy cups or snack bags being thrown on the ground.  No one yelling, "i want to go to the tot lot!" or "i want to go see the turtle!"  So maybe I'm exaggerating a bit when I say "a little piece of heaven," but by golly...it was nice!!  I believe the last time I ran alone was while living in Burlington, KY before I was pregnant with Landon & Sadie.  Too long!!

I hope you all had a nice Memorial Day.  We did!  We spent ours in Tampa.  We left about 9am and got home around 10:30pm.  Greg went golfing with my brother Tim and Cheyenne Jenkins, who is one of the partners in Tampa.  The kids and I spent the afternoon with Aunt Jess & Josiah Jenkins at the aquarium.  We looked at some fish and other animals, then had fun at the water area.  While playing in the water I noticed a lady who works for the aquarium taking tons of pictures of Sadie and Landon.  Later she came up and said "I've been taking pictures and noticed you were too.  I'm sorry.  Here's a card, you can look at them in about 45 minutes."  I pointed out Duke and told her all 3 were mine, and that I didn't mind her taking the pictures.  (i'm not sure why she apologized)  She went on to tell me how cute they were...I was beaming, of course!  After that she started taking pics of Duke and even more of the other two.  I thought it was pretty neat.  I haven't had a chance to look at them online yet.  I didn't get many of Landon.  He would never look up at me.  Plus it was a little difficult with all that water spraying around and trying to keep up with 4 kids!  

That evening we all went over to Alec & Melissa Rankin's for a cookout.  (he is the other partner)  The kids were very good and had a blast.  The Rankin's have a dog, so that was much excitement for Landon, Sadie, & Duke.  Here are some pics from our fun day.

 

My Messy Boy

After eating a chocolate ice cream bar...

My Sweet Boy

Silly faces!

Landon is the most sweetest, sensitive, lovable boy.  If you are holding him or he's sitting on your lap, he likes to rub your arm or back or at least be touching you.  He also requests "massages" for pretty much every nap and night time.  (thanks to aunt kristy!)  Even in the middle of the night as I'm carrying him back to bed he will say, "mommy, massage me."  He's starting to say cute, encouraging words and phrases now to his siblings.  Just this morning as Sadie did her flip on the rings Landon clapped his hands and said, "Good job Sadie!"  Or when talking to Duke he'll say, "You can do it Duke."  He also has started to say he "loves" everything.  It may be a person or it may be his choice of cereal.  His most recent "love" comment was just too funny!  As I'm changing his diaper he proceeded to play with himself as most boys his age do.  I told him to stop and he said, "mommy, I love my pee-pee."  It was one of those moments where I really had to keep myself from laughing.  As his mother I'm not so sure if I prefer my son to have such a bond with his "pee-pee."  I just love this boy...he makes me laugh everyday!  

Surviving without Daddy

We are getting by without daddy home, but counting down the hours!  Only one more day.  First thing this morning Sadie said, "I want daddy to come home."  She constantly wants to call him.  (and everyone else too!)  She's quite the phone talker.  We've been keeping busy though.  Last night was fun.  We went to the Tot Lot to play.  There were a couple kids there.  The girl 6th grade and boy in 2nd.  The girl loved the kids and played very well with them.  It helped me out too.  Sadie caught a lizard single-handedly, and they had a blast playing with it.  Each of them got to hold it.  She is scared of ants, but has no fear of lizards!  We took a stroll down to see the neighborhood gopher turtle.  We finally caught it out of its hole (a rare occasion).

By 10:30 this morning we had already went on a run, played at the tot lot, and "swam" in the pool.  A busy morning...hoping for long naps!   I was a bit frustrated during the run.  I can't count how many times I had to stop to pick up cups.  I just got to thinking about how every little thing I do 24 hours a day involves a kid next to me (especially when greg is out of town).  I can't shower, go to the bathroom, exercise, eat, watch tv, talk on the phone, grocery shop, do the banking, or sleep by myself.  I get maybe one hour of alone time a day.  I guess it's just wearing me out.  I don't want to complain...I love my kids dearly...it's just a bit exhausting at times.  

Time to change diapers and get them down for naps.  I'll post more pics later.  

Fun Fort Times!!

A view from inside the fort.

Peeking through.

Nice cheesy smiles!!

We've had a good start to our days without daddy.  He left around 10am.  It was slightly raining, but we (i) decided to go on my run anyway.  I already had their cups and snacks ready.  I hadn't even looked outside.  Greg helped put the cover on the stroller and we were off.  I've got two runs in this week, so keeping on schedule.  I'm feeling better each time, but can't keep a good accurate time since I'm frequently stopping to pick up cups or snack bags.  I'm averaging around 27-28 minutes.  Fine with me.  I'm not in a hurry, I just want to exercise.  One day I would love to run a half marathon...maybe after the kids are in school.  We got back from our run and decided to build a fort.  It's been overcast and a little rainy, so figured I better come up with some fun stuff to do inside.  I moved the couch around, brought in kitchen chairs, blankets, and pillows & POOF...a magical fort!!  The kids loved it!!  Here are some pics to show their fun.