While the boys were at VBS last week I took Claire outside to try and get some pics of our flowerbed out front for my dad. When we moved in, there was a pond there and we immediately pulled it out. I didn't like it with little ones. We decided not to plant anything because winter was right around the corner. My dad came down in May and I figured that was the perfect job for his ADD self. :) He did a great job and the flowers are blooming!

Claire wouldn't get out of the way. Papa let her walk around in there while he was planting and she still thinks she can romp around in there!! Thanks, Dad!

I decided to try and get some decent pictures of Claire.She only sat for a second....
and was constantly on the go.

The pink flip flops are a must have with EVERY outfit these days....even if they don't match...but I don't fight it.

randomness

Here's some random pictures from my phone and camera. I could probably do a post for each one, but I don't have the time or energy!! Hence the random post!!

I sent Matt to the store to buy two pools. A rectangle one for the slide and one for Claire to play in. This is what he came home with. The kids love it. It's actually been too chilly some days to use it! Crazy!

Claire came out of her room all frustrated the other day. She was trying HARD to get this diaper on her baby! She loves her babies....loves to feed them, hug them, tuck them in their bed, push them in their stroller and now I guess she's into changing their diapers. Last week we painted her toes. Well, I was painting mine and she wanted hers done. Then when I was painting my fingernails she wanted me to paint hers too. I wasn't about to go there.

I loves those chubby feet!

The other night we went to check on the boys after they went to bed and this is how we found Blakers. Crazy kid. The last couple of days he's been running around with his mask and cape on saying he's an Incredible.
Movie night is always fun with popcorn and M&M's!! Andrew's the only one who eats the popcorn! I think this movie was Super Mario.Matt's been taking the boys fishing quite a bit lately. They caught a lot of fish the last time they went and were finally okay with bringing them home to eat. Of course, the only person who ate them was Matt. :)

And this pic of the clouds is from a storm that blew through the other night. The sirens went off and everything, but after I woke Claire up I realized the sirens went off because the wind was more than 75 mph. Oh well, we just call it our little practice run!!

cruise '11

At the end of May we headed down to Mobile, AL to go on a cruise with my family. This was a gift my parents gave to us last Christmas. We all were anxious for the big day!!!

It was a 5 night cruise with two stops. We went to Cozumel and Playa del Carmen. I was worried someone would get seasick, but thankfully that never happened.

The boat on the right is the one we were on....Carnival Elation.

One of the pool areas. The cruise had a camp for kids 2 and up that was free. They had all sorts of activities and the boys enjoyed it. I thought with their cousins there they wouldn't want to go, but they didn't mind. They really only went in the mornings for 2 hours. They made t-shirts, crafts, played video games on free play day (the boys loved this) and even watched a movie.

Claire was too young to go every day with them. On days of excursions she was allowed to go at the same time, but we would have had to pay for her and on days at sea she could go before 10. She went a couple of times. She was a little nervous at first, but did fine.

There was a lot to do on the ship and a lot of stuff going on in the evenings, but I usually called it a night early with Claire. My parent's had a room right next door so a few nights I'd sit in there and watch tv while she went to sleep. I had a video monitor so I felt okay leaving her.

We tried hard to get a decent family picture, but it wasn't easy!!!

Here's a picture of my lovely parent! Our first stop was Cozumel. Matt and I didn't get off the boat right away when we docked like EVERYONE else did. It was kind of nice. I felt like we had the whole boat to ourselves. Since that day we were docked all the kids could go to the camp at the same time. We sent them all and relaxed by the pool!! That afternoon Matt and I left the kids with my family and went to check out the shops. Our next stop was Playa del Carmen. This day we went out on an excursion with the boys while my parents and sister kept Claire. I have lots of pics from this day, but don't feel like uploading them. Anyway, we went to a fun beach area with my sister and her family.
The boys had fun in and out of the water...


and playing with Daddy.

I will say the best part of the trip....aside from the help from family and the BEAUTIFUL water...I definitely enjoyed not having to cook or clean for the week!!

We had a great time and enjoyed being with family. Hopefully it won't be too long before we go on another one!!!

milk thief

EVERY night after dinner Claire will get out of her chair and climb up in Blake's spot (he's usually the first to finish dinner) to finish off his strawberry milk. EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. It makes us laugh!

I wanted to document it because it's become a joke. Andrew will usually drink orange juice (I know...o.j. with dinner is gross) and she's tried it before and didn't like it.

She is such a mess!

(this picture was taken at the end of may...hence the long sleves!)

VBX

I feel so far behind on my blog these days. Life has just been crazy busy.

This past week we had VBX. I worked it so Blakers could go. We had been out of town the week before so we didn't make it for the first day of VBX, but we were there on Tuesday. I felt like I was there all week....it wore me out!!

I was in the 3's class and we really had a good class. Not sure why I was so exhausted! The boys got in the car the first day and talked about how much fun they had and said they were going home to take a nap! :) That didn't happen!! Claire had fun too, but she only went 3 days. She wasn't feeling well the first part of the week. I wish VBX would have been a little later in the summer so we could spread out our fun! Guess we'll just have to find other fun things to do!!

I'll try and catch my blog up soon!