I told you so...

No, Eliza is not training to be the world's youngest astronaut. She just got herself into a predicament and Mommy was rude enough to take a picture before I helped her out.

We have been telling her to stop pushing off the table with her feet, that she would fall. And, that is exactly why I have not put back up the high chair behind her yet... she needed a safety net.

ARRRRRGH....

We love us some pirates in the Jones house. Just add a little tat and you got yourself a pirate. If you have a tatoo and you are in our grocery, do not be offended if my 3 year old asks out loud if you are a pirate.

Weekend Wrap Up

Happy NOT Birthday

Baylor's Birthday is August 13th... 2 days after school starts back. For his Birthday all he has asked for is a Nintendo DS. He does not want a party, he just wants a DS. Brent and I were talking and it stinks that his birthday is right when school starts and he won't be able to enjoy his gift as much (We have family rules about playing computer games on school nights). So we decided he could go ahead and have it. Friday, we loaded up in the rain and went to Tar-jay for the much anticipated purchase of "THE DS" and the game NintenDogs.



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"The better to hear you with, my dear"





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Happy Anniversary

Brent and I got to have a date thanks to Nommie and Gandie coming to spend the night. We enjoyed a nice night out on the town and even saw one of the last girls Brent "dated" before me.( I say "dated" lightly... he had just met hung out with her at Summer Party and we met after school started back)

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Black Belt Testing

Saturday was Baylor's testing for Level II Black Belt. He has been probationary for a few months now. This test takes him to the level where he is forever considered a Black Belt. I am so proud of his hard work.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

TEN YEARS

Yes Folks, it is true. Today Brent and I have been hitched for 10 years.

Teresa just had her anniversary and posted a great post about her wedding. I thought it was so great that I am kind of copying her (it is the best form of flattery-right?)

The o-so-sensual song you hear playing is the final song Brent and I danced to before we left our reception to go on our honeymoon.(I took it off but it was Marvin Gaye... Let's Get it On) When I say dance... what I really mean is that Brent and I turned on a little bump-n-grind in public with my red faced parents watching. It was a hoot and highly memorable by one and all. Add to the ambiance that all the attendees were madly blowing their bubbles at us and you had a scene like none other. Fun times...

The week leading up to the wedding was memorable as well. Brent literally finished up classes that week (well, in retrospect... no he didn't but that is another post for another day. Sorry honey, I told you I would not let up on that). I on the other had was at home with my parents finishing up with the wedding plans. Most of it is a blurr for me so I am very glad that my mom was all over the wedding details. With the help of family, my parents pulled off an awesome reception in our very own back yard, complete with a pavilion that my dad built.

I was a mess. I am not sure why really, other than I did not like the attention. The attention led to a nervous stomach which led to lots of tummy issues. For some reason, my mom thought an upper GI the week before my wedding was appropriate. Like I said it was a blurr, I do not remember putting up a fight about it. So, the day we were to sign our marriage license, I had an Upper GI run at the hospital. What I remember after that was my mom and Brent laughing at me a lot and forcing me to wake up. We had things to do after all. I remember them taking me to the licensing office to sign our marriage certificate. I remember getting out of the car telling them I was fine, but leaning like the Leaning Tower of Pizza and having to be caught. I remember giggling a lot and I remember being carried into the office and being placed in a chair. I also remember the man who was getting the paperwork together for us asking me if I really wanted to go through with this and if I were okay. Still in the background, my mom and Brent were laughing. I am so glad I was good entertainment.

We had a nice wedding. From what I remember. Again, everyone was laughing at my expense, a lot. Something to do with the Xanax my mom kept giving me. I thought I was just fine, doing what I was told... smiling for the pictures and such. But, everyone else thought I was "out of it". I had a very large wedding party. I had 8 attendants with my mom as my Matron of Honor. Brent had more friends than me and had 12 groomsmen/ushers. We did not have the heart or guts to not include everyone so even the ushers stood up at the front with us.


I remember when it was time for me to go down the aisle... I was good. My dad and I were chattin' the the entry. When the doors opened I heard everyone stand up from the pews and the sound of it took my breath away. I had no idea that so many people would come. It was a sweet ceremony. Some laughs came at the end during the exit. I had everyone paired up... but remember their were some boys left over. Two of them just walked down the aisle alone and then the final 2 "hams" met at the aisle, hooked arms and paraded to the back. Everyone laughed and it is hilarious on the video.

The reception was a blast with a DJ and lots of fun and dancing. I do remember struggling through the photo sessions with cake and punch. I even had to sit down during the punch photos. But if I remember correctly mom popped me another pill, and I danced the night away. Brent and I left (after our dancing display) and went to a hotel in Nashville near the airport waiting to leave the next morning for our flight to Jamaica.

I know it does not sound like it, but I had the wedding of my dreams. I always wanted to be a princess... and I was.

Honey, I love you... and always will.

Recognized

Well, it was a week ago that I was recognized for my blog. So I thought in order to keep the honor and priviledge that comes along with the award, I better get to posting and passing.

My friend, Teresa, gave me the award for being the first in our little community of friends to have a blog. To be honest, I had a blog for about 6 months before I knew anyone was reading it. I would be out telling my stories and people would say "Yeah, I read it on your blog." To which I would get embarrassed and just shut up. Like, who really wants to read about my crazy life and all we do. In fact, this here blog, was my 3rd attempt. I first created "Baby Pages" for Eliza to keep everyone updated and then I started a blog, but it locked up on me and I did not know how to fix it... so I started again. When people tell me that they read my blog I get kind of nervous and anxious, I feel silly that people would peep into our lives, see what we do and actually come back again and again. But then again, this can be my therapy. It is comic-relief to share our life and it is group therapy to get comments (like about BNTM) that help to support me and show me that I am going to make it.

I really love this community of bloggers. It really is supportive, entertaining, and just plain fun. YOu never know who is on here (unless you get sitemeter) You might be my mom who gets upset that I do not tell you the stories before I type them,or a good friend who gets a kick out of my inside jokes, or a casual friend who thinks we are crazy but loves to see how we make it all work, or even better a complete stranger that I did not even know exsisted until I found myself on your blogroll. No matter how you look at it, I think it is great and I love it, even though sometimes the complete stranger thing freaks me out a little. Thanks for visiting and for coming back. Hopefully I will find fun stuff to talk about for a while to come.

Now, part of the honor is to pass on the award. I hate that part because I would love to give it to everyone, that is how I am. But instead, since Teresa gave it to me for being the first in our little community, I will bestow it on the 2 ladies who did not even know I was looking, but I was. Looking, learning, watching, and finally brave enough to jump out of the nest and try it on my own. My adoption friends Michelle and Tricia. It was because of you that I started this whole mess anyway.

Wordless Wednesday

Well, not exactly... but it is not the kind you have to read {Nathan}.

He Pimped My Ride

OH YES HE DID! We have been looking for a new car for a while, and as luck would have it, a very good deal fell into our laps last week. Trisha's dad was in the market for a new vehicle and was looking to sell his rather than trade it. So we jumped and Brent brought it home last night.

I am telling you what... I have never (and will proably never again) own anything like it. It has all the "bells and whistles" and is completely MAXED out.

If you see me out on the streets, you might want to watch out because I might be pushing a new button just to see what gadgets pop up (I already accidentally folded Silas up in the 2nd row seat), and I might just have a new SASSY attitude to go with my new ride.

Freebooter

I looked up Pirate in the dictionary because we have one on our hands and I found the synonomym "freebooter". I thought it was perfect for this little bit of info I have recently discovered.

Long story short... a friend was over for a visit last week and Baylor was showing him around our Wii and some of the stuff we play on it. He goes home and works hard to get his parents to figure out exactly how we got this stuff (specifically a Darth Vader as a Wii Mii character).

I sat down with Baylor and had him walk me through the steps on how he got the character, e-mailed the directions to our friends only to get a phone call. Our friends hit a wall with their system. It seems that theirs tells them you have to be connected to the internet. Well, our Wii is not connected to the internet (or so I thought)so I told her I would work with it and figure it out.

COME TO FIND OUT... one day not so long ago Baylor asked me if he could play on the Wii Shopping Channel. I told him "Yes" because I knew we were not connected to the Internet so he could not do any dammage. I went about my merry way doing whatever it was needing done that day. Baylor somehow managed to click his way into COMONDEERING a wireless signal floating around our neighborhood, and he has been playing and downloading ever since. Now mind you, nothing bad and nothing on the Wii is dangerous, and everything he has done was free. But my almost 8 year old somehow borrowed and connected to a signal (that our Wii reads every time he is on). IS THAT NOT CRAZY HILARIOUS. It blows my mind that he was able to personalize all the settings to get what he needed. You know what they say... if you want to know how to do something on the computer, ask your child.

I called my neighbor and asked her about their wireless signal. Turns out theirs is locked but she knows of 2 in our neighborhood that are not locked... so if you live in my neighborhood and strange things are happening with your wireless signal or Darth Vader keeps making his way into your computer business... I am sorry, it was my 8 year old.

Is he Jekyll or is he Hyde?

Ummm... yeah!!?? Remember that kid who got me into trouble just a few short days ago throwing a fit about swimming in water over his head???

Here he is sliding down a slide into about 40 feet of water.

Asking to knee board...behind a boat, in 60-80 feet water.

And then smiling when he does not get going and falls off.


We had a BLAST when our family/friends the Davis family invited us to join them along with the Ellis' and the Spencer's for the day on their house boat. The kids are not going to soon forget it and I think we have created little lake monsters in just one day.

Silas did not get in much, but he did dunk a few times.


Baylor had a blast "tubing" with Luke, Brianna, and Taylor. You would not know he and Luke were even riding the waves, they were in deep conversation about the online Pirate game they are into.




Even little E got in the water and floated around. She loved the boat and the wind blowing in her face and hair. She fell asleep riding around on the water and really just loved being out there.

Silas enjoying the upper deck views.

Baylor wanted to try his hand at skiing. I was impressed that he was interested and even wanted another shot or two after the first attempt. I bet a few more days out on the lake and he will be up out of the water. Instead of getting to just the sinus cleansing level.



I was amazed how easy it was for the little kids to get up in the water. I saw each and everyone of the kids either ski, knee board and Tay even tried her hand at skiing with one ski. They made it look so easy in fact that after watching Angela ski and Robyn ski... I tried it. After a few attempts and the lake going down about 3 feet due to my water intake, I decided I was more of a tubing kind of girl. But even trying was a lot of fun. Pop over to Big Nanny's House and I bet you will get a video of her on the skis.

Thank you Eric and Tricia for letting us play, feeding us, and letting us have a blast.

Favorite Foto Friday

I went way back in my photos to see what my first digital pictures were. When I found them, I remembered. Brent bought me a new camera (perhaps for our anniversary) to take on our annual beach vacation. I read the manual on the way to Florida (OH- cut me some slack, I do not usually read the manuals... it was just my first digital experience). I just had to post these. They make me smile. My 3 sons... OH HOW THEY HAVE CHANGED so much already. This was August of 2005 just 3 short years ago.

Insert Soapbox HERE

**You might want to get a drink and snack for this one... I cannot make any promises about how long I might or might not go on.

It started as any ordinary day (although Sonja might argue that I was a little frazzled and rushed when I got to the gym this morning and had to go back home and unlock the door for our cleaning fairy). Today was a playday at my sis-in-laws neighborhood pool, and we went excited at the chance to play with our friends and cousins that we do not get that much play time with. So, off we went.

Now, I must tell you that Callan has suddenly developed an IRRATIONAL fear of the water. Last year, he was a fish...swimming unassisted in any water with no issues. This summer he woke up afraid and with the thought that if the water was over his head he could not swim or even get in.

In retrospect, I should have left well enough alone. But I did not. I took advantage of the fact that her pool was only 3 feet (where he could stand with his head above water because ours is 3 1/2 feet and his head is not above water). I wanted to encourage him, and work with him, and teach him. I am not a big pool person, I just do not get in and swim. I love to watch and play but I leave the big pool time up to Daddy. Today, I got in specifically to work with Callan. HE FREAKED OUT. I apologized to my friends and explained what I was doing and that I was working with him a little to get past this fear. I tired to show him he was okay, that I was going to get him, that I would not let anything happen to him, and we swam to the wall. He FREAKED OUT more. I told him if he would do it one more time I would stop, and he could swim however he wanted to. But, I told him that I wanted him to do it for me one more time. HE FREAKED OUT more, climbed out of the pool screamed NOOOOOOO and RAN for the hills. All the while, me telling him if he ran I was going to take him to the bathroom and spank him.

Because here in the Jones family, we spank. Not that much mind you... but that is because I do not really have to. I have good kids who mind and know that when I say "if you do that you will get a spanking" I really mean it. But, he RAN and I jumped out of the pool and went after him (I must admit the look on my face had to be bad because usually my kids do not get to that point and I was baffled that this was happening -and mad- and embarrassed). I took him into the PRIVATE bathroom, shut the door and spanked him one time on the bottom. Now, to clarify I did not spank because he freaked out, I spanked because he screamed NO at me and RAN. In my family, running when mom says STOP is a "DANGER" offense. Only once have I had a child run from me. It was in a grocery parking lot and I was about 8 months pregnant with Callan when Baylor decided to run... I ran, pulled a very important "hold the baby in" muscle and learned mommy lesson #42, "kids do not run from mommy". It is dangerous both for him (run into traffic or slip around the pool deck) for me (running after him- 'nuff said) and for his 3 siblings who I abandoned to run after him (drowning,etc.) So, I was fine with my decision to pull out the spank card for this offense. However Black Nike Tankini Mommy... WAS NOT.

When I exited the bathroom (with Callan already fine) I heard Black Nike Tankini Mommy say something to the effect of "You have obviously terrorized your son, I think it was inappropriate for you to take him in the bathroom and BEAT him without explaining what you were doing. You are scaring my children." I pulled up my sunglasses and looked directly at her to see if she were serious, or a part of some funny TV show videotaping and paying off my child for the tantrum he just threw. But she was dead serious. I looked at her and said something to the effect of "I did not beat my child, you have no idea what just went on and you have no idea what we were doing or why this just happened." And I walked away SPITTING mad. So mad in fact, I tried to yank all my kids out of the pool and go home because I was feeling out of control and ready to explode (on Black Nike Tankini Mommy). I got my bearings, took Callan back into the pool, swam with him a little (with a new attitude-and me not letting go of him), let him about his merry way and then I grew some un-Ashley like nerves and walked straight over to BNTM and told her how I felt. That she did not see the whole episode and made assumptions on the last 30 seconds of our "chase". I told her our family rules on spanking and that he pulled the "Danger Card". I told her in no uncertain terms that I did not/do not BEAT my children, that she did not know me or my kids and really was speaking out of turn. I explained to her the situation and told her that I knew what I was doing and that I was handling the situation as best I knew how. There were a few other words most of which blurr out in my upset state of mind, but there you have it... my first real mommy confrontation.

I HATE that. I hate that she made me feel inadequate, I hate that she made me feel like a bad mom, I hate that she nosed her way into my business...especially when I had about 7 mommy friends there who would have gladly stepped in had I gone too far. I hate that I had to come home and take Tylenol for my stress headache. I hate that she will consume my thoughts and make me question all that I am. I hate that she was not able to see my heart and know what kind of parent I really am. I hate that the word hate even comes to my mind when thinking about today... and that one little woman who has no idea who I am or what I do will make me second guess myself for a long time to come.

Wordless Wednesday

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My Birthday Present

For my birthday, Brent got me Photoshop Elements. I have no idea what I am doing, but thanks to a little help from Pioneer Woman I was able to play around with a photo a little bit, it only took me 24 hours to do this, but it is a start.

Plasterer to the Stars

So, my hubby gets a phone call. The contractor wants to meet up with him and let him take a look at some patch work that needs to be done. Brent agrees to a meet up time and they guy tells Brent that his assistant will call with details and fax over some stuff. A short while later Brent gets a call... "Hello, this is Tammy (not her real name) with D-ISNEY, I am ready to fax you your information."

Thats right folks, Brent is plastering for D-isney.(Well, technically his employees are doing the actual plastering, but he is the contractor/bidder/go-to man). Evidently that little movie shoot in Columbia recently that involved some little ol' person named H-ANNAH M-ONTANA caused a few little dings on a building that need repairing, and my hubby is the man for the job! Cool, huh?

I'd like to drop a few more names of stars he's had the pleasure of working with lately, but he says I am not allowed. But I will say being near Nash-ville has it's privileges when it comes to star power.

My brother the Preacher Man

My brother has been the Youth Minister at Village Baptist Church in Destin, Florida for several years now. To my knowledge he has gotten to preach 3 times. Although I have not been there to witness any of his auctual sermons, I am thankful for technology so that I can still be a part of what God is doing through him in his community. As I proud sister, I post my little brother preaching a sermon on prayer. Take a look (it's a video) and listen. Jared's Sermon (it begins about 7 minutes into the video, there is first a prayer and a song)

It's my bloggy, and I'll write what I want to... write what I want to

It's my birthday... and the rule is you can blog about anything you want to, right? (and the silly title is to the tune of It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...)

I really do not do birthday's well. At this point, I do not like them. In fact, I am not sure I ever really did. They make me nervous and I do not like all the attention that can come with it. I remember having parties as a kid, and I am sure I loved the idea of the party, planning it for weeks, but when it came down to it... I was a nervous wreck. Was everyone happy? Was I paying each guest enough attention? Did I show them enough that I really liked the gift? Were they comfortable with my other friends?
You see all my life I have been a people pleaser. I just want to make everyone else happy, even if it brings me misery. Where I used to think of the people pleasing portion of me an attribute, I have learned through the years that it just leaves me vulnerable and easily hurt. I have vowed these last few years to try my hardest to do things because I want to, not because someone else does or expects me to. I can't say I have done the best job at it, as it is a hard habit to break.

A birthday cannot help but to cause you to reflect on your life, where you have been and where are you going... as I sit here and think on my life I have tears flowing at the blessings that I have been gifted with. My family, both the parents that raised me, taught me, loved me, encouraged me; and the one I am trying my best to raise with the best partner God could give me. I have a husband who gets me and allows me to use my gifts and talents and who supports me and spoils me rotten with whatever my heart desires. I also gained his parents who love me and my children as their very own. I have 4 wonderful childen who are healthy and happy and are already amazing little people who bring me unspeakable joy. I have a beautiful home filled with love and laughter and hopefully use it to bless others. I have a church that I love that encourages me and strengthens me in my walk with Christ and is a solid foundation for my family to grow on. I have friends who love me for me. Some miles and miles away and some just down the street. Friends who support me, encourage me, and stand by me no matter what life brings. And I have my Jesus, who has allowed me to experience all of the above and who refreshes me daily.

So today, I celebrate the life I have been given and the one that is yet to come. I can only pray that the next 33 are as full of love, happiness, and fun.

And just for fun... my first birthday.

A day in the life...

of Silas Da'WeeWee.

Not that I think you all don't believe me when I say the boy loves his PJ's, but this is our life and I want him to know someday when he goes back and reads all about what he did when he was 3. How he tortured his mother all while making her laugh hysterically.

This is how Silas looked when he got up (at 4AM when he came to our bed) and when he got up unusually early at 6:30 AM.


This was about 7:30AM when all of my convincing him to be quiet a little longer was done, and he found the Spiderman PJ's on the foot of the steps. He put them on top of the shark pants he was wearing. (notice he found a new shirt too... that's next)



This was about 7:45 AM when he finally put on the top to the shark PJ's he started out with this morning. He put it on top of his Spiderman shirt.



This was about 8:10 AM when he spent some time in his room for being rough with Stella. I arrived to the striped pants... you guessed it on top of the Spiderman AND shark PJ's


This was 8:45 AM on our way out the door for the day...



We took a pause in the Pajama-rama Marathon to give Mommy some time at the gym and go to the pool with friends... all in all we spent 5 hours away from home. But it was not without changes. I think I put his swimmies on and pulled back off again at least 4 times.


When we walked back in the door he put these on for nap.




Evidently he wore himself out with all the wardrobe changes and fun play time at the pool. He slept for 3 and a half hours... and I woke him up for dinner. But dinner he would have no part of (because it was not bologna and cheese or McDonald's) so instead he decided he needed this.


At some point around 7PM, he appeared like this needing to be zipped.


I tried to convince him to come take a bath upstairs while Eliza was taking a bath. He opted out, but decided instead to don this while I bathed Eliza and put her to bed. (You must note that it is both the Spiderman PJ's and the shark ones...inside out and backwards both on at the same time)


AHHH... the end of a long day. A squeaky clean Silas finally goes to bed in his current PJ's of choice, Spiderman (that he stole from Callan).


All of this was totally on his own with no prompting from me. Every time he would appear, I would giggle and take a photo. He thought I was going crazy taking his picture so much...

Tomorrow's agenda... wash the pile of PJ's in Silas' floor, and pray that the Underroo's I ordered come in the mail. Maybe that way he will put away all the winter PJ's, he is burning me up!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Young Pup

Let the countdown begin... now that BJ's Birthday is officially over it is time for my countdown. Brent is exactly 7 days older than me, so for 7 days he gets to call me "young lady", "young pup", "baby girl"... you get the picture.

When I met him at an undisclosed location in the city of Martin, TN I thought he was a year younger than me (I was a Junior and he was a Sophomore). It took several weeks and a show of his Driver's License before I would believe him. Come to find out, there was more to the story. Evidentally we have been trying to meet since birth.

I was due the first week of August, Brent was due in September. Brent was born on July 7th at Baptist. 7 days later, I was born at Baptist. Brent was a little sick and being so early had some trouble with his lungs. A baby was already on the machine he needed at Baptist so they transferred him to another hospital, 2 days before I was born. If he would have stayed, we would have been crying in the nursery together.

Now you know where it all began... only, it took about 23 more years to find each other again.

To our Birthday Boy

4th of July Weekend -Glossary

You may want to scroll down and start at Chapter 1 so it will make sense.

Thank God for a Sunday where you get to go to church, have lunch with friends, send all the kids to their rooms for naps/ quiet time, and go to the pool for the evening with friends and friends.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's musical tribute...

4th of July Weekend- Chapter 5

Subtitle: The day I almost bring bodily harm to Callan, and we take in a family movie.

So, we get home from the party, have some lunch and I take the little kids to nap. I instruct the big kids to take it easy for a while since we were up late and if all went well we would try to go see Wall-E later on.

I am not sure when it happened or what I was doing but Baylor walks up to me and informs me that Callan just kicked my camera and it hit the ground. Evidently I have camera issues (first I lost it at the ball field, then Brent dropped it because I did not close the case properly). Anyway, long story short... Callan was doing some sort of headstand in the chair (you know this one) and kicked my camera off the ledge I had set it on knowing that little hands would not be up there because little hands know that YOU DO NOT CLIMB IN THE CHAIR BECAUSE IT RESULTS IN HOSPITAL VISITS. It hit the ground... and now it rattles. I had to walk away. Because he knows better, and even though it was an accident, he knows better, and I was MAD, because HE KNOWS BETTER. I did send him to a quiet place where he fell asleep in about 36 seconds... out of fear... or just worn out, I don't know.

Everyone eventually got up from naps and we decided to go see Wall-E that everyone is raving about. I won't give my take... the BIG boys enjoyed it, Silas asked about half-way through when Kung-Fu Panda was coming on, and Eliza was fine until the Sprite was gone. Then she proceeded to take out her bow and play dress up with her shoes about 7 times. (off/on/off/on...) Once back outside, Callan asked for his prize for being so good during the movie (trying to scheme a new toy he has been begging for). We then made sure he was aware that taking him to a $6.25 kids price matinee was a treat and that being good in the movie was a requirement since it was for him and not us. He got frustrated that his "operation new toy" was outsmarted.

4th of July Weekend- Chapter 4

Subtitle: The day where I discover a dislike for an overcharging plumber and let Silas wear his PJ's to a birthday party.

First of all, Danny showed up bright and early to fix our hot water. It was the thermostat. And it looks like the previous plumber (who shall remain nameless) when he replaced the other heating element knew that the thermostat was bad and knew he'd soon be making another house call and charging us another leg, but did a quick fix so he could charge us twice. {But you see, we know people... and now we know you and if I were not blogging enough tonight I would write you a dear plumber letter so you would know that we are not appreciating you right now.} However, we are very grateful to Danny who not only fixed it no problem, he also noticed a sink leak on the way out, fixed it and let us keep our legs.

Silas and I headed out to a friend's birthday party at the park. Silas had already changed clothes 5 times (by 9AM) and I feel like I am breaking down.He cries daily about his clothes, and I cannot take it anymore. He begged to wear his Superman PJ's to the party (AT THE PARK) and I let him. It was a moment of weakness, but he had a blast in them and although I felt the need to justify his need to wear the PJ's he was one happy party goer.

4th of July Weekend- Chapter 3

Subtitle: The day where we let Bobby entertain the neighborhood and let our kids play way past bedtime.

So we head down the street to our neighbor/friends house for fun, food, fellowship, and fireworks. As always we had a blast letting the kids run and romp and play, talking adult talk with friends, eating all kinds of good food (including some homemade ice cream Brent spent the better part of the morning working on), and releasing a few OOOOOHHHHS and AAAAHHHH's at the fireworks. Really, we do not have a need to go anywhere to see any kind of show for the 4th of July our neighborhood lights up like the 4th of July (HA). I tried to capture the kids, but they were playing so hard I missed them most of the time.

4th of July Weekend- Chapter 2

Subtitle: The day where Mommy screamed bloody FREEZING murder while she attempted to bathe.

... we discovered that our hot water heater that just went out and we replaced a new heating element on this day decided to just stop producing hot water. We were filthy, like dirt clods hanging from our hair filthy there was no way around a bath/shower for all of us. I tortured the kids, let Brent shower and then asked for some time alone. I really dislike cold water. Like, I do not get in the pool in the summer kind of dislike, and I had to take a full on get soaked kind of shower. I opted out and did it in stages. I won't go into details in case we are in mixed company (he he) but during the rinse portion I screamed... LOUD because I did not know how else I would get through it. Brent says there are cold showers in Nicaragua. I am thinking I might wait until they find water heaters down there before I visit.

Brent made a phone call to a plumber friend, and we flicked the frozen snot off of Eliza's face and headed down the street for fun.

4th of July Weekend- Chapter 1

Sub title: The day I got upset with Brent for not taking me to Franklin on the 4th... again.

I really do not know what my issue is. I guess it is like living in Nashville and never going to the Grand Ol' Opry. We live right here near one of the most historic small towns and neatest little towns in the country and we never participate in their activities. You see my husband has lived here all his life and either it is old to him, he is over it, or he is just not that interested. I on the other hand have been begging him to take me to one of it's many Main Street adventures for almost 10 YEARS now. And on this 4th, I came up short again. I know, I know... I should just go myself. To know me is to know it is not about that anymore. I want my hubby to take me and you will probably see me complain and fuss until he decides to JUST TAKE ME.

Instead, we worked in the yard digging up rocks that our landscaper should have moved out of here when he graded the yard and redug/weeded the bed that I dug a few months ago but we let go so long we had to basically start over. The big kids enjoyed watching us and then playing in the sprinkler. We then went inside to clean up for Booms Day (courtsey of Bobby) 2008. That is when we discovered...

Interperative Dance

Play Day at the Park

Today we had a play day at Fannie Mae Dee's Park. I had never even heard of it, but it is a really nice little park right beside Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. I met some of my college sorority pledge sisters there. Sometimes it blows my mind that I have know these girls for 15 years. I do not get the see them often at all (and a lot of us live right here) but when I do get to see them, I love that they are still the same people I knew back then and we can always take over just where we left off.

It was good to see you girls, if only it had been longer!

Wordless Wednesday

If she is HIS puppy...

... then why am I the one tripping over bags and running into the doorframe at 2:30AM????

This is how I found them last night when I came to bed.