Thoughts...

I have got nothing for you. I have random video's of my kids from last week. I have family beach photos, and I have thoughts on a Father's Day post that I was in the middle of writing when Brent got on the computer and deleted it by accident. He told me tonight he was still looking for that post, so I am going to have to start all over (at some point).

This week has been "off to the races" for us.(I thought things were slow and easy in the summer) Baylor is attending Line Drive University (a baseball camp) this week and enjoying it. The mommmy, and three other siblings are not. Since the camp is all the way in Cool Springs (a 30ish minute drive) we drive there to take him and "fiddle faddle" around until he is done. Camp is about 3.5 hours and a lot of time to "fiddle faddle" with a 5, 3, and 1 year old. I also learned that giving your 5 and 3 year old their own water bottle on the ride is not a good idea unless you like to frequent every bathroom establishment that exists in Cool Springs. I have gotten a lot of random (normally useless) errands run though and know all the back roads from Franklin to Cool Springs.

Maybe tomorrow I will have something interesting to talk about.

Put a fork in us... we're DONE

Thursday night we went for a nice night time swim. It was fun! Eliza likes to jump in to Gandie (but only off the ladder) and she would look around for an audience. The kids really love the water, but in the dark it gets a little hard to keep up with them all, so we did not stay that long.





This was all her... and she did not want to get out of it.



Friday, you could tell the kids were done with the sand, with the water, with the sun. I got a few good pics of them bugging the fire out of us under the umbrellas. It was a good thing that we had our nephew Jackson's 2nd birthday party to go to, because they were done. We went to Bubba and Julie's house for the celebration ( and my camera battery had given out) but I did get a video of us singing to him. I think it freaked him out a little, but then again it does me too and I am going on 30+ times of having to sit through that song with everyone starring down at you.






That's all folks... THE END



Just for an added laugh... I have to blog about it, but it still has me in a deep quandary. As we were driving home yesterday somewhere in North Florida/ South Alabama we pulled into a gas station to do a diaper change. We decided to let all the boys out to pick a drink. As we were unloading a woman (I THINK) pulled up (again I think... it looked like it used to be a car) jumped out of her car, slammed the door and exclaimed... "I KIDNAP ME SOME BOYS" and stood there as we just stared at her (?) trying to see if she were serious/joking/crazy enough to be serious/ or just plain crazy. Like I said... bloggable, but still has us going HMMMMM. She walked away "Har-har-haring" So we just got out of town... quick!


Maybe tomorrow when Blogger is cooperating I will post a few mugs of some of our accomplices this week. I try not to post photos of other people's kids... but I might just do a few so you can see their fun.

Catch Up

Tuesday night we (and when I say we I mean... Me, Brent, Baylor, Callan, Silas, Eliza, Nommie, Gandie, Uncle Bubba, Aunt Julie, and Jackson) went out to eat with the Davis' clan and then to a the little Jetty to look for hermit crabs... this is a blast and recommend it to all Destin/Ft. Walton visitors. There were not as many there as last time, but the kids had a blast!









Then last night we hired a professional photographer and got all dressed up. This was me pulling my camera out when I thought the photographer would not be offended.

What went wrong?

What day is it? Where am I? Yesterday was not so good. I do not know what happened. I went to bed just fine with my stomach upset and woke up full blown sick. That is not supposed to happen at the beach when you have not been in 2 years. I spent the entire day in the bed yesterday... and I mean when I even tried to get up I ended up back down. I do not know if I ate something, the sun did something funny to me, or if it is just a bug. I am still not 100% but then again I have not eaten since Tuesday. Nothing pains me more than to be at the beach and be able to see the sand and water and umbrella's and feel to bad to even get to the beach. Good thing we brought family with us because without them I think Brent might have packed up and gone home.

Today the big boys are going to Big Kahuna's water park with the Davis'. I am so sad because I used to love water parks and have not been in about 10 years. The plan was for me to go but I am afraid I will get there (pay the heavy price to go) and then turn green again.I have been excited about going for a while, and it is just not a good idea.

Anyway... thought I would share the good, bad, and ugly.

We did take some beach pics last night with a professional here. Hopefully I can share those soon.

What can I say...

I am typing on my laptop, listening to the waves hit the shore... kids are in bed... does it get any better? If I weren't so tired, I'd spend hours enjoying this.

We had another fun day. Brent woke up with the stripes. I am not sure what happened really. I think some of his skin decided to reject the sunscreen because I SPRAYED HIM GOOD... like at least 2 coats. We used a whole bottle yesterday alone on just him and me for goodness sakes. But, none the less... he has stripes. So, he had to wear a shirt out today because we spent too much time making fun of the dummies yesterday with funny burn marks... he could not be the one made fun of today.

Baylor spent so much time in the ocean yesterday he came in chaffed from sand in his shorts, so he is walking funny and the salt stings the wounds. But his buddy/cousin coaxed him back in after a few coats of Aquafor and he played for hours with her. That boy is a fish and is really comfortable in both the ocean and the pool.

Eliza loves the sand. She will spend an hour putting it in buckets or over in her little pool of water, and then she is off for her new favorite treat "num num's". She made it up herself. She has discovered starburst love and when she wants one she just says "num-num" until you give her one. It can be a battle of wills because she can say it about 400 times in a row... but a girl can not live on starburst alone!

Silas is all about the snacks. He is neither here nor there about the beach he could take it or leave it. He plays some, but again is all about the snack bag. He also loves the little splash park they have here. He runs around in it trying not to get wet.

Callan has suddenly become afraid of water (something to do with Brent getting stung by a jelly fish yesterday) but even the pool he is struggling getting in. But he dug a hole so big yesterday with TayTay and Colby that he had to be pulled out of it ( too deep to climb out) and that kid was wiped out today. He fell asleep wiping down the coffee table and slept for several hours ( and then cried for 30 minutes because the "old time" Incredible Hulk marathon went off while he was sleeping.

We have also enjoyed some time with my brother, Juile and Jackson, but seeing that he is a Youth Minister, he was pretty much required to be at church on Sunday and then had some things to take care of today. We have spent a little more time with Julie and Jackson and that boy is a hoot. He is about to turn 2 on Saturday and is talking so much. His sense of humor is going to be so FUNNY... he keeps us laughing at just the little he can say and do.

OH... and there was a huge deal on the beach ( picture Baywatch) I do not know what exactly happened (no one would tell us) my dad went and listened to the lifegaurds radios and we think it was a search for a missing person in the water (WAY OUT)But from what we can tell the family did not seem to be sure if he went in the water or was just missing. It had everyone's attention for several hours.

Anyway... enough about us... we are having fun I have pictures to share from pool time but I am too lazy to post them tonight... maybe tomorrow.

Florida Fun

We made it... we spent a day sitting in the sand and the sun. I will try to post photos tonight. I am sure I will have stories as Brent already has a sunburn streak where his trunks started out up high and worked their way down lower through the day.Fun stuff!

This is how we roll...


This is how it began at 7:30 AM

Forever Family Day

One year ago today at about 5 PM we arrived home a FOREVER FAMILY to Nashville, TN. I cannot even begin to explain the emotions I have both from then and now. This child is a gift from God in so many ways. This process, this child, has shown us new love, deep love, and has opened our hearts in a whole new way. I honestly wish that everyone could do this, everyone could experience adoption. Not just for the child, but for your heart. I wish I could say we weren't done with adoption... but Guatemala is just plain closed and I do not know if it will have an adequate system for years. It makes me so sad, because in so many ways I felt like there would be another Guatemalan baby. In fact, I felt like we would get the call about Eliza's birth mom having another child placed for adoption. It hurts my heart to think that perhaps it has already happened and nothing can be done about it, we will never know, and that child could have been abandoned with no one to take him in. I try not to "go there" but once your heart has seen, there is no going back.
Here are some shots from our arrival and our first family photo.






Oh... we are off to the beach! Hopefully we will at least be at Cracker Barrel in Columbia by now. I have a laptop with me and I hope to post some, but we will see.