Three Things

What?  This isn't how you watch a movie?

Nico's most favorite thing in the whole world: playing the guitar.

And then clapping for himself.

He knows he's good.

And finally, it's mopping day.

Can you find the baby?

On any given afternoon...

... you might find something like this going on in my backyard.

Just the way I like it.

Perks

There are many perks to having a pool in your own backyard, not the least of which is privacy.

For those times when the gator steels your pants.

It's a sad, sad day...

... for Mayo.

Her baby's on the move.

And on a totally unrelated subject, See those beautiful orange curtains?

Now, that's happiness in a piece of fabric, right there.

Bad Blogger

 Okay, here's the thing.  I used to be a good blogger.  Now, however, I am a bad blogger.  And every day I think, "today I'm going to post on that ol' blog of mine."  And every day I don't.  The creative juices just aren't flowing lately.

But I like to post on this ol' blog, and I know my mom likes me to post.  She just wants to see pictures of the grandboys...  And I think maybe - just maybe - if I force myself to just sit down and do it EVERY DAY, maybe those juices I like so much will begin to flow again.

So here's to fresh new starts.  And here's to cute boys.  

Who happen to be driving me positively batty today, by the way.  Okay, just one of them.  I'll not mention any names, but he might be seven and his name might start with a C and rhyme with ... absolutely nothing.  Just being honest with y'all.

Are you ready for this?  "Cause I've got lots to share, and maybe I'll actually start doing it.

Because I'm Awake

It's the middle of the night and I should be in bed.  I had every intention of going to bed on time - early, even - tonight.  I was in bed, husband, dog, and two-thirds of my children asleep.  But when the last kid finally let out his final yawn - the same yawn he's enjoyed immediately before giving up the fight every single night for the past nine years - and I got up to make my nightly rounds, somehow, after touching each one to make sure they were in fact breathing, I ended up downstairs at the computer instead of upstairs in my bed.  I've been sitting here for longer than I care to admit, not doing much of anything really.  Occasionally the thought flits through my sleepy little head that if I'm going to be up, I could at least straighten up the house.  It's a real mess tonight.  But I don't.  Because you know what?  Sometimes Mama needs a little down time.  And if that means sitting in the dark living room surrounded by the mess in the middle of the night, then so be it.  That's what this mama's going to do.

In other news, we've been sick.  And my computer died.  Let's have a pity party, shall we?  Thank you.  Now I feel better and we can all move on with our sweet little lives.

Because you know what, life is sweet.  I live in the land of perpetual sunny, 80-degree days.  With an amazing husband, three perfect boys, and a totally neurotic dog.

In between sick days, we have actually gotten out to see a bit of Key West.  And now that I'm set up on Dan's stinky computer, I can share a bit of this exciting adventure with you.  Lucky you.  Oh, but not today.  Because it's the middle of the night and I should be in bed.  So you know what, that's where I'm headed.  Straight past the mess that will for sure greet me with open arms in the morning and over my dog to get into my bed.  Have I mentioned the size of our current accommodations?  That's a post in and of itself.

So nighty-night, and sweet dreams.  Mine are calling.

On the Bright Side

We've been in Key West for twelve days.  And in that twelve days, we've been to the doctor four times.  Yes, you read that right.  Four times.  It just doesn't seem right that we made it through almost an entire winter in Virginia - healthy, which for us means "no strep" - only to move to paradise and come down with - you got it - strep.

But, looking on the bright side, at least the view from the pharmacy is pretty decent.

I showed them.

You know how most of the time you feel like a pretty smart cookie.  And then one night you go out to Cracker Barrel with your family and your children get all the way down to two or three pins left in that addicting little pin game.  This means they're geniuses.  It says so on the game.  And you all start talking about how funny it would be if someone got stuck with "like, ten or something" pins.  And you all laugh.  And then you take the game from your seven-year-old 'cause you're going to show everyone just how smart you are.  You're going to whup up on that game.  And then you realize you're stuck with ten pins left.  And the board doesn't even tell you what this means.  But it can't be good.  So you laugh.  And you celebrate your accomplishment.  Because, well, what else can you do?

My children are smarter than me.

Oh, and P.S. Please don't judge.  This is what I look like after a long day of traveling.  Sitting in between two boys on the third row bench seat, feet resting sometimes on, sometimes under the dog's back end, leaning forward to tickle/plug/soothe the baby.  I may not look so good, but it was a good day.  And I got to eat french toast at the end of it.  Yippee!

Three Months!

Three months, when you're pregnant, last about 25 years.

Three months, when you've finally got that sweet baby in your arms, last about two seconds.

Nick is officially three months old today.

And I don't know how that happened.

As of today, we have a three-month-old.

One who can reach for, grab, and get toys into his mouth.

It's been a big day.

What I Didn't Post

It's 3 am on December 31st.  I'm nursing my baby.  And I've decided I have to catch up on the ol' blog before the new year.  It's been a while.  And I've got a lot to share.  But I haven't edited a photo in two months (coincidentally, that's how old my baby is!) I'm typing one-handed, and I can't see the keyboard (a challenge for anyone, but for those of us who never bothered  to learn typing it's really fun...).  So what I'm trying to say is, here's what I wanted to tell you but didn't.

We had a baby.  I guess I did tell you that.  But it was kind of a big deal.  I love him.

His brothers and his Daddy love him, too.  What is it about seeing your big kids with your new baby?  Pure bliss.  And your husband with his new little one?  Swoon.

 My brother is an artist.  And thank goodness for that, since we had a boy who needed to be Darth Maul for Halloween.  

My house has been taken over by Pokemon.  Camden was having some, let's call them "discipline issues," and needed an "incentive.  He worked hard on his behavior and finally earned the pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards he'd been wanting.  Upon getting to the store - and figuring out he could get either ten pokemon cards for the price of five yu-gi-oh... we've become a pokemon family.  Mandisa doesn't quite get it.  But she's willing to give it a try for her boys.

I took photos of my sweet little one-week-old Nick.

Then I took pictures of my sweet little two-week-old Nick.

Speaking of two-week-old babies, how many do you know that were already smiling?  Because mine was!  Have you ever seen anything so cute in your whole entire life?  

I kinda like my siblings.  Just a little bit.

Camden played soccer.  He is awesome.  If I do say so myself.  His biggest problem this fall was that sometimes he played too well.  And then his coach would tell him to hold back.  No need to run up the score in U8 soccer...

Jake's class gave a concert.  There is absolutely nothing more entertaining than watching a bunch of third gators stand in front of a crowd.

Twenty-five cents a bag and the chance to use "power tools" means Mommy gets an almost clean yard.

Move over Michaelangelo.  Nick's discovered ceiling fans.  Your Sistine Chapel's got nothing on these things.

Twelve years ago, as I was getting ready to go out one evening, my grandmommy asked me where I was going.  I told her I was going to be Mary at the Temple.  She looked a little shocked and asked, "With who?"  "Dan."  She thought I had said I was going to be married at the Temple, and was just a little surprised since at that point I had only been out with this guy once.  No worries, Grandmommy.  I was just going to freeze my bum off being Mary in the live Nativity.  But I got to look at those pretty blue eyes while freezing my bum off.  And went to be married at the Temple - with Dan - the next Christmas.

This year we got to hold a real live baby.  And we were inside, so no freezing bums.  But he's still got those pretty blue eyes.  And I think his new baby might be lucky enough to have them, too.  Maybe...

Jake turned NINE.  We celebrated with a Harry Potter party.  It was pretty much the coolest party ever.

Camden is - hands down - the best, most attentive big brother ever.  I'm so glad he gets to be one!

And then there's Mandisa, who takes her responsibilities very seriously.

Okay, the baby is going back to bed, and so must I.

Finally!

Guess who FINALLY lost a tooth!

While You Wait

We're back from our fun-filled family reunion.

And I'm busily going through 1434 photos from the week.

Once I've got some semblance of order to these photos, I'll be sharing quite a few.

Don't worry.  Not 1434.  I promise.

But until then, I thought you might like to see what 26 weeks preggo looks like on a 5 foot tall, (normally) 100 pound girl.

That's right.  It looks big.

(Picure taken a week ago.  And yes, that belly is even bigger now.)

I Caved

I told Jake he couldn't read the fourth Harry Potter book until he turned nine.  Starting with number four, these books get steadily more intense and scary (and I LOVE them).  I just didn't think he was ready to deal with some of things in this next book.

But this afternoon Jake told me the story of the Iliad.  And when he calmly and matter-of-factly described - in great detail, mind you - the death of Hector, I started to rethink my previous stance.

I caved.  And I don't think we'll be hearing much from Jake for the next few days.

Summer Swim

I have never - nor will I ever - entered the water head first.

But my children?

They do it every day.

Field Day

We headed off to Gatorville slathered in sunscreen and very excited.

We danced when we were supposed to be paying attention to the game.

But who can resist when the music is calling?

We played kick-ball.

Our feet grew thirty-five sizes.

It was a little hard to walk.

We spent some real quality time with favorite friends.

Who are about to move away.  Boo.

Like I said.

Favorite friends.  Moving.  Boo.

We got wet.

We (moms) spied on our children.

We enjoyed the snow cones.

We look forward to those every year.  Yum!

Did I mention we got wet?

We love Field Day.

And we really love Gatorville.

Happiest place on Earth!

The Other End of the Spectrum

Since I've shown you our beautiful home-grown spinach (which, really, everybody eats right up!), I thought it only fitting that I show you another end of the food spectrum 'round these parts.

Last week, two boys and their Bubby planned the ultimate meal.  We ate hot dogs, cheetoes, doritoes, chips, and apple sauce.  Washed down with a tall chocolate  milkshake.  "The milkshake isn't dessert, Mommy.  It's the drink."  My boys were in heaven.

At least until this mean mom added green beans and ruined their perfect dinner experience.