Sunday, October 28, 2012

Holland Farms~


Our Sunday adventure this week was 45 minutes NW from the Tucky, to a little town called Jay, where we visited, and thoroughly enjoyed, Holland Farms! (Have I mentioned how much I love Fall??)

The very first thing the big boys wanted to do was ride the horse's...and Jack was a great supervisor!
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Then...we found the slides. We hit the motherload! The boys could have spent all day on those things...
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Even Jack got a turn!
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The sunflower fields were magnificent...as far as the eye could see...
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We finished off our adventure in the corn kernel pit. I am still finding corn in shoes and jackets :)
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Happy Fall Y'all!

The punkin' patch


Saturday afternoon, we headed down to Mary Esther, and went to our annual punkin' patch!
Look how we have grown...Then...
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and...now...
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We had a blast!
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Campbell and Cailey invited us over for a playdate...they had such a great afternoon with the Hipsh gals...The Dad's even got in on the action!
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Fall came just in time!!


We patiently waited for the crisp, fall air to arrive, and it delivered!

We started off the weekend with a bang and continued until the sun went down tonight...

Friday afternoon, we attended the much anticipated, annual Halloween party at the boys school! (This was our 4th one!) The boys were able to debut their Oompa Loompa costumes, hand made in 3 days by their Aunt Lowie! Thank you so much Low...they fit perfectly and the boys looked incredibly cute. (I sent her an email, with a picture attached of an Oompa Loompa, and by the next morning, she was at the fabric store, before the clock read 7:30a...she had no pattern, a few measurements and she was off. And she nailed it!)

Jack and Wade were a little gun shy, when they walked out the door and saw the huge crowd of parents, grandparents and siblings...but B-man, he totally ate it up this year (Last year was a complete role reversal...shocker, I know.)!
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I still cannot believe the boys are in the "Big Kid Classroom"...
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And a special thanks to Pop's, Nana and Gator for cheering our boys on...they LOVED having you all there!
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Thursday, October 25, 2012

Not cool enough...just yet


\We had big plans for last weekend...to tackle the corn maze, go to the pumpkin patch...carve pumpkins and maybe even roast pumpkin seeds...but I just could not do it. It was in the eighties, and I did not want Halloween/Fall pics in T-shirts and flip flops. Just wasn't gonna happen...so we pushed it off until this weekend, hoping the weather is a little more festive!

Instead, we visited our old stomping grounds and enjoyed "our" Shalimar park!

How lucky am I?
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It was so sweet to watch JackJack, trying to keep right up with his big brothers...he honestly thinks he is 4 years old!
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We then dug out the old paint brushes and had fun doing a sweet, little pumpkin craft...

They were so proud of their creations!
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In the early evening, we loaded the kiddos back up and headed to Twin Hills for a stroll around the lake...
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Sometimes, we have the most fun when our original plans fall through...
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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

October in FL


Where else can you slip-n-slide in the middle of October?
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They had an aboslute ball...(and so did Todd and I, watching them and remembering our own days of slip-n-sliding...) Photobucket

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I can do it by myself!


At 16 months, Jack loves to feed himself! It is normally messy and more ends up on the table and his little body, but hey, you gotta start somewhere... Photobucket

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Friday, October 12, 2012


Nana and Gator kidnapped the big boys last weekend! While Brody and Wade were busy doing this...
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and this...
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and this...
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We spoiled Jack Jack with a lot of one on one time! He accompanied us to the Walk to End Alzheimer's, where our company was a sponsor...
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We enjoyed a lazy Saturday afternoon at Seaside...
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and sweet cuddles from our baby boy!! Photobucket

But, we did did miss having our whole family together! We spent hours and hours outside on Sunday afternoon, until the sun finally set and sent us indoors...
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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Kleenex Moment



Snagged this off of a friend's post on Facebook that she snagged from somewhere else. I did not write this, however I feel the exact same way...

The Last Time, The Huffington Post, by Devon Corneal

Tonight, Little Dude asked for a snuggle before bed. It was well past his bedtime and I was tired, cranky and had a stack of laundry to fold, a memo to write and a blog post to finish. I told him I'd snuggle for two minutes.

He crawled under his blanket, squirmed until he was comfortable and pushed me to the edge of the mattress. He offered me his favorite blankie to keep me warm. I put my arm around him and he was sound asleep before I had finished cataloguing the list of things I had to do before I could crawl into my own bed. I considered making a stealthy escape but stopped when he threw his arm around my neck while mumbling unintelligibly. A sleeping 4-year old's arm has as much strength as a soggy piece of toast, but I didn't move. Despite my earlier desire to leave, I stayed and pulled him toward me.

I had one of those rare blissful parenting moments when everything else fades away and you appreciate the simple physical presence of your child. I marveled at the amount of heat a small boy produces when he sleeps and the ease with which he leaves the world behind. I smelled his hair. The laundry could wait.

It hit me in the darkness of his cluttered room that these days are numbered. Some night in the future, Little Dude will ask me to snuggle with him before he falls asleep, and I will have no idea that it will be the last time. I won't know to pay attention or to try to commit every minute to memory. Days or weeks or months later, I will try to recall when that last snuggle happened. I won't be able to. I know I will ache to slide next to him on his narrow bed, listen to him breathe and wait for the moment when he surrenders to his dreams. All of the irritations, the inconveniences and the wishing for time alone will seem insignificant in comparison to the warmth and peace of his nighttime routine. I will regret the times I hurried through bedtime and left his room even though he asked me to stay "Just one more minute, Mommy."

It will be too late.

I just now understand that in anticipating my son's "firsts," I've forgotten to appreciate what he's left behind. The firsts are monumental, celebrated and captured on film. I reveled in Little Dude's first steps, jotted down his first words and am prepared to save lost teeth. There isn't a first I haven't recorded in some way. I've paid less attention to his "lasts." I've ignored the finality that comes with moving from one stage to another.

I don't remember the last day that Little Dude's eyes were blue before they turned green. I can't recall the last time his hair was baby soft and curly, or the last time he crawled or took a real nap. I can't pinpoint the last time we shared the peaceful quiet of a 3 a.m. feeding, or he squealed with joy to be riding his wooden rocking horse. There will be a hundred last times to come. And I won't know they've passed until there is no hope of recapturing them. I know this because I don't remember the last day he used a pacifier or waited for us to get him from his bed rather than clomping into our bedroom at some ungodly pre-dawn hour exuberant and ready to face the day as we struggle to open our eyes. I've forgotten when he stopped liking sweet potatoes or saying "Pick mine up!"

Not that there aren't stages I'm happy are gone. I don't miss teething, two-hour feedings, biting or needing to be carried everywhere. I'm neither Pollyanna nor a masochist. Babies are darling; I'm also glad I don't have one anymore. Raising children isn't all warm snuggles and charming memories. Parenting can be a long, hard slog.

But for today I'm focusing on the last times still to come, even though I won't know that they're the last chapters until long after they've gone. The last snuggle. The last time Little Dude asks me to bring him chocolate milk. The last time we play fire trucks. The last time he falls down and comes crying to me with his entire body shaking, tears streaming down his face, believing with childish certainty that a kiss from me will make his skinned knee better. The last time he asks to marry me. The last time he believes in my omniscience. The last time we color together at the kitchen table. I'm not naïve enough to believe that this moment of reflection will stop me from becoming irritated, impatient, frustrated, bored or upset tomorrow when my son whines, spills spaghetti sauce on the rug or throws a fit because I won't let him stay up late. Maybe, though, I'll temper my response if I can remember how fleeting this all is. That for every moment I've prayed would end, there is something I miss

Monday, October 8, 2012

Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee!


Sweet JDH at school last week...cell phone quality video, but sweet, nonetheless!

Happy October!


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Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Momma and her big boys


These 2 little kiddos are the ones that made me a mommy. And Motherhood, it's empowering!

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Playdate with Carsen!


It was a rainy Sunday...so we headed over to Gulf Breeze to play with sweet Carsen!! We danced, ate pizza and peaches, spent an hour at Gymboree, played peek-a-boo and really, just had the best time! These 2 are only 6 weeks apart!

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Is it Fall yet?


Worst Beach Day ever. We thought it would be a great idea to go to the beach during Jack's naptime...you know, in the hopes that he would take a nap in his stroller. Really? Why in the world would we think that? Brody cried over everything and Wade whined from the time we got out of the car until we loaded back up. At one point, we were up by the showers, causing a scene...I mean Jack was trying to escape, Brody was crying because the shower was "hurting" him and Wade had successfully dumped half a bag of Cheeto puffs on the ground, and by this point, Jack was swiping the sand covered Cheeto's off of the ground and shoving them in his mouth. A lady walked by and actually said, "I feel your pain. I have twin 4 year old daughters and a 10 week old...I have been there and done that. The beach just isn't relaxing anymore, huh?" Yeah, you got that right honey.

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The nap!

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We did manage to have a little bit of fun :)

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Nobody said these outings were going to be easy on me and Todd...but, we do it for them. When we were pulling into the driveway, they actually said, "Thank you Mommy and Daddy! That was so much fun!"

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