I Know, You're Jealous

So, I pretty well have the best mom in the entire world. She flew all the way to see us just so she could be stuck in rainy weather watching my girls for five full days while Bryan and I spent those days lounging on the beach in beautiful...
Florida. That's right. A trip by ourselves. We haven't been on a trip by ourselves EVER. We never were able to go on a honeymoon and because of my husband's career choice we have been in school for a very long time and the funds for a trip were non-existant. This time around the kids were the perfect age for us to get away for a little while and let me tell you, it was wonderful.

We spent our days lounging on the beach and throwing a ball around.

We went boogie boarding until we were so tired we had to take a nap in the afternoon. We would go back to the hotel and sit around watching Swamp People and Pawn Stars (yes this giving wife let Bryan watch whatever he wanted). Then we would go out to eat. By ourselves! We even ordered dessert once! We EVEN went to a movie! Oh the simple things in life you take for granted. It was heaven.

We laid on the sand and didn't have to listen to one single whiney request nor have a constant eye on a child to make sure they didn't get too close to the water.

Do you see that bug on my leg? They had a love bug hatch while we were there and unfortunately we had to deal with the little varments. It was the only negative of the trip. They didn't bite. They just bugged. Dang love bugs.

We drove out to a nature preseve and tried to see some alligators and manatees but were unable to see either. To be honest though, it was so nice to drive in a car and be able to have a conversation with just the two of us. Even the few moments of silence were refreshing. I had almost forgotten how much I love this guy. He is so funny! So much of who we are has been defined by our children. It was so refreshing to remember that we are pretty dang awesome as a couple too.

I had to take a picture of Bryan being a good samaritan. There was a family visiting for the day that wanted to know how to boogie board. I selfishly hoarded my boogie board to myself while Bryan loaned his to this family and went to give them some pointers.

Bryan hates it when I ask random strangers to take our picture but I needed a few with the two of us so he had to deal with the awkwardness of it all.

Two words for you: stud muffin. That's right.

We finally did find a little park where the manatees were swimming around. We've seen them in the zoo but it's always more exciting to see them in the wild.

The dark mass behind Bryan is the manatees. There was a while little family of them.

So apparently after the love bugs hatch, a few days later they literally all drop dead. We saw some jellyfish on the beach and took a picture. You can also see the love bug carnage that occured as well. Good riddance to the nasty little things.

We walked on the beach every single evening. It was so so beautiful. The weather was perfect and the beach was so nice. The trip refreshed me, reminded me of how much I love my husband and allowed me to return a better mother to the children I missed. Thank you so much mom for this wonderful gift. We are very much indebted to you.

Thankfully my mom stuck around for a few days after we returned and we were able to do a few things. We headed to Hocking Hills. It was beyond beautiful. The waterfalls were full of water after what a wet spring it has been. I must admit we were pretty excited to get back to these two little stinkers and to see how happy they were to see us.

You cannot imagine how attached my girls became to their Nana while we were gone.

Audrey wanted desperately to wade in the water and Bryan cannot say no to her. Yes we did remove her pants.

Group shot after a wonderful day.

I've Got Some Catching Up to Do...

We've been pretty busy around here and I definitely have some major catching up to do. I was a little overwhelmed when I uploaded fifty six pictures today. So here's to getting started...

Our very dear friends the Gaileys paid us a visit. We had a great day and ended it with some yummy (virgin of course) pina coladas. The kids particularly enjoyed the cherries on top.

Audrey thinks she is an official babysitter.

Dave got stuck reading the 12 Dancing Princesses to the kids. I'm not sure that's a book commonly read at their house.

It is a month of birthdays around here as well. I turned the mighty 29. I kind of had a moment where I realized it has been 10 years since I was a teenager. Where is this time going to? At least I have my beautiful family to remind me that my time has been well spent.

It was a good day. Some friends took me to lunch and Bryan got me some flip flops and a gift card.

We also went to a park and got eaten by mosquitoes. It's been a crazy wet year.

It really was a perfect day topped off with...

the yummiest ice cream cake ever. Bryan totally came through. Julia even declared that this was her favorite kind of cake. Many thanks to Bryan for making the day special and to family/friends for all the phone calls, messages and gifts.

A few days after my birthday is my little Audrey's birthday. She turned the big three. She was so excited for this day to come. I keep telling her she can start dance and go to preschool when she turns three. She knew this was a big milestone for her. Audrey's only request was a Tangled birthday (I think this is probably the request of 95% of all girls age 3-6). My mom was in town and got her this adorable Rapunzel dress.

Julia decided she needed to accessorize the outfit. Rapunzel needs a crown and a frying pan.

I know blogs are meant to feature amazing cake decorating skills and if that is what you came here for you will be severely disappointed.

My mom also brought Flynn and Rapunzel on the boat so we did blue frosting for the water and popped that boat on. I even did yellow blobs to represent the lanterns. Audrey loved it.

We had all purple balloons.

And opened some presents.

If only I could express in words how much joy these two dolls have brought my girl these past couple of weeks. She specifically requested the Rapunzel doll but I have to be honest, the Belle one is her favorite.

She successfully blew out her candles and we let her pick at the yellow blobs of frosting to her heart's content. It was her birthday after all. And I'm pretty sure the frosting to a three year old is the very best part.

Some facts about little Audrey at three years old...

She has a great and deep love for Little Caeser's cheese pizza. She asks for it every time we drive by.

She loves potato chips and crackers (which she pronounces "tacos")

She uses the letter "t" instead of "c" when saying words. For example "car" is "tar" and "candy" is "tandy."

She loves to play. Even if I give her some pretzels for a snack they take on human form. If there is little pretzel it is most certainly the baby pretzel.

Audrey loves babies and wants to be near them. She told me once that she was going to be a babysitter.

She is a tease and is incredibly silly. We are always impressed at her little sense of humor.

She really enjoys reading and is really patient when Julia is practicing her reading. Her favorite book is 101 Dalmations. She never ever tires of it and particularly loves when Bryan does the Cruella Devil voice.

She is very quick to ask for forgiveness and to forgive. I think this is one of her very best qualities. She doesn't want anyone to be mad at her and always tries to be a peacemaker when others are upset.

She has a great desire to learn. I can always tell when she's trying hard to focus on something.

She loves Julia. They play so well together and I am so so so thankful for that.

She loves her blanket and sucks on the corners of it to fall asleep. She has done this since she was little and is still very attached to it.

She is very cautious most of the time but lately she has been getting very brave. I am so proud of her when she tries new things like running accross the bridge at the playground which used to terrify her.

She is so stubborn. She will never back down when she's really put her mind to something without a fight.

Now that this post isn't long enough (I know many readers have given up at this point) I decided Audrey deserved a little interview like I did for Julia recently. Here we go...

What's your favorite food? Chicken nuggets.

What's your favorite color? Pink

What's your fovorite toy? Belle

What do you want to be when you get big? five

What is your favorite thing to do? Go to the zoo.

Whats your favorite animal? horse.

What is your favorite treat? pony fruit snacks.

What is your fovorite movie? Beauty and the Beast.

Who's your best friend? Hanky (her cousin)

What do you like to do with mommy? Go outside and play.

What do you like to do with daddy? Go to the zoo with mommy and daddy.

What's your favorite song? Tale as old as time.

We sure do love our Audrey girl. She has brought more joy to our home than I can express and we cannot imagine life without her.

Oh How I Love Deviled Eggs

So Easter has come and gone and I am now just getting to it. It was overall a great success even though of course Bryan was working on the actual Easter day. We made the best of it and celebrated the festivities a day early.

the girls loved searching for eggs. Even in our small house. When I was growing up the Easter Bunny hid the real eggs we had colored the night before. I think the Bunny has wised up and decided the rather than risk food poisoning (which never happened) we'll stick with plastic candy filled eggs. It does take away the suspense of a potentially forgotten egg that is to be found a year or so later (this happened more than once).
Julia got a hula hoop in her Easter basket. She was more than thrilled. She kept telling me that this was the "best day EVER!" Who knew a hula hoop had that kind of power?

Audrey got some bubbles that were gone within two days along with the jellybeans. this girl loves her some jellybeans.

As a random side note, do you recall a previous post where I showed the girls' enormous collection of nuts and dirt? Well during quiet time I found a little visitor pilfering one of the nuts. I took a picture to show Julia because I knew she would be so excited. When I showed her the picture she said, "Is it a rat?" Upon further inspection it does look kind of like a rat, which is disgusting, but I assure you it is a squirrel. The fuzzy tail makes them much more appealing than a rat.

We also colored the eggs for Easter. This is my favorite tradition. We used to really get into it growing up.

The girls enjoyed it as well.

Julia got very creative mixing colors, puting on stickers and coloring with crayons.

Yes, my egg was the awesomest. And I got to make deviled eggs which I love and it seems I only eat them once a year. But I am picky about my deviled eggs. They have to be done just right.

The night before Easter I pulled out the sponge curlers. These certainly bring back memories.

The girls in their adorable Easter outfits.

These lucky girls had the Easter Bunny visit them at Daddy's work too! Root Beer, cheetos and an Easter Basket! it doesn't get better than that.

This last weekend we were able to go to little Sarah's baby blessing. It was fun to spend some time with family and the kids had a great time playing together. We went to Johnson's Farm, a great little town for lunch and spent nearly three hours swimming at the hotel. It was a great weekend and many thanks to James and Natalie for having us.

Aren't they a cute family?

Bryan's Dad and his family were also able to come.

Scott and Audrey have May birthdays so Natalie made a cake and celebrated all of the kiddos. It was very sweet of her.

Bryan with all of the kids. I'm think this was after they had tried to flush toys down the toilet and plugged it up pretty good. Pretty sure Natalie will not want us to visit again any time soon. Thankfully no permanent damage was done (or so they said).

Thanks again James and Natalie for the wonderful food and for having us visit. It's been so wonderful having you live closer.