Wonderful Weekend!

James and I took the babies and Victoria to see Uncle Frank and his wife Shae while they were camping. They were at Ceraland up by Columbus In. It was so nice! They had all kinds of stuff to do there, Putt Putt, shooting range, golf course, driving range, 3 pools, paddle boats and even an on site gym. We had a ball.

Anthony getting swallowed in Uncle Franks camping chair.


Victoria, Mamaw, Shae and I took advantage of the paddle boats. Victoria was really excited about going until we got into the boat and she noticed a spiderweb on her seat. That freaked her out. She just spent the whole time staring at the water as if a shark was going to get her. I had to hold her hand from the front seat of the boat to help her feel safe, so not only was my legs tired from all of the paddling but my hand was asleep too.

Addison not losing sight of that spoon!

After the boat ride we headed back to have a hot dog. Is there anything better than a campfire hot dog? The babies enjoyed all of the attention while we ate. We had them set up in their baby fence with a sheet over half of it to protect them from the sun. They enjoyed the fresh air.

Victoria and I headed off after lunch to the pool. She was very excited it was just her and I and I even let her sit in the front seat on the way (a VERY big girl thing to do). They had a separate area for the little ones that only had a foot of water in it complete with a jungle gym. She went down the slide at least 50 times and pulled on the ropes that released buckets of water on top of her head. I enjoyed watching her and having her come up to me every 5 minutes to say "OK mommy you just stay here and rest I am going to be in the water 'por' the rest of the day!"

The night came to a close with grilled pork chops and corn on the cob. YUMMY! We watched Big Brother 10 in the motor home and called it a night around 10:30. It was nice to get away from home, pretend camp with the kids and not have to pay for the campsite. Thanks Uncle Frank!

Is it obvious that corn on the cob is one of my other favorite foods on the grill?

Where is my floor?

Today is cleaning day. I have let the house go since I have been home from the retreat. Dust bunnies have taken over.

Victoria was picked up by Leslie, Jodi, and Janae today to go to their father's company picnic. She is going to have a ball. Apparently they are having face painting there.

James is on his way to pick up my new dryer. I have about 6 loads of laundry waiting on it. (Yes I have clothes to be folded on my bed Felecia you know how I am) I am going to stop stalling and get back to cleaning so that James has a pathway to get to the "Laundry Hallway".

Make it stop!! Make it stop!!!

Life is busy busy busy. I am trying to stay on top of stuff these days. It seems like life is taking over my brain. Today I took a whirlwind trip to Best Buy with James to buy a new dryer. Very frustrating when things go kapooy in your life and when you finally get some stuff caught up you need to purchase something major. We found one and hopefully will have it in our home soon. It has taken 2-3 cycles for our current dryer to dry a load of clothes. Laundry is my least favorite thing to do and when the appliances don't do what they are suppose to do it becomes even more tedious. Thank you honey for the new dryer.

Coming up I have the bridal shower that I have been trying to plan. It is on Wednesday. Please pray that everything goes smoothly without a hitch. Planning a party is never a stress free thing. I hope that it is enjoyable for everyone.

Mom came today and rescued me from my home to help me go to the grocery store. We took a detour to the Community park on Grant line Rd. and took a lap around the pedway that allowed Victoria to get some of the energy out that she has had today. She loved it! We decided to have the babies upcoming 1st Birthday there. We figure it will be a central location for everyone and plenty of stuff to keep everyone occupied while the festivities are going on.

That leads me to my "Make it stop Make it stop" . My babies are growing up way to fast!! Addison is now clapping and THANK GOD saying Ma Ma now. I have been waiting for that one for a while. Da Da has been everything and everyone but now she knows that there is someone else in the room other than Da Da. James always tells me that she has no clue what she is saying but it has tugged at my heart that she hadn't said Ma Ma yet. I have been working on it with her for only 11 months.

Anthony is now starting to stand on his own. I have been watching him in his play yard letting go of the sides and standing on his own for about 2-3 seconds and just watched in amazement. Tonight when mom and I got home from Walmart, Anthony was standing on the edge of his play yard without holding on waving his arms in the air and dancing to "So you think you can dance". Of course the Mommy waterworks started. I cry at everything that they do new. I just can't stand it. I am so proud of them but I want them to stay babies forever! This parenting stuff isn't for whimps!

They are becoming independent and Anthony has mastered the art of throwing a fit here lately. When he starts to get tired boy you better watch out! He fights his naps and starts to pick on sissy. Although I caught "Little Miss Innocent Pants" chomping down on Bubby's head the other day. I have been getting onto Anthony for biting her lately but I believe that he has just been returning the favor. When she realized that she was caught she just looked up at me with those huge blue eyes and tried so hard to melt my heart. It worked.

Victoria has been growing like a weed too. She has been very funny here lately. Tonight she was giving me a show in the driveway. She was dancing for me like the people on so you think you can dance. For some reason it comes off more like Elaine on Seinfeld rather than Joshua who won the competition. She looked down at her bare feet after dancing like a crazy person for the past 30 minutes and she showed me the bottom of her feet. They have started to peel from the concrete. She looked over at me with her foot turned upside down and said "How did I get all of these crumbs on my feet?" I almost fell out of the swing.

A much needed surprise!

Victoria got a wonderful surprise today. Her Mommy Tina sent her an early birthday present. She made her a folder with plastic canvas. I called for Victoria to come out into the living room to open it up. I knew it was coming and was told in an email from Tina to keep an eye out for it. It is really cute. As you can see it has Cinderella on the front along with her name and Love you mom on the back. The spine says Craig. Tina even had the inside decorated with a cross for her. It was so sweet and much needed. Victoria has been having a hard time and thing seem to be surfacing emotion wise with the whole situation with her mom being gone. She woke up in the middle of the night Saturday night crying hysterically for me saying that she didn't' want me to go to the hotel anymore (retreat) When I was at the retreat, She had a really hard time coming into the room to see me. I never thought about but mom made a good point that it could of brought up visitation at jail with her mom. She was able to come and stay for a bit but she had to leave and I couldn't go with her. I never thought that would make things surface but apparently it did. Poor thing my heart goes out to her. I have been using the lots of hugs and kisses approach to help things. It seems to be helping. I was really glad to see the package in the mailbox today. I thought that would cheer her up, and boy it did.

Big kid at play

I got the opportunity to do some art for a old co-worker of mine, Mandy. She has 2 adorable boys Landon and Luke. I painted their playroom for them with a tiki hut and some other beach themed items. I really liked the way it turned out. I have to say I enjoyed the quiet and solitude of just myself and my paintbrush, it has been a long time. Grandma watched the kiddos for me and I met them at Moe's for lunch when I was done. I just love that place!

Addison got to sit in her first big girl high chair at Moe's. She just sat there ever so patiently and banged her plastic condiment cup on the table. She took such good care of it. She just held it like it was made of gold. Anthony on the other hand destroyed his within the first 5 minutes. He is such a boy.

Vanity

Today we are celebrating my sister's 40th Birthday! Happy Birthday Sis! I had the babies, Victoria, and Brooklyn by myself until Daddy got home so I decided once I had everyone ready to go that we would head to Home Depot, you know it is the first Saturday of the month. Brooklyn got a kick out of making a flag pole stand for the Olympics with Victoria. Anthony studied his sisters as they hammered away.

We still had an hour before my sister's party and Brooklyn needed to go school supply shopping and I jumped all over it. I have ALWAYS loved getting school supplies. We headed to Meijers and loaded up. Brooklyn was pushing the "stuff" cart and I was pushing the babies. It is quite different now that Anthony is in his big boy car seat (the other is on the way for Addison) because he likes to play with sissy's toes sticking up out of her infant seat in the bottom of the cart. Victoria was in the need of some panties so we headed to the little girl department. Victoria was showing me all of the panties that she wanted then all of a sudden she saw High School Musical panties. She got so excited the she yanked them off of the hook and whipped her head around to show me and poked her eyeball, that is right I said eyeball, on the hook and scratched her eye. Not as bad as it could have been but enough to make me cringe a little when I saw it.
She ,of course, was upset and once I calmed her down we headed to the check out. I grabbed her a bottled water from the cooler at the front and had her hold it on her eye. I was proud of her considering what happened if it had been me I would have been freaking out and a total mess. Once she calmed down she was fine.
We paid for our stuff and my whole crew headed out towards the door to leave. Picture this.....Brooklyn behind me with a cart full of school supplies, me pushing a cart with Mr. Serious Anthony sitting in the seat of the cart, Addison chilling in her infant seat in "cargo area" of my cart and Victoria holding onto my cart with one hand and a water bottle with the other holding it to her eye. I was worried about her eye and risk of infection and what not when Victoria turned to me and expressed to me what she was most worried about..."(Sigh) Well Aunt Punkin can't see me like THIS!" Vanity oh vanity, I just don't know where she get's it. (wink)

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