MOSH visit

Several weeks ago, when I picked up Brody from school we headed to the Museum of Science and History "MOSH" in Jacksonville.  I had purchased a Groupon about 6 months ago for a year membership so I wanted to take advantage of the latest exhibit they had "Strange Matter" before it left.  The boys were pretty excited.

Off we went to each of the exhibits, not really stopping to read much of the stuff - such short attention spans.  Of course they had to point out the snake in the animal exhibit, which is NOT my favorite at all.  Brody loves to go to the Florida section and learn all about our state.  He always talks about the big fire that hit Jacksonville and of course gets concerned about another one hitting - he's my little worrier.

Playing in the "Strange Matter" exhibit.

My cute golfers.  Today was the day Jason and I usually take Brody to The Players for him to get autographs and pictures of the golfers, however, Jason was unable to get off but my boys still wore their golfing attire.

After our museum trip we headed over to Sweet Pete's for a little ice cream for lunch.  They thought it was great to be able to just eat ice cream for lunch - I would probably pay for that later, but oh well.

Of course a visit to Sweet Pete's isn't complete without a bag of candy that they enjoyed on the way home.

They loved our day out and are looking forward to our next trip to the museum.

Loving the pool

It's not even June yet and my boys have been in the pool about 15 times so far.  Yes, it's pretty cold, but they don't seem to care.  It's quite funny to see them in the pool and having a blast but their lips are just a quivering.

When we get home from school, one of the first things Brody asks is if we can go to the pool.  We are very blessed to have my parents next door who have a pool.  However, Brody has asked if we can have a pool.  My reply was "why would we want that when Nini and Papa have one".  Perfect response from him "so we don't have to walk over".  I guess he has a point, but I don't want to have to maintain one.

They love having their friends over as well.  Baylie came over one day and they enjoyed snowcones and their lips quivered quite a bit after that, but they didn't care.

One day we went over to Stephanie's house and enjoyed her pool.  Trevor really wanted to jump in but couldn't quite make the plunge.  Thanks to Stephanie for dipping (just placing him in the pool) him into the pool, that's all he wanted to do after that.  He loved it.

The kids found the sidewalk chalk and decided to make their own art on Mr. Adam's deck.  Thank goodness it just rinses off.

Baylie joined shortly after and they all had a blast swimming.

I forsee us at the pool almost everyday this summer.  My boys are going to be little fish by the end of the summer and I hope to have a nice tan.

A little fun

Jason and I are planning to go to Africa this summer for a mission trip with our youth from the church.  We are pretty excited because it has been about 7 years since we went the first time.  Wow, what an experience that was.  That was one of the very first mission trips our church went on AND I had no luggage for the week because my luggage was stolen. Yeah, what an experience and a way to really learn to trust God.

Anyway, in order for us to go this year we had to renew our passports.  Jason suggested we just take our own passport photos so here's a little fun action going on to try and get the perfect results.  Let me just say there are a lot of Do's and Don'ts of taking a passport photos

Even Trevor decided to be my test subject

Here are the final ones...

Wow, what a change

Several months ago we changed our dining room quite a bit.  It was still missing a few things but I am happy to say that we are finally finished.  This was the last addition and it was exactly what I was looking for.

I absolutely LOVE how it turned out.  These were all snapshots I took around the house and then used Persnicketyprints.com to enlarge them to a 12x12.  The prints were only about $2 a piece, which was a great deal and I received the prints in a couple of days.

The frames came from IKEA, which of course is one of my favorite stores.  Jason was a little nervous hanging them because he wanted to make sure they were all even, but they turned out great and he did them really quick.

Here's a little before and after:

I wonder what our next house project will be.  This is pretty fun!!

Words can't explain

I've blogged about what we did on Mother's Day, now it's time to talk about my mom.  My mom and I are pretty close even though we really are quite different (I'm more like my dad).  My mom is CRAZY and everyone knows her and she "thinks" she knows everyone.  She really doesn't know a stranger, which she gets naturally from her mom.  Yes, at times this can drive me nuts, but it drove her nuts too with her mom.

Now that mom has retired we have been able to spend even more time together, which is something I will always cherish.  She is always willing to stop whatever she is doing to lend a helping hand or a listening ear.  She loves her grandchildren beyond anything you could imagine and is always willing to watch them.  She never complains if the boys are crazy when she keeps them, but continues to watch them and never wants me to get a baby sitter.  I am very appreciative and couldn't imagine not being next door to her.

More importantly she has always been a Godly example of a Godly wife and mother and someone I have looked up to.  She offers advice usually only when I ask for it and gives Godly counsel.  I am so very thankful to have a mom who loves God with her whole heart and wants to serve Him with everything she has.  Thank you mom for being who you are and for everything you do to help us out.

Happy Mom's Day

Being a mom really is a true joy, yes sometimes I may not think those things but when my boys show so much excitement when giving me their lovely creations for Mother's Day, it really does bring me joy.  Of course Sunday mornings are always crazy for us and we are usually walking into our classroom about 5 or 10 min late.  However, this past Sunday we were actually able to get a picture BEFORE church which is unheard of, but we had an extra 5 minutes so I took advantage of it.

Me and my sweet boys.

Last year we decided to try and go out to eat after church and even though it was only Zaxby's it was the best thing ever.  Now Olive Garden or Red Lobster would have been better but the long wait along with 2 tired boys (what is it with Sunday's after church and them being so tired) would have ruined it for me.  So Zaxby's again this year was mine and my mom's choice.  A couple of years ago Jason and my dad tried to do the cooking, but I somehow still felt compelled to be in the kitchen to help or clean up so going out is so much better.

I had already planned it out that we would head to the beach that afternoon to just let the boys run around, well I guess Trevor had other plans because he slept for almost 4 HOURS - yes 4!!  I really wanted to wake him up, but I knew if I did then going to the beach could be torture so I just dealt with not going and said we would do it again another evening.

This year I wanted to do something different for mine and Jason's mom and photo coasters were just the thing.  I felt they turned out so well, that I've added it to my list to make some for our house.

I am a very practical girl when it comes to presents so one day I sent a text to Jason saying that Brody and Trevor could get me my carpets cleaned.  Jason replied "I think that's a great idea".  I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic, but I ran with it anyway.  So, my Mother's Day present came last Thursday and I was pretty excited.

Don't get me wrong, I still had all of the wonderful presents from my boys.

This was one that Brody brought home from school and it's one of my favorites.  My favorite place to shop is Winn Dixie (Jason is very proud), I look funny when I eat chicken wings, and my favorite food is fried chicken ( I don't even think he's ever seen me eat fried chicken)

TBall still moving along

We are about half way through Brody's tball season, so I thought it was time for a little update on how things are going.  Of course in tball we don't keep score, there is no such thing as 3 outs in an inning, and everyone hits, so we aren't really sure how many wins we've had but it's all about them learning and having fun.  Here are a few things we've learned so far:

• Brody plays either first base, pitcher, or 3rd base.  He really wants to play catcher but we try to explain to him that position is for first year players.  

Playing catcher a couple of weeks ago.

Playing pitcher this past Saturday -  he did great and he and his right hand man Bradyn playing first base were able to get a lot of players out at first.

• Brody is hitting really well and has only had to hit off of the tee I think once.
• He has gotten out once at 1st and that was not a good thing - he was NOT happy and shed a few tears.
• Having a pool play day the same day as a game is NOT a good thing and WILL NOT be allowed again (per daddy)
• He has to be motivated to get to the game and play - not sure why this is but I wish he would just LOVE to go and we couldn't stop him from playing but he's not quite there yet.
• As team mom of 12 kids (11 boys), I don't know how Michelle Duggar does it.  I do try to keep them in their seats (they have name tags where they should be sitting) and hands to themselves.
• We haven't had any injuries this year so far on our team

Here are a few of our latest games.

Jason helping to coach our batters.

Here's what Trevor does during the games - eat snacks.

 Running fast to 3rd.

After the game, Trevor wanted to run the bases like his big brother.

Nana and Poppy came out to see Brody play this past Saturday.