A long drive to the Dollar Tree

When Jason got home from work a week ago this past Wednesday the boys were all ready to go to the Dollar Store.  Brody had some money saved up and really wanted to go to the Dollar Store.  Well, I used this as a great way to get the boys bathed and ready by the time Jason got home.  There was a small detail the boys didn't know is that the vehicle was packed for a 3 night weekend away.  They had NO clue.  I love surprises.

The boys on our way to the "dollar store"

Thank goodness for dvd players because this occupied the boys time for most of the trip to Orlando.  It wasn't until we arrived in Orlando (3 hours after we left) that Brody asked "when are we going to be at the Dollar Store?.  We said keep looking for it, and not much longer.  Trevor thought we were going to New York, but Brody knew that wasn't true since you have to be on a plane to get there.

When we arrived at our hotel, Brody still didn't have too much of a clue of what was going on and didn't believe us that we were staying here.  We showed him the trunk area and ohh the look on his face was priceless and then the questions "how in the world did we do all that?"  I loved it and so off we were on our little vacation.

We stayed in a Comfort Suites near Disney that had a free breakfast.  The room was a king bed with a sofa that laid out to a bed for the boys.  Yes, the boys would be sleeping together - for the first time.  Not sure what I was thinking.  By the time we got them down for bed it was about 11:00 and you would have thought they were tired, but oh no they were too excited to sleep and were bouncing off the walls.  After a lot of talking and telling yelling them to get to sleep, we put Trevor in our bed to fall asleep and later returned him over to Brody.  Much better idea.  They still weren't really sure where we were going over the next couple of days, but just liked the idea we were in a hotel room away from home.

My Love

One of my favorite things to do is bake.  I love to try new recipes which is just another reason why I love Pinterest so much since it gives me a great place to look for new goodies to bake.

Last week, PoPo had to go in for some surgery so I thought I would try out a new recipe to take down to him before he went in.  I found these cute little mini apple pies.

Now, I have never made an apple pie before, but I LOVE apple pie.  These were SO easy and boy were they yummy.  I halved the recipe because I really only had enough apples for 12 and we were going out of town the next day.

Another great thing about these apple pies is that they used up my apples that were going to be going bad soon.  I don't like to throw fruit away so I try to find a recipe that can use it up if my kids aren't eating the fruit fast enough.

Sad to say I didn't get an after picture, maybe because I took 6 down to PoPo, I ate 3 (yes I confess I ate 3 of them), and the other 3 my parents ate.  I'm telling you these things were VERY good and I didn't even have vanilla ice cream to put on them.

Dinner on the beach

After Brody's first tball game we decided to pack up the bikes and head to Fernandina.  While I was getting everybody ready, Jason decided to peel the eggs from Easter and make egg salad for sandwiches so we could just eat dinner on the beach - cheap and easy!!  What a great idea - I loved it.

We parked at main beach and rode just a little while down North Fletcher.  We can't go too far with Brody because he gets too tired to go too far, but we did have fun in the short time we rode.

We then headed out to the beach so the boys could just run around for awhile.  We wanted to eat dinner first before they got too sandy - break out the egg salad and chips.

It was very windy that evening and a little chilly.  While I got everyone else long sleeve shirts I failed to grab Jason something - he was a trooper though.

The one rule we had was they couldn't get in the water since we didn't have a towel and didn't want them that sandy.  So instead before we knew it Trevor was rolling around in the sand.  Some man came up closer to him and thought he was a puppy rolling around in the sand - no just Trevor.

 The boys had a blast running all around

Jason even joined in on the fun.

I love evenings with my family like this.  It was so fun and very relaxing.  

Peanuts and cracker jacks

Last Saturday Brody started his second tball season.  This year he is a Blue Claw, which is a minor league team.  Keith is the head coach and Jason is the assistant and I am team mom - fun season!!  I'm thankful I had some great training from Tiffany, the team mom last year.  There are 12 people on the team and here's 7 of them - Brody, Brodie, Bradyn, Brayden, Bryce, Brock and Brady.  Talk about confusing - we should have picked "The Killer Bees" as the team name.

Last Saturday was opening day so we had to be there at 9:30 for the 10:00 ceremonies that lasted about 45 min.  Then our game wasn't until 3:00 so we had a little time to rest at home before the game.

There are 4 players who have played before, so it's a young team.   For the first game he started out playing 1st base, which he did really good with.  He also hit a home run!!  I really wish I had gotten his reaction on video when he came back to the dugout.  It was the cutest thing ever because this is the one thing he has always wanted to do.  

Playing 1st base

Running to 3rd on his home run

Headed home to make it a home run

Happy little ball park kid!!

Of course in tball, we don't keep score and everyone gets to hit each of the 3 innings.  So the rules are a little different but it's all about the kids having fun and teaching them the fundamentals.

Is it really that time?

Last Wednesday, my little boy was registered for Kindergarten.  Yes, you read that right Brody is going to kindergarten next year.  I really can't believe he is really old enough.  I picked him up from school and explained to him what we were going to do.  Since he doesn't like change much he was not too excited.

He will be a Little Warrior next year.

He is so my bashful child and doesn't know how to react when all of the attention is put on him.  So as I sat and filled out the 5 or 6 pages of paperwork, he sat behind me and kept asking "when can we go?"  I'm so thankful that I didn't have Trevor with me because I'm sure I would have just taken the papers home and filled them out.  Once we were all done, he was able to pick out a new book as well as he received new crayons and a pair of orange (his favorite color) scissors.

These items did make him quite happy because as soon as we got in the car he opened them both up and was ready to use them as soon as we got home.

I know he is prepared and ready for Kindergarten.  He has had a very strong PreK year and is learning a lot.  It will be quite a big change for him when he starts in the fall.  He is excited even though he may not have acted like it because every time we drive to church we pass the elementary school and he is ready to play on the playground.  He knows his buddies Baylie and Bradyn already go there so he is excited - it just may take some getting used to.

We went back up to the school on Friday afternoon for Kindergarten Adventures, which was a tour of the school and a time to meet some of the teachers.  Brody loved walking around to all of the classes.  In our group we actually had some of his friends - Grady and Liam so he had a blast.  When we reached Ms Brown's class he knew this was Baylie and Bradyn's class so he wanted to see where they sat and where there cubbies were.  When Ms. Brown found out who he was she said "I've heard a lot about you".  I wonder who has been talking :)

After the tour, he participated in craft time and he was all smiles.

He and Molly

Since we had the opportunity to meet most of the teachers and get some feedback from other people, I filled out the teacher request card and told Brody that it was now in Jesus' hands what teacher he got for next year.  Of course he wants Ms. Brown since that is who his buddies have.  We will just have to see.

LOVE this weather

I am so loving this weather lately and with the great weather comes almost weekly trips to the beach with the boys.  I packed us up a lunch, picked up Brody from school and headed to Fernandina.  They had a blast running around in the sand.  

Once we ate lunch they were begging me to let them go in the water.  I knew it was extremely cold but they wanted to go.  It was high tide so the water was a little rough.  I got very nervous just letting them play in the waves breaking because the water just looked too rough and it was way too cold for me to get in it.  I finally said it was time to go back to the sand - they would have to just wait until it got warmer or wait for Jason to come back with us.  

One of the funniest things was watching Brody dig a path thru the shells so he could walk back and forth.

Sand time led to feeding the birds.  They had never really fed them before so they thought it was hilarious.

And of course no trip to the beach is complete without a stop by Dairy Queen.  I absolutely love these beach days and look forward to many more.

Let's go for 4

So if 3 egg hunts weren't enough, we decided to try for #4 Easter Sunday night.  We headed over to Adam and Stephanie's house for a couple of hours of fun.  The kids were all ready for their egg hunt.

We hid them all in their backyard around the pool and thankful to say the only thing that took an unexpected dive was an egg.  Of course Trevor was the one going after it.

Checking out their treasures

Stephanie was so sweet and had a bag of treasures for them to all pick from.  Brody picked out this sling shot, so Mr. John was showing Brody how to use it.  Trevor's choice of a treasure was the carton of goldfish and the funny thing is that Stephanie knew he would want them.

This was also the last day of the Masters, which Bubba Watson won - YEAH!!.  Anyway, Adam and Jason were practicing their golf swings - even though it looks like they are trying out a new dance move.

Trying out Ava's car.

The kids played and played between Ava's playroom and her room.  Baylie and Ava played dress up while the boys chased them around.  It was quite a fun night and I know the boys had a great time and are ready to play again.

Busy and blessed Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday represents everything that we as Christians believe - as Brody and Trevor say "He's Alive"!!  I love this time of year and hearing Brody tell the story about Jesus going to the cross for our sins and on the 3rd day raising from the dead.  What is even sweeter is now he is telling Trevor the whole story - so sweet.

Sunday mornings around our house are always crazy so Easter Sunday morning is of course crazier since the Easter bunny visits our house.  They of course want to eat all the candy they can, but we tried to limit the candy at least in the morning.

My boy loves some pj's and Darth Vadar makes them even better.

MONEY!!!

Jason was involved in our church's Easter musical that morning which we had a packed house for - Praise the Lord!!  The choir did a great job portraying the Miracle of Easter.  Brody didn't have children's church so he sat with me in church and he did great.  He kept asking where was Jesus and then when he saw him he asked, "are they really going to kill him?"  Amazing what little kids think.

After church pictures since before church is too crazy.

My handsome boys

Papa and his boys

We had my parents and Jason's mom's side of the family over for lunch and egg hunt.  The best thing I do for Easter lunch is to purchase a Honey Baked Ham.  It makes my life so much easier.

The kids table

Opening their Easter buckets from Nana - a kite, water guns for the pool and books.

The kids were ready for the egg hunt so off we went to my parents yard since they have a lot of shade.  All lined up and ready - youngest to oldest.

On your mark, get set, GO!!!

They were each to find 16 eggs and when Brody found his he yelled out "I'm the champion"  He was then off to the blanket to check out his loot.

Trevor actually found about 20 or so - he lost count.

Once the hunt was over the kids were off to the tire swing.  My dad was the chosen one or he just wanted to swing them.  They had a blast.

Nana and the boys

Nini and the boys

This has got to be one of my favorite pictures ever.

Later that afternoon, Nini brought over the boys Easter presents - rain boots and some new clothes.  The rain boots were a hit is an understatement.

Brody in his new muscle shirt.

Wow, what an Easter we had -  Celebrating the Lord's day with family!!  Happy Easter!!