Family Time

LOVE this picture!

Sunday we had planned to head to the beach for the first time this year but a somewhat poor weather report turned us off.  Now that we're farther west, the driving time to the beach has been extended to about an hour and twenty minutes and we weren't crazy about the thought of driving there and then getting stormed on.  So, it was Plan B.  This was the first Sunday in awhile that we didn't have some planned event (like a birthday party) and Duncan usually wants to do something since he obviously doesn't get to spend as much time with the kids as I do.  Thus, we came up with going to Downtown Disney which we haven't done in a very long while.  It ended up being quite warm (imagine that!) but nonetheless we enjoyed strolling along.  The major attractions were the Dinosaur Trek restaurant (we just looked at all the dinosaurs but didn't eat) and the Lego store.  The one drawback was that we didn't bring our stroller and Brady and Aubree, in particular, started getting tired and a little whiny from the walking.  Daddy to the rescue...hence the picture above!

Digging for dinosaur bones or staring off into space.  One of the two.

Daddy helping Calleigh build something or maybe just Daddy building something well Calleigh pouts about Daddy hogging the Legos.

Riding the carousel.

Going back to last week, our Friday was back to normal with yard sales after a week off from the convention.  We are starting to get into the slow time of the year so I was surprised to find quite a few good sales especially in Ocoee which seems to be pretty rare.  After quiet time, all of us headed over to our old townhouse in Winter Park to say good-bye to our tenants who have broken their lease early to move to North Carolina for a job transfer.  At first I wasn't very happy that they weren't going to finish out the lease which ends on August 31 but in the end, it's really worked out well.  We told them that we wouldn't charge them once we found a new tenant although we were going to make them pay for finding a new tenant.  This time we hired somebody to find us one because I was not about to go through all of that again so soon.  It's one thing to have people not show up to see the place when you live in it.  It's another thing for me to drive clear across town and not have them show up.  They found a new tenant pretty quickly at the same rent we were charging before so we're pleased.  It's a single lady this time moving in which is at the end of June and since the old tenants moved out on Friday, it gives a few weeks to get the place in order.

Yesterday I took the kids to JCPenny to get their birthday pictures taken.  We always go to the same place because I love the lady, Liz, who takes the pictures.  I didn't schedule it until 11:20 but I was still running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to get out of here in time for the appointment.  Obviously I should have planned better but at the last minute I was trying to find coordinating outfits for them all to wear and just when I thought I had something figured out, I would realize one of the outfits was in the dirty laundry.  I really need to do better planning.  We did make it on time but then things got off a little rocky when Liz suggested a pink background to Calleigh for her pictures (major no!) and then made the mistake of calling her "princess." Thankfully Calleigh got past it all and took some great pictures with the green background she picked out.  Of course, Aubree had to have the same one and she did great too.  That left us with Brady.  So yeah, not quite so smooth.  The only way we could get him to take a picture was sitting on this beach chair prop and even then, he would barely smile.  I also realized that I really didn't like how his hair looked.  I had just washed it that morning and it looked too neat.  Personally, I want to just give him a buzz cut for the summer, a look I love on little boys, but I've been outvoted by the other half of this parental unit.  Anyway, we got a couple of decent shots and then I made the attempt to have a picture with the three kids.  It just wasn't happening. Brady cried and wouldn't get in the picture and so that was the end of that.

It was all fun and games after we were done.

On the way home, Calleigh started asking me to tell her some stories.  It's funny because when I was at the convention, in one of the lectures they advised that every parent should have at least a dozen stories ready to go so they can "pull one out" on short notice.  I guess now was one of those times.  I told her one I already told a few times about Rad hitting me with the egg in Nova Scotia and then my dumping (very expensive) milk on his head.  She demanded more stories so I searched my brain for something new and finally came up with a story about getting pulled over for speeding when I was rushing to take the keys to the cash register back to Friendly's after a shift.  I had no license with me but managed to get out of a ticket.  Not sure how impressed a six year old is with that story but I commented to her, "Yeah, Mommy has been pulled over a few times for speeding, which isn't good, but thankfully I've never gotten a ticket." To which she responded, "No, no.  Remember that time you backed up and bumped that car and the police gave you a ticket?" I stand corrected.  And when is she going to forget that incident?  Seriously.

Want to know the difference between a 2-, 4-, and 6-year old?  Here you go.  There's an old trick that you pull as a parent where if a kid isn't following you like they're supposed to, you just go ahead and act like you're leaving so that they'll follow suit.  Well, it doesn't always work.  For example:

(Nearly) 2-year old - Starts flipping out in the aisle in Publix so I threaten to leave him there if he doesn't stop crying and get up.  When the crying doesn't stop, I start walking away and eventually I even turn the corner so he can't see me anymore.  I peak around and instead of him following me in a panic, he's still sitting there crying and now several shoppers have started coming down the aisle from the other direction with worried looks on their faces as they see this little kid sitting alone in front of the freezer section.  Epic fail.

6-year old - Is having a fit because I told her she couldn't bring a bunch of toys into the car (because they get left there and junk up the van) and insists that she isn't going if she can't bring them.  Fine, I say.  We'll just leave you here.  "No, you won't because I know you won't leave me here by myself." Yikes.  When did she start outsmarting me?  Fail.

4-year old - We're trying to get to the pool and she won't put on her shoes to go so I tell her we're leaving and we all head out to the van with her left behind in the house.  "No, no, no.  Don't leave me!!" She comes running out of the house screaming with her shoes in hand. Yes! Mommy wins!

Some pictures...

Daddy took the girls to the park on Sabbath afternoon while Mommy and Brady napped.

Riding the tram to get over there.

Our garden is coming along.  The lower right is lettuce which we've been using to make salads.  The bottom left is an abundance of basil some of which I used this evening to make tomato/basil soup.

Another part of the garden.  All the bushes in the back are tomatoes.  We planted a ton of different kind of tomatoes since we love them so much.

Sabbath evening dinner outside.  Can't wait to get the pavers put in which should be happening come next month.

Saturday night kicked off the conference finals for the Bruins vs the Penguins.  The girls obviously didn't make it the whole game.  They watched with me again last night which was a 6-1 Bruins victory.  When I told Calleigh the score  this morning she said "I'm glad the Penguins at least got one goal since that would make Papa happy." She knows that Papa likes Sidney Crosby and is rooting for the Penguins.

He told me that he had made a train.  I guess you could say that is what a line of books and a sippy cup looks like!

Yeah, I know.  You're thinking what's the point of this random broken down car picture?  The point is that when Brady got out of the van at Publix this morning, the first thing he said was "That car is broken" just as clear as could be.  It's amazing how well this boy is talking.  And how he notices things.

How can your heart not just melt into a big 'ole puddle when you see this? Calleigh's arm around Aubree, holding onto her hand in the midst of sleep.

A bunch of rain this afternoon but that didn't stop the girls from playing in the back yard.  They kept calling to me to watch their tricks.  No hands!

Uh oh.  It didn't rain any harder today than it has on many other occasions but I heard this strange noise this evening that sounded like a drip.  Sure enough, there's a hole in the ceiling and the rain was dripping down.  Nice!  That will be fun to have fixed.  Thankfully we're still under warranty.  Let's see how quick they are to take care of this request.

It's always nice to have things to look forward to.