Mommy Papparazzi....random pics of the kids

Getting so big! I love my toes!

I love these next two photos. This boy is so hard to capture on film because he never stays in one place for that long. 

My little man!

Chillin with my toy.

So tired of mommy taking pictures.... just stop already!

Showing of her soccer medal!

It wasn't me! Hayden got a hold of Madie's tambourine from school.

Playing in the bubbles when mom wasn't looking!

I got in the bubbles too!

Fighters, Jets, and Bombers...Oh my!

We took the kids to the armament museum here on base last weekend. I don't know why we had never thought of taking Jack over there with his love of all things mechanical. But we hadn't and so we decided to try it out and they had a blast. We only got to cover half due to an impromptu bathroom break by DD... but we will be back. Jack and Madie both loved it. I think Jack more than Madie, he was in awe!

Some Halloween pics.... better late than never, right!

For some reason my blog is poting the last pictures first so.... this is Jack at the end of the night. He just couldn't hang with the rest of us. He hit that sugar high and just crashed. He and Hayden rolled together in the double stroller and by the end of the night it had turned into a caddy for 4 of the 6 kids who were with us. We trick or treated on base with some of our good friends here, Shannon and James and their three kiddos.  Had a great time, had lots of candy, but glad the night came to an end. 

Here is Hayden in all his garb.

Princess Madalyn. Funny how my older two kids picked out costumes this year and then Halloween afternoon they decided they wanted to be the same things they were last year. Oh well, they had a great time. I'm surprised Jack's still fit.

Jackson as a dragon.
Here are all of the kiddos in front of another friends house on base. Their little boy is so stinkin cute!

Save the pumpkins!!!

As you can tell from these photos, Jackson was more than taken by the pumpkins. He absolutely loved walking out the door every morning to take Madie to school and seeing them there. He loved coming home and seeing then there. He always alked about the pumpkins. He is still talking about the pumpkins and that was three weeks ago.  Although now he tells me the pumpkins are in the trash and he gets a sad look on his face. Well, he loved the pumpkins but he did not like the fact that we took a knife to his precious pumpkin in fact the following picture was what went on when he saw that Mommy had carved his little pumpkin. Absolute horror. He yelled, "No cut pumkin, no cut" for like 10 minutes afterwards. My little peacekeeper. He loves little animals and things and I guess this was right up there with them in his book.

The Best Day ever....

Out of the mouth of a babe. Today I had some errands to run and figured I would take Madie with me. I decided we would run my errand and I would surprise Madie and take her to paint pottery with me. I have painted plates for both Madie and Jack but yet to have painted one for Hayden. So I figured that would give me the chance to do that and spend some one on one time with just Madie. It's not very often that I get to that these days and I often feel like she gets overlooked sometimes with the chaos of our house these days, i.e. new baby, 2 year old that has so much energy you could run a house off of it, a husband that is finishing his last year (THANK GOODNESS!!!) of PA school, preschool, soccer, gymnastics, laundry, dishes, laundry, dishes.... sometimes it almost feels like Groundhog Day! Anywho... I got sidetracked, that's something else which has started happening a lot more recently too. Please tell me I am not alone! Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled program.... Madie and I went to paint and had a great time. We were there about an hour and half and then she was ready to go, she wanted to paint this really tacky Dolphin sculpture and as much as I don't want that thing displayed on a shelf forever I decided to let her. I think I try to control too much and I am trying very hard to relax and just go with it. Anyways, she decided she was done and thank goodness because right at that moment a group of about 10 kids came in and I didn't want to be in there when they got into the paint. So we left and I figured we were having such a great time and Ben wasn't blowing up my phone yet we would go to the movies and make this a Girl's Day Out. We went and saw Madagascar 2. It was cute, popcorn was great, and poor thing fell asleep on my lap the last 5 minutes. That doesn't happen much anymore. Good thing she only weighs 32 pounds. We finished up the day with a trip to Panera bread. We split a soup and sandwich, she loves the broccolli soup. Then as we were sitting there she said it. She looked up at me and with the biggest smile said, "Mom, this was like the most perfect day ever. I had so much fun with you today! I'm glad just us got to go and not the boys!" She was so happy and seemed so grown up all in that moment. I could have frozen time. So this is going to be our new thing. Once a month she will go with me to do something like the park or something,  and then once a month with Ben. I know I cherished today just as much as she did and can't wait till our next little excursion. 

Any kind of sick will do....

Madie was putting off the inevitable tonight. She had had her bath, eaten her dinner and her desert, but decided she just wasn't ready for bed yet. She had had a long day and was extremely tired, way tired, but still was fighting it all the way. She came out of her room so serious and said to Ben, " Daddy, I don't feel so good, I think I'm seasick!" Ben laughed a little and then he turned to me and said listen to Madie. He told her to tell me what she had just told him. She looked at me with her little puppy dog eyes and said, "Mommy, I think I'm homesick, I mean seasick, I mean homesick and seasick." I asked her why she felt that way and she said it was because she had run to much earlier today ( we had gone to the Track to walk). I guess she figured one of those would work!

Pizza has it..

Madie came home today with an "I voted today" sticker. It seems that in their class they were teaching them about elections so they held a vote. Chicken nuggets vs- Pepperoni Pizza. Well.... the pizza won throughout the 4 year olds 26-23. If only all things were that easy right!

YUMM-O!!!

Wowzers! Get your booty to Starbucks! Anyone who knows me knows that I have a love affair with pumpkin. Pumpkin anything. And its that time of year again. So I travel over to Starbucks this morning, since it is raining and I am soaked to the bone after having to drag three kids out in it (they're dry, me... not so much), anywho..... I go to get one of their new hot chocolates. I see they have pumpkin, but alas, they have a flavor which I am not too sure about but I decide spontaneously that I will try. It's Starbucks, it can't be that horrible right. So I order a Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate with two shots of espresso. I died right then and there. It was so yummy. Don't tell the pumpkin spice frappuchino, but I think I might have a new fav drink from Starbucks.  Go out and get one if you can, they are delicious!

I've been a bad blogger....

Madie enjoying the pool

Jackson playing with the rocks at Moms

Uncle Jordan giving Madie a ride

The kids at the Atlanta Zoo

Well, it seems like things are finally starting to fall into place around here and we are finally getting a routine down. It has been a crazy past month. We drove to GA the beginning of August and stayed with my parents for a week before school started. I had been wanting to get up there and now that Hayden is getting a little older the trip was easier. I had to go by myslef since Ben has no time off during school. We had a great time. The kids played outside alot and enjoyed seeing Noni and Papa and their two uncles. We went to the Atlanta Zoo one day, my mom took Madie to a movie (Wall-E) and just had a great time relaxing and taking it easy. 

First day of school!

Madie started pre-k again this year on Monday. She loves it. She is going everyday and has been nice, but I already miss her at the house. It has been so quiet with only Jackson and Hayden here. I cant believe how quiet. I'm already getting sad for next year when she will finally start Kindergarten, she missed it by a couple of weeks this year. 

Young Love...

Well, it seems my daughter is already in the grips of young love and it is what... only the fourth day of school. I picked her up from school today, pre-k mind you-she missed Kindergarten by a few days, and she said someone hit her today at school. I asked if it was Brendan and she said no. I then asked about the other little boy in her class, Wyatt. She seemed suprised that I knew his name and then instead of being upset that she had been hit, she got all giddy. She talked about him all the way home and asked if she could draw him a picture. I thought ok, sure, why not. That's great that she wants to draw a picture for the person that hit her instead of being mad at him. Well, fast forward to tonight. She asks for some paper and starts to draw. Then she asks how to spell his name. So I spell it for her. Then she asks how to spell "I LOVE YOU". Ben and I both turn to look at her. Ben chimes in real quick, "Why don't you say hi instead!" (I was laughing inside) I turn to look and tell her to draw a heart instead and see that she's already got that part covered.  Oh my little princess. She's gonna be a handful. Already got that heart out on a string, ready to give it to anyone who will take it, just like her momma. I don't know how many times I cried my eyes out because I was heartbroken, bless my mom for trying to comfort me. Ben and I are in for trouble with this one. She's already on her second picture of the night for Wyatt, and this one has a "i "heart" u on it. 

And He's Out.......

This evening I was standing by the dining room table talking to Madie and out of the corner of my eye I saw Jackson's profile. For some reason, I thought something was off. I don't know why because he had just been talking away. So I turned to look at him and this is what I saw. 

I ran and got the video camera and the digital and snapped some pictures really quick. If any of you know Jackson, you know he never just crashes. He will hold out all day if he has too. Tons of energy. I guess today it just gave out. He decided that dinner was just too exhausting and went to sleep right there. Poor little guy, he started snoring too!!:)
Of course Madie wanted to fall asleep too, so here she is asleep at the table;)---notice she's still holding her bread! :) Faker!!!!  :)

Bliss.....

One of the great things about living in Florida is the beach. Last time we were here, and it was for four years, we didn't take advantage of the beach at all. I think I could count on both hands the amount of times we went over that four year period. But after being in TX for a year, I realized we should of tried to go more. So now that we are back we try to go every weekend we don't have anything major going on. It is beautiful and the beaches here near Destin are some of the most spectacular that I've seen. This is one of the things I am going to miss when we move next spring. Good thing it doesn't get too cold for the beach until the middle of November. We will be going until then. So here are some pics of our venture this past weekend.....

Takin' it all in!
This boy loves the water. 

Jackson

Little Hayden loves the beach too, the sounds of the waves always put him to sleep under his big ole' tent, and hat, and long sleeve outfit. Can't ever be too prepared for the sun down here!
The kiddos actually playing nicely for once! :)

Want some, it tastes really yummy!

Building a princess castle!

My beautiful red headed daughter! Where does the time go?

Pics of the Kiddos!

Hayden chillin out on his gym. 

I caught a smile. These are very elusive. You have to be a fast Mamma Papparazzi to get these!!

Oh, and just look I caught another one! I must have been having a good day with the camera!
Madie and her Baby Brother. She keeps telling me she is going to marry him and I keep telling her she can't. She just doesn't get it :)

So serious!
After the Bounce House on the 4th of July!

Up to trouble probably :) 

Prayers needed

I just got a call this evening from a really good friend of mine from Little Rock, Carmen. A couple of days ago their house caught fire in the middle of the day and burnt down. They lost everything. Thank goodness they were at work and their two little boys were not there. They did lose one of their dogs. Please pray for them during this time that they will be taken care of and their needs met. 

Vacation away from home.....at home

Man, what a weekend away from the kids will do for a girl. My friend Mary came into town from Nashville last Thursday and we spent a few days in a beach bungalow on the bay. No kids allowed, with the exception of Hayden since I am his only source of nutrition right now. It was bliss. We spent some time on the beach, in which I have a lovely sunburn to show for, we went shopping, ate some good food, and just had a great time. It is so good to see old friends from college and catch up. We did this last summer in Chattanooga and I think we are going to try and do it every year, although I think next year there will be some more babies on our trip. Out of the four of us that went last year, Jess and Christy couldn't make it this year, all of us will have had babies by next summer. So exciting. Anyways.... Mary left on Sunday, I was sad to see her go, but she will be back in November and we have already planned a trip to Shakes. The kids missed me, Madie did anyways, I think Jack was mad at me for the first couple of hours after I got home. He wanted me to know that he was not happy I had left for the weekend. Ben missed me too, I think just because he realized how crazy our kids are and he had to deal with them with no momma. So moral of this story, Happy momma, happy family. I am well rested but it is good to be home. 

Couch to 5K

So.... I have decided to embark on another adventure. I started a new running program this past week. It's so ironic to me that I graduated with an exercise science degree and right now I absolutely hate to exercise. I don't know if it the crazy humidity and heat here in Florida or the fact that I feel like I have 10 million other things I would rather be doing, the sweating part, the fact that I haven't really done anything since the beginning of my pregnancy with Hayden.... who knows. But I am honestly going to try to make an good effort to follow this program through. You can go to this website to see about the program, 

www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181/shtml

It takes about 9 weeks but by the end you should be running 30 minutes no problem. And for those of you like me who aren't doing anything right now, it looks like a good schedule. You can also download a free podcast (MP3 or iPod) that tells you when to run or walk at :

www.ullreys.com/robert/Podcasts/podcasts/files/rss.xml

or go to the iTunes music store and go to podcasts and you will see all sort of 5K programs that are free and set to music. So wish me luck and if you have the time send me some encouragement to see this through. I am trying really hard to get back into shape. Have fun running!!

Disneyworld!!!

So.... we have decided to take the plunge and do the whole Disneyworld thing. We have made reservations at a resort in Disneyworld and I have started to plan our whole trip. Man....I did not know what an undertaking this would be. We will be going Christmas week. Trust me this was not my first choice, but due to Ben's schedule, this is the only week we can go. We will be staying for 4 days at the park and 5 nights. I am excited though about going during christmas because of all the decorations that will be there. I love, absolutely love, Christmas lights. I have managed to call and get Advanced DIning Reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table there inside the castle. I know Madie is going to be tickled pink. She has an appointment that morning to get made into a princess at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and then we will go over and eat with Cinderella inside the castle. I am glad I started planning this when I did because I did not know that these reservation fill up exactly 180 days before you go. Craziness. SO the kids Christmas this year will be spent at Disneyworld. I told Ben he will have to take me back sometime without the kids so we can play :) So as I begin planning are there any of you out there that have any advice for surviving or things to do while at the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, or Epcot? Any tips will be appreciated. 

Madie's beautiful artwork

Madie loves to draw. I mean loves to draw. She will draw on anything (even the couch cushions, but that's another story....) receipts, gum wrappers, backs of papers... anything. She is getting really really good for being only 4. She loves to draw things and give her pictures away to whoever is coming over, random older people at the base hospital, cashiers, mailmen, UPS drivers, you name it she wants to give them a picture. She is so generous and caring. i think she would give away her room to strangers if I would let her. There is always the exception though and that is where her brother comes in. Not very generous there :) Anyways.... she drew me this this morning. She said it was mommy and daddy on the day they got married.  Too sweet. She is so excited that I am putting this on my blog by the way. She's already coloring more pictures for me to post. Uh oh, I 've created a monster. 

$25 down the drain.......

Brand new bottle of eye makeup remover down the drain. I was just thinking to myself this morning of how I couldn't wait to use some of this later tonight as I just got it this weekend. Well...... a mischievious  little boy fixed that problem for me. He dumped it, all of it, right onto the floor. I cringed when I saw him running around the couch with the bottle. But it was too late. He had already dumped the whole thing and was out the back door to do who knows what with it. Probably looked like a good sand filling toy to him or something to hold water in. He didn't get too far before it was taken back though. Too bad for mommy, that's how the story usually goes though. 

New Bedroom Furniture!!!!

Finally!!! After 6 years of marriage and like almost twenty for me, we have new bedroom furniture!!! I am so excited. We ended up with a king size and it is great for all of those nights when we have like three extra little people sleep with us. We had bedroom furniture that was mine from growing up for a long time and then Ben bought a bed that was not the greatest. So we went over Memorial Day weekend and found this one. Isn't it pretty. They just came last week and installed it. I am so excited!!!

Look dude.....it's cloth!

Our first cloth diaper. I know, I know..... call me crazy, but they are so stinkin cute. I found a free pattern online and wanted a new project so I have made Hayden some cloth diapers. This one is camo (for his Daddy). They are super soft. So easy. A lot easier I think then when are parents did cloth. I going to make some more today as I already have a bunch of fabric I went and picked out at the store. So many cute things to choose from. We will see how it goes, Ben turned up his nose at first but I think he thinks it is cool because it will save us some money in the long run and he is glad I have something to do for myself. So far I am loving it. 

Pumpkin Pancakes

Mmmmmmm!!!! So Yummy. Any of you that really know me, know that I have a love for anything pumpkin. I just love the stuff. Well I thought I would share one of my favorite pumpkin foods, pancakes. They are super easy to make and the kids love them. (It's also a great way to hide some yummy stuff in their food :) ) So here is the recipe. Hope you guys love it as much as I do. 

Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour

3 T brown sugar

2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t allspice

1 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground ginger

1/2 t salt

1 c. canned pumpkin

1 1/2 c milk

1 egg

2 T vegetable oil

2 T vinegar

Directions:

1. In a separate bowl, mix together the pumpkin, milk, egg, oil, and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine. 

2. Heat a slightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot with syrup. 

Enjoy!!!

Pics of Madie and Jack

Miss Thang! She loves having her picture taken!
This is one of my favorite shots from the other night. He is so wiped out. 
This is another of my fav's. He loves his Daddy!

Precious. Man, she is growing up so fast. 
They were playing Peter Pan in the backyard. Madie was Wendy, Daddy was Peter Pan, without the green tights :) , and of course, Jackson was Captain Hook.  Sorry for all the picture uploads. I knew I needed to get some of Hayden on here and felt like I should include Madie and Jack as well. I'm done posting for the night though. Hayden is finally asleep on my lap so I am going to try and lay him down, wish me luck!