Sleeping Beauty

This week I have a light load b/c Charlie and William are staying at their Meme and Pop's house. Yesterday it rained here all day long. I laid the girls down for a nap and laid Henry down for one too only he decided he wasn't going to take one. I finally gave in and let him stay up with me. After the girls' morning nap I told Henry to go in their room and we'd get diaper changes and go get Sonic for lunch. He went on in there and I went and put on some pants b/c I had gotten soaked taking the garbage cans out to the street and I was freezing. I also used the bathroom. So we're talking maybe a five minute time span, if that. I walk to the girls' room to change everybody's diaper and this is what I see:
Little squirt had taken the girls' blankets out of their bed and curled up in the rocking chair and died.

Bless his heart! He was even snoring!

So I just let him sleep there for a while and fed the girls their lunch and he rose after a little while to which he exclaimed that he wanted a grilled cheese for lunch. So much for Sonic! I was wanting a slush really bad too!

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Charlie is six!
We spent the day doing what Charlie wanted to do which was staying home and playing on the water slide that Meme and Pop got the boys for their birthdays.

Charlie opted to bring McDonalds home for supper so we had a quiet evening at home.

The next night we went to Chuck E. Cheese and the kids had a ball. As usual I forgot my camera so the only pics from that are the ones taken with the Chuck E. camera that draws your picture! Happy 6th Birthday baby boy!

Meet Thumper

We were out of town for two weeks, to the beach and to Dothan. Last week I battled a sinus infection and was just plum lazy so it's been three weeks since my house has seen a cleaning. So today I'm attempting to do just that. It's been rainy here this morning so what better to do than clean? One of the boys let Belle out the back and I was procrastinating in the kitchen when all of a sudden I heard Belle start barking really loudly. I looked out and didn't see her so I figured she was at the other end of the yard barking at someone walking by on the sidewalk. I ignored it for a while but she kept on and on. I finally decided I'd go get her barking self in the house before the neighborhood association sends us another postcard in the mail telling us our dog is a nuisance. When I called her she didn't come so I proceeded to walk out and get her. She was in the nook by Clayton's office barking frantically. There was a mocking bird sitting on the fence so I just knew she had found her a baby. When I got closer I realized she had found her a baby, only not a baby bird. It was a baby rabbit. So I give you Thumper:

Clayton doesn't know about Thumper yet so we may not be able to keep him. We'll have to see what Daddy says when he gets home from work. I know two little boys that will be broken hearted if we have to send him back out into the wild (aka our back yard). Isn't he precious!!!

Mary Collins & the Ocean

As I said before Mary Collins LOVED the beach. She loved the pool too but she was totally in awe of the ocean. She crawled off her towel where they had been playing the sand all the way until she got into the water. I snapped her journey. You can't really tell that well b/c I was so close but I was scared to get far from her for fear the ocean would swallow her up. Margaret Ann was more of a pool girl herself. She was content to stay on her towel until it was time to head to the pool. She did get in the ocean but preferred I sit and hold her while the waves crashed on us. I did get some pics of that but I think I'll just keep them to myself and spare you the site of me in a swimsuit. I don't think anyone around us noticed me too much. They were too busy counting and asking, "Are they all yours?" To which I replied, "Yes, yes they are." And my heart got blessed more than once which I've just gotten accustomed to these days. Anyway, here is Mary Collins on her trek to the big ole ocean.

Beach Vacation '09

Get ready...it's a long one.
So, we're back from the beach and we had a blast! We rented a house in Watercolor which is right next to Seaside which is my favorite place on earth. I mean, seriously, one of my goals in life is to own a house there and live close enough to go once a month. If I achieve that I will die a happy woman. I know that is so materialistic and none of that really matters in the big scheme of things but I can still dream. And while I'm dreaming I might as well dream big! I know most people like to do condos and stuff on the beach but we like to do a house and ride bikes everywhere. The house was awesome and I think Clayton and I both wanted to tear up when we had to leave. We did what everyone does at the beach: we did the beach, we did the pool, we took afternoon naps on the porch, we ate popsicles, we ate good, we dressed all in white and took pictures, we watched fireworks and listened to good bands...and so on and so on. Then we did some things that most people don't do at the beach like take five children to the beach, the pool, out to eat, etc. Of course there were meltdowns but all in all they did pretty good. You know on Jon&Kate Plus Eight when all the kids are screaming bloody murder and they're out in public and they're just like we're going to do this so we'll have the memories. I so felt like that on more than one occasion. But the memories are worth it. I hope all of our kids have fond memories of the beach like I did growing up. We were there the week of the 4th so we spent the 4th in Seaside listening to Rollin' in the Hay and watched a great firework show! So on to the pics:
Henry did know about the ocean at first:
But he decided it was okay:

Charlie and William on the other hand jumped right on in:

We buried kids in the sand (Charlie)

And William sporting my sunglasses:

Wasn't I just in labor with him yesterday? I mean, when did he get so big?

Mary Collins LOVED the beach:

And Margaret Ann was content on her towel. She's more of a pool girl herself.

My Henry man

We played in the sand

Clayton liked his chair

4th of July

Clayton got fireworks from Publix. It was like a pack of I don't know how many little fireworks and it was only $9! Best $9 he ever spent! They were just right for the boys. They made lots of sparks without all the noise. In their words "they were totally awesome!" We also got them some sparklers b/c no 4th of July is complete without them.

Western Lake is also in Watercolor and our house was right down the street from it. We even caught fish at the beach. The kids love to fish and though we brought their fishing rods with all the fancy stuff they actually caught fish with a good ole' cane pole with some shrimp for bait.

Of course we took our annual family pic in Grayton when we went to eat at The Red Bar. We got a really nice lady who was walking by to snap us real quick. They're not fabulous but when you're a family of seven it's a more like an act of God if you actually get everyone to look at the camera and smile. So we'll just settle for these.

Then I attempted to snap a few of the kids:

And that's our summer vacation! I have some pictures of Mary Collins crawling from the towels down into the ocean but that's another post and I'm tired. So that's all for now!

On the Road Again

We have just gotten back from our beach vacation and I will post more on that later. We had a blast. On the way down we split the drive up and spent the night with Clayton's Aunt Susan. These were taken on her swing on the front porch. Here is an attempt to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time (easier said than done). This is the best I could do:

Happy Birthday William!

William is five! We did what William wanted to do on his birthday which consisted of going to the pool and to Chuck E. Cheese for supper! So I took all the kids to the pool for the afternoon and we had a great time and then it was off to Chuck E. Cheese for supper. Since it was a Wednesday it was not crowded at all. I think there were maybe two other families there. The kids had a great time. At the end of the night William proclaimed, "this is the bestest birthday ever!" I can't believe my baby is five already!

Opening presents:
He loved his Batman wings:

Blowing out the candles: