yeah baby!

Yesterday I went to my midwife appointment.

I got on the scale as usual.

All of a sudden the scale started giggling. (ok, not really, but it might as well have!)

In the last 6 weeks...I gained...14 LBS!

I guess Trae's comment wasn't too far off! :)

Do you hear what I hear??

Today we celebrated Pioneer Day differently out here in MD. We went to Home Depot, Target, Wal-Mart, and Lowes! woo hoo! We also went to the house to measure windows and I found a little something on the front porch. So, I pushed the little button and guess what I heard?!?

MY DOORBELL!

I have a doorbell! yeah! I know, so exciting!

And now, I must go write my talk for Sunday. Somehow Walter got us suckered into giving talks! He owes me big time!

We're BaAaaaAAck!

We made it back to MD on Tuesday and have been trying to recover! We have spent the last 2 days just playing and taking it easy. However, we did take time to go see this...

OUR HOUSE!

It's done! Yeah!

The kids had so much fun running through it! We can't wait to move in next week!

Tonight Walter and I went out on a date. It was totally one of those hot dates where you...go to Home Depot and look at fences, garage door openers, ceiling fans, and the like! Very romantic! We finished the night at The Melting Pot for cheese fondue and chocolate fondue. It was so yummy! However, I think the cheese fondue might have had alcohol in it, cause I'm totally feeling it! Well, here's to my first buzzed experience. Now I'm off to sleep it off!

A day without pictures!

I didn't even pull my camera out today! I didn't want to! Granted, the scenery was beautiful! But I think that after 9 hours of driving through it, it's pretty much burnt into my mind!

We are heading back to the MD! And the daddy! yeah! Today we drove 9 hours to somewhere in NC. My kids did great! We stopped to go potty and they were ready to get back in the car to finish our goal for the day. We made it here by 4:30! woo hoo! I rewarded my kids with some swimming time. When I say swimming, I don't mean beautiful beaches, sunny weather, and sand. I mean, NC swimming time. Which, for us, is during a thunderstorm. So, it was cut short. Instead, I rewarded them with bathing the dog in the hotel bathroom. You know I won't do that in my new house, but since Malachi's stay cost me $50, I figured I'd get my 'washington's worth!' And I did, there is dog hair EVERYWHERE! Oh well, at least we had fun! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY T-BONE!

Last night I put this little boy to bed...



And this morning, this woke up...



Did you see it? We put the terrible 2's to bed and woke up the terrific 3's! You think it worked?? yeah, me neither. But I'm hoping!

 

We had fun with presents, frozen yogurt, and skype! Daddy got to watch Trae open his presents. It was a special treat for Trae and all the kids. They love Daddy/Uncle Gene. He's kind of entertaining.

And lastly, so we never forget...



(like we could! have you ever seen that much hair on a 2 month old??)

Our hairy little baby is growing up!

Where are we??

On our road trip today Winni kept asking, 'what friends are we going to visit now?' Trae kept asking if we could 'just go home now,' wherever that is. And my mom kept forgetting where we were going. Well, to answer them all, we are visiting the House household, it will be home for a few nights, and it's in Dunnellon. Whew! Now be quiet so I can drive there in peace! :)

We headed out of Naples this morning and along the way we met up with Jan, Jen's mom, for lunch. As we pulled up, I remembered our 6th occupant and realized I needed to find a temporary situation for malachi. I asked one of the employee's of Ruby Tuesday what they recommended I do with my dog and they said, 'he can stay on our patio!' I figured it was better than leaving him in the car in the Florida heat, so we did. I went out to check on him and that same employee was sitting with him, giving him water. I was so impressed! And thankful! Now, where can I put my children so I can enjoy my lunch??

We made it to Dunnellon and enjoyed a fun evening at the Fun Factory. It's basically a really HUGE McDonald's play place with some video games. It's like the Discovery Zone of my teenage years. Where did those go?? We had fun and headed home to make homemade pizza. The kids had fun and did a great job!




And, they tasted good! Now, to get some sleep! I am totally surprised by my driving-long-distance ability.

Homeless = Hard :)

Well, we have been homeless now for 22 days! It has acutally gone by pretty quickly! We have been in Naples since yesterday and are leaving tomorrow. Today we went to the Dinosaur Park. We went there in December when we were visiting.
However, this time it was soo hot! We lasted maybe 45 minutes, then we headed for some AC!

Tonight we had a picnic dinner at the beach with Uncle Mark and Aunt Sherri. Then, of course, we had to play at the beach and enjoy another sunset!






My kids favorite thing to do at the beach is "exercise" or jump the waves. They are getting pretty good at it!


Another beautiful sunset!

The edge of the UNIVERSE!

Well, at least the edge of the US! We finally arrived in Naples, FL! So far, it doesn't seem too hot. However, we got here about 5 PM and basically went straight to the beach! We had some sandy fun and enjoyed a beautiful sunset with GG!

 

What better way to end the day then to watch the sun go down....



as the FULL MOON comes up! Thanks Trae! :)

Did you know??

Florida is HOT! I mean, as in, hotter than Hades?!? And we are only at the top. Not sure how we are going to survive. We tried to go to a park today, and after about 10 minutes we were DONE! But, while at the park we found this...



and what do you do when you find a raccoon in a garbage can? Well, you check the other garbage can! And, sure enough...



Then, after we had sweat enough to look as if we were swimming, we headed to the beach! This beach was great! We never actually made it to the ocean, but just before it there was this 'splash zone' where the kids could play in water and sand, along with a playground.

 

It was the best! A life saver, even! We could have stayed there all day. We basically did, and now I have a sunburn to remind me of the fun we had! Luckily, the kids only have minor sunburns!

Then tonight, after dinner (once the temp had dropped) we headed out to downtown St. Augustine. It was really pretty! It's really old and we had fun looking at the new shops in the old buildings.

We found a friend along the way. It was a Beethoven dog! Currently, he weighs in at 155, but he's got another 15 lbs to put on before he is done growing! HOLY CRAP! Speaking of...I'd hate to be the one cleaning up after this dog!



He sure was a pretty dog, though!

We also walked along the water and had fun playing with crabs! I'm not a fan of crabs. There is just something wrong with them. I mean, they walk sideways!! They kind of creep me out! Me and my sunburn got to pose along the walk with the kids!



What a beautiful place this is. We hit the road again tomorrow. Going farther south! Something is wrong with my brain, for sure! St Augustine = too hot, so what does that make Naples?? A short visit!

We made it!

We are now in Florida. Up at the top! We are visiting with Walter's cousin and her family. We are staying in their camper. I've always wanted to stay in one of these!! woo hoo!! We picked my mom up along the way and are now dragging her along on our adventure. After we picked her up we headed to the gas station to get some treats. I wish I had my camera with a good battery in it. We walked in, in Savannah, GA weather on this July 14th with Trae wearing his snow gloves and Winni wearing a snow hat! Something is wrong with my kids! But, they were happy and it kept them occupied!

Also, I traded in sharing a room with 9 kids for sharing a room with my mother...who just started snoring! Wish me luck!

Slippin Slide

Today we pulled out the slippin slide! It was so fun! See, as Trae is demonstrating, what you gotta do is start way back at the cars. Then, you start running. Then, when you get to the slide you...

pimpin' it

Grady style!



And it didn't take long...



to make the ladies smile!

This was from Thursday, the day we got here. Took him a whole 20 minutes to start workin his magic!

Where are you lovely nails??

Dear Lovely Nails-

Oh, kind-hearted ladies of Lovely Nails! I miss you! The way you soak my feet. The way you use the razor even though you aren't supposed to! The way you hand me your upsale book of pictures of other peoples NASTY cute feet! They way you try so hard and usually succeed at insulting every person that comes through your doors. Insult all you want, because we come back for more. We even leave laughing and share our stories with others. Most of all, I love that I have never left with my feet looking like this... (Melinda's)



or this... (Mine)



Might you be looking to open a location in Maryland? It looks like South Carolina could use some help, too!

Sincerely,

Sad little toes in SC!

I even tried to get an upsale! Do you do flowers?? Love Nails does! A line? ANYTHING!?! These toes are not much to admire...but at least they do look pretty, and Melinda and I got to spend some time out without kids, even if it was a Wal-Mart pedi shop! :)

Oh, and THANK YOU DAVID! For enduring 9 children, all under the age of 8. There were no incidents, no phone calls, he was even surprised to see us back 'already!'

Cole much fun!

1-2-3 JUMP!

The chaos continues! What do you get when you take 9 kids to the beach?? LOTS AND LOTS OF FUN!

We had so much fun at the beach tonight! We should do this more often! All night long Trae kept saying, 'A Blue Whale!!' Well, I wasn't sure what he was talking about, until I got home and saw the pictures...

I still love him! :)

On the road again...

Today we headed to good ol SC! I love this place! Seriously! I don't know what it is about it? I just love it! In a perfect world all of you utards would be out here with me, and we'd all live and play together.

For the next few days we are visiting/taking over at the home of one of Walter's old roommates and good friends, David and Melinda. They are so nice to let us stay. And Melinda even lets me cook! woo hoo! Of course, I try not to be selfish, and I let her clean up after me!

Anyway, our travel today was really alright! We survived! We stopped for a picnic, but couldn't find a park. So we found a nice patch of lawn, next to the gas station/Burger King we were at.



Grady was too excited to be out of his carseat, so we strapped him into his high chair so I could eat! During lunch, Trae found an ant hill and decided to see who was tougher. Well, the ants won!



It was kind of obvious when he came running to me, screaming like a girl (or his father) saying, "itchy ants, itchy ants!" We have a lot to learn about bugs out here!

Oh, and this is how we roll...

T-bone


Triple G



Fred



Hairy, stinky dog!


Peace!

Chuck E!!

Today we went and visited our favorite Georgia based mouse...



My kids were all so excited to see him, but when it came time to get close, only these 2 were still excited!

 

Thanks Trish! We had so much fun!

Fisherwoman!!

Today was quite the success for Winni!

They went out with 4 worms...



And came back with this loot!





She caught 5, but 2 were too small so they got to go swim some more!

Meanwhile, we were on the bank 'practicing'

Trae practiced casting



Grady practiced 'working the camera'



Then Trae went out for his one on one fishing lesson...



And came back with...



NOTHING!

They caught at least 1 fish, but Trae didn't want to keep it, so they threw it back. Gramps says it was big enough to put Winni's fish to shame! But then, you know how fish tales go!



But at least Trae had fun out there fishing, and we had fun practicing being 'crazy!' Yes, it takes practice to live like this!