Camping Day 1

In October, we went camping as a family with a few other families. It was our first time camping as a family so we were really hoping it would go well. The kids absolutely loved camping and Marty and I enjoyed it also. I know a huge part of it was the friends we were with. It was so fun to camp with other people you know and it also helped a ton that someone else was in charge of making all the food for the weekend!

The tent Marty and I have is 12 years old. Yes we thought it would be fun on our 2nd anniversary to go camping near the beach - in August. So we haven't done much camping since that horribly hot experience. My point is our tent was to small for all 5 of us to sleep in so we borrowed a tent (we didn't want to buy one yet until we knew how it went).

Here's where the boys spent the weekend:

Us girls slept in our tent, that is so incredibly easy to set up. When we buy a bigger one, I hope we can find one this simple!

We stayed in Silver Springs and rented out a whole huge area that had a beach in the lake. It was perfect and so beautiful. A picture of all the kids on the first night there.

The beautiful sunset on our first night.

Deana was the one that bought and made all the food. She bought these giant marshmallows and of course Marty thought it would be fun to show he could fit one in his mouth - so pretty:)

Of course the marshmallows were supposed to be for roasting and making smores. So yummy!

Green Meadows Farm

Monday, Molly and I got to go to Green Meadows Petting Farm with the Northland Co-op. It was funny because Abbie was there the same day on a field trip with her school, but we only saw her walking in and then never again:(

But Molly and I had a blast. Molly was so excited to hold a baby chick. She kept asking me when we were waiting for our whole group to get there, "can we go hold the baby chicks now?" (in a impatient and excited voice)

But we didn't start at that, we started at the ducks so she was a bit disappointed. Then she got scared for some reason in the pen. I had turned to pick up a duck and when I turned to show her the duck she was crying - so I only held it for a very short time. And I didn't get any pics of us with the ducks since we got out right away. I did take a picture of the ducks before we went in the pen.

Molly quickly calmed down when she found a pretty feather on the ground:)

After we saw some llamas and ostriches, we got to hold the baby chicks! Here Molly and her friend Ariah are holding out there hands patiently and excitedly waiting.

Molly loved the chick! The baby chick was really sweet and was almost fell asleep in my hand.

We also got to hold a baby duck, but it had something on its beak which made it looked like it was trying to bite you, so of course Molly didn't want to hold it then. Oh well!

We then went to the pig pen and they warned us they might bite at your shoe laces or feet so Molly didn't want that either. It was funny watching some other people though that the pigs were chewing at their shoelaces.

Next we got to see the sheep. Molly absolutely loved the sheep last time so I expected the same, but this time I couldn't even get her to pet one. But Jennie and her daughter Jessie loved petting the sheep:

This was a huge water buffalo. Notice the caution sign, his horns were a little scary.

Then we went into a little house where they have some guinea pigs and birds. The guinea pigs were adorable. This bird was not happy about some of us watching him and kept making a really loud noise and spreading his wings. Guess he wanted us to think he was in charge!

Molly loved getting to ride the horses. Well, only because she felt the peer pressure to ride after her friend Ariah. I like when peer pressure makes your kids do good/fun things!

Molly and her friend playing on the firetruck. Love the way Ariah posed as soon as I said smile for the camera.

Molly loved this miniature horse, she went right up to the fence when she heard she could pet it.

She even milked a cow! I was so mad that my picture where you can see that she is actually milking it hides her face. I was so proud of her for trying new things.

I think she loved posing for pictures after all the animals just about as much as the animals. We took lots where you put your head in a circle and some at a butterfly and then even more at these fake horse.

Finally, we got to pick out a pumpkin on our way out. I think this is one of the probably 20 that she picked up. Molly was very serious about which one she wanted, she took a long time to decide which one she wanted. She would never tell me if she wanted small, round, big. I guess she just knew it when she saw it.

It was such a fun day at the farm. I loved getting to have so much time with just Molly. It was our first "field trip" without siblings. Fun and yes kind of sad at the same time!!

Museum of Art

Today, Marty was out of town (in Alys Beach at this really cool event!) but the kids and I went to a Target Family day at the Orlando Museum of Art. It was free admission and they had lots of fun things for the kids. We had some really cool balloons made. Then each kid made a puppet. It was the pigeon from "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus" book.

They had a storytime also in the children's area of the art gallery. Mo Williems is the featured artist right now, he's the one who wrote the pigeon book.

Then we also went and watched a few short videos based on some of Mo Williems books. They were so cute, I will have to make it a point to checkout some of his books from the library.

Then finally Mr. Richard was playing also. For some reason my kids have never really gotten into his music very much though. They love music and love dancing but never been interested in staying to watch him anywhere we have been.

I was so glad that I went with the kids today. I was a little worried that it would be crazy busy and I was by myself but I decided to just try it - so glad I did because it was perfect. We got a parking spot close to the front and it wasn't very crowded at all. The kids even thanked me for taking them when we left:)

Molly and her purple flower. I love the little "pollen" that she added to the middle, and smiley face. The kids loved it also!

Abbie with her pigeon puppet and pink flower. The girls are so funny. They love to have the same things but always want them to be just a little different. Abbie went first and then Molly wanted the same thing just all different colors.

Graham with his puppet and helicopter. It's hard to tell in this picture, but the body is the purple and the propellers are the blue. Graham's propeller part popped while we were walking around, but I was so proud of him because I told him if he wanted it fixed he had to go ask the lady if she would fix it really fast so we didn't have to wait in line another 30 minutes. He went right up and was assertive and got it fixed - and was polite about it:)

Posing in front of the museum

After dinner, we had some dessert and they were all being really silly. Molly decided to use the step, that someone had left in the middle of the kitchen, as her table. So, of course, the others wanted to join in also. It was so funny!

Memorial Day

--I know it is no fun to read a post with no pictures, but sorry this is just really for me to remember:)

On Memorial Day, we went to Dan & Robin's house for a cookout. And they live on a lake and have a boat:) It was so nice to be around friends and just have a relaxing day. The adults had fun getting to actually talk while the kids had a blast in the kiddie pool. The funniest thing was the kids kept taking the adult sized rafts into the kiddie pool. It was hilarious!

After way to much delicious food, Dan took the boat out. Graham, Abbie and Daddy rode the boat while Molly and I hung out. Dan & Robin's sweet dog, Nilla, rode in the boat also. (Nilla made me want to get another dog sooner rather than later) Abbie did great not being afraid of him, she didn't want to get very close but she wasn't afraid.

I rode the boat with Abbie and Molly and then Graham went back out so he could ride on the tube! He was a little nervous at first but Dan rode with him and he did great. Dan actually got tossed off the tube at one point but Graham held on. Graham started to get scared and wanted to stop but Marty had him stay on a little longer and then he loved it again. When Graham got back the first thing he said to me was "I held on but Dan fell off!" He was pretty excited!

Then it rained for a while so we hung out and ate some more I'm sure. Earlier when Graham was tubing we asked Molly if she wanted to go and she said yes. We asked Abbie also and she said no. So we went back out when the rain stopped so Molly could go and Abbie would watch. Dan once again rode with Molly and was so sweet. Chris did a great job driving the boat pretty slow but Molly loved it. She said her favorite part was the bumps! We were so excited that she just did it no questions asked pretty much.

Well, after Molly went Abbie said she wanted to go! Marty and I were excited and fearful at the same time. We knew she would love it as long as she didn't fall or get hurt. Dan once again rode with Abbie and she really liked it. Chris started off really slow but Abbie wanted to go a little faster. We went I guess medium speed, but she enjoyed it. It was just so fun watching our kids try new things with pretty much no fear. I loved it.

Graham even wanted to go again after Abbie but we couldn't. We definitely need to get them back out on the boat and tubing soon. I need to get out and tube also! I haven't been in forever and was to afraid to be on with the kids.

Marty and I both commented that night on what a great day it was. It was just relaxing, fun to be with friends and just such a rewarding day with our kids!

**There are no pictures, because once I get out of the habit of taking pictures it is sooo hard to remember. I know Robin's dad took some pictures so maybe he has some I could steal.

Picking strawberries

Shuttle launch

Monday morning, after Easter, the space shuttle launched. It launched at 6:21am. Marty, Graham and I watched it from our backyard. You could see it perfectly and so well since the sun was just barely coming up. It made the smoke stream look like it was glowing! I took a few pictures of the smoke stream after the launch and when the sun was up even more. These pictures barely show how beautiful the sky looked! I love being so close to the space center:)


up close of the glowing part,


with some more smoke stream,

seeing the reflection in the water. So beautiful!

Easter

So after Abbie's birthday part of Easter, we sent the kids upstairs to play with Abbie's presents. Then Marty and I got an Easter egg hunt ready for them. We decided this year to combine the baskets and the egg hunt. So we put an initial on each of the eggs and then inside some of the eggs where numbers that went with their prizes. We put some candy and quarters in the other eggs. The kids thought it was fun to have to find their initial. We opened all the prizes and by that time, Marty had to be back at church and I had to start getting myself and the kids ready for church. Right when we were getting ready to leave I thought about taking a few pictures. This is the one that is right on front of our bushes that have pink flowers on them right now - what was I thinking? Actually, I was thinking I don't care I just need to make sure and take at least one picture of them in their Easter outfits and to do it quickly or we would be late!

Then after church I tried again, not much better! It was bedtime by now. I think my favorite though is the one where they almost look like Charlie's Angels:)

The kids were really cute when we were going to bed. They asked if we could have some more Easter tomorrow, since we didn't get to celebrate it all day. They ended up hiding their eggs for each other, it was really sweet.

Abbie's 5th birthday

Easter Sunday was Abbie's 5th Birthday. It was difficult to have another birthday on a holiday since Graham and Molly's are December 26th and 27th, but what a great day to celebrate. We got to celebrate Abbie and the fact that Jesus died for us and rose from the dead! What a way to celebrate our physical life and our spiritual life in Christ!

I had asked Abbie for a while what she wanted to do for her birthday. The only thing she kept telling me was that she wanted us to have balloons and to decorate for her birthday - that was easy enough. Saturday night she was so excited to go to bed. When she saw that it was dark outside she actually started jumping up and down! After she got in bed she told me that I needed to make sure that Graham, Molly and I (daddy was going to be at church) were awake before she was so that we could tell her "surprise" in the morning:) It was really cute. Here's the "surprise" she woke up to:

Her bedroom door, she was really surprised to have streamers and balloons in her face...

Then they were all the way down the stairs...

A "Happy Birthday" sign in the doorway to the kitchen...

and finally streamers and balloons in the kitchen. (Abbie is in the picture because at this time she was running circles under the streamers - she really liked them!)

Daddy had to be at church for the morning Easter services so we let her open her new Barbie movie so she wouldn't be asking mommy all morning long to open her presents:) It was a good distraction for a few hours at least. She was very patient and absolutely wanted her daddy to be there when she opened her presents. She loves her daddy that's for sure!

Hard to believe our princess is 5!

We used the candles where the flames are colored, the purple one was pretty cool, but they had a ton of smoke when she blew them out.

I have a cute video of her opening one of her presents that I will try to post.

After lunch, presents and cake we had our Easter day activities that I'll post about later. It was a fun filled day!

Abbie's comments

Abbie said two really cute things today and I wanted to make sure and write them down.
Molly, Abbie and I were at Publix today, grocery shopping obviously. At the check out, Abbie immediately asked if she could have a balloon. Molly has decided after our last trip when her balloon floated to the ceiling that she doesn't want balloons anymore, even though they gave her another one:) I said, "Abbie you just got a cookie." But of course she still wanted a balloon and the sweet grandma cashier really wanted her to have one, so I said "yes, you can have a balloon as long as if it goes to the ceiling you don't get upset."

While the cashier was ringing our groceries up, we all noticed that there were a lot of balloons on the ceiling. I asked the girls to count them - there were 7! Well, as you can already see coming Abbie's balloon slipped off her wrist and up to the ceiling. She immediately got upset and when I leaned down to talk to her she said through her tears "mommy, there were 7 balloons and now there are 8!" It was so sweet and helped me not be that "I told you so" mom.

Graham has started getting the mail everyday after school and everyday he tells me who each piece of mail is for. Him and Abbie usually ask "where's my mail?" Well, today Abbie got a piece of mail and she was SO excited! She was literally jumping up and down and clapping her hands. She said "I have waited my WHOLE life for a piece of mail." Love that girl. (She was even more excited when she opened it and it was a $3 gift card for Toys R Us. It is from Toys R Us if you sign up online for their birthday club.)

Daddy Daughter Dance 2010

This year was Molly's first year to be part of the Daddy Daughter Dance. Abbie and Molly LOVED it and continually ask when they get to go again. Who wouldn't love getting dressed up, face painting, coloring, hot dogs, chocolate, strawberries and most importantly getting lots of attention from their daddy!