I did it!!!

I finally hung some actual pictures on the wall, and this is before they are over a year old!!!!!  I know, hold your applause and maintain your composure everyone, this might happen again in the near future.  I still have quite a few pictures to hang up but I wanted to share a picture of my handy work...I even measured it out and made sure they were level!!!

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  

So after the pictures were hung we played a game of scattergories and then a game of Life...I didn't win.  The kids all decided to go to college first (woohoo) and I decided to take the shorter route and start my career right away.  I ended up with this occupation and salary:

As for the kids, they got salaries of $80,000, $90,000 and $100,000.  Yeah, it's nicer when you get to choose from 3 instead of taking the one you got.  Like I said, I lost.  I hope the kids got a lesson out of this game today.  

So the kids have 4 more days of school until spring break.  They don't have school on Friday and only Madison knows that we're going to Jessie's house for her daughter's surprise party and a "sleepover" so the kids can have a fun time.  Maybe I can play Scattergories and not have to let my competitors use any letter they want and give them an automatic extra point after each round. :)

Other than that, I think I'm going to make cupcakes for the kids' classrooms.  Madison is not sure if she wants to take any but Christopher would like blue cupcakes and Alexander chose green.  Here's a picture of the ones I'm going to attempt.

Not the grass ones because I don't have that attachment and that's a lot of work.  I'm going to do the chicks just with yellow frosting for Christopher and the bunny backsides for Alexander.  I'm thinking tootsie rolls are in order. :)  I like making stuff for their classes, it makes them very happy.  

That's it for now, I hope everyone has a great day and night. :)

Was planning on taking more pictures

We went to the park yesterday morning and followed that up by a trip to the beach.  We decided to get an inflatable boat and lounger first.  Total cost was only $18 but the misery at the end of the beach trip, holy smokes.  We brought two girls from down the street with us and that took up quite a bit of room.  I ended up having to try to deflate both of them to fit them in the car, which is not as easy as it seems.  Blowing them up and getting lightheaded was actually the easy part.

Oh, so here's a nice story...  As we were walking home from school on Thursday afternoon, Madison and I discovered a bird egg that had fallen out of the coconut tree, or so we thought.  Madison picked it up and we decided she should try to hatch it at home.  I know, it was a long shot but we thought we'd give it a try. She came home, made a little nest in her new bowl she'd painted at school and set it on the coffee table.  Ok, pause in this story because I have to tell another one that goes along with this one...

Alexander is somewhat of a gas machine...yeah, I know, kind of a gross story to tell but just wait.  So he was sitting on the couch saying, "scuse me, scuse me, scuse me............" This went on for about a minute before I "noticed" and said to knock it off.  Needless to say, the aroma in the living room wasn't very pleasant.  About 10 minutes go by and it stinks again!  I blamed it on poor little Alexander...it wasn't him.  He had left the living room about 5 minutes ago.

After acting like a dog, sniffing under the table, looking behind chairs, couches and under the furniture, I finally decided to check the egg.  It was rotten.  It was immediately thrown away.  We will no longer bring home eggs that have obviously been kicked out of the nest.

Next up, Alexander came out of school the other day covering his chest with his hand.  I knew it was a sticker but didn't know what kind.  He had lost another tooth.  If he doesn't start growing these things back in quick we're going to have to listen to what Papa said and get him some baby food. :)

Here's a picture from the park on Saturday morning.  That's their new friend Alice from down the street.  They were watching the birds eat the crackers they had tossed them.  When we left the park had been sprinkled with crumbs for the birds.  I'm sure that all of the birds will be obese with all of the food they had left them.

So I got Madison a new bike seat and I just need to put it on her bike and she'll be ready to go.  The only bad part is that if it rains their bikes will quite possibly get rusty.

We have been invited to someone's house for hamburgers and hot dogs and a visit to the pool.  It will not be a long visit, the kids will need to be rested up for the 4 days of school they have until spring break starts.  The kids are ready, for spring break and Easter.

So that's it for right now, I'll try to keep posting and keep everyone updated.  Have a great day and night.

It's Friday

That's about it.  Friday comes with finishing up the housework and getting ready for the weekend that will end much too soon.  I did not do my run this morning because my tummy isn't feeling all that great.  Stupid pizza night.  You'd think I'd realize that it causes an upset stomach every time I eat it but nope, it tastes too good.  Today I will be picking up Easter eggs for the Easter bunny to fill up this year, yeah, we like to help him/her out and save him money. ;)  I am also on the lookout for lollipops for Easter morning because we'll be planting magic jelly beans this year to see what grows.  I hope the kids don't get any brilliant ideas to start planting coins with high hopes that dollar bills will be there in the morning.

So Glenn's internet was down for a while the other day but we still managed to get a few emails to and from each other.  He's doing ok, still on the water but hopefully he'll be able to have an off ship meal soon. I'm hoping it's a good one too.  Less than 20 days until we get to see him home again.

We have a park/coffee "date" in the morning with a lady from down the street.  Unfortunately she doesn't have boys to play with but she does have 2 girls and we are going to the park so I'm sure the boys won't mind.  She's pregnant with a little boy, due May 1st so maybe I'll be taking some maternity pictures soon. :)

I think I might take the kids to the beach again this weekend.  They had so much fun last time and I will make sure to double up on the sunscreen on the boys this time.  They just need those shirts that prevent burns.  Alexander seems to be great because of the life vest but his shoulders still get pink.  Christopher just goes and goes like the energizer bunny and comes home pink.  I know, I should pay more attention.  I have to go to the NEX today to pick up stuff anyway so I might look for some there.  Oh, here's a picture of Madison and I taking the boys' bikes to school in the afternoon.  We decided it would be faster to ride them to the school. :)

If you want a good work out you should try riding a children's bike that's too small for you.  It's so much harder to pedal.  Christopher's helmet was a little too taut for my chin but I didn't want to mess with it so I took it like a big girl.  Just look at how high Madison's knees are on Alexander's bike.  She also discovered that something is wrong with Alexander's front tire.  I thought it had went away since we blew up the tires but nope, still a big lump in it, I think we're going to have to get a replacement tube.  Maybe I'll add that to my list for today.  To make this situation even more funny than it already was, Madison was ringing the bike bell that we just put on Alexander's bike.  That was hilarious!  

I'm sad that I couldn't post those singing videos here the other day.  I still haven't looked into whether or not I can post videos on here but I still might do that.  For now, I have to get to cleaning so I can get to the store before the kids are getting out of school.  I hope everyone is doing well and that they have a great day or night, depending on when you're reading this. :)

Email Glenn :)

Hey Everyone, I wanted to put this on here so that everyone knows that Glenn's out at sea and it's lonely out there.  If you could drop him a quick email at graygt@as39.navy.mil that would be awesome.  We haven't heard a ton from him but we are able to get a few emails back and forth.  I'm excited that it's about 19 days until we get to see him.  Like I said though, about, we never know and I just hope it stays on track (or ahead of schedule) so we get to see him sooner rather than later.

The kids are still doing good, they're enjoying being able to ride their bikes to school.  Madison needs a new seat for her bike and then she will be riding it again.  When that happens, I will be able to run next to them on the way to school and then get on my way to the beach gate and back home.  No, not to hang out at the beach, I actually run past that gate and home.  That makes me appreciate the super short drive when we actually do go to the beach to hang out.

Madison has been feeling sick for a little while.  She stayed home on Monday, got slightly ridiculed by her teacher (that was handled) and didn't complain today at school when she felt bad.  She actually came home with a 99.1 fever when I picked her up after school was over.  I realized that I was out of those little tylenol tablets so we had to go to the store and get some for her.  It seems to be working and I'll be able to give her another dose about 30 minutes before their "bedtime" but I think they will be going to bed a little early again.  They seem to be getting a little more tired each day.

So I bribed the boys a little today.  Well, I wouldn't really say bribe, I had them sing me a song before they could go to the park.  I know, kinda mean right?  Nah, it was totally worth it.  I have videos to prove it. :)  I hope everyone can watch these.

Ok, so I tried to post them and for some reason it's not working.  Can I even post videos to this blog...I don't know, but I may try to find out in the near future.  I hope everyone has a great day/night.  

Monday Evening

Nothing much went on here yesterday.  We went to the grocery store after school, picked up a few things, strawberries were definitely on the list of things we got because they went down from $4.99 to $2.99!!!  We got 2 because they love them so much and I can't bring myself to pay $5 for a tiny pint of them!  Afterwards we came home, I cooked dinner and the boys went to the park.  Madison and I followed about a minute later.  Here they are at the park.

I only got a few pictures so yeah, that's it.  I'm thinking about taking my good camera down there one of these days and getting some of them but I don't want them to get mad because they want to play with their friends.

Today is baseball night.  Practice for Alexander at 5:00 on the base down the street and then Christopher's practice at 6:00 right down the road from our house until 7:00.  I'm thinking it'll be a french toast and pancake for dinner night if they want that.  I keep thinking that next week is spring break but it's not!!  they still have another week to go after this one.  At least they get off Thursday and get to start their break on Friday.  I just wish Glenn was here so that we could hang out more during that week and do something. :(

So, that's it for today.  I'm sure we'll have some super exciting news sometime in the future but it's not today. :)  Have a great day/night everyone.

Missing Daddy, trying to make time go by faster

So we went to the beach today and stayed there for about 3 1/2 hours.  The kids had a great time and were actually able to meet up with some friends from down the road that were there.  They played great and had a wonderful time.  Madison took my camera out for a little bit and took some pictures.  Here are a few of them.

Christopher finding big rocks and coral with his friend Joseph.

Not sure but Madison thought this was picture worthy. :)

Looking for those rocks...He thinks he can hold extra air when his cheeks are puffed out.

Reaching for his latest find.

Uh, coral??

Pretty view from underwater.

Some coral under the water.

Sea cucumber.  They're squishy when you touch them but if you squeeze them they will squirt out sticky stuff.

Madison was taking some self portraits. :)

She found a piece of coral that looked like a T.

Look Ma!!  No hands!!!  :)  Alexander buried his hands in the sand.

Here is one of Christopher and then one of Madison underwater. :)

While we were there, those rocks and coral that the kids were collecting came with a surprise.  

We saw a baby octopus!!!  It was so cute!!!  Sorry about that water drop on the lens.  At least it didn't cover up the coolest part of the picture. :)  

Alexander loved chillin' in the shallow water.

Madison wasn't tired of picture taking yet!!! :)

He was making his own poses.

Not sure what she was up to here but she was having a good time.

So that's it for now.  We miss Daddy, can't wait for him to get back and hope time goes by fast.  We love you Glenn and can't wait for you to get back home.

We hope everyone has a great day/night.

Pages 4 and 5 and some new tunes

Here are pages 4 and 5 of the Project Life book.  I know they're plain but I didn't want to add too many things to them and have them look overdone.

Now onto today.  Glenn left. :( The ship had to leave and will be out for a few weeks and that sucks.  I have been trying to look at it as a not so bad thing considering two things: he could be on the Frank Cable in Oregon right now or he could be on a ship that is deployed for more than a few weeks at a time.  For now, I'm going to keep working out, try to make the time go by faster and wait for him to get home.  I just hope time goes by just as fast for Glenn.

The kids and I went to Chuck E. Cheese this morning with friends and they had a great time.  Madison and her friend kept looking under the machines for dropped tokens and ended up finding quite a few of them until they were told to stop by the guy that worked there.  We are now the proud owners of 2 token holders, more of the "gummy" lizards and a CD with Chuck E.'s top hits.  Sweet.

The kids only have 4 days of school this upcoming week and then it's spring break and Easter.  Alexander wants the Easter bunny to leave footprints in his room.  I think he can do that for him.  I think he needs to cut back on the chocolate this year since mommy can't keep her mitts off of it.

Ok, that's pretty much all I have for today.  Have a great day/night everyone.