Vacation is over

Vacation ended for me today, as it was time to get off my butt and get back to the housework and errands. I couldn't take being in the house for a third day straight with the kids so we took care of business today. We ran some routine errands and then headed over to McD's in the rain to play in their indoor play area. That place always stinks inside! It truly smells like feet. The kids don't mind though and they played their little hearts out. When we got home, I put them down for a nap and took out my favorite (latest) toy, the Wii Fit. I had such a good workout on that baby. It was time to put it up when the kids woke up from their nap and wanted to take turns. Ummm, I don't think they got the memo that it is MINE! Roman with his pushing "My turn, me" and Aiden with his "I wanna play, I can do that." I think they have enough toys. Does that sound mean? I just don't want to have to "ask" to use it anytime soon so I am keeping it to myself. IT'S MINE!!

A Spanish speaking monkey

Weigh in Wednesday:
I gained five pounds in the past week. That's the problem! I now have to lose forty! Thanks.

School for monkeys:
Today, Jude and I registered the boys in a new school. Cullen will be going into fourth in public school and Aiden will be attending the same school, entering Pre-K4. While registering Aiden, we decided to enter him into a Spanish Immersion program. It is a magnet school and I am very excited about the program. I think he is going to really like it. Cullen wasn't able to do this and he is pretty upset about it. I don't know how to fix this except to promise to learn Spanish with Cullen as the year goes on. I would like to learn it too! The public school has great reviews and I look forward to comparing it to Cullen's previous Catholic school education.

Doctor! Doctor! Give me the news:
The nurse called today and all my blood work came back within the normal range. So the doctor is thinking it is my current meds (for my crazy ass) so I will be weaning off of them this entire month. I hope all goes well. I am ready to be off of the medicine anyway. I hope I don't go all crazy like a mom of three boys can. lol Okay, I am not really certifiably crazy, just a little off since the Brandi depression I had awhile back. I had tried to get off this medicine before, on my own, and it didn't work out to well. I am hoping I am successful this time. And speaking of Brandi, there was news today.
http://www.sunherald.com/local/story/1505506.html
Every time I read something about Brandi in the news, I get all nervous and shaken, still. When does that feeling go away?

Are you pregnant?

At my doctor's appointment today, that was one of the first things my doctor asked. My mom and grandma had just asked me this last week when I wore a very unflattering dress, which I picked up over my head to expose my figure to them. However, I didn't do this to the doctor, I just said "no chance". Then there was that lady at the family reunion. This is a common question these days! Anyway, two pregnancy test down (negative), my doctor did some blood work and said it could possibly be some medication I am on now causing this. We shall wait and see.

Earlier in the day, we went to play with our MF's and the boys had a ball. We went to one of our new fave parks and they got down and dirty. It was Amy and I in the car with seven children. Don't be envious! LOL You have to LOVE the big dick (the name of my truck, watch those dirty minds!!)! We survived, and they did too. It was a fun morning of play.





I played on my Wii Fit this afternoon. I love it! It was my first time actually playing it and I had a blast all by myself. The kids weren't there, of course. Aiden stayed by Julia's earlier, Roman was napping, and Cullen was out running the neighborhood.

Brain sucker

I woke up this morning and was going to take my fat pregnant looking ass to the gym. I called Aiden into the bathroom so I could fix his hair and saw a spot on his scalp I thought was blood. Upon further inspection, I noticed it had legs and was the size a tad smaller than my pinky nail. OH MY GROSS, IT IS A TICK!! I freaked the F' out, called Julia (my mom was at work), realized she didn't have an immediate answer but to call the doctor, hung up with her, called the doctors office from my home phone and my grandma from my cell. Granny couldn't think of an immediate solution either so we hung up. The doctor's office said to bring him in (yes, we are city folk) so I dropped the other two monkeys off at Paw Paw's. Me, Julia, Aiden, and the creepy crawly blood sucking tick went to the doctor's office. The wonderful old doc pulled it out with tweezers and I finally had a normal heartbeat again. That's what happens when you fool around in the sticks, you get bugs! Damn family reunion. Never again. The rest of the day was lazy. I did purchase the Wii Fit this evening. I made a doctors appointment for myself for the following day to address this weight gain issue. I have gained nearly twenty pounds in about six weeks and I just want to make sure everything is okay internally.

Barns, churches, and cemeteries, oh my!

You have to eat, sleep, go to church, and die. That is what the small community of Glenwood, Alabama, must live by.

That is all that is in this itty bitty town and the surrounding towns! We left for the dreaded family reunion at 8 a.m. from Niceville and it took us two and a half hours to get there. Jude got pulled over not even five minutes into the trip for speeding. If you know how slow my husband drives, that should give you a good laugh. He has been pulled over for driving too slow before, but never speeding. Seriously. The nice officer understood we were following fast driving Uncle Dan and let us go with a warning. Jude really putted the rest of the trip to Alabama. He was going fifty eight in a forty five. Once we arrived (we were the first), I realized just how long the day was going to be. It was an old school house, and when I say old, I mean OLD.

It was in the middle of BFE and it was freaking hot outside. Once others started arriving, the kids found a few others to play with, but not share with. A place with NO toys, and your child has toys,

those toys become a hot commodity. At one point, I realized I was a total reunion crasher. I was asked (a few times) how I was related to the L family. As I tried to explain why I was there, I started to wonder just why I was there. Jude's mom

kinda wanted Jude to go because his grandma was going to be there from Kentucky

and so would his Aunt Faye

and Uncle Charles,

which in turn, means I had to go. *I did want to see them all, too:)* This is how I am related to this L family...I am married to Jude, who is Julia's son. Julia is the daughter of Hazel. Hazel is the daughter of a L person. Wow! I was totally a reunion crasher! Jake (Jude's dad) told me that at the reunions, everyone arrives, brings a dish,

they sit next to the same people they do EVERY year, they eat lunch, and then they go home. That is exactly how it went down, too. Once everyone was getting in their vehicles to leave, I was getting a tad excited,

and then I heard we were bringing the party to another person's house. Great. We went on to the house and visited there. As I was walking by a lady, I was asked the ever so wonderful question "Are you *motions rubbing the belly*?" "No, sorry." Are you serious?! I was totally ready to start the car at this point. I know I have gained weight but, DAMN! She continued on barely acknowledging the fact that she just insulted me. We left shortly thereafter. How come it is always the larger folks that feel they have the right to ask that. Once we left, we had to drive BACK to FL to pick up the dog, and then drive home to Louisiana. I put my headphones on, blared me some Blackcolmadina, Big Tymers, Pink, among others, and danced while I drove the entire five hour drive. Thanks, Uncle Dan and Aunt Becky,

for accommodating our big clan and providing us with wonderful hospitality. We had a great mini vacay and look forward to next years visit. Sorry I wasn't too fond of the family reunion, but I knew going into this thing that it was part of the deal. The people were nice and it was great to see our distant family.

I played with my cameras the entire trip and took 750 plus photos. I am really enjoying this photo snapping thing!

Beaches are a gift from God.

Really!!

We left a little late this morning for Destin from Niceville. I could not get moving! The clouds were out and it wasn't looking to good for us. Jude was bitching the entire time that it was going to be my fault if it started raining and we had to leave the beach, not getting a full day out, because I wouldn't get up and ready fast enough. Blah, blah, blah. We decided to go to Henderson State Park and that was the PERFECT plan.

The beach was beautiful, immaculate, not too crowded, and they had showers. Woo-hoo! As the day went on, the clouds slowly left us. At one point, Jude was saying it was a tad chilly, in July, mind you. I told him God had the outdoor air conditioner on for me so I wouldn't be sweating like I was in hell, sitting on the beach. We had bought a little ten dollar blow up boat for the boys

and tried to put Ro in it in the water. He fussed and laid on his stomach the entire time, mumbling.

When asked if he wanted to get out, he would shake his head NO. While in the water, with the waves rocking him, he passed out. I pulled him ashore and sat next to the inflatable boat.

He slept for at least two hours. He was so cute! I finally rubbed his head and back, tired of sitting on the beach watching part of my family play in the water, and woke him. He sat up and continued on with his beach business.

I took my pocket camera out in the water and got a bunch of photos.

The boys had a blast. Cullen stayed on his boogie board the entire time.

Aiden split his time equally in the water and in the sand.

Both the boys made friends near us and played with them. Roman played in the sand a lot.

He also did a lot of supermodel poses in the very very shallow part of the water. He would get on his hands and feet, arch his back, lower himself in the water, splash,

roll over,

and then jump up to play in the sand some more. Kind of like a little piggy in filth. Of course it was adorable. Paw Paw (Jude's dad) went with us both days and I think he had as much fun as the boys, wading out in the gulf. He is a fish, too. We had yummy Lenny's for lunch, played till five, and drove home in the wonderful rush hour traffic. It was worth it. The day was P-E-R-F-E-C-T!

Once we got home, we dressed and went out to dinner

with one son (they have three) of Uncle Dan and Aunt Becky's, Sean,

and his family. This was Aiden's favorite part of the trip. He will tell you this was; meeting his little girl cousin who is only a few weeks older than him.


They were so sweet together! I took plenty more pics. They chatted the entire dinner.


After, it was back home for more Wii and now off to bed. We have a long day in the country to look forward to tomorrow!
Aiden building sand castles

My man catching some waves




This was the best they would give me!