More Cousin Fun

We have had the best time playing with Nick and Jared.  The kids have been "fort building" for days.  It started with a million blankets, but quickly expanded to air mattresses and chairs for support.  They seperated their fort into rooms so everyone had their own space.  Caden had to complain a bit because since "he's the smallest," Jaelyn and Nick kept making him have the smallest room.  Jared must have gotten a monster sized room.  At almost 13, Jared likes to be a teenager, but he forgets sometimes and play right along with the little kids.

Tuesday, we all had lunch at Panera together.  Well, the kids and my parents loved Panera.  Dan and I walked down to Moe's.  My Moo Moo Mr. Cow was WONDERFUL.  I'm settling for Chipotle in Abingdon, but Moe's has my heart forever.  We snagged a geocache outside the mall while we were there.

After lunch, Dan and I took all 5 kids to the T.T. Wentworth Museum.

Caden got a camera for Christmas and he has loved taking pictures.  He's figured out all the modes and the flash.  It even has a flip out screen so he can do self videos.  I did catch him taking a picture of pee hitting the toilet and he got a little misty eyed when I told him the camera may not enter the bathroom again :p.

Allie loved the pretty old dresses.  Last time, they had an old bathing suite display.  This time, they had Pensacola wedding dresses from the early 1900s to about the 1950s.

The best part of the museum is the top floor.  They have a old timey village built complete with a pirate ship, a frontier fort, a general store and an Indian settlement.  We spent at least an hour letting the kids play.

I got in trouble last time for throwing a rat and hitting Caden in the head.  Sorry Caden.  I promise no rats were thrown during our playtime this time. 

 Jared, being almost 13 as I mentioned before, hung out with me while there was other adults around, but as soon as the play area emptied out, he jumped right into the fun.

Nick and Jared are going home to Biloxi today so it's going to get rather boring around here.

All the Grandkids Are Here

Here are my parents with their grandchildren

Here are Dan's parents with their grandchildren



A Day with Friends

I always look forward to the day we get to spend with my friend, Jennifer, and her family. We’ve been friends for 25 years and I love that our husbands get along and have things they have in common and our kids play well together.

We met at Oops Alley to start our fun day. Everyone bowled except me. I do not enjoy bowling, but I do like taking pictures so I was the official photographer. The big kids, Rich, Jen, Dan and Cassidy (their oldest daughter), bowled on one lane and the little kids bowled on another. It’s fun to watch everyone’s personalities come out in their bowling. Allie and Brody have a lot in common. They both bowled with gusto, half rolling, flinging, throwing their balls down the lane. Allie would stand and cheer for her ball. Brody was the winner of the kids. Jaelyn was not so into bowling. She was a little aloof, at least I think that’s a good word to describe her. She’d carry her ball up, throw it down the lane and then walk away without ever looking back. I think she lost. It might have been her mood though. She’s been waking up at 5 and then waking everyone else up. Bad sleep begets bad sleep which begets surly, contrary behavior. She’s been a real toot. Back to bowling… Caden is the baby of the group and he loved being babied by the big kids. Delaney, 11, was especially good at getting him the ball stand and helping him. He figured out if he got a really heavy ball, he could push it and make it go really fast down the lane. It was a lot of fun.

Next we headed to Arcadia to Mill to hunt for a geocache. I’m not sure if we started Rich on geocaching or if he discovered it himself, but he and Dan have become big geocachers (is that a word?). Anyway, if you live in Pensacola, this is a wonderful area for hiking or walking. We spent part of our time on a wooden boardwalk and the rest on a crazy, root covered, wooded path…well except for the sand bowl we found that had paths weaving all through it. Which way did we come in??? We managed to find the first part of the cache, but try as we did, we never located the second part. I’m not sure how much time we spent wandering, but by the end, I was carrying Allie on my back and the rest of my kids were complaining. It was Sonic slushie time.

The evening plan was to drop the kids off at Joan’s for a sleep over. When we got there, Caden got hurt playing rough with his cousin Caleb and that was all she’s wrote. He hung on to me and said he wasn’t staying. We took him back to Baba and Grandpa’s house for pizza and more tent building with Nick.

Rich, Jen, Dan and I had dinner at McGuire’s. The last time the four of us were there was in college before going to the Saenger Theater to see the Wizard of Oz. Dinner was amazing and so was the company. We hadn’t planned on what to do after dinner so Dan suggested finding a geocache that was nearby. 1 turned into 5 night time hunts. Dan came prepared with a new $30 flashlight (it’s the subject of contention at my house so I needed to include the price). It must be the Army training because I don’t think we was ever a Boy scout. Rich and I used the light from Iphones and Jennifer eventually found one of the kids’ DSs to use as her light source. We found caches near an old basketball court, on the bayfront in a restoration area and we found a quarter exchange in front of a downtown business. Our favorite finds were at a playground in this really ritzy neighborhood and in a downtown parking garage. Well, it wasn’t in the parking garage, it was hanging from a rope down the outside wall of the parking garage.

We finished our night off with Krispee Kreme (spelled wrong on purpose) as usual. It was an awesome day with amazing lifelong friends.

Playing with the Cousins

My brother's kids, Nick and Jared, stayed with us after Christmas. We have had a lot of fun. Even though it's been freezing outside, the kids have spent hours climbing trees and playing in the wagon.

Nick was excited when he saw Jaelyn's Easy Bake Oven.  He grabbed an apron and jumped right in.  It took us an hour to bake two 3" diameter chocolate chip cookies.  But who knew cooking with a 100 watt light bulb could so thrilling.

Unfortunately, it wasn't thrilling enough for the kids to spend the whole hour tending the oven.  I had to get the last cookie out.

Last night we broke out the Kaboodl cards.  We've lost the rules so most of the laughter was centered around not playing Kaboodl.  We have 2 more days with the boys before they have to go home to Biloxi.

Christmas Day Two

Today, we celebrated Christmas with my family.  My mom has done something to her back so my Dad and I were in charge of the food.  My  mom says we put on quite the show while cooking.  We argued a little, laughed a lot and made really good gravy (along with everything else) so she really can't complain.  My brother's family and my Grandpa and Doris joined us for lunch.  It's quite the contrast when Dan's family needs a church hall to get together and mine just needs a living room.

We ate and opened presents.  It's gotten cold here in sunny Florida, but even so, the kids bundled up in their coats and spent a large portion of the afternoon outside.  My kids are on overload so the physical exertion was good for them.

Nick and Jared are staying with us for the next week days so I should have some interesting entries and maybe a guest blogger or two :),

Christmas Day One

Our two days of Christmas are over and wow were they fun, but tiring.  I still haven't had time for that nap I was planning.  Yesterday was all about Dan's family.  We had lunch with Dan's close 50 member family (I'm not exaggerating folks) at Joan and Larry's church.  They've added ping pong tables to their rec area so the kids had something to entertain them.  They had so much fun chasing the ball back and forth.  I'm not sure any balls were actually returned.  We had too much food and then got to listen to how Nana and her siblings grew up and their farm.  It sounds like the family didn't have much as far as material things, but they were rich in love and fun. 

In the evening, we headed to Dan's parents house to eat left overs from lunch (plus Larry's famous fried chicken) and to open presents.

 When we mentioned presents, the kids got a little crazy, so I told them the child who was the stillest and quietest would get to open the first present.  Caden won.

Jaelyn finally got her Easy Bake Oven.  She's been eyeing them for a while.  I always wanted one growing up, but never got one.  I'm the permanent cook in my house now so cooking with a light bulb has lost some of it's appeal.

Grandmother did got with all of her presents.  I HUNTED for "Yoda's" light saber after Caden put it on his list.  She found it for him without any troubles and got all the credit :p.

Jaelyn with Granddaddy and Grandmother

I've recently posted prayer requests for Dan's Nana.  This is her with Caden, who she thinks is the most perfect little boy in the whole wide world.  The spot on her rib is cancer.  She received her pic line last week and will start her chemotherapy on the 28th.  Will you please keep her in your prayers?



Great Start to Our Day

I heard the whispering start about 5:30 this morning.  It took just a few minutes before I heard tiptoes down the hallway.  Instead of looking for presents, the kids went to their little cookie table.  I heard Jaelyn loudly say "Hey, Santa didn't take my picture or the Santa I made him."  She was very put out.  She came to tell me he left a note but she couldn't read it.  I asked if he left presents and eyes got big.  They'd forgotten all about the presents.  The kids ran back into the living room and turned on the light.  Squeals of delight erupted.  Santa did good.  Jaelyn and Allie got new dolls and Caden got a huge Yoda stuffed animal.

The kids were made to eat breakfast and wait around while the grown ups took showers and got pretty for pictures :).

Better watch out for Caden Fett.  He's armed and dangerous.

 Jaelyn and her new doll, Elizabeth.

Allie ripping into a package and discovering a custom made doll bed.

 Baba and Grandpa out did themselves.  Our dolls will be sleeping in style.  The beds also stack into bunks.

We are off to a good start.  Next up for the day is Dan's huge family lunch.  Nana is one of 9 and all the siblings, spouses, children, great grandchildren and anyone even remotely related get together every year.  It's a mad house with up to 100 people some years.  After the craziness, I'm taking a nap.  I would love to say the kids are going to take a nap too, but that hasn't happened in years so I think they'll have some down time with a movie.  After we've recharged, we'll head to Dan's parent's house for dinner with his immediate family and more present opening!  Oh the excitement!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Baking Cookies

We did some baking today.  My brother's favorite cookies are spritz cookies.  I don't remember the last time my mom made them. Chad put in an order for them this Christmas.  My mom has hurt her back so the kids and I took the task upon ourselves to fill the order.  My Dad graciously let us use his mixer (the last time I was here, he wouldn't let me touch it).

We took turns measuring, sifting and dumping.

(Check out Allie's apron.  It was Grandma Molly's and she was proud to wear it.)

You can't cook without getting a little flour on you.  Well, we did, so I had to help everyone out.  It was great fun. 

My mom had to give us lessons with her cookie press.

None of the kids like the spritz cookies so they are safe until Chad gets here.  Santa's chocolate chip cookies might be a different story however.