Drink Your Water!

We've been blog absent lately. We've been busy with summer fun and to top off the summer fun mommy went to the ER Saturday late night with a kidney stone! THAT WAS THE WORST PAIN I CAN EVER IMAGINE! Seriously, seriously painful! Luckily, Gran and Pop were here for the weekend so they took care of the kids as mommy and daddy had a date to the hospital. how relaxing! I'll spare blog readers all the glory details, but basically I had a stomach bug early last week, got dehydrated, and never really worked at rehydrating myself. In extreme heat, which we have, that was enough to cause a kidney stone and bladder infection. Good news is three days later, I'm better and drinking water like it's going out of style!

The reason I'm reporting this is because we explained to the kids that I had a kidney stone and that really is like a tiny little stone in your body that doesn't belong. They asked, "did it come out?" I said, "yes, when I went pee." (I know, I know, way too much information!) Cade's response was, "I wish that kidney stone that you peed out would have been a baby brother!"

YIKES!!! Sorry son, no such luck!

Cade's Fashion Faux Paux

So anyone who knows Cade well knows that the kid WILL NOT wear summer clothes! He wants to wear jeans or cargo pants every day no matter the weather. I usually let him. It's not worth an argument. Lately, it's been over 100 degrees and I want his cute shorts to get some wear, so I've really pushed for summer stuff. He's catching onto my irritation when he comes out in pants and he's starting to "play" with me. He came out the other day dressed like this...


I'm not sure how many layers that is, but it took him awhile to hang it all back up! Then a couple of days later before he went to get dressed I said, "BE SURE TO DRESS SUMMERY!" Then he comes out in this... and says, "mommy is this summery enough for you?"

Am I Cuter by the day or what?

Gymnastics Show and Swim Meet!

GYMNASTICS SHOW!
Look what we earned for working hard all year! Cora and her friend, Alex. Bottoms up!

Walking the beam!

SWIM MEET

"Hey Cade, pose for the camera in your swim team outfit!" All written on and ready to swim!

swimmers take your marks!

"GO!"
And he wins 25 meter freestyle again! Go Cade!

Fashion Show

A slight delay, but here are the Runway to Recovery Pictures!

a hard day's night

we never go out without our kids.
N-E-V-E-R!
I can count on one hand the number of times we've left them with a sitter and I've only left the baby with a non-family/friend sitter twice.
There are only a few sitter's I'd leave all three of them with.
So some of Rob's friends from work threw a little end of the school year cookout this afternoon.
He really wanted me to come with him since this is his last year at Jenkins.
So I did something crazy.
I got a sitter!
My favorite (and my kids favorite) 18 year old was available, so it was a go!
I was a little leery from the get-go because Cora is on steroids (grumpy as they come and eating like a horse) and I've never left all 3 of them. They're a handful!
But I really WANTED to get out with Rob for a couple of hours.
Our poor, poor sitter! Let me give you the rundown.

2:45 sitter gets her....cookout starts at 3.
3:15 i am still getting stuff ready and rob jumps in the shower.
3:36 we leave, but still need to make a grocery store stop to grab something to bring with us, so I jump in the driver's seat so that rob can run into the grocery store.
3:36 and 30 sec...I back into the babysitter's brand new car that she got as a high school graduation gift from her parents (oh yes..I did!)
3:37 i run back to the house nearly in tears to tell the poor girl that i wrecked into her car!
3:38-3:48 i apologize prophetically and blabber on and on about i promise insurance will cover it, we'll get it fixed this week, etc, etc, but some how con her in to staying to babysit anyway.
3:52 pull in grocery store parking lot (rob now driving) he goes in and I (still sweating) call the babysitter's mom (who's luckily also a friend and our insurance company who obviously takes the phone off the hook to give crazy customers like me a busy signal and drive them crazy on Saturdays)
4:15 we arrive at the cook out. upon our entrance rob says, "sorry we're late, my wife ran into the babysitter's car!"
4:20-7:00 a very pleasant cookout with adult conversation takes place
7:00 we leave
7:20ish- we get home
Cora is begging for food in a leotard and tutu and whining
Cade is flaunting a new "gun" that his neighborhood friend gave him and telling me like 100 things at once.
The babysitter (who I love too much to disclose her name) is wearing my t-shirt because baby Clara peed on her.
Our dog, Leia, is inside because she "got in a fight with Cade's fore mentioned 'neighborhood friend's' dog,"
Clara didn't sleep, Cora napped for 30 minutes and ate 2 popsicles, a bag of popcorn, and a package of turkey lunch meat, and Cade begged to go from one house to the next because he can't miss one single second of playtime!

I handed the poor girl her money (which could never be enough) and a photocopy of my insurance card, hugged her and sent her on her way! This is probably the only form of birth control that poor sweet girl will ever ever need!

Who's available next Saturday???

Cancer survivors walk the runway to recovery - WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports |

Cancer survivors walk the runway to recovery - WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports
click the above link to see the fashion show new piece featuring Cora. It's very good!

Clara's 4 month update

Hello Friends! I am 4 months old as of yesterday! Boy has a lot happened this month. I'm going to give you the short version of the last 30 days...

I weigh 13.5 pounds and am getting long. We're not sure how long, but long enough to have to adjust my carseat straps to the high setting!

I tried cereal a few time. I hate it and gag on it!

I love to try to sit up, don't like to be laying down. I miss too much!

I can ROLL! but only from tummy to back! I decided to master the hard one first!

I fell off the bed this month! Yep that's right off mom and dad's bed landed on my head and flopped straight onto my face on the wood floor. Mom freaked out and called the doc's cell phone at like 7 am. No other symptoms ever occurred, so we've decided we're lucky I'm still rubbery. We're not going to get into the whole falling off story and how it happened, but let's just say foul play was involved.

I have totally become a third child. I ride around in my carseat everywhere. I'm a frequent visitor to swim practices and meets, ballet, gymnastics, ball games, dr. visits, and anywhere else that big kids go. I'm pretty laid back nowadays. I don't sleep much during the day, probably because I'm constantly jostled around. Mom feels sorta bad for me, but I really don't seem to mind it too much.

I love people. Anytime anyone so much as talks to me I get this huge smile as if to say, "thank you for noticing me!" I also talk and babble continually. Mom thinks I'll be a talker. She says once Cade started babbling early like this, he never stopped!!!

Mom and dad say I get to start tasting yummier food really soon! I'll let you know how I like it!

Have a great month! Love, Clara

Recital Time

Ballet ready (mommy somehow even got her hair in french braids which was not optional!)

Cora and 3 of her best ballet buddies-- have you ever seen anything so cute?

A tired, uncooperative, tap dancing Cora who would not smile for the camera. She did great once she was on stage though! Did I mention curtain call was a nap time?

Post show congratulatory hugs from the infamous Ms. Doris from Doris Martin Studios!

I'm working on uploading the actual dance videos, but having technical difficulty...stay tuned for more!

i hate to brag,

but I am! We now have two swim meets under our belt and a 4 time blue ribbon champion. He won again last night at 25 freestyle and 25 backstroke. He also swam an 8 and under freestyle relay with 4 of his little friends. They placed third which is great considering they are all 6! So proud of the swimmer! How can I not brag? This may be his "thing!"

2nd Day of Summer!

So today is officially only our 2nd day of summer, meaning the 2nd day after school is out with mom + 3 - dad. Rob still has 3 more weeks of school and then he's coaching a summer ball team, but his schedule will be more open. Which is very good news to me. When I thought of summer I envisioned picnics, pool, and beach with my 3 sweet kiddos. I didn't envision taking all 3 of them to run errands and go to the grocery store which is what today entailed. It wasn't that much fun at all, for any of us! Cade had swim practice then we went straight to Publix. Our first problem was carts...they don't have the ones with the double seater in the front and Cora wanted a drivable top car, but there was no place for Clara's carrier. (temper tantrum #1 before entering the bldg) Clara's carrier went in front, Cora went in back, and Cade was "my assistant." Cade begged for every sugary junk filled thing he saw, touched everything, and complained that "sticking to the list" was no fun at all. I was continually nagging him to stay out of the way of the other shoppers and to stop bugging his sister. Cora was cold in the cheese section and needed her Bay Too (blanket) ( temper tantrum #2). Everytime Cade put something in the cart for me it somehow managed to bump or hit Cora in a way that was unacceptable to her (temper tantrums #3, 4, and 5). Finally Cora was forced by the number of groceries to join her brother as my "other helper." I continued to coax them through the store smiling and nagging as I really wanted to grab them both and spank them. (i'm sweet aren't i?) I picked up the pace and Cora's shoe fell off and she fell down (temper tantrum #6). Then my favorite part...Cade and Cora were hugging by a refrigerated section as I reached around an older woman to grab yogurts (did you know you can ALWAYS find coupons for yogurt!).
As I noticed them embracing I said, "oh now that's sweet! I love when you treat each other like that!" Cade quickly replied, "oh I would normally never do that, but I'm still wet and I'm just really really really cold!" Cora said, "stop saying everything like a jerk!" The woman busted out laughing and I had to join her.

There are a few benefits to having the kids in school!

Gettin her dance on!

The restaurant across from our hotel was great! It was called "Slider's Seaside Grill" and is a must for anyone in Amelia with kids. We ate there every meal except breakfast-- no joke. It has a playground, you can't beat that! Cora was a fan when she discovered live music! It's dark, but here's a sample of our little Ginger Rogers! Stay tuned for recital pics this weekend!

Amelia Island

Daddy's birthday was last week. We made him a homemade chocolate cake (no box mixes involved). you should be impressed people, when it comes to cakes at our house there are always boxes involved!

But we waited until the weekend to really celebrate with a trip to Amelia Island. First stop, the Jacksonville Zoological Gardens aka the zoo!

Clara was a great rider.

and a great waiter.

This is Cade and Cora at the splash park contemplating if the splash park "policeman" could really be talking to them (as they were climbing over the big whale) when he said "no climbing on the big whale." Cora can care less when she gets in trouble at home, but to have someone in public correct her is probably her greatest fear. She's a rule follower, just like her mama! ;)

This is probally the closest she'll ever get to her dream job, "a dolphin girl."

Cade catching a ride on the whale's tail!

They loved this little goat at the petting zoo.

Cade's comment on this picture from the Asian section of the zoo. " When people see this picture they may think we spent Memorial Day in Tokyo!"

mama's favorite zoo animal! aren't they cute?

AHHH! A giant flower is attacking my head!

sandy baby toes!

Cade the weekend's cruise director. This kid does NOT stop!!! He is ready for activity 24/7!

Cora begged us for an "itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini." Two stores later, her wish was our command for $16.99! and it's cute!

What a fun weekend! Now back to reality!