Yo Ho, Yo Ho It's a Pirate's Life for Me!

Jude's birthday celebration began this year with a pirate party. The day did not start off too well but turned around by party time. He was easy to please since he still only wanted cake, candles, fire and blue toenail polish. He got all of it - Nana purchased the toenail polish and unknowingly bought some with sparkles. I don't think that is going to fly with his daddy. Anyway, there were great friends and family, a treasure hunt, pinata, food, pirate ship cake (of course) and a pin the eye patch on the pirate game (which we never got to). Jude had fun and I had the great help of Nana, Pepaw, Mimi and Pops -and Jonathan too. Thanks everyone for helping us celebrate Jude's third birthday! (I took well over 150 pictures so I will need some time to weed through.)

Happy Birthday Lofton!

Happy, pre-balloon popping
So sad...
The Birthday Boy
Super Girls
Nasty Super Girl

OK, so it has been almost a week since the Superhero party and I am just getting to posting it. It started off with a bang - literally. Carmen had a game planned where the kids got a balloon tied to their ankle and then everyone tries to pop it. The last person with a balloon wins. Sounds simple, right...well the game was very simple except for the fact that lots of kids did not want their balloons popped. It came down to 3 kids: Jude, who wandered aimlessly trying to pop his own balloon at times and having no idea what was going on - Lofton, the birthday boy that was completely uninterested in having his balloon popped therefore held it above his head - and Brett, the winner. Let me sum it up by saying Jude's balloon was popped and he cried for about 15 minutes... He did win the "Pass the Kryptonite Game" though. Of course, the food was wonderful and the kids had a great time. The evening was concluded with Ella covering herself in sand from the volleyball court (see picture). She had to jump in the pool with clothes on and walk home with Jonathan. She didn't complain though. Thanks Lofton and Happy Birthday again!

Birthday Boy

Sometimes you can be proud that your children are not "asking" for much. Jude is very excited about his upcoming birthday party and seems to be very easy to please in the present department. As of now, his list consists of :

cake
candles
fire
and the questionable - blue toenail polish....

sorry Jude, I think we are just going to stick with pink.

Amy the Rollie Pollie

Ella has (or had) a pet rollie pollie that she has named Amy - insert laughing here. She has fed her, watered her and kept her in a plastic container outside. Today she came in and announced that she was sleeping. She must be really tired because she shook the container and she didn't move. Bye-bye Amy, I was not thrilled the name anyway....

Cooling off after the rain

Well after the zoo and naps and errands and dinner and rain, Carmen called and Lofton had the splendid idea of playing in the puddles. I am pretty sure they had more fun playing in the acid rain water (just kidding) than they did at the zoo!!! They did have a few moments of boot water over the head but that did not last long at all. Landon was a bit thirsty and toward the end could not restrain himself. They also got on the trampoline after playing and Landon made a great piece of popcorn only I don't think he loved it so much. They are now in a MUCH needed bath. (Jonathan is watching them.)

Too Hot for the Zoo!!!

Carmen and I were crazy today and took the kids to the Zoo. Although it was WAY hot, I am pretty sure in retrospect we all had fun. Jude hit his head a couple of times and fell in the "cooling zone" but overall everyone came out in one piece. Maybe we will try it again when it is only 80 degrees outside!

Father's Day Weekend

Friday night brought an in-home movie "The Water Horse", which Jonathan and Ella liked but Jude was not still 5 mins for and I pretty much stayed on the internet the whole time. Saturday we took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda. Jude fell asleep in the car on the way there so Jonathan ran into the bookstore to pick up a couple of books for his gift. Jude woke up and we watched the movie. Of course, Ella, Jonathan and I loved but again, Jude sat still for about 10 mins this time. Ella and Jonathan stayed home while Jude and I went to Bryce's birthday party on Saturday night and then Jonathan woke up sick Sunday morning so it was Jude and I off to church while Ella (getting over her Hand Foot and Mouth virus) and Jonathan stayed home. Jude fell asleep during the opening song (do you see a trend here) and slept until people started filing out. He said "HEY, where is everyone going" and was NOT happy when he realized he missed Children's Church. Anyway, we brought Jonathan home Cracker Barrel and that about does it - besides the card we made for him. As you can tell in the picture, Ella STILL has her mustache. It is killing me.

Mustache?

We are a milk and water house (at least that is what our kids drink). Ella has come down with a case of Hand Foot and Mouth - AGAIN. Dr. Keith told her to get plenty of fluids and it really didn't matter what they were. She is also a little congested so milk is making her cough more and water tastes bad with the sores. SO, Jonathan has been giving her Crystal Light fruit punch in a water bottle. Of course this is a big treat for her so she has been loving it. She has had this mustache for 2 days. Naturally, she does not understand why we are laughing at her.

Supervising

We also ate while watching Daddy work on the trampoline....

Trampoline Update

The trampoline is assembled - minus the net. There were a few good jumps on it until Ella pushed down Jude and in retaliation he bit her....Oh well, at least the trampoline is assembled and I am so happy! Also, the pictures were taken before the WWF began.

Redneck Water Park

While Jonathan was finishing up with the trampoline Tuesday night, I created (with Jonathan's baby oil help) a redneck water park to keep the kids busy. It worked. One busted lip (the reason Ella is NOT smiling) and alot of laughs later (mostly mine) and the trampoline was done.

Jude's present

We bought Jude a trampoline on Saturday for his birthday (which is not until June 30). As of Monday it was sitting in the garage - BUT, when Phillip, Carmen and the boys were over Monday night I took the golden opportunity to ask Phillip for his help. It started out great but I am now typing at 9:00 pm and the boys just came in from trying to dig the "trench" to even out the legs of it. Our yard is way uneven and it was not as simple as following the directions (even though one picture proves that Phillip was reading them - although he said he was only looking for pictures) and throwing it together. The boys had great help from the kids, Landon loved playing in the box and Carmen and I were wonderful supervisors. I will update when it is actually ready for jumping action. (Yes, Jude is in his underwear - some decisions are NOT worth a fight.)

Jumpy

Jude has been asking to "jumpy" for about a week now. I was very excited about the idea of doing something inside considering it has been so hot out anyway. So, I took my car in to get the oil changed then met Carmen, Lofton and Landon at the jumpy place. They had about 2 hours and $13 of fun then we went to eat at Backyard Burger where they played in their playplace (again, inside) for about 45 mins or so. The milkshake alone was worth it!

Weekend Fun with Friends!

On Saturday night our "old" friends Larry, Joni and Reesi came by after a weekend in Indiana to visit. The girls had a great time playing in Ella's room and were so good. We let them party the night away and then tried to let them sleep together. It ended in a few tears around 11:30. In church on Sunday morning Joni noticed that the girls had played beauty shop in Ella's room and apparently added to Ella's "hair collection" which was her first curl from about 9 months old. They both got a bit of a trim which has resulted in Ella loosing any scissor privileges for an undetermined amount of time. Reesi's cut was worse in that she actually gave herself bangs. She might have a career ahead of her as she did a pretty good job. On Sunday afternoon the boys golfed while the girls (and Jude) slept. It was great. They returned home for some grilling with the McConnells, Nesbitts, Harringtons (minus Casey who was flying to Chicago) and the Judkins. The kids were pooped by the time the weekend was over (the adults too). I had to steal Joni's pictures from her blog since I didn't ever take any.

Ella and Jude Pics

Lamberts

On the way out of Gulf Shores we stopped at Lamberts for some "throwed" rolls and great food. Audie's was served in a big frying pan! She and Rachel paid Jenna a dollar to catch all their rolls so they wouldn't look uncool in front of the "hot roll thrower" (and although the rolls were hot, that is not what they were talking about).

This Should Do It On The Pictures

Still More Pictures

Even More Pictures

More Pictures

Fun in the Sun!

The Harrington family, Rose family and Griffin family headed to Gulf Shores for a little R&R. If you have ever been to the beach with young kids you can be sure to know that there was NO R&R but we did have a great time! We ate ALOT (hush puppies especially), got plenty of sun, played a few games, got stung by some jellyfish (at least Nick, Riley and Jude did), played in the pool and Reagan got her toenails painted (Jude did too but only his big ones - which he is still asking for the rest of them to be painted). The boys also managed to play golf one day but it was SO hot that they claim it was not that enjoyable.... The Rose family is still there but the rest of us came on back to TN. I have about 200 pictures on my other camera but I will try not to post too many!