Jonathan is Home!

Jonathan got to come home yesterday afternoon. He was SO excited to get to leave. He was up and ready to go in a matter of minutes. We made an error on leaving the hospital. After we paid our bill, we went out the nearest exit - which happened to be on the opposite side of the building where I was parked. The patient had to walk all the way around. I kept telling him I would come pick him up if he wanted me to but he went ahead and got his exercise! Anyway, he is home and we are settling in pretty well. He is feeling pretty weak but better. Thanks to everyone for the calls, visits and prayers - and everything else!

Our motto

Our motto is: Everyone makes mistakes but we learn from them and try to do better tomorrow.... I hope this is the case today because my motto yesterday was WHY? Why is it that your son colors his body and the stairs on the same day that the older kids get in a fist fight in Wal-Mart which just so happens to be the exact same day that children are pushing and biting each other in the backyard which is also the same day that they can't stop saying "poop" at the dinner table?

Jude is banned from markers

Do I need to tell you why?

Kid Pics

The beach pictures were disasterous but there were a couple out of about 50 that were ok!

Pool Pictures

Pink

Jonathan told Ella a few months ago that when we went to the beach we would put pink streaks in her hair. Well, I purchased the pink and he applied. It was pretty pink but it washed out in a couple of days!

Crab Hunting

Here are our crab huting pictures. Don't worry - it was catch and release!

A few pictures

I did take a few pictures on vacation. It is pretty much what I had said before - lots of swimming, lots of food and more sleep than Jonathan and I are used to. My mom made the sacrifice of sitting most of the vacation in the room with Gabe. Ella did some shell hunting for her school friends. Jonathan, Dad and Joe played golf the latter part of the week. Jude found that he loved to "surf" in the ocean and Gabe pretty much stayed in his "habitat" as Marilyn calls it when he was not in the room. He managed to make it to the beach twice - Once to crab hunt and once for some disasterous pictures.

What we are doing

First off, I have not been very diligent in my picture taking. It is much harder than anticipated to hold a baby while taking pictures. We have done the typical beach things...I will start with the eating ice cream part, which we have done LOTS of. The kids have also spent lots of time in the pool and two highlights were crab hunting (which I did take pictures of but will have to load later) and playing at the playground at the outlet mall! The playground was great and it had a fountain they could play in. Ella said it was her "best day ever". I got to shop while they played so I had to agree!

Family of five road trip

We did it, we made it, we are here. Honestly the trip was pretty uneventful. One thing I have learned is that 5 people have to go to the bathroom - ALOT! A few funny incidences...Jude HAD to go while I was sitting in a grocery store parking lot with the three of them. He was very happy to get to pee on the tire. I also decided to change Gabe's diaper in the empty seat and he proceeded to pee over my shoulder into the parking lot...but then a slight shift caused things inside the car to get wet. Jonathan had his own bathroom issues but I won't get into that - and I thought it was the girls who always had the problems with bathrooms?