A Day at the Beach

Micah had a post-deployment doctor's appointment.  Lucky for us this appointment was at Tyndall Air Force Base, which just happens to be right next to the beach and all the beautiful white sand, blue skies, and green-blue ocean that only the gulf coast can offer.  So we took the kids out of school and headed to the beach. 

Tyndall has a private beach, which is AWESOME.  There aren't any crowds, the sand is gorgeous white fluff, no trash, lots of shells and sand dollars.  It is heavenly!  The only downside is that you have to walk on a 1/2 mile boardwalk to even get to the sand.   Hauling gear for 6 people to spend 5 hours on the beach with no facilities is ridiculous, but we did it!  Or should I say Micah did it!  Here are a few pictures of the highlights of the day!

 Porter was in love with this knee board. It was the perfect size for riding the waves with!

Sam was fearless and tried to drown himself a few times!  We had to keep an eye on him because he kept trying to go for a swim on his own.  He also had an affinity for dipping his chips into the water and sand.  Gross!!

I have no idea what ella was doing.  She kept doing all these funny poses when I tried to take her picture!

Harmon was showing me his hand stand.  The water was a bit shallow but he was getting pretty good at it!

Harmon is like a little fish.  He loves the water and I had a hard time getting a picture of him.  He and I had a great time looking for shells.  We found a lot of sand dollars and really big shells that day.  It was perfect shell-hunting conditions.  We put all of our sand dollars into a pocket of our beach stroller, only to put a bunch of stuff on top of them and we ended up smashing them.  Oh, the disappointment!  I think 3 little ones survived. 

I thought about not including this picture, but I just loved the chubby buns too much!

 

Here is a good picture of some our our shells and Ella's foot.

When Sam was trying to drown himself he would hang out with me under our canopy.  I was reading a book and just taking it easy.  Ella was a bit skittish about the water and spent a lot of time under the canopy playing with the sand.

Sam with sand in his hair.  He had sand everywhere!  When it came time to eat both he and Ella had a hard time keeping the sand out of their food.  Gross.

 

As we reached the end of our half-mile hike the sea oats and shrubs open up to reveal a massive stretch of white sand.  Ella inhaled quickly and said, "SNOW!  Look at the snowflakes!"  It was too funny!

After Ella had been down to the water she promptly came back up and told me that the water was "yu-ee"  And kept spitting everywhere.  Apparently she wasn't expecting that salty taste!   Sam thought it was pretty yucky too!

Harmon's handstand.  Harmon, Sam and I were out in the water jumping with the waves that came in.  While we waited we could feel lots of fish swarming our feet and legs.  They especially like my toenail polish.  It is a bit unnerving to be constantly assulted by 6 inch fish.  Harmon had his goggles on and I asked him how many fish were around my feet.  He dipped his head in to take a look.   When he came back up he was grinning real big and said, "There are hundreds of fish all around your feet, following your feet everywhere.  It's like your feet are famous or something!"  HA HA!  I got a good laugh out of that!

Porter and Harmon

Anticipating the waves!

A Clever Duck

Kids say funny things don't they?  Here are a couple of funnies my kids have said lately!

Sam is 20 months old and isn't really talking too much yet.  He likes to point and "ooooh" his way to getting what he wants.  Sometimes he will say a word or two, then clap and smile.   Yesterday I asked him for a kiss and instead he said, "Ahn-nee."  No momma, mommy, mom for this kid.  Annie.  He is a big goofball! 
Even though he isn't verbal, he definitely understand everything being said to him.  This morning I was getting him dressed.  I had taken his pajamas and dirty diaper off and was putting his new diaper on.  While I was strapping the diaper tabs down he said, "ow."  Off-handedly I asked, "Did I smash your weiner?"  He started to nod his head up and down.  I was surprised that he had picked up on what his "weiner" was.  It isn't a phrase I usually use.  Of course he does have to older brothers though!  I kind of laughed and asked him the same question again to see if he really had understood.  He gave me a pathetic "ow" and patted the front of his diaper.  I laughed and said, "Oh aren't you a clever duck?"
Ella had been overseeing this interchange between us.  She looked at me and in all seriousness laced with a twinge of rebuke said, "Sam not a duck, he a boy!"


Porter and Harmon LOVE the Star Wars Wii game.  They play it whenever they are allowed and whenever they think they can sneak off to do it.  They also enjoy watching the Living Scripture Book of Mormon movies.  We only have a couple of the videos, but they will watch them over and over.  It had been a while since they had seen Journey to the Promised Land.  In this video Nephi is bound by his brothers and stetches forth his hand to shock them with the power of God so that they remember who is suppose to be in charge.  The kids were watching this in the van the other day.  It came to this part in the movie and Porter, with a laugh in his voice, said, "Look Harmon, Nephi is going to use the Force!'  They then laughed and wanted me to repeat the scene so that they could see Nephi "force" them again.  LOL!!

Best Friends

I have the most FANTASTIC friend named Amelia.  We have been friends for 15 years!!  We both have had four kids spaced about the same time frame apart.  Ella and Liesl are the closest in age.  They are only 2 weeks apart although were due nearly at the same time.  It is so fun to see these little girls becoming best friends just like their mommies!  Amelia will make you feel like you are the most amazing, smart, talented, perfect person that she knows and then will also tell you when you are being a complete moron. I love her to pieces!!!
 

Liesl and Ella

Ella and Liesl age 2, sitting on a stool sharing a bag of chocolate.  Don't they look guilty?  They were being oh so quiet!

Ella and Liesl at 4 months old.

Feeling Fierce

Sam took a nose dive off the swing last week. His tooth was impacted and had to be removed and he had about 5 stitches in his lip. I have some other pictures and I might post more about it later. We had a crazy trip to the ER the night before we left town. Very glad that he has recovered so quickly. As of this morning he has only one stitch left to dissolve.

Happy Easter!!

HAPPY EASTER!!  We tried to capture a few pictures before church because we were all looking oh so dapper and I knew that we wouldn't look nearly as lovely after church.  I was right.  Sam slobbered all over his clothes and Ella threw a fit during church and pulled out her hair ribbons.  Oh well, we tried!  As you can see we having a fantastic addition to our photos...MICAH!  He has been home for 2 weeks now.  We are enjoying every minute!!  I will post his homecoming photos later. 

Porter's Joke

Porter told a funny joke yesterday and got in trouble for it.  But before I share his genius humor let me give you a little background.

The house we are living in needs lots of work.  Lots and lots!  Fortunately for me my brother, Matthew, has been out of work for a few weeks and has been spending his time over here helping me remodel.  Matt has a teensy weensy temper and at times has been know to shout and let off a curse word or two.   I have told my boys NOT to repeat anything Uncle Matt says. 

So this is the joke Porter told yesterday:

"Why did the frog kiss the house?"

"Because he was a stupid-ass toad!"

I sat and visited with Porter about what was appropriate and what wasn't, etc.  Then he pipes up and says, "well how come Uncle matt always says it?"  So we asked Uncle Matt.  Matt and I were both trying hard not laugh as he tried to back pedal out of that one!

Porter's other favorite word to say is BAM IT!  That one is my own fault.  Sam has a super love affair with the toilet and is constantly putting his hands in it, dropping toys in, trying to drink with a teacup out of it, sticking the toilet brush in, etc.  It is a constant struggle to keep the bathroom door shut and Sam out of the toilet.  One day I was walking past and noticed Sam in front of the toilet with something brown in his hand!  Three things went through my mind, 1)Stop Sam! 2)Damn it not again and 3) I hope it's not poop.  This all jumbled together and came out, "SAM IT, DAMN IT!"

The boys ran around the house laughing their heads off repeating exactly what I had said.  And clever Porter is in kindergarten right now and they do work lots on rhyming to make new words!  So Bam It was born.  *sigh*  It's tough being a parent!  It's even tougher to be a parent that doesn't curse!  As if there ever was such a thing!  Oh, and it was just a hair clip...that time!  

Meltdown Madness

Long time no blog, right?  Well, life is a little hectic these days.  But my dear sweet daughter provided me with material to blog about this evening.  She is a dynamic 2 and 3/4 year old little girl.  So full of fire, opinion, and gusto. 

This is me trying to think of another way of saying dramatic, fire-breathing, she-devil.  

Holy Moly this girl is something else!!    But she can melt my heart with a sweet smile.   But back to my reason for blogging.

I almost pulled a "Bobbi."  What is a Bobbi? I am getting a head of myself.  Read on...if you dare!

I needed to go to Wal-mart this evening. (with 4 kids...that is another post entirely)  Everyone was ready to go except Ella...aka fire breather.  She was in the bathroom playing with water.  I took her out of the bathroom (offense #1), changed her diaper (offense #2...and yes she is not potty trained yet), changed her pants (offense #3 because she had peed in them) and tried to put socks and shoes on her.  Offense #4 was insisting that she wear her wet shirt.  It was slightly damp.  I told her she was wearing it.  I tried to explain to her that if she wants to play in the water, then she can wear a wet shirt.   She is a typical toddler girl that insists on changing clothes no less than 10 times a day.  She screamed and howled as though deeply wounded at the injustices I was putting upon her.  She threw herself to the ground in a fit of rage, flailing her arms and legs about, grabbing her socks and shoes and pulling them off and refused to cooperate.  I broke out into a sweat trying to get her clothes back on her.  All the while trying to keep my cool so that I didn't lose it on her.  I left her on the floor in the throes of her agony and loaded up the rest of the kids.  I turned the lights out, shut the door and said, "goodbye."

She didn't believe it for a second, but the boys were concerned.  So I went back inside, grabbed her and everything she had peeled off.  I drove to my mom's house intent on dropping her off.  I even told her that Grandma would spank her if she didn't quit screaming! (Nice of me, huh?  :)  )   She calmed down after we got to my mom's house, so I took her to Wal-mart. 

She did pretty well until we started to checkout.  Stupidly I decided to go through the self-checkout line.  Hello...bad idea. And I never remember what a nightmare it is until I do it again! How do you control 3 kids who want to help you scan, bag, sit on the bagging area, run the conveyor, etc.  and make sure that the 4th stays in the cart? 

So meltdown number two ensued.  Once again she laid down on the floor kicking and screaming, removing her shoes and socks.  I ignored her and finished scanning everything.  Then I realized that my last item didn't have a bar code.  The lovely attendant who was giving me pity smiles came to my aid.  Almost immediately two other workers came running over to help her try to find the code.  They couldn't, so one of them ran off to get another one.  By this time I had picked Ella up off the floor and put her in the cart.   She was half hanging over the side, screaming her guts out.  And there we waited for what seemed like 10 minutes.  Steam must have been coming out my ears.

I was tempted to become the token "crazy, cursing, screaming at her kid, spanking them in the aisle wal-mart mom."  But i didn't.  I thought about it though! 

Instead I contemplated the Bobbi.  What is a Bobbi?  Well, my lovely sister-in-law Bobbi has been known to leave the store....without purchasing anything...screaming kids in tow.  I think it is AWESOME!  As I stood there contemplating "the bobbi" the worker showed up.  I had wanted to purchase a fabric bundle that was on clearance. It was $19...wayyyyy too much.  So I didn't get it!!!  I had stood there with a screaming kid (did I mention that she made a kid behind us cry too?)  for nothing. 

It gives me chest pains just to think about it.  She screamed all the way out of the store and continued screaming after I loaded her into the van.

What am I going to do when she becomes hormonal? 

It is a good thing that Micah is coming home in two months.  I may be headed to the loony bin.