Christmas 2010

well, another Christmas has come and gone…..already!!!! why must time fly by like so? i am already dreamin of warm sandy beaches in the summer but i was doin that just 6 short months ago and here i am again…… these are a just a few of our pictures from christmas….we had a great one…..this year was easy. the only things we REALLY had to have were a pogo stick and trampoline…..also easy
  
 

sam's 3rd birthday and a field trip!!!

this is sam. he just turned 3. and for his birthday his mom told me he wanted a SHARK cake! i think it turned out pretty neat. the neatest part was when you cut into him he was all bloody!! (red velvet)

this is sam and his mommy wendy. you can't tell, but under the water she is pregnant with her 4th bambino that'll make her debut in october.

sam is a cutie and i so wish you could see this little fella swim! he looks just like a shark! his brother charlie and his sister emma are running around there somewhere but they were too quick for me to get a picture of them!

here is baby girl. we wnet on a field trip to bell's daylily garden on tuesday a week ago and had a really fun time. we learned about caterpillars and caught some to watch their transformation. we are patiently waiting on 2 of them to flutter out! i've never actually seen one cocoon but it happens just overnite!

ben was really trying to take  in everything the lady was telling him about the worms

after their lesson they went on the worm hunt and we got to take a trip around the garden. it's so beautiful out there. this is what this family does for a living. i can't imagine gettin up to go to work in the a.m. and just walking out to my beautiful garden! (i know it's not all fun but it's a lovely place to call your "office")

they ship daylilies all over and they range in price from $15 to like $300 for those more "serious" gardeners. some of them are so expensive because he cultivates/germinates? not sure of the word. anyway, he (with the help of God) makes up new dayliles. you can't find them anywhere else.

some things just catch my attention and this tree is one of them. it's so neat and curly. i thought she said it was a wren horn willow...i'm not sure.

this is a close-up of the fronds/leaves. aren't they neat? so curly!

and here's one of the many beauties that you'll find in this little piece of heaven

this is one of the brick walkways that are in the garden. i love a brick walkway. not many of the dayliles were blooming. their blooming days are almost over til next year. i really need to get out there and get pictures of what they REALLY look like! believe it or not, map has NEVER been out here. he would love love love this place. it may be a bad idea to take him there, he may have ideas floatin in his head.

i think it took me 5 mins to get the kids halfway lookin in the right direction in this picture. this bridge had a waterfall runnin under it from way up the hill. ben of course wanted to fish!

this one is a little more close.

and then of course our end of the day nap. she dressed up in ben's old halloween costume and then fell asleep....just when you think it can't get any cuter!!

a skating party and a few other things

 about 2 months ago i took the kids to their first ever skating party. okay so i'm a bad mom! i just didn't think they were ready and i didn't want to take them to the skating rink in albany so late in the day cause you know bad stuff happens over there after dark...and during the day...actually all the time! anyway here we go!

is she just the cutest thing on skates or WHAT!!??

there was a really cool clown there and  her name was sunshine. she made the most amazing balloon animals/figures. she made rivers a flower and later on she made her a monkey climbing a palm tree complete with coconuts!!! sadly enough i don't have a picture of that one :( it was so cool!

every time i saw jake whizz by this is what it looked like! really! he was good and it's a thousand wonders that he didn't break something that day! he seems to not be a quitter! :)

and who in a million years woulda EVER guessed that ben would ask sunshine to make him a balloon fishin pole....complete with a fish!you can't see it really well but there's even a reel on there!! COOL!

see? what did i tell ya? blur.....cause that's how he roll's..haha...get it? that's how he ROLL"S...... 

And Ben, well......notsomuch. Everytime Map looked up Ben was at the other end of the rink, on the floor and couldn't get up. He was done with that!

and here's the skate princess/fairy. too cute  :)

i almost forgot to tell ya about the face painter. she also was awesome and brilliant! i think her name is Ms. Ponda? from moultrie? i think. anyway, she didn't have the normal "paint" she had like powder or something that was eyeshadowlike and she had water to wet her brush and wiped it inthe powder. it went on so smoothly and prettily. as you can see. and she wasn't like all those other face painters. ms. ponda was "with a quickness" i would not be afraid to say she painted like 10 kids faces in less than 15 minutes! seriously!

and how cool is jake? she turned him into a tiger in less than 2 minutes! awesome i tellya!

and i know ben is gonna surprise you all! can you believe he asked for a SNAKE!? what? i just knew he'd say FISH! fooled me! he was hidin like a snake in the grass!

here they are goin in to see grandma and pa. i told them they had to walk in the house backwards so they couldn't see them comin in the door.....so they did! all the way up the steps and into the house!

the next few pictures have absolutely nothin to do with the skating party. they are just some i threw in. here's one of a pillowcase "shirt" . i just thought it would be cute. i had one of my "visions" . this case was also only a quarter!

this is what the pillowcase dresses look like on an actual little girl....versus hangin on a clothesline :)

and i know this picture is a little odd but i was just wonderin if i' the only mom out there that will do just about ANYTHING to make her kids happy? including parking dead in front of city of tifton workers to watch them dig up the middle of 20th street? i mean seriously? have i COMPLETELY lost my mind? you know we sat there for probably 30-45 minutes watchin them? and in complete silence i might add! just sayin.

Happy 4th of July...in August...sorry :)

okay, okay, i'm a little behind i know but i'm about to catch you up to date.

this is the Perry, Cook, Cox, Sears, Merrit and Allen 4th of July weekend.

St. George Island, Fla. the absolute most beautiful beach in the world...to us anyway! and this is why...this is a look to the east...

     and this my friend, is to the west :)

my kids can run and play and swim and run and play and swim some more! no people, no crowds, no scantily clad girls/women/hoochies and no alcohol. and did i mention that this is 4th of July weekend!!?? yeah baby! it seriously makes you think and has the feel that you are on your own private island. I LOVE IT!     

here's map and the babes. it looks a little yuck in the background, but hey, this is florida! rain in one area and five minutes or 100 steps in the other direction and it's sunny! this picture was taken on the beach down at the state park where we camped.....for a puny $25 a night! oh yeah!

this is on the beach down the way in front of my aunt and uncle's house (no they don't rent, they actually live on this island that i personally classify as a tiny piece of heaven on earth)

here's map with the birds. i was actually throwin food behind him as he walked and they kept tryin to peck at him. he didn't see me do it so he didn't know why they were after him!

here's the middle man and my aunt. he came outta the water just long enough to get a snack. gotta have snacks at the beach!

 not sure what jake had going on here.....contemplatin his next move i guess. i think they were tryin to catch tiny fish in a net. they had to scope them out first.

 back down at the state park on our nightly beach walk, the kids decided they'd pose for some pictures. i told them they needed to sit up and smile....i got them when they all said "cheese" at the same time. not much luck so we tried again!

 i got 'em to sit up straight and smile but not quiet what i was hopin for!

oh well :) makes me laugh anyway!

much easier with one kid. too bad i didn't have one of her pillowcase dresses on her!

 okay, this is actually July 4th. these next few pictures will need a little expalining.

at st. george island, on the 4th of july, they always have a parade. this is by far no ordinary parade. it's a golf cart WATER parade!!!! the participants and the bystanders/watchers can wet each other with water hoses, water guns, water balloons or anything else you can come up with (well, anything that won't cause bodily harm to anyone)

this is just the beginning and the boys are ready. i was lucky enough to find them all matchin outfits. aren't they the cutest!? the boys have their supersoakers in hand and these things are awesome!

this boy was ON IT!  he was chasin them down the street!

this next picture may seem kinda weird like "why would she take a blurry picture of an ICE cooler?" ya wanna know why? cause when those poor unsuspecting paraders closed their eyes that night, that's what they saw! think about it: what fun would a water parade be with lukewarm water? and what goes in an ICE cooler? THAT'S RIGHT! we filled our cooler with two bags of ice and THEN finished it off with water!

these kids were oblivious to what was waiting for them!

 even the older people with the american flags and nowhere to run

jake and ben had pity for NOONE!!

 and little did they know that by the time the parade was over they'd have NO friends!!

this guy was my favorite! he was like "yeah! i'm big and bad! squirt me with water!!"  he squealed like a girl when jake got him square with that ICE water. HILARIOUS!

after the parade, we went down to the beach and stayed the rest of the day and into the nite.

the dark clouds finally went away and it turned out to be a warm and beautiful day! i was so sad that we would be leaving the next day. why does time have to go by sooooo fast? it seems like all we did was sit on the beach! isn't time supposed to stand still when you aren't moving?

baby girls eyes seemed to turn this crystal blue color when we were there. i guess that's what happens when you turn in to a mermaid!

no matter where we are, ben has to have some dirt to dig in! he was in heaven! and so was i cause this dirt didn't turn the bottom of his feet black!

see? i told ya it was a beautiful day! the birds even came out to tell us bye!

 and by the looks of this picture, map may or may not have just lost his swim trunks  :)

time for fireworks!!!

i think between 3 families, we had around 500 glow sticks/necklaces/braclets

in these two picture, i think there are like only 1/4th of the whole crew here. the others were shooting fireworks, catchin ghost crabs, or walkin down the beach.....who knows....i do know one thing, they all glowed in the dark! and the whole weekend was SO much fun!  :)