Trip Report Day One

Ahh...VACATION!!!! Everyone but Harper stayed up way late last night, I'm talking til one or later (Baylee swears she was up until 3am) so when Harper woke us up early this morning we were dragging. We packed this morning...don't know why I waited til the last minute, then we went to Walmart for a few things. By then everyone was hungry and Saturday stinks for early risers, it's hard to find lunch before 11am, but Adam had a good idea and off to Mutt's we went. Sure enough they opened at 10, so we were able to have super yummy Mutt's burgers. Cooper said "this is the best cheese hamburger ever". All three of the kids have a hard time saying "hamburger", Baylee used to call it "ham-gu-burger", Cooper called it "hamburgerking" no matter where it was from, and Harper still calls them "hambeggers".

After our awesome lunch (for pictures check out my new page: phone food), we headed to West Palm Beach. The Marriott on Singer Island has had some positive changes in the last year. First the rooms have been redone (check out my picture page here), the colors remind me of the late 60's...oranges, mustard yellow and greens but the lights and chairs are very angular and modern. They also tore out their playground (which was usually too hot to play on) and put in a splash pad which Harper loves! The final big change is a 9 hole putt putt course, the kids and Adam have already played a few rounds on it. After we got into town we had some ice cream at this place called Pop's Creamery...it wasn't very good, Cooper got tangerine ice cream (yuck) and the girls shared bubblegum (that had small gum balls mixed in). We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening/night swimming in the pool and the ocean. We had pizza for lunch from the Pizza Hut here...it was sooo greasy and not very good...

Baylee said her favorite part of vacation today was playing putt putt and shuffle board with Carissa. Coopers favorite part was playing with uncle Mo in the ocean, and Harper's said her favorite part was Malachi...she told me "he's my best best friend"

My favorite picture of the day:

Busy Week...

This is the first full week of summer vacation and boy have we been busy! Adam and the kids have been doing a lot of house cleaning and rearranging. We've decided we're not gonna move this year, we're going to stay put for another year or two and wait and see where if anywhere my job takes us. Sooo.... this means we're gonna spend a lot more time into fixing this house exactly how we want it. One of the biggest changes we are making is that Baylee and Harper are going to share a room. Baylee liked having a room to herself but hated (and I really hated) being downstairs away from everyone. So Cooper is moving into the smaller bedroom upstairs and Harper and Baylee are taking over Coopers bigger room. I'm going to turn the downstairs bedroom into a craft room/office! Since all of the kids are going to be upstairs that means the gameroom/playroom is going to get more use so Adam has been busy getting it organized and set up for the kids. Of course the kids are inpatient (don't know who they get that from) and want everything done right now.

I've got a million projects going on at work right now, but I'm trying not to freak out! I'm feeling super supported by my CFO and CEO and all my employee's are just excellent so I'm trying to just take a deep breath and know that I WILL get it all done! I'm sure our two upcoming vacations are doing nothing to add to my anxiety in getting everything done....

Speaking of vacations....West Palm Beach in 3 days, we'll be staying there for 5 days then when we get back we have 8 more sleeps then our 16 day VA/Smoky Mountain vacation!!! Can't wait!!!

Countdown to Summer

Only 2 more days of school left! This week is dragging by pretty slowly, trying to do things to make it go by quicker. Monday we made apple nachos after gymnastic practice. Talk about messy... they were pretty easy to make though, just core the apples, slice, and top with whatever...we used carmel, peanut butter sauce, homemade marshmallow sauce and chocolate chips.

The kids did the decorating so they may not look the best

but they sure were good!

Cooper and Baylee both had pj day at school today, he sure was glad to wear his new pj's to school! I swear the last 2 weeks are a total waste of time, each day is a different day of doing nothing, movie day, pj day, field day, pizza day, game day, clean the classroom day.....

Doing one of my favorite things....

I think that the best thing about having a huge bedroom is that the kids can all pile in here with their blankets and pillows and we can watch TV together. Right now we're watching Hogs Gone Wild, other favorites include Whale Wars, River Monsters, America's Got Talent and The Voice. The kids love all these shows, Cooper especially loves the animal ones, it's neat to watch his growing love of all things animal related. He's so passionate about them, and loves to talk about it and asks tons of questions. He's begging me to DVR the bigfoot show that's on later tonight. Baylee likes watching the performing shows, and insists that she'll be doing that some day.

We've been in a money super saver mode lately, getting ready for all that vacation fun. At Target this weekend we found some awesome deals. Got Harper some jeans marked down to $2, and found Baylee and Harper matching skirts that where $1.75 each. Harper also picked out a new Olivia shirt, it wasn't on sale but I know she'll wear it so much we'll get our money's worth.

Here she is in her new outfit (minus the boots, she didn't wear those to church)

Happy Hump Day!!

Having a slow week as the last days of school dddddddrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaggggggg on. I can't wait for the kids to be out of school!! Baylee had a math project due on Wednesday that she told us about on Tuesday night, she had to invent a game. Personally I think it's just busy work...but oh well... Her game is called The Name Game and while I think it's a pretty neat game I doubt you'll be able to find it at a store near you anytime soon.

Harper wanted to work on a project too:

Cooper made something for dad:

Thanks to the best site ever...Pinterest...I've found some pretty neat recipes. Tonight we had squid, it was a big hit with the kids, not so much with me and Adam....

I'm finding so many neat ideas I've finally been inspired to cook...even if it is only hotdogs and spaghetti 

My new obsession.....

PINTEREST!!!! I shudder to think of the hours I've spent on that site since discovering it 2 weeks ago!!! It's truly addicting and the reason why I've not done much of anything. With the discovery of pinterest.com also comes the discovery of actually looking at other peoples blogs....and let me tell you, there are a lot of blogs out there. Pinterest really plays to my type A, it lets me organize lists, and keeps all my online ideas neat, tidy, and all in one place.

Other than that.... last week was great and this weekend is equally as awesome!  Baylee had a big report to do for school, Baylee and Cooper both had field day, and Harper finished up daycare. She will be spending the next year with daddy at home until she is ready to start pre-k.  I can't wait for the big kids to be out of school for the summer. They can stay up late with dad and all sleep in in the morning. I had to go to Naples with my boss for the night, had a big presentation to give on Wednesday, and I did great, if I do say so myself. It was a pretty productive trip, I enjoyed getting to know my CFO better and felt like I really bonded with her.

Trying to do as little as possible this long weekend! We are in supper saver mode for our vacations this summer, we want to be able to really enjoy them and spoil the kids (well, spoil them more than usual). I realized that with the 2 trips I will be on vacation for 24 days! Awesome, don't think I've ever been out of work that long unless there was a new baby attached to it :)

Quick Beach Trip

So Friday at about 2:40 we decided to make a quick trip to Daytona Beach for the night, we booked a room (lastminutetravel.com GREAT deal), packed a bag and picked the kids up from school at 3:15. Then we were on our way! The hotel, Plaza Ocean Club, was nice. The pool was just steps from the beach. We ate at Sloppy Joe's Friday night,  the food was good and the kids meals came with take home light up cups that the kids LOVED! After dinner we walked around a bit, then walked on the beach back to the hotel. It was a hot, humid night so we jumped in the pool for a while. After swimming the kids put on their pj's and we went out and drove around and got ice cream. When we checked in we got up graded to an awesome room with a large balcony with a great view. It was nice to set out there and just enjoy the ocean and talk once the kids fell asleep.

In the morning we hit the beach, we spent a lot of time between there and the pool. Once the kids had their fill of swimming we checked out and went to lunch. We stopped at a surf shop and had some guys from Volcom there, they where giving out free hats. Actually you got to pick out what you wanted (different Volcom stickers) and they pressed them on the hat for you, so all three kids got hats, the guys also gave them frisbees and gave Baylee a cool pair of socks. After lunch we drove to the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. It was the first lighthouse I'd ever been to and I really enjoyed it. I highly recomend everyone check it out, and the price can't be beat ($5 for adults, $1.50 for kids). You get to go up into the light house, it's A LOT of steps...203 to be exact, we all made the trek, even Peanut. Along with the lighthouse you can tour the house of the principal keeper, the first assistant principal keeper and the second principal keeper. There's several other buildings you can tour as well, they've all been set up like little museums. They also have a neat little gift shop!

After all that fun and walking I'm exhausted! I'll need to spend tomorrow resting up so that I'm ready for the work week. Hoping to have a low key week this week. Baylee has a dentist appt on Monday, and all three kids have gymnastics on Monday. I have to go to Naples for work on Tuesday and spend the night,  I dread it :( but I know Adam is more than capable of holding down the fort here!

view from the balcony

view from the other side of the balcony:

Cooper thanks he's soo cool:

Cooper's popcorn shrimp meal:

Daytona Beach Pier:

Adam caught a jellyfish:

Cooper's free Volcom hat:

Ponce Inlet Lighthouse:

Harper's new friend:

It's Friday, Friday....

What a fun little tune... Another work and school week has come and gone. Luckily for me things at work just keep getting better and better... I've hired two awesome employees and they sure are making life a lot easier! The kids had a good week at school. Baylee went to get her molds made for her braces...can't wait for her to get those, my little drama queen will surely be a handful then. Harper had a rough week at school, she had to go in timeout and was not very happy about it, it's hard growing up and having to follow rules but my sweet Peanut will get the hang of it. Today they had tropical birds visit the school but she was really scared of them. Cooper had a pretty good week, tomorrow is flag football and will be his last game of the season unless they win. I think it is super cute when he calls his little sister Harps instead of Harper or Peanut like everyone else, it's sweet that he has his on special nickname for her.

Flag football and cheerleading uniform fittings tomorrow... family game night tomorrow night!!

Getting Excited About Summer...

So this weekend we've spent a lot of time talking about all of our exciting summer plans....there's vacations to West Palm Beach, Gatlinburg, and VA, football and cheerleading camps, a possible move to Harmony, VBS, beach days, zoo trips, staying up late and just hanging out. The month of May will surely move slowly...

Friday evening I watched the Royal Wedding with the girls, in the middle of it Harper said "mommy I want to be a princess, will you go WalMart and get me a dress to match her's?" Silly girl, mommy hates to go to WalMart...even if you could get Sarah Burton dresses there.

Cooper had an awesome game yesterday at flag football, so he got to pick where we ate lunch. He picked CiCi's pizza....seriously? I guess that's better than Mc Donald's.

Adam has been a coupon King again this week. He has gotten over $300  worth of groceries from Publix for only about $20. And what are we doing with all that saved money? Investing in fine artwork..... :)

Thursday night we went to M.A.E. for the kids art show. We where able to buy their showcased artwork for $10 a picture. So for just a mere $20 we were able to bring home these 2 fine pieces of art...

                                               Beach with a Volcano and Wave by Baylee

Bear by Cooper