Happy Birthday, Dee!

Even though she acts 29, the kids figured out that Dee wasn't 29 afterall.

JBird

Bird is entertaining us daily. Her BFF in kindergarten is Tessa. They start to act like each other when they are together and it quickly becomes supersonic.

This girl loves lip gloss like no other!

Florida Day #3

We finally realized that we can use my phone to take pictures so that everybody can feel like they are here in Florida with us. Isn't that nice of me?

Here we are at the Wolfgang puck restaurant. We didn't get to see Wolfgang himself but there were plenty of pictures of him hanging on the walls. It was almost like he was there watching over us while we ate dinner.

Then we ran across this trio in Downtown Disney. We fantisized about how different our lives could have been. When we were younger I played cello, Steph played violin, and Aaron played oboe. We could be living in Orlando performing on the boardwalk every night together as a little family trio. Our cd would sell like hotcakes and we could call ouselves "Wiggin with the Davis'". If only things had gone differently for us.....

Next we checked out the lego displays in Downtown Disney. Somebody had a lot of free time on their hands.....

Finally we checked out another outlet mall. The stores closed at 11pm and we literally shopped until we got kicked out of the mall by the cleaning crew. It was so nice to shop at night after the crowds thinned out a bit!

The highlight of our day, though, was watching the Space Shuttle take of this afternoon. We could see it from our hotel. The fire from the rocket engines was huge when it took off! It went up so fast it was hard to believe! After it was up the shuttle left a trail in the sky that lasted for 30 minutes or so. It was the very last time that this particular shuttle will be going up. It is retiring after this flight, so it was a historical event as well!

We are looking forward to a morning of fun together before we get to see our kiddos back home tomorrow night!

Florida

Im in Florida enjoying some warm weather and time with my sister.

The reports from home indicate that i have some sick kiddos again. Not good!

I had a great massage this morning and am too exhaused to write any more..... off to bed!

Happy Mother's Day

Dee, Grandma Holly & Grandma! This is my first Mother's Day as a mother of THREE! It doesn't get any better than this.

Pool Delay

The community pool opening has been delayed. (Don't ask why, b/c it's not pretty.) So we did what all the other rednecks do: We bought a blow-up pool from Walmart and put it on our deck. It's been loads of fun for the kiddos!

Catch Up

Now that I have my computer back, you get to the see 100+ pictures from April.

A continuation of our trip to Hilton Head; this was Lucy's first day at the Atlantic Ocean. Although I would bet it was her first trip to any ocean. We all expected her to be very tentative. On the contrary! She practically ran into the frigid water. She was not afraid of the rolling waves and had loads of fun throwing sand. Lucy must get her love of the ocean from her Grandma Dee!

JBird is such a sweet big sister.

Like his Mommy, CamO was freezing his butt off here. The girls were unphased (like their DaddyO).

It took a good hour to dig this hole. Dave and I suggested digging 5 more, but they saw right through our plan.

Effort in futility?

Jackie was DYING that we had to take ANOTHER picture together. Cry me a river, Bird- my dad's a photographer.

Time to get back to business for Cameron...

...and Jacqueline...

...and Lucy.

Check her out!

Lucy is dressing herself these days. She'll put on whatever clothes she can find. And she'll take them off you to put them on!

Gardens Galore

Dave built me a rocking garden! Four years of nagging has finally paid off! As you can see, the kids were a tremendous help.

View of garden from the deck.

Lucy just wanted to see the pictures on the camera. Very helpful.
The kids did an awesome job playing King of the Hill and Dirt Ball Toss.

Cameron got out his tiny pink shovel to get the job done!There was so much dirt, even Serpil and Karen helped out. Obviously, Leigh was the Foreman.Hunter was a machine! That kid can move some serious dirt.Eventually the excitement of A GARDEN! wore off and the kids returned to their usual fighting/loving each other routine.

Deane was the master gardener. Cameron, the horticulturist, was trying to determine if this was squash or canteloupe since he pulled out the name sticks to play stick toss. I guess we'll find out in another month or so.

Deane dug the holes and Jackie potted. They really had a good system going on here.

The end result: tomatoes, squash (or canteloupe), strawberries, cucumber, peas, beans, watermelon, basil, cilantro.

A picture of the garden today! The peas, beans & watermelon have all sprouted from seeds. The kids are equally as excited as Deane and I. One garden complete; time to move on to another. Cameron helped Mr. Chad move the dirt. The Messicks planted carrots, sweet potatoes, okra, eggplant & tomatoes. Now all we need is to buy a cow and some chickens together!

Listen up, Lucy!

In the bathtub, there will be NO DIVING!

(He's smiling now, b/c of the lidocaine.)

Circa, August 2008, Jackie took a similar dive, from the same springboard. Same result.

We are not interested in a 3rd visit to the ER for diving in the bathtub.

Smear the Lamb's Blood Over Our Door Already

The plague continues...

Shall I expound?

Deane has a sinus infection (probably from taking 2 snot-nosed, barfing children to the beach)

Lucy has an intermittent nose bleed

Cameron has a fever and is very crabby.

Dave and I barfed our guts out over the weekend for 36 hrs straight, likely due to food poisoning.

Seriously? Is there anything left?

Soccer: Version 3 yo

Dave takes Cameron to soccer on Saturdays. It's their thing. At about 10:15 I start getting a gazillion texts from Dave about the hilarious stuff that goes on at the 3-year-old soccer field (swarm ball, etc.) This week I got a phone call. The coach said, "Cameron, I want you to get the ball and kick it into the goal". CamO replied, "I love you, coach." So CamO got the ball and started running. Across the other soccer fields. Then he got to a fence. While the other kids were trying to figure out who's ball was who's, Cameron started climbing the fence b/c obviously, there's a fence! The coach plucked him off the fence, and put him back in the game. At the end, the coach told Dave that Cameron is a natural athlete. He just needs a compass.

What a week

CamO said Tues nite at 11:45p as we were getting home from the ER, "I'm having a bad day today." Yes, my baby did have a bad day. He slipped in the bathtub and sliced open his eyebrow. 4 hrs and 4 stitches later, he's be-bopping around like new. And today, he pulled 3 of them out. :)

Lucy and Jackie have barfed intermittently all day. (As did CamO last Sun and Hunter earlier this week.)

I'm on antibiotics for strep throat. Hunter is also on antibiotics for strep throat. Julie had the barfs.

Deane is (supposedly) taking Cameron and Jackie to the beach tomorrow.

If only we could get a superhuman immune power to pass around that would be sweet.

Blogworthy

Lucy now calls me 'Mambo'.

Cameron, pointing to a bush said, "This is where I pee. Like a dog."

Jackie: "Did you know that when a doctor cuts your finger off, he eats it?"

BTW, Ava LaVere has had some serious complications of late. Please keep her in your prayers!

My CamO

Yesterday I showed Cameron a (rare) framed picture of him when he was ~6 mo old.

Me: "CamO, who is this baby?"

CamO: "Lucy!"

Me: "Um. No. It's you."

CamO: "When I was in your belly?"

Dave: Laughing hysterically while I contemplate getting Cameron evaluated.

Can I get a witness?

I am still w/o a computer. Another overhaul.

The garden is IN! I wish I had pictures to show you, but I don't. Major props to my Babes and his not-so-big THAT for building it. Also, the kids went fishing with the Messicks and Deane. Again, no pics. And Spring Break is over, which sucks royally. We had such a fun week!

Suffice it to say, the best parenting advice ever was from my good friend, Anne Benson. "It's easy to love them when they are lovable." Amen, Sister!