The Good, the Bad, and the Beach

THE GOOD
Chad was offered a condo in Garden City... yes please.

We decided to get away for the weekend as a good bye to football season 2013.  The condo turned out to to be ocean front and a perfect place for a weekend get away.

On our way back home.  Shep was mad bc I  made him get out of the warm car. 

It is amazing how even with free lodging and eating in 3 meals that we still wound up spending about $500, but it was worth it.

When we got there on Friday this was the view from the condo unit.


 The boys wanted to go down and test out the water, it was quite chilly.  We did convince them to just put their feet in.

The view of the beach at 5:00 pm on Friday

The view of the beach at 10:00 am on Saturday.  Got to say love how we owned the beach.

 

The shells were awesome as well... none of those pesky tourists :)

 

The wildlife was also amazing.  I bet the birds and other animals love this time of year when people are gone.  The birds looked so happy... except for the one below.  He looks quite dead.  We saw a ton of dolphins (or some other type of dolphiny things).  The jellyfish were also around, the one below was so pretty (if pretty could describe a jellyfish). 
  

Dolphin fin

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On Saturday, we went down to the beach and told the boys to dig in the sand and put their feet in the water if they wanted.  Well,  Shepherd all but dove into the ocean.  Once his brothers saw that he survived they all got in and played in the frigid water for a good 15 minutes.  Chad and I were amazed. Bennett loved crawling in the sand and kept making a beeline to the ocean.  He desperately wanted in too.






  

 





  








I tried to convince Hunter that we had already seen a lot of sea animals and a $65 trip to Ripley's Aquarium was not needed, but he disagreed so we went.  And though it was cool, it was not worth $65.  But here are the pics.
 The boys taking the conveyer belt through the shark tank......  Bennett was mesmerized by the sharks

Imagine that swimming in the ocean with you.. eek!

 This was probably my favorite... these Pacific Jellyfish.  They light up and are beautiful.

 

The Mermaid show... it was kind of weird in my opinion.  But Shepherd fell asleep on my lap... more on that later.

Out like a light

  

My animal lover totally enthralled.
 

We finished up this busy Saturday with a quick round of Putt Putt because who can go to the beach and not Putt Putt?!?!  And then a nice dinner at a seafood place.  It was a busy but fun day!

THE BAD
Thankfully the good totally outweighed the bad.  But, our first night was a comical one.  First, Bennett did not sleep good last week... add a pack n play to that and a place he had never been plus being totally wound up and mercy...

But enough on his rough night.  Shepherd has been 100% potty trained  for close to 2 years.  But, I guess he had a poop explosion in his sleep because he woke up and... words just cant describe.  For the record, this has NEVER happened. So, at 10:30, he got a full bath, I cleaned a tub, scrubbed carpet, washed out poopy pants, and put him in Hunter's pants all while Chad wanted to gag. haha.  Bless his heart., he then woke up at 5 and needed to pee and I dont think he went back to sleep so it really is no wonder that he fell asleep during the mermaid show.

Everyone slept perfectly on Saturday night though, probably because we wore them out and switched sleeping arrangements a bit.

Overall though, we all felt refreshed and totally amazed with God's creation.

Bring on Thanksgiving!!!

10

Bennett is 10 months today and he has come alive this month.  From crawling everywhere to pulling to stand and cruising the furniture, he is an active little boy.  He often gets in Molly's water and food bowls and loves to put her food in her water.  The next stop on his path is the dishwasher.  Knives can no longer be put in the silverware area as he loads and unloads (mostly unloads) the silverware (clean and dirty.)  Next up is the bookshelf, he loves to clear it out.  The toilets have also been struck twice by his little hands so toilet seats have to be put all the way down.  So when I say he is into everything, he really is into everything.

Try and tell me that is not one of the most gorgeous and delicious babies you have ever seen (he is eating a powdered doughnut).  :)

He understands "no" and acts quite upset when he hears it.  Though no official words, he has a handful of consonant sounds with his favorite being "bo" and "hi" and an occasional "mo".  When hungry, he repeatedly goes "bo bo bo" (maybe for bottle ???).   His "hi" is often with a wave so maybe that is his first word... I dont know. 

On the move

His first tooth also came in this month... on the top.  I think his other front top tooth might be popping through in the next week because it is a little on the puffy side... still no bottom tooth though.

You can see the massive amount of drool... he has been one drooly baby.

He is just getting over his first cold of the season and slept pretty crappy last week but he is back to himself again!

He still loves his blankets and has multiple chill times each day just sucking on them.  Napping was not as good this month with some days only sleeping for a total of 2 hours.  We are down to 2 naps a day--- on an ideal day he would sleep from 9:30- 11:00 and then 3:00- 4:30 but as we all know, not all days are ideal.

The 10 month shot.

Bennett and Shepherd have been getting along pretty good.  Shepherd just rolls around on the floor with him and normally B is all about it.  Overall, Bennett has been less fussy with his brothers.  It is fun watching them now.  You can tell he really wants to get in with them most days.

And he discovered ice cream sandwiches and love is an understatement!  yum

So, only 2 months until 1 year! So crazy! He continues to be a happy baby and complete love!

Happy 10 months!

Check back tomorrow with our weekend beach post.  He took a little mini family vacay this past weekend and we had such a good time.... lots of pics tomorrow!  :)

It's All About My Shep

Four years since I first saw you.  Four years since I fell madly in love with you.

My surprise child who is still surprising me all the time.  You continue to be a hoot saying and doing the funniest things.  The flip side of that is you dont think about things before you say them or do them.  It gets us into trouble at times.  For example, you called Ashton "Gum Ash" the other day... but it didnt quite sound like that at all because of "g" sounding  like "d" and the "Ash" sounding like another word.  You have these kind of things happen to you every day!

My goodness... is he not the cutest thing?

You continue to have your head high in the clouds and are normally ten steps behind me.  You have started reading and love to do your "School lesson" and "Reading lesson" every day.  You love to write letters and color and draw.  Legos have become the toy of choice and you still love a good puzzle.

Love you my joy filled child!  You cant see it here but I am practically wrestling him to get this picture. 

I love staying home with you and getting to love on you and play with you all day.

Shepherd, you are truly my sunshine.  Remember to make good decisions.  Think about things before you do them. Dare to be different and dont always follow the crowd.  Oh, and for crying out loud, dont pick your nose in public, keep your pants on, and flush after you poop.

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Today, we kept it simple.  We opened presents this morning before the older two went to school.  Shep, Bennett, and I went out for lunch.  He requested chips and cheese (Mexican).   I have built my share of Lego kits in the past 36 hours.

Birthday Dinner

 The Brothers at dinner

 Shepherd wanted steaks for dinner so Chad grilled and then we had doughnut in a cake shape for dessert. He had a great day and was all smiles!

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This was Shepherd's year for the big birthday party and he chose the zoo.  So, we headed down to our old stomping grounds and got back together with our old friends and both families.

I think this had all the kids minus the toddlers/ babies. Jackson is in the back, on the bear is Ashton, Connor, Owen, Shepherd, Caelum, Hunter, Karson,  Front is Charlee.  Not pictured are toddlers, Will and Sami and babies Bennett and Esme

My 4 year old boy!

Connor, Ashton, Shepherd, Jackson, Hunter, and Karson pause for a quick shot

This is TROUBLE!!!! Shep, Owen, Ashton, and Connor

It was a perfect day with the perfect people and good food.

Lego cake

Blowing out candles

Shepherd had a great time seeing his buddies.

Lunch!

Me with my two babies

Thank you to those that came for not only the gifts but just for showing how much you  love Shepherd.  You all have played such an important part in molding who is in becoming.

They crashed on the way home.

PS- Thanks again Leah for giving us 3 guest passes to the zoo (I forgot mine).
PSS- Thanks again to my mom for missing the zoo portion and being in charge of the food.
PSS- Thanks to GrandmaDean for giving Shep's hair a much needed trim before we came up.  I was nervous I was going to botch it

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my sweet boy! 

 Keep loving life and loving Jesus!

I win Mother of the Year Again

In case you are wondering, Mother of the Year (MOY), is not a good thing.  Even being what most would consider a veteran mom since I have 4 kiddos, I still have moments that I just want to smack my forehead and go, "you dumb a$$, why did you let that happen" or "how did you miss that?"

Now I realize that this next sotry was fully accidentally, I just wish sometimes we, as moms, had future vision.

For the story.

I was cooking dinner last night... frying bacon.  Bennett was at my feet.  I did not pick him up because of the bacon grease splattering.  He likes to play with the drawer below the oven (is that the broiler?)  Anyway, I was also using the oven.  I felt the oven door to make sure it wasnt hot... it wasnt.  There was also nothing in the broiler drawer... nothing,  not even pans.  He kept pulling up to stand and then plopping down.  All was well.

Well, the last time he pulled up, he pushed on the drawer which shut his arm in the drawer.  He cries, I look down and see his arm stuck. I place my spatula down and pick him up.  He is crying pretty hard for what I think is a pinch of his arm.  I look at his arm and dont see a mark. I see his hand and it has what looks like a little piece of skin pushed back.  I think, "oh the door scratched his hand, not his arm."  I calm him down and we eat dinner.

After he eats, I am cleaning him up and see a HUGE blister on his hand. MOY here doesnt realize until an hour after it happens that he has a 2nd degree burn on his poor little hand.  I didnt eve ice it, I did nothing but casually pat his back to calm him.  MOM FAIL!!!

Doesnt that look awful?

*** As I am typing this, the blister just popped by itself.  Ug! 

I think babies really do have a higher pain tolerance than adults.  I think it hurts to take a shower hours after I burn my hand, but he hasnt cried or fussed about it since it happened.  Maybe my baby is just superbaby. ;)

All bandaged up.  thanks GrandmaDean for the first aid stuff.

Anyway, just a side note, though the oven door may not be hot, the underside of the oven is hot.  Lesson learned.