Branson '09.

Whew! Posting all these took some time! All of these are unedited - except of the one of Bentley, which obviously, I converted to black & white. In no particular order...

Branson! ☺

She didn't go willingly, we kind of...pushed her down. ;o)

The above photos were all taken on manual. After that, I wanted to enjoy, & not spend time constantly changing my camera settings due to lighting circumstances. So, the rest are all snapshots. :)

Love this of Bentley.

Below - they were both about to vomit by the time I snapped this photo. ☺

The below of Bentley I just ♥ - the expression on his face is priceless! :)

Audi, of course, drove like he'd been doing it for years.

The female, on the other hand, spent most of her gokart time facing the track's metal guide. The guy who operated the gokarts that day - well - let's just say he earned his pay w/ Jags. ;o)

All four - Audi pulling up his britches & Mercedes, being Mercedes. Ü



Mercedes loved this wacky chair. She's cracking up, if you can't tell. :)

The Amazing Pets show - pretty cute.

Oh look! Uncle Craig, again! (The tiny one sitting in the guy's hand.) How is it we almost always see him on vacations? ;o)

Batman!

And the married couple.

Bentley is all about dinosaurs - anything & everything. Visiting the dinosaur museum was part of his birthday present. :)



We had an AWESOME time! Here's to next year! Destin? Oh yeah! ☺

Vacation!

I disappeared! We just returned late last night from our Branson vacation. We had a fantastic time! A little eventful, but fantastic! :)

A few little issues that transpired -

1.) 1/2 our room was flooded when we arrived, so we had to switch rooms after we had already unpacked! Not fun @ 9:00 p.m. after an 8 hour drive. With 4 little people in tow. Switching rooms actually worked out better in the long run! :)

2.) Jaguar had a little accident & sliced the skin up & back (& off) above the toenail on her big toe. We doctored it well & thankfully she didn't need to be seen by a dr. It was horrible! She's a trooper. :)

3.) Mercedes had a little fit one night & while I was trying to console her - she head butted me right in the mouth, splitting my lip open & giving me a nice, fat lip just in time for dinner. :)

4.) Yesterday as were to leave - Jaguar woke up with a horrible, horrible cold - but we had to get on the road. She is still sick today & has been in bed all day.

5.) On our trip home we stopped for gas - Jaguar walked under the gas hose while hubby was pumping gas - she knocked the nozzle out & her & hubby got SOAKED with spraying gasoline. Fortunately the Shell station had a shower & they took a shower & changed clothes. Thankfully nothing sparked; my entire family could have perished had anything gone wrong. Gasoline was everywhere!! In the car the gas smell was so strong, we had to stop again & throw away all clothes & shoes, even though we had bagged them numerous times. There is no way we could have traveled the 3 remaining hours smelling those fumes. Hubby didn't like throwing away his tennies. :)

6.) And lastly, Miss Melissa here decided fear was not going to get the best of her regarding her fear of waterslides (bad experience years ago - I thought I was going to drown) - so I sucked it up, prayed a lot & went down an enclosed, twisty, waterslide three times! Woot! The bad news is I must had pulled something during my 'inappropriate' thrushes from the water tubes - as today I am in the worst pain I have ever experienced. We believe I pulled a muscle (severely) or a nerve/something. I thought I was headed to the ER, but as of tonight, I am doing much better! Yippee! And yippee again for conquering my fear of waterslides! Although I wouldn't exactly say I'm ready to ride those suckers again. ;o)

I don't have many photos because my lens would fog over at the indoor waterpark, but I do have a few & I have a few of the little people riding gokarts. I'll try to post them in the next couple of days. Still trying to unwind from our week & I have been slowed down considerably considering (heehee, double whammy) I can barely walk.

But really, does anyone read my blog anymore anyway? I don't think so. If you do, please let me know.

Have a wonderful week! ☺

Big - Sexy - Hair.

My hairspray of choice right now & has been for quite some time. ♥ it.

For some reason, Bentley has zoomed right in on this bright red can that sits atop my bathroom counter. As you know, he can read & he reads well. Audi cannot yet read, so Bentley felt it his duty to inform my little comedian (Audi) exactly what this can, um, says. ;o)

If it's not daily, it's every other day. My Audi. In the most obnoxious, taunting voice he can find, here he comes right towards me -

"Biggggggggggg, Sexyyyyyyyyyyyyy, Hairrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

& off he goes.

I ♥ you Audi. Now shut up.

Her & him.

Here is my Jaguar with her new, short 'do. It's so cute. But it's so not her. I've always said that her big, ol' hair is so much a part of her personality. Since I have had her hair cut off, that has more than proven to be true. :o)



The beautician must have cut off at least 4 inches, if not more. I thought having her hair shorter would be much cooler for Jags, but have recently discovered that when she is playing hard, she sweats just as much. There is really no difference. Which tells me that it wasn't the actual length that was the issue - the problem is that her hair frames & lays on her face so much, that is actually what makes her so hot. But now, because it is so short, I can't pull it up like I could before, to get it off her face. So now we let it grow back out & I'll never have it this short again. She told me she prefers it longer, also. The one thing we are definitely enjoying while it is short is styling it! Holy pickles, it literally takes 5 minutes! Versus 20. She's so beautiful with her long hair (she's beautiful with her short hair, too!), we'll go back to the 20 minute styling. I'm anxious for it to grow back out & for her gorgeous spirals to return! ☺

The below photo shows how silly she is. :) She must not have received the memo - we do not allow skinny dipping! We have no clue where or when she decided it was ok to strip & swim! She has now received the memo. (That's my girl, with her beautiful long hair!) Gosh, this girl is priceless! ☺

I threw a photo of Bentley in, too. No particular reason - just because he's so darn handsome & I love him so much! I could stare at his face all day long. Adorable! (Um, yes, I got a little clipper happy. Why do you ask? :)

Love my children! ♥

Happy Wednesday! ☺

Almost 18 months.

Isn't she cute? Yes, she is. And she's a bully! ☺

(Here she's modeling my new cowboy hat. I have yet to figure out why in the world I bought that dumb thing. :) She still has the most amazing lips!)



This toddler is intimidated by no one. Doesn't matter what size you happen to be. She's a smacker. She's a thrower. And she's a pusher. If you are holding her, & you make her angry, she's gonna pop you right in the face. If she's holding something, & you make her angry, you better duck 'cause she's gonna chunk that object straight at your head. (Just ask Audi. She's infatuated with that child & banging on his head. The boy doesn't stand a chance around here. He's very experienced with the 'stop, drop & roll' method.) And if you're somewhere she wants to be - no worries - she's going to physically remove you by pushing you out of the way, so she can be where you are were. What baffles me the most is that none of the forementioned behavior is allowed in or out of our home. Her siblings do not hit/smack. They do not throw (unless it is acceptable throwing with an acceptable object). They do not push. She has not been in a church nursery enough to learn this behavior from other undisciplined children. So, I have no clue how this came to be. I do know it is not tolerated & she is reprimanded sternly. And I do know that she continues to ask for forgiveness by tossing her arms around you for a hug & kissing you smack on the lips. Then all is well until she does it again. ;o)

The below photos show how she runs around every.single.day. Something of some sort is constantly hanging out of her mouth. It's the strangest thing. I remember when Audi was little, he always had to have something in his hand (actually, he still does). She, however, must have something in her mouth. It bothers me for safety reasons, but there is nothing I can do about it. I can take objects away & in no time she'll have something else in there. So I've decided to pick my battles & just let her be. This object happens to be a utensil from a tea party set. ☺



Is she not the cutest thing? Pony tail 1/2 in & 1/2 out & those dimples - so sweet. Her hair is still very unruly. And getting worse. It needs to be trimmed but there is no way she will sit in a beautician's chair while her hair is trimmed. I'm contemplating doing it myself. Because her hair is curly, the beautician told me I really can't "mess it up". Obviously she didn't know who she was talking to. ;o)



The photo below is one I snapped tonight. She's a dipping fanatic. She wants everything dipped if mom's dipping. Hot sauce. Ranch dressing. Ketchup. The only thing I can find so far that she is not interested in is sour cream. The child eats salad. She would live off of strawberries if I let her. She eats veggies (prefers raw) except for green beans. She won't touch them. She devours salami. And french fries. Tonight I put her own ranch on her high chair tray & she went to dipping her carrots & green bell pepper all on her own (usually I do it for her). She's getting to be so big. Her hair is wet here - I had just given her a bath. Who in their right mind gives a child a bath, lotions her up & then gives her ranch dressing all to herself? She had fingerpainted quite a bit when she was done dipping. That's a scratch on her forehead. The other day she was trying to stand on the underneath shelf of my server, when she stood up & whacked her head. That's her 2nd forehead scratch. The first one (you can faintly see the white scar in the above photos) I think she did with her fingernail. It's tough being little!



It's crazy how much I adore this baby. She is so darn tootin' cute, I just can't get enough of her. Probably because there is strong possibility she is my last. Sigh. I think I'm trying to soak in every thing I can before this stage is gone forever.

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Saturday is our annual 4th of July family reunion. This is always such a busy week, trying to line up clothes for everyone, food to cook/bake, snacks/drinks for all my miniatures, all necessities for the long (rarely are we home before midnight) day, etc. Well low & behold, hubby is headed to NY! Are you kidding me?! That means two days less for my obsessive compulsive behavior! ☺ He heads out tomorrow night, so graciously he is working from home tomorrow so I can run errands. Now one day less for my OCD. Thursday not much will be accomplished since he won't be home until midnight. That will leave us Friday, dead tired because I always wait up for him, to wrap up loose ends before scrambling around like chickens with our heads cutoff for Saturday's early departure. Wow. That was a long sentence. Did you get that?

Off to watch Tori & Dean! I think buying both of Tori's book are in store. :)



(Photos are snapshots! Except for the 1st one. :)

Determination.

A little history, some of you may remember. A few years ago, Audi was very frightened of the water. At our annual July 4th family reunion, while all the other children swam, Audi hung out with the adults in the shade. It made me sad. That said, he was so scared of the water, I made the decision not to push him. Hubby insisted on swimming lessons. I said no way. I won. :) I don't believe in forcing children, I don't believe in tossing them in saying "sink or swim!" or any of that bs. Leave them alone & when they are ready, they will do it. With much less reluctance, to boot. After that July 4th, I came home & blogged about Audi's fear of swimming. The next day, he put on his life jacket, jumped in the pool, & has never looked back. ☺

Hubby got home early today & took the boys out back swimming while the girls & I napped. When I walked outside, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Audi was swimming, without his life jacket! We have been talking with him about learning to swim without his life jacket but again, he was too fearful. We let it go. Today, without prompting, he took that sucker off & again - never looked back!

What amazes me the most is how well, at not even 5 1/2 years old, he is swimming! All across the deep end, completely unassisted (but being watched like a hawk, of course), swimming the width & entire length of the pool, like he had been doing it for months! And it had only been an hour or two, at the most! Ü



Audi's determination is so commendable. When he puts his mind to something - it may be on his terms & not ours - this child takes it to heart & gives it his all. If you recall, Audi has OCD which means when he does something, he's going to do it right. And he does. He doesn't settle for 'almost'. Audi is no slacker & anything but lazy. I am SO proud of him!!

I am excited to see where God takes this child. With Audi's determination & drive, there is nothing that will stop him & get in his way. If he stays with it, & never accepts or settles for less, life will take him further than he can imagine. How fun to travel this adventure with him, supporting him, as he dives straight into life!

Happy weekend!

Squirt.

Took this of Bentley this evening. I'm shooting back in Jpeg - love RAW - however, I don't really care to spend the extra time editing in RAW. (This photo was actually taken in daylight - I edited it to look this dramatic. I ♥ it! :)

More photos tomorrow - such a sad, sad day today.