On the road again

Packing for a week in Florida during the winter time for eight people and a dog is not for the faint of heart. It was at the eleventh hour when I thought to check the weather and subsequently found that it would be a good 20 degrees warmer there than the typical February temperatures in SC. It was a bittersweet discovery because while we were all looking forward to some warm, salty air, the kids closets were not ready to provide us with appropriate clothing. The discovery that my packing routine was going to be kicked up a notch by adding in a search through the stored clothes bins in the attic for shorts and that caused me to procrastinate. I'd be lying if I didn't at least briefly consider ditching the luggage and packing solely in Old Navy bags filled with new spring clothes for everyone!

Once the work was done and we were all packed up and ready to go, it felt good to get on the road headed for sunshine and grandparents who spoil us all well. Jimmy and I have worked out a pretty good routine when it comes to our travel system. I do all of the preparation and packing, he does the loading and driving. So, theoretically, once we get in the car my work is done. I won't lie, it's nice to know that sit back and enjoy the ride, but luxuries like naps and such are out of the question unless I want to be awakened by the chuckles of a little boy in a grown man's body in the seat next to me as he takes embarrassing pictures of me sleeping with my mouth hanging open.

Though truth be told, if I had spent the whole ride snoozing then I wouldn't have  noticed how awesomely our people traveled this time. We made pretty impressive time with our one dinner-time stop and one bathroom break. Not too bad for six kids and a puppy! As we were getting closer and we overheard Jimmy teasing Gaga about Chesty's less-than-stellar housebreaking success I turned to Travis and begged him not to tease me like that one day. His reply was, "I don't know mom, his blood courses strongly through my veins." I'm in trouble.












Little mama

Somehow she managed to snag him away from me for a little while. She says she hopes that she has babies this cute one day and that she should probably start practicing now. I think she's pretty much a natural already.



C-A-T-S!!!

Today was the day that Travis and Sam redeemed their joint birthday gift (Caroline just got to ride along on their coat tails) - tickets to the Kentucky/South Carolina game! To say that everyone was pumped would be an understatement. In fact, this is the sight that greeted me last night:


(jack is smiling here because he is still under the impression that he's going with them)

Their great tickets bought them the ability to get up close and personal while the team practiced before the game, which lead to high-fives from all of their favorite players as they left the arena after practice. Their up-close seats also meant that Ben, Jack and I  were able to spot them as the camera panned the crowd! The sighting came right after a series of impressive shots made by the Wildcats and you can believe there was some fist pumping and celebrating going on. Kentucky's ultimate victory only added to the awesomeness of the evening. My people came home excited, full of stories, worn out and more devoted to their team than ever.







Curl

Eli recently upped the cuteness factor by a great deal when he his hair became long enough to show us that it is curly. There's one long row of curl right in the back of his head and I can hardly stand it. Can you blame me?


Basketball shoes

Yes, I know that these might look like Indian moccasins. But if you happen to be a basketball-obsessed two year old who is always found wearing a vintage basketball jersey and a pair of your big brother's sweat bands and then you found these new shoes in your dresser drawer just waiting for you to grow into them, you might decide that no matter what anyone tries to tell you about them you will insist that they are basketball shoes. And you will wear them all the time. You will even let them slowly begin to replace the black rubber rain boots that you normally wear all the time, but only because they are basketball shoes. And you will hold firm to your conviction no matter how many people try to tell you otherwise.


Reenactments

What do you get when you complete a unit study of WWII,  have a fort that happens to need a new flag, a sewing machine with the skills to put it to use, and a preference for all things Marine? You get an Iwo Jima reenactment, of course.


more Ben-isms

Mommy: "You are my favorite Ben."

Ben: "I won't be your favorite Ben when I'm a dad."

Mommy: "Actually, you'll always be my favorite Ben."

Ben: "No, because I won't still be Ben when I'm a dad. You get a new name when you're a dad."

Mommy: "What will your new name be?"

Ben: "Chimmy." (read: Jimmy)



"Look! It"s Abraham Lincoln Logs!"



"Can we have Cheez-its and Gatorade for dinner?"



Mommy: "Ben, please go put on some clean jammies."

Ben: "Why? Where are we going?"



While she still has her teeth

Caroline's two front teeth have been loose for a while now and, while I completely adore the snaggletooth look,   I also really love the baby-toothed look and if I was going to capture that forever I was going to need to act fast. Since she was all dressed up, the two of us left the after-church, lunch-prep crazy time in daddy's capable hands and headed outside for a little mini-photo shoot. She's more than willing to ham it up for the camera and I'm more than willing to spend a few quite minutes alone with my girl. Though I do think she's starting to look a little too old for my liking... At least she still has those baby teeth.