Spring Break, Winter Feel

My big boys are on Spring Break this week, so we took a little trip up to North Carolina to visit my dad for a few days. We left after they got out of school on Friday, and I had kept the little kids awake so they would take a good long nap on the way. Not so much! Tristan did the bobble head move for like 20 minutes while fighting the good fight, and finally gave it up. . .for a l-o-n-g FIVE minute nap! Tanner did a little better and made it to Atlanta (which is about an hour from us), but not the nap we were banking on. So, 5 1/2 more hours to go and they didn't sleep a wink the rest of the drive!

Saturday was my Dad (Papaw) and brother's birthday. But, they "chose" to eat their birthday lunch at Chuck-E-Cheese. Let me just say that the kids had a blast, but that was way too chaotic for me! However, I think I have decided to invest in one of those "cages" shown in the last picture ;-)


Saturday night we decided to say a little prayer, cross our fingers, hope for the best, and try a real restaurant with all of us! There was a little wait, so we decided it would be best to wait outside, with a video of Mickey Mouse!

A few minutes into the wait, Tanner was bored of the movie so I walked her around. When I turned around to glance back at the boys, they were standing behind the bench and Tristan was unbuttoning his pants. . .I quietly shrieked (not to draw too much attention to myself or my almost half naked child). . ."What are you doing?!" Tristan: "I need to go tee tee, Momma!" Ok, I guess it's time to work on that. . .

Sunday was rainy all day. There was absolutely NO way we were staying cooped up inside the house all day. . .or at least no way I was staying cooped up with all of those kiddos in the house all day! So, we headed about 30 minutes to another town where they have a Children's Museum. That place was so cool. . .and perfect for a rainy day! They had room upon room of fun things to do: they had a Krispy Kreme factory, a Food Lion grocery store, a beanstalk to climb, a library, a kitchen, and tons of others too. Tanner had fallen asleep on the ride there and slept for like 2 hours (of course on a 30 minute drive), so I stayed in the car with her until she woke up. Once we headed in, TJ never left the Krispy Kreme factory! So I only got one picture of him. . .well, and one of him climbing the beanstalk on the way out!


Papaw and Lin had to work on Monday, so we planned another day trip. . .this time the place was an hour away. We stopped when we got to the town to eat a bite of lunch and let them play on the playground. Sissy isn't scared of anything and TJ and Tristan "helped" her slide down. Such sweet brothers!


Then, we headed to the Bouncy House place a minute down the road. It was CLOSED for renovations! CLOSED! After an hour drive and excited to jump kids. . .CLOSED! So, I quickly got back on my phone to try to find the next nearest indoor play area. I found one that would be on the way back towards Papaw's house that we were going to try. I decided to call just to make sure they were open. No answer, but what did we have to loose at this point. . .well, besides our sanity you might ask! We put the address in the GPS and were off. We got there. . .no bouncy house place. . .at all! Back to searching on the phone, while screams of "I want to play" came flooding from the peanut gallery in the back! My brother had mentioned an indoor trampoline park, so we decided that we might as well break our necks too since the day was going so well! But, the only problem was that it was 12:30 and the trampoline place didn't open for another hour and a half! We drove to the place, to make sure it existed, and called to make sure that they in fact opened at 2:00, and then saw a Basking Robbins across the street. "Let's get ice cream," I yelled! We pulled into the parking lot and white stuff started falling from the sky. . .it was SNOWING and we were headed to eat ice cream. . .that just topped the day off right there. But, the kids (except Tristan...he's weird and doesn't eat ice cream whether it's snowing or hot) enjoyed the ice cream, Tristan his donut, and asked for more! Thirty minutes left before it opens now, so we just sat in the car and jammed out to Michael Jackson (much to Thomas' dismay). . .I mean, what else do you do when you have a spare 30 minutes?! 1:59 came and we were walking in the door. That place is awesome, and we really need one here!


After late naps we headed to eat Mexican that night for dinner. When we returned to Papaw's house, Tristan told Papaw, "I need ta dance. Turn on some music!" So, we had a dance party in the living room.


We capped off the trip with TJ throwing up that night, and an uneventful and relatively, dare I say, peaceful drive back home! Definitely lots of fun and can't wait to go back for more!

The Magic of Mayhem

A few short stories for laughs:


Tristan & "Sweet Brown"
If you have never seen the youTube video of "Sweet Brown," please check it out first and then read on:

Last week, a local mill caught on fire. It has now been called the worst fire in the City's history. Our daycare is realively close to the Mill's location, so the next day, the area was still extremely smokey. The kids weren't allowed outside that day at school. When I picked Tristan & Tanner up that afternoon and we walked outside to the car, Tristan covered his mouth and nose and coughed a little. I looked down and asked if he was ok, and he said, "The smoke got me! I got bronchitis! Ain't nobody got time for dat!" Perfect timing, and completely hilarious! I need to video him and put his version on youTube!







That Bunny
Last Friday was my birthday. I was treated to a grilled steak dinner by my sweet husband, and dessert made special from my mom.


And Saturday, my in-laws took us to Longhorn's for dinner. They brought me a Birthday Sundae, and I didn't eat a bite. . .the kids devoured it in like 2 minutes!


After dinner, we drove to the mall so I could pick out some sunglasses for my birthday present. As soon as we walked in, straight in front of us was the Easter Bunny. All of my kids loved him, even Tanner! I don't think Tristan really remembers the Easter Bunny from last year, and was quite intrigued by what he does. So, after explaining him. . .several times during our mall shopping he felt the need to reiterate how this was all going to work. "Mommy, dat bunny gonna come to my house, bring me some canny, and I'm gonna say HEEAAAYYYYY!" Yep, he's got it ;-)





My Name
After naps on Sunday afternoon, we headed outside to play. I was shooting the basketball with TJ and Thomas, and it bounced beside Tristan.

Me: "Tristan, will you get the ball for me?"

Tristan: "My name is Butta."

Me: "Butta?"

Tristan: "Yes, Butta. And, I'll get the ball for you."

Identity crisis? This morning, he was fussing about something and I said something like, "It's ok, baby." He said, "My name's not baby!" I asked if it was Tristan? He said no. . .

Just a Dash. . .

Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm ready for all of the red eyes, runny noses, itchy throats that Spring time can bring. . . oh, and the warmer weather! So, in honor of hoping that the cold air is moving out I decided to make chili for dinner last night. . . one last time for the season. My family loves chili, when it comes with Fritos, sour cream, and lots of cheddar cheese, that is! The kiddos were starving by the time it was ready, so I served their bowls and let them get started before I was ready to sit down. As I walked to the table, Tristan's eyes were watery and he had just finished gulping down an entire cup of milk. He kept saying, "My mouff is on fiya! My tongue is hot! More mayalk, peeze!" Then TJ started, "Yea, it's really hot Mom and it tastes different!" Then Thomas took a bite..."Whew! Honey, this IS really spicy!" I didn't get it. . .I made it exactly as I always do (Heaven forbid I EVER make anything different in my house)! Then it hit me, I immediately new what I had done:



Oopsie! My bad! I just added 2 TBSP of CAYENNE PEPPER instead of chili powder!!! I feel horrible for torturing my children, because good gracious that was some intense chili!!!



If only it would've been raining like this last night. . . I think we all may have joined in!

The Often Tiring, Highly Cute T&T

These two are a hand FULL! They should've just been twins. . .at least I could've gotten the painful part over all at once! They are two peas in a pod; inseparable! Which is so sweet, but oh so tiring! They play, fight, share (germs at least) all of the time. Tristan wants his "Sissy" to be where he is and do what he is doing, and for the most part, she goes a long with him.



The other day I was driving them to school and the following "conversation" ensued (if you can call it that considering Tanner refuses to talk and just grunts and smiles and squeals and screams):

Tristan: "Mommy, I need a drink."

Me: "Tristan, I didn't bring your cup. You can have a sip of Sissy's drink when we get to school."

Tristan: "Ok Mommy."



Tristan: "Sissy. . .Sissy. . ."

Tanner: Grunts and leans up to see him

Tristan: "Pretty gurl, Pretty gurl. . .give me your mayalk."(really drawn out and southern slang for "milk.")

Tanner: Smiles and returns to watching Mickey

Tristan: "Sissy. . .Sissy. . ."

Tanner: Grunts and looks his way again

Tristan: "Pretty Pincess, Pretty Pincess. . .give me your mayalk."

Tanner: Laughs this time and again ignores him and returns to Mickey.

How does he already know how to sweet talk the ladies?! And thank the Lord, she already knows to ignore that crap!


Escorting "Pretty Princess" at TJ's basketball game


Now, our sweet Tanner has officially started acting like a toddler. She is quite the little diva when things don't go her way:



After dinner Sunday night, she proceeded to throw herself on the floor for who knows why, and Tristan just looked down at her and said, "You betta watch chu attitude Miss Pincess!" And then walked off.

At least they add a little entertainment value, right?!