Weekend Beach Run :)

It has been over two years since we were all able to go to the beach together as a family. We stayed at the coolest hotel. I have never stayed anywhere that made one of the towel animals. We had an elephant in the bathroom. I was so excited! I wouldn't let anyone mess with it until I went back down to the car to get my camera. The hand towels were made into fans and tissues were made into roses. 

Every night at 8:30 the hotel put on a water show. They play music and the water dances with the music. It was awesome!!

While we were watching the show the first night, Reese found a friend, Nicholas. She ran and played with him the whole time. They were a great show also. She walked right up and hugged him. 

Daddy and Reese danced together. Granny and Travis danced and played together, also. 

 We played in the Kid's Pool at the hotel. There was a boy who pushed Reese off of the turtle after it took her 30 minutes to figure out how to get on top. I was very upset. She fell totally submerged in the water. She ran up to me to hold her since she was crying. While I was holding her, she said, "Mommy, that mean boy pushed me in the water. That not nice!" I watched that boy like a hawk the rest of the time he was there. He was lucky I didn't come and get onto him.

Then we went to see Grandma at Aunt Polly's beach house. The "kids" were able to play in the sand. It was EXTREMELY hot!! We used a ton of sunscreen this trip.

 We ate at Makata. It is a Hibatchi restraunt. Travis loves the show. Reese likes everything but when they do the fire. The guy we had was great! He made a volcano and a train. He tossed the pans on top of his chef hat. It was pretty cool.

Silly Face!!

Everyone then went and watched the light show again. Nicholas wasn't there, so we all danced and played ring around the rosie.

One more trip to the pool before we head home. This time we were the only people at the pool.

Daddy took us shopping at Pier Park. And what shopping trip would be complete without a train ride. 

It was a wonderful weekend! We are going to have to go more often. I came home relaxed and ready for the last week of school. I am so thankful to have such a great family. They put up with all of my craziness with pictures. I wanted to get some family pictures taken, but we ran out of time. I guess we will just have to go back soon! :)

One PROUD Mommy!

First, let me brag on my sweet boy. Travis can read so well! We have been reading stories that we have at home. I wasn't sure if he was just remembering the stories or actually reading them, so I dropped by Mrs.Cofield's room to borrow some books. I recorded him reading one of the stories. This was the first time he had ever looked at the story.  I found out after showing it to Mrs.Cofield that this is actually an old 1st grade reading book. :) Now without further adieu... 

(Keep scrolling after the video)

We had a wonderful weekend at the beach with my family. I was able to hang out with my brother and sister in law. We don't get to spend much time with each other because we all are so busy.

(It is taking forever for the pictures to load. Check back tomorrow!)

One more day of school!! WHOOP WHOOP!

My children are important!

I recently read a blog by Hands Free Mama .  This is a very inspiring story about the hazards of modern day technology and spending time with your kids. It really hit home with me. The blog made me think about how involved I am in my children's lives. Am I constantly pushing them away? How much am I using my technology when I could be spending time with them? Do they feel like I am never there for them?

When I think back, I know there were plenty of times I should have been hanging out with them. I LOVE to read! I have to admit I am a hopeless romantic and mystery junkie. I love happy endings and trying to figure out what happens before I read about it. My downfall is that when I start a book I get so wrapped up in the story plot that I can't put it down. I used to buy several books at a time, but I could only hold them up for so long before my hand started hurting. When I got a nook for my birthday a few years ago, it made it so easy to read the next book in the series. Now, I can pick up where I left off on my cell phone. This is great when you are waiting by yourself at the doctors office! However, you can miss out on your kids lives if it is all you do. I'm not saying to totally spend every waking minute of every single day with your kids. I mean honestly we all need our space. It is up to us to show our kids what to do and how to act. If we are always on our computer, reading, or on our phones, how can we expect them to know we love and care about them. They will grow up thinking that whatever you are doing is more important than they are.

The blog reminded me of the song Cat's in the Cradle.

I have more to say but my sweet boy is going to read me a bedtime story now! :)

Praising God

I quit blogging since I felt no one cared and life got hectic. I decided yesterday that it was time to start back and use my blog to not only document my family but to also glorify God. I will try to fill in the gaps of our life later. This post is all about yesterday.

Yesterday was awesome because God is awesome and powerful! We went to a friends house for a pool party. Normally pools are a little worrisome for me, but yesterday I just rolled with the punches. The kids were having a great time. Everyone was getting out of the pool to eat. Reese was playing in my lap, and Travis had dried off. For some reason, Travis went back through the gate to the pool when I wasn't looking. James was drying off at the car and assumed that when he saw Travis he was just putting something back. From what I can gather, Travis dropped something in the pool and jumped in without floaties to retrieve the toy. The pool is shallow on one end where the kids can touch. Travis jumped where it starts to slope. Thankfully God put Jeremy in the right place at the right time. Jeremy jumped in the pool and saved him. God watches us even when we don't know we in trouble. I say this because neither James nor I knew that Travis had gotten into the pool. I knew that something had happened because Ashley kept looking at me and saying Travis is fine everything is ok. I am used to things happening to Travis, and unless he is screaming or crying it is normally nothing major. I wasn't panicked since he wasn't screaming.  I assumed he had just fallen and scraped himself. I mean Travis is one of the clumsiest people I know. He runs into walls and falls all the time.  I know that God knew I couldn't handle dealing with the knowledge of my son almost drown without me holding him and seeing he was ok first. It was like I was disconnected from the whole situation. When it finally all hit me on the way home, I was thinking what a HORRIBLE mother I was not to run over there and check on him. What if something would have happened and I wasn't there for him? What if my baby would have died? What if...? What if...? James told me I didn't know that it was anything serious and that I could think of the what if's. I know that there is no point in talking about the what ifs. I know that there was nothing I could do. I am so very grateful that God is in control not Morgan Davis. Everything happens for a reason. I don't know that reason for this near death experience. I know that it reminds me that everyday is a gift from God and don't waste that time. Love unconditionally, Pray always, and Follow God forever. 

I am going to wake everyone up and get them ready for church. James is going with us today. :) I will post pictures and finish out the rest of yesterday later. 

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Can't Sleep....

Well its 2 AM and I am wide awake. I hate when this happens. It is great for you though since I normally have no time to blog with James being gone. It always amazes me how different one person makes in your life. I feel like I am missing half of me. Everything that we do takes twice as long without someone helping. It is just unreal. Kuddos for all the single moms and dads. I don't know how you do it.

It has been a wild two months. So far deployment has gone like this:

1. James left
2. Trip to AL
3. Getting ready for school
4. 1 month of sickness between all parties
• pink eyes, ear infection, viruses, colds
5. School started (missed 3 days already because of the sickness
6. Hurricane Earl (which wasn't anything really, but very well could have if it had came to shore)

I can honestly say that I am hoping that everything is back to normal. Well, as normal as life is for me. ;)

Now for the fun part:

Travis is doing "homework." He is always seeing me do school work at night and on the weekend, so he started asking to do his homework. I used to give him some paper and pencils or crayons. Sometimes I would sit down with him and do actually activities. I finally bought him a preschool workbook. On Wednesday, he said he wanted to do his homework, so we sat at the kitchen table and did two activities. The first one he had to color all the circles yellow and all the squares blue. He did this basically all by his self. He even read some of the directions because they had a picture of the shape and a color crayon. I tried to get him to stop after this page, but he wanted to do some more. The second page he had to find places on a map and then draw a green line from the start to finish on the path. This one took a little more help, but he did wonderful. I am so proud of him.

Now, I know you are wondering where Reese is while we are working so hard. She was also doing "homework."

After we finished our homework, we had a fun time finger painting. I must say that the crayola color wonder finger paints are awesome. I bought Travis the markers and coloring books a long time ago, but was skeptical about the paints. I am a die hard crayola fan to begin with and now am even more so.

Doesn't he look so happy to have to deal with me taking pictures...

Now, lets go see if I can grab a couple more hours of sleep.

Life goes on...

Well, James has finally left on deployment. The kids and I have been out of the house all day. I just couldn't bring myself to stay in the empty house that doesn't look like we live there anymore. Tomorrow is move in day at the new house. At least, that is what I am hoping for. Almost everything in our house is packed up. All my walls are white again. I believe that was the thing that made moving real. It is one thing to talk about it and another to actually put everything back to the way it was when you got here. 

Anyways, here are some pictures from the past week:

It's Summer Time!

Well I haven't done a totally great job with the blogging. I am going to do much better now that summer is here. I wanted to update everyone with some of what has gone on so far. Dos has turned one!! Here is a picture of her on her b'day! I have party pictures up on facebook if you are interested.

We also had a fabulous beach trip with my friend Carla. Here are some "professional" pictures that I took with my new camera. They need to be touched up a bit, but I just haven't had the time to get to that yet.

On a fun note, I think I have decided to take some photography courses. I haven't totally been sold on the idea yet. If we don't get a new house, I figured it would fill all my "free" time while James is gone. Who knows what life holds??? Not me!