Ocala Trip!

Last Tuesday the boys and I headed back to Slocala. Minus the hubs that is. It was a long ride there, but we made it eventually.

I probably should have blogged each day as it happened. But...you know how that goes. So now I have SO much to catch up on from while we were there, I'm sure I'll miss plenty.

If you know my family, then you know at least usually one person has a camera in their hands at all times. Typically multiple people do. There were literally hundreds of photos taken which I have tried to weed through. I currently have 49 sitting in my folder to upload here. So I hope you are ready for pic overload :)

Here goes nothin'

The bigs and the little.
2 months and they are still so in love with their little brother!

Keighan has really started to develop a personality.
He is all smiles and giggles
{minus time in his car seat}

Aunt Jen and Uncle Dan stopped briefly on their drive up to Michigan one day.

Keegs lounging in G's lap by the pool

Mommy and the big boys swimming.
They wanted me to do motor boat with them at the same time,
so we made a double decker boat to make it a little easier on me!

Landon is all boy.
He loves every sort of critter out there.
While at G & Grumpa's he made a "frog friend"
Poor frog...he swam everywhere with Landon
But he stuck around for a few days subjecting himself to it!

G was even lucky enough to get the frog friend on her shoulder
{shudder...I am not a frog person}

Oh, and you betcha it wasn't just frogs that Landon befriended.
I had gone to a store one afternoon and came back to this.
Landon, Logan, and G out in the front yard while a
big ole slug
crawled all over Landon's hand.
{double shudder)

Keighan started this thing where he wanted to be held upright almost constantly,
as long as he was able to bend back and hang his head.
He was happy as could be like this!

One day Aunt Kay came over for a visit.
The boys had a lot of fun and roped her into playing a few BINGO games!

Granny also came over the same day that Aunt Kay did
and got to meet the Keegster.

Keighan spent a lot of time lounging by the pool

Granny brought the boys pillows.
Perfect fits for them without even knowing it!
A week later and they are still loving on them constantly.

The boys spent a lot of time in the pool.
Being at G and Grumpa's house when they would wake up,
they went straight to G and Grumpa's room instead of mine.
There were a few mornings where Keighan and I would wake up and they would already be in the pool!

Keighan tested out the water some.
It had rained a lot recently so the pool temperature was a little too cool for him to get in all the way.

Mommy hanging with her froggie!
We went over to Papa and Pam's to have a visit with them one morning.
L1 and L2 were arguing over who got to hold K's head,
so we had Aunt Sue take a few shots so they could each have a turn with the head!

While we were there, Keighan celebrated his 2 month birthday.

So I remembered to pack his white onesie and monthly stickers.

And we did a little photo shoot for his 2 month pics.

Then later we got all 3 boys together for a few spur of the moment pics.

I may be a bit biased,
but I think my boys are pretty darn handsome!

Another day we had lots of visitors.
Uncle Marshall, Aunt Natalie, Aunt Sue/Mimi and Granny all came over

Marsh got in the pool and Landon had a blast playing with him.
Well...more like being tossed around by him!

Keighan checking out his Great Granny

Marshall and Natalie brought up their dog Memphis.
She loved swimming with the boys,
and the boys loved throwing the tennis ball for her.

Landon and Mimi hanging out after a swim

Keighan thinks Granny is pretty great!

Mimi and Keighan hanging out playing

There is a little plastic pool there.
Once upon a time we used it as a sand box.
Now Logan likes to fill it up with water and then by the afternoon it's pretty hot.
So Keegs took a dip in there since the water was the right temp for him!

Tuckered out after playing hard, napping and trying to stay cool

Well, Marsh has a few weeks left before he gets to hold his own screaming baby.
Let's hope she likes him better than Keighan did!
Only kidding...he was already fussy and ready to eat.
Natalie, me, Keighan, and Marshall before they headed out

Granny, me, G, and Keighan
4 generations of awesomeness.

We even managed to bring Landon's bike down with us.
Mr Jackson (one of the neighbors down the street) taught Landon to ride without training wheels last time they were down.
Landon wanted to show Mr Jackson how he had improved in just a few weeks!
After a few minutes he had his first wipeout on a bike.
The chain got messed up (as did his ankle and knee)
so then we went on back to the pool instead.

There are two things in life that Logan absolutely loves.

Lightning McQueen
Pajamas
Combine them and you'll have a winner every time.
He loves to wear any PJs any time of day...especially his Lightning ones!
(This was while Landon was riding bikes with the Jacksons)

The boys also go to do some work to earn some coins.
(Landon's request)

Oh look...another little critter friend of Landon!

Captain America!

Grumpa and Keighan before we left Ocala.

G and Keighan back in Mobile
(she drove back with us to help keep a little
peace in the car, then flew out the next day)
We never get any pics of us together!

It was a wonderful trip home. We packed so much into the week and actually ended up staying a little extra. We had to come back before Logan's new preschool gave his spot away since we hadn't paid his registration/sports/phonics/supply fees (got the call the night before we left that a spot had opened up for him, yay! So they agreed to hold his spot for a little while for us). We did so many things around the house other than swim and play outside...made some potholders, stepping stones, melty bead thingys, colored, etc. By the end of it Logan was ready to go home, he kept talking about how he missed Daddy. Keighan did a smidge better on the drive back. Not much...but some. I know it'll get better as he gets older, hopefully for our next trip down in November it will be a lot smoother sailing! Now the boys have been decompressing and attempting to catch up on sleep. Our summer is rapidly coming to an end!

Back in the Eastern time zone!

It has been more than a year since I've been home. Home as in my parent's house...my home town. It'll always be home to me!

The 3 boys, my mom, and myself were piled into my car and loaded down. We were going to put some things (like L1's bike) into my Dad's car but forgot to before he left the house last night and were meeting up with him on the interstate. All the hours I put into Tetris appear to have paid off. 5 suitcases. 1 baby bath tub. 1 duffel bag. 2 tote bags. 1 roadside emergency kit. 1 Pack N' Play. 2 gift bags. 1 Boppy pillow. 1 bicycle. 1 baby mirror toy thingy. 1 bag of snacks/drinks. Probably some other things I'm not thinking of too.


The first bit went very well. We hit the road shortly after Keighan ate in hopes that he would be cooperative and sleep. It worked, woot! We made a potty stop quickly and he slept through that. Shortly later he was up. We pulled over at a rest area so while I fed Keegs the big guys could run around and get some energy out. K ate, pooped, puked all over my leg and himself, and then we were ready to get back on the road. We were a little west of Tallahassee at this point...probably right about 1/2 way.

The second half of the trip, well...let's just say that was trying. I think I may have escaped with a sliver of my sanity left, or maybe it's the insanity thinking I still have a little bit of sane left in me. Keighan hates his car seat with a passion. He was NOT a happy camper and cried the majority of the way. It was hard to listen to. We made 2 more stops and he was SO happy to get out and stretch out for a few minutes. I'm so thankful that my mom was in my car to help try to give him a bottle, paci, etc to soothe him. Sometimes it would work for a few minutes before he would start back up again.

Once home, in typical G's around fashion, Keighan was promptly wearing just a diaper. I had to take a pic and text my good friend Nina about it. She responded that soon he'll be playing in the mud! Back when we lived in Cape Cod it wasn't unusual for G to be visiting and we'd find her and Landon outside playing when I got home from work...him wearing just a diaper or a diaper and t-shirt stomping in a mud puddle made from the hose. Nina always used to give me a hard time about it because I tend to care a little too much about their clothing at times!

The boys, all 3 of them, were certainly wound up tight tonight. They got to sleep much later...it was after 10pm here! At least on their body clocks it was like it was after 9 though so not too far off from their normal bed time. They're both currently sacked out on top of a ton of pillows on the floor covered in Spiderman blankets.

This trip home felt a little different than others. From Mobile to Ocala we drive right through Pensacola/Milton. It's been 13 months since we moved away from there. Driving through on I-10 it felt like the clock had been turned back, almost felt like we were back "home" on that stretch of the road. I was half tempted to get off at our old exit. We're living so close right now (took about 90min to get there), but yet I haven't made it over to see our friends there yet. I really should try to do that before they start school in a few weeks!

I'm looking forward to our few days here, seeing lots of family and having Keighan meet everyone! It's going to be hectic and busy...I'll probably need a vacation once we get back to Mobile to recoup! I better hit the sack while the lil one is down and I have the opportunity to sleep.

Almost a month

*EEK*

It's been almost a month since I last posted anything! I guess this "mom of 3" life has me pretty busy. Just the day to day type of things have kept me running lately...laundry (oh my, it NEVER ends!), dishes, general cleaning of the house, feeding the kids (which also feels like a never ending process), and of course the occasional outing to playgroup or Target or the grocery.

So I'll do my best to do a semi-quick update on the past few weeks...and try to make it easier on myself by not waiting so long to do the next post! Here's what we've been up to:


We've had water some fun in the backyard...



Keighan turned 1 month old...


We did a quick project for Father's Day (which Daddy took to work and I never got a finished pic of it, oops)


We made a purchase I never thought I would.
Light up shoes.
Not just any light up shoes...
but character light up shoes.
Captain Rex (Star Wars) light ups from Stride Rite.
They came with masks too, the boys were super excited.

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit.
They went to Bellingrath Gardens,
the fish were the highlight for the boys.
Also checked out Daddy's airplane
The upstairs air conditioner was struck by lightning and fried.
So the boys camped out downstairs for about a week until it was fixed.
They had a blast and weren't ready to go back to their room!
Logan slept in the little tent most nights, Landon in his sleeping bag



We played in the rain as it poured off the roof,
finally some afternoon rain storms have been coming through.
We're over 20" below average for the year already and needing the rain!

We've gotten more smiles from Keighan...
just haven't gotten that good at grabbing the camera in time to catch them!
We went to a birthday party at The Watermelon Patch
The boys had a blast
I certainly see visits there in our near future!




We had a pretty low key 4th of July.
We bought some fireworks and grilled out burgers.
The boys had fun with the sparklers and snap its,
then we ended the night with a sugar rush from cupcakes.









It's hard to believe we're already into the month of July almost a whole week! Keighan hit the 7 week mark yesterday, time has just flown since he was born! He's been doing great with sleeping at night (please, please, please don't let that have just jinxed things!). He's a trooper when it comes to his big brothers wanting to hold him or "pet" him. Not a fan of the car seat, I think right now he just gets too hot in it...he's certainly a sweaty guy! Life as a family of 5 now feels normal and we're in a pretty good routine. Soon the routine will change up as Landon starts Kindergarten next month!