Family Vacation Summer 2012

Niceville, FL starts our family vacation for the summer of 2012. We drove 12 hours Friday to get to my Nana's house around midnight. Isaac stayed awake until we got there. He slept maybe an hour the whole trip. He was so excited he had to stay up until the very end. When we got to nana's we or Noa in bed but Elijah woke up. The boys were up until around 1 AM when we finally got unpacked and settled down. Isaac woke up bright and early ready to get to the beach!!

On our way down we stop at Walmart to get out and stretch our legs. We wanted to stop at a park and have a picnic and let the kids play but the weather was so ridiculously hot, 107 degrees, that we decided somewhere with A/C might be better! During our Walmart stop their were toothbrushes on sale for 50 cents so I got the kids each one. Noa also on the sale rack found a tube of icing. We got in the car and she started asking for her toothpaste. I was telling her that we didn't buy any toothpaste. Then I found the tube of icing she thought was toothpaste. She wanted to put it on her toothbrush and brush her teeth with it!!! Luckily we somehow changed the subject and she got her mind off of it.

Our next stop was dinner. We decided for something beside McDonald's! So we stopped at Cracker Barrel. It was good food. The server wasn't the best. She was a zero star. But she was sweet and tried hard. As we were leaving Noa had to go potty. No she isn't potty trained and I didn't want to start until we got back from this trip. But I guess when they are ready, they are ready! But I would really like to not be potty training on our vacation!! It's enough work as is... So anyway she goes to the potty and poops! As I said she is ready!! Then back in the car for our final leg of the trip.

Saturday morning the kids were up early and ready to go to the beach.
Beach
Hats

Sunday
Morning hats saga continues.
McDonald / shopping forgot purse
Camping
E scared. Isaac told him that's it's ok because God is all around.
Bedtime

Monday
Rain
McDonald's
Beach on bay side
Naps to national naval air force museum.
Dinner
Beach at night
To sleep in van

Tuesday

Grandma's visit

We have a Grandmama (my mom) and a Grandma (Jay's mom). Grandmama lives 15 minutes away and Grandma lives 12 hours away. So the kids get to see Grandmama more often. But they always get confused with the names. They call Grandmama Grandma all the time. Grandmama is always correcting them, "What's my name?" ;)
Grandma came down for a visit and is staying with us for about a week. Tonight we invited Grandmama over for dinner also. The kids enjoyed having both grandmothers over. And it was a constant confusion with names. Grandmama left to go home and we got ready for bed. Before bed the kids had a little time. Isaac watched a movie with Grandma. Noa played with her dolls and Elijah just bounced between the two. I was in the bathroom and Noa came in with her dolls. One in a carrier and one in a grocery cart. I told her she should go show Grandma her dolls. She said, "The new Grandma?" I laughed and said yes, the new Grandma;)

Then while laying in bed with Noa and Elijah, we were discussing our day and Noa was talking about going to the playground with new Grandma. Love it!!

Also Isaac loves to watch Grandma put on her makeup. So this morning we are getting ready for him to go to school and he's waiting all morning for Grandma to put on her makeup. In the last 10 minutes before we left Grandma puts on her makeup and of course Isaac was there to watch every application and get a little himself. So he goes to school and the first thing he tells his teacher is how he put makeup on with his Grandma. Then when I went to pick him up the first thing he asked me leaving his classroom was, "Tomorrow morning can we not be as rushed to leave as we were this morning." I said well we have plans to go to Kentucky Down Under tomorrow so we will be living pretty early for that. He said, "Well mom, it would be nice if Grandma had a little more time to put on her makeup. She had to do it so quickly this morning. I would like about an hour and a half instead of 15 minutes!" So funny!!

Funny Day

I decided I need to start blogging again. Too many great things happen and are said to not record this stuff. Today is a great day to start back.

This morning the roofers are at our house putting a new roof on. As we are leaving to take Isaac to school we pass the guy who we've been talking to about the new roof and working the deal through. We are leaving and Isaac said whose that. I said he is the boss. He says what's a boss? I said well its someone who is in charge and makes sure the job gets done and tells them what to do. He says kind of like what Grandmama is to Judy when they did our rooms!!! Hahahaha!!! Thought that was great!! I said no. Aunt judy and grandmama worked together. And tried to give him other examples of bosses!!! Haha!!

Then today at the gym I workout then go take a shower. As I'm finishing my shower over the intercom I hear "Courtney Youngs to childcare" Great!! I turn off the water. Luckily I had decided to take all my stuff in the shower area with me. I quickly dry off. Put on my workout clothes bc they are hanging closest. Can't get any of it on bc I'm soaking wet. Thinking what I the world could have happened. Are they ok? Finally get my clothes on. Throw the towel around my neck to catch my soaking wet hair. Grab my stuff and go to the childcare. She says they are fine, Elijah pooped and he will not let me change him. She said she tried several times and he threw a fit and said no mommy do it!!! Ugh!!! I'm guessing he had been poopie for a while!

And it's only noon!! What does the rest of the day have in store for me??

Noa and Elijah helping dad cut the grass!

Isaac took me to lunch at I Hop for mother's day! we had a wonderful lunch! dad hung out with Noa and Elijah.

Working Mom to Stay At Home Mom

So from January until April I went back to work at CMT. I was filling in for someone on maternity leave so it was just a brief period. It was a great experience for me! I think I really needed the break from the kids. A friend from church, Karen, kept the kids while I went back to work. She was great for them!!!
We learned that me getting home at 6:45 every night was not ideal for our family! It was hard on Jay because he got stuck with the difficult time with the kids. He had to pick them up come home get them fed and ready for bed. I would get home just in time to put them all to bed. I loved working but mainly for the social aspect of it.
I realized that a "working mom" and a "stay at home mom" are two completely separate jobs! They are both hard jobs and both have thier advantages and disadvantages! Being back home now really makes me appreciate being able to stay home!! I love spending time with the kids. I was thinking this morning it's nice to have the "freedom" to be able to do whatever during the day. Yes I have to drag kids wih me but it's nice to be able to run to the store on the middle of the day when no one else is there. And hang out with other moms as your kids run wild around you. And plan a day to the zoo with friends. Although working full time you do have all day adult interaction! Which is always nice so you don't feel like you brain is going to cookie mush. This also gave me a great respect for working moms. To find the balance between work and your family can be hard. Finding anytime to clean my house, cook, or do laundry was very hard!! So for me this break back to work is just what I needed. If anything it helped me to appreciate staying at home with my kids!!!

They are getting big!

I haven't posted in forever!! But they did something really cute today (which actually they do often, but today I just decided to write it down!) They were holding hands while drinking their bottles. Elijah was holding Noa's hand. At one point Noa was trying to let go but Elijah had a strong grip. You could tell she was trying to break free. They are so fun to watch!!
Not sure what I posted last but Noa is walking now. We declared her a walker before she hit 10 months!! She walks all over the place. Her big thing right now is to carry something and walk. The first time we notice this she was carrying a diapers box. It was empty but about the size of her. Elijah is a really fast crawler!! He has started taking a few steps to keep up with his sister. He is now taking about 4-5 steps at a time. But I think he realizes he can get places a lot faster by crawling!
Isaac turned three and we are learning how horrible the threes are!! I finally got rid of the paci!!! I threw it in the trash can. One morning he was fighting with Noa over it and being mean to her so I said that's it! And threw it away. We watch the trash men come get it and everything! He has had a hard time with it but is starting to get over it. We talked about how the trash men took it to another baby who really needed it and their mommy washed it for them. :)