Gulf Shores

view from the second pool

Air conditioned walkway

View of the ocean with a storm approaching

Our bedroom

One of the pools

Living Room

Pretty cool kitchen

We spent two days in Gulf Shores. We stayed in a cool condo with my mom and George. The weather was great. Oh and we had a treat. I turn on the news and who else is reporting but Scott Walker. We got to hear a great story about a women that carries around her trash... We really enjoyed the reporting.... Kidding aside it was pretty cool to be back in an area where we actually knew people again.

Tallahassee

We started off our trip on Sunday. We left after church b/c we only wanted to go about 6 hours before we stopped for the night. We ended up stopping in Tallahassee. We found an hotel and got settled. Then Josh informed me that Florida State was just down the road. We went riding around that campus, which was really nice. I took a few pictures of the football stadium and the Pi Phi House. We were in the car when we went by the Pi Phi House so all I could fit in the picture was the door. The house itself was really big. We ate a Masa which was a contemporary cuisine and sushi. The food was really good. It had the best potato salad we have ever had. I can't describe it but it was nothing like the potato salad we all grew up with.

Vacation

We leave tomorrow for our 2 week vacation. We will start in Gulf Shores, swing by Ocean Springs and then stay the weekend in Hattiesburg. We will then stay in La. with my family for the final week. I will post during our trip so keeping checking back :)

Storm Clouds

We had a really strange storm come through here this week. Here is one of the best pictures that shows how the storm looked as it came in. Josh described it as the scene from Independence Day without the fire.

WOW

Okay, I was reading some of my friends blogs and one of my friends has 2 girls under 4 and a newborn baby boy. Just read below and be amazed. This is what my friend posted about a day in the life of her family.

12:30 a.m. - Liam finishes nursing and FINALLY falls asleep
2:30 a.m. - Liam awakens for his next meal, it lasts 1 hour
4:30 a.m. - Liam is hungry again, this time he doesn't go back to sleep and cries until his next feeding
5:30 a.m. - Emma wakes up and climbs in bed with us; she wants to see her "baby bruder"
6:30 a.m. - his next feeding
7:00 a.m. - Page wakes up ready for breakfast, Will gets up and pours cereal in a bowl
7:30 a.m. - Liam finished nursing and goes to sleep, I get up and fix the girls breakfast because they are still hungry
8:30 a.m. - Liam is awake and hungry, but he has to wait a few minutes because his sisters "need" to hold him and kiss him or else they have an emotional breakdown which I can't handle right now
10:00 a.m. - finish feeding, burping and changing Liam, but he won't go back to sleep so into the bouncy seat he goes so that I can get the girls and myself dressed for the day
10:15 a.m. - Page is crying about how I fixed her hair and Emma is in time out for playing in the toilet
10:30 - Liam is still crying and NOT sleeping so instead of getting myself dressed, I try to calm him down and feed him again
11:00 a.m. - thank the Lord for Sesame Street!
11:30 a.m. - Liam finishes eating despite his sisters playing with his feet, hands and hair, now it's time to fix lunch
12:00 p.m. - eat lunch with the girls, 30 minutes later than usual and lots of whining about how hungry they are
12:30 p.m. - potty time since they didn't like my vegetable soup and only ate a few crackers
12:45 p.m. - pray and sing with the girls as I listen to Liam crying for his next feeding
12:50 p.m. - feed Liam, Emma starts screaming because Page bit her
1:00 p.m. - give Page a spanking while nursing Liam
1:30 p.m. - go into their room again and find them playing in their window sill, the blinds are destroyed. Both girls get a spanking and put back in bed, while burping Liam
2:00 p.m. - Liam will only sleep if I hold him, but he peed on the sling yesterday and I haven't had time to do laundry yet so I have to hold him. I hear Page singing songs to Emma
2:01 p.m. - I warn them to stop talking and go to sleep or they will stay in their room until they take a nap or it is dinner time
2:30 p.m. - Still no nap for the girls
3:00 p.m. - Hear screaming from the girl's room and find Page peeling paint off of her wall, again, and Emma can't reach her pacifier that Page has taken from her and thrown behind her bed
3:02 p.m. - I start questioning my ability to do this, stifle a little cry and take the girls out of their room even though it goes against what I said an hour ago because I am afraid of what they will do to their room if I leave them in there any longer
3:15 p.m. - snack time for the girls, i cut up an apple and throw in some dried cranberries to make it look pretty
3:30 p.m. - feeding time again, I pray, no, beg God to help Liam go to sleep so that I can fix dinner before Will gets home
4:00 p.m. - Page wants to paint and since I feel guilty about not playing with them all day I agree to water colors
4:10 p.m. - Emma poured out the cup of water all over herself and is splashing in the puddle it made on the floor, I try not to yell
4:11 p.m. - I am unsuccessful at restraining myself because now she is laying on the floor lapping up the water like a puppy
4:15 p.m. - Praise God Liam is sleeping! I put him in bed and clean up Emma and the floor. Page is crying about Emma pouring out her water and she needs to finish her picture for her daddy
4:20 p.m. - Page has new water and Emma is banned from the paint
4:30 p.m. - Time to start dinner
5:00 .m. - Call Will to see if he will be home any time soon, he doesn't know. Liam is awake and wanting to eat again
5:45 p.m. - Liam has eaten and gets put in the bouncy seat as I resume cooking since I had to stop earlier.
5:50 p.m. - Will is ready to get picked up from work so I stop cooking again and load all three kids into the van, they are crying about how hungry they are to which I reply, that's why lunch is so important.
6:00 p.m. - get Will from work and return home, Liam fell asleep in the car, hooray!
6:15 dinner is finally ready and we sit down to eat
6:30 p.m. - Liam is crying, Will gets him so that I can finish eating
7:00 p.m. - Will gives the girls a bath while I feed Liam again
7:30 p.m. - Since the girls didn't nap today they are very whiny and they get put to bed a little early. Emma wants to put on her pj's by herself and Page wants to cuddle with her daddy. I pray and sing while nursing Liam
8:00 p.m. - Liam is asleep and I contemplate doing housework or going to bed. Housework wins tonight because I think in some way tomorrow will be better if I have some order in the house. But I check the blog first and get sucked in to other people's lives
9:00 p.m. - Make myself get off the computer and unload the dishwasher and put clothes in the dryer. Throw the clothes that were in the dryer on the sofa with the intention of folding them. It doesn't happen.
9:30 p.m. - Liam wakes up to eat
10:15 p.m. - He is done eating and the crying starts.
11:30 p.m. - crying stops long enough for another feeding and then resumes until he passes out from exhaustion. I pray the whole time that I would not be angry about how hard things are right now and how tired I am.

Please read this with the humor that it was intended for. I found it therapeutic to type this up as the girls fought nap time again today and Liam was nursing. I know it is only a season and that this too shall pass, but I thought I would provide all of you with a window into my life right now. It could also be used as birth control for those of you out there contemplating another child, lol! Don't get me wrong, I love my children and love our growing family more than anything else in the world.

Upcoming Anniversary

Next Wed. is our 3 year anniversary. Josh's mom sent me these doilies which I admired when we visited them over Christmas.
Next weekend we will be off on our summer vacation. The plan is to go to Gulf Shores for a few days, swing by Ocean Springs to see our friend Jill, then home to LA to see my dad a couple of days, then off to Hattiesburg for the weekend. Finally, we will spend the last part of our vacation with my family for a few more days before we head back.

Good Restaurant

We have been in Summerville for 2 years and we are always looking for a good place to eat. We often go to downtown Charleston and try their nice restaurants. I have known about this restaurant in Summerville for some time but have not tried it. Today Josh and I spent the day walking around and we decided to go there for lunch. It was very nice. It reminds me a lot of the Purple Parrot in Hattiesburg.

Addiction??

57%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

I'm actually not that bad. Some of my friends are in the 70-80%.

It is fun to see where you are at.

4th of July

Jackie, Scott and Pat

Josh and Lexie

Lexie and Cassidy

Here are a few pics of us on the 4th. We went to a friends house and ate and watch the neighborhood fireworks. Again, I didn't do justice in showing how many people were there.

3rd of July

This was probably the only time they actually watched the game. They played for the most part.

I couldn't really capture everyone in a picture. There were 3 rows of us.

Last night we met up with friends and had a picnic, watched a Riverdogs game, which was followed by fireworks. Tonight we are getting together with our friends again for more food and fun.

New Twins

Our friends Doug and Michelle welcomed their new boys this week. This was a very tough pregnancy and she was off of her feet for almost all of it. The boys are full size and healthy.

Ian Douglas Ross was 7lbs 4 oz and 21 Inches

Sam Henry Ross was 5lbs 12.2 oz and 19.25 inches.

Image of my eye

I went to have my eye exam for new glasses and they do this thing now where they take a photo of your eye. It looks like a regular camera but the picture that comes out is so cool. You will notice that in the top picture my eye has some damage on the side. He said he wants to check in out in 6 months to see if there is any change. He seems to think it happened a while ago and may not continue to grow. I hope so b/c the area it is next to is one of the areas of the eye that has the highest concentration of photoreceptors for sight.

VBS

This week we have VBS. My group is 6 year old girls. These are my four girls. Imagine them following along behind me. Everyone says it looks like little baby ducks following their mom. They are actually really good and funny.

Youth Mission Trip

Our youth are taking a trip to Mexico next month and they performed their drama they will be doing there. The pictures are blurry b/c Josh took them :)

Doubletake Photography

I thought this was a great picture(this is a picture of her twin girls) I went to college with Nikki and she has started a photography business in the last year or so and I think she takes some of the best pictures. You can check out more of her pictures on her blog for Doubletake Photography.

Baseball pics

Here are some of the pictures taken of Josh coaching over the past year.
Looks like he works real hard.

We've Adopted!!! SORT OF

When I was at the Women of Faith Conference a few months ago they had representatives from World Vision there. This organization allows you to sponsor a child monthly. I signed up to sponsor a child named Sandy in the Dominican Republic. I picked him because on his card he said he liked baseball and math. I thought that was a good combination for Josh and I. This week I got my first letter and drawing from him. He is in the fourth grade and I look forward to continuing our communication with each other.

Tall Ships

Notice the people standing on the top of the sailboat

This past weekend was the Maritime Festival. This year the Tall Ships came in to visit. We got to tour them and then in the afternoon we went with Meagan and Jeff to the point at Fort Johnson to watch them sail out.

Almost Over

Baseball season is almost over. It is still going on??? Yes. We have 2 more games this week and next week is conference playoffs. Josh will turn 31 this weekend, I joke with him b/c I am still hanging on to my 20's.... at least until Dec. We want to go to the Maritime Festival this weekend. We went last weekend and had a great time so hopefully I will have some pictures from that. I also got a waterpark pass for the summer. I will be going with some friends from church so that will be fun. It beats going to the beach b/c there is no salt and no sand.
I am busy getting things ready for my summer course I am teaching. I am making it partially online so when the class starts I won't have too much work to do but the prep work is taking up some time now.

Marine Life Dolphins

Several of the Marine Life dolphins have given birth to new calves. Remember these were the dolphins displaced by Hurricane Katrina and now they live in the Bahamas. It is nice to see them doing so well.

Comparative Cognition Conference

A few weeks ago I went to the Comparative Cognition Conference in Florida. I had a great time and I got to visit one of my favorite zoos (The Brevard Zoo). They had this new exhibit with the girafee and you can feed them graham crackers. You can see how close they get to you. It was truly amazing how many people thought that just because they came close to you they wanted to be petted. It is difficult for people to understand that not all animal enjoy being touched by people. Things have been really busy this semester. I am in the middle of advising and things are wrapping up this semester. We only have 3 more weeks of classes then we have finals. Josh is busy with baseball so basically he is never home.
This weekend was a very active weekend in our area. We had the Cooper River Bridge run which has about 30,000 people running in downtown Charleston, we had the Cajun festival in James Island (just a part of Charleston) and we had the Flowertown festival in Summerville. I was able to go the the FLowertown festival b/c it is about 5 minutes from my house. They shut down all of downtown Summerville and they have booths and vendors set up. It was perfect weather this weekend. I am looking forward for this summer for a nice break so hopefully I'll have some interesting pics to post.

It's that time of year again

Well, we are in our 4th? week of baseball. I have already lost count. Unfortunately nothing really exciting to talk about. This is our spring break this week and my dad is in town. Oh, he brought us crawfish....now that was exciting. It has been a long time since I have had some good crawfish. I will be going to a conference next week in florida so I should have some pics from that. Sorry life if boring now.

Angel Food

Our church does this community outreach program where they take part in Angel Food Ministries. You pay 25 dollars for food. You come by the church and pick up the food on a certain day. Each month the list of items change and you have to preorder. This is the first month I have done this and I have to say I was really impressed with the amount of food that you get. It also seems to be a great community outreach.

Violin

I have been wanting to learn a second instrument for a long time. Two weeks ago someone ask why I didn't just do it. Well the next day I had found an instrument to borrow and found a teacher. I have my first lesson on Monday.