Peek-a-Boo!

On Sunday Isaac and Timothy got to go to Anna's birthday party. It was a princess theme, complete with a castle! They had a blast. I love this picture Maurice took of them sticking their head out of the "castle" window.


A lot of the girls dressed up as princesses. Here is Isaac and Maddie. Maurice said they were basically connected at the hip (except when Isaac decided to play football and Maddie played dress-up). Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling well and had to miss out on the festivities.

Timmy has started this thing where he loves to wear pants on his head. He cracks me up! And of course, once you laugh at him there's no way to make him stop doing it.

Isaac and Timmy's new way to make my heart stop. Isaac stands up on the rail while Timmy climbs under and goes down the slide. I made them stop because Timmy kept trying to stand up on the rails, too. His legs aren't long enough! I like the way I managed to get Maurice's foot in the picture, too.And here is Tim this morning wearing my shorts around his waist. He wouldn't take them off! He took them out of my room and wore them while he played with his train. He's so silly.

Today we ate lunch with my friend Cher at the Ronald McDonald House. It was so good to get caught up with her! Then we took a tour of the boys' new day care. I like it a lot, and am confident they'll like it, too. Isaac will go for the morning, then after school, and Timmy will be there all day Tuesday and Thursday. The environment seems to be structured, yet flexible, which is what my boys thrive on. And the best part is, I don't have to pack lunches! They feed them breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack. That will make the mornings a little less hectic.

Timmy was having fun today posing for the camera. He loves to show off those dimples!
Maurice finished up early today and was able to come home and play with the boys this afternoon. I was amazed....today is a masonry day and he was expecting to be gone all day and part of tomorrow. But I guess everything fell into place today and he was home by 3:30! The boys really appreciated him being home.....they love to play with their daddy!
Timmy was trying to scare Isaac and Maurice. He thinks he's a big ferocious dinosaur at times.
Isaac is very proud of his marble collection that he inherited from Brandon and Jared. He got to play marbles with Daddy this afternoon, which is a special treat. I don't like stepping on all the stray marbles that don't quite make it back into the bucket, so I only let them play in the living room on special occassions. Today Isaac was quite good at his dentist appointment. His teeth looked good and he got an A+ from Dr. Winslow!

On the job front, I decided today to take a different job. I interviewed with another office this morning and was offered the job on the spot. It's a much better fit.....more flexible and pays better! I'm excited about it.

Well, I had my surgery yesterday and everything went well. I'm doing pretty good today, but sore. Now comes the hard part....I can't pick Timmy up for two weeks! He's having a little bit of a hard time with that. He woke up at 1:30 last night crying "I want Momma". I knew he was really upset because usually he calls me "Daddy" and laughs except for when he's upset or being really sweet. THEN I'm "Momma". Anyway, Maurice couldn't calm him down, so I went in and held him for a while so he would go back to sleep. Maurice had to lift him onto my lap. I don't know what I'm going to do next week when Maurice goes back to work.

Other news is that I got a job. We had figured that I'd go back to work part-time this fall when Isaac starts kindergarten. I sent out resumes on Monday, got a call on Tuesday for an interview, went in that afternoon for the interview and got offered the job today. I got another call for an interview next week, but I think I'm going to take this job. I'll be working for an ophthalmologist who seems really nice and laid back. His schedule looks a little intense, but I can handle it. It's 3 1/2 days a week, which is a little more than I was looking for, but it will work nicely. Now I have to arrange childcare. I think Timmy will really like the structure and fun things he'll get to do in a daycare. So we'll see how it all plays out. That's all for now!

We went to the park yesterday. The boys had so much fun! They're getting to where they're good about playing nicely with other kids. The biggest problem is reminding them to go "up the stairs, down the slide". If I had a nickle for every time I said that, I'd be rich! They always want to climb up the slide, but I'm trying to teach them not to.

Isaac and Timmy loved climbing through this one tunnel. Timmy didn't want to get out of it. That is, until some other little kid hit him in the face. Then he wanted out!
Timmy and Isaac like ice cream sandwich sundaes. Timmy mostly just eats the sprinkles.

Isaac, on the other hand, loves whipped cream. So I take the top off his sandwich and make another one with whipped cream and sprinkles. I think you could add sprinkles to just about anything and my kids would eat it. Yummmm......liver and sprinkles!
This is Timmy conked out on the couch. I don't realize how much he's growing until I see him all laid out. He has taken a nap now for 5 days in a row! I hope he keeps it up.

Last Phoenix pictures

My last night in Phoenix....boo-hoo! I really like it out there. The weather was just my style. Over 100 degrees every day, nice and sunny. Brandon didn't want to get up off the couch to take this picture, so I look like an Amazon woman. I said my last goodbyes to everyone and then Trudy an dI went out to dinner. Another thing I miss from Florida that they have in Arizona....Carrabba's. Great Italian food!
Here's me and Spunky. Now I have no one to bark at me.
This is Brandon, Trudy's oldest son. I'm going to miss him. He always knows the best games to play, whether it's Playstation, card games or board games. He is so much like Isaac, it's freaky.
Speaking of freaky, this is my godson (and Trudy's other son) Jared. I'm gonna miss that punk. He's just like Timmy. Scary, I know. But he's off-the-wall entertaining. I'm gonna go cry now.

More Arizona pictures

Sorry for the delay....my computer is only letting me upload pictures a few times day. So here is Trudy and Spunky as they get a first look at their new home!
And here Spunky is checking out his new yard.

It didn't take long for Jared and Brandon to get a TV hooked up.....fortunately they brought a portable TV in the car with them. All the furniture didn't get there until Wednesday, 2 days after we got there.

So we got to sit/sleep on the floor for a couple of nights. Did I mention all the floors were either tile or hardwood? Fortunately, we went to Target and got an air mattress to sleep on. Although Jared and Mike (shown here with Spunk) still had to sleep on the floor.

And of course this is me and my Trudy. We got a fair amount of unpacking done before I left, and from what I hear she's just about done with the rest. Moving is not fun, no matter which way you look at it!

So I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from my trip to Arizona. My best friend, Trudy, just moved there, and Iwas helping her move. It took us 4 days to drive out there. It was us in her car, her sons Brandon and Jared in Brandon's car, and Brandon's friend Michael in his car. Day 1 took us throuh New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and landed us in Indiana. On Day 2 we started out in Indiana and passed thru St. Louis in Missouri. It was cool to see the big arch. Then we got into Oklahoma and ended Day 2 in Oklahoma City.
Day 3 was probably the most boring drive. We left Oklahoma City and drove through Oklahoma and Texas and ended in Albequerque, New Mexico. We got a lot of smiles from other drivers when they saw Brad Pitt peeking out the back window. It was actually a little bit creepy (sorry, Brad!). Brandon has an obsession with Long John Silver's so we ate there at least once a day. That's where Brad got his pirate hat, courtesy of me.
Here's Trudy and I crashing at the end of Day 3. We did have a lot of fun with some poor middle-aged guy wearing a baseball cap and driving an old mini-van with a car seat in the back. I can't reveal exactly what happened, but I will say he will never forget that drive!

And finally, on Day 4........Monday, July 31st we reached Arizona! We were so happy to see that sign.
Here is our first stop inside Arizona. It seemed like we stopped a lot, because we had Trudy's dog Spunky with us, but we only stopped about every 3 hours. Spunk did amazingly well on the trip...I was very impressed!

Bedtime for Bonzo

Tonight Maurice put the boys to bed. They were so cute reading books and playing with cars. They have such a great routine....first they read a book, then they sing 2 songs (We Are the Boys of Old Florida for Isaac and Twinkle, Twinkle for Timmy) and say their prayers. Then it's hugs and kisses, tuck them in and they're down for the count (most nights!). I love it. No matter what little devils they are during the day, they always make up for it at bedtime.

Speaking of, Timmy's latest little game is diving headfirst from the coffee table onto the couch. I'm going to have to move the table....one time today I caught him just as he was about to hit the floor. I guess he misjudged the distance. He's such a daredevil. We often walk down to the playground at the elementary school near us in the afternoon. I'm going to have to start taking them to another playground....Timmy is just too dangerous. This playground is designed for older kids, but Timmy doesn't pay attention to that. He thinks he should be able to do anything Isaac does. Today he tried to climb down the rock climbing wall. I always stay within arms reach so I can stop him from jumping off the top of the playset (which is about 10 feet off the ground).

I'm amazed at the growth spurt both the boys have had. I took Isaac shopping yesterday for new jeans for school...I could only find 2 pair of size 5 jeans that were long enough. His problem is that he's tall and slim, so I have to find 5 slim jeans. He'll be moving up to a size 6 soon and I have no idea how I'll find a waist that fits him! I'd better just invest in a belt. And Timmy's new love is Blue's Clues. He finds the clues before the kids on the show yell them out, and loves to yell "clue!" and "notebook!". He hopefully will be going to daycare 2 days a week this fall (I'm looking for a part-time job right now) and he is so ready for that semi-classroom environment. I just remember Isaac loving circle time and finger painting, and Timmy is showing much the same interest these days.

Monday Maurice and I went to Six Flags for Kingdom Bound, a Christian music festival. While we were there I met Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. Above is my friend Liz with her daughter Lexi, who went gaga over Bob. Liz thinks it's because he reminded her of Elmo. I think she's right, cuz when I showed Timmy the video I took of Lexi and Bob he shouted, "Elmo!".
Isaac and Timmy think I'm pretty important now that I got my picture taken with Bob and Larry.

Here's Maurice and I at the Audio Adrenaline concert. We left halfway through, because I needed to go on the Scrambler one more time before the park closed. It's one of the few rides I enjoy (I quit breathing on roller coasters for some reason). The highliht of the day, though, was seeing Parachute Band again. They're a band from New Zealand that have become friends with Maurice. He got to hang with them again yesterday, courtesy of Bob (our friend, not the tomato).

On the home front, I've decided to never again take the boys out in public. We shall remain in recluse until they turn 25. Today I took them to the mall. Timmy was way too tired and went back and forth from being giddy and adorable to being just a hellion. I had to carry him screaming from more than one store. He fell asleep on the way home and I haven't been able to wake him since. I've decided to just let him sleep through the night, if he will. I hope I don't pay for that decision later on tonight, but I've tried to wake him a few times and he just won't budge! We'll see.