We're back!

I have always said that one of my favorite things about going on vacation is realizing how much I love home. No, home does not consist of breezy summer air blowing the curtains in a tiny cottage by the sea. No, home does not consist of picturesque ocean view, incredible ice cream stands, boat houses, and hammocks in tall pine trees. But...home is where my family, friends, and church are! Home is where I can enjoy the misery of 100 degree days with my friends as we try to corral sweaty kids! Home is where I met Bryon and had my three children. I love home!!

It has been an extremely tiring day. I went to sleep around 11 p.m. and woke up quite a bit during the night thanks to my lovely daughter. I finally got up for good at 5 a.m. (4 o'clock home time). My aunt drove us at 6 a.m. to the bus stop. The bus took 2 hours to get to Logan airport. There, I was selected to be extra screened. I guess they think young, white mother's carrying babies look like a terror threat? Anyway, I was being frisked while holding Mary Beth!

I had a different flight than my family. My mother begged me to so that all of her children and grandchild wouldn't be on the same flight! When it came down to it though, I thought I would rather get on that flight than wait an extra 5 hours at Logan! I was the last stand by passenger allowed on and thankfully, I was able to sit next to Lauren. From there, it was a grueling 4 hour flight to DFW. Holding a very squirmy 10 month old for 4 hours should be registered as torture. She finally fell asleep for a half an hour toward the end of the flight. She did manage to provide comic relief to many of the passengers around my as she gave them all her flirty huge smile and head cocked to the side.

When we landed, the boys were waiting for me. I was so thrilled to see them!! Thomas, who is normally a Daddy's boy, couldn't keep from kissing me. When Lauren asked to hold him, he hugged me and said, "No, I want this woman!"

We dropped my brother off at his apartment and headed south to home. At this point, Mary Beth started crying and didn't stop until we got home. She was so worn out! When we finally pulled into home, I thought I would have to check myself into an insane asylum.

Bryon took the boys to the local airport to pick up his luggage and I am enjoying a few moments of peace. As I mentioned in my previous post, Bryon had to leave a day early to be in court today. Unfortunately, his flight was delayed for 8 hours due to thunderstorms! He missed the last day on the Cape for nothing! When he finally reached DFW, his connecting flight home was cancelled. He had to rent a car and drive home where he arrived at 1:30 in the morning. Ahhh, travelling!

I am looking forward to a very low key day tommorow with the kids and lots of laundry.

today

Last night was a lot of fun. Josh endured the initiation ceremony into our family. Every time a new member of the family visits for the first time, they have to eat a little neck. This is a raw clam! Lauren, who had evaded the initiation for years also participated. She gagged, Josh said it was OK. I thought it was great! Then we ate lobsters and steamers (steamed clams).

After dinner, we went to Sunday School which is an incredible ice cream store in town. When we came back, I realized that I had left the screen door open into the garage, and a huge raccoon was in there! It took my brother and brother-in-law quite a while to get it out.

Today, we headed to Cuffy's on the Cape and did a lot of shopping in Chatham. We ate pizza for dinner in town. The weather was incredible here. If I closed my eyes and didn't know where I was, I would have sworn that it was Christmas back home. The weather was cool and overcast and there was a smell of wood burning. We are having such a good time together. It has been so much fun spending such a large amount of time with my siblings, husband, and bro-in-law.

Another interesting experience today was going to the fisherman's pier. This is the place where all of the local fishermen bring their catches of the day. Today they were unloading hundreds of cod. Sea lions and sea gulls were there to watch as well. You can only imagine the smell!

Well, tonight, we are going to enjoy some time with Bryon. He will be leaving us tomorrow b/c of a court case that couldn't be reset.

cape cod

We have been on the Cape for a day now. Yesterday, we got on the ferry from Long Island to Connecticut. Then we headed to Newport for the afternoon. We ate at the Black Pearl which is one of our favorite restaurants (incredible clam chowder!). We did a little shopping and was pleased to find that Cuffy's is now in Newport. Cuffy's is a clothing store based on the cape which only sells shirts, sweatshirts, and sweatpants with either Cape Cod or now Newport written on it.

Then, it was off to the Cape. We have so many memories in this house. My uncle bought it when I was in high school from the wife of my aunts grandfather. My aunt grew up coming to this house when she was a little girl. We spent many weeks over the years here and have many memories with my cousins.

It only took a few hours for Lauren and I to get on our Cape Cod uniform: no makeup, frizzy hair from the humidity in a pony tail, sweat shirt from Cuffy's, shorts and flip flops. We ate hamburgers last night with my aunt, uncle, and cousins who were in town. Tonight, we will be eating lobsters and steamers. Yum!

I think tomorrow we will be going on a whale watch and shopping in Chatham.

I did it!!

!

We are all pretty exhausted. Mary Beth had her first plane ride on Thursday. She is a wonderful sleeper at home, but cannot sleep well out of her crib. She did not stop moving the ENTIRE flight (over three hours). Thankfully, my sister, brother, brother-in-law, and parents were there to help. Bryon's plane was delayed and he didn't get to the hotel until well after midnight.

I enjoyed seeing the whole family yesterday and today and introducing Mary Beth to her family. I met my cousin, Deirdre's fiance/husband Eero (pronounced arrow) for the first time. He is from Finland and came to America on a hockey scholarship. I enjoyed learning a few Finnish phrases. Eero's mother was very impressed by my pronounciations! Eero's sister is a pop star from Finland. Apparently she is pretty famous. I was particularly happy to see my cousin who has two children the same age as Thomas and Mary Beth. We had lots of funny similarities!

Matthew and Thomas are having a great time with their grandparents. Matthew has lost two more teeth since I left him on Wednesday!! I hope I still recognize him! They have been "body surfing" on the Lake Conroe. Maybe it is better that I wasn't there!

We leave at seven in the morning to catch our ferry to Connecticut. From there, we are heading to Newport, RI then on to the Cape.

Thanks for all of your well wishes for my reading today. I will post pictures as soon as I can!

Ready, set....

Well, the boys have been delivered safely to my in laws. They were very excited to see them and couldn't wait to get on the lake.

We are almost all packed. A quick trip to Wal-Mart has us all set to go.

Just a few last minute chores tomorrow and we are off.

Please say a prayer for our safe flight and that "the reading" goes well on Saturday!

Have a great week!

Thomas

Thomas and my dad share the same birthday, December 10th. Last night, mom and dad were over and Dad asked Thomas when his birthday was. Although he knows the answer, he just looked at Dad.

"Come on Thomas, it is De...."

Thomas replied, "De same as yours!"

Go Bears!!

What an exciting night!! Baylor just came back from the elimination game of the college world series down 7-0 and won 8-7 in the bottom of the ninth!! I have been a Baylor fan for 14 years and there has never been a year like this one! First the Lady Bears won the women's basketball championship, and now the baseball team is one of four teams left in the World Series! We have a long shot to win, but I am proud of those boys for sticking with the game! My next door neighbor is the pitching coach for Baylor, so I am happy for them as well.

Matthew, 5 1/2 

Thomas, 3 1/2 

Mary Elizabeth 9 months 

Today

I had a lot of fun today! My friend, Cindy, and I went to What's For Dinner? in Round Rock. This is a store where you have a menu of twelve meals and you assemble them and take them home to eat. All of the portions are already measured out and you have three ready made meals a week for a month! I am excited to try out these new meals.

Then we went to Children's Place for their monster sale today. Cindy and I have 7 kids 6 and under so we need all the monster sales we can get!

I am still in the process of packing the kids for their summer trip to their grandparents tomorrow. This morning, when I dropped the kids off at Mother's Day Out, Matthew didn't want to go and threw such a huge fit that he broke his glasses. We just bought those several months ago. Just one more thing to do before tomorrow!

Getting ready for the weekend

This has been quite a day. We are in the process of packing for our trip later this week. We are heading to my cousin's wedding on Long Island this weekend.

Please refer to my Feb. 5, 2005 post about my much feared reading in the wedding
http://elizabethbarnhill.blogspot.com/2005/02/uncontrollable-laughter-and.html.

Bryon, Mary Beth, and I are headed to New England and the boys are going to my in laws house. We wanted them to go, but spending 350 each on plane tickets for a trip they would barely remember seemed a little crazy to us.

I started packing today. The boys are headed to Houston on Wednesday. I packed their suitcase once today. Then Thomas found it and took everything out. I repacked. Matthew then took everything out so he could use the suitcase as a foot rest!

Matthew had a great morning. Bryon took Matthew to court with him. Matthew has a good relationship with many of the judges at the courthouse, so he always enjoys putting on "work clothes" and hanging out with Bryon. The rest of us met them for lunch.

Off to repack again and put a lock on that suitcase!

Father's Day

For Father's Day, I would like to make a list of things I have learned from Dad, want to emulate from Dad, or what I love about Dad.

One of my pet peeves growing up was when I heard parents joking around about how they couldn't wait to get their kids out of the house. I was mortified the first time I heard a relative say that about my cousins. "Yeah, they will be off the payroll soon!" or "I can't wait until we have the house to ourselves. Ha ha." One day, we had guests over to our house. All the members of our families were sitting at the dining room table when the father of the other family said something along the lines of, "Yeah, the kids are such a mess, I am ready for them to go off to college." My dad looked down and said in a quiet voice almost to not embarras the other father, "My kids have never been a bother and I will be sad when they leave." My heart grew to double its size at that moment and I was so glad that he was MY father. I have learned from Dad never joke around with my children's feelings in order to make a joke.

My dad is the most honest man I know. He is honest to a fault! If I want to get someone's true opinion about my hair, my food, my clothes, etc. I go to Dad! I have also seen him correct an store employee when they didn't charge him enough, and take my brother all the way back to a store when he took a piece of candy.

Dad always makes is a point to talk to people from all walks of life. After we had been living in Waco several years, my brother and I went back to Abilene for a visit and ate at Taco Bueno. An old black man came over to us and introduced himself. He said that he was the janitor in Dad's building at ACU and remembered us from when we were little children. He told us how nice Dad had always been to him. We also used to eat at a local cafeteria every Sunday after church. We knew every one of the cafeteria ladies and befriended one in particular. When the cafeteria closed unexpectedly, Dad made it a point to help out several of the ladies whom we had befriended.

My Dad is a wonderful father to me and grandfather to my children. I am so grateful to God that he allowed my father to be mine!

And now to the father of my children:

It has been such a pleasure watching Bryon become a father. He has gone to holding little Matthew in an awkward and scared way to being the father that I have always dreamed of for my children. He adores our kids and always gives them the time they ask for. He loves getting on the floor with them and being on their level. He loves taking them out on dates by themselves. He is at the movies with them as we speak!

I can't wait to see what God has in store for him as his role of "father" changes and grows!

Matthew petting Nala 

Thomas 

Friday

Well, VBS and swim lessons are over!

I got to watch the boy's last swim lesson yesterday which was fun. I learned a few pointers and buzz words to use with Thomas.

The end of VBS party last night was a blast for the kids. My mother watched Mary Beth so Bryon and I could focus on the boys. They loved petting the zebra and sliding on inflatable slides.

We are going swimming with friends today. TGIF!

What a day

After an extremely wearisome day, it feels good just to mindlessly blog for a while.

Early this morning, we headed for the magic show at our local library. Matthew got to help the "Magic Man" do a few tricks so he was on cloud 9. He kept looking up at me and giving me the thumbs up!

After the show, it was off to swimming lessons. While the boys were there, Lauren and I went to lunch at our favorite local hamburger place. I have not mentioned yet that it hit 100 degrees here today. Every time we got into the car, it felt like the fiery furnace.

I rushed home to pack the kids to head over to Laurens so she could babysit while I got my hair highlighted. I can't stand getting it done (sitting for 2 hours is difficult for me) but it had been far too long.

When we got home it was time to get ready for VBS. Bryon put in a new digital thermostat in the house which is supposed to regulate the temperature better. It assumes that no one is home during the day so to keep costs down, it goes up to 85 degrees during the day. No relief from the heat! I will have to read the owners manuel this weekend and get it figures out!!

Tonight was my last night to guide. Tomorrow the kids will have a party and get to pet a real zebra. This is interesting...In my class of 20, I have a Matti, Maddi, Madalyn, and 2 Maddisons. Do you think this was a popular name in 1999-2000?

After VBS tonight, Bryon and I took the kids to a great ice cream place in town. They actually have cake batter ice cream and you know how much I love cakes! It is to die for.

Last swim lesson tomorrow...Last VBS...Yeah....

my new project

I have begun a new project today. I am finally taking all of my baby pictures that were adhered to the old glue albums and organizing them into a scrapbook. I have been worried about them for years afraid that they would be permanently stuck to those non-archival quality albums and am finally getting around to fixing the problem.

Today I took all of the pictures of my first two years of life and was able to successfully take them out of the albums. The next step is to organize them and gather stray pictures around my mother's and my house. I am also pleading with my mother to journal some in the album.

My mother, God bless her saintly soul, did not have the blogger/scrapbooker mentality when I was a baby. Every now and then, there is a 9 months, 10 months, 11 months,...stuck on a piece of paper in the album and that is as far as it goes! I hope her mind can remember back 30 years ago so I can have her memories and handwriting preserved in the album.

Day 2 of VBS, otherwise known as the longest week of the year, is over! I need to get a better attitude, its just that at the end of the day, it is hard enough keeping up with my three children instead of 22 hyperactive 4 and 5 year olds! 3 more nights to go...

this weekend

Well, another weekend is now over. How can two precious days be over with in the blink of an eye?

As I explained in one of my previous posts, I went out with the girls on Thursday night. Matthew absolutely hates when I go out with friends. He still worries about the next time I have a Ladies Retreat at church! Thursday afternoon, I walked into the room where Matthew was and saw him on my cell phone leaving a message. He hung up and told me that he found one of my friend's name on my cell phone phone book so her called her and told her that I would have to cancel going out! I called my friend back (who was out of town and therefore not guilty of depriving Matthew of his mama) and told her to please excuse the previous message!

Friday night, I get a call from my friend who said that she had gotten Matthew's messages. "Messages?" Apparently, Matthew got a hold of my cell phone again and left a message again saying that I would never ever ever ever go out with her again because I didn't like her! Click. Looks like I am going to have to start putting my cell phone away and have a talk with Matthew about how breaking up friendships isn't Christianlike!

Saturday was wonderful. We really had no plans for the first time in months so we just hung out. Bryon's best friend was in town helping him with computers for his office and stayed until Saturday afternoon. We took him out the the subdivision where our lot is to eat donuts and go on a walk.

After he left, we ran errands and went back out to Riverside to swim and eat pizza. It is so much fun watching the three of them in the pool! I actually took all three to the pool by myself on Friday night! I was a little scared, but it went well. I no longer have to worry about Matthew and Thomas is content swimming with his floaties on. Mary Beth loves splashing the water and watching her brothers.

We started VBS tonight. I am a guide who helps the children in each activity and takes them from the craft room to the games, snacks, and bible story. Thomas got to go for the first time this year! VBS week is always fun. Bryon loves the excuse to work late all week!

Girls night out and sleeping in

Last night was lots of fun. Every time one of our friends is about to have a baby, the rest of us take her out to celebrate the last bit of freedom for a while. We went to one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants and ate ice cream after dinner. Our friend, Erin, is due to have her second baby in the next few weeks.

It is always a strange experience for me to drive in Bryon's car without car seats and children in the back, and to walk into a building holding nothing but a purse. I happily answer to "Matthew, Thomas, and Mary Elizabeth's Mommy" but sometimes it is just nice to be plain, Elizabeth.

This morning I actually slept in to 9 a.m! Thomas and Mary Beth were still asleep, and Matthew woke up, watched tv and made scrambled egg batter before waking me up. I don't think I have slept that late in a year. What a little gift!

We have slowed down on our outings a bit. The past day, all we have done outside the house is swimming lessons. The boys have enjoyed doing art and reading.

That is about all in my world right now. I am excited that it is already Friday. Have a great weekend!

My first baby shower cake 

What happened to the lazy days of summer?

So far, this summer has been my favorite since having children. We are all able to sleep in a little and the boys are at a really fun age right now. This being said, I am wearing myself out! Going on outings everyday has been great for the kids, but I think we are going to have to pace ourselves.

Today, I dropped off the first cake I was paid to make. I was up most of last night making it and I think it turned out pretty cute. Then we went to the library to watch a Hansel and Gretel puppet show. The place was packed with little kids and I was able to visit with 5 or 6 of my friends from church. After the show, it was off to Sonic to eat a quick bite with friends. Then I changed the kids into their swim suits in the car and then off to swimming lessons for an hour. During the hour, I had to go home to get my cell phone and then back to pick up the kids. On the way home, I went to pick up the babysitter who would watch the kids while I got my hair cut. She had never been to my house before so I gave her the tour and put the baby down. Then off to my hair appointment. Deeeep Breath...
Then back home to pick up the babysitter and take her home. This before three in the afternoon! A few hours to breathe and then get ready to eat at church before class.

I think we will take a day off of outings tomorrow and focus on works inside the house!

My preacher and I comforting each other

During Mother's Day Out today, I went into the work room where I saw our preacher, Jim Martin (jimmartin.typepad.com). I have known him for 12 years and we have a great relationship. When he saw me, he started laughing and told me had had a whole new respect for me. (Flash in my head: What did Matthew do now?!)

He told me that he had recently gone into the bathroom at church and saw two little legs dangling in the next stall with toilet paper all over the floor. Matthew apparently had the big D and I don't mean Dallas. He also got the mess all over the toilet seat. After Matthew walked out, Jim helped clean up the mess.

I felt so bad and told him he should have called me and I would have cleaned it up. He said he did my wedding, he could clean up a little poop. Now that is what I call a full service preacher!

Jim has had an emotional week. His daughter who just graduated from Harding got a job in Tennessee and moved away this week. She is getting married in September. When I asked him today how he was doing, he said, "When I get sad thinking about the girls getting older, I can remember cleaning up Matthew's poop and I feel better!"

I told him, "When I am at home cleaning up poop and other bodily functions, I will remember that at least my kids are not moving away from me yet and I will feel better!"

I feel so blessed to be a part of my church. I have friends of all different ages who I can go to for advise and gain perspective on life such as the above story. Some might say it takes a village to raise a child. I say, it takes a church.

A little peer pressure isn't such a bad thing.

Last night we went swimming in the community pool where our lot is. We met friends out there to swim and eat pizza. This was the second time we had been swimming this year.

Matthew, my fairly fearless child, is scared of drowning. When he was 18 months old, he would jump off the diving board and slide down the slides at the pool with floaties on. The next year, he became petrified of the water and hardly went in. Last year, we had the swim instructer sent from heaven above who gave Matthew confidence that he could swim without floaties. He was able to do it, but not without a lot of coaxing and bribing.

Last night, he wouldn't take his life jacket off. He had lots of fun jumping from the wall into the pool, but not without the jacket. Then, two 6 year old boys started jumping in without floaties on. Matthew watched them for a while, and then decided to join them. He took off his jacket and started doing canonballs and twists into the middle of the pool! Gotta love male machismo!

This was the first time Mary Beth had been swimming. She just loved it! Squealing with delight and splashing the water, she also loved when her big brothers splashed her with their canonballs.

The boys begin swim lessons tomorrow. They will go for two weeks. Parents aren't allowed to watch, so the baby and I will have a Barnes and Noble date every day for an hour.

They also start Mother's Day Out tomorrow. Our church has a summer program for eight Tuesdays in June and July. I decided to put Mary Beth in this year, so I will be footloose and fancy free for 5 hours! I am already planning my shopping schedule.

Matthew 

the last two days

Bryon and I had a lot of fun last night. It had been months since our last real date, so my sister let Matthew spend the night with her, and my parents took Thomas and Mary Beth. You know you have a lot of kids when it is a team effort to babysit them!!

We went to one of my favorite restaurants in town. The chef worked at HEB (our local supermarket) as a chef for years before finally living out his dream of owning his own restaurant.

Then we went to see Cinderella Man. This was a great movie! The main characters had such a cute family. One I could relate to...2 boys and a little girl. If you watch it, look for the character, Sarah. She is married to James Braddock's friend, Mike. She is the real James Braddock's granddaughter (daughter of the daughter).

Today was the annual picnic for the hospital where my mother and I are employees. OK I work a total of about 30 minutes a year, but I am still technically an employee! Everyone from doctors to janitors are invited and it is always a blast.

Lauren and I heard the music blaring and made a beeline for the deejays. We absolutely love dancing even if we look silly. We got Matthew into the action this year. After the "electric slide" I actually had a junior highish girl come shake my hand and say, "Wow you really know how to dance!" I really don't, but she was just probably impressed that a white, 30-ish, mother of three could still move!

so far, so good

Well, there is not too much to say about this week. Everything is going really well and I am enjoying the change of pace.

Yesterday, a friend of my mother's had surgery and her daughter was in town visiting. Her daughter and I have known each other since high school and she has a daughter who is Matthew's age. Since I knew Alisa wanted to be with her mother, I offered to take her daughter to the local library to watch the weekly puppet show.

Matthew and Katie have a very cute relationship. She thinks Matthew is hilarious and Matthew plays it up when they are together. He acts like an utter goofball, and she just laughs and laughs at him.

Well, we get to the library and surprise, the puppeteers took the week off. Fabulous. So I got to enjoy four children at the library! I am sure that I was a sight! Fortunately, Lauren came in after about 30 minutes and took Thomas so I just had the three.

Today, we went to the zoo. Our town has a very nice little zoo that is very shaded and easy for the little ones to walk the entire thing. At the end of the zoo is a little water area.

This area always reminds me of the time I went with a friend to the zoo when Matthew was 2. She had a one year old little girl who never misbehaved. Both of them were very prim and proper. I wasn't intending to let Matthew play in the water but he had other ideas. While at the water area, Matthew got his diaper soaked and took it off. Of course it weighed 5 pounds so I couldn't put it back on him and I had no diapers. Matthew had to walk the remainder of the path to the car with absolutely nothing on! I was admiring his cute little body, but I am sure my friend was more than a little mortified. Ahhh the memories...

Our summer schedule

Wake up, take off pj's and put on an outfit and make their bed. The boys better really love the outfit they choose because they will be wearing it all day! This cuts down tremendously on laundry! I can't stand unmade beds. This is strickly for my sanity.

Every day, the boys choose an outdoor activity-going for a walk, playing in the sprinkler, riding their bikes. I will encourage this first thing in the morning as the summer heat get worse!

Choose an indoor creative activity- I have been circulating the toys. This week it is blocks and the Dora Explorer house.

Every day we will do a fun activity outside of our house- library, swimming, zoo, museum, movies, etc.

Reading by themselves- Neither one of the boys nap, but I like them to have some quiet time in the early afternoon. Matthew gets a point for every book he reads. He earns rewards for the points. Right now he is trying to earn 50 points for a coveted book light.

Me reading to them

Art- The boys love to color and Matthew loves to journal. I have a box of art supplies that I will take out daily.

I am trying to limit the TV time to 2 shows a day. However, if they do all of their works and are sweet to each other, I will bump it up a show or two.

Matthew loved having a "work plan" at school. He got to check off each area that he did work in. I am going to write down each thing I have put in bold and let him check them off as he completes them.

So here it goes! Matthew is such a pleasant child when he is on a schedule, so I hope this one works. We are going to the library today for their weekly puppet show.