July 2013 - In Review

Good Gracious!

July was a BLUR!

The pictures I took were limited
due to the craziness...
I wish I had more to share, but
alas...
I don't.
So here comes what I have.
You will just have to use your
imagination on the rest.  

We discovered some day camps in our new town

with the local 4-H chapter.

I signed each of the boys up

for about 6 classes.

And, of course,

they were 6 different classes!

So that means I made 12 trips

to and from

the 4-H meeting spot.

No worries...

they got a great opportunity to get out of the house,

meet other kids,

listen to other adults

and

LEARN!

Jackson chose classes dealing with:

cooking

bugs

animals

plants and planting

Rico chose classes dealing with:

electricity

Legos in motion

bowling

skating

organizing your room

(since he now has his own room)

These classes were spread out over the whole summer

starting in June

and

ending in August.

We spent 4th of July at

the pool in my parent's neighborhood

and our entire family was there.

It was the first time
we had all been together
since our return from Texas.
My baby sis came in from Winston-Salem,
the middle sis brought her hubby and my niece



(I am not sure Uncle Jack realized that lubing up a squirmy
baby with sunscreen was a spectator sport)

and my sister from another mother
(bestie since we were 7).
In preparation for the festivities,
I was asked to make a flag cake.
Ok, I can do that.
But this wasn't your typical flag cake...


(source)

You might or might not get a special posting on this
cake...
I can't seem to locate pictures of the finished product,
so I grabbed this one from
"Simply Southern Girl"
where I got the idea!
(well, my baby sis sent me the idea
and the cake was made at her request)

I also made these amazing Oreo truffles.

These are super easy
and super spectacular
and they will get their own posting shortly!!

Then my mother-in-law came down for a weekend visit.

THEN,

we were invited to the beach...

again...

with my aunt and cousins.

Apparently their house was too quiet

and they felt the need for some excitement.

I asked if they were sure they wanted my chaos

to come...

I asked about 5 times.

They kept saying yes...

So on Monday, July 8th,

 the kids and I packed the car

put one of those trailer hitch cargo carriers

on the back of the suburban...

and jumped in the car for a 5+ hour drive

to a little beach just south of Charleston!

I was NOT a happy mommy getting started!

We had to make a couple of stops:

daddy's work to say good-bye

fill up the beast (car)

and after all that

we FINALLY

got on the road.

We had literally JUST

gotten on the highway

when my sweet 4 yo daughter

informed me she had to potty.

I am tensing up again as I am typing this...

just remembering!

We stopped as soon as we could

unloaded everyone

(they were all hunkered down with their

travel trays on their laps

and lunch spread out before them).

So we had to pack the lunches back up,

take the trays off

unstrap

get out...

and I can't take just her in and

leave the other 3 in the car...

not yet.

So everyone goes in.

Then wouldn't ya know it...

it started raining as we were

walking in.

We finally got back in the car,

got restrapped in,

trays back on,

lunches back in front of everyone...

and back on the road...

Then we wind up behind this!



But you know what...
this actually soothed me
and calmed me down a bit.
Just the beauty of being home!

And believe it or not...

we didn't have to stop again!

I couldn't believe it!!!

We had a great time at the beach,

it is always nice having extra hands

and there was actually a

one-to-one ration going on...

One adult per kid!

It was great!!

I don't get those odds often!!

We did the typical beach stuff

and

really enjoyed the quietness of this beach.

We saw lots of sea life too!

A gigantic horseshoe crab,

a stingray or skate

and

A SHARK!

The sea life was hopping down there!

A family right down the beach from us

pulled up the horseshoe crab.

We all ventured over to take a look at it.

The guy was taking it back to the ocean,

he was in about shin deep water

and a 4 ft shark literally got within meer inches to him!

He hightailed it out of the water,

and we all watched in amazement as the shark

stayed right in that area for a few minutes!!

ACK!

We ventured down to the pier quite a few times

and they were catching lots of sharks there.

We actually saw a guy with a shark on his line,

but it broke the line before he could bring it in.

FREAKY!!!

One of the last nights we were there,

my cousin had caught about 11 crabs,

so we had crabs for dinner!

OH man!

Picking crabs is like riding a bike...

you never forget how to do it.

It all comes back to you!

Mr T, however,
wasn't quite sure what to do with it...

What a great way to end a trip to the beach!

Since, there was a tropical storm coming ashore,

we decided to hit the road the next day,

instead of keeping the kids cooped up in the house.

And unfortunately I think I drove through the tropical storm.

I had some of the worst driving conditions

if not THE worst,

I have ever experienced in my life!

When I finally thought we were through it,

we stopped for a potty break,

then as soon as we got back on the highway,

it started up again.

Traffic was down to 35 mph

everyone had their hazard lights on.

My hands literally HURT

from gripping the wheel so hard.

I was terrified!

It finally quit raining about

30 minutes from home.

When we got home,

I laid down on the couch

and literally didn't move all night!

Things were kinda calm for a couple of days...

Then the fun started up again.

We had a trip planned for August that I had to start

getting ready for...

Part of getting us ready involved us going to Virginia Beach.

I will explain in the next post.

But we ventured up to Va Bch

and went camping with

my mother-in-law

in her camper.

It sleeps 6

(uncomfortably - haha).

We had a great time,

as we always do up there.

The most exciting part of our month
was when our oldest was playing with our youngest at the pool...
they were taking turns jumping into the pool.
Rico would jump into the big pool,
then get out,
come over to the baby pool
watch Tony jump into the baby pool,
then Tony got out and walked over
and watched his big brother jump in...
they kept going on and on like this.
Then as I was watching,
and before I could stop him...
Rico came over to the baby pool and
DOVE in!
He tucked his head
and DOVE IN!!!
I saw the whole thing and couldn't react!
By the sheer grace of God,
he slowly sat up
with his hand on his head
and, of course,
within seconds,
blood was pouring down his face
and
the sides of his head.
My heart literally stopped,
but, I didn't have time to freak out.
We applied pressure to stop the bleeding
assessed the situation
gathered the other kids
and attempted to determine if he was going to need
stitches or not.
Thankfully I have two of the best nurses in the world
at my beckoning call!
(or text)
and I was able to send pictures
and skype and get the camera close up.
It was finally determined that since we could
stop the bleeding,
that we would just let it heal and keep an eye on it.
Oh.Dear.Lord!
The life of the mom of THREE boys!
In the past year
YEAR FOLKS!
We have had
1 wicked broken arm (Jackson)
1 broken baby foot (moving day - Tony Cruz)
1 busted head (Rico)

I am thankful that is it...
SOOOOO thankful.
But the hubs has decided that we are prime candidates for this new
accident insurance that is now offered.
Since our current insurance
is horrible and
doesn't cover things like that until after we have
met our crazy deductible.
(I digress...sorry)

The second most exciting part of July happened on July 31st...

the first, and ONLY,

Harris Teeter

in our town,

opened up!

I was so excited!!

It is my all-time

favorite grocery store!

And I hadn't lived near one in almost 2 years!

Haha!

The little things in life...

I didn't get to actually go shopping their until a day or so after it opened...

but I survived...

Up next...

August!

Birthday Beach Trip

For Jackson's birthday

we decided on a family adventure

instead of a party.

So we went camping.

TENT Camping!

So for Rico's birthday,

we decided on a trip to the beach.

My grandmother has a semi-permanent

camper down there at a campground,

and the kids and I visited on our trip

back to NC last year.

We have been a couple of times,

and I knew it would be a great

way to celebrate Rico's birthday.

We just had to find a weekend that wasn't 

slam packed with other things.

So we finally found a few day.

I invited my mom along.

She took a couple of days off of work,

then my cousins got wind that we were going 

and they showed up too!

It was awesome!

The more the merrier in our family!

So we all squished into the camper

(with a florida room attached).

And had a ball!

Daddy was supposed to join us on Friday after work,

but was feeling under the weather

and decided not to make the trip.

We missed him

but still had a ball!

Here are just a few of the favorites from our trip:

A beach trip wouldn't be complete
without a sand covered baby!

Good gracious -

she is getting so big so fast!

The three younger kids

kept on the shore

and played in the sand

and at the edge of the water,

most of the time.

 Mr. T even let Cousin Kara
cover him in sand!
I couldn't believe it!!

We couldn't seem to keep those little toes 

covered though!

All that sand was hard to get out 

from underneath!

Dern that is a cute kid!

While the others were 

playing on shore...

I couldn't keep Rico out of the water!!

The boogie boards they are using 

are 15+ years old!

Yep!

My sisters and I used them when we were 

still living at home and doing family beach trips

as teens!

Then Nana & Papa got the boys

skim boards!

Rico LOVES it!

And he's getting pretty good at it!

This is what happens when you recycle clothes

as long as I do.

This bathing suit is probably close to 9 years old

and is now on its third kid!

So the elastic is SHOT!

That means,

the wearer 

walks around 

with his bathing suit

hanging around below his BUM!

We were following him around

pulling those britches up...

Didn't last long...

That suit made its way into the trash as soon

as the trip was over!

This is Mr. T's FAVORITE 

past time!

PUDDLES!

Falling backwards into them...

Falling forwards into them...

Flipping into them...

Jumping over(ish) them...

And the BEST part!

Belly flops into them!

 We also saw our share of sealife on this trip!

The crew is checking out something interesting here...

These are some of the creatures we saw:

(not sure what this one is - any ideas?)

Then this nice big sea snail.

Sandy baby beach kiss!

(Have I mentioned lately how happy I am that we are home!)

Rico said this was the best birthday trip ever!

Says it all for me!

The Zoo in June

Keeping with the 

"doing something every stinking weekend" 

pattern that we had developed since we 

stepped foot back in NC...

we made a family trip to the zoo

with my mom,

sister,

brother-in-law

and 

sweet baby neice.

It was a nice warm day...

quite a bit cooler than what we were used to in 

Southern Texas!

But non-the-less,

it was warm enough

for them to cool off in the 

ice cave we found over

by the polar bear exhibit.

Then Uncle Jack 

posed with two of the boys

on the giant spider web. 

Luckily there was no giant spider in sight!

A quick trip for me and my baby girl 

on the merry-go-round!

Oh this looks familiar!

Momma gorillas carry their youngins around too!

Hey look,

she's got a monkey on her back!

(sorry, couldn't resist)

There is a great dinosaur exhibit at our zoo right now.

This guy was hungry.

This guy was ugly!

This guy was supposed to be dying

after a fight with a bigger dino.

(Jackson wasn't quite sure what to make of that)

The big boys posing with a big boy dino!

This guy...

we kept hearing screams coming from 

the trail up ahead of us...

couldn't figure out why...

til we got closer.

This guy SPITS at you!

Ack!!!

We had a great time!

Except for the walking part!

Mercy!!

Rico wore his new heely shoes,

so he had a great time wandering the park.

Me...

not so much.

Daddy's knee was giving him problems

so I got to push the littles

in the stroller

(those two littles aren't so little anymore... 

I had atleast 60 lbs in that stroller!)

for almost 5 miles

I swear

most of it was UP HILL!

How does that happen?

I have no idea!

But it was a great workout!

And I got a lot of sympathy from 

fellow zoo goers!

More May Happenings!

As you have probably noticed,

we have stayed VERY busy since we have been home...

so much so, 

that I cannot sit down long enough to get

to these posts much!

So to recap,

in the first 2 weeks of May we:

Hunted Wabbits

Picked Strawberries

Celebrated Mother's Day 

and

Two Birthdays!

The rest of May was a little more quiet

with 

a visit with the Budweiser Clydesdales

a 80th Birthday Tea Party

Sleepin wif da fishes

and

Memorial Day.

The Clydesdales!

I grew up loving these beautiful horses.

I remember vividly,

the first time I ever saw them.

It was in a greek restaurant in 

Columbia, SC 

where we would go when I was a child,

called Zorbas.

I remember one of the owner's was called

"Jimmy, the Greek"

And the last time I went to this restaurant

was probalby 25+ years ago

(bleh! Am I really old enough to say that!?!?!)

I remember seeing a replica of the 

Budweiser Clydesdales 

in the restaurant,

on display.

(source)

I loved visiting the Clydesdales at 

Sea World San Antonio

when it was still sponsored by

Anheuser-Busch.

And my hubs knew how much I loved these horses...

so I was OVER THE MOON

when he told me that they were coming 

to our new little town!!!

I am still not sure how we got them here,

but we did!

And,

of course,

I didn't have my good camera with me!!

So these pitiful ones are all I got.

They ride in a better vehicle than I do!

They also travel with their own food AND water!

They were board at a local stable

(imagine the stable owner's excitement!!!).

Then they headed to Seymour Johnson AFB 

the next day!

(It doesn't take much to get me excited)

The Tea Party

While we were still in Texas,

my mom & aunt started planning my

grandmother's 80th birthday party.

They decided to do a Tea Party.

Complete with hats!

I wasn't sure how I could help

all the way from Texas

and knew I wasn't going to be

able to come up for it...

UNTIL...

we moved!!

I was so excited and 

wanted to help in any way!

So Friday night,

two days before the party,

I loaded the beast

with the two littles

and we headed to Raleigh to 

pick up

my mom

my younger sis

and

my little neice!

The beast was loaded to the gills.

Three women

and

three children 

(4, 2 & 7 mo)

take a LOT of stuff

for a weekend trip!!
My dad got the honor of helping us load.

Yes - it appears we packed in 

garbage bags!

I have NO idea what was in there.

Then I rearranged the carseats to have my littles

sit in the back

and my sis and her little sit in the middle row.

But Mr. T was thoroughly confused 

as to what exactly was in his spot

and 

was tickled with the fact that 

he just didn't fit right.

Our baby sis drove down 

and met us!

We spent most of the weekend 

visiting 

and

cooking

and

finalizing.

Then Sunday morning

more cooking

more finalizing

and 

finally at 1pm

the party.

(Did I mention it was a 4+ hour drive for me?)

After the party was finally over and cleaned up from,

we loaded up and headed back to Raleigh.

The littlest Miss

got sick on the way home.

It was scary...

and it was raining on top that.

So it was a pretty stressful ride.

We got back to Raleigh, 

unloaded half the cargo

(people too)

then jumped back on the road

for the hour plus trip 

home.

Through the rain,

in the dark.

But we made it!

I don't have any pictures of that trip,

because I was too busy cooking and cleaning 

but I had a ball!!!

And you will just have to take my word that 

my mom & aunt 

did a great job!!

Sleepin Wif Da Fishes

While the littles and I were attending a tea party...

daddy and the older boys 

went on an overnight

with our new scout group...

to the aquarium!

How cool is that??

They had a ball!!

And daddy took way more

pictures than I did
at the Tea Party.

Here are a few of the better ones:


Before they got to the aquarium,
Daddy took them for dinner.
Apparently Jackson had
fish and chips
(before the aquarium...that's just not right, is it?)
and it appears,
in this picture,
he had a beer too!

I have no words for this picture:

This is about the size of the group that went...
how often do you get
a whole aquarium to yourselves??

All tucked in and ready for bed.
Daddy's flash caught some of the fish eyes in the background.
Not sure what I would think of sleeping
next to a shark tank...

They had a great time!

Memorial Day

I honestly have NO
recollection of Memorial Day!
I have NO idea what we did.

I can only imagine that we stayed
home for the first weekend
since we moved back
and actually unpacked!