IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!!!!

Mandy (the baby in the middle), Amy (2nd down from me on the right), and me (the oldest on the left) Sorry, Misty (2nd from the youngest) couldn't make this day trip with us a few weeks ago. She had a date with her daughter to see Dora the Explorer LIVE.

Tomorrow morning we set out on our annual journey to the beach. Yes, we go more than just this one time, but not all together. We (my three sisters and I) will pack up the hubbies, parents, and all the kids for our week long vacation in Seagrove Beach, FL. There is 20 of us to be exact. We manage to find a house that will sleep us all and just enjoy being together. We have grown in size over the years and it seems like we always have at least one baby in the bunch. Our youngest is 18 months and our oldest is 10. With all 9 of them, its always an adventure.

Work-in-progress

This Saturday was spent with most of my family working on our new lake house. By "our" I mean my Dad and Step-mom. By "new" I mean "new to us". My Dad purchased a tiny little house late last year on a tiny little lake near their home. It was in foreclosure and the previous owners were right in the middle of a full renovation. Or at least that's how it looks to me. :)

I don't know if I've ever mentioned that there are four of us. This "us" is my three sisters and I. We all have great husbands and a load of children between us. There are 19 people in my immediate family. And we all live within 30 minutes of each other, with most of us living about 10 minutes from each other. We all think of this as a great blessing. We've seen times when some of us were several hours away. Luckily for now, everyone has settled close to home.

We spent the entire day in sorted shifts working on painting inside and out and doing yard work. I am not a painter. Absolutely hate it. I put myself in charge of all things outdoors which included raking pine straw, cleaning out flower beds, 4 little boys fishing and 2 little girls swinging. We all worked until it was dark. Needless to say, we've got a long way to go on "The Lake House", but we did make great strides Saturday. I hope to have pictures soon of our progress.

Daddy and Debbie treated us all to dinner at one of our two local restaurants. They were kind enough to seat us in the back room, since we were all dirty and smelly from our days work. Where we live that isn't anything out of the norm. They all just said "It don't Matter". Small town America, you've gotta love it. :)

Let the good times roll...

In case I haven't mentioned it, this week was Sanderson's spring break. Yes, I know, it was far too early. Our annual tradition for spring break, dating back to his K-4 year (he's now in 2nd grade), has been to visit Chuck E. Cheese's. This is a day that is entirely based around this chaotic place with no end in sight. We arrive before lunch and stay until we can't take it anymore. This year was no exception.

I got smart and visited their website before our visit. I joined their e-mail list and receive a couple of great coupons for our big day. We ate pizza, drank lots of Sprite, and gamed all day with our 140 tokens. Yes, I said 140 tokens. I am very happy to say that this was accomplished with a mere $32.00! Not too bad for a family of 4. When I said great coupons, I meant awesomely, amazing coupons.

I was quite amazed that our two crazed children tired of this chaos in a mere 2.5 hours. They were actually ready to go before the tokens ran out. We were forced to just put them into those ticket-spitting games. No method, just insert token, hit button, tickets come out. Maybe one this time or 50 the next. Who cares? We just needed to use up those tokens!

Then it was off to the ticket eater (counter). We actually had 525 tickets! A new record! The trip to the ticket store took forever and we ended up with pirate hooks, lizards, puzzles, bookmarks, and I could go on and on. The perfect end to a perfect day!

I think the best part was the surprise guest. Daddy took off early and spent the afternoon with us. It wouldn't have been the same without him. :)

Meet the Gingerbread Babies

I don't think I can go much further without introducing my inspiration for what I do. Meet Sanderson and Everette, my precious babies. No, the curls are not from mom, they are a gift from dad. Don't they look just like two sweet gingerbread babies? I could just eat them up! :)