Florida

Saturday we returned home from a week long trip to Florida. It was so nice...hot, but so nice just to getaway! We visited the beach which the kids LOVE, they could live there! So could I, I would've been happy to just stay there! ;)

We also did a nature cruise which was 3 1/2 hours. It was nice, but I think it may have been a little to long for the kids. Ella of course took a few naps! Thankfully the boat was covered and there was a bit of a breeze. We mostly saw birds and a few alligators which were a little difficult to see as they didn't come up out of the water. Just their eyes peering at us was pretty much all we saw and that's okay with me! We snapped a few pictures, but I don't have good lens so I couldn't zoom in like I wanted to! Oh well...we did enjoy it. After we went to eat and we did see a few dolphins while we were eating they were all over the place!

I just love this freckled face girl! We got to have a mani/pedi day while we were in Florida. It was so much fun!

Thankfully this trip didn't include any visits to the ER with Tyler or the girls! We really had a good time, it's the ride home that's a killer! Ella is still in the infant seat and wants to sit up so bad that she wasn't happy and had a few moments of scream therapy. Poor thing, but gotta stay safe!

Tyler got to visit the Veteran's Memorial Museum, that is heaven to him!

He LOVES that stuff!

Sadly Summer is coming to an end for us as the kids start school next week! Tyler goes into middle school and Ally will start 2nd grade. I'm not crazy about the whole middle school scene so we'll see how it goes and go from there. I'd love to put my kids in a private school, but unfortunately that's not something we can afford right now. What I'd really like is for my kids to stay with me forever and never leave for anything....but that's a bit selfish right! So it will be Ella and myself while bubbie and siser are in school!

Enjoy the vacation pics!!

My sweet little beach bum!!

Yard Sale

We had a yard sale at my granny's this past weekend and I'd have to say we did pretty good!! Tyler made the most money because he we selling some of his electronics!! And he KNEW he did good! He's so funny, he plans on using all of his money to buy 1, yes I said 1 Xbox game!! We tried to use the kids to draw the customers in!! Gotta love the fun we had!!

I have to say Ty's so hard to get a picture of, he just doesn't have time to sit for the camera! I guess that's why we don't have any recent family pictures!! Ally loves the camera and loves to entertain so she's a snap and Ella, well this was her first popsicle and the girl LOVED it and tore it up!!

Enjoy!!

Ella's ABR

Ella went in last Tuesday the 7th of July for her ABR. They had to put her to sleep for this procedure because they need her very still for an hour to test her hearing. She has not been passing her hearing tests, but this could have been due to many different factors such as her being so young as well as the probe not being placed snugly in her ear. During our pre-op the week before they also discovered that the tube in her right ear was no longer in the correct position so they would also be replacing that as well! Her apt. was set for 1:00 p.m. which we thought was horrible considering she could NOT eat or drink after midnight. This girl is a eater and a BIG eater at that!! Well, since I'm still nursing she could have breast milk 6 hours prior to the surgery so we did just that! I have to say she did so well, I am so proud of her! We got there an hour before surgery time and they took us back to our room. We got her all suited up in her white gown and little booties. The nurses loved her and couldn't believe how happy she was due to the fact that she couldn't eat!! They were so good to us there and so good to our little sweet pea! It's so hard to see them being taken away eventho we know they will be coming back, it's still hard! After a few minutes I herd a baby crying down the hall and it was getting closer I looked at David and said, "that sounds like Ella!" Well here comes the nurse with Ella and it hadn't even been 10 minutes, she so was scared! It was SO sad!! She had to bring her back because the anesthesiologist had not yet made his way to speak with us and she really wasn't supposed to be taken back until then. He made his way in 2 minutes later and was very nice and explained everything to us! Then it got really hard when the nurse came back again!! Ella was so upset and cried the whole way down the hall! It's so heartbreaking!! We had reservations about this whole procedure to begin with b/c we felt it was very unnecessary to put her to sleep for a hearing test, but then what if we didn't do this and waited to long to help her if there was something seriously wrong. We all felt she could hear just fine because she always responds and she babbles like crazy! She says "momma" and "bubba" all the time! Which I LOVE by the way and I have to say she's defiantly a "mommy's girl!" The ENT doc came back to speak with us shortly after and said the tube had been replaced and the hole from the other tube would heal with no problems! Everything looked great and the tubes were working just right!! YAY, then onto the ABR! After about an hour and audiologist came in and said they did the ABR and her hearing is just fine! She CAN hear which we knew all along, but this is our reassurance!! So I will now STOP babbling and let you check out our Super cute girl in her gown!!

My little "mommys girl"

This girl still a happy baby with an empty tummy!!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July family and friends! This is such a fun day, a day to celebrate our freedom and our wonderful country. A day to say "Thank You" to the brave men and women who have fought for our country to let them all know that their fight is worth every minute. We take what we have for granted and forget to stop and look around at what we have and just how wonderful it is! So "Thank You" to our service men and women you are truly my heroes! I am so happy for my wonderful life and the wonderful people in it!

We had a really fun and busy day! We first went to the Williams' annual 4th of July cookout, it was tons of fun. The kids went down the ginormous water slide 5million times and the bar-b-q was super yummy! Thank you Williams' family for inviting us we really enjoyed it! :)

After the cookout we met one of Tyler's friends and his family for fireworks. Tyler always has a great time with Christian. We hung out on the soccer field and waited for the fireworks, the kids all had a great time! We can't wait to do it again next year!! Happy 4th everyone!