Showing posts with label Destin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Destin. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Boom!
I love coming across random, fun videos and photos. This is a video of the kids this past summer (2012) when we still lived in Destin. We do odd, random stuff, so on this particular day the brood was walking on the back of the length of the sectional without falling off. Even Jersey participated. Enjoy.
Monday, December 10, 2012
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I've yet to make this year's video but I'm a few months overdue for a different sort of video - one highlighting our recent move. As I mentioned in my last post, the kiddos and I have moved a gajillion times it feels like. And my goodness, my kids are little troopers. They went from living with me in Pensacola in 2010, to their Dad's in NM in 2011, back to me in 2012, then three months after moving back in with me we moved to a roomier house 45 minutes away from our Destin apartment. That's four moves in two years for them! So needless to say there were some mixed feelings about our most recent, voluntary move to our current place. Owen gave me the most resistance, said he loved our place in Destin. And so did I, of all the places I've ever lived it was the smallest and most expensive but it was the one that felt most like ours, most like home. So I promised Owen and the older two that I would make this new place feel just as cozy as our last. And I reminded him that while it sucked moving so many times, it wasn't the house that made it a home, it was the people in it as well as the memories made there. So here's a video containing a few pictures from the last few months, from a few days before moving day in August to present day. Enjoy.
Psst - if you want to see the videos from 2010 and 2011 just click the video page under the blog header and scroll to 'family videos.'
Monday, July 30, 2012
Spiders, and Chaos, and Moving, OH MY!
It's coming together ya'll. Life, that is. I think we're finally getting into a routine and things aren't nearly as hectic as they were a few weeks ago. Now don't get me wrong, I've embraced the fact that some level of chaos is always going to be a part of our lives and I'm sure that anyone else with three school-aged kids, a full-time job, and thousands of miles separating them from their husband can safely say the same thing. But we're making it work and enjoying the chaos one day at a time.
Speaking of craziness, guess who's moving? This girl and her three offspring.
Don't fret, those faces aren't because we're moving, although I'm sure we'll look like that halfway through moving day when we just want it to be over with. Instead, those are the faces of four terrified individuals that had to fight a spider to the death. Normally we'd all squeal then call for Daddy to come kill the spider, but Daddy is on the east coast flying multi-million dollar jets so he's kind of busy and dealing with things slightly more important than spider killing.
So who kills the spiders now? Ethan, of course. Hellooooo?! Don't judge me for using my child as our bug killer. I mean, if you think about it he's practically a grown man - let's not focus on the small fact that he has seven and a half more years before he's legally an adult in the state of Florida. Besides, I made that kid from scratch (In case you missed Health Ed class I started with only an egg ya'll, and nine months later out came a human) that's kind of a big deal and causes me to feel no remorse when asking him to take one for the team by killing bugs. Long story short - the little ones came barging in my bathroom screaming that there was a bug the other day - it seems that they only need me when I'm peeing, in the shower, or just sitting down on the couch after standing for four hours straight - I digress, so I ran out to the dining area to see what all the fuss was about. The two little ones were full on yelling at this point, Ari was standing on the bench to our dining table and Owen was actually on the counter.
I just looked at them and said something like, "Simmer down, it cannot be that serious." Then Ari pointed to the floor and screamed, "Mommayyyyyyyyyyy! Look!" I looked down and...screamed at the top of my lungs, ran in circles before taking note from my two youngest children and jumped onto the dining room table. Ethan, all the while, was laughing. He grabs a shoe as we scream, "Get it!" over and over again.
Finally, the spider is got. Note the celebratory dance from Ariana and the grin from E. The kids were still freaking out slightly so I did what any good mom would do, Iconsoled them grabbed the camera to document their faces and I added effect by screaming as well. Hence the above photo...and the below photos...
But back to the purpose of this post, our upcoming move. I rented this tiny, over-priced apartment because it was supposed to be temporary. I thought I was going to PCS (which stands for: permanent change of station for all my lovely civilians out there) with Seth last month so that would've meant only 10 months living in said tiny apartment. But, as I explained a while ago that didn't happen. And my lease is up at the end of August, and the rent is raising, and my kids are cramped, and I'll be in this area for another year so Mama needs to find a newer, bigger, cheaper abode. And so began: Mission Impossible. There was no way I was going to find a bigger place here in Destin for any cheaper than what I'm paying now, it's a tourist town, with so much to do, the beach is literally across the street and there is no way I would find a place for less thaaaan saaaay $2000/mo to even simply rent a place the size I was hoping for. Bananas, right?! So I had to look in other nearby towns. Enter, Crestview. Or Crest-tucky as the locals call it. They give it its nickname because it's supposedly country as hell there (get it? Kentucky...Crest-tucky), but apparently none of these people that refer to Crestview as Crest-tucky have ever been to where I'm from, because lemme just tell ya'll, where I'm from, I got phone calls years after graduating high school and moving away informing me that they were building a Super Walmart there. Phone calls from people I hadn't talked to in years! To inform me that, "We're getting a Super Walmart!!!" How's that for country? So I wasn't turned off of Crestucky for it's tucky-ness. In fact, I was turned on (too much info?) by the fact that you can get a nice sized home for super cheap. And so we did.
Ah, a huge burden off my back. I was so relieved to find a place I like, and that was a decent size for us, and for a low price. Especially since when I gave my current apartment my notice to vacate I didn't even having another place lined up for us to move in to. So now that I do, I am muy relieved.
The new digs has five bedrooms, one of which is downstairs. The master is upstairs so that left the three kids in the running for a bedroom downstairs. Owen was immediately out of the question, despite his desperate pleadings to bunk on the bottom floor, but the kid is six, and I'm his mom, and I have a need to have him close by me at that young of an age. Then Ariana and Ethan started vieing for the room. I explained to them that there were enough bedrooms upstairs for everyone to get one and that we could simply use the downstairs room as a playroom or guest bedroom. "But I need my own bathroom! And my own space! I'm a giiiiiiiirl," whined Ariana. Ethan's argument? "I'm the oldest. Boom.
I will admit that I agreed with Ethan initially, but I did give it some serious thought and I didn't want to make a final decision until closer to moving day so the other day I announced that E was, indeed, getting the downstairs bedroom. Of course that resulted, somehow, in me agreeing to Ariana getting two additional fish. As you know we currently have Salt and Pepper, our ninja-like goldfish that we unexpectedly won at a school carnival in 2010!!!!!!! Yeah, goldfish aren't supposed to live for two years but Salt and Pepper have proved that they are part ninja so pick your mouths up off the floor.
So there you have it, the reasoning for not so many house photos lately (it's half packed in boxes) and the reason why you only got a simple photo of Owen's new nightstand on Friday.
Please tell me I'm not the only one with immortal goldfish, or a brave soul of a spider killing son, or country so deep in my veins that even after being away from home for 12 years I still say 'ya'll' in every other sentence.
On another note, smile ya'll it's a happy, happy Monday!
Xoxo,
Lorri
Speaking of craziness, guess who's moving? This girl and her three offspring.
Don't fret, those faces aren't because we're moving, although I'm sure we'll look like that halfway through moving day when we just want it to be over with. Instead, those are the faces of four terrified individuals that had to fight a spider to the death. Normally we'd all squeal then call for Daddy to come kill the spider, but Daddy is on the east coast flying multi-million dollar jets so he's kind of busy and dealing with things slightly more important than spider killing.
So who kills the spiders now? Ethan, of course. Hellooooo?! Don't judge me for using my child as our bug killer. I mean, if you think about it he's practically a grown man - let's not focus on the small fact that he has seven and a half more years before he's legally an adult in the state of Florida. Besides, I made that kid from scratch (In case you missed Health Ed class I started with only an egg ya'll, and nine months later out came a human) that's kind of a big deal and causes me to feel no remorse when asking him to take one for the team by killing bugs. Long story short - the little ones came barging in my bathroom screaming that there was a bug the other day - it seems that they only need me when I'm peeing, in the shower, or just sitting down on the couch after standing for four hours straight - I digress, so I ran out to the dining area to see what all the fuss was about. The two little ones were full on yelling at this point, Ari was standing on the bench to our dining table and Owen was actually on the counter.
I just looked at them and said something like, "Simmer down, it cannot be that serious." Then Ari pointed to the floor and screamed, "Mommayyyyyyyyyyy! Look!" I looked down and...screamed at the top of my lungs, ran in circles before taking note from my two youngest children and jumped onto the dining room table. Ethan, all the while, was laughing. He grabs a shoe as we scream, "Get it!" over and over again.
Finally, the spider is got. Note the celebratory dance from Ariana and the grin from E. The kids were still freaking out slightly so I did what any good mom would do, I
But back to the purpose of this post, our upcoming move. I rented this tiny, over-priced apartment because it was supposed to be temporary. I thought I was going to PCS (which stands for: permanent change of station for all my lovely civilians out there) with Seth last month so that would've meant only 10 months living in said tiny apartment. But, as I explained a while ago that didn't happen. And my lease is up at the end of August, and the rent is raising, and my kids are cramped, and I'll be in this area for another year so Mama needs to find a newer, bigger, cheaper abode. And so began: Mission Impossible. There was no way I was going to find a bigger place here in Destin for any cheaper than what I'm paying now, it's a tourist town, with so much to do, the beach is literally across the street and there is no way I would find a place for less thaaaan saaaay $2000/mo to even simply rent a place the size I was hoping for. Bananas, right?! So I had to look in other nearby towns. Enter, Crestview. Or Crest-tucky as the locals call it. They give it its nickname because it's supposedly country as hell there (get it? Kentucky...Crest-tucky), but apparently none of these people that refer to Crestview as Crest-tucky have ever been to where I'm from, because lemme just tell ya'll, where I'm from, I got phone calls years after graduating high school and moving away informing me that they were building a Super Walmart there. Phone calls from people I hadn't talked to in years! To inform me that, "We're getting a Super Walmart!!!" How's that for country? So I wasn't turned off of Crestucky for it's tucky-ness. In fact, I was turned on (too much info?) by the fact that you can get a nice sized home for super cheap. And so we did.
Ah, a huge burden off my back. I was so relieved to find a place I like, and that was a decent size for us, and for a low price. Especially since when I gave my current apartment my notice to vacate I didn't even having another place lined up for us to move in to. So now that I do, I am muy relieved.
The new digs has five bedrooms, one of which is downstairs. The master is upstairs so that left the three kids in the running for a bedroom downstairs. Owen was immediately out of the question, despite his desperate pleadings to bunk on the bottom floor, but the kid is six, and I'm his mom, and I have a need to have him close by me at that young of an age. Then Ariana and Ethan started vieing for the room. I explained to them that there were enough bedrooms upstairs for everyone to get one and that we could simply use the downstairs room as a playroom or guest bedroom. "But I need my own bathroom! And my own space! I'm a giiiiiiiirl," whined Ariana. Ethan's argument? "I'm the oldest. Boom.
I will admit that I agreed with Ethan initially, but I did give it some serious thought and I didn't want to make a final decision until closer to moving day so the other day I announced that E was, indeed, getting the downstairs bedroom. Of course that resulted, somehow, in me agreeing to Ariana getting two additional fish. As you know we currently have Salt and Pepper, our ninja-like goldfish that we unexpectedly won at a school carnival in 2010!!!!!!! Yeah, goldfish aren't supposed to live for two years but Salt and Pepper have proved that they are part ninja so pick your mouths up off the floor.
So there you have it, the reasoning for not so many house photos lately (it's half packed in boxes) and the reason why you only got a simple photo of Owen's new nightstand on Friday.
Please tell me I'm not the only one with immortal goldfish, or a brave soul of a spider killing son, or country so deep in my veins that even after being away from home for 12 years I still say 'ya'll' in every other sentence.
On another note, smile ya'll it's a happy, happy Monday!
Xoxo,
Lorri
Monday, July 09, 2012
Weekend Warriors
I don't know what happened ya'll but this weekend came and we grabbed it by the horns and got so much accomplished. I love when I can start the week with nothing hanging over my head, everything on my to-do list crossed off, and a sense of accomplishment. And on top of all that we managed to have loads of fun too. So that's a double dose of awesomeness in my opinion - be productive and have fun with the kidlets. Woot!
I will begin by saying that I have the coolest kids ever. Seriously. I know I say it all the time and you may want to puke from my gushy mommyness but fo' reals, my babies are the bomb(dot)com. They are so creative and so funny and so smart and they are soooooo so entertaining.
When I got home on Friday I walked through my front door and straight into the midst of a nerf gun battle. Nerf gun battles are serious business in our house. We own like 15 nerf guns, no exaggeration, a shit-ton of nerf ammo, and the battleground consists of the entire house. When I got home on Friday my brood had even taken it to another level by donning PPE. Well, I call it PPE because I'm in the Air Force and I'm a smartass but in all actuality it was simply various combinations of bike helmets, hats, elbow pads, and rain boots.
Man, Owen looks like a straight up gangster. Look at that pose. I'm convinced he practices that in front of a mirror. Ballin'!
I love how Ethan looks so sweet and cute with his innocent smile on his face and the two little ones are trying to look hard. And do you notice the little stuff monkey in Ariana's shirt in the first photo. That little dude's name is Mr Monkey and there is a whole story behind him but we'll leave that for another day.
I walked back to the hallway that leads to their bedrooms and this note had even been written as a warning. It reads: hard hat work area.
After they wore themselves out with Nerf gun fun I attempted to calm them down a notch with a littlebribery baking. We love peanut butter cookies in this house, especially blossoms (you know, the ones you put the hershey kiss in the middle?) we'll, we didn't have any hershey kisses on hand but we made some PB cookies and they were yuuuuuummy. Every time E picked one up it fell apart, but Owen was able to keep his intact. I don't know what that was all about...
Owen lost his second front tooth. Last summer his Uncle Drake taught them all to brush their teeth when they fell out so that the tooth fairy will give you more money for it being nice and sparkly. The tradition has stuck.
And here's my monkey's new smile.
While we're on the topic of Owen, my little dude loves writing and drawing. I love that he randomly asks me for paper and pencil, then he goes to work with great concentration and his tongue sticking out of his mouth. He's done this since he was two or so and I hope he doesn't stop anytime soon!
Why is he wearing goggles, you ask? I don't know. I don't ask certain questions anymore. They do such silly things on a regular basis that it's not even odd anymore for me to walk into a room and see such a sight.
My little guy wore himself out so much that he put himself down for a nap. Now before you get all crazy keep in mind that he's six so we don't have nap time in our house anymore. But eeeeeevery once in a while there is an exception to the rule:
He even kicked his favorite blanket and stuffed animal to the curb in his sleep.
He woke up in time, though, for movie night. I found these cute little buckets at Michael's for .99 cents. Here they go again automatically standing like the cingular bars. Even their popcorn buckets are like the cingular bars. And they all just happened to show me the side of their bucket that read 'candy' what are the odds of that?
So I asked them to flip their buckets around and to also hold them at the same height. Take two.
That'll work.
We went to the beach Saturday. It was soooo crowded. Living in Destin means we have a lot to do but it also means that during the summer and spring break we get loads of tourists so the beach was packed. That didn't stop Owen from eating his turtle brownie though. Mmmmm, there's something so yummy about eating sweet chocolate in the midst of the salty air.
Ari was in the water 99% of the time. Though she did take a few minutes to work on her tan, as if it needs any work...
Spending a day at the beach meant I had cool summery desserts on the brain all weekend. Cue the left over margarita mix from a get-together I hosted last weekend. But for the kids popsicles I left out the liquor. I'm sorta thoughtful like that.
And while we had the strawberries out it felt only natural that we make mini cheesecakes.
Owen took forever to decide how to decorate his. Apparently blueberries and strawberries were far too many options.
I swear they stand in this order on their own...
Owen is obsessed with cool whip. Seriously. Everytime we go to the store he asks for it and anytime he has a snack he wants to top his snack with it. And last Christmas, while filling our yearly time capsule questionnaire he somehow incorporated cool whip in to many of his answers. I wouldn't make this up.
Ariana dug out their plethora of play-doh toys but we were plum outta play-doh. I remembered pinning a recipe so I broke out the recipe and gave it a whirl. It turned out PERFECT! Oh yeah, caps lock, that just happened.
The play-doh kept them entertained for hours. And yes, Ariana poses more often with a silly face than a serious one. At least she likes the camera. Once they ditched the play-doh they wanted to have a dance-off so they danced their little hearts out to Just Dance 2 on the Wii. That game is a mini workout let me tell you. I was hot after two songs. I don't know how the older two danced for over an hour. Oh to be young and full of endless energy again.
Owen only participated in a song or two then found his way to his beloved legos. Legos are a lifesaver in our house. They keep all three kiddos entertained all. the. time. Tonight Owen made a 'barricade' and the 'bad guys' were trying to 'break through.'
And somehow, after doing all that (and more) alone (it's our third weekend sans Daddy) I'm still full of energy, even though I should be fast asleep since I have to wake up in less than five hours. Oh well, sleep is for the birds.
'night,
Lorri
I will begin by saying that I have the coolest kids ever. Seriously. I know I say it all the time and you may want to puke from my gushy mommyness but fo' reals, my babies are the bomb(dot)com. They are so creative and so funny and so smart and they are soooooo so entertaining.
When I got home on Friday I walked through my front door and straight into the midst of a nerf gun battle. Nerf gun battles are serious business in our house. We own like 15 nerf guns, no exaggeration, a shit-ton of nerf ammo, and the battleground consists of the entire house. When I got home on Friday my brood had even taken it to another level by donning PPE. Well, I call it PPE because I'm in the Air Force and I'm a smartass but in all actuality it was simply various combinations of bike helmets, hats, elbow pads, and rain boots.
Man, Owen looks like a straight up gangster. Look at that pose. I'm convinced he practices that in front of a mirror. Ballin'!
I love how Ethan looks so sweet and cute with his innocent smile on his face and the two little ones are trying to look hard. And do you notice the little stuff monkey in Ariana's shirt in the first photo. That little dude's name is Mr Monkey and there is a whole story behind him but we'll leave that for another day.
I walked back to the hallway that leads to their bedrooms and this note had even been written as a warning. It reads: hard hat work area.
After they wore themselves out with Nerf gun fun I attempted to calm them down a notch with a little
Owen lost his second front tooth. Last summer his Uncle Drake taught them all to brush their teeth when they fell out so that the tooth fairy will give you more money for it being nice and sparkly. The tradition has stuck.
And here's my monkey's new smile.
While we're on the topic of Owen, my little dude loves writing and drawing. I love that he randomly asks me for paper and pencil, then he goes to work with great concentration and his tongue sticking out of his mouth. He's done this since he was two or so and I hope he doesn't stop anytime soon!
Why is he wearing goggles, you ask? I don't know. I don't ask certain questions anymore. They do such silly things on a regular basis that it's not even odd anymore for me to walk into a room and see such a sight.
My little guy wore himself out so much that he put himself down for a nap. Now before you get all crazy keep in mind that he's six so we don't have nap time in our house anymore. But eeeeeevery once in a while there is an exception to the rule:
He even kicked his favorite blanket and stuffed animal to the curb in his sleep.
He woke up in time, though, for movie night. I found these cute little buckets at Michael's for .99 cents. Here they go again automatically standing like the cingular bars. Even their popcorn buckets are like the cingular bars. And they all just happened to show me the side of their bucket that read 'candy' what are the odds of that?
So I asked them to flip their buckets around and to also hold them at the same height. Take two.
That'll work.
We went to the beach Saturday. It was soooo crowded. Living in Destin means we have a lot to do but it also means that during the summer and spring break we get loads of tourists so the beach was packed. That didn't stop Owen from eating his turtle brownie though. Mmmmm, there's something so yummy about eating sweet chocolate in the midst of the salty air.
Ari was in the water 99% of the time. Though she did take a few minutes to work on her tan, as if it needs any work...
Spending a day at the beach meant I had cool summery desserts on the brain all weekend. Cue the left over margarita mix from a get-together I hosted last weekend. But for the kids popsicles I left out the liquor. I'm sorta thoughtful like that.
And while we had the strawberries out it felt only natural that we make mini cheesecakes.
Owen took forever to decide how to decorate his. Apparently blueberries and strawberries were far too many options.
I swear they stand in this order on their own...
Owen is obsessed with cool whip. Seriously. Everytime we go to the store he asks for it and anytime he has a snack he wants to top his snack with it. And last Christmas, while filling our yearly time capsule questionnaire he somehow incorporated cool whip in to many of his answers. I wouldn't make this up.
Ariana dug out their plethora of play-doh toys but we were plum outta play-doh. I remembered pinning a recipe so I broke out the recipe and gave it a whirl. It turned out PERFECT! Oh yeah, caps lock, that just happened.
The play-doh kept them entertained for hours. And yes, Ariana poses more often with a silly face than a serious one. At least she likes the camera. Once they ditched the play-doh they wanted to have a dance-off so they danced their little hearts out to Just Dance 2 on the Wii. That game is a mini workout let me tell you. I was hot after two songs. I don't know how the older two danced for over an hour. Oh to be young and full of endless energy again.
Owen only participated in a song or two then found his way to his beloved legos. Legos are a lifesaver in our house. They keep all three kiddos entertained all. the. time. Tonight Owen made a 'barricade' and the 'bad guys' were trying to 'break through.'
And somehow, after doing all that (and more) alone (it's our third weekend sans Daddy) I'm still full of energy, even though I should be fast asleep since I have to wake up in less than five hours. Oh well, sleep is for the birds.
'night,
Lorri
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