Where has the time gone???

It has been too long since my last post. Sorry about that! A lot has happened in a few short weeks. My most enjoyable moment was my trip to San Diego. My sweet husband worked extra hard and won a trip for the two of us to Sunny San Diego. What an incredible place! 75 degrees everyday...all day. 69 degrees all night...every night. All year long. They receive 10 in of rain a YEAR. We had a great time together. We hadn't been on a real "trip" together since before we had children almost 6 years ago. Maybe one trip to Wyoming for a weekend...but not this big. I'm not gonna lie...I needed it. I remembered what it was like to be a functioning member of society. A woman. A wife. A normal tourist...I was able to get up...get myself ready and walk out the door for a day's worth of activities. Just my purse and my camera in tow.

To be honest...I felt pretty lost without my little gaggle. Yes....if you see me at the grocery store with all of them...it's like I'm a cat herder...But none the less...I've been put on this earth to take care of those three "cats" and I don't want it any other way. The "free" Hyatt massage was INCREDIBLE....but my little gaggle is all I missed while there.

They were in extremely good hands. Nanna and Papa Rick from Kansas kept them. I was worried most about the baby. I am still nursing and she is a HUGE momma's girl. They only had one really rough night. I am comforted by the fact that Papa wanted to rush her to the ER for just screaming uncontrollably....for an hour. If something had really been wrong...He would have been all over taking care of it.

We've had our local county fair this last week. Max LOVES the fair. We aren't involved in 4-H yet or any of the judging events yet (or maybe NEVER) but he loves to see the animals and the combine derby and the stock car races.

Friday night...Max was SO excited to see the stock car races. It was 100 degrees that day so I made him wait until 6:30 to go to the fairgrounds. We arrived and met Aunt Aly and Uncle Bubba (Ross) at the hamburger stand. It took us awhile to get the Methodist Church specials all the while the races started and an ominous storm to the north was bewing. I figured it would miss us or just rain. I normally completely over react to storms and that bugs Jeremy. Plus...I don't want to freek my kids out about storms. So...playing it cool...we sit at the little lunch table area and hand out all the food and drinks. Mylee is on her 2nd bite....Max and JD head for the races and Marren is stacking her chips. I look up and see nothing but a HUGE BLACK HORRIFING dirt cloud moving at supersonic speed right for the grand stands. NO JOKE....I didn't truely know if the grandstand were gonna be standing after that hit. I grabbed the stroller...Screamed to Aly to grab Marren. Ross grabbed the brand new...uneaten food...and I screamed at everyone to run to the 4-H building. Just as I had taken 10 steps we were OVERTAKEN with the most horrible wind/dirt storm I have ever been out side in. You could only see Mylee's little white teeth and the whites of her eyes she was so dirty. Marren had buried her head in Aly's shoulder but her head was completely covered with dirt. I had maybe mentioned ...calmly...earlier to Jeremy that if a storm hits...we'll be in the 4-H building. He had remembered...THANK THE LORD...and somehow made it to us. It was really scary. I don't mind if I'm caught in that type of situation...but I do NOT allow my kids to be in a dangerous weather situation. Not my style. We couldn't see...breath...Dust bowl images were popping into my head. Ross decided it wasn't going to get any better so we all grabbed a child/stroller/dumped the food/ and headed to Blisties for a pile of french fries!!! We lived but were quite a site in the restuarant.

Updates on the kids: Mylee is walking. She has, actually, been walking since about 9 months. She will be 11 months in a few short days...breathtaking! She has such a sweet personalilty. Smart. Loves to eat. LOVES to watch Max and Marren play. Tries so hard to follow them and keep up. She is such a joy ...yet so much work.

Marren: What a little mastermind. Loves to figures something out. Can open any pill bottle...pickle jar. Refridgerator. Can almost cook her own breakfast. She just pushes a stool over to where she needs to be...and does it. Today i found her in Jeremy's sink. No stool. Soap covering her little body. Water flowing from the faucet. Innocent looking as you can image. How on EARTH did she get up there???? All the way to Kansas...Max was really anxious to get there. Every town he would ask the stereotypical : ARE WE THERE YET? Marren replied everytime " NO MAAXXX. Not YET!!"

Maxwell: My handsome little man. He loves to swim. Is actually- part fish. He could spend hours swimming in Holyoke's baby pool. There is nothing fancy about our baby pool...but it is perfect for us. Mylee is safe at the zero entry end. Marren loves the middle shallow part...and Max loves the 2 foot. He is so sweet and smart too. We're not starting him in kindergarten this year. He's not ready. Next year will be perfect for him. Maturity. Writing his name. Sitting still. His only interesting quirk...He talks ALL day long. I remember a few short years ago he wouldn't whisper a word. He was 2.5 before he would say more that 5 words. NO JOKE. Now he speaks 5 billion words a day and fights to not sleep at night ...to just keep talking. I love it. His little mind is so busy and so curious.

One of my favorite things that happened this week was something Max said.

Mom plops down on the floor...tired...needing a hug.

Max walks up: 'Mom...do you have too many kids?"

Mom: "Oh Max, No. Why would you say that?"

Max: "You look tired mom. Do you want to send one of us back?"

Mom: "What? Absolutely not!! Where would I send you?"

MARREN pipes up:" Yeah Mom. Let's send the baby back!!!"

No joke. I was astounded she was even listening. Thankfully the baby didn't hear her say that!!! And I never did find out where "back" was!!!

Love to you all

Miss you

God's Blessings

Brooke