I DO know how to add pictures!!

The internet connection here is not strong so I could not get the pics to load last night. Here are the pics for the previous post:

Day 2 and 3 in Pensacola!

Whew! we have been busy! Doing a lot of nothing really takes it out of you!
The boys are having a fabulous time and so are the adults.... we've eaten so much seafood we may sprout claws ourselves! Yesterday was my Mom's birthday so shout out to Barbara.... we went on a cruise that was supposed to take us to see dolphins... what it actually did was give us 2 hours to corral the boys on a hot boat while we "looked" for dolphins. We did end up seeing a few fins in the water but it was NOT what we were expecting. We also took a drive over to Pensacola Beach to check that out in the afternoon. Wouldn't you know it? as soon as we got over there, the sky opened up and it just poured for a couple of hours. Luckily we were able to find refuge in a really cool restaurant with all kinds of fun things for the boys to look at and fun things for Krystal and I to drink. Griffin had his first popcorn shrimp and loved it. Today the Daddys played golf and the Mommies and boys went to the beach. We saw Dolphins today and we didnt have to pay a dime to do it so that was cool. Carson found half a crab in the surf and the boys all enjoyed dissecting it and grossing each other out. We found lots of shells and brought back lots of sand in our swimsuits and other areas that were not intended to haul sand. In the afternoon we went back over to Pensacola Beach where the Dads went into the fairly large surf in search of the big shells and sand dollars. So far we are having a wonderful time. Here are a few more pics from the last 2 days!

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Parenting error #23,962

OK, with all the recent coverage about the untimely and tragic passing of Michael Jackson, I realized that my boys had no idea who he was. Although I did not agree with most of his "personal issues" I can admit that he was perhaps the greatest musical and video genius my generation will every know. That thought led me to show my boys what I described to them as the first and best long form music video that was ever created -- Thriller. I have seen this video roughly 1,000 times and my most recent viewing was maybe 15 years ago so I had forgotten some the nuances of the work. Specifically I forgot that if you are 5 and 7 and have never seen anything like that and then all of a sudden the guy turns into a scary warewolf before your eyes --- you might not think that your Mom is doing you much of a favor. Griffin literally jumped off the couch into my arms and Carson covered his eyes yelling "Mom that's mean! This is a scary movie -- why would you make us watch that?" We never got to the dancing zombies part. Apparently no one at my house is ready for the complete Michael Jackson crash course.

Lesson learned.

More pictures from day ONE...

The first day of vacation!!!!

We are having fun so far -- one day into our Florida adventure. So much fun in fact that all 3 boys on this trip fell asleep before we got to the restaurant tonight and all slept through dinner and were brought home and put to bed with no dinner and no tooth brushing. Don't judge us. They were all so tired and cranky that we figured they could miss a few calories and one brushing episode. I'm posting some pictures from today. Hopefully I will be able to do a little every day.

Day One: we were up at 630a, had breakfast, went to the beach here in Perdido Key, came back to the condo for lunch then out to the very cool pool at our resort for a couple of hours. then we took showers and headed to the dinner that wasn't at about 630p. All boys were asleep by 631p and are now sleeping soundly. I expect that they will all be awake and demanding a LARGE pancake breakfast by 6am.

Enjoy our pics from today - love you all!

What the...? SERIOUSLY?!?!?!

Listen, I admit it. I have only watched a collective hour of American Idol this season but yet I still cared about the outcome. Somehow, against all logic -- America voted more times for Kris than Adam. WTF?
Adam is clearly the better showman and the better vocalist. But once again -- Americans had to be "safe" and pick the boring and vanilla over the exciting rainbow flavor (with sparkles). I'm sure the bored housefraus of the USA got together in every little wide spot in the road and decided that Adam was just "too freaky" to be their American Idol. Yes, he is flamboyant and in your face and most probably all the way gay. But the boy can sing and he is for sure never boring to watch. The irony here is that all these people who voted for Kris to keep Adam out of the sight and ears of their impressionable children have failed already. The truth is that Kris will put out an album (of the AI producer's choosing) and most people will buy it, but then it will come time to support Kris in the biggest moneymaking way -- attending his concerts -- and they will not show. Because it will be boring to watch. I predict that he is playing county fairs by next summer. Meanwhile, by coming in second, Adam has been freed to make any kind of music he wants to and to promote himself any way that he wants to and people will not only buy his album, they will attend his shows because they are GUARANTEED to be a great spectacle and worth the money. And I'll bet a pair of Jimmy Choos that Adams album is great. I get that he doesnt appeal to everyone but what I dont get is how people fail season after season to realize that what they are SUPPOSED to vote for is the BEST PERFORMER who can sing. Taylor whatshisgreyhair anyone? What about thier buddy Ruben with the giant shirts? What happened to them? Nothin. you know why? boring.
How about Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson and Chris Daughtry? Big careers because they market themselves well and put on great shows and have interesting personal lives. You don't have to answer, you know I'm right. When you get right down to it, wouldn't you truly rather have a little sparkly Adam in your life than a beige Kris? I know I would.

SUCK-inthia is not sucking any more!

Well, phase one is complete. Yesterday I had the sinus part of my correction done. I had to be at the hospital at 6am! It was very quiet at that time of the day and all the nurses were still in good moods so it was a good time to go. My surgery started at about 820a and was over in about an hour. My doctor, Dr. Natalie Roberge is just so wonderful. she is always cheerful and calm and so far, in 5 combined surgeries for me and the boys she has a perfect track record, which is good. She came in and talked to me for a while before the procedure and then talked to Tim for a while after. She thinks she was able to accomplish everything she needed to and that I should be feeling much better sinus-wise in about a week. I have to say that it is not nearly as bad as I was anticipating. My pain is very manageable, I slept just fine last night and I don't even look bad - if you don't count that I'm not wearing makeup. I don't have any bruising on the outside of my face at all and I have swelling but it's all inside so you can't really tell except that my eye is a little swollen. so for those of you who were eagerly anticipating some really ugly pics -- I'm sorry but there is nothing to share! The most disturbing aspect for me has been that when I stand up or move around a bit, my nose bleeds and I cough up blood. If that is gross to read, believe me, it is WAY grosser to have it happen! My brother in law, Kevin, could definintely attest to that! SO - everyone at my house is encouraging me to lay down as much as I can stand it and the boys are being so sweet! After school yesterday they brought me some yellow tulips and they made me several very sweet cards and my Carson has been in my room every 15 minutes asking if he can get me anything. The best part is that since I am forced to just lie still, we have had some good snuggle opportunities and we have plans to watch some movies together this weekend. Maybe this is God's way of giving me TIME with my boys which is something that I have been missing lately. I'm going to take as much advantage of it as possible! Thank you to everyone who has called to check in on me and sent prayers my way - they definitely helped. And special thank you to my friend Wendy who was nice enough to take Tim to the hospital yesterday after the boys went to school!

Look for more posts soon since I have time to do it now!