Memorable Things Kids Say - Volume 11

Henry bought this "watch" at the church garage sale. He is pretty pumped about it. He told us on Sunday that it "tells him when it's Wyatt's bedtime, when it's Mommy, Daddy, and Henry's bedtime, and when storms are coming." Hmmm... that is one impressive watch. We also liked how he put his bedtime in with ours rather than Wyatt. Like he is already considered an adult...

Play Dates

Warm weather is a perfect time for outdoor play dates! I scheduled one with some girlfriends - hoping for good weather... I didn't know if we could really keep 11 kids entertained indoors for 3 hours! :) As it was, we had BEAUTIFUL weather and the kids happily played for several hours. As a result, we had a wonderful time chatting about life. I am so thankful to have so many other godly women surrounding me. It is a blessing! Hope to do it again!

Dayton Dragons

We got two tickets to the local baseball team's game... the Dayton Dragons. If you are local and have never been, you should go! We are not big baseball fans, but these games are really geared for the family and Henry has always loved them! This time we got two tickets for stadium seating, 2-$5 concession stand vouchers, and 2 free hats all for $6!! Henry had a blast! He talked about it all day leading up to it, and then this morning he just kept saying... "Mom, I really loved the baseball game. I'm so glad I got to go with Daddy." A fun father/son outing!

Last Dinner in Florida

The Berry's treated us all to a meal out at Bahama Breeze our last night together. The kids all did awesome and the food was wonderful! It was a great way to end a great vacation altogether... Hope you enjoyed all the posts! I'm so glad to have our vacation documented with words and pictures for future reference. Henry already loves looking at past years' posts on the blog. It's such a fun, quick, and efficient way to journal all of our memories together with pictures and narrative. Now, back to regular programming.... :)

Visiting Josh in Florida

Jonathan's youngest brother, Josh, moved to FL this past fall. His apartment was right b/t where we were staying in Kissimmee and the beach. So it was a great stopping point on the way back to our place that day. As you can see, the beach, sun, and water zapped the boys energy and they were asleep before we even pulled out of the public parking from the beach. (We're thinking about how we can build an ocean in the backyard... we've had to settle for a sandbox!) They slept all the way. We met Josh at Five Guys and had burgers... so yummy! Then he took us to this awesome park they have for kids near his apartment. The boys LOVED it! It was a fun-filled day!!! We were so glad we took the time to do it!

Beach in Florida

(I swear the Florida posts are almost over!) We did take a day to drive to the beach. We knew the boys would love it and the Berry's were also looking forward to a day there as well. We had a beautiful day for it and all 3 boys did great! Lots of fun pictures and fun memories... this was Wyatt and Reuben's first time at the beach. Henry loved building a "sand castle" -- Wyatt had fun just wandering around.

Sleeping in Florida

We let Henry and Wyatt share a bed in Florida which they thought was just great. Wy is still in his crib here at home... I guess out of laziness. He is ready to go to the toddler bed, but I am not ready to give up the boundaries of a crib :) I love that he wakes up from naps and lays there for 1/2 hour playing happily! Anyways, Jonathan would tell them a make-believe bedtime story every night about things like the '7-toed sloth' and the 'orange tipped snoogleheimer eagle.' These pictures document why we're fairly sure they can never share a bed long term. The night always started out well.... both boys on pillows, lying straight, covered up. By midnight, Henry (who has always been a disturbed sleeper) has literally got his feet on Wy's face or in his back and he has completely turned himself around. We're not even sure how he sleeps at all... But it does explain why he has spent many nights of his life waking up (and therefore us waking up!) after he fell off his bed or hit his head on the wall or got stuck with half his body on the bed and half of it off. Strange, but fun to watch in the pictures :)

Disney Boardwalk in Florida

The Boardwalk is a great place to just walk around and not spend money. It is beautiful with a lot of things to look at... the kids loved it. Wyatt was especially into the Disney stickers they were handing out :) The pic of the Berry's is funny only b/c if you could have seen my Mom trying to make Reuben smile, you'd be laughing yourself. I don't think Devon thought it was as funny... but passer-bys were enjoying it!

AFTER the pool in Florida

The boys were wiped after the full days at the pool. This was one night before we ate dinner. It's like they were comatose. It was rather funny. Reuben, on the other hand, seemed unphased! (And no, that is not hair gel in Wy's hair.) It's about 3 days worth of sunscreen!

Pool time in Florida

One thing great about this age of kids is that you don't need Disney to entertain. If all we did everyday was go to the pool, spend 5 hours, eat dinner, and then throw in a little ice cream before bedtime, everyone was thrilled! It was so simple. Henry LOVED swimming and did an awesome job. He didn't use his life jacket the whole week. He'd jump in - get above water, and then get make his way back over to the side with no problem. Wyatt loved the water too. He was completely content to sit on the steps for hours just throwing back and forth a football. We were thankful he would keep his hat on since he is so fair-skinned. The boys also loved having Uncle Devon and Grandpa in the pool too. It was so fun! This was definitely the highlight for us! And... Henry set a new record on how many times in 4 hours he could go pee. Bless his heart... he hasn't figured out to just pee in the pool yet!!! :) Ha ha!!!

Celebration City in Florida

I know... my titles aren't real creative. But these are really for my notes later in life! We spent one evening with the Berry's at Celebration City. It was a great evening for walking and a little Starbucks action. The last picture is of the doughnuts that Devon consistently tries to poison our kids with... :) What a good uncle!