Wednesday April 22

No new pictures at the moment. Just a few side notes. Emma has learned how to climb out of her crib at 13 months old. A feat that none of her brothers accomplished ever and they stayed in their cribs until they were 2. We were hoping to keep her in hers for a long time. Not sure what will happen now. We took the bumper pads off and hopefully that will keep her at bay. She also had to go to the Dr. yesterday. We thought that it may have been pink eye but it is not, just a cold or something not contagious so that is good. Mommy had to spend most of the day in Dr. offices yesterday. Emma in the morning and then Trystan in the afternoon. He had his appointment with the neurosurgeon and he is good. We have to follow up with an MRI once a year (gotta love those.) When we got to the appointment, they informed us that he was on a "2 hour delay" He is the only pediatric neurosurgeon in the whole area and people come from all around to see him and he is usually on a major delay because he gets in surgery and then his whole day is behind. He said that we were the 67th people that he saw yesterday and Trystan was the healthiest. Makes the long weight a little more bearable and makes you very thankful for what God has blessed you with.
More with pics later.

April 15

Saturday was such a nice day and we decided to go to the zoo for the eggstaviganza (spelling?) Trystan decided to see how he measured up to a gorilla. He used to do this when he was younger. He really has grown a lot since last time he posed for this picture.

While we were there, the little ones got to visit the Easter Bunny. Emma just wanted Mommy as usual.

The animals were all very playful today. We haven't been to the zoo in a while and Emma was really into it this time.

Ethan's favorite is always the train.

Saturday night after the zoo, we came home and dyed Easter eggs. Ethan really got into this.

Emma also enjoyed messing with all of the neat new stuff that was out.

Trystan and Ethan stirring the dye.

Pictures out of order and back to the zoo, Mommy, Ethan, and Emma on the train.

Ethan trying to measure up to the gorilla.

All three kids Easter morning. Mommy was really excited about all of their Easter outfits. The boys actually were good about wearing pink (Ethan) and purple (Trystan).

Emma in her Easter dress.

On Easter morning we had an egg hunt in the basement. The kids really had fun with this (their first of 3 for the day!)

Emma discovered jelly beans without Mommy's knowledge. Jelly beans for breakfast; only on Easter!

Ethan really thought that the Easter bunny was going to leave something on his train table, so.. the Easter bunny left him a note inside of an egg. The note told him the usual, happy Easter and also about the true story of Easter and reminded him to take time out to pray and thank God for sending his Son to save us from our sins.

A few cute pictures of Emma and her dress.

She loved carrying around the basket of eggs.

Boy it is hard to keep a 3 year old in a shirt and tie all day!

Ethan hunting for eggs at Mamaw Ann's.

Emma getting the candy out of one of her eggs.

Ethan eating his chocolate bunny.

Emma digging in to her's also.

Trystan playing with all his goodies from Easter. What is in his hand is called a Kinderegg. Uncle Chris brought them home from Germany and they are illegal to sell here in the US because it is a hollow egg with a little toy inside which could be a choking hazard if someone could manage to get the whole egg in their mouth (not likely!) Anyhow, it was a silly toy but it was covered in real German chocolate and that was the best part. Thanks Uncle Chris. This was their bedtime treat for Easter.

Emma prancing around with her basket of eggs.

The family on Easter.

Sidenote: 32 more days of full time work! (No, we are not really counting down but that means that I have 128 more classes to teach and Kathy, you have 96! I teach 4 a day and she only teaches 3 but they are longer.)

Vacation, etc.

It has been a while since our last post and much has happened since. Spring Break and a surprise party for Mommy just to name a few. These pictures are all from vacation. We went to Destin. Trystan and Kyle were excited on the way down there. It only took a little over 9 hours to get there and the weather was decent. It rained a few days but we made the best of it.

Emma was just born to lay on the beach, just like Mommy. Here we are napping together on the beach the first day that we were there, Saturday. We left our house around 4:30 Friday after school and were in the condo by 1:45 Saturday morning so we were a little tired on Saturday. Luckily we went with Tracy and her boys and they had already checked into the condo and had the crib set up for us so we did go straight to sleep.

Saturday evening we went to the Track and raced Go Karts. It was fun. Ethan is always up for racing cars.

Hey Ethan and Daddy.

Emma and Daddy at the Track.

Ethan and Mommy riding the carousel at the Track.

Ethan and Benjamin building a sand castle.

Ethan taking a moment to pose for the camera.

Mommy and Tracy laying in the sun and hiding from the wind. Yes, we are aware that our bathing suits are very similar.

Emma the little beach baby.

Mommy took alot of pictures of Emma in her bathing suit (and coverup) couldn't help it, she looked so cute.

Beach Baby take 2.

Daddy and the kids on the beach.

Little Diva.

Ethan and Benjamin taking a break in the shade. All that sand castle building can wear you out.

Trystan and Kyle in the ocean. The water was a little chilly but that didn't stop the boys.

The boys enjoying the water again.

And this is what an expensive grocery bill looks like. (AKA 6 teenage boys in one condo!)

Ethan being buried in the sand. This didn't last long.

Mommy, Ethan and Emma in the pool. They had 2 pools, one heated and one not. We never got in the not heated one. The big boys did though.

And of course Emma had her own personal pool beside the big pool. She really liked it a lot.

Can't resist!

Trystan and Ethan in the pool.

Ethan flying a kite on the beach.

Joey and Trystan flying a kite also.

Trystan and his kite.

Mommy and Emma flying a kite.

Joey took Trystan and Kyle deep sea fishing one day. They seemed to have a really good time.

Throwing out the lines.

Trystan with his big catch.

Kyle showing off his.

All of the people that went on the boat with their fish. By the way, they brought dinner home for everyone. Mommy even ate some of the fish (grouper I think) that they caught.

The next day Mommy and Ethan went to the Gulfarium because it was a little rainy. Ethan really had a good time.

Ethan petting a sting ray.

The dolphins jumping at the dolphin show.

We got to get up close and personal with the dolphins. They were so close to us that one of them blew air out of their "blow hole" and Ethan was a little startled because it was right in his face.

The dolphins playing basket ball.

Ethan was so tired that he fell asleep at the table when we went out to eat that night. Looking at all those cool animals can really wear you out.

Daddy checking his eyelids for pinholes as well.

All the big boys got their own table, I still can't believe how much they can eat!

Ethan at the playground at the little mall that we went to to get ice cream.

After ice cream, the boys decided it would be fun to try to dodge the water that was shooting out and the little boys decided to join in but they didn't even really try to miss the water. Result: a lot of wet kiddos.

Ethan all wet.

Ethan and Benjamin running in the water.The big boys got the attention of the security guards and were asked to stop before someone got hurt.

Ethan sleeping on the way home.

Emma and her "dog dog" sleeping on the way home.

All the wet boys after playing in the water. (Pictures out of order again. Don't know why!)

Trystan stiking a pose on the playground.

The big boys wrestling around by the water trying to throw each other in.

We had a very good time on our vacation.

Mommy will put pictures from the party Saturday up as soon as we can get around to it.