Real Quick...

I had a really bad night, but I won't go into everything. As you'd probably expect, the twins are to blame. But, moving on...

Tonight, before bed, Canyon and I sat on his bed and we were playing with his letter flashcards. We went through them (usually he doesn't want to) and he knew every single one except W, J and one other that I can't remember. I was so surprised, because I really don't work with him very much. The last time I tried, he only knew about 12 or 13, so I was so excited!!! Also, I thought it was so cute that when he got to "V" he said "CVS" a couple of times and then finally said "V". He knows CVS everytime we pass it. I was so proud of him. He really gave my heart a huge smile at just the right time.

Carter Kissing the Bird

Daddy took the boys to Busch Gardens one day and they went to feed the birds in the Lory Landing area. This is Carter trying to give the bird a kiss. Carter is usually the scaredy cat when it comes to stuff like this!!! Daddy's lucky the bird didn't take a bite of Carter's lip!!! (I guess Carter is pretty lucky too!)

Canyon's 4th Birthday

Okay, so I'm over a month behind. Basically, our laptop keeps shutting down whenever it feels like it which makes me never want to get on that computer and our desktop upstairs is slower than ANYTHING, so I haven't been on the computer much. Now Andy had rigged my laptop that I accidentally cracked the screen on and hooked it up to the desktop monitor, so it works fine. Three computers in this house and each with it's own problem!!! GRRRR!!!!!


So, Canyon's birthday was September 24th. We let him pick what he wanted to do, and for a long time he insisted on Chuck E. Cheese's. I finally sat with him and looked at pictures of different places on the computer and he really liked Pump It Up when he saw those pictures. And since Mommy and Daddy are exhausted, Pump It Up sounded easy enough to me. So we had a great time in all of the bounce houses. It was great for everyone and really kept all the kids busy. So without further delay...

Daddy got him a new golf club...

The girls got him a Rocket -- this is what he really wanted!!

On his actual birthday...


This is from school...

At Pump It Up...


Patrick and Liam...

Camden and Kyler being silly...

Dom and Vince apparently liked the cupcakes...

Nana made them with sprinkles, just like he wanted...

Andrew...

Madilynn...

Macie going down the slide...

Carter taking a rest...

Funny shot of Madison...

Nana with Carter and Canyon...

Uncle P!!!

Conner...

Morgan flying down the slide...

Um, Mike, what are you doing???!!!!

Mommy and Conner...

Carter making his usual mess...

Tons of cupcakes...

Five Little Ducks

Canyon Tee Ball

Canyon started Tee Ball a couple of weeks ago. He seems to really like it so far. I have class on Tuesday nights, so I haven't gotten to go yet. :-( I think I'll have to skip part of class one week to see him play. Anyways, here are some of the pictures from last Tuesday...

P.S. If you are wondering where Carter and Conner are, apparently Daddy plays a movie for them and leaves them nearby in the van. Actually this sounds horrible, but it is probably the safer alternative because Conner fell off of the slide at the New Tampa Rec Center last night and then tonight the van smashed Conner's thumb in the sliding door. So Andy must be smarted than I am, since someone keeps getting hurt with mommy. By the way, Conner is surprisingly fine. He does have a swollen thumb, but thankfully, he's a tough little cookie.

He's the second one from the front...

Such nice form, huh?? Hee Hee!!!! I love him!!!!!!

Doing good, dad...

The Twins Get Big Boy Beds!!!

Okay, this has been a couple of weeks ago, I'm pretty far behind. But, Conner had started climbing out of his crib. So we went back and forth as to what to do with them. I wasn't sure if I should just get them twin beds, or maybe the twin beds that will turn into bunk beds when they are ready. Well, we decided to wait on all that and we went with the toddler beds. Canyon went straight to a twin bed at 18 months because the twins were coming and I wasn't going to have 3 cribs in the house, so I missed the whole toddler bed thing with him. And since the twins share a room, the toddler beds give them more space. (Wow, I can ramble on and on about nothing, huh??)

So one bed arrived on a Friday (I ordered them online at the same time) with no sign of the other bed. So I went ahead and assembled it and showed the boys one of their new beds. They were so excited!!! They just sat on it forever. I finally told them that it was time to go night night and they both went and got their blankies and laid down next to each other in the one toddler bed. I was sure that they would be playing and out of the bed in no time, but I told them good night and closed the door. I went in later to check on them and they were both asleep in this tiny toddler bed!!! It was too cute!

Since then, we did get the other bed, although both beds were damaged. So they have been sleeping in their new beds. About 50% of the time they get up and play in their room in the dark. It's funny. I'll hear them screaming (they apparently have NO idea how loud they are) and I'll walk in and they both sprint to their bed. Or I'll go in and they are both sitting together looking at books with the light from the nightlight. They are sneaky. I'm pretty sure Carter is the instigator. Anyways, they are doing pretty well, overall. We are going to do a few things in their room, then I'll add more pictures.

The Best 30th Birthday EVER!!!

Well, it all started Friday morning, the day before my 30th birthday. Andy woke me up at about 4:30 am and told me to pack a suitcase. I was like "whatever" and kept rolling over. He finally started jumping on me and I could see how excited he was, so I got up. I asked him what I should pack and he kept giving me answers like "nice outfits, regular stuff" etc. Nothing specific. So I threw a bunch of stuff into the suitcase and took a 5 minute shower since he said we needed to hurry. By 5:30ish, Uncle Perry was sleeping on the couch to be there when the boys woke up and we were on our way. I kept asking where we were going and he wouldn't give me an answer. I figured since it was so early, we must be going to the airport. I knew something was going on for the weekend, but I was thinking something local or maybe a short cruise, something like that. So now that the airport is in my head, I started thinking Vegas or New York City. Andy's not usually very creative, so I figured he would go with old reliable or whatever.


Anyways, at the airport, he made me stand on the side at the ticket counter. So I didn't find out anything there either. It's pretty fun knowing you are going somewhere, but have no idea where it's going to be. So, he did finally let me see the boarding passes which said Buffalo. I was like "What the heck is in Buffalo???" My thoughts were that he got a cheaper deal outside of NYC and went that route, but I figured we were still going to NYC. (Keep in mind, I had NO idea where Buffalo was in New York.) So I think I said something about Niagara Falls once, but I had NO clue where Niagara Falls was in relation to anything. We were on the plane, and I was still clueless. Then I ordered my diet coke and the fight attendent gave me a napkin too. The napkin had a map of the US and all of their destination cities marked. Well, Buffalo had Niagara Falls underneath it in parentheses, so that's when I figured it out. Andy was pretty mad -- he wanted me to find out by seeing the Niagara Falls sign once we were there. I still can't believe he pulled it off. He didn't even let me look around the bookstore at the TPA airport because he was afraid I'd find a map and figure it out.


Aunt Nikki, Uncle Perry, Nana, Granny and Papaw all helped with watching the boys over the weekend. Knowing they were well taken care of was such a great birthday present from them. (Oh, and thanks P for watching Miller and Skipper -- sorry about the mess!)


So for the trip... It was absolutely amazing. Everyone should go at some point in their life. I want to take the boys back when they are 10ish. They would have so much fun!!! I always thought it was this little romantic place, but it wasn't like that at all. Downtown Niagara Falls -- the Canadian side -- is kind of a mix between the fair, ybor city during gasparilla, and Vegas. It's really weird. Tons of kids and people had their kids out at all hours of the night.

So here's pretty much the jist of it...

So excited to rent an economy car (that only had 700 miles on it and later it got a flat tire!!!)...

We saw these rapids and stopped just for fun... we had no idea this was the top of the American Falls...
We were so oblivious -- still didn't know this was the top of the falls...
This is about where we started realizing where we were...
The Horseshoe Falls...

The brink of the falls -- this was probably my favorite view...
My birthday fireworks...


On the big Niagara Skywheel...

The Maid of the Mist boat headed into the falls...This is while we were on The Maid of the Mist -- this must be similar to what it's like in a hurricane...
The Maid of the Mist was my favorite!!!
I was soaked through -- the poncho DID NOT keep me dry...

We saw lots of rainbows...
This is "The Journey Behind the Falls"...
At the bottom of the Horseshoe Falls...

This is above the Whirlpool that's down the Niagara River a ways...
The Whirlpool Jet that we rode on later that day...
Andy wanted to stop at a winery and check it out...




This is when we climbed down into the gorge to see the rapids we went on while riding the Whirlpool Jet (notice my flip flops -- not appropriate cause it was a steep and long hike!!)...

The bottom of the gorge...
The Whirlpool Jet going through the rapids...

The top of the gorge (I was about to collapse)...


I love you Anj!!!!!!!