Fun In The Sun!!

Today was one of those days like you see in the movies. You know when they pull out the old home videos and reminisce about when the kids were little and life seemed so much simpler? I can't wait to pull out the videos of the past few weeks and remember what it was like.

Life has changed in every way the past few weeks. Life is still tough and we have lots of stressful crazy moments, but we also have many more great moments. The kind of moments you never want to forget about. Hence, the new motivation to blog again.

So, what are all the changes over the past few weeks? Well, God had his perfect plan just waiting to unfold at the absolutely perfect time. But, that is a story for another day. And trust me, you won't want to miss that one.

This post is going to celebrate what I have taken for granted for far too long. Family!!!

Rob had his work picnic today at Burdette Park. We didn't know how it was going to work out because we weren't sure of who was going to help us out. Last Sunday I asked a couple teen girls from church to come and help us wrangle the kids. Burdette has lots of awesome swimming pools with cool slides and floats and it is REALLY amazing. But, it wouldn't be much fun if we didn't have help. So, one of the girls backed out and we weren't sure how things would work out. Rob mentioned it to his mom and dad and Mel & Shawn. Well, to spare you all the pointless details, we ended up with 17 of us. Yeah, the entire Wright, Donnell families went. And our best girl Alina.
We got there to a catered meal, and went right up to swim. It was awesome!!! Rob, Shawn, and Noah left to ride the big water slides, and when they came back Mel, Alina, Ali, and I went. The kids had an absolute ball. The kiddie pool was the best pool I have ever seen!! It was HUGE!! The kids were perfect, with one exception. They have no concept of waiting in line and were cutting in front of everyone. They had no idea what that was!! That tells you how sheltered they have been from big outings like this.





After we swam for a few hours we showered the kids in the bathrooms and loaded up. Cici's Pizza was our next stop. kids 3 & under eat free (we go there at least once a week). Everyone got full bellies and we headed home. The kids in the back fell asleep immediately, but Peytie spent the ride home falling hard for the tall, beautiful, brunette beside him. Alina is moving away to college this month and we will miss her sooo much:(
When we got home Alina played a couple games of Candy Land with the kids and then we decided to go for a walk. We made it around our 2 block neighborhood and the kids were hooting and hollering most of the way. Once we got back to our yard they decided to play on their little jungle gym slide thing. They played on that until bed time. I'm telling you, it was one of those days that you never want to end or forget. We were surrounded by the people we love most and had a great time. The pictures say it all.

I'm coming back!!

After a much needed break, I have lots to tell!! Things have never been better and I can't wait to fill everyone in on what's been going on. For now, I am going to try to do a little backdating.

Worms & Big Kid Beds!!

The kids were playing outside while I pulled weeds in our flowers today. I found a worm and thought I would see what the kids thought of it. Peyton, Jenna, & Sydney were all about it. They thought is was so cool. I couldn't keep Syd from ripping them apart. Notice hers were little pieces in her hand. Landon and Ethan were freaked out! It was hilarious! They wanted to hold it, they really did. They would hold their hands out and hesitate then put it back. The worm would be in their hand for half a second then they would scream and drop it.



Another thing we did was put their big kid beds up. I was curious to see if it would make them sleep better or worse. The boys have 3 blue race car beds and the girls have storybook cottage beds. It was a little rough getting them to stay in their beds. The boys were leaping from bed to bed. They pulled their toys out and it was a little stressful. Hopefully over time the newness will wear off and they will go to sleep better. Only time will tell!

Baby Steps To Big Kids!

Today was the kids first day of child care/preschool. My awesome sister-in-law works at our local High School Child Care. They are willing to allow the kids to come for a couple of hours three days a week. This is great because it will give the kids the chance to interact with other kids and get some structure in their days.
Of course the day can't start without a little bit of excitement. Someone (Syd) decided to spend some time in the bathroom this morning. Nothing my new best friend Mr. Plunger can't fix.


They had a blast. As soon as they called all the kids over to start preschool Syd started crying. I think it was the organization and intimidation of someone standing up and leading them. She will get used to it. Their favorite part is the playhouse with slide. I think this will be a great thing! Plus I get a couple of hours to get some stuff done.


Once again, God has provided exactly what we need.

February...

We finished out our birthday month with a never ending bout of Pink Eye. I really though we were never getting rid of it. I think it was going on 2 months before we were completly rid of it. Poor Jenna, she went to bed fine one evening and woke up the next morning deformed. She was so cute. It was difficult because it is SOOO contageous. I think the kids just kept passing it around.
The kids best friend Trisha got us tickets to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for our birthday. They were so excited!! I have to admit, I was too. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, and Winny The Pooh were all there. It was packed and a little stressful. Everything went great. We had a great time and no one was lost in the crowd. We talked about that for a long time.

The REAL Party!

Now for the good stuff! We planned their party with all their little friends at Pump It Up. It is a place that you can rent that has a room full of inflatables. You get an hour and a half to play then they have a party room that they set up and you can have cake and presents and all that fun stuff. The best part, they clean everything up. All I did was take the extra cake home. I loved it! The kids had a blast and we got to leave without having to worry about anything.

Jenna: "You are Crazy if you thing I'm going in there!"

Our best friend Trisha.

Our friend Aiden and his mommy Stacy.

I'm convinced Syd is part monkey. She has no fear and loves to climb everywhere. They had a HUGE slide that you sit and slide down. She would get to the top and leap into the air and land on her butt about 10 feet down the slide. That girl is something else. Jenna wanted nothing to do with the stuff. I went with her a couple times and she started to warm up. She didn't really get going until about 30 minutes before we had to leave. Ethan, Peytie, and Landon also had a fun time. They were exhausted and ready for the long ride home to take a little nap.

Baby Kenna!!!

Jenna is right where she wants to be here!

Syd: "C'mon Ethan, it's easy!"

Happy Birthday my big kids. It seems like only a little while ago you couldn't hold your heads up. Now you are leaping off tall objects and running around like a family of monkeys. You are so precious to me. Yes, I want to pull my hair out most everyday, but you are so special! I hope you know that. God has blessed so many people with your lives already, I can't wait to see what he has in store for each of you. I love you! ~Mommy~

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Boy! What a crazy week! We started off on the 13th with a thrown together party. I couldn't decide if we should have a party with all our friends and family or not this year. We had a party today and so I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do. The excitement of their birthday got the better of me and I couldn't help myself. So, at 10:00 that morning I started making calls to people. We didn't want any gifts, just cake and ice cream and some fun. I got the decorations up and bought the cake. By the way, cakes are outrageous! $24 for a medium sized cake. I couldn't believe it. Rob thought it wasn't enough cake and I was certain it would be plenty. After all, the party was such short notice I didn't expect too many to show.

Boy did I underestimate that! The house was PACKED! Everyone came and brought gifts. I couldn't believe it. The kids ate it up, they loved getting to blow out candles and opening all their gifts. The decorations were great and the party was a hit. Except for the fact that I needed about double the cake that I had gotten. Sorry to anyone who didn't get any! Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us. It was great!

On their actual birthday I didn't have anything special planned. But when they got up I went in their rooms and told them Happy Birthday. Ethan leaped out of bed and ran into the living room like he was expecting a huge gift waiting for him in the living room. I think he remembered Christmas and thought for sure this was going to be even better than that! Poor guy, there wasn't anything waiting for him. But, the day was packed full of special little things. They had a great day and were looking forward to the big party on Saturday.

Let The Festivities Begin!

Well, it's so close to their birthday we decided to start by a trip to the bowling alley. We only had Jenna and Peytie, so we invited Mel and the kids and my mom and all that bunch. I have never seen a thing that the kids can push the ball down to get it to the pins like this thing before. It is awesome. They got a kick out of pushing the ball down the hill and knocking the pins down. Peytie would throw his fist into the air and try to jump with joy when the balls hit the pins. I can't wait to see how they'll do for thier birthday. I hope they are as excited about it as I am.

They loved the bright shoes they got to wear.

Love Is In The Air...

Or at least all over the table. I decided to let the kids do Valentine cards for family today. It was a snow day so I asked a couple of high school girls to come over to help me. The kids hadn't ever used markers before. Now I know why I hadn't let them! They had a blast! It was a HUGE mess. They had marker everywhere! It was chaotic, messy, and fun. I hope everyone likes their Valentines!