Life as a Brandtito

The girls are signed up and ready to "shoot & score"! With some help from Uncle Glen & Gabe they've learned a few things so far. They will get to meet their coaches & find out which team they'll be on this Friday. They are in the same age league so they'll be on the same team.  They are...VERY excited!! Lets hope it stays that way once game day in this heat rolls around <3

The Mini's started a new year of school today. It was a hectic morning; sleepy heads on the breakfast table,  nose bleeds to see who can make Leslie faint first, overstuffed back packs that threatened to topple children over, "no way you're leaving looking like that" discussions...just the standard what happened to our summer types of things.  Me & John took the kids to school and walked them to their classes even though Annabelle assured us she knew right where to go. I brought my camera to take photos, but of course that would have been too easy, so I had to leave the memory card for my camera at home to mix things up a bit. I ended up having to use John's cell phone to get a few shots. Thank goodness we upgraded our phones recently or I might have burst into tears. I'm probably going to make them take more pictures tomorrow morning (Gavin will be thrilled) so I can get some better shots but here are the  "please quit taking photos because we're

The kids wanted to stretch every second out of the last weekend before summer officially comes to an end... The end of summer...has mad them crazy. With Ava in tow we started our Friday evening with a movie in the park. "Rio" was definitely a hit! And even though it was MISERABLY hot all day. It wasn't so bad by the water. Gavin did not want to be part of the "girl" sandwich...I can't imagine why..                   Saturday the girls headed over to Bubba's for some time on the farm. There have been several baby calves born in the last few weeks and I'd promised the girls we'd go by. So off we went...they are quite the little country bumpkins... Heaven love'n on Jack Feeding the chickens Each of the girls "found" a strategically placed egg in the chicken pen. Annabelle actually did find one...so of course, melt-downs looked inevitable for anyone who did not. Annabelle & Hev getti

While the kiddos were out of town in Orlando me & John thought we'd take a road trip. I've always wanted to visit St. Augustine & so off we went. We had a great time & hit up all the major tourist traps including the Fountain of Youth. It tasted a bit like toilet water, and I don't feel any younger...but maybe it takes a while to take affect. I was a bit disappointed to learn it's not actually a "fountain" at all... Fountain of Youth I'm a huge history buff so I absolutely fell in love with Downtown St. Augustine. Visited several of the "oldest" places, oldest school, oldest house, old drug store...I think John was a bit over it, but I could have stayed another week! We also drove out to the beach and climbed the lighthouse. It seemed like a really good idea before we started, but about 1/2 way I found myself stopping for pictures, just to catch my breath. It was like climbing a never ending furnace. Once we got to the top, I

The mini people headed to Orlando today. Since they will be gone a week, we decided to let the kids have special parent date nights on Saturday. John & Gav went to dinner at Mc Donalds & then had a video game night with Gabe.  Us ladies went to see  Willy Wonka at the Pensacola Little Theater.  The girls have been watching the original Willy Wonka to get ready for the show & sang along to many of the songs. It wasn't exactly like the movie of course, but they had a really good time. After the show they got to meet some of the actors and scored themselves their very own "Wonka" candies. This resulted a very detailed car ride conversation about what Annabelle would do should she be the boss of her own chocolate factory. I'm pretty sure, this is Annabelle's dream job. Bottom line, she would share a lot of her candy with her family...but they would also have to visit the fruit and vegetable room so they could stay healthy.  Annabelle was undecided as to

Since I'm secretly 85 years old, I've been wanting to try making my own jam. And...since I took the girls in a massively over productive blueberry picking expedition resulting in over 6 lbs of blueberries...this seemed weekend seemed like a good opportunity to give jamming a try. Should you have a hankering to try this yourself, I used  THIS recipe....

Gabe & Natalie moved back to our neck of the woods this past week. The kids were ecstatic. They've been inseparable since. Thus far their have been video game wars, cici's pizza dinners, movie sleep overs,...and even a short lived dress up party resulting in Gabe dressing up in the girls dresses. I'm told this was Gabe's idea, though I find that a bit doubtful.    We also had a "who can injure themselves worse" war going on. Gabe accidentally almost lost a toe...and Annabelle gave herself a black eye. We've requested they find a more suitable playtime activity as these sorts of "accident" give me a heart attack.

After weeks and weeks of asking/suggesting/begging to Gavin he decided to try a new haircut out.  I'm a pretty HUGE fan of his "new look". He actually has eyes now!!  He seems to like it pretty well himself! This isn't the best shot of it...but I promised I'd only take one...and a promise is a promise.