Florida Vaca 2010!!!

Another nice week in Florida with the Brown Family. Again, thank you for your hospitality and putting up with the McWhorter/Ericson clan. We were extremely fortunate in beautiful weather while we were there. It only rained once during the day! We were able to put in a great deal of time at the pool and the beach!! We did take a time out, one afternoon to take Morgan and Derek to see "Despicable Me" Cute movie, slow at times...but a cute movie nonetheless....there were some parts where even I laughed out loud.

Morgan...wow...what an improvement. She would swim in the ocean without goggles, dove under the waves and learned to float on her back. Such a huge improvement from years past!! Brody did great on the beach with all the sand sticking to him and also did well with the ocean. When the wave would roll over him, I taught him to "pphhhllltttt" to get the water out of his mouth. It was very cute. Bobby's dad came up from Tallahassee to visit with all of us. Sandy wasn't feeling up for the trip...we missed seeing you. Here are some pix of Grandpa Bob.Brody blowing a kiss...

Annie and Morgan (Derek and Annie did a great job in entertaining Morgan for the week~Thanks you two!!)Brody loves his sister...Aunt Nancy showing Brody how to make the wind chime move.

Yes Mom...I am on vacation... :)

Update...

Lacy has found a new home. A nice couple who live in Soulard came over to see her last night and decided they wanted to give her a home. They did say that if we changed our mind in a few weeks, they would be more than happy to return her to us. I thought that was really sweet and generous and shows what kind of people they are...I hope.

She was a good girl...well loved, high energy, very intelligent and will be sorely missed.

Morgan still wants to know if we can get a cat...OY!!

Sad times...

Well, I am extremely sad to say that Lacy needs to find a new home. She snapped at Brody on Sunday and got his face. He had to get a butterfly stitch in one of the two marks. Thank heavens it wasn't worse. Brody isn't scared or bothered by dogs/Lacy so it didn't phase him. Morgan was very sad in the beginning but then after about 10 minutes, said, can we get a cat? I am struggling a LOT with this...she is a member of our family, she is a very sweet dog and I love her but I love my son more...so she has to go. We are putting feelers out for anyone that doesn't have small kids and can handle the wisdom/high energy of border collies. I don't want to have to put her down...she's a good girl... I will miss her terribly. I have trouble keeping it together whenever I see her or talk about it. So basically I am a mess...this too shall pass...but she will be greatly missed by all of us...

Fishing...

Catfish...about 7 lbsBob took some time off of work and have some fun. He and my uncle went fishing at Kentucky lake this last week. Bob's cousin Phyllis lives there and let them stay there and put up with them!! They had a good time and caught many fish. Here are just a few of their haul!!

Kindergarten Graduation

Today was Morgan's Kindergarten graduation. The children sang songs, and there was a slideshow of the AM classes throughout the year. And cookies and juice to boot!! (On the video...don't shoot the videographer...I was too busy watching Morgan instead of the camera.)

Notice how many girls vs boys. Seven girls, twelve boys.

Morgan, Peyton, ??, Hallie

Morgan and the twins Peyton and Kaitlyn

Finally...a nice warm day

The kids were able to get outside and play in the sprinkler for a bit and then played in the backyard.

Happy Birthday and Happy Mother's Day!!

Early birthday present and other stuff

We decided to give Morgan an early birthday present. We took her to the mall without her knowing the reason why. As you can see, she was a bit leery in the beginning, but she was a trooper!! She has cleaned her ears three times a day, all by herself and is being extrmely responsible. WE are quite proud of her! She can't wait to change from her flower earrings to her Hello Kitty earrings in five weeks!!

This Sunday, we will be having her school friends here for a princess birthday party!! Thirteen girls including Morgan for makeup, nails painted and a craft project!! OY! What have I done? Thankfully, I will have help from Mom and some friends!! Not sure that I could handle it alone!! I think I will need a drink or twenty when it's over...just to settle my nerves!! :) Actually, I think I have it planned pretty well! All the girls RSVP'd...think that's a record!! I will take pictures and video too!!
Here are some random pix...Morgan likes to get ahold of the camera...let's see if you can guess which ones she took...There are also two that just crack me up!! When I was a kid...my mom used to tease me that if I didn't behave...she was going to rotate me in the dryer...

Smoothie...

We make Brody fruit smoothies almost every morning. As soon as he sees the blender, let the crying begin. Even though I was a little late in capturing his temper tantrum, you can still get a brief glimpse of his need for his smoothie. :) ENJOY!!

Happy Easter!!

We had a nice Easter. Nolan was able to come and spend the night on Saturday night. The older kiddos were able to play Wii and goof around for a while. We tried, at first, to let them sleep together, but in the end, we had to separate them. They were up MUCH too late, but actually they did better than expected with such little sleep.

Brody was up first to see what the Easter Bunny had brought...and of course, the Easter Bunny knows EXACTLY what Brody loves....BALLS!! (Side note Brody started crawling on furniture on Friday)

Then Morgan awoke, but I asked her to be patient and wait in her room for a while. She waited very patiently for over an hour and a half. Finally at 8:00 she asked if we could wake up Nolan. So, now Bob and the two older kiddos came downstairs.

After Brody took a nap and Nolan and Morgan were able to play outside on the swing set and color with Nolan's new chalk, they came inside, took a bath and then we headed to Oma and Bepaw's house for lunch.
Morgan and Nolan had an Easter egg hunt, in which twelve eggs were strategically placed around the yard for the kids to find. They had to find only six eggs and couldn't duplicate colors. They worked very well together, helping the other one out when it came to finding eggs. Then Oma read clues on where to find their Easter baskets. Man...the Easter bunny went ALL out!! Great job EB!! Then came lunch...
We had ribs, potato salad, broccoli (note...Nolan is NOT a fan but he did take a no thank you bite!!) blueberry butter braid bread and carrot cake for dessert. YUM!!! Thanks Mom and Tom!!
Then it was time for Sara to come get Nolan :( All in all...it was a great day! Terrific weather, flowers starting to bloom, good company and food and the Good Lord has RISEN!! Couldn't ask for anything better!