Church Picnic

This years church picnic had all the usual fun stuff. Hamburgers, hot dogs, yummy cookies & cakes, face painting, a fire engine, snow cones, a bounce house..... And of course, the Dunk Tank! During lunch Brandon told everyone to meet him outside for the dunk tank, he said he would be right outside as soon as his put on his suit. What they didn't know was that he meant an actual suit! (we went to goodwill the night before!)

Connor got the first throw and I think you can see where this is going...Everyone had a great time dunking Brandon. He raised a bunch of money for the youth mission trip and even got some good ideas for costumes for next year. After an hour in the tank he was pretty water logged!

Dinosaur World

The day after Hudson's birthday we headed over to Dinosaur World in Plant City. I love that the kids can go on a 1.5 hour car ride and we can just laugh and sing and play the whole time. We have resisted one of the DVD systems in our car up to this point and taking that trip with them made me glad that we have. Though, I reserve the right to change my mind if we ever drive to New York! The kids had so much fun and it was only $12 each to get in.We got to uncover a stegosaurus fossilThe boys wanted to bring this one home.

If you have kids who like dinosaurs, this is the place to be! The had hundreds of dinosaurs, places to dig up fossils, you got to take home some "bones" that you dug up and the playground was huge! Plus, the do not sell any food, so you can pack a picnic lunch. Totally affordable and lots of fun! For the price of 1 Disney ticket we all got into Dinosaur World and not once did the boys ask "why are we still on this line?".

Hudson's birthday

This year we gave Hudson a choice of a big party or a trip to Dinosaur world. He picked Dinosaur World. But, you can't have a birthday without cake, so we had a small family party for him. He picked a Scooby Doo cake.Hudson shares a birthday with Aunt Kathy, so of course we had to make sure she felt special too. We didn't think she was into Scooby, so she got a princess tiara and a pink cupcake!Hudson is fun to give gifts to. He gets so excited at each gift. He even got the same gift twice and was just as excited the second time around!

Not sure why, but Connor also got a bunch of gifts! Guess Grandmothers just can't stand the thought of one kid feeling left out.

20 years in the making

On Valentines Day Holly and I were finally reunited after 20 long years apart. It was so amazing to see her again and meet her wonderful husband Mike and adorable son, Benjamin. I am so happy to have my cousin back in my life!I could have squeezed those cheeks all day!
Connor & Hudson showing cousin Ben what fun swinging can be!

Ben's first swing ride!

Then, just last week they all came back to town so Holly and I could go to a Bon Jovi concert together. We drove over to Tampa for the concert, so really we finally got to have some "teenage" experiences together. We got to go on a road trip (though it was only 2 hours long), we got to stay up all night talking, we got to grab a drink together in a bar and we got to sit (though we stood the whole time) front row at a concert together. The concert was AMAZING!!!!

We were total VIP's!

Yep, that's the stage!Oh wait, who is that right behind us? So cool! Yes...that's MY hand!!!

Monster trucks!

I know, I know....I did it again. I took a month off. It was kind of a crazy month. We had Hudson's birthday, Brandon & I went on a cruise, Mom and Jen both came into town for visits and Holly came into town so we could go to see Bon Jovi together. But I'm back now. We are still busy as ever but I am going to try to schedule weekly blogging time. Stop laughing. Lets start off with a fun night. OK, this night happened in January, but it was still fun. The kids yearly trip to MONSTER JAM! I would love to tell you all about it, but I wasn't there. Erin & I were watching New Moon (for the 2nd time). Looks like they enjoyed it.