A little late on the Father's Day Post!

Around here, you would think everyday was Father's Day the way my boys look up the their daddy! It's sometimes sickening how much they love him. If only you could see the way they look at him. He is truly their hero!

Not a day goes by that Cody doesn't ask when his daddy is getting home from work. Every time we're away from the house, Cody will say "I sure hope my daddy is home when I get there". If we pull up and his car isn't in the driveway, you can see the disappointment in their eyes.

On the occasions his car is in the driveway, they both start clapping with excitement and Cade bounces up and down in his carseat until I get him out. Cade laughs so hard the second T.J. puts his arms out to pick him up!

It's not that McKinly and Ty don't feel the same way towards their dad, they do, it's just that they are unfortunately used to being away from him since we have to share them with their mommy! Cody and Cade just have this connection with him that I am extremely jealous of at times! However, I do love how close they are. There is nothing like the relationship between a father and his kids!


I made Cody and Cade Father's Day shirts to wear today.


Cody's shirt shows what the front says, Cade's shirt shows the back.



And since it was T.J.'s special day today, I wanted him to have the perfect day. I guess my idea of a perfect day had too many expectations because poor T.J. did not get a perfect day!

T.J. got up early Father's Day morning, unable to sleep in (that was a first). Cade woke up screaming in pain. His ear seemed to be hurting him yet again and he wouldn't stop crying. Finally, T.J. took him outside to calm him down and that is when Cade proceeded to puke purple juice all down the front of T.J.'s white shirt!

Once T.J. and Cade got all cleaned up, we loaded all four kids in the car and headed out for brunch. That's all T.J. wanted for Father's Day was a nice brunch with all four kids.

Is that how it turned out?? Of course not!

The kids were great, they were all on their best behavior! However, we went to a restaurant that was having a special Father's Day Brunch menu so what could be wrong with that??

EVERYTHING!

Since they were menu items instead of a buffet (our first sign of a mistake), we had to order our food and wait for it. This normally wouldn't have been a problem but they were under staffed in their kitchen and the food was taking forever. I'm not talking about 20 or 30 minutes here, I'm talking we had been waiting an HOUR and a HALF for our food. We felt bad at first but after a while, it just became ridiculous!! T.J. decided we were not about to pay all that money for a bad experience. So, he left money on the table for our drinks and we left the restaurant...hungry! We then ended up driving through McDonald's for the kids.

Happy freakin' Father's Day!


Cody at the restaurant



Now, if that wasn't enough to ruin his father's day, there were still things to come!

We headed over to my brother's house to help him pack up a few things before the movers arrived. Nothing like putting T.J. to work on his perfect day, right?? Especially having him work out in the garage on the hottest day of the summer so far!

Once we finished up there, T.J. said at least he would get to take the older kids swimming while I stayed with Cade and let him take a nap (it was way past his nap time by now).

I guess swimming wasn't in the cards either because our pool pump broke and the pool had to close for the day! Nothing was working out and I felt horrible for him. He was a great sport about it all though and we did end up having a delicious dinner at a friend's house!

So the day wasn't a total loss and he still got to spend it with all his kids. Too bad it just didn't work out the way we had planned! There is always next year and he'll have five kids by then to celebrate the day with!

I am CRAZY!

Tomorrow morning we're headed back to the zoo! However, this time it's not just me, Cody and Cade...It's me, Cody, Cade, McKinly, Ty, Laney, Jordan, Shay and Hayden!

Out of all those names...I'm the only one over the age of TEN!

That's right, I will be heading to the zoo, by myself, with eight kids. I have no idea why I'm doing it, I think because it's better than having all of those kids running around my house.

Why do I have the inability to say no when they keep asking if friends can come with us?? To top that off, why don't any of these parents offer to come with us??

Don't answer that, I already know it's because they're not crazy like I am!

Well, I'm off to bed so I can get a good nights sleep before tomorrow! I'll be sure and post pictures, if I make it through tomorrow alive!

We've created a Poop Monster!

Cody, for the most part, is completely potty trained. He still has to wear a diaper at night because he has no control when he sleeps. Other than that, we don't have to worry much about it.

However, the kid HATES to poop on the potty. He will hold it in as long as possible, sometimes up to three to five days, just so he doesn't have to go on the toilet. It's ridiculous. We have tried everything from bribery, to punishment, to just ignoring it...nothing has worked. When we sit him on the toilet and tell him he's not leaving until he poops, he will just sit there and cry until he's done. I know it hurts the poor kid, he holds it in forever!!

I couldn't take it anymore. I know everyone says it just takes time but with this new baby on the way, the last thing I need is to worry about my three year old's stomach exploding because he wont poop.

So, I decided to try the bribery thing again but this time I used something no three year old could refuse...a big bag of chocolate. I'm not talking about giving him one M&M every time he poops, I told him I'd give him the whole bag! I went out and bought a few regular size bags of M&M's, a few bags of Skittles, and even some Reese's pieces.

Now the kid wont stop pooping!

He has gone three times today. He hasn't gone that much in the past two weeks!!

At least he's nice enough and shares his loot with his siblings and I'm sure they're asking him every few minutes if he has to go so they can have candy too but come on...enough is enough!!

The kid is a poop machine!!

I knew he was holding out on me...He was just playing me until he got what he really wanted! He is more like me than I thought!!


But look how happy he is...the complete opposite from just a few days ago! He's also hyped up on candy but we'll just ignore that little detail!

Swimming

Since it's summer, we go swimming almost everyday. Well, not me...I just sit and watch. I refuse to spend $60 on a maternity bathing suit that I wont wear ever again after this summer (that's a promise). I usually head down to the pool in shorts and a tank top so I can still get some sun and be able to play on the steps with Cade.

The kids love to swim though. Cody started swim lessons last week at the YMCA and he is doing really well. He is not afraid of the water as long as he's wearing his swim ring and even now he'll venture out a little deeper without any floaty at all. (Someone is always right there with him, I'm not a horrible mother letting her three year old swim on his own)

I have only remembered to bring my camera with us to the pool once so these are the only pictures I have.


McKinly trying to teach Cody how to go under water



Cody swimming away from McKinly

TJ entertaining all the kids.
TJ, Cade, McKinly, Cody, Laney, Hope, and Ty



Cade had enough swimming, he was ready for a snack!



I'll try to get some pictures of Cody swimming on his own. He does a pretty good job I must say! I love our neighborhood swimming pool. It keeps the kids entertained for HOURS and it's free. Well, once you've paid the Home Owners Association fees but it's worth it!

Putt Putt

Cody played Putt-Putt for the first time last weekend. Despite it being incredibly hot, he did pretty well. I stayed in the shade and let his daddy take him around! That's just how nice I am!

Cody concentrating

if he didn't hit the ball in, he just put it in there himself



We might need to work on his form a little

Strollin' towards his ball


When it gets cooler, maybe I'll play him and we'll see who's the better golfer! (my money is on Cody!)

Summer Nights

What could be better than running around outside with your shirt off eating ice cream??

Gotta love Cotton Candy ice cream from Maggie Moos



I think Laney was teaching him how to dance

I think they are both wearing more than they got in their mouths. Funny part is, Cody doesn't even like ice cream. I think all this was from the ONE bite he took.

Cody wasn't happy to get his picture taken, he wanted to play.



He was much happier looking at the stars

Blonde Hair??

I have dark hair, actually almost black hair. T.J. has dark hair as well even though when he was a baby it was a little more reddish.

When Cody was born, he had dark hair but it lightened up pretty quick. He now has a dirty blonde color and even though I really have no idea where it came from, I didn't really think much of it.

Then Cade came along. His hair has always been dark. Even though he has never had much hair, you can tell it was coming in pretty dark like mine.

A month ago, Cade's hair was still really dark. Within the past month, it started turning blonde!?!? I know we have been out in the sun a lot but are you kidding me?? The sun couldn't change it this much this fast!!! Could it??

A month ago

A few days ago

Will my kids get anything from me??