Flight Home From Alabama

The trip to Alabama was so smooth and easy, we thought the trip home would be the same.... SOOOOO NOT THE CASE. Our flight wasn't until 5:40 pm out of Atlanta, so counting the time difference, we left Eufaula early to make the 2 hour drive to Atlanta. The kids slept the whole ride. Taelyn didn't really eat much for breakfast, so I figured she would be hungry for lunch. We got to the airport 2 hours and 45 minutes before our flight, so we had lunch at Quiznos. This is not something my finicky eater was interested in, so she didn't eat again. We just hung out and talked and tried to keep the kids entertained. We walked laps with Taelyn in attempts to tire her out. Chaz, Jess and Trent before we boarded the plane

When we finally boarded the plane, Taelyn didn't want to sit. She was fussy and crying/whining. She whined pretty much the entire flight. I had snacks for her and that is all this poor girl ate all day. When we finally made it to Phoenix, there was a huge thunder storm and we weren't cleared for landing. We circled the airport for about 45 minutes before they decided that they were going to reroute us to Las Vegas. This whole time, we were battling turbulence and cranky kids, this was the worst combination. I opened the window and literally saw a flash of lightening go past my window! O_O Talk about scary! It was 45 minutes to Vegas and when we got there, they didn't let anyone deplane. We sat there clueless while they refueled the plane. There were 7 passengers whose final destination was Vegas, so they read of their names and they were able to deplane while the rest of us sat for nearly TWO HOURS since there was an over abundance of planes that were redirected there and refueled. Taelyn was NOT happy! It was another 45 minutes to go back to Phoenix. FINALLY both kids fell asleep. It was so late by this time, it was past their normal bed time. Fortunately, the plane we were on was the same plane we were taking to Ontario, so we didn't have to deplane in Phoenix. When they were done cleaning and boarding, it was 45 minutes to Ontario. Our flight was scheduled to land at 9pm we didn't land until midnight. It was a mess and I was besides myself with exhaustion, not to mention, I was STARVING! Todd stopped at Bakers before he picked us up. We were more than happy to see him. Taelyn was SO happy to see her daddy! All in all, this was the worst flying experience I have ever had. It was rough for me, but throwing the kids into the mix, whew! I'm just so glad that it is over and we made it home safely. Thank God for Chaz and Jess. There is absolutely no way I could have made this trip without them. They are truly a Godsend and my kids sure do love them. When Taelyn woke up in the morning, she was walking around the house looking for Tita Jess. It was sweet! I miss my Bama family, but I am SO thankful we are home.

A Family Plays Together, Stays Together

Pretty much every night that we were in Alabama, we played games. We played Pictionary, Things, and Loaded Questions. Boy of boy, did we have fun. One night we even stayed up until 2am!!! That is huge for me since I rarely stay up past 9pm. We are a family who loves playing these types of games. The answers and we come up with and the pictures we draw are something that is memorable forever. There is an ongoing joke about a "BUTT PIPE" The drawing was a picture of a person with a big butt and a pipe... the word was "TAIL PIPE" I still laugh to myself every time I even think about that. Here are a few pictures of us while we were getting our game on :) Kathryn's drawing of "rabid"

This was my drawing of Boost! I'm not a drawer, but they got it!

Since Trent won't sleep without me, we played pass the baby...

Until he passed out

We wore the kids out!

These are my partners in crime. We are totally "smackin"

Kathryn's Graduation and Party

The whole reason we went out to Alabama was to attend and celebrate Kathryn's graduation. This girl is on fire and we couldn't be more proud of her. She has spent the last few months in New York working as an Intern on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and if you know us, you know, WE LOVE JIMMY! And if you know Todd, you know he LOVES AUBURN, which happens to be where she graduated from.

Trent and Cousin Kat

The graduation was short and sweet. I have to say other than seeing Kat walk across the stage and receive her diploma (which of course is just a prop) I LOVED seeing the AKA's show thier support for their graduating Sorors. I also enjoyed watching the Kappa's dance when their Frat received his diploma. It kinda brought me back to my college days. Oh how I love being an AKA!! Took everything in me to not "Skee Wee" when I heard my Sorors. Taelyn and Trent on our way to the Nautical Graduation Party

After the graduation, Kat had her party at a Marina and it was a cute Nautical themed party. It was not like any party I am used to, I thought that everyone would dress for the them and come in some sort of "Nautical" attire, but that was not the case, the "Californians" (an on going joke with the family) were dressed in our best Nautical attire. It was fun, nonetheless. Taelyn and Tita Jess having fun with the Captain hats

Get Nautical!

Flight to Alabama

I took the kids to Alabama to visit family. I am going to break down my trip into a few blogs since a whole lot went on. Todd was unable to go since he couldn't take the time off work. Chaz, Todd's step brother and Jessica, (Chaz's girlfriend) offered to help me with the kids. There was NO WAY I was gonna even attempt to handle both kids on my own. Our flight was at 6:30 am out of Ontario. It was so hard to wake Trent up to get him ready for the flight. He looked so comfy

We had a lay over in Phoenix and then proceeded to Atlanta. The kids were awake on the flight to Phoenix and were playing happily, we had breakfast in the Phoenix airport and then boarded for the rest of the way to Atlanta. This flight, the kids slept. It was a nice trip and the kids did amazing. I was surprised at how well they did. Taelyn being silly

My Mister Man being such a good boy

Jessica and the kids

Jessica Holding Taelyn while they both snoozed

When we finally made it to Atlanta, we met up with Kathryn, the graduate, who flew in from New York, and Uncle Richard (Kat's dad) and Tim, Chaz's dad picked up up and we set off on a 2 hour car ride to Eufaula, Alabama. We met up with the rest of the family at a BBQ Restaurant. Taelyn had a melt down 10 minutes before we got to the restaurant. I have to say, considering that by this time we were all starving, and the drive seemed to be never ending, she did great! It was a long trip, but the kids did great and Chaz and Jessica were a huge help. More about our trip to follow.

Parenting is HARD! (If you wanna do it right!)

Todd and I have been taking a Parenting Class called Growing Up God's Way. I have to admit, I really am learning a lot and implementing the things I have learned from the class and I have seen an improvement. We started attending just as Taelyn started to throw tantrums. She has only thrown 4 tantrums in her life, and I can't say she will never throw one again, but I can say I know what to do next time. AS soon as she starts to get upset and I feel like a meltdown is about to happen, I give her space and let her know I am here, but I will not be an audience for her show. That has seriously worked! We are learning the importance of respect for us and for her, in a biblical sense. I just absolutely love this class and I feel like everyone I know with kids, NEEDS to take this class. You have NOTHING to lose and EVERYTHING to gain from it. Knowledge is power and the way I see it, you can never have too much knowledge. Parenting falls along the same lines as politics and religion. You can't talk about it freely (with some people) without sparking some sort of controversy. I have lost friends over differences in parenting. (Yes, it is that serious!) I don't think that it has to come to losing friends over differences of opinion, but hey, you can't agree with everyone. I want my kids to be polite, well behaved and obedient. Those things may all sound the same, but they are very different and I want them to know the difference. These are all things that are referenced to in the bible and I want them to know how to act and WHY they should act this way. I think with the right tools and knowledge, we are well on our way to achieving these things. I love my kids and want to raise them in the best way I see fit and with this class, I feel like I am learning so much!

Just a random picture since I feel obligated to have a picture with every single blog I post. This is at Costco, Trent's 1st time sitting in the cart with Taelyn. They both did amazing!

Taelyn and Tylia

Let me just say, I don't like the new layout on Blogspot. My last post had spaces and paragraphs, when I looked at it after it was published, there were no paragraphs or spaces. So annoying! Ok, so now that I have that out of the way. I know I have mentioned Tylia many times on the blog, she is the daughter of one of my favorite Sorority Siteres, TIffani. We were pregnant at the same time. Our due dates were only a few days apart, but Taelyn came an entire month early. These girls are the best, best friends that anyone can ever have! I just wanted to post these pictures because out of the two years they have known each other we have put them in the same outfit two times! Totally coincidence, but cute nonetheless. Tylia (1 month old) Taelyn (2 months old)

Tylia and Taelyn (both are now 2!)

Twinsies!!!

And once again, after checking the preview, I still have no spacings... annoying!

More Time!

I feel like I need more time! I always seem to have something to do, even if it is something small, there is always something. I am a stay at home mommy and I am always exhausted. I don't know how mommies do it when they have to work and I REALLY don't know how mommies do it when they don't have daddies to help. I am so thankful when Todd gets home from work just so I can have a little relief. I am the type of stay at home mommy that gets up every morning and gets dressed and gets my kids dressed for the day, even if we really don't have anywhere to go, I have to get everyone dressed. Whether we go to the park or to my mom's house or to church. I go to church at least twice a week and every other week, three times. Taelyn goes into the children's center and Trent into the nursery. It is two hours on Wednesdays and every other Friday for two hours. Then and hour and a half on Sundays. Taelyn LOVES it, I think she is the only child that doesn't want to leave when I pick her up. I love the fellowship with others who are like me and striving for the things I strive for. On the days that we are not at church, we run errands and have play dates. I try and do things to teach and stimulate Taelyn. I am from a generation that watches an over abundance of TV, I like my share of TV, but when it comes to Taelyn, I just really don't want her to watch it. I let her watch TV, but not much at all and I regulate what she watches and I also monitor what Todd and I watch when she is present. I don't know why I have such a disdain for TV, all of a sudden, but it is really bothering me. I would rather read a book or color or work on the alphabet or numbers with Taelyn. I want my daughter to be the best at EVERYTHING! I am really trying to not obsess over it, I don't force her to do flash cards, or read books or numbers. I want her to still be a kid, but I want her to be the smartest kid for her age. With that being said, I need to back off and really let her be a kid because after reading this, I feel like I sound like a crazy person and I don't want to be that mom. I just feel like she is growing up so fast that if I don't take the time to do the things to teach her, I am gonna run out of time. Therefore, I wish I had MORE TIME! A birthday party

Hanging out with the Hekman kids

Story time at the Library

My Chunker Man after story time

Dinner from a few nights ago