Don't step on my...

How is it possible that Vincent's shoes (which fit him fine yesterday) were literally 3/4 of an inch too small this morning!!? I'm not even exaggerating. I knew he was going through a growth spurt, but I didn't know such a dramatic change could literally happen overnight! On the plus side, I was able to do one of my favorite things with my boys today: Shoe shopping! They were all due for a bigger size (poor Silas's toes have been hanging off his shoes for a few weeks already). I am IN LOVE with the new Top-Siders we found for Silas and AJ. The boys look so stinkin cute in them! Vincent wanted sandals, though. 

Destin, FL

Against our better judgment, we took the kids on another trip to the beach. Last time we went, it was a long weekend, and the kids were ... how to put this ... AWFUL!!! Silas was uncharacteristically grumpy, Vincent was defiant, and Anthony was dramatically emotional. It was chaos and we came home a day early just to rid ourselves of the misery.

I was not eager to repeat the disaster. Dan, however, effectively blocked out the fiasco from his memory and pushed for another trip. Since he was footing the bill, I finally folded. So Thursday morning we packed up the Mini and set out for Destin. Well, we tried to set out for Destin. By the time we were ready to take all the luggage out to the van, Silas was ready for his morning nap, so we decided to put him in his car seat while we finished loading up; that was our first mistake; we didn't leave the parking lot until over an hour later!! AND Silas didn't sleep. By this time I was already playing the "should've" game in my head: "I should've just put him in his crib to sleep until it was time to go."
Once we finally left the parking lot, we had to stop at the bank, and then it was time for lunch, and before we could even get to Phenix City (the town just next to us) somebody was screaming that he had to go "pee in a cup" (we have the boys pee in a cup in the van if we can't get to a bathroom in time). By the time we actually got moving, we had already been in the car for almost 3 hours. At about hour four, we were wondering who sneaked into our house and sprinkled crank on the kids' cereal. They were R-O-W-D-Y. It was awesome. As long as Dan and I kept talking to Silas, his shrieks were happy ones, but if we tried to hold a conversation between just us, they turned sour really fast. (I tried posting a video here, but it's taking too long to upload; I'll try again tomorrow...maybe.)

We arrived at the MWR facility around dinner-time and played at the splash pad right away. Since we hadn't yet stopped at the grocery store, we decided to go out for dinner. That was dumb. We went to McGuire's Pub. The food was awesome, but it was almost bedtime by the time we got there and it was past bedtime by the time we got our appetizers and main courses. We filled up on the AMAZING bread and spinach-artichoke dip with pita chips, and the kids were in full melt-down status by the time dinner was served. We asked for boxes right away and made a break for it, apologizing to everyone around us. Thank goodness Silas was flirting with the neighboring tables, or else they may have started throwing food at us and booing.

We had a rough start to the day Friday (grumpy boys + sleepy mommy = bickering), but we ended up at the military beach early afternoon and the boys got their first real chance to get into the ocean. Last time we were too nervous to let them go far, but this summer my friend Stormy told me about these floaties she had for her boys. They have made our swimming adventures so much more fun. Anyway, with these on, the kids are very independent in the water, so we could get in past the break and really enjoy floating around in the ocean, playing catch, and just having lots of fun. It took a while for poor Anthony to get the hang of spitting the water out when it got into his mouth. He vomited in the water at one point and was slightly traumatized by the experience (my boys rarely throw up). As we made our way back to Dan on the beach, Anthony started to tell him about what happened and he frantically cried, "Daddy, I ... I ... I ..." (then, in a completely normal voice) "Mommy, what I did in the water?" I reminded him, "You threw up, honey." Back to the dramatic wail, "Yeah, Daddy, I thew up in the waaaaaateeeerrrrr!!!!" After that he kept his mouth shut in the water for the most part. 

After the beach

 

When we got back,we took a walk and checked out the bay.

The next day, the kids were a little skiddish about hitting the beach again, so we decided to play at the pool at the compound. Our villa and the pool were right on the bay, so we had a beautiful view as we played in the water. We played at the pool all day and didn't leave the property at all.

The staff were really wonderful. There was a boy sweeping the roadway while we were taking pictures and he offered to take a picture of us. We hadn't even noticed he was there.

Later that evening we decided to try out a breakfast place called the Donut Hole, another recommendation from Stormy. She's going to pay for that one. We went there in the evening because the line was so long during the day, and we thought we'd have donuts for dessert. We waited so long for a table that we just decided to get some donuts to go and head home, but just as I was paying, a table opened up and we decided to go for it. Bad idea. It was already WAY past bedtime, so we were asking for it anyway, but at the beginning the kids were in really good spirits. There were only two servers working and boy, were they working! We didn't have our food until an hour later and by then the boys were in full melt-down mode, begging to go home and go to bed. Dan and I just laughed at ourselves for being so foolish in the first place. We kept reminding ourselves that one day (in the distant future, I'm sure) we'd be missing these days and laughing at the memories. We also made future plans to request seats near young parents so we can laugh at them encourage them when their kiddos are embarrassingly rambunctious. With all that being said, it actually was really fantastic food...once we got it.

Sunday we were at the beach fairly early and spent several wonderful hours there. Silas played until he was worn out, and then took a little nap right there on the beach. The boys were finally able to make the sand castle they were dreaming of while Silas (the destructor) slept.

I'm pretty sure Anthony was mid-sentence when he fell asleep. And his little snack was only half eaten.

We picked up dinner from Rotolo's (best Calzones EVER), along with some fresh peaches from a produce stand, and ate at the picnic tables on the bay at the compound. Then the boys splashed around in the splash pad one more time before showering. After we all got cleaned up we went to Shake's and ate the best custard I have ever tasted. My mouth is watering just remembering the rich creaminess. Dan had a strawberry slushy drink that was so good. Mmmm...I miss that place already. Silas had to hijack Dan's milk shake (yes, Dan got two treats) even though he had his own little cup of custard to eat. 

Imagine that, everyone cooperates for a great family picture when I have not a stitch of makeup on. Super. Poor Silas was sooooo sleepy, though. He looks really tiny here.

And one crazy one for the road. (What's that? Oh, you noticed the pants on Vincent's head? I was hoping you'd miss that. That's what he calls his sleeping cap. Anthony hadn't put his on yet, but rest assured: he has one too. And no, Silas wasn't left out. I found him with a pair of one of his brother's underwear on his head the next day...he put them on his head all by himself!!!)

The boys were sad to leave "our vacation house," but they loved coming home to their toys and helping unpack the van. Dan took them over to the little carwash in our apartment complex and let them help spray off our sandy toys and shoes while I tried getting some of our things unpacked.

This felt like the longest weekend in history. Usually our weekends fly by, but I felt like we were really able to soak this one in. The boys loved looking at God's creation and all the things He made: they loved the palm trees, the beautiful blue water, the little tiny fishies that nibbled at our feet when we stood really still in the water. We are so blessed to have been able to get away from the busyness of life and enjoy some fun time together as a family. Who knows, we may even delete the screeching from our memories and plan another trip to the shoreline soon.

Photo Bomb

I was just going to post a few pictures since I haven't posted any in a while, but I started going through them, and an hour later, I was able to narrow it down a little bit. This is why I'm so behind on editing pictures; I need to stop taking so many! I still have pictures from march that I haven't even sorted through yet. Here are some snapshots from April:

The Easter Egg Hunt that our apartment management sponsored.

 

 This is the hunt we had outside our unit for just our boys.

My friend Jessi gave me this idea for our Easter eggs: little caterpillars!

The boys were hanging out in their fort.

This is how we know when Silas is really tired: he scoots along on his head.

It's very rare for any of our boys to get a bath alone, but on this day I brought Silas home early from the pool while Dan kept the big boys there. Silas had such a great time having the pool tub all to himself. I took almost 500 pictures during his bath. Did I mention I need to start taking fewer pictures?

 

This was the same day as our trip to the pool and Vince didn't even make it to dessert before falling asleep at the table. Dan and I were clearing the table, and we thought he was just looking at something behind him. Nope. He was out. Cold. He didn't even wake up when I carried him to bed. That was a good night of sleep for him.

Ripley Nuggets

I have been trying to feed our family healthier, real foods lately after learning some really disturbing things about the "food" we eat in America. So, taking itty bitty baby steps, I'm slowly incorporating and substituting healthier ingredients in our old favorite recipes, and I'm also brain-storming for new healthy ideas. For the past couple months I've been making some really yummy granola bars. Each time I make them, I play around with the recipe a little bit, so we've had them several different ways.

You can probably guess this on your own, but the chocolate ones are my favorite and Dan prefers the peanut ones. All of the kids love them both.

Last night as I mentally mapped out the day ahead - meals, activities, school work - I groaned at the idea that I might need to give the kids chicken nuggets AGAIN for lunch. It's such a staple for us, and I feel a little pang of guilt every time I serve them. Then I remembered a bunch of chicken I had in the deep freezer and wished I had thought ahead to thaw it so we could have that for lunch. 

Instead, I took it out in the morning, allowed it to thaw just slightly, so that it was still frozen, but soft enough to cut into bite-sized pieces. I had enough chicken that I decided to separate it out and try several different flavors. On the first group, I just sprinkled it with garlic powder (because that was the first thing I saw in my spice rack) and sauteed it. I sprinkled the second group with poultry seasoning and then covered it in a Garlic & Herb marinade (something Dan had picked up from the store) and cooked the same way. Then I sprinkled a third group with poultry seasoning and covered it in Taco Sauce, and sauteed it. The final group was sprinkled again with the poultry seasoning, covered in Ranch Dressing, and sauteed. Once I figure out the kids' favorite kind, I'm hoping to make most of this stuff on the grill. I'm thinking the Taco ones will go great in quesadillas, so I'm pretty sure I'll make more of those, and I let Vince try one of the Ranch ones before I put them in the freezer and this was his response: "Mmmm! Mom, that's good!!" It feels so nice to hear that from your son and know he's not lying. He hasn't started telling those little polite social fibs, so I know that if it was gross I would have seen him gag and spit it right back out, crying at the injustice of it all.

I'm not that bright: I wanted to freeze them all while they weren't touching each other because I thought that they might stick together if they were frozen in a pile...I may have just wasted A LOT of time though.

The dark pieces are bits of dark meat that had been on sale and I stockpiled them at the time because they were so cheap.

They look a lot like the Chick-Fil-A nuggets! I wish I had thought of this sooner...like the first time we experienced Chick-Fil-A!