A glance into our summer!

Well, summers over and I'm back to blogging. I didn't intentionally take a four month break from these little updates but it just happened. Hopefully I'll be a little more on top of things around here. But here you go, a look into what we have been up to!

JUNE 08

It gets hot here in North Carolina and our neighbors bought this awesome slide for the kids to play on. As you can see there were a few backups and mishaps which resulted in a huge hole two weeks after they bought it. So the water slide was history early into the summer.

I'm not sure if many of you know, but my dear husband HATES snakes!!! (I won't go on to say how afraid of them he is because that might embarrass him...) Well one night at our neighbors house, we found a snake in their garage. Preston held the head of it while all the kids took turns touching it and looking at it. Then he got this cool idea "Hey Ski, lets pretend I'm putting it down your shirt and let Becky take a picture!!!" You see here, Ski is hesitant but agrees to go along with it!!!

Just as I snapped the picture Preston dropped the snake down his shirt and Ski...well, just see for yourself!!!!

He screamed like a little girl!!!!

For Christmas, I bought Ski a pull up bar that goes between the frame of the door in the house. But because my husband goes above and beyond with everything he does, he made a weekend project out of it and built a pull up bar on the side of our house. I was very proud of him cause he worked so hard on it and it turned out AWESOME!!!!

Matt complaining because he has to stand out there and help.

More of Matt "helping"

Here are the two proud workers after their project was finished.

He'll be doing 20 pull ups at a time by the end of the year!!!

Of course my skinny little son has no problems pulling himself up there!

Cadence calls it the "Monkey Bars!"

Even I got up there for old time sake and tried to do the "flexed arm hang" like I did when I was in the Marine Corps. I used to be able to hang for 70 seconds. We won't go into how many seconds I can hang now. Staff Academy Graduation
From April until June Ski had to go to the Staff Academy and stayed in Camp Lejeune. He was able to come home on the weekends but it was still hard on Cadence because it was her first time away from her dad for a long period of time. In June he graduated...

Our puppy K-Bar is getting so big. He's a little confused about where he should and shouldn't lay. It took him a good 10 minutes before he decided he just didn't fit in this chair anymore.

July 08

For the fourth of July we went down to South Carolina to visit Darlene. Our friend Jen and her daughter Hannah came down for a visit also. Ski being the great guy that he is cut her lawn for her since he husband was in Iraq and did a bunch of yard work. This is how he got so filthy!

Jen, Darlene and Hannah

All I've heard about since he left Beaufort is that he misses his favorite sandwich place "Alvin Ord's" He finally got his chance to eat there and as you can see, he went all out with the LARGEST sandwich I've ever seen!

Ski babysat the kids and let us have a "girls night out!" We had so much fun and met a bunch of very interesting people!

It's isn't summer unless you are able to sit back, relax and eat popsicles!!!!

Jacqui and Matt went to their dads for the summer so Cadence had no one to keep her out of trouble. One night she came in and climbed up on Ski looking like this...

After investigating, this is what we found!!!!

AUGUST 08
For the last couple Augusts we've made a trip to Michigan. We share a cabin in Rogers City with Ski's dad and stepmom Kathy. This summer, Ski finally got to meet his new niece Celest Lynne. Cadence loved helping with the baby and playing with her.

Cadence at the Nautical Festival Parade. This year she was so excited when she realized that people on the floats were throwing Candy to her. It was like a dream come true. As this float passed us she kept telling me "My sister can do that!" That was all I heard all summer also - how her sister and brother could do everything. She missed them so much!

The annual picture of Caders and her dad at the parade together that he used to sit at and collect candy.

Oh the carnival. This girl had so much fun riding all the rides. Her dad didn't have a bad time either!!!

Noel was there to keep me sane...

Nothing says camping at the lake like sunglasses and a life jacket!!!

Ski, Kathy, Pork, Ann, and Larry walking back from a rousing game of cornhole to eat dinner!

It was Bryans 27th birthday and Noel made sure that he had a nice little party!

Every wifes proudest moment - her husband drinking a beer with his cereal!

World's Cutest niece - Celest Lynne!

How I wish I could say he fell out of the boat right after this but unfortunately that isn't the case. It would have been a much cooler story if he had!

Bryan is the king of fires and made sure we had a great one every night.

It wouldn't be a week at the lake without atleast 5 hours of cornhole played each day!!!

When the kids finally came home Cadence was SOOOOOO excited to see them. She didn't leave their side. Two days after they got home they started school. This is them on their first day. Matt is now in 5th grade!

Jacqui is now in middle school this year! 6th grade!!! It's so hard to believe we have made it to this milestone! Look how grown up she is!!!

My son, the sweetest little boy on the face of the earth, woke me up one Sunday to breakfast in bed. A bowl of cereal with apples surrounding it. He got himself a bowl and ate with me. How did I get so lucky???

Cadence's big news of the summer is her new bike that Dzja Dzja gave her. It is a big girl bike with training wheels!! She gets going so fast on that thing I'm just waiting for her to fall over! Check out the new shoes...straight out of the Wizard of Oz!!!!

Ski and I also have big news from the summer!!!!!!

Currently I am 13 weeks pregnant!! I'm due April 3rd. And I'm already huge. Well, at least that is how I feel anyway! I forgot that pregnancy wasn't all sunshine and rainbows!!! What I am sure of is that this is our LAST ONE!!!!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

For Memorial Day, Ski went to Charlotte NC for the Nascar race, so it was just me and the kids for the weekend and we were invited to go down to South Carolina to see our good friend Darlene. It's been four years since I've been to Beaufort so of course I jumped at the chance to get away for a few days. However, that meant me, three kids and two dogs piled in my five passenger Stratus for a seven hour drive down there. After at least 4 stops to let the dogs out, K-Bar decided to pee on the floor of my car not 10 miles from her house. I could have cheerfully shot him!

Darlene is a great hostess and believe me when I say, if you go hungry when you are at her house it is your own fault!!!!

We enjoyed a long weekend of beautiful weather and lots of swimming!

They spent, at the very least, 6 hours outside! Can you tell they were having fun?

When I'm in Beaufort, it is always tradition to go get ice cream from Brewsters...

And then go feed the ducks...

But when your 11, ducks aren't at the top of your list of cool things to do so you just stand there and look bored.

When your 2 1/2 it's pretty cool to have a stare down and temp them with your ice cream!

I was also able to take the kids to Parris Island and show them where I went to bootcamp!!

Man, even though I was here 13 years ago, this sure did bring back a lot of memories!!! I was so proud when I finally figured out how to get to the top of that rope!

I can't tell you how many times I've PT'd on this field.

The Fourth Battalion barracks where I lived for 13 very long weeks!

It was a great weekend and I want to Thank Darlene for letting us come stay at her house - dogs and all! Can't wait till the 4th of July so we can come visit again!

Baseball season for everyone in the fam!

The kids aren't the only one playing softball this year. Ski is on a men's league on Sundays. I'm not lying when I say we are ALWAYS at a baseball field!

Look at that perfect swing!

On his way to first...

When the kids saw this picture they wanted to know why he is watching the ball. He's constantly yelling at them to just run and not watch the ball because that slows them down.

Rounding third on his way home!

I'd like to tell you that this was a home run but I'd be lying if I did. He scored though and that is all that matters.

Here he is in the field where he feels most at home. He's the one of the right...

And what do I do in the stands the whole time? I have 1 eye on the game and about 8 eyes on this wild little monster baby!

Cheering for her dad!

She doesn't sit still for very long let me tell you!

Happy 10th Birthday Matt!

It seems like 10 minutes ago Matt was just a week old. (It's possible that is because 10 minutes ago he was throwing a fit - but thats besides the point!) The point is, 10 years has flown by quicker then I could have ever imagined. He's no longer my 2lb 10oz little preemie! He's developed into a handsome young man who's athletic abilities amaze me every single time he takes the field. Which is a good thing because, as I lay in the hospital bed for 5 weeks trying to stop his birth, his father Cody and I didn't have a name for him in the event that he did come early. So when Kathy (my mother in law at the time) suggested "Matthew Cody", my ex-husband quickly agreed because he said it was one of those names that would sound really awesome being announced as the star player over the intercom at a major league baseball game. So low and behold, he came Matthew Cody Howard and while we aren't exactly at the Major Leagues at this point, he's made me pretty proud down in Little league!

Every year I let them pick what kind of cake they want. Most years he wants chocolate Cake with chocolate icing (proving that yes, he does have my DNA!) one year he wanted Pumpkin Pie (again, my DNA) but this year, he wanted Dirt Cake! I was more then happy to provide this for him. How could you go wrong with oreo's and pudding!

I also let them choose their birthday dinner every year. This year, instead of asking for Chuck E Cheese or McDonald's - my 10 year old son chose...

Let the hormones begin.

The Hooters girls surrounded him and sang Happy Birthday to him.


The look on his face was priceless!!!


High five to being 10!


It was also Mothers Day that day, so mothers got dessert for free. You don't argue with free Strawberry Cheesecake!

His birthday was on a Friday so he had to wait all day at school to open his presents. I took cupcakes to school, which he got to eat during his pizza party that his class had for meeting their reading goals. It was the first party Matt was able to attend that year because he had finally met his goal!

Jacqui was so excited about Matt's pitching trainer!!!

They had to go out and put it together right away. (Notice little miss "hands on her hips" in the background. She is something else!!!)

Putting it together was a little tricky but she was bound and determined to figure it out. I'd like to tell you it was because she cares about her brother and wanted to help him put his birthday present together but I'm afraid this was purely for her benefit!

She pretty much put the entire thing together all by herself while Matt stood there and held it up. If she was allowed to swear, I think I would have heard a few colorful words come out of her mouth because of frustration. By the time she got it together, she'd had it with her brothers "help" and told him to just "get away!" They can only be around each other for so long before someone starts yelling.

But she did a great job and Matt was finally able to start practicing his pitches!

You better believe Jacqui was going to take advantage of it too!

Here he is opening his other gift from us!

He wanted a rip stick SOOOO bad! He told me it was the only thing he wanted!

He was so excited and naturally just jumped right on it as if he's always known how to skate on it like a pro!

Unfortunately, someone else was just as excited about this gift too! They fight over who is going to use it. It's like having two 10 year olds in the house! I'm taking bets on who is going to hurt themselves first!

Happy 10th Birthday Matt! Hope you had a great day!