Bramell, Party of Five: May 2014

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Easter, Part 2: Grammy's House


Grandkids galore!
L to R:  Boy Twin, Girl Twin, cousin Piper, Big Sis and Remy (my cousin's daughter)


Ahhh, Easter. A time for renewal, peace and rejoicing. Add in some springtime weather, birds chirping and sunshine, and it's pretty perfect.
But if you think this post is going to lead into a verse of Holy, Holy, Holy then you have come to the wrong place. Let me just tell you what real life is like. This is a story about an interstate breakdown, lots of miles and lots of puke.
We started off happy that I'd gotten to leave work early so we could leave town earlier than planned to head to Wynne. We piled in all the kids, Fergie, our stuff and a couple hundred DVDs and hit the road. About an hour into the trip, Lee started holding his breath and cutting his eyes over at me every few minutes. This is a sign that something is not right. Shortly after, we found ourselves on the side of the interstate wondering if we could make it to the next exit. (Not the first time this has happened. Remember this? )
Thankfully, we made it to a truck stop in Ozark, which luckily was right next door to a mechanic. After a couple hours' delay and some dinner from the truck stop deli, we decided to turn back toward home and not press our luck.
To keep from having three disappointed kiddos and a house full of disappointed family waiting at Grammy's house, I decided to get up with the chickens on Saturday and take the kids in Lee's truck. Surprisingly, my prince decided to come with us...and I'm so glad he did!
After a fast, fun visit with all our family on the East Side, we headed back home Easter Sunday. As our reward for overcoming the obstacles so my kids could celebrate Easter with our family, Big Sis got sick in the backseat. Long story short---she threw up the entire way home. What should have been a 4.5 hour trip took us SEVEN HOURS.  And, we still had to deal with the stress of a broken-down van when we got home.  Also, I might have vowed never to travel again. Ever.
So listen up if you are kin to me. It's YOUR TURN to come visit us. We are a traveling disaster.




 Someone *might* be a little serious about the egg hunting.




Happy girls!



Just the girls! We love us some "Baby Piper!"



We also got to celebrate Aunt Nanette's birthday!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Happy Birthday Big Sis!



Y'all. This girl is SEVEN today. And today, her biggest worry is having her birthday announced over the intercom at school (how embarrassing!). My honest prayer is that this will be the worst that she has fret about for a long, long time. I love this kid and I can't wait to see what special things she's gonna do in the world.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Easter Egg Hunt, Part 1



This year the kids hit the jackpot and got to celebrate Easter three times. By the end, we had some near-professional egg hunters!
 
Our first Easter stop was the annual egg hunt at our church, which happened the weekend before Easter. As you can see, the grass was just starting to turn green. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day. We enjoyed a potluck lunch, visiting with friends and hunting the eggs. This is always one of our favorite church events of the year, even when it was raining and had to be moved inside.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Conversations With My Kids

As always, there is no shortage of entertaining conversations with my kiddos. On any given day, any one of them will provide us with a ton of laughs. I'm always ready to jot down the really good stuff so I can log it here and always be able to look back and remember it.
 
Recently we were driving somewhere when a motorcycle stopped beside us at a stoplight. It was a chilly day, so the driver was wearing a ski mask.  Now I can't remember which kid said it, but I think it was Boy Twin:  "LOOK! It's a robber!" 



This happened, the other night at dinner.  

Big Sis: Mom, how old are you?

Me:  I'm 38. Why?

Big Sis:  How old is dad?

Me:  He's 40; reaaallly old.

Big Sis:  HAHAHA!  Dad will be a grandpa first!

Obviously, I don't think she quite understands how the grandparent thing works.  But I'm glad she does recognize that her dad is so much older than me.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Twin Tuesday

Another Twin Tuesday, already? Here are a couple of my favorite recent photos of the kids.  It's hard to believe they will be FOUR in just a few short weeks!


Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Challenge Complete!

Now that we are well into May, I thought I'd better give an update on my April Challenge that I gave myself last month, in case anyone wanted to hold me accountable. I set a goal to walk and/or run at least 30 miles for the month. Curious about my results? 
 
Nailed it. I ended the month of April with 31.5 miles under my belt. I'd like to increase my mileage for the month of May, but unfortunately, I'm having a slow start and really struggling with the 4:50am wake up. We shall see.
 
In the words of Boy Twin: "Mom, you are treadmilling AGAIN?"

 
Blogging tips