playing with photoshop

So I have big plans for this photo but can't find quite the right background. I will update as I get more creative....


I think my son might hate me later in life.... :)

boys being boys

I know I haven't been good about the blog lately but life has been crazy lately and will be for a little while longer so I am asking you for forgiveness now.

Now that we have established that, I thought I would present you with a picture of the boys most recent hobby. You have been warned!!!!

switching places

After I came out of my room dressed in a flight suit and said, "I'm off", Elizabeth questioned what was going on. "Why are you dressed like Daddy?" My response was that we were switching places for a day - "I am going to go fly airplanes and Daddy is going to stay at home with you kids." This answer seemed to appease her and off I went to TPS.

No, I didn't just wake up with this grand plan - it was Spouse Appreciation Day at TPS.

With a T-38 ride and a go at an F-16 simulator, I am not sure that I am not envious of what Mike gets to do at "work".

All in all it was a fun day and I am so glad that I got to experience it.

07B Spouses getting ready for their flights.

Waiting in Life Support to try on our parachutes and check to
make sure our masks and helmets fit.

Don't I look like I belong here? If only the nerves came
across on the camera...

And I'm off! At this point I think the pilot was letting me
taxi - what was he crazy???

Cars

In our house around 1PM you will find quiet - sweet and peaceful quite. How you ask? Well, I have made it a point that the boys take naps at the same time and Elizabeth still has to have quite time in her room. I know this rest time is good for the kids but let me tell you - it is REALLY good for Mommy!

Anyway, today Elizabeth headed out of her room with the most angelic look on her face and said, "Mommy, I made you a surprise while you were having your Mommy rest." And then she handed me this picture.

Now if you are not familiar with the movie Cars, you won't appreciate the art before you but as the proud mother of a sweet little 5 year old - I think she should apply for Disney now. What do you think?

Oh yeah - that is Daddy's airplane in the sky too.

jurassic park

Does this remind you of any particular outside fun you had as a child?

I sure can remember making mud "cakes" outside when I was little so when our pool time turned into a reenactment of the Jurassic era today, I had to keep telling myself, "This is what childhood is all about." I think the only part where the kids weren't in totally kid heaven was when I hosed them off before they came inside. It was a little cold - ooops!



However, as a mother I would like to ask the person that thought that "natural landscaping" was the best for our houses - "What were you thinking!?"

poolside

Today was a hot one and it is only supposed to get hotter! So what does that mean in the Marlin household? Yup - you got it! Time to break out the kiddie pool. Out came the new bathing suits for the year and all of the tub toys were thrown into the pool. Wouldn't you know it that the plastic cups were the biggest hit though? Trying to get into the mood of summer, I made myself some good old southern sweet tea and sat out by the kids for a while. It sure was nice to see them all playing so well and me being able to relax at the same time. Happy summer (almost)!




(AJ was being camera shy today - sorry about the lack of shots of him.)

Boys will play too....

While the Mommy's were away, Mike had all of the guys and kiddos over to our house for a little play time - Daddy style! Of course there were steaks on the grill and plenty of beer. The water rockets were being launched at full speed and well - let's just say some of the Daddy's like Elizabeth's guitar just as much as she does.

(If only I could get them to sit like this for me.)

Rock On, Matt! Rock On!

Mommy's Weekend Away

What a Mother's Day Weekend!

Eight of us girls from our TPS class headed down to Hollywood without kids or husbands for a weekend away. Of course, no girls weekend would be complete without a little pampering so it was off to the nail salon for some manicures and pedicures.

Once our nails were all prettied up, we checking into our hotel and then headed to City Walk for some shopping and touristy like activities. Being our class theme is James Bond, we had to find Sean Connery at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Once pictures had been taken, it was back to the hotel for some gussying up and over to Universal City for dinner and then some fun at Howl At The Moon.

We had a lot of fun at the bar and was amazing to us how quickly we got tired and were ready to go back to the hotel. Having kids really takes it out of you. :) Don't get me wrong - it was a BLAST!!!
We headed back to the hotel for an uninterrupted night of sleep and the next morning we had a late breakfast and headed back home.

I had so much fun this weekend but it also saddened me to know that this might be the last time in a while that I will be able to spend time like this with these girls as we will all be going our separate ways in less than a month. I love you all - you are like sisters to me! Happy Mother's Day!

off to the lanes

We went bowling at the base bowling alley with two other families from our class. The kids thought it was a lot of fun at first but tired quickly. What a ham Jacob was though! He thought he was such big stuff when he would go over, pick up his ball and with Daddy's help, he would carry it to the lane and then push it down. He always waited right there to see if his ball made it all the way to the pins and then would clap when they fell over. It was just too funny to watch. Elizabeth and AJ had a good time as well. Elizabeth was a little discouraged though that real bowling was harder than on the Wii. And AJ - I might have to think about him joining a bowling league as he wanted to bowl all night. Anyone who didn't want to bowl - he had them covered! All said and done it was a fun night!

Introducing My Spot Children!

So there I was making dinner (you know this is going to be interesting when I start out a post that way) and I hear Jacob playing behind me and the other two are playing in Elizabeth's room. All is peaceful on the home front, right? Well, when I looked down to see my little man, this is what my eyes gazed upon.


So, at first glance, I thought, "well crap, he got into the markers and I'm sure the walls are covered." Then I started to look a little closer. Notice how the marks are all to "clean" and that there are some marks in places that his little hands couldn't reach. So now I am figuring that this is only going to get worse so I might as well just grab the camera. Off I go with little spot man following to hunt down the culprits of this new artwork. In an attempt to catch the kiddos in action I sneaked up on them, took a few shots and then calmly asked, "What do you think you are doing?"

The response I got was, "We are spot kids. I am Spot Girl and AJ is Spot Boy." I have no clue why they felt they had to strip down to underwear to complete this costume, but hey - whatever.

My thoughts at this point are they have no idea the gravity of what they have done. So I told them that they were going to eat dinner in their spots and wait until Daddy got home and I might just send them to school with their spots tomorrow. This didn't seem to phase them either.

Daddy got home in the middle of dinner and promptly laughed and then quietly asked me if they were at least the washable kind. Knowing that they were just made it a little bit more funny. After dinner it was off to the tub and with lots of scrubbing they are now "My Faded Spot Children."

I can only hope that tomorrow we will not encounter so much artistry!