"Thar's A Hurricane Acomin'!"

1 year, 19 weeks.

Not really, but very close.  Remember last week when I was venting about our need for rain?  Well, almost immediately after that post we saw a forecast for a tropical depression coming straight for Florida!   But as the storm continued to get stronger and stronger and is now currently a Category 3 hurricane, Irene's projected path has shifted East to completely miss the entire state.  Seriously?  I was just beginning to believe in the rain gods again.  And, of course, we always get shafted. 



Actually, I'm a little relieved.  Although a hurricane would definately bring the much needed precipitation, it would also bring other things, namely, devastation and disaster, things that we could just go without.  Not to mention the panic and evacuations inland from all over the coast.  And please, all you wonderful meteorologists, I know you're only doing your job and that this may be the highlight of the season, but please...can you give it a rest?

Last weekend was very busy indeed.  On Friday morning I had mowed the lawn with just enough time to jump in the shower and take off to pick Braelyn up from school by 1, as they let out early on Friday afternoons.  Thank goodness Tangie reminded me about it otherwise Braelyn would've been left wondering who was going to pick her up. 

What happens when you give 4 year olds cupcakes to celebrate a classmate's birthday?  This.



Later that evening after the children had gone to bed I made sure we were all ready for church the following morning:  outfits picked out and pressed, diaper bag stocked and ready, milk and snacks prepared.  I was trying to alleviate the workload for the morning and perhaps save us some time so we could actually leave early and attend the actual service AND Sabbath school.  Well sure enough, all that work paid off.  After a nice hearty breakfast and baths/showers, we were dressed and out the door only five minutes earlier than we would normally have left.  Needless to say, we ended up only going to Sabbath school.

Jesus made the bubbles!  How do you correlate?

4/5ths of the Grodack clan.

One of Maddy's favorites:  the rocking bear.  I mean, c'mon.  Who sits on a bear in real life?  Really?

Brae and Calleigh show off the ribbons they made in class with Aubree in tow.

After naps we had an impromptu get together with the Bergherms and Zbarschuks over at our place for create your own pizzas and water play for the kids.  Jennifer got the dough from Publix and we made several pizzas with different toppings.  And of course it wouldn't have been complete without a dessert pizza Jenn had made of a brownie crust topped with bananas and strawberries and whipped cream ~ absolute heaven.  Almost as good as my favorite brownie delight dessert that Corey makes. 

The kids just loved the cannonball splash pool, just as much as Bruce loved filling it up with water!

Fearless as usual, Maddy dives right in.

Here they come around the corner...Zach Attack weaves out of the yellow lane as Brae Burn settles in the blue while Blake the Great brings in the rear!

Amy keeps a really close eye on the smaller kids.

Kohl enjoys a peaceful and quiet pool all to himself! 

"Look Ma!  No hands!"

Taking a breather, the twins lounge on the adirondacks.



Brae seemed at ease and kept up with the boys.  Should I be worried?

Nightcap Skype session with Papa and Nana.

Keeping in touch with loved ones halfway around the globe.  Hi guys!



The evening was topped off by a session of physical therapy from Karis who was trying to help me remedy my crippling plantar fasciitis.  The years of working on my feet are starting to take it's toll.  I'm breaking down and getting old, dangit!

I've been wearing this splint and hobbling around the house to keep my foot ligaments stretched out.  I thought I still had several years left on my warranty!

On Sunday morning I took the kids for a ride on the wagon around the neighborhood, before joining the Grodacks and Bergherms at the Family Fun Festival for the Adventurer's programs at Forest Lake Church.  It's kind of like Pathfinders (that's like boys and girls scouts for all of you reading that are not SDA's) but for the little kids.  Tangie and I were both in Pathfinders growing up and loved it, so we thought it would be nice to have Brae join her friends in this experience as well.  That and her Daddy just loves to take any opportunity to go camping and live like Man vs. Wild.  I also signed up to teach one of the honors.  Soap carving, here we come!

Kohl helps Mommy look through the coupon section for some great deals.

First time the twins rode on the wagon.  It gets real heavy to pull with 3 children in it!

The twins loved it, can't you tell?  It was a very warm and bumpy ride.

I heard her say "Cheese" and turned around to see her take this picture of herself.

Using the car headphones so as to not disturb the twins sleeping.

"Hey bro, you awake?"  Maddy holds on to Kohl's finger while he power naps.

Braelyn had fun with Calleigh going down the big water slide.  I was very impressed with her fearlessness, simply because it was a pretty tall slide and she was the smallest kid in line.  But the girls kept going for a good hour at the least.  The twins joined Aubree in the small kiddie pool.  They hadn't changed into their swimsuits yet but by that time they were already soaked so Tangie just had them climb in.  While the kids played Duncan and I reverted back to our childhood days and showed off some mad hula hooping skills...scary!  We enjoyed hot dogs, pizza, and watermelon and then it was back home for naps.

The twins wait for some Italian Ice from Mommy while Brae plays on the big slide looming in the background.

Big kid, big kid, medium kid, Braelyn, medium kid, big kid...

There she goes scampering up the ladder!

Pretty cool shot of Braelyn sitting on top of the water.

Maddy got soaked by her big sister's splash.  The camera lens did too.

Do these two look like they're having the time of their lives?

A really small kiddie pool!

The big boys just wanna have fun!

This week's dish:

Rice and beans with grilled chicken sausage and tortilla strips.

On Wednesday I attended a lunch and seminar at Florida Hospital on the topic of bedwetting.  Now, now, I know what you're all thinking, but I swear I haven't wet the bed in months!  All kidding aside, this lecture was led by a pediatric urologist and he discussed the physiology of children and the bed wetting years, how to diagnose and treat, and remedy the problem.  It was very interesting and educational, as we have been working on this with our crew now and in the years to come, so I was sure to take lots of notes.  But I must admit I wasn't prepared for some of the graphic slides and pictures that accompanied this topic, especially ones on deformed genitalia.  And, of course, I was in mid-bite of my sandwich wrap when they came up on the large overhead screen.  Hey doc, I know this is a medical lecture but hows about a little heads up first?

Change of subject.  Remember the nest we found last week?   Well on Friday Brae and  I checked it again and saw that the other egg had hatched as well.  She dubbed the second chick "Sleeping Hair", again because of it's Native American heritage (?)  So now we are checking up on "Sleeping Feather" and "Sleeping Hair" daily to see their progress and they are growing up really fast, just like another set of twins I know.

Day 2:  two little chicks!

Brae was so happy "Sleeping Feather" has a sibling.

Day 7:  1 week old morning doves.  Feathers are developing nicely!

There is a song we heard on Sirrius' Kids Place Live called "Speedracer" from the movie that has become one of Braelyn's favorites since who knows when.  Anyway, we listen to it at least once a day in the van, and the twins have gotten to know it as well.  There is this part of the song where the bass goes up and the rhythm has this funky beat, kind of like thug gangster style (seriously?) and the kids start waving their hands up and down like rappers do.  Normally I wouldn't condone this type of behavior to people, let alone little kids.  But it's just so funny to watch when it's your little kids!

Looks like Braelyn's love for music and dance has passed down to her little sister!  I can just see them going out and having fun together when they get older, with brother Kohl watching from the sidelines ready to rescue them from the boys.

Speaking of rescuing, there was an incident at Starchild this past week that involved some biting.  I had to sign an injury report as Madelyn was bitten by another girl that left some teeth marks.  Turns out that they had both wanted the same toy so the other girl bit Maddy in the arm.  But before the teachers could break it up, Kohlden had gone to the perpetrator and retaliated for his little sister by biting the girl in her arm.  Again, I don't condone this behavior, but way to go little buddy!  As they say, a bite in the arm for a bite in the arm.

Braelyn is just like a sponge, absorbing anything and everything she sees and hears.  A couple of anecdotes for this week:

• At school they have been learning about David and Goliath.  So at dinner one evening she said her prayer, "Dear Jesus, thank you for a beautiful day.  Thank you for this food.  Help me get big and strong, just like Goliath..."  Um, did the teacher mention that Goliath was the bad guy?
• The residents' gate to our subdivision was broken temporarily so we had to be in the visitor's entrance with our id's which made for a very long line.  When it was our turn I asked the guard when it was going to be fixed and stated to him, "This is such a pain in the butt, especially for you."  And as we left the gate she asked me, "Why does he have paint in his butt?"  The hilarity continues to ensue. 

We went to visit the large branch in downtown Orlando on Monday.  She was so excited and was going nuts with all the books there!



She couldn't wait to start reading them all.



Here she shares one of her favorite stories to Zoe.





She wanted to help me prepare dinner so I had her cook the stir fry vegetables.



Such great fashion sense!  Wonder who she got that from?



She just loves to play with her food!

Have a great weekend!