A GIANT weekend

1 Year, 42 Weeks.


The Superbowl is a fun event because it gives you the opportunity to get together with friends, watch football, and eat lots of food, and this past Sunday was no exception.  And although our team was not one of the two duking it out for the championship, it was still fun to watch, with a close score coming down to the wire on the last minute and last play of the game.  If only Tom Brady could throw AND catch the ball at the same time, as his model wife pointed out, the end result could've been different! Oh well, now on to basketball season!

Manningham's 38-yard catch from Eli Manning was called  the play of the game.

A busy weekend for sure, we were thankful for a quiet, restful Friday evening to catch up on the blur of the past week.  We just spent some hours together as a family, not rushing bedtime, and enjoying watching the children play and show off for us.  Sabbath, however, was not as restful.  It started very early as we had to be at church on time if not earlier as I was assistant to Corey Grodack in teaching the Sabbath school lesson.  I had seen Marlissa Clarke and the other teacher do it before so I knew I could do it okay, if not wing it.  It was a lot of fun, even with a small intermission where we had to go up front in the big church during 3rd service to help with the celebration of Forest Lake's Women and Children's Ministry pastor Barbara McCoy's 25th year at the church.  She has been integral in the growth and longevity of our church, and we are blessed to have her leadership.  Anyway, when we got back about half of who was originally there in the beginning of Sabbath school were gone, so a much smaller crowd for the 2nd half of the performance, and what a performance it was, as I was able to summon the inner ribbon gymnast in me and go all out during the rainbow chasers song.

Dinner on the island counter.

Looks like Kohl found the corn.

Not a baby anymore!

About to make a running start for my split jump.

After church it was off to Adrian and Stacy [Litzenberger] Shepherd's house for lunch.  This weekend was their official Florida wedding reception, as the actual ceremony was held in Australia in November before the holidays.  It was great to catch up with friends who had come down for the event, including Cory and Amanda Reeves from Calhoun, GA.  You'll remember them from living here before and having their first son Noah around the same time as when we had Braelyn and the Grodack's had Calleigh.  Along with the Clarkes and Atkins (Michigan), those of us that had kids took advantage of the beautiful day and spent some time out in their backyard, which is right on the 6th tee box of the Grove course on Errol Estates' golf club.   How awesome!  We had fun watching the children run and play for close to an hour, where, surprisingly, there was none a golfer to be seen.  So surprising!  I guess the economy is in bad shape!

The newlyweds

Funny how quiet the house became as soon as they were all outside!

Brae & Kohl play catch with Mommy.

Running like banshees down the 6th fairway.

Later that evening after naps we joined up with the Grodacks and Reeves for dinner at another favorite eating establishment of ours, Cafe Positano, in Apopka.  We arrived last, a few minutes after the other families had been seated, and I marveled at how large our clan had become.  I remember eating there together as couples with the wives all pregnant with our first babies and now us parents were outnumbered by 2 children!  It was a great time catching up with everyone and sharing iPhone apps around.  Oh the things we do to keep ourselves and the children entertained!

Our group at Cafe Positano's.

Mommy bird and her brood.

The girl loves her pizza!

Life in our house does't come without daily excitement and adventure, thanks to iPhone apps!

Sunday morning for brunch we headed out to Stacy's reception, at the Highland Manor in Apopka. Formerly a restaurant and a private residence even before that, the facility has now become a center for parties and events.  It is such a quaint, comfortable place, with wood floors and lots of character, and was for a time a favorite place of ours to go and eat.  Coincidentally, we had taken Tangie's parents and grandparents there for dinner when Braelyn was born so I think that might have been her first restaurant experience!  Anyway it was a beautiful set up, and the bride and groom looked wonderful and happy together, all dressed up in their wedding best, welcoming their guests all the whilst stealing playful glances at each other.  Ah, such fresh and green, child-less bliss!  The children all behaved pretty well, even after staining their white outfits when they ate the strawberries.  We allowed them to run around on the grounds outside and then afterwards the same three families went to Westmonte Park in Altamonte Springs to let the children release some energy before naps.

Meeting Stacy at her reception.  Notice Maddy's clean white dress...

Greeting the Reeves family.

Partaking of the brunch selection.

Amanda tends to the kids outside.

Everyone wanted to ride Mr. Turtle.

And Maddy's white dress afterwards.

A photo op with Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd.

Team purple was all smiles.

Maddy waited to catch Kohl at the bottom.

Riding the purple dinosaur thingy.

Our oldest monkey.

Flashback to 2007:  Calleigh, Braelyn, and Noah almost 5 years ago...

and the three friends today.

The rest of the clan together, with a set of fussy and uncooperative twins!

We had been invited to to the Cochran's home for the Superbowl, along with several other families as part of our group that all hang out together.  William had been planning the event for several weeks and, with Rob Deininger's help, set up a nice big screen projector in the back patio for the game, along with another couple seating areas around the house to watch the action anywhere you went.  There was an exorbitance of food, all of them bad health wise, but delicious and gratifying to say the least.  I contributed with the fig/arugula/bleu cheese appetizer and then grilled some Korean bbq beef short ribs and along with some aged tenderloin cuts.  There were hotdogs, chicken wings, pasta, pizza muffins, dips and spreads and a plethora of dessert selections as well!  It was a gastronomical extravaganza for the ages!  We enjoyed the festivities and the game; even the twins loved watching Madonna's halftime show, as evidenced by the video we shot of Kohlden dancing.  And congrats to our friend(s) and their wonderful news!  (more on that to come soon)

Big screen set up at the grill bar!

Brae found a comfy seat with Mrs. Cochran Sr.

Mommy dances with Madelyn during the halftime show.

Maddy gets her pajamas on

and still has time to play with Uncle Kent!

On Monday Tangie flew out to Atlanta for work, so I was flying solo with the children for the next 3 days.  It wasn't so bad; I had done it numerous times.  The worst time of the day, however, is just before bed, when I'm trying to get all three bathed and dried and ready to go down for the night by myself.  And it doesn't help when they are all crying after hearing Mommy's voice on the phone and crying out for her!  Actually, that only happened on Tuesday night, but it sure was exhausting!  Anyway, we kept ourselves busy and entertained, going about our normal weekly activities and chores, the highlight of the week being the children and I officially meeting new cousin Preston via Skype on the big screen.  They were so excited to see the baby!

Finding the hidden stash.

Lunch out on the patio.

Enamored with their little cousin.

Off to feed the duckies.

I had to keep a real close eye on them to make sure they didn't fall off the dock!

Wonderful view of Lake Apopka.

A male Purple Gallinule, one of the prettier species there.

Learning about the native wildlife.  They had fun pointing and calling out the different types of animals.

And then the fallout later that evening...

Marlissa was kind enough to take Braelyn to school for me early Tuesday morning on her way to work, so that saved me the hassle of waking up the twins and driving into downtown in rush hour traffic, only to turn around and pick her up later that afternoon.  On Wednesday Braelyn was off due to teacher's in-service so we met up with Jared and Isabella and they hooked us up to a morning trip to the Central Florida Zoo for a few hours.  We let the children run about and look at all the animals and play on the playground before heading back home for lunch and naps.  Mommy would arrive to shrieks of delight and open arms later that afternoon, before Braelyn and I headed out to Adventurer's, as I would be the teacher for the Travel honor that evening.  It was fun talking to a bunch of kids about traveling and exploring around the world, and then having them cut out pictures for a scrapbook I made for them from our old travel magazines.

At least we don't have as many as the Goselin's!

Saw a triple stroller there, and along with our double found the perfect stroller solution for the Whitaker's!

Isabella helps her daddy push the stroller.

Looking at the American alligator.

Big sister holds hands while going down the boardwalk.

A little play time, although they could've stayed there the entire time.

The three monkeys watching and listening to the real monkeys.

A hug for buddy Isabella.

So this is what we eat for Christmas and Thanksgiving?

Ms. Diva having one of her moments.

Little Lambs group at Adventurer's from my point of view teaching.

Making an Aubree sandwich.

Having their usual laugh at Costco.

Quick trip to the park for a slide...

or two before naps.

Braelyn reviews her words that start with the letter V, although I doubt she will ever know what this object is.

I guess I didn't cook any fancy dinners this week, so instead I'm going to take some time and post some present individual quirks the children have, before I forget them:

Brae:

• Grabs things from the twins thus making them frustrated and cry.
• Likes to hide things from her siblings or parents, i.e. toys or the remote control.
• Has to be told things several times as she gets distracted very easily.

Kohlden:

• Is still the passive twin, although he has his moments of mischief
• Likes to shove and stuff lots of food in his mouth.
• Can be very clingy

Madelyn

• Is the dominant and aggressive one
• Is such the diva, a drama queen, especially when she doesn't get her way.
• Takes her sweet time in EVERYTHING:  eating, walking, etc.  And don't even think about rushing her!
• Has a phobia of walking on wet surfaces, sand, snow, anything that shifts in weight. So weird.

Randoms:

Tangie is going to be so surprised on Valentine's Day!  How romantic!

Eyelashes made for cars?  What will they think of next?!

Quotable quotes:

• I was reading Brae's bedtime story while she was drinking her milk.  The story was about a bear and his mother's unconditional love, entitled I'll Always Love You by Paeony Lewis.  She accidentally spilled some milk on her pajama top:

          Brae:  [interrupts mid sentence] "Daddy?"

          Me:  "Yes?"

          Brae:  "Will you still love me if I spilled milk on my shirt?"

          Me:  "Of course I love you.  It was just an accident."

          Brae:  "Yeah.  I think I need to change."

          Me:  "Well, get a new one from your closet."

          Brae:  "Okay."  [Looks at the book and then at me] "Can you press Pause?"

          Yes, let me just grab the remote control for the book.  Um, where did you hide it again?

• We were driving and passed by a community pool.  She had taken swimming lessons 2 years before but unfortunately forgot everything she had learned.  And apparently they had just gone over the story of Jesus and Peter at school:

       
          Brae:  "Daddy, I can swim now, and I don't need floaties or a life jacket!"

          Me:  [incredulous] "You can?  How?"

          Brae:  "All I need to do is keep my eyes on Jesus!  And then I won't sink!"

       

          Yeah, I'm still gonna keep a floatie on you kiddo, just as a precaution!

Parting Shot:

In closing I'm going to do something a little fun for everyone reading this blog.  I'm just going to post a picture and then you can add a comment to enter your own caption for the photo below.  The winning caption will be posted next week.  If there's a good turnout, it might become another weekly addition!

Enter your own caption!

Have a great weekend!