crazy hair

all of the boys are known for their hair - maddux because it is so crazy. but even he thought this hairdo (that reminded me of uncle brad a la middle school) was a little too crazy to be serious. love.

pastor brad

coincidentally, brad was preaching the sunday we were in fort myers.  not only that, but he was preaching at the church where we got married almost 12 years ago!  he had a bear of a story to cover (1 kings - division of israel between jeroboam and rehoboam) and he did a good job considering the pressure of having his big sister in the audience... :)

after church brad and abby had to be available to answer questions about the church they are planting in gainesville so we used the time to recreate a picture that we had taken in front of a stained glass window after our wedding - now with kids.  unfortunately, the kids were not feeling it because they were so hungry for lunch (manning just couldn't take his eyes off the window).  once again, there wasn't a clear 'good' one so i post them all because i love the different expressions - especially maddux.

now i suppose i need to find the picture from our wedding, scan it and post it too... maybe.

manning and wyatt being entertained by straws

farewell picture with me and my 'little' brother brad

ford wouldn't hug or give a high-five but uncle matt's suggestion of "fingers" got a response and a smile.

and then we were off to the beach and uncle brad, aunt abby and their crew were off to their new home in gainesville!  we were so happy to get to see them in fort myers one more time.  next time we will have to visit them in gainesville.  love.

bye, uncle brad and family

it occurred to me that i wasn't in any of the pictures from their visit.  thankfully, they hadn't left yet (because i usually have this thought after our visitors have left).  unfortunately, there wasn't really time for me to make myself presentable (or get dressed).

one of me and the kids.  we couldn't get one with just brad and abby's kids so we just went with everyone.

me and my little brother, brad.

brad and all of the kids.

jude wanted to spend a little more time with manning and was the only one really willing to have his picture taken this morning.

we should have taken some with aunt abby too.  i thought i had more pictures with her but the few i did get aren't very clear.  now i just have to remember that when we go to florida next year...  love.

weather, weather

the plan for today was to walk to wendy's for lunch and get some ice cream on the way back.  the forecast wasn't great for the afternoon but it had said that the rain wouldn't start until 1pm and the day was much, much cooler than it had been all week so we quickly hustled all of the kids dressed and into shoes.  as we were rushing to the door, uncle brad checked his phone one more time only to see that the rain was moving in much faster than we had thought and would make the walk difficult.  so on to plan b - playing in the yard until lunch time and then going to chuck e. cheese for lunch.

the kids were all pretty excited to be outside.  uncle brad got 'batting practice' going in the yard and madelyn and mason rode bikes on the sidewalk (annabell tried madelyn's bike but gave up once she fell off).  mason is really disappointed that his bike doesn't have petals.  maddux really wants to ride the balance bike but the seat is too high.  we might have to lower it down and let maddux use it.  mason seems quite content with the tricycle for now.

 maddux just took a ride in his cozy coupe.  i think mason took it for a spin too.

after t-ball, uncle brad got in on the sidewalk chalk action (i think it might have just been an excuse to lay down).

we could sort of see dark clouds starting to move in and when we went in for a snack it started pouring.  we might not have even made it to wendy's before it started raining, so uncle brad made a good call.

chuck e. cheese was the busiest i have ever seen it, but it still wasn't too bad.  the worst part was that we didn't get to really spend any time together.  we had to sit at separate tables and then were focused on keeping track of our own kids and didn't really even see each other the rest of the time.  the kids had a lot of fun though.

maddux, ford and mason

this is the kids' favorite game.  they like that no one has to wait their turn to throw balls at the targets on the screen.

madelyn definitely had a good time.

and i let maddux ride for the first time.

the best part?  none of my kids (or theirs) threw up.  all three kids had taken ill and were throwing up the two days before so i was a little nervous to have them away from the house. so happy that we were able to do something fun on their last day with us.  and we even drove over to the ice cream shop we were going to walk to for an after dinner treat.  love.

cousins!

my brother, brad, and his family drove up from florida to visit us for the week.  we had 7 kids, 5 and under, at our house!  it wasn't any where near as bad as i was prepared for and i think everyone had a really nice visit.  it did get a little loud, but mainly it was fun!

maddux, annabell, madelyn, mason ready for a morning walk on the trail

ford and madelyn

maddux needed extra pictures of him saying "cheese"

craft time with mason, jude, madelyn, annabell and maddux

all seven - maddux, mason, annabell, manning, madelyn, jude and ford - watching a movie

and maddux fell asleep in this awkward position during the movie

we had two rainy days (one that was forecast to be rainy and one that actually was) and three of our kids vomiting (madelyn, maddux and mason caught it while they were visiting) so we didn't get out as much as planned.  we did venture out some - see my other posts.  love.

seeing/meeting the family!

sunday morning we got up and went to church with the family.  we had gotten in around 10:30pm the night before so we were tired (especially matt after driving for almost 20 hours), but it wasn't too bad to get up and get going.

madelyn was so excited to get to see her cousins!  and i was excited to meet our two new nephews who were born after our last visit two years ago!

madelyn and annabell - instant friends.

madelyn, briana, annabell and ford (not sure if it was humidity or a smudge that made all the pictures blurry)

after church, everyone went home for naps before a big family dinner at big pop and grandma's that night.  since the kids weren't tired, they were entertained by big pop and grandma.

feeding the catfish

big pop and maddux watching the catfish eat

and then everyone else arrived. there were 8 kids - madelyn is the oldest at 4 and maddux is the youngest at 9/10 months - it was a little crazy to say the least.  uncle brad and uncle josh helped to get everyone riled up too.

braydon and mason at the train table.

madelyn and briana

6 of the kids at b.p. and gma's play area

the serious jude

madelyn and annabell

uncle brad meeting maddux

the girls' table - madelyn, briana and annabell

uncle josh push-ups

uncle josh was already worn out by the time i saw what was going on, but he pumped out a few more for me to get some video.  the kids loved it!

josh and the kids ready for brownies

braydon, aunt adrienne and maddux

we had so much fun eating snow crabs (my favorite) and catching up.  a perfect way to start our visit.  love.