The Newlyweds

John and I seem to sometimes be drawn to the silliest shows. This season I got to watching the show "The newlyweds". It started out with about 8-10 newlywed couples living in one house. They compete for the big money pot in the end. Each week a couple is voted out. Last night I was laughing so hard!!! They make them do things like decorate a room together, pack a mini van for a trip (everything had to fit and the trunk had to close and it was A LOT of stuff), work together to get roaches out of a kitchen, cook together, pick out each other's clothes, answer questions and see if the husband/wife answers match, and so on. One time all the men (dressed alike) had to stand in a line. The women (blindfolded) had to go down the line and see if they could pick out their husband's bottom by just squeezing it. Sounds a little crazy I know but it was so funny! Another challenge involved a chef coming to the house and fixing a huge breakfast for the couples. He had everything from fruit and granola to Belgian waffles and ham. It was a huge buffet with many choices. The women were told to go fix their plates but told not to eat it yet. Then the men had to go out and see if they could pick which plate was their wife's. It was hilarious hearing the men describe how and what their wives liked to eat. John and I of course started talking about what our plates would look like. I think John would do pretty good. He knew that I would choose bacon over sausage, have a waffle or pancake but not toast, eat my egg fried with no runny inside and most likely have some fruit but not bother with granola or yogurt. John and I are so DORKY! The show is much like the newlywed game show but this show is not just answering questions...they have to do physical competition and challenges. It is pretty clean and pretty funny. So John and I were sitting there one night talking about how funny it would be to do it with all our friends and compete against one another to see which old married couple would reign supreme!!! Let's see...the Brewers, the Cliburns, the Beardens, the Bailes, the Gays, the Cummings, the Shorts, the Connells.....anyone interested????

Swimming Lessons

The past two years we have done swimming lessons at the Killearney Way Swim Club. It is convenient (like 5 minutes from the house) and fairly reasonably priced. I have really liked the teachers. Emily has had the same teacher for now three years. They get all the kids in the pool and ask them to do several things to see what level they are a, then they divide the kids up into skill level groups. The past two years there has been a lot of kids so they have divided the kids into four different groups. This year, there are only 11 kids this session so there are only two teachers. This causes the problem of not being able to divide the kids into many different skill level classes. There are kids that don't even put their face in the water to those that need to work on their strokes. Emily falls into the top level in that she knows how to swim and tread water etc but needs to work on different strokes and side breathing. John Daniel has come a LONG way since last year and is actually swimming really well. He isn't scared but I am not sure if he could "save himself" if he got pushed in and panicked. He can hold his breath for a really long time but doesn't understand how to get a breath or tread water while swimming and needs to work on floating on his back and doing the back stroke. Anyways, because there are only two teachers, John Daniel got put with the older group with Emily. So my four year old is now swimming the length of this huge pool and learning how to side breath. He is hanging tough with the other four kids and I guess at least he isn't stuck with the ones that are still getting used to putting their face in. We will see how the next two weeks go!

Cooking like my grandmothers

Today we had John's grandfather and his wife over for lunch. They have not been to our home since John Daniel was born and John was excited to show off his renovations and have them see little Molly. We see them two or three times a year but we always go to their house and she feeds us very well so we were excited to be the host and get to feed them. In thinking about what I wanted to fix, I was trying to think of something light and summer-like. I make a chicken salad that is pretty good so we did that and put it on croissant rolls. As a side dish I decided I wanted to tackle something that I have never made before..... my grandmother's famous (at least in our family) Greek Salad! I actually have only eaten it one time and it was my Dad's 60th birthday. He begged her to make it. Apparently she used to make it a lot back in the old days and the family all loved it. But it is kind of a pain and she had not done it in quite some time. When I saw it for the first time it was an amazing sight for the eyes and tasted so yummy. There are MANY ingredients and it has potato salad in the middle of it (and I have never made potato salad). When done...it is so beautiful (if food can be beautiful)!!! John encouraged me to do it and so we bought all the ingredients and John helped me put it all together. It has lettuce, watercress, avocado, beets, radishes, green peppers, the potato salad, green onions, cucumber, olives, anchovies, shrimp, tomato and feta cheese. You layer it all on a big platter and it is sure to impress. It was fun and I loved cooking with my hubby. We do well in the kitchen together. We stayed up until 11 pm last night cooking it all and cutting veggies. I learned something new as well....if you boil potatoes first with the skin on them, after they are soft the skin comes right off. No peeling the skin with a peeler! That was awesome! When I placed it on the table today, John's grandfather and Sue were impressed and they said it was yummy. It was so much fun to cook for them. Now my Dad wants a salad for himself (this is one of his favorite things).

I am a very lucky girl in that I got to experience both of my grandmother's cooking. They are/were excellent cooks. I love making their recipes. I cannot wait to tell my grandmother that I did the Greek salad! She likes to share her recipes with me. Some of my Granny Thornton recipes that I like to cook are chicken Italian, beef stew (have not perfected this one yet), and now Greek salad. Some of the recipes that I like to cook that were my "Roosh's" are her macaroni and cheese, squash casserole, meatloaf, and sweet potato souffle. I hope I can pass these favorites down to my girls!

I need my space!

This is a post where you who are reading it are going to think that I am impatient and frustrated mom. Well I am at times and that is the truth but I love my kids dearly!! Anyhow, Speaking to my mom friends out there that read this.....Do you ever get to the end of the day and you are just through!!!! Through with answering little people questions, through with getting one more drink for them, through with wiping bottoms, through with saying no, through with the complaints, through with the getting up and down, through with getting them food, through with the cleaning up, through with hearing Mommy one more time, just FINISHED! I sometimes get to the end of the day usually around 8 or so and I am so finished. I get impatient and ugly and so tired!!! Once I put them to bed, if I hear one more Mommy can I have some water, it may just put me over the edge!! I have learned that I need that time at night to chill. I literally sit on the couch some nights and just close my eyes and take in the quietness. Most of the time, I make myself a cup of decaf coffee to enjoy as well. Is that really so bad???

Another thing....I decided that I wanted one space in the house that was kid free...they take over the rest of the house with their clothes and toys so why can't I have one room that is "just for the grown-ups". Well I decided that this would be our bedroom. This is difficult b/c it is in the very front of the house and it "catches all" as we walk in the house. Over the last couple of months, we have tried to tell the kids our bedroom is off limits. They have to stop at the thresh hold and ask to come in. It is still a work in progress and Emily especially (being the nosey one) cannot stand it if she is "left out" so she has a hard time with it.

So now you all think I dislike being a mommy after reading this and that I am a complainer...but it is so not true!!!!!! I love them to death...just need some me time and me space!!!

Some good days

We have had some good days this week. John has been off since Tues and we haven't had much planned...so nice sometimes!!!! We have been at home for the most part, I have gotten caught up on laundry, John's taken care of the yard, we've washed the cars, gone swimming at Trousdell, made breakfast, lunch, and dinner here everyday except for last nights dinner, watched a couple of movies, played outside, I've gone on a run with the kids, etc etc. Sometimes it is so nice to just be at home! I've done a lot of cooking and am feeling very domestic this week :)

Some funny things:

Yesterday Emily announced to me that she was going to be John Daniel's maid. She said she was going to take care of him and clean up for him. This is sooooo not my daughter. Let me explain...John Daniel is always pretty helpful..he is consistent with it. Never minds lending a hand, always interested in what you are doing whether it be cooking, mowing the grass, or laundry. Emily on the other hand (she is so much like me!!!) is either high on the mountain... busily working away being super helper or low in the valley...could care less about helping or lending a hand and would rather sit in front of the TV. This is so like me! Anyways, I thought it was funny she wanted to wait on her brother. So she kept coming in and out of the room asking me if John Daniel could have a snack or a drink etc. I went in their room to check on them after a while and the room was spotless!!!!! Emily had cleaned up the entire room and John Daniel is sitting on his lower bunk bed, feet propped up on a pillow, eating an apple with a very content look on his face. Emily was standing at the foot of the bed waiting until he needed something else. I guess he figured he better enjoy it while it lasted. It was adorable to say the least!

Two day ago John Daniel kept complaining that his head was hurting. Then he said he felt like his head was going to fall off. Strange I must say!!! I am a nurse but I cannot say that I am very compassionate sometimes. My answer to them most of the time is "if I cannot fix it, then you just have to get through it." Funny, I say this to a million patients on the phone every week at work when they are complaining about colds!!! Anyways, I said to him, "well I can't make it go away and I really just think you need some good sleep." The next morning he wakes up and comes into the bedroom and says to me, "mommy my head doesn't hurt anymore..you were right all I needed was some good sleep!" Glad I was right this time!!!!

Good "Old" Car

As one of our little S.O.S service projects for the summer the kids and I wanted to "serve" our Daddy by cleaning out, detailing, and washing his car. We did this in conjunction with Father's Day on Monday when he was sleeping after his night shift. As I was in the car helping the kids wipe it down, I started thinking about what a great car it had been. It is a 1999 Honda Civic with only 80,000 miles on it that was given to me by my Uncle Raymond when I graduated Nursing school. It was my first new car and he let me go and pick it out and bought it with cash! He didn't let me go crazy, there were limits. I remember him telling me that I couldn't have a sun roof or a 6 disk CD changer/player. Those were luxuries! Funny! Anyways, this was not the first car he had given to me. I got his old red Honda civic when I was 16. He gave me his car free of charge and boy did I think I was cool...one of the first in my class to have a car! Come to think of it, all the cars John or I have owned (except John's truck) were because of my uncle. First was the used Honda civic, then the brand new 1999 Honda civic that we still have. When my uncle died in the year 2000, my parents so graciously used some of the money that was left to them from his estate to buy John and I a Toyota 4 runner (brand new, no car payment) when I was pregnant with Emily. I think we did pay them money every month as a car payment but not very much and not for very long. We sold John's truck at that point because it was the "oldest" vehicle we had. Then right after we had J.D., John found a really good deal on a barely used 2004 Honda Odyssey so we traded in the 4 Runner because it was paid in full and could get us a REALLY low van payment considering it was worth a lot. It was hard getting rid of it. I think that was mine and John's favorite vehicle we have ever had! But it did make us have a really low van payment (our first ever vehicle payment at that thanks to my uncle and parents). So back to the Honda Civic.....it has been a great car. We took it on our honeymoon and now it is mainly used for to and from work drives and errands without the kids. Whoever has the kids gets the van. The civic has never needed major work. It gets awesome gas mileage and does the job it needs to do. John says we are going to run it in the ground or give it to Emily when she turns 16 :) Thanks to my uncle who loved me like his own and always was so generous...we have never have had a huge car payment and have not really had to worry about vehicles. I know he would have been proud that we still have that little car. Or knowing him....he would have figured out someway to buy us a new one...he was always like that...he wouldn't outright give you money or things..he would make up some story about how it benefited him to give it to you or that he had some extra cash he needed to get rid of, etc. etc. Even though John aches for a truck sometimes, he knows and I know we have a lot to be thankful for in that little car and you can't beat the price! I know our little 10 year old car loved its bath, vacuuming, and wipe down! It made me feel good to treat it to a "spa" day!

The Actress

Emily did Petite Players camp this last week. We have never participated in Petite Players but have had acquaintances that have been a part of their productions and it sounded cute. We decided to try a camp this year. Emily did their one week Sound of Music camp. She loved it and came home so excited everyday. They did crafts (which ended up being the stage props), singing, dancing, choreography, and acting. Certainly right up Emily's alley! The owner/director/teacher is a mom...she is one of those very high energy, talks loud, over exaggerated, super magnetic personality types of people.....like you are exhausted after speaking to her for over a couple of minutes. She is awesome for kids and super great for shy kids. Emily took to her right away. Another really cool thing is that she had three young girls that had "graduated" from petite players (it only goes up to 5th grade) that were helping her. Emily told me one of the girl's names was Katherine. Small world....turns out two of the three girls were sisters and the girls that I babysat for my entire four years of college! I babysat for a family of four..a boy and his three younger sisters while I was attending college. I babysat for date nights, outings, overnight trips and one time a whole week. The family paid me well and it was a perfect college job. They kept me very busy! John and my brother Nic would help a lot. The Andersons became part of our family and when John and I got married, the three oldest children were in our wedding. We have kept up over the years through letters, Christmas cards and accidental "run-ins" around town. I love the family and they seemed to love us! Anyways, the two younger girls were "helpers" at the petite players camp and recognized Emily. They spoke to us the second day and I about fell out of my seat when I saw them because they have changed so much. I started babysitting for them when the two older ones were in elementary school, the third was like 2, and the fourth was not even born yet. So to see them now was shocking. The oldest is a Junior in college, 2nd is a senior in High school, 3rd is going into 9th grade, and the youngest is going into 6th grade. I felt so old!!! The kids I babysat for were now like basically babysitting my child. Very cool though.

The show on Friday where the girls got to show the parents what they had been doing all week was so awesome and one of the cutest things I have ever seen. John and I both cried just cause it was so dang cute and sweet! They did their very own version of the Sound of Music that made me feel like I was sitting in the basement of my house watching my daughter and her friends put on a "play" that they had been working on all summer. It was just adorable but small and sweet! They learned like 5 songs from the movie as well as dancing and stunts! Pretty impressive for four days. I loved that it was a classic story they were depicting as well instead of a teeny bopper modern day movie. I would love to sign Emily up for the fall semester but they are full already...something we will think about for the Spring.

Big Girls Don't Cry

So Molly cries when you lay her on her back. She is ready to go, sit, wants to crawl, wants to be looking out and around at her world. Don't even try to make her feel like a baby or she will have a FIT!!! So she is 2.5 months and want so sit straight up. The only option, other than holding her all the time, is the BUMBO seat which I think says "not to be used for under six months.

Blossoms

Emily and I are joining the ranks of all great entrepreneurs! We are now in the business of making flips flops, headbands and belts. Our business is called Blossoms (named by John). Just kidding really but we did make some cute flip flops! A friend of mine at church, Ms. Courtney, is the ultimate girlie girl. She made Molly the cutest hair bows when she was born. I can detach the bow and put a different color bow in the headband. Genius!!! Ms. Courtney is now pregnant with her third girl and loves to deck her girls out in the cutest dresses and accessories. They showed up one day at VBS with the cutest flip flops on. Ms. Courtney had made them! She told me how and well I went and got the materials and Emily and I made three pairs. I think they are adorable on little girls! Emily and John started brainstorming and thought of making headbands and belts. The coolest thing is the cost. I made a pair of "fancy" flip flops for under $5! Ms. Courtney said she saw some in a store that looked exactly like the ones she made for $30. I wish I was more crafty sometimes...half the stuff you buy in stores like Cotton Colors, Loli and the Bean, and My Favorite things (some of my favorite stores) are things that you can make at home for so much less than what they cost in those stores!!!

S.O.S

Our summer of service is off to a good start! Last week we made sour cream pound cake and box brownies for our neighbors. It has been neat seeing the kids get excited about it. They stood outside last week watching and waiting for our neighbors to get home so we could walk over there..it was cute. Today we made homemade brownies for John's night shift EMS crew. I had seen Paula Dean on the cooking network making her decadent brownies that take FOUR sticks of butter (really sinful) and I wanted to make them but felt it was completely sinful to actually eat more than one and keep them in the house so we decided to make them and ship them off with Daddy to take to work. I have to say that VBS week might not have been the week to "cook" with the kids b/c it takes A LOT of patience that by now towards the end of the week I have little of. The kids helped a little and I did the rest. John Daniel really likes to cook and Emily is hit or miss. But we made the delicious brownies and cut them into squares and put them on a platter. John took them tonight and I wrote a "thank you for serving Leon County from John's wife and kiddos" note on the outside. John said everyone loved them. Hopefully the kids are getting the idea. It actually has been fun cooking and doing things for others. It really makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside doing it when people are totally not expecting it!

We are not perfect!

I feel the need to clarify....our family is not perfect!!! Sometimes after writing these blog posts, I feel as though it sounds like we are the perfect little family whom love each other so much, never fight, do fun things all the time, try to be the perfect little Christians, never get tired of each other etc. Truth is... I nor John nor our children are any of this and the real truth is you really only want to write about the good stuff. Honestly, if I haven't written in several days, it is most likely because we are having some rough days! I have had comments from several friends that make me think that sometimes they think that John and I never fight or that our family is just "perfect". Well it ain't so! John and I fight, we disappoint each other, we have unmet expectations, we yell at our children, the children yell at each other, we are not the perfect Christians...in fact most of the time fail miserably, there are many times I want to run away :) we act unloving, etc etc. We are just trying like everybody else to raise our children with morals and values and the love for Christ. John and I are trying to make our marriage one where we serve one another and keep each other first. It is hard on most days! If I didn't have the love and Grace of Jesus Christ, most days I would want to bury my head in the sand! We do love each other so much and do have some great times.....that's what is fun to write about!

Vacation Bible School!

This week is VBS at our church. The kids love it and are so sad that there are only two days left. This year's theme is the Boomerang Express Australian Outback. Emily's class is called the possums (which we have enjoyed joking with her about) and John Daniel's class is called the Gliders (he informed me this was a flying squirrel). They rotate around to different areas which include Worship Rally, Music, Snack, Recreation, Missions, Bible Class, and Crafts. It is very fast paced and loads of fun! We have contests boys vs girls to see who can bring in the most money for missions and food for Manna the food pantry. The kids get so into this! Everyone has so much energy and the adults act crazy and have as much fun as the kids. John and I taught a class last year together and he said to me at the beginning of the week that he was kinda sad that we weren't teaching this year. I have been volunteering as the campus nurse and John has been a greeter/do boy on the nights he could be there. Molly has gone to the "Coral Reef" to hang out with the other baby that is her age. This year there are over 200 kids on campus for VBS.

VBS is one of the first things we did at BFBC when we started looking around at churches on our side of town and I have to say it might be one of the biggest reasons we decided to join. BFBC really tries to take care of their kids. We have struggled this past year financially and when the children's minister decided to go back to Miami where she was from, the church decided not to fill her position. It was sad but there have been sooo many awesome volunteers that have stepped up to make the children's ministry work. One of the reasons I have always been impressed with VBS in particular is how the church staff is so involved. Pastor Mark will tell all the congregation that the entire staff helps with VBS and that is the number one priority this week during the summer. It is so true and I have seen it now for four years. Every pastor and every secretary, the groundskeeper/maintenance guy, and every assistant is on campus working with the kids in some way. The lady that keeps Molly each night is the church secretary (who has also worked all day at the church). The pastor does crazy silly skits and dressed up as Crocodile Dundee tonight( he wrestled a blow up alligator tonight in front of all the kids) and visits each class to talk about Jesus. The youth pastor and his wife do a special "big kid" VBS for the graduating 5th graders. The Music minister and his wife do all the music and teach the music classes. Pastor Mark's wife is teaching a 4th grade class (she has no children or grandchildren involved), the other pastor's assistants are teaching classes, many of the deacons are involved, and so on and so on. I can not tell you what it means as a mom to see that these people care about our kids and they don't even have kids attending themselves. It makes you want to be a part of it! And I love that all the adults can be so silly!!! We've had a kangaroo on campus all week (a crazy adult dressed up as a kangaroo that will only show her face if the kids do the Kangaroo Bop)!!!! We have had a blast once again!!!

Cute Buys!

The kids and I went shopping today and we found some cute items! The kids all got sunglasses and John Daniel found a hat that matches one his Daddy has...He was soooo excited!

Is it really PDF?

O.K. so Molly is sleeping 8 hours at night now pretty frequently. She sleeps from about 8:30-9:00 until 5:00 am (give or take 30 minutes on either side). She eats about six times a day and takes about 3 naps, sometimes with a 4th cat nap in the late evening. So all of this sounds pretty darn good!!!! Some people think it is something I have done. Some think I am a super scheduler. Others think that I just have good babies. Others think it runs in the genes. I seriously do not know. It is all just a crap shoot in my opinion sometimes (excuse the phrase). I do not lay her down yet and let her go to sleep all on her own and she does have a sleep prop as the books would call it (a pacifier). John is actually better at lying her down and getting her to go to sleep without being held.

When I was pregnant with Emily I took a class at church called Baby Wise or preparation for parenting. Boy am I glad I did. If anything it made me AWARE. I learned that babies can be taught and that they know if they are the center of the family real quick. Not that they are manipulators but they learn from what is being taught. It taught me not to let the really important things go down the tube when you are trying to care for this baby. It made me aware that every time a baby cries it does not mean that they are hungry. It made me aware that babies can be on a predictable schedule. It made me aware of the signs of hunger versus just wanting to snuggle. I think and know I am blessed to have never had a problem nursing so I know when my babies eat, they are getting a full feeding that should make them full. So when they cry after that, it is most likely something else. I learned that babies fight sleep.

I don't know if I use PDF (parent directed feeding) principles to the letter but I do know that being aware of the amount of time in between feedings and how many times a baby should eat a day etc has been so helpful. Molly and I are on the right track and if anything she is predictable and I pretty much know what she wants and when she needs it give or take 30 or so minutes. It makes for easy planning and actually lets you enjoy the baby and be able to do things. I am so glad that I was AWARE and not clueless going into this baby thing.

some funny things

I was saying for the one hundredth time the other day how daddy didn't sleep all night because he was working so we needed to be quiet and Emily said...."Is Daddy Nocturnal?" I think she just got through finishing a lesson on nocturnal animals at school.

John Daniel was dancing around in the house and came up to John and said "feel right here daddy" (pointing to where his heart is). John put his hand over John Daniel's heart and John Daniel said with excitement..."Do you feel it beeping?"

Our summer plans

I am not usually one to have every second of my kids' summer planned with camps etc but I guess because I was really nervous about having things to do with them while John sleeps; I have planned some activities and camps. Here are our plans:

June: VBS, petite players camp for Emily, Swim lessons (all last one week)
July: Swim lessons, Manners camp for Emily, Make a Mess camp for J.D. (all last one week)


We are also planning a trip to Wild adventures water park and/or Wakulla Springs, a 4th of July trip to St. Augustine, and hopefully John and I are going to Destin in August (with Molly) for a little time alone.

We also have our summer service projects to do and I have told the kids that we are doing some "homeschooling" with them to keep up their skills over the summer.

All of this mixed in between swim days at Nanny's, playing outside, and play dates with friends....hopefully we can keep busy and have some great family time as well!

We draw attention

The last couple of days, because they are John's work days, I have been out and about with the kiddos. We have had a play date with good friends, been to Wal-Mart, the free movie at the movie theater, chick-fil-A, Publix, Ace Hardware, Nee Naw's school, church, Wal-Mart again and so on.... I have noticed that we draw a lot of attention. I think it is having three kids. I'm sure that having a really cute baby helps but having one kid in my arms and two following along behind me like ducklings makes for a lot of stares, especially when you are in a really busy grocery store. I have known really large families and I don't really consider having three kids a "big family" but I guess considering that the average size of a family consists of having two kids...maybe we are on our way. I have gotten some funny comments lately, lots of stares, oohs and awhs, and lots of friendly help opening doors and such. Yesterday me and the three kids and the dog Lena went up to our friendly Ace Hardware to buy five bails of pine straw for the flower bed. I was carrying Molly, John Daniel followed, and then Emily who was carrying the dog lena. This older gentleman watched us as we walked in, paid for the pine straw, and came out, opened the trunk and waited for the man to come put the pine straw in. After staring at us for a while he yelled out to me in a chuckling kind of way...."so you went and got a dog cause you needed one more thing to take care of, huh!" We chuckled and went on our way. Today, I took the kids to chick-fil-A for lunch after our movie. Now the employees at chick-fil-A are always very helpful but today they were super helpful. I had Molly in my arms because it wasn't her nap time so she wouldn't want to stay in the peanut shell and of course I didn't have the stroller. The employees brought my food to the table, set up the kid's food for them, got ketchup, BBQ, napkins, straws, etc. and brought it to the table, emptied our trash when we were done, and opened all the doors for us. WOW, and it is a fast food restaurant! Gotta love that place! Anyways, it is fun having a "big family" and I like the comments and stares and help I get. My kids are well-behaved so at least they are good stares and ones that usually stem from good thoughts.... at least I think :)

Snuggles before bed

Things I have learned/noticed......

Things I have learned and noticed since John started working nights.......

1. My children do not know how to whisper or keep low voices!

2. Wood floors make a lot of noise!

3. Every little noise seems like a really BIG noise now!

4. The pitter patter of the dog's nails on the floor as she runs through the house is so annoying!

5. It is lonely watching TV by myself at night.

6. Having breakfast cooked for me in the morning by my wide awake husband is super nice!

7. I usually like getting out of the house but feeling like I HAVE to get out of the house so John can sleep isn't as fun.

8. I cannot stay up till 1am or 2 am in the morning talking and texting my husband who is at work and still function the next morning.

9. It is kind of fun texting my husband at the 4/5 am feeding and having a conversation in the middle of the night with him.

10. Eating dinner at 5:30 or 6:00 before John goes to work makes for a nice relaxed evening.

11. I love my 9:30 pm starbucks that John brings to me sometimes when he comes to check on me at night.

12. The bed feels so much bigger without him in it!

13. Molly really likes that she gets to sleep in his spot sometimes :)

14. TV is a good filler in the mid morning hours when John is sleeping and I have two children that say it is too hot to go outside.

15. John looks cute sleeping in the bottom bunk of the kid's bed and get this... he switches and sleeps on the top bunk sometimes b/c the kids fight over which of their beds he will sleep in.

16. We use the coffee pot morning, noon, and night around here!

17. The kids love when daddy brings home donuts from Krispy Kreme for breakfast.

18. Finding "mommy daddy time" is hard when he is home and awake with us smack dab in the middle of the afternoon when the kids are wanting his attention.

19. The kids still don't get that Daddy works ALL night long and is awake ALL night long...I think they just think he really likes to take long naps!

20. Last but not least...it isn't as terrible as it may seem and we are making it work and it gets better every rotation.