Aubrey and Caleb's trip to Florida

The switch off from our van to my parents car was more emotional for me then I thought it would be. The minute we arrived at the gas station just miles outside of Jonesburro, Arkansas the kids were more then ready to hop in "grandpa and grandma's cool car where the roof goes up". Aubrey immediately grabbed her car seat for the trade off. After handing over the kids, their insurance card (when Caleb is involved you can never be to sure), and their favorite kid cd we waved goodbye. Talk about quiet. We didn't know what to do. We just stood their until the Florida license plate was completely out of view. I wanted to call my dad's cell phone right away and see if the kids were okay but Andy said no. The drive home for us was nice, peaceful, and relaxing. Thank you Marlene for watching Ainsley for the day!4 hours into our drive home they called! "M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I!" My parents taught them how to spell Mississippi, they taught them "Alabama the beautiful" and "Florida the sunshine state!" I was very impressed!While Aubrey and Caleb were gone our list of things to do was extremely long. Painting Aubrey's room, gutting the kitchen, and putting in a newer kitchen was the plan. Aubrey's room was a breeze to paint...pink, purple, and yellow. But the kitchen was another story. I had each night planned out, step by step, so that we could be organized and on schedule. How stupid am I?? Gutting the kitchen was fun (although I wasn't aloud to help because I am pregnant -how much crap is that??? I know I am pregnant, trust me, but I am not incapable of doing manual labor-). We were lucky enough to have the Hubble family come and help. It was going really well until we found mold and the pipe under the sink completely rusted and snapped in half. Stupid old house!! The mold was an easy fix but the pipe is still under going installation along with the new dishwasher tubes. I will post an updated picture as soon as you can tell a difference. Until then I have no kitchen sink.

Meanwhile in Florida the kids are having the time of there lives!

It took less then 24 hours for Caleb to pop his bed. After that they had to sleep in Aunt Steffaney and Aunt Sydneys bed. They didn't seem to mind. They loved chillen with "The tickle Monster!"They went to Sand Destin!They went to the Aquarium! They saw the dolphin show, the sea otter show, and all sorts of fun Florida stuff! They even got splashed by the dolphins (they weren't big fans of getting wet)!They went to the park and fed the ducks!
They went shopping at Destin Commons...

and played at the little park and little water shooters outside of the shops!

They went to the park in Navarre.

They loved being able to transfer from park, to water toys, to the beach in just a matter of steps!

They went to Navarre Beach and Caleb loved the RED FLAG waves.

Aubrey preferred to just play in the sand. She thought the waves were too big and the water tasted like salt!

They went and saw "UP" in 3D. When I asked them what the movie was about they said "It was about a funny chubby boy!" I asked them "why was he funny?" They said "Oh, Grandpa and Grandma laughed at him a lot!"

They also went to Crestview and played in the stake center gym while "grandpa" had a meeting, they went to the HBTS pool, and to multiple McDonalds. They loved going to church with my parents and met a little girl named Ainsley and a little boy named Caleb. They thought that was pretty cool. There was also an incident that happened in the front yard with the Stahura family but thank goodness they weren't strangers!:)

On the way back to meet us they went through Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and at last Branson, MO! We were so glad to see them. We had missed them a lot, Ainsley especially missed Caleb. Every day she would wake up and said "kk", after two days I finally let her sleep with Caleb's pillow. Spending time alone with Ainsley was a piece of cake. She slept in, took naps, laughed and played, and went to bed on time! I started and finished all 4 Twilight books and taking only one child to my doctors appointment was a delight!
We are so grateful and thankful to be together as a family again. I think it was good for them to spend time with my parents. We are so thankful for all that they did with the kids, all that they taught them, and for all the different things they got to see and do!!!
Things the kids say now
"Grandpa painted my nails!"
"Joseph Smith died. A bad man killed him. He is my grandpa."
(I think they were a little confused and meant uncle but still great knowlegde)
"Grandma reads the millions hundreds millions cat book!"
"Grandpa was driving really fast and got in trouble by a police man who didn't wear a hat!"
"Misquitos bite me and drink my blood. My blood is sweet!"
"Get off your bumb!"

**update on baby "no name" Griner...my blood pressure was normal for the first time in my entire pregnancy!!! The baby weighs 3 pounds 1 ounce and I am about 32 weeks along. The ultra sound was really fun to see. I have never seen it with the baby so far along!! The ultra sound lady pointed out a little section along the top of the babies head and said "Wow, your baby has lots of hair!" How cool is that!! Very cool! The doctor will call tomorrow with the lab results and on Saturday I will go and take the 3 hour GD test. (That is if my doctor actually transfers the paper work this time! ahg!!)
***also, HAPPY BIG 30 BIRTHDDAY ANDY! I love you!

Graduation!
In all honesty the idea of a pre-school graduation sounded a little over the top to us. Especially with Aubrey going to pre-school again next year. But with the announcement that Aubrey will be dismissed from the speech program having reached the appropriate improvement needed to start kindergarten without a special ed class, we have reason to celebrate!!!

Since it was such an important celebration for Aubrey I decided that taking Caleb/Ainsley with me to the event would overshadow her acomplishement...plus there is only so much a pregnant mom can take! So Andy took a long and early lunch break and went to Aubrey's school! I figured it was for the best because I always feel stupid being 1 of 2 adults that speech english. Every other adult speaks spanish (hense the special speech program)and Andy fits right in!Items required for a special graduating: A new dress and head band. Other items that Aubrey thought was manditory were make-up (a light blush, pretending to put on mascara, and my lip stick), perfectly painted finger/toe nails, and curled hair.

She stood my the famous Joe the entire time!Receving the "most important" diploma! Mrs. Susan and Miss Jamie
(Aubrey is actually smiling!!! Its a miracle!)Her pre-school class. You would have never thought there were so many girls in her class. All of which she has never mentioned! For the past school year we have heared about Joe, Casey, and Gherbetto!!
We are so grateful that Aubrey had the opportunity to go to the pre-school and receieve the correct amount of speech therapy she needed. It was been a rough 2 years trying to find her the therapy she needed to begin talking. We love her and we are so proud of how far she has come!! Being able to have converstations with Aubrey mulitple times a day has been wonderful. She sees life in a completely MAGICAL and inoccent light and we are so grateful for the part she plays in our family!

Mother's Day Weekend!The Saturday before Mother's Day our list of things we had to get done kept growing and growing! Luckily, Andy's parents offered to take Aubrey/Caleb to an indoor water park in Clinton. Aubrey/Caleb were BEYOND excited to spend time swimming with their grandparents and having just one child for the afternoon was very exciting!!
After dropping Aubrey/Caleb off in Lone Jack I got back to find Ainsley just waking up from a nap and Andy finishing 1 part to the 7 part patio set. We knew we had to get to the store and get the van cleaned out so I told Ainsley to get ready so we could go. She quickly handed me a head band and grabbed Aubrey's purse! All of the essentials a young lady needs to go shopping!
Going through a busy Walmart with just Ainsley was delightful. We got in and out in less time and with our sanity still in tact! Thank you Paul and Marlene for taking the kids swimming and to McDonalds!

Mother's Day morning went rather smoothly even with the construction guys showing up. While Andy was packing up the Van Ainsley fell out:( She was very sad and my excitement about taking a family picture faded quickly! Despite Ainsley getting hurt we were still able to leave for Windsor on time!! This is the 2nd year we have surprised Andy's mom! The kids made a fun sign, we prepared a yummy dinner and desert so that when she got home from church she would be surprised!

It only took 15 minutes for Aubrey and Ainsley to fall asleep. Caleb (of course) was hyper and excited the entire drive!

It was a nice Mother's Day. It almost ended perfectly until Caleb fell in the Van biting threw both his top and bottom lips! Blood every where. How Caleb's two front teeth manage to keep intact are a miracle!

I would like to add these pictures because it shows how bizarre my kids are. To say that this past week has been a little stressful is an understatement. Napping while the construction guys have been here has been hard and with the rainy weather we have felt cooped up! Nap time usually goes from 12:30-2:30...if you do not sleep you have to stay in your room until 2:30. On Tuesday Caleb sang, banged toys, and jumped loudly up and down until 2:15...at 2:30 I went to get him out and he was asleep (in his mess of a room) on the floor with his comforter and pillow.

Ainsley thought it was hilarious and took the time to steal Caleb's fruit loops!


*Such went the rest of the week. Ainsley has started Terrible Two's. Not just any Terrible Two's. The ultimate, terrible, of all Two's!!! Also, as of Thursday she has started to say "NO" to everything. Even if she really mean yes. What a toot!
*Update on Griner "no name" baby.... he has jumped from the under 10% to the 30%. His heart rate is good! I tested too high on my Glucose test and on the 30th I have to take the 3 hour one. No fun.
GOOD NEWS: THE SWING SET IS DONE!!!!

*Caleb update:
Following almost 4 days of a bad cough, 4 very long sleepless nights, and no fever my fear that what we thought was just allergies might be turning into strep pneumonia again started to settle in. After speaking to a friend she mentioned Croup. I googled it. Caleb has every exact symptom. It explains his strange behavior and desire to drink water almost all day long. Poor Little guy. I hope he is better by the Florida trip. I would still like to take him to the doctor to make sure but Andy said hold out until Tuesday. Hopefully, he we can get him to rest and crank up the humidifiers.

One Month Later
Lessons learned....

First things first...Who do you think this is??

First Lesson learned....over treating your lawn. Our neighbors have been warning us about crabgrass since January. So we broke down and bought stuff to prevent crabgrass ($50). We thought the price was a little steep and since we were already getting dandy lions we thought laying down weed killer ($50) at the same time as the crabgrass stuff would save us time and money in the long run. We tried it on the back yard to make sure it would work. Not smart! Thank goodness we did not do it on the front lawn!!! The result: 40% of the grass in the back yard dead and as you can see from the picture we still have dandy lions.

Second lesson learned: Putting together a swing set. Very time consuming especially when you live in Kansas. Having all 4 of the yearly seasons in one week tends to put a halt on outdoor productivity! I must say that Andy has enjoyed the daily comments from all the neighbors!

Lesson 3: Indoor construction....what can you say about that. Caleb loves his new friends (Brian and Judd...they are very Large construction men that have been at our house almost every day for the last 2 1/2 weeks). They seem to entertain Caleb and Ainsley loves to sit and watch. I have been happy that they have let Caleb help but the other morning when I heard them say "Caleb can you hand me that gun, buddy!" I had to put my foot down. Do they not understand the damage that CALEB, of all children, could do with a nail gun!!!!!!
There have been multiple set backs, one that worked in my favor (FINALLY) and I get an office.
Another set back was the sectional.... We had an employee coupon for Nebraska Furniture Mart so I talked Andy into going up there with me so that I could buy this AWESOME baby bedding I found. I couldn't justify spending that much money on the bedding but I thought with a discount I might be able to!!! Well, the discount on bedding was only $15.00. So I didn't get the much desired baby bedding. We ended up leaving the store with Andy's new sectional!! After selling our old sectional in less then 24 hours on craigs list, we pretty much broke even. ONE PROBLEM! After bringing the sectional home we relized it was too big by about 2 inches!!! Solution...the construction guys tore out our banister which left a hole in the wall and floor. You can see right down into the basement! The kids thought that was really cool and I found the construction guys egging on the kids to throw gold fish down the hole!!!! Luckily the couch covers the hole in the floor.

Lesson 4: With the basement unsafe, the family room under construction, the living room full of furniture, and rain outside it leaves very little options for child entertainment. LIFE IS CRAZY!! The construction guys have commented several times saying "Didn't you do all the laundry yesterday?"Since Andy has been working every spare minute on the swing set he clams we are never moving...EVER.

Lesson 5: One month later...since Andy only has 5 steps left on the swing set we invited some of the kids friends over to play!!! The 4 Rudd kids, the 3 Hubble kids, and our kids. What happens when you put all the kids together....bruises!

Lesson 5: The hardest thing is...when the construction guys leave because they forgot important screws. Usually it wouldn't be a problem....but if they leave a GIGANTIC whole in the wall with multiple glass doors on the other side, and wet culk around it, crazy doesn't even begin to cover it!!!:)

Other Lessons I have learned:
1. When you cancel an important doctors appointment because you have to drive across town, it is raining outside, and the kids are being bad your husband gets mad.
2. Letting Aubrey do her own hair for school and having dad take her so I can get an extra 15 minutes of laziness in is not a good idea. When I picked her up she had 3 Hair scrunchies around her wrist, 15 clips in her in her hair, and she painted her own finger/toe nails. Nice!
3. I thought it would be good when Ainsley could finally "hold her own" against Caleb. I change my mind!!! I will not go into detail because I have not figured out how to control the situation yet:(
4. Andy said I absolutely could NOT cut my hair because I get emotional and I do not think clearly while I am pregnant. So, while my sister was here I had her cut me some bangs. After almost 30 minutes of laughter from Steff/Syd they calmed down enough to tell me I look like Uncle Leon. RUDE!!! Andy came in the room and had a heart attack!! Well, it has almost been 3 weeks and I love my bangs. Andy says they are okay. I think he is just glad they will be grown out by June!

News:
Congrats to Seth on graduating BYU with his bachelors in Neuro Science!! Good Luck with your move and house hunt!
Congrats to Kristen on passing her big Nursing exam and graduating!!!
A BIG SUPER BIG congrats to Aubrey Jean!!!!! Monday she was released from the Speech program! I am so proud of her! She really has come a long way!!
And lastly a selfish congrats to me....I am very excited to announce that my parents have happily suggested that Aubrey/Caleb come and spend 2 weeks with them in Florida!! Dad has agreed not to cut Calebs hair and plans are finalized! I have never spent a full day without the kids so I am a little worried but VERY VERY excited!!! In 2 weeks I will be driving to awesome Memphis to meet my parents!!