My camera has died....

I apologize for the lack of pics and thus the lack of blogging. My camera died. HOWEVER, my parents and Cate and JD just returned from Disneyworld, and I'm assured that they have copious numbers of pics. Of course, I'm not all that convinced she knows how to get them off her camera so we'll see.

But, Shawn & I are going camera shopping this weekend. God bless the stimulus check or we'd be out of luck for a while.

In other news, you can see I changed the skin of my blog. Not really sure I like it, but I was tired, it was late, and I wanted to see if I could do it. Obviously, I could, but on this skin, the pics look kind of translucent, and you can see the waves under them. WEIRD.

Will post more when I have pics.

The Official Announcement....

The title makes it sound like I'm pregnant, doesn't it? Let's all have a moment of praise to God, that that is soooooo not true.

No, the official announcement is that JD is wearing underwear all the time. Shrek, Diego, lots of Spiderman, and Cars. Some of the Spiderman ones even glow in the dark. Stop a minute and envision that--too funny. Only buying one size of diapers is making me very happy.

Scarily enough, for the past couple of nights, he's even SLEPT in underwear. Granted, it initially happened by his sheer stubborness and my exhaustion. He wanted to sleep in underwear. I didn't want to fight. Of course, tonight he wanted to sleep naked. You'll be happy to know I drew the line there. No naked sleeping...

The kids just got back from Luckenbach. I'll try to post some pics of that, of JD in underwear, and of Cate & JD's newly decorated Under the Sea bedroom in the next week or so.

BTW, Shawn is jealous that they don't make "Underoos" in grown-up sizes....

Some new pics!

These were taken at Kindergarten Field Day. It was HOT!!!


This was taken at JD's Preschool Graduation. It's a picture of Caitlin, Madison Simpson, JD, & Ella Simpson. They all feel like my kids :), and I'm pretty sure they feel like siblings. They certainly fight like siblings!!!




Last but not least, are my beautiful babies in the bluebonnets--well, at least 2 of them. The only pic I could get of JD was of him running away from the bees he saw hovering around some of the flowers.

Free at last...thank God, we're free at last

Almost. Almost free at last. Technically, Cate's not released from the penitentiary until Thursday, the 5th. Today was the End of Year Party, tomorrow's the Talent Show and New School Groundbreaking, and Wednesday and Thursday are half-days and they get to wear jeans--woo hoo! The kids are so ready--and trust me--the teachers are too.

We're already in the swing of all things SUMMER. Swim lessons started today at the Y. Cate is fearless; JD--not so much. He's currently determined not to put his face in the water/go under. In fact, at the beginning, he didn't want to even sit down and put his feet in. Finally, I told him that he couldn't go to Disneyworld and the beach this summer if he didn't have swim lessons. Both Cate's Mr. Eric and JD's Ms. Krista were great, and by the end of the lesson, both kids were excited--and exhausted. They have lessons M-Thurs this week and next. I got some great pics today. The weather was gorgeous and the kids look great up against the water--those blue eyes with that golden skin. As a redheaded whitey, I'm very jealous of how they golden up before my eyes. I go from white to red, then straight back to white. Occasionally, I turn a darker shade of pale. Thank goodness, they got Shawn's skin.

After swim lessons, we jump in to Drama Camp for Cate, then Disneyworld, and then possibly Arboretum Camp, and then my cousin's wedding in Georgia where Cate gets to be the flower girl. Lots going on. My kids, however, think that's fantastic. I'm not sure they'd ever come home willingly. They always want to GO.

Anyway, that's all for now. I just didn't want you all to think I'd fallen off the edge of the world.

YIPES--I almost forgot our big family news. Drum roll please.....my sister is pregnant, due beginning of December. Yes, 5 grandkids in 6 years. My parents are exhausted just thinking about it. Everything looks good. She's had 2 ultrasounds. The baby is growing well, and the heartbeat is strong. So hooray! One more baby for us all to spoil.

And one last thing--Quinn's finally decided that walking might, just might, be preferable to crawling. I'll try to snap some pics of him upright. He walks like a giant weeble wobble. Very funny to watch!

Our own personal zoo...

Monica Elrod & I decided it was a perfectly reasonable idea to take 8 kids to the zoo. We must have been on crack! But we had a great time. The weather was cool; the zoo wasn't crowded. Everyone could walk except Quinn. We did find ourselves obsessively counting. 1,2,3,.....8 to make sure we had everybody, LOL.

Here are some pics. Enjoy! I think the group ones with Ella & JD's interactions are hysterical!

Random Pictures

These pictures make me smile. The first 3 are Cate in her Pettiskirt. Too cute. She pretends she's holding a bouquet of flowers when she gathers up her skirt (sorry the first one's blurry, but it's the only "gathering flowers" one I have.

The next pic is of JD discovering the Horse Ride (which mentioned pulling on the reigns (DUH) in the instructions.) That one's funny b/c I had to pry him off that ride with a crowbar, but several weeks later when he had the opportunity to ride a real horse, he cried the whole time--despite having looked forward to it all week. Then he told all & sundry about it when it was over! Told them about it like he enjoyed it....

The last pic is of Quinn, JD, & Ella at Life Group at Steve & Kristen's house. Yes, that is a baby doll stroller. Yes, Quinn does fit. Yes, the instructions specifically say not to use it for a real baby. But how funny is that?

The End is in sight.............

I hate to sound triumphant bugles quite yet, but I can finally see the end...the end of 2 in diapers!! JD is on the verge of being potty trained. He's finally gotten the concept and more importantly, agreed to go along with the program. We had several days where we were great with pee. But now--we've had 3 solid days with all BM's flushed to the great beyond. That's fantastic--3 year old poo is beyond the pale. Seriously.

Bribery has been our method of choice, and it's worked out quite nicely. Today we had one accident, but it wasn't a total disaster. He did it in the bathroom; he just couldn't get his pants down fast enough.

I will say I've seen waaaaaaaaaay too much in the way of little boy privates lately. (Running around naked is apparently preferable to a pull up or underwear--whatever.) He's been very concerned--and sharing his concerns with me--about the ability of his privates to change size. Enough said.

And one last thing I must share--his first set of pull ups were Elmo pull-ups. Like all pull ups, they had pics on the front that blurred/disappeared when wet. There were two types of pictures--trophies and beach balls. Really, someone should have thought this through. Here are 2 direct quotes:

ME: JD, make sure you stay dry. Don't get your balls wet.

Really, no one thought about this?

And Quote 2:

JD: But Mommy, Mommy. My balls aren't wet; they still there.

Yes. Thank goodness.

We have since bought new pull ups that have flags on them. An improvement all around.