Destin, Florida

Mia, Kaden and Brenna at the Big Kahuna Water Park.

Mindy and Chris and their daughter Brenna

Jeff and Sarah

Kaden makes friends w/ the Birds during a show at the Resort

Family photo at Fuddpucker's where Kaden got his first fake tattoo...which better be the only tattoo he ever gets!!! :) Side Note-Fuddpucker's was the location of a night out on my Destin Bachlorette Party 6 years ago!

Group shot of Chris, Brenna, Mia, Jhean, Jaque and Mindy on the boat ride to the private beach. This was the only day Jhean was able to join us. She is 9 weeks pregnant and was sick the whole trip :(

Sarah, Mindy, Kendall and I board the choo choo at Harbour Walk for our oh so fun train ride!

Kendall and I at the Fireworks show

Mia and Brenna strike a pose while Kaden tries to play it cool at the pool

Kaden sports the perfect shirt while helping me w/ my crab legs at Harry T's

We returned yesterday from what is now going to be our annual pilgrimage to the beach. We usually visit the Destin area each summer, but found a new stomping ground this year as well as some awesome travel buddies. We stayed at the Emerald Grande at Harbor Walke Village. The place is its own little community right on the Destin Harbour complete w/ restaurants, entertainment, bars, boat docks, coffee shops, ice cream and shopping...my kind of place. Our condo was just the perfect size for all of us and had an awesome corner balcony w/ views galore. I loved drying my hair and looking out on the sail boats in the water. Our friend Jeff liked the balcony so much that he slept out there every night. The Harbour walk provided us w/ great seafood at Harry T's and Lucky Snapper and our New Orleans natives were right at home w/ a Daiquiri shop, Pat O's and Commander's Palace at our fingertips.

Our travel companions were our good friends Jeff and Sarah, Chris and Mindy and their daughter Brenna, and Chris' sister and her husband and daughter Mia. Jeff and Keith have been friends since they were 5 growing up in New Orleans and Jeff and his wife now live in the Atlanta area. Chris, Mindy and the others all live in New Orleans area. Its always a blast when we all get together. We did a lot of swimming and sun bathing on this trip. Kaden has become quite the little fish these days. However, we did manage to fit in a few activities...fireworks show, theater under the stars and ice cream, outlet shopping, go carts, flying kites, arts and crafts, train ride on the boardwalk, boat ride, Fuddpuckers dinner, and Kaden and Kendall's first trip to a water park! I, who rarely eats seafood, even feasted on crab cakes and crab legs :) I wish Sarah and I could have been video taped while trying to actually eat the crab legs!!!

My State of Mind

Do you ever feel like your head is going to spin off and you have so much to do that your not even sure where to begin??? Well, this is my dilemma! We returned last night from a 5 night 6 day vacation to Destin, Fl w/ friends. We had a blast and I will post pics from our trip soon but w/ Kendall's birthday and party this weekend, family visiting and trying to run a business while being gone for almost a week I have quite the task ahead of me. I'm also in the middle of that emotional state of mind that my baby girl is about to be one...this year has flown by and Kendall has developed into this beautiful enthusiastic happy wonderful girl and I want her party to be just as special as she is. Not to mention that I'm a little OCD when it comes to hosting a party.

"Everything is not a competition"

Our son Kaden is an over the top competitive kid. I'm sure this will work in his favor w/ sports or something one day, but right now its just a little annoying and frustrating. However, there are certain ways that I use his need to be first at everything in my favor. For example getting a bath or his teeth brushed, hurrying to get dressed, finding his shoes, etc. But...I think he is starting to catch on! Yesterday as we were getting loaded up into the car I told him "Kendall is going to be all buckled up and ready to go before you are." His response, quite frankly, was "You know Mommy not everything in life is a competition!" From the mouth of Babes! Don't you just love it when your words come back to bite you :)

Restaurant.com

We eat out a lot...to say the least. One of my favorite sites for saving on meals is restaurant.com I can generally get a $25 gift certificate to some of our favorite eateries for about $10. However, if you sign up for email alerts through couponmom.com then they can send you updates with special promotions (along w/ many other deals). Like this week the code is Kitchen and you get 60% off plus a $10 certificate for future purchase. It is a national company so I have used it for restaurants from Atlanta and Birmingham to New Orleans and Phoenix. If you live in the Cartersville area some of our favorites on the site include D Morgan's, Meeting Place, Johnny's Pizza, Old Mill, Fusco's, Elevation Chophouse, and Barbqutie. Happy Dining :)

Boating w/ Children :)

Kaden loved just swimming and floating in the water.
And helping Daddy drive the boat :)

Kendall loved eating (watermelon)

And more eating....

This fourth of July, believe it or not, was Kaden's first time on an actual boat. I had my parents watch Kendall for a couple of hours so I could take him out to Lake Allatoona aboard a friends parents pontoon boat w/ their kids. Not only was it his first time on a boat, but he also went tubing and rode a jet ski...all very kid safe I assure you. I still can't believe he wanted to do it in the first place and then that I allowed him to do something that jeopardized his life...ok well not really, but still not the normal activities I let him do! He has not stopped talking about it so Keith and I decided to make it a family affair and went to the park marina this past Wednesday and rented a boat for the four of us. We had a great time. Kendall loved the wind and was dancing the whole time. We even anchored and went swimming for awhile...Kaden's favorite other than helping drive the boat. We packed a lunch and ate on the water and Kendall was even able to take a nap. It did have its moments of impossibility...Kendall hated the life vest and Kaden managed to drop a couple of his toys in the water at full speed. All in all it was a fun afternoon and an activity we are sure to do again as the marina is only 6 miles from our house. We can't believe it has taken us this long to get out there.

Tip: For those of you who live near Lake Allatoona check out their website at www.parkmarine.com/rentaboat.html You can view the boats they have for rent and print out a summer coupon for 25% off a 2 hour minimum rental on Monday-Friday. The best time to go is during the week when the lake is empty plus the 1/2 day rental is the perfect amount of time w/ little ones (4 hours).

Welcome Back Sundays

We finally made it back to church this past Sunday after being busy w/ travels and summer activities. The kids cute outfits and the fact they were trying to 'escape' through the front door inspired this little mini photo session.

Not a Rodeo Girl

So my Dad's (aka Pops) 54th birthday was yesterday. Let me start out by saying that Kaden had golf camp and then I took Kaden & Kendall swimming for a couple of hours at the club and then home to bathe & change clothes so by the time we even got to the cookout at my parents both of my kids were beyond reasoning with. Then it was off to the rodeo, which started at 8:00...our usual bed time is 8:30. So w/ exhaustion setting in I knew I was in for a bumpy road. Add the heat to the equation and it was disastrous! I was kicking myself the whole way home as Kendall screamed.
With that said the rodeo was....
not my cup of tea! I grew up around horses and showed, but I'm not for the whole bull riding, cattle herding thing. To top it off Kaden decided to join Saige, Ethan, and Kylee (my nieces and nephews) in the 10 and under cattle round up half way into the show. It was about 75+ kids running and screaming. Kaden got trampled and then lost his sense of direction and his cousins so when it was time to come back to our section of the bleachers he went out on the other side of the arena to the rear end where the horses were located. I wish I could paint the picture of how totally freaked out I was. I took off in flight w/ my mega purse on one shoulder and Kendall on my hip...running in the dirt half way around the arena. When I got to him we was not crying but just had this total look of loss on his little pouty face. He was definitely scared but that lasted for about 5 minutes until he wanted to get on the trampoline launch jumping thing. So I let him get on it as I was just so happy he was safe. Then I feared for his life on this jumping thing that launched him into the air. Half way through he informed me he was getting a head ache and that it was hurting his privates! Enough said...time to go home!!!
All in all Kendall enjoyed the music and liked waving at the horses even though she was exhausted. Kaden seemed to like the first couple of bull riders and then was bored and wanted to go on the rides. I did not like any of it and felt like a total party pooper!

Newsflash...Kendall's First Steps

Kendall took her very first steps on Wednesday, July 8th at 11 months and 1 week. Not sure how long it will be before she is cruising around, but she is so proud of herself and Kaden was such the doting big brother. We were all yelling w/ excitement as she took two to three steps before tumbling forward into mommy or daddy each time. She is a lazy bones girl...she still won't even hold her bottle herself so this is no small thing for our little princess!

Golf Camp

Kaden is finishing up his last day of golf camp today. I took this picture of him this morning in our front yard as we were loading up his clubs and pool bag. All week he has been going to the country club for fun filled learning on the greens. He is suppose to be learning golf etiquette, rules, chipping, putting, long and short game. Not sure how much Kaden is actually absorbing, but I know that he is loving going to the pool every day as part of the camp. He has seen a lot of his friends from school and really enjoying his summer. But...the what are we doing today question will surely be the first words out of his mouth tomorrow morning; in which I intend to reply absolutely nothing!

$10 in Free Gas from Publix

There is a coupon for $10 off a $50 gas card at Shell or BP stations. With gas nearing $2.50 a gallon again who couldn't use this $10 savings. I believe the coupon is good until July 16th of 17th. Its easy...Clip the coupon from this weeks publix circular, shop at your nearest publix and pick up a shell or BP gift card and present at register. Happy Traveling :)

Celebrating 4th of July Family Style

The crew from left to right: Harrison, Ethan, Kiersten, Saige, Sophie, Julia, Makenzi holding Kendall, Kaden, Kaylee and Kylee. 11 kids...you can imagine the chaos.
Ok, there is me, and I can only account for Kaden & Kendall. My sister Lindsey has two kids Kylee and Ethan as well as her husbands three girls, Julia, Mae Mae and Sophie. Then there is my little sister Jenna & her daughter Saige and her fiance's three children Kaylee, Kiersten and Harrison. So I hope that explains the multitude of children that are at all of our family functions!!! The funny thing about this picture is with that many kids it is impossible to get them to all look at the camera at the same time but some how most everyone was looking to the side in this one to see Kaden kissing Kendall or Kylee's crying fit...not sure which one caught their attention.

Jenna & Saige (on the back deck is my sister Lindsey, her husband Ken, Keith and my dad and 1/2 of my mom...aka Pops & Lala.

Me and my boy...Kaden Michael

Keith and his girl...Kendall Brianna. Sporting her too cute 4th of July swim attire

Kaden & Kendall before swimming and eating in their matching outfits. It was too cute and Kaden hated every minute of it!

So we hung out at my parents house today w/ my entire family...the short and extended versions :) We did a lot of swimming and even more eating. Keith will be out of town working for the actual holiday tomorrow so it was nice to be able to celebrate today. The only thing missing was fireworks, but who needs that when you have 11 kids with attitudes and tantrums....all jokes aside it was a lovely afternoon and it was wonderful just to hear the laughter from all the kids enjoying the pool and each other.

Bookit.com

I used a new website this week to book an upcoming vacation. Well...a new website to me. And I thought I would share it b/c we got such a good deal on it. It is bookit.com. They do everything from hotels/condos to rental cars, flights and package deals. They seem to run some really good promotions and offer a lot of booking extras. Worth checking out for your next travel itinerary.

Kendall turns 11 months

Wow our little Kendall 'Bee' just turned 11 months old yesterday. I can't believe that she will be one next month. Where does the time go!!! To our friends and family...Keep a look out in your mailbox for her birthday invitations. Can't wait to celebrate with all of you :)