Are we there Yeti?

Everyone was excited to meet Grandma and RA at the beach house! Let's see, do we have everything ready to see RA?

A&W? Check.

Boiled Peanuts? Check.

I think we got it all.

And we loaded 'em all up and headed for Myrtle Beach. This was Elle's first experience in the Yeti.....with 10 other people......during a few naptimes.......and FACING them the whole way, but man, she was a trooper.

About 40 miles out of town we commented on how smooth sailing everything was going......

then there was this weird sound........and then a BANG.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand, I guess our alternator decided to give up the ghost.

The stranded ones......

Brooks called our car mechanic he loves and asked what he should do. It just SO happens that good ol' trusty Brother Leckie was there (he has helped us MANY times and w/ our other car) at the shop and said he would run and buy us an alternator, drive it out to where we were and help Brooks put it in. 

This was SUCH a blessing (with an obvious hand from above) because now we didn't need to call 3 people to come pick us up and take us home, tow the Yeti anywhere, etc. And PLUS we had a Yeti PACKED with a week's worth of food and toys.

In order to speed the process up, Brooks wanted to hitch-hike for 4 miles to go to a gas station and get some tools to take OUT the alternator so it will be all ready when Brother Leckie arrived. I wasn't feeling TOO safe about the idea, but he insisted and told me no one was going to mess with his guns (he flexed) and headed out to the highway......thumb up.

What are the stinkin odds that someone in scrubs picked him up......and someone that worked in HIS hospital......who was headed to Myrtle Beach himself?!?! See what I mean about a little help from above?

(the boys were playing Battleship in the grass)

The babies did great................ish............

Then not so great.

And the positive attitudes started to wax cold a little.........except Iris.

 So we had to become AWFULLY creative with entertaining them.

(truth be told, they were actually quite the troopers!!!!)

Brother Leckie arrived and they worked and worked on it.

And after 3.5 hours of being stuck on the side of the road.................it was finished.

Have you ever seen a more MANLY man eating his sandwich before.........how about a little SANDWICH WITH YOUR GREASE??!?!?

They are HERE!

Tia Linsey and "Baby Elle" finally arrived!!!!!!!

The kids were COUNTING down the days until they got here. They've always loved Tia Linsey and we've never MET Elle (who is 2 months younger then Kellyn.......how cute is that?)

We were warned that Elle MAY not warm up to people she had never met right at the first so we were DEFINITELY ready to win her affection and prove that theory wrong.

Brooks and I had plenty of conversations how and WHO would have Elle "eating out of their hand" by the time she left.

The kids were in bed when we got home from the airport so it was just Elle, Brooks, Linsey and me. Let the woo-ing of Elle begin.......

I think she likes me.

BEHOLD, the CUTEST SMILE EVER was for her Tia Melissa. 

I could just eat this girl up.

And how did she feel about Brooks?.............well........let's just say there was no eat-age out of his hands.

But she DID warm up to her cousin Papi pretty fast.

And Kellyn was just excited to have someone her size sitting next to her on the way to church.

(Surprisingly Kellyn didn't begrudge her cousin for having 4 times the amount of hair that she has......maybe coveting/envying doesn't kick in until later?)

Bigger but still the same

When my kids were younger they used to ALWAYS play in mud/dirt. It would entertain them forever.

(Bronson and Camden)

And apparently it's even fun wearing skivies as well!!!

(Emerson)

(Camden, Emerson and Aleeya)

And EVEN though they are bigger now and "more cool", I just love how they can STILL tell each other, "Hey, let's go out in the front yard and build a dam to put all our animals in the mud."

And THANKFULLY, they wear more then underwear now........

but not by much.

Moms are magic

I've always wondered how moms knew their child had a fever w/o a thermometer......or knew there was "something coming on" before there were even symptoms........or when "something just wasn't right" and BAM! the next day the kid starts puking. 

Although I DO contain these mysterious magical powers now, it does NOT take a genius or even a mom to realize when Kellyn feels sick...........she looks SO pathetic (and acts it)

She was sick for about a week and I am grateful to report that she is back to her scavengering, dis-placing, disappearing and re-arranging-the-house ways.

 I think this picture she looks like her cousin Emma in her smile and nose.....am I way off Jodi?

This is a scene I CONSTANTLY see. She is magnetically drawn to the bathroom. It's like her body does NOT have a choice to go anywhere else. 

THANKFULLY this time I caught her the toilet lid was down (miracles never cease) and the tp was out of arm's reach so the bathroom was not toilet-papered. Lucky me.

Have I mentioned what a GIGGLE-Y girl this little thing is. She is SO easy to get going. This is her favorite pin-her-arms-behind-her-head-while-I-eat-her-armpit-after-I-change-her-bum ritual.

And by the looks of the picture I guess she has two more teeth growing in the top by her two front ones.....huh, who knew?

"Everybody loves a Carolina boy".....

But I'm pretty sure no one loves this Carolina boy more then I do. He has my heart wrapped around his little fingers and toes.....even his cute little webbed toes.

Dump

"Dump" as in BIG TIME PHOTO DUMP!!!!!

But those things are BOUND to happen when you have a certain 4 year old (who shall remain nameless) that drops your camera and it will no longer work. 

Well, lucky for ME and family-journaling-sake, Brooks' phone had quite a few pics from our recent happenings.

Mr. Bruce and Ms. Kaye, our neighbors have been BEGGING to take us to this hamburger joint for basically a whole year. We politely got out of it each time because we're not sure they understand what they're getting into going to eat out (as in...IN PUBLIC!!!) with 7 kids and them not having children of their own. But they persisted so I think they were actually serious. They took us to Mojo's which is basically a build-your-own-hamburger (think Subway) place. My kids' favorite part was the free peanuts they ate while sitting on the bar stools.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand why is it that Emerson's AND Bronson's shoes are off. Seriously.....

 Labor Day Brooks took the older 5 to an orchard to do some pickin'. And CLEARLY he didn't give the "don't do that ridiculous I'm-so-cool-look when I take this picture" to Bronson......whatever. I wasn't there.

Iris enjoying her apple cidar doughnut. 

 By this time Iris was dragging. And even though the tree was FULL of ripe apples, my kids went for every single green-under-ripe ones. 

They came back with a whole BUSHEL of (un-ripe, rock-hard and green) peaches (ummmm, I sent them APPLE picking) and a peck of apples (I know you're singing the "Bushel and a peck" song now, huh).........with maybe 4 tasting good.

Oh yea and a whole bag of grapes and my FAVORITE cider. So it wasn't a TOTAL loss. They were so proud of themselves though. And since I grew up next to an apple orchard (and loved it) I figured it was mostly for the experience anyway, right? Iris fell asleep on the way home.

 Then Brooks took those 5 to the waterpark

Iris seriously could NOT keep her eyes open (that night she started running a major fever, so she must have felt sick all day, poor baby)

I just love "big brother" shots.....getting ready to dunk Aleeya.

When I saw this on Brooks' phone it cracked me up. I'm pretty sure I could count Camden's ribs from this picture. Such a funny kid.

 Good ol' Emerbop.

The lazy river action..........but look at Aleeya. 

Does that NOT look like the most uncomfortable position EVER?!?!?

My back hurts just LOOKING at it.

Such fun smiling faces...........well, except Iris, but hey most parents don't complain too much at a child that keeps falling asleep!!!!!