Drum roll, please...

Before you see the beach house pictures, I'll tell you about my mom. My mom is, well, spoiled. ;) (Love you, Mom!) Now, don't get me wrong...Mom is one of the most giving people I know. She gives way more than she receives. Her heart is so loving and she gets joy - true joy out of giving. With that said, she enjoys luxury. Now, the good thing about being her child is basking in her luxury! :) For several years now, we have taken family vacations. The first vacation, before grandkids, we stayed in Myrtle Beach and my siblings and I stayed in one condo while mom and dad stayed in another. Then, the next year, mom wanted us all in one house and she wanted us to each have our own bathroom. Then, the next year, she wanted a house with a private pool. Then, the next year, she wanted our own bathrooms, private pool and beach front. Do you see a pattern? All the kids tease her because each year, she tries to top the house from the previous year. The house last year was great, but she wanted an elevator. (To make unloading and loading easier...)

So, all that said, here are a few pictures of the beach house they booked for this summer's vacation. Saweeeet!

We are very excited! I think they've picked a good one! We'll be traveling to Hilton Head and yes, we'll have our own bathrooms, a private pool, an elevator and it will be beach front. Now, we'll start praying for good weather and for all the hurricanes to stay out at sea!!! :)

More from our weekend...

We had a really good weekend. I posted pictures today of our first get together in the new house. It was a lot of fun. Yesterday, Eric (and Brigette and Josh) painted our living room. If you noticed in earlier pictures, it was a dark green. (Gretchen called it "moss") I liked the color, but it totally clashed with our couches. So, our living room is now "Mesa Tumbleweed". I posted two pictures, but I don't think it really shows the true color.

Here is a new flower arrangement I got. I love it!!

The living room in the new color! It looks a little darker in person...it's a huge difference.

Aunt Tricia is monitoring all the kidos! I think they all enjoyed the play room!! Bailey, Griffin, Levi, Aunt Tricia and Casey.

More fun playing on Levi's bed! Levi, Griffin, Emmy, Bailey and Casey (What's with the hair, Casey??) :)

Eric and Travis cursing the Steelers during the game! I think they were pulling for the Chargers! LOL!!

Jenny and Mom at the table. The girls' job was to find our beach house for our summer vacation. We have it narrowed to two. They are awesome.

We have the beach house search narrowed to two houses. When we finally decide and book one, SHOULD WE SHARE IT??? Jenny thinks we should wait until we arrive down there, but I think it'd be fun to show before we go! Any thoughts out there??

1st Get Together at the new pad...

Friday night, we had a small gathering at our new house. It was so much fun! Eric grilled chicken and hot dogs and we had potato salad, mac n cheese, bean dip & tortilla chips, brownies and a chocolate pie! So good. There were a ton of kids running around and acting crazy, but I think everyone had a good time.

Tracey, Gretchen, Melanie & baby, Jami and Janna

Gretchen kept hanging around the bar area where the food was. I think she was trying to be slick and be first in line!

Poor Matt...will no one tell him he has food on his face??

And, there was dancing. Have you ever seen anything so sweet? Josh and Paul have a special relationship.

Melanie, Corbin, Jami and Janna (it looks like Melanie doesn't believe what Janna is telling her...) :)

Paul helping Hopie put his tie on. Awhhhhh!

A few of the hundreds of kids that were there...Hope, Cooper, Levi and Luke.

The boys FREEZING outside while grilling. Eric, Matt and peeper Josh.

Matt, Eric, Melanie and Corbin at the kiddie table. :)

Jami, Steve and Gretchen and the adult table.

Thanks, everyone for making our first party at the new house a great one! I'm sure they'll be many more!

Tonight is dinner with my parents, siblings and their kids. I'll post pictures later. Gotta run sneak in a little nap before Levi wakes up!!

I mean seriously...

How cute is he?!
(yes, I'm quite biased)

Bunco!

We had Bunco at Gretchen's. Since there isn't anything "cool" to do for a theme in January, we decided to do a pajama party and bring breakfast foods. It was awesome - monkey bread, biscuits & gravy, hash browns, doughnuts, bacon & cheese croissants, and so much more! It was a good thing we all had stretchy pants on! LOL!

The gang: Melissa, Dee Dee, Carla, Gretchen, Mary, Jill
Tina, Jenna, April, Jami, Tracey, Misty



Jill keeps hoping to make it on the blog...Here you go, Jilly - your first picture on my blog!!

Me & my BFF (LYLAS, BFF&E, Stay the same; Don't ever change, I love Eric forever and ever! Good luck with the guys! Stay sweet!) Oh, sweet 80's!

Jill is telling a very animated story about Janie playing musical instruments!

Jami - Welcome to our Bunco group!! You fit right in. I think only 2 or 3 voted "nay". :)

Action shot: The roll of the dice. Wonder whose fingers those are?!

Jill found something quite hilarious in the background! Jenna must not have been in on that story. She looks a bit bored!

More action. Everyone is tallying their stars!

Jami and Dee Dee during a conversation where Dee Dee realizes she knows Jami's bro-in-law. If you were at the table, Dee Dee was ha-larious! OMG! OMG!

Thanks girls for a fun night out! Looking forward to February. :)

I'd like to give a shout out to my homeboy Bob for getting our Internet all fixed and set up for us. My 48 friends from FaceBook thank you too. :)

Mondays after a holiday are rough. I'm exhausted and ready for bed! I just wanted to update quickly. We are getting more and more settled in the house. I love it! Tonight, we unloaded the last of our "stuff" from a borrowed enclosed trailer that a friend loaned us. (Thanks, Kevin!) We got the garage cleared just enough to park my van in there. Fun! It's like a real home! Hopefully this weekend, Eric will get the garage cleaned out enough to park his car in there, too.

Looking forward to Bunco tomorrow night. We are all wearing our pj's and bringing breakfast foods. Yum! I'm making monkey bread and looking forward to eating it!! Gin, can't wait to see your house and everything you've done. I'm sure it is adorable.

Cute Levi story: Levi has recently been allowed to chew gum. He gets to put a quarter in the gum ball machine at El Nopal and get the little Chicklets gum. We remind him to keep chewing it and not swallow. He does really well. Today, after I picked him up, I let him graduate from one to two pieces! When we got home, I told him to put his gum on his plate and he could keep chewing them after dinner. (Gross) Anyways, he pulled out two pieces of gum. He chewed them both separately...one piece on either side of his mouth! What a character!!

Good to be back!

I'm back in the land of the blogs! It feels like forever since I've been able to update.
I love my new house. I love the space. I love my closets. I love my dishwasher. I love my bathroom. I love the automatic ice maker on the fridge door. I love having my laundry room on the main floor. But, most of all, I love it that my son is sleeping in his new big boy bed ALL NIGHT long!! Many of you know the problems we've had with Levi at night time since our vacation this summer. We switched him to a toddler bed and it was a nightmare!! He has been waking up 1, 2, 3, 4 times a night for months! It was like having a newborn again! He wouldn't even sleep in the toddler bed, but slept on blankets on the floor. So, with the move, we decided to "talk up" a big boy bed! We gave him my old bedroom furniture which has a full size bed. For 4 nights in a row, Levi has slept in his new bed without waking up at all! He also has been sleeping in a lot...until 8am! That's a miracle for Eric and me.

Levi sleeping in his new bed. What a cutie! Can you find him?? LOL


Levi's bathroom :)