water hole

Today we went way way out in the middle of nowhere to this natural springs "swimming hole" in Marshalsville. It's on private property, but a friend of a friend has a hook up with the owners, and the kids and I were able to spend a couple of hours out there.

It was a lot bigger than I expected, with pretty water, a nice sandy bottom, and apparently a "snake area".  I found that part out after we had been there a couple of hours. Fun.

There was an awesome rope swing that I tried out a couple of times. I think one of the other ladies got a picture of me with her camera. I need to get a copy of it, as I am sure I look pretty incredible.

Poor Elias was not too thrilled with his life jacket he had to wear. There are not many super safe life jackets that will fit comfortably on a 11 month old. He was happier when he could crawl around on the patio, playing with a little rubber ball.

I did refrain from jumping/diving off the top of the dock. Leah and I jumped from the bottom level a couple of times together.

Unfortunately I was not able to get many good pictures of my kids. With only three moms and 11 kids, we were too busy making sure no one drowned.

Leah had a really great time once she got up the nerve to swim around on her own (with her awesome life jacket, of course.) I was very impressed. She just paddled all around the little lake, saying "Mommy, look at me, I'm brave!!!!!"

Needless to say, the day was EXHAUSTING for me. I can't wait to go back!!!!!!

splash park

* Warning: this post contains pictures of Leah wearing only her underwear. Please avert your eyes if you consider this offensive.

So the other day, we went with friends to a super ghetto, super awesome little park that had some "water features." It was basically a normal park, surrounded by a little cement moat fill with sand, with a bunch of sprinklers and little tunnels going around everything. The kids loved it.

Water is literally hitting them in the face right now. 

They are so cute when they get along. 

Eli had a fun time too. He stood there on this little "splash pad" for a long, long time. 

Oh, the most fun thing about this park is that you have to actually drive through a cemetery to get there. Like, literally, turn into the cemetery, and go through it, and on the other side is the park. Probably why there weren't a lot of people there. And if you are not a dirt fan, then you will not be a fan of this park.

air museum

The air museum on base is possible the most air-conditioned fun you can have for free in Warner Robins. It's actually pretty nice, and Leah loves it. I've been there with the kids a couple of times with some friends, but this weekend was the first time Tony has been able to come with us. Actually, it was the first weekend that I haven't had to work on a friday night in a long long time, so we were able to do something on saturday morning.

This is the view of the front lobby from upstairs. Pretty cool.

Leah and Eli flying the airplanes.

He is at such an easy going stage right now. He's so happy no matter what we do.

There is actually tons and tons more stuff inside that we saw and did. I just don't have pictures. There are three buildings, and it would take forever to actually walk around and read/look closely at everything. After we went in the main building we walked around outside, in the "airplane graveyard." It was pretty cool. We walked around, near, under, and got on old planes. There were TONS of them.

10 months

Okay, this post has been a long time coming, because he is now 10 months old and several days. But our internet hasn't been wanting to upload pictures, so it took a while. 

Anywho, Eli is now 10 months old. 

- He is standing by himself like a champ. He can stand for several minutes without falling, but has not attempted a step yet. 

- I think he is finally getting two little front teeth. 

- He laughs, smile,  crawls around like a maniac, and is generally incredibly happy. 

- Unlike Leah, he won't really sit and let me read books. He just hits the books from my hands, or tries to eat them. 

- He loves to eat. But mainly just fruit. He can throw down some blueberries. 

- He is sleeping through the night on a semi regular basis. 

- He loves being around Leah. He will follow her everywhere. 

- He is super, super, super cuddly. 

nap time

Sometimes I know Leah has woken up early from her nap. I can hear her quietly and happily playing, so I usually just let her play for a few minutes, you know, so I can squeeze in a few extra minutes of whatever it is that I am doing. Usually when this happens, I open the door to a train wreck that happened in her room, and sometimes she is dressed like this: 

I promise this is not choking her, mom...

I'm not gonna lie, I kind of like her style.

Strawberry picking

We have been strawberry picking several times in the past couple of weeks/months at this wonderful mennonite farm down in montezuma. I have TONS of frozen strawberry's, and I made two batches of jam, so I think we are set for a while.

The three babies did great the whole time. You can't really tell, because we wiped them mostly off, but they were completely covered in red strawberry juices.

The four older ones did pretty well, too. It's always an adventure taking seven kids under 5 to a huge blazing hot field and expecting to accomplish something.... but, we all managed to go home with about 10 pounds of berries each! And hey, if all three of us ladies go again together next year, we will have 10 kids under 6!

pool time

The past couple of days we have been playing in our lovely pool.

I put the slide in it, and it makes it just that much more fun for Leah. Now she can do something other than try to hold me underwater.

Eli likes it for about 30 minutes, then he starts freaking out.

I'm a wimp in the heat. The only way I enjoy being outside in these blazing summers is if I am in water, so, this 70 $ pool, in my opinion, is the best money we have ever spent.