The Zoo Crew

I ventured out Saturday morning with all 3 kids,bathing suits,camera , a full $75.00 tank of gas and off to Lowry Park Zoo we went!

I hate that Bobby works weekends and misses out on so many family fun days but we made the most of our day minus Daddy.

Love this shot of Avery
-she is looking off at the White Tiger-saying,"Dog,Dog,Dog"
The boys with their fake smiles!-the are so over having a camera in their face everywhere we go!
Feeding the goats
"Jo Cool" and the goat
A very hot and sweaty Mommy,distracted sweaty Avery and the goat
Check out Bruno's shirt in the goats mouth!The goat took total advantage that Bruno spilt half of his snow cone on his shirt.
A nice woman saw me struggling to snap good shots of the kids and offered to take one of all of us
Your looking at $12.00 of shaved ice right there-it was so hot I was happy to buy them!
The flyin banana

How many little boys get to say they rode a llama today?
Bruno on the pony

And this picture is of the kids feeding the giraffe









Oh yeah that's right,that's just when my battery freakin died in my camera!!! I seriously had to talk myself out of flipping out! I just kept telling myself,this is for the kids,they have the memories,I don't have to blog about every single thing we do today,this is for the kids!!!

After I calmed down ,I got the kids in their suits and let them play in the water area. Avery loved it!!! She would crawl over to a fountain,sit on it and let the water splash her right in the face.

It was such a great/fight free day! The boys were so well behaved I almost wondered whose kids I spent the day with.Drew and Bruno are so well behaved apart!!!They have the best manners anywhere they go.BUT you put the 2 of them together and most days its an all out brawl...brotherly love!!!

let me try this one more time

I have sat down twice to upload all our Memorial weekend pics and to blog about all the fun we had,then...POOF, our electricity flickers off and on. So, I am giving it one last shot and if it happens again I am taking it as a sign from God that I am just not meant to blog! Here goes nothing.....stay tuned!

A Mommy's Diet

Breakfast
1 grapefruit
1 slice whole wheat toast
1 cup skim milk

Lunch
1 small portion lean, steamed chicken
1 cup spinach
1 cup herbal tea
1 Hershey's kiss

Afternoon Snack
The rest of the Hershey kisses in the bag
1 tub of Hagen-Daaz ice cream w ith chocolate chips

Dinner
4 glasses of wine (red or white)
2 loaves garlic bread
1 family size supreme pizza
3 Snickers Bars

Late Night Snack
1 whole Sarah Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from the freezer)

Remember: Stressed spelled backward is desserts.

My invitation saving Grace

So after many wasted hrs online yesterday attempting to create that "perfect" invitation for Avery's 1st birthday.I came across someone on Ebay who does awesome work and all for $19.00,not to mention I can print out as many as I want!!!

Her ebay name is sarawiety.
you have to check out her work!!

How cute is this invitation???It's exactly what I had pictured in my head that I wanted. I love,love,love it!! I guess it also helps that I have such a beautiful daughter,I'm sorry but I have to gloat for a moment!!

Oh the anger!!!

Because having my American Idol finale cut off right as they announced the winner wasn't enough.

I have spent the lat hour on Vistaprint.com designing the most perfect 1st birthday party invitation for Avery. I was wow'd by the amazing prices they offer,$6.49 for 20 custom-made invites.I went through all the steps,changed the wording around at least 5 times,switched colors and fonts and uploaded 9 pictures of my girl on the invite.

Well wouldn't you know,the font change was $2.99,the color change was $2.99 and each photo uploaded was an additional $4.99.So my grand total for 20 invites was not $6.49.They wanted me to pay $89.95,are they serious???? Ahhh,I am so mad!

So now I am going to waste the next hour trying to find another creative way to design the invitations for her party and try to keep it under $89.95


(sample proof of the inside of the invitation)

The Walmart Cake

Okay so this is how I imagine this conversation went:

Walmart Employee: 'Hello Walmart, how can I help you?'

Customer: ' I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.'

Walmart Employee: 'What do you want on the cake?'
Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne' and underneath that 'We will miss you'.

And the New 2008 American Idol is...

........................


Yeah thats what we got up to till our stinking DVR stopped recording!!!! No,I am not kidding! I wait 19 weeks for this moment.My favorite contestant vs Bobby's and we have to find out who wins by clicking on YAHOO!!! Is this some sort of sick cable joke??? I am ready to smash my DVR box into smithereens! Don't they come with some sort of American Idol finale micro chip????

It's back!

I promise Drew that when school was out he could get a mohawk again...he had one last summer along with all the boys on his football team.

Well,there are 10 school days left and I caved! It is amazing what a hair cut does for a little boys self esteem..He thinks he is just awesome-which he is!

I am not normally one for allowing my kids creative freedom like this! I still pick out Drew's clothes everyday and probably will till he goes off to college(boys are great for that)

He just looks so stinkin cute! He is such a little man.The only problem we are having now is that I will not allow him to dye it blue! Yes, I said dye it blue. He is so into MMA being that he is now a white belt/yellow tip in Jujitsu and most of those fighters dye their mohawks.

I have to draw the line somewhere!



Mr Poser!
A great side view!
Too cool to smile-looking all tough
Flexing!!
There's my sweet little boy

Oh yeah another slight problemo with the new hair-We have family pictures scheduled for Tuesday night!!! Wish I would of remembered that before my moment of weakness.

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Mother's Day Tea w/ Bruno

On Thursday I had the joy and privilege to be honored at Bruno's school for a special Mother's Day tea. The kids escorted us in one by one to our little tables that were set up w/ snacks and adorable art work from the kids. Bruno kept saying"Happy Mother's Day Tea Party"! He introduced me to all his friends and their moms.He cracks me up-"This is my mom,her name is Grace" After we ate our snacks we all sat in circle and his teacher read us ,I will Love you Forever.By the time she was done reading,all the moms had tears pouring down their faces! It was a very special day with my little scar face boy!

My Mom:By Bruno Boyens

My Mom has Black hair.
My Mom's favorite food is salad.
My Mom loves me cause I been so good in the car.
My Mom loves to hang out
I love my Mom because her lets me sleep on the couch when I have a boo boo.


Bruno and Mommy at our tea party
The table decor

A Boo Boo for Bruno

Last night I took the kids for a walk on the trail. The boys rode their scooters while I pushed Avery in her stroller.We live right by an overpass on the Pinellas County trail,the boys always think it is way cool to be up there looking at all the cars-Plus on the other side is the park.

Anyway,We made it to the top of the overpass then the boys decided they were going to ride the scooters down. I knew in my heart this was a bad idea,I wish I would of just stuck to my guns and said,No! I was behind them pushing Avery when I watched Bruno gain way to much speed and loose control. My screams were useless,it's all I could do as I I ran towards him. He fell face first into the concrete then just kept going,feet,face,feet,face,feet,face.I honestly thought he wasn't going to get up-it happened so fast and was so terrifying to watch. Even Drew was screaming and crying for his brother.After his body stopped at the bottom he immediately got up and ran towards me screaming..that was such a relief. I calmed him down then attempted to carry him,the scooter and push Avery all the way to our Dr's house who lives the next street over-he wasn't home.Where was my cell phone you ask? at home charging..which I never go anywhere without it!

We made it home and my neighbor who is a nurse came over to check out Bruno. He was fine just banged up and still in some shock.Our main concern was what may of happened internally-he hit his head so hard!I am a mother of 2 boys,I expect bumps,scraps,bruises,the occasional broken bone even but NOT watching my son violently go down an overpass bashing his head in the cement over and over again-Well,that's more than I can handle!
This all happened around 7pm so we kept Bruno up until 10:30 when he passed out on the couch then I woke him up every 2 hrs to checked his pupils. He was back to "Bruno" this morning insisting on going to school to show his friends his bloody face!


Last night after he calmed down
Today before school-So proud!(such a boy!)
Oh but wait,it hurts!-my little actor

Father Bruno

Bruno goes to a local Catholic preschool. We are not Catholic but it is a very reputable school with excellent accredited teachers. They teach God's word and that's good enough for me no matter what denomination! Anyway-Bruno has learned to pray like a Catholic. It is so adorable!!! Here is a video of my little ham doing his nightly dinner prayer.

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