And We're Back...

Yes, I do have a way with those creative titles.

Our whirlwind trip to Orlando is over and we're gearing up for a weekend of company. Hooray for old friends! (Not that you are old, Laura B.). My time in Florida was not really a "pleasure trip" although I did get to see my grandparents and some family, which was great. I went down to see my biological father who is in an assisted living facility while he recovers from the effects of alcoholism on his body. There is a chance he will recover even more in time. I'm hopeful because 6 months ago he could barely speak and over the weekend his long-term memory seemed great and he was able to help me navigate around town. He enjoyed the two days we had together and we put several hundred miles on my grandfather's car.

It's good to be home again- amazing how all it takes is a few days away to realize how lovely is one's home. Laundry, menus, grocery shopping, birthday planning, and just general Get Back to Normal stuff will fill my week. If I have ANY free time this week my Etsy shop will have a grand opening. It's a goal, that's all I can say. I have high hopes, but I also have three kids. :)

Here are a few pictures from the weekend...unfortunately, we didn't get pictures with all the grandparents and great-grandparents.

Molly and Baby T's first trip on a plane

Some of my siblings met up with us in Orlando...here we are with my grandfather (who now knows how to check blogs, thanks to yours truly)

Molly saying goodbye to her favorite baby

Here is my other sister Megan, who was sweet to take most of Saturday and spend it with us

And we're off...

Later today I'll be flying the friendly skies with my sister and Baby T. We'll be back on Monday and WH will be here with the older two until then. I think they have big plans to eat all kinds of fun foods and watch Pink Panther cartoons on Netflix. Sounds wild and crazy. I hate to miss it but I'm sure Baby T and I will have some fun of our own. Here are a few highlights from the last weeks...

Some general craziness- this just about sums up our days:

Playing with Aunt Molly

Molly instigating all kinds of new games with the family (sorry dear):

Coop took a turn doing Sweet A's hair:

General trouble-making by a fast crawling, climbing 8-month old:

Molly's prize possession- her embroidered quilt:

An inexpensive gift bag turned embossed bridal shower gift (finding new uses for stamps every day!):

Have a great weekend!

De-grandmafication

We are back- my silence here is due to loads of laundry, restocking the house with produce, settling in my little sister in the spare room (and moving the tons of fabric filling up every space in that room), and de-grandmafication (as my friend Laura so wisely termed it). After a week of having 11 aunts and uncles plus grandparents to respond to their every whim and request for a snack, my children are suffering some serious withdrawal. Baby T started crawling in Florida so that has also provided some new challenges upon coming back to our house. Clean floors are a little more important, and all of a sudden we are in high-gear for training the little guy.

Our time in Florida seemed to fly by towards the end. On our last night we let the kids stay up for a night-swim, just so we could get one last dip in the pool. We went swimming twice a day and I'm already missing that! I gave Coop two swimming lessons a day to try to recapture what he'd learned last year, and by the last day he was swimming and actually enjoying it.

When we descended from our car in Florida and felt the oppressive heat my first thought was, "Why does anyone live here???" (This coming from a 25-year resident of FL.) But the swimming is great, and I could live in the water. That said, on our way to church on Sunday we passed a sign that stated it was 66 degrees at 5pm in July...that's pretty sweet, too. WH just left for work and said it was chilly outside. Yes, I am in love with my new state.

I've promised to share my pictures with my Mom, but haven't uploaded anything yet. Maybe the camera will see the light of day by tomorrow. My other goal for the week (in addition to the aforementioned child-related tasks) is to share a little Etsy excitement with you. Twenty-four plus hours in the car provided all kinds of time for embroidery projects.

FL Stay-cation

We're in Florida to spend a week with my family at my parent's house. They are calling it a Stay-cation. We traveled over 12 hours to be here, so it's hard to think of it as a genuine stay-cation, but we're having a good time so who cares what we call it. (As a side note, is stay-cation going to be another one of those weird words that ends up in Webster's dictionary in a few years because it has become part of the everyday vernacular? Clever, but I hope not.)

Back to our trip...we're all here: my parents and the 7 kids who still live at home, both my adult brothers, and my married sister and her husband and baby. It makes 19 of us in all (plus 2 dogs). We have taken thousands of pictures between all the cameras in the group, but I didn't think to bring my camera cord, so if you want to see a few more pictures of the most adorable beach babies you'll have to check out my Mom's blog.

Sunday was a restful day of worship, including a 2-hour nap for me. A great way to start out any vacation. That night my parents (who are becoming quite the spontaneous entertainers) told all of us to feel free to invite a few people over after church. There are 19 of us and most of us have friends. A "few" turned out to be about 50, which was no sweat for my parent's house or their pantry. It was a good chance to see who were our true friends since everyone who came had to brave hurricane-force winds and lightening. But a fun time was had by all and the power never went out.

Monday was my Mom's birthday so we packed up and went to the beach. A generous friend let us use her beach house for the day, which really made the day since, A) we had babies who needed naps and B) there were intermittent thunderstorms all day. It was such a comfortable place to hang out and no one seemed to mind when it was raining. We celebrated my Mom's special day with a Shrimp Salad and Lemon Basil Chicken Salad and a Double Caramel Turtle cake. I used a dark chocolate cocoa powder and if you haven't tried that product than you haven't lived.

Yesterday was Project Day, because it wouldn't be a vacation for the Pittman's if we didn't have at least a little productivity going on. And Project Day is bleeding over to today because we all got tired of working and distracted by the little kids and the pool, and decided to finish our mending/sewing projects (for the ladies) and construction/bathroom reconstruction (for the men) later. We spent hours in the pool yesterday, just as I had envisioned, and the adults even had a little diving board contest...can't say I've attempted a front flip in years (pregnancy is limiting) and it showed. The projects will have to finish up by lunch time because the ladies (including MF) have a pedicure appointment at 1pm.

There's lots more to report, and pictures to show, but it will have to wait until the end of the week. I'm missing the morning yoga class as it is (lead by my very own husband) so I'd better run.

Dairy Fest 2009 (aka 5th Anniversary Trip)

We had a lovely anniversary retreat, and besides all the rest, relaxation, and hot tubbing there were dairy products a plenty (no baby with milk sensitivities to nurse= lots of ice cream). We left our kids Friday morning and went straight to Starbucks for the creamiest drink I could find. I made a fool of myself getting every last drop of whipped cream out of the cup.


After that we set out for our cabin, stopping for an hour or so at a winery and then again at a grocery store to stock up on food for the weekend. We are food people and any good celebration has lots of the best food around. WH cooked for me on our honeymoon, and he did most of the cooking on this trip. The first night he made grilled chicken stuffed with basil and havarti and wrapped it all in bacon. Ahh...it was wonderful. We had filet mignon the next night, along with every kind of dairy I could fit in. Yogurt. Chocolate. Icecream. Milk. Cheese. Cinnamon rolls. I read no labels, I just ate.

We were trying not to smile too big. Unfortunately, we look a little melancholy. Really, we had a great time!

We thought the weather was abnormally cool over our honeymoon because it stayed in the 60's (remember, this is mid-June), but even with the lack of rain this time around it was pleasant enough to keep the windows open all day. The cabin was situated by a creek and we have great memories of listening to the water rush by. I loved revisiting this favorite vacation spot, just so we could reminisce about all that has happened since we were last here, and how we never would have imagined we'd have three children or be living near WH's family, at a new church, in a new town. I'm sure if we go back to that cabin we'll have just as much to say in the next five years. (Well, maybe not three more kids. But then again, who knows?)


We were ready to see the children when it was time to go home, but the weekend away was just what we needed. We finished conversations! We ate whole meals without getting up from the table! We didn't have to cut up food that wasn't our own! We slept through the night, and past 7am! Oh, and we vacuumed out the entire car while the three car seats were gone! Thrilling. (Just kidding...okay, no I'm not. We really did clean the car on our anniversary trip.)

We hit the ground running when we got home. My very kind sister-in-law, who had 9 children (my 3 and her 6) all weekend, washed all the kids' clothes and that was a huge help. We are getting ready to spend a week in Florida with my parents and family, and also hope to bring my little sister back to stay with us for a while, so there are lots of preparations to be made. I'm off to get some last-minute sewing done.