April 28, 2010

Passport

I'm not sure if I can relay how comical this morning actually was. Baxter is in need of a passport for our cruise this summer. We realized BOTH parents have to be present WITH THE MINOR. Scott's calendar is full so we had to really work to schedule this. We got Lillee off to school (without a lunchbox), picked Brooks up and headed to the courthouse. I had Ben in my car following Scott with Bax and Brooks. We arrived at the courthouse and out we all pile.
I had in hand:
1. a 25 lb. carseat
2. Baxter's birth certificate
3. passport photos from CVS in a little envelope
4. passport application which I filled out a week ago

Trying to let the boys help me I gave Baxter the birth certificate to carry and Brooks the envelope of passport photos.

We all come through the doors laughing and making jokes with the guards at the metal detectors when you walk in. I was thinking that there was no telling what may be in these 4 year old little boy's pockets! They ushered us right on through without a blink. I'm assuming Scott was thinking this was a "perk" of being with him! Ha.
The five of us take the elevator to the 2nd floor and into the quiet little probate court office.
DING DONG - this is the noise the door makes to let them know someone has opened the door.
We give Chuck our paperwork.
Chuck: we will need two separate checks
Jenn: oops. Scotty, I left my wallet in the car. Do you mind getting it?
Scott: sure
DING DONG
I tell Chuck so sorry I left that. Let's proceed to the application process. He says he can't until the father comes back.
DING DONG
Scott: Geez Jenn, now we've got it together.
Chuck: I need both parent's license please.
check
Chuck: I see you did not fill in his social security number. Does he have one?
Jenn: yes. I'm so sorry Chuck. It's at home. Is there anyway I can call you as soon as I get home in 10 mins with the number?
Chuck: No
Jenn: I'm so sorry - it's really tough to get everyone together and to get both of our schedules to allow us to be here.
Chuck: looks around..... OK.
Chuck: and do you have the photo passports pictures?
Jenn: right here -
I open the envelope and NO PICTURES
Jenn: Um Scott....I know I had them. They've been in my car for three weeks now.
Scott: I"ll go retrace our steps.
DING DONG
Chuck: I really cannot process application until you get me the pictures and the social security number.
Jenn: Sorry Chuck. This is our life!
DING DONG
Scott: I found 2 Jenn. Were there more?
Jenn: Yes, there were like 8 but Chuck only needs 2.
BIG SIGH OF RELIEF AS CHUCK PROMISES TO HOLD APPLICATION UNTIL I GET HOME TO CALL WITH SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!
Scott: I need to grab a transcript from the 3rd floor. I'll be right back.
DING DONG

A lady appears from behind the wall and asks Chuck if there was a reason the bell kept going off? She looks at me, checks out the baby on the floor in the infant seat, looks at both boys sitting nicely and asks again if there was something she needed to do/help with. She continued on by telling me that they have to listen out for bell to see if it was another customer and it was appearing that there were lots of people coming in and out when in reality it was just our group. Chuck looks at me to explain.
Jenn: Ma'am, my husband had to go out to get my wallet to pay you. Next, he had to go on a hunt for lost passport pictures. Now he has gone up to the 3rd floor to get a transcript. This is our life.
Lady huffs off clearly irritated with the DING DONG....

Bax and Brooks which are seated in chairs next to the window looking out into the hallway begin knocking on window hey Mr. Scott, hey Daddy.
DING DONG
Scott: Ok, all set?
At this point we've been there for almost 45 mins. It's time to pull the card.
Jenn: Chuck, is Judge Simonton here?
Chuck: Um, I'm not sure if he's in yet?
Jenn: He is very aware of our crazy life and crazy children. They run underneath him all the time at church.
Chuck: I see you're from Brunswick. Which church did you go to there? I used to work at Epworth By the Sea. Let me get this finished up for you Ms. Key.

Big sigh of relief from Brooks and Baxter! They were really good. They sat in the waiting area trading Silly Bands.

I tell Chuck I'll call him within 1/2 hour as our six year old left her lunchbox and I have deliver it to her school after dropping two boys off at their school!
Chuck internally thinks we are NUTS!
DING DONG
we're outta there........


Five minutes later I'm cruising to CVS to grab a birthday card my phone rings.
"Hello Mrs. Key. This is Dewitt Simonton. Someone found some pictures of your handsome son in the courthouse. Would you like for me to hold these for you? How is Scott? I enjoy him so much on our committee."
I tell him thank you so much and apologize for any chaos in the office and how helpful Chuck was. I ask him to please deposit extra pictures into the trash for us. I really had in my head to tell him about this very unpleasant lady that wanted the DING DONG to stop. However, I did not. What a nice man.

Ben and I get home and call Chuck with the SSN.

I guess we're going on the cruise after all!!!

April 27, 2010

spring break

What do all of these pics have in common??? Here's a potpourri of things we did over the past week.


I'll let my mom do a guest blog about this one below! Let's just say Lillee really wanted to go see Hanna Montana at the theater. More on that later!

Here's where we spent four days. The weather overall was nice. The kids overall were creatures from below. Wait, except Ben. He was perfect. A swarm of bees overcame Bax on one playground so much so that he had to dump an entire playground of sand in his hair in order for them to slowly return to the hive. If you've heard me talk about Baxter and the "bees" coming out, you know what I mean. If you don't, trust me, you're better for not knowing.

Not sure why this picture came out with hotel rates on it. I'm assuming since our current president has rates of EVERYTHING going up, this is the only kind of clipart you can get. I looked for a picture of the real world house from MTV. I should've used that!


Three sweet girls at The American Girl Store in Alpharetta at North Point Mall. Who goes to malls anymore? It was a bit much. Kind of like being on a crowded subway. Only it wasn't crowded but the people very interesting to watch. Seriously, I could have just plopped down and observed the people that were there. A nice lunch we had. We were joined by three sweet girls named Ruthie, Lilly and Julie. Their lunch - a muffin. They did have their own menu. Wow.

A rundown of the details...
Went to Hilton Head Island with 5 children. What? No pictures? Well....there was a camera but no memory card. I had my hands full people. LOTS of memories. Very sweet friend to share her parent's home with us.
Returning home I called in the troops to keep these kids. Needed at least a 3 hour break as I had been clocked in 24-7 for the past four days! I knew it was a much needed break when I tried to pour Garnier Fructis shampoo in Ben's bath instead of Johnson's vapor.
Scott, my dad and Bax went on their "man trip" early Friday a.m. There are pictures of that. Imagine that - maybe if I had four days ALONE and took ONE child out of state I could get myself together too!
Lillee and I went to the American Girl store in northa Atlanta. What an experience. Can we say OVERLOAD!!! That was lots of fun with a great friend and her two daughters. Once again....no pics. I do have one on my cell but am unsure how to upload from Verizon. Do they charge for that?





Everyone's back home. Lillee is in school and Bax has his Constance back. There is currently a drag race by the trampoline. Yes, we're back! Have been to the doctor, have an antibiotic for Ben for ear infection. It's official - we're home!
Pics to come - to be continued....

April 11, 2010

Easter 2010

This is probably the only pic of the three angels without someone's eyes being closed!
Lillee was so proud of herself for standing up holding Ben! Of course, someone who shall remain nameless was in the background very angry about not being able to hold Ben. I really think he's peeing on my tulips.
Whatever the case, LG and Ben look sweet!
Nana and the only two kids that were awake for this photo op.
Early morning when the Easter Bunny was still fresh in their minds and they were happy. The fear of taking baskets away was fresh and they knew it would sting to be without their loot so they agreed to pose! I need to print this picture out and hang it in each of their rooms as a reminder of who their best friend is. At times they forget.
Wow - this scares me a bit! Is this really my family? All 3 of them? How did this happen? And when did LGK turn into a little girl? As long as our Bax doesn't get any bigger we'll be ok.

7 months

Here's our giant baby! This little dude really has a personality now! There are just so many times no one can quite figure it out?
  • weight = 21 lbs.
  • teeth = 2 small bottom ones....more on that dreaded topic later
  • sleep = doesn't well....goes down (not peacefully) around 7:30, needs a 6 oz. bottle at 2 a.m. ( I know I know it could be avoided by one night of crying it out), wakes back up for a little interruption around 5 a.m. (that one really ticks me off considering I think that is my REM sleep) then again for that 7-7:30 bottle. ugh - just can't figure the booger out
  • food = likes it ok but LOVES the bottle. 2 jars a day - sometimes 3. likes everything - not picky. peaches kind of twang him a bit at the beginning, but then devours them! We have been working on puffs - is tolerating
  • very big temper, very impatient when it is time for something, NOT very tolerable of things he does not like
  • LOVE LOVE LOVES his big brother and big sister. Most of the time when they come in he lights up and has the biggest grin. That makes my heart melt.
  • likes the stroller most of the time, tolerates the Baby Bjorn, can live with the exersaucer, capital H1N1's the Johnny Jump Up, arches his back and kicks himself out of the Bumbo, most of the time he won't let us hold him because he wants down on the floor! I'm telling you a complicated creature.
  • Maybe I should not write this on a public blog but our arsenal for teething includes Tylenol/Motrin, Orajel swabs (doesn't touch the pain), some kind of organic teething tablets you crush/dissolve/rub on gums (a bit too much work for me) a dish towel wet and placed in freezer (doesn't care about that long enough for it to take affect) and a good dose of Southern Comfort which we keep in a Dixie Cup for emergencies! I'm telling you Lillee never had teething issues(or maybe she did and I've blocked those memories) and Baxter only DROOLED all over everything but this child really is not doing well with the little teef. So, we're trying all we know.
  • He's finally sitting up. There are still those times when we think he's got it down and we hear a big thud. I think he's reaching those little hands out to start the crawling process! He does seem much happier being able to sit up and watch the world! Definitely not able to leave him on the bed anymore! He's a rolling machine.
  • We haven't switched the car seats out yet - I'm sure that's a post in itself trying to change around carseats!!!!
  • An extremely sweet baby with a smile for most everyone when he sees them. Growing too fast. I can't believe that one month ago he looked like this
Very interested in the world
Look dad, I'm Republican! Haha - Scotty noticed this outfit right away! I guess I need to find a onesie with a donkey???? Ok, not really.
These pictures are getting harder to take!

It's the Snack Basket Again!

So it's snack basket again. Wow - wasn't I just slaving over the flower pots? So I thought I'd try these messy beauties! What was I thinking? I probably need to go core some strawberries to send just to be on the safe side.
So you start with a roll of dough....bake in a 9x13 pan for 13 mins...
Pull it from oven and plop hunks of creamy peanut butter and marshmellow cream. Yes, in case you are wondering - extremely low calorie. Put back in oven for 1 minute until it is this messy
Pull after one minute and sprinkle chex rice cereal and m&ms on top. Throw back in oven for 7 minutes. Voila'
A sneak peak at my next project. Lots of babies being born around the neighborhood. I'm thinking comfort food even though the new mommy I took food to last week was in regular clothes. What is it with these people? Recipe looking delicious already.


April 9, 2010




Dinner at the Keys sometimes includes but is not always limited to Nacho Cheese Doritos, Popcorn Shrimp, maybe a chocolate Pop Tart here and there. Ok, really I'm exaggerating. However, it is always so nice to open up the freezer to find a nice little care package, labeled nicely from mommy dearest. I love it when she rolls her little Honda in the driveway and begins unloading her little cooler on wheels. She says she's unable to cook here now because we're always on the go or there's a kid to be tended to (spanked). So she freezes what she cooks and brings here. That is that she freezes something EVERY DAY. This woman cooks for her man and there's always meat involved which I tend to not cook. My family dearly thanks her. In between freezer meals there are some bowls of Cheerios involved for dinner or after much pleading from both children, a trip to Taco Bell every now and then. Do you love the labeling!

Tiger's Return

We couldn't make it to the Master's so I've brought the greens to Skyline! The azalias I had to dust the yellow coating off before I brought them inside! It is so yucky out.
And thanks to the Easter bunny, and the fact that things got so busy I didn't dye eggs with my children, we have 2 dozen eggs with which to elevate our cholesterol. Mmmmmm egg salad is delish. I'm not sure Scott appreciates it in the middle of the night though when I fan the covers!

April 3, 2010

Egg Hunt

Two of the cutest kids I know - after the egg hunt!

A bright crazy flash and some cupcakes. You can hardly tell but the frosting was green. They turned out pretty cute but we had to cut the twizzlers in 1/2 to make them stand up.

The gaggle of children. We gathered them up so they would not see where the eggs were hidden. That presented a great opportunity for a group photo. They were oh so cooperative!

Lillee Grace and Mary Kate trapsing through looking for eggs!
I'm not quite sure who got this egg? I'm glad it was LG going for it and not Bax or someone could have had a black eye.

The tiniest egg hunters! They stayed in their strollers most of the night!

Angel. He was still slightly under the weather and drowsy from the antibiotics so he was pretty tame and there were no "bees" buzzing about.

Lillee's Easter basket. New Liberty of London skirt from Target and some cool animal stamps with an awesome pink and purple stamp pad. And what's an Easter basket without some yummy sparkling grape juice. Alice in Wonderland and some flipflops!
Baxter's basket complete with gum eggs, The Squeakquel, a tugboat to paint and some Play Doh eggs!
Tough to make out but some sweet Little People in some very large plastic eggs.


Good Friday

We went here for Good Friday to hear Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio. The latter was a little long winded but Matt Redman and Chris totally made up for it. It was a really fun time with great friends and some terrific youth.

April 1, 2010

Springtime Homework

What beautiful days we've had lately. We enjoyed sitting outside doing sentences for homework. It's time to spread the big Spiderman comforter out in the grass and read some books. I hate LGK didn't have her pigtails on for this pic. Bonnie, our neighbor, came over a couple of weeks ago and put them up and she's not wanted any other hairstyle ever since. Thanks Bonnie! It's not too bad unless I don't have them equally weighted with hair, they are not even on her head, the part in the back is not straight (now how does she know this?) or the bands I'm using are just aweful mama. Oh the woes of girls. All Bax requires is a little spray from the water bottle and some $ .99 Aussie sculpting gel.

I love a man that sleeps with no shirt!

Growing up, my dad slept without a shirt on. We see Scotty sleeping in sweatshirts and tshirts (with holes and yellow underarm stains). Lillee Grace would never sleep with both of my parents if my dad was not wearing a shirt!
Along comes Baxter who I'm supposing either A) had a meltdown and slung his shirt off sometime before bed or B) decided to be like Poppy. I'm going to go with B! Either way, Ben loves him. Now that he's got sleeping shirtless with pirate pajama bottoms down, it's time to get him loving Carharts!
These boys are seriously going to be best friends. Ben thinks whatever Bax does is great! Maybe except the thumb sucking!