my little beach bums...

a few weeks ago we took a sparatic trip to the beach in gulf shores for a few days (thanks so much melanie!) and the kids absoultely LOVED it! this was their first trip to the beach and they were sad to leave! they spent the first few hours we were there just digging in the sand, they dipped their toes in the cold ocean (gulf) water, and then we spent the rest of the day at the pool! and then we did it all again! i love their little sandy feet! renee and orum also flew a kite and went sand crab hunting! it was our first vacation with just the 4 of us and we had so much fun! renee has been asking to go back almost daily! at church last week they made mother's day cards--for the "why do you love your mommy" question, her answer was "becuase she gave me pink ice cream at the beach!" today in primary they were talking about families--they asked what her favorite thing to do with her family was and she said, "go to the beach!" wow! the beach beats out disneyworld!? amazing! i guess she loves the beach as much as me! and elijah starts squealing with excitement when he sees these pictures--"YEA! beach! water & sand!"so i guess it's defintely safe to say that they both had the time of the lives!

(i know that there are more pictures of elijah-renee was just too busy, but her very own post is in the works.) i almost forgot to mention our tragedy while there--we lost "baby cinderella!" (she was the 5th member of our family!) she was swimming with us at the pool, and i guess she found a new little girl becuase she wasn't there the next day or in the lost and found! renee was very sad to leave her behind, but has been checking the mailbox for her--so i guess i will be visiting the toy store in search of a new one!

5 years...

in an effort to be as cool as my other blogger friends, i'm making an anniversary post...well, and because i ♥ orum.
5 years today...once again on a saturday, the saturday before mother's day. only this year we were in louisiana instead of the carribean. we also had 2 kids home with the babysitter, but we were once again leisurely out and about having fun...

a whale of a shower...

another successful event...a baby shower! (in conjunction with a "big sister party")

THEME: whales, inspired by the baby bedding.

INVITATIONS: designed by erica, inspired by elsie flannigan--although i will take the credit for the stitching on the whales and the envelope liners matching ones for the sister party


CAKE: designed and baked by erica



FAVORS: i made paper cones and filled them with candy. each had a little whale



DIAPER CAKE: annie


other fun things: onsie cookies (forgot to take a picture :( ), whale bean bags for the kids to play with, baby sized food, guest folders that had the game sheets and envelopes for each guest to address for the thank-you cards. (i made her thank you cards to match the invitations) and a baby dum dum bouquet that my kids took over, you can see it in their eyes!

In memory of "The Lip House"

So i'm up at a ridicuolus hour baking cookies (which are so cute) for the shower tomorrow, and while they bake I've been adding songs to my playlist...I had to add "you make me feel like dancing!" It brings back SO MANY memories from "the lip house!"

It was the last house I lived in before Orum and I got married...just to clue you in on some of the highlights...6 girls, 3 bedroom, and 1 bathroom...yes i said 1! not 1 1/2, but 1! but, suprisingly, it wasn't such a big deal since our schedules were so staggered. It sarted out with Me, Margaret, Annie, and Liahona (I had lived with annie and lia for the 2 months prior during summer term--they had lived with one of my "roommates" from the dorm freshman year. margaret was their friend who was away for the summer in D.C. which is the only reason i ended up moving in that condo). Then there was Jessica--she was friends with some of the guys in condo row that we went to church with. Then her friend Cari moved in too...it was thanks to Cari that our house got it's name!

I was home for a few weeks keeping the boys while sam and linda lou were in jackson when the move acctually occured. I drove up to the house, and found red neon lips hanging in our front window! (well they weren't really neon, they were made of red rope lights, but you get the point) They made a big impact, so we kept them up the whole year! We lived on a main street for student housing, so it also helped when giving directions!

We had LOTS of fun times in the house...lots of dancing to this song for one. (It was the cd that usually stayed in the bathroom, courtesy of cari) Turning the basement into the ? what did we call it? we attempted to sheet the whole area like they did on an episode of trading spaces, but it didn't really work out! Decorating with our finds from DI--like our HUGE 1970 olive green lamps, does anyone have those/pictures? Bunk beds...? The piles of dirty dishes...for some reason we belived the land lord when he said he would install one...right! Our valentine's day breakfast, which annie seems to still be carrying on. Margaret and annie sharing a bed. Annie in her mummy bag. The missing lotions, coats, and make-up...Trading spaces episodes everyday at 4. Annie and the hair salon in our den. The piles and piles of laundry. Me burning my thumb down to the bone the first week we were there (well not really to the bone, but close to it!) Sunday morning rush to get to church. Tasty treats from Cari's kitchen! the strange men walking in our house when they were paving the back parking lot, along with the random electricity outages that jason "forgot to tell us about." And so much more! Help me remember...Miss y'all so much! Love, bre :)

this is the only digital picture i had of us...margaret, lia, annie & miles, me & elijah. the boys are only days apart! elijah is older, but he looks so much younger! it was obviously, years after we had moved out, but it was the last time we got together before we all moved to other states! cari-i know i have pictures with you from my wedding...i'm going to find them, don't you worry!

i remembered more...wedding planning! margaret and i got married a week apart. annie was close to being engaged, or maybe she was? Jessica got engaged and moved after christmas (we did get a new roommate from next door). "the carwreck" me and cari--she was driving me to school. we later took a visit to the er thanks to her dad, i can see! the last minute trip to vegas, which everyone backed out of, so it was me, annie, and jed. the plan was to ride the big kahouna, but it was closed when we got there. we ate at denny's on the strip and drove back. i guess it was a holiday; annie and i slept when we got home, but i think jed had to go to work. and that was after he got a ticket on the way home--so close to our house! and of course my surgery and all the contraband i recieved at the hospital! :) I suppose these would be my "wild and crazy days."

It's a Potty MIRACLE!

So yesterday a miracle occured in our house! My baby boy has decided that he will willingly use the potty! This picture was taken in November when the interest started, but it didn't last long...recently, he was throwing a fit when I even mentioned the word "potty!" Well things have changed, and I'm not complaining!

On Tuesday night he peed on the potty becasue Renée did, and then immediately ran to her room to put on princess panites...just like hers. Well, I whipped out his underwear and he willingly took them! He grudginly took them off to put on a pull-up to sleep in, but did thanks again to Renée!

On Wednesday he was wearing a diaper, but stayed dry the whole day...we were at Mimi's house, and he went to the potty 3 times! And then again when we got to our house! I'm not sure what started it...maybe Mimi's house is magical (it is where Renée potty trained while we were home for Christmas one year). Or mabye it was a result of our conversation in the car Tuesday morning. We had just dropped Renée off at preschool and he said, "I go to preschool!" My response was, "if you start going to the potty and wearing underwear you can..." Whatever the reason...I'm so happy!

Today he wore underwear! He was so excied and showed everyone we saw! We even took a short trip to target and made it out dry! I think overall a VERY succesful first day in underwear! YEAH ELIJAH! His only accident was during the time he was up past his bedtime! It's not the route I took with Renée, but he his a little more strong-willed so we're going all in!