Vacation!!

 So we went on Vacation as a family and it was marvelous! It was the 5 of us, plus Mark's friend Beacham who is practically his brother as they have been friends for almost 2 decades! And we brought along his sister Emily who is 21 and possibly the sweetest, most selfless person on this earth! I asked her last July if she would be up for coming with us this summer and she, without hesitation, said yes. Really, a free trip to the beach with the only stipulation being you have to help with 3 littles...I would totally have went too! Oh and my sister and my two nieces (my other sisters "grown" girls, almost 19 and almost 14!) were there as well! They are the super tanned beauties in the pictures below!

We left at 8:30pm Friday night and drove the 7 hours without issue. Arrived at my sister's beach house that she rented for the summer around 2:45am. Miriam and Emily were sleeping pretty much the whole trip (Emily's was drug induced as she apparently gets more car sick than she realized!). Juliana and Samantha were in and out of sleep, as was I because I feared Mark would get lost in the dark in an area he had never driven before. Granted, Beacham was navigating and they had 2 GPS systems going, I being the control freak that I am, couldn't relax until we pulled into the driveway.

And as we unloaded what we needed for the night, Miriam woke up and was ready to go! She had just slept about 6 hours and thought it was time to play! Bless Mark's heart because after I fed her, he took her outside on the screened in porch and walked with her for a bit and then laid down in the car with her on his chest. The beach house was great but not big enough that a crying baby wouldn't have ruined everyone's little amount of sleep even more!

Saturday started around 7:30am for me and Miriam, at which time I plugged in Dunkin Donuts to the GPS and found me some COFFEE!! :) Grabbed some bagels for everyone too. We lazed around and then headed to the beach. We were all a little groggy but we weren't stuck in beach traffic!! Which, if you've ever been to the Eastern Shore, you know how bad it can be!

Later that day we checked in to our place and got somewhat settled before we went to Mass. The next 6 days consisted of breakfast, cartoons for the kids (a real treat b/c that is not normal at home), bathing suits, beach, pool, lunch, naps, beach, pool, showers, dinner, dessert and back to the beach!

I miss the beach. The feel of sitting with the sand between my toes and reading a good book. Sand castle building. Chatting with family. Crashing in the waves. Playing at the pool with the kids. I love the beach!

Oh and MIRIAM STARTED CRAWLING while we were away!! So exciting!

This was the first time i saw her crawl! It was so wonderful to see her on the move!! Now she's into everything but it's okay. It was bound to happen!!

Our Trip in Pictures

Sisters on swings

Mark and Juls in the far right corner...there footprints in the foreground of the picture

The girls on the trip! Hence the reason Mark insisted Beacham come! :)

Big sisters on right. Little sisters on left. Imitating Juls when she is trying to get Miriam to look at the camera!

The sunset on our last night.

Hope you and yours have as wonderful as of a vacation as we did!! :)

It's been a minute...

Apparently I have been off the blogging train for almost a month! Wow, time flies when you're having fun and fun was had!

June was full of traveling. Lots and lots of traveling but that also meant it was filled with birthdays, baby showers, THE BEACH, family, friends and YUMMY FOOD! Seriously, June was an awesome month!

The weekend of June 14-16th, I took the two littles with me down to MD to celebrate my Momma's bday and my sis in law and bro's baby shower! A nephew...carrying on the Perry name! Super excited about that! It was a great weekend but I will say, traveling with 2 small people makes for an exhausting trip. Thank goodness for my amazing sisters and nieces who bent over backwards to help in anyway they could. A big shout out to my sis Christine who helped clean up Miriam's vomit after I had the genius idea to try and switch formulas. DUH! Won't do that again.

While I was away, Mark hosted Samantha and 3 friends for a 10th Birthday party and sleepover! I told him her was crazy but he didn't want to hear it! :) All went well except they didn't go to sleep until 2am! That so wouldn't have happened if I was home...When the cat's away...

So after traveling 5 hours home that Sunday, we had a family birthday party for Samantha which was so wonderful but I was wiped! And then, the next day I had to clean up, unpack and start packing for the beach. Packing a family of 5 for a 7 day trip is no small task and it took 5 days to accomplish, not to mention the menu for the week at the beach, related shopping list and all the other list made in weeks prior! But, IT WAS SO WORTH IT!! If you are questioning whether you should go on vacation, do it! Pull the trigger and go! Memories last a lifetime. And that's what spending a week together is all about, making memories. I will post some pics of the trip in the next day or two but here's how it went:

Left at 8:15pm Friday and arrived at 2:30am at my sister's beach house (no beach traffic, holla!)
Go to the beach and hang. Checked into our place at 3pm. Went to Mass.
Sunday - Friday - got up, bathing suits on, beach and pool all day, dinner, ice cream, beach, bed.
Perfect. Couldn't have been better. 

I have spent the last week unpacking and cleaning, celebrating the 4th, more picnics, more food and tomorrow is Mark's birthday. A date night for us!!

Hope every had a happy and blessed 4th!

7 Quick Takes (vol 8)

Linking up with Jen and the gang for another round of 7 QTs...

1

Last Friday we celebrated Mark's Godson's (and our nephew) 1st Birthday! Aside from Juliana's awful, awful, awful behavior, it was a rather pleasant time! Funniest thing though, Mr. Mikey wanted nothing to do with his cookie cake! His big sister blew out his candle for him (safety first!) and then we thought he would dive into the cake. NOPE! He picked up the cake and was handing it to his Momma! Crazy kid! Super cute though!

Doggie Smash Cake! :)

Checking it out!

Not a fan! Here you go Mom!

2

This past Sunday we hosted a 50th Birthday party for Mark's Uncle Luke. UL (as he is called) and his wife were not able to have their own children because of medical reasons but they have been blessed with over a dozen God-children and have approx. 70 or so nieces/nephews and great nieces and nephews. They are 2 of the most gracious, loving, selfless people I have come across in my life. They hold a special place in my heart because when Mark's first marriage started unraveling, they took him under their wing and have stood by his side ever since. UL actually started a men's group on Sunday nights with other family guys and they have been meeting regularly for almost 9 years. Aunt Annie did most of the picture taking but here are a few...

Mark throwing Juls in the air!

cuties in their coordinating outfits from Grandma Perry!

3

So we got the rest of our family pictures the other night and I am in LOVE!!  I spent a few hours yesterday on Sam's Club website uploading, cropping, picking out how many I want and ordering them! How you might ask was I able to spend a few hours doing so...well, my kids slept til 8:45am!!! It was ah-maz-ing! Here are a few more pics of the fam...again, if you need pictures and you are in the the Pittsburgh area Tim and Angie VanDyke  are the way to go! 

This seriously CRACKS ME UP every time I see it. Wants to be her big sister so badly! Also, not sure why she's hiking up her shorts! :)

4

While uploading pictures I also wanted to clean up my phone of pictures and print off a bunch...well come to find out my computer has low disk space! What you mean there's a limit on these things? So, I took some time and was going through old documents and seeing what I did and didn't need/want. I read through old college papers and you know what? I was a pretty darn good student (in college...prior to is a different story and I sometimes wonder how I got into college!) and wrote some decent papers. Now, writing doesn't come naturally to me. Never has. So I hesitated deleting anything I wrote because I know the time and brain power it took to write those puppies! I also miss college. It was such a time of growth and maturity. That is when I fell in love with God and the Catholic Church. Just for a day I wish I could go back. 

5

Also in college, I was in great shape. And with our beach vacation quickly approaching (15 days), I really needed to go bathing suit shopping. Joy. Seriously, WHO likes bathing suit shopping? Not me. And I would consider myself a fairly small size person. Though not as toned as I would like to be but not too bad of shape. And you know what? I had to go up 3 sizes just so I wouldn't be showing off all my goods to everyone and their brother on the beach! So not only do I already feel self conscious, I have to buy an even bigger size x 3?!?! Their marketing departments are clearly missing the mark! Have your clothes run big! Make me feel stoked that I am in an even SMALLER size and you will have a customer for LIFE! For real!

6

On another note about bathing suits, anyone else have some issues in the Mommy Milk section with support? I mean, these girls have gone through alot in the last couple years. I grew 4 sizes with Juliana and then went back down before getting pregnant with Miriam and only went up 3 with her. Add to that nursing for 15+ months between the 2 girls, they really need all the help they can get! I really should design clothes because don't even get me started on modesty of some of the bathing suits I saw! 

7

Mark has a golf outing this weekend with his work so the girls and I are invading his sister's house on Saturday and I get to help her ORGANIZE!! Yay! I wonder if I could organize for a living? 

Happy weekend!! :)

7 Months old

This little diva is 7 months old! How did this happen? More than a half year has gone by and what a joy it is to watch her grow.
As the picture shows she is a well nourished child! :) She is an amazing eater and her newest favorites are noodles, small pieces of cheese, nibbles of my yogurt and baby puffs.
She isn't as determined to crawl and be on the move as her older sister was, but she is beginning to pull herself up on people, small furniture and toys. She also scoots on her butt. She is incredibly proud of herself when she moves this way and it is fascinating to watch!
Miss Miriam I love you so much. You are such a gift to this family and your calm, cool, collective attitude helps Momma relax after dealing with the craziness that is Juliana.

Here are some out takes from our 7 Month "photo session"

bottom right is my FAVORITE!!!

"Get out of my picture. This is all about me!"

She was diving off the couch

Elvis Lip

 And also, Dad had a little fun of his own!

baby in the laundry basket!!

7 Quick Takes (vol 7)

1

Everyone has been feeling a little under the weather this week. Juls had a fever for a few days, along with a cough and runny nose. Now Miriam has the runny nose but nothing else. Part of me really loves sick Juliana b/c her energy level goes from 100 to about 10. She's mellow and just lays around. But she's back to jumping off couches and her sneaky 2.5 year old ways! 

she thinks she is so funny!

drippy nose and glossy eyes. She sneezed no less than 50 times that day...and that is NOT an exaggeration! 

2

How much do you sick kids hate getting their noses wiped? Mine do, ALOT! When Juls was a babe I discovered these

Boogie Wipes

Boogie Wipes! What a ridiculous name but you know what? My girls don't scream EVERY time I have to wipe their noses! Also, when it gets all gross and gunky in the middle of a nap or night time, the saline in the wipes breaks it all down with one wipe! I probably should have saved this for 5 Faves but I know I will forget about it by next week!

3

Since the girls were sick I couldn't make it to Samantha's band recital but I was able to go to her last gymnastics class and see all that she has been doing.

 Now this is still with help but at the beginning of the sessions she couldn't do a cart wheel! She is extremely cautious but has learned so much and is hoping to do more sessions in the future. 

I would have been in heaven as a child to have this opportunity and was DYING to get up there and tumble! I seriously missed my calling.

4

Do you battle with your older girls about clothes? And I do mean battle. World War 3 style! There aren't many times in a week that we require Samantha to dress a certain way. Church. A band recital here,a baptism there. Not often enough that when she has to be in more than a pair of shorts and tank top that yelling/crying/hurt feelings ensue. It's bad. Any helpful tips would be good. 

5

We got a pool for the babes! And they had a blast playing in it yesterday after naps!

Thankfully they didn't get my ridiculous fear of water in their faces and splashed away! 

6

How do you ladies make prayer apart of your day? Personal or as a family. I would love to hear some tips as I feel like since Lent ended so has my fire for daily prayer. 

7

Prayers for me please if I may. I have a bad left knee. Past surgery on it. Months of PT and it's acting up again. Lots of pain, discomfort and fear that with one wrong move I'll be on crutches and maybe need surgery. This is a cross I have been given and I am trying to not see the worst possible outcome but with this much pain, I am not sure what else to do. 

Thanks for hosting Jen! Love this link up! :)