Cocoa Beach Vacation

We were lucky enough to bring our nephews along with us this year to our annual Cocoa Beach, FL vacation.  I was a little nervous at first, since this was the first time taking other kids without other parents.  I was not for sure how bickering would end up or how to discipline, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well the trip went!  They LOVED it!  My boys loved being with their cousins, and I am sure this will be a trip that they will all remember for a very long time.  

 

 Posing outside of Ron Jon Surf Shop.  They all got a little souvenir from the shop.

 This spot for photos has become a tradition for us every year.  It is the walkway at our resort that leads out to the beach.  We make a pretty good-looking crew. 

My Killion boys.  Love this one so much!

He's Here

My nephew (who is still nameless) made his debut last night!  I made it to the hospital in time to hear them play a sweet lullaby over the intercom to announce that a new little one has entered the world.  I couldn't help but get a little teary eyed.  Welcome sweet baby boy!  I love you already!

The proud parents.

A New Normal

Last week we were delivered a blow...Chad's mom was diagnosed with Stage 3C colon cancer.  So many thoughts enter your mind...are we going to lose her, how long does she have, what does this mean, how sick is she going to get?  The list goes on and on.  My heart aches for what my family is going to face.  This is Chad's mom, how am I going to be there for him?  What can I do for him?  This is my boys' grandma.  My goodness, I was an adult when I lost my grandma, they are too young to possibly have to face losing theirs. 

My head is a jumble and my heart hurts.  This week has been better.  A little more like ourselves as a family.  She is now home after her surgery, and seems to be healing well.  She will have another outpatient procedure next Tuesday to have her port put in for her chemotherapy.  She will begin chemo on August 20th. 

I have been amazed at the amount of love, concern and prayer that has been shown and offered during this last week, and it just solidifies even more to me that we need our Heavenly Father.  He is what gets us through.  He is who we need.  He is in control!  We must have faith!  There is nothing comforting about a loved one being diagnosed with a horrible disease, but it can be dealt with and lived through knowing that He has a plan. 

I know we are facing a long battle of chemo trips and sick days.  Nita will more than likely lose her hair.  I am anticipating that I will be taking her to many chemo visits.  It is going to be a new normal for us, but one we are ready to face!  It feels like we are entering a battle, and I want to be "armed" with knowledge, understanding and most of all-faith!

If you feel led to pray for Nita, I know we can use all the prayer we can get.

Do the hustle (of the Christmas variety)

Oh my goodness...the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is here!!  This coming Sunday is Christmas, and I have yet to wrap one gift!  Wow!! 

We did enjoy a magical weekend on the Polar Express train ride, and then an overnight stay at Big Splash waterpark!  So fun!

I highly recommend taking your kids on this, at least once.  It will be a memory that will last a lifetime for them!

I hope you and your family are enjoying your holiday preparations!

5 days until Christmas!

Family Movie Night

So, we have started a tradition with the boys to host a family movie night at least once a week (depending on our schedules).

One of the things that Chad and I love to do is pick an old movie from our childhoods that we enjoyed watching and introduce it to our boys.

We've watched some good ones so far:  Goonies, The Adventures in Babysitting, Short Circut, Homeward Bound...those are just a few that have been hits.

Tonight, we are going to watch Harry and the Hendersons!

I know the boys have a great time, but I think Chad and I love it more.

Spending some fun family time together, and then sleeping downstairs together.

We call that "camping out."

If you have any good movies that you think we should watch with our boys, please add suggestions in the comments section! 

I'm back...(home and to blogging)

I am sure you noticed that I have not been blogging much, eventhough I promised to do so.  Well, there are a few reasons for that. 
1.  Birthday coma-Yes, it does exist, and I suffered from it.  4 birthdays in less than 3 weeks, and it was crazy!  I am happy to say that birthday season is officially over for the Killion family this year.
2.  Prep-Because of all of the birthdays, there was a lot of running around in a crazy state for a few days, with lists in hand and tons to do.  There was a lot of prep work for the birthdays as well as for the surprise present we had in store for our boys!
3.  The Present-So, it was up in the air for most of the weeks leading up to the boys' birthdays as to if their present was going to become reality.  The reason for that was because of a lot of weather watching.  You may be wondering what the weather had to do with their present.  Well, up until the week of Sept. 6th, we had not made a definite decision, and then after watching the hurricanes finally slow down, we booked our flights to head to the Happiest Place on Earth for 9 days and surprise the boys the day we were to leave, Sept. 10th!  We picked Gabe up from school at 1:30pm, all packed and ready to go, and told the boys in the car on the way to the airport!

It was an AMAZING trip, one that I will never forget!  There is nothing like Disney magic, and we were surrounded by it for 9 days!  I cannot express how blessed I feel to have a husband the loves me and his family so much to work so hard to allow us to take family vacations like we do!!  We had a blast, and Chad and I have decided that we work pretty well together as a family of 4 on vacation.  It was a great bonding time for us and the boys, and we are already trying to plan our next trip! 

Please be patient with me while I work throught the 1000+ photos that I have taken, and I will get posts about the birthday parties and the trip up as soon as I can! 

Thrown into the thick of it

All last week, the boys, Chad and I were emerged into Hero Headquarters at our church for our evening VBS program!  Oh my goodness, we were exhausted every night.  The boys had such a great time, but I am so glad we can finally have our evenings back. 

Gabe and my niece Taylor with friends from their group during games.

Some Hero Headquarters game to get to the day's Hero Mission!

Yes, Chad was loved as Pizza Man!

In all of our crazy, busy week, we did manage to see Toy Story 3, one of the best movies by far this summer, not once, but twice! 

Oh, how I am a Buzz and Woody fan!

I even teared up at both viewings. 

If you haven't seen it yet, then I suggest you run out and see it today!

An evening of swimming and getting thrown into the air is how every child should spend a summer's evening! 

 

I am still longing for our vacation days of doing whatever we want, when we want.

I miss it so much.

Why can't life be a constant vacation?

Also, is it bad, that we now want to move to Florida? 

I really think we can be a permanent Florida family.

Longing for...

I am wishing that I was back on those sandy beaches watching the waves roll in. 

Living life

Going to be heading here later on tonight.

I was hoping it would get rained out.  Is that bad?

:-)

Sorry, I haven't been blogging lately.  We've been a little busy.

Lots of baseball and softball games to attend between Gabe and my niece Taylor.

Went to a very chilly outdoor wedding over the weekend.

I am ready for summer and our Florida vacation.

I am counting down the days. 

We've also been working on some home improvement projects.

Getting our front porch roof replaced, and then spiffing up the front porch-new paint, furniture, etc. 

Just lots going on in my day-to-day life at the moment.

What's new with you?

Any good activities to recommend for a 3 and a 6 year old for a 17+ hour car ride to Cocoa Beach, FL?  Would love some suggestions!

A Week in My Life-Day 4

Sorry, I have taken a lull in posting the remainder of my Week in the Life Project. 

Life actually took over and I really haven't had a lot of down time to post. 

I am happy to say that I am getting the rest of the posts ready.

Thursday, April 22nd

I woke up and my allergies were going crazy...lots of sneezing and watery eyes, and then the runny nose set it.  Luckily, this works wonders!

We've been picking up Taylor for school to help out my brother and sister-in-law since baby Morgan arrived.  The boys love Taylor riding with us, Taz included. 

He loves to ride along to take the kids to school as well as wait for them to get off of the bus.

The line of cars while waiting to drop the kids off.

Graedon and I at home, and he wanted to paint.

This was my way of bribing him from playing Castle Crashers (an XBox 360 game).

I am not one that plays video games too often.

That's for daddy to do with them.

My drive on my way to pick Gabe up from the bus stop.

It's a really great drive to see the seasons changing.

I am loving the green leaves and not the bare brown from winter!

After school, I took the boys to Sonic for 1/2 price drinks.

I am loving the Cherry Limeade!

Gabe ordered a Pineapple Coconut slush and Graedon ordered a Bubblegum Slush.

Nothing like a fun drink on a warm day!

I think Terre Haute is the train capital!

We sat here for over half an hour.

I finally pulled out and headed a different direction.

I need to get to the sports store to get Gabe a new pair of baseball pants.Baseball season is underway!

Gabe was 3 for 3 on hitting, and he scored 3 runs.

His team won their first game!

A Week in My Life-Day 3

Wednesday, April 21st

The breakfast of champions...cereal.

Poor Taz, he is once again out of food.

We will venture out to buy some more for him.

Lunch at Quizno's for Graedon, Daddy and Mommy.

We tend to meet up with Chad for lunch after I drop Gabe off at school at noon.

Graedon was loving the colored tiles and he would jump to each one while saying the color of the tile.

He is just too cute! 

Love that boy!

The weather has been so beautiful, and we enjoyed some time on our front porch.

Sidewalk chalk is a fan fave.

Graedon loves to line them up.

I remember when Gabe loved to line up things as well and called them choo choo cars. 

We seem to be a magnet for stray kitties.

She's pretty cute, and the boys love her.

Hope she sticks around.  :-)

Every Wednesday night, our church has Kid's Klub.

It's a fun time for the kids to play games, eat a snack, sing, and learn a lesson.

Graedon isn't quite old enough to attend, but they will make exceptions for him. 

I think that is a great advantage of a small church.

Gabe loves it!

They earn points by bringing their Bible, an offering, friends, etc.

They get to shop at the "store" with their points at the end of the night.

It makes me proud to have my boys learning and living God's word.

The weather has been so awesome that outside time was a little longer than usual!

**Sorry, I didn't get more evening shots.  We did come home and have a dinner of leftovers.  :-)

A Week in My Life-Day 2

Tuesday, April 20th

Laundry to start my day is never fun. 

How do piles become mountains so easily?

I love waking up to the boys playing in their room together. 

We're off to a good start.

Fixing the boys one of their fave breakfasts...sausage. 

Graedon also orders ketchup, vitamin and chocolate milk.

Gabe had a dentist appointment at 1:00pm.

We arrived a bit early so that the boys could play the arcade machines that they have in the waiting area.  They loved it!

A nice dashboard shot of me heading to the store to get ice cream and doughnuts for Gabe to eat after his dentist appt.  He can only have soft foods.

Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough was the flavor picked out by both.

Yes, I let them eat it in the car.

**Can you see that Steak-n-Shake car in between them?  Gabe has an addiction to those cars.

My favorite skillet may have cooked her last meal.

A grilled cheese sandwhich stuck to her.

A grillled cheese!!

I don't understand how that happens.  It has never happened before, and it was stuck pretty bad.

I may give her another go, but I feel that the end is near.

A Week in My Life-Day 1

Yesterday started A Week in the Life Project by Ali Edwards, and I am happy to say that I am giving it a go! 

Monday, April 19th

Monday is the worst day for how the house looks.  This is our mattress pad that we bring from our bed for the boys to "camp out" on in our downstairs family room. 

The love for us all to sleep downstairs together.  We watched the movie "Big" together.  Very fun, except there was some language we forgot about as well as a certain bra scene.  Chad and I were covering our faces with pillows when Gabe first saw that scene.  lol

Dirty dishes from the weekend (or from the week).  Who knows...

I must get my computer/online fix before I get my day started. 

I also have a fountain beverage addiction. 

Any ideas on how to kick that?

Another load of clean dishes to unload from our dishwasher.

Now, if we can just figure out why it leaks sometimes.

Gabe loves his daddy, and he wants to be just like him.

Here he is helping Chad work on the control panel for our basement arcade machine.

Chad had a good samaritan leave him a note on his truck that a bolt was stuck in his tire.  It is not safe to drive.  We've ordered a new one, but until then we are borrowing a truck of my brother's, and it is at my mom's house.  We drove up there for the evening, had dinner, and ended our evening sitting on the patio roasting marsmallows in her firepit.  Gabe loved it!

Love evening firepit fires.

Me:  Graedon, who is your favorite person?

Graedon:  Grandma Nancy!!