Our week in paradise! chapter one

Oh gosh, I almost don't even want to blog about our Hawaii trip because it was so perfect I am not sure I can even find the words to describe it all. I will try, but I am not promising much.

Our flight was leaving Thursday morning early, so we decided to stay at the Marriott {you can park your car there for up to 8 days} and then be shuttled over in the morning to the airport which is just across the street. We left my the three middle boys here with my parents and then took Bennett and Jadeyn to Marc and Michelle's house, Andy's sister. Bennett had the hardest time out of all the kids. When we said good bye to the boys at our house I knew it was up to me whether or not I sobbed and bawled hysterically of handled it in a normal manner. I did pretty good. When I hugged the baby I had tears in my eyes, but hid my emotions pretty well if I do say so myself. I knew it would all be ok, so why put myself through all that, right?

When we were leaving Marc and Michelle's house Bennett was SO sad. I kept telling him the little kids were handling it better than him, and he said "That is because they have no idea what is about to happen!" So true. To them we were leaving for the night. Bennett knew exactly how long 7 days were. He stood by our car and said take me with you take me with you. It was not helping me with my guilt about leaving them, but I help strong. Finally we convinced him to go inside and allow us to leave. Michelle did such a great job doing so many things with the kids. They went somewhere everyday and that kept Bennett busy. Jadeyn did just fine and she was the one I was most worried about because she is addicted to me. I have to remain in her sights at all times and she even feels better when she is touching me, so I was worried. She did so good. Bennett would call us practically every morning when he woke up. And every morning he would try and fight back the tears and kindly say, can you just come home today please. Luckily as I said before Michelle kept them nice and busy so he cheered up. Funny enough though as if the time difference wasn't hard enough on us, him calling us at 8 was 3 in the morning there. Fun times I tell ya. We would wake up at 3 and force ourselves to go back to sleep till 5 which is 10 our time. So we would be up and ready to go for the day nice and early there in Hawaii.

After we dropped off the kids and drove away it was one of the craziest feelings ever. We were free. There was not anyone we were in charge of or responsible for other than ourselves. It was surreal. It was a weird feeling and kind of relaxing just knowing that.

We got to the Marriott and it was so refreshing to walk into a hotel alone. Awe, that feeling was absolutely awesome. We order room service for the morning and asleep we went. I told Andy before falling asleep we could go home in the morning and it would have been worth it. He reassured me we were indeed going all the way to Hawaii, I could not get out of it. We had a wake up call at 6 am. We hopped right up and got ready and was then delivered our delish breakfast. Out the door we were by 6:30. Yes folks it only took us a half hour to get ready and eat breakfast and get out the door. That is what happens when you don't have 5 other people you are taking care of! Wow!

The whole time getting ready that morning and on the shuttle over to the airport I could not get that giddy feeling to go away. I was just so excited about being with Andy and the bonus in Hawaii on top of it! Again the airport was a breeze with just the two of us. We got on the first flight to Minneapolis and off we were. Oh gosh just thinking about it makes me miss it so much. Gosh we had the greatest time. Then our ride set off from MN to Honolulu. All eight hours or so of it.

I thought the plane ride would be unbearable. I get a little claustrophobic and anxious when in tight corners so I was hoping I wouldn't get any of that this trip. Luckily it was wonderful. Honestly we had such a fun time on the plane. We all had our own personal tv with movies, music and games on there. Andy is a movie guy and we do not get to watch many movies together so he was in Heaven. We watched three movies going there. It was So fun. The kept the drink and snacks coming along with two actually pretty good meals. I loved loved loved it. It really was relaxing. Although they have a map you can watch where the plane is from A to B and I asked Andy if they plane went down would I have enough time to call someone and tell them who we want to leave the kids with. {we do not have a will, I know crazy!} He chuckled and we dismissed that idea right away before I really did start to worry about it.
{The plane was huge. There was a whole other section in the front and another one in the back. I have never seen such a huge plane!}

We finally arrived in beautiful Hawaii. Gosh the beauty is indescribable. They greeted us with beautiful purple leis and took us to the beautiful Hyatt. Boy oh boy was our hotel fabulous. So beautiful. I am so happy I went with the Hyatt. Perfect in every single way. Serious. Paradise.

We walked into our beautiful hotel and it was breathtaking. It was right on the ocean and everything about this hotel was top notch. When I was checking in the nice sweet small framed Hawaiian lady said in her nice sweet little voice, if it is ok with you we went a head and upgraded you to the deluxe ocean view. Ah, yes it is ok. The same thing happened to us at Disney world, how are we getting so lucky? Anyway, when booking I booked the ocean view. They had four choices, city view, mountain view, ocean view and deluxe. The Deluxe was like an extra 168 a night. I wanted to spend most of the time on the beach anyway, so I was ok with just the ocean view. We then took the elevator up to the 34th floor with only 3 floors above us. We walked into our room and we almost fell over it was so breathtaking. A huge door to the balcony where the ocean was right there and you could see for miles miles out. The water was so clear and amazing. We kept that door open most of the time we were inside. It was so awesome just hearing the waves crash and the sounds of the water and city. We also happened to have a beautiful view of the city and mountains. It was paradise. I tell ya Andy and I kept laughing because all we could say over and over was, "THIS IS SO AMAZING!!!" It just kept coming out! And it was. So amazing. Amazing.

We enjoyed the view and quickly changed into our suits after some pictures taken in our room. Off to the beach we went. Down the elevator and 10 steps out and I was in Heaven. Why oh why I don't live on the beach is beyond me. Well actually I don't live on the beach because it is certainly not in the budget, but close to a beach any beach would be nice! That night after walking the streets visiting all the fun little shops we heard of a little place to eat that was apparently really good and really cheap. We decided to try it. It was right on the corner of our hotel. Which by the way, there was like over 150 shops in our hotel alone and our hotel was right on the strip. I have never in all my life ever ever ever seen so many stores. There were four Coach stores within 3 blocks. It was crazy! Anyway, back to the food. It was called Blazin' Steaks. You got a salad, steak, shrimp, and two scoops of rice for 6 bucks. It was so good. Like so good, some of the best food I have ever eaten good. We went back during the remainder of our trip. It was that good and cheap-oh!

Our first day was a success and so amazing. Little did we know that the next 6 days were going to be just as amazing. We feel so blessed to have had this experience. It was simply AMAZING!

My Cortland, My Sweetheart

Notice the rocks in his shirt. Cute, cute, cute!

While at the park I looked over and he was pushing this little cute girl after she called and called for her mom to. Cortland took matters in his own hands. He is such a sweet boy he would have pushed her the entire time we were there had she wanted!

Oh my sweet little Cortland. He is such a sweet, soft sensitive little boy. I can't get enough of him. I am so happy he is a part of our little family. He is so funny. I wanted to jot a few things down to remember he at age 3 and a half!

*He is so sensitive if i raise my voice in the slightest, he bottom lip starts to quiver.

*He loves boy things, he loves bugs, motorcycles and anything having to do with balls.

*I love teasing him and calling him Maddox or saying I can't tell who you are, and he pushes up his eye lashes and says, "here, I will push my hairs up" so I can see his eyes to tell who he is. Like he is snuffy or something. So cute!

*He would sit and watch tv all day if I would allow him.

*I think I could leave him in the house by himself and he would be just fine. He is so laid back and just content doing whatever he wants. He never gets into to anything. Love that about him!

*His color is blue. Everything he has is blue.

*We left his night-night in FL and I finally found one that is similar to his and I didn't think he would notice the difference. When I gave it to him he hugged it and said I love you night-night, then he looked at me and said, "hey did my night-night get his hair's cut?" The new blakets fibers were a little shorter. So cute!

*He is afraid of boom-booms which is thunder.

*He walks himself up to his room for naps and bedtime and climbs in bed.

*When he gets excited his speech slows down because he gets himself so excited.

*Randomly in the car he will say, "Terica, I love you" as if he was saying come on mom leave me alone. It is so cute. For some reason he uses my name instead of mom when saying this.

*He loves picking veggies out of our garden.

*This child is so happy go lucky. It melts my heart.

*He sucks on his right index finger backwards. I love that.

*He adores Bennett.

*I wish I could bottle his laugh and listen to it everyday for the rest of forever!

I am sure I will add many more things to this list.

The list goes on and on. He is too cute for words. I am so in love with him.

I am one lucky mamma!

Good thing for naps...

I got so much updated on my blog today. If my children did not take naps it never would have happened. Also it helped that I did so much work this morning I was kind of looking forward to just sitting and blogging.

Now all I still need to do is August and Disney World. I have so many pictures from DW that I am not sure how to post it all. I tried flickr, but I am not smart when it comes to that type of things, so as soon as I can figure that all out, those will be up too! Look at me. I am being productive!!!

Here's to many more entry's to come...I will get caught up, you just watch me!

Nauvoo

One of the loveliest things about Andy being off Fridays allows us to take little weekend trips here and there. Early in that week we were thinking about going to Nauvoo to see the Pageant, but wasn't sure if it would work out. Well Thursday Andy called from work and said lets just go. How is that spontaneous for you? So I packed everything up and while on the phone with my SIL Michelle they decided to go too! We had a great time. I love that it is just a short trip. Everything is free there and the kids can just run around and enjoy such a special place.

This is Paxton's signature smile. I love it like nothing else. It is so funny when he does it. I am so happy I caught it on film!

I want their gardener.

A little game of tug of war.

Sack races!

Buddies!

Beautiful! It was so bright out, none of them could look at the camera, still cute though if you ask me.

A funny little note about this little weekend trip. Since it was a very quick decision to go I had to act fast and get everything ready to go with about 2 hours to plan. I needed all of the clothes we would need, baby items and a cooler packed and ready to go. I got it all ready and we were ready to go when Andy got home that evening. When we got to the hotel I got out our bags while Andy was getting the kids out and I asked him where the black bag was with our clothes in it. He said it should be out there. It wasn't. So we all had to wear what we wore there for the next two days. Well really just the next day and we were leaving late that night, but still! Luckily the hotel had a great laundry facility that we were able to wash every ones clothes, but my own since I would have to wear something to that great laundry facility. It is things like this that you really remember when it comes to family vacations!

The fourth of July

Everyone waiting for the fireworks. Andy looking a little tired!

Andy was giving everyone licorice and didn't even realize he gave it to Paxton until moments later we noticed him looking like this. He enjoyed it, by the looks of him!

We did the Duck tour and everyone loved it!
Getting Cozy for the ride home.

We had a blast this fourth of July! We loaded up the family and headed to good ole' Branson. It is a tiny little town in Missouri. There are shows, restaurnats, parks, hotels and recreation galore! It is a fun little town and we had such a great time! We rode the ducks, we went to silver dollar city, we had the best ice cream in town at "Andy's", we went to the Dixie Stampede, we went to several eateries, we saw Adam and Gloria and watched the best fireworks! We are thinking we may spend every fourth of July there. It was such a blast!

On the fourth we went to this super nice hotel and sat on their lawn and wathced the best fireworks. We had so much fun. We brought all of our snacks a nice big blanket and just layed under the stars. The kids loved all the loud "Boom, Boom" as Cortland calls them.

It was also so fun to get to go to Gloria and Adams home and visit with them. She made us a fab lunch and then we headed home.

***I am a little sad, because I can't seem to find all the pictures from our weekend there. I have so many great ones. I am afraid I developed them and erased them off my camera, so that means the only option I have is to scan all those pictures. At least I got the developed though.***

I will add more pictures soon!

July 2009

The spalsh park and pool

There is a tiny little splash park not far from our house so one day we thought we would change it up a bit and let the kids run around there for a while. They loved it!

These three love the pool. All of our kids love the water. They have no fear. They jump, the go under they swim swim swim. We have such a great time at our pool. It has been so nice to have one this summer. Although we have had a pretty cool summer so we haven't used it as much as we would have liked, but it was still great while we did.

I cannot express how happy I am he is mine. Yummo!

This little guy swiped a cookie! He loved ever single morsel! I could not bring myslef to take it away. Yes I know he is not a year yet, and yes I know there was chocolate involved, but he survived and all is well! What a delish picture, and I am talking about the baby, not the cookie!

June 2009

A Reunion of sorts

I have mentioned before the great friends from high school I have. We are all still so close. There is about 7 of us who spent ever single minute together in high school and we still try to get together as much as we can when we are able to. Some of us have spread out across the US, but we still manage to get together.

Susan got married and what a beautiful bride she was. We were all so thrilled for her to get married for obvious reasons and also to be able to get all the ladies back together again. It was so great even though I had an incredible ear infection that day. I was in pain the entire night, but that did not intrude with my time with the girls. We had so much fun that night!

Congrats again Suz! You were stunning that day and always!!!

Gosh, I know I am short, but this is ridiculous!

Sooter and me!

Me with the bride!

Carrie and me with an enlarged ear/neck/face!

True beauties all of you!

June 2009

A visit to the Dentist

We probably get to the office about every month, either picking Andy up to have lunch, or a teeth cleaning, or whatever the case may be. We love the girls that work in Andy's office. They are always so nice and kind to me and the children. Bennett spent a day at Andy's office and had such a blast. Jadeyn spent an afternoon up there one day too. Andy has pics on the office camera that I will have to get soon and apply them to this post. They are such cute, fun pictures.

One afternoon I took them up and Cortland and Maddox were able to get their teeth cleaned. They also assisted in the teeth cleaning. That was so fun for them. I was surprised not one of them were scared or thought it was weird. They loved every minute of it.

He was so teeny tiny in this chair, my little Maddox boy.

The kids all run right to the prize basket when we get there.

Is there anything better than the prize basket at the Dentist's office???

Baseball and T-ball

This Spring/Summer we had the opportunity to cheer on Bennett and Cortland. They both had such a great time playing this year. I am pretty sure there is not too many things cuter than 3 year olds playing t-ball. What a fun thing to watch.

This boy could not be any sweeter. What a sweet little game face:)!

Specators/Fans How cute is this baby?

Ten Months

The past ten months could not have been better because of this little guy. We all love him more than words can describe. He is the sunshine in our home, everyone in the house doting of this handsome boy. He sure has a lot of hair and still the eye care is undecided. Even the doc at his appointment said, "Wow look at those green eyes, or brown or wait are they blue?" We told him we have no clue what to even call these beauties so for now we will just call them that, beauties.

We love having a pool and he loves being in it. What a darling baby. He just sits in his tube, resting and realxin', like a babies day out. We love you baby Pax.

You are for sure so needed and wanted in our family!

Nine Months

June 2009


This darling little baby is nine months. He is so fun and cuddly. We love our little "hunky" which is his little nickname that we are not sure how it came about. He is scooting right along. His choice of crawl is the army crawl. None of my other children ever did this. It is a new thing to us and I must admit, it is pretty darn cute.

At his 9 month check up he weighs 19.5 pounds. I thought they would say he is in the 90th percentile, but he is only in the 30th. I was really really surprised about that. I mean come on, his name is hunky! He was in the 80th for height and along with the other kiddos he is in the 90th for head circumference.

He loves to give kisses and blow raspberries which is documented in the photo above. He will clap as soon as you start to say hooray for Paxton. This boy is finger lookin' good.

How do you work this thing?

Gosh, I barely remember how to post anything to my blog it has been so long! And boy and I behind, 3 months to be exact. I really hope this week to make a super big comeback and get myself completely back on track and up to date!

A few things in the news around the E household...

A great day has come, the twins can now officially buckle and unbuckle themselves in their car seats. I have 3/5 kids that can do it themselves. That my friends is a real treat! Oh joyful day!

We had more fun than even imaginable in Hawaii. It was the vacation of a lifetime that I still sometimes just close my eyes and picture me there again. Honestly the one of the best weeks of my life. Man, I love my husband!

School started again. Bennett likes his teacher and new school. Seems like we will have a great year this year.

I am working out like crazy and starving myself. Well not really the second part, but that is sure easier! I joined this weight loss challenge seeing four kids in two years did not do this body good, and hope for great results. I need huge results, so I am hoping it all works to my favor. The kids love their gym time.

I have been doing preschool with J, C and M. They LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! I love watching them get so excited. What cuties they are.

Soccer has started and that will keep us busy till the end of September.

I feel so behind on my housework and never feel fully caught up...will that ever change? Probably not.


That is about it. I really need to get going and get this blog caught up. I still haven't even put up our Disney picks from MAY! What is wrong with me? Here is hoping to a very productive week all around!!!