The trouble with passports---

Is really two fold if you ask me.
#1.  It takes and act of congress and two littles present in the middle of a school day
#2.  Everyones first question is "are you going somewhere exciting!"

Whew.  No we aren't going anywhere, not in the next 2 weeks, or the next 2 months that would require a United States passport (and yes I do swear this before all of the people in the line at the post office behind my family -1 little member with strep throat.)  Nice.  Nope. Nada.

Anyway, in typical Culpepper fashion  this year is off to a weird start...seems like we almost didn't loose speed from spring enough to soak in summer and we jumped right back on the crazy train-which brings us to now.
Murphy is a bit out of sorts because I am not taking him to Madonna..."please take me to my school today."  Ugh thank goodness its short lived, right?  I may go over there and help them build it myself!  And Tinky well is typical Tinky...in her happy place.  A happy little soul who cries sometimes because her "friends are so sweet it makes her heart so happy she feels sad."
And then there's work...hmmm.  Not sure what to think about that right now.  Its making me think about using those passports for sure!
I was going to cut back on a lot of things this summer and this year...hahahaha.  Things picked up quite a bit this summer...leaving me feeling kind of ...torn, and defeated.  I didn't get the bucket list done, I didn't really scratch the surface of the list.  That. makes. me. sad.
This summer I had in my mind I would not over schedule the littles, in fact they each got one week of camp and that was that.  Well, until I had to work everyday...ENTER SAWAH.  The Poseys are precious friends of ours and Sarah, one of their 7 kiddos watched my kids A LOT.  The Poseys are life savers!
Add a little splash of drama to that and voila one heck of a summer...leaving me so hungry for more.  More time with my littles more time with our family, more fun, more pool , more energy, more pouring into their little tanks, just more.  Which brings me back to the passports...so sometimes I make these plans and more often than not God says...not so fast...thats not MY plan.  That got me to thinking, you never know maybe we will use our passports...maybe the effort will all make sense one day...just think, The Culpeppers taking this show on the road.

Tinky at Hip hop camp

Few things as entertaining as driveway day

happy place

And he's off!  So long daddy...momma and the littles on their own at the beach!  Thank goodness "ms. gayle is in charge"

happy place happy littles

Mrs. Reatha got married...and meet SAWAH.  We. love. her.

pals in their wedding best

LAND!!!

Family Dinners are the best...look at those grown ups

Hadley daddy has a truck, Murphy may move out. seriously.

Skipper and CC do the dentist...thank you!

First day of school for my boy

Mommas birthday in muscle shoals....so much fun!

yep you read it right, SK.  sigh.

A smile through clenched teeth, "please don't let murphy drive please!" Supa safety

And our captain

Sweet friends

annual by the lake picture -3rd annual what!?!

So whew...thats some of the summer in a nutshell...like we say in the car..."and we're OFF!"

Jesus pushed Murphy in the water...

Yep you read it right.  It's tough being Murphy sometimes.  

EVERYONE has pushed poor Murphy in the water this Summer.  Just this morning Clay told Murphy he had to wear his gym clothes today instead of his regular school polo....pitter pats all the way down the hall...

M:  "momma I need you" (in between sobs)

ME:  "what happened buddy?"

M:  " Daddy is soooo mean to ME."

ME:  (laughing to myself because I know what has happened) "oh no Murph, what happened?"

M:  "Daddy pushed me in the water."

Then he makes a quick exit and is ready for breakfast, with Daddy no less.

So this started after the first couple of times we went swimming this year.  I think we made such a big deal about "NO pushing around the water."  That it has become the end all of bad behaviors...even if the person has never been in any water with murphy ever.  Sweet buddy Mark has pushed him, Skipper has pushed him, CC too!

So Where does Jesus come into this saga, you ask?  

Tinky came home from school in quite a funk. 

ME:  "whats wrong bear?"

M:  "nothing"

ME:  ok same questions different technique..." what was your favorite thing you did today?"

M; "nothing"

ME:  HMMMM well what made you laugh, made you happy made you sad,etc, who do you want to move to mars?

M: nothing. no one.

ME:  maybe you should go regroup in your room for a minute until you feel like talking?

ME:  (bad decision -better...Ill go with you...I will get to the bottom of this.)

M:  SO and SO was so mean to me today.  I wanted to cry and stay in the bathroom until you came to get me.

ME:  ....under my breath what is wrong with this kid....ugh! 

" well Tinky did you tell her you would like to be her friend but she needs to act like a friend first? " 

M: "No but I did tell her she should say sorry when she was mean on the playground.  And she said she wouldn't."

ME:  what on earth..."well you should tell her that it makes Jesus sad when we are ugly to each other"

M: "Ok Ill try that tomorrow " (great this is a daily thing)

ENTER A little voice from outside the door (and eavesdropper named Murphy)

 

"Madden, Jesus pushed me in the water!!!"

WOW.  Poor Murphles....it can't get much worse than that. 

Feel free to pray for us anytime anywhere.

What I am realizing...

is unfortunately I am really selfish.  Selfish in kind of a weird (recovering control freak...) kind of a way.  Summer is off with a bang around here.  While the end of the year was as usual (very emotional) hard to see come and go...it did just that, came and went.
It was a great year for both of my littles (which just proves my mom right ...again.)  Every year does seem to get better and better.  I feel like we are in such good places for the littles, they love their friends, we love their friends, they love their teachers, we love their teachers etc.. etc...
BUT now that summer is here, I am being selfish.  I don't want to give up many days or hours with my guy and my girl.  We have been to the beach with precious friends...I had the kiddos solo on our first road trip and not only did we all survive-we had a blast and the drive was easy peasy.
When we were unpacking I got an email that therapy was cancelled last week...SO we played baseball, went swimming, played baseball, swam, watched a movie together, swam, played baseball on the driveway, went swimming.  We were on our own clock...just the three of us doing whatever we wanted to do.  It was kind of crazy...but so wonderful.
So with that said, I am thrilled that for some reason I thought 2 weeks of camp was plenty this year.  I keep telling myself that one day in the not so far off future my littles will want to do more, and to hang with someone other than momma---you can look into places to commit me now if you want.  I am prayerful that we will enjoy everyday of this summer, the heat, the spats, the water in the nose, the sand all over everything, and hey if summer is half as fun as the first month...I might just put them on a boat and homeschool.   The thought of being on our own clock and having them all to myself...well its too indulgent even for me...for now I am working on this selfish tendency, it's not pretty!

people can't even imagine how pajama obsessed Hef is...this is him on the hunt for the right pants to go with his rocket shirt....

 
Murphys sweet class on the last day..they gave us such sweet gifts for being the room moms!

My littles T ball team the LOVED it!

The Salies went South...but we did not sell seashells by the seashore...too much work!

Bless her...mawmaw and her daily doze...

The Happiest Place on Earth...

So we decided in lieu of a big birthday bash this year and go to Disney.  Madden has been studying the Bippity Boppity Boutique and the magic of all things Disney with the dedication I hope to see when she is in high school and the subject matter isn't quite as well, magical.  She knew every ride and every hair style offered at this most prestigious fairy tale salon.  Mickey came to Murphys birthday party with a giant present filled with all the Mickey and Minnie garb this momma could get her hands on...and the countdown began.
We left on a Wednesday, arrived in Orlando and went straight to the hotel then the bippity boppity boutique, which I will say was worth every penny.  My girl said  it was her "dream come true"...bless her.  The next day we did the Magic Kingdom Amazing race style...we. didn't. miss. anything!  We were beat and off to bed.  The next morning I woke up with the plague.  I was so sick...but my babies were meeting ALL of the princesses at Epcot for breakfast, who could miss that?  I tried to rally, made it through breakfast but that was about it.  I went back and for on the shuttle from Epcot to the hotel and back again trying to convince myself that I wasn't sick with the worst stomach bug ever...only to succumb to the wretched virus and our hotel room for the next 24 hours...I woke up the next morning, mom popped her head in and said 'you are better, right?'  Ha. No. Dad took me to the Dr. in Orlando, while Clay and mom took off for the park.  Mom and Clay were on a mission, worn out but made the best of it...and well Skipper was brave to hang with me and even more brave to sit in the waiting room with all the funk Orlando had to offer.
Gross.
Anyway, by the last afternoon I got to go (by wheel chair) to Animal kingdom...and about 5 days after we got home I was able to eat again, just in time for my girl to come home sick and 2 days later my boy to have it.
Somehow it was still the most fun trip, we are already talking about when to go back.  So there must be something magical about it.  I am so thankful God let me be the only one to get sick.  My parents were excited about taking the littles to Disney since the day they were born...and Clay has never had a chance to go to Disney, and if one of my littles had missed out, well that would have been the absolute worst.  So like I say, it was an expensive place to rest...but if it had to happen I would say God's hand was all over our trip.