Cooking with Grammy

We love to help Grammy cook! It takes a lot of patience to have all of us in the kitchen!!!

We made a casserole, rotel cheese dip and surprise brownies using a secret recipe!!!

It's a Circus around here!

I very seldom buy tickets and make plans. I usually tell JM about the attractions and he takes care of the details. While JM had the girls in Mobile over a month ago, I saw info about the circus coming to town. I thought it would be a great treat for the kids to get special attention after the baby comes, so I ordered tickets for JM and 4 kids. In the meantime, JM and Tyler decided to add a tennis tournament to the schedule for the same weekend. Luckily, Grammy and Papa were still in town to take the girls to the circus! They saved the day!!

During the pre-circus show, the girls got to participate in some activities. They liked the hula-hoops!

They also showed Grammy and Papa what little snack machines they were by eating popcorn and dipping dots!

Everyone had a fun night together and came home exhausted!!!!

Colleen is glowing!

Today we went to the doctor for Colleen's 1 week check-up. In typical Vermillion baby form, she was "yellow"! Her levels were to high for the doctor to be comfortable doing nothing, so she called in home health to put Colleen on phototherapy. By Friday afternoon, Colleen had become a little glow-worm complete with a LONG tail!

Her new ensemble restricted Mom and Colleen to the house (actually to a 6 foot circle)! Her billi level started at 20.4 and fell to 18.9 after 24hours of phototherapy. A few more days of the glow worm blanket....

Grandparents, please come!

My mom came to Montgomery before we went to the hospital to visit with the kids and babysit while we went to the hospital. She brought the kids up to see Colleen on the morning she was born.

JM's dad and stepmom drove down on March 22 to see their new grandbaby! Colleen is #13 for Granddad and Noni!

My dad drove to Montgomery on March 25th to meet his 5th grandchild! Papa is good at holding babies!

Our not so average family!

Time to take baby Colleen home! Dad took all the kids to church this morning, ate lunch, and then they all came to pick up Mom and Colleen!

Welcome Baby!

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." I Samuel 1:27

Colleen Mackenzie

March 19th

7 lbs 7 oz

19 inches

Proud siblings: Corynne, Lauren, Lyndsey and Tyler

Daddy Date Nights

We are members of the McWane Science Center in B'ham only because with a big family it is cheaper to get a family membership for a year than to go 2 times! Anyway, I get emails from them all the time. About a month ago, an event caught my eye--Dinner with Dora and Diego. Wow! Lyndsey would love that, but it was scheduled for March 15th. I called JM to see if he would take Lyndsey since the 15th is literally days before my scheduled delivery of baby #5. JM said he would take off work early to take her to B'ham to see Dora and Diego.

And so date nights began! JM then decided that he was going to do something with each child before the baby arrived.

Date night #1 was with Corynne. JM took her downtown for dinner, and they went to see a Broadway production of Annie. Corynne actually saw quite a few of her friends at the musical. She and Dad had a great time together!

Date night #2 was with Lauren. Dad and Lauren went to the rodeo. Lauren enjoyed eating hotdogs, popcorn and cotton candy for dinner and watching the rodeo.

Lauren and Dad even tried riding the mechanical bull. They met up with a few of Dad's friends from work while they were at the rodeo.

Lauren loved her date night with Dad. Dad even got her a special necklace to remember their date night!

Date night #3 was actually with Tyler at a weekend long tennis tourney on the other side of B'ham.

While they were in B'ham, they got to go to a surprise birthday party for JM's cousin Rebecca. Good food and family for the evening...could not turn that invitation down!

Date night #4. It was finally Lyndsey's turn! She had a hard time waiting her turn. She wanted to go on a date with Dad so bad by now! Lyndsey had her map ready just in case Dad needed directions!

Lyndsey had a blast with Dad, Diego, and Dora.

Lightening Will Strike

We have very few big thunder and lightening storms here in Alabama (as compared to Texas). So today took us by surprise. The rain came down, the thunder clapped, and the lightening struck! We were all getting settled down for the evening...you know baths, etc when we heard the loudest "bang" and our house shook. I actually thought something hit our house. I ran upstairs to make sure everything was ok. I ran outside to make sure everything was ok. Within 10 minutes, our street was busy with fire trucks. At first they went past our house and to a house at the end of our street. The couple had called the FD because lightening had hit their house and put a large hole in the roof. While the FD was making sure everything was good at their house, smoke started to fill the street. The FD rushed to a house across the street from us. Yes, a 2nd house had been hit by lightening and it had a HUGE hole and was on fire.

This is a picture from my front yard. The little white car is in my driveway. The house is burning across the street. The kids got an on the scene view of what the FD does and how they do it. We had a total of 7 fire trucks on the scene and multiple police cars. The house is still standing, and the couple is in the process of "fixing" it. From the front of the house, you could not tell what damage had occured the next day. Our street was blocked off for probably 5 hours while the FD cleaned up. By the time JM came home tonight, the police barricade had moved to right in front of our house. JM had to stop and identify himself and his house before they would let him drive into our driveway!!!

What to do?

After a busy week and a full weekend, I could think of no reason why we should not have a "please buy my house Open House" on Sunday afternoon. I really had nothing else to do on Saturday afternoon/early Sunday morning but clean my house! It really was smart to have an open house the day after 3 twelve year old boys had a sleep over upstairs. What was I thinking?!?! I woke up Sunday morning with a ton of little clean-up projects before we left for church. I was in pain from cleaning all day Saturday --could barely walk and swollen head to toe for the first time in this pregnancy. Again, what was I thinking?!?!

JM got off to work, and we got off to church. We were late, but we got there! Now, what are we going to do after church until 4pm? I quickly sent a text on the way to church to Tyler's tennis coach to see if maybe they could hit this afternoon. After church, I looked at the phone. Perfect! Tyler and Corynne have a lesson set up! We ate lunch...slowly! We changed clothes...slowly! Slowly...to use up time, and I am still hurting and swollen and not moving fast. We went to the park to run and play. Thank you, God, for making this a beautiful day!!! Then we went to the tennis courts. It was actually nice to get to just sit and watch T & C play. I usually have to drop them off at a lesson and run to pick up someone else. So I was able to snap a few pics.

OK. Pics are not the best, but there were 2 little girls pulling for attention right next to me!

So sweet!

After tennis, we went to Sonic for happy hour. JM called to catch up with us! He thought he was done for the day. He joined us at Sonic for a drink before the clock said 4pm. Yeah! WE can go home! (He ended up having to go back after a few hours.)

Tyler's Birthday

On Friday after school, Tyler had invited a few friends to go bowling for his birthday. JM made it to the party in the middle of a busy day. (He is on call today and this weekend. Yet, we have pulled him away for Let's Pretend Hospital earlier today and now for a party.

After Tyler's wild friend party last year, JM's presence and a VERY select invitation list was the only way I would agree to a party. The boys met at ACE Bowling Center for a few hours of bowling and arcade fun. This was a great group of boys. They definitely had plenty of "6th grade boy mentality", but I realized as I watch JM laugh at some of the "stupid stuff" that it really is just boys. They do not mature past that stuff even at the age of 36!

One last picture. This one is to document me at almost 37 weeks. I do not take "tummy" pictures with pregnancy. No reason...I just do not like to see pics of myself. Most pics JM takes of me do not make it to the blog or scrapbook. I try to make myself throw in a few each year so the kids will be able to look back and see Mom was there! Honestly, if you see one very tired, pregnant mom. Then this picture is pretty telling of the day!

On the countdown...

We are on the countdown. Countdown until Spring break and Countdown for baby Colleen to arrive. It is also the time of the year to see how much we can cram into a week! This week we had our normal very busy Monday and Tuesday with tennis, piano, and dance lessons. Wednesday Tyler went on a band field trip to hear the symphony at ASU. I was an alternate driver, and I was very glad they did not need me!

Thursday morning was Corynne's field trip to WSFA. It was cool to see the behind the scenes workings of a TV station.

Thursday night was tennis for Tyler. A friend dropped him off at Vaughn Forest just in time for the girls' school talent show. This was the first year that they have participated in the talent show, but it will definitely be a habit for years to come. Corynne and Lauren each performed a piece on the piano, and they did an EXCELLENT job. Up until auditions a few weeks ago, Corynne was a ball of nerves and emotions about the talent show. At auditions, she saw that everyone is not perfect and it was okay. The talent show was a wonderful, "Little House on the Praire" show with a touch of electric guitar at the end. So cute!

Friday morning was Lauren's field trip to Let's Pretend Hospital. This is a week long event put on by the nursing school (I think) here in Montgomery. After Corynne went 3 years ago, JM has been helping with the program each year. This year was Lauren's turn to go, but Dr. Vermillion was just Dad on this trip!!! JM met the field trip at the Let's Pretend Hospital. Lauren was actually chosen to be the mom for the class. Corynne was the mom her year, but it was a prejudice pick by the nurses in charge at the hospital!!! I was curious as to how that happened since she had told me they were "drawing sticks" at school. Here is the detailed account of how the draw went. "Mom, first Mrs. Harvill drew Ruth's name to be the mom, and she said she did not want too. (Ok. I am not surprised because Ruth is shy.) Next she drew Katie's name, and she did not want to do it either. Then, she drew my name. I said YES! (Complete with arm motion of victory!)"