Disney with the McCalls

What a blast we had going to Disney World with our best friends the McCalls. We each had our own friend...Me and Holly, John and Jeff, Chloe and Anniston, Eliott and Grady and Millie and Wiley. I'm not sure if Wiley was very excited about his "buddy", but I think when we vacation in the year 2022 (Millie will be 16 and Wiley 15) he won't be quite as unhappy about it! :) I loved the McCalls the moment we met at South Fork Church of Christ back in 1997 and when they moved it was so hard for me to handle. But now we have the best vacation friends ever...I guess when you try hard enough you can find something good in everything--even their moving away! Wow! It only took me 8 years to realize that!

I was really happy with how great the kids played together--especially Chloe and Anniston. They are such great friends.

Eliott and Grady are learning to like each other...they certainly have a lot in common. They both like Buzz Lightyear, shooting guns and annoying their sisters!

Eliott was very excited about his new Pirate gun.

Apparently you have to make this face when you use it.

We certainly hope this is the ONLY time we ever see these 4 behind bars!!!!

Here they are right before the Pirates of the Caribbean ride with Captain Hook....

and here are their scary "Pirate" faces! ARG!!! Pretty scary huh!?

We had a blast riding rides, seeing shows, getting autographs and just hanging out.

Millie talked about "mitty mouse" all day and by the time we got through the line to meet him she was fast asleep. Oh well, I've got proof!

Did I mentioned that we had a 7 year old, a 6 year old, a 4 year old, a 3 year old, a 2 year old and a 1 year old with us? CRAZY!!!

But aren't they precious!?!

Holly and I especially enjoyed the night we got to leave early and the boys stayed late with "the big kids".

They stayed late to see the parade and the fireworks.
I think Grady and Chloe lasted....Eliott and Anniston crashed.

We were getting a little bit worried when it was 12am and they still weren't home. But they made it eventually---and all 4 sleeping children had to be carried in from the car. I think it was a night they will always remember

We had a great time with great friends! I can't wait until our next vacation together!

Easter pictures...one more!

one more picture, because I love this one of Millie! She is such a funny little girl!

Happy Easter!

We had a great time in Chattanooga with Grandma and Grandpa this Easter weekend. It was a short trip, but always fun to be with family. Grandpa woke us early Saturday morning with his famous breakfast...bacon, eggs, biscuits and grits swimming in butter. The kids look forward to this meal every time we go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Of course Grandma did her share of cooking too--it's actually amazing how much you can over eat in one weekend! We brought the bikes and it was neat to watch my children ride up and down the same street I used to ride my bike on when I was their age. We even got to spend time with Uncle Bryan--what a bonus! He's back in the country...to stay! We are so glad to know that and looking forward to seeing Ubeny and the girls when school is out.

The kids were a little concerned about the Easter Bunny finding us in Tennessee, but what a surprise...He found us! We woke up to 3 baskets full of goodies. Then we got to go to church to hear Grandpa preach. This is always a treat for me.

These kids sure do love Grandma and Grandpa!

I got to spend a little time with my friend Christy. We have been friends since Mrs. McNabb's 1st grade class...dare I say how many years ago? (33 years--YIKES!!! How can we have been friends that long when we're only 29 years old? Right Christy?!) We were friends all through elementary school, middle school, high school and then became room mates in college in 1987. People always say don't room with your friends, but it sure worked for us. We even lived together for a few more years after college. I can't believe that Chloe is now the age we were when we met. I hope that Chloe (and all my kids for that matter!) are as blessed as I have been to have such a great and life long friendship.

And I am thinking about an arranged marriage for Millie and Mills (how cute is that!?)

Here we are with our sweet babies Millie and Taylor (obviously from the picture it is clear that we are NOT old enough to have been friends for so long--apparently I miscalculated!)

Christy is the proud (and extremely tired)mother of 4--yes, I said 4 boys! And they are all so very handsome and were so kind to share their things and play so well with my children. Definitely a sign of excellent parenting!

And here's the whole gang! Do you know how hard it is to take a picture with this many kids in it? So I am glad at least some are actually looking at the camera. My kids had such a great time playing with Jack, Hayes and Mills--they wanted to stay forever and Mills actually wanted us to all spend the night! I never actually heard how Christy felt about that! I had a great time holding and squeezing that chunky little Taylor and catching up with my dear friend. Eliott has already asked me when we will see his new friends again...I hope it won't be long.

Happy Easter!

Apparently we're done!

Well, I have prayed that God would help us decide whether or not to have #4. I know what you're thinking...WHAT?! ?4 KIDS!?!?! YOU CAN'T EVEN HANDLE THE 3 YOU HAVE!!! And I must admit that exact thought has crossed my mind many times. But when you think you are supposed to have 4 it is hard to get that idea out of your head. And perhaps I am a little crazy.

Getting sick didn't help our time frame for having #4. I feel like I should have another one by now, but since I had to take medicine for 6 months (that made it impossible to have a child), here we are...Millie is 2 and 1/2 and I do not have another baby. I have certainly cried about it...no more babies!? I have been having babies for the past 7 years and I really don't know how to move on. And now Millie is getting so big. It is hard to believe that I am done with this chapter of my life.

Look at this sweet little baby in her new big girl bed (with her little baby doll right beside her)!

We took Millie's crib down and put up a twin bed last week. It is real. This is it...no more cribs in our house. Since we put it up (summer of 2000) we've never had to take it down ...just move one kid out and put a new one in. But, apparently we're done with babies.

And apparently we don't have any room left in our huge king size bed anyway! I am coming to terms with this and I am starting to feel a lot less sad about it. Now finally, I do believe that our family of 5 is just right. I have begun to realize that all the activities and things involved with parenting my 3 children would make it difficult (perhaps even dangerous!) to have another. We already have "KidsForChrist" on Sunday morning, t-ball on Tuesday night, Wednesday night church, soccer on Thursday night, t-ball and soccer games on Saturday...and Millie doesn't do anything yet!!! The reality is that our schedule is only going to get fuller and more chaotic as time goes on. I know people with more than 3 children and their husbands do not work in Sweden, Poland or Canada (all of which Jeff spent time in last year), and they probably live close to their family and have lots of help, or perhaps they are just way better at time management than I will ever be. So, we are done and I am OK with that. (At least for today...ha!) No, honestly I think God has truly answered my prayer by taking away my desire for another baby. I do love so much what I have and am so thankful for my precious little family. I guess it's just time for me to be content.

Here are my 4 favorite people in the whole wide world at the circus a few weeks ago. We had so much fun! It was neat to just watch their faces. They loved it so, of course, we loved it too! But can you believe how much it costs to go to the circus! Wow! We almost had to take out a loan just to buy cotton candy...$12! Thank goodness it only comes once a year.

Chloe's favorite part was the elephants.

Eliott liked the motorcycles riding around in the big ball.

Millie liked all of the animals.Why would I ever think I need anything more than this!??!

Also this month we have had lots of sick kiddos! Eliott had 5th Disease--looks like he got slapped in the face (he didn't!), but it also came with a fever.

No one else got that one--surprisingly enough, but...a few weeks later Chloe had the flu. She was the only one who didn't get the flu shot and the only one who got the flu. Guess what...we're all getting that shot next year!

So I guess that's my monthly update...circus, no more cribs and a few sick kids. Oh, I almost forgot...Millie was attacked by a leprechaun today...

a leprechaun with a very green cupcake! Eliott actually said "it looks like a leprechaun threw some frosting on Millie!" He's right!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I will do my best to write sometime before mid April, but I'm not making any promises.

It's been a long time...

It's been a while hasn't it!? I can't seem to find the time to blog lately (or to fold the laundry, or vacuum, or make my bed...) I'm too busy eating girl scout cookies! Why are they so good??? And didn't the boxes used to be alot bigger?

This will have to be one of my catch up blogs because so much fun stuff has happened since--well...a month ago!

First of all we are so proud of Chloe. She participated in her 2nd year of the Sherwood Forest Elementary Science Fair. She did an experiment with water in glasses and changed the sound made by changing the water level...it was genius if I do say so myself. :)

The same week she was asked to be an anchor girl on Eagle Eye News (her schools news program). She was great--Look out Ann Curry!

And Baby Cole turned 3...I guess I better stop calling him baby Cole now! He is getting so big. Joy threw a fabulous bug party. There were bugs everywhere...all over the walls, the furniture, hanging from the ceiling, in the punch. There were bug masks and bug houses to paint and even a bug game to play.

It was great and the kids loved it. Joy doesn't hold back when she throws a party...she picks a theme and runs with it!!!

And we got a little Aunt Laurie time in while we were in Greenville.

What a cute little bug this is!

And it looks like we caught a very strange bug in the elefun net--I liked this bug so much I decided to keep it!

We were trilled by a spontaneous (and way too short) visit from the Scales. What fun! It only made us want them to move back even more than we already did. But of course remided us that our friendship is greater than the miles between us. In the short time that they were here we managed to sqeeze in an amazing amount of time together. Friday night KL made some amazing chicken enchiladas and I made a salad and mexican chocolate cake (I said I'd give you the recipe so here they are!). We didn't make Bekah cook since we weren't sure if she could even keep anything down at that point--but thankfully she was able to pull through! Isn't it interesting how much we love to eat together?! Actually I love to eat even when I am alone, but the food is much better when we are all together. :) And then Gabe and Eliott had a sleep over. They were so cute. Chloe actually slept in the same room in the bed because she didn't want to be left out.

The kids played all day on Saturday...they played dress up, sword fought, played with polly pockets and played ball...My kids were so thrilled to spend time with Gabe and Ansley (and I had fun with Amelia!) and both had complete melt downs (I kid you not--- they were wailing!) when it was time to say good bye. But who can blame them? Nobody likes to say good bye!

Valentine's Day was fun. Not only did we have a suprise snow day--we also had a romantic (HA!) dinner at Moe's with our friends David, KiKi, Bekah, Luke and of course all the kids. I surprised Jeff with a copy of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (just happened to come in the mail that day!) only I added my face to the cover. Somehow when I gave it to him he didn't notice? What!?! You mean he doesn't look at the face?

Now the last month here in the Trinh home has been a bit of a challenge. Millie is in the "I do it!" stage of being 2 years old. She wants to do everything herself and then gets frustrated and cries or screams when she can't. She likes to wash her hands with out any help, brush her teeth, feed herself and she likes to dress herself. Obviously she doesn't always get it quite right. But she is so proud!

We are working through her strong and very independent spirit. She is certainly not lacking in confidence---but I am certainly lacking in patience! She can really frustrate me to no end, but I just love her so much and know that I have probably created the beast because I give in to her WAY too much! And sometimes it's just easier that way. But I know it won't be easier in the long run, so things are about to change around here! According to Mandy it's not too late to repair the damage done. I'll let you know how that goes.

Well, I guess that's about all for the past few weeks. Maybe I'll try to be a little more frequent with my updates in the future. But, let's face it, Jeff was right...I don't have time for a blog! But I have one anyway, so I'll try to keep up.