Hurricane Gustav

I just can't believe another Hurricane is going to hit the Gulf Coast again! Destin, Florida is our favorite place to vacation. We try to go EVERY year! Since I wasn't blogging in the spring, I didn't post any of our beautiful pictures! Sorry---the Hurricane makes me think of that beautiful place and the wonderful memories we have there as a family. I remember how long it took to recover the last time! Coming soon....DESTIN PICTURES!

We are Back to Blogging!!!!

It's been SOOOO LONG since I've blogged. I've been terrible about it. I've been reading other peoples blogs and it has inspired me to do better. For one thing, all of our family is so far away and I want to be able to share my family with them at all the AH HA moments! So...here goes!

Life in the Trotter house has been calm since school has started...to some degree. Let's see. Hayley, 16yo, is a junior in High School--Jake, 13yo, is in 8th grade--Carson, 6yo, is in 1st grade--Grace, 4yo, is begging to start Kindergarten! haha! Yes, I'm still a Elementary School Nurse, wanting to move to Junior High if a position ever comes open. Robbie is still a finance manager, but has moved to Bob Tomes Ford in McKinney. He loves it there and is so much happier! Of course, car business is slow these days, but you never can tell anymore.

Sports wise---we are SLOW! Hayley decided not to play Volleyball this year at the High School (yes, I was very sad, but supportive). Jake and Carson are not playing soccer this fall. Grace is Grace--no sports for her ever (that's a quote! haha!). Jake is starting to play Football at the Middle School, but no games yet! We CAN'T WAIT FOR HS FOOTBALL TO START! Go Yellowjackets! So all in all our weeks insist of school and relaxation! But THE MOM is missing her cheer time! haha!

Hayley is driving--has been since July. It has made my life easier, but a little sad. She doesn't have to depend on me as much, but she has grown in to a wonderful young lady--making a LOT better choices than I did at her age. She has a job working at Nautilus (fitness center) Monday-Thursday afternoons. No weekends--she doesn't know how lucky she is!

Jake has finally put on 10 pounds this summer and grew some inches! He was so excited...he is now up to 85 pounds! haha! (haven't seen that number on a scale in a LONG time!)

Carson is loving 1st grade. He did get his first school behavior mark this week for kicking under his desk. It was a sad moment, but I honestly can't believe it was his first!!! Of course, he said he didn't really do anything, but I think he probably did!

Grace is staying home with Mimi--and loves the one on one time! Mom works at Nautilus too in the daycare part, so Grace goes with her every morning and they do "school" there. Mom is always the teacher...so good with kids.

This past week, my best friend Kathy's dad passed away. It was hard on all of us, but he was suffering so much, that it was really a blessing...just hard. Of course, death always brings lots of questions from toddlers. Grace wanted to know where "pepaw" was. I explained Heaven (again) to her. She sits there for about 10 seconds and then says in a very upset, whiny voice, "I don't want to go to heaven". I ask her why... she said, "Because I want to stay on the ground, not float in the air!" haha! I can just imagine the visual she had in her mind. I proceed to explain that and that God promises that we will always be happy in heaven. Next question, "Will there be drinks in heaven?" Again, explain happiness, so we won't be thirsty. She said in that pitiful voice, "Good, cause I don't want to be firsty!" heehee! It was so cute. Not sure she is still sold on the whole Heaven thing. Oh, she wants to meet God, but not sure if Heaven is all mommy keeps telling her!

That's about all that is happening to us! We are looking forward to this LONG weekend we have! Going to the Dallas World Aquarium on Monday! We have a year pass and want to use it all we can! Carson and Grace love it...especially the Shark Tunnel! Here are some pictures from last time!

Picnic at Waterloo

Well, yesterday I took all the kids to Waterloo Lake for a few hours. The two olders ones fussed at first, but once we got there, they seemed to enjoy the day! (pretty typical). We first walked around the walking trail at the playground area. We saw a huge turtle in the creek...pretty cool. Of course, Carson wanted to climb down the steep hill to get a closer look, but to worried about poison ivy...I said no! We went and played on the playground equipment. All four of them played on the merry go round. That was fun. Carson and Jake both crashed off of it...typical boys. Grace after being on it for about 10 minutes, screams..."I want off!" Think she got a little dizzy.

We then went over to the Lake side and had a picnic. It was fun. We decided to spread the quilt on the ground and have a true picnic...not on the tables. We then went to feed the ducks and look out on the docks. We always like to take pictures of everything. Carson and Grace, while eating our lunch, decided to attempt to Kiss Jake. The wrestling match was on. Pretty funny! All in all, we had a great day! Even the olders one had a great time. Enjoy our pictures.

School is out!

Yeah! We are so glad that today was the last day of school!!! We did our annual breakfast today. Hayley and some of her friends spend the night and we get up and go eat IHOP before school. I don't think they thought this year through very well. Most of them barely eat breakfast, so after eating those HUGE breakfasts...they were pretty miserable. It was kind of funny. Of course the mom in me kicked and we started talking about the importance of breakfast...they didn't really listen! haha! Unfortunately, I still have to go half a day tomorrow, but the kids get to sleep in. Tomorrow is Hayley's birthday. I can't believe one year from now, she will be driving by herself! Unbelievable how time flies! Jake turned 12 on the 15th. He will be in 7th grade next year. Very excited. Carson will be starting Kindergarten soon and Grace will be so lonely at home. Actually she will probably enjoy not fighting over toys with her brother. I'll write more later. Kind of tired tonight.

Kids Thinking

When I got home yesterday after work, the kids had all kinds of stories to tell me about their adventures that day. They had went to Chuck E. Cheese's for Luke Kirkbride's birthday party. They had been talking about it all last week! Carson tells me how scared Ty, Luke's younger brother, was of ChuckE...which I thought was funny, because the last time WE went there, Carson and Grace were both UNDER THE TABLES hiding from Chucke...I reminded Carson of this. He tells me, "I'm not scared anymore. I went up to Chucke and gave him a high five!" I then turned to Grace and asked if she did too. She gives me this very serious face and says, "No, I not do that. I still scared." So cute!

When we were leaving last night to go out to eat, Carson brings his ballon outside from the party that day. He looks me right in the eye and says, "Mom, can I give my balloon to God? I think he would like that". I smiled and told him yes. Grace starts jumping up and down, very excited about God getting their balloon. Carson lets go and watches it for a few minutes. Every 10-20 seconds he would say, "bye balloon...go see God" or something like that. It was very cute and so sweet. Most people don't even think things like that...giving something to God.

It was a great day. Kids were very excited and bouncy...so much that not too long after 8pm, they started whining and getting tired. Grace finally crashed after a little crying fit. Oh well, can't win them all!!!

Mother's Day

We decided at the last moment to travel to Arkansas on Sunday, so my mom could spend the day with my brother's family (and us!). My nephew, Taylor who is 6' 2" at the age of 14, played in a baseball tournament this weekend. We watched him play the last two games and win the tournament! It was fun. The Cousins got to play with each other too. My brother Brad has 4 kids also. Taylor, McKenna, Elijah, and Shae...baby Shae...she is so petite compared to her TALL brothers and sisters. We had a great time. Saw my Aunt Kim and Uncle Paul too...I think we scared them bringing in so many kids! haha! We also went out to eat with our best friends from High School, the McCorkle's and played with their two children also, Avery and Matthew. It was a whirlwind trip. We left at 7:30am on Sunday, arrived at noon, left Arkansas at 8:30pm and arrived home close to 1am...yes, Robbie and I had to go to work the next day and the kids had school. They all fell asleep around 10pm...except Robbie and I, who traded off driving. haha! It was wonderful. I can't wait to go back up and spend more time with them this summer. Here are some pictures of Mother's Day.

Note from Carson

Carson says, "I love you, everybody". Carson and I are looking at our new blog space. We took some really cool pictures of us on the Lovesac (for those of you who don't know...it's the name of this HUGE bean bag that all 4 kids can fit on!) Carson said the Lovesac grows every night...bigger and bigger. (He means, we fluff it every night and it's enormous). Carson is perfecting "Hayley's favorite face". It's pretty funny. He likes to ham it up for the camera, just like Hayley. Oh boy, a masculine version of Hayley... we are in for a treat.
It's never a dull moment in our house.

Carson wants to make sure everone from Arkansas sees this website, so they can see all our pictures. I don't think he quite grasps the concept of getting mail/messages on the internet. Here are some pictures of our kids! Grace asleep in the HUGE LOVESAC!
She looks like the center of a flower! haha!

Hayley, one of her many shots for her myspace layout.
She loves to take crazy (and beautiful pictures)

My honey and I enjoying the dolphin cruise

Jake skimming on the beach.