March Madness

Oh my oh my...where has time gone? Am I really only at March pictures. Say it ain't so. Now that I have FINALLY gotten them off our camera AND uploaded to blogger....they are all out of order and not in the right place. They are supposed to be in the middle, not on the left side. Ah, well...I guess that just sums up our days now...all out of order, nothing in the right place:) Who knew 3 kids could be this complex? OK...someone out there did and they just forgot to let me in the loop! Slowly, VERY SLOWLY we are getting back in the swing of things...I think:) So please excuse our absence and the chaos of the picture order...I am just beyond trying to organize it at this point. It's been long enough. For those of you still out there, here we go.

Easter was nice. Didn't make the first service...late to the 2nd but there non the less. Trying to get a family photo is a riot these days. Guess we will have to commission Sara again:) My mom and Chris' mom joined us for the weekend. Actually my mom was still here helping out, thank goodness. Who knows what kind of shape Chris would have found us in if she wasn't here. A month was not nearly long enough! I even tried to convince her to buy the house next door:) To think we headed out to California 4 1/2 years ago to give it a go on our own...which we loved every minute of... and now I am pleading with my mom to at least buy a house on OUR STREET! My, my...how things change. I think Chris breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't take me seriously:)



Don't be fooled by this sweet angelic SLEEPING baby... we did not get many like this during the first month. By 6 weeks I was done convincing myself it was just a bad day, bad feeding, bad hour. Off to the Dr. we went. Just like her brothers, Miss Priss has reflux. Our faithful old friend has returned:( Was living with us for 20 months not enough with the boys? Alas...some meds latter and we have a totally different baby:) She now lives up to this picture:) She really is a good baby, we just had a few rough nights (um days) OK a really rough go at it at first. I do now recall that I do NOT function well on little sleep. Not such a nice person...nope, not at all. 6 months of round the clock every 3 hour feeding with the boys sent me to a very not so fun place. You see that ment only 30-45 minute stretches of sleep at a time. 10 months of weekly marriage counseling later (thanks Bobbi) and I/we were good to go:) Thankfully, I am adjusting much better this time around and PPD does not seem to be a part of it! Praise the Lord:)





All geared up to watch the ACC tournament. Yep, starting her out at a young age:) This picture makes me laugh b/c Peyton (left) looks like the biggest redneck! Oh, if you could only here him talk! You guys in Cali would die. Lets just say he fits right in with where we are living. I think I've been spending a little too much time at Walmart! Hey...the groceries are MUCH cheaper there!








Our Tiger Cubs!

Miss Priss on Easter morning. Mimi made her dress:)

Anna Claire's first Easter egg hunt
3 weeks old...such a rough life!
Mmmhm...there is some in this one too. (Parker)
I wonder how many more sweets I can sneak in.... (Peyton)

Remember I was saying earlier Peyton was sounding a bit "southern"...this outfit doesn't help matters. WOW! thankfully they are just PLAY clothes:)...very soon I am sure I will loose that battle too! Until then, I get to pick out our "going out" clothes. :)

Parker so proud of his book! He picked it out all by himself for going poop in the potty. That's right folks...the Darley boys are....NOT potty trained:( He got his book and that was it...nothing more since then! Great! Bless her heart...my mom followed them around with the potty the ENTIRE month she was here. They were making great progress....with the watch and EVEY 15 minute bribes. Not so much once she left. A 4 week old and just me home with all 3... you can see where this didn't go so well.



Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our video camera. The thing didn't even make it 2 years! AND...it broke before she got here:(...with a tape of the boys in it! They wanted more money to extract the tape then the camera was worth...let alone fixing the thing. I just wanted the tape of the boys out! Chris did a nice job:) and it was FREE! Uh,no...the camera did not go back together again... much like "Hunkie Dunkie" as Parker calls him.



2 1/2 year old play is exhausting! We frequently find them like this at night:) So, so sweet. Peyton must have been really tired b/c when Parker crawls in bed with him and brings all his stuff...Peyton usually gets up and crawls in Parker's bed...or stands at the door and calls for us. Reminds me of when they were babies and shared a crib.


This my friends is the lovely sight I woke up to that first day after my mom left. Once I stated cleaning it...it only made it worse. Peyton walks into our room to wake me up and is COVERED in soap suds. I follow him into the hallway, the den, the boys hallway and their bathroom....COVERED in soap suds. I wanted to cry but could only laugh...Until I started to mop. Then...I cried. It only made the mess bigger. This was all before 9am. I called Chris asking about boarding school:) If only I knew what the rest of the week was going to hold. By Friday Chris had assured me that military school would in fact enroll 3 year olds. We only had to make it to the end of June!

Monday-soap fest...Peyton trying to clean up the M&M mess they first made...then decided that soap suds were indeed a fun early am activity.

Tuesday-diaper wipe decor...brand new pack of wipes ALL over my den and couch VERY wet.

Wednesday-exploded diaper...ever try to clean the stuffing up after a VERY WET diaper pops...nearly impossible.

By Wednesday at 9am my floors had been moped EVEY morning!


OK, OK...so I don't really want to send my kids to boarding school or military school. I would miss them terribly and it would make me sad not to see them everyday. I certainly don't want someone else raising, shaping and molding my kids. This after all, is why I CHOOSE to stay home:) A break, however, would be great! Enter summer camp here. Yes, that is right folks...the boys are headed to summer camp. No not overnight (sigh)...starting in July they will attend a summer "camp" put on by the church preschool they will be attending this fall. Two days a week for 4 hours a day they will be at camp. 6 whole weeks of this:) A much needed outing for them and a wonderful break for me!

Hooray for Summer Camp!



Boys will be boys....the vacuums they received for Easter are now officially car transporters. Who knew? They even occasionally (when mom is busy with baby sister) become scooters! Oh boys...you are aging me much too fast. I love to see your creativity and imagination come out...I just need to remember that you are boys and have LOTS of pent up energy. We must harvest this in good ways!

**Chris got a taste of my day not too long ago. It was one evening after supper when he was taking a few minutes to clean up the kitchen. I was feeding baby sister and the boys...well, they were up to their usual mischief when they are unsupervised for less than 30 seconds. We hear Parker screaming "Daddy" in a very panic stricken voice from their bathroom. That's right folks...the ever famous Parker in lightening quick fashion has managed to flood the entire bathroom and hallway in under a minute! His Frisbee was "dirty" and needed to be "washed"...so he plugged up the sink and went about his cleaning...until the water ran over...the rest is history. Chris, welcome to my days:)**