Georgia from my iPhone

Jake and I finally got with the times and decided to get smartphones.  While we said up and down and everywhichway that we felt smartphones were ridiculous and wasted people's time, we are absolutely in love with them.  Not only can I check my email but I get pinged when a new one arrives!  For all the craigslist transactions I am involved in when either selling or buying something, it really makes it convenient to just glance at my phone versus go up to the loft and fire up the computer. 

 

Another advantage is the 5 megapixel camera on the phone.  It's good enough for a few decent shots to commemorate an event and is less bulky than my DSLR so I like having the convenience of having my phone, email, and a camera all in one spot.  I also downloaded 3 toddler apps for Hannah and they were a blessing with all the wait time on our flights.

 

So before I move on with the baptism photos and all the house updates we've done in the months of March and April, here are the last of the photos from our trip taken on my iPhone:

 

The girls on the plane from MSP to Atlanta.  M&M's at 8:30 am?  Yes if the alternative was Hannah laying on the floor of the airport store sobbing while I just bought a water for the baby's bottles!

 

So excited to finally be there and at the beach!

 I sent this to Jake to torture him while he sat at work in a snowy MN in April.  I'm nice like that :)

 

I don't remember if she took Alex's hat from him or if he put it on her first, but she loved it and kept making the silliest faces with it on!  While we were at Huc-a-pu's, a little restaurant/pizzeria/bar on Tybee, there was this table of 3 college-aged kids behind Hannah.  The guy had dark, shoulder length, curly hair.  She kept asking me if she could touch it!  It was hilarious!

To think that to my parents, this was just another ball in the tote of beach toys.  To Hannah, it was her best friend on the beach!

 

"Oh ball," she'd say as she'd give it a hug and a kiss.

Walking hand in holes together....

This is what we looked like on the flights. Ellie engrossed in her Nook, Hannah climbing all over the seats and foot space, and the baby laying out because she isn't used to be held for 5 hours straight. 

 

Our return home wasn't easy as our plane from Savannah to Atlanta had an engine problem. We sat, loaded on the plane, for an hour while the pilots and mechanics solved the problem. When we got to Atlanta, we had already missed our connection to Minneapolis. The computer system automatically rebooks you on a different flight home. When I checked the slip, we were marked stand by on the next flight from Atlanta to MSP at 10:50 (it was 9:15 am at this time).  Our other option was already booked if standby didn't work but it had us flying from Atlanta to Kansas City and then to MSP.  We would not have landed in Minneapolis until 8:30 pm.  I went up to a ticket counter and the lady took pity on me with my 3 littles and managed to confirm 3 seats on the 10:50 flight to MSP.  We were the second row from the back of a packed flight but we were on our way home! Since we were so far back, the engine was right outside our window, which was a good thing since Hannah had some loud moments! We finally made it home after a 30 minute wait on the runway since there were about 20 planes backed up to take-off from Atlanta due to weather delays.  My iPhone is the one thing that kept both Hannah and me sane during all the wait times! 

 

Alex flew back on the same Savannah to Atlanta flight as us and also missed his connection to San Antonio.  His confirmed flight home had him fly to Chicago, then to Minneapolis, and then to San Antonio, getting in around 7 pm.  He also went to the ticket counter and begged for a direct flight.  He wasn't confirmed on a flight going out until later that afternoon but marked standby for several earlier options.  I never did find out if he got out of Atlanta early.  Poor guy!

 

That's definitely the downside to Savannah having a 16 gate airport.  Any flights from Minneapolis or San Antonio require a layover somewhere and a transfer to a smaller plane.  The positive is that you don't have to get to the airport until an hour before your flight because the security lines are usually pretty short and it doesn't take more than 5 minutes to get to your gate.  Next time, I may consider flying to Jacksonville though so we don't have to deal with a layover.  It's an hour and a half drive back to Savannah but not having to get off and back on a plane might make the car ride worth it.

 

Georgia with E, H, and S

Ellie, Hannah, Sophia and I took a quick trip to Georgia last week to visit my parents.  Originally, the trip was going to be just me and Sophia.  When Jake and I were discussing logistics though and who would watch the other kids while I was gone, we determined that in all reality, Hannah would have a very hard time without me.  When my mom heard that I was bringing Hannah too, she offered to buy Ellie's ticket so that I would have an extra set of hands in the airports and on the planes.  She is a genius, that Grammy is!  On the way there, Ellie had to hold Sophia during both landings while I dealt with Hannah, who was at meltdown point both times.  While I could have managed without Ellie, it would not have been easy!

 

We flew in to Savannah Tuesday afternoon and left early Friday morning so it was a quick trip.  From the airport, we decided to go right out to Tybee Island and spend Tuesday night at the condo.  As soon as the cars were unpacked, we headed to the beach so Hannah could run off her energy from the flights.

 

Ellie wanted to go swimming right away.  Alex also flew in for a visit at the same time so he was relegated to pool duty with Ellie.  He said it was freezing!

Wednesday morning we headed to the beach for more playtime.

Sophia was not a fan of the beach.  The wind blew in her face making it hard for her to breathe.  The sunshine, something new to her with this never-ending winter we are having in MN, was too bright.  So she slept or cried most of her two walks along the shore.

We stopped in Savannah on the way to my parents' house so Ellie could see River Street.  Her only interest was the candy store, where she got some saltwater taffy to bring home.  They weren't pulling any taffy when we were there but she did score a sample of some fresh praline that was delicous too.

Sophia was finally ok with being outside if we sat in the screen porch or kept her in the shade.

Hannah roamed around the yard all afternoon, evening, and all of Thursday, so happy to finally get to be outdoors without snow!  Of course, she has the bug bites to prove it!

And of course, she was reunited with her buddies Gus and Madison and played lots of games of catch with them.

Finally smiling and happy!

We had a great time.  The only thing I would want to do differently would stay another day or two and have the twinkies with too.  Thanks for a great trip Mom and Dad (and Alex)!

Chaos, Chaos Everywhere

It's the season of chaos in the Wendorff household.  I feel like there is too much to be done, a to-do list that continues to keep growing, no time to accomplish anything, and 5 littles and 1 big person who prevent any hopes of productivity in this house.  Here's a quick look at how things are looking around here:

 

If you aren't a Type A, OCD person like myself, you may be looking at those photos wondering what the problem is.  The problem is that with a family of 7, the laundry piles up in the blink of an eye.  With all the baby equipment everywhere, the house feels messy very quickly even if there is only 2-3 items on the floor.  And the biggest problem is that I can't figure out how these messes happen since nobody EVER makes the mess.  It's a constant argument between numbers 1, 2, and 3 over who contributed to any accumulation on the floor and they spend so much time arguing over it that they end up too tired to clean it up.  So that's where I'm at these days.  Trying to stay sane when I'm someone whose physical environment directly correlates to my mental state of mind. 

 

Anyway, here's what we've been up to the past few weeks:

 

Egg decorating

Can you tell what's wrong with this picture?!

{aside from the baby's head tipping way back}

Playing outside as much as possible

Growing bigger and cuter by the day

 

And a trip to the zoo with Isabella! 

Several things were learned on this trip:

1.  The more adults, the better.  It was me, Amanda, and Tony to 6 kids and I was still exhausted trying to keep an eye on everyone.

2.  We are now in the market for a double stroller.  Thought we could get by without one but with all the stuff we hauled with us and the baby not always a fan of the Baby Bjorn, we need to get a double for the next year or two.

 

Catching a ride in Isabella's stroller since our stroller was carrying all the bags and coats

To further add to the chaos of our life, we are ripping out and replacing the entire main level's flooring this weekend.  Gone goes the dinged up and battered wood and disgustingly stained carpet and in goes a nice light laminate, which should be much more durable for our brood.  We are doing this project ourselves with the help of Tony so it's going to be an interesting weekend!  Since I like to be as stressed out as possible at any given time, I took on the spring cleaning this week and I'm leaving next week for a few days to visit my parents.  Sophia's baptism is the 21st and Holly and Joel will be flying back for that.  While they don't stay with us when they are here, Jake and I still want the house projects to be completed and the house to look nice.  Not sure how all that is going to happen when we rip it apart the 12th, attempt to reassemble it the 13th and 14th and I fly out the 16th to the 19th.  It's safe to say I may need some Prozac by Sunday night!!  Of course, after all that is said and done, the calendar is clear for months!  Isn't that the way it always goes?!