I can explain...

I've been very delinquent with my blogging since getting home from our mega-trip.  I've sure wanted to, but I haven't been able to find the time.  I have to admit, I've had a lot on my plate, including a very ugly run-in with the stomach bug.  I've never been so glad to be rid of something in all my life.  It hit the girls and I hard.  Luckily, it skipped over Mark and he was able to take good care of us.  Him, along with some wonderful friends!  

Since then, I've been busy doing laundry and sanitizing the house for our company.  We have Stephen and Michelle here right now, Shelley is coming tomorrow, and Mike, Melissa and the boys are coming on Tuesday.  We are so excited! 

I promise to really dedicate more time to blogging this next week.  I haven't even picked up my camera in a whole week!  That's totally not like me!  I have a few projects that I'm excited to share, as well.  But, until then, have a good night!  

Home Sweet Home

Eighteen days is a long time to be away from home!  It was bittersweet arriving late Sunday night.  We were so sad to say goodbye to all of the friends and family we got to see along the way, but it was great to get home to normality!  I've been on a cleaning/organizing kick since we got home, so that's consumed most of my time.  We had absolutely zero food in our fridge.  Unless you count the box of what used to be strawberries that I accidentally didn't throw out before we left.  They had morphed into tiny little fur balls...yum:) 

Since coming home, I've decided to "get back to basics".  I want to focus my energies on God, my family, and being healthy.  Did I mention I gained 7 pounds on the road?  No bueno.  

Rosie has been on a roll lately.  She's been both hilarious and naughty.  Here are a few of her antics and some of the silly things that have come out of her mouth...

• She came downstairs where Kiki was eating and said, "Kiki, my friend.  Let's play!"
• I had cleaned the toilet and didn't flush the blue stuff away before Rosie climbed on to go potty.  She looked down and saw the blue, and I told her just to flush it.  She said, "No way!  I don't want my bottom to sail away!"  
• She asked me if I loved strippers.  I didn't know what to say!  She followed it up with, "I love strippers and daddy REALLY loves strippers."  Finally it hit me that she meant, stripples...the vegetarian bacon we eat:)  
• As I mentioned earlier, there was no food in our house, so for dinner last night, I made the girls frozen pancakes.  Well, I warmed them, so they weren't frozen anymore.  Anyway, they started eating, and I ran upstairs to dust my bedroom really quickly.  Rosie yelled up that she needed more syrup.  Note to self...never tell your kid that they can get their own syrup.  I came downstairs about a minute later to the stickiest mess I have ever seen.  Rosie had filled Kiki's bowl to the top with syrup, which Kiki had proceeded to rub all over herself, the table and the floor.  Lesson learned!

Here are a few pictures from Halloween.  Mom and I took the girls to the pumpkin patch before picking Mark up from the airport.  

The Memphis Leg

The "Murman" family was reunited in Memphis.  It was our first time staying at B & K's new casa and it was just plain lovely.  We had so much fun!  So much, in fact, we are going to stop back through on our way home.  Here are a few pictures of the whole gang on Friday morning before we got back on the road.  Excuse our appearances, there were no showers had by any of us. 

Thrilled

Two bright spots from yesterday:

1)  We did Michael Jackson's Thriller in Zumba.  This has been a dream of mine, well,  ever since I saw the music video years ago.  Then, when those Filipino prisoners did it, it put the nail in the coffin.  I had to learn that dance and last night my dreams were realized.  

2) When at the grocery store last night,  I saw a little lady pushing one of those huge grocery carts with a car attached to the front for kids, only there weren't any kids in it.  She must have just really liked that cart.  I love funny old women.   

I don't know if I've mentioned it here yet, but we are headed to Oklahoma and Kansas City on Thursday for a few weeks.  Mark will be coming home for some of the time because he can't miss that much work, but the girls and I will be gone for quite a stretch of time.  I'm very excited.  A little overwhelmed, but still very excited.  That length of a trip requires quite a bit of planning and preparation, so I spent a lot of yesterday and today, cleaning, doing laundry, sorting baby clothes to take to Lila (we are making a stop in Memphis to visit our other half), and packing.  Hopefully, I can get it all together by Thursday!  

Mark texted yesterday afternoon and said that our friend Richard was in town and he was going to take the girls to eat dinner with him and Logan.  I had promised myself I would go back to Zumba, especially after missing last week because Mark was out of town.  So, as I mentioned earlier, I zumba-ed until my heiny almost fell off and then headed to the grocery store to pick a few things up.  Mark let me know that the guys were all coming over to watch a football game, so I thought I would make them a little treat.  

I got home and started to make Pumpkin Surprise until I realized I was missing two of the ingredients I thought I had just purchased at the grocery store.  Apparently, they didn't get put in my bag!  What a bummer.  I had to run back to the grocery store, but it was worth it, because later I was able to enjoy the dessert I have been craving for quite some time.  Thank you, Lori, for sharing your Pumpkin Surprise recipe so many years ago.  It's still a fall staple in our home and it was a big hit with the guys!   

Richard is such an amazing photographer and he spent quite some time giving me a crash course on my camera.  I love learning from a master.  The rest of the evening was spent having really great conversation.  They didn't end up leaving until after midnight!  

Here are a few pictures Richard took while he was here...

 I love these three! 

 Can you believe this hair?  You may remember that Rosie had some hair issues, too. Remember this post?  My poor girls and their hair!  

 Luckily, Rosie's hair has grown in very well.  It's so long and much more manageable now! 

Nighty-night kisses

I was not made for late hours, so today has been pretty hard.  I've found myself becoming VERY easily agitated.  I'm so easily agitated that I just had to turn off the Presidential Debate because both of those guys were getting on my nerves and don't get me started on that moderator.  The comments about the debate on Facebook have just about done me in.  I'm starting to think that my attitude is a clue that I need to get off of here and go to bed.  Yes, I think so.  Goodnight.    

Well, before I go, I will leave you with some pictures from the last few days...

A simple snack... French baguette and cheddar cheese flowers, strawberries and bananas + peanut butter

Monroe loves baguettes!  She calls them baby bread.  She can call it whatever she wants, as long as she eats it:)  French baguette and cheese, veggie chips, seasoned broccoli and strawberries and whipped cream.  This lunch was a HIT!  Nothing left.  

 Kiki's first pigtails

 My independent girl. 

I made the oh-so-secret Tomato Florentine Soup this week.  I hate to toot my own horn, but it was my best batch ever.  Yum! 

Gatlin-blog

*Just so you know, Mark came up with the title for this entry...blame him:)

Due to impending bad weather, our family pictures had to be postponed.  We won't be able to do them until the first of November!  I'm so disappointed!  As worked up as I was over them, I'm sad we weren't able to get them done today.  I had the outfits all ready and I was pretty pumped.  Now they will loom in my mind until November :(  Oh, well.  

Like I mentioned earlier, I took over 300 pictures yesterday, so it was pretty hard to narrow them down to just a few.  I did a terrible job trying to pick.  Sorry I've included so many!  

When we arrived we had a little picnic and let the kiddos play for awhile.  Here are a few of the pictures we took while we were at our first location...

Us 

 I love my family!  

 The Nudd's 

Great friends

 Rosie Girl 

 Bryn, being Bryn:)  She's SO cute!!!

Just some of the girls 

She loved exploring!    

After our picnic, Brandon wanted to take us to an area called Clingman's Cove.  It's supposed to be beautiful.  The only problem being everyone and their brother was headed there, too.  We set in traffic for the longest time and finally gave up and decided to head into Gatlinburg.  

The view while we were stuck in traffic.  It was gorgeous.

We saw a lot of this!  

Once in Gatlinburg, we headed to the aquarium.  We all loved it.  It really was a great one! 

The Shark Exhibit 

This guy was in heaven.  He loves ocean animals! 

I would never want to run into this guy while swimming.  

Kiki was very curious about everything 

The kiddos 

Mesmerized by the Jellyfish

Mark comparing wingspans with a ray. 

Just being silly 

Besties 

Aren't they cute? 

She loves her daddy

 We were pretty exhausted at this point, but we rarely get pictures together and decided to use the opportunity! 

I'm so not ready for these guys to drive.  At least we have a few more years! 

We had such a fun time! 

After our time in downtown Gatlinburg, we were all pretty exhausted.  It was well past the kids' bedtimes, but we couldn't be that close to an outlet mall and not stop, so we ended the night in Pigeon Forge shopping until we dropped...almost literally.

This is how we all felt on the trip home.