Busy today

Well I have a lot to get done today. I have some laundry to do, Abby's bath, go to Costco to get some pictures done, figure out some pages for tomorrow, pack my stuff for tomorrow, stop at Meijer for a few things, stop at Hobby Lobby for the sale, stop at Lane Bryant for their sale (all bottoms-pants, shorts, skirts, crops..etc. are buy one get on free), take Abby to dance class, mapquest our route for tomorrow, pick up Noah, and watch two movies that will be due back Sunday and this is the last day we can watch them all together. We got Night at the Museum for the four of us and the Holiday for Steve and I after the kids go to bed. Well I'll try to post more later if I get a break. Have a great day and I can't wait to see you guys tomorrow!!

donuts and bruises

Here's some pics from Donuts with dad, I'm only allowed to show the ones of just Abby!! They did crafts together and Abby made him a tie out of paperboard and it has a really cute poem on it. They both had a nice time. This afternoon, Jasmine jumped up and bumped her head into Abby's cheek. It swelled up and immediately bruised. The picture doesn't do it justice (for some reason bruises don't show up well on camera, remember Sonya's leg!!), but she's feeling better now!!

"Everybody's workin' for the weekend!!!"

Good Thursday to you all!! Not too much has been going on here lately. Steve got home safely yesterday. We did very good while he was gone. Sometimes it stresses me out to be the only parent available, but this time it went well. Today at Abby's school their having a Donuts with Dad day. Steve went with her to school for the whole day (3 hours anyway!!) and they'll be doing some fun things with Daddy. She is definitely Daddy's girl. I have never seen in person, a little girl more devoted to her Daddy. I remember when Noah was her age or younger even and Daddy would be gone for weeks at a time, he never mentioned him except when they talked on the phone together, but Abby asks probably 100 times a day when's he going to be home. She always wants to sit with Daddy, play with Daddy,etc.. I would be jealous of it except A: it gives me a break because I'm with her all day!! and B:I really want to encourage that relationship so she doesn't seek that loving male relationship with anyone else!!!! I also think it's really cute!!! I gave him the camera so hopefully he'll get some cute pics I can share! Well I'm home alone now and I think I'll finally get my scrapbook stuff ready for Saturday, I only have today and tomorrow to get it done!! I'm excited to be going to a Creative Memories crop, I haven't been to one in over 3 years. I love seeing the new stuff and learning about cool ways to use their products. I'm definitely a fan for life!! This should be a lot of fun! Well that's all for now, I hear my albums calling me!! Have a great one

Quickie!!

Sleepy Me!!!


It's late and I've been up watching t.v. and I need to go to bed, I have to get up at 6:40..ooh I hate Tuesday and Thursday!! Our Sunday was nice. We went to church and then out to lunch. We came home and Steve mowed pretty much all two acres of our yard, it took him almost the whole afternoon and evening!! It looks so nice though. We have a drainage wet area in the middle of the yard, back farther than we usualy go out, but cattails have grown there and I love them. I told him to stay clear of my cattails. Thankfully, he did!! We ate dinner outside again on the back deck, at that time in the evening the sun is hidden by the roof of our covered porch and it's nice and shady and breezy. I love it!! Well I got 4 dinners made and frozen. I really enjoyed it and love having them in the freezer. I don't think I'm going to wait until Sunday to do more!! Today I did some cleaning and we took Steve to the airport. He had to go out of town until Wednesday. That's not so bad. Now that the kids are older and much more self sufficient, it's not so hard when he's gone. Tomorrow, both kids have school and Noah has a scrimmage in the evening. It shouldn't be too bad of a day. Well just wanted to make a quick post while my puppy finished her late night snack!! Goodnight

Wow, what a nice day!!

Abby and her mamaw!!




Mr. Toad




Sidewalk Masterpieces




"I Love a Parade!!"




Catching the toad




Abby's sign for her brother




The start of the parade, the part that always starts the waterworks!!


Today was such a great day. The weather, wow how incredible and the fun we had was right up there too!! We went to Noah's opening day parade and just as I predicted, I teared up!! I was almost discovered too, but am very good at hiding it!! Noah looked so cute walking down in his Reds uniform with his cool sports glasses. My mom and Steve's mom both came and it was just very fun. I made a sign for Abby to hold while the boys walked by, it was too cute!! After that we had a nice lunch at Larosas and then came home. I decided to work on making a nice bed for small trees and bushes on the side of our house that is seen when driving up to it. Right now it's just grass and you can see all the foundation that's above ground and it just wasn't pretty, so I got started on that today. It was a lot of work trying to get rid of all that grass. But I think it's good now and I'm going to line the bed with extra bricks we have from building our house and then put a nice layer of top soil in and plant my trees and bushes. I hope it comes out well!! While I was working on that the kiddies were drawing with sidewalk chalk and at one point they found a toad. Daddy caught him and Noah held him for a second before he jumped out. The kids both just laughed and laughed watching him hop away. They really love animals!! After that I went in and made bbq chicken, baked beans and a broccoli pasta salad for dinner and we ate on the back deck. It was just a very nice day. The kids loved being out and I did too. I loved sitting on the front porch in our rockers with my husband, that's very fun!!

Friday, whyday

Today was nice, Abby had dance class and then we went grocery shopping. I got some stuff to start my once a month cooking. I'm starting with making a few lasagnas, these yummy chicken casseroles I make and some steak fajitas. We'll see how that goes. My plan is to do all this cooking on Sundays because usually after church we just stay home anyway and I actually look forward to spending that time cooking. I"m excited about it. Noah has karate tonight, but Abby and I are staying home, we've been running all day. Kings Island opens tomorrow and we still have to get our passes. I don't know if we'll be going this weekend, but it's nice to have the option. Tomorrow is also Noah's opening day for little league. They do a parade through the town and have a little ceremony. Then it's also picture day. It's fun to watch him in the parade. I don't know why, but when I'm watching the parade come down the street and the firetrucks are blaring and everything, it chokes me up everytime. This is Noah's third parade and I just know I'll have the same reaction. It's just so cool!! Well I thought everyone's painted toe pictures were so cute so when I finally did mine, I also did Abby's and we got a quick pic. We took the picture with the camera in my computer and you should've seen us trying to bend our legs just right so the camera could see it!! Well have a good weekend

little update

Well I got a load of dishes done and folded and put away two loads of laundry...GO ME! That's about all. We started to replace Abby's ceiling fan (hers stopped working and she loves having it on at night, so she hasn't been too happy the last two nights) but we got one of the screws from the original fan stuck in the electrical box thingy and now the screw head is stripped. We found some ideas to get it out online tonight and we'll try them tomorrow. Hopefully one of them will work so we can get it fixed for her. We watched Survivor and ooohhh what a good tribal council. Very well thought out and executed, I was impressed!! I like Alex though, I hope he can do something to save himself. Well off to bed now, buenos noches.

not much going on

Well not much going on today. Just been kinda lazy I guess today, maybe it's the cloudiness outside. I mean it' s noon, I've been up since 6:45 and I still feel that drowsy just woke up feeling!! I need somethinig to perk me up, what could it be??? I don't know, maybe a nap would work!! The house is a mess, I probably have 10 loads of laundry sitting around in the bedrooms upstairs to be done, but I just can't seem to care about it!! WEll hopefully something will get done soon. I guess I'll just post an update later, I need to go relax!!!

tuesday, woosday

My new border for the kids bathroom




AAHHHH, an empty pantry




The kids bathroom





When I was working on the border upstairs, Abby fell asleep on the couch watching Mulan, I thought she looked so cute!!



Tuesday was actually pretty productive for me. I got my pantry completely emptied and swept so we can get the freezer in when it comes today. I also hung two shelves above where the freezer will be. Now I have all of our food all over the kitchen counters. I cooked a pretty big dinner last night in the counter space of one small cutting board!! I can't wait to get the freezer so I can put everything back together. When I was shopping for my shelves at Lowe's I once again checked for this really cute border I had been eyeing for the kids bathroom for over 2 years now. I usually do not enjoy any kind of wallpaper, but this was so cute, it looks like mosaic tiles and it's the only wallpaper we have in the whole house. I saw it when we were picking out things for the house while it was still being built. I loved it, but it was never in stock. We went there a ton of times during the build and even after and everytime I checked for it but it was never there. Well a few months ago I asked the lady working in wallpaper about it and she looked it up and said it was discontinued and they wouldn't be getting anymore in. I was crushed, but yesterday I decided to check anyway and they had three rolls of it just sitting in there. I couldn't believe it. I grabbed two and ran!! Well I couldn't wait to see it up, so I did it last night after dinner. I have to say that I love it more than I thought I would. It's so cute!! Well after that we put the kiddies to bed and watched Walk the Line (the Johnny Cash movie) and we both really liked it. My husband kept calling me June and singing to me after it!!! He said he needed to go to wal-mart to get some black clothes! He's strange!! I would definitely recommend it, it's a good movie. Much better than the very violent and disturbing Casino Royale, that husband enjoyed and I loathed!! So it was a good night and Joey is still in Dancing with the Stars, so I'm thrilled. I still have to watch American Idol though, I couldn't squeeze it all in. Well hopefully today is just as productive!! We'll see.....

So today Abby's school did a lockdown drill. I guess in light of the terrible tragedies that occured yesterday, they wanted to check their preparedness. Now Abby thinks every little sound she hears means she has to go hide in the corner. I just hate this. Why does an entire nation's sense of security have to be crushed by one man's actions. I feel so horribly for the whole school community and their families. I just wish I could dig a whole and crawl into it and never come out. It's just so hard to go out into public or even our homes sometimes, and worry about what could be around the corner. I know that I just have to suck it up and live life anyway, although things like this make me not really want to. It really does make me stop to think about how every single minute in life should be lived with love and happiness. Our children will grow up, my husband and I will get older and until it's over, I really should just let these silly differences, insignificant problems just go. I know for sure that if this had happened to my family, I would have lived with the guilt of knowing that I wasted so much time on stupid stuff, instead of on how much I loved that person and how much I enjoyed being with them and just cherishing each moment. It just seems so silly to worry about shelves in the pantry, when these people are devestated. I also hate that this tragedy caused the death of 33 people and yet everyday in war torn countries these kinds of tragedies are occuring daily and it barely makes a blip in our lives . Why? Are they not mothers, fathers, sons, daughters too? Were they not also conceived by God? I'm as guilty of it as anyone. I hear it in passing and never let it get further than that. I guess we can't or we'd be overwhelmed with grief. Maybe we should pray for their souls and let this make a lifetime change in our lives. To make sure those whom we love and care for know it and to spend every moment we can showing them. So that whenever time comes to end for them, we can be happy knowing we got every last drop of happiness we could from them, no regrets. I know that's what I intend to do, well that and put up shelves in the pantry, I mean a girl needs storage!!! Sorry, so depressing, it's just what's on my mind right now.

zoos and monday morning blues!!!

The North American Wild Daddies carry their young on their shoulders!!




Boys will be boys, I guess!!




Noah, Aaron and a rhino!





Hello Mr. Polar Bear



Checking out the gorillas




The lions, the one yawning is the one who snapped at us!




The tulips were blooming and they were just beautiful




All 4 kids!!


Well this weekend was a nice end to our Spring Break. Baseball practice was cancelled on Saturday so we went out and picked up Riley for a few hours and we went shopping for awhile. It was a nice day. We finally bought a stand alone freezer. I hate rearranging the freezer everytime I go grocery shopping so I can squeeze everything in. Plus when there's a great sale on something I can only buy what will fit and hopefully now I can get a lot more at that great price. Sunday we celebrated Steve's Mom's 75th Birthday. We met her and Steve's sister's family at the zoo. I have to say, I think this was the absolute best zoo experience I've ever had. First the weather was in my opinion perfect. It was just a bit chilly and windy, but we were all dressed appropriately so we weren't really cold. Second, it was as if we were the only ones there. I think we may have seen 20 people total in the 3 hours we were there. Third, the animals...they were all out today (except the komodo dragon and he's never out) and they were all putting on shows. It was incredible. The gorillas all were out running around and one even beat his chest like you see on t.v.!! I've never seen them do that in real life!! Then the lions were just the best. The two males were out and one of them got up and walked around for awhile. He went over to this corner that was really close to the walkway where we were. Well Steve and I walked over to be as close as we could to him and I was trying to get a picture of his face looking at me. He was so close we could hear him breathing and we started making a little noise to get him to look at me and he looked real quick once and then he turned towards Steve and actually growled and lunged at him!! It scared me to death. I wish I could've gotten it on video. It was incredible. I grabbed Steve's arm and nearly peed my pants!! I ran to the family who had moved on and Steve stayed a few more minutes. It was so awesome. Well after that nothing was as cool as that, but we did enjoy the rest of the zoo. We then went back to Steve's sister's house for dinner and gifts. The kids all played for awhile, Noah and Abby love playing with their cousins Aaron (age 8) and Julie (age 4) who are just the perfect ages for our kids. It's great. We had a nice chicken dinner and then came home. It was a wonderful day. This morning, it was hard to get up and get back to the usual routine, but with knowing there's only 6 weeks of school left, I think I can get through it. Well my Sonya has inspired me to do some clean sweeping, so today I'm doing the kitchen. I hope to get rid of a lot of useless stuff and make room for our new freezer in the pantry. It will fit if I can make the room. Then we'll put some shelves up over it for more storage. It's gonna be great. Well hopefully I can get that done today, so it's not all over the house!! Have a great day!

My boy

Well we finally got Noah's new glasses today. He looks so grown up and so very handsome in them!! All the pics I took have the flash glare, I guess I need to practice getting pics without it!! I really like them and he does too. We were always a little concerned that maybe he didn't need them that much because he had never actually complained about it, but the Dr. said lots of times kids don't notice it, because it's all they've known. Plus when we were riding home today, he said Mommy now I can see things much closer!! So that makes me feel better. I hope he feels good about himself. I know I think he's the cutest boy ever with or without glasses!!!

Amanda

It's hard to write a lot about someone you've only met in blogworld, but I do know a few things about my not so secret sister Amanda. I know for sure, without a doubt, that she has more faith, strength and determination in her pinky finger than I do in my whole body. She is just amazing. She is the reason they came up with the saying when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I wish not only for myself, but for my children to have such a great attitude in life. She has 4 children, three of which are 3 year old triplets!!! That alone is enough to do someone in, but she lives life with laughter and smiles and makes the absolute best of every situation. She is true inspiration among mothers and believers. I am truly privledged to be her secret sister as I hope that through this I'll be able to be a friend of hers. I hope to have the chance to meet her in person some day and put a voice to the words I read. Until then, I'll keep reading and laughing and praying for her, it's the least I can do!!!

Quick post

Well I'm running behind to get ready for the museum today, but I thought I'd give ya all a quick post before we go. We've been really enjoying our Spring Break so far. We really haven't done much but relax and have some quality family time. We finally got our Blockbuster 40 rental card and rented some movies this week. Steve and I watched Stranger than Fiction with Will Farrell and I really liked it. I love Will Farrell, even his inappropriate yet funny movies, I can't help it, he makes me laugh. But in this one he wasn't funny and I loved that about him. I thought it was really good. And the kids and I watched Charlotte's Web. Again I thought it was really good and the kids really enjoyed it too. Tomorrow night Steve and I are planning to watch Cåsino Royale (he loves Bond...me not so much!!!) I have to admit that when you can still watch DVD's on a big screen it's pretty cool. Well today we're heading out to the museum with Sonya. I'm going to get my pass renewed so we can enjoy it all summer long. I'll probably have pics to share for that when we get back. Well have a great day!!

Papa's got a new ride

Here's my parents new car. They just showed up with it today. It's a Pontiac Solstice. It's very nice. The kids think it's the batmobile!! We can't wait until it's warm enough to take the top down and go for a ride!!

Easter

The baskets




A play-doh bunny Noah made







The kids looking at their new stuff.







Hunting eggs at Mamaw and Papaw's house (in the freezing cold!!, this morning the news said Christmas Day was warmer than Easter, that's just crazy!!)




The cousins




The dinner table. I again made the centerpiece. I potted little pansies in small pots and then put them in a big liner filled with easter grass and eggs. You can also see the eggs we made with everyone's names on them for their place setters




So pretty and handsome!!




Noah and Riley playing together. They looked so cute together!!


Hello all, I hope you had a wonderful Easter celebration!! We had a really nice whole weekend. I forgot to mention that last weekend we saw Meet the Robinsons and I for one was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. That happened with Cars too. When I first saw the previews for Cars I didn't think I'd like it, but I ended up really loving it. This movie I wouldn't say I loved, but I did enjoy it and the quote at the end brought tears to my eyes, it was just a perfect ending. Well this weekend we spent a lot of time together as a family. Friday we went out to dinner after karate and then to Costco where we got our next three month supply of ketchup!!! Can't go without the red stuff!!! Saturday Daddy let me sleep until 10, aaaahhh how nice!! We then got up and ready and went out to lunch and then to this little candy store in downtown Lebanon. It's such a cute little store. The kids picked out a treat and then before we left, I checked the Goodwill right there that had signs up saying all clothes were 50% off today. (Aren't you proud Sonya!!) So I went in and found 3 cute things for the kids at half off. The rest of the day we just spent at home, I let Daddy nap downstairs (I think he was actually watching is Magnum P.I. DVD!!) and I played games and read books with the kiddies and just watched some t.v. too. After the kids were in bed, I put together their baskets and then got everything ready for Sunday. Sunday morning we woke the kids up at 7 to make sure we had time to let them play with their new stuff before church. The kids were very excited about what they got. Noah was amazed that with Santa you have to tell him what you want, but the Easter Bunny just knows!! They were very excited and of course wanted a piece of candy at 7 in the morning, so we let them have just one!! They played for about an hour and then we left for church. It's always crazy in the nursery on the Easter and we ended up staying in there both hours. I love seeing how the parents bring their little babies dressed for Easter. The dresses are so cute and the boys with their vest and ties and some with hats are just adorable. The kids had fun too, there was a magic show for all the kids (Abby was very excited that she saw Noah in there!!) They always enjoy their time in Sunday school. So after church we went to my parents where we made a yummy dinner (I made macaroni and cheese with bunny shaped pasta!!) and we had an egg hunt for the kids even though it was freezing out. It was still fun. My brother and his family came later because they went to her family's festivities first. Noah and Riley were dressed very similarily (not planned) and looked really cute together. The kids just played and played with stuff we brought and stuff Mamaw and Papaw got them. It was a very nice day, we ended up staying until 7. When we got home, we did the resurrection eggs together. I was surprised at how much they really affected the kids. Noah was relieved when we got past the parts about Jesus being hurt. I wanted to end the day with a reminder of what the holiday really is and to make sure we never lose sight of that.

Well my parents just returned that morning from a quick trip to Gatlinburg. They stayed in these really cool cabins in the mountains and loved it. Now we're planning a big trip for the 9 of us to one of the big cabins there that sleep 10. They have three bedrooms and two pullout sofas. It has your own private hot tub, deck with grill, fireplace and access to fishing ponds (equipment also provided). I think it sounds like a blast. I think we're planning to go on Labor Day Weekend. I can't wait!! Well our other September trip is now officially booked. As of this morning, Disney Visa holders can book trips to WDW with free dining plan!! It will be available to everyone else on Thursday. So we're going September 19-30 and we're staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort and we get all of our meals FREE!!!! That saves us about 1100 dollars!!! And we get to eat at much more expensive restaurants than we would normally choose otherwise. So we're eating at (table service/sit down) Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club, Le Cellier at EPCOT, the Whispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge, Liberty Tree Character Dinner at Magic Kingdom, Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary, Akershus Princess Breakfast at EPCOT, O'hana at the Polynesian, 50's Prime Time Diner at Disney Studios, Le Cellier again, Tony's Town Square at Magic Kingdom, and the Coral Reef at EPCOT. Oh, I can't wait!! I can taste the yummy steaks at Le Cellier already!! I'm also excited about our hotel. I stayed at CBR with my family when I was about 15 and remember it being very nice. We requested a room close to the main pool and food court area. They are usually very kind when we request a certain area. The main pool is themed in an old fort kind of motif that a pirate ship may attack. I think within the next year or so , they're actually going to make it Pirates of the Caribbean themed (as well as the rooms in the hotel). It has a big water slide and everything so that should be fun. Well I guess that's all for today. I have some projects I want to accomplish at home this week during our Spring Break and hopefully I'll get them done. Well I hope everyone has a great day!!

The promised pictures

This is the pretty necklace Abby made at her school Easter party. I thought it was nice!!





These are the cool eggs Abby made in school. I just think they look really neat, I was impressed!!





These two are Noah and Abby coloring eggs at home. We made some character ones and then we used the wax crayon to write names on some for the people who will be at my parents for Easter dinner. We're going to set them in cute little egg cups for their place marker.






These three are from the egg hunt the kids went to. They had lots of fun there and got a big bucket full of eggs!! Noah was a bit far away because they split the kids up and Daddy stayed with Abby. He's back there in the last picture!!




This is my mom and I trying to trace the outline of Riley's hand onto Mamaw's Garden rock. You can see Noah and Abby's are already on there.