Wow!

First of all, let me say "Merry Christmas". I realize it is technically only Christmas day for another half an hour, but I wanted to get my Christmas wish in to all of you!

It has been a very busy couple of days. Yesterday, I had a little melt down for myself just before the Christmas Eve service at church and my husband had to shake me a little and remind me about what is truly important. I will admit that I completely lost my focus on the true meaning of Christmas for a couple of hours. Praise God for Christmas Eve service that gets you back in the right frame of mind and puts the focus back on Christ!

My parents got here Sunday afternoon and we have just truly enjoyed them being here. Although dad has complained about me working him to death, I think he has had fun too! Ruth and Ron got here on Wednesday afternoon and her and Kayla set right about making a birthday cake for Jesus! Last night we went to Christmas Eve service and then came home and had our traditional Christmas Eve party with the Hyders. I just publicly would like to thank James for my Bubble Butt guy - you are the best - how did you know that was exactly what I wanted. By the way, I hope that Butt Station looks good on your desk! James and I are kind of like my dad and my mother-in-law - we have an ongoing battle for who can get the other the tackiest gift. I think he won this year. I will have to post a picture!

Today, the kids were up just after 7:00a.m. to open presents. They had a great Christmas! So many fun toys and stuff! The best part??? Nerf guns for the whole family!!! Tons of fun, I'm not kidding! We had some friends from church over for dinner this afternoon and then played some cards. We always play games when we are together. Sometimes it's pretty and sometimes it's not. This week it is so ugly. We have not won one game yet. It is very sad!

My brother and his family will be here on Saturday and I'm so looking forward to doing Christmas all over again with them when they get here! My kids have missed their cousins and are looking so forward to playing with them for a couple of days.

So, other than my mental breakdown yesterday it has been a great, fun filled week! I'm about to get off here and see if I can pull my pictures up and look at them and hopefully I will get some posted tonight or tomorrow! Good night everyone! Merry Christmas!

Yeah!

Guess what??? Our tree is up AND decorated! All of the presents have been cleaned out from all of the closets throughout my house and are all under the tree or around the tree. We do family Christmas so there are gifts for and from my parents and my in-laws as well as my brother and Craig's sister, so it looks like we have a huge amount of gifts. But, we cut back a lot this year and it has been nice to not be so stressed about trying to come up with money to get everybody's gifts, which is so not the point of Christmas to begin with. That is a very good change that we have made this year, and, honestly, it still looks like we all bought too much!

Tonight I am going to pull another late night and try to get the rest of my baking done. I work 10 times better at midnight than I do at 9:00 a.m.! Craig is telling me I am obsessed and I have way too much of everything, but I will just bet you that it all gets eaten. Plus that, I am on a roll! I love baking!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Tyler's Kids Choir Performance

And here is my little man! He did so good! He had a few moments where he wanted to copy his little partner in crime and fall all over the stage but between a look from Aunt Shannon and his mama shaking her head he straightened up. You never know what they are going to do when they get up there on stage! They are 4 - it is always an adventure!

Kids Choir Performance - F-A-I-T-H

Okay, look at me, I'm actually getting pictures and video loaded! Whoohoo! This was from the Kid's Choir concert at church on Wednesday. Kayla has a solo in the song F-A-I-T-H - she did awesome. She always had someone standing right in front of her so it was hard to get a clear shot of her, but, here it is anyway...

Christmas Concert

Kayla's Christmas Concert was at school today and she played her recorder - she did such a great job! I'm so impressed by the way with her music teachers. They ended the concert with a girl from our church singing Happy Birthday Jesus - it was very clear what the true meaning of Christmas is through that song. It blessed my heart and brought tears to my eyes that in today's day and age nobody was concerned about being "politically correct" or possibly offending someone.

Ramblings of A Crazy Person

Great day, it has been a whole week since I posted. What is going on with me? All of a sudden I have no time for blogging!

We have had a ton going on and have been having a blast skipping from party to party and getting our own house ready for our two week long party with family that is coming up! Let's see, last weekend was Kayla's first basketball game - she did so great! Maybe I will have pictures soon; okay, maybe not too, but I will try! Saturday was a crazy day for us and it didn't help that I just about knocked myself out. We left the basketball game and went to Ryland's two year birthday party - I can't believe that little boy is two already. He was so much fun to watch open his presents and play! As we were leaving that party I ran into the back of the van and whacked my head. Needless to say, I think I gave myself a bit of a concussion, and after visiting my chiropractor tonight, I do know that I definitely gave myself some whiplash because my neck was all out of whack. Just call me grace. I have to tell you though, it put me on the couch for the rest of the day and my head is still tender. We did make it to another Christmas party on Saturday night and got to visit with some folks that I went to Mexico with as well as other people from our church.

This week we have had something pretty much every night. Kayla had play practice on Monday and then her and Tyler had their Kid's Choir programs last night. They both did very well and I will hopefully have the video up of Kayla's solo as well as some photos in the near future! Tuesday night I went to a Bunko cookie swap and that was tons of fun. I'm telling you - I'm addicted to Bunko! There was about 20 people there and we had a great time of fellowship and food and I rolled my first Bunko - it was awesome!!! Tonight we got together with the Hyders and Maxwells for our annual kid's gift exchange! They all have such a big time together and this year Ryland was just right in the middle of everything and following Ty-Ty all around so that was fun to watch. The rest of the weekend we are home free. I think we are done with parties and we only have one more Christmas program to go to which is tomorrow at Kayla's school - she is playing a song on the recorder! Then on Sunday, Mom and Dad arrive!

I am still cooking up a storm. Today I made four batches of chex mix - we love us some chex mix! I also made some peanut clusters and chinese new year cookies and peanut butter cups. Still have more baking to do, but that it all that got done today.

I have a confession to make - our Christmas tree still is not up! Our goal is to get it put up and decorated tomorrow night. All of the rest of my decorations are up, but not the tree. Craig finished the painting last weekend and that is kind of what we were waiting on. I hope to have pictures of our finished home products soon also. Everything is done and it looks great - my husband is the bomb! I just love him!

Alright, I'm exhausted, I have to sleep - more to come soon!

The Energizer Bunny

I AM the Energizer bunny! I keep going and going and going. In all seriousness, this is a busy time, but I am having so much fun! We have been to get togethers and parties this month and I still have a few left to go and it really has just been a blast. I haven't been stressed about any of it until last night and today and then I got slightly irritable. Okay, I got a lot irritable! Thank you to my friends and my mother who have listened to me whine last night and today! I think I am over it. I realize I have packed our plate pretty full this month, but, again, I have to say, I am having the best time, and I am really trying to just have fun and not stress about everything I have to do. Tonight was our Sunday School Christmas party and it was just a scream! I laughed almost until I hurt. S, I'm so sorry about laughing at your near death experience on that mountain - you know I love you! It was a great time out at this barn that these people in our church own. This is not an ordinary barn ya'll! It is NICE! It is all decorated for Christmas and is just so festive!

Let's see...tomorrow is Kayla's first basketball game! Go Kayla! We leave the basketball game and head straight to Ryland's birthday party - he is two! He was singing Happy Birthday last night and just is getting so big! Craig will be putting the last coat of paint on in the living room after the party tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow night we have another Christmas party to go to. It will be another busy weekend with a busy week to follow. Next week, both of the kids have their kid's choir plays. On Friday, Kayla will be performing in her school Christmas play - she is playing a song on the recorder! I'm so proud of her - she has worked hard on that song!

So, there is lots going on, but I am trying to keep my perspective. I don't want to forget that Christmas is about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is so good to me! Especially at this time of year you can look around and find so much to be thankful for. Thank You Lord for all of Your many, many blessings. By blessings I don't just mean outward things, but the internal things too. You know what I mean - the things just between you and God. The way He speaks to you through a scripture or a song, the way He answers a prayer that you have been praying, or just the peace of His presence. How has He blessed you this week? Think about it and thank Him!

A Cooking Frenzy

It is ten minutes after eleven PM and I just put a coffee cake in the oven. I think I may have lost my mind. Craig has been craving coffee cake for a couple of weeks now. He is doing a crazy shift thing this month at work and I thought it might be fun for him to have his coffee cake when he gets home in the morning. Cooking has been the theme of my week! I'm getting ready for all of my family at Christmas and I thought I would get started early and go on ahead and make up the stuff that would freeze well. So, I have made a batch of homemade crescent rolls, about 5 dozen muffins, a double batch of chili, and a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. The crescent rolls I did a couple of weeks ago and the rest has been done in the last day or two. Tomorrow I am making up my meatballs and am also going to do some cookies for my Bunko cookie swap next week and some cookies for Christmas. I am loving every minute of it! I love to cook and I figure the more I get done now the more I will be able to enjoy everybody when they get here!

I'm going on a sympathy quest for a moment, ok? Over the weekend I noticed that my shoulder was really bothering me; it was all around my collar bone and even into my jaw sometimes. Not fun! So on Monday I went to the chiropractor and he told me he thought I had sprained something in there and he proceeded to adjust it for me. Can you say pain and agony? Want to know the really depressing part? He said it may take more than once. It has been hurting tonight and I am dreading having to go back! However, I am thankful that my deductible has kicked in and now it costs me less than $20 to go! WhoooHooo!

On a housing update, let me just say that we are getting so close! The wall in the living room is done and painted! The bottom half, where all the molding is, has to have one more coat of paint and then it is finished. I still have shelves to go up in the new closet and Craig has to assemble our new entertainment table/stand/center thing! On Monday, the carpet cleaners come and then we will be done. The Christmas tree goes up on Tuesday and the following weekend my parents come! So, it looks like this project should be done within a week's time! It has been quite a process, but it all looks so good!

Tomorrow, Tyler and I are off to buy groceries! If you see me at WalMart tomorrow and I look like a drowned rat who is ready to hurt someone you may want to head in the opposite direction! Hopefully Tyler will be very good and I will maintain my very happy, go lucky outlook on life! :)

Breakfast with Santa

Well, our crazy day started at 9:00a.m. with Breakfast with Santa at Kayla's school. I've told you before that we do not celebrate Santa at Christmas, but I couldn't resist taking them to see Santa at school. Tyler caught a glimpse of Santa at the mall last week and went a little crazy. He spent several minutes this morning practicing the hug that he was going to give Santa only to forget once he saw him. It was a fun time this morning that lasted, no kidding, less than 15 minutes. Kayla is pretty much totally out of the fascination with Santa and when we got there this morning she said, "do I really have to do this", to which I assured her that no, she didn't have to if she didn't want to. But you can see, when Santa called her forward, she couldn't resist!

So, now the rest of the day consists of me getting my hair done, a Christmas party this afternoon, painting, baking, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and on and on. I think we were invited to a total of 3 birthday parties for today, one breakfast open house this morning, and I think that is it. We are skipping all three birthday parties and even though I would have loved to go and hang out with my friends at breakfast this morning, we had already planned Breakfast with Santa. The holiday season has definitely begun for us and we are trying to pick and choose what we want to do rather than trying to do all of it and losing our sanity and our Christmas spirit! It will still be a busy time, but I am loving all the getting together, spending time with friends, and just being festive! Hope everyone has a great day!

I'm Addicted

Okay, so I have just discovered that I have two addictions. Anyone have a 12 step program for being addicted to Bunko and Facebook? Seriously, I played Bunko for the first time last month with a group of ladies from church and LOVED it! Tonight Craig and I went to a couple's Bunko night and had a blast. Now, I have to tell you that I don't usually enjoy doing things where I don't know a lot of the people in attendance, but there is just something about Bunko that makes you friends with everybody who is there! Weird, I know, but true! Tonight was a hoot and I got the most beautiful gift. Last month I won this gorgeous Christmas pitcher. This month I won a Christmas serving tray with matching Christmas spreaders. So cute! You guys do know that I'm a serving piece junkie right? I love serving pieces! These two things will both be on my table on Christmas Eve! In a couple of weeks we will do a Cookie Swap Bunko night with more Christmas themed gifts! Love it! Can't wait!

Now on to Facebook. Have ya'll tried Facebook? I love Facebook!!! Used to not get on there much, but pretty much all of our Church is on Facebook and I have also connected with some people that I have talked to in over twenty years. It is bizarre! Brian, I know you are dying to catch the facebook wave, so look me up after you join!Love ya!

WhoooHooo!

Wow, I'm so excited! David C. came today and sanded our wall in the living room and Craig has just finished priming it. It looks so good and makes such a huge difference in our living room, and best of all, there will be no more wasted space in the form of a wet bar. Now I will actually have a closet with storage! Here are some before and after pictures.

This is the before picture!

You thought I was joking about the new entertainment center didn't you?

This is where we are right now, only picture this wall completely pink - Craig just got finish putting on the primer!

Remodeling Update

AAAAHhhhhh... That is the sigh of nearing completion! It means this project is almost over with! The past few years Craig has taken off the whole week of Thanksgiving and we have hung out around the house just relaxing or doing projects. So, he was off this whole last week and he worked like a dog all week. He told me he was going back to work early in the week because he said it was easier than what he was doing here! I just have to say again that I just love him and am so impressed by his natural talent to do the things that he does around here. My backsplash is done and grouted and sealed. The matching travertine outlet covers have been put in and they look great. All that is left to do is just caulk the counter line and under the cabinets and put on one more coat of sealer and it is done. He has painted the pantry door and the new closet door and re-hung those. He drywalled up the door that was in the living room closing in the fourth wall of the closet. He has painted the ceiling in the closet and put primer on. Today we bought paint and shelving for in there and that will probably be in by the end of the week. We had a sweet friend from church come over to help with the living room side of the dry wall project. He is awesome! Thanks David! So, we are at maybe one more coat of mud in the living room or possibly having the sanding done on it tomorrow. Then Craig has to redo the molding and paint! This has been such a long and tedious process and I am so excited to have it so close to being done. I can't put up my Christmas decorations until it is finished and that is slightly frustrating, but they will get put up even if it is the last minute. I'm being patient!

Thanksgiving Recap

Wow, it seems like weeks have gone by since I posted but it was only a few days ago. Tons has happened around here so I'm going to break it down into a few different posts!

Thanksgiving was a very fun day relaxing with James and Shannon and Ryland and James' mom. The kids had a blast and Tyler wore himself right to sleep on their living room floor. We literally spent the whole day over there eating and playing games. It was great!

We left their house about 11:00p.m., were home and pretty much had the kids in bed by 11:30. Kayla and I got up about 3:15 A.M. on Friday morning to go and do the crazy Black Friday shopping. Last year was the first year I let her go with me and she asked me a gazillion times last week if we were going shopping again the day after Thanksgiving. I have most of my shopping done and just needed a few things for Tyler, so mostly, yes, I just went for the sheer thrill of being with 10,000 of my closest friends at a horrendous hour of the day/night. One of our friends saw me in Wal-Mart and commented to me on Sunday that he had seen me and could tell I was frustrated! How bad is that? Truth be told, though, I was frustrated. I found a great deal on these Nerf guns at Wal-Mart and went and bought enough for all four of us for Christmas. You have no idea what I had to go through to get those! Anyway, Kayla and I had a great time and I was home and back to bed by 6:30 a.m. I have two small gifts left to buy and maybe a few stocking stuffers and then I am done. Pretty much everything is wrapped and so I'm feeling pretty good about all that!

So, our Thanksgiving was great. We have done a ton on the house this past week and I can't wait to tell you all about it, so maybe tonight I will have time to do another post and tell you about it! However, right now I have two children who need to get in the bed!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! It is a gorgeous day in Georgia and I find that I have much to be thankful for today. I have decided to bring the family in on this post and let them say what they are thankful for, so here we go...

Kayla is thankful for electricity, running water, family and friends, and school, and Horizons - that's it!

Tyler is thankful for mommy and daddy, cousins, and teachers, and turkey, and teachers, that's all!

Craig is thankful for a week off of work, and a wife who makes really great pumpkin pie! (I did not tell him to say that!)

Lisa is thankful for a wonderful husband and healthy children, thankful for my family and friends, a Savior who loves me and who's grace is always sufficient!

This Thanksgiving is a little different for us. We usually are either having a bunch of people here or are in Tennessee. This year we are dining at James and Shannon's with James' mom. It feels strange not to be scurring around this morning getting the turkey in the oven and getting the fixin's ready! I think it is going to be a very relaxing day! Thank you J&S for spending the day with us! To our parents and family - we will miss you tons, but we are glad that you are spending the day with other family and friends! Have a great Turkey Day!

Furniture Anyone?

Okay, so I have the following items for sale for cheap! If you are interested in either one, call me and I'll let you know the specifics!

Demolition

That is what my house has become - a demolition project! The kitchen is almost finished except the grout on the backsplash and the floor that probably won't happen for several more months. Craig is off this week and he has started on building my closet. Actually the closet is built, but we are closing off one door and moving it around to the kitchen side which means that he is having to drywall and redo molding in the living room. He has just told me that we are getting ready to embark on the messiest project ever. I'm scared!!! We are getting rid of the entertainment center as well and since that is sitting against the wall that he is doing all of this work on I had to empty that out so that it could be moved out to the garage. Our videos, DVD's, and CD's, and games are in a big green Rubbermaid tub and you want to know the funny part??? Our TV is on top of the green tub. Can you say "redneck"? We might put the furniture out on the front porch! Ok, maybe not. So, this week will be filled with dirt, dust, furniture strewn around, and basically, constant upheaval. I'm so thankful that we are not having Thanksgiving here - that would be stressing me out! Pictures and more updates to come throughout the week!

Girlfriends

Tyler was cracking us up on the way home from school today. Now, ya'll know that I do NOT advocate boyfriends and girlfriends until you are much, much older than what my kids are, BUT, Tyler gets so funny about girls sometimes that I just had to share this. He told Craig and I on the way out from school today that he had a girlfriend, named Erin. I said, "really, is she pretty?". His reply - you are going to love this...

"Well, some parts of her body are pretty"!

He was not being mean in the least just stating his observatins. Oh, it made us crack up.

Full Speed Ahead

I have pretty much been going 90 MPH this last week and cannot believe that it has been over a week since I posted last! That is crazy! There has been a lot going on to say the least. I have done a ton of fun stuff with friends the last week and it has been so much fun to get caught up with people and to also spend some time with people that I don't always get to see. I have found a new hobby! I played Bunko with some friends last Thursday and had a wonderful time. Since then I have added two more Bunko games to my December calendar, one of which is a couples Bunko night so that such be a lot of fun. S and I spent a day in the rain last week over in Aiken playing at Hobby Lobby - can you believe that we didn't even buy anything! I also got to enjoy a girl's night out this week and catch up with a couple of friends.

So, while I have been enjoying this very fun social life the past week, my husband has been slaving away in the kitchen! My back splash is all the way up, my pink walls are gone! Yea! I have to say - he has done a fantastic job - thanks babe! It still has to be grouted in, but the tile is all up. He is off next week and we'll be working on the storage closet. From one project to the next!

On a Graceful Designs note, it has been very busy, which is a great thing. However, it was apparently a little bit too much for Gertrude because her mother board gave up the ghost on Tuesday. Can I tell you how very uncool that was? Thankfully, our handy dandy repairman is going to try to get her back to us by the end of the week. Thanks Jeff! She is mine for one more week and then gets to go back to Holly's for the month of December.

I'm starting to really get organized and ready for Christmas. We are going to have a house full of people including both sets of parents and my brother and his family. I'm looking forward to having everyone here! I have almost all of my shopping done so that is a load of my mind. I still have a few things to finish up and hope to get to those in the next week or two.

Does that catch me up? I think so! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Commercial Soapbox

Okay, so yesterday I felt like I had been run over twice by a really big truck so I spent the entire evening yesterday camped out on the couch in front of the television. This is not something I normally do. As a matter of fact, Craig and I have one show that we watch every Tuesday night, we watch football on Saturday, and that is pretty much it. The TV is on at other times, but I'm not usually in there watching it. I know you are all wishing I would get to the point, right? Well, I was astounded by the commercials last night. I may have posted on this before, if I have then bear with me cause I am going to post on it again. First of all, have ya'll seen some of these drug commericials? Oh my goodness! Craig and I were getting the biggest charge out of those last night. There was this one commercial for this depression medication. I'm not down playing depression - I think it is very real and does sometimes require medication, but, come on people. Would you rather be depressed or experience the side effects of this medicine. I am not kidding, it is terrible. "If you take this you may experience fainting when standing, death, high sugar levels that may lead to a coma or DEATH, yellowing around the eyes or difficulty with your liver, tingling in your arms, legs, hands, itchy ears, stinky feet, frequent urination, constipation, diarrhea. I mean the list goes on. Okay, some of those I just added for fun, but seriously, the possible side effects are worse than the drug! Then there was one about frequent urination - yes, I am going to go here! So the commerical shows these guys on this golf course and it is discussing the need to "go" often. The side effects of this medicine - passing out when standing up among other things. Oh, isn't that great, instead of having to use the bathroom on the golf course I may pass out instead. Yea, that wouldn't be embarrassing. At least maybe you wouldn't, you know, "go" on yourself WHEN you pass out. Give me a break!

Okay, then the other one that I saw was just not humorous at all. Have ya'll seen the Macy's commercial about Santa Claus? We don't do Santa. Before you freak out, my children know about Santa, we joke about Santa, we have even had breakfast with Santa. However, we do NOT celebrate Santa at Christmas. My children know that Christmas is about the birth of Christ; we may throw a little Santa in for fun, but that is it. They even know that mom and dad by their gifts. So, this commercial has several celebrities (Martha Stewart included, don't get me started) that are saying different things about Christmas. For a moment I honestly thought, "wow, are they promoting the birth of Jesus at Christmas time". NO, they are not. They kept saying things like, "it only takes the faith of a child", and "it is a love that goes on and on forever".(I don't remember the exact words but this was the jest of it) So you want to know what they were advertising? SANTA CLAUS - apparently at Macy's you can now go and mail your Christmas letters to Santa. It was sickening. I looked at Craig and said, "wow, they just made Santa look just like Jesus Christ". We will NOT be going to Macy's to mail letters to Santa. If you play Santa at your house, I'm not bashing you, but it is so important that our children understand the REAL meaning of Christmas and WHO Christmas is about.

I'm stepping down off of my soapbox now...

Catching Up

Well, here I am again, Monday morning and playing catch up! Last week was a blur. I have been struggling with some things and just did not function well at all last week. I pray this week is better. I have been covered up with Graceful Designs stuff which is a huge blessing. I worked all day Thursday, Friday afternoon, and all day Saturday, and I'm still not caught up, and still have people bringing stuff. It is awesome!

Kayla had a sleepover at my neighbor's house on Friday night and while she was doing that, Craig, and Tyler, and I went out to do a little shopping. Craig and I have decided that for Christmas for each other this year we are going to buy a couple of pieces of furniture. It is so fun right now, but on Christmas morning I'll be sad that I don't have any gifts to open! Pitiful, huh - I'm still a little kid at heart. You know you are too! Anyway, I have been searching the stores for the perfect table/cabinet for this spot in my dining room and on Friday I found it. So, we went and bought it and guess what? It is too big for my spot. Can I just be honest and tell you that for a few minutes I wanted to have a two year old size tantrum and throw myself on the floor and kick and scream? Yea, well, I resisted, but I still wanted to! So, that has to go back to the store, and I will continue to look. We did end up with a book shelf for my hallway and I was excited about that.

On Saturday, Craig played in a golf tournament while I embroidered all day. And then Saturday evening we went to a Sunday School fall fellowship at a friend's house. We had a great time and my children played so hard. Tyler was so upset when it was time to leave. It was a great time of fellowship and food and fun. And it was cold! That just adds something, you know! Drinking coffee around the fire pit and making smores! It just doesn't get any better than that! Thanks J&D for opening your home!

Yesterday started our fall revival at church and I just loved it. I love this preacher's style of preaching. He is very easy to listen to and just tells it like it is. I'm going to try to sneak away from work today for the lunch time message and then we have service Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night. I'm looking so forward to it. He is preaching through the book of Jude.

We signed Kayla up for basketball yesterday. She did not exactly enjoy playing last year so I am shocked that she wanted to play again. I'm also sad because she is too old this year to play with the kids she played with last year, but, I guess we will make friends with a whole new group this season!

We don't have anything extraordinary planned for this week, it will mostly just be work, school, Graceful Designs, church, etc. Not necessarily in that order, but you know what I mean! I hope everyone has a great week!

Smokin' Hot

What is smokin' hot? Apparently, my daughter. Kayla and I had an enlightening conversation this morning in which she told me that one of her classmates told his friend that Kayla was "smokin' hot", in the appearance sense, not the bodily temperature sense. In an age of hot flashes and hormone surges, I'm hoping to goodness she was sweaty and hot after leaving recess or something and Mr. Joe Cool is just making a harmless observation. Not the case. Ya'll, he called my baby "smokin' hot". I just want to go on record as saying that my daughter is NOT hot! Cute, yes. Pretty, absolutely. Hot, NO!!! Smokin' hot implies something very distasteful in my book, especially when you are talking about a 9 year old. May my husband and I instill in Tyler a respectfulness for girls and women alike to not tell somebody that they are smokin' hot unless he is married to her! Do these parents of these boys not realize how much harder they are making my job? We have always tried to teach Kayla that inner beauty is far more important than outer beauty. That if you are the most beautiful creature in the world and are ugly on the inside, that that ugly will always come through on the outside, and that's what will be seen. Arrrgh! Want to know something else? Last week when we were having our annual Halloween dinner with the H's, Kayla was telling about some friends at school and I have to admit I was only half listening b/c she was talking to Uncle James. However, I hear her say something about "making out" and my ears instantly perked up. It seems that some of her friends were saying that this boy and girl were making out at recess or something. WHAT???? They are in FOURTH GRADE! The bad thing is is that I asked Kayla if she even knew what that meant and she did! Let me assure you that I did not teach her about making out! Before half of you wonder if I am going to pull her out and start homeschooling, the answer is no. For all of my homeschool friends, and I have a bunch, I love ya'll dearly, and I think what you do is amazing. I also think that homeschooling is a very special calling that God does not give everyone. If God had not given Craig and I clear directions when Kayla started Kindergarten maybe I would be considering it. Our friend that we carpool with and us had our kids enrolled and ready to start Kindergarten at a small Christian school in the area. In May (school starts in August), the school shut down - no warning, no nothing. At that time Craig and I really explored our options and really felt that God was leading us to Brookwood so that Kayla, as well as us, could be a light and a testimony there. I think we have done that and we will continue to do that until God tells us otherwise, but somedays it is hard. Especially on the days when my daughter gets educated about something that I didn't know about until much later in life! I was just reading another blogger's entry this morning about praying for our kids. We MUST pray for our children, they are under attack in so many ways. Lift your kids up today whether they are doing school in a classroom somewhere or whether they are doing school at your kitchen table - they need our prayers!

The Worst Ever

Yea, that title pretty much sums up my pedicure that I went and got yesterday afternoon. I don't indulge in getting my nails done as much as I used to, but they were pretty bad and I had some time. Let me explain my time. Kayla had a birthday party from 2-5 yesterday and Craig and I were supposed to be in an AWANA meeting at 4:30. So, it was decided that I would take Kayla to the party and instead of coming all the way back home I would do some Christmas shopping, maybe take in a cup of coffee with my book, maybe a pedicure. Craig would take wild boy and go to the meeting. Yea, worked out good for me, huh? So, I set off on my afternoon of bliss. Dropped Kayla off at the party - what could be more fun than lots of junk food, laser tag and putt-putt for three hours? After that I went to a few stores and got some more Christmas shopping done (more on Christmas in my next post!), so then I had about an hour and a half before I had to pick Kayla up. Now, I have a regular nail place that I go to when I get my nails done, but I was on the opposite end of town completely out of my comfort zone and I was on a time schedule. So I finally find this little place that looks like it is not very busy (HELLO, should a light bulb have went off at this point?) and I mosey in there with my book looking forward to being pampered while I read and have my back rubbed by a chair with massaging hands built into it. Sure enough I walk in and notice there is not another soul getting a pedicure, somebody shouts at me to pick a color and then this YOUNG BOY begins to draw water in the tub at one of the chairs. My first thought is "wow, he's young, he must be a helper or something, surely there is someone else to do my nails." Yea, well, that thought vanished when he plopped himself down at the foot of my chair. The next thing that I notice is that there are two HUGE screen TV's up in the place and they are both playing football. FOOTBALL!!!! I can watch football at home; at the nail salon I want Lifetime television or the cooking channel or HGTV, NOT FOOTBALL. The story goes on and I got my pedicure, but I was so close to getting up and walking out and I don't usually do that sort of thing, but I was close. This boy, who was maybe 18, proceeded to give me a very mediocre pedicure all while watching two football games, monitoring his laptop, and answering multiple phone calls on his cell phone! I was livid. I kid you not, he was filing my poor toenails with his eyes glued to the television that was BEHIND him! UUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!! Oh, and on top of that, my comfortable chair, well, let me tell you --- have ya'll sat in these chairs where there are also massaging hands in the seat of the chair? That's right, you basically get your backside massaged along with your back. I'm SO NOT about that! Well, this chair also did this air thing where it kind of filled up with air and then compressed until.... well, I'll let your imagination figure out the rest. I have to admit that I did leave it on for a few minutes hoping to goodness that it would compress a few pounds off of my rearend, but I don't think it helped!

Well...

Well what? Well, there just has not been much of anything going on this week. We are trying to settle back in to normal family life! I have almost gotten all of the laundry done from Craig's trip - whoo-hoo! Yes, we did eat our elk steaks on Monday night and I have say - they were yummy! Yesterday, Tyler and I had a huge PJ day and I let him veg in front of the television for way too long. We even napped together on the couch. It was a most lazy day!

Friday night we are doing our annual Halloween get together with the H's. Every year we go to the same restaurant and have dinner and then come back to our house, turn out all of the lights at the front of our house and hide from the trick-or-treaters! Yea, it is terrible I know. Just for the record, for all of you out there who trick or treat I think it is awesome! Craig and I didn't grow up trick or treating and just have chosen not to celebrate that day. We celebrate fall with fall festivals and carnivals and pumpkin patches, but we don't trick or treat. That doesn't mean that we think bad of those of you who do - to each their own! Sometimes I wish that we did do it only because now we have so many friends in the neighborhood whose houses we could go to, but... it is just not for us I guess! I hope everyone will be extremely careful on Friday night. Our neighborhood gets crazy as I'm sure most do with traffic and everything. I can't wait to see everyone's blogs with all of the cute costumes and stuff!

I think this coming Saturday is our last Saturday that we don't have anything planned at least until the end of November so we are going to try to just hang out around the house and probably work on the back splash. I'm also due to get Gertrude back on Saturday. I have not seen our sweet embroidery machine in a month - one long, blissful month! Honestly, I'm ready to get back at it - I have missed it!

I'm still reading the Karen Kingsbury books! I'm reading the redemption series and book 1 was semi-depressing, book 2 was great, book 3 - ugh, don't even get me started. I hit a wall about half way through the book because I looked ahead and found out about something that I didn't want to know and wasn't expecting and it ticked me off! Tonight I think I have pushed through that part and now I'm into it again. She deals with such real life issues - where are my roses and rainbows Karen????

Fire Station

Before we left for Tennessee this past Friday Tyler has his field trip to the fire station. It was so much fun! I have to tell you - I've never been to the fire station and I think I was just impressed if not more impressed than Tyler was. We got to see the training room, their "bedrooms", the trucks, the kitchen, and we got to see one of the guys go down the pole. Plus we learned tons about response time and how the 911 calls go and all of that - it was very interesting. I got lots of great pictures, but I'm only posting one because most of the ones that I have have pictures of other kids too and I want to be respectful of the fact that there may be parents out there who don't want their kids faces plastered on my blog! Here is my boy in his fireman's hat - he has played with it like crazy since Friday!

Never Say Never

That's right - never say never. I told ya'll I am a city girl. I have always told Craig that there is no need for him to hunt because I will never cook anything that he might bring home. Well, let me tell ya'll - he brought home 121 POUNDS of meat yesterday and I will be cooking it. Has anyone looked at the price of meat in the grocery store lately? I will be cooking it. Of course now that I have seen the pictures and heard the details it might be a little harder to eat it but I am determined to do this. I mean people eat fresh kill all the time right?

Obviously we made it home safe and sound last night. I drove the whole way home since Craig had only had about two hours of sleep in the last 24 hours. We had great weather to travel in and the kids were very good. Friday's trip up to Tennessee was stressful with the wind and the rain and all the traffic but, even still, God gave me peace and we had a safe trip. My dad got to visit with the kids over the weekend and that was fun.

I'm posting some pictures from Craig's trip. I am only posting one picture of him with a dead animal so you have full warning if you don't want to look - it is not gross though!



Can you tell it was cold there on this day? Craig says that that was not the norm for the week though. He said it was pretty warm, but on this day they got a little sprinkling of snow and it was COLD!


Here is my man with his first kill of the week! That's all I'm going to say about that!

This is where they called home for the week. That had quite the setup. Can you see the "outhouse" off in the background on the right? Like I said, they had quite the setup!

This was a sign that was posted at kind of the "entrance" to where their campsite was. This is where they picked up their horses. Craig thought it was too funny not to take a picture of. Now that I know that they didn't actually see any snakes, I think it is kind of funny too!

Is God's country beautiful or what?

On the Road Again

Well, tomorrow begins the downhill slide of this journey we have been on! Me and the moms and the kids leave for Tennessee tomorrow to collect my husband and take mom and Ruth back home. What fun we have had! They have worn me out with all this shopping, but it is a good kind of worn out:) We now all have our Christmas shopping almost done, we are mostly outfitted for winter, and it has just been a blast! We have played Skip-Bo with Kayla every night while they have been here and I think my mother has won EVERY game! Tonight I introduced my mother to The Diary of a Mad Black Woman movie - she has been enlightened! What a great movie - love it! Ruth has sewn and sewn and sewn some more and my mother has told more Mustard stories than she ever realized she knew. Since I was little my mother has made up these stories about a dog named Mustard - they are too funny and my children LOVE them! It has been quite a week and a half!

I still have not heard from my husband. I know ya'll are tired of hearing me say this, but that is too bad,I'm gonna say it again - I miss him like crazy! I can't wait to see if he actually makes it home with a beard. I can't wait to hear all the stories. I hope he has a set of horns the size of Texas with him as long as he doesn't hang them over my mantle in my living room. They will pack up camp tomorrow and head back into town to clean up and spend the night so I should hear from him tomorrow. Yea!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

WhooooHOOOOOO!!!!

Just received word today that my freezer will be fully stocked with meat for the next several months! Craig has never hunted since we have been married so this will be a new experience for me. His dad called Ruth today and let her know that they had taken some of the "meat" to town for processing when they delivered one of Craig's cousins to the airport. Apparently last night Craig shot a mule deer and while he and his cousin went to "dress" that his uncle radioed and said they were chasing two "cows"(female elk) over the mountain. So, Craig and his cousin grabbed their guns and they got both of them about 10 minutes after Craig shot the first deer! They then spent the next two to three hours trying to get those things dressed and on the horses and hauled out of the woods - did I mention that it was raining and hailing in the midst of all of this??? I'm getting such an education. If I haven't told you before - I'm a city girl, all the way. Love my bed, my air conditioner, WalMart, etc. I asked Craig's dad if the "cow" had horns. How was I supposed to know that female elk do NOT have horns. Ruth was sweet enough to explain it all to me and I feel much more informed now! She has been through this once before when Ron went a couple of years ago. He still has the chance to shoot a "bull" elk, but once he gets that I think he is done. They only allow one per license. I can't wait to talk to him - I know he is excited! This is day three of not talking to him, so I was glad to hear from my father-in-law today. I miss him like crazy. It is the weirdest thing - we have never gone without talking to each other for three days. But I know he is safe and that he is having a blast, so that makes it easier. I can't wait to share pictures with all of you when he gets home! Now, I will have you know that they were all having fried elk liver and onions for dinner tonight. That makes me want to vomit, but, hey, whatever! I don't do liver. I mean you might as well fry up it's eyeballs for goodness sake. Gross. How big is an elk's liver anyway?

Fall Festival

We had a great time at our Fall Festival last night! Here are some pictures of the kids on some of the rides that they had!

Kackleberry Farm

Instead of a sand box they had a "corn" box filled with actual corn. This was supposed to be an attraction for the younger kids but you can see that my kiddos loved it!


Yes, Grandma did join the kids on the world's largest pillow and lived to tell about it.






I'm really not sure why Tyler is pouting in this picture - maybe it is because he was wondering if we were ever going to find our way out of the corn maze!




My baby hit almost a dead on bull's eye. You should have heard the people clapping for her. I was so proud - she gets all of her talent from me! Maybe she should be out in Colorado hunting elk with her daddy!


The kids had a great time feeding grass to this little guy. He looks like he is about to eat Tyler for lunch, but he was eating grass out of the other little boy's hand that is standing next to Tyler.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!!!

Monkey Joe's

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!!!

Kayla's Play:

Almost a Week

It has been almost a full week since my hubby left. I've talked to him a couple of times and he sounds like he is having a great time! I didn't talk to him yesterday so I will probably hear from him tonight. I talked to him on Saturday night and it had been their first day out to hunt. It was about the same temperature there as it was here, so he says we need to pray for a snow storm in the mountains to bring the elk down out of the woods. When it is warm they travel to higher ground. I guess when you have that much fur/hide and you are that huge you would travel wherever you could be coolest too! So, we'll see. It is supposed to get down in the teens there this week so that should definitely cool things off. It also looked like they might be getting either rain or snow today and tomorrow.

The kids and I and the moms spent a full weekend out and about. Friday we went to Monkey Joes and got groceries. Saturday we went to Kackleberry Farm. The kids had a blast. It really was a fun day. The weather was beautiful! Grandma jumped on the World's Largest Pillow with the kids and they thought that was great. We did the Corn Maze and I lived to tell about it! I'm extremely claustrophobic and I hate stuff like that. I hate feeling like I'm trapped with no way out. But, it was only three phases and we made it through with minimal panic! Yesterday was church and then our Fall Festival last night. The kids always love that. Today I think we are all worn out! I'm at work this morning and the moms are at home hanging out. We have more shopping to do this afternoon and tomorrow! Hopefully I will have time to post pictures later this afternoon! Have a great Monday!

Day Three

My husband has been gone for three days! I miss him like crazy. Never have we been in a situation where we have not been able to talk to each other at least once a day. I'm sure many of you are thinking that I'm spoiled and I am. I love my husband to pieces and my friends all laugh at me if we go out of town together, because I talked to him 2-3 times a day. What can I say? I love him! I haven't talked to him today and that makes me sad!:( I know he is having a great time though. Tomorrow the season opens and I'm so excited for him that I can't stand it! Hopefully we will be able to talk sometime this weekend!

Today was a better day around here. I didn't get stopped by the police for anything and I didn't run into anything! We took the kids to Monkey Joes this morning for a couple of hours and they had a blast! We got some lunch and then went grocery/Christmas shopping. My Christmas shopping is coming along very well and I have knocked out a lot this week. Tonight we just hung out and played cards and mom and I did some scrapbooking. I'm still a year behind but maybe over the next week I will get caught up a little bit.

Tomorrow we are off to a nearby farm/pumpkin patch. My mil wanted to take the kids to a pumpkin patch and this place has it all. It should be a lot of fun! I got some great pictures of the kids today and will try to do the same tomorrow. By the beginning of next week I should have lots of pics to post!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Not Good

Well, I was thinking of entitling this entry "Crap", but I didn't want to offend anyone! Crap pretty much sums up the major moments of this day. Let me give you the good news first. First of all we went shopping today at Hamricks. My Moms love them some Hamricks, plus they usually have great deals on kids clothes. So, I proudly bribed my children with fun things if they would be patient and let us shop. They did fabulous; I was extremely proud of them. I managed to get Tyler to stay in the cart for most of the time and he occupied himself quite well. He also tried to run around the dressing rooms half naked, but, hey, he's four, what do you expect? Everybody got at least one thing new, took a trip to the Dollar Store to reward exceptional behavior, did a little Taco Bell for lunch, and a little Brusters for dessert. Okay, that's the good news. Now, let me tell you the rest...

So, on our way to Hamricks I got pulled over. Yep, by a police officer complete with lights, etc.etc. When I looked down and saw I was going about 15 miles per hour OVER the speed limit and then looked up and saw him, I thought, "crap", I'm busted. So he pulls me over, I handed the man an EXPIRED insurance card. Crap. I had the updated one in my wallet, but he never asked for it. Tyler wants to know if I'm going to jail. Crap. Kayla wants to know if I'm getting a ticket. So, he comes back to my car and offers me two WARNINGS, one for the speeding, one for handing him the wrong insurance card. Thank You Jesus! Can I tell ya'll that I really wanted to cry that I was getting off so easy? Can I also tell you how badly I did not want get a ticket or have to tell my husband that I got a ticket? Shew, one crisis over with.

Well, then we hit Brusters when we get back to town and we are enjoying our wonderful ice cream and all is right with the world. Until I backed into a guard rail. Crap. Yea, it made one of those really nasty sounds and you know it is just NOT going to be pretty. Well, it wasn't. However, I have a very sweet friend whose husband came over tonight and looked at it and told me it was just scratched and most of it could be polished out, but the back light cover was going to have to be replaced - I busted out the lense over the back up lights. So, I bit the bullet and told Craig when he called tonight. He is so sweet - he said, I'm sorry you had a bad day. Then he proceeded to tell me that he won't be talking to us much because he has no cell phone service out there. Crap again. He was using his cousin's phone - at least someone has service! Anyhow, they made it there safe and sound sometime this morning. When I talked to him this morning they were in Steamboat Springs! And they were passing a hot springs pool as we were talking. He said the scenery had been absolutely beautiful since the sun had come up. Tonight they were at the camp site and had everything set up and had bought groceries and all of that. Tomorrow they go to get the horses and I think they finish getting their licenses and all of that. He sounds like he is having a great time!

We have lots of fun stuff planned with the kids for the weekend so hopefully I will have lots of pictures to post come Monday. I'm having a great time with the Moms and the kids are enjoying their Grandmas! It's so nice to have them both here at the same time.

We did it

Well, my husband is in Tennessee with his dad. His cousin was supposed to arrive there sometime last night as well. I'm not sure what time they are leaving today, but they have a 20 hour drive ahead of them to get to Colorado. They will be some tired folks by the time they get there sometime tomorrow morning. I pray that they will have cell phone service there so that we can talk every day but I'm not sure about that. We'll deal with it if there's not! The kids did well with him leaving. Kayla got a little teary-eyed, but she understands much better than Tyler that her daddy is not going to be here for the next two weeks.

I managed to drive us all the way to Dalton without mishap. Thank You Lord! We had dinner, switched luggage around, and then me and the moms and the kids headed back to Georgia. For those of you who don't know, Craig and I's parents are good friends and have been since before we started dating and it sure does make it nice for holidays and times like this. I had a bit of an anxiety attack coming back through Atlanta. Yikes! I'm not looking forward to the return trip to Tennessee next week. It is all a little nerve wracking for me. Craig always does all the driving when we go out of town so I'm just not used to driving long distances like that. I think I would have been fine except that it was just getting dark when we got back to Atlanta and there were red lights and headlights EVERYWHERE!!! Actually, about five minutes after getting back on the interstate from Dalton, we came to a stop and sat in traffic for about an hour due to an accident. It was a LONG trip home. The kids didn't get into bed until 10:00, which is late for them, so, hopefully, they will not be too tired and cranky today!

Me and the Moms are off to start shopping today. We are hitting the fabric store. My mil is going to do some sewing for me while she is here! She is so crafty! After the fabric store, it is anyone's guess as to where we will end up!

Who Dun It?

Alright people, who forgot to sign their name to the last comment left on the last blog entry I wrote about the book? Come on - work with me. In follow up to that post, please let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed that book by Karen K. and it WAS the first book in the Redemption series. I was telling a friend yesterday, the crazy person that lent me the book in the first place(hehehe), that when I finally sit down to read a book I like it to be completely mindless. I want butterflies and roses - you know what I mean. Karen's books just are not like that. Yes, they have a great message and yes, they are so very real life, but you gotta admit they are heavy. If you have read a Time to Dance please tell me you can see what I mean. I mean the whole book is about this couple that is about to get divorced only they're waiting for the kids to make it through these milestones before they break the news to them. You have to admit that is heavy reading and I stand by my opinion that that was the most depressing book I have ever read next to a non-christian book about a husband who had an affair with his wife's best friend. That one was so incredibly depressing and ungodly that I didn't even read the whole thing. Again, that is not to say that Karen K. does not present an awesome message of hope and salvation, just that her books are often very heavy! Remember, opinions are like belly buttons... you know the rest.

Ho Hum

So, it has been a dreary and slightly chilly Saturday. I have had my doors open all day and the breeze has been wonderful. I have spent the majority of the day working on some AWANA stuff and reading a book. A friend of mine gave me this Karen Kingsbury book to read and I got hooked. Now I have to tell you that I am not a huge fan of Karen K. I find her books to be dark, burdensome, and slightly depressing. However, with that being said, I also found that this book was good, it made me cry, though, because it was also sad. So, I have mixed feelings about her - she is a great author but I have to gear myself up for her books!

So, what has happened since my last post? Hhhmm, oh yes - Kayla's play! What fun! She did an awesome job on her solo and I would desperately love to upload it on my blog, but it is too big of a file, so, you will just have to settle for pictures! Which will hopefully get posted soon, like maybe even tonight! Anyway, the play was all music from the 1900's, I think from 1920 through 1990 - it really was one of her best and most fun plays.

Friday I ran like a mad woman. I worked for a little while and then managed to run a multitude of errands before picking Tyler up from school. Last night we went to Cracker Barrell and then to WalMart for some stuff I needed for AWANA, then home for more reading!

Today has just been very ho-hum. I finally got showered and then put on a clean pair of PJ's to finish the day out in. It has definitely been a lazy and very relaxing day. The kids have played outside, Craig has been packing some stuff for his trip and he is actually right now hanging part of the tile back splash in the kitchen! Yea! More home improvement excitement!

We leave Tuesday to go and meet the parents and I will trade Craig for my two moms! I'm definitely not excited that he is leaving, but if he has to go then I'm glad that both moms are coming for the next week and a half. We are going to shop until we can't move and then shop some more! My mom is coming armed and ready to do Christmas shopping! Ruth is going to do some sewing for me and we are all going to entertain the kids. I'm so excited! I better get off of here and see about getting a couple of kids ready for bed! Hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend.

Love in the Fourth Grade

As promised yesterday, I'm doing a post soley dedicated to Kayla's love life or lack thereof. Now, before I start this I'm giving you all full warning that I am bound to hop on a soap box or two before this is over with so you may want to stop reading now!

I am not a fan of encouraging my children to "like" someone of the opposite sex. Kayla has "liked" one boy at our church who is a great kid and I have encouraged her that WHEN it is time to start looking for someone to date that this boy would have the qualities that she should look for. However, now is not the time to be all about boys and "oh, he's so cute", yadddaayaddayah! I figure all of that will come long before I am ready but I'm going to fight it off for as long as I can. Apparently other parents of children in the fourth grade do NOT encourage this same kind of attitude and outlook in their children. In light of that please let me say to them --"please encourage your little boys to like/love someone other than my daughter because I am NOT ready for that". Kayla had a little boy tell her the other day that he has loved her since the first day of third grade. I may have mentioned that in a previous post, but the saga has continued since that day last week. I asked Kayla what she said or did when he told her this and she said basically that she made ugly faces and said "eww". Love it! I told her that in the future it would be okay for her to simply say "thank you" and move on. So yesterday she comes home and I think it is the same boy that said that he liked her because she was pretty, smart, and funny. How nice! Thank you little boy.

I do have to tell ya'll one thing though. One of the boys that likes her? His last name is Pickleseimer. I'm sorry - if your last name is Pickleseimer and you are reading this please know that I am not laughing at you but with you because you gotta know that your last name is darn funny. I'm probably going to get struck by an ugly stick for even bringing this up, but I just had to. I do NOT encourage my kids to laugh about peoples names nor do I encourage them to make fun of people's name, but, in all honestly when Kayla told me his last name I could not help but laugh. I think it was the way she said it which I am NOT going to try to describe for you.

Do you know that next year my child has a fifth grade dance at school??? All I have to say about that is.... Crap, I don't think I'm gonna be ready for that either. Do you also know that she will be 10 years old in August and I started shaving my legs when I was 10. Do you know that she is already starting to ask when she can shave her legs? Do you know that she puts lip gloss on now when she gets ready in the morning? Do you know that I make her wipe it right back off? I'm seriously thinking about locking her in the house until she is at least 50!

Anything but Lazy

This has been one of those days that you are so glad to see end and you are too tired to move, but so glad because it means that your life will be better tomorrow. Is anybody with me? I started off the morning by getting all of my AWANA stuff ready for Sunday. Then I went into laundry and cleaning and laundry, and more laundry. We barely missed another encounter with Churchill Family Naked Day. I think I stopped counting at 8 loads. That is so embarrassing! I'm going to start making everyone wear their clothes at least three times before they are allowed to throw them in the dirty clothes basket! Once the house was cleaned I planted flowers and bulbs for spring - yes, in the dirt on my hands and knees with dry grass pricking me and bugs, lots of ugly bugs. There was one spider that I saw that was big enough to eat my hand; thankfully my husband saw him and rescued me by beating him to death with the shovel. Can you feel the love people? I think God intentionally gave things like spiders, roaches and flies a very short life span because He knew that they were too ugly to live very long! Along with all of that I also managed to make a huge batch of chex mix complete with Halloween colored M&M's(they are really cool colors!) and three, count them, three batches of muffins. My husband and I have watched our show that we watch weekly - NCIS - love it! I watched enough of the presidential debate to make me want to vomit!

In the midst of this busy day Tyler backed into the french doors and took a chunk out of his heel. It broke my heart. We had to have Halloween colored M&M's as the magic medicine to take the sting away. It didn't work, but he sure did enjoy those M&M's! Then we read books and I rocked him to sleep. He doesn't nap any more these days unless I rock him. I managed to sleep for about 1/2 hour too in the chair with him. That was nice!

Kayla came home with news of a boy who likes her because she is pretty, funny, and smart. More on fourth grade love to come in a completely different post - trust me it deserves it's own!

Aahhhh... I think I will sleep well tonight!

My Sweet Boy

You know there is just something about boys, isn't there? I have to tell ya'll what Tyler just said to me. He just got up and came in my room and I was just finishing getting dressed. I have bought some new clothes recently and they are kind of different from what I normally wear - I'm trying to branch out. Anyway, you ladies know that it is so easy to feel kind of self-conscious. Tyler walks in and the first words out of his mouth were:

"Whoa, mom, you look gorgeous in those clothes - I love them!"

OOhhhh! It melts my heart!

Lazy Days

Good Monday morning! Hope everyone had a pleasant weekend. I must confess that I did next to nothing this weekend. Shame, shame! A friend mentioned her struggle with laziness yesterday and I have to admit that I am right there. I have absolutely no desire to do anything. What is up with that? It is fall - can't you feel the freshness in the air? Why don't I feel like doing anything? Well, it could be that I didn't walk at all for about a week and a half. Yikes! I was back up and at it again this morning and am hoping that this will give me the energy that I have been missing.

This weekend was a trial in parenting for me. I'm begging God for patience and a slowness to anger. That's all I'm going to say about that.

We had a great time at our progressive dinner on Friday night. It was such a fun time of fellowship and fun! We have so many new people in our Sunday School class and I hope it was a good time for them to connect and get to know some people.

I'm off of Graceful Designs for the whole month of October and am wondering what in the world I am going to do with myself all month! I'm so used to being busy with that that it will seem strange to not have that this month. Go Holly!

Craig leaves a week from tomorrow for his hunting trip. We have been planning for this for so long that it seems incredibly strange that it is almost here now! My mom is now talking about maybe coming down with my mother-in-law to spend that week and a half with us. I hope she will. They have had another devastating loss in their church this weekend as another friend has passed away. Their church has been through so much in this past year. We have gone to church there since I was 10 and in all of those years I think only one church member has died. Now they have lost several in the past year and they are young people mostly. I'm talking 40's here not 80's or 90's. It has been so sad so please lift them and their church up in prayer if they cross your mind.

And now for another stirring and somewhat scary episode of Not Me Monday!

I did not sneeze and almost pee in my pants. I'm much too young to be considering a bladder tack!

I did not go to the wrong school to surprise my daughter for lunch - hello? I know which school she goes to and I also know that she is not at that school on Wednesdays because she is at Horizons!

I did not feed my children carrots while I ate a bag of cookies.

I did not tie my children's hands to one another in hopes that they would learn to work together and get along better.

I did not walk around WalMart and countless other grocery stores with my zipper down on Friday, that would have been much too embarassing!

I did not holler at the television while watching the Michigan game on Saturday.

I did not put my laundry and ironing off for another week!

Confusion and Other Stuff

Well, the past weekend has been an upheaval of emotion. It started with the Fireproof movie Friday night Wow, can I just tell you that you MUST go and see this movie. Almost every blog that I read has said something about it over the last week so I won't spend a ton of time on it, but GO! It led Craig and I to some great conversation about priorities and the direction of where our family is going and where we want it to go. It has led to many changes for me this week just trying to make my priorities line up with what God wants them to look like. So it has been several days of praying and thinking and trying to rearrange things in our life so we are, first of all, in line with God's will, and, second of all, so that our family runs smoother. That has been our weekend and the first part of this week.

In honor of Shannon's Not Me Mondays, I do have a few things to post, even though it is not Monday, so here goes:

I did NOT have to wash clothes more than once after leaving them in the washer too long. That would be disgusting and what would people think about my housekeeping abilities.

I did NOT cry like a baby in Ruby Tuesday over my blondie and ice cream last week.

I did NOT take credit for my spring flowers still being alive after the whole summer when I knew that had it not been for my husband watering them they would be dead.

I did NOT choose to sleep in over walking in the morning - do you think I have no discipline???

I did NOT put off doing my ironing again for the second week in a row - that would be just plain lazy.

I did decorate my house for fall yesterday. I love, love, love to decorate for the holidays and Tyler was in such a rush yesterday to get "those fall decorations" out. He has cracked up this week over some of the scarecrows and stuff in our neighborhood. It's so fun to see the holidays through the eyes of a four year old.

This weekend we have a Sunday School progressive dinner on Friday night. I'm looking forward to the fun and fellowship that that will bring. I can't remember if Michigan plays this Saturday but if they do you will find us once again parked in front of the television hollering at the screen. Our boys pulled out a major upset this past week and about gave Craig and I a heart attach in the process. Go Blue! I'm loving college football this year. It has been so much fun to watch with Craig even though I have to stop him several times during the game to ask him to explain something to me:).

Speaking of my wonderful husband, he leaves for his hunting trip in just a couple of weeks. I hate when he is gone. I will miss him like crazy, but am so excited that he and his dad are getting to spend this time together. I'm so excited that my mother-in-law will be coming down to spend those almost two weeks with us. She is going to do some sewing for me and hopefully we will get to do some shopping and have some fun with the kids while they are on fall break.

Well, I'm doing this at work (shame, shame, shame) so I better get off of here and try to find something to do.

Oh, one more thing -- my mom's birthday is today and she is turning 60 and now pushing 61! Happy Birthday Mom! I love you! Wish I was there so I could take you to lunch!

I've Got Gas!!!

Okay, tacky I know but I just could NOT resist that title! Finally found gas today at WalMart for $3.68/gallon. Whew! My tank is full!

I have said goodbye to yesterday and today has been a much better day! I have finished my orders for Graceful Designs and Gert and I both were in a much better frame of mind today after she learned who was boss in the wee hours of the morning! Holly, I promise I only kicked her once! I have had my hair done, been to work, straightened up my house, cleaned myself up and I am now dressed and ready to go on a date with my husband. We are going to dinner and to see Fireproof and I am so excited. I have been waiting for about the last two weeks for this date night. Thank you to K who is coming to babysit tonight - Tyler was beside himself at nap time today when I tucked him and told him that K was coming to babysit. He was so excited which is probably why he didn't sleep!

So, life is good, and my only issue right now is that my shoes are too tight!!! But they are so darn cute that it is going to be well worth the pain of wearing them tonight! I mean, hello, they make my outfit. Vanity - eeesh!

Got Gas?

Okay, so let me just tell you in all honesty that this day has been a complete bust. It started out good - beautiful weather, doors and windows wide open, a mostly clean house. Yea, then I started up Gertrude, the embroidery machine, and well, things went down hill pretty quick from there. I will save you the gory details, but just know that it wasn't good. I tried very hard to maintain my patience with Tyler while in the midst of my impatience and frustration with Gert. I did pretty good I think - thank You Lord. Tyler played so good today - he made a fort in the living room and even though he did NOT take a nap he was really good!

I tried to get my mood rearranged (an attitude adjustment, if you will) because we had family fun night plans. We took the kids to dinner and then downtown to a free Christian concert. The group was not well known to me, but they were really good and the kids had a great time. We ran into a large group of friends that we didn't know were going so that was fun. So, we have this wonderful dinner of cholesterol and fat at Wendy's (I'm trying not to think about how far I will have to walk to get rid of that) and then we headed downtown. Well, I only had about a quarter of a tank of gas and we have several stations around town that have run out of gas, so we figured we would try to get some on the way downtown as we would be passing several gas stations. Now, it is bad enough that you have to worry if you are even going to be able to afford to fill up your tank without having to just worry IF you are going to be able to fill up your tank. So we come across a gas station that obviously has gas. Please someone ask me how I knew that they had gas. Could it be the lines and lines of cars trying to enter the gas station from every legal way and some illegal ways? So, we pull into the turn lane thinking that we could make a U-turn and go on another happy hunt for gas, because if we wait in line at this one we will miss the concert. So, we are waiting and waiting and... you get the picture. Nobody is turning because all of the people in the turn lane in front of us are waiting to get into the gas station. We watched one guy actually drive over median, yea, the big cement thing in the middle of the road, yep, right over it. I must confess, I called him an idiot! So, we are still waiting and the light turns red for about the 12th time and I watched as two or three cars flew through the intersection trying to beat the light; then I watched as one car t-boned another car as they were both trying to make it through the light at the same time going opposite directions. As if that weren't bad enough I then watched as somebody else tried to beat the light right after the accident happened. Tell me this -- where are people going in such a hurry? Okay, yes, I know I'm guilty of trying to beat the light occassionally too - where am I going in such a hurry??? Ugh! By this point I was about to stroke out; I was a nervous wreck on top of worrying about where in the heck we were going to get gas. I still don't have gas, hopefully some stations around town will get their tanks refilled tonight so that there will be gas in the morning. Ok, this is no joke, Craig went out to the shed after we got home to get the tanks that he uses for the lawn mower - there was about two gallons there, so he filled me up!!! What is happening to our world people??

So, to top all of that off, it is almost 1:00a.m. and guess what I am doing, besides blogging. Yeah, Gertrude is just singing away in my kitchen. Thankfully, I have very hard sleepers in my house and she doesn't seem to be affecting them getting their beauty sleep. Why am I embroidering at this hour you ask? Yea, I'm asking that too! Actually, I think Gert and I just had a score to settle after our afternoon together today. I think I just needed to prove to myself that I actually can do some things right! Plus that tomorrow is going to be a hectic day and I really have no desire to sit at the embroidery machine all day on Saturday and if I don't get it done on Saturday then it won't happen until Tuesday at the earliest with church on Sundays and Mondays being such hectic days. Add to that that I am supposed to have THREE trust signings at work next week and I'm not even ready for one of them. Not good, not good at all. So, I'm giving up sleep in hopes of maintaining my sanity. Holly offered to keep Gert for another week and what did I say??? I said, "oh no, not at all, it's my week, I can handle it." Do you know what? I am a stinkin' control freak. I know that about myself and I constantly have to work to squash it. Like when somebody has an idea that I think is stupid I just want to tell them "that's stupid, never gonna work", but, bless the Lord, He is working on me about taming my tongue and my prideful spirit. This is just another lesson learned.

Well, this is the ugly from today. The good news is is that after this sweatshirt comes off of the machine I am going to bed!

Still Here

I just looked and realized that I have not posted anything since Tuesday. Yikes! What has happened to me? I'm falling off of the blogging wagon!

Hhhmmm, what has been going on? I don't know that there has been anything exciting happening; it has mostly just been life as usual. The last two weeks without the embroidery machine have been sheer bliss and I have enjoyed every minute of it! I have had down time, I have taken naps, I have hung out with Tyler-man - it has been great. But, today, vacation is over and the machine comes back tonight. I already have orders waiting to be filled, BUT, this is a good thing. It has taken Holly and I awhile to get things going but it is finally happening. We seem to get a little bit busier every month and while it is never a "three days behind kind of busy" it is busy enough!

The kitchen project has once again been on hold while we waited for more tile to come in. Now my husband begins the research process of hanging tile. I have to remind myself not to get impatient with him. This is truly his gift and area of expertise. He reads and researches and tries different things until he knows exactly what he's doing and then when he does it, it is done right and looks great. Thank goodness he is like that. If it was up to me, we would just slap it up there and it would probably look terrible and be falling down in a week's time. I have no patience for that sort of thing. I'm one of those people who don't like to read the directions and I really don't care to research much of anything. Isn't it a good thing that Craig doesn't let me touch any tools or home improvement items of any kind? Our goal is to have the backsplash and the new closet done by Christmas - I can live with that! Honestly, he amazes me with the different skills that God has blessed him with and it is a blessing. He saves us a ton of money being able to do stuff like this himself!

Our weekend was quick, too quick, but it was nice. The weather here has been so awesome! Every morning when I go out to walk the first thing I do is thank God for the cooler temperatures! It feels like fall! Anyway, I spent most of Saturday in the kitchen. Craig and I are trying to develop some healthier eating habits and so I was in the kitchen playing with food. I love to play with food! Plus that I'm also trying out some new recipes with the holidays in mind. So Saturday night we had appetizers for dinner - they were yummy! I spent Saturday afternoon and one other day last week listing some ebay stuff for a friend and by "some" I mean ALOT!!! Yesterday afternoon I took myself shopping and just had a big 'ol time for myself! Got home in time to get ready to go back to church for AWANA. So it was a busy weekend, but a good kind of busy. You know what I mean, not the kind of busy where you look back and think "what did I do all day?", but the kind of busy where you get to the end of the day and you are tired and you know it is because you put in a good day's work and got lots done.

Well, we are all off to either school or work today, so I've got to get off of here so I can go and get all of us ready to go! Happy Monday people!

Funny Question

Tyler has been becoming increasingly curious about he happened to arrive in this world, and since he is only four we will save the fine tuning of this conversation for a much later date. For today, this is what he thinks?

"Mama, did I get born in your tummy?"

"Yep, you sure did."

"Did you actually eat me?"

There you go. For now my four year old thinks that I ate him like a watermelon seed and he blossomed and grew into the kid that he is today. I can live with that explanation for right now!