Happy Birthday UGA VI

Today is UGA VIs birthday. He is 8 years old!!!

Latest on the house

So you may or may not know, but we have still not closed on the house. Yes, we are still stressed. I did get a call from my realtor today and it is now looking like the closing will happen on Wednesday of next week. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it actually happens. I'm not getting my hopes up at this point. I do know that it is with a different mortgage company so maybe they will have it done when they say they will. I won't believe it though until I sign the papers. I'll keep you posted.

Ari's tan lines!!

Can you see it? I know this is a really silly thing to get excited about, but I am. I have lived with incredibly fair skin my whole life and I really didn't want my kids to have to do the same thing. I'm very happy that it looks like Ari will tan pretty easily. Joshua is darker than before Florida too, although not as much. He may have a little bit harder time in the sun, but he is going to tan better than I do.

Pictures from our Amelia Island vacation.

Joshua loved to play with the water hose we were using to put more water in the pool.


Even Georgia enjoyed her vacation!


Ari looking to see where that water was coming from!


Joshua and Daddy


Our quiet day at the beach.


Ari and Christian on the beach.


That's an awful big smile for a boy who didn't like the beach!

I'm back!! Did ya miss me?

Vacation was a blast. I'm sunburned from head to toe and it feels great!! My kids are going to tan!! I'm so excited about this! I didn't want them to have to deal with the whole fair skinned thing I deal with daily. They are so cute right now with their little tan lines! Granted, they don't tan as much as some others, but lots more than me!!

Ari got sick our first night there with a high fever and throwing up. She was really clingy for most of the trip. I'm not sure if it was b/c of her not feeling well or all the people she didn't know. She ran a fever off and on just about the entire trip. If it comes back now that we are home it is off to the dr. She wasn't real thrilled about the pool at first, but by the end she was trying to turn away from me and let go. She also learned how to open the gate to the pool so we had to keep an extra vigilant eye on her. She didn't like the ocean at all. She would hold her legs up if you tried to put her down. Just means that we will have to go more often! LOL

Joshua was great. He loved seeing his cousins and his Uncle Payne. Not to mention his Namma. We accidentally left his stuffed animals he sleeps with at home, but we told him that we left them to keep Daddy safe. That seemed to work pretty well. He talked about them, but never cried for them. He LOVED the pool. He would swim all over it with his swimming vest on. He didn't like the ocean either. He would cling to one of us the whole time we were in the water and run from the waves. He even started back to the car all by himself. LOL

I loved seeing my family and being at the beach. Well, maybe the pool more since I absolutely HATE sand, but it was fun. Michael flew down on Thursday and since the house still hadn't closed we didn't get our alone weekend in Tampa, but we were able to get a room on the island for one night. It was great to have some alone time with my husband.

The house still hasn't closed!! Yeah, we aren't too happy about that!! The buyers have tried using another lender since the first one can't seem to get it done. We should hear something this week. My agent said that this one is already in underwriting. We did, however, put the house back on the market. This means that we can accept another offer if one comes in and we haven't closed on this one yet. Keep your fingers crossed that this comes to an end soon. Otherwise we are pretty much screwed with the mortgage and rent. Not something I want to have to deal with at the moment. I'm stressed enough as it is.

It's good to be home and I think I slept better last night than I did the whole vacation. I can thank being in MY bed for that. I love that first night back home in my own bed. Now it's back to reality though and I have to clean the house today and get ready for my inservice tomorrow. School starts back on the 26th with a week of inservices and the kids come back on Aug. 1. Summer is pretty much over and I have to wonder where it went! LOL It is just never long enough!

Finally!!

Well, we are finally all moved!! It was a long, hot, and tiring process, but it is all done now. I have unpacked most of the boxes. The apartment is livable now and even the kids' rooms are set up the way I want them. Our room is another story. We have lost one of the clamps to our bed frame so we can't put the bed together. I'll be calling the store where we bought the bed to find a replacement. I swear that laundry multiplies when you move. I know I didn't have this much laundry at the house. Before we could even start to reduce the amount of laundry we had to buy a replacement plug for the dryer. Our plug had 4 prongs and the outlet had 3. Then I had to wait until the apartment maintenance man could come over and put the new plug on. I probably could have done it, but I figure why should I have to now that I can call someone to do it for me! Not to mention the fact that I HATE doing laundry and will do just about anything to put it off! LOL I was all set to start cleaning all of our clothes when I found out (the hard way) that the hose that drains the water from the washing machine had a hole in it. I had bleach water (b/c you know that the first load of laundry was whites) all over the floor. I'm just hoping that it doesn't bleach the carpet. I had to make yet another trip to The Home Depot for yet another part. I was able to replace this one with a little help from Michael who moved the washer out so I could get behind it. And, wouldn't you know, as soon as I got the old hose off water starts gushing out all over the floor again!!!! I ended up having to wash even more laundry with all the towels I used to clean up the mess. It just wasn't my day! LOL Now all is working fine and I only have 2 or 3 more loads to go which is good b/c Pirates of the Caribbean is tomorrow. Oh, and we leave for Florida! Not sure which I'm more excited about!! ;-)

This is why I had kids!! LOL

At bedtime on July 4 I am lying beside my handsome 3 year old. We are talking and singing because he is afraid of the fireworks he is hearing outside. We sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and the "ABC Song" so that the fireworks will go to sleep and we talk about school and fireworks to keep his mind occupied so he doesn't hear the fireworks. While we are talking about the fireworks my very observant son informs me that, "Momma, you are pretty like fireworks!" Now ladies and gentlemen this is the reason I had kids!! They do know how to feed the ego!! ROFL

After I was finished showering my son with much deserved kisses for that comment he was able to go to sleep. I had a smile on my face for the rest of the night!! How much better could it get than such a sweet compliment from a 3 year old?

Can't wait for July 7!!

No, it's not because we leave for Florida that day. That is the day that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest comes out!! I am so excited!!! I watched Curse of the Black Pearl again last night. Most people think I'm nuts, but Johnny Depp as a pirate is just sexy as hell for me. I have to admit though that Orlando Bloom is giving him a rum, I mean run, for his money! I really have a thing for pirates! LOL I think I've read too many romance novels involving pirates!! Thanks to Johanna Lindsey!! She has a great series about the Mallorys and I just read the latest installment last night. Yes, I read it all in one night. I'm kinda, um.................obsessive like that! LOL

Anyway, I can't wait until the new Pirates movie comes out. I will definitely be there!!

I'm in 2 year old hell!!

The terrible twos have kicked in full force just in time for him to turn three!! What is up with that? He should be getting out of the terrible twos, right? I mean, he is turning 3 on Friday. Maybe it's just because I am home all day since school is out and he is bored because he doesn't have all his friends from daycare to play with, but he is driving me nuts. He doesn't get his way........he cries/screams/whines. He takes every since toy his sister is playing with away from her. He protests naps and bedtime with the same crying/screaming/whining. His sister even thinks about touching a toy or sippy cup he deems is "his" and he screams. He doesn't listen when we tell him something. He screams "NO!!" to us. We've done time out on the stairs and in his room and yes we have even spanked him. Nothing seems to work. Does anyone have any ideas on how to survive this stage or how to change the behavior? I'm at a loss and about to pull my hair out!

Has it really been a week?

Wow, I can't believe it's really been a week since I last posted. I guess that means that there isn't much going on in my life at the moment.

Actually, that isn't true. We close on our house on Friday which means we are packing up the house and the kids and moving. I've been pretty busy trying to get things packed up around here. I hate moving. I think I hate the packing and unpacking the most. Well, I guess I hate the moving of all our stuff too. LOL Heck, I just hate the whole process. I swear I was the one who said that the next time we moved we were hiring movers to come pack, move, and unpack! Um, that didn't happen. I probably won't update for another week or so since I have so much work to do. I do, however, take breaks to play on the computer! I'll be checking in with everyone.

Joshua's first movie!

I took Joshua to see is first movie yesterday. We went to see Cars. He seemed to really enjoy it. He was really well behaved throughout the movie even though there were times when he wanted to leave. Luckily, something on the screen always redirected his attention. He loved the music. At one point he was dancing to "Route 66" when he turned around and said, "Dance Momma!" The whole theater heard him. At least they all laughed! LOL I hope he remembers his first movie experience. I still remember mine. My cousin took me to see Lady and the Tramp. I was about 3-4 years old and I was so excited. I couldn't wait for my cousin to pick me up for our "date." It is a memory that I will always treasure and I hope that Joshua feels the same way about his first movie.

Do you have a memory of your first movie?

Note to self...............

Move cooling cake out of reach of hungry 2 year old!

Where are they coming from and why are they in my house?

I swear every single time it rains I can walk into my laundry room and find an ugly slimy slug. Where the heck are they coming from? Why are they coming into my house and how are they getting in? I'm not squimish about them. I just pick them up and put them back outside, but I don't want one of the kids or the dog trying to eat the thing. Anyone know how I can prevent them from coming inside?

Happy Father's Day!!

He is the love of my life and the most wonderful father to our kids. I couldn't have picked a better man to fall in love with!! Thank you, Honey, for everything that you do for us. We love you!!

WOOHOO!! Going on vacation after all!!

It has been decided that after the closing on the house and we get settled in the new place the kids and I are going to Florida. I've planned to leave no later than July 7!! I can't wait!! Amelia Island here we come!!! We are going to be there the entire week and Michael is going to fly down on the 13th. He and I are going to drive to Tampa and visit Busch Gardens and just have some quality time for the 2 of us. We don't get a lot of that with 3 kids. My mom is going to keep those wonderful children for us for that weekend. I'm feeling much better about the summer now. It was depressing me to think that I wouldn't be able to go on vacation.

Here we go again!

Well, the offer was countered and finally accepted on the house. We close on June 30. This is also Joshua's 3rd birthday and I feel really bad about having to move on his special day. Maybe we will celebrate a little early for him. Anyway, I'm now in the process of looking for an apartment for us to move into. I'm just a little hesitant to put down a deposit on anything thinking of what happened last time. I will wait until sometime next week to make it a little safer for us. Please, everyone keep your fingers crossed that this contract doesn't fall through. I need for this to be over. It is entirely too much stress for one person to handle. It makes me short tempered! LOL

Awwww!

Tonight before I go downstairs after my shower I peek in on the kids. Ari is sleeping peacefully in her crib. I tiptoe to Joshua's room and what do I find? Joshua AND Daddy fast asleep. Michael has bedtime duty when he is home by order of the 2 year old so he takes him upstairs, brushes his teeth, and reads him a story. Tonight he never made it out of the bed! LOL They are so cute sleeping up there together. My poor guys are completely exhausted. Michael was up early this morning after working until midnight so he could watch the kids while I went to CPR class and Joshua played outside for 3 solid hours today. I guess the day just wore them out. Maybe I'll let them sleep and not worry about disturbing Michael. He deserves an undisturbed slumber.

*SIGH* Is it football season yet?

I'm tired of baseball (could be because my Braves are horrible!!!) and I hate basketball. Soccer does nothing for me. I NEED my football!!! I'm afraid my Bulldogs aren't going to be very good this year with all the players we lost last year, but I'm still looking forward to the season. I've been looking at the University of Georgia schedule and I can't wait even though I don't get to go to the UGA/Vandy game this year. September 2 is the first game. How many days away is that? I need a ticker at the bottom of my blog to count down!! I may have to look into that! LOL I am going to try to get tickets to at least one home game. Hey, if you know anyone with connections let me know!! ;-) I want to take Christian to his first UGA home game. He is a newly converted Georgia fan. When I met him he was a Gator fan. Yeah, that went over really well in my house!! LOL I've converted (brainwashed) him though so it's all good!! To seal the deal with his conversion he needs to experience Game Day at UGA. He will forever be a fan if he can have that experience. At least I hope so since it makes it so much nicer to be at my house during football season!! I'll be getting him some new UGA merchandise for the coming season too. Gotta get rid of that blue and orange junk!!

Notice.....

There are now ads on my blog. Be proud that I was able to do this "technical" computer stuff all by myself! LOL I really am computer illiterate! Now, feel free to click on these links at anytime. Help me make some extra money and maybe find something cool for yourself in the process!! ;-)

The house saga continues!

This really is a huge PITA!!! We got another offer on the house today. They are offering more than the asking price, but they want............get this...................$3500 in moving expenses (our agent nixed this before he even brought the offer to us) AND $6500 in closing costs. WTF? I don't think so!!! They also want other small stuff like title insurance, repair fees, warranty, our refridgerator and stove, and all blinds. Are they completely out of their minds? That is a lot of money and we don't have that much equity in the house to begin with. We haven't even been here for 3 years. I'm thinking of countering with what they are offering and closing costs ONLY. We are putting in a call to my brother-in-law who is a mortgage broker to see if the $6500 in closing is legit anyway. They can also have the refridgerator, stove, and blinds. I'm not giving them anymore money though. I've decided that I'm selling this house on MY terms and if the potential buyers don't like it then they can buy a different house. I refuse to get screwed. I'm content with staying here if it comes down to it. Yes, the gas to and from work everyday is still going to be an issue, but otherwise I love my house.

The zoo is always fun!

Elephants...................giraffes.........................and tigers...................oh my!




Joshua in his "Cool dude" shades!



Ari is having fun in the bamboo forest.


Hey, 16 year olds are good for something..............carrying around cranky 1 year olds on a hot day at the zoo! Just kidding Christian, you know I love you!!

Sneaky Little Monkey!!

Does dog food really taste that good?

Ari will sit right beside the dog food bowl with her back against the wall and stealthfully slide her right hand into the bowl and pick out a piece of dog food. When she thinks I'm not looking she will then slip that piece of dog food into her mouth. As soon as I say her name she takes it out of her mouth and gently places it back into the bowl only to repeat the whole process a few minutes later. We do the same routine several times a day. I will move her away from the bowls and give her a toy to play with, but she comes right back within minutes. I'm guessing that dog food is a wonderful tasting food that we are all just missing out on!! LOL

Even though it is gross it is the funniest thing to watch. She really thinks she is pulling something over on us. She even gets this little innocent look on her face when she sits down. Like she has no intention of doing what she knows she shouldn't be doing. I love it!!

End of an era.............goodbye #9!

It's a very sad day for this Titans fan. Confirmation came today that Steve McNair has been traded. Not only has he been traded, but he's been traded to the Ravens of all teams! I knew there was a strong possibility he would go, but I was hoping against hope that it would not happen. Being a lifelong football fan I understand that this happens, but I hate it. It hurts my heart to see those players I love leave my beloved team. Steve was the last of the Titans who initially won my heart. I had no intention of being a Titans fan. I grew up a Dolphin and thought I would forever be one. Then the Oilers moved to Nashville. I went to a game in Memphis. It was fun, but no allegance change. I went to a few games at Vanderbilt. Still no change. They changed their name to the Tennessee Titans and came to the Coliseum. I was lucky enough to get tickets to every home game. That first year in the Coliseum was amazing for me. That team played with such heart. They seemed to be able to find a way to win and it wasn't always pretty. With each game I became more and more of a fan. I finally realized that they had my heart during the playoff game against the Bills. I wasn't able to be at that game, but I was sitting in front of my tv biting my finger nails watching. I remember calling my mom when the Bills went ahead with 16 seconds left. I was in tears. I was jumping for joy by the end of that conversation though with the Music City Miracle. It was at this time that I knew I was a Titans fan forever. They made me cry. The only other football team that has ever been able to make me cry is my Georgia Bulldogs and I live and die Georgia football!! Steve was a major part of winning my heart that season. They have made me cry several more times over the years, but what a ride it's been. The memories will be forever etched into my heart. I do miss all those guys from that season and I will miss #9 as well. I wish nothing but good things for Steve in his new home. Except, of course, when he plays my Titans! ;-)

To Steve................Thanks for the memories!! You will be sorely missed!!

Well hell!

Not only was the sell of our house postponed, but now it has been cancelled. The couple buying our house are now separating and can no longer buy it. Geez people. You would think that if someone was having marital problems they wouldn't be trying to buy a house. Right? They have to have been having these problems before they put an offer on our house. I mean really, it's only been under contract for a month. This is getting to the point of ridiculous. Don't they have to pay a penalty for breaking the contract? What happens to the earnest money? I guess that is something I need to talk to my realtor about.

I have decided that I am going to look at the positives here.

1. We have more time to find the "perfect" house.
2. I am home to keep the house presentable since we are out of school for the summer.
3. We learned a few things about offers, counter offers, and closing costs. (This could help us make a little more money on the sell.)

This is going to be a good thing for us. Please remind me I said this when I am stressing out later! LOL

Chirp.........chirp............chirp!

Anyone hearing crickets around here? I swear that there is nothing going on in my life at the moment. Not really. Friday was the last day of school for the kids. I still have tomorrow and Wednesday then I am out for the summer! WOOHOO!!! Mom came to visit this weekend. She was coming to help me pack for the move, but alas we are not moving at the end of this month. That has been postponed until the end of June. Ugh!! So, we didn't do much. She went to check out a few houses with me. I have a very short list that I need to get to my realtor so we can go look at them tomorrow. I'm so over this whole house hunting thing. I'm tired and frustrated. I just want a place to live so my kids can play outside. That is my main consideration at this point. They love to be outside and where we are now the yard is horrible in back because we can't grow grass and the front slopes to the road too much for me to be comfortable with them playing out there. Please keep your fingers crossed that we can find a place soon.

Am I ready for this?

OMG!! We got an offer on our house this morning and we accepted. It is now under contract to be closed on May 31!! Umm, we haven't found a house for us yet!!!! We have less than a month to find a place to live! I don't want to be homeless!!! I did find a house that I absolutely loved yesterday, but unfortunately there is a contract on it. Is it horrible of me to wish that the contract falls through so we can get it? I really really LOVE that house!!!

Wish us luck on finding a house soon.

Geez, sometimes people amaze me.

As you all know we have put our house on the market. We have been kicked out of our house almost daily. This evening I got a call from the scheduling people asking if someone can come by and look at the house between 8-9pm. Um, no. That is awful late to be viewing a house especially when you have 2 kids who have to get up rather early to go to school the next morning. Come on people, think just a little.

I'm soooooo over this!!

Okay, selling a house while you are living in it totally sucks! I'm so tired of having to make sure the house is in perfect condition every day. It's hard to do with 2 kids and a dog. Actually, it is impossible. I'm tired of getting the call that says someone is going to be by at a certain time and I have to pack up the kids and the dog and leave my house for at least an hour. Can they not give me an actual time instead of a window of time? That might make it a little easier. Oh and isn't it fun (NOT!!) when they call at 2:00 to tell you that someone is coming by between 1:30 and 2:30? They did this to Michael yesterday. Luckily, he was already out of the house. I just want someone to put an offer on this house so we can put an offer on a house that we like. It needs to be over so I can relax some. Selling a house is very stressful and I've decided that stress is not my friend. It is making me kinda irritable!

Joshua

Happiness is......................

Father and son

I love this picture!

Ari

She just has that look of "I'm definitely going to get into trouble today!" LOL
Look at those pig tails! Aren't they just the cutest things?

I wish I would have had a working camera tonight!

This was Wild West Week at Joshua's school. Today the kids were supposed to wear their "cowboy" clothes. Well, Joshua refused to wear his denim shirt and his boots this morning. He wouldn't even put them on at school when he saw all the other kids wearing theirs. Not long after we get home he sees his boots and his shirt and wants to wear them. This wouldn't normally be something funny, but tonight he was just in his t-shirt and underware. Now picture this.......................t-shirt with denim shirt over it, Finding Nemo underware, and cowboy boots! I was laughing so hard at my son (Does this make me a bad mommy? LOL). Of course I go in search of the camera. I find the old one, but no batteries and it has been taking pretty bad pictures lately. The nice new camera is with Michael so we don't get to document this unusual outfit for future embarrassment. How sad! LOL

Ah, the volatile weather of Spring

And so it begins. Last night was rather scary. We had some really rough weather starting around midnight last night. I woke up to hail beating down on my roof and against my windows. I laid there just listening intently to the storm. I was a little nervous. Around 1am there is this huge clap of thunder and Joshua screams. He made it to our room before I could get out of bed to go get him. He was scared to death. Poor little guy. He ended up staying in bed with us the rest of the night. Michael got up around 1:30am and went downstairs to take the dog out........I guess. When he came back up I sent him back to watch the weather. It was so windy with continuous thunder and lightening. I ended up going down to watch too. I stayed up until about 2:30am before venturing back to bed to try and get some sleep. The storm ended somewhere around 3am and I finally went back to sleep. We didn't have any tornados in our area, but back to the west of us was hit pretty hard. We were lucky this time.

I love Springtime because it starts to get warmer and the trees and flowers come alive again, but I also dread it each year. Bad weather like that really scares me now that I have kids. It seems like it is getting worse too. Maybe it's just because now I pay more attention to it and I'm also in an area where we get more bad weather than where I've lived in the past. I'm hoping that this year it really isn't as bad though. Although, they are already talking about more severe storms coming through at the end of this week. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they are wrong.

Memories

I've been sitting at my computer tonight going to my regular websites and all of a sudden I'm blindsided with memories. These memories have nothing to do with anything that I am doing at the moment. I wonder what triggers them sometimes. I've been sitting here for awhile now thinking about my grandparents. I miss them so much and it makes me so sad that my children will never know them. They were wonderful people. It's funny how one memory will lead to another and another and another. They are all great memories, but they make me a little sad. I just wish I could hug them and tell them how much I love them and how much I miss them. People say that it gets easier with time when you lose someone you love, but some days it really isn't all that easy. They have both been gone for many years now and it still hurts. I was very close to them. They were my stability when I was growing up and I don't know if they ever knew how much that meant to me. How much that helped me get through some very tough times.

I'm remembering sitting underneath a quilting frame learning how to hand sew a quilt from Ma. I can remember always wanting to go everywhere Pa went even getting mad when he left without me. I would make him take me somewhere as soon as he got back if he left me behind. I remember sitting on the kitchen counter watching Ma cook and learning her secrets. I remember sitting on their front porch shelling butter beans and peas in the summertime. There are so many more. I could fill pages upon pages with my memories. Most days they make me smile and they do tonight too, but they are also making me cry tonight.

Ma and Pa I love you both so much and I miss you tremendously.

Had a cute conversation with a 2 year old today.

Joshua: Momma, why you go this way?
Me: I have to get my medicine so I can feel better.
Joshua: Okay, let's go (we are stopped at a red light)
Me: We can't go the light is red. We can go when the light turns green.
Joshua: I like green.
Me: Me too, that is my favorite color.
Joshua: My favorite color is black.
Me: Really? Mommy likes red and black together.
Joshua: Joshua just likes black. Mommy, the light is green let's go.

It is so hard to believe that I can have an actual conversation with him now. It's amazing how much they learn in just 2 years.

Just shoot me now...............please!!

I am so sick of being sick. I swear that since Christmas someone in my house has been sick. I haven't gotten completely over whatever it was that I had and it has settled in my head (no cute comments here!). I CAN'T BREATHE!!!! It is driving me nuts. I think it may have turned into a sinus infection. I know, I need to go to the doctor. I tried. The place I can go for free through our insurance at work only had morning appointments last week as opposed to their regular afternoon appointments. Of course this happens when I need them. I am making an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. This has to end. I'm tired of not being able to breathe.

Oh yeah, now Ari has a runny nose again. Joshua was complaining that his stomach hurts and he has a slight cough. Spring needs to get here quickly so we can get well at my house.

On a better note.........................only 5 more days of waking up at 5 am and I am on Spring Break!! I have 2 whole weeks of being home with my kids and going to see Mom in Florida. I hope the weather is nice. I will be busy at home though. We are putting the house on the market so I have to start boxing stuff up so it can be presentable for showing. It is going to be difficult keeping it presentable with 2 kids, a husband, and a dog. I'm ready to get it going though and get moved closer to work. The 40 minute drive every morning is wearing on me. I hate having to get the kids up so early and rushing to get out of the house on time. I just hope this house sells quickly and we find something we like just as quickly. So, if you have time say a quick prayer that things work out timewise for us.

Future songwriter?

Joshua has been going around singing a little song all night tonight. If it is one they sing at school, I've never heard it. So, I am going to say he wrote his own song until someone tells me otherwise. LOL

He would make me sing it and then crack up. He is just too funny sometimes. We tried to get him to sing it to his daddy on the phone, but all he would do was laugh.

The song goes something like this.......

Hey! Hey!
Zip-a-dee-A
Bee bop A

My son really is a little ham!!

Ah, a mommy free day all to myself!!

I even got to sleep in until 9am. WOOHOO! Michael told me to take some time for myself today. I left the kids with him and went shopping for jeans and such. I bought much more than that though! Then I went to eat at Red Lobster. It was so nice to be able to sit down for a meal and not have to worry about hearing "Momma, I want......" "Momma, I need......" or just "MOMMA!!!!" I really enjoyed myself.


I did see something that just made me roll my eyes. There was a table of 4 women and a 2 year old across from me. This poor little guy. They were tearing his food into bite sized pieces...........even his roll and they wouldn't let him hold his own drink and it had a lid on it. I felt so bad for him. He so badly wanted to hold his cup. I am by no stretch of the imagination a perfect parent, but I do know that you have to let them become independent. Joshua wouldn't let us hold his cup now if we tried.

Anyway, it was a great day that I needed. It's really nice to get some time to yourself once in a while. Now Michael is off getting his alone time. He helped me get them fed and bathed so that was great. I just had to put them to bed.

Wow!! What a night!!!

This was one of the best concerts these guys have put on in a long time. They rocked us for 2 1/2 hours nonstop. I danced, I screamed, and I sang along with every song. Funny how you never forget the words. It was an amazing night and I have to thank my wonderful husband for endulging me in my obsession on the most romantic night of the year knowing that he ceased to exist for those 2 1/2 hours while Jon Bon Jovi sang just for me. Now I know that there were 16,000+ people in the GEC last night, but he can make you feel like he is singing just to you and I have decided that I want to believe that! LOL

They started out with Last Man Standing which was no surprise. Jon was on a platform by the lighting and sound setup. He walked through the crowd to get to the stage. That was pretty awesome. They did the old stuff and several from the new CD. Jon plays the crowd so well. I was wondering if they would touch on the stuff happening with Richie since it was Valentine's Day and they did. Jon said something about how Cupid could sometimes be a bitch and then called Richie over to the mic. He said yeah he sure was and he had gotten him good. Jon laughs and says who can be to down when there were 20,000 available women there and that he was going to "sell" Richie to everyone of them. They then went into a rendition of I'll Be There For You. It was pretty cute. They did about 3 ballads with Jon out in the audience not very far from us. He sang My Funny Valentine in honor of the day. They left the stage before the encore and I was a little disappointed that they hadn't done Welcome To Wherever You Are, but they did it when they came back out. They ended the show with Wanted which was expected as well. Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland came on and did Who Says You Can't Go Home with them. I kinda figured she would since I knew they were in town for a show of their own last night.

I am going through withdrawls already. I want to see them again and hopefully I will get to this summer. My obsession continues after 20+ years and I expect it to continue for 20 more. I want to one day take my daughter to a Bon Jovi concert.

Do you know what tomorrow is?

Valentine's Day? Well yeah, but that isn't what has me so excited!! Tomorrow is BON JOVI baby!!! My wonderful husband is going to take me to see my "get out of marriage free" card and let me drool over another man for a few hours on the most romantic day of the year!!! Isn't he the most wonderful husband in the world? I'll be sure to post pictures and all the details afterwards. I'm so excited!!!!!!

Ugh! Sickness all around.

Well, it has finally hit our house. Sickness. It started with Joshua having pink eye. He had to stay home 2 days last week with it. Then Ari gets sick with a high fever, runny nose, and nasty cough. We go to the doctor with her and find out she has an ear infection. Just great. She has to stay home for 2 days. I wake up Saturday morning feeling completely horrible. I sleep most of the day leaving Michael to deal with the kids. There is just no way I can do it at this point. I was hoping that all that sleep would help me. No such luck. I woke up today feeling even worse. I had a fever of 102.9 when I got up. Not only am I sick, but Michael got up sick this morning too. He is achy and has a sore throat. He went to work though so now I am stuck at home with 2 kids who don't feel very good and I have a hard time staying awake and getting the basic things done. It's not a very pretty sight in my house today. I also need to clean really well because the real estate agent is coming to look at the house tomorrow to discuss putting ours on the market. This cleaning thing is not going to happen today. No way. I just hope he can see around the mess. I've already had to cancel once so I don't want to do it again.

I hate pharmacies.

So, Joshua has pink eye. Poor little guy has it in both eyes. I call his doctor and they call in a prescription for me. This is so it will be ready when I get to the pharmacy to pick it up, right? Apparently not! I get there, they haven't even checked the doctor line so the prescription has not even been started yet. They say, "It will be about 20 minutes." Okay, no problem. I can shop around for 20 minutes. We actually shop for longer than that. We make it back over to the pharmacy after about an hour. Prescription is still not ready. They can't find Joshua in the system. "Are you sure he has had a prescription with us before?" Ummmm, yeah this is the only pharmacy I've been to since we moved here. Okay, so now they need the insurance card. Okay, no problem. A little frustrated since it is now 5:30pm and we got there at 4:20pm. We wait.................and wait...................and wait. By this time both kids are very unhappy campers. They are hungry and tired. It is past time for dinner and approaching bedtime. An hour later they need my insurance card again. I'm kidding, right? No! A whole 2 hours after I had come in to pick up a prescription that had been called in earlier in the day and we finally get it filled. Do you know what they had to do to fill it? Pick it up off the shelf, scan it, and put a label on it. There was no mixing or counting or anything "extra." They just had to pick it up off the shelf. Needless to say, I was irrate. I had a few things to say to the pharmacist that were not very nice. It was past bedtime for my kids and they hadn't even had dinner yet because they couldn't get their crap together. I had to feed my kids McDonald's because they were absolutely starving. There is no way they could have waited until I made something once we got home. They still had to take a bath. They got in bed about 2 hours later than usual. Poor Ari was so tired tonight we barely made it until 6pm before she had to go to bed. Luckily Joshua got to sleep in today since he couldn't go to school so he wasn't as whiny as he could have been had he gotten up at 5:30am like Ari.

I'll not go back to that pharmacy that is for sure. That is actually the second time it's happened to us. We have been going to the same place for a couple years and never had a problem. I'm not sure what is going on with them now, but I'm not going through that again.

Cake Thief!!

Caught in the act!!
At least it was worth it!!
It was so good that he came back with a fork! LOL

Ari is 1!!! (Well, not officially until Jan. 31, but we celebrated early.)

My dainty little girl doesn't want to get messy! LOL

The dainty little girl didn't last long! Daddy got a great action shot. I just wish you could hear the laughter that went along with this picture. She was having way too much fun!

She really enjoyed her cake. She was smiling and laughing the whole time. I didn't get chocolate like I did with Joshua, but the vanilla was just as fun and messy.

Clean up time. I can't tell if she was happy about getting clean or not.

Chit Chat

Michael commented that I hadn't updated my blog in awhile. My response was that nothing really exciting or interesting happened to me this week. He says that one never knows how interesting things can be to someone else. So, prepare yourself for my "exciting" week!
;-)

KIDS

Ari refused to eat much this week. She wouldn't drink much milk. I'm guessing she wasn't feeling up to par. Yesterday and today she finally decided that she was hungry.........thankfully. Still only 2 teeth. Her top gums are swollen and apparently sore if her crankiness is any indication.

Joshua is his typical 2 year old self. Happy and funloving one minute, cranky and whiny the next. Somebody please save me from moody 2 year olds. He is having a great time at school. He loves Ms. Michelle. He loves his friends. He talks about Abby and Hayden a lot when we get home. Oh, I think I have ruined him. When we are in the car and I have the new Bon Jovi CD in he sings along and tells me to "turn on the music Momma." It's really cute!

SCHOOL

We had our 100th day this week. It was pretty fun. We all changed classes and each did a project with the kids. They really enjoyed it. I had several kids out sick this week. We have a nasty bug going around. Unfortunately, I had to send 2 boys to the principal's office this week. One was threatening others and one threw a girl's shoe into a mud puddle while we were on the playground in 40 degree weather. I have no idea what either of them were thinking.

ME

I think I had a touch of the nasty bug going around. Luckily I'm feeling much better now. It just disappeared yesterday at 9am. Weird. I thought I broke my toe. I ran into my rolling cart about 5 minutes after thinking to myself that I had better move it or Michael may trip over it when he gets home. Leave it to me. Turns out that it's only bruised. It is feeling much better too.

I've decided that trying to lose weight is going to be the death of me. Why can't someone just invent a magic pill? You would think with today's technology that it wouldn't be that hard. I was doing great and had lost 5 lbs, but for some reason this week I feel like I went backwards. I haven't stepped on the scale yet to test it though.

One exciting thing did happen this week, at least for us. We bought a new laptop computer with a wireless router. Now I can surf the web while sitting in the living room watching tv or upstairs in our room if it gets too cold downstairs. I'm loving it. Now I haven't decided if this is a good thing or not. It just gives me further access to my obsession.

Now that you are bored to tears with my life you can leave a comment to make me feel better. LOL

Brotherly Love

Is there any wonder that Joshua loves his big brother?

The love of my life and my precious girl!

While Momma and Joshua go off to work hard at school, Daddy and Ari stay home and practice their flying routine!

Ari's hair cut.

This is before. It was so long and always in her eyes. I hated getting it cut, but as you can see it really needed it.



This is after. It really did turn out cute. I didn't like it at first. It made her look like a completely different child. It has grown on me since though.

She did really well. I thought she would be afraid of the stylist, but she wasn't. She was just curious about what was happening. She kept trying to watch the stylist's hands as she would go up to cut. She kept tilting her head up so she could see. That didn't make it very easy for her to cut it, but at least Ari wasn't screaming.

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt!

Some of my favorite shots from Amelia Island

This lighthouse is actually a vacation rental home.


This shot is downtown on the docks.


It was really nice of this pelican to stretch just in time for the photo op.

I believe this was taken down at American Beach.

Michael really is a good photographer. I love the pictures he takes. I'm loving the new digital camera with a bigger zoom too!

Joshua and Ari

Poor thing looks like he could use a friend!

Ari looking "so cute" in her spiffy outfit she got from her Namma!

Are you sure this is MY dog?

Out beside the laundry room at my aunt's house there is a huge mud hole where the washing machine drains. Georgia found it.
Is this a happy dog or what? She really enjoyed playing in this mud hole. She didn't enjoy the bath quite so much though. She tries to hide if you mention Georgia and bath in the same sentence. Smart dog.
Yep, that is really my beautiful Georgia Girl. No longer white.
Here she is looking like the tough bulldog that she is not!

So it begins...............again.

School started back this week. We had a day to work in our rooms, thankfully, and a day of inservice meetings. The kids came back on Thursday. They were surprisingly well behaved. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. It seems like everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We all were able to share our treasures. I really enjoyed hearing them talk about what they got from Santa and seeing the sparkle in their eyes. I hate to see that sparkle disappear when they stop believing. It's really sad.

It's been a tiring week having to get up at 5am again and I am so glad that today is Friday. Hopefully, Joshua and Ari will sleep in tomorrow or Michael will get up with them. At least I didn't have to get them up this week to go to school. Michael was off and kept them and when he went back to work Christian kept them until I got home. Saved my sanity not having to deal with them in the mornings and saved us money on daycare.

I think I am going to take Ari for a haircut in the morning. The front goes down past her nose and nothing will stay in it to keep it out of her eyes so I guess it's time. I really hate to cut it, but it drives me nuts seeing it in her eyes all the time. I'll definitely post before, during, and after pics. She doesn't like strangers much so it should be interesting. Wish us luck!