WebbMania

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-25T10:01:00.002-05:00

My sweet hubby is "dangling" a trip to Hawaii over my head as an incentive to reach my weight loss goal by the end of April. I haven't been working out hard and sweating bullets because - HAWAII?? REALLY?? Let's be serious. Who has the $$ to fly a family of 5 out there! He is trying to get me to shed 40 lbs fast! I saw him looking at our timeshare travel site for resorts yesterday so I think I will start my work outs just in case :) Might be coming to see you my single friend!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-18T09:06:00.001-05:00

Shopping Cart Etiquette

2012-01-12T07:37:00.003-05:00

I went to the grocery store the other day to rent a Redbox movie. While looking for a spot, I watched a grown man (well he was probably early twenties) standing on his cart and actually riding it to his car. I happened to park next to him. He was placing his groceries in the back seat of his old clunker car. I am guessing he was a young bachelor living on his own for the first time and doing his own shopping. I started walking into the store when I saw a woman who had emptied her cart into her car place her cart into a handicap parking space!!! I was really irritated by this! This woman who could walk without a problem was too inconvenienced to walk the cart back to the cart place, so she put it in one of the few handicap spaces ... which would highly inconvenience a handicapped person who might have to get out of the car to move that cart just to park. How selfish of that woman!! I thought that was a bloggable vent, but decided, no, I won't blog about that. Then when I return to my truck - I see a shopping cart pushed right into the drivers door! That guy had just pushed his cart aside into my door! Unbelievable. I almost always put my cart back where it belongs.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-11T12:16:00.001-05:00

It's a Drink Free Weekend!

2012-01-07T09:30:00.003-05:00

I was so happy to be at Celebrate Recovery last night. But the kids had the most fun of all! My Church's youth group had a fun "hang out" night at around the same time as my meeting. So Zach and a friend he brought had a great time playing football. Our new building, the nZone, is a sports complex opened to the public with many indoor playing fields. Brandon and Faith had a great time in the toddler room ,which is where child care is provided for parents attending Celebrate Recovery. (it is the "toddler" room for Church and people who have memberships at the nZone. Just a good room used for child care during CR meetings, even tho they are not "toddlers" any more) I will share a frightening story that happened last night. One of those moments that make me feel like a bad mom with many "what ifs" running thought my mind!
After my meeting, I stayed a while watching the boys play football. When they were finished we were still in the nZone talking and retrieving every one's jackets. Faith and Brandon were with me, spinning in circles and giggling. I spoke with someone for a couple of minutes and when I turned back to the kids - one was missing. It was Brandon. Brandon is notorious for hiding from me in public places. I started to panic and looked everywhere for him. Zach checked the bathrooms and the now dark toddler room. I started walking towards the front doors when I noticed a flash of red outside - it was a woman carrying my crying son. (wearing the red t-shirt pictured above) I ran to the door and he had really been crying! The very nice woman said she found him outside on the sidewalk crying out for his mom. I told her she must think I am a terrible mom! She said no, she remembers when her kids were this age... I hope that is the case. Because how can a mom let her baby out of her sight?? I felt terrible! Brandon was crying saying we left him. I kept thinking he could have been hit by a car in that dark parking lot! He said he stayed on the sidewalk looking for me. I told him I would NEVER leave him and if this should ever happen again (come on Peggy, don't let this happen again) to stay INDOORS and find an adult for help. Sheesh!! How scary. I still don't understand how we separated enough for him to not see any of us and think we left??? The only thing I can think of is that I went back into the toddler room to get Zach's jacket. :( At any rate, I am thankful everyone is ok.

I am happy it's Saturday and I am off for my weekend! Normally, I would be psyched because I would have a weekend of drinking. But I actually feel good and look forward to a drink FREE weekend spent with my family. I am bringing a large group of friends to Church with me tomorrow morning, they want to commit to going every Sunday this year! I hope they like my Church, but if for some reason they do not (not likely), I hope they stick with their commitment and go Church shopping on their own.

Have a blessed weekend!
I Love U Daddy!

It is for freedom of (alcoholism) that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. ~ Galatians 5:1

Thank you for sharing with me Angel.

Oh here we go!!

2012-01-06T17:54:00.002-05:00

Today is the first day I am wishing I could have a couple of beers. It hasn't even been a week! Today is day 6. I started wanting a drink when a neighborhood kid irritated me. How sad that I can be irritated by a child. The scoop is, this child stole a little bag of Doritos from us, hid them in her boot by the front door and kept going back to her stash to grab a chip then come back in the family room to eat it. Another kid that was playing over here kept asking what she was eating, where she got it and so on. She threatened to tell on her, so she fessed up to the girl and offered her some chips too. All kids around here know NOT to eat in the family room. But that is not the issue here. I don't like stealing. Since I heard after the fact, I tried to just forget about it. I didn't want to make a big stink about a bag of chips. But today she came to the door asking to play. I said no, not today, but I let my daughter out to play since it was so nice. I found myself irritated thinking about the chips. Then she sent Faith back in to ask for water. I said no because she lives in the culdesac so if she wants a drink she should go in her house and get one. Then her and her sister sent Faith back in to ask if they could go to the bathroom. I yelled out, "I guess but their house is just as close by"! They came in to use the bathroom and I said "wouldn't you feel more comfortable on your own toilet?" The older girl decided to go home and use the bathroom. This may sound all silly.... But the truth is, a lot of kids come here to use the bathroom, have a drink, eat snacks, get a band aid and so on. Their houses are all in the same culdesac!! If someone is IN my house playing, that's a different story. But to play outside and then go to miss Peggy's house when they want a drink or food is ridiculous and must stop.

All stupid stuff I know, but this stupid stuff is what made me think I would really love a couple of beers. For the taste and to just calm me down and make me a little happier. And maybe that's why kids come here for food and drinks and whatever else, because they are used to this friendly giving miss Peggy. I would really love a couple of beers so much. That means it will only get worse before it gets better. I am drinking diet coke in a wine glass. I love this glass, no need to stop using it! I am going to get rid of all the beer glasses and most of the other wine and champagne glasses. Maybe sell the bar in the basement and the "beer" wall hangings.

Luckily, I am leaving in a few minutes to go to my Celebrate Recovery meeting! I am happy to be going, yet feel ashamed because I missed most of the month of December. :( And you can probably guess why.

Lots of love to all!

Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy

2012-01-05T16:08:00.000-05:00

Today we made fruit salad. It was delicious. I played a video game with Brandon and ring around the rosie with Faith. I did a few minutes on the elliptical while watching the Ellen show. It's only 4:00 and I will most likely come close to finishing my book 'Diary of an Alcoholic Housewife', light a fire, have some carbonated water in my favorite wine glass and cook dinner. I kinda want to stay up tonight to watch the new Grey's Anatomy, but I will be stupid tired at work if I do! I know I won't be able to resist it :)

Happy 2012!

2012-01-03T06:28:00.002-05:00

Well, here we are. 2012. Happy New Year! This ought to be an interesting year for me. All of December I had all sorts of anxiety knowing that was my last month to drink. It sure did go by fast! A small part of me was excited to get to the new year. Change is good and exciting. This is a new challenge. I have quit drinking AND I need to work hard to lose all of the weight that I gained back after quitting weight watchers. Tsk Tsk. Can't believe I allowed myself to do that.

Any hoo, New Years eve was a good time! I invited some very good friends over to have those last drinks with me:) Sarah and her hubster and daughter came by. Also my newest great friends and neighbors from across the street came over.

Just to show how much taller Zach is than us! My goodness.

Sarah and I

A pic of all the kids hanging out and partying (by eating snacks and drinking coke out of margarita glasses) Brandon fell asleep early. He missed a lot of the fun. I had bought noise makers and confetti poppers and passed those out to the kids - also gave them some pots & pans and spoons to bang on. At midnight I let them all out to the culdesac to get crazy! Other kids in the neighborhood were let out too.

This was my 1st drink of the evening - a frozen lemonade. (with rum I think?)

Then I switched to the premixed apple martini's I had bought. I was alone with these, the other ladies said it tasted like cough syrup. I admit the 1st one was bad, but they got better and better.

Inserts a few beers here.

My last drink of the evening (or morning) was a pomegranate margarita. I was up until 6:30 am. All of the guests left after midnight and my hubby went to bed. I was all alone. I decided to do what I enjoyed so often over the years while drinking - light a fire, a bunch of candles and listen to music. This time I wrote down all of my thoughts so I could see them when I was sober. Here are the thoughts of a drunken Peggy;

Was feeling sorry for myself but now realize this was meant to be... this is my thing.. fire, candles, music, headphones, memories. This is mine and mine alone.

I just hope no one hears me cry!

Why are all these songs drinking songs?

Because I spent all these years drinking to these songs!

My husband will never understand all of this.

I can't taste my very last beer because my nose is so stopped up from crying.

2:32 am: Just put the last log on the fire because WTH do I care about how late I stay up.

Really wishing I had not sent home the rest of that booze.

I still have one beer and one margarita left.

I wish my hubby had one last drink with me! How does he not like this fire?

I'm also thankful that he doesn't drink.

6:23 am - Still awake. Had a long conversation with a friend which helped, but I don't want to start this new chapter of my life.

And that was all I wrote! Not terrible wacky or anything. I can tell you that by 6:30 I was cooking some mac n cheese which I guess I ate for breakfast:) So I guess I was up a bit later than 6:30. I stayed in bed all day long on the 1st. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling well. That was my last hangover ever I hope. I am reading a book now - Diary of an alcoholic Housewife. It's very interesting. It is actually a diary. Well it started as a blog. She was a blogger:) Then someone suggested putting it in a book to maybe help others out there in similar situations. I am enjoying it. It scares me that I have been reading about and hearing about so many others that relapse. Well, I don't want to be one of them. That is why I shared my quitting with everyone I know! I don't want to look like a failure, so I think that helps. In this book - she tried quitting before and told everyone. Then she started again - so this time, she is telling people she is "taking a break" that way she won't feel like a failure later. She is actually planning on drinking again. But I am no where near finished with the book so I don't know where she stands now.

Well I can't start up again, so I hope that is easy to stick to. It's too soon to tell, altho I did have a moment watching tv with Scott yesterday. We were watching season 1 dvds of How I Met Your Mother. The group likes to hang out at a bar. One guy brought his gf a beer saying it was $1 beers so she gets her own. And suddenly I thought of how fun that would be to be at a bar and have $1 beers. And that was on DAY 2 of sobriety! I will continue to blog about my journey. Thanks for your support!

My gift from Zach....

2011-12-30T08:35:00.001-05:00

Because he wants me to be able to cook more than one pancake at a time! :) Love you Zach.

Our Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T17:21:00.005-05:00

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas. Church on Christmas eve. Excited kids waking us up at 7 am Christmas morning :) My brother in law came over around 4:30 for Christmas dinner. Spiral ham and a bunch of yummy sides. Friends over in the evening to exchange some more gifts. It was a great day.

Scott bought me the bracelet I wanted! A pandora style bracelet. I am sure you have seen them, they are every where. You can pick out different beads to match your style and personality. It allows easy ideas for gift ideas in the future! Valentines day, Mother's day and so on. I think he did an AWESOME job at picking out some beads. It is absolutely beautiful!

Faith asked Santa for this unicorn. She named her "Sparkles"

Brandon got his very own scooter. He had been using Zach's, but some how that one was run over.

Faith got a princess scooter!

Brandon asked Santa for a Captain America hat and shield. Very cute! Tho that shield shoots out these THICK foam discs that can catch you off guard!

I had an easel when I was a little girl. The kids loves this!

My father in law bought us all matching personalized hats. I thought it was too cute. I love personalized things!!!

Scott bought me a popcorn makes since I seem to make popcorn a few times a week:) It's a lot of fun! The kids love to watch it pop.

Zach got some clothes, video games and airsoft guns. A lot of kids in the neighborhood have them and altho it wasn't my idea to get any for Zach, (I didn't even know about them) I am glad he has his own with protective eye wear. He is not allowed to keep them in his room and mostly they will be used for shooting targets which also came with it.

We had a lot of love and togetherness. We were filled with the spirit of Christmas!

The kids have lots of toys to play with. We have a lot of family friendly games to play too which is great. Gives me lots to do in the new year to come!

I hope everyone has a blessed new year!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-21T08:38:00.000-05:00

A Very Festive Weekend!

2011-12-20T03:20:00.003-05:00

Zach & Dylan ~ Best Buds

So a friend and neighbor of mine had the most wonderful Christmas party Saturday night! It was catered by Bob Evans with delicious holiday food. (turkey, roast beef and all the trimmins)

She has every kind of wine, brandy, rum and a variety of Sam Adams beer. I was so happy to have been invited during my last drinking month. I had a little bit of everything! (hubby was not to pleased about that) I haven't been invited to a party in years!! Since before the twins were born I think?? People don't really invite you over when you have little ones. Well this party was child friendly! The little kids all left with a goody bad filled with toys and candy. The teenagers and adults had raffle tickets for a door prize. I didn't win a prize, but I had a fantastic time and so did the rest of my family. The coolest thing - I bumped into a girl from my Bible study group at the party! Her husband worked with my friend's husband. What a nice coincidence. Plus I got to know another neighbor better who also has boy/girl twins. It was nice!!

Zach eatin some pie. The only 2 pictures I took at the party were of Zach. I wish I had more!

The next day was the Navy Sea Chanters concert at DAR Constitution hall. We go every year as Mike, my brother in law, is a seachanter. This year I brought my sister Lynn, her son Chris and her fiance, Donnie. Scott and Brandon stayed home. (Brandon is such a homebody!)

Lynn & Donnie

Santa is there every year. The kids love that!

Mike had a solo, the very 1st performance of the night, singing 'Happy Holiday'. He was fabulous as usual.

After the concert, we went back to the house and had dinner and exchanged some gifts. It was a wonderful day, a wonderful weekend!!!

Christmas Card Pictures

2011-12-20T03:00:00.002-05:00

This is the pose I WISH I had chose for our Christmas card.

The rest of the pics show you just how difficult it can be to take a decent picture of 3 kids at the same time!!

Yoo hoo, Brandon!

Did you watch Friends? Can you say Chandler?

The picture I did choose is not shown here. Don't want to ruin a surprise!! Altho they are taking so long to get here, I am afraid people will receive them in 2012.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-14T01:41:00.000-05:00

Good Reminders for Why I Will Quit Drinking 1/1/12

2011-12-13T07:36:00.003-05:00

To be a good example to my children

To make my husband happy (even tho he never asked me to quit, I know he will be happy)

Save that $50 a month

Prove to everyone that I am true to my word.

Because Zach asked me to and I love him and don't want him to worry about me.

To go out and not have to worry about a designated driver.

Designated drivers usually get free soda :)

To share my testimony with others and maybe, just maybe, help someone to make the same decision.

Lose weight

Gain Memory

More God time as I am going to read the Bible every time I want to drink. HE is my sponsor.

No more hang overs ever.

To be taken seriously

I can sit through a concert without missing the BEST song because I had to go pee! (and then I can drive myself home!)

New weekend activities (I have yet to figure out what those are. Sewing? Knitting?)

Nothing more to be ashamed of!

Replace that drinking buzz with an exercise buzz maybe? Hopefully?

Go back on Weight Watchers and not go over my weekly points! (One beer is 3 points)

Without my drinking, this will be a non drinking household

No more adding $6 drinks to our restaurant bill on special occasions

Renew my vows - sober.

Save what is left of my liver

Participate in the carboard testimonies at church :)

Make family and friends proud

Have more intimate and wonderful quality alone time with my hubby ; )

Back to Life on the Homestead

2011-12-13T02:16:00.002-05:00

We came home Saturday ~ one day early from vacation. I think Brandon had a mix of discomfort with his ear and also a touch of homesickness. I could not stand to be the only parent of a fussy child any longer. When Brandon was crying in pain from his ear, I felt so helpless and was set on taking him to after hours care! But once we got home, Scott went out and bought him some drops and between the drops, ibuprofen and being with Daddy, Brandon was feeling better. I tried to get him in to his Dr on Monday but he was booked up. I will be taking him later this morning after I get off work. I am glad we came home early. Our unit at the resort was nice but it didn't have any Christmas in it! It's a Christmas wonderland in my house:) Plus I missed my husband. It was nice that we got the chance to "miss" each other.

Yesterday - Monday - I was an emotional roller coaster. Very expensive things keep breaking in our house. We are still trying to dig ourselves out of the hole from replacing our AC unit in August. Man those things are expensive. Now we have to replace our sump pump and that's pretty important so we cannot put it off. There is some light friction between the adult siblings on my side of the family. I guess half of us can afford to exchange gifts and half of us cannot. It has made me feel stressed, angry and sad all at once. Thinking about it again makes me want to cry. I do not want my focus to be taken off of the real reason for the season. I have a neighbor who mentioned buying my son a gift. That makes me feel bad too. I don't want anyone to buy us anything. That's what I want for Christmas - NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All these little petty things that have been weighing on me - home repairs, money, health issues, family issues, and the fact that my promised date of making a huge change in my life is approaching super fast... all these things are small and not worthy of mentioning. I should be and AM ashamed of feeling bad about them or complaining. It suddenly occurred to me on Monday evening when I watched my kids giggle and play little games like "I got your nose!", how truly blessed I am to have happy healthy kids. To have a wonderful husband. A roof over our heads. Wonderful parents. Wonderful sisters. Wonderful friendships. And above all else, GOD in my life. It must have been God who reminded me on Monday evening about the 3 local families who have each lost a child recently. A drowning, a suicide and an illness. I don't have any real problems. But I could in a blink of an eye! Bad things happen. I need to appreciate what I have when I have it. Hug and squeeze my family tight and let each of them know how much I love them!!!

If Scott and I Were to Buy a Real tree...

2011-12-13T00:56:00.000-05:00

Luckily, we still use artificial :)

Muppets and Horses

2011-12-09T18:48:00.006-05:00

On Thursday we went to the movies. Brand, Faith and I saw the Muppets while Zach saw Breaking Dawn by himself. We were the only people in each theatre. Faith wanted to sit in the very back (top) cause she had "never done that before". (this was only the third movie of her lifetime) It was nice having the theatre to ourselves cause the kids could jump up and down, dance and talk without bothering anyway. When Zach's movie was finished, he came into our theatre to see the end.

After the movies, we did some Christmas shopping. Then we got lost for about an hour around JMU! We drove in circles during heavy traffic hour. I was not happy. One the way back to the resort we went to eat again at the same yummy place. I knew we shouldn't, but it was late and we were hungry. I ordered the $5 special. We came back and watched some more rented movies.

Friday morning I took the twins horseback riding. (well it was a pony) They were so excited!! To me it was a pretty lame ride for the cost, but I think it was a lifetime memory for them.

Faith absolutely loves horses so she really was having the time of her life!

Brandon had fun too... tho he looked to me like he might slide off. I think the guide gave Faith more times around, but I didn't complain since I thought he might fall if he had one more time around!

We are spending Friday night inside watching more rentals and eating some frozen pizzas. I think we might go home tomorrow, Brandon has not felt well in the evenings and I think he is home sick.

Video Games & Cheeseburgers

2011-12-07T19:40:00.002-05:00

Tuesday we went to the arcade. They have an all you can play deal for $10. We stayed a couple of hours and the kids had a ball.

After the arcade, we rented some movies and went back to the resort to relax. I made baked ziti for dinner and we watched The Smurfs and a couple other movies. Poor Brandon had a very restless night. He cried a lot complaining about his ear. I think he caught an infection from going to the waterpark maybe? I felt so bad:( I gave him ibuprofin and he finally went to sleep.

Today - Wednesday, we went to the mall to window shop and we ate at the Thunderbird Cafe. A local family owned diner that has delicious food! We had huge juicy cheeseburgers.

Scott had planned on going home on Thursday to handle some business - well the weather is predicting 3-6 inches of snow tonight. It was raining all day and the rain was to turn into snow. We decided it was best that he leave today to miss the bad weather. That would be fine and all - but Brandon started feeling bad again and feels like he is burning up. I gave him some more medicine and he fell asleep. I am letting him sleep some, but I am really worried that we will have to go home - at least to see the dr. Maybe we can see the dr and come back, its not that long of a drive. I still have things on my to do list! We want to see a movie and see the horses. Faith wants to ride a horse. We shall see.... I pray Brandon feels better!!

On Vacation! Massanutten ~ Sun. and Mon.

2011-12-06T19:03:00.004-05:00

On Sunday we arrived at the Massanutten resort just after 5. The first night was spent unpacking and grocery shopping or the week. Monday morning was our annual sales meeting. The meeting we go to for the free breakfast buffet while we listen to some timeshare guys try to sell us an additional week or something. We upgraded to the nicest place here just last year, so there wasn't anything better they could offer besides an extra week! We said no of course. But still enjoyed breakfast and we get free tickets to the water park. It's worth it! After the meeting we got ready for the park.

Here is a small pic of the indoor water park while it is closed.

Zach likes the "flo rider" surf ride. He did a lot better this year!

A very fuzzy, but good picture of my boys. My camera is dying a slow death.

Faith borrowed this cute suit from a neighbor. Her suit from summer was just too small. She looks adorable in this bikini! This year Brandon and Faith were not afraid of anything. They LOVED all of the water slides and even went on the biggest ones! (with us, the larger ones have double and triple seated inner tubes)

These are actually the smaller slides in the middle. B & F could go down them by themselves this year.

After a few good hours at the water park, we were all tired, lazy and hungry. Zach loves vacation, the only time I will let him have soda and chips while sitting on the couch!!

I cooked up some beef stroganoff.

Faith eating chips... a lot of junk food eating around here!

So this was the first 2 days... I need to get off of our free wifi to let my sweet hubby use all the bandwidth to play his online game. Hey - it keeps him happy and here. More to come!!

Christmas time is here!

2011-11-26T09:14:00.003-05:00

On Black Friday we got out all the Christmas stuff! No sense in going out to all the craziness. I am broke any way. Scott, however, did do some shopping. The kids and I put up the tree. The house is still a mess with a couple more piles of Christmas decorations to go up somewhere. Brandon and Faith were particularly more excited this year than I have ever seen. I guess that comes with being 4! A better understanding of Santa.

It's so funny to see all the ornaments that were placed on the very bottom. As cute as that is, I won't leave it that way. :)

On Thanksgiving evening, I did bring up the tree for our front living room window. It's easy because it's a pre-lit, predecorated, prestanding tree! Just bring it upstairs and plug it in.

Off to do some more decorating. Wreaths and garland every where and lights outside! Woo hoo!

Gobble Gobble

2011-11-26T08:57:00.004-05:00

Hope everyone out there had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was great. Scott's brother, Mike came for dinner. The kids were so excited as they had not seen him for a few months. I set a table for the adults and Brandon and Faith's little table next to us.

Mike and Scott

Me, Daddy and the twins - Zach is taking the picture.

I wanted a picture with just my husband and I, but that seems impossible these days!

And with all my kids... Brandon grabbed another dinner roll.

After dinner, Mike played football (catch really) with Zach and his buddy.

We made a buffet ~ I cooked turkey (of course), stuffing, green bean casserole, corn casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy. Pumpkin pie for dessert!

Brandon and Faith at their table. They had their own tablecloth and centerpiece too :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Playground Fun

2011-11-20T08:15:00.000-05:00

It seems we do things as a family every Saturday. We usually leave the house, whatever we decide to do. This is my husband's thing. If he does not have anything planned for the day - he must do something other than hang out in the house all day. Me - I am totally fine hanging out in the house all day. Saturday mornings I work third shift and get off at 8:30. I usually try and take a nap some where in the day, but a week ago Saturday I had a major coffee buzz going on! I made egg and cheese biscuits for breakfast. Without anything planned for the day, we decided to go to a local school playground. It was beautiful outside.

Brandon "trying" to tackle Zach for the football.

Tire swing

Brandon and Faith are learning how to operate the "big boy & girl swings"

I took this picture because of Faith's hair and all the static.

Pretty girl

Adorable boy

After the playground, we went to Red Robin for a late lunch, early dinner. Scott had been quoting lines from some old 80s movie all day to me that he was SURE I had seen. It was 'The Last Dragon'. Nope, never seen it. So when we got home, he insisted I watch it with him. The sun had gone down by then so I lit a fire in the fireplace and watched the movie with my hubby. The kids played in the basement. The movie was actually kinda cute. Definitely very 80ish.

It was a wonderful day! The day was blog worthy because - it was my weekend and I never drank one sip of alcohol that day. Proof that I can enjoy my weekends with out it. Hope for my recovery!

Operation Christmas Child

2011-11-19T03:40:00.002-05:00

I had posted some prayer requests a couple weeks ago and I mentioned a tragic story about a local 12 year old boy that lost his life recently. Well that boy's name is Jack and he loved to fill shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child each year. A good friend of mine, Katie, made this beautiful inspiring video about Jack. Please watch.

It was kind of hard explaining the process of OCC to Brandon and Faith. I took them shopping yesterday and told them to pick out Christmas presents that we would send to a special little girl and boy who live very far away. They were confused at first, but once in the store, they were really excited! They each picked out gifts for their boxes saying things like "oh, a fairy wand! My little girl would love to have this" and "I'm going to send my boy this orange truck to play with , he will like that". (they almost sounded like parents shopping for their kids!) I can't wait until they carry their boxes into Church this Sunday to drop them off.

So this year we are sending boxes in honor of Jack and his family. A family we don't know, but keep in our prayers this season.

Sho Me the Money!

2011-11-17T20:38:00.001-05:00

The holidays have rushed in on a jet plane. Was I in denial? Was I ignoring the calendar? I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving. If you look at my blog history in November, I am happy go lucky. This year I am stressed to the max. I don't have any money. I can't afford to buy anything for family outside of the walls of my house. So if you are family and reading this, well, you will receive a nice Christmas card in the mail :) I know Christmas is not about buying stuff, but as a parent you want to give your kids a joyous Christmas morning with some wonderful surprises under the tree. I am broke. I'm selling stuff on Craigslist for Christmas money AND we are going on vacation the 1st week in December. Sounds silly to go on vacay when we are hurtin, but its our timeshare so we are not dishing out $$ for the place. It's our week and all we have to do is show up. Now any fun activities outside our place cost $$. But if we are careful and smart, we can have a great week without spending a lot of money. I look forward to just being off work and away in a temporary home where kids won't be knocking on the door ten times a day. Where I won't feel guilty about the piles of laundry, sink full of dishes and toy cluttered floors. Of course, we can easily have the same scenario at the resort, but I won't care as much. And the bathtub is the size of a small pool. Ahhhhh!!! We will rent redbox movies, eat delicious meals and just be together. I plan on doing some Christmas shopping while I am there. Kill 2 birds with one stone.

That's all for now. Time to take a short nap before the graveyard shift. YAWN! Toodles noodles.

Bad Week

2011-11-17T20:23:00.002-05:00

Last week was just plain awful. An 8th grader in Zach's school took his own life on Monday night. This was of course very upsetting to all the students at the school. It is hard enough to understand death at that age but to make sense of suicide? Let's face it, even adults can't make sense of that. It makes you angry. You just want to go back in time and save that person. I spent the week just wanting to be with Zach and he spent the week wanting to be with his friends. I had an emotional break down. Yep. Sure did. No matter how sad or bad our week was, it was nothing compared to the week that boy's family had. I have been praying for them.

Snowing in October!

2011-10-29T18:13:00.002-04:00

Well folks, apparently we have some snow in October which is a new record. Life is just getting stranger and stranger. Earthquakes in Virginia and snow in October? That's craziness! I tried to take a photo of the snow falling (above) but it's difficult to see the snow. I sure hope this is not a taste of whats to come. I hate winter. Today is a good day. Tonight is a good evening. Right this very minute, I am alone in the Family room with a roaring fire in the fireplace and "Today's Country" music playing on cable. Scott and the twins are upstairs watching tv or playing on the computer and Zach is at a friend's house. I am enjoying myself so much, I don't feel like cooking dinner. There is plenty to eat so everyone will be just fine!

Check this out... Zach made this "black ops" gun outta toilet paper and paper towel rolls and duct tape. I think it's pretty creative!! He also bought this Captain America shirt and matching winter hat at Wal-Mart with me today. We came home and I cooked biscuits, eggs and sausage gravy. I took a nap and he made this gun. I would say he is having a good day too since he is off playing with friends. (wonder if he brought his gun?)

Since the temp has dropped below 60, I have been having fires in the fireplace. I absolutely LOVE having fires in the fireplace!!!! This weekend its in the 30s, so yeah, I have at least 2 logs a blazing now:) Hubby thinks I just like the look. He admitted he was thinking of getting one of those amish inserts that looks like a fire and is really an electric heater. I told him not to waste his money because I like the fire!! I like lighting the logs and watching the REAL fire flicker.

Look at this girl. She looks way older than 4. And she is SO smart!! Yikes!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-26T06:51:00.001-04:00

Hi. My name is Peggy.....

2011-10-22T02:50:00.001-04:00

My church offers Celebrate Recovery ~ a Christ centered recovery program for people with hurts, habits or hang ups. They follow a Christ centered 12 step program. I have recently joined Celebrate Recovery to help myself quit drinking. There. I said it. I am an alcoholic and I don't think I have mentioned that in the 4 yrs I have been blogging. I did not want people to judge me.
I have changed a lot in recent years. (tho the drinking has stayed the same) I have become a more honest "be myself" type of person. It feels good to share and be open. Sharing helps with the recovery process! I have been sharing my decision to quit drinking with everyone. I am thinking that by doing this, I can't possibly go back on my word because I will be a failure to all those people. (really, a failure to myself) While I am being honest, I will tell you, I have not quit drinking yet. The 12 step program starts in January. I am going to say good bye to my beer (my drink of choice) or wine these next couple of months. I feel as though I have been drinking all my life!! And I enjoy it. So, this is how I am going to do it. I have already taken the first steps by walking into the doors of CR and by announcing my quitting. My husband is completely confused by my going to meetings while I am still drinking. But this is the way I want to do it. It's going to be hard. I am making this decision for a few different reasons. The main reason is Zach asked me to because he said he is afraid I will die. There are other reasons too. Alcoholism runs in my family and I want it to stop before it is passed on to my kids. I want to be a good example to my kids. Unfortunately, Zach is old enough to have some bad memories of me when I was drinking. I am hoping I will be a good example to him by QUITTING and also by respecting his feelings to want me to quit. I was reading an article on teen-age drinking and coping with an alcoholic parent and it says that kids with an alcoholic parent are so worried all the time that something bad will happen. I don't want to put that burden on my son. I grew up worried about everything under the sun!! (not your fault, Dad, I was born that way) And I have only gotten worse with age. I can see that Zach worries a lot like me, but its not as bad as it was for me when I was a kid. I would get out of bed just to double check the stove was off for fear of our house burning down. I have never seen Zach do that:) I don't want Zach to worry like I do. It sucks to worry! I want Zach to know that I love him, Brandon and Faith all so very much and I want to be around for a long long time to see them all grow up.
So heads up, I may blog about this journey of mine from time to time.

Strong Enough by Matthew West

2011-10-21T16:10:00.001-04:00

Prayer Requests

2011-10-21T07:55:00.003-04:00

I want to share with you a few of the families that I have been faithfully praying for:

A local 12 year old boy died tragically this past September from the flooding waters our area had from tropical storm Lee. I had been praying for that family already when I found that the mom was a fellow blogger. You can read her blog here. This family is going through a very painful time and can always use some prayer. If you read the mom's blog, however, you will see God is with them every step of the way and they stay faithful to God, even through this difficult time. Very inspiring!

For a little over a year I have been following the story of a local girl, Autumn Hoeft. In 2010, it was found that Autumn had an inoperable tumor on her brain. (she was 3 years old) After a long hard journey of many rounds of chemo, Autumn's tumor went away! Over the summer this family was trying to get back to normal as Autumn's MRI's and tests were still looking good and clear of cancer. Recently, Autumn started experiencing pain in her ankles and legs. A recent MRI shows multiple tumors on her spine :( I prayed a few nights ago asking God "Why is there cancer? Why is cancer every where? Why does it attack even the smallest of bodies?" Autumn's mom posted such a powerful message on her journal this last Wednesday:

God loves us and will not forsake us, so we all must trust in him. Pray for his mercy. Thank him for giving us a whole good year. Pray for more time, I don't believe it's her time. I do believe in times we must suffer to test our faith in him. When the world ends God needs faithful followers and warriors. He doesn't need the new world to have another Lucifer. With that thought love you all and be blessed.

Wow. I wish words like these would come to my mind when my questioning husband asks me "if there is a God, why does he allow bad things to happen?"
So, please pray for Autumn and her family too as they continue through this journey.

One last prayer request ~ you may have seen this on my facebook if you are on my list. My cousin's darling 2 yr old son went into the hospital with a terrible case of croup and was hospitalized immediately as his breathing levels were dangerously low. Doctors were stumped on why he wasn't responding to meds and his breathing was not getting better. He was put on life support and airlifted to another hospital. I am happy to report he has since been taken off the breathing machine and is breathing on his own, drinking and eating and even smiling. They found he had a flu virus which caused croup and strep throat and really took a toll on his breathing and heart rate. Please pray for Chase's continued improvement and that he may go home soon with his mommy and daddy.

God Bless!

Fall 2011 ~ Back to Blogging

2011-10-20T06:08:00.007-04:00

I can not believe that I haven't blogged since July. I love my blog and I love blogging. I don't want to quit! Any small handful of readers I had are most likely gone now. But I don't blog for readers, ( I do LIKE having readers) I blog for myself. This is my journal.

I have fallen into a daily rut. Work my night shift, nap, lay around because my nap wasn't long enough, dinner, tv, nap again, back to work. Any internet access is on my phone. I am working on making some self improvements and blogging will help. I quit weight watchers because money has been an issue too. Now I have packed on 15 pounds and I am running out of pants that will fit me. (thats what happens when you lose weight, get excited, and give away all your clothes) So, I need to work on getting into shape and just being healthy over all. I have joined Celebrate Recovery to work on some other issues. (one other issue) I will go into more detail on that another time:) We had a wonderful summer of going to the pool, Kings Dominion, water parks and more. Now for some Fall highlights!

We went to Kings Dominion again in October to enjoy their Halloween festivities. Great fun for the kids and once the sun goes down, super scary fun for the adults! We might have persuaded the lil ones to go into one of the rated PG-13 haunted houses with us. Not to fear, they are not traumatized. (but they don't want to do it again)

My Bible Study group ~ Manassas Mom's Bible Study ~ has been going great! We just had a Fall party for the kids. They painted pumpkins and baked and decorated cookies. We all had so much fun!

And God Bless my friend who let the kids use flour and cookie dough all over her beautiful table!

Every Bible Study/Fellowship meeting we have is also a play date for the kids. The kids and I have made a lot of new friends.

And lets not forget all the Fall menu items at IHOP! Every year the kids can get their "scary face" pancakes and decorate them by themselves. Go to your nearest IHOP on October 28th and each kid will receive a free scary face pancake! We will be there:)

So far this Fall season, it has been really warm outside! I have had 2 fires in the fireplace when the temp went below 60. Scott laughs at me, but I LOVE to have a fire in the fireplace! I am looking forward to the next one... but I see more warm weather in the future. However, today seems to be a cool and windy day. Might have to build a fire and curl up next to it with a good book.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-27T13:59:00.001-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-15T19:38:00.001-04:00

Killing time at the mall

2011-06-12T22:27:00.001-04:00

Our church has a youth group meeting every Sunday evening for 6th thru 12th grade. Poor Zach almost never goes because they meet in the new building which is even further away from where we meet for church now. We don't live that close to church. So, I haven't wanted to go back out for zach's big group. Isn't that terrible? Tonight I decided to go since he really wanted to. I shouldn't deprive him of a good influenced fun time. I dropped Zach off and headed to the Dulles mall which used to be my mall back in the day! It had been a few years since I have been there. Brandon and Faith had such a great time! They rode the carousel horse ride several times. The mall also had a train ride that we went on. That was super cute I must say! Then they played in the airport play area with the other 50 kids. We had a great time and so did Zach. I guess he can go more often as long as I have about $20 to spend at the mall.

Our Vacation:)

2011-06-11T08:49:00.002-04:00

We had a nice time in Ocean City. It was nice to get away. The weather wasn't perfect and the resort was not as nice as the other places we have been, but I was happy just being some where else for a while. Away from work, house chores, and the sounds of the doorbell or door knocking 10 times a day. Scott, however, is some what of a home body and likes to be in his own bed, use his own toilet, use his own bath, etc... To be a nice relaxing vacation the resort has to have a better bed, bath, toilet, etc than home does. And well, this place did not. The water pressure was so low it took an hour for Scott to fill up the tub to take a bath. The bed hurt his back, the beach is not his "thing" and so on. I was also a little disappointed in the cleanliness of the room. Other people's things plus some trash was found tucked away in various drawers and cabinets. Ew. BUT the furniture was new and it was close to the beach. I would have been happy as a clam if I could just get every one else to be happy too. However, I could not make hubby happy enough to stay so we came home on Wed., 3 days early. We did have some great times while there. The kids loved the beach! They loved the sand, the ocean, the boardwalk, playgrounds and everything about the vacation. They were even happy in the resort playing video games. My best day was on a Monday when it was partly sunny outside and I got some time to myself on the beach, followed by great family time on the beach flying kites and building sand castles. I want Scott to totally plan our next trip to be one he will enjoy. I am happy just about any where as long as it means I get to stay the entire time!

Been Neglectful Again!

2011-05-11T02:05:00.002-04:00

I have neglected my blog again and have only done a couple wordless Wednesdays - because they are wordless and easy:) So here is a note to say: I love you blog. I am sorry for neglecting you. Life has been busy. Work is insane!!! Any employee, volunteer or just a person wanting to take an online course with the ARC knows that the ARC is a bit back logged right now. I mean, in my department, we would have to freeze time for a week - take a handful of employees and work reallllly hard just to get caught up. Since it is impossible to freeze time, I honestly don't see how we will ever be caught up. I am blessed and thankful to God that I have a job!

On that note ~ I posted a while back about not being able to go on vacay, well we are leaving Friday for Ocean City! Wooo Hooo!! It's going to be so nice. No emails or phone calls for a week. No kids knocking at or ringing the door bell 50 times a day. (or even once!) No watching what I eat. I will watch it alright, watch all those crispy boardwalk fries drenched with vinegar and salt go into my mouth and down to my tummy! Just hope they don't stay there.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-11T01:59:00.002-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-27T18:11:00.001-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-20T13:30:00.001-04:00

Eating My Words

2011-04-18T18:16:00.003-04:00

And just an hour after I posted my beachy post below, I hear that lay offs are happening/coming and myself and/or my husband may be affected. Now if either one of us are let go, we are screwed. We will have to sell this house and take a loss. If both of us are let go, way worse I suppose. That is the downfall of a couple working at the same company. Guess what?? That has happened before! We were both working together at our previous co and were laid off there too. However, the economy wasn't in the crapper like it is today. So needless to say, the vacation plan is on hold or canceled all together. I am trying not to worry. And if you are someone who knows me well, you know that I am failing.

Dreaming of the Beach!

2011-04-18T15:28:00.001-04:00

I want to go to the beach so flippin bad! Scott and I are dealing with the same stress at work and we talked about taking a spring vacation to get away from it all..... so now it is all I can think about. Of course we are using a timeshare exchange - bonus week so we have to wait until a place we like is available. The beach vacations go fast. There was a great one available this morning in Hilton Head SC. We would have had to leave the wkend after Easter. It took a lot of time trying to persuade hubby that we should jump on that one. It was a gold crown resort and they offered 2 free bikes for the week for guests to ride the trails or to the beach. (1 mile away) The units overlook a lagoon. Yeah, its a 10 hr drive and Scott hates long drives, but I like road trips and promised to drive so he can relax and read:) I managed to get him on board with the idea and guess what? Someone snatched it up. SIGH You gotta be quick with those. I wanted to cry like a little spoiled brat. I took my very short nap and actually dreamed we were on vacation.
On the bright side - it WILL happen! Maybe I will be on the beach for mothers day:)

Mommy Goes Out

2011-04-17T03:11:00.002-04:00

Mike Webb

I haven't had a night out in 6 months or so, so when my brother in law's band - Gonzo's Nose, came to Centreville, (not far from me) I had to go. I also had to jump through some hoops to make this happen. For one, I was scheduled to work and had to find coverage. Its hard to find coverage when you work third shift, not many people want to give up their sleep. My third shift co-workers and I usually cover for each other, but this weekend 2 of my co-workers were off so I had to find someone else. I managed to get 2 different people to cover 4 hours each of my shift:) How nice!! Well I guess that was my only obstacle really. I went out with my friend and neighbor. We had a nice time. Gonzo's Nose was great as always. The establishment, however, was not so great. I have been spoiled by the recent "no smoking" laws they have passed in the bars and restaurants. For what ever reason, that law has not reached this place yet so it was pretty smoky. So we went home stinking a bit. I don't know about my neighbor, but my husband had me take a shower before entering our bed. Thats fine, nothing like getting into a cozy bed after a hot shower or bath:) I had a fun night! Ate some onion rings then jumped around a lot in front of the stage hoping to work off the onion rings. GN sings some good ol 80s and 90s tunes so when they played Violent Femmes, The Cure, James and so on, I couldn't help but to take off my shoes and hop around. Then when some weirdo tried to dance against my friend, we thought it was time to go. Haha!

♥My Princess♥

2011-04-17T02:41:00.002-04:00

My daughter is just so girly, sweet and precious! I love having a daughter. She now realizes that we are the women of this house. If there is something "girly" to be done, we must do it together:) Faith wants to help me with everything! She helps with laundry, dishes and cooking. If I blow dry my hair, I must blow dry hers. She will even jump in the shower with me. Haha! Every single day she must wear a princess dress. Now as any woman, Faith is also moody. She is going through an annoying crying phase. She cries if she doesn't get her way, if Brandon or Zach bother her, if she gets scared.. so on. And this girl will not stay in her bed at night. Sadly, she is almost 4 and sleeps in our bed every night! She goes to bed in her bed, but ends up in ours. She asks Brandon if she can sleep with him and he almost always says no. He likes his space and wants to sleep in his own bed. We have never had a problem with him wanting to sleep with us. One night, he said yes to Faith sleeping with him. (as pictured below) Another night, I slept with Faith in her bed, She slept great in her bed that night. I can't remember why I did that, but I actually had a great night of sleep!

There is a spa near by that specializes in little girls! Some day, I will take Faith out for some quality girl time:) I bet she gets hooked on the spa world.

My Honor Roll Student

2011-04-17T02:10:00.002-04:00

Zach doesn't usually dress like this for school, but the week before spring break was spirit week and he gave 100% participation! The above outfit was "mix match" day. I wish I had taken pics from every day, especially "dress like your teacher" day when he wore one of my sweaters and scarfs. Haha! Zach had a great week of school. He got a 100% on his science project he recently did. The topic was something about different dirt/soils affecting the growth of plants. That was 10% of his grade this semester and moved him from a B to an A. Zach came home with his report card on Friday and he had all As and one B. This is huge because we had just had a teacher conference in January about 4 of his grades dropping from an A to a B. Yes, B work is still good, however, the grades dropped 10 pts and would have kept dropping if action was not taken! He just got lazy and stopped trying. After incorporating some new homework/studying rules, he brought those grades up:) We are very proud. NOW it's spring break and good ol Mom (that's me) spent all of her $$ this pay period not leaving any for spring break entertainment. SIGH Luckily, the other 10 kids in the culdesac are off too and the weather is expected to be beautiful, so I am sure Zach will have a good break no matter what. Sadly, I work his entire break. Of course I work nights, but still that will have me going to sleep at 9 and not staying up with Zach. We do plan on having at least one fun family day during the week. We are thinking of going to the DC museums. Zach LOVES history and government (yawn) and the twins will love to see the dinosaurs and what not I am sure. I want to go to the Holocaust museum and the Crime museum! A little warped, I admit, but I have seen the rest a million times. Unfortunately those 2 are not very kid friendly for Brandon & Faith. Grrr. I could "get lost" and sneak off to those while the rest of the fam goes through the huge natural history museum. Ooh, I just checked the website of the crime museum, it has the actual studio of America's Most Wanted! I had NO idea I lived so close to something so cool! Plus a whole lot more.. .So much more that the museum charges admission. So I guess that ends that for this week:) But it is now a high priority on my to do list. I am sure no matter what we decide, we can pull together a great spring break!

Zach's Baptism

2011-04-12T01:26:00.004-04:00

We had a wonderful day on Sunday. Scott was sick unfortunately, and missed out on most of the events. My parents and sister arrived in the morning in time to go to service with us. Brandon & Faith refused to go to their "classes" as they wanted to sit in service with their grandparents. They were pretty good. After service we went to the house of a church member who is allowing the use of her hot tub for baptisms until the new building is built.

The youth minister's wife read Acts 8:36 ~ As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

After the baptism we went home for snacks and cake. Zach had a great day:)

Zach with Memay - I think Zach looks like a teen here. Maybe because he is towering over his grandmother!

Zach and his grandparents

My sister Lynn

Getting ready for cake.

My Dad

Here is a short video clip of Zach's baptism.....

Arise! Be Baptized!

2011-04-09T02:14:00.003-04:00

My Zachary will be baptized this Sunday. I am so excited for him! The youth minister came to pick him up and take him out for ice cream yesterday. What a cool guy. I love our Church! They talked about video games, summer camp and all about baptism of course. They also prayed together. Meanwhile I went to the Family Christian store to pick up a gift:) Each time I asked grocery store bakers about making a religious cake or a cake with a cross, they kind of looked confused. No kidding. One lady told me to bring in a picture and they would copy it. Well, I picked up my own cake topper and will just buy a nice sheet cake and decorate it myself. I got this!

'Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’ ~ Acts 22:16

Love thy Neighbors and their kids and their friends and their friends .......

2011-04-06T16:59:00.001-04:00

There are a lot of kids in our culdesac and its great! However, one neighbor has a friend who visits every day and that friend always brings a van full of kids. The kids always seem to run to our yard, driveway, garage and play with our toys and ride our bikes. The mom sits with her friend and visits, saying nothing to me or her kids. Sometimes I allow this to happen. I mean, they are kids and they want to play. Sometimes I pack up our things and put them away. Today I was out running errands and I had my kids with me. I returned to find 3 boys playing basketball and one boy in my driveway scribbling all over with sidewalk chalk. Apparently we left a piece out. I had to stop and wait for all the kids to clear out just to pull into my own driveway. It's one thing to play while my kids are out playing, but to help yourself when we are not home?! That bothers me. I think I am a nice person and I probably shouldn't be complaining on my blog. But the thing is I have no back bone and will probably never say anything to the parent. Plus I have never met the parent. She doesn't live here. Very awkward situation!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-06T07:51:00.002-04:00

$1 at a yard sale for all day fun!

The Difference Between a Mommy and Daddy

2011-04-02T03:33:00.003-04:00

SCENERIO: 3 year old boy has an accident and wets his bed.

Actions taken by Mommy:

Strip child and put on clean underwear and pjs

Strip bed and put on clean sheets and pillowcase from linen closet.

Grab clean comforter from closet where the extra blankets are kept.

Put child back to bed with a kiss.

Actions taken by Daddy:

Strip child and put clean undies on

Put a towel over wet area in bed

Put child on towel

Grab a blanket from another persons bed

Say goodnight with a kiss:)

*chuckle*

Mother Knows Best

2011-04-02T03:04:00.004-04:00

I absolutely LOVED this movie!! It is a must see, even if you do not have kids. I enjoyed it so much, I felt like a kid watching it with a huge grin on my face. Oh how I hope the nice Easter Bunny will put this movie in Faith's Easter basket! What's that? Easter Bunny has been working a lot of hours? Just so she might be able to put some extra goodies in those Easter baskets? And what? Maybe get Mommy's hair done too? Oh, what a wonderful Easter Bunny! Tee hee!

Now even tho this was sung by the mean old lady who locks Rapunzel up in the tall tower, I gotta say, I dig this song:

Mother Gothel:
You want to go outside? Why, Rapunzel...!
Look at you, as fragile as a flower
Still a little sapling, just a sprout
You know why we stay up in this tower

Rapunzel:
I know but...

Mother Gothel:
That's right, to keep you safe and sound, dear
Guess I always knew this day was coming
Knew that soon you'd want to leave the nest
Soon, but not yet

Rapunzel:
But --

Mother Gothel:
Shh!
Trust me, pet
Mother knows best
Mother knows best
Listen to your mother
It's a scary world out there
Mother knows best
One way or another
Something will go wrong, I swear
Ruffians, thugs
Poison ivy, quicksand
Cannibals and snakes
The plague

Rapunzel:
No!

Mother Gothel:
Yes!

Rapunzel:
But --

Mother Gothel:
Also large bugs
Men with pointy teeth, and
Stop, no more, you'll just upset me
Mother's right here
Mother will protect you
Darling, here's what I suggest
Skip the drama
Stay with mama
Mother knows best
Go ahead, get trampled by a rhino
Go ahead, get mugged and left for dead
Me, I'm just your mother, what do I know?
I only bathed and changed and nursed you
Go ahead and leave me, I deserve it
Let me die alone here, be my guest
When it's too late
You'll see, just wait
Mother knows best
Mother knows best
Take it from your mumsy
On your own, you won't survive
Sloppy, underdressed
Immature, clumsy
Please, they'll eat you up alive
Gullible, na�ve
Positively grubby
Ditzy and a bit, well, hmm vague
Plus, I believe
Gettin' kinda chubby
I'm just saying 'cause I wuv you
Mother understands
Mother's here to help you
All I have is one request
Rapunzel?

Rapunzel:
Yes?

Mother Gothel:
Don't ever ask to leave this tower again.

Rapunzel:
Yes, Mother.

Mother Gothel:
I love you very much, dear.

Rapunzel:
I love you more.

Mother Gothel:
I love you most.
Don't forget it
You'll regret it
Mother knows best

Watching Mommy's Shows

2011-04-01T17:37:00.002-04:00

I have to DVR my shows - Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice because I need to sleep at 9 pm for work a few hours later. (altho I admit sometimes I sacrifice my sleep to watch them, and I ALWAYS regret it!!) So I usually watch my shows during the day on Friday. Today, a good friend came over to watch Greys with me, and after she left I wanted to watch Private Practice. The twins had been playing and keeping themselves occupied but that only lasts so long. They started fighting over a game. Then Brandon, giving up on the fight, wanted to watch his shows. So, as a compromise I said he could play games on my phone. I have this weird photo app that takes pics as if you were using a "retro" camera. So, he took this picture of me watching my show. Haha! I thought it was funny. He really knows how to use the apps on my phone and can navigate thru them well. That's so great cause we sometimes worry that he is so behind his sister, but I think instead, he just has a different way of thinking and he has different likes and dislikes. Don't worry, I do pay attention to my kids. After my show was over, we went out to play:)

I'm back!

2011-03-31T14:40:00.005-04:00

Where was I? Well, right here of course! Just busy and crazy as always. Atho sometimes I get some extra time.. and I use it to do absoutely nothing. I have been working A LOT!! So much, that when I receive a normal paycheck, it is way too small. Sadly, all of my OT pay has gone to bills and I am still not yet caught up. I think i will be in a couple weeks tho. Just in time for the very expensive month of May!! All my babies have birthdays coming up:) Speaking of my babies, my oldest handsome son will be Baptized on April 10th! I am so pleased with his desires to follow Christ and live his life as a Christian. I'm looking forward to all our tears of joy that sweet afternoon!

This is where I am usually sitting every afternoon - weather permitting. On the front porch, watching the kids play. The twins are old enough to not want to wander off now. But I still sit outside for the most part cause I worry. I have had Zach watch over them from time to time if I am doing chores in the house. I notice they come in and out so often, asking to use the potty, have a drink, have a snack, tattle on someone.... Sheesh!

Every year around tax time, we do some home improvements. This year we bought some more windows - so now every window in the front is new. We also painted the shutters and doors black. I absolutely love the new look!!! A huge part of our tax return went into the roof over the garage. We HAD to replace it. We used a new style of shingles so if you look closely, they don't match the roof over the main part of the house. I tried to pick a color that was close so it doesn't look so obvious. Next year, we will do the rest of the roof. We HAD to replace the roof over the garage because there was a leak that went straight into the family room. Turns out it was in really bad shape up there. The previous owners had tried to patch up all the boo boos with tar. Nice.

As you may know, we had a touch of beautiful weather here in the East side. We played outside a lot! Now that Spring is officially here, it has decided to go back to being cold and dreary. What a TEASE! Come back sunshine!

All of the playground pictures above were taken on St Pattys Day. I just love B & Fs matching "peas" shirts. They have a lot of spring/summer clothes bought from their Nana that they will be able to wear through the summer and then they will have outgrown all the clothes bought by Nana. I miss my Mother in-law so much, it hurts. I love dressing the kids in clothes she bought. I will hate to have to give them away:( It will seem so final.

This is Brandon & Faith today. I admire the way they play together every day. They fight too, don't get me wrong, but then they go back to playing. They have reached a stage where they entertain eachother and I can do other things!! Of course I still do things with them. But it is nice to do some stuff for myself. I met a new friend and started a Beth Moore Bible study.

A Bible study can change your life! Really! If you are feeling lost, overwhelmed, stressed or just not right. Do a Bible study. You can do it with friends or even by yourself online or with workbooks. God will speak to you through your study. It is AMAZING! I have cried and laughed. Burdens have been lifted. I feel so alive! My plan is to always have a study to do. Already planning on the next study to be on marriage. Your spouse is your # 1 and you should strive to make time with your spouse and focus on your love. There is always room for improvements:)

So my first post in 3 weeks is looking kinda sappy. LOL Hey, blogs are virtual diaries. I can write whatever I want! I promise to shake things up a little soon. Time to go buy my growing preteen a pair of cheap shoes. Mens size 9. Really?!?!!! And that is why I am buying cheap. I buy good name brand shoes at the beginning of the school year. Well, his growing skis, I mean feet, have broken through the toes of those shoes. So cheapo shoes until next school year.

Until next time dear friends!

Wordless Wednesday - I love this and yes I know I am easily amused:)

2011-03-09T17:20:00.001-05:00

What do I do With My Time?

2011-03-05T08:01:00.002-05:00

I just spent a good bit of time reading my cousin's blog. She has a very moving and emotional story to tell, and altho some parts are sad, I just couldn't stop reading, as if I were reading a good book. (probably because she is a writer:)) I wasn't sure if my cousin wanted me to link back to her blog or give her a shout out to share her story or not, so I am leaving that information out. My sister Patti also had a good story to tell. She had a rough year but turned to God and God has answered their prayers.

I love blogging and reading other blogs when I have the time. Blogging is so therapeutic! I used to blog DAILY and now I just don't. I am trying to think of what has changed? Can't say its the twins, because I started my blog just after they were born. I think it's just ME and how I change my priorities in life constantly. Or it could be Facebook.. I know I am not alone in neglecting my blog when FB became popular. Also it could be that my laptop DIED last summer. I can only blog on my work pc (and I honestly don't like using my work PC for anything personal) or our home desktop pc. Well lets face it, I rarely get to use our desktop pc. One because it is in our room where hubby works M-F until 9 pm. And two because when he is not working, he is using the pc to play World of Warcraft. (grrr) But thats mostly at night - he spends time with the family. Not as bad as other WOW addicts!

I am trying to think of my daily routine. My days go by super fast because of my shift!!!

8:30 am - get off work. Turn Logan's lights on and say good morning. (bearded dragon) If its Wed I take out the trash. Grab a banana or something with low ww points and head upstairs to bed. Every day I find 3 giggling lumps in my bed. Pull down the blanket to find Daddy with the twins trying to "hide" from mommy. This never gets old:)

Family finally leaves room around 9:30 and I sleep til noon.

Noon: Wake up and go downstairs to my lil ones. We have lunch. They play and I watch tv until my lunch settles, then I "try" to workout to a dvd for about 30 minutes. I ask the twins to play in their playroom in the basement so I can take a shower down there. Then we run errands or play until 3:30 when Zach gets home.

3:30-4:30 - Zach does his homework and I straighten up or something. What do I do? Maybe this can be my blog time. Or my God time - I am also trying to fit a Bible Study in here some where. So far I do this at night. (while I am working, sssshhhhh)

If it is nice out, we usually go outside at 4:30 until close to dinner time. Then I come in to make dinner, we eat close to 7 and we all watch tv and/or play until 8:30 when the twins and I go upstairs to get ready for bed. I go to sleep around 9 pm and get up at 12:20 am to start all over.

There are a few blogging spots in that routine. Also, I can blog from my phone and I have done so a few times:) It is just not as easy as using a real keyboard at a computer.

My weekend is: a smaller nap sat morning, then too tired to do anything the rest of the day!

Sun morning Church than too tired to do anything else, and Mon morning I scramble to do laundry, housework, WW meeting and everything I didn't do all weekend:)

And now my weekend begins again... Enjoy the weekend everyone!

One More Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-03T12:11:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday - A Princess and her Breakfast

2011-03-03T12:10:00.001-05:00

Laminin ~ Thanks for Sharing Angel!

2011-03-01T02:31:00.000-05:00

Sandwich Personality

2011-02-23T17:16:00.001-05:00

I always said I wouldn't be a mom who caters to her children's pickyness by cutting off the crusts of a sandwich. And I'm not! I am a mom who cuts "princess crowns" into her daughter's pb&j and triangles for the boys' bologna with yellow mustard and "white mustard" sandwich. :)

Daddy bought me a new outfit

2011-02-23T17:09:00.001-05:00

Cause I bat my eyes when I ask.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-19T03:19:00.002-05:00

We had a nice Valentine's day! I bought the kids some cards, candy and a small gift for each.
Bought hubby some new shoes which he needed. Hubby bought me a champagne glass set with votive holders and rose petals which I in turn used for a romantic dinner that evening. I made baked ziti and parmesan crusted chicken breasts. We had diet coke in our champagne glasses♥
Dinner was nice, even with our 3 kids running around the dining table and throwing rose petals every where.

THIS glass is also from hubby. Kinda. You see, I have always wanted one of these hand painted wine glasses. I like the ones from Hallmark by Lolita. They have a great "Mommy's time out" glass. Too cute! However, those glasses are $30. Pretty expensive for 1 glass. Knowing me, I would break it. While shopping at Walgreens for the kids' things, I found this glass for $6!!! So I bought it and told Scott "thank you". I think when I have time, I am going to try and paint my own. If it works out, maybe I can make some for gifts!

Amazingly, the kids all ate their small boxes of chocolate right away.

Brandon's gift was a new Marvel t shirt that talks! The "Marvel" tag in the lower corner actually has a button inside. It says thinks like "I am a super hero". The shirt came with a Hulk truck. All for $8 on sale at Kohls:) Brandon still likes Thomas, but his latest love is super heroes. Both Marvel and DC comics!

A great friend of the Webbs volunteered to babysit so we can go on a date. We rescheduled the date from last Saturday to today! So later today I will be out having a wonderful time with my husband. ♥♥♥

Dearest Angel,

2011-02-19T03:03:00.002-05:00

Below you will find 8 videos for your viewing pleasure:) I must say, it was SO easy uploading videos from my phone to youtube to blogger, so you will probably see more of them. I just have to work on the camera angle. LOL

Eye of the Tiger

2011-02-19T02:48:00.002-05:00

My pre-teen Zach doing his Eye of the Tiger dance. I had to bribe him to allow me to video him. That is how it is these days! He won't pose for pictures or anything. I am having a hard time adjusting to all of his "changes". Puberty is a challenging time!
And before you ask, Blase, YES I feed the boy. He eats all the time!

Our Song

2011-02-19T02:46:00.001-05:00

Brandon just LOVES my Valentines card from Daddy. It's a Taylor Swift card playing "Our Song". Good choice, Daddy!

Good-Bye Classic Radio Flyer Tricycle

2011-02-19T02:44:00.004-05:00

Last week I backed up into Brandon's red tricycle. I messed up the wheel. Yes, I could have just replaced the wheel, but it was a craigslist purchase and I didn't want to spend the same $$ in repairs. Luckily, Brandon took the news well. Man, he is cute. Just sayin! :) ♥

Sledding

2011-02-19T02:44:00.002-05:00

This is just one of several videos I took of the kids sledding during our snow days. We all had fun that day!

Bouncing ~ for Memay & Grandad

2011-02-19T02:06:00.002-05:00

These Yo Gabba Gabba bouncy balls were gifts from Memay and Grandad. They get used a lot!! B & F bounce all over the house on these things. It's hilarious!

My New Phone

2011-02-19T02:05:00.002-05:00

I remind myself of Jessica Simpson in this video. Remember how ditzy she was in Nick & Jessica a few years back? That show was hilarious! Any way, I was so excited I completely forgot what my Keurig machine was called. It only gets worse from there. We were driving to Berkley Springs WV to visit family on Christmas, and I was playing with my phone so we missed our turn. We ended up getting lost going to a place I have been driving to for the last 13 years or so. Wow!
A cool part of the day was the presentation of my gift:) Don't remember if I blogged about it? Probably not as I have been a bloggy slacker. We did Christmas at home and all got into the truck to go to WV. We were already running late. Scott only had like 1 bar left on his phone and I suggested we turn it off for emergency use only. I had not had a phone since I left mine in AZ back in August. Then Scott picks up his phone (as he is driving) and says he needs to call his friend to wish him a Merry Christmas. I started nagging at him saying he will kill his phone battery, that they talk for too long, etc... when I heard a ringing sound coming from inside the truck. I found in my car door my new phone:) I picked it up and started to scream, then Zach started to scream and we both cried a little. I wanted that phone so bad but knew we didn't have the money for it. Hubby found a good deal!

VIDEOS! By request from my BFF

2011-02-18T15:07:00.001-05:00

Sorry its sideways. We were filming Brandon copying the introduction of his Justice League shows when Faith discovered the bright light on my phone. I don't know whay, but it cracks me up!!!

Dancing

2011-02-18T15:05:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-16T04:33:00.001-05:00

Oh my goodness! I will be back later to post some more. Where does the time go?

Reasons to be Happy This Week :)

2011-02-04T17:34:00.002-05:00

I Love my Office

Had a little mishap with the house this week. I guess we have or had some snow on the roof and on one warmer day earlier in the week, we noticed 4 different drips of water coming from the frame of the entrance to our family room. Lovely! We KNOW we can not afford a roof repair or replacement right now, not even an insurance co-pay if our insurance covers this. The leak is slow enough that I have been able to control any damage to the floor with towels. As soon as we receive our tax refund (which we have filed) we can call a roofer to asses the problem.

None of this matches the title of this post, what I mean to say is altho this junk is going on, I am happy because I focus on the good things from the week:)

1. Lost 2 lbs

2. I finished the laundry

3. Cleaned 2 floors of the house on Tuesday

4. Caught up with my work

5. Watched new episodes of Gray's Anatomy and Private Practice!

6. Received Christmas pkgs from my best friend and mailed out hers:)

7. My family made me smile again and again!

My First Baby

2011-02-04T17:03:00.005-05:00

My first born. He will be 12 in a few months and boy is he turning my hair gray. He is currently grounded - for reasons I won't mention. Today ends the 1st week of his 2 week restriction. He is doing his time well. I have to admit, I have enjoyed having him here with me every day. once the 2 weeks are over, he will be outside or at a friends house all the time again. (actually, he is grounded from going into friends houses for a month, but I bet he will go out in the cold just to be outside) Zach is such a sweet and smart boy. He makes me laugh a lot. He is also so hyper sometimes, it shocks me!! I guess its a boy thing, also a bored thing. Today he came home with his first semester grades. Mostly As and 2 Bs. So although he bounces off the walls at home and I have to repeat myself SEVERAL times and sometimes with a raised voice, he must be good and focused in school.
One more thing about my dear son... I prayed to God one night to help me with Zach. Help me to keep him on the right path and make good choices. Soon after my prayer, we were at Church and I was told the youth minister wanted to talk to me. I had never met the youth minister and neither had Zach. Zach does attend a 5th/6th grade class in Church every Sunday, but it is not lead by the youth minister. When I finally caught up with the youth minister, I was advised that "someone" had paid for Zach to go to an upcoming teen Christian convention. To go for the weekend is pretty pricey and I had not even considered it before as it is not a good time for us financially. To hear the news that my son's trip was paid for and he is going ... literally took my breathe away!! I was in the clouds the rest of the day. Do you know the feeling? I can't explain it. I wish I could thank this person who paid. What a gift! I thanked God that night for an answered prayer. I know Zach will get a lot out of this experience. God is Amazing:)

Weight Watchers and Me

2011-02-04T16:29:00.003-05:00

Me - Christmas 2009

Me today - 34 lbs lighter.

2 pants sizes smaller

Like the rest of the world, I usually go on some kind of diet every year on January 1st. The year 2010 was no different. I did lose some weight, tried atkins then south beach - but kept falling off the wagon. Finally i decided to join Weight Watchers in May of 2010. From Christmas 2009 to May 2010, I managed to lose 8 of those lbs pictured on top by myself. But I needed WW to help lose more. I absolutely love going to meetings and having that "weigh in" once a week keeping me on my toes. Now, I had a very slow period through the holiday season, but I think (hope) I am back on track. There is a girl in my meeting that lost 103 lbs by her 1 year anniversary date with WW. I am definitely not losing as fast as that lady. I am a slow loser, but I am happy with that. Since May 2010 I have lost 25 lbs. My goal is to be at my "goal weight" on my 1 year anniversary. I have 20 more lbs to go. Thanks to my best friend Angel, I have been inspired to add some exercise to my routine and of course that is helping too! One of my sisters has recently joined and is doing an awesome job. She really inspires me too and we can keep each other on our toes at family gatherings. My hubby is of course supportive of my weight loss, but he is not a fan of the monthly cost. That is another reason I want to be my goal weight as soon as I can. Once at your goal (6 weeks after I think) you become a lifetime member and no longer pay:) As long as you stay close to that weight. Weight Watchers is not a diet, but a lifestyle. I love it and I don't feel deprived at all!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-02T07:00:00.001-05:00

My little artist

2011-01-24T19:02:00.001-05:00

I set up a painting area at the table so that I could maybe cook dinner without interruption. It didn't hold Brandon's attention long, but Faith loves to paint. Much to my surprise, she painted her name so very neatly without any help! I think its a great job for just 3 yrs old. I'm so proud, had to brag.

Weight Watchers Breakfast

2011-01-22T09:32:00.001-05:00

Pumpernickel toast lightly buttered, vanilla yogurt and strawberries. 5 points :)

On the menu today....

2011-01-22T09:24:00.001-05:00

Hope it turns out like Mom's!

Blogging from the Couch

2011-01-20T15:53:00.001-05:00

I am blogging from the couch today per the suggestion of my best friend. Is she desperately searching for something to read? Or she could be helping me to keep another new years resolution going of "blogging more". Both Angel and myself promised to blog more and she has been doing a good job. I need to step it up! Well, sadly, there is nothing exciting going on. In fact, 4 of us are sick with a cold or something. Brandon started, then me, Scott and Faith. Faith has a fever and just wants to lie on the couch. Fine by me, I want to be on the couch too. I am working a 7 night straight week this week and I have 3 more nights to go. Hope I don't get any worse than I am now. (headache, sore throat, naseau) I have to work no matter what! On a side note, Angel and I have been teaming up to lose weight together. Angel works out a lot harder than I do, but I am getting better. Both of us are losing weight and we are inspiring each other! I hope skipping today doesn't throw me all off.
Well I am off to look for the thermometer. Faith's head is burning up even after I gave her medicine 40 minutes ago. :/

Super Heroes

2011-01-20T15:20:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time, we spent our afternoons watching Sesame Street, Yo Gabba Gabba, Dora and many other preschool shows. But not lately. Now we watch Avengers and Justice League. (DC and Marvel comics) while big brother and daddy are thrilled by this change, I miss Elmo. It is impressive how Brandon can pick up an encyclopaedia of super heroes and name most every character. I will have to post a video of Brandon imitating the beginning of Justice League. It's hilarious! I occasionally catch myself getting sucked into a show or 2. Still, I miss sunny days sweeping the clouds away!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Big Brother Dressed Me

2011-01-19T02:55:00.002-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-12T07:19:00.001-05:00

2011-01-07T02:20:00.001-05:00

Testing mobile blogging. Watch out world!

Home Invasion

2011-01-07T01:13:00.003-05:00

AAARGH!! Herb, there is a monster in the house!!

Stay back LuLu, I'll save you! GET OUT YOU BEAST!!

And this is what a sleep deprived full time working mom does for fun:)

Top 5 Things You Could Live Without, But Don't Wanna

2011-01-04T03:32:00.002-05:00

I believe I have blogged about this in years past. I wanted to share with you my new top 5 things I don't want to live without. (in other words, things I LOVE!)

My IPOD ~ A favorite since 2005 and still working like a charm!

My Presto Heat Dish ~ The very best space heater I have ever owned!

My htc Evo ~ I learn something new this thing can do every day.

My Keurig coffee maker ~ makes GREAT coffee and is SO convenient!

My camera of course. Can't live without a camera. Altho I have been taking a lot of pictures from my phone lately:)

What's your top 5?

Crunch Crunch YUM!

2011-01-04T03:22:00.002-05:00

I went to the store to pick up some soda and cheese for my hubster and I found this. Special K Cracker Chips. MMMMM! I love chips but on Weight Watchers, I try not to buy them or I will sit and eat the whole bag. I bought the seasalt flavor because I like plain chips. But I do like sour cream and onion too, so I will try that next. Get this - a serving size is 30 chips!!! WOW! on WW it calculates to be 3 points:) Woo Hoo!! I found a way to have chips! Try them.

Tackle it Tuesday ~ Starting my Resolutions!

2011-01-04T02:37:00.002-05:00

Well I am kicking off 2 of my resolutions - blogging more, cause I am blogging right now about it and GETTING ORGANIZED!! I don't know about other moms out there, but I felt overwhelmed and a little frightened after Christmas. It looked as tho my house would never be the same! Toys every where. Brandon has received some sort of "tracks" for the past 2 years. This year once again, he received some tracks. 2 sets were the take along Thomas sets. These I do not mind because they fold up into their own carrying case. Santa also got Brandon one of those big racing tracks with the remote controls to race the cars around. That's in the basement, no big deal now. The big deal to me is the HOT WHEELS tracks!!! Oh my goodness! There are so many and I don't exactly know how they all fit together. All I ever want to do with them is put them in a box and set them aside, but Brandon will take them out and ask me to put it together. That's daddy's job:) We do have one long track that is meant for a door and it is hanging from my hutch in the family room! How beautiful. It is kinda cool I admit. You put the car in the holder and pull the string so it takes the car up to the top like an elevator - and when it gets to the top it shoots down the track. The kids love it. It's easy to take down and put away if we should have company. Faith now has a big beautiful dollhouse in the family room. This can stay! I love dollhouses and this one is nice and wooden. To me, it is like a decoration:) Now for all the other toys... our toy box on the main floor is overflowing and was not organized one bit. It is important to my OCD son to know exactly where his cars, trains and action figures are. So Scott bought me some boxes and I labeled them. Maybe some day I will make neater labels with my Cricut, but a sharpie will do for now.

Faith has a box too for all the small girly stuff that could get lost in the toy box. Now only larger items go in the toy box. Everything has a place! The goal is to get the rest of this family to learn all the places and put the items where they belong:) I am thinking of making a chart! These "bins" are located in a cabinet by the kitchen table. Also in this area is one toy box and one "treasure chest" filled with dress up clothes. Keep in mind we also have a toy box in the loft and one in the basement. YIKES!

Another tackle I completed this past week was taking down the Christmas decorations. Faith actually cried:( She wanted to keep the tree up. She made me fell bad. But not bad enough! :)

Next project is to clean and organize the basement playroom. Looking forward to it!

Herb Garden

2011-01-03T08:17:00.003-05:00

A good friend of mine gave me this Chia Herb Garden for Christmas. This was a great fun project for us to do last night! Faith helped plant and I am sure she will be super excited to see plants start to grow.

The kit came with 6 different herb seed packets to choose from. We chose Parsley - just for Logan to eat, Chives - for baked potatoes and sour cream of course! (and maybe in egg salad)

And Basil for spaghetti sauce. What a cool gift! Can't wait to use these fresh herbs and see if it makes a big difference in the taste!

Bring it On!

2011-01-01T02:44:00.002-05:00

Resolutions

Blog more!
Exercise ~ at least sometimes!
Get organized
Reach my goal ~ Become a Lifetime member at Weight Watchers
Manage my finances better

Our Christmas

2011-01-01T00:00:00.001-05:00

Christmas was a day filled with love and happiness! Seeing the kids' happy faces that morning made us smile. Scott's dad and brother came over later in the morning and we had a light breakfast and spent time together. In the afternoon we headed to West Virginia for Christmas dinner at my sister Lynn's house. It was wonderful!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T02:56:00.003-05:00

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Service

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-22T01:59:00.000-05:00

4 More Days!

2010-12-21T15:56:00.007-05:00

Is everyone out there having a "Christmasy" week? We are! It is just so close, I want to soak up all the lights, music and splendor of the Season! It's going to be over soon. :(

This past weekend we went to the Navy Band Christmas concert - to see Mike in the Sea Chanters. It was awesome! They changed a lot this year, it was really good. It has been good all the other times I have seen it, but it was nice to see some new stuff:) My friend Kristin from Colorado met us there. She just flew in a couple hrs before and planned to spend the evening with us. We had a nice time!

Mike is in the middle

Mike and others doing a hilarious version of the '12 Days of Christmas'

Kristin and Zach

Faith and Daddy

Brandon

Kristin and I much later.... haha

Playing with Logan.

I totally swiped this from Kristin's pictures, I didn't go see the tree that night. I did let Zach go with Kristin to see the tree and ride home with her. Zach was actually there the night before with his chorus class singing!

Our office National Headquarters. I swiped this from Kristin too, however, I was there that night. We parked there:) So very convenient!

Mike singing the Grinch! He waved and pointed at the kids.

All we are doing now is waiting. Waiting for the big day! Shopping and wrapping is finished. Friday we are all going to Christmas Eve service at Church. Faith will be singing with the preschool kids at 3:45. Can't wait! That night I am going to light a fire and have the kids sit in the Family room and listen to 'Santa and the Three Bears' just like I did when I was a kid. Then its off to bed!! Christmas morning we will open gifts and see Grandpa and Uncle Mike around 11. (and maybe even Uncle Steven??) We will have a breakfast of pastries and fruit.
Then we are off to West Virginia to have Christmas dinner with my parents, 2 of my sisters, my uncle and cousins and their kids. Great times to be had.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-15T08:39:00.000-05:00

Tackle it Tuesday

2010-12-14T16:32:00.004-05:00

Cleaned Logan's house

Wrapped presents!

Still have to make and send cards. Yikes!

Back Home...

2010-12-14T07:02:00.002-05:00

We had a wonderful time on vacation! Here is a recap:

Sunday: Arrived, bought groceries for the week and pizza for dinner. Put the lil ones to bed and sat in front of the fireplace and watched 'Eclipse'.

Monday: Viewed and upgraded our timeshare to the new beautiful duplex houses they now have in a gated community. YAY! Now we can vacay in the summer and not take Zach out of school. Went to the mall. Relaxed in our unit until it was time to go to the magic show!

Tuesday: Rented movies. Went out to lunch. Went to a comedy/balloon show!

Wednesday: Played at the arcade for a couple of hours. I went to the Spa for a facial. Relaxed in the evening.

Thursday: Daddy went home to take care of some things. (our house, pet, Christmas shopping and so on...) Took the kids to the Rec center for video games and basketball. Went to lunch and to a fun little shop. Rented the new Shrek movie and cooked dinner.

Friday: Memay and Grandad came for the weekend! Went to the waterpark and had a blast. Went to the all you can eat buffet overlooking the waterpark and ate crab legs:)

Saturday: Zach and I went snowtubing while the twins stayed in with Memay and Grandad. Cooked dinner and watched movies.

Sunday: Check out day:( Rush rush rush! Went Christmas shopping for Daddy on the way home.

On Vacation

2010-12-08T20:37:00.003-05:00

Just a short note to say we are on vacation and I will be back soon to blog all about it! :)

Another Thanksgiving that couldn't be beat!

2010-11-27T11:52:00.003-05:00

We had Grandpa and Uncle Mike over for Thanksgiving. I worked that morning, so after getting off work at 8:30 am I moved to the kitchen and stayed until 1:30 in the afternoon! I did, however, watch the parade while I cooked:) The kids loved the parade.

For dinner we had Turkey of course, mashed tatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn casserole and rolls. Grandpa brought over FOUR pies and 3 cans of whipped cream! I am so scared to go to my WW meeting on Monday:)

After warming up a bit, Faith put on her princess dress to show off to Uncle Mike and Grandpa.

She even sat on Uncle Mike's lap. Actually, I think Uncle Mike is her favorite man aside from her daddy.

Brandon and Grandpa. Brandon doesn't need any time to warm up to people. He will talk your ear off and show you every toy he owns!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T08:49:00.001-05:00

A Hello Kitty image this year in honor of my little Hello Kitty loving girl♥

Another Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-24T06:33:00.002-05:00

Where did all the days in between go?