Sunday part 1 and 2

Oh my goodness! I took a lot of pictures today! The weather was beautiful. The trees are blossoming. What a wonderful day. It has been a very long time since I maxed out my camera disk, and I did that today. Of course I can't post all of them, but I do have quite a bit to share. Since it is late, I'll just share part 1 and possibly part 2 of the day.

Ashley really wanted to go outside and ride her bike today and Aussie wanted to play a video game with Dad. So I went outside with Ashley. Mason watched the game for awhile and then headed outside to play too. There was only a little bike riding. They were much more interested in jumping on our neighbors trampoline. They tried to get me to get up there, but it actually makes me sick! So I said, "NO WAY!"

After playing outside we went to the Y to workout. Kids Club closed at 5:00 so we only had 20 minutes to work out. At 5:00 I picked the kids up and brought them back with me so we could finish our workout. They got a good workout too.

Mason shows us a new way to use this machine.

Then we headed to the park to play. And that will be part 3 posted tomorrow.

Unfortunately another stressful day

Friday-

Co-op day! I like co-op day! (typically)

Ashley's Daisy class was cancelled (2nd week in a row) this time because they were having a field trip later on in the day. If Daisy's was the last class of the day that would be OK, but it's not. So someone has to be there to watch the few girls who have other classes after Daisies. I always feel like it's my responsibility to be that person and I feel like I should have something for them to do for that hour. I bought some construction paper, glue and markers to keep in the car for such occasions now.

So then I find out that the field trip is at 2:30. When I first heard this I didn't think anything about it, I just thought oh good it's on Friday after co-op. My kids' have a 1:45 class that is over at 2:45. Shoot! What do I do? The field trip is in Smyrna about 15 minutes away. I was frustrated to say the least. One of my friends said she could take Ashley and I said, I would come and pick her up after the boys get out of class. I had Ashley go to class for the first 20 minutes and then took her out.

Someone gave me directions, so after class I loaded up the boys and set out for the Smryna Fire Station. I got to the road and turned right and it was not right there like I thought it would be. I went to the traffic light and turned around thinking well maybe it is on the road I was just on close to this road I turned on. I finally get through a little bit of traffic and find that there is NO fire station there. I was VERY frustrated at this point. I stopped at a gas station to ask where it was. They tell me it is down the street on the right. OK so now I'm getting pretty upset with my friend who gave me the directions thinking she doesn't know her right from her left and that it really isn't close to this street at all. Sure enough I find the Smryna Fire Station. I pull in and don't see any girls. I start to get really upset and trying to find a phone number to call. A man came out and asked me if I needed help. I said, I was trying to find the Girl Scout group that was supposed to be here. Then he says, well maybe they're at the other Smyrna Fire Station. He tells me right where it is, on the street my friend told me it was. I just hadn't gone far enough. I got there as they were finishing up. I was so upset to have missed it. I did end up getting a couple pictures of the group shot.

Then we went to the TLC school play of the Music Man. They really did an excellent job. But the kids got bored quickly. So it was stressful watching it and trying to hold onto my sleepy kids.

Unfortunately, it was another stressful day. But Saturday was better! I'll blog about it tomorrow, because it's already 1AM and we have to move our clocks forward tonight.

Crazy Thursday

Thursday was a crazy day. Every Thursday is a crazy day around here.

After taking the kids to music class, we went to Green Hills to WholeFoods. I was looking for essential oil. I decided to try the Duggar's recipe for homemade laundry detergent. I didn't know so many essential oils existed. I tried smelling several of them, after awhile they started all smelling the same. So I asked one of the workers about it. She happened to make her own laundry detergent so she knew just what to tell me. She mentioned several that she had tried, but what I went with was Peppermint. It is a very refreshing smell. You don't use very much at all so it's not like your laundry smells like peppermint. There is just a hint of it.

So far I really like it. The clothes actually appeared to be whiter than usual. And it is tons cheaper than store bought detergent. The recipe costs approximately $2.00 for 180 loads of laundry. It's not hard to make. The only suggestion I have is if you don't have the room to store 10 gallons of detergent then split it with someone.

So after that stop at the WholeFoods store I went to Trader Joes. They have these delicious meringues there that I am addicted to and for 4 cookies it is only 2 WW points.
Anyway, while I was there I thought I would try out the samples. They had a sign up of the things used in today's samples. I read it and said, "Oh I can't have that, I'm allergic to fish/ shellfish." Then I looked over and there were actually several samples. So I said to the man, "Oh so there is no fish or shellfish in this carrot juice?" And he said, "no." So I took a sip of it and encouraging Ashley to have some. I'm always looking for something healthy my kids will actually eat or drink. It had a different kind of taste that I wasn't crazy about, so I didn't have more than a sip. BUT...as you probably could have guessed, my mouth started to tingle. As I was checking out I mentioned something to the clerk, saying I wondered if I was allergic to something in the carrot juice. She mentioned a couple of things in it and then she said fish oil. Well hello? That was it. I told her about how the man said there wasn't any in it. She was very concerned, so that lead me to telling the people at the front desk. I'm glad I did. That could be life threatening. That guy needed to know that. I was having a very irritating mild reaction. The lady at the front desk went next door to Walgreens and bought me some Benadryl and water. That did the trick, but it also made me extremely exhausted.

I left there around 4:20PM and started on my way home. It was the worst day of traffic that Nashville had seen in a long time. I'm lucky that earlier in the day, I got some DVD's from the library for the kids to watch. I'm so glad for car TVs!!! I actually needed to be at a 6:00 meeting. Greg and I were communicating back and forth via cell phones. I think it was at 6:15, I had to go to the bathroom SO BAD!!!!! I mean emergency- I HAVE TO PEE! We are inching a long and there is just no place to go. I was frantically rocking back and forth in the driver seat. I looked over at these women laughing at me. I just laughed back. Then you could see them say, "She sees us..." And they just laughed more. I wish I could have written a sign and put it in the window saying doing the Pee Pee Dance. Finally, I see a sign! OH a sign! LIQUOR store sign! I haven't been so happy to see a liquor store in my life! Greg said he was close to there so he would meet me and I could run in without taking all the kids in. As I'm telling the kids what we are doing, Aussie says, "Liquor is not good for you." I said, "Your right, but they have a bathroom and I'm goin' in!" Greg honks his horn and signals me he is there and I run in. There are 2 men who look like Abu from the Simpsons. I said, "May I use your bathroom?" There eyes were HUGE and shook there heads yes. I headed for the back of the store and they pointed up front to what looked like a linen closet and said, "It's up here." So I go in. It is the filthiest bathroom ever! The toilet does not flush and someone had gone pee before me. But I had to go. EMERGENCY remember? Thank goodness the kids could wait until they got home to go. After I told them how nasty it was they said they could wait.

I got to my meeting after it was over. Yes over 2 hours in traffic to what should have been 25 minutes. Two people had come in just before me and one person was coming in as I was leaving. By this time I was way to stressed to go workout, I'm not even sure I would have made it anyway with that stinkin' traffic. I went home and fell asleep on the couch.

And that was my crazy Thursday!

Visiting Family

It has been 4 1/2 years since I've seen my brother Mark. He was visiting my sister Kim (who by the way has NEVER seen my kids) in Florida for a couple weeks. My Mom and Dad drove down to visit my sister and pick up Mark and take him back to Ohio. So on the way down to Florida, my parents stopped by and took me and the kids out to dinner. (Greg already had plans.) On their way back they stopped here again this time with Mark. My kids didn't remember Mark and they were very shy around him. Mark loves kids so it was a shame they didn't have more time to warm up to him.

Anyway, we met in their hotel (WHICH WAS NOT A HOLIDAY INN). The employees didn't tell us what hotel it was, but they were ADAMANT about it not being a Holiday Inn! Even though the sign by the road, on the doors, on everything even the floor mat when you walk in the door says Holiday Inn.


Mark was surprised that I had dark hair. That's what happened after I had kids- my hair just started getting darker and darker. He asked me if I dyed it, but I don't. He looked the same except with several gray hairs. It was good to see him. He asked me if I was going to visit him in California. Boy would I like to. But I told him probably not. We have no money to get there, or to find a place to stay or to eat when we are there. He talked like he might like to move to Arizona, if he gets a job there.

Well anyway, we took some snapshots in the lobby of the kiddos. They were so hyped up! CRAZY! They were running left and right and all over the place.


***Mom- I promise most people think my kids are really well behaved!***

So then we went to Chic-Fil-A for dinner. It was Family night and in Brentwood, you can get kids' meals for $1.50. YAY! The place was crowded as usual. We managed to visit a little bit. The kids got their faces painted. Aussie got a green sparkly cat. Every single time I tried to take his picture he would close his eyes. So this is the best I got. Ashley got a unicorn.

And Mason wanted a dog face. I was surprised because he normally doesn't like to get his face painted. But he had his mind made up. He wanted a whole dog face or nothing. The lady wasn't doing whole faces tonight because it took too long, but I asked if she could just do an outline or something. So happy happy Mason got his puppy dog face.






Well shoot! I see that it is 1:40AM. I'm not even tired. Where did the time go? I guess I better go to bed.

Catching up! Girl Scouts, Cool dudes and more.

OK it has been quite awhile so I think I should update and say something.

The thing is I update my blog in my head all the time. I wish I could get everything I thought of here actually on the blog itself.

Let's see what pictures I can find to "blog" my memory (hee hee).

Aha! A week ago Saturday, Ashley and I had to work a Girl Scout Booth to sell cookies. She and her friend Kadence (Aussie's Girlfriend) were so adorable. They held their signs in the freezing cold and asked everybody who went by if they wanted to buy Girl Scout Cookies. They were cracking us up!!! They would hardly let anyone get out of the store. They stood right up by the door. We told them several times to get back, but they always ended up there. We now know why they started letting Daises sell cookies this year. It's because no one can resist the cute little girls! People bought them because our kids were so cute. They told us that. There was even one Mom who had a daughter who was a girl scout, but she couldn't say no to our kids. Oh and it was so funny when people said, "no thank you." The girls just dropped their signs and looked rejected. We tried to teach them to say Thank you anyway. Anyway, they were so cute that some people just donated money to the Girl Scouts. And then there was one lady who gave the girls $2 each just for them being cute.

They just laughed and giggled the whole time.

Ashley and I agreed that we wouldn't tell the boys because they would get jealous. But when we got home she promptly went to Daddy and said, "I need to SHOW you something I got tonight when the boys are not around so they won't get jealous." Well Hello! The boys then started asking questions. I was so mad at her. She ended up going to bed and crying and saying she was so sorry! Then she sold some more cookies the next day at church. One man gave her 50 cents to keep. The boys got jealous. Now all they want to do is get into boy scouts and sell popcorn!

Sunday, we went to our usual dining place, Pizza Hut. Aussie took Greg's sunglasses and put them on.

Ahhhh....He's so cool!

Oh What a Ladies Man!

Well then Mason had to try.

Look at him with his thumbs up. Oh so cool!

And my daughter doesn't need glasses to be Oh so cool!

That's Mommy's Girl!

Wednesday we hooked up with Dana and the boys at the indoor playground. I got to snuggle with Treyton. At the beginning Treyton wasn't being his normally happy little self. But we changed that!

Dalton just LOVES his baby brother!

Dalton and Braxton had just come from school and they were SO excited! They had just learned about the Statue of Liberty. They brought in these crafts to show my kids. Obviously, Aussie has not learned about the Statue of Liberty. He just found it funny to pretend to eat the fire.

Friday night I went to a crop and had a blast! I only created 1 layout. I do love it. One little piece fell off, so I either need to find it or recreate it before I take a picture of it and put it on here. I got home at 2:00AM. I was so tired on the drive home I had to eat and drink Diet Coke to stay awake. But of course when I got home I didn't go to sleep. I stayed up until 3:45AM. OH MY! Yes I was terribly exhausted when I woke up at 9:30 Saturday. Greg took Aussie to Chinese class (which he got another A). And I somewhat slept on the couch. Of course I don't get very good sleep without my mask. Anyway, he came back and got Ashley and took her on a little date and then came back and got Mason and took him on a little date. And I stayed on the couch. I'm NOT proud of that! Especially since I had A VERY important project I needed to do Saturday. Anyway, Greg started watching Return of the Jedi with the kids. I tried to watch but I was too tired and cold. So I went and got into Ashley's bed. I guess this was about 8:00PM and slept until Greg woke me up to come to our room. I would like to say I got great sleep, but I didn't. At that point I woke up around 2:30, 3:00, 3:30 etc. wondering if I should get up. But I tried to sleep it out. Then when it was time to get up I fell asleep. Ay Caramba!!! Greg got up and fed the kids (He is awesome!) and then came upstairs and told me it was 8:30. All I could say, was I don't know what is wrong with me!

So today is Sunday- We tried a new Chinese restaurant today. The kids loved it. But it cost around the same amount as Evergreen so we won't be making it a regular stop. We went to the Y right after lunch. I did the 30 minute cafe. And THEN we went home and I went back out to a different Y and did the Zumba class! I LOVE ZUMBA!!! It is so much fun!

Well thank you to those who made it this far. I'm caught up and now hopefully, I'll blog more often!

Goodnight off to bed at a decent hour (well for me) 12:00AM. :)