Home Is Where The Heart Is.....

And Right Now, I've Had To Get A Job Outside Of The Home To Keep From Losing It. It Doesn't Bother Me Because I Know Our Bills Will Be Paid, We'll Have Food On The Table And A Much Better Christmas This Year. I Am So Looking Forward To Thanksgiving & Christmas This Year. It Won't Bother Me If We Don't Have A House Full Of Family & Friends, Just So Long As Everyone Is Healthy & Happy. I've Got To Learn To Just Let Things Fall As They May, Handle What I Can & Leave The Rest To The Good Lord Above. Everybody Here Right Now Is Good & I'm Just Thanking God Everyday To Be So Blessed. I Am Currently Trying To Make Our Thanksgiving Dinner Menu Planned And That's Easier Said Than Done....lol  Well, I Know I Haven't Posted In A While, I Just Wanted To Check In And Post So Yall Know That I Am Still Alive And Kicking...lol    Til' Next Time.
Rachel

Tuesday To Do

Well, There's Lots To Do Around My House Actually, And I Mean Lots! I Try To Make A List Of Things That I've Got To Do But For Some Reason, I Hardly Ever Follow It. This Week, I Will Be In Back To School Mode Buying School Supplies, Clothes Etc. Etc... I've Been Trying To Get The Kids In The Bed By 8:00 p.m. So They Can Start Getting Used To Getting Up Early But That's Gonna Be A Bit Harder Than I Anticipated WEith Everybody Wanting To Stay Up Til All Hours Of The Night Playing Games And Sleeping Until 1 or 2 In The Afternoon.....lol Including Myself. Anyhoo, I Have Got To Get Some Laundry Started Or It's Gonna Start Piling Up On Me & I'm Gonna Get Pissy Cause I Hate Doing Laundry! Anyhoo, Til Next Time...

It' All Good

We All Sat Down Last Night And Talked About Going Back To School & Looking Forward To What The Future Holds For Us, Reflecting On Our Summer And Just Enjoying The Present By Talking To One Another With No Screaming, Yelling, And Fighting Or Arguing. It Was Great! I Woke Up This Morning @ 7:00a.m And Got Me Some Coffee And I Started Checking My E-mails And It Just Struck Me That I Am In Such A Wonderful State Of Peace And Happiness That It's Almost Unreal. I Haven't Felt This Good In So Long. Physically, Mentaly, Emotionally & Spiritually. It Almost Makes Me Want To Ponder "Wha's Next? How Long Is This Gonna Last? Anyhoo, I'm Just Enjoying The Present. I' Posting Some Pics Of Our Summer Later On But For Now, It Doesn't Matter How Good I Feel, The Dishes Couldn't Care Less..lol But, It's All Good. Til Later....

Today's Thought -- How Are You?

I Have Always Really Wondered Exactly What People Are Asking When They Ask Me This Question And I Always Say "I'm Good, How Are You? Some People Are Really Genuine About Wanting To Know How I Am And Others Could Care Less But Thats What I'm Genuinly Asking When I Ask Others How Are You? They May Want To Tell Me Thier Whole Life Story And Some Just Say I'm Okay But When You Ask Someone How Are You? Are You Genuinly Asking Them And Prepared To Hear Them Out Or Do You Just Ask Them The Question And Hope They Say Good And Quickly Move On In The Conversation? That's What Today's Thought Is And Today, I Genuinly Ask You.......How Are You? I'll Be Posting More Later But I Wanted To Get This Out There On My Blog Before I Got Busy And Forgot. Til Later My Busy Lil' Bloggers!

Fall Is Coming.....

School Will Be Starting Back August 24th & I Can Smell Fall Coming. I'm Trying To Get Started In Somewhat Of A Routine Of Getting Up Early So It Won't Be So Hard When School Starts For Me & The Kids When The First Day Of School Rolls Around. Doodlebug Will Be Starting Kindergarden This Year & He's Excited. I'm Both Nervous & Excited For Him. Hubby's Doing Good For Now, We'll Have To Decide What Step To Take Next Which Is Whether Or Not To Start Treatments And When. The Kids Are All Cramming In As Much Time As They Can With Thier Friends And Hangin' Out And Playin' Outside Til After Dark So I've Had To Invest A Small Fortune In Off Mosquito Spray Because Of All The Blood Thirsty Mosquitos Flying Around But It Makes Them Happy And As Long As They Are Happy...I'm Happy lol. Summer Is Almost Over And I Don't Know Where The Time Has Gone But It Seems Like Yesterday Was The Last Day Of School. Anyhoo, I'm Off To Run Some Errands And Start Some Laundry, I Just Thought I'd Pop In And Say Hello To You All. Until Next Time....

Hello Again

Well, I'm Here....Haven't Felt Much Like Blogging Lately. Kids Are Starting To Get Ready For School To Start Now That Summer Is Winding Down & I'm Trying To Get Them Back Into Thier Routine Of Going To Bed At A Decent Hour, Etc... Nothing Really Going On Here Just Enjoying The Lazy Summer Nights. Feeling Very Blessed For What I Have In My Life & Not Stressing Over What I Don't Have & Don't Need In My Life. Life Is Just Too Damn Short. Gotta Start Getting Business Going Again But For Now.. Until Next Time....

Were Back!

Vacation Was Nice But There's No Place Like Home. Big Boy & Little Man Left For Camp Monday For A Week & Doodlebug Misses Them Even Though He Won't Say So. I Miss Them Too. I Am Back On My Meds & Hubby's Doing Good But We Were At The River With Some Good Friends Of Our's The Other Day & Had A Blast But Shortly After We Left & Came Home My Girlfriend Called Me & Said Her Husband Was Being Rushed To The Hospital; He Was Having A Heart Attack! They Ran A Heart Cath & Said There Were No Blockages But He Has High Blood Pressure, Acid Reflux & High Cholesterol. He Came Home Yesterday. Thank God! It Wasn't Worse. The Weather Here Was Supposed To Be Cooling Off A Little Bit But I Swear, It's Just Gotten Hotter & It's Just Too Hot & Miserable To Do Anything Outside. That's Okay Cause When Income Tax Refund Time Comes, I'm Getting A Pool! lol I'm Trying To Play Catchup With Business & Things Around The House But Like I Said....Too Freakin Hot & I'm Just Being Lazy lol Well, I Guess That's It For Now, I've Gotta Figure Out What To Make For Dinner & Get Some Laundry Started. Til Next Time..

Mo' Fun In Da' Sun

Ahhh, A Day At The River. Blackwater River. A Southerner's Paradise Is What It Is & We Had A Blast! The Day Was Hot But The Water Was Cool & Not Crowded Like At The Beach. We Go Canoeing At This River Every Year And Were Gonna Go Camping There When Hubby Gets His Vacation In A Few Days. I Can't Wait! Anyhoo, Little Man Had A Blast At The River, Unlike At The Beach Where He Stayed On Shore The Whole Time, He Was Like A Fish At The River. I Got Burnt Again *SIGH* But It Was More Than Worth It To Just Sit Back & Watch The Hubby & Kids Have Such A Good Time. I Went & Bought Everybody A Radial Tire Tube So We Can Walk Up River And Float Back Down The Next Time We Go... That'll Be Fun....hehehehe Alrighty, On To The Pictures...

Well, Today Is My Daughter's Sweet Sixteen Birthday & I've Got The Family Party Tonight & The Week After Next Were Gonna Throw Her A Suprise Party. We Couldn't Do It This Weekend As We Had Planned Because Hubby Had To Work All Weekend, None Of Her Friends Were Gonna Be Able To Come & Hubby Has Got Some Tests To Have Done Tommorow. He's Got To Have A Procedure Done To Check His Acid Reflux & His Dr. Said That While They Were At It They Would Go Ahead And Do A Colonoscopy. At This Point I Know Were Being Tested With Everything.....Yes, His Dr. Said Liver Cancer, But Were Gonna Stand Tall & Stay Strong.

At This Point, There's Not Much We Can Do But Leave It & God's Hands & Pray. We Have Been Told That It Would Be A Good Idea To Start Making Arrangements But Were Taking Things One Step At A Time Right Now & Staying As Positive As We Can. Anyhoo, Just Wanted To Share Our Day At Da' River With Yall, I've Got To Get Busy Cooking Dinner And Making Sassypant's Cake. Hope Yall Have A Super Sunday! Later Gator!

Fun In The Sun

Ahhh, A Day At The Beach. Fun, Fun, Fun. Especially Since Our A/C Decided To Go Out On Us Tuesday Night. We Had A Guy Come Out And Look At It & He Said The Inside System Died, Fried, Went Bye Bye. He Said It Would Cost Anywhere Between $1500-$2000 To Fix. Uggghhh!!! And With The Temps In The 100's, I Ain't Staying In This Hotbox! No Way! So We Were Off To Drop Hubby Off At Work & To The Beach We Went. Kind Of A Lot Of Seaweed But No Jellyfish, No Red Tide & With A Green Flag Flying...We Were Good! Sassypants, Big Boy & Little Man Were Like Fish In The Water And Were Having A Ball! Doodlebug Was Happy Playing At The Shore. We Weren't There Long And I Saw A Fin About 10 Feet Away From Us, And Getting Closer, My First Thought Was That It Was A Shark. I Panicked And Screamed At The Kids To Get Out Of The Water. When They Were All Safely On Shore We Stood There And Watched As This Thing Surfaced And It Was A Dolphin! I Couldn't Believe It Came That Close To Shore! Apparently He Had Gotten Himself A Pretty Big Fish And Was Tossling With It. I'm Not Sure What He Finally Did With It But That Fish Was Half The Size Or More Of The Dolphin And He Turned And Went Back Out A Litttle Bit, Doing Jumps And Flips Almost Like He Knew There Was A Crowd Forming And He Was Putting On A Show For Us. It Was Soooo Neat! Too Bad That I Didn't Think To Grab A Camera But I Was Just Amazed By This Dolphin That I Couldn't Do Anything But Oooh, & Ahhh. You'd Think That This Was The First Time We'd Ever Seen A Dolphin But It Was The First Time We Had Ever Seen One This Close. Funny Cause There Is A Gulfarium About A Mile Down On The Beach Where We Have Always Taken Kindergarden Feild Trips And Watched The Dolphins Perform And Other Sea Creatures Perform But This One Was In His Natural Habitat And Comfortable. It Was Great. The Three Oldest Kids Stayed In The Water Most Of The Time & Doodlebug Made Friends On Shore Like You See In The Pics I'm Fixin To Post. Anhoo, We Had A Blast & Plan To Go Again Tommorow Cause Hubby's Off & He Wants To Go With Us. Alrighty, Here Come The Pics.

Until Tommorow When I Post Part 2 Of "Fun In The Sun " Pics, Love Ya All!
Rachel

Happy Father's Day

It Has Been A Pretty Uneventful Day Around Here, Too Hot To Go & Do Anything So Were Staying In With Pizza And A Movie. Hubby Don't Feel To Well Either. Now As For The Teenage Drama With Sassypants.....She Now Knows Why I'm On Medication. I Hate The Teen Years, I Just Hope & Pray To God That My 3 Boys Don't Pull Any Crap Cause They'll Have To Put Me In A Freakin Looney Bin For Sure! Anyhoo, Just Wanted To Wish All The Dad's Out There A Happy Father's Day. Any Man Can Be A Father, But It Takes A Man To Be A Dad. My Hubby Is A Great Dad And When He's Feeling Better We'll Make It Up To Him Cause He Desrves It. Until Tommorow....

Family, Friends & A Found Turtle

I Know, I Know, But I Had To Take A Few Days Off, I'm About To Hit Crisis Mode And Just Needed To Shut Down (Emotionally) For A Few Days.

(Turtle) We Found The Turtle! & Alive! Thank Gawd Cuz Littleman & Doodlebug Would Have Had A Broken Heart.

(Family)
I Have 3 Sister's (2 Older & 1 Younger Than Me) And After My Mother Died We Made A Pact To Be Closer To Each Other Through Phone Call's Visit's, Etc (Never Happened) And They Can't Say I Didn't Try Because I Did & Honey That Phone Line Goes Both Ways. My Youngest Sister I Called And Talked To Almost Everyday And Was Much Closer To Than The Other's. Well, Now Shes Pissed Becaused I Didn't Call Her On Her Birthday. I Called The Next Day Because I Was So Busy With Dr's Appt.s And Such On Her B-day That By The Time I Remembered It Was Like 10:00pm & I Thought It Was Too Late. I Said To Myself...Well, She'll Get Over It When I Take Her Out Tommorow & Explain The Day I Had & I Was Gonna Suprise Her With Lunch & Shopping, Nail's Done Etc. Etc. But Before I Could Explain To Her Why I Didn't Call Her On Her Birthday She Told Me To Go To Hell And To Not Ever Call Her Again, I've Tried My Home Ph.# And My Cell Along With Hubby's And She's Got Them All Blocked. If She Only Knew The Crisis I'm About To Go Through She Would Understand. So I've Cut My Ties With My So-caled Family. I've Never Asked Anything Of Them & I Never Will. I Will Not Go Out Of My Way To Call, Contact, Visit Etc Anymore. I Have A Husband And 4 Beautiful Kids To Think About. I Had To Be Put On Meds When My Mom Died And Remain On Them Because Of All The Damn Drama With The Way That Was All Dealt With And Is Still Being Dealt With 2 Years Later...

(Friends)

Other Than A Few Very Good Online Friends, I Have 2 Best Friend's (My Husband & Our Best Friend) You Really Get To Know Who Your Friends & Family Are When You Need Something Like, A Shoulder To Cry On, A Buddy To Drink A Beer With, Just Somebody To Talk To Who Will Listen & Respond Honestly. Or Whatever It May Be He' Always Been There. I Know He Always Will Be Just Like We Are There For Him In The Same Way.


O.k., I Feel A Little Better....Until Tommorow

OMG!!! Turtle On The Loose!

The Other Day, Little Man Found A Little Turtle And Of Course Wanted To Bring It Home & Keep It As A Pet.. So I Said O.k. But I'll Have To Find A Bigger Container Or Something To Put It In Or He'll Get Loose. I Put Him In The Little Container That They Brought Him Home In On The Entertainment Center And After The Kids Watched Him For A While & Oohed & Ahhhhed Over It, Everybody Went About Thier Own Way & I Finished Dinner Etc... Well I Walked Around The House After Everybody Went To Bed & Was Asleep Just Checking Everything Because I Had A Nagging Feeling That I Forgot To Do Something But Couldn't Remember What. It's The CRS Syndrome (Can't Remember Sh*t) I Forgot About The Turtle!!!!!. I Panicked For A Moment This Morning When I Was Seeing Hubby & The Kids Off And Checked On Him And He Was Still In There. Whew! O.k., Now To Feed Him....We Had Some Turtle Food Left From The Last Turtle We Had, Gave Him Some Of That And Gave Him A Coke Bottle Cap Of Water And Again, Went About My Daily Chores. As I Was Dusting I Figured That I Would Look In On Him And He's GONE!!!!!!! Sh*t!!!! Now What Do I Do??? It's Not Like A Turtle Is Gonna Come To Me When I Call It And I've Looked Everywhere! Now I've Got The Task Of Telling The Kids That Thier Turtle Is Gone Because Mom Forgot To Find A Bigger Container. Wow! Now I've Got A Turtle On The Loose, A Heartbroken Child To Comfort & A Wanted Poster Of The Turtle To Put Up, Alive Or Dead Befre The Stink Sets In. Good Grief! What's Next??? I Was Gonna Get Out & Do Some Yard Work And Mow The Grass But Now That This Turtle Is On The Loose, I've Been Wandering Around All Day Trying To Find It. Guess The Yard Work Will Have To Wait Another Day *Sigh* Don't Know What Were Having For Dinner, I'll Let The Kids Find Something Quick To Throw In The Microwave Like Hot Pockets And Chips Or Something. I Know, Bad Mama But I Just Don't Feel Like Cooking Tonight. I Just Have This Phrase In My Head "Turtle Soup" And Can't Bring Myself To Cook Diner Thinking About That. lol Until Tommorow....

Oh Where Oh Where?

Does The Time Go? It Seems Like Yesterday Was Friday For Pete's Sake! lol The Kids Enjoyed Thier First Day Of Vacation But Thier All So Tired That They Ate Dinner And Went To Bed, Even Hubby. I've Got Everybody's Clothes Together For Tommorow And Everything's Done So I'm Feeling Very Accomplished Now And Will Feel Even Better When I Get The Yard Mowed Tommorow. That's Got To Get Done, So While Everybody's Gone Tommorow I'll Get Out There & Get-R- Done! Hubby Said He'd Do It This Weekend But I'm Just Gonna Do It Myself Instaed Of Putting It Off Until The Weekend So We Can All Relax & Chill. But I'm All To Myself & Watching "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here!" And Then I'll Watch Intervention And Call It A Night And Go To Bed. Until Tommorow.....

A Very Satisfying Sunday

Today Has Been A Good Day. We've Had A Nice Weekend But Tommorow Comes All Too Quickly For A Lot Of People. The Kids Are All Loving That Vacation Bible School Starts Tommorow And Here I'm Catching Up On Everything Again And Trying To Do 100 Things At Once...lol We Had Pork Chops, Rice A Roni And Corn On The Cob For Dinner And I Was Through With Everything By 7:00 So Now I Can Watch The New Bridezilas Season Priemere Without Having To Do The Dishes And Clean-up In Between The Show During Commercials...lol. Can't Complain, I Know I'm Blessed. Until Tommorow....

But Mom! More School???

Yes Dears You Have One More Week Of School... But It's Vacation Bible School And I Could See A Look Of Relief Come Over Thier Faces. They Love Going To Vacation Bible School And I Love That. Sassypants And Big Boy Will Be Leaders And Littleman And Doodlebug Will Be Actually Attending Vacation Bible School. It Makes The Older Kids Feel Important, Needed And Liked And The 2 Little Ones Love Going With All The Neat Things They Get To Do All While Learning About God. We Went To The Flea Market And Hit A Few Yard Sales But Didn't Really Find Anything So Now Were Home And Were Having Speghetti For Dinner With Texas Cheese Toast And A Salad. We Got A Movie From Netflix "Doubt" And Hubby & I Will Watch That After We Get The Kids To Bed Because t's Not Only Has An "R" Rating But With Reading The Description I Don't Want Them To See It. I Haven't Been Feeling Too Good Because My Sinuses Are Acting Up But No Biggie. Having A Pretty Good ay So Far. Until Tommorow.....

T.G.I.F

Went To Dinner Last Night & Had A Fun Time And With No School To Get Up For And Hubby Has Friday's Off So Everybody Slept In Until About 9:00a.m And I Made A Big Ole Breakfast With Pancakes, Grits, Eggs, Biscuit's & Sausage And After That We All Just Kinda Lounged Around For All Of About 20 Minutes Before The Kids Were Saying They Were Bored And Sassypants Was Either Calling Friends Or She Had Friends Calling Her, Littleman Want To Go To His Friend's House (2 Houses Away) Big Boy Wanted To Go To His Friends House And Doodlebug Wanted To Go To The Beach. But We Just Stayed In And Watched A Movie From Netflix "The Yes Man" Had Pizza Cuz Either Nobody's Friends Were Home, I Definately Didn't Feel Like Going To The Beach So We Just Decided To Stay In, After All, It's Just The First Day Of The Rest Of Thier Summer. Right Now Everybody's Just Being Lazy Here ...Until Tommorow

Last Day Of School!

Yea, They Went To Bed Not Wanting To Go The Last Day Of School But When I Woke Them Up ( Just Messing With Them ) They Were All Excited About Getting Thier Shirts Signed And Addresses And Phone #'s And Hey Mom "It's Only A Half A Day!" I Was Somewhat Shocked...lol

But The Day Has Been Good. Hubby's Blood Tests Came Back O.k., So I'm Good. Big Boy Will Get His New Glasses Sometime Next Week. So All, I've Got To Do Now Is The Yard Work! I Am So Dreading That Still But Summer Break Has Officially Began For The Kids So For The Moment Everybody's Happy. Dinner...Ummm, Forgot To Take Anything Out And Haven't Really Thought About It...WOW! Well, I Guess We'll Be Ordering Pizza Or Going Out For Dinner. That's Actually A Good Idea....Celebrating Their School Year Success & Toasting A Welcome To Summer And All The Fun Things We Have Planned. Well, Until Tommorow.....

Just Chillin'

Been Raining All Day Here And Almost All Appt.s Are Over, Hubby Has To Go Tommorow To Get His Blood Test Results And I'm Hoping For The Best. Tommorow Is The Last Day Of School For The Kids And It's Only Gonna Be A Half A Day...So Now Thier Asking If They Have To Go With Those Puppy Dog Faces, Haven't Told Them Yea Or Nay Yet But Nobody's Fighting Or Arguing, Thier Just All Doing Thier Own Things, Been A Very Peaceful Day Actually Even Though The Weather Is Crappy. It Will Clear Up & Mr Sunshine Will Be Out & 100 Degrees In The Shade And It'll Be Going To The Beach, Going To The River, Cooking Out And Hanging Out With Friends Time. lol Well, Gotta Get Dinner Started, Were Having Speghetti And Garlic Bread Tonight. Until Tommorow....

To Do Tuesday:

Not Much, Big Boy's Eye Appt. Went Good & Quick. He'll Get His New Glasses In The Next Week. It's Been Raining Off And On Here Today But We Needed It, But Sometimes That Can Make Things Worse As Far As The Humidity That Were Know For Down Here In Florida But I've Gotten My To Do List For The House Accomplished, Now I Just Need Tackle The Weekly Washing And Cleaning Out The Van & Mowing The Grass...*sigh* I'm Such A Procrastinator About Doing Anything. Yesterday Was A Scorcher And It's Been Drizzling All Day.....hehehehehe I'm So Bad Sometimes! But Hey!, I Just Had My Nail's Done.....hehehehe Only Bad Part Of Today Being Wet Is The Kids Are Cooped Up And Fighting Over Something. I Told Hubby Last Night When He Came Home That I Was Going To The Grocery Store By Myself Cuz I Always Have A Kid Or Two With Me When I Go And Hubby Just Gave Me A Look Like.....Are Ya Serious????? I Said Yep! Going By Myself, You Can Watch Them. No Dear....Calling 911 Won't Help A Bit...lol I Was Shocked When I Came Home And Everything Was Clean & In It's Place Wit Hubby Standing At The Stove Cooking Dinner! And The Kids Weren't Fighting...Hmmm, Note To Self: Need More ALONE Time....lol Today Was A Pretty Good Day Though.....Until Tommorow

Monday Mania

Well, Just The Normal Monday Mania Starting With Kids & Hubby Running To Jump In The Shower, Eat, Get Dressed, Getting Thier Paperwork For Me To Sign Real Quick And Once Thier Off To School, It's Just Me & Doodlebug Running Errands, Paying Bill's And Then The Kids Are Home With Homework And More Forms And Paper's To Be Signed. *Sigh* I'm Not Even Sure Yet What I'll Be Making For Dinner Yet But Whatever It Is....It Will Be Quick And Easy...I Assure You. lol Cuz Mamas Pooped Yall! Big Boy's Eye Appt. Is In The Morning & I'm Hoping That Doesn't Take Long So I Can Get Back To The House Cause The Last Couple Of Days Here Have Been A Scorcher And I'm So Dreading Doing Anything Outside, When It's This Hot But This Grass Has Got To Get Cut & Soon. Well It's June 1st, Only 3 More Days Of School....How Do You Spell Relief? CALGON!!!!! Where The Hell Are You??? lol Well, I Won't Have To Get Up Mon-Fri. @ 5am *whew* Until Tommorow...

Another Peaceful Day

Another Peaceful Sunday Here & I Am Soaking Up & Loving Every Minute Of It! Cuz I Know When Hubby & Kids Get Home It's Gonna Be Sibling Fights Over Who Had What Toy First, I'm Hungry, I'm Thirsty, Mom, I Need A Ride Etc...Etc.. I'm Hoping It Will Be Like Last Sunday But... Hoping For The Best & Expecting The Worst...lol. Hubby Will Be Watching The Race So That'll Keep Him Busy For A Little While With The Occassional "Hey Babe, While Your In There" Every Once In A While. Not Sure What The Kids Will Be Up To Or What Kinda Mood They'll Come In With But I Can Handle It. I Consider Myself Very Blessed To Have Such A Wonderful Family, No Matter What We Have Been Through Or What We May Face In The Future, We Do It & Get Through It All As A Family.
Have A Super Sunday All! Until Tommorow...

Flea Market's & Yard Sales

Today Was A Good Day, We Went A Flea Market Today That's About As Large As 2 Football Fields And Has Everthing You Can Imagine There With Prety Decent Prices. It Takes Us A While To Get Through The Whole Thing But We Take Our Time Walking Around Looking And Enjoying Getting Bargain's! They Even Have A Place Where You an Get Something To Eat And Drink With Picnic Tables, All Under Cover And Out Of The Sun Which Wa Really Nice. Hubby & I Got A Few Things, The Kids Bought A Few Things And Then We Left There We Hit A Few Yard Sales But Didn't Really Find Anything, Guess We Spent Al Our Time At The Flea Market And Missed Aall The Good Stuff At aThe Yard Sales...lol We Came Home After Going To The Grocery Store For A Few Things, I Made Dinner And I Am Now Waiting For Laundry To Get Done So I Can Relax For A Bit. Thank-Goodness For Dishwashers! lol Until Tommorow...

Appt's, Physicals & Test Results

Well, Little Man's School Phyical Went Well But I Had To Schedule An Optemetrist's Appt. For Big Boy To Get Some New Glasses Or Possibly Contacts And Hubby Goes In To His Appt. June 4th To Get His Blood Tests Result's And I'm So Praying That It's Nothing Serious.
School Will Be Out For The Kids June 4th And And If Eveything Goes Well, We PlanTo Take Them To Big Kahunas. It's A Great Big Waterpark Kinda Like 6 Flags. That Will Be Thier B-day Present From Us Because I've Got 3 B-days In June & July To Try And Plan And That's What They ant So That Is What They Shall Get. Plus Cake & Ice Cream With Friends & Family When We Get Home. I'll Just Be Happy When June 4th Gets Here So We Can Find Out What Hubby's Dr. Says About The Blood Tests & Hopefuly It's Not Bad. Keeping My Finger's Crossed And Praying Every Day! Until Tommorow....

Tip's On Planing A Vacation Or A Getaway

Here are some tips on how to plan that perfect get away.

This get away can either be with your
children or just you and your spouse.

How to get started:

First you need to sit down with the people that will be going on this trip with you, ask them what they would like to see, where they would like to go and how far away to they want to go? Write down ever thing that is said, and don't forget to ask the littlest people going with you, they might have some neat ideas or think of something you didn't think about. Look at this list and see what comes up more then once, is it hiking,swimming, fishing, or maybe something really cool. This step will help you narrow down your choices, and make it easier to chose this years fun get away. Now get out the map, and decide on if you are going to stay in your own state or go to another state to see what they have that is fun to do. Next figure out on how you are going to get there are you driving or flying?

OK, now you know where you are going and how you are getting there. Now you need to figure out how to save a little money so when you get there this is one less worry. It is easier to save a little back each week, so it doesn't take away from the daily necessaries. If you decide that this is a get away that just you and your spouse with be enjoying with out the little ones. Then this is the time you will need to make the arrangements for them to stay with a family member. If you also have animals you will need to figure out where they are going to stay as well,don't want to leave them home alone.

Remember you don't always have to go far away to have a relaxing get away. You just need to make sure you have a plan that is simple and a little relaxed so when you get there, you will have the freedom to enjoy something that that town has to offer. That is what getting away is all about you can break the schedules and have some fun, and hopefully this will help everyone to relax and enjoy
themselves.

Getting Ready to Go:

Now it is time to take this much needed get away. You will need to make sure that you have everyones clothes,toys,pillows, and the every day necessities packed, and ready to go. To make this step easier make a list for each family member, and pack for each one separately so you don't forget something.

You don't want to get half way down the road and remember that you forgot the babies diapers. You can even put little colored labels on each bag so the person knows hows bag is theirs. After you have everything packed, put the bags by the door so you know where they are, pack everyday items in a smaller bag so you don't have to get in and out of the larger bag each time you need a book, or a
pacifier. The night before the trip pack up the get away vehicle, keep the smaller bag with you at all times, so you know where it is, and don't forget a small snack and game bag to keep the bored little ones
entertained in the back seats. Remember this is suppose to be fun.

The Morning of the Trip:

Now it is up to you on if you want to start, by feeding your littles ones at home or fix them a small treat to get them threw to the first stopping point. Get everyone dressed, and loaded in to the vehicle, don't forget anyone behind, that would be a bad way to start your relaxing get away trip. Make sure everyone is excited to get going. While in the car point out the different road signs, even the smaller ones can see the different colors. Have the kids find a blue car, or a orange semi truck, keep it fun so they are not bored and will not drive you nuts. Now if this is a trip for just you and your spouse just sit back in your seat and relax, talk about your plans for the trip or point out some neat things you see along the way.

Now you should be at your destination, you will need to find your hotel room or camping spot unpack your vehicle and find a nice spot to relax and unwind for the night. For tomorrow the fun time will start. The time when you can be a kid yourself because that is what fun get aways are for, to have fun.

Hopefully you had a good nights sleep and you are ready for the day of fun activities, again make a plan but don't plan to keep with it, let the day flow so it is less stressful for everyone. Enjoy your time at the pool, by the lake or ocean side, and enjoy your love ones that you brought on this wonderful trip with you.

Remember to savor the food, the sights, sounds, and the smells of the day, if you can find the time maybe write down your family adventure in a Journal and when you get back home you can relive the moments that you might have missed, while you were busy relaxing. Oh this would also be great for the children to do, so you get there, view on the activities that the family done while on this get away, don't forget to include some photo's.

Time to Go Home:

Finally it is time to repack up the vehicle and the children and reverse the steps on getting you on the road, for the get away for we are heading back home again. Make sure not to leave anyone behind,

Yes, including the kids that by this time are fighting like crazy. Remember to play some new games for the ones you played on the way to the nice get away is no longer new and exciting. For now everyoneis tired and ready to be back home. On the way home take the time to reflect on the days that went by so fast, and to relive the momentsfor you are headed back home. Where the summer days seam to fly right by and it is fall time onceagain and school is getting ready to start once again.

Hope this will help you plain a fun family get away, or at least maybe it made you giggle a little. Pleasefind some way to wind down and enjoy the summer months for they do fly by so fast, and before you know it your children will also grow up way to fast. Remember to enjoy the smaller things in life, and thank God everyday that you can enjoy the love that your family gives you.
For this is what life is all about.

Distracted & Heartbroken

Not A Good Day Today At All. Hubby Had A Physical A Few Days Ago & Naturally They Took Some Blood To See If They Could Try & Figure Out What Was Going On With His High Blood Pressure And Acid Reflux. His Dr. Called This Morning And Said That He Needed Him To Come In For His Test Results, They Found A Couple Of Things That Didnt Look Normal. So Hubby Takes Off Work And Goes In And His Dr. Had To Leave On An Emergency And That Hubby Would Have To Reschedule. Now Were Worried & Waiting. On Top Of That, It Was My Youngest Sister's Birthday Yesterday & I Tried To Call Her & Got No Answer. When I Tried To Call Today, I Explained That I Called Her Yesterday & Got No Answer And That With Everything Going On I Hadn't Had A Chance To Call Her Back Until Then. She Then Proceeds To Cuss Me Up One Wall And Down Another, Not To Ever Call Her Again. She Doesn't Care About What I 've Been Going Through, She's Being A Selfish 4 year Old And I Can't Believe Some Of The Stuff She Said To Me! And About My Family. That's What Pissed Me Off. Cuss Me If You Want To, I Tried To Apologize To Her And She Wasn't Having Or Hearing None Of It But When She Cusses My Kids.....I Said "Enough" And Hung Up. If She Wants A Relationship With Me, It'll Be Her Apologizing To Me This Time. I Don't Have The Time To Put Up With Crap Like That With Everything I've Got Going On In My Life And If Don't Ever Call Me Again, Oh Well....Her Loss Not Mine. I Love Her To Death & Always Will But I'm Not Gonna Waste My Time Dealing With My Little Sister's 4 Year Old Temper Tantrums Anymore. It Just Breaks My Heart That She Said What She Did About Me & My Family. But, Life Goes On..... Until Tommorow....

Busy Bee's Buzzing Around Here

Wow! School Will Be Out For My Kids June 4th. Along With That Comes Summer Camp, Mission Trips, Vacation Bible School At Thier Church And Registering My Youngest For Kindergarden Which Means Physicals For All 4 Kids And With Summer Coming And Everybody Wanting To Go On Vacation, Thier All Scheduling Appt.s For Thier Kids Physicals Too. I Was Suprised That I Got The Kids Appt.s Within A 2 Week Span And Not Several Months Away. I'm Gonna Miss My Little Man When He Starts School In August. And I'm Gonna Worry My Head Off Thinking And Worrying About Him Every Second Of The Day But I'm Just A Mom After All And It's Only Natural To Worry When Your Youngest Goes To School. I'll Be Climbing The Walls When He Does Because He's The One That Keeps Me Company During The Day Now. Gosh! They All Grow Up Soooo Fast! But...That's Life. I've Enjoyed Being A Stay At Home Because I Haven't Missed Thier First Words Or First Steps All All Those Milestones That Kids Go Through In Life. But I'll Try And Find A Job Hopefully And That Should Help Keep Me From Climbing The Walls....lol Anyhoo, I've Got A Ton Of Paperwork To Fill Out For All The Things Their Gonna Be Doing And If I Don't Get Started On It Now, I'll Probably Never Get It Done. Have A Happy Day All! Until Tommorow....

Happy Memorial Day!

We Had A Great Memorial Day! The Day Was Beautiful. We Had A Very Good Friend Of Our's Over & We Cooked Out On The Grill Some Staeaks, Ribs & Corn On The Cob. I Made Potato Salad & Baked Beans Too. It Was Soooo Nice, The Kids Weren't Arguing, Everybody Was Just Laughing And Having A Good Time. I Wish Everyday Was This Nice But That's Just Life, You Take The Sour With The Sweet & Make Do The Best That You Know How. We Did Say A Prayer For The Troops And Those That Have Been Lost Or Killed Fighting For Our Country. Without Those Brave Souls...Who Knows What State Or Condition Our Country Would Be In. I Say Thank-you & God Bless To Each & Every One Whose Chosen To Serve Our Country. Hope Everyone Had A Happy Memorial Day. Until Tommorow...

A Very Peaceful Sunday

I Was Up At 5:30 a.m This Morning With The House All To Myself Because Hubby Has To Work Sunday's And The Kids Get Up & Go With Him To Sunday School & Church. I Sat Here In The Nice Peace & Quiet Just Checking E-mail's And Doing A Little Business And It Was Sooooo Nice & Quiet That I Decided To Have Myself A Nap Around 8:30. I Got Back Up Around 10:15 And Started Cleaning Up The House, Doing Laundry And Those Little Things I Don't Normally Get A Chance To Do During The Week. Hubby & The Kids Came In Around 1:30pm And You Would Think That After Getting Up At 5 am They Would Be Tired & Cranky. I'm Assuming Thier Overtired Because They All Came In A Good Mood, Laughing, Joking & Being Silly. Sassypants & BigBoy Then Proceed To Get As Serious As A Heart Attack Wanting To Know When They Could Get A Permit To Hunt!!! Doodlebug, Listening To The Conversation Chimes In With "Yea Mom, We Want To Hunt Wabbit's And Deer" IThought I Was Going To Fall Off The Couch Laughing At That Statement. Everybody Had A Good Laugh And It's Just Been A Very Peaceful Sunday Here. The Kids Are Now In There Own Rooms Watching Thier T.v Shows, Hubby Is Watching The Race (He's A Jeff Gordan Fan) And I'm Here In My Room With My Shows On, Trying To Get Caught Up With What I Missed During The Week (I'm A Reality Show Nut) And Getting Ready To Start Dinner Here In A Few. It's Gonna Be A Hamburger Helper Night With A Salad & Some Dinner Roll's. So, That's My Very Peaceful Sunday....Until Tommorow.....