Crazy Four My Boys

Here is what we have been doing for the past 6 months!

2011-06-12T13:37:00.004-05:00

I don't know where to start or if anyone still follows my blog...
Shane deployed to Afghanistan at the beginning of February for a 12 month deployment, yes that means he will be back in February 2012. He will be home for a 2 week R&R at the end of September :)

So what have the kids and I been up too? I am pretty much a full time taxi driver, I wish so much that Andrew had his license, but he does have his permit, so I make him drive a lot :)

Andrew was a freshman this past year and boy did he keep himself busy, starting with seminary at 6:30 am and he didn't come home until 9:00pm! He maintained good grades and was on the swim team, cross country ski team, soccer team, performed in the school musical "Footloose" and sang in performance choir. I am very thankful we live less than 2 miles to to H.S.! He applied for a few jobs this summer, actually got a very competive one but he turned it down because his schedule was wed-sun and he didn't want to miss a whole summer of church. So he is refereeing soccer games a few nights a week. Next year he will have a lot more job options since he will be 16(that was the minimum age for a lot of jobs) and he will have his license.

Owen is still always so happy :) At his 5th grade celebration at school he was given an award for being a kid who goes above and beyond to help others. He holds the school record at the elementary school for the fastest mile 7min 10sec. He still loves to plays the piano. He is doing great on the swim team, his best stroke is the breast stroke. He is playing soccer this summer.

Noah played hockey during the fall/winter and spring, it is great to see him out there on the ice, he loves it! He is playing soccer this summer. I make him play the piano, someday he will thank me...He makes me laugh at all the silly things he says and he make me scream at all the crazy things he does! We both survived a teacher who LOVED homework at least an hour an night and giving projects over school breaks.

Me...yes what about me?! Well I am a cubscout den leader, for the Bears. I am also the FRG(family readiness group) leader for the families in Shane's company. This keeps me busy keeping the families updated on all sorts of information throughout the month. Plus, I hold a FRG meeting once a month. I am also keeping my Scentsy business going and growing...I have a booth at a few upcoming festivals! I do get a massage twice a month to help work out all my tension knots-not kidding-lol!

In February, several things broke, typical to happen as soon as the hubby deploys :) I was also in Science fair hell..I think you can guess what kind of mood I was in for the month of February, good thing it was only 28 days long-lol!

In March the boys and I headed down to sunny California-to meet up with my BFF Ann Bush and her kids...we tackled Disneyland together for 3 days of magical memories...2 moms and 6 kids, it was so much fun but we were all exhuasted! My trip down with the boys was an adventure in itself, I'll spare you all the crazy details but I will tell you we EACH got $350 ($1400 total) towards another flight! So hello Hawaii family vacation when Shane returns :), thanks to Alaska Airlines!

April was a very long and blah month for me, I knew it would be hard because that is when I knew I would really start to miss Shane, it begins to sink in at month 2 that he is not coming home anytime soon and I still have 10 more lonely months to go! Owen turned 11 received his arrow of light and crossed over to Boy Scouts! Easter was later this year, why?

May, holy cow what a fast month! The kids get out of school here early, May 19th! I'm not complaining it was nice to not have to deal with homework anymore or having to make sure the power school grades were correct. A few days after school got out we headed down to Denali on the train...it was beautiful. We went on a few small hikes with our friends the Bonins. We had 2 moms and 7 kids on this trip! I can't wait to go down with Shane and explore the beauty down there, he will love it. We got a fence put up so our dogs can be outside without me constantly watching them :)

Here we are in June, another month when several things have broken! A big reality that my wonderful husband is not here to fix anything. We had cub scout day camp the first few days of June. Andrew and I stained the porch railing and cedar siding on the house, weeded and planted the flower beds. We also entered in our first 5k-The Mosquito Meander, I walked it, maybe I will work up to running one at the end of the summer. Noah biked it. Andrew ran it finished in 23ish minutes and Owen ran it finished in 25ish minutes.

A few of my favorite things to have when it is 40 below

2010-12-15T15:41:00.005-06:00

Here are a few things that I am grateful to have up here in Alaska:
1. Hubby...at least for a few more weeks, not sure what I am going to do without him :(
2. Kids-boy do they keep me super busy!
3. Home-a place to keep us warm!
4. Pellet stove-to help keep our house even warmer :)
5. Fred Meyer-I don't know what I would do without this one stop shopping oasis, it also gives me 10cents off a gallon with every $100 that I spend.
6. LL Bean Down coat-keeps me toasty warm and a killer deal-only $69 http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/51486?from=SR&feat=sr
7. UGG boots, my toes haven't been cold yet.
8. The internet-keeps me connected to everything, plus lots of online ordering!
9. The beautiful trees outside flocked with ice and snow.
10. The sound of squeaky, crunchy snow when you walk or drive on it.

Fundraiser

2010-09-29T18:09:00.015-05:00

I have started a new fundraiser for Gracie-everyone who buys a Scentsy Buddy-100% of my profit will be donated to Gracie. Please share this information with everyone, I want to raise a lot for Gracie! If I sell 50 it will raise $375, if I sell 100 it will raise $750!

Wondering what a Scentsy Buddy is(picture is on the right): Cuddly companions for children of all ages, each Scentsy Buddy features a zippered pocket to hold a Scent Pak in one of 15 delightful Scentsy fragrances. They also come with a code on their tag that allow you to register them online and have interactive games!

Another great thing is they only cost $25! These are awesome gifts for kids, think birthday and Christmas gifts for all the kids on your list-my 8yr old Noah and 10yr Owen love them.
https://saramendenhall.scentsy.us/Buy/Collection/163

What's for dinner tonight?

2010-09-24T22:52:00.001-05:00

Many of you know that my wonderful hubby Shane is in fact a wonderful cook but often when he comes home from work it is too late for him to cook dinner. It stresses me out to decide what to cook for dinner, so we end up having something that I can cook fast, but isn't always the most nutritious. Honestly, I have the time during the day to make something great-but I just don't plan for it until it is too late because I don't start thinking about what is for dinner until after 5pm. I have done dinner menus in the past, they work great, I just need to get into the routine of it again. For the past few nights, I have thought ahead and planned what's for dinner. I have also been watching Rachel Ray in the mornings, she has some really healthy-yummy recipes, here is what we had tonight-it was a big hit!
Rachael Ray's Official Website :: Buffalo Turkey Sliders

2010-07-20T21:14:00.006-05:00

It's has been so long that I don't know where to start...I will have to go back and journal(blog) more specifics about the last 6 weeks soon. But for now I wanted to let everyone know that we made it to Alaska a month ago today and we finally got our household goods last week. The house is still full of boxes to unpack and clutter piles, but we are slowly getting it put away.

Shane takes command on July 26th...the company just received orders to deploy in early 2011...I am taking on the role of FRG Leader(Family Readiness Group Leader) for the company for the next 2 years. I received 2 callings at church the first sunday I was there(assistant cub scout den leader and enrichment leader)...needless to say I am going to be VERY busy here in Alaska!

They call it the land of the midnight sun...yes, the sun is really shinning at midnight during the summer. We don't have any problem falling asleep or waking up super early, we mostly just loose track of what time it is! There is a moose that lives in our neighborhood, we see it down in the slough several times a week-the other day we saw it walk through our yard! I love seeing the distant snow capped mountains-including Denali(Mt. McKinley) on clear days, it is so beautiful!

Gracie Bloxham Fundraiser

2010-06-04T12:03:00.003-05:00

Gracie's Scentsy Fundraiser has started and will go through June 30th. Please go to http://saramendenhall.scentsy.us/ and look under my open parties for "Gracie Bloxham Fundraiser/Melanie Kindle" then select "buy from party". You can order anything you want-and I will donate all of my profit-.31 cents for every $1 sold to Gracie! My goal is to donate at least $500! Many of you may not know this but 3 years ago, Lisa was the one who introduced Scentsy to me-so it seems fitting that Scentsy would be how I could help raise money for her sweet Gracie!"

To read more about Gracie please visit:
http://www.graciecare.blogspot.com

30 day count down

2010-05-12T10:08:00.009-05:00

life has officially become chaotic here at the Mendenhall home in the next few weeks we are camping(father son camp out), attending a wedding(my sister Alli is getting married in RI on May 23rd :)), graduating(Andrew from 8th grade-Shane from ILE/CGSC), celebrating, submitting(Andrew needs to turn in his Eagle Scout workbook and application to the committee), partying(yes...Scentsy style), scouting(day camp and camp outs), sorting, donating, and everything else that comes with moving...30 days from today-Alaska here we come!

Alaska House

2010-04-23T13:17:00.046-05:00

As you may already know we are moving to Alaska in June-Shane will be assigned to Ft Wainwright. Last week we went up to Fairbanks to house hunt...here are pictures of our house, we close June 24th! We fell in love with it immediately! It is located in North Pole, AK about 12 miles south of Fairbanks. It has 2500 sq ft., 3 bdrms, 2 1/2 baths, plus a BIG bonus room(we are going to turn part of it into a 4th bdrm), 1.21 acres where about 1/2 of it is woods! (I had major problems with labeling the pictures, it looks the way I want it to where I type it all but totally different on the blog page that you see, oh well!)

Pictures: From the top downstairs 1/2 Bath, Dinning Room, Kitchen, 2 Living Room pictures.

Pictures: Bonus Room, Bedroom 1 will be Andrew's, Boys Bathroom, Bedroom 2 (Owen and Noah's for now), Master Bedroom and Master Bath.

Militray Wife

2010-03-31T09:56:00.002-05:00

I read this and thought it did a nice job summing it up.

Military Wife

Lots of moving...
Moving...
Moving...
Moving far from home...
Moving two cars, three kids and one dog...all riding with HER of course.(we actually have 2 dogs and a cat and thankfully they all ride with Shane)
Moving sofas to basements because they won't go in THIS house; Moving curtains that won't fit; Moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours.
Moving away from friends;
Moving toward new friends;
Moving her most important luggage: her trunk full of memories.

Often waiting...
Waiting...
Waiting...
Waiting for housing.
Waiting for orders.
Waiting for deployments.
Waiting for phone calls.
Waiting for reunions.
Waiting for the new curtains to arrive.
Waiting for him to come home,
For dinner...AGAIN!

They call her 'Military Dependent', but she knows better:
She is fiercely In-Dependent.

She can balance a check book;
Handle the yard work;
Fix a noisy toilet;
Bury the family pet...

She is intimately familiar with drywall anchors and toggle bolts.
She can file the taxes;
Sell a house;
Buy a car;
Or set up a move...
.....all with ONE Power of Attorney.

She welcomes neighbors that don't welcome her.
She reinvents her career with every PCS; Locates a house in the desert, The Arctic, Or the deep south.
And learns to call them all 'home'.
She MAKES them all home.

Military Wives are somewhat hasty...
They leap into:
Decorating,
Leadership,
Volunteering,
Career alternatives,
Churches,
And friendships.
They don't have 15 years to get to know people.
Their roots are short but flexible.
They plant annuals for themselves and perennials for those who come after them.

Military Wives quickly learn to value each other:
They connect over coffee,
Rely on the spouse network,
Accept offers of friendship and favors.
Record addresses in pencil...

Military Wives have a common bond:
The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands; his commitment is unique.
He doesn't have a 'JOB'
He has a 'MISSION' that he can't just decide to quit...
He's on-call for his country 24/7.
But for her, he's the most unreliable guy in town!
His language is foreign
TDY
PCS
OPR
SOS
ACC
BDU
ACU
BAR
CIB
TAD
And so, a Military Wife is a translator for her family and his.
She is the long- distance link to keep them informed; the glue that holds them together.

A Military Wife has her moments:
She wants to wring his neck;
Dye his uniform pink;
Refuse to move to Siberia;
But she pulls herself together.
Give her a few days,
A travel brochure,
A long hot bath,
A pledge to the flag,
A wedding picture,
And she goes.
She packs.
She moves.
She follows.

Why?
What for?
How come?
You may think it is because she has lost her mind.
But actually it is because she has lost her heart.
It was stolen from her by a man,
Who puts duty first,
Who longs to deploy,
Who salutes the flag,
And whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her Military Husband, She will remain his military wife.
And would have it no other way

Catching up

2010-03-22T13:51:00.002-05:00

Ok, so it has been a while since my last blog post. What can I say life has been busy and I am too lazy to upload any pictures. February was fast and furious and March is turning out to be the same! Do you notice over to the right that we are moving to Alaska in less than 90 days...Shane and I are going up in April to house hunt.

We just got back from a fun trip to San Diego-our spring break getaway. We got to visit with my BFF Ann Bush and her kiddos for a few days and we also saw my Gram and Uncle(it had been 5 years since I last saw them, that is way too long). It was also nice to see the Sun, Ocean, Palm Trees, etc. I will try to post some pictures of this fun trip later.

It snowed about 6 inches on Friday/Saturday but thankfully it is in the upper 50's today and it is all melting away.

On March 20th, Shane and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary!!! We went to the Melting Pot a fondue restaurant-that was soooo fun and relaxing. I love my husband-he is the best-I truly don't know how I got so lucky to have him for eternity!

Cub Scout/Boy Scout "Mother's Pin" Ribbon Necklace

2010-02-21T20:20:00.012-06:00

Having 3 boys in scouting I have a growing collection of mother's pins, which up until today have been in my jewelry box. When I was at the scouting uniform shop several months ago I saw this cool Mother's Pin Ribbon Necklace. They were charging $8 for it! So I decided I would make my own. I found the directions(including the photos) below online, made a few changes to them and mass produced 12 in an assembly line process. Shane helped out by melting the edges so they won't fray...he is an expert at this...in other words-pyro:)

My supply list (from my local JoAnn's store)

1 Prepackaged Grosgrain ribbon spool, measuring 18 feet or 6 yards long (5.4 meters) of the following colors:
7/8 inch (22mm) wide Centennial Blue

5/8 inch (15mm) wide Maize Yellow

7/8 inch (22mm) wide Olive Drab

5/8 inch (15mm) wide Red

1. Cut 18 inches of each of the 4 colors of ribbon (to prevent fraying use fray check on the ends or slightly burn each end with a match)

2. Sew the Yellow ribbon on top of the Blue, down both sides. Remember to use coordinating thread for the top and the bottom ribbons (different colors for each!)

3. Sandwich and pin the blue/yellow side in between the red and green for the back of the necklace. Remember to again switch your threads to match the red and green ribbons. Starting at the back (with it sandwiched), sew the red onto the green. Sew down only one side of red ribbon from the top to the bottom. Stop when you reach the bottom.

4. Cut an angle on the front of each side making them match up in the middle. (You only need to trim a small triangle at the bottom, but cut them at opposite sides--see picture--cut one starting from the left and one starting from the right--then they will match up in the middle) Remember to burn the newly cut ends again.

5. Pin the fronts together matching up the angles.

6. Start up a few inches from the bottom and begin sewing to the bottom, make a continuous loop around the red ribbon until you get to the back again. Sew a square in the back to reinforce the stitching.

Here are pictures of the back portion, with the underneath side showing the reinforcing square.

Here is the front, showing how they line up on both sides. You can see that the stitching continues on all 3 sides of the red as I work my way back to the top (neck) portion.

The finished product! I am very happy with how it turned out.

Total cost of 4 spools of ribbon: $12.00. Which will make 12 necklaces ($1.00 a piece). Clearly I don't need all 12 of them, so I made the rest for the other cub scout moms in our pack to hand out at the Blue and Gold Banquet. I can't wait to surprise them all!

Too many cookies

2010-01-30T15:57:00.008-06:00

The other night Noah was doing his homework...he had to find and correct mistakes in several sentences. He came to one that read "dont you have no cookys"...he giggled and said they spelled cookies wrong. He corrected the sentence to read "Don't you have no cookies", boy did he pick himself up some real good English while we were living in L.A.(lower Alabama)! I told him it should actually read "Do you have any cookies?", well his teacher marked that wrong and said it should read "Don't you have any cookies?" I still think the proper way to ask the question is my way "Do you" rather than "Don't you", any English, grammar experts out there please help me out with this one.

To answer the cookie question...we have way too many cookies! The girls scouts hit both Shane and I up to order, we both did with out realizing the other one had...so 10 boxes of girl scout cookies showed up to our door this week! My favorite are Thin Mints, frozen...what is your favorite?

My Scentsy 10% BONUS sale

2010-01-26T14:04:00.000-06:00

My Scentsy 10% BONUS sale...order from me and I will add 10% MORE of FREE prdouct to your order, you must call or email me for this offer before 9pm Jan 31st. https://saramendenhall.scentsy.us

Noah gets baptized

2010-01-10T11:16:00.007-06:00

On January 9, 2010 Noah Everett Mendenhall was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. What a very special day for Noah, his dad baptized, confirmed him and gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost.

A family photo, my boys are all grown up...Noah with his primary teacher Sister Waldrop.

It GREAT to be 8!

2010-01-04T22:44:00.000-06:00

Happy 8th Birthday Noah! January 4th 2010, my baby turned eight! Noah had a football snickers ice cream cake, yummy! You can see that he had lots of fun unwrapping a present from his grandma and grandpa, it was wrapped 5 times...a sweet green i-pod shuffle! He also got some gift cards, a very cool CTR soccer ball tie tack, a baptism memory book, a green scripture tote with a new Bible and Book of Mormon, jelly beans and to top it all off a Nintendo DS.
Noah has lots to look forward to this week, being baptized and going to cub scouts!

NCAA

2009-12-26T13:07:00.009-06:00

If you are a college sports fan, football, basketball, etc. go check this out and look for you favorite team, if you don't see your team then make sure to vote for them! Send me an email if you are interested in one of these!

Over the River and Through the Woods...

2009-12-01T17:14:00.004-06:00

to grandmother's house we go! We went on a road trip to see Shane's parents for Thanksgiving who live in beautiful Cache Valley, UT. The trip was 16 hours each way and we were only able to stay a couple days, but it was so nice to see family. Thank you Clair and Linda for a very yummy, relaxing turkey day!

Halloween

2009-11-04T07:24:00.015-06:00

The pumpkins...from left to right Shane's, Andrew's, Noah's, Owen's

The custome's...Owen is a warewolf, his neck and face are a little itchy from all that fur. Andrew is a 70's/8o's basketball player-lots of people asked if he was the guy from the Semi-Pro movie, we haven't seen that movie, but I guess we need to. Noah is Harry Potter...doesn't he look just like him!

The battle...will the warewolf win?...quick Harry-cast a spell!

Andrew showing off some sweet moves

Dream Jeans

2009-11-03T08:47:00.009-06:00

I found these jeans at Old Navy on sale for $19-the original price is $34.50. I LOVE them, so I went back a bought another pair. These jeans help hold in the mom pooch and really give my flat butt some shape!

Here is the info off the Old Navy website:
Women's The Dreamer Boot-Cut Jeans
It's the denim fit you've been dreaming about! Our new Dreamer jeans feature a contoured waistband and front lining that slims and trims while giving your butt a boost. The classic boot-cut silhouette brings chic style to any ensemble. Features two-tone topstitching, with embroidered detail on the back pockets.
fit & sizing:
* Our Mid-Rise sits just below the waist
* Contoured waistband with pocket lining that extends across the front for a clean, trim fit
* Straight through hip and thigh
* Boot-cut leg

Ring, ring...Hello

2009-10-22T08:55:00.005-05:00

For FHE the other night we called the kids to the dinning room table and asked them to bring the phone. Owen came to the table and said "Oh, I bet we are going to learn to TEXT!"
Umm, I don't think so...how about just some basic phone answering skills!
1. Pick up the phone when it is ringing
2. Say Hello
3. Ask if you can take a message when mom or dad are busy(nothing like getting a knock on the door when you are in the shower "Mom, someone on the phone wants to talk to you!")

Why is it that kids don't answer the phone when you want them to and always answer the phone at the worst possible time?!

A few of my favorite things

2009-09-17T22:30:00.003-05:00

Here are just a few of my favorite things...that is stuff over the years that I have bought and would recommend to anybody! Of course I always try to get the best deal on them.

Scentsy Wickless Candles:) If you don't have one, you are missing out! Do you seriously think I would sell them if they weren't absolutely amazing!

Starter brand boys socks from Walmart-they do not fall/slouch off the boys feet and hold up to boys running around outside in just socks-despite my constant reminders to either put their shoes on or take the socks off.

Orvis Dog beds-well worth the money. We had to replace a 6 year old dog bed from Orvis when Lily was a puppy and chewed through it. We just picked a new one up on sale plus I used an additional $10 off coupon. I know the other one would have last 6 more years if the dog hadn't chewed it:(

The Furminator for cats and dogs-it removes the most hair of any brush we have had-pick it up on Amazon for half the price of Petsmart/Petco. Trust me paying $25 for a brush is worth it.

Dyson vaccum, I told myself I would never pay $400-500 for a vacuum...thankfully I didn't have to, we got the asthma allergy on a closeout at Target-1/2 off so we only paid $249! If you have wall to wall carpet and multiple animals this is the BEST vacuum ever!

LL Bean backpacks-Andrew and Owen are going on their 4th year using the same backpack for school! We even have one that is 12 years old, Andrew used it for daycare and preschool, Owen used it for preschool and kindergarten and Noah used it for preschool. They go on sale usually mid school year-you won't be disappointed!

Flexsteel sofa-we have had ours for 9 years now, still is great shape! Frame is amazing. We just bought a leather flexsteel couch and chair to put in our living room and we moved the old flexsteel down to the family room.

Lime Away-excellent on glass shower doors, spray and just wipe away all the hard water spots.

So what are some of your favorite things, the tried and true products that you would recommend to your friends?

Sick as a dog

2009-08-26T15:23:00.012-05:00

Do you ever wonder where sayings come from? Take for example "sick as a dog"...how sick can a dog really get????

Well let me tell you they CAN get really sick and it can be a horrible nasty, disgusting mess to clean up! Late on a Friday night a couple weeks ago after coming home from a nice pizza and game night with a super fun family-the Matina's. We came home and learned first hand what the phrase "sick as dog" really means. As I opened the garage door I was immediately over taken by a horrible smell and discovered that the dog(s) had gotten sick down in the family room, not that big of a deal we thought...the kids headed upstairs and discovered that the dog(s) had gotten sick in every single room of the house(one exception the office)-that was eight different rooms that Shane, Andrew and I cleaned up. After spending close to 2 hours cleaning, I put in a brand new full bar of Scentsy Sheer Saffron to cover up the odor and headed to bed, with the dogs in the garage for the night. The next morning we realized we needed have the carpets professionally cleaned...thank you Chem Dry for coming out so quickly and only charging us $113, to clean 3 full rooms and 3 sections of other rooms!

Here is what I found when I googled it ~ "Sick as a dog," which means "extremely sick" and dates back to at least the 17th century, is also not so much negative as it is simply descriptive. Anyone who knows dogs knows that while they can and often will eat absolutely anything, on those occasions when their diet disagrees with them the results can be quite dramatic. And while Americans may consider themselves "sick" when they have a bad cold, in Britain that would be called "feeling ill." "Being sick" in Britain usually means "to vomit."
So to really appreciate the original sense of "sick as a dog," imagine yourself seated in the parlor having tea with the Vicar on a lovely Sunday afternoon, when Fido staggers in from a meal of sun-dried woodchuck and expresses his unease all over your heirloom oriental carpet. It's actually rather amazing that goldfish aren't more popular.

I think that sums it up quite well :)

Contribute 2009

2009-08-19T07:45:00.003-05:00

Job loss, foreclosure and greater demand at local food banks. These aren’t just stories on a newscast. Americans are struggling. Small businesses are at risk. We must rally to help small businesses in our communities – the very businesses that often lead an economic recovery.
So what can you do?
One idea. 100,000 people. $5 million. It all adds up to big help for small business.

Dollars spent at community-based merchants create a multiplier effect in the local economy. The American Inpendent Business Alliance estimates that for every dollar spent at a local independent merchant, three or more times as much goes back into the local economy compared to a dollar spent at chain-owned businesses. By pledging to spend just $50 at a locally owned small business and encouraging others to do the same, we can spread the word and collectively contribute to small businesses and to our surrounding communities.

Scentsy contributed $100,000 to 40 small businesses in its home community to celebrate its Fifth Anniversary. The experience was inspiring; the impact significant. Many Scentsy consultants expressed an interest in contributing further. We love that. We support that. Contribution starts from the heart then grows, expands and spreads across the country because true contribution is not tied to what you receive.

Our goal is to inspire 100,000 people to pledge to spend an extra $50 at locally owned small businesses on October 12, 2009. That’s a $5 million economic infusion that can create a ripple effect in communities across the nation.

Take the Contribution 2009 pledge and offer big help to small businesses in your community. Together we can all make a difference.

Randomness

2009-08-05T18:11:00.004-05:00

Since I don't think I have anything really interesting going on right now I thought I would just share some random thoughts.

We had to switch our dogs over to another dog food since no one around here sells the dog food we were feeding them and I wasn't willing to spend an extra $18 a bag to ship it. So after a nauseating amount of research and few samples we settled on Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream and seem to be doing well on it...

We found a music shop with piano teacher that could take all 3 boys...they should start in a few weeks.

We were able to participate in a Eagle Scout Project helping move the Lansing library from its old location to a new one...service is a wonderful thing that we can give and it cost nothing only time...we had a lot of fun doing this as a family.

Shane has been riding his bike to school, 8.2 miles each way, two-three times a week. He is doing this for exercise not for conserving gas, although that is a nice added benefit.

The kids start school on August 17th, Andrew will be in 8th, Owen in 4th and Noah in 2nd. We keep hearing that the schools are wonderful:)

Owen and I went to a place called Social Suppers where you prepare meals and then bring them home and freeze them-thaw and cook later! We are going to cook one tomorrow. Hopefully they will taste good and I can do this every month! What a time saver and Owen just kept saying he was having so much fun!

The boys soccer season starts at the end of August, then our life will be crazy busy for a couple months.

I enjoy being close to GREAT shopping!

Summer has gone by way to fast...

"Tote"al Nightmare

2009-07-10T09:10:00.005-05:00

I know it has been awhile since my last blog entry and I'm not sure first-where the time has gone and second-where to begin?...At the end of May we sold our house(yeah) and went on a vacation to Disney World, we had a great time, I will have to do a separate entry for that trip with some pictures.

THE MOVE...This move has been the worst pack job we have ever had, however I have learned to TRY and look at the bright side:) It began with finding a wet toilet brush in with clean towels...sorry to say that there was no bright side to that one! Here is the lowdown: The packers basically dumped drawers into boxes with minimal paper, it was like opening up a box that had exploded inside. The biggest problem was they WOULD NOT load our full totes onto the truck, if the tote didn't fit into a box(which was basically all of them) then they opened the tote and dumped the articles into a large box! We offered many suggestions of how they could tape the totes shut or wrap the totes in paper, all things that other moving companies have done in the past 13 years, BUT it was the moving company policy, which they had given us in writing, looking back we should have requested a different moving company! I store everything in totes...all my Christmas and holiday decorations, craft supplies and fabric, Andrews old clothes for Owen and Noah, etc. They even unpacked our 72 hour Emergency Kit and get this...they packed the bottle of Bleach that was in it(so much for not packing liquids or chemicals). We found muddy hiking boots on top of the few special baby clothes that I have saved. Let me just say neither Shane or I were in the best of moods for a couple weeks, we spent so many extra days sorting through this disaster! I am still trying to get my office put back together...and we are moving in 11 months!

So the bright side...we have gone through things that we never would have if our stuff was left in totes and gotten ride of a ton. We have shred at least 6 bags of bank statements going back to 1997! Oh, you may be asking what did they do with all of those empty totes?...They stacked them and put them on the truck empty with the lids off!! Shane and I are even contemplating the idea of moving ourselves to Alaska...we will have to see what the moving company's policy is on totes first.

We are in Kansas

2009-06-18T09:16:00.001-05:00

Stay tuned...

In the next few weeks

2009-05-12T12:37:00.009-05:00

Just a quick update, this is probably the last time I will blog until after we settle into our house in Kansas. We sure have our fair share of craziness going on since we are trying to wrap up a school year, piano lessons, etc...you know continue to live a normal life and get ready to move!

*We have a farewell to go to Friday night. The boys have a piano recital on Saturday morning.

*The packers come next week on the 19th & 20th, they load on the 21st. Everything is still on for closing on May 26th! We sure have a very busy weekend ahead of us-sorting out what we are taking with us in the cars, getting rid of stuff that we don't need anymore! Plus, Shane has to take apart a freestanding basketball hoop and wooden playset! And yes, put them back together once we are in Kansas:)

*We are going down to Orlando for a nice 10 day vacation, we have to see Mickey one more time before we leave...LOL. We are really going because Disney is offering an AMAZING deal to military members and their families! Thank you Disney:)and thank you mom for letting us use your timeshare!

*Thankfully we already have a house rented up in Lansing, KS a town near Ft. Leavenworth. Andrew will be going to Scout Camp up there the week of June 15th and guess who was asked to go and help out...Shane of course! So much for staying under the radar if you know what I mean.

*Time is moving way too quickly for me still, I feel like my head is going to too many directions but I suppose it is better to be busy then bored out of my mind.

April where did you go?

2009-05-01T22:14:00.011-05:00

Does anyone else think that April just flew by? Seriously, it was like a blur! I can't believe that it is the first of May...time is moving way too fast. Once I catch up, I will post some photos taken in April-hopefully before it's June:)

Date Night

2009-05-01T22:03:00.005-05:00

Shane is TDY so tonight I went on a date with my 3 boys!!! It was fun, we went to the drive-in and watched the Hannah Montana movie. Yes, my boys watch Hannah Montana but I don't think I could have dragged Shane to see it. Anyways the movie was actually pretty cute and the music was great. I loved the Hoedown Throwdown song, I even added it to the blog playlist:) Now if I could only learn the dance moves to it-LOL! Wouldn't you all like to see that:)

Mothers Day Gift Idea

2009-04-24T20:21:00.003-05:00

Don't forget Scentsy makes great gifts for yourself and all your mothers, daughters, grandmothers and those special ladies in your lives. Order by April 30th for Mother's Day delivery! Click on the picture on the left or visit www.scentsy.com/2281.

Twilight

2009-04-16T18:09:00.025-05:00

I'm sure everyone that has read them will understand! I am hooked on the Twilight series books! After seeing the movie, which wasn't really the greatest but it did spark my interest and made me want to read the books to see how things turn out! I started reading them on Saturday-now I am half way through the third! I have been spending most of my hours during the day reading, I had to stop reading them before I went to bed because I would stay awake for hours afterwards thinking! I'll catch everyone up on reality once I'm finished...which at this pace won't be long! UPDATE: I just finished book three on Friday night:) Now I'm reading book four.

Pay it Forward

2009-04-09T07:54:00.005-05:00

Pay It Forward... I got this from my friend Grace's blog and I thought this would be fun! So this is how it works - The first 3 people to leave a comment on this (my) post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch...You knew there would be didn't you? Post this on your blog then come back and leave a comment, telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift. Can't wait to see who responds!!!
Now what should I make...I have several ideas!

We have an offer!

2009-04-08T21:09:00.019-05:00

After less then a month on the market we have an offer! The people in the previous post came back for a second look and they made us a great offer! In the next few days will be the home inspection and then the appraisal. One of the BEST things about the whole deal was the closing date that they wanted-May 26th-perfect for us, we can stay in the house until the kids are out of school:)!!(well, almost their last day is May 28th)

I feel very blessed the way things are working out for us...I have always had a good feeling that the house would sell and things would work out the way they were supposed to. I just thought I would have to be patient for a much longer time then this! I know that we aren't in the clear yet, lets hope that during the next few weeks things will continue to go smoothly.

So now the debate of the Scentsy warmers being on or off doesn't really matter. But I had decided that I would turn them off before people came to look at the house, so that it still smells nice without being too strong.

The Power of Scent

2009-04-06T10:17:00.027-05:00

We had a showing on Friday and I just got some feedback from our realtor. They loved the house, it would have been their #1 but they didn't like the location of the laundry room:( ...BUT WAIT...they are now coming back for a second look:)...
The next comment is what has me confused-"they thought the house smelled as if I was trying to cover something up?" My question is should I or shouldn't I have my Scentsy warmer on? I am by no means trying to cover anything up, I just want the house to smell nice! Everyone that comes into my home usually comments on how wonderful my house smells! Do you think they were just ultra sensitive to smells? Maybe I should use a bakery scent rather than a clean scent? I never would have thought that having my house smell clean would make someone think I was trying to cover something up! Please comment-I am interested in your opinions!

Much a blog about nothing

2009-04-01T10:44:00.011-05:00

Nothing to report on the house other then it is still for sale, it is going to take some time and I am okay with that for now...in a month I might start getting anxious if there are no offers.

The weather has been very stormy here lately, several mornings the tornado siren has gone off, but thankfully nothing touched down. Most of the state is pretty saturated with water, lots of flooding. The outlook for the next few days...more severe weather:(!

The soccer season is in full swing, I will have to post some photos later. Andrew plays goalie, he has for the past couple seasons now. That has to be the hardest position to play, there is really only so much you can do to stop the ball, he sure does a GREAT job going after it!

Spring is here!

2009-03-25T17:07:00.008-05:00

Spring is my favorite time of the year-our anniversary is March 20th-the first day of spring! I love all the flowers that begin to bloom and the wonderful weather. But for the past few weeks my constant companion has been a box of tissues! The pollen down here is OUT OF CONTROL, everything is covered in yellow-green especially the cars, we even have a layer of it in the pool. Despite taking a Zyrtec daily I have still been hit hard. I can't even sit outside to watch the boys soccer games, I have tried but after 5 minutes my nose starts running and my eyes itch like crazy, so I have to watch from the car:(
I never had allergies until after we lived in NY for a couple of years, but it seems each year they get worse! I will be happy when the pollen settles down and I can go outside again and enjoy the beautiful spring weather without suffering.

Our house is for sale

2009-03-13T15:08:00.013-05:00

Our house is officially for sale today-Friday, March 13th! It took us about 2 weeks to get it ready, I am relieved to have it on the market and soooo glad that the list is almost done, just a few minor things left like cleaning the garage and organizing the laundry room! Now we just have to wait and see what offers may come our way.
Just for fun~see if you can spy our cat in the photo, you can click to enlarge if you can't see him.

The "to do list"

2009-03-07T15:04:00.002-06:00

I promised Shane the "to do list" would not grow and we have been busy crossing off all the things on it! I love my wonderful hard working husband who took 3 days of leave so we could get this house ready to sell! Shane is convinced that I have watched way to many HGTV shows...I want it perfect for the potential buyer you know! I fret about the smallest of details but I am hoping that in the end all of our hard work will pay off with a quick and solid offer:) We will be putting the house on the market sometime this upcoming week, I want it on the market no later then Friday the 13th. We are finishing up the final details...and in the middle of a major deep clean once that is done we will be read-set-go!

Zero Motivation!

2009-02-27T13:56:00.008-06:00

I'm not sure what is going on. I have no motivation to get this house ready to put on the market! I have made a list of what needs to get done but that is all, what the heck is wrong with me? This is no time to procrastinate! I think once I actually get started I will be okay, but right now I am having a hard time even starting to climb the mountain. Wish me luck with a major attitude change-I really do need one!

Move Update-Kansas then Alaska!

2009-02-24T08:19:00.004-06:00

We just found out that we are headed to Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas THIS summer-ahhh! We will only be there for about 11 months while Shane attends a military school called ILE. Once he is finished with that we will move up to Fairbanks, Alaska in the summer of 2010! Got to love the Army and all the curve balls they keep sending our way:)
I am frantically looking at all the things we need to do to get the house ready to put on the market by the end of next week, the list just keeps growing! I just need to take a deep breath and tackle one thing at a time right?

Funny Kid Quote

2009-02-22T22:01:00.008-06:00

At dinner tonight Owen and Noah were talking to Shane about his Blackberry. I was surprised they knew what it was called! We asked if they knew what it was and what it did? They answered "it is a phone that you can talk on and it is like a little computer with small buttons that you press to text, and it has a thumb massager."

So that is what the small round button in the middle is for! Maybe that is why people just can't put their Blackberry's down! Keep massaging away all you Blackberry users!

Pinewood Derby Race

2009-02-21T19:16:00.016-06:00

Owen has patiently waited and kindly reminded today to put this up on the blog. A few weeks ago Owen had his first Pinewood Derby race. He and Shane worked hard on the car and I think in the end it looked great! Owen won more heats than he lost but he didn't place. He did win an award for "the slickest car"!

Here is the line up before the race, the blue car on the far right is Owen's.

Ready, set, go!

Look at the anticipation!

Hello Ms. Mendenhall this is Nurse Cindy, the school nurse at Pinedale...

2009-02-12T18:16:00.019-06:00

This is Noah's ear.

This was in Noah's ear.

Crazy or what? Wondering what it is, why a jewelry fastener of course. He picked it up on the way in from P.E. and decided placing it in his ear was a GREAT idea, then when it went down in his ear canal and he couldn't get it out with his fingers he tried getting it out with a pencil, pushing it down even further! After zero success with the pencil he told his teacher and went to the school nurse (Nurse Cindy) who had to use a scope-discovering a shiny metal object lodged in his ear canal. This is when I received the phone call from Nurse Cindy telling me Noah had some small shiny metal object in his ear and that I needed to come pick him up from school.
We had to go to the Dr. to get it out which was an adventure in itself. All those who are in the Army know how hard it is to get a same day appointment well by 2:00 in the afternoon they are all gone and the clinic here does not have an acute care clinic. So instead of taking Noah to the Emergency Room we took him over to where Shane works. There were 2 docs and a PA that were more than happy to offer their medical help. After a few attempts with several tweezers and an ear loop-no success! So they searched around for a suture kit that would have the right tool-baonnet forceps-to grab hold of the object. Meanwhile Noah had to go to the bathroom, Shane took him and a few minutes later they came back with the object out of Noah's ear! This is a picture of what Shane used to pull it out...a bent over paper clip!? I guess Shane couldn't wait for the forceps to show up. So in the end it came out and Noah is fine, but this story was such a head shaker I just had to share it!

Caution Squirrel Crossing Ahead

2009-02-07T19:34:00.017-06:00

First let me start out my saying that it was so beautiful outside today-sunny and 70 degrees! I really do love winter down here in the south. Since the weather was so nice, we spent most of the day outside soaking up the sun!

Today Noah was outside skating with his roller blades up and down our street. I was watching him practice his "sweet skills" while I was weeding the flower bed by the mailbox. 2 cars started coming up the street so he jumped into the neighbors yard, sat down and waited until they passed by. After the cars went by he jumped back up and skated into the middle of the street to investigate "something that he saw fall off the car". Once he got there and looked, he called to me, so I headed down to see what he found. There in the street was a squirrel that had been hit by a car, it was still alive, but blood was dripping out of its nose. Noah wanted to bring it home and make it feel better, I had to tell him that the squirrel wasn't going to get any better. He was sure it was going to be fine since it was breathing and its eyes were open. We went back to the house to get dads opinion and help- he went down with a shovel and plastic Walmart bag, Noah tagged along. They picked it up and brought it back home then Shane(only) took it to the back yard to take care of business. Noah was very upset, he still thought "the squirrel had just fallen off the engine(hood) of the car", we told him it had been hit by the car, not fallen off the car. He was also upset that Shane was going to kill the squirrel, we explained that it was in pain and dad was going to make it so the squirrel wasn't in pain anymore. Noah said "maybe we can put it in a little box and bury it". Then he said," I am going to say a prayer for that squirrel tonight".

I feel bad that Noah had to witness such a sad event. I know that I will never look at a dead roadside animal the same. I found this sign online and thought Noah and squirrels everywhere would appreciate it:)

Andrew turns 13!

2009-01-29T11:30:00.020-06:00

I can't believe that Andrew turned 13 this month on January 18th! Being the first born we can be hard on him and he can even be hard on himself. I thought I would share just a few of Andrews shinning moments:)
On Friday I attended an academic pep rally at his school-Coppinville Jr. High, a school for 7th graders only with close to 500 students, I know-yikes! It was recognizing those who made the honor roll for last semester. Andrew is taking all honors classes(Math, Science, Social Studies, English) with the exception of his elective(technology/art) and PE. He made the "A/B" honor roll both marking periods, almost made all "A" honor roll, but got a 91 one m.p. and a 90 the second m.p.(they use an 8 point scale here so an A is 92 and above, B is 82 and above, C is 72 and above, etc.), oh so close. Afterwards he said to me, I'm going to make the "A" honor roll for next semester! I'm gad that he is setting high goals for himself and has such a love of learning, seriously he gets upset if he misses a day of school! Even during Thanksgiving when we each talked about what we were grateful for, one of the things he said was his Education! At this rally, they had a wonderful guest speaker, a judge who deals strictly with juvenile cases who talked about choosing friends wisely, something we have always talked to our children about, it was nice to hear some else talking about how important that is. You either have friends that bring you down or those that help bring out your best. I also LOVED something the principal said "We never boo, if you can't cheer, than you just chill!"

The next thing is Andrew will be receiving his rank of Life in February! He is also a member of the Order of the Arrow. All I can say is that he is one dedicated Boy Scout who has had awesome leaders-his Dad, Brother Chalupa in Watertown, NY and Brother Greenwood here in Enterprise, AL. I've certainly not helped with any of this, other than sewing on all those merit badges-14 so far! So now he will be working toward the rank of Eagle, he still needs 7 merit badges and has his Eagle project to complete, so I'm sure that will keep him busy for a while.

Of course he is a still a teenager who occasionally grumbles when you ask him to do something and pretends that he can't hear you when you are calling his name repeatedly, but he is a good kid who is trying hard to make good choices, I can see that daily. Keep up the hard work Andrew we are proud of you and love you lots!

Family Photo...Finally

2009-01-29T11:29:00.002-06:00

Christmas cards with our family photo were finally mailed out earlier this week! A big thanks to our photographer for softening the pattern on Shane's shirt. This picture was taken in the Botanical Gardens in Dothan, Alabama on a brisk afternoon in November 2008(you can click to enlarge).

Should We Stay or Should We Go?

2009-01-11T10:37:00.020-06:00

Something I learned a long time ago, the Army always changes what they say! Sometimes I wonder why I even bother telling people what is going on, because I know it will change given time. Well, we have been given an option, something that really doesn't happen often in the Army an actual option, usually you just go where they tell you to(they make you feel like you have a choice, because you tell them where you would like to go, but then they only send you where there is a spot open, sometimes you get lucky and it is a place that you wanted to go, sometimes not). Shane has been slotted to take command of the Medevac Unit down here at Ft. Rucker in 2010. (A typical company command in the Army is taken when you are a Captain, but you have to wait until you are a Major to take command of a Medevac Unit.) Shane received a call the other day asking if he would be interested in switching his command to Ft. Wainwright, AK(Fairbanks) in 2010! Apparently the person slotted for there would like to come here, he is currently deployed and would like some "down time" when he gets back. Shane and I can relate to that, that is why we came down here, to recharge so to speak. So are we recharged enough to allow another family the same opportunity?
We have been struggling with this decision for a number of reasons, a big one is that Shane isn't even here(Hawaii until the 31st), but we talk about it at length over the phone.
If we stay here at Ft. Rucker, Shane would not deploy, plus he would learn a new aircraft. The kids would be in the same school district for 5 years. We would own our home for 5 years. Plus, my Scentsy business is doing really well. So what is to not like about staying other than the hot, humid summers and nasty bugs right?
If we move to Alaska, it would be an amazing, beautiful adventure! Shane could be deployed(this is something he WANTS to do while in command), we would live there for only 2 years(this could be good or bad). It is so far away!
I know this is a decision that only Shane and I can make, but it helps to talk about the pros and cons and believe me there are many others, this was just a few of them. This is so hard because we want what is going to be best for the whole family, not just one of us.
UPDATE: YES WE ARE MOVING TO ALASKA SUMMER 2010!

Noah Turns 7!

2009-01-09T14:54:00.019-06:00

Noah's 7th birthday was on January 4th. We do friend birthday parties every other year, and this was the year for one. On January 3rd we had his party at the Fun Factory, a place where the kids can play in ball pits, play miniature golf, roller skate... they had a lot of fun and the best part...I didn't have to clean up my house afterward! This picture is at our house on his birthday, he really blew out that candle didn't he! We gave him a Mario Cart game for the Wii, that game is hard! He was excited to get a few gift cards to Walmart so he could go buy that blue scooter he wanted. He also got a cool lego airplane that he proudly put together without Andrew's help! Thanks She-She for those crazy loud sling shot monkeys!

Here is the latest: Christmas and more

2009-01-09T14:54:00.017-06:00

FYI: The Scentsy smell that Owen was talking about was Leather, good job Tamara for guessing correctly. Also, I still have not sent out any Christmas cards, we have had issues with the printing of the photo. Here is the story, Shane was wearing a brown micro check shirt that has been creating quite a problem, when we get the prints back his shirt is swirly and purple. The official name of the problem is called "moire effect", apparently the tight pattern of the shirt is hard to process we are on try # 3! I should have the latest set sometimes next week and if they turn out good I will send them out to y'all then.
We had a nice quiet Christmas at home, the boys got a basketball hoop and a Wii! They sure have been playing a lot of basketball, since the weather is so nice here. It is a lot of fun playing the Wii together as a family, Guitar Hero is my favorite, who knew I would like to rock out so much:)
After Christmas was over, I took advantage of Shane's time off from both work and school to help paint the living room and foyer. We debated over colors for a few days, thought we had the one, but once it was on the wall in the living room it didn't look right(our living room has lots of shadows and not a whole lot of natural light). So back to the store for another color. The 2nd color is great, a warm neutral color called haystack. We ended up keeping the 1st color in the foyer because it did look really nice in there.
I'm looking forward to my much needed vacation in Hawaii! That is right, Hawaii, I leave on the 14th and come home on the 2oth. My mom is flying down to stay with the kids, thanks mom! Shane had to go over to Hawaii for the whole month of January to do an ARMS inspection of all the active, guard, and reserve aviation units over there. So we thought, I need to get over there and visit since the Army is paying for Shane's hotel, car and food! I LOVE frequent flier miles, I was able to fly over there using our miles, so the ticket only cost $10! We also used our frequent flier miles to fly my mom down here! If you are wondering where we get all these miles from, we use a Delta American Express Card for almost everything we buy.
I feel very grateful about the opportunity and I am so excited, I have never been. Hawaii has been a place that I have always wanted to go and visit! I will be sure to take lots of pictures and post them when I get back.

2008-12-20T18:09:00.004-06:00

Christmas Rush Poem

By: Sherrie Larsen

(sung to the tune of Jingle Bells)
Dashing from the mall,
with groceries yet to buy
lessons, work and housecleaning
life is so crazy. Why?
Bells on my phone ring,
the machine will take the call,
I have no time for family or friends,
it drives me up the wall.
How are you? How's your life?
I really want to know.
I'd love to chat and hear the news,
but please don't talk too slow.
How are you? How's your life?
I really want to know.
Hope you're ready for Christmas,
now maybe it will snow.
A day or two ago;
I thought I'd make a treat,
for all my special friends-
a Christmas gift to eat.
My intentions were top notch,
but my schedule would not budge,
hence, here's this year's edition
of homemade Christmas Fudge!

I thought this poem did a great job summing up how many of us feel during the Christmas season. I'm not sure why I try to do so much, it drives me crazy and I really never feel the true Christmas spirit until just a few days before Christmas! I know I am rushing from one thing to another, and can't believe that Christmas is in only 5 days. We just finished writing CTR on 80 ornaments with glitter pens, they need to dry overnight before we bring them to church tomorrow. I am still waiting for our family photos to arrive so I can stick those in the already signed, stamped and addressed Christmas cards and mail them off, sorry you won't be gettting those before Christmas, but I had good intentions. I hope we can all slow down a little and enjoy the holiday season, remembering the true meaning of Christmas. Merry Christmas to all of you!

Orlando October 2008

2008-12-11T16:25:00.010-06:00

The boys are drenched from the Journey to Atlantis ride at SeaWorld, they went on it twice, once was enough for me. We took this picture as we were leaving the park. SeaWorld is a great place, it can all be done in a day, the crowds were minimal and we only had to buy one ticket. They offer 4 free tickets to military families every year, this is for all Anheuser-Busch parks. The Shamu show Believe is dedicated to all that serve our country, it was really well done. We are lucky that we can drive down to Orlando, it is about 6 hours away. During this trip we also went to the Kennedy Space Center it was GREAT. We did a quick visit to Disney World for the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, the kids got to dress up and trick or treat at the park! For me the best thing we did was see the Cirque de Soleil show, it was AMAZING!

O Christmas Tree

2008-12-10T19:55:00.017-06:00

There are still no photos because my hubby always has his laptop with him:)! But there is good news, the semester ends this week, so then I should be able to upload some photos, since he won't be working on school papers at work!
We are going to get our Christmas tree this weekend. Yes, I still get the real thing, even down here. As long as you don't touch the tree it is fine, but you should see all the needles that come off when we take the lights and ornaments off! This brings me back to a funny story about getting our Christmas tree last year. I was told about a place where you could cut down your own tree(a tradition we try to do every year), so we went there to get one and well we left without a tree! First, off the price was outrageous!! But I would have spent it if I had found "the tree". Second, these trees were sprayed green!! They had sprayed them with a water based dye!! Third, the trees were all perfectly shaped like upside down snow cones and so dense you couldn't even see the trunk, who knows what critter was living in them LOL. Fourth, the trees were not the typical fir trees that I love, they were pine trees and some kind of cyprus. They seriously looked like trees you would have planted in your yard, not something you put ornaments and lights on and stick in a house. I don't even think the branches could hold the weight! So we left without a tree, Shane and the boys listened to me complain as we drove away, we ended up at Lowes, where we purchased a beautiful Fraiser Fir shipped in from Canada! So this year we will skip the Christmas tree farm and head straight to Lowes.

Never a dull moment...

2008-12-01T18:30:00.012-06:00

This past week Noah lost his bottom front 2 teeth, about 5 days apart. The tooth fairy forgot to come for the 2nd tooth!! But Noah wasn't too upset, he said "the tooth fairy doesn't come when it rains." Don't worry the tooth fairy came the next night.
Shane and I stayed up too late 2 nights in a row, we got sucked into movies both nights that started after 10pm! This is a bad habit that I usually get into when he is away! I wake up so groggy the next morning, and I'm not a morning person to begin with.
Andrew drove us crazy finishing up a 20 page Social Studies project that was due before Thanksgiving. He monopolized the computer for 2 weeks straight every night. We even considered getting him his own! Then he had a book report to write this past weekend, let me tell you how just how much I have come to LOVE editing papers, not!!
Owen managed to stay under the radar because I can't remember anything that stands out, but you can check out his kid quote below. Although at his pack meeting we brought Lily(our yellow lab puppy, she will be 1 yr this month) since it was outside at the park. Well it started out with some real nasty dog farts, then she got sick and managed to poop in the back of Shane's car and then while I went into Walmart to get 1 more thing for Thanksgiving she threw up! Shane just balled up the cargo mat and threw it away. So we have a new one of those on order but better, a rubber one, then we can just hose it off. Lily was fine the next morning so who knows what she got into, dumb dog.
After church, on a nice warm Sunday afternoon the pool had what appeared to be a pile of leaves in the bottom, come to find out it was hundreds of dead worms! It seriously must have been about 5lbs of worms, disgusting. We had to empty the collection bag out twice on "sharky", the pool vac.
Among all this we did manage to cook a nice Thanksgiving dinner and I even did a little Christmas shopping.
Every week is full of some adventure "the good, the bad and the ugly". But through it all I love my family and that is what really matters.

Funny Kid Quote

2008-11-29T12:42:00.010-06:00

My kiddos are always saying something that brings a smile to my face and makes me laugh. Last night Owen was smelling all the Scentsy testers, he was picking out a few to give to his teacher for Christmas. After smelling a certain scent he said, "Yuck-that smells like hose water!" I started laughing and he said "What mom, haven't you ever smelled hose water?" A funny thing is yes, I do know what hose water smells like, yuck! Down here in Alabama the water/hose gets real stinky in the hot summer. So now here is the question for all of you, What Scentsy scent did he smell? I can't wait to see your answers!! UPDATE: The answer is Leather.

I will post more photos soon, they are still on Shane's laptop! Be patient they will come...I promise.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-09T20:43:00.001-06:00

Andrew was Napoleon Dynamite, Owen was Bobba Fett, and Noah was Indiana Jones. Andrew informed me that this was the last year he wanted to go trick or treating...they grow up so fast.
We didn't have as many trick or treaters this year. I think it was because the last home high school football game was the same night, and they sure LOVE football down here. The kids walked around our neighborhood, loaded up on candy and then we went over to the Blantons for some real food, Chili!

Where are ALL the pictures?

2008-11-09T20:33:00.003-06:00

Okay so I was getting ready to post some photos tonight and I almost had a breakdown! I got the camera in hopes to download the oh so many photos to the computer, but when I did, there were only 7 photos on it! Only the very latest ones from Halloween, my stomach began to sink, what happened to all the rest of the photos??? There were a couple years worth on the memory card! Well I called Shane in a panic (he was on the way home from a church fireside with Andrew). He could tell by my voice that something was up. I asked him if he had maybe done something with all the photos and to my pleasant surprise he said, "Yes, he had downloaded all of them to his laptop a couple weeks ago". What a relief!

Update

2008-11-06T16:27:00.001-06:00

I have spent the whole day on this silly blog, trying to pick the perfect blog name! AHHH! But thankfully I have come up with one that I'm going to stick with. Shane was a good sport for enduring through the countless phone calls to get his opinion. Check back in a few days, I will post pictures this weekend.

I Finally Did It!

2008-11-06T11:04:00.000-06:00

I did it, I have finally started a family blog! I'm still working on setting it up and personalizing it, but at least it is up and running. I have enjoyed reading all of my family and friends blogs so much that I decided I had to get with the times and start my own blog to share. So stayed tuned and hopefully in the next few days I will get this all figured out and have some pictures of the family posted.