Just a quick update...

This past two weeks have been so busy and so crazy! I do have lots of pictures and if you are actually still reading my blog check back because I will add them in the morning. We have been swimming A LOT! I know that is a surprise. We have had play dates and family from Tennessee. We are always so happy to see Leslie (my sister in law) and family. Ethan and Jacob have a ball and the girls love playing together. I was not around much because I had to work! :( So unfair!

We have been working hard on our house and our estimated move date is going to be Labor Day weekend. My husband thinks it will be the weekend before but I am optimistically saying Labor Day. It is really coming along . We have painted almost the whole house and are almost ready to put down the new floors.

Lastly, we are getting ready for vacation! I can not wait. We are leaving Thursday morning early and driving to Pensacola for a few days and then going to Gulf Shores to meet my entire family! Entire family means all fifteen of us in one house for a week. We did this last year and it was a blast. The kids have the best time and we as adults get a week of R&R that is always appreciated.

I will add the pictures ASAP. I am at work tonight, and do not have way to add pictures. :(

Hope you all are having a great week and I will try to keep this blog thing a little better.

Monday, Monday and a Happy Birthday, too

Today was my great aunt Myrtle's 93 or 94 birthday, not sure how old she was turning. My granny says 93 and my mom said 94.. and these days you really don't know who to believe! ha! So, she has lived a very long and blessed life. That much was for sure. My Aunt Myrtle has never had kids of her own so she loves it when the we all come visit. I remember growing up and she lived in Ohio, we drove up there to see her. She always enjoyed having us around. My kids just love going to see her. Today they made her home made cards and took her some flowers they had picked in our yard, along with some other things. They were so sweet. She has been in a nursing home now for a little less than a year. At one point today, I thought about how we had four generations of daughters in the room; my granny, my mom, myself and Scarlett. How lucky am I! We had a great visit. My mom helped Aunt Myrtle eat lunch while my granny did this...
You would have to know my granny. She is just crazy like that! I am a lot more like my granny than my mom. My mom likes to color inside the lines at all times.. and granny and I we believe the lines are just an option at times! ha! She sometimes has her very own thought process. We joke around at my house and call them "granny-isms". I am trying to start writing them down. Those will be the things that years after she is gone will always bring a smile to our face. Just be around her for fifteen minutes and you will hear a few "granny-isms" yourself.


Hope you all are having a great Monday! :) I am off to play softball in a little bit. It is too hot! I am so glad I only have two games left. They will not be over with fast enough this season.

It was a LONG weekend...

Miss Scarlett working on her scrapbook

Our weekend started off great. I had a friend over on Friday night and we scrapbooked half the night. I am SO behind on my scrapbooking. I got the new cricut machine for my birthday, which was seven months again, and was just now getting a change to use it. I LOVE it! My pages look so much better by having the letters cut out for me. I had the Sizzix machine and if you scrapbook you know that was wonderful.. but the cricut takes it to a whole other level! ha! Scarlett likes to be involved with the girls so she sat in there and Kelly working hard on her Easter pages.. she is behind, too.

cropped with us the entire time. I can not wait until we get moved into our new house, I am going to have my own craft room! My scrapbook stuff can stay out full time and I am sure that will help me get caught up and I am likely to work on my books more often.
Our messy table

My page using my new machine.. LOVE it! :)

After Friday night there is not much to tell about our weekend. We worked on the house the rest of the weekend. All day Saturday and Sunday! I feel like we are getting a lot done, but I know there is still a major amount to be done! We saw a snake in the front yard, which freaked me out! The bushes all along the front of the house have to go.. they will be cut out soon! I saw the snake sneak back in those bushes, so that was enough for me to be convinved we did not need bushes at all!

Other than work and more work that was my weekend! Doesn't sound like much fun, huh? Hope you all had a more exciting weekend.

Just some funny pictures!

Nancie caught Miss Scarlett in her very favorite pose...
and when that didn't get enough attention, she did this...

and she walked around the pool like this to be sure that she was seen by all...
and when she was done and felt she had garnered enough attention we were all happy to see this...

The joys of Summer

You probably think that all we do is swim, and we do swim A LOT! I haven't posted because I have gotten so bad about taking pictures! I got so used to Hayden's mom and her camera that I have become a slacker! Nancie emailed me lots of pictures this morning from our swim parties this week (Thank you, Nancie) so I can post. I think I will have to have a refresher course on how to use my camera!

Monday night we had the baseball team over for a end of the season swim party. They had a blast. These little boys are so funny! I am going to miss not seeing them all every week. They swam and ate and had a great time. Ethan was sad to see everybody go home. After the party ended and we cleaned up.. my kids went swimming again. I think they stay in the pool for hours if I let them.





After our party on Monday night, we swam Tuesday afternoon with some friends before going to my softball game. I have decided that 6:30 ball games are way too hot when you are my age! or any age for that matter. I have two more games left, I am actually ready for this season to be over.

Wednesday night the we took the kids to Aaron's birthday party, which was another swim party. This pool had a slide! They were in heaven. A twisty slide is so much fun. They are going to try to talk their nana and papa into getting them a slide on their pool. They had a lot of fun at the party. I was able to hang out with Nancie and Tonya and that is always fun. Hubby has made him a new friend in Hayden's daddy and he is so happy. He has lived here in Arkansas for a LONG time now, but still has few friends. His friends are all in Tennessee. He does not talk a lot and rarely opens up to people but he has so enjoyed talking with Hayden's dad. He told me he rarely met people he just genuinely liked. So, I am thinking Harold must be pretty special! :)


Don't you love cupcake mouth! ha! They had orange icing all over their mouths.. they tried to clean up before the picture was taken but there is still evidence of a very good cupcake.


We have had a great week. I think this whole weekend will be filled with painting and whatever else comes with a house you have to fix up before moving. :( I am ready to put on my work boots and just do it! I will be missing a all day scrap that I really, really need to attend. I am so behind on my scrapbooking. I hate when I get this behind. I got the cricut for my birthday (in December) and have yet to use it! Hopefully soon I will get caught up and get busy.

Ode to the Drama Queen

After dealing with a few more episodes of my little drama queen's behavior today I started looking up the exact definition of a drama queen. It was funny that once I started reading definitions, almost every one that gave a classic example of a drama queen listed Scarlett O'Hara. Just a coincidence I assume! :) Maybe Scarlett's are just destined to be a bit dramatic. As long as there never comes a day and my sweet, but often dramatic child looks at me and says "..Frankly my dear momma, I don't give a d@mn!..." I think we will be okay.

I found a few poems that I thought were really funny, so I tweaked them a bit to make them fit my Scarlett accurately. I give her a hard time and it can be extremely nerve damaging to deal with at times but would I really change her if I could??? No way!

Here is my tweaked version of a "Ode to the Drama Queen":

We all have crises of different degrees
but her cries of mistreatment
bring me to my knees
Even little things are blown out of proportion
Small tales are twisted by distortion
A few drops of water and it's a flood
A hemorrhage is when she sees a tiny bit of blood
Slip and fall and she's got a broke spine
Give her a spat and you've "busted her behind"
This child is a real smooth talker...
if she sprains her ankle I fear she will need a walker
A funny look from a friend and "they're being mean"
and don't even ask her to make her room clean
The daily doses of dramatic flair
occasionally make me glare...
I wouldn't changer her if I could
One day she will be on stage in Hollywood!

So to all of that, I make the appropriate noise (sigh)
But you know that I might just lose my poise
So this is a fervent wish to the One up on high
And I send this prayer straight up to the sky
Please keep her safe, and give me the patience of a saint
Because Heaven help her, if I hear one more complaint.

Can you tell life has been a little slow. I don't have much to blog about! We are having out swim party tonight so I will have pictures and lots to talk about. Ethan is so excited! Can't wait!

Have a great Monday!

God Bless America!

This was such a wonderful fourth of July! We were sad at first since most of my family is out of town and we knew we would not have much to do but it turned out to be a great day! I so love just hanging out with my kids and hubby. We worked on our house, or should I say hubby worked on our house. We have got so much painting to get done! It will be worth it when we are done, just feels like the never ending project when you are starting.

We had a surprise on our front porch when we arrived at the house. On one of the poles a momma bird had built her nest and had babies! The kids were so interested with the little baby birds. Every time they peeked at the little birds they had their mouths wide open!

After working hard all day we cooked out and went swimming. The kids would swim in 70' weather if we let them! The kids wanted to shoot their own fireworks this year and not go watch a local display. We took them to the fireworks stand and picked out a few small things but you would have thought we bought them the biggest and best things there were. They were so excited!

We came back home to our house and lit everything in the package. They kids clapped and laughed and had the best time. Ethan kept saying it was the best summer ever! Scarlett and him were so funny! They just loved everything. Even the simple things like smoke bombs were a hit! It is so nice that $30 and a lighter can be "the best summer ever". Some how I do not think it will always be that easy to entertain those two. I think hubby and I enjoy hearing them squeal with excitement more than anything. Just seeing your kids happy is worth everything! I would trade everything I had if it meant always hearing them laugh and have fun. If only it were that simple...


Now the last firecracker has been lit, my kids are showered and in bed.. I am TIRED! I am going to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day.

Hope you all had a safe and wonderful 4th of July! May God always bless you!

Back to normal...

I have decided this week that if you have six kids and still go out in public.. then you are a saint! All four of my nephews stayed with us for a few days this week and it was exhausting. I think my sister in law must be a saint! Four boys is tiring. Total at my house was five boys and one very dramatic little girl that should count as three. I so enjoy have them all here but I do get tired. What one does not think , you can bet that another will. We went swimming, bowling, played on the slip and slide, played in the sprinkler, played back yard ball, x box, watched movies, ate a LOT of food, fought some and yes, we even managed to sleep just a little bit. I always make a huge sleeping area on the floor for all of them to sleep. After the first night some of them c0mplained of back ache! ha! So, I had to come up with a plan for two beds to accomodate six kids. We managed and I think they all had fun.

I think I will think twice before pawning my kids off on Angie again! :) My "too cool" nephew, Mitchell, that is thirteen stayed out of most of the drama with the little ones. Hubby and him stayed outside until late each night and then would stay up and watch TV. Mitchell was three months old when hubby and I started dating, so we have watched him grow and it is so hard for me to believe that he is almost fourteen! I have always wanted him to feel welcome at our house and feel like it is a place he could come anytime. We really enjoy having him around. All that and he is great with Ethan and Scarlett.

We are so excited that our beach trip is in less than a month now! We are leaving July 30th! YIPPEE! We have started the countdown.

Hope you are all having a great summer!

Life with the queen of drama...

Much to my surprise, Ethan lost his second tooth. We woke up Monday morning and Ethan had money in his hand and when I asked him where he got the money, he told me the the tooth fairy and showed me his little smile now missing two front teeth. I am thankful that hubby and him kept this quiet to me, I had a hard time dealing with the last loose tooth. He was so excited to have received a second visit from the tooth fairy.. but someone else was not so happy. We explained it to Scarlett that last time was the ONLY time the tooth fairy would leave her something, too. The first tooth was special so she would get a little something under her pillow but nothing after the first tooth. She was so angelic and said, "she knew and that was okay". Fast forward to this morning.. this is the face I saw once she realized Ethan had money.
and this was the same face fifteen minutes later.. only it is hard seeing the face with it buried in the pillow...Thank goodness "The Tooth Fairy" finally called and asked me if Scarlett found her dollar under her pillow. I know, I know.. bad parents that give in to their children and we are getting better about it.. but it is still hard. Anyway, this is the face after being told that her daddy thought he saw the Tooth Fairy by her pillow, too.Now you tell me..isn't it worth a dollar to see that face?

Hope you are all having a great week!