Dance Dance Dance

We had a GREAT Christmas! I am just happy to have Jason home for longer than a weekend! Our group present to the kids was the Dance Dance Revolution for the Wii. Here I caught them dancing and wanted to post for the whole world to see! :-)

Seriously, I can't make divinity.....

My 13 year old daughter likes to give her girlfriends little gifts when it comes time for Christmas. Nothing fancy but just a little something to let them know she loves them! This year we bought some ribbon and she used puffy paint to write their names it. She then tied the ribbon around a package of gum. One last thing she wanted to do was make some divinity..easier said than done.

See, mom here, has a long history with Divinity. Every Christmas my mom or Grandma would make a batch or 2 or 3 of divinity. I have grown up eating this candy at Christmas time as far back as I can remember. I LOVE IT!

As I got older and moved away from Mom and grandma, I thought I would try making divinity myself. I mean, mom and grandma make it every year, how hard can it be? Right? WRONG! I think I have tried making divinity at least twice and both times it did NOT turn out!

I hadn't had divinity in a while until last year when my parents were able to come down and visit for Christmas. Stephie and my mom made at least 2 or 3 batches and it was just as good as I remembered! Since Stephie helped my mom make it last year, she figured she could make it by herself this year. For the record, I want you all to know that I said, "If you make divinity you are on your own, I can't make divinity!"

Determined not to be swayed from her Christmas gift idea Stephie asked me to buy all the ingredients and said she would make the divinity herself. Well tonight was the night.....time to clear out of the kitchen and watch Stephie make divinity. I stepped in for supervision and proceeded to watch my daughter start making divinity. All started out just fine but soon turned into disaster. As soon as the sugar syrup reached the soft ball stage it surged up to the hard ball stage and turned carmely color. I helped her pour it over the egg whites and stepped back to let the kitchen aid do the work!

The "stuff" did come together so Stephie started to spoon it out onto the plastic wrap. After about 8 pieces, the mass froze into a hardened mass about as hard as the counter top it was sitting upon! Translation...divinity batch into the TRASH! Great!

The last thing Stephie said to me tonight was "Mom, next time you say you can't make something, I am going to believe you!"

"Divinity" anyone?! Ha-ha-ha!

Christmas Card

I found the coolest thing this year for Christmas cards. I was able to create my Christmas cards online using Hallmark.com. Along with the convenience of being able to upload and create my pictures online, Hallmark took things once step further for me. For no addional charge I was able to also upload my Excel spreadsheet with Address's, type in my return address, and then pay for the stamps for each card. Then through the magic of the internet...Ta-Da, my Christmas cards are DONE!
No trips to the post office, no writing names and address's all night long, none of that.
30 minutes on the computer and that's it! SO CONVENIENT (or so lazy for me...no comments please)!
I usually type a little letter to go along with our cards but this year I decided not to do that either. It is just to hard to explain our situation, Jason has worked 3 different places this past year, our decision to live apart, no one gets it....and that is ok, it our lives and we are doing what works for us! Right? Right!
So, in case I didn't have your address here are the pictures I used on our Christmas card this year! Merry Christmas! :-)

Thanksgiving

What am I thankful for this year? So many things!

1) God and my freedom to worship Him!
2)My wonderful Hubby (who gets to be home for 5 days in a row)!
3) Four beautiful and healthy kiddos!
4) My parents and a daddy who made it through a heart attack this year!
5) My life and my health. Every day is a blessing!
6) My two sisters who call or e-mail every single day!
7) My friends and neighbors, without them I would be a nut case for sure!
8) My husbands job, food on the table, shelter above our heads, and money in the bank!
9) The south, with the beaches and warm weather!
10) Everything else that just makes life worth living!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you have a GREAT week!

2 days and my hubby!

Who knows what a difference 2 days can make? I do! I do!
My sweet husband is coming back home next Wednesday evening and I am SO excited. Usually he will leave on a Sunday evening and then not come back for two weeks on a Friday evening. Well, since next week is Thanksgivng he is coming back on Wednesday evening instead. It is only a 2 day difference from what he normally does but for some reason it seems like such a huge change. It made saying goodbye to him last night that much easier. It makes the next week seem so much closer! :-) Part of me thinks I am silly, it's only 2 days....

REALLY bad hair!

I have been putting off posting this blog....I don't know why. I told everyone I was going to post some pictures from my sisters wedding and she got married 1 month ago! We had a great time in Chicago and I am so glad we went! Nicholas and Alexis did a GREAT job as ring bearer and flower girl and I HAVE to get some pictures posted of that. But, before all the good stuff I have to tell you about my hair!
I was a bridesmaid for my sisters wedding. I have not lived in the Chicago area for over 15 years, I have no idea who to go to to get my hair done. My sister, the bride, was having friends do her hair. My other sister, also a bridesmaid, lives in Chicago and I couldn't drive all the way out to Chicago when the wedding was in the suburbs. My mom was getting her hair done the night before and her girl couldn't get me in on Saturday either. So, what was I left with? My grandmothers hair stylist could get me in! Finally!
I will admit that I was a little scared of the prospect that some lady that does "old lady" hair was going to do mine but my mom assured me that this lady was good and that it would be fine. Before I left for the wedding I went to my hair stylist in Hilton Head and said, what would you recommend I do with my hair. She gave me a very simple look and actually showed me how to do it so I felt like I could tell my grandmothers hair stylist what I wanted and get it done. No big deal.
Well I went into the salon on Saturday. I brought my grandmother with me so she could get her hair done too. I told the stylist what I wanted and she put me in a chair with hot rollers. I was honestly already thinking this was a bad sign but I thought I would give her the benefit of the doubt. I looked through her magazines, trying to find a picture of what I wanted but found a lot of her books were very dated (bad sign number 2). I finally found something that was similar and explained to her how I wanted mine to be similar but then how I wanted it different. She set me in the chair to get to work. Bad sign number 3 came on like a big wave...all of a sudden this lady was going to town on my hair with the back combing process like there was no tomorrow. I kept telling myself to remain calm but the look on my 13 year old daughters face told me this was bad! I had to keep talking to my 13 year old daughter because honestly, I was going to cry. She got done and I just didn't even know what to say. This lady was SO super nice, and did me such a favor to even work me in on a Saturday morning, I couldn't be anything but gracious! My grandmother was gushing to me about how good it looked and all the while, I was smiling and laughing just so I wouldn't cry. It was TERRIBLE!
I got to my mom's house and the first thing she said was, "oh Bekah, your hair looks so good"! I shot her "the look" and said, "I am going to take a shower, wash my hair, and Stephie is going to have to help me get my hair done!" "Oh, and don't tell me I look nice, I look like something out of the movie Steel Magnolias"! It took Stephie and I like 20 minutes to do my hair and once it was done, it was just what I wanted. I didn't get as many curls as I wanted but Jason said I looked HOT and that's all that mattered!
So, for your viewing pleasure, here are my before and after pictures. Oh and one of Julia Roberts from the movie Steel Magnolias...I wasn't kidding, I knew I looked like something straight out of the 80's and that was not good!

Above: Julia Roberts

Nxt 2: After hair salon

Below: After I fixed my
own hair! :-)

I took these photos
with my cell phone.

I was not smiling because
I was NOT happy!



















Okay, and now the finished product!
See, it all turned out just fine! :-)

So sick of it all.......

Seriously, the world is not going to end people! I did not vote for Obama and yes I do wish that McCain had won, but he didn't and life is going to go on!
Everyone around me is acting like someone has just died and it is really starting to piss me off! I have enough to deal with in my life without everyone talking about how mad, sad, scared, angry, hurt and whatever else they feel!
If Christians REALLY believe that God is the one who is in control and if Christians REALLY believe that all of this is no surprise to God, then quit acting so depressed! I feel like we are a bunch of sore losers and complainers and it is really starting to affect my mood. How about everyone stops complaining and starts praying!?
Ok, I'm done now....just had to vent!

Happy Halloween

I hope that you all had a safe and happy Halloween, I know we did! Even though we bought pumpkins about 2 weeks ago, the carving did not commence until the day of Halloween. We wanted to do it before then but just couldn't bring ourselves to do it without daddy, therefore we waited until he was back home to carve with us. As soon as the kids got home from school on Friday we started working on pumpkins! I was so proud of the kiddos and all the scooping out of junk that they did all by themselves this year. Yay! Stephie got home from school and said that she wanted to carve her pumpkin but didn't want to take the goop out. Yeah well, this mama didn't want to take the goop out either so she didn't get to do a pumpkin this year.

After the pumpkins were done the kids all got dressed up and into their costumes. Stephie decided that 13 was to old to go trick or treating so she stayed home with me to pass out candy. It was a fun night. The kids got way too much candy and loved every minute of it! We had a ton of trick or treaters and the weather was pretty nice. I love this neighborhood for Halloween. 95% of the house participate and it is just a very family oriented experience. Nothing to scary and just fun for everyone. One house gives out glow sticks every year, another house passes out juice boxes (he feels the kid will be thirsty after all that walking). People sit at the end of their driveways, set up tables, it is just nice!
Anyway, enough talk.....here are some pictures. ENJOY!

I thought exercise was good for the brain......

So I decided this week to start an exercise routine. I wasn't going to tell anyone because I am not a good follow through person. I wanted to do this for myself and when I was done, then tell people that I did it. I know, I'm weird, but we all have our idiosyncrasies.
So, yesterday was my 2nd day to do my little program. I didn't really want to go, but knew I had to do it and needed to get it done. I came home from being out and locked myself into the house while I changed clothes and got ready to go. Once ready, I grabbed my water bottle, iPod, and sunglasses and headed out the door. My routine takes about 30 minutes and then I was back home.
I was so tired and ready to just be home but when I went to open the door, it was locked. No problem, I thought to myself, this is why we keep a key hidden in the garage. Went to the secret key spot but no key.....oh yeah, I used it the other day and still have it in my purse. Went around the house and tried every other door just to find that they too were all locked! Okay, now what? The house was locked, my truck was locked, and I had no cell phone on me!
When Jason started traveling a lot for work we gave Stephie a key for both the house and my truck just in case I needed an extra set she would always have one. So, I went to my neighbors house (who was thankfully home) and asked him to drive me to Stephie's school so I could get some keys.
Got to the middle school, found Stephie, asked for the keys but guess what? Stephie just changed out purses and when she changed out purses, she left her keys in the other purse! So, NO KEYS! I started envisioning a mega bill from a lock smith because I didn't know what else to do.
While I was in the school, Chris (my neighbor) called his wife to tell her what was going on. She said, I think we have a key to their house. I was like, "No, I've never given you a key to my house" But Tammy was insistent that they had one and since I had NONE, it was worth it to go check it out.
Chris got the key and brought me back home and guess what? They did have a key for our house! YAY! Chris made sure to take the key right back home so I didn't lock that one in the house too! Thanks neighbor!
Thankfully there was a week this summer where Stephie stayed at the neighbors house while we were in Greenville. I faintly remember giving them a key so that if Stephie needed anything they would have a key too. Then when we got back, I told her to just hold on to it! I am so glad she did!
Today Stephie made sure to put her keys in her purse, I got the extra key back in the garage hiding spot and the neighbors have my key back down at their house! I should be covered now! All of this just so I could go exercise, which I thought they said helped with your brain power!?

My day with Lexi

Lexi brought home a note about a month ago asking for permission to go on their first field trip of the year. I was SO excited for her, ice cream, a farm, and then to a pumpkin patch. How much more perfect could it get!? I quickly sent in the $6 needed and permission to go. I attached a note and said that I would love to come along too. The teacher sent home a note the same day saying, "sorry but we no longer bring parents on field trip." No longer bring parents on field trips? What kind of stupid rule is that?! The notes between the teacher and I were daily, all though friendly, the teacher was not the one who made the policy but was left to enforce it. Finally I decided that Alexis would not go. Her teacher said she would keep the form and money in case we changed our mind, but my mind was made up. I was going to boycott the field trip and keep Lexi home that day.

So that Lexi would not feel punished I told her it would just be a day for her and I to do whatever she wanted. With four kids and a husband who works out of town, I thought it would really be a good chance for some alone time with just mom and Lex!

Well today was our day and I am SO GLAD I kept her home and we could be together.
First she took a long bubble bath, all by herself. No brothers barging in on her, no mom telling her to hurry up because others need shower too!
Next she watched a little TV where mom caught this picture of our big girl in one of her "baby moments" :-)
After mama was all ready, it was off to the nail salon. Alexis knew what she wanted and that was to go get her nails and toes done! She picked a bright purple color and all though we had talked about matching nails, I decided to go with a dark purple instead. :-)



Next it was out for lunch, here choice of course! She chose Taco Bell! That girl could eat Nacho's and cheese 24 hours a day! We loved it! Even gave $1 to help feed the hungry and got a Mariah Carrey download for free. Woohoo!


Even though you could get a form of dessert at Taco Bell, her next wish was Ice Cream at Dairy Queen. We just had a DQ open here in our town last weekend, so this was an extra special treat! :-)

After that mama's plans had to take a slight presidence and we went to buy groceries! No one would be happy without some food on the table later tonight! :-) Lexi actually enjoys grocery shopping and it was nice to have one child to keep me company instead of being there all by myself.

Finally we went to get into pick up line and pick up her brothers from school! I think she forgot how "fun" it is to sit in pick up line....you can tell how thrilled she was with this process!


All in all it was a GREAT day! I enjoyed being able to focus all my energy on just Alexis for the day and not feel one bit guilty about it. Next week Nicholas's class is going on the same field trip and of course, no parents are aloud there either, so he is staying home with me. Not sure what we are going to do yet but I can guarantee it won't include the nail salon and will include Dairy Queen!

A Post For Daddy!

Happy 8th Birthday to Nicholas and Hi to Daddy! We missed you being here to celebrate with us!
LOVE YOU DADDY!

Bekah' To Do List

My sister is getting married this coming weekend! Congratulations Liz! :-) Of course we are taking the family and driving up to Chicago so that we can be there. As un-stressed as I have seemed to be compared to the rest of my family, it is now becoming crunch time and I have a list a mile long of things to get done before Thursday.
So, for your viewing pleasure, here is my list:

Sunday - Laundry, clean house, work on 3 projects Ethan has due on Tuesday
Monday - Wal*Mart run (need to buy nylons for girls, socks for boys, undershirt for J, hair clips for Lexi's hair, and snacks for our pending road trip)
Tuesday - Drive to Hilton Head and get my hair colored and trimmed
Wednesday - Go into Savannah, pick up my bridesmaid dress
Thursday - Get everything packed, pick the kids up early from school, drive to Nashville and meet my sweet, sweet husband!
Friday - Drive the rest of the way to Chicago and hopefully make it in time for Rehearsal Dinner
Saturday - Do Lexi's hair, go get my hair done and be to church by 12 for pictures. I am a bridesmaid, Jason is a groomsmen, Nicholas is the ring bearer, and Lexi is the flower girl! Phew, that in and of itself is enough to exhaust one family right there!

Now, the fun part! Saturday after the wedding, my parents are taking the four kiddos and Jason and I got a room at a Bed and Breakfast in the little town of Dundee, IL. We'll have a queen size bed, our own private terrace, and a bathroom that has a hot tub for two! Oooh, la, la! I so can't wait! We are also going out for dinner Saturday night to a place called The Hideaway. It is in another small town in IL and is supposed to be an actual hideaway and speakeasy used by Al Capone. I ate there once as a small girl with my parents but know I never enjoyed it the way I will come Saturday (with my adult pallet and the company of my wonderful husband, it will be perfect)
Sunday Jason's mom is inviting some people over for a brunch/birthday party for Jason and Nicholas.
We might try to get out of town Sunday night but we'll see.
From there we have to re-trace our steps to Nashville, say goodbye to Jason and head back to Savannah!

Phew, I'm tired just writing all of this. Not to mention the rest of life going on among all of this. Stuff like school, gymnastics, small group, work for Jason, dinner, cleaning....you know life!

Wish me luck, and look forward to some awesome pics next week! My Lexi as a flower girl, Nicholas in a tux and most important, my sexy sexy husband in a tux too! Woot, woot!! :-)

I don't even have the energy

It was 7pm and I told Nicholas and Alexis it was time to come in for the night. We had eaten dinner, it had been a beautiful day but it was time for baths and getting ready for bed. I told them to come in and came back into the house to help Stephanie get the vacuum ready.

5 minutes later I went back outside to find Lexi standing in the middle of little shards of glass all over the driveway and Nicholas no where to be found. "What happened", I said? "Where is Nicholas?" "Don't move!" Of course my southern child was playing outside bare foot! Coming around the corner of the truck I heard the noise of what sounded like Rice Krispies in our morning cereal. There I looked and saw the back window of our truck with a hole in it and glass everywhere! I took Lexi inside, found Nicholas and asked what happened.

His story was this:
I was teaching Alexis how to throw and we were seeing who could throw further. She threw 2 rocks but they kept going sideways so I was showing her how to throw straight when the wind made my rock go sideways and it hit the window of your truck.
Yep, that was his his story and he was sticking to it.

It's almost Friday, Jason will be home tomorrow night, poor little Nicholas was shaking in his "boots", I am tired! I looked at him and said, "Nicholas, it's ok, at least you hit the truck and not your sister's head"

Some may call it lazy parenting but ya' all I am tired and I just don't have the energy for this tonight. It's a car window and it's replaceable.

Here's to a better Friday and an even better weekend!

They are getting so big!

This weekend I finally took the kids to Sears and got their pictures taken. When they were babies I used to be so good about taking them every couple months and then every year to get their pictures taken. I don 't know what happened, but I have stopped being so faithful. The current pictures on my wall have Stephie as 11, Ethan as 9, Nicholas 6, and Lexi 5! Shame on me! So, I thought it was about time I get some updated photos...even if Stephie and Ethans are about 2 months late! Here are the photo proofs, enjoy! :-)

I've been putting off this blog.....

A lot of the time I look forward to blogging. I enjoy writing about my family and fun things we have done or how we are growing and changing. This blog, however, I have been putting off for about month now....

Everyone knows that my husband likes to move around, change jobs, keep things interesting and fun. Even though Greenville was a great location for his last job, Jason was not sure Greenville was where he really wanted to be. So, of course, he always keeps his eyes and ears open. Well, it just so happened, that his ears heard about a good opportunity back in Little Rock. We talked and prayed about it and finally decided it was worth it to at least look into the job. Long story short, Jason got the job offer and the job. Yay!

Today Jason left to go start working in Little Rock. It is so hard having him gone again. I don't know why I'm getting all depressed today, it's just like any other weekend....actually, if he was still in Greenville he woulnd't have left until tomorrow morning. Anyway, I am just sort of depressed and I guess I haven't wanted to post this blog because I didn't want to face the questions or the laughter.

I hated Little Rock, I mean really hated Little Rock. The MOPS group there was not what I was looking for at all. I was home schooling the kids and I hated that. Jason worked a lot of long hours which I hated. We were still close but far from Silom which was hard. It was supposed to be a city and Little Rock...well it just wasn't. The whole time we were in Little Rock, I begged Jason to find another job, anywhere but there. That is how we ended up in Savannah. Now we are in Savannah and the whole family loves it. I could live here the rest of my life and be totally content and happy.

But now Jason is back in Little Rock.....Not as far away as he was in Dallas but not near as close as he was in Greenville. Sigh! I guess you could just pray for us. I am excited for Jason and the job and what it is going to allow for our family financially but I am sad that he has to be so far away. Since Jason is a contractor and the housing market sucks we can't afford to move the whole family at this time. Not to mention, it is Stephie's 8th grade year, so we don't want to move her in the middle of her 8th grade year! We are trying to find a balance, trying to figure out when and if the family is going to move. It's just so hard! We probably make it harder on ourselves than it has to be. Right now we are hoping that by December Jason will have a feel for the area and the job there. If we need to move we will move in December, in between semesters. But for now December is a long ways away and I have to take life one day at a time!

Morning talk

This morning I went into the boys room, turned the light on and told them it was time to get up and ready for school. I then proceeded into the kitchen to make myself some coffee. While in the kitchen this is what I heard Nicholas say:

Nicholas: Mom? If you come turn our light off then we will get up and get dressed
Mom: Okay but you are going to have to wait a minute, I am in the middle of making my coffee
Nicholas: I was in the middle of trying to sleep!

Hehehe! Pretty cute for a 7 year old, no? :-)

Have a GREAT day!

Where is all the water coming from?

I have been so busy this week. Nothing major going on just running errands, doing some shopping, normal stuff to keep me busy.
Today was my first day to just stay home after taking the kids to school. I needed to do some cleaning and get things picked up while the kids were at school.
Everything started off great, just cleaning away....I walked down the hallway once and the floor felt a little wet. I figured someone had forgotten to dry off before getting out of the shower or maybe a wet towel had been on the floor, I didn't think too much of it.
Kept on cleaning, walked down the hall and felt that the floor was really wet, not just damp. Hmmmm. Not wanting to KNOW what was on the carpet, I threw a towel down, stepped all over it and figured my job was done.
A little bit later I walk down the hall again and this time my foot goes, "splish, splosh"! Not a good thing to hear in the middle of your hallway.
I quickly called Jason and he told me to go ahead and pull up the carpet to see what was going on. I pulled back the carpet and found that my carpet was very wet, my padding was soaked and the cement almost had puddles! YIKES!
I got out more towels, wiped everything up and then waited. I needed to see where the water was coming from. Long story short, I now have a plumber coming to my house tomorrow. I have to keep the water turned off (with 4 kids in the house...haha!). I have to take everything out of the bathroom cabinet and have it ready to be pulled out by 8:30am tomorrow.
I have a hair appointment at 11am tomorrow so I am just going ot have to trust the plumber to do his job and leave him in the house. You don't understand, my stylist books up 6-8 weeks in advance. I can't just call and re-schedule! It would not be very good for my roots!
I am tired and I haven't even started empyting the bathroom cabinet!
Pray everything goes smoothly and that he can find the leak and get it taken care of. Pray that the homeowners insurance guy comes quickly and will pay for the damaged carpet, damaged linolium, and wood flooring!

It Works!

Nicholas has been having a little bit of trouble adjusting to being back in Public School. The days are long, the work is hard and most importantly, he misses his mama! Yesterday he got in a little tiff with one of the other students and had to miss recess as punishment. He did not want to go to school today and was so sad about everything that had happened yesterday at school.
I told him that he would have a great day and that he needs to remember that even though mommy is not there with him, God is. I reminded him that he has Jesus in his heart so if he wants to, he can pray to Jesus right there at school, even with his eyes open. I honestly was not sure he was even listening to me until I picked him up from school this afternoon.

ME: Hey! How was your day?
Nicholas: It works!
Me: What works?
Nicholas: What you told me about this morning
Me: Which thing that I told you about this morning?
Nicholas: The praying to Jesus.....I prayed today that I would not cry in school today and that I would be a good boy all day long and it worked!
Me: Of course it worked, I am so proud of you!

Ahhhh, the prayers of a child! He is such a good kid and now I just need to remember, that even though mommy is not there with him all day long, Jesus is!

Thawing Tips 101

I shared a tip with one of my friends the other day and she in turn has shared it with many of her friends so now I am thinking I should share it with all of you!

How many times do you come home, haven't thought too much about dinner, need to make something but all your meat is frozen? Taking chicken or ground beef out of the freezer and putting into the microwave on defrost just gets to be a mess. Thawed chicken juice gets all over the plate and sometimes the microwave. Ground beef never thaws evenly and then you have part cold, part frozen, part cooked meat! Ewwwww! Well, with Bekah's new quick thawing tip, microwave mess will be a thing of the past! Simply place any frozen meat or sauce into a resealable ziploc bag. Fill your sink with warm water, place the bag into the sink and let it thaw. No mess in the microwave and all juices are contained inside the ziploc bag! This works well with any type of frozen meat and I use it to thaw left over sauces as well. So next time you need to thaw meat or sauce, forget about the microwave and remember Bekah's quick thawing tip! :-)

Back to School

So today starts the kids first day back to school! WOW!

Stephanie is in 8th grade now, Ethan is in 5th, Nicholas is in 2nd, and baby Lexi is not a baby anymore and in the 1rst grade! After a year of homeschooling we decided to put the kids back into public school. Lexi and Nicholas had already been pushing to go back since about February of this year. Ethan didn't seem to care one way or the other. Even though home schooling last year was not that bad, with Jason working out of town it was just too much for me! I think it will be good to have the kids back in school and give all of us a little time away.

Today was really hard for me to send the kids to school. I was excited for them, I think they all have great teachers, but I was not ready to say goodbye to summer and send them off to school again. A lot of my friends think I am crazy for missing them or wanting the summer to be longer....but I can't help it. I was thinking about it today and realized that a lot of my parenting ideologies were learned back in the small town of Siloam Springs. I was reading a blog from one my "Siloam Friends" talking about how sad she was for the families who can't wait to be apart from each other and back in school again. I know that she put a lot more eloquently than I am and I am not trying to bash anyone here....I was just thinking that I agree with her 100%! My children are still so small (even though my 11 year old would not kiss or hug me goodbye today) and having them in school all day long with the influence of some other person....I really sort of hate it! I know how great my kids are and how smart they are, I just pray the teacher will see those same qualities and help them reach beyond themselves to achieve more than they thought they could! You know? No one believes me when I say I miss the kids already but I really do. I am already looking forward to 2:30 when I can go pick up the younger three from school and hear all about their day!

I have gotten a lot done today and I will admit that it is nice to mop the floor and not have little footprints making it dirty again as soon as I turn around....but then again, I know that those days are quickly slipping away and it makes me sad! They are growing up so fast and having them back in school again after having them home for a year...it makes me want to scoop them back in closer and just have them home a little while longer!

This post is almost sounding depressing and I don't mean for it to be! I know that they will have a good year and God has a plan for them this year in school and I know they will be fine! Of course I had to take multiple pictures this morning before they headed off to school. Stephie went to school with her friend this morning so I did not get any pictures of her all ready to go but I still managed to snap a couple bathroom shots (since this is where she spends more and more of her time anyway) The primping of a teenager!

So enjoy the pictures and hopefully I will do better at updating my blog now that I have so much FREE time with all 4 kids back in school! :-)

Happy Birthday Ethan

11 years ago a new person entered our world and I am lucky enough to be called his mom! For 11 years I have watched him grow and blossom into the boy I love today. At 11 he is still a boy and yet at times I see glimpses of the man he is becoming!
When we went back to Chicago I remembered that when Ethan was only 2 years old I had taken his picture at the Brookfield Zoo and it has become one of my favorites. So, while we were at the zoo this time, I decided to replicate the picture again, 9 years later. I thought I had remembered the pose correctly but I had him facing the wrong way. Oh well!
In honor of Ethan's birthday I wanted to share these pictures on here with all of you! Look at how my little man is growing!
Happy Birthday Ethan! I LOVE YOU!!

Chicago

Well we have been busy, busy, busy! Summer is going by waaaaay too fast! For our big trip this summer we made the trek back to Chicago! After being away for over 3 years I think it was a little bit past time! We started off by going to Greenville first to pick up daddy and to help break the trip up a little bit. Only 3.5 hours to Greenville and the kids have gotten used to that trip.

The next morning we climbed into the Suburban for the long haul, Greenville to Chicago! It was a beautiful drive, going through the hills and the mountains, you forget how pretty a bunch of trees can really be!

Once in Chicago we split the trip up and spent 2 days with Jason's family and then 2 days with my family. It was the PERFECT amount of time! While with Jason's family we spent one day with his older sister, Susan, where we took the kids to the pool...even though it was freezing outside! (okay, so it was 80 degrees but after GA weather....it was cold!) hehehe! :-)
The next day we took the kids to Brookfield Zoo and packed as much into one day as we possibly could!

Sunday with my family was an all out cookout. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and great grandma all came out to my parents house to spend the day with us. It was a great day of just hanging out and a chance for us to relax. The next day we took the kids downtown and to The Museum Of Science And Industry. It was a lot to pack into one day but it was so much fun. After the museum we went back to Kim's house and hung out while eating Giordano's pizza! YUM!
We went ahead and left Chicago on Monday night and drove to a hotel in IN just to help break up the trip again. Back to Greenville the following morning where we stayed until the weekend and daddy could come back home to Savannah with us!

It was a great trip all the way around! The kids were real troopers and it just seemed like the perfect amount of time! So, here are a view pictures and highlights from our Chicago trip....ENJOY! :-)

P.S. I Love You

Last week I spent the whole week with Jason and the younger three kids in Greenville. We came back on Saturday and spent the weekend as a family until Monday. Monday morning Jason went back to Greenville and Stephie headed off to camp. I have to admit, I was a bit depressed on Monday. After spending all week with Jason it hurt to have to say goodbye, and after being apart from Stephie for the week I wasn't ready to say goodbye again!
I decided it was time to treat myself! What better way to cheer up a depressed spirit than to go out and rent some chick flicks! Knowing Jason would not be around in the evenings and there is hardly a good thing on TV these days...I rented 3 new movies. The three movies were as follows: Definitely Maybe, P.S. I Love You, and Fools Gold.
Tuesday night I watched Definitely Maybe. The movie was okay. Nothing great, nothing really bad, just a movie and I guess escape from reality. Sort of disappointing but at least I didn't pay to see it in the theater.
Wednesday night I watched P.S. I Love You! Wow! I totally LOVED this movie! I cried and cried and laughed and just got wrapped up in this great love story! Not near as sad as The Notebook but still a great movie. If Jason will endure it I might just make him watch it once he gets home this weekend!
Thursday night will be Fools Gold but Jason will be home to watch that one with me, yay! I think there will be enough action in it and maybe a little love to keep us both entertained.
Anyway, I just wanted to let all you hopeless romantics (like me) know that P.S I Love You is a Great movie! Go out and rent it and then bring some Kleenex and be prepared to cry!
What is it about me that makes me love a movie that makes me cry? When I was younger my all time favorite movie (and still is to this day) was/is Dead Poets Society. I used to watch that movie and cry every single time. When those boys stood on their desks at the end and said, "Oh captain, my captain!" Ohhh, tears every time. My older sister used to torture me and sit with the remote on rewind just to hear them say, "Oh captain, my captain" and watch the tears continue! Inspirational! Ahhhh!
Now I sit at home all alone and watch the movies that make those tears come again. And what makes me like them so much? I think it must be therapeutic or something! I don't know! What I do know is that it felt good to be swept away, sucked into another time, another love story and cry for the hurts of other people! It made me wish so badly that my Jason was home and sitting on the couch with me to kiss away the tears once the movie was over! Ahhhh, love it is a beautiful thing! With all it's raw honesty, hurts, laughs, and comforts. It's what every girl dreams about from the time she is 4!
It was a great evening! Me, my glass of wine, and 2 hours worth of crying while I watched a movie! What more could a girl ask for? Besides knowing that my hubby is coming home in less than 24 hours! Yay!
But really, go rent that movie!
I loved it so much I had to blog about it! :-)

Allergies

Life has been so crazy lately. Remember my post about being so busy this summer? Well it has come to fruition and we have been crazy busy. First Jason's mom and sisters family came to visit and stay with us for about 4 days. It was crazy having an extra 7 people in the house but we survived. After they left we got a visit from some friends of our from Florida. We had a GREAT time with all our company but it has just kept us busy.
Unfortunately, in the middle of all of this business Ethan broke out with the worst case of hives I have ever seen. The poor guy was miserable and I was just beside myself because nothing we were doing to help him was helping. We finally took him to an allergist who switched his medications and did some blood work to test for things that may have caused the outbreak. The nurse called me today and informed me that he has the following allergies and should avoid these things until our Doctor appointment next week:
Any kind of nut
Grass
Eggs
Corn
Dog and Cat Dander
Soybeans
Fire ant bites
Oh and they are prescribing an epi pen just to be on the safe side because nut allergies can sometime be dangerous. YIKES! We have an appointment to go in next week and talk with the Doctor more to figure out what this all means and how it will affect our lives. I don't know what we are going to do though, this is the kid that lives off of Peanut Butter and Jelly along with eggs for breakfast and lunch. I guess the egg allergy is not that bad but I won't know more until next week. Just crazy ya'all, really crazy!
Hopefully we won't have to make any drastic changes since he has been eating, corn, eggs, and peanut butter for the past week and has yet to have another reaction. But I will keep you updated. I have never had to deal with food allergies before....not looking forward to this next "adventure"!

I'm back!

Oh dear friends, we have had such a good week! My parents were here and we took the kids to Disney World for 3 days. This was the first time we have attempted to take all 4 kids and do more than just one park and multiple days. The kids did great but I must say, you could tell they were tired on the 2nd and 3rd day as compared to the first.

My dad was able to go on some roller coasters and despite my own fears he did great! I was so worried about him and his heart. I don't care if the Dr. said he can go on roller coasters, he just had a heart attack! But he was fine! Nicholas got to go on Rock and Roller Coaster which goes upside down. (see above for picture). Check out this picture....Stephie was scared out of her mind, I was giggling like a little girl, Jason looks worried and Nicholas seems to just be enjoying the ride! How ingenious is Disney to take pictures of you while riding and then sell them to you! As if the park doesn't make enough money on you! Brilliant! :-)

After Disney, Jason went back to work and my parents and I just hung out around home. It sounds boring but really it was just so nice to relax, sleep in, and do nothing. My mom and the girls made some cookies one day, we went grocery shopping another day and my parents took me to Sam's (since I no longer have a membership). We never went into Savannah or to the beach but we still had a great time. To be honest, after 3 days at Disney, my parents were slightly worn out! :-)

After my parents left on Friday Jason got back home from Greenville and we just had the best weekend ever! Again we did a lot of nothing and it felt great! Jason did go out and buy a new weed eater and hedge trimmer. He had a lot of fun destroying the bushes in the front of our house. I must say, it does look so much better! Hedging was way over due and now we can rake all the old leaves and stuff out and put down some pine mulch. Everyone in the south uses Pine straw and I honestly just hate it! So I'm excited! Maybe I will post before and after pictures!

So now we have a down week with no company and I am so excited! We might go spend some time up in Greenville with Jason but Stephie isn't that excited about those prospects. Being 12 just doesn't mesh well with our traveling summer plans! :-( We have offered to let her bring a friend with though, so maybe we will get in her good graces once again! :-)

Hope you are all having a good week and a great start to summer! Thanks for checking in on me! :-)

Busy, Busy, Busy

I would like to apologize for not writing in a while but seriously, life has just been busy. As much as I am looking forward to the summer and getting some down time from school, I look at the calendar and already it is starting to fill up.
Last weekend was GREAT, Lexi had a birthday party to go to and the whole family was invited. The kids had a great time playing outside in the water and in the inflatable bouncy house, while the adults got to hang out and just relax. After that, Jason's friend Dave came in for the night so we ended up leaving Stephie to baby sit while we went downtown to Savannah Smiles. We didn't get home until 2am which made for an early Sunday morning. None the less, we made it to church just fine and then Jason put new shocks on the Suburban.
Last night I picked Stephie up from school and then went into Savannah to do some swim suit shopping. Let me just say one word for that....DEPRESSING! Then we went to Olive Garden, sat down at the table where the waiter said, "would you like a free sample of some wine". I looked at him and thought, "I am sitting here with 5 kids, no husband and I've been swimsuit shopping, what do you think?" But I just politely said, "yes" and then ordered a glass to go along with dinner. Ahhhhh! :-)
Tonight Lexi has Gymnastics and I also need to get to Wal-Mart
Tomorrow night I am going to make Tye Dye shirts so that we can all wear matching shirts while walking around the Magic Kingdom. Before you laugh and make fun of us for being the dorky family with matching shirts, ask me about our last trip to Disney and how we lost a kid! Not going to happen this time when we all have matching Tye Dye shirts on!
Thursday I am driving into Hilton Head and getting my hair cut and colored. That pretty much takes up most of my day and won't leave much for anything until Thursday evening when Jason gets home and then we need to pack!
Friday we pick Stephie up from school, my parents from the airport and then head on down to Orlando. Once in Orlando we will be in Disney World until Monday when we drive home sometime in the afternoon. My parents are staying until the 31rst at which point I think Dave is going to come back up and spend the weekend with us again. After that Jason's parents are probably coming to visit along with his sister, brother in law and 4 boys! YIKES! I could keep going but I'll save more June and July plans for a later post!
Summer hasn't even started and yet I already see it slipping away!
Busy, busy, busy!

Am I paranoid?

Let me first start off by saying, I am not the type of mom who goes around snooping through my kids stuff. Stephanie has a Facebook account and when we set that up, the rule was that I had to have access to it and I was allowed to check on it from time to time. Just to make sure I know who her friends are and what she is doing online. Ok?

All that said, yesterday she got a message while I was by the computer and she saw that it said LOL and said, I know what that is, don’t open it, so I didn’t. Of course the way she was so quick to say, don’t open it, got my curiosity up.

After she went to bed I logged back into her account to check her Facebook messages. She had written to a girl from Siloam and all it said was, “Hey! Do you sat, blowed, burned or tried? Just curious?” Me being the paranoid mom that I am instantly thought of drugs or something. I know that Stephie is a good girl but I was starting to wonder what she was doing or knew about.

So I sent out some text messages to ask my friends if they knew these terms or if I should be concerned. No one knew but wanted an update once I got it figured out.

Well I got inpatient waiting for her friend to write back so I could figure it out and just asked Stephanie today. What she meant to type was “Hey! Do you SAY blowed, burned or tried?” I guess that when someone says something to you that is a slam the kids around will say, BLOWED! or TRIED! Anyway, it is just middle school slang for a slam! Ok, now I feel stupid! But hey, I am not naïve enough to think none of my children will never get curious or want to try things and I just don’t want to be the stupid parent that never saw it coming, you know?

Anyway, so that is what it meant and thank god that is all it meant!

Ever have one of those "shower moments"

We all know that as humans we are "creatures of habit". Everyday people get up and take the same route to work, stop at their same favorite coffee stop, order the same thing they ordered for the past year and do things exactly the same as we did before. I know life isn't the same day after day but for some reason we find comfort in routine and the "sameness" (not sure this is a word) of each day. All that said, I also have a routine for when I take a shower. You know how it is. Get the water ready, step in, first shampoo, then shave, then conditioner, while the conditioner sits, wash face and then body. Rinse conditioner, get out. Pretty simple, but I do it the same every single day.
So yesterday I was in the shower, the face wash bottle was empty finally so I grabbed the new bottle I had placed on the tub ledge. The new bottle was packaged differently so I stopped and looked at it for a bit. Decided to see if they had reduced the amount in the bottle (hate when they do that) and just did a quick comparison. I then washed my face and suddenly realized I couldn't remember if I had put conditioner in my hair or not.
Please tell me I am not the only one who has done this? I mean, if I had put conditioner in my hair I would have done like 2 minutes ago, how could I forget? I honestly had no idea though! It was like taking that 2 minute "reading break" had thrown off my groove and now I was lost! Ha-ha! I finally took a strand of hair and stuck it in the water to see if it turned silky smooth or was still needing conditioner. Of course I already had conditioner on my hair....I had just forgot! Duh! This does not seem like a good sign as I am only 30 "something" and will only be getting older and more forgetful! OYE!

An essay about the "Invisible Mom"

I AM NOT THE ONE WHO WROTE THIS. I GOT IT AS AN E-MAIL AND SINCE MOTHER'S DAY IS LESS THAN A WEEK AWAY, I THOUGHT I WOULD POST THIS ON MY BLOG. ENJOY! :-)

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!


One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:

'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'


In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work. No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building as fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.' I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.
You're doing a Great Job! You are appreciated...even if no-one tells you that you are! Being a mom is amazing, even on the days that you feel invisible!

My dad

Well my sister just sent me an e-mail and my dad is already out of surgery! Everything went GREAT! No complications this time (Praise the Lord!) He gets to head home around 1pm, no work for 5 days. Most importantly he will be able to fly and come to GA the end of May! I can’t wait to give my dad a great big hug! Thanks again for all your prayers! I guess God wants my dad here for a while longer and I like that fact! J

Friday May 2nd

My dad will have his surgery tomorrow, May 2nd at 10am (central time)

As much as I know I need to trust God and trust Him to take care of my dad, every ounce of humanness wants to reach in and make sure my dad is ok tomorrow.

I will update again tomorrow after surgery

Thanks again for all your prayers and support!

Here is a picture of my mom and dad with my kiddos (it's a couple years old)

Update on my dad

Well my dad made it through the surgery ok. They went in and found two blockages on the left side of his heart and therefor put in some stints to help open the blood flow. There was also some blockage on the right side of his heart but they can't do both sides at once. So, they are going to have him come back in for out patient surgery on Friday and get the right side fixed with a stint as well.

They said everything went well but they did say that he had arrested once on the table while in surgery. The Dr. sort of down played it and said that is common when you start messing with the heart but the thought of my dad having to have those paddles on his chest just breaks my heart! It also concerns me that this happened and now he has to have it done again on Friday.

Please pray that God will watch over him and keep him safe on Friday. It may be routine to the Dr. but I typically like my dad with a heartbeat!

Sucky Weekend!

All though the title of this blog eludes to nothing positive I will admit that the whole weekend was not terrible. Stephanie had 6 little girls over on Friday night after school to come celebrate being done with CRCT testing at school last week. They had a great time and it really was fun to have 7, 13 year old girls running around, laughing, screaming, giggling and eating their way through the night! No one went to bed until 4 in the morning....except for me, I was in bed by 11. So tired, I was able to tune out the girls and get some Zzzzzz's!

Saturday seemed pretty un-eventful in the morning. Sleepy girls, not moving very quickly, just your normal lazy Saturday morning. All the girls were supposed to get picked up on Saturday around 10am to go home for the day. Around 9:30 Ethan decided that he would start getting the mowing done while the day was still cool and since we still had 7 girls running around...he really didn't want to be in the house. After mowing a little bit Ethan got thirsty and wanted to go inside to get a drink. He came back out to mow some more and felt a sting on his foot. I guess he didn't think too much of it but about 15 seconds later his foot started throbbing with pain. He threw his shoe off to look at his foot and say two very distinct bite marks......snake bite! Jason tried to go find the snake to see what kind it was but that snake was GONE! I called 9-1-1 to find out what I was supposed to do for him. They sent out a First Responder who was not very helpful and just called an ambulance. The EMT's said they couldn't do anything for him but said he had to go to the hospital to be observed. So while we were getting Ethan out of the house and into the ambulance, girls moms are showing up to pick up their daughters....what a scene! Ethan got his first ride in an ambulance and after 5 hours in the ER we got to come back home. Thankfully Ethan never had any kind of reaction to the bite and the Dr's think it was either a bite without venom or very little venom. Seriously praising God for his divine protection, as things could have been so much worse.


















After that exciting day in the hospital I was ready to just come home and spend some time with Jason! We went to bed at a decent time when all of a sudden we heard my cell phone ringing and it was 12:30 at night. Knowing that sometimes people dial wrong numbers I was not worried about missing the phone call. After that ring my house phone started ringing. You know it's never a good sign when someone is trying to get a hold of you at 12:30 in the morning! Come to find out, my mom was taking my dad to the hospital to have him checked out because he was having chest and arm pain. They determined that he had a mild heart attack and admitted him to be checked out by a cardiologist. It has been a crappy weekend. My emotions are at the limit and now Jason is back in SC! Please pray for us this week! Pray that the surgeons hands will be guided by God and that they will know the best plan of action. During the Angiogram today they will either then perform a angioplasty or bypass surgery if needed. I know that God is in control but I love my dad and hate being so far away from him right now!

Another Lexi Post

I swear the other kids do funny things to share about on here too, but right now it's all about Lexi! Lexi just taught herself how to ride a big girl two wheeler! She was so proud, we had to get the neighbor to take off the training wheels since daddy has all his tools up in Greenville! Check her out....we're still working on turns! :-)

6 going on 16

I told Lexi we had to run a few errands today. I told her to brush her hair, wash her face, and get a clean shirt on because the one she on did not really match. I was finishing up getting ready when Nicholas walked into the bathroom and said, "Lexi is getting fixed up to go with us." Fixed up I asked? Lexi said, yeah like this and walked into my room like this:

Blonde moment

I was talking on the phone with my sister this morning while also walking around the house tiding things up. I found a home phone on the floor in my room and noticed that the battery was low so I wanted to get it put back on the charger. When I went to put the phone on the charger, I noticed that the display screen read, "line in use". I thought to myself, "Oh no, we have a phone off the hook somewhere." I went to the kitchen counter to find the phone I had left there to see if I had left it off the hook and couldn't find it. I asked the kids if they knew where a phone was.....just then it dawned on me. I was ON THE PHONE talking to my sister. Duh, of course there is a line in use! So much for multi tasking! haha!

The Last Lecture

Just wanted to take a minute and share a story that inspired me. Last night, when I could have been sleeping I got pulled into a TV program I don't usually watch. A Diane Sawyer special highlighting the life of one man named Randy Pausch. Randy Pausch is a 47 year old man who has been married for a short 7 years to his wife Jai, they have 3 beautiful children and were living life when one day Randy found out he had Pancreatic Cancer. Pancreatic Cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer and being such, he was given only 6 months to live.

Being a University professor he got up in front of his students, colleagues, and friends to give his "Last Lecture". A friend taped the lecture for someone who could not be there and then posted it on You Tube and since then many have been inspired. I have not watched the whole lecture yet, only clips that were showed on the TV program last night but this guys outlook on living life is what is inspiring. It was just a reminder how short and fragile life really is.

Nothing is guaranteed in this except of course for death and taxes. Of course we all know we will die someday but if left with only 6 months to live....would have to courage to live life to the fullest like Randy Pausch or would I spend the rest of my days angry with God and resentful for not getting to live a full life?! Deep thoughts! I don't know.......just thought you might want to check out his book or video posted on You Tube.

Sometimes we all need a reminder of how precious life is and to not take things for granted....even the bad days when the kids aren't acting perfect or the car won't start, or the money isn't there to pay the bills. The most important thing to remember is to cherish the time you have on this earth and always LOVE the ones that are close to you with all your heart!

My coffee maker has ears!

I am an avid morning coffee drinker! I have got to have my coffee or the day just doesn't start right! Mornings and coffee go hand in hand, that's just the way it is. Back in January my old coffee pot started dieing, this was a really bad thing because I HAD to have my coffee in the morning.
So, I went to the local Wally World and bought myself a very nice new coffee maker. Mornings were great for about 2 months and then my new coffee pot started being uncooperative. What used to take my pot about 3 minutes to brew was now taking 45 minutes. There is nothing worse than not having coffee in the morning, other than to be "teased" for 45 minutes waiting for the coffee to be done.....TORTURE!!
I tried calling Mr. Coffee but every time I finally got around to calling, it was always after hours. I stopped having my morning coffee or I would make 12 cups just to warm up a cup a day, so as to not have to wait the next morning to get my next cup of brew! I started checking Wal-Mart again to see if I could buy a new pot and then take this old one back. Not to be deceitful but because I don't have the receipt nor the box so how could I exchange it.
Finally I called Mr. Coffee yesterday morning. I was fed up with having to wait for my coffee and dang it, I just bought this 3 months ago, I expect my new coffee maker to last longer than 3 months! I explained to the guy how my pot took HOURS to brew when it should take minutes. I also explained that I had no proof of my purchase and wondered if there was anything he could do to help me. The guy was SOOOOO nice and told me they would send me out a new coffee maker at no charge! Yippee! I was so excited I decided to make myself some coffee.
I kid you not, that coffee maker heard that I was getting ready to replace it and brewed me a nice 8 cups of coffee in minutes. This morning, I decided to make some coffee again, guess what? Minutes to a nice pot of coffee! What the heck?
I swear my coffee maker has ears, and it's scared of going to the dump!

My name is Bekah Granstrom and I'm an addict.....

....No I'm not an alcoholic, I'm addicted to Reality T.V. I try not to be, but really I can't deny it. My husband is gone during the week so once the kids are in bed, what am I left to do but to watch the T.V? I know I could be doing laundry, cleaning my closet, mopping, getting things ready for school the next day, but none of that is fun! Reality T.V. though, that is fun! :-) Here for your viewing pleasure and so that I can try to get a handle on my addiction, are all the reality shows I tune into regularly and my reason/excuse! :-)
Rock of Love 2 with Brett Michaels
~Yes, I have to admit, I was once a big Poison fan! Big hair bands rocked back then! I came home from school and ran straight to the MTV channel (you know before reality T.V. when MTV actually played music videos). I would watch the countdown every day to see who was still on top, was it Poison with their song, "Nothing But A Good Time" or was it Def Leppard with "Pour Some Sugar On Me". Oh yeah, those were the days....so naturally I had to check out this reality show to find out if Brett Michaels will ever find true love!
Survivor
~I think this show has just become a habit....I started watching it years ago and so every season it comes on, I have to watch again. I always think my husband would do well on this show....I, on the other hand, would not survive. I would be like the Kathy of this season, having a mental breakdown and crying to be taken off the island. Fun to watch, but could never be that last Survivor.
The Bachelor
~Come on...the quest for true love.....ok, so maybe it's not really true love but the drama is great! Hehehe! I don't know, I get sucked in. Hoping that maybe this one couple will fall madly in love and stay together forever. Totally romantic! It worked for Trista and Ryan!
High School Reunion

~This is the first season I have watched this reality T.V. show (thanks Seanna). It is supposed to be a High School reunion for people who in their 40's. I don't know how they find these people. I mean there are like all these people and they seem to have kept in touch and all this drama and relationships. Marriage, divorce....just drama! Very intriguing.

Scott Bao is 46 and Pregnant

~Once again I had to tune into this show because back in the day....who didn't love Chachi on Happy Days? And what about Charles in Charge? I mean Scott Bao was in every Teen Beat magazine out there! Interesting show....Scott Bao is nothing like the innocent Chachi or Charles on the T.V. shows we remember. The man seriously needs help, but that's what makes it a good show, right?

The Hills

~This is another show I have just started watching. Seriously, I have only watched 2 episodes, but two of my friends were so excited about the new season starting, I figured I had to check it out. I'm still not sure what I think about this show but really.....what else do I have to do at 10pm at night. Sleep?

Beauty and The Geek

~Ok, this is the end of my list. I don't know why I watch it. The beauties are very shallow but beautiful of course. The geeks are like the nerdiest out there and of course brilliant! My favorite part of the show is when they do the geek makeovers. Ok, now I sound shallow. The point of the show is pretty wholesome, get people to look beyond appearances to see that everyone is really the same on the inside. We all have fears, insecurities, and feelings, you know? Not near as much drama but decent show.

So that concludes my list of reality T.V shows that I watch. Pathetic huh? You know the good thing about reality T.V? It makes you feel so much better about your own life! Ha-ha!

Life without the internet

Running some errands today, my son and I had the following conversation.......

Ethan: Can you imagine a day without the internet?
Me: Yeah, Ethan I can. The internet was not really around until I was in High School.
Ethan: You mean there was no Google either?
Me: Nope, no Google yet....imagine!
Ethan: How did you find stuff out?
Me: We made phone calls and looked things up in books.
Ethan: Wow!

As much as I might look like I'm still in my 20's, in Ethan's eyes, I must have lived with the dinosaurs! Ha-ha

I've had nothing to write about

I'm stuck in a bloggers lull! I spend about 30 minutes every day just wondering around blogs, checking in on my "friends" and seeing what great stories they have posted lately. I don't know if I am looking for inspiration or what but I just have nothing to write about! Life has pretty much been life, you know?
This past weekend was crazy busy because Stephie had her big show choir performance. They did a two night dinner theatre so we went one night and then our friends went the other night. We did this so that we could swap free baby-sitting with one another. It was really good and the kids worked so hard and did so well.....it just kind of sucks when your 2 weekend nights are taken though.
Jason was home this weekend so that was GREAT! He had some tinkering to do on the cars though, so he spent all weekend working on cars while I spent time running around like a crazy person. After Stephie's first dinner theatre on Friday night, she came home with sore and bleeding feet. Seriously, her feet looked like something you see when they do those dancer documentaries or something. Her shoes were just waaaaaay to small! So, being the good mom that I am :-), Saturday was spent running into Savannah to the shoe store to get her some new shoes. Not to mention running to the meat market, getting everyone lunch, and bringing Stephie's friend over so that they could get ready together and do each others hair!
We did not even attempt to go to church Sunday, which I'm sure sounds awful but J and I were just too tired! I made a really nice dinner Sunday night and Jason got to take the leftovers to S.C with him. :-)
Monday morning Jason meant to get up and leave around 4 in the morning but he over slept. He got to S.C at 10am but that is ok. Nicholas and Ethan had dentist appointments yesterday and then of course we did school.
See, nothing very exciting....just life! But I will admit, it is a life I love and am proud to be a part of!
Have a great week!

Time For Change

Many of you know that Jason has been working in Dallas for the past 5 months as a contractor, but now that job is over. The kids and I went to Dallas over Christmas and just didn't get that, "this is where I want to live" sort of feeling. So Jason started looking else where for other contract jobs. This past Monday he started a new job in Greenville, SC! Yay! I think I like Greenville, the only down side is that it gets colder there vs Savannah because they are clearly more towards Mountain territory. :-( I have a very strong aversion to cold.....I mean I really really HATE the cold. Other than that, Greenville seems fine. Still not sure if we are all going to move there or if this will be a long/short term job. For now Jason is only 3.5 hours away and will be coming home every weekend! Yippee! It is a better arrangement for sure! Continue to pray for us as we still need to figure out where and when to go from here.

Oh and Easter pictures will be posted soon. We have to have an Easter "re-enactment" sometime this weekend since the sun was in Lexi's eyes and my camera battery died. Obviously we got NO pictures, but I will get some and I will get them posted! :-)

A fun day out with girls

PICTURE LEFT: Me looking like I'm still in my 20's! Ha-ha!

Yesterday was a great day! A good friend of mine was going up to Hilton Head for some shopping with her 12 year old daughter and asked if Stephie and I would like to come along for the day. Her AWESOME husband offered to watch the other 2 for me just so I wouldn't have to worry about finding a sitter for the day. It ended up being 3 moms and 3 12 year old girls. It was really a lot of fun! They spent about a half hour in the shoe store trying on silly high heels and clunky old "grandma shoes". Then they went to Claire's and spent about a half hour in there. Then we went to Limited 2 and found some AWESOME deals! $1.99 sale on all sorts of stuff. Stephie got a cute little I-pal thingy that she can hook her iPod up to for speakers for just a $1.99. She also bought a Kelly Clarkson CD for $1.99....can we say bargain shopper?! And what shopping trip is complete without a stop at Old Navy of course?! I had some serious shopping to catch up on for my boys and summer clothes but I also bought all three girls a pair of matching flip flops...because you have to have a pair of Old Navy flip flops to get you through the summer! :-) Of course with 6 girls out shopping we had to stop into the chocolate store for a treat. Even though I am not a big chocolate lover one of my greatest weakness's is chocolate covered strawberries! I mean, oh my word....the only thing missing with the chocolate covered strawberry is a little champagne bubbly and a room with my hubby...but I digress.

We then went out to lunch and just had an all around good day. We wanted to take the girls to the beach too but we just ran out of time. So sometime over spring break we have promised the girls a day at the beach, that will be nice! Then all the kids can come and I can start working on a tan! This old white body of mine needs some color! :-) Oh and you want to hear the best part of my day? I was checking out at the Eddi Bauer counter and the conversation went like this:
STEPHIE: Oh mama, I need a new hoodie can I get one here?
ME: Of course, those over there are on sale. Do you like them? Pick one out?
MAN BEHIND THE REGISTER: Did she just call you mama? You are not her mama?
ME: Yeah, she is mine....she's only 12 (knowing she looks older than she is these days)
MAN BEHIND THE COUNTER: Still, you must of had her when you were 10
ME: Ha-Ha...No, I was not 10 when I had her but I was only 19
LADY BEHIND THE COUNTER: You still don't look old enough for her to be your daughter
ME: Thanks!
Come on, what better complement than for someone to tell me I look like I am still in my 20's and 12 year old daughter is no where young enough to be mine!
Yes, yesterday was a good day!