Quitting.. and sticking

Tim and I have quit smoking about a million times now sometimes it's for a week sometimes we have lasted a year. But we have always gone back. Why? I have no earthly idea. This time we (the family) are involved.  The girls and I had a ceremony where we basically torched any smoking stuff we could find and then we each said why smokeing was bad as we threw in ciggretts you may think that sounds a little silly but... if it was your children.. you would understand. So now I am over 24 hours into this. I know this is the toughest time especially since I have caved before. So I am writing until the dire need to get in my car and go to the store in gone. Did I also mention Tim and I are on this healtier lifestyle becuase of his diabeties? So I have also switched to decaff tea and there is no "treats" in the house, so there is a LOT riding on this. We are determinded. I am determined. I can be a good example for my children. I will not let them down. I am constantly praying for healing and guidance. God is funny... when I start getting really bad Baby girl will say just out of no where.."we don't buy cig-wets" "if you do you have to fa-row dem away!" I don't tell her im having cravings thats between God and I. I just think it's amazing that he knows she has such a hold on me and that she and her sisters are a big part of my motivation.  I think I can function now with out trying to dig up spare change. Thanks for listening!!!

it is FINALLY here!! cont...

It has finally gotten cold enough for jackets in the morning. I just love it!! Baby girl and myself opened all the windows and turned off the ac yesterday. It is soo nice. You can almost smell the maple trees and the apple butter. I really love camping in the fall but i am not excatally sure how I will be able to convince the rest of my family how amazing it is. Well i supposed I should go baby girl has decided it is time for mommy to read with her!!

It is FINALLY here!!

The cool mornings.. that smell in the air.. the leaves starting to change.. IT IS FALL!!! Unfortunally in our house that means time for me to wash ALL the kids clothes and get them all sorted into piles for storage.. Then we bring all the winter clothes in from storage and I have to wash all of those as well!! woohooo!!!  Big mess that takes months to do anything with.
     The girls have decided on their trick or treat costumes We are going to be SUPER GIRLS and Super Villians. Daddy and Eldest put their foot down about dressing in tights and such.. If i can wait for the bus Dressed as a Super Girl then why can't they.. oh yeah cause they arn't mommies. I think that eventually nothing embarrasses mom's anymore. We had some of our friends over last week all have been around the girls before but only one had been around them at our HOUSE. heh Middle Daughter my precious little girl decided for once to remember that her dirty clothes go in the laundry room and ran through the house nekkied. I just laughed. Wasnt much to say except welcome to our house yes it's always like this :D.  Super costumes seem easy enough I guess we will just have to see. The villians are the one's i think will be hard. Tim thinks he should be Lex Luther and shave his head. Not Gonna Happen Bud!!
to be continued.....
 

a LONG week

It was a long rainy week last week.  I didn't have much time for writing as baby girl was going a little crazy  from being cooped up in the house. We did tons of art projects, had company over twice, the various running around that goes with having young children in school. I've come to realise my house will NEVER stay clean for longer than 30 min no matter how hard I try. There also is just no pleasing some people.  This week is shaping up to be another busy week. Eldest was nominated for Student Government so we are writing all kinds of papers for that. Tomorrow I have boxtop counting day at the girls school, I have a parent teacher confrence, and running club and that's just monday. Im hoping I can keep up with the whole week!!!

Lazy weekends

This weekend we had planned on taking the girls to Chattanooga to visit a friend who is moving. Well we forgot that we have kids and things never go as planned. The middle one had some allergie issues and it was supposed to be rainy all day so that ruined those plans. Lucky for me the fall craft show was in town!!!  So I was able to do a little early Christmas shopping!! Then since we couldn't go to the Mellow Mushroom in Chattanooga (our fav place there!!) we went to the one by our house. It was soooo worth the heartburn I had all night because of it. We also bought a few new movies for a movie/ game night!! We had such a blast!! We learned how to spell pie and that Harry and the Hendersons is terrifying for a 3yr old but 101 dalmations isn't.. dont ask me why I think Cruella DeVille is wayyyyy scarier than Harry but i'm not 3 so...  Then today Sunday we got an intresting phone call.. Tim's parents usually call wanting us to come over for dinner but today they asked if we could all go bowling!! The littler girls had never been bowling we had been putting it off due to thier age's and a terrifying thing I saw a 5 year old do when I was a child care teacher. We all had such a blast!!! I love bowling but i STINK,  so i don't like to go since im usually the worst in the bunch!! With this group though I'd say i was about average I forgot how much fun it is to play when EVERYONE sucks!! It was great!!! I can't wait to go again!!! I love family weekends where we really have nothing to do and spend the whole time together!

Bella Silvermist Precious or Jacob Edward

Yesterday evening when Nanna came to pick the girls up for their special dinner outing, we were saying our goodbye's I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye. I go over to the end of the house and I look around. Suddenly I heard a teeny tiny meow. I called over Nanna and oldest who digs around and finds a tiny little kitten. Probably only about five or six weeks old. It was the cutest little thing black and white with white paws and the most beautiful blue eyes. HOWEVER. We just adopted Mimi and Tim was fine with that but only due to the circumstanses there was NO WAY he would ever allow another kitten. Not that I needed another hassle hahah. Well I finally talked oldest into putting the kitten down. We hoped that it would find it's way back to it's mother and possibly siblings. If it was still there the next day we'd take it to animal services. Yes I know the chances of it getting adopted were slim but it was the best I could do for it. Nobody I knew would be able to take it in. When oldest got back the kitten climbed out of its place and followed oldest to the door the ran back. Seems oldest had made a friend. She pleaded with me to let her take it to school and see if someone wanted it. I explained why this was not a good idea. She was excepting of the fact it could not stay. Today baby girl and I looked around but didn't find the kitten I was hopeful that it had found it's family. When the girls got home and were playing outside burning off all that rainy day energy who should appear but the tiny kitten from it's hiding place under the house and up to eldest it ran. We put it in the cat carrier and waited for daddy to get home and he and Oldest would take it animal services. While we waited oldest kept talking to it in the bathroom and and running out telling me about the kitten. Finally I asked the question I knew she was thinking.. Is your mother allergic to cats? Her mouth dropped open and she ran to the phone to call. Her mom said yes. Oldest got her baby. As long as it stays at her momma's house I am perfectly happy.

Praise God for Family!

Tim's mother like most is very particular about spending time with the girls, and weekends are usually very busy.. she often likes to take the girls out for dinner during the week. Thank the LORD!! Tonight just happens to be that night! Also Tim is tutoring on Wednesdays now. So I am all alone is a house that has by some miracle stayed clean for over 10 minuets! The house is quiet. There are no kids screaming at each-other so the dogs are nice and quiet for once. This is just awesome!!! Do you think I can convince her to take them every night?? I'm just joking!

Growing up as an Army brat I didn't have the opportunity to get to know my grandparents the way other kids got to. I love the fact that our children have that. It's nice knowing that they get that type of bonding. Being from a family that didn't have the extended family holidays it can get a little hairy between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But overall it's a great feeling knowing that on any given day the girls can see their Grandparents.. both sets. They will be able to tell their kids Nanna taught me how to decorate a cake , Pookie boo taught me how to fish and drive a boat, Gramma taught me how to sew and always took us on great adventures. I am a little jealous of my kids now that I think about it. I recently lost my Grandmother and while it was expected it struck me how little I knew of her and her life, how little time I got to spend with her. It really made me realize that while I often have trouble fitting in time for the girls to see their Grandparents how special that is and how I need to be encouraging and understanding.

Cake and God.

Todays Bible lesson was God made the Earth. Seemed simple and fun enough for Baby Girl. We took an empty bowl and talked about how God started out with nothing... the space was empty. The He made the Earth.. pour in the Cake mix and swirl it around with our fingers. Then God added water to make Oceans and Rivers..pour in the water... Then God added fruit and trees.. add the veggie oil. then God added animals... add in the eggs. It still doesn't look right. Baby Girl: you have to mix it up together mommy! Just wait baby.. Then God needed someone to watch over and take care of everything so God made Adam out of the dirt... now stir it up. I pour it into the pan and tell her..When we all work together for God and do what he made us to do everything comes together and makes a beautiful world! Thinking this was a great activity I am a great mom, cooking with my baby girl and a bible lesson mixed in this is just GREAT. Then just to refresh and try to make the lesson stick better. while we are cleaning up I ask Baby Girl... What did God do? Baby Girl says.. God Made Cake mommy. Duh!!!

My Wonder Women

Hi my name is Rachael and I'm addidcted to facebook!! I love it facebook it's such a great way to connect with loved ones. As I was going through my list of "friends" the other day it got me thinking about my IRL friends. I recently connected with someone who was a soul mate but when we both had hard times we seperated and then moved and lost touch. I thought about her all the time. I missed her so much that at least once a week I would do a search for her hoping against all odds to find some trace of her. Amazingly a few weeks ago her name popped up. We were able to reconnect and touch eachother once again even from states away. Now I dont make friends easily but it occured to me that the women I do befriend not just women who are friends but FRIENDS, soul mates) are all these amazingly strong Christian women. Each blazing thier own path and touching the world in thier own way. The friends I have made over the years have been few and far between but they are people that I know I can count on being there at a moments notice.. even now when we are seperated a few by minutes but most by days. Friends are amazing gifts from God and all of these women have somehow shaped my views on Christianity. Thier views were varyied but thier love of God and his teachings were not. They helped shape me into the woman I am today. I still struggle with things as do we all.. but I am comforted to realize that even though I have a pictures of my friends and memories we shared I also have a part of them that will be passed through me to my daughters that will help THEM to be Wonder Women of God. It also dawned on me that this is also where my whole don't go to just a ... church go where you feel comfortable comes from. I figgure i am Methodist, lutheran, Penecostal, Baptist, Holiness, and others i can't quite think of right now!

Super tragic

So because of my still unknown hormone issues the Doctor has decided that since my medication works with the exception of a week before and a week after my cycle that I need to be on a special diet that is supposed to lower anxiety and help counteract the funky hormones. This means that when I start feeling edgy I start on this "diet". Sounds good EXCEPT that it is no chocolate, low caffeine, low salt, low fat foods. It's fine to follow this during the other 3-4 weeks of the month but when you are PMSing? this is pure hellish torture. Not only do i revert back to my Mrs. Hyde totally crazy run for the hills self but I can't have anything that I'm really craving. Which makes me even more crazy and psycho! Now looking at me you wouldn't think that I worry about what I eat but I do. I make sure to eat healthy well balanced meals.. my problem is that I forget to eat hahaha. I cut out all this stuff that the doctor and my mom said would just make the weight fall off if i do such as you know McDonalds, Cokes, etc... and what happens I gain weight!!! You know the slim quick commercials where the guy an or the friend loose lots of weight by only drinking water the other lady cuts everything out and gains.. yeah thats me. Now I like feeling healthier and so I make healthy meals and only occasionally make things like mashed potatoes, and lasagna. I just think it's funny that the one time a month I should be allowed to eat what I want I find out it will make my hormones worse.. so I can't! ITS A CONSPIRACY!

Pyscho Monday

Last night was Mimi's first night in the crazy Hardin house. Tim's allergies (non cat related) were acting up and so Mimi and I got to spend our first night alone together. She is a very sweet and social girl. She loves to lick and rub against you and knead on you...esp. in the middle of the night when you are trying to sleep. Overall it went very well. Today was National Anthem day at the girls school. The appropriate clothing for each little girls was set out...and it was pouring down rain. Looks like we are going in car rider line. The girls are excited jumping and screaming yea! There is also NO TEA! Some need coffee to kick off their day, I am a southern girl I need a big huge glass of Iced Tea. Into the pouring rain to start our fun and joyful Monday. We fight over who sits where and when we need to buckle by and why we have water instead of Capri Suns. It's a great morning. We finally get through car rider line and I once again am SOOO glad to see my precious angels GO AWAY. It's now ONLY 8-am. We are supposed to be at the school by 9-am to see the school sing the national anthem EXCEPT that now it's been moved inside and there isn't enough room for parents. YES!! Two hours of bliss.. just momma/baby time. Nothing to do except laundry, vacuuming, dishes, and cleaning of you know everything. However my sweet little girl has other plans, apparently she has been neglected over the weekend and is demanding some attn. She decided The WAST UNICOWN and snuggling in mommas bed is much more important. Who am I to disagree?

A hour later it's time to head over to our friends house to finish getting her craft things to move them over to mom's house. On the way I remember it's Monday.. this means the oldest has Running Club and we all forgot, this also means the younger schooler will have to ride the bus alone. Not a big issue except that I'm worried what will happen since she thinks her sister will be on the bus with her. We finally get to said friend's house and I try to call Tim. He has is headphones in and doesn't answer the phone. CRAP. I don't have the schools number on the cell phone I'm borrowing because Tim stole mine!!!!! Okay. Breathe. who can I call that can tell Eldest about staying late. HER MOTHER! So I foist the job off of on her. Oh the advantages to being a Stepmother on good terms with Bio Mom! Okay got that situation dealt with and I can deal with the other schooler later once I get home. We get all Friend's stuff piled into mine and mom's car. Only one typical Rachael incident. I accidently stepped on a paint lid and unknowingly tracked paint through the garage and all the way across the yard to my car. Good thing it's still pouring rain so that it will wash away before the house goes up for sale. We finally get home about 1pm. I check the caller ID to see who called because Mediacom STILL hasn't hooked our voice messaging back up. UH_OH the school. CRAP! I call the school.. they have no idea which of the girls called but no one was sick so.. thats good right? I go back to checking the numbers eldest' mom has called. hmmmm... okay. I call her to see what's going on and maybe find out why the school has called. She states that eldest wanted to let me know she had gotten my message and that I needed to pick her up at 3:10. okay sounds good. Give littlest a short nap while waiting for the bus to drop off the younger school ager. okay! I got this in hand. Breathe again. OH CRAP! DID SHE SAY 3:10?! What do you mean 3:10 the bus doesn't get here until 3:30!! Okay call the school back apologize for sounding like some crazy looney bin stalker. Ask them to tell youngest schooler that she is going to have to be a car rider for the very first time and remind her what her number is. Knowing that a 5 year old isn't going to remember her number the first time. Well thats taken care of. Littlest wont be able to take a nap.. but we'll get through this. Wait. I don't know what time school gets out! Once again I'm not a bad mom.. the girls ride the bus, I know it starts at 7:45 and I make sure they are outside by 7:00. However the bus doesn't get home until 3:30 so i know it's 2:30/2:45 because it takes about an hour. So I get ready to go pick up youngest..hmm baby is awful quiet for playing with her dolls. GREAT. She is asleep and she is the cranky sort. We finally make it to the school and far enough in the line for them to read the numbers. We scoot up. Kids run out.. except mine. Dang it! I KNEW this was going to happen. I am finally able to flag a teacher down and explain that I needed youngest and this was her first time in car rider. They call her name and she dances out saying hi and hugging everyone. Finally spotting us and dances to the car. Now it's 2:50. We drive around and park to go in and pick up eldest. We finally found where they were running drills. We sit and wait. I have my book the little ones have each-other. we wait. Soon the gym goes quiet. no one comes out.. no parents are in the hall. So we decide they are just having a talking time. We wait a bit longer. Still no parents. Still no kids. hmmm. We look in the gym window no one is there! CRAP! HOW ON EARTH DO YOU LOSE 20 SCREAMING 3-5TH GRADERS!!!!!!!! So now we head to the office to find where they have gone. Apparently Running club has their own car rider line. So now i have to go get the girls back in the van.. fighting over who sits where blah blah blah. We are finally able to get eldest who is laughing hysterically about the day i've had. Way to make me feel better babe! Finally we get home and get homework and supper started. I am still wound up because well thats how I work. Eldest is having trouble with her homework so she asks for help. Looks simple enough she is doing contractions this week in spelling. hahah I look at the paper and ho ho we have to sort them into, nouns, pronouns, and verbs. ha-ha I think this one will wait for later! Especially since I need to breakout the computer and look up what exactly a pronoun is. Noun I got, Verbs I got... but after that they get a little foggy. So she skips over those and we toil on.. did i mention the younger 2 girls have decided that playing/ cleaning the room isn't an option and are running around the house screaming and throwing things at each-other. So I am now doing 5th grade math, cooking dinner, trying to clean up before daddy gets home so it looks like i did SOMETHING today, and trying to clam down two little girls and two barking dogs and convince them that playing in the room is FUN and Sissy needs to do homework. Doesn't work. Daddy gets home FINALLY. Momma and Sissy are only slightly crazy and he says maybe if you calm down the girls will listen better. hahahahah If he only knew! Once he got a small dose of of kiddies he decided Mommy needed a free night and some West Wing. He may be slow sometimes but he always figures out a solution in the end.

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Mimi

We recived a new addition to our family today. A beautiful orange cat named Mimi. She is very sweet and well mannered. Currently she is living in our bedroom until she can adjust to everything. The girls are so excited. We went to Walmart and bought all the nessacary equipment, toys and treats. We were given the cat by a friend who was moving and not allowed to take both her babies with her. She is broken hearted and it made me feel like an evil villian. She has just lost so much and losing more loved ones is just straw. you know? We hadn't planned on getting a new cat but when she asked me if I could there was no way I could tell her no. If we can provide a loving home for her baby then it is our joy and pleasure to do so. God says to care for the widows. If this is one way she needs care the who are we to refuse to open our house and hearts?

Busy weekends and a possible new family member

Weekends at the Hardin home are typically very busy times. If we are not out running errands going to games, parties ect. then we are off geocaching. Normally though they are a combination of all of the above. This weekend we spent Saturday at pookie boo's house. Gramma was coming home!!! Before we went there though we had to stop by our favorite Saturday event.. The Farmers Market!!! The oldest wasn't able to meet "the flour girl" last week so we stopped by so she could tase the amazing yummies. She had Peanut Butter brownies as big as my hand!!! So good!! We all split one. At pookie boo's we spent the day cleaning gutters and tidying up the house for Gramma's arrival. Other than a slight accident with a ladder I think we did pretty good. Bonus I had time before the football games to introduce her to Bill and Ted. EXCELLENT! She found it had to belive people actually talked that way. Then the football games start! woo hooo. I am so glad that at least one of my children takes after me and recognizes that the best part of football season is Pookie Boo's pink dip! She yelled at him during the entire game about the lack thereof , maybe next weekend he will remember. Today we are going to eat lunch with Tim's parents at thier church. The girls are so excited about seeing Nana and Grumpa. The oldest is getting to go to the movies with her cousin so she misses lunch. Then we are stopping by a lady we go to church with's house. She is moving and needs us to take a bunch of craft stuff over to my mothers house. We may also be bringing home one of her babies. where she is moving to she can only take one. So she asked if we would give a home to her cat Mimi. The girls are exstatic they have been wanting a cat. Tim however is glad that we can help out a friend that needs us. More later after some caches and Nana's house. We always have so much to share after being over there!!!!!!!!

more Marrige thoughts

I've been doing a lot of thinking about marriages.. I know not a big surprise. After having been through a bad and painful marriage, Its makes me hurt knowing loved ones are going through something so similar. Marriage isn't just a garentee of steady you know what. You can't lead separate lives and expect that it will all work out and be fine. Marriage is special you work together and support each-other. You live your lives together. Holding each-other up. through good and bad sickness and health. Not everyone is perfect but you learn to deal with each others misgivings. Divorce rates are on the rise.. How do we fix this??? People don't know how to be married. Last week I saw amazing examples of LOVE, where has that kind of love dissapered to in our lives? Why is it that the only examples of love we see are in movies? Have we not been taught how to be married and how to love? I have depressed myself now so I think I'm going to go kiss my husband and tell him that I love him then go tell my babies that I love them too.

Waterfalls and Gutters

The other day we got a torential downpour right before the schoolers got home. I opened the front door and was faced with a Niagra Falls sized waterfall right over out front door. When Tim got home I asked him to look into getting some snap on gutters or something to prevent this from happening anymore. Now I may be a girl and not know much about home repairs but it couldn't be that bad right or expensive right? After getting the yeah yeah sure babe. I decide the next morning after everyone leaves that me and baby girl will at least get the broom and sweep the pine straw off the roof. This is where the fun begins. I get in these moods where I focus on some chore normally its something really crazy..like sweeping the roof.. and I get compleatly focused tunnel like vision. I get the broom, a rake, and a chair to stand on. I forgot that i'm only SLIGHTLY terrified of heights yet here I go, up on a wiggly porch standing on a folding chair trying not to have a panic attack and scare baby girl. I finally get myself calmed down and start sweeping some pine straw off the roof. Brooms are not the tool for this now a rake is!!! MAN the stuff started flying. Baby girl ran and got her um-b-lella and was hiding under it to prevent this nasty stuff from hitting her. I by accident discover that we do indeed have gutters!! However they are PACKED with this..well.. STUFF...so i start digging this stuff out then get the hose and start super spraying.. I can't get far on the drainage gunk because i'm not high enough. We worked for almost two hours on a maybe 12 foot section. The schoolers get home and change into nasty clothes, daddy's safety goggles, bantoonas. We are ready for war!!!!!! The oldest and I get the van close to the house with her on top digging gunk and me sweeping with the rake. hmm.. If only we had a ladder.. WE DO MOMMA!! woohoo!! We find the coolest ladder ever made! This thing can be put in like 30 diffrent positions it is freaking awesome!!! We finally agree to the scaffolding position and climb up using hands and hand tools digging out stuff so nasty that we just laugh about haw many baths we are going to have to take. Until I get the hose to rinse all the loose stuff out. We turn up the hose as high as it will go and shoot the inside of the gutters. Unknown to us a clog has formed right above oldest childs it just starts spilling out nasty gooey crap right on her head.. good thing we have saftey goggles eh? she looked like the swamp monster she was COVERED from head to toe just laughing soaked and wet and sooo disgusting. We finally finished the whole front of the house.. only took 3 hours and several spray offs of the hose. Even better while oldest was on the ladder some neighbor kids we dont like were going past and she "accidently" sprayed them from like 100 feet :) The things we teach our kids. BTW we had so much fun shoveling out gutters we are going to Pookie-Boos house on Saturday and doing his gutters :)

Flustered at the vacuum

Why is it that NO ONE knows how to empty the dust canister in the Vacuum cleaner? Tim bought me one of those newer froo-froo vacuum cleaners with the easy clean dust canister instead of the bag kind. Now why in the world they even created these i'll never know. As far as i've seen with these things all they do is aggravate my allergies more with all the dust and pet hair I have to clean out if it. The bag was so much neat and cleaner. Pop the sucker out put a new one in, none of this washing and emptying 50 different filters. UGH!!! The canister is also very small we have two VERY fluffy dogs who love to shed all over everything, not to mention 4 other very messy people. I have to empty the canister twice just to clean my small living room. At least with the bag I could ignore it for a week. In one week I have to clean out the vacuum cleaner 14 times. Thats just the living room! Although I do like that when I suck up a small beloved toy (that was ignored until it got sucked up) is easily dug out. I love my children and my dear husband especially when they save my back and vacuum for me but they NEVER empty the filter during or after they do. that adds a THIRD emptying out to the count..and oh I almost forgot since they didn't empty the canister during their nice sweet helping the vacuum is now clogged up and so I must dig all the gunk out. YEA me and my lovely allergies!

Just me and my girl once again.

FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST! THANK GOD ALMIGHTY! FREE AT LAST!

Today everyone went back to work and school after a week long break to go to KC. Just momma/baby time again. Ahhh. Peace and quiet..well relative (a three year old makes a LOT of noise). Just one child, what will I do with myself?! Well the first thing I must do is get poop off little one's shoe..EWWWWW. I think the dog walkers are going to have a talkin to. We are sitting outside in the peace and quiet. Let me tell you this child is Pig Pen in real life. the very first thing she does after slamming the door is run to the nearest mud puddle or biggest pile of dirt she can find and roll in it . I absolutely love her enthusiasm for life. She just runs and runs never stopping. That might be because I took pity on her and gave her Iced tea and half a moon pie :), but come on we live in the south isn't that what you are supposed to have? She is riding her tricycle around the yard right now singing just in her own little world. It just makes me smile. She is such an amazement just watching her fills me with joy and wonder. How can someone so fearless be afraid of spiders and woo-woos??? The joys of having a three year old. Well it's time to go in , I'm being told its hot and we need to go wash da wast unico-n. Her favorite movie for this week and maybe get a little cleaning snuck in between snuggles.

Last Min surprises

I thought I was already for this week. Lunches are made. Backpack's filled. Clothes are set out. what else could I possibly do?? Then I get the email from my kids' school. Tomorrow is Grandparents day at school. Grandparents are invited to come and eat lunch with their little ones and be shown off. All the Grandparents in our family work..except one. I sent in a yes just in case and then let it slip my mind. My Grandmother had been VERY ill, she passed away last week. My mother has been living in KC for a month helping to take care of her parents. We are all very proud of her dedication to and love for her family. I had hoped she would be home by now however due to circumstances she is not able to come home. It is understandable and I was afraid this would happen so I took precautions and didn't mention it to the school age children. But still by forgetting it I made it worse because I didn't ask their other grandparents. HOWEVER in my own defence this has not been the easiest time. So now do i just let it go or mention it to the youngest school-er or just hope she doesn't notice??? THIS IS THE REASON I CANT SLEEP!!! Then I saw we had a Geocache dinner on Wednesday. GREAT! Something else I've forgotten!! I then saw school picture time was here. Not being here last week I missed that reminder note. Usually Pictures are not that big of a deal BUT the only nice dresses the girls have are funeral ones (and no I'm not a bad mother they just grow to dang much!). I really don't feel that is the kind of pictures I want to send out in the Christmas cards. So being the budget thrifty wife I am, and the fact after a week long trip to KC I'm broke I decide that I'm going to have to make them dresses.. make since. I have PLENTY of Fall material then I remember we have company coming this week AND that dinner. Dang. Well It's a good thing Stay at home mom's have PLENTY of time during the day to sew right?! Ever tried to sew dresses with a three year old under your feet? Not exactly easy. I know the Lord is watching over me week and I will find peace in the Insanity. Good thing Tim likes to cut out dress pattern's

Gone Fishin'

Today Tim and Pookie Boo and myself took the little girls fishing for the second time. It went we caught lots of little fishies.. the oldest little girl actually cast her line and reeled in her own little fish.. and it was little. But she had TONS of fun. The youngest however loves fishing for all of 10 min which is to be expected since she is 3. Her favorite thing was digging in the worms.. Why.. the only thing I can think of is she likes digging in dirt, I don't even want to discuss how badly she smelled! Fishing with little girls isn't for the faint of heart. It's a lot of my bobber is moving.. no it's not or that's because you are moving your pole. You gotta love the things you do for your kids. Especially since I hate fish. I love the relaxing atmosphere of the actually fishing but I REALLY hate fish! Soon it started raining which was not unexpected so we had to bring the boat in, BUT Pookie Boo promised us BBQ'd chicken. Nobodies BBQ is better than our Pookie Boo!! We had the promised chicken, bbq'd potatoes and corn on the cob. We all left the table so full you had to roll us away. This was like Thanksgiving full. We have the best Pookie Boo in the world!!

A perfect day

Well Daddy stayed up late last night so I got the brilliant honor of getting up at the crack of dawn with our precious little girls. So what does a Mommy who stayed up to late watching West Wing do for breakfast? She steals Daddy's wallet and takes the girls out for doughnuts of course! Now you really have to understand the place where i take them for doughnuts is sooooooo amazing! Their chocolate cake doughnuts are almost a gift from God. I'm not going to even get started on their Pigs in a Blanket. I avoid going there because I love it so much, but what else are you going to do with two very energetic little girls at 6:30 in the morning? Well after we picked out our chocolate sprinkle doughnuts (the only kind they will eat) and juice we loaded back into the car and debated what we would do next so that Daddy can keep sleeping. The Madison Farmers Market is one of my favorite places in the world. It's small and all the vendors know you and in turn you know where and who handled your food. Tim hates going because I always spend a TON of money on stuff. Today was no diffrent.. well kinda.. I didn't spend a lot. The girls also love the Market and as soon as they see it the clamering for fresh made Blueberry ice cream starts. We start by looking and discussing what to get for dinner and pick out all our yummy veggies for dinner. Then the girls find cupcakes. These were 2.00 a piece chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes. OH MY LORD these were the BEST cupcakes I have ever had ... even if they were 2.00 a piece. So after our morning trip we go wake up our Daddy by running and screaming into the house. Anyone who can be woke up my two screaming little girls and still be in a good mood , they are my hero! Well Daddy had some errands to run so he decided to take the girls and give mommy a break. YES SCORE! He had two places to go.. It took him almost 3 hours! How the man does that I will never know. While they were gone I look over recipes for dinner and decide on Burbon marinaded Rib eyes, cooked squash, fresh green beans, and garlic mashed potatoes soooo good!!! Today was one of those days that make you love spending time with your family. Nothing to do and spending time with each other. AND Tim vacumed the living room while I got to take a NAP!! I decided to forgive him for the 3 hour errand run. He is soo perfect. Tomorrow fishing with the girls......

Kansas City to Madison

Over the weekend I discovered my love for DVD players. We were on a 10-12 hour car trip back home from Kansas City stopping briefly in St. Louis so we could visit the Arch. About two hours out of Kansas City the " Are we there yet" question was getting asked. This did not bode well. Number 1 had already gotten her hair pulled and so she plugged herself into the MP3 player and dug out her leftover school work. Now you have to understand her.. she LOVES school but hates homework so this was a big thing. By the time we finally reached St. Louis we had already had 3 potty stops and a HUGE crayon fight and the head ripped off a Princess doll and listened to every veggietales cd we had. Four hours into the trip and Tim and I were already discussing who would get to be left in St. Louis and who would have to take the kids home :). We decided to stick it out a little while longer.. naptime is here they've been potty and fed Surely they will nap right? Nope. They colored all over the van beat each other with coloring books and took the wax from the baby belle cheese mommy gave them to bribe them into silence and smooshed it into the speakers! At this point Tim put my Folk music C.D. on to try and stop the steam from coming out of my ears. #1 is still buried in her own little world trying her best to ignore the fact she is stuck in a car with her sisters. The only thing she says other than can I grab a coke is "when we get home can I go straight to my mamma's house". We finally get to Clarksville Tn. There is a BAD accident traffic backed up for miles. So we stop to gas up and take the little ones potty. Tim drags me kicking and screaming back into the car which i'm now calling the 5th level of hell. Tim has also decided that he is going to blaze his own path around the traffic. I think okay we have GPS how bad can this get. HE TURNS IT OFF. Trusting his own manly instinct he try's to drive through Clarksville back to the interstate by passing the traffic. By now I can feel the gray hairs coming. I now have Van Morrison playing as loud as I can in some desperate attempt to block out the fighting children coming from behind me. We get through to Nashville FINALLY. The girls still haven't taken a nap and # 1 has finally taken off the headphones although i think that might have had something to do with the fact she ran out of work and battery power. :) She then proceeds to ask what is the big deal with learning how to sew and take care of a house. Then she says that Daddy is much more important in our house because Stay at homes don't really do anything. hmm... Time for Elizabethtown soundtrack. By now it's 9pm the girls are now giggling hysterically about something imaginary on #1's head they still haven't taken a nap and #1 has now changed her statement to Daddy has brain smarts and not common since and meme has common since and not brain smarts. hmmm... i think i am going to replay Elizabethtown. Finally we are home safe and sound. The little girls finally fell asleep 20 min from home. We carry in the littlest who lifts her head up just long enough to say hi Geni im home and pass back out. We get them all tucked into bed and I watch them sleep I remember why I love them so much. Until they woke me up at 6am.

Me, my life, my family

My husband and I met for the first time at Books-A-Million six years ago. I'm not going to say it was love at first sight but it kinda was. A few days later I met his daughter and he met my parents and my dog Genesis Leigh. Two months later we were married. We have our ups and downs but more often than not we end up laughing at each other during our disagreements. I am a former pre school teacher who is now a stay at home mom, We have two children (girls) together and his daughter who lives with us. Last year we adopted a puppy named Indiana. It is a crazy life often filled with temper fits and pouting but we absoultly love it, and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.