it's over.........

All the preparations, all the decorating , the careful planning of the gift list and in one quick moment it seems to be all over. we have slowly been packing away the Christmas decorations and trying to bring ht house back to the before Christmas state. Not that I completely want it that way again........
I am not much for making new years resolutions or goals. I am not very goal oriented, well, com paired to my VERY goal/task oriented husband I am not. However, this year I would like to totally and completely organize my home. This is a large undertaking but I am up for it. I don't plan on doing this big master spread sheet or using the excel program. I plan on taking it one room at a time. Come spring we are having ourselves a MASSIVE yard sale!! All proceeds will be going to our Christmas trip for 08. Yes, we are already planning 08 and Christmas 09 is already int he planning stages as well.
For 08 we plan to fly and spend Christmas with my family in South Carolina and then fly to Vegas to spend New Years with my in laws. We are already excited!! For 09 we are going to spend Christmas in Disney World! Yeah!!!
So, lots of saving and planning. No, again, i am not task/goal oriented but I am a planner!!

Well, it's late and I am ready for bed.
More later!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Oh My ! It has been since the first of October since I have posted anything! I feel like such a slacker!!!! BUT.........lots has been going on. I went through all the steps this past summer to ensure my qualifications to become a substitute teacher and for awhile I wasn't getting any phone calls. Then...BOOM!!!....the phone doesn't stop ringing! I love it though! Never thought I would have so much fun. My younger two love seeing me at school and when I can, I take my lunch break when they have theirs.

Tomorrow is Christmas!! YEAH!!!! So exciting!! The kids are excited to. Daniel even thanked God tonight that santa was coming but thanked Him more for it being Jesus' birthday.
I am having issues with the whole santa thing and I want the kiddos to know the truth but.....they are almost there on their own anyway. Maybe when the topic comes up after Christmas I will feel out the right words to say. Next year we are looking at splitting Christmas between South Carolina and Vegas. This will be the first time we have done something like that. I am usually a BIG advocate for being home on Christmas but honestly with all the snow we have now I can totally see myself somewhere tropical. Feet in the sand, lights stung on a palm tree.........ahhhhhhhh.....

Well,I bascially just popped in to say "hi" and apologise for being gone so long. Since we are out of school for a bit, I will try to update and post some pics.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.........

crazy days..........

Can you believe it is October already????? WOW!!! this year is flying by!

The school routine is still in full swing, some days though I do forget and let the kiddos stay up much later then they should. Yes, it's shocking that my children don't report to me that it is past their bedtime and they should be sleeping.

Pictures...hm........where to begin........

Bo and Buddy waiting for me...yes, Bo still has the BIG bell around his neck so we know where he is.

In a previous post I shared about Daniel and his Jerry Bear. Well, here he is with Jerry bear. Someone gave my daughter 2 handmade cribs for dolls and Daniel confiscated one and put Jerry Bear in it and slept in my bed. Look close and you will see he is holding Jerry Bears hand.

apple picking again this year at our favorite local orchard that has the YUMMIEST ma and pop bakery/store!

Ok, so today I went to the Goodwill in another small town near here and LOOK what I found!!!

YEAH!!!! I love old finds and this was a treasure to me! The whole set for 8 was only $9!!! I also bought the planter bowl with the red on it for 99 cents. The digital doesn't do it justice for the color. Who cares! I love it !! It's a funky kind of vintage dishware that I am pleased as punch to have.

This is a picture of the corner of my downstairs bathroom. I have been wanting to paint it for some time because we hadn't done anything to it since we moved here several years ago. Look what I lucked upon at Home Depot on the oops shelf!! I also got a floor rug that has a cream base and this green and brown flecked throughout. The boys are super happy with the color since they are the primary users of this bathroom. I already have the material picked out for the valances. I am going to do that tomorrow.

I will post about our camping trip another day. I'm tired! And there are lots of pictures to post from that!

lots to report

So we have been busier then bees around here!! Our state hosted an air show this past weekend. Since our older boys are sea cadets, they worked the show. I volunteer on 2 boards so I also worked the show. It was fun, I like doing that kind of stuff.

Saturday was rainy and cold but hubby and I walked around and did what we could. Saturday hubby came later then we did and took the younger two and walked around with them while I did my volunteering.

We all had a great time but needless to say we are all so VERY tired! Non-stop action for 2 days! then right back into the school zone.

Here are some pictures :

We didn't get a picture of Zach working. There were so many people it was crazy!

Today we took our boat out to "test" it for camping this weekend. Pictures to come soon.

I wish I could have just one more day

These are pictures of my Uncle Jerry. He passed away March 6, 2006. Some days it's still hard.
The Christmas before he passed away he and my Aunt gave my two youngest Christmas bears. My youngest son named his "Jerry Bear" after Uncle Jerry. He clings to that bear and loves it with all his heart. The top picture is of him and Uncle Jerry when little man was, well little...over a year old. Today he was worried about a place on Jerry Bear and I told him we need to be super careful with JB because Uncle Jerry wasn't here anymore to buy a new one.
Then my little one said," Mom I wish I could have just one more day with Uncle Jerry." WOW!!! He is only 5 and he feels so much. I too wish I could have one more day. There is so much I want to ask him and learn from him. Really makes me appreciate the people in my life and how I want to know them, not just know about them. I wish I had this insight when I was younger. I would have loved to known my Father's parents better. There are so many things I would love to know.
If we could all just have one more day.........

Hey Aaron

It's your Birthday!!!!

Happy Birthday to one cool DUDE!!

We love you!

A week has gone by and

it feels like we are back in the same old routine of school. Almost anyway....the youngest will start full time next week so, for me, that will be another adjustment period. So far we are all doing well. Today was a little crazy with soccer, gymnastics and a youth skating activity. All starting within 30 mins of each other. Not to mention the meeting I had right before it all started. The rest of the week is pretty calm and next week too. Don't think there will be many more days like today.

I forgot to post the pic of the oldest on his first day of school....

Then on the weekend little man had his first ever soccer game and scored a goal! He was thrilled!

Lots of activity to be had around the house this fall.

end of the first day......

Well, the day has officially come to the end and all are tucked in their beds sleeping. Except me. I can't get used to these hours. I usually start about a week or two ahead of school starting with getting everyone up early and going to bed early. Didn't happen this time. We are all still locked in on those lazy days of summer. Didn't realize how I would miss them until today. I am already looking forward to the first school holiday. I know a lot of people were looking forward to school starting so their kiddos would be gone, but I missed my kiddos! Now, I don't like refereeing or being their activities coordinator but I do like them here. We have fun. They are blessings!

So all the things I thought I would get done today didn't get done. I'm OK with that though. I have been mentally compiling a list that I will , probably tomorrow, put in print. I love to see things marked off my list. You know, I say I didn't get much done but:
Breakfast
packed lunches
dishes and cleaned kitchen counters
picked up around house
got Cubbies materials organized
Put out a few emails I NEEDED to do
did 2 miles on the treadmill and worked with free weights
went to meeting about a band coming to town and I am part of the PR committee
dinner
got kids ready for bed
laundry
did another mile and 1/2 just because
made 3 cards
dishes again
planned lunches for tomorrow and dinner for tomorrow
spent time with my children talking about their day
filled out ALL that paper work from school ( x3!!!)
( somewhere in there I should include taking the dogs out a couple of times)
Cleaning out fish filter and transferring fish to the other tank since our one filter decided to go kaput on us. ( we think a fish got sucked up in it and it over heated...gross I know but so goes life..........)

Not bad........... I guess to make myself feel like I have done something maybe I should write what I do at the end of the day instead of what I need to do.

After reading that I have made myself tired. Maybe I will go and read until I fall asleep.

It has been a long day............but now that it has come to an end, I am pleased to know my children were happy with their summer and missed me today as much as I missed them! :-)

first day..............

Today was the first day of school for the younger 3, the oldest goes tomorrow. We packed them up and sent them all off only to be called by the elementary school 15 mins later to say the youngest has afternoon kindergarten. Apparently I misread the memo. Poor kiddo as if going to school for the first time ever isn't stressful enough, I go and send him at the wrong time! He was a trooper about it though. A good way to break the ice for him. Plus, I told him this way he gets to ride the bus AGAIN!!! How fun!

Don't 'cha ya just know the teacher is looking forward to this energy!!

The new school year is off to a running start...literally!

Kind of bitter sweet....today was another one of our last "firsts" experiences with little man starting kindergarten.

because it was free and he has always wanted one..

We have a boat now. Nothing new but the price was great......FREE!!! Hubby works with a guy who is going to work in Japan and needed to rid himself of some property. Basically it was a win/win situation. Hubby and the boys put in some elbow grease and it shined up pretty good.

Tomorrow is the first day of school and this year all 4 will be going.......oh what will I do with myself????

Actually hubby and I are planning on going to the gym after the kiddos are off. I will surely miss them! I am not ready for summer to be over!

NONE of the kiddos want to get to sleep. Tomorrow morning should be interesting! I will be posting pictures........stay tuned...........

some might say we're rednecks.....

but we just think we're having fun!!

My kiddos kindly declared "war" on the neighbor kid and his friend. Friendly war :-)This has been set up in the front yard and on the side yard so everyone driving by can see it...and believe me they are looking !!!

Command central

some of the cadets............

"mom,take this picture, I look so cool!"

we're talking CRAZY war with Nerf guns...........

don't take my picture mom...........

~~~~HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ~~~~





Today is my sister and brother-in-laws anniversary. I am thinking they have been married..........18 or 19 years. (Not sure). They are an awesome couple and we wish them MANY more years of happiness!! Love to you both!

2 years ago or maybe it was 3.......

For Mother's Day I received 2 grape vine plants. We planted them on the side of the deck under the side door entrance. The first year one had some nice growth while the other looked dead. Last year the boys "pruned" for me by accidentally running over them with the lawn mower. Well, I guess the pruning did them good because I have grapes growing on one this year and the other has really taken off! They are small but hey it's something!

There are about 3-4 clusters of these growing. I ended up cutting off some of the new shoots after reading my friends farming book and it was saying you should only keep x amount of new shoots. The grapes should be edible by end of summer.

This is a picture after I cut off a lot of the new growth. I will keep you posted on how they progress and how they taste!

finally back...........

Wow! I really don't know how some people out there have time to keep up with a blog! I think about things I would like to put on here and say but then life happens and I find myself doing other things.

This past Sunday my two older boys graduated from Sea Cadet Boot Camp at Camp Edwards in Mass. (in the Cape Cod area) REALLY hot day and we ended up having to sit in the sun on the ground. A little different then what we thought would happen but it was nice anyway. The top picture is of all of us after sitting in the HOT sun for 3+ hours! ( we got there 2 hours early). We were all dressed up and then when we got there realized we were the ONLY ones dressed up, so we changed clothes to be more comfortable while sitting on the ground in the heat!

Afterwards we went to Cracker Barrel and then onto Nathan's g/f's house and spent the rest of the day there and evening too. We finally headed home around 10ish. Zack's g/f was with us but she is taking the picture.

Some other pics we took.............

...snacking on candy from the Barrel....yum!

.....this was actually in CB......the girl in the blue is Zack's g/f Sami.......

........Zack and Sami at graduation............
Zack and Nathan with "Chief"..........




In the HOT sun using the umbrella to keep the sun off of us...............


Allen letting the redneck in him show went to the van and pulled out one of the seats and wheeled it across the field to sit on......... gotta love it! Everyone else thought it was an excellent idea!

Finally caved.........

after all this time of saying no, I finally caved and got a blog. Not sure what I will do with this but we'll see.................