Wonderfulness.....Not A Word, I Know!

Life is GREAT!  Everything is super duper right now!  Lots to look forward to and happiness abounds!  I wish everyone could be as happy as our little family.  The business is spectacular, our house is looking quite lovely and growing on me daily, the kids are learning new things and growing like weeds, and it's summertime!!!  

The absolute BEST time of year!! 

We are taking a family trip to Canada and Niagra Falls in September for Sarah and Matt's wedding!!  We can't wait!!  I have been telling the boys about all the cool things we will see and do....plus we get to go with a bunch of friends and family...kinda like a mini reunion!! lol!  Yesterday  I got the  paperwork for all the passports and pictures and what not.  Taking the kids across the border is flippin' expensive! agh!  It will be worth it I'm sure. 

I went and signed the kids up for swimming lessons at the Hamilton Pool again.  $210 for 6 kids for two weeks.  Really, in the scheme of the things, it is a pretty good rate.  45 minute lessons every day, Monday through Friday.  After I signed them up, we stopped at the park in Hamilton and had a picnic and played for a bit.  

We do this every day after swimming lessons.  

I cleaned out the new car.  I ran out of Armor All wipes though so I figured I would finish it today.  

I potted more of my annuals in my pots.  Some of my flower pots got broken somehow.  that was annoying.  but, the ones I did get planted look great.  I have been clearing out all around the house and all the old flowerbeds that haven't been used in years.  

Jeremy and I are going to get some for landscaping stones and build some cool flower beds and add to our fire pit.  

All of us went up to Hair Razors to get haircuts.  Cedric got a mohawk, he looks pretty awesome.  Liam was proud of himself today because I let him ride his bike up to our store with a lunch for Jeremy.  Oh, and Asher learned to ride with no training wheels while we were in Florida!! I'm having a hard time keeping him off the road!  He gets so upset when I won't let him ride his bike or walk around town with his brothers.  I feel bad.  

He's just not ready yet, though.  

Also, I think the "girl" kitten we have that I named Sookie, is actually a BOY!!!  I think I see some stuff down there that shouldn't be there if it was a girl! haha!  So, we may have to change it's name to Eric Northman!!

I did 5 loads of laundry, folded, put away.  That is always fun.  Three loads of dishes.  Asher washed all the windows and cleaned the bathroom sink, toilet, and shower. The older boys cleaned their rooms, vacuumed, made their beds, picked up the living room and dining room, fed and watered the cat, and watched Eden so I could take a quick shower. Cullen sat on the couch and screamed at everyone. 

 I also made a chicken pot pie from scratch.  Whew! 

Then I decided that I needed to go shopping for Father's Day and swimming suits.  I texted the Kelley girls to see if anyone would like to go along with me as I hadn't had any girl time recently.  To my surprise, everyone could go....and with NO KIDS!!  WOWZERS!  So, the evening was spent spending time with the Kelley girls in Burlington.  We only got to hit two stores (Kohl's and Target) but, we ate at Carlos O'Kelley's and had a good time just hanging out.  I enjoy shopping like that!!  I got home late. 
I put the stuff I bought away and watched a show with Jeremy and then we went to sleep.  Good Day.

This morning I put one of thenew outfits I got Eden last night!! She loves it!!! Head to toe---new hat, new shirt, new shorts, and shoes!! She loves looking at her shoes and pointing her toes!  She's my little hippie chic!! Love her!!  Ahhh. 

What To Do Today?

Right now I'm filling up the kiddie pool and getting the slip-n-slide out.  I am hoping that the kids will play and let me dig in the yard a bit. I'm trying to really "up" the curb appeal of the house.  It's always hard taking Eden outside as she LOVE, LOVE, LOVES the road!  We also have a new kitten named, Sookie, that is hilarious!  She chases us all over and tries to attack! 
I think maybe a picnic on the deck is in order for the day.  I wanted to have a mini "yard" Olympics one day to prep the kids for the Summer Olymics in London this summer!  I have cool ideas I found online to do....like one game has the kids wearing shower caps with shaving cream on them and the other teammate has to throw cheetos at them and whoever has the most stuck to their head at the end, wins! lol!  Should be funny!

Are we Insane?

Jeremy and I have decided to do the impossible and do the 60 Day Insanity challenge!  It's gonna suck so bad!!  But, hopefully worth it in the end!  We are just waiting on the test results from Jeremy's heart monitor to come back and we will start.  I think we are gonna have to do it at night after we get the kids to bed....which is kinda laughable because the never stay in bed.  Oh well, we are gonna try anyway. 

OWLS!!!

The other night I was sitting at my new patio table on the deck.  I was trying to read one of my True Blood books and was enjoying the quiet all by myself.  It was getting dark and hard to read so I sat up and lit the citronella candle on the table.  When I did, I noticed that there were two birds sitting on the fence posts out in the yard.  I thought they looked bigger than normal.  It stared but since it was dusk, it was hard to see.  I thought they looked like miniature owls....but those don't exist.....or so I thought.  See, for years now, I have been telling Jeremy that I wanted a pet miniature owl.  We both thought it impossible.  Anyway, I stared and stared and figured that the light was playing tricks on my eyes but then.........THEY BOTH FLEW OVER TO THE DECK AND LANDED RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!!! I JSUT ABOUT CRAPPED MY PANTS!!!!!!!!  I stood up slowly thinking that they would surely fly away and no one would ever believe my cockamamy story.  But, they didn't move!  I walked to the door, they followed me with their "spinnie" heads the whole way.  I whispered-yelled to Jeremy to "get the freak out here, right now!!"  He did and they flew away, but only back to the fence posts in the yard!!! We walked up to them....they let us get VERY close!!! But, it was too dark to get pics.  Every night since then, they have been on our deck.  There are three or four of them.  I LOVE THEM AND THEY WILL BE MINE.  (unless I move to Florida!, lol!)  We did some research and the best we can figure out is that they are Saw-Whet Owls.......more info and pics to come.  This is a dream come true!!!! 

Started shopping jobs and houses in Florida today........omg, I want to go so bad!!  Can you imagine living by the ocean!?!?!? Agh!  Now, I know I am a few steps ahead of myself but, today has been kinda yucky and I'm making myself feel better, lol!

Monday Morning

I miss Florida!  I am on a crusade to move the heck out of here!  The rain today is not good.  I had wanted to finish some of the projects that I started this weekend. I am in the process of cleaning out the garage and finishing various landscaping projects around the yard.
 I have much on my mind today.  Like why hasn't someone invented disposable clothing so I don't have to do ALL this laundry ALL the time!?!?  It can't be that hard of a concept.....and it would eliminate the need and cost of the washer and dryer too.  It's a great thought......
Speaking of laundry....the laundry soap that I made back in January...I'm STILL using it!!!  I have went through less than half of it so far!!! I cannot believe my savings!! Normally I would have spend at least $25 a month! Instead I have spent $20 in 6 months!!!  And it cleans GREAT and smells good too!  I would say better than the name brand stuff I used to buy.  So proud of my thrifty self! 
I was gonna go sign the kids up for swimming lessons at the Hamilton Aquatic Center but, it is rainy and muddy and seems like a good stay inside kinda day, I suppose.  Also, my head hurts. 

Go To Sleep, Eden Rose

 I took these pics and video one night sometime before Jeremy and I went to Florida.  Eden is always wearing underware on her head....as we've seen before on the blog.  I would say at least once a day I find her with underware on her head.  Also, this was a night that she decided to wake up at 1AM and play. 

Noise

Cullen has turned into quite the little jabber mouth! lol!  This kid never shuts up.  And he likes to screech like some sort of banshee chicken as well.  Maybe he could have some kind of career in the hunt for chickens.....which I don't think actually exists but he could pave the way for a whole new generation of screeching children. 
And I have learned this lesson many times but I swear it never gets easier.....I had finally found a big white dry erase board with magnets and cork board on the side that I actually liked and of course it is Asher's new obsession.  I even went and bought him his own hand held dry erase board so he could draw to his little heart's content.  But, it never fails......I CAN"T HAVE NICE THINGS!! lol!  I remember my mom saying this so many times growing up, and I never got it.  But, I do now. Anyway, Asher wrote on it with permanent marker.  *sigh*  I am still looking for our "goo gone" in the hopes that it will take it off.  I think it will.  Anyway, just another story for later in life, haha! Oh and I'm not complaining, just talking about my life as it happens.  If you don't like it or don't want to read it.....THEN DON'T!!

Tonight I am making homemade chicken pot pie for supper.  I can't wait.  I have only had my shakes all day so far because I gained FAR TOO MUCH weight while in Florida....but boy was it worth it!!! I think this weekend we are gonna tackle our dining room floor.  Pulling up the carpet and getting the staples out anyway.  Should be loads of fun!! We need to get it done now though as we have many things to accomplish before the end of summer........

Family News

Oh, I forgot to blog about extended family news that we received on our anniversary in Florida!  Josh and Trisha had their ultrasound for their second baby that day and......it's a BOY!!!  YaY!  I was hoping for a little friend for Eden but I know that Trisha really wanted two boys in a row.  Congratulations to them!! 

Morning Funny

I told Asher that I was in a bad mood and thatI woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  he then asked me: "Did you wake up on Dad's side, Mom?"  I chuckled and said Yeah, I guess so.  Then he said: "do you wake up on Dad's side a lot?"  BAHAHAHAHA!!! 

Grinch Sighting

 We actually saw this thing twice as we were driving home.  The first time we drove past it, I was driving and mad the comment that it looked like the Grinch's overloaded sleigh from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".  So, when we passed it again, Jeremy had a me take a picture to show the kids.

 All it needed was a little dog strapped to the front of it with way too big antlers tied to the top of its head! haha!

 When we finally passed it we saw that it was potted shrubs all laid on their sides and covered with some sort of burlap-ish stuff.

Alabama Welcomes Kick Butt

 So we were driving home and leaving the state of Alabama for the state of Tennesse....when we see the welcome center rest stop on the other side of the rode!!  WE knew we needed to stop and get a picture for the kids.  Well, when we pulled up to park, it was PACKED because it was national tourism week and Alabama was going all out!  They had food, drinks, ice cream, shirts, info, characters, etc!  Never seen such a hoppin' rest area, haha! 

 Look Mom, a Spaceman!....and a Tiger!?!?  Alabama Tigers maybe???

 I have stopped here many years ago.  I appreciated it much more this time.  It's crazy to think of those brave astronauts strapped in at the top of that thing and shooting off to outer space!!! Mind boggling!!!

One of our future trips will be to follow the Desoto Trail....cuz that's how we roll! 

Florida Funny!

I don't think you can see this very well but this SUV had the funniest advertisement on it!!! It was hair imported from India, 100% virgin!!!  We laughed so hard.  It was right as we were turning into Busch Gardens so we couldn't follow it and get a better pic, darn it! 

The Stingray

 And here's the stingray!!! On the morning we were leaving we had breakfast on the balcony again and Jeremy spotted the stingray in the water right below us!  The tide had come back in and was rising steadily.  Really cool to see though.

Our 13th Anniversary

 Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

Our day started out looking cloudy but the temperature was hot.  We knew we would have bands of Beryl coming through so we decided to embrace it.  We ordered room service for breakfast.  It was superb.  The big party that had been going on all weekend was gone so Jeremy called downstairs to the front desk to see if we could switch rooms to an oceanview room for our actually anniversary day and our last night in Tampa.  We had tried to get it when we checked in but that wasn't possible as they were already overbooked.  They upgraded us for free and had us in there lickety split!  Awesome.

 This is the area that was hopping all weekend long.....bar, restaurant, pier, beach, tiki huts, jet ski rentals, beach volleyball, etc.  But, today we had it all to ourselves!!  We got in our swim suits and headed to the pool!

 We hung out by the pool for about three hours....the water was great!  We had a few people come and go through but mostly, just us!

 Then Beryl started to roll in....it was pretty cool because you could see the circular bands formed over the bay and watch the whole thing come in!! I loved every minute of it!

 Yes, he is nuts!  That's why I love him!

 And oh, so handsome!!

Below: We saw this coming in from the pool area and scooped all our stuff up and high tailed it to the fifth floor (our room) to watch it all go down! 

 It only lasted about 30 minutes or so.  But the tide totally went out!  It was about four or five feet deep and all the way to the top of the cement barricade there.  So it went down about 4 or 5 feet and out about 10 or so feet.  Pretty neat to watch!

 We ordered room service a lot on this day! haha!  This was a snack of coconut shrimp and spinach artichoke dip with blue crab.  Yummy!

 This was so funny!  We went on the balcony about 7:30 thinking that we would watch the sunset.  It took FOREVER!!! lol!  We were bored stiff by the end of it all.  We had a good laugh though!!

 And more sunset............

I am so blessed to be with Jeremy for 13 wonderful years.  It just keeps getting better and better.  The more time we spend together, the more time we want to spend together...if that makes sense! haha!  We don't care if people think we are dumb or do dumb things.  We do what we want to do and that makes us happy.  We don't keep things from each other and know every detail of each other's lives.  There is nothing I would rather do than hang out with Jeremy.  We are soul mates.  Ahhhh, wuv, twu wuv!!  Our love is like a storybook story and it's as real as the feelings we feel.