Home-grown Hatfields

Work for your dinner

2010-12-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the kids and I spend most of the afternoon outside picking up sticks, trimming tree branches, clearing brush, and raking leaves. You know, yard work. I worked them most of the afternoon. Yes, it was cold. Yes, it was hard work. But yes, it needed to be done. We made a huge pile of stuff and set it on fire.

And then since I am such a nice, loving mother, I made them fix their own dinner by the burn pile. I know, mother of the year!

Roasted hot dogs and potato chips. I mean, who doesn't love that???

They loved it so much they want to do it again! :)

The Park

2010-12-09T09:30:00.001-08:00

So a few weeks ago, (when it was actually nice enough to play outside) I took the kids down the road to our local state park. We planned to go hiking. The older boys had some of their friends with them so once we got the the park and everyone got out of the truck, those boys were GONE. They took off thru the woods and I didnt see them again for 2 hours. So it was just Shelby, Tyler, Micah and I. We had a good time just goofing off in the forrest. I was able to capture a few of those moments.

This first picture I asked the kids to sit next to eachother on a bench so I could take their picture. You would have thought I had asked them to eat brussel sprouts or something. Oh the protests I got! Anyway, they finally forced a smile on their faces:

This is what they really wanted to do to eachother:

Then they decided to gang up on me and tickle me to death for making them pretend to love eachother. I am sure I scared all the animals away with my hysterical, crazy-woman laugh.

After our romp in the woods, we went over to a clearing that has a HUGE hill that is perfect for rolling down. After doing that a million times, we just layed in the grass, looking up at the beautiful sky. I was silently thanking God for such a wonderful day, and for happy days like this.

St. Jude 2010

2010-12-07T13:30:00.000-08:00

I've got so much I need to be doing right now instead of sitting at the computer, attempting to blog. But I dont feel like doing any of that other stuff right now. I am almost frozen with fear of all that I need to be doing. Its paralizing. Instead of doing what needs to be done. I'm going to do what I do best and procrastinate. My list of all the things I need to get done before my parents come for the holidays can wait. I'm just gonna tell ya'll about my weekend.

Friday afternoon I rode up to Memphis with Yonea to get ready to run the St. Jude half marathon. Chandler rode with us and we met his mamaw and papaw at the welcome center. He is getting to spend the week with them. I know he is so excited, he hasnt seen them in a year! Anyway, we dropped him off and then we headed to the expo to meet some of our other running friends and to pick up our race packets. After that we headed to Grace Chapel church for the annual spaghetti supper they provide for all the runners. I love that church and all those folks. We ate a bunch, laughed a bunch, talked a bunch, and then Julie, Yonea and I went to a freind of Yonea's to spend the night. I think we were in bed asleep by 10:00. Then it was time to get up and run. We met up with some other running pals and waited in their hotel lobby for the start of the race. I dont know what was different about this race but usually I am a nervous wreck before the start. But not this time. I was so calm. I dont know if it was because I was surrounded by friends or what but it was nice to not feel nervous. The race it self was not what I had hoped for. My asthma had been giving me fits the week leading up to the race and it decided to trouble me some more the entire race. I wanted to run it in 2:15:00 or less but I fininshed in 2:17:40. It's frustrating and encouraging all at the same time.

After the race, we drove back home, back to reality. My kiddos and husband we glad I was home. They cleaned the house and did a ton of yard work while I was gone. It was a nice suprise.

Sunday, we went to church, then came home and I took a nap. Then my hubs took me out to eat at Peking (the best chinese food ever). I know, I know, I have such an exciting life.

That about sums up the weekend. Now it's Tuesday. It's cold outside and I need to get groceries. But I have a headache and I dont feel like getting dressed so I guess we will just starve. :)

Hopefully tomorrow I can produce a much more entertaining post. It's hard to think when you are cold and have a headache. I might just post some pictures too if blogger will cooperate with me.

I'm gonna try this again.....

2010-12-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

I know its been 3 whole years since I have updated my blog. WOW! Crazy, I know. A lot has happened in the last three years and if I tried to update you all on all that has gone on, it would take forever. So instead of updating, I'm just going to jump right back in. Maybe when I have more time I will start some sort of 3 year flash-back or something. Anyway, I'm back and here it goes.....

I'm getting ready to run another half marathon this weekend with some friends of mine. I signed up to do the full, and had every intention of doing so, but my body just didnt want to cooperate with me so, I doing "Just the half". I am still sick (asthma stinks) and a little nervous at how this is all going to play out. Hopefully I dont make myself sicker.

We had a great Thanksgiving last week. We got together with my JM's parents and sister's family. Here are a few pictures from turkey day:

Well, as usual, my internet is giving me problems uploading pictures and I've got to get dinner started. I dont have time for this! Ugh. I will try again later.

10 things I've done this week:

2007-10-05T07:34:00.000-07:00

I've washed 14 loads of laundry.
I have cooked dinner in my crockpot every night this week (except Wed. when I made a quick run thru McD's). I've had one for the last 12 years and I've just discovered how much I love that appliance. It's made my life easier.
I spent 3 days straight at my sister-in-laws doing my own version of the show "Clean Sweep" while they are out of town. I would love to post before/after pics but I don't think she would like that too much. But let me just say that her house looks AWESOME now.
I've gotten only about 4 hours of sleep each night (and I can't take it any more!!)I don't fall asleep until 1 or 2 in the morning and then I toss and turn all night but then I have to get back up at 8 and I am seriously dragging butt all day.
I have drank (or is it drunk?) at least a pot of coffee every morning with the hopes that it will get me moving. It works for about 2 hours and then I crash and burn. (I don't have any caffeine after lunch so, no, that's not what's keeping my up all night.)
I've watched a total of 6 soccer games in the last 4 days. Brooks and Chandler won their first game ever on Tuesday and then they turned around and did it again on Thursday. They were thrilled and so was their coach. Shelby scored a few goals during her games and Tyler is just happy to be wearing a uniform. Who cares if he has NO CLUE as to what's going on during the game, he just loves being out there.
I've praised the Lord that Rachael's surgery went as planned and that she is doing well.
I've talked to Micah and Blake at least 10 times a day and miss them even more after I hang up the phone. I'm ready for them to come home. (13 more days!!!UGH!)
I've had to take the Suburban back to Toby the mechanic. It was making a loud knocking noise. They think it's just something that wasn't put back right when they replaced the transmission so hopefully it won't cost a dime.
I've started packing. We're going out of town (again) this weekend. We're just taking an over night trip to Memphis. Got some things we need to take care of. Hopefully it will be a blessing to us and not make things worse. (I know none of that made sense to ya'll, but it's a bit personal and I just don't feel like talking about it right now.....maybe I'll share later.)

If I could think of a title, it would go here.

2007-10-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the disappearing act. But I'm back for good now. I promise! Not only were we having a hard time with our internet connection, but with all that has been going on around here, it was just plain impossible to sit down and write a blog. All that has been fixed and everything has sorta settled down some what (or as much as it can with 6 kids in the house). And now for one of the longest updates you have ever read.........

First off, let me just give a big THANK YOU for all of the comments and emails I have gotten about Chandler and my sister. We appreciate your prayers so much and need them daily.

We went to court on Aug. 21 and Jamee told the judge it would be best to let Chandler stay with us until she got the help she needed. It went a lot easier than I expected and I'm very thankful Jamee was so cooperative. Jamee has to meet all of the requirement set forth my DHS and we go back in 6 months for another hearing. The following few weeks consisted of talking back and forth with DHS, answering a million questions,bringing Chandler to some dr. appointments, having a home study done and jumping thru a few more hoops. But now we are official foster parents! Not only can we keep Chandler, but we can also keep other foster kids if the need/desire should arise. But I'm not sure we're ready for that just yet. Six kids is enough for us right now.

We had a very close call with Shelby. It involved a tree branch, her eye and a trip to the E.R. Doesn't sound very good does it? Well, it wasn't. I have pictures to prove it but I will spare you all the gore and just tell you what happened. Here is the condensed version. She was outside picking berries from a tree and walked into a broken off tree branch. It poked her in the eye. Fortunately she closed her eye just in time and it only ripped her eyelid but not the inside of her eye. They called in a plastic surgeon and he stitched her eyelid up. Just like that. Well, not just like that but this is the condensed version so I'm not going into all the details. That girl was so BRAVE! She never shed a tear. Not a single tear. She was more worried about missing soccer practice than she was about what the dr. was doing to her eye. She got 5 stitches and a pink teddy bear out of the whole deal. The stitches are now out and she looks great. You can hardly tell what had happened.

This last picture of her eye was taken about 4 days after the accident.

We also celebrated a few birthdays in September. Blake turned 11 and Brooks turned 9. This is the first year ever that the boys had separate birthday parties. Blake had a spend the night party with about 5 other boys and Brooks chose the have his birthday party at the skating rink. (I'm going to post pictures as soon as I get them loaded onto the computer.) I think the boys had good birthdays. Among other things (like a ton of money), they both got a pair of Heely's. I tried Blake's on just to see what all the hoop-la was all about. I didn't get it. I couldn't figure out how to make myself go.
Anyway, mom came down for a visit around the 16th (Sept.), stayed a few days and then headed back to IN. She took Blake and Micah back with her. They will be staying with her until I go up there to run the Louisville Marathon which isn't until October 21st. Yep, they will be gone almost 4 weeks. It's been nice only having 4 kids but I still feel like somethings missing. Well, Duh. That would be my kids. I'm ready for them to come home. I miss them so much I'm going to cry if I don't stop talking about them. Moving along....

Did I mention that I have 4 kids playing soccer this year? Yep. JM is coaching Brooks and Chandler's U10 team, Shelby is playing on the girls U8 team and this is Tyler's first year playing. That is why Blake and Micah are the ones that went back to IN with mom-they were the only ones who didn't have soccer games for the next 2 months. So we are out at the soccer fields every Mon, Tues, and Thurs. night for games and sometimes we even have practices on Weds. and Sunday afternoons. Can anyone say "we love soccer!" ? I say that to myself several times a day while gritting my teeth, looking for lost soccer socks, lacing up cleats, strapping on shin guards, and just generally trying to get everyone to where they need to be at the right time, with the right uniform on. Fun, fun, fun. No seriously. We do love it and I do look forward to watching their games. If it's wasn't fun, I seriously would not put myself thru that much stress. So far it's been good, but once the weather starts getting colder, I might change my tone.

That's about all I got on us. That just about brings you up to date on everything that's gone on here. I think I left out a few other minor details out. For example: our trip to the Space and Rocket Center, getting different living room furniture (notice I didn't say "new"), having a garage sale with a friend of mine, my husband joining the church again-without telling me until later (the same one we left b/c there were some issues), the power streering going out and locking up while I'm driving the Suburban, the transmission going out on the Suburban (not at the same time as the power steering but again, while I was driving), and me getting an earache so bad that I went to the doctor and she told me I had a bulging ear drum and fluid in both my middle and inner ear. But I'm fine now and so is the Suburban, in case you were wondering.

By the way, I would like to ask that you all pray for my niece Rachael and her family. Rachael has been diagnosed with a rare brain disorder called Chiari Malformation. She is having brain surgery tomorrow morning. They flew all the way to North Carolina to have the surgery done. You can read about her story here.

*Edited to add a few random pictures that were already on my computer.......

The Hatfield Crew (along with MawMaw Hatfield) at the Space and Rocket Center:

This one cracks me up. My mom is wearing Micah's size 3t Spiderman shirt! She somehow squeezed into it when Micah asked her if she wanted to be twins with him:

Chandler and his sister Hannah spending some time together:

Speak no Evil, See no Evil and Hear no Evil (a.k.a. Blake, Brooks and Chandler):

And last of all, me doing what I love to do, but never seem to have enough time to do it:

2007-08-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

It's been an entire month since I've had a chance to blog and what a month it's been! Instead of trying to think back on all that has happened, I will just give you an update on what's going on right now.

We have had some phone/internet problems and hopefully that is all fixed so I can get back to regularly blogging. I've sure missed it!

Anyway, back a few months ago I wrote about my sister Jamee and my nephew Chandler. I was concerned about the both of them. I love my sister but she has a lot of problems and I was worried about Chandler's safety and care. With out going into a lot of detail, I will say that my prayers have been answered and Chandler is now in my care and custody. It took CPS and the cops getting involved but now he's in a safer place. He has been back with us for almost a week now and it looks like he will be with us for a while. That poor boy has been through and seen so much. (If you know us personally, please just email me if you have any questions.)

I need to get off now but please keep us in your prayers!

Let the fun begin!

2007-07-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

We are here! We got to my parents house Saturday afternoon tired, worn out from a long trip, but very excited to see them. Our trip didn't start off like we had planned. We were supposed to leave around 7:00 Friday morning, stop in Murray, Ky to measure some windows for JM's job, then drive on to my parents. We didn't leave the house until 7:00 Friday NIGHT due to some unexpected problems with the hitch on the van. It was late when we got on the road, and even later when we got to KY (like 11:30 late) and we still had another 3 hours of driving. My parents live in Eastern time zone so it would have been 4 in the morning when would finally arrive at their house. We decided to just stay in Murray. Now we're here and everyone's happy. Except poor JM who is driving all over the great U.S. of A. measuring windows in a car with no a/c. I miss you, honey!

Yesterday (Sunday) we went to the Louisville Science Center. It was very cool, as usual. We spent the entire day (from 12:30-5:30) playing and learning (well, I hope they learned something!). We also watched an IMAX movie "The Living Water" which was about ocean life. Very neat.

After we got home we did the usual. Play, dinner, baths, etc. Brooks keeps asking to walk around the neighborhood. When asked why he wants to go, he'll say it's because he likes to walk, which is a complete lie. I think he's spying on the cute girls that live a few doors down. :)I cannot believe the kids have been staying up past 11:00 every night. It doesn't get dark here until 9:30 and as Micah said last night, "We can't go to bed, it's not dark yet." He's right. It's hard to settle down and get ready for bed when the sun is still shining.

Here's what the rest of our week looks like:

Today: We are going to run some errands, get haircuts, go to the mall, stop at a HUGE goodwill store near the mall, and then go to Chuck E. Cheese.

Tuesday: Driving to Santa Clause, IN to go to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari. We were going to do Six Flags but this other place has more rides that my kids are interested in (smaller, not as scary). And their water park looks alot bigger. The kids are excited about going and so am I. I wanna go on some water slides!

Wednesday: We're headed to the Louisville Zoo. Tyler and Micah have never been to a zoo before so this should be alot fun for them.

Thursday: Huber Farm and Orchard. This is just down the road from my parents. It looks like alot of fun for not alot of money!

That's all we have planned so far but that could change at any given moment. (Remember, God's in control!) I have other places I would like to go but it my have to wait until we visit again.

Indiana....Here we come!

2007-07-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Yippieee!!! I am so excited!

We are leaving tomorrow morning to go visit my mom and dad in Indiana. And we'll be there for 2 weeks!!

This unexpected trip came about when JM landed a big contract with Dollar General and they want 40 of their stores tinted by the end of July. A good portion of the stores are in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan so it just makes sense for us to go up and stay with my parents while the work gets done. The plan is for me to stay with my mom for a week and then help JM out the other week while my parents keep the kids. It's going to be a lot of work but the hard work will definitely pay off!

I am so excited. God has heard and answered my prayers. I needed to see my parents and we definitely needed the money. Getting this job has been a blessing in so many ways!

Anyway, I'm going to try and blog while at my mom's but I'm not going to promise anything. My mom has a ton of energy and never seems to slow down, so we will probably be on the go the entire time we're there. WOO HOO!! I CAN'T WAIT!

Water Babies

2007-07-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

We went over to some friends of ours and swam all day Saturday in their beautiful pool . The kids (along with JM and I) had such a great time! Here are some pictures of the fun:

Micah-3 yr. Tyler-5 yr.

Brooks- 8 yr. Shelby-7 yr.

Blake- 10 yr.

Blake and Brooks showing off their diving board skills:

This is what a full day of swimming will do to a 3 year old:

The kids are back. And a few other things.

2007-06-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

They got home from camp on Saturday. Stinky, smelly, tired, but full of stories. They had such a great time. We were a little worried about Brooks. He called home Monday night (their first night there) and already wanted to come home b/c no one was playing with him. He said he was being left out of everything. We told him to just stick it out and if he still wasn't having a good time, he could home on Wed. He ended up staying the whole week and he had a good time.
After they got home, unloaded all their camp stuff, JM reminded them that it was Saturday and the yard still had to be mowed, even if they were tired and worn out from being at camp all week. Brooks said, "yes sir" and then muttered, "I wanna go back to camp". Who can blame him?

While the kids were at camp, I had to get rid of Sadie, the basset hound that we got back in March. Why did I have to get rid of her? Long story short: she stinks, howls waaaayyy too much, hates being inside but runs away when we let her out, tore up the carpet in our living room, tore up the linoleum in the kitchen, and the hair. Oh, the HAIR! That dog sheds sooo bad! I couldn't stand it anymore. She was stressing me out, and I am already stressed out enough as it is so I took her to the pound on Friday. I paid them to take her. I also gave them 3 bags of puppy food so I don't feel bad about leaving her there. Also, the kids were begging me to get rid of her. She had become a pain in the you-know-what.

Now this week we are getting back into the swing of things. I am trying my hardest to stay on a regular school schedule. I have been struggling with a few personal issues ( depression, anxiety) and it's been hard to get done what needs to be done. JM said something the other day that made me want to snap out of the funk I'm in (it's not working yet, but I'm determined to get there). He said, totally out of the blue, "I think the kids need to be enrolled in school this year." I didn't say anything. I didn't feel like fighting with him about it (plus the kids were in the car with us) so I kept silent. I just hope and pray that it doesn't come to that. My kids have no desire to go to school. Except Shelby, she is just curious about it but I think her curiosity would fade the first week there. Anyway, just hope and pray that this will all work out. I think I would just sink further into depression if my children were sent away all day.

Thursday Thirteen: Why I home school

2007-06-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here are just 13 of the reasons why I home school.

1. I feel that is what God has called me to do.

2. We can spend more time together as a family-my children are each other's best friends!

3. We can go on vacation whenever we feel like it.

4. My children don't have to deal with peer pressure.

5. I don't think I could get all 5 kids dressed, fed, and out the door to catch the bus at 7:15 a.m.

6. We finish most of our lessons by lunch time every day and I don't have to deal with homework every night.

7. I don't have to worry about bomb threats, assaults, or school shootings.

8. I can keep my children as far away from drugs as possible.

9. I know what they are leaning and it's so much fun learning new stuff together as a family!

10. They're developing very important life skills such as cooking, cleaning, organizing, and money management just by being at home.

11. They learn how to socialize with people of all ages, not just their peers. It's amazing to watch a 10 year old hold a serious conversation with someone 4 times his age.

12. I enjoy being around my kids.

13. It's not for everyone, but it's definitely what works for our family.

Pardon my mess

2007-06-19T18:37:00.000-07:00

With Blake and Brooks away at camp and Shelby staying at Mawmaw's house for the week, I decided to do something I have been putting off for looong while.

Clean and Re-Organize the little kids room.

I say re-organize because, believe it or not, it was organized at one time. But that was a very long time ago. And things had just kinda got outta control. The room turned into a Disaster Area! Then I just pretended I didn't see the mess in there. Denial is sometimes a good thing.

See what I mean:

Pretty bad, huh?

We (meaning Tyler, Micah and I) spent the better part of the morning going thou all of that stuff. I found 4 sippy cups, 2 lost shoes, the remote to the dvd player that has been m.i.a. for over 2 months, and a few other things that I will not mention here. I threw away 3 huge bags of broken toys/trash and have 5 bags of stuff to take to the Salvation Army.

After going thou and sorting stuff, I put it all away. Then I moved the beds, dressers, and toy boxes and vacuumed under everything and along the baseboards. I even washed all the dirty walls! Hadn't done that in a while.

All that hard work, I think it looks pretty good.

Now if I could just get it to stay that way!

Happy Father's Day

2007-06-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

Here is the Father's Day letter I wrote to my dad, but did not send. I decided to post it on my blog for him and the world to see......

Dad,

Well, since it is Father's Day I should wish you a "Happy Father's Day". You know how I feel about this so-called holiday, that's why you're not getting a card from me. (I think you should honor and love your father every day not just one day out of the year, and I do.) But it dawned on me that I don't tell you how much I love you often enough. I love you and all that you have done for me. I love you for putting up with all the crap I have put you and mom thru these last 30 years.

You have taught me so much. Like how to ride my bike, how to skate, how to drive, how to work hard and how to take pride in everything you do. You even taught me how to make the most delicious chili in the whole wide world.

I have lots of great memories with you like camping when we were little, riding "inside" the corvette, and you taking off work to drive me to Memphis just to see some boy I was crazy about. But my favorite memory was the last time we were in South Dakota. We sat up until the wee hours of the morning talking and laughing with Cookie and Gary. You told stories I had never heard before. It was so much fun!

Anyway, I hope you know I love you! And thank you for being my dad!

Love,

Amber

p.s. Thank you for sharing your Bing bars with me. (You did know it was me who kept taking them, right?)

Here are some of the pictures I have, but mom has all the good ones!

I know this last one was taken before you were a dad, but I found it when I was going thru my pictures and I couldn't resist posting it! I don't know why, but it cracks me up! :)

My Five Senses

2007-06-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the things that I'm.......

Seeing:
~ Blake and Brooks trying to do a science experiment at the kitchen table.
~Tyler watching the boys trying to do a science experiment.
~Micah, sprawled out in the middle of the floor, "reading" a book.

Hearing:
~ Shelby coming in from outside.
~Blake saying, "Rubix Cubix" over and over and over. I have no idea where in the world he got that from or why he keeps saying it. It's annoying everyone. (That's probably why he's doing it.)
~Tyler whistling from the other room.
~Micah saying, "Give it to me!". "Give it to me now". "Give it to me now PLEASE!". Tyler must have something he wants b/c now he's crying about it.

Feeling:
~Tired and Yucky Blucky. I have no energy to do anything.
~My head hurts. I've had a headache since Monday. I hope I'm not getting sick.
~Hungry, even though I ate. I'm craving chocolate. Seriously, I could easily down a whole bag of Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips right now.

Smelling:
~Burnt popcorn from last night. The trash needs to be taken out!
~My own stink. I need a shower.
~A smelly boy standing next to me, reading this as I type it. ( Hi, Brooks!)

Tasting:
~Sprite that I've been sipping on.
~A B.L.T. (minus the "B") sandwich that I just got done eating.
~That bag of chocolate chips I was craving. (Ha! I only wish I had some to taste!)

WFMW: Lost Toy Basket

2007-06-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

Here's my first attempt at doing a Works For Me Wednesday post:

Having five kids means having a lot of toys and kid "stuff" in the house. Neither of which I mind. The one thing I do mind is having the living room full of toys and stuff.

So I came up with a rule to help keep the living room clutter free and to help the kids remember to put their stuff away when they are done with it. The rule is: You may play with your toys in the living room as long as you put it away (i.e. back in your room!) when your done with it, otherwise if you forget and I have to pick it up, it gets put in my "Lost Toy Basket". The LTB is a mesh basket that I keep in my laundry room. Anything that gets put in there has to stay in there until the 1st day of the month. Then I empty it out and give them their stuff back and we start all over.

The first few months the basket was over-flowing by the end of the month but now they all have gotten the idea. Even my 3-year old is getting better about picking up his toys when he's done with them.

It works for me!

For more WFMW ideas, head on over the Rock's in my Dryer!

It's official

2007-06-11T09:59:00.001-07:00

School is back in session and I am now homeschooling ALL 5 KIDS AT THE SAME TIME!!! Yikes!

Micah was beginning to feel left out whenever we did "school" so I bought him his own book. Can you tell he's excited?

2007-06-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

Can you guess which side of the bed *I* sleep on?

I was making our bed this morning and noticed just how many books had piled up on my side of the bed. I thought it was funny so I took a picture. And yes, I am currently reading all of them (well, at least the ones on the top).

Running Plans

2007-06-09T06:22:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I'm a runner. Not a very fast one, but a runner none the less. I like running but I'm not very disciplined at it. I have to have a race to look forward to in order to get me out the door in the morning because other wise I would just turn off the alarm clock, roll over and go back to sleep. yep, I can be lazy.

So to keep me motivated here is my "race schedule" for the next 6 months:

July 4th-
Green Street Mile- a 1 mile run-as-fast-as-you-can race in downtown Tupelo. (I'm a slow distance runner, so I will suck at this but I'm going to do it anyway!)

August-
Nothing planned for this month. I will probably be doing most of my running on the dreadmill in the comfort of my air-conditioned home. It'll be way to hot for me to race. I'm such a wimp.

September 2, 2007-
Tupelo 14.2 Miler- This is another local race that I've never done. It's got hills (I don't like hills) and it also starts at 5:00 A.M.!! (I'm also not a morning person) so I'm not going to sign up just yet. I want to do it, but I'm just a little nervous.

October 21, 2007-
Louisville Half Marathon (13.1 miles)- Since my parents are now living in Indiana (but only a 20 minute drive to downtown Louisville, Kentucky), I'm going go up visit them and run this race while I'm there. It's a race along the Ohio river so it sounds like a beautiful run.

November 2007-
I don't have anything planned for this month either. I'll probably be getting ready for my BIG race in December.

December 1, 2007-
St. Jude Memphis Marathon (26.2 miles)- I ran the half-marathon last year and I loved it! This time I'm going to do the full. I'm also going to be a St. Jude Hero while I'm at it. I can't wait!

Well, that's my running plan. Hopefully I can stick to it!

Inquiring Minds wanna know

2007-06-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

We went to Sonic the other night and ordered root beer floats. Their advertised special said "Old-Fashioned Root Beer Floats Only $.99".

As the kids were all sucking down the sweetness, Shelby says, "These are yummy but I wonder what New-Fashioned root beer floats taste like."

Hmmm, I wonder?? :)

Hair Stylin'

2007-06-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

"Hold still Micah. I need to brush your hair." ~ Tyler-5 yr.

Dental issues

2007-06-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

We should get frequent visitor points from our dentist because we have been to the dentist a combined total of 13 times in the last 2 weeks. And we have 2 more scheduled appointments within the next 2 weeks. Think we have bad teeth? I'm beginning to wonder.

Each of the kids went in for cleanings. That counts 5 of the visits. Then we went back last week so they could do 1 filling each on all 5 kids (that makes 10 visits, for those of you that are keeping track). Then we went back today so Brooks could have a tooth pulled and Tyler and Micah both had another cavity filled (3 more visits for a total of 13!). Brooks came out of the room with his eyes glazed over and a wad of gauze in his mouth. The dentist said he did great, handed me some more gauze and his tooth and told me to change out the pads every 30 minutes. Brooks had no clue that they had pulled out a tooth until I showed him the tooth. He said he didn't feel a thing. To me, that's the sign of a great dentist!

We go back in a week so Micah can have one more spot fixed. His dentist thinks he has an enamel deficiency and that's why he is so prone to cavities. Poor kid.

Then we get to go back one last time (until Nov. for cleanings again) so Brooks can have a "space maintainer" put in. I have no idea what the heck that is except that they glue it to his teeth and it goes on the top of his mouth.

So now we are home, the little ones are crabby/hungry/tired but cannot eat anything b/c their mouths are still numb. I think I'm going to let them try and eat some pudding and then put them down for a nap. Maybe they'll feel better when they wake up.

Back Seat Driver

2007-06-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

Micah-3yr. has discovered the world of traffic signals. He even knows what each color signifies. He will tell you that red means "stop!", green means "go!", and yellow means "slow down". I don't know where he learned this, as I did not teach him these rules of the road.

Whenever we are in the car, you will hear him shout, "Green means go!" or "Red means stop!" as we pass a traffic light. At times, when the car is moving past a big intersection with several lights, he will shout all in one breath, "Redmeansstopgreenmeansgoyellowmeansslowdown!" The kids and I get a kick out of him when he does that.

At first I didn't mind his babbling in the waaayy back of the van (I can hardly hear him back there) but now it has gotten kind of annoying. Because now whenever we are sitting at a light, he will chant "Red means stop! Red means STOP! RED MEANS STOP!! ", raising his voice until the light finally changes green in which he then proceeds to chant, "Green means go! Green means GO! GREEN MEANS GOOOO!!" until the car in front of me gets out of my way so I can GO already!

Brooks said he would make a good traffic cop someday. :)

Shelby's 7th Birthday

2007-06-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

My one and only girl celebrated her 7th birthday this past Sunday. She picked Raviollli, salad and garlic bread for her b-day dinner. She opened presents her daddy and I gave her and then she made her brothers eat princess cupackes. She had a great day but the real fun hadn't even started yet.

She had her actual party last night at Club Libby Lu's. If you have never been to Club Libby Lu's or one of their parties, put that on you're list of things to do before you die. It's definatley something every girl should experience. That place screams GIRLY! The entire place is pink and purple, smells like cotton candy and the floor is covered in glitter. So awesome!

Shelby picked the "Rock Star" theme so the girls were all turned into rock stars for the night. Complete with rock star clothes and their very own microphones.

Here she is before they glammed her up and then after they got done with her:

It's hard to see in these pictures, but their heads were covered in glitter. They all sparkled from head to toe! They smelled like cotton candy, too!

After they

transformed into rock stars, the b-day coordinators (yes, they have coordinators so all us moms have to do is sit back, watch, take lots of pictures and think to ourselves "Why didn't they have something like this when I was a kid?") taught the girls a dance that they preform outside in the mall. Shelby was not to crazy about learning some new dance moves so she opted to just do the Hokey Pokey.

After the party, the girls and I walked around the mall, rode the carosel, and stopped by the cookie factory. As we were walking one of the girls said, "People are looking at us because we look like rock stars. What if they ask us for our autograph!"

As we were walking back thru the mall a few of the girls had to us the bathroom, one of them really bad. Shelby told everyone that "Rock stars walk slow so everyone can take their picture while they are walking." The other girl (who need to go) said, "Well,rock stars walk very fast like this when they have to pee." It was so funny.

As a sort of last minute idea, I let all the girls spend the night. Blake and Brooks stayed with their friends so they wouldn't be bombarded with all the screaming and giggling. Tyler and Micah were in bed by the time we got home from Shelby's party. The girls all camped out in the livingroom and watched chick-flicks all night (well, at least until 11:30 when I turned off the t.v. b/c everyone but my daughter was asleep.)

So Happy Birthday Shelby-Girl! I hope you had a birthday you'll never forget! We love you!

2007-05-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

Kelsey (Holy Mama!) is writing a book and is asking for what she calls "book research". She wants to know if anyone has ever had to have their ring cut off by medical personel. Here is what I emailed her:

I had only been home from the hospital about a week from giving birth to my second child. I was home alone with a 2 year old and a newborn. Hubs was at work in another town about 30 minutes away. I was getting dressed for the day and saw my wedding rings in my jewelry box and decided that most of my pregnancy "swelling" had gone down and it would be safe to put them back on. (I guess I should tell you that I had gained 70 pounds!!!! during my pregnancy thanks to daily trips to Sonic for fries and a hot fudge sunday. My fingers had started to swell around my 4th month so I had to take them off then, which mortified my mom every time I saw her. "People are going to think you're not married and have two kids out of wed-lock!" she would tell me. Sorry ma.) So I see the rings in my jewelry box and remember what my mom kept telling me so I put them on, all three rings (the actual wedding ring and two bands). As soon as I put them on I knew I shouldn't have. What was I thinking!?!?My fingers still looked like fat little sausages. I knew I needed to get them off NOW!
So I start calmly but gently tugging away. That didn't work. I grab a bottle of lotion, lather my entire arm in it and pull. Again nothing. Only now my finger is turning a deep reddish color. So I run downstairs into the kitchen and grab a bottle of dish soap and douse my finger in it and try twisting and turning those cursed rings! They aren't gonna budge. By now my 2 year old watching my with big eyes and the baby is crying and hungry, wanting to nurse. And now my finger is a weird shade of purpley-red. And it's sorta numb. And I cannot see the bands on the underside of my fingers. And my entire hand is throbbing. I start to panic. I called my husband. "Cut it off" he says. I know we do not own anything strong enough to cut a ring off, besides some hedge clippers. Haha No way. So the only thing I can think to do is load my 2 year old (who is still in mis-matched p.j.'s, with wild hair and a dirty face from breakfast) and a screaming hungry newborn, who needs a diaper change, into the car and drive myself to the E.R.
I make it there in less than 5 minutes and march in there with my crew and plop my fat purple finger up on the counter and tell them I need to see a doctor. NOW. I sign my name on the paper and continue to just stand there. Waiting. Surprisingly they take me back right away. I'm not sure if it was because I had a "true" emergency or because my 2 year old and newborn were screaming their heads off. The triage nurse looks and my finger and had the nerve to ask me what happened. Well, duh! Can't you see that I tried to put my rings on when I knew they were still too fat?? By now I am in tears too. It hurt. and I was scared. She takes me to a room 2 seconds later a dr. comes in with some tools. He takes my hand and proceeds to bend my now very dark purpled finger back so he can see where the rings are. OOWWWWCHH! He then pushes this tool up under my ring and it clamps down hard on the ring and then SNAP. He pries the first one off my finger. And then he does it two more times. Finally some relief. But I still couldn't feel my finger and it was still purple. The dr. reassured me that the feeling should come back with in an hour but it might be bruised for a while. I fed and changed the baby before we left the hospital and then we drove home. I called my hubs (and a few other people) and told them about my day. Everyone laughed their heads off at me. I didn't see what was so funny. I lost my wedding rings and almost my finger. I didn't see the humor in any of it. My finger stayed bruised and sore for almost 2 weeks. I had some broken blood vessels that were pretty gross looking but other than that, I was fine. I got my rings fixed but it was another 8 months before I would try them on. My mom just had to get over the fact that I looked like I had two kids out of wedlock.

Conversations with my kids

2007-05-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Micah-3yr. and I were walking into Wal-Mart and I had a tight hold on his hand and he says to me "Mommy! You're choking my hand!"

Tyler-5yr.: Mommy, what was your name before you were a mommy?
Me: My name was Amber. And that's what other people still call me.
Tyler-5yr.: Oh. Can I call you Amber, too?

Brooks-8yr. comes running into the house and announces, "I have the power of healing! Micah just threw a brick at me and it didn't even hurt!"

Micah singing Bon Jovi's song "Shot thru the heart":

Chocolate a heart!!! (Shot thru the heart)

And you're toooo late!!!!!! (And you're to blame)

Narlin' you give love (Darlin' you give love)

A bad day. (A bad name)

He sings this so much that I catch myself singing it right along with him, his words and all!

I'm back, again...

2007-05-18T05:42:00.000-07:00

Our computer got struck by lightning a week ago so I have been unable to get on the internet. Up until yesterday when we replaced the fried-up modem, I've been wondering around in circles, wringing my hands, wondering what to do with myself since I couldn't get on the net and read blogs. Not Really. Actually, I have been very busy. I did miss getting on the computer but I've had a lot going on these last few weeks to keep my mind off not having a computer. So here is another long update.

~I finally got into the eye doctor and I can finally see again!! I got new contacts and I even ordered some glasses to have just in case I might need them. I swore I wouldn't wear them b/c I'm not a big fan of having something on my face but I have been wearing them a lot more than I thought I would. See, for cheap plastic glasses, they're not so bad.

~I ran another 10K (6.2 miles) last weekend. I did OK considering it was VERY hot and there were some other issues. This topic will get it's own blog entry because I've got a bone to pick with the race directors.

~Sunday we went to JM's parents church (the same one we left) so he could see his dad who had just gotten back from Bulgaria and to see his mom on Mother's Day. Then we drove down to my parents house were the whole family was there, except my dad, who is in Kentucky working. The whole family hasn't been together since Christmas so it was nice. JM took the older boys and my brother to see Spiderman 3 so it was mostly just us girls and my mom. While the boys were gone, Jamee and I made dinner for everyone. We all ate and sat around talking until it was time to get back on the road. That was probably the last time we will all be together like that for a while.

Here's the whole family in front of the house we grew up in. It's official. The house is sold and my parents are moving.

~I'm not a big believer in Mother's Day (I think you should honor and love your mother everyday, not just one Sunday a year) but my kids still got me a very sweet card and a beautiful necklace that Blake-10yr. picked out. Those kids know how to melt my heart!

~My brother left for South Dakota this week. I think he is going to be working at the zoo but he's not sure. He just wanted to get the heck out of Mississippi after he graduated and he loves S.D. so that's where he went. I already miss him.

~We went Memphis for Blake's appointment with the allergist to find out why he is still breaking out in hives all the time. It was a long trip and one I'm sure Blake-10yr. wishes he could forget about. I loved the doctor, he was very laid back but very through, asking us every detail of Blake's daily routine. They did the food and environment testing on him (59 shots in his back!!!) and it showed nothing. He has out grown all of his previous food allergies he had when he was a baby. I felt totally helpless standing there watching them stick my boy over and over, him jerking with every stick. After the 5th stick, he broke into tears and so did I. To make it even worse, they had to stick him 4 more times to see if he was allergic to himself. You read that right. You can be allergic to yourself. Who knew? Anyway, he's not. So they stuck him yet again and took 4 viles of blood to be sent off to see if he has any underlying problems (like mono or lupus) that could be causing the hives. Then we were sent home with 3 different types of meds, another Epipen, and Blake with a very sore back and arms. We go back in 6 weeks. Blake says no way.

~Brooks-8yr. and Micah-3yr. stayed in Columbus with my mom Sunday thru Wednesday night. It was so much quieter in the house without my loud, energetic little Mikey. Chandler-8yr. is also gone to visit his Mamaw in Arkansas for a few weeks. So I only had three kids Wednesday. I didn't know what to do with myself. Blake suggested that we go to Toys-R-Us. So we did. And I actually had fun and didn't have migraine when I walked out of there 2 hours later.

~Without going into too much detail I'm going to tell you what has been keeping me so busy. And stressed out.

My sister.

I love her but she has so many problems. I want to help her but she doesn't want the help. She is Chandler's mom. My nephew who has been living with us since November. She has a daughter that she has already had taken away from her and now she is going to get Chandler taken from her. I don't know what else to do. I even let her move in with us so she could get her life straightened out and get away from that psycho creep she calls her boyfriend. That only lasted 4 days, I kicked her out yesterday. My only concern is the safety and well-being of my nephew. He has already seen, heard, and been thru so much. He misses his mom but she won't act like a mom. So I'm going to fight for him. I just hope I'm doing what's best for him.

~That about sums everything up. I think hubs and I are going to be able to get out of town for a quick getaway this weekend. We are just going to be gone Sat. and part of the day Sunday. He has a job to do up near Memphis so I'm going to help him and then we can enjoy some much needed time together. It will be fun.

Camping Pics from 2 weeks ago....

2007-05-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

Remember I told you about my 22 year old brother coming up a few weekends ago and babysitting this crew of 6 on Friday night and then taking the older 4 kiddos camping Saturday night? Well, here are the long awaited pictures!

Sunday JM, I and the little kids came out to the campsite and then we went on a long nature walk looking for a good place to fish. We never did find a good spot but we all sure had a lot of fun!

Mitch (my brother), Micah-3yr. and Chandler-8yr. getting their poles ready for some fishing:

Following Daddy:

Shelby-6yr. being Daddy's girl:

Miss Know-It-All

2007-05-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

Here is a little conversation I just had with my sweet daughter.

Shelby-6yr.: Mommy, I want to be just like you when I grow up.

Me: Why? I'm not so great.

Shelby-6yr.: YES you are!!

Me (smiling): Really?? Ya think I'm great?

Shelby-6yr.: I don't think, I know.

2007-05-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

I've been having issues with my contacts lately. I need to get into the dr. for a check-up so I can get a new prescription and order a new box of contacts since I have none left. I'm down to wearing only one contact in my right eye. Not good considering I'm extremely near-sighted and I can't see anything unless I squint real hard and hold whatever I'm trying to see right in front of my face. And no, I don't have any glasses to wear. I don't like them and won't wear them so I don't waste my money on buying them but now I wish I had an emergency pair for times like this. I've been one-eyeing everything for over a week now. Again, not good but I can't do anything about it until next week when I go to the eye dr.

To make matters worse, my left (and only) contact started bothering me this morning. My eye was watering and I couldn't stand it any longer so I had to take that one out too. So now I am completely blind as a bat while my contact soaks in some solution for the day. I have had that thing in my eye for over 2 weeks so it was time to take it out. I know, I know. I take such good care of my eyes.

The kids all know how blind I am. I've told them how everything is just a big blurry blob and I have a hard time seeing faces. So Blake-10yr. and Brooks-8yr. thought it was a perfect time to play a trick on me. They had already gotten dressed for the day. Blake-10yr. in a white shirt and Brooks-8yr. in an orange shirt. I was at the computer and I called them to come do something for me. They came in the room (but were still standing far off so I couldn't "see" their faces). I said something to Brooks and Blake, while wearing Brooks's shirt, answered me. Uhhhh........what's going on?? Then I realized that they were trying to trick me into thinking Blake was Brooks and Brooks was Blake. They were just giggling their heads off, thinking they had fooled me. Sorry guys, I may be blind, but not that blind.

Time for another rambling update

2007-04-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a whole week since I've blogged anything. I guess I should let ya'll know what I've been up to. Let's see.....

~My brother came up for a visit last weekend. He was kind enough to babysit ALL 6 KIDS so JM and I could go on a date. We drove around for over an hour trying to decide what to do. We ended up at Wal-Mart. Talk about romantic. It was my idea.

~My awesome brother also took the 4 older kids camping last Saturday night at the state park down the road from our house. The kids all had a blast with him. I've got lots of pics that I will post later.

~JM also talked me into joining our local Wellness Center (similar to the Y.M.C.A.) with him. So I did. Now I'm getting up every morning at 5:30a.m. to go work out with him. It's nice having that alone time with him every morning, even if I'm still half asleep. I don't care so much for the whole waking up at the crack of dawn thing but I'm getting used to it and it's worth it to spend that time with him.

~We actually had school everyday this week, with the exception of Thursday b/c I was out of town hanging out with my mom and brother (but that's a WHOLE 'nother story). Not that my kids don't learn everyday, we just don't always crack a book or open a workbook on a daily basis.

~My parents sold their house and are moving to Indiana in less than a month. The movers are coming to pack up their house on the 19th of May. I'm still in shock. I'm so not ready for them to move. I'm a 30 year old woman with a family of my own. Would someone please tell me why I need my mom so bad?

~My mom and niece Hannah-5yr. (Chandler's-8yr. little sister) came up for a visit this afternoon. The kids played outside for a while then my mom had the bright idea to take them all to Wal-mart and buy them something. Hannah-5yr. and Shelby-6yr. stayed home with JM because they were to busy playing baby dolls to go shopping. So it was just mom and I and 5 rowdy boys in the toy dept. of Wally world on a Saturday afternoon. Fun. The kids all left that place with something in their hands and a smile on their faces. Mom and I just left with a headache.

I guess that just about covers it. I'm going to bed now. I'm exhausted from all that excitement.

Cool Picture of the Day

2007-04-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

The kids came running inside to get me so they could show me this cloud they saw in the sky.

Brooks-8yr. said, "Do you think it's a sign from God?"

2007-04-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

I've got a ton of thoughts running thru my head so none of this will probably make any sense to you (you being the one or two people who just happen to find my blog and actually stay and read it) but here I go anyway.

~Blake-10yr. woke up this morning covered with another rash. He said he woke up last night b/c he was itching and rashy and he came and got me and I gave him some benadryl and told him to sleep on the couch and wake me if it got worse (what a run on sentence!!!). I don't remember any of that b/c I had taken a Lunesta before I went to bed. One of the side effects is memory loss. Anyway, we headed to our family doctor about 40 minutes away from us, in another town. Let me just say that I just can't seem to find any doctors, dentists, or veterinarians I like around here so I'm willing to drive to where they are. She puts him on a stronger steroid and tells me that we might need to do some allergy testing but his system needs to calm down before that can be done. I'm supposed to call her Monday and we'll go from there. In the mean time, I have to deal with a very hyper, hungary and itchy boy.

~After we got home from the doctor, hubs was home 'cause nothing was going on at work and he was bored. I was still feeling the effects of the Lunesta and was extremely tired so as soon as I walked in the door, I went straight back to the bedroom, curled up on the bed and drifted off to sleep. I slept for the next three hours. Micah some how ended up in there asleep with me. While I was sleeping, my house somehow self-cleaned. Actually, JM was still home so he got the kids to clean for me. They even put the dishes in the dishwasher and then even started it! Now I'm thinking I might to that more often. It sure makes for a very happy mom!

~Last night we went to a meeting at our former church. The same church we got kicked out of. Actually we left and then 6 months later they kicked us out from lack of attendance. Oh, and my father in law is the pastor there. But we are all on good terms with everyone (they are all mostly family). The church has been doing missionary work in India and one of the men came over from India to speak about all the work that has been going on. It wasn't anything formal, just dinner and then he spoke and showed us a DVD he had put together. So, I just wore what I had on that day. Jeans and a t-shirt. My hair was in a pony-tail but that is my normal hair "do". I even put on make-up so I didn't think I looked too bad. Obviously I did b/c while we were in the buffet line fixing our plates, my mother-in-law says to me (rather loudly, I think), "Have you been running Amber?". Uh. No. Do I really look/smell that bad? I didn't know what to say so I just mumbled, "No, I always look like this." and walked away. I guess the way I was dressed was a little offensive to some people and my mil felt a need to bring that to my attention. I should mention that one of the reasons we left the church was b/c they believe that the women should alway were dresses, especially to church and my husband and I don't feel that way. Last night I was the only girl (besides my daughter who was also wearing jeans) who had on pants. Everyone else had on a skirt. I guess I'm just a rebel. Actually, I'm not. I'm just me and I don't plan on changing that.

~I'm so glad that Sanjayia got voted off A.I. I'm so sick of that kid. He's got great hair but he can't sing!

~I can't sleep now since I took such a long nap this afternoon. I could be folding laundry but it's more fun to read blogs. If I had a laptop I would sit on couch with my lap top and read blogs while folding laundry. But I don't. There goes that idea.

~My parents are moving away and that is starting to bother me. I have never lived more than 3 hours away from my parents. They are moving almost 8 hours away. It's going to suck. I can already tell.

~Sadie, our new bassett hound puppy is so cute but she STINKS so bad! I bathe her at least twice a week but it seems like my efforts are in vain. It's so hard to love on a stinky puppy. No one wants to sleep with her anymore b/c of the smell so she is forced to sleep alone.

~I desperately need to get caught up on my laundry so I can get out everyone's summer clothes. The kids do have some summery stuff but now their drawers are overflowing with sweaters, t-shirts, shorts, and jeans. Too much of a mix. I need to weed out the stuff they won't need until next winter.

~I'm going to go fold some laundry now. Hopefully that will make me sleepy. If not, I'm going to take some benadryl. :)

What a night!

2007-04-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

I was on the computer last night (around midnight), lurking around in bloggityville when I hear one of my children get up to use the bathroom. Then that child came over to me and said, "Mommy, some thing's wrong with me." That child was Blake-10yr. All the lights were off in the house, but from the glow of the computer screen, I can see that something, indeed, was terribly wrong with my child. I turned on the lights to get a closer look at him. He did not look like the same boy who went to bed a few hours ago. His ears were swollen, his left eye was almost completely swollen shut and he was covered, head-to-toe, in big, red,whelps. I knew immediately that he was having an allergic reaction to something so I gave his a large dose of benadryl. I asked him if he could breathe ok and he said yea but that his throat felt funny. I woke hubs up and told him what was going on and that I was taking Blake-10yr. to the ER right away.

As soon as we walked thru the ER door, the nurse took one look at him and whisked us down the hall and into a room. They strapped him to the oxygen machine to see if he was pulling in any air. His sats were at 98 so that was good. But they went ahead and gave him a shot to stop the reaction in his body. After the shot, the dr (who by the way could have been Dr. McDreamy himself!) said he wanted to keep an eye on him for a while, so we tried to settle in for a long night. And a looonnnnggg night it was! We were in a private room that was at the very end of the hall. You would have thought we could've gotten some sort of rest. No. Every time I or Blake dosed off, someone would come in and do something totally unnecessary. Unnecessary as in empty the trash, get supplies that they didn't have in another room, or put clean linens in the cabinets. Surely all of that did not have to be done between the hours of 1:30a.m. and 3:45 a.m. It could have waited. And we could have slept.

So at 4:15 the nurse comes in to take one last look at my boy. The meds were working and the rash/whelps had gone down so she said we could go sleep in our own beds. They send us on our way, but not before collecting my co-pay and giving my a load of steroids to keep my poor child up, climbing the walls for the next week, and an Epipen jr. to use if this reaction thing happens again.

I did get to sleep for about 3 hours before the rest of the kiddos were up, totally unaware of what had gone on last night. We had a very important-or-I-would-have-cancelled-it-and-slept-the-rest-of-the-morning dentist appointment so we were out the door by 9:30.

It's now 12:30. We are home. Lunch is over. The house is a mess. But this momma is one tired gal so she's going to round up the little ones and take a very long nap. :)

Just for the record.....

2007-04-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

Brooks-8yr. told me he met his future wife in a dream he had last night. He said her name was Carson and she had blonde hair. Now he can't wait to get married.

100 questions (Part 1)

2007-04-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

100.First off, what is your name? Amber
99. Do you talk in your sleep? nope
98.What's your favorite color? pink
97.Ever met anyone famous? I've met our local weather man before.
96.Do you feel that you've had a truly successful life? so far, so good.
95.Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it? I twirl it.
94.Basketball or Football? hands down, football. I hate basketball.
93.How long do your showers last? About 10 minutes, but there is usually a kid in there talking to me the whole time, asking me if I'm done yet.
92.Do you know how to drive a stick? yes. I learned to drive on a stick.
91.Are you self-conscious? about certain things I am.
90.Have you ever given money to a bum? yes
89.Can you jog 5k without stopping? not to brag, but I do this almost daily. But there was a time (a few years ago) that I couldn't even run 1 mile without stopping.
88.Where do you wish you were? on a cruise ship with my husband.
87.Have you ever ridden in an ambulance? nope
86.Last gift you got? gift card from Sears for my b-day that I gave to my husband. He needed some tools.
85.Last sport you played? is running a sport? If not, then it would have to be tennis a few months ago.
84.Things you spend a lot of money on? gas and groceries
83.Favorite place to eat? Lenny's Deli
82.What's your least favorite chore? laundry!
81.Favorite Drink? water
80.Do you eat fish? I don't eat meat, but I do eat fish every once in a while.
79.Have you ever come close to dying? not that I'm aware of.
78.Do you wear makeup? I do, but not daily.
77.Would you ever have plastic surgery? maybe. if it were free and painless.
76.If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? Australia
75.If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? salad. or funions.
74.Do you prefer city, beach, country? country
73.When was the last time you cried? today, I'm such a crybaby.
72.What would you do w/ a million bucks? buy a huge house. save for my kids college. donate some to St. Jude's hospital. go on a 2 month tour around the world with my family. and then save the rest.
71. Do you have a job, if so what do you do? I'm a mom and darn proud of it!
70.What is your dream car? one that self-cleans.
69. Favorite movie? I have WAY to many to name.
68. Favorite item of clothing? comfy sleeping pants.
67.Do you have any siblings? yes, sister that's 2 years younger, who I'm not very close to and a brother that's 7 years younger, who I'm extremely close to.
66.Would you rather text or talk on the phone? neither. I hate both.
65.Would you go back in time to change anything you've done?nope, I've never been perfect. But everything I've done has been for a reason and i either reaped the rewards or faced the consequences.
64. Do you sing in the shower? no
63.Are you wearing socks? yes
62. How does your hair look right now? a mess. in a lop-sided pony-tail.
61.What are your fears? not raising my children right.
60.What do you hear right now? Micah arguing with Shelby over a chocolate cookie. and the Incredibles playing on a t.v. that no one is watching.
59. Do you sing? yes, but only when I'm in the car.
58. Can you do a cartwheel? yes and I can do a front flip and sometimes I even land on my feet!
57.If you could have anything in the world what would it be? I'm pretty happy with what God has given me. But I would like my car and house to be paid for. That would be good enough for me.
56.Do you like 80's movies? I love 80's movies!! (Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, Grease, and Drop-Dead Fred are a few of my favs.)
55.What kinda movies do you like? Comedy, and Musicals
54. Hair color? right now it's brownish, but it changes with the seasons.
53.Favorite cereal? Raisin Bran Crunch, and Peanut Butter Crunch.
52.Favorite time of day? Late at night when all the kids are asleep and the house if finally quiet. I can finally hear myself think!
51. Where were you born? Sioux Falls, S.D.
50. Do you like spicy food? yes! I LOVE spicy food!

The Little Boys and Mommy

2007-04-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the kids and I took an unexpected trip to Columbus (where my parents live and where Micah's dentist is, which is a little over an hour away). Micah-3yr. had a tooth that was hurting him so bad that he wouldn't touch his breakfast or drink his chocolate milk. I called the dentist and she said to bring him as soon as we could get there. We found out his tooth is absessed so they will fix it after he is done with the antibiotics she put him on. After that we went to my mom's and hung out there until she got home from work so we could get some much needed haircuts.

The older kids (meaning Blake-10yr., Brooks-8yr., Chandler-8yr., and Shelby-6yr.) went over to the neighbor's house to play so it was just Tyler-5yr., Micah-3yr., and me. We swang on the front porch for a while and messed around with my camera. I showed them how to take pictures (which I now regret, they won't keep their hands off it!) We had some good uninterupted boy/mommy time. It was nice to spend some time with just the two of them. Here are some of the pictures we took:

Micah-3yr. on the top and Tyler-5yr. on the bottom.

I love my boys!!!

Running and Urges

2007-04-12T06:57:00.000-07:00

I've been in such a funk lately.

I haven't been in a grouchy or bad mood. I've just felt like doing nothing. The last few days I have done as little as possible. We've done school work but by the time we are done with that I just want to lay down and sleep the rest of the afternoon. I think it's hormones.

Anyway, yesterday was much of the same. Me, moving ever so slowly. The kids running circles around me. I felt like I had to push, push, push myself to accomplish anything.

So I got some dinner fixed and decided that I was going to go run. I hadn't left the house in 2 days (I had only stepped outside once, I think) and some fresh air and exercise would do me good. But as I was getting my running clothes on, I got an incredible urge to go shopping. I didn't want to run, I wanted some new clothes. I started scheming a plan in my head. I was going to act like I was going running, but then stop at the atm, take some money out of savings and go shopping for myself, by myself. Surely that would make me feel better. Who cares if I spent money I was NOT supposed to spend, I would have some cute clothes and maybe a new pair of flip-flos to show for it.

I headed out the door and down the road. But as I was driving, my car went into auto-pilot and I drove straight to my usual running spot. So I got out and started running. I ran and ran. I ran for 4 miles.

It's amazing what some fresh air and exercise (and prayer, which is what I do while I run) will do for your spirit. I feel a lot better today than I would have if I had caved into my urge to spend money I didn't need to spend.

We're getting out of the house today. I think we need a park day!

Gheez, I don't even know where to begin..........

2007-04-11T06:06:00.000-07:00

I'm new to this whole blogger thing. Not blogging just blogger. I have switched all my 2007 blogs (all 11 of them, whoo hoo!) over from homeschoolblogger. So please just bare with me while I get my page the way I like it (although that may never happen).

I guess I should give an update on things since I, again, have neglected to blog about anything in almost 2 months. It's not that I don't like blogging, cause I do. I've just felt yucky-blucky lately. Not sick, just gloomy and stressed out half the time. I'll be fine. I have my days just like everyone else.

I'm going to update the entire month of March using pictures. I mean, who doesn't love pictures, right?

Blake-10yr. tested and got his red belt in Taekwondo. He is now only one more belt away from becoming a BLACK belt! Brooks-8yr. also tested and got his Sr. green belt. He has gotten a little burnt out on karate so he's now taking a break.

This is Sadie, the latest addition to our family. She is a 4 month old bassett hound. My husband called me on day while he was at work and told me to come a get her. She had been hanging out at his work for over a month, but kept running out into the road (Main Street, one of the busiest streets in Tupelo) and he was afraid she was going to get hit. As you can see, she fits right in!

John Mark and I also celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary this month! I swear, I'm more in love with this man today than I was the day I married him!

Then and Now:

We look so young! I don't know what is up with this picture on the right. My hair is not really red, and JM is not really bald!

And my sweet Ty-Ty celebrated his 5th birthday ,too!

I cannot believe he's already 5. I don't know where the time has gone. He's already reading, learning to tie his shoes, and has a loose tooth. Before I know it, he's going to be graduating from college! I'm not ready for this!
I

Well, there you have it. There are a few things I left out but I will blog about it later. I need to get the kids moving and started on some schoolwork!

The Big 3-0

2007-02-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

I felt Oh-So-Loved today. And it had nothing to do with the fact that it was Valentine's day. It was my birthday. My 30th birthday. I've been dreading this day for the past 2 years. I don't know what I was so worried about. Here's a recap:

~I got to sleep in until 8:00. I could have slept longer but I heard my hubby's car start up and I got up to tell him goodbye (but he was already gone).

~My mom called me at exactly 8:24 a.m. (the time I was born) to tell my happy birthday. She loves me so much! Thanks mom, you made my day!

~The kids all made themselves breakfast so I didn't have to do a thing (actually, I don't do breakfast even when it's not my birthday but this makes for a good story). Chandler decided to heat himself up a pancake in the microwave. He cooked it for 5 minutes. I guess he wanted to make sure it was done. Pancake was just fine but the plastic plate melted all over the mircowave. But not to worry, he cleaned it up so I wouldn't have to. It's my birthday, after all.

~I had to get my driver's licenes renewed. Actually, I had to get a new MS license. I still had one from Tennessee. We moved from TN in 2001 but I kept it b/c it didn't expire until 2-14-07. Yup, I waited until the very last day to get a new one. But the nice people at the DMV got me in right away and then they all wished me a very happy birthday on my way out the door!

~While I was in the DMV, digging thru my purse, I see that my sil Rebecca had slipped me $50.00 for my birthday!!! I had seen her the day before and she had given me some money, but I didn't realize how much until I was paying for my driver's license and saw the money. Talk about being speachless! Thanks Rebecca! I love you!

~Hubby called me to tell me happy birthday. He waited until later to call just in case I was still asleep, which I wasn't, but he's still so sweet!

~I took a 2 hour, uninterupted nap (with Micah). I wasn't actually that tired but I figured, hey, what the heck, it's my birthday!

~After I woke from my nap, I saw someone had slipped an envelope under my door. It was a sweet handwritten letter (the best kind) from Brooks telling me what a great mom I am and how much he loves me. He also enclosed $2.25 so I could buy myself something. If you know Brooks, you know he was giving up a lot to give me that much money! Money means a lot to him and it ment a lot to me that he was willing to share it with me. (He later asked me if he could have it back "just for a little bit" when he heard that I might be going to Wal-Mart) That kid! :)

~I checked my e-mail after my nap and see a gift card to amazon.com from my other sister-in-law Beth. I had talked to her earlier in the day when she called to give me birthday wishes, but she never mentioned it. It was a nice, very thoughtful surprise. Thank you, Beth!

~The kids were all extra sweet and nice to me all day long. I got lots of extra hugs and kisses. They didn't argue or fight too much with eachother. And they all wanted to be my "helper".

~I got so many calls and emails from family and friends wishing me a happy birthday. I didn't realize I even knew that many people! Again, I feel so loved!

~I still had to make dinner, which was fine with me. But I made what I wanted for dinner, not what I thought everyone else would like. (Black beans and rice with a salad, in case you were wondering)

~Hubs brought home a huge chocolate cake, complete with 30 candles! The kids all sang Happy Birthday to me and then helped me put out the fire that was on top of my cake. I haven't had cake in over a month so this was definately a treat!

~My two favorite shows were on just for my birthday. Actually, American Idol, and Medium come on every Wednesday night, but again, who cares. It's still my birthday and I enjoyed watching them as the kids went to bed a little early. It was just hubby and I. Nice.

And there you have it. I had a wonderfully, simple, 30th birthday with my family. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Weekend running trip

2007-02-11T10:32:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, John Mark and I went to Birmingham so that I could run the Merecedes half marathon. It was kinda a last minute challenge by a high school friend of mine who was running the race. He sent me an email on Jan 25th saying " Birmingham half marathon. Feb. 11. Be there. or be SQUARE." Not wanting to be square, I took him up on this offer. I signed up and made hotel reservations. I hadn't seen Wes since high school so this was going to be a fun weekend. Now keep in mind, that yes, I do run, but I am NOT a hill runner. And B'ham is full of mountains! I didn't realize what I had gotten myself into until it was too late, See what I mean:

That big peak on mile 9 gave me nightmares.

JM and I got there the night before the race (my mom had all the kids) and we went to dinner at The Maccaroni Grill with Wes and his wife. We ate carbs. Lots of carbs.

Race morning was very cold (26 degrees) but the sun was out. All I kept thinking about was "What the heck am I thinking? Why did I let him talk me into this? Ugh! I'm going to die on those hills!" But once we started running, I was fine. I lost Wes at mile 3 and never saw him again. I felt so good! It was a beautiful run. One that I will be doing every year. I enjoyed that race more than any other I've done, with the exception of Disney. And I guess what made it that much better was that I beat Wes by almost 10 minutes!!!! I should stop bragging b/c if he hadn't got stuck in the portta john at mile 4 (intestional issues) he would have whipped my butt!

We are Elite wanna-be's.

The medal is the coolest. It's a Merecedes hood ornament. Wonder if it would sell on ebay?

It was a great weekend. My husband was a great sport. He's not into running at all but is there for me when I need him. I know I couldn't do it without his support. :)

And thank you Wes for letting me beat you. I have a feeling next year I won't be as fortunate.

Wanna see something that only happens once every 5 years?

2007-02-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

Our Family Pictures!

Kid Funnies

2007-02-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

Micah-3yr. getting ready to get into the bathtub:
Me: Come on Micah. get in.

Micah: Is it hot?

Me: No

Micah: Is it spicy?

Tyler-4yr. asking when we can go to McDonald's to play:
Tyler: Can we go there today?

Me: Nope, not today

Tyler: Tomorrow?

Me: Nope, not tomorrow either

Tyler: Tolater?

Me: Yes Tyler, maybe tolater (while giggling to myself)

Shelby-6yr. while trying to play a card trick on me
Shebly: Pick a card and rememberize it.

*this will be updated whenever I think of more or one of them says something worth remembering, so please check back.

This makes my heart melt

2007-02-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

My day has finally come

2007-02-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, I loved going grocery shopping with my mom. Not because I loved to shop, but because I could sneek stuff (aka junk food) into her cart without her realizing it. Sometimes she would see what I had hidden while we were checking out, but I don't think she wanted to cause a scene, so she would just give me the "look" and then pay for it. (My sister and brother both did it too so it wasn't just me.)

Now that I have kids of my own, my mom always tells me, "Your day is coming". Meaning, payback for all the michevious things I have done to my mom. And today I got payed back for my little stick-stuff-in-the-cart-while-mom's-not-looking stunt.

I HAD to go into Wal-Mart today and all the kids were with me (all 6 of 'em). I was out of shampoo and other "beauty-aides". The isles were so packed that I couldn't fit my cart and kids down the isle so I parked the cart off to the side, told the kids to stand still and don't touch anything, and made a mad dash down the isle for the few things I needed. I got what I needed, then we checked out. I noticed that my bill was a little higher than I had expected but I still didn't think much about. It wasn't until later when I was unloading everything that I see Micah had stuck 4 boxes of haircolor (at $7.97 each !!) in my cart when I wasn't looking. Brooks also put in two bags of jellybeans in my cart that he said were only $1.00 each, but they ended up being Jelly-Belly jelly beans on those things aren't cheap- $2.97 a bag! So I ended up spending $37.00 more than I should have thanks to my sweet little angles!

I'm keeping the jelly beans but I'm taking back the haircolor!

Never bet your child one hundred bucks...............

2007-02-03T10:10:00.000-08:00

...durring a spelling test because there is a chance you could lose!

For spelling we use AVKO's Sequential Spelling, which I think is a wonderful program (I like it so much that I've actually blogged about it before). It gives a list of 25 words a day that you test your kids on. A lot of words, yes, but the words build on eachother ( ex. in, sin, pin, spin) and a lot are repeats of words they have already learned before. But they also throw in a few new words, and new spelling rules every so often. Yesterday was one of those days. The words to spell were: it's too bad. Simple and easy, yes. But only if you know whether to use to, too, or two. We have not yet covered that rule. So I just knew , KNEW , KNEW that they were all going to get it wrong and then I could teach them when to use the correct spelling. So I give the words and wait for them all to spell it.

Then, after they are all done and waiting for me to give the correct spelling so they can see if they got it right or need to correct their paper, I open my big, fat mouth (because I'm just so sure I'm right and they all got it wrong) and say " I'll bet $100.00 that none of you got it right ".

Brooks-8yr. starts jumping up and down with his hand shot up in the air and yells,"Let me spell it! Let me spell it! I know I got it right! " I am still VERY confident that everyone had gotten it wrong and put to instead of too so I tell Brooks-8yr. to go ahead and spell it. He very loudly says " I-T, apostrophe S, skip a space T-O-O, skip a space B-A-D". My face went white and my jaw hit the floor. All I could manage to say was "How did you know when to use T-O-O?" His reply (while jumping up and down and all around) was, "I dunno, I think I read it somewhere and you owe me ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!"

Moral of the story: Never bet your homeschooled child that he doesn't know something just because you didn't "teach" it to him. Chances are he might of learned it on his own.

*and no, I didn't give Brooks $100.00. He was a bit disappointed to find out that his mom was not rich and did not have a one hundred dollar bill in her wallet. He settled for a new pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards instead.

Some sort of update

2007-01-31T10:07:00.000-08:00

Once again, I'm slacking on my blog. But here is a rambling update for your reading pleasure.

~We are in full swing with school again. So far so good. Chandler (my nephew who has been living with us since November, but I failed to mention that earlier) is back from visiting his mamaw so now we are moving right along. We have actually been staying on a pretty tight school schedule, which is unusual for me but it's working out nicely.

~Our whole family (that's my husband and kids) have become sorta "vegan". Meaning we are no longer eating meat or dairy. Mainly plant-based, whole foods. Well, the kids do eat some meat and dairy so I guess that doesn't count. But they aren't eating as much as they were before and they're eating a TON of fruit and veggies. It all started after my trip to my cousin's house the beginning of Jan. and she gave me a book to read on the plane ride home. It's called The China Study and I think everyone should read it. It will change the way you look (and eat) food!

~It's been FREEZING cold (like highs only in the low 40's cold) here for the last week so the kids have been in the house all day. They are starting to drive me nuts. Way to much cooped-up energy in here.

~I got a battery charger as an early birthday present from my husband. Why would he give me such a thing? Because my battery goes dead on the Suburan at least once a week from someone not shutting the door all the way, or leaving the interior lights on and he is tired of comming to my rescue (leaving work) and jumping me off. Now I can do it myself!

~We went to my parents house on Saturday to get hair cuts and just to hang out with them. I haven't seen them in a few weeks so it was nice. I don't know what I'm going to do if they move away (like the possibility of them moving back to S.D. or even Kentucky).

~My birthday is in 2 weeks. I'm turning 30 and I'm not ready. I don't want to be that old.

~Micah and Tyler (my youngest two) love to beat eachother up. I know that sounds bad, but they like to see who is the strongest. Maybe it's just a boy thing. I don't know. So no one gets hurt, I let them put on Blake and Brooks' sparring gear (head-to-toe padding) and go at it. Again, no one gets hurt and it's pretty entertaining to watch. I'm going to post a video soon and ya'll can see just how funny it is.

I gotta get the kids started on school. I've got a schedule to keep!

Family Pictures

2007-01-22T10:04:00.000-08:00

We got family pictures taken this weekend. It has been 5 years (and 2 more kids later) since we have been suckered into do such a silly thing. Way back in September we were cornered by an Olan Mills saleslady who talked us into buying some sort of package deal. I cancelled and rescheduled that appointment at least a dozen times due the inability to "get it together". We never showed up for the last one (in November). I had completley forgotten about getting pictures done until out of the blue this lady from Olan Mills calls last week asking me if we still want to come in to have our pictures done. I say sure, what the heck. Might as well try to do it sometime this year. We set up a time for this Sunday at 4:00. Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. I got everyone all together, cleaned up, looking nice. We make it there, right at 4:00 only to be told that they did not have us down for 4:00, or any other time for that matter!!! There were other appointments already scheduled so we would have to wait for a few hours or reschedule. After all I did to get us there, they tell me nope, sorry, come back later. Did this lady not realize what it takes to get 5 boys and a girl presentable and then keep them that way for an extended period of time? I was so mad I was about to cry or punch something. JM said lets just go (I think he wanted to get me out of the store before I caused a scene) so we walked down to Sears to see what they had to offer. They didn't have anything great to offer other than we could get our pictures done right then without waiting. We smiled our best, spent more than we wanted and we won't be doing this again for another 5 years.

2007-01-09T09:57:00.000-08:00

I kept a small journal of my trip to Disney World to run my first marathon. It's a bit long so be warned.
Here's what I wrote:

Friday January 5, 2007
I got all the stuff packed in the van and loaded everyone up to go. Shelby and Micah were staying at Virginia's house so that was our first stop. Then we drove to JM's work so I could wait for PawPaw to pick me up and take me to Birmingham, where my flight leaves from. Blake,Brooks, and Tyler rode with us. JM had to work or he would have brought me. My flight left at 3:05. We got there around 2:00. I kissed all the kids good-bye and went thru security. I had no trouble getting thru other than having to throw out the bottle of water I had just paid $2.00 for. The flight was a little bumpy, to say the least. But I survived, got my bags and met my cousin Kaci, my aunt Diane, and cousin Erin outside. It was so great to see them! I haven't seen them in 2 years! Everyone looked great as they always have. We headed straight to the mall so my Erin could pick out an outfit for a modeling thing she was doing the next day. I think we spent the next 2 hours looking for something. While we were there my other cousin Kelli met us there. After Erin found "the perfect outfit" we finally got something to eat. We all had a great time at dinner, laughing our heads off and talking about everything. The mall was closing so we left, said goodbye to Kelli, brought Diane and Erin to their hotel and then Kaci and I headed to her house. By then it was almost 11:00. I called JM and talked to him and the kids for little bit. Shelby sounded like she was about to cry when I talked to her. It's now 12:30,and I'm in bed watching CABLE. I know I should be going to be sleep b/c we are running in the morning and have a busy day planned, but it's not everyday that I get to watch cable tv!

Saturday January 6, 2007
Kaci and I got up this morning and went for a 3 mile run around 8:00. It was already very humid out. By the time we got done running, we both were dripping with sweat. I went in to take a cold shower. That didn't help. I was still sweating. So much so that I had to take a cold bath. After about 45 minutes, I was able to finally stop sweating enought to put my makeup on without it melting off my face. Oh, before we went out to run, I finally got to meet Kaci's little boy Preston, who's 21 months. He is such a cutie but when he first saw me he screamed and hung onto Kaci. I don't know if he thought I was a babysitter or what but after a while he got used to the idea of me being around. Now whenever he sees me he points and yells "BOO!" 'cause that's what I say to him. He's so sweet.
After I finally got myself ready, we went to Winter Park so Kaci could show me where she runs with her group, and at all the amazingly beautiful houses there. We also did a little window shopping and then met Kelli for lunch at a cute little deli. When we were done, we headed to Disney to pick up our race packets at the Expo. We got our race numbers, and chips, and then walked around to look at all the race stuff. I needed a shirt to wear for the race b/c I only brought down long sleeved stuff. It's January so I thought the weather would be a little cooler but it's 85 today! Anyway, we both ended up buying a white tank top and some long distance running shorts. I also bought a shirt that says "Marathon Mom" and a sticker that goes on my suburban that says "26.2". By the time we got done at the Expo, it was around 4:00 so we went home, got some of our things ready for the big day tomorrow, and then got ready to go eat. We went to Perkins with Scott (Kaci's hubs) and Preston. We thought it would be best to carb-load on some pancakes so that's just what we did. We got back to the house and started getting everything ready for tomorrow. I got my clothes ready, and our bags packed. I called JM and talked to him for a while. He wishes he could be here with me just to cheer me on. I want him here too but I know he would be bored out of his mind with all this running and girl stuff that's going on. I'm in bed again (even thought it's only 9:30) and I know I'm going to toss and turn all night. We have to be up at 2:30 and have to leave the house no later than 3:00. They start closing the roads down at 3:30 so we need to make sure we are in the parking lot in time. I think we are going to try and sleep some in the car b/c the actual race doesn't start until 6:00!! Insaine. I know.

Sunday January 7, 2007
I DID IT !!!!!! I made it 26.2 miles and I'm still standing! That was the hardest thing I have ever done. Not physically. MENTALLY. The race itself was pretty good. But boy was it HOT! It was 87 with lots of humidity. We were sweating at the start of the race, before the sun was even up. We started out running with 2 other girls from Kaci's running group but one of them was having severe stomach cramps and finally had to walk at around mile 6. They told us to go on so we did. I struggled from mile 19 until 24. It was down a lone streatch of of highway, with no shade what so ever. Pure misery. Everyone around me was walking so I just gave in and walked more and more. Kaci kept trying to keep me going but just wanted to walk. I also started to feel like I was going to throw up but it could have been my head playing tricks on me. I finally told Kaci to just go on and I would meet her at the finish line. That was around mile 24. After she took off, I realized what I had done. I snapped out of my mentalness and took off. I never did catch her but I only finished 7 minutes behind her. I crossed the finish line and there was Kcai, waiting for me. We got some water and our medals, then went to get our hands on some food. I was a bit disappoined in the choices we had. Other races I've been in have offered a huge spread from pizza, cookies, donuts, fruit, even beer. The only choices we had were banans, oranges, and muffins. A little disappointing when you are starving! We met up with Kelli, Scott and Preston in the parking lot, streatched, I called my husband, and then headed to the car.

Kaci and I then headed to Diane's hotel room ( she's staying on disney property) so we could shower and then go eat with them. We drove around for 45 minutes looking for her hotel. The roads all look the same and some of them were still blocked off from the race. We finall got there, showered and then left for Bahama Breeze for get some yummy margaritias. I'm not much of a drinker but I felt I deserved that one! By the time our food arrived, exhaustion had set in. I got too tired to even chew my food. I was still very hungary, but sooooo tired. Looking back, the margaritias might of had something to do with my sleepiness. Kaci was tired to so we went back to the house and took a nap. I slept from 5-7 and then woke up hungary and very sore. I talked to my mother in law and JM and the kids. Everyone is so proud of me. I'm proud of me, too! Now I'm back in bed, hoping that I can walk in the morning!

Monday January 8, 2007
I think I was looking forward to this day more that I was the marathon itself. And for good reason! This was the most wonderful day ever! Kaci had booked us full body massages and a foot treatment at the Ritz-Carlton. All I can say is that I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. I felt like royalty. It was like everying thing you would see in a movie, only I was actually there! Fancy robes and slippers too! We had the foot treatment first and that was amazing but then I got the massage and OH. MY. GOODNESS. Words cannot express how wonderful that was. It was a little uncomfortable when she was working all the soreness out of my muscles but it was a good feeling. We also got to sit in the hot tub, sauna, and steam room. The steam room seemed ot really help loosen up our muscles. We also got to swim OUTSIDE b/c the weather was so nice. It was sorta weird, laying out in the dead of winter. I felt like I was in some other tropical country, not Orlando, Florida.
We finally had to leave our little tropical gettaway and come back to reality. We were both hungry and I had to get to the airport. We ate at a cool place called Sweet Tomatoes. It's a salad bar buffet. It was so yummy. I never thought I could get stuffed from salad. But I did and I wish there was a resturant like that in our area. I also stopped to get souviners for the kids. I bought myself some jeans and a pair of pj's while we were in T.J. Maxx using the bathroom. Kaci dropped me off at the airport at 5:00. My flight didn't leave until 7:30 but she said that getting thru security could take a while, better safe than sorry. I got thru pretty quick so I bought myself a starbuck's frappichino and sat down and read a book Kaci had given me called "The China Study". I am facinated by this book. It's definately going to have an impact on how and what we eat. The plane ride home was much better than before. JM and the kids picked me up. I was so glad to see them! I missed them so much! It was already almost 9:00 and everyone was hungry so we stopped at Pizza Hut for dinner. The kids all fought over who was going to sit by me. It was cute. I felt loved! I drove the rest of the way home (2.5 hours) b/c JM was tired.

Now we're home, the kids are in bed, and so is JM.
I'm heading there myself.

Funny Farm Year-In-Review

2007-01-01T09:49:00.000-08:00

I got this idea from Perri. I've put the first sentence from my first blog of each month.

Here's the Funny Farm Year-in-Review.

January
7 things I want to do in 2006: 1. Lose 20 pounds 2. Run a Marathon.......
February
Today the kids and I had to run an errand for my husband (actually an errand for a friend of his but that is another story).
March
It's been so long since I have blogged, I wonder if there is still anyone out there.
April
This morning I drug my behind out of bed at 5:45am.
May
Last Friday, April 21, Blake was outside playing with the dogs when one of them pushed into him causing him to fall on his big toe (he was barefoot, on concrete) and bending it all the way back.
June
I thought I'd give a quick update to any of you that are still around.
July
After a wonderful, four day vacation to Orange Beach, Alabama with some friends of ours (and their 3 kids), we are home.
August*
*Sorry, but I didn't blog AT ALL the whole month of August!
September
Well........Summer's over, fall is here and I'm finally updating my blog.
October
Things I love...... God, my husband, my family, chocolate, fajitias........

November*
*Again, I was lazy and didn't blog this entire month either!

December
Yesterday evening I was in the kitchen cooking dinner, washing dishes and listening to Blake read to me.
Well, there you have it folks. A little dull if you ask me.
After looking back at my pathetic excuse for a blog, I am now making "Blog alot more" one of my New year's resolutions. I would love to blog everyday but my life is kinda boring so I don't think I could come up with good stuff that often. I'm gonna shoot for 3-4 times a week.

Happy New Year Everyone!