Three Boys & A Girl

Baseball Season

2011-02-13T21:52:00.000-05:00

Here we go! One boy in travel baseball... the other in recreational baseball. We will be doing a lot of dividing and conquering. It's all worth it though. The boys love the game and we love to watch them play. It will be no fun missing games as I know I will HAVE to miss some (to be at the others) but such is life as a mom of two boys, right?

Mikey's season just started. Matthew's team has been practicing hard all winter long. It payed off today. We played the team that didn't want Matthew (and thank the Good Lord above they didn't want him). We WON! Matthew had an outstanding game today and we are very proud of him. Our coaches are awesome and I was also so proud of them. The coach for the opposing team (the team Matthew could have wound up on) was AWFUL! Screaming and yelling at his players, arguing with the umpires ... sheesh! And this was "just a scrimmage". Can you imagine what a "real" game would be like? Yikes. We still have some good friends on that team and I was disappointed to see how they were treated. There were also some people I thought were our friends and have learned they are not. That's OK ... good to know where you stand with people, right? I'm sure we'll see our fair share of losses this season but it was wonderful to get a "W" today!

Mikey has had a few practices in his new league. Some things are different there ... some the same as any other baseball league. Mikey is happy though and that's all that matters!

I'm SO HAPPY it's BASEBALL season! Bring on the sunshine and warm weather :) I'm ready.

22 gone!

2011-02-13T21:43:00.002-05:00

22 lbs. gone forever! I love it! Still have a good long way to go (42 lbs more) but it feels so good to have gotten this far! I'm doing a happy dance in my incredibly baggy pants! LOL!

Still a loser...

2011-01-23T12:06:00.000-05:00

Down to 8 lbs and one whole size GONE! Yay! The only down side is I have some really cute things I can no longer wear. Well, I could but they are SUPER baggy (yuck). I need to get my old clothes bin down from the attic and see if there's anything in there that DOES fit now :)

This week I plan to incorporate a little exercise into the diet. Just walking but since I've been basically sitting on my ass for 10 years I think that's about right for a start.

It's still FREEZING cold here in Georgia (WTH??) so I'll be taking to the treadmill. I'll need to dust it off first.

Here I Am Again

2011-01-16T23:02:00.006-05:00

Been away from the blog for a while. Life changes ... ya get busy. Life changes again ... focus changes. I turned 40. Eeep!

So right now we are recovering from Snowpacalypse 2011 here in Georgia. Seriously ... LOTS of snow AND ice on the ground for a WEEK! My office building was closed for 4 days. School was closed for 5. Yes, I nearly lost my mind. I love my boys dearly but seriously? FIVE days in the house? We couldn't go anywhere and even if we wanted to nothing was open. Scott was home Monday and Tuesday so on Tuesday we ventured out to the grocery store. I was glad he drove. The store was very crowded. 2 carts left. BUT - they DID have bread! Have you ever heard of "Bimbo Bread"? It exists... I saw it with my own two eyes. 2 varieties; white and wheat. Hmmm. I passed on it.

I wanted veggies and fruit. I'm on a doctor supervised diet. I've lost over 6 lbs. in one week. Yes. 6 lbs... one week. And I've lost INCHES! It's AMAZING! I feel really good and don't miss my old habits too much. I'd love a glass or two of wine I'm sure. But I love seeing the numbers go down on the scale even more. I "shopped" in my closet today! Got some "new" stuff. And did the happy dance all around the bedroom. Granted these are not "small" clothes but who cares? They are clothes I haven't been able to squeeze my fat ass into for at least 2-3 years. It's a size smaller than what I was in ONE WEEK AGO! Waaahoooo!!! I'll share my diet secret soon ... once I've gone through all the different phases and can honestly say it works. It is NOT easy but seeing results so quickly makes it to where it's not that hard either. I FEEL good. And that's huge!

Oh - also today (it's a SUNDAY) my mailman brought me a package! We haven't had mail delivered all week so I thought it extra sweet he did that! It's my military style had with a HUGE blinged out cross on the top/side of it. I got it from Mom's Bling Company on Facebook. Susan Johnson is the owner and she is a dear friend of MY dear friend B Lavender. I love my new hat and can't wait to rock it atop a MUCH slimmer me soon!

Here's the hat I got today:

Isn't it great? It's very "blingy" and I love that about it. The boys think it's cool too (bonus). I'm excited to wear it!

I also want a "Faith" T-shirt she has for sale. I think I'd prefer long sleeves but we'll see.

As for the boys ... basketball these days. Mikey is a little dynamo! Matthew is a force to be reckoned with for sure but Mikey - geez. Fast and aggressive. Just like in Football. I guess that's good stuff! Matthew is playing Travel Baseball. He loves his team. We are pleased with all of it so far. It won't be a "Crazy" travel team like some are. I like to call it Travel Ball Lite! ha!

I'll try to keep up with the blog better than before. Not than anybody reads it ... but it's probably good for me to. I expect a lot of changes this year ...

Allergies from Hell

2010-04-18T12:21:00.001-04:00

Mikey and Scott. Apparently both VERY allergic to outdoor allergens. And this pollen season is awful. :( Scott is being stubborn (what else is new) and refusing to go to the doctor. Mikey is only 7 so has no choice! He woke up one night barely able to breathe so I took him in for a second visit. Lung obstruction ... allergy induced asthma. Crap. So now he has two different inhalers, nose spray and 3 other medications he takes ... oh, and eye drops since most days he's ready to scratch his eyes out. So effing miserable. Hopefully everything will settle down soon and we'll be past the constant coughing, sneezing, wheezing and sniffling that is going in at our house right now.

Carpet Woes (aka Excel Carpet SUCKS)

2010-04-18T12:12:00.002-04:00

So when we decided to put the house on the market last year we knew we had to do some minor touch ups. So we painted and did some landscaping and did some editing of furniture. We also got new carpet. We REALLY needed new carpet. So we spent several thousand dollars and went for it. We went with a company our agent recommended. Excel Carpet. THEY SUCK! We had a frieze carpet put in the family room and the dining room. We immeidatley noticed fraying at the thresholds. They told it that was "normal" and would "settle down" eventually. So we let it go. Fast forward to now ... we have BALD spots at the thresholds because the fraying is so bad. The carpet is literally unraveling. Additionally you can pick up the carpet from anywhere around the room. It pulls away from the wall and pops up when I get the vacuum too close to the perimeter of the carpet. We called Excel. Their solution to the threshold issue? Cover it with nasty metal strips. Um, no. I've avoided calling them back because it stresses me out SO badly dealing with them. I think I may just report them to the BBB and let the BBB mediate it. I know they installed the carpet incorrectly (based on research). I should also point out we had to have them come out 4 times AFTER the install to correct multiple other issues due to incorrect installation. Also, they installed a cheap pad instead of the upgraded pad we paid for. I discovered that on my own and they were forced to replace it. I'm still not convinced we have the right pad installed. My opinion is the only way to make this right is for them to refund my money so I can get new carpet installed somewhere else. But they could really give a crap about their customers so I guesss we'll just suck it up and get our carpet replaced AGAIN when we've saved up enough to do so. So if you are reading this and you live in the Atlanta Metro area and ever need new flooring ... steer WAY clear of Excel Carpet.

That was a long break...

2010-04-18T12:06:00.002-04:00

Just noticed my last update was December 24th. Hmmm... I was SUPPOSED to be using this as an outlet? Guess I kinda forgot about it with life and all. LOL!

So since December what's been going on? Well basketball season ended and baseball season started FINALLY! Mikey and Matthew both love basketball (much to my chagrin). I think it's my ADD ... I dunno but basketball drives me CRAZY! There are so many damned noises going on ... I usually leave the games with a screaming headache. But my boys love it so I support them. Thank GOD it's baseball season now. Because I love baseball and I love watching my boys play baseball. THEY love baseball.

Work is work. It's kind of miserable. This new department I'm working in, everybody is SO stressed out all the time. LOTS of negative energy going on. It's very draining. So I try my best to get my work done and at the end of the day leave it all behind. So far, so good. I'm SUPER lucky to have a job that pays well and provides good health insurance for my family so I remind myself of that several times a day. Many people would happily trade their stress of not having any income with my stress. I'd rather not trade.

Glitter

2009-12-24T01:28:00.003-05:00

I love glitter.

On my nails, on my face ...definitely on my lips. I like sparkly jewelry and shiny white teeth. I just love glitter and shimmer and shine.

Christmas time is fun because LOTS of things glitter and shine!

At the moment my hair is NOT glittering or shining. Bad cut with short layers and dullish color. Blech! So I'll have to find glitter fun elsewhere.

Mikey went to the ER Sunday He's sporting a cool pirate patch right now. I'll see if I can get some pics. Basically he and Matthew were climbing the big Magnolia Tree in the front yard. Relatively harmless boy stuff. But then Mikey looked up to see where Matthew was and got an eye full of bark! Yuck. So he comes in screaming and crying and we got it out. But he still kept crying... it was REALLY bothering him. So I called the nurse line. Yep - gotta bring him in. The ER? P A C K E D!!!!! But they triage not by first come first serve but by injury or illness. Mikey's injury ranked up there pretty good since it was his eye. Turns out he scratched all of his eye up real good ... but the worst was the big scratch right on his retina. So he gets goo in his eye every 4 hours each day and then wears his patch so he doesn't rub at it. We only have to do that for a couple more days. They eye looks good. By the way ... all "oi" words AND eyeballs FREAK me OUT completely. So I am totally digging deep into my Mom Skills to adminster this stuff!

I'm on vacation until January 4th. I love that. I wasn to be on vacation forever (but still get paid somehow). I think that's called a job you love, right? Yeah, not happening! I LIKE my job but would give it up in a heartbeat ya know.

It's Christmas Eve now. It's lovely and quiet at the moment. I think about all the families who are missing somebody this year. There are too many. I realize how grateful and freakin' lucky I am to have both my boys, my husband, my parents and my other family members and close friends. They are all healthy. I'm very blessed.

Merry Christmas to anybody reading this. And Happy New Year too.

I think this blog will now begin to be just crap that comes out of my head every now and again. Maybe some pictures (need to get a pirate pic of Mikey). Sometimes a girl just needs an outlet and I believe this will be it. Kinda nice ... I doubt a soul is reading this so it's fun to just blah, blah, blah like nobody's reading.

I'm off to be my beauty rest. Why is it called that? I do NOT look beautiful in the morning. I look like shit. So weird. I think I'm missing out on something I'm supposed to be doing, right? Eh, who cares.... G'night.

Baseball & Summertime

2009-06-21T23:00:00.006-04:00

It was BLAZING hot today! The boys played a great first game ... crushed the team that was so horrid to us at the last tournament. Sadly, they were hot and worn out and lost the next game. The team they played was playing their first game of the day so they were fresh and full of energy. Our boys were simply drained. It was a tough loss but to be honest I'm REALLY thankful for the night off tomorrow!

This is a picture from the first tournament we played in (SCRA) and we took the Championship! Go Cougars!

Matthew admiring his very first All Star trophy!

The boy...

The shoes ... (this was the first pictures I took with my new Nikon Digital SLR)!

Happy Thanksgiving - Crap, I have to cook...

2008-11-23T23:44:00.002-05:00

The anxiety is setting in. Tomorrow I have to go to the grocery store ... of course I'll forget something (I always do) and I'll have to go back on Tuesday or Wednesday which will totally piss me off. All the REALLY stupid people will be at the store then and all the stuff I need will likely be gone. Oh - that's right, I'll actually BE one of the the stupid people - we will all be there together ... we'll ALL be stupid because we'll all be the ones who forgot the crap we needed when we were at the store two days ago. Self loathing - great. I did already buy a turkey. Well, not really ... I bought a turkey breast. Does that count? It's frozen - I don't know what to do with it. Right now it's at my parents house in their freezer because it didn't fit in the freezer at our house. It will still have to go in the oven and be baked and all - not sure when to defrost it or how. I guess I need to look into that, huh? The kids want corn casserole. That's fairly easy ... I've made it before and managed to NOT screw it up. I'll also make mashed potatoes (I don't really know how but I guess I'll figure it out) and probably some kind of biscuits or rolls. No stuffing, or dressing. I just can't deal with that. I'll buy a can of cranberry sauce though - I like that with the turkey. No gravy either. I thought about making a sweet potatoe casserole but that might be one too many dishes for this cooking impaired woman to handle. I considered making a cheesecake but that's kind of expensive and the kids won't eat it and I certainly don't need to eat it and Scott loves it but doesn't want to eat it. So I will probably just make brownies ... in my super cool Baker's Edge pan (where EVERY piece is a corner piece)! I think Scott will probably help me a lot - he usually does. I get pretty angry when it comes to cooking. I just really don't like it at all. I don't know why - I wish I could find a way to enjoy it. Somehow the joy of cooking eludes me much like the joy of exercising does. Pass the Zanax please ...

Mikey's New Hats

2008-11-19T20:13:00.003-05:00

My Aunt Gloria (Mikey and Matthew's GREAT Aunt Gloria) sent Mikey TWO awesome hats for his birthday. One is a Marine hat, the other a Camo hat. Mikey and Matthew love to play "Army" and these two hats were the perfect addition to their "uniforms" ... oh, and in the picture of the two of them you can kinda see Mikey's missing front tooth! He JUST lost it ... a couple of days after his 6th birthday. Here are my two little soldiers ...

Matthew = Baseball

2008-11-15T12:02:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pictures of Matthew from this past fall baseball season...

Happy Birthday Mikey!

2008-11-15T10:48:00.009-05:00

Mikey turned 6 this year! We did not have a big birthday party but we did go out to dinner on his birthday and have a small party (with a cookie cake of course) at home. Saturday we took Mikey to see Madagascar 2. Going to the movies is a REAL treat because we never do that - so it's super special. He told me he loved his birthday which made ME happy because I was upset at not being able to give him a "real" birthday party. So here are photos from his birthday ...

Mikey LOVES Cookie Cake - it was a specific request for his birthday!

Super embarassed at everybody singing him "Happy Birthday"!

Mikey only asked for two things for his Birthday ... the Star Wars movies was one of them ... he only asked for one but he got THREE! Thanks Nana & Poppy!

He didn't ask for a new Light Saber but this is what Scott and I got for him. It's cool ... you just press a button and the "blade" comes flying out. Very cool ... he loves it!

The other thing he really wanted was an Indiana Jones Action Figure. He got one! See how happy he is?!?!? Thanks Aunt Laurie, Uncle David, Hannah and Gracie!

Mikey also got ANOTHER present for his Great Aunt Gloria! I need to get him to sit still long enough to take a picture of him. It's an AWESOME US Marine Corp baseball style hat. I promise, promise, promise I'll get a picture soon. He LOVES the hat ... and, Aunt G, he DID share - he says Matthew can wear the Army one! :)

Halloween Camo

2008-11-15T10:32:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I don't have ANY pictures of Mikey! He was Annakin Skywalker for Halloween. Matthew was "an Army guy". Our neighbor Greg was once "an Army guy" and he has REAL camo face paint and agreed to paint up Matthew's face for Halloween!

Matthew thought this was VERY cool ... and yes, I did manage to wash it all off. At first Scott was just scrubbing his face while he howled. Then I had a light bulb moment (happens on occassion) that I use baby oil to remove waterproof mascara. So off I went to find the baby oil ... and voila! The camo face paint came right off - no howling involved.

Legos from Justin

2008-11-09T18:15:00.006-05:00

We have the best neighbors! Robyn & Greg live across the street from us. They have a son, Justin (he's a great kid ... well not so much a kid anymore I s'pose). Anyhow, Justin is in the Navy now and when he was home on leave recently he cleaned out his old room. He had a TON of awesome Lego sets and he GAVE them to Matthew and Mikey! They are TOTALLY into Legos and this was like the mother lode of Legos! There were three huge boxes ... a police one, a NASCAR one and I'm not sure if the other huge box was a "theme" or not. They are having so much fun playing with them. THANK YOU JUSTIN!

Mikey & Scott

2008-11-02T10:35:00.003-05:00

A coaches wife on Mikey's team took this picture of Mikey & Scott...cute, huh?

Fall Baseball Season has begun ...

2008-09-08T20:43:00.004-04:00

We officially have NO life outside of baseball! Scott is coaching both Matthew and Mikey's teams again ... he loves it. We joke and say if we're not at the baseball fields we are at home getting ready to go to the baseball fields and if you can't find us in either place - call the hospital - we're probably there!

Matthew and Mikey are in different leagues due to their age difference BUT they are on the same team in their respective leagues. This is REALLY nice for Scott .... he doesn't have to worry about changing jerseys when he goes from game to game! :O)

I am keeping score for Mikey's team. You would think this would be easy, right? No ... it's fairly complicated. Lots of symbols and abbreviations to remember and I'm here to tell you - if you are keeping score you can do NOTHING else! It's so easy to miss something! We don't use the light up scoreboard in Mikey's league ... it tends to distract and/or discourage the little kids so we just keep it all in the scorebook. I like it, it defintely keeps me involved in the game!

It has been brutally hot at the fields lately. What the hell is up with that? It's mid-September for Pete's sake! I'm ready for some nice, cool and crisp fall weather. That's MY kind of weather. I don't know how these kids play in this heat. They have got to be SUPER hot in their little uniforms and hats. I guess kids are more resilient than adults, huh?

I'll try to get some pictures and post them this weekend. Hopefully we won't get rained out ... lots of hurricanes a'brewin south of us.

Scott did it ...

2008-08-22T07:31:00.003-04:00

Last night was awful ... I got ZERO sleep. I just tossed and turned, could not get comfortable and no matter what, sleep just would not come. Normally I would take an Ambien but I knew Scott would need help in the morning so I didn't (I sleep like a ROCK when I take one). Around 6:45AM I finally started to doze off after Scott and the boys went downstairs for breakfast. I had decided at that point to NOT be a help ... I know, stupid but I was in a sleep deprived haze! Well, a few short minutes later I was JOLTED out of my sleep to the sound of the gazillion decibel alarm of our new home security system. I jumped out of bed and ran to the keypad to shut it off (I'll be feeling THAT later I'm sure). Yep, Scott gets the award for setting off the very first false alarm. Dork! He literally opened a door with the system still armed! Grrrr.... I had thought for a split second the night before to put a sticky note on the door to the garage (that's the door we always use) and decided not to at the last minute. Today I'm going to Target and I will be purchasing some of those "SUPER" Sticky Notes and will be utilizing them going forward.

At least we know the alarm is REALLLLLLLY loud and it works! Sheesh!

I HATE Comcast!

2008-08-21T17:01:00.001-04:00

Just had to get that off my chest. I would like to fire them ... but we're kind of stuck. I hate, hate, HATE Comcast. But I would really like to work for them because apparently, Comcast employees don't really have to do anything!

My Olympic Hero

2008-08-17T18:33:00.004-04:00

Ok, ok ... I know EVERYbody is talking about Michael Phelps ... and I agree, quite an accomplishment and very impressive. BUT, my Olympic Hero is Dara Torres. She is 41 years young and a mother to her two year old daughter, Tessa. Her list of accomplishments is HUGE and she really comes across as a very gracious and kind person. Also, she is RIPPED! Have you seen her body??? Amazing ... GO DARA!

The Hills New Season!

2008-08-16T13:53:00.006-04:00

Ok - yes, I realize I'm a TOTAL dork and I'm probably much too old to be into this but I LOVE "The Hills" on MTV. I'm so excited about the season premier THIS Monday! (See, told you I'm a dork!)

I'm totally OVER Lo ... I hate how she's coming between Lauren and Audrina. I don't know why she has to act like such a bitch all the time. It bugs me. Hopefully Audrina stays away from Justin Bobby this season - he's a total whore and a train wreck and Audrina is SUCH a sweet girl; she could do SO much better. I hope to see LESS of Heidi and Spencer - I HATE Spencer and I think Heidi is just stupid. I'm sick of their antics and their relationship is just retarded. Of course, I love Lauren ... I hope she finds a sweetie this season. That poor girl has the WORST luck with guys! And I hope her friends start treating her better too. Oh, and I really like Whitney ... I'm not sure if she'll be on this season or not but I hope so. She's a really good friend to Lauren and has never done anything shady. I do like Brody too ... as long as he's just a friend. He's a BAD boyfriend but a good boy friend - make sense?

Oh, and I always look forward to the music they play on the Hills too ... they always have great music!

And for anybody out there who says "it's not real" ... just know that I'm going to stick my fingers in my ears and say "lalalalalalala" to drown you out. Just because I'm 38 doesn't mean I can't have make believe! So there!

So Monday night at 10AM I'll be sitting on my sofa with a bowl of popcorn and the phone on silent so I can enjoy my guilty pleasure! Cheers!

Sour Patch Erin

2008-08-15T19:04:00.005-04:00

Today there was a box in my mailbox ...

When Matthew brought me the box I thought it was a bomb ... but then saw it was from my good friend Erin and she would never send me a bomb so I opened it...

And this is what I found! OK - you have to understand the backstory on this. Erin is the NICEST person ever. Don't get me wrong - she DOES get mad but then she gets over it super fast. This Sourpatch Kid commercial totally reminds me of Erin and I told her so ... and she agreed. I think they must have studied Erin for a while and then used that to create the girl in the commercial. Seriously! So she MADE me my own little Sourpatch Kid - with the pigtail cut off and everything! I love it! Thank you Erin ... oh, and if you want to check out Erin's Etsy Store click HERE. It's new and she only has a few things (just opened today) but she'll be adding more stuff soon! Erin has been sewing a lot lately and creating some really cute things and she is ALWAYS making super cute cards too! So go check it out! You can also check out Erin's Crafting blog by clicking HERE. Erin has had her card designs published a GAZILLION times and she is also on the Eat Cake Graphics Design Team. I love her fun, quirky style - you will too!

And they're OFF! 1st Day of School

2008-08-11T07:43:00.006-04:00

Here we go! My BABY is going to "big school" ... Kindergarten! Sniff, sniff! How time flies! Mikey is SO excited and can't wait to get to school. Matthew is equally excited about going in the 3rd grade - the "turning point" to becoming a "big kid"! I'm so proud of them both - don't they look handsome! Oh, I should add, Mikey HATES that little sign he has to wear. All the Kindergarteners have to wear one ... it tells the staff at the school who they are and where they belong in case they get lost. He thought it was so "baby"!

Matthew is going to look out for his little bro at school! They are getting there early today so he can give Mikey the "grand tour"! Lucky Mikey!

Bye Mommy!

Penny

2008-08-10T19:43:00.005-04:00

I am incredibly bored during the day. My stamping room is upstairs and I can't do stairs very well just yet (sobs). So I'm bored. The other day Penny climbed up on the sofa next to me (she sleeps ALL day!) and curled herself up into the TINEST ball! So I decided to take a picture ...

Apparently I woke her up...

And then she sprawled out! Scott calls this the "just thrown from a building position". Don't you just love how she covers up her girly bits with her tail? hahahahaha!

6 Weeks ... not exactly a vacation though!

2008-08-10T19:26:00.002-04:00

Well - I've been off work for almost 3 weeks. I'm recovering from a hysterectomy. Yuck! BUT, I know I'll feel tons better once I recover fully. I go back to work on September 2nd. I wish I could say I'm enjoying my time off but it's been kind of rough. I am getting better every week though - I just wish it was FASTER so maybe I COULD enjoy some of my "time off"! Matthew and Mikey go back to school tomorrow (SO early!) so at least I'll get to go have lunch with them before I go back to prison ... I mean, work! haha! Hopefully I'll get a couple of pictures tommorrow morning ... it's a BIG step for Mikey. He starts Kindergarten and goes to the "Big" school! He's excited and a little apprehensive. Luckily his BEST buddy, Joey, is in his class! How awesome is that! He was so excited and so was Joey. I went to "Sneak a Peek" last Thursday and saw that Joey and Mikey are sitting at the SAME table! I said to his Mom "Should we tell the teacher?" and she said "Nah, she'll figure it out soon enough"! haha!

Matthew's All Star Team

2008-08-10T19:21:00.004-04:00

Here's the team photo of Matthew's All Star Team "The Raptors". They won (I have details in an older post)....Matthew is to the right of the really tall kid in the back row ...

Florida Pictures!!

2008-08-10T18:30:00.023-04:00

I know it's been a while ... had a lot going on... but here are some pictures from our family trip to Florida in June. We had SO much fun!
I love this picture - my Mom took it. She was taking a picture of the boys and had just finished taking pictures of Hannah and Grace - see them in the background being silly! I love it!

Here's a cute one of Matthew & Mikey - it's tough to get them to slow down and sit still for a photo op!
See what I mean? Immediately after the photo was taken it was an impromptu wrestling match! haha!

Hannah while we were still at the dock. She's so cute!

This is my big brother, David, on the fishing boat, clearly having a great time! You can usually find him with a smile on his face... especially if he's fishing! He IS his father's son!

My 3 guys on the fishing boat! It was a fun day - we all really enjoyed fishing, the weather was glorious and we caught quite a few fish. I even got in on the action ... I caught a couple of Red Snappers (they were HARD to reel in). They got thrown back though for being under 16". I caugh a couple of other smaller fish but we got to keep those. Poppy has them frozen ... well, by now he's probably eaten them!

This picture cracks me UP! That's my niece, Gracie ... check out the expression on her face! She's so tiny and Scott is so, well ... LARGE! haha! Priceless...

Here's a shot of Matthew & Poppy. Matthew LOVES to fish ... I know Poppy is just SO disappointed about that (NOT!) We are so blessed to have my Mom and Dad in our lives and have them so involved with the boys. Poppy takes Matthew & Mikey fishing all the time at home too! Matthew is an eager student and really loves fishing. They had a BLAST on this fishing trip in Florida! I wish I could remember the name of the boat we went out on. They had a mate on the boat who was a woman and she was amazing with the kids! She picked up on Matthew's love of fishing pretty quickly and took him out on the back part of boat (not sure what that's called but it's closer to the water) and helped him fish with LIVE bait! It was so cool! Matthew loved it!
Matthew collecting seashells. That little bucket is from the restaurant the night before ... all the kids got one. Came in handy the next day - they each had their very own bucket!
Matthew & Hannah hunting for "treasure" on the beach!

This is my niece Gracie! She is small but mighty! She really loves the beach and has so much fun building stuff in the sand and also collecting "creatures". Her favorite is Sand Fleas. (YUCK!) Isn't she cute? She and Matthew are big buddies - they have a lot in common and they are only a year apart.

Mikey chillin' in the shade!

Matthew - ever in motion - playing football with Scott in the surf. He's never played football as a sport on a team ... but he has quite an arm !He throws well AND catches well!

And of course, lots of catch with the baseball - we don't go ANYwhere without gloves and baseballs! Here's Mikey patiently waiting for Scott to throw the ball!

Happy 4th & Memories from Crystal Beach

2008-07-04T12:40:00.006-04:00

I have lots of pictures to share from our trip to Crystal Beach but I wanted to share this one first ... it IS the 4th of July after all! This is a photo I took when we were headed out on the fishing boat. I looked up and saw this beautiful (in my opinion) display of The Stars & Stripes. The sun was shining, it was breezy and warm and ... well... just LOOK at the color of the sky! I felt so lucky and blessed to be right where I was right at that moment. And it made me stop and think about all our men and women who were in places they would probably rather not be but they were there on our behalf. And over the years there have been so many who have given so much. I was instantly grateful and overwhelmed at the same time. It was such a contrast in emotions ... to feel so happy and lucky and also remember so many who likely wish they were right where I was. We are all very fortunate to live here in the USA. We are blessed in so many ways. Please take a moment to say a prayer for our men and women who are away from their families right now and those who have served in the past and those who have lost their lives. They all deserve our respect and gratitude.

Stay tuned for some fun pictures from Crystal Beach ... and Happy 4th of July!

All Star News & Pictures ...

2008-06-20T11:03:00.009-04:00

Matthew Catching

Matthew on the Pitcher's Mound

Matthew at 1st Base

Above: Matthew in the Dugout, Team Rally

Matthew's Team WON the All Star Series! It was a VERY exciting game ... The Red Raptor's took the win at the bottom of the 6th inning by ONE POINT! I wish I could have gotten a picture of the boys running out onto the field. The smiles on their faces were absolutely priceless. Matthew played a fantastic game with great batting and fielding and we are very proud of him. Mikey worked hard as the team's Bat Boy and even received an All Star Gold Medal with the rest of the team (thank you Coach Frank!) After the game was over we took the boys to Bruster's ... they had ice cream for dinner!

All Stars!

2008-06-11T19:16:00.002-04:00

Matthew made the All Star team and is having a blast and he is playing SO well! We are very proud of him and so happy that he is having so much fun. Mikey has gotten in on the action as well ... he suits up for every practice and every game and gets right in there with the rest of the team. Coach Frank has been so sweet to Mikey, letting him practice and even letting him be the Bat Boy during games. We have been absolutely thrilled with Matthew's coach - he is very positive and the boys are learning a lot from him. He's a super nice guy and his wife is very sweet as well. Scott, of course, is coaching too. There are only 2 more games left in the series. It's "best of 5" but they are going to play all five games regardless. Right now we have lost one and won two! Coach John (our good friend and Matthew's team manager/coach since he started playing baseball) and his wife Annette and their son Ryan have even come to a couple of the games... Matthew loves that!

Matthew is also participating in the Pope High School Baseball Camp this week. The first day out they separated the kids by age. Matthew was in the 8 and under group (he JUST turned 8). Apparently the 10 year old group was short one guy so they pulled Matthew over to play with the 10 year olds and that is where he has stayed the entire time! He even won a throwing/catching contest yesterday!

Next week both Matthew & Mikey go to the Sandy Plains Baseball Camp ... it's just a 1/2 day but I think they will LOVE it! Two of Matthew's best buddies from this season are also going and he's really happy about that! After that we go to the beach and I get to see my nieces and my brother and Laurie! Hopefully we will have nice weather ... we are all really looking forward to it!

Stents & Stuff

2008-06-11T19:12:00.002-04:00

GOOD news! Last Friday I had a bunch of CT Scans ... my kidneys, ureter and bladder are all healing just fine. I've been having a lot of pain and Dr. M thought maybe I had a "stricture" in my ureter which would have meant surgery followed by another stent. The thought of another stent made me want to cry. So after the scans were done he sat me down to talk to me about what he found and that all was well in kidney land! There is the one stone still in my kidney but he doesn't want to mess with it right now. It's relatively small. I'm cool with that. So then he tells me that although kidney stuff is great ... uterus and ovaries are not so much. Apparently I have a bunch of fibroids in my uterus and a decent sized cyst on my right ovary. Still, I was grinning ear to ear (because I knew I was now at no risk of needed a dreaded stent). He said "I've never given somebody such bad news and had them be so happy"! haha! So I'm going to my OB/GYN next Tuesday and we'll take it from there. I'll be really glad to not have this lower pain anymore - I'm looking forward to a permanent solution!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

2008-05-24T01:11:00.010-04:00

Today (well yesterday at posting time) was Matthew's 8th BIRTHDAY! He wanted to go to a Braves game for his birthday present/party. So we paid a bunch of $$$ to get some GOOD seats (they were awesome - just above the dugout!) and went! Nana and Poppy came too which was really cool! Matthew's day started with a special delivery of Dunkin' Donuts (by Poppy of course) and then we went to the pool for a couple of hours. After that we headed out for the stadium. We went early in the hopes of getting some autographs. It stormed though so there was no batting practice. We still got FOUR autographs (thanks to Poppy). The boys had their hats signed as well as these mini Louisville Sluggers I bought them when we first got there. The rain/storm stopped an hour or so before the game thankfully and it turned out to be a really nice night! The Braves got KILLED (11-1) but the kids didn't care - they LOVED every minute of it! Friday night games are always followed by a huge fireworks show so of course we stayed. The show was great! As they were going on Mikey turned to me (all excited and grinning from ear to ear) and said "This has been AWESOME - THANK YOU Mommy" and then threw his arms around me and then turned around to Scott and yelled "THANK YOU DADDY"! He wears his heart on his sleeve and I love him for that. Matthew is usually much more stoic but even he said (as we were leaving) "This was the best birthday Mom and Dad - thanks"! Here are some photos from the day!
Waiting to Leave!

Very first Autographs!!!! Look at those smiles!

Poppy making SURE the boys get that autograph! Go Poppy! And the player here is Ohman ... he is a really nice guy - and he rates high in my book. He stayed out there and signed autographs for EVERY person that was waiting. He was super nice about it too. All the kids were just star struck and it just meant the world to them.

Rally Caps!

I love this picture of Mikey!

I have a couple of good pictures of Matthew but I'm going to send them to my friend Erin to see if she can photo shop him. The red eye is SO bad it looks like he's possessed. I was so bummed... If Erin can fix 'em up I'll post them later!

Mikey's Last Game

2008-05-18T00:33:00.006-04:00

Mikey had his last game of the season today. He played catcher ... Mikey is the ONLY kid in his league that actually throws his mask off to make a play. He sees his big brother doing it - monkey see, monkey do! He made the play today ... note the coach from the other team comforting the player that was out at home plate!

Always catch with your glove - not your face!

2008-05-17T20:43:00.007-04:00

Matthew was playing catch today and "caught" a baseball with his eye socket. Ouch! Can you believe he just kept right on playing? I heard he had been hit so I walked over to check him out (I was watching Mikey's game ... Matthew was playing catch with another team that was warming up for their game) and he said "I'm fine". Holy cow! Doesn't it look painful? What a little trooper! He never did complain about it except to say he could "see" his lump. It's really not as obvious in the pictures but it really sticks out quite far and squeezes his eye shut.

Um, why do little boys always have long, gorgeous eyelashes? Geez ...

I also noticed how the purple really brings out the color of his hazel eyes! I'd never tell HIM that though. He is quite proud of his "war wound". Boys!

Matthew's Trophy

2008-05-11T21:14:00.005-04:00

Matthew's end of season party was last night. It was FUN! We had a "Adults vs. Kids" baseball game, ordered Pizza and had cake! Coach John handed out tropies after we all had cake. He is SO good ...I don't know how he does it be he remembers the biggest plays each kid made thru the season and talks about it before he hands them their trophy. The trophies are ADORABLE! It's a glove trophy and each one holds a team ball (signed by all the coaches and players)! Here's Matthew getting his trophy from Coach John ...

Matthew's First Holy Communion

2008-05-11T21:06:00.006-04:00

Matthew made his First Holy Communion today! We are very proud of him. He did so well and it meant a lot to him. We were touched and thrilled that my brother (and Matthew's Godfather) came in for the weekend to be here for Matthew's big day! Look how grown up he looks (sad). I'm proud of him but sad that he's growing up so fast! Here are some more pictures from today ...

I love this picture of Matthew - just outside the Church after Mass.

Poppy, Uncle David, Scott, Matthew & Mikey

Mikey Baseball

2008-05-11T20:59:00.003-04:00

My little Firstbaseman! This is Mikey "baseball ready"!! I'll have some of Matthew this week! Isn't he cute ... I mean, cool? He even pulls his pants up to his knees just like his big brother!

Yard of the Month!

2008-05-11T20:57:00.003-04:00

'Member all the hard work my yard crew (aka, my husband and children) did last month? Well, it paid off! We were awarded "Yard of the Month" from our HOA! I was so happy for Scott ... he's worked so hard over the years to bring our yard from an overgrown jungle when we first moved in (couldn't even SEE the house from the street) to the pretty house and yard it is today! Thanks hon! (I'll add a picture later when I take one - promise!)

Stones & Stints

2008-05-11T20:40:00.002-04:00

Well, waaaaaay back on April 25th I had the surgery to have Stoney removed. The surgery was a success but then the doc put in a "stent". Stents are horrible... I denounce them forever. For TWO days I was in horrible pain... no sleep at all. That Friday I had the stent removed and then spent the afternoon in the ER. The weekend was spent on 24 hour pain management. Scott was a SAINT during this time. Waking me up every few hours to feed me crackers and whatever pill was required at the time. How lucky am I? Very. So there is still one stone left in the kidney. I drink LOTS of water ... LOTS! NO caffeine... only one Caff Free Diet Coke a day now (sorry Coca Cola - you just lost your number one customer)! I'm going to take better care of myself so I can avoid crap like this! Over the next few weeks I will be doing a "metabolic workup" to determine the true cause of the stones so I can avoid them. Doc says the best treatment for kidney stones is to avoid them! So that's the goal!

Surgery Tomorrow - Bye Bye Stoney!

2008-04-22T22:03:00.003-04:00

Ya jerk! Stoney will be removed from my body tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM. Good riddance!

So I explained to the boys at bedtime that I would not be here in the AM when they woke up. Matthew (my stoic child) was just "Oh, ok Mommy". Mikey (not so stoic) had many questions. "They gonna get that stone out Mommy"? "Will they just dig it out"? I told him yes and that the doctor would be really gentle and it would be OK. He thought about it for a minute and then in a really small voice said "I feel really bad for you Mommy". Awwwwww! Of course, I told him I wouldn't feel a thing and I wasn't scared and the doctor was super smart. Also that I would be home when he got home from school. Mikey - my little mush!

All my boys working together!

2008-04-22T21:39:00.005-04:00

All my boys are just so cute ... even the large one! haha! They really did a great job with the new plantings. We still have to mulch and get the white flowers for those two beds by the front door ... hopefully we'll get that done this coming weekend!

Gardening Day!

2008-04-20T13:29:00.005-04:00

The boys LOVE to help us work in the yard. Their Gator is actually really useful for hauling stuff around and Scott also modified Mikey's 4-Wheeler so it could tow a little trailer. We loaded them up with all our new shrubs and they delivered them to the "job site"!

2008-04-20T11:00:00.008-04:00

These are the Azaleas - gotta love the PINK!

We went to Pike's yesterday afternoon (while I was still medicated with painkillers) and got new shrubs for the front yard. We got Azaleas (6) for the front island and then these green and yellow shrubs (two for each side) for the two beds on either side of the front door. And we got this cool black Mondo Grass to put in front of the yellow and green shrubs (3 for each side). Now we won't have to buy as many flowers every season (spring and fall) for that area which will be nice. We will get flowers next weekend. I did get a couple of potted flowers to put outside the front door. I forget what they're called but they are bright red and very pretty and look nice against the tan and black of the house. Scott is going to be REALLY busy today planting all these beauties! I'll post pictures when everything is done!

These are the cool yellow and green shrubs and the black Mondo Grass

Our Little Bird's Nest!

2008-04-19T16:16:00.002-04:00

A tiny little bird has built a tiny little nest in our arbor! The arbor itself is covered with Carolina Jasmine. I guess she felt it was a good safe place to build her nest. We're not sure if there are eggs in there but she is ALWAYS there so we are assuming so. She will tolerate us and even the dog roaming around below. Today when I was taking pictures she flew away to a nearby tree and "yelled" at me. I came back inside and peeked out from the back door and saw her fly back to the nest. I hope there are eggs and I hope we get to see and hear little baby birds! The boys are completely fascinated by the whole thing. Here's the best picture I could get - kinda hard to see through all the vines but she's in there! Sweet, huh?

2008-04-19T15:43:00.001-04:00

I saw this today and liked it so much I decided to share ...

Five Simple Rules for Happiness:

1. Free your heart from hatred.

2. Free your mind from worries.

3. Live simply.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less.

Erin's Big Day!

2008-04-18T23:00:00.003-04:00

LOOK at my friend Erin! I'm SO proud of her! She is a very talented stamp artist ... I have a link to her blog over to the right. She designed this stamp along with Gina of Gina K. It's awesome and something EVERY stamper needs. So if you stamp you must procure this set immediately! You NEED it!

Erin is like a little sister to me ... I adore her so much and I am just so dang proud of her! Congratulations Erin! You're a rock star!

Perpetual Kid

2008-04-16T23:50:00.002-04:00

This website is so much fun! I love it and want just about everything they have for sale! Go check it out ... I'll bet you never knew you needed band aids that look like strips of bacon or a Hillary Clinton nutcracker or a Voodoo Doll toothpick holder. I love all the "citation" pads they have and really do think I'm going to have to get "Things You Must Do to Make Me Happy" checklist. I'm not sure how I lived without Count Chocula lip balm or ... are you ready for this? A LOST IN SPACE GIANT PEZ DISPENSER!!! I have a Robot action figure from Lost In Space that I found at a garage sale for a nickel ... but a Pez Dispenser? Amazing... I love this store, you prolly will too. Yes, it's all pretty silly but it's also fun and will for sure make you smile or laugh and that's worth something isn't it?

No Show Stone

2008-04-16T22:31:00.002-04:00

So "Stoney" has still not made an appearance. Tomorrow I hafta go to the doc for a CT Scan and then we go from there. He said they would go get it if they can find it. That sounds really sucky to me so I'm hoping "Stoney" will decide to cruise on out on his own between now and 2:45 tomorrow. And I hope my appointment doesn't take too long 'cause Matthew's got a baseball game tomorrow night and I hate to miss my kids ballgames for anything. On a positive note I actually FEEL a lot better and my appetite came back (that's not so great cause now I hafta control it again)! But I do feel better and I'm feeling more comfortable.

House Stuff

2008-04-16T22:12:00.004-04:00

Look at this cute candle thing I got for our powder room. My husband says it looks like some freaky circle alter. He's a freak. I like it ...

And I really like the new paint color ... it's kind of a greenish/grayish/blue.

And here's a picture of our new bannister. I love how it turned out. We used to have just the regular wooden kind with the round newel post. I wanted something different ... pay no attention to the brass switchplate covers ... those will soon be replaced.

Stupid Stones

2008-04-15T19:04:00.002-04:00

Stones belong on the ground, in rings (diamonds), in rivers ... there are LOTS of places for stones. So why do a couple seem to want to set up shop in my kidney?? It's completely ridiculous... I denounce kidney stones ... officially. The doc today gave me antibiotics and told me to take my painkillers with me if I have to leave the house. Duh, of COURSE I have to leave the house ... I DO have a job and a life. Geez! Meanwhile, I feel like crap and that sucks. I thought there was just the one stone, but learned today there are actually two. He also gave me Flomax which I am afraid to take. It's for men with prostate problems. Weird. I don't think I'm going to take it. I'll drink gallons of water, take antibiotics, strain my pee but I'm putting my foot down at old man prostate drugs. Doc says if the stone (the large one) doesn't come out on his own he will have to go get it. I told him I wasn't interested in any of that ... he said he'd put me out for it. I'm still not interested in all that ... so I'm hoping stoney shows up on his own. Oh - he also told me to expect pain. That's a nice way to go through the day, huh. Sometimes we expect rain ... or wind ... I'll be expecting pain with a chance of surgery. Lovely...

Pretty Penny

2008-04-15T18:46:00.003-04:00

This is the fifth member of our family ... Penny. And yes, she IS completely spoiled. Look how cute she is though - wouldn't YOU spoil her? She's a rescued dog ... we adopted her from The Atlanta Dog Squad. They are an AWESOME rescue group. I highly recommend them and encourage anybody looking to add a dog to their family to please consider rescue! There are so many great dogs out there that really need a home and lots of love. We feel very blessed to have Penny in our family. And by adopting her we made room for another deserving dog to come into the rescue program!

Baby it's COLD outside!

2008-04-14T23:04:00.002-04:00

So it's April 15th and it's SO cold out that Matthew's baseball game was cancelled (well, postponed) tonight! What's up with THAT?!?!?! Poor kid - he was in full uniform at 5PM - ready to go. He was SO disappointed.

I also made my follow up appointment with a Urologist today. I was completely annoyed to learn that I had to go BACK to the hospital to pick up the CT Scan results. Hellooo... isn't this 2008? I kinda figured they would have some high tech way of transferring that kind of information from the hospital to the doctor. I'm pretty sure they do - I'm pretty sure they are a customer of my employer's so all that should be electronic. Oh well ... my Mom very sweetly offered to drive me down there and go with me which was really nice and made me feel good. I totally hate hospitals. Gives me the willies.

Tonight is PaperTrey Ink's release party! I need to cruise on over and see what's going on ... they always have cute stuff!

Maybe tomorrow I will stamp something ... maybe. And maybe I'll take pictures AND post them! I know you're super excited, huh? (I say "you" because I know there is only ONE person reading this - hehe)! Thanks Erin!

The BEST Brownie Pan EVER!

2008-04-13T17:44:00.002-04:00

I paid $35 for a brownie pan. Shocking since I don't really cook and, well, it's a brownie pan. But it is awesome ... really, it is. Take a look HERE. EVERY single piece is either an edge or a corner! I only like the edges and corners so pretty much it was a no brainer for me. Scott made brownies for me on Friday ... they are gone now. Apparently my whole family really likes edges and corners too ... hehe! So I say the pan is TOTALLY worth the $35. I bought mine on Amazon.com. You should go buy one today. Right now...

ER

2008-04-13T17:41:00.003-04:00

Friday landed me in the ER. Apparently I have a Kidney Stone. WORST pain of my life ... no lie. I was literally crawling the floor in pain. I tried to convince myself the pain would pass for about an hour and half and pretty much gave in when I started puking. I was out of my mind in pain. So off we went ... Poppy came over to watch the boys, Mom and Scott went with me. The 4mm stone was found on CT. They gave me heavy duty drugs for pain and fluids as well and after a few hours sent me along my way with a scrip for pain meds and a lovely little strainer to "catch" the stone in once it passes (it's Sunday ... no sign of it yet). I'm really glad it happened Friday and NOT at Six Flags the day before!

Spring Break at Six Flags

2008-04-13T17:36:00.004-04:00

This past week was Spring Break for my kids. So Scott and I took Thursday and Friday off and took them to Six Flags Over Georgia on Thursday. This was their first time at ANY amusement park so they were very excited! We had a blast despite the fact that the park was SUPER crowded. We thought Mikey might be a little scared of the bigger coasters but he LOVED them! I wish I had photos to share but, as usual, we failed to really take any. I'll try to get better about that. I was surprised Mikey was big enough to go on the Scream Machine AND the Mind Bender. We didn't have time for the Mind Bender but DID go on the Scream Machine ... Mikey and Matthew LOVED it! We also rode the Mine Train, Sky Buckets, Log Ride (got soaked) and the kids did all the kid rides too. It was a perfect day...

Really?

2008-04-13T17:05:00.000-04:00

Did I really just create a blog? Shocking ...

Not sure how good I'll be at this - or how often I will update - or even how interesting it will be.

I'll try to add pictures ... if I can figure that out.

Stay tuned...