Ohio

We left on July 1st to drive to Ohio. Travis flew in ahead of us because he had plans made (that ended up cancelled) so it was Angie (who doesn't have a license), me and the 3 kids. I was expecting the worst with 3 kids but I must say they were so good. We did great till we got lost outside of Columbus. It was thanks to MapQuest not us! they gave us directions to a road that does not exist. Luckily the road that didn't exist took us to a road that we should have been taking, just in the opposite direction. So we got turned around and winged it from there. Thank goodness I grabbed my atlas!!

We got into Canton and I dropped off Angie and Lily at Travis' dads house and headed out to his moms where we stayed. The next day (Monday) I hung out with my sister, and we went and visited my Grammy and then went to my dads and spent the night. We went shopping and to lunch with Aimee and Abby and then headed back to Sharon's (my MIL's). This is when I did a major clean up job on her den and dining room. I did an awesome job if I do say so myself! lol I love organizing things and rearranging. The end results are so awesome!!

On the 4th (Happy Birthday to Me) we hung out with Travis' friends Derek and Tracy and the kids swam in their new pool, rode the 4 wheeler and jumped on the trampoline. We all had a great time. Travis then met up with some other friends and took Mykenzie to see the fireworks with them. I took Kaylee back to my MIL's so she could go to bed cause she was grumpy.

Thursday we headed to Grandpa Tony's (Travis' dad) and spent a couple hours with him with a break in the middle to go to a yummy Italian restaurant with Angie and Lily. Then Travis took me to Rachel's moms and dropped me and the girls off so we could hang out and spend the night. We stayed there till about 6ish looking at scrapbooks and chatting. We went to Rachels fed the kids, played outside and looked at more scrapbooks :) We got up in the morning and went to see Ratatouille, then met my sister and Abby at McDonalds for lunch. We went to Mindy's scrapbook store and then she dropped us off at Cheeseburger in Paradise where we were meeting Travis' family for dinner. Uncle Dan (Travis' brother) was in town from VA and we hadn't seen him in two years so we had a good time and got alot of weird looks from our photo session we held at our table.
Next morning got up and went to Bob Evans (I miss that place) with most of the same people from the night before. Then to Value City and off to my Aunt Shari's house to visit. We got lost for an hour but we FINALLY found the house. It was an adventure for sure. Our last night we turned in early and got up and got going after a few stops at houses where we left crap at. We made it home in record time of 7 1/2 hours, should take 9-10!!! I guess Travis has a bit of a lead foot! lol
We had a good vacation I am glad I got to see some of the people I love. I missed out on seeing Beth and I am sad about that as well as one of my uncles and my grandpa. It is hard to cram so many people into a few short days. Here are the pics from the trip

What else

Even though Jenna's passing has been in the front of my mind for 2 weeks now other things have been going on. I suppose it is time for me to write about those things as well. Angie and Lily came to stay with us for almost 4 weeks through the month of June. We had a lot of fun, alot of kids fighting and crying and made lots of memories. I must say though I do NOT know how people have twins! Holy Crap! Lily is 2 1/2 and Kaylee is just 2 months shy of being 3 (well at the time) and when they got along they were so cute but when they didn't WATCH OUT! Here are some pics from their visit.
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Rascal Flatts - Stand

Thanks Chickie

So I know this is gonna sound strange but to each his own. I am sitting in my kitchen feeling pretty low. I tried to find a distraction so I started cleaning out the small basket that sits on my counter. Well what do I come across, the birthday card from Jenna that she gave Mykenzie at her party, which was the last time I saw her. Then I find the stack of newspapers that were stacked underneath the basket and on top I see Jenna looking up at me. I got up and walked into the laundry room, clearly time for a new distraction. I was emptying a suitcase into the washer and just broke down. I was sobbing and talking to Jenna, telling her I didn't know how we were gonna get through this and then on the radio came the song "Stand" by Rascal Flatts and seconds later I found a stack of tissues in the suitcase (no clue how they got there) I swear it was her telling me that we would get through this. The song "Stand" had such meaning for her while battling cancer and now I think she was telling me that those words ring true to help us with our grief as well. So thanks for sending me that message Jenna and thanks for the tissues. I miss ya girl.

Days Go By

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since Jenna passed away. I can't believe that time is still going forward so quickly. I just want it to stop for a little while so I can sit and be sad. It isn't though. Life is still moving forward, the days are now weeks and there is nothing else to do but move forward as well. I seem to do best while around other people. I can talk about the funeral now without sobbing and I can remember funny things about Jenna now and laugh more. I can talk about other things, yet most of the time it brings up thoughts of her and stories of her. Everything comes back to her. When I am alone with nothing else going on is when it is the hardest for me. I can't bring my thoughts away from her and that is when I break. I still can't imagine life with out her around. I have gone 2 weeks before without seeing her but there is still email, there was still her blog to read and catch up with her by. Now nothing. So you take it one day at a time.

Last week I was in Ohio, I left on Sunday, the day after the funeral. It by no means took my thoughts away from her but it was like another world. People wanted to know about her and I told her story so many times it was like a recording. The people who cared the most it was hard to stay strong around though. Even though I talked about her, it wasn't real up there. Now I am home and back to the reality of the situation. It will get easier I am sure but now it is still hard. It is hard to go out with friends and know that she will never again do those things with us. It is hard to log onto our playgroup board and see that life is moving forward and she isn't a part of it. She posted about everything, now there is silence. The shock of it all is still there, I am not sure when it will go away but I know it will. The place she has in the hearts of all who loved her will forever remain. The place she has in my heart will be there always.

So as I go through each day, doing things that must be done, I move forward. I don't want to, but I have to. I have to do laundry and grocery shop. I have to laugh and play. Jenna would be sad but she would celebrate life and be greatful for all she had. I will try and learn from her. She taught us all how to be brave and strong and now we actually have to put those lessons to use and love with our whole hearts and live our lives to the fullest, we never know if today will be our last.

A Picture Plea

Ever since Wednesday night after we got the tragic news I have been looking at pictures, reading blogs ect. Trying to hold onto any part of Jenna that I could. I have since been through her entire blog and through all of my pictures on shutterfly as well as hers and I just can't find a picture of she and I together. I know that alot of you who knew her have been looking at old pictures as well so if you happen to come across a picture of Jenna and I, I sure would love it if you could email it to me. I have tons of the kids but none of us.

Tears and Laughter

These past few days have been filled with tears as we sit back and remember Jenna. We have managed to laugh quite a bit too. We all have such wonderful memories of her and it was nice to sit back and listen to each other's funny stories. It doesn't take away our pain but it does help to laugh.
I keep thinking of 2 specific things over and over again. The first is a funny time and also happens to be the last time I ever saw Jenna. The last time I saw her was June 9, 2007. I had decided to celebrate Mykenzie's birthday early because I knew on her actual birthday Jenna would either be in the hospital or at the beach and I wanted her to be able to come. The kids played and had a great time, so much fun in fact that Kaity (Jenna's middle child) decided that she couldn't possibly take the time to go into the house to go to the bathroom and she apparently thought my yard would do just fine. Jenna was in the house getting Ashlee her clothes (they were in swim suits) since the party was winding down and I went in to tell her, even though I had a hard time cause I was laughing so hard. I will never forget her face when I told her that Kaity took a dump in my yard! Her eyes got huge and she said "She did WHAT!?!?!?" It was so funny! She was sitting in my chair putting Kaity's shoes on shaking her head and rolling her eyes, but the whole time with a smile on her face and trying not to laugh.
You see it seems as though every time I had a playdate at my house someone between Kaylee, Kaity or Rand either peed or pooped on something. My house quickly became known as the "Piss and Shit house" (wonder who dubbed it that, lol) So it was only fitting that it happened one last time with her here.

The second is by no means funny and may make you cry so if you aren't really in the mood for it you may want to skip this and go to the next paragraph. I have had company for the past 3 weeks and haven't been to any playdates other than the day my sister in law came into town on the 6th and then Mykenzie's bday party. I actually hadn't been online much either. Well on the 25th I wasn't home literally all day long and hadn't had a chance to check on Jenna to see how her beach trip was or when she was admitted to the hospital. I checked her blog first thing on Tuesday morning and quickly sent her an email apologizing for not being around much. I then told her about all of my ailments that I had while she was gone (I had a staph infection which caused a UTI) Then I told her that I was leaving for Ohio on Thursday but I wanted to come to the hospital and see her before I left so I would come that night or the next night (Wednesday). She of course emailed me back and said she was sorry about my sicknesses and said that she was feeling pretty good. The leg that was hurting her felt much better and she hadn't had any morphine for it yet. And that she was really feeling good that baby Will was going to do really well through all of the drugs that she had been put on. Then she went on to say "Don't feel like you HAVE to rush up here to visit. I know how stressed it can be getting ready for a trip. I'll be here when you get back too! LOL"

It is these, the most recent things that I keep replaying over and over in my mind. Thanks to friends reminding me of things I had totally forgotten about and to Jenna herself for keeping up with her blog so well. I went back and read it and relived some fun times we shared. So far this loss has not become easier at all, but it is getting easier to remember more of the fun times and focus on that, it isn't till you stop that you get sad once again knowing that there will be no more.

Heartbroken

How can a life just end? I just don't understand how you can be here one minute and gone the next. I have been putting off writing this but it seems like I owe it to people to let them know what happened since so many people have been praying for Jenna so hard even though they had never met her. You all know how much she has meant to me over the past few years and I thank you all for your support and prayers as she has gone through the past several months battling leukemia (AML) and ask for your continued prayers for her children and her family and friends.

Tragically Jenna lost her battle to AML yesterday due to some complications, after only returning to the hospital 2 days before. Her unborn baby, Will was also lost. We didn't see it coming until it was just moments away. It is shocking and numbing. After all Jenna is superwoman, she births 11+ pound babies like it is nothing and she fights cancer and wins. She fights for what she wants, she is confident and sure and never afraid to speak her mind. I always thought I was a strong person until I met her. I have never in my life seen someone have so many things go wrong and still be upbeat. Even though things got her down from time to time she always found a way to put humor to it, or find some way to see the positive. Who does that? I admire her so much for all that she went through this past year and how well she managed to get through it when most of us would have just fallen apart at the seams.

Words can not even begin to express the sadness I have in my heart now. It is broken. My heart aches for her, that she will not get to be here for her children. It breaks for her children that they will no longer get to feel her love, feel her hugs, hear her voice say the words I love you. It bleeds for Mark, knowing that he has so much to endure, with his own grief, to working, to taking care of and trying to fill the void in three young kids. It cries for her mother and her father having to say good bye to their baby, part of their soul. And for her sister and brother to lose a piece of their lives and their hearts. And for all of the other family members and friends who loved her so much. It breaks for Me and Barbara and Chandra and our children, we all spent so much time together and have all become so close and that is truly because of Jenna. We all started out as friends with her and she brought us all together. I can't imagine how we are going to play and have her not be there. I know that I was not her best friend but we were close friends, good friends, and here in TN, in my life here she has been my best friend. I am so thankful to have had her as such a big part of my life for the past couple of years. She was the first person I met in TN, before I even technically moved here. I met her on matching moms and was so excited that she had a daughter the same age as Mykenzie. I always had fun with her, I always smiled and laughed with her. I will always hold her in my heart and I will never forget her. She was loved by all who knew her and will be missed greatly. I love you Jenna and I miss you dearly. Rest in Peace my sweet friend

Water Slide fun

It's Party Time!

Yesterday we had Mykenzie's birthday party, even though her bday isn't till the 22nd. I did it in a Luau theme and it was pretty cute if I do say so myself. We got her a bounce house for her birthday and set that up and borrowed Jenna's inflatable water slide (which was a huge hit and we will definatley be purchasing one) The kids played and ate and then they did a sand art project. We had an adorable and yummy cake and then they took their turn swinging a bat at the hula girl pinata. By the time it was all said and done I think that everything went really well and the party was a hit. The kids had a great time and Mykenzie was super happy about the whole thing. She loves having friends over anyhow so to have about 15 kids here to celebrate her birthday with her made her day. Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a special day :)

It's Back

Two things are back really. You want the bad one or the good one first? I'll start with the bad so I can end on a happy note! lol My pink eye is back! I have my kids, my SIL Angie, and my niece Lily here now. So hopefully I can keep it contained to just me getting it. Luckily the contagious bit will have passed by Saturday when I have a house full of kids for Mykenzie's birthday party. It looks awful but really isn't bothering me too much. Sucks though

The good is that my van is back! I sooooo missed my van after having one with zero features! Seems like it is working good so lets cross our fingers that it stays that way. There is soooo much more room than in my rental van.

Off to get ready for story time. I know I shouldn't be going but Kenzie was looking forward to it. I am carrying Purell with me and I am not touching my face at all, let alone my eyes!

Poor Cami

I took Cami in to get fixed yesterday. She is so pityful laying around. I have mainly been keeping her in her cage for her own protection from the terror of Kaylee. She got through the surgery with no problems so I guess it was fine to take her to the Humane Clinic rather than the vet after all. The kids can't wait for her to get back to her old self, I on the other hand, though I dont wish her pain, am enjoying the mellow version of Cami!

Lemonade anyone??

This morning while watching Travis put on his tie Mykenzie said "I am not going to marry a man who has to wear a tie everyday." Travis said "well how will he make money?" To which she matter of factly replied "Selling Lemonade"

Last Day of School

Sad

I am so emotional this morning! I guess once you have kids your hormones never go back to what they once were cause I cry over everything ever since I had Mykenzie. Today really is a sad day though. I just dropped Mykenzie off for her last day of school and took some pictures with her and her friends and teacher. As I walked into the classroom I was shocked to see the rooms empty with only boxes piled up in the centers. And it hit me that this will be the last time I set foot in the school. They are moving to a beautiful new school closer to my house which I am really excited about but I had never really thought about missing the old one. It is just sad to see Mykenzie moving on from something she started out in. She has spent her first 2 school years in this school and she wont even remember it as she grows up. I have no doubt that the new school will be much better than this old, beaten up and way to small school but it is still sad to leave it behind. Not only are we leaving the school behind but we are also leaving her teacher behind. Mykenzie had Mrs. Watson for Kindergarten and she moved up to first grade this year and we were lucky enough to get her again. She has been so wonderful to Mykenzie and I feel really lucky that Mykenzie has gotten to have her as a teacher for two years. She didn't have a great teacher for preschool and it made it a really hard year but once she entered kindergarten she had no problems. We will both really miss Mrs. Watson.

Mykenzie has done wonderful this year. She is such a smart little girl. It absolutely amazes me the things she can do now. She can read about anything you put in front of her any more and she is excellent at math. She still gets her lower case "b" and "d" mixed up but her teacher assured me today that she will get it in no time. She started out the year with "satisfactory" in Reading, Spelling and Handwriting and she has brought them all to "Excellent" and has had "Excellent" in Math the entire year. She started the year in reading level "D" and is ending the year in level "K" They want them to be in level "I" by the end of their 1st grade year so she has surpassed that by 2 levels. I know that she is not the highest in the class but we don't need her to be. She is doing excellent and I am so very proud of her.

It's Wacky Wednesday!

Well at Mykenize's school she was supposed to dress wacky. I picked out a totally hideous outfit for her and she chickened out! Decided to go with matching clothes instead. Tomorrow is her last full day of school and then she goes for a half day on Friday. This year has gone so quickly. I guess people are right when they say time really goes by fast once they are in school. She is going to be a second grader for pete's sake! I am getting OLD.


I just spent the last hour on the phone with the doctor's office and the insurance company trying to get a bill straightened out from August. I have been fighting with them since then and I keep getting bills saying if I don't pay they are going to turn me into collections. Whatever! I am not paying a bill that I should have never gotten. I was told that the state requires a hearing and vision test at a certain age, then my ins. wont pay for it cause it is not medically necessary. So after lots of phone calls I finally got a wonderful person at the insurance company who said that since it had been so long and I have obviously been told the wrong information they would go ahead and pay the doctor the money. YAY!! I am so happy. I mean it was only like $65 but I never would have had the tests done if I would have known my insurance wouldn't cover it. She had just had a free hearing test and I can take her to the eye doctor for a "real" vision test for $30 so why would I do it there with there stupid little eye chart. UGG I am so glad I don't have to mess with it anymore! Thank you Sonya at BCBS for taking the stress away from that bill!

What else has been going on. Well Travis has been off since Saturday and goes back to work tomorrow. So we have gotten the loft painted and it looks so much better. We did it the same color but there were alot of missed spots by whoever painted it before. We also repainted most of the kitchen cause the chair rail ripped some of the paint off and plus there were alot of marks on the top half since it is flat paint and if you touch it there is a mark. We also took down the shelf that mangled my van and got storage cabinets for the garage. It looks so much better in there. I will be posting a picture cause I love how much nicer it looks. I wish I would have a before shot to compare!

We took the van back to CarMax yesterday to get some stuff fixed since you have 30 days and it is covered. Well I needed new brake pads and shoes, an alignment, and then they have to send it to the dealer cause there is something wrong with the transmission and either some belts or the alternator. Now they supposedly run a 125 point inspection on all of there cars spending at least 12 hours on each car to make sure it is in excellent condition. WHATEVER! There is no way they did that and I have that many MAJOR things wrong with it! Two people drove it and felt the transmission slipping and Travis thought it felt heavy when they test drove it so how did it go unnoticed during the 12 hour inspection??? Everything that is wrong with my car is supposedly checked out. It isn't costing me any money thank goodness but it is a bit inconvenient not having a car! Travis goes to work tomorrow, so they are going to have to give me something but that means I am going to have to drive all the way to Nashville to pick up a car. This is nuts. They just better fix it right.

Oh and I got Angie's ticket booked so she and Lily will be coming down here from June 6th until we go up to Ohio on the 28th. We may have other company off and on while she is here too so it will be a full house. The kids will have a blast! I can't wait to get them out there and get some fun into their lives. It has been so rough for them lately I hope this trip does a world of good for them :)

FUCK!

So, when I went to take Mykenzie to school today I realize that the shelf holding lots of stuff had collapsed which sent a 13 inch monitor that Travis brought home from work reeling into my van. So It had black scuff marks all down the side and a "U" shaped dent! I was able to get all the black off with a magic eraser but the dent remains. I sware to God it has only been a fucking week and a half since I bought the van and already! See I went and spent money on Monday for Kenzie's party. It never fucking fails, I spend money and something like this happens. I am cursed that is it. I am so pissed off right now. I thought maybe I shouldn't write excatally what I was thinking but then I decided it is my blog and if people don't like the word fuck they don't have to read this particular post! I think there may be steam coming from my ears right now cause I am just that damn mad!

GO Me, Go me!!

I just ordered Kaylee's birth certificate! I know she is almost 3 and that I am a loser! I figured I had better get it done cause if she gets into this preschool she is gonna need it. When we had Mykenzie we filled out the paperwork and paid for it in the hospital and they mailed it to us. Apparently they do things differently an hour and a half away in South Carolina! Freaking cost $48! Geeze! Seems like we should be given birth certificates at birth for FREE and only have to pay if we need a new one. Come on people! Ok so now I am making excuses for being a LOSER and just now ordering it. I will have it in about 10 days and then I wont have to worry about it again :)

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

This week is going by much faster than last week! It is only Tuesday and I have gotten so much accomplished. I love days like that but several in a row is even better! Saturday we had a great day and took the kids to the Adventure Science Center. They loved it! There is a section where you can crawl through a heart and the layers of skin and they were both so freaked out and wouldn't go near it! lol We hung out there for a couple of hours and then went in search of food downtown, we ended up at Baja Fresh. It was really yummy, even the girls scarfed there food down fast there! Then we came home and played outside and I did some minor work in my wretched front flower bed. It is awful! When I first planted everything it looked so nice but now it has grown so much it just looks a mess. So I got all the bushes trimmed and some of the flowers I don't want anymore ripped out but I have alot more to rip out and rearrange and I need to buy several new things. On the positive side, my lilies are starting to bloom and they are so pretty. So if you just look at those your golden! lol

Sunday we just pretty much played outside and relaxed, Travis had to go into work around 3 so we just hung out and looked at the paper, cut coupons and that type of stuff. In one of the ads I found some cute invitations so I had a little light bulb go off and I sat and planned out Mykenzie's birthday party. I have it all planned out as a Hawaiian theme party. I went yesterday morning and bought most of the stuff. We are having message in a bottle invitations, and I got some palm tree decorations and some hanging lanterns, all the paper goods, lei's ect. I still have to find a pinata, I want a little Hula girl but party city was out so I am not sure where I am gonna get one. I guess I will have to search. We are going to sand art and the pinata, and we are borrowing Jenna's blow up water slide and then for Kenzie's birthday she is getting an inflatable bounce house (which I also bought yesterday) so we are going to set that up too. Then I was thinking of filling her little pool with soapy water and giving them different things to make bubbles with. If I can find a big enough box I was thinking of painting a Tiki face on it and cutting out the mouth to set up as a ball toss or something. Not completely sure if that would work out or not. But I would say between playing in the bounce house and on the water slide, doing the sand art and pinata plus taking out time to eat, that they will have plenty of stuff to do. My only worry is that if it rains I need to have some serious back up plans. We can still do sand art and the pinata but not the others so I want to figure out some just in case things too.

So back to what we've been up to. Yesterday I went to Target for some necessities then to Party City for Party stuff, then to Toys R Us for the inflatable jump house, then to Publix for some groceries. I was home by noon, put Kaylee down for a nap and put everything away. After I picked up Mykenzie we ran to the library to return books and pick up new ones I had on hold (they called today, I have another one!!) Then I came home and got Kenzie ready for Girl Scouts and I got ready to go out to the Melting Pot with my playgroup. I had a blast, though everyone thought I was drunk! lol I really was just having a great time laughing and giggling. The food was so yummy! They are going to start having these Girls Night Out at the Melting Pot every month so hopefully we make it back again sometime soon. Maybe not next month but at some point.

Today I had scrap class at Monica's. I love going to it. I am learning lots of cool things, like you don't really need to use alot of pressure when setting an eyelet with a crop-a-dile! LMBO! I mangled mine. But hey, you learn from your mistakes! I bought that thing last month and just now know how to use it so I am moving forward slowly!! The pages that we made are so cute, I wish I could post them as my own ideas! LOL

Now I am sitting here typing out this and Kaylee is down for a nap. I have a book that is due back today and I am only on page 24. There are 301 pages so I am thinking it may be a day late! lol I have been reading alot lately. I used to read all the time and then it kind of fell by the wayside after having Mykenzie cause I just didn't have time. I decided that I can find time for it. I can do it while the kids are in the room playing (unlike scrapping) so I have been a reading fool. I have read, "The Undomestic Goddess" by Sopie Kinsella (loved it and think it would make a great romantic comedy movie) and "Smitten", "Man Hunt" and "One For the Money" by Janet Evanovich since last Tuesday. I am currently reading "Two for the Dough" by her. There are like 12 in the series or something so I have a ways to go. I also have all of the shopahollic books here by Sohie Kinsella that I need to read. I want to say there are like 6 of them. So I have alot more reading to get done. Guess I should be off to take advantage of the quiet and get some of that book knocked out.

Long

That is how I feel about this week. It was looong! It seemed like it should have been Friday 2 days ago. I keep talking about how fast time is going by but geeze I guess what they say is true, time flies when your having fun. But when people are in crisis it seems to drag on forever! So many people that I am close to are having really hard times right now and it is taking its toll on everyone. You just feel so helpless, but you have to keep reminding yourself there is nothing else you can do. It's frustrating though.

On to something else, Rachel is having a BOY! She wanted a girl really badly since she already has 2 boys but what can you do. She will have fun with her three boys. It must be the year of the boy and if I find out that Beth is having a boy as well I wont be surprised! I know 10 pregnant people and only know what 9 of them are having. It is still to early for Beth yet, but only 1 out of those 9 is having a girl! Crazy!

I love my van! I am driving it easier than I thought I would. There are some things I will never try in it but I managed to go to Target, Kohls, and the grocery store and park with no problems. LMBO Mykenzie thinks it is the coolest thing ever and Kaylee loves pushing the button to close the door when she gets out. Too funny. I had to make a 20 minute rule about the DVD player though. They thought they were gonna watch it everytime they got in the car so I told them they could only watch when we were going somewhere that took at least 20 minutes, which isnt very many places. They watch it on the way home from school though cause I let Kaylee watch while we sit for 20 minutes in car pool line. That has made those 20 minutes so much better than the screaming that used to happen during that time.

Mykenzie is done with cheerleading till September, but possibly forever. I dont know if I want to put her in it again. She had her award presentation on Tuesday. Which was nothing at all like I thought it was going to be. Pretty much it sucked, but she got her trophy and was really happy about that. She has her last girl scout meeting till fall on Monday, and I wont be taking her even. I have a little guilt but I am going to the Melting Pot with a group of friends. They will do the awards ceremony at the family camping trip on June 16th. Travis and Kaylee are skipping it cause it sounds like a nightmare to have to bring Kaylee camping. It is in a cabin but I'll pass. She will have her chance to do it when she is older.

Kenzie with her trophy

Na Na Na Na...

Na Na Na Na HEY HEY HEY GOOD BYE!!!

Good bye to the Jeep that is!! WaHooo! Hello MiniVan! I ended up getting my van yesterday. It has everything that we wanted other than leather seats but I can live without them. That was something Travis really wanted. It has TV/DVD, stow and go seats (2nd and 3rd row) power doors and lift gate and a WARRANTY! It is a silver 2005 Town and Country. It is actually the one that I found online but we looked at a couple other ones but this one seemed to be the best fit. The intrest rates are higher than we want right now but they insisted that we got an awesome one compared to other people. I am gonna call around and see if I can get it cheaper, we have 3 days to do that without a penalty. It is gonna take some time to get used to cause it quite a bit bigger than the Jeep. I am cool driving down the road and pulling into the garage but parking spaces will take some time to get used to. The front end is ALOT longer than the Jeep so I wont be parking in spaces with cars around them! lol I never said I was a good driver!

Let there be LIGHT

So I finally got an electrician to come out and by that I mean I finally called one! lol So he found the problem with the whole no electricity thing in Kenzies room and in several other outlets and now they all work. Well after I gave payment of $240 then they worked! LOL The problem was an overloaded circuit due to a plastic safety outlet cover prong breaking off in an outlet in Kaylee's room. Whatever, it is fixed and Kenzie finally has a light.

I have been doing some cleaning, some visiting with friends, some running Kenzie around to her activities and some reading. I have finished 3 books since Sunday. I did a 2 page scrapbook layout. So I would say things are back to normal in my house. I finally emailed 2 friends that I haven't talked to in a couple of months too.

I may be going to go get a new van tomorrow. Well not a new van but a new to me van. I am so sick of this Jeep. Now it is the air conditioner that isn't working properly. It works but only when it wants too. I just don't want to put any more money into this piece of crap. If the payment calculator is right, it will at the most only be an additional $50 a month so that is nice. If I can find a cheaper one I may be able to get the same payment. I don't need a brand new car just something with a warranty would be nice.

Here are a the pictures that I have taken over the past few weeks when Tony was here and when Aimee and Abby were here and then some random ones too.
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MAY?!?!?!

What the heck! How is it possibly May already! Was I not just trying to figure out what to get the kids for Christmas a month ago! lol I can not believe that we have less than a month till school is out already. My baby is gonna be in 2nd grade!! Kaylee will *hopefully* be starting preschool in the fall, we are on a waiting list so we don't know yet if she will get in but I assume she will.
I suppose that when you are busy time really does fly. After vacation and Easter and then all of the stuff we had with school and girl scouts then we had back to back house guests. Travis' brother and his girlfriend came down from April 19th till the 22nd. We had a good time hanging out with them, though one night we were up waaaay past bedtime. We were playing cards and then it was 5 am! NICE! While they were here Tony helped Travis put the crown molding up in our bedroom. It looks good, but still needs the nail holes filled and it needs painted. They also fixed the crack in the wall, the same one that he "fixed" last time he was here. This time Tony's girlfriend did it and it is actually fixed! lol Still needs painted though. Plus they ripped down some of my chair rail and replaced the outside corner pieces with actual mitered corners so now we have nail holes to fill in that again and alot more painting to go with it. But it does look alot better now so I suppose it is worth it.
My sister then was here March 24th till the 30th. It was fun hanging out and shopping. It was really the first time we hung out with kids. Last summer she had Abby but she was still so little she couldn't do anything, this time we went to the zoo and Chuck E Cheese and the kids could play together, it was nice. Abby is so big now and so stinking cute. She talks and sounds like Froggy from the Little Rascals, it was so cute. We had to take my sister to the doctor the first full day she was here cause she woke up with pink eye. And yes the day she left Travis woke up with it, then the next day I woke up with it and the next day Kaylee woke up with it. So we have been battling that this week. Seems to be almost gone though now. I also have bronchitis and mild sinus and ear infections to go with it. Which means that my throat and nose are freaking killing me, but I think these are coming to an end as well.
My house, surprise surprise, looks like a tornado hit it. I have not done anything this week other than dishes and laundry and my kids have wreaked havoc on the rest of it. I will have it clean by the end of the day tomorrow though, well that is the plan. We still have to finish putting in the edging around the back flower bed and plant new flowers to replace the new ones that the cold killed, I so don't feel like doing that though. Maybe I can get Travis to do the edging while I clean the house and then I can go plant some flowers in it next weekend. That sounds like a great idea to me!! Not sure when all the painting will happen in this little plan of mine but I suppose I have to fit that in too. I am not in a big rush for that though so.... who knows.

Fun Filled Weekend

We have been busy bees this weekend. Mykenzie had a sleepover Friday at the Discovery Center for girl scouts. They chose that as their reward for selling so many girl scout cookies. They all had a great time playing and learning some new things about water and density. They went to sleep much better than I thought they would. I suppose all of the playing wore them out. Unfortunately there was an awful talking machine that could not be turned off with a gong sounding on it every few minutes. I did not sleep very well but we had a good time. And most of the girls were pretty well behaved. lol
We had to be out of there early Saturday morning. Lets just say I was in bed by 11:30 and I was not seen again till a little after 4. I was freaking tired! lol Oh, forgot to mention my new neighbors fighting in the street at 1:30 am on Thursday night making it very difficult to go back to sleep. So pretty much 2 nights in a row of tossing and turning. I didn't just come home exhausted, but also sniffing and sneezing. So who the heck knows if that is a cold or simply allergies. So the nap was very very nice! I never do that so I am glad that Travis kept the kids out of my hair so I could.
Today we had a birthday party to go to. I decided to leave Kaylee home with Travis and I am very glad that I did! lol The kids had a great time. Though I am still sniffing and sneezing I am feeling much better than I was yesterday so I was able to chat and have fun too.
My brother in law is coming on Thursday so I have to get my house in order and get some food here for them to eat. I know that sounds easy enough but you can't see my house!! LOL

It's nice to know

Yesterday afternoon my phone rang and it was a message from Mykenzie's school saying that all the kids were safe. I am thinking why wouldn't they be?? Apparently the school was on lock down yesterday because the police were in pursuit of a dangerous "suspect" The kids that were in portables were brought inside the school and the school was locked down, no one in or out. Mykenzie and the rest of the 1st grade students were on a field trip so they were not there for it. The were rerouted to another elementary school until the threat was over when they were finished with their field trip. I later heard on the news that a man used scissors as a weapon to rape someone and when the police went to question him he ran and a rather large man hunt ensued. I had no idea it was going on and it really wasn't even that far from my house. I guess the news doesn't come on the Disney channel! lol
During the entire thing the school kept the parents informed and up to date with what was going on. They didn't know details but they were helpful. Mykenzie's teacher called me twice to let me know what was happening and the school also called and encouraged us to call them if we had any questions. Since I knew Mykenzie was safe the only question that I really needed to know was whether or not I would have to pick her up at the other school. They ended up catching the guy in question, and the 1st graders were bused back to the school and it was pick up as usual. I feel good know that our community and the school especially will spring to immediate action to keep our children safe as well as keeping the parents informed. I know it is their jobs and all, but if they wouldn't have moved as quickly as they had you never know what could have happened. You really never know how fast people will react until they are in a situation. It is just good to know that they take all precautions necessary. I probably would have been a bit more worried if Mykenzie would have actually been at the school though.

Routines.. Yeah they work real well

I swear! For at least a year and a half now we have had the same morning pretty much 5 days a week so you would think that they would know what to expect, and by they I mean Mykenzie basically. She gets up, gets dressed, comes into my room to get her hair done, we go downstairs and I get them breakfast, she puts on her shoes, goes upstairs to brush her teeth and comes down puts on a coat and gets her backpack and we leave. This never changes on school days, never. If we are ready by some miracle earlier than what we have to leave then they are allowed to watch some cartoons. WHY in the world does she continue to think that these things are optional or that she has an unlimited amount of time in which to complete them? I have to holler at her to eat & to get her shoes on (which she can NEVER find, no matter how many times, and I mean everyday, she gets in trouble for not putting them away. To the point that she had to miss cheer leading last week cause I handed her the shoes from the middle of the living room and told her to put them away (we have a shoe thing on the back of the closet door) so she threw them on the closet floor and the dog chewed them up. She got them right before vacation and has worn them twice!!!) I just don't understand why she knows exactly what she has to do in the morning but it still requires her getting in trouble before she does any of it. I give her regular time updates, like I'll say "We have to leave in 15 minutes and you still need to finish eating, get your shoes on and brush your teeth" And she still sits there, taking her sweet time. She is absolutely getting on my last few nerves with all of this testing she is doing to me. I suppose she thinks she is old enough to do what she wants and make the rules. If she is doing it at 6 what the hell will this house be like when she is 14!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dear Lord. She is fun, and overall a really good kid, but boy oh boy that girl knows how to test me!

We saw the Easter Bunny

Since Mykenzie didn't have school yesterday we decided to run some errands and stop by the mall to say Hello to the Easter Bunny. Kaylee did really well and I soooo wish that rather than telling her at Disney world that she was going to see the characters that I would have said they were going to pick her up and hold her. I said that about the Easter bunny and she was FINE she walk right up and raised her arms so he could pick her up!!! She was nervous but she still let him do it! GRR! I am so mad at myself that I didn't do that at Disney. Anyhow, we got a pretty cute picture out of it that I am going to try and attach to this post.

Today we are going to the Girl Scouts egg hunt even though it is freezing and then we are going to hit up either Applebees (I have been craving it) or this new Mexican restaurant we discovered called Las Palmas Verdes I think, I have been craving that also. Not sure what I really want today. Then to the grocery store to get our ham for tomorrow and home to color eggs and then early to bed so we can get up early and see what the Easter bunny left. I doubt we will go anywhere tomorrow but who knows? Hope you all have a wonderful Easter

Did she miss the memo??

I think that somehow Mother Nature missed the memo that it is now SPRING! It is April 7th and the day before Easter. Apparently none of this matters cause it is flipping freezing and beyond that it is SNOWING! For Pete's sake! I am going to an Easter Egg hunt outside this afternoon and it is flipping snowing! Oh and all the flowers we planted last week, yeah, they are dead. I even broke out the sheets and blankets and covered them the past 2 nights. I have my receipts though and I think that both Lowes and Home Depot guarantee their flowers for a year. I will definitely be checking into that and doing some returning if I can. Luckily we didn't but a ton, but $60 worth! We aren't supposed to hit the 70's again until April 13th which is Friday. Right now it is 35 with a real feel temp of 25. So in my book it is 25, real feel my ass. Mykenzie is wondering why the Easter bunny is coming to welcome spring when it is so dang cold! Hope he can travel in this weather! lol

What do I do now?

It seems like for the past few months I have always had something to plan, something major going on and now, nothing. I way over analyze Christmas and over plan for it. Then I had vacation stuff going on. All the anticipation and thinking and planing for those things and now they are just wonderful memories. Now what. I have Easter but that was pretty easy and I already have the girls baskets put together. I did that today and I stuffed eggs for all the egg hunts we have going on last week. Why do I feel the need to have something going on that I can control? And why is it that I can't get controlling about my house and get the freaking thing clean? That is something I have absolutely no desire to do. My downstairs is picked up (not clean) and my upstairs look like it threw up on itself. Can't get behind doing that though. This month is actually going to be pretty busy with visits from my brother in law Tony and then 2 days later my sister and niece are coming. Not to mention, Easter, parties and a ton of girl scout stuff. It will all keep us really busy but I don't have anything to do with them other than show up, which is wonderful but it is like my mind doesn't know what to do if I am not over planning something! lol It is making me think about things that I don't want to deal with like, what am I going to do with my future. I am going to be putting Kaylee in a 2 day a week Mothers Day out program (preschool) in the fall and she will likely do that for 2 years and then my little baby will be in kindergarten. That is when mommy has to grow up and go to school and get an out of the house job. That totally FREAKS me out. I haven't worked in almost 7 years!!! It will be well over 10 before I actually do and it will have been 11 years since I have been in school. I have no clue how in the world I am going to do that. It all scares me. Even worse is that I am 26 years old (almost 27) and I don't have a clue as to what I would want to even do. I don't want to be in school forever, I honestly don't even want to work. I do want to have the education though. If God forbid anything ever happen to Travis or between us I want to know that I can support my children and not have to worry that a minimum wage job is all I can have to take care of my girls. The most practical thing would be a Dental Hygienist. That has limited school and they make decent money. Plus I think that is a job I could easily do. The next thing on my list of maybes is nursing. Much harder school, but better pay and a better schedule. Like I could work from 7pm to 7 am 3 days a week and be done. Come home, send the kids to school and sleep. Still be there when they come home and still spend time with them. I am not confident I can do the schooling for it nor am I sure that I can do the job. I am really indecisive so having a life in my hands may not be a good thing. The thing I would really LOVE, as in I think I could do it plus it is something I have always really wanted to do is counseling. I don't mean marriage counseling but more like a H.S. guidance counselor or something. I would love to work with battered women too (I once dreamed of opening my own shelter one day). I wanted to be a psychologist in High School (until I failed my psych class-the only class I ever failed) I planned on having my doctorate in psychology. I do not want that at all anymore but I would still like to do something in the field. It would require alot of school though. And just so you know I consider 4 years of BS classes a lot of school. What do I consider BS classes? That would be anything that will not directly help me with the job I intend to do. I don't want to take anatomy and geography to be a counselor. No foreign language, no physical education. No thank you. I am a grown person with a family and I do not have time for crap. It requires time for class, time for homework and time for studying, all of those are things that I don't have time for if I don't need it for the job. My job at home would be the same. I will have kids to get off to school and do homework with and take to Girls Scouts and things, and cleaning and cooking and laundry. Those things wont go away. How do people do it? It will be sooooo hard. I am dreading it completely. I would recommend that everyone go to college straight out of High school. Not that I am regretting my decisions at all, it just would have been easier. I have 2 years to figure all this stuff out but considering I blinked and the past 9 years were memories, I think the next 2 will be gone before I know it. Sometimes being a grown up sucks. When you are young you can't wait to be old and on your own and independent, setting your own rules. Then you get there and you long for carefree days with no responsibilities. I wouldn't go back to those days even if I could, but to have that feeling again, even for just a day would be awesome!

Cleaned them up

Alright I cleaned up some of the Disney pics so they are not completely dark! Yay! It took forever but now you can actually see what they are pic of :) Here is the link if your interested.
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcuWTNo2bNGpw

Back to the real World!

We are home and finally unpacked!! I am still working on the mound of laundry but I am done with it. We got back around 10 Friday night after we picked up Cami from the kennel. I uploaded my pictures to shutterfly and I am going to post them but alot of them need to messed with and lightened and I haven't gotten a chance to do that yet. We had a really great time, it makes me want to move there and work at Disney. I don't think I am qualified for anything but a server or a gift shop worker though. All of the characters have super skinny legs so I am out for that too! lol Just so you guys know, Travis said that I was right and it was a good idea to stay in the hotel I picked. He said it was a decent hotel and it was worth saving the money. We got into the Toy Story section and the girls loved the giant Woody and Buzz. I took pictures :)
I am going to write about each day now so you may want to just skip down to the picture link but some people wanted to hear about it so I am gonna write it. Not to mention I have a very short memory and I need to have a reference to go on when I finally get the pictures ordered and do the scrapbook :)

Saturday, March 17th, Animal Kingdom day! We pretty much did everything that they had to offer while we were there. We FINALLY got to see the Festival of the Lion King show, the last time we were there they had all kinds of technical difficulty so we never got to see it despite trying 3 times. It was pretty good so I am glad we finally got to do it. We did the Safari which was much better this time then when we went last time. Kaylee LOVED it! She loves seeing the animals so it was alot of fun for her. We did not do the new freaky roller coaster there and we didn't have time for the Pocahontas show this time, though Mykenzie did get to meet her and get a picture with her. Our favorite part was probably the new Finding Neemo Musical. It was a looong wait but it was really good. We went during the parade so we once again missed the Jungle Parade but we will surely live. Also at the Conservation Station they were opererating on a turtle that had been hit by a car that morning. It was really neat to see them doing it right in front of us, Kaylee was sleeping but Mykenzie and I found it pretty cool. We left around 5 pm and went back to the hotel food court for some dinner and then just relaxed in our room and went to bed early cause we had an early morning.

Sunday, March 18, Epcot day! We had 8:30 AM reservations for our Princess Breakfast in Norway of Epcot's World Showcase. When we walked in Belle was there to meet us in her beautiful gold dress so we got pictures with her. Kaylee would not go by herself so I was in the picture too which I didn't want. Then we sat down and ate and the princesses came around to our table. Once they asked Kaylee if she wanted to get a picture she said yes and would go get one, but refused to stand by them, she would only stand by Mykenzie. We ended up seeing Belle, Ariel (the Little Mermaid), Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Mulan and Snow White. It was nice getting to see them cause last time we really didn't get to see anyone other than Cinderella and Little Mermaid. After that was finished we walked around Epcot and discovered that it was much more fun than last time. I am sure mostly because Mykenzie was older now. We found Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip & Dale for picture with NO wait! That NEVER happens!!! We watched the Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3D show and both kids were freaked out at it! We liked it though. Travis loved Ellen's Energy Adventure (hosted by Ellen Degeneres) and the girls loved the Finding Neemo ride. We also walked through the different countries and each one has a kid station that Mykenzie did. It was kind of dumb but fun at the same time. We went back to the hotel and spent some time at the arcade which the girls loved!

Monday, March 19th, MGM day! First we took the girls to see the Playhouse Disney show, Mykenzie is a bit old for it now but she still had fun at it. We did the Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the Disney Animation thing. We got some Character photos and went to the Honey I shrunk the kids playground. At the playground I bumped into Mark Stein from Entertainment Tonight and he offered to take a picture of Kaylee and I together in front of the big tub of Play Doh since she wasn't cooperating for me when I was trying to take one of her by herself. I didn't know what his name was at the time just that he looked really familar from ET and finally I remembered his name was Mark but I couldn't think of his last name. I didn't say anything to him other than to talk to him about the picture. Of course my camera didn't work right and he had to take a second picture for us. We went to Pizza Planet for lunch and then went and watched the Stars and Motor cars parade and ate some ice cream. By then Kaylee needed a nap so we left and she napped at the hotel and Travis went to the pool even though it was way too cold!
That night we went to Downtown Disney and ate dinner at Planet Hollywood and walked around and did some shopping.

Tuesday March 20, Finally Magic Kingdom Day!!! We did character pictures with Chicken Little and Mickey Mouse. I talked Mykenzie into riding the Goofy kiddie rollercoaster and she ended up LOVING it! We rode the teacups and the carrousel, the winnie the pooh ride and the 3D show Mickey's Philharmagic (which we had never seen and was really cute). It started to rain so we went and got some lunch and when it we were done it was barely sprinkling. We went over to the Haunted Mansion, I know I am a mean mom making my kids go on it, but I wanted to since I have never been and they both lived without getting scared hardly at all! Then it was parade time and we got our spot and it started to pour down rain. We decided to go back to the hotel rather than sit in the rain so we dried off and changed. It stopped raining so we went back to Magic Kingdom and did a few more rides that we didnt get to do and then watched the fireworks show. We were right under where Tinkerbell flies down from the castle so that was really cool. Then we fought through the crowd to go back to the hotel! lol

Wednesday March 21, Back to MGM! This time we got to do the Extreme Stunt Show, The Journey to Narnia (which was dumb, even though I liked the movie) the Muppet 3D show and Beauty and the Beast live on Stage! Then we went back to the hotel for some pool time, I froze my butt off but the girls had a blast. Then we got ready and went back to MGM for the Fantasmic show, which is soooo good! I loved it last time and I still loved it this time!

Thursday March 22, Back to Magic Kingdom! We still had some things that we didn't get a chance to do on Tuesday but surprisingly not a ton. We ate some breakfast at the bakery and rode some rides. I told Mykenzie that we were going on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain, she freaked and told me no way. I decided to make a deal with her if she rode Big Thunder Mountain and didn't like it then we wouldn't have to do Space Mountain so she agreed. There only ended up being a 30 minute wait so we got in line and got on it. We started going and got to the top of the hill and got stuck! It wan't the biggest rollercoaster hill ever but we were up high enough to be stuck! It started going a few seconds later though so it wasn't a big deal. We both loved it, Mykenzie wanted to ride again but there was no way I was standing in line again for it, especially since it was now an hour wait. We did a few other things and then walked to the other side of the park to get Fast Passes for Space Mountain, this was at about 11:30-12 and our fast pass wasn't till between 4-5. Travis said he wasn't planning on staying that late and then Kaylee started crying so he took Kaylee and went back to the hotel and Mykenzie and I stayed at the park. We took in the Interactive Monsters Inc. comedy show, which was really funny. We walked around and rode Cinderella's carrousel again and Goofy's rollercoaster. For some reason Mykenzie wanted to go back through Minnie's house so we did that too. We went through the Swiss Family Treehouse which was totally a waste of time. Maybe if I had ever see the movie it would have helped but I seriously doubt it. Mykenzie wanted to do Peter Pan's Flight again but the line was awful for it. So we skipped it since we had already been on it. We never got to ride the Dumbo ride though, which we were a bit bummed about but we were not standing in line for 70 minutes for it. We also never got to see Cinderella this time (we saw her twice last time) because her line was 70 minutes too. We did see her stepmother and stepsisters though which was funny, especially since Mykenzie was wearing her Cinderella shirt that day. Lets just say they gave her a hard time about it and she was quick to blame me for making her wear it! LOL So then we went and saw the parade and then stood in line to see Princess Jasmin, Aladdin and Genie. They were very sweet and took time with the kids talking to them. Then we were off to Space Mountain! When we got in there and I realized that we could not sit together I thought she would freak out but she was fine. I sat in the seat behind her and TRIED to keep a hand on her shoulder but there were times that was not possible and I had to hold the freak on! LOL She got off and wanted to go again and again! Which of course there was no way we were going to. We grabbed some ice cream and made our way back to the hotel. Once there we got ready and went and got some dinner and then to play miniture golf at the Fantasia Mini Golf course. It was fun watching the kids. We have never taken either of them before. Mykenize wasn't too bad for her first time. Kaylee had this teeny tiny putter that was adorable! She couldn't care less about it but every now and then she would want her ball and stick to hit it in! lol Then it was back to the hotel to pack up and go to bed. We left around 10 on Friday morning even though we technically paid for another day at the parks. We did that when we thought we were flying but since we decided to drive we just went ahead and left early and it was good we did cause we didn't get home till 10 as it was. We hit some serious traffic that we could have avoided if we would have left a little later though ;)

As you can tell we had a great time. Travis says it will be 10 years before we go back if ever. I say we will be back in 6-7 years either that or a Disney Cruise!!! I am a total kid at heart and I love it as much as the girls do! When they are older we will do vacations that we will love as adults too, like Vegas and Hawaii but for now our girls our little and we are going to enjoy doing things that kids love!!! Here is the link to the pictures, there are alot but know that I cut out about 75 as it is. Enjoy share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcuWTNo2bNGph

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Packed

but not quite ready to go. I have some errands to run today like buying diapers, wipes car snacks ect. I have a very small list of things that still need packed. Mostly stuff for Kaylee since she was sleeping when I did it and there was no way I was risking going in her room to get stuff. Luckily most of the things I am bringing for her were hanging in the laundry room so I could pack them last night. Mykenzie is totally packed except for bath/hair stuff. That is quick and easy and pretty much all I have left to pack for me too. Good thing since we are now 2 days till we leave. We still don't know what time we are heading out but Kenzie doesn't have school so it will be determined by when Travis can get off.

I FINALLY went and saw Norman yesterday for a hair cut. About half of my playgroup goes to him and loves him so I figured chances of him screwing my hair up were pretty slim. Most of you have lived through my tears of past hair cuts and know there have been some pretty bad ones. When Rachel tells you "Oh my God, what did they do to you?!?" You know it is not just in your head! LOL Thankfully those days are in the past and he did pretty good. He made it very curly though and I am sure I will not be able to duplicate that so hopefully it still looks decent once I give it a shot. I am defiantly NOT good at doing hair, so I am crossing my fingers.

I am off now to go shower and attempt to make my hair normal so I can go get some errands ran, and yes to those of you who ordered cookies from afar, one of my stops today will be to the post office to mail them out :)

All about Mykenzie weekend

On Friday we got a phone call from Mykenzie's principal telling us that she had been chosen by her teacher for a Rave Review. She got called to the office and got a certificate and got to sign the rave review wall. We are so proud of her. We ended up taking her to Dairy Queen for a special treat. She picked the new waffle cones and it was as big as her head!

Saturday we had a lot of girl scout stuff to do for the Girl Scouts 95th birthday party. The morning started at 9 am at the school where they hold their meetings for a community service project. We pulled weeds, trimmed bushes and planted flowers. We were there until 11:40 and then it was home to wash up and change clothes so we could drive all the way to Nashville for the birthday party. They had some different activities and bounce houses to play on. All of the girl scouts had a great time (the mommy's thought it was a waste of time, lol defiantly not worth the drive) We got home around 6 pm from that. The girls got dinner and baths and fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow at 8:30 (way past their bedtime) Now today we just got back from the grocery store from picking up a few things and we are going to take it easy. Between our busy day yesterday, going to bed late and losing an hour of sleep everyone is pretty tired here today. Now I am off to give the dog a bath cause she peed in her cage last night. Good thing I was planning on giving her a bath at some point this week anyhow.
Have a Great Sunday everyone :)

A good report

I had a parent teacher conference today and Mykenzie's teacher told me that she is doing wonderful. Mrs. Watson said she tried to find something that Mykenzie needed to work on and she couldn't come up with anything. She is in reading level "I" right now which is where she is supposed to be by the end of the year so she will be well beyond that by then. She is excelling in Math and her Handwriting has improved dramatically since the beginning of the year. She also said that she has been doing much better with listening. She said Mykenzie was never bad but she is now staying in her seat and raising her hand rather than getting up and going to the teachers desk to ask questions and overall listening better. Mykenzie is definitely ready for 2nd grade. I knew she was doing well but it is nice to hear her teacher talk so highly of her.

Sore

My legs and feet are so sore today after 3 all day shopping trips! I am happy to report that I am finished. I am glad cause I am totally shopped out. I got Mykenzie some shoes, 3 pairs of shorts (have to return 1) and a shirt. Kaylee got a pair of sketchers (like Crocs) and 5 shirts (have to take 1 back) and I got 2 pairs of cheapo flip flops, 2 pairs of shorts, and like 6 shirts. Woo Hoo! I got Travis' tux shirt and bow tie for his meeting next week ( they are doing a casino night and the theme is puttin on the Ritz) No luck finding a baseball jersey though, which he also needs for the meeting during the day. Rediculous that they require them to have this crap for one day isn't it. I am pretty sure that we are set for vacation now. I remembered today that I have to hold my mail which I never even thought of prior to now. I have my list of stuff to pack started now so I feel like I am back in control! lol

Beautiful Things

Beautiful Thing #1- Today's weather! Right now it is almost 6 PM and is still 71 degrees.

Beatutiful Thing #2- MY CAR! Well the inside anyhow. I cleaned out my car today while the girls played outside. I armoralled the inside, swept it out and even got out my carpet scrubber and washed the seats and the floors. It looks sooo much better!

Beautiful Thing #3- Kaylee's Stroller! Thanks to Kaylee drinking 3 glasses of tea this morning while we were out shopping she completley leaked through her diaper. I have never seen such diaper leakage, her jeans were soaked from the top right down to her socks and her shirt was soaked too. We were at the mall so I didn't realize since she was sitting in her stroller, which was also drenched. Needless to say I had to go into a store and buy her a new outfit and when I got home I scubbed down her stroller. It was a dirty mess too so it needed it anyhow, the smell of urine just motivated me! LOL I even armoralled the tires! :)

Beautiful Thing #4- My floors downstairs! Thanks to Kaylee crushing crackers all over my downstairs (literally crushed crackers everywhere) and dumping a bag of candy on the floor. I swept my floors and they look so nice. (Granted they looked nice before all the cracker crushing and candy dumping too but now they are nice again )

Beautiful Thing #5- My carpets! Not yet they're not but come 7pm they will start to transform. Once the girls go to bed I will be scrubbing my carpets upstairs and the stairs.

Beautiful Thing #6- Clothes! I did find some things while shopping today. I got Kenzie a pair of shorts and a skort, Travis 2 shirts, Kaylee 2 pairs of shoes ( flip flops and tennis shoes) and me a tank top and a pair of shoes (I am taking the ones I got yesterday back) I am going to go to Walmart tomorrow to see if I can find Kenzie some sandals and to Kmart to pick up the ones I found for Kaylee. Then back to Old Navy to grab myself another pair of shorts and a couple tank tops.

Beautiful Thing #7- A Smart Husband. He had his interview today and said of it that he did his best. He got some really really great feedback. And had alot of people telling him how wonderful he is. He said they seem to be trying to prepare him for the fact that he is really good but he may not get one of these spots. I guess he was wrong and it is not 5 people interviewing for 6 spots, there were 12 people interviewing for 3 spots. BIG Difference!!! We shall see. They are afraid they are going to lose him and they definatley don't want that. His horoscope from this week and next from 2 different magazines both say that wonderful career oppotunitys are coming.... I will keep ya'll updated when we hear something, which should be next week. Cross your fingers that the right opportunity comes our way :)

Beautiful Thing #8- Mykenzie and Kaylee! My girls have been so good today. Kenzie helped me watch Kaylee while I was cleaning my car. Kaylee was such a good girl while we were shopping, I mean the kid was completley drenched in pee and never said one word about it (I wish she would have) but never fussed or cried either. Oh and BTW Mykenzie's other top tooth has finally fallen out (2 nights ago) so she no longer has a snaggle tooth in the middle of her mouth! Woo Hoo

Beautiful Thing #9- Vacation! We now only have 9 days till we leave for Disney World! And now that I have some clothes I can start my list of things to pack! It has been driving me nuts not having one this close!

Beautiful Thing #10 A Whirlpool tub! Tonight after the girls are in bed and my carpets are scrubbed in my big tub and wonderful jets is where I will be! I thought it was broken on Monday when I tried to clean the jets but this time luck was on my side and it was as simple as pushing a reset button to get it working again. No, we still don't have power in Mykenzie's room, I will deal with it when we get back from Disney.

Hope you all have a beautiful night

It's a start

I went shopping all day today around town and I found a few things. I ended up at Kohl's and found Travis 3 shirts on CLEARANCE! Love that :) They are short sleeve but have the long sleeve shirt underneath. Well he has short sleeve shirts that will match so I got 2 for $7 each and one for $14. He will be happy to have the long sleeve ones for next winter too so it totally worked out. I am going to go through his clothes tonight and see what else he needs. For me I found 2 pairs of shorts at Kohls, and discovered the trick to fitting into a 7, STOP buying denim! The denim ones are so much tighter than other material. I found 2 shirts on clearance for $4 each at Sears and a pair of shoes I am still iffy about at Penney's. I got Kaylee 2 little shirts from Kohls that she will look very cute in. And the big shock of the day, I can not find Mykenzie any shorts! I am going to the Mills tomorrow so hopefully Gap outlet or Children's place has something! I still have a lot more to go but at least I found something!


Travis is on a plane to Boston for an interview. There are 6 openings right now and he is trying to get one of them. I only know where 3 of them are cause they are the TJ Maxx openings, I am unsure where the Marshals ones are. The 3 that I know of are in Atlanta, Virginia (outside of DC) and Cleveland. I have known that we wouldn't be here for very long since before we moved but the thought of moving and starting all over again is making me sick to my stomach. If he gets hired it would be a great opportunity for him so we will defiantly go ( provided everything looks right) It is hard to move and start from scratch. Trying to find your way around some place new, getting the kids into schools and activities, meeting new friends, selling and buying a house. I know that the best opportunity would not be in Cleveland but at least then I could visit friends and family whenever I wanted and we could have family around for the holidays for the first time ever, that would be nice. Chances are that if we moved back there though we would end up moving away in 3 years anyhow. The ATL and VA jobs have a higher up position based out of there so we could stay longer with a promotion and not have to move so soon. I know he will do great in the interview. He has already interviewed with half of these people before and they all loved him so I am not really worried about him not getting one of the positions, it is just which one will it be and will it be right for us.

I can't wait to go on VACATION!!!!!

A Born Leader

Sometimes I wonder about Mykenzie. When she was little, like 2-3 years old, I always thought she would be a leader by the way she acted with her little friends but the past few years she has been so passive and shy so I figured I was wrong. Today I found out that she is definitely a take charge kind of girl rather than just sitting in the shadows. We had a girl scout cookie booth at the grocery store and she just took charge. She was the 1st person asking people to buy cookies, she dove right into handling the money and was keeping track of what was sold. She couldn't continue because she had to let the other girls do something but she was always right on top of everything and delegated tasks. I am really proud of her and I know she is going to grow into a very strong self sufficient woman one day. What more can a mom ask for?

Less than 2 weeks now!

I can't believe how fast time is flying past us. We now only have 13 days until we leave for Disney World. I am still not ready, meaning I have to go clothes shopping but other than that we are set. I have my dog booked in a kennel, and though I feel a little guilty about it she just can't come with us. She is such a little scaredy cat I hope she doesn't have a stroke around all the other dogs. I guess she came from a pet store though so she should be used to it.
The girls are really excited about going. If you say Disney World Kaylee starts jumping up and down and saying it over and over. Mykenzie is excited because it is actually on the calendar now so she can actually see how many days are left. I plan to hit up the outlet mall this week and see what I can find for everyone, I just have to keep telling myself Kaylee ONLY needs shirts and Mykenzie ONLY needs shorts! LOL I tend to buy things cause they are cute (and cheap) and not get what I need. Wish me luck

And the damage is....

$550.oo! There was something wrong with the radiator cap which caused it to leak fluid onto the coil and ruin it. What ever that means. Whatever, it is fixed. Travis and I had to share his car for the past 2 days so luckily he had planned to be in town and not an hour or more away since I had to take him and pick him up since I had to have the car to get Mykenzie from school. That was not alot of fun so I am glad it is fixed and it is done. Lets hope we can get through the next year with no car problems! I want to get rid of this thing and I need to keep it for another year and soooo don't want to dump any more money into it. It has now been well over $2000 in 9 months.

No word on the electricity for now. He plans on messing with it tomorrow, so hopefully that is an easy fix so we don't have to drop alot on that too.

I took Kaylee into the doctor today for nothing apparently. She started crying and holding her neck yesterday and continued doing it today. Well it felt swolen and she recently had a high fever (well like a week and a half ago) so I thought it was best to have her checked out because she has also been soooo whiny and clingy this past week and a half/two weeks. Well there is nothing wrong with her other than she strained her neck and has a knot in it. The doctor turned her head to one side and she was fine and when he turned it to the other she immediatley started crying. He asked her if it hurt and she cried noooo. So that was a YES! So that doesn't help me on the whinyness and the not sleeping but at least now I know there is nothing wrong.

I jinxed myself by saying numerous times how well my dog has been about going potty. She has only had 1 accident in the past few weeks. Well for two days in a row now she has peed in her cage! Stupid Brat. I guess I don't have to worry about her starting that again when she is in a kennel while we are on vaction cause she is already doing it! GRRRR drive me nuts!

That about sums up the past 2 days here. Now I am going to go watch a movie and go to sleep!

The Malfunction Indicator Light

"When the engine is running, the 'Malfunction Indicator Light' may flash to alert of serious conditions that could lead to immediate loss of power or severe catalytic converter damage. The vehicle should be serviced as soon as possible if this occurs."

Guess what, that is what happened to my car today. Doesn't it sound splended. I have to drop it off in the morning to see what the hell the problem is. I really should have rolled this thing off a cliff a long time ago. I soooo want to get rid of it but I never will if I have to keep dumping money into it! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Kaylee has been a terror today! I don't know what this childs problem is that she can't seem to sleep past 5 am but it is really really old. Then she would not take a nap today so other than the 5 minutes she slept in the car that was it. It is now 6:40 and she is playing and being good for the 1st time all day. She thought she was going to fall asleep at 5:20 though. I woke her little butt right up and threw her in the shower. Homey don't play that crap!

Another thing for me to bitch about is the fact that I have NO power in Mykenzie's room and the ouside walls of her room also have no power. Which is especially lovely since she is afraid of the dark and can not have a night light now. Travis has to work all week so the weekend he gets to try and figure out if he can fix it or if it will require an electrician. It would be soooo nice to live in Ohio during times like these since I have a father in law mechanic and my best friends hubby is an electrician! Geeze!

On a good note, it was BEAUTIFUL here today! I am talking 73 degrees!!! Of course I was in a bad mood dealing with stupid crap so I didnt enjoy it like I wanted to. Hopefully we have a couple more days like that this week. Or better yet it stays that way.

Wow

It has been a long time since I have blogged. I guess I really haven't been spending much time at all online. I am not sure what I have been doing in place of it but something is keeping me busy. We went the other night and signed Mykenzie up for cheerleading. I hope she likes it. It is a 12 week class that meets on tuesdays. She is excited but nervous too.
Kaylee has been super whiny this week and driving me nuts but she is doing some pretty funny things too. Now when she poops in her diaper she will come and tell you that she is "not fresh" LOL I have no idea where she got that from. I got a new vacuum for Valentines Day (a Dyson), well technically it is for valentines day, mothers day and my bday! lol I was messing with it yesterday and the handle comes out and is a wand to do steps and whatever. Well Kaylee sees me take it out and comes running over and tells me "Mommy, your amazing!" and gave me a big hug. LOL She is too funny sometimes. She has also learned how to open doors that have covers on them that are supposed to prevent that from happening! Mykenzie didn't learn how to do that till she was 4!!! So now my pantry has become free game and she is constantly in it getting into food! You would think I starve her. UGG

Our trip to Disney world is coming up really quickly we leave in 1 month from today. I am so not prepared for it at all. I have a feeling we are all gonna need clothes but I am unsure of what to expect the weather to be so I don't know what we need. We all sooooo need a vacation though so we will be VERY ready by the time it gets here. The drive will suck I am sure though.

I have started scrapbooking again. I have come to the conclusion that I totally suck at it! I do not have the creativity for it. I am blaming it on the fact that I don't have enough stuff though! lol I have done a few pages but none of them thrill me, but they are good enough and definatley better than that box they were sitting in. I decided to start with Kaylee's birth and go from there and then go back and finish the inbetween stuff which is about a year. I haven't scrapped since Mykenzie turned 3 and she will be 7 in June. So much has changed since I stopped doing it, and it is way more advanced now with alot more techniques and embelishments and so on. I have alot of learning to do that is for sure. I am hoping to get to hang out with rachel for a day or two during our next Ohio trip and get to scrapbook with her and her mom so they can teach me a thing or five, they are way better than I will be ever I am sure. Rachel will be a huge preggo by then! Yay! She recently found out she is expecting her 3rd little one, already has 2 boys and we are crossing everything that it is a little girl this time around. No matter what it will be one lucky baby.

That is about all I can think up to write about for now. Hope everyone is doing great out there :)

SNOW!

Yesterday school was cancelled due to snow but their was just a very light dusting on the ground but today we woke up to another day of no school and more snow. We could still see the tops of our grass through it but it was enough to play in. So Kaylee got to have her 1st experience with snow. She was not into the snow covering her shoes so she cried about that for a few minutes. And she didn't want to wear her mittens so she took them off. Her poor hands were bright red and she started crying cause they hurt and saying "can you help me mommy." I warmed them up as best as I could with my own hands (out of my wet gloves) and then told her if she didn't wear her mittens she had to go inside. So it lasted about another 7 minutes and she had them and her hat off again so she and I came inside and Kenzie played for about 10 more minutes before she decided she had enough. Now they are warmed up and drinking hot chocolate. Now we have to get ready to go to the store cause I have some errands that need ran. Joy! Here is a link to a few more pictures of our snow day :)
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