Me and My Gang....

So the concert was Friday night and I know you are all on the edge of your seats dying to know how it was. Well it was freaking awesome that's how. Did you think I would say anything different! We ate at Chili's before we went and were still sitting there at 7:30, the concert was at 8! lol So after I went in the back to find our waitress so we could pay we high tailed it out of there and only missed a few songs in Jason Aldean's set. He was good too. I really enjoyed dancing like a fool by myself to "Johnny Cash" and "Hicktown"
Then out came Rascal Flatts kicking off the concert with "Me and My Gang" Great way to get us rockin. They had a stage set up in the center of the arena (I want to know where it was last time cause we would have been soooo close to it) and they all sat there and sung songs that weren't released as singles but were on their albums, not the ones I would have chosen but still I like the songs and then they sang one from the upcoming album (in stores tomorrow). The songs are all really good but it was a long stretch of slow. Then Joe Don for some reason played "Somewhere over the Rainbow" on electric guitar. I love the song, it was a pretty cool version, but I really didn't see the point overall and could have done without it. Last time we went he sung "Friends in Low Places" during his "alone time" on stage. Much more interesting. They sang the song "He Ain't the Leavin Kind" off their Me and My Gang album and at the end brought out members of the US Marines. It was really nice. When they finally got to "Stand" it was much harder than I thought. I honestly thought that I had spun the songs to see them in a positive light so I wouldn't get sad at the concert. Well, that didn't happen. To my happiness Chandra was boo hooing right along with me which then made Barbara start too. Who would have thought she'd have been the stong one! lol I am sure there were many people who thought we were insane but that song means alot, what can you do. Jenna was definatley missed but I couldn't help but feel like she was with us!
The concert I went to 2 years ago was better but this one was still awesome! My pictures are awful though. UGG. I guess I should just be happy I got some since I got none last time. After the concert we went and kept the Melting Pot open till all hours of the night, I am sure they were thrilled! lol It was yummy though :) Thanks for a fun night girls! Here are the rest of the Pictures.

Time to fess up!

I have this new sitemeter on my blog, which isn't doing what I actually wanted it to do but it is giving me interesting info! Some of that is WHERE people are who are reading my blog, as in City and State. I must say that ALOT of these places I have never even heard of so now I am more curious than ever to who actually reads this blog. I write dumb stuff for myself forgetting sometimes that it is available for all to see. Now I want to know who all is seeing it. Don't worry I will continue to write and bore the crap out of you! LMBO I am just easing my curiosity! Even if I don't know you I want responses. Seems like alot of people look at this thing but not alot are commenting! Now is the time, time to FESS UP if you are indeed a lurker on here! :) It is not hard to comment people so I want to see some names in the comment section of this post! I love it!

Take Me There!

To the Rascal Flatts concert that is! I love their new single Take Me There and can't wait to see it LIVE! We now have just 4 days left till the show! Time has flown by this time and I can't believe the day is almost here! Jason Aldean is opening for them and I really like his music too so it will be an awesome show. Hope our seats are as good as we think they are! This time my camera is coming with me! I can't wait!!! Oooh and their new cd comes out in 8 days!! (the 25th) Click here to watch the NEW video for Take Me There :)

Hello Fresh Air

Our weather here has been beautiful!! I am so excited to have my air conditioner off and my windows open! I do think that by doing this I am messing with mine and Kaylee's allergies though. It seemed that we were never going to get a break from the 100+ temps we were having but it is official and fall weather has arrived. I have already been eyeing the mums and pumpkins! I can't wait till the pumpkin patches start opening in another 2 weeks! I bought Kaylee's Halloween costume 2 weeks ago and Mykenzie has filled me in on who she wants to be and surprise it is another Disney Princess! Kaylee is gonna be Princess Dora. Princesses are cute but I would love if they would pick something else for a change! I hope that these temps last for a long time before winter starts setting in, I don't like to be cold but 60 in the morning and ending at 80 is PERFECT!!

No more hospitals!

Both Coby and Ryan are home and doing well! Thanks for the prayers :)

Prayers

Please take some time to stop and pray for Rachel's 9 day old baby Coby. Rachel has been my best friend for 27 years (our whole lives) for those who don't know. Coby is in the hospital today with meningitis. The doctors aren't sure if it is viral or bacterial but they are treating him as if it is bacterial just in case. He will be in the hospital for at least the weekend. The doctors say that he is eating well and his fever has gone now so those are both very positive signs. But meningitis is scary enough in an adult let alone a 9 day old newborn baby. I know they would appreciate any prayers they can get for him. Say one for Rachel and Jacob too, I am sure they are scared out of their minds right now.

As if having Coby in the hospital isn't bad enough, Chandra's son Ryan is also in the hospital today with low oxygen levels. Pray for him that he gets better quickly and gets out of there. This unfortunatley has happened before with him and it isn't as bad as it has been in the past so that is a good sign but I am sure some prayers surely can't hurt.

Where do they learn this stuff

So I made Kaylee some macaroni and cheese for lunch like I do so many days since she is obsessed with it. Well I am straining the water and the steam is billowing over top the sink. She starts fake coughing and says "oh mom, all that fog is making me choke!" Ok so I know it isn't fog, but it makes sense for a 3 year old to think that it is. BUT how does she know what fog is to begin with?? She has been in school for a total of 6 days and I haven't taught her about fog. I am sure I have mentioned the word in her presence but how does she know what it is?? It is amazing to me the things that kids know without being taught, just observing.

Mykenzie found a new website to play on yesterday, I forget what it is called but it is through PBS. I helped her sign up for it and let her play for a little bit before dinner last night. When it was time to eat she came down stairs and proudly announces that she has already learned something from the site. "Ears help you balance!"

I guess they pick things up everywhere. It is just so funny to see them turn into little people, learning new things about the world :)

Babies Babies everywhere!

It has been a constant thing with my playgroup for the past 2 years. There is always at least 3 people pregnant and has been up to like 8 at a time! It is nuts. The trend continues on there but also with my friends back in Ohio. Rachel just had her 3rd last week!! Congratulations guys! Beth is getting ready to have her baby in about 5-6 weeks! Yay! And some other friends have recently had babies too. Anyone else have any announcements to make?? Mary? I haven't talked to you in a while! lol
Congratulations to all of you who have just had babies or just found out you are expecting! Just don't give me whatever you've all been drinking! lol

Who Knew

*Half of a turkey or cheese sandwich
*A hand full of sliced apples or grapes
*A few cubes of cheddar cheese
*Half a snack size bag of mickey mouse pretzels
*Yogurt
*raisins
*4-5 100 calorie chocolate chip cookies
*Juice Box

These are the things (in different variations) I put in Kaylee's lunch box Tuesday's and Thursday's for school. Ordinary things that she would eat at home but when they are all together in her very own lunch box, suddenly these things transform her into a "big girl" and she is the happiest big girl in the world to hold her lunch box and go off to school. Every morning she wakes up and starts talking about her lunch and what we will put in her lunch box. Who knew lunch would be the cause of so much joy.

Sad

I love this song. The video is stupid but I love the song. It makes me think of Jenna even though it is a love song. Miss ya girl.

I love Pink!

Some of the lyrics that I love, listen to the song....

If someone said 3 years from now, You'd be long gone. I stand up and punch them out! Cause their all wrong.....

When someone said count your blessings now, before their all gone, I guess I just didn't know how. I was all wrong

I'll keep you locked in my head, until we meet again. I wont forget you my friend, what happened...

But I keep your memory, you visit me in my sleep, but darlin, who knew

Some People!!!!!! Buyer Beware! cussing invovled

OMG I think I have steam coming out my ears right now! I am furious with a person that I have never even met! On July 28th I ordered a cell phone charm off ebay of an orange ribbon (leukemia awareness) I got it via the Buy it Now option. With shipping my total was only $3.50, so it wasn't alot of money but it is the principal of the whole thing. So 3 and a half weeks later and 3 emails, VERY polite emails at that, later and I have not heard a word about my order nor have I received it. So I sent the following email to her...

"This will be my 4th email that I have sent. I am really trying to work hard to resolve the issues that I am having without leaving you negative feedback. It is clear to me after reading your feedback that you really don't like getting anything negative. I would prefer not to have to give it to you so I keep attempting to contact you so we can get the matter resolved without going through that. It seems as though you sell a lot of stuff and it would be very easy to overlook an order and for that I am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. It has now been 4 days shy of a month (ordered on July 28) since I placed and paid for my order and I still haven't received it or any contact from you with all the attempts that I have made. All I ordered was a simple little cell phone charm for the small price ot $3.50 to show my support for leukemia awareness since I lost one of my very good friends at the age of 35 to the disease. I really wanted to have this charm, and I had planned on sending more business your way since a few friends were interested as well. Now I will just be happy if I ever get the thing. I can't continue to wait forever to not leave negative feedback about never receiving my item so I figure on August 28th which will be a month since I ordered and paid for it, If I don't have it or haven't heard from you, I will have no choice but to leave negative feedback. Please email me at this email addy as soon as you receive this email."

Gets the point across without being too bitchy right?? Well after not hearing anything prior to this email and checking out her feedback where she got very vicious with people who left negative feedback for also not receiving their items, she FINALLY responded and said she would send me a replacement. Well guess what it is weeks later and I still haven't gotten it. Now that my Rascal Flatts tickets are sold (I didn't want negative feedback going into that cause I had to sell them) I get on ebay to finally give this lady the feedback she deserves. Well her store is CLOSED so I can't do it! So I filled a report with PayPal and this time I left a not so nice message to her that sounds a little like this....

"I have contacted you 4-5 times about not receiving this item and never heard anything from you until I threatened to leave negative feedback. At that time you told me you would send me a replacement item or refund my money, neither of which you did. I was very polite and tried to get the situation dealt with in a civil fashion but that obviously got me no where. Shame on you for saying you were giving your money to charity and then ripping multiple people off. I know now that I am not the only person who has not received their merchandise. It is a real shame that there are people like you willing to take advantage of others. You should hang your head in shame and embarrassment."


Yes, I know I was a bitch but I was pissed. So then here is what that Bitch said back to me along with my refund....

"first of all our store is closed and we did not get any other messages then the ones we replied to. You couldn't even give us feedback if you tried so we are not threatened by that. We closed the store for lack of profit. And you are the only one complaining about your item right now. I will not attempt another delivery for I have already sent 2 with postal proof I also can fight this claim because I have postal proof but unlike you I am not rude. I will refund you immediately even though I do not have to. Please do not contact me again or I will file harrassment."

Harassment!!!! WTF ever Bitch. I would LOOOOOOVE to see that postal proof. Bull shit she sent it to me twice and I never got it! So to all of you ebay shoppers BEWARE just because you see a 99.9% rating still go and read feedback! I would have NEVER ordered from this woman if I would have known how she spoke to people and how many people never received their order. The only reason she had that rating is because when people left negative feedback she bullied them until they "mutually withdrew" their feedback so that kept her percentage up. Just because the percentage is up and feedback withdrawn, you can still read what was said. Do your research always on people before buying from them. All that venting you would think I'd feel better but I don't! I am still MAD but the venting is over

Well, don't I feel productive

Today was the first day that Kaylee was in school and I actually came home and did nothing out of the house. I got some exercise in this morning. Oh yeah you heard me right. Now lets just see how long it lasts! lol Then I tackled the stopped up bathroom sink and got it fixed FINALLY! It is so nice not to have the water take forever to drain. I got my bathroom and bedroom looking so nice, I think I let them get so messy just cause it makes me feel so good after I get them looking so pretty. Well, that's my story anyhow! lol I got a bunch of laundry done and put away and I scrubbed the girls bathroom. It is amazing how much you can get done when you aren't interrupted a million times. I kept forgetting she wasn't here though and kept trying to be quiet and I almost didn't go in her room and put her clothes away because I was thinking she was taking a nap! I wish she was in school tomorrow now too so I could finish cleaning my upstairs. I need to get it all done tomorrow anyhow though cause I have big plans of carpet scrubbing this weekend! I am gonna procrastinate a little bit though and take Kaylee to a playdate so she can have some fun.
We had the big dreaded teacher conference today after school to find out why Mykenzie is continuously getting notes home that she isn't getting her work done in class and that she isn't using her "time management" well. I was sick of getting notes so I went in to see what the problem was. She said that Mykenzie is smart and is capable of doing all of the work that is put in front of her and she is fairly convinced that her biggest problem is the kid that was sitting next to her. She moved her yesterday morning away from that particular boy and she had no problems today or yesterday with getting stuff done. The teacher said that she was hoping that Mykenzie would help the boy get a handle on what he was supposed to be doing but the opposite happened and he was making her do things she wasn't supposed to be doing. She also said that she has started to take a better approach to her work and has been asking for help when she needs it and asking what she is missing. So hopefully the conversation I had with her on Tuesday night helped her realize that what was going on was not acceptable and the threat of not being able to be in girl scouts this year I am sure helped a little too. lol But mainly getting her away from this major distraction, I mean boy will help tremendously. So hopefully no more notes home!! I told the teacher that Mykenzie was concerned that she was going to get yelled at if she got out of her seat to ask a question and she said she would make sure that she talked with her about it individually as well as to the class about how that is what she is there for. So that is good and may help someone else in the class as well. I am feeling much better about the situation than I was the other day. She still has some things to work on but they are normal 2nd grade issues so I am not worried. Whew!

Oops

I just found this post that never made it past draft stages... I wrote it in April but intended to add more to it. Well I never did and now it is too late but I am posting it now anyhow. I had already forgotten about it because she no longer says these things. They change to quickly, I can't keep up!

Kaylee has been saying funny things these days so I wanted to make a post to share them all.

She loves Tinker Bell, and after going to Disney she got to see alot more of her but also of Peter Pan and Captain Hook. She doesn't call them by those names though she refers to them at Tinker Pan and Tinker Hook. It is too cute hearing her say it.

I informed her that when her diapers are gone she has to start wearing pull ups and panties and going pee and poop in the potty. She has refused to wear either of those up till now but she needs to start if she is ever going to be potty trained sooo, while at Target I let her pick some out. She chose Disney Princesses over Dora (she is growing up..sniff)
When we got home she was carrying the package around and showed Mykenzie and told her "Look sissy, these are my giant panties" So now pull ups are giant panties at our house! lol

It has been brought to my attention....

That the link I had for Kaylee's birthday pictures wasn't working. Just in case anyone else wanted to see them and couldn't the link has been fixed. You can either scroll down or look on the left side of your screen under August and click Kaylee's Birthday pictures to see them :)

"Mommy! You're Here!"

My baby started preschool today! I have been so excited about this all summer long but when the moment actually came that I had to turn and leave her in that class room I wondered what in the world I was thinking! She is my BABY! Of course I know she will be fine and she will love every minute of it, for me it is hard to think that she is growing up. She went in and sat at the table and started on a puzzle, I took a few pictures and then gave her a kiss and told her I was leaving. She gave me a quick hand wave and said "Bye Mom" and that was it. She was instantly transformed into a big girl. She is growing up so quickly! She peed in the potty this morning twice before school started and she must have went at school as well because she came home dry with all of her pull ups still in her backpack.

This morning before we left I packed her backpack with all of the things she needed for the day, her rest towel and her pink blanket to sleep with, a change of clothes just in case and her pull ups and wipes. I got all of that stuff in and just looked at it trying to figure out how in the world I was going to fit her lunch box and folder in as well. After some rearranging I managed to get the lunch box in and told her she would have to carry her folder. I helped her get it onto her back and as soon as I let go she tumbled backwards because the thing was too heavy!LOL It was so funny! Luckily they get to leave their towels at school so we wont have to do that everyday!!! They almost kept her pink blanket too, thank the Lord that I realized we were missing that, or tonight would have been a nightmare! Her teachers are Ms. Nikki and Ms. Kelly and they said that she did really good today and was 1 of only 3 kids who fell asleep at nap time! They had a little birthday party for the August birthdays (there are a ton in her class) so she was really excited that she got to have another bday party! When I got there the kids were all wearing conductor hats and standing on the carpet looking at books. I had to say her name twice before she finally saw me and when she did she ran to me and gave me a hug and said "Mommy! You're Here!" She had a great day and loves her new school. I am glad that I decided to put her in this year but I definitely miss not having her with me. I am sure I will find plenty to do in my free time though ;-) Enjoy the pics of her first day. Click Here

Sick Girls

I have some sick kiddos the past few days. Mykenzie had a fever Tuesday night for about 3 hours and it went away so she went to school Wednesday. Then Wednesday Kaylee got a fever, it ended up peaking at 103.4 Wednesday night and by the time I got it to break Mykenzie started running a fever again!!!! UGG So Kaylee's went away and never came back but Mykenzie's lasted until Saturday, so no school for her Thursday and Friday. They both went to the doctor Friday and Mykenzie just had a virus and Kaylee's croup is back (she just had it on the 9th). So Mykenzie is better and is back to school, Kaylee is on nebulizer treatments as well as an oral steroid and she is doing so much better now, so unless there is a big change she will go ahead and be able to attend her first day of preschool tomorrow! We are going to meet her teacher tonight.

Whew!

I tell ya, I have had a busy month! I am a stay at home mom so my life generally isn't go go go all the time. Between birthdays and school starting, school shopping, kids being sick, my air conditioner breaking, nights out with my girl friends and just everyday stuff I need a rest! lol I can't figure out how working moms do it!

Mykenzie had a sleepover last night with Barbara's girls. This is the first time she has had any friends stay over and she was so excited! They all seemed to have a really good time. We watched High School Musical 2, yeah baby! Well I kinda watched they ran and jumped and danced! lol It was fun though. We were up till 11:15 playing board games and then I sent them off to bed where they quickly fell asleep :) Mykenzie was a grouch today due to lack of sleep for the week, but she had a bday party for one of her friends from girl scouts to go to, so there was no rest for her. It was at one of the places where you paint your own pottery. She had a good time painting her horse and playing with the kids.

Tomorrow we are gonna get up and go to the pool before it gets too hot (it was 112 degrees according to my car today) and then it is a day of REST!!! I'd skip the pool and stay in my pj's if I could but they have been begging to go to the pool so I suppose we should take them. Next week I don't have alot planned but I am sure that will quickly change and the following week begins my freedom! Oh yeah, my baby gets to go to MDO (mom's day out) Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have so many things I want to do during those hours, go to the gym, read, work on my scrapbooks, hang out with friends, do my shopping in peace, help out at Mykenzie's school, ect. ect. I just don't think I will have enough hours to get it all done. I have to take advantage though, my years of staying at home are quickly coming to an end. AHHHH

Now it is almost 9pm and I am old so I am gonna go read myself to sleep! :) Good Night

Bummer

Well I am finished. I have finally caught up with the Stephanie Plum series and now and am suffering from withdrawls! lol I have a ton of authors that I want to check out between now and next summer when #14 comes out, but I am still sad that I am done with Stephanie for now :) If anyone out there has suggestions on books I'd be happy to hear them. I don't want sad stuff right now. I am not in the mood to be sad. I want light hearted funny books that leave me feeling happy :) Bring them on people.

Look at me!

I am on a roll! 4 posts in two days! Woo Hoo Plus I finished #12 of the Stephanie Plum series and am half way through Plum Lovin'. My house on the other hand looks like a tornado went through it and if you want something clean to wear, uh yeah just forget about it! I'll do it eventually

Out of the mouth of a 3 year old

So Mykenzie and Kaylee were fighting the other day over a toy (BIG SURPRISE) and Kaylee has a pretty big temper, she looks at Mykenzie and starts wagging her finger at her shouting "This is ridiculous sissy! You give me that Right now! This is ridiculous!" I was laughing so hard hearing her say the word ridiculous to yell at Mykenzie.
She looks sweet and innocent and sometimes she is. We went and picked Mykenzie up from her first FULL day of school and we pulled into the garage and Kaylee looked at her and said, "I'm so glad you back sissy" It was so sweet and I think it made Mykenzie's day. Nice to know they like each other with all the fighting that has been going on these days :)

Yes, that is what it says!!!

For those of you asking about the shirt I am wearing in the picture, this is what it looks like...




Pretty much sums up my feelings

Awesome Weekend and First Day of School

I had such a great weekend! I guess it was making up for my week being completely ruined by my kids getting sick! Friday night I went to Meredith's house for Bunco. We had a great turn out and we had such a great time that we ended up staying till about 1:30am! All the money that we pay to play was counted at the end of the night and our total was $200!! All of that money is for the Jurgens family so it is awesome!

Saturday morning was time for Rascal Flatts ticket buying mode. Chandra, Barbara and I were all poised at our computers and ready to go. I was the first one in and my seats were section 118 Row EE, Chandra was next and hers were section 208!!! So we hurried and bought the ones that I had. Once the transaction was complete we of course kept searching, we really weren't finding anything better, until Travis got on and he found us section 114 (which is right by the stage)seats are a little higher up than the others but still we'd be closer. So we bought those too! Now I have 8 tickets to the concert and have to sell 4 of them!!! Wish me luck, or call me if you are interested. They were $311.50 for 4 tickets :)


After that was finished we all went to Opry Mills to pick up some last minute back to school stuff, I finally found Mykenzie some tennis shoes and I got myself a pair of black shoes that Travis HATES! He hasn't been liking any of the shoes I've been bringing home! lol I like them, so that's too bad I suppose. I also racked up at The Children's Place! I got Kaylee 6 shirts (2 of them long sleeve), Mykenzie got 2 shirts and 2 pairs of jeans and my total was $78 but after my coupons I only paid $48!!! She let me stack coupons, I have no idea if she was allowed to or not but I really don't think so, but hey I'll take it!!!

Sunday we went and had lunch and then went to Mykenzie's open house at her school. This is her new school that literally just got finished Friday! It is beautiful on the outside! The inside is super nice. They have huge flat screens in each class room. Her class has 6 new Mac. computers and MP3 players (not sure why). There is so much space in there it is amazing! The school she has been at was so small and this one is just wonderful in comparison. The library is gorgeous too, it doesn't look like it belongs in a elementary school! We got to meet her teacher. She actually called on Friday to talk to Mykenzie and let her know who she was. She seems really nice so hopefully we have a great year. She is older though and we haven't had an older teacher yet so I wonder how different it will be. There are only a couple of kids that she knows so she was a bit nervous going into class today.
Our morning went pretty well for us considering we really haven't gotten up and gotten moving that early all summer. Kaylee was horribly whiny but she is fine now. I walked her in to school today cause there was no way she would have remembered which way to go. I was gonna do carpool line tomorrow but I think I will walk her in tomorrow as well. I forgot to take pictures this morning!! She was pretty happy I left my camera at home though once we got to school. I may just bring it tomorrow though! lol I will at least get a pic in front of the house. Now we are gonna find something to do to pass the next couple of hours till we go pick Mykenzie up. It is only a half day today so we don't have long. Tomorrow I will take Kaylee and do something fun since Mykenzie will be in school all day long.

Kaylee's Birthday Pictures

Here are some pictures from Kaylee's birthday :) Click Here

Happy Birthday to Kaylee

Today is Kaylee's 3rd birthday! I can't believe she is this big already!! She had a great day starting with daddy going to get her donuts for breakfast! After eating she opened all of her gifts. She got a Leapster and some games and a few other little toys. We all got ready and headed out to Chuck E Cheese, where she got a crown and balloon which was very exciting for a 3 year old! We all enjoyed playing all the new games they have and ended up blowing through 230 tokens!!! Yikes! We got over 1400 tickets though and Kaylee got to pick some cool prizes. We headed to Walmart to pick up the cake we ordered and came home and sung happy birthday, and Kaylee joined in on singing to her! lol Then it was time to eat cake and play! We were going to go to the pool but it is too hot out to even go swimming!! She had a wonderful day, and on Wednesday she will get to celebrate again with some friends! I will upload pictures and post them soon.

What do you think?

I finally upgraded to the new blogger and decided that since I lost all my info anyhow I may as well change the look. I hope everyone likes it. Just felt like it was time for a change. Please notice that to the left hand side you can find all of the links to anything concerning the Light the Night walk. There is a link you can follow to make a donation directly to Jenna's husband and children or there are links to donate to Light the Night and to sponsor me in the walk. I forgot to mention in my last Light the Night post that if you are in need of renewing a magazine or just wanted to subscribe to a new one if you do it through the link on your left 40% of the proceeds go to our teams fundraising efforts for the Light the Night walk. There is also a Thank you section to shout out to those who have already donated. Let me know what you think of the new look :)

One Month

I am not sure how but I have managed to survive this month. I can not believe that a month has already gone by since we lost Jenna. Things are ever so slightly easier than they were and I know that it will get even easier with time but I wish we could fast forward to then. Lately I have found that I am angry more than anything. Angry that a wonderful person who would have done anything to live is gone and so many horrible people will live on to an old age. Angry that this wonderful mother who fought with every ounce of her strength to stay alive for her children is gone but I know people who now are speaking of suicide and not appreciating their life at all. Why would God take Jenna rather than one of them?? Angry with anyone who says or does something that seems the slightest bit insensitive. I know that people don't mean to do and say things that are hurtful but that is how they come across when your heart is already hurting so much. Angry with people for moving on with their lives, it is so hard to see that life is moving forward without her. I have been saying that I am still in denial and I am happy there. I can take myself to a place in my mind that allows me to just pretend for a little while. Unfortunately I am finding out the hard way that I am reliving losing her and experiencing that horrible pain that I felt the day that she left us, over and over again every time something happens to snap me back into reality. I am trying to find a way to stay here now rather than in my fantasy world but I am telling you, my fantasy is much better.

Barbara and I spent the entire day together today, we thought that it would be better if we weren't spending the day alone with our thoughts. We talked and laughed and cried about Jenna as we always do when we are all together, but today especially it was nice to have someone to talk to. I am thankful to have her and Chandra (who we so missed having with us today) as my friends and I am thankful to have had Jenna in my life, without her I would have been alone these past few years that I have lived in TN.

Thank you Jenna for being my friend and for bringing me into your circle of close friends, you gave me a greater gift than you can ever imagine. I miss you and I love you. I pray everyday that you are at peace and happy in Heaven. Every time it rains Mykenzie swears it is you crying because you are sad and I hope that if she is right, and you are crying, that you are crying tears of joy. Joy, because you look down on those who love you and you see what a mark you made on their lives. That you see how much you have inspired so many people and that you have taught us all to live our lives to the fullest and appreciate every day that we have here and how lucky we all are, even when it seems like everything is going wrong. Kaylee keeps asking to come to your house and see you. She tells me at least every other day that she wants to "go to Jemma's house to play" or "I wanna go see Jemma." Yes she is still calling you Jemma, though I miss the beginning when it was Jemmy! lol I just can't bring myself to try and explain to an almost 3 year old why we can't go, so I just hug her tight and tell her "I know, I want to go see Jemma and play too" We all miss you and think about you always, cause you touched us all and gave us your love. We will forever love you

Light the Night

Jenna's friends here in TN have come together to do the Light the Night walk in memory of Jenna. If you have not heard of it before, Light the Night is an annual walk set up to raise money to find better treatments and cures for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. This holds a very special place in our hearts, especially now and we want to do our part to support the cause and hopefully, one day find a cure to these awful diseases. I am on here to encourage you to participate in a walk near you or to donate today! The Nashville walk will be October 18th. If you would like to sponsor me (please sponsor me!) follow the link below even if it is only $5, every little bit helps take us one step closer to curing these diseases so no one else has to suffer a loss from them. We had been hoping to take this walk this year with Jenna by our side, cured. We had discussed it last year when Jenna was first diagnosed and we all believed that is how it would be. God apparently had another plan for Jenna. Though I think it should have been our way instead, I am trying not to question Him. We will walk on, for Jenna. We will do our part and I hope you will join a group or donate and do your part too. I love you Jenna

Sponsor Jacy in the walk here

Check out our team page here

Read more about Light the Night and find a local chapter near you here

To read more about the wonderful person we are walking in memory of please check here and here

If you would like to order a magazine follow this link and 40% of the sale will go to our teams total for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society

Our front flower beds before and after

So Sore

Yesterday we totally ripped out everything in my front flower beds. They were such a mess! The stuff was so over-grown and for some stupid reason we bought ground cover, well it worked and it covered the ground! LOL It looked awful! So we tore it up. Then we went and bought a bunch of new stuff and got it all planted. Travis is at the store buying new mulch now and then we will be finished with it. In the mean time I feel like I was hit by a truck. My entire body hurts! I have every intention of taking it easy today and just having a lazy day with the kids, well after we spread the mulch that is! lol

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.
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcuWTNo2bNGqt

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.