Bad Blogger

I've been a bad blogger lately, B.A.D! Bad! It's not that there is nothing going on in my world .... it's that there is TOO much going on in my world. 3 kids, school for 2 of them, tea dates with a princess, errands, house to clean, friends to see, time with God and time with my man leave me little to no time to sit down and chronicle what is going on in our world. In fact life has been so busy that I have not picked up my camera to take pictures of my 3 in over a month .... gasp ... did I just say that? Yes, I did and sadly it's true!

We are just in a crazy busy stage right now ... but in just a few days life will pause for about 7 days while my man and I get away for a few days. The in-loves are coming in to care for my 3 while Jer and I get some much needed R&R! To say I'm looking forward to it would be an understatement!

So I'll see y'all on the flipside! Sorry the blog has been so non-existent lately ... I'll work on that when we return. Have a great day y'all!

Thanksgiving Vacation

Last week we went on Vacation! It was wonderful! We had 7 days of rest and relaxation and 2 days of jammed, packed crazy fun ... all in all 9 days of priceless memories! We finished our photos for our Christmas card and I can't show the pictures until they go out in the mail ... don't want you to see them before you receive them. But the picture to the left was just a fun out take from one of our photo sessions.

We were able to go to the beach, visit with family, swim, see Santa and a few other surprises as well ... it was a MUCH needed week off! We also went to a place on the beach that had dancing lights ... very cool!

It was fun to just hang with the kids and Jeremy! No agendas, no meetings, no schedule to adhere to ... just down time! That's what I call a nice vacation! Hope you all had a wonderful week and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Home

We made it back to land thankfully and unlike Titanic our ship did not go down, thank you Lord. We had a great time and we were able to relax and unwind. We sure did miss the kids ... this post is quick and short because we are about to go get them up from naps and play with them. 4 days of no play has seriously challenged this momma's heart!

I'll have a post later that will be more meaningful than this one. Jeremy and I chewed on a book while we were away ... We only read a couple of chapters out of it because it's a thick piece of book meat ... it needed chewing on instead of a fast read. If any of you out there haven't read Crazy Love Book ... I encourage you to run to your closest store and buy it ... seriously ... RUN NOW. It will rock your world!

A getaway

Jeremy and I are headed on a get away .... we are cruising again to the Bahamas! We leave today and will be back on Friday. Cannot wait to have a little downtime. Hopefully, when we return we will have some house news that we can share with everyone... we are so looking forward to hearing that bit of news. If you think of it say a prayer that the bank will accept our short sale offer!!

Oh well, off to finish packing and get ready to head to the ship. I have a post brewing in my mind about something but you will have to wait until I get back to hear about it :) I know the anticipation is killing you isn't it????

Have a great week peeps! Talk to you all when we return!



oh and PS ... if you want to be among the first to find out what's brewing in my crazy mind ... just click the follow me button to your right and it will show up to you first .... it's like my special little fan club :) hahahaha

Photos from our cruise

Here are a few pictures from our cruise ... enjoy!

We are back ...

We made it back from our cruise! It was fun ... even though we got no sleep thanks to the fraternity boys that surrounded us.

We aren't looking forward to the cold weather that awaits us at home and the boys want to move in with their grandparents. When we got back yesterday, Ryan asked us if we could move in with Poppa and Jojo. They lived in the pool while we were gone and had a blast! Not sure they are ready for the cold weather either!

Hope you all are well and I look forward to catching up with you!

We made it!

We made it! It wasn't that bad but definitely not as good as the last time we made this trip and Kennedy was younger. She's not so fond of sitting in her carseat for 12 1/2 hours ... I have no idea why! :)

All in all it was a good trip and we are so happy to be here. We left snow to gorgeous sun! I'm looking outside and a sparkling pool and look forward to seeing them play in it soon.

Everyone is at work today, including Jeremy, so it is just the kids and I here at my in-loves. We are looking forward to seeing some other family soon!

Kennedy is doing great with Poppa and Jojo. She didn't have a good nights sleep last night but I'm hoping that's because of all the sleep she didn't get on the drive down. I'm a firm believer that sleep begets sleep so we are hoping that tonight is much better after a full day of naps on schedule! I'm also hoping that the separation anxiety is a non issue! She seems to be doing pretty well so far. Today will be the tell tell since she was so tired and out of her routine when we arrived ... I think she would have let anyone hold her just not to have to be in that car seat a minute longer :) However, I do think she remembers them and that makes my heart glad!

Well that is about all from us! Hope you all are doing great!

Oh what a week!

This has just been a glorious week! This is how it went down ...

Monday: We took Kennedy to the doctor and came home to wash clothes and pack to leave on Tuesday. Put the kids down at 7:30 and at 9 Ryan woke up throwing up. Fun times! We let him sleep in our room and he didn't throw up again.

Tuesday: Ryan woke up happy as a bird on a spring morning and had no signs of being sick. The boys went to school. I had my bi-weekly mom's Bible study at my home. We ended and Jeremy and I rushed to the boys school to have thanksgiving lunch with them. All of us ate yummy food with both classes and then came home and put the final touches on our van. We headed for my parents house. Made it there safely and had dinner with my parents, brother, future sister-in-law and her grandmother.

Wednesday: Everyone woke up and the day started normal. Jeremy began feeling sick and the rest went down hill from there for him. I felt soooo bad for him because the next day was thanksgiving and I can't tell you how much my hubby loves to eat. He can eat a house and loose weight. So being sick on such a wonderful eating holiday was not top on his list. He spent the evening between the couch and the bathroom. The rest of us spent the evening playing hand and foot while the kids were sleeping. My grandfather even played ... great memories were made!

Thursday: Thanksgiving day! My brother shows up and puts new batteries in a 20 year old 4-wheeler that was once his. He presented this to my boys and it was hard to get them off of it. They were having a ball! We had a wonderful lunch while my hubby only nibbled ... he still wasn't feeling well. It was sad! Thursday night my dad begins getting sick ... not the same kind of sick Jeremy was but his throat was sore and he was just in general wasn't feeling well. Could have been the fact that for two nights he was up most of the night in the cold smoking hams and turkeys and got very little sleep. Kennedy did not sleep well ... we forgot the humidifier and she was congested.

Friday: My grandparents took us all out for breakfast before they returned home. My brother and Theresa along with her grandmother headed for Theresa's parents home for thanksgiving with them. We all headed back to my parents. Jeremy worked, the boys napped, I napped with Kennedy. That night I was able to go out with a couple of dear friends from High school .. fun times! Kennedy did not sleep well as she was congested again. I wound up holding her as I sat in bed for most of the night = no sleep for Jeremy and no sleep for me! fun times!

Saturday: We load up and leave my parents house. We get half way home and Pace gets sick in the car. We had to stop and clean him up ... car stinks by the way ... their suitcase was at the bottom of the mountain of stuff we have to take with us on a trip so he sat in his diaper with a blanket the rest of the ride home. He's not sick ... he just gagged himself ... fun times! We tried to leave in time to make it home for the GA/GA Tech game but we didn't do so hot on the timing! We arrived home hoping to be able to finish out the 3rd and 4th quarters of the game only to find a few things ... our smoke detectors were going off LOUDLY and the GA game wasn't even on here! UGH! We tried E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. to get those things to stop going off and even with all the power off to our house they were still going off. FINALLY we got them off ... as we were calling friends looking for an electrician that we can't afford! We shower and decide to go to church so we can sleep in tomorrow morning and rest. We go to church ... great service ... only to come home to chirping smoke detectors! Jeremy had already put new batteries in each and every one. UGH ... we try resetting them only to make them sound the sirens again. Finally got them off once again and we hope they will not sound during the night nor will they chirp.

It's been a crazy week to say the least ... but it has also been a good week. I am so thankful that my parents, grandparents, Aunt, cousin, brother, future sister in law, and her grandmother were able to be around for several days. It was fun being around family since we do not get to be around family that often.

I'm thankful that we have a house to come home to ... even if we are a little annoyed with it right now.

I'm thankful for sleep and hope that we get some tonight! So if by chance you are reading this tonight .... pray for us! :) And pray that we wont need an electrician or hotel tonight :)

Home!

We made it home! It was a bear of a ride! Long drives are just hard on little ones. They did awesome on the way down last week but coming back home was another story!

We had a wonderful time with family. It's always great to spend time with Jeremy's side of the family. He has 2 aunts/uncles and cousins who live near his parents as well as his Grandma. So we were able to visit with all of them and it is always a blast! I wish we all lived closer to each other!

Several have e-mailed to ask how Kennedy is doing .... well, it's still up and down. I *think* I have it figured out we will see this week if things improve. During the eating strike where we figured out that she had rectal stenosis, I believe my supply dropped significantly. Because of this she wasn't able to have a BM since she wasn't getting enough to eat and so the cycle continued even after being "fixed" from the rectal stenosis. This week we began topping her off with formula and that was just a bear. She wasn't doing well with both at one feeding. So we have made a HARD decision, hard for me at least. I have been emotional about it all week. However, it's what needs to happen to make her happy. I'm going to go to nursing her every other feeding and at the feedings where she is not nursed we will give her a bottle. I really was hoping to be able to nurse her longer than this as I know that my supply will do nothing but go down from here and pretty soon she will be completely on formula. Let me just say that I'm not against formula ... I just wanted to be able to nurse her. Since she is my last baby, I wanted that experience longer than I've gotten it. My prayer is that my supply will stick for the feedings where she will be nursing so I can have those few times to nurse her still. We will see what happens.

Well, we are tired and the boys are down for a nap. I'm going to feed the Kster and take a nap myself!

Packing up ...

The car is partially packed and we are heading home tomorrow morning. It should be a fun ride! :)

The boys went to their first ever football game tonight. It was so fun! Ryan and Pace wound up in the concession stand with Aunt Cathy helping her serve the students and parents who would come up. Ryan would tell everyone ... "thank you for your business. Come again" to each person as they would leave. So Cute! And on top of the concession stand fun ... the team we were rooting for won!!! It was a nail bitter to the end. Such a good game!

Jeremy and his dad are filling the car up with gas and getting some Coldstone ice cream .... oh peeps there's no other way to say good-bye than over a good cup of coldstone!

Talk to y'all later!

On Vacation

On vacation and having a ball! Love the way they love each other!

We made it!!

For those of you wondering we made it to Jeremy's parents! We are so happy to be here. Kennedy did wonderful on the drive down ... if only the boys did that great when they were that little!! Heck, if only they did that great yesterday :) We drove in about 11:45pm last night and got to sleep until a whopping 6:30 am! The boys are outside playing around the pool and dying to get in! Maybe later today.

Thanks Karen and Chad for having dinner with us! It was GREAT to see you guys and it has definitely been too long!

Talk to the rest of you peeps later! I'm sure I'll have some great pics and stories to post soon!

Home again!

We are home again! Glad to be here and very tired!

Can't believe that we saw gas for $4.99 at one point and 5 miles further down the road it was $4.19 then about 45 miles later it was $3.99 ... we filled up there! We haven't quite figured out what it is here yet since the gas station near our home is out of gas.

A favorite picture

My boys were with their grandparents last week and had a ball. From what I hear they were all about the pool ... ALL OF THE TIME! This is one of my favorite pictures from their week with Jeremy's parents.

I hear them ...

Our boys aren't here this week. They are having a blast with one set of grandparents and loving every minute of the pool in their backyard. Ryan has asked each of us separately could we have a pool in our backyard. My in-loves are telling me that they are having a hard time keeping our boys out of the pool. They are in heaven. Even if my in-loves didn't have a pool they would be in heaven ... they love spending time with both sets of grandparents. This excites me. I was always so close to my grandparents and Jeremy to his grandparents. I love that my boys enjoy being around both sets ... sadly they all live far away from us so we make the most of every opportunity when around them.

Well back to the title of this post ... they aren't here but I hear them. I know that's strange or maybe it's not. When they should be asleep, I swear I can hear Pacer's dog rattle or hear Ryan get up and go potty. However, they are not here to do those things. I miss them so much! We talk to them often and I love hearing the excitement in their voices over what they have done or are going to do.

Since they have been gone I think about our life before kids ... it was much more simple. No diaper bags to pack before leaving the house, no sippy cups to fill, no curfew, no baby sitter to tie down, no "why" questions to answer, we could eat out without entertaining two kids and actually hold down a conversation between the two of us .... oh there are so many things that are different. However, we would have missed out on so much had we decided to not have kids. I love the fact that I have to pack a diaper bag, fill sippy cups, answer "why" questions, and entertaining two kids while eating so as not to disrupt those around us. I LOVE having kids! I love everything about them and life is just not the same without them. I miss my hugs and kisses and the unprompted "I love yous" that they give. I can't wait to have them back!

Just wondering ...

Does anyone know where these two little boys went? My boys are growing up way too fast. Oh I look at this picture and just think about how much they are learning and the little boys they have become and the big boys they will be one day. I hope time will slow down a bit so they don't grow too fast on me :) Time flies my friends, time flies!

They are with Jeremy's parents this week and I miss them terribly. They have only been gone 24 hours but I miss those hugs and kisses and all Ryan's silly questions. It's amazingly quiet around here.

We put them in Jeremy's parents car yesterday at 5:30 AM and my Pacer was sitting in his seat with his blanket and lovie waving bye and blowing me kisses. There just seemed something wrong with this picture. My baby was telling me bye ... he shouldn't be able to do that should he? How did he get that old. As they drove off I saw little hands waving bye to us as we stood on our porch and waved back. They shouldn't be this old .... why can't they just stay little?

Missing Mickey!

I was just looking through my Disney pictures and I want to go back! We had a ball, the kids had a ball and well it would be too much fun to return. Maybe the year of a million dreams will come my way and give our family a trip to Disney just because! I'd love for Ryan to be able to meet Tow Mater and McQueen up close and personal. Oh, wouldn't that be fun!

Oh and I miss my boys as well! Like crazy!

A few final Disney Pics

Jer & I at MGM

The whole Crew ... Poppa, Jojo, Pace, Jer, Ryan & I

It was such a fun trip! Thanks Poppa & Jojo for

making it possible. We love you guys!

Magic Kingdom - Day 3

Well, day 3 was our final day. The boys by the middle of this day were starting to break down from no real naps and late nights in bed. We still had an awesome day. The park was a bit more crowded this day as it was Good Friday but we still managed to do all the things we wanted to do for the kids. Now, Jeremy was a bit disappointed as he wanted to ride Space Mountain ... but the stinkin ride wait time was 2 hours. So he and his dad opted not to stand in line and we had already used our fast pass on another ride.

Daddy and Pace waiting in line to ride Buzz Lightyear.

Ryan shoots the laser Gun. He did great for someone who couldn't see what he was shooting. :)

Mommy and Pace riding the carousel.

Waiting in line to ride a ride. Thanks for getting in line with us Poppa :)

Pace kept his 3-D glasses on for a while. Doesn't he look so cute?

The boys with stitch.

Ryan loved meeting Buzz!

I leave you with Ryan's favorite character from the day.

Epcot & MGM - Day 2

Day 2 was spent between Epcot & MGM - Mostly Epcot. I have to tell you that our God did an amazing thing on this day. The weather was forecasting rain for Thursday in Orlando. We began praying that it would rain through the night and NOT during Park hours. And God granted our request. The rain was tapering off as we woke up and by the time we finished breakfast and entered the park ... GONE! Thank you Jesus!!!

Entering the Park ... They had these new sculptures out front of Mickie, Minnie and Goofy .. Really cool!



Riding Nemo the ride. Ryan didn't really want his picture made at all.

For about 2 weeks Jeremy's mom and I had been talking about having lunch in Japan. There is a really cool place where they cook in front of you there and we enjoy eating lunch there. When Jeremy's mom called to make reservations before we ever left their house ... they were booked solid and had been for a while. SO, we kept calling and got the same answers ... booked solid. We decided to just show up and see if they had any open spots for people who just show up .... and wouldn't you know it they did! We got there right as they opened and they sat us right down. So cool!
Ryan and Pace were more interested in putting Cheerios on their forks than they were watching the man cooking in front of us. Those are our boys ... all about food and nothing else :)

We scooted over to MGM and this was the highlight of Ryan's trip. We didn't get there in enough time to get in line so he could get up close and personal with them but he didn't know the difference. He was so excited to just sit and stare at his favorite cars!