After feeling better Saturday and Sunday but still taking it easy, I started on Monday not feeling well. I started running a fever again. I haven't ran any since Thursday night. Ok...now do I have strep? My throat hurt the same it had the previous week with the flu. I couldn't stay awake, and tylenol and motrin was not bringing the fever down.

I headed back to the doctor. I now have a secondary infection. Bronchitis! Lovely!!!!

Started on some Biaxin and she wanted me to start some breathing treatments. I can't stay awake. I have maybe been awake for 4 hours on Monday and maybe 4 today!

I feel so bad. My husband has been great, but I know he is exhausted. He has been getting up taking the kids to school, working, running to go get medicine, taking us the doctor, picking up the kids, and trying to get everyone where they are suppose to be for their afterschool activities.
He is awesome!

I am feeling a little bit better today. I have been sleeping lots. Josh hasn't ran any fever since Thursday evening, but he wasn't 24 hours fever free so he is stayed home again today.

Michael went up to the school to get some of Josh's makeup work so he wouldn't have to so much to do when he got back.

We worked on some of his work, and watched lots of t.v.

We'll Josh has strep and I have the so called "swine flu." I feel like crapt. I hope neither of us share with each other. I got some tamiflu and tussionex and Josh started on some Keflex. Hopefully we will be on the road to recovery!

I subbed the last two days in a classroom full of sick children. Children that have just came back to school after being out the last week, kids that were asking to go see the school nurse, and kids that were checking out.

This morning wasn't a good morning. I felt sick, Josh felt sick. I was on my way to sub for the third day in a row. I started getting nauseous as I drove to drop the kids off at school. Josh was complaining of his stomach hurting. I called Michael at home and told him I was coming back home and wasn't going to work today. I felt sick! I told him I was bringing Josh back with me too. The both of us got home and laid in my bedroom and watched t.v. and slept.

We had lots of time to talk together too with no interruptions. I can't stand when parents don't take the time to listen or play with their kids. Some kids are starving for attention, and it always breaks my heart!

Michael is planning on taking off in the morning and taking me and Josh to the doctor. We are feeling so bad! I hope it is not the flu!!

What a crazy weekend we have had! It has been so much fun though! Each kid had something fun going on!

Jillian got to check out of school early on Friday for her ice skating competition. We went and had her favorite lunch together before she had to be on the ice. Chinese!

I took her to her warm up ice session and we didn't have but 2 hours after that to have her dressed, makeup on and ready to be on the ice for her compulsory part of the competition. Michael picked up the boys from school and met us at the rink. Afterwards, the school was suppose to have their school picnic but it got rained out! We went home and turned in early instead on Friday night.

Saturday was suppose to be Preston's baseball camp with the highschool team. Unfortunately it got rained out. It was sort of nice that it worked out that way. He got to see his sister perform early Saturday morning. She had her new program, new skate dress, and new music! I dressed her at home and did her makeup at home. On the way to the rink I got a few calls requesting help with makeup and hair. Everyone thinks I use to work at a makeup counter or something. They say Jillian's makeup always looks so professional. I told them I like putting makeup on her but I don't wear that much anymore. I think the days of highschool and being a majorette made me not like makeup as much. We use to have to put so much on...we looked like clowns up close.

We got to the rink, I rushed back to the dressing room and did some other girls hair and makeup. At some of the competitions they have vendors set up to braid, or to put hair in buns, or any other hairstyle you like. They usually charge like $20 per head of hair. I swear some of them make $6000 in a 2 day competition. I bet they can't move their arms the next day either.

Jillian went on the ice at 10:15. She looked beautiful! She did have one fall, and I was worried about her catching up with her music. Her program is already so FAST! She caught up and did wonderful! I was a little nervous about her making more mistakes trying to catch up, but she always recovers well! She is so poised! Don't know where she got that from?????

She ended up placing second in her program and 2nd in Friday's compulsory! She did awesome!

Sunday was tricky!

We had kid's needing to be at different places at the same time pretty much. This is where an older sibling that could drive would come in handy or family that lived close by. Thank goodness for friends!!!! Several of us have several kids and no family and we help each other out.

Preston had baseball practice in Helena, Josh had a tournament in Homewood, and Jillian had a very good friend's birthday party at the skating rink.

We dropped Jillian off with her friend's house to ride with him to his party. They have been buddies since kindergarten. This is also a boy that told me that she would have to get married someday Ms. Jennifer! The parents and us are friends. They are from Dothan originally also but a bit older than us. We always go to the peanut festival together and Jillian and Caleb get to ride rides together. I dropped Preston off at his baseball practice with friends that were on that team. The coach's older son is on Josh's tournament team so they were coming to Homewood to catch the end of the double header game so Preston caught a ride ot Homewood with them. I headed to Josh's game. I always somehow get stuck keeping the book! Which I don't mind...especially when I don't have the other kids there to keep an eye on. There are so many younger siblings on Josh's team though it is fun for them when they have these tournament games. They all bring something to do or some toys to share. Josh won one game, and lost the other game by 1. We rushed to pick Jillian up from her so called boy-friends house after Josh's game. She had fun!

It was a great, busy weekend! I love watching my children play with their friends, I love watching them at their activities. I love being around them and wish they would stop growing up so FAST!

I have been subbing each week since school has started! I had planned more home improvement projects, but the extra money is nice too!

I painted the kids bathroom after finishing painting Preston's bedroom. I don't mind painting, but just like quiet while I do it. It is sort of relaxing.....until you get to doing the trim or up at the ceiling. They both look so much better though...so it was so worth it. I hope to work on some more projects around the house as time allows.

Jillian has her ice skating competition next weekend. She is really nervous. I think because she learned her program in 2 days, was off the ice for almost 3 weeks, then only had 2 weeks to come back and practice it. She was off ice for awhile while she recovered from her tonsil surgery then some emergency surgery she had to have done after that surgery. Bless her heart...she was so brave! I am working on stoning her new skate dress! I hope it ends up looking alright. After being involved in the competitive side of skating for almost 2 years now, I have learned a few things. How to save money! As expensive as ice skating is...that is a BLESSING! I have picked up on stoning..now I just need to learn how to sew the dresses.

The boys are gearing up for baseball. They are working on breaking in their new gloves. Preston so much admires Josh. He wants to do everything he does, and do it better. They are so competitive. Then again, I guess we sort of are a competitive family. Right down to playing the Wii. We have so much fun playing Wii as a family. There is a cute Disney Trivia game we all like to play together, but the kid's favorite and I think my husbands too is playing Mario Super Sluggers. They set up tournament play. I usually am the first or second one out of the tournament. Now If I spent more time practicing, I would do better. I use to know all the controls and all the moves on video games. Boy have they changed! I do love Guitar Hero and Rock Band. My oldest son and I play it alot together. Actually we all get down to the basement and play that together too. The only thing my husband likes to play though on rock band is the drums. I like to play the guitar. Josh I have to say...is a pretty good guitar player. He wants to take guitar lessons. Not quite sure how we can fit anything else into our schedule or the budget. Jillian really enjoys singing. She is usually the singer and loves singing the High School Musical songs from that game. I really enjoy our family time together.

Wow, started zumba today! I sweated like I never sweated before. It was a lot of fun. A few friends of mine went as well. It made it even more fun! I will be sore tomorrow!

This afternoon several friends met us out at the ballpark. We played the kids against the parents for awhile. That is always fun! I am always afraid I will forget not to hit it as hard as I can. I couldn't bare to hit one of those kids.

We grilled out tonight and had some quality family time. It was a great day!

I have been subbing alot lately. So many kids and teachers are out sick. Not a great way to start off the school year.

The kids have been keeping me busy as usual with their activities. Pretty soon flag football will be starting. The boys are both doing baseball this fall too. My oldest is playing on a tournament team for the fall, and Preston is playing recreational ball. Jillian is sticking with her ice skating and ballet. She has a competition in September. She has just learned a new program and is trying to get it down. It is so fast!

Interesting Week-School starts back!

We'll we had a good week! We spent lots of time with the kids this week before they started school on Thursday. I can't believe that time of year was here again.

On Tuesday, Josh and Jillian met their teacher. Jillian got Ms. Hall, and Preston Ms. Redding. We knew who they were going to be, we requested them. So now, all three of my kids have had the same wonderful 1st grade teacher-Ms. Redding. I am sort of sad we don't have another one to send through her. They have lots of friends in their classes and are excited about starting back.

Josh on the other hand...not as happy about starting back. He gets bored with school easily. He is bright beyond his years. He met his teacher-Ms. Stackhouse on Wednesday and likes her. He has a few good friends in his class as well.

Then Thursday the drama of waking everyone up, including my husband and I who like to sleep in. It was tough but we made it. The traffic was horrible. A usual 8 minute drive to the school took 40 minutes. I can't wait till they finish up and get the road widened.

Josh had baseball camp M-W morning this week. He had 5 of his buddies went and had a good time hanging out and playing baseball together. I felt sort of bad for them because they came straight from camp to meet their teacher on Wednesday. I am sure they all smelled really nice for their 1st impression.

We took the kids bowling afterschool on Friday and to Sonic for ice cream. Then Jillian and I came home to be lazy and have some girl time and Michael took the boys to some of the football scrimmage games that were going on.

Saturday I felt bad. Michael and I didn't get out of bed till noon. Really didn't know the kids were up. They slept in and got up and ate a poptart or breakfast bar, and started playing wii. Finally when Michael and I got up we fixed lunch and called up some friends and we all went to the ballpark to play around. We played a game of the parents versus the kids. It was fun as usual! Then a few friends came over and we got all the ATV's out and went trail riding. It was a great day! By the time everyone got back to our house from riding, there wasn't time to fit Jillian and my trip to the mall in. We weren't going to have time to get a shower and go before they closed, so we are going to try and go today.

We are fixing to head to church, and then hopefully to the mall and Alabama Adventure if it doesn't rain. It is suppose to be 40% chance today. Our luck! Oh We'll If it rains us out we will plan again to go next weekend. I think the waterpark closes the 3rd week in September this weekend. They use to stay open during the week after school started for a few weeks and then just operate on the weekends. It was nice because once the kids started school, I could go and just plop down on the lazy river with another Mom and we would truly relax!

We'll gotta run and get everyone ready for church! I am hoping for a great first full week of school for the kids!

Tax Free Weekend and Nesting????

We headed out to do a little shopping Saturday and Sunday for the tax free weekend. The Riverchase Galleria mall was packed as usual! You wouldn't think we were in a so-called recession! Parents, grandparents, siblings, significant others were sitting outside of mall stores waiting for the rest of their party to check out inside the store. It was wild!

We managed to find Josh some jeans and got the boys some cologne they had been wanting. The boys really don't mind going to the mall anymore since the Lego store opened up. I finally have something to hang over their heads. If you behave while I shop we will go by the Lego store before we leave. When they were younger The Disney Store would work.

I don't know what has come over me the past week. I have been cleaning like crazy. You would think that I was NESTING! I think it is because with the kid's surgeries I couldn't really go anywhere because they had to stay around the house. I cleaned their closets, their drawers, the bathrooms, the kitchen cabinets, the media room got rearranged, and even cleaned out the shelves in my laundry room. I have cooked like crazy too! I made some homemade chicken n dumplings, some homemade blueberry cobbler, and made some blueberry pancakes. I have baked brownies, made cookies, and lots of other things. What has come over me? I think I am trying to take my mind off of the kids going back to school this coming week.

The kids have meet the teacher on Tuesday and Wednesday this week and begin school on Thursday. Josh has a baseball camp Monday-Wednesday this week that will take up the morning hours. I feel bad that the last week before school we didn't really get to do anything fun. We were pretty much homebound while Jillian and Preston recovered from their surgery. We watched tons of movies and shows on t.v., and played wii and other video games. We also played some board games, and built things with toys in their rooms. I still wish we could of gotten one last trip in to Alabama Adventure or to the pool.

We have a friend that is getting married soon and is having a reception at Freedom Park in Charlotte, North Carolina. We found out that the particular weekend of his reception is a National Kiss All thing at the park. We are trying to decide whether or not we should take the kids with us or for us not to go. It is a big gay and lesbian thing at the park. This might be a little hard to explain to young children. We won't have time to get the kids to the grandparent's house so it is either all of us go, or we all stay here. I told Michael he could just go, but he doesn't want to go by himself. We have to decide soon!

We'll I am fixing to watch some t.v. with the hubby before turning in. We put the kids to bed early tonight. We are trying to get them back to a school schedule. They need to be in bed by 8 most nights and get up around 6:20 for school. They have been all sleeping in during the summer so I hope it doesn't take them long to adjust back to getting up so early in the mornings. That is one thing I am not looking forward to.......fighting the traffic to get them to school in time.

Today a friend of my son's underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor. It was a long procedure. Garret went back to the OR around 9 this morning, and came into recovery around 3. Josh has been really concerned about him. This is his second friend in 2 years that has had to have a brain tumor removed.

Jillian and Preston seem to be doing better today. This is the first day since their surgery that they are seeming more like themselves. Michael and I got them out of the house this evening. We went out to eat and walked around the mall. They went to the new Lego store and picked a few things out that they wanted. Even I want some of those sets to put together. It is a pretty cool store!

I can't believe summer is almost over for my kiddos. Each year I plan to do all kinds of things with them during the summer, and the summer is always over before we know it. We did manage to go to Alabama Adventure several times this summer, bowling, to the movies, Daytona Beach, Panama City Beach, and to Atlanta for some Braves Baseball. We went to some drive in movies and played some putt putt golf. We even went to the driving range to hit some golf balls too. They also enjoyed having no were to go on several days and just enjoyed being at home playing with their toys and electronic gadgets. They enjoyed playing with the neighborhood kids outside! Josh got to shoot his gun lots and practice up on his target shooting. The ice cream truck managed to catch us a few times while we were outside playing. I swear he is sitting at the top of the hill with binoculars and watches for the kids to come outside. We also had days where we didn't get out of our pj's and laid around and watched movies, played yahtzee, and wii! We went to the McWane science center a few times. Still I feel like we did all these things, but the summer still got away from us. Time flies when you are having FUN!

Life is so precious! Not guaranteed another day, so live each to its fullest! We all snuggled up tonight when we got home from dinner and the mall. We put in a movie and got all cozy and watched it together. Life is good!!!!!!!!!!!!

A False Alarm

I am hoping for a better night's sleep tonight. The kids are still sleeping on our floor in our bedroom. We had brought down the twin mattresses from Preston's room after their surgery and they have been sleeping on them in our room so we can keep a closer eye on them. Last night, or I guess I should say this morning around 12:30 a.m. Preston woke up bleeding from his tonsillectomy. I immediately started freaking out thinking we were fixing to be going through what we went through with Jillian on Friday night. Michael got him some cold ice water and started the gargling process. I called the doctor's office like they said to do if there was any blood. To much relief, after about 10 minutes his bleeding stopped. Of course the rest of the night I couldn't sleep because I was too worried about what if's. What if it started back bleeding? What if this and What if that!

I was so tired today! Actually been tired all week from all the craziness since Jillian's emergency surgery on Friday night. They moved up their post op appointments to today so they could check on Preston's bleeding spot. He said that Preston's bleeding was the predicatble scab bleeding that sometimes happens. They both looked good at their appt. They are both still in a lot of pain and having off and on headaches.

We have been checking out movies to watch to get us through all these hours at the house when they haven't been able to do much. I got a "Brady Bunch" DVD from the library. They have about 12 episodes in a DVD. The kids totally love watching the Brady Bunch. I remember as a child loving watching it. So tonight before everyone was off to bed (hopefully dreamland) we all cuddled up together and watched a few episodes together. I remember some of my favorite shows when I was about 10 was the Brady Bunch, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, and for some reason the Beverly Hillbillies.

Fixing to turn in and hoping for a much better night tonight! We are still going to have to get up a few times during the night to give the kids their medicines.

Expected and then unexpected surgeries

We'll we had Jillian and Preston's surgeries scheduled for Friday, July 31st. They were to have their tonsils and adenoids taken out. We arrived at the hospital at 6 a.m. Preston went first and then about 30 minutes later they rolled Jillian on back. While Jillian was waiting for her turn she managed to score some "I don't care medicine." Basically a sedative to help her relax. Boy did that work well. She was seeing skyscrapers in the curtain and a playground. Daddy's eyes were even purple. When they woke up in recovery, Preston was really fussy! He calmed down and shortly after Jillian came into recovery. We got them home around 10:00 that morning.

The rest of the day we laid around, napped, and watch t.v., and movies. At about 8 that Friday night Jillian started bleeding. She was so funny. At first she thought she was losing a tooth because of the blood in her mouth. The doctor had told us this would be a possibility and if it happened to gargle ice water and call the office. We'll we got the ice water and started gargling and put a call in to after hours. They said give it 15 minutes to stop. We'll it slowed down the bleeding but something still didn't feel right with her. I called them back. The ENT wanted us to meet him at the ER. We got there and Michael and the boys dropped Jillian and I off at the door while they parked.

As I was signing her in, she started vomitting blood. Lots and Lots of blood. Probably about 6 cups full. It was coming out of her nose too. It was freaking me out. They rushed us back to a room. Her doctor met us there and looked and told me he was going to have to put her back under. She had an artery that was bleeding and they needed to cauterize it. They also need to pump the rest of the blood from her stomach. Jillian was being much more calmer than I was. I was so worried about my baby girl having to be put under anesthesia twice in one day.

They got her prepped for surgery and took her back. It all happened so fast. Just like it did a few years ago when Preston had his emergency hip surgery due to septic hip. About 1:00 we were allowed back to the recovery room to see Jillian. She woke up very peacefully and seemed to be out of pain. About 2:00 we were able to come home. I was a little surprised they didn't keep her, but glad we got to come on home. You actually rest better at home anyway.

So I was expecting Jillian's and Preston's surgery to go as smoothly as Josh's did when he had his tonsils and adenoids out 2 years ago. This time around it is a little rougher. Josh was eating a cheeseburger the afternoon after his surgery. His was smooth sailing...no problems. Jillian has been in a lot of pain (go figure) in her throat and having major headaches. Preston has been really whinny and telling us he is dizzy! Preston wakes up every morning since his surgery in tears. He sleeps with his mouth open and snores and his mouth gets so dry it hurts even more in the mornings. We are still waking up and giving their medicines to them around the clock. Right now they are on Lortab, Phenergan, Motrin, and Amoxicillin.

We have been house bound since the surgery. They don't feel like going anywhere. We did manage to ride to Dairy Queen for an ice cream today. Jillian inhaled hers, while Preston only ate 1/2 of his. Pretty much they are surviving off of vanilla and chocolate pudding, some homemade banana pudding that I made, yogurt, and applesauce. For breakfast they have been picking at scrambled or fried eggs, and cheese grits. It is just a hit and miss on what they can eat right now. I am hoping for no more complications and smooth sailing from here on out.

School starts next week. I am hoping they get to feeling better soon so we can do a few more fun things around town before their first day. I can't believe I now have a 4th, 2nd, and a 1st grader.

Wow-the last 3 weeks have flown by!

We managed to get out of town a few weeks back and headed to Atlanta, GA for a few days. We took my nephew, John Michael with us. We went to Dothan to pick him up, managed to have a garage sale there at my Mom's. Yes I hauled a bunch of my things to her house to sell. The garage sales there tend to do better because they get more traffic in their neighborhood. We made some extra spending money and then headed to Atlanta. We stayed at the Hyatt and went to see the Braves play. We also had a special lunch with Jillian at the mall. This was her second time at the American Girl store and bistro. JM took the boys and they ate at the food court in the mall.

We went from GA to Panama City Beach, FL. then for a few days. We had beautiful weather while we were there. The kids boogie boarded and spent many hours digging in the sand. They didn't get to skim board as well as they did in Daytona. There just isn't much shore at PC. We enjoyed the new Pier Park development. We had a few nice meals at Back Porch, and at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritiville. This was our last trip this summer before school starts back. It was a much needed little vacation and we had a great time!

Friday's are Fun

I always look forward to Fridays. Michael has the weekend off and usually a slow work day on Fridays.

Jillian had ice skating from 9-11 again today. She started learning her axel jump! She is really excited! The boys played with all the other siblings while we were at the rink. They always find something to do while they pass the time there.

Today was Chick fil a customer appreciation day! If you dressed up like a cow of some sort you got a free meal. The kids wanted to do it. We'll two of them wanted to, my 9 year old thought he was too cool to do it. The website had a printout costume. Basically some ears, a nose, and some spots, and a tail that they could wear. We went to our favorite Chick fil A, and ate for a bit less than usual. The kids thought it was cool! There were several in there dressed up...including adults!

We all went bowling after lunch for a few hours. We had to get back home after bowling so I could get the boy's packed to go to friend's houses to spend the night. Jillian got a night with Mom and Dad out on the town. We took her to her favorite restaurant to eat Mexican. She loves cheese dip and fajitas. We were planning on going to the $1 movies to see Hannah Montanta, but we ran a little behind at the restaurant and she opted for going to the mall clothes shopping. Which I am not sure made Michael any happier. He really didn't want to tag along with us to see that particular movie, but at least then he would be sitting down. Instead we drug him for over 2 hours through the mall. Jillian loves clothes and wants to try on everything. She is very picky about her clothes though! We are going to be in trouble when she becomes a teenager. She decided on several outfits, one in which she already said was going to be her first day of school outfit. We went to 2 different Wal-Marts after the mall. She wanted to make a blanket. The Wal-Mart we usually shop at didn't have a fabric section any longer. So we went 10 miles up the street to the next Wal-mart. Finally she picked out some fabric. It was so late when we got home that we put that project down for maybe later Saturday. Her last request for the evening was spa night. She loves lighting the candles, drinking out of fancy glasses and sitting in the jacuzzi. So we ran the water for her and got her all fixed up! She went to bed happy, except for the fact that she wanted to sleep in our bed with us. Which I have never been able to sleep when the kids are in our bed. She didn't argue but a second and went on to her bed. She was really tired, and we were too.

With 3 kids it is hard to get that individual time with them. We love doing things together as a family but it is great when we can divide up and do some one on one things together too.

Didn't go as planned!

Not much about today went as planned! The kids and I had a good day in spite of all the changes to what we had planned to do.

We had planned to go to Alabama Adventure for the day, but I wasn't feeling so well. The kids played with the neighbor's kids for most of the day. When Michael got off work we had planned to take them to play putt putt golf and to the drive inn movie to see "Ice Age-Dawn of the Dinosaurs." We went to putt putt, and I started not feeling well again. We opted out to go to Sonic and get ice cream and head back home and watch a movie at home. We will try next week to go back to the drive inn.

Don't you hate it when you have a fun day planned out, and nothing seems to go right? It was one of those days!

Today went by to FAST!

Where did the day go? Jillian had ice skating practice from 9-11 today. She had a lesson during 30 minutes of that timeframe. She is doing so well on her whole jumps now. She has been so excited and practicing hard this week. She goes again on Friday.

The kids made another deposit at the bank today! They are trying so hard to save! I love to see that in them!

The boys bought some new baseball gloves today. They are ready to get them broke in for this next baseball season. Josh really needed one. We finally told him he had to get a new glove. His favorite glove that he has had for four seasons has seen its last catch. It is beyond saving! He loved that glove! Hopefully his new glove will be as good as a glove as this past one was.

Lunch was served by Arby's today. They are running summer freebies on Wednesdays. Today was get a free swirl shake with a sandwich purchase. So they let us get 5 roast beefs they had on special for $5 and we all got free shakes, and we ordered 2 large fries. So for $10 we all had a sandwich and a shake and shared the two orders of fries between us. What a bargain!

We went bowling today again. Our family is loving the kids bowl free program this summer. We have been going at least once a week, and some weeks 2/3 times. They have really improved their bowling. We don't let them use the rails. It teaches them at an early age about ball placement and how to truly bowl. They are getting so good! It makes them proud of themselves to see how good they are doing and not being dependent on the rails.

We were planning on going to the drive thru movie in Argo tonight, but we got to cutting down some trees in the yard and the kids were riding their bikes that we lost track of time and was going to be rushed to get there in time. So we decided to wait and go tomorrow night. Ice Age is playing and they are so excited about going to see it. The drive in movie is $10 a carload. Sure beats the $50 for 5 of us to go see it at the movie theatres.

Tomorrow we are planning on going to the waterpark. I need to run and get my driver's license renewed first thing in the morning. Mine is expired! I hope there isn't a line!

We got Braves Baseball tickets today. We are going in a couple of weeks to the game. I know the kids and my husband can't wait for that. I can't either, I love baseball as well! The last game we went to we had sleet. It was March and unseasonably cold there that day. We were all miserable. We tried to get warm with hot chocolate that day, but needed blankets and heavy jackets. A portable heater would have been nice. Hopefully this time at the 7:00 game and in the middle of summer we will be more comfortable.

Hopefully Thursday will be a great day! I am looking forward to spending the day having fun with my kids!

Yard Work

So we didn't get much done today, besides yard work that is. We managed to cut the grass today! We really need to figure out what we are going to do with these bushes that sort of line our property at the front of the road. They grow like crazy and need to be trimmed constantly. The main problem with that is they are so tall and wide it is hard to get to them. You pretty much need a ladder.

Jillian had ice skating today! She is learning some new whole jumps! She is so excited and the enthusiasm is so intense right now. She is fixing to learn a new program for upcoming competitions.

The boys are in between sports right now, so they are playing a little bit of everything. They practice football for awhile, then they get out their gloves and throw baseball. Later I can hear them hitting in the tunnel in the garage. Then later you can hear the basketball going in the driveway. All around they love sports!

Rough night last night

What a night Michael and I had! We both came down with a stomach bug or food poisoning or something. From about 10 pm till 5 this morning I hung out in the bathroom, and Michael hung out in the guest bathroom. He wasn't quite as sick as I was. At times I felt that I was going to faint. Just really bad upset stomach and nausea. Still today I haven't gotten to feeling much better. Perhaps a good nights sleep tonight would have done me well, but....

Preston started complaining his stomach is hurting around 7:00 tonight. I was worried that he would be having a rough night like we had last night. I didn't want him to indur the same intense pain I felt in my abdomen. I called after hours, and they told me a few things I could do to ease him some. I actually still have a baby monitor in the house for the nights when the kids aren't feeling well. We just pulled it back out and put it in his room so we could listen out for him tonight. I am hoping we aren't passing something around.

Other than trying to recoop from last night we haven't done much today. We took our puppy to the vet for her 12 week old shots. We took some movies back and got some more. We have all seen Marley and me except for Michael. The kids wanted to get it and watch it tonight. So later this afternoon the kids played outside, we ate supper, and all piled in the bed to boo hoo together watching that movie. We lost our 11 year old Shih tzu since the kids and I have last seen that movie. It made it a little harder to watch this time around after losing a pet in the last 2 months.

We'll I am off to bed. I am hoping that Michael and I get to feeling better. We are still having abdominal cramping and icky feelings. I just pray that if it is a stomach bug....that we don't go through the whole family with it.

Relaxation and Sleep Needed

We had such a busy past couple of days. We had went to the waterpark Thursday and Friday, and then went to the fourth celebration on Saturday. Today we all slept in and just had a lazy day! I cooked a big breakfast this morning. We'll it was more like brunch. We had scrambled eggs, cheese toast, grape jelley toast, cinnamon toast, sausage, and cheese grits. The kids played around the house. They spent several hours of the day playing yahtzee. I spent some time trying to catch up on laundry.

We ran to Buck Creek to try and retrieve Preston's football that we lost last night at the 4th celebration. It got hung up in some brush by the creek, but it was so dark we couldn't find it last night. We went back to see if we could get it, if not we were headed to Wal-Mart to get a replacement. We went to the creek, couldn't get it at first. We tried sticks and rocks. We headed to Wal-Mart. Why they love that Nerf football when they play with a real football is beyond me, but they love playing around with it. Wal-Mart didn't carry the same version of the Nerf football. The one they had was cheaper made and was not going to last anytime. We told the kids we would check Toys R Us tomorrow but we would go back to Buck Creek and see later today if his football had dropped any due to the rain.

We fished with some friends for awhile in Riverwoods. We caught some bass, and brim. Strong winds and rain moved in so we packed up. The kids wanted to ride back down the street to Buck Creek and see if the rain brought the football down any. It had, and Michael then was able to go in the creek and play HERO. We had eaten our left over ribs and food from yesterday around 3 today, so we decided to pick up pizza for a light supper and call it a day. We came home and ate our pizza on the back deck as it continued to sprinkle. It was relaxing just sitting out and listening to the rain. We had promised the kids one more game of yahtzee before bed tonight, so we ended the day with a game of yahtzee that I thought was never going to end.

Started Back---Blogging

We'll our family just started back blogging. I had been keeping up with our life in scrapbooks and so on, but decided to start back blogging this morning.

So much going on in our household with three kids! First of all, they are growing up way TOO FAST! Where have the years gone. We now have a 9, 7, and 6 year old. It seems just yesterday my 9 year old was born.

We went to the local Fireworks and 4th celebration in our little town yesterday. It was from 1-9 however we didn't get there till after 4. We had a late lunch which consisted of ribs cooked to perfection by my husband, baked beans, maccaroni salad, potato salad, homemade cole slaw, and some awesome grilled corn that I doctored up. The kids and I made a homemade strawberry shortcake and some homemade peach ice cream. We had so much food we forgot about the watermelon we had put in the freezer to get chilled.

When we finally arrived at the ampitheatre in our town which is by Buck Creek we were all full and miserable! They had games of wiffle ball, volleyball, moon tosses, horse shoes, and scavenger hunts. We headed to the back of the park to place our chairs and check out the bands that were playing for the celebration. My son's intermediate school principal's daughter was on stage singing. She is a pretty good singer! The kids wanted to go play the moonpie toss game which consisted of standing behind an orange line and tossing moonpies about 10 yards away with hopes of ringing the bucket. You got three pies to try and land in the bucket. Josh managed to get all three in, and Jillian and Preston only got one in a piece. For each moonpie that went in the bucket you got to enter a drawing to win $50. Later on in the evening, they did the drawing and Josh won the $50. He was called upstage to collect and they handed him a purple bag with 50 gold coins in it. He was so excited!

We had fun sitting and talking with friends until the fireworks display started. They were once again awesome this year. After they were over we gathered our chairs and went and visited the new local coffee shop to get a treat before heading home. We listened to a few bands that were playing there and enjoyed some red velvet cake, and a blueberry scone.

All in all an awesome day with family and friends.