Before and After

This is my husband before....



This is my husband after....




That is 35-40lbs lighter. I'm so proud of him...He worked all summer long and is keeping it up!!!

And you know what...he did it for us...so we can have him around here a little while longer...E, I love you to heaven and back!!!!!

Confirmation...It's a God Thing!

I've really been struggling with whether or not to send A to her pre K class. It's a great program but we've had a really good thing going with our schedule....Get up do school, work around house, run errands, pick up L. Now it's Get up, do school, work around house, take A to school, come home, go pick up L and pick up A. I know it doesn't seem much different but it's 30 mins of just taking her to school and coming home.

It's a wonderful program and only $125 a semester, yes you heard that right! She was in the same program last year and her literacy teacher had to find extra stuff for her to do b/c she was ADVANCED(at 3 in the 4 yr old program)....as they would tell me. (Not trying to brag...just a proud mamma).

So we've been doing Abeka Math, reading, writing and phonics (K5) and she loves it and is doing stuff my 1st grader is doing. I was really concerned that she would just be bored with school. I talked to her main teacher but didn't know how seriously she took me but today, as I was grumbling working on my 1st graders Campaign Posters...that's a whole another post in itself!, I met his literacy teacher....She's adorable! and She was Homeschooled and she used Abeka! So she knows the literature and knows how advanced it came be over public schools. She even wants to see what she has been working on!

I'm so excited and the more I think about it....IT'S A TOTAL GOD THING!

She's Loving It/I'm Loving It

So are schedule is working out pretty well right not...

Boys off to work and school by 7:30

School with girl starts around 7:45...we are fully dressed and ready for our day.

We do bible time (A devotional out of God's Little Princess Devotional Bible) and pray, we then do writing and phonics and then her favorite MATH! She is my girl and her daddy's girl...we are just a MATH nerd family. I even take her math worksheets with me when we are running errands to keep her occupied.

She is flying...we are through the Christmas lessons in Math...I've bid on the Math Curriculum for 1st grade...yes I said 1st grade for my 4 yr old...and I'm going to order her workbook next week.

She's doing ok in phonics and she was doing great in writing up until she got to the "M's". She just can't master it.

I'm loving it...she's loving it....I can so see how homeschooling can benefit students...especially those who are excelling...My 1st grader is BORED!

He is doing review stuff right now and it's stuff sweet girl is working on. I feel like he is being held back from doing what he is capable of doing b/c of "No Child Left Behind". He hates doing homework b/c it's just review stuff from K. It's just time consuming and causing a lot of fights.

I'd love to bring him home but just don't think that he would like that b/c he's my social butterfly....even though we could experience a lot of adventures and excel him further.

What to do...pray, pray and pray some more...that's what I'll be doing?

Fever

I have to admit I have the fever...the homeschool fever....I know it's just because my besties are doing it but it's ok for me to get into what they are into even if it's not all the way...right?

I have my concerns about our school district. My concerns, I believe, are valid but they don't start for at least another 2-3 years. So far my son has had a great experience...he's in 1st grade! I will say that his self esteem is usually the highest when he's with the kiddos of the besties mentioned above.

So you ask...half way...how do you homeschool half way? I have bought the reading and math K curricum from A Beka. I'm going to teach my 4 yr old to read and add. We are also going to have structure, bible time (that's been lacking---my fault---and not a good think to be lacking), story time, homemaking time, etc. So we aren't going in full fledge but I'm going to do enough to know whether I could do it full time-if the need arises.

I have been thinking alot about the pro's lately and they are beginning to out way the negative but I can't say it will ever happen...so I'm just going to live vicariously through my besties!

Misunderstood Words

So I talked to the Mom of the friend from the previous post. I wasn't going to but something came up in a conversation and I felt like I needed to tell her. It really bothered her. We talked...she got off the phone...had a talk with her son...and called me back.

He had gone to all the lifeguards asking WHY? Why can't L do this? Why can't L do that? He's 7!!!!!!!!!! He's strong and not afraid! WHY?? This friend just wanted L to be able to do the same things he was doing. So he was just voicing his frustration to me but I didn't understand by what he said.

Both me and his mom felt so much better!

My son is the oldest of most of friends but the shortest....I sure hope he doesn't get my genes!

Why is parenting so hard?

My boy had a hard day! It's sad for me when he has such a hard day. We went to the waterpark with some of his close friends from school. Sweet Boy doesn't swim well but loves the deeper end...he also wants to slide so bad. I made him wear a life jacket if he went to the deeper area...not good for a 7 yr old ego. He also is only 47 7/8 inches and you have to be 48 inches....all his friends are much taller.

He came over to me and said ____ pushed my head under water. I went and talked to the boy b/c he could have really hurt my sweet boy. I told him not to do that anymore b/c L isn't as good of a swimmer as the rest of them. I was nice...this is one of the boys that I feel like I can say things to if need be...he proceeded to tell me that Logan can't do anything and he's 7. Momma just walked off b/c it broke her heart.

Hopefully his heart won't break like mine did!

Doctors Should Make a Lot of Money - Huckabee - FOXNews.com

For those that know me, you know I can't put things in words very well. This is very well said...Thanks Governor Huckabee!

Doctors Should Make a Lot of Money - Huckabee - FOXNews.com

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Summer is Almost Over

This has been one awesome summer!

We've been to Nashville with friends, Disney with the family and Mexico just the 2 of us. I've spent many a day working out,laughing and gabbing at the gym with my Besties. We've had fun at the Waterpark and just hanging around. Now we officially have 1 1/2 weeks until school starts.

We've bought school supplies and get our teacher letter in the mail tomorrow so it's upon us. I'm ready...L is not ready....A is ready but she's also just in Preschool.

I've got plans to be disciplined this year with my time...I have a goal to have Addison reading my the end of the year(she so wants to be able to read)...I've also committed to being PTC Vice President...and continue working out with my Besties!

And MOST importantly....More Time for me in the Word with My God...More time in the Word with my kids...More quality time for me and my Man!!!!

Those are my goals for the new school year...we'll see how they go!

Hope you all had a great summer and have a great school year

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Yesterday was L's birthday! He turned 7!!! I can't believe he is 7...that means in 3 years he'll be 10 and in 9 yrs he'll be driving...in 12 years he'll be getting ready to go to college....ugh...a mommy doesn't need to think that much just enjoy the time we have.

So we've been waiting on the UPS guys all day for this...

and this...


Sweet Boy is now Happy Boy!

No Camera=No Pictures

There are been some precious moments that I would have like to caught on the camera but each time I think about it I think about our dead camera. It died the first day at Magic Kingdom...yes we were at Disney and it died...luckily my parents were with us and Eric took my mom's camera hostage.

Well I have really wanted this camera....





But instead got this camera....



What's the difference you ask....about $500 and a lot of features I wouldn't know how to use. My husband convinced me that we don't need the ole fancy smancy camera b/c how often would we use all those good features that we have no idea how to use. This camera has great reviews and can't wait to get it and learn all the manual settings too. That may be a good thing to do while laying on the beach on the Riviera Maya.

Thanks, Amber for rescuing me today. She took pics of my sweet boys 7th birthday party.

P.S. I know I've only done 3 days of disney but I'll get back to it...It wears me out just thinking about it.

How You Live

I love Point of Grace! I first got to know their music when I was in college. I actually saw them in concert when they were Say So when I was in HS. The first concert of theirs that I went to was at OBU (where they went to college). Our small town was hit by a F4 tornado in 1997 and they came and did a benefit concert. I've been to at least 2 more of their concerts and they continue to impress me.

This song really hit me hard when it came out. I don't do a good enough job living my life to it's fullest and to me that is what this song is telling you to do. I want to live my life to glorify God, to honor my family and to be a good friend.

Click HERE to see a video of this song from the 2008 Dove Awards. Below are the words....Just reading them makes me want to do more in this life.

Wake up to the sunlight
With your windows open
Don't hold in your anger or leave things unspoken
Wear your red dress
Use your good dishes
Make a big mess and make lots of wishes
Have what you want
But want what you have
And don't spend your life lookin' back

Chorus:
Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances
Let it all out
You won't regret it
Lookin' back from where you have been
Cuz it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

Verse 2:
So go to the ballgames
And go to the ballet
And go see your folks more than just on the holidays
Kiss all your children
Dance with your wife
Tell your husband you love him every night
Don't run from the truth
'Cause you can't get away
Just face it and you'll be okay

Chorus:
Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances
Let it all out
You won't regret it
Lookin' back from where you have been
'Cause it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

Bridge:
Oh wherever you are and wherever you've been
Now is the time to begin

Verse 3:
So give to the needy
And pray for the grieving
E'en when you don't think that you can
'Cause all that you do is bound to come back to you
So think of your fellow man
Make peace with God and make peace with yourself
'Cause in the end there's nobody else

Chorus
Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances
Let it all out
'Cause you won't regret it
Lookin' back from where you have been
'Cause it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

'Cause it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

Day 3-Epcot

I'm not real good at putting things in order but here are the pics anyway.

Logan, Gran and Pops

Logan and Addison in Bruce's Mouth (from Nemo)

Daddy, Mommy and Addison riding Nemo

Pops, Gran and Logan riding Nemo

Honey, I Shrunk the Audience...Addison covered her ears the whole time again

We just happened to look up when we were leaving to go back to the Condo
and look who we saw!
Daisy and Addison

Logan and Stitch

Test Track...Logan and Daddy's favorite

Addison's favorite part...
Minnie giving Addison a kiss

Pluto and Addison

Mickey and Addison

Goofy and Addison

And the fireworks to end the day!

The hats that we bought Addison and Logan

Addison and Daddy

Logan and Addison

Logan and his hat

Day 2- Animal Kingdom

It has taken me a week to do this so I'm just posting picks in no particular order.

This was the coolest playground located in Animal Kingdom in the Dinosaur area. There was also a dig site but we were hot and sweaty and just didn't think that was a good combo for sand. Addison and I hung out here for a while waiting on the others to finish a ride. My kids loved the playgrounds just as much as the other stuff. They are so funny!

This was Expedition Everest. My dad, Logan and I rode this and had a blast.
We couldn't get E or my mom on it.

Eric was the official photographer...He stole mom's camera when ours died.

Daddy and sweet cuddly girl!

This is when we knew it was time to head home.

My mom and dad!

Mommy and Logan at Rainforest Cafe!

Addison did not enjoy the noise...you'll see her covering her ears a lot.

Here we are about to ride Expedition Everest again!

It's a Bug's Life was a cute 3-D movie...Logan with his $17 fan (it was worth it)

Logan and Mommy

Logan and Mommy on the Safari

The Safari was incredible!

The crew at Rainforest Cafe!

Animal Kingdom was by far my favorite park!!!!!

Finished Project

Click on picture to see full view!


Here is the finished project of our trip to Hot Springs.

It took us a couple of hours Wednesday night to water seal, an hour or so to sort the wood on Thursday night and about 12 hours of good, sweaty labor on Friday. My dad came down and helped Eric and I and my mom came and watched the kids. We only messed up a couple of times and only had to run to the hardware store 3 times(my fault).

But it's done and the kids love it. This one was so much easier to do than the first one we did.

Dear Mr. Walmart Store Manager---

Dear Mr. Walmart Store Manager--

I am writing this to let you know I will be waiting on you at 7 a.m. in the morning when you walk through the door so just beware when you see a Lobster Red short girl that looks like she just rolled out of bed.

Here is my situation...
My husband (who works very hard and doesn't have 4 hrs to waste on other people ignorance), myself and my 2 kids (who all 3 of us were completely exhausted from a long day) piled into the car and went to pick up a trailer to use to pick up a new playyard. This playyard was not offered at our local WALMART so we had to drive 45 minutes in a horrible rain, wind and lightning storm to your store or pay $150 in shipping which is a rip off when you could just deliver it to our local store but couldn't do that. We arrive at your Walmart and the playyard was waiting on us b/c I called 45 minutes to an hour ahead time to make sure it was available and told them we were coming.

We arrived and a very sweet girl checked us out very quickly. She then had a young hormonal boy take it out to our vehicle...he was more concerned with flirting than doing his job. It is then loaded onto the trailer by husband and hormonal boy while flirting girl and greeter man watches on.

We then move the trailer so we can strap everything on. We discover we have a low tire and move the boxes to the other side...as we do one box falls apart with everything in it. We then load the Jeep with all those parts...get the others strapped on and head up to the WALMART gas station to air up the tire.

We call Amber to check the weather and guess what it's storming....we make it most of the way back without rain but when we got to town it started raining. So with the rain and the water from the road and humidity in SO Arkansas those boxes proceeded to disintegrate when we unloaded them...at which time I realize that the bottom to boxes said BOX 1 of 2 and BOX 2 of 2 and said Sunchaser...uh we bought the Meridian that has 3 boxes b/c the other box that is the back of the Jeep says Meridian BOX 3 of 3.

DH begins to have smoke coming out of his ears and head...I wish you could have seen it....it was a sight. I call the Walmart and talk to the manager on duty b/c no one was in the Garden Center. She gives me to someone in Sporting Goods. They put me on hold and talk to her to only find out that they will give us a $25 Walmart gift card for our gas but that's it...He was very nice and helpful but she should have been the one to handle it and tell me that not push me over to one of HER employees when ultimately it was her decision to make!! I proceeded to find out the manager on duty's name and the General Managers name...I was not happy with the offer b/c I have wasted 4 hrs of our time.

I go outside tell fuming DH and we proceed to try and load up the boxes as they disintegrate. We then took everything out of these boxes and put them in my van. So the van is loaded and ready for me to see you at 7:00 a.m.

I hope you understand me and my families frustration in the situation!

Sweet Dreams,


THE SHORT LOBSTER THAT JUST ROLLED OUT OF BED

p.S. I talked to A on the night shift and he got the correct boxes out, measured them for me and has them waiting for me in the morning! He deserves a RAISE if I do say so myself!


By the way this is what it should look like...I would show you a better picture but it shows too much cleavage and don't want to give you the satisfaction!

Who Cares?

So we were driving down the highway system to Disney...which is nicer than the highways in Arkansas...go figure...and I decided to ask a question.

Me: Who pays for these roads...The state of FLORIDA OR DISNEY?


4 yr old in Back Seat: WHO CARES?


That ended that conversation because we were laughing so hard!

Day 1-Magic Kingdom

Can I just say...I'm tired!!!!!!!!!!!

We started the day at MAGIC KINGDOM. I think the kids were excited. We started in Fantasy Land and hit the Dumbo ride, then Snow White's Scary Adventure (which Addison cried and didn't want to go on), we went to Mickey's PhillarMagic Show which Addison cried some more and covered her ears...it was a great show. We went in the Haunted Mansion and didn't even try to take Addison. She cried in line for It's a Small World but then like it when she got on...I think that FIRE IN THE HOLE has tainted her view of rides. They rode the carousel also. When then ate lunch and headed on over to Liberty Square and rode the Riverboat. We were disappointed because the HALL of PRESIDENTS was closed for refurbishment.

We went on over to FRONTIERLAND...this may be one of my favs. Mom, Dad and Addison went to see the Country Bear show and we went on over to get in line for Splash Mountain. The line was long and we didn't have the tickets to do FASTPASS so we just waited in line. We met some great people who had a little boy that talked more than Logan...that made time go by a little faster. Logan absolutely LOVED it! We got off and there was no line so Eric went to go find Addison and my parents and Logan and I got in line again...it went much faster....He wanted to go again but I told him we would do Big Thunder Mountain. Addison got to watch the parade while we were in line the first time and she loved it! We got a FASTPASS this time for Big THunder Mountain and headed over to Tom Sawyer's Island. Addison didn't really care for the cave go figure even though she did great in the one in Branson. We finished up there and went back to BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN RAILROAD. Dad, Logan and I walked right on in to this ride and had a great time. Great little rollercoaster!

We found Eric, Mom and Addison under some shade on a bench...we were all completely exhausted so we decided to go get ice cream and sit in some air conditioning but there were no seats so we headed to the car...the car that we can't help but find!

We came back went swimming and then went to eat at TGIFriday's. Came back, planned our next day and CRASHED. We are going to Animal Kingdom today.

We're having technical difficulties with pics...Our camera decided to die on us :( and mom's battery died on hers. Eric used his phone to take some pics so I'm going to try to get them on here but if I don't I'll get some later. Guess we might be getting that Rebel sooner than we thought.


Logan and I on Splash Mountain...



Mom, Addison and I on the train.