A week without....

So, you ask, what did you do all week without TV and the internet? Well, I'll tell you. I'd show you, but I managed to forget my camera most every time we went out so the pics will have to wait until other people can email me the ones they took.

Monday we all slept in. (Well, actually we slept in most every day this week.) See, usually Dade gets up at 4:30 (yes AM) to get online to play ROBLOX with some of his friends. No computer, so he slept in. Corben usually gets up at 7am to watch cartoons. No TV so he slept in. I usually get up because everyone else is up and they wake up the girls, but since everyone else slept in, so did I. This had unforeseen consequences. Though I can normally get them all to bed by 9pm and then have "adult" time this was seemingly impossible this week as everyone's sleep schedule was off and no one could fall asleep! Thus, everyone was up late so I got little, if no, grownup time. Since Ryan and I usually hang out on the couch and watch a TV show and there was no TV this week and since it was usually so late by the time we got the kids down we usually just ended up going to bed. This makes for a grumpy mommy. Luckily there were many pluses to this week of no technology.

1. I spent much more time talking with my children than usual. They also spent much more time talking with each other.
2. We read a ton of books!
3. We discovered that we love doing puzzles together and that it's a great time to talk.
4. The boys discovered a love of music that they didn't realize they had (Dade discovered Bass) and we all had a great time dancing the week away.
5. Both boys are now writing and illustrating stories that they hope to publish in book form!
6. Everyone spent a lot more time playing together.
7. No one died.

Minuses:

1. The sleep issue.
2. I discovered that computer time is how I take a break from the kids during the day so every time I started to head to the computer for my "break" I'd have to stop and then go do something else...like clean something...or spend time with the kids. Not bad things...but not the same as a break from the kids. This mixed with the lack of grownup time in the evenings led to a needy mom by weeks end.
3. More time with kids together is more fights to break up.
4. The need for more activities often means more trips out of the house and thus more gas money. (If I just turned off the satellite this could possibly balance out.)
5. Despite less time wasted on computer...my house was no cleaner than any other week. Oh well.

All in all I think the pluses out way the minuses so I'm hoping we can cut down now on our time in front of screens and spend more time together.

Monday we went out to spend the day with my sister-in-laws, Heather and Jamie, on Heather's property. They have a great pond there where we picnicked and rode 4 wheelers. It was so much fun. I took Dade and Corben out on the 4 wheeler and it was a blast. I'll post a pic when I get it.

Tuesday the boys spent the day visiting some friends they hadn't seen in a long time. It was so much fun. I got to catch up with some old friends as well.

Wednesday we just hung at home reading, dancing and doing puzzles. Corben had Taekwondo and Dade had scouts so my mom came to visit for the evening. We missed her while she was on her trip! We also got a great rainbow above our house that had pretty much faded by the time I got a photo but I'll definitely be adding this to the Yard Book!


Thursday we were busy getting Dade ready for scout camp. We met mom for a crazy lunch at Waffle House were everything kept getting knocked off of the table and ended with mom's chocolate milk tipping over and pouring straight into Sylvie's car seat....and wouldn't you know I forgot the diaper bag?! Note to self...only eat at restaurants where everyone fits at the same table. We later headed over to the library for their weekly activity. This week was snakes and spiders. Dade won the drawing for a free shirt and Corben won a bookmark. I love free activities!

Friday RJ came over and we spent another day dancing and reading. We did add painting to our day so the boys could begin to illustrate their books. I drew Corben a dragon for his story and he colored it with water colors. He mixed the colors himself and proclaimed the day wonderful! The best part of all? Corben learned how to ride a two wheeler all by himself and rode up and down the street several times! It's been a long time coming...way to go, Corben!!
Saturday we caught up on some chores. Busy children make big messes. Later in the afternoon we headed to the lake. Ryan's brother, Mark, and his family had a rough & very busy week. They had a last minute move and with Ryan's bad back and my lack of a sitter we were unable to help as we'd hoped so we decided to help them by giving them a break. We went to Rolling View and found a great little beach where Ryan could pull the boat right up to the shore. We took turns riding in the boat, getting pulled in the big float, and hanging out on the beach with the kids. It was a fantastic evening. My mom and Ryan's dad joined us which made it all the better. I actually got to go out on the boat, just me and Ryan, and we drove around for a bit before pulling into the marina and getting ice cream. It was a fun little date that brought back most of my sanity.

Today, we headed out for another wonderful day at church and a nice evening at home together as a family. Ryan made homemade pizza on the grill which was so yummy! I've been catching up on all my emails and everyone's blogs. Guess we're back to life as usual, but hopefully without as much TV and computer as before!

Memory Blog

Memory Blog
Juli Kilgore had this on her blog so I decided to play along!
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.
I think it will be pretty fun to see the responses.

7-20-08 Week in Review

I will begin this blog by announcing that I will NOT be blogging until next Sunday due to the fact that my family and I are taking a week off from technology and not watching TV or getting on the computer for a week. I suspect that next weeks review may just be one long scream but I'm willing to try it if they are. Ok, they're not willing but oh well, it's happening. So...if by chance you visit this week and happen to be the 1000th visitor let me know! There's no big prize or anything...just cool to me. Ok...on with the review!

Corben has begun Tae kwon do and is really loving it. It's just a fun thing for him to do this month. The gym had a trial membership that I could kind of afford so I thought we'd go for it and just use the gym as much as possible. He went to 3 classes this week and seems to have a knack for it. The instructors have even told some other children to try to do their moves more like Corben. He gets very serious and attentive in class. It's fun to watch. He really loves it.

Tuesday and Wednesday we spent the day over at Ryan's brother's house taking pictures of their new baby and then my kids. Ryan's dad recently purchased some studio lighting and backdrops so we were able to get a more "professional" look. Some looked really good, others looked like an old 70's school pic or something from a department store studio. Oh well, I'm still learning. Not bad though, I think, for my first time.

Friday our little RJ was sick so we planned to head to the park with my sister-in-law. Unfortunately, it began to poor down rain just as we were leaving so everyone came and hung out at our house instead. Ryan made pizzas and we had a nice night. I did have a nervous moment a bit earlier though. I was heading out the door to get in the car to take the kids to the park when I noticed the rain. Ella went running out into it while Sylvie was sitting in the kitchen packed in her car seat. I was trying to call my sister-in-law on my phone (which only gets reception on my porch) and chasing Ella (who was screaming at me) so I grabbed her and dropped her inside the house and closed the door so I could hear. That's when she reached up and turned the lock! I was locked out! (This has happened once before to me when Dade was a year old and ended with fire trucks and police cars and broken windows....don't ask...well you can ask but be prepared for a long story.) Anyway, Ella was crying and wouldn't turn the lock back. I called Ryan who couldn't come home right away so I was trying to figure out what to do when Ella, in tears, finally figured out how to turn the lock back and let us in. Yeah! I am not fired as a mother!

Late Friday night everyone over at the house decided that they would love to go to the lake so we packed up before bed and headed out to Sandling Beach in the morning. Ryan tried to get his boat going to bring along but it wasn't happy about leaving it's shelter in the driveway so we left it. We spent most of the day out there and the kids had a blast. My SIL brought a wonderful circular gate that we set up with an umbrella that kept Sylvie and Ella contained and happy playing safely in the sand. Sunburns were minor but the fun was major. I'm waiting for some pictures from my other SIL that I'll have to post next week.

I also want to list Sylvie & Ella's milestones lately. Our Sylvie is walking, trying to run, and actually jumped this week with both feet off the floor. She is climbing up chairs and getting down off of the couch all by herself. She is also finally standing up without aid of a wall or piece of furniture! Sylvie is really into talking right now. She says everyone's names (except Corben but his is hard for Ella to say too). She says no, don't, feet, and will copy most any word at least once. She is also beginning to sign though I never taught her. I assume she's copying Ella. Ella has also started talking more lately. Maybe Sylvie is encouraging her. She has started saying Where'd it go? Though it's usually more of Wa go? with shrugged shoulders. She's starting to say go a lot and uses it to tell Ryan when she wants to play, when it's time to leave, and when asking where something is. Right now she can say Mom, Dad, Sylvie, & Dade and has attempted Corben. She says go, bye bye, night, trees, sky, duck, no, and will sometimes throw in a new word though she only usually says it once and then never again. She did try to say butterfly today. It came out fly fly...kind of. She's trying. I'm proud of her!

All in all, a very nice week. Click on the pictures if they're not big enough to see. I'm still learning all the settings on my camera so sometimes the coloring on my pictures is off due to the light settings. (I use auto setting most of the time which is not always best...actually indoors it's usually wrong.) So I've been able to adjust a few to correct color and some are just a bit orangey...(thus the 70's feel) though most were fine. Anyway, have a great week and tell me what you think!! I'm also including some of the pics I took of my niece and her family!

Here's some pictures of baby Gabriella, Xander, and Jamie!

In defense of the toothfairy...

So, my kids have complained that our toothfairy is a bit of a cheap skate compared to some other toothfairies they've heard about. Personally, I feel our toothfairy (TF) is pretty generous! I mean, how many other TFs give you a sign on bonus of $5 for the first tooth as a thank you for your future business and to encourage the exchange of teeth for money. Yes, she "only" pays $1 for regular teeth and $2 for molars but with your bonus that's a whopping $40 bucks for a mouth of old fallen out teeth you can't do anything with and that have already replaced themselves in your head!! I'm sure they imagine her flitting around in her beautiful tooth necklaces sparkling like jewels and when people compliment she replies, "Oh, this old thing? It's nothing...and can you believe I only paid $40! What a steal!!". Other TFs ooh and aah in unbelief and her amazing deal and ask her how she did it! "Our kids demand $5 a tooth and $20 for molars!", they say. "Help us, oh great cheapskate fairy to get the same deal you have!" Personally, I have tried to convince my kids that it's the waining economy that has these other fairies having to pay out so much. The dollar is apparently not as strong in that part of the neighborhood and poor fairies are having to auction off their little fairy belongings to pay for their incurable tooth addictions. These fairies burn out quick and end up going into early retirement or the TF crazy house and then where are the kids left...with nothing but a pile of old teeth under their pillows and the memory of that $20 they made so quick and easy but now can't seem to get a dime. Luckily for my kids, the dollar is strong at our house and our toothfairy is perfectly able to balance the money she spends on teeth with her fairy world responsibilities (groceries, fairy dust, etc.) and everyone is happy. I think she's a very smart woman/fairy and very responsible. She is, however, a bit forgetful sometimes in that sometimes she just leaves the money and forgets to take the tooth but she always comes back for it, or that sometimes she forgets her purse and has to go all the way back to fairy land to get it so she just leaves a note that she'll be back tomorrow and sorry for the inconvenience. Ah, well, I guess no ones perfect!! It doesn't matter,....I like her!

Dear Toothfairy, .......

So, my Corben lost a tooth on Tuesday. He was very excited, it's been loose for some time. As he was getting ready to have a sleep over on his floor he realized that the tooth fairy may have trouble finding his tooth since he was not in his bed. This is the note he wrote and left.....

I guess he's planning on pulling out the canines next!

7/13/08 Week in Review

So, I actually managed to not take a single picture this week. Shame on me, but I was having a lot of fun with my video camera and was very busy trying to get last minute details together for the Activity I was putting on at church.

Monday, Ryan was off work (Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles....) so we hung around together as a family all day. Finally in the afternoon, Dade babysat (while the girls napped) and Ryan and I ran to Lowe's to find something to make a divider between the girls' cribs. I can't let Sylvie sleep in her crib because it's right up against Ella's and Ella throws all of her covers and toys in on Sylvie. Ryan made a fabulous curtain that I fully plan on decorating...someday. We all stayed up and watched Herbie Goes Bananas and headed to bed.

Tuesday was me working to get my activity together and preparing to have the Elders (missionaries) over for dinner. (In the LDS church young men at age 19 are asked to spend 2 years of their life and go on a mission that they pay for themselves. They spend the next 2 years teaching others the gospel. To help them with expenses and because it makes their mother's feel better - plus we get great lessons on sharing the gospel, members of the church take turns feeding them in our homes.) I actually forgot they were coming until only a few hours out so they were blessed with my wonderful breakfast making skills. They seemed to enjoy their pancakes and bacon very much.

Wednesday was the usual crazy day with my beautiful kids. Wednesday night was scouts for Dade so we headed up for a night at the church. There were the scariest clouds out I'd seen in a long time! (I just realized I did take pics this week!) They looked like tornado clouds and they were turning and twisting so I called Ryan when we got to the church to check the weather report. Just severe thunderstorms. Luckily it did all it's crazy downpour while we were inside and settled down just in time for us to head home.



Thursday was a busy day. I did the grocery shopping, bought Dade some new sandals, picked up Ella's new inhaler (they had taken her off of her flovent expecting that she'd be just fine but she's been breathing terrible all week and I've had to use her rescue inhaler more than once.), took the boys to the Thursday event at the library and sent them off to a friend's for a bit.

Friday RJ came to visit and was an absolute ANGEL!! What a blessing to have all the kids doing so well as I was a mess trying to get my activity done. Ryan worked LATE so we didn't get to see him until about 10pm. I sure do appreciate the efforts he makes to help us get by.

Saturday RJ's little sister, Makenzie, joined us for a day of Ward Activity mayhem. Adam & Jessica took RJ to see the Backyardigans LIVE in Fayetteville so we watched Makenzie for them. She is growing up so fast!! Ryan spent the day working on his booth on water storage and I worked on activities for the kids. By 5pm we were at the church setting up and worrying if it all would come together (organizing events is really not my thing but I go where I'm asked). The activity was for the whole congregation and was on Emergency Preparedness. We had a dinner consisting of items made from things you'd have in food storage (wheat, corn, rice, beans, etc.) then everyone split up to visit different booths that presented information on some not often covered subjects. Ryan talked about water storage and did some great demonstrations. He also made a rain barrel that we used as a door prize. There was a booth on 72 hour kits (backpacks pre-packed with 3 days of food and supplies that you can grab in an emergency and just go), on emergency fuel and power sources (generators, power inverters, propane, etc.), and one on sanitation (how to keep clean, portable makeshift toilet out of a 5 gallon bucket and garbage bags, etc.). I placed tokens (little circles of paper with pictures on them) at each booth and at the food table. Kids got one when they went to a booth and paid attention. The tokens had pictures of water, food, fuel, 72 hour kits, etc. on them and I announced random emergencies over the mic and if the kids had the right token to match what they needed in that emergency they got some candy (their reward for being prepared). It worked really well and kept the kids involved. After the booths we played 72 hour kit bingo (everyone was asked to bring a list of what they had in their kits at home) with prizes like bandaids, ponchos, etc. We then had the drawing for the rain barrel, cleaned up and headed home. It went really well and I'm so glad it's done!! Only 2 more activities to go this year! I learned a lot this time and am convinced that my next activities will be even better than the last 3 I've done. Luckily the next one's not until October.

Sunday is our blessed day of rest. Ryan started a new calling (teaching position) at church this Sunday. (The entire Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a lay ministry meaning that no one in the church is paid for their service. It also means that no one in the church gains a position by asking for it but is instead asked (called) to that position by those higher up and given the opportunity to accept or deny the position. We see it as a great way to serve and get to try new things we've never considered before. So far, in the last few years, Ryan has been the teacher for the new church member class, been in charge (President) of the youth (12-18) Sunday school classes for our congregation, executive secretary to the bishop, taught early morning (6am) Seminary classes based on the scriptures to teenagers for 2 years, building facilities management (in charge of building cleanup schedules and maintenance), and currently is the new teacher for the Elder's quorum (men's group) once a month.) Since Ryan was teaching I got to chase Sylvie around and she toddled. Earlier, chasing Ella someone came up to me to share some great wisdom. Watching me attempt to catch her in my 3 inch heals she said The key is to put her in heals too so that she can't run either!

This week has been a big week for Sylvie. She is talking, walking, signing, and starting to throw tantrums...fun. I feel like her babyness is slipping away and I'm missing it! I think she's trying to keep up with Ella. I just wish it would all slow down.

On a possibly controversial and very random side note....I have come to the conclusion that I believe in Bigfoot. Bigfoot you ask? Yes, I said and mean Bigfoot. The big, hairy, rarely seen creature of legend. Why, you ask, have I come to such a fantastical conclusion?? Because 2 people in my family who I would never doubt have had "sightings" and after doing research to compare their stories to those of others I find they match perfectly and are even within miles of other reported Bigfoot sightings. My family members were not aware of these other stories or even of their local when they told me, I was the one that found out these facts later. How does this effect me? Only in the fact that I will NEVER go camping in certain areas (Canada, Alaska, Washington State, etc.). Just another weird fact to add to my list of strange things about me.

While I'm on here, here are 2 other pics I got off of my phone from last week.

Andrew, Dade, and Corben on our way back from the Trek. Dade was wiped out!

Ryan and Sylvie playing outside after Ryan got off of work.

To quote Corben....

To quote Corben...."The best part of having a secret is secretly telling someone your secret and adding another secret to your secret collection of secrets!"

Sylvie's New Things...

Yes, I've gone a bit video crazy but seeing as I've not been able to really video anything the last few years I'm very excited to be able to now and want to catch all these little baby moments before they're gone forever!! Don't worry, I'm still taking pictures.

Corben's puppet show

7-6-08 Week in Review

Well another week has passed and so it's time to fill you in. The first half of the week Dade was off on the Pioneer Trek. I'll type more about that in a second. Tuesday, I took the kids to Playgroup in Rolesville. We got there late but still had plenty of time to play and go letterboxing. Letterboxing is one of our favorite pass times and it a great way to have adventure no matter what your age and it's FREE!! Check out letterboxing.org and atlasquest.com. The boxes are EVERYWHERE and you may be surprised how many you've walked by and never knew they were there! Anyway, unfortunately the letterbox was missing (sometimes, if they weren't hid well by the last person who found them they get stolen) but there was a geocache there, much to our surprise, so we exchanged trinkets (we got an army soldier and a nut and we left a koosh ball and a small Tigger.) Wednesday we got up early and met with my friend, Tanya, to pick up the boys from the Trek. It was a week of fun and a lot of hard work for them. I tried to type as Dade gave me a quick run down of the week so the sentence structure is terrible but hopefully you'll get it. Keep in mind, this is just an overview, it doesn't include all the great stories that have come out over the last few days.

The Trek – by Dade

So um…we got dressed for the trek. The temple went good and um we did that (got dressed) at the church next to the temple and then the Comers drove me there and um then it was basically you had to go find this lady and she’d tell you what family you were in and you’d have to go find your cart and my family had this weird knack for always being the first ones to our destination so we left really early and um before a lot of other carts left and um there was still like 10 or 15 carts in front of us. And we were passing them we passed just about all of them and we got there in about an hour to our first camp site. Not hard to push carts with all of us. Because there was so many pushing at once it was nothing. Um, we got there we put up our tents and them we all got to go off and talk to our friends. A lot of them were up to an hour late because one group the water broke on their cart and it was pouring all over it and they had to stop and fix it and some others just got hung up. So I just talked to my friends and then on Sunday we went to all the meetings and I talked to my friends. We had Sacrament. Mtg and Sunday school and we had this other meeting and then we had a fire side. I didn’t get a chance to help with the sacrament. And then we went to bed. Girls were lucky because people with them didn’t care if they stayed awake, once we were in bed you had to be quite. One night I woke up in the middle of the night and the girls light was still on and they were still talking and then Monday we woke up really early took down our tarps got some breakfast and then we left for our longest journey so far and um we got to go over a big raft barge thing that to get over the lake. We had to pull on some rope. But we didn’t have enough pioneer money to pay our way across because something happened to ours. We couldn't find it. We gave them 5 bucks that the cart in front of us gave us and then we paid the rest in slave labor. Our cart and the cart in front of us put our pods on their raft and we pulled the rope for them so the actual employees wouldn’t have to do anything. And then it was the hardest part of the whole day where you had to push your cart where there was rocks out of no where and you’d hit them very, very hard. So we had to have Paws from the cart in front of us help us. And then all the boys had to go leave to help with the Mormon battalion and so we just had to walk around a short cut path where the women had to go up this huge, huge hill by themselves and then send it down the other side. The girls did really good they got up and down the hill without dropping anything. And then um we went through the woods again and went to our lunch site and then after we had lunch we went back into the woods with our carts and finally we were at our next camp which was a huge field with woods around it. Tuesday we got up and took our tents down and we had to pull up to the lunch area and then we had to get some tags that they put on some people. Some of them said sick and some of them said dead. Um if it said sick they could only push 20 minutes every hour. And if a person was dead, they couldn’t do anything at all but walk behind the cart and not talk. So then he announced there would be no breakfast because we were infested with the plague. Um then we pulled our carts into a huge field and this guy talked about how he had gotten food and he had gotten quails so we went and picked up our lunch bucket that they had filled and we went and picked our breakfast which was in a big box and it had a lot of sausage biscuits, juice boxes and go-gurt and they were very good. Then we went off and basically went the long way back to our old campsite where a bunch of kids got stung by yellow jackets, I saw one get stung. They were just walking by and she pulled up her pants leg to scratch and she got stung. We had to put her in our cart to push her and then a whole handcart group got stung because one kid stepped in one of those holes with yellow jackets in the ground and the whole group got stung. They had to rope it off and Bro. Despain was whacking them with his gloves. And then we went across to the other side where our camp site and that’s where we were this morning. And then we went swimming and I went canoing and I almost tipped someone’s canoe which was fun. And that’s basically it. Oh and we had fast and testimony meeting this morning and last night. Actually it started last night and it went all the way to this morning it was 3 ½ hours long. I bore my testimony. I just talked about how my family in the hand cart was awesome. (I was also told he yodeled on the trip.) Because we had no money we raised money by our mom (Megan Martin) eating crickets. She even ate one in a sandwich. We made 50 lbs of flour. Bro martin ate a cricket 4 -5 inches long wings and jumpy legs and all.

-end Dade's story

So, we drove 2 hrs down to Camp Reeves to welcome Dade and the other Pioneers into the "Salt Lake Valley" (which was really a big field filled with prickers, ticks (I took one home as a pet), and poison ivy.) The handcarts pulled in about 10:30 am and we were on the sidelines with other families waving white handkerchiefs and singing Come, Come, Ye Saints! It was really a very special moments. Tears where shed. The kids were hot, dirty, sweaty, but all smiling and laughing. We made Dade and his friend, Andrew, some lunch and then drove them home to sleep and shower. Thursday we found out Ryan had off work for 4th of July (a VERY rare thing) so we made plans to head to the beach on Friday. Ryan and his brother Eric made plans to meet a friend there to deep sea fish and so Heather (Eric's wonderful wife) and I got to make plans to keep our 7 beautiful children busy at the beach all day. About 10 pm Thursday night, Ryan's friend called and said they needed to head out about 6:15 in the morning. That meant we needed to leave for the beach about 3 am. Let's just say none of us got much sleep. We headed out early and got to the beach about 6am. Ryan's friend, Andy offered to let Heather and I and the children use his hotel room if we needed to. What a blessing!! We headed inside and let the kids sleep a bit before heading out to the beach about 8am. We were at Ft. Macon and the beach was beautiful. The ocean is so shallow there that the kids could go out pretty far and it still was only waist deep. The sand was full of shells and crabs and it wasn't too hot. Ella and Sylvie took right to the water and loved to run/crawl down to the surf and play in the waves. They had no fear. Several times I'd turn for a second to put something away and Sylvie would be back on her way to the ocean. I took lots of pictures but my camera was on the wrong setting (the white balance was off) and I couldn't tell due to my sunglasses and the sun's glare so ALL of my beautiful pictures came back BLUE!! I've photoshopped a few back to a more recognizable color but don't have time to do them all so you'll have have to view our beach trip and see my children as cute little Smurfs. After the beach we headed back to the hotel and let the kids sleep and clean up. There were several sunburns due to so much time in the water but all survived. We later headed out to swim in the hotel pool and wait for the guys to get in. Outside by the dock we saw a clam bed, fish, tadpoles, ducks and baby ducks, birds, and lots of crabs. Ella said several words including "sky", duck, Where'd he go? (talking about Ryan), and fish. She's really starting to say some words and it's pretty exciting. The men came in about 6pm fishless but with stories (and pictures) of the one that got away. We headed home but stopped for dinner at a seafood restaurant on the way. We pulled in about 11:30 pm exhausted but glad we had such a fun day. Saturday we slept....when we finally dragged out of bed we just hung out at home. Saturday night the kids all went over to Mark & Jamie's to potentially see fireworks with Aunt Rachel and everyone. Ryan and I headed to Chapel Hill for our first REAL date in years? We went to dinner at Top of the Hill and then headed to a show at the planetarium. We stopped for ice cream (in the rain) and were enjoying our chat on the way home so much that we missed our exit and had to take the long way home. Thanks everyone for your help with the kids!! The fireworks were rained out but the kids didn't complain. They really enjoy spending time with family. Sunday was church and another day of rest. Friday really took a lot out of us but I think we have finally recovered! Yeah!

An old video that makes me laugh.,..

So, we FINALLY found Dade's little camcorder that we've been looking for for months and much like my phone I got to view things for the first time that I recorded months ago. Now some may think my child was neglected in this video but I was only feet away scanning in family photos when I noticed she was quiet. She usually tells me when she's done, and quite loudly.