What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about

Easter =)

2009-04-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in awhile so I'm going back to Easter Sunday. We all got together on Sunday for our Easter egg hunt. We have our tradition we have been doing since we were kids. Riddles hidden in plastic eggs all over the house. Each riddle leads to the next clue until they have found all their eggs. Last riddle leads them to their basket. We made Corbin and Noveigh's pretty hard this year but still the zipped right though them. We have some smart kids and we under estimated them lol

After our riddle hunt we take all their colored hard boiled eggs and we hide them outside. We do a toddler section and then a big kid section. The toddlers found them pretty fast but the big kids struggled!! Before we were even done Noveigh fell and while tryin to catch herself on the fence sliced her hand open. Was very gross and poor thing had to have her hand in a bandage for the rest of the day. It put a stop the egg hunt.

We all went home to nap, shower and change. Then back to my Mom's house for a wonderful Turkey dinner.

It was a great day other then Noveigh's hand. Here are a few pictures below.

Jury Duty

2009-04-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a few weeks. Guess I went through a busy patch there for a bit. With Hula shows, Family members coming back from Hawaii and Baseball starting....we got busy.

I wanted to write a blog about my Jury Duty experience, cause it was just that....quite an experience!

Couple months ago I got my summons to appear in court for Grand Jury. I didn't realize this was different then regular Jury but once I read into it I then understood the difference. The morning I was supposed to be in court we got our first and last snow of the season....and all courts were closed! I was thrilled I didn't have to go. I was secretly hoping that this meant my name would go back into the system and it wouldn't be rescheduled. Well I was wrong, I received a 2ND summons for April 6th, this past Monday.

I'm pretty sure I could have gotten out of it being that I'm a SAHM and all. But being that my kids are older and David was off that day I decided to suck it up and just go.

Getting there sucked because it was raining. I was wearing dress close and my car has been acting up and wouldn't start. Then I couldn't find a parking spot and I was running late. My coffee thermos was leaking everywhere even though it was brand new @@ It was a rough morning.

I walked into the little room with chairs and I walked up to the desk to sign in. She asked my name and then said "Oh you are Grand jury you don't have to sign in". I then was put in a smaller room with a few other people and we just waited. In the end there were 8 of us...I guess the 9th person was a no show.
We only waited about 10mins and then we were lead out of the room and into the actual courtroom. We were put in the Jury box and then asked to rise as the judge came in. The judge then explained our job to us and said that we had 8 people but only needed 7. So he looked through our name list and picked the person at the bottom of the list (alphabetically) and it was a lady who was the ONLY person after me on the list @@ She then got to leave...lucky her lol

He then explained that he had to pick a Foreperson, this person would be the leader of the group and had to sign all the documents. He looked on the list again and picked the 2nd to the last person....which was ME! Omg I just about died, I did NOT want to be the Foreperson...little meek, quiet ole me ...be the leader of a group?? I was terrified!

We then were lead into the jury room right off the court. One by one different police officers came in to present their cases to us. They were from all different areas of the law...drugs, theft, homicide, investigator, regular cop.....each person had a stack of cases they had to present.

They had to read over the police report and evidence and we had to decide if it should move on to trial. I then had to sign all the papers...ended up being 160 indictments that I had to sign...my hand hurt when were done lol

The very first person who came in the room was an Investigator. He had to read us 2 different cases of female abduction...same guy but 2 different girls. This was graphic detail that I really didn't need to hear. I think it shocked us all cause it was right in the beginning. They were long reports and he read it word for word (shudder). Of course when he was done were like "um yeah of course it needs to go to trial"....well I think it said he admitted to it as well so it was a no brainer.

In fact we ended up passing all of the cases, they were all very cut and dry. None of them were as bad as the first one which is good. But there were a lot of drug cases, a few murders but not graphic mainly punk kids with guns and fights. I guess our little city of Hampton isn't that bad lol I would be scared to do that in a bigger city...I can only imagine the stuff you'd have to listen to =( One girl asked the Homicide cop how often he has to deal with murders and he said it wasn't that often. He said Newport news was worse! Made me feel better lol No offense to all those NN people but made me happy to live in Hampton...especially when everyone thinks Hampton is crappy lol

After we had went through all the cases it was just about 1130am....we went through it fast! We sat and waited to get called back into the courtroom. Come to find out the Judge forgot we were in there and he went to lunch @@ lol He got called back and then dismissed us. I was home before 1230!

So although I had been dreading my Jury Duty it turned out to be very interesting. I learned a lot about the legal system...as well as drug lingo lol like that will come in handy.

Definitely worth those few hours of my time and the 30bucks i'll get lol

few pics I took of the boys

2009-03-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

St Patty's day/ My birthday

2009-03-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

For my Bithday my wonderful Husband sent me to the spa. It was a full day with a 90min massage, facial, Mani, Pedi, and haircut and style.

I walked away from the day feeling relaxed and beautified. We had plans that night to go out for St Patty's day. Something I do every year for my birthday.

David's friends owns a Limo and he said we could use it for the night, it was a beautiful silver stretch limo...it make the night amazing....and all we had to pay was the driver's tip =)

Here are some pictures from the night.

Let's go fly a kite

2009-03-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

We had a beautiful week last week. While most of my family was in Hawaii dealing with constant rain we were having 80degree weather!! Haha sucks to be them lol

We went to Hunington park with some friends. There were a bunch of families there flying kites and they were so kind to let our kids fly them as well. Corbin and his buddy Noah found a plastic bag and some string and made their own make shift kite.

Here are a few pictures of the boys flying kites on that beautiful day!!

Pee dropoff

2009-03-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

So this past week I had to take my Mom, Neely, Ethan and Neely's kids to the air port. As we were leaving Neely asks me if I can do a HUGE favor for her. She had 2 sets of Urine samples that needed to be delivered to her Doctor that very day. Being that I'm an awesome Sister I said of course!

Neely has many medical issues. She had her back surgery a year ago but even before that she had issues with her Kidneys. Come to find out she has one good Kidney and one that barely functions. She also had kidney stones on a pretty constant basis. The girl has been on medication for a year now due to her back and kidneys.

Well recently she was having some issues again so that's what these urine samples were for....they had to be tested. So after I take them to the air port at the butt crack of dawn I got home to continue on with my day.

Landon had speech so I wasn't able to get to the Dr office till after 1pm. Neely told me it was in Port Warwick but I didn't know what building I was supposed to take it into...I didn't even know her Drs name @@

So I got to the first building, drag the kids and this bag filled with urine and we head inside. The woman at the desks confirms that we are in the wrong building and told me to try a different place. We then load back into the car and head to where she told me to go. We then unload again just to find that I went to the freaking ambulance entrance @@
We then Reload, drive to the other side of the building unload and then head inside. I wait till I get called and we walk up to the lady at the desk. She tells me that I am in the right building but that she will need a Dr order for me to drop off the samples. Of course I have no Dr order and I don't even know his name. At that very moment Neely was on a plane heading for Hawaii and no way of contacting her. The lady was pretty rude to me so I got a little snippy back and I asked her what she expected me to do with the urine in my bag. She told me I had to go home and put it back in the fridge.....ugh.

So I left being very frustrated and took the samples back to Neelys house to store in her fridge. I kept trying to get ahold of Neely or my mom with no luck. Finally Chris calls me and asks me to try and take it back. He gave me the Dr name and number....so Friday I went back.

This time I knew the building but again couldn't get there till after 1pm. I go in and this lady wasn't as rude as the last one. She tells me that I need to call the Dr office and have them fax the order to them. So I sit in the waiting room trying to call this Dr office....only to get a constant busy signal...wtf? Why would a Dr office be busy nonstop? The ladies kept looking at me and asking if I got thru yet...which I eventually did about 20mins later @@. As you can imagine my kids were bored out of their mind waiting and getting antsy.
I finally get through and the nurse lady tells met hat it could take up to 30mins to fax...what???
I explain this to woman where I was at and they thought that was insane...so they started calling his office and told them that it was urgent so they sped it up a bit.
The order was FINALLY sent, and then someone came down to the lobby to pick up the urine..I had to sign papers and answer questions...this wasn't for me so I felt very odd about it all.
But once that lady took the bag from me and I was rid of it all a HUGE weight was lifted off me. I was sooooooooo done dealing with it. I knew it was important but it should not have been the hassle it was.

Next time someone asks me to drop off their pee for them I'm going to have to decline!

This weekend

2009-03-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

Friday night David, the boys and I drove up to DC so I could attend a Hula workshop the next day.
David's old coworker Marty was so kind to offer his house to us so I could get a good nights sleep before having to dance all day Saturday. We didn't get to Marty's till about 9pm that night due to David getting stuck in tunnel traffic coming home from work.
Marty was up and waiting for us, we let the boys watch some tv before I put them to bed. After they were asleep David, Marty and myself sat outside with a glass of wine and chatted. I really hadn't spoken to Marty much before then. He's a 60yr old man who lives alone and seems quite lonely. I enjoyed his company and found that he was actually a very interesting guy. I headed to bed after my wine and the men stayed up for a bit after that.

I had to be up by 7am the next morning to get ready and drive the hour drive to Arlington. I struggled a bit on Saturday but Marty being the kinda man he is had gotten up and made me coffee to take on the road.
I was very lucky I didn't hit any DC traffic, I actually got there 30mins early. I had time to get a bottle of water at Rite aid and relax my nerves a bit. I was very anxious and nervous about attending this workshop. Mainly because I was doing it ALONE. Last year all of us Hula girls went together. I felt very strange not knowing anyone(or so I thought)

At about 915 I decided to head inside and check in. As I was walking towards the check in table a girl stopped me and said "Jenna?, it's me Kristen from the BF group". It took me a second to figure out what she was talking about but when I realized I was shocked! This is a girl that I have ONLY known online. About 8yrs ago I was part of a BF online support group and she was one of the girls. We have stayed in touch and check in ever so often with eachother. So 8yrs later I run into her at a Hula workshop of all places....how odd is that? lol
Turns out her Mother is the one has danced the longest, so she came with her mother, sister who both dance a little bit. She had never done it before but thought it would be fun to try. It was a pleasant surprise to see a familiar face even if it was someone I had never met in person.

The Workshop went very well, I learned a lot about the Kahiko style of Hula which is the ancient style...lots of Chanting and playing of the Ipu drum. It was very cool and I loved being there. It also was great exercise. We danced from 10am to 12pm straight with tiny water breaks in between. Then we had lunch from 12 to 1pm and then danced again till 3pm. I have to say today I am hurting!!!! lol

While I was there David, Marty and the boys went fishing, had lunch, went to a park...they had gotten back to his house right before I showed up around 5pm. We left shortly after that to head back home.

We got home around 830 and then had some friends over to hang out for awhile. Rachel and John came over and we put their two kids and mine in the Tv room with a movie and they all fell asleep. We then hung out on my porch till we all got tired and wanted to head to bed.

Today, well i'm just glad to be home and after the exhausting day yesterday I just want to veg. I'm still in my Pj's and don't plan on doing much today lol

Hit by the Stomach Bug =(

2009-03-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

This past week has been long, exhausting and disgusting. We had a stomach bug sweep through my family. Almost everyone got it which is rare. Normally all the kids will get it and adults will be fine or the other way around. This started with Rainer, moved to Noveigh, Tobey and Theseus. Then on to David, Lauren, Landon, Ethan, Neely and Myself. The only people that have NOT been effected is My mom, Dad, Marisha, hannah, Ashley and Corbin.....knock on wood!

Not only did the bug sweep through our house but I had a show on Saturday that I had to prepare for. New dances, New costumes, and a new member to train. It was all very bad timing for a stomach bug to hit.

Luckily I got the worst of it Thursday night so by Saturday I was feeling better but still with a weak stomach.

Our Hula group performed at the Day of Dance celebration at Thomas nelson Community College. The show was new in a lot of ways which usually means we have some glitches to work out. But this one went GREAT, as smooth as smooth can be! I am very happy it is over though, it was a lot of stress planning for it.

Tomorrow I have to attend Grand Jury @@ lovely right? I have never done this before and am a little nervous about it. I know it will suck and I just hope that I don't get selected. It's David's day off and I have to waste it sitting in a court house bored out of my mind.

Come Weds most of my family will be on a plane headed for Hawaii, can't help but be a little bitter about it. I wish we could afford to go too but it's just not realistic.
My Mom, Dad, Ethan, Neely, Chris, Noveigh, Rainer, Lauren are all going. Lauren is only staying about 5 days, Dad and Chris about 2 weeks but my Mom, Neely and the kids are staying till the end of March @@
I think it irritates me because My sister and her husband are seperated and no longer living together. So why oh why is he paying for her to stay in Hawaii for a month @@ I'm sure this comes from my long standing bitterness towards this particular Sister but still I can't help but feel a tad jealous that she can leave her husband yet still get whatever she wants. Hmmmmmmm anyway I should change subject or I'll go on a tangant.

During the this Month I will be turning 28yrs old, 18 more days to be exact. I am NOT happy with this fact. I don't know why I have such an issue with getting older but I do. Only thing keeping a smile on my face about this is that shortly after I turn 28 David will be turning 30!!! LOL I love it!

Corbin just came and showed me that our Hermit Crab Cody had died, I guess that deserves a blog all on it's own.

Yay Me!

2009-02-20T16:45:00.000-08:00

So my days have been going by very fast lately. Nothing all that new or interesting with me but I have to say that I feel exhausted...mentally and physically.

I've stuck to my diet (yay me), and have been working out for about an hour a day. No results yet but I'm staying positive and very excited. The working out isn't bad but it's the limiting of what I can eat that sucks. I really wish I didn't love food as much as I do. I have to remind myself everyday that food is meant to keep us nurished and healthy and it doesnt matter if it taste like crap or not LOL I have caved and drank a few times though. But If I know i'm going to have a few beers then I eat less so it should all equal out lol....or at least I tell myself that when i'm downing a few glasses of wine like I did last night with friends hehe

Corbin and Noveigh attending a Homeschooling workshop at the Air and space center yesterday. It was just 10bucks a kid, from 10am to 330pm. They learned about Robots and even got to build one. When I picked them up they were thrilled with their day! I'll give myself a slap on the back for that one =)

I can honestly say that I have babysat for someones kids everyday for the last week and a half. Don't get me wrong the kids I have watched have been great. It's not like I'm babysitting little devils or anything. I truely love to help people out when they need it and I feel that if i'm sitting at home with my own kids....whats a few more right lol
Of course a FEW more turns into a BUNCH more. The other day I had 7 kids for about 3hrs. Ages 8,8,6,5,3,2,2......man was I tired after that.
I would love a day where I didn't have any obligations and I didn't have to watch anyones kids. Who knows when that will happen. Again I don't mind helping people out when they need it. I just get tired and mentally drained when I have other peoples kids every single day.
Today I thought I was in the clear. My friend didn't need a sitter which was awesome, but then sure enough at 3pm I got a call from my sisters asking me to watch their kids while they taught their dance class lol Oh well..... kids are gone now.

So i'm working on planning David's 30th birthday. He keeps throwing out hints about it so there is no way i'm getting out of doing it lol I'm thinking a house party might be the best idea....and cheapest. If anyone has any good ideas for themes please leave me a comment I could really use some help!!

Well i'm off to watch Ghost Whisperer with the boys

Happy Birthday Landon

2009-02-07T06:46:00.000-08:00

Feb 3rd was Landon's 6th Birthday. David was off work that day so we went out to spend the day as a family. We let Landon pick where we had lunch. He picked a Chinese buffet which was nice and cheap lol Of course we had to tell them that Landon was 5yrs old so we could get his food for 2.99 instead of the 4.99 it would be if we said he was 6. He barely eats anything anyway so I didn't feel bad lying.

He then decided he wanted to go to Chuck E Cheeses. Not my favorite place in the world. It was a weekday and hardly anyone was there which made it more enjoyable. I had my printed out coupons so it only ended up costing us like 20 for like 150 tokens. We were there for about 2hrs and Landon had a blast.

I had a Hula show that evening and I felt guitly about it. I told DAvid to take the kids to the grocery store and let them pick out their dinner. I believe they ended up picking Kid Cuisines. They sat and watched Stuart little 3 with Daddy while I was at the show. When I got home they were fed and happy. They had went to the Dollar tree and bought Balloons for Baylin. So after I ate we all went down by the water and sang our song to Baylin and let his 6 balloons go. Just something we do every year. Then off to bed the kids went and the day was over.

I think Landon had a nice day but his birthday is FAR from over.

I was originally going to do his birthday this weekend but David got asked to do a sale in Chicago so he left Thurs night and won't be back until Sunday night.

So next weekend we are doing Landon's family party, this is just dinner, presents, cake. Then the following weekend we are doing a combined kids party with a friend of ours. Her daughter is turning 4. So he's going ot have like a month of birthdays ....lucky kid =)

Movie Reviews

2009-01-30T13:04:00.000-08:00

House Bunny

I don't care what anyone says, this movie was HILARIOUS! Yes it is retarded. Yes you will probably lose brain cells watching it. But if you want a good laugh ...rent it!

Once

Wow....this is a great movie! The story is very simple. Boy meets girl type story. He is an aspiring musician and she helps him create beautiful songs so he can hopefully one day make it big. The couple in the movie were married in real life and wrote and performed all the songs in the movie. It's a musical, and the movie actually has more to do with the MUSIC then it does with the actual plot. But WOW it's amazing! I do believe they won an Oscar for the music.

Get Smart

This movie was disapointing, guess it's just not my cup of tea. I love the actors in it and normally think they are great. But I lost interest in it half way through and thought it was boring.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Ok another great one!!! I'm sure everyone has seen the previews for this so I don't really have to remind you of what it's about. But I can say this is a MUST SEE!!!

Baylin my dear sweet angel!

2009-01-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

As most of you know I gave birth to twin boys Feb 3rd 2003. I had NO CLUE I was having twins. I was large for my weeks but only by a couple Cm, and there weren't' any obvious clues to say there was more then one. Two heartbeats were never detected either. Of course when I look back now I guess there were a few subtle clues here and there but nothing that would really jump out at someone.

When I gave birth Landon came out first, healthy but little. After he came out my belly didn't really go down much and there was still a large lump. It wasn't until this moment when I looked down at my stomach that I knew something wasn't right. Contractions started again and I pushed out Baby #2 Baylin. I remember the sight of looking between my legs and seeing this baby who clearly was no longer alive. I will NEVER get that sight out of my head.

This event traumatized me for a very long time. Took me awhile before I could actually talk about it to anyone without bursting into tears. The VA law says that we had to have an Autopsy done. Part of me didn't want this done, but the other part of me was curious. I was to scared to request the Autopsy report in the beginning... but I knew that someday I would get it. I wanted to wait until I was ready to read what it might say.

A year later my sister gave birth to my Niece Oleyen, she had a birth defect and was missing her diaphragm. She lived 19days and then passed away. In the back of my mind I always thought there was a chance that Baylin had a birth defect that caused his death.

Each year that passed I kept saying I would get the report, but every year that passed I still couldn't get up the nerve to do it. Clearly it meant I wasn't ready to read it and I was comfortable with that. David has always wanted to know but he kept his mouth shut and let me go at my own pace. He knew I would do it when I wanted to.

Feb 3rd 2009 will be Landon and Baylin's 6th birthday. The other day I was thinking yet again about requesting the report. I didn't mention it to David I just wanted to ponder the idea on my own. I went as far as contacting the Richmond Coroners office asking them how to go about doing it. They responded quickly asking for my name and dates. They wrote and told me they were sending my emails to their Tidewater office. They explained to me that I would have to send a written request with my signature. I felt OK about it, I still had time to decide whether I wanted to send the request or not. But at least I knew how!
At that point I finally told David what I had found out and he again said he wanted to read it but he would wait for me.
A day later I got an email from their Tidewater office saying that they received the request (the fwrd emails) and all I had to do was send them my mailing address and they would get it in the mail before 2pm. I was shocked, my heart pounded and I didn't know what to do. It was THAT easy...all I had to do was type my address and it would be on it's way. I had until 2pm to decide....I sucked it up, held my breath and typed and hit send! Of course after I sent it I was freaked out. I knew I would have it within 2 days or so.

Without fail 2 days later...there it was in my mailbox.

I sat around all day waiting for David to get home. Every time I looked at the envelope my heart would skip a beat. I really don't know why it scared me so much but it did.
David got home, we had dinner, got the kids in bed and then sat in our room and finally opened it. David let me read through it first cause he didn't want to read over my shoulder. I could tell he was watching my expressions as I read but he sat there patiently.

In the end what I found out was that there was NOTHING wrong with him. Not sure how to feel about it. 80% of me was relieved that nothing serious was found. But the other part of me was frustrated that there wasn't a reason.
It said that signs pointed to pregnancy induced hypertension, but I didn't have that. I loved reading his details such as "brown hair and brown eyes"....weight and length. Something about seeing this information printed brought some peace to me. When you have a Stillborn you tend to feel that no one cares. Some people feel that if a baby didn't take a breath that they were nothing more then a "fetus". It's so hard because there is no difference between a baby born alive but dies shortly after birth and a baby who is full term but dies before being born. I don't see how people can view them as different. In a way I'm happy he died inside me where he was cozy snuggled up against his brother...protected from the cold world outside and listening to my heartbeat it brings me comfort. In a way I guess he died to save his brother, whatever it was he was not getting enough from the placenta...I'll never know why but I'll have to live with that.

I think reading this report helped me with my grieving. The pain never goes away, but it lessens over time. I'm glad I waited until I was ready! I now have SOME peace of mind knowing that it was not a genetic birth defect that could effect future children...that was my biggest fear. I am now able to go into any future pregnancies with LESS fear then I would have.

Twilight Books

2009-01-23T20:27:00.000-08:00

I just recently finished the 4th book of the Twilight series. Yes these are Teen books but man are they addicting.

I compare them a lot to the Harry Potter books. But even Harry Potter was a bit more complicated as the books went on. Twilight, yeah it's just a teen love story that involved a Vampire and a Human.

It's a wonderful story though, one that hooks you from the beginning. I couldn't wait to pick it up and read....when I wasn't reading I was thinking about the next time I could read lol

David is even reading them now, I think he's on the 4th book. The movie was EH and of course didn't compare to the book...but isn't that how it always goes?

So if you enjoy a good love story and don't mind some graphic talk about Vampires GO READ!!

George Bushington

2009-01-23T20:07:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here watching Super Nanny and feeling so very grateful and proud of my kids! My boys can grate on my last nerve some days. But all in all they are great boys. They behave in public, they are polite with their please and thank yous. They do what they are told for the most part and can be very helpful around the house when they want to be.
Sometimes it takes an episode of Super Nanny to remind me how wonderful they are =)

So the other day Landon and I were having a conversation about President Obama and George Bush. He was a little confused about who was coming and going. So I explained to him that Obama was our new President and Bush is no longer.
My son knows George Washington, it's really the ONLY president he can name or knows anything about. So it didn't surprise me when he asked "But what's going to happen to George Bushington?" I couldn't help but giggle when he said it. So I guess our Presidents have to have the INGTON at the end of their name....especially if their first name is George.

David had to go up to DC from Tues morning till Fri night (tonight). Time went by fairly quickly...I just stayed busy. I had a Hula practice at my house Wed night which went well. Then last night I was babysitting a friends kids so she could go to class. Then after the kids were in bed I had some girls over for a game night. We had a great time playing cards and Taboo. I suffered through today though because of my lack of sleep last night...and a few to many beers didn't help either lol

David got home tonight around 9pm so right at the boys bedtime. I was really looking forward to him coming home. The man walks in the door, gives his hugs and kisses, gets himself some food, then falls asleep in our bed with the boys. I think I said maybe one sentence to the man since he got home. Not exactly what I had in mind for him homecoming tonight lol

This weekend I have NO plans! David works weekends so they are like normal weekdays for me. Only difference is that kids play outside more because their friends aren't in school. I will be doing laundry, laundry and more laundry. I really should get rid of most of our clothes....We have way to much! You'd think I had a house filled with girls instead of guys lol

Movies

2009-01-14T15:41:00.001-08:00

Yet another teeny bopper movie about the popular girls being mean to the new girl in school. Similar to Mean Girls. Yet this was horribly made with horrible actresses. The kids seemed to enjoy it but don't waste your time.

This was an adorable movie!!! It's about a little girl who dreams about becoming a reporter. Her and her family are struggling through the Great Depression. Houses in her neighborhood are being broken into and she helps solve the crimes. We watched this as a family and we all enjoyed it!

Joys of Homeschooling

2009-01-14T15:26:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd write a little something about the kids schooling. I am a very relaxed Homeschooler. I don't believe in forcing kids to do hours of school work a day. I believe they learn more through living live then they do from worksheets.

The boys watch educational TV or Videos, and we have computer programs they enjoy. We go to museums and we talk about EVERYTHING.

A couple times a week I'll have them do actual "sit down schoolwork". Yesterday Corbin was given 10 spelling words. I explained to him how to use a Dictionary. He had to look up the words and then write the definitions. After the 5th word he had hit his limit with writing so I let him stop and we moved on. I then taught him how to read a face clock. I had tried this before with him but it just didn't click. Well this time it did, he understood completely and got it in about 5mins.

Landon worked on basic letter's and sounds till he lost interest and then we moved onto basic math. He is no where near reading level. Corbin was reading before he turned 6, Landon will be 6 in a couple weeks and is still working on sounds. Just goes to show how different kids are, no matter how hard you try. That's what's so wonderful about Homeschooling, kids are allowed to go at their own pace without feeling they are below all the kids around them.

One of our local museums has a lot of homeschooling event. At the end of Feb they are holding an Egg drop contest. I had never heard of this before. I guess it's common in public schools but being that I was homeschooled it was not something I was ever around.
It sounds like a lot of fun and I plan on taking the boys to it. They have been discussing ways to keep their eggs from breaking! We'll see how creative they get.

Movie Reviews

2009-01-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

The Bucket list

I enjoyed this movie but I felt it was very slow in the first half. They spent far to much time on them in the hospital then they did doing the actual list. Cute but could have been better.

Twilight

I just started the 4th book of this series and decided it was high time I saw the movie that just recently came out which is based on the first book.

Like most book based movies it wasn't as good as the book. The actors didn't play the characters the way they did in my head lol The characters have a lot of passion in the book and I felt the movie lacked in that department. Didn't make me feel that they were madly in love and couldn't live without eachother...it was more like ya ya two teens in love big deal. I was a little disapointed.

Video clips..yay they worked

2009-01-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

Corbin's Guitar

2009-01-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

I found this guitar on Ebay for a great price. It's a 36inch real guitar, accoustic and natural wood...very nice looking. He has been asking for one for months. I think he would have prefered Electric but he'll have to build up to that lol

I paid for the guitar in the beginning of December, and the seller said it was shipped on the 16th. It should have been here before the 24th. Well the 24th came and went and still no guitar. I was sad and disapointed. I was looking forward to the look on Corbin's face Christmas morning when he saw his new instrument.

I didn't think to check the tracking number, not sure why just didn't cross my mind. After Christmas I went onto Ebay got the tracking number and looked it up.
It said it was delivered on the 18th of December????

When I looked closer I realized that I had the wrong shipping address on my Ebay account =( Totally my fault...but it was my OLD address which is next door to my parents.

I haven't lived there for 6mos and there are new people living there now. They seem pretty shady from looks alone but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and I thought they might have the guitar or tried sending it back.

I went over to the house and each time I talked to a new person. They have so many people coming and going in that house and I just wanted to talk to the actual Renter. I was told he was sleeping, at work, not home....there was always a reason I couldn't speak to him.

My mother tried, My sister tried, I tried, David tried. Eventually David managed to get the guys number. We left multiple messages on his Cell phone...and still nothing. Each person we spoke to said they never saw a package.

We spoke to UPS and they gave us proof delivery and offered to start an investigation. We said to hold off on that we would keep trying with this guy Mike.

David FINALLY got ahold of this Mike guy today and he basically went off on David using the F word many times. Said to leave him alone, he doesnt have the guitar and wouldn't want it and to never call or knock on his door again.
David being David got pissed and told the guy that we already started an investigation and he would be contacted. When I spoke to David I was disapointed that he was threatening to the guy and wasn't sure it would work anyway.

Not an hour later my Mother called me and said she had the guitar. It was left in a big box in her driveway with a note that said "found this in our garage". There was no packaging, no original box, no reciept, NOTHING...just the guitar.
The guitar was supposed to come in its original box, with a shoulder strap and picks. Clearly they opened the package...took the strap and picks and had NO intention of giving it back. UNTIL David scared the crap outa the guy. Guess there is something to say about intimidation.

Corbin now has his guitar, he has not been able to put it down since we picked it up. We still intend on following up with the situation because they commited a crime...not sure anything will come of it but if I can put them through even just a tiny bit of trouble then it's well worth the weeks Corbin had to go without his gift!

Corbin's friend Noah has a guitar as well so tonight they have been playing together nonstop. Neither one of them know how to play for real but it's so darn cute watching them try. They have made up their own songs and everything...they are quite creative.

I'm going to attempt to add some video clips of the boys playing....lately it hasnt' been letting me so hopefully it will work this time.

Ok didn't work, i'll keep trying and post them later

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

Finally a moment to sit down and write!

Our Christmas went very well, the kids got everything they wanted for the most part ....except for the Wii, PS3, and a real cell phone lol

Corbin's big main gift didn't come in the mail in time (story for another post) which was a Guitar. I was very upset and disapointed but he got a card saying that it was on it's way....he was thrilled with just that!

The Monday after Christmas we headed to Williamsburg to spend a week at a timeshare. My entire family does this every year for New Years. This year was interesting to say the least. Far to many kids, different parenting styles, different personalities....all equal out to a very stressful week. I was thrilled to get home on Friday.

Friday night I had friends over for a Poker night, it was a nice release from my week long with my family.

Tonight Corbin's having his best friend Noah sleep over. They are camped out in the TV room on the floor watching Rescuers down under while I sit and type this. It's been a fairly relaxing day didn't do much other then sit and read the 3rd book in the Twilight series...it's true they are addicting lol

I'm looking forward to starting my first week in 2009 (at home) and getting started on my New Years resolution to lose weight. I will do it this time. I am SO unhappy with the weight i've gained over the last year and it effects my life greatly. I just need to get off my butt and DO IT this time!!

I'm going to write about it to track my progress I think that might help.

Story about the Guitar to follow..................

Lazy day

2008-12-19T14:02:00.000-08:00

Today we have been hanging at home. Not really by choice because David can't find the keys to his car so he had to take my car to work today.

We've been hanging out catching up on some of my favorite shows, cleaning, laundry...just normal stuff.

The boys have stayed busy as well with school work, tv shows, putting away the laundry I am continuesly setting on their beds, legos and Corbin's new thing...Grand chase on the computer.

I had no clue what this thing was until my brother Ethan got all the other kids into it. It's basically just a website you go onto and create a character and then have little battles with other characters online. Basically all the kids get on at the same time so they can play with eachother.

Today Corbin has been on and off the phone with his Cousin Noveigh. He puts her on speaker phone and then they play the game together while talking. I was listening to their conversation and it was hilarious.

Corbin: Ok i'm in room 224
Noveigh: Ok looking for it now
Corbin: Hurry up their is only one more slot left, get in the room! (screaming)
Noveigh: I am trying, geez!
Corbin: Oh I see you now, finally, ok let's get the part started
Noveigh: is level sword do you have? ( I have no clu ewhat this means)
Corbin : I'm only a level 1 sword cause I just joined

Ok this conversation went on for a LONG time. They were so involved in this game and so dramatic about it all.

I did go sit and watch him play the game for awhile, because I was very unaware of what the entire thing was I wanted to make sure it was appropriate. Luckily there is no chatting or anything which is what would make me uncomfortable. It's just characters playing a game and trying to beat levels....it's cute.

Landon has been playing with Legos all day. He's really shown a big interest in them lately. He makes all kinds of houses, space ships, cars, or just random shapes. I really want to add to their lego collection for Christmas...they are just so darn expensive =(

I shoul d keep an eye on Ebay and get them for his Birthday in Feb!

I should get back to cleaning, I'm using this blog as an excuse to sit and do nothing lol

Free at last!

2008-12-17T21:31:00.000-08:00

The last week and a half have been very stressful for me. As I wrote before my friend Dusty had to leave town due to her Father in laws passing. I was asked by her to help watch her sister's children while she was gone. Her sister moved here from Wisconsin to "get back on her feet" basically. Dusty being a loving sister took on the job of day care provider for her Niece and Nephew so her Sister could get a job. This is why I was asked to cover for Dusty. I was more then happy to do whatever I could to help her out. After just having a baby and then having to leave 2 days after she was born to drive to IL for a funeral.

Anyway.....

Babysitting started last Tuesday. I had to get the kids off the bus and watch them until Diana got off work...this was about 3hrs. Of course 3hrs with 4 kids feels like 10hrs. Weds they had half day so it was 5hrs, which felt like 15. Thurs and Fri were 3hrs but Saturday....Oh boy that was from 730am to 6pm. I had to leave for a Hula show at 5pm so David covered for me until she picked them up.
On that VERY LONG day Sebastian who is 6 decided to climb a tree in my back yard. I have no problem with the boys doing this as long as they can get themselves back down. I have had to help Corbin out of a tree so many times that he now knows to just stay out of them. But on this day Seba decided to climb this tree. I guess his foot slipped and he then fell outa of the tree and hit his head and hurt his back. I ran outside, checked him out and then brought him in. He seemed fine just a little shell shocked. He layed on the couch to rest, but then ended up falling asleep.
I guess this alarmed Corbin because he came and got me saying "Seba is asleep, is he ok?" I checked on him and tried waking him up but he was very groggy and wouldn't stay awake. I got very nervous and thought maybe he had a concusion or something. I was so scared I would have to make a trip to the ER, something i've NEVER had to do before (knock on wood) and it would be with someone else's child.
I decided to wait it out a bit and I let him sleep but kept attempting to wake him. I think my gut was telling me that he was fine and that he was just over tired from being up so early. I did at one point get him to follow my finger and he was able to and I tickled him and got a smile...that put me at ease. After about an hour of him sleeping I was able to get him to stay awake. This was right before I had to walk out the door and leave them with DAvid. I felt really bad about that.
I called Diana after I left and I told her what happened. I told her if he started puking later she might want to get him checked out. Thank goodness all was fine and she told me he had a late night and was up to early so he was just exhausted....whew I got lucky.

Sunday Diana finally had a day off and I got a break. It wasn't a full break though because David had to work all day and then had his work xmas party that night...I managed to get myself out of going lol David told everyone I had a Hula show lol But I still had my kids ALL day and all night...so no break for me.

Monday I was back to babysitting again, this time till 10pm at night and then again on Tuesday...which was my very last day!

I am now free, free at last!

They were not bad kids, maybe a tad ADHD but not bad kids. But the combination of my boys and two extra kids drained me beyond belief. By the last day all the kids were bickering and fighting...you could tell they had had enough of eachother.

Now it's back to normal life with just my boys...well as normal as it can be right before Christmas.

background

2008-12-17T21:25:00.001-08:00

I just noticed I still have a Halloween background on here....lol I should probably change it

Happy Birthday Ariella!

2008-12-13T10:28:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends/Hula sister Dusty had her baby girl on the 6th. She was 6lbs 13oz and 19inches long. Her name is Ariella patsy. Neely and I were invited to the birth. Neely (who is training to be a midwife) was in the room. I was in charge of her three boys. We might as well have been in the room though. The boys and I were right outside the room, we heard everything and got to go in right after the put a blanket over her legs and cleaned her up. So while I didn't see the baby COME OUT ( I would have fainted anyway lol) I still feel I was witness to the birth!!!

The Sunday before hand I hosted Dusty's baby shower...pics below. The other pics are of her boys in the hospital waiting.

Baby was born early Saturday morning, and Sunday Dusty and her husband recieved a call informing them that John's father had died. He had cancer and they knew it would most likely happen in DEC but they were hoping he could meet Ariella. They then drove to IL on Monday....RIGHT AFTER GIVING BIRTH! I feel so horrible for them!!

This week I have been in charge of watchin Dusty's sister's kids. This is something Dusty was doing for her sister so as a favor to Dusty I am doing it. I'm on my 5th day and pretty stressed by it. But only two more days of babysitting and i'm done!

Here are some pics

Movie Review

2008-12-13T10:22:00.001-08:00

I thought I would do a short movie review of the latest movies i've seen.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall.............I enjoyed this movie a lot. WAs funny and cute. Would love to own it.

Horton hears a who....................I had never read this book so wasn't sure of the story. I have a hard time with animated movies but I loved this one. It was such a wonderful story!

Step Brothers.......................This looked hilarious, but the outtakes were funnier then the actual movie...disapointing.

Baby Mama.........................Another cute one, but I found myself getting bored half way through it. It was ok though.

Tobey and Rainers Birthday

2008-12-11T22:26:00.000-08:00

My little nephews are now 2!!!! wow time sure does fly! They are the cutest and funniest little boys I just adore them.

Girls night out

2008-12-11T22:16:00.000-08:00

My little Sister Neely just turned 26....haha she's over 25 I love it! We had a girls night out last Thursday for her Birthday.

Christmas party @ LINK

2008-12-11T21:59:00.000-08:00

My Mother's company she works for "LINK" hold a Christmas party every year for the less fortunate families they councel. My Mother takes my boys to it each year. It's quite fun for them. They do crafts, sing Christmas carols, see Santa, eat a bunch of sweets....They love it.

This year my Mom asked if my sister and I could come help out. She wanted us to take the Santa photos and then use our portable printer to print the photos for the families.

It was an exhausting evening dealing with all the kids, trying to get a good Santa shot, and then printing the photos which took forever @@

Some of these families asked for double prints as well which I couldn't help but think it was kinda rude. I was doing my best to get them printed as fast as I could...but it just wasn't fast enough for some of these people.

Been Busy

2008-11-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in awhile. Mainly because i've been so busy. Very little time to do anything online. My internets been acting up as well...very tempermental...Oh and not to mention my computer was broke for about 3 days until my Dad had time to fix it. Things have finally calmed down a bit and I am able to sit for a few and write.

November's been so crazy for us. I've had at least 2 birthday parties every weekend to attend. Half being kid parties and other half being adult going out parties.

My little sister Hannah turned 23 on the 10th, we all went out to Mcfaddens. It was an interesting night which ended with one of the girls throwing up in the bathroom, losing her phone, throwing up outside near the car, talking to the cops about getting her home, and Hannah thinking her night got ruined lol It was so dramatic while it was happening but when I look back on it it was pretty comical.

The following weekend one of my best friends turned 30! She wanted to have a Girls night out at Granby Theater..which is a club. We rented a hotel ..had dinner and danced all night. I know she had a great time and i'm glad I could be there for it...but boy was I exhausted! Those two weekends in a row tired me out.

Here's a picture of Erica's 30th..................

The day after Erica's bday I had to be at another birthday party but this was a kid party. So I got home the next day only to pick up the kids and rush to the other party. At this one our Hula group put on a show...in the freezing cold..not fun =(

This was Bailley and Ryans birthday/going away party...they are moving to Hawaii in December. Corbin has a huge crush on Bailly and he made up a song to sing her. Corbin and Noah sang this song, while corbin played(tried to play) the guitar. They did it in front of EVERYONE! All the kids and all the parents...I was so proud of him! Bailly was embarrassed but her mother said she loved it.

This past Weds and left the kids home with David and I went to go visit my good friend Vicki. She just recently gave birth to a baby girl about 3 weeks ago. I hadn't been able to visit due to sickness but I was finally feeling well enough. I spent about 3 hours with her just hanging out at her house with her 1yr old and the new baby...I think she needed some adult interaction...poor thing had her two babies so close together. New baby Ellie is beautiful!!!

Thursday, we went over to Dusty's house to meet Dusty and Vicki ....our attempt at getting vicki out of her house for a bit. The kids played, we talked and enjoyed holding Ellie.

The last couple days I've stayed home, catching up on Laundry and doing some deep cleaning...much needed deep cleaning lol

I just got a job, well a small job. I'm going to be watching twin 4yr olds twice a week. I really need the money before christmas and this popped up at just the right time!! I start this coming Tuesday lol hopefully it goes well!

Tonight we are just hanging at home....might get a bottle of wine =)

Shoes Shoes Shoes!!!

2008-11-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

Hi, my name is Jenna and I am a Shoe-aholic.

I have so many pairs of shoes I lost count. I'm sure I could count them all but who the hell has time for that....and whats the point anyway. But I do love shoes. If I see a cute pair I just have to have them!

I have mulitiple pairs of flip flops, different types of sneakers and different colors and styles. Tons of boots, ankle, mid calf, knee high ...all with different style heels and colors. I have tons of sandles and Heels/pumps...different colors and styles. I just can't help myself! I don't even wear half of these that often. But it's awesome when I find a cute shirt or dress and I think to myself "I have the cutest shoes to go with this dress" lol It's an addiction like I said.

Luckily I'm a super thrifty shopper. I love thrift stores and consignment shops. Pretty much every pair that i've puchased has been from there. And if it's from a regular store they are always on clearance.

Now some people might think that if you puchase from a thrift store or clearance then that means they are not in style anymore...but I completely disagree!!! Almost everything I buy is still in style..it's just a matter of looking hard for what you want!

Sunday night I went thrift store shopping and I hit jackpot IMO when I found these 2 very adorable pairs of heels. They are different from anything I already have which just makes them even better!!

One pair was 2.98 and the other 4.98.....I just had to share my great find and my love for shoes!

Saturday ~ Last baseball and Pizza party

2008-11-05T10:44:00.000-08:00

First off I have to say it took me FOREVER to get these pictures in this blog! I have been trying for days. For some reason Blogger doesnt like me anymore and has made blogging very difficult...no clue why ..ugh

Anyway Saturday was Corbin and Noveigh's very last baseball game of the season. We then headed to a local pizza place for their party.

The pictures below are the kids with their Coach....Coach John as he likes to be called. The kids sitting around the table eating pizza, and then a couple of them playing their last game. Landon was bored and pissy because I wouldn't let him have any candy (day after halloween)...so I asked him to pose for a picture and that's what I got lol Oh well I tried.

Trick or Treat

2008-11-03T18:36:00.001-08:00

Trick or Treating was interesting this year. We invited some friends to walk around with us. Our neighborhood was incredibly dead this year. Last year the kids filled almost 2 bags while trick or treating...this year they didn't even fill one half way. Don't get me wrong I am thrilled they didn't get much candy...but I was disapointed with the lack of participation in our neighborhood.

It was basically every 5th house would have their light on. So it was a lot of walking and not much action =(

Even so...the boys had fun. Here are a few pictures of them dressed up.

Pumpkin Carving

2008-11-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

Weds night we carved our pumpkins. The boys had so much fun scooping out the goo and then carving. Normally that results in a big pumpkin guts fight but I said No No to it this year...didn't feel like cleaning up the mess.

landon did his scary face all by himself...well almost. Corbin's is a piano and music symbols...figures my little music child even had to incorporate it into halloween lol I had to help him a lot with his. David did the grim reaper. The bottoms pics turned out bad because somehow I set my new camera on a weird setting and they all turned out super dark...I had to lighten them and they look like crap...oh well i'm still learning the camera.

Pumpkin picking

2008-11-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

Tuesday after my Hula meeting David and I took the boys to get our Pumpkins. We went to the church we normally get our pumpkins at but they were all out. Serves us right for waiting till last minute. We ended up at a different church that actually charged for their pumpkins =(
Either way we got some cute pictures out of it.

Monday ~ Movie night

2008-10-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

Monday night I took the boys to the movies to see High School Musical 3. Neely and my Mother came with their kids as well as my friend Dusty and all her boys.

Corbin was thrilled to be able to see the movie with his best friend Noah =) We went to Cinema Cafe and ate some dinner there as well. Ended up being a bad idea cause the food was gross yet the prices were high @@

The kids had a great time and that's all that matters!

Halloween Party!

2008-10-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday night was our Annual Adult Halloween Party! It went great. A lot of activities were going on at the same time which kept everyone busy. Hannah had put together relay games and trivia with prizes.

Everyone had a blast! We had some wonderful costumes this year from everyone who came. and the prize money was well over 30bucks per catagory...so the winners did great.

I believe my BIL Chris won best male, My sister Neely won best overall and a friend Ashley won best female.

Here are some pictures from the night.

costume pics

2008-10-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

Halloween Costume Contest

2008-10-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday the 25th was the Air and Space Museums big Halloween Bash! This is one of our FAVORITE October activities!!

Corbin and Noveigh have been won the costume contest pretty much every year since they were born. My sister Neely is extremely creative and puts together some amazing costumes.

This year they were going as Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein...except they were both going to be half and half...cut right down the middle..very gross.

We considered breifly that Corbin might not handle the gruesome costume that well but we figured if he watched the make up being put on then it wouldn't be a problem....boy were we wrong!

Our day started out pretty hectic with baseball games, missing costumes, trips to the store things like that.

We met at my Mother's house around 2pm, the party started at 4pm. My sister Neely started on Noveigh's makeup first. Once she got the wax on and had it looking like she had a cut down her face Corbin took one look at her and almost passed out.

I had to lay him down for quite a while. Ever so often I would have him check her out again and he would react in the same way. I got him food, orange juice...anything that I thought would help keep his blood sugar up and maybe prevent his fainting. NOTHING was working. His imagination had taken hold of him and he couldn't stand up for more then 2 mins without coming close to fainting.

By 4pm I gave up trying, I ran back to my house and grabbed some clothes for him to go as a Rock star. I explained to him that he would just have to stay away from Noveigh but if he couldn't stop then he'd have to stay home....he managed to just not look at her and he stayed pretty far away from her then entire evening.

It was very frustrating for both Corbin and I....we both were in tears at one point. This was the very first year that they would not be going as a couple. The very first year that Corbin would not be competing in the contest...all because we chose something gruesome...I wish we hadn't.

In the end the party went great!

Noveigh walked alone in her half Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein and a sign that read Just married...together forever! She of course won 1st place!!!

Rainer and Tobey went as Bert and Ernie...they did not place at all but they were sooo darn cute!

Theseus went as a Firedancers...the crowd loved him he danced nonstop. He won 2nd place..even though the crowd thought he should have been 1st.

Ethan went as the Mad Scientist...and for the first time he won 1st place!!

Jack wore a store bought costume and didn't even compete....Corbin walked the contest but of course didn't get pulled.

Landon went as a Newsie...omg he was so freaking cute yelling "Extra Extra". He got pulled as a finalist but in the end didn't place at all. But he got an honorably mention and was asked to say his little thing over the microphone!

Neely went as a peacock and won 3rd place.

So my kids didn't win anything, but our family did great!

Ok for some reason it won't let me upload pictures so i'll try in a different post

My baby is growing up!

2008-10-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago Landon came to me very excited. He had a loose tooth! At first I didn't take him serious because he has been obsessed with losing teeth for a year now. Every week he would come to me saying he had a loose tooth and of course he didn't.

This time it was for real! He had a VERY loose tooth actually. I figured he would lose it in a day or so but Landon had other plans. He would not stop messing with it. He was so excited he just kept wiggling and wiggling it until it eventually popped out.

I can't even describe the look on his face when it came out but the boy was ecstatic. He wanted to brush the tooth to make it whiter so the Tooth Fairy would give him more money lol

My baby isn't a baby anymore =(

The story of Cody the Crab!

2008-10-21T20:38:00.001-07:00

I don't think I've posted the story about our Hermit Crab Cody. It's a pretty neat story and the boys love telling it.

Back in July I posted that I let the boys pick out Hermit Crabs down in Va beach. Corbin named his Cody and Landon named his Mark/Max/Shadow...we'll call him Mark.

We bought the little cages, sponges, food, even a childrens book to learn how to care for them. I was pretty excited being that I have never owned one or held one for that matter. So I was just as excited as my boys.

Unfortunately Mark did not make it through the night. I was told that this very well could happen...and that it was pretty common. So we decided that Cody would no longer be "Corbin's" but the family Crab.

I read up on Hermit Crabs, and tried to figure out ways to keep him alive in fear that he would die soon as well. I heard that Crabs don't like to be alone so I was determined to get Cody a playmate.

Back in August or September when we took the boat out to the island and camped out a night I ended up finding 5 Hermit Crabs. 3 little ones and 2 large ones. These suckers were UGLY, nothing like Cody. Clearly they were a different species of Crab. But because I had talked to people who had the beach kind I went ahead and took the home to be playmates for Cody.

I kept the little ones in the cage with Cody and the larger ones in a seperate cage to themselves.
It didn't take long for me to see that Cody wasn't liking his new company. He was literally trying to attack the other little crabs. I felt so bad for them so I had no choice but take the risk of putting Cody in with the big guys. This actually went over great. The big guys left Cody alone and Cody just climbed all over them like they were his own personal jungle gym. Everything was going well.

Until.....................................

I woke up one morning to Corbin saying "Where is Cody?". I got up to check it out. Cody was no where to be found. The top of the cage as a little window that opens.....well it wasn't shut all the way. Cody had escaped =(

We were very upset and searched the kitchen which is where we kept the cages. We figured he couldn't have gone far and he had to be around somewhere. We had NO luck....he was gone. I figured at some point we'd smell something funny and eventually find him but we gave up trying.

In the following week each one of the beach Crabs died off one by one. I felt so guilty bringing them home to those cages just for them to die. Especially the big ones. I read Hermit Crabs can live up to 30yrs. As far as I know those big ones could have been 20yrs old already =( I learned my lesson I will never bring home a beach crab again!

Eventually they were all gone and I cleaned the cages out and put them away. It was an experience and I'm glad we did it.

About 2 or 3 weeks later the boys were playing in the kitchen. I don't remember what they were doing but they were playing on the floor. I was in our TV room...most likely watching TV lol Corbin came running into the room screaming "I found Cody". I was surprised and thrilled at the same time (no dead crab hiding somewhere in my house). I guess he had made his way near the dryer and fell in between a cabinet and the dryer. I took one look at him and he was clearly dead...had dust all over his shell and you could see his claw inside the shell all discolored.
The boys wanted to bury him but it was dark out so I put the shell on the back of the sink to wait until the next day. The boys were sad he was gone but happy we finally found him.

Later that night after the boys were in bed I was in the back room reading a magazine...the house was quiet so I could hear pretty much everything.
I heard some noise coming from the kitchen, I went in there to check it out. I didn't notice anything at first until I looked at the sink and there was Cody walking around.

How in the world did this Crab survive being without food for that long, or being in a horrible climate like the side of a cabinet with no water or moisture. He didn't look well and he was moving very slow so I could tell he wasn't going to last very long.

I got out one of the cages and set it up again...put some food and water inside of it. I wasn't holding my breath but I knew the kids would find it amazing that he was still alive when they saw him in the morning.

We lost Mark within the first night, we lost the beach crabs all in one week. And from what I had heard from other people these crabs didn't usually live past 2 weeks in captivity. Cody had all odds against him but this little guy was STILL ALIVE!

We watched him closely after that. Just waiting, waiting for the day that Cody would die.....that day has not come yet.
Our Cody is still alive after 4mos as our pet it's been a rocky for 4mos for him.......losing a dear friend in the first 24hrs, battling with newcomers, escaping, and being trapped in a horrible place for 2 weeks....He is now back to being alone in his own cage which honestly is how I think he likes it. He seems happy =)

Thanks for reading!

Krista and Baby Connor update

2008-10-18T09:45:00.003-07:00

I just wanted to post that Baby Connor is now home with his Mom and Dad!!! Thanks everyone for keeping them in their thoughts and prayers!

Where is Fall?

2008-10-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

I love Fall, I really do....I wish we would finally experience the season. I am so sick of 80-90degree weather. I want the cool air to come. I'm ready to wear a sweatshirt. Everyday I check the weather waiting for the day to come where there is a nice crisp chill to the air...but nope still nothin...so bummed.

We are all sick in my house. It started for me about 3 weeks ago with a chest cold, I got a cough and then it eased up. Couple days later it turned into a head cold and i'm still fighting it. David and the boys have it as well. I'm grouchy and tired of being sick.

I haven't felt like doing anything lately. I don't want to clean, I don't want to do anything outside, I don't even want to go out with friends and that's SO not like me. I need outa my funk =(

October is always crazy and stressful...it's halloween time! We are trying to plan our adult party, get costumes ready and made for all the kids and the costume contests we do each year.
It's still baseball season so we are buy with that, having a great time at the local fall festivals though..I just wish it was nice and chilly for them instead of hot @@

I have a show this coming Saturday, it's an hour away at a girl scout camp. We are doing it for free, but only Me, Neely and Hannah are capable of doing the show. This makes it very hard with just 3 people. Girl scouts was a HUGE part of our life growing up so we are more then happy to do a show for them!

Today I have to go grocery shopping, I am so not looking forward to this. I really do hate doing it. It's one of those chores that I could live without. Of course I couldn't live without the food so I have no choice.

I'm hoping I feel better tomorrow and stop being such a grouch...and definetly by saturday for the show!

Corbin's rock stary party

2008-10-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was Corbin's kid party. He did a rock star theme. We had all the kids come in their best rock star clothing and I provided the crazy colored hair spray....all the kids looked great!

We then used our Hula sound system so the kids could sing Karaoke with microphones. Omg it was a blast. All the kids were singing and dancing the entire time....they all put on a great show and I know they loved being able to use the microphones.

We had a guitar pinata, and we gave out CD's of corbin's favorite songs to all the kids as they left. We had a great turn out and corbin got some really neat gifts.

unfortunatly I don't have a camera anymore but my sister used her video camera to take tons of video clips and a few stills. I'll send when I get those back from her.

Tonight is Corbin's family bday dinner!

Baby Connor Update

2008-10-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

In the last couple days a lot has happened! Connor was weaned off of the nitricoxide as well as the oxygen. They removed the breathing tube..he transitioned over to the tube that goes under the nose but is not off that as well! They removed the ivs going into his umbilical cord so Mommy and Daddy got to hold in for the first time since he was born!!

Krista even got to try breastfeeding him. Originally she was told that they only wanted him to be given the colostrum that she had stocked up on but could offer him an empty breast. Well within the first day of him being off everything they told her that she could try to breastfeeding from the breast with her mature milk. They of course are struggling a bit being that he's never sucked on anything since birth and now 3 weeks later he's trying to breastfeed.

Today was big news, he got transported back to a local hospital here! yay! He doesnt need the extensive care anymore and now just has to stay in the hospital until he is feeding well and thriving....so hopefully that won't take long and he will get to FINALLY go home with his parents!!

There were a lot of very scary moments the last few weeks. Moments where there was talk of Ecmo, talks of him possibly NOT getting better. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers baby Connor will get to go home soon!

Baby Connor update

2008-10-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

Connor is still in the hospital in Richmond. They have tried weaning him off the oxygen and nitricoxide that he's on. He got very low and almost off both when he condition flared up again and he was put back on 100% oxygen. It seems to be a roller coaster for him and his parents. I'm so sad for Krista and Ed and I'm so worried about Connor. They started weaning again today, just 3% per hour. We'll have to see if he can handle it again...it's just a waiting game.
I've been asked if they need anything....No they don't. The hospital is letting them stay there for however long the room there is available which I think is wonderful that they get to be in the same building as their baby. There is a webcam set up so when they are not in the room they can sit and watch him all they want. Touching him has to be to a minimum because they don't want him stimulated so I know that's been really hard on Krista...she just wants to hold her baby!

Again please keep them in your thoughts and prayers!! Thanks

Pregnancy & Infant Loss Rememberance Month

2008-10-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. October 15th is the Awareness day. I just wanted to spread this out to those who read my blog. Please keep those precious babies in your thoughts and prayers this month. Light a candle for them on the 15th. If you know someone who has lost a child due to Miscarriage, Stillbirth, Infant loss please let them know you care. Remember they want their child recognized as someone worth remembering. Send them an email or card...show you care!

February 3rd 2003, I gave birth to twin boys. Landon was born first weighing 5lbs 12oz and 19inches long. He was a tiny little thing but healthy! About 10mins later his twin brother Baylin was born weighing 3lbs 15oz. Baylin was stillborn. He looked just like Landon just smaller. I layed there in bed and held Baylin in my arms. He didn't look completely normal so I was scared. His head was abnormally shaped. I remember staring at his cheek and left ear. I stroked his cheek with my index finger. I was to scared to open the blanket and look at his body. I don't know why but I was scared of what I would see. I was to scared to kiss him (I will regret that for the rest of my life). He was just so tiny and pitiful. We were all so scared and numb that no one thought to take a picture (another regret). I don't have a single thing to remember him by not even an outfit (he was cremated in it). If I could go back in time I'd do a lot of things differently. But at that time we couldn't see past that moment. I will never forget Baylin David. Everyday when I look at Landon, my crazy 5yr old boy I see his twin in him and I know that he's still with us.

November 1st 2004, My younger Sister Neely went into Labor. Around 6am in the morning she gave birth to a beautiful BIG baby Girl Oleyen Hannah. Shortly after she came out it was found that she wasn't able to breath on her own. She was taken away to the Nicu and put on a ventilator. Many tests were done and we were told that Oleyen had a Diaphramatic Hernia. This means she had a hole in her diaphram and her organs were moved up inside it and she would have to have surgery. From exrays it appeared that her organs hadn't formed properly due to this condition so there was a fear of her NOT getting better even after the surgery. She was transfered to DC hospital for better care. My sister and her husband went to DC to be with my niece. Oleyen was put on Ecmo to help her body heal, this machine was doing everything for her. We all took turns going to DC to visit with Oleyen and her parents. I remember walking into that Nicu and looking at my precious neiece laying on that bed with tons of tubes coming out of her. She was a big baby weighing 8lbs 13oz. She had strawberry blonde hair and the prettiest eyes.

On day 19 of Oleyens life she was scheduled for her surgery. She was taken into the operating room but before the surgery started she began to hemmorage in her stomach. There was no saving her, there was no fixing her. My sister and her husband had allow them to turn the machines off. Oleyen died on November 19th 2004. My sister learned from my mistakes and took tons of pictures, she got clothes, stuffed animals, plaster molds of her hands and feet. I am so happy that she has all of these things. She has a cabinet in her house filled with Oleyen things it's amazing!

Oleyen touched so many of us and she will NEVER be forgotten!

These are my stories. Its interesting that once you join the club of having a story you find that so many around you have them as well. So many poeple lost a child in one way or another...but not many people talk about it.

Please share your story if you care to. Let's remember our Angels!

"Forever Remembered, Forever Missed".

Happy Birthday Corbin (post is a day late)

2008-09-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

Today is Corbin's 8th Birthday. Eight years ago to this day I was in active labor. I was 19yrs old getting ready to have my first child and scared out of my mind. He was born at 10:25pm September 30th 2000. He was a beautiful healthy yet small little boy. He was 6lbs 8oz and just 17inches long...he was a shorty from birth.

Corbin is now an amazing young man. He is thoughtful and increcibly sensitive. He is so bright and perceptive. He has a wonderful personality and sense of humor. He knows just how to make me smile.

Today we went out as a family for lunch and an activity of his choice. We ended up at Golden Coral (gross) and then to the movies to see Igor (very cute movie). After the movie we walked around a pet store in the same shopping center. It was down pouring and we laughed as we all had to run through the rain.
Later that night we went to Lonestar for dinner (Kids eat free) and we invited Corbin's cousin Noveigh to join us. We had the wait staff embarrass Corbin with a song of Happy Birthday and then the kids enjoyed a very large brownie sundae.

I think Corbin had a nice birthday, his kid party is this coming Sunday and our family party is sometime this week...not sure yet. Corbin woke up with his room FILLED with Balloons, I think it shocked him. But he came and woke me up with a huge hug...I love my little man!

Baby Connor update

2008-09-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

Baby Connor is still in the hospital. Wed after he was born the hole in his lung had healed but the Capillaries in his lungs were not expanding fully. He was then transfered to Richmond to recieve a treatment to help the lungs. He responded well to the treatment and they are not trying ot wean him off the oxygen. An attempt was made yesterday and he got down to 60% but it didn't go well so it was brought back up to 100%.

Another attempt starts today but they will be doing it slower. He should be in the hospital for at least another week.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Welcome little Hula man!

2008-09-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

Our Hula Sister Krista gave birth on Monday. These pictures were taken at a show on Saturday the 20th which was her due date.

She gave birth to a little boy that they named Connor Jeffrey. He was 8lbs 9oz. She had a wonderful labor and delivery.

Shortly after he was born he needed help breathing. They found he had a small tear in his lung and they were told it would heal on it's own in a couple days...but he had to stay in the NICU under an oxygen hood. Yesterday we were told that the hole had healed itself but that the capillaries in his lungs weren't expanding fully so he was then transported to Richmond where he can get better care. Krista and her husband Ed drove to Richmond today to be with him.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.....and hope for a speedy recovery and that he'll be home with mommy and daddy soon!

Luau for Link

2008-09-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

I mentioned the Luau for Link in my last post. The is a wonderful event that is taking place this coming Sunday.

My Mother works for Link as a Social worker. Link is an organization that helps low income family as well as homeless find jobs and housing. They also provide food, furniture, toys for kids...basically things that anyone would need. Well normally they would hold a food drive, but this event if a cleaning drive. They are taking donations from people such as cleaning products, personal feminine products ect.

Now my sister Marisha works for an Event planning business called MLM events. Well MLM events is putting together the cleaning drive. They are the organizors FOR Link. So my sister Marisha has been doing all the planning and work for the entire thing. This event was originally scheduled for Sept 6th but we had Tropical storm Hannah come through here so it had to be rescheduled.

Marisha came to our Hula group and asked us if we would be the entertainment for the event....of course we said yes =) I suggested making the entire event Luau themed to help us Hula girls fit in better. So it was then named "Luau for Link".

The event has recieved a lot of attention. Radio stations and TV stations will be there. Huge publicity for our Hula group!

Well this past week our local TV station Channel 13 asked Marisha to come in and do an on air interview about the event. Of course she said jumped at it, and then suggested having one of the Hula girls come in as well. So it was decided my other sister Hannah would be the one to go in and do it. It was live and aire this past Monday. The boys and I sat and watched them and it was so great. Marisha did great talking even though she was clearly nervous and then Hannah danced in our big Tahitian costume.

Here is a link to the full interview....go check it out =)

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=43336220

Just random rambling

2008-09-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

What i've been up to.......................

Well this coming weekend our Hula group has 3 shows. Saturday we are doing a show for the Buddy walk (walk for down syndrome) and then a paid show that afternoon for a birthday party.

Sunday we have the Luau for Link which is a cleaning drive.

So this week i've been concentrating on getting ready for these shows. Sunday I have some new dances i'm doing, one being a solo so that's where my mind has been.

I've been trying to get the house fully unpacked...I've been here for a month and a half and I still have some boxes sitting around. So I've been doing really good with that.

I got the boys some new bed sheets....Corbin picked out a set that is covered in $100 bills...lol figures. Landon got a scooby doo set. We went thrift store shopping the other day and found them. I also found a red dress for my halloween costume....David and I are going to be Annie and Daddy warbucks lol The boys don't know what they want to be just yet.

Corbin's 8th birthday is in 5 days, I can't believe he's 8 already I'm just shocked...where did the years go? His party is going to be on oct 5th. We are having a Rock star/Karaoke party....he's so excited!

Tonight some of my favorite shows start...I can't wait! Greys anatomy and ugly betty and ER!!

I have more news about i'm going to put it all in some other posts.

Instructor on a power trip

2008-09-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

So last night around 6:30pm we all headed out the door to take Landon to his first Tae Kwon Do class.
I have never really been into the whole Karate/Tae Kwon Do thing. When my boys were younger I swore I would NEVER allow them to do it. Of course like everything else I learned my lesson...as a parent...NEVER say Never.

Ok so the reason why I finally gave in and put my dislike for Karate aside. The boys have taken a good amount of classes. I have always wanted to try different things. They have done gymnastics, dance, Acting/drama, and then their sports soccer and baseball. They LOVE their sports!

I had decided that the boys were going to do Fall soccer. Beginning of August I looked into sign ups and realized that I had missed them =( The kids were disapointed. We then had to commit to Fall Baseball instead. This time I didn't miss the sign up and the day of I took the boys down to the sign up location. I even called up a friend whose son is the same age as Landon so she could sign Owen up as well.
I go in to fill out the paperwork and one of the woman inform me that Landon won't be able to participate because of his age. WTH! Come to find out that in the Fall they do not do Tball, and you have to be 6 to be in Machine pitch.
So there we were, I had to look at Landon as well as my friend and her son Owen and tell them that they couldn't play...I felt so bad. I went ahead and signed Corbin up and figured I'd find something fun for Landon to do instead.

This is where the Tae Kwon Do comes in. I told Landon he could pick anything he wanted and this is what he wanted.
So Tuesday night we took him to his first class. We walk into a very large room in the community center. The instructor comes up and talks to us. I can tell right away that I didn't like him. Something about how he spoke to me, how he spoke to Landon, and how he carried himself....it all rubbed me the wrong way.
The other students....well let's see...4 of them were adults and mentally challenged, and the other 4 were about 5yrs older then Landon. He was the youngest, smallest and probably the smartest. The entire thing felt weird. The mentally challenged students were shouting a lot, saying random things, couldn't really participate very well. But what got me was that the instructor yelled at them a lot. Everytime they would yell something he would yell back "QUIET". The whole thing was odd.
He brought Landon over to us half way thru the class and said that he thought it was to much information for him and that he should leave early so he wasn't overwhelmed. At this point I had already decided that we would not be returning so I wanted Landon to get a full class just for fun...but this guy just didn't get that @@ So we went ahead and left early.

Now I hadn't paid yet, they were allowing us to have a trial class before actually signing him up...thank goodness cause I would have lost my money. We will not be returning. Landon DID enjoy himself though. Just watching for that short time I can see how this type of thing can really be a good thing for some kids. It really does help channel their energy. I think it's the perfect thing for a child like Landon. We will be looking into other Tae kwon do locations...preferably where he can be with kids his own age!!!

going going going

2008-09-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

It's 5:30pm and I am exhausted. I seriously am not the kind of Mother that can be on the go constantly. I need some breaks in between activities or I get a headache.

Today started by having to get up for my weekly Hula meeting. Now on a normal week this would not be an issue, but last night David and I went out on a date to Keagans for Karaoke (David's choice not mine). So I didn't really get to bed until about 3am.
I dragged my butt outa bed and got us out the door.

At our Hula meeting we started a new Tahitian dance...exhausting. And there is a huge chance I'll have to perform it this coming Saturday so I had to put a good amount of energy into doing it.

By 12:15pm I had to get ready to leave with the kids, I had signed us up for a Homeschool workshop at the Air and Space Museum. I wasn't sure where my check book was so we left a tad early ....workshop started at 1pm.

I searched my car and house and couldn't find the checkbook anywhere...I needed it to pay for the workshop. I had to run back to Neely's house and ask her to give me one of her checks. I was taking her daughter with me so she really couldn't say no.

Then it was around 12:40 and I ran to Mcd's for some hamburgers for the kids...I knew they'd get hungry. We just made it to the Museum right on time.

We got to see an IMAX film called "Stormchasers"....that was pretty neat! Then for about 2hrs we had lessons on weather taught by 2 Meteorologists. This part wasn't as fun for the boys....Landon was struggling to sit still.

Once the lesson was over they got to ask questions, play with some weather gadgets and then we had free reign of the Museum till it closed at 5pm.

The kids of course had a blast exploring the place, we've been there a million times but it never seems to get boring for them.

I'm home now, taking a short break before making the kids dinner (still have noveigh) and then taking Landon to his first Taek won do class (sp?).

I'm sleepy, I want a nap =(

Nothing like a Slush Puppie to wipe away a stressful day

2008-09-09T20:55:00.001-07:00

Sunday I took the boys to Water Country, it was the last operation day of the season. We couldn't have asked for better weather. The sun was out and it was wonderfully hot out...perfect pool day!

We spent some time at H20 waiting for my sisters and their families to get there. After a few text messages back and forth I realized they weren't going to be there for awhile. So we decided to hang out at the Wave pool instead.

We had a great time jumping the waves, well they did anyway. My boys are little fish, they hate wearing the life vests they provide which is fine I don't mind. As long as they stay where they can touch they are great in the water.

My sister's finally showed up and we hung out for awhile more before heading to a different area of the park.
We ended up at Rock and Roll island. They have these 3 big tube water rides there. David had taken Landon down them last time we were there...he's my dare devil.
I'm not a water ride person so Landon headed up to the ride with Cousin Jack and Uncle Chris. I knew that he couldn't touch at the bottom so I headed over to where they would come out so I could catch Landon.
I went under the rope to where I needed to be, knowing last time the life guard had no problem with me standing there.
This time though, the snotty little blonde haired teen life guard looked at me and said "Maam you can't be over here".
I said "my son is coming down the ride and he came touch here so I have to catch him". She then informed me that he had to be 48inches to ride (which I didn't know being that they let him down before). I looked up at the top of the slide expecting to see Landon being sent back down because he is NOT 48 inches..in fact he's no where near it he's only just over 42.
Landon was NOT being sent back down, in fact he was past the height check and it was almost his turn. I turned to the girl and said "but he IS coming down, and he can't touch so I have to catch him". This girl looked at me and said "No Maam you cannot being in here, and he's if he's not 48inches he can't ride". OMG I wanted to slap this girl...she wasn't getting it! I said "But he IS coming down the ride, and if I can't catch him ARE YOU?" she then said with a major attitude "If I see him drowning I will". WTH I was shocked she just said that to me.

My heart was pounding, I was so scared my little boy was going to come down the slide and wonder why his Mommy was not there to catch him like she was last time he rode it.
I ignored the girl and stayed on the inside of the rope, but I backed up to shut her up. I kept a close watch on him at the top waiting for him to be sent down so I could book it to the slide...which was very far away from where the bitchy lifeguard was.

I had all these people around who heard everything telling me that my son was to small to ride....No shit people I heard that already...but the fact was that he was being let on the ride anyway...I felt like I was speaking a different language.

Finally my Nephew Jack came down, I yelled over and said "Is landon coming down"...Jack then said he was coming next. I looked at Jack and said "Stay right there and catch him". The life guard and few bystanders said "He can't stay there". I said very loudly "Well he's going to anyway".

I looked up and saw the next rider...but it looked like a large body..I was so confused. Finally they shot out the tube and I saw it was Chris and Landon together. I guess that's how they had fixed the height problem. But this was also against the rules..you are not allowed to ride together. So the life guard yelled to Chris and said "You are not allowed to ride with a child, AND he is to small to be on that ride". Ok she did not just yell at them!!!! I looked at her and yelled "Then you need to tell the employee up there that he is not doing his job. That is NOT our fault that is yours!"...Oh I was fuming.

We all got outa the pool just steaming. Neely and I spoke to her Manager about the incident. He explained the rules which we knew already. We were not arguing the rules, we were arguing that my child was put in harms way because lack of someone not doing their job and then I was being told that I couldn't protect my child. Not only that but this Bitch actually said in front of all these kids "I will if I see him drowning". I'm sorry you do not say that to a Mother.

The Manager apologized for the girls rudeness and the guy allowing Landon down the ride. There really was no reason for complaining to this man. It was the last day of operation, and an hour before closing. What were they going to do, fire her? No of course not. But what I hoped for was that it would piss her off. I hope she left that day pissed about getting "talked to" by her manager.

The kids spent the last hour riding rides (that they were tall enough for lol) and Neely and I hung out in the Kiddy pool with Rainer.

While heading out Neely and I retaliated by picking some of their pretty Hibiscus flowers. We wanted some pictures with them in our hair.

On the way home I stopped at a gas stationed in Williamsburg. I told the boys we could get a drink so we headed inside. Over by the freezers I saw a Slush Puppie machine!!! Ok for those that don't know what this is (shame on you) a Slush Puppie is similar to an Icee or Slurpee....YET totally different, actually they are more like the slushes at Sonic.

I think these weren't very popular in the South, more of a Northern thing. A good portion of my childhood was in NewYork and I grew up on Slush Puppies. They were everywhere, and so good!
David had no clue what they were....he was deprived as a kid. So I intruduced the boys to their first Slush Puppie, we got strawberry...so yummy! I'm just mad that this gas stationed is 30mins from me or I'd be getting one everyday.

So driving home with my ice cold refreshment was enough to wipe away my long day in the sun dealing with a bitchy lifegaurd who would have let my kid drowned.

Great wolf lodge show

2008-08-30T23:51:00.000-07:00

Today was our annual Great Wolf Lodge show. They hire my Hula group every year to do their Labor Day Luau. It's our biggest venue. We have been preparing for this show for months with all new dances and all new costumes. The Great wolf lodge is in Williamsburg, it's a popular family resort that has locations around the country check out the website http://www.greatwolf.com/

We always have a wonderful time dancing there. We are paid with passes to their indoor waterpark. Our show was an hour long, which is a big show for us. Our average show is 30mins...so putting together an hour show is a lot of work and quite exhausting to dance I might add. But the performance went great, they loved us and we got to work with our favorite Calypso band again the Calypsonuts!

We got tons of pictures and video...here is just one i'm sure I will add more later when I get them.

Summer is almost over =(

2008-08-22T16:33:00.001-07:00

My days have been filled this past week. Haven't had much time to get online for email or blogging. Thankfully I have a blackberry so I'm able to skim my email throughout the day but I'm not able to delete anything from my aol inbox. So each time I get online I have at least 500 emails I have to sort thru and delete.

This past week David has been working out of Richmond, which is an hour away. But he's been here every night to sleep....it's been great. Next week he'll be back in DC and then finally working here for good! It's been a strange adjustment having him here. We haven't lived together in a year and a half so I had forgotten those little things that irritated me about him lol For example, he's keeps messing with the thermastat. It's quite silly but it drives me nuts. David is a big guy and he likes the house to be cold. Well me and the kids get cold easily and want it warmer. So everyday without me knowing he puts the termastat at 72 which makes the house freezing...I keep telling him to leave it at 74 but he's not listening @@ grrr. I still have some work to do on him lol

Sunday we took the boat out to the little private island at Grandview beach and we camped out. We had a blast! Watching the sunset, fishing after dark, and sitting on the beach watching the sunrise with my instant coffee...awww heaven! The kids had so much fun living on a beach for 2 days they can't wait to go back.

Thursday I met my friend Erica at Busch gardens with the kids. We hadn't been much this year and it was a great day for it. The boys are actually tall enough to ride most things alone now so all 4 of our kids rode everything while we sat and chatted. We took them on Roman rapids where we got soaking wet....the kids wanted to ride a second time so we sent them by themselves..they were thrilled.
The last part of the day was stressful because my son Corbin fainted in the middle of Busch...pretty embarrassing and stressful.
We were walking along a path and Landon tripped and fell. He cut his knee pretty bad as well as his toe. Good amount of blood =( I found a medic standing near by so I went up to him to ask for some help and bandaids. I kept an eye on Corbin because I had a feeling he had seen the blood. I turned to ERica and asked her to watch him. Of course I wasn't specific so she just thought I meant to make sure he doesnt stray from us. Well sure enough about 2mins later I look over and Corbin collapsed. I pretty much dropped Landon and ran to Corbin. Thank goodness Erica was there cause she sat with Landon as he got bandaged up. I had picked up Corbin and sat down on the pavement. The medics were confused but once I explained that my child faints at the sight of blood they were shocked but found it slightly amusing. They made little comments like "wow you have your hands full" and "he'll never be a doctor" lol They were very kind though. Corbin had scrapped up his knee from the fall so they took care of that, got us some water and sat with us till I felt corbin was able to get up. Of course I had to carry him the entire way out of the part which was exhausting.
So far almost all of our friends have witnessed Corbin's fainting spells. I had forgotten that Erica had not. I think we officially freaked her out lol But i'm very grateful she was there to help us out...it would have sucked if I had been alone.

Today my friend Dusty and I took our kids down to Va beach to watch the Surfing competition. We had so much fun. It was a PERFECT day, warm but a nice cool breeze. We got to watch BMX riders, skateboarders and inline skater on the big skate ramp...they put on a show and it was awesome. The kids got to do a rock climbing wall, even have their picture taken and super imposed into a funny picture...all of which was free. They were giving out capri suns...as many as you wanted so the kids loved that.
We then took the kids down to the water to watch the surfers. Ok so the waves were pretty lame but it was a neat experience. The kids had fun playing in the water and covering eachother in sand so they didn't care. I look forward to next years event. I can't believe this is the first year i've learned about it...I've been missing out!

My kids are staying the night at Dustys house so David and I are having a nice romantic dinner at home=)

ps I miss the kids already

One of those days

2008-08-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

Today's been one of those days. All I can do is sit back and sigh...LOUDLY. It started this morning when I had to get my Brother to his Math tutor by 11am. We piled in the car and I drove this 10mins or so(taking interstate) to her house. Right after I got off the exit I noticed that my car was starting to overheat. I pulled off the road and we just sat there for a good 10mins. When I felt it was safe I started the car and drove off. It wasn't overheating just yet but I could tell it was on the verge. I called David and he told me to roll the windows down and turn on the heat...that did the trick (or so I thought). I was able to drop Ethan off at Math and then head over to my friends house because offered to watch her dog this week.

I get to her house and head inside. I searched everywhere for the dog food and could not find it. I called her up and told her that I found the food bin but it was empty. I asked her if she had an extra bag somewhere. Of course her reaction was "oh crap". My dear sweet friend Dusty is pregnant with her 4th child and has had some crazy bouts of Preggo brain lately lol This is NOT the first time she's forgotten something like this. So off to the grocery store I went to get her dog some dog food. Of course here I was driving my car even more when clearly I needed to stop.

After getting the dog food and feeding her pets I was headed back home. This was cutting short all the errands I had planned for the day. I asked my sister to follow me to the mechanics to drop my car off. They told me that they could not fit it in today but could get to it first thing. I asked my sister to take me to the bank and then to get slurpees for the kids which I had already promised. She then dropped us off at home. We were then trapped.

Later on I remembered I still had to go back to Dustys to let her dog out one more time for the night. So I called up my Dad and asked him if I could borrow his car for a couple hours. So he came and picked us up and then we dropped him off.

First I headed to pick up something from Freecycle..which turned out to be NOTHING like what I thought it was...I have no use for it now @@ waste of gas.
Then I headed to Dusty's only to find when I got there that I had left my key ring at home which had her house key on it @@ so back home I went and then back to her house I went.
Then I went ot Value city because they were having a $10 rug sale, I really wanted to get the boys an area rug for their room. Of course when I got there all the $10 rugs were gone @@
By this time it was pushing 8pm and we were starving. I had a craving for mexican so I drove to one (to long of a wait), drove to another (to long of a wait), drove to another and we finally were sat. Of course my waiter was super creepy and kept leaning over me in a weird way( I think he was trying to look down my shirt).
We then drove home, had to drop off car with my sister and then walk to my moms and have her drive us home.

In the middle of my not so fun day I got a Hula call that went horribly. It was a very rude, bitchy, mean woman who made me feel like a 2nd grade citizen. Like I was her servant or something. I don't know what her problem was but I got off the phone shaking and almost in tears. As if someone had just screamed at me...she might as well have I think I probably could have handled that better. I've just never dealt with anyone like this before when it came to Hula. People are usually happy when I talk to them not royal bitches!

My day is done, I'm going to sleep and hoping tomorrow will be better!

Reasons why you should not live near family

2008-08-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

I moved into this new house about 2 weeks ago. I was slowly but surely getting the house straight. A week later David brought all his stuff down from his DC apartment (I then had to start all over). From then on I've been babysitting and helping out family members. Of course a few days after I moved my older sister found an apartment and started her move. Of course before she moved she had to paint @@ ...but of course she couldn't paint on her own...no we all had to help.
I chose to live by family. For the most part it is a wonderful thing...I really do love it. But I also have a big family. We all live in the same neighborhood lol Ok so I am asking for trouble I know.

If I am not helping one sister, I am helping another. If I am not babysitting one nephew, I am babysitting another. Hell most of the time I have them all! Why? Because I can't say no. Today my friend asked me to watch her 3 boys for a few hours...this wasn't a big deal of course because my kids loved it so much. But it was just one more day that I had to entertain children and NOT work on my house.

I am stressed and overwhelmed. It is my own doing by not telling people no. But at the same time how can I tell someone no when they HAVE to leave their child with someone and i'm at home and no one else is. I mean just seems mean to say no. It's not like they are out having fun..they are at jobs, or like one of them they are trying to move. These are things they have to do so i'm at home putting my house together....how could I not watch their kids? But by doing so my house looks the same way it did 2 weeks ago...boxes everywhere.

I'm just exhausted and venting...but all this moving, putting a house together, watching children everyday...I'm burnt out! I need a vacation and I just had one last month =(

I'm so upset

2008-08-07T21:39:00.000-07:00

My kids broke my digital camera. They didn't just break it a little, they destroyed it. The lens is broke, the glass part of the lens is cracked and chipped. It will not work at all now.

They admit to playing with it, but they had to of dropped it to do this kind of damage and they both say they didn't. Obviously someone is lying. I don't even care about any of that I'm just upset my camera is gone.

When I got it a few years ago it was a $600 camera. As of right now it's outdated(doesnt take long) but I still loved it and it took great pics. I can't go without a camera I use it far to often. But the one I want is over 1,000 so I want to save up for it. So now I need to find a smaller cheaper camera to tide me over.

Any recommendations?

Pool day with friends

2008-08-07T19:24:00.001-07:00

Today we went to our neighborhood pool and invited our friends. There was just 4 mom's but a whole lotta kids lol

The kids had a great time jumping off the diving board with their friends, I enjoyed being able to go to the pool yet have company for myself.

We were there for about 3hrs and when I was calling the boys to come get ready to leave Corbin slipped on some water and scraped his knew and ankle. Yes it was bleeding but it was JUST a scrape. My child flipped out. For those that know him, he is very sensitive when it comes to blood. It's not the fact that he hurt himself..but that fact that the pain was accompanied by blood. So of course his face went white, I had to lay him on a lawn chair with a towel pressed to his wounds. He would not let me look at the cut or put a bandaid on it. I gave him his time...but after a good 15mins I said we have to go. I offered to carry him though. So I carried him to the car and I set him in the backseat. He looked down at his cuts and because I had removed the towel they were then fairly red with blood. He took one look at that, turned white and passed out.

I again layed him down in the car, gave him his time, waited for him to wake up and then drove home (just a couple blocks.) Once we got inside I made him walk and he went straight to his bed and fell asleep for about an hour.

This child...man I'm waiting for the day he grows out of this. I'd like to go one time with him hurting himself and him NOT fainting from the site of his own blood. It's so hard to deal with...it's almost always while we are out somewhere. Everytime another child is bleeding I have to watch Corbin very closely in fear that he will faint while on the swings, in a pool, on a ladder...anything. And most of our friends have boys so they get cuts quite often.

I'm just hoping he outgrows it! But until then I'll deal.

Pictures from our visit with friends in July

2008-08-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hell Hole is gone!

2008-08-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

July 31st, Thursday I officially turned in my keys and am done with that crappy rental house I was in. They will be doing the inspection and i'll find out if we get our money back or not in the next month. I don't really care about any of that, I am just thrilled to be rid of it!

I am sad to not be living next door to my parents anymore...while it was slightly embarrassing telling people that my kids really enjoyed it and I found that it took away a lot of the loneliness.

In this new house I am next door to my sister. But my Sister is single, works all the time, has one child but he's with his dad right now. My sister enjoys being alone, so I think we have started to annoy her so i've pulled back. Well that has left me feeling isolated and lonely =(

On the UP side David is officially moving back! He will be back in about 3 weeks. But now that it's so close and I know he's going to be living with us again its made me depressed cause I want it NOW. I still have to wait and it sucks!

Oh Weds David drove down with all of his stuff. I had finally managed to make this house look somewhere put together and David comes with a truck load of crap. I am now overwhelmed all over again. Of course he had to leave the next day so he dumped it and now I have to do all the work @@

While he was here David did something to his back while moving a bed. He didn't know what but he was in a lot of pain. He went to the doctor that night to get it checked out and his Sacro something joint was dislocated. So they popped it back in and gave him meds and some exercises to do. He's still in pain though I feel so bad for him.

Tuesday night I went out to dinner with some friends, 2 of them are pregnant. It was 3hrs of labor talk......lol not cool!

Wednesday night I went out for a couple hrs with some friends...it was enjoyable but not a ton of laughs like I was hoping for.

Tonight I have a show, should be home by 8pm. My Sister Laurens birthday is tomorrow so we ae taking her out ( I don't really want to go out)...but she wants to go. And of course she picks the one location that I do NOT want to be at on a Saturday night @@ But i'll bite my tongue, it's her birthday not mine.

Tomorrow we are going out on the new boat, I am so excited!!!!

I have some pictures to share but I'm to lazy to upload them from my camera....maybe later =)

Corn on the cob

2008-07-28T07:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday for dinner we had chicken and corn on the cob. The corn was on sale at the grocery store for 2 for a dollar so I got 4....there is only 3 of us. I normally buy the little half corn on the cobs that are frozen in packages lol This time I got the real deal!

When I was a kid my Mom would get a big bag of Corn on the cob and my Sisters and I would have to sit in the backyard and husk it all. It was not something we looked forward to but only because we had to do it many times throughout the summer.

My kids have never done this! So I gave them the corn, a bowl, a paperbag and sent them in the backyard to husk the corn.

Just like I suspected they LOVED it and begged for me to go to the store and buy more so they could do it again.

"Get dressed I'm taking you somewhere"

2008-07-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning, made a pot of coffee, brushed me teeth, washed my face, and then sat down to check out my last night recordings on tv when my Sister Lauren walked in the front door. She came to the TV room and said "Get dressed I'm taking you guys somewhere". I was confused but did what she said. We got dressed, grabbed my purse and left. It was a beautiful day so we hopped in her convertible...I LOVE the wind in my face it was so nice!

As we drove the kids kept asking where we were going, Lauren wouldn't tell us. I made sure to remind her that I had to be home by 2pm, and I had no makeup on so nothing to public for me. She assured me that I wouldn't need makeup where we were going.

As we drove further into the Foxhill area of Hampton I started seeing signs for a Marina and Boat dock. I knew my Dad was looking for a new Marina to store his sailboat so I thought maybe that's where we were headed. But I also know that it takes a long time to go sailing...it's normally a good 4hrs when we go out. So I had to remind her again that I had to be home by 2pm. We got to the Marina, parked and Lauren said "Oh good we're not to late"....I was thinking...WTH? She has us climb down the ladder to the dock. I was looking around and didn't see my Dad's sailboat anywhere..in fact I didn't see ANY sailboats anywhere. She passes by a couple speed boats and then stops at one. She then says "Like my new boat?". I was shocked and yet super excited!
She then went on to tell me that Her and my Father had bought the boat together. Shortly after we got there my Dad showed up with my Mother and brother Ethan. My dad was surprising them as well. My Mom was very shocked. They told us about how they bought the boat 3 weeks before hand but had to move it, do a lot of paperwork and basically had been sneaking around. My Mom just laughed at the fact that she was so oblivious. Of course a lot of things made sense once we found out. Random times my Dad and Lauren went places and Lauren claimed Dad was helping her get something at Lowes or some bogus excuse like that. But we all believed it.

After talking for a bit we took the boat out for the first time. It was wonderful, the kids loved it! We stopped at this little island in the middle of the Bay. Clearly a popular place for locals because there were tons of boats ancored there. On one side of the island the water was very shallow...up to the kids waste so they had a great time swimming. We were out for about 2hrs, even though I could have stayed out all day (my Mother can only handle so much and I had to be back by 2).

I am so excited about this new boat. Don't get me wrong I love the sailboat...but sailing is hard! Everytime we went out my Dad paniced over something or another. It was not relaxing for him at all. This boat is so much easier..it stops when you want it to stop and moves fast when you want it to move fast. Wish they had gotten it at the beginning of the summer...but we still have a good 2 months left of warm weather and I can't wait to spend a lot of it on the boat!

Exhaustion

2008-07-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

It's 5:30pm, and I am exhausted. I'm sitting here forcing my eyes open. I don't think I've made up for the lack of sleep on Mom's Weekend. I've been on the go nonstop. Only time I seem to get a break is when the kids are in bed at night....or like right now because I'm letting the TV babysit them.

Today I did some more work on my old house. I got the yard cleaned up as well as the downstairs bathroom. What is left : Mow lawn, clean dining room, living room, kitchen, shampoo carpets. Considering it's a 3 story house and that's all I have left...I've done a damn good job..not a bit of help either. After I had inhaled enough toxic fumes from the cleaning products (Yes a wonderful reason to go green) I decided to head home and change my clothes and get cleaned up. I then headed to the grocery store because I was craving Sushi really bad!

While I was at home my sister called and asked me if I could watch my nephews Rainer and Theseus..both under 2yrs old. I of course said YES. I had an hour to go get my Sushi and get back.

I made perfect timing, right as I got home my sister was pulling up with the kids. At the store I had the Realtor lady calling telling me she had people standing outside my old house and they wanted to see it. Of course because I have the house until August 1st they aren't able to show the house unless I'm there to open the door and let them in. Well I told her she was shit outa luck (no i didn't really say those words) but that I was unable to leave the new house to go meet them at the old one. She wasn't happy but oh well she'll get over it.

Now I have my boys and a 1yr old and almost 2yr old. That equals a lot of noise, crying, fighting, music blaring, pretzels flying, water pouring, bed jumping, diaper pooping, dog barking fun.....oh 630 can't come soon enough.

I heart BH 90210

2008-07-24T08:53:00.001-07:00

So I was watching an old episode of Beverly Hills 90210 last night. Anyone who knows me knows that this is my all time favorite show!!!!!!!!!!! When I was younger I was obsessed with it. I wanted to marry Luke Perry so bad. My walls were covered with his posters. I even wrote him a letter when I was about 12 and got sent one of those autographed pictures. I heart 90210!

Ok well to my point. Last night I was watching an episode from the first season. The Walshs had just moved to BH and didn't know many people. In this episode Brandon's old girlfriend from Minnisota came to visit. It was made clear that they had never had sex before, but that Brandon really wanted to...he was a virgin.

So in this episode his ex girlfriend Sheryl stays in Brenda's room...but in the middle of the night goes into Brandons room to get it on. Well the scene shows the parents bedroom and the Mrs Walsh is awake worried and upset because she doesnt know what they are doing. She wakes up Mr. Walsh and he basically just says "Let him have his fun i'll talk to him in the morning' ...in so many words. The mother just lays back and says 'i guess so'.

So the next morning Brandon is blasting music and clearly overly happy being that he just had sex for the first time. It shows his parents laying in bed smiling and the mother says 'you need to talk to your son".

Ok so in the end of the show the dad finally talks to Brandon. Brandon just looks at his dad and saying 'tell mom i'm being careful'....and the convo is over.
I don't think over all the years I've been obsessed with this show I ever realized how hypocritical it is.

For those that know the show, you know that when Brenda has sex for the first time Mr. Walsh flips out and forbids her to ever see Dylan again. She gets grounded and locked in the house. WTF?

Moral of the story, if you're a guy you can do whatever you want, if you're a girl you get treated like an idiot or slut.

I now question why my parents ever let me watch this show lol It's a horrible message for a young girl.

Cody and Shadow/Mark/Max

2008-07-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

I spent Sunday and Monday moving into our new house. All that is left to do is clean the old house and put this house together.

Tuesday I took a break from moving and went to Va beach to see an old friend of mine that came here with her family for the week. It was great seeing her and her kids. I hadn't met her newest addition yet and I have to say he was a cute little chunky monkey. The boys played so well with her dauther Trinity(7)...I was thrilled by that.

We played on the beach, walked the board walk, got ice cream, went in some gift shops. In one of the gift shops I saw they were selling Hermit Crabs. I couldn't resist and I let the boys each pick out one. We got the cages, food, and a kids book about how to care for them. Corbin named his Cody and Landon kept changing his mind. First it was Shadow, then Mark, then Max.

This morning we woke up to find that Shadow/Mark/Max had died. I was warned that they die very easily but I thought he would live thru the night at least. Landon didn't seem to heartbroken over it, and Cody is still doing well.

Today I am unpacking and trying to put this house together at least a little bit..the Kitchen is done, well for the most part anyway.

Last night I was trying to hook up my TV and DVR box. I had everything working except the sound. No matter what I did I could not get the sound to turn on. I called David and he had no clue, I called my Dad and he had no clue, I then went next door to get my sister Lauren (yes I live next door to a family YET AGAIN) and she came over to help. After she went thru all the wires and did everything I had already tried the sound finally popped on. I was like "OMG what did you do"...she started laughing and said she flipped this little switch in the back and that's it....@@ why hadn't I tried that lol

Well back to work I go

Pictures from Mom's weekend 08

2008-07-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Mom's weekend 2008

2008-07-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

Well another Mom's weekend has come and gone. I headed down to Va beach on Thurs around 7pm, and came back Sunday around Noon.

The weekend was a blast. Thursday night we did dinner and then a club called Peabodys. The bar scene was Eh...not to much fun. We had a great time when we went back to the hotel though. We goofed around (acted drunk) and played the game "Dirty Minds' on the beach at 3am lol Then Erica and I stayed up talking till 6am and watched the sun rise on the balcony.

Only had 3hrs sleep that night though so that was tough.

Next day we spent on the beach, I got to much sun even though I reapplied my sunscreen like 3times. So in the end my entire back and legs were burnts....very unattractive lol

More girls showed up around 4pm, and we got in our dressy clothes to do our dress up dinner night. We went to this expensive Italian place. The food was great!

After dinner we went back to the hotel to get dressed up in going out clothes. We had to wait around for my sister's Neely and Hannah to get there (they didn't show up till 1030) this is the that sucked. Everyone seemed to have something to complain about. Having to wait around for my sisters everyone was getting tired. Then my sister said she didn't want to walk the 5blocks, so complained about that. The bars we hit were horrible. Just packed, smokey, boring. We tried 3 different onces and the night was just a bust really. We did hit the beach when we got back for a little bit for the most part we got to bed fairly early. My sisters ended up leaving that same night even though they planned to stay the night.

Saturday was nice, we all headed to Starbucks for coffee and a bagel. Then we went shopping for gifts for our kids. I got the boys a little treasure chest with a shell inside, a necklace, and a box of poppers (those little things you throw on the ground and they make pop).

We headed back to the hotel and a big cloud came in and it started raining. Luckily it only lasted about 5mins cause we thought our day at the beach was ruined. While on the balcony we watched a hawaiian wedding...very beautiful.

We hung on the beach for about 2hrs, it was very hot, my sunburn was killin me (I kept on shorts and a tank). Alaina and I played in the water jumping waves and body surfing. One wave was so big it wipes us both out...made us do a bunch of flips, stop my sunglasses and hair band lol it was fun though.

We had 2 more girls come Saturday night, so we got ready to go out and have dinner. We all ordered ONE margarita..but the thing was all tequila. By the time we were done with it a lot of us were pretty loopy. We went back to the hotel cause it was still early and we goofed off there for a bit and then headed to Peabodys again. I wish we would have just stayed in the room, we would have had more fun @@ Oh well.

Sunday morning we packed up and left. Took us 3hrs to get home, even though we only live 40mins away. The tunnel was blocked and other routes were as well...we had to take the long ass way home..it sucked.

Out of all of our Mom's weekends this was NOT the best one...but I still enjoyed myself and am looking forward to next years.

Pictures in next post

Girls weekend...here I come!

2008-07-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

For the last two days I have been packing and moving. I'm only moving down the street so taking loads in my Dad's truck hasn't been to bad. I've been packing, cleaning and moving the small stuff...pretty much by myself. My little brother has been helping (bribed by my mother)..he's only 12. He has been a great help though, I didn' realize how strong he is or how capable..I think I still view him as a child.

Tomorrow my girls weekend starts! I am SO excited. Me and my friend Erica are heading down to the beach tomorrow evening. We are meeting up with another friend Steph.

Friday we'll lay on the beach and do NOTHING! Friday night more girls are coming...we'll have 8 girls that night. Saturday we'll hit the beach and pool and shop...then Saturday night some girls leave and new girls show up so we'll have 6girls.

We have been doing these girl weekends for the last couple years, and I look forward to it all year round. It is our one time to get out and NOT act like mother's. We act stupid, dress sexy,drink to much, and act perverted half the time. It's a nice get away lol

Here are a couple pictures from last two trips

When all else fails....make funny videos

2008-07-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

While we were up at David's we found that during the daytime hours while David was at work we were bored out of our minds. It rained a lot so the pool was out, we played a lot of board games, watched movies, played on the computer..........and when all those things got old we decided to make our own fun....check out the videos below

1. Clothing race

2. Pillow case race

3. Crab crawl

4. Ankle race

5. Rolling

One beer, two beer, three beer, floor

2008-07-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

So I celebrated my wonderful day yesterday a little to hard. Hung out with David and friend Paul when the kids went to bed last night and had a few to many. Today I paid for it though. Now I didn't really understand why I was so sick today. I drink fairly often (i'm not a lush or anything) but at least once a week I have a few. I did not have that many last night but today I was SO sick....just wasn't normal for me. I had a migraine and threw up like 5times..WTH? I never throw up from drinking and certain not from beer...it was really strange.

Now because I was so sick our nice wonderful day we had planned go thrown out the window. David had to take the boys out to the zoo by himself. I felt so bad that I had done it to myself and messed up my kids day. I still feel like a shitty mom cause of it, I've learned my lesson though...no more drinking when I have plans the next day.

This evening we rented the movie theater in David's rec center. We got to down to the building and saw that someone else's name was on the reservation sign. We were really confused but decided to go ahead and watch the movie anyway hoping that they just had the name confused. Of course half way thru Spiderwick a family showed up to use it (the one on the sign)...so we had to stop the movie and leave. David was furious and it going to give the office people a piece of his mind tomorrow. We went ahead and finished the movie in his apartment. We really enjoyed the movie though, I recommend it!

We might be heading home tomorrow, not sure yet. If I feel like it we'll stay another night. We have a birthday party to attend on Sunday so haven't really decided yet what we are going to do.

But for tonight i'm resting up and enjoying the silence

I heart today!

2008-07-10T18:41:00.000-07:00

Today things seem to be falling into place! I have been under a great deal of stress lately. Knowing that I have to be moved out of my current house by the 1st of August and then homeless for 2 weeks before moving into the new house by August 15th.

Well today I found out that my sisters temparary tenants canceled on her (I am sorry for her) and so now the house is mine. This means I can spend the next 3 weeks moving my stuff in there gradually and will be able to be in there completely by the 1st and not homeless !! I am just so thrilled by this. This is a HUGE weight off my shoulders. I feel horrible for my sister, I know she really wanted the money she was getting from the tenants. But my piece of mind not having to jump the boys around from house to house for 2 weeks is far more important to me.

This was enough to make my day perfect, but to top it all off David gave me money for Mom's weekend. I was going to have to skimp the entire time I was there...which sucks on a vacation. But he had been setting aside the money and surprised me with it today!!! I just couldn't be happier =)

Tonight i'm going to sit and relax with a few beers and have some alone time with hubby =)

I love days like this!

Damage Control

2008-07-10T12:40:00.000-07:00

Ok I did some damage control on my hair. So I decided I was going to get some dark brown hair dye and just use it on the entire head. By doing this I figured that it would take to some areas better then others and most likely leave alot of lighter strips where the blonde was. This happened when my sister had her hair professionally dyed and couldn't afford to get it redone..she just used a box and her hair STILL looked highlighted cause the dye took to certain pieces and not others...of course she has red hair so I should have known it wouldn't work out that nicely for me.

I got a dark dark brown because the last dark brown I got didn't work....

As I was putting it on I KNEW it was strong stuff. I started staining my head right away and every spot of skin it touched. Because of this I didn't leave it in very long..only about 15mins.

Well my hair is now black lol I just can't win. It's no big deal I'm used to it dark so just makes me feel comfortable again. But at the same time I feel bad I wasted so much time trying something different and my sisters time as well (that's not counting the money on the dye).

Oh well here are some pics of my new hair...lol which doesnt look much different from how it looked BEFORE the entire hair dying mishap

Ps...I am bummed that trying something new, different, unique, trendy didn't work out....back to plain jane I go =(

Strange Ebay auctions

2008-07-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

Animal crackers mating....lol
Weird Animal Cracker - eBay (item 180260947769 end time Jul-10-08 06:18:19 PDT)

Rock that looks like a brain
"Brain" Rock-Quartz-Stone-Different-Unusual-Weird-Neat - eBay (item 320270341447 end time Jul-10-08 11:23:39 PDT)

Doll that moves at night...lol love this one
SOME SORT OF WEIRD DOLL THAT MOVES AT NIGHT TIME SCARY - eBay (item 220253293717 end time Jul-10-08 16:34:11 PDT)

Real stuffed frogs playing dominoes...gross
2 REAL STUFFED FROGS PLAYING DOMINOES - WEIRD TAXIDERMY - eBay (item 350076216368 end time Jul-10-08 18:15:10 PDT)

Another haunted doll lol
Haunted Doll - EBay Resell ! Sold as A Weird Doll !!!! - eBay (item 270252209825 end time Jul-10-08 13:45:08 PDT)

Black twist ties ...um ok
3 BLACK PACKAGE TWIST TIES REALLY WEIRD NEW - eBay (item 160256611156 end time Jul-10-08 17:00:32 PDT)

I cannot believe someone is selling this
WEIRD FOR SOMEONE THAT HAS EVERYTHING - eBay (item 120281473444 end time Jul-11-08 14:04:37 PDT)

Ok ok I could go on forever with weird ebay auctions lol

Drove to DC

2008-07-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

Today I decided we would spend the rest of the week up in DC with David. I got up a little later then I had hoped, drank my pick me up (coffee), cleaned my kitchen, packed our bags, got myself and the boys ready, headed out the door. I felt like I had done good about getting out the door at a decent time........of course I didn't anticipate all the other shit I had to do before getting on the road.

Lauren wanted me to come look at her rental house (newly painted) so we headed over there. The boys had a blast going thru the empty house talking about where we are going to put everything. I showed them their room and how they both have a set of shelves and wall space that they can do what they want with. We will have a dishwasher!!!!!!!!! lol huge one for me. It was just nice to finally get excited about where we are going to live. After spending a year and a half in the dump we are in now we really need this move! Only a little over a month left =)

After the house I ran to advanced auto to get some engine oil (my light came on). I had no clue how to put it in my car so I asked the lady if they had someone who could help me. She looked at me like I was a complete moron for not knowing how to do it myself and then told me they weren't "allowed" to help people @@ So I left the store wondering how I was going to get this oil into the car. I decided to drive back to my house (a block away) and attempt it on my own. I chose my house cause I didn't want to look like an idiot in a store parking lot lol I got super lucky though because my Dad pulled up right as I got to the house....so he did it for me YAY! I hate sounding like a ditzy woman who can't take care of her car...but it's the truth =x My Dad also checked my tires and we drove to 7-11 so he could fill them. Once that was all done we finally hit the road.

The second we got onto the interstate the kids reminded me that they hadn't eaten lunch yet, so I had to get off an exit and get them food as well as gas which I had also forgot. Ugh ok by the time I REALLY got on the road it was 3pm.

The drive went really well, smooth and no traffic....and the boys were WONDERFUL. I was shocked at how well they did in the car....absolutely NO fighting...shocking I know!

I decided to try my GPS to get to DC...which turned out to be a mistake because it sent me on the toll roads. Oh well I had to try it once...now I know better. I finally got to David's place around 6pm. David left work an hour early to come meet up which was nice. He took the boys to the pool right away and gave me a break. I took a nice long bubble bath...ahh so nice.

The right of the night as been nice...but come about 9pm David started getting upset with the boys. I was mad...3hrs is all it took for him to get frustrated with them and i'm with them 24/7. This time of him being away from us has NOT helped his patients at all @@ He better work on that before he moves back with us.

Tomorrow Dave has to work so we are just hanging out and then Friday Dave is off so we'll be heading into DC for a fun day...I'm excited!

Skunk head

2008-07-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

Ok so today was our Hula meeting, everything went fine nothing to eventful.

I had a hair appointment at 430pm to get my hair trimmed and restyled. I also wanted to have my sister dye my hair. We decided dying first would be good because then the cut would help take away some of the damaged hair and it would be best if we did the damage before the cut..made sense to us.

The goal: redye my hair dark brown (I have medium brown hair and some grey). Also ad in some blonde highlights for the summer to give it that sunkist look.

My sister is normally REALLY good at dying hair. She sent me to Sally's to pick up the toner and bleach. Well got a different brand then she normally uses...we didn't think it would be an issue but oh how wrong we were.

She started out by putting blonde highlights at the top of my head, this took FOREVER! She was going to then add in the dark. But we were running tight on time and it was almost 430. As the Bleach was in my hair she noticed that it was explanding and bubbling. Well it leaked onto the rest of my hair. So we rinsed it out and the entire top of my head was bleach blonde. I looked like a skunk! Of course it was time for my appt so I decided to go ahead and go (my hair needed a cut BAD). So at the salon I had to explain to the hairdresser that I had a bleach mishap, and she laughed with me about...or should I say laughed AT me. I felt like everyone in the place was starring at me thinking "what the hell did this girl do to her head". I couldn't get outa there quick enough!

After the salon I headed back to my sisters house. She then took the dark brown dye and went over the top of my head with it, as well as the rest of the hair. She added some more highlights in the back (knowing now how little she had to use to keep it from bubbling). I let that sit for a good 40mins and we rinsed.

After rinsing I looked in the mirror and the dark brown didn't take very well to the top of my head @@ So now it's a light brown...almost orangy color! ugh i'm so frustrated. I finally decide to try something daring and different and this is what happens. I cannot afford a salon dye job so at home is my only way to go. All my other sister do this stuff to themselve all the time and it turned out great...nope not me.

Now everyone tells me it doesnt look bad at all, but I beg to differ! I think I look like a natural blonde who tried to go dark but then is letting it grow out...ugh

Ok here is a before picture.............Not the best hair picture but you can see how dark it was....i'm the one in the middle for those that don't know.

Ok now here are a couple pictures of my head now lol ugh I hate it

See the dark, well the entire thing was supposed to be dark like that....it's just wait to light I look weird with this colore hair @@

Countdown

2008-07-07T23:07:00.001-07:00

9 more days till Girls Weekend!!!!!!!!!

Faker!

2008-07-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

Start of the day.....I slept in to late. Most people would consider this a luxery but for me it's a huge issue of mine. My kids wake up hours before I do. I set my alarm and I never wake up. Now luckily I have older kids so there is no real danger involved here. They know not to use the toaster, microwave, oven, knives, or to go outside while i'm sleeping...and they do great about listening. My kids wake up, make their own cereal and watch tv or play until I join the land of the living.

I watch my nephew 5days a week for my sister...it is a job, I get paid. Now that school is out my 11yr old nephew is here at my house everyday from 8am to 6pm. I woke up this morning and the 3 boys were playing nicely up on the 3rd floor. I heard a lot of laughing and good happy sounds. That is until they realized that I was awake.......oh then chaos started. They were fighting, hitting, name calling. Literally every 5mins it was "Mommy, Jack did this"...or "Jenna, Corbin did this". I was SO fed up that I told them all to get outside and play and they were not allowed back in until I said they could.

Once outside they all sat and pouted on the front porch and then started fighting there. They assume I can't see or hear everything that goes on...but how wrong they are! They kept coming to the door yelling and crying AGAIN...of course telling me some ridiculous story that wasn't even near the truth (I heard everything). Again after a bit of this I got fed up again....so I told them to come inside and watch tv...no one was allowed to talk, just sit quietly and watch...Yes I asked the TV to babysit but I was at my wits end.

I walked over to my parents house to get come coffee ( I was outa sugar and my parents live next door) and within 5mins they came crying to me about yet another fight. Oh boy I really didn't know what to do.
I went back home, took my kids upstairs with me and left Jack downstairs by himself. I figured the only thing left to do was to seperate them. So I made the boys help me pack my bedroom (we are moving in a few weeks). Jack was complaining that he had a headache, yet still wanted to go play with my brother (12yrs old)...when I told him no he got pissed at me and called his Mother. Little bit later my Sister called me and was like "What's going on, Jack just called upset". I explained the situation to her and how we were having a rough day. I said Jack had a headache but at the same time wanted to play with Ethan so it couldn't be that bad...I basically insinuated that he was faking. My sister decided to leave work early and come get him. I was NOT at all unhappy with this plan...in fact I was thrilled.

Of course when my sister got here she hugged Jack and said "oh he's warm". She thought he wasn't feeling well and thats why his behaviour was so bad. I still questioned it but kept my mouth shut. She left and took him home and I went on with my day.

We packed up half my room, went to Sally's beauty supplies, hit up Target, went to CiCis pizza for dinner and then came home. As I pulled up to my house my sister called me to tell me that Jack was running a really high fever and she won't be going to work tomorrow, and that he's been lying on the couch since she brought him home.

Don't I feel like an ASS!

Tomorrow is a filled day, but hopefully a better one!

Tattoo Parlor

2008-07-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

My son Corbin had a wonderful sleepover with his Cousin Noveigh. He didn't get dropped off today till 6pm. Mainly because he was picked up late yesterday so the kids didn't really get to play last night. So today was their day together.

Corbin went on and on about their overnight activities. He told me how they made a club house with blankets, and Neely let them eat breakfast in it. How they had popsicles. They watched Spy Kids. They made up dances. They played wall ball outside. They came back in and watched another movie. He seemed pretty excited about his sleepover so I'm happy he had a good time!

Later this evening when I was getting the boys ready for their bath I realized that Corbin had left out some details of his day with Noveigh. There was no way for him to hide it, it was starring me right in the face. Corbin's chest was covered in drawings. I took one look at it and was shocked...the boy is almost 8yrs old! His head sank and he said "Noveigh did it". When I looked closely I saw something that looked like a surf board and it said "surfs up" in it. I saw a girl (looked like she had boobs, but can't be sure), I saw something that looked like a dollar bill, and then there was a ton of other things I couldn't even make out. I also discovered another drawing on Corbin's calf.

I asked Corbin why Noviegh did this. He told me that it was just a game. I didn't react well and asked what kind of a game required Noveigh to draw all over him. He then told me that they were playing.......get this........Tattoo Parlor! OMG lol Ok I was fighting back laughter at this point.

Corbin drawing on himself, not ok, very immature! Noveigh drawing on Corbin, not ok, very immature. But something about the fact that they were playing "Tattoo Parlor" somehow just didn't upset me as much, infact made me laugh. I know it shouldn't matter lol But I couldn't help it.

After I found out their game I asked Corbin what everything was. On his side, was a dollar bill...nice lol

On his chest, 2 surf boards..one saying surfs up and one with fire on it. A scene of a room with flames all around and more dollar bills and then Noveigh walking in ?!?!? ok lol

His calf...well that's Spongebob!

I'm going to have to have a talk with Corbin about his Tattoo choices...this just won't do!

Whew I'm tired

2008-07-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent the day at home doing laundry and cleaning. Corbin stayed the night at Noveigh's house and was picked up after dinner. Landon and I snuggled on the couch and watched tv until he fell asleep. Today.....ugh well I'm trying to be productive. Corbin is still at Neely's so Landon and I are cleaning the 3rd floor (the boys room) and packing it up. There is NO air conditioning up there, and it smells. The boys haven't played up there since it was cooler out. I am throwing away a TON of toys, books, puzzles. Basically if there is a ripped page..it's gone. If the puzzle is missing a piece it's gone. These are things I've hung on to because I figured the kids would still play with them. Just because the puzzle was missing ONE piece doesnt mean they didn't have fun putting the rest of it together. So I'm done being a hoarder....I can't hang on to this stuff forever just on the off chance the kids "MIGHT" play with it sometime. I just got done doing their puzzle bin....omg it was a mess! All the puzzles were mixed together. I sat and spent the last hour going thru the bin, seperating each puzzle into zip lock bags, going thru the wooden puzzles, throwing away a bunch. They now have 4 floor puzzles in bags, and a small stack of wooden puzzles. I'm now taking a much needed break after not breathing well for an hour lol I'll feel so much better when that room is done....knowing that I just need to shampoo the carpet and then it's done. We have less then a month before we have to be outa this house....not much time left!!! aaaaahhhhh stressed!

Couple pics from "Hillbilly" post

2008-07-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

Me and my favorite girl in the world Erica! lol you can see "Brother Andy" in the back.
This one is Monte, me and Cassie

4th of July 2008

2008-07-05T13:54:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful 4th of July this year. It was missing one thing and that thing was David. He was unable to come down due to work and we missed him.

We started out our Holiday with a BBQ at Neely's house. We had our entire family, as well as come friends. We hung out, ate some yummy food, played outside (even though it was hot), and enjoyed eachothers company.

Around 7 we headed to Downtown NN to the Superblock to watch Fireworks. We found an open spot in the grass and set up our massive amounts of blankets. Our friend Rachel and her family came and joined us, as well as Chris's brother and niece. Neely made this baton's for the kids...they has Red, White and Blue ribbons attached to the ends and the kids had a blast playing and twirling them around. Fireworks were scheduled to go off at 9:45, but around 9pm it started raining. We got soaking wet, but it was a nice summer rain and only lasted about 5mins. After it stopped raining it started to thunder and lightening. So they started the Fireworks a bit early. They were good but not as good as the years before. I think they were rushing it due to the weather. The Finale was shorter then usual. Even after it was all done and everyone was packing up to leave they were firing off some randon fireworks here and there. Either they forgot them or they got stuck and didn't go off when they were supposed to...who knows. Afterwards we all headed back over to Neely's for sparklers. We didn't get home till close to 11pm, the kids were exhausted after the full day....but they enjoyed ever second of it!

Hillbilly Brothers lol

2008-07-04T08:57:00.001-07:00

I had so much fun last night. I headed out around 915ish, and met up with friends at a place called Kelly's tavern. Some of my sisters and other friends were going to Saddleridge (country bar) but I just didn't feel like going there and had already committed to going out with Erica.

Sitting at the bar we met these two goofy brothers named Andy and Larry, I guess Erica had met them last week and said they were hilarious. So we sat and chatted with them. Andy who seemed to be the more outgoing brother was the smaller of the two and had a very strong southern accent...omg everything he said was hilarious. Not in a great sense of humor kinda way but in a dorky, awkward, hillbilly kinda way lol

We were so close to having him agree to allowing Erica to give him a reverse Mohawk.....i'm still bummed that didn't happen =(

Andy wanted a picture of him between Erica and myself.....we made him kiss his brother before we would agree to pose for the picture....lol we are so mean

Andy allowed Erica to autograph his tiny little bird chest.......I think he was just thrilled that she had to get close to him to do it lol

At one point the brothers said they were going to a different bar cause they wanted to find girls to get kisses from cause me and Erica weren't cooperating lol Andy was doing something and asked Erica to hold his wallet, she took it and stuck it in her shirt to be funny. Well then they left....after they walked out of the door Erica said "wait for it, wait for it........I still have his wallet". lol

45mins later Andy came running back into Kelly's and yelled from across the bar "My wallet's in your bra".........now picture that being said with a southern hillbilly kinda accent....it's freaking hilarious!

The Brother's were funny and so much fun to mess with. Guys like that who are funny when drinking, are overly flirtatious even when you tell them you are married, and try very hard to get you to kiss them even when you tell them to get away from you..........they deserve what they got lol And I bet they loved every minute of it. They kept saying "omg I can't believe you girls are talking to us" lol

So went out with friends, had TONS of laughs............last night was a success!

Yellow see thru dress, crash diet, and girls weekend!

2008-07-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was feeling like doodoo again. I think I caught another vesion of the stomach bug. I felt sick to my stomach and cramping. I never threw up, but I was miserable all day.

Today I woke up feeling much better! I had a slight headache but I think it was lack of caffiene being that I'm a coffee drinker..and due to my upset stomach I hadn't had any in like 2 days.

I had the shopping itch so me and the boys headed out. They weren't thrilled about my plan at all so I bribed them with slurpee's. We hit a few thrift stores, nothing good. I was looking for a dress for Girls weekend. I have a few dresses already but none that I'm jumping up and down about. No luck at the thrift stores...I even up to Newport news to the ones up there...I normally only hit the ones in Hampton..but still nothing. I wanted to try Kohls, but I decided to try Ross first (cheaper). I found 2 dresses there. One is Black and one is Yellow. The black dress is more casual then the yellow...but both could either be worn as a summer dress or dressed up for night on the town...those are my favorite kind of dresses!

I love the yellow dress, it's a tube top style. Problem is, it's see thru. The boob area is thick so that's not...but the rest of it is. So i'm trying to figure out what to wear underneat it...not sure about a slip or how that might work..we'll see.

After Ross I decided to skip Kohls and head to Jcpenneys (I have a gift card). I have been eyeing a pair of shorts you wear over your bathing suit. When I got there they only had ONE left and it was the right color. It was an XL but it's a junior style so I thought it might still work. So I tried them on in the fitting room and nope they look stupid......way to big =( Sure that makes me feel good a little...but I really wanted these shorts! I left Penney's empty handed.

After all those stores the kids were hitting their limit so we headed home. I stopped by the post office to send out something I sold on Ebay and then the kids got their slurpee's for being good.

I have 15days left to girls weekend, so i'm on a crash diet. Ok it's not really a CRASH diet...I mean i'm still eating and everything. But NO bad carbs for me, No sweets, NO grease lol Ya know all the good stuff =)

Tonight we are having Chicken breasts and spinach for dinner.

I'm heading out later to meet up with some friends for drinks (I know bad me, CARBS lol) but I need a night out every once in awhile..preferably once a week lol

Countdown
15days till Girls weekend!

we'll just have to do it again next week =)

2008-07-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

So last night my sisters and I gathered together at Lauren's house. We were having a Hell's Kitchen party. We all brought a dish to share, and something to drink. We ordered pizza for the kids and had Shrek babysit them upstairs.

We had a mixture of dishes, Lauren made Artichoke bottoms with feta cheese and tomatoes, Marisha made Portebello mushroom caps with spinach, cheese, and shrimp, Hannah brought a dip with beans, avacodo, tomatoes, onions, corn and peas....super yummy and you eat with chips, I brought cherry tomatoes with green olives inside them, Neely brought angel food cake with strawberries and whip cream.

Once everything was layed out on the table we dug in. We tasted everyones dishes and then went around and said what he liked or didn't like about them. LOL Neely did a good impression of Chef Ramsey when she almost threw up my cherry tomatoes and olives (such a picky eater lol)

We then sat around her living room and turned on Hell's Kitchen to watch the Grand Finale!!!!!

We watched, and watched, and watched..........then realized that the Finale is NEXT week....lol we are such dorks.

It was nice either way, and will give us an excuse to do it again next week lol

What? No shows?

2008-07-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

Today was our Hula meeting (every Tuesday)...we went over our schedules, upcoming shows, new dances ...the normal stuff.

We talked about how we haven't had a show in awhile. Well a few weeks anyway. I don't really understand why...and it sucks. The first few months of this year we were booked solid...like every weekend. Now it was very overwhelming and stressful but I think we were getting used to it. And now we are hitting peak season of the summer and we have hardly any =(

There are a few other groups in the area, and there is a huge possibility that people are hiring them and now us =( I do my best to advertise our group. Everywhere that the other groups advertise I make sure to put our name out there as well. I returned a few phone calls today and I got a lot of "we went another way" or "we booked someone else". I really don't want to feel bitterness towards these other groups...but I can't help feeling it a bit. I want to watch them dance so bad so I can see what they do..but I have no clue when or where they are dancing.

One of the groups we used to dance with the instructor, she had a different way of doing things so we went our seperate ways....so now she has her group and we have ours...and then there is a larger group who have been around for years! They are the ones getting most of the shows...I've seen their calendar on their website..it's packed.

It just sucks that's all. I mean we have 2 shows in July, and 3 in august so far...but I want more! I need the money lol I've spend the last hour online emailing people hopefully something comes out of it! Wish me luck!

Today we are heading over to Lauren's house to watch the Finale of Hell's Kitchen! Should be fun =)

11yr Dating Anniversary

2008-06-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

So 11yrs ago to this day David and I went on our very first date. We met a month before hand while we were both working at Busch Gardens. We talked at work, flirted, the normal stuff for about a month and then we finally went on our first date...and we were inseperable from then on. That summer I experienced my first (and only) love...and then come September David went off to basic training and I was heart broken. It was exactly like a country love song lol David and I had a long distance relationship for a good year after that...we had our good times and bad times like all couples and the distance made things worse......but we managed. We broke up for about 4mos about 2yrs into our relationship, and then got back together and then surprise...baby Corbin =) That's when our family began.

We've been thru far more then most couples should have to go thru. Even to this day I wonder if we'll make it. But through out the years we've had one main thing in common and one main thing that has kept us together.....we love eachother very much.

Today David is not in town, but he had a dozen pink roses sent to the house. They are beautiful, they are my favorite, and they smell wonderful. I love that this day means something to him. I love that he remembered. I love that he's romantic and wants us to reconnect. I love that he does things like this. But at the same time, why am I so bothered that he spent the money on these flowers? David is supporting two houses right now..his in DC and mine here. With all that it leaves us with very little money. So it bothers me that he went and spent so much on these flowers when he could have done something just as sweet but cheaper.

I feel guilty for being mad at him, but to me it was irrisponsible of him to do it. Ugh I wish I could just be happy sometimes instead of seeing the negative in a situation like this. I guess i'm sitting here with very little money and I need gas money more then I need flowers.

How I know I have PMS

2008-06-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

1) Everyone around me has an attitude problem
2) Chocolate has become one of the basic food groups
3) The dryer has shrunk every last pair of my jeans (weird how this happens)
4) My husband is agreeing with everything I say
5) I'm using my cell phone to dial up every bumper sticker that says, "How's my driving? Call 1-800--."
6) Everyone's head looks like an invitation to batting practice.
7) I'm convinced there's a God and He's male.
8) I'm counting down the days until menopause.
9) I'm sure that my kids are scheming to drive me crazy.
10) The ibuprofen bottle is empty and I bought it yesterday.

Forever Young

2008-06-27T15:10:00.001-07:00

So I put on the movie "Forever Young". I haven't seen it in forever but it was on one of the movie channels so I recorded it. For those that haven't seen this movie is stars Mel Gibson and he has his body frozen in the 1920's and then 2 boys stumble across his body and of course he defrosts and comes back to life lol The movie makes no sense but it's a love story and I like it.

Anyway...........

It got me thinking of the 60min special or was it 20/20 I have no clue...it was about the process of Cryopreservation. It's the process of freezing the body to be brought back to life at some point in the future. This concept seriously freaks me out. People actually pay like 150,000 to have their body frozen for the slight possibility of science figuring out how to bring them back to life in the future so they can in a way "live forever". But if your frugal you can pay just a mere 50,000 to have your brain frozen so someday scientists can clone the rest of your body. How insane is this? The famous baseball player Ted Williams is frozen right now (I don't really know who this is but I read it lol). I read that his head is actually frozen seperately...gross!

Why would anyone do this? As of right now we (*we meaning doctors, scientists) don't know how to revive these frozen bodies yet....and no one knows if *we will ever know. So basically you freeze your body in hope that they will figure it out one day. This is all just to disturbing for me to truely comprehend. People are actually frozen right now as I type this, head down in big metal tubes all over the country. Why would anyone want to live forever? If *we were actually able to revive a body at any time that person would most likely come back as a vegetable.

So who else is completely freaked out by this? Anyone know someone who has paid to have it done to their body? Opinions?

Found a bathing suit! Yay

2008-06-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

So today i'm feeling MUCH better! It was a sauna in my room last night because my upstairs AC isn't working very well...so I had broken sleep, but I went to bed fairly early so it was fine. I woke up around 7:30am....anyone who knows me knows that I NEVER see this time of day. My butt is never outa bed before 9am. But today I woke up at 7:30 and was wide awake. It was strange being up that early. I ended up getting out and running errands before 11am, and home again before 3pm. I feel like my day should be over now but it's no where near lol I guess being up in the early morning has some advantages...you get more done in a day...but at the same time I think by the kids bedtime I'm going to be really stressed.

Anyway, so I headed out to Walmart to buy a fan for my bedroom, I just can't take another night like that. So I found the fan I wanted and just happened to glance at the bathing suits, I saw a few that looked cute and I tried them on. I was shocked but one actually looked good! Ok well as good as it can look anyway. I have to work with what I got lol It's a one piece but it's the Monokini style. Here is a picture of one similar. The one I got is turqouise blue and striped. What was even better about the bathing suit is that it was only 19.97! I never find bathing suits that price. This one is cute and covered my ugly mommy belly but doesnt make me feel like a soccer mom! Girl's weekend is in 3 weeks, and now i'm set! After Walmart I stopped at Sonic to get the boys a slushie, then hit a thrift store which was PACKED ugh! Then I stopped by the YMCA to look into a membership (want to look better in that bathing suit). From my income and the fact that I live alone with the boys it looks like I could get a Y membership for like $15 a month with no start up fee! yay! I'm going to work on doing that. They want pay stubs and I don't have those so we'll see what I can do. After the Y we stopped by Laurens house to see how she was feeling (she just had surgery)...she seemed find..doped up and feeling good lol Now we are home.......whew I feel like it should be 8pm already but it's only 440. We are hanging at home for the rest of the day, it's getting ready to storm and I need to figure out what i'm going to make for dinner.

Father's day pictures

2008-06-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

Got hit by the bug

2008-06-26T08:32:00.001-07:00

Yesteday the boys and I had a wonderful time at the beach! It was perfect beach weather...in Hampton anyway. Actually we had an advisory out saying that elderly and childrens should only be out for an hour at a time because of a debry warning. We've had bad smoke here from the NC fires for the last few weeks...well I guess today they put out a warning saying they didn't want people breathing it in.

But in Hampton it was nice and clear, no smell of camp fire like we've become acustomed to. So I took advantage of the last of smoke and headed to the beach. From Newport news all the way to Richmond was bad though...Hampton just got lucky.

We spent a good 4hrs there, I got tons of sun and kids had a blast.....we had friends with us to which always makes it more enjoyable.

Later I dropped the kids off at the baseball game with my parents, and headed to meet Marisha and Hannah out for drinks. We didn't know it but the bar we picked was having Karaoke last night so it was hilarious. It was a good night.

UNTIL about 4am when I woke up with horrible stomach cramps and feeling sick to my stomach. I was up most of the night until I finally threw up and felt good enough to sleep. I think I caught a stomach bug that has been going around cause i've been throwin up about every 30mins since it started =( I really hope my kids don't get this.

So my day is going to be spent laying on the couch, sipping ginger ale, and trying to find things to keep the boys occupied.

"The music brings my body down"

2008-06-25T09:13:00.001-07:00

Corbin has been into music and dancing for quite sometime now. He blares the tv with music and dances ALL day long. He has choreography to pretty much every Disney channel video or show. He's not bad either, he has rhythm and can dance pretty good. The boy has a shyness problem though. So no one but myself and landon ever really see the extent of what this boy can do. He's finally getting old enough to go into a dance class, but the boy refuses..he's to scared.

Corbin's new thing right now is Camp Rock...anyone else's kids watch this movie? I now know these songs by heart because the movie is recorded on our DVR and it is played about 100 times a day. He doesn't watch the whole movie 100times, no he sits with the remote and rewinds and fastforwards to all the songs. He has choreographed each song, knows the words by heart. I wake up to this music everyday. I get up and come downstairs and Corbin usually has tons of new things to show me. He says things like "Check out my new move"....or "See in the music, it just brings me body down"...this is as he's demonstrating what his move is to that part in the song.
Corbin has informed me that this movie is far better then High School Musical 1 AND 2.

At least once a day I find random videos on my digital camera of Corbin dancing lol He places the camera on a table or something in the morning when I'm not up and records himself dancing and singing.

Now all this might sound cute and all...but he's obsessed. It's a little bit more then an interest he has. He clearly has a passion for music and dancing. It's hard cause I wish I could get him past his shyness cause he could be great if he allowed himself to be taught.

Who knows maybe this will be something that sticks with him for life or maybe it's just a childhood phase. I'll have to wait and see. In the meantime I would love to get him into a Hip Hop class...anyones kids want to take it with him so he's not alone???? =)

This week

2008-06-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

David came down for the concert on Saturday and his boss Paul told him to take a few days so he got to stay till Tuesday.

We didn't do much, lack of funds lol We just hung out really. Jack has had baseball games everyday for the Allstars so we've been to all of those....we always enjoy ourselves.
We hit the pool a couple times, the kids had a blast doing canon balls off the diving board....and a few belly flops here and there lol

Tuesday I had our Hula meeting, we went over a new dance we just learned and then started another one. Of course there was far more talking and chatting then there was actual working lol like always.
I left there around 3pm, took Hannah home, I watched theseus for 40mins till Marisha got home from work. I was going to have to Babysit Neely's kids at 4 but last minute she canceled. Then I was also going to have to watch my friend Rachels kids at 445 and last minute she canceled cause her hubby got home early lol I everyone canceled on me...not that I minded really. I went to go meet David and the boys at the pool but right as I got there they were heading out....oh well.

Today we are going to the Beach with some friends, and then another one of Jack's baseball games.....there is a chance I might go out for some drinks with Marisha...but not sure yet.

I was going to head up to David's this week but decided not to. I feel a little guilty about it but at the same time I just can't go up there and be trapped in an apartment for a week when it's summer and my kids want to be out at the beach or pool....and so do I.

If he didn't have to work all day everyday while we are there it would be different...but it sucks. I go up there and end up being alone with the kids in a strange area I don't know, in an apartment...just not cool.

Well off to get ready for the sun...of course that is if the smoke doesn't force us back indoors (NC fires)

Saturday- 21st

2008-06-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

This past week is kind of a blur, I was trying to think back to each day to remember what we did but I honestly have no clue!

I know we've been to the beach a few times. I've had to take Jack to his baseball practices everyday. Hula meeting on Tuesday, went out for a few drinks with my friend that night. Wednesday we went to the Virginia living museum with friends, Thursday cleaned and went out to dinner with my friend that night, friday cleaned I think lol Just normal stuff I geuss.

Yesterday, Saturday was busy though. Day started out with Jack's first All stars baseball game. But before I could head there I had to drop off the Hula bin at Neely's house, then hit the bank to cash a check, then get some coffee and then to the game. Game lasted till 12pm and then we had to head up to Newport news to the Dance recital. Lauren's ballet classes were in the first recital at 1pm...which were adorable. Then the 2nd recital started at 3pm for Noveigh's dance team and the hula/tahitian dances neely teaches. So we were there from 1-4pm. Then we left and went home. I had to eat and get ready as fast as I could. David drove down so he met me at the house. Then at 5pm we left the kids with my parents and met up at Laurens house. It was Me, David, Lauren, guy Rob, Marisha (it was her bday), Hannah. We piled into my mother car (sat more people) and headed down to Va beach for the Bill Joel concert.

I have been to many concerts at the Amphitheatre...but WOW is all I can say. I have never seen so many people before. We had AWESOME seats!!! very close and dead center. Marisha and Hannah had lawn seats...I felt bad for them =( The concert was amazing!!!
Took us about an hour to drive home...counting getting outa the parking lot...not to bad. We started a fire in my parents backyard and hung out some more after the kids were in bed. It was a long day, but a very enjoyable day!

Father's day (trying to catch up)

2008-06-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

I am really far behind on my blogging. I have pictures back from last week on Father's day that I still haven't uploaded from my camera. My camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger @@ Oh well so i'll just write about it instead of posting pictures.

On Father's day we had no plans. David wasn't able to come down so I had decided we were going to just hang at home..I planned on dying my hair.

Around 12pm Corbin started acting funny, visibly upset. I sat down and asked him what was up. He was VERY upset that we were not spending Father's Day with David. I tried to explain to him that Father's day can be anyday...we could celebrate it in the few days when we would see him. But that didn't fly with Corbin...he was very emotionally upset by him not being with his Daddy. So I called David up and I asked him if he would be able to meet us in Richmond. Richmond is kinda of our middle point. it's about an hour and 20mins for me...and hour and 40 for him. So we agreed to meet in Richmond at 5pm. Once I told the boys we were going they were thrilled!

So we got ready and headed out around 3pm. About 20mins into our drive we hit traffic. It was the worst traffic I had been in for awhile. It was a slow crawl the entire way to Richmond...took us the 2 full hours to get there.

We met David at a place called O'charleys for dinner. The boys gave him his Father's day gift. Then we headed over to a near by park to play. It was in a wooded park so once they got sick of playing on the playground we walked the trails in the woods(my favorite part). After the park we headed to Dairy Queen for some ice cream, and then found a grassy field to throw around a football....I tried but i'm not very good. After all that was done it was about 8pm and I needed to head home....so we said goodbye to David and we drove home. The boys left very satisfied and happy and slept great that night!

1930's Marital scale

2008-06-18T18:28:00.001-07:00

Take the quiz and see where you are...lol

I failed...I only got a 4. Not sure how I managed that
1930s Marital Scale

Whew Saturday

2008-06-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday started out pretty lazy. David left before we even woke up. We went over to my parents house so I could get some coffee...the boys just played outside for a while.

I knew I wanted to head to the mall that day, mainly because I got wiped out at the beach on friday and lost my sunglasses....so I needed to go buy some new ones. So I got me and the boys ready and we headed out.

We were all hungry so I stopped at one of our favorite chinese buffets for lunch. It's SO good they have a mongolian section and a sushi bar.....which is pretty much all I eat..but they have the rest of the buffet food that really isn't very good. But the mongolian and suhi make up for it!

After lunch we headed to JCpenneys. I have a gift card there so I knew that's where I wanted to buy my sunglasses. I really had no luck at all finding any. They were all just "eh ok"...yet 20bucks @@ ya no thanks. I ended up getting Theseus 3 pairs of shorts (clearance 2.99) 4 tank tops for me (clearance 5.59) two towels for the kids (3.99) and some summer kid dishes that were on sale 70% off. So I did pretty good.

When I was standing in line to pay the boys asked if they could go to the restrooms....they were like 10feets away so I said sure go ahead. Well I went thru the line, paid and finished and they were still in there! So I went to the bathroom and Corbin came out of the family bathroom saying that I better get in there. Of course that never sounds good. I went inside and there was poop everywhere. Poor Corbin tried to handle it and clearn it up but he just didn't do a very good job. Landon I guess couldn't hold and it and exploded...it was gross and liquid...ugh
So I spent the next 30mins cleaning the bathroom, cleaning Landon, washing his clothes in the sink. I had to put him in one of the pairs of shorts I bought for the baby lol Hey I had to make it outa the store. I was very stressed and frustrated at that point.

I then got a call from Lauren asking me why I wasn't at the ball field for Jack's championship game. I told him landon pooped his pants in the mall and she shut her mouth real quick and said she was sorry lol

So after we got home and bathed landon, got a new set of clothes...we finally headed to the ball game. It was a big event. They had free food, big blow up jumpy thing for the kids, dunk tanks...they really made it awesome for the kids.

The ball game was intense! They stayed pretty even the entire game...even had to go into an extra inning cause they were stuck at 3-3. But the other team scored one more run and that was the end of the game. So Jack lost, but man did they put up a good fight!!!! Very proud!

Beach day

2008-06-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

Friday....David and I took the kids down to Va beach to play in the ocean. We live about 40mins away from the actual boardwalk and it's thru the tunnel so we don't go there that often. Half way there I realized I had forgotten my camera...so no pics =( It was a beautiful day, around 90ish. We got down there went to one of the little shops and bought a couple new boogie boards. Then we headed down to the water. The waves were huge, a little bigger then I would have liked. Corbin got wiped out on his board a couple times, but the last one he hit his head at the bottom of the ocean and he stayed away from the water after that...poor guy. Landon and I went out past the breaking of the waves and had fun jumping them. David was in the water from the second we got there till the second we left lol Me and the boys were laying in the sun and Dave would not leave the water lol It as pretty funny watching him body surf.

We stayed there till we had enough of the sun and then stopped on the way to car for some frozen custard. Once we started heading home we remembered why we don't normally drive down there. We got stuck in dead stop tunnel traffic for 2hrs. I was really tempted to lay on the hood of the car to get some more sun lol I decided against it though lol

We eventually got home but I was cold, tired and sandy. I was so thrilled to be able to hope in the shower...felt great. Then I got the kids bathed and then David was last.
After we were all nice and cleaned up we headed over to my parents house for a BBQ. We had hamburgers and hotdogs (well I had a turkey burger) and the kids roasted marshmellows in the fire. We had a great time!!! It was a wonderful end to a wonderful day!