Summer Vacation to Chicago Part Two

We had a full week of activities planned.

We went to Navy Pier and walked around; ate lunch at Bubba Gumps; iMax movie; Ferris Wheel.

The children and I went to LegoLand and saw some amazing things!  

It was crazy what they built out of legos - Skyline of Chicago, Batman, Obama...

One of our favorite events was attending a Cubs game at Wriggly Field.

It was H O T at 12 noon!!!

We drove back to Georgia through Tennessee and stayed in Nashville.

It was a FAMILY VACATION!

Summer Vacation to Chicago Part One

 Chris had a business trip to Chicago and we decided to make a family trip out of it.

We took a van off the lot and drove and drove!  

First stop St. Louis.  We stayed on the Cincinnati Riverfront and visited the Creation Museum.

We learned about dinosaurs - they were wiped out by the Great Flood (Noah and the Ark).

Catherine and Maddie (12); Nathan (14)

 We got up close and personal with a S N A K E!  

No, I did not touch it.  Chris got to see how terrified I really am of snakes.

Happy July 4th From Atlanta

Peachtree Road Race

This is the second year Chris and Nathan have run the race.

Mike has by-pass surgery in March so he could not RUN, so the boys walked with him

Except Mike did not walk...he was walking swiftly.  A little faster than anyone expected. 

Jean and I stayed with all of the children.  Julie ran in one of the first groups.  

Ben and Laurie Ann also ran. 

 I am so proud of Nathan!  He ran it in under an hour!

 The boys were tired!  We are all so proud of them!

 Later that day, we went to Phipps and went to see Cars 2.  

Later that night we ate at Lennox at That Tavern on the corner of the mall... I can't remember the name...

It rained so hard that night.  They still had the fireworks.  

Thank you Grandpa Mike for the hotel room!  WE did not get wet and still enjoyed the show!

My Campers Returned

Sorry for the delay! My campers were gone all week and I was a free Mama!


They had a blast! They have all lost their voices from screaming so much! They have tons of candy they purchased from the canteen and lots of treasures in my washing machine!


I hosted a spend the night party for my peeps at the cabin! WE had a blast! Played Phase 10 until all hours of the night, slept late then went shopping!!! We had so much fun together we decided to buy Kenny Chesney tickets for this Sunday. Husband caught wind of what we were doing and was absolutely deflated. He had been working on hosting a radio remote at work and was trying to get free tickets! and HE DID!!! AND WE ARE GOING THIS SUNDAY!


I am just a little bit excited!!!! We bought the People magazine this week to read up on Kenny and his amazing boat (I know...smutt and trash). I feel so in the know! My Mama would be proud I am up to date with "Current Events." ha! She always gets so frustrated that I do not keep up with the news. It is too depressing.
We went to Atlanta for the fourth! It was great! We went out to dinner on Thursday night for an adult dinner and took the children to the new Aquarium on Friday! Amazingly it was not as crowded as I had thought it would be. They loved going through it!

Later that night we went to Lennox for the fireworks! It was such a great show! Mike Mike had a "blast" with all of the grandbabies on his hotel bed...

This week the children have VBS and Music Week at our old church! I have a course I am taking on Wednesday, so the timing is great! I redid some of the girls bedroom since my sister needs her bunkbeds back for her four children since her husband needs an office since he works from home now! I bought new bedding and organized things! I'll post pictures later!

Still ebaying! Had a fun week!

Happy July Fourth

We are gearing up for the Fourth!

I hope you have a great weekend!


We will be wearing stars and stripes in Atlanta this weekend for the Peachtree Road Race! I will not be running but my Father-in-law and a brother-in-law usually run. The kids love watching out the hotel window for them! Everybody "saw them." There is only thousands of people running by... It is always a blast!



We will be stopping by Home Depot for the free Kids-Build-It Clinic! My children love doing that! We need another room in our house for all the things they have built! Last summer I set them up in the garage and they painted all of their masterpieces! We will have to do that again soon!



All of these photos are from years past! I will post current Forth pictures over the weekend!
Have a safe Fourth!

Money Saving Mom

I am still saving money! It is so addicting! My favorite is Publix. I love watching the screen as I check out to see if I save more that I spend!

I even took my coupons to the beach. The Publix there did not double coupons, give you half off each of their buy-one-get-one items, nor would they give the best price on a 3/$5 deal. CRAZY - I am so glad we do not live there! I could not handle it!

I will not post play-by-play actions of my savings, except if it is a money making deal! Sister and I had a ball clipping coupons and shopping together! The best deal was the Shrimp Boil we had! Seafood at the beach... there is nothing like it!

We did not do so good positioning ourselves for this picture, but it is us!

These are MY People- where I come from. Ain't always pretty, but its real!!!!!

My oh my what a crew... Wouldn't you love to be my brother-in-law? He flew down Wednesday with my son. Son was at Junior University Monday -Wednesday!

I need to tell all my coupon friends out there about the free Kraft Cheese I scored! There was a coupon in the Parade Magazine Sunday - Buy three items (Kool-aid included) get a pack of cheese for free.

Kroger has Kool-Aid for 10/$1.00 (.10 Each). So I bought three $.10 packs of Kool-Aid for $.30 and I got a $2.75 pack of Kraft cheese for FREE. So of course I did it five more times with my coupons and I now have 18 packs of Kool-Aid and 6 packs of Kraft cheese singles for $1.80. Wahoo!!

Anybody want to come over for a grilled cheese? Now if I could score some cheap bread!

If you are wondering how I have SIX coupons, let me explain. I buy the Sunday Atlanta paper, bundled (Journal & Constitution) for $2.50. I also buy the Daily Paper for $1.25. Husband brings home his paper on Monday that arrives at work and Father-In-Law saves me his papers from work as well. That is six sets of papers with six sets of coupons!!!

A friend of mine has connections at the Daily Paper and we are trying to score coupons from there, but it has not happened yet...

Summer Time Fun Continued

I love Summer!
The children love to play inside and out! Our only battle has been over the computer. They rotate around, but it is killing me! I do not know why sharing is so hard for three children about to enter fourth and sixth grade, but it is!

Husband was not able to go to the beach with us. he sent me some beautiful roses and told me how much he missed us!
He also got outside in my garden and weeded that BIG mess! He enlarged it and built a new fence around it! He added a new gate and put bunny-proof netting around the bottom! He did such a good job. I was so surprised!!!! I am now so proud of my garden! I will post pictures real soon!

This is the crab that the GIRLS caught! They were so proud, and so was I. My sister had gone to the Outlet Mall with her youngest daughter and son! I took the four girls to the beach and we had a ball!
Sister is making Ree's Apple Dumplin's! I had to take a picture of her preparing it like so...
Oh My He is such a beautiful baby, even if he did wake up a couple of times a night! He was not so cute at 3 AM, but I loved him through it!
Since we needed more FUN in our week, we went to the Big Kahuna! The children had the best time! This water park was HUGE! They loved it!

SummerTime

It has been way to long! WE have been at the beach with my mother and grandmother! My sister and her four children were there! We had a blast!


Here are a few pictures from the trip! Baby was not having so much fun taking 20000 pictures! We were there from Saturday to Saturday! We made some great memories!!

Over the River and Through The Woods

We went to visit my grandmother this past weekend! We really had a good time. The children enjoyed playing their DS the whole way up there. I do not know how they are not blind.

I picked my Mom up and she went with us. I enjoyed getting to talk to her in the car! It is rare that we get to spend that much time together.

We went to the Mall and walked around! It has been ages since I have been in a mall. Target and TJ Maxx are about it for me these days. It is hard to look at those prices and believe people actually pay that. Sorry if I just offended anyone, but the prices are unreal!

I found a salt bowl to set by my stove. I have seen them before and this one was of course on sale! A great keepsake from our trip. The girls each got a webkin and Son got a new belt and two shirts.

When we got there it was COLD! I had packed two skirts and was rather chilly! We went to Target to buy my grandmother a digital camera. While we were there I found two pairs of Capri's that I just love! Definite two new staples in my spring wardrobe.

I was hoping to post pictures from our trip, but it will be old news if I wait any longer! Maybe later...

I Made It!

I survived buffalo chicken dip, Barbara Jeans pumpkin bread and ice cream pie!
Boy, my cousins sure know how to eat!!! That's all we did over the weekend was plan the next meal. Of course they are tiny! One just gave birth four months ago and looks great and I called the another "Yoga-Butt" all weekend. My other cousins and Aunts are also just as fit... :)


We did go down to the beach and let the children get their feet wet. It was about 50 degrees and yes, we had lost our minds, but "it was their idea!"


My Aunt from Oregon came and brought a huge box of dress up clothes that all seven of the girl cousins went crazy over! And of course they played outside on their scooters and bikes.

My sister and I go to FL quite often, even though it is FAR away. "Are we there yet?" No trip would be complete if we did not go to the FUDGE shop for ice cream!! This is a favorite for the children. big and small!!!

Thanks for a FUN weekend! I can't wait for the wedding in May! I got my "save the date" card yesterday!! I love our family!!!!

We have been talking about our plans for Thanksgiving and we are hoping to do something different this year! My Dad's side of the family is hosting a reunion in Charlotte the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Husband is trying to work out the details so we can go on Wednesday and travel back on Thursday.
At the soccer field last night I learned that my BFF caved on me and bought Hannah Montana Tickets for her two children...
Now the question to Husband is "Do you want to shell out (are you ready) $1,000.00 for four tickets or do you want to go to my family reunion???"
Unfortunate for the children, we are sticking to the original plan and going to visit my dear family! I am so excited about seeing everyone. My Aunt has said she was going to make all of our family traditions - Kebe, Tabbouleh, Cabbage Leaves and my sisters favorite-Koodenberries!!!
I CAN'T WAIT!!!

No Place Like Home

Tonight we hosted HomeTeam at our house! I love spending time with friends and of course food and fellowship! We are doing a marriage series and it is always interesting to see other people perspective on "marital bliss"!

Husband did an illustration with a coffee mug that he broke the handle off of. When he presented his handiwork it appeared broken or flawed. But when he explained it was intended to now be a hand warmer when filled with hot liquid it made perfect sense why the handle was broke off. In marriage we are to fill in the gaps where our partner falls short. And since some of us are less perfect than others, some partners are very busy! (I am referring to you honey being very busy filling in my gaps:0>)

This is a picture of the children in D.C. with The Scarecrow and Dorthy's Red Shoes! If I only Had A Brain... referring to pre-children days!!

$8,000 Mistake

Back in January we decided to take a cruise with several couples from our Church. It was the Christian Music Boat Cruise and I highly recommend it. The night before we were to fly out I was buzzing around the house trying to pack, clean house, wash clothes and complete fifty thousand other things before leaving my sitter at the house with our three beautiful children.
Two years ago when we built our house I had BIG FUN picking out everything for the kitchen! I skimped in some areas, but not my kitchen! One of my all time favorite appliances is the stand alone Ice Maker!!! We never have to buy another bag of ice again! And I made sure we got the cute petite cubes, because I love to crunch ice!
Well, back to running around at 10PM packing and folding for our big cruise…
I noticed that the ice maker seemed a bit slushy, so I pulled out the machine and could not see anything and pushed it back under the counter. WELL, little did I know that we had a copper water line running to the machine that tugged when I pulled it out, then kinked when I pushed it back into place. It appeared to start draining, but not fast enough. By then Husband was in on the act and He pulled it out to see
back there… When he did we “Un-kinked” the copper wire and water started going everywhere. We just starred at each other like a Deer-in-the-headlights. “Oh, My Gosh, what do we do? How do we make it stop? Do something?”
Need I go on? You get the picture!
Now we sell cars, not plumbing! We do very little handiwork and even less manual labor. We did not have a clue what to do. I ran to the back bedroom to get as many towels as I could carry (which was plenty mind you; I had been doing laundry for three days straight). We start sopping up water shouting at each other “I don’t know, Oh my Gosh…”
Finally husband says there has to be a turn off at the street. Now we live on six acres, in the city limits, but very few neighbors. Husband’s first reaction was to call the 70 year old man who installed all the plumbing and I actually looked up the number and called his house. Fortunately the old man was wise enough not to answer the phone or could not hear it one. Next act was to call MIL house and ask what to do. She sent her husband over with a shop-vac at 10:30 at night.
When we bought this property there was a house that was about 75 years old that we razed. (How do you like that new spelling bee word I just used! ). Once Husband got down to the street he realized he was going to need some tools to turn the old crank and lever. Meanwhile I am standing in the kitchen with my finger over the snapped piece of copper pipe “trying” to stop the water from ruining the eight inch walnut hardwood planks I so carefully picked out just two years ago. Need I say anymore than I was unsuccessful?
At this point we ran out of towels and the water was starting to drip down an air vent? Since I am fairly creative…I took off my PJ bottoms and built up a dam! I was so proud standing there in my undies saving my air ducts from water damage!

Once MIL husband came over and was able to help get water turned off at the street we were “good.” Despite the fact that I had used every clean towel in the house, there was not any running water in the house and we were due to be on a plane in less that 12 hours with a 23 year old sitter left to keep our children and fix our mess while we were on a cruise - WE WERE "GOOD"!
Husband crawled under the entire length of the house to get under the kitchen, to get to the shut off valve. He had to turn the water back on at the street (ordeal) to then realize it was still running to the ice make. He then turn the water back off at the street (ordeal)…now to get to the part where I want to save you $8,000.00 if this ever happens to you!
Every appliance in your kitchen that has water running to it, has a turn off valve UNDER THE KITCHEN SINK. I do not care if your house was built in 1912 or 2005, you have a separate valve for your refrigerator, hot water dispenser, dishwasher, ice maker…you name it, it has a cut off valve. Look under there today, check it out, get familiar with them, it may save you $8,000. Really it only cost us the $1,000 deductible, but it took over a month to replace my kitchen floors and carpet in surrounding rooms.

Anyways, the water poured out onto my kitchen floor for about thirty minutes. We had also managed to call another friend 2 miles away to come and share in our happiness. Everyone that came to the house assumed we had gone under the sink first.
Wow, what an expensive plumbing lesson! And I am sharing it free with you!

Th Rest Of The Story

We managed to have a wonderful trip! The children really loved the different means of transportation. We do not have a bus system or a subway, so that was big time for these country kids! We walked everywhere! By the end of the trip one of the girls said she missed our car! The girls managed to swing on every lamp post in D.C.


On Sunday morning, Husband had the meeting to attend so I took the children to the ladies breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel! This is always a favorite of mine when I travel with him. We have been in this group for about 7 years and this was the first time we had ever taken the children. I won't say it was the last, but it will be a while before they attend again! I did not realize how set in my ways I am when we travel! I did not have any of that "me" time.

At the breakfast I asked if anyone would like to go with us to Arlington for a tour. Several ladies decided to go! I was glad for the company since we had not been on the subway yet. They coached me through the ticket purchasing process (and it was a process). I did it wrong the first time, but the kind man helped us get through the gate! Well, for what ever reason the children went nuts on me!
Nobody listened, they could not stay with the group nor could they follow directions. They were miserable and so was I. EMBARRASSED is more like it. Needless to say, the next day we took out to the Bureau of Engraving and Natural History Museum with out the ladies! I have to see them again in January in Mexico!!!
We also went to the Spy Museum and had a tour of the Capital! The trip was great!

Going To D.C.

I failed to mention several key issues in getting to D.C.
Husband gives a devotional the first of every month at work to all departments. Since he fell sick over Labor Day weekend he missed the first. So on Wednesday morning he decided to speak to everyone in two large groups and share with them what he had experienced. So we arranged for him to speak at 2pm and 2:30. He was able to explain how if he had his prayer request answered he would have passed the stone and if I had my prayers answered we would have gone to Atlanta and had the stone blasted on Thursday not the following Tuesday. Either way we would have missed the bladder cancer and 6-12 months from now he would of had symptoms and probably stage 2 or 3 cancer, not pre-cancerous cells.

Needless to say the afternoon was very stressful and painful for Husband since he still had the stint in from the surgery. He had a hard time walking and wanted to wear sweat pants. Now everyone who knows Husband knows he is always well dressed (and buys it all himself!!)!! So he does not even OWN a pair of loose fitting jogging pants. No problem I'll take out and buy you a pair, between washing loads of clothes, packing for five people and leaving the house clean - because we have it on the market and I just knew they would show it while we were gone for six days. So I leave all my chores to dash to our great and grand mall (PITIFUL). I get half way there and reach for my purse.!@>#>%$>@#%>@#>@! Yes, you guessed it!!! I left my purse at the house>!>@#@@$*@&$@

Now I know we do not live in a large town, but for me to drive all the way back out to the house and turn around to come all the way back to the mall was quite a hike. So I went towards the tennis courts where MIL works to see if I could borrow some $$$. She was not there, she left early. Fortunately, my dear friend from my favorite boutique was there with her mother and YES, I ASKED HER MOTHER IF SHE COULD HELP ME! Now, this is desperate folks. Yes, She is a good friend of mine also, but for her to give me her debit card, that is friendship people!!

So now off I go to the Mall looking for loose fitting sweatpants in SEPTEMBER! It is still 80-90 degrees here! What were we thinking? Belks, Goody's, JCPennys, Hibbets - nothing! So I took the debit card back and then told Husband he was clearly out of luck. Fortunately MIL calls me back and I explain what I need and she runs through her husband's closet and saves the day with a pair.

Now did I mention I was playing beat the clock before the sun goes down so I could cut the grass. I'll remind you that we live on six acers and it had rained the entire time we were in the hospital for six days. Not many people volunteer to cut six acers, but they do meals and childcare (thank you to my precious friends and family)!!!! So, I had to at least get the grass around the house cut, because what if they did show the house while we were gone?... (Just to let you know I could have baled hay it was so tall when I cut it after D.C.).

Meanwhile, Husband and children were eating the dinner my dear friend (Saggy Boobs)brought over and getting ready for bed. At this point I am exhausted, but wait there is more! I have not even pulled out our suitcases to start packing all those clean clothes. I stayed up into the wee-hours of the morning packing, checking my list and cleaning the house.

Fortunately we did not have another $8,000 mishap like the last time we went on vacation! But that is another story for another time...

They had so much fun at The Museum of Natural History. We saw the Hope Diamond, dinosaurs and their favorite was the rocks and gems! They loved this amethysts!

"Getting" To Washington D.C.

I use the term vacation very loosely! I worked very hard the months before, planning our events so the children would not get tired, so we would have plenty of time at the gift shops, walking time... you name it, I planned for it. But I never dreamed my husband would have spent six days prior to the trip laid up in a hospital bed or that he would have had surgery two nights before we were going to leave!
Husband had a kidney stone removed on Tuesday night, and while they were in there they found bladder cancer and cut it out. He came home Tuesday night and laid around all day Wednesday. BUT Thursday morning I had him up, showered and on our way to the airport before he even had time to complain. Now I know that sounds really harsh (and okay, it was rough), but we had just spent a week of our life in pain and agony and I knew if I could just get him to D.C. he would be better on Friday. So I did what any good wife would do, I called Delta and arranged for wheel chair assistance at the airport!
We toted four large suitcases and everyone had a carry-on. Every child pulled their own suitcase and we followed the man pushing their Daddy! Yes, it was a sight and no I did not think to even take a picture. Once we got him on the plane he was "fine."

When we arrived in D.C. he did not even get out of the tunnel before another gentleman with a wheelchair was waiting for him and pushed him right to baggage claim and then to a taxi! In all honesty it was perfect! The taxi dropped us off at the hotel, I checked us in and we went straight to the room and he laid in the bed the rest of the night...he needed his rest for Friday...

Come back tomorrow for more details...