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!

Happy Father's Day

 Uncle Brian trying his luck at grilling.

 Swimming, cousins, food...what a great party!

 Grandpa Mike's 66th Birthday Party/Father's Day

 Chris found old photos and an Ad online about Granddaddy CJ's first store - 

CJ Patton Mazda in Rock Hill, SC

 You got a fire pit!  It is SMORE fun!!!

I love it when we end up in the study flipping through old photo albums!  You guys are growing up so fast!

Memorial Day

Mama Lou went to Amelia Island and we went for the day.

The Girls Got Braces

We have been going to the Orthodontist for about four years now.  

We have had as many as 9 teeth pulled from both of their individual mouths.

So after years of prep work, they got braces.  

This is the summer before their seventh grade year.

Here are a few before braces and With braces shots.  

They should wear them for about 2 years.

LaGrange College: Masters of Art in Teaching

I want to thank my precious family for all they 

endured during this 14 month process.

Today I am a second grade teacher impacting 

20 lives every year and their families!

Thank you guys for allowing me to do this daily!  

It does not feel like work when I am having this much fun!

**Nathan, I was sad you were not there to see me graduate, 

but you can experience it in pictures! (8th grade beach trip).

I love you all!!

 Love, Mom

I am so BLESSED

I thank God for my family!!!

We had a STAYcation at their Grandpa's cabin this past weekend. I think this is my new favorite picture!
I'll post more later! We had a campfire with smores, THEY slept in a tent (I in my cabin)!!! We learned to play the game Risk! Simple and good family fun!

First Day of School

First Day Of School!!!

My BABY is in the back with an orange shirt!!!

I cannot believe he is in 6th grade!

AHHHHHHH.....

where did the years go????

and No, I do not have pictures of the girls.

I know, bad mother, shoot me, put me away (I need the vacation).

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!

Thank You Mama Lou

Sister and I want to thank Mama Lou

for taking us to the beach!

She mentioned she loved a pie my

Mother-in-Law sent her last Christmas.

Get ready Mama Lou, your great-grand babies

are sending you some Yam Good Pie!

If anyone else wants a Yam Good Pie check this out!



Yam Good Pie is an all-natural dessert using the freshest ingredients with no preservatives added. It has a freezer life of 12 months and a refridgerator life of ten days. The pies arrive to your home frozen and fully baked. They may go directly to the freezer, or to the oven to warm. Try topping your Yam Good Pie with; marshmallows, pecans and brown sugar, cinnamon, whipped cream, toasted hazelnuts, vanilla ice cream, chocolate drizzle, or any of your favorite toppings!

Free Starbuck's Atlanta

Check your Sunday paper carefully. In the Atlanta Journal Constitution, there's a light blue flyer with a card that you can take to Starbucks every day through July 14 for a free 12oz cup of brewed coffee, hot or iced. Good in Atlanta and Indiana. Not valid at Barnes and Noble Cafe.

Thanks to the Affuent Pauper for this heads up! :)

July Is Upon Us

We are finally slowing up for a couple of days! We have been on the go since school let out. We are going to spend the fourth with Husband's family like we traditionally do! The children look so forward to that!

The week of July 7th, ALL of the children are going to church camp - THE SAME WEEK, at the SAME TIME!!!! Husband and I have been on trips without them, but we have never been at the house for more than a night without them! I am so excited! I probably won't get a thing accomplished while they are gone! I need to "plan" my days carefully! Not too much, but at least something!!

I turned in my application to take the Substitute Teacher Course. I figure I spend so much time at the school already, might as well get paid for some of it! I had to request my transcript - WOW! Blast form the past! I miss those days in our apartment, but not the classes! Don't tell my children, but I was not the best student! I made all A's and B's after I met their daddy the begining of my junior year, but before that...Lawsy Mercy... Mama, you should have had my hide for some of those grades. Hopefully my Freshman year will not hinder me getting a call to be a substitute teacher for third grade! How would I ever explain that to the children? "Do as I say, not as I did???"

Great-Grandmother feed him a DOUGHNUT!
Here we are getting slathered-up for the Water Park!

Couponing 101

I received an email from my friend Cat. She came over to my house a couple of weeks ago for Coupon 101. I typed up a "How-To" and showed her actual receipts. Then we actually went to the stores together and I showed her little quirks about each store! I would love to email you my 101!


She got the hang of it! Check out her purchases! I am so proud of my first pupil!!! Here is her email:

I am having so much fun with coupon shopping!!! Let me give you an example:
TODAY 6/24/08
Between CVS, Walgreens and Publix

24 Charmin BIG rolls toilet paper
16 Bounty paper towels rolls
5 boxes of cereal
4 boxes fruit snacks/fruit roll-ups
4 boxes Zataran's rice mixes (David's fave)
4 boxes Barilla pasta
2 bottles Hunt's ketchup
2 bottles Ocean Spray Lite Cranberry Juice (David's must have!)
1 doz eggs
2 1/2 lb bananas
1 loaf sunbeam bread
8 sticks Smart Blend butter
2 Lysol Neutra-Air sprays
1 ALL Small and Mighty 32 loads
1 ALL Ultra 32 loads
1 75ct Advil (my must have!)
2 Colgate Advanced Whitening toothpaste
1 CVS after shave lotion
1 Brut Deod 2.5 oz
1 Brut Anti-Pers/Deod 3.0 oz
1 2pk Oral B C/A toothbrushes
2 Huggies Bath/Hair Wash ( I have a new niece I will be visiting soon!)
1 Aqua Fresh Kids toothpaste
2 Ajax dish detergents


Total: 168.27 BUT........................

I PAID 40.96!!!!!!! OMGosh!!!!!!

I am loving this! Who needs a job when you have coupons??!!

Old Navy Flip Flops $1.00

I had to let those with an Old Navy know about the great sale tomorrow!
If you need flip flops for $1 check out this site!

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...

Junior University Graduation

We went to Son's Graduation from Junior University this morning. We are so proud of him!

His Great-Grandmother and Grandmother were there to celebrate this special day! Out of everything that he learned he is most excited to have his Summer back! He can't wait to sleep late!

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!!

Mother's Day

I hope all of the Mothers had a beautiful day yesterday! I did!!
We went to church and then made our rounds!



Twin M Caught a huge wide mouth bass at her Grandpa's house! My girls were having the best time fishing! Son rode his bike everywhere and loved it! We have a long gravel driveway and they do not understand why we did not pave it ?$?$?$?$



Each of the children wrote me a very special thank you note for being their mommy and Husband framed them! I will treasurer them forever!!!!
Sorry about not blogging in a month! We have been so busy. I have taken on PTO at the girls school and it has consumed me! (but I let it) :)


I get to visit my mom and sister in the morning! Looking forward to that! Can't wait to get my hands on those little chubby cheeks! My nephews!!!