Its a Wonderful Life

Junior had to pick Tyle up from school a little early, so when I picked Olivia up from Daycare, it was just the two of us to run an errand and head home to cook dinner for our little family :) Oh yeah, and we may have stopped by Brusters.

We got our dinner started, and sat down to do a little homework and studying. Tyler had a rough time with his Spelling test last Friday, and since he wasn't home last week (see previous post) I didn't get to help him or make sure he worked on it. So we went through the words, and made some letters to practice spelling with.

Olivia had a simple math sheet to do, but for some reason, she decided to make it complicated.  She busted out the math blocks that my friend Tammy loaned me when Olivia first started struggling with math. I gave her a couple of pie plates to use to add.  YEAH! ADD!! She can totally do it.  The sheet was actually a timed exercise, to see how many simple problems she could do in a certain amount of time, but her homework was just to finish the sheet, so she did it the way she wanted to do it. (with a little extra time and attention) And, you know I was happy to oblige!

What in the world do 2 newlyweds do with no kids???

Olivia and Tyler never went and spent their one full week with their mother over the summer, and she moved last week, so she decided to take her week with them then.  I WAS DEVASTATED!!!! Junior and I both had a pretty rough week.  I made plans to hang out with friends, and so did he.  He went to help out my cousin one night too (what a wonderful husband). By the end of the week, we just had to keep ourselves busy so we wouldn't sit around and cry.

Thursday, we went on a double date to the lake on our boat. The weather was perfect and the sunset was beautiful... and you can tell Junior's having fun by the wake behind the boat :). He was actually going easy at this point :).

 Friday night, we went over to my friends Beth and Ben's for some delicious food and some relaxing hanging out.  It was nice to have my honey around to get to know some of my friends from school.  Since I work so far away, its not often that he comes to my after school affairs.

Saturday, we went motorcycle riding up to blood mountain with some friends. We stopped and had a delicious lunch, and headed home so I could get ready for girls' night out with some friends from church, and so Junior could work on his hot rod and do "man stuff" with his buddy, Kevin.

Here's the group... we're not in the back very often, so I took the photo op :)

Ignore the Helmet Head...

Sunday, I had already had plans to go with my sister and some friends from college to Wolf Mountain Winery for brunch and a wine tasting.  We had a TOTAL BLAST!!! They tagged me in some pics on facebook, but I only have this one from walking up.  The mountains were beautiful, the food was amazing, and the weather was terrific. And we laughed and laughed and had a great time :). I want to go back sometime and take Junior :).... maybe we can ride our Motorcycle up there.... its not exactly a "biker bar" but it could be a nice date :).

Monday, I wanted to cook Junior a nice dinner and spend some more quality time together before the kids FINALLY came back home Tuesday. Dinner was great and we had a nice evening together.

Now, back to real life!!! Welcome Home Babies! We Missed you Terribly!!!!

The joys of slang phrases in middle school :)

I've been teaching a volleyball unit to my girls in PE and to warm up and get them excited about the games, we've been playing "no rules, no boundaries" for a few minutes before getting started, which is exactly what it sounds like, and using about 10 volleyballs. They have really been getting into it. At the beginning of class today, one of my precious students shouts across the gym to me, "MRS. LANCE! Are we FREE BALLING again today?" I thought it was hilarious, but of course, I pretended like nothing happend. But later, some of my other students told her what else it could mean, and she came to me to apologize. As sweet as that was, though, it still cracks me up!!

Uuuuuhhhh, uh, uuuu uuuu uuuuuhhhhhh!!!! (That's the song that goes along with the Tomahawk Chop)

Thanks Tressa for the Braves Tickets!!!! We had a blast!!! :)

Here we are settling into our seats and getting comfy :)

Star Spangled Banner

Blue Icees :)

Family Photo Op on the way out...

One of the reasons why we left in the 7th inning...

And here's what happened when 2 exhausted parents tried to get in a little cat-nap before having to cook dinner....

Productive Saturday, but still a good one :), make that a great one

Olivia had an EEG Saturday morning for her regular follow-up.  They want the patients to go to sleep during the EEG, so they tell you that they should be "sleep deprived" when they get there.  Luckily, we got the first apointment, at 8am, so she didn't have to stay up too late since she was getting up at 6:30.  Junior was helping Matt work on his car, so Lindsey came up, and our good friend Tressa.  I forgot, when I invited them to come over at 8:30 after the kids would be in bed, that Olivia would be staying up. But they didn't care, and it was pretty cool to have my best girl in on girls' night :).  Olivia was asking Tressa when her birthday was, so I guess she had birthdays on the brain.  She made Tressa a party hat, with a T for Tressa, a happy birthday sign, and a flower made out of a pipe cleaner on it. (Oh, and Tressa's Birthday is in November...btw)  After Lindsey and Tressa had so much fun with her hat, Olivia decided to make one for Lindsey too...

Finally, around 10, we were reading books, and Olivia could hardly hold her head up, so I let her go to bed.... and she seemed to be pretty sleep deprived when I got her up at 6:30!  She did good, though.  We stopped by McDonalds for some hash browns to eat on the way (to keep her awake on the way to Atlanta) We got there in perfect time.  She was so big and brave.  She's a great patient!  Here she is in the waiting room with no worries at all :)

On the way home, we stopped by Kohl's to use the Kohl's cash and 20% off coupon that was burning a hole in my pocket. My girl LOVES to shop.  She also likes to swipe the debit card, and lock and unlock the car (I was hoping she'd like handing over the stacks of coupons as much, but she hasn't learned about the joys of that yet, she just knows we don't buy things that aren't on sale or that we don't have a coupon for).  When we got back out to the car, she had the bag in one hand, keys in the other, and turns sideways to click the unlock button over her shoulder... CRACKED ME UP!!! Little Sassy Britches!!!!  This picture is a reenactment... I wasn't fast enough to catch it the first time.

After we got home, we did some work around the house, had lunch, read some books, rested some, had some friends over for dinner. Overall, a pretty productive, yet still relaxing and fun day :).  We had a great time with our friends Kevin and Sarah.  We've been to their house several times, but they've never been here and I'd been wanting to have them over for a while. They were actually up this way, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for them to drop on by ;).  I was glad they agreed to come.

After dinner, and our guest went home to put their sweet "Baby Kaelan"... well... he's 2, but I call him baby Kaelan because they have a cousin named Kaelyn and its easier to differentiate that way... to bed, Olivia and Tyler went out to play on the slip n slide for a few minutes before bed.  When they came in for bath time, they decided to go swimming in the bathtub.... Always Fun!

"Olivia has a Lobster in her neck"

When I picked the kids up from school, Olivia came up to me and told me that she had a crab in her neck.  I rubbed it for her, and ask her if she meant that she had a crick in her neck.  We agreed that a crick was actually what she had in her neck. I asked her if she wanted to go straight home, or if she would be able to tough it out at Francess Meadows (I'm trying to squeeze in a few more afternoon trips before our summer membership runs out in September). She decided to risk the pain to go swimming and sliding. :)

So, after a wonderful time, a safe drive home, dinner, and a shower, I was helping Tyler with his homework (YES my little baby boy has HOMEWORK!!). I don't know what prompted this announcement, but Tyler looked up from his homework, looked me square in the eye, and told me that Olivia has a lobster in her neck, she let him look at it, he tried to see it, but he didn't see it, and he didn't think he had one because his neck didn't hurt, but if he gets one he wants me to kiss it for him. There may have been a few other things thrown in there, but those are the best parts. I sure am glad Olivia let me know what was going on earlier, otherwise I would have been clueless as to what a Lobster in your neck is!! I'm glad I know now :).

Afternoons after school are so much better when there are cousins involved :)

Anthony and Julianna came over for a couple of hours this evening so their mom could go to a meeting. The kids finished up their homework before they came so they'd be able to give the playing their full attention. The Roberts kids got here just as I was starting dinner, so they passed the time with a little trampoline fun while they waited. (Julianna was not a fan, she helped me check on dinner while the bigger kids jumped.)

The kitchen table was just the right size for a family dinner.

There was a little more playing than eating going on, so I bribed them with the waterslide... Whoever ate all their food got to play on the slide.  I sure wish I was in their shoes, watersliding as a reward for eating chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes... I should have fed them brussels sprouts or something for that! But none the less, everyone ate, and got ready to play :).

After the slide, we went in and all the kids got baths and showers. Olivia and Tyler go to bed at 8, and even though I knew they wouldn't go to sleep, I put Anthony in the bed with Tyler, and Julianna in the bed with Olivia.  With Anthony in Kindergarten this year, I knew it was about time for him to be winding down for bed too. Olivia and Tyler were zonked out within 10 minutes of them leaving.  I'd say, an overall successful afternoon :). I hope the Roberts kids got to sleep as well too :).

2 of my most favorite things working together... food and saving money!

Last night, I was pretty tired, but still wanted to have a delicious dinner, so I broke out the ole deep covered baker from pampered chef and whipped up something fantastic in no time at all :) I'd just been grocery shopping and had gotten split checken breast for 99¢/lb. The package I got for me and Junior was $2.19. I got rice for free with my coupon. I had also just bought some low sodium chicken broth on buy one get one free sale at Publix. So, I mixed the rice and broth in the baker and put the chicken on top. 20 minutes later, I had a wonderful meal for less than 3 dollars. But I didn't stop there :) I put a 59¢ can of green beans in my small micro cooker (also from pampered chef) with some pampered chef pantry crushed peppercorn garlic, and 3 minutes later, had another delicious side dish. Everything was amazing, easy, cheap, and I had enough leftovers for lunch today! Who could ask for anything more!?!?

Packing Lunch

These crazy babies of mine decided, after dinner, that they wanted to make and pack their own lunches.

Here's Tyler working on his peanutbutter sandwich.

In his lunchbox, you will currently find a peanut butter sandwich made with the end pieces that I had to dig out, a bottle of water, and a Kool Aid singles pack, a gogurt, a granola bar, and a piece of bologna in a ziploc bag.

Olivia wanted Salad for lunch, with ranch, cheese, and cherry tomatoes that we're growing in our back yard.  I let her make the salad, and I have a feeling it will be nothing but ranch soup by the time she eats it, but she'll have plenty of other things to eat as well.  In her lunchbox, you'll find a salad with about 5 tomatoes on it, a bologna sandwich with mayo, a gogurt, a granola bar, a little debbie brownie, and a bottle of water.

I hope they enjoy eating their lunches as much as they enjoyed making them :)  They also helped me write their notes to put in them and chose which ones they wanted when I was writing them :).  LOVE IT!!!

Serious about Playing

When I got home from school, Tyler was in the middle of changing clothes.  When he was finished, he was wearing his baseball pants, a shirt with a number on the back, and  his cleats! He asked me if I'd come outside and throw the ball to him so he could bat, and I said I would.  I turned to get my tennis shoes back on that I wore to school today, and when I looked up, Tyler was bringing me my cleats (they were still by the door from my game the other night). He said I needed to wear cleats like him to play baseball with him.

It was too funny! I love how he goes all out!

Here we are in our cleats, about to PLAY BALL in the back yard.  Olivia is working on her photography skills :) (Tyler didn't want her to play because she wouldn't put her cleats on... I let her, though :)).

First day of School

Olivia starts Second Grade and Tyler Starts Kindergarten! The school parking lot was packed, of course, for the first day, but luckily, I pulled into the last spot on the left... Score (or so I thought - I'll revisit that thought in a minute).

So we head into school, hand in hand (except I scooted ahead to get a pic)

The kids knew right where to go to get to their classes, and had a great time jumping in to their new groove. Olivia was slightly reluctant, but I think it was just for the attention.  She (they both) ended up having a wonderful day.

So on my way out, to rush to school in order to make it in time for MY first day, I find that some JERK has parked her jeep suv right behind my car! I was IRATE! I'll spare you the details, and my ugly thoughts, but about 10 minutes later, she came out and left.  I was a little late, but didn't miss my morning duty or anything like that, so in the end, it turned out okay. I also had a good first day of school :)

Four Wheeling Fun and growing up TOO fast!

We wanted to get the kids good and tired today so they'd fall asleep at a decent time to be ready for their first day of school tomorrow. We had a great time at church, Olivia and I got hair cuts, yummy pizza for lunch, had a family date to the movies to see the Smurfs (which was awesome), swung by Old Navy for a couple more shirts (polos for 5 bucks), picked a watermelon out of our back yard, and headed down to Lindsey and Matt's for some four wheeling fun :). Both kids are doing great with the four wheeler, so much so that Junior agreed to let Tyler drive their fourwheeler through the neighborhood. Olivia was content just to ride with her daddy :).

Did I mention that it was also RAINING but they wanted to keep riding :)? They had a blast! They came in, ate dinner, bathed, brushed their teeth, and they were fast asleep withing 20 minutes of hitting the pillow :)

Day before school starts success!! Tomorrow morning, we will have a kindergartener and a second grader!!!!!! I couldn't be more proud ;)

Fun at Pawpaw's Auction

Olivia and Tyler love to go to their Pawpaw's auction.  Its every Friday and Saturday night at 7 at the Highway 11 Auction across the street from Jackson County High School. They have so many interesting things that come through there, and so many different and interesting people.  I usually buy a thing or two, but even if you don't find that one thing that you're just dying to have, its still worth going!

They also have DELICIOUS MILKSHAKES!!

Just another day in Paradise :)

Last night when we got home from dinner with the McCoys, the kids decided to go to bed with their bathing suits on so they'd be ready for the lake this morning.  Tyler comes in my room at 7:30 AM...... Ready to go! So we packed up while we waited for Olivia to wake up and got our party started.  I knew I wanted to take the kids to get a couple of outfits for school some time today, and when I read on my coupon (imagine that, me with a coupon) that Kohl's opened at 7, I decided that shopping before the lake would be the best way to go.
We got SO MUCH STUFF and saved SO MUCH MONEY!! I got some new Nikes for teaching PE this year, and some Nike Gym Shorts for me, 2 shirts and 2 pairs of shorts, a ten pack of panties, and some sandals for Olivia, 2 tee shirts that came with toys (guess who those were for), some plaid shorts, a 4 pack of boxers, a 6 pack of underwear, and some Levi's for Tyler. Are you ready for the total?...?...?... Do you have a tally in your head yet???..... $114. I saved almost 300 bucks, and spent a little over a hundred.  That's a successful shopping trip if you ask me!
We made it to the lake and there were actually people in the little guard shack thing, and they wanted me to pay them 4 dollars to play in the lake.... which is down like 9 feet from the beginning of the summer.  I didn't stay.  I told the kids we could play in the mud at home for free and I wasn't paying 4 bucks to do something I've been doing for free for 2 years!  So we went down the street to a different beach.  I don't like it as much, but for free, it will do just fine! And, since the water was down so low, we could wade out to a little island which was pretty cool until we got out there and saw that the entire island was covered with goose poop.  It was pretty gross, so we didn't stay long, but it was a new experience all the same. We went back over to the beach, settled into our spot, did a little swimming and a little snacking, and played until lunch time.

I LOVE this expression! This is MY MAN and I'm HIS GIRL!

Later, he was looking for a place to sit, and got a little creative :-)

You can tell from the picture that the beach is not what it used to be... but hopefully it will be better next year.

When we got home, we opened the door to the most delicious smell of garlic and pork roast. I put it in the crock pot before we left, so when we got home, lunch was served :). The whole thing fell apart while I was trying to slice it! It was SO good.  Olivia had a sandwich, Tyler dipped his in bbq sauce, and I dipped out some of the drippings and made gravy for junior and I to have with our pork and rice.  It was phenominal!! Can't wait to have the leftovers :).

After lunch, the kids and I snuggled up in my bed (we all took showers before that) and had a delightful afternoon nap in the comfort of our air conditioned home with the cool breeze of the ceiling fan overhead.

I don't think it gets much better than this, and I couldn't help but to take a few minutes to give thanks for these wonderful blessings and to say a prayer for those less fortunate.  It could easily be me in a homeless shelter, or not having money to pay for our home and the modern comforts, but its not.... which led me to giving MORE thanks for hard working parents who taught me right from wrong, and have always supported me.  They taught me to work hard and keep my priorities in order. I am heartbroken over people who don't have loving Christian homes to prepare them for good lives.  I don't know how I got so lucky, but I sure am glad I did :).

Times change, but love remains the same!

Friday night, my family got together for dinner with a family we've known and loved forever but haven't seen in a while.  Actuallly, I don't think we've ever just hung out like we did Friday night.  When we first met, they were a family of 4, Lynn, Greg, Seth, and Saul, and we were a family of 4, Kent, Janice, Jessica, and Lindsey.... over the years, they added Maggie to their family, then with the addition of a few others, we are now Kent, Janice, Lindsey and Matt, Jessica, Junior, Olivia, and Tyler, and they are now Greg, Lynn, Maggie, Saul and Catherine, Seth, Ashley, and Silas.  Things sure have changed in our families, but man oh man did we enjoy hanging out and fellowshiping with one another.

And since I'm talking about love throughout the years, my children sure do LOVE their Daddy's Old Chevy!

Its Official

My school year has officially begun.  I have a sign over my door and everything.  The week of pre-planning was great.  As with anything, there were some setbacks, and somethings that weren't as wonderful as I was thinking they would be, but all in all, I'm set up for a great year!!! Great facility, Great equipment, Great Colleagues, and some Great leaders in place.  I'm excited to get this party started Monday :).

Vocabulary Confusion....

A little background info:

Olivia and I were talking about boobies today, and I introduced her to the word "Nipple"
Olivia had a bump on the end of her nose, and Lindsey introduced her to the word "Pimple"

The story:

I was tucking Olivia into bed, by the flickering light of the television, and noticed something on the end of her nose that looked like dry skin in the poor lighting.  I went to pull the dry skin off, and Olivia hollers, "Ow! Quit picking at that.  That's my nipple!"

HA! Learning is SO fun!