One of "Those" Days

Today has been "one of those days" for me. You know the one I'm talking about... the one when if something can go wrong it will. The one where when it rains it pours. I'll spare you any more cliche's ... surely you get the idea.

It started last night, when due to some disappointing news we received during the day, I could not go to sleep. Normally this is NOT a problem for me. However, last night was an entirely different story. Once I laid down, my mind wouldn't turn off and I lay there dwelling on the disappointing news we received during the day. It was after 1:00 am when I finally drifted off to sleep, or maybe I just passed out from exhaustion... who knows. It seemed like 5 minutes and then Mike was there waking me up at 6:35am. I was not amused, to put it mildly. On a good day, me and mornings are not the best of friends. Off to the coffee pot I go...

My sister had to go to the high school today. It was prep day for my oldest nephew, Spencer. He is a freshman this year... I can't even believe it. Anyway, they had to be at school for 7:30am. She had asked me yesterday if I would babysit Baby James while she took Spencer to school. Of course I said yes! He was really good...he only spit up on me twice and then went to sleep! He loves his Nanny!

While they were gone, Lane got stung by either a wasp or a yellow jacket. So, I had to take care of that with some creme and Benedryl.

Once Lauren got back, I decided to go on a wasp hunt. There was a small wasp nest under the edge of the roof by the back door and a HUGE nest under some leaves on a bush by the front door. Now, I am one of those people who doesn't always think that less is better. Especially when it comes to Wasp Spray or Ant Poison!! Soooooooooo I grabbed the wasp spray and headed outside. Of course I started spraying like a mad woman. No kidding, I used no less than half of a new can!!! Well, being the brilliant person that I am... I didn't think to see which way the wind was blowing. And of course I was standing down-wind from the spray. As I was spraying, the wind was blowing it right back on me!!! Yikes!!!!! I ran in the house and jumped in the shower.

Next my sister had to take my other nephew, Brandon, to the middle school for his prep day... which meant that Baby James would be hanging out with me again... cool... no problem. Well, almost no problem. While she was gone, he decided to make a present for me in his diaper. A BIG present which exploded out of the diaper and onto my hand!!!! Ugggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Yet another crisis!!! LOL!!!

Next... the kids were playing at a neighbors house when I noticed that the weather was looking really dark and scary outside. Sooooo, off I go to get the kids to come home. I was about 1 minute too late. As I was literally running (which I never do, lol) home the bottom fell out and I was drenched in the down-pour!!

Shortly after that, Lane's cat Bandit comes in and the kids notice that he has some kind of sore in between his shoulder blades on the top of his back. 6 kids melting down all begging me to "do something." Great. I really, truly love Bandit. He is the sweetest, most loving, patient cat ever. I look at it and decide that I should clean it. I get the alcohol and neosporin and go to work. That sweet kitty just sat there and let me tend to his bo-bo. No meowing, no trying to get away, no growling... nothing. I think he will be fine. The fur is gone and you can see his skin. To me it seems like the equivalent to a skinned knee on a human. If it's not better in a day or two, I'm going to take him to the vet.

I come out of the bathroom from taking care of Bandit to find that the little boy I babysit had decided to spray milk out of his sippy cup all over the living room floor... on purpose!!! Let me just say that summer can not be over soon enough.

So, that was my day. I was spit up on, sprayed with wasp poison, pooped on, rained on, played cat vet, and had milk all over my living room floor... all on very little sleep from the night before. Is it bed time yet?????

My FIRST Blogging Award!!!

Yes, you read that right... I have been awarded the "Brillante Weblog Award" by my friend Dawn!! This is the first award I have received since I started blogging so I am really excited!! Blogging is an awesome way for me to share my life with everyone and at the same time, it serves as a journal/scrapbook of my family's lives for me to have forever. Thank you Dawn for giving me this award!!

So here are the rules...

1. Put the logo on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Add links to these blogs on your blog.

5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

The 7 blogs that I am going to recognize are:

1. Carole over at The Wardrobe and The White Tree. Her blog is awesome and she is actually the one who inspired me to start a blog of my own! She has an amazing heart and I really admire her.

2. Summer over at HerstoryGirl. She is a really kind person with a huge heart! She is a wonderful mom, wife and online friend! One day we will actually meet in person, LOL!!

3. Aimee' at Adopted As His Own. I actually went to high school with Aimee' and her brother. We ran into each other at church a couple of years ago. She is an amazing woman... she and her husband have EIGHT (yes, you heard me right EIGHT) beautiful children! Check out her blog for their story!!

4. Nate at Confessions of a CF Husband. You really need to check out his blog. It is just amazing. It's a story of TRUE love, family and faith!

5. Jennifer at The Maggio Family. A f un blog about the in's and out's of day to day family life. Like me, she is a bargain shopper!

6. Oceans5 at {Crazy Life of Mine}. I love this blog! How she manages to be so organized and neat with 3 small kids is amazing to me! Lots of fun and real life!

7. Cindy R. at Me, Myself and MaryKay. Her blog is so friendly and so is she! A great example of how to juggle, and juggle WELL, family life and volunteer work!!

LOL!! You would not believe how long it took me to get this post completed!! I squeezed it in while also babysitting mucho kiddos!! No need to worry, they are all happy, safe and fed!

Thanks again to my friend and "sista," Dawn!! I wanted to put you on my list of winners, but then I didn't think you would want to do the whole thing again on the same day! :-)

The New "MiMi Mobile"

My mom, we all call her Mimi, got a new car Thursday!!

Her old car was literally falling apart. I'm not kidding!

Some parts of it were being held together with Mighty Putty, LOL!!

She was trying to wait as long as she could to get a new car because with a new car comes a dreaded new car note. Her old car had been paid off for a while. It's hard going from not having a car note to having a car note. But, she finally had to bite the bullet and get a new one. Her old car was just not at all dependable any more. And since she works in Donaldsonville, she really NEEDS a dependable car. Trust me when I tell you that Donaldsonville is NOT a place you would want to be stuck with a broken-down car! Not that I would want to be stuck anywhere with a broken-down car, LOL!

Anyway... CONGRATULATIONS on your new car MiMi!! You deserve a cute, nice new car!

We have used the nickname "The Mimi Mobile" for her car for years now. We call it that because she loves to haul any or all of her grandkids around! They all like to go on "Mimi Excursions!"

Shhhh!! I Won't Tell IF You Don't Tell!!

Lane and Baby James LOVE to tell secrets, but only to each other!!!

They do it all the time!!

I would LOVE to know what it is that they whisper about!!

Lane must have told Baby James a GOOD one!!

Look at that smile!!!

Weekend Re-Cap

This is the pastor of our church. His name is Pastor Dino and he is awesome! We have outgrown our current church building and are in the process of building a bigger one! Saturday they invited people to go to the new building and take a look around. It is amazing and so big!!

Here are our boys outside raking the fresh cut hay... I mean GRASS!! Mike cut the grass Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon, the boys decided (on their own, I promise!) to go outside and rake it up!! It only lasted a few minutes, but hey, beggars can't be picky!!

Sunday's dinner!!! Yummmyyyyy!!! I cooked this pot roast with potatoes, celery, onions and carrots!! It came out just like my mom's does... which to me means it was a complete success!!! I do have to admit, it was really good!! Thanks Mom for telling me how to cook it!!

My Little Artists

Abstract Art by: RYAN

"Mommy" by RYAN

(Look, I finally have long,skinny legs!!)

"Kaleidoscope" colored by: LANE

Abstract Art by: Lane

(He drew this himself, then colored it!)

Sweet Lil Feet!

Is it just me, or do babies have the most precious feet???????? Just look at those chubby, tiny toes!! Normally, I HATE feet... but not when it comes to baby feet :-) I mean, really...just LOOK!!

The adorable little feet in the picture belong to my sweet little nephew, Baby James. He is a "Nanny's Baby!!!" I am Nanny, by the way :-) When he is with me, which is often, I take his socks off and play with and yes, kiss, his sweet little feet!! Call me crazy, but that's just the way I roll, LOL!!

Quick Diet Update ...

I have now been on the Atkins Diet for 4 days. So far, I have lost 4 pounds. Since I lost 2 1/2 pounds after the first day, I'm a bit disappointed that I've only lost 1/2 a day since then.

Oh well, there is 4 pounds less of me today than there was Sunday!! Mike is still doing the diet as well. Since I lost so much weight on this diet a few years ago... we are gonna stick with it. Maybe I'm just expecting too much, too soon.

For lunch, chicken salad. For supper, Atkins-friendly meatloaf. Thanks Dawn for the recipe!!

P.S. Of course that is ME in the picture!! LOL!!! (I wish!)

Answered Prayer #2

Ok, I don't want to "count my chickens before they hatch" (geeezzzzzz that sounds SO country, lol) ... but I want to share this with my friends in blogland.


ANSWERED PRAYER #2:

It looks like my wonderful hubby will be starting a new job within a month or so. It kind of just fell into his lap. The crazy thing (ok, one of the crazy things) is that by trade he is a computer fix it peson... he is an IT Technician. But at the new job, he won't be doing that. It looks like he will be a "shipping supervisor" and will be responsible for making sure the product is loaded and shipped properly. There is a new plant being started up in our area, and that is where he will be working. He will be making a good bit more than he is making now, and the benefits there are amazing!!!

I plan to still babysit my friends' kids throughout the coming school year, but when school is out... I'm done!!! This summer having SIX kids all day, 5 days a week has been just about enough to push me over the edge!!

Things are definitely looking up for our family!!!! We just have to be patient and continue to pray that this actually happens the way we have been told it would!

MORE Answered Prayers!

I've been putting off posting about some (two) recent developments going on in our lives because they weren't "official." But I just can't keep it to myself any longer!

As some of you know, we have been struggling financially for quite some time. It's a long story really. Mike and I both work, but we still end up with just enough each month for our house note and our bills,.. nothing extra at all.

ANSWERED PRAYER #1:

As far as our house goes, the house we live in is my mom's house, meaning the mortgage is in her name. She bought the house back in 2000. We all decided back in 2004, for several reasons, that it would be best for everyone if Mike, me, Lane and Jennifer moved in with her. I was pregnant with Ryan at the time. So, we've been living here for 4 years and we pay the bills (mortgage, electric, etc...) and Mom contributes what she can. About two years ago, she bought a cozy little "cottage" (as Lane loves to call it!) and had it put right across the patio from this house. This is where she lives. It works perfectly for ALL of us :-)

Anyway........... the loan she had on the house was an adjustable rate mortgage. Yeah, bad BAD idea. But, she was doing what she could do at the time. She was locked in to a decent rate for serveral years and of course once the alloted time had passed, the house note skyrocketed!!!!!!!! I won't go into numbers, but trust me when I tell you it was completely outrageous. We continued to pay the astronomical house note for a while, and Mike & I tried to actually buy the house. Unfortunately, we don't have perfect credit (another couple of long stories, but we are working on it!) and with the mortgage industry the way it is these days, we weren't able to do it. So, we continued to struggle with the beastly house note. We ALL love our home and truly love our neighborhood... its safe for the kids, the schools are awesome and our neighbors are more like extended family to us.

About a month ago, we called the mortgage company to see if there was anything they could do to help reduce the monthly mortgage payment. At the time, it seemed like they weren't going to help us. Now, all of this time we continued to pray about it. Mike, myself and my mom all have very, VERY strong faith. We prayed the ENTIRE time for God to show us His way and to lead us to make the right decisions all based upon His will for our lives. It has been a very trying and difficult time for all of us. Sometimes I would feel like my faith was shaken, and at that time Mike or Mom would pick me up. Other times, my faith was HUGE and I would pick them up. Very emotional, very stressful.

Long story short, my mom called then yesterday regarding a totally different issue and guess what??????????? They have approved a plan to lower the monthly payment and to lower our interest rate!!!!!!!!!!!!! As you can tell, Mike, Mom and myself... we tried anything and everything we could to "fix" this situation. But, the things we did had nothing to do with the end result. We truly believe that He worked things out according to His timetable... not ours. God is so faithful.

This has been a much longer post than I had originally planned so you'll have to check back tomorrow for ANSWERED PRAYER #2 !!!!!!!!!!

Diet Time!!

Yesterday I started doing the Atkins diet. It is a high protein, low carb diet. A few years ago me and my friend Dawn gave this diet a try and we were amazed by the results. We both lost weight like crazy!!

Since then, I have had another baby and you know what that does to most women's bodies. Uggghhhhhhh. Ever since I had my oldest son, my weight really fluctuates (I have no idea if I spelled that right!) a lot. I lead a fairly busy hectic life and don't just sit around every day eating bon-bons while watching TV. I chase kids around all day, every day and am constantly on the move. Surely it has something to do with me eating whatever I can grab quickly around the house... and trust me, it's not "health food" by any stretch of the imagination.

Anyway... I decided it was time to quit denying the fact that I desperately need to lose some weight. Since this diet worked so well for me in the past, I decided to give it a try again. My friend Dawn and my dear, sweet Mike are doing it too!! Yesterday morning I weighed and I will just tell you this much... scales are evil, they LIE!! After I came out of shock, I was ready to stick to the diet plan no matter what, which is what I did.

This morning I got up and forced myself to go weigh. Imagime my shock when I saw that in just ONE day, I had lost 2 1/2 pounds!!!!! Yeah, I am pretty fired up!!

Recent Pics!

It's BATMAN!!!!!!!!! Fooled ya didn't I?? haha! This is Ryan playing dress up as Batman. Maybe he is going to be an actor one day, because he sure gets into character!! When he is dressed like a SuperHero, you have to call him the hero's name in order for him to answer you! Too cute!!

This was July 4th. Here is a picture of me and my twin sister, Lauren. I'm the one holding adorable Baby James!! Isn't he precious?? And yes, we are identical twins :-) We don't normally dress alike but we were both wearing red for the holiday!!

Here is a picture of my special blueberry cake!!! Yummmyyyy!! We all went to a blueberry farm last weekend and hand-picked our own blueberries!! The farm is in Clinton. I'll have to try to remember the name of it. We had a blast picking the berries and the price is an amazingly low $2.00 a gallon. We picked 5 gallons and only paid $10.00!!!!!!!! Let's not talk about the price of the gas it took for us to get there :-)

Lane on July 4th!! Isn't he handsome? :-) They were shooting fireworks so I was watching him pretty close. Like most boys, he is a little daredevil which makes me a nervous wreck! Thankfully, he is really careful with fireworks so I am able to relax A LITTLE!

Here are Lane and a few of his friends the morning of the first day of Vacation Bible School. They had a BLAST!! Not only did they have lots of fun, they learned a lot too! Thank you Pastor Dino and HPC for pouring into our children!!

Really??

According to my blog, the last time I posted was July 2nd!!!

I'll remedy that little problem today :-)

Summer at our house is a bit out-of-control this year with me babysitting my friends' kids. These days, finding the time to sit, collect my thoughts, and type them out seems to be as hard for me as climbing Mt. Everest would be!! There has been so much going on around here lately... it will take me a couple of posts to catch my couple of readers up to date, LOL!

We had a fun 4th of July (pictures to come soon!) and Lane is going to Vacation Bible School this week at Healing Place. He gets so excited about VBS every year. It is something that he really looks forward to every summer. Our church really pours a lot of time, effort and energy into our youth. They are truly our future.

Ok, time to get ready to pick the kids up from VBS. I'll post more later and will include some recents pics too!!

Answered Prayer!!!

The beautiful young lady in this picture is our daughter, Jennifer!! Oh, and the handsome young man is her boyfriend, Ryan. Or as we call him around here, "Big Ryan." We have to call him that because our youngest son's name is Ryan too... so we have a "BigRyan" and a "Little Ryan."

Anyway, I digress....

About two months ago, Jennifer decided to take a huge chance and go on an "adventure"... which meant, on a whim, she moved to South Florida. Like most parents, we weren't at all happy with that choice, but we made sure that she knew that we loved her and that we would always ALWAYS be here if she changed her mind and wanted to come home. As a mom, I have a huge tendency to worry and this just about pushed me over the edge. I did all I knew to do...I prayed hard every day that first, God would keep her safe and secondly, that God would have her return home.

Well, at the end of last week... my prayers were answered!!! SHE CAME HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We missed her more than words can say. She is such a beautiful, sweet, and kind girl. She adds her own special spark of life in our home, in our hearts and in our lives. We love her so much! Her little brothers adore her. She is so sweet, loving and patient with them. Little Ryan follows her around all over the place, and Lane is fiercely protective of her :-)

Now that she is home, it feels like a HUGE missing piece of our family is back, and our family is complete again!! She will turn 21 in August, but she is still my baby girl... and she always will be.

Thank You God for keeping our baby girl safe and for continuing to work in her life, even if she didn't realize You were doing it. Thank You for hearing our prayers, and for bringing her home to us. I realize that things were done according to YOUR time schedule and not ours. You had her come home when YOU knew she was ready, not when WE were ready. Thank You Father for Your never ending love, Your peace and for Your grace. We give all of the glory to You.

Yep, you know I am going to say it ... God is faithful!!!!