brattt's bunch

Starting Again

2009-07-10T08:41:00.002-05:00

So much has been going on. School got out the end of May. Since then we've just been busy almost all the time.

We started summer off with the filling of the pool. Only to discover it had some small holes and we needed to drain it and fix those. Did that, swam for a week or two and darn it, new holes. New holes grew in to giant ones and the pool ended up draining overnight while we slept. So pool was filled TWICE before we realized it was too far gone to fill again.

Brian turned the sides of it into a giant sip and slide. That was fun for the kids, not so much for me as I could only see someone splitting there head open or breaking an arm.

Never fear, Nana came to the rescue and decided she would get the kids a new pool. AWESOME! So we made a quick trip to Wal Mart and came home with a new pool. 15 X 4ft deep. A little deeper than the old pool but no biggie.

So kids now have something to do all summer.

I spent a week at Falls Creek helping out as a cook. Audrey & Craig went as campers. It was pretty fun. Felt nice to help out since the church is always so good to my kid.

Right after that we spent a week at Girl Scout day camp. That was not nearly as fun as Falls Creek but it was ok. Slept in a tent with BB & Boog. Got hot and tired and was so glad when the week was over!

Next, Audrey got a job! She's one of the activities people at the Nursing home in town. Lucky kid makes minimum wage and is currently working FULL time. She has a better job than her mom, who currently has NO job!

Craig went to California for a few weeks. That was exciting to me, Audrey not so much!

My sister, her husband and my niece came to visit the weekend before 4th of July. That was a great weekend. We did some shopping, went to the zoo and had a cookout. It's always fun to see my sister and Maddy. I miss them!!

I took the kids to Ada to see Grandma. (Brian's grandma) She's been living down there with her daughter since Christmas. We sure miss her. She's not doing the best health wise so it's best that she be with someone who can watch after her. Poor Judy though, I know she is wore it. I've gone up to Ada twice now to visit. It's my plan to keep that up as long as I can and to help Judy with anything while I'm there. She's such a good person and does so much for everyone.

4th of July came and went without much excitement. Brian's mom invited us over for dinner. She kept the kids Friday night and then BB stayed over again on Saturday night. It stormed something awful right before the fireworks display was set to start. It was cancelled. Poor BB was so dissappointed! It all worked out though since they had it the next night. We were able to sit in our driveway and see the awesome show! Our little town put on a pretty good show.

And here we are, up to date now. I'm sitting home with 2 of the 4 kiddos listening to the sounds of construction take place. The beautiful empty field across the street from my house has been bought and is now being made over. We aren't sure what yet but some type of housing is going to be built there soon. I'm not excited at all. I'd much rather see and empty field out my front window than some persons house. Nothing I can do though.

So that's that. Kids are actually still asleep at 9 am! I've been up since 6:45 ish. ahhhh how peaceful it is.

Next on the agenda is laundry and some cleaning before they want to hang out in the pool all afternoon!

Hello Blog

2009-07-10T08:00:00.002-05:00

Wow. It's been quite awhile. I'm a pathetic blogger. I figure I'll give it one more go since it's summer and I seem to have some time to play now and then.

I'll update everyone on the goings on around here! I'm sure it will be super exciting so get ready!

Tuesday, November 11

2008-11-11T23:37:00.003-06:00

Monday, November 11th

2008-11-10T22:12:00.000-06:00

Wordless Week

2008-11-09T21:00:00.000-06:00

I'm slacking in the blogging department. Sorry. Again. I'm just going to go wordless this week. There's alot going on and I don't apparently have the time or commitment needed to keep this blog going. Instead I'll post a simple picture or two (ok maybe 3 or 4) each day letting you know what's going on.

Hopefully you'll be able to figure it out! If not, well just ask and I'll get around to answering as soon as I can. Who knew life could be so busy?

Enjoy.

Walk 1.5 miles in my shoes...

2008-10-22T21:36:00.004-05:00

and you realize two things.

1- It was stinking COOL out tonight.

2- I need new shoes!

I've taken up walking. started with a mile the first day, now 1.5 miles on days 2 & 3, day four I'm shooting for 2 miles! I know it's not much but honestly people...I'm out of shape. Like pear shape pretty much :o) Plus my wonderful daughter Audrey and I are doing it together...except when she has better things to do (like church) then I'm on my own.

I borrowed her ipod tonight and listened to some Toby Mac, Petra, Barlow Girl?, and I don't know what else...oh Toby Keith... it was fun and I was alone! A rare thing for me. If my body could have handled it I would have walked all night just so I could enjoy the alone time and the nice scenery around me. We have a very pretty park in town with a nice walking trail.

On to other things. We have a birthday coming up at our house! Friday is BB's 8th Birthday! She's have a friend or two over and we'll go to dinner and out to see the new High School Musical movie. Should be FABULOUS! ROF I just hope they let me sit with them...they might be too cool for me to hang out with them!! yeah..right!

I won't be making a fancy cake this year, we decided to just get a fancy dessert at the restaurant and call that the birthday 'cake'. They'll sing to her and make a big fuss...I'll get a video and pics to share with you all. EIGHT?? Wow they'll all be grown before I know it. The thought just makes me sad. I'd probably have 20 more kids if Brian would let me... ROF Ok that's exaggerating, I really doubt I'd have any but sometimes I think I need just one more BABY. If only they'd stay babies longer. I miss that part.

Sniff sniff.

I've been busy making fancy smancy goody things for the birthday kids. Who ever shows up will get a very cute little Hannah Montana purse, made by me, full of girly girl items. Sparkly wallet, glitter spray, lip gloss, make up, hair pretties...I want to be 8! I tend to go overboard on this stuff... it's just how I roll.

I don't know anything else. The days are getting shorter, it's getting colder and dark earlier. Winter will hit us soon and I am so not ready. My kids need winter clothes!! I need winter clothes. It's pathetic to say this but I dont' buy myself clothes very often. I wait til everything is falling apart then I replenish. I learned a few weeks ago that my *favorite* store won't be selling MY jeans anymore. What the heck do I do now? I've been wearing those jeans for like 10 years. And they were just the right price. I'd go in and get about 4 pairs and be good to go for a year almost! lol So now I'm down to 2 'good' pair of jeans and one pair that I can only wear at home due to some nice holes on the booty area!

Shopping for clothes is just not something I enjoy. Now shopping for kids clothes I can do that.

I'm done for tonight. I'm ending it just like that... seeee ya! Ok I fooled ya... here's the purse I made for the party girls! I'm not done adding the 'bling' to it yet... but other then that I thought it was perty cute!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

2008-10-21T21:33:00.000-05:00

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

isn't this the most gorgeous thing?? I love it and I know a couple little girls who would look awesome in it!

Fall break is done...

2008-10-19T21:34:00.005-05:00

whew... I made it through Fall Break! What a week it turned out to be. Lots went on this last week. Some good, some bad and some stuck in the middle there...

Good things.... Maddy turned ONE! She had an awesome party put on by her very proud mommy, MY sister Denise. She was the prettiest 1st birthday girl I've seen in about ..oh .. 8 years!! LOL Good job sister! You make me proud :o)

Bad things... I didn't get to lay around and be a bum like I had hoped... ROF Kidding...I hadn't really hoped for that. Seriously, a young girl from our town lost her mom this last week. She was a great lady who loved her family dearly and took part in the community. She'll be missed and I feel so sad for that teenage girl who is with out her best friend now.

In the middle things... Boog was the happiest he's been in awhile... makes me think him and school might not be the best things on the planet. We are going to give it a little more time though and see what happens. I made goodie bags for a pee wee football game and that was a mess. Look parents... just spare us all the hoopla over the 'goodie bags'.. do kids really need a special treat after every single freaking ball game?? uhh NO! How about a good ol' fashioned 'pat on the back' or 'job well done' with a hug and smile.. please..

So that's about all that went on... I still need to finish these tote bag purse things for BB's party on Friday... no idea if anyone is even coming and I really hate to make two more of them if the kids aren't even going to show up. If they do show up how cool to get a handmade bling'd out Hannah Montana purse full of all the girly girl things you could want.... think lip gloss, body glitter, sparkly wallet, hair majiggers... I'd be happy. Who knows though...kids now a days rarely even know what homemade is!

Tuesday morning I'm helping the headstart class make t-shirts for Halloween...another one of my brilliant ideas. It just amazes me how full of this stuff I can be... I way over do it. I mean it's 17 three & four year olds... ugh.

I have Girl Scouts on Tuesday afternoon, we are trying out a new meeting place...i'm VERY nervous about that. I've got to make cup cakes and decorate them since we didn't plan a Halloween party...ooopss been to busy and forgot about that. I'll surprise them with cupcakes & games after we do our badgework! Sounds good to me. Oh and I'm making chocolate dipped pretzel rods with Halloween sprinkles! mmmm yum

Right now I should be sleeping but I want to get some stuff done. Yes... like computer type stuff.... telling you about my week type stuff... lol

ok I have nothing else for you.. Here's my dinner menu for the week if anyone is interested..it's quick and easy and centers around LEFTOVERS!

Monday - Pioneer Womans 'Chicken Spaghetti'

Tuesday - Leftover 'Chicken Spaghetti' (her recipe makes a boat load so it's a 2 niter kid of meal)

Wednesday - Roast, carrots, taters & gravy

Thursday - 'Roast beef' sandwiches :o)

Friday - Savana's b-day party so I'll get to eat dinner at Santa Fe... everyone else (Brian and the big kids) will get to fend for themselves! haha

Goodnight everyone... let me find a good picture to leave you with!

Happy Birthday Maddy!

2008-10-18T00:02:00.003-05:00

Happy FIRST Birthday to my sweet sweet neice Maddy! I can't beleive she's one already, how time flies. She'll be walking by the time I see her at Thanksgiving!

I hope she has a fun filled day with her Mommy, Daddy, Nana, Cousin Jacob and all her other family! I wanted to be there but I know Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

Isn't she the most beautiful girl around?? LOVE YA!

I remember you...

2008-10-14T14:49:00.002-05:00

hey it's my blog! I had almost forgotten all about you. HELLO!!!

Ok so I'm lame...I know. I'm BUSY...geeez people.. It's not like you've been by to check on me anyway....I mean I didn't receive any emails showing concern for my lack of blogging.

Yeah..well I'm sure you care.... yep...I feel the love. I do.

I'll try and get better at this but I really don't have a life so there's just not much to talk about. . . Sad I know...

Favorite Things Friday

2008-09-20T00:06:00.005-05:00

Stole this from Tiara!

Favorite Things Friday!

I love flip flops, not just any flip flops. Speedo brand flip flops. Just like the ones below! I wear them til they fall apart then I scour the internet for more.

I'm a l i v e . . .

2008-09-14T18:35:00.004-05:00

It's true!! I'm alive and somewhat well....the past two weeks have been a mess. Some one has seriously been testing me... I mean BIG TIME!

Hopefully things are slowing down now and I can get back to what's important! ROF Don't give up on me!

Let me scrounge up a pic or two for ya.....

koo koo

2008-09-02T22:44:00.003-05:00

that's how I feel right now. Like I've just about lost it!! Between school starting, hubby being off work for almost 2 weeks, problems with head start, doctor visits, broken bones....I'm beat.

I'll be back with a huge update soon! Once I get the little Booger settled in school I should have some time to sit down and tell you all about everything! Here's a couple pics for now!

One more day..

2008-08-18T22:04:00.004-05:00

OMG only one more day til school starts. I might be starting to freak out a little bit. I'm ready don't get me wrong but I'm also REALLy nervous at times about Boog going to school.

I keep thinking he's just a baby, but I know he's not. I know it will be good for him to play with other kids, make friends, learn things and get away from mama for a bit. He can be quite the Mama's boy BUT he can be a big daddy's boy too. He goes back and forth.

Either way he's going and if I hate it I can always take him out. Right? I think he's going to like it once he gets used to it. I'm just rambling about it now.

So Thursday night we went to Orientation. It wasn't anything to exciting. Went over the basic stuff, when to pick up and drop off your kid, what they can wear, NO flip flops lol ...what they'll do all day. Pretty structured, not like daycare. They will learn while they are there, not just play all day.

I'm sure I've said all this before huh? Ok how about a picture from the other night?

Ok here's one...

not only is he running but he's kicking a ball in the classroom! Way to go Boog? lol

Meet the teacher night

2008-08-14T23:47:00.004-05:00

We had head start orientation tonight. Boog got to play with the kids who will be in his class. He did pretty well but when I went in to get him after the parent meeting in the other room he was playing with a ball by himself.

BB said he played a little with a couple kids so thats a good thing. He had his physical and lab work done today...that was horrible. They took like a gallon of blood out of his poor little baby arm. I wanted to smack the lady for sticking that needle in him! In all honesty though she was the best lab tech I've ever dealt with. She told him what she was doing and smiled and talked to him the entire time. He cried but didn't freak out. Thank goodness. Oh he weighs 32 pounds :o) can't remember any of the other stuff!

BB had her first cheerleading practice tonight too. Holy cow there are 22 girls cheering this year. I think there are more cheerleaders then their are football players. It's nuts. Good thing...she's on the front row. She's getting taller so I was worried she'd be in the back..

No pictures tonight ... I'm off to bed!

Check back Sunday...I'll be out of town all weekend at the lake!

baking and ice cream making night

2008-08-13T18:51:00.001-05:00

I'm just making some vanilla soft serve tonight AND baking some zucchini bread...should be a nice fattening night around brattt's house!

Will blog later....must bake.

Miss Lacey

2008-08-11T22:29:00.003-05:00

Today we met Miss Lacey. That is Boog's teacher at headstart. She came by the house to meet him and to talk about goals for him this school year.

We discussed what he can and can't do. Say his alphabet, count, identify colors and shapes. These are all things he can do pretty well right now. He skips a few on the alphabet and I'm sure there are some shapes he doesn't know. For the most part he's a smart little kiddo!

So we decided his 'goal' for the year would be to WRITE his first name :o) It's a short, sweet name so I have no doubts he'll be ablt to do it. He wants to do it too. He LOVES to use a pencil, pen, crayon, marker....you name it if it writes he wants to have it in his hand and make it work.

A d a m

Won't that be the cutest thing to see that little bitty boy write his name? And you know how proud he'll be? He's got a very big obsession right now with coloring too so this is perfect.

Look at the amount of concentration on his face!! And the marker on his nose! yes...those are 'color wonder' markers, the ones he used prior to these were NOT color wonder!

My day at Staples

2008-08-10T18:41:00.004-05:00

Well the highlight of my day was hitting the back to school sale at Staples (again this week). Dirt cheap school supplies just make the happiest mama on earth. Weird I know. But I like em. lol

So I spent right at $29. The Sharpies were $10 bucks plus tax. So I think I did pretty stinking good. I've got enough paper for the school year now, enough glue for a life time and almost enough Sharpies to make my life complete!! lol Gonna go snap a few pics....BRB!

I got:

4 oz Elmers glue for FREE. 25 bottles. Did I mention it was FREE?

150 ct. filler paper (loose leaf paper) for .09 cents each. I got 25 of those.

Crayola markers for .79 each. I only got 4 broad and 4 fine.

Papermate mechanical pencils for .25 cents a pack. I only got 20 packs.

500 sheet ream of copy paper for $1.99 each. I got two. That was the limit :o( not pictured)

And the best part of the entire trip.... 24 pack of Sharpie fine point multi color 'limited edition' markers. Sharpies just send a tingle down my spine like nothing else in the world. And no it's no the smell of them!! All those colors and all the things you can write on with them. OH MAN. They make me happy :o)

Soft serve ice cream pics are here!

2008-08-10T09:02:00.002-05:00

le Machine lol

mmmm ice cream and sprinkles, every kids dream come true!

The ice cream...the softest, silkiest, creamiest stuff on the planet. Dang, it was good!

So far we've made vanilla, chocolate, vanilla frozen yogurt and mint chocolate chip. Tonight I think we'll make orange cream something or other.

I told you...

2008-08-10T00:11:00.005-05:00

I think I mentioned I'm a crappy blogger...didn't I? Ok well if I didn't I am now. I really would like to keep up with this alot more but geeeeez... what's there to blog about? Maybe once school starts I'll be better at it.

Let's just do random pictures again... everyone loves pictures right?

In my opinion, the cutest 3 yr old on earth. And a pretty darn good looking cake too!

Kasey Kahne....he's my man you know.

That kid in the hood, he's mine. You didn't know I had an older son?? Yep..names Jacob. He's not a picture kind of kid. That's his hooligan cousin Aaron with him. Or you can just call both of them TROUBLE!

ahhh hubby and the little kids. Hubby really does have SOME hair. It's just all slicked down from swimming. He'd kill me if he knew I put this pic on here. shhhh don't tell.

Ice cream!

2008-08-04T18:57:00.000-05:00

We got a soft serve ice cream machine this weekend! Will post pics in a bit...I forgot I haven't uploaded them from the camera yet! der

School shopping day

2008-08-03T07:37:00.002-05:00

It's tax free weekend here in OK so I'm loading the kids up and taking them all shopping for school clothes. Audrey went to the mall with Jarrod yesterday and spent most of her money. She did pretty good, coming home with 4 pair of jeans, a top, back pack & a wallet. lol At least she didn't but a million pairs of flip flops!

Today I'm focusing on getting Jacob some jeans & shirts and he needs new glasses. He cracked the lens on his the first night of football camp! Oh and she's...he needs shoes....again!

BB & Boog will easy, they just need jeans and I'll let BB pick out a few tops for fun. She has tons of shirts already but probably nothing too decent to wear to school. And Boog, well I don't think I'll dress him up too fancy since it's just headstart. I imagine he'll come home with lunch on his shirt or paint or who knows what every day.

I'm also stopping by staples to stock up on spiral notebooks. They are on sale for .05 today! I can't pass a deal like that.

So that's what I'll be doing today...what's everyone else up too???

Oh here's a pic ........just because !!

Lost Boys - The Tribe

2008-07-30T22:50:00.002-05:00

Don't. Just don't do it. Don't rent it, don't watch it. Please. Don't. lol I'm sitting here with Brian, Audrey & Jarrod watching this show that I rented earlier today. Thinking back to the old days of 'The Lost Boys' with Keifer Sutherland....and the Corey's.... ahhh good time back then. This movie....this new movie is complete garbage. I doubted myself within the first 4 minutes of the shows beginning. I'm trying to laugh and make jokes and read blogs and not pay any attention to what's going on. Audrey has made approximately 9 trips to her bedroom, 4 to the bathroom and 6.1 to the kitchen. I've seen close to 987 gallons of fake blood ooze, pour and gush from various partially eaten bodies. It's sick people... plain sick.

I really think the actors in this movie were DESPERATE to make a buck.

I'm 99% sure I will have some sick twisted nightmares tonight.

The End.

Funny video I mentioned!

2008-07-30T09:16:00.002-05:00

Ok the really good part starts at 1:30.. OMG you'll laugh I promise. Oh and that's BB for those of you who can't tell!

Nothing happening

2008-07-30T08:42:00.002-05:00

There's just nothing exciting going on around here lately. I think I told everyone about my pumpkins.... and then there's the giant Okra we grew...well Brian grew. I don't do the garden thing.

That's the problem with having a blog and being on email groups. You post stuff to your email groups then it seems like a waste to post it on your blog too...and vice versa. There are only so many people out there who care what's goin on in my life!!

So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm just going to show you some random pictures! lol Most people know I take pictures of everything...so here are some of my favorites.

A very rare picture of me and Audrey....together!

I look awful! Me and Maddykins. My beautiful niece who I love to death!

Cute kid....trying out new hairdos for school!

Frog. Found it in the backyard. That sucker could hop.

BB the jungle girl? Look out Bindi....

I could post soooo many more pics, it's not even funny. I love to take pictures. I need a better camera. Ok I have one hillarious video I need to find and post here.... I'll be back!

My pic made it to the 'Recipe of the Day'!!

2008-07-28T15:32:00.006-05:00

Not super exciting unless your me. lol I like to take pictures of food. If I try a new recipe and it turns out well I'll plate it and take some pics of it. I started uploading pics to allrecipes.com a while back.

You find a recipe you like, cook it, take a pic of the finished product, write a review if you want to, then upload said pic to their site. They review it and if it's worthy they'll add it to the recipe so people can see what the dish could look like when prepared. This is one of my favorite features about all recipes dot com. I love seeing what food looks like when it's cooked. Sometimes it's looks really good, other times...well not so much. I've passed on several recipes because the pictures that were up just didn't make the food look good!

So imagine my complete surprise yesterday when I pull up the site to look for a recipe for stuffed zucchini.... Here's what I saw:

It's kind of hard to see... This is a screen shot from yesterday... anyway the 'Recipe of the Day' has my picture on it! I grilled that pork chop you see in the picture and that's my $1.88 plate from Wal Mart I got about 5 years ago! It even says 'PHOTO BY: Brattt' Even though I never capitalize the 'b' on 'brattt'! I looked at the recipe and thought I've made that before and then looked at the pic again and yelled 'OMG that's my picture on the main page!'

Poor Brian had no clue what I was talking about. I showed him and then he was kind of excited too. It's not anything major and anyone can pretty much get there picture on the site. I just thought it was neat that I happened to look for a recipe on the day that my picture was there!

Simple things like that make me sooo happy! So now everyone go cook something and take a picture of it!

I love to bake!

2008-07-27T08:42:00.005-05:00

Most of you know this. I love to bake. I'll try just about anything if it's some kind of baked sweet yummy goodness. Today was zuchini bread, yes I made some a few weeks ago too!! Get over it! ROF Gpa BS (aka my FIL, Billy Sam) gave me some monster zuchinis. I had to make them into bread!

So here's the play by play! I'll post the recipe I used at the end in case anyone has any zuchinis laying around!

Here's a pic of the zuchini so you can see what I mean when I say 'monster'.

The ingredients:

The 'wet' ingredients blending together...

Next add the 'dry' stuff...carefully. This part can be messy.

The finished 'batter'... see the green from the zuchini? mmmm

Mini loaf pan.... borrowed this from my mom. I like the idea of these mini loaves because you get more 'edge' and the edge is my favorite part!

No pics 'in' the oven sorry!!

But here is the finished product and OMG it is delicious!

And here's the recipe I used. It's from AllRecipes.com

Moms Zuchini Bread

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS
Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Saturday afternoon naps...

2008-07-26T18:17:00.002-05:00

BAD BAD idea. I know better then to take one but I always do it and I always feel like crap afterwards!! Why is that? I woke up about an hour ago, head pounding, body aching....blah.. Brian on the other hand, woke up, looked at me and went right back to sleep. He's still sleeping. He'll wake up feeling refreshed and energized.

I'll feel like poo the rest of the night and then I won't sleep good tonight either. It ALWAYS happens. Someone tell me why? lol

Also it's 6:20 pm and we haven't ate anything since noon. I'm starving but I sooo do not feel like cooking. I had a handful of Frito's but that didn't do anything for me. I've got chicken unthawed and marinating in Italian dressing...it's the sides I hate to cook. I want fried taters & onions and Brian will want something like okra and green beans..not fried. blah

Ok must eat now. Have a great Saturday night...OH big news...the Hannah Montana 3-D concert is on in 35 minutes. Don't miss it....You'll be so disappointed if you do!! ROF

Home visit went well.

2008-07-24T18:18:00.002-05:00

Thats done. Filled out lots of paperwork, learned how the co-op head start works and what I have to do as a parent. Monthly meetings to attend, volunteering in the classroom, etc. Should be fun for me and Boog! Now for school to hurry up and start! Come on August 20th!!

Home visit today!

2008-07-24T08:34:00.002-05:00

The lady from head start is coming to the house today. She said it would take one and half hours.... Not sure what all I have to read, sign and go over in that length of time but I hope my kids don't act like freaks of nature while she's here!

On another note Boog is still excited about 'school'... he saw a backpack at Wal Mart the other day and had to try it on!! I told him we would get one closer to time for school to start if they say he needs one. He thinks the lady that is coming today is his teacher too, I keep telling him she's not so now he keeps saying 'my lady' is coming to day. lol

Well I hafta feed the kids breakfast, run the vaccuum and get dressed before 9:45! I better shut of the computer and get busy. I'll updat later today on how it went!

I got an award!

2008-07-23T07:42:00.004-05:00

Thank you first to Christina! She's an awesome mom, photographer, cook, friend...you name it! Just a genuinely sweet kind person. Wonderful kids and huband! Thanks again Christina!!

Now for me to pass it on!!

I guess we're not positive on the rules, but we're following these guidelines.

1. Post your award in a blog and on your sidebar as a widget.
2. Pass the award onto at least 5 other bloggers that you admire or respect that are Edgy, Bold, Modern, Unique , Humorous or all of the above, with links to their sites and to the site of the awarder :).
3. Make sure to describe why it is you admire these particular bloggers.

So here goes.

Wow this is hard! I've just recently gotten into reading blogs and don't know of that many! hmmm

First I'm going to go with 'Rach' at 'Life with Hannah & Lily'. I've never met her but I love reading her blog. She's a very strong women and I admire her strength. She's dealt with a great loss in her life and I just can't imagine what she's gone through over the last year. I love reading her 'Sparklies' and stories of her life.

Next I'll go with 'Tiara' over at 'My Life, with you'. She's a young fun mommy to 2 adorable little ones. I've never met her either but we were on a mommy group together at one time. She's fun and a great mom!

Ok crap! I have to stop here for now. Kids need me. I will finish later tonight... Again thank you Christina!!!

Headed to Head Start!

2008-07-21T15:04:00.000-05:00

Can you believe that sweet little baby face above is going to start head start this year? I got the letter today saying he was accepted. I'm not sure how I feel! I'm happy that he'll get to be with some other kids his age and he'll make friends but I'm kind of sad that he's getting to the age where he can do things without ME!!

School? Come on.... he's only 3!! We don't have to put him in but we really think it will be a good experience for him. All of his siblings are in school all day and he get's really bored being home all day with me. We've decided to give it a try and see how he likes it. If he doesn't like it we'll take him out and just way for Pre-Kindergarten next year.

On another note, there's me.... what will I do all day with no kids to take care of? This will be the first time in 15 years I've been home alone with no children....very strange! Maybe I should take up babysitting! LOL or just clean my house really well....hmmmmm decisions. :o)

Precious Moments Chapel

2008-07-19T21:05:00.003-05:00

We had planned on stopping here on the way to Missouri but we ended up stopping for a new battery for the van instead! We managed to make it on the way home though and it's a really neat place to visit. It is also FREE! Well worth the short drive off I-44. It's in Carthage Missouri.

They have a tour every hour and you go down to the 'Chapel' and they explain all of the paintings and stuff to you then you can walk around and see everything on your own. Pictures are allowed but no 'flash' photography so some came out rather dark. There are some really pretty stained glass windows in the chapel and the museum has a very big doll house that was really cool to look at. Here are a few more pictures!

This is the 'chapel'.

Painting in the chapel, it tells a story that I can't even explain!

This is the ceiling inside the chapel!

More paintings inside the chapel.

Stained glass inside the chapel.

Our Cabin

2008-07-19T21:04:00.002-05:00

This is our little cabin in the woods. It's called 'Pa's Place'. All of the cabins had names. Mostly wild west type names like 'Annie Oakley', 'Butch Cassidy', etc. It was a cute LITTLE cabin with a queen bed and a twin trundle bed, kitchenette, dining table/chairs and bathroom. Their is a porch on the front (in the picture) and the same size covered porch on the back with a gas grill. We used the kitchen area but didn't get a chance to grill anything! They also have a pool, game room and store. And they provide a shuttle bus to and from Silver Dollar City!

Branson

2008-07-19T15:52:00.003-05:00

We took a little trip. Loaded up the van, kids & Nana and headed to Branson, Missouri. We stayed at "The Wilderness Log Cabins & Rv Park". It was a fun trip with lots of interesting things happening along the way. Nothing like having some ol' toothless mechanic say 'your lucky that battery ain't exploded yet'... ahhhh nice! The folks at the Wal Mart auto center in Joplin are real friendly! And if your a dishonest person you can drive away with there little machine that starts your car if you have a dead battery! They just left it in my van and had no clue it was even there!

We stayed busy the entire time. We rode the ducks, the girls saw the 'Hollywood Wax Museum', Silver Dollar City. The kids swam alot at the pool where we stayed too! Will have more pics when I figure out how to put more then one in a post!

The Weekend

2008-06-09T08:17:00.002-05:00

Well the weekend is over. Wow it was busy! Brian got a lot done around here. I didn't do so much! I helped out where I could but other then that I just kept some kids out of the way.

We've not got gutter up on the back of the house. The water can run somewhere OTHER then my backyard. YIPPEE. It rained last night/today too so it went up just in time.

Fence is up. Looks AWESOME. No more watching the neighbors dogs do nasty things to each other. I swear those people have a thing for horny dogs!! Also don't have to put up with the neighbor kid standing at the fence staring at us all day. We still have one more fence panel to put up but they didn't have enough posts in stock Saturday. Hopefully we'll be able to pick one up this week and get it finished.

Next is the dirt filled area. I've got to find some sod somewhere. It's a huge mess out there. Especially now that it rained!! It's mudville.

brattt4

2008-05-31T09:28:00.001-05:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Saturday

2008-05-31T09:08:00.004-05:00

ANother day. I'm sitting at the kitchen table eating muffins and watching these ugly black birds steal all of my dogs food. I'm gonna try and get a pic of one.....brb... ok I scared it away when I got up to get the camera! I'll keep trying.

ok got a pic.... woo hoo

Today is backyard maintenance day... or something like that. Brian is going to do some work on the yard, leveling it out, running electrical stuff so we can plug in the pool filter, etc... Should be a mess.

I think I'll hang out inside and clean stuff. I'm sure at some point the kids will want to swim and based on how windy it is right now I don't know that I will be jumping in the pool or not! I'm not even a big fan of swimming!!!

I've got to go to the store today and get brown sugar. I HATE being out of stuff like that. I always have milk, sugar, brown sugar & flour. ALWAYS. Those are like necessities in my life. Oh and eggs. Must have eggs. You can make just about anything good with those ingredients!

I think I'll go take a shower and make myself presentable for the day. toodles!

oh that pesky bird hasn't come back since I typed that up there! LOSER

Friday!

2008-05-30T15:09:00.003-05:00

It's Friday. Nothing exciting happening today. Still working on potty training with Boog. The kid has peed 6 times today. All in the potty. Go BOOG! He's very excited about it. He get's a sticker on a chart each time he potties. Bless his little heart, he keeps saying 'I've got 2 stickers!' lol I guess teaching him to count is next huh?

I finally let BB get in the pool. I swear she was going to loose it if I didn't let her swim. Now she's sitting outside shivering because it's very windy and the water is VERY cold! She's a nut.

I've got to get dinner going soon. It's eggroll night. Lots of work but they are worth it. I guess tha'ts it from me.

Audrey is getting a hair cut today. I can't wait to see what she got done. I'm hoping it will be a noticeable difference but I'm not so sure. She's not very daring! lol Ok....gotta jet.

good morning!

2008-05-29T07:28:00.001-05:00

There's nothing better then waking up to no emails AND a giant headache! woo hoo

Lots to do today. Have to go to town and buy pool supplies. A net, filter, paving stones to make a walk way to the pools so we aren't walking in the dirt. Probably need to get some milk while I'm there. Might stop off and let the kids play at the park or McDonalds depending on how hot it us.

What else....

oh finish cleaning the house...never did ge to the bathrooms yet and still need to organize the kids closet. All that will probably wait one more day! I mean I've got he whole summer still!

I guess I'll warm up my coffee and make some muffins. I think my phone should be ringing any minute! Hello SISTER!

2008-05-28T15:51:00.001-05:00

Hello

2008-05-28T15:37:00.001-05:00

I've done this before but thought I'd start over and try again. I'm sure it won't last long as I tend to not stick with things for long! Anyway.... stay tuned!