We are the Bastings

To quote my mother.......

2010-08-31T20:16:00.000-07:00

The day she was born.....almost 11 years ago.....

                   "I can see her now. A little letter jacket with "Riah" written on the back.
                                        Gonna be a cheerleader some day!"

Such a short summer.....

2010-07-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

I don't know who I hate it for worse, me or the kids. I think this was the shortest summer on record. We go back in 2 weeks! But, alas, the kids have had a blast. Gone a zillion miles an hour, and are just now slowing down enough to see the sun in front of them. I'm pretty sure I didn't even get finished posting about the end of school last year....what's up with that? Oh well. Here's a little of what we did this summer.

We ate outside a lot.....

We got a cool new slide/pool.

We took in a few Braves Games......

(7 rows up....yeah...that makes for a MUCH better ball game!)

We played at the church for 4th of July....

And we ate icee's...

And then we went to Pigeon Forge for a couple of Days and played at Dollywood......

We took our time getting there....and stopped for ice cream at a truck stop.

We stopped at the top of the Smoky Mountains.....

And the kids stood in two places at once.....

And they all grew up.....Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy.......

too........

fast. :o(

Give me an "S"!!

2010-06-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

And the last year of elementary school begins all over again. With my baby girl. We finished 4th grade high on the hog! All "A" honor roll, awards you can't imagine and a teacher who taught both of us so much. She finished gymnastics almost perfecting her round-off back handspring by herself, and in 3 short weeks, she's off to cheer camp! We can't wait. She'll be cheering for the same park Tanner plays baseball at....our intent is to buy stock and become rich and famous with it some day! I love being a ball park mom. I think I've waited all my life for this.

Riah supporting T at the Soap Box Derby race. We got awesome matching

sunburns on our left shoulders that day.

Awards, awards, awards!!!

Riah getting her awards from her awesome teacher, Mr. H.

Mr. H. and Riah

and the awesomeness that begins in 3 weeks.....

That's actually a pic from last year....she'll be there next!
Watch for that letter jacket that just says
"Riah"

5th Grade...here we come!!!

more T.....

2010-06-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so like I said, T finished up 2nd grade. Seems a little odd...since I think he acts way older than a 2nd grader. He had a stellar year. He impresses me like non other. He is kind and aware, but not a pushover nor a sissy. He is honest and he is a best friend....to so many. I have an amazing son, that I know will make an amazing man, husband and father....in like 47 years.

Ok, end of year pictures. At the end of the year, his class put on a skit about The Wizard of Oz. Tanner chose to be the Tin Man. Mom of course, chose to go over the top. I actually felt ~~awesome~~ a little bad when the other little Tin Men came into the room, and the one little boy looked at T's costume and his jaw hit the floor. I really did feel bad when that same kid said to his mom "Tanner has a real oil can, not this dumb watering bucket". Yikes. Overachievers can make life suck sometimes.

Aunt Kathy did the awesome job of finding the oil can (yeah Aunt Kathy!) and then to find the right auto parts store that clearly loved kids enough to care about ordering the proper tin funnel for his hat. Amazing.

Eric and I spent all of Memorial Day weekend running countless errands to find all the silver/gray clothes, paint, dryer hose, blah, blah, blah. Eric spray painted EVERYTHING, and then saw a whole new side of me when I said, "Just trust me....the OCD in this instance is a good thing!!!"

And here is the awesome Tin Man:

Such a performer, isn't he? "Let me stare at the back wall while I do this acting thing!"

Off to enjoy a VERY short summer and then back to the grind in 3rd Grade.

My "baby" is in 3rd Grade. Vomitosis.

Not so sure where to start....

2010-06-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

So, let's start with a list so I don't forget: And in order of appearance........

Madeline-Wrapped up her last day in elementary school. I, the lively 30-something girl of 3, now has a middle schooler. Is that even possible? I remember the day I took her to kindergarten. There is NO WAY that was 6 years ago.

Sariah-Wrapped up her last day of 4th grade and is now on top of the world. Starting her final year in elementary school (OMG....really?? This is not still happening!) and the first year without her big sis there to ~~boss her around~~, show her the ropes.

Tanner-Wrapped up 2nd grade, is well on his way to having a perfect elementary school report card (yeah, all A's for 6 years....only 1 kid in Maddie's whole grade pulled that one off!) and is on a break for only 2 short months from baseball. How odd....I miss the chaos. I could really use a practice to race home and get to!

Now....On with the show!!

Tanner Andrew....2nd Grade: Cont'd.

2010-06-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

Soap Box Race! Need no explanation. Pictures are so much more fun!!!

My fave part....us "screaming" as if us saying "Go T" would actually make him go faster. Pretty sure we are used to being on the ball field.
That was fun!

Tanner Andrew....2nd Grade

2010-06-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

I think we should back up a little bit and give you a rundown of how life has been for a busy 8 year old. We finished up his baseball season just as the heat was plaguing Georgia. We made it to the playoffs and got very excited for a few days of non stop ball playing. Long story short, they played like pro's and lost in their 3rd game, but to a team who was on their 1st game of the day, and us on our 2nd....in the middle of the day....in 95 degree heat. I think every Mom and Dad at the field said multiple times "I don't know whether to pray for them to win or pray for them to lose!" Tanner played so hard, and during the second game on the final day, got to play 3rd base. I have to say, for a mom who LOOOOOOVES her son playing catcher, I loved him at 3rd. He moves so quick and he let's no one by him. He took out 1 player by tagging him with a clothesline! Let's just say if some kid had tagged T like he did....I'd have been on the field. Um....yeah, dem's the breaks! And now for some pics......

He did his very best hitting of the season at the tournaments....it's no secret he responds well to bribery. :o) We love baseball. Next season=kid pitch.

He can't wait!

T-Dogger/B-McCann

2010-04-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

Baseball season is dang near over, and I must admit....that saddens me a bit.

We have the best time at the ball fields with T, and love like heck to watch him play. He is my superstar. I love being a baseball mom!!!

I said to T the other day that we'd be visiting the Braves soon, and I'd be working hard at getting some autographs. I asked if he'd like me to get Brian McCann's "John Hancock" (braves Catcher...same position T plays) and he promptly said "How about Chipper Jones?"

At least he has good taste in baseball players.

Here he is batting....

And here he is making an awesome effort at 2nd base....

That's my T. I can't wait until we have box seats for the Braves!!

Sariah/Sharpay!!

2010-04-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Let us start with the one who never gets to start first.

Ms. Sariah!!!!

During the final chorus performance of her 4th grade year, they had to dress up like specific characters.
She ~~not so~~ surprisingly chose Sharpay Evans.....the beautiful blonde with the amazing voice....you know, the one Sariah looks just like??? She sang and danced.....it was so fun!!! And we even found a cute pink dress to boot!!!

Such a Diva!!!

No explanation needed.....

2010-03-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

Favorite type of Sunday mornings......

T is back there. All he said was "Mom's taking a picture....duck for cover!!" Dork.

To my amazing family.....

2010-03-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

do you remember the Fullingim's across the street when we lived in the tiny house down the street from the Allred's?????? One of my BFF's Kristina????? She has a blog! Did I tell you this already? I don't care. I read her blog and her little "K", ok, not really, her little "G" is the cutest thing since my kids!!!! Just wanted to let you know I've added her link down near the bottom. Go check her cuteness out. The memories come flooding back when I see Gianna.

Love you, K!!!!

Calling all vocal coaches.....

2010-03-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

Never did I think we'd see the day that our child, (who has a grandmother who is a vocal coach), would be searching for one!!!!! My Maddie needs a vocal coach....and no fly by night coach either. She'll be picking up piano as well....so the all in one package would really be optimal. And don't think you'll just slide in and say "yeah...I can teach". Her Daddy plays and her Mom and Daddy both sing.....so you'll be doing an audition all your own. Be prepared. Anybody got suggestions???

Home Depot, Home, Home Depot, Home.....

2010-03-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

In that order. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.....in fact...

you'll need to spend what FEELS like that much
in order to do what I did.

I had this brilliant idea to paint the kitchen. The idea, was to make the house flow....
make the kitchen more approachable, more inviting.
We accomplished that. In fact, so inviting, that the sun moved in. See below.

Sariah and Maddie helped scrape the old boarder off the green paint.....wallpaper should die!!!

And below is what we got after the 1st round.....

This color, my friends, is Burnt Amber.

Like hell it is.

I said to Eric on Saturday night,

"honey...it's bad. Like REAL bad. But maybe I can deal with it....we'll see in the morning."

I got up on Sunday morning and my retinas were permanently scarred.

Therefore, we went back to Home Depot.

We retaped, put out more drop cloth, and washed a few more paint brushes....and got right back to work.

Wait, did I say "WE"????? What, is there a mouse in my pocket????

Noooooooooooooo.

Saturday evening the girls were ALL about helping.

Sunday, after we painted half the kitchen and mom said, to heck with this!, they gave up.

Sunday, I was alone. But with so much company......watching TV behind me. :o)

Can you feel the love all the way out here in Georgia???

This time, I painted it the way I wanted to paint it....not the way the paper said to paint it..

not the way Martha said to paint it....the way Sarah said to paint it.....and look how it turned out......

L.O.V.E. LOVE it!!!!

I told Mom after I was done that I swore there were

5 more feet between the sink and the stove.

So....lesson learned.

Now on to the bedroom!!!

Scariest Place On Earth.....

2010-03-07T21:15:00.000-08:00

and just 9 short years ago I thought it was pretty cool!!!

On our way back from Helen, we stopped at the Cabbage Patch Hospital. (this explains it all.....)
The old hospital, which as a "real" hospital, was no longer the site of Babyland General Hospital. They had to move. So they built their own new building, but it's not nearly as cool as the old one. It's just a big building now. None the less....the CPK's are still born here....and still sold here. My girls got their last experience.

See below....

The new CPK Hospital.....
This is the old one....

A little extravagant.....

The sign.....

Maddie having a blast.....she thinks.....

Yep....creepiest place on earth.....

Where some of the babies live.....in a tree.....

OMG..."mom.....this place is so weird!!!!"

Where the babies come after they are born.....

I still don't like having my picture taken!!

$100 later.....3 happy kids.....
See below to watch the video of a CPK being born.......

So the video says it all. Fun place....for little people. My people aren't so little anymore. But I love the memories.

Maddie's 4-H Project.......

2010-03-07T20:29:00.000-08:00

And our princess got an "A".

She had to pick a subject she loved, hence picking "cooking". We took pics of her cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then made an awesome board with all the pics and a few visuals. Then we secured the "A" with brownies for the class at the end.

Note to self...when you want and "A"....feed not only the teacher, but the class, treats. Nuff said.

Sautee the onions.....

Plate it up!!!

That's dinner!!

Finished product....

Dinner!

Here comes breakfast!!

Over medium, please!!

Toast that bagel, girl!!

Finished product....

Breakfast!

On to lunch....

nuttin' like mac-n-cheese and hotdogs!

Strain the noodles!

Broil the buns....

Finished product......

Lunch!!!

Final...FINAL product...

That earned her an "A".....

so glad that project is over!

Valentines 2010

2010-03-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

Helen, GA

Feb. 14, 2010

Note to self....when kids are standing outside a candy store

and are so cold they don't want to go in.....

it's too cold!!!!!

We took the kids to Helen over the long weekend for Valentine's Day

We had so much fun. Here are some pics...

Lunch at the nastiest, most expensive place in Helen.

$80 to feed them LUNCH!!!

Read on....

Freezing outside the toy store....

Um, still freezing....but what a cute pic!!!!

Long story short....

the restaurant mentioned above made T VERY sick.

Barfy sick in fact. Me and the girls were sitting in the 2nd

hotel room with Eric while T was sleeping. All of the sudden

we hear the strangest noise. A barfing noise if you will.

Eric simply said

"that's all you...gogogogogogogogo!!!!!!"

T barfed up everything he ate, felt 1000000 x's better,

took a long, hot shower, and brushed his teeth.

All the while, Eric was initiated to parenthood faster than

he ever thought possible. I cleaned up the mess, took a shower myself,

and this is what I came out to....

two boys playing on the computer....

happy as can be.

I love my boys.

Again...freezing...on day 2!

But loving it.

Super cool horse carriage ride....

pretty pony.

"pretend you are having a good time!"

Cool Helen in the back.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm......

Bakery in Helen.....

got some delicious things here.....

"Stop taking pictures of me!!!"

And that...plus a zillion dollars later...

was our trip to Helen.

I think it'll be more fun for them in the summer.

I have so much to post.....

2010-03-06T19:49:00.000-08:00

...............and I can't find the cord for my camera!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posting is no fun without pictures.

Blah.....maybe tomorrow.

For Papa.....

2010-01-06T20:04:00.000-08:00

Cuz without him, my son would never have thought to make his own ramps......
.......out of a pile of wrapping paper.

Love you, Dad.

And the outside video that Tanner talks about above......

I'm pretty sure she's the happiest kid on earth....

2010-01-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

It's a spaceship to the moon.....

2010-01-06T19:42:00.000-08:00

"Mom, can I have that spinach box from Costco?"

"Sure, why?"

"It's a spaceship to the moon!"

....8 years old and he still loves the free box from Costco....

Man I love that kid!

*look close....he's in there*

Christmas 2009

2010-01-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

The kids finally made it home from Oklahoma

and we had Christmas #1214 for 2009.

I'm ~~totally serious~~ kidding, kind of.

At any rate, here are fun, fun pics of Christmas Afternoon 2009

Prior to the destruction

(Mom's FAVE gift ever!!!)

Monogrammed towels from Gramma and Papa!!

"Not Me" moved out of our house over Christmas,

And left Maddie, Sariah and Tanner to cover for him!!!

No more "phantom" towels left on our floors!!

Sariah in L-O-V-E with her new EZ Combs for her

2 tons of hair. They work so good!!!

~~blackmail~~, eh-hem, memories for Madeline...

The only kid left who still loves toys....

Go Bakugan!

And the Granddaddy of it all.....

DS's for everyone (T's isn't in this pic....)

And a massively huge John Dear RC Tractor

to race around the cul-de-sac!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

IT IS FREEZING!!!!!

2010-01-06T18:56:00.000-08:00

With my pretty new blog settings, I'm "willing" the sun to Georgia!!!!

Pray for sun......lots and lots of sun......

....I hate cold.....

Happy Birthday To Meeeeeeeeee!!!!

2009-12-23T16:44:00.000-08:00

It's no secret.
There is a man in my life.
A man that makes me smile every morning.
A man that makes me giggle every night.
A man who loves every single part of me....good and bad,
A man who listens to every word I have to say (ALL of them...)
A man who accepts everything about me,
and loves all 3 of the littles that trail behind me.
He is my knight in shining armor.
He is what keeps me strong.
He is amazing.
I love you, E.

This year for my birthday, we went to Savannah for the weekend.
A-MAZE-ING!!!
3 days in beautiful south GA.
We got there and as we
pulled into the resort, I touched the window of the car
and said to Eric,
"Um, it's warm outside!"

That explains it all.
We stayed at the Westin Resort,
Ate so many oysters it would make you sick,
and slept, and slept, and slept!!!

Enjoy the pics.....

Fountain buttocks in Savannah... :o)

The old Savannah Cotton Exchange.
On the other side on the bottom is the pub
we ate tons of oysters and crawfish at.
Look down below....

In the lobby at the Westin was the largest gingerbread
display I'd ever seen. It was the town of Savannah.
If you look below to the picture of the bridge,
this is their gingerbread rendition of it.

A bigger pic of the gingerbread town.

I love this pic. I love the piano.
I love that my birthday is at Christmas.

How cute, eh?
The waitress at our restaurant on
my birthday drew this on our doggie box.
love it.

View of the capitol from our room.

There was a wedding on my birthday at the resort.

We couldn't help but watch the entire thing.
It finally got cold, and the entire ceremony lasted 30 mins.

Bride and Groom having a kiss after they were marrhhwweeed...

and then she VERY quickly ran inside!
Brides are so cute.

The ferry that took us back and forth from the

resort to River Street.

Soooo cute and so convenient!!!

We are too cute!!!

Paula Deen's store!!!
This one is for Maddie!!!

This was someone's backyard!!!

This one too!!! LOVE what they did with the place!!

You know me and those old church's!!

Manger scene in the church.

Seriously love the church.

Very cool old houses turned into very cool businesses.

This one is for T. Biggest dog I've ever seen!!!

It was called "Dalmatian something or other....."

Ok, back up to the gingerbread bridge in the hotel....
This is it!!!
Super cool bridge you have to cross to get to the resort!

Super cool, big ole' houses outside the resort.

Story Time!!

We L-O-V-E the baby commercial about golf where
he says "shankapotamus". Laugh about it all the time.

Make the kids laugh about it all the time.
We sat down at the bottom of the old Cotton Mill
(note picture above)
and in front of Eric was engraved the above pic.
How funny is that?
I can't wait to show the kids!!!

More cool pub pics!!

Cool pic of the gingerbread town in the light. :o)

Yep, it's love. I am madly in love.

Kisses to you EC....

I miss my babies......

2009-12-23T16:14:00.000-08:00

Yep...miss the heck out of them.

They are off in Oklahoma enjoying time with the other side of the family...
which I love for them! How awesome to have two huge families
that love the heck out of you????
They are happy, they are sooooo healthy
(cross all fingers and toes and knock on everything wood around you!!!)
and they are soooooooooooooooooooooooooo loved.
I couldn't ask for more for them. Ok...picture time!!! Enjoy!!!

Where you will find my fave 8 year old most of the time.
On Mom's new computer. :o) Never thought I'd miss this sight.

Our awesome tree...
Missing some kids around it.

T in L-O-V-E with his train that Eric sent over.
It plays music, blows smoke, the whole 9 yards....
T and E love it. When he's not on Mom's computer,
this is where you will find him.

My amazing girls and my amazing mom!
Watching Polar Express in 3-D.
I've never seen anything so cozy in my life.
They had the surround sound blaring,
and I've never been so happy to have it!!!

*No comment about how amazingly cute I look. I had the most
unbelievable migraine I've ever had...and on my 33rd to boot!!!*

My amazing kids with the help of my amazing sister, Kathy
gave me the bestest birthday E-V-E-R!!!
Come to my house to see what they did for me!!!!

Best birthday cake E-V-E-R!!!!
Three hearts for the babes,
and one chocolate one for me!!!!

T-messy faced Bastings with Auntie Kathy!!!
I guess the pizza was good!!!

Ok, I love em!!!

More posts to come!!!

2 days and counting.....

2009-12-16T19:16:00.001-08:00

.....oh yeah....only 2 more days.

.......you still have time.

.........I'm not picky!

..............you know who you are!!!

11.22.99.....10 Years old and counting.....

2009-11-22T18:39:00.000-08:00

Amazing date, Amazing girl, Amazing life.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Sariah!!!!!

10 years ago I went into labor at some ridiculous hour of the morning,
and to this day, she won't sleep past 7am.

10 years ago, the nurse checked me, said, "you're doing great",
and the minute she left the room I said to my mom,
"something is wrong...." and Sariah was born 15 minutes later...
on a Sunday, by a nurse, just like her mama.

10 years ago, I had my second baby girl and the next love of my life.

She's 10 years old. She's stronger than an ox. She LOVES her family. She is amazing.

I love you Sariah Alexis.....I love you!!!

(and who pulls off red glasses better than that pretty girl?????)

Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009

2009-11-14T19:24:00.001-08:00

By far, the crappiest day I've had in a LOOOOOOOONG time.
Until 10:27pm.

Tanner: Mom, (after finding my tape measure out on the table)
"Can I measure "things"?

Mom: Sure, just don't break "things".

Tanner: Awesome.

10 minutes later.......

Tanner: (Pulling on tape measure standing next to mom in the kitchen) "I wanna be just like Papa. Measurin' and stuff and building things all the time."

Mom: (said to self) Ok, today doesn't suck THAT bad....

I have a great Dad....and a great son who I hope grows up just like him. :o)

EHC...More awesome video....

2009-11-10T18:06:00.000-08:00

Ok, so maybe we need to invest in a good camcorder.
Fine. Oh, Santa.......

This was Maddie's favorite director.
He was loud and energetic and fun and they loved
every minute of him.

And then they sang this with him.....

I love how he's not afraid to talk to them while he's directing!!!

He actually wrote this song.
It got cut off at the end....we ran out of video space. :o(

EHC Video.....

2009-11-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

This is soooo cool to watch.
If you have any kind of respect for

(1) 10 to 11 year old attention spans...
(2) Counting beats while clapping accents to another beat...
(3) Adults who can teach kids who have zero "professional" training...

You will LOVE THIS!!!

FAVE SONG OF ALL TIME!!!

Find the pole in the center of the stage....
Maddie is on the top row to the right of the pole.
(such a good clapper!!!)

And pay no attention to the RETARD who didn't turn his
blankety, blank cell phone off......
Yep, paid $20 to have THAT recorded!!!!!

2009 EHC

2009-11-07T18:16:00.000-08:00

WOW!!! Maybe words don't do it justice to me
because she's mine, but WOW!!!
I'll post some pics of Maddie's amazing day,
and then the video of 3 of her 4 songs.
She LOVED her male conductor.
He's the super cool one in purple pants who REALLY conducts.
I loved him. I got to listen to how he coached them and
how he engaged them in the music.
He loves the work he does, and that impresses me most.
He loves those kids, and the proof was in the
children when they introduced him.
Man, that must be an amazing feeling.
Reminds me so much of my high school choir teacher. Awesome!

Ok, on with the show!!!!!

Ms. Jacobs, Maddie, Ms. Johnson
Awesome Music Teachers!!!

Maddie and Destiny...
Waiting for the show to start.
(look at the creepy kid two down from Maddie...."i will taze you with me eyes!")

Riah, being so patient. Love you, Riah!!

Tanner, being sick as a dog. Poor guy.

(When you are looking at the pic of the choir and looking for Maddie,
look for the pole in the center of the stage, Maddie is on the top
row directly to the right. Easy, peasy to spot!)

A pic of her whole choir.

This was only 150 kids. They split them into
two choirs......so they'd all fit on the stage! :o)

Allgood Elementary Superstars!!!!
Aren't they cute!?!?!?!

Ok, super cool story about this performance center.
Look at the pic above. See the circle on the ceiling?
The circle is there because that side of the room
(yes, this pic is exactly 1/2 of the room....big!!)
actually turns. When it swivels, it becomes the room
they practiced in. How cool is that????
Go back to the post before this one and look at the
practice room. At the bottom of the 1st row, you can see
where it swivels there as well.
I just think it's the neatest thing!!

Ok, I'll post a video of it next!!!

2009 Elementary Honor Chorus

2009-11-06T18:55:00.000-08:00

Never in a million years could I have imagined the day one of my littles was doing the exact same thing I was doing some 19....yep, I said, NINETEEN, years ago. Madeline was chosen to participate with 300 other elementary age students from the state of Georgia in the GMEA (Georgia Music Educators Association) Elementary Honor Chorus. I took her today. We got her name tag, we bought the t-shirt, we found her practice studio. It was all hum-drum normal....until they started to sing. They started to sing and I got goose bumps all over my body. They were amazing. Little 5th grade voices, singing like angels. And that was before their conductor got a hold of them. I can't wait to post the video. Here are a few pics from today....

Clayton County Schools Performing Arts Center.....very nice....
Can't wait to tell you what tricks they have in this neat place!!

Maddie in her seat after a short break. The phrase:
"Mom, stooooooooooooop!!!"
Screams loud and clear!!!

Better pic of the practice auditorium...

Maddie and Maddie

Maddie and Mom

Ms. Johnson (Her choir teacher) and Maddie

Maddie, A friend, another friend, Maddie

More to come tomorrow!!!

Birthdays=Halloween.....

2009-11-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

It's a rough life. All my babies were born at holidays.
I'm sorry....but I think it's inevitable.
Both your Daddy and I were holiday babies.
Call it a "family" trait. :o)

A purple fairy, a pink fairy
and a ninja. Yep....Halloween is awesome.

Happy Birthday Madeline.
Big ole' #11.

Happy Birthday, T.
Big ole' #8.
He didn't think my trick candles were nearly as funny as I did.
Party pooper.....

Yeah for Bakugon!!!

Babysitting.....

2009-11-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

We had the best time. See for yourself. Charley makes me laugh.....

I'm pretty.....

Eric..."put that damn camera away"
Charley..." Do you see her? Auntie Sarah? She acts like we want to be photographed..."

"Whatcha doing under there?"

I found a jumpoline!!!

11 Years Ago Today......(OMG, really??????)

2009-10-29T17:16:00.002-07:00

In a town called Orem, Utah, she made her grand entrance......

(42 weeks and a zillion hours later!)

She became the 1st of many 1st's......

(such a show off!!!)

She was the most amazing gift I could ever imagine.....

(and still won't make her bed....)

She was a blessing given to me.

(truth be told.....she does help make dinner!)

She made her grand entrance,

(and her grand exit...as she heads for ballet,
choir and whatever else she needs to be chauffeured to these days!)

And has been doing it ever since.

(I do love her more than life and can't imagine it without her!!!)

Happy Birthday, Madeline Ashley, Happy Birthday.

I love you more than life....

To the youngest man in my life.....

2009-10-27T16:49:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Tanner Andrew!!!
You are my most favorite boy in the entire world.
I'll never forget the day you came into this word, and how you've grown ever since.
You have the biggest heart and most amazing mind.
You are what every Mama in the world prays for.
You are my hero.
I love you most even if you say you love me more!!!

Happy 8th Birthday Dogger!!!!

On to happier thoughts......

2009-09-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

New pics. Because I can. Because I have amazing kids. Because I have an awesome life..

Ok....just a little story under each one.....

E and I out on the town in the ATL.......

Riah after cheerleading practice. She is sooooo good!!!

Hannah Montana, i mean Auntie Kathy........in da HOUSE!!!!!!!!

See no, hear no, speak no.....
need I say more????

starting to perfect the back-hand-spring.....
I mean.....a few more trips to the ER.....
I mean....I am so proud!!!!
Landing on her feet instead of her knees.....
This is a good thing!!!!!

In this picture, we like each other!!!

Not sure if the picture needs words.

Baseball Season-$100
New Glove-$25
New Cleats-$50
Baseball Uniform-$50

Time spent with Papa perfecting the pitch............

Priceless.

New pics. Because I can. Because I have amazing kids. Because I have an awesome life.

I am not Noah........nor his wife.....

2009-09-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

We had a flood. A biggin.
The kids loved it because they were out of school for a week.
I loved it because I was at home with the kids for a week.

We did not love it because it tore up our town. It tore up our community. It messed with so many lives. I have never been so happy to be prepared. We had food, water, and not for a minute did we lose electricity. We were happy and warm. The kids think having a sound proof basement is the BEST, because they can sleep through the storms. (I was not so lucky. :o( )

We were lucky. VERY lucky. Little bit of water in the basement. (Still such a pain!!!) But nothing compared to what our own neighbors got. They were cleaning out their basement in the midst of the rain. It was different to be in the "middle" of it, and not be reading about it from 1000 miles away. It makes you stop. It makes you think. It makes you get your act together. Once in 500 years they said. ONCE!!! I will take another explanation. I'll get my food storage in tact. I'll take advantage of the space I have. I'll be ready next time. I have only a few pictures. It's amazing what you DON'T stop and take pictures of. I'm sure my parents are thankful.

This is our backyard. Saturated. Gross. Mosquitoes. Flies. Ants. The things they DON'T talk about when a flood happens.

We are dry. We are clean. We are safe. We are a family and we stuck it out together.

I love my kids.

My backyard. Ewhhhh.

If you click on this picture, you can see the rain drops.
It came down so hard and so long, you could capture it on film.

This is what we call a saturated yard.

Be careful what you pray for.........

Good luck and God bless all the families in Paulding and South Cobb County.

And if you read this before Sunday night,
go donate to your local School Box
for the kids of Clarkdale Elementary.
Or donate here on line.

Mama got a new job!!!

2009-09-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

New job...same amazing company!!! I took a new job in Corporate Applications at ING. I am soooo excited!!! I get to work with 2 amazing new men and learn about a whole new side of ING. I "move" on the 21st!!! Gonna miss my old crew like crazy....but what an amazing opportunity!!!

St. Lucia

2009-09-11T17:51:00.001-07:00

So, my head doesn't *heart* St. Lucia, but my heart sure does!!! Long story short....this was the honeymoon spot for the former Mrs. E. I had to create some new memories!!! :o) And boy did we ever. We hired a driver to take us around the island, and it was the best $50 we ever spent! We saw so many things, and had some great conversations. Here are the pics!

Beautiful Catholic church in St. Lucia. I just love em'.
Neato pic of the street. I've looked at this 1000 times and
every time get confused. I'd never be able to drive here!The entire WI has 2 fast food stops. This is one of them.
The other is Subway. Go figure.
Coming from the ATL, E and I had to laugh at this.
"This is your bottling plant? Wow!!!"E and I at the "top of the island".
Love this pic....
Outside the Governor's Mansion.
In the states that would be considered a house.
Us at the Sandal's Resort....
....aka....new memories!!! :o)Fabo island of St. LuciaAmazing authentic food we ate in the streets of St. Lucia....
Street view of where they eat. Sat next to the man in blue....
but took the pic of the girl with multi-colored hair for Sariah!!

Ok.....more to come!!!!

Barbados!!

2009-09-11T17:26:00.000-07:00

I remember when my grandparents went to Barbados for their 25th wedding anniversary. I imagine we had just as much fun. This was my 2nd favorite stop. We docked and then headed for our excursion. We got on a giant catamaran and sailed around to the beach. From that point, we got on another smaller boat and headed out to snorkel over a ship wreck. SO MUCH FUN!!! E and I had a blast!!!! Played with the pirates, swam in *schparkling* clear water, and got the beginnings of a great tan!!! Here are the pics!!!
Our view when we woke up in Barbados. I just love this kind of view.
It reminds me of the pictures my Dad would bring home from Africa.

Beautiful Barbados!!! Heat and wind.....zero humidity!!!!
And the view....ahhhhhhh!!!!!

Super cool boat we took to the beach. That's a slide. When we got
to the beach, they lowered it, and that's how you got off the boat.
I wish so bad I had one of those expensive water cameras
like K & J so I could take pics in the water!!!The beach we docked at.
Amazingly clear water. E and I must have swam out
100 yards. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!!!

Me and E after snorkeling. (those pics are coming soon!)3 Awesome Pirates!!! We played with them downstairs
so we didn't have to play with everyone else!!!Funny sign outside our docking point......

So....Barbados was awesome. We swam and snorkeled and
had an amazing time. I'd do it all over again tomorrow if I could.
Pics of snorkeling are coming. Had to put them on a disc.

Um, where did we leave off???

2009-09-11T17:23:00.000-07:00

Life has been sooooo busy. So busy in fact that I wonder where the time goes. I need to finish posting mine and E's trip (coming next), Mama got a new job (Yeah!!!!), the kids are soooo busy (isn't that what being a kid is all about?), and we've just been having a great time. Ok....here we go!

Dominica

2009-08-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

The say "Dom-n-eek-a", we say "Dom-in-eh-cuh"
either way.....this place is soooo cool!!!

We arrived to a very muggy, rainy, humid island, and left
with a whole new respect for the people of this great place.
Our tour guide was awesome.
The island was awesome.
The food was awesome.
I *heart* Dominica.

And now, what you've all been waiting for.......

PICTURES!!!!!
Meeeee!!! Peering out over our balcony.
(We were soooo lucky!! We always docked on our side of the ship!!)Cool doorway. That's all.
And it rains. Every day. All day.
Might not be able to deal with that forever.
An amazing old Catholic Church. We didn't get to stop. :o(
I love old churches.Mom, this one is for you! If you click on the picture
you can see the graveyard in the lower left.
It was sooooo cool. I don't know why it's cool
.....but we took the pic for you.
Apparently anyone who's anyone is buried there.
So the townsfolk are outta luck!! :o)

How cool is this thing???
It's called a Banyan Tree.
Basically the limbs grow into roots,
and make new roots....and more roots.....
click on Banyan up there and you can read about it!!!
I title this picture

"Your day didn't suck as bad as mine!!!"

The story goes (I think I remember it right).....
Dominica gained their independence from Britain
(go ahead, google it...let me know if you find it!)
and as a gift, France gave them a school bus.
The VERY NEXT DAY, a tree fell on it!!!!!!!!
They left it there, and now it is a tourist attraction!!
Nobody ever rode on the bus. How bad does that suck???
But such a cool pic, huh???Us in the rain forest, wondering why we bathed that day!
This is the college in Dominica. Awesome, eh?

I'm sure some of you are looking at that going,
"I wish my campus was that small. I could make it all the
way across and not break a sweat!!!"
Hahahaha!!! That was funny. :o)So next we headed up through the rain forest to
Trafalgar Falls. (more on those in a bit....)
On the way up....we saw TONS of these guys.
E decided he needed to play with one.
Got bit.
Serves him right.
Nuf said.
:o)
I love that man!
The view walking up to the falls. E and I hike all over north
GA looking for amazing falls........nobody told us
we had to go to the Caribbean to find it!!!!
This is the Daddy Falls of Trafalgar Falls.
There are 3 falls.....guess what they are called????
Mama, Daddy and Baby.

:o)

Ok....this is a long post.

I'm tired. Going to bed.

The rest of Dominica in a minute.......

St. Thomas

2009-08-04T18:21:00.000-07:00

St. Thomas was the first stop on our trip through the Caribbean.
It was also the first day of "real" vacation. No alarm. No computer. No cell phone.
No email. No Facebook (*sigh*). No crackberry. Nuttin'.
Best day ever. In fact, it could have been in tim-buck-two,
and it wouldn't have mattered to me. I was so happy.

This is what we woke up to on Monday morning.....

Eric opened the curtains to the balcony and this is what he said.....

"Oh my gosh. You have GOT to see this!"

To which I (begrudgingly) obliged, as I was soooooooo cozy in bed....."ok..."

No explanation needed. I said to E,
"um, we went to sleep in San Juan and woke up in paradise!"

We then threw some clothes on and went exploring.
It didn't take long to figure out we were still tired.
We got the obligatory t-shirt (I think???)
and marched our cute butts right back on to the ship.

Here is what we got pics of......This was parked next to our ship. It was a mini ship.

People still have money. Obviously.

Riah said
"Mom, it's the yacht off of Fool's Gold!!"

Smart Girl!!! Looks just like it.This is the Hilton at the bottom tip of the island.

Ok, the next clip warrants an explanation:

The night before at our muster station, we were chattin
it up with the crew. We asked them how often the rescue boats get
tested. They said "every trip out to sea. The coast guard requires it."
We said, huh? Cool. Never seen it done before.
Guess what we saw the next morning?

Insert SHORT video:

Cool, huh?

Levi, don't laugh. It's not nice.

Ok. That was St. Thomas. We enjoyed the ship that day! :o)

Around the world in 7 days.....

2009-07-31T16:18:00.001-07:00

Or so it felt like it. E and I just got home from an amazing vacation to the Southern Caribbean. He surprised me with it 3 weeks prior,
and it could not have been better.
We started our trip by flying to San Juan to board the
Carnival Victory, and from the moment we stepped on the ship,
I felt like we'd boarded a trip to Heaven.
I won't bore you with too much detail, but will document via pictures instead.

That's our ship down there!
This is a pic from the plane as we were flying into San Juan.

A Royal Caribbean Ship directly across from ours at port. I love how it looked
at night. Since we only sailed at night, I couldn't get a picture of ours this way.

Us at our Muster Station.....
being good little passengers and doing the safety drill.
We laughed so hard while this was going on, and I'm so glad E got this pic.
OH, and all was fun and games until there were
700,000,000 people around me,
and then claustrophobia set in and
E saw a WHOLE new side of me. Yuck!

Leaving San Juan!! Can you tell how stinkin' excited I was???

Our messy room.....(note to self, take pic of stateroom AFTER room steward cleans it!)

Ok.....next post.....stop #1!!!

Stay tuned!

Now you see it......

2009-07-06T17:31:00.001-07:00

Now you don't.....

I forgot to take a pic of her super cutie A-line cut that Auntie Kelly
cut it in to....but we'll add that soon! :o)

She donated her hair to Locks of Love-again!
This is her 2nd time to donate 9+ inches!!
We figure she's got 1 year to grow it back out before
her next ballet recital.

Proud of her....she does great things and has the biggest heart!

....and she danced......

2009-06-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

....danced so beautifully.... so gracefully.....

Maddie had her ballet recital two weekends ago, and she was beautiful. I was so impressed with how much she has learned. She is working towards pointe, and I imagine in a few short years she will impress us with her skills. Here are some pictures of her awesome day.

Waiting back stage after she got dressed and put her shoes on......Water....must have water!!Ready to go on stage!!
Counting out the music......

Dancing....dancing...dancing....

And then my camera died.
Nice.

So here are some shots after from Auntie JoJo
Ahhhh.....so pretty....
With her class....an awesome pic of her leaping.....

....and the landing...

Me and my baby.

June 13, 2009
Cartersville, GA

....and a new story about Tanner.....

2009-06-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

So...I didn't forget him. He finished school too. In fact, he's a freaking genius.

Let the story begin.....

....a few days before school gets out I get an email from T's teacher. He's aced the CRCT. That's standardized testing in GA....and he literally aced it. Out of some 100 odd questions (or more) and days of testing, he missed 1. What? 1? OMG. That's so cool. Seriously....so cool. I can't wait for him to test for advanced placement next year.

.....fast forward......two days.....email from same teacher....

"I wanted to let you know...*edit for length and content*.....Tanner put on a ring at school today that was not his. Long story short, it didn't fit. He didn't tell me about it until it was time to go home. He had it on for roughly 4 hours. We tried to get it off in the classroom with water, soap and lotion. No luck. The finger was swollen, purple, and had me very concerned. We went to the nurse, she tried something else....no luck. School nurse calls head nurse over the county and Tanner overhears this:

....yeah, I think we are going to have to cut it off!"
Tanner: CUT WHAT OFF??????
Hahahahahaha!!!!!!

At any rate, they cut off the ring, gave him some ice and a candy bar, and the boy lost a little bit of his common sense that day.
I asked Tanner why he stuffed a ring on his finger that didn't fit. He very simply said to me:

"No, Mom, that's not how it was. It slid right on to my finger. It wasn't until time to go home that I tried to slip it off and it wouldn't budge."

Oh, I can't make fun...heck, they called my mom b/c I swallowed a paper clip!!
The swollen middle finger.....

At any rate...he's great. He learns a little more every day.....
and teaches his Mama something new too!!!

2nd Grade....here we come!!!

Clearly a sleep in day!!!

Love this kid......He my favorite boy!!!

School's Out!!!

2009-06-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

Nobody is more excited about this than me.....not even the kids.
No homework!
No bedtimes!
No schedules!
No nothing, but......

Staying up late.....
Sleeping in later......
Vacation, vacation, vacation!!!!
Grilling out every night.....
Watching movies until we just can't keep our eyes open......
Slip and slides.....
Sleepovers......
Slumber parties!!!!

Here are some pics of the last day of school.....a week or 3 ago....but end of school year pics none the less!!!

Mom and Riah out to lunch on the last day!!!
Who's the coolest mom ever???
Ok, not a quality shot....but a shot none the less!!
This is Riah getting 1 of her awards at the 3rd Grade award assembly.
She was so ready for this thing to be over with!!!
Maddie finishing 4th Grade!!
She is getting her Cookie "Dough" award here from
Mr. and Mrs. Kraemer.
She got the award for always having on the most matching,
coordinated outfits that are the most up to date,
and especially having perfect hair all the time.
The "Dough" was to indicate $$$....cute.
Hummmmm, wonder why she gets this award every year???Maddie and her BFF's Carrie and *yikes, I can't remember her name!!!*Some of the kids in Maddie's class!!

Yeah, schools out!!!

*......read the next post for Tanner's pics and story.....*

I'm pretty sure.....

2009-06-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

We have a lot to blog about.......

School is done for one more semester....wow A&P I out of the way.....that was interesting

School year done for the babies......Wow!!! Does my oldest really only have one more year in elementary school????

We moved.....again!!! I must really have nothing better to do.......

Ok, lots of pictures and stories to add.....stay tuned.....

Mad Talent

2009-05-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

As Uncle Levi so appropriately named it!!
Props to him for having "mad skillz" and being able
to pull this sweet little number off the camcorder!!
Enjoy it.....she's the first of our little trio!!!

Mega good lookin' kids.....

2009-05-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

Sariah (9) Madeline (10)
Tanner (7)

(Photo courtesy of Auntie Kathy)

The Incredible Talent Show

2009-05-02T21:38:00.000-07:00

Madeline (known more commonly as "Maddie") performed at the Allgood Talent Show last night. There are no words. She is amazing. Her song was the best. She looked like she belonged on stage. She didn't even get nervous.....at least like her Mama used too. She sang so well....and if her Mom wasn't such a dork, I'd have her performance posted here by now!! I just can't figure out how to get it on my computer!!! I'm so proud of her!!! Auntie Kathy has a super cutie pic posted of her on her blog....so go check it out until I get a hold of Auntie Kelly to figure out the camcorder. I'm so proud...and my next step....convincing that child to drop ballet and pick up voice. Now I get where my Dad was coming from. Sing, sing, sing....sing your heart out!!! Sing like you never have before, and put your heart and soul into it!!!!

I love you Mads!!!

The moment you've all been waiting for.....

2009-04-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

The 2009 Allgood Talent Show!!!!
Featuring our very own:

Maddie Bastings

Friday, March 1, 2009
6:30pm
Allgood Gymnasium

Get there early, as this event will be packed!!!

*Gramma and Papa, we'll post the video!!*

Anyone wishing to stay at my house is welcomed......just be prepared to pack a box or two!!!

April's funny from Tanner......

2009-04-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

Basic Monday night. Mom going through Tanner's backpack. Looking at his school work from the previous week.
Prelude: Tanner does everything perfect. I'm not joking. In fact....the ONE time he brought home a "non" smiley face for his behavior grade, I freaked out. His teacher said, "Let him mess up!!! It's good for him. He needs to understand that feeling."
Me: Are you kidding me??????? Tanner doesn't mess up!!!!

I got over that.

Back to the story.

I'm reading over Tanner's work for the week. Everything is perfect. As usual.
UNTIL, I come to the "forbidden page!!!" The page with 3, count them, THREE errors, right in a row!!!! The conversation ensues:

Mom:(screaming from downstairs) TANNER!!!! Come down here.
Tanner: Yeah?
Mom: What's up with this paper? You missed three questions right in a row....ABOUT A PICTURE OF A GIRL SLEEPING!!!!
Tanner: Yeah.
Mom: Ok, what is she doing?
Tanner: She's sleeping.
Mom: So you understand what she's doing?
Tanner: Yeah
(mind you, the question is "What is the girl in the picture doing?")
Mom: So why in the world did you miss it?
Tanner: (With eyes half way rolled, half qwerkie grin on his face....) Um, yeah, Mom, I wasn't paying attention.
Me: Um.............................ok?

What do you do with a kid who's PAINFULLY honest?????????? I couldn't even get mad. He told me, plain and simple.....I wasn't paying attention. So I ask him the questions...and he answered perfectly. GAG!!!! FINE!!!! Don't pray for kids who are amazing....YOU WILL GET THEM!!!!

"Wednesday was the best day EVER!!"

2009-04-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

Or so my children say. I was reminded this week of how very little your little ones need to feel appreciated or loved. Many of you know I'm in school, rapidly trying to obtain the dream of becoming a nurse, but was reminded this week that no matter the degrees we earn, the jobs we obtain, or the relationships we have, nothing is greater than the relationship we have with our families.
My study group met on Wednesday night. Too bad for them...they missed out on me. That's my night with the kids. Literally. Weekends are spent running errands, grocery shopping (oh how they despise it!), laundry, church, a study group if I can squeeze it in....basically being a mom. Monday night, get the kids in "school week" mode. Homework for them and a basic planing of the week. Tuesday and Thursday school for mom, ballet, Activity Day Girls and the park if Auntie JoJo can manage...and Friday they are off to their Dad's.
So Wednesday is "our" day. This week it consisted of the movie "Bedtime Stories", homemade nachos and ice cream topped with brownies and whoppers. (Sorry you weren't there mom!) I just didn't realize how much they enjoyed it until today. Today being Friday. Today being the last day I see them for 7 more days. On our way to school, it's the ritual:
Did you get your lunch?
Did you get your snack?
Did I sign off on everyone's homework?
Are you going to have a great day?

But today I was in for a treat. Today I asked, along with all the mundane morning questions:
"Did you have a great week?"
And I heard a resounding "YES!!! Especially Wednesday!!!"
I asked why?
"Because we didn't have homework, you didn't have school or lab, and we ate dinner together and watched a movie!!!"
Wow! I'm shocked, surprised, and a little saddened. How little it takes to show them how much you love them....despite how much you "have to do."
Did I really prioritize laundry, groceries, work and school over them? I did...and I'll never do it again. I want them to grow up with memories of us. Not memories of how Mom went to school. Gag....can you imagine???
At any rate....I'm no pro at being a Mommy....in fact, if you looked at one of my most recent posts, you'll realize that even I don't notice how quickly the time goes by. Love your children. Love them with everything you have, before you do anything else. They will grow up to be images of you. Oie-vey....can you imagine???

Just a quick....ok long....thought about being a mommy. I do love my most full time job....I love you Maddie, Riah and T.

We call this "rapid blogging".....

2009-04-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

....as in , I don't have time to stop during the week and blog, so we catch up on the weekends!! Enjoy.

An interpretation by Tanner.....

2009-04-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

I realize this is VERY late, but to me, it simply doesn't matter.

Tanner made me a Valentine's Day card this year. I found it in his backpack while cleaning out for the next day. He bashfully said "I made it just for you."

I opened the card, and saw the most amazing thing....a drawing of my baby....

I'll share it with you......

He said "I put my glasses on and spiked my hair!!"

Who has the coolest kid in the world??? I DO!!!!!

You forget how little they once were......

2009-04-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

Mom sent this pic to me today and I could have died. I forgot how much I adored Sariah at this age....and Madeline...still the maternal one. She loves her little sister so much, even today....although sometimes I question her intentions!! :o)

I love my girls!!!! Now look how they have changed......

Sariah with the same look on her face....how classic does that get???

And Maddie with that smile.....

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!!!

If you never read another post....please read this one!!!

2009-03-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Governor's state budget proposal eliminates school nurse funding in Georgia. I'm not asking you to help petition to change it because I'm headed into the field, or because I have a little monster who takes medicine at school given only by a nurse, but because ALL of our little people need nurses in school. I promise you my mother has hundreds of HORROR stories about the 8 of us and the number of times she was called to the school. (I was probably the majority of them....but who's counting???) We won't mention the time Kathy was playing teatherball and got knocked to the ground and the school said "she's fine".....and she had a broken arm. Or the time some silly boy in my 8th grade art class made me laugh and the half chewed paper clip in my mouth went scraping down the back of my throat....and scratched all my insides. Or the countless phone calls I get from the school telling me "Sariah fell off the monkey bars....flat on her back, but I think she's ok!"
Point being, we hire school administrators to administrate, teachers to teach, and janitors to clean. They don't get paid enough for what they currently do, why would you expect them to take on the added responsibility of dosing your child with the proper meds? I don't want to be the first parent who has to sue the entire school system for giving my child the wrong meds, thereby depleting any funds they ever thought they had to "fix" my child. Nurses aren't perfect, but at least they are trained to do a specific job. How would you like it if your accountant suddenly became your cardiologist? Bet there wouldn't be a budget proposal on that!!!

Click HERE to vote!!!!

***side bar....it was a stupid boy who made Kathy break her arm...not the teatherball, but that just makes my point even stronger*****

They finally make the shoe of my dreams.....

2009-03-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

Crocs finally makes the shoe of my dreams. It's comfortable, comes clean with water, and has a bow!!!! I can't wait to order these for the girls. Oh fine, for me too. :o)

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!

2009-03-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

Vinyl Lettering

2009-03-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

Hi. I know lots of my sisters do this, order this, like this stuff....and are always looking for good deals...and I think I found one!!! This is the link to one of my oldest, dearest, bestest friends in the whole world's sister in law!!! Did you get that??? It's Heather A.C. for those of you wondering.... ANYWAY....

Here is Trina's Vinyl Creations

I love her stuff...and her blog is super cute!!! And Trina, I'm linking to you. I hope that is ok!!!

Nursing Exam Question of the day.....

2009-03-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

A 62 year old male client is being discharged home from the hospital. During his stay, he acquired a nosocomial infection, Clostridium difficile. In preparing a teaching plan for the client and caretaker, which priority point would the nurse include?????

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Doody, doody, doody, do, doody, doody, DO, do, do, ta, do, do........

My answer is "WHAT ARE YOU DOING DISCHARGING HIM FROM THE HOSPITAL WITH CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE??????

Clearly, I'm going to be that nurse that says, Nope, you are staying here. It's people like you that make my kids sick and require me to stay home from work.

the real answer is:
****CD causes diarrhea accompanied by flatus and abdominal discomfort****

They make the most common stuff sound so gross!! Aren't you glad I'm keeping you part of my studies??? You'll all be nurses by the time I'm done!!!

Off to study!!

I wanna be like Troy.....

2009-02-15T18:46:00.000-08:00

He's always been my hero....
I still wear his jersey to bed....
I wanna be like Troy.......

College Grad.....here I come...

I got all growed up.....

2009-02-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

...and after 32 years....mama got contacts!!! Don't laugh, don't point, don't make judgment until YOU have worn glasses for 31 years or longer!!!!! I have to be honest with ya....it's not as "easy" as it seems!! They warned me, I laughed, but my equilibrium is ALL messes up!!!! I keep overstepping myself, looking for that "frame around my face", but do not fret, I'm sure in 31 more years, I'll have it all figured out!!!

Here she is.....Ms. America.....

And here is the sad part....I actually "saw" the inside of a shower for the first time this week. Sad, so sad.

There is a legitimate reason......

2009-02-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

....for whatever Kathy posts' on her blog in the next 1 to 5 days...if it has ANYTHING to do with me. Not to say she's that mean.....not to say she doesn't have anything to do but take mean pictures and post them on her blog, but let me be the first to say, if she does, know that anything you see on her blog that has anything to do with me, *cough* insane pictures not excluded *cough* immediately holds the following caption:

I love my kids enough to be stupid WITH them!!! :o)

Nuff said.

Don't go looking at her blog either!!!

I found another Bartian......

2009-01-21T09:27:00.000-08:00

There are so many people I miss from Bartlesville.....

and I found one of them here:

http://ktsparks.blogspot.com/

I linked her to my side-bar as well......happy hunting through Oklahoma!!

What we've NOT been up to.......

2009-01-18T15:40:00.000-08:00

I get so many questions about how it's all going. How the kids are. How school is going. Do we need anything. So this is the post about our very mundane, boring, day to day, run like the wind, life.
First and foremost. Kids are amazing. Ok, my kids are amazing. Today. Tomorrow could be a completely different story. Maddie got the date for her ballet recital. (And as soon as she makes me mad enough, I have the worst pictures to post to make her mad!!...Oh, who am I kidding...those are going up next!! :) Her first ballet recital is June 13th.....it's a Saturday. Please make arrangements ahead of time, as we expect all Hotels, Motels, and church building gymnasiums to be rapidly sold out. She really is my child. You'll be able to tell when you see her dance. I've got to give it to her though. I'm a clutz. At least she's a clutz who's willing to fight like the dickens to be better. I hope she keeps this up. It sure is fun, regardless of how often we run like mad to practice every week.
Riah....forever my GA Bulldog!! She's been keeping up in school nicely. She's so much like her Daddy. Pay zero attention in class. Always "forget" to do the homework. Ace everything. Gag!! She's such a smart girl. She has been working through gymnastics this past year in order to get ready for cheerleading. She's so funny in her understanding of it all. I asked her this morning if she was sure that's what she wanted to do, and she said, "Um, yeah, but I'm only cheering for the Bulldogs!" Find me a bigger fan!!! I told her she'd have to work up through the younger football players, but if she plays her cards right, she'll be cheering for them in no time. (Too soon as far as I'm concerned!!)
Tanner is amazing, but will do his best to try and fool you. (Just ask Gradma!) He's excited for Grandma and Papa to move for one reason, and one reason only.......so he can go and visit WITHOUT his sisters. Other than that, I'm not sure you could pay the kid to come up with a good reason to move. Who doesn't want to live next door to these munchkins? He's blowing through 1st grade like the rocket scientist that he is, and frankly, I'm excited for 2nd grade. Maybe they know something he doesn't. He's been keeping himself busy with gymnastics as well, waiting for baseball to get started. We were talking about it the other day, and this was the convo we had:
Mom: T, you played baseball 2 years ago. You told us you hated it. Why the sudden change of heart?
T: Mom, that was T-Ball. All you do is hit the ball off a stick and stand in the field. That's NOT baseball.

Oh. Alrighty then. Clearly the child will need some actual interaction with the ball. Thank God for little boys, cuz I sure do love mine!!!

Me. Me, me, me, me, me!!! Ok, that's it!! Read the above few sentences.....that's what I do. Oh wait, both Jo and I made it through lay-offs at work. Thanks for all of your prayers and crossed fingers. My dept. was hit pretty hard, and the next few weeks is going to be interesting, but at least we have jobs!! School is amazing. Really, truthfully, amazing. It's work, but the work is so worth it this time around. If all goes well, I'll apply to the Nursing School in April 2010. That's not very far away!! Yeah!!!

Ok, that's it. We are great. Freezing, but great. (Since when was the south at a high of 12 degrees?) Everyone have a great year!!!!

Just another Tanner funny.....

2009-01-03T19:36:00.000-08:00

We are in the infamous Wally World today, doing our basic weekly shopping. Maddie and Riah are with Auntie Kathy and T and I are trying like heck to get all the shopping done before the girls find us. (Seriously....1 is sooooooooooooo much easier than 3!!) I've made my list while the children eat a healthy Burger King -in the car.(.....no comment please!) So while I'm running through the isles, I seem to be remembering things I "forgot". I ask Tanner if he liked the garlic bread he had last night with his pasta and red sauce. He says yes......BUT, I don't like the crust. I'm thinking to myself, Hummmmmm, really? Ok, whatev. We get home and I take in the first load of groceries. Notice that the trash is full, and inevitably as I'm loading the fridge with new food....I'll throw some old food out......so let's take that trash out on the way out to get the next handfull of groceries.....but wait. What do I notice............(forgive me for not taking a pic....it would have been priceless!)? A perfectly eaten piece of Texas sliced garlic toast.......with the center missing. Hahahahahahaha!!! I so laughed to myself!!! He literally ate all of the gushy, mushy, wonderful inside. And left the crust. I love that kid!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

2008-12-22T07:13:00.000-08:00

This year for my 29th birthday (Yes, Amy....we are forever 29!) Eric surprised me and took me to Asheville, NC for a long weekend. It was all supposed to be a big surprise...and it was until Eric opened his mouth on the drive up.

The view on the way to NC. This pic doesn't do it justice.
We are at this point on the trip and the following conversation happens:

Me: We have to get some Christmas shopping done this weekend. What should we get Nicki?
E: Just get here something there.
Me: Where?
E: At the gift shop. I'm sure they have tons of stuff at the gift shop they are willing to sell you.
Me: What gift shop?
E: At the Biltmore.
Me: Why in the world would I buy her something at the Biltmore?
E: "Deer in headlights look", accompanied by, "I know I did not just say that!" look.
Me: Is that where we are going??????? "Big grin! Big grin! Big grin!"
E: I cannot believe I just said that!! I've been keeping it a secret for months!!!

So....following are pictures from our amazing weekend. Start to finish. Enjoy!!

South Carolina Mountains

Eric enjoying the last of our Tuna Martini.
Yummy sushi on Friday night in Asheville!

The Entrance to The Biltmore Estate

Me freezing outside the Winery

Eric saying "take the freaking picture already, honey!!!"
Clearly outside the Winery and Bistro.

Me waiting inside to tour the Winery.....

Headed into the Winery. The whole area is built like this. Even Biltmore Village outside the 8,000 acres of the actual home is built like this. More of those pics down below!

This is the actual room where they squeeze the grapes.
It's more modern b/c they still produce wine.
The barrels where they age. You had to take pics through the glass,
that's the reason for the green glare.

This is where they bottle the wine. It wasn't a production day....but still neat!!

The Cellars (duh!)
This is downstairs in the Winery. Just before you get to walk through
all the old hallways and see where they keep all the barrels. I love this place!!!
So country.....so romantic!!

This is one of my favorite pics. These are the halls in the cellar.
I love how old and original it is.
One of the cellars you actually got to see. Look at the layer of dust on those bottles!
Those bottles must be so old! And taste so good!!!

I saw this sign and died!! I told Eric to just plan on that sign
eventually having our name on it!! How cool!!!

Ok, now here comes the good stuff!! As you see the next set of pics,
remember a few things about this home.

It was built in the late 1800's and took 7 years to build
It was never a hotel, or a resort, or a place to "rent"....this was a family's home.
When the home was built, it was designed so that you could not see the home
until you arrived in front of it. How stinkin' impressive is that???

Ok, here are our pics:

This is the only peek you get of the house as you are about 5 feet
from the entry gates.....

And there she is!!!
Is that not the most amazing thing you've ever seen???

And people lived there!!!!

Close ups.....such detail!!

More up close.....

This is the view looking away from the house. You can't see the
veranda behind the tree at the top of that hill....but apparently
lots of people get married there. How special.

Us in front of the house.....and the creepy guy behind me
that would not get out of our pics!!!

This is the greenhouse that lead to the gardens. It was HUGE!

That's me up next to the door. I look so little compared to
the building.

Us outside the Greenhouse

Eric in the greenhouse. The flowers were amazing.

Cool plants in the Desert Room...reminded me of home!

More neat plants....

The same one up close....

Eric's Favorite Plant
Bird of Paradise

Really cool door handles to the Shop at the Garden
I thought Mom and Kathy would like this...

This is the wall you see when you look away from the house. The fountains
embedded in it we so neat.

And now....the Creme de' la Creme'

Eric took this picture right before we went into the house....
I could not believe how well he captured what we saw...

This was taken from the wall in front of the house.
Just breathtaking.

We then got to enter the home, but no pictures are allowed inside.
(How else will they ever sell that $400 picture book?)

We entered and when you first walk in, the winding staircase is to your left,
and to your right is the main dining room.
They had ballerinas dancing to the Nutcracker,
and then they had a choir singing.
It bellowed through the home as you walked it.
Truthfully one of the most amazing weekend's I've ever had.

Thanks Baby, I love you so much!!!

Happy Birthday, Riah Girl!!

2008-11-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

Riah-1 1/2

Riah-8 Years old. Summer 2008 Top Sail Island, NC

Ahhhhh......the stories that will forever be told about this precious one. Shall we begin? Mind you, I don't post these for you. I post them for my babies, and for their babies.....so this one is a tribute!!!

The day she was born...arriving at the wee ole' hours of 4am, the child has forever been an early riser. We rushed to the hospital to greet the nurses with the first baby of the day. They checked me at roughly 8am, and the minute the nurse walked out of the room, I looked at mom and said,
"Something doesn't feel right, call her back."
Mom-She just checked you, you're fine.
Sarah-MOM!!! Something is not right, get her!!!
Mom-Ok!!
Nurse comes in....."Get me an MD, we have a baby coming!!"
To this day she is always in a hurry!! Oh, and she follows in her mama's footsteps, gotta love being delivered by a nurse. The doctor didn't make it. Funny how she still charged me.....

The day she fell out of the window....let me paint the picture. Riah couldn't have been older than 2....maybe 3. (I think I mentally blocked this day....I'll have to go dig to find details.) Beautiful day. All the windows open in the house. Me in the shower. Matt downstairs with Tim Bird (Hi Kelly!! Are you reading this???). Girls in their room playing (aka jumping on their beds). Tanner.....I'm pretty sure he was still an infant. All we have is the story Madeline, to this day tells so vividly.
Maddie and Sariah were jumping on their beds. Sariah's bed was under the window, and all we know is that she fell backwards into the window.....and down she went. Not down a few feet to a flower bed. Not down a few yards to the yard. She fell 10' (if not more) from her bedroom window straight down onto the concrete driveway. This is the coversation:
Maddie (running down stairs): DAD!!! Riah just fell out the window.
Dad: Maddie, no she didn't. Go play.
Maddie: Dad, she really fell out the window!!
Dad: Maddie, that's not funny. Go play.
....from outside the front door all he hears is screaming and crying....
Matt and Tim jump (I can only imagine....remember, I was in the shower) faster than lightning and as Matt is opening the front door, our baby girl is sobbing and walking up the sidewalk. Matt grabs her and brings her inside. While this is happening, Maddie is beating on my bathroom door and I hear her say "Riah fell out the window!!" I grab my robe (sorry, Tim!!) and race downstairs. I've never been more terrified in my life. I grab Riah and lay her on the couch. Matt an Tim are scowering for broken bones and as I try to calm her down, the only thing this sweet baby girl can say is:
"Mom, can I have a green popsicle?"
I'm sure I cried harder than she did at that point. Probably just because if you know Riah at all, you know that nothing stops her. NOTHING!! And this was proof she was ok. We didn't find anything broken, but our state of shock was nothing short of a heart attack. I remember calling mom to say, hey, can you come sit with T and Maddie while we run to the hospital? If you know my mom, imagine this sentence in the most "Sarah, have you lost your ever-lovin' mind?" tone:
"SARAH!!! TAKE HER TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM!!! NOW!!!!"
Oh yeah....my baby just fell out of a window....on the concrete....hummmmmmmm.
Now here is the best part of the story. While they were up in their room "playing", they were also playing dress up. Riah had on a dress that was for a 6 month old. No baby of mine is going to the hospital in a dress 3 times too small, with her booty hangin' out (and they are lucky I didn't go searching for a bow to put in her hair!!).....you can also imagine the tone of voice Matt took with me when I insisted she change. I'm gonna say I deserved that one! (But she did change....... :) )
Riah was fine. In fact, the only proof we had that she actually did fall (and not fly) out of the window, was the imprint of the window screen on the outside of her right pinky finger.

Go ahead, tell me there are no such thing as angels. I have proof of one.
She's sleeping on the sofa right now. Sariah-2 years, Madeline-3 years, Mom-doesn't matter how many years and Tanner-2 months

The above picture was pretty close to when
the window incident happened (+/- 6 months).
She's so little....

And then there was the day after Thanksgiving.....I'm pretty sure the exact same year.
Who hasn't played in the Christmas Tree box after Mom and Dad take it out for the first time? Well, Grace...I mean, Riah, put this Turkey day in the books for us. Riah was standing inside the tree box, playing away, and as she tried to step out, he legs were too short. The box tumbled to its side......the side that was next to a corner point of two walls. Down Riah goes, and all I hear are screams. I do the "sane" mommy manuever and tell her she is fine, we'll get some ice. We got ice all right......and 5 stitches to sew up the gash on the side of her head left by the wall. I tell you what....you'd think we bought stock in the Paulding Co. hospital!!

That was all almost 5 years ago, and instead of her falling off of things, we're teaching her to tumble through them. We fall off the monkey bars, but we are learning how to do back hand springs nicely!!

She's our running, jumping, tumbling, fast talking, blonde bombshell....
who we wouldn't trade for the world!!

Happy 9th Birthday, Ms. America!!!!

Sariah Alexis
August 2008
8 Years Old

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!

2008-10-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

I'll never forget the day she was born. 2 weeks over due, 8 hours of petocin....and the booger wouldn't have a darn thing to do with coming into the world. Options presented to us were:
1-Have a C-Section

2-Finish the remaining 4 hours of petocin dosing, if she doesn't come, come back on Sunday (3 days later) and try again.

You chose.

My response:

Option 3-Pick a new plan...cuz I ain't having a C-Section and I ain't leaving without a baby!!

Roughly a decade later....she presents her tiny 6lb. 12oz. little body to us and I couldn't have cried harder.

Matt and I made fools of ourselves trying to be perfect parents. Including the following:

-Rushing a sleeping child to the ER because "she was sleeping too long and would not wake up!!" I kidd you not. We really did. From that point forward.....she never slept again. Until now...and she's still the worst in the world to wake up.

-Buckling her carseat in "backwards/upside down/in the wrong seatbelt" only to be driving back from SLC to Orem and Matt say to me...."hey, check on her". I look in the back seat and her carrier is literally laying on its side. Do you think she woke up?

Okay....this was not the "retarded parents post"...let's talk about her.

-She's amazing. Kind of bossy....but amazing.

-She's selfless. Except to her brother and sister...I'm pretty sure that's allowed. No teacher loves a child more than they do Maddie. She'd give you the shirt off her back.

-She's funny. And when she laughs, she laughs so hard she cries. I love it.

-She can sing. God bless America!!! She got the good talents!!! She really does have a set of pipes, and i'm excited to get her into vocal lessons. Sure wish her Gramma Vicki lived closer...what's the use of having a Gramma who's a vocal coach when you can't take lessons from her? What are the odds???

-She is SUCH a girl....and my mother dared say to me tonight, "What? She's exactly like you were!! Only you were worse!" And then Dad agreed!! Oy Vey!!

-She's my oldest baby. I love her more than life!!! And she's 10. I'm gonna throw up.

Being sung to in the office at school. She was the only one in the entire school with a birthday on the 29th. That's the most amazing thing in the world to me. When you grow up in a family as large as mine, we shared EVERYTHING. I love it that no matter what, you might have to share clothes, a room, a bathroom, a car and possibly a toothbrush (put that in there to see if you actually read this crap!) but never a birthday. It's all yours!!! I made that perfectly clear to the Dr. that delivered T. One day earlier, or one day later...so be it....just NOT the same day as anyone else!!!

Being a girl....The 1st day of 4th grade

Her chorus performance at Christmas in 3rd Grade.

At her 10th Birthday party....caught in a web!!

One of my favorite pics of her. This is one of those times she was laughing her little head off. Her smile is contagious!!

Happy Birthday

Madeline Ashley!!

Scariest day of the year.....

2008-10-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

....today I have a 7 year old, and 8 year old, and a 9 year old.

How funny is that?

But tomorrow I will have a 7, 8, and 10 year old.............

How scarry is that?????? I have a 10 year old.

Happy Birthday, Tanner and Madeline!!!

2008-10-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

It's birthday season again!! We call it birthday season because all of our birthday's fall within 60 days of each other....and on top of that, all the babies are within 4 weeks of those 60 days...

so for us, it's a season.

This year, Tanner and Maddie's birthdays (the 27th and 29th) fall during the week, so we celebrated them together with a HUGE family party. Mom of the year(that's me!) went all out this year and got a GINORMOUS jumpy thing, and I must admit, they had a blast. The $$ was never better spent. Here are some pics of their awesome day!!

T Man's Cake!!

Kuddo's to Auntie Kelly!!

Madder's Cake!

Kuddo's again to Auntie Kelly!!

Super Giant Obstacle Course Jumpy Thing

Other end of the jumpy thing!

I won!! Just because he landed on top of me does not mean I was cheating!!

Eric and all the "Rents"

Ed, Eric, Dad, back of Janet, back of Mom.

Tanner totally beating Eric in the race.....

Eric and I got Tanner a new Nerf gun....fully auto, belt fed, fires 3 shots per second.

Having said that, you now know that we didn't get anything for T. We got it for all the "Big Boys"

to play with. Here is a pic of Tanner, Uncle John and Eric starting to put it together.

Uncle Levi, Uncle Wayne and Eric....again, putting the 7 yr. old's toy together.

Such kids. :)

Final product!!!

Riah, T, Maddie and Uncle Levi

in the jumper!

Maddie stuck in the web!

Me and my baby.....who isn't such a baby any more.....

We had tons of fun....and missed The Burns and Aunt Nicki.

Next year...you guys come home for Halloween, ok?

Halloween, Awesome Aunt Kelly and T-Shirt Dresses...

2008-10-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!!!

So the kids and I spent a good portion of this week determining what they wanted to be for Halloween. I give props to Mom and Dad, because at $25 a pop, purchasing a costume from Wally World or Targhey just wasn't in the cards. How did they ever outfit all 8 of us??? Anyway, Sariah and Madeline found $4 sets of ears, bow ties and tails. One black, one red. The Devil and a Kitty we shall be!! After milling over a zillion different way to make their costume....or Mom to make it, she left town, and I was forced to figure it out on my own. Kelly to the rescue!!! We talked, and who'd of thunk that our old school T-shirt dresses would be a hit 20 years later for my little girls? Kel said....I can do that...and make it cute too!! I said, if I buy the materials, can you whip it out? Oh, and can you baby-sit too? (The aforementioned Mom being out of town....) She bought it!!! Let's face it, I'll helping her determine if she needs more kids or not!! So here is a pic of The Devil, Ironman, and The Little Black Kitty. Oh, and while we'd like you to believe she sewed Ironman as well.....that just wouldn't be honest. Being the only boy has its perks. $25 costume wins!!

Things I'm not ready for....

2008-10-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

Christmas....
My Computer test tomorrow.....
The running around that this week is going to bring......

AND LITTLE BOYS AIMLESSLY WALKING IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE WAITING FOR MY DAUGHTERS TO COME OUT AND PLAY!!!!
....to be fair....Sariah called Maddie out today to tell her "there are two really cute boys out here", to which Maddie had to promptly inspect. No harm, no foul. Then I start to notice 2 said boys walk in front of the house. 10 minutes later, 2 said boys walk the other way in front on the house. (oh, and they giggle just like girls do! Had the windows open and was doing homework in the dining room so I could watch the kids outside!) A few moments later, 2 said boys have grabbed 3rd boy, and are headed BACK down the street. (What is down there???) 15 minutes later, 3 boys come back. Poor guys. Maddie is not much of an out-doorsie girl, and spent more of her time inside. Riah happened to head to the back yard with T. 1 hour later, all kids are inside, I'm closing up shop, and you'll never believe what I saw. 1 boy, showered, clothes changed, (looking to impress...you can tell!) TAKING HIS BABY BROTHER ON A WALK IN HIS WAGON, and as he passes the house, looks back into our house and says loud enough for me to hear inside "Dang". OMG!!! Poor little boy in the wagon got his ride cut short. I am not ready for little boys that don't belong to me!!

Sarah got 100% Sarah got 100%

2008-10-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

On her first math quiz!!! Now.....to ace the test on Tuesday, hummmmmm.

That's it.
Bye.

Never question a 6 year old.....especially one named T!!!

2008-09-30T22:22:00.001-07:00

Here you go Auntie Kelly......
Conversation that happened last night at dinner:

T: I know what a centrillion is.
Riah: There is no such thing as centrillion.
T: Yeah there is.
Riah: No there isn't!
T: Yuh-huh....ask mom "MOOOOOOMMMMMMM......there is to such a thing as centrillion isn't there?"
Mom: (to herself) Um, I don't think so???? (outloud) Um, T, I don't know about that.
T: "Mom, yes there is. It's a 1 followed by 14 zero's".
Mom: Really?
T: Yeah, I learned that today. Oh, I think it's more like 300 zero's.
Mom: WHAT?????
T: Yeah, and I told you being a rocket scientist was boring.
Mom: OMG!!!

For the record....I looked it up, it's 303 zero's to be exact. And who needs this kind of useless information? AND WHAT BUSINESS DOES MY 6 YEAR OLD HAVE KNOWING IT???? He makes me feel so stupid some times! :)

Again.....never question a boy and his facts!!

Back to School 101

2008-09-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's official!! I'm back to school. And I didn't chicken out. I did however, start (and finish!) my 1st on line assignment a little late in the evening, but I guess "dem's are da' breaks" when you put your babies first!! It's funny....my class is Intro to Microcomputers, AKA, intro to using Microsoft Office. If I don't ace this class....someone, ok, everyone, should gently convince me to give up this dream. :) It's a good way for me to get my feet wet again at any rate. Feet wet? Do I not use this crap all day every day? It's funny how school plays tricks on you and makes you think you have no idea what you are doing!!

WISH ME LUCK!!!

For 3 small payments of $19.95.....

2008-09-18T19:56:00.000-07:00

....Madeline will make you a super-duper Egg cracking machine!!

Papa's help with the "welding" will need to be negotiated.

Maddie had to come up with an invention, all on her own I might add, that would make an every day task "easier". She came up with this awesome Egg Cracking Machine. Thought of it, drew it, and promptly went to Papa for help....as the only thing I was useful for was providing a piece of ribbon for a tape measure. I do nursing, not engineering.

I'll do my best to describe the pictures, but it would be in your best interest to go ahead and order one. She wears a size 4, and prefers something in a wedge.....that will take care of the need for a shoe box. :)

This is the back of the machine. As you crank the wheel, the golf balls rolls up to the top.

The ball hits the trap door.............

You place your egg under the piece of cardboard....so that you don't get egg on your golf ball..duhhhhh. Release the clothespin and allow the ball to drop.

Your egg will be PERFECTLY cracked, in a perfect ring around the center, waiting for you in the glass bowl. I kid you not.....it's perfect. Maddie and Papa did an awesome job....and I told her, if she didn't get a 100% on this, I'd personally go to the school and ensure that she did!!

Oh, and here's the latest pic of our Mads, this just happened to be Tuesday, which is ballet day.

Dare I say....be careful who you rent from.....

2008-09-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

I can't help it. I'm soooo throwing them under the bus. I was on my way home from work one day....cruisin' along 278, and I can't help but notice the giant rental company truck cruisin' beside me. And the rental truck creaps along....and gets a little further in front of me than he probably should have.....and I see this:

DO YOU SEE HOW THEY TIED THEIR TRUCK DOOR CLOSED????

This is all I can visualize:

Bride, wedding day, call from reception rental people:

"um, yeah, we have a small problem....the contents of your reception decor are on the interstate. How would you like blue balloons and creape paper for decorations?"

Next vendor, please?????

Can you tell....I haven't blogged in a while....

2008-09-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the inundation of posts!!! Did I even spell that right, Anne? I've had so many pictures saved up for just such an occasion.....and tonight you reap the rewards!!!! Don't you feel special?

When cheap gas is $4.39 a gallon....

2008-09-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

This is what you do.....you hang with gramma and papa and paint the play house!! This was actually more fun than I thought it would be!!! Check it out.......

This is the totally cool playhouse. I even got up in it!!

Maddie's cool pink windows....she anticipates the walls being painted lime green by her interior decorator sometime this week. We should also have window treatments in by the end of the month. Have to wait for "just the right fabric....and softness".....you understand.

This is T's self inspired "Atlanta Falcons" themed "room". He would have painted it red and black if we had the black....but we didn't. So when either Gramma or I find the black paint....Falcons it will be. And let's be honest, Tanner made out when he chose his "room" in the playhouse. He has a rock-wall AND a super, duper, land you on your boo-tay, slide. Fair warning: If you try it and land on your arse, we will all laugh......and enjoy it. :)

And when you are as cool as Sariah.....you WILL be a UGA cheerleader one day....while you study to be a rocket scientist, of course. :) Riah filled in the big red G, and I did the white outlining while the whasp's ATTACKED ME!!! Ask Gramma, she'll totally vouch. Anyway, Sariah painted her window's red, and it looks great!!!

Now....if only I had gotten proof that they actually did all of this. Not one of my siblings would believe my kids got dirty.....or painty.....or actually liked the "work". They really did, I swear. Ok, now the burden is on you.....COME AND SEE IT!!!!

I can't help it.....

2008-09-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

Charley Morgan.....ahhhhhh.....so friggin' cute!!!

My Neicee is soooooooooooooo cute. Fine.....all of them are sooooooooooooo cute. We have the cutest family. Dang those Shores/Burns/Bastings/Seaborne/DeMone Genes!!! Good combo family!!! Good combo!!!

I'm a new Auntie!! I'm a new Auntie!!!

2008-09-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

No, I don't have any pictures. Heck, I haven't even seen her yet.....so for those of you who know my baby sister, Kelly, she and her husband, Justin welcomed into the world their very first tonight. Baby Girl Charley, in at 8lbs. 5oz. They are both doing great......and I can't WAIT to buy hair bows!!!

Congrats, Sis!!! I love you!!!

What do you get when you mix.....

2008-08-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

Colored Tortilla Chips

Sprinkled with Cinammon and Sugar

and

A Bowl of Honey?

THE COMPANY THAT I WORK FOR'S IDEA OF SOPAPILLAS!!!!!!

That was too good not to post!!

First Day of School '08-'09

2008-08-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

1st Grade, 3rd Grade and 4th Grade......here we go again!!!

An Aunt Nicki, Tanner, cookie funny....

2008-08-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

Auntie Nicki called tonight asking for the infamous chocolate chip cookie recipe while we were shopping for our before posted "Martha Stewart" moment. We finally got home and Tanner headed upstairs to play a game on my cell phone. 10 minutes into his game I hear this from upstairs:

Tanner: Hey mom!!
Mom: Yeah?
Tanner: Is it okay to leave the vanilla out of cookies?
Mom: What?
Tanner: It's Aunt Nicki..... (with a long pause which in 7 year old terms means "duh, hurry up!"
Mom: I guess.....sure.

Silence...silence...silence.....

I go upstairs....he's propped up on his bed, playing his game:

Mom: Did you tell Aunt Nicki?
Tanner: Yeah.
Mom: What did she say?
Tanner: Nothing....I mean, I can't remember.
Mom: Do I need to call her?
Tanner: No, I'm not starting my game over again.

Alrighty then!!! Hope your cookies turned out okay, Aunt Nicki!!!

Move over Martha Stewart....

2008-08-16T20:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe she doesn't need to move over, but my kids sure do think I'm cool!!! School is starting Monday (gag!) and we spent the day with Auntie Kathy and Uncle Levi doing our last minute shopping. Needless to say, I couldn't have done it without them, so props to the Auntie's and Uncle's. Along with school starting, so does Gymnastics and Ballet. And of course, we couldn't be starting all of that without the proper essentials. I have to share with you how we made out in our shopping....and how we made our shopping our own!!!

Here is Sariah with her uber cute Gymnastics bag. Note the cutie, cute monogram.

Martha came to our house and put that on for us!!

Here is Maddie with her uber cute Ballet bag.
Martha came and put her initials on it for us as well.

And then there is Tanner....and if you've ever read a post from our beloved Tanner, you know are certainly in for a treat:

Ok, this is Tanner's bag. If you can't tell from the pic, it's the back. Eric tells me day in and day out, I'm turning him in to the kid who has his name on all his shirts......he's only partially correct. This isn't his "name", it's his initials. :) T insisted if the girls get special bags with thier names and stuff on them, then so does he. So be it. I called him in to see it after I was done. He took it over to his new lunch box, and said the following:

"Look, Mom. It's like it's supposed to be there. My initials on my Nike bag match the swoosh on my Nike lunchbox, that match my new Nike shoes. All the kids are going to love my Nike stuff!"

At least he is the kindest, most gentle, amazingly matching kid with his initials on his back!!!

My kids think I'm cool.....that's all that matters to me!!

I LOVE THE BEE-GEE'S!!!

2008-08-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

So i'm sitting here updating PTO reports at work (no Office Space comments, please. It's a job!) jamming to internet radio, and I'm rockin', lovin' the song that's playing....so I flip over to my video player-and it's the BEE-GEE's!!! The song "Love You Inside Out" ROCKS!!!! Hello!! Anne...do you have this record???

Note....next song that came on was "Feelings....nothing more than feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelings"....nice way to kill that buzz!!

The Bastings tag the Burns...and anyone else who wants to play!!

2008-08-03T09:02:00.000-07:00

I just showed Tanner, Anne's blog, and Alex's silly picture with what looks like she is wearing glasses....and being the competetive sport that he is, promptly said:

"I can be sillier than that!!" and promptly posed:

Challannnnnnnnnnnnnnge!!!! Let's see your silliest face!!!!

It's not just back to school for the kids.....

2008-08-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

Here I come!!!! Sarah is finally doing what she always said she would!!! All three kids are in school, so why not add a little more chaos to our lives???? I start Oct. 1, and am headed back into the nursing program. The kids are excited....and can't wait until I can work for Dr. Gee. :) Tanner asks me every day if I still work for ING. I love his concept of time. It will take a few years, but with loads of work and studying, I won't be a secretary for much longer!!! Already studying to take the Nursing entrance exam, and it's not daunting yet!! It's exciting actually. A lot of this feels like review....we'll see how long it takes to kill that buzz. So when I'm seemingly more unavailable than normal, it's not that I don't love you, it's that I don't want to have to move in with your family when the economy decides it can do without my kind!!! :)

Wish me luck....and be prepared to be poked and prodded.

The soon to be....

Nurse Sarah

Vacation at Topsail Island, NC

2008-08-03T08:10:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics from our vacation.

Not all....because I haven't pulled the ones from the camera yet.

The Beach House we stayed at-Props to the Schramm's!!!

A beautiful storm on the beach....I love the wind from the ocean!!

Sariah's favorite vacation spot. The jacuzzi tub. Her comment right before this pic:

"Mom, the bubbles won't stop!!!" Hey Riah, turn the jets off!!! :) She's too cute.

Sparkling clean Sariah after her soak!!! Look at the smile!!!

Pic of the dunes right outside our house. I love the ocean. I love the waves!!!

This is a town called "South of the Border". There were signs for it for miles, and we couldn't believe what we saw when we got there. Yep, that's a sombrero on the top of the water tower...and a roller coaster built inside of it. Ahhhh...felt like home!!

Ok, more pics to come later!!!

Tanner story of the day....Aunt Kelly, this one's for you!!

2008-08-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

Picture this....
Tanner and I are doing our shopping at the infamous Wally World. We are minus the girls, which T LOVES!!! He's talking no short of a zillion miles a minute about anything he possibly can. We are waltzing through the isles over in HBA and i'm looking for body wash. Two other women are in the isle with us, and I get the "oh, he is so cute" comments. Thanks, he's mine. :) I turn to pick out body wash, and Tanner, with his internal MEGAPHONE voice, starts the following conversation:

T: Mom, what are those?
S: (I turn to find all the girly-girl products behind me) Girl stuff.
T: But what are they?
S: T, they are things that girls use.

**insert the women previously mentioned, laughing their heads off**

T: Well then, what are those sticks?
S: (OMG!!! I'm laughing at this point!!) Those are girl sticks. They are for girls, and at some future point, say, in 25 years, you'll have reason to know what those "sticks" are.
T: But Mom, (remember the megaphone voice, ladies and gents) what are they for?? You used to have some. I saw them in the bathroom under the sink.
S: (i've probably just picked a $45 bottle of body wash, and thrown it in the basket) T-it doesn't matter!!!!
T: Ohhhhhhh.....they're pearls, aren't they???

You can't make this stuff up!!!

It's ok, laugh. Laugh hard. It's like the faster I moved down the isle, the better look he got at all the "options". I seriously thought I was going to crack a rib I was laughing so hard!!!

Auntie Kel, don't laugh too hard!!!

Ahhhh, the beach.....and the wind!!

2008-07-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

Just a teaser pic of the kids at the beach last week. I have so much to post, and so little time.

We will be MIA......

2008-07-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

....at the beach!!! We're off to sit in the sun for a few days, and we can't wait. Finally some time just for me and the kids. So needed, and so deserved!!! We'll post lots of pictures when we return. Ones you can see....

TTFN!!!

Oh yeah......

2008-07-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

And more 4th pics are coming. I have to resize them. That's fun. So I'll get to them as soon as the laundry is done......

If you've ever set foot in my bedroom, you have a small glimpse of when THAT will be......

Kids say the darndest things.....

2008-07-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

Tanner woke up from a 3 hour nap at 9pm tonight. He decided he was hungry, but didn't want what I had fixed for dinner. What else is new? That's not true, because I don't waste money on things they don't eat. But that's beside the point. I am tired, and have zero energy to fight:

T: I'm hungry
S: K, what do you want?
T: I dunno
S: K, you want pb&j?
T: No
S: You want a quesadilla?
T: No
S: K, you want cereal?
T: Can I eat it with a spoon?

S: Huh?

Mom, what does he eat cereal with at YOUR house????

Kids say the darndest things.........

THE PICTURES ARE TOO SMALL!!!

2008-07-07T12:15:00.001-07:00

I have no clue how to fix this. It has never been a problem before. Savy bloggers, ideas???

.....and check out what it did to the pic right below this post when I try to stretch it. Cute, real cute!

....4th of July, off to play!!!

2008-07-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

We headed off to Snellville where the 3 main churches on Main street were hosting a free party for what seemed like the entire city of Atlanta. At first, Eric and I could only think that 30, 000 people (yep, that's what the pastor announced they expected the turnout to be!!) mixed with my 3 little ones, translates into something like this.....

"Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mama, mama, mama, mama"

"Honey, where is Sariah?"

"Honey, do you have T?"

"Maddie, where is Eric"

Not my idea of fun on my favorite holiday. Then Janet and Ed said "naw...we'll go and tag team the kids" Eric and I sheepishly agree......and are so glad we did. We had sooooooooooooo much fun!!! See below for tons of fun pics!!!

Super Cool Old Cars!!!

Is that a............????????

Is sure is a PURPLE Lamborghini....and why not? I mean, if you are going to own a Lamborghini, why wouldn't you have it be distinct???? No comment!!

And then we see it.........

JUMPY LAND HEAVEN!!!!!!

The girls decide that the rock wall is just their thing. I don't have many pics of this one. Waiting on some more from Ms. Janet. She was on Chica duty from the beginning!!

Tanner finds a few blow-up's that he likes......

And then we find the Mother-Load!!! Let me pre-empt the following pictures. Yes, you can clearly follow for yourself, but what kind of mother would I be if I didn't brag......just a little!!!

First and formost, the line for this ridiculous blowup was no less than 45 minutes long. So I do the proper thing...and stand in line for my precious child while he goes with Eric to play on other less interesting rides. Only to have him waltz back over as all the other children are hot, tired and crying and wondering why this little boy's mother loves him more than their mother's love them!!! Hahahaha!!

(Just a little pic of the girls in line for a jumpy across the way.....while I wait in line for Tanner!!)

You have to laugh. You don't get to do this stuff often enough!! He waltz's in line as the last little girl in front of him takes her turn. I must also note that while I stood in line, ate 2 wands of cotten candy, and drank 3 bottles of water, only 1, count it 1 child made it to the top. I am carefully disecting the following blowup so that I can tell my precious one just how to be the best and impress the rest!!! And we wonder why he thinks he's so cool??? It has NOTHING to do with me!!! Eric and I position ourselves on both sides, give him proper instruction, and watch him cruise!!!!

See below..................

Suiting Up!!!

Suiting up a little tighter

......humor me please!!

We're off!!!

Whooooooooohooooooo!!!

You're almost there!!!

Dude!! You are amazing!!!

OMG!!! He did it!!!!

You'd of thought from the cheers coming from the crowd that this little monkey had just broken a world record. Let the record show, I was his biggest supporter!!! :)

Now the next pic doesn't do him justice. He literally repelled down that "mountain" like he'd done it a million times. The kid is 6, and I don't recall ever letting him repell off a mountain!! Uncle Levi? Uncle John? Perhaps Uncle Justin? Uncle Scott happens to be off the hook for logistical reasons. Mmmm-hummmm. He was down that thing so fast I couldn't get a better pic of it.

The guy that was holding his rope was literally "Mr. Gold's Gym", and I think he had more fun helping T than T did climbing it. The last thing he said to Eric as T was getting his "stuff" off, was "Man, that is the cutest kid!!! He looks just like the kid off of a Christmas Story! I love that movie!!" Said the man who looks like he could snap me in two with his pinkie. Just sorry we didn't get a pic with him!!

So.....then we meet up with the girls and start on the face painting. Sariah started a trend throughout the whole crowd. I tell you what, if you're not gonna do it big, why do it at all??

Everyone should paint their whole face at least once in their life!!!

Here is a Pre-Maddie and T face paint. This is the teaser. You must check back tomorrow to find out what else happended on our awesome 4th of July. Seriously, out of 285 pictures, only 6 were bad....and those were of me!!! So much to blog about, so hard to pic the pics!!!