Where does she get it?

This daughter of mine has a mean streak. Who would've known. It must come from her father cause I certainly don't have one (uggghhhhmmmmm)! Its not like I tried to drown my brother or anything when we were kids. (oops, maybe it is like that.)

Let the good times fall where they may lol!

We had such a great time with our friends. The kids got to play together and us adults got to chat and catch up. It was the perfect morning! Oh and we had a picnic. Anna was so thrilled she kept saying "I havin a picnic"!

Yay ME!!!

Michie over at Seeking Imperfections has given me an award! I feel honored to receive such a wonderful award. I would give you a thank you speech but lets face it that would get all sappy and make everyone cry lol. Instead how about I share the joy with a few blogs that I just LUV to read! I will start out with my dearest bloggy friend Cheryl! Over at Red Pens and Diapers. I love reading her blog to see what her and her family are up too. Over the course of a year I feel like I actually know her.

Next I would like to give it to Reynie over at God, Do You Hear This Southern Girl Rambling? Reynie is a super sweet lady that makes sure to comment over here for me all the time. She also has numerous crafts going over at her house that I like to check up on!

Last but certainly not least is Shawn over at Between the Lines. She is an amazing example of an honest mommy writer. She isn't afraid to tell you how she really feels. She needs some love cause she is going to be re-entering the work force after being home with her twin girls for I think almost 2 years.

How about running over to see these girls and offer them a little LUV!!!

Tuesday - Vacation Style

Tuesday was family day. We had Chris's Aunt and some of her crew come in to have lunch and spend the day with us. It was nice seeing family that we don't get to see often. It stressed Anna out a little having so many together but she did very well. She kept chasing her big cousin Edward around. Where ever he went she wanted to go. By the end of the visit she was also having her cousin (Edwards Mom) play dolls with her. Well push the baby around in the stroller anyway lol.

That same day Casey's friend Emily came to join in the festivities. She lives in Ohio but she use to work with Casey and they have stayed friends. I think that is kinda cool. So they have been to each others house and where we were was sorta half way so she met us there and spent Tuesday through Friday with us. She has 5 nieces so she is a pro with little girls. After our family had left Anna, Emily and I climbed into the hot tub. Anna was sold on Emily from that moment on. They splashed and played and carried on. It was fun. Anna loved the hot tub and the only way we could get her out was to promise a bath later in the big tub upstairs lol.

Thank you Cheryl

& Cheyrl's Mom & Dad!!! Today I got to meet Cheryl's Mom and Dad. It was way cool. As her Mom said there are actually real people on the other side of the computer. They brought me this beautiful plant. Isn't it georgeous? I love the colors. Cheryl's Mom assured me that it is what Cheryl would have liked. Thank you all for the beautiful flowers! I will hang it on my back porch and think of Cheryl everytime I see it. Thank you Cheryl's Mom and Dad for taking the time to bring it to me and the trouble of finding my house. I am sorry I didn't find out your names lol. Although, I am sure you are used to being Cheryl's Mom and Dad! Anyway, thanks again and I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip!

Wonderful Weekend!

We had a nice relaxing weekend. My sis in law came to see us this weekend to celebrate Chris's birthday. She brought a chocolate cake of some sort and it was so YUMMY! Thank you Aunt Cakey! Friday I spent the day with my friend Angel getting stuff for her sons 1 year old birthday. They have decided to throw a party early so his Daddy can participate. He is military and will be out of town for a while. Friday night we went shopping with Aunt Cakey and had yummy Mexican food! Saturday we went to River Street. Ate lunch at the best Greek Restaurant ever. I will say that I was disappointed in River Street. I haven't been there in forever and they have changed it so much. They took out the old oak trees and put in these new wimpy trees. It really ruined the whole look for me. Not to mention when Summer time really kicks in it will be hotter than blue blazes. Oh well, I really don't get down there often anyway. Sunday we did church and Aunt Cakey had to go home. Then after the night service our friends Angel and David came over. You see Saturday night they were nice enough to bring by some Banana Pudding for Chris for his birthday. They didn't stay long because we had company and it was a little late. David was oh so devistated that he didn't get any Banana Pudding so we invited them over for dinner and dessert. Let me just say that David can put away some food lol. But you know when you feed some one it makes you feel good when they eat your food. I believe at this point both the Banana Pudding and the Chocolate cake are gone lol. We might have a taste of Banana Pudding left but not much. It was a lot of fun.

It is nice surrounding yourself with friends and family. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside! Maybe Casey and Angel will be nice enough to share their recipes with us so you guys can taste a little piece of heaven!

Beach Bums!

I have had a super busy week! Tuesday was Chuck E Cheese which was formerly *Showbiz Pizza starring Billy Bobs. Wednesday we went to the Bamboo Farm to join our friends Lori and Brooks and today was the best day of all until tomorrow ;) We went to the beach again but this time with LOTS of friends. We had roughly 10 children there and 6 ladies there. It was so much fun. We flew kites, well one the other one was possessed I swear. We played in the sand and soaked up the sun (to much) and most of the kids played in the freezing cold water. Anna didn't want anything to do with the freezing cold water. We had a picnic lunch and tons of laughs. It was the perfect day!

* The answer to Trivia Tuesday!

It's a garden!

It's not a secret garden and it won't have pretty flowers in it BUT it will have some scrumptious veggies in it! I am so excited about my garden I had to share it with you. My friend Angel came over and we tilled and sowed seeds. I felt like I was going back in time where people actually did reap what they sow on a regular basis. In today's world not a lot of people actually plant gardens. Maybe it is because we don't have enough time or enough land or enough energy. Whatever the reason I am thrilled that I made enough of all of them to do it. Now mind you when you look at the pictures it doesn't look like much but just give me a month or so and we will see what happens.

I couldn't have done this without Angels help! She borrowed a tiller from someone we go to church with and she was a ton of help in the whole process. She got down and dirty out there with us. She even taught Anna the dirt dance. If she wouldn't kill me I would've gotten a video of the two of them doing it and put it on here. You will just have to take my word for it that it was very entertaining and lots of fun. I even did it myself a few times practically bringing Angel to her knees with laughter!

I don't know if I am more excited about the garden being done or about having a good Christian friend to hang out with. We had so much fun. Doing things with a friend makes it a little more fun. We spent the full day together and had a blast. Angel even won Anna over which takes a while. By the end of the day Anna couldn't get enough of Angel and she was very sad to see them go. Although, she was very happy to get in the tub lol.

Check out our pictures!

Anna was demonstrating the dirt dance!

What a pretty dirty face!

"Mom, you aren't going to put this on the blog are you!?!"

What a weekend!

It was fun filled and super busy not to mention frightening!

Friday night Anna and I were on our own for a while. Chris had to go help the youth out with some stuff. So we filled our evening with cleaning and taking pictures.

When her Daddy got home he read to her while I finished cleaning the kitchen floor.

Saturday we had a great time. We took Anna and my neighbors 1.5 year old son to an egg hunt and to the park. Some of our friends invited us and we hadn't seen them in a while so decided to go. It was a lot of fun although wow the difference between Anna and this little boy were so vast it was wild. He isn't talking at all and is still very wobbly on his feet.

That afternoon we met some other friends at the Bamboo Farm for me to take some family pictures of them. Let me just tell ya'll I did a great job for them. Of course they are so cute together and have a most adorable little son that they made my job easy.

After taking tons of pictures we decided to go have dinner together. We are new friends. We met at church and as the wife said we are in the "dating" stage lol. You know how it is when couples first meet they have to make sure they will all "gel" together. Well, we really did! We stayed at the restaurant more than 2 hours. In fact the staff had to hint that they wanted us to leave lol. We are 10 years older than this couple but they have been through a lot and are pretty mature for their age; either that or we aren't so mature lol. Hmmm, maybe it is just a combo lol. Either way I look forward to getting to know them better and hanging out more often.

During this time my neighbors ex-girlfriend, the mother of the little boy we took with us to the egg hunt decided to call and give me a hard time for helping out her ex by taking care of her son. He got called into work and she wouldn't or couldn't keep him for whatever reason and he asked us to help him out. Apparently she changed her mind at the last minute but he was already in the process of giving him to us. She was not very happy about this and when I refused to talk to her about it she called back and left 2 messages. Not very nice messages. This is the same person that sat in my house and told me she was going to key her ex's car if he wasn't home and then went and did it. After getting home we realized that there were tornado warnings all over our area. The wind was whistling and it was getting scary. We put Anna to bed, with me in there with her. Around 12:30am our tornado alarm at the school went off and we got Anna up and huddled in our closet until almost 1. Anna slept through it but it was rather terrifying for me and Chris. Oh and our power had been out since about 9:30pm. It finally came back on around 9:30 am this morning. Or at least that is what the power co. said since we left at 8:30 to go get breakfast we can't be sure. My dear "friend" that left the 2 messages on Saturday called and left another one this morning telling me to stay away from her son! Guess what I think I will. I don't need all of that. Oh and for my friends and family that use my phone, my number will be changed tomorrow so I will send out an email to you and let you know what it is. If you don't get an email send me one and I will be happy to send it to you!

Well, I am late getting Anna off to bed and she and her Daddy are getting impatient so I will come back tomorrow!

The Great Outdoors!

Anna and I are making new friends at the park and at church. We are attempting to start up a little play group. So we met this morning, just accidentally running into a woman I had met just a few weeks ago. The kids had so much fun and I have to say it was great to be with other women. It was really good for me. I think sometimes I forget that it is important to socialize with other adults. We are going to do this on a regular basis. We are even talking about taking a trip to the zoo!

Have I told you all how much Anna likes it outside? If I haven't mentioned it she LOVES being outside. We spend at least 75% of our day in the great outdoors. Today it consisted of hanging out a load of laundry, then going to the park for 2 hours. Coming home taking in the laundry and putting out another load. After getting that done we had lunch and a gloriously long 2 hour nap!!! After nap the first thing she says is she wants to go back to the park. Instead of going to the park we go outside in the back yard where I did my Bible Study for the day. Well, I mean I tried to do my Bible Study lol Anna had other ideas she wanted to play ball. We played ball and ran around and looked up at the clouds. We attempted to see things in the clouds although Anna wasn't really cooperating. I saw a dog playing and a rhinoceros too. Then we played some more and took in the clothes.

We made homemade baked french fries and hamburgers for dinner but Anna didn't want it. She ate a few fries and a few bites of her hamburger then she decided she wanted a salad. She ate her salad and was a happy girl!

Don't forget to drink your 8 cups of water today!!!

Neighborhood Drama!

So my crazy ex-neighbor has finally gone over the deep end! I have been trying to ignore her phone calls for 3 weeks because I just don't want to be involved in her drama any longer. So yesterday she pops up at my house and I just try to rush her out without upsetting her because well honestly she does have mental issues and I don't want to upset her. Anywho, while she was here she went on about how angry she was with her ex that happens to still live next door. About 20-30 minutes after she left my neighbor came over asking if she had been over at his house. I informed him that she had been here but I didn't know about over there. Apparently after leaving here she went over and keyed his new car. He said he was going to have to file ANOTHER police report and being confused I said what do you mean another one! He told me how over Christmas "someone" ran into his garage and damaged it pretty badly. He even went to get pictures to share with me. WOW that is pretty terrible I have to say. I mean I knew my "friend" was not doing well but WOW!!! I seriously cannot have Anna around someone that is doing this. But back to the story, a little while later Anna and I were in the yard playing and a cop pulls up next door and he shows her the car and explains everything to her and she comes over here to question me. I told her that yes she was here and yes she said she was very angry at the neighbor and no we aren't really good friends and I am trying to figure out how to get out of it totally. She told me if he gets a restraining order she won't be able to come here either. In light of what we have discovered we decided that we would try to cut ties without upsetting her to much. When she called this morning Anna & I were still in bed and my hubby decided he would call her back and explain that we like both her and our neighbor and we feel like we are being drawn into the middle of something ugly. That once they work through there crap we would love to hang out with them both. But for now we don't feel like she should come over here and I am not going to hang out with her either. He said it as nicely as you can say something like this! She called back shortly there after and said that he didn't have to worry that she would never contact us again and it was real Christian of us to do this to her and I was a real coward cause I didn't do it myself. What a run on sentence lol. Anywho, I probably should have done it myself but I always botch things like that up and make matters worse so it was for the best this way. As for it not being very Christian - I do worry about that! I mean yes I feel like I have done everything I can to help her on one hand but on the other is it Christian to give up on someone? If Anna weren't in the picture it would probably be different I just can't have Anna around someone that is not stable.

Tell me what you think! Did we do the right thing? Was it not very Christian of us? What would you do?

Birthday Woes

We had a fun filled weekend. If you want to know about it go to Anna's page.

Next weekend I will be 30 again for the, uh umm, 4th time. Birthdays get harder for me the older I get. I don't really know why but sadly it is true. I guess I feel like there is so much more I wanted to have accomplished by this point. I mean I thought I would already have a second child, have a successful career in something (I don't know what lol) would have traveled more and have more possessions. The truth of the matter is only one of those things do I really regret. I wish I had a second child already. I could have handled more travel and more possessions but those aren't important to me anymore. As far as the successful career I am a very successful Mommy and that is all that matters.

My life hasn't turned out like I planned but I really can't complain to much. I have a wonderful husband that has stuck with me through the good times and bad. I have a daughter that thinks I hung the moon. I have inlaws that treat me as one of their own. And I have friends that are good to me. So all in all my birthday should be a celebration of what I have accomplished and not a pity party for what I haven't. So because on my birthday it will be all about me today it is all about you guys! Thank you so much for being a part of my life and making it special. That includes my bloggy pals too, you guys are a wonderful new addition to my circle of friends! So everyone go have a bite of red velvet cake or german chocolate cake and a cup of milk and toast my birth and our friendship! You guys are the best!

Day at the beach!

We had a busy day today. It started out for my hubby at about 5:45 or so. We had a yard sale with our church benefiting our youth. Since he works with the youth he had to be there bright and early. Anna and I followed him several hours later lol. We got there at about 8:30 and stayed for a while. We did our part and bought a few things while we were there including a pair of super cute beach shoes for Anna. They are purple and have a pink and green strip down the side. She really seemed to like them and for $.50 you can't beat that. Then we also bought some legos that will fit on the lego table at Yia Yia and Pop's house. So we did our part! After a while our friends Matt, Melissa and Miles came by and we headed out to the beach. We had to leave my hubby there to finish his duties to the youth poor thing and in this heat too YUCK! So we stopped and got some KFC to have on the beach and away we go. I can't tell you how much more fun it is going to the beach with a child than it was without! She makes everything seem so much more fun and exciting. We played in the shallow section with the waves breaking over us for a while and then we went out to the deeper water. Anna really loved it. She paticularly loved the kite that someone was flying. We had our picnic lunch and then went right back out. It was really great. Well I would love to keep going but someone is desperate for a little TLC. Have a great afternoon!

To Do List:

1) Laundry
2) Clean house
3) Cook Dinner
4) Pack clothes
5) Watch Grey's Anatomy
6) Play with Anna
7) Take more pics
8) Find keys
9) Paint Anna's Toes-Done
10) redo my nails

Sounds exciting right!!! & now you are wondering why I am blogging instead of working, right? Well the truth is that Anna is napping and this is my break time. We will work on the other stuff later. We have today and some of tomorrow. Well not much of tomorrow because tomorrow is the last day that Anna will be with Hunter, Jeff and Lisa. I get so sad thinking about it. This will be her first broken heart. We are going to do video chats with them but that won't be the same. Honestly, Lisa & I have just really bonded. Before when she was keeping Anna I loved her for being so good to my daughter. Now after spending so much time with her I regret not making the time to spend with her before. Our schedules were just so crazy with kids and stuff we couldn't work it out and now I think I missed out on a great friendship. Well, not really missed out cause I really hope that we can continue our friendship (I have lots of cyber friendships). If you have anyone out there that you are trying to be friends with but can't find the time - make the time. We have so little of it and everything changes so fast just go for it!!!