Our Life With Two Girls

More Happenings...

2010-12-21T10:59:00.000-06:00

So I am a little behind on posting...too many things going on and not enough time to just sit down and blog. So here goes what has happened since my last post...and yes there are a lot of pics...

First day of school for the girls...Rachel in 4th grade and Haley in 1st grade

The neighbor received a phone call from her daughter saying they had been in a bus wreck (Rachel and Haley ride the same bus) We headed out to find the bus not knowing where they were....that was so scary as I had been in a bus wreck when I was in 6th grade, so I know the feeling of being alone with no parent to hold onto....we found them not far from home....they were okay, but all I could do is run to them as fast as I could...I just wanted to hold them....now every time the bus is running late I sort of get anxiety.

Haley is showing off our landscaping remodel...yes it was HOT and yes I love the new design thanks to Chris and his talents!

Both girls were in soccer this year. Haley was more aggressive this year than last. She really loved it. She is in the green shirt at a full run!

Rachel enjoyed soccer, but the physical part of it got her. Not sure how well she liked it, but did get to score a goal or two. She is in the blue shirt with the ball listening to the coach.

Amanda, Jordan, Jack, and Alexa came to visit. I somehow did not end up with a lot of pics, but this is Alexa pushing Haley's baby around at the soccer game. This is the first time we got to see Alexa...hmmm do you think we need to get together more often...yep thinking so!

The girls received balloons at school from a secret admirer....I found out later it was their dad, but the girls never knew who sent them...dad has a soft place in his heart for his girls!

Our future cheerleaders...the girls loved cheerleading camp...they both had a blast and are still doing the cheers.

Haley's class had a class trip to the corn maze....they had this huge hay pile and the kids really enjoyed it and the other activities.

Of course smores was one of the activities...YUMMY!

We have been losing teeth left and right at our house...the tooth fairy is constantly stopping at our house...Haley has another loose tooth that she is working on now!

Samantha, Taylor, Abbi, and Haley

Halloween was fun this year. It was on the weekend so my dad was involved with the activities. Kathy brought her trailer and we used our 4-wheeler to pull the kids around town...it was fun and I know mom and dad enjoyed being with the grandkids as they trick-or-treated...Kathy had her own 4-wheeler...she was dressed as a jail escapee and her and Zach flipped the 4-wheeler backwards coming up a hill...Zach told his mom "that was not cool mom." I about died laughing...excitement for the night!

Haley's class put on a Thanksgiving play. She was so excited about it and they did a really good job. They each had their own part in the play. Here is our proud pilgrim!

Haley had her Christmas program. They sang beautifully and did well with their instruments. It was so cute to see the kids all dressed up.

The girls were modeling their hats that I asked Aunt Karen to make for me. They love them. I dressed them up to take pictures for the Christmas cards and they decided to model a little....what fun they had!

So that is an update of what we have been up to. I will try to do better at posting...hmmm that is I will try...

Second Half of Summer 2010

2010-09-15T23:33:00.001-05:00

So the next half of the summer started with Stephanie, Todd, Dillon, and Dominic came to visit from Utah and cousins were reintroduced...

Riding 4-wheelers at Kathy's....Rachel, Zachary, and Dillon...note the 4-year-old is driving the 9-year-old around!

Dominic, Taylor, and Abbi (Julia's 2 girls)...Abbi dislikes fireworks

Shot off parachutes for the kids...Dominic got this one

Mike helping light sparklers

Rachel helping Stephanie make a cake

Went to the water park ....Stephanie is at the top left with Dominic...Rachel and Haley to the far right

Steph and Todd had the idea to rent jet skis at Lake Rathbun in Iowa....so we all took our turns riding...except my dad.

Julia and Luke .... I was a little nervous to drive/ride too fast

All summer long it had rained almost every other day....flooded many things...took this picture at Lake Rathbun....this sign is at the edge of a parking lot by the marina

Another picture of the marina....the building to the right is suppose to be at the edge of a parking lot...now it is in the lake

Storytime at the Library...for the past few years we went to storytime....the girls love it as they have activities for them to do and yes they have stories read to them...Rachel is in the pink hat.

The Worlds Fair aka Queen City Fair has a talent show. Rachel and her friend Chrissy sang a Taylor Swift song. I was so proud of them for getting up in front of an audience and you could hear them sing....go them!

Next was our surprise trip for the girls...we took them to Branson. On the way we stopped at the Zoo in Springfield, MO. I love this picture as the giraffe was right there to where we could pet and feed them...it was so neat!

We rode the train...and then headed to BRANSON!

Driving down the strip we saw this....Haley was so excited....Mom, look at that...wow she kept saying!

This was the outside of the Titanic exhibit....this was one of my favoriate places we went...LOVED it!

We then went to Silver Dollar City. The last time I was there I was 14 and Chris was 8ish. I did not take my camera with us as I was afraid to get it wet...wish I would have now cuz I missed a lot of pictures. When we first walked in they were doing a skit of a gun shoot out....guy and a girl....it was pretty funny....the girls were loving it. We then went down the hill a bit and there was a roller coster ride...Chris and I do not like them, but figured we could ride one with the girls. We get to the staging and the roller coster seat we are in are backwards...two little girls and their mom are sitting facing us. I expressed that I do NOT like roller costers and then little girl that was about 6 said that is okay as you are sitting backwards and cannot see what is coming...made Chris and I feel great...NOT! We made it through, but that was the only one we rode. It was a fun day! This picture was taken after showing how hot/soaked we were from the rides. We had a lot of fun...the girls loved the Fire in the Hole ride, the log ride, and the roller coster just for them.

This documented how hot it was.....HOT!

Another picture after Silver Dollar City

The girls at Table Rock Lake

Haley with her duck quacker while riding the ducks and Rachel at Ripley's Believe It or Not

Of course, minature golf has to be played while on vacation...everyone made a hole-in-one!

Rachel and Haley with Charlie's Angels at the Wax Museum

See the smile....Jeff Gordan and Dale Jr. the closest he will probably get to them

This was the night after we got home....Haley was playing with her folder and the next thing we knew she was asleep like this....too funny...I think she was worn out!

And to top off the summer for Rachel....her bestest friend Quinn came for a visit. It worked out just perfect to surprise as we met Quinn and her mom at the school parking lot. I told Rachel I had to pick up some papers from some lady...well we waited and finally they pulled up, Quinn had her window down, and the first thing Rachel said is "you got me again mom." They had a blast in the pool and just hanging out.

All in all this summer was a quick summer, but many memories made!

Summer Happenings...the first half....

2010-07-16T12:37:00.003-05:00

Our summer started off as a busy one. Both the girls were in ball this year. We did not have very many games that overlapped each other, but at Haley's first game she was chasing other kids, fell, and broke her arm. She had to play in the outfield and could not bat...she was pretty bummed about that! Rachel this year moved up to where the kids pitch to themselves. This was hard as the balls came in there very fast, but she adjusted and did a great job at swinging and hitting the ball. Here are some pictures of our first half of the summer.

Haley sitting in the dugout...3rd one from the left

Haley doing some sort of dance while in the outfield and with her broken arm.

Haley after getting her splint...she broke her arm at her 1st game before the game even started....running around and fell on it.....2nd time she has broke an arm...thinking she is going to be accident prone!

Rachel down and ready...actually I was taking a picture of her in her stance before her ball game for a project :)

Rachel and her team during a game...Rachel is on 3rd base

Getting ready to bat....she struggled with this, but by the end really improved...this year they pitched to themselves and those balls came in fast! Note I am in the background coaching 1st and Haley is cheering Rachel on!

Lots of swimming this summer...between rain storms, but the girls have really got some good use out of the pool with friends and family!

Rachel, Haley, and Ann (my niece) at the Ottumwa Beach...Ann stayed with us for a week. The girls had a lot of fun with her, enjoyed making things in the EasyBake, and really did not want her to go home..We will have to have another play date!

My other niece Ashley at her graduation party...she graduated from high school and it makes me feel old as I can remember her taking her first steps and now she is taking a big step of going to college.

Rachel and Haley in the red shirts waiting for the race to start....there have not been many races, but the girls are right there to cheer their dad and Uncle Mike!

First day of summer school...the girls did not make it very long with summer school...decided they had had enough school...cannot blame them!

Both girls have lost teeth this summer...kind of funny as Rachel pulled her own tooth at Haley's ball game and if you know Rachel she has no pain tolerance!

Playing in the small pool (as the girls called it) at Gma and Gpa Chidester's house!

Science Project...

2010-04-26T20:34:00.004-05:00

Rachel had a science project....the solar system. After planning out what she wanted to do and what sizes the planets were, we started constructing the solar system...

Haley was operating the camera...

Haley was so excited to help paint...They started on the sun and Haley was booted after painting the sun.

The finished project....Rachel is pointing to Earth!

She labeled and numbered each planet so everyone knew which order they were supposed to be. We used some stars that we had for a little extra touch...

Easter Happenings 2010...

2010-04-04T19:43:00.013-05:00

Easter started off with the Easter parties at school. This is Rachel's class getting ready for their egg hunt. Rachel is in the pink dress with the white tights. They had some eggs with candy and some eggs with money in them. With they money they had to count how much they had to how many prizes they could buy out of the prize bag. A learning experience while having fun!

This is Haley's class getting ready for their egg hunt. They all knew they had 6 eggs they could collect and they were very good about counting to 6 eggs and stopping. They really had fun and I really enjoyed watching the excitement as they picked up their eggs. Haley is to the left, in front, with the pink skirt and white shirt.

Grandma Eggers hid some eggs for the girls to find around her house.

This is Easter morning playing the waiting game....

Rachel after she found her basket....

Haley after finding her basket....

Girl Scout Cookies....

2010-02-26T16:19:00.007-06:00

Tis the season for Girl Scout Cookies!

I could not resist taking a picture of our pile-o-cookies. Rachel spent most of the afternoon after school bagging the cookies, then we double checked them, and tied the bags. This is her 3rd year of selling cookies and every year her enjoyment order gets bigger. This year it was can we get these, and these, and those, and this one too! So I give in as she has done very well with going around and selling cookies....A very good learning experience!

Snow, Snow, and more Snow...

2010-02-25T21:33:00.007-06:00

So this post is for those of you that have not had enough snow to be tired of it....I am tired of snow, but the girls still love it that I can pull them around behind the 4-wheeler...Hope you enjoy the lovely winter scenery!

These pictures were taken 3 days after the last snowstorm...we have had it seems like a snowstorm once a week for the last 4-5 weeks.....the kids have missed enough school that they having to make up days that they were supposed to have off through the rest of the school year and then they have added some days on the end of the year....hopefully March will be kind to us and no more snow!

The front view....notice my landscaping light around the front sidewalk.....oh that is right they look like black dots.....seriously enough snow already....where is the green grass to mow.......

The push pile between us and the neighbors.....note the boat to the right and how high the pile is...it is also about 10 feet wide......nice pile for the kids to play on......I am thinking a ice hut would be fun.....may be this weekend we can work on that as it has melted some and hardened enough to dig in now.

The path out to the garage where the wood stove is....Chris plowed us a path as it was pretty tricky walking back and forth in the snow without tripping...especially at 6 a.m.

The view straight out the back door....the snow is about 10 inches deep. Notice the John Deere tractor in the background....Chris traded a race car for this......it will come in handy when we start putting up a privacy fence around the pool....

Oh our pool how I want to swim in you.....I am so ready for Summer!

Birthdays....

2010-02-24T13:17:00.008-06:00

Birthday parties and more birthday parties....it is that time of the year for birthdays and birthday parties for the girls.

Rachel had some friends over and we went to the movies and played some games afterwards...

We then came home to enjoy cake, presents, and just play time....All in all it was a fun time...

Rachel with her friends Chrissy, Kaleigh, and Olivia

Haley and her friends enjoyed some games with their balloons, pin the diamonds on the crown, and then they designed their own tiara...it was interesting to see how each one of them designed their tiaras...

Here are the princesses with their own personally designed tiaras...

Left to right: Sylvia, Haley, Lillian, McKinley, Traylon, Tinley, and Emma

Couch tipping...

2010-01-31T10:49:00.003-06:00

This is what the girls love to do while I am deep cleaning my floors....

The kids...

2009-11-26T18:37:00.002-06:00

Corbin on Joe's lap, Taylor, Lizzy, Abby, Haley, Samantha, Rachel, and Zachary on Kathy's lap

My brother came out to visit and it has been a blast to have all of our kids get together and play. These are the ones that were together this night....

Lesson learned........

2009-11-12T20:42:00.002-06:00

This is my sister Kathy's hand after receiving a steam burn, mine is not even close to what her's looks like. Kathy and I were trying to help mom carry a roaster full of ham out to the car. It still had steam in it and as my husband is calling us dumb and dumber lifted it off the counter and the steam proceeded to attack.......it was all we could do to get the roaster back on the countertop.....needless to say we spent 3 hours with our hands in cups of ice water and Chris went to Kirksville for ointment........Andrea called stating she had numbing ointment...thanks Andrea it was a BIG help....needless to say Kathy and I learned our lesson.....you would think that at 38 and 36 we would not do stupid stuff like this.......live and learn! Oh and both of us use our hands for our jobs, she is a women's nurse practicioner and I transcribe!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T19:48:00.006-06:00

The crew........ah what fun we had!

Samantha the witch, Rachel the retro chick, and Haley the princess

Chris as Hannah Montana or Bucky Covington from American Idol.....sexy......NOT

My princess!

My grown up retro chick!

The yearly trick or treat family gathering was fun as always.......Julia and her kids and Kathy and her kids came to go trick or treating....Kathy was in charge of all of the make-up and I had the glitter can.....we put the kids in the wagon behind the 4-wheeler and off we went....the kids had fun, but they were worn out and well worth it..........Happy Halloween!

2 days without....

2009-09-01T17:55:00.005-05:00

Training wheels and the result is this!

And this...

and this!

Haley decided she wanted the training wheels off her bike. We took them off on Friday and Saturday we headed camping and had to take the bikes. I was a bit nervous that she would not be able to keep up with the other kids, but as you can see she had no problems. She did have one collision with another girl that we were camping with as Mia had just learned to ride her bike without training wheels also, but other than that Haley has done an awesome job at riding her bike. She told me today that she liked to ride her bikes without training wheels as she does not make noises anymore, meaning her training wheels were a bit loud! See below for pics of our second camping trip of the year!

Camping for the weekend...

2009-09-01T17:44:00.007-05:00

Chris and Zachary relaxing

At one time this little tent had 7 kids in it with make-up and the works!

The kids playing house in Hotel Hilton (Kathy and Mike's tent)

Samantha and Haley being themselves

65 degrees outside and the kids thought they just had to play in the water...

We had an awesome time just doing nothing. The kids rode their bikes everywhere even to the playground, which was 20 yards away! All around the campground and we followed with the scooters. We will have to do it again before the snow flies!

First Day of School 2009

2009-08-19T18:32:00.009-05:00

Rachel (3rd grade) and Haley (Kindergarten)

They are ready to go!

Haley waiting for the bus....

Still waiting for the bus...

Hugs before they go...

Haley was so excited she was practically skipping to the bus...Rachel was just all smiles!

Home from the 1st day of school...

Haley did NOT like her bus tag she had to wear! She did said school is AWESOME!

Rachel had fun seeing her friends, but is ready for a full day of school tomorrow...

We made it through the 1st day of school. I did not know how to react with one in 3rd grade and one in Kindergarten. I still am in denial I think, but they have grown up so fast. They really make us proud as they are so excited for school Rachel has 16 book reports to do this year, so this will be a new learning experience for her. She has already started on ready to get ready for her first book report. Haley is excited about school. She had gym class today and said it was so cool as they got to skip and do other cool things. She is excited about the 2nd day as she is the first one to bring snack, grapes and strawberries are on the menu for snacks....

20 Year Class Reunion

2009-07-27T13:52:00.013-05:00

Yes that would be 20 years!

I believe they counted 30 of us out of 60 some!

Angela and Kathy

Dee, Anna, Kris, Tracy, and Danny

Teresa, Jennifer, and Kris

Allen and Jeremy

Jodi, Jodi's husband, and Elaina

Todd and his wife

Renee

Wesley, Mike, and Alan and his son

Angela, Deanne, Shannon, Marla, Scott, and Jodi

What fun we had getting together, seeing each other, and enjoying stories. We all could not believe it had been 20 years, really it does not seem that way at all! I will be anxiously awaiting our next reunion! Hope you enjoyed the pictures...

Ball season 2009....

2009-07-15T15:52:00.009-05:00

Haley at short stop waiting for the ball to be hit, a hard thing for them to stand and wait.

Rachel up to bat!

Rachel getting ready to bat...she and another team member played up the next level to help that team out....they pitch to each other....Rachel thought it was okay, after the first few pitches!

Haley getting ready to swing......see the ball......

Standing at home plate......here she goes.........

Haley in the outfield......the one on the left!

Rachel the first one on the right...

Rachel and Haley both played ball this year.....what a difference there is between peewees and the 8 and under team! Chris and I coached Rachel's team this year and it was definately a learning experience for us! Rachel has improved a lot since last year, still has things to learn, but definately has grown in the knowledge of what to do. Haley got frusturated with not being able to hit the ball. She really wanted to hit it and be able to run the bases, but her swinging is not the best. Hopefully next year she will be able to improve.

Lake Rathbun...

2009-07-13T09:50:00.008-05:00

Zachary, Haley, Kathy and Mike getting ready to head out!

Mike, Samantha and Haley getting ready for their turn to ride!

Rachel and Kathy after they had their turn, after hitting a wave that sent them at least 2 foot in the air........I mean good air! Wish I had the camera for that one!

Mike and Samantha

Zachary, Haley and Samantha playing in the bubbles....

Relaxation after boating...

The first time the boat was taken out for 2 years.....we bought the torpedo, as we called it, because the kids could sit down inside and not fall out. Kathy and I decided to take the first trip out and what a trip....needless to say we are both still sore, but will do it again! Kathy and Rachel had the most air time in the torpedo.....they hit the wave just right and into the air they went. Zachary did not like it at all, until we had stopped to swim and he played in it and was just fine with that......we are all thinking about going again this weekend and taking the tent this time. Rachel, Haley, and Samantha had a blast and wanted to do it some more......glad we found something that they really like to do with the lake as Rachel was having a hard time with the dirty water.....go figure!

Me and the wasp...

2009-05-26T22:02:00.004-05:00

Okay well this is not the best picture, but it is what I have. Sunday a wasp decided to fly up the leg of my shorts and well this is the result of it. Chris said it had to be a male wasp to venture up the leg of my shorts. Thanks Chris! Yes it is painful, yes it itches and yes it burns! I am going to the doctor tomorrow as it keeps growing instead of shrinking. My thigh is also swollen and so it looks like I have a goose egg on my leg. So do you think I am allergic to wasps? I would have to say yes. I have not been stung by a wasp since I was 4 years old and mom said this is what happened to me then, but I did swell up a lot more. So I guess I will avoid wasps!

Track and Field Day 2009

2009-05-12T12:04:00.008-05:00

Mrs. Applegate's 2nd Grade Class

Rachel and her ribbons....2nd for the high jump, 2nd for the 3 legged race and 3rd place for the softball throw......Awesome job!

The softball throw.....Mr. Metz asked Rachel if she threw like a girl, obviously not too bad for getting a 3rd place ribbon!

The long jump........she did not place, but was very close!

The 3 legged race with Lillian.........2nd place and their ankles were not too sore!

The 100 meter dash......

The high jump.......Rachel loves to do the high jump......she received 2nd place!

There was a lot of anticipation amongst the kids, but we kept encouraging them congratulate each other......they overall as a class did very well with their sportsmanship.

My dreams are.......

2009-05-11T15:03:00.003-05:00

Awaiting the arrival of our new mattress. Our mattress we have now is horrible and so Chris is sleeping in his recliner half the night and me sleeping on the couch in our room or in the middle of our bed where it is not as broken down as the rest of the mattress. Our new mattress arrives in 2-3 weeks, hopefully sooner. We have 90 days to determine if it will be the mattress of our dreams or another lump for a bed!

I am dreaming of those nights that I can rest and wake up refreshed and know that I have slept well with the proof of a drool spot on my pillow :)

And all I wanted was a pop......

2009-05-03T21:16:00.006-05:00

Saturday morning started out with me having to finish my work for the week (transcribing). Haley had ball practice at 10, so after breakfast and finding shoes and equipment out the door we went. I really wanted my pop for the day, but did not have time to get it. I have no self control, so we do not have pop in the house... Ball practice was over in an hour and the girls were already hungry for lunch....ugh it seems like we had just gone done eating. So I figured out what to do for lunch and needed to heat the stove up. Finally had a chance to go get my pop. A whole 3 blocks away, I took the car and my money for the pop I so wanted to have.

I left the store with my pop in hand and back home I go, remember this is only 3 blocks from home. I stopped at the stop sign on the square in town to turn south to come home. I waited my turn and proceeded to turn south. Then out of the corner of my eye came a blur and WHAM into the side of my car. I am thinking what the heck just happened. I am thinking what just hit me. I am thinking nothing was there when I turned. My thoughts were a blur. Mind you this is in seconds of thoughts. Next thing I know a kid stands up with his bike and then the blur starts to clear as I remember seeing a kid on his bike trying to stop before he hit my car. I mean he hit it HARD! I am trying not to freak out, the kids sister is hollering to make sure he is fine. I am trying to make sure he is fine and trying not to strangle him while I am trying to find out if he is fine and asking what he was doing. He would not tell me his name. His friend denied knowing him, stating that he just started riding bikes with him. I knew that was a lie (of course the boy that was riding with the kid that hit my car was the oldest of the Johnson boys and they have an issue with lying so go figure). The kid that hit my car kept saying he was sorry, he had no brakes on the bike and he was in trouble. I am thinking/saying why the heck were you going that fast coming upon an intersection with no brakes on the bike. I kept asking if they were racing their bikes and finally they told me they were. This is on the south side of the square, the busiest sidewalk for people to be on and a busy intersection and these kids could have hurt someone else as fast as they were riding.

I could not get his name to find out who he was. He and his sister took off on their bikes. The other kid took off on his bike and my car is still in the middle of the road. Another guy that saw what happened pulled up and asked if I knew the kid....no I did not and so off we went to find the kid and find out who he was.

We found him and his sister on the other side of the square. Finally got him to tell me who he was.....ugh I know his parents! The boy was a Ferdig. He kept saying he was sorry, he was not hurt and he would pay for my car. I kept telling him I was not worried about my car and wanted to make sure he was fine. I did tell him that this was a lesson learned and that it could have been way worse. Man I really wanted to lecture him, but I know he learned something (at least I hope he did)!

We then parted our ways and I went to get Chris. Well mad is not a word to describe his reaction. Off to the parents house we headed, which the kid had not made it home yet. Boy did he have some explaining to do when he finally arrived. He was not even suppose to be close the square. He was suppose to be riding behind his house which is 5 blocks from the square.

We had to file a police report, go back and get the parents info and now we have to get an estimate on the car. Chris seems to think $1000 will cover the damage, which is nothing compared to if something worse happened and if I would have been driving my suburban it would have been a lot worse as the kid actually went under the front of the car and I got it stopped in time. UGH.....all I wanted was just a pop....geeze! Rachel and Haley got a lecture on why they are suppose to listen to their parents and not to lie and why I am so anal about riding their bikes and listening to me. I think it was a little bit of an eye opener for them also!

So to further the story, I went to put the food away from lunch which was 2 hours later and my refrigerator was warm.......man if it is not one thing it is another. So Ms. Maytag I am had to defrost the coils in the back of the fridge, something I had learned from the time before.....oh it pays to pay attention sometimes!

Other than that my day was uneventful, but trust me I will be watching for wild kids on their bikes!

The most important blessings in the past 2 weeks...

2009-04-27T11:39:00.009-05:00

My brother Joe is holding his son Corbin Neil...Corbin was born on April 10, 2009

Joe's wife Casey holding Corbin and Elizabeth (Liz will be 3 this fall)

Elizabeth and Corbin

My sister Amanda holding Alexa Lee......Alexa was born April 24, 2009
Jordan is holding their son Jack who was born on my birthday (Jack will be 3 in August)....a special bond we have! Also Rachel was born on Jordan's birthday...... so it is kind of fun celebrating birthdays.

Another pic of Alexa....

Okay if you have not figured it out, that is 2 babies in 2 weeks. How cool is that! Wish I could love and squeeze on them, but one is in Utah and the other is in Idaho.....pictures will have to do!

Happenings over the past few weeks...

2009-04-27T10:40:00.017-05:00

Rachel and Haley each picked out a plant to put in a pot on the front porch!

My new gazebo frame that Chris and the girls surprised me with...we will put the top on after the winds quit for the season!

Our tomato and pepper plants....we are trying the pot gardens this year!

Rachel had Girl Scout recognition Sunday (Rachel is second from the left)....they have learned a lot and have earned a lot of patches, if only I would find time to get Rachel's patches sewn on:)

Haley took a very RARE nap Saturday afternoon (that would be a 3 hour nap)...Rachel came out to the garage and said Haley was asleep.....I did not believe her and checked for myself......low and behold she was asleep...she was a tired little girl!

Haley had Kindergarten Round-Up this past week and they got to take a bus ride around Queen City.....when she got home her dad asked her what she got to do and she said "We went to Kansas City and then went to the play park." We had to laugh at that as Kansas City is 3 hours away....we drive through Kansas City to get to Aunt Pam's so that is why/where she knew of Kansas City. Haley is so excited to start school. We are down to 4 weeks away for summer school to start.....the girls are ready, but me I am going to have a hard time with getting adjusted to not stopping at 1 o'clock and picking someone up from daycare.......

Chris and I have adventured into doing lettering on shirts and hats. We are limited to what we can do for now, but will be adding onto our business as we go. Here are some of the teams shirts we are working on. Notice Chris's other project in the background.......yes his race car. He has not had much time to work on it and he really wants to race this summer, but ball season is taking out of that.......he will just have to race in between games!

Rachel and Haley in their Easter dresses. I snapped these pics after church.....how did Chris and I get such beautiful girls......they just make my heart melt!

Rachel and Haley with their baskets that the Easter Bunny left them....

Here are the kids getting ready to find eggs! From left to right are Zachary who will be 3 the end of May (Kathy's son), Haley who is 5 and Rachel who is 8 (mine), Luke, Taylor will be 2 in August and Abbi will be 4 in November (Julia's husband and 2 daughters) and Samantha will be 6 in June (Kathy's daughter).

I love the bunny ears. I found them last year and the girls thought they were awesome, so they put them on for this year.

We had a wonderful weekend. Kathy and Julia came to help with the shirts on Saturday. Sunday we put up the gazebo frame, went to Rachel's Girl Scout recognition and then bought plants/flowers. I did not get any pics of the girls helping plant, but I really do think the had fun. I am excited to see how our pot garden works, but at least we can have some fresh veggies of our own. My dad has a garden and Chris's parents have a garden so we will busy helping them....but it will be rewarding to eat the fresh food. Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Do you ever feel like....

2009-04-21T21:02:00.002-05:00

You are sinking and cannot find your way back up! I have been the biggest crab to my family and I cannot make myself stop! I do not know what it is that has triggered this, but I have got to figure it out. I crab at my kids for nothing, I crab at my husband well just because and I cannot get this feeling of me not spending enough time with my family! I crab at Rachel with homework. I crab at Haley because she cannot do this or that. I feel like I am being pulled this way and that way and I do not know which way I am going.

I realize we have a lot going on right now, but my work is not helping at all. Today as of 9 p.m. I have only worked 2 hours. They keep telling us that they are going to lock down the system and we will have work, well I wish this would happen soon cuz no work is not paying the bills. I did take off and go to Kirksville and get some well needed groceries as my cupboards were empty. I had been scraping by with what I had and getting a few things at the local grocery store, but it was time to go. As always I had it in the back of my mind that I needed to get home and get the groceries put up and get Haley picked up by 1 p.m. as Chris was manning the shop by himself today!

I just need to figure out how to be not so grouchy, please someone tell me the magic that I need to get me turned around! Thanks!

Do you know...

2009-04-08T09:15:00.002-05:00

What bothers me? When you are sitting outside enjoying some sun and some warmth, listening/watching the kids play on the trampoline, and talking to my husband when all of the sudden you hear that familiar sound of a gun going off and then the pellet hitting the side of my neighbors building.......mind you this is all while the kids are playing outside. We think it was a pellet gun, because it was not loud enough for a regular gun. I immediately went through the neighbor's yard to see if I could see anyone outside playing around. It was eary as I did not see anyone. Chris was also looking too. We never did find/see anything, but mind you I will be asking my neighbors as I see them if their children have pellet guns! It scares the crap out of me knowing that one of the kids could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and been hit with that pellet. This is why I dislike living in town, but I will not be moving soon so I have to deal with it......UGH!

What is God's plan for us?

2009-04-02T15:52:00.003-05:00

We never know what God's plan is for us, but this blog http://thegledhillfamily.blogspot.com/ is about God's plan that he had in store for this family. I personally do not know this family, just came across this blog, but it brings to light what part of God's plan was for this family....just thought I would share...

Warm milk...

2009-03-24T09:18:00.003-05:00

So I have a little girl that gets up in the middle of the night and gets a drink of water from her water bottle in the fridge. Well for the last couple of weeks I have found the fridge door ajar here and there and have been getting on the kids about making sure the door is shut. But this morning, when I found the fridge door ajar, there was a bunch of condensation in the fridge and on my little blower hole that blows cold air into where the milk is kept to keep it extra cold (I like my milk COLD) there was frost all over it. I frantically checked the meat and milk and other things in the fridge to see if they were still good and WHEW they were, but warmer than they should be. So off to Nelson's I go (the local appliance store where the fridge came from) and they told me the part I need (it's called the door cam) and it is ordered. Now. if we can just keep the door closed until the part comes in......gotta love the little things in life that we need to keep us going!

Riding bikes...

2009-03-16T22:39:00.003-05:00

Wish I had a picture of the girls and I yesterday riding our bikes! We decided to go for a bike ride yesterday as Chris had taken off on the 4-wheeler for some guy time. The girls had a friend over for a while and then it was time for the friend to go home. I then asked the girls if they wanted to go for a bike ride and simultaneously they said YES! I have been very leery of riding my bike with both of the girls on their bikes, because Haley has had a little bit of a listening issue in the past when she rode her bike and it made me uncomfortable as I could not control her bike and mine at the same time. Well I felt like we could give it a try again with all 3 of us on our bikes and it was great!

The girls handled their bikes very well and we even made it competitive to see who could stay in the lead, me laughing as Haley was peddling as fast as she could to pass Rachel and me laughing as I was trying to not pass them both and act like I was really trying to!

It is so amazing to think that I can take a bike ride with my girls....how the time has gone by, but I am having so much fun with them as they grow into the different stages of their lives....but please tell me how to get them to quit bickering and fighting......but then I do remember my sisters and I doing the same thing.....memories gotta love them!

So it has been 2 nights and....

2009-03-06T09:21:00.003-06:00

Haley has slept in her bed all night long! Hurray I say as this has been a big deal in our house. Chris and I are not sleeping well when Haley climbs in our bed as she is an octopus......arms and legs going all the time! We have bribed her (which never worked), we have told her that her favorite toys will disappear (which they have and it still has not worked), we have told her there are no monsters in her bed as Dora and Boots will save her (that is who she has on her bed sheets), we have tried a lot of things. So it came down to her telling us that our bed is more cozy than her bed and her bed is cold and ours is warm.

Well my sister Julia had gotten a new bed and on her old bed she had a memory foam mattress pad they had put on their bed for some more cushion. They did not need it and gave us a chunk of the mattress padding. I put that piece on Haley's bed to see if maybe the cushion from it would make her bed cozy and also keep her warm as the memory foam does keep your body "cozy."

I did not say anything to Haley about this, so after she had fallen asleep in our bed (a nightly routine of reading books with the girls as our bed is the one that fits us all) I had taken Haley potty (yes she is asleep, but she does potty still) and put her in her bed. For the last 2 nights she has slept all night in her bed. I have woke up a lot more rested the past 2 mornings and Haley is not grouchy like she usually is in the mornings. Chris woke Haley up this morning and her first words were "Dad did I sleep in my bed all night?" She was amazed, I have been ecstatic and now we will see if this continuous.

But my words to my sister are THANK YOU! If I would have only known I would have bought a memory foam pad a lot sooner! Everyone have a wonderful day!

rain, rain go away........

2009-02-09T11:54:00.002-06:00

Can we say spoiled Saturday! YES we can! It was an awesome day with the windows open and the kids playing in the sandbox and on the swing set and on the trampoline. Wouldn't it be nice for it to be officially springtime! I so want the wind to quit blowing, the sun to come out and the magic fairy to come and tell me I do not have to work for the next 2 days.......so much for wishing! Everyone have a wonderful Monday and enjoy Tuesday, cuz old man winter is knocking at our doors.....argh!

My Cat....

2009-02-02T21:03:00.003-06:00

You know when you have an animal for over 13 years you are kind of attached to them. Well our cat Racer had lived his life to the fullest with being a little bit on the timid side where he liked to bat at most anyone that came through our door. Yes he would sniff them and then take a big old swing with his front paw and yes you felt it. He was a #14 cat. He was called the devil cat at times, but he was our cat.

He had in the past year or so started sleeping on Rachel's bed and following her around in the house. He had not quite warmed up to Haley like he had with Rachel, but he was doing better. Well in the past month he was kicked out to the garage because he was using the Christmas tree skirt as his litter box. Do not get me wrong, I was torqued beyond belief that he would do this but I also reminded myself that he was getting old.

Every day for the last month he would be waiting for us to come and go through the garage so he could get some loves and pets from all of us. I was really surprised at how much he let the girls pet him and give him cat kisses (rub nose-to-nose). So cute and wished I would have gotten some pictures, but you know how that goes.

Well this weekend he quit eating and did little drinking of his water. He had not been acting quite right as he was not walking around with his big furry tail held high in the air and strutting his stuff. I suppose he knew his time was coming. Yesterday morning he had about 4 accidents in the garage and boy they were enough to turn my stomach. Usually it does not get me, but these were oh indescribable. He went outside yesterday and wanted to come back in last night. He hopped up on his perch, a blanket we had put him on so he could see us come and go. He crapped again last night and this time it was more potent smelling and we knew the way he looked and the way the pooped looked it was not good. So this morning after Rachel went to school and Haley went to Judy's we said our goodbyes and took him to the vet.

Usually when he goes to the vet he is more than pissed off and not wanting anything to do with anybody. I put him in the cage and rubbed and spoke soft words to him! Oh so hard to someone you have had for 13 years, but knew he would be better off and he is. The vet said he barely moved a paw when he went to pick him up, the vet knowing this is not the same cat he has dealt with before.

Anyway Haley came home at 1 p.m. and asked where Racer was. I avoided the question and waited until Rachel come home and told them both that Racer was in Heaven. Rachel had a hard time and Haley finally understood when I told her that his spirit was in Heaven watching us but his body we would put next to the garage.

We went and got our special cat and the girls and I dug the hole. We said our goodbyes, Rachel fell apart and had to go to the house. Haley and I talked as daddy fixed the special spot for us to ponder Racer and all the fun we had with him. He has a special thinking rock where he is so we can sit and know he is having the time of his life in Heaven.

Rest in peace my special kitty, we love you lots!

1000 words thought for Thursday

2009-01-28T22:48:00.006-06:00

So you know when you are in the check out line at Wal-Mart really needing to hurry as you need to be somewhere in 20 minutes on the other side of town.....yes that is 20 minutes, doing good, should be fine with making it there on time. NOPE.....did not happen. Yes it was 20 minutes of the guy checking us out making funny faces at Haley (which is fine with me if I was not in a hurry), talking about this and that, going one at a time as slow as he can (when you have 20 packets of Kool-Aid), asking if we needed bath towels (as if he needs to know why we are purchasing bath towels), asking what Haley did to deserve a Barbie horse and carriage (thanks to Grandma Sue for the B-day gift card), wondering if we need that box bagged (heck no just get us checked out). UGH........FINALLY getting to the grand total and he screwed up the cash total that Chris gave him (thanks honey for paying)......mind you this has already been a 15 minute check out that should have been at tops maybe 5-7 minutes. He cannot figure out what he did, would not let us figure it out, called for another associate to help him figure it out........go figure just put in the other $100 that he did not put in and magic he gets the change he owes us. Meanwhile Rachel is waiting at church for us and frusturated that she is the last one.......do I blame her no, was it our fault, not this time.....so the lesson learned tonight is not to go through the checkout line with the young, babbling man that can give a care less when you tell him at the beginning of this process that you have to be somewhere and would really like him to get us checked out.....Have a wonderful day!

I'm still here.....

2009-01-27T09:42:00.002-06:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know I have not fallen off the earth. We have been busy with this and that and then just plain lazy...if you know what I mean. This weather is enough to drain anybody.

I did major house cleaning this weekend with getting rid of toys and rearranging and trashing stuff that has not been seen for a while. Maybe some day my house will be more organized, but until then I can say I have been trying. Everyone have a wonderful Tuesday!

Memories...

2009-01-12T20:21:00.006-06:00

Well tomorrow marks another milestone in our life. Haley turns 5! Yes another birthday. We have to love December and January......seriously we need to do half birthdays for the girls so they can at least enjoy their gifts and not get them all at the same time......we might eventually do that.......I have tried and it just does not happen.

Anyway this time 5 years ago I was one miserable person. I remember feeling like I had wet myself the night before and did not say anything to anyone about it...who wants to tell that you wet yourself. Well my doctor called that night and we talked and she told me I had probably better be checked out and she would meet me at the hospital. I arrived at 8 a.m. on January 13, 2004 like I was suppose to (leaving Chris at work telling him I would call if I needed him). As I parked my car, I spotted Andrea's car there too....yep we were in the hospital at the same time....kind of neat I thought.

The doctor checked me, after the nurse told her that I could not have the baby as they were full, me taking one of the last open beds. Well my first bag of water had already broke on it own and the second bag was still intact...yes I had two bags of water. I called Chris and the rest was history!

I asked the nurse to let Andrea know that I was there and she stated that she could not for policy reasons, but my doctor was also Andrea's and she so kindly let Andrea know I was there. Andrea and I were in the two delivery rooms at the same time......who will go first was the question. Andrea visited me for a little while, until she decided she might toss her cookies...

Needless to say Emma arrived a little over an hour before Haley. My sister and mom reported on Emma's weight as she was weighed right outside my room. Well it was Haley's turn to arrive in this wide world weighing in at 9 lbs 5 oz. Yes I went from a 6 lbs 6 oz baby to this 3 month old baby (it seemed like it to me).

Oh how the time flies when you are having so much fun! Haley is definately a joy, I really think she is going to be the class clown as much as she goofs around. I hope not, but we will see. She is so excited about starting kindergarten this fall.

This morning she stated as Rachel was getting on the bus "Am I ever going to be able to ride that bus Mom?" I stated "Yes, soon enough you will be riding that bus." I do not know if I am ready for it, but I know she is!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Closing of 2008

2008-12-31T17:24:00.002-06:00

Dunno why I chose that title, but 2008 is just about gone and we are going to be spending the rest of the year with my sister and her family....go figure. I am so grateful for my family and friends and I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! See you in 2009.......oh how wierd that sounds. That means Chris and I have been together 20 years (do not laugh) and it also means I have been out of high school for 20 years (yes I know I am old).

Everyone have a safe New Year's Eve and have a Happy New Year!

Lost it........

2008-12-23T22:07:00.004-06:00

Do you ever wonder how we get through the day and remember what we did, how we did it or what we did with it. Well, Bree asked if she could use my triffle bowl from Pampered Chef. I went looking for it and remembered that I had loaned it out to someone and I cannot remember who that someonewas.

So if anyone out there has an extra triffle bowl and they are willing to return it I would be very grateful. If they want to they can also fill it with something yummy:)

Thanks and I very much appreciate it!

8 years ago....

2008-12-16T10:43:00.005-06:00

Rachel was coming into this world.....I was in shock.......Chris just was not sure what to do! I was doing flips on the bed from my hands and knees to my back. The nurse just could not figure out how I was doing that......go figure.......you do anything you need to do to be comfortable!

Chris's dad had just had a 5 bypass surgery 5 days before and him and Lorene were in Columbia along with Chris's sister and my niece. My mom and sister (Kathy) were at the hospital with Chris and I.

When we arrived at the hospital at 8:30 a.m. it was 50 degrees, after we had Rachel it was about 20 degrees (you know how it was this Sunday)!

Rachel Kathyrn (named after my sister Kathy) decided to enter this world at 11:43 a.m. I was not sure about having a baby a month early, but we welcomed her with open arms and now look at how much she has grown!

Calling Santa

2008-12-15T11:01:00.004-06:00

You know when you have had it for the day and you have to use that phrase "do you want me to call Santa?" Well I had to use that last night as the girls and I were getting ready for bed. Laying in bed Haley was still crying after getting in trouble saying in a hurtful way that she was happy her cousin Samantha was leaving (you would think those two were sisters the way they bicker between themselves) and then crying because she had to take a bath (you know that relaxing thing I would love to do every night) and crying more because she was going to bed (7:30 p.m., yes my kids were going to bed early)! Mind you this was 45 minutes of crying and I had had enough!

Rachel on the other hand likes to be the big mother-type figure and cause problems between the younger ones. She does not like it when Samantha and Haley are playing just fine and not including Rachel. Then there is Zachary and he will follow Rachel around like a puppy just doing what she is doing, so there is always a screaming child because of this or that.

I begin to wonder who the mother is in the house between Rachel and I......pretty bad when you have to compete between an 8-year-old and myself. I am always telling her that there is an adult in the house and it is not her.

Okay back to my story. We were laying in bed and Haley was still fussing and Rachel and I were talking about her actions with the kids and not listening to me or Kathy. We were talking about Santa and how he was watching them and how he was not happy with their actions or their listening ears. I said that I would have to call Santa and that one of his elves answered the phone for him and would give him the message that he needed to check his list again for our house. Well Rachel being the smarty pants that she is wanted to know how I knew Santa's phone number. I stated that being a mom we knew these things. That was not good enough for Rachel, so she asked me what his phone number was. I had to think of a good come back on that one and so his new phone number is 1-800-Santa......Yes I know it is short a little bit, but she did not pick up on that.

So both the girls told me that they would be double good this week so I would not have to call Santa. They are suppose to be on their best behavior, we will have to see how they do. I have also told them that Santa will be taking presents away if they cannot behave, so hopefully I have scared them enough that they will shape up a little bit.

Oh what we have to do as parents to get a little bit of sanity....... Happy Holidays!

Do we have to.......

2008-12-12T11:59:00.009-06:00

That is what I heard when I asked the girls to put on their Christmas dresses and and act like they like getting their picture taken.... They finally got dressed and found the santa hats that I had forgot about (could not resist the hats, even though I did not plan on them having hats on, but they are cute). They put on these smiles that I cannot resist, after I stuffed them under the tree to get this pose! Yes they did not think it was the greatest idea, but decided it would be okay. They hammed it up for the camera just fine for the first picture, but after that I had to work with them a bit.....oh well after all was said and done the first picture that I took was the best one! Whew it was hard work and I was sweating and a little frusturated after we were done, but you know how it is when you are looking for that perfect picture for the Christmas card, well this is what I got! Enjoy!

Casey......the soldier

2008-12-04T20:33:00.003-06:00

This is Casey Thompson, my nephew that was deployed yesterday. I just needed to add his picture so everyone could see who I was talking about. When Chris and I started dating years ago (that would be almost 20 years ago) Casey was 3 months old. By the time he was 6 months old we called him the Michelin Man cuz he had so many chub rolls.......oh my gosh did he have the chub.....so funny. Now he is all grown up and not so chubby!

The call......

2008-12-03T14:37:00.004-06:00

So I finished my work for the morning getting ready for lunch and my dear husband told me that his nephew Casey had called and was getting ready to load on a plane to head for Baghdad, Iraq. He is in the Military Police so he will be down in the thick of everything. I kind of freaked out and tried to call him and it went to his answering machine....I gave him a quick I love you and be careful and call or email when you can.

Well I went to get some food and in the meantime he had left a message to call back quick as they would be loading in 10 minutes. I frantically called him back and he was in the middle of taking the platoon picture (group picture) so he called me back and we had a quick chat. He sounded a little excited, nervous, ugh I am so not looking forward to this next year, but hopefully it will go as quick as his brother's did (Derek just came home last Tuesday, November 25, 2008).

I love our freedom, but dang it I wish we did not have to fight for it like we are now! God Bless the USA and God bless all the men and women serving for our country!

Shopping...

2008-12-01T09:10:00.004-06:00

Well I did not brave Black Friday as some did......I am not patient enough for the rudeness of some of the shoppers.......Kathy and I went to Des Moines on Saturday for our shopping. We were suppose to leave Ottumwa at 8:30 a.m., I arrived at 8:45 (yes late, go figure) and her mother-in-law was not there yet.....ugh frusturating. Anyway we finally got out of town at 10 a.m. which put us an hour and a half behind on shopping! We started our shopping spree at 11 a.m. when the snow started falling......yes tis that time of the year.....ugh not while I am 2 hours away from home driving a boat that is only 2-wheel drive! Well we shopped and shopped and ate and shopped and came home with a load full of stuff, tell me what I do not know but the suburban was full of bags:)

We had a little bit of a show down with a snowplow and the suburban and I was afraid the burb was going to lose, but low and behold we came out ahead (after I about freaked out and tried not to hit the brakes on a ice/snow covered road at 9 p.m.)! We figured the snowplow hit a patch of slush and floated way over on our side of the road as we were trying to go around him as he was running maybe 20 mph (yes I know follow the snowplow, but it would have been 2 a.m. before we got home if we did that)!

So I made it home safely and after lots of hugs and loves from the girls the next morning we had to go play in the snow (like I was not for playing in the snow either)! The girls pulled out the saucer sleds and I pulled out the massive yellow beast, a.k.a. the 4-wheeler, I pulled the girls around the yard loving it as I am not the work horse like I have been in the past. After a few dumps and getting ran over by Rachel, Haley decided to ride on the 4-wheeler with me. Rachel did not want to give up, so we pulled her around more and went a little faster, oh the squeals of joy!

We are back to our usual routine this morning, but the bus was 10 minutes late which put the rest of us behind and then the car had to be warmed up and scraped off as the garage is full of stained doors (yes doors that have been hung undone for 6 years). We are trying to finish up those undone projects that keep hanging over us.......

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful Monday!

Can you believe it!

2008-11-14T14:34:00.002-06:00

Can you believe that gas prices have dropped like they have? I just put gas in my truck at $1.86 a gallon and it dropped to $1.85 right after that. Yes is all I can say. It sure beats $4 a gallon and $160 to fill my truck!

I forgot......

2008-10-28T08:57:00.002-05:00

And I forgot to include that I helped paint at Andrea's house on Saturday. It is so exciting to see someones home come together. I stopped by Andrea's house last night to see how the paint looked after drying and all the touch ups turned out and for all that were involved with the painting pat yourselves on your back......awsome job guys! The flooring that Vance and Jared are going to put down is very neat.......okay can I redo my whole house........you know to make it seem new again.....LOL!

Slowed down

2008-10-27T09:24:00.004-05:00

Yes I am still here or I should say we are still around. Soccer season is finished! Rachel made two goals the last game. Haley was hit in the face with the soccer ball, but then went out and chased the ball and felt better about getting angry at that ball that hit her in the face.

We had parent/teacher conferences last week and Rachel is cruising along in her different subjects. She has an A- in math and that is because she flew through one of her tests and missed 12 problems because she was trying to be the first one done.........well it hurt her grade a little, but she learned her lesson!

Rachel had Future Cheerleading Camp last week and cheered at the game last Friday. She definitely showed her spirit........go Rachel! Haley received her own pom-poms and showed her spirit too. When I asked her if she wanted to be a cheerleader she smiled and said "definitely."

Both girls are growing out of everything. Shoes, clothes, socks, coats..........ah and Haley cannot wear Rachel's hand-me-downs as Haley is almost as big as Rachel.........so much for saving Rachel's clothes for Haley.......Rachel will be wearing Haley's hand-me-downs before long! So we did a shopping trip to Ottumwa last night and bought new tennis shoes (after mom has learned to buy the girls what I like to wear, cuz the cute shoes are not feasible when it comes to walking and playing in them cuz the girls are too darn clumsy and trip and fall in the cutesy shoes.......lesson learned by mom)!

I am wanting to change out the hardware in my kitchen as the handles we have like to reach out and grab you and I have torn a few pants from those handles and I am tired of it. BUT my husband is too opinionated about things and does not like what I have picked out, so it is the battle of two hard headed people to figure out what we will settle on for new hardware............he likes the handles that you can just reach straight down and pull out and I like the handles that have the curved arch and covered in pulls (I will take pics and show you what I mean later). Whatever we settle on it will be better than what we have!

So the races are over too! We were rained out Friday night and Saturday we had 162 cars and the races were over by 1 a.m. Too late, but a lot of cars and a lot of crazy drivers. We had a few roll overs, but all drivers were okay. It was fun this time and it was nice to have the extra help! That took a lot of stress off of Chris and I both. I told him though that I did not want to promote any race tracks next year, it is not and will not be my cup of tea but you know me I will do what my husband needs me to do!

So as I type this bit of my life that has happened over the last three weeks I am waiting to start my day of work. We have no work for me to do (which is freaking frustrating) and I can do some housework that needs to be done (do not really want to but should). The house is quiet (until I turn on Carrie Underwood) and I am going to enjoy my little bit of time alone! Hope everyone has a wonderful week and Happy Halloween! I will post pics of the girls outfits (when I figure out how to post pics)!

Made it through the weekend!

2008-10-02T17:01:00.002-05:00

We made it through the weekend with the help of friends, family and others that were asked to help. Definately was a busy weekend. It started off Friday with Chris, his dad and I all going to the race track to touch up the mowing and weedeating and Chris working on the track. By dark I had enough weedeating, the mosquitos had come out (the size of I dunno what but they were freaking huge) and Chris had started watering the track with the help of Kevin (they call him tiny, but he is one tall dude). Jim and I finally left and left Chris at the track, Trent (a friend) went to get him later on (about midnight).

Saturday brought us to the girls soccer game. Haley was chasing the ball around, got a good kick and put it in the goal (huge smile on her face). Then she was the goalie and she stopped the ball from getting in. Yeah Haley!

Rachel's game was on the other field (Emma (Haley's friend) told me to keep one eye on Haley and one eye on Rachel, hate to tell her I am not that coordinated:) Rachel did good getting the ball when she finally caught up with it, but pooped out from running. They put her in the goal box and she let a ball slip by her (darn).

Then off to the house for lunch and waiting for Julia (my built in babysitter) to come watch the girls and Kathy's kids so we could head to the race track. Kathy was running late and we did not get to the track until 2:30 when the pits open at 3 p.m. Chris was calling and stressing me out cuz there were race cars there already and Kathy was grouchy cuz she was behind, not a way to start.

Well we started letting cars in the pits and at 5 p.m. we had 115 cars in the pits. That is a darn good count for the first time of putting on a show! We started racing at 6:15 and was done at 11:15 roughly. I do not know exactly what time it was, but that is what I have been told. I got to watch a total of 10 minutes of the races as both races were my brother-in-laws and he ended up second (yeah Mike).

Kathy, Heidi (Trent's wife) and I were in charge of counting the money and putting money in the envelopes to pay the racers for their finishing spots. Well at one time all three of us had the hottest pants in the joint.......lol. We had to put the cash somewhere:)

So the races were over, everyone had left and Chris and I finally made it to bed at 3 a.m. Sunday morning. The girls were up at 8 a.m. and I felt like I had the biggest hangover. We were dead tired all day long......UGH was it all worth it......I dunno but we are going to do it again Oct. 17 and 18th for a two day show..........are we crazy..........YES!!!

Thank goodness it is not an every weekend occurance. It has taken me until today to feel human again......old age........no sleep.......young kids do not work well.

Anyway this week has been a run fest still with my nephew coming through on Tuesday for a quick sleep over before he left for his parents house in Kansas. Casey will be leaving for Iraq like I stated before and it was nice to see him again before he left.

It has been cool this week and trying to find pants to fit Rachel has not been a good experience. Tuesday morning I finally found a pair of pants that would fit. Wednesday morning we missed the bus because I could not find anything. She would try something on and then on to the next pair. Six pairs later she found something that would fit. Guess I really need to go through her drawers again. She must have went through a growth spurt or something.......UGH! So Old Navy.com to the rescue and I have ordered two pairs of pants for $12.50 a piece, and me a shirt too.....

So it is Thursday and we have soccer tonight, soccer game saturday, Chris is gone all day saturday for a junk/swap sale in Cedar Rapids and then Sunday is going to the pumpkin patch/corn maze in LaPlata for Girl Scouts and then Monday........does anyone know where the weekends go? I wonder that a lot!

Busy!

2008-09-25T15:10:00.002-05:00

This is an understatement....It has been a busy 2 weeks! We have been running to soccer practice twice a week and last weekend had a garage sale which I earned a whopping $150 which I have spent already on groceries and gas......UGH! I think I have traumatized the girls as they keep asking me if I am going to garage sale this toy or that toy....maybe I had better keep them out of the decision making of what toy goes next.

We finished up with the garage sale at about 2 p.m., cleaned up and headed to the race track in Memphis to see what my dad and Chris had accomplished on the track. Dad has not ran a maintainer (sp?) for 27 years, but Chris gave him the confidence to try and so therefore dad was in heaven. It took him about 15 minutes to remember how (you know when you have not rode a bike forever and then get back on)! When we arrived at the track (mom, Kathy and her kids, me and my kids) dad was just finishing up on the track work. You talk about the biggest grin I had seen on my dad's face. That was the reward of the day!

The kids, mom, dad, Kathy, Chris and I walked around the track trying to find treasures (LOL) and anything that did not need to be on the track (i.e. rocks, pieces off race cars, etc.) I found a wratchet (Snap-On...yeah for me or I mean Chris). We all found all kinds of stuff that had to be thrown off. Rachel found a string and a piece of metal and had to make a pull rope. She was tickled and that kept her busy! Kathy and I then took the weedeater and mower and trimmed and mowed around the inside of the race track in turns 1 and 2. Talk about sore the next morning, we are wimps!

So to this week we have had Girl Scouts sign up, my nephew was in town for a couple of days (he is in the Army, 82nd Airborne and is leaving for Iraq in October..SCARRY...his brother is already in Iraq...UGH). The girls had soccer practice on Tuesday, oh that is Rachel practiced and Haley practice her whining! She states she was thinking about practicing, but then told grandma that I told her she could not practice (think she has an issue?)! She ended up really frustrating me so we headed to the suburban early to wait for Rachel to finish practice. The crying started to get louder and louder as we head to the truck. She had everyone looking and wondering what was going on, it is awful to be in trouble! I hate making them cry, but enough is enough!

So now it is Thursday and I forgot I had a hair appointment (not good when you look like a hairy ape) and we have soccer practice tonight which Haley has stated she is going to participate tonight (I think the walk to the truck did her good, thanks Andrea for the confidence talk with the library incidence as Haley knew exactly what was coming when I started to leave the field on Tuesday)!

Chris has been running all week trying to get sponsors for a race that he is having in October. He is heading to the race track tomorrow to help get it ready for Saturday. I will go over after Rachel gets home from school tomorrow to finish weedeating and mowing what I want mowed to make it look better (since I am a little picky when it comes to making the grass look good.....go ahead and say I am off my rocker, but.....).

Saturday is the race that Chris has been working toward happening and seeing how this race goes so he knows what to expect for the race in October. The anticipation is killing me and Chris said his nerves are on end, but I think all in all things will be fine. I am excited to see what kind of support Chris has for this race (there is always a butt in a group of people that will say/stir up something, but it will be okay)!

Enough rambling. I will update you next week on the race events and see if I can figure out how to post some pics of things happenings in our lives. Have a wonderful weekend! Smile, the sun is shining and it is a beautiful day!

Well.........

2008-09-10T16:47:00.002-05:00

It is another Wednesday, the sun is shining, the neighbor is mowing, I am finishing up my day with work still trying to figure out what to cook for supper and waiting for Chris to come home, other than that nothing much on the home front.

Rachel has learned her lesson about taking things into her own hands, school is going good for her and she is ready for soccer to start!

Haley is excited about soccer, but keeps questioning when they are going to go....LOL! Guess she does not realize that this crazy weather has screwed up a lot!

The race that Chris has been planning for this weekend probably will not happen. The rain has taken care of that. It is suppose to rain for the next three days, so that means we will be trying to get the race scheduled on September 27th which is also my sister's (Kathy) B-day. We will have to sing happy birthday to her over the intercom and have a cake for her........she will love me for that....

Hopefully we will get to have soccer practice and the game on Saturday, I have my fingers and toes crossed as I do enjoy watching the kids learning how to do the different things and their competitiveness.

Okay off to figure out what to do for supper......everyone have a wonderful evening!

Hump Day

2008-09-03T11:13:00.002-05:00

Well it is hump day and I am sitting here trying to be good and do my work. It is raining and cold and it is just not thrilling me!

Well so far this week we spent most of the weekend with Kathy and her kids. Kathy took my kids home with her Sunday night and the girls really enjoyed that. Haley has never stayed at Aunt Kathy's and she was thrilled to do it. Kathy said she had a visitor in her bed at about 4 a.m., but that is usual for Haley.

I had to work and Chris had to work on his things for the race.

Monday we spent the morning working and then went to Ottumwa to pick up the girls.

Tuesday was trying to get back into routine, but who knows what routine is. Rachel on the other hand decided that she wanted a friend to come over. I had told her numerous times "NO" and I meant no. Well she decided to call this friend and make arrangements for her to come over without me knowing. Her friend showed up at 4:50 p.m., yes that is way too late for a school night. Me not knowing what to say to the mother told her that I would have her child home at 6. Well yes I should have scolded Rachel right then and there, but I was in denial that she had disobeyed my orders. I did not know at that time that Rachel had made the phone call. Anyway after a call to a mother/teacher (yes thank you Andrea) I decided that she would be punished with no TV and no ice cream because those are our things we usually do after supper. Well I had a meeting to go to for 2nd grade parents/teachers so we could see what the kids are doing in class and what they expect from the students/parents. Anyway Chris was on the phone with race stuff, I cooked supper and had to leave. I had no time to tell Chris what had happened.

Needless to say when I got home after the meeting they were watching TV and having ice cream. Rachel was in the middle of her's and I promptly asked Chris to turn the TV off and Rachel had to give me her ice cream. Her eyes were huge when she had to explain to her dad what she did. He was a little bit surprised at her knowing what the telephone number was to call her friend (thank you to caller ID showing up on the TV)! She had to go take a bath, finish her homework and to bed she went. She was upset about the ice cream, not too bad about the TV, but frustrated she had to go right to bed.

Chris wants me to make her miss soccer practice Thursday, but I on the other hand think the point was made. Any thoughts on that one?

So today is Wednesday and we will see what today brings. Hope everyone has a wonderful hump day!!

Ahhhh It's The Weekend

2008-08-30T07:28:00.000-05:00

Well Saturday is finally here and I am more tired then I have been all week. Yes I stayed up too late last night and it is going to haunt me the rest of the weekend. I dunno if that is the sign of I am getting TOO OLD to stay up late or what, but like I said it WILL haunt me...

Chris was planning on going to the races at Bloomfield to talk to people about the race that he is promoting at Memphis that he is going to run with the help of his loving family and friends that have volunteered to help him. My sister Kathy called and wanted to know if the girls and I were going to come watch, because it was the last night and it was the season championship and Kathy's husband Mike was leading the points in his class. Well I went back and forth with the decision of whether I wanted to torture myself with two girls that do not really enjoy the races, but love to see their cousins (Kathy's two kids) so I finally decided to go...........ah it probably was not the smartest thing to do as the girls were a little on the wild side, Haley wanted to do what Samantha wanted to do, but Samantha was not wanting to sit still. Rachel had to keep going to the under side of the bleachers to get things that were dropped and both my girls were tired. Finally after the races dragging on forever, Mike finished his race second but won the points for his division. Congrats to him as it is the first year in a modified for him! Needless to say I got my but chewed out by a fan in the stands that had to be only like 17 because I was cheering for Mike as he was leading the race and their car spun out (which was the car chasing Mike for the points) and she was under the impression I was cheering that her brother spun out. I was sooooo pissed and I just wanted to jump down her neck, but all I said was I have a right to cheer for Mike. I finally figured out why she was pissed and went and talked to her mom who was sitting above this girl and explained that to her. She understood and said she had already given her daughter a butt chewing. I was still frusturated the rest of the night as I was enjoying the race and then that happened..........Ugh immature people in the grandstands, gotta love it!

Anyway Chris and this race he is putting on/promoting has kept him busy and on the phone. It is scheduled for September 13th and you would think that there would not be as much hassel as there is with doing this. He is worse than a woman on the phone now as he never gets off of it! The phone is constantly ringing, but I guess that is good as that means more cars and more people to where we/he will not lose money in this endeavor that he is taking on. I really am kind of excited about it, but scared too. It is hard to find people to work different areas and be able to trust them with the money that they will be handling. We are finding out about people that have worked at tracks and how they have had problems with dipping into the funds.......ugh it is frusturating! He has/is putting Kathy and I in charge of the money and counting it out and getting it ready for the payouts for the race cars at the end of the night. Kathy said she has been dreaming about being in charge of the money and how to keep it safe, well I have too....kind of scary trying to keep a hold of a lot of money and not having anyone get an idea of taking it!

My husband had asked me at the beginning what job I wanted and I so kindly told him I wanted to be the B***H on the 4-wheeler and laughed. He did not think that was too funny. I told him I was only kidding and that I would happily ride the 4-wheeler around with a big smile on my face......but I still do not think I will get to do that either:)

So this weekend Chris is planning on going to the racetrack at Memphis and check everything out and see what needs to be fixed in the grandstands, what the track looks like after the tractor pull from the Antique Fair Memphis had last week. I would like to take the girls and help him, but i do not know how long they last to help. But since the girls are always competative maybe they could take their bikes and race on the racetrack........now that would be a site to see!!

So needless to say it will be a busy weekend. Work has already called and asked that we put in extra time, so I am now getting ready to sit down to work for a couple of hours and it is already 8 a.m. and I wanted to already have my 2 hours in by now but since I stayed up late it is not happening.

Okay enough with the ramble, just had to share! So if anyone wants to come and watch this race and see some good races and see now my husband does the first night of promoting a race, come and watch at Memphis on September 13th at 6 p.m.

Beginner

2008-08-27T16:18:00.000-05:00

Well I now officially have a blog spot! I will fix my settings, my layout, my everything later when I have time.......uhm I do not know when that is, but I will find it! Okay more to come later!