Gloomy Monday

The weather outside is just yucky. I guess I shouldn't complain to much b/c we have had some beautiful weather lately. I just wish it would have held off till the kids go back to school tomorrow. Out here in the country they get the Monday off after deer season opens. You know in case you didn't get "the deer" Saturday or Sunday. Not that Hunter got to hunt. He is grounded from hunting over his report card.

I am looking forward to this 4 day school week. For the first time I will get to sub for Lauren. So Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I will be in the 3rd grade with my baby girl. :) Please pray she doesn't w h i n e while I am in there!

Friday night is the concert with my girls! :D I can't wait. It's also payday for the school.

I am hoping to get my shopping finished while running around like a crazy person Black Friday! Now I just have to figure out what to get my dad, fil, son and gmil! I do have more to buy for but I know what I am getting them.

Well I'm going to catch up on some of my shows I have dvr'd. Later!!

Yes once again I have gone and dropped off the face of the earth. Sorry for that. I just can't think of much to say.

I have been working alot. I am using most of that money for Christmas. I have a big dent in that already but I'm finding it super hard to figure what to get my 13 year old son. Any ideas?

Halloween weekend we (the kids, my younger sil and I) went to my older sil's house. We went up Friday night and then the sil's and I took Lauren and Abby (niece) trick or treating and sil's hubby took Hunter and Cody (nephew) to some haunted houses. Once we all got back to the house we loaded up and drove home.

Last Friday my mil, younger sil and I went to my older sil's house for a girls sleepover. Sat. morning we got up early and drove to Branson for the day. We hit the outlet malls and the Branson Landing (very cool) and then drove back to sil's house and stayed another night. I had a blast but not sure if I will go to Branson at this time of the year again... CROWDED is all I will say!!

Tomorrow my mil and younger sil are going to drive up to Little Rock and hit a few stores. Sil is wanting to eat at Olive Garden.. yummy!! :)

I am wanting to make a trip to Monroe before Christmas but I am thinking I will wait till after Black Friday. Yes I plan to be out like a crazy person that morning lol!

Next Friday night I will be with 2 of my besties at The Zac Brown Band concert! We weren't going to go but I WON tickets so Mary bought another ticket so we could all go. :) I am so looking forward to going... we have a ton of fun together!!

Well I need to run and check out a few things and then get the kids toward to bed. I will try not to be gone so long this time.

Taylor Swift

Last Saturday Jenny and I took our daughters to see Taylor Swift. It was the first concert for both girls and they had the time of their lives. Here are some pictures of the night!

Only my child

Lauren has been wanting to sleep over with someone all summer so yesterday she went down to a friends house and stayed the night. When I got there to get her today the mom told me that at 1 am she asked to come home. The mom asked if she would stay if she laid with them and Lauren said yes. So the mom figures she will lay there for a few minutes and go back to her bed. Boy was she in for a laugh... she said just when she thought Lauren was asleep she felt her touch her arm to make sure she was still there. So the poor mom had to sleep with 2 girls last night.

Anyway they have a in ground pool so the mom and I floated around while the girls swam for an hour and then I told Lauren it was time to leave. Do you know what that child of mine then asks... if she could spend the night again?!? Needless to say she came home and has been asleep since her head hit the pillow at 8:30. Kids!

I can't believe June is almost over

Where did this month go? I want summer to s l o w down. I am enjoying the time off. The kids are enjoying the time off.

We are trying to find a new Church. The one we have been going to is a great Church but there are no kids. I want my kids to remember VBS like I do. I always looked forward to that week every summer. Of course there is more to it than VBS. We are just looking for something that has more to offer the kids. Today we visited one I think might work. We will visit again and see where it leads.

Being the mother to a full blown teenager has been fun lol. He has days that I just want to lock him in his room and throw away the key. Most days are good tho. I will just be happy when he gets full lol his stomach is never ending. Tonight we grilled steaks. We had baked potatoes and brown beans with them. He then ate a bowl of chicken and dumplings and a piece of cake. If he's awake he's eating something. We are now looking each other in the eyes. He's LOVING that one but I just keep reminding him no matter how big he is I will always be his mother who is older and wiser lol!!

Lauren can't get enough of the pool. I think she's really a fish. The other day we went to the pool and she came swimming up to me and said she had find a $5 bill in the deep end and couldn't get it. I went out with her and got it for her. She is forever finding money in the pool. She then eats lots of ice cream with her found treasures.

I am off to watch a movie. Everyone is on bed so I get the tv to myself. :)

100th post

I have been dreading writing this 100th post b/c nothing is really happening around here but here it goes.

Lauren and Hunter are both out of school and fighting like cats and dogs most of the time. I am grateful for them having their own bedrooms. I did see on another blog something I really need to try... she is making her kids hug for five minutes when they fight. That would kill mine.

The pool opened but the kids don't know that yet. The water is still so cold. I know they won't care and I don't plan to swim but I hate to start going so early b/c then they get tried of going. Come August the pools the only place to be here in Arkansas and even then it feels like your swimming in a warm bathtub.

We had talked about taking a vacation this summer but hubby doesn't have any vacation time left and since he's working as a conductor and not an engineer the moneys not as good. We decided to wait till next spring and try to do something big. We are going to do somethings close by throughout the summer. My sil, her kids, my kids and I are going to Wild River Country one day this month. We are aiming for the week of Hunter's birthday.

We are waiting for report cards... they aren't going to be mailed till the 5th. Hunter goofed off the 1st semester and worked his butt off the last nine weeks so we don't know if he made it out of 7th or not. He made 2 100's on his semester tests so we know he can do it... it's his want to that bites!

Lauren was on the Honor Roll all year. Hunter says it's easier in the 2nd grade but even back then he didn't give it his all. I hope that she will always love school b/c it sure makes things better. Hunter HATES it and it makes the school year hellish!

Jenny got a picture of Nate standing up outside the hospital last week. How awesome is that! What a wonderful God!!

I also can't believe it's been 2 years almost since this...http://brandyb.wordpress.com/2007/06/11/shes-gone/

Well I am going to run outside and play with the kids. See you later.

It's OVER..

I didn't think this day would get here but it finally did. Summer break is here... thank you Lord! Lauren's last day was the 20th but Hunter had to take 3 semester tests so he didn't get done till yesterday.

Today Lauren and I went to Benton to sell some clothes at Simon Says... love that store! If you leave close to there you really need to check them out. After we were done there we hit Old Navy. 50% off anything already on sale!! Man I love Old Navy. After that we went to Park Plaza and hit some stores there. Met up with a friend and her girls and shopped and then ate lunch. While the older girls were finishing eating we took the little ones to the candy store. OMG can you believe I paid $11 for M&M's!!! Never ever again will we go to that candy store!

Well I must run and feed the dogs. They are all barking letting me know it's dinner time lol. :)

Falling so far behind

I don't know how any of you girls do it. I am so far behind with the housework it isn't even funny anymore. I have been working everyday the last 2 weeks and I am PRAYING for a break next week. Yeah the money will be super nice come payday but I am so TRIED and cranky. Now I know how Lauren (baby girl) feels when she's oh so whiny. I will try to remember that when she gets that way.

Then Vince (hubby) says he's thinking about laying off tomorrow night. Hello I have been busting my butt and taking EVERY call from the school so we can go somewhere this summer! Then he says "you wanna switch?" Will do buddy boy. I will ride the choo choo train to Dexter and then get a free hotel room and sit back, relax, catch up on missed sleep, and eat out while you go to the school and work then come home and keep up with house stuff and kids homework, baths, and feed them all before Lauren's 8 o'clock bedtime. Tell me where to sign on the dotted line. Oh and hurry before the bags under my eyes get bigger and darker.

I wanna know why I can't just say "oh it will be there tomorrow and go to bed at night"? I can't do it I have tried but I lay there thinking about what needs to be done and had I done it I would stop thinking about it already. Like right now my eyeballs are on FIRE but here I sit reading and writing waiting for the clothes to finish drying. It's just CRAZY!!! My body quit hours ago but not my pretty little head. One of you can stick me with a pin because I'm done! ;)

26 more days till summer!!

This weekend has been a little busy for us. Friday after school the kids and I left for Conway. My nephew's birthday party was Sat. and we always go the night before and stay. Friday night we took the kids roller skating. I did leave my sil with the kids for a hour so I could run to Kohl's and look for a shirt to wear to the Kenny concert. I found a shirt and a pair of black Sketchers on sale for $18.00. After I got back to the skating rink I let my sil and 4 year old niece go home. My baby girl LOVES to skate so I decided to stay and let her do that. Around 10 my nephew fell so I decided that was a great time to head out. Once we got to the house I needed to go to Wal-Mart so her and I left the kids with her hubby and we headed to Wally's. We got what we needed and went back to her house and finally the kids, her and I went to bed around 2 am. Sat. morning we got up, ate donuts, got ready for the party and waited for everyone to get there. After it was over the kids and I headed back home. We pulled into our driveway at 7:00. Of course I am to anal so I had to unpack, wash clothes, run the vacuum, clean the bathroom and get the kids in bed before I could sit down and relax. I got into bed around 11:30 last night. We all slept in this morning.

This afternoon the kids, hubby and I went over to my mom's house for a fish fry. My uncle and his youngest daughter came in from Kansas for a few days. So my other uncle, his wife and kids, my aunt, her hubby and kids, my Mamaw B and us were all together and we had a great time visiting and eating. My aunt took some pictures of my family so I am going to post one. We weren't really dressed for pictures but oh well. Enjoy!

Hi Ho Hi Ho

it's off to work I go. I have worked everyday this week and will finish the week off working too. They have me floating around the High School in the mornings while they are doing the 7th and 8th grade Benchmark tests. In the afternoons I have been a few different teachers who have had dr. appointments or gone home "sick" (sick of the Benchmark test). I am working Tuesday next week too.

A little funny... Monday morning I had the 8th graders out in the gym (they started Benchmark Tuesday) and the Principal comes in to talk to them. He finishes with his talk and I got up and walked over to him to ask him something. He looks at me and says "Oh Mrs. Brandy I thought you were one of them"! Come on I know I look young BUT really 8th grade?!

The puppies had their first "real" meal tonight. They of course ate like 3 little pigs.

Only 28 more days of school!!!!!!!!! Yes I am more than ready for SUMMER vacation. I am ready for the pool to open and us hang out there most days. I am ready to not have an alarm clock waking me up Monday through Friday. I am ready to hung out with my kids and have no worries of homework, tests and grades!

Also one month from tomorrow I am going to see Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum with 2 of my bff's. This will be our first concert together and I am so looking forward to it. This will also be the 3rd time I have seen Kenny.

I need to run and catch the weather and get into the bed before 1 am like I did last night. Thanks to Jenny! :P

Easter Sunday

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. We did. We went to Church. Came home ate lunch at the in laws and then came home and rested. My mom and (step) dad come over around 5:30 and brought the kids their stuff. Baby girl got Marley and Me in her basket and her and I watched it after her bath. We both were crying at the end... great movie!! The boy got Bedtime Stories, we are going to watch in tomorrow (maybe). Here's the best picture I got of them this morning. Sat. hubby and son went fishing. Can you tell? We normally do a family picture after Church but when we came out of Church it was POURING so I looked and felt like a drowned dog so we didn't get one. :(

Benchmark testing starts tomorrow. I am not a big fan of this test but who am I?! Say a little pray that the kids aren't too stressed out over them.

The puppies are now 3 weeks old. They are starting to walk. I got woke up this morning around 5 am... they are getting playful and thought that was a great time to start. :) Till next time.

A shout out

for my friend Jenny... she passed the Real Estate test today!! Way to go girl!

After work tonight Jenny, another friend Mary and I went out to celebrate. We had a great time. We ate and talked for 3 hours. We also decided to make this a once a month outing... of course that's not counting our lunch dates. ;)

The kids are out of school tomorrow. Baby girl went over to my moms to stay the night. Mamaw was glad to see her. It lifted her spirits some. Please keep praying for her. Now I am off to watch DVR and then bed. Oh before I forget the littlest puppy has put on some weight. :)

Oh my!

My baby girl is now 8 years old!

This doesn't seem right. Where have the last 8 years gone? I really shouldn't be surprised because she was in such a hurry to get here back then. She tried to make her entrance into the world at 30 weeks but we put a stop to that after a week in and out of the hospital. After 6 weeks on brethine, 2 steroid shots and lite duty (whatever that means when you have a 4 year old too) she was given the OK to come. Which she did and then she wouldn't wait for the dr. to get there so the nurse delivered her. Every since it's been go go go. I've heard when can I do this and how old do I have to be before that? Why can't she just slow down and be little while she can? You are one of our blessings and I'm so very thankful for you everyday. I love you baby girl. Happy 8th Birthday!!

Wordless Wednesday - Pampering!

Late call...

7 am is when the phone rang this morning asking if I could work today. Of course I jumped up and turned on the shower. After I got out I ran and woke up the boy and got him in the shower. Went back to start my makeup when I hear the shower in my bathroom running?! Hubby thought it would be a great time for him to get his shower also. You know since he wasn't really doing anything today... angry is what I became. The girl uses our bathroom first thing because her brothers in theirs. Nope not this morning cause daddy's in there being thoughtful and all. I got their pancakes ready and went to finish getting myself together in the steamy bathroom!! Fun time putting on makeup in a steamy hot bathroom! NOT!! Needless to say we were almost late this morning cause the hubby's always thinking of others.

After school the girl was complaining her head hurt. We got home and it only got worse. She finally threw up and about 15 minutes later she felt great. Lovely, she's going to have migraines too. The boy had his first migraine in the 2nd grade also. Gotta love that DNA they share with me. I do thank God that medicine has come a long way so we don't have to suffer like my great grandmother did.

I have been ebaying some and then last night while Im'ing with a friend I came across Etsy!! I got the girl a dress and I can only hope it's as cute in person as it was on there. She wants a Jonas Brothers party so I ordered a guitar cake pan off ebay... I am doing one chocolate and another yellow/white. I am also getting ready to order the invites... they look like concert tickets! How cool is that!?!

One last thing, I never did tell about Brad Paisley. HE WAS AWESOME!!!!!!! I will see him again when he comes back!! I heard Keith Urban and maybe Sugarland where coming... yep I will be there too!! :D

Gotta love the weather...

the 2nd grade had a field trip to the Imax today. Had being the key word here. North Arkansas got hit with freezing rain and Central Arkansas got much of the same. Seeing that the trip was in Central Arkansas the trip was canceled until farther notice. The girl was not pleased by this news. I am glad they didn't try to take a bus on the overpasses. I am thinking of picking her up a bit early and taking her to lunch.

I have a few

so I thought I would tell you all about the big shopping day. As soon as I dropped the kids off at school we headed out. I had a few stops in Little Rock I needed to make so we went to Academy for the things I needed in there. I also needed to run into the mall for an ornament with all of our names on it. (Dd was very upset when she was putting the tree together b/c we had an ornament with hubby, me and the boy on it dated 1996. She wanted to know why she wasn't on there. So now we have one with all 4 of us with 2008 on it.) After those stops we went on to Conway. We met up with my sil there and started our shop til you drop day. We hit Kohl's, Shoe Carnival, T J Maxx, Belk's, Target, Payless and then we decided to take a break and eat lunch. After eating at The Market Place we went back to shopping. We started at Best Buy, Home Depot, Kirkland's, Old Navy and ended the day at Hallmark. The best thing was after I got home and went to Cabalas.com to get 2 things for hubby I was D O N E!!!!! :)

Since the kids stayed at my mom's for the night I got everything wrapped and under the tree. Saturday morning the girl had a Christmas party at Church so I went and got her and took her to that. Today the kids, my mil and I got up and went to Church and then drove to Conway for my niece's 4th birthday party.

As soon as we left my sil's house the girl said she didn't feel so good. About 30 minutes later she was throwing up. She has been doing so every 30 minutes or so since. Looks like she will get a few days off from school... she has a dentist appointment Tuesday for some cavities and 2 teeth are going to be pulled. Fun days are ahead of me. ;) I need to run and check on her again. Till then.

Big day tomorrow.

It's the yearly shopping trip with the girl in laws. I will be done tomorrow or else. ;)

I am getting ready to take pictures of the kids for our cards and when I do I will post one here. :) Till then...

Girls' night out!

Friday night was a girl's night out for me. Both my sil's and some friends got together at a local country bar. My oldest sil's birthday was Sat. and the other sil's birthday was 2 Sat. before. We really had a great time drinking and dancing. I learned a few new line dances... yeah me! I also tried some new drinks. I had fun with hubby yesterday telling me what I had tried. I did a shot called "Blow job" which was very good lol. We didn't get home till after 2:00 in the morning and I can't wait till next years Girls' Night Out!!

First

The boy went to his first school dance. He had a girl meeting him there... he bought her ticket. He wouldn't let me take their picture together because they aren't going out or anything. What was I thinking?! I did get his picture and he smiled. It was my lucky day. ;)