I got this idea from a friend of mine- thought it would be fun to see- especially for my Type A friends. (I will even put it in numerical order for you.)
1 Master Degree Completed
1 Wonderful Husband
3 Wonderful Kids
4 Different Vehicles (Camry, Explorer, Van, Van)
6 Different Houses
27 months of pregnancy/ morning sickness
36 months of nursing a baby
96 months being a mom- my greatest joy ever
3650 days of being married to a man that puts up with me
It has been a great decade. Many changes for us and makes me look forward to the future.

For the past three weeks, the people in our house have managed to pass around all kids of germs. We have had colds, bronchitis, head aches, migraines, fevers, and now the swine flu. Poor Ryan- he is feeling so bad. I was fixing lunch for Reed and he came and layed his head on my feet on the kitchen floor. Needless to say, I quickly finished making Reed’s lunch and picked him up and rocked him. He fell asleep in my arms almost immediately.  This “swine flu” has given me nightmares since before we even got it. With both of my boys constantly dealing with Asthma and Bronchitis, I was so worried about them getting this swine flu. Now that Ryan has it and I realize it is just like other flu’s that just make people feel so bad- I am worrying less, but feel bad that Ryan is sick. It is hard to see you kids run a fever day after day and not play, eat or do anything. I know that this is just day 4 of the flu- but he seems so puny when he is sick. I am hoping that since we are getting all these sicknesses now- perhaps January and February will be easy months for us. Last week at McLaurin, 60 kids were absent from the school. The school isn’t that big to begin with. One fourth grade class had eight kids in it one day. Anyway, life is calling- must go finish teaching Reed his Language Arts.

We made it!! I feel like singing the Dora song- “We did it, We did it, We did it- hooray!” the week went well. I think that I am going to like teaching Reed and I have tremendously enjoyed spending time with him teaching him and really “being” with him. A couple of times I had to get “stern” with him, but over all- he did his work and tried his best.

Addie did very well this week as well. This was her first time for Addie to go to school by herself without big brother there to watch over her. I am glad that she has great Christian teachers that really love the kids. She got a new teacher this year and she seems very nice. The assistant is still there and she loves and knows our family so that is very reassuring to me. She was worn out by the end of the week- she asked to get in the bed with me and take a nap. She is still sleeping an hour later! I love my baby girl. I have missed her not being here with me this week. She is one that likes to “talk” with me and hang out with me in the kitchen or wherever I am. She tends to follow me around the house talking and helping me with whatever I am doing. I have felt her absence this week!

Ryan has enjoyed being home this week. He is a homebody and likes to play by himself. Friday was the first time that I had to get on him to let us finish our school work. He would play with his trains, books, lego’s, or cars and enjoyed the time to do what he wanted. He has been a good boy this week. I am glad that he doesn’t start school yet- we still  have a couple more weeks.

I did pretty good this week. I missed Addie, but I stayed really busy teaching Reed. The hardest part about this whole week has been staying home all day and not going shopping, working out with friends, or having some me time. I normally have time to straighten the house, do the yard and get laundry done- this week, I have been beside Reed and haven’t got much of anything done!! Oh well- he will be able to get more independent as time goes on (I hope!).

Tomorrow is the day- I start homeschooling Reed. I am very excited about teaching him, but I am SO nervous as well. He has done so well in school this far that I don’t want to screw him up or make him get behind. He is supposed to be 2nd grade but he is going to be taking 3rd grade gifted and talented classes this school year. I am getting my materials and lessons from Connections Academy, an online public Charter school. I chose to go this route because I wanted to be held accountable to the state and make sure that we are meeting all state requirements. I feel like this is the easiest way to start homeschooling the kids. Reed is excited to be staying home with me and looks forward to being home-schooled- I hope that I don’t let him down! He is an easy child, quick to learn, and normally does whatever I tell him- if I could teach any of my children, it will be Reed. I pray that God gives me the patience and knowledge to teach Reed and help him grow into the man that God wants him to be.

Aside from that – I am so sad to be sending my Addie to school tomorrow. She is my helper, my peace maker, and my sweety-pie.  I love Addie and the time that we have together. We have taken naps together with her playing with my hair for the last 4 years- what I am going to do without her. I had a hard time when Reed started 5K and missed him terribly everyday-  that is one of the reasons I am keeping him home!! So how do I think that I can live without Addie? I know that we are supposed to raise our kids to leave and help them become independent adults- but at the age of 5, I want her with me!!

Anyway, being praying for us this week, I am sure that I am going to have a harder time than the kids!! (And to top it off, Tim went out of town- AAAGGGHHHH!!!)  

I write “free food” in quotations, because by some peoples standards it would not have been free because I did have to spend five dollars to make the costumes and my mom had to cut up a white shirt. I also do not know where Addie’s outfit has disappeared to- so I might be buying here a new pair of white leggings. But… we did not have to pay for 3 kids meals (one 6 piece nugget and two 4 piece), one regular chicken sandwich meal with a lemonade, and one grill chicken sandwich meal–  ALL FOR FREE!!! All we had to do was…. DRESS UP LIKE A COW!!!  I have to admit- my children were very cute cows- mom and I, we looked ridiculous. The kids had a good time and really liked getting the meal for free- they thought that was cool. Addie got nervous when we got to Chick-Fil-A and wouldn’t come into the restaurant at first, but we finally we able to talk her into it after I told her she could put her cheer-leading outfit back on the cashier saw us and took our picture. We had a good time, the restaurant was packed because we got there at 12:30 and quite a few people laughed AT us, but the experience was great. Mom and I laughed so hard!!! The boys stayed in their costumes for quite a while afterwards, but Addie and I changed in the car in the packing lot. Great fun- next we will be doing it again!!! Enjoy the pictures!! 

Well, June is over, I can’t believe it!! We had a busy June- Addie had gymnastics camp, we went to Disney for 8 days and spent a few days just hanging out at home. Addie enjoyed gymnastics camp. We had a good time at Disney World. It was very hot, the Monday we were there- the temperature was supposed to get up to 100 degrees with a heat index of 115. I don’t know how hot it was standing on the black top at Magic Kingdom- but we just about melted on the ground. The rest of the week was only in the 90’s and it felt much cooler than the first day. We went to Magic Kingdom for three days, Epcot for 2 days, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom for 1 day. We went to Downtown Disney one day so that we could eat at the T-Rex  Restaurant and play at Legoland. All in All- it was a great time. I got a lot of great pictures and the kids had a blast. Reed is going to baseball camp next week and he is excited to be going there. All is good!! Hope you are having  a good summer as well!

I just thought that I would drop a line and let you all know that I am still alive. I don’t have a free moment during the day normally and at night my brain is too dead to write. We are all doing good!! Addie-Belle lost her first tooth and looks as cute as can be! Reed is playing baseball and is really enjoying it. Ryan is finally talking- even though no one knows what he is saying. His speech teacher has informed up that he will need to take speech over the summer as well as four times a week next year when he is in 3K. Addie and Ryan are playing on the same T-ball team this year. Needless to say, the talent level varies quite a bit. Ryan has two of his buddies on the team that are young threes and Addie has three other 5 year olds. The three year olds are learning how to wear their gloves and the five year olds somewhat know what is going on. I have relaxed quite a bit since Reed was three- I now know the little ones just want to have fun and the parents do not expect much more. We are all looking forward until summer- we count down the days until we don’t have to wake up early anymore. I am ready to spend some quality time with my kids without rushing around to go to school, practice or whatever is going on. Reed is going to Camp McCall for three days with Tim and baseball camp in town for one week. Addie is going to go to cheerleading camp if I can find one. If not- she will go to gymnastic camp the week Reed is at baseball camp. We are heading down to Disney for a week in June and are looking forward to that. My mom is going with us to help me out while Tim is at classes- that will be fun!! Disney World ROCKS!!! Well, that is all I can think of. I will write again if I can think of anything meaningful to write about (or if I get motivated to write about something un-meaningful)!

We have been very busy since I have gotten home from New York. Addie and Reed are playing soccer (different teams) and Reed has already started Baseball for the city. I had heard that city league ball was much more competitive than the YMCA and they were not joking. Reed is the cutest baseball player but he isn’t the best. He has so much to learn and improve on, but he has a good attitude and has great coaches to teach him. I love the fact that he has four coaches that are all kind and help out with the team. These dads are great role models not just for Reed, but for all the boys on the team. Soccer has been fun- Reed and Addie have improved and I have enjoyed coaching them once again. Here are a couple of pictures of my babies!!            

We (my mom, sister, sister-in-law and me) went this past weekend to New York city for a long weekend trip. It was a great time. This was the first time that I flew since 9/11 and I had a bit of a panic attack in the plane station- the security guards were very nice though. We got to NY with no problems and starting walking. We ended up going to see the play Mary Poppins on Friday night- that was awesome. The theater was beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed it, that was probably the best thing that we did on the whole trip. After the play, we hiked back to our hotel room which was downtown near ground zero. It was a desolate place at 12:30 at night. That was the only time while we were in NY that I actually felt a little nervous about the area we were in- but we saw lots of cops and security guards and we got back to our room safely. On Saturday, we walked around Times Square and went and saw Phantom of the Opera- that was a good play- but we had bad seats and the theater was no where as nice as the other one. I am glad that we got to see it though- the music was amazing. After the play, we tried to find Bllomingdale’s but who knew that  Bloomingdale’s closes at 7pm  on Saturday night!! Very frustrating to find out after waling for a long time to find it at 7:15. So- we walked some more and then ended up at Lindy’s and got up some good desserts- YUMMY! On Sunday, we walked up from our hotel room north thru Chinatown and Little Italy. Gina and I got a back massage that hurt so bad that I had to do “Lamaze” breathing to get thru it- however, I LOVED it. We then went to the Thrift Stores near Times Square. We got a good laugh because most people go to NY to shop at the big expensive stores and I wanted to go to the Salvation Army. Sunday afternoon was spent at Macy’s, “the largest store in the world.” It had 8 1/2 floors (it has a 1 1/2 floor) and a cellar- it was huge. It had a whole floor of men’s underwear- I didn’t realize that men had that many different styles!  The escalators in the store is what I liked the most. They were old and wood- beautiful. I still can’t get over the “old” stuff in the city- the intricate work on the buildings and carvings on the tiles- people don’t build buildings like that anymore. Buildings are no longer pieces of art- they are mass produced.   On Monday- we went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island- we did not have enough time to see everything and I would like to go back and really take my time looking at the stuff at Ellis Island one day- a great history lesson for us all! Overall, we had a great trip, no one got hurt, hit by a taxi, or too sick and our families at home made it without us. I loved spending time with my mom and sisters and just making some great memories which we will laugh over for years to come.