Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, tonight I screamed so very loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went into the garage out to my car and walked between the two cars, got something out of my car from the drivers side. I was just about daydreaming and walking back to go inside and as I walked behind my car I heard a very strange noise, I looked down and from under and behind M's car slithered a snake, yes snake, yes I said snake!!!!! About 3 FT. long!!!!! It went behind the freezer as I screamed at the top of my lungs and instantly landed on the top of the trunk of my car! I was terrified to say the least! My hubby came out to see what was wrong and went in to get his BB pellet gun, he could see the snake behind the freezer. We opened the garage so that hopefully it would go that way when he shot behind the freezer. Well yes the snake headed out the garage but acted as if he wanted to come back in. M kept shooting him with BB's and the thing would not die. The whole time I have never left the trunk top of my car!! After probably 50 or so shots at him with about 20 in the snake he still was moving slowly. M tried to chop his head off with the hoe, but the snake lunged at him(weakly I should say but still scary) So I decided we should spray him with bug spray. When we did the snake started to move more and faster, he wasn't really going anywhere but still trying to move and we thought maybe we had reenergized him:) But finally he started to slow again and finally M chopped at his head. The snake is now dead!! We put him in a plant bucket and hopefully he'll still be dead in there in the morning so we can dispose of him somewhere.

The scary thing is that we saw him earlier swimming in the pond behind our house. I think it's the same one because he looked about the same size and color. We think it was a water moccassin. At least I hope it was the same............I am freaked out now though because I had been all around in the garage and not to mention I walked right past him as he was under the car. YIKES!!! I am still freaked out, if my honey wouldn't of been home I don't know what I would of done, because I would probably be still sitting on top of the car right now or something!

Besides that fun adventure I did alot of planting in the yard today and mulching the beds. I think I'm about done with the landscaping for this year. A little more mulching and maybe a flower or two and I should be done.

Also checked out a house for my bro and sis in law. They are still trying to sell their house in Jax so they can move here. This house would be great. It's right in their price range and has a pool too! Great for us and the boys ha ha! We'll see what happens. There are alot of factors still with having to sell their's and i don't think this house will last long on the market it's pretty spectacular!

Well I guess it's off to bed for now, I hope I don't have nightmares about snakes. I do know that I will paranoid for quite awhile now. !!

A day of playing

Just a pic for you of the boys..

Today D gets to go to his first birthday party. He helped me pick out the gift and he's very excited. He is worried though that the little boy has a dog. I don't quite know why but he seems to be very afraid of dogs. Maybe once Uncle T gets here with his adorable Schnauz Walter, then the boys can get a little more used to dogs.

Going to go check out dad's house this am. See how the progress is coming. They might have finished the painting and trim work by now, exciting.. we'll see.

B is feeling much better now, thank goodness. He is getting back to himself with his antics, playfullness and of course eating. He is going to be our eater for sure!! He can put some food away in his tiny little belly. I took him to get the curls trimmed and he did not enjoy it at all. He didn't really fight against the girl, but he just cried and clung to me the whole time. I am glad she didn't trim off all the curls but made it look more like a hairstyle.

Hello to you MOM! You suprised me by keeping up on reading the blog. Good job! You are becoming more computer saavy everyday, I knew you could do it!!

On call this weekend, so we won't venture too far from the house. But we'll probably meet up with Aunt J at the park or something and just play in the yard. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!

So I'm a little behind

Yes, I am quite a little behind on the blogging. The world seems to just take off all of a sudden. Things have been a little busy since our trip. Getting back in the swing of things and all. I'm home with little B today. He's been sick with fever and some virus since last thurs. My honey has had daddy duty while I have been working. Mom helped out babysitting yesterday and today is my day. I think he is pretty much better today but I just wanted to keep him home from school one more day for lots of lovin' before back to school. We'll be doing some errands and grocery shopping later. I think I will take him for a hair cut also. He has lots of curls on the top and back but just about no hair on either side"the curly mohawk" Not to be inspired at all by Sanjaya! I might even get back to scrapbooking this week, starting when he goes down for a nap.
We've been doing some yardwork also, planting some trees and bushes and trying to finish up on the landscaping so we can enjoy the rest of the summer. Well that's all for now. I will blog more later probably at nap time or so. Someone smells stinky....................diaper duty time!!

Post vacation blahs

Yes, we have returned from beautiful Hawaii. We had an absolutely great time. We did miss the boys alot especially seeing alot of families there on Easter break vacations. But we had great weather and had a lot of fun. We even took a helicopter ride over Kauai which was breath taking. I will fill you all in a little more later. Just wanted to post a little something so you would know we made it back safely. I am in post vacation mode. All the clothes are washed but not put away and the suitcases are still in the den. We have just been sorta lounging around and spending time with our most wonderful boys!! There are a lot of changes happening at my work and will be interesting what will happen in the next few weeks. Anyway, just a hello to everyone and I will post more later and put some pics too.

Mahalo to all..

MAHALO!!!!! That means hello and goodbye in Hawaiian. One more day and off we go. We will be sure to eats lots of pineapple, enjoy the luaus and take in the Hawaiian sun!! We are looking forward to the new part of the trip for us which is to visit the island of Kauai. I can't wait! The other islands of Oahu and Maui are wonderful also and I know my brother and sister in law will be in awe just as we were six years ago! Happy early 10 year anniversary to us! Our anniv isn't until Aug. but this trip is for our anniversary. We just wanted to go the same time of the year as we did before because the weather was so great and it just worked out. We are finishing some last minutes chores, errands and yardwork before we go. I'll be sure to post pics when we return. Teri, we will definetely send you some pineapple home. Have fun in Disney Susan! I am looking forward to taking the boys in the years to come. Well happy upcoming weeks to all and once again MAHALO!!!!

What a great weekend!

We had a wonderful weekend with our friends from STL. The boys loved playing with their girls. We took them for a tour of Beale Street and had lunch at a burger joint. That was after we set off the door alarm out of the stairwell from the mall! HA but we had to; thanks to me we were locked in the stairwell. At least they cant' say it wasn't an exciting visit. Next stop was to the riverfront where we had great weather and even saw some kites flying. I did a little gymnastics with K and needless to say she was quite shocked that this fat old lady could still do a few tricks!! The big boys played with their remote control trucks and of course then one of them had to break one. (Us girls think they are just money pits, run them a little, then break them, then spend money to fix them, ha ha.) But we had a great time and hope to see them soon back up in the STL for the block party. Keep me posted Kel of when it will be!!
I am now pretty much packed for the trip. 5 DAYS LEFT!! I only have to finish getting stuff washed and gathered for the boys and leaving all my notes for the grandparents:) Of course I do have to make it to the nail salon for my pedicure! Must have pretty toes in Hawaii!!
Have a great week everyone and I'll probably post once more before our departure! Mahalo!!

TGIF

Yes, it's Friday and thank goodness! My brain is starting to get a little fried with making plans for our trip. I am so excited that my brain is on overload. I need to get things ready for the boys so the grandparents wont' stress too much and then I have to pack for me....ugh! I can't believe it's one week away and I don't know what I'm taking to wear yet! Mon and Tuesday will be cram packing and shopping days. I know I need a few more tops, some cute shoes and possibly a dress or too. I am making little goody bags for the boys while I'm gone. They will get a goody bag each evening to see what mommy and daddy left for them(to let them know we're thinking of them). Just little things like a hot wheels car or a pack of dinosaur fruit snacks...you get the idea. I also am getting their Easter baskets together. When we scheduled the trip I didn't realize that we would be gone on Easter. So my in-laws will make sure the bunny finds our house:) and have a small Easter egg hunt(with lots of pics I hope).

Our STL friends should be arriving soon. We are so excited that they actually will be here after two failed attempts from sickness and weather. Of course I had to make my to die for Carrot cake(a diet sabotage for sure!) The weather should be in the 80's so outside we'll be. We'll probably take the kids to the park to play.

Dad's house is coming along great!. They should be drywalling soon. They let me pick out the colors for them....I hope it all turns out OK. The agent said she predicted it might be ready in about 3-4 weeks. It'll be great that he's so much closer to be able to spend time with the boys!

Well that's about it for now, I have some trucks to drive with the boys and then a last minute cleaning pick up before company arrives. I think we'll welcome them with a big margarita!!

Cold again

Yes the weather has turned cold again, earlier in the week it was in the 70's then fifites by the end of the week. Last night's low was 37 and could you believe as we were driving around this evening if was even sleeting! OK, I'm ready for the warm to stay......no more cold!!
The in-laws are here for the weekend for a trial run to keep the kids while we are on vacation. Me and the hubby took off for a date night and it was great. We didn't do too much overwhelming, I mean we are getting old you know but it was still fun. We started off checking out my dad's house being built and they were already bricking it so I took some pics for him. Then we went to Best Buy to look around, man it's been so long since we've just went somewhere and could look and literally just walk around looking until we decided to leave. It was great, we used to do that alot BK(before kids) but as those of you know, we don't have time for that anymore. Anyway then off to dinner with lots of chat time and enjoying each other's company with a few drinks on board of course. It was great bonding time and I recommend bonding date nights for all couples with kids to keep the relationship refocused on the parents and their relationship. We then left and drove home because we're old now and didn't have anywhere else to go, how funny! We were home before the time we would of just have left the house BK!
Getting ready for our vacation is here. I am starting to get things together and have actually bought my disater suit (bathing suit) at least no one there will know me except my brother inlaw and wife thank goodness. I am getting so excited that I'm trying not to think about it too much!
FINALLY, I think our friends from STL will make it to visit us. They have made two previous attempts that fell through due to sickness and weather. I know they haven't actually gotten here yet but hopefully nothing will come up for them not to make it. I know D will enjoy playing with the girls, I just hope they aren't too bored with all the boy toys! I don't have any girl stuff! Maybe the weather will be nice and we can head to the park or something too. We are really looking forward to their visit!!
I think I'm gonna keep D home from school on Tuesday and have a mommy day. It's been awhile since we've have one so it's time. I think i'm going to take him to the Bounce place. It is an indoor play area with huge blow up jumping areas and a big blow up slide, it's great fun, for BOTH of us!!:) I'm looking forward to it, although I haven't told him yet because he will talk about it constantly until then, so I'll just wait till Tuesday to tell him, ha ha.
Well that's all for now, hope everyone has a good weekend. And Mom.......get that carpet shampooed so we can look for your new furniture!!!!!!!!!! Have a great weekend.

Some pics from the weekend

Here are a few pics from the park and the zoo. We had wonderful weather and a great time! I am glad the weather is finally getting warmer!

We had a great visit from my dad and D. They found a house and put a contract on it, it's only about 25 miles away, we are so glad they will be closer to us and the boys. It is very exciting!! Hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend and have a wonderful week.

Happy Weekend

Well, it's the weekend and I'm so excited. The weather is supposed to be nice, so hopefully a trip to the park, zoo, some yard maintenance and a cookout with dad. My dad is in town house hunting and I hope he finds something he likes. If he does he'll only be about 30-40 minutes from us, a lot better than 8 hours that's for sure. Happy Retirement Dad!!
The boys are doing great and getting along great with each other as much as can be expected. D had a cough for a few days but I think he's over it now, thank goodness. The next few weeks will be pretty busy. I don't know if I'll have anytime to start scrapping again until after our vacation. My dad is here this weekend, the in-laws next, friends from STL the next and then off to Hawaii!!! We are getting so excited about our trip, it is a repeat trip we took several years ago but we said we would go back for our 10 yr. anniv and away we will go!!! I'll post some pics from our outtings this weekend later. Love to all....

The week has begun

Well, we had a great weekend. Uncle T came in town and the boys had such a great time playing with their uncle. The big boys had a golf outing and really enjoyed the bonding time! We did a little more house looking for them incase the other plans fall through. I wish the weather would of been a little warmer but oh well.
The countdown continues... only 4 weeks till our trip. I am getting more and more excited as the weeks get fewer. It's almost time to start shopping for outfits, ugh, fun but not so fun if you know what I mean. I am getting a little nervous about leaving the boys but that's just the mommy in me. I know they will be just fine. I have started gathering little goodies to leave for them daily while we are gone. I got the idea from a book I read, and thought it would be neat. I will leave a basket for them to check daily and see what goody they get for the day. Just a reminder to them that we are thinking of them!
I am getting behind again on the scrapbooking! I am going to try to get some done this week and try to catch up on my Elsie Challenges. I want to try to finish B's 1 yr book so that I can start doing some little mini occasion type albums.
I have quite the to do list here for the house and I am going to also try to tackle quite a few of the tasks this week also. I want to get as much done as soon as possible before it really gets warm and I'll be spending my days off with outings with the boys!:)
Dad, hope your house hunting is going well. We are looking forward to you guys being closer to us and the boys! I am anxious to know how the trip goes! I'll be waiting to hear from you.
That's all for now, I'll blog more later. Oh- and can you believe AJ voted off American Idol. Wow, but of course I don't vote so I guess i can't complain. And for any of you that watch the Apprentice, ha! Trump is something.....I love his attitude sometimes. The poor guy that called himself white trash...see ya, You're Fired!! That was great!
Till next time.......

Here I am

Well for those of you that are wondering where I have been, here I am. Things have been busy around here. My girls weekend was fantastic. We went to our fav Mexican restuaraunt and had lots of laughs and pitchers and pitchers of Margaritas!! Ole! P decided she wanted to know what it was like to have something like double H size hooters. Ha! A let her borrow the bra and out she came from the bathroom with it on top of her shirt stuffed with towels. How funny it was! A guy even came over from the bar to check it out and his wife came too! It was so hilarious, we figured that couple would be heading to Wally world after dinner to look for such a bra!! Ha... Saturday my friend Crystal and hubby came in town from STL. Me and C headed out to meet up with the girls at a bbq place and the boys stayed home all night playing with the kids and hanging out. The girls then headed to a really cool store that had more jewelry than you could imaging(costume type but really cheap) and handbags and sunglasses. I resisted the temptation to buy anything but I can definetely see my self going back another time! We headed back to Linda's and ate some absolutely wonderful shrimp etoufee that she makes. It was really great and didn't take her long to make it. We then watched big momma's house 2, didn't think I'd care for it, but it was actually pretty funny!! Took C & R for a drive around Memphis on Sunday and showed them a few of our sites, not to overwhelming but hey at least they can say they saw Elvis now! Not really but there were a few look alikes walking around outside of Graceland. Too Funny! Before they headed out on Mon. we took a little trip over to Tunica to catch some lunch at the casinos and drop a few coins in the machines! Well lunch was good but the best part was I actually won 200 bucks on the quarter slots. I couldn't believe it, yes that was my actual winnings! I have never won at the casinos before anymore than a few dollars, so of course after the winning I was done for the day, cash out and away we go. We had such a great weekend and the boys loved playing with our company, D sure didn't want them to leave!
The rest of the week was spent just catching up on laundry and house work and of course the dirty word, WORK. I am thankful though to only work 3 days a week , what a blessing that has been. It gives me time to do things I need to do, so that I can spend the rest of the time playing with the kids. The weather has been trying to warm up, so the kids have been playing outside in the evenings, they enjoy that alot!
Well we also broke down and finally traded M's car for an suv. He had about 100,000 miles and needed something a little more reliable as it was starting to have issues. We have really missed having the third row capability since we traded the yukon. So now we have a SUV again. It's really nice and Dev loves it and wants to ride in the "way back". We wanted to try to go as along as possible without a car note, but oh well, I feel better that now he won't be out in the middle of the country on business and the car break down and he would have to call for help from who knows who..... Needless to say, we're happy about the decision.
What else......Been totally working my butt off at the gym. Hawaii is only about 5 weeks away and I'm hard core at this point. I want to be able to enjoy the trip so I must suffer before right?! Well sorta, but my hardwork is paying off and I'm seeing results which is the best part. I am gaining my momentous will power and hopefully I can keep with it. I am on week three of my intense seriousness for weight loss and have already lost inches. I must say the pounds arent' quite falling off, but that's why I have measured my trouble spots. For those out there that need motivation, try measurements. Even though I haven't lost but a few measly pounds I have lost inches and my clothes are looser, that's the most important, and I feel great. GET MOVING! It will make you feel better about yourself and help you stay healthy for yourself, your family, and all of those that love you!
So, D had his first audition for the modeling thing. We haven't heard anything yet. Hopefully in the new few days. The agency seemed interested but there were so many others at the audition we were only in the room about 5 minutes. I hope to hear soon, if he will be called back. We'll see what happens.
Well that's a little of what's been going on here. The boys are doing great and growing up so fast. B is about to eat us out of house and home at only 15 months old. I don't know what I'll do when they are in HS. I might need to get an extra job just for food! We don't know where he puts the food, he's not overweight at all, just what I like to call a Buddha belly! A visit from Uncle T is this weekend and I know he'll be suprised how much the boys have changed since he saw them last in Nov. D is talking so much and saying things you didn't even know he knew and Bry has all the main sounds down and all the animal sounds, it's so cute. Well that's all for now. Hope everyone is doing well.

I'm a little behind.

Yes, I know I'm a little behind on the blogging thing! I promise to catch up soon, I have also abandoned my scrapbooking, (temporarily) but don't fear I will pick back up soon. Things have been busy around here. But, making sure to feed my soul with the girl's weekend! It is definetly something for all girls to do to reenergize!! It was GREAT! I hope to fill you all in soon. But for now, just a note to say I haven't fallen off the earth. More blogs to come soon....

Happy Valentine's Day

Well tomorrow is the biggest chocolate day of the year and I will not be eating any. What a disgrace I know...but my big goal is 6 weeks away (HAWAII) . The boys will come home with lots of goodies from school I'm sure, but I'll just take the extra to work. I am even baking a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing and strawberries on top to take to work. They hate me when I do that because I don't eat a bite! The trick is for me not to taste it, if I don't taste it then I'm fine, but if I get a taste I'm likely to eat the whole damn thing!! I am taking a new class at the gym called body jam. It's pretty cool, it's a dance aerobic class. We actually do some real booty shakin' in there so it's alot of fun. There is a wide variety of ages and skills too. I knew you could lose some lbs. by dancing all night and finally someone made a class out of it. It's popular too, it is pretty packed even for a Tuesday morning. Anywhoo..
My wonderful honey gave me my valentine gift yesterday since he wouldn't be here. He was so thoughtful! He bought me two new workout shirts and a pair of workout capris in the under armour stuff, it really keeps you dry and not sweaty. He also bought me the cutest Adidas sun visor and some mini head bands(never seen such a thing but he bought them for me since I was just complaining about how regular ones simply overtake my forehead) As he would say I "have a pea head" He was so thoughtful and I did need the new duds. I am glad for once that he didn't get me a super big red box of chocolates. That would be pure sabotage and we are working towards the same goal(fine bods on the beach) Ha.. not quite obtainable but we'll do our best:)
Not too suprised about Amy having a boy. I have known many people to have the same thing happen especially thinking girl and getting boy. But once you see "the boy stuff" there's no mistaking in most cases as long as you have a competent US tech. Her little boy was just being camera shy. I know she's very happy anyway and will really enjoy her little boy.
Well better go, time for book reading with the boys before night time. Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day.

A Busy Week Ahead

Well the week has started off to a great start. Took Dev for his check up for the ankle and yeah it's healed! No more boot to wear, I am happy even myself. The Dr. said his leg was completed healed so that is such great news! Now we can get him back to take TKD like we were going to start doing before he hurt his leg.
Today will be a day of organizing and cleaning around the house. We have some friends coming down this weekend from STL to visit! It happens to be the same weekend my girlfriends come down too. They come down every few months and stay with a girl that lives not to far from me. It's such a great time of shopping, eating, drinking, eating, drinking, eating, drinking, drinking, well you get the idea. My friend will be going to hang out with me and the girls, while the boys will hang out at the house with the little boys. What a great hubby I have!! I think we'll take our friends to see Tunica also. It's a lot of casinos and stuff, but maybe we'll win a few pennies and then eat on comps. ha!
Painted the downstairs bathroom this weekend. It looks great, now just need a little more decor for the walls. I hated the plain builder grade paint that was in there, it looked so dull. It's not dull anymore that's for sure! I have tried the sponging before but didn't quite have the best color scheme. This time seemed to work out better because of the colors I think. I was able to paint right over the color already on the walls with accenting color. Two layers of sponging with slightly different color tints. I like it alot and the sponging works great with a sponge roller. I'm not great at touching up the corners but oh well. Bry tried to wipe the walls like he thought they were dirty...how cute!
Valentine's Day is approaching, but no real exciting plans here, hubby will be gone for a trip. But I did get the kids some little chocolate covered marshmallow treats and some chocolate sweet hearts. I put a little gift together for the teachers also. I didn't want to fill it with just candy so I wanted to find some other little things to put in it. It turned out really cute and only cost me about $5 a teacher, not bad in my mind considering I had to make six of them.! The pail came from the dollar section at target, the candles also from Target ($6 for 7 candles) A piece of chocolate covered raspberry candy, a roll of sweet tarts and a cute little crystal cube with a vase and roses etched inside (from dollar store! $1 :) ) and the chocolate hearts, also a cute little heart filled with seeds that we give out to patients at work, if you plant the heart it will grow forget me nots! Anyway it was fun to make and didn't cost much at all.
We actually watched some movies this weekend! We rented Open Season which was very funny and little Miss Sunshine, I did fall asleep and miss the end but I will watch that before I have to take the movie back on Wed. I did enjoy the first half though, until I fell asleep. MC watched a Jet Li movie called Fearless. I watched some of it in the middle of painting. I do like martial arts movies but didn't have the time to sit and watch that one this weekend, but MC enjoyed it!
Well better go start cleaning and organizing and even a trip to the grocery before the day is gone. Maybe I will have some time tomorrow to work on my scrappin' I hope so.!!

Photo collage

Here is a photo collage that I created with some new software I got for Christmas. The software has so many neat things to do with photos, I just have to make the time to play and explore all the applications. Eventually I want to make a movie that incorporates still photos so that I can have that of the boys as they grow up. One day I will work on that project.
Busy day at work today, kinda unusual to say the least but at least the day went by fast! Looking forward to the weekend, not sure what we're going to do yet, maybe take a drive to the lake to check it out or something. Checked out a Catholic school nearby for D to start preK but he won't be old enough. He misses the date by about 3 weeks. Oh well, we will just try to get him in next year. I can't believe in one year he'll be starting school (almost) boy how the time flies.

Play doh time

Dev and I had a play doh date! He had such a great time trying to make things. He wanted me to make an elephant (yeah susan!) but I wasn't sure if I could. I'm not the clay maker that's for sure. Anyway it was turning out alright and I asked him what I needed to add to him such as legs, eyes, ears and body. When we got to the tail he insisted that the elephant have TWO tails. I tried to tell him that elephant's only have one tail but he insisted....so......ours has two! He decided to make a bird, which to me looks like a mosquito of sorts. It is so fun to observe a child's mind at play.

All is well here, trying to catch up on housework from the weekend and get ready for the week ahead. We are also counting down to our trip to Hawaii......Yeah! Only two months left and I can't wait, guess I'll be starving till then though, HA!

PURE CONCENTRATION:

THE BIRD/MOSQUITO:

THE INFAMOUS TWO TAILED ELEPHANT:

Hat day.....

Well the snow has melted but it's still pretty cold outside! I know the boys will love it when the weather warms up! Had a date night last night! M suprised me and had my mom come over after work to babysit. We just went out for dinner, but it was really nice to enjoy a relaxing dinner without "Mommy" being said about a trillion times! (Although, wouldn't change that for the WORLD!)

Bryson loves to read books, but I think his next favorite thing is hats! He really enjoys putting on different hats all different ways. So of course I had to pic it for you to see.....

MiMi and Grandaddy J.....the boys are really missing you guys!!(Hint Hint)

SNOW PICS!

SNOW DAY!

Well yes we did get snow last night. The boys aren't going to school and I'm not going to work. It will be a play day:) I'm sure we'll be out in the snow in a little bit and I'll take pics and post them. I don't think the snow will stick though the high today is like 35. So we'll see.....