What is wrong with me??

Sooo, maybe I should not be advertising this all over internet-land but I feel compelled. This is what resides in my living room right now as I type (all too often, in fact)...

What you see here represents at least 11 loads of laundry. Some of which has been deposited here today and some of which has been in these baskets for about two weeks now. Some of you will look at this and think about the ensuing ironing from being crumpled for two weeks. Like my mom. My mom is something of a "militant ironer." She will iron for hours on end (and she doesn't even crumple for two weeks!). Impressive but I think I would rather walk barefoot on broken glass scattered over hot coals. Upon seeing this picture my mom would roll over in her grave, were she already dead. Thankfully she is not, so she will likely just shake her head and smile ruefully and think I am crazy and wonder what have I been doing for two weeks that prohibits me from folding 11 loads of laundry? Well, maybe I am more like my mom than we knew...I am thinking the same thing!!

The other issue that this photo brings to light is "what are we wearing if 11 loads of laundry reside in my living room?" Sadly, we still have plenty of clothes in our closets. Maybe I need to set aside my laundry folding problem and focus on my other problem first...a shopping addiction? I will say Husband #1 gets the worst of this and has to sort through the baskets to find clean underwear. Maybe I should just buy him more underwear and then I don't have to feel bad about it?! However, being the great husband he is (and why I am still on #1) he does not complain. Maybe he is just fearful he will be the one folding it if he complains. Either way, he is approaching sainthood in his tolerance of clean but unfolded laundry.

Well, maybe I should get off the computer and fold laundry!? Hmmm, that brings up a whole other problem I might have...internet addiction. Geez, I am a mess!

Double A celebrates 7!!!

I am not sure how this happened. Where did the time go? It just does not seem possible. My sweet baby girl with the big blue eyes, kissable dimples and golden ringlets turns 7 years old today. Something about 7 just seems older.





In the last 7 years I have noticed there have been milestone birthdays. Obviously 1 year old is a big marker in a baby's life. Five hit me kind of hard because it seemed like a move from toddler/preschooler to "kid." For some reason I was okay with 6 even though that marked the year she started Kindergarten. However, 7 years old seems like a huge change. She will be starting first grade the end of this month. Husband #1 and I have both noticed changes in her from going from a little kid to a new thing we have not yet dealt with :) Others notice it, too. She has grown taller obviously but it is more than that, something about her manner. She seems a little more poised, her thought processes have changed, her knowledge base has changed; it is hard to put your finger on. It will be exciting to continue to watch these changes and growth in her as she matures even more.





Happy Birthday to my sweet Double A!



We have quite the birthday extravaganza planned but more on that later (if I survive!) In the meantime check out these photos of the past 7 years.

one day old

six months old















one year old















two years old










two years old














three years old















four years old












five years old

six years old

Back Porch Paintin'

Soooo, we have been diligently painting our back porch, a project long overdue (like most of our projects!). I did most of the scraping and painting but Husband #1 helped a fair bit when he was home and the kids even did a little bit. However, keeping them from helping was the bigger challenge. Just too worried about slopped paint everywhere.

scraping paint off the door to the garage

painting the porch steps while detached

I think the project is mostly done now. We just have to paint the porch floor. I think we will go with some kind of light khaki/sand type color. I scraped the big chunks of paint off before we started painting. Husband #1 took off the steps and replaced some rotten floor board sections. This also led to replacing some rotten floor joists and installing some additional lag screws for support. Much sturdier now.

The pictures in white are the "before" pics and the brown are the "after" pics but, by golly, I would have hoped you could tell that on your own!!

Notice the missing ends of some of the floor boards...just rotted out!

We even did the back door and window to the garage. Everything looks so much better. At least the temperature was lovely this past week or two that I have been working on this project. Only problem has been that every time I paint it starts to rain before it is all dry!

Well, it is done now and off to another one of the many projects on our list. I think the kids are finally to an age where I can get some stuff done while they are around and don't need my constant supervision. Problem with that is I don't have that as an excuse anymore!

What a busy weekend

We had a fun but busy weekend. Friday evening Double A had a horse show. She did a fantastic job and did not seem too nervous this time. She got three ribbons in her three competitions: 6th, 3rd and 2nd place. She had fun and then afterwards we went to dinner and picked up some things at Lowe's. This is a picture of her doing Simon Says on Zema. He other two events she rode Trucker.

Saturday we finished painting our porch (pictures of that in another post) and I ran some errands to get ready for our party on Sunday. Midday we all went to a surgery picnic at a local park. There were tons of things for the kids such a petting zoo, spin art, balloon animal clown and face painting. The kids each selected their own face design. BumbleBee was very proud of his Spiderman and Double A looked lovely in her butterfly art. In this picture we were trying to get BumbleBee to do the Spidey hands but he didn't really understand :) so he got them backwards.

Sunday we finished getting the house and yard ready for our BBQ. Husband #1 had several people over from his lab. We had a great time and the backyard was lovely. We don't have any pictures from the actual party but here is a picture of my clematis vine which has finally started climbing and blooming. Husband #1 built these trellis things next to the patio and we planted these vines.

I was exhausted by the end of the weekend. We felt good because we got so much done and had fun activities, too. I REALLY did not want to get out of bed this morning. Went to the gym and my trainer "woke me up." UGH! We'll see if I can move tomorrow :)

out of the mouth of BumbleBee

"I cannot get my foot to stop taking a rest." When his foot had fallen asleep.

"My eyes won't let me keep them open." When riding in the truck. I told him it was okay to close them and within seconds he was asleep.

"Because I am four and a half!" When asked "How did you get so strong/fast/smart/whatever?"

"I have really bad news!" When he had gotten a papercut and was going to let us know.

"You are the best mom in the whole world."

Partyin' Bahamian Style

Oh! What a night this was. None of these pictures represent our most photogenic faces but really, none of us cared too much! I think this night even included a wardrobe change for some of us.

Husband #1 appreciating the "nose" and "bouquet" of his bahamian beer, Kalik.

teaching my dad drinking games from college. Anyone remember "one up, one down?" or "I'm going camping?"

R, lovin' his wine

T & T - not really sure how we even managed this one!

T and I did not recall we even drank pineapple juice and coconut rum this night until we saw the pics later!

I am not sure what was happening here!

There are more that involve the inside of my nostrils, tons of fingers in front of the lens, different funny faces, different drinks being consumed, etc. You get the idea.

Bahamas photos

A sampling of photos from the Bahamas trip last week. There were many good ones so there will be more later.

The kids and the daddies watching a princess movie in the salon of the boat. They all seem to really be enjoying it!

My youngest niece preparing to be seasick. She did not actually get sick this day but both her and her sister were sick the first day unfortunately for them (and my sister in law who got puked on twice)

Bumblebee took this photo of us on the top deck of the boat while we were underway. Not too shabby!

Bumblebee being buried in the sand at Treasure Cay. The sand was wonderful...the texture of cornstarch.

Double A taking a self portrait with mommy's glasses and daddy's hat. There were several more with different facial expressions. She is the queen of the self portrait.

All four kids (mine and my two nieces) eating lunch on the back deck of the boat

The four of us on the beach at Green Turtle Cay

My mom and dad's boat we all stayed on while touring the Bahamas. All TEN of us!! The McBreak.

Bumblebee and mommy. Love this photo.

Double A suited up for the pool at West End, Grand Bahamas. She is a swimming fool this year. SOOO glad we did swim lessons.

Not a lot of time right now between vacations and WAY too many things I SHOULD be doing so not much narrative with this one...just a bunch of photos. The Bahamas were great and tons of fun! More later :)