I really suck at blogging don't I?

I always start off with the best of intentions to sit down and write down a blog post. I wish I could be more like the bloggers who write at least once a day but I don't think that's going to happen. I guess I should shoot for once a quarter. :-)

Everything here is still good. We are having some family from Michigan come for a visit next month and while they are here we are going to celebrate 3 out of the 4 boys birthdays. Ashton turned 12 in December and while we had cake and a gift from us I felt bad that his friends are always gone(since his birthday is right before Christmas). Nicholas will be 10 on March 15th so his is the "main" birthday. And Adam will be 8 3 weeks later on April 5th so we are celebrating his as well since family visiting is very rare. 

I'm excited. We took them to a bakery and let them pick out a custom cake for EACH of them(oh yeah, we'll have cake here for WEEKS afterward...... or I'll just send a lot home with the birthday party attendees). Ashton picked out a football jersey that will be made to look like Colt McCoy's jersey from the Cleveland Browns. Nicholas picked out a guitar cake that will be made to look like an acoustic guitar(he is currently taking guitar lessons) and Adam picked out a cake that will look like....are your ready for this....A BOX TURTLE! He loves all things turtle. These cakes are going to be so awesome because this bakery just does a fantastic job on their cakes. 

I'm having some health issues, mainly with my kidneys but I am just choosing to be positive and believe it will all work out for the best. That's all I can do right now. I can't even begin to look at the "what if's". 

Mark is still working at his same job(in fact he's working today which leaves me some time to blog). I can't wait until we have some time off next month to spend a lot of family time together. It's much needed and wanted. 

Well that's all I can think to write so I guess I'll post some recent pictures and call it a day. "See" you in May probably LOL!!

 The boys at ICE!

 Mark just can't resist a nice rack.

 Nicholas helping ice the Christmas cookies

 Ashton with his cookie

 I told Adam to clean up his mess...clearly I did not make myself clear on how to do that.

 My 13 year old Matty!

 And there is that guitar on Christmas morning!

Shoot man.

I can't believe it's been over 5 months since I posted. Even more sad when I realized my last post was about our Cedar point vacation. We did indeed go and had an AWESOME time. It was just what we all needed.

Since that post the boys have started a new school year. I now have 2 in middle school and 2 in elementary. I still work full time outside the home and we are still doing football since Adam's team is going to the State championship this weekend(and I have to miss it because I have to work :( )

Other than that, life is rolling right along.

Work, work, work, work, work

Yes, I feel like all I do is work. I am in need of a vacation in a big way. Thankfully in July my family will be heading to Ohio to go to:

Yes, we are going to ride

and more

And we are going to stay at this super cool hotel with a WATER park on the INSIDE!

So less than 2 months from now we will drive the dogs to the Kennel, load up the truck and drive nine hours for roller coasters, water parks, relaxation and FAMILY TIME!!

Note to self: do not forget the SPF 100. We are not a tanning family and I'm not even sure any of us have any melanin to speak of.

Summer VACATION!!

I still, after living here for 2.5 years, cannot get over how early the south lets the chirruns out for the summer. But as of Friday all 4 of my love bugs are home for the summer. I am so proud of all them. My oldest son, *M*, got all A's for 2 of the six semesters and the other 4 he was all A's and B's so he got the prestigious award at school on Wednesday of getting honor roll all year. And in the middle school in order to get this award just having A's and B's isn't enough you have to have more A's than B's.  Now he is on his way to 7th grade. Here's a picture from his final band concert. He enjoyed band so much he is going on to the 7th grade band next year. He will play at all home basketball games.

His younger brother *A1*, had a great year too. Honor roll 5 out of 6 semesters(simplifying fractions in semester 4 was hard on him and he got a C in math, but by his next report card had brought it up to a B+ :) ) So he is on to middle school next year and following in his brothers foot steps and joining the band. He, however, wants to play the saxophone. I can't wait to hear him practice that......but that's what ear plugs are for right? Here's a picture take at the Discovery center earlier this month.

Now on to boy 3, *N*. *N* has had the hardest time since he started school. He repeated 1st grade last year but this year in second grade he has FLOURISHED! He has discovered a love for writing and is the spelling champion in his class. When school started his report card was a lot of 2's with some 3's(2 means working at grade level with teacher help, 3 is working at grade level. 4 means working above grade level). This last semester my guy has more 4's than 3's and NO 1's or 2's. He has worked so hard and it has paid off. His teacher wrote on his last writing paper "You are a MAGNIFICENT writer". Be still my heart..... Here is a picture of him receiving his award for "most improved" this year.

And on to #4, *A2*, our little firecracker. Without him life would be boring for sure. He had a good year this year as well. He came out of his shell and became Mr. Personality in the 4th semester, and apparently at the same time he became quite the ladies man. LOL. He worked hard this year and we are going to continue working with him on his hand writing this summer to make 2nd grade a bit easier for him(he writes like a serial killer LOL) So here is a picture of him. This is the ONE child I got that is a clone of me. When I got pregnant with him it was a total surprise and I told Mark "This baby better look like me and it better be a GIRL". 1 out of 2 isn't bad ;)

I got a new lens for my camera today!

Thanks to  the pioneer woman I bought a new lens for my Nikon D40. I always love the pictures where the subject is crystal clear and the background is blurry so I read all I could read on her photography section of her blog and settled on the Nikon 50mm lens and now I just have to teach myself how to use it.

So I ripped open the package which also included THIS!!!!! and quickly started snapping pictures of the doggies and the kiddies and this is what I have so far....

This is Elvis our not-so-smart, probably inbred, beagle. Notice how he even does the "elvis lip"?

This is Cady. She is our latest rescue. And very photogenic if I do say so myself.

 

And here is boy #1 with his Cady girl.

 

Boy #4 pondering if he should get off the computer and get out of his pajamas. It's a snow day, why bother?

 

And since I've looked through the first few pages and can already feel my arteries clogging, I decided to take a picture of my latest inspiration...

 

And now I will spend way too much time I'm sure figuring out my new lens and by the time I figure it out my 4 guys(and possibly the dogs) will be quite sick of me and my camera.

No more anonymous

You want to be a moron, do it with your face attached to it.

You may think I post horribly at Jennifers site but one thing you can never say is I don't hide behind some anonymous tag.


Grow a pair or go away.

Went to the movies today!

Mark and I went to see the Blind side today. It was an AWESOME movie. One we will definitely be purchasing when it comes out on dvd.

Michael Oher's story is amazing and inspirational and he is just an all around great guy! All the ways his story could have ended but he chose to persevere and is now a Baltimore Raven.

Great movie! Two thumbs up :)

Pictures from cutting down our Christmas tree 2009

Look at all those trees(it was 68 degrees yesterday too)

I think those are a little too small buddy!

But this one is perfect!

Cut it down daddy! We'll make sure it doesn't fall on you!

 

And we'll carry it back too :)

Now we've figured it out.

Fully decorated tree!

My AIDS awareness ribbon in honor of my Uncle Bruce <3

First Christmas in our new home 2008 ornament.

Monogram of our last name!

Pictures

Lets see if I can do it right this time!

Baby boy number 2's first day of 5th grade!^^^^^^^^

Baby boy #1 on his first day of middle school!^^^^

baby boy #3 on his first day of 2nd grade.^^^^^

 

and baby boy #4's first day of first grade!^^^^

#2 right before his football game.^^^^

 

#1's 12th birthday party!^^

#4 rocking out to University of Michigan's big win!!

#2 using the balloons to make a helium penis.

The cake I made for #1's birthday!

My job.

Well as of the first of this month I am no longer what they call "prime time", meaning I worked 2 days a week for a total of 16 hours. It was great hours and I was home all during the week and could volunteer at the school anytime I wanted too.

But now, since Mark's insurance at work is not good at all(5000k out of pocket before ANYTHING but preventative is covered and then it only covers 90/10) I decided to go part time(over 30 hours) so I could get the family off Mark's insurance and onto the bank where I work at insurance plan.

It's so much better, though. They cover orthodontia for each member, vision coverage(both of these are not covered at ALL on Mark's plan), dental and medical. And the deductible for a family is only 900 dollars a year.

My hours aren't bad but I still miss having that freedom throughout the week. I'm sure I'll eventually get over it but it's still new to me and I still struggle with 'mommy guilt' on a fairly regular basis.

But this is a good job and it offers excellent benefits and that is what we need right now. So I guess I should just suck it up and be grateful I have a job in the first place right? Like I said this pity party will pass and I will be grateful that I can provide this option to my family. It's taking a ton of pressure off of Mark and I am very thankful for that.

Long awaited photos

Drama, drama, drama...

I am stunned at all the people up in arms over President Obama's speech to the school children. It's a speech about staying in school, hard work and perseverance. How is that ever a bad thing?

I must say we live in conservative TN so I was preparing to battle our administration to show the video to the children so imagine my surprise when I found a message on my answering machine Thursday night from the district Superintendent stating that all children would be watching on all media available(TV's, computers, etc.) Parent's of course have the option to opt out but they did not send home permission slips. If you want to keep your kids home that's on you. And I not-so-secretly hope it's an unexcused absence.

I think the very fact that parents want PERMISSION slips sent home for their children to listen to our commander in chief is a prime example of why kids seem to show such a complete lack of respect for authority figures. They learn that from their parents. So parents, quit blaming rap music or TV shows or violent video games for your disrespectful little brats darlings. You have no one to blame but yourself.

Wow. It's been awhile...

I always have the best intentions of sitting down and writing a long post filled with pictures of my boys and then I always let something, or more likely, someone distract me.

I can't believe I haven't updated in almost 4 months. Things have changed, that's for sure.

Matthew is now in MIDDLE SCHOOL. I know, shut up, right?? He will be 12 in 11 days. I know I'm getting older, I mean if there was any doubt the gray hair and the frown lines would surely out me but I honest to God cannot believe my son is almost 12 years old. And in MIDDLE SCHOOL.

Ashton is in 5th grade and almost 11 years old. He is a football player and out of all four of my boys he is most definitely the most sensitive and loving towards others. Like yesterday. I had training for work. Mark took him to football practice so by the time I got to even see him it was almost 8 pm and he snuggled up next to me and said "mom, how was your teller bootcamp today?" The fact that he asked about my day and he knew the name of my training was amazing to me LOL. <3 that kid, I do.

Nicholas is 8 and in 2nd grade. And he reads to me and I love it. I love hearing my child who has struggled the most in school READ to me. He is blond and has big beautiful blue eyes and a face full of freckles. I think he's edible.

Adam is 6 and in FIRST grade. Again, SHUT UP! How is my youngest "baby" in FIRST grade? He is like a clone of me. He really wants us to have another baby which surprises me since he has never known anything but being the baby. But every night he asks when we can have another baby. You'll have to take that one up with daddy's urologist buddy!

Mark and I are doing good. In August we had our 13 year anniversary. Work has been stressing him out. They have cut back hours a bit but thankfully I was able to take a new position at work which provides us with the extra hours/money that his job is lacking right now. It'll pick up for him though next month. His job is always feast or famine.

In June I was diagnosed with a rare disorder called Pseudo-tumor cerebri. Basically my body thinks I have a brain tumor(I don't. It was ruled out with MRI) but I am producing too much spinal fluid so my optic nerves are all swollen and causing all kinds of visual disturbances. So I have had an MRI, spinal tap and now I am on potent diuretics and that has helped somewhat. No more weird acid like flashbacks in my eyes anymore. But the optic nerves are still swollen. No where near what they were before but still more than any of the opthamologists would like.

So we are in a holding pattern there and I am frankly just burying my head in the sand and pretending it doesn't exist as long as possible. Not healthy I'm sure but it's my coping mechanism.

Well this got long winded so I'll use the next post to put up some pictures.

I'm a fat ass.

True story. So back to the gym and no more daily hot fudge sundaes with extra hot fudge. That will probably help.....

Man, I'm a blog loser.

I guess I should write more. I sit down to write and then I find myself thinking "who wants to read this boring shit when I don't even want to write about it."

So instead of writing about wiping butts, never ending snotty noses, job problems, sucky economy, etc I'll just post some pictures of my love bugs.







Honor roll adam!

Matthew's on the honor roll too :D

Nicholas at his honor roll awards ceremony!

Ashton at his honor roll awards ceremony!

Adam and Matthew

My sweet Matthew James. Almost 12 years old but he's still a mama's boy <3