The Big Day is Almost Here:(

I'm still here. No I haven't been out of the country all summer, just hanging around in VA. I just really haven't felt like blogging much. We have been kind of busy. We've went to the lake with my parents a few times and camping once. But mostly I have been busy gardening. I have made tons of pickles. I made sweet pickle spears, cucumber sandwich pickles, pickle relish and zucchini pickles. Speaking of zucchini, this was my first year planting it and all I can say is WOW. We had enough zucchini for an army and a half. I tried giving it away and it seems you can't give the stuff away. So I made some pickles and froze some, I shredded and froze some for zucchini bread and we ate alot. But you kind of get tired of it after a while. I also picked lots of blueberries from my mom and dads and froze some and made some jam.

So the rest of the garden hasn't done as well as the cucumbers and zucchini and squash. We have tons of tomatoes, but they are still just as green as can be. I really hope they ripen soon because I really want to make some more salsa. It was soooo good. Our corn is looking hopeful but still kind of weak, I hope we have some, last year what we did have got ate up by bugs, hope that doesn't happen again. Our green beans were not good at all. I'm not sure what kind they were, but they were tough and had no flavor and I even tried to pick them before they got too big.

Every year the garden is a learning experience and I'm trying to figure it out each year. Next year my garden is going to Rock. Well it kind of does Rock now....lots of ROCKS.

So I've been really sad this week. I think I've mentioned this once or twice or five hundred times, but my baby starts kindergarten this year, and the big day is only 6 days away. I'm trying to stay strong for her sake, she is so excited. But it is so hard. I have been at home with her since she was born and I'm not going to know what to do without her. I didn't have as hard of a time with Colton, because I still had Emma, but now I don't have a baby at all.

Don't get me wrong, there has been days this summer that I can't wait for school to start. Especially when I here "Mommy, Colton pulled my hair, and stuck his tongue out at me." or "Mommy, Emma pinched me" or "Mommy, Colton called me stupid." Yeah that gets very annoying. Maybe I will like the house all too myself. Wow I want know what to do.

Emma has gotten really bad a tattling here lately. At their school the kindergarteners have to wear a tail pinned on their backside if they tattle. So I have a feeling my little girl may be wearing the tattletail a lot. Hopefully not. I'm just praying we have a good school year.

Pray for me as the big day arrives, that I stay strong and remember they all have to grow up and she will love school.

I forgot to post about two weeks ago our other kitty Mr. Whiskers died. We found him dead in the barn. He didn't have any marks or anything like he had been attacked. The only thing we think that could have happened was he may have found rat poisioning that we had put out last year. We had it under things so the dog couldn't get it but the kitty could probably get in those areas where Cody couldn't.

We all were very sad. He was so cute and friendly and we had already gotten attached to him. Now we have decided we don't want anymore kitties. Even though my parents say that we can have the momma cat that keeps them supplied with kitties. We are thinking about getting her, but we don't know if we should even try that. Three kitties dying in a month is a little much. I think we just aren't very good at keeping cats.

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Sorry it's been a while, Again. Busy summer.



Well today is my birthday. I'm 27 today. I don't feel any older, yet. I have recently gotten several nice things though for my birthday.



My real birthday present from hubby was a clothesline. I know it doesn't sound like anything really special, but I love it. And hubby made a wonderful one. When he makes something he does it the right way so it will last forever. This one defiantly should. I love it. It has really helped me to keep my laundry under control, because it has six lines and I can hang lots of clothes at one time so its really nice and fun. That sounds weird saying hanging out clothes is fun, but so far it really is.



Okay and my other present was a new stove for my kitchen. It wasn't planned for, just had too. Our old stove was given to my husband by his great grandmother when he moved in to our house. We figured it to be at least 30 years old or older. It has really never worked too good, but it made due for almost 9 years of marriage. That is until Sunday morning when I was fixing cinnamon rolls for the kids and the stove made this horrible noise and then fire and sparks started shooting out of the sides of the oven. It scared me to death. But I quickly turned the oven off and it quit. The heating element in the bottom of the oven burned into. We decided that instead of trying to find an element we would retire the old stove and buy a new one.



I love my new stove. It's a white smooth top Fridgedaire brand. I can't believe that it can boil water in like 4-5 minutes, with my old stove it took at least 30 minutes to boil water and that was on a good day, sometimes it was longer.



So I received a clothesline and stove this week. When we went to Tennessee I also got a lot of things. A set of Henkels kitchen knives, a pair of Olukai sandals, Native sunglasses and a carpet sweeper. So this past month I have been really spoiled. The amount of money that we have spent this month is not normal. Please do not think we buy like this all the time. My blog is about trying to get thrifty, for pete's sake. But we were needing some things and while we were on vacation we decided to go ahead and get things that I really like that was good quality and last a long time. So it was a one time splurge. My knives and sunglasses have lifetime warranties, so that helps knowing if something should happen to them I can get another for free.



Besides a clothesline is thrifty, isn't it!

We're BACK!!

We just got home from the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. We really had a great time, but are totally pooped. We were busy all week and didn't get to the room before 10:30 any night. But it was well worth it and we really had fun.

Wednesday we went to Dollywood. It was lots of fun. Colton was so excited he finally is 48" tall and could ride all of the rides. He wanted to ride the roller coasters first thing. We figured he would chicken out before getting on them, (he is scared of lots of things), but he didn't. He absolutely loved the coasters and rode them at least 10 times. He was completely hooked. Travis and I are so proud, we love roller coasters too.

Emma also was very brave. She was able to ride a smaller roller coaster called the blazing fury. It goes through a dark burning building and then the track is out and you fall straight down into water and get wet. We didn't think she would like it, because it is kind of scary, but she loved it and rode at least 6 times. She even fell before getting on one time and skinned her little knees up really bad, but she still rode. She was with daddy that time and when she came back to me she had blood from her knees to her ankles and it was still bleeding pretty bad. Travis was going to bring her back to me before the ride, but she insisted on riding. She said if she would have been with me instead of her daddy, that I wouldn't have let her ride. She's probably right, mommies are mean that way.

We had fun walking around Gatlinburg and we watched the midnight fourth of July parade and fireworks, which was a lot of fun. We did some shopping and a whole lot eating. I probably gained 10 pounds. Overall we had a very nice vacation and really appreciated our in laws for taking us.

Well when we got home we had some not so good things happen. First my parents came and fed our dog and kitties on Friday morning and they couldn't find one of the kitties. We was hoping and praying all the way home that it would be here, but it wasn't. My neighbor had found it Thursday morning ran over in the road. Our hearts just broke when we heard and then having to break it to the kids. This was Emma's kitty and she was so excited to get home to see it. She was upset, but overall took it very well. We called Granny she has one kitten left and said we can have it if we can catch it. It's pretty wild. I sure hope we can catch it.

If another kitty dies we are calling it quits on the cat department.

The other really, really, bad horrible thing that happened was...I don't even want to type it, it's so bad. Okay here it goes...there was a snake in our house. YUCK!!! SCARRY!!! SCARRY!!!
When we went open our front door it was curled up and went through a crack under the door. It was very small, like a garden snake or grass snake. But it doesn't matter what size, shape, color or if it was poisionous or not the fact is it was a SNAKE. A nasty slimey, creapy, crawley, reptile in my house.

My big strong hubby killed it and took it outside. Then I made him fix the door so no more could get in. Now I'm scared to go to bed. What if there is more? OOH! I think I want to move.

Okay so I'm being a little over dramatic. But come on why would anyone want those nasty creatures as a pet.

The whole reasoning behind getting cats is so they will kill the mice and birds in the barn so we want have snakes. All I can say is Mr. Whiskers better get to work!!

Getting ready for Vacation!!

I'm still here. It's been a while since I posted last.

We are going on vacation:) Our in laws are taking us to Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Dollywood. We are so excited. We usually go to Tennessee every year for a few days but this year we will stay 4 nights, so we will have more time to do things. My kids are so excited, they love Dollywood. Okay Hubby and I do too. Thanks so much to my mother and father in law for taking us every year, they really have helped us out alot over the years and this is just one other way. Thanks a bunch.

Also my mother in law called me yesterday to let me know she had paid for me a pedicure at a local salon. Oh my little tootsies need some serious attention. Ever since I have gotten married and had children I haven't taken care of myself and one way is my feet. They are so rough and cracked, from walking around my home barefoot all the time. I'm really excited to get them pampered a little bit. Thanks Becky I greatly appreciate it.

I really have a great family. My parents, my in laws, my sister, my niece and all of the other people in my life are so wonderful. Thank you all so much for all you do for me and our family. I Love you all so much and am very greatful to have such wonderful people in my life.

Kitty pictures!!

I finally got pictures of the kitties. I couldn't get any of the kids holding them though. They are normally much cuter, but they had been taking a bath in their water bowl.

My Little Graduate!!

Colton recieving the Science Award

"My Sweet Little Graduate"

"Our Little Family"
The Birthday Girl


Wow!! It's been awhile since I have posted. It's been kind of busy around here the last couple of weeks.



My baby graduated preschool...a happy, sad, day...for me. Colton finished first grade and is officially out for the summer. And my baby turned five...even sadder.



So the last week of school was a lot of running and then planning a birthday party and then just being too lazy to do anything because of the weather.



It is officially summer here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of VA. Usually our summers are very mild. They may get around the upper 80s around the end of July and August. Well we are at the beginning of June and it has already been around the mid to upper 90s for almost a whole week. I don't know what's worse cold weather in June or scorching hot weather.



I know I should not complain. We can cope with heat, we have 2 window air conditioners that keep our small home nice and cool and we have a pool in the back yard. Our pool is just one of those small blue inflatable kind, its 3' deep and 13 round. Not very big but perfect for the kids. Let me tell you my children have thoroughly enjoyed it this past week (and me and hubby have too). It needs more water because they have about splashed it all out. So we should not complain and just remember we are lucky to have to deal with heat instead of the floods they are dealing with in the midwest.



Today was cooler than the last few and its supposed to be in the 80s for the rest of the week. To me that is perfect weather. Well maybe upper 70s. But you can't be too picky.



So I almost forgot yesterday was my mom's birthday.



Happy Birthday Mom and Happy Birthday Emma. I Love you both very much and am so thankful for having you in my life.