Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Well tomorrow is my official birthday!! I will be 28. Wow I can't believe it. I'm almost 30...yikes. I feel old.

But anyway, we went out with my in-laws last night to celebrate. We have a tradition of going to Red Lobster to celebrate any birthday in our family. It's really nice that they take us out for a meal there every few months because we could never afford to eat there on our own. Thanks Becky and Lloyd it was delicious as usual!!!

They also gave me $100 and a very cute VA Tech shirt. So after we ate we went and looked at exercise bikes. I have been wanting one for awhile. I really need to get in shape. I would have liked to have a treadmill instead but they are all so large and we didn't want something to take up too much room. So we ended up getting a really nice bike at Play it Again Sports. We looked at new ones at Dick's Sporting Goods and they were more expensive and not as good quality. The one I ended up with is a Vision Fitness E3100. It is used, but you can tell very little. We got it for $250 and they retail for $800-1200 now. It's a really nice bike and very quiet, you can't even hear it.

I used it for 15 minutes last night and felt like I was dying. I only burned 50 of the 50,000 calories that I ate at Red Lobster:( Then I got up this morning at 6:30 and used it for 10 minutes. My legs were a little sore from last night and I didn't want to get so sore that I couldn't walk. I hope to be able to use it twice a day for about 30 minutes each time. I'm really excited about it and hope that I can stay dedicated to it.

I need to make some lifestyle changes. I want to get the weight off of me before I hit 30 because I know its much harder the older you get. Not that 30 is old, but I just want to get in shape before I'm 30. I need to change my eating habits and the whole families. We need to cut back on the sugar and white flour and processed foods. I want to go one step at a time so we don't totally get burned out and sick of it. I'm not saying diet though. I just want to be healthy!!!

Four Words.....

WHEN DOES SCHOOL START????

My kids have been driving me nuts today! They can't stop fighting or picking on each other. It didn't help that it rained half of the day so they were stuck inside. Overall they have been great this summer, but we haven't been at home a lot. They were bored out of their minds today and I had too much to do around the house to play with them. But they did help me clean house and break beans, inbetween fighting and bugging the crap out of each other.

Now my sweet little angels are playing cards in their room "together" and have been for an hour. Why couldn't they have done this during the day when Dad wasn't here? I do love my kids more than anything, but they drive me crazy at times!!!

I have to find some fun rainy day games and activities to keep them from getting bored, because it looks like rain is in the forecast all week. Any ideas?

Sick of TV!

Tonight the kids and I have been trying to find something decent on tv to watch. Thats almost impossible. I get so tired of paying for satellite service every month and having nothing to watch. We finally ended up watching Hee Haw on RFD channel. Its so funny. I remember watching it as a kid, my kids don't like it as much as I did.

I am so sick of kids shows. They get on my nerves so bad. My kids aren't into cartoon shows anymore. Now all they like is Suite Life of Zack and Cody, I Carly and Hannah Montana. I have had enough of it and am going to start limiting tv time again. Emma doesn't watch much, but Colton would sit there all day if I let him. I think I will go crazy if I here these dumb shows again!

I would cancel satellite if I could, but Travis would freak. He isn't here much, but when he is he wants to watch tv. So I guess I have to get stricter with the kids and myself about watching it!

We're Home!!!

Well we made it home this afternoon at about 2:30. It's so good to be home!!! I like going on vacation, but boy do I like to come home! There was no R&R on this vacation. It was all go, go, go the whole week. I guess we will have time to relax when the kids are grown and out of the house.


We went to Busch Gardens two days and to Water Country one day. It was fun and the kids loved it. Emma was able to ride her first big rollercoaster this time, the big bad wolf. She loved it. I sat beside her on the first ride and I put my hand across her lap to hold her and she said I'm okay leave me alone. Both of the kids love rollercoasters and would fuss at me for screaming. I love them too, but I still scream everytime I ride one. Colton and Travis rode the Lochness Monster at least 15 times. Colton loved it!!


Wouldn't you know that I didn't take my camera anywhere. I didn't want to keep up with it in Busch Gardens. We usually get a stroller but the kids are bigger and don't need one, so we wanted the least amount to keep up with as possible. This is the only picture that I took and I used my cell phone. I am really upset with myself for that, but we still have some great memories!!

Getting ready for Vacation!!

We will be leaving for vacation tomorrow:) I have lots to do today to get ready, but we are so excited. We are going to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg VA. We are staying four nights. We will probably go to Busch Gardens two days and Water Country one day, but I guess we will see how tired we all are.

I really hope Emma is feeling better. She has had a cold the past few days and yesterday she started having trouble breathing. She has mild asthma and sometimes it acts up when she gets a cold. I gave her two breathing treatments yesterday and that helped. Hopefully she will not need anymore, but I'm taking the nebulizer machine with me, just in case.

The kids are so excited and can't hardly. I hope its not extremely hot and crowded. I will see you all when we get back!! Have a great July 4th!!!!!

VBS Week!!

We have had Vacation Bible School at our church this week. My mother-in-law and I are teaching the 7 and 8 year olds. We have had between 13-19 kids in our class every night. Let me just say they have way too much energy! They are sweet kids, but some of them are so wild, they just wear me out. I wish I could bottle their energy up and take it every day!!!

We have had such a good turn out each night for all the age groups. The best news so far is one girl accepted Christ last night!!! That is exactly why we do it and it makes it all worth while!!! I pray that we do the best job that we can to spread the word of God to these young ones. I have really enjoyed Bible School this year and so have my kids. Friday night is the closing program, looking forward to that!!

More animals on our homestead!!

"Smokey playing peek-a-boo under the chicken coop!"
"Cody is such a good and faithful dog"

"This is Travis' favorite chicken, we need to name her!"

"Wow those babies sure are growing fast"

"The camara flash totally freaked them out, but everything freaks them out!"