We're Back!

We're home! Boy, what a vacation! Zach got car sick on the ride up to Branson and Sydnee and I got car sick on the way back....nothing that a little dose of Dramamine didn't cure :P

I was so disappointed that I didn't get to meet Jill on Thursday :( Tyler came down with a full blown migraine Wednesday after lunch, so we decided to go ahead and pack for home on Thursday.....he was just miserable. Other than that we had a great time! Sunday night after arriving in Branson we decided to make dinner easy and go to "Crack in the Barrel" as Sydnee calls it. They had the cutest Tiffany style rooster lamp on clearance, so Mark bought it for my birthday....I just love their store! After eating, we took in "Harry Potter" at the IMAX...okay, I fell asleep, so I couldn't really tell you if I enjoyed it or not LOL. Monday we were up early to head for Silver Dollar City...we got there at 9:30 and didn't leave until 4:00 phhheeewww! Tuesday we went to White Water....again we got there when the doors opened hahaha....you should've seen all of the people come in at noon and try to find a place to park their stuff....aaahh, I can be so mean but I really enjoyed watching them with armloads of towels and floaties grunting around and looking lost =} We had a blast barreling down the water slides....except for when my contacts got wet and I had to whine a little :P Wednesday we went down to the "Landing" which is a pretty new addition to Branson. Basically tons of trendy, high-end shops with high-end prices. I did indulge Sydnee and let her got to Build-A-Bear Workshop...it took about an hour, but she walked out with"Pinky Pink" and a huge smile on her face :) The guys have done nothing but rib me over the $50 price tag that I paid for a PINK teddy bear dressed in blue jeans, cowboy boots and hat LOL!

So, I'm now caught up on laundry and emails....hurrah! All of the boxes for the August LP kits were sitting here and nicely stacked (thanks, mom). Oh and an update on our pooch, Katie....she is home too! We got to pick her up yesterday afternoon. She's still very weak, but her puppy spirit is back in full force :) When Mark spoke with the vet on Tuesday the news was pretty grim...she was still not eating and definitely not out of the woods.....how elated we were after calling yesterday and finding out she was greatly improved and could come home! I'll get some pics taken of her this week and post them so everyone can see what a cutie she is ;)

Okay, off to bed...it's a lot earlier than usual, but I think all of us are just extremely exhausted from the traveling and vacation after-math LOL!

Getting ready for vacation!

It may sound crazy, but I love packing for vacation....it's like putting a puzzle together...so many socks, so many underwear (I call them panties just so I can watch the boys cringe WAH!), two shirts a day or one? etc. But with five people to pack for, this task can become quite daunting. Last night I couldn't find Sydnee's brand new pair of sandals...did I throw them away with the box? (I've been known to throw things away...good things...just ask DH!) So at 10:00 Zach and I drive down to the trashcans (I carry him because he's 9 and he can protect me, right?) and I pillage the sacks of discarded trash only to find the shoe box without the sandals....whew! Back into the house and back into her closet....nothing! Again I ask her "What did you do with your NEW sandals?" hmmmm, she doesn't remember and why am I not surprised :P But after fifteen minutes of frantic searching they are simply hidden under a stuffed animal.......one pair of shoes down and ten pair to go!

Another thing about going on vacation......I want my house to be spotless. I've stripped the sheets, cleaned the toilets and shower, dusted and vacuumed.....why do I do this? Because there is nothing worse than coming home completely exhausted only to be welcomed by a mess.....so I'll kill myself now and be happy when I arrive home on Friday! The pay-off is so worth it ;)

I will see you all at the end of next week! Be safe and remember:
"How can we understand the road we travel? It is the LORD who directs our steps" Proverbs 20:24....I thought this a fitting verse for my week of travel ahead.

Friday's Adventures

It was one A.M. before I finally went to sleep this morning and of course I was up at the crack of dawn! The only thing that kept me from having a fit was thinking about a recent post that Jane made (and MN Michelle) about their sleepless nights :) For some reason, it's comforting to know that others are miserable right along with me....the old saying is true; "misery does love company!"

I called and checked on Katie, our ten week old Chesapeake puppy. She's been at the vet's since Tuesday. We had noticed Monday afternoon (after we'd been in town all day shopping) that her food bowl has still full. Now this puppy inhales her food.....she even has to barf some up because she eats entirely too fast.....gross, but funny at the same time! So Tuesday morning when I came out to see about her she was limp...no life at all for a dog who greets you with a "woof" every morning. Tyler wrapped her up in a blanket and we carried her on to the vet's office. As soon as we got out of the car she upchucked all over the walkway :P They immediately did a screen for Parvo, which was negative and decided it best to keep her for a couple of days. The status as of this morning is the same...she's had diarrhea and they will not release her until it has cleared up. At first they were thinking it was something she had eaten (my mind was racing with all of the stuff Katie has been into! Even rotten bird eggs ICK!), but today they said there is a virus going around that mimics Parvo and can last for up to 9 days!!! Of course, DH is thinking money....I was too chicken to ask how much our bill is up to at this point LOL! He's friends with the vet, so I'll let him ask *blush*

Zach came home from church camp this morning :) Oh that kid is just the cutest thing! He was SO very homesick......when he walked into the house he took a big sniff and said "I missed this smell" hahahaha. He's a kid after my own heart *wub* He and Sydnee both are big smellers...Sydnee will come up only to get a sniff of my arm or the shirt I'm wearing. I remember how much I loved the way my mom smelled when she'd come into my room at night...there is nothing more comforting to a child.

Tyler will be off to spend the night with a friend tonight. He is completely torn over the news of Micheal Vick....I tell ya, these celebrities who do stuff like this really let a lot of kids down....I know they don't necessarily ask for it, but when they become famous there is an amount of responsibility (especially sports figures for young boys) that goes along with the territory!

Mark will be home tonight :) He's pooped and I'm hoping that he doesn't have any flight delays today *fingers crossed*

Okay, I've just piranahed my wallpaper and sprayed it with Diff, so I need to go and see if this stuff will peel off without too much elbow grease :D I shall do a consumer report in the next post!

Until then.....have a great Friday!

I thought it was time....

...to blog! Thanks to Jane for encouraging all of us at LP Club to take the "blogging" challenge :) I'm not much of a writer.....strange, I always wanted to be a "writer" when I was younger: I had the electric typewriter, I had the manual typewriter, heck I even had the pen, the paper and the occasional white-out if it hadn't clumped up too bad (or is it badly?). During the fifth grade I won a writing award for a tongue-in-cheek kind of short story (I mean for a ten year old was I even supposed to know about tongue-in-cheek?) I thought I had it made...but as we now know my dream of becoming an acclaimed author still sits at 218 Rex Street along with the growth chart forever etched into the side of my old bedroom door.....ahhh, such is life!

So, this is a new challenge for me: to blog about my everyday stuff....my husband who works too hard & too much, my kids who are just the best kids you could have (never-the-less there is drama....always drama) and then there's the rest of my comical family (includes the cows, our new found cat "Sweet Home Alabama" and our lovable little Chesapeake pooch "Katie"). If you hang around long enough you'll hear enlightening stories.....like the time I woke up to the sound of "rushing" water only to find the hose had broken from the bottom of the toilet. As I sat in the middle of the tidal wave with bucket in hand, my dear father experienced a wet t-shirt contest that he hadn't planned on seeing (hmmph hmmm). Or the time a raccoon opened (like with its paws I'm guessing) and then banditized (not a word) our stand-up freezer of two loaves of bread and fudgesicles, all while leaving a trail of incriminating muddy paw prints and the door slightly ajar! I never knew raccoons were such intelligent creatures....I mean, they have some of our politicians beat :D Now see, I'm all ready starting to digress on my first post....here is what I meant to say:

My blog pledge:

1. I WILL post at least once a day (okay, maybe every other day! and with the exception of days that I or someone in my family has fallen to illness, days of vacation, days gone shopping, days too busy and slumped over from putting kits together and days that I'm just too dang tired to do it!)
2. I WILL upload pictures to my blog (this is the best part of a blog, right?)
3. I WILL compose honest posts...this is my space after-all....and I will pontificate as much as I like :P (you'll either say "preach on sister!" or "shut up all ready!")

Okay, it's 11:30 on the first night of my blog and I shall retire. I will update tomorrow with my breakfast menu, shower schedule......