Kaelyn all ready to go!!!

So we are rushing out the door to head off to gymnastics and I told the girls to get their shoes on and meet me at the car. So I am rushing outside because we are always late and I see my little Kaelyn all ready to go. She is decked out with her sun glasses, green purse and her one size too big cowboy boots that cousin Sarah gave her.....she looked so cute I had to take this picture!!

So on Saturday, Geoff went out to the garden and picked some tomatoes from our garden to put on our hamburgers for lunch.......He always seems to know just what I need when I need him the most....he said that he grew it just for me......how sweet!

My Father's Passing

So even though we weren't the best of friends and he did live everywhere but near me, I still loved him. It doesn't make his passing any easier. If anything it has made it much harder. It was unbearable to hear that my father was lying in Sacramento unconscious in the ICU and that I was in Lake St Louis at work alone, my aunt was in North Carolina at home alone, my uncle was 4 hours from my aunt house sitting alone and my grandmother was home in Jamestown alone. None of us slept that night.
Even though my father had lived away from home for 35+ years, my grandmother was still gifted with flowers, phone calls, cooked meals and kind words. Maybe I have unknowingly done something to have not received any words at all. Besides Angie, Stacy and Geoff's parents, not one person has called on me to offer sympathy.
I spent the following night with my husband and my girls and tried to figure out how I was going to explain to my girls that their grandfather had passed away and yet, they had never met him. I was blessed to have had 4 days with him in January when he was in the hospital in Sacramento. He had his heart pump 'installed' and had to recooperate prior to doing the tests that would ready his body for a heart transplant. He was on the top of the heart transplant list when he had a stroke on Wednesday morning. He passed late late Wednesay night.
I am not sure how this works, I have lost a parent and I am not sure what I am supposed to do. I have endured a lot in my mere 31 years and I just ask to be treated as one would want to be treated. I live by that and teach my children that and I have a hard time not expecting that from others. So I move on the only way that I know how. By putting one foot in front of the other and to keep moving.

Chicago

So when we got home from North Carolina, Macy and I were off with Grandma Gail to Chicago for 3 days and 2 nights. We went with Christee and Hannah too. We had breakfast at American Girl and then the girls got to spend their Birthday money! Who doesn't just love that?!?! We went on a double decker bus tour, took pictures at the silver jelly bean at Millinium Park, rode the rides at Navy Pier. We saw a really cool show, Cirque Shanghai. Macy thought that some of the performers had to be 'wierdos' to do those tricks!!! We also had good Chicago style pizza, ate the most fabulous steak at Rosebuds and had old family style Italian food at Buca. I still feel like all we did was eat! But we had lots of fun and I know that these are memories that Macy will never forget!!

switch flops

So if you know me, then you'll know that I normally only wear flip flops. Tennis shoes in the snow and flip flops every other day. I think that I have 50 pair! On vacation I found these FF called Switch Flops. OMG someone deserves a gold medal! They are the basic black or brown FF that have a velcro strap! Only if I were smart enough to have thought of this. You ask what the velcro strap is for? Interchangeable straps, all different colors, patterns, stripes, circles, anything that you want. SO you only need one pair of FF and how ever many pairs of different straps! So they come with a standard black with white polka dot strap with a pearl thingy on them and they are too cute. My Aunt was gracious enough to buy me a black pair!!!! I have already ordered more straps and am thinking about maybe making some!!!! You can even order the wedge FF or the Kitty FF.....the possiblilites are endless......They are nice FF too. They are not flimsy, they are thick and cushiony...
http://www.switchflops.com/

vacation

So here are some of our vacation pics to North Carolina.....We had so much fun and spent a lot of good quality family time together.....


Sophie

Emma

Macy


All my girls~

Geoff and I

Kaelyn

Uncle John, Sophie and Kaelyn

Cameron, Kaelyn, Sophie, Macy and Emma

After close to 7 years we have ventured off to vacation land. Four children, lots of luggage and a few maps and we actually made it to Beaufort, NC. We went to the beach everyday, hit the new Aquarium, found seashells at Fort Macon Beach, (almost lost our flip flops when they shot the cannon off there!), stuffed our bellies with good food and we had some good quality family time.

Emma.....again!

So I was sitting at the computer this morning...like always! And Emma started scratching my back. Well since Geoff doesn't know how to scratch a back and Macy refuses, I asked her to scratch some more. "I don't have enough power" she says. "Where is your plug so I can charge you up?" I said. Emma's face brightened up and she smiled, "Moooom, you are so funny!!!" And she tore off down the hall!

pending vacation

So we are leaving for vacation to the coast of North Carolina in just 3 days. I have not started packing. Pack for 4 kids, 2 adults for 7 days and then try and remember enough underwear for everyone. Let alone figure out where it will all fit in the car!! It totally stresses me out!! I have been doing so much to prepare for this trip. Saving money has been #1. I had a garage sale to have gas money! I will let you know the total we spent on gas after I have it figured out sometime in August.
The girls are driving me crazy. All I have heard for 3 weeks is:

"When is 3 weeks?"
"Can we leave in 2 days instead of 2 weeks?"
"Where is the beach?", "In North Carolina", I said. "NO mom WHERE is the beach?" "I will show you the map tomorrow, go to bed!"
"I want to go in a airplane!?!"
"Can I take my Nintendo DS?" "Oh yes" I said to this response, "Anything to keep you quiet on the road!"
"Can we leave today?"
"Will Cameron teach me how to boogie board?"
"We get the play the Wii??? YIPPPEEEE!!!!"
"But why can't we leave today, mom?"

So today is Sunday and we are leaving in the middle of the night on Tuesday so we can be at the Kentucky Derby Museum when they open on Wednesday and then we are off to High Point, North Carolina to eat dinner with Ms. Mary. Then its 4 more hours to Beaufort. We should get to Lise's house at 9 or 10 pm. I am so excited! Last time we were here I got a big fat diamond ring!!!! But I don't think that I will get another one anytime soon! I can't wait to see my Granny Griffin, Uncle John will be there too. And we are all going to fit under 1 roof! The 6 of us, Lise and Cameron, GG and Uncle John! Its going to be a fun 6 days....then we get home and that same night Macy has her last softball game and then at 6am the next morning her and I are off to Chicago with Grandma Gail, Christee and Hannah for 2 days! American Girl, here we come!
I am going to get all of my summer traveling done at once! Whew!

gymnastics

So the twins are taking gymnastics this summer. They just love it! They are running and tumbling all around the house! Which of course is not allowed! But no one ever listens to me, I am just the mom.
Emma says her favorite part is the squishy blocks and the ribbons. Kaelyn loves the squishy blocks and balance beam. They are learning how to do kart-wheels, but have not mastered one yet. They walk on the balance beam, swing on the uneven bars, and love jumping on the bouncy floor! I wish the picture was better, but my camera was jacked up because the lighthing is so bad in there.......

Emma Belle

So my cute little Emma was fighting with Kaelyn again, who knows what about this time. They fight all the time lately, it was probably about the sky color. So I told Emma that she needed to apologize to Kae and hug and kiss her. And I told Kae to do the same to Emma. So Emma says that she needs to tell me a secret first. I bent down to her little ear and she tells me, "I don't have that word." I was a little puzzled at first....then I asked her, "if she needed to pick it up from the store?" She says, "No, I get my words in my brain, but I don't have that one." I was trying everything in my power to not lose it and start laughing. Kaelyn was just standing there looking at us wanting to get her hug and kiss over with so she could go play. I told Emma that I could spell the word, then she would have it in her brain so she could A-P-O-L-O-G-I-Z-E to her sister and go play. I think that she knew that I was on to the fact that she didn't want to apologize and she was 'rebelling' against my harsh harsh punishment. She finally gave up and looked at Kae and said, "sorry..." very quietly and hugged and kissed her sister and they went about their day. Aren't kids funny?

Softball

I love this picture of Macy at bat. She has had so much fun playing ball this year. We have had great coaches and the kids really all are a Team. Macy's plays first base and the Team name is The Glitter Girls. Of course Macy is not crazy about the name and pink shirts. At the beginning of the season she asked, "Mom! Who do I have to talk to so we can get this changed??!?!" She has gotten over it and had a great season! She wants to go to college on a Softball Scholarship, so I tell her to keep practicing!!!

America's Birthday!!!! Its one of my favorite Holidays! The weather was abnormal for St Louis July weather....it was 85 degrees!!! So we took advantage of it went to Riverfest St Charles at Frontier Park. The girls got to ride some fair rides and we got some kettle korn.....my fav.....Macy won a big dolphin for throwing a 30 mph pitch at a game booth!! We went home and took a nap and then went over to Uncle Tommy and Aunt Stacy's for the BBQ. We ate, the kids swam and played and then we watched Uncle Tommy's Firework Show. Everyone was alseep before we got out of the sub-division...it was a long fun day!!

I often wonder how I ended up where I am today...
I have endured a crazy life of loneliness, happiness, love, confusion, abuse, abandonment, etc. I have struggled with how I have been fortunate in this life to be finally surrounded with friends and family that love me for who I am and not for who they wanted me to be. I always thought that life had dealt me a bad hand of cards, but now I see that God was just teaching me how to become the person that I am today. I have been blessed with a husband that loves me unconditionally and 4 beautiful children that challenge me everyday, but they also bring more joy, happiness and love then I could have ever imagined for myself! I think that the choices that I have made in my life have made me that strong woman that I always wanted to be and looked up to. I think that my job in life is now to instill those ideals in my girls so that they will also grow up to be challenged in life and beautiful , strong women from the inside out.

Morgan Park Pool

Monday we went to the Pool!! It was our first time and I think that we will be back often! Mom and Dad brought Joey, Ben and Sarah and with my girls we had a pack of kids! Macy's friend Isabelle was with us too! The kids had fun. Pop took the boys into the big pool, Macy and Isabelle were not seen except the casual wave from the top of the waterslide and the little ones loved the rising water sprinklers and the kiddie pool, and so did I!! After the pool we ran around and then Sarah spent the night with us!!! It has been a busy busy busy week! And the Summer is just getting started!!!!

So I started this blog and then have not done anything with it. Well I am back. Here's what has been going on.....
Most recently we celebrated Macy's 9th Birthday on June 29th ! I can't believe that my baby is 9. We started out small and somehow turned into a full blown party. I created a Scavenger Hunt. I hid 10 clues throughout the house that ultimately led Macy and the Kids to her present from Geoff and I. A CD player for her room, which I am going to have to figure out how to adjust the volume so I never hear it upstairs!


The Kids were like a swarm of bees buzzing in a pack in the back yard, front yard and throughout the house! We did the presents once she found the chest full of gold, and then we did the cake and I forgot the ice cream. I now have a huge thing of vanilla ice cream n the freezer. Anyone is welcome to come over and have sundae's with us. Just give me a 30 minute holla so I can make sure that I have enough clean bowls! Then the Kids played on the trampoline until they were all picked up one by one........
Then we had Macy's favorite BBQ Pork Steaks and 'sweet' beans. They are really just Bush's Baked Beans, but she calls them 'Sweet Beans'. We also had macaroni salad and corn. She said it was the best Birthday Party ever, so I think that I did alright!



On Friday June 27th we attended our first River City Rascals Baseball game. They are a Frontier League, and whoa it was fun. They are sooooooo fan oriented and the stadium is so small that you are practically seated on the field! The Rascals lost but as you can see, we still had a blast!