Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend and holiday!

Thursday Thirteen

With the holiday coming up on Tuesday, I thought I'd do my Thursday Thirteen on links to some 4th of July activities, crafts, recipes, history, etc, etc that might be of interest to others. Or not. lol

1. Statue of Liberty Live Cam

2. Kodak’s Guide to Photographing Fireworks

3. How to cut a 5-point star in one snip

4. USA & 4th of July Activities from DLTK’s Crafts for Kids

5. Star Spangled Fun from Family Fun

6. Fun Ways to Celebrate & Crafts from Kid’s Domain

7. Activities and Crafts for 4th of July from Enchanted Learning

8. America the Beautiful lyrics, 1913 version

9. The Uncle Sam Image Gallery

10. Capitol Cam, Washington, D.C.

11. Create your own virtual fireworks display HERE and HERE

12. U.S. Flag Throughout the Years

13. Fireworks Safety Information

If you are participating in Thursday Thirteen, please add yourself to the auto-linky below. Comments are always appreciated too! Thanks to Uisce for the linky and Emily for the TT banner at the top.



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Trying to do TT!

I'm trying to post my Thursday Thirteen, but Blogger won't let me upload the banner, ugh! I'll keep trying...

Blah

That's how I feel today...just blah. I figure I'm already too late to post a "Wordless Wednesday", sorry for anyone that might have come looking for it.

I'm so discouraged with myself. I have so much that needs to be done, things I keep intending on doing but somehow don't ever get done. Things I plan on working on to improve myself, my house, my office, my parenting, etc, etc. How do these things always get pushed to the back burner, and for what? For the mundane every day things in life, the rushing around, the stress. I cannot seem to figure out how to make time for the important things in life...the less important daily grind somehow always wins out. Why is this? Why do I allow this? Every day I think I will do better, and next thing I know, the work day is over, the evening is gone, it's time for bed, and I'm exhausted. I fall into bed, only to re-live the same day over again the next day. I have always been a huge believer that your work should not be your life, and making time for your family and yourself and doing what you love are some of the important things in life that should be given the most attention. I still believe that, but it's the practicing what I preach type thing that is giving me trouble now. I have the best of intentions, but the days just slip away before I can put my plans into action. Days...months...years, and here I still sit with "the best of intentions".

Maybe tomorrow will be the day I figure it all out...

Back from the weekend

I'm back from the weekend trip. We had a good time, and it was so nice to sleep past 6am! I got 22 pages done (12x12), plus put together a little 7x7 album (everything done on that except the pictures). We all enjoyed our time together. Adam came down with pink eye, so Joe is staying home with him today, and I am back at work.

Tonight I am taking Brendan to a Kickball class. It is just a one-time little workshop thing to introduce preschoolers to the sport. I hope he has fun.

I can't believe we only have 3 days of June left! It seems impossible that it could be almost July already! I don't like the way the holiday falls this year...since the 4th of July is on a Tuesday, we get Tuesday off, but not Monday! We're going to a BBQ at my mom's house on Sunday, and the boys will play on her slip 'n slide again. Then as it gets dark, my mom's boyfriend shoots off some fireworks for the boys (and us) to see. But, I have to work the next morning, so we'll have to rush home after that.

Well, I am swamped at work trying to catch up, so I better get off of here!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things I'm looking forward to on my cabin trip this weekend

Every year, my mom, my sister, and I go on a weekend scrapbooking cabin trip together. We started this 3 years ago as our "gift" to each other instead of buying birthday presents for each other. It is fun, and a nice way to make sure we spend time together. We all enjoy this tradition! We leave tomorrow at noon, so I thought I'd do my TT on what I'm looking forward to about it...

1. Leaving work early on Friday, and being off work until Tuesday!

2. Driving there with my sister, and talking/listening to music in the car on the way.

3. Eating yummy food, snacks, and drinks.

4. Doing what I want, when I want, without having to be anywhere else at a certain time.

5. Kid-free time that I don't have to tend to their every little need. I love them, but everyone needs a break now and then.

6. Being able to sleep past 6am!

7. Going to bed late if I want to without worrying how early the kids will wake me up.

8. Girl talk with my sister and my mom. We have been known to have some really crazy and even risque discussions when we get together. We get to laughing so hard we can't stop.

9. Working on scrapbook pages.

10. Walking by the little lake that is there.

11. Seeing what the new cabin looks like. Our reservation this year is for a cabin that didn't exist last year.

12. Not having to worry about cleaning the house, doing laundry, etc.

13. Spending quality time together, and making memories that we'll always remember.

If you are participating in Thursday Thirteen, please add yourself to the auto-linky below. Comments are always appreciated too! Thanks to Uisce for the linky and Emily for the TT banner at the top.



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Wordless Wednesday

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Vanilla Rock Cake?

Well, Brendan seems to be just fine about Pippin. Fine to the point that even when we were burrying him, Joe put some white ashes on him, dirt, rocks, etc and Brendan laughed and said, "Look at Pippin! He looks like a vanilla rock cake!" lol Not sure where he got that, funny how kids can turn anything around to be something funny in their minds. I'd rather that then him be broken up about it though. So, all in all I'd say the boys are going to be just fine.

On a lighter note, we had a babysitter watch the boys last night and I took Joe to see the X-Men movie as part of his father's day celebration. He's been wanting to see that. I'm not really much of a fan of that type of movie, but I must say it was better than I expected (although I didn't expect much. LOL). Joe thought it was okay, but he was a little disappointed in it. He thought they changed too much about it. Then we went out for hot wings and beer before heading home.

I'm sure looking forward to this weekend! It is our annual scrapbooking at the cabin weekend that my mom, sister, and I do every year together. It'll be nice to spend some time with them, and to have some kid-free time as well (and maybe even sleep past 6am- haven't been able to do that in a long time!) Now I need to figure out how the heck I'm going to get all my scrapbooking stuff organized and packed up by Thursday night! Yikes! I'm running out of time fast, considering I only have about a half hour of time the next 3 nights that I can do that in. And once I leave for work Friday morning, I'll be leaving straight from there! I'm excited, but I also have lots that needs to be done both at home and work before then. Speaking of which, I better get back to work!

Goodbye Sweet Pippin

Sadly, our cat "Pippin" died this weekend. He was sleeping behind Joe's tire, and Joe didn't see him. He accidentally backed over him. Pippin ran out a few steps, laid down in the grass, and died almost instantly. The boys were in the car with Joe, so they saw the whole thing. I don't think Adam has a clue what happened, but Brendan does. He is taking it very well though. I'm glad I wasn't home when it happened. But, I can't help but wonder if something was wrong with Pippin already though, because I can't figure out why he didn't move when he heard Joe start the car, he has always moved out of the way of cars before. We have gone from having 2 cats to none in the last year. (Our other cat went into the woods for a long time, showed up one day briefly with dried blood in her nose, and then disappeared and has never come back, so we assume she is dead too.) But Pippin was our favorite. He was the first pet Joe and I had together, and our first "child" before we had our non-furry kids. We will miss him.


We burried him at the edge of our woods yesterday. Joe made a wooden cross and etched Pippin's name in it, and we hung his collar over it.

Goodbye sweet Pippin.

Happy Father's Day weekend!

To all the dads out there, may you have a wonderful Father's Day weekend!

"Daddy's Hands"
by Holly Dunn

I remember daddy's hands folded silently in prayer
And reachin' out to hold me, when I had a nightmare
You could read quite a story in the callous' and lines
Years of work and worry had left their mark behind

I remember daddy's hands how they held my mama tight
And patted my back for something done right
There are things that I'd forgotten that I loved about the man
But I'll always remember the love in daddy's hands

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin'
Daddy's hands were hard as steel when I'd done wrong
Daddy's hands weren't always gentle but I've come to understand
There was always love in daddy's hands.

I remember daddy's hands workin' 'til they bled
Sacrificed unselfishly just to keep us all fed
If I could do things over, I'd live my life again
And never take for granted the love in daddy's hands.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Walk a Little Slower Daddy

"Walk a little slower, Daddy"
Says your little child so small.
"I’m following in your footsteps,
And I’m trying not to fall."

Sometimes your steps are very fast,
Sometimes they’re hard to see
So walk a little slower, Daddy
For you are leading me.

Someday when I’m all grown up,
It’s like you I hope to be
Then I will have a little child
Who’ll want to follow me.

And I will want to lead just right,
And know that I am true,
So, walk a little slower, Daddy
For I must follow you.
-author unknown

Father's Day graphic from:

New Blog Look!

It's here, it's here! I'm so excited about my new blog look! What do you think? Kelly from Nello Design did great, didn't she? Woohoo! Okay, unfortunately I'm still swamped, so can't blog right now. Be back soon!

Going crazy...back soon

I will be away from my blog today, and possibly Thursday too...things are hectic at work already and having been gone Monday & Tuesday with the boys having chicken pox, well, now I have catch-up to do in addition to the already packed-full week at work. But even more exciting...Kelly from Nello Design will be installing my new blog look. So, I will be back on when I can!

Seeing Spots and the Wedding

Well, on Friday afternoon I got a call from Brendan's preschool saying he has chicken pox! Ugh! Not what I needed to hear after Thursday night's happenings (see post below) and the day before I'm supposed to drive in for the wedding. Luckily it was a mild case...he only ended up with 8 pox total, and by Saturday they were already scabbed over, so he had them for a few days already before we even knew it! I saw them on his back, but I thought they were mosquito bites...chicken pox didn't even cross my mind! He has had the chicken pox shot, but it didn't keep him from getting them, just kept it more mild I guess.

We made it through the wedding Saturday. Since Brendan was scabbed, we went ahead to the wedding anyway. I brought a small toddler-size backpack with coloring books, a few books and quiet toys, and baggies of animal crackers to entertain the boys. It worked for most of it, although there was a period of about 10 minutes that I had to take Adam out because he was wanting to run down the side aisle and when I grabbed him he started fussing. But after that, he was pretty good. He ate 2 of the 3 baggies of crackers, which kept him quieter.

After the ceremony, my dad and his wife took the boys home with them, so we were kid-free for the rest of the afternoon & evening. That was nice! The wedding party and their spouses got on the bus that drove us around to various places to take pictures. (And of course there were coolers on the bus stocked with beer, so I did indeed get my cold beer after the wedding. lol). It was a fun time, and I took some pictures at a few of the locations as well. Will post a couple later when I get them developed. Then the bus drove us to the reception. That was also a lot of fun. I love wedding receptions, and we got to see a lot of our friends that we don't see as much anymore since we live about 2 hours away from there. It was great. (Well, great except for after the reception when I got sick and then passed out, and woke up with the white of one eye bloody-looking! But we won't talk about that part! LOL)

After all was done, we got back home around 9pm Sunday night. Adam now has the chicken pox too! So, I'm home today with both boys. Time to try to catch up on laundry, house cleaning, etc that got thrown to the side during all the wedding stuff.

Gotta "love" wedding crap

I apologize that I did not get around to very many Wordless Wednesdays this week, and didn't even do my Thursday 13! Between Blogger being down so much the last few days, and my own things, well, it just didn't happen this week.

Last night was the rehearsal dinner for Joe's brother's wedding. It was such a hassle. It was out of town, about 2 hours away, (on a work night) and due to construction traffic and then rush hour traffic, we were LATE! We had to take 2 cars because Joe stayed there to help set-up Friday, but I needed to work Friday. So, anyway, we had a series of things happen that just made the whole thing hectic...

* construction traffic...sat for 1/2 hour in traffic there
* further along the drive ran into rush hour traffic...went forever at about 5 mph.
* it was HOT, and since it was such slow stop-n-go I had to turn the AC off. Ugh!
* finally got there, and Joe was nowhere to be found. Couldn't figure this out since he was way ahead of me. I was worried
* he and Brendan finally arrived, turns out Brendan had to go pee, so they stopped, then had to get back into the terrible traffic. A few minutes later Brendan had to go poop! So they had to stop again. And Brendan is not a fast pooper, to say the least.
* I spent the whole rehearsal chasing the boys, trying to keep them happy while the wedding party practiced. Adam wanted nothing but to run outside the church. Did not want to be held or have his hand held, and if I dared to try either one he would scream. At least running is quiet.
* Finally go to the dinner...took FOREVER for the food to come out.
* Adam (19 mos) was fussy, Brendan (age 5) was hyper, we were quite the scene.
* After about an HOUR the food finally came out...mine was so burnt on the bottom I couldn't even eat it. Couldn't taste anything but the charred taste. Ick! So I ate 3 pieces of broccoli, my salad and 2 bites of the boys' chicken fingers instead.
* Drove the boys back home while Joe stayed overnight to help.
* Didn't get home until after midnight, and since the boys slept on the way home, they were refreshed and wanting to play...at 12:30am.
* Finally got them both to bed, ran dishwasher, and flopped in bed myself at 1:00am
* 3:00am Brendan woke me up wanting to get in bed with me because his room was dark (his nightlight burned out).
* Got up at 6am to get both boys and myself ready.
* Drove them in, was almost to Brendan's preschool (20 minutes away from my house) when I realized I had forgotten to drop Adam off at his babysitter's house! UGH I am losing my mind! lol So I dropped Brendan off, and had to drive WAY the heck back further than I came to take Adam in, then drive WAY the heck back to my office (which is less than 5 minutes from Brendan's preschool where we had been in the first place). Needless to say I was late to work.

Now I'm trying to come up with a plan of QUIET things to keep the boys entertained during the actual wedding tomorrow. It is a CATHOLIC wedding, so a LONG one. (No, I'm not Catholic, but Joe's family is). Joe will be up front, as he is the best man. I imagine I will end up having to take the boys outside because I can't imagine they will be quiet for very long. So I will probably miss the whole thing while I sweat my ass off (it's supposed to be in the 90's and humid!) chasing kids outside, in my dress. Someone better have a nice ice cold beer ready for me as soon as this thing is over! *sigh*

Wordless Wednesday

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(Thanks to Uisce for the linky!)

A new look...coming soon!

I'm so excited, my new blog look is almost ready! Kelly at Nello Design is working on mine right now :) So, watch for a fresh new look coming soon!

And...speaking of new looks, hopefully *I* will be looking better again soon too! I am on day 4 of the Power 90 in-home-boot-camp. 4 days down, 86 to go! lol I have had NO soda for all 4 of those days as well, and have been eating very healthy and drinking water, woohoo!

This weekend we'll be out of town at a family reunion, so I won't be around much. Hope everyone has a great one!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things I have to say at least 10 times a day!

1. No, no!

2. Go make your bed. Did you make your bed yet? Go do it.

3. Do you have your clothes on yet? Stop playing and get your clothes on now.

4. Hurry up, we're gonna be late

5. Stop throwing things in the house

6. Be careful with your brother, if it makes him cry that means you need to stop

7. Get your shoes off of the couch

8. Sit down and eat your food.

9. Do you need to get in trouble?

10. Be quiet while Mommy and Daddy are talking

11. Pick up your underwear/clothes and put them in the laundry

12. Get your finger out of your nose

13. Get your hand out of your pants

If you are participating in Thursday Thirteen, please add yourself to the auto-linky below. Comments are always appreciated too! Thanks to Uisce for the linky and Emily for the TT banner at the top.



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having blogger problems

I've been trying to post my Thursday Thirteen, but blogger isn't letting me upload anything. Ugh! I will try again in a little while I guess. Anyone else having these problems too?