Somewhat Successful Weekend

Well, I can now see the countertop, the dresser, the top of the dryer and the floor of the laundry room again. So it was a somewhat successful weekend! You would not believe the horrible mess of piles that had covered all 4 of these places. Whew! I feel a little better now, like maybe there really is a ray of hope. Hopefully I can continue to clear and organize before the other inhabitants of my home (and myself) mess things up again. LOL

(Oh, and I don't think I mentioned that school is out! Brendan's last day was last Wednesday! This week he has Scout day camp. So far he seems to like it.)

Travel Bug

I'm so excited. Yesterday I booked our vacation stay for next March during Brendan's spring break. We are going to Destin, Florida! I've heard so many great things about Destin from people who have been there, and we have points we need to use up before April or we lose them, and resorts in Destin were on our list of places we could go. So, we're doing it. I've been to Florida quite a few times on my own, and as a kid, but I don't think Joe has ever been, and I know we have never been as a family. Actually, the only "beach" we've been to with either of the boys was in Michigan when Brendan was 3 (almost 4) and I was very pregnant w/ Adam. Now, those who know me or have been reading my blog for awhile know that I am a mountain-loving gal and would normally choose mountains over beaches every time, but seeing as it will be MARCH, I think the mountain areas would be a wee-bit too chilly. lol (and you also know that getting Joe to agree to a vacation and not complain about it is a rarity, so this is extra-super-exciting! heehee).

Our Wisconsin vacation is also coming up in about 4 weeks, and I'm totally excited about that one too! Our resort there has indoor and outdoor waterparks, arcade, and all sorts of fun family activities (not to mention all of the fun stuff outside of the resort). I think the boys will have a blast there as well.

Lots of fun stuff coming up to look forward to! I love to travel and go on vacation, and these last several years we have not really been going on "real" vacations (just little weekend trips here and there locally). So I am super excited that we will actually be taking a vacation this summer and next spring! Woohoo!

This weekend, Memorial Day weekend, however, we are not traveling. We try to avoid crowded times like this and Labor Day weekend when the rest of the world is out and about too. This weekend I hope to get some organizing and decluttering done around the house instead.

Whatever you are doing, have fun and be safe!

Our Fun Weekend Trip

We're back from our weekend trip. We had a fun time, and the weather was beautiful! The hotel turned out to be a nice one. (since it was a free weekend stay we had a voucher for, we weren't sure what the hotel would be like) We arrived at about 9pm, so since they still had more rooms available they upgraded us to the "family suite", so we had 2 bedrooms each w/ King bed, 2 bathrooms, microwave, fridge, and small jacuzzi tub. The boys (especially Adam) looked so little and lost in their King bed...

Saturday morning we enjoyed the free hot buffet breakfast on the 9th floor of the hotel, where the boys liked to look out the window since we were pretty high up. After breakfast we took advantage of the hotel game room and pool.

Then we went by a nearby fish hatchery. They had indoor aquarium with the big fish, and then outside they had the concrete raceways with tons of trout in various growth stages. The boys got to feed the fish outside.

The amusement park was fun, the boys had fun on the rides.

Brendan took this picture of Joe and me. He almost cut our heads off, but otherwise a pretty good picture for a 7 year old!

Right before closing time, they do a fireworks/laser light show. Very neat!

Sunday we drove home. Along the way we stopped very briefly by a conservation area. There, Joe found a fence lizard, and put it on his hat. The boys thought it was funny to take turns wearing daddy's hat with the lizard on it.


All in all it was a nice, fun family weekend trip.

Unfortunately there was a sad ending to the weekend when we returned home. As we approached our house, we saw that "Ollie" (the stray cat that showed up a year or so ago & we've been taking care of like a pet) had been hit by a car and killed on our road. So, we burried him by where we burried Pippin. The boys picked a couple flowers to put on his grave.

"Mini Vacation" This Weekend

Well the boys have been counting down the days and very excited about our weekend "mini vacation" that we leave for tomorrow. We received a voucher for a free weekend stay last summer, and we are using it this weekend. Tonight Brendan has a Cub Scout meeting, then we will drive down (about a 3-1/2 hour drive I think?) after work Friday. We're planning to take the boys to the amusement park that Joe and I went to without the boys last October on our 10-year anniversary trip. Every night at closing time they do a fireworks & laser light show. We thought the boys would enjoy that so we're taking them there. (and I was able to purchase discounted tickets through my work too). The boys are super excited. They have only stayed in a hotel room one other time, and they had so much fun (but getting them to sleep was not easy!). They thought it was so cool that there were channels on tv in the hotel room that had cartoons all day long! We don't have cable or dish or anything at home, so this was new to them.

As always, I'm looking forward to getting away for a couple days. I just love to go places, even when it is mostly kid-oriented.

And just out of pure curiosity after seeing this on Karen's blog, I decided to take the quiz too since I don't think of myself as political at all. I really don't even know what I would be considered or where I stand on some political issues. So, I was curious to see what my results would be, and here they are...

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 55% Conservative, 45% Liberal Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Lime Beer and Pork Pops?

So I was just looking through our latest issue of Maxim that came in the mail today. I saw an ad for the new Bud Light Lime beer. Now I love beer, and I do like key lime pie, but I don't think I would ever mix the two. Eww. Then a few pages later I see where they are talking about bacon pops. Bacon and maple flavored lollipops...maple flavored with bits of bacon floating in it. Again I say Eww. Really? Pork pops? Now maybe lime beer and pork pops are both delicious, (and maybe if you eat your bacon pop with a lime beer chaser it is even better?) but neither sound appetizing enough to me to make me buy them and try them. But if anyone has one, I could probably be talked into trying a lick and a sip to find out. I'll let you know if I ever find out. Maybe it's a guy thing? Is that why I don't understand? lol

The absinthe lollipops, however, sound very interesting! :)

Call from the principal

Just got a call from the school Principal.

Apparently Brendan got called to the Pricipal's office today for an art project he turned in in art class. It was a snowman (cut-out I guess?) that he had drawn...ummm...anatomically correct. She said it even had flaps to lift up to see the "parts" in the front AND the back, and things were labeled! Oh my. If it was something appropriate it would be good...afterall he used his creativity with the flaps and even labeled things using words he spelled out himself. lol Unfortunately it was definitely not appropriate and the art teacher and principal did not appreciate it! So they talked to him about it not being appropriate for school, and he got 2 days of lunch detention.

Thank goodness he only has 6-1/2 more days of school, there's no telling what he'll come up with next. lol *sigh*

My Mother's Day weekend (& Survivor spoiler)

Monday again already, huh? The weekend was pretty good. Friday night Joe brought home crab legs and champagne for my mother's day meal. It was yummy. That night I made these candy bar wrappers for all the moms I was going to see the next day (the picture just shows a few of them, there were more. I was trying to balance these to take the picture in the moving car so it's not a great pic! lol)

Saturday we drove to meet up with my mom, her bf, my sister & her boys, my grandma & step-grandpa, my aunt, and my cousin and her son at Ruby Tuesday. We had a nice lunch, although the table was so long that we couldn't really talk much or hear each other very well. After we were done eating we took a pic of all the moms and kids out side the restaurant...

From L to R: Me, my sis, my mom, my grandma, my aunt, my cousin.

Kids: my two nephews, my two sons, and my cousin's son

After that we stopped by my dad's house to see him, his wife, and my other grandma (Granny). We enjoyed a nice visit with them.

From there we went to meet Joe's family for dinner at Outback.

(Joe's parents)

On Mother's Day Sunday I wanted Joe and the boys to help me clean and organize some things in the house. About noon I was starting to feel like nothing was getting accomplished, the boys were laying on the couch watching cartoons, Joe was drinking a soda and reading a magazine and I was having to clean and do laundry. I could see that if this continued I was going to start getting upset and angry so I decided I better just leave before that happened. So, seeing as I am in desperate need of clothes (remember, I hate to shop, so usually I have to be in dire need of something before I go shop for it), I decided this was my only good opportunity to go look for some shirts, and the dreaded bathing suit shopping for our upcoming vacation. I did find a couple shirts, and even a dress, skirt, and I did find a swimsuit too. It's a tankini, since I'm not brave enough to get in an actual bikini and since it has to be one I can wear on the waterslides (Been there done that with the bikini at waterparks before- those bikini tops do not like to stay on when you hit the pool at the bottom of a waterslide! lol) So, no bikini, and I thought all the one-piece suits were ugly. So, a tankini it was. I ended up buying THIS top with THIS bottom.

When I got back I was pleased to see that Joe had done some cleaning out in his closet and a little picking up and switched the laundry over :) Then he cooked dinner and put the boys to bed for me. Then we watched the 3-hour Survivor Finale and Reunion show. (Anyone else surprised that Parvarti won instead of Amanda?! I really wanted Amanada to win)

So all in all it turned out to be a pretty good Mother's Day weekend.

Hope everyone else had a great one!

Happy Mother's Day weekend!

To all the moms and grandmas out there...

Enjoy it.

You deserve it.

What's For Dinner and a Visitor

Joe came home from work last night with these...

And proceeded to turn it into dinner....

The boys were excited about all the crawdads, but I think they wanted to play with them more than anything. But Brendan did eat quite a few, Adam had one and that was it, I ate 2 and then made myself and Adam turkey sandwiches.

We also had a visitor to the cat food dish last night. He has been coming around for awhile now, I think he thinks he is a pet. Mario (one of our cats) was even eating out of the cat food dish with him a week or so ago!

Swearing Like a Sailor

The other day I had picked up Adam from daycare and we were on our way home, trying to get home in time for Brendan's bus. (keep in mind this is my 3 year old talking!)

Me: "We're a little late, I think Brendan is going to beat us home"
Adam: "Oh Dammit!"
Me: "Adam, don't say that word."
Adam: "What? Dammit isn't a bad word."
Me: "Yes, it is a bad word and I don't want to hear you say that."
Adam: "Well, I didn't say stupid or hell."


LOL! Too bad his listening skills are not as advanced as his swearing skills. *sigh*

Awards, Bonfire, Tires and more

Just sharing a little brag on Brendan...Friday night he had a Pack meeting, and he received three belt loop awards...the Physical Fitness one, the Spanish one and the Citizenship one. (I can't remember the "official" names of them). We think he has earned the Basketball one and Swimming one as well, but he hasn't received those yet. He was pretty proud :)

On Saturday I took Brendan to a Magic for Kids class. He learned several new tricks, not sure if he will remember them all though. After that we went to a neighborhood garage sale for a few minutes. It is a large neighborhood that has an annual garage sale, and it was crazy. Cars lining both sides of every street, people walking all over the place, and they even had port-a-potties and had tents of people selling BBQ and other food. It was like a festival! I had Brendan with me, and his legs didn't hold out all that long, so we only hit about 3 streets. We did find some great deals though:

Winter coat for Brendan= 50 cents

2 shirts for Brendan= 25 cents each

3 Dragonball Z videos= 25 cents each

1 Goosebumps movie= 50 cents

2 large transformer type toys= 25 cents each

1 Captain Underpants book= 25 cents

1 kid book about the Earth= 25 cents

So all that for $3.25 total! Gotta love garage sale prices!

That night we headed to one of Joe's co-workers house for a bonfire. Everyone was supposed to wear a crazy hat (not sure why). Joe and I wore sombreros and the boys wore fish hats. It was fun. I completely forgot to take pictures though.

Sunday I took my SUV in to have the tires balanced (again), since they've been wobbly. Turns out they didn't need balanced- the belt had broken and the spokes were poking out. And they said the tread was very bad too. So, Joe took it back in this morning and had 4 new tires put on.

This week is Teacher Appreciation week, so I spent some time over the weekend getting stuff ready for that too. I cannot believe Brendan only has 2-1/2 weeks of school left! After today, there's only 12-1/2 school days left! (the last day of school is a half-day). Wow.