...and we're BAAACK!

Well, we're HOME!
I tell ya. Taking a vacation, getting away from life & kids for a while is SO nice, but coming home to your OWN BED is even better!!!

The 6 of us took off out of here almost 2 weeks ago. We made our way to north Georgia to drop the kids off with grandparents. I got to hold & love on my newest nephew, Tyson. MAN, I love that boy! He is SUCH a good baby!! I almost forgot what it was like to change diapers! BUT, its a lot like riding a bike. It comes back to ya! Oh, and my brother Todd is a great daddy! It's kinda strange seeing him with a baby!

Since my grandmother moved in with my folks, and we hadn't been home in almost 3 years, it was really nice seeing the changes they had made to the house, and getting to spend time with my Grammie. She's a big crafter like me, and seeing her CRAFT ROOM that my dad built for her was AHHHMAZING! I was able to teach her how to use the Cricut, and my daughter Emily & Grammie had a BLAST playing with it!
Of course, there's never enough time to visit with family. I miss them already!

Last Saturday, the boss man & I made our long haul to Tampa for my cousin's wedding. They got married in Apollo Beach, and it was beautiful! It was fun seeing a lot of people I hadn't seen since we lived there when I was 4!

Then, one week ago today, the boss man & I went on our very first CRUISE! We left out of Port Canaveral, Florida. We went to Coco Cay, then Nassau, Bahamas.
We were on the Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas ship. It was a smaller boat, but perfect for first time cruisers! I did NOT get sea-sick, and we had a lot of fun!! Unfortunately, no one ever tells you about when the boat does indeed rock, or sway, it has a tendency to rock you to sleep like a baby... um. I fell into that category. I was SO sleepy every day! I wanted to just SLEEP!
The food was great, the staff was awesome & it. was. HOT. No, not just hot. SWELTERING. We called ourselves the crispiest white people on the boat.
Here are some pics from the cruise...

Our ship! Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas

Boss Man.... don't jump babe!



Boss Man looking out at the Norwegian Jewel...another cruise that seemed to 'follow' us!



The waters were VERY calm, and honestly, couldn't have asked for better weather!
First stop was Coco Cay.
Oh my dear sweet Coco Cay. I miss thee. Crystal blue waters!! The beaches were so white & beautiful, it was the stuff out of dreams! Had there been a breeze of ANY kind, I would have told the boat to go on without me...
Boss man & I did some snorkeling in Coco Cay. That was an amazing experience! We saw lots of all too friendly fishies... (when I say too friendly, I mean it. Lets just say I had a near-panic attack!) we saw a flounder, bright blue fishies, and got to snorkel to props from the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' ships. THAT was a lot of fun!! There was a live band, and the weather held out long enough for us to get BURNED to a crisp, and head back to the boat.
And by burned, I mean so burnt that I had chills at the formal dinner that night, and felt like I had some sun poisioning. ugh. fair skin & red hair.... BAD combo.
anyway, here are some pics we took in Coco Cay....

there's our ship! sitting pretty in between two swaying palm trees!


  

 We also got some awesome pics & video of our snorkeling adventure!



this one cracks me up! I told you the fish get all up in your comfort zone! These were going after the Boss Man's bum...

NOW... let me talk about Nassau.
I remember 'way back when', and its seemed like everyone was going to Nassau...
It's not what it's cracked up to be.
I think maybe Nassau is past its prime. Maybe 'back when' it was a nice place to visit, but now, its just not worth it.
When we arrived, we rented a scooter for the day. It wasnt overly expensive, and it was a lot of fun!
A lot of the locals said we needed to see certain sights, areas, etc... OK. We mapped out our attack plan, and off we went.
We wanted to see some of the old forts they had, and see some old historic pirate stuff... WELL... For a place that 'raves' about their historic sights, and is 'sooo proud' of their land, lemme just say that it felt like a 3rd world country.
Their beaches were trashy! Full of debris, old trash, used um....condoms (EVERYWHERE!), old clothes in the water... the list goes on & on.
Now, before anyone gets mad, and puts me in my place, let me say this.
We've been to Hawaii where the people there basically survive off tourists. That's how they make their money. The Hawaiian people love their land. They praise their Gods, and adore their tourists. They are proud of who they are, love you like family, and its very apparent on the island. Even the 'bad' parts of Hawaii are still lovely!
Nassau? Notsomuch.
Most of the people act as if tourists are a burden. They will literally STOP you in the middle of the road, and pester you to buy something. It was almost scary.
The 'bad' parts of town had NO running water. There was maybe 1-2 pumps on each street for people to come pump their own water for drinking, bathing, cooking, etc. It was really sad.
The children? Oh, please dont get me started. Those poor babies. Looked like they hadn't eaten in a while. Looked like they hadn't bathed in a while. My heart was in pieces.
But what can you do? We just did what we had to do to get out of those areas, and go about our day. It really was hard to enjoy ourselves knowing these children lived like they did.
Dear Lord, keep Your hand over them!

Though we remember more of the sad parts of Nassau, we did manage to get some nice pics...



Love Beach.... clothing optional.... heh.



I took this video as we were 'scootering' across Nassau... Its a bit wobbly...

Well, blogger is giving me fits. I must've broken it with all these pics & mini videos...

Hope you enjoyed this mini-vacation! I'm hoping to do up some challenges this week, and post up some projects!
Have a great night!

much love!

yikes! been a minute!

Yea. So, life got in the way of posting something!
Let's see... where do I begin?

After my last post about my parents anniversary, the Boss Man & I celebrated our own anniversary. Our 10th!
June 30, 2001 we were wed in a small church in Ga. We had about 70 guests, and his younger brother passed out in the middle of the ceremony. yep, just like you've seen on funniest videos... yes, it happened to us. OH, and the cake crammed into the face? YES, that was us, too. 

In 10 years, we've come a LONG way. For a while there, things were REAL tough, and we both thought that it may not work. But you know what? It wasn't OUR decision to begin with. The Lord above knew what He was doing... and look! We made it to ten years! 
wow! 
How about these pictures of us back then... such BABIES!!

 Since we were already heading to Tampa for my cousin's wedding, we decided to make a vacation/anniversary getaway for us! We'll be hopping on a cruise ship bound for CocoCay & Nassau..!! wooo weeeee!!! We're stoked!

hmm... what else has gone on...

OH! We have a brand new NIECE!!! Lil Miss 'firecracker' was born on July 3rd. She was 5 weeks early. As of today, the NICU nurses have increased her feedings, and has started putting on more weight. She was 5lbs, 1oz at birth, but needs to gain more before they can get her outta hock.

We have COMPLETELY been in the preemie part of life ourselves. We had 2 early birds born 5 weeks early as well. Only, they were 6 lbs, 2oz, and 6lbs 11oz at birth. They were only in the NICU 9 days, but it was the WORST 9 days of our lives.

So, come on, lil miss! You can get out of there!!! Bulk up, sis! You have LOTS of lovies, cuddles & smooches to come home to!!

Oh yea, the oldest made the All-Stars team!

So, we did the practice thing, got the uniform, traveled out of town, paid our dues, and what happened?

My son was treated BADLY, got to play the absolute MINIMUM times by Dixie Youth rules, and we got beat badly in 2 games, and lost out.

What did we learn from this?

1. The same coach the my son had LAST season was the head coach. Same coach that singled out 3 kids on the team, neglected to ever call us on changes, therefore my son never played.

2. This coach was a complete JOKE.

3. My son was obviously good enough for ALL-STARS, yet this 'coach' never gave him a chance.

4. Coach used profanity on the field, in front of the boys, and AT the boys on the team.

5. I know where some of the boys on the team got the idea to make fun of & CUSS at my child... hence, see #4.

Soooo, needless to say, Parks & Rec out here will hear from me ONCE again about this sorry excuse for a coach.  THEN, I will go above them, and report, file complaints, etc to whomever I have to above parks & rec... AND, Dixie Youth WILL be notified about his poor behavior, documentation of EVERYTHING, oh, and video of his nastiness on the field.

OOOH YES. They will not like me too much.

That's OK tho. I am SO done with this guy. I was sick to my stomach about this guys attitude, and his schmucky'ness toward MY son. (yea, that's the technical term)

Anyway, here are the pics of my oldest boy getting ready for the first game last Friday...

Also, our last game was last Saturday. The final score was 20-3. Ya, we got stomped. BUT, that 3rd run... MY BOY BROUGHT IT IN!!!! Here is the video of him bringing it in, and notice not a SINGLE coach patted him on the back for it, NONE of them said a single 'way to go' or ANYTHING positive to him. NOTHING was said.
Bad coaching. NOT a way to boost up morale!!!

ON TO SOMETHING I FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT .......

My open letter to Casey Anthony

Dear Casey,

You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You may have the abilty to lie to an entire court room & get them to find you not guilty, but you CANNOT get YOUR MAKER to find you not guilty. You will have your time with Him, and I have a good feeling He'll be sending you to the 'smoking section' for all of your eternity.

You killed your baby girl. You gave her life, and you took it away. You are heartless, cruel, and a murderer. You are a disgusting excuse for a human being. SO many childless families would have given their entire life savings for your baby, had you given her up admitting you just didn't want to be a mother anymore. NO ONE would have judged you, had you just done the right thing.

It's all done now.

Caylee is in a much better place now. She is trotting with angels, and Jesus is holding her close. Jesus gets to hold your baby forever & ever. He gets to see her sweet smile, hear her sweet little songs, and He gets to hear her giggles!

That is the only thing that eases my mind in this. One day, when I die, I too, will get to see her sweet smiles, too. YOU, my dear, will not.

I am going to pray for Caylee tonight, but I'm also going to pray for you. I'm going to pray that you search your heart & ask the Lord for forgiveness.

I pray you beg for it.

Well, that's it.
I've made some comments, gave my opinion, fussed & updated. I'm done for the night.

i think.

I hope to have more to update in the next few days... until then!

much love!

Sunday was *not* a day of rest for me.

I'm just worn out. Like seriously worn out.
Another day, another room cleaned OUT. The dining room was on the agenda for today, and the dining room is happy! I cleaned out the cedar cabinet we kept blankets & jackets in, cleaned out the china cabinet, and the buffet cabinet. 3 bags of trash went out of there, 2 bags of donation & 2 boxes of donation went out as well.
I am so incredibly exhausted, but let me tell ya, it feels AWESOME to get it OUT of my house!!! The less clutter & junk I have to look at, the WAY better! I found myself cleaning up, and moving one pile of mess to another side of the room, and that's not cleaning. That's just moving the mess. ugh. 
I keep waiting for someone to stop & ask if we're moving. heh. 
If we didn't have to have get a freaking PERMIT to have a yard sale, I would totally have one. SOOO, someone will get a huge donation to their store, and I have less stress!!!
eeee!

Anyway, its about dinner time, and apparently, you have to feed kids daily. Who knew? Didn't I just feed them yesterday!? 

Oh, and today is my parents 41st wedding anniversary! WOW! In today's world, that's almost unheard of! Happy Anniversary, mom & dad! I love you both so much! 

whew! What a DAY!

It has truly been one of 'those' days all week long!
*sigh*
The kids have been unruly, and they're about to have their own listing up on Ebay... (ok, not really, but ANY mother can understand that!)

We've had some doozies of storms come through here the last few days. God knows we NEEDED the rain, but coulda' done without the scary wind, light show & booming thunder! Today, we had TWO major storms come through. Everything is fine, but MAN! I am DONE with storms!

Today, I finally had E-nough of clutter taking over. I realize that we have a big family with 4 kids, but I am SOOO tired of using that as an excuse anymore! So, I decided that it was time. to. change.
I decided that it was time for simple living. The less, the better! It's going to take me a while, but I know it's gonna be SOO worth it!
We have a BIG, OLD house. Big as in 3200 sqft, 5 bedrooms, 10 rooms total. Old, as in it was built in 1856, by a Civil war gunsmith. LOADS of history attached to our place!
BUT, I thought to myself 'self, Boss Man could come down on some orders to move like ANY DAY! We've been stationed here over 4 years... uh, we're not taking all this CRAP with us when we move... AGAIN...' ... and self agreed. So, with the size of our house, I've decided that I can tackle one room a day, weed out, purge, toss & give away at least HALF of what's in a room. EASY. And, that will make things feel less cluttered, less messy & less chores! YAY!
I started with our bedroom & closet today. Can I just say that it took me FIVE hours! I got rid of 5 HUGE black bags of clothes! whoa. And, I can't even TELL you how much trash came out of there! yikes!
But, lemme tell ya that I have never felt SO good about it! It was a hell'a lotta work, but OMG, no more piled up junk, no more debris!! I am SO happy!
I think with the kids pitching in some help here & there, I KNOW I can tackle one room a day.
The only thing now is that my huge front porch looks like a scene from 'Sanford & Son' ... so what. That mess is OUT of my house, and will soon be DONATED!!!
I'm starting to wonder if I'm 'nesting' cause maybe we will get orders soon.
eh.
That's OK by me! Less mess to pack up, movers! woot woot!!

I did take some time this morning to come up with a card for the My Craft Spot Challenge #13. If I don't do something creative at least ONCE a day, I'll go nuts. I think that's why I can do a major clean out of this house!
Anyway, the challenge was to so something 'sweet'. I made this card ... Hope you guys will enjoy it! It's simple, but that's my theme today anyway... simple & simple living!
Much love!!

Birthday Sundaes Challenge #14

This is a challenge from Birthday Sundaes ....
Make a shaped birthday card (no squares, or rectangles), and it must have a birthday greeting on the front...

Can I just say that I AHH-dore this card!? LOVE him!!! The monkey is from Create a Critter, and I made him into a card by welding 2 of him with my Gypsy.

I hope you enjoy him as much as I do! If my nephew wasn't so brand new, I would try & save him for his first birthday... BUT, I think this will get a mate & I'll save them for my twinners birthday in August!