Thanks to my amazing husband (and the boys for digging the holes), we finally have a fence for Abby and the girls. For the 8 years we’ve lived in this house it’s always been a goal to put up a fence. We’ve saved for one several times, but something always came up and that money had to go to something else.  Zale has worked all day to get it finished and I’m so grateful. It was so wonderful to see Abby running so freely. I think she ran almost non stop for a solid 2 hours and is now on her bed snoring.

It’s a good day , even if I’m a bit zombified after only getting 3 hours of sleep.

What a night it has been. I haven’t slept well at all this week. I think 5 hours is the most I’ve slept in a given night. But tonight has been the worst. I think I fell asleep about 8:30, which is VERY early for me. I was jarred awake by the noise when Anthony came home from work around 10. I laid there with my eyes closed for about an hour trying in vain to go back to sleep when I finally gave up, turned the TV on and watched a couple of shows on DVR. That wasn’t doing it, so I read for awhile longer until I was sleepy enough to go back to sleep. By now it’s probably 1:30 or 2. Around 3:30 or 4 Reagan wakes up crying with growing pains in her legs. Normally she whimpers a bit, I rub her legs and she goes back to sleep right away. I guess these were worse than usual, because it took about 20 minutes and some Tylenol for her to go back to sleep. I’m dozing off again when I hear Abby get up and start throwing up. Awesome.

As I take her outside I realize that Anthony didn’t park his car where we asked him to. So I go back inside, clean up Abby’s mess, find Anthony’s keys, and go back out to move his car. Did I mention I’m in my PJs and it’s 20 degrees outside? Ok, maybe 30 degrees. I go to move his car, turn it on, and am assaulted by the Bose stereo turned up as loud as it can possibly go.  So yep, between the cold and the busted ear drums, I’m awake now. GRR

I guess I thought so much about blogging about our “fall fun”, that I thought I had already done it. Sadly I had not. So I’ll try to do a little catch up now. This fall we were able to do a couple of great outings that the girls really enjoyed. I’m not the best at planning these little outings or even remembering that there are such great places around us to take the kids.

But this year, part of the reason I made sure we did this was because Hannah had to miss her school field trip. I had made some plans weeks before I knew what day the field trip was going to be, that were going to require me to pick Hannah up from school early. But with the field trip going on, Hannah wouldn’t have been back at school in time. These weren’t plans that I could easily change and they involved other people, so I broke the news to Hannah that instead of her going on her field trip, I was going to keep her home with me. Immediate tears and heart break were the result. So as I scrambled for ideas to take away that hurt and stop feeling like the worst parent ever, I blurted out that I would make it up to her and we would go on two family fun day field trips instead. And I knew it had to be good!

Thankfully, one of the coupon sites I subscribe to sent me a 1/2 off deal for one of the local farms, Honeysickle Hill that has lots of fun for the kiddos along with a pumpkin patch. I can’t pass up a great deal and it seemed to be a good substitute for the field trip Hannah was missing at school.

Having fun at Honeysuckle Hill Farm

It's pumpkin patch time!!

Yes, Reagan is wearing her halloween costume. Her 2nd costume actually. Her first was this…

Reagan's 1st costume

which I thought was adorable. But she decided she’d rather be a mermaid like her sister….

Hannah the mermaid..and of course mermaids wear make up..don't they?

Woops..forgot to correct the red eyes.

The second family fun field trip was to the Zoo. We had been there before, but it’s been awhile. Other than a little complaining over tired feet and arguing over whose turn it was in the stroller, it was a great day. Here’s the girls on the Zoo’s Wild Animal Carousel.

I was finally able to buy a membership, so hopefully we can make it back and enjoy all the Zoo has to offer many times over the next 12 months!

How is it possible that it’s been a whole month since I last posted? I really need to get back in the habit of doing this!

I tried in vain to get a real family Christmas card this year. But two cancelled appointments and a camera malfunction later, I finally gave up. I did end up spending almost 2 hours (because I can be that slow and picky) on Shutterfly.com to do a custom card so I could get all the kids (and Abby) on a card.

Those two hours were worth it for the great deal I got!

Today wasn’t just about Christmas cards though. Every year (for the past several years), my Mother in Law picks a different color theme for Christmas. She has a white tree, so that makes it easy to do. If I can remember the years in order, these are the colors she’s used. Purple, Blue, Black/Silver/White (which was very elegant by the way), last year was Santa Claus theme, and this year is a pink or rose color. After Christmas is over she donates the decorations and ornaments to charity, which I think is an awesome thing to do. She buys the girls Christmas dresses to match the theme and it’s become a tradition to have their pictures made in those dresses. We usually get this done in October, but I was falling a bit behind this year.

I’ve had the appointment on the calender, knew it was coming, but was I really prepared? Of course not. It dawned on me yesterday that they don’t have dress shoes that fit anymore. So here Reagan and I go, before picking Hannah up from school, to shop for new shoes and socks, praying they fit Hannah since I don’t have time before the appointment to go back to the store. Thankfully I found something at the first store, and after Hannah wore them for a few minutes, she decided they fit ok.

Shortly after getting Hannah from school, we finally made it to JC Penny’s for their pictures, and I have to say my girls are little hams. But as soon as the posing is done, they are ready to go. My Mother In Law and I still have to pick out and order the pictures, which can take some time, so I promised the girls if they were good, we’d go see Santa when we were done (I’m not above bribing my kids if needed!).

20 minutes later we get to Santa’s workshop to discover Santa had just left to have dinner and feed his reindeer (at least that’s the story I told the girls), and wouldn’t be back for almost an hour. To pass the time we let the girls ride on Santa’s train, which had been moved to another part of the mall to make room for the hot tubs that have somehow been included in Santa’s workshop display. ‘Cause that makes a lot of sense! We grabbed a snack and got in line to wait our turn for the girls to see Santa. Now, I’ve not really made a big deal about Santa to the girls because I want them to know that the holiday is about celebrating Jesus’ birth, and not about Santa. But it’s hard to not get caught up in their excitement.

And I think going through the hoopla was worth it to see these smiling faces….

And No, they aren’t wearing makeup, just a little bit of gloss to match their dresses. Although if Hannah had her way, she’d be in full makeup. Now if I can just muster up enough energy tomorrow to put up the Christmas tree, we’ll be well on our way to getting in the Christmas Spirit!

Merry Early Christmas!

My normal routine on a week day is to take Hannah to school and be home around 7 (when Zale usually leaves for work). Depending on how the night went and/or if Reagan is still asleep, every now and then I’ll get to lay back down for a nap before my day really begins.

This morning I wasn’t so fortunate, but I got a decent nights sleep last night, so it was ok. Instead I got my coffee,  caught up on my e mails, balanced the checkbooks (personal and business), and did some laundry. Of course everything took a little longer than it’s supposed to, so it was after 9 before I finally got in the shower. And here’s where the day turned interesting. I glanced up as I was shampooing my hair to see this creepy, crawly, huge (ok, it was little, but at the time it seemed huge), bug that had at least 100 legs (ok, probably just twenty). It was long and light brown and moved at the speed of light (ok, not really, but it was fast!) and I had to stop myself from screeching like a little girl.

I reached up to try to bat it into the bathroom ’cause I didn’t want it coming into the shower, only to have it drop into the shower with me. Of course. So as I’ve got shampoo in my hair and not in a position to jump out of the shower, I end up trying to crawl up the wall of the shower instead, while kicking at the water trying to get the nasty little critter down the drain. I finally succeeded and my heart rate went back down to normal. But it was the fastest shower I had taken in awhile and I was so grateful to still have US Pest Protection’s number saved in my phone. Before I was fully dressed I was on the phone making an appointment for someone to come out and fix the issue. Thankfully they were able to come out this afternoon and will hopefully be coming back tomorrow to spray. I don’t like to share my shower!

A couple of hours later a good friend of mine came over with her two little boys. We’re having a great talk while wrangling the kiddos and I look at my watch and see that it’s almost time to pick up Hannah from school. So we finish up, say our good byes, and load our kids in the car. As I pull up to Hannah’s school I look at the clock again and realize I’m a little later than normal, so I’m expecting to see a huge line of cars…but no one is there. I glance at the clock again. For the 3rd time. And realize that it’s 12:48, not 1:48. Really?! I just did that, cut my visit an hour short because somehow, I blocked out the first numbers on the DIGITAL clock and only looked at the last two. The really sad thing, is that it’s the 2nd time I’ve done it this school year. Geez.

So back home Reagan and I go with her whining in the background that she doesn’t want to go home yet. We get home, I sort and scan the mail, grab a bite to eat for Reagan and I, then head back out again. Hannah comes out with a sticker on her shirt promoting Chick fil a. Today they were giving a portion of their sales back to her school. So off to Chick fil a we go. And Hannah doesn’t eat any of her kids meal.

After that, we headed to a great little store called Monogramming by Sheri, where I got some Christmas shopping done. Did I mention that we had Abby (our 5 month old boxer) in the car? I was smart enough to grab our food and shove it in my purse, but figured the drinks would be safe while we were shopping. I should have known better. We get back to the car a very short time later to discover that somehow Abby had put a hole in my cup and Coke Zero had filled up both sides of the cup holders. Awesome. So I get the cup out and dump what was left in it. During that brief time Abby goes straight for the holders and drinks the Coke Zero before I can grab the napkins to clean it up. Who knew she would like it? At least she was trying to clean up her mess!

Back home we go to meet the pest people, do Hannah’s homework, and then back out I went for a late meeting. Home again to get the kids ready and into bed. And of course, Reagan is still awake…. Here’s hoping I can get her to sleep before I pass out!

It’s been almost 2 months since Zale was diagnoised with type II diabeties. Seems a bit crazy that that much time has gone by already. It’s been a pretty big adjustment, maybe even the biggest hurdle is Zale learning how to read the signs his body is giving him. But he’s getting there.

He has been so dilligent about it, no surprise there, that he has managed to keep his numbers in check without having to go on insulin. Yay!!

Of course the natural benefits that come with a healthier style of living is weight loss. I keep telling Zale to slow down so I can catch up (especially since I have more weight to lose than he does). But I’m very proud of him!! I’ve lost 15 pounds, which is great, and hopefully 15 pounds I won’t ever see again. I’m not really sure how much weight Zale has lost, but I do know he doesn’t have much left to lose!

Hannah:  I’m going to watch Word World

Reagan:  I’m going to go with you.

Hannah:  REAGAN! Why do you always follow me?!

Reagan:  Because I love you!!!!

We have been in this house since November of 2003. The carpet was old then, but until now we’ve never been able to do anything about it, except clean it as best we could and apologize for it. But FINALLY, we’re in a position to fix the issue. Zale is great about researching everything and finding the best deals. We found a great deal online for laminate flooring (I know, hardwood would be better, but I don’t want to spend that much), but wanted to go to the store to lay our eyes on it and make sure it was a color we liked. Good thing we did, ’cause it wasn’t. We ended up at a surples warehouse and found a great deal on something we really liked. And the under padding was free! Yay!

So at this point it’s about 3:00 on Saturday. I figured we’d put it in the garage until Zale could take a couple of days off work, or until next weekend. Boy was I wrong. By the time I got home (I was about 30 minutes behind Zale and the girls) he had 1/2 the living room furniture out of the room, vent covers up, and was ready to get started. We worked like crazy to get the carpet and padding pulled up (that was a great feeling, but nasty work), then the tack strips, and finally the missmatched wood in the entry way. We got a little of the flooring layed before crashing hard, then yesterday morning got up and going again. (Zale before me, as usual.)

Our goal was to get the living room, entry way, and hallway done yesterday. Then tackle the kitchen and laundry room another day. We’re leaving carpet in the bedrooms and hope to tile the bathrooms soon. With just three pieces left in the living room and one left in the entry way (hallway hasn’t been touched yet), Zale and I were exhausted and had to stop for the night. We had worked for almost 10 solid hours, only stopping for a quick bite to eat or bathroom break.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to get this done!!! It’s making a huge improvement in the look of the house. And I’m sure our allergies and sinus’ will thank us for not having that horribly nasty carpet in our house anymore!!! Here’s a few pics of the process…I didn’t think about before pics til the carpet was already out.

I’m looking forward to it being completely done and getting the house back in order! It already feels cleaner with the carpet gone, even with all the extra dust from putting in the floor! And an even better bonus, Reagan has been cleaning the floor this morning, I know one day there will be fights over her doing it, so I’m enjoying it while it lasts!

Meet Abby!

Today we had an appointment with Middle Tennessee Boxer Rescue. We went to this appointment with the intention of looking at a couple of 2 year old female boxers that were house trained and great with kids. But when we saw Abby (named after Abby on NCIS),  all our plans went out the window. Then we decided our carpet was shot anyway, so why not!

She did great in the car, in PetSmart, and played hard once we got home. Now she’s sleeping peacefully on the couch beside me. And she’s even done very well going potty outside! So she appears to be mostly potty trained already. I think little Abby is going to be a perfect fit for our family! She even loves the camera!

Camera? For me?

On the way home with Hannah, our good friend Jake, and Reagan.

If you’re looking for a Boxer in Tennessee, please check out this organization! There are so many sweet dogs that just want a good and loving home! Yes, they are a little bit of work, but they give back so much more than we could ever give!

For the last couple of months Zale hasn’t been feeling quite right and he asked me to get him in at our doctor’s office. Like most men, for Zale to want to go to the doctor is alarming. So I made the appointment, put it on his calender and started praying. Turns out he was diagnoised with type II diabetes. He’s been borderline for years, and finally went over the edge. His numbers were so high the doctor wanted to put him on insulin immediately. But Zale can be very determined and talked her into letting him try to get the numbers down with diet, working out, and meds. It’s only been 4 days since we found out and he’s already gotten his numbers where they need to be. Of course this isn’t a fix, it’s a major lifestyle change, but one we needed anyway.

Since his diet is having to be altered so dramatically, I told him I was going to do it with him. And I have to think that even though this isn’t something that we would ever wish to deal with, the change in both of our diets is long over due. Since going off of Weight Watchers a couple of years ago (because I stupidly thought I could do it on my own), I’ve gained back everything I lost. It’s so discouraging, but I have to take responsibility for my actions and decisions. My neighbor (the best neighbor ever) and I have continued to work out as much as we can, but it hasn’t made much of a difference because I didn’t make big changes in my diet. For some reason I forgot that to really make a difference in weight loss it takes more than just dieting or just working out. It takes both.

One of the many things Zale and I have in common is struggling to maintain a healthy weight. So hopefully, we’ve finally come to point that not only should we lead a healthier lifestyle, for many reasons. But now we have to. It took a couple of days to get use to the idea, and we’re gettng there. Something that has been a huge help is downloading a calorie counter onto our phones. We can keep track of everything we’re eating, how often we work out, and see our progress at the touch of a button.  And I know it’s working because I’ve already started losing weight. That’s a very good thing!