Soaking up the Sun - Sunday in my City

We have been attending church lately with my Mother-in-Law.

Today was her church's homecoming, 

and after church we had Dinner on the Grounds.

I made chocolate delight.....

....and a blackberry cobbler with fresh blackberries that grow wild 

here at our home.

Shelbie, my almost-senior-in-high-school

 Our puppy, Bo, has gotten big enough to get into the trash can.  So I decided to get one with a lid.  I wanted a pretty garbage can, which is harder to find than you may think.  I finally found this one on Amazon.
It came in pieces, and my daughters LOVE to assemble things like this.
So, here is my PRETTY trash can, assembled by Elayna!

The Great Assembler, ready for a dip in the pool.

We swam and soaked up the sun.  

Right after we packed up and left, the rain came

 to water

all of my plants and flowers.

Pretty good day!

Hope y'all had a good Sunday. 

Wrapping Up the Weekend

I'm taking a break from unpacking to check in & do a weekend wrap-up!

The March for Babies walk was wonderful. We exceeded our $200 goal, raising $225. $90 of that was from blog friends! Thank you all SO much.

My son Tim's friend Zack walked with us too. The weather was wonderful & we enjoyed ourselves.

This year for the first time, we had a sign placed on Memory Mile for Johnathon Wayne. It was really touching to see that.

{I remembered to bring my camera to the walk. However, I forgot batteries! So these are cell phone shots.}

After the walk, we went to my parents' house and had a birthday celebration for my son Tim, my husband, & my Dad. Both Tim's friend Zack and Tim's girlfriend Jessica came, along with my best friend (who is like family) Danielle, her daughter Ashlee, & Ashlee's boyfriend. My whole family was there too, so it was a nice crowd. We had some fantastic food, including a layered ice cream cake that I made. I got the recipe from my friend Debi's blog, Who Says 8 is Enough? It was a BIG hit, and super-easy to make.

Sunday was the Big Move. Some of the guys from church came over with two trucks & two trailers and had them loaded in no time flat. Then we came to the new house and they unloaded them almost as quickly. My sister, niece, & her fiance also came over to help out. We had a good time hanging out with them & unpacking.

There are still a few things left at the old house but we're almost done there. Now I have the job of unpacking, which I don't mind much and I can't really relax until it's done, so it probably won't take me long.

I worked for two & a half hours this morning and then ran errands and came home. Love it!

We just got our satellite transferred over so now I can enjoy my TV shows, and since I have great internet service here, I can make an attempt to catch up on my blog reading tonight!

I hope you had a great weekend too!

If you blogged about your weekend, link up below!

Saturday Stuff

I don't usually post on the weekends, but I'm doing the whole NaBloPoMo thing this month, so the plan is to post every day. So far, so good! So this is going to be a 'stream of consciousness' type of post. You've been warned!

Today was nuts. As soon as the kids got home from school, we went to the pharmacy, bank, McD's for a snack, dropped John off at work, then to the post office, Target, Publix, and home. Only to turn right back around and meet a friend at a supermarket in town so that she could buy tickets for our Valentine's Dinner from Shelbie (they are being sold by the Youth Group). We didn't get home until after 8. I threw frozen pizzas in the oven and called it dinner! Whew! (we won't even discuss the cleaning & feeding pets I've done this evening too.)

We have a really fun weekend planned. Andrew doesn't know it yet, but tomorrow he and Tim (my oldest son who is 17) are going to the movies. They've been wanting to go together for a long time and I had the idea to give them movie money for Valentine's Day. So they're going to see Gnomeo & Juliet. John and I are taking the girls to the Devil's Millhopper, a state park. Some of our state parks may be closing in the future (which is a darned shame) and that is one of them. We haven't been in forever, and we want to take the kids while we still have a chance. We're going to pack a picnic lunch; it's going to be cool but sunny.

Tomorrow night we are going to make Rice Krispy treats for the little kids to take to school for their Valentine's Day parties, watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, and the kids are going to finish addressing their Valentine's cards for their classmates.

On Sunday after church, we're going to a bowling alley to celebrate my best friend's son's 18th birthday. He is only a month older than my oldest son, and they have been friends their whole lives. Our daughters are best friends. We are SO looking forward to this! Although I'm still in denial that they are turning 18.

This picture is from when they were about three. (Cody has always been much bigger than Tim!) I first posted it here on my blog when they were fourteen; now they're almost 18! How does this happen?! I need to get a picture of them together on Sunday, for comparison.

After the party, we'll head back to church for our Valentine's Dinner. They provide babysitting & dinner for the kids, and the youth will be serving us. Muah ha ha. My parents are coming (oh boy!) and Tim & his girlfriend may be coming too (hopefully).

Hopefully I'll have lots of pics to share tomorrow. Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

Christmas Crashing

It's a real thing.

Christmas Crashing: Used to describe the after-effect of Christmas, or the Holidays in general: 12 Days of Hanukkah/Christmas, etc. is usually a busy time, very exciting, and enjoyable. By the end of the celebrations (The night of Christmas Day/Dec. 26th) you feel exhausted and overwhelmed. People are usually groggy, lethargic, and almost depressed from exhaustion. (from Urban Dictionary)

That's me! Except for the depression. Because I am very happy.....but so darned tired!

On Christmas Eve, we visited my parents and then went to the Christmas Eve service at our church. The service was amazing; I can't even describe it. It was extremely moving. We have grown so close with our church family this past year, and one couple in particular who we are just so blessed to be friends with. They are wonderful.

John and I spent Christmas Day at home, just the two of us. We had our lasagna and brownies, and it was delicious. We exchanged a few gifts and just enjoyed the day.

On Sunday afternoon, my kids came home from their dad's house (Andrew is still at his grandma's) and we had our Christmas with them. Then Tim had to go to work, and we took the girls out for dinner.

Today the kids have been spending their Christmas money & gift cards. They were burning holes in their pockets. We found some great after Christmas sales. They absolutely wore me out!

Now Shelbie is spending the night with a friend, and Tim has a friend here spending the night with him.

The stressful stuff is still out there looming over us, but the good far outweighs it all. I know we'll be okay. And it's all brought us closer to each other, and the ones we love, and who love us.

(and I'm sorry for being so vague, but there are unwanted people reading this blog, so I have no choice. In fact I'm seriously considering shutting down this blog and starting over and hoping not to be found this time.......but I'll figure that out later.)

But right now.....I am ready to Christmas Crash!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday.

*ETA* OMG, I forgot to tell you it SNOWED here on Sunday morning! For real! We took the dog out and this white stuff was falling on us and this Florida native was all, "What the crap is this stuff on me???" and John thought I had major dandruff but finally we realized it was SNOW! The newspaper confirmed it - Gainesville Sun

I'm thinking I'm on the Naughty List.....

As I mentioned in Monday's post, at our church Christmas party on Sunday, we had a mug exchange. It wasn't just a simple "here's a mug" deal; we played a game in which the mugs all got passed back and forth in a circle and you kept the mug you ended up with.

When the pastor's wife first arrived at the party, she held up the bag with her mug in it, pointed at me, and said "You're getting this one."

And I giggled.

And sure enough, at the end of the game, I was holding the pastor's wife's bag.

Guess I'm on the naughty list AGAIN!

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Weekend WrapUp

This weekend will go down as one of the best ever. It was really great!

On Friday night, we had Shelbie's 15th Birthday party. Both Tim and John had the night off. Tim had a friend over, and Tim's girlfriend and her friend came over for a little while too. And of course Shelbie's friends were here, a really great group of girls. The boys built bonfires and all the teenagers hung out by the fire. Elayna and I stayed inside, baking, making candy, and crafting - that's right, ME, crafting. I know! Everyone had a good time. I really love having a house full of the kids & their friends.

On Saturday, all of the teen girls went to a soccer breakfast, and then one of Shelbie's friends came back home with her. We went to a Christmas parade in a nearby town, meeting a good friend of mine there. Her son was in the parade. I very rarely see her and it was SO good to catch up.

Shelbie spent the night with a friend and Tim had to work, so it ended up being just me, John, and Elayna. We went out for dinner and then drove around looking at Christmas lights. We had so much fun!

Sunday was Shelbie's birthday. On Sunday morning, we went to church. There were two Christmas programs, one by the children and one by the youth. Elayna was in the children's program, Shelbie in the Youth's. My parents, sister, and niece came to see them. The programs & service were great.
Then, my family came to our house and we exchanged Christmas presents & celebrated Shelbie's birthday with them. It went well; things have been strained with my parents lately so I was stressed, but it turned out great. We had Shelbie's birthday dinner (chicken fettucini alfredo, roasted asparagus, corn, & garlic bread, as well as monkey bread instead of cake!).

On Sunday evening, we took Tim to work and then dropped the girls off at their Dad's for the week. From there, John and I went to our church's Christmas Party. We had a blast! We did a mug exchange, played games, and had yummy food. We laughed, cried, prayed, laughed some more....it was awesome. I am feeling much better about the situation with Andrew and his bio-mom because we have this incredible group of people backing us, praying for us, and offering to do anything they can to help us out.

I hope you all had a great weekend, too! It will be a quiet week around here, for sure, so maybe I can catch up on some blogs!

If you posted about your weekend, link up here!

Friday Fragments: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

I'm working hard at keeping in the Christmas spirit, even though Scrooge herself crawled out of her hell-hole and made an appearance this week.

Really, I shouldn't insult Scrooge like that. Anyway, Andrew's "biological mother" (I think I just threw up in my mouth) came out of the woodwork again, this time through the court system, lying & manipulating as usual. We have plenty of defensive measures, including his psychiatrist who has said many times that she would testify on our behalf if this ever happened, that it is not in A's best interest to see Satan's Spawn. Not to mention emails between the two of us, because I save EVERYTHING. I am just sick that she is so selfish that she wants to shake up his stable, secure life. But, your good thoughts & prayers are deeply needed and appreciated, and I will update you all as things progress.

(For those of you who aren't regulars and have no idea what I'm talking about, you can read here or here for some background, or search "Andrew" and/or "Spiderman" ([when I first started blogging, I used pseudonyms]).

OK, that takes care of the bad and the ugly! Moving on to the good.....

My oldest daughter Shelbie will be 15 on Sunday. We're having her party tonight. My house will be full of teenage girls! *SQUEEEE* *OhEmGEE!!* and all that stuff! We're having a bonfire and pizza (that's what she wanted, whatever!). Hopefully I will still have a little bit of sanity left when it's all over!

The weekend will be a busy one; church play practice, parades, Christmas lights tours, our church's Christmas program, making crafts, baking, etc. Possibly even seeing my parents, who I haven't spent time in with in months, but that's a whole 'nother blog post.

Oh, and? Almost all of my Christmas shopping still has to be done.

I am SO glad John loves shopping and will help me with all of it!

Then on Sunday evening, the kids will go to their Dad's and be gone for a whole week. *sniffle*

Anyway! Back to the Good! This is the first year in probably 8 or 9 years that my family has been unable to choose a name from the Angel Tree and buy gifts for a child or family in need. I still planned to but as Christmas came closer, I realized there's just no way to do it. I did give Shelbie money to fill a shoebox for a program with the youth group, and we still put change in the Salvation Army buckets, and I resigned myself to that being as much as we could do this year.

How is this good, you ask? Because of OHmommy, that's why. OHmommy and her worms, manure, and crabs. Seriously. Check it out. Through OxFam, OHmommy gave away "a card that announces you purchased a school desk and chair, in your recipient's honor".

And guess who won? ME! My family. I am so happy! We couldn't do much this year, but through OHmommy & OxFam, we're doing something wonderful, that will make a big difference to someone in need.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and don't lose your mind in the holiday rush! Relax and enjoy yourselves. And give yourself a break! You're running around like a crazy person and kicking yourself for not having everything done. RELAX. There's only one of you, and you know what? You're doing a GREAT JOB.

Oh um, one more tiny little thing. I honestly don't usually pay a lot of attention to my follower numbers, but lately it's been hovering just under 400 and it's driving me batty! If you're not a follower, if you would take 5 seconds and follow me and get me over that 400 mark, I will follow you back AND love you forever!

Please visit Mrs 4444's for more Fragments!

ETA: Crap! 3rd week in and I forgot to post my Song of the Week. The first thing that came to mind is this gem, another one from Miranda Lambert. (although Gunpowder & Lead is another good one of hers, as well. Just saying.)

Putting the Fun In Friday Fragments

It's time again for fragging! That means we get to stick our random thoughts in one post, stick a cute Friday Fragments stamp on it, and call it a day!

So, Terry Jones, the nutjob who planned to burn the Qurans on Saturday in my town, is now waffling on his position. He announced Thursday afternoon that he had canceled his plans, but later said that he may do it after all. Clearly, he's unstable and can't be trusted, so who knows what will end up happening. Your continued prayers are appreciated.



I had a Bad Mommy Moment this past week. I skipped my little kids' Open House at school. It's the first time I've ever done that, but I was utterly exhausted and having 'female issues'. I just could not drag myself up there! I already met their teachers before school started, so I figured I get Mommy Points for that. I even posted on Facebook "How bad of a Mom am I if I skip this Open House?" and was reassured by dear friends, one of whom is a teacher, that it wasn't such a horrible thing. I told the kids they could eat popcorn and watch a movie instead, and everyone was happy!



My son Tim brought home a new pet for me this weekend. He drove by a turtle in the road, and picked it up and brought it home. His girlfriend said "Why did you do that??" and he sort of grinned and said "I didn't want it to get killed!" He knows I love turtles. Henry Fred is now living in our bathtub until I get him a real habitat set up. He seems quite content!



I got the little kids these cute erasers from the hospital gift shop last week. Elayna promptly lost hers at school; she said she left it somewhere and when she got back, it was gone. I debated getting her another one; I spoil her rotten and I'm trying to curb that a little, but I ended up getting another one today (they're only a dollar, it's just the principal of it.) Anyway, when I gave it to her tonight, she was SO unbelievably excited, and kept saying "Thank you SO MUCH, Mommy!" The fact that she was so appreciative made me think I did the right thing. I was thinking, "yep, THIS is why I do it." =)

Hers is just like this, except pink instead of blue.

This weekend, John and I will be visiting our home-away-from-home, St Augustine. It's just a quick trip to do some shopping for Andrew's birthday, and to get away for a very short while. This time I'm hoping to find some thrift shops; I've never thrifted in St Augustine and I want to check it out!

And in closing, I leave you with a picture of two of my pets. One, a cat who clearly is sane, and the other, a dog who apparently thinks she's a cat.

I hope you all have a great weekend!
Don't forget to visit Mrs 4444 for more Friday Fragging Fun.

Wrapping Up the Weekend

This weekend was great, and it went by way too quickly.
Friday was spent just relaxing.
Saturday we went to Elayna's softball game. Unfortunately it was her team's first loss of the season, and it was their last game. They took it well though. While I was lamenting the end of the season, Elayna's coach called me to the side to tell me that Elayna had been nominated for All-Stars! I'm so excited and I think it will be a great experience for her. After the game, Elayna went to the Springs with the team, along with her dad & his family. We all went home and spent the rest of the day in the pool! And Saturday night we finally finished organizing our bedroom and got all of my stuff hung up in the new house. It's so nice to finally feel settled!
On Sunday, we went to church and the youth did a very sweet tribute to their leaders. They are truly great people and do amazing work with our youth. I seriously need to stop wearing makeup to church, I seem to end up crying entirely too often!
Then we spent the afternoon in the pool, except for when I got out to wash all of the dogs and do laundry and other such fun activities.
Now it's already Monday morning and I'm back at work! The weekend flew by, but it was a good one; productive yet relaxing.
I'm ready for next weekend!
I hope you had a great one too, and if you blogged about it, link up here!

Fragging on Friday - No Foolin'! {no seriously. don't try that crap on me.}

** I'm so glad it's Friday! And I'm also glad that April Fool's Day is OVER...
I'm just not a fan of pranks.

** My counter up there ^^^ is counting the days until Spring Break officially starts. But MY vacation actually starts when I get off work this morning at 7am! I'm off for nine days. And I can not wait!

** I had about 10 years taken off of my life today. My youngest daughter nearly got hit by a car. We were in the Publix parking lot and she ran ahead of me, and a lady in an SUV was backing out. Elayna is short, she's 9, the lady didn't see her. I yelled, but Elayna KEPT GOING! And the lady was still backing out. I screamed that horrific, terrified-mother scream. {My throat hurt for hours afterward!} Elayna ran back to me and the lady stopped, all at the same time. I didn't know if I should hug her or shake her! I have told the littles countless times to stay with me in the parking lots because they are too short for cars to see them in their rearview mirrors! WHY don't they listen to me???

** My Yoplait Greek/Spa Pack giveaway ends Sunday. There are only a few entries, so your chances of winning are great! Put your name in here.

** Do you have any fun Easter plans? On Sunday, we are going to church and we'll have an Easter Egg Hunt there. Then we're going to my parents' house for Easter lunch and maybe some egg coloring & hiding. We may find some fun Easter activity on Saturday too, but Elayna has a softball game in the early afternoon so it depends on timing.



** Speaking of Elayna & softball....her team's sponsor is Misfit Motorsports, so they are called the Misfits! I think it's totally cute and fun to yell Go Misfits!!! LOL

** April is Cesarean Awareness Month. If you've had one, or want to know what it's all about, click the button below! I had three c-sections, so this is a topic of interest for me.

** I'll leave you with my very favorite Easter graphic.

Hope y'all have a Wonderful Weekend!
{Don't forget to visit Mrs 4444's for more Friday Fragments.}