Fun? Is that You?? HEY I remember YOU!

This past week and weekend, I was reintroduced to an old friend.

It's my old friend FUN!  

I hadn't seen fun in AGES.
It was a very happy reunion!

Then on Saturday, Elayna had the opportunity to be a bat girl for the 2012 Softball World Series!
She was bat girl for a team from New Hampshire on Saturday.  She had a blast!

I had planned on taking the girls to the Springs this weekend
(something I'd been wanting to do forEVER but things kept coming up).
Then we were invited to go to the springs with friends!  So of course, we accepted.

Despite it being overcast most of the day, we had a good time.

We swim with the fishies!

The friends who invited me are a couple, both of whom I went to school with.  But they just started dating recently.  They reconnected through Facebook...just like I reconnected with both of THEM through Facebook.  The girl was one of my best friends throughout childhood & high school but we had drifted apart in adulthood.  When it comes to stuff like this - I LOVE Facebook!

Sidenote: I apologize for all the vague postings recently. If you want to know a little more of what's going on, shoot me an email.  But regardless, thank you for supporting me even though you had no idea what I was talking about half of the time!  ;-)  Love you guys.  And hopefully this crap will be kept to a minimum from here on out.

Hope you had as great of a weekend as we did!  

Weekend Wrap-Up/ Happy List!

Holy crap, I haven't done one of these in forty forevers!
But we had a very nice weekend all in all, and I felt like sharing.  And I'm combining it with a Happy List, because I had a whole lotta happy this weekend!


Saturday we had some stuff to do in the morning, and then that afternoon we had a girls' day at the mall.  It was me, Shelbie, Elayna, my niece Heather, and her baby Hayleigh.  

We took Elayna to Build-a-Bear, where she made a graduation alligator, (one of) her graduation presents from me.  She graduates from 5th Grade on June 5th. Her school mascot is an alligator.  She was a happy camper!

Shelbie clowned around!
She has a sparkling personality and makes everyone HAPPY.  =)

On Sunday, we went to the Lake near my parents' house.  The water level is incredibly low, but hopefully the recent Tropical Storm will help that somewhat.

He still found lots of minnows to much on!  Happy bird!

On Sunday, we spent more time with these girls.  That ALWAYS makes me HAPPY.  The girls finally got a lot of Hayleigh snuggle time this weekend, which makes them extremely HAPPY!  We had a family gathering at my parents' house.  My brother and his family were there, along with my sister, and of course me and all of my children.   We had a nice time.

I was off on Monday (happy!!), but it stormed off and on all day, cancelling our tentative plans for going to the beach, springs, or festivals.  So instead, the day was spent in bed.  There were movies, naps, and cuddles.  Happy, happy times.  =)

Pretty good weekend!

Hope you had a good one as well.

Weekend Wrap Up

I already told y'all about the first part of our weekend here and here.

On Saturday night, I worked, and when I got home Sunday morning we went off in search of some fun in the sun. The teenagers didn't want to come along, so it was just me, John, and Elayna.

Florida State Parks were having a free admission day, so first we went to O'Leno State Park, but their swimming area was closed due to low water levels, and they also were not renting canoes. So we walked around there first, took some pictures, and then left to find a spot to swim.

O'Leno State Park

the suspension bridge was a leeeetle scary!

mushrooms growing inside of the tree

We ended up at Poe Springs park, which is not a state park but a very nice springs.

Poe Springs Park

Elayna

Me & John

me & Layna up a tree!

the water is so clear and beautiful. and COLD!!

I love weekends like this.

It was simple but fun,

and I know the kids made some good, lasting memories.

That's what it's all about!

FYI for Florida residents/visitors: there are two more "no-fee" days at Florida State Parks this year, check it out at FloridaStateParks.org!

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!

Get out a glass & corkscrew for this one.

This weekend has sucked.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, warm and sunny. My version of a perfect weekend.

And I have spent almost all of it in bed.

I think I have the flu....I'll probably go to the doctor tomorrow.

I haven't been this sick in years. I can't sleep lying down, and sleeping sitting up is not exactly restful or comfortable. Oh, and I can't talk. At all.

John will ask me a question, walk away while I'm whispering the answer, then yell "WHAT? I cant hear you." Duh.

We missed John's friend's wedding reception Saturday night, and our small church group meeting Sunday night (although we did make it to church Sunday morning).

I could tell you all the lovely details of my illness.....but I will spare you.

So there you have it. That's what's going on in the Dysfunction Junction this weekend.

Hope yours was better than mine!

Valentine's Weekend WrapUp

Just sharing a few, ok a bunch of, pics from this weekend.

These are from Devil's Millhopper.

John, the girls, and I visited the park and had a picnic lunch there on Saturday.

It's a huge sinkhole full of natural vegetation and small waterfalls.

(that's a stuffed fox squirrel)

These were taken at the bowling alley during my friend's son's birthday party.

This is my daughter Shelbie and her best friend AshLee.

AshLee is MY best friend Danielle's daughter.

They are 18 days apart in age.

Danielle & Me

My son Tim with his girlfriend Jessica

(he's refusing to smile just to bug me.)

Elayna & I at home....we are wearing matching shirts =)

Me & My Valentine, at our Valentine's Banquet

Hope y'all had a great weekend!

I'm joining in with Sundays in my City over at Unknown Mami's place!

Naked Hermit Crabs & Squirrel Tails

I have to tell you, I feel SO much better after our little weekend escape. It's amazing how good it is to get away even for such a short time, and soaking up the salt air just seems to ease my mind.

It was an interesting trip this time, so I just had to share some of the highlights with y'all!

The trip started out with a bang. We headed out Saturday morning and had been gone for about ten minutes when we heard, "Meow." John and I looked at each other and said "What was that?!" I turned the radio down and there it was again. "Meow." There was definitely a cat in our trunk!

We were on the highway so we didn't want to open the trunk there, in case he jumped out. So we turned around and went home. Sure enough, while John was packing the trunk, our cat Ozzie had jumped in. Leave it to MY cat to jump in the trunk; leave it to MY husband to shut the trunk with a cat inside! I guess he wanted to come with us! Too bad he got chicken and started crying. Heh.

So we finally made it to St Augustine. We headed to the outlet malls first, and this bargain shopping mama got some AWESOME deals. I was a happy camper! I got some necessities, I got some fun things, and I got Valentine's Day gifts for the kids. (Yes, I love Valentine's Day!) I also love having a husband who loves to shop! No, he is not for rent, sorry.

Then we headed to St. George Street. Every time we go to St Augustine, I have to have clam chowder from Florida Cracker Cafe. It's fantastic!

We also saw the Glass Harp player on St. George later in the evening.

We stayed in a cabin by a lake, near the beach. This was our fourth time staying there.

This morning when we got up, I heard on odd noise and looked up on the power lines to see three parrots! I almost couldn't believe my eyes. John was in the bathroom and by the time he came out they were gone, but one of the caretakers came by and confirmed that they do indeed have wild parrots in the area. He said they aren't sure where the first ones came from, but in recent years they have multiplied and there are now around forty parrots in that area. And of course, I did not have my camera nearby when I saw them! Argh!

On Sunday we slept in, then had lunch at another favorite restaurant, and then went to the beach. It was nice out; there were people surfing and lots of people just hanging around. I had fun taking pictures of the seagulls. I learned that they are camera-shy. They didn't like me much. Shrug.

As we were leaving, John noticed a big, pretty shell on top of a post, and then realized there was a hermit crab inside. Andrew has hermit crabs (ok, he has A hermit CRAB, one died but we didn't tell him). So we decided to take this hermit crab home with us. Whoever had put it on top of that post was nowhere around and we didn't want it to die there. So off we went.

It was time to head home. We had a Superbowl party at church tonight and I had to cook this awesome dip. It was a bummer to leave St. Augustine so quickly, but I'm so glad we went.

And we had a blast at the Superbowl party; the kids played with friends, the ladies talked, and the guys watched the game. And I seriously love party food; I could eat that all the time. It was all delicious!

I guess Ozzie the Stowaway Cat wanted to thank us for his little ride; when we came home there was a squirrel tail on the door steps. Gack!

Also, while we were at church, the hermit crab decided to remove himself from his shell (naked hermit crabs look WEIRD!!) and he then proceeded to die.

Woops.

Hope y'all had a great weekend that didn't involve insane cats, squirrel tails, or dead naked hermit crabs!

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!