do it

Sweet Pea hurt her hand at school this week. It has required a band-aid, as all minor scrapes and bruises do with my children. Last night, Sweet Pea requested a band-aid and her daddy told her that he would get it for her in a minute, as he had his hands full when she asked. She then stated, "Hey, how about you get that band-aid you promised me." It was such a me statement so I could not necessarily laugh too much.

My BFF

K and I have been friends since I was in Kindergarten. (Not to be topped by being friends with P since we could walk, but...). We celebrated K's baby boy's fourth birthday Saturday at a place similar to Chuck E. Cheese. The girls had a great time and I enjoyed hanging out with my buddy. Baby boy seemed to enjoy all of his presents and friends. He struggled with blowing out the candle but it was a priceless moment. Matt took several pictures attempting to capture the one where the candle actually went out.

After leaving the party, we visited with my grandparents at the hospital. My Papaw is still not doing well but the doctors intend to send him home this week, instead of the 25 day treatment in Bristol that he really needs. He is still on the ventilator most of the day and his home oxygen tanks do not go up as high as the hospitals so they are working on that issue. My Mamaw has had the stomach bug, as well as my uncle, Papaw, and now my husband is showing signs of it. I went through and sanitized everything yesterday so pray that the kids do not catch it. I am very appreciative and thankful for all of the prayers that everyone has been praying for my family.

Sweet Pea pulled one on me the other day. She first started with how I didn't want her when she was born. After babying her and convincing her that I prayed, wished, and prayed some more for her and all of the things that I done to take care of myself and her, she was finally convinced. Turns out, she just wanted some special attention from me. She is getting good at this manipulation thing.

On a side note, Congratulations Izzy and Elainia on your precious new baby! You all are going to be wonderful parents and I can't wait to see the first pictures of the little cutie.

More birthday parties are coming up this month and early next month so stay tuned. I have been doing a lot of shopping for all of the little ones. First, its wedding and then the babies. Before I know it, we will be celebrating their graduations.

Update on Papaw

My Papaw had been released from the hospital on Sunday and then returned on Tuesday. He is currently still in the hospital but not doing well right now. He has now been on antibiotics for about three weeks, has been throwing up, and is currently on a ventilator. At this time, it is unclear if he will be placed in another hospital for an extensive stay or if he will be released to go home, or possibly another option. Please keep my family in your prayers.

No loving

Sweet Pea insisted today that she should get to live with a friend of mine for a year. She decided that since I was opposed to that idea, she was no longer going to allow me to give her "lovin". Her comments: "Fine, if you won't let me go live with Kari, I will not let you love on me anymore. (a pause) You can only hold me and give me on lovin every half day; that's it." I explained to her that meant she would no longer be able to snuggle with me when she goes to sleep at night and she decided that she would make an exception to that rule.

prayers

I need all of the prayers in the world going up to Heaven right now. I was just informed that hospice has been offered for my Papaw and my Mamaw refused it (of course). My Papaw is really worn down and sick. I pray that when he does pass away, it is peaceful and I pray that my family will have the strength to cope with the loss, specifically my Mamaw who has been by his side for over 50 years and cared for him through better and worse, sickness and health, richer and poorer. My Papaw has been the only consistent, positive male role model in my life and it has been hard seeing him lose everything that makes him so unique. I appreciate everyone's love, support, and prayers.

Fishing Trip

Matt enjoying the ride. He isn't much of a fisherman and could only handle actually fishing for a short time. Sweet Pea caught a fish and Pumpkin Pie caught a large "minnow". I had to give her a hard time about how small her fish is.















The scenery was beautiful. The lake was a little more crowded than I enjoy but it is summertime. The lake didn't get bad until that evening, when the bass boats started coming out (and showed no regard for anyone else's safety).

We all had a wonderful time. However, I don't think that the girls will be asking to go back fishing anytime soon. It is something that they have a short attention span for.
This was also Baby L's first time on the boat and she done so well. The only part that she seemed to hate was the old, hot life jacket. We are so glad we were there for her first boat trip.

Dollywood

We took the girls to Dollywood today. They had such a good time. Sweet Pea has grown a little bit and was tall enough to ride the swings and Blazing Fury (a roller coaster- if you want to call it that) for the first time. Pumpkin Pie is the one who convinced Sweet Pea to ride the Blazing Fury, despite my attempts to inform her that she would not like it. After the first big hill, Sweet Pea sweetly makes the hurling sound and says, "I'm going to Puke." I cup my hand under her mouth, with my hand tilted slightly up to protect those in front of us and convince her that the ride is almost over and to please hold the puke in. She did manage the next two hills very well and did not puke (thank goodness). The couple in front of us where also very appreciative that she held it in. Once off the ride, she comments to her sister that she can't believe Pumpkin Pie convinced her to ride that roller coaster and she must be crazy. Sweet Pea insists that she will not ride the roller coaster again anytime soon. After riding all of the rides that they "had" to ride today, we went by Tanger and bought Pumpkin Pie's school shoes. The original plan was to play putt-putt or visit the aquarium. However, due to extreme dry heat, we did not play putt-putt and the traffic going to Gatlinburg was hideous. We opted to come home and make home made lemon ice cream instead. The girls (and Matt and I) have thoroughly enjoyed these past two days. We are looking forward to our fishing trip tomorrow as well.

BEAVER! The girls thought that it was funny to see a real beaver (thanks to Shannon and the Hoyt gang). So this picture is for you all.


I realized yesterday on how many issues I really have. I thought I would include some of them in this post and then post again just to update you on our day.

1. I held the door open for numerous people yesterday at the zoo. Out of all the people, only one group of two children and a teenager had the manners about them to say thank you. I did commend them on their manners and how appreciative I am to have at least one group to say thanks. For all of the others that I held the door open for, smiled at, or attempted to be nice to- please realize that you are not the only person in this world and if you would like to see more people showing courtesy to you, please remember to mind your own manners.

2. Because of my fear of germs, my children did not pet the sheep walking around the zoo, play in the sand, water, petting zoo, or fort area and will probably hate me for all of those things later.

3. As I sat in the plush movie theater seats (that are fabric), I could not help but fear, throughout the movie, that we were all going to come home with lice.

4. Today, as I stood in line at Dollywood, with my children, I became angered with others. Several times, someone would attempt to cut line, stating someone was holding their place or they needed to get back in line where they were. Please remember, if you get out of line, I DON'T CARE. My kids are having to wait just like everyone else and I find it very rude that you think someone can hold your place in line or that you can leave line and come right back to where you were. I do make the exception for those with disabilities or trading out parents for small children, but so does Dollywood. They have parent swap for rides, line cutting for those with significant impairments, etc...

5. I'm sure that I have many more but those are the main ones that have really pestered me. For those of you who were kind today (the family that was standing behind us to get the kids measured, the woman I spoke with while waiting on Matt and Pumpkin Pie at the roller coaster), thank you for being nice people.

Fun in the sun

I truly think that I will have to return to work just to get some much needed rest. Yesterday, we accomplished Chuck E. Cheese, Build A Bear (Sweet Pea chose a monkey and Pumpkin Pie chose a doll with purple, curly hair), then we got milkshakes. We made it to the zoo by about 1:30 and traversed the whole thing, including a couple of pictures of Beavers for someone special. Sweet Pea is a more thoughtful child. As we were looking at the turtles, she asked if we could have a turtle. I did not respond quickly, which obviously left just enough time for her to plot. Her next statement, "If we get a whole bunch of turtles and put them in the yard, dad won't have to mow ever, ever again." Dad was impressed by this logic; I was not. We simply said that we would check in to that and moved on. The girls loved the butterfly gardens but neither one could be still long enough to allow a butterfly to land on them. After completing our zoo journey, in the smothering heat, we went to the movies. We watched Kitt Kittredge: An American Girl Story. I highly recommend it but I have loved all of the American Girl movies so far. The girls really liked it as well but I am the only one that cried (I'm a sap). Sweet Pea did laugh out loud at one of the sweet moments towards the end because she said that it made her happy. This is the first time she has shown any significant emotions towards a movie. After the long day, I still managed to come home and do laundry. Matt was sweet enough to unpack some of the stuff and assist with the girls getting cleaned and ready for today's activities. Right now, we are looking at Dollywood and Shopping but we are not positive of what we will do with the rest of the day right now. Saturday, we are going fishing (if everything works as planned). I promise to post more soon and hopefully a couple of pictures to display our journey.

Busy, busy, busy!

Wow, I feel like I have done this before. We have been very busy with a week that we made no plans for. My grandfather is back in the hospital again (so please keep him in your prayers). Friday, we stayed at home and got a few things done that I had been putting off. Saturday, a friend came to visit. We went out to dinner with another set of friends. After dinner, the kids played together and then my mother-in-law came to visit (on her way back from the family vacation). Today, we completed the monthly grocery run and man, groceries are getting more expensive.
The girls are doing wonderfully. Sweet Pea's newest word is "awesome." She also likes to say, "that is the most awesomest." Pumpkin Pie has made some progress with some problems that she has been dealing with and I am so happy about that. I think that despite the upcoming adolescence, and her current sassiness, we are closer than ever. I really am looking forward to her going through puberty and growing up into a wonderful young lady. Sweet Pea is another story. I am starting to get baby fever and I really wish that she was just a little bit smaller and a little less independent.
The girls have not been in a funny mood lately. We are taking a mini-vacation at the end of this week and have lots of fun things planned (Chuck E. Cheese, Dollywood, Putt-Putt, Zoo, and much more). The girls are excited and I have to admit that I am really looking forward to it as well. Pray for some funny events this week!

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday was mine and Matt's six year anniversary. I can't believe that it has been six years since I walked down the aisle and said "I do" to the perfect man. What, no one laughed! It's not always been easy but it sure has been worth the journey and I look forward to a lifetime with Matt. He is wonderful in so many ways.

Speaking of wonderful, tomorrow is a Happy three year anniversary for two wonderful friends: Brad and Shannon! Happy Anniversary guys! I'm so glad to have a couple that I enjoy hanging out with just as much as Matt enjoys hanging out with. I hope you two have a wonderful day today and wish you many more years together.

Happy Independence Day

Wow, what a week and it is only Saturday! Thursday night, Matt's mom stayed all night and left early Friday morning to head out on the Ehresman family vacation. I am so thankful we are not going this year, despite missing the family. I don't think a 10 hour drive to go camping is my cup of tea. I'm just not an outdoor kind of girl and my girls are not either.
Friday, Brad, Shannon, and Beans came over to play in the water (we will go to the splash pad soon). The kids had a lot of fun. Sweet Pea gave up her fight early on and requested to go inside and lay down (she did proceed to fall asleep soon after). The girls watched fireworks last night from the kitchen because it was storming here. Pumpkin Pie fell asleep sitting up in the kitchen chair. I did get a couple of cute pictures of it. She was absolutely exhausted. Both girls slept until about 8:00 this morning, which is a miracle in this house.
Today, we are going out to eat to celebrate our 6 year anniversary. Big shout out to Brad and Shannon who will also be celebrating their anniversary! They are kind enough to trade out babysitting so we can have a meal without the kids (the second meal without the kids since Sweet Pea was born over 4 1/2 years ago). So this is a huge treat for us! That and I get to play with Beans later- we are going to work on learning to Moo for the Chick-Fil-A contest next week! We are also expecting a visit from my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins today and cannot wait to see them because they live over two hours away and only get to see them about once a month. Tomorrow, we will try to slow down and not do so much.
Forgot to mention that we made homemade ice cream for the first time on Wednesday with the girls. The chocolate ice cream was delicious but it came from a mix. Today, we are attempting homemade lemon ice cream from my Mamaw's recipe and I am very hopeful that it will be almost as yummy as hers. Yes, Brad we are making a gallon of it so there will be plenty for you!
I hope everyone had a great fourth of July!