I guess I could fill you in on other small things

Now that you have heard my tragedy, I can tell you about the rest of my life. Mother's day was very nice although I don't have any pictures. The family gave me the first four seasons of "Ghost Whisperer" and a Donkey Webkinz (because it fits their dad) and Matt picked wild daisies for me. We visited my mamaw and mom on Saturday, along with my sister, her boyfriend, and my nephew. I have been absolutely swamped at work and following two bouts of kidney stones, I feel a little more functional now. I did see a urologist this week and one of the stones is being analyzed. I also was asked to do a urine collection, which just sounds completely gross. It is just what it sounds-collect all of your urine for a full 24 hours. I am putting that off for now! My fibromyalgia has been a little difficult these past few weeks but I think it is a combination of the heavy work load, stress, and general fatigue from life. My baby girl graduated from Kindergarten this past week and it seems that her life is flying past me. It seems like it was just yesterday that she was laying in the floor jabbering with me and laughing. Now her jabbers are to back talk! She no longer laughs with me but at me! Both girls got an American Girl doll-Lanie and Sweet Pea also got a new bicycle, since she has outgrown her other one. My girls are very spoiled but I am so lucky to be able to spoil them and for that I am very thankful. This weekend, we kept my nephew and spent our time lounging around the house since it was so humid (before the storms) and then it stormed the remainder of the time. Plus we had the lice issue to deal with. My mom and her boyfriend bought two miniature horses this weekend so the kids wanted to see them. The mom should be broke within a week and the girls are already plotting how they are going to get back down there soon to go riding the horses. The mom horse is also expecting so I am unsure of how long until there will be a third horse to enjoy. Sweet Pea has been asking for a real horse for a while now so I guess she gets her wish. I just hope they don't end up getting her a real pig too. I am sure that I have left a few things out that were probably pretty important but I am human and I have work to do and I have to prepare for court this week. I would love to share pictures but sadly, my camera is collecting dust because I have been so scatterbrained and have honestly missed some wonderful photo opportunities.

My Worst Nightmare

Of all the things that I could dread in this world, LICE would have to be on the top of my list. I have made it this far in life and never had to truly endure the experience. My brother caught lice when he was in Kindergarten but I was only a young teenager and did not truly understand the experience. Pumpkin Pie complained of her head itching Saturday and her dad (being all manly) checked her head to say that she just wasn't washing her hair well. Later, when I caught wind of this previous conversation, knew that I needed to check for myself. I was horrified at the sight I found. We spent the remainder of the evening scrubbing everyone's hair with the special shampoo (although no one else was found to have anything) and then washing bedding, vacuuming, spraying items down with the special spray, etc...I didn't get to bed until after 1:00 a.m. I had nightmares all night and resumed my "cleaning" this morning. I have gone through everyone's head again and cleaned even more. I don't know that I will ever sleep well again. This has been a very tragic experience for me, even though it seems small to most others. Let's hope that lice never enter my house again. By the way, I only found a total of five bugs on her head, which I am sure is not a lot but was way too much for me to handle.

I wish I could come up with catchy titles!

It is hard trying to come up with a catchy title each time I post. Plus, I try to include so much into each blog but also keep them short so they cover quite a bit of our week.
Last weekend, we took a trip to Kentucky for a birthday party. We had a really good time just hanging out with Matt's cousin and family. I always enjoy hanging out with Val. Saturday, we made some stops on the way home to take pictures for Pumpkin Pie's Tennessee Notebook (School project). We visited Cumberland Gap, Pinnacle Overlook, and Lincoln Memorial University and Museum. I was exhausted by the time we arrived home, particularly because we stayed up so late the night before laughing and talking.
Monday, we took the girls to a nearby parking lot to ride bicycles. Pumpkin Pie is the only child I know her age that cannot ride a bike without training wheels. We have pushed and pushed to try to get her to the point where she will/can ride without training wheels and she insists that she could not do it. We took the training wheels off several years ago but she would not brave the ride so we told her it had to be done this week. She actually started to get the hang of keeping the bike up and going straight after about an hour of efforts. Her legs are still bruised up now though. She did not get the hang of using the brakes and kept putting her feet down to stop so the pedals caught her legs. Add that on top of all of the wrecks she had and she looks like she is black and blue with a little bit of peach mixed in. We are going to have to purchase a new bicycle for Sweet Pea though. She is riding Pumpkin Pie's first bicycle (which she received at 2 years old) and it is quite small for Sweet Pea. We have been looking but haven't found just the right bike yet.
The rest of the week was busy as usual with typical things going on. Thursday, I came down with something that I will assume is allergies so it put a damper on the week. Saturday, we went to Dollywood. Matt's mom, my sister, nephew, sister's boyfriend, mom, her boyfriend, and his two kids, along with us packed in to Dollywood around 10:00. We had a really good time and got a few cute pictures. I didn't take the big camera because it was supposed to drizzle all morning (which it did) and I didn't want to risk ruining the big camera. I have to say that I enjoy being with my extended family more now than I ever has. I don't always approve of every decision that my mom makes but we do seem to get along better now than we did in the past years so it was good to get to enjoy things with her being a mamaw that I would have loved to have enjoyed when I was a kid. It was good for the girls to have both of their mamaws with them and get lots of love and attention. Any time that I can get with my sister and nephew is also a definite bonus.
Last night, Sweet Pea threw up several times but seems to be all right today. I continue to struggle with these allergies, which has really knocked me for a loop. On top of that, Matt is heading to Wisconsin for work for a couple of days. I hope the girls can survive me!

Blogger is acting up AGAIN so I will just explain the pictures. One is of Tad and Val from the birthday party, 2. Josh (sister's boyfriend) and me giving him a hard time about looking for a job, 3. Josh and his pink elephant, 4. Picture of me and Matt at the arboretum (Pumpkin Pie took the picture).

Happy Easter

I would welcome any kind of break right now. .. I had so many things planned that I wanted to do and so few of them actually got accomplished. Matt drove his mom home Friday and assisted with a few loose strings to the loss of his dad. Friday afternoon, we intended to run a couple of errands because I had not finished getting the items for the girls Easter baskets. Those plans changed when the transmission light came on in our vehicle. An hour and a half and $110 later, we headed home because we were tired and hungry and traffic was horrible. Luckily, the whole transmission wasn’t going out; it was just the solenoid switches that had to be replaced. It was still frustrating since we just had the tires and the rim replaced.
Saturday, we had an Easter egg hunt at church and the girls best friends were able to join in the fun. We went to the arboretum after the egg hunt so I could take some pictures of the girls but the girls were not in a picture taking kind of mood. We headed on out to run the errands that I didn’t get to Friday night only to find out that the one thing that Pumpkin Pie really wanted was no were to be found. I knew I should have bought it when I first saw it. We headed back home to put stuff away and then met up with some of Matt’s family for dinner at Red Lobster. It was very yummy but the service was very poor last night.
Sunday was a wonderful morning. None of us argued and the girls got ready for church without a major argument. They looked so sweet in their Easter dresses and were actually well-behaved. After church, we headed to Kingsport to visit my Papaw who has been in the hospital since early on in the week. However, due to shuffling around (moved from one hospital to another and then from one floor to another) we had been unable to visit with him until he was settled in somewhere. He immediately started crying when we came in, which would typically be out of character for him. He seemed to be feeling better but would go off on tangents while talking and you had to figure out where he was going with a thought or what he was actually talking about. That was pretty difficult to do and it seemed to aggravate him if you didn’t know immediately what he was thinking. I guess I will have to sharpen my mind reading skills.
So, we planned to play outside more, take the kids to ride their bicycles and dye Easter eggs. Those things were not accomplished. I did eventually find Pumpkin Pie’s cherished item (Peace Puppy from Webkinz) and the Easter gifts were a hit. I also received a super awesome gift from Matt…I got an ice chopper and Cherry slushie flavoring. To explain why that is wonderful- I love, love, love frozen Cherry lemonade from Dollywood but as you may know, it is not available year round. So, with Matt’s purchase, I am now able to freeze my own lemonade, crush the ice, and add however much Cherry flavoring I want to this stuff and live the life of luxury with my one passion of the summer. I will just have to stock up on Cherry flavoring while I can find it.
Next week proves to be even busier than this week…music lessons, trip to Pigeon Forge to buy our season passes for Dollywood (even though we won’t have time to go in and enjoy the park this week), doctor’s appointments, birthday party, and a trip to Matt’s mom’s to help her get some stuff cleaned out of the house. I am looking forward to a break soon.

Sweet Pea's Funnies

So Sweet Pea has been on a roll lately…
Sweet Pea woke up in a grumpy mood and Matt commented that she woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Sweet Pea replied, “I can’t wake up any other way. My bed is against the wall.”
Sweet Pea had to be strongly encouraged to get ready for school one day last week and she was quite a little terror about it. As she reluctantly went to the bathroom to get ready, she stated, “Mommy, God says to not terrorize your children.” I did not respond but she started moving a little faster after the look I gave her.

Bailey's First Birthday

The presents: Tennessee Jersey, orange bone that makes noise, and birthday cake stuffed toy.

Bailey wearing his jersey and chewing on his cake toy.

Happy Birthday Bailey!

He knows that he is the cutest dog ever.

Eating marshmallows!

Bailey is officially one human year old! His birthday was March 23^rd but due to the circumstances in our household, we did not get to celebrate until this past week. Bailey loved the attention. He received a Tennessee jersey, birthday cake toy (that he has already bitten a hole in), and an orange bone that makes noises in dog tone. He ate canned dog food, which he has never had before and received three small marshmallows since marshmallows are his most favorite food ever. Matt even had to feed him his dog food with a spoon which was hilarious. We are so lucky to have Bailey in our home and he is such a well-behaved and loving dog. Happy Birthday Bailey!

Well...

It started out as a good weekend...
Friday evening, I was feeling pretty decent so I called up my bestest and we went walking. It is the first exercise I have had in quite a bit (since it is currently against doctor's orders). Matt and the girls hung out with their bestest's and played. They were filthy by nightfall. We brought the girls home and ordered out (Cracker Barrel- Friday nigh fish fry). Sweet Pea and Pumpkin Pie had their first sleep overs. Pumpkin Pie went with my and her bestest and Sweet Pea's bestest stayed all night here. I have been attempting to allow more freedom for the girls and it went very well.
Pumpkin Pie had a ball game Saturday morning. Her team won and she almost made a shot! She is definitely planning on practicing up for next year. She has basketball tournaments Monday and Tuesday. We played outside all day Saturday. When we brought the kids in, they had to be carried to the showers to strip down. They were so nasty that the floor of the tubs turned black from the dirt. We received bad news Saturday...my long time best friend's ex-husband (whom she has a daughter with) passed away.
Sunday, we almost made it to church on time...which would be a record for me. I enjoyed the service very much. We went by Toys R Us and Target afterward. Sweet Pea got two new DS games and a Zhu Zhu pet, since Pumpkin Pie got new glasses. Our dog doesn't know what to think about the Zhu Zhu pet. Sweet Pea and I hung out and watched a little television. We also made plans to be with my long time best friend and her daughter tomorrow evening but then we received more bad news. Matt's dad passed away tonight and his mom is having an extremely hard time with it. His dad has suffered the majority of his life with Muscular Dystrophy and had just recovered from pneumonia so it had seemed that he was out of the woods for now. Please keep Matt and his mom in your prayers as arrangements are made and people are traveling. Also pray for my long time best friend and her daughter. It's a lot to take in over a weekend. I have a couple of pictures to share from the weekend but I also have stuff to prepare for tomorrow so pictures will have to wait for a few days.