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.

Weekend

Thursday afternoon, we met my mom and picked my nephew up. We were looking forward to some outside (park, zoo, etc.) play time. Unfortunately, it rained the whole weekend. Thursday evening, we attempted to go to Duck, Duck Goose. However, it was crowded and three fussy kids who did not want to shop were not having it so I didn't get to find any great deals.
Friday morning, we had Easter pictures made, which turned out wonderful. We attempted to find new eyeglasses for me and Pumpkin Pie but could not find any we liked. We had an eye appointment that afternoon and thank goodness my eyes are not getting worse. Sorry to say that is not true for Pumpkin Pie and we are on the hunt for cute new glasses for her again! We stopped by McDonald's after the eye doctor for a job well done- all three kids being well behaved just does not happen that often. We played inside the remainder of the afternoon but the kids didn't seem to mind (since the rain kept us in).
Saturday, I attempted to purge some stuff in my room and made quite a bit of progress. The kids had to stay inside yet again but played together well and I even got the privilege of playing with them some. As you may recall, I am often excluded from play time because I am not much fun (according to the girls). We took my nephew home that evening and stopped by my grandparent's for a delicious supper. I love having visits with my nephew and my grandparent's so that made the week great.
That brings me to today...my husband hit the snooze (or so I thought) and we woke up too late for church. Of all the days my kids decide to sleep in, it would be on a Sunday. We went to Target though (needed some basics) and headed back home to do some more cleaning. I decided that since I didn't have my vehicle right now, it would be a good time to clean out the garage. I have a neat pile of things that I am purging and the garage is ready for it's baby to come back home. Afterward, I took a nap and again, my husband did not wake me up until 6:30 (guess what time church starts!). So I played Wii with Sweet Pea this evening!
Matt's dad is off of Life Support and should be moved to a regular hospital room tomorrow. He is recovering much faster than the doctor originally predicted, which is a good thing for Matt's mom. She has been under so much stress.
So it is back to a normal week...the girls go back to school, I have to work a full five days, and we are back to the regular running around (music lessons, basketball games, doctor's appointments, etc. the list goes on and on). Not exactly the spring break we had hoped for but overall, I can't complain.

My vehicle

Thursday, as I was driving to work...maybe I shouldn't even say driving to work because I had barely made it out of my subdivision, when a stinky thing happened. We live close to a school and the buses have a turn off near our subdivision exit. Often times, the buses will swing wide to make the turn. I was on the receiving end of a rude bus driver who did not seem to care that I was driving down the road (on my own side) when they decided that my side should belong to them as well. To prevent them from hitting me, I swerved off the road...just my luck-it was a ditch instead of a yard. That being said, I have to replace a rim and since it was about time for new tires anyway, I am going ahead and replacing all four tires instead of just the one. Total damage- approximately $1,000. I just wonder if the damage would have been worth it if the bus had hit me instead of me swerving?! We now have a loaner car which we may have until Monday or Tuesday (since Honda doesn't keep rims on hand).