Vacations and new job…

Well Phil is leaving his big corporation at the end of May. He will take about 1 month off or more. We plan to take an early 15 anniversary trip by going to the Carribbean!!! Woohoo…I am excited. I have spent oodles of time researching deals and have found some great ones through www.applevacations.com . I had to go and apply for my passport yesterday and hopefully it gets here soon so we can make reservations.

Caleb is dealing with a case of strep throat. He missed school yesterday and that put my work schedule back a day. I forgot that I was helping at another store today but that was changed to Thursday, which was good because I needed today to do some of my own! Tomorrow is going to be a killer if I try to do too much so I might leave a store for Thursday after I help at the other one. I should be done helping early enough that I will have time to go finish my stores. Ugh. I almost thought Jake was staying home today but he got up and Phil drove him in to school. I guess he was on time. Caleb managed to finish all his “make-up” work and his “gifted homework” in school today. Whew, that’s good because tonight is scouts and that means busy.

I did plan a menu out for the week and did some orderly food shopping. I haven’t done that in weeks and it has been hurting us. So tonight is sloppy joes, beans and salad. Wed is breakfast for dinner. Thursday Jake turns 13 and he requested burgers, fries and root beer floats! lol…Friday is undecided but Saturday is pizza and chips and snacks for Jake’s laser tag party. At least I have most of the week done.

I got to chat via the webcam last night with Brit and the babies. Elizabeth is still doing the “I coulda had a V-s” head slap my brother taught her at Easter. Asher can lift his head up when on his tummy. They are just so adorable!

Yesterday, while getting my photos done for my passport, I shopped at Walgreen’s. I bought a Ped-Egg for Phil to give me for Mother’s Day! I requested one and figured I would pick it up for him while I was out. He later told me he had plans to  get one for me. LOL…figures, just when I help him, he has it all under control. I think he and the boys are getting me a bunch of flowers to plant for MD.

Ok that’s it for this week. Busy busy busy. Better get cracking on those homemade sloppy joes.

2 lbs. ground beef or turkey

1/2  vidalia sweet onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic

1 bottle chili sauce

1/2 bottle water

Brown meat, onions and garlic. Drain fat and add chili sauce and water. Simmer for 30 min. or more. You can add in salt and pepper if you like. Or more garlic! Serve on buns w/cheese if you like it like that. Seems like my crew does.

Did you miss me?

I hope so. I  know I have a few faithful readers. I am so behind in blogging. I am too tired to think, on most days, about what to blog about. I still like my job. Phil is going to hear some big news about his job today or tomorrow so I will blog again when we know something. In any case, it means big changes for us. The boys are doing great. Lauren feels good and the baby is moving around, almost to where we can feel him move from the outside. Jake loves to feel her belly. I know that I still think adoption would be best but I am certain she is going to keep her boy and raise him. It will be hard and I am not sure of how my support will look like in the future but for now, I am here for her. Life has been easier since she moved out. We get along better because both of us don’t expect much from the other any longer.

I am going against etiquitte and planning, with help, her baby shower. The first plans for one fell apart due to the dysfunction of the girl who was planning it. I knew from the beginning that it was a mistake for S to plan a shower. Her whole family is a bunch of drunks and they are violent at times. It’s not the place for a baby shower. So it’s being planned for sometime in June and I will just do it. Who cares about manners at a time like this?

I had a great visit with my mother in law and dh’s grandma, who is 88 BTW. It was a fun trip out to see Brit and family. The babies are so adorable. Elizabeth just loved on me and she always remembers me when we visit. Asher was a pip! He was a crabby butt so we didn’t do too much loving on each other.  Brit and Jonathan gave me my mother’s day gift early. It’s a webcam! Now I can talk and see them and they can talk back to me and see us and all that fun. Today we hope to hook up and talk. Caleb really misses them and wants to be able to see them and chat. See, Brit just logged in! lol…

Ok, I better go. I have some grass to rake. Our riding mower is getting repaired and Phil push mowed the back 40 and the cut grass is everywhere. I need to help him out a bit and rake. Yuck!

If anyone knows how to post pictures on here, leave a comment. I don’t like the new changes in WordPress when it comes to uploading images!

Simply Elizabeth…

 (click for a larger view)

Here she is at 14 months.

My grandbabies…

They are just beautiful and I am so blessed with them. Here they are. Elizabeth is 13 months and Asher is 1 week old.

As always, click on the photo for a bigger view. This is a drawback to WordPress. I can’t get big pictures on here without distorting the page!

Wordless Wednesday

Elizabeth and Asher! (Click on the picture for a bigger size)

It’s the simple things

In life that seem to make me happy or content or feel that sense of accomplishment.

• It’s finishing that last nagging load of laundry that has been left on the floor for weeks cause there was just never enough to finish off a full load. I don’t like doing small loads. If I am going to use the energy to run the washer and dryer, then they gotta be full up!
• It’s hearing that my daughter, who is about 37 weeks pregnant, is nesting a bit and me getting excited knowing that my grandson will be born very soon. Today Brit put all of Asher’s clothes into the dresser they have for him and packed up some of Elizabeth’s things that she has outgrown. That makes me happy.
• It’s knowing that I am able to have conversations with Lauren about adoption and maternity homes and it not ending in a shouting match.
• It’s seeing my son, Jake, doing well in school and with homework. The battles we had last year are gone, for the most part.
• It’s paying off a few bills that should have been paid 2 months ago, but weren’t because I kept putting off balancing that checking account.
• It’s getting excited about our 14th anniversary coming at the end of the month and knowing I have a gift in mind that Phil will like and treasure.
• It’s hearing Caleb talk proudly about his school work and having a part in the annual spring play/musical in school. Yeah for him!
• It’s knowing that I love my family and that we are going to make it through this crazy thing called life.

This, that and other things…

Here is our Christmas tree, in negative view! Cool, huh?

Last week we were at Brit’s for Elizabeth’s first birthday party. Here are a few pictures from that day.

She wasn’t sure if she liked the hat…

“No, grandpa, you can’t have my cake!”

Grandpa was helping her walk…”don’t you love my dress?”

Today is Lauren’s birthday. She is 22. We all told the boys that she is pregnant. They seem fine with it. Not too many questions for now.

Last night I had a hard time sleeping or should I say falling asleep. I did all the tricks I knew to try and fall asleep and none of them worked. Phil was snoring a lot, which didn’t help things. I prayed, I asked myself what was I feeling, I tried to make a mental list of what I was thinking of, what was stressing me out and no such luck at that getting things off my mind. If anything it made it worse.

Today I had nursery duty at church and talked with the other helper about adoption. She adopted her son 14 months ago. She gave me information about a place to call or have Lauren call. I am not sure she can do it, but we have to look into it.

Finally, I am doing something special for Phil for our anniversary later this month. I am having our wedding pictures, or some of them, reprinted and put onto a CD. Then I will get some enlargements and frame them. We don’t have any wedding pictures up. We have few pictures of us as a couple. We had one taken with the fake Niagara Falls backdrop when we visited about 3 years ago. I will frame that one too. I have to get over the fact that I look fat in pictures. By not putting them up won’t make me look any skinnier. Hiding them is not the answer. I might as well have them up and displayed because it’s who I (we) am. Ok time to go make Lauren her birthday dinner of steak.

More of Elizabeth

Enjoying her eggs with “major bedhead”

Enjoying her bath!

What menu?

Too sick to think about food. I will post a menu when I can think of food and not want to retch. We all came down with a virus or bug of some kind here at my home. I spent most of last night emptying puke buckets and washing my hands. I also spent a lot of time tossing and turning due to my own stomach starting to feel yucky. I finally crawled out of bed at 11:35 AM! The boys had the worst of it since they were puking so much. By 3:00 AM they were done and their stomachs were empty of anything left to retch. I felt like I had a newborn in the house!

Well I did have Elizabeth here for a few days before we all got sick. Hopefully her and her mommy and daddy stay healthy. Here are a few pics to share from my time with them. Oh yeah, on Friday my pc crashed and I lost everything on it. We had to reformat the hard drive. In trying to fix my pc, I think Jonathan goofed up Phil’s graphic card on his pc because he can’t get any games to run. Oh well. Hopefully it’s a cheap fix. On to the pictures.

Elizabeth and Uncle Jake

Elizabeth and Grandpa

Elizabeth and Uncle Caleb

Elizabeth, after a nap!