Lightning Strike, Party, Decor and Simple Goofiness!

Hello Friends! Lightning struck at my house on Friday, which is why I have not posted my Weekly Blog! The lightning that struck did some damage! It knocked out my house phone line, which controls our gate at the end of the driveway. It also apparently zapped my modem, which has kept me off the internet ALL WEEKEND! That really hurt! The "bolt" also exploded the underground dog fence box that was plugged in downstairs in the basement. When I say exploded, I mean pieces went all over the basement. The outlet cover also exploded and the outlet that was left bare had black marks all over it which scared me into thinking Fire could have followed. At this point, I am just thankful that it was not worse. Yes, I have been completely inconvenienced. No Blogging, no reading blogs, no one can call from the gate, we can not even open the gate without the key, no looking up recipes on the internet, no reading IParent on Friday where my kids' grades are posted, etc. You get the picture.

My Glass is Still Half Full! We know people who just lost their house to a lightning strike! The whole house is gone! They all made it out alive, but the Mom has cancer and now they are not only displaced with nothing, but also displaced with nothing and cancer! I am thankful I just lost phone and internet.. and a dog fence!

I am at work blogging. Don't tell my Boss... wait, I feed him every night and sleep in the same bed with him.. I don't think he will stay mad long!

Our week started with a team party for Autumn's Fastpitch Softball Team, The Prowlers. We had a great time. It was at a creek, which compared to our creek, this was a RIVER. Anyway, Alex and Avery met this puppy while we were there and loved him! So cute. They wanted their pictures made with him.

Alex

Avery

Alex in the River!

Avery in the River

I caught Austin with a mouthful of Dr Pepper!

The Little Girls were content to stay behind while the Big Kids went upstream to raft.

Here is the team rafting! I love them!

I did not realize when I snapped this picture there were leaves in the way! Ohh well.

Alex and Avery rafting!

Alex and Taylor decided to go where the river flowed a little faster.

Alex got scared. Coach Brian had to come help.

The Rescue

Ok, any pointers? I took this picture portrait with my camera, as I sometimes do. I loaded it in and flipped it landscape, as I sometimes do. I saved it. Then, when I loaded it LANDSCAPE, it flipped back on its side! Alex was proud of her tower, so what the hey. I posted it. Turn your head. Feels good to get a neck stretch when you are staring at the computer for a while anyway.

Here are Coach Brian and Derek grilling lunch! It was yummy! This team is like a second family to us. We spend so much time with them. When we have tournaments, we sometimes stay together from 8AM until midnight or later. We all get along great, which is nice. Some teams do not. Again, thankful!

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Ok, since we moved in, the mantel has always bothered me. I want it to be perfect and I just can not get it right. So, I took everything off and decided to give it a try. Here is what it looks like with nothing on it (but that stupid cable box that I hate! Any ideas on disguising the eyesore?).

And here is what I did (still hate the cable box). I think it is cute. I added some red hurricane lanterns on the right side and would love some pointers. I would like to put trim around the tv to make it look like a frame? What do you think?

The cubes say Family, in case you can not read them. I thought they were symbollic of having young children in the house.

Any pointers will be appreciated. I welcome constructive criticism! Everyone should!

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Do you ever just get silly for no reason other than to make others (and yourself) laugh? Derek was getting Avery ready for bed and called me in to shut the door ( I have to be the one to shut the door. She has made that a house rule!). I came in and saw this. Too funny!

Alex had to get in on the action. I laughed at her too. She sometimes gets her feelings hurt. People tend to goo goo over Avery since she is still kind of the baby. I have to lay it on thick sometimes with Alex. Maybe it is a middle child thing. Of course, I have two middle kids!

Get some goofy glasses and make someone smile today!

You just might make someone's day and not even know it!

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Have a wonderful and THANKFUL week!

...............Until next time!

I Love My Life!!!!

I do love being a Mommy and I do love being a Wife! I also really love my job and have a great relationship with all my co-workers! So, when Steve's Wife, Melanie, had a Hysterectomy this past week, we all got together and fed them. My part was a Macaroni and Cheese Casserole and my new Squash Casserole that my Family LOVES! It is so good, but one of those multiple step processes! No pain, no gain right? Well, I could not deprive my family of Squash Casserole, so I made two! They were grateful! I was tired! Here is the one I made for Steve's Family. They have two adults, three High Schoolers and an Elementary Schooler in their home, so we had to make lots of food!




And after I cleaned all the dishes, I turned around to put them away and decided to take a picture. This is how many dishes I used to make food. I also made two banana breads that day. One for my friend's Mom who fell and of course, one for us!!

I had a funny moment with my Husband last weekend. We love sushi!! LOVE SUSHI! I decided to try my hand at making California Rolls, which most people say is not really sushi, but it is just cooked sushi, not raw. Anyway, we had all the items and as I was rolling and he was watching, we were trying to speak Japanese. Just one of those cute moments. We were even talking Japanese as we ate them. They were pretty good, by the way! I love laughing with him! I love it when he laughs so hard he can hardly breathe. Does that sound bad? It really is funny. Ask one of my kids.

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Ok, I have been doing P90X for FOUR WEEKS now! Yay Me!! It has been hard at times but I made it. I varied from their plan a little on week three because I got a "kink" in my shoulder. It felt like a "crick" you get in your neck. Anyway, I would substitute Plyometrics for anything having to do with Shoulders or Arms. Hello, if you know P90X, you know I did not cheat. I made it harder! Plyometrics is "Jump Training". I wear a heart rate monitor when I work out and Plyometrics burns between 650 and 750 calories every time I do it! I hope Suzanne will back me up on the comments. It is HARD! I love it though. I am back doing arms this week so all is well. It is almost time to take the 30 day pictures. We took pics of day one, which you will never see, and will take them Sunday (nope, you won't see them either). Not there yet!

My little girls love to exercise with me. Here they are doing push ups.

They did a workout with me one day and said they wanted workout outfits... so... Ganky went and got them some! They loved them and immediately wanted to exercise. I took video for all to see!

The Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dKEKSsYzR4

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Look how good Alex wrote Avery's name the other day! Isn't that great?! Normally I would say that too... BUT

She wrote it on this... click the picture to enlarge (if I set it up right).

Avery's Dresser!! :0 That's not good. Did I mention she wrote it in red pen? I called her in there and snapped her picture just as she was telling me Avery did it. My 3 year old, Avery, is apparently much smarter than even I gave her credit for and I really do think she is smart. But no, we all know it was not Avery. Alex said "It is her dresser, so I put her name on it.".

I haven't taken it off yet. I am not sure I want to.

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And here is my MVP! They got new uniforms this year and they really are sharp! The name of the School is General Ray Davis Middle, named after Ray Davis. He was a Marine who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving hundreds of trapped Marines during the 1950 Battle of Chosin Reservoir. Pretty great guy. Makes me proud to have a cousin in the United States Marine Corps! I got sidetracked. Davis Middle School has Marine signs all over the school, some say OOH-RAH, which I quickly knew was a Marine saying from Justin. The whole Marine theme carried over this year to the Softball Jerseys. I love the Camoflauge pattern. Isn't that cool?...and isn't she cute?

As some of you already know, Autumn pitched a NO HITTER at her first game of the season. She hit two batters in the beginning, but they ended up being the only two to get anywhere near a base! She settled down and struck every batter out after that! She even got two home runs! She wanted those homeruns so bad. I have never seen her run so fast! Our Eagles ended up winning 15-0! Awesome job Baby Girl! We were so proud!

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I am posting early this week because Friday will be busy. I have to work and then Autumn has a five o'clock ball game! Then Derek and I, along with some friends, are going to see Joel Osteen at Phillips Arena in Atlanta. We are Super Excited because we really like watching him on TV. If you have never seen him, you should watch it sometime. We can't wait. Anyway, I don't know when I will have a chance to post, so here it is!

Here is where we are going Friday Night!!

http://www.joelosteen.com/Events/ANightOfHope/Pages/ANightOfHope.aspx

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Have a wonderful week!

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Until next time.................................

It's Still His Birthday...Even though he's not here!

Today, we will be taking a trip down Memory Lane for a bit because today is my Dad's Birthday. He would have been only 54 today! Here are some pics from over the years with him...

Our Wedding Day

Paw Paw Mike with Autumn

For Autumn's third Birthday, he came and took her for her first Limo Ride to Chili's for lunch. She told him she wanted a Limo for her Birthday. It was a lot of fun and I will never forget that day. She had the best time just going to lunch. I was pregnant with Austin in this picture.

Paw Paw Mike spent the night at our house so he could be there when Autumn woke up on her Birthday. He gave her a Playhouse that we still have to this day outside.

I have always loved this picture of Paw Paw Howell and Paw Paw Mike with Austin at Bible School. I miss them both...

This picture was taken at his Pawn Shop. Aren't they cool?

He loved to have fun! I believe he squeezed every bit of fun he could have out of his short life. He loved to go places with Autumn and Austin. Here is a picture of us at the fair when it came to Conyers. He won the kids Mr. Potato Heads. They were so excited. I am not sure actually if he won them or just paid for them. He was determined to get them!

Happy Birthday Paw Paw Mike! We miss you..

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On a lighter note, here are some random pictures of our week...

Derek let Alex and Avery put his Cowboy Hat on. It is a real Cowboy hat that came from Mexico via one of our Subcontractors, Angel. They were so excited to put it on.

Then, they had to get the boots out...

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Moving on...

At dinner (and many other times they just get too loud), we often play the quiet game! The little girls will say one, two, three, go and when they say something, usually right away, they just start the game over again. There is usually not a winner since we restart so many times. Here is the only way Avery can last in the quiet game.

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Alex and Avery love to pretend that they have earrings, from small hair bows around their ears to stick on and clip on earrings to this... a bracelet! Alex loved this earring and had to have her picture made.

Then Avery went and got her crown out!

...and put it on Austin!

I ordered the kids new shoes this week and had no idea how excited they would be! They ran around the house for a long time before stopping for a picture!

...and a treat!

...and a pic with Austin!

No pictures of Autumn this week. She has started practicing with the school Softball Team every day until 7 so she is really busy when she gets home..and really dirty! Her first game is on Wednesday of next week and we can't wait. She has been told she will be the starting pitcher! I will certainly be there with my camera!

Love to all!

Until next time.....