Vacation

We leave tomorrow morning!!
The car is packed except for tooth brushes and tooth paste.

The garage sale today was good. I didn't make too much but I didn't really have that much stuff either. Between the 2 days that we did the garage sale I made about $80. Just enough to cover the booze for the trip..... Just kidding..... I don't really drink that much..... but I plan to start ....because I might need to after 7 hours in the car with 5 kids that vary in age from 6 months to almost 12 years old.

See you when we get back!!!!

I should have lots of pictures.

So much to do....

I've been very busy today. I did my shopping for vacation and made a stop at the liquor store, although with the kids acting the way they have I might need to go back!! LOL I picked up my paycheck, cashed it, went by Gamestop so Hunter could get a new game by trading in old ones, and went to the pool store to get more chlorine.

I have also packed and done some laundry. I'm am currently waiting for some banana muffins to finish cooking in the oven and I'm about 1/2 cup short of flour for a last batch, so I guess I'm done with that. I need to prepare some chicken and freeze it. Shred some other chicken and freeze that too. I also need to clean out the van today. All this stuff has to get done today because tomorrow I will be going to my Orientation at school and it's says it's an all day thing. I hope not, but I'm prepared for it to be. On Saturday I will be getting up at the crack of dawn to try my hand at a garage on the other end of town. I'm hoping to make some last minute cash for the vacation (I need it for the booze!!!) Actually we were hoping to make it to a nearby water park up by the beach that we are going to, but we'll see how it works out.

We leave on Sunday!!! Only 3 days away!!!

I got good news from my sister on Wednesday that I forgot to share: The baby has caught up in weight!! So the bed rest that she is on is doing the trick and she has to remain on bed rest. If I'm right she is about 29 weeks and they are hoping to get her to 36 weeks. I'm so happy for her and so glad things are looking up again.

Weigh In

Well, I was conspicuously absent in my weigh in last week. That was because I was up instead of down. So I'll tell you now because I am now down again.Yeah!! Two weeks ago I was 141.2, last week I was 142.0 (yes, I know only up less than a pound, but up none the less)
Today I was 139.0!!!!
Woo-Hoo!!!
Passed my original goal and only 4 lbs away from my newest goal. I am thrilled to say the least. I can now fit into and actually zip all of my pants even my Lucky jeans!!. The bad news is that my fav jeans are now too big, and because they sat so low on my hips before, now they just fall down... all the way down!!!LOL

I am ready for my beach vacation. I'm ready to be seen in a bikini again.

Ps. I want to post a picture of me but I have no recent ones. I'm always the one taking pictures.

Pictures from Stella's Party

These are a sampling of the pictures from her big day! Most are self explanatory but the ones that aren't I don't really have an explanation for anyway!

Stella's Cake

Well, I did it! I made her cake and was very happy with the results!!! She got everything she asked for: chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and butterflies and pink flowers.

and here is the result:

Feeling a little Krazy

In the next 10 days or so I have a LOT of things to do and lots to remember to do. That's the hard part for me is the remembering. Stella's birthday is Saturday and I'm having a small get together. I'm planning on making THIS cake for her because she asked for butterflies and flowers on her cake. She also asked for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting... she is SO my kid!! So preparations for that cake will have to start Friday. Also on Friday I have a birthday party to take Hunter to and I will need to get a present for that birthday party. I need to go grocery shopping but I can't do that until payday (guess what day that is.... yeah, Friday). On Saturday before Stella's party I will be picking up my mom at the train station. She comes from the Fort Lauderdale area visiting my sister and is the best way to get from there to hear (cheaper and faster than renting a car!). I'd like to do a little decorating for the party like streamers and balloons but I don't know if I'll get that done or not. Then after that's all over with, my friend and I are planning to have another garage sale right before we leave on vacation. (We leave the following Sunday and the GS will be on that Saturday) I think I must be Krazy!! For vacation I will need to pack for a week for myself and 2 kids and food and toys and stuff for the looooong car ride. The car ride. Yep. 6.5 hours with no stops. we are driving with 5 (yes I said 5) kids in the van. I know I'm Krazy. So it'll probably take us about 7.5 to 8 hours to get there. But, once we get there I hope it to be very relaxing and an easy vacation..... I can hope, right?

Anyway, back to all the crap I need to get done. I can't do it now. I have to wait until closer to whatever it is to do it. I can't pack now... the kids'll still need their stuff. I can't make the cake now... it'll get stale. I can't have the garage sale now... it's Thursday and no one will come to buy my junk on a Thursday. I can't go grocery shopping... not till payday. I can't pick-up my mom... she won't be there yet.

But I could go tie up the kids and have a Drink. Something with an umbrella in it!

I kid, I kid!

Playing dress-up

Stella's new love is playing dress up with Jillian. She is wearing a Disney's Sleeping Beauty ensemble, complete with sparkly shoes, magic wand and tiara. I think that she might just be getting some dress-up clothes for her birthday! Shhhh... don't tell her!!
She tells me they were being pirates.
They were trying to only have one eye covered.
It wasn't working too well.
But how funny is that!!!!LOL

You know it's bad when...

Your soon to be three year old gets a spoon out when she's asking for cookies.

It's apparently the only way she's ever seen those eaten.....

Cookie dough, right out of the wrapper, on a spoon.....

ROTFLMAO!!!

Summer activities

This summer is about half over and we haven't done quite as much as I had hoped to. The kids don't seem too upset though. They never seem to want to go anywhere but complain that they are bored?!? I don't get that part. So earlier in the summer Hunter went and spent a week with my dad. Just Hunter and his cousin Josh who he had never met before and is also about the same age. Apparently they had a blast and got along very well. I would love to have had more pictures but my dad is sometimes slow about those things. The picture below is the day we went to pick my boy up. He didn't want to leave. Either did Stella.


My dad had set up lots of fun things for the boys to do. One of those things was this super big slip and slide, made out of a large piece of plastic (not one sold for the purpose of slipping and sliding). Stella couldn't quite get the hang of the running and falling to slide so grandpa helped pull her along with a rope. She loved it too.

Anther activity that has been happening alot this summer is 'dress-up'. Stella has been raiding my closet and I can hear "clip-ity clip-ity clop clop" down the hall when she wears my heels.

Super-hero is the other dress-up of choice. Well really it's not a choice as much as the only other option. This girl really would love dress-up clothes for her birthday. (Anything pink would be loved by her, I'm sure)

Good or Evil??? I'm not sure!

Another activity that we have been making the most of this summer is going to Lithia Springs with some of our friends. We've been almost every week this summer. Sometimes more than once a week. The kids still love going and aren't tired of it yet. In this particular picture they are building a "Tadpole Resort". It's one of the few pictures I have with all of my kids and not too many other kids.


I can't believe there is only about 5 weeks left before school starts. I dreaded the summer but I know I'm gonna miss them when we are all in school and Stella is with a sitter. : (

Weigh In

I don't normally weigh in on Wednesday but I missed it yesterday. So I did it today. I'm not down as much as I'd like this week but the 4th of July snacking and cupcakes and the assortment of other goodies that day did not help.

I am down another 1.2 lbs!!

So another 6.2 lbs to go, and only 18 days left till vacation. That's probably not going to happen. But I'm gonna try!!!

July 4th celebrations

We had a blast on the 4th. We got up early and met a friend at the parade. The kids had fun catching the beads, candy and the flyers with free stuff, especially the free milkshake flyers! We were able to get a great spot in the shade towards the end of the route which was good because all the people in the parade passing out stuff were giving out handfuls to everyone because it was the end and they wanted to get rid of the stuff. The kids made out like bandits!



At the very end of the parade were the the fire trucks. The kids went to stand with some other kids on the other side of the road. Those other kids had water guns and ... well, the firefighter didn't like get sprayed so she took out her "watergun" and got the kids back for spraying her. The following is what the kids looked like when the firetruck moved and we could see what happened to them. LOL!!! They were SOAKED!!!!

After the parade we went back to our friends house and ate lunch and cupcakes and played with fireworks (the kind you can do in the day) until the sun went down (literally).



That yellow gun that Stella has is the kind that shots out confetti, like a champagne popper only in gun form.


This poor, poor mailbox.....


had some not friendly visitors....

Whoa!!! I wonder what the mailman would think about this?!


Just killin' time by playing around


The game was called "bounce the ball off Stella's head"

My mom might not like this but it's funny anyway

So last night I was reading a dinosaur book to Hunter and the conversation went something like this:

H: So ... there aren't ANY dinosaurs alive?

Me: No, honey they are all extinct.

H:What does extinct mean?

Me: There aren't any left, they died millions of years ago.

H: You mean, like, before Grandma was born?!

Me: (laughing) Yes honey, way before Grandma was born!

I'll get there this time!!

So After being invited to the beach I remembered that back in January I was on weight watchers. I never got to my goal weight. I did lose about 10lbs. And I stayed there for the last 4 months.

But in light of the up and coming beach vacation I feel that I would benefit from losing the remaining weight that I wanted to lose which was a grand total of 16.6 lbs. I am happy to announce that today when I weighed myself at work I am down 3 whole pounds from last Tuesday and down a total of 14.2 lbs (since January). I am now only 2.4 lbs away from my initial goal but now I have a new goal of reaching 135lbs.

I think I can lose 7.4 lbs in 3 1/2 weeks. Maybe. I just have to remember I'll be in my bathing suit for a week. Next to my friend who is a skinny mini.

I'm hungry!LOL!