A Total Shock

The Monday after Easter, I had a hair appointment.  A friend does my hair, so we spent almost 2 blissful hours chatting and having my hair cut.  I left around 11:30 and called my hubby on the way home.  We chatted a bit and I thought he sounded a little different.  I knew he had been feeling bad the last week or so, but I thought maybe he was tired or something.  I got home, finished school with the kids and was eating lunch when I got a text message from Greg.  He said he started feeling really bad and he took himself to the ER.  He also said not to worry and to stay at home, but I tend  to ignore his crazy rantings.  My mom took the kids and I went off to Emory University hospital.  Not very close by, but easy to get to for sure.  As you can imagine, I was a nervous wreck when I got there.  He wouldn't tell me what was wrong so I had nothing to go on. When I got there he was in a room and looked just fine.  He was smiling and talking, so I was a little relieved.  Then he told me he had a heart attack.  At 36 years old, my sweet husband had a heart attack and drove himself to the hospital.  I am so beyond thankful that it wasn't so severe that he couldn't get himself there, but to say this was a total and complete shock is an understatement.  The past few days have been kind of a whirlwind. 

Tuesday, he had a catherization to see if he had blockages that needed to be dealt with.  The doctor came out to tell me that he has several.  They needed to go in and put stents in at least 3 of them that caused the trouble, but there was a risk that the artery would rupture and they would have to do emergency bypass.  At that time they would take care of all of the blockages which would result in a triple or quadruple bypass.  The doctor was so nice, but honestly, I was a mess.  I was there by myself, scared to death.  I mean, my husband is 36 years old and we have two small children.  He can't leave us!  My dad passed away almost 9 years ago from complications from his quadruple bypass, so I really do not have a whole lot of great memories associated with the surgery. Thankfully my best friends talked to me on the phone through the whole thing. 

Finally, the surgeon came out and looked so relieved that it went well. He said that Greg was a very lucky man.  The stent placement went well and he was doing fine.  Later the doctors came in to talk to us and show us how bad his heart really is.  There were many more blockages that needed to be dealt with and he has diabetes.  Not to mention a valve problem in his heart.  They seemed confident that they could do the surgery and he can go on to live a long, healthy life.  As long as he continues his medication and doctors appointments.  Obviously a healthy lifestyle is important too, but as genetics have played a huge role in this event, there isn't anything we can do to change that. 

His second stent placement was scheduled for May 2nd.  They put three more stents in after a very long surgery.  he was bumped once for an emergency, then they had trouble getting the line started in his wrist and ended up going through his leg again.  The surgery was only supposed to last 60-90 minutes, but was closer to 2 hours.  I was SO nervous!  It was a little harder on him than the last one, but he seems to have bounced back just fine.  We are home now, and while I am afraid to let him out of my sight, I am just trying to trust that he will be okay.  It is so hard.

I know this is a long post, and if you made it this far, thanks!  I really needed to write this out for my own therapy.  :)  There will many changes ahead and uncertainties to be sure, but together we can get through anything.

**I posted this at my other blog as well.  The Days of Our School Lives

What We Have Been Up To...

It has been absolutely glorious weather here lately!  I'm almost afraid to look at the forecast because I don't really want to know how soon it will leave us.  I know it is only February, but really, we have had a tough winter for us Georgians.  We NEVER get snow like we have this year.  And really, really cold temps.  Too much for my flip flop wearing feet to bear.  (Yes, I did actually wear something besides flip flops during the snow storm of the century.  Crocs count, right?)

So, we have had park days, and picnics.  School outside and walks around the lake. Cookouts and sweet tea drinking.  Have I taken one.single.picture.?  No.  I know, bad mommy. I have crafted just a smidge and I did take a picture of that finished product.  It doesn't move real fast, so I was able to take my time.  :)

I plan to be back to my bloggy self here soon.  I just don't want to waste any of this precious perfect weather.  All too soon it will be hotter than Hades and I will need the sweet relief of the air conditioning.  Hope ya'll are enjoying some milder temps too!

Menu Plan Monday

I was a bad menu planner last week.  I didn't follow it very well at all.  Greg was home using some vacation time for 2 days, so we really just winged it for the first part of the week.  He will be off the end of this week, so hopefully we can stay closer to our plan.  :)

Monday

Chicken Tacos

Tuesday
Chicken and Rice (didn't have it last week), green beans, applesauce, rolls

Wednesday
Ham, Augratin Potatoes, Lima beans, rolls

Thursday
Chicken pot Pie (from freezer) or hamburger pie

Friday
Date night (kids are spending the night with friends)

Saturday
Pizza and Movie Night

I plan on making brownies for dessert this week and some apple cinnamon muffins (my apples are really close to the end of their time) for breakfast. If you would like recipes for anything, just let me know!  Hope you all have a great week! Oh, almost forgot!  Linking up here.  :)

Valentine's Invitational

Since I want this blog to be all about our life, I will be posting about different accomplishments the kids have made. I hope you will all indulge me just a little with this proud mommy moment.  :)

This past weekend Brynn competed in her first away meet of this season.  We knew that she was showing improvement at practice and she also has been having private lessons each week, so we were hopeful that her scores would reflect that.  They most definitely did!

She scored 8.7 on vault giving her 3rd place, 8.8 on bars also for 3rd,  9.125 on beam, again for 3rd, here she is on beam right before she lunges into her handstand.  Awesome form!

 

And..... 1st place on floor with a 8.950!!!! We are SO happy for her!!!  Here's a couple of pictures.  This is how she begins her floor, in a straddle split switch to left leg split.

This is in the middle of her routine, part of her dance pass...

Here she is after she finished.  She knows she did great by her score, but had no idea she got 1st!

Her coach said she was a little disappointed she didn't get a 9.0 on floor, but we are still so happy for her!  

A proud moment as she was awarded the floor champion medal.

 

The team also received 1st place at the meet.   

 

Just a wonderful day for my sweet girl.  We are so very proud of her.  She works so hard every week at the gym and sometimes has to make sacrifices because of her schedule, but I know this makes it all worth it for her.  Right before she went to bed she said "Mommy, I'm a floor champion!!!"  Love!

Menu Plan Monday

 Welcome back!  It's a new week and time for some old favorites around our house.  We tried fish tacos last week, and it just wasn't for us.  Maybe a different recipe?  I don't know.  I'm not sure I can convince hubby to try them again.  Here's what's on the menu this week:

Monday

Grilled Steak, baked potato, corn and for dessert we are going to try these molten chocolate cakes.  Yummy!

Tuesday

Chicken and rice casserole, green beans and rolls.  Probably a fruit salad on the side if I can run to the grocery store.

Wednesday

Tacos and spanish rice

Thursday

Hamburgers and Mac and Cheese with a salad on the side

Friday

Pizza night!

Saturday

Brynn has a gymnastics meet, so we will go out to eat with the team afterwards.

That's it!  Hopefully I will have time to find some new recipes for next week.   Linking up here.  Have a great week everyone!

Our Week in Review

 This is our first week participating in this linky party.  I'm so excited to see how much we accomplish each week!  Sometimes you feel like you get nothing done until you lay it all out.  


Monday
Each week in our math curriculum is a planned puzzle day.  This one was for a pentomino activity.  They are given an outline and asked to use the pentomino's to fill in the empty space. The book explained that this one is the most challenging of the puzzles and may take longer than class time allows to complete it.  Yea, they finished in five minutes.  Either the book was exaggerating a bit or my kids are geniuses.  Ha!  Maybe not, but they were proud of themselves just the same.  :)

 

Please excuse the quality of this picture.  My camera battery died and all I had was my cell phone.  Parker also read Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel.  I had forgotten about that book.  It was really cute.  Later that day I found Parker with his toy construction equipment acting out the story.  LOVE when that happens!

Tuesday

I was feeling a bit under the weather, so we did our regularly scheduled school work and read lots of books.  No super exciting homeschool activities that day.

Wednesday

Brynn finished reading The Wizard of Oz, so we watched the movie on Netflix.  Then she made a Venn Diagram comparing the two.  Parker continued to work on the seasons and painted a mural of four trees with leaves in each of the four seasons. We also read one of my favorites, Ferdinand the Bull.   The kids really loved it!  Brynn learned about the science of wheels.  She read this book then we did an activity where she had to find anything in the school room to make her own wheels.  She used lids from our supply stash and a pencil, then rolled it on the hardwood floor, tile and carpet to see which place it worked best.  Parker decided they need to make themselves into wheels, so they curled into balls and rolled all over the house.  Fun! 

Thursday

My favorite day this week.  Daddy worked from home and joined in for a few of the subjects. We learned about snowflakes, how they are formed and the different shapes they take on as they fall from the sky.  The kids were fascinated at how a snowflake begins as a speck of almost anything.  Daddy showed them how to make cutout snowflakes and we had just happened to have a bit of a snowfall the night before so they brought some inside to observe.  Brynn also began learning about the lever. She was asked to make a lever out of household items and demonstrate how it would be used to help move something heavy.  She did a great job with blocks, tinker toys and some other small items.  Very cool stuff.  

Friday

We usually take this day to do a little reading, take spelling tests and finish up anything that needs to be completed.  Just a relaxing day.  Then we had to take Parker to the doctor for yet another diagnosis of bronchitis.  :(

I think we all really enjoyed this week.  Next week we will be learning about Mexico, clouds and pulleys.  Sounds like a complete mish mash of stuff.  Hopefully they will enjoy it!

Hair Cuteness

Me and hair bows?  We go waayyyy back.  I love to make them and buy them.  I love to decorate Brynn's head with them at any opportunity.  It turns out that Brynn is getting to an age where bows may not be her first accessory choice.  Bummer.  So, I had to find something to keep her head adorable.  Enter the singed flower, super hot right now (giggle) and the felt rosette.  Equally as hot, just no pun to be had there.  Here we come to the part where I am unable to accept that it may just be worth it for me to purchase these items premade, rather than attempt to make them myself.  I am certain there are many, many tutorials about just these types of things, but I have some unrelenting desire to punish my crafty self and do it the hard way.  No tutorial.  Just me and some fabric.

There were a few, minor, incidents.  Not really anything to talk about.  The small fire was relatively easy to put out and my glue gun burns are healing nicely.  The repeated trips to the fabric store for yet another piece were okay too, since the material is so cheap.  BUT, the good news is, I've got it now!  And boy, did they turn out cute.  Even Brynn likes them.  Score!  We will be putting them in the goodie bags for Brynn's teammates.  She has a gymnastics meet on Sunday and we always give a little something to each of the girls after they compete.  I will try to remember to take a picture before I give them all away. 

Oh, you wanna see the ones I made for Brynn?  Here you go...

 

This one is for Valentines day.  Maybe Easter too.  It depends on the dress we get for her.  She adores headbands, and this one seems to suit her.  I wrapped the headband form in white ribbon (good luck keeping that clean, huh?), than added the felt rosettes.  I love it!

 

This one is my favorite.  My mom has worn it once and I wore it around the house the day I made it.  Brynn wore it shopping today and got lots of compliments.  i just think these are so feminine and can work for almost any age.  I'm thinking about putting a few on pin backs to add to scarves and purses.  What do you think?

I'm working on my picture taking skills. My hubby is far better at it than me, but I have improved A LOT! Scary, huh?  Thanks for looking!

Taming the Clutter: Art Binders!

My Parker.... he's an adorable child, really.  I'm not just saying that.  But my goodness.  The art messes he makes would drive even the most patient (of which I am not) mother crazy.I am so thrilled that he loves art and that he would rather draw than just about anything, but our house is a fire hazard from the sheer amount of paper he leaves laying around.  He does use both sides, so he is eco-friendly. :)

I had to come up with a plan.  I wanted something that would contain his paper and drawing supplies and was portable, as we take art stuff everywhere we go. Along came "The Art Binder".  I'm sure this idea has been thought of before and it really is simple, but it works for us.

First, I made a simple cover to slide in the front.  I also printed his name out for the side as I have plans to make one for Brynn and it will be easy for them to grab from the shelf.  The back is empty so he can slide his favorite drawing inside.  

Since I chose a 3" binder and knew it would hold 500 sheets, I hole punched an entire ream of paper (we have an electric hole punch that makes it SO much easier!) and put most of it in there.  That way I am not always being asked to refill it.

Finally, I had a lot of pencil pouches laying around, so I filled one with crayons, one with colored pencils and one with regular pencils, erasers, pens and a pencil sharpener.  I have plans to buy him some different types of drawing pencils, I just haven't made it to the store yet.  

 

Sometimes he takes the pages out to draw on, sometimes he draws right in the notebook.  The beauty is that he can keep them all together and they are not all.over.my.house.  I haven't really decided what to do with all the papers once he is done with the book.  Do I recycle them and start over, do I keep them?  If so, how?  I would love to hear your ideas!


Linking here for her "Time to Shine"party.  Check out all of the cute stuff others have posted.  Love it!

Super Bowl Sunday!

Welcome back, Friends!  I hope you all had a wonderful Super Bowl Sunday (if you are into that kinda thing).  We are not so much, BUT we do love an excuse for "snackies" and the commercials can sometimes be funny.  


This year we {meaning I, as Greg just puts up with my crazy goes with the flow} decided to try some different recipes.  Fresh guacamole was first on the list as avocados were on sale at my Publix.  O.M.Gee....really....sooooo good!  You MUST try this.  If you hurry (and have a Publix) avocados might still be on sale!  RUN!  We got the recipe from here, but added some verrrryyy finely chopped jalepeno.  De.lish.

 

We also munched on traditional fare, like buffalo chicken dip and mini sammies.  What, that's not traditional?  Hmmm...  For a little dessert, I made some Rice Krispie Treats.  So yummy!  It's the first time Brynn and Parker have ever eaten them.  What???  They have always said they didn't want to try them, but mommy decided it was time today.  They are all gone.  Seriously.  ALL of them.  Daddy didn't help at all.  Or mommy.  Geez.

 

I decided to go with helmets, footballs and "the foam finger".  I think that was everyone's favorite.  Something about biting off appendages. Weird people, I tell you.  No, this was not all of them.  There was a bucket of them.  And they are still all gone.  If only I would have just put out this plate.  Sigh....

 

  

Menu Plan Monday

 I am NOT a menu planner by nature.  I plan everything else in my life out to almost unbelievable degrees, but menu plans?  Not so much.  I really want to try this and I really want it to work.  So, here are some brand spankin' new recipes for us this week.  I have been really busy scouring the pages of blog after blog looking for brand new yummies for my family to try.  Let's see if it was worth the effort....


Sunday
Super Bowl Party food (shhh....we just watch for the commercials)


Monday
Fish Tacos from here (hubby is a little hesitant about this particular dish)


Tuesday
Hubby's Famous Hamburgers  (So yummy)
French Fries
Salad


Wednesday
Bacon and Parmesan Pasta also from here (hubby is, however, VERY excited about this one-go figure)
Broccoli
Rolls


Thursday
Tuna Mac
Green Beans
Honey-Lime Fruit Salad


Friday
Dinner Out


Saturday
Pizza Rolls



I'll be sure to post how we liked the new dishes. I'm linking up here.  I can't wait to browse through all the other links for some inspiration! Thanks for looking!

I {Big Puffy Heart} Love Valentine's Day!

I admit, I am a HUGE romantic.  I love all things pink and think surprises are just the best.  But, I have NEVER decorated for Valentine's Day.  Can you believe it???!!!  After browsing blogland and seeing some of the most amazing decorations, I knew I had to make a change.  So, one Sunday (on a date night, no less) my sweet, sweet hubby accompanied me to Joann's, Target and the Dollar Tree.  Yep, he's a keeper.  I was on a mission.  As I mentioned, I am a lover of all things pink.  However, this day, it was red on my list.  I came up with this little mantle idea.  I am in L.O.V.E with it!  Very simple, but still exactly what I was looking for.  And it doesn't look like a 14 year old threw up in my living room.  

 I made some of the cute little ruffle balls you find all over the "Land of Blog" to put on my entry table.  I just popped them on a cake plate and it added just the right bit of color.  I also have a candy jar on that table filled with foil wrapped chocolate hearts.  No picture of that, as i am having difficulty keeping the "not me's" hands out of it.

I am officially addicted to making these ruffle balls.  They are so adorable and super fun to make!  


I am working on some other projects this week, so be sure to stop back by.  Have a wonderful day!

So....We Meet Again

Here I am again.  There are so many things to say about the reason I stopped blogging here.  It was a conscious decision for sure.  I felt like when I started my homeschool blog, I wouldn't need this one any longer.  But, if I'm being really honest (which I always try to be), I never felt like that blog was the whole "me".  Does that make sense?  I am more than "just a homeschooler".  The same way I am more than a mom, wife, homemaker extraordinaire (giggle, giggle,snort), etc.  I need a place I can blog about everything I am interested in.  While that will include glimpses into our school life, it will also be about what we do as a family as well as things I love.  Decorating, shopping, volunteering, cooking, baking, etc.   I think I am beginning to find myself and what I love.  Now that the kids are slightly older (8 and 7) and aren't SO dependent on me, I have time to craft and blog and host parties and clean and shop...you get the idea. 

I hope you find this a place where you can get some ideas, share some of your own and learn a little about me and my family.  I will eventually import my other blog over here.  For now, I will be using it primarily as a place for any reviews I do.  I am so excited to see where this blog takes me and so happy to have you along for the journey!

Our Summer (So Far)

We have been having SO much fun this summer!  Unfortunately, I haven't taken any pictures.  :(  My plan was to do at least one "fun" thing each week.  Sometimes I feel like I get so caught up in things I have to do because we are out of school and I have extra time, that I just forget to make time for the fun stuff.  Not this summer, though!  So far, we have went camping, to Fernbank, swimming, swimming and more swimming.  Next week is VBS, then it's off to Panama City for the 4th of July week.  Hoping the oil stays away, but if not, there is a fabulous pool at the resort. I spent A LOT of time researching resorts to find the one that would offer us many other things to do in case the beach was unavailable.  I hope that's not the case though.  That whole situation saddens me.  We had reservations to camp on Santa Rosa Island, but unfortunately the oil has already touched the beaches there.  Anyway, we are staying at Edgewater Beach Resort which is where we will be in October for one of Brynn's meets.  We thought it would be nice to check it out before then too.

                                         picture courtesy of 4 panama city beach condo

I have no idea what we will be doing when we get back, but it will soon be time to order curriculum for next year and Brynn's meet season will be starting.  Parker is going to be playing soccer again, so that will start soon as well.  So many things to look forward to!

Fernbank Museum

Thursday Nana and I decided to take the kids to the Fernbank Museum.  Greg and I bought a membership in January and haven't used it in a while.  They have a new Gecko exhibit that the kids thought was super cool.  So did I.  Who knew there we so many different types of Geckos?  Very neat.  If you have never been here, it truly it an exceptional place. So many things to see and learn about and really keeps the kids attention. Plus, it's inside, and when it's 900 degrees outside like it is here in Georgia, that's a good thing.

  Seeing how much bigger a dinosaur footprint is than their hands.  Much, is the answer. 
























In front of the Stegosaurus.  Parker brought "Stomp"  on this field trip.  Appropriate, I thought.

We watched the Imax movie "Bugs" before we left.  Very cool. And educational.  Love that! 

We had a really great day and will have to go back very soon.  It always seems like we don't have time to do quite everything there.  Next time we will have to take a trip to the Planetarium also.  It has been a while since we took them there.

I hope we can make time to go on many more trips this summer.  Sometimes it feels like we have to many other things to do, but maybe we can use one day each week to do something different.

By the way, Brynn isn't crying, the sun is in her eyes.  :)

We're Back!

We had so much fun on our camping trip this past weekend!  It was a little wet, but having the camper helped out tremendously.  Not so much on laundry though.  Friday evening we just ate some hamburgers and hot dogs and relaxed after setting up.  Saturday we decided we would go to the Laser Show but went with the reserved seating since it was going to be CRAZY packed that night.  Well worth the money and no chairs to carry. 

Sunday we went for a drive to feed the ducks at the covered bridge.  It is such a special place for us since that's where Greg asked me to marry him.  We try to visit each time we go.  We hiked through the trails that were there  all along the lake. The kids really enjoyed that.  I think they investigated every hole on every tree and every rock they came across.  So cute! We stopped at the Mill and the kids played in the water for quite a while.  I normally would have had them in bathing suits, but it was a spur of the moment idea. Those are always the best.  :)

Parker thinking this is pretty cool.

Brynn getting completely pummeled by the waterfall.  She loved it!

All done and ready to go.  They had a fantastic time.  We are going to have to make time to do this often during the summer. 

We packed up to come home Monday, but made some amazing memories over the weekend.  I can't wait to go again!

Packing Up

We are getting everything ready to head out for a Memorial Day mini vacation.  Everyone is going on this trip, including my mom. Today we are working on getting the camper packed up, food prepped and clothes washed.  It's always so busy the day before a trip even if you are just going down the road a bit like we are.  I try to plan ahead and make sure we have everything taken care of, but there is always last minute stuff that has been forgotten. For the record, we are headed here:

That's Stone Mountain.  A beautiful picture I found somewhere on the web.  I have always lived close enough to go here everyday if I wanted to, so it is surprising to me that people plan actual vacations to visit it.  Greg and I were just talking about how we almost take it for granted.  I wish we didn't since it truly is a beautiful place with lots to do.  We do purchase an annual pass every year so we can take the kids and let them do all the activities they have to offer.  Plus we get all kinds of discounts by being Mountain Members. It really does pay for itself. 

Anyway, I guess I need to stop procrastinating and finish getting everything together so I don't have to do it all at midnight.  Right now my house looks like this

Again, not my picture, or my house....But I would prefer my house to look like this before we leave

Completely doable, no?  When I get back I will post how I pack and make sure I remember everything before a trip. I love me some organization! Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

I'm Back! (Again) and A Romantic Weekend In The Woods

I decided I am going to try to keep up with this blog again.  I have started a new homeschool blog and have put most of my posts over there, but I think I will try to keep general/family posts here and school related posts there.  Hopefully it will work out and I won't neglect either one.  :)  So, last weekend, my sweet hubby and I took off with our new camper and no kids to Stone Mountain for a much needed weekend alone. Greg had taken the whole week off to use up some vacation, but we didn't head out until Thursday.  Now, by his own admission, my darling husband was a bit on edge in the beginning of the week (or as he put it, "shouty and stabby") so I wasn't real sure I wanted to be cooped up in a camper with him for four days if you know what I mean.  Well, it turns out that the time away was just what we needed.  We were both a little stressed me with the end of school stuff, him with work stuff, but in the end being together always helps us focus on what is truly important.  Unfortunately we both realized as soon as we got there that we had forgotten the camera.  We had so much fun relaxing, feeding squirrels and ducks, walking around the campground, taking short naps during the day, cooking together, playing games.  Just quality time being together.  I honestly think it was better than staying in a hotel for a weekend. Now, I am a luxury girl through and through, but when you are camping there are no distractions like TV, we didn't answer cell phones and  didn't use computers.  Hopefully we will get a chance to do that again sometime.  I love having time to completely focus on my sweet hubby. 

Halloween 2009

We had so much fun this year for Halloween! I think because it was on a Saturday and we could just enjoy the day together instead of rushing from work, practice, errands, etc... It started with us decorating pumpkins. Yes, we waited until the day of to do something with them. How lame.HA! The kids couldn't make up their minds about how they wanted to make theirs and I wasn't pushing the issue. Finally, Brynn decided to paint hers and Parker wanted to paint and decorate with felt. I got the idea from Living With Lindsey. So cute!

Our little town had Trick Or Treat on Main Street on Halloween night as well. We went there first and it is always so much fun. It's like a costume parade because everyone walks in a line to each of the businesses and you get to see all the cute and creative costumes. Brynn was Tinkerbell and Parker was a chicken. He was so adorable (if I do say so myself). He has such a sweet personality and just loves to have fun. The costume couldn't have been more perfect for him. And my sweet Brynn, she was so beautiful as Tinkerbell. I can't believe she is going to be 7! this month. My heart aches that my sweet baby is growing up so fast, but I am so proud of the beautiful girl she is becoming. What a wonderful heart she has. Afterwards we went to a huge neighborhood not too far from our house to see if we could pick up some more goodies. We ran into some friends and had an awesome time even though it was raining and quite chilly for Halloween in Georgia. We walked and walked and Greg went back to get the car to pick us up so we didn't have to walk all the way back to the clubhouse. Even though the kids were worn out, they still didn't want to stop when he picked us up! They had him drive us to the last few houses in the neighborhood and poor Parker was dragging his chicken self up to the doors. It was too funny! When we got home, they asked for 1 piece of candy and went right to bed! I know, I was thinking who are these children? Obviously not mine! LOL! After Greg and I had a taste of their candy we went to bed too. I think we are getting old. HA! I look forward to all of these holidays now as they are getting older and understand more. It is so fun to watch things through my children's eyes.

A Weekend Away

This past weekend we took a trip to Cartersville. Brynn had a meet on Saturday and Gregs' parents came down from Myrtle Beach to visit. We headed up on Friday night and traffic was HORRIBLE! We finally got there 3 hours later, for an 1 1/2 hour trip, that is crazy. Anyway, on Saturday we all headed to Brynn's meet. She had ripped her hands really badly on the bars at Thursday's practice and they were still bothering her. Unfortunately, she did not do well at all. She tried her best and didn't complain to her coach about her hands, but we saw her blowing on them after each event. She didn't medal and that was terribly devastating for her. As the medals were being given out, she was clapping and cheering for everyone else, but her eyes were filled with tears and her lips were trembling. Talk about heartbreaking, I could barely stand to watch. I couldn't go to her to comfort her, so I was just watching. So sad. Afterward, she ran to me and broke down sobbing. I, of course, joined her and we were just a mess. We are so proud of her whatever she does, but seeing her disappointed in herself was just emotionally draining. There is always the next meet.

Since Saturday was pretty much a wash, we went out to eat with the team then headed back to the hotel to relax, watch TV and snuggle. Just what we needed! Sunday morning we decided to head to Ellijay on the way home. Gigi and Boompa joined us too. We went to an apple orchard and picked up pies, cider, apples and sweet potatoes. So yummy! After we said goodbye the the grandparents, we headed off to Dahlonega. Parker and Brynn wanted to "go mining" so we stopped at a gold and gemstone mine. The kids and I mined for gemstones and Greg panned for gold. It was so much fun! We found some beautiful stones and Greg found several pieces of gold. Certainly a successful trip. It was so nice to spend time as a family doing something fun. Lately it seems that we have been running from place to place so much that we really haven't had time to enjoy each other. I hope we can make more of an effort to do these things together, making memories that we can all cherish.

Our Anniversary

Our 11th wedding anniversary was on October 3rd. We celebrated our wonderful day by first taking B to cheer at her Homecoming game. Greg walked her out on the field to be announced. It was so sweet and she had such a big smile on her face. What a good daddy! After her game (we won!) my mom took the kiddos home with her and we headed off to celebrate our anniversary. Greg had reserved us a room at a hotel in a nearby city. We checked in then got dressed for dinner. We met our friends, who coincidentally share the same anniversary, at the Melting Pot to enjoy each others company and a wonderful meal. Afterwards, we parted ways and headed back to the hotel to exchange gifts. Greg gave me a gift I have been wanting for years...a simple pair of pearl earrings. I was over the moon! I think he enjoyed his gift as well, Gran Turismo for the PSP. He did wait until after our anniversary to play it though. HA! The next day we did a little shopping at the mall and stopped by an appliance store on the way home. We found a SUPER deal on a Kitchen Aid mixer and I have been wanting one for.ever. So, I am now a proud owner of the "best mixer on the planet". Seriously though, I have been looking for things to mix! It is so easy, I am just in love.