Wednesday, July 30, 2008

We're home!

We are home from Boston. We had a great trip. I loved hanging out with my family. We had a great flight up, no issues to speak of. We went to a really cool place while we were there called Davis Farm Land, the girls went to a movie with Nana Nana, Erica and Tyler, we went to the Old Country Store (a Mansfield fav,) made smores in the fire pit, played in the sprinkler when the high was 80 with ZERO humidity!, played name that tune for hours with the tens of thousands of songs on my dad's ipod, and just enjoyed all of us being together.

Then there was the trip home. Everything started well. Our plane to NY left at 1:15. So we left my parent's house at 10:30 (they live an hour from the airport) armed with food for the day. LOTS of food! We got to the airport and found that they were not doing curbside check-in. So that was fine. A skycap offered to help me inside. All he did was take my bags to the regular ticket line where I had to get in line. And then he actually said to me," You can settle up with me now." HUH?!?!?! Anyway, I gave him five bucks and he went on his way. We get through the line where the lady doesn't even check my license, I guess I don't look threatening with the girls or something. And we head to security. That is fun with 4 kids, 3 back packs, 4 tote bags, a stroller and five pairs of shoes. And since I am FREAK, all of us had socks that we put on just to walk through. But this time was a little easier than the way up because at least Madison walked through this time. (On the way up I had to carry her and Vivian through.) Anyway, so we make it through and collect everything and put our shoes back on and we are on our way. We ate lunch before we got on the plane, and that went pretty smoothly. After 7 trips to the potty, we are ready to board the plane. The plane between Boston and Laguardia is very small. So we had two seats and then the two behind as well. On the way to Boston this flight went great. On the way home, not so much. Leah decided she wanted to sit next to Mackenzie. Which would be fine were she not the drama queen of the south. So Mackenzie and I work to get the Cares latches that we have for Madi and Leah hooked up. They are pretty cool, they make the seat more like a car seat so they have the shoulder straps and can't get out. And then I put Vivian in her little vest that attaches to my seat. Did I mention I am a FREAK?!?!?! Again, all these things worked better on the way to Boston. So anyway, it's a 40 min flight from Boston to NY of which Vivian cried the whole way and Leah screamed about every possible ailment a child can have. Fun times.

So we arrive in NY. Did I mention that both ways we had to go through security again in NY? So fun. Back on go the socks, fold up the stroller, count heads, shove 87 bags on the belt, go through in the right order (oldest to youngest) get stopped b/c you have filled the water bottles up with water, get cleared b/c you obviously don't have the time or the brain power to remember your bomb when you are a part of this circus, collect everyone and all the bags, fold out the stroller, put children in the stroller, take socks off, put shoes back on, etc. Are we having fun yet? After all this we still have an hour to kill before our flight leaves. So we sit down for our snack, the little ones run around, drop food all over the floor, load everyone up and all the bags and head down to the bathroom 8 times, try to convince Madi that this potty is suitable for use (what is it about the bathrooms in NY? She wouldn't go either time), etc. So finally it's about time for us to be called and they come over the speaker and say we are a bit delayed due to the plane not arriving on time. No problem, more running around, more snacks, more falling on the floor and giving me a heart attack thinking about what kid of germs they are picking up, and more pottying. Finally the plane comes in, the people get off, they clean the plane, they board the first class and are about to board us, when Leah has to go potty. Run back down the hall, kids and bags flying to race to the potty. Race back up the hall and are the last ones on the plane. Excuse me as we bump into every single person we pass as we go down the aisle. I put the latches on both seats, get the bags stowed, snacks accessible, water bottles out, kids in, and tried to put Vivian's vest on and she went nuts. So I just decided to let her sit in my lap. Thankfully there was no one next to Mackenzie on the other side of the aisle, so I knew we could move kids around if needed.

We sat on the tarmack for about 30 min and then the pilot said over the intercom, "We are experiencing a delay due to plane traffic. We are #15 in line." I thought, Oh my word! Seriously? But I kept it together. We sat there for another 30 min and he said," Ok folks we are #3." SO I tell the girls we'll be taking off in just a minute. 5 minutes later the pilot comes back on and says, "Well folks, we have another delay. We are going to have to go back to the gate and shut it down due to weather in Atlanta." I started crying. I was so tired and done. Thankfully we circled around the airport and they did let us take off. Finally once we were in the air they could watch their movies. And Vivian and I played with the headphones for a while. We hit another delay once we got to GA. They put us in a holding pattern due to weather. I really thought we would never get here.

When we got up to get off the plane, the older lady who was behind us stood up and said, "Honey, you deserve a medal!"

We finally got home about 9:30 last night. Whew! I have tons of pictures to post and I promise I will get to them soon.

Monday, July 21, 2008

We going to Boston!

We leave in the morning for a week with my family. And by "we" I mean me and the girls. Tim can't take any time off right now. So I will be the crazy lady on the plane that everyone hates by the time that the flight is over b/c now you know all of her kids name well! We do connect in New York, which I think will be good for a little change of scenery. I will be armed with movies and food. :)

Friday, July 18, 2008

Random pics

My hippie girls!


Silly Vivian

The gang with my Nanny and Paw Paw


It's Princess Time!!

We had our friends Aria and Gianna over yesterday to play. Mackenzie decided to be the stylist and dress all of our princesses up for a fashion show. Then she put some music on for the princesses to dance to. They all boogied to "Who let the dogs out?" It was hysterical!!















Wednesday, July 16, 2008

"There are only two choices...

To please God or to please yourself. Which choice are you making?"

That's what a sweet friend challenged me with last night. Talk about hard to hear. The reality is, I most often choose myself. And I haven't even realized that is what I am doing. But last night was the beginning of me being able to answer that question differently. My only goal in my life should be to please God. I get so worked up with having to do this and do that and I feel like I am spinning in circles sometimes. Doing a lot but doing nothing well. God has shown me that if I will make the choice to please Him, He will direct me with all of those responsibilites that I have. What a comfort to know that I am not in this alone. I have my maker to guide me and help me. And to know that all the things that I go through are hand picked for me so that I will more like Christ! I really needed the reminder.

Monday, July 14, 2008

My baby's name...

Is about to get very popular. Angelina and Brad Pitt had their twins and named one Vivienne. Beautiful name (spelled differently.) But I have a feeling that the name will become more common place now, which is a bummer.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Maisy's visit with us

I totally forgot to post about our visitor that we had. While Nana and Papa were in Peru, their dog Maisy came to stay with us. Now you guys know we are not a dog household, but we had a great time with her. I think it really helped Madi with her fear of dogs.

Leah is discussing how to escape with Maisy.

Poor Maisy had no time to herself, except when we were gone!

Getting a little sun

New best friends!

Building Birdhouses

We took the girls to Home Depot last weekend to build birdhouses! They had a blast. Ok so I wouldn't describe it as a blast for Mackenzie, but she enjoyed helping Leah make hers.






It's a girl thing!!


Or It's a "Gril" thing as Leah says. You guys wont believe it, but Tim saw these shirts at Old Navy. And you know us, nothing comes easily. So I had to call Old Navy's all around the country because ours didn't have Madi's size.


This is more the reality of "a girl thing!"

Did I mention drama?

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Saturday, July 12, 2008

Update on Tim's uncle Jim

He is off the ventilator and breathing on his own. The main artery to his stomach was severed, so that is a big part of what the srugery was for last night. His vitals seem good and he is responding a little. It's going to be a long road. Thank you for your prayers.

Prayers please

Tim's uncle Jim was in a horrible accident last night. He was working late at his office in Atlanta, when a woman in a pickup truck plowed through the office building, right where he was working. The truck pinned him up against the wall. He was able to call 911, but when the ambulance arrived, they did not see him at first and only tended to the woman. Then they realized that he was still in the building. He was rushed to Grady's trauma center where he was in surgery for several hours while they tried to stop the internal bleeding. As of 2am when we came home from the hospital, he was still on a ventilator. He has some vertebrate in his back that are broken and some punctures in his intestine. I believe he was at least stable as of 2am. Please pray for his wife Mary Anne and his kids Jennie and Kevin especially. It was many hours of not knowing if Jim would even survive. And if any of you have ever had someone at Grady, you know the nonsense that they dealing with as far as getting answers about his condition.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

A warning

Another thing to think about in regards to kid's safety. This is a friend of a friend's story.

Hi friends,
I wanted to share with you all about a scary accident that happened to my son over the summer. My son Smythe(1) and I went to the playground yesterday to play. We were getting to go down the green plastic slide just like the ones we have at school. As he begins to go down he rolls to his tummy and starts screaming. I immediately grabbed him and realized how hot the slide was. When I picked him up I noticed that his skin was rubbed off his belly. I then saw that his hands and fingers were losing skin as well. We ran home and I called 911 because I was alone with him and my 3 year old. When they arrived they took us by ambulance to Scottish Rite Hospital. They said that we needed to go to the burn unit so that's where we have been this morning. They had to do surgery on him this morning. He suffered 2nd degree burns and had to get some new skin put on his burns. They scraped off all of his blisters on his fingers and covered them with new skin as well. We feel very lucky that it didn't burn his face. I am telling you this as a warning. I would of never thought to check a plastic slide for temperature. Please be careful, it is so hot out there and you never know what could happen. I am sending some photos of his burns. I am still in shock that this could happenctures from AMy


Click here for pictures

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Park fun!

Yesterday we went to the library and the park. And when I say "we" I mean, myself, my friend Aimee and 10 children. I was watching our other friend's 2 kids, so we had them with us too. But it went so great. First we went to wildlife exhibit at the library and then headed to the park for lunch and playin. This park in Jasper is so cool. It has a lake with fish and ducks to feed and a playground and a walking trail. So much fun!


Lunchtime!

Sweet Laurel just taking it all in

Joel, Andrew being silly, Madison and Avery Feeding the ducks and swans

Vivi Mae swingin'
Andrew and Madison

Avery and Vivi swingingAvery
Leah was "hiding"
Mackenzie hanging out on the train
Joel

Did I mention I have no faith in the medical community?

So, my doctor spazzed on me when I went on Sun. She was talking so fast that I must have misunderstood her. When I called back to ask if there was another medicine I could take, the nurse said the chart didn't mention Lyme Disease. It only said treating an infected bite. So I was sick for 24 hours for no reason. Well, actually I lost another 2 lbs, so it was worth it. Anyway, the spot stopped growing, and I am fine now.

Monday, July 7, 2008

So if I do have Lyme disease,

I guess I will die of it. I can't take the medicine. It made me sick within about 30 min of taking it today. But the more I think about this, the more I don't even know if that's what it is. I have another bite on my leg, so how likely is that the tick attached it self twice? Or maybe it brought a friend along for the ride. The other thing is you all know, I am SOOOOO not an outdoor girl. So how does someone who stays inside 90% of the time, get a tick? Maybe Tim brought it in, but he's very careful about that. Not to mention, I never saw a tick on me. Who knows. I have about zero faith in the medical community most of the time anyway.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Lyme disease

So it looks like I have it. I have this bump that keeps getting bigger and uglier. So I went today to the dr and that's what she said I have. Which explains why I haven't been feeling too hot. The good news is, it's not contagious and most of the time the syptoms go away with the antibiotics. The bad news is that there are rare cases where you have the syptoms forever. And we all know how "rare" things turn out for us!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

The 4th was kind of a bummer for me

I can't really explain it other than I felt down. It was the first year in several that we didn't have a party. I didn't really feel up for doing it this year, but at the same time missed having everyone here. I really love to entertain. We didn't go to a parade and only 2 of us went to the fireworks. It wasn't a bad day, I just felt kind of off. Tim was planning to take Mackenzie and Madison to the fireworks at least, but then Mackenzie got in trouble (for like the 15th time this week) so he just took Madison. I think it was a blessing though b/c they had a really nice time. And in a house with 4 kids, it's tough to get that one on one sometimes. So that was nice for them. We had a nice relaxing day, but I am a little bummed that we didn't do our traditional dress them in patriotic stuff and take pictures and all of that. But I did work out last night and not having a party kept me from killing my diet yesterday.