Summer Comes to an End

Summer is OVER........
I know I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks..... I kept thinking if I don't post the pictures and type about the great times we have had together in the last couple of weeks, then my time with my kids all day long won't come to an end! Not the case as I found out when I had to go to work "officially" TODAY. I say OFFICIALLY because I spent probably 50+ hours up their last week just getting ready for the big day.

I have to be honest I am really dreading leaving the MY kids this year more than usual!

I don't know if it is because of the year we have had with Jaylee being so sick, meeting the Macs and losing Cora, or losing a dear friend, AMBER. All of these things have greatly impacted my life, so I seem to have a heavy heart about going back to work this time...... I tear up just thinking about the moments I am going to miss with the kids..... Yes there are some days I wanted to sell all three of them, but I have learned to cherish EVERY minute and there will be tooooo many minutes away from them. I keep thinking I have to change this attitude QUICKLY because I know I will have 15 bright little faces on Thurs. just waiting to have a successful and fun year with who? ME...... So I WILL once again do it and love it, but hurt in my heart because my own kids are growing up without me 9+ hours a day.

We have had so many things going on in the last two weeks it is hard to post about them all, so I will post pictures and you can decide for yourselves if our lives have calmed down any???????

At Jeff and Amy's in Lawrence: The kids were cooling off in the pool!

Mari and her contagious laugh! what a dolly! They say she is a little drama queen at times, but of course Tia Amie didn't see it! hah ahahaha ....

They loved hugging big Tio Jason!

And yes the two buds had a blast together AGAIN! :)

T-REX: Cool restaurant at the Legends mall: They could even dig for fossils or build a "Dino".

GREAT WOLF LODGE: The kids had a blast here! So much to do, so little time...... There was swimming nonstop, wizard wand scavenger hunts, eating, buying souvenirs, and even staying an extra day because we had sooooo much FUN! GOOD TIMES!

And then comes the REAL FUN????? Bull riding???? yep you guessed it.... the boys thought they needed to ride the big bull! ha

Look at them, they are twins! tooooooo FUNNY!

and then of course little Missyyyyy had to show them up!

Kali and I were too smart, to even try it! :)

And after every day this is the end result! GOOOODDDD TIMEEESSSSS!

Kali's big question???

The Question!
Kali went to church camp this past week and came home a "different" girl..... Still happy, loving and goofy, BUT just a bit more grown up...... The question she asked all week and wanted them to tell her the answer to was: "When will I know I am a "real" Christian?" WOW what a heavy question...... They told her you will just "know"..... in a sense YES I believe that, but there is more to the answer than just that.

She told me their theme for the week was to Come With Me By yourselves to a Quiet place and get some rest.
What a concept for a teenager! Of course she had taken her cell phone, but they asked for them when they got there so they could really concentrate on what was important....... AWESOME..... She text me on the way home and said she had a blast, made lots of new friends and really connected with GOD. AMAZING!

I was so happy for her and almost jealous. What a refreshed feeling!

She asked me what I thought the answer to her BIG QUESTION was, and I had to be honest..... I don't know the answer to that..... I was raised in a Catholic family and we did go to church every Sunday. I went through all the motions of church, got confirmed and even married the first time in the Catholic church. I told her I THOUGHT it is about being a good person, knowing right from wrong, and always trying to be a BETTER person in what we say and do to yourself and others. BUT is that the correct response?

I think I have felt that feeling of being a Christian and it is what gets me through most days and things that happen or have happened in my life..... But are we really "CHRISTIANS" in the sense of what we should be?

We as a family have been searching for that "FEELING" of finding the church that can make us walk out in AWE after the service? Should we put that much pressure on the church or is it our responsibility to make it an AWE moment for ourselves??

She said they had "church chat" with the youth pastor every night, and she couldn't believe how she thought every thing he said was directly spoken to her..... She said I felt so much when he prayed out to us..... She had some sad moments at camp, praying for things she wished she could change in her life..... Like her dad Steve...... Things aren't good with that relationship and she finally sees it for what it is...... That is a hard thing for a little girl to grasp..... I try to stay positive and remind her to pray not only for change but for the life and things that are awesome in her life everyday also. God also wants to hear the good too.......

As I set here I am tearing up and thinking how much she has grown up and how time has flown by. She will leave for college in 5 short years. I am so proud of the person she IS becoming and the questions she is asking herself, it is a beginning to a life lesson that she as well as all of us will CHERISH for a lifetime.......

Paint- Rain......REPAINT........ Pissed off!

UHGGGGG! The house is being painted..... love the color, love the new look but hate the long day of working with a paint brush, then comes the rain!!!!!! What a day.... Got up early took Blake to the dentist, rushed home, took Jaylee to the sitters so I could paint..... The day went well, Jason got home we decided to try a Paint sprayer and it looked awesome..... Went quickly, covered completely and we headed in the house around 9:30 last night....... SMILING, laughing and thinking WOW we did awesome together today! THEN the......................
storm hits, I am still happy at this point... thinking AHHH we need the rain..... UNTIL I Walked around the corner to see our hardwork from yesterday and what did I see??????? BUBBLES of paint everywhere! OMG!!!!!! The happiness is gone, pissed is here and there isn't one thing I can do about it, except SCRAPE it off.......... Jason is Mr. Positive today and doesn't think we will have to scrape the whole thing, but all I say is what a WASTE! I have not drank since the concert, but Vodka is sounding pretty good? is is 5:30 yet?

that is my week so far............

Here are some "happy" things from the weekend! We went to the All for Fun in Dodge on Saturday night, while big sister Kali went to the Joe Nichols concert.... Yes the teenager went instead of her"wild" parents........... So here are some pictures of the "family weekend".... It was relaxing, and calm...... Kali left Sunday to go to church camp in Augusta and won't be back until tomorrow..... WOW we have missed her........

And as I am typing this I hear MORE RAIN! does that mean more BUBBLES?????? :(

I will keep you posted......

WHAT A BLAST!

We need to take a vacation more often!

We started the trip by stopping by Coldwater lake and hanging out with our bestest crew! It was a perfect day.... just sitting by the water, drinking some cold beverages and RELAXING the whole day..... We had a great time and shared lots of laughs with everyone! Thanks guys for inviting us and all the laughs!

Heading to Lawrence

We Finally got to meet my niece Mari and my nephew Alex......

They greeted us with open arms and great big smiles! It was really good to see them all, hug them, and know they survived the trip to Columbia.... You could tell it is going great, but some adjustments are taking place.... Joe is having a hard time with it all.... I could really tell, he was pretty quiet, didn't interact much with them and seemed a little sad.... Amy and Jeff are doing a great job of making everyone part of the family...... It will just take Joe some time to adjust to not only being the only one...... We can't wait to see them again in August. The kiddos will be with us that time, so the kids should love playing together! It was fun trying to speak espanol! We did pretty great if you ask me.... but they laughed a lot at our attempts..... we were Tia Amie and Tio Jason...... which means Aunt and Uncle......

KC and Def Leppard

It was a SUPER time..... We went into KC on Monday after Jason and Jeff played golf in Lawrence and SHOPPED! :) We ate every meal outside and enjoyed the awesome weather and cold margarita's..... We loved the retro hotel we stayed in and the Lights District was way cool down where the concert was.....And NO I can NOT party like a rock star! haha Yes I was a hurtin unit the next day.... not a pleasant ride home six hours away.......

The Kids

The kids also had a blast at mom and dads..... YES mom was ready for a big long NAP I am sure..... Thank you soooooo much for taking care of them while we got to "play"......

PATIENCE

PATIENCE IS NOT MY STRONG POINT!

Holy cow the kids are giving me a migraine! Blake is screammmmming at Jaylee constantly! And Kali NEVER listens........ uggggghhhhh! I woke up this morning and told myself that I was NOT going to yell at them today and was going to try to use my "sweet" but firm voice when they didn't listen! that lasted about 20 minutes this morning! :( uh........ now that I have vented a bit I feel refreshed.... refreshed to be calm again, or to yell will be the question...... I sit and look at them and think wow they are the cutest things ever and I am so blessed and then the streeeeaaaakkkking voice of my five year old boy rings in and brings me back to reality! ahaha

CALGON take me away, just for about 4 hours! ahahaha

We are headed to Kansas City until Wednesday! Just hubby and I! WOW five days of just good times, no schedules and no diaper changes...... sounds like heaven!

Thank you mom and dad for making that possible...... we will see if they ever offer again..... ah

We are also excited to meet my new niece and nephew Mari and Alex in Lawrence..... Can't wait to hug Joe again too..... No we didn't tell the kids we were going there, cause we would've never heard the end of it...... They will get to meet them in Aug. at the family reunion.

WILD TIMES:

YES we are stepping back into the 80's and going to see a Def Leppard concert on Tues..... Can you believe my hubby has me going to a hard metal concert.... woaahooooo Does that mean I can wear my hair BIG again???? hahah I will blog about it when I get back!

until next week....... Have a good one!

Friends

GOOD TIMES..... GOOD FRIENDS.....

Well we have had a great weekend..... Friday night we just stayed home and hung out...... It was tooooo humid to do anything else.... BUT....of course we took a ride on the golf cart around town and visited with everyone then we had to end the night with a snow cone......

Saturday, a good friend, Tad came over and fixed our back gate..... We went to Ingalls Cafe to down a big juicy hamburger for lunch....... I finished the painting in bathrooms, we took long naps, and ate a wonderful steak dinner at Vicki and Ed Whites..... Yummmmmmyyyy! We ate, laughed, and rode the Harley..... Yes it is one of Jason's big fantasies to have a bike.... well it was a blast to cruse around town on, but you know me..... I was a nervous wreck!!!!! And yes, the seat was way tooooo small for my butt!

YOU guessed it WILD BOY had to ride it..... All I heard as they drove off was "RIP OUT DAD AND GO FASSSTTT"........

At that point I just closed my eyes and prayed....... :) As you can see all Mr. Blake had to say to me was the peace sign baby........

****Jeff sorry I missed your call! I just about cried when I heard your voice..... I miss you! I can't wait to talk to you when you get home Monday..... Have a safe flight and love to you all!!!!!

I have Jason doing "honey do's" right now.....

He is putting up stainless steel lights, and towel hangers in the bathrooms...... not his favorite thing to do on a Sunday, but at least it is in the airconditioning right????? I just heard him say..."oh shit"..... that means I gotta go! :) keep you posted on the turn out! haha

TODAY........

TODAY.........

Well today was a hard day for me..... My friend Amber's funeral was today....... As I sat in the car in front of the church waiting to go in, I got this ball in my stomach..... I told Amber at that point that I loved her dearly and will miss her, But that I was pissed off at her! I told her I shouldn't be doing this today....... But that didn't stop time, or the fact that I still had to walk in there and face what I knew was going to be complete sadness..... It was a beautiful tribute to her and if you knew Amber there wasn't one bad thing you could say about her..... It was hard watching her son and brothers today try to pick up the pieces and answer questions that there are NO answers for...... WHY.... WHY..... WHY....... I guess I am selfish that way I know she is at peace and finally feeling the love she has always longed for, but we want her back here!

And just when I think the whole day is going to stink......

I go next door to pick up Blake and Jaylee.... Jaylee comes around the corner at the bottom of the stairs and looks up to see me....... MOMMAAAAAAA! with a huge grin is all she had to say and my day was BETTER! What a great way to change my outlook........

Kali left for Colorado today to go white water rafting with our church youth group until Sunday..... yes she was pumped to say the least...... I don't think she slept a wink..... So of course we miss her and Blake wanted her back to take him swimming like every other day..... But I am sure she is enjoying the break of crazzzzzziness that goes on in this family.....

Blake and Jaylee just had to settle for the sprinkler under the trampoline...... They are hoot together..... Blake jumps and Jaylee flies in the air with laughterrrrrrr....... She is in the mode of wanting to do everything her big brother wants to do..... UH??????? not sure that is the best role model right now, but it is cute to watch her try to be a dare devil like Blake........ We will have to reevaluate that later if she continues to watch the WILD boy! theeeehhheeeSounds like Jeff and Amy will be home by Tues...... WOW what a trip..... they are emotionally and physically EXHAUSTED! who wouldn't be...... Mom and Dad are going down on Wed. to meet the kiddos and give lots of love to them all. Well I am off to bed...... Hopefully the temp. tomorrow is much COOOOLLLEEERRRR!