Rainy Days and Sundays

My morning started off smoothly. Everyone was home, everyone was going to church to hear Alex play in the band, everyone was happy.

Until…we actually got to church. Then a certain second grader’s behavior took a nosedive. Sigh. Kind of set the tone for the day.

So when daddy left to drive Katie back to collge, I decided to make my escape as well.

All the way to the grocery store. Yippee.

I left the girls with Alex and his girlfriend and drove as slowly as I could to the store.

Got to relish those moments, you know.

I was a good shopper and did not veer from my list this time. I even used coupons. Yay me!

But as I was checking out, I realized it was pouring rain. I knew it was coming. I had just hoped to beat it home.

Rats.

Loaded the van, returned the cart, and drove my wet self home.

And I got home to this……



Say what?

I kept watching and saw more….






Cheap entertainment which didn’t require any fire (which usually happens with Alex).

And it put this certain child



in a better mood.

At least until she was told to help clean up….

The Great Diet Coke Experiment

Six months ago, I was loving my diet coke.

Six months ago, I was loving the caffeine.

Six months ago, I had increased blood pressure, blurry vision, headaches, dizziness, head fog, and other unexplained issues.

So six months ago, I did some research to see if it all was connected.

Turns out, some artificial sweeteners can have negative effects on certain people.

Lucky me. Guess I was one of those “certain” people.

Sigh.

I gave up diet drinks for about two months. That’s all I could handle. Then slowly, diet drinks began to enter my life again. And you know what?

I had the same medical issues.

You’d think I’d learn, huh?

Once again, I ditched the splenda and tossed in caffeine for good measure.

So I have been caffeine and artificial sweetener free for four months.

And my blood pressure has decreased back to the normal zone.

Methinks perhaps artificial sweeteners are not the best thing for our bodies.

Or at least mine.

Oh, and the added bonus? I have lost my craving for sweets.

Strange how things are linked together, huh?

Party in 2010!

Well, Anna Grace turned seven on August 9. Today is September 18. We just now had her birthday party.

Can you say…..”You are a lame mom?”

I know, I know.

But when your birthday falls on the first day of school and mom is a teacher, parties tend to get postponed.

So today, six weeks late (ahem), we held The Birthday Party.

Heaven help me.

We chose, because we are crazy, to have a party at home. That meant we had to clean up and prepare for customers.
(aka….company. thank my little people for that phrase)

When it’s 92 degrees outside, what do you do?

Thanks to some great friends, The Boyfriend’s parents, we were able to get a bouncy house from their side business to help keep the short people occupied.



Toss in arts and crafts,



cupcakes,



presents,



water balloons from Alex and Julie,



and the kids had a great time.

But the best thing about today???

The girls jumped to their hearts content.

And fell asleep within three minutes of hitting the pillow.

Now that is my kind of party!

New Blog Design

Well, I decided to have the blog redone. After all, it's been two years! Check out the work by Big House, Little Room.

Football Time is Here!

The football season has started once again which makes a certain daddy in this house pretty happy. He doesn’t care if it’s college or pro…..he just likes football.

Neither of us attended a major university so has no particular loyalty to a team.

Except….when it involves Penn State. You see, PSU is the closest major football university to where we graduated.

So yesterday brought a match up between Penn State and Alabama.

And I heard this from the daddy….

"We ARE Penn State!"



And this from Anna Grace….

"Roll Tide!"



And this from Abby….

"Go Rednecks!"

Hmmm….maybe we’ve been in the south too long!