Just another day in After school land

This is my after school crowd. I pick up Adam (my best friends youngest) and we come home, do homework, eat a snack and then apparently play Ben 10.

I have started to learn to heat emboss paper for scrapbooking. And I decided to save money by not buying a 2.99 craft tray. Well if you do not have a craft tray to hold all the embossing powder, you may end up with embossing powder in your pants.

I am just saying.

And then the Flood Gates Open

It is not everyday that you get something off of the DHL truck that knocks your socks off, Slaps you sideways and well- RUINS your makeup.

I got a package from my father's boss/close friend. I was NOT expecting it and opened it up and this is what I found:

Shannon
I am enclosing a copy of the Federal Newsletter featuring your dad. It kind of captures people's feelings about him. I think of him everyday and the memory still brings both sadness and then a smile to me. Know that your dad was very proud of you, Nathan and the family. His wallet was worn out from showing pictures of you all. I hope that with time when you think of your dad you will find yourself smiling.
Take care,
Gary

Ok now you know why I must re-apply my make up. You can click on my dad's site and see the article that Gary sent me. I so appreciate hearing the wonderful stories of daddy and his effect on people's lives. He inspires me each day to do good. Just do good.

Furthermore I had made a commitment to finish scrap booking Christmas 2007. (as it is almost August) This was daddy's last Christmas. Well I do not think that I can do it.

Lion Country Safari

Mr Turtle In the Back Yard
Mr. Turtle being released at the pond
These are MY babies!

So Yesterday I was out back watering my plants. My potato vine was climbing up to my window, knocking and asking politly for a drink of water. So I went out and watered everyone. Upon doing so, I thought that I saw a turtle but NO it cannot be, we live three blocks from the pond and so I brushed it off as the football that we used to pitch around then was taken over by Mike the dog and perhaps eaten by the lawnmower. NOT a turtle.

Then I was in the house yesterday-kids home from school, John comes in and says, "Mom there is a turtle in the backyard." He says this like this is a normal occurance. I now think that their are small signs posted around the neighborhood that state, in animal verbage- "For Safe Haven, head to 2818 St. Johns" I have turtles in the back and Rabits in the front.

So I look over the fence, see Mr. Don (the neighbor with the perfect yard-no varments) and I realize that holy moly I cannot let this turtle live around here. Mr. Don has a 5500 Gal. pond with his Coi-his PET Coi. A turtle in the Coi pond is NOT a GOOD idea. SO we haul the turtle to the pond down the street. Catch and release people!

And speaking of my rabits! I love them. I woke up at 6AM today, looked outside and WHOA! the irrigation system is raining, pouring on MY babies! I book it outside, turn off the water and check my babies. Whew! They are fine. Not a drop and perhaps Bonnie does know what she is doing. But just in case Auntie Shannon is here to supervise and support. And I made Uncle Nate lake for work, he needed to see the babies. He said again that they are cute-I am SURE that my campaign is going well and perhaps I can move all 4 of the babies and Bonnie into my house.

I am keeping my fingers toes and hairs crossed.

Bonnie's Bunnies

As you can see, the babies have had a busy weekend. They have added a foot to their ears, they now have hair and they are still as cute as they can be. They do not have thier eyes open yet but I will be there the moment that they do so that they think that they are my babies- HA HA HA. Imagine the shock at thinking they have to grow as big as me.

I am in love and I told Nathan that I was going to keep one. He protested but I am going to stick with the campaign.

Carson is 4!

http://www.slide.com/r/dpBSCutH0z93BqTJziuRtkvdV8qGkHt7?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

Click on the above link to go to my latest slide show. Carson is FOUR!

EE is in stitches

Well try as we might-we did not have a productive scrappin' evening.

Ethan decided to put his life in the comfort of his bed pillow and look what happened! He was apparently running down the hall and decided to jump down and well the wood floor does not give much. And your chin can split open.

It was border line stitchable-to me- and so we headed to Stonecrest in Smyrna. Why not MTMC? Well MTMC is like SNL's Appalachian Emergency Room and I did not want to expose Ethan to that mess. So five stitches and a Happy Meal later we got home and did NO scrappin.

Just a day in the life people! Now the ER count with the boys is up to 4- two visits each. And the stitch count is well into the teens.

The Newest Memeber of our Family!

So if you notice the first picture is of our newest family members. I knew that something was going on when this mommy rabit was hanging out in the front yard. I thought that she may have some bunnies around somewhere. And then today I am walking to get the mail (which come to think of it is still outside)and I noticed that the yard was messed up and lo and behold we have a nest of bunnies. I am so excited! I drug Nathan outside and showed him and he was excited as well. And I am sure that the mommy bunny was excited when the lawn mower man showed up yesterday. OH well did I mention that Bonnie Bunny (let's just name her) made her nest in the middle of the front yard? Not smart. Luckily we have some Yellow cones that we have placed in the yard surrounding the nest-they are safe and well marked from the sky-or perhaps the neighbors think we have a very small game of soccer happening. Any way I have placed some baby carrots and some spring mix salad by the nest for the mommy. And since Bonnie and I are on the same diet-I had all of these items on hand.

After running a couple of errands around town with John-you would not believe how much he will talk when brother is not around, we threw daddy in the pool. We were joined at the pool by Melissa, Jacob and Adam. Daniel or Pops as we now call him, stayed home to geek out the bonus room because Nate and Glen are going to come over. They are going to network two Xbox 360's and blow things up til who knows when. BOYS! They never grow up. Melissa and I are going to scrapbook and do what we do. So we hope you have a nice evening. We are busy watching Ben 10.

Live Your Best Life-And I am not Oprah!

I am going to put a fun spin on this although I am sad.

Are any of you aware of the "The Last Lecture". It was made by a professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. the Professor that made this speech is Randy Pausch. The speech was a Life's Little Instruction Book for his kids. However, the message of the speech is remarkable and rings true for all that want to live out your childhood dreams. He suffered for quite a time with Pancreatic Cancer. He lost his battle with cancer today-he leaves behind a wife and three young children and a legacy of innovation in the computer science world. But I will remember him for his book and his unending drive to live a good life and set a good example.

And I did not even meet him. And isn't it funny that I remember most of the points of his lecture and most of the points in his book and my dad had preached all of these point during his tenure at the University of Please Just Let Me Raise These Kids. You know: U of PJLMRTK- some of us are tenured advisers at this University presently.

During Dad's tenure he taught us to set our sights on a goal, be positive, be nice, be honest, follow your Childhood dreams among many many more. And during my father's many lectures at this university-I listened well honestly-just a little. However some of the points I did learn and followed some of his instructions:

Goals: I am not a Goal (ish) kind of person. I just go with the flow. So I failed that class OOPS
Be Positive: I am positive that when a lecture was being given, I was not really listening.
Be Nice: Really nice? Really nice? I am 32 and that is still not a trait that I really have down. I try-just people do not see the niceness oozing from me. I cannot help that they cannot see that I am nice. That is their problem not mine!
Be honest: I am honest-sometimes too honest. But really if people would just do what I say, then I would honestly be the happiest person around.
and then finally:
Follow your childhood dreams: Ok this is where I am lost, my childhood dream was to be named Teresa and be a Waitress. And while I somewhat like the name Teresa, I am sure that my parents named me Shannon for a reason. And I was a waitress for a while in High School and I pretty sure that I did not like it and was not good at it.

Part of my dad's job with GSK was to go to military bases and give speeches about how to serve, do the best job that you can, inspire others and spread a positive attitude be a leader and well all that good stuff. Lots of people came to hear him speak, most had really good reviews of what he had to say-and all those times I heard "did you hear me?" And I would say "yes!" with the eye rolling and whatever attitude.

The point is dad, if you read my blog from up there, you should find Randy, I listened to him-I think that you all have alot in common. And I learned what you had to tell me all those years because I read Randy's book and watched his speech.

One dream that has come true is Jason and Sarah wanting to own some land. They recently bought 20+ acres. They are planning on building a home and the nice auctioneer threw in a Fainting Goat to boot. If you have not ever heard of a Fainting Goat they actually faint when they get excited or nervous. Carson and the goat will get along famously. Man! What a deal!

Speaking of Carson-we will again celebrate his birthday at Patterson Park. Uncle Nate is looking forward to his two hours of reverting to acting like a 5 year old.

And another word about Nate: The CEO of the company closed the office today. It has been one year since they bought the other company. This was Mr. Smith's way of thanking all of his employees for their hard work and dedication. And while personally I am convinced that with Nathan being in finance, he and his crew worked the most OVERTIME and I know that Nathan's dedication to his company is second to none. As made apparent by the weeks of 100+ hours at the grindstone per week. But where is Nate, I am sure that I am home alone, well he part of the PS on the memo that it is close of the quarter and Nathan and four others MUST be at work for the day. Oh well.

My Job

So I go this job and it has been a good job. I have had this job for amost seven years. The job started with a a "Hey Shannon, (this is my cousin talking) I have this guy that I want you to meet." and my job grew by leaps and bounds when I heard "what would you say if I told you there were two in here" this is a nurse looking in to my belly when I was 19 weeks pregnant. And since both of those statements-my job description has grown and grown. Once is was changing diapers, burping babies, and nap times (among other things). Now it involves, school work, laundry, housekeeping, and TOILETS~

And that is my subject matter for the day. I vowed to stay at home today and clean house. Especially since I have "let it go" for summer. So I have vacuumed, dusted and then I decided to tackle the bathrooms. Does anyone know at what point two little six year old boys will learn to aim? I have done everything that I know I can but these two have the worst aim ever. UGH! Ok rant over

Oh well, perhaps not. You all know how much Nathan and I love our house. And we plan on staying here FOREVER. When we (or I) started looking at new housing options-we considered everything that we wanted. Trees, windows, one story (mostly) 4 bed rooms, office etc.... well we got all of that and more. But I have to say: I HATE MY SHOWER! I hate cleaning my shower. I wait too long because it is a pain in the rump to clean. The shower is marble, I think- and it GROWS plants in no time. I use everything I can caustic bleaching and it grows back. It is the worst thing that I have ever seen.

Which brings me to another thing that I cannot wait to change about my house: the White Kitchen sink. I hate it. I think that it is porceline but I KNOW that it stains. And I hate stains. I could go on and on, but if there was not such thing as Soft Scrub with bleach, I would go CRAZY-

We watched Wife Swap and I had the feeling that the boys-all three of them-had an idea. Then Supernanny came on and their ideas disappeared.

Well off to clean. Maybe I will get a raise soon and hire someone to clean the shower and the sink. HA wishful thinking.

Off to clean another two toilets--then I am done and should scrap last christmas.

My Trees......and first day of school

Most of you all will recognize this as my house. And you are correct it is my house. But for those of you that have never seen my house, this is it. Tah Dah. And for Shawna specifically, these are our trees. I do not if it is like Virginia, but it is definately NOT Texas.

I had the most wonderful first full day of school today. That is correct. The kids go to year round school. They have 2 weeks off for each spring and Fall break, 3 weeks for Christmas and 6 weeks for Summer. I happen to love this arrangement. But my day was wonderful because I spent most of the day catching up with a friend from High School. She lives in Texas and is married to the guy that she dated in High School. Now think of that, marrying the guy that you were with in High school. Any how. Even though it had been years since we talked it was so GREAT to talk to her via the computer nontheless. A NEW-old friendship.

The kids really like their teachers. I am really feeling good about this year for them. I hope to be as involved as I was last year in their classroom lives. And hopefully this schoolyear will not have the events of last year.

I stand in amazment that I have two First Graders and I have another Nephew starting Kindergarten soon. UGH these kids are getting BIG!

Chao!

Check out my Slide Show!

In Conclusion

I am so sorry I left you all in the lurch that I did....

So I think that we move throught life and we meet a whole bunch of people. I believe that we meet these people each for a specific purpose at that time. Whether we meet these people and they teach us something (they always do) or they make us reflect on something or it is much later that we come full circle and relize why we meet so many wonderful people.

I woke up yesterday with the dog in my face. Just a normal Saturday morning minus the kids and the man in the bed beside me. BUT I woke up and I had the most wonderful, comforting dream. The dream was about a friend from a while ago. and in the dream we were able to pick up our friendship and laugh together once again. And while I am certain that this person is alive and well I got to spend the day thinking about this person, our relationship and what I learned form this person. I think it was a 360 moment. Really neat to me.

Anyway. Some of you know that I went to the Ryman Auditorium last night to see Lisa Williams. Lisa Williams had a show on Lifetime last season. She is a Medium Clairvoyant-she talks to dead people. This is something that I have always been interested in, curious. I one of those people that think and feels that we have spirits around us. And from what I saw last night I am SURE that dead people can speak to us from the other side.

This said. I know that everyone has an opinion-and I respect your opinion. Nathan thinks that I am full of it when I talk about things like this so really skeptical, I understand. Lisa William's own father does not believe what she does. However I am certain that if one experienced what I did last night, you too would know that we are surrounded by people on the other side.To me this is a comforting experience.

I was up until 230 this morning. I am tired. But ready for first grade in the morning.

The kids and Nathan got home at 1130 this morning. I took the kids to the pool, we went for a bike ride and had a wonderful Sunday.

Hair Day 2!

I went to scrappin, no actually back up. I went to meet and greet last night. And my best friend recognized me in the hallway. So at least I am recognizable to her.

Did I ever tell you that I have the best friends in the entire world? Especially my Scrappin' club. None of them had one bad thing to say about my hair. Some just turned away, left the room or moved chairs-but none had a bad thing to say. I love my friends.

My hair and the flat iron. Well well well. I don't know. It is soooo limp. I had to use HAIRSPRAY today. Luckily I had some. I think it was from High School.

Well I am off to run errands. School starts Monday YIKES! I will log in later. I want to tell you about the profoundly haunting effect people have on your life and you don't always know it.....More later.

I always TRY..Something new

So I always TRY and provide you all with insight into my life. I like to also think of myself as someone that will look at my own life and family as a vehicle for other to be amused by. I also will try anything with my hair-because it will always grow back. RIGHT? So I got my hair cut yesterday. My hair had 5 months of growth on it and it was way out of shape. I brought a pic of Katie Holmes' hair and James was excited to cut my hair. Well let's just say that I got a really good cut but it was such a BAD idea. I have NO idea how to do my hair and I have NO idea what to do. You cannot cut more off, you cannot get a weave or extensions. so I did the only logical thing, I bought a flatiron. I have NO idea what to do with a flat iron but I am looking forward to ironing my hair.

I went to the mirror this morning and the only thing that I could do was put a brush in my hair which then turned it into a 1970's Porno feathered do. The kids have each told me un prompted, that they do not like my hair. Nathan has not had the guts to say what he thinks but I know. If I wear a sports bra and no makeup I would really look like I was playing for the other team. I told one of my friends about my hair and she said just wear ALOT of make up-I guess to distract from the hair-I don't know. I saw my mom today after I went to the gym and was wearing a cap. She made me take off the cap, show her friends and they had the nerve to tell me it was cute.

I have to meet the kids' teachers tonight and what do they say about first impressions? You know if these poor ladies knew me they could laugh with me about the mess. But they do not know me and I cannot walk in say I am Ethan's mom and please ignore my hair. I also cannot wear a cap to the school to night. Then after meet and greet tonight I have Scrappin' Club- And I am good sport they can laugh at me.

Nathan took the kids camping this weekend. They are about an hour away meeting up with his dad and his family. It just so happens that some of my family is camping next to them. They are going to have a wonderful weekend. I am hanging in the 'Boro. I have meet and greet and scrappin' tonight and then I am going to Lisa Williams Sat night. I am also going to take GG out and shop for shoes with her.

And one last thought: John asked me today if they had cars in the 90's! HA kids!

Cannin' Wreckin' and First Gradin'

Hello Faithful readers!

Firstly I shall tell you about the end of my canning for this season. I think that I am done. I ended up getting up early on Tuesday morning and going to the local farmers market. And after a nice (not so) lady (I cannot remember the status of her teeth) told me that it was "too early in the season" to buy boxes of homegrown tomatos. She then turned around and sold me a box of, you guessed it, homegrown red ripe gorgeous tomatos. I gave her extra money and a card to the local dentist. Aren't I nice? So I worked yesterday, peeling, blanching, smashing, and cannin' 11 qts of tomatoes. I am so proud. Not one busted jar. I also made my mom and my grandma a blackberry cobbler and took them some peaches. So they should be happy. See my loot~

-Ok really imagine the first image here - I swear. I cannot blog correct if I wanted to.....- I digress

Nextly we will focus our attention to the accident that my car had. I love my car. It is the nicest car that I have ever owned. My last car was Bertha. The 1997 Jeef Grand Cherokee Laredo Red perfect for me and the kids. Hated Nathan and had to go once it gave up on me at Wal Mart. Before that was my Blue Honda Accord. I do not remember the year on that car but -you friends from high school remember that car so yes it was old.

I am really mad that I had an accident. But my insurance is taking care of it and I am taking it into the shop in the morning to get the estimate. Then I will have it fixed and we will be on the road once again. Nathan did fairly well with the news and the image of the damage and once he realized that I did not set out that day to have a derby in my van- he is OK. Bless his heart. How many times do I have backing wrecks and he still lets me drive and I hound him for his driving.

Oh well.

Finally. The Phone just rang- And it was this nice lady called Mrs. Wilson. She called to inform me that she was going to be Ethan's First Grade teacher. Is this a BAD dream? Do I own a First Grader or two? I cannot believe it. And I am sad. Boo Hoo. But I know that when the little one gets home and hears the BIG news he will be ready for the 1st grade too. They are getting big I tell you, Really big.

What happened to the 4 pound babies I once had?

But don't get me wrong. I do not want some more babies. The tubes are tied and well. I suppose I could borrow someone......more later.

I can....And I can't-

So here are my purchases-they are being blanched at this point. At this point in the process I am having fun. I am also heating my jars, the easy way, in the dishwasher. So the jars will seal themselves.
So here are my crushed tomatoes. I am still a happy canner.
The first can of the season. Isn't it pretty? I am soooooo proud. Although because I have a gas range (that I Hate, but everyone told me that I would LOVE-I do not) it took a bit longer to blanch all of the tomatoes and get them peeled and then crush them. Once I was done with all of that my jars in the dishwasher were cool and would not seal themselves. Not to worry, I stoked up the canner and had it boiling. I placed my COOL Jars in the HOT boiling bath. After 10 mins. I got my neat baby catcher looking things and pulled out my HOT jars and then..................

If you notice this Jar has NO BOTTOM! It broke. I was soooo mad. I did this last year for the first time and had NO mishaps. And now this.
So this is the mess with broken glass in my garbage. I am really mad. I spent all day canning and I only have 8 quarts.

I mean don't get me wrong. I can buy cans of tomatoes but these really do make a difference. I will get up at 530 in the morning and go to our local farmers market and buy two baskets of tomatoes.

Once a year you are canned.....

So I thought that for today's post I would take you all (both of you) on a trip to the Farmers Market in Nashville. I woke up at 545A today because, I was excited, but mostly because Nathan was up and being noisy. Last year was my first year canning. I canned some tomatoes and some Pickles. LOTS of Pickles. Three types of pickles. Turns out we do not eat THAT many pickles in a year and I still have 75% of the canned pickles. This is the "Batman Building" in Downtown Nashville. So you know that at this point we are close.
And here is the MOST important part of the Farmer's Market. The Market cat. I would think that this cat lives at the market. Sweet Kitty.
This the market. It is pretty and open air. I was happy with my purchases. I got a basket of Tomatoes and a basket of peaches. I really do not like peaches. I hope that my family does. I have NO idea what you do with peaches. But we shall see. I also got a cantaloupe and a couple quarts of strawberries.
So now we have loaded up and head back to the 'Boro to be the productive person that we think we are-mind you, I am the only one that is participating in this project. but last year I had fun and so this year! What could go wrong? I headed home happy and it was only 10AM. What a start!

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Darfur

Most of you all do not know how I feel about the Genocide happening in the Darfur region of Sudan. This is a subject that, if you know anything about the world in which we live--you should feel something about what is happening in Darfur. You should be furious about what is happening over there! People are being killed for being well people. Completely senseless.

So today the International Court has issued arrest warrants for the President of the Sudan, whom evidence has shown, has supplied the killers with protection, firearms and . However the International Criminal Court cannot enter the Sudan to serve their warrants. And although the Sudanese president as said that he would answer these charges-he has not stood before the UN to do so with their charges. Over 300K have been killed, villages destroyed and 2million displaced and seeking refuge in neighboring Chad. Now the rebels are attacking refugee villages and aid workers.

So I would implore you to learn more about this subject, by reading more on-line, specifically at www.savedarfur.org, renting: Darfur Now and The Devil Came on Horseback.

And if you have mutual funds, with your 401K or personal Roth IRA's or IRA's you MAY be funding the genocide. You can DIVEST IN DARFUR. See the above website for a list of investment firms that are stuffing the pockets of the Sudanese Government.

Mom is stuck......

The first time that Mem traveled after Daddy died she was sooo nervous about not having him as a back up if something went wrong. She always knew that if some thing happened she could call dad and he would tell her what to do and how to get what she wanted as far as traveling.

So when we left San Antonio and we left mom with some of her BEST friends. Well she was SUPPOSED to get home tonigth at 930PM. She called me a couple of hours ago and told me that she would be in at 1115P tonight. NO prob, my aunt said that she would ride with me and hey at least she would bew home. She just called and the plane that she was supposed to be on has a FLAT tire. So she will not be home until 215P on Tuesday. This is concerning to me because she is on her own. She has friends there but she probably won't call them and she is counting on the airline to get her a hotel. I told her that if for any reason she was not happy with her accomodations she HAD to move. I feel sorry for my mom at the moment. I feel like my kid is out there. She is to call me when she gets settled and all I can hear is her saying I always had daddy.

Kind of a hard concept. But she is in good spirits and was laughing at her situation. I will report when she is home safe and sound.

A screw is Loose!

More on the screw thing later..........

It is a concern of mine that we save our planet. Mostly a concern because to Nathan it is a PASSION. And by passion-I mean-it drives him crazy, Newsweek, CNN any media outlet that he does not agree with, he makes it known while reading listening or watching said news outlet. To the point where you yourself is passionate, if not just passionate about him being quiet about it so that you can think. That said I think that out house could be considered a green enviornment. We own a Hybrid, I buy organic when I can, I use reuseable grocery bags, I do not eat Granola (more than once a day) and I do not hug trees. I firmly believe that we recycle more than we throw away and I am sure that if a compost did not stink we would do that as well. But I must draw the line.

Nathan has read a bunch of things on HYPER MILING his car. This means that instead of getting the usualy 45 MPG in his Civic Hybrid he has made it his goal to get 50+ by hyper miling. This my friends mean among other things that he does not accelorate coming off of a stop, if he does not see that he is in Auto Stop at lights-he is upset-and worst of all, he remains at or below the speed limit. This drives me CRAZY. Call it living in DC for too long or just driving as I do --I do not drive the speed limit. Most of the law enforcement does not drive the speed limit. I dare say that when GG was driving at 89, she did not drive the speed limit. But, when Nathan is driving,you may rest assured that we are driving the speed limit. Stop by and wave the next time you see the four of us in the Civic-hypermiling our way around town. While in the van, I remain-the only things that will be hyper in my car will be the kids.

How onto the screw-I am 2.5 years past my last knee surgery. And though it was a doozy and the recovery was long-I think it was well worth it. I think that I have done more in the past 1.5 years physically than I have in the past 10 years. However I have to call Dr. DeBoer in the morning because for the past few weeks I have had alot of pain in my lower shin. This would be about he place that the last (most inferior) screw is located. I do not want to go in and have ANY hardware removed but I resign that I am in quite a bit of pain and do not want to wait and see what happens. So yes, it can finally be said that I HAVE A SCREW LOOSE.

CHEERS!

Recap our Fouth of July

Boys hanging out
The BOOM BOOM in a BOX
After the explosion
Clean up with a Blower-unique way of gathering the trash from a major mess.

Hello!



We certainly hope that you had a nice 4th of July. We started our day off with a quick trip to the lake with my cousins. All four of the kids were useless. I have no idea why but normally they can ski, tube, and play for HOURS on the lake. Not yesterday. Due to bad attitudes, tiredness, and be grouches, we left after only 3 hours. So we came home and put them in the BED.



At 6 we headed to Matt and Cathy's for their 8th annual 4th BLOW OUT! And this year did not disappoint. There were plenty of kids, food and fire. We had a wonderful time here are some pics.

It's Thursday

Hi all!
I had a good day. I spent the morning with my GG. Then I went shopping. I LOVE fashion and I hate shopping. I realize that that is a complete contradiction. But I like my mags with all the latest finds. I do not like shopping for anything, much less myself.

The kids went to their Daddy T's for the day. They shot off some "day time" firecrackers. They roasted marshmallows and had hot dogs. They came home dirty and ready f0r the night.

And tonight I have tucked in all of the kids-all three-into their TENT in the backyard. That's right, they are going to sleep outside tonight. I give it til the middle of the night and then I think that all of them will be in the bed with me.

We are looking forward to spending time on Friday in water. Water either in the lake or the pool. We do not have access to the lake house so we will stay in the Boro. We are spending the evening on the Fourth at our friends home for their annual 4th BLOW OUT! I hope to have some pics up on Sat.

Hope each of you have a wonderful and SAFE Fourth of July.

See Effort??

Today was an uneventful day. The kids and I just returned from the pool. We saw one of their school friends at the pool and I was soooooo excited to see someone their age.

For those of you that do not know, we live in a really nice neighborhood & we love our house and neighbors and the neighborhood-but there are NO kids around here that are 6.

OK well we have some of every age across the street and a friend down the street that the kids know but that is it. Turns out the friend at the pool does not live here-her grandparents do and she is here with her daddy. So oh well. Perhaps we will see her again soon.

We spent most of the day at GG's. GG is my Dad's Mom. Needless to say with losing my dad, we have to give her lots of love. It was really great today, Noah, Carson, Jason, Sarah and Baby Elizabeth showed up as well. I know that all of that comotion had to have raised something if not some spirits.

So project Shannon and Brandy is working well. The painter made it up to the house, got in had water and painted away. I think I will be sending him up next week when they are done hanging wood and have him paint the wood and the downstairs. My mom will not know what hit her come Monday! HA HA HAA (evil laugh)

I find that even though I am "grown up" I still miss when my Best Friend is out of town. Melissa is gone to Disney for the week. And with my vacay and hers being back to back, well- we have ALOT to catch up on. This will take weeks of IM's at work and phone calls in the car.....just so much to catch up on with one another. Do you all miss friends when they are gone?

And I have been thinking alot about the Scholarship that they have set up for my dad. Well not really for my dad, but in his memory. I hope that they are getting enough to make it a sustaining scholarship and not just a one time thing. I hope that I can contribute soon. RIGHT Nathan???? HINT HINT!

Tah Tah til later, I think I have the day alone. I think the kids are going with Daddy T in the AM!!!

And the Beat (hammer beat) goes on....

New Shingles!
The outside is 99% done. Minus the white chair, I think we are good to paint.
We have drywall. And the painter is coming on Weds. Like it or not Sally!

What a view!

So , I loaded up the kids and headed to the lake to check on the progress. I pulled up to find that the job side was only a site and not a JOB. Where are the workers? Well they went to another site to finish. So I am "finishing" some things. Brandy and I are taking over. I have a painter coming on Weds. I am going to check on the cabinets, and the flooring is on the way the tile backsplash is coming-there is NO stopping us now...... So as mom has a panic attack in Texas. Watch out, we are going to Extreme Home Makeover this house and have a summer ending blowout! Enough Mr. Nice Guy. Not that I have ever been accused of that. And besides I am a Mrs. Nice Gal.

Eat your heart out mom!

It's the Shanon and Brandy show!