Thanksgiving!

Madonna in Atlanta

Atlanta and Madonna Here we come!

I am heading out in 1.5 hours for our second trip to see Madonna in concert!

We, and by we I mean, me, Melissa, Leslie and Stacee, are headed out for our second Madonna world tour get away. We are going to spend the next two days, together!

There is nothing in the world better (aside from kiddos) than spending time with girlfriends. We did this a couple of years ago. We had such a good time, when Madonna said she was going out again we decided to make it a second go! I am so excited to shop at really nice stores, HELLO cartier, Louis Vuitton, and Neiman Marcus! (although I will not buy, I will covet) drink a starbucks or so, eat and talk talk talk.

We have Melissa who is under strict orders from the hubby to take it easy on the baby to be. So this gives us excuses for a Pedicure, or at least to cop a squat and people watch. But never fear, we are taking good care of her!

I plan on taking lots of pictures and post them regardless of my EasyShare situation! I do not know hat I more excited about Madonna in Concert or Girl time! SO fun!

Oh and all the while I will be keeping my eye out for the trash known as the Real Housewives of Atlanta er "the Ghetto"

Oh Home Again!

Well We made it thru the couple of days Nathan was in Indiana. I do not mind him being gone. It gives me time alone with the kids. But it is always nice to have everyone home and safe. Speaking of safe. Nathan called me this morning and told me that he knocked the Poo out of his head right on the spot of the "head injury." Needless to say this is not what I wanted to hear coming from someone that is in another state, has to fly home and UGH. But luckily, I can ignore my stressers and him in particular. HA!

We STILL have not gotten that dern tooth out. We have done the wet towel pulling, and since that tooth is the snaggle tooth, the towel does not touch that tooth. Tonight I got the plyers out. Hillarious, my kids will let me do anything to them.

In other news. I leave on SUNDAY for Atlanta! This trip has been like 8 months in the making. I am really excited to shop, talk and do girly things with 3 of my friends. And OH YEA, see Madonna! Perhaps her arms will inspire me to get my butt back to the gym!

And finally, my GG turns 91 on Friday. When she turned 90, I hosted the family at my house for take out. And my daddy was here. He was so proud to have his mom turn 90. My how things change in a matter of no time at all. I just hope we can have a nice day for her to enjoy!

Hope all is well. Until we meet again, probably on Facebook. My new hobby!

We Never Slow Down!

So change is good? I tend to like the idea of change but not change in and of itself! Last week was choc full (however you spell that) of change.

Since I last blogged, we, I and they.......

I taught an JROTC class at Siegel. Such a good time and good kids. I love teaching these kiddos!

Jason and Sarah, Noah, Carson and Elizabeth moved into my Grandmother's house. Yep 6 people in 2200 sq ft! And NEVER have you EVER seen a 90 year old soooo mad. I think that she thought that Jason would just move in and leave the wife and kids behind. Poor GG, she does not understand.

Mom is still in Texas, however coming home tonight. Way to stay away from the fire mom!

Noah and Carson stayed the night with Ethan and John and if I had not loaded "Easy Share" software on my computer, I would have pics. But Easy share is not so easy!

Nathan left this morning for South Bend IN. It is snowing there! He is going to look at buying a hospital. He will be home on Weds night.

I leave on Sunday morning for MADONNA in Atlanta. In true girl fashion, we are going down a day early to shop and shop. So excited!

Last Thursday three friends and I went to Christmas Village at the Nashville Fairgrounds. This is an event that I LOVE and have so much fun attending with these gals. We talk about everything and we stayed out FAR too late. I mean 11PM is late right? I was so tired on Friday but this is the one time a year that this mix of girls can get together.

OK well I am pulling the only mommy thing and have no more time to sit on the computer and yell at the boys for bouncing around the house.

Chao!

Run like the wind!

I cannot get pictures to load because I loaded Easy Share on my Laptop and now I do not have pictures on my desktop, I don't know. It is annoying. So a short rundown on Daddy's Banquet. It was wonderful. The Air Force Pharmacists really did him proud and had he been there, he would have been so humbled. Complete with a tear jerking slideshow, and stories and stories and wonderful memories all of my dad. My was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award on my fathers behalf. And for those of you knew my father, you know that he so believed in young people and education. So the most moving part of the Banquet was the announcement of the fully funded self sustaining Jerry W. Ross Pharmacy scholarship. He would just beam over that. I was emotionally so draining and yet so terribly nice.

So off and running we are. My kids lose their ever loving minds when they are with their friends. And while I love that they have lots friends but I am soooo tired of them not listening to me. I do not let my kids run inside. And by inside I mean I do not let them run if there is a roof over their heads. And it does not matter why I do not let them run other than we have made several trips to the hospital and gotten stitches because we were screwing around in the house.

So anyhow, let me ask this, why in the Lord names and I do mean the Lord, would my kids think it is OK to run and yell in the church? Every Wednesday night after choir they take off running out of the class, down the stairs, and almost into the parking lot all the while I am behind them telling them to slow down and shut up. Then we get in the car they are so keyed up that they are crazy! Then I have to yell at them the entire way home.

This does not make for a nice evening. I hate it and it all starts with running.

In other news, I spent 4 hours today lecturing High School students about STD's. I have such a wonderful time spending time with these kids. And I dare say that they get a kick out of some woman coming in and talking frankly and honestly about sex. Such fun. I am so happy that I started in this and I am looking forward to meeting and talking with more kids.

What Plans??

Sorry I have not checked in to entertain everyone. I am going to tell you all about daddy's thing in Louisville but firstly, I have a funny story.

Last Wednesday morning we had a plan. I am a planning person. I am also almost always in control, of me and everyone else in my house aside from Nathan from 6am to 7pm. We had plans to see the kids off to school finish last minute packing and head out the door by 9:30am. At the latest, we would be in Louisville including time change at 2PM.

So we get up, I feed the kids breakfast. John comes back into the kitchen, and promptly states that he just puked. Well, does your tummy hurt? do you feel bad? All honest no's. Then he starts to wimp out. I feed him a pepto, and lo and behold he pukes that up. So next up, Phenerghan (sp) the big guns are out. I call Nathan's mom and tell her that John is sick and is going to need to spend the day on her couch. She is Ok with that and we plan on dropping John off on the way out of town. Ethan is at school with an e mail to his teacher to look out for this ominous stomach bug. I tell John to settle in on the couch noting to aim for the bucket on the floor should we have another event and I start to the shower. Once in the shower this child comes bounding in the bathroom asking for something to eat. Ask your dad to make you some dry toast. No, I do not want toast. I want a Marshmellow treat. Eyes are clear and attitude is great and I say OK eat a rice krispy treat. Nathan then comes in the door of the bathroom, remember I am still in the shower! Why are you letting him eat that. Well if he can hold that down he can go to school. Nathan looks at me like I am crazy. Then once I have exited the shower Nathan comes in to the bathroom and states, John is going to school.

WHY-I ask~would he go from questioning me about the rice krispy treat to taking the kid to school? Well he was taking his mini rubix cube and playing basketball with it in his Puke Bucket.

Yep, bad pizza the night before, a nervous stomach, and one free trip to school!

We were in Louisville on time!

The state of out economy is good....

OK really 2 years of campaigning has come to that statement. The talking head who have talked and talked for the last 3 years have boiled down the downfall of the McCain campaign to that statement. WHAT?

Also what happened to staying up late in the night to see what happens? Now it is almost 8 and Nathan is walking around saying Obama has it. There is no more fun in the presidential elections. I heard that the Prime Minister race in the UK is a six week blitz. No fuss to muss. I think that they have that correct! And what to do with all the money that we save in this blitz? We give it to impoverished countries that is foreign diplomacy! OK I will step off my soapbox and move on. Oh but how far we have come as a country to elect an african American, that is wonderful to me. But I am McCain.

Tomorrow we (the whole family minus the kids) leave for Louisville KY. The American Pharmacy Association and Joint Forces are holding their annual Jerry W. Ross Banquet. Needless to say that this is the first year that Jerry W. Ross will not attend. They instead are honoring his life and his legacy. The association decided that it would be nice to have Jason, Mom and me as well as our spouses. So we leave in the morning. I am looking forward to seeing all of the goo dfriends that my father worked with, inspired in his own, and whom looked up to dad. He was a force that is for sure. But it is also with heavy heart that I attend. I do not want to be the daughter of the late Jerry Ross. What I would do to have him there, laughing, working the room with all his friends. I am sure that we will have a nice time, just a hard time.

Until we meet again.

Halloween and Kids Pics

So those are my kids, the Spiderman and the Ninja. And yes, they were the same things last year. Some how my cost cutting hubby convinced the kids to be the same thing this year and save $50. I have no clue how or how many dollars exchanged hands in the process. I have been banned from Halloween the year that I dressed John up as a duck or was it the bumble bee year?? I forget. So Nathan handles everything ghoulish in our house hold.

Then today, OH today! I take pride in the fact that my kids have not drawn on themselves, while in my care ever! And not that drawing on yourself is the worst thing by any means that can happen~ but on picture day, it is perhaps one of the worst things that can happen. So Sarah (my brother's wife) and I come up with the idea to have the kids pics made. And since today is like 72 degrees and sunny, why not?? I head out to church and leave all the kids (Nathan included) at home. I get home shove everyone in the car for the hour trip to Dickson, for good leaves and the perfect setting. We stop along the way and grab a bite to eat. When we arrive at the perfect spot, I look back and John and notice that he has ketchup on his forehead. Keeping in mind that I turned down the ketchup offer at the burger joint and I never let open ketchup in the new van. Upon further inspection I notice (with spit laidened napkin ready for the kill) that it is not ketchup, it is more of a temporary tattoo in the spot that a bindi would be had be been in the Indian culture. We are not Indian! So during that hour that I was at church John had applied a tattoo of a lightning bolt smack between the eyes. Nothing baby wipes and a few chuckles can't cure.

Also taking pride in the wisdom I have gained in my six (almost 7) years of motherhood~never put on the "picture clothes" until you are ready to snap away. In our case, my kids are in white. NO WAY are we making the trip to Dickson wearing white. We get to the state park, discuss the bindi and I am taking off John's "travel shirt" to put on his white clean shirt and much to my surprise, my ALMOST 7 year old son has drawn all over his chest, belly and arms! Is he suddenly 3? What in the world and having his shirt off only reveals the beginnings of the tattooing that took place during my absence this morning.

Well at least the bindi was removed, the artwork was covered an no rouge birds flew over pooping. We had wonderful uneventful pictures made of all 5 kids! I cannot wait to see what they look like. All in a day people, all in a day!