Brandon

Today on my 30th day in a row I am finally getting around to posting about Brandon. He is the oldest. I still can't believe that he will be graduating in about 3 weeks. I still can't believe that he will be graduating with honors. He's so smart and we are so proud of him. He has worked very hard all these years. I know that he was disappointed because he didn't get into UGA, but GA state is a good school. He can always transfer.
Brandon is funny, sweet and your typical 17 year old. He loves basketball which is funny because we aren't really a basketball family. He is probably about 2 heads taller than me. He picks on his sisters, but I think he loves them. I know it was hard for him to go from just him and I, to his dad and us and then have his sisters, but I think he came out okay. We've had our ups and downs, but so does every family.
We love you Brandon. I still remember holding you for the long flight home from San Diego when you were 4 days old. The flight attendants freaked out just a little bit. I can't believe that you will be out of high school soon and starting a huge new chapter in your life. Thank you for being you and we love you!

This was my 30th day in a row posting. First of all I can't believe it's been 30 days. It seems like just yesterday when I joined in. It has been fun to update my blog more. It was kind of getting left behind thanks to face book. I may not post everyday, but I will post every other day. Thanks for following along.

Still not sure

Today was a bittersweet day. The company that I have been at for 17 yrs 4 mths is no longer. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. We still don't know anything about our jobs. That's the hardest part.. the not knowing. Oh well as I keep trying to tell myself, it is what it is. It's very hard to remember that sometimes :).

I'll leave you on my 29th day with a picture from yesterday and the girls playing in the yard.

Sunday

Can't believe it's Sunday already. We had a lazy, busy day. We planted our garden this morning. Tomatoes, watermelons, pumpkins, peppers and cucumbers. I hope it's a bumper crop this year. I ended up going to $ General later in the day and bought the girls a cheap sprinkler. It's so hot outside and we can't really have a pool because of the neighbor kids. They played for a little while and then took a break. I hope that everyone had a wonderful, lazy Sunday.


28 down, 2 to go. I've never posted this many days in a row. I might have to go back to every other day or something. It's kept me off of face book more.

Another Saturday

Where does the day go? The girls had a birthday party with a friend from their old school. They had a blast. I didn't get any pictures. The funny thing was Sophie asked me why I wasn't taking any pictures. Normally I have my camera, but for whatever reason I didn't bring it.
I also want to give a shout out to Walgreen's and Snapfish. I ordered Brandon's graduation announcements from Snapfish this morning at 10:00. I went by the Walgreen's I was having them made at 10:30 and they were done. That was quick.
Today is my 27th post....woohoo!

Softball

Last night Sophie had a softball game. She did so much better than she's been doing. She went 2-2. She totally rocked it. We are so proud of her. Her team also came a little bit closer to winning. They lost 11-10. They actually came back from being 5 down at one point.


Today is also my 26th post for the challenge. I still can't believe it.

So very tired

It was a long night last night. I was up until after 2 this morning waiting for the storm to past. At around 12:30 or so I put the girls in the bathtub. We live in a one story home so there was no where else for them to go. 2 of 3 dogs climbed into the tub with them. The chocolate lab in the picture so scared she was shivering. I thought she might have a heart attack. She ended up sleeping in the tub all night. It was kind of comical, but I was glad when the storm passed. We are thankful that we have no damage to our house and our neighbors were unscathed. Saying prayers for our neighbors in Alabama and parts of north Georgia. The devastation is horrible.

PTO

So last night was the election for PTO officers. I am the new co-president at the girls school. I'm excited because I love to volunteer and I have a lot of great ideas I can't wait to share.

Here's the thing that bothered me about last night and the get to know you meeting last Thursday. There were a total of 4 people running for officer position. We went around and introduced ourselves. The 3 other people all mentioned how they had special needs kids. The outgoing president asked me why I didn't mention if I had any special needs kids. I really didn't think it was a qualification issue. I mentioned Sophie being small, but that's it. Then last night the other candidates mentioned their special needs kids, I didn't.

I guess I just don't think of Sophie being special needs. Yes she was on the special needs list and yes she does have some issues, but she is not special needs. She is able to do everything anybody else can do.

I'm not sure why the other mother's kept bringing up their special needs kids. Did they think that better enabled them to be on the PTO? Did they want extra praise since they were volunteering for PTO and parenting a special needs child? Don't get me wrong, I understand that special needs kids can be challenging. I get it. What I don't get is why some parents define who they are by their kids.

Enough of my soap box. Today was my 24th post in the M3 challenge and I'm glad I got it in early. Thanks for reading.

So tired tonight

Two nights in a row for a short post. I'm going to bed early tonight. It's supposed to storm here and I'm sure we will be woken up sometime during the night. Longer post tomorrow. Batten down the hatches everyone :).

Crazy kids

Yesterday as I was trying to take pictures of the kids next to the big oak tree, they all started to scatter. This is my favorite from the day. It's like herding cats.

This one is short. It's been a long day. More tomorrow.

Easter

Last night I put curler's in the girls hair so that their hair would be curly this morning.

The girls (at 7am) and Brandon awoke to find the Easter bunny decided to leave them baskets. They both got Tech Decks, water guns, suckers, chocolate, coloring book and crayons. Maddie got a Dr. Pepper and Sophie got hot fries. They love it when they get that. Brandon got candy and will be getting a shirt from his favorite basketball team.

We then undid the curler's and took a few pictures before heading up to Marietta.


After church it was time to head to my grandfather's house and take the customary picture in front of the big oak in their yard. It's getting harder and harder to do. This will probably be our last year.

We then went to my step aunt's house for dinner and the egg hunt. Maddie ended up with about 93 eggs and Sophie ended up with about 65 or something like that. Maddie says next year she's not going to do it because "you just run around like hooligan's".

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter. Today is my 21st post in the M3 30 days in a row challenge. Tomorrow I'll finally post the one I did about Brandon.

Softball and nail salon

Today Sophie had another softball game. She went 1-1 and got to make a play from the outfield today. She had a great time and that's all that matters. Her team lost 19-10.


We then headed to the nail salon where the girlies got their nails and toes painted. Sophie picked green and Maddie picked blue. All ready for Easter.


I hope everyone had a wonderful day today. The day started off foggy and ugly, but ended up sunny, beautiful and hot. Tomorrow is supposed to be 87. I'm not ready for 87 in April.

I'm still working on the challenge from M3. This is my 20th post.

Skipping gym and egg dyeing

Well we decided to play hooky from gym today. Since they don't have any meets coming up and it's Good Friday I figured why not. She goes 4 days a week and will be going 5 days a week during the summer, so a break is called for every now and then.

I let the girls and a neighbor dye eggs this afternoon. I didn't realize that I got the kit that only had 3 dye tablets, but we made do. They made some pretty eggs.

Today is my 19th post since I've been participating in M3's challenge. Tomorrow Sophie has a game and I'm hoping to get better video and pictures and then Sunday is Easter. There are always lot's of Easter pictures. I still can't believe I've managed to keep it up.

Today

Maddie's mouth didn't hurt her today which was great.

Sophie had a softball game. The other team had to forfeit because they didn't have enough players. They then had a scrimmage game and Sophie's team won their first game. Too bad it didn't count.

3 less teeth

Well Maddie had 3 teeth pulled in the upper right today. They pulled one that was abscessed, one that had a cavity but due to over crowding they went ahead and pulled it and the 3rd one was one of the ones the orthodontist wants pulled. They still want 4 more teeth pulled, a crown put on one and if that can't be saved then they will pull it, a couple of fillings and I think that's it. He wants us to talk to the orthodontist before we pull anything else to find out what he wants to do about spacers or go ahead and start treatment. Again we are going to make an orthodontist very happy :). I tried to get a picture, but this was the best I could get. You can kind of see where the teeth are missing in the back.

Dentist

Tomorrow Maddie has an appointment with the dentist. She was complaining about her tooth hurting. They are so close together and I'm pretty sure that there is a cavity up there. Poor Maddie and Sophie are going to have to get braces. Maddie's mouth is so crocked and Sophie's one tooth is crocked. It's funny that they are from two completely different parts of China, yet one of their front tooth is exactly the same. Maddie's turns one way and Sophie's turn the other way.
I have a picture of Maddie (that she took of herself by the way), but I don't have a close up of Sophie's tooth. Just imagine Sophie with her tooth turned the other way :). Some orthodontist is going to be able to send his kids to college off of our kids mouth.

I can't believe I've posted everyday since 4/9. That's a record for me. Thanks again M3 for the challenge.

Oops

I typed up yesterday's post on Saturday and had saved it so that I could post it on Sunday, but I see I didn't change the day. Oh well I did post yesterday.

I was going to post about Brandon tonight, but since it's my birthday I wanted to change it up just a little. Today would have also been my mam-maw's birthday. She would have been 89. I've been missing her very much these last few days. I loved that woman. She practically raised me. She made me the person I am today. I could tell her anything and she wouldn't judge me. I was the oldest and I think I was her favorite ;). She loved Brandon as well. I'm getting teary just thinking about it so I'm going to make it short tonight.

Happy Birthday Mam-Maw. I know that you are having a wonderful day today. I love you and miss you.

I heart faces - Wind

This weeks I heart faces challenge is wind. I took the girls out and did a mini photo shoot. This was Maddie spinning in and the wind blowing her hair. I loved how it came out. I used the Pioneer Woman's 70's photoshop action. I love how it came out.

Head on over to I heart faces and check out some more beautiful wind photos.


Also I'm on day 14 for the challenge. I haven't had to make up anything for a couple of days :). Tomorrow I have my post about Brandon. He let me take a couple of pictures.

Our newest pet

Bummer no game today so no pictures.
Last night AJ called Sophie to come look outside on the side of the house. Our tree frog was back. Well I don't know if it's the same one that we used to have, but he was there. I of course had to take a few pictures of the newest member.

I got my post in early today :).

Crazy Saturday

Sophie has a softball game tomorrow. Hope she does well. She had a good batting practice the other day so I hope that she can hit the cover off the ball. I hope she gets to play. It's supposed to be nasty here tonight, but clear up in the morning.

















I bought this leo from Snowflake Leotards. It was in the grab bag section for $15. You didn't know what style or color you were getting, but when I opened the envelope I saw how beautiful it is. It's sparkly velvet. Maddie loved it. The cool thing was it only took 2 days to get here. This is my 12th post... woohoo..

Animals

As I'm sitting here watching Minnie go crazy, I thought I would do an animal post. Sometimes I feel like we live in a zoo or the pound would probably better describe it. In the 9 1/2 years that we have been married we have had 5 dogs, 5 cats, 2 hamsters and some fish. We now only have 3 dogs and 2 cats. We have been known to rescue animals from the side of the road. The one that killed me was a puppy that was probably not more than 6 weeks old in the middle of the main road. It was raining and I almost ran over it. I had a towel in the car and I picked it up. The girls, especially Maddie became seriously attached to that dog in the 4 hours that we had it. They would put it in the pretend shopping cart and push it around. It was too funny and sweet. We had found somebody to take it and the devastation in our house that night was just so sad. Then we adopted our neighbors cat. The neighbor just up and left him. He is the sweetest cat. When you pick him up he will nuzzle in your neck. He will stay inside all day and then go outside at night. As far as the dogs, we have Lucy and Alice and Daisy. Daisy is just a big gigantic pillow. She is English Mastiff and Blue Tick Hound mix. She's a big huge baby. Lucy and Alice are labs. Lucy was AJ's before we married and Alice we adopted her when she was a baby. She's not the brightest animal, but we love her.

Head on over to M3 and check out some other fabulous blogs involved in the 30 day challenge.