Moment of Panic...

I just realized this morning that in less then two weeks, my little boy will turn FIVE and then in less then 3 weeks, my twins will turn ELEVEN! ELEVEN....People, how do I have eleven year olds? I am sweating as I type! I also realized that I haven't even given a thought to the boy's party! Do I have to give him a party? That sounds pathetic. The girls are happily resigned to having a slumber party which means that all I have to provide is movies, pizza, ice cream, and my floor space upstairs! EASY!!! Meredith has already taken to writing me out lists for the food supplies, the movies she wants, the rules of the party ( HUH ?), etc. She is very organized! They also already told me what they wanted for their bday and it is one thing. Expensive, but EASY!!! Noah on the other hand.... I haven't a clue what to get him. He would be thrilled with anything Star Wars related, but I wish there was something like last years gift ( the four wheeler). Anyway, I am in panic mode and also quite sad that somehow this year has gone by way too quickly....my babies are growing up ( all of them)! PS...My birthday is in a week...however... I am not in panic mode about that because I refuse to acknowledge how old I will be!!! ;)

What a weekend....

Sit back folks while I tell you all about my crazy weekend! Yes, I said crazy! Greg and I went to Atlanta for the weekend without kids. Most of Friday was spent cleaning my house and getting everyone packed. I checked the girls out of school early and drove them to my inlaws. Once the three kiddos were settled, I came back home to finish packing my bags. I thought we were leaving at a certain time, but I should have known to always tack an extra 2 hrs on because my time and DH's time are completely different. FINALLY...we got on the road. We enjoyed the first part of the trip talking and listening to good music. About 9pm, we stopped for dinner at a Cracker Barrel in a small town that shall remain nameless ( it was in the state of AL). Dinner was fine, and we got back in the car and planned to get gas since we were on Empty. We drive up to the first station...no gas. Drive up to the next station....bags on the pumps...no gas. At this point, I am getting a little nervous. We decide to try the next exit. We drive and drive and realize that may have been the last exit for awhile. We turn around to go back to the same town and I am starting to panic. I envision us stranded on the side of the road...in the dark....and a serial killer pulling over to *help* us. Greg is not too sympathetic to my state of anxiety. We try the other side of the interstate. NO FREAKIN GAS ANYWHERE. Greg says we should pray..."buddy what do you think I have been doing for the last 25 mins?". He tells me to stop chewing my fingernails too. We stop at yet another empty gas station and he goes in to ask what the deal is. Apparently the whole town is without gas due to demand at the hurricane ( yeah the hurricane that landed on the other side of the coast). He gets a tip that Walmart might have some. We race over there and YES God has answered our prayer. We get in line. We are the 5th car in one of the lines. The man pumping takes FOREVER! The next lady..bless her heart...an older woman...she took at least 10 mins to go pay for her gas.....10 mins to figure out how to work the machine.....12 mins to pump...and then she realized that she didn't get a receipt...another 8plus mins to go ask for a receipt. I. AM . LIVID and there is no sign of Christ-likeness in my behavior. The next woman...is a bit better but still slow. THEN....the truck in front of us...oh my goodness....I kid you not....there were two men driving the truck and then in the back of the truck were two shirtless boys. I think this was there idea of a good time. He pumped 10$....yes 10$ into a truck and left. I have no idea where he was going with 10$ in a gas guzzling truck...nor do I care...but it was just too weird. Actually every person at that station was strange which is why the town shall remain nameless. We pumped our gas and Greg got out of that station so fast..you could hear the tires squeal. We vowed never to stop in that town again...EVER!!! We finally made it to the Atlanta area. where we may or may not have missed our turn and drove around the city in circles past midnight. I did finally go to sleep around 1am. The bed was blissfully comfortable. The next morning we got up and met my parents, my sister, and my younger brother at the Ga Tech/MSU game. Let me just state here and now that I have never been more embarassed to be a State fan then I was at this game. It was HORRID! We left before it ended. Greg and I drove to Macon to stay with my parents and from that point on, we had a great weekend. We hung out, visted, ate good food, watched LSU win ( yeah), and just had a lovely time. We got back home about 7 last night. To say that I am tired is an understatement and to say that I am looking forward to my 4 hrs of teaching would be a total lie. So I will just end with a few pics ( I intended to take more...but you know how that goes):


Nice stadium that Ga Tech has and they also have some very nice fans! Seriously!



My brother Nathan and Greg


Me, my sister Kiki, and my mom ( Kiki is probably going to disown me for posting this pic...but I thought it was a cute one of the 3 of us)

Look...its straight....and its darker...and shorter

Ok...so I wanted a change.....I went to my hairstylist yesterday and decided I wanted it shorter and a little more auburn. Well her version of auburn and my version were completely different. I left and came home and burst into tears. I called her back crying and she told me to come back today. Two hours later and I am much happier with the results. She ever straightened it for me for free. That is a rare treat, so I decided to post a picture so that my mom could see it. Since it is so humid here, this look won't last. Every now and then it is fun to do something different.

Random Weekend Post:

I can't believe it is already Sunday afternoon. That means that Monday is coming soon. Mondays are my tough days. I have to get everyone going again for the week, and I have a long teaching afternoon. The weekend went by so fast. Yesterday was busy with different things and the kids all had soccer games. Madeline and Meredith are now playing on this HUGE soccer field. Seriously, compared to last year...it is LARGE! They played so hard yesterday and were both redfaced. Noah had his first game and apparently he likes pile-ups. Does anyone think football might be in his future? We had the inlaws over for dinner. I.AM.TIRED !!!

For the past few weeks, we have been attending church at the place that we were members at about two years ago. I never wanted to leave there! Ever since then, we have been the roaming church goers! Anyway, Greg's parents go there now and they are so happy when we come and sit with them. Also, all of our friends there have been so nice and receptive. We went out to lunch with a few of them today and it was great. I am just ready to belong somewhere and get settled. I think our children need that. I am praying that God will work all the details out! :)

Noah's First Field Trip

Yesterday was a day that we have been waiting for. Noah was going on his first field trip. I was giddy with the fact that I would actually get to be apart of one of my children's field trip experiences. You see, I rarely went on the twins due to the fact that I had an active toddler running around. Now that I am free as a bird ( ha ha), I am determined to participate. Anyway, the morning started out fine. Noah and I got to the school and I stood there chatting with the teacher wondering why I was the only parent. Finally another mother came in and said to the teacher "see you in an hr". Ah ha......I obviously did not read the info correctly. Typical! When we did make it to the actual field trip, it was enjoyable, but extremely hot. Why I didn't have the foresight to pack water bottles to drink, I will never know! I also endured listening to one mother who talked my ear off about how her older child is so intelligent, but the teacher won't put him in the gifted program because he isn't getting his work done. The mom said it is because he is bored. I tried to listen politely, but gosh it was hard!!! Anyway here are some pics from our day! Exciting stuff around here......

Guess what color we had to wear?




Can you spot my boy? I noticed there are lots of blonde boys in his class!




Noah in front of the helicopter!




Doing what little boys like to do....play in the dirt!




Here he is listening oh so patiently to the men explaining what the helicopter does. Notice the fact that his hair is drenched with sweat and sticking to his face!




Noah and his class in front of the heli...they got stickers.





Checking out the heli....

Just an FYI:

For any of my friends that are fellow 'Loft' shoppers, RUN do not walk to your nearest store. Through tomorrow, you can get double savings cards. So, for every 50$ you spend, you get TWO 25$ cards. Those cards will go into affect on Monday and you can use them through Oct 19. It's a really good deal, and don't even kid yourself if you think that I haven't already taken advantage of this deal!!! ;)

Football Fun

This past Saturday was the kickoff of Greg's favorite time of the year.....SEC football. We had some neighbors over for food and fun. I had high hopes for a victorious game and great conversation. One out of two isn't bad!!!! HA HA!

Do you know how hard it is to get this many children to smile and look at the camera all at once? Aren't they cute though in all their MSU garb? Poor darlings don't know any better!!!!!!! ;)



Finally after much begging, screaming, and bribing....we managed a decent shot:




Here is Madeline's attempt at an artsy, decorative, CROOKED, picture. I was trying to be cool and show how I had school spirit even though I was the only one not wearing Maroon. I jokingly said that maybe I would be the smart one if we lost! Unfortunately....those words became true.



Stacy and Me! I love having her right down the street!