Ouch

OK so James and I have recently bought new bikes and so we have been bike riding. We usually go out for a 2-3 mile ride and that is about it because we always have Bethannie riding as well. James did not have work yesterday and so we decided we would go for a ride while Bethannie was at school and put the other two in the trailer we have that you pull behind the bike. Well I thought we would go for a bit longer then we normally do but no James had other ideas. 8 miles later we are done. My butt was so sore from sitting on that seat. I do not know how people ride for so long and not have to stop for a while to rest your tail end. Any how I am feeling very sore from it now but all worth it.

Little James

OK some of you may really not want to know this but I think it is hilarious. Well I have always told people I potty trained James to always sit down when he goes to the bathroom. It never mattered what he had to do he always sat down. Well he just came out of the bathroom and he was like "MOMMY" I am looking at him waiting for what he has to say. " I just went to the bathroom standing up." " I never sat down" He is so excited. How funny is that. Who would of thought that a 4 year old would be so proud for standing up and peeing. Oh well just thought I would share our funny moment.

Home grown

Well last last James went out and started pulling up radishes. He said they were ready. well they were more then ready. They were some of the biggest radishes I have ever seen. Any how no one but James likes them so he has been busy eating them. So here is a pic of James holding what James pulled last night.

Our growing garden

I just wanted to show some pics of our little garden. It is growing so well. James and I are amazed at how well we are doing with it. We do need to get out there and weed it but oh well. It will be getting done this week. At any rate so here are some pics.
We have tomatoes, peppers, radishes, green beans, carrots, cucumbers, yellow squash, and zucchini. We already are able to pull radishes up. James is loving them. No one else but oh well.

Croquet

James and I bought a croquet set and thought it would be fun to teach the kids how to play and it would be a fun game to do together. Well we played on Sunday after church and had a blast. The older two really liked it. Mackenzie has no clue what she is doing and so she will hit it every once in a while and then just goes and plays. Any how it was a easy game for them to get into and fast moving so it did not seem like it took forever. Any how so here are some pics of them playing.

Dessert auction

Well on Friday night we went to church for a Emergency preparedness night and a dessert auction. Well we took a dessert and $30 ready to bid. Now up till 2 years ago I never even knew wards did something like this but we knew what was happening now. Scouts all have to pay to go to camps and so that was the purpose of this auction. Well after learning a lot of new things about evacuating here for hurricanes and stuff we started the auction. Now I had made a pretty good looking cake that every one was looking at but not silent biding on. They did silent bids first. Then they start bidding out load. We were after a Oreo cheesecake brownie. Sounds yummy right. Well I guess they were because the final bid was $50. Any how mine went for $35. not bad right. Well the final bid was from a lady who would bring you a pie a month for the next year. She said a min bid of $100. My funny husband thought he would try for it. Well lucky for him some one out bid us by just jumping straight to $200. Nice amount for the scouts. Any how they said they were doing another one in the fall and so I am already thinking of a new dessert to try and be the highest bid on item. Not that I am competitive or anything. SO if any one has any suggestions I am all for them. We came home with some home made fudge though. It was yummy.

100 things about me.

Well thanks to Aleisha I am doing this...

100 things about me....
1. I was born in Kettering OH
2. I will be turning 29 in less then 2 weeks.
3. I do not know at what point I got old.
4. I lived in Dayton OH till I was 16.
5. My parents got a divorce when I was 14. It sucked
6. I never knew a divorce would weigh on your mind for so long and about so many things. It is always in the back of my head that if I am not good enough will James want to divorce me too. I know he loves me but you never know.
7. Now my parents hate each other and can not even stand to talk to each other.
8. I am one of 4 kids. three girls and one boy. I am the oldest. I always hated being the oldest when I was younger but now I do not mind it so much. I know what Bethannie will go through and how she will feel though so it is a good thing.
9. I was a girl scout for lots of years when I was younger. I loved it all. My mom was the troop leader and she was the best ever. We did all sorts of fun things that I do not think any other troop came close to topping.
10. I have 3 kids.
11. James and I always said we wanted 4 children.
12. Pregnancy was very hard on me toward the end of every one.
13. I have had 7 blood transfusions due to pregnancy. I am very anemic
14. I always said I wanted to adopt one baby so we shall see if that is how I get my fourth child.
15. No more babies from me though. We decided three was good enough for us.
16. I lived in Kentucky for 2 years.
17. I hated moving around so much in high school but I have now learned that it prepared me for my life with James.
18. James and I met at a wedding reception.
19. We started dating when we were 16.
20. We got married when we were 19.
21. I went to college in Utah.
22. My dorm roommate in college was a sister of a missionary we had just known in Kentucky.
23. We were best friends while we were there.
24. I have a best friend named Tara that I have known for 20 years.
25. I have lived in 8 states now.
26. I have been here in Virginia now for almost 4 months. I still do not know if I like it here but I am getting more used to it.
27. I like to try and go golfing with James. I am not very good at it but I like to go because James likes to do it so much.
28. I miss my family. Besides one sister our closest family is 10 hours away.
29. It is nice that I have my youngest sister living within a hour of us here.
30. I have 27 nieces and nephews and three more on the way.
31. I love camping.
32. I love the beach.
33. I knew I always wanted to be a mom but I never knew it was so much work.
34. I have not finished college yet but I do plan on it.
35. I am going to go to school to be a nurse.
36. I have been to many many states to visit. 36 to be exact.
37. I did not take my first air plane ride till I was 16.
38. I got in a little finder binder about 2 weeks after I got my license. I rolled backwards on a STEEP hill and hit the guys be hind me. It was a manual car. I was never so scared in all my life. I cried because I did not know how I was going to get myself the rest of the way up this huge hill.
39. I have never been in any other car accidents.
40. I have never had a speeding ticket.
41. I love to do thrill rides.
42. I get car sick when ever we are driving for a long time.
43. I went on my first cruise with James in 2005. I was sea sick for the first day but OK after that.
44. I have only done that one cruise.
45. James and I are about to hit our ten year anniversary this July.
46. I have not got the best self image.
47. I have tried so many time to loose weight and never succeed.
48. I do not like to talk in front of people.
49. When I get to know you I am a loud person.
50. I have a funny laugh.
51. People say my laugh in contagious.
52. When I was in the 4Th grade I had my mom cut off all my hair. I had hair to my butt. I would sit on it when I would sit down because it was so long. It was up to my chin when I got it cut.
53. I can not run for long but I am trying to build up so I can run a 5K.
54. When I was younger I went to Girl scout camps in the summer.
55. They were so much fun and I learned so many things.
56. I had my first job when I was 8.
57. I delivered newspapers.
58. I did this for 4 years.
59. My family and I always went on cool vacations when we were smaller.
60. We almost always camped.
61. I would bungee jump if I could find a place to do it.
62. One day I will sky dive.
63. After we are finished with the Navy James and I plan on retiring to Tennessee.
64. We have been in the navy for 9 years now.
65. While I have never minded the navy life I do not like being apart from James so much.
66. I have never broken a bone.
67. I had my tonsils out when I was in the first grade.
68. I have had allergies for as long as I can remember.
69. I used to get allergy shots.
70. Now I just get really bad headaches when grass if freshly cut or lots of pollen is out.
71. I used to play the clarinet. I liked it but never did it in High school.
72. I like to dance.
73. I like to sing but neither of these two things are done in much of public.
74. I am way to self conscious to do things in public.
75. I get my feelings hurt easily.
76. I love to scrapbook.
77. teaching others how to scrapbook is a lot of fun for me.
78. Each of my kids have their own scrapbooks that I am making for them.
79. I have never been to a spa.
80. I plan on going to a spa when I have lost another 25 lbs.
81. I hate breakfast foods.
82. I love chocolate. Maybe that is why I look the way I do. HA HA HA
83. I try to be a good example for my kids.
84. I want to be a good mom and not have my kids feel like they can not talk to me.
85. It scares me about how things are in the world and that we have to be so protective of our children now a days.
86. I have the worst fear about loosing one of them or some one kidnapping them.
87. I love to cook, however I am not the best at it and my family is full of REALLY GREAT cooks. So I always feel like some one can do it better.
88. I love the summer time. I like sunbathing. I always get burnt the first time of every summer and that is never any fun but I still do it.
89. I love to go boating and tubing. I can not water ski though. I tried when I was in College.
90. I like go to hiking and sight seeing. Our kids are enjoying it a lot too now that they are bigger.
91. When I am sad I like to cry by myself in my room.
92. I feel very lonely here sometimes. Especially when James is on duty and I am here by myself with the kids for a couple of days.
93. I used to take for granite James being home but now after this past year of being apart, we take every chance to do things together.
94. I still keep in contact with at least one person I have met in every state we have lived in.
95. While I do enjoy working out to try and loose weight it is not my favorite thing to do.
96. I have started playing volleyball and find it to be a lot of fun.
97. This summer I was suppose to be going on a cruise with James and due to the navy we do not get to do it.
98. I am very ticklish. I can not stand for any one to touch my feet, because they tick so bad. I won a free pedicure on our cruise and I almost kicked the girl while she was using the brush on the bottom of my feet.
99. I have feetaphobia. I hate the thought of touching and looking at other peoples feet.
100. I love to just be me and if others do not like it then they do not have to be my friend.

Now that I have probably bored you to death, it is your turn. If you read this you are tagged. Fill out 100 things about yourself. Have fun.

Friday

Well we were suppose to just drive home today. Well we decided to take the scenic route home and went up 17 North. Well we got to Myrtle Beach and said lets stop and go to the beach. We went to a Wings store and bought the kids a towel and then walked over to McDonald's for lunch. Well there they had a tourist book and on the back cover was Ripley's Aquarium. We called to see how much and they do indeed have the best Military discount ever. All of us got in for $15. One normal ticket in $20. how sweet is that. Any how so we went to the aquarium and had tons of fun. The kids love these places. The kids have been to the one in Pigeon Forge with James and so they knew all about things. They are so funny. After walking through the Aquarium we decided we would walk the boardwalk too. So we went and did that. Found a play ground on the boardwalk. Weird I thought but lots of fun. The kids got to go play and had a blast. James had a set of monkey bars that were just his size. So I am including a video of him doing it and it is just funny. Or I should say James and i think it is. This kid is just a monkey. Well after the boardwalk we did head out to the beach. Little James is the only one who braved the water and really did get wet and had a lot of fun. The girls liked the sand. Any how we stayed there for a while and then drove up to Jacksonville NC. We stopped in and saw one of my good friends there and saw her kids. Bethannie and her son are suppose to get married. We just joke about it. Don't any one think we are doing arranged marriages or anything but the kids were funny together. They have not seen each other in 5 years and so I know they do not even remember each other but after only 2 hours they were hugging each other and acting so sad because it was time to go. it was just funny. So there is a pic of Bethannie and her future husband. Thanks Monica for letting us stop in and see you guys. It was tons of fun. Well after not leaving Monica's house till very late we got a hotel room there and crashed.

Thursday of the trip

Well James had a banquet to go to this day so when he left that morning I knew I was not going to see him till late that night. Well we decided again we would just go find something to do. Well again on the Internet I saw the coolest looking park down in Charleston and so I decided we would go. So we headed out again with the idea to have some fun. Well we did. We got to this park and I knew it had a pineapple fountain and it looked cute and all of it was just right up on the water. Well there were signs saying that you can wade in the fountain and so the kids did just that. they all took there shoes off and started playing. They were so cute. I did tell them to not get their clothes wet because I did not have any towels and stuff. Well they did OK here but not later. We saw that there was another fountain just down from here and so we went down to the other one and that one was more of just water spraying all over. Well they got soaked in the second fountain. they were having so much fun so what do you do. We played in the water for a long time and then there was a pier you could walk out on. So we did that and there were some bench swings you could relax on and so we just enjoyed ourselves out there. We had a lot of people watch us play in the water but not to many would dare it. It was not clod it was just fun. Any how well after all that I decided to be daring and go out to dinner by myself with the kids. So off to Chilli's we went. They did good. I will not say we were the quietest kids but they were good. They do really good when they try to. Any how it was an exhausting day and they went back to the hotel and went to sleep pretty easily that night.

Day three of our trip

Well on Wednesday I found a fire truck museum to take the kids to. So off we went to find the place. It was easy to just pick a place off the Internet to try and find but then trying to type it in in a GPS and it not find the address was another story. So we actually lucked into finding it with out to much difficulty. But the place was so cool. It was full of fire trucks from the 1800 all the way up to a 1960 style. The kids could touch buttons, watch fire stories, and then they had the coolest little play area. It was a firehouse. There were stairs on one side a ladder on the other a slide down the front and fire pole right through the floor. James was in heaven. he loves firefighting things. So he was pretending about how to be a fireman and put out a fire and put on pretend clothes. He was so cute. Mackenzie did not really like it. I think to many sirens and wax figure people who talk to you and things like that freaked her out more then anything. Bethannie was more curious about how things worked and wanted to know why things worked the way they did. Any how so it was a lot of fun. Later on that afternoon of course we went for more swimming and then James and the kids and I went out to a Mexican restaurant. I love Mexican and so it was so good. the kids liked the desserts. YUM-O

Tuesday of our Trip

I took the kids to this really cool park. I had gone online to see if I could find one around and so we decided to try this one. It had the coolest slide I have ever seen. It was on a hill with real stairs to the top and then you get on the slide and go down. Well the kids thought this was the coolest. So they did it tons. There were some teenagers there as well and they were sliding down the hill on cardboard and so James thought he would try it after they left so I video taped it and you will get a laugh. Any how. The park also had three playgrounds all right around the slide and so we spent almost 3 hours here this day. It was a lot of fun though. Of course we went swimming after and then had a nice quiet night. This whole week I think I was in bed and sound asleep by 9:30. It was kind of nice.

Monday of our trip

Like I said the kids and I went shopping on Monday. And for all of you who know me well you know I will find the bargains and that is just what I did. I found the girls the cutest dresses for $5 each. I am taking a picture of them today when they are ready for church and putting it on here because it is just so cute. I was finding jeans and long sleeve shirts for the girls for this winter. Any how so we had fun. Then the hotel we were at had a swimming pool and so we went swimming there. The kids are like little fish they can not get enough of the water. Any how we went swimming every day at least once. The love it. Mackenzie was jumping in off the sides all by herself by the time we left this week. James learned how to swim on his back and sort of float. And Bethannie well she is a really good swimmer for never having swim lessons and so she just keeps trying to learn new ways of swimming.

Mothers Day

I am retyping this post so some of you may have read it but oh well. Well my Mother's Day was a fun filled time in the car listening to my lovely little children fight over which movie to watch, where they had to sit, how much longer we were going to be in the car, And of course when are we going to eat. It was a 7 and a half hour drive form here to Charleston SC and it was not bad but I was not in the mood to be in the car. I was already tired from getting up early to get the rest of things done and get kids up and dressed and ready to walk out the door. James had got me a watch for Mothers day and I really liked the idea. I had told him I wanted a watch that tells your heart rate. So that is what he got me. But long story short. I never would have guessed that this watch would have cost so much and so I told James we are taking it back. Well while we were down in Charleston I knew I was going to the outlet malls. They are my favorite place to get things at. Well this one had a Coach store and so I went in just to look and really could not believe my eyes. They had a whole wall of already marked down prices on these purses another 40% off. I just could not believe it. So I really did start looking then. I told Bethannie to tell Daddy I really want one of these and she said OK. Well again long story short, we went back to the hotel and she told James and we went back later that night and he told me to pick one out and it could be my Mothers day present instead and we will take the watch back. So here is my new purse. Bethannie could not believe that I spent $100 on a purse but James told her that I deserved it and I am always spending our money on them and sometimes we can get things too. I thought that it was sweet. So my Mother's Day was full of the sounds every Mother hears every day. I love it though. Any how well I hope everyone had a great Mothers Day.

Where to start

Well we have had an eventful week neddless to say. SO I will start back at the rest of last Saturday. When we first got here to VA James had said he needed to go ahead and get a car because the base is 10 miles away and he did not want us to not have a car when he is doing duty. So back in Feb we bought a 02' Dodge Intrepid. Well we thought we got a good deal on it. We had NADA the price and found we had paid about $1200 less then it was valued and so that was good and so we liked the car. Well about 4 days before the warrenty was running out the check engine light come on. We take it in and end up dropping over $500 to get things fixed. That was 50% of the cost. Any how needless to say that the check engine light on that car just loved to shine, so we had to have 3 more things fixed and we forked out over $1000 in less then 3 months on the car. Well James decided enough was enough and we were trading it in and so after doing some looking and browsing we bought another car. We found a 2005 Ford Expedition. After our trade in we paid out a little over $5000 for it. Well The NADA for trading it in is over $17000. James and I just started laughing when we saw it. We thought there is no way this is what they really are going to let us have it for. BUt we LOVE it. I call it the beast becasue I am not loving to have to drive it becasue it is so big. I like my van that has no front end hardly. But oh well. So the car is fully loaded and made our trip to South Carolina not a bad one. Any how I told James that we are going to get used to such a nice car and how will we ever go back to normale for us. He said he did not know. HA HA HA. HE really likes it.

Saturday Breakfast

Well we have now started doing Waffles every Saturday for breakfast. James makes them every week and the kids gobble them all up. So I thought I would send you some numbers of what my kids eat. And pics of course. So Bethannie ate 6 waffles, James ate 4 waffles, and Mackenzie had 3. Now it is also not just waffles. We make whip cream and strawberries. They are so good and like I said the kids just love it. They look forward to Saturday breakfasts. James and I tell them that we will have to eat first so we get what we want because they just eat so many.

Well today we are going to be very busy packing the rest of our things for our trip. We are all looking forward to getting away for the week. I think it will be a lot of fun. Any how have a great week and I will post again when we get home and have lots of pics about our trip.

Fun with dad

So last night I had to run to the store to get some whipping cream for breakfast and so I took Bethannie with me and James and Mackenzie stayed at home with James. Well I guess they had fun being monsters. These are the pics I found on my camera today now. Aren't they so cute. They love to play monsters and so Mackenzie puts this mask on and runs around the house and tries to scare people. So fun.

Volleyball

Well I just got done playing volleyball at church for the first time. They just started playing last week and so I thought I would give it a try and see how well I do. Well I did not do bad but I do not play volleyball very good. But it was still a lot of fun and I got a good workout from it. Any how I am now looking forward to being able to do that every week. Maybe I will get better as time goes by. Time will tell.

Look at what a diva

OK another post about Mackenzie but I was going through all the hand me down and back to me clothes that my sister in law had and seeing what would fit Mackenzie for this summer. So I was making her try on all these clothes well this was what she picked to wear today when we were all done. So then she went and found these sunglasses of Bethannie's. They are so big on her but she still looked so cute. Any how she is so in love with the camera.

Bath time

Mackenzie loves baths. It is a word you totally understand from her. Bath and she will get herself totally undressed if she even hears you say something about taking a bath. I guess it is a good thing but sometimes not when I am not ready for her to do it. Any how James was washing Mackenzie's hair last night and kept making her hair stand up on top of her head. She was so funny looking. Any how so here are some cute pics of her in the bath.