North Carolina....Mountains to Coast Ride

My dad and step-mom are doing an amazing thing this week.

Something I hope Josh and I could participate in someday.

They are doing a Mountain to Coast bike ride across North Carolina.

They are riding anywhere from 70-80 miles a day...for 7 days

Tent camping at their rest stops each night!

you can go here is a link to the event

I tell you this; to tell you another story...

Tonight the girls and I went for a walk in the neighborhood

I was walking at a "workout pace"

Josh was running with the pup

(btw, I call all our dogs pups even though they are 6+ years old)

The girls were riding their bikes

Our neighborhood is ONLY 2.1 miles

They were in tears and full of complaints 1\2 way though...but they did finish!

So, way to go babes!

But to their defense we do have what feels like constant rolling hills in our neighborhood!

But I couldn't help but think about the miles that my parents put in today, HA!

So major kudos goes out to my parents and the amazing journey that they are on this week!!

TGIF...

It was brought to my attention that I have failed my kids!

They had no idea what T.G.I.F means...

Oh.My.Goodness!

The girls and I were riding in the car

I don't remember how it came up but I said,

"T.G.I.F"

Lilly responds with,

"What is Gele-i-f"

I thought for a second (and giggled)

and thought maybe she didn't understand me

so I repeated myself

"I said T.G.I.F"

To that they said, "What's that?"

Oh. My.

Have I taught my children NOTHING in life??

Fridays were a big deal as a kid

not because it was Friday

or the weekend

but there was Friday Night T.V....TGIF!

Full House

America's Funniest Home Videos

(When Bob Saget was host!)

Steve Urkle

(What's the name of that show??)

I know that there were others that came on too,

but man, as a kid I loved those shows

So I officially schooled my girls in what TGIF means!

Whew...disaster averted! HA!

14 Weeks

Or 98 Days

Or 2,352 Hours

Or 141,120 Minutes

OR....8,467,200 Seconds

is the countdown til I start Nursing School!!!

But, Who's counting??!!

Better!

Do you remember the caught post earlier?

Well,

I can report to say that Madelyn

had a MUCH better grade on her retake test...

92!!

I'm proud of that little stinker

:o)

Now, if only we could get Lilly to spell

we will be in business!

Good News!

Do you remember this post? 

Well...

Hallelujah!!

I was accepted into the nursing program!!

To say I was excited to open that letter up would be a total understatement

I was suppose to get the letter by September 30th

I received it on September 3rd

I'm so glad they saved me the agony of having to wait a whole other month!

I've got so many little details that I have to work out

between now and December!

I'm excited and nervous....

but excited MORE than nervous!!

Lately...

I haven't blogged lately

It's not like I don't have time

I do

I think I didn't want to commit me thoughts to

and actual post

maybe...

Lilly go her cast off

YAY!!

She has to wear a brace

but we are ever so slightly weaning her out of it

She told me yesterday she wanted to do gymnastics...

I'm not so sure about that

Gymnastics makes me nervouse, especially with how careless she can be!

This past weekend we had to replace out hot water heater

Yay!

NOT!!!

But Josh is the most awesome thing ever

He's never installed one before

but he did this weekend

nothing blew up or caught on fire

YAY!!!

But, really he is quite the handyman

and it's afraid to jump in head first

and I LOVE that about him!!

I've got a few more posts up my sleeve
Which includes some good news too!
Stay Tuned!



Caught...

Middle School is new for us

or at least new since I was last there...

forever ago.

They now have a site where the parents can log in

and view their child's grades...

Awesome!!

but I'm so glad

they didn't have this when I was in middle\high school

HA!

The other night I was just in casual conversation

giving Madelyn a hard time and said,

"I logged onto the site and I saw THAT grade on there"

(you know cause that's what us parents do)

I wasn't expecting the response that I got; she said,

"Yeah I know"

Wait!! What??

I bet my eyes were as big as saucers

I looked at Josh

we just went with the conversation...

"So what class was that in...I forgot?"

Her response, "Language Arts"

Geez...this isn't where I wanted to go with this

She "reminded" us of the grade...and I won't tell you what it was though

 I later told her that we really had no idea abou the grade

 and she just completely told on herself

She was mad...but

now I was mad cause she had a "poor" grade in L.A.

I'm not sure that she will fall for this again...

but it sure did work in my favor this time though, HA!

Except that it was late at night and I really didn't want to have the

"Study-Good Grades-Life will be Easier" talk

but we did!



Pinterest?

Have you hear of Pinterest?

It's a website

http://www.pinterest.com/

It's kinda like Twitter...

well, not really, except in the sense that you

"Follow" other people

The website is basically a place for your to "pin"

all of your likes, loves, wants, wishes, etc

anywhere from clothes and jewelry

to awesome architecture, like whimsical treehouses

to the basic kitchen essentials and recipes

to funny quotes and pictures

The pictures that are "pinned" to your board

link back to a website or blog

basically the original source of the "pin"

Confusing??!!

click on the link and give a whirl

you'll be addicted soon enough! 

It's really a great time waster

but a place to get GREAT ideas.

It can be overwhelming

but so addictive!

I've already learned how to do something new with my hair

or something new to "try"

Sock Bun Curls

Awesome!!

Another Workout at home?

Some may not consider it a workout

but for me it was...is

Washing my van in the blazing sun!

I wish I could describe to you just how hot it is.

The front of our house gets the brutal afternoon sun.

Between the hours of 5pm & 8pm,

It's like hell in our front yard!

No, I'm not exaggerating!

7:00pm, I started to wash my van;

It was still blazing outside;

But my van looked awful.

Apparently I had driven through every part of town that was doing landscaping,

cutting grass, or blowing their clippings into the street

or

my van is a magnet for the junk

It's probably the latter of the two!

Anyways

On Sunday night I declared that washing my van was in fact...

a workout!

Plus my legs, abs & arms were screaming at me

from the "homemade" workout the night before.

Yes!



Working out at home

I prefer to workout at the gym

There is so much more motivation at the gym

But today required a workout at home

So I laced up my sneakers

pulled out the yoga pad

and my measly 5lb weights

But when you do high reps....

those 5lbs quickly feel like 15lbs

So tonight my workout consisted of

Sit-ups/Ab Work

Chest-Press

Tricep Extensions

Bicept curls

hammer curls

squats

and lunges

I was working a sweat by the time I was finished

So, regardless if in the gym or at home

I got my sweat on today!



Where I'm at today...

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest. 
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle & humble in heart
and you will find rest for you souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 
Matthew 11:28-31


Yesterday I should have started nursing classes

but I didn't

God only knows why I was not accepted into nursing school

and I mean that in the way that, really God is the only one that knows why.

This has been my dream since I was a child

I'm not after it for the money
or the hours for sure
or the "job title"
I've said before that they could pay my $3\hr and I would be just fine with it
It's my passion!

and here I am almost 32 and I've been going to school for the last 2 years

waiting for this momet

and it's not here


Show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalms 16:11


It's my passion...
but is it God's will & purpose for me?
Again, only God know this

Wait for the Lord;

be strong, and let your heart take courage;

Wait for the Lord!

Psalms 27:14

Have I mentioned that I'm awful at waiting?

but I suppose we all do.

I'm still waiting to hear about another school

but again it's the waiting

everyone else is up and going

moving on to bigger and better

That's what I'm suppose to be doing!

I keep reminding myself though that this is HIS plan, not mine

"For I know that plans I have for you," declares the Lord,

"Plans to PROSPER you and not to harm you,

plans to give you HOPE and  a FUTURE"

Psalms 29:11

But it's days like today

cause we all have them

the I do want to have a "pity party" for myself,

a "woe is me" moment

and I was have "that" party this morning

but I covered myself

in the Word of God

if I don't then satan will come in an take over my spirit

and that is not a place I want to be, right now or ever

It's hard to get out of that place once you're there.

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, YOU ARE MINE.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire, you shall not be burned,

the flame shall not consume you.

For I AM the Lord your God,

The Holy One of Israel,

Your Savior.
Isaiah 43:1-3

If that isn't awesome stuff

then I'm not sure quite what is.

There is no denying that God is looking out for me

My Lord is with me every step of the way

There is no denying that

However,

My flesh gets in the way

and because of that I am grateful that

I have the Bible that I can go to

for awesome, truth-filled, words that can consume me and overwhelm me.

If I'm going to feel either one of those things,

God's Word is the best stuff to be consumed with and overwhelmed by!

More of my Mad Parenting Skills...

My girls each have a water bottle exactly like the one above.

Madelyn uses her's for soccer practice & games

Lilly uses her's for whatever

So I have to keep a close eye on what she puts in it

It's not just water

Imagine milk just a few days old...

ewe!

We've discovered that these water bottles make a "puffing" noise when squeezed

Imagine an O2 puff

or the puff of air that they shoot in your eye at the eye Dr.

Or maybe that's just me

cause I'm so darn blind

Either way

When you squeeze this water bottle and it "puffs" air

Water rarely comes out of it

Until I do it

Lilly and I were playing around the other night

She was pretending to squirt me with the bottle

making those "puffs of air"

So "mommy" returns

I ask her for the bottle so I can go wash it

Thankfully it's just water....and not milk

So I turn in the hallway and act like I'm  going to squirt her

but only making a "puff"

Yeah...not so much

I'm pretty certain that every ounce of water that was in there

shot right out and into Lilly's eye!

I managed to make her cry for a good 10 minutes

Nice!

Parenting FAIL!

I signed up at the girls' school to have access to their information
Grades, Assignments, Attendance, etc.
To keep track of everything that's going on at school
So...

A lady called me from the school system
Introduced herself and said,
"I need to verify a few things first to be sure you are 'mom'"
Me: "Ok, no problem"
She asks,
"Can you verify your childrens' fullnames and birthdates?"
Me: "Sure"

So I proceed to giver her Madelyn's full name
and her birthday
I give her Lilly's full name
and then her birthdate

This is where it gets ugly...

I got Lilly's birthday WRONG
What??!!
I'm her mother
How do I get her birthday wrong?

Oh, but I did.

I had the right month and year
but I said the 14th
The lady said, "Ok....um....that's not what we have on file, we have the 17th"
All I could say was "Oh??"
After a long pause
I felt ridiculous and said
"Now, that you say the 17th that IS her birthday"

insert embarassing laughter here

I was never really expecting the "Mother of the Year Award"
but I know now that I am definately out of the running
for quite a while...

Should I mention I gave her the wrong email address too??!!
Yea, I don't think I should mention that either.

Geez!

Running, Squats, & Lunges....Oh My!

Last night the whole family hit up the gym

I'm down 4 lbs in the last week

and I want to continue that downward trend

Who wouldn't!?!?

Madelyn didn't have soccer practice last night

She was excited

but only briefly

Josh had her out on the fields at the Y

running sprints

shooting goals

and other soccer "stuff"

Then she came into the workout room

I was waiting for her

MORE running

The girl can run

It's in her for sure

Makes us proud

I had already been busting it out on the treadmill

HIIT workout

Have you heard of it?

High Intensity Interval Training

Yeah...It's that bad

But the best thing is

It's not a steady run

but an all out sprint for 45sec-1min

Then you jog\walk for 1.5-2 minutes

It's a GREAT workout

Keeps your metabolism revved up for so much longer

Then Madelyn and I did sit-ups, push-ups and planks

She hated me

I'm awesome like that!

We got home and she said,

"That was the best workout ever!"

Our job here is done!



If you have dogs....you'll understand

The Ultimate Dog Tease!

Broken...

...arms that is!

Our ever so clutzy Lilly

the poor dear!

Lilly's first broken arm was in Febuary 2011.
She fell off of her scooter out in the driveway
We were lucky enough to find an urgent care clinic
they were able to set and splint your arm that same night

Little did we know we would need to utilize their services later on...

This was Febuary 2011...

This is July 2011...
Just the way we wanted to spend out Friday evening in July
July 22, 2011 to be exact!
Lilly, Madelyn & Daddy were out in the front playing soccer
Madelyn was showing off some stuff she learned at UGA soccer camp
Lilly, the fiesty little thing, was determined to win the ball from dad
She tripped and fell over dad's foot
breaking her arm
same arm....exact same place as the first break

They were a bit worried about how you broke it this time

Your wrist was a little "off"

Thankfully, it healed perfectly and no surgery was required!

YAY!!

Lilly decided that Dr. Shuler was the "most awesome" doctor

He gave her a water-proof cast!!

You were so excited about that.

Everyone else was too

We hit up the pool that following weekend!

yep, two breaks...one year!

Here's to hoping that we make it a little longer till the next one

Or maybe even none at all! 

If not, we might get assigned our own parking spot at Athens Orthopedic Clinic
HA!!



Monday is brought to you by the letter, "S"....

And "S"  is for soapbox...
Today's soapbox rant is specific to my kids

As parents, you have to be an advocate for your children
if you aren't....who will be then?
If you don't, your children won't learn to stand up for themselves
and fight for what they really want
heck....for what they deserve

If someone
ASSUMES
(you know what that means right!!??)
something about your child and they are punished for what someone...
ASSUMES
(again!!??)
then who wins?
The child certainly doesn't
and the true meaning of assume really comes out.

But my child now knows the truth
but only because her parents stood up for her!

....stepping down from my soapbox now

Fried.

I'm not sure I could even try this, I'm sick to my stomach just reading about it! Ick!!

Monday...

Otherwise known as the day that I need to get caught up

Is that a bad thing?

That you need a catch up day...on Monday!

With the hubby at home every night and home every weekend right now

He has been assigned to "soccer mom" duty on Monday nights

I have Thursday nights

It works out nicely.

I get Lilly bathed and in bed at a decent time

and I can get everything back in its place

or at least the things that weren't done over the weekend.

My goal is to make Friday night, "cleaning night"

that way we can enjoy the weekends

and lets face it, soccer season is only a few weeks away

and we can kiss any weekend good-bye for getting things done

especially when you work full-time!

Last night Lilly helped me sweep and mop the kitchen

what a big help that was

plus she thought it was "fun"

I'm glad someone does

Ha!

Plus, we are in our second week of school

which means...

homework has begun.

I'm not sure what middle school homework will hold for us

but I know that there will be plenty to keep us busy!

I have a dry erase board in our sitting room\office

I'm trying to write out our weeks activities there

It's easy for all to see

I feel like I'm constantly reminding everyone

of everything....all the time

Hopefully this will help

However, it did make me realize just how busy we really are

and that we have something every night this week

then Soccer Tournaments all weekend long

The point of this post...

I hope to find a few moments for myself and get a workout in

Or at the very least possibly eat dinner before 10:00!

That's all!



This thing called a blog...

I have two blogs

one for "family & kids" stuff & one for personal (ie: weightloss, etc). 

I'm not sure if I want to keep both

or

 I guess I should say, I can't hardle keep up with one, much less two. 

But do I combine it with family stuff? 

Oh heck...I'm not even blogging about family stuff at this point

and

I guess if I'm exercising, working out, playing soccer mom,

homework tutor, referee, nurse,

wife, personal shopper, etc....

I should really keep it all in one place huh??

Because it really does all occur in one doesn't it??

I really enjoy blogging. 

I can speak things more clearly when writing...

And it slightly therapeutic too! 

If you blog, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.  

Or even from the 1 or 2 of your that actually read my blog

If you'd mind either way, ha!  

Lilly Sings!

Lilly had her choir program back in November, as always she did great! It's nice to see that she actually sings up on stage now.  I can remember back when she was 3 and she just stood there, you'd think she was having the most awful time EVER! So it's nice to see that she smiles, sings and participates now!

Slumber Party!!

Madelyn celebrated her birthday party with friends and having a slumber party, a SPA slumber party no less!  We've had slumber parties before and they have become very loud and out of control so this year there were some parameters set!

I was so excited to rekindle a friendship with a college roommate and she helped throw this whole thing together, I was so grateful!


Making Soaps!

Spa Birthday Cake!

 Manicures, Pedicures, Facemasks, and Cucumbers for the eyes....so much fun!