Deanna Rose Outing

We took all the kids to Deanna Rose Farmstead. This is a great local park that has a playground, fabulous gardens, a petting zoo, and they are making a recreation of life in Kansas in the 1900's. Its a great place to take kids since they experience a snapshot of history plus its free! We do usually spend 5 dollars on animal feed though!
My niece Morgan, like the Bald Eagle aka the "Motorcycle Bird"
Me with all the cousins, Jaron isn't really cooperating!
Amber and Janea--good friends and cousins
What happens when you let children take the picture--I talk to much and then look goofy!

The 1900's one room schoolhouse! The kids were working on slates!
Jaron a happy balloon Catepillar!
The three girls--pretty little flowers!
On one of the nature trails!--Morgan, Janea, Amber, Jaron and Erin!

This is what happens when my husband tries to get me to tone down my smile! My smiles smaller but then I do and blink! I hate cameras!

All in all we had a good day on Saturday. The countdown has begun we close 2 weeks from today on the new house! I have so much to do before then!

Picture of my kiddos

Grandma why are we standing next to a post??--So we know the number of our campsite silly!
Grandpa let Janea reel in almost 2 pounds of trout when they went fishing!

Jaron got a Spiderman Fishing Pole!
Aren't I Handsome?!?
Just chilling out! Or should I say Sweating out!

Well, as you can see I love my babies and think they are gorgeous! Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Jaron is watching me type and thinks that j is the greatest letter of them all and i would have to agree!

Here's our New House

Here's some pictures of our new house The Front Yard
Great big garage that Dan has claimed for MAN LAND!!!!
The Living Room has 2 closets!!!!
Family Room has over 400 Square feet!

Kitchen does need some updating but does have a good number of cabinents!

All in all its exciting to think about! I am freaking out too since we have so much work to do before the closing! Plus, the cleaning of the house that we are currently in!

Offer Accepted

Our offer on the house in Peculiar was accepted! So that means it looks like we will be moving by the middle of August! I am freaking out! A ton of work to do in the next couple of weeks!!!! AAAAUUUGGGHH!! I am excited too. It'll be nice to be in a house that has enough space for all of us!

Possible New House

So we think we have found the perfect house! It's located in Peculiar MO and it has enough room for all of us with some to spare. Please pray that we will get it and that the transition will go smoothly!

All in all the process seems to be working but we will have to wait and see if this really is the place for us!

My husband is driving me crazy...

because he is obsessed with the hamsters living in our house! We are now up to 12 hamsters in the house and Dan is concerned that they are now committing incest in our house! He wants no more babies! So he took the three girls out to Walmart--to buy containers, water bottles, and wheels. So it's crazy in our house and we are a hamster hotel!

More Camping Photos

I haven't gotten many new pictures recently but I thought I'd post some from our camping trip last month!

Janea participated in fun things at Hillbilly Days in Lebanon!

Janea participated in a lollipop lick off when we went camping with my folks! Wader races! Janea could not get them on over her shoes!

Are you sure this is how I put them on???

Janea and her fish! She caught one all by herself!

Jaron felt sorry for the fish and gave it a kiss since it had an owie!

I soo needed chocolate

I am helping my sister in law try to get the mortgage set up for our possible new house. So today I spent over an hour on the phone trying to get the paperwork that we needed for the mortgage company. Between being placed on hold and all the screaming the kids were doing I was like...lets go get Icecream! I took the three girls to Dairy Queen and got myself a Peanut Buster Parfait! It's amazing what Icecream can do since the kids have been so much nicer to one another since we went to DQ! I am so glad!

Family Drama

Sometimes I feel like I am living a really dumb TV show. My life right now is a page out of a soap opera. The characters are goofy, annoying, obnoxious, and challenging. The setting chaotic. This whole combining two families is a challenge. I am really struggling with knowing exactly what to do. It's also a little frustrating to be more grown up than people who are older than you. I just don't get how some people can be content with watching life pass them by. I want to be active, I want my kids to have memories of us doing things together. I want my life to be full of activity! I want to be able to remember so much good and not just be caught up with the negative! Anyway on I go, I should probably get some sleep...I've been getting a little more but I am still needing more!

I really am 30...

Tonight I noticed that I am getting old and I know this because...

TV shows I watched as a kid are now being turned into movies. ex: Dukes of Hazzard, Transformers.

My children have no clue what a record player is or how it works.

I remember when my dad got his first computer and you had to use special disks to get programs to work and there was no internet!

I have had 5 different presidents in my lifetime.

My pictures from high school when I thought I was cool are really funny looking!

I totally get shows like I love the 80's on VH1!

I am older than MTV!

However with age comes wisdom and I have learned some very important things:

Always check if the toilet seat is down before sitting on it! Especially if you marry a guy who only had brothers!

Always wear a seatbelt! It never fails that when you don't wear one the kids need something! When it's on they are okay!

Being cute only works until your 25 for speeding tickets, then you really have to be creative to get out of them!

God is in control no matter how screwed up you are!

Life is tough, then you die, but the great thing Heaven is waiting!

Surrounding yourself with younger people while sometimes can make you feel old, you'll find yourself doing things that help you stay young

You are only as old as you feel!

When you lose touch with people you can reconnect!

So thank you for reading my ramblings and I'll post more later! BTW--my husband who is older than me is still one of the biggest kids at heart and is so wanting to see the Transformers movie and has bought way too many of the toys! Jaron is sooooo jealous!

Conflicting Cousins

I have brought the hammer down. My niece when she doesn't get her way starts to scream and throw and fit. I have told her that I am not going to have that in my house anymore. So far, the sight of me gets her to stop! We'll have to wait and see if it continues for more than an afternoon!

My HOUSE is TOO SMALL

So there are 7 people sleeping here right now. Dan and I switched bedrooms, moved our kids together and my SIL and kids are in our old bedroom. I am not sure how long all of us will stay sane if we are living under such a small roof. Our house only has about 1200 square feet! Please pray that we can find financing and the right house for us to move into! We have a couple that we are interested in but I am not sure right now. It really needs to happen this month. I am feeling a little stressed out too!

I ain't getting no sleep...

so my grammars getting worse! I am so tired right now! Dan got home at 3:45 this morning and decided we needed to finish a movie--no big deal I was awake anyway! Bad thing I could not get back to sleep so here I am wide awake at 6:45am! I have already made a caffiene run to get me some more for the day since I know I am going to need it! I hope that I can make it through today and that my kiddos and the niece are not too whiny today or else I am going to lose it!~

Thursday blues!!!

I don't know why but I am really tired today. Jaron has not been sleeping well for like 2 weeks. Last night he was up at least 5 times. Sometimes only 30 minutes between me putting him in his bed and him getting up again. I so hate nites like that. With my niece visiting and everything our schedule has been crazy. The girls usually get along okay but today they are at each others throats all day. It's been a long one. Morgan also decided that she is going to boss me around and not say thankyou. I don't work that way! It's been a long day. Dan's driving them home to get more of their stuff this weekend and we are completely rearranging our lives and sometimes I feel like we are getting the raw end of the deal.

You know its summer vacation...

When you don't wake up until around 8:00am every morning. If you get up before 8 your complaining!

When your out your not worrying about the time of evening and if the kids are up late oh well!

You sweat in most uncomfortable places!

Your idea of dressing up is capris and a nice shirt!

Your kids eat popsicles for breakfast and dinner!

That lovely outdoor sweaty smell that permeates your house!

The pool is your second home--though not for us so much this year!

You dread the first day of school!

Well, thats a minute nutshell of my life right now. Dan is already talking about getting the kids back on a more school like schedule but I am thinking AUGUST before that happens!

Okay, for some reason I can't write a title to this post and it's bugging me! Well, now that I am done complaining. I have to say that I am sad that Summer vacation is already almost half done. I am now back to putting in major hours for my job. I am writing this website for my classroom for next year and it is taking me forever! If you would like to check it out the address is www.geocities.com/elj377. So I am spending at least 2 hours a day working on it and I feel like it just isn't happening fast enough!!! Seems like there should be a least one more complete month to summer so that I can get my stuff done before the first day of school!!!!

On a different note. I spent all afternoon cleaning my room and I hate steam cleaners for carpets. When you empty them it takes like an hour to get the whole thing all back together!!!

Good thing though--V-ball tonight--Lost first game--won second game--made amazing dive hit the ball over the net and then I dived again and got the ball back for my team so we could score two points to win!!! That never happens usually I dive and miss the ball or I dive and hit the ball in entirely the wrong direction!!! GO ME! GO TEAM!!

OH my ACHING Legs

So I play volleyball with a group of people from my church. On Monday nights we are in a league and then on Tuesday night we practice at a local park. We play sand volleyball outside in the nice hot humid Missouri evenings. Well, I played Monday night and then I played Tuesday night and I woke up today Wednesday with pain like I haven't felt in a long time. If my legs could detach from my body I think I would do it since I hurt so bad. I have taken mucho tylenol and Ibuprofen but so far so luck in helping with my pain!

Today we look at houses! My MIL and SIL will be moving down soon and we are looking for just the right house! So far we don't all see eye to eye. Will wait and see what happens. I hate moving and we haven't even really started the moving!

Cousins, Ring Pops and Fireworks

So Janea and Jaron's cousin is visiting. So far so good, they seem to be enjoying one another's company. It is a challenge for Mom though to remember that her niece is not her child and the way I work isn't what she is used too. I tend to be upfront with my kids, and she is used to be babied more. Well, Dan took the 3 kids and grandma to the store to buy fireworks! We will see what happens!