Decisions, Decisions

My head is full of some many things.  

So many decisions, so little time!

We finally made one BIG decision.  We officially decided to homeschool Daniel next year.  We both feel like this is going to be the best thing for him, but it's a little scary on my part.

Of course, that decision has lead to more decisions that need to made.  Matt will finish up at the high school.  He was definitely not interested in homeschooling and he has done fine so far.  We decided to send Sarah to kindergarten so that I can concentrate on Daniel for this first year.  She is a lot like Matthew (although she is much more of a talker!) and I know she'll love it.  Now I just have to decide what curriculum to use for Daniel...

via

It is also time to start planning college visits.  That means I need Matt to decide where he wants to look.  This is turning out to be a tougher challenge than I anticipated.  Unfortunately, this decision has to be made quickly because it plays a roll on our summer schedule.  This decision leads into what baseball camps to attend, when to visit colleges, when to visit family in Louisiana, when to schedule Sarah's swim lessons and dance camp, and the list goes on and on....And in the midst of all of these big decisions, there are still the every day decisions in the midst of our crazy busy schedule.   

Along with each decision also comes an extensive to do list.  Some days I'm just overwhelmed and paralyzed.  Some days I'm motivated and productive.  Hopefully, I will be less overwhelmed and more productive as the days go by!

Living thru faith,

Misty

My, Oh My!

Is it really Wednesday?!  I am so out of synch since our trip.  March was nuts and April hasn't slowed down yet.  Who knows if it ever will.  Brian got back from his trip on the 24th (just in time to help fight the lice attack in Sarah's hair!) and then we left on the 29th for Matt's baseball spring training week in Vero Beach, FL.  We rolled back in late Saturday night, just in time for Easter.  

Easter was pretty low key this year.  Brian grilled pork chops and I made lima beans, mashed potatoes, and bread.  It was pretty much whatever I could find to fix. The rest of the day was spent putting trip stuff away, doing laundry, and...it kills me to have to admit this...going to Walmart.  Really?!  Walmart on Easter?!  I think it was a first and hopefully a last, but the kids had to have something to fix for their lunches.

Since Sunday I've been working on getting the house back together, laundry, creating a menu (with "writers block"), grocery shopping, laundry, removing pavers from the front flower bed, babysitting two beautiful and funny girls one day and then two adorable and energetic boys another day, some preliminary college searching online for Matt, and laundry.  Have I mentioned I've also been doing laundry?

I haven't had a chance to upload all the pictures from our trip, but hopefully I will get a chance to work on that tonight!  I can't wait to show you some of the great things we did! I also need to show you the work I did in the garage while Brian was gone. Why I tackle these projects while he's gone, I just don't know.  Somehow it just seems easier that way...until I'm half way through, exhausted, and second guessing myself.  I'm really beginning to think I'm certifiable!  

Living thru faith,
Misty

Weekends are for Plan B's

The kids were out of school on Friday because of snow the night before.  With temperatures in the teens, it was soooo cold!!!!  And then the snow started over again late Saturday afternoon. 

The flakes were tiny, but they came down like rain.  It snowed for several hours and if the flakes were bigger I think we would have seen more than 
just the 1 or 1 1/2 inches that lay on the ground.

I had planned on staying in all weekend (except to go to church).  I dreamed of the things I could accomplish while at home! But, my hibernation plan didn't quite go as I had imagined.  Matt had baseball conditioning, Brian had to go work on his dissertation (at Starbucks, of course), I discovered Sarah had a birthday party Saturday, and I forgot that Daniel had 
a dentist appointment on Monday.

So, instead of checking off all the items on my to-do list, 
we ran here and there, and then...

Sarah fixed me a feast at her "restaurant", I watched football with Matt, I laughed and joked with Daniel, watched a movie with the kids, and spent most of the day on Monday in our room with Brian catching up on old episodes of a British tv show he wanted us to watch together. 

My house is a mess, the laundry isn't done, I still have a few bills to pay, and the dishes still need to be washed...
but I think it was a wonderfully successful weekend.

Sometimes, the best laid plans aren't the best plans.  Sometimes, the best plans are the plan B's. Sometimes, the best plans just happen on cold, snowy, weekends...

Living thru faith,
Misty

Happy Birthday, Honey!

 

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

I love you!

And just so you know, I'm on a mission...a mission to get more pictures of you.  

I discovered that I don't have many and I need to remedy that situation!

Living thru faith,

Misty

Our Nashville Trip

Last weekend we went for a somewhat impromptu mini vacation to Nashville.  An organization there has a couple of houses where those in ministry and their families can come for a little time to relax free of charge.  We arrived Saturday evening and left Monday after lunch.  Short, but nice.

Sunday morning we got up slowly, had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, shared a devotion, and then visited the Bicentennial Mall in downtown Nashville.

These are bells that chime every half hour.

It really bugged Matt that they called it a "mall" when there were no shops!  :-)

  

A World War II Memorial is in one part of the Mall.

 

 

Along one side of the mall is the history of Tennessee.

The kids loved these columns.  I read later that these are columns from the old Capital building.

Matthew as the Statue of Liberty.

I absolutely love this picture!

Daniel being cool.  

He never fails to make me laugh!

After getting some lunch, we went to the Centennial Park near Vanderbilt University.  

It was just a park kinda trip!

The Centennial Park has a supposedly accurate replica of the Parthenon.  

(Of course, it is closed Sundays and Mondays, so we didn't get to go inside.)

This was the ceiling on the outside!

This park also had a playground for the little ones, 

so the boys went to throw the football while Sarah played.

 

We drove around the Vanderbilt campus and downtown a little bit, then headed back to the house.  Everyone was tired and grumpy by this time.  After a little rest, we ended up just grabbing a bite to eat, picking up some movies, and going back for a pajama party.

It was a short trip, but it was nice to get away and just relax a little bit.

Living thru faith,
Misty

Our Mini Vacation

We just got back from a little mini vacation.

We traveled to Nashville for about a day and a half.

It was quick and we didn't do anything big, but it was nice to just get away for a little bit.

 We  left on Saturday after an insane day.  

It consisted of grocery shopping, marathon laundry cleaning, packing, and food preparation all before 11am!  Throw in a cross country race and a birthday party, in the midst of locking Sarah and I out the house, and we were more than ready to get out of town!

I will share more about the party and the trip later this week!

Right now, I've got some unpacking to do...

Living thru faith,

Misty

Celebrating Another Birthday!

Yesterday was my grandmother's birthday and

today is my father-in-law's birthday!

July 2011

He may be retired, but he doesn't like to sit in one spot too long.  He may fall asleep! (inside joke)  :-)

Putting together Daniel's loft bed - March 2011

And I figured out that somehow he manages not to get in any pictures.  
I will have to remedy this the next time we are all together.  So, watch out buddy! 

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Living thru faith,

Misty

The Happenings this Weekend

I just wanted to let you all know that I may be absent from blogland for a few days.

We have a full weekend...

Demo last night (which took much longer than we anticipated)

Installing the cement board this afternoon

Tiling (with the help of awesome friends) tonight

Working on the boys' closet and bedroom on Saturday (trust me this is a scary venture!)

Dinner with some other awesome friends Saturday night

Church Sunday morning

Grouting Sunday afternoon

And at some point I have to finish the boys' room, finish putting the bathroom back together, AND stock up on groceries before Tuesday because my boys come home on Tuesday!!!  I haven't seen my boys since July 5th and I'm ready to love on 'em again (inserting 16 yr old's eyes rolling).

I am taking pictures and will have lots to share soon!!

Before I go, today is my mother-in-law's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Mimi!

And tomorrow is my little brother's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Nathan!  

(and behave yourself!)

Living thru faith,
Misty

Cousins

I was looking through some photos on my phone and forgot that I had taken these on our trip to Huntsville, Alabama over the July 4th weekend.

Because of the miles between us, our kids do not get to see their cousins very often. 

Daniel with his cousin Samantha - Christmas 2010

But when they get together, it's like they were never apart!

The boys are going to get to spend time with their cousin Samantha this weekend.  
I can't wait to hear the stories!

Living thru faith,
Misty

4th of July Pics

First a quick update:

We have stayed busy since we got back from our trip preparing for our garage sale.  Thankfully, it was very successful! We have already spent a little bit of the money we made on a new faucet and knobs for our upcoming kids' bathroom remodel (more to come on that in the next few weeks!). 

So, for 4th of July we met Brian's parents and his sister and her family in Huntsville, AL. It's a nice almost half-way point to hand over the boys for the month.  We had a great weekend and enjoyed being together again!

We were the first to arrive on Saturday and, of course, the first thing my kids wanted to do was go swimming.  So they swam a little bit while we waited for everyone else to arrive.  Once my nephews got there I let them get a few wiggles out from their long drive while their parents got settled in their room. Daniel had as much fun as they did!

Sunday afternoon we took the kids to a "fun center".  They played arcade games and then we went outside to play putt-putt golf.  It was loads of fun, but oh so hot!

Sarah is 11 days older than Luke.  Cutie pies!

Luke's technique resembled more of a baseball player than a golfer.

Sarah preferred to use the backwards style of golfing.

They got a kick out of the oversized flamingos!

Cole got the first hole-in-one!

Wow! I managed to get a pic of Matt actually smiling!

My brother-in-law making his hole-in-one!

I ended up taking Sarah in early to cool down after she decided to lay down on one of the putting greens.  We got some shaved ice and felt better in no time!

Once everyone cooled down, we headed back out for go-carts.  Everyone had a blast!  I even drove one for the very first time!

Andrew and Daniel goofing off as usual.  :-)

Granddaddy and Cole getting ready for a great race.

Brian driving with Luke.

We were all hot, tired, and hungry after our fun-filled afternoon, so we headed to eat supper.  It wasn't too long of a wait, but it felt like an eternity at times!

Waiting patiently.  The little ones really did well!

Then there was more swim time to end the day!

Brian, Deborah and Andrew took the little ones to the Space Center on Monday.  My boys had been there last year and they preferred to just go to the mall!  Teenagers!

I think this is my favorite picture!

The Space Center had a special dinosaur exhibit!

Huntsville has a great fireworks display every year and this year we happened on a great place to watch the show by mistake.  We got in the wrong lane and didn't get to turn where we had planned, which worked out wonderfully because the kids had a great place to run and play for the close to 2 hours we had to wait for the fireworks to start.

 

Even though there was rain in the forecast each day, it didn't rain on us until the morning we left.  The boys went back with Brian's parents and will spend the month visiting friends and family, swimming, and helping Brian's parents with the mowing and in the garden.  They will come back just in time to get ready for school to start!

In the meantime, we just have Sarah which makes things a little quieter and a little calmer.  But we so miss our boys! (Who, by the way, called last night to announce they had decided we were all going on a cruise!  I'm still waiting to hear how they plan to pay for it...)

Living thru faith,

Misty