Chilly Mamma

First things, first. I have to announce that my mom is here and I get to go pick her up in a few short hours!!! I am so excited to see someone that I know! I welcome anyone to come visit us, we'll welcome you with open arms and we have lots of room in our new house (that is as of Monday, the day we move in)!

On another note, it got COLD here! OK, I'm LOVING the cold weather, but I am totally NOT prepared. Since I tought that we'd be moving into our house in Florida 3 weeks ago, I only packed a week's worth of clothes...not to mention, they are summer clothes. I was smart enough to pack one pair of jeans for us and one pair of sweat pants for the kids as well as one sweatshirt. But that's all I packed!!! We must have adapted to the Southern weather already, because it's 65degrees, and we are COLD! So, here we are wearing the same thing, with a different shirt each day, in our nice cool weather.

Here are the kids walking Chase and trying to keep warm. Oh, I forgot to mention, it's not only cool, but it's raining too. Doesn't that make it much better?!

He love to pose for the camera.

She loves to pose as well. This is her "angel" pose.

Mr. Handsome. I'm not sure why, but every picture I took of him with the shirt on, it looks like the shirt is on backwards. I assure you, it is not on backwards.

We got Miss M a new headband when we went to Target the other day. She is now completely ready for Halloween. We got their costumes the other day as well. Mr. C is going to be Bumblebee from Transformers...but when you ask him what he is going to be he says "Hot Bumblebee". I'm not sure why he always calls him Hot Bumblebee, but he does and that is who he is going to be. Miss M is going to be Tinkerbell, I'm sure you can't figure out why :)

Fun in the Sun...

Today we decided to try a new lake. It is the largest lake in the area and it totally spring fed. The water was beautiful! It was a georgious shade of teal. You could see way down deep. The lake ranged from about 50 feet to about 150 feet and had a dam at one end. It was a lot of fun and nice to explore a new lake. You could see that it was down about 50 feet (at least) and a lot of the docks that you use at the boat ramps were un-usable because the water was just too low. We had a lot of fun though. M swam a lot in her life-best (life-vest) which is new for her since she has never trusted it before. C tried to ski, we put the skis on him and he stood on the swim platform. R did a lot of wakeboarding and did some awsome jumps and got lots of air, but it was quite rough and he eventually had to stop. And I tried wakeboarding again. I made it up all three times and felt like I did a great job! I'm very proud of myself!!!

Here are the kids on the boat ready for a day of fun and sun!

Miss M getting into the water for a refreshing swim. She loved swimming today and everytime we'd stop the boat, she'd be in the water.

C went tubing today and LOVED it. He kept telling us to go faster using the "thumbs up" signal and even let us get a little "wild" and put him outside of the wake. Don't worry grandmas and grandpas, we didn't get too wild or go too fast, just enough to give him a good time :)

Here is C trying to ski. He was getting very nervous and wouldn't let us put him in the water by himself. But, at least he's had the skis on and knows the feeling of them on and water going over them.We felt like we made some progress.

And here I am wakeboarding!!!! I tried this last summer and fell so hard that I blacked out and refused to try again. But, today the water was calm and I had a feeling like I just had to give it a try again, so I hopped in and tried. I got up the first time and the other two times I tried. The first two times, I couldn't get into the wake, but somehow the last time I was able to stay in the wake and went pretty far. We got a video of it that I'll try to get on here later. It's not the greatest boarding form, but I was up and didn't black out...so I'm a happy girl!!!!

Too good not to post...

I found this on another blog and had to share it becuase it cracked me up. It's long, but soooo funny!

Random thoughts from people 25-35 years old..

-I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

-More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

-I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

-I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

-Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

-There is a great need for sarcasm font.

-Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.

-I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

-How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

-I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

-The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

- A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

- LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

-What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

- MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

-Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

- I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu' to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."

-I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

- Bad decisions make good stories

-Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

- Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

-If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

-You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

-Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

-There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

-I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

-I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

-When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

-Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

- As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists
.

-Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

-It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

-I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

-Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

-Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

-My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

-It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

-I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

-I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

-I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

-The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

San Antonio River Walk...Our 6th Anniversary

Today is our 6th wedding anniversary! Yeah!!!! Since we don't have a place to call home, and we can't really call our hotel room our home, we decided to head to San Antonio and see the river walk. We had a great time. It's such a beautiful place. I couldn't get enough pictures because everywhere I turned, there was another beautiful picture. Happy Anniversary honey!!!

My little ghetto superstar (and she knows it!). She got a map from the hotel and informed us that she was going to tell us how to get there...all while wearing her sunglasses.

Mr. Man riding in the car on the way to the river walk.

There was a boat passing by and the kids wanted to see it, so they peeked through these holes.

My wonderful kids! Love them, love them, love them! I was able to get this after making sure she knew he wasn't going to get her. She was not into this at first.

Momma and her kiddos.

Here is our wonderful family. Who would have thought on our wedding day, 6 years ago, we'd be here?! I love my family!!!

These are two trees growing out of a wall. The bottom tree is a fig tree and has figs growing on it. There were so many cool things to get pictures of. I have even more that I didn't put on here.

A bridge that I just thought looked really cool.

The rocks actually break apart to let the water run through here.

This picture cracks me up. She put these glasses on in one of the stores that we were shopping in. They are supposed to make your eyes look big, but they just look HUGE on her face!

Oh! And by the way, I just had to share this with you...we have WILD CACTUS growing outside of our hotel. Actually, it is growing wild all over down here. I know that we lived in Houston for a year, but we did NOT have wild cactus growing there. This is a totally new concept for me. What's next, tumbleweeds blowing down the street???

Our home away from home

Here is our home away from home until we can find one and move in. It's a great hotel and we've been lucky to have such a nice place to call "home."

We are in a two room suite. This is the bedroom where M and daddy and mommy sleep.

This was M's bed the first night, but we ended up trading her.

C sleeps on the pull out couch bed in the other room. This way we all have our own beds.

There has been quite a lot of cartoon watching on this couch since there isn't much to do here.

We are on the 10th floor, the top floor. This is what it looks like when we look down. The hotel has an outdoor pool (that we haven't used yet since it's rained everyday and we've been house hunting so much), breakfast is cooked to order every morning, and there is a yummy happy hour every day from 5:30 to 7:30 (that reminds me, hour and a half till it's time to head downstairs, he he). The kids love to get "kiddie coctails" when we head down there. The staff is also very nice and welcoming.

This is what I woke up to...

So...one morning Miss M came into my room, early, and crawled into bed with me. About 1/2 an hour later I woke up and rolled over to look at her. This is what I saw...

YES!!! While sleeping on the couch, she put her hand into the coushin and found some lipstick. She then took it upon herself to put it on. This is what she looked like once it was applied.
I had to laugh once the shock wore off and I realized that there was nothing wrong with her and that it was not blood.

OH MY! She is such a girl. I had to remind her that, even if she finds a lipstick in the couch again, she is NOT to put it on!

Heading to Florida and Mimi & Pawpaw's

We had quite a caravan heading down to Florida. I had to drive my truck and pull the motorcycle and Ryan had to drive his truck and pull the boat. Over all the trip went really well. Heading to Texas from Florida we had a few hiccups. Mainly on the second day. As we were pulling out of lunch the second day a car sent a rock right at me and hit my windshield. This put a small hole in my winshield (not through though) and made a star that went up and made another small star. Then, once we hit Texas a truck blew a tire right in front of R that blew up and hit his truck and boat scratching the boat a bit and ripping out a cord on the trailer. Other than those two incidents, the trips were successful.

This is what we looked like going down the road. R usually lead and I followed for pretty much both trips. We totalled about 25,000 miles each when both trips were said and done. Logging about 35 hours in the car for both. I must say that the kids were AWSOME during this time. For the most part, they didn't have any problems.

Here is R and his rig. The kids choose to ride with him most of both trips. Of course, they had to on the way to Texas because while my car was parked in Florida for a week, ants decided to invade it. I ended up having to spray Home Defense and Raid which smelled it up and I was afraid that they would get bitten. I haven't really been it since we got here, so I am hoping they are gone now. I put ant traps in it, we'll see!
Here was my rig. It pulled really well and I didn't really realize that it was even back there.

At one of the gas stations we stopped at was this cow. The kids HAD to have their picture taken with it. It was HUGE!

Of course, we couldn't stop learning just because our lives are up in the air. So, I brought their workbooks and we did some school work at Mimi and Pawpaw's house. The kids love doing their school work and ask to do it when I don't offer it early enough in the day. I can't wait to get them back in school. I know they are ready.

Miss M LOVES Booga. Quite often she'd just go up and love on him. At the time of this picture, she found him on Pawpaw's chair and took advantage of being able to sit by him and love on him. He loves her too. He'd get excited when he knew she was around becuase he knew she'd come love on him. They are such buddies.

Going to the dogs

We were at Pawpaw Steve and Grandma Bridgette's house one weekend and Miss M decided that Stuart needed to have all of his toys out to play with. This is probably because Chase won't play at all, and she wanted to play. So anyways, she got out all of his toys and started to play with him. They both loved this and at the same time, they got the rest of us in there playing with them.

If you can't tell, we hadn't gotten her hair done yet, but look behind Stuart and see all of the toys all over the floor. They LOVED playing with eachother.
Chase loved to watch, but did NOT join in. As I said, he just doesn't play.

Mr. C and Stuart wanted their pictures taken together. Not to mention, Mr. C and daddy were wrestling together and I think he was being pinned down and Stuart came over by him.

Just some more playing.

I just thought that this picture was funny.

A few last pics of Cinci

Here are some pictures of our last few days in Cinci. We had to hit some "hot spots" or favorites before we headed out.

Of course we had to go to the Cone. I know I must have looked like a tourist, but this was one of the spots that we went to on a regular basis, so we HAD to have a picture of it.
Here is Miss M having her "pink" icecream...Strawberry. She loved the pink icecream. Mr. C always wanted the "green" icecream...lime icecream. You have to know that green is his favorite color, I don't think that it would have mattered what the flavor was! I didn't get a good picture of him with his green icecream. We had just been swimming and his eyes were totally red.

Here are almost all of my friends in the neighborhood. We had an awsome icecream social the week that we left. This is the best bunch of ladies I have ever met! We have so many memories together. I am going to miss all of them and our times together. One of our favories things to do were going to chick flicks together. This was not only fun for us, but our husbands loved it because the didn't have to take us!

I just had to put this picture in because I loved how blue her eyes are and it shows how pretty she is :) She is wearing her dress-up dress, which she lived in for about 2 days before we moved.

House hunt in San Antonio

Hi! Well, we've had quite a ride the past few weeks. First, we found out that we were moving to Florida in about a week, so we packed up and headed down to Florida. Since we have the boat and Harley, we both had to drive the whole way down to Mimi and Pawpaw's house (about 18 hours of driving total). Once we were there for about 4 days, we recieved a phone call from work saying that they wanted us to move to San Antonio, Texas! Not only that, we needed to head there a.s.a.p.! So, we packed up our cars...again, and headed to Texas. This was another drive for each of us and took us another 18 hours! We logged a total of about 2,500 miles on each of our cars within about 10 days!!!!

Once we got here, Texas, we were on a mission to find a house to live in. So...here are the final results. We have found two that we like and that we find are acceptable. I have a few pics to share with you. Hope you enjoy. I've also written a little bit about each house.

This is the outside of the first one. It is 2831 square feet. It looks like a ranch, but has a second floor that is one HUGE room that we would use for a play room as well as an office. It also has a full bathroom and storage closet upstairs.
This is standing at the back of the house looking to the front of the house. As you are looking at the picture, the garage is to the left. There is also a den...that we would use as a guest bedroom and a nice size laundry room. To the right (at the front) is two bedrooms (M & C's) and full bathroom that would be for the kids and guests (if they choose to use it, or they can use the upstairs bathroom). Across from M is the formal dinning room.

This is the kitchen and kitchenette. It is open to the living room. R is looking out to the covered deck that is big enough for our table. Then there is a porch that spans the length of the living room that is not covered. The back yard is a big yard, but because it is on a hill, they have put in 3 levels toward the back of the yard, by the fence.

This is the living room. The master bedroom is through the door by the niche. There is a large master bathroom and large master closet attached to the bedroom.

This is the other house that we are looking at. It is 3100 square feet. It is on a corner lot and the neighborhood is huge. There is also a neighborhood swimming pool.

This is standing in the living room looking toward the front door. As you are looking at the picture, there is a formal family room and formal dinning room to your left. To your right is the garage, 1/2 bath and small coat closet. You can see the stairs that lead to the second floor.

This is the kitchen and kitchenette. There are stainless appliances, and unlike the other house, the fridge is included. The island is very large and would be a good spot to eat breakfast. You can see that it is very open to the living room. The deck is off of the kitchenette. It is not covered and would fit our table and chairs.

This is the living room. It is nice and spacious. Behind the fireplace is the master bedroom with master bath and large master closet. In the bathroom are two sinks, that are on either side of the bathroom. The laundry room is on the way to the master bedroom as well. It's smaller, but nice.

This is the second floor. When you walk up, there is a big open room that would be the play room and in the corner we'd put the office. The rooms on the right would be a guest room and M's room.

This is the other side, the room in the back would be C's bedroom and the linnen closet is in the middle and the bathroom with double vanity is next door.