Busy!

I think this has been the theme of my last few posts but I can't think of anything more appropriate to describe our lives at this time. Our summer has been so busy and flown by! The kids will be going back in school in just a few short weeks. We have enjoyed lots of traveling this summer....and Matt has been with us :)

Right after school we enjoyed a beautiful trip to Destin with my parents and my sister and her family. It was the 1st time we had all gone anywhere together. It was also the 1st time we had been to the Gulf as a family. My kids will never return to the East Coast after a week of white sand and clear, blue water! Luckily, we have access to a timeshare there so they will get to continue that luxury. It was also the 1st time that we had taken a friend of vacation. Taylor's best friend Noelle came with us. Taylor definitely enjoyed having a friend with her. The weather was perfect the week we were there. The water was calm the 1st couple of days but the last part of our week we had red flags and therefore a bit more waves which my kids weren't fans of. We were blessed to have our own pool at the house my parents rented so we just enjoyed that.

June was so busy with both girls going to Girl Scout Day Camp (Taylor as a counselor and Madison as a camper for the 1st time).

The kids also had 3 VBS's which kept them busy during the day and evening.

And then at the end of June we left for a Disney adventure with most of Matt's family(his sister and her family weren't able to be with us). In all there were 21 one of us with the 11 kids ranging from 16 months to 18 yrs! It was so much fun. Our kids had been to Disney before however it was a first for our nieces and nephews. We were there for 9 days and never slowed down. There was so much to do. We enjoyed going to the major parks...Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom (twice) as well as Blizzard Beach (twice) and Disney Quest. This is our 3rd trip and we still haven't gone to Epcot. Our kids have never been very interested in going there and we enjoy the other parks so much that we just normally repeat Magic Kingdom. Maybe next time! Again we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was a little rainy the 1st few days but we didn't plan to go to the parks until Monday so we just prayed the rain would move out. We got pretty wet on Monday while at Animal Kingdom but the rain moved out and the rest of the week we just experienced the typical Fl showers a couple of times. And the rain brought in cooler temps which was nice. And the most pleasant surprise was the fairly short lines. We expected it to be pretty bad since it was peak season but for the most part only waited about 30 mins for rides (and that was w/o a fast pass, on those rides we waited less than 10 mins). It was definitely a fun time and we look forward to doing it again (in a few years)! LOL

We are getting ready to enjoy our last vacation of the summer. And we saved the most glamorous for last....we are going to Mississippi and Memphis! LOL Matt is going to be down on base doing some active duty training (he normally has to do 2 weeks however was offered 40 days and we jumped on it)! We are going to go and enjoy visiting friends for a portion of that time and then the kids and I will come back home and Matt will stay for another week and half. The kids are looking forward to going to Corey's farm and shooting some guns and bows, going to Incredible Pizza and seeing their friends Kaitlyn and Kyle! I'm looking forward to shooting too and just visiting with some friends I grew up with.

Then we will come home and start trying to get into a routine of some sorts so the kids will be ready for school. The 2 little ones will be going to a new school...that is going to take some getting used too! Taylor will be in her last year of middle school and Caleb will be in his last year of elementary school. That just doesn't seem possible!

The end is in sight!

I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year. I love that school is almost over and I am no longer going to have to get up at 5 AM during the week. I love that the teachers tend to send home less homework. I love that the days are long and my kids can go outside and play for hours when they come home from school. I love the flowers blooming and birds singing! I love the warm temps! I love getting ready for a beach vacation that always comes right when school gets out. I love celebrating 2 of my babies birthdays as well as my mom's, my sister's and now Quinn's. However I hate TCAPS! I really, really hate them. My sweet boy went to bed crying last night :( He doesn't like tests. He gets super anxious. HE is terrified of failing. He puts some much pressure on himself. He is miserable the whole week. That is why I hate TCAPS! IT makes a normally sweet boy very grumpy and sad for a whole week. And to make it worse for him....his big sister isn't intimidated by TCAPS at all! She doesn't brag about that fact but he knows it and it just makes his anxiety worse b/s she isn't phased by these daunting tests! I will be so glad when this week is over and my sweet Caleb is back.

On a happy note....13 years ago today I was getting ready to be a mom for the 1st time! Matt and I probably felt the same way Caleb does right now :) Hard to believe I am about to have a teenager! Where does the time go?

Easter 2013

This is our 1st Easter together as a family since 2010. It was so nice to have Matt with us for a change. His parents even joined us for lunch :)

My family :)


The rest of my Easter pictures are on my iphone and I haven't figured out how to get them onto my blog.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

What has been going on in our life!

Boy, life has been so busy lately and has thrown us some major curve balls lately. After many weeks of Matt having back/leg pain due to a bulging disc and doing physical therapy to try and get relief he ended up needing emergency surgery when the disc ruptured. I am very thankful that God was watching over Matt...the surgeon said had the rupture been a few discs higher that the rupture would have severed his spinal cord and he would have been paralyzed for life. He did have quite a bit of nerve damage that is causing some lingering effects (no feeling in his left leg) but we are hoping those nerves will grow back over time and that these side effects aren't permanent. In the meantime he is sitting at home for the next 6 weeks on limited activity! During Matt's ordeal Caleb had been coughing and had a low grade fever. I was finally able to get him to the dr on Monday and he had pneumonia. He is responding well to antibotics though thank goodness. And if all that wasn't enough I was supposed to have a small procedure Nov. 2 to remove a couple of spots that had been found on a mammogram a few weeks ago. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to remove them my dr decided I had been through enough and they would just leave them and do another mammogram in 3 months. If there is growth at that point we will attempt a different procedure to remove them. Needless to say we have had a interesting few weeks and I am looking forward to things being relatively calm around here.

Safety City

Madison's Girl Scout had the opportunity to attend a safety day at Safety City. She was so excited. Not all of the girls from her troop came but quite a few did. Madison had a blast showing off her ability to ride a bike without training wheels! She was the only girl from her troop that could ride without training wheels. The girls had a great time taking a safety course, getting their "license" made and having their helmets fitted. A few girls, including Madison, didn't have properly fitting helmets so they were given new helmets. They were really nice helmets too! Listening in the safety class

Helmet fitting...they couldn't get this one to fit right so she got a new one!

The girls riding through the obstacle course!

Sweet girls at the end of the outing!

My Little Archer!

A couple of weekends ago Taylor's Girl Scout troop went to our local Archery Club and from the first arrow Taylor shot she was hooked! And to top it off she was really good. She was able to practice with both a longbow and a compound. She preferred the longbow. In fact she asked for one for Christmas :) My dad used to compete in Archery Competitions and still has his longbows...we are going to see if they are still in good condition and if so just restring them. Taylor also wants to join the Archery Club and shoot weekly so she can get better. And we found out...there are Archery Scholarships :)

Hello, my name is Holly and I'm addicted to Pinterest!

I admit it...I am a pinterest-aholic! I refused to get on there for a long time. I didn't want to see all these cute ideas and yummy recipes that I didn't have time to do. Finally, I broke down and got on. At first I would get on and browse once a week. Then I browsed a couple times a week and before I knew it I was hooked and was on every day, "pinning" away. Now I have numerous boards and not only am following other people but have followers myself :) I have done a few crafts, made a few recipes and gotten many decorating ideas :) I'm pretty proud of myself. Now I just need to limit myself on how long I browse on a daily basis...it is so easy to get sucked in once the kids are in bed and spend hours looking at things. I made these for a birthday lunch at work the first week of school...they were a hit!

I made my own canvas!

Supplies for my menu board

Finished product