back to school

Bayleigh went back to school on Monday. She has a great teacher and I am sure that we will have a great year! :) Now, we just have to get into a routine for school. Nice challenge for a mama minus her hubby, heh?? Needless to say, I am doing the best I can.

Today was a rough one...but, we made it through. Now all the kiddos are in bed and I am sitting here watching the Olympics. I really should get up and scrapbook...but, I am so comfy right now. :) Maybe in about 15 minutes, I will get up and do the dishes, load some laundry, and then go scrap. I would like to be tucked into bed to watch the women's beach volleyball semifinals...so that is the plan!

Look at this little man:
He's getting so big!! I miss his snugglies. He just wants to be up and at 'em - nosy little booger. We got a double stroller to take the boys out and about in. And he sits up there like the head honcho looking out over his servants. haha Too funny!! I will have to take a picture tomorrow for ya'll to see.

Also tomorrow I will post some pictures of Bayleigh's first day of school. She was so cute and such a little diva for sure. :)

Andy is off gallivanting - eating a nice meal every night at various restaurants in Savannah. Rough work I tell ya. When is my "mission"? haha I might just save that one for when Bayleigh is a teenager. Don't you think I might need to cash it all in then??

Happy Wednesday! :) (it is Wednesday, isn't it??)

XO

menu

Sunday - ribs, homemade baked beans, hashbrown casserole
Monday - homemade pizza
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - breakfast for dinner
Thursday - fish sticks, fries, and corn
Friday - lasagna, garlic sticks
Saturday - chicken tetrazzini and homemade yeast rolls
Grocery trip for the week - $99.05

Can you tell Andy will be out of town until Friday? :)

XO

busy times :)

We are super busy around here right now. Between back to school and church stuff getting kicked back up again, we have stayed on the go.

Tomorrow Bayleigh starts the 2nd grade. It is hard for me to believe that she is getting so big. But, that is another blog post. We went through all of her clothes tonight to get rid of the stuff that doesn't fit and put all her new stuff away. Wow....she has not one single pair of jeans that fit her. Thankfully, we got a bunch of new school stuff - so she is good for now. Until it gets cold. :)

Andy leaves in the morning for a week in Savannah, Georgia for a conference. He always spends the last few hours before bed the night before packing. It. drives. me. nuts. *sigh* I have done so much laundry and answered more "where is my....?" questions than I care to count. He might be back sooner than Friday if Hurricane Fay heads towards Florida before then. Then, he will be activated to wherever he is needed. Gotta love the Army life.

I am tired, so I am going to keep this short.

Here's a new layout using the Scarlet Lime kit in June and the July kit extras. :)
And here is my little man, sitting up on his very own. He's getting to be such a big boy!! It only lasted about 2 seconds, but that's okay. Mama is okay with him staying small for a lot longer. :)
Hope your week starts well!

XO

catching my breath :)

Whew, I think I am finally catching my breath! I started watching baby J last Thursday. So, I have been adjusting to two infants, ages 4 months and 5 months, along with an active and bored 7 year old. Whew is right, heh?? :)

Here they are - they just kept smiling at each other. It was so adorable!! I will have to take a few more pictures tomorrow. :)

But, we are making progress. Today the boys both slept for their big naps at the same time and actually woke up within 15 minutes of each other. It was nice. But, I didn't get to do anything fun in that time. I dusted my living room, cleaned my toilets, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, unloaded the dryer and put another load in, etc. I am hoping to get into a routine and be able to maybe scrap for at least 15 minutes during their naps. I think when Bayleigh goes back to school, I will be able to get it done.

Speaking of little miss. She starts the 2nd grade on Monday. We go tomorrow to find out who her teacher is. I am hoping for someone in particular, so we will see. Keeping my fingers crossed. :) We are all ready to get into the school routine for sure.

I haven't gotten much scrapping in because I am an Olympics addict. I swear, I cannot stop watching the games!!! I am begging Andy to plan our vacation in 4 years to London and we can go to the games. How awesome would that be?!?! Ohhhh, we are really going to try to start saving now and make that dream of mine a reality. :)

Here are two pages that I finished up last week. I have another one on my table that is 98% done and I have to add some Stickles and hopefully post it tomorrow.

This one was inspired by my friend, Christy, over at Lifetime Moments. All of these goodies were in the May Lifetime Moments kit and the FAQ stamp from Studio Calico.

This one was inspired by a layout done by April over at Studio Calico. Just took hers and put bigger pictures and added a few things. I really like how this one came out. :)Alright, off to finish watching the gymnastics competition for tonight. These judges are *killing* me!!! Ohhhh man, there is something up with this. I am sure that you will see some articles about it tomorrow morning. Ugh, ridiculous.

Catch up with you tomorrow. Oh and the menu is great!! Ya'll have to try the bacon wrapped meatloaf recipe!! Yummmy!

XO

menu

Just wanted to get my menu down for the week. Going to try to do this every week - to cut down on grocery trips and that means cutting $$ too. :) It's a win-win.

Sunday: chicken, herb potatoes, brussel sprouts
Monday: leftovers
Tuesday: South Pacific pork, yellow rice, green beans
Wednesday: Senate bean soup, homemade yeast rolls
Thursday: Bacon wrapped meatloaf patties with pan gravy and tomato basil smashed potatoes, black eyed peas
Friday: Pan seared scallops with pasta
Saturday: Country style ribs, hashbrown casserole, homemade baked beans
Grocery trip for the week: $141

XO

girls, giggles, and gumbo :)

That sums up our weekend so far. :)

Bayleigh went to her Girl Scout sleepover last night. Her last one as a Daisy *sniff, sniff*. She will officially be a Brownie come September. Needless to say, there was a lot of excitement last night. Unfortunately (hahaha), I wasn't able to spend the night this year. Layne couldn't be left yet and Andy had drill. Darn, huh?!?! I missed the 1:30 am bedtime and the couple of girls who didn't sleep at all. Not a wink. Bayleigh is just purely exhausted and is sound asleep right now. I am sure she giggled much into the wee hours of the morning.

Andy spent like 4 hours making a pot of gumbo last night for all his "buddies" at drill. Yes. 4 hours. I wanted to kill him. But, that is a story for another day! He did leave one small bowl for us and I was thankful for that. Begrudgingly, but thankful nonetheless. hehe

Not much else to report. I might be doing some freelance work for Marilyn (who owns Gingerbread Daycare/Heritage Academy). Hopefully, that will work out and I can bring in a little extra money.

Layne was in a bit of a funk today and hasn't been eating his cereal and baby food that well. Hopefully, he will sleep it off. He just wasn't himself...normally smiling and happy, but not today.

Tomorrow is grocery shopping day. I am making a menu for the week, so that I don't have to make any trips during the week. It's just too hard with both babies and Bayleigh. If you have any ideas for good recipes, please forward them along. I am looking to try a few new things each week. :) Tired of the same old, same old.

Alright, off to watch the Olympics.

I will leave you with a few pictures of little man on his 5th month birthday. :)
Have a great Sunday! :)

XO

one more time

*warning - picture heavy post*

I have had this post typed at least twice and somehow it's not here. Could it be that I have been thinking about it and sitting with a new opened page for days?!?! :)

Today is my first day as "nanny" to Jack. He really is a good baby and just goes with the flow. :) Him and Layne have been just staring at each other all morning. hehe Right now, they are both down taking little cat naps, so I thought I would try to catch up my blog.

We had a great vacation. We traveled to Lake Weir, which is just south of Ocala. My in-laws rented a big house right on the lake and we all stayed there. It was his parents, Andy, David (his brother), and Wendy (his sister), and all the respective families, minus one hubby that couldn't make the trip.

We enjoyed the lake so much. I don't think Emma and Bayleigh ever got out of the water except to eat and sleep for the first two days!

Grandpa took Bayleigh and Emma for their first train ride and they loved it. Well, Bayleigh loved shopping while waiting for the return train. hehe Ahhh, she is her mother's child. :) While they did that, the girls all drove down to Mount Dora for some walking/shopping. I didn't buy much of anything except some Crocs for Bayleigh that were $10. Ohhhh, and cupcakes! We found the most delicious little cupcake shop. They were just divine!

Alright, onto the good stuff - PICTURES! *warning - TONS of pictures to follow*

On the way down, the only way we could get Layne calmed down in the car
Our view the first night we were there as the sun was setting
The first days catch
Baking cookies with Uncle Dave
Layne playing on his play gym mat
Layne and Ga Ga

Layne and Aunt Carrie
Layne and Aunt Wendy
Bayleigh trying to knee board
Layne on his first boat ride
"The Girls" - Emma, Aunt Carrie, and Bayleigh
Bayleigh chilling out
Layne chilling out
So, that is basically our trip. :) We had a nice time, but it was nice to get home, for sure!

That is all that I will bore you with today. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon/evening.

XO

whipped...

I know I said I would post pictures from our vacation, but I am just whipped today.

We had a busy day and I haven't been feeling well at all. So, I will have to post our vacation happenings tomorrow. :)

We had a blast at our church's back to school bash today. Fun water slides and fun stuff! Then, I took Bayleigh over to the library for their summer reading party. We had such a good time and Layne was really good - so was Bayleigh for that matter!

I picked up some pictures to scrapbook and I can't wait to dig in!! :)

I also picked up Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I was "encouraged" by my Studio Calico friends and can't wait to finish my current book and dig in.

I am off to bed....I am hoping I can kick this cold!

BTW, if anyone knows someone that needs their baby/child watched please email me. I would love to watch someone's little one and be able to continue to stay home! I have tons of experience with kids and I am a trained Speech-Language Pathologist and ESE teacher - so I have lots of patience! haha

Night night everyone!

XO

back online :)

So, we are finally back online. The Comcast dude was here this morning and of course said that there is no real reason why we shouldn't be working just fine. Gee, thanks!

Oh well. At least it is working now - for the moment. :)

Here's a new picture of little man. He is holding his sisters purple bear - which he promptly slobbered all over. So now he is the proud owner of a purple bear. I am sure his dad will be excited to see this! heheAnd we got to go and visit my grandma while we were on vacation at Lake Weir. This is the first time she has met Layne. I have to say he laid on the charm and she was just smitten. Here is Grandma Shirley with both of the kids.Bayleigh has been enjoying the new tire swing that Andy hung for her about 3 weeks ago. We took her to get her haircut - she got a little trim and some layers put in. Of course, I had to snap some pictures.Alright, off to eat something and get some rest. I think little man passed his cold onto me. Ick I don't like summer colds at all.

Have a happy Friday and I will probably post some pictures of our vacation with a little synopsis tomorrow. :)

Until then....

XO