See you at the pole

Today was see you at the pole.  I always love going and seeing the kids come together to show their love for the Lord.  In past years it has been mostly adults praying.  Last year no kids prayed.  😔 It started out the same with adults praying  and the kids were being shy.  I was super proud when Caden said he would pray.  He prayed for the kids, teachers, and staff.  It was super sweet.  And that was all it took to give other kids the courage to pray too.  After that several more stepped up also.  I let him know I was extremely proud of him for being a leader.     I wish I had gotten a picture but I forgot!  I just wanted to make sure I put this one in the memorie books!    

Sweet treat

Saturday Jimmy and Caden went shooting so I was looking for something fun to do with Paige.  We decided to try a local snow cone place with some outrageous treats.  We invited Amy and the boys for a little extra fun.  Paige got the Cookie Monster.  It was huge and she barely made a dent in it. 

Amy got something called Happy birthday.  Strawberry lemonade, sour candy, fruit and cotton candy combined to make this crazy thing.

I have started with my trainer again so I was good and got a natural snow cone. Lime and snow cone ice.  Ironically I think mine ended up being everyone's favorite! 

It was a fun place for a special treat.  Definitely not somewhere you go all the time but we had fun!

Happy Birthday Caden!

I feel like I just did this same post yesterday, but  here we are again and Caden is 11!  He is growing up so fast.  I can definitely see him entering the preteen years.  He continues to be the sweetest young man with a heart of gold.  We started the morning by letting him open his gift from us.  He has found a love of skeet shooting with his dad so we got him his first shotgun.  He was so happy.  I asked him if he had tears in his eyes.  He said if he did they were tears of joy.  Lol

After church we met family at Caden's new favorite place.  Bubbas 33.  While the food was great we were there for three hours.  They gave our tables away and after that it was downhill.  Even though it was crazy Caden loved every minute of it and had a great time.  It was nice to get everyone together.  In a few weeks I told Caden he could ask a couple of boys spend the night as part of his birthday celebration.  We are so proud of our boy.  We love you Caden!

Back to school! (For all of us)

Well, we made it thru our first week of school.  We had a little bit of a rough start but it ended up ok.  The kids went to Jimmy's dad's house the week before and they both had a severe allergic reaction to something.  Paige had an ear infection and Caden had a terrible rash head to toe.  They were both on steroids and Benadryl for a week.  We will be taking Caden to get allergy tested very soon.  His reaction was very bad and we need to figure out what it was.  Between that and just getting back into a routine they had a bumpy start.  Thankfully by the end of the week everyone was happy and seem to be settling into the new school year.  It is nice to have friends at their school who will send me pictures of them during their day.😀

Caden really was happy he is just too cool for pictures.  Ha!

I have been at my new job for a few weeks now.  Oh my it has been overwhelming.  Lol. My training has not gone according to plan due to several issues so I have been flying solo.  I don't think I have slept very much and my sister and mom have been my saving grace the last coupe of weeks.  I might have lost it a couple of times.  😜. Thankfully I really like the people I am working with.  I am confident that once I learn the job I am going to love it.  It feels good to be around people again.

Obviously I am back to blogging and I  am sure I will have so much to blog about very soon!

Blogging Blues

I realized today I have not blogged since April.  And that was to blog about our spring break vacation in March!  I have to admit I have had the blogging blues.  I have had plenty to write about but every time I tried to start a post my heart just wasn't in it.  Looking back over the past nine months or so I could pick from numerous reasons why.  It has been a challenging and emotionally draining time.  My faith in just about everything I hold close to me has been tested. Have you ever seen War Room?  There is a scene where the main character tells satan to leave her house.  I can tell you that I have had to tell satan to back off more than once the last few months.  Lol. Have  all the problems gone away?  No.  Are there more hard times ahead?  Yes.  But my God is faithful and I have seen him work in so many ways.  Mainly on my heart.  

I said all that to say I am not done blogging.  I am going to give myself the summer off.  Mainly because after this Friday I will actually have the summer off! I recently took a job at the junior high next to our house.  I will be their new bookkeeper and office clerk.  I am super excited.  I have loved working from home but at times I have felt chained to the house and lonely when the kids are in school.  This will put me back in a world with adult interaction and best of all when the kids are out of school I will be off of work.  I could work thru the summer but Jimmy and I decided I could use some time off to refocus.  I am a little nervous about the change but I am so thankful for the opportunity.  I  will be back to blogging in the fall with lots to write about!

Spring Break 2016 Part 2

The next four days we spent at Dinsey World.  We stayed at the art of animation this time.  It was very nice and the kids loved looking at all the drawings.  I am a nerd and took pictures of our hotel room.  You can tell we don't go many places.  Lol. I think staying in the hotel was one of the highlights of the trip for the kids.  Ha!

Magic Kindom was our first stop.  Last time we went they didn't have the magic bands and we did not have to schedule our fast passes ahead of time.  I was not totally happy with the way they work now but we managed.  We didn't have a fast pass for the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train so that is were we went first.  I was so sad last time we went and we realized the Snow White ride was closed.  It was one of my favorites.  So I was exited to ride the new one.  It did not disappoint and we all enjoyed it.  They even had interactive things to do along the line.  It was great. 

The next three days were a blur.  We spent a day at each of the parks.  Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kindgom. We made lots of memories and it was a great trip.  What a change just a few years make.  Caden and Paige were riding rides together instead of with us.  Lol. The first trip I remember all the trinkets, toys and snacks had their attention.  This time they were focused on what they wanted to do.  I was surprised at how much they remembered from our last trip.  They had strong opinions on what they wanted to do this time.  It's A Small World did not make the rotation this time much to my dismay.  Lol.  Time was precious and I was out voted.  We can't wait to go back but it might be a few years.  We are thinking we want to do a different type of trip like a visit to Mt. Rushmore.   We shall see!

Spring Break 2016 Part 1

Friday we headed out to Orlando for spring break.  We stopped in Mississippi the first night and ate at a wonderful pizza place.  Tony's Pizzaria.  I read good reviews about it and it did not disappoint.  Jimmy ordered the gumbo pizza.  We had our doubts but it was wonderful.  Instead of a red sauce it had a rue topped with cheese and everything you would find in gumbo. Shrimp, chicken, sausage, and much more.  It was amazing!  It was a great start to our trip.

Our first two days were spent at universal Studios.  Caden is really into big rides and this time since Paige was older we decided to give it a try.  We had never been there so we were not sure what to expect.  

We prepared by watching a few of the Harry Potter movies.  Caden started reading the books but stopped.  That is a post for another day.  Lol. We knew ahead of time we would do all the touristy Harry Potter things.  The kids bought interactive wands that could do "magic" all over Harry Potter world.  They were pretty neat.  And of course we had butter beer.  I am not a big fan but Caden loves root beer so it was his favorite.  I did try the butter beer ice cream and it was so good!  The rides were very detailed and fun.  They really did a good job of making the movie come to life.  I will say we had a giggle at some of the people walking around.  I guess it is the equivalent of what a Star Wars convention would look like.  Which is fine if that is your thing.  We liked the novelty of it but at one point even Caded asked if the people walking around thought they were really wizards.  Ha!  Both the kids thought the people around us were taking it a little too serious.  Lol. 

There were different sections to the park. Simpson land was our next stop where Paige found a giant pink donut.  Caden also had a flaming Moe.  An orange drink with dry ice in it to make it smoke.  They were both good.  Jimmy and I both watched the Simpson's as kids so we got all the details of that part of the park. 

Unfortunately since the kids have never seen the show they did not really get it and the Simpson ride was our least favorite.  I am still trying to figure out how they thought it was a good idea to make a kids show based on a rude kid who's dad drinks constantly.  Ha!

The rest of the park was great.  Most of the rides are 4d type rides that are so realistic it feels like you are on an actual roller coaster.  Spider man, Transformers, and The Minions were our favorites.  We rode all of them several times.  Caden was able to get his thrills on rides like Rip Tide and the double dragon.  The bigger and more loops the better for him.  I was a little glad Paige was just a couple of inches short of being able to ride them.  But she was able to ride the other roller coasters and loved them.  I did do a little research ahead of time and knew that their water rides got you totally soaked.  We brought ponchos in case it rained but opted instead to wear them on those rides.  Good thing we did.  One poor girl was in jeans and a sweat shirt.  Let's just say she was not happy when she got off the ride.  They had dryers set up after the rides but they did not look like they were helping people much.  We even brought our flip flops when we saw people ringing  out their socks and shoes the day before.  I wish I had pictures of it but we had to put all our belongings into lockers for those rides.  

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel right by the park which was great.  There was a trail that we were able to take directly to the park.  We were also able to take a boat ride when we were tired.  And since we stayed on that property we were able to get express passes.  It works similar to the fast pass at Disney.  There were only two Harry Potter rides that you could not use them on so basically we bypassed the lines all day long.  It was great! They also have a City Walk that is similar to downtown Disney.  We ate there the second night.  Overall we loved Universal studios.  I am glad we waited until the kids were older though. Some of the rides get pretty intense.  But we will be going back for sure!

Dancing the night away

Friday was the kids sock hop at school.  It is always a fun night.  The kids learn dances like the peppermint twist during music and the music teachers lead the kids in dances during the sock hop.  Caden quickly found his friends and I did not see him for much of the evening.  Paige found her best buddies Gunner and Jordan and they danced the night away.  Of course it was exciting that Sam  is now with Caden and Paige at school so that just added to the fun.  It was a great night!

I made it!

Have you ever had one of those weeks where at the end you think, I survived!  Lol. Well, I felt like this the entire month of February.  School, sports, and activities have kept us busy.  In the middle of everything else there has been sickness and sadly we lost my uncle last weekend.  He has been sick for awhile so it was not a surprise but difficult even so.  

Valentine's Day is always fun and the kids  came up with some great ideas for their valentine boxes.  Caden even got a note from a girl asking him to be his Valentine. Lol. Young love!  Of course my little heartbreaker said he let her down easy and said he just wanted to be friends.  Ha!

Paige and her friend Cailyn entered our church's chili cook off.  They didn't win but they had a blast! 

It was a month of ups and downs and I can honestly say I am glad it is over.  On the upside we only have two weeks until we will be in Disney World!  We are counting down the days!

More Robotics

In an earlier post I said Caden's robotics team did not move forward in the competition.  I was wrong!  Which tells you how much I really understand about this whole process.  Lol.  This time they we competing against elementary and jr. high students from all over our area.  It was much bigger than last time.  They flew in the man that creates all the challenges and he was over everything.  He was great and explained everything as the competition went on.  It was amazing to see some of the things these kids were doing.  There were 68 teams and only the top two moved on to state.  Unfortunately Caden's team did not make the top two but they fixed many of the issues from last time and did much better.  We were very proud of all their hard work!

Tennis x2 and Birthdays

Saturday was the start of tennis again.  Caden asked to switch to Saturdays because a couple of his friends were moving to Saturday practice.  At the last minute Paige asked if she could try tennis also.  Sure!  Unfortunately she is in the class before Caden which means we have to be at practice at 8:30 on a Saturday!  Boo!  But they enjoy it so I guess it is worth giving up our Saturday mornings.  Lol

After practice Paige went to Amy's while I took Caden to Brayden's 11th birthday party.  Tami needed help driving all those boys around so I said I would go.  They played and had pizza and cake at Tami's before we headed to Jumping World.  Once we got there we were left with a pile of shoes while the boys scattered and we didn't see them again for two hours.  Lol. They had a blast.  All I can say is next time I will not sit so close to a pile of 10 and 11 year old boys shoes.  Stinky!  We had a great time celebrating with Brayden.  Can't believe he is 11!

Start of a new year

It is crazy to think we are already a couple of weeks into 2016.  We have had a bit of a rocky start to the new year, especially Caden.  Since January 1st the poor guy has had a stomach bug, pink eye, and pulled a muscle in his neck of all things.  It wasn't all bad though.  While pink eye kept him out of school for two days he was not really feeling sick.  That meant we had the opportunity to spend some time together.  We went for breakfast one morning and the rest of the time he entertained himself by making a giant hammer with my broom and working on a project for GT.  I just love this kid.

Paige and I LOVE watching the Food Network channel.  The last few weeks we have been watching Chopped Junior and the Kids Baking Championship.  The other morning she asked me to give her 5 ingredients to make something with.  Lol.  She really is becoming the little chef.  She has mastered using the stove and loves making breakfast for us. 

Last weekend Caden also went to the area Robotics competition.  The teams that qualified from his school competed against all the other elementaries in our area.  During the first round Caden's teams robot malfunctioned and it wouldn't start.  The next round they were doing better but the spotter stopped their time too early.  They were able to restart but the robot started to have issues again.  The last round they did great but it was not enough to allow them to qualify to move on.  Before the compitition began they explained to us what the program was all about.  It was so interesting learning about the technology and what the kids were learning.  They also explained that this program was about more than just the robots.  It is to put the kids in real life situations.  You have to learn to work as a team, problem solve, and work under pressure.  I have seen Caden really grow in these areas. His team has not always agreed or gotten along.  They had to work thru their issues to get the job done.  I felt so bad for one of the boys during the competition.  He was so upset they were not doing well that he even started crying.  I was so proud of Caden.  I could see him trying to comfort and encourage his teammate.  Even though they didn't win it was a great experience and one of our really good friends on another team from our school got 2nd place.  Plus our school got overall high score.  The kids were so proud.  Caden has already asked to do the robotics camp this summer so he can be ready for next year!