Back when I loved CHiPs, not the ones that go directly to your hips

Linda over at 2nd Cup of Coffee brought back to mind the time that I wrote Jon from CHiPs a fan letter. He sent me an autographed picture, or at least his "people" did!

Remembering this made me want to hear this again...



Any other Ponch and Jon fans out there?

He's an Eating Machine

Ben woke up about a week ago with a mysterious red welt on his face. At first I thought it was a scratch but the closer I looked I realized that it may be poison ivy.

I kept an eye on him for a few days and noticed that he was getting a new spot here and there on a daily basis. I started to treat the itching with hydrocortisone cream. It was starting to improve.
Until this morning. He woke up with a super swollen and red face. Poor kid. I called the doctor and he is now on a 14 day prescription of steroids. This is a first for us.

Can I tell you that this boy usually eats very little of anything. Since 6pm tonight he has asked for a pb&j sandwich, a six pack of cheese and peanut butter crackers, apples with caramel, cheerios with milk and Popsicles! He has eaten every single bite, too!

I can't believe it. He won't stop. It's actually kind of humorous because it is so out of character for him.

Anyway, we have been having loads of fun this summer and we are trying to make the best of our last few days. I can't believe that I registered the kids today and we start in less than two weeks. I'm really sad to be sending them back already.

How about you? When do your kids start back to school?

It's a Giveaway!!

There is a carnival going on over at Bloggygiveaways and I'm giving away one full-value coupon($5.39) for NEW Cocoa Puffs Combos cereal to four of my readers! All you have to do is leave me a comment and you will be entered to win.

New Cocoa Puffs Combos combines great-tasting chocolaty puffs with vanilla puffs, a classic combination that kids love. Parents will also love them because Cocoa Puffs Combos is made with whole grain and is a good source of Calcium and Vitamin D.

This is the first new product from Cocoa Puffs since they were introduced in 1958.

This giveaway is open to bloggers and non-bloggers, alike. However, we can only ship to addresses within the US. I will be drawing four winners on Saturday, August 2nd.

Now I must get back to sorting through my daughters Barbie paraphernalia and Polly Pockets, which is just as much fun as going to the dentist....for a root canal!

Well, you don't say?

I MUST start this post telling you that I found one stinkin' good deal at Sears today.

Are you all ready for this?

I got Ben a two piece black suit for $5.39!! I know!

Then I got him a white shirt to go with it for $1.79!

It has been a great shopping week for me. I got Sarah some outfits at Penny's for $2.97 for the shirts and $4.97 for the shorts. I got her some for this year and next year. I also found Ben some polo shirts for $2.97 each. Then I found my nieces shirts for $1.97 each and shorts for $2.97 each. Oh, and flip-flops for $1.97 each.

It was a grand day indeed!

I must tell you this little funny. I have been walking at a friend's house for a few weeks now. Well, today we were out there and Ben came running in saying, "Mom, come here!"

Of course I wanted to know what all the excitement was about, so I asked him, "What's up, Ben?"

He said, " Come here, there is a cat that laid some kittens under the deck! Hurry, come and see!"

I was cracking up! Oh, how I'm going to miss these days of small children!

You're Safe... No Wait, You're Out!

I'm really trying not to harbor any bitterness tonight as I think about the game that the kids played. They really did a fantastic job against a tough team. The two teams were actually about even in their ability to play.

Our team won the first game 11-9. The second game was 3-5. We lost. Which is fine except that we had two outs in the top of the 6th with two runners on base and when the batter hit the ball it was thrown to second and our runner clearly made it there before the tag.

They called him safe.

The other team thought he was out and started running off the field and so they decided that he was now out. Our team was so robbed!! I do have to say that I controlled myself very well. I was trying to be a good example to the kiddos!

It was h.a.r.d.!

Okay, I feel better now that I got that off my chest. :) On to some pictures~

Sarah, lovin' the catcher position.

Ethan gave that ball a few good rips tonight. I was proud of him.
This is Clint. He goes to our church. I love this picture of him crossing home plate.
This little sweetie is Leigha. She provided some great entertainment between innings! She goes to our church.
This is her little brother. Does anyone else remember when they could touch their toes? ;)
Here is the church crowd. We had six kids from our church on this team. Yes, we planned it that way so that we could help each other out with games. I thought it was so great that our youth pastor showed up to support the kids. Our pastor and his wife have kids on the team, so they were there also. It meant so much to the kids that they came and watched.
I think he's happy!
Spider-man??
One more of Robbie. Just look at those eyes. What a cutie!
The whole team. They did alright keeping their chins up. It's tough when a bad call is made. It was a good learning time for all of them... and us!
Here are the church kids on the team. They have become pretty close over the summer. We have truly enjoyed getting to know them and their families.
The moms have become pretty close, too!

I'm resisting the urge to spray her down with Ly.sol

We've had an early morning with this one. We don't get sick around here too often. Today is one of those rare days when we have one down. I feel bad for her because swimming lessons start today and she also has a baseball tourney game later on. We've gone almost an hour now with Sprite in the tummy, so maybe we're through the worst of it... I hope!

I hope you all have a good Tuesday!

Funday Monday

The sale is over. There were 53 garage sales on Saturday and the auction at the county fair.

Needless to say, we didn't have a great turnout but we did okay.

Did I mention it rained?

It did.

Anyway, we packed everything back up, which I never do. We usually take everything that is left to Goodwill, but this time we decided to pack it up for another sale in the Fall. So not only will I do a garage sale this year, I'll do two.

I'm crazy like that.

Sooooo, today was an awesome day. It rained. We did manage to sneak in a baseball game, walking with my friends, and a bible study.

We also had a little of this....

And then there was a little of this....


Why is there a Capri - Sun box taped to my table you ask??
Because we would NEVER think of playing with the thousands of toys we have. Instead we will play table hockey with two cups, a water bottle lid and Capri-Sun boxes!
It makes me wonder why we spend the money on toys. If I would have known that this would entertain them this much a few years ago, I could have save so much money!

By the way, pay no attention the mess on my counter and the laundry in the background! I tried to take the picture at an angle that wouldn't show it, but I couldn't do it.

I'm one year closer to the top of that hill

I am a year older today. I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and found out what they do when you start to get old...

...they measure you to make sure you're not shrinking.

By the way, I'm not. That's encouraging.

I also found out that when you get older you may try to unlock your house door with the remote that locks and unlocks your car doors.

It won't work. I tried.

Oh, what I do get myself into

Remember last year when I said that I wasn't going to ever do a garage sale again?

No?

It's okay that you don't remember. :)

Anyway, I'm not blogging much this week because I'm getting ready for a garage sale.

Sigh.

Family by Birth... Friends by Choice

We had a good time this weekend at our family reunion in Alabama. The highlight for me was seeing the cousins that I got to spend two weeks every summer with growing up. We would play from sun up to sun down. Because they all lived within walking distance of one another, we would go from house to house to house. My Aunt & Uncle and my Grandparents also lived right there, so we had the perfect set-up to never be bored. That, combined with my Aunt's pool...

We lived the good life!

I'll have to find a vintage picture to post on here sometime of the six of us as young'uns.

This is a picture of five us. Ginger couldn't make it to the reunion. For some reason, she didn't want to carry her six kids there! Pictured here is my sister, Michelle, Calvin, me, Curtis and Amy. We have some terrific memories together! Oh, and we were t.r.o.u.b.l.e.

I know, it's hard to believe! ;) It was a fun kind of trouble though!

Here is Curtis with his crew. His wife, Amanda is so sweet and these are her two boys - Cousins - still friends after all these years.

What's up?

Hey, if you all want to see what we did yesterday, go on over to my sister's blog and take a look. Someone took their first swim and it was so cute!

Believe it or not, I'm leave in the morning to venture down to Alabama again.

I know.

It's a long drive and a short trip, but there is a family reunion and all five of the members of my family (dad, mom, two sisters and me) are going together. I'm thinking I'll be one tired mama by the time Monday rolls around!

On a side note, I was talking to Tasha this morning and something like this was said:

"Well, that was a real humdinger!"

That got us traveling down memory lane and we remembered the candy from Brach's with the bubblegum in the middle called Humdingers.

Does anyone else remember those? Ah, the days of no responsibilities!

A Must See

I think I know what we'll be doing on Sept. 26th. Click here to read what Lysa at Proverbs 31 has to say about the movie Fireproof.

One Word

I may have done this one already, but I can't remember. I think I might have done a portion of them at some point. :) So, humor me!

1. Where is your cell phone? table
2. Your significant other? work
3. Your hair? flat
4. Your mother? close
5. Your father? close
6. Your favorite thing? friendships
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? Diet Dew
9. Your dream/goal? debtless
10. The room you’re in? living
11. Your church? smile :)
12. Your fear? loneliness
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? moved
14. Where were you last night? home
15. What you’re not? bold
16. Muffins? banana
17. One of your wish list items? house
18. Where you grew up? Indiana
19. The last thing you did? groceries
20. What are you wearing? capri's
21. Your TV? Full House
22. Your pets? Sally
23. Your computer? link
24. Your life? blessed
25. Your mood? content
26. Missing someone? family
27. Your car? mini-van
28. Something you’re not wearing? necklace
29. Favorite store? Gymboree
30. Your summer? fun
31. Like(love) someone? Friends
32. Your favorite color? purple
33. Last time you laughed? today
34. Last time you cried? today

Alabama... It's HOT there.

Let me start out by saying that I took around 500 pictures on vacation.

I know. It's an illness. I'm sure there's some -itis out there for it.

Obviouisly, I didn't post ALL of them on here. I tried again to use Photobucket to make a slide show and well, we just aren't getting along right now. It's a sad situation.

And so, I give you the shortened version of our vacation...

We got to Aunt Mary's around 6pm, just in time for supper.

After supper we had to hit the pool. We waste NO time, people!
We spent a majority of our time in the pool. That southern sun will fry you up good!
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 JUMP! That's what Madison said every time she jumped. Every 150 times that she jumped!
A day at the pool is not complete without eating lunch on the deck. I sat on this very deck and ate lunch as a young'un. Aunt Mary always had ice cream cones in the afternoon. I have pictures, of course. I decided not to post those.
On Wednesday we went to a local park to have a picnic and play in the big fountain. We played on the playground until Madison and her mommy came. It was toasty. As you can see from the picture, I really don't want to grow up!

Neither does Aunt Mary!
Mom, it's hhhooootttt!
About the hot thing... this slide was burning! Can you tell that NO skin was touching?
We played a little ball...

After Madison got there, I had a photo shoot with her. These are some of the better shots that I took of her. She is a sweet little thing.

I did not pose her, she did this on her own! So cute.


I just love this shot. They were having a conversation about something.

Probably baby dolls or butterflies.

Lunchtime!
This is what the fountian looked like when we first got there.
Sweet
Group Pic

After our day in the park, we met some family for dinner at a local steakhouse. Yum!

Here, Madison is telling her D-Daddy (great grandpa) some story.

Checking out the peanuts
This is me with my cousins Calvin, Curtis and his wife Amanda, and Hunter. Thanks for dinner, Calvin! ;)
Uncle Frank and Aunt Mary
Sandra (my cousin)and Ben
Madison (my cousin) loved brushing my hair. She tried to brush Eric's and said, "I can't" with a long A, of course!

Eric and Maddie
Precious Picture. My favorite of the whole trip.
Sarah spent many hours on the diving board
This was the Forth of July. The kids were being goofy.

I found these matching shirt at the Lifeway Store in Franklin, TN.

Ben and Sarah watching the fireworks with about a million other people.
We have an actress on our hands!