Happy Wife, Happy Life!

For a while, Mike would only watch 2 movies; Cars and Cars2. I began introducing him to new movies once  once school let out. Since then, he has watched, and fallen in love with, several other movies. He now loves, The Lion King, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo. Yesterday, I popped us some popcorn and we cuddled up in his bed to watch Nemo (for the fiftieth time). I really enjoy Dory. I never realized, until yesterday, that Ellen DeGeneres does the voice over for Dory.

Today, after my workout, I invited a friend of mine over to swim at my mother in laws house. We had a blast. Mike had his life jacket on and was walking down the pool stairs before I could even get sunblock on. This meant, I had to dry him off and put sunblock on him. We swam, tossed the kids, had races, and just floated around and talked. It was really nice.

It's Father's Day weekend! Luckily, I remembered while I was at the store the other day, and was able to pick up a few cards. I got home, signed the cards for my dad and Matt's dad and got them into the mailbox just in time. I got Matt a couple of cards too, but shhh! Matt get's his Father's Day gift when we get back from vacation, since it's a little pricier than usual. Tomorrow we are going to my Mother in Laws house for dinner and swimming. We are suppose to bring dessert. I want to make something cold and summery. I found a recipe for a raspberry ice cream pie. It looks good, but I'm not sure if everyone will like it. I might just make Ice cream cookie sandwiches.

Our vacation is only a week away. I feel like I am not prepared. I usually have my lists and everything in order by now. I am really procrastinating this year. I have to get my butt into gear soon. I plan to finish my list and get the kids packed this weekend. This week I will have to make sure I get all of the laundry done and the house cleaned. I always love coming home to a clean house after a vacation. I don't have to worry about getting home and cleaning right away.

We are not spending a ton of time in Augusta this year. We arrive on Saturday morning and will have the whole day to relax from the long trip. I won't be relaxing though. My best friend's birthday was yesterday so I plan on spending the whole day with her! Then it's dinner with the girls that night. On Sunday, we are heading to the beach in South Carolina and then checking into our Cabin at the lake. I haven't been to Clark's Hill Lake in a long time. From what I have seen online, it has changed a lot. We will spend 2 nights there. On Tuesday, we check out and grab a hotel close to my parents house. We don't have anything planned for Tuesday, yet. I might leave it for Matt's fun day. That consists of, Barns and Nobles, Starbucks, and Rhinehart's, but he get's to do it all alone. Wednesday morning we head to Charleston, South Carolina for a day of history! I am really excited to go. I have not been since I was in the 6th grade. I think the kids will really love it. We head home Thursday but stop in Santa Claus, Indiana to meet Matt's mom. We are staying the night and heading to Holiday World the next day. We haven't decided if we are staying the night again or not. That will depend on how tired we are after the Park. THEN, we go home!

I have been working on my Mother in Law's family tree for about a month now. An old co-worker of mine told me that I should check out the local LDS church. Apparently they have centers that help people with their family history. Yesterday, I looked online for one of these centers. As it turns out, we have one about 6 miles from our house. If I get the time next week, I am going to go check it out. If not, then I will definitely go when I get back from vacation.

The weekend did not end up as busy as I planned it. Matt ended up having to work all night (9pm-8am). The plan was to let him sleep until 3:00pm and then we would go to his mom's house for swimming and dinner. Before he went to bed that morning, he mentioned that he had a terrible headache.

Since Matt needed his rest I took the kids to Mike's T-ball game at 1:00pm and got home around 2:00pm. I checked to see how Matt was feeling when I got home. He still had a headache, so I made him some lunch, gave him a couple of pain killers and let him go back to bed. By 3:00pm, his headache wasn't any better so the kids and I went to his mom's house without him.

We had a good time at my Mother In-Law's house. The kids and I spent a couple of hours in the pool, swimming and splashing. Mike is getting so good at swimming. It won't be long before he will be in the pool without a life jacket. Jake just loves the water. He just goes under and comes up, over and over. He loves it. Kyra and I raced from one end of the pool to the other. Then we wanted to see who could swim under water the farthest, without coming up for air. She actually beat me once! We also played 'Shark Attack'! We would take turns sitting on the float while the other would be the shark and try to knock them off. After a couple of hours, we all dried off and got ready for dinner (which was great, as always). After dinner, Kyra, Priscilla and I, sat in the living room and played UNO together (on our phones). By the time we got home, Matt's headache was gone.

Today, we promised the kids we would take them to the local fair. They had been looking forward to it all weekend. We got each of the kids, and myself, an armband (unlimited rides). The first ride we went on was like a free fall type ride. You sit in a seat and the ride takes you up very high. Once you hit the top, they just drop the seats! I was so nervous the entire way up and began regretting my decision to ride it. Then the fall... It was terrifying and fun at the same time (of course). The rest of the rides were the kind that were fast and spun around like crazy. After the first spinning, fast ride, I began to feel nauseous. I should have stopped there, but I didn't want to ruin anyone's fun. Michael was not able to ride anything without me and Kyra didn't want to ride most of the rides alone. Jake was tall enough to ride all of the rides but wanted someone on them with him. So, I kept riding, for my kids. Jake and Kyra were most excited about the Gravitron, or the Alien Spaceship Ride as they liked to call it. I had to decline to ride that one. Even as a kid, I could never ride it without feeling extremely sick. Since they both met the height requirement and it wasn't to scary, they went on it together, without me. We stayed for a couple of hours and then headed home once I was to nauseous to continue. Of course, by that time, they rode all the rides and tried to win a gold fish. Luckily, no one got a ball in a bowl!

We got home from the fair and I went to bed to attempt to get rid of my sick feeling stomach. I woke up around 5 and felt good as new. We grilled Brauts for dinner, yum. After dinner we all gathered in the living room and finished off the weekend with a movie together.

I love this family!

Today was a pretty average day. The weather wasn't so great, but eh, I'll live. Mike has Tball tomorrow morning and Kyra has soccar. Afterwards, we are heading to my mother in laws house for dinner. She always makes such great meals (and drinks :P ).

Our vacation is coming up quick and I need to get my lists in order. Every year, I make a list of everything I need to pack, buy, bring etc. It comes in handy when the day arrives. My brother called me yesterday asking about our trip down there. When I told him all of our plans, he got frustrated because his work schedule was already posted and he would have to work while we were in town. After talking more about it, he realized that we weren't coming THIS weekend (haha). Luckily for him, he has time to ask for certain days off so he can spend some time with us. We only see him once a year so it will be nice to spend some time with him.

One of my best friends is celebrating her 21st birthday today. Every year, I send her cookies (because she loves them). So, today I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for her. I will mail them off tomorrow.  With that being said....

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY BRIANA!!!!!!!!!!                 
                                     

While I was in Illinois this weekend, my mom called me. She informed me that on March 17, my biological father died. He had stomach cancer and was "delusional" while he was on his death bed. At first, I was confused. I wasn't really sure how to feel. I wasn't sure how I was 'suppose' to feel. I wasn't upset and I didn't cry. I was a little angry but that all passed. For me, he always seemed like just a shadow of my past. Almost like he wasn't real. I felt like he was a character in a book. When I found out that he died it seemed more real.

We just got back from a great weekend in Illinois. My husband's cousin and his wife are expecting a little baby boy, so we went for the baby shower. This was my first time actually meeting his cousin. We have been friends on facebook for many years but have never actually met until this past weekend. We all got a long great. 


While the adults enjoyed the shower, the kids ran around the yard playing together. One of the families attending the shower brought a 4 wheeler with them. Their daughter offered rides to all of the kids. Mike was so excited at the idea of riding it. Matt was a little hesitant at first. He thought Mike might be a little to young. He still let Mike ride it. What a great decision. Mike had the time of his life! He was grinning ear to ear and laughing for the entire ride. Kyra and Jake and a blast too. Jake was a little nervous at first, but jumped on and laughed the whole way around the yard. Kyra had no fears or worries. She jumped up and down in anticipation for her turn! When the family put the 4 wheeler back in their truck, Mike stood there and petted the tire like a puppy. He met his first love.


Tammie gave Matt and some other family members a binder filled with the family history from his dad's side of the family. It was very emotional for some of the family members. There were such great things in there; fun facts, draft cards, gravestones and old pictures. Matt liked it so much that he asked if I could do something like that. He is very interested to find out more about his mother's side of the family. 


Today, I got a subscription to ancestry.com and began my research. It definitely is a little harder than I thought it would be and I'm sure it will be immensely time consuming. But, I'm sure I will have fun doing it.