Orlando Adventures

Waterpark view Me and the ladies ready for a night out on the town! Bubble room at Wonder House Ice Cream!

Emily's Ice Cream creation

Emily in the NASA simulator

Abigail as the astronaut

Abigail on the bed of nails at the Wonder House

Clyde and Seamore take Pirate Island

Look at that white belly! I mean on me, not the killer whale! Ha!

Shamu Show

Pirate's Cove Putt Putt

The Wonder House -Abi's favorite place

Our Balcony-Don't we look sharp!

Waterpark at resort that we stayed at

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Orlando. We spent the first couple of days resting around the pool area. There was a waterpark with slides right at the resort pool. There also was a pool area that had an outdoor pool where you swam indoors to the indoor pool and could even hoist yourself out and be right at the poolside bar.

We went to Sea World, but didn't do the other parks this time. We spent 13 1/2 hours there the first day when it was 98 degrees with a 104-108 degree heat index. The kids never complained about the heat. We had a few complaints about feet and legs, but nothing we couldn't distract them by going on to the next adventure. We visited as many shows as we could the first day and fit in as many rides and exhibits as we could in between. The first couple of animals we saw performing Abigail asked, "Are those real momma?" They would do some really weird things that we have never seen an actual animal do and it really did look unbelievable. After a few shows I think she realized that they were actually real. It is really amazing what they can train an animal to do. We bought some small fish to feed the stingrays and Abigail was the brave one to try it first. We read how to place the fish between 2 fingers and you were supposed to hold your hand down in the stingray pool and let the stingray swim over top of your hand and "slurp" the fish out from in between your fingers. Abi had the fish ready and was about to put it in the water and this huge white herring flew into her face and the fish was gone. I thought she had dropped the fish, Brandon said "Why did you drop the fish?!" Abi said, "I didn't drop the fish, THE BIRD GOT IT" Abi was stunned and never had a chance to get scared, but a minute later she said "That bird hurt my hand!" Then we read the sign about how you have to hurry and get your hand under the water because the birds were aggressive near the feeding tank because they like the fish too! I fed the stingrays next and I screamed when it slurped it up because its teeth scraped my knuckle and those things are really freaky up close. I changed my mind about every wanting to swim with them on a cruise excursion. We stayed in the park till after the fireworks show that night and we went back for our second day later in the week. We were all wore out by then and the day wasn't as smooth as the first, but we finished up all of the shows that we didnt get to the first day. We were there about 12 hours that day. We stayed indoors a lot so the above 100 degree weather wasn't too terrible! We also had some bad weather that day and some of the rides closed at times, but we worked around that and still had a great time.

One day we drove over to Cocoa Beach. That area was quieter than I thought it would be. It looked like a sleepy North Carolina Beach town. No high rises or crowds. The kids don't care where it is as long as there is waves and sand! We rode up to the Kennedy Space Center that afternoon. We didn't have time to go into it and look around, but we rode around and probably looked like a security issue!

Later in the week we visited the Wonder House. That was a place like Discovery Place with a ropes course, 4D movie (Canyon Coaster was playing when we were there), and roller coaster simulators. The kids loved it and there was lots of things to do there. Ya'll should go to http://www.wonderworksonline.com/ and look at this place-it is really unique.

Anyway there are lots of other adventure stories from this trip, but we will fill you all in when we see you next. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Hershey the Horse

This past week Brandon and the girls have been enjoying the new horse more and more. Hershey has finally gained everyone's trust enough to be rode with a bit in and a saddle on. Brandon rides first to get him wore down and then he lets the girls ride till it's dark. The girls have been staying up later because of this and it is beginning to take its toll on them. They get home from school and they are exhausted. They haven't been getting in bed until 10 pm because of the nightly horse rides. Thank goodness it is almost summertime and no school for a while!!! Here are a few pictures. The one of Abigail is took in front of Brandon's quail he got for his birthday. Papa Terry gave them to him along with their neat little house! This picture looks a bit Amish to me, but anyway...

Emily's Softball Days

As most of you know Emily is really getting into the softball thing. Over the years she has done tumbling, gymnastics, ballet, tap dance, and cheerleading. Never has she really acted like she enjoyed any of that much. Softball is another story. She seems to actually enjoy it and therefore she has gotten pretty good at it. She plays catcher, but would rather be out in the field because playing catcher is "hot work." She hits hard and long and is consistant with her hits. We are very proud of her for doing such a good job. Here are a few pictures of her and her team. Enjoy!

Springtime Madness

WOW has it been a busy spring! Both girls have been busy with softball games. Emily is really getting good. She finally is learning the rules and actually paying attention to the game. And Abigail, well let's say at least she looks cute in the uniform! HA HA Actually Abi has hit the ball without the tee twice during games, so I think that is pretty good. She is starting to run faster instead of jogging to the bases, so this is an improvement too. They both played in the 90 degree weather this past Saturday and it was so hot! Somebody at the game had a nifty little handheld mister fan and we just had to go find some after the game was over. We went to Wal-Mart and they were $9 each and I figured we would get that much use out of them and so we got each of the kids one. After we checked out and were heading to the car I looked over the receipt and realized they rang up for $4.50 each. Emily said, "Well momma I guess it was rollback time!" She is such a mess! My kids are little comedians. They are always saying something funny. I wouldn't trade them for the world! We went to the beach a few weeks back and we put a weeks worth of activities into 3 days. We played in the pool, played in the ocean, built a sand volcano, walked around at Broadway at the beach, rode carnival rides, walked 1 mile to a restaurant, 1 more mile to the arcade and those 2 miles back to the hotel at midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Who says you can't party the night away with kids!! The kids went to bed about 1am slept till 9 am and then slept from noon till 3:30 when we got home. (It was such a peaceful ride home)

In the middle of all this I am trying to study for a National Mortgage Lending recertification to keep my loan officer license AND I am looking for a place to get at least 8 hours in as a CNA before the end of November or I lose my license for that also. Ya'll should see my resume, it looks like I don't have any idea what I want to be when I grow up! I have started to make different resumes for different career possibilties so I can omit loan officer stuff when applying to healthcare positions and vice versa! I am a little nervous about the career I am in because there is so volatility in cytology in the Charlotte area now. Carilion labs is shutting down in the fall and we feel like our base lab in Burlington is swallowing up all of our work. Whenever someone leaves Charlotte they don't replace them in Charlotte, they open a position in Burlington. Who knows what will happen. I just want to be prepared to make a move if need be.

Well anyway, I hope this catches ya'll up a little and I hope to write again soon.

HAPPY EASTER! (Lisa is a little ADD so hang in there!)

Happy Easter everyone!

We have had a very productive 3 day weekend! We had baby chicks hatch Friday and Brandon is busy building a chicken coop so maybe this time the dogs won't kill all of our chicks. He helped his uncle and cousin split some wood out f the pasture on Friday. We got our garden planted this weekend too. Brandon said we have had a very productive spring in general. He has put up a new pasture to move the goats over to while the other recovers and we get it ready for a horse we are getting next weekend. We planted 100 pounds of grass seed, put out 300 pounds of fertilizer and 480 pounds of lime on and around the house and back 10. Brandon has sold all of his junk Festivas, John got rid of his junk car, and Brandon's project tractor is benefiting from the extra cash flow. He has got a lot of tractor parts off of ebay and his tractor is starting to look better and better. He says he needs to get some more junk to sale, but I like the way his yard is looking without the junk sitting around!

I got some spring cleaning done too. Nothing in particular that anyone would notice but me, but it makes me feel better. I cleaned out some closets and threw a few things away and stored some other stuff in the attic. I hauled all the wood out of the basement since I don't think we will be needing a wood fire any more this spring. I got some flowers to plant around our house number post. Melly came over Friday and helped me haul rocks for a bed around the post and we got the flowers planted. Emily and Abigail played in their kiddie pool til their lips turned blue. We went down to the river with Melly and Justin Saturday night to eat hotdogs and kiebasa. They have been working around the river to fix their building and deck that was sliding off the river bank. They are getting it ready for the summer months river parties and Melly's September wedding. We went shopping last week for bridesmaids dresses and things seem to be falling in place for them and the wedding.

Emily and Abigail were so excited about their Easter baskets this morning. They each brought one thing at a time to me and Brandon (still in bed) and showed us what all they had. We dyed Easter eggs this morning and the girls did everything by themselves, tablets, vinegar, dipping and decorating!

Now we need to be packing them a bag to go stay with Grandma Ann for a few days. Theys are out of school next week and are hoping to enjoy some grandparent time this week.

Current Events

Nicky and his first birthday cake

Here is a picture of Nicky and Kelly after Nicky's 1st birthday party.

The girls enjoying a sneak peak day of spring at the creek on the back 10

Hello everyone! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We have had a pretty eventful time these past few weeks. Emily and Abigail have both started softball practice and we are busy with that every Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. Abigail is a hoot out there on the field. At her second practice (after she felt more at ease) we saw her cradle and rock her softball glove like an infant, she skipped to first base while the other girl stood on first with the ball, and she of course played in the dirt! She is so funny! She is the teeniest little girl on her team and I think she should be the team mascot instead of a player! Brandon got pulled into helping coach that team and it is a wild mess! There are 15 little 4, 5, and 6 years olds running in 15 different directions and giggling all the way. I will let everyone know when games start so ya'll can come watch the fun.

Our friends Kelly and Ned celebrated their little boy's 1st birthday a few weeks ago and we got to meet up with them and our other friends Steve and Debbie and their 2 kids. We haven't seen them since before Christmas and we were able to sit around and catch up a little. We will get together again soon for Steve and Debbie's little boys' birthday.

Tonight at supper Abigail said, "Momma you fed me too much weed!" She was sitting there eating her grilled asparagus and I thought Brandon would fall over. I am glad she likes weed, but told her not to tell anyone! Oh dear...

I am just glad that Abigail is feeling better. She woke up Monday morning and said she didn't feel good. Emily told her she would have a lot of work to make up if she went to Maw maw Kaye's for the day (remember she is only in Pre-K) and we were able to talk her into going on to school. I thought she was just being sluggish and hard headed. Well, school called an hour later and said she had through up on the bus, in the cafeteria, and in the hallway. So we had to call Maw Maw Kaye for sick duty. She through up for half the day and then Tuesday she went to school, but that night she had diarhea. She is all better today.

Emily was referred to an orthodontist and we went last week to have her evaluated. She is going to have to have 2 baby teeth extracted tomorrow and another (second) opinion visit with another orthodontist next week. By the looks of things she will have to start Phase I of a 2 phase process of braces sometime soon. Her top front tooth and her bottom front tooth meet when she tries to bite together and so she is compensating by pulling her bottom jaw in so they will scissor down past her bottom teeth. This is causing her bottom 4 and top 2 permanent teeth to stay loose and causing a crazy bite. After this round of braces she will wait until all her permanent teeth come in and go through another round of braces to correct any cross bite problems that she has left over. To make a long story short, she has got a snaggle tooth mess! It freaks me out to see a permanent tooth wiggle back and forth knowing that it's supposed to be still! I can't wait for her to have something done because it bothers me to see her like this now that it is confirmed that she has a problem. She is excited about getting braces, but she doesn't want the extractions done. She was hoping that it would cost too much and I wouldn't want to have it done! Yeah, she thinks I'm cheap! She is also worried that the braces are too expensive and I have told Brandon we are not to talk about the cost of it, payments on them, or anything concerning money for dental work areound her. I don't care what it costs, I want to see her teeth fixed! I tried to explain to Emily that I am very careful with money so when things like this come up, it's not a big deal. I think she is feeling better about it.

I went to a Pure Romance party Saturday night at Laura's (the woman renting my old house) My friend Kelly went with me. It was a hoot! There were a bunch of wild slightly drunken lunch ladies there. We had a hilarious time. I would recommend having a Pure Romance party to anyone that just needs a reason to have a party. Laura really knows how to decorate and entertain. Our old house looked wonderful. It looks better now than it ever did when my family lived there! We are so fortunate to have a family living there that take care of it like they do.

Well, have a good week and be glad that you know all about my children's stomach and teeth problems! I will let you all know how things go for Emily and her Snaggle tooth saga!

A Day at the Park

Before this picture was taken Abigail ran behind the wall, stuck her head in and said "Momma, what am I!?" I busted out laughing.

Despite everyone feeling under the weather today we decided to get out of the house and go for a Sunday drive. We ended up going through Gold Hill and up in Rowan county at Dan Nicholas Park. The kids changed their grumpy moods when we pulled in there. They wanted to go see the snake exhibit in particular. We visited the snakes, the wildlife area, rode the carousel, and played on the playground. As always we had to pry them away so we could go home. It would have really been nice outside if the wind hadn't been blowing. We had a pretty good time though. It was good to get out of the house for a while anyway!

Days of our Lives

Sometimes it just seems like a soap opera around here. So much drama... Everyone is getting a little cabin fever. My kids are cheerful one minute and moody the next. What to do, what to do... Here is a picture of Candace holding a goat. If you knew her you would laugh. She is not the goat holding type, but she enjoyed her trip to the Burnette Farm.

I can't wait for spring. One day last weekend the temperature got up over 60 degrees for one day and now this cold wet weather again! Abigail has a double ear infection now and Emily is driving me batty. I would love to be somewhere with blue water and sandy beaches. Why did I procrastinate on booking that trip to Aruba for this winter? I could sure use a break. Oh well, I am stuck driving a delirious Abigail around trying to find a CVS that hasn't shut down there Minute Clinic. When we left one CVS and went over to another one and came back out after seeing the doctor Abigail argued with me about where we parked. I told her we parked in that direction at the other CVS and she was determined I was wrong. She said it was today we parked there and I said yes it was today, but not at this store, it was at the other one. I just could not win so I let it drop with her being right. You would think she had a high fever or something, but she didn't.

Emily has her first cavity filled last week and the dentist told her she had done well and deserved a good prize, but then they didn't offer her any "prize". She was heart-broken and wanted me to make up for it. I told her she didn't get a special prize for something that resulted from not taking care of her teeth. (It's a hard knock life)

Thank goodness tee ball and softball practice starts next week. Abigail will be practicing on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings. I don't know about Emily's schedule yet. We went last week to buy Abigail a helmet, faceguard, and cleats. I spent $150 on registration and over $100 on new cleats for both of them and Abi's helmet. $40.00 of this was for an outfielders mask they are both going to have to share. I let Emily play without one last year and I just can't stand the thought of one of them getting their teeth busted out by a flying ball, so I broke down and bought one.

Emily brought home a paper the other day titled "What I would do with $100" Let me say up front it wasn't buy supplies for softball! It said something along these lines "If I had $100 I would buy a Mustang GT so I could follow in my dad's footsteps. Then I woud go down to the animal shelter and feed the animals" She is so special... I wish I could stretch $100 that far. I am sure it would feed a lot of stray animals though, although I haven't found a way to feed a stray family of 4 on $100, so I don't know.

Finally some SNOW!!!!

We have had one of the best weekends EVER! We have played til we can't play no more! We had a great time sliding from Brandon's shop all the way down to the creek! Last night after dark when the temperature plummeted and it started sleeting and snowing again the conditions got slick and we FLEW down that hill. I am sore all over from bailing out before I hit a tree or from flipping at 20 mph! It was a little too much for Abigail. She like it more today when it started turning to slush and it still slid, but we didn't risk flipping over or running in the woods (which between me and Brandon we did both with her) Today we also had Kelsey with us. I would imagine this is the first snow she probably has played in and she had a ball too! We are all exhausted and lucky for the kids they don't have school tomorrow, but me and Brandon have to work! Being an adult is no fun when it comes to that! Anyway, I wanted to share some pictures with everyone. So here you go.

Christmas Pictures

Abigail put herself to sleep reading a Disney book Nutter Butter Santa cookies me and the girls made Emily in front of Maw maw Kayes tree

Abigail in front of our Charlie Brown Christmas tree

Hope everyone had a good Christmas. It doesn't really seem like it is already going to be 2010 in 1 more day! I am looking at a 4 day weekend coming up here and I can't wait. Brian and Amy are coming over tomorrow evening for a Guitar Hero New Year's Eve party. Hopefully Ned and Kelly can make it by after they visit family. My house looks like a toy store exploded, but hopefully Amy and Brian can sympathize with me. HAHAHA! I am just going to open a closet and shove all I can in there and hope no one opens the door. Upstairs is a disaster area too, but that's none of my concern right now.

I hope I can get some things organized and thrown away while I am off work this weekend. Why is it that no matter what you do or how long you work at it, things are never just perfect? I wish I could just deal with my minor case of OCD and move on. Happy New Year!

Abi's singing debut

Here is one of Abigail's songs she sang for her school program. I think it is so sweet and I have had her sing it a 100 times because I like her voice so much. She even sang it for the ladies at the public library last night.

Christmas Programs

Here are a few pictures from the kids' Christmas programs. They had to have there picture made with Santa and their bus driver Mr. Mike. Note Emily and her friend Hannah had picked out the same Christmas dress!

Charleston Trip

Every fall Brandon and I take a trip down to Charleston. We have a favorite Oyster Bar we like to visit called Pearlz. We go down there to get our fill on steamed oysters. I think I gained about 4 pounds over the weekend. How in the world does that happen?!?!?!?!?. Desserts, drinks, rich, creamy foods-I know exactly how it happens!

We always stay at the Lodge Alley Inn which is right there on East Bay Street. We don't need our car the entire time we are there because everything is within walking distance. This year we had yucky rainy weather so we didn't take very many pictures. Our room was a very nice loft off of the courtyard. We had a kitchen and dining room that we didn't even use. The dining room did make for a nice backdrop for our picture though.

We started our Christmas shopping on the way home. Tis the season!

The Playhouse

We have been working on this playhouse for about 5 years or so. It had to make the move from our old house over to our new house and then it sat for over a year before we messed with it again. Brandon finally started doing some little things to it. It now has stairs, windows, a front door, and carpet! All we need now is some interior upgrades and cedar shingle siding. Going by our timeline we should have it ready just in time for the girls to sneak their boyfriends over! Ha Ha! I think we may have to bolt it shut when that time comes!

Halloween Pictures

Here is my Halloween in a nutshell. We took Kelsey with us. We ended up just going to grandparents and then to my friend Stacey's neighborhood. It really wasn't all that fun without Brandon home with us! Emily and Abigail had to stay with Maw Maw Kaye that day while I worked and I didn't even think to get there picture with my parents before I left that evening! First picture above is with Paw Paw Terry (Brandon's stepdad), second picture is Paw Paw John (Brandon's dad) , third picture is Grand Ma Ann (Brandon's mom), and fourth picture is Kelsey and Kadyn (Candace's babies)