Super Shoppers! *Updated*

What's worse than drunk driving? DRUM Driving?!?!?

Princess & Pinky being goofy!

Pinky kissing her date!?!?!

When we asked to have our check split, our waitress at the fine establishment we ate at, actually had the nerve to ask if we wanted 2 checks or 4? I think we all looked at her with our deer-in-headlights-eyes and in unison all said, "Four!" Needless to say, she didn't get the best tip from us....even if she was kidding!

Getting ready to go inside the AG warehouse! So much excitement!

THE VAN! Do I need to say more?

Garage Sale Fun!

Manic Monday!

Tidy it all up - Tuesday!

Weed-out and Wacky Weather Wednesday!

Garage sales are a LOT of work, but when you have great friends to enjoy the craziness with, it makes it so much better. Having a couple of wonderful, let me say it again, WONDERFUL girls willing to take our little people on what was probably the hottest day of the year was a lifesaver! Ashley & Brittney, Thank You so very very much!
We had a storm blow in too, which added to the excitement! So we gathered the stuff quickly and shut-down shop. We went in to the much cooler house to sip (or slam) much needed pink slushy drink! The sale continues this morning....oh I think I hear someone knocking on my door right now, gotta run!

Happy Wednesday!

100 Memories!

So this is my 100th post. This is a huge milestone for me. I never in a million years would have thought I would keep this blog thing going. But it is fun and an easy way for me to keep track of the funny little things my people do and say. So many bloggers do fun and exciting things in honor of their 100th post. It's a big deal. I, on the other hand, don't have any thing fun to "giveaway" and I can't even come up with 10 new things about me (I've read 100 things about people) and they are very clever. So this is just another, everyday post. To me, that is why I started this blog in the first place. As selfish as it sounds, this blog is for me! I'm not out to get a huge number of readers and/or comments, although I love hearing from you. This blog was created as a journal for my family. To keep out-of-town family and friends updated on our lives. There are so many fabulous blogs out there, wonderful writers, who are creative, inspirational and down right funny. While I'm none of those things, this blog is mine and is for me and my people and that is what I have to remember.

So here it is, my 100th post, 100 memories that I will be able to look back on! I'm very excited!


Yesterday was a cool and rainyish day and I thought it would be a great day to go to a movie. I phoned my mom and then Gram to see if they were both up for an afternoon movie. They were up for it, so I told Maggie the plan. We would pick up Grandma Lovell (my Gram) and then meet Grandma & Paca at the movie theater. Paca would take Max back to his house (Max totally can't sit though a movie yet!) and just the girls would go see "Kit Kittredge, An American Girl" movie. It was a great time. I try to always carry my camera in my purse for times like this. After we found our seats, I had the couple in front of us take our picture. Now, it may sound crazy to have your picture taken in a movie theater, but there we were, 4 generations, sitting there getting ready to watch a movie that ALL of us could enjoy. It was a moment that I wanted to remember. And now I can:


The movie was fabulous! A great movie for any age. It's so nice to be able to go to the movies and not be afraid that a word or two may be heard, or a scene viewed that you're not ready to explain to your child. This is just a very nice movie. I totally give it five stars!


So there it is, my 100th memory shared on this blog. I'm looking forward to sharing 100 more of our family memories with you!

Super Shoppers!

Here are a few pics of the goofy girls I went shopping with!

Sassy and her new friend!

Yes, there was both a Marshalls & TJ Maxx!
It was heaven!

What do you think of my Hannah Montana hair?!?!

Princess & Pinky with a few of our bags!

Me & my date... (that story a little later!)

Pinky coming out of the AG sale! The rest of her stuff was already in a shopping cart!
Yes, she is wearing 3 duffel bags!

Sassy has the rest of the pictures (that I can post) and she is in IA for a few days!
When I get those, I'll post those too!
You should see the pictures of the van! WOW!

Snack Swiper!

Lately I have noticed the kids saying a lot of, "She has more than me" and "I didn't get as much as he did", do they really notice this stuff?! Apparently so!

One of my kiddos favorite snacks is pretzel sticks with a few M&M's with some milk. Easy right, yeah that's what I thought too! I always give Maggie the pink bowl and Max the blue bowl, they like it that way and I also know who brings their bowl back to the kitchen sink and who doesn't. (I'm so smart!) They have both started saying that each other has more M&M's than the other. So today I had to lay down the law. I explained to them that I will NOT count each M&M out, to make sure they each have the same number. I did tell them that they could count each one out, if they wanted, but that they would get 8 each and if I did it with my small (use-my-fingers) scoop, they would probably get more than eight each. They both agreed to go with my finger scoop. I also explained that if I continued to hear more about it, that neither of them would get the very yummy melt-in-your-mouth-not-in-your-hands treat! I didn't hear another word about it.

Harsh as it sounds, a few minutes later, I found Max totally protecting his treat, even in his sleep! Maggie even had the nerve to ask if she could eat his last few &M's. I may be a mean mom when it comes to passing out candy, but we can't have any snack swiping going on while you snooze. We have to protect ourselves and our snacks! Just trying to look out for you buddy! Hope you enjoy those few M&M's when you wake up!

Pack your bag, YOU might get a call!

Yesterday I sent an email to the girls that I'm going shopping with this weekend. It's the same girls who went on a scrapbook weekend a few months back. Remember the shirts?! This time, we are leaving at the crack of dawn (Sassy is to be at my house @ 5:45 AM), picking up the other girls and then heading north to do some major outlet mall shopping. All I remember hearing is something about a TJ Maxx outlet and I was in. So we will shop there tomorrow, and then head further north to where we are staying. We will get a nice dinner and then hit the sack. Or a least try to get an hour or two of sleep. Then up again really early to go to the American Girl warehouse sale. This will be my first experience with this and I'm a little afraid. Princess and Pinky have been several times and they say it's just crazy! If they think it's crazy then it must be totally out-of-my-league. There are all these guidelines and restrictions on what you can buy and how many you can buy, you have to bring your own bags and have tickets to get in. Craziness I tell you! Pure craziness! I'm looking forward to the challenge. It will be fun to watch all these women go wild over these dolls. After that adventure, we will hit a big scrapbook store on the way home late Saturday afternoon/evening.

So I came up with a few little guidelines myself and sent them all this email:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay girls,

Here is the list of "shopping trip" guidelines:

• bring only the essential getting-ready-items
  
• the above essentials must fit in the smallest duffel bag possible (this is to allow for more space for our purchases on the way home)
  
• adult beverages ARE considered an essential and ARE allowed (I will have a cooler available)
• since we are leaving so freakin' early in the AM, coffee is a must, Sassy, can you pack your travel toilet?!?!
  
• please bring your eye drops, looking at price tags all day tends to dry your eyes out
• wear comfy shoes (or at least buy some new ones while you are there)
• an over-the-shoulder purse is best, this allows you to have both hands free. This also allows for any code words/signs we might have to use!
  
• Since I am driving, the passenger next to me is in charge of: directions, radio, AC, snacks, etc. (Pinky, I guess that will be you, since #5 & #9 should be taking a nap to catch up on their sleep)
• There is no time limit on how long we will be in a store, however, if everyone else has left you and are sitting in the front of the store, that might be a sign that they are ready to move on.
• If you are the one waiting for another to finish up, MOVE ON! We all have cell phones, we can find each other when we are done.

If you are unable to follow these guidelines, please consult me, as we will have to find someone else to go in your place!
Thank you!

hee, hee! Just trying to have a little fun today!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If I were you, I would get your bag ready, I might be calling YOU to fill in for one of these girls!

Wordless Wednesday!

One of those days!

Today was just one of those days when I really miss actually going to a job, to do real work. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that raising kids isn't work. It's the hardest job I have ever had. EVER! I don't know if it was because it was really hot out today, or the almost-full moon?! Whatever it was, I was just crabby! When mommy's crabby, everybody's crabby! The day was long.

So tonight, we all went to swimming lessons, and then for a quick bite to eat (that really wasn't so quick!) I then headed over to Pinky's house to do some crafts for church. Wasn't there long and I came home to this.....

My beautiful, healthy, happy children sleeping peacefully in their beds! I was then reminded, that I will always have days like today. There will be more days of mommy being crabby, more days of kids whining, and more very long days, but when the day is over, this mommy feels very blessed that God has given me this "job" of being the mother of these wonderful kids. God is so good!

My Gram!

The kids and I spent most of the day yesterday at my grandmother's house. We are trying to help her clear out some stuff. She is not moving, she is almost 82 and still living on her own, driving the few blocks to church or to see friends, getting out and about, enjoying life!

So the going-through-stuff had to be done. Just think of all the goods you have accumulated over the last ten or so years of marriage. It's amazing. Now imagine 62 years of stuff. It's totally crazy. So I'm having a garage sale in a few weeks and I thought, "no better time like NOW" to go through and clear out.

Now, I must tell you how much I LOVE to do this! No, I'm not kidding, I really do love it. I would love to be a professional organizer some day! ~Tidy Up with Traci!~ Doesn't that sound cute.

So, I got a few boxes and just started in. I started in the basement, in the closet under the steps. I found some cool and lot more not-so-cool stuff in that closet. Here's some of what I found: a bedside toilet, 3 pressure cookers, equipment to make juice (they always made tomato juice from the garden tomatoes), a walker, 2 baby gates(the old kind), lots of glass vases, a fondue pot, grandpa's old lunchbox and LOTS of artificial flowers - yikes! and the bugs that were living in those flowers, totally grossed me out. There was a lot more stuff and I wish I had taken a before & after picture. But it was fun and I totally caught myself saying, "I remember this....!" and "oh, do your remember when...?" It was neat! After I got the stuff out and the closet itself cleaned, swept and debugged. I put stuff back into that little closet, stuff that should go into a storage closet like that. It looks a lot better. I have a stack of stuff for the garage sale too. Maybe I can get her a little cash out of the deal!

While I was going thru stuff, I found pictures and newspaper clippings. Gram saved everything! I took her up a box of stuff to go thru and she had a blast. She loved looking back and trying to remember who was in the picture(when she remembered who it was, I had her write on the back) or why she had saved such-n-such. She even found some old handmade Mother's Day cards from her kids. Maggie and Max thought it was pretty neat to see a handmade card from their grandma. Gram loved showing my kids who the people were in the pictures and she would say, "Now this is your great-great grandmother...." It was a special moment they shared, probably more for me and Gram than for the kids, but it was fun!

I'm going to try to go over there once a week, work on it little by little, and try to really enjoy hearing the stories, seeing the pictures and spending time with my Gram!

The card is here!

That is all I have to say! Happy Sunday!

Still no card! Yikes!

Just got back in from checking the mail, and there still is no debit card. I'm starting to get a little worried. I have a big girls only shopping trip next weekend that I must prepare for. I did call my credit union the other day, just to make sure it was ordered. You know, that would totally be my luck, to think that is was coming in the mail and that it hadn't even been ordered. They did confirm that it had indeed been ordered and should be arriving any day now. They did inform me that since there was a holiday in there, it might take a little longer. So, here I am, trying to be very patient as my dear old Discover card is being used like she has never been used before. The poor thing.

Great group of girls!

Last night I had dinner with a great group of girls. These are all girls from church. In the past, I have referred to them as my "church friends." However, I have realized that these girls have become much more to me than just "church friends", they are my friends!

I love that I can be myself ~ quirks and all ~ I love that I can laugh with them, cry with them (have I mentioned that I'm a big cry baby), shop with them, scrapbook with them, drink a beer with them, blog about them and just have tons of fun with them. We have shared joy, sorrow (lots of that this year), real-life-everyday-experiences and faith!

I truly feel blessed to have all of these girls in my life. They are each so different and yet very similar. We are all on our journey of faith together. We are all at different places in our own faith journey, but that is what I feel makes us connect so well. We can learn from each other. I give thanks to God for each of you and for placing you all in my life. I love you guys!

Favorite hour of hell

Okay, so I would call myself a regular attender of our local Gold's Gym. I'm NOT an everyday gym goer, but I do attend a class on a regular basis. I go to the Monday and Wednesday morning class and sometimes even a Thursday night class. I've been going for a few years now and have really enjoyed the instructor and step class that I attend. Back at the end of May, they switched up my normal step class and finally went to the Les Mills Body Step class. I was nervous at first. Change is always a bit hard for me. But I went and LOVED it. I'm not the type of person who can go to the gym, run (or walk in my case) on the treadmill, do a few weights and feel good about it. I'm the kind of person who needs a good instructor, very LOUD music and great friends to help me get through the hour of pure hell. That is why I love this class.

Here's the thing, since we went from a somewhat low impact step class to a very high impact class, my knees are really feeling it. I had to take Advil last week to see if that would help and I hate taking any meds. So yesterday I skipped the class, I thought maybe my knees could use a break, and drove to a local running store to buy some "good shoes." I'm really hoping this will help.

The hard part is knowing how important it is to exercise and finally finding something I really "like" to do and now this. I really hope the expensive Saucony shoes with super thick sole will help support these oldish legs so that I can get back to my favorite hour of hell a few times a week.

Happy 4th of July!

Bike Parade! What a blast!

Getting ready for water balloons!

What an AWESOME day!

Sing, Sing a Song!

One of the wonderful gifts given to me when I became a mother, is the ability to make up random songs to the tune of songs we all know and love. I'm sure you were all given this ability as well.

Remember the tune to this? "The B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me..."

Here is this mornings song:

We will N-A-P TO-DAY, yes, N-A-P TO-DAY, because we were up at 6:15, we will N-A-P TO-DAY!

Gotta love the birds!

So, I love birds. Not in a weird sort of way, but in the way that God created them. Sometimes I go thru these phases were I'm just in awe of all of God's wonderful world. The miracles that happen on this earth every single day that we all tend to take for granted. It amazes me!

Back to the birds. God created them and we are to love all of God's creations, right!?!?! Well, God's wonderful birds have been waking me up about 4:45 AM for several days now, and I'm kinda getting "tired" of it.

My life without a debit card!

Here how this started. About a week and a half, two weeks ago, I got a new debit card in the mail. I really hadn't paid much attention to the upcoming expiration date, so when it arrived I filed it nicely in with my bills because it couldn't be activated until a certain date. The activation date came around, so I activated the card and destroyed the old card. I feel this is a pretty routine practice for most people. I then went to use the card last Friday night (a quick trip to Hobby Lobby on Friday night, isn't my life so exciting!) and it didn't work. No big deal, paid with a credit card, got my goods and left. When I got home I took out the paperwork that came with the new debit card. Sure enough, it was to my joint account with Andy, not the account that I normally use. This would have been no big deal, except for the fact that I had already destroyed my "good card." Yikes! Okay, no big deal again. I called our credit union on Saturday and told them I cut up the wrong card....they will send me another card right out! It should be here in 7-10 days! 7-10 DAYS! Oh my Gosh! What am I going to do for 7-10 days?!?!?! Oh, and just to make it even better, this debit card is also my ATM card. So no going to the drive-up ATM machine to get cash either. HELP!

I am the bill payer in this sitcom. I'm kind of a dork when it come to paying the bills, I have a monthly spreadsheet and plug in the updated amount. I love it. I pay most of our bills online, so I really don't write a lot of checks.

However, today I was out for my Tuesday morning run. (I mean that as in errands, not actual running.) I hit my favorite spots, Target, Michael's, and Marshall's. I had to write checks at all of these fine establishments. I didn't have any problems until my last destination. I was writing a check at Marshall's for $50.73. Not a big check by any means. There is plenty of funds in my checking account and they would NOT accept my check. The very nice cashier tried several times before she finally called to get an authorization number. The place she called would NOT accept my check. They would not tell her why, just that they could not accept it. The nice cashier could feel my frustration and handed me a card with a phone number on it. I ended up paying with a credit card and left feeling very embarrassed. I'm sure all the people behind me thought I was some random chick who was buying stuff she couldn't afford and didn't have the funds to pay for it. It was just an awful feeling.

On my way home, I called the number on the card that the nice cashier had given me. The representative that answered was also very polite and basically told me that since I don't write very many checks, they have my account flagged (which is totally random). They thought that maybe my checks had got into the wrong persons' hands and that there may be fraudulent activity on my account. I asked why I didn't have any trouble at Target or Michael's, but she said that since it was three checks right in a row, that is what probably flagged it.

So now I'm scared to write any more checks. I guess it's nice to know that we have people looking out for us, but Lord, please help me to get through the next 7-10 days without my debit card. I think I will be staying at home a lot, only leaving the house to go to the gym because that is already paid for this month.

Summer Snapshots!

Swimming with QP!

Cousin Jaelyn!

Maggie 4-wheelin'

Max & Maggie at the park

Just loafin' around!


Nicole at Life in Progress had a post like this and I loved it, check hers out here!