So far behind this year!

I'm so far behind on everything! I think every year it gets worse and worse. I love Christmas. But everyone has taken the meaning out of Christmas and I'm so miserable until about February! That's how long it takes me to recover from bills and all that lovely stuff! I know I shouldn't let the outside world do that to me. But I do and I'm trying so hard to stay happy this year!

This weekend we are getting our tree. And hopefully putting the lights outside! And today I'm hoping to get my Christmas cards out! I do have my fireplace mantle decorated. I love my gingerbread houses and couldn't wait to drag them out.

And cookies and fudge??? Don't get me started on that! I haven't even thought about what kind to make this year. But I know my daughter will want to help. The kids will look forward to the fudge making. That means that if the batch doesn't come out perfectly we get to eat it ;-)

I'm happy that we didn't put up lights yet or our deer. They would have blown away yesterday. We have thunderstorms in December! Odd but it brought the snow. I love the first few snows. Then after that, I'm ready for it to go away. But I don't hate it enough to move from where I live.

Until next time........Have a great one!

How do you Pray?

So today has been a little stressful and as I was praying, I thought boy it is a good thing He knows what I mean because none of that made any sense! So I wondered if I was the only one who just talked like He was standing right beside me? I sorta blunder through like I have no clue what I'm saying...lol

I have family members that do the long elaborate praying and they say that is correct. They always have the proper form like we are sitting in church and the preacher is praying.

So how do you pray? Is there a right or wrong way? Or is the fact that we are talking to him enough?

What I'm thankful for!

Well since it has been a while since I posted on my blog, I thought I would do a thankful post since tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for my fantastic, loving husband. He puts up with my craziness, moodiness and he loves me faults and all and trust me there are quite a few faults. I love how hard working he is. How he let us sacrifice so much extra stuff so that I could stay home for 9 years. I love what a wonderful father he is!

Oh and I'm thankful he gave me two beautiful healthy kids too because I'm most certainly thankful for those two munchkins too! I love how at 9 years old, my boy still calls me mama. I may not get hugs and kisses from him anymore but I'm hanging on to that mama as long as I can keep it!




And my princess. Oh how I adore how she loves me.




Hugs, kisses, more hugs and lots of love to give me everyday. I love how she hangs on to me before I go to work in the evenings and says I don't want you to go mama!
And although it breaks my heart, it makes coming home so sweet because I know they miss me more than I thought they would when I went back to work. I only work 2 minutes (walking) from my house so my husband nicely brings them to see me before bed!

Let's not forget family and friends. I truly have the best of each! I had to work hard to get friends once we got married. I never had that problem before. But we got married before most of our friends and then had a baby right away who needed special attention since he was born 10 weeks early. They didn't know how to relate to us anymore and they stayed away. So I lost them and 2 years ago I made the most wonderful friends. Friends I can go away with my kids and friends I can go away with by myself! They are always there, just like my family.

This year I'm thankful that my most adorable nephew is ALIVE! My nephew is a shaken baby survivor. And although he is struggling to catch up to where he should be, he is healthy and alive! A far cry from where we thought he would be. We honestly thought he would not be with us right now.

And I'm going to have a selfish moment cause after all I am just a normal human being! I'm so thankful that we were able to buy a house a few months ago. Happy doesn't begin to cover how I feel! Not bragging. Just moving has improved my mood by leaps and bounds. Previously, we only lived two houses down from my nephews attacker. Someone we thought we were friends with. Someone we thought loved my husband's sister and her baby. We just couldn't handle living there anymore and although we didn't think we could move, God provided away!

Which leads me to the most important thing I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for God who made it so I could have all these blessings. Without him, I can't imagine how worse things could be. I mean we could be without my nephew and even our son who was born 10 weeks early.

I'm thankful for every day I'm given to feel the love from my husband, family and friends.

Thankful Thusday!

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you would like to blog hop on Thankful thursday just link back to Saving Sherry.

This is my first Thankful Thursday :-)

I am thankful for my children. Even when they are sick, like they are now, and driving me up the wall;-), they still can bring a smile to my face. They make me feel better, just by calling me Mama!

And I'm thankful for my great friends that I just developed last year. They help keep sane. We do stuff together as families with our kids and we all get together to go away without our kids. I love having friends I can do both with. We used to have friends that only wanted to see us if we could go away without our kids and we can't always do that so it is nice to have friends who get it!

Most importantly, I'm thankful for my hard working husband. He works long hours for us to have the life we do have. He isn't afraid to help me around the house when I get behind and he loves to get down and play with those kids of ours! And I'm thankful that he chose me to be in his life. After 10 years, it feels like we just got married.

So that is my thankful Thursday. What are YOU thankful for today! Link up and let us know!

I won some awesome games for the kids!

Thanks to Raising Olives, I won some awesome games for my kids.

They won Giraffe Limbo and Scatterpillar Scramble! My daughter saw these the other day in the store and was drawn to them immediately. She doesn't know we have them now and I'm thinking of keeping them back for Christmas. But I know she will be ecstatic when she sees them!

Thanks so much for the win! We appreciate it!

Holiday Check list #1

WOW! Thanksgiving is almost here. This year, Thanksgiving is going to be at my house. My mom doesn't want to have it this year because this is her first holiday without her mom. So they are breaking in my new home! Woohoo but EEK all at the same time!

*Need to have everything unpacked.
*Make menu
*Buy turkey
*Decorate
*Deep clean
*Need dinner ideas!!!!


Christmas shopping list:
*Buy Kelsey her Christmas dress **DONE *It was half off too*
*Make a list of what items we've already bought.
*Make a list of what to buy kids, parents, nephew and siblings.
*Start Christmas cards and address them.
*Be finished shopping in the next couple weeks
*Buy tires for the Jeep (yes this is on my Christmas list because--well because it needs done the same time of year...lol)
*make sure all Christmas lights work. I don't want to be running to the store the day we drag the tree in from the woods. And I want my Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving. Not to have them on, just to have them up.

Monday, Monday...

Oh boy, it is Monday! What can I say, yes, I am one of those people who hate Monday's I get into sleeping until 8 and boom it is back to 6:30. Although my husband's alarm starts at 4:30 so I'm up, just not completely aware yet...lol

Today, it is just me and my son at home. The poor boy has the nastiest cough and I don't feel my best either. So we decided even though he felt ok, not to pass these germs on since most of our school is just getting over the H1N1. I just knew I was going to get sick. I was at the school all day Thursday to help with picture day and there were some very sick kids at school. Parents sent them just for their pictures! Ugh...there is a make up day!!

This past weekend we had a lot of fun. Saturday I thought was going to start terrible but ended up being a blast. I thought I had the day off and then ended up having to work which I was so sad about but sucked it up and ended up working til 10:00. Rushed home, got cleaned up and became a cave woman for the Halloween party that my husband and I were off too! Didn't get home til 3. I cannot remember the last time we did that. It was a much needed time out with some fantastic friends of ours. The only picture I have is from the waist up and from an iphone so the quality is not the best.




Being a working mom is harder than I thought it would be. Seriously I was blessed to have almost 10 years at home. I only work 20 hours a week but it is all at night. So I miss bed times and that alone time with my husband. Plus, I find it hard to give up that control over my kids. I know it sounds so silly. It's just that they were always my job. And well they weren't even a job. I just miss that part nightly. It could be worse I know. And I know I'm lucky that I have just now had to start back to work. I just don't like it.

Sorry for such a blah, blah post. I'm sure tomorrow will be different once I start my first day of the 30 day shred and you all can hear me cry from wherever you all may live. And if you do happen to hear me cry. Don't worry. Just know that Jillian Michaels is kicking my butt!

Menu Planning

Am I the only one who struggles with menu planning? I make my grocery list, I plan my menus and wouldn't you know I never do what I plan. But having just bought this new house and adding another payment to our budget, I have decided to try much much harder to stick with what I plan. I think it was easy for me to not stick with the budget because we always had the extra cash because we didn't have a house payment. Now that we do, I want to be more frugal where I can. Some

Since I already got my groceries this week, I will just share my menu and next week I think I will actually say if I managed to just get what I put on my grocery list or not. I swear I just wonder aimlessly through the store throwing stuff in the cart!

Monday--Steak, scalloped potatoes, veggie (maybe rice instead of the potato)
Tuesday--Stuffed Peppers (Tae Kwon Do night so this will be crock pot day)
Wednesday--Meatloaf, potatoes, veggie
Thursday--Spaghetti & meatballs (our cub scout night always has something quick)
Friday-- I work Friday nights so DH always takes the kids out to the pizza place. It is their special night together
Saturday--I work too but I try to have something quick made since I don't leave til 5:00. Even if it is just chicken nuggets and french fries. Which everyone seems to love for some reason.
Sunday--I'm not sure yet. Friday, Saturday and Sunday start our new grocery week but Sunday is generally a big family meal since that is the only day my husband has off.

I really hope to get better at planning. I have so many things I want to change now that we have this new house and are sorta starting over with all of our schedules.

So does anyone else stuggle or are you organized in meal planning?

Five Question Friday

This my first Five Question Friday so most of you will learn something new about me.




1. What phrase, or phrases, do you say a lot (holy cow, geez, seriously?)
Holy Moley! You're kidding me! I always say you're kidding me to the kids.


2. Swimming: Are you a kamikaze off the boat, take the plunge from the deep end, or a gradual, slow submersion from the shore or shallow end kind of person?
Neither one! I can't swim. Although, my husband thinks it is his duty to throw me in the lake knowing I can't swim. He said I'll never learn if I don't try....hmmm....I also won't think I'm drowning if he'd just stop tossing me in!

3. Have any tattoos? If not, what would you get?
No tattoos and I don't really want one.


4. What is your favorite tree?
I love the burning bush. Don't know what the real name is but it turns bright red in the fall. I also love red maples :-)

5. Two pronged question: What is your favorite non-physical thing about your spouse? What is your favorite physical thing about your spouse or significant other.
I love my husband's sense of duty. He always feels drawn to help those around him.
Physical thing? Umm.....his eyes. They change colors all the time and you can just read the emotion in them! I especially love them when they are looking at me :-)

The 3's of Me!

I'm just doing some intro things until I get time to sit down and make a normal blog post!

The 3's of Me!Share

Three names I go by:
1. Mama
2. Wendy
3. Hon

Three Jobs I have had in my life:
1. Burger King
2. student tutor (high school and college)
3. Mom

Three Places I Have lived:
1. Clintonville
2. Bullion
3. Gulfport, Ms

Three Favorite Drinks:
1. Sweet Tea (too bad I can't drink it...lol)
2. Diet Pepsi
3. Diet Dr. Pepper

Three TV shows that I watch:
1. Hells Kitchen
2. Survivor
3. The Amazing Race

Three places I have been:
1. Gatlinburg, Tn
2. Biloxi/Gulfport, Ms
3. Washington DC

People that text me regularly:
1. Den
2. Mom
3. Missy/Missy

Three of my favorite dishes:
1 Fajitas
2. Lasanga
3. Chicken Alfredo


Three things I am looking forward to:
1. Blake getting better (and he is)
2. Getting this new house in order!!
3. Getting back to church

Hmm.....about me?

OK so I'm not a crazy wife and I'm not a crazy mama. But I do feel like it some days. My husband and I have been married almost 10 years. Oh about 8 years longer than his family thought we'd be married :-) I have awesome role models for what married life should be like.

We have two children. My son 9, was born 2 1/2 months early and we spent some time in the NICU. We have no lasting problems. He was developmentally delayed but we just have speech and that is coming along nicely now.
My daughter is 6 and is quite the adventure. Think teenager stuck in a 6 year old's body! I tell ya, girls are so different then boys!!
Let's not forget the animals. We have two chihuahua's and 1 black lab.
We are in the process of buying a house and close on Monday...eeek!!!! Crazy!

My kids have a crazy schedule and we have toned it down this year. Well it isn't any crazier than anyone else's but would have been out of control had we not cut stuff down.

Tuesday--Tae Kwon Do til 6-8 and Daisies 5-630. I leave one for 15 minutes at Daisies while the other goes to Tae Kwon Do. Wed. they both go to youth. Thursday is cub scouts. I have PTO stuff on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But my son is mad because we cut out flag football and wrestling. Those were 3 days a week and took 25 minutes to get there. My daughter had ballet, tap and gymnastics and we were just so overwhelmed that I wasn't happy and I don't think they were happy. They were in too much that they just couldn't be kids and play outside with the neighborhood kids because they just didn't have the time. Example: my daughter is 6 and just learned to ride her bicycle without training wheels because she didn't have time to ride the silly thing! So we cut way back and we no longer have overlapping activities where I feel so rushed--well except for Tuesdays but the buildings aren't even 5 min. apart.

Ok--this is just my into post....I swear I won't be so boring once I start posting normally or I hope I'm not this boring!