Quietly Making Noise

September

2009-12-08T19:17:00.002-05:00

Sweet September was filled with FOOTBALL, CHEERLEADING AND FLU!

Cooper played his second year of flag football again this year. Rober was the assistant coach again. They both had a blast. Cooper only got to run the ball once due to them taking turns each game. We only had a few games, but we practiced three times a week. That's a lot of practicing if you ask me. This is a shot of his one run with the ball. The last picture makes me want to cry. You can just see the little guy is upset that those evil Rocket players got his flag. I'm kind of a bad sport.

This is one of my favorite shots. One of the other mom's is a photographer on the side and she took tons of pictures of Cooper and the other boys and sold the mom's copies for only five bucks. I love this shot of him while they are singing the national anthem. Doesn't it look like he's looking right at her. I messed with it a little on Picnik trying to be cool, but I'm not sure I like the effect.

This was Miss Alexus' first year ever being a cheerleader. I was her coach and we had a blast. It brought back a lot of memories for me from when I was her age. She did an awesome job and is now taking gymnastics. She may end up following in her mother's footsteps after all.

Let's get fired up!!!!!

Well, hello there. Remember me?

2009-12-07T20:22:00.003-05:00

I'm back!!! It has been forever since I last posted. I feel like I have been lost at sea for a few months. So much has been happening. Nothing big, just the usual crazy. I must admit that I have been a little addicted to facebooking lately. Not sure why; however, I have been religiously checking all of your alls blogs daily. I haven't missed a post. Even if I have not left a comment, I have still been reading. I know that means so much to you all.

I am going to try and catch up as quickly as I can, but I must blog in chronological order. I just must or it drives me crazy. My last blog was about July, so here comes August.

I now have a fifth grader and a kindergartner. Can you believe that?
No first day of school is complete without a properly done manicure. A girls gotta get her nails did! Alexus was lucky enough this year to have received a gift certificate to the local nail salon so she had a professionally painted set of claws for the first day of school. She is now slightly addicted to florescent nails and florescent everything else for that matter. I am secretly jealous of all of her florescent things as I would have died to have them when I was a little girl. I was lucky enough to have a few jelly bracelets and a pair of hot pink shoe strings. If only Justice had been around 25 years ago.

Cooper Reed was pumped to start what he called "big school". He got to move upstairs with the other big kids and away from the preschoolers. The first day was awesome. Not a tear one. Then came days two through thirteen. I am estimating the thirteen part; however, he cried every morning for over two weeks. It was a nightmare. He would enter the room and stay in his seat, but every morning I left him sobbing his guts out. The aide told me he cried the entire day one day. Then, finally he stopped. Big goober. I have no idea why he did this, but I totally expect him to do it again next year. So far, he seems to have tons of friends. He's already had two girlfriends. I have also been called one day by the aide to tell me that I needed to talk to him about sliding on his knees in the hallway. Apparently another teacher caught him pretending to slide into home base as he was supposed to be going to the bathroom. He also has received his first sad note for talking too much and blowing his pencils off of his table. All is expected and I love every single bit of his rotten behaviour. I'd much rather him be a little bit of a trouble maker than a big wimp.

Miss Alexus Reed on the other hand is all about fashion and BOYS! Thank goodness she is a naturally good student so her grades are not affected by her obsessions. She paints her nails every day and plans the hottest outfits for the next day. She is doing well and I cannot believe that this will be her last year at elementary school. Next year she will be at the middle school and heaven help me then. She has already heard about the dances that they have and is thinking she needs to dress up for each one like it is a prom. I should probably find a second job now. God love her little heart. I would have her no other way.

The parents are still alive and kicking. I can say that 2009 has so far been one of the best years of our marriage. We have now been married for thirteen and it's totally like us to have the best year of our marriage during the most unlucky numbered year. We have spent this summer just spending as much quality time with our kids as we can. They are really getting to that fun age. We are truly blessed.

Alexus' 10th Birthday! Candy Buffett

2009-08-29T21:09:00.002-04:00

My only girl, my first born has hit a big milestone. She turned double digits. The BIG 10!! She planned her party for weeks, mailed out the invites and finally the big day came. She had a few girls over for a sleepover. We chose a candy theme and had a candy buffett as the party favor. They swam, ate pizza and rode in the golf cart. They told scarey (funny) stories and then crashed in the floor. I hit the couch and all went well. No drama at this slumber parties and it was the first one I have attended that my bra didn't end up in the freezer!!!

We made flip flops with different ribbons to match the school colors.

Human pyramids are a must at any sleepover.

Thank goodness no one was injured on the new birthday gift.

Here's a shot of the candy buffett. We used solid white chinese takeout boxes from Walmart and each girl got to fill it to the top with the candies of their choice. They thought they were in heaven.

I made the cake this year. I liked it, but she hated it. Of course, she's ten!

My favorite part of the candy set up was the suckers smashed in that bowl. It looked like a flower arrangement. I used tissue paper to fill it up and then crammed it full of baby blow pops. I also used ring pips to hang on the bowl full of gumballs. I got the idea from mique over at thirtyhandmadedays.blogspot.com a long time ago. She has tons of ideas. Check her out.

Vacation 2009

2009-06-29T21:23:00.003-04:00

We just returned from a week short vacation. We went to Destin, Florida and were fortunate enough to have my best friend and her family go with us. We had a blast. As you can see.

I love this shot of Cooper. He lost both of his two front teeth the week before we left. He wanted to save one of them to put under his pillow at the beach to see if the toothfairy could find him. She sure did. She snuck into his room and put the money is a giant seashell. How cool is that toothfairy?

By the end of the trip, I could totally have left his little butt buried in the sand.

I love this shot of all of the kiddos. I framed it for my friend. It's a secret.

We ate lots of seafood. Cooper ate his first crablegs.

My kids had so much more fun at the beach than they normally do. It makes a ton of difference to have kids to play with.

This big girl will be ten in July. Where has the time gone?

In summary I learned a few things over the week.

1. fruit by the foot can and will be used against you in a motor vehicle.

2. if you get diarreah, go ahead and administer the Imodium AD after the first run to the potty. Don't just wish that it will go away, cause it will not.

3. krispy kreme doughnuts are better hot.

4. Breathe in, breathe out and move on.

5. Baby turtles make a lot of poop. Not a good pet.

6. Pay bills that are due while you are gone before you leave or otherwise they will be late. Duh...

7. It's fun to step outside of the box, especially with a good friend.

8. Real friends are always real friends, no matter how much time or what consequences have seperated you.

9. My kids need real work with table manners and ordering skills.

10. Always read the bottle of BBQ sauce carefully. Hot is a bad thing.

11. Real friends walk by each other out into the ocean to pee. I was on jellyfish watch while my bff peed. That's true friendship in my book. It sure beat walking all the way across the street to the real potty.

12. Rival Sno cone machines can be a lifesaver when the ice cream truck doesn't run. The darn thing ran like 6 times a day last year and we had to call it to come this year. What the heck?

13. Outdoor breakfasts rock.

14. There's no place like vacation.

Random Catch Up

2009-05-30T10:44:00.002-04:00

Sorry, I have been missing in action for the last month. Let me just start by saying it has been a month of action!! Some of which I could have lived without, but am thankful that I lived through. Here's a catch up post.

Cooper had pneumonia and got admitted to the hospital.
Within one hour of being admitted, he was flown out to a better one.
Missy prayed and cried--- a lot!
Cooper got sepsis.
Cooper got a pic line
Cooper came home.
Cooper's pic line kinked, Cooper got readmitted.
Alexus felt very sad that she hadn't seen her family and had suddenly been sent to live with NANA.
Cooper got his kinks worked out.
Cooper came home.
Missy worked for 4 days.
Cooper got a virus and/or drug fever.
Cooper got readmitted for three days.
Cooper came home. Missy went back to work.
Cooper got a four wheeler and Alexus got a golf cart. Missy and Robert are suckers.
Missy held her breath for another week praying that we would not be readmitted. Three times and eight days were enough.
Alexus is happy too, but scared that we will have to take him back.
Missy got a new car (again, I'm a sucker for a good deal).
Alexus go her first highlights and her boyfriend broke up with her :(
Alexus won Student's choice, an award voted on by the students. Very proud of her.
Missy has learned a huge life lesson. Enjoy every single day and don't sweat the small stuff.
Missy turns 34 tomorrow. I think I will cry some more now.

It's That Time of Year Again

2009-04-26T19:46:00.002-04:00

This has been a tough weekend at the Tussey farm. The family room television is broken and the world just about stopped spinning because of this. Not to mention, Cooper is sick again. It's an allergy thing, but the poor little guy has only been over type b influenza for two weeks now. It's never ending. We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the United States, but also one of the worst places for allergies and we as a family suffer because of it. Unfortunately, my children suffer the worst. I'm really hoping that this will get better as they get older; otherwise, I'm moving to Utah or Arizona.
I have to try and not complain too much about the weather because all of this Spring pllenation leads to some of my most favorite things including freckles of Alexus' nose.
Here's a shot of poor little sick Cooper eating his one millionth popsicle of 2009. Check out the beautiful blooms on my azelia (totally spelled wrong) bushes.
Check out this yard visitor. It's never ending here at the Tussey farm, visitors trespass through our yard uninvited. This turtle was HUGE!!
I'm thinking it looks a little like I felt this weekend. Aggravated at the entire world!
This weekend was also the opening weekend for our little league. Check out the cute little guy with his hat on backwards and the bright red spikes on. Also check out the hot second base coach in the white shirt. Who is that guy?
That's my little guy catching the grounder!!
Listening to the coach give out the rules of the dugout. No punching, no hitting and no dog piling :)
The little league parade. Cooper is in the far left with the giant hand full of bubblegum that he is about to launch at his dad. He informed me that he hit some lady in the eye glasses with gum and he also hit his football coach in the head. Maybe I shouldn't let him throw candy next year.
All in all, this pic sums up the weekend. We all felt like crap.

Easter 2009

2009-04-18T19:01:00.004-04:00

We celebrated with family (my maternal grandparents)
The men looked for eggs.
It was a very good day.

We posed for family pictures.

We were all very glad that Cooper found the golden egg. This meant he didn't cry this year.

It was peaceful!

We ate.

We colored eggs.

We hid eggs.

Inspiration and Creation!!

2009-04-17T19:14:00.004-04:00

For some time now, I have been wanting to redecorate my house a little. When we built it almost ten years ago, we went for serious neutrality and painted almost every wall khaki. What in the heck was I thinking? I am going to blame it on the fact that I was extremely pregnant with Alexus and clearly not thinking logically. In any event, here are a few changes I have made. Also, here are a few GREAT finds I have found at yard sales and/or at the Grandview Outlet store, which is a Target overstock sort of place. I love it!
We painted the bathroom blue. Love it! Check out the mirror that I only paid $25 for. Doesn't it match the bathroom tile perfect?

Here is the magazine with one of the inspiring pictures that got me in the mood to do all of this in the first place.

My dining room inspiration; however, I was not brave enough to pain my chandelier white. Just couldn't do it!

Only paid $3.00 for this body pillow sham!!!

$20.00 for this and I plan to put black and white pics of my kiddos in it when I find the time.

The wrought iron wall hanging was only $4.00 at a yardsale. Thank you to my co-worker for dragging my migrane hungover rear out that morning.

6.99 at Grandview and I LOVE IT!!!!

STill working ont his table. The yellow chickens were my great grandmas and the white chicken came from a different greatgrandma and the white candy dish from my granny. The blue vase-----$1.50 at the same yardsale and the silver candle holder .75 at a yardsale!!!

Real antique lace napkin .75 at an antique store. The silver bowl $6.00 at Grandview and the hot pink roses were $3.00 at the DOLLAR TREE!!! Not even going to tell you what I paid for the Longenberger salt and pepper shakers :(

Finished dining room. I know it looks like a big slice of key lime pie, but the official color name is Fiddlehead green :) I like it and that's all that matters.

My mother helped me paint the rooms, couldn't have done it without her and we didn't fight too much.

Recycling!

2009-04-16T06:15:00.002-04:00

Cooper came to me about two months ago and was so excited about an episode of Curious George that he had seen on t.v. He explained to me that he wanted to recycle and then went on to explain to me exactly what recycling was. You see, we live in Eastern Kentucky where it is sadly still common for people to just take a notion and throw their couch over the hill. I live in one of the nicest subdiviisions in my town and I kid you not, there is a recliner and chair thrown over the hill at the top of the hill in our subidivision along with a t.v. Our community is small and we have no public recycling pick up services like they do in bigger cities. We do have an aluminum can recycling center. So, I decided that we were going to go as green as we could and start recycling cans. Cooper is obsessed with the recycling symbol and I was so saddned when I had to tell him that the only thing we can recycle is cans. He just didn't understand why we couldn't sit our recycling things out with the trash and let the recycling people pick them up like they did on Curious George. In any event, he's doing what he can to save the earth and I'm so super proud of him. Blogger did not post my pics in the order I wanted it to, but that's not a big surprise now is it. Oh yeah, if Cooper looks a little wild eyed it's because he had been to the eye doctor and had his pupils dialted. Poor little guy.
This is my favorite part where he has to write his little name on the payment slip. He got a whopping .75 cents for his two bags of cans. He thought he was rich.

I make him do the entire process by himself.

If I were a groundhog...

2009-04-05T20:43:00.002-04:00

This is probably what I would look like. My little family went on a ride today on our John Deere Gator down to a lot by the river in our subdivision that is empty. This lot is beautiful, but it lies in the flood plain so it will probably never be developed. It is packed full of wildlife, I assume because it is close to the river. We saw a fox den and two baby fox and Mr. Groundhog. I was a little worried that it had rabies because it allowed us to get VERY close to it before it ducked into it's hole. Notice the bald patch near it's rear and the position it is lying in. Remind you of me?
My co-worker got married this weekend. Didn't Alexus look beautiful? Also, please note the Mique inspired wreath hanging on my front door. The one on her blog was yellow and totally different, but it inspired me to recycle my blue robbin egg wreath. I merely spray painted it hot pink and added a new bow. I now have an unusual desire to spray paint everything.

One of the pictures from Cooper's class' Easter party.

He found a golden egg only to be a little dissappointed. We put money in the golden egg that we hid for the class. His was only filled with Nerds. I found it totally appropriate after finding his self portrait on my camera later on that day while sitting on my desk at work.

Containment and Contentment

2009-04-04T20:30:00.002-04:00

Thanks to you all for the blessed prayers that you sent up for my grandpa. I am happy to report that the ugly "c word" is contained to the prostate. This is good. We are content with that and the hope that we can keep it at bay for a very long time.

One more prayer request. My brother and his wife just found out that they are expecting their first child. She suffers from the same infertility problem that plagued me. She is spotting heavily today and may be loosing the baby. Please pray that she is not.

On a personal note, I found contentment today. Contentment that I cannot detail as it is private; however, I feel really good that I found this contentment in my life. it has been a long time coming.

On a funny note. It is never a good idea to take a picture of your genitals with mommy's digital camera. She will find that picture when she least expects it. As I did at work on Wednesday when I thought I was looking at the pictures that I had taken of my dear, sweet, son's school Easter party. What will he do next? I'm scared to know.

"Turtle, this is curable isn't it?"

2009-03-26T06:22:00.002-04:00

The title is a direct quote from my granddaddy to me last night. I felt a piece of my heart chip off when he said it to me. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer yesterday. His heart is broken and he is scared to death, as am I. He is a devout Christian and he also said to me "I know that the good Lord can take care of this if it be his will". Our family is very scared. We have been so lucky. I have had no family member on either side die from cancer or even have cancer. This is all very new to us. He goes on Friday for a bone scan and a CT to make sure it hasn't spread. Please pray that it hasn't spread. His treatment options are more limited than most due to his other medical problems. He has suffered a lot in his life and he so does not deserve to have to be dealing with this right now. Sorry to put all of this out there, but I'm doing so because I know that most of you who read my blog are spiritual people and we really need all of the prayers we can get. Thanks.

Commercial or Something Like That

2009-03-19T06:58:00.002-04:00

So, I am annoyed for two reasons. The first being that my daughter is sick again!! I had to take her to the dr. yesterday and she has blisters all in her throat. I've decided that I'm going to bleach everything in my house tomorrow :) Should smell nice. So, when I realized that I was going to have to take her to the doctor, I sent my boss an email (which goes straight to his blackberry) telling him that I would be late because she was sick. I ended the email with "I swear I taught my kids to was their hands when they were little". He responded "they get germs from other people who do not wash their hands. Do you wash your hands?" I did not respond, he's a little annoying clog, but it was a funny comeback.
The second reason that I am annoyed is that I cannot find the commercial that I want to share wi h you guys. So, you are just going to have to keep your eyes open and see it on t.v. for yourself. It's not really a funny, but the story I have to go along with it is. The commerical is a McDonald's commercial where the big brother (little boy) has a new baby in the house and he's feeling a little left out. I think the little boy's name is Leo and his mom takes him to McDonald's for some special time. The little boy is wearing an orange and khaki striped shirt. Here comes the story. Cooper used to have this exact same shirt when he was 2. For those of you who don't know, my husband and I seperated when Cooper was 2. I guess that God knew I needed some laughter. One day I was going to Walmart, but first I was going to run in the mall and check out cameras at Sears. It was a nice May day and Cooper asked me to roll down his window so I did. He was safely strapped in his car seat so I had no worries and the best part was that he didn't make a peep from the back seat the entire time. I pulled into Sears and got out of the car, walked around to get Cooper out of the back seat and opened the door. There I found my child naked with his diaper undone. No shirt, no shorts, no shoes. I begin to search the car floorboard and the back area and I can't find any of his clothes anywhere. I look under the car thinking that they might have fallen out when I opened the door. No. They were no where to be found. I finally figured out that he had THROWN THEM OUT THE WINDOW!!! He threw all of his clothes and his NIKE sandals out the window. I could have killed him. So, I stoll him into Sears naked and buy him all new clothes. Thank God I had an extra pair of shoes in the car and just stuck those on him. I went on into Sears and then to Walmart and on my way home I saw his clothes laying on the side of the road and I stopped and picked them up. I then began searching for his Nike sandals when I come upon on right on the double yellow line and here come a truck and it ran over it. Thankfully, Nike makes these sandals tough and it didn't even leave a scratch on it. I was able to recover the articles of clothing and his story of the day he threw his clothes out the window have become a local urban legend. My son, the stipper and the criminal for littering. So, if you see Leo and his orange shirt, that's the same shirt that Cooper threw out the window that day. The end.

Just trying to get a nut? A corn nut?

2009-03-17T20:14:00.002-04:00

So, I went to the school bookfair the other day and I bought me a book. A cupcake design book. I have decided that I am going to be a cupcake expert, or at least give it a good shot. So, Saturday was my brother's 30th birthday and so I decided to let the kids pick out some cupcakes from my new book to make for him and of course they picked out these corn cob ones. Aren't they just adorable? I was very proud and thought they compared pretty nicely to those in the book.
I absolutley live at the funny farm!! Today, I have documented proof of it. I came home for lunch today and when I pulled into my driveway this is what I saw.

My cat, Sally Dog, had a squirell treed or lamped or light up whatever you want to call it. I have no idea how the rodent got up there or how long it had been up there. I do know that it was barking at me and that I was very worried that it might be a flying squirell, so I got these shots and then got the heck out of dodge. It stayed up there for the entire 45 minutes I was home and as I backed my jeep out of the garage it was gone. Absolutely hilarious scene!!!!!!!!

So, for my commercial of the week. I have one in mind and a very funny story that I do not think I have ever shared with you to go with it. I'm off to youtube land to see if I can find the commercial. Stay tuned.

Give Me Back That Filet of Fish!

2009-03-08T20:05:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bJOIqVAD-s

I'm going to try to be a blogger trailblazer and start posting my favorite t.v. commercial on a weekly basis. Wish me luck! Here's this week. I love this commercial!!

Well, Hello There

2009-03-07T22:03:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am still alive. I know that there are at least a few of you out there who care because you have told me that you MISS my blogs. What a compliment. That tickles me pink. So, not much going on here at the Tussey farm except for the same old same old. Taking care of kids, kids have been sick and I'm still trying to loose weight. Not doing a good job in any of those areas, just to be honest. I don't even know where to start to catch up. Let's see. Alexus made it through the spelling bee. She made it to the fourth round which was three rounds past our goal, so that was good. Cooper is still crazy!! Robert is alive and totally obsessed with eating protein and working out. It's really starting to get on my nerves and I think it's kinda pushing me to eat more carbs in protest. Work is going okay. My grandma had her knee replacement surgery and has been living with my mom ever since. She's doing good, but progress is slow. I do want to ask you guy to remember my grandfather in prayer. He has to have a prostate biopsy in one week and he's scared to death and so am I. So, that's enough housekeeping and here's a few random funnies.

The other day I had a headache so I decided to take a nap. Cooper is totally going through that "I'm smart enough to mentally drive my mother crazy" phase. When he finally left me alone to nap, I should have known that this would mean he was up to no good. When I woke, I found a plunger to a tampon in my bedroom floor. I totally didn't give a crap and just ignored it. Two days later, I found the barrell of the tampon and the wrapper underneath his bed. I still have not found the tampon, but am not too worried in that they are flushable.

Alexus has a secret admirer. A little boy put a teddy bear in her desk and left a note that said "to Alexus, from uknown". How sweet is that? She was on cloud nine. Unfortunately, he's a bad boy who get's in trouble a lot and he's not even cute so she's not interested. Good for me.

Alexus' newest saying is "whatev"

I took Cooper to the doctor the other day and as usual, it took a long time for the doctor to come in our room. When she finally did, he said "what took you so long". I thought I would die.

My mom took Cooper to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and they asked him if he could swallow pills. He proceeded to answer "Yes" and tell them that his daddy takes drugs everynight, but daddy says they are not drugs, but i think they are. As you can see, I'm sure we are on the "watch" list at the doctor's office. You know the one more flag and they are allerting social services list.

I've joined facebook, as some of you know. I really don't get into these kind of things. I like to be secret with my blogging and my thoughts and only a handful of people who know me in real life know about my blog. My bestest friend doesn't even know that I blog. So, here's the weird thing about facebook. I'm getting friends requests from some of the most unusual people. Don't get me wrong, they are good people, but like people who never have spoken to me, but grew up in the same town. Isn't that odd? In a way it makes me feel popular. Isn't that even odder?

Desperately Seeking Susan and Elbow Grease

2009-01-30T16:48:00.004-05:00

I'm seriously going to try and start posting more frequently again. I can no longer blame my lame laptop for my absence. It's time for me to suck it up and use the darn thing that I paid too much money for.
Now, to the meaning of the title of this post. Today is Friday. Today I was supposed to take my BFF whose name happens to be "Susan" on a little road trip for her 35th birthday. Susan is always one upping me on gift giving so I thought really long and hard about what I could do for her for her birthday this year which is coming up in Feb. Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Susan is in love with Krispy Kreme (however the heck you spell that) doughnuts. So, I got online and found that there was a store about 1 1/ 2 hours away in Lexington, Kentucky. I called her and we immediately made plans to drop our kids off at school this morning and take our two youngest kids with us and hit the road and drive all the way to Lexington, just for a dozen or two of doughnuts. I told her that we could shop a little too to keep the little ones from killing each other in the back seat. That was my first mistake. I never should have spoken my plans outloud. It never fails that since our children have been born that if we plan to do something together, something always happens. We have a terrible winter storm, the roads are terrible. There was a four year old boy killed in a motor vehicle accident on the interstate this morning. There was no way that we could go. We have promised each other that we will the first Friday that we have good enough weather.
I have came to the conclusion that my body lacks the ability to produce elbow grease. I can try and try to scrub things and I just can't get them as clean as other people do. Why is this? Do other people suffer from this and more importantly can I draw as disability check for this?
So, today was my day off and I had promised myself when I got up this morning that I would not be mean to the kids. This is sometimes hard for me as I tend to be a hateful person by nature. I fed them a nice home cooked breakfast and nearly lost four of my fingers in a gravy attack on the stove top. They barely ate any of the food. I then built them a tent in the t.v. room, put on a movie and made them some mixed treats. They were all excited until they saw that they didn't like any of the treats. Maybe this explains why these things have been in my pantry for a while. I then proceeded to do something that I have been fighting off for 3 weeks now. I ate some funyons. Cooper insisted on having these things about three weeks ago and he only ate them once. I have been babying them in my pantry ever since. I've made sure that they were always rolled down so that they wouldn't get stale. I've been trying to reduce my caloric intake so I have fought off this temptation for three weeks now and BOOM, today I could fight them off no more. Those little round, crispy oniony bites of heaven were yelling at me to eat them. I immediately felt guilty and had the lingering onion breath to taunt me and remind me of my going off the deep end with regards to caloric intake. I managed to eat three biscuits and jelly sandwiches while typing this blog. Oh my gosh, I've lost it. Thanks for reading! Don't tell Robert about the break over. He is not sympathatic with me at all when it comes to my eating.

I will be so sad if the ice kills my sweetbay magnolia tree.
This is supposed to be my pool :(

View from my front porch

View of my tree that has bitten the dust due to ice.

Picture of the kids in the tent. Check out the mad faces. They have just looked in their treat bowls and they are mad at me :) They generally do not like me, even when I am trying to be a good mom.

Before they get there treats. Check out the pigs. The movie that they chose to watch was Charlotte's Web

The terrible sweet treats.

I'm tired of the cold

2009-01-25T18:13:00.004-05:00

Random post again.

It's cold outside and I don't like it. On Friday it was a little warmer and I felt happier. Today it is snowing, cold and my kids are freaking driving me crazy because the do not behave well inside. I have seriously been tempted to bundle them up and send them outside for about thirty minute intervals. I'm a little worried that would be child abuse, but only a little worried. I just heard that we could get more snow and cold and that makes me annoyed.

On a good note, I did receive some seriously sweet goodmail from my friend angela who is a nonblogger. She really needs to blog, but I can't convince her. I don't have time to take a picture, but follow this link and check out how cute it is. I got the pink one. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_18&listing_id=20095333

I spent way too much money at Walmart on Friday. Made me almost throw up.

We did go out to eat as a family on Saturday night. It was definitely a trip. We ended out evening by going to the mall. I ran into one of my eighth grade teachers and realized that Alexus is only four years away from being in the eighth grade and gthen I wanted to throw up again.

Sunday, I declared I do not want to live in Kentucky forever. I have lived my entire silly life in this one town and I need to move before I die. So, I spent some time looking at real estate in Florida. It appears that I will totally be downgrading my living style when I move. Money doesn't go quite as far there as it does here. Lot's to think about, but for a minute I had packed my bags and flew South. It was nice, then reality hit and boom, I was back in Kentucky.

Randomness again

2009-01-17T19:37:00.002-05:00

I just can't get it together enough to have a daily blog entry these days; therefore, I shall continue my weekly roundups until I get back on track again.

This week started off to be a bad one. My dad had a positive stress test a couple of weeks ago and Monday was his follow up. The doctor reviewed his stress test and told my dad that he believed that he had suffered a heart attack and that he had additional blockage. He scheduled my dad for a heart cath the very next morning. I did not handle this well. I broke down the minute I got the news. So, on Tuesday dad had the heart cath and my God's miracle, the test came back completely clear. The stress test had been a false positive. Who has ever heard of this happening? Not me. I was so very thankful and so was my dad.

The rest of the week was pretty okay other than it is colder than a witches bust (for lack of a better word).

I cleaned house all day Friday and Robert did my weekly Walmart trip for me on his way home from work. I was very thankful for that.

Saturday, I scrapbooked with Alexus after we visited with my little cousin baby Claire. I spent most of my time organizing my supplies. I had them pretty organized already, but needed to do a little housecleaning. I got three pages done, not much progress when you consider that I'm two years behind on both of my kids :(

Tomorrow we plan to take the kids to see "Mall Cop" at the theater. I'm hoping it will be fun.

Monday the kids and Robert are off, but I have to work. This sucks, but oh well. I'm looking forward to all of the Presidential Inauguration media coverage that is to come in the upcoming week. Not joking at all, I seriously am looking forward to it. I'm sure this does not surprise you at all.

Week in Review

2009-01-11T11:58:00.002-05:00

I've just not been movitated to post daily and it's mostly because my home pc is on the brink of crashing and I'm having to use my new laptop and I'm just not into this laptop like I hoped I would be. In any event, here is a bit o randomness about the past week.

We returned to school, pretty uneventful.
Work was good.
I'm trying to reduce my caloric intake and I sum this up with saying I failed to do so 75% of the week.
I'm trying to cook for my grandparents as much as possible and I'm doing well with that. They just need a little help.
We totally loved going to see the Monster Trucks with family friends.
I have implemented a new chore chart with my kids and it's going fairly well.
We are looking forward to going snowtubing for the first time at a ski resort next weekend. Fingers crossed we get to go.
Alexus won 4th place in her school's spelling bee and that means she qualified to participate in the county spelling be in Feb. Very cool.
I've been keeping up with my eating journal, crappy, but keeping up.

2008 December

2008-12-31T20:45:00.003-05:00

First of all, let me state for the record that I HATE the way that blogger uploads pictures in no apparent order. That being said, it's been a very busy month of December. Sorry I have not posted, but all is good here in Tusseyville. The kids are still absolutley out of control and I'm still fat. Notice, no pics of me posted from December!! Also, I do not have a picture of Cooper's lastest trick, but he got one of my razors while in the bathtub and tried to shave his head to look like Big Black from the MTV show Rob and Big. Yes, that's the kind of mother that I am, I allow my 5 year old to watch a little MTV. Lesson learned, no comments necessary. He actually cut his forehead with razor in addition to giving his bangs a whack job.

I hosted Christmas Eve dinner at my house this year. We usually do it at my mom's, but my grandmother was supposed to have surgery so I wanted to take this burden off of my mom so she could focus on Granny. In the meantime Grannies blood pressure sky rocketed through the roof prior to surgery and she was hospitalized for one week. Needless to say, she is not having her knee replacement surgery anytime in the near future. We are kinda just taking it as an everything happens for a reason and maybe it wasn't meant for her to have the knee surgery. She has already had both knees replaced 15 years ago, but now needs them redone. I was really worried about her having surgery anyway. The dinner went well. My goofy brother gave Cooper a pocket knife which totally rocked Cooper's world. I sent it home with my father to hide until he's older.
We had our second annual Christmas cookie/dinner with my BFF and her kids. We have decided to vacation together this summer and I'm soooo stinking excited about that. These cookies are the best in the world. She got the recipe from her grandmother and I look forward to eating them again next year.

The church carpool girls rocked the church Christmas play for the 4th year in a row. These girls did an awesome job and they are such beautiful examples for young women.

Santa came to Cooper's class Christmas party. My little tough guy chickened out and wouldn't sit on his lap. I think it's because he was afraid Santa would tell him he was on the naughty list. He says he wouldn't sit on his lap because he knows he was a fake. As a matter of fact Cooper announced to his entire class of 4 year olds that "Santa is a fake, he's not the real Santa" as soon as Santa entered the room. Finally, Santa gave him his treat even though he wouldn't sit on his lap. Too funny. My dad went to both of my kids' school Christmas parties this year while he was laid off from work. This was such a treat for both me and the kids. My dad worked away my entire life and didn't get to participate in any of my school things. My kids were so excited for him to come and he loved it to. He was quick to give Cooper a hard time about being scared of Santa.

We also attended a birthday party for my bff's little boy. He's officially a terrible 2 now!!

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas season. I look forward to reading all of your blogs during 2009!! Love, peace and hair grease!! Missy

Some of my crafty gifts

2008-12-14T18:34:00.003-05:00

So, I had a couple of things in mind to make for people for gifts this Christmas. I only got two of them done. One gift was a photo calender for my grandparents. We celebrated Christmas at my mom's house with my mom's parents today. My grandma is have her knee replaced this Thursday so we decided to have Christmas early so that she could enjoy it just in case she's in pain when real Christmas gets here. I gave them their calender and it was a huge hit. I feel kind of bad because I really didn't add a lot of detail work to it, I just kind of got the job done. My dad saw it and has told me that he will feel like the "dog peed on him" if he doesn't get one for Christmas. So, I guess I will have to throw another one together before Christmas. Here are a couple of pictures that I took of the calendar.

I know you think I"m crazy, but my grandpa calls Alexus "froggy" and Cooper "wire brush". He calls him wire brush because most of the time Cooper has a buzz hair cut and he says that it feels like a wire brush.

Here are a couple of pics of the gift that I decided to make for Alexus Reed. She has a ton of nail polish and no place to store it. So, I went to Hobby Lobby and grabbed a white can and some stickers and ribbon. As you can see, I put her name on the top of the can and the words "paint can" on the front. I'm going to make her store her polish in this can. I really hope she likes it. I even bought her some new remover, cotton pads and a couple of things of polish to go in it.

What crafty gift do you plan to give or have you received in the past that you really liked? Do tell.

Christmas Cards

2008-12-11T21:08:00.002-05:00

Like I said in my last post, last Sunday was a very tough day for me mentally. My birthcontrol pills got all messed and up boy those hormones of mine were on fire. Here is one of the shots that I took. As you can tell, the kids were not cooperating. The one that I chose for my cards are better than this; however, right now my new laptop and blogger have decided not to get along. I'm sure that my computer skills have nothing to do with their disagreement. I am not the problem, that I know for sure. Did I tell you that my pills are still a little off? Can you tell? Alexus got her hair chopped. I love it and so does she.

Random Post

2008-12-09T06:47:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. Honestly, I just haven't been inspired. I'm ashamed at my holiday posting slacking. Thanksgiving came and went without incident. Now, I'm praying that Christmas does as well. My grandma is scheduled for knee replacement on the 18th, so we will be having Christmas early with my mom's side which means I have to wrap up those gifts NOW. I'm pretty much done with the kids except for one thing that Cooper is quick to tell everyone that I have on my list for him. I've told him that I will get him another pair of work boots and now I cannot find them. Robert is also on the search for me searching stores in the town that he works in. If I do not pull off this boot gift he will be very upset. I kinda slacked on looking for them because I never dreamed that they would be hard to find. Only me. Alexus got her hair chopped off and it's absolutely adorable. I got a new laptop and a new camera, not sure I like either of them. They are both going to take some getting used to. I bought that cute little advent tree thingy for my kids and so far I haven't put one piece of candy in there for the kids so they haven given up on asking me if I have. I haven't baked one cookie. I do have the decorations up, but it just seems to me like Chirstmas came too soon after Thanksgiving this year. I'm bummed at my attitude and I really need to snap out of it. I have no reason to be in this mood. I have my Christmas cards ready and if you would like to receive one from me, send me your mailing address.

On a sad note, the little boy that I had asked you to pray for on so many occasions passed away a week ago. You can read all about his passing from his mother's blog http://www.tammynischan.blogspot.com/. Very sad and very sobering.

Unusual Things are Happening Here!!

2008-11-22T15:36:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure if these animals are trying to drink, doing tricks or if they have been snorting cocaine, but this is what I found when I walked into my kitchen at one point today.

At another point in my day, I hear Cooper (for the five millionth time) yell, "mom, come look at this". I finally gave in and found my sweet (or so I thought) kitten eating a squirrel on the back porch. I still can't get that squirrel's face out of my mind and I'm sure I'll have a night mare tonight. On another note, Cooper embarrassed the life out of me at Walmart yesterday. It's been a long time since I've had a Walmart story. I had promised him a pack of gum if he would be good and of course he was terrible. So, when we got to the checkout aisle, he began to beg for gum. I told him "no", but that I was getting myself a pack. He shouted "fine, I'll just sneak and get a piece of yours while you are taking a BIG DUMP when we get home". I immediately smacked his mouth. He then tried to be smart again and yelled "why did you have to get so much food" I replied "if I didn't have so many fat faces to feed, I wouldn't have had to get so much food". He then screamed "don't call me fat". I looked up to see a snooty old woman who rolled her eyes and shook her head at me. I was ready to kill someone.
I end this post on a serious note. My Alexus is sick again. She has been complaining of feeling weak and shaky and having headaches. I remind you that she has been sick every two weeks since the first of September. She's had a wide variety of illness from ear aches, sore throats, stomach bug, hives and bronchitis. None of these sounded related to me, but her BRILLIANT doctor picked up on it immediately. You see, I've been taking Alexus to the local outreach center instead of going all the way to her pediatrician's office BIG MISTAKE. She ordered blood work and found that her white cell count is extremely high and that she tested positive for a bacterial infection called mycoplasma. This is the bacteria that causes walking pneumonia along with every other single illness previously listed. Thank God she hadn't had the pneumonia part. She had this same thing two years ago and had the pneumonia part twice. I could kick myself for not taking her to her pediatrician and I keep thinking that she may have caught this sooner. I even told Alexus the other day that I thought that she was faking the weakness thing. I feel terrible!!! So, now she is on Biaxan which is apparently an extremely strong antibiotic. She's feeling pretty okay right now, she's just very tired and has good and bad moments. We were supposed to take them to the movie tonight for family night, but that's been cancelled. I'm thinking that by tomorrow she will feel like it. She will have had 3 doses of antibiotics by then. So, lesson learned ladies. TAKE THEM TO THE PEDIATRICIAN INSTEAD OF THE OUTREACH CLINIC. THEY HAVE THE PEDIATRIC SPECIALITY FOR A REASON!!!

Now you see it, now you don't!

2008-11-20T19:53:00.002-05:00

Wow. Wow is the only word that I can use to describe my morning and my lunch hour. We got up this morning, got ready and headed off to school as always. As we pull into the school parking lot Cooper says "I have a loose tooth". I quickly respond with a "oh no you don't". Cooper has been telling us that he has a loose tooth for the past two years. I never believe him. He's only five, just turned five in October. In my mind he's way too young to be loosing a tooth. He kept proclaiming that this time he was telling the truth so Alexus had to investigate and sure enough, it was loose. I freaked out. I couldn't believe it. So, Cooper was adamant that he wanted that tooth out. I knew he would no doubt drive his teacher crazy today so I took him out into the school hallway and tried to pull it. I had no luck. I have never pulled a tooth in my life. My mother pulled all of mine and luckily Alexus has pulled out all of her own. After I left school, I immediately texted my husband, my bff and brother and called my mother. I knew without a doubt that this tooth didn't stand a chance up against Cooper. Needless to say, I came home from lunch and was greeted by my Cooper standing at the door with a huge smile and a huge hole in his mouth. As soon as he got off of the bus my mother noticed that it was barely hanging on. He had apparently moved it with his tongue non stop all day so my mom pulled it. Secretly I think she wanted to have this "first" experience with him. Fine with me, I don't pull teeth, remember? Here are a couple of pics that I forced him (literally had to spank him) to take. Enjoy! Also, if you know where my BABY went, please tell him to come home. I'm not sure who this big boy is?

Week round up and a few inspirational shoutouts

2008-11-15T19:17:00.003-05:00

The weekend isn't over yet, so I couldn't title this post weekend round up. It's been a rough week with Alexus being sick, but thank the good Lord she is better now. I prayed so hard and he heard my prayers. My goal now is to start making my kids eat healthier so that maybe they will not get sick as often, or at least their bodies might be able to fight off the illnesses a little better. It's Saturday night and I am at home. We decided not to go out on a date tonight, instead I made steak and we ate here with the kiddos. It was fun. I spent the entire day in domestic hell. I'm hoping that a little bit of this hell will make my work week go smoother. We will see. Most of the things I did today, I did so because I have been inspired. Not by seeing people or talking to people, but by blogger buddies. I spent the morning doing laundry and doing some meal prepping. I made a big bowl of pasta salad (should last us 4-5 days). I made 3 batches of whole wheat pancakes and put them in the freezer. I cut up some peppers and onions and froze them too. I also balled a watermelon for the kids to eat on. It may not sound like a lot, but it took me quite a while. I allowed Alexus to chop the veges for the pasta salad. I was inspired by Crystal to do this meal prep. If you haven't checked out her blog, you must. She is actually the girlie who got me into blogging in the first place. I then went downstairs with Alexus and Cooper and we worked on our Disney World scrapbooks. I'm so darn excited. I got these Mickey Mouse 8x8 books at the local outlet store for less than $5 each. I'm doing each child and album for them to have forever. I've never done an 8x8 before, but I'm loving it. This little scrapping mood was inspired by Natalie!! If you haven't checked out her blog, you must go and do so. She has a recent post about her overnight out of town scrapping trip. This girl has been a ton of inspiration in my life for over 7 years now. Last, but not least is Mique over at 30 days. YOU MUST, I REPEAT, YOU MUST go and check her out. This lady is super woman times 100000000. She inspired me to do a Christmas advent calender with my kiddos last year. They loved it and they have already started asking me if they could do it again this year. So, I've been trying to think of super cool ways to do this. We made a recent trip to the local outlet store and to my wondrous eyes appeared a Christmas tree shaped advent calender with little doors to hide goodies in. It has a leg broken off, but you can't tell. It was priced originally for $30 and I paid a whopping $5 for it . That's right, $5!! I'm sooooo freaking excited about it. I also got my mother a similar one so that she can count down with them too.

I'll post pics of the advent calender and the scrapbook pages on a later post.

So,Thanks for inspiring me girls. I don't know if I would keep moving without you.

Sick little girl.

2008-11-11T19:03:00.002-05:00

Last night and today were hard. My baby girl is sick with a stomach virus. It was a very long night. She didn't (literally did not) get out of her bed until 4:00 p.m. today when I made her get up to try to pee so I could decide whether or not to take her to the ER for hydration. Thank God she seems to be improving. I have prayed so much last night and today. I feel so helpless when my kids are sick. I feel terrible that we may have drug this bug in on my good friend Brooke (see sidebar for her blog) and her two tiny little ones. I continue to pray that we did not. I feel so helpless; however, I have a hope that my child will get better. I'm already seeing the signs. Going through this today I have thought about another lady in my town who's son is in the final stages of terminal brain cancer. I think he's only 13. I know of her, have met her and we have mutual friends; however, I never comment on her blog. I feel that I will let her know someday what reading it has meant to me, just not yet. I beg you guys to go check out her site. Their story is remarkable. I can't imaging being her and how she must feel. How hard it must be for her to tend to her sick child who probably will not get better. I cry when I think of what she's going through. Please pray for them. I'm going to continue to. www.tammynischan.blogspot.com

Wwekend Round Up

2008-11-09T20:11:00.003-05:00

The weekend came and went fairly uneventful. On Friday night we just laid around the house as a family, which was fun. On Saturday, Robert went to work and I talked the kiddos into helping me with the laundry in exchange for me doing crafts with them. So, we crafted a little and I tried out my new mini envelope maker, too cute. Then we got ready and went out to eat as a family. It was fun. The kids then spent the night with my mom. She went to Amish country (Ohio) this weekend and came home with lots of goodies. Handmade marshmallows and noodles and jerkey (yuck). Sunday was supposed to be my day. I had planned to attend this big kids clothing sale. It's a seasonal thing and it's a consignment sale. If you consign clothes then you get to get into the sale a day early, blah, blah, blah. So, I got ready and got in the jeep and I heard the phone ring as I was backing out, but I ignored it knowing that Robert would have whoever call my cell if it was important. Sure enough, a few seconds later, my cell rings. It was Robert informing me that the phone call was from a football mommy who wanted to make sure that we knew that the banquet at today at 2:30. That's 1 hour from the time that we got the call. THIS WAS THE FIRST WE HAD HEARD OF IT. THIS HAPPENED ALL YEAR WITH FOOTBALL. WE NEVER GOT A CALL FOR ANYTHING. Thank goodness this mommy thought to call me. Apparently, it was on the Friday school announcement sheet about the banquet, but Cooper doesn't attend school on Fridays so we had no clue. So, big change of plans. We attended the banquet and then I went to the sale late. I still found tons of goodies!!! Love consignment shopping, it's the only way to go. If you haven't tried it, you should. I bought name brands like Nike, Tiberland, Gymboree and Limited Too. So, here are a few pics from the no notice banquet.
I love this shot of Cooper and a teammate watching the big boys get there trophys.

Check out the look on Cooper's face. Only 4 boys attended. I have a feeling that we were not the only ones to get last minute notice.

Cooper and daddy were both amazed at the size of the trophy. The same football mommy that called to tell us about the banquet also got Robert a gift for being coach helper. It melted his heart. Robert and Cooper had so much fun this fall with football. The gift was a framed picture of the boys. Such a sweet gesture. He loved it!!

School Portraits 2008

2008-11-07T20:02:00.002-05:00

Happy National Adoption Month!

2008-11-06T09:21:00.004-05:00

October 22, 2003 Conway, Arkansas Courthouse lawn.
It's official!!!

I think that the picture says it all. This picture was taken by my good friend Angela when she came to visit Cooper for the first time. This was also the day that Cooper attended his first church service. He was less than a month old. They are wearing the same outfits that they wore on adoption day. We all wore baby blue to the courthouse to make it official and show our bond as a forever family!!.

What a week!!

2008-11-05T20:35:00.003-05:00

There are so many things to post about and not enough time. This week's church van comedy is one for the record books, but I'm going to save it for another week. I know that some of you have probably been expecting me to post about the election and I have purpously refrained from exercising my freedom of speech because I didn't want to step on any of your toes. I know that a lot of my bloggy buddies do not share the same beliefs as me and that's what makes America the true melting pot that it is. However, I feel that I would be doing my blog injustice if I did not document my feelings about this presidential election results. So, for those of you who just can't stand to read it, exit now. For those of you wih the courage to put aside your bipartisian opitions, thank you and read on.
I woke yesterday morning bright and early. I always vote before I go to work because I'm crazy and worry that I might get sick or be in a wreck and not be able to vote so I do it first thing. I arrive at the polls and I almost got teary eyed when I saw the red sign that said "vote here". I always get teary eyed at the precinct entrance because I think about all those people in other otyher countries who are not free. I feel so luck to be free and have the right to vote and not fear for my life while doing so. I went inside, cast my ballot and left the poll. In the parking lot, I almost got teary eyed a second time when I ran into my grandfather. He is the political patriarch of my family. The very first time that I voted, he escorted me to the polls. It was an honor to run into him this particular morning.
I went onto work and really concentrated on work. I refused to allow myself to get excited or think too much about the election. I had a terrible sinus headache so I took Zyrtec D which totally makes me higher than a kite. I spent the rest of my work day giggling ;) I made it home and waited for my husband to get home. He had to vote after work which would totally freak me out, but he doesn't fear that he will miss the vote. We had dinner and I bathed the kiddos and then I hit the couch. I was so sleepy and mad that I couldn't keep my eyes open. Of all nights to be hung over from Zyrtec, why tonight? Alexus and I sat on the couch (Cooper passed out in the floor) and we colored in a map of the states each candidate won. She got bonus points in history cass for doing this. At 9:00 we went to bed. Cooper woke me up at 10:00 because he was mad that i had carried him to bed. I fell back asleep and left my t.v. on. At 11:00 I was awakened by loud cheers. VICTORY, SWEET VICTORY!!! I sat there in my bed amazed that I had participated in such an historical event. I listened to John McCain's concession speech and was very proud of his attitude. All of you McCain supports should be very proud of this man for the dignity he displayed during this speech. Then the tears began to run down my face. It started when I heard CNN guest Roland Martin talk about how when he was a little boy, if another little black boy mentioned that they wanted to be President when they grew up that the adults of the family would tell them, that would never happen. He also spoke about how now he could tell his nieces and nephews that they could be ANYTHING that they wanted to be. THis hit me hard. I cried like a baby. I listened to Barack Obama's acceptance speech and continued to cry as I heard him tell of Ms. Cooper, the 106 year old black woman who voted for him today. I had flashbacks of my family that has gone before me and wondered what they would think about todays election.
This morning when I woke the kids, we celebrated and then they ate cereal. I played Barack Obama's speech on he computer and allowed them to listen as they got ready. Then the tears came again as i looked at my little boy in the floor tying his shoes for school. I have this amazing sense of feeling that i cannot describe. I feel that my generation has spoken and that we are on the brink of wonderful things. Change is coming my friends. It will not be easy. He has a very tough road ahead of him, but with the right attitude, the right team and the power of the people, YES WE CAN make this world a better place for all people of both parties and for generations to come. I ask you to approach this administration without fear, with an open mind and give this man the opportunity to prove himself. Time will tell. However, history has been made. Share this with your children. I planned to share this with my children had McCain won. That would have been just as an historical event in my opinion. Please help your children to remember this moment forever so that they can pass the stories of what they remember on to the next generation.
one last thing. I want to thank Denise (if she's still reading) for congratulating me on my facebook site this morning. I think that the fact that she congratulated me on my candidate winning says a lot about the kind of person she is. If you haven't checked out her site yet, please see my sidebar for the link. She has an amazing family and we share a common bond wih our sons' skin disorders. She's an amazing woman and I guarentee you will be inspired by her and her little family. I know i have been.

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-31T16:56:00.002-04:00

I have unearthed some ancient ruins. I'm thinking these little beauties might just be my ticket to 15 minutes of fame with my kiddos. We had a great trick or treat time last night and then when we got home reality set in. Alexus had a fever of 100 and was definitely sick. So, today I have been dealing with both children. A sick one and one that is totally jacked up on Halloween candy. I've nearly gone insane. At this point Alexus has eaten one mummy! It's 5:00 p.m. and this is her first meal of the day. Wish me luck.

Red Power Ranger with sumo wrestler mother.

50's Dance Queen with Sumo Wrestler Mother

What I've been doing!

2008-10-25T13:04:00.002-04:00

Being a MOM!!!

What have you beeing doing?

What Works and It's Over

2008-10-19T18:06:00.002-04:00

So, it's Sunday and tomorrow will be Monday and that makes for the beginning of the work week, which I hate. I understand that I have to work and in all honesty I would be a very bored person if I didn't work; however, that doesn't mean that I can't dream of living the life of a super rich housewife. I mean, I want to be one of those Real Housewives of Orange County type people that have all the money they could ever spend. This totally has nothing to do with my post, I just kinda got off on a ramble there. Sorry, back to the real post. This work week will be different in that FOOTBALL SEASON IS OVER!! It's a bitter sweet ending. I know that my husband and Cooper have enjoyed the bonding; however, I have not enjoyed missing our family dinner time. On nights that we had practice, I would get off work at five, pick up the kids and have about 10 minutes to eat dinner. That, I will not be missing.

Here's a quick recap of the closing weekend football stuff.

At the highschool game on Friday night they announced the names of the junior football league team players during half time. It was so cute to see these kids running as fast as their little legs could run. Some of the boys ran so fast that their pants began to fall down. I just kept praying that Cooper's would stay up and thank heaven they did. There he is, number 42. He ran out and then he tried to find me in the stands. He even waived at me. It was the cutest thing ever.
Then on Saturday morning he had his last game. Robert had to work so he missed it. I kept text messaging him when our team would score a touchdown. Cooper is the tiniest guy on our team and at the end, he got matched up against the very biggest (huge) guy on the opposing team. I was scared to death, but he held his own. This is my favorite shot, the huddle. This was Cooper's favorite thing about football, the huddle at the end of each practice "Go Raiders'. Isn't it cool how the sunlight is shining right on my boy!!

Now, for the "What Works" part of my post. Remember a few weeks ago how I said I was doing some meal preplanning, etc. Well, I have found a few things that work for me and my family and I thought I would share them with you.

I really benefit from cooking chicken and freezing it. This makes my chicken noodle soup cook faster during work night meals. I also like having my ground beef cooked and frozen. This makes spagetti night really quick too.

I MUST iron all of our clothes for the work week on Sunday. I know that working on Sunday is against the rules, but it takes me all day Saturday to get the clothes washed and I only have Sunday to iron them. I lay out our outfits for the week, iron them and we are ready to go. It just works for me.

I have been going ahead and putting the kids lunch money for the entire week in their backpacks on Sunday night. This really helps keep me from forgetting to send their money with them.

I have to do 2 loads of laundry a day. This helps me keep the laundry monster at bay.

Pricematching at Walmart. I have gotten the habit of looking at my local grocery store weekly adds and then pricematching the prices against Walmart. This saves me about 10-15 bucks a week at least.

The clean car boogie. I have taken Flyladies advice and clean out my car while I'm pumping gas. I've also started using those last few minutes at work, when I'm just waiting for the 5:00 whistle to blow to clean out my purse!!

That's about it. Not big earthmoving homemaking revelations, but it's working for me and helping me move a little more fluid in this crazy life I live. I"m always open for suggestions!!

Unconditional Love

2008-10-15T05:57:00.002-04:00

Cooper titled this shot "the worlds strongest rednecks" i agree.

Here is a little excerpt from a conversation that I overheard between my son and husband last night. You'll understand. For those of you who may not know or remember, my husband's right side is partially paralyzed.

Daddy: "Coop, daddy needs to eat some extra protein tonight so I can work out at the gym tomorrow"---don't laugh, this is a serious story.

Son: "Dad how do you lift weights with your bad hand?"

Daddy: " Well, I don't do free weights, I use the weight machines and daddy just wraps his fingers around the the bar and I'm able to lift it up"

Son: "daddy, why do you have a bad hand" cooper has heard this story a million times, but loves to hear it over and over.

I then walk through the room to throw some laundry in the machine and I see Robert showing Cooper his scar on his head and talking to him about how they went and cut daddy's head open and then they touched his brain too hard and his entire right side was paralyzed and how daddy had to learn to walk again, etc.

I go back into my bedroom when I hear this.

Son: "daddy, if you had two bad hands, I'd do everything for you"

I cried and I think Robert almost did too.

I heard Robert tell Cooper "your a good boy son".

The Not So Campout

2008-10-12T18:44:00.003-04:00

As you all know, this past Saturday night was the night we had set for Cooper's second annual birthday campout. Sadly but surely, Mr. Sorethroat had to go a rear his ugly head on Thursday. So, on Friday, I spent my day off taking both of my children (might as well get sicko sissy checked out while we are there) to the pediatrician and then going to Walmart to pick up the party supplies. We made a hard choice to go ahead and set up the tent, but not to allow him to sleep outside. I had to call all of our guests and tell them the bad news. I had written B.Y.O.T. Bring you own tent on every single invitation. Cooper took the news well and all was good. We had a wonderful turnout and his school girlfriend (the one who hugs him every morning that he cries) came and he was sooo super excited about that.

Cooper getting his squeeze on in the tent ;)
The whole famdamily!
The kiddos right before the cake cutting!
He didn't even mind that she helped (actually opened) his gifts. He even allowed her to have one of the power rangers from the cake. It was so funny. You could tell that he didn't want to give it up, but he just couldn't tell her "no" either. He's already whipped.

What 5 looks like.

2008-10-09T20:44:00.003-04:00

I took this shot before I woke him up. Guess how much I paid for this headboard????? Only 9.99, now pick yourself up off the floor. I'm not kidding. I got it at this local weekend outlet called Grandview Outlet. It's this store that gets damaged and/or out of date type stuff from Target. It was just the headboard with no rails, but it worked perfect for his room set up and it matched exactly. Now, aren't you jealous of me?
Class cupcakes, fresh from the Walmart!!
Class party of cupcakes, hugs drinks and white chocolate power ranger suckers!! He thought he was the mack daddy!
Notice the boo boo on the chin. He got that from sliding head first down the bouncy slide at the school fall festival. It's called too much air.
FIVE!!! His annual campout is this weekend and he's sick with a bad sore throat. We are heading to the dr. first thing in the a.m. and I'm begging for a shot. I'm such a mean mother.

Funtober and Painting Pumkins

2008-10-06T21:03:00.003-04:00

This year my town celebrated it's annual Funtoberfest with fun activities including a chili cookoff and costume parade to name a few. My kids dressed up and marched down the parade. It never fails to that we are always almost late and always fighting by the time that we get to the parade. This year was no exception. Cooper was a red power ranger and Alexus a fifties dance queen. Cooper refused to wear the mask and his costume kept giving him a serious wedgie. Alexus hated her makeup and her hair. Funny that she begged to keep the makeup on after the parade was over.

Ite was so funny during the parade. This was the first year that I was able to take them to the line up and then walk back down the street to actually watch with the rest of the people. Cooper was kinda shy and you could see Alexus trying to get him to quit holding her hand and he would immediately grab it back. Too cute that she was his little security blanket.
She's just about too old to dress up and the attitude was shining bright after the parade was over and she got her goody bag.
After the parade, we went to my mom and dad's to paint pumpkins and eat soup and chili. We celebrated my mom's birthday which was earlier in the week. I look like the great albino pumpkin in this shot, but i wanted you to see my cool family pumpkin gordy thing that I painted. I ended up having to paint one for my mom and sister in law as well. As for Alexus, she is an awesome creative painter. Cooper on the other hand is a mess maker. His pumpkin started out like this picture and ended up being solid green. Get the idea?

Photo Tag

2008-10-05T18:25:00.003-04:00

I've been tagged by the hotmama over at hotmamashouse.blogspot.com. You go to your pictures, open the 6th folder and the 6th picture, then post it to your blog.

The story to this photo is that this was taken at Cooper's 2nd t ball practice ever. That's him in the red shirt with his favorite coach in the white t shirt. This picture sums up the entire season. Cooper adored his coach, he followed him every step, he talked to him constantly and even mocked his style (hat worn backwards). We were so lucky to have such a wonderful coach. Cooper will remember this forever!

Now, I challenge everyone who reads this post to join me and post your 6th of 6th on your blogs!! I'll be checking to see if you comply.

My week in pictures

2008-10-04T11:41:00.002-04:00

Football: Robert is so determined to keep Cooper in his position; however, Cooper's strategy is to RUN like crazy away from opposing team to keep from getting hit. I'm on Cooper's side. Daddy is mean. Just look, Robert is holding him in place and Cooper's trying to escape.
White chocolate, white chocolate and more white chocolate.
To make the most perfect school birthday party treat for Cooper's class. His 5th birthday is Monday and I'm so excited for him to celebrate with his class. We will be having the annual campout on the 11th at our house.
And my little political minded, whiz Alexus Reed has been nomitated to run for class president of her 4th grade class. Needless to say, I've gone a little crazy. I even had t shirts made for she and her running mate to wear. The election is on the 7th. Fingers crossed!!! I'm so proud of her for being nominated.

Today is the Funtober celebration/costume parade in our little town and then afterwards we are going to paint pumpkins. Stay tuned!!

Wednesday Night Church Van 2nd Installment

2008-10-02T13:29:00.002-04:00

Last night I officially declared myself the unofficial church van. I don't even drive a van; however, my Jeep is at full passenger capacity on Wednesday nights now. Cooper attended this week and he cried half way through the class. This week they split the little boys from the older kids and he took it personally. He's not sure if he wants to go back. This church caters to the needs of my kids and every kid that attends. The teacher said that he could stay upstairs with the big kids if it meant he would keep coming. She doesn't want him to stop coming. We'll see how it goes.

For now, I must leave you with a tid bit of the conversation from the back seat last night.

Alexus: "Alyssa, how did you get that hole in your jacket?"
Alyssa: "Darla (who looks and acts just like the little red headed sister from Problem Child or maybe I'm thinking of One Crazy Summer--anyway) ripped a hole in my jacket when she I was in the first grade."
Missy: "You are still wearing the same jacket that you wore in the first grade?" (remember they are now in the 4th)
Alyssa: "Yes"
Alexus: "Darla was so mean. I'd sue her for everything she's got down to her underwear" (seriously, who's child is this????)
Cooper: "underwear"
All children collectively: "can you drink spagetti and meat balls? we goin find out".

I just may go to the set of icarly and demolish it myself. I get so sick and tired of hearing this phrase said over and over again.

However, I do feel priviledged to be on year 3 of taking these girls to church every single Wednesday night. I have got to see them grow and mature so much. It's memories like these that will last a lifetime.

First Football Game and How to Get a Puppy in 1 Day

2008-09-27T09:28:00.003-04:00

Just a quick photo of Cooper at his first football game ever. His photo is a million more times fierce than his game. His daddy had to work that day so Cooper decided to show off. He just ran around in circles and made faces at us. Didn't try at all. The next game was better because his dad was there.

So, for the past two weeks, my mother has been hounding "no pun intended", to buy her and my kids a new cocker spaniel puppy. The price was not cheap, so my dad had to be convinced this was worth the money. I told Alexus that I would not give her one dime because I don't like dogs and I thought that this was a silly idea and that there was no way in you know where that this dog was coming to my house. So, she decided to have a lemonade stand. I helped her with the set up and then it was all hers. She and Cooper had it in my mom's front yard, which happens to be the 2nd house when you enter our subdivision. So, Cooper played the tamborine and yelled "lemonade" to all passing cars and Alexus served and collected money. She made a WHOPPING $75 bucks.

She blinked her eyes a few times at papaw and by the next morning........

oops I forgot to flip her around.

Church Carpool

2008-09-25T11:51:00.004-04:00

The Wendesday night church carpool madness has begun. This year, we have added a new rider by the name of Cooper Tussey a/k/a Johnny Pottymouth. I don't know why I call this a car pool, I'm the only driver, but I take 3-4 kids a week for drop off and pick up. Here's a recap of last night's carpool conversations.

Alyssa: "if you say a bad word, but you don't mean it to be bad, then it's not cussing"
Alexus: "like beaver dam"
Johnny Pottymouth: "dam, dam, dam"
Mom: "stop saying dam, you had better not say that in church or they will kick you out"

Alexus, Alyssa and Shayla: all together, like 250 times "can you drink spagetti and meatballs? we goin find out". I guess it's some line from icarly. kills me.

Stay tuned for more from the church carpool conversations.

Tuesday

2008-09-23T12:37:00.002-04:00

Not much going on. Alexus has another ear ache so we are going to the dr. tonight to see what's up with that. I do have a pickle that I need your assistance with. Cooper's 5th birthday is coming up. He's going to have another campout with friends and family here at the house and I am taking cupcakes and treats to his classmates on his actual birthday. Therein lies the pickle. What kind of super cool treats can I take these pre-schoolers? Come on ladies, I know you all have sweet skills when it comes to creativity. I need help. The theme of his party and cupcakes is power rangers. One thing that I am planning to do is make chocolate power ranger suckers. I bought a mold on ebay for that. I have a cute picture of Cooper with an actual power ranger that I took at Disney. I wish that I could somehow print those out on eatible stickers and maybe attach them to a rice crispy treat or something. Come on, help me out. I promise to send good mail to the person that inspires me the mostest!!!

Weekend Wrap Up

2008-09-20T20:50:00.002-04:00

I'm very sorry that my blogging skills have been placed on the back burner here lately. I've just been so busy with working 4 days a week now, school, homework, church, football, life in general. I had to completely restore my computer, for like the 4th time in a year. I'm finally able to upload pics to Blogger so I'm posting the ones that should have went with the short bus post. They are of Cooper riding the bus for the very first time. I think that I'm going to do a random type update, it's just easier for me.

1. I found out that Cooper told his teacher that his middle name is Jose. Not quite sure what inspired that answer.

2. Cooper had to sit in the sad chair at school for the first time ever. He kept knocking down the other kids' block towers even though the teacher told him 3 different times to stop.

3. the same day he also crawled into the baby doll house in the inside play area and stood up and the top came off. Kinda like Godzilla.

4. Tonight we went out to eat with my BFF and her family. It was a blast, our kids are soo cute and soo funny when they are together. They act like they are all brothers and sisters and they just fight and play and it's sooo cool.

5. I did some meal planning preparation on Friday. This is a first for me. I cooked some chicken and froze each breast for easy use when I make chicken noodle soup. I also fried a pound of hamburger meat and froze it too. I bought a bag of frozen carrotts and thawed them, divided the bag into thirds and chopped them up for soup. I have enough soup stuff in the freezer for 3 batches. Now my soup should only take 15 minutes to cook. Love it. I'll let you know if I think it was worth the time.

6. Alexus had a lemonade stand today. She made $75.00. SHe's using this money to buy a new puppy, Papaw is throwing in the balance.

7. I got my hair cut and colored.

8. I did 50% good on my eating. Haven't walked this week, which is a big fat no no.

9. I ordered me a magnet board from etsy. Looking so totally forward to hanging it in my office. You see, I used to only work 3 days a week so I didn't really care about my office space being blah. Now that I am working 4 days a week I want color and atmosphere. We'll see if it happens.

10. I bought a new purse at Target tonight. I've been breaking the rules and carrying my white one even though Labor Day has passed. This is a huge fashion violation in my opinion and I've never done such a thing.

That's about it. Hopefully I can update on a more regular basis, at least until the computer crashes which I know will eventually occur.

Saturday catch up.

2008-09-13T21:42:00.002-04:00

For some reason, at this very moment, my computer is working. It's almost scaring me. I'm taking full advantage to post.

Cooper had his first real football game today. He stood in the middle of the field and looked like a giant goober, but I was still proud of him. His daddy usually helps coach, but he had to work today and I honestly think that Cooper was kinda lost without his direction. At least that's my excuse for the reason that my son stood in the middle of the field and looked like a goober.

I'm once again trying to eat healthy and walk. I had done this during the Spring, but fell off the wagon during summer. Today I tried something new and was pleasantly surprised. I made whole wheat pancakes and used sugar free syrup. They were very yummy. I also walked yesterday and last night.

I almost got attacked by our mad mama cat, Zack, today. Yes, our mother cat is named Zack because my husband looked at it's privates when it was a kitten and told us it was a boy. We didn't know it was a girl until it had it's first liter of kittens. Well, now it's on liter number 3. She had this liter in the tree again and last night she brought one of them into our garage. We quckly shut the garage door and the kids played with the kitten and we planned to keep it and try to keep it tame. This morning I wanted to take Cooper out in the yard and get some football shots and when I opened the garage door, the mama cat (who is wild) came and me growling like she was going to literally jump on me. SHe is a solid black cat. I screamed for Cooper to hit the garage door opener and I literally had to stomp at her to keep her away. By now, the baby cat is crying extremely loud because it hears it's mom. So, we go out the back door of the house and began to walk around the sidewalk, I thought that the mama cat woudl be fixated on the garage door and not even pay any attention to us. WRONG, she met us at the end of the sidewalk, showing her teeth and growling at us and coming towards us. I scramed like a freak and ran back to the back door. That was the final straw. I made the kids tell the kitten goodbye and I sat it near the garage door and then hit the button and gave the crazy mother cat it's kitten back. By this time, Cooper was crying his eyes out and his cool black stripe stickers under his eyes were about to come off. Good lord, all this before 9:30, I was sweating like a pig.

I spoke too soon. Blogger will still not allow me to add pics. THis sucks!!

I Challenge You

2008-09-11T21:04:00.005-04:00

I don't normally do this, but today I am challenging all of you wonderful blog friends that I have who read my blog. I challenge you to visit www.tammynischan.blogspot.com. This lady lives in my town. She and her husband are wonderful Christians. They have a son who is 12 and is in the final stages of brain cancer. I will let you read the details on her blog. She has a link in the sidebar of her blog that links you directly to her son's website that she sat up for him during his battle. They are still praying for an earthly miracle as they know God is capable. They also lost a baby about 16 years ago to SIDS. Her name was Adrienne. They also have an adopted daughter who was born in India. This story and the battle they are fighting absolutely breaks my heart. My boss and his ex-wife have been best friends with this couple for years so it really hits home.

So, back to the challenge. I challenge you to visit her blog, read her story, visit Nick's blog and then use this story to enrich your life. Hug your kids a few seconds longer and please say a prayer for Nick and his family. They really need it. They believe in the power of prayer and in the healing power of prayer warriers. God is good and he is in control, but sometimes life still stinks.

The Short Bus!

2008-09-07T19:03:00.004-04:00

Ok, first of all, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that my stupid home PC sucks and I haven't been able to post in forever. I still haven't fixed and I have no idea why it's working at the present moment, but I'm going with the flow. So, I'm just going to give a quick update as to what's been going on in my life these past 2 weeks or so.

I went to a Cincinnati Reds baseball game Labor Day weekend. It was just Robert and I and it was a ton of fun.

Robert blew up our pool heater. It's only one year old and completely broken. $800 for the part to repair or $1400 to replace. Still considering our options. He sucks.

I've been sick with a killer sinus infection.

Alexus has an earache.

Cooper finally stopped crying at school and has been doing wonderfuly. He hates it, but at least he's behaving.

I had to drive one of my Bffs to the hospital to meet her husband who had been injured from something in a fire. they are burning some trash and something blew up and hit him in the gut. He's okay now, but the entire expierience of driving my friend to the hosital not knowing what we were going to have to deal with when we got there was very humbling. I was so worried he was going to die and I was going to be there with her. It was very scarey. Thank God he's fine.

Oh yeah, I'm fat.

We have a new pair of kittens in the tree. It's like raining cats here.

THat's about it here at the Tussey farm.

Stupid blogger will not allow me to add pics. Go figure.

ta ta for now.

All is Well

2008-09-02T15:51:00.002-04:00

Just a quick line to say "all is well". My home PC is on the blink again. I can't post until I get it fixed ;( I hope to get it fixed as soon as possible.

Leaving the Nest

2008-08-20T05:57:00.005-04:00

Ok, maybe my title is a little deeper than what I experienced yesterday, but it is my first experience with a child not wanting me to leave them. It was dramatic and sad and joyful all in the same moment. Here's the breakdown, play by play of Cooper's very first day of preschool EVER!

6:45 a.m. Let sleeping dogs lie. I went into Cooper's room and it killed me to have to wake him up. He is not easy to wake up so I approached him slowly. Rubbed him and kissed him and said with a soft voice "today's the day" . Resistance. He told me to "leave me alone, I'm sweepy". He also said that "he didn't sweep at all last night". I finally told him that if he got up we could beat sissy to the good spot on the couch. This got him right up.
I fed him a bowl of Honey Smacks and then we proceed to try and beat Sissy at getting ready. Of course, he had to wear a plaid shirt unbuttoned with a t shirt under it. We grabbed the back pack and went out to the driveway for the traditional first day of school pics. I take pics of the kids at the same spot every year on the first day. He loves his back pack, but will only put it on one arm because that's the coolest way to carry it.
He and Sissy decided to immitate the Incredible Hulk on his back pack. Nana came over to see him and wished him luck. We headed off to school a little early so that we could stop by the book fair. I allowed him to pick out a new book and a Cincinnati Reds poster for his bedroom. He was so excited. The book that he picked out was titled "Pirates Don't Change Diapers". We began the long walk to his classroom. We dropped Sis off at her room and he was hugged by all of her friends including his teacher's daughter. We then walked on downstairs to his room and as soon as we hit the hallway he said "I REALLY DON'T WANT TO DO THIS". We went on into his room and his protesting got louder "I REALLY DON'T WANT TO DO THIS". "I JUST WANT TO GO HOME AND RIDE MY SKATEBOARD'. We hung up his backpack and found his name at his table. He sat next to a boy he calls "boy with the white hair" and believe it or not boy with the white hair was also wearing a plaid shirt with a t shirt under it. How cool. Cooper didn't give a hoot he just "REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO DO THIS". So, I put on my mommy face, gave him a big hug, told him that I loved him and that I would be back to get him in a little while and that his teacher would take good care of him and I left the room. Of course, he screamed and cried and it killed my inside, but I kept walking. I stood at the end of the hall and listened to him yelling, "I JUST WANT TO GO HOME". I stayed in the hall until I heard the yelling pipe down and then I left. I honestly thought that I was going to puke. It was so unatural for me to leave my child screaming to go home. I called the school about 30 minutes later and they said that he was playing and having fun.
This is what I saw when I picked him up. I could have pinched his smiling cheeks. He told me that he ate sketti in the cafeteria and chocolate milk, salad and a different kind of breadstick. He also told me that he made a frand (prounouce as spelled) and he and his frand played Bad Boys on the playground. Sounds like fun to me. He doesn't go back until Monday so I'm praying that we don't have such a dramatic drop off. I'm worn out.

What's Red and Lime Green and Orange?

2008-08-17T17:18:00.004-04:00

My new living room decor!!! I'm sooooo excited!! I've been wanting to do this for about 8 months. Ever since Wendi posted pics of her red living room. She totally inspired me to change things up in my house. I had so much plain old brown. I finally did it. I spent 2 hours in Hobby Lobby and picked out everything I needed to add color. Every single piece that I bought was on sale 50% off.
This is one of my favorite things.

Cooper just had to sneak in the shot.
I still need to add a little more color to this side of the room. I think that I am either going to redo my scrapbook frame or do another one with some lime green accents and put our Disney photos in it.
Some of the pieces like the clock and wall shelves, I already had.
Looking down on the room.
I love these two pics. They were poster prints and I had to buy the frames. The glass broke in one of the frames as I was trying to frame them so I just took the glass out of both of them. I like the flat look it gives them. So, what do you all think?

Touch Down!

2008-08-12T07:35:00.002-04:00

Cooper had his very first football practice last night. He seemed to like it. This leauge is going to wear me out. They practice 3 times a week and have one game a week and they also travel to away games. Good golly!! I have already been stressing about having to get both my kids and myself ready by 7:50 a.m. every morning. I am now working 4 days a week and these practices aren't going to make my schedule any easier!! I need tips girlies, PLEASE!!!! Help me with home time maintenance tips!!! I also need super quick ready to eat meals!!!

I know, I need a better camera and I think I just might go and buy myself one this weekend. I also would love to know if you guys have a favorite camera. I have no idea what kind I want. I do know I want it to be fairly inexpensive, take fast action shots and be easy to use cause I'm not very gadget smart!!

Am I asking too much of you all? Sorry.

Silent Saturday

2008-08-09T14:15:00.002-04:00

FUN IN THE AIR!
AT THE CARTER COUNTY FAIR!

Too Cool for School!

2008-08-08T06:42:00.003-04:00

School's back in session and it annoys me. I just cannot believe how fast this summer went by. I honestly think that it feels like the fastest summer ever. I also believe that our school system starts back way too early. In any event, my daughter was rockin' cute for her first day of 4th grade.
She had to keep her hair wrap from Disney in for the first day of school. We took it out last night and let me tell you that was a pain in the butt to do.

She spent an hour painting her finger nails. This little girl is obsessed with the perfect manicure. She did these all by herself.
Hey Natalie, if you are still reading my blog, this pics for you. See why?

Tween

2008-08-03T08:32:00.003-04:00

First of all, I forgot to tell you what happened when we returned from vacation regarding wasps. Poor little Cooper was jumping on the trampoline and got stung on the arm, 4 times by a wasp. It hurt him soooo bad.

Something else happened while we were on vacation in Destin. My baby girl celebrated her 9th birthday. I just can't believe that she is nine years old. The day of her birthday, I sent her downstairs to my parent's floor and I decorated our condo with High School Musical stuff and balloons. I had bought her a cake at Walmart and then I had her come upstairs for a surprise party. I know she knew what I was doing, but she loved it still.

Where has the time gone?

I just can't believe that she is nine years old.

She opened her gifts and then we all went out to eat.

She is just too big. I want my newborn baby girl back!!

I have a New Cousin!!

2008-07-31T20:58:00.002-04:00

I probably shouldn't be posting pics of my first cousin's new baby girl without her permission, but I am anyway and it's with good intentions. She is the prettiest baby I have seen since the birth of my own daughter. She was born on Tuesday and weighed TEN POUNDS and SIX OUNCES!!!! Introducing Baby Claire :) We love her so much!! As you can tell from the pictures, Alexus and I are in LOVE!!

Week 2, Destin!!

2008-07-29T08:11:00.003-04:00

Week two was pretty nice. We had never been to Destin, Florida before and it was absolutely beautiful. It was just the kind of place that we love to vacation at. The only problem was that the tropical storms that were brewing out in the ocean we causing crazy things to go on at the Gulf Shore. They say that normally the water is crystal blue, but on our trip it was green from seaweed. The other and biggest problem was JELLYFISH. They were everywhere and the locals say that this is not normal. My Cooper got stung and it hurt really bad. We were only able to get in the water two times. The villa that we stayed in was beautiful and we did have a very nice time. Sorry for all of the pics, but they tell a better story of what we did that week.

Fat girl in a little suit ;)
Our future residence

Super Cooper
The ice cream truck. Funniest thing, Cooper became a pro at flagging down the icecream truck. One evening the women had taken all of the money inside and we were starting to get ready to go out to eat. The men and Cooper were hanging by the pool for a few more minutes. Cooper flagged in the icecream truck and out of three men at the pool, they had no money. I guess it was pretty embarassing ;)
The Tussey Family
This is not the exact villa that we stayed in, but it was a better shot for picture taking. We stayed on the top floor and my parents and there friends on the bottom level.
There were a few moments that he was a good boy.

It Rained Jellyfish and Wasp, but we Survived Vacation 2008!

2008-07-27T20:17:00.004-04:00

We can now officially say that the entire Tussey family has been to Disney and we have the t-shirts. Well, all of us have t-shirts except for Robert because he thinks he's too cool for the t-shirt. We'll just let him think that if it makes him feel better.

Day One: We get there, check in our room around 1:00 and head for the Magic Kingdom. Get on the train and head to Frontierland and then over to Mickey's Toontown and "Kaboom" thunder, then we get in line for a kiddie coaster and "swoosh" rain. It came down harder and faster than I've ever seen it before. We were immediately soaked and decided to not even fool with ponchos because it was instantly too late. Please keep in mind that I was wearing a WHITE t-shirt. Toontown had never seen "Missy gone wild" like it saw that day. We finished the day and took the rain as long as we could. One cool thing that happened besides all the rides was that we saw Kobe Bryant, the NBA star.
Day Two: Animal Kingdom. We hit the park, bought the ponchos and went straight for the Safari fast pass line. We rode the safari and had a wonderful time. Alexus and I rode the Expedition to Everest and I swear that it almost killed me. She was crying by the end of the ride and thought she was going to pass out. Mind you, we stood in line for an hour just to be tortured and nearly killed. Then, "swoosh" rain. We are just getting in line for the parade and the big rain came. We sought shelter with the ponchos on and thought that we were safe when all of the sudden the drainage systems couldn't handle the amount of rain that was falling and we were standing in water 4 inches above our feet. Needless to say we went back to the rooms and put the kids into bed at 7:00 p.m.
Don't get me wrong, we did have some fun at Animal Kingdom before the rains came.
This was taken from day one. The only ride that Cooper wanted to ride was the Coffee Cups a/k/a Mad Tea Party. He loved it. I went numb half way through it. Wild Missy can't handle going round and round. I seriously went numb. I had to get out of the cup and hold onto the fence to recover. All the while it was raining.
Alexus and I on Dumbo. Check out the make up on Wild Missy. One foreigner in line for Dumbo actually had the nerve to say "next time you should wear waterproof mascara". Wild Missy replies "you think?". Duh
Blogger photo uploading is too complicated for me. Bear with me as my photos are not in chrono order. This was taken of the kids on the train when we first arrived at the Magic Kingdom before the flood came. Look at those two poor little kids. They have no idea that they are about to be soaked to the bone!! They are definitely not made of sugar.

On day three we went to Typhoon Lagoon and swam 1/2 a day until the rains came. I didn't take my camera that day, but when I get my Photopass CD in from Disney, I will post the shots that they took. After the rain stopped on day three, we went back to Magic Kingdom and had a great time. We rode the kids favorite rides and ate funnel cake and watched the night parade.

On day four we went to Hollywood Disney and stood in the rain for half of the day, but we did see the Power Rangers, Praise the Lord.

My favorite day was on Saturday, day five. WE GOT TO EAT BREAKFAST AT CINDERALLA'S ROYAL TABLE!!! I was so freaking excited. My dreams as a little girl had come true. I seriously remember as a little girl at Disney walking around that castle just wishing I could really get inside. We were never able to go in an eat when I was little. We didn't make early reservations but got so lucky to get them at the last minute. We got our pictures taken with Cinderally and 4 of her princess friends. I was in heaven. One point that I do need to make is that Cinderally was not as pretty in the face as I think she should have been. Truth be known, nobody will ever play her part the way that I could. Disney has begged me for years to play her part, but I just can't seem to work it into my high profile schedule.

This is a shot of Missy a/k/a Cinderalla and Alexus atCinderalla's Royal Breakfast table.
Alexus talked me into getting her hair wrapped. That was not cheap.
The World's Strongest Rednecks. That's what Cooper calls them. I agree.
M-i-c-k-e-y M-o-u-s-e and the Tussey Tits

That's it. We had a good time overall. I do wish that the weather had been nicer, but all in all it was good. I forgot to mention that Cooper literally peed his pants on Splash Mountain. Too funny. After that I saw Kobe Bryant going through the entrance to go ride it. I wonder if he sat in Cooper's pee pee seat.

Glad to be home. I missed you all. I'll post about week two soon. Also, the jellyfish and wasp from the title come into play during week two and from Sunday. Stay tuned.

Week 2 Destin, Florida

2008-07-13T18:47:00.001-04:00

Never been here, but I'm going on week 2 of vacation. This is a corn dog of a video, but you get the picture. I'm looking forward to resting after Disney!!!

I'm on My WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-07-13T18:43:00.001-04:00

I thought that I would have time to post a wonderful last post before vacation, but time is running out. I found this on You Tube and thought it was cute. I should say "don't miss me too much", but that's not how I feel. MISS ME every day. I want you guys to miss me so that when I return I will get tons of comments on my new posts. tee hee.

I've Been Tagged and I Like it!!

2008-07-09T14:13:00.002-04:00

I've been tagged by Natalie (Sorry, I can't figure out how to link your blog, but she's in my sidebar).
Here are the rules: You link back to the person who tagged you and post these rules on your blog.
Share six unimportant things about yourself and tag six random people at the end of your entry. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs. Enjoy the results!
Six unimportant things about me
6. I am addicted to Diet Mt. Dew.
5. The heels of my feet are extremely dry and need help. I have a PedEgg that works, but it's just not strong enough to cure my problem. I need a Pedicure, but am too chicken.
4. After watching Jon and Kate plus 8 last night, I am really thinking about starting to use green/natural household cleaners.
3. I love lemon pie!!! Just take a can of lemon pie filling, plop it in a shell and put cool whip on top of it. Yummo!
2. I have a wart on my right middle finger. Probably God's sign to me to stop flipping people off.
1. I'm officially on VACATION and will be leaving for DISNEY WORLD in 3 days!!!!!

I tag Brooke, Supercool Mom, Haddorkus, Denise, Melissa and KaraP

The 4th is over

2008-07-06T20:29:00.004-04:00

and now it's time to get back to the grind of the new work week. I am kinda ready for this week, it will be my last week of work before vacation begins. I'm having mixed emotions about my impending two week vacation. I am very grateful that we are fortunate enough to be travelling at all this year, with gas prices being as bad as they are. However, I can't help but dread the packing and the 14 hour one way drive in the car with my two kids. Alexus will be fine other than the usual "are we there yet" comments. Cooper on the other hand has been 100% out of control this weekend. He's been outright embarassing and he's been backtalking so bad. I took him to a cookout tonight and one of my attorney friends whom I work with sometimes was there and Cooper walked up to his son who is 10 years old and said "do you want to tussle?" Of course he had some hand gestures and gaucky body language to accompany this invite to fight. I mean, what the heck? I begged this man not to tell my other peers how mean my child is. Good golly if he acts this bad while on vacation, I might throw him overboard on the It's A Small World ride. Here are a few pics for our 4th celebration at my dad's big fish fry.

I'm honestly worry that 100 years from now when my ancestors look at the pics that I have taken of Cooper this year, they will wonder if his eyes were permanently crossed. I can hear them now "poor little boy, back in the old days they must have not been able to surgically correct his problem"
This is a pic of me and my bestest cousin, Leslie, who is about to give birth to baby Claire who I helped host the baby shower for.
Alexus and her cousin pal, Meggie Poo.
My dorky little brother. He would kill me for posting this, which is, of course, the exact reason I posted it. He never reads my blog so he'll never know. meauuawaahhhh (evil laugh)
Another shot of Cooper with his crossed eyes. Check out Mr. Personality behind him. I'm also kinda not looking forward to 2 weeks with my husband either. Oh the joys of marriage.

Tag!!

2008-07-02T21:24:00.003-04:00

You're It. rules of the tag? NO CLEANING BEFORE TAKING YOUR PICTURES! Do it!!! It's kind of fun and liberating. Thanks for the idea Super Cool Mom! I kinda broke the rules. I actually took these pictures on Wednesday and fought with my computer trying to blog on Wednesday night and so it's now Friday morning and I'm finally winning the battle.

My sink
My laundry room. All clean clothes that need to be put away. Yes, it's Friday morning and they are ALL still there. None have been put away since Wendesday.
The dining room is my favorite room in the house, because it usually stays clean.
My closet. Yes, I know, it's bad. I have so many clothes that I can't fit them all in. What am I supposed to do with the ones that still need to be put away. The Easter basket is full of change and the one clothes basket and rubber maid container are full of the families bathingsuits and flip flops. I was supposed to take a pic of my favorite shoe and I forgot. So if you look really close in the bottom left of this picture you will see the top of my sexy brown boot. Remember, they were the ones that I wore when I almost fell at the school crosswalk and screamed "shit" in front of all the little kids and Mr. Peabody?
Self portrait
The bathroom. Of course I chose to photograph our half bath. It's always clean.
What everyone in the house is doing right now. Watching Spongebob, of course. Cooper obviouslly didn't want his picture taken.
Alexus wanted no part of pictures. The pillow that she is laying on, she made herself. She took a sewing class at summer camp and has been making tons of pillows.

Game Time

2008-07-02T16:35:00.001-04:00

Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! You do not have to have met me in person as I have barely met any of you.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.
It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :) If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.
Bring it on!!

Random

2008-07-02T16:26:00.002-04:00

Just a random post. I've been feeling sad lately because I'm only getting 2-3 comments to each blog entry. Where are my loyal fans? I think that the most comments I have ever gotten were 10. I see some of these bloggers who get 23-40 comments. I always leave comments so why aren't you all leaving me comments? I know you are reading so come on and show me some love.

Cooper can tie his shoes. This may not seem like a big deal to you all, but it is to me. He is not even 5 years old yet. He has not started school yet. His sister didn't master this skill until she was in kindergarden. I'm very proud of him.

Alexus is going to celebrate her 9th birthday this week. Just about 19 days early, but her BFF is in town so we are going to go to the Bear Mill and make a bear. It's kind of like Build a Bear. Then she will have a cake and gifts while we are at the beach.

My dad is having a fish fry on Friday night. Should be fun. I have totally figured out this week that I take my party planning compulsive disorder from my dad. It just hit me. We both love to host get togethers and both have to be in charge to make sure it's the way we want it. tee hee. At lease I know now that I took more from him than his looks and his nose.

Happy 4th of July!!

Stinkin Worn Out

2008-06-29T18:44:00.003-04:00

That's what I am is stinking worn out. Let's just say that I knew this weekend was going to be hard and hectic and I was right. Alexus finished up summer camp on Friday while Cooper and I ran to Sam's (mother of Walmart) to buy all of the fruit and stuff for my cousin's baby shower that I was co-hosting this weekend.
Alexus and I got our hair done on Thursday evening. I got a standard root job and she got layers for the first time ever.
We decorated for the shower on Friday night and then returned back to the church early on Saturday to cut fruit. The shower was Saturday at 2:00 and I left the church at 5:00 to hurry up and get home to Cooper's T ball party which we were hosting at our pool. We made diaper cakes to use as the center pieces on the tables. The mom to be had the idea of displaying her wedding photos and a blown up 4 d ultrasound pic of baby Claire. She sat a little sign that said "All because two people fell in love" in the middle. I thought that was cute. Just check out Claires chubby cheeks.
I was still in my dress, hanging up balloons when the coach and first player arrived. All was good, everyone had a good time and everything went off without a hitch.
Here is a shot of the boys. We lovingly call them he "Bad News Bears". The coaches are just as funny as the boys. The coaches are brothers.

Cooper loved his trophy. I couldn't get him to pose seriously due to his coaches cheering him on to act silly.

I crashed today!!! Now, tomorrow is Monday and I return to the work that I actually get paid to do. Whoo hoo.

Liar Mutha

2008-06-26T08:00:00.002-04:00

I feel like such a liar mutha today. I am taking Cooper to get his last two shots for school and he has no idea what's coming his way. I just gave him a dose of Motrin and I told him it was for his mosquito bites and he totally believes me. He looks so cute right now and I feel so bad. I think not telling him till we get in the parking lot is the best thing; however, this could totally backfire on me.

Wish me luck!!

Another Bird Attack by an Egg Head

2008-06-24T06:30:00.002-04:00

I know that you were probably expecting another real life bird attack story so here it goes. I really did get attacked by another bird at work last week. We heard it in the cieling tiles, but also saw one fly by the outside door and it really appeared that the stupid bird had found its way back outside. I know now that this was not the case. I went to the bathroom and on my way back the bird came flying right towards my head. I threw my arms up in the air as though I was surrendering to a robber and hit my knees and crawled to my office cubicle. In the meantime the stupid bird flew into our glass door and broke his neck. After I heard it hit I crawled around and watched it flop until it died. Good lord, I do not now how many more bird attacks my nerves can stand before I will qualify for a government funded disability check ;)

However, that bird story was not the inspiration for this post. Robert and I were both visicously (totally spelled wrong) attacked by multiple birds while sitting on our living room couch talking to our sweet daughter about her day at summer camp. I don't even know what inspired her, but all of the sudden she flips us the bird. I said "Alexus, do not do that, it's not nice". She said "I know what it means". This is where my being a liar mommy comes into play. You see, last years at school Alexus had some pretty hard core little boys in her class and it seemed like she was coming home every single day asking me some new question about a dirty word or dirty finger symbols so I told her that when you flip somebody off it means up your butt and that it was not nice. I guess that yesterday she thought up your butt wasn't too bad of a thing to do to her parents. So, she giggled and flipped us off again. Robert chimed in "Alexus do not do that". She laughed until she almost cried turned around and gave us the double bird. At that point I was almost in tears crying and laughing from shock and disbelief that our little girl who is for the most part very good is sitting here flipping us off and no matter what we say she will not stop. I finally stood up and said "I lied when I told you what it meant, it's something nasty an even worse than up your butt" "STOP you are making Jesus very sad right now and you need to go to another week of Bible school". She still laughed but finally stopped and then climbed up on the couch and begged me to tell her what it really meant. I did not.
It was a surprise attack that neither of us saw coming.

VBS and Toonces the Cat Who Can't Ride

2008-06-21T22:01:00.004-04:00

Do you all remember the skit from Saturday Night Live, Toonces the Cat Who Could Drive? Well, that skit is my very first memory of watching SNL. I start this post to make you smile before you read on. As you may remember, my cat had 3 kittens in the tree this Spring. The kittens are now out of the tree and wilder than bucks. We can't get near them. A couple of weeks ago, one got up in Robert's Hummer and rode to work with him (travelling 30 miles on the Interstate at 80 mph) and survived. His co-worker crawled underneath the Hummer drug the cat out and took it home with her. One down, two kittens to go. So, on Friday Robert left for work at 6:00 a.m. I had slept with my window open and hear the wierdest sound. A few minutes later, Robert returns to the driveway. I got up, went downstairs, opened the front door and asked what was going on. He said that he lost power and barely got the Hummer back home. The Hummer sat in our driveway all day long. My kids rode their bikes up and down the driveway, right next to the Hummer, but never noticed that there were kitten guts hanging out from the bottom of it. When Robert got home, he saw guts and flies coming out from the bottom of the Hummer. I took the kids to the VBS final night/picnic and he stayed home to clean dead kitten out of the engine. The kitten had caused two of his belts to come off of the engine. It was a big mess. I have a feeling that he is not going to be such a kitten lover anymore. Can you believe this? We have the most unusual animal situations at our house.

VBS is over and we all survived. Cooper got tired towards the end of the week and missed one night due to a meltdown.

This pic is Alexus, Mullins and Cooper. My mother babysat Mullins from the time he was 6 weeks old until he started school. He was like her first grandchild. He has a very special place in all our hearts and now my kids adore him as does he them.
Alexus getting her VBS award.
Cooper, escorted by Mullins, to get his award.
Fun times on the blow up slide.

It was an awesome picnic for the kids. They were served hot dog meals, received awards and t shirts and then got to play on 4 different blow up thingys in the church parking log. What a special summer memory and good lesson on God's Big Back Yard!!!

Summer Time-----------

2008-06-20T22:36:00.003-04:00

and the living is easy!!! Well, today is Friday and I did the dreaded Walmart run. I gave my kiddos the lecture in the parking lot "do not get in here and beg me for stuff and you guys had better listen to me when I tell you to get out of my way cause I am NOT in the mood to deal with your all's crap". I turn around and see this mother looking at me. What? Does she not talk to her kids like that?
We came home, picked up a cousin and hit the pool. Here are a couple of pictures of my favorite things around my yard in the sweet Summer time.

Check out my fuzzy hair shadow :)

Stay tuned for the next post. VBS is over and the Hummer ATE a kitten :( no pictures for that part of the post.

Help Needed by Friday a.m.!!

2008-06-18T11:12:00.002-04:00

In previous posts I have told you all how inspired I am by you all. This is sooooo true. It seems that these days I can't come up with any ideas on my own. Today is no exception. As you know, my kiddos have been going to VBS Bible School this week. I do not go to this church and do not really know their teachers other than they look to be very sweet women. My kids have been giving offering throughout the week, but I would like to give their teachers a small gift and card to show my appreciation. What would you all suggest. I'm looking for something small, but sweet.

Invisible Painters

2008-06-18T07:33:00.002-04:00

While sitting in the drive thru at Tudor's Biscuit World yesterday waiting for my terribly fattening lunch, I noticed the 4th of July paintings on the window of the grocery store across the street. It looked very nice, bright colors and fireworks. You know the kind of paintings I'm talking about where they paint the store windows to celebrate the next holiday or savings event to attract people to come inside. It then crossed my mind. First of all, who could paint that good? I mean those letters and numbers were very straight and each looked perfect. Second, when did they paint it? I have never seen any artist painting on any store windows in my town. Most of our grocery stores and even Dairy Queen have this painted art, but I've never seen the artist in action. Is there a secret time in the middle of the night that they sneak in and paint? Wouldn't it be hard to paint in the dark?

Just my thoughts.

Happy Father's Day and a Bit O Randomness!

2008-06-17T06:49:00.005-04:00

Father's Day weekend was wonderful. The weather was beautiful and all went well. I was PMSing so I was kind an old hag, but nobody got hurt so that's good.

Cooper and Alexus went to Bible school last night at my cousin's church. This is the first time that Cooper has ever been to Bible school. I stopped going to church shortly after he was born. Alexus still goes on Wednesday nights, but Cooper has been banned. God love his heart, he's just too rowdy. The church that we went to would baby him and the preacher would actually hold him during the service. I just felt like he was too much of a distraction. I know that this is probably not the case and it's just an excuse. I was a nervous wreck about him going. I let my cousin take them and I went to check on him an hour later. I found him sitting there eating canalope and being the best little thing ever. It broke my heart that he didn't need me at all. Alexus was excited because her Bible school teacher is actually going to be her 4th grade teacher this coming school year. She likes her so that is wonderful. When they returned home I asked him if he missed me and he said "no".

On Father's Day we went to see the Major Leage team the Cincinnati Reds. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive from our house. The kids had a good time, but it was very hot. They ate all the ballpark food they could get their hands on and so did their mama. As you can see, he was stinking worn out on the way home.

Aren't these the cutest red cheeked kids you've ever seen? I really didn't notice how red their cheeks were until I saw this picture. They both had to take a break inside the air conditioned Team Store to buy new hats. I'm such a sucker!
Priceless!! I love the way my husband reacts when he gets inside the ballpark. As soon as he sits down he's on the edge of his seat staring at the field. He's like a little boy. They played the champion Red Sox in a three game series. Cincy won game one, lost games two and three. We were at game three :(
Red sloshies rock. Cooper calls slushies sloshies!!
Alexus looks so pretty and her mama looks so fat!!!
This picture was taken early on in the game prior to the near heat stroke!

All in all we had a great time. On the way home we stopped and ate at Applebees.

The Saturday before Father's Day I had my dad and mom and Robert's dad and mom over for a cookout. It went well for an outlaw gathering. We ate steaks and sat by the pool. My cousins came over to entertain the kiddos in the water. Cooper is so totally idolizing my cousin this summer. It's too funny.

Last T Ball Game

2008-06-15T21:09:00.003-04:00

Cooper's first t-ball season is officially over, except for the pool party, which is going to be at our house. The party itself will make for an interesting post, I have no doubt.

This was his last time up to bat. He was very goofy during this last game and I thought that his Papaw Roe was going to blow a major artery from being frustrated at him for literally sitting down on the job.
Throughout this season I would ask Cooper who his favorite team mate was or what his favorite part of playing baseball was and his answer was always "my coach". He loved this guy and it appeared to me that the feeling was mutual. Immediately after the final game the coach picked him up and ruffed him up. I couldn't have hand made a better coach for Cooper. This guy is only like 24 and has no kids. He does this just because he loves the game. He was always praising the kids for their good effort and never loosing his patience when he had millions of opportunities to do so.
Cooper and Coach Thomas
This is a very serious game!
2008 Cincinnati Reds

Did You Miss Me?

2008-06-13T16:52:00.003-04:00

Now, tell me the truth. Did you all miss me as much as I've missed you? I just have to tell you that when my computer became infected with spyware, I almost had a panic attack. Seriously, I'm not kidding. I honestly felt like I was missing a person from my life. I worried and worried about what I was going to have to do to get back up and running. I finally decided that this was a sign for me to wake up. I lived before I had a computer so surely I could live without one. For that reason, I prohibited myself from working on my computer for a few days just to shake this soft addiction of blogging. I was also very worried what that if I couldn't read your alls blogs that I would never have anything to inspire me again. I seriously mean this from the bottom of my heart. I get so much inspiration from all aspects of life from reading your alls blogs. I'm not even sure if alls is a word.
So, here's a little catch up. In random order.
I just found out that Tim Russert died. That really sucks. How is the world can we elect a President without him telling us the news? Seriously?
My grandma is still in the hospital recovering from open heart surgery. No complications, it's just taking her some extra time.
Work still sucks and I'm ready for a change in lattitude which is coming one month from now. I booked Disney, WOO HOO
I need summer snack ideas for my kids. If you post me a comment with good snack ideas I will send you good mail!!!
The kids and I went to a movie yesterday with my cousin's kids. It was my little cousin's birthday and he invited my kids along. THis is a big deal for us. We are not a movie going family. Cooper has only been to three and he threw up during the first one. We saw Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Cooper did pretty good until the movie actress blurted out "son of a bitch". Cooper jumped up out of his seat, turned around and looked at me and screamed "SON OF A BITCH". I thought I would die of embarassment. Thank goodness there were only two other people in the theater besides our little group. This is probably the only curse word that he has NOT heard me say. He really needed to add this to his arsonal of curse words to embarass me with. So, as you can see, nothing much has changed around here.
Da crew. With potty mouth Johnny in the orange shirt. The dude next to him was the birthday boy. I just have to tell you that it warms my heart that these 11 year olds WANT my 4 year old to accompany them. He thinks he is so cool to hang with them and they are aso good to him. I prayed that my little cousins would love him and accept him when he was born and it's working out better than I ever imagined. I included some pics of these boys in my adoption folder to let Cooper's birthmother see that he had a ton of family ready and waiting for him. It makes me cry just thinking about it.

The kids took a vote and decided that I take too many pics. Poop on them.

The girls. These two stick together like peanut butter and jelly. They only get to see each other on summer breaks and special holidays due to living so far apart. They love each other and love getting time together!!! We lovingly refer to her as our Summer house guest.
School's out, school's out, teacher wore her bloomers out. I totally stole the candybar poster from Wendi and Alexus got so many praises for it. Thanks for inspiring me Wendi, once again!!! I can't believe that next school year she will be in the 4th grade and Cooper will be a preschooler!!! Where has time gone?

Thanks for reading all the way to the end. Don't forget to post comments on summer snack ideas!!

Off for Maintenance

2008-06-09T09:30:00.001-04:00

My home PC has been invaded by Spyware. I am trying to fix it. Please bear with me.

Missing you all.

Missy

Random Post

2008-06-02T06:34:00.002-04:00

It's Monday and ...

I snapped this little ditty at work on Wednesday. Just couldn't help myself.
My little Rob Dyrdek took a big fall on his skateboard and scuffed up his face. This picture really doesn't do the injury justice. It was about 1 inch by 3 inches on his face, 100% blacktop burn. He cried forever!
Of course, it didn't stop him from getting right back on the board.
I woke up this morning with the song "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" on my mind. I have no idea why. I do like Madonna, but have never seen the movie or the muscial Evita. I'm loosing my mind.

My grandma is recovering from her heart valve replacement.

I tuned 33 on Saturday.

Yesterday was my 12 wedding Anniversary.

Alexus only has 2 more days of school!!!

Ponder on this.

2008-05-28T07:09:00.002-04:00

Over the past couple of days I have started to notice the habits of a few people that I see on a regular basis. These two particular women are smart women. They are mothers and I'm sure they are just as busy as I am. However, these two women are constantly on their cell phones. I've seen them in (actually riding in the back of a truck) a parade, driving their car, watching t ball games, taking in the groceries, etc. It is clear to me that they are addicted to talking on their cell phones. I will admit that I carry mine with me pretty much every where I go and if I get a call, I take it. However, I do not carry on a cell phone conversation the entire time my son plays a t ball game. I also try not to talk on my cell phone for too long while driving my vehicle with my kids in it. I am guilty of calling my BFF when I'm alone in the car so that I can actually have a conversation with her and hear what she is saying. This just caught my attention and I wondered to myself that if these two mothers talk on their cell phones while at home. What are they missing out on?

The irony in my thoughts are that when I got in the bed last night and turned on CNN, Larry King was interving CNN's Dr. Sanjv Gupta and a couple of other experts regarding the link between cell phone use and brain cancer. All three experts believed that there is very possibly a link to cell phone use and brain cancer. Remember Johnny Cochran? "If it doesn't fit, you must aquit" His physician was there and stated that he believes that Johnny's brain cancer (remember he died of brain cancer) was caused by his excessive cell phone use. All three experts stated that they use cell phones, but they use ear pieces. They said that more than one hour of cell phone use a day is too much. Occasionally talking on it is probably not that much of a risk; however, more than an hour a day and you are at risk. Simple problem to solve, use an earpiece. I do not own an ear piece, but might purchase one after hearing this. I have heard segments on this before, but didn't pay much attention to them. Listening to these three experts last night really made me stop and think. Just had to share.

A Day of Therapy

2008-05-23T20:10:00.004-04:00

Today I got some much needed therapy time and none of it was planned. Here are some examples of the things that clear my mind.
At night, I open my bedroom window and listen to the water in this fountain. I love the sound of trickling water and I love the way that our landscaping is finally grown to look so pretty around this fountain.

Yes, I'm still working on April of 2007 scrapbook pages for both of my kids.

I made this card for my friend Angela to go along with her Supercool gift. I hope that she doesn't read my blog before I give it to her.
I made this card for an old friend of mine who lost his wife in a car accident this week. She was only 31 and the mother of 2 children.
I planted these flowers today. Okay, truth is that the largest one came already potted, but it's so pretty.
Please excute the dirty porch. I used to have 2 of these pineapples by my front door until Cooper broke one last year. He broke this one this year, but i was able to salvage some of it and put together this little ditty. I plan to spray off the pots.
Cooper's Easter pages.

So, what does it for you. Do you get lost in a book or on a long drive? What clears your mind?

Artsy Fartsy Post

2008-05-21T07:26:00.003-04:00

First of all, I want to thank you girls so much for all the prayers and concern for my granny. She got to come home from the hospital yesterday. They scanned her from head to toe and the only thing that they could find was a bad UTI. They think that the infection caused We all thought for sure that she was having a stroke.

I was cleaning out Alexus' backpack yesterday and found all of this art. These are things that she drew over the year. I love them and wanted to do a post so I would never forget them.

I love this one. Guess who it is? I thought it was Bill Clinton, but she says it is Abraham Lincoln. Oh well.

Awesome self portrait!! Check out the blue fingernail polish and earrings. My girl never leaves the house without polish and bling.
I thing I am going to frame this one. I love the view from inside the house looking out the window. She got the idea from a book.
I love this close up picture of a butterfly. How creative!!
This is a turkey with some deer. She's a Kentucky gal.

Hail to the Chief!!!

2008-05-20T20:17:00.003-04:00

Excited self portrait. Alexus is 1/2 frozen from standing in line.
Da Man
Where's Miss? Look at the sign, right under the K three rows down in black turtle neck sweater :)
I took this picture, the other two of him were taken by the newspaper

I warn you before you read any further, I am more than a little excited about my seeing the former President of the United States. Read on, but do so with caution. You may experience an excitement overload. I will not be held responsible for any brain cell loss that you incur due to the reading of this blog entry.

OH MY GOSH!! I GOT TO SEE THE ONE AND ONLY WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON IN THE FLESH!!!! I could hardly stand still while in line waiting for him. As you already know, I am a huge fan and have always been. I never in a million years dreamed that he would come to my little tiny hole in the wall home town a/k/a weirdoville. He came to my high school. My theory is, this is a payback on Bill's part. You see, while in Arkansas for Cooper's birth, I toured Hot Springs and two of the spots that I drug my newborn bundle of joy too were Bill's boyhood home and his high school. Bill owed me this visit to my high school. My family thinks I'm crazy, but Bill and I know the truth :) Back to serious. I registered to vote in the halls of this high school during a sign up one day. I registered Democrat, of course. I stood on stage of my high school gymnasium in 1994 and was in the Miss Grayson pagent when I was asked the question "name one of your role models" my answer "Hillary Rodham Clinton". Needless to say I was given a hard time for this answer due to the "stand by your man" era that she was currently struggling with. This is the same high school where my English teacher and custodian were murdered in cold blood by a student during class one cold January afternoon, but on Monday, May 19, 2008, my high school was making history by hosting this wonderful "get out the vote" rally. I'll stop my rambling now with a little time line for you to enjoy. I was up all night long on Sunday night, I couldn't sleep a wink. I had to plan the perfect hair and makeup just in case CNN came to visit ;) another love of mine. I got up at 5:30 and got Alexus up at 6:30 and we were standing in line by 7:30 a.m. They would not allow the general public to park on the school property until 8:15, but there was no way in heck I was waiting that long to get in line so I parked at my BFF's mom's house and walked about a block to the school. We were about 20th in line where we stood until 9:00. We got inside and found the best seat ever. I was so excited that I immediately took a self portrait of Alexus and me. At 10:15 the Big Man himself took the stage. I took 81 pictures of him ;) I was so happy to pull Alexus from school to attend this rally with me. What a historical moment in her life. I made her promise to remember every single moment and teach her grandchildren about this day. While in line I heard a woman say that she remembered back in 1948 when President Truman rode the train through our town. For those of you who are still reading, thank you. On the walk back to my car, the sun was shining and the birds (evil demons) were singing. I took that moment to suck it all in. This was a wonderful day!!!

Update

2008-05-19T14:26:00.002-04:00

Thanks to you all for all of your prayers and sweet comments of concern. Granny is still in the hosptial and they are still not sure exactly what caused her to have the stroke like symptoms yesterday. She had a stress test today and the first 1/2 of the results were good. We are still waiting on the second half. She has a bad urinary tract infection and her family doctor said that it could be possible that the infection is what set her blood pressure and sugar so high. My grandma is a diabetic and you know how one thing effects another when it comes to diabetes. It's just been a very stressful few days. When I got home from Lowe's yesterday, I knew that my granny had been rushed to the hospital. I came home and heard an answering machine message from her and it was very apparent that she was talking out of her head. The next message was from my granddaddy yelling for me to help. He thought that my answering machine was really Cooper answering the phone. It was terrible. I could hear him yelling "turtle" over and over again and then the last two times he yelled "missy", which HE NEVER calls me. It made me burst into tears. Not to mention that on Wed. my paternal grandmother has to have a heart cath in preparation for her upcoming double heart valve replacement. It's so sad. I was so scared yesterday that I might loose both of my grandmothers in the same week. So far, Granny seems to be improving some and we are hoping that maybe it was just the bad infection and she will get to come home soon.

By the way, it did work out for me to go see Bill Clinton this morning. Girls, I was on could 9. I'm posting pictures tonight. I took Alexus with me and it was such a historical thing for her to get to be a part of in our little tiny hometown. I made her promise to remember everything and that she would tell her kids and grandkids about the day the President came to town.

Thanks again for the prayers. I know that God is listening to them all.

Prayers Please

2008-05-18T19:00:00.002-04:00

Girls, my grandma is in the ER as we speak with symptoms of a stroke. I need your prayers for her!!!

Doesn't look like I'll be seeing my boy Bill tomorrow after all :( , but that is find as long as granny gets better!!

Update. It's 8:30 p.m. and they now do not see any signs of a stroke, they are looking at her heart. This is a good thing for her. So, fingers crossed she's going to be okay.

Just Where Do you Think I'll be on Monday a.m.

2008-05-17T21:36:00.002-04:00

Not at work.

Read this!! He's coming to MY OLD HIGH SCHOOL LESS THAN 3 MINUTES FROM MY HOME AND WORK!!!!!!!!!OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Published: May 17, 2008 09:22 pm
President Clinton to make stop in GraysonBy MARK MAYNARD / The Independent
GRAYSON — Former President Bill Clinton will be back in the area Monday, stumping for his wife.President Clinton is scheduled to be at East Carter High School at 9:15 a.m. on the eve of the Kentucky primary. U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton is seeking to become the Democratic presidential candidate.Clinton trails frontrunner Barack Obama in the polls and in delegates although she is expected to carry Kentucky easily. Hillary swept past Obama in the West Virginia primary last week. She also carried Kentucky border states Tennessee, Ohio and Indiana.Democratic voters in the Bluegrass State, along with those in Oregon, will cast their ballots Tuesday. Polls in Kentucky open at 6 p.m.Hillary Clinton said in a speech to Kentucky Democrats earlier this month that Kentucky voted for her husband in 1992 and 1996, putting her in the best position to win the state in the fall. It’s a case she’s been making about the “swing states” nationwide, saying she has the best chance to defeat Republican challenger Sen. John McCain in November.President Clinton has been to the area twice already, once in Portsmouth before the Ohio primary and then just a couple of weeks ago when he stopped in Morehead. He has been treated with rock star-like status wherever he’s been while stumping for his wife.Voter turnout is expected to be high, according to Secretary of State Trey Grayson. He has estimated that turnout among Democrats could reach 30 percent while turnout for Republicans will be about 15 percent. In the last few presidential primaries, the voter turnout was in the mid-teens.McCain locked up the Republican nomination in March but Republicans will be able to cast votes for their president nominee. Other former contenders, like Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, suspended but didn’t shelve their campaigns and will still be on the ballots.President Clinton will also visit Mount Sterling and Richmond on Monday before joining up with his wife in Louisville on Monday night.Hillary Clinton started her day on Saturday in Louisville and then was in Springfield, Covington and Bowling Green. She will be in Maysville, Prestonburg and Lexington on Monday before returning to Louisville.Chelsea Clinton was in Ashland on Monday morning for the opening of her mother’s headquarters.The Obama campaign, while trailing in Kentucky polls, have opened 16 regional officers and have started a series of commercials aimed at Kentucky voters in preparation for the fall campaign.MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.

Wal-Mart Song Live

2008-05-16T17:06:00.001-04:00

Baby Got Back In Department store.

2008-05-16T16:45:00.001-04:00

This may be how I get even.

Walmart, what else?

2008-05-16T16:27:00.002-04:00

Instead of falling prices, the people at Walmart should be on the lookout for ME as I am on the verge of a Walmart meltdown the likes that Sam Walton could have never anticipated. I sit here today, May 16th and ask myself WHY? Why do the Walmart/Sam's Gods hate me so bad? I give them my weekly tithing of 90% of my income and still they turn their evil powers against me week after week. Today, I was doing so good. I had taken my son to register for school (was planning to post about this, until Walmart happened). I went to Walmart, I saved money by price matching chicken breast and pork chops and I had smiled at my 5th grade boyfriend and his wife and family. He used to be so cute. He had to give me a double take as my butt is so big and I have 5 more chins than I had in the fifth grade; however, he finally recognized me. Then it hit me. OMG I had locked my keys in my car. My Walmart is like 20 minutes from my house in a different county. I go to the car and sure enough, there they are lying in my cup holder. I only had one battery bar left on my cell and I was just about to panic. I called my mother and thank my God (not the Walmart God) that she was able to go to my house, get another key and bring it to me. So, Cooper and I went inside the entrance of Walmart and parked out buggy near the "old man" bench. You know the bench I'm talking about. The one where all of the little old men sit and wait for their wives to finish shopping. That's the bench I'm talking about. So, here we sit, a buggy full of groceries. Me lookin stylish in my wide leged jeans with cute little necklace and Cooper hyped up on Mt. Dew. with a GIANT BOUNCY BALL IN MY BUGGY. He kept getting the ball and bouncing it make the automatic doors come open. It was quite a trip. I promise I have some really serious content blogs coming. One for Mother's Day, one for preschool registration, etc. I just need for stupid crap to quit happening to me so I can blog about them.

One Thong, 112 dog years and a flat tire.

2008-05-10T08:56:00.002-04:00

Believe it or not the title sums up my Friday.

Let me break it down for you in no particular order. Yesterday, I decided to take my mother to the mall and then onto Sam's to try and find her a bathing suit for Mother's Day. We got off to an early start and found the perfect suit at the mall. Things seemed to be going great, that was until we went to Sam's. I should have expected this, in that Sam's is the grandmother of Walmart stores and we all remember how my Walmart trips usually go. However, in my recent attempts to save money I decided to go bulk and see how it would work. Mind you, I get extremely tickled when looking at these huge containers of things. I have this wierd fascination with little tiny bottles of stuff and then giant bottles of stuff. I know, is unusual, but that's Missy UNUSUAL. So, we go into Sam's and all is well. Get lots of cool good deals and then it's off to the parking lot where I see an almost completely flat tire. I go in and find out that with my Sam's club membership they will fix my tire for free. Thank God, but it would be 45 minutes before they could start on it. So, we walked across the street and got lunch while they fixed the car. Now, this Sam's is 45 minutes from my house so I had to call my husband to leave work early to get Alexus from school. All is done and over with, we get in the car and get on the road back to home. One cute side note is that Cooper kept yelling, "mom you have an extra tire on the back of the car" "I can fix it". How cute is that? The little man remembered I have a spare and thought he could fix it. I have caught him jacking up the babie jeep a couple of times here lately so he probably could have fixed it.

We get home and eat dinner and I had bought the kids some clothes at the mall and had already washed them and they were in the dryer. When dinner was over, Alexus wanted to try her clothes on again so she goes to the laundry room where there is of course 3 baskets of clean clothes that hneed to be put away. Tucked in one of these baskets is a blue lace thong. I thought I had it hidden so that they wouldn't see it, but apparently they took it upon themselves to dig in the baskets. Alexus comes running to the dining room yelling "mother, what is this?" I knew before I even turned around what it would be. I told her to stop being rude and take it back to where she found it. So she did. Then, i hear Cooper giggling and running towards me. He had gotten it and tried it on. Thank goodness it was over his clothes because he had it on backwards. My husband got the biggest kick out of it. Good golly, I just know that they will tell my mother about this. She probably thinks this is one wild house already.

112 dog years is how long I have been with my husband. Yesterday was our 16th anniversary of our first date :) We decided it felt more like dog years than human years :) Bow wow wow yipee yo yipee yay is all I can say.

I was ATTACKED by a bird.

2008-05-06T15:56:00.002-04:00

No joke. I was seriously attacked by a bird in my office yesterday. I am going to try my best to describe the viscious attack; however, Webster does not have a word to define the FEAR that hit me yesterday. Also, I need you all to understand that nothing about this post is made up. It really happened just as I'm getting ready to type it.

May 5, 2008 at approximately 10:00 a.m. I decided to take my office mail out to the front desk and to use the bathroom while I was over on that side of the office building. I thought I would KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE. So, I quietly walked up the step and got ready to walk past the stairwell when BOOM. Out of nowhere a bird comes flying at me from the left side. I had no idea what it was, all I could hear was flapping and I felt it hit me in the stomach. I look down and THERE IT IS stuck to my stomach. I see black and I see wings. We have a history of having both birds and BATS in my office. You can imagine my fear. The stupid thing had perched on my fat roll and was hanging on for dear life. I immediately began to scream, jump, shake everything I owned and hit the darn bird repeatedly until it finally fell to the floor. In the meantime, my coworkers have no idea why I'm screaming and my boss is upstairs yelling "girls, what's going on down there (sheer panic in his voice). I realize that my boss is no doubt getting his gun to come and defend me. God love his heart, he is an attorney and around these parts one cannot be too careful so he does have a gun in his office just in case some crazy person comes in and decides to kill him. So, I yell "Willl, it's just a bird I'm okay". I hear him put the gun back in the drawer and then he came running to my aid. He removed the bird from the office. I was in shock. I swear I think that this was the funniest thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life. About fifteen minutes after this event was over, we found another bird in the office. Today we came in only to have a third bird fly threw. I swear my nerves are shot. It was one of those, you had to be there things. What makes this even funnier is remember my post about me being on the radio telling them about the birds in my office. I thought about calling the radio station back to tell them that I was actually attacked, but there is no way they would believe me. BEWARE OF THE BIRDS THEY ARE EVIL!!!

Girls Night OUT!!!

2008-05-05T20:57:00.006-04:00

First of all, I want to thank all of you who left me sweet positive comments on my last post regarding my feelings of guilt. I need to clear up one thing. I did not feel guilty for leaving me kids, I felt guilty for leaving my husband. I know, that's even dumber than feeling guilty for leaving my kids. I'm very glad that I went.

I HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH MY FRIEND ANGELA. She's going to kill me for this post, but she's just going to have to get over it. Angela and I have known each other since Kindergarden. We were not really close friends in school, but we were friends. After high school we found ourselves at the same community college and then off to the same University. We hung out during breaks between classes and even took an aerobics class together. Time went on and we both graduated and lost touch for a year or so. It wasn't long until I received an email from Angela. She had found me online and we reconnected. This was a reconnection that I will never forget and I actually remember the exact day that she emailed me. If my memory is correct it was in 2000, I had just had my first baby and moved into my new house. From that point forward we were constantly emailing (not as many times in one day as we do now :). Angela has been my rock, my friend that I can turn to no matter what. She does not judge me. She allows me to vent to her about anything. She is honest. She is loving. She does not tell me what to do, she tells me what I can do. I don't know what I would do without her. She is truly one of my best friends ever and I am so thankful for her. So, who better to have a girls night out with?????

First, we began our night with a little shopping fix at Marshall's and Target. Then, it was off to stuff our face at Uno's Chicago grill where I had an awesome new drink. Finally, it was off to the club to check out a supercool band called BAD EMPLOYEES. Now, I just love the title of the band because we all know I'm a bad employee. Love them. I honeslty didn't think I would, but the music was great. You should all go and check out thier myspace page www.myspace.com/bademployees

A couple of other random things is that I need to thank Chrissy and Wendi for the good mail that the sent my daughter, Alexus. She absolutely loved it all!!! What a great good mail exchange this has been.

Also, YOU MUST SEE TOMORROW'S POST. I WAS ATTACKED AT WORK, I'M OK, BUT I WAS ATTACKED BY A WILD ANIMAL. CHECK BACK TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED!!!

Why?

2008-05-03T14:03:00.002-04:00

Do my kids have to fight over EVERYTHING? Why does my daughter constantly say that she is bored? Why does my son have to change his clothes 25 times a day only to get worm guts on almost every shirt that he puts on? I am not a good mom and these events make my struggle even harder. Right now the two Tussey tits are both in time out for 5 minutes for fighting over new books. Now you think that they would be excited over the new books, but apparently in kid world the carrying of the new books is a sign of ownership of the new books so therefore, one must fight to get the chance to carry/own the books. Good lord, they wear me out. I can't even go to the pot without screaming from the pot at my children for their constant fighting. I know that in "theory" I am in charge, but it's so freaking hard sometimes. I don't allow them to get by with everything, I try to maintain order, but they push me to the edge on a daily basis.
Tonight I am having a girls night and I'm looking towards that light at the end of this tunnell. I am also feeling guilty for leaving my husband alone tonight (kids will be with my mom) while i go out. His so called friend, stood him up on his guys night out. I know he needs the rest and he will probably be glad to have the house to himself tonight, but for some reason I still feel guilty? Why?

Coupon Clipping and Price Matching

2008-05-01T15:06:00.002-04:00

I saved over $22.00 today on my groceries with coupons, price matching and buy one get one frees. I was inspired by Mique over at adventureswiththeprovots. I didn't save as much as she does, but I think that it has a lot to do with where I live too. I was very happy with the savings today. Every dollar counts.

So, all you girls out there, share your money saving grocery tips with me. PLEASE!! Also, cough it up, what do you spend a week on groceries? Let's compare. I average $150.00 a week for food, cleanin supplies and paper goods.

Everybody's Got to Win Sometime

2008-04-26T10:17:00.002-04:00

Might as well be me. I've snooped at this blog before through Mique's blog and I am amazed at how talented Camille is. She started her own pattern company Thimble Blossoms. In honor of her one year anniversary of opening her company, she is giving away this quilt "Bloom". Here are the rules taken directly from her blog:

Leave your name, where you are from, and your favorite place to get fabric, wherever it may be. From your mom, grandma, the quilt shop down the street (or in another state!) a fabulous online shop, or your local thrift store, ANYWHERE! Now here is where it gets interesting. If you post about the giveaway on your blog (and of course provide your link) you will receive an additional 3 entries, and for each person who says you sent them, one more entry!
SO go enter, tell her I sent you and post about it on your own blog for even more chances to win. She will pick a winner on Thurs, May 1st. Good luck!!

Opening Day Parade

2008-04-25T21:02:00.003-04:00

The next Pete Rose
His daddy said 00 comes before number 1
I'm so proud of him
Cooper is the one who's head is closest to the green window. Incidentially the brick building in the background is my office :)
Couldn't leave sissy out. Overlook the fat roll a/k/a muffin top and thunder thighs :)

My little boy is growing up. I almost cried when I saw him in his t ball uniform for the first time. Robert made fun of me and said that I am such a whiny crybaby. I asked him if he would be happier if I didn't give a sh!t about my children growing up. That ended the fight.

Tonight was the opening day parade. All of the teams ride down Main Street in their uniforms. It's so cute and Cooper was soooooo excited. He was sure to save a hand full of candy to throw to his sissy. Tomorrow's the first game. Fingers crossed he gets a big hit first time up. His team is the Cincinniti Reds (Cooper pronounces it Kineynati Reds).

I'm No Longer a Virgin

2008-04-25T16:41:00.003-04:00

I'm hoping the title will draw in lots of readers and get me lots of comments :) I am no longer a GOOD MAIL virgin. I have given and now I have received. Today in the mail box I received the bestest Priority Mail envelope EVER. The bad thing is that it was addressed to both me and Alexus so I had to wait until she got home from school to open it. It was hard to wait. At one point I even thought about opening it up and repackaging it. She's only 8, she would have never missed the postage, etc. However, I refrained and she opened for us when she got home. SuperCoolMom ROCKS!! I got an AWESOME ward cookbook filled full with wonderful recipes, HANDMADE ONE OF A KIND TURTLE CHARM, HANDMADE STERLING SILVER EARRINGS!!! How sweet is that. In SuperCoolMom's good mail, I sent her a turtle card and told her how my grandpa has called me "turtle" my entire life and she handmade me a one of a kind turtle sterling silver and beads, it's georgous and I almost cried. I didn't almost cry because it was my first time, tee hee. I almost cried because someone who doesn't even know me, took the time to make something so special for me and remembered the note that I had sent to her. It's so nice to have hooked up with wonderful women from across the country who care enough to take the time to make someone on the other side of the country feel special. Alexus also received some very special gifts and an awesome handwritten note from SuperCoolMom's little girl. Very sweet indeed. Alexus received a TY online bear which she immediately had to register online. She also received a handmade bracelet with a handmade bead. Can you believe how talented these people are? Amazing. Thanks SuperCoolMom. Goodmail is AWESOME!!!!! One funny side note is that as Alexus and I were tearing into the goodmail, Cooper was taking it all in. He immediately ran to the paper and pen drawer, wrote a note and got an envelope and put two of his toy trucks in it to mail. He said, "send this to someone mom, I want mail too". I'm going to mail him something just to make him feel special.

Random Update

2008-04-24T07:06:00.004-04:00

Kitten in the tree

Playdough partied a little too hard

I did contemplate leaving him to sleep on the table, but didn't.

I shot the Sheriff, but I didn't shoot the Deputy.

Camera thief, possibly on drugs by looking at the face

Will we ever make it? Stay tuned.

My life has been very much like a Lifetime Movie Network mini series this past week. So here's just a few random excerpts from the movie.

"When the past comes calling"

My husband received a telephone call last weekend from some girl he met in the military over 15 years ago. She found a picture of him and decided to look him up. Needless to say, it made me want to kill her. He "supposedly" doesn't remember her. Yeah right and I only weight 100 pounds and my hair is naturally blonde ;) Thankfully, I'm over it now.

"The cat gave birth in the tree"

I really wanted to title this segment as "pussies in the tree", but that might be rude :) couldn't resist. Our mother cat whose a transvestcat named Zack, gave birth to a litter of kittens in a hollowed out tree in our yard. This means we can't see them all to tell how many there are and also we can't pet them until she brings them out which means they are going to be WILD. Just what we need, cat's we can't catch to give away or get spayed. Oh well, the kids are getting a kick out of it and this is what Robert gets for not allowing the cat to give birth in the garage. He was militant about making sure that she didn't go in there.

"playdough and the sheriff a camera theif"

No real drama here. Just cute pics of Cooper and Alexus

"she's a mom"

So, I have this big girls night out planned for May 3rd with my very good friend, Angela (who by the way totally needs to start a blog--she has tons to blog about). We are going to a club to watch a band play. One of her good friends is in the band. From what I gather the band plays a funky techno type music. She showed her friend/musician my picture and he says, "she will not like my music, she's a mom". AHHHHHH I almost had a heart attack. What could be worse than looking like a mom? I pondered over my lunch break about what I could do to not look like a mom, coincidentially (totally spelled wrong) I was pulling the crust off a sandwich as I thought. That totally made me realize how mommified my entire life is. AHHHHHH I even clip coupons and do crafts. AHHAHAHAHAHAH So, now I'm working on being a good mom without looking like one. THis seriously made me upset. I'm too young to look like a mom. I want to be a HOT mamacita.

I guess when I summarize the past week it really hasn't been too bad, but that phone call really shook me up for a few days.

Finally, I've been on a freaking diet for three weeks. I haven't weighed myself, just watching what I eat and walking as much as I can. I'm trying to change my entire eating habits and I need your help. I want to make a good ground chicken burger and I need a recipe. I know you ladies have one so cough it up. I will even send good mail to whoever sends me the bestest recipe. Remember, I'm a plain jane, I don't like tomatos so no tomato chicken burger recipes will be allowed.

Soccer Mom/T-Ball Mom/Part Time Employee/Part Time Stay at Home Mom/Missy

2008-04-16T08:33:00.003-04:00

Wow, I have a lot of hats to wear these days and to be quite honest, it's tough. I am not complaining because I love every single hat that I wear. I am the luckiest mom/part time employee/part time stay at home mom alive.

First, I am the luckiest mom alive because I have the bestest kiddos in the whole wide world. I know that some of you may disagree :) However, I know I'm right. I am also lucky to be a mom. I struggled for 2 years to get pregnant with Alexus and it took me 2 years of trying to have a second child to finally decide to adopt my sweet baby boy. I am lucky that his brilliant and beautiful birth mother chose me to be his forever mommy. I am lucky that my husband didn't murder me with his bare hands through all of my infertility trials. I am lucky that my husband went along, without any argument at all, through his part of the fertility testing and through 5 unsuccessful artificial inseminations. He never blinked an eye at that plastic cup. Thanks babe. I am lucky that my two children are healthy and relatively well behaved. I'm lucky that last night, my 8 year old daughter asked me about her getting baptized soon. Wow, what a big girl she is. I am lucky because my mother is the kids baby sitter and on cold days she comes to my house so that my kids do not have to get out in the cold to make the huge 1 mile trip to her house. This means that my kids can stay with her when they are a little sick, whereas a day care would make me stay home with them. I am lucky that my mom wants to keep my kids and be a very active part of their lives.

Second, I am the luckiest part time employee because my boss and co-workers are my friends. My boss was so supportive of me when I had Alexus and decided to go part time. He has never once questioned a day that I have to miss due to my kids. He was absolutely supportive through my adoption of Cooper. We had no idea I would need to start maternity leave and when I got the call, it was not a problem for me to leave for 6 weeks. I am lucky that my co-workers understand that my kids come first in my life as do their loved ones in their lives. We back each other up. I am allowed to take my lunch at 4:00 in order to leave to attend the kids sporting events. I am able to change my lunch time around school functions. I am allowed to switch my entire work week around one of Cooper's dermatology appointments. They are there to help deliver the surprise birthday presents to my kid's parties. They offer to water my plants while I'm on vacation. They are just the best!! I am so lucky to work here.

Finally, I am so lucky to be able to stay at home part time with the kids. This means that they can have a balance of good home cooked meals on my days off and quickie dinners on my work days. This means that mommy is sometimes there to pick them up from school and attend field trips. This means mommy can make the cupcakes for the class party instead of buying the store bought ones. This means that mommy can clean the house, pay the bills and do the laundry without killing the children and/or husband.

I know that some of you may wonder why I decided to do this post. I chose to do it because Monday was a really hard day for me. I was ready to quit work to stay home and be available to my kids more. I don't want to stay home, I'm a working girl; however, sometimes I feel so overwhelmed. I know that this is only the beginning.

Mothers

2008-04-11T15:36:00.002-04:00

I've been thinking hard about something that I saw at the t ball field the other night. It was Cooper's first t ball practice and it was so exciting. All of the mom's were there smiling and happy watching our little boys play t ball and get muddy. I knew most of the players and the moms, but there were a few that I didn't know. Being the nosey booger that I am, I asked around until I identified each person. It was then that I saw this. One of the little boy's mothers had passed away a couple of years ago. It was a very sad situatuion. She was in her mid 30's, mother of three kids, in nursing school while working full time as a school cafteria worker. She died suddenly of an aneurism leaving three kids without a mother. I knew of this girl from when I went to school and every time that I saw her with her kids, she seemed to be a wonderful mother. The little boy's dad has remarried and the step mom was there. My initial thought was that I was happy that the man had moved on with his life and found love again. My next thoughts came after practice was over. When practice ended, all the boys ran to their moms and the moms were showering them with hugs and "i'm so proud of yous". Out of the corner of my eye, I see this step mom and the look on her face as she praised this young man was priceless. She absolutley was the proudest mom there and the little boy was eating it up. You could see by the look on her face that she was sooo happy to be his mommy. It touched my heart. It made me realize some things that I already knew. You do not have to give birth to a child to be that child's mother. You do not have to give birth to that child to love that child with all your heart. It was just the sweetest little thing to witness. From what I know, this mother had no children before she married this man. Now she is the rpoud mother of three. I just had to share this story.

Good Mail

2008-04-07T09:16:00.003-04:00

I put together my first good mail package this weekend to send to someone special. My daughter inquired as to what I was doing and I explained the process to her. She wants to have a good mail partner. So, I'm asking all of you bloggers with girls around the age of 8, does anyone want their daughter to exchange good mail with my daughter? Let me know!! I think it would be a great lesson to teach our young ladies!!

Is this rude? Maybe I shouldn't have asked for a good mail partner for Alexus, but oh well, sorry if I was rude :)