Camping on the Elkhorn

We had a fun, fun time at Elkhorn Campground this weekend, it's a super nice campground, with all the amentities for children and adults, pool, game area, playground, fishing and lots more! We got to enjoy some time on the creek bank with Poc! EE caught his second fish, the first one he caught was 2 years ago, so it had been awhile for sure!

We also saw these cute campers, I had never seen them before but the Hubs had, it looks like they open up to a twin bed! They were pulled with motorcycles, and a few even had AC units in them! I was totally impressed!

EE learned to ride his big bike without training wheels, learned to swim better in water over his head, BC got sick Sat. night, but we made it thru the night, still un-sure what that was about, no fever and no compliants, but 3 bouts of vomiting, poor lil guy!

So I'm on Week 1 Day 2 of C25K-Couch to 5K, it has been awesome so far, I hate to say it, but the first workout I did 1.63 miles in 30 mins, that's very slow, each workout is 30 mins, but the jog time increases each week, so that you are jogging more then you are walking! The first workout, I really jogged and walked slow, so that I could finish the workout, after realizing it didn't kill me, I up'd my speed tonight so I was able to do 2 miles in the 30 mins. Hoping to finish the program before the Black Cat Chase in Oct. I did it last year, mostly walking with a horrible time of 46:34, so this year I'm hoping for 36 mins. that would equal a 12 min. mile, and I will gladly take it, however C25K, says at the end of the program you can do a 5K in 30 mins, I think that's pushing it for me, but I'll keep you posted!

A huge thanks to our house/dog sitter! Thanks Brooke for helping us out, so that we could have family time together!

Back to School Prep..........

So E-man starts 1st grade on the 15th, and before he started Kindergarten, I perpared 14 outfits, and no that's not a typo, for some reason I bought EVERY cute pair of plaid shorts and a polo shirt to match-Crazy, yes most likely! However I did like the idea of hanging matching outfits on hangers to prepare for the morning rush, 2 kids, in 2 different schools and a working mommy, so I do all I can to make my mornings easier.............here is a preview of about half the outfits he had last year, but it's a start!

Oh I was wrong, there is 10 outfits hanging there, these are all the "dressy" clothes for school, I don't hang regular tee shirts or athletic type shorts, he usually wears those on gym days! DON'T look at the dishes in the sink in the background, hey a girl can only do one thing at a time, and I cooked 2 dinners tonight = a sink full of dishes! :)

Speaking of 2 dinners, here is a good all in one recipe for you, and a picture too!

Chops N Lima's
2 bags of frozen fordhook limas
any type of pork chops-I use breakfast chops
3/4 stick of butter

Brown chops in skillet about 3 mins each side with some oil, about 3 tablespoons, lay on top of frozen limas-I spray my 9x13 baking dish also. Pour drippings in skillet over chops and cut up 1/2 stick to 3/4 stick of butter. Cover tightly with Reynolds wrap and bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 mins. SO YUM!

E-man starts soccer practice 2 nights a week this coming week, and we are waiting to hear from Bre man's soccer coach as well, and E-man starts baseball week after next. So lots of cooking and freezing on the weekend for weeknight meals! Let the fun begin, we LOVE every minute of "busy" with these boys!

And today at Church they had free flowers from someone's flower garden, my mom loves flowers and with Dad having cancer he can't spoil her like he use to, as soon as I spotted them we instantly thought of Nana, so look at this lil cutie, I told him to surprise Nana with the flowers so he hid them behind his back, I didn't know he knew to do that, it was soooooooooooooo cute.............check him out, button down and all, handsome lil fella!

Such a blessed mom!

Oh and I'm back on my diet, and exercise too! More to come on this, my head is right now, so that makes me determined, I will rock out my cute mini skirt at the beach in 9 more weeks! 

Revival Time............

Get ready for your invite...................................our church is having a revival the middle of Sept.
I'm super excited, and can't wait!
Revivals always kick me in the rear, and make me more aware of the person I need to be!

I'm thankful for our church, I love going and so do the boys!

Feeling extra blessed tonight, as always!

Decisions, decisions......

Gosh, has it really been nearly 2 months? Am I too busy to update my blog 5 mins every night?

These are questions I have been asking myself, I'm trying to decide to continue to blog or not to blog.

I really WANT to, but finding the time seems impossible here lately.

Not sure why we are so busy, baseball has been over for nearly a month, my team was runner-up in the tournament. I had a super fun season, but I'm done coaching E-man's team for now, I think he will grow and learn more from another coach, and it's Bre's turn to have mommy as a coach!

Both boys will be playing fall soccer, so it's been fun shopping for shin guards, new cleats and etc, so I have 2 boys, playing a total of 3 sports this fall,.............we will be super busy, but have a great time in the process! I'm thrilled they want to play sports, I encourage them every chance I get, I think it helps kid's in several different areas of life!

An update on Poc.................so far so good, the main tumor is still shrinking in his colon, he is tolerating chemo well, and still loving on all the nurses, and giving them a hard time, for some reason when the Dr. told him he was terminal, he thought that meant, flirt with every woman nurse you come in contact with.

The best news so far is...............mom and dad are moving to our town, I'm more then thrilled, mostly for my boys, they love their grandparents so much and they have a bond like none other, and I'm glad Poc can join us for our breakfast' that we have out on the weekends! (E-man's thing) E-man and Poc could be twins in their likes/dislikes, it's sometimes unbelievable, ha!

We have school shopped, had play dates, Relay for Life, visited the new frozen yogurt in town, spent many weekends at the pool, I could go on and on. I'm all about my boys, and making sure they have a great summer and memories that they can look back on. We are so blessed!

If you've read this far, congrats! It's a long post, a catch-up post I suppose.

We are excited school starts in 2 1/2 weeks!

I will do an update soon of pics for the last 8 weeks, we have had a really great time!

So thankful for all the Blessings in my life.

6th Birthday Party

So I attempted once again to make a cake for my boys Birthday, this year's theme..........Disney Cars.....please remind me not to do it ever again, ha! The cake turned out cute enough, and was glad to make it for Ethan, but by no means looks professional. We had lots of friends/family there to celebrate with  us!
6 precious years..........the time has flown by and we couldn't be more proud of our boy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY E-MAN!!!!

Here is the cake!

One baby here, and one comes on Wed!

Oh how exciting it is for our friends to be welcoming new additions to their families! Baby Kaylynne came Thursday of last week and she is just beautiful! I've only seen pictures thus far, but I plan to visit tomorrow after E-man's game. She was a whole pound less then the Dr's predicted, so a healthy 7lbs. 5ozs! Since all of her aunt's live out of town, I hope I can be the "fill-in aunt" she is precious!

On Wednesday of this week, baby Lilly will be here, we can't wait to love on her also! Lilly's big brother Landen is Ethan's best friend, so we are super happy for them!

We had Kindergarten graduation this past week, and a night at the campground, we also had several days at the pool! My boys love the pool, well ok, so does their mom! :)

Oh and before I forget (how could I?) my best friend of 20 years and I got to have a quick breakfast Sat. morning, then we both got a massage, it was so nice and so relaxing! I'm hoping for more "get togethers" with her more often. She has 4 kids' and with their schedule and my children's schedule, it's so hard to have adult time together! Glad we found a couple hours on Sat. Love ya Staci!

Enjoy your week, I'm in the process of planning a huge bday party for my boy, sneak peak to come this week!

3 week picture dump

Ba ha ha, this title makes me laugh, apparently something has changed on the blog format, and I can't find out how to blog from my iphone, as to not take time away from being a mommy, I typically post on the blog when the boys are playing in the bath tub. Now that I have to do it from my computer, you know old school, I can add more pictures, as to where I couldn't on my phone, so maybe it's a plus, however I feel like I will post less often :(

So I guess to start, I went to Sarah's baby shower, Katie hosted at her house, it was a very nice shower, and Katie has a beautiful home! Thanks girls for inviting me to be a part of the big day! Here is a picture of her gift, I'm a sucker for these little socks for little girls!

I really wanted to get Sarah something monogrammed with baby girl name, but she decided about 2 days before her shower! I ended up going with diapers, wipes, Ralph Lauren super cute outfit, and those adorable socks!

Next up for our crazy schedule, I hosted a baby shower for my friend Sherri at the local Tea Room in town, and she is also having a girl. We just had a few girls get together and it turned out perfect, Sherri got some nice things to finish her babies room! I couldn't resist, doing bottles of water with a cardstock around them with baby girls name on it, as party favors, they were super cute, and I also found cupcakes in mason jars, they are ridiculously cute, even the Tea Room owner came over and wanted a peak! See what you think?

After both showers, we prepared for Teacher Appreciation Week, I'm on the PTO, so I'm a little more involved with all the PTO stuff, so my week(s) consisted of getting donated food, and prizes, and then coordinating pick-up, we were able to give the Teachers at ECC a fiesta theme mexican luncheon, they were very happy to have a nice meal, cake, and door prizes, PTO ended the week with dessert Friday for the teachers! I sent a few emails, and had about 6 friends that were more then willing to make something delicious for our wonderful teachers. I'm thankful for all the help from PTO members to pull this off!

I made the cute water bottles with the flavor packet attached for Tues, on Wed. we sent them a box of jelly belly jelly beans, and on Thurs, I sent both teachers a box of Turtle candy. For dessert Friday I made 2 peanut butter pies.

Thanks Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Amy for all you do for our children EVERYDAY, you ladies made Kindergarten a wonderful year for my boy.

On to Brady's teachers, I really wished I could have done more..............the busyness of everyday just gets the best of me. We sent a box of jelly belly jelly beans one day, and on Friday I sent them all home-made pimento cheese sandwich's and 2 things of chips. They are so nice and sweet and very loving to our 3 year old! Bre-man! Thanks ladies.

I almost forgot before Teacher Appreciation Week, we had Derby Day, in Ky that is a big deal, this was the first year we made our own hats, and entered a contest at the Camp Ground, they picked a super cute lil girl to win, so maybe next year, I will make hats for the boys :) Check out our hats. That is my mom and dad that came down to "party" with us, as well as the inlaws, BIL, and the other BIL & SIL, and their kiddos, my cousin and her child, and friend, and Sarah and Landen, it was quite a fun day. We had Derby pots galore, and I didn't win a thing :(

The next week I was playing softball and "rolled/sprained" my ankle, getting a lil too old for softball, you ask? Well maybe, but I played on the worst field that i've ever played on in my 25 years of playing ball, and I've played on some really bad fields, it was swollen for a week, couldn't see my ankle bone. My ankle looks like it weighs 400 lbs. Pretty impressive!

Next up the zoo trip for E-man's school field trip, lots and lots of fun, we ended the trip with a stop to Orange Leaf, then outdoor movie on the Green's in town, with friends, pizza and popcorn, what a fun night!



I dressed the boys in these super bright yellow shirts so that I can spot them easy, but they mostly rode in their double wagon, and made our job super easy as parents!

We attended Landen's Party this past weekend, at the park and had alot of fun, and great weather, both boys enjoyed going, they just love Landen to death! :) I didn't get any pics of just my kids at the party, darn-it!

Last night we went to Bryce's Party at the Legends game, and even though it rained we had so much fun, we got to sit/stand right behind some of the players and it was really neat! We danced in the rain to the music, and had a great time! Here are the boys with Big L and E-man with Ellie!

We also had team pics and a ballgame yesterday, our boys pulled out a win 13-12, shew-wee, I was one excited coach, my boys/team pull thru! I think our record is 6-2, I will take it!

There you have it, that is our crazy, but fun last 3 weeks, and so much more to come, I will try to do better at posting. Some fun things up on the list are: 2 new babies coming before end of May, we are so excited for both of our friends welcoming these precious new additions to their famililes. We have Kindergarten field day, and Graduation. E-man's bday party, a trip to the campground for Memorial Day Weekend, as well as a mini trip to Pigeon Forge. And as always atleast one ballgame during the week and one on the weekend, we love it!

If you are wondering, I have put ESTILL PHOTOGRAPHY on my photos as one blogger that I follow, someone had downloaded her pics as their own. Kind of random, but makes me feel better for sure!

LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST...................I'M THANKFUL FOR THE 2 PRECIOUS GIFTS GOD BLESSED US WITH! THERE ISN'T A DAY THAT GOES BY THAT I DON'T SAY MY "THANK YOU" PRAYERS!!! THEY ARE THE BEST GIFT EVER!

Happy Mother's day to everyone out there! Enjoy your special day.