Changes...

Lots of changes going on in our house this week. Monday was the start of lots of remodeling! First, tile is being laid in the kitchen and small bathroom. Ceiling fans were also changed out in the living room and our bedroom and ceiling fans were added in both the girls rooms! After the tile is completed, we will get all new stainless steel appliances! We will repaint everything, maybe even change a few colors. Brandon will take the bunk beds for his new house and Madison will get mine and Damion's bedroom set, Emma-Leigh will get new furniture and Damion and I will get new furniture! We will also get a new kitchen table and new couches! Eventually the tub in my bathroom will be taken out and Damion will put in a walk-in shower. Also, door knobs will be changed throughout the house. I could not be any more excited! Our house has stayed the same except for paint colors for the past 10 years! It is a process but it will be over soon enough. Right now, the washing machine, dryer, dishwasher are all in the living room. I will not complain. I will not complain. I will not complain. :) okay, I feel better now! Pictures to come!

School's out for summer!!!

Wow!! The school year is over!! I now have a middle-schooler! holy cow! Emma-Leigh will be a 2nd grader in the fall and I am getting very old. I wish we could stop time...for just a bit. We will never get these days back and they are the best times of our lives! Our summer schedule is just getting started and this week has been crazy! I have missed lots of work this week because of awards ceremonies, talent show, doctor and orthodontist appointments, and a hair appointment for myself (can't reschedule that one). This past weekend we spent most of our time at the pool! Riley's 1st birthday was on Sunday and we had a great time helping her celebrate! Yesterday, Madison completed Phase 1 of her braces! She got her braces and lip bumper off and received a permanent retainer to wear on the back side of her top front teeth. She was fitted for a clear plastic retainer for top and bottom that she will pick up today. Dr. Roberts also pulled 2 of her very loose molars yesterday. She was so brave and said she didn't feel a thing. Unfortunately, the tooth fairy forgot about this and did not come to visit last night. oops! Phase 2 will begin...after all her permanent teeth arrive. This week, the girls are with Sarah & Riley and will be with them until the first week in July. After that, they will spend their days at Fletcher Summer Day Camp. They are really excited about being out of school. Today, Sarah took them to Fun Depot! They have lots of fun days in store for them this summer! This weekend, we may go to the lake. I still haven't decided. Whatever we do, the weather is supposed to be nice so we will definitely be outside!

It's a beautiful sun-shiny day!

It's Tuesday...and beautiful outside! It's days like this when I wish I were a stay at home mom. I'm getting cabin fever!! So the weekend was just gorgeous! We couldn't have asked for better weather! Friday night we met Shawn, April and Abigail at Outback for dinner. Saturday the girls and I got up early and went to Target & Old Navy and then met Cindy, Bayley and Brody at the pool at 11. Mom went with us too! It was beautiful and lots of fun. The only bad thing was that the hot water heater at the pool is broken so the water is freezing! Didn't stop the girls from swimming though. We stayed there until time to take Emma-Leigh to a birthday party at the movie theater. Took mom home and had showers at her house then we were off to see Up! in 3-D. It was very good. They had a great time. After that, Emma-Leigh's group went to Brixx Pizza for dinner so Madison and I went home to let the dogs out, unpacked our pool stuff and went back to pick Emma-Leigh up. After that we went to Brett and Sarah's house. They were having a grand opening for their new business and it was also Brett's birthday! The girls were going to spend the night with mom and dad so Damion and I went home, I had a snack, we started a movie and the phone rang. It was Emma-Leigh. I had to go pick her up! So while I was there, Madison decided to come home too. haha. Fine with me! :) So we all went home and on Sunday, we got up and went to the pool again! Damion did Open House at the spec until 4. After that, we went to clean at FPS and then went to eat at Papas & Beer! Last night, Summer came over for dinner and watched Madison and Bayley practice their routine for the talent show. Tryouts are today. I hope they make it! Tonight is the gym and after that Cindy and I (and all the kids) will go to Bath and Body Works to stock up on some soap and wallflowers. They are having their 75% off sale! I love sunshine!!

We're almost thru the week! Did I mention Emma-Leigh had pink eye last week? It is back aGaIn!! She looks so pitiful. So we went to the lake for Memorial Day weekend. Damion stayed behind and worked. We stayed with Vickie and Donald. Brandon and Alejandra came down on Sunday with Kevin and Kaly. Jennifer had gone to Carrowinds and Kaleb was with his mom. Mom and dad were down there too. We met up with them each day. The girls and I went to see their camper, it is very cute! Judy and Steve came down on Sunday to hang out with them so that was nice for them. It rained off and on all weekend. Monday was beautiful - just in time to come home :) When we got home Monday evening, we all went to the grocery store (even damion!) it was fabulous! When Damion goes, we ALWAYS get 2 buggies (and he always pays, haha). Tuesday was Emma-Leigh's awards ceremony and "concert". I got there super early and was able to sit in the front row! Damion surprised her and was able to make it. Vickie was there, too and mom, of course although she had to take a seat in the middle because I didn't have an extra one saved. Anyway, Emma-Leigh was also in the front. She was all smiles and then all of a sudden, she starts crying! Out of nowhere! She said she was scared. I was so disappointed that she didn't sing any of her songs. She was looking forward to it so much and had practiced singing in the car for days. She is a really good singer. Oh well. There's always next year, I guess. Although she did the exact same thing last year... nothing else exciting going on this week. The girls were supposed to have field day at school but it got rained out and they have postponed it to next week. Tomorrow night is parent's night out but before that we are closing on the spec house at Waightstill Mountain. Hopefully all will go as planned. Saturday I think I will take the girls to the pool! It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend!

Tuesday!

So it's been over a week. I'm not too good at keeping this thing updated, am I? We had a really good weekend. It was very busy, but good. I left work early on Friday and picked the girls up early from school at 12:30. They were so excited to be "ditching" as Emma-Leigh would say. We went home and then a couple hours later met Mom, Dad, Tiff, Diane, Ayla and Jaidyn at Firehouse for lunch. After that, Tiff let the girls stay with me for awhile so she, mom and Diane could get pedicures. That was fun for all 4 of them. I enjoyed having them all over playing together. Friday night we walked to the Civic Center for Brandon's graduation. When I say walked, I mean walked..like a mile. We had to park so far away! Both parking garages were full! It was crazy, but we enjoyed it. Congrats to Brandon! Saturday morning we hung out at home until about noon and went to mom and dad's to meet everybody and then Tiff decided we should go to Chimney Rock. So we went! Jennifer's birthday party was at 4 so we were really pressed for time but went away. I wasn't crazy about going but once we got there it was good. The girls got ice cream right away and some of us got real food and sat outside by the river while we ate. It was very peaceful. We did a little bit of shopping, Madison got a snow globe and then we were on our way back home to rush to the park for Jennifer's birthday. Tiff, Diane and the girls stopped by for a few minutes so Jaidyn could ride her big wheel and then they left. They were all cooking out at mom and dad's that night, but Brandon had cooked for us so we didn't go. Damion called us shortly after that and we met him and Shawn at FPS to clean. Then they had another job to go to but called not too long after that and we met them at Apollo Flame. April had already gone and taken Abigail to meet her parents for dinner so she didn't join us. Sunday, the guys did Open House. It was yucky and rainy and they had not a single person show up. It was okay though. They were able to clean the windows and they look much better now, so not a total loss. Before that, we met mom, dad, Tiff, Diane, Jaidyn, Ayla, Brett, Sarah and Riley at Beef O'Brady's for lunch before Tiff left to go back home. After Damion's Open House we went to Ryan's for nana's 80th birthday! We had a fun-filled weekend and are looking forward to this weekend when it will be time for us to go to the lake for the first time this year!! There is nothing but rain in the forecast but hopefully that will change as time gets closer. EOG's are this week for Madison. She was able to get up early enough to eat chocolate chip pancakes this morning. That doesn't happen very often. I was very pleased! okay, that's it for now!

Monday...already.

It's a dreary Monday morning. Looks like it may rain any minute. All is quiet here at work for the time being. Hopefully it will be a good week! The weekend was pretty good. Friday night the 4 of us, Cindy and her kids, Shawn, April and Abigail all went to eat at Papas & Beer. After that, Cindy and I went to Bath and Body Works at Biltmore Square and Damion took all the kids to our house. We got some Mother's Day stuff and then went home. They left shortly after that. Saturday we had to go get the girl's sized for their cheerleading uniforms and turn in all the $. Then we had lunch at Panera. We were going to go to the park for Paws in the Park with the dogs but it looked like it was going to rain so we didn't go. I stopped at the Redbox on our way back home and got Bride Wars. I did take Cindy by Damion's spec house in Oak Park so she could see how cute it was. She liked it! So then we went back home and started the movie. Cindy had to leave before it was over though because she had to go to a cook out for Mother's Day. Shortly after that, the girls and I met Damion at his office to go clean at FPS. Then we went to the Blue Ridge Mall so I could get just a few more things from Bath and Body Works. After that, we went to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. When we got home the girls surprised me with my Mother's Day present. They got me a new Vera Bradley! It's so cute. It's a "Lisa" and is Cupcake Green! I love it! They also got me 3 body creams: sweet pea, blushing cherry blossom and dancing waters. Damion said they picked everything out by themselves. I was so proud of them! :) So Sunday morning I had a few reports to type, Damion went over to the spec house and got it ready for Open House and then came home so we could go to lunch. We were gonna try to go to J & S but the line was out the door! So we ended up at Jersey Mike's and ate our lunch outside. After that, we went home and Damion went to the Open House. A little bit later, we went over to Vickie and Donald's to take Vickie her Mother's Day present. She liked it! She also got me a cute bag/purse. She's so sweet! She didn't have to get me anything. It was very nice! Then we went home and left out again around 5 to go to mom and dad's for a cookout there with dad's side of the family. Mom liked the presents we gave her, too. Then we went home, I made cookies and we all crashed out. So now it's Monday and the only thing getting us thru the week is that Jaidyn and Ayla will be here Thursday night. so yay! The girls are so so excited! I hope it's a great week!

Friday :)

Today is Friday and it has been over a week since I have posted anything. Let me see if I can recap what all has happened....last friday night, we went to Papas & Beer for dinner (surprise!). Shawn came to hang out, they had already eaten so April and Abigail didn't come. Saturday the girls and I, mom, Cindy and her kids all met for lunch at Panera and then went to the spring fling at Glen Arden. We were there from 2 until 6! I think they had a pretty good time. Saturday night we went to clean FPS and the girls went to Brandon's to hang out while we went. Then Jennifer came over and spent the night. Sunday we went over to the spec house and cleaned up a little bit, then went to Jersey Mike's for lunch. Damion and Shawn went back over to the spec for the open house and I took the girls home so they could play with Jennifer a little more. Then later, Madison and I went to the grocery store and Emma-Leigh and Jennifer stayed at home. When we got back, Brandon had already come to pick Jennifer up. After we got the groceries put away, the girls and I had "movie night". We watched Hotel For Dogs. It was just the cutest movie! I really enjoyed it :) Monday was work and the gym, as usual. Tuesday was work and the gym, Wednesday we had a tornado warning and had to go to the basement for a while. The school had all the students on their knees with their heads covered in the hallways. Madison was pretty freaked out about that. Then we had our lunch for Georgia at Flat Rock Grill. That was nice! Then we went to clean and then went to Hot Dog World. Thursday was work and the gym and now it is Friday and we currently are having a bad thunderstorm! I love it! Tomorrow is fittings and $ turn in for cheerleading. After that, I was hoping to take the girls to the park for Paws in the Park with the dogs but it looks like it may rain. Sunday is Mother's Day! We are having a cook out at mom and dad's at 5pm. Hopefully we will do lunch with Vickie and Donald but I'm not sure yet. The picture you see at the top of this entry is what the girls were doing to Damion last night. Every now and then he will let them draw on his body or do his hair, paint his nails...whatever they want to do. So last night the girls drew on him and Madison made flip flops on his feet with markers. They are so creative. Oh, and last week someone stole Damion's flat bed trailer from his office. The one that the bobcat gets transported on! and then yesterday, the sign that he had made for the open house at the new spec house was taken. The nerve of some people! I feel like Damion tries so hard and he just keeps getting beat down. Maybe one day!