The President is coming!

That's right folks! In case you haven't heard, President Obama will be hanging out in Asheville for the weekend. At the Grove Park, to be exact. My only hope for him is that he will find it in his heart to meet Lindsay Hales. She is Madison's friend, Emily's sister. News 13 came to Glen Arden yesterday and interviewed her. If you missed it, check it out on www.wlos.com I truly hope her dream comes true!

Do you ever feel like some people do/say things on purpose to try to hurt you? It may be indirectly, nonchalantly - but if you are "in tune" you know what they are doing. This happens to me a lot. I don't try to be better than anyone, I don't pretend like my life, marriage, children are perfect. But why in the world would anybody (especially a "friend") make you feel like dirt on the bottom of someone's shoes? I just don't get it. Marriage class these past 2 weeks has been about communication. Not just communication in your marriage, but communication in any relationship. I tend to be an ignorer in my friendship relationships but am very direct (sometimes too much) in my marriage when it comes to conflict. Not only am I an ignorer but I often times discuss issues with other friends about this conflict. Just my way of dealing with it, I guess. Ok, that's enough venting.

For those of you who pray often and have been praying for Damion....keep it up!! His spirits this week have lifted and we have had a wonderful week. Now tomorrow is Friday (hallelujah) and pay day for him which tends to be stressful and all that may come crumbling down but for the moment - Life is Good. He still hasn't gotten paid from the 2 homeowners that owe him a lot of $ but hopefully with time (and lots of prayer) that will get done too. Another prayer request is for little Susanna Whitaker. I do not personally know her but she and her family are members at Biltmore Baptist who are missionaries in Haiti. Susanna had been very sick for the past 2 weeks, hardly eating anything at all. Her parents had just gotten over malaria and they thought that was what Susanna had. They flew to Miami Children's Hospital just 3 days ago and have found out that she is covered in tumors. A very agressive cancer is taking over her entire body. Poor little thing, she is only 4 years old.

Go hug your babies! (even the furry ones)

I haven't blogged in a couple days .... my life has been kinda boring - well, not really boring but not too much has been going on. Saturday I cleaned ALL day long and transferred out mine and EL's closet. Out with the winter clothes, in with the summer clothes! Only to be freezing the very next day! Sunday night, since Andrea was in town we (Aimee, Aimee's friend Deb, Andrea, Me, Amy and Jennifer) went to dinner at Pomodoros. It was fun!

So our weekend was pretty quiet. Oh, except I forgot to mention that Damion's truck broke down Friday night and that was terrible. He got home late and was in a bad/sad mood. Anyway, it is fixed now but having to pay to get it fixed was no fun.

Yesterday I wasn't feeling well so we all were in bed by 8pm. It was awesome! I'm hoping for another one of those nights tonight. It is raining right now :) and all is quiet. I'm sleepy just thinking about it.

I think I might be a Facebook snob. I don't let just anybody be my friend. I have to really know you, have been friends with you in school, worked with you...something. You can't just pop out of nowhere and be a nosey person all up in my stuff!

Kind of a quiet day. EL has her first soccer game on Saturday morning and it is supposed to rain...

Praise, sickness and a broken heart

All these things hit Madison in less than 24 hours. Let's start with the praise - Wednesday night she was baptised and it was great! Mom and dad, Brett, Sarah & Riley, and Damion all made it in time! I even got Emma-Leigh out of her AWANA's class early so she could witness it too. It was pretty dark in there but here are a couple pictures.





Thursday morning, she got sick. She woke up with a belly ache and kept saying she didn't want to throw up...and then it hit her. All over the bathroom floor, walls, her feet...needless to say, I got it all cleaned up,she insisted she could not miss school and we were out the door with a pack of gum and her bookbag!

Thursday at school, her boyfriend since November broke up with her. I felt so bad for her! I know they are only 12 and in 6th grade but rejection, of any kind, when concerning either one of my kids is heartbreaking. Later, he called her but she wouldn't answer her phone. Ah, to be in love and in middle school again!

Today Madison was going on a field trip - The Scoop About Poop! She was not looking forward to it. I am curious as to how it went!

I took an early lunch this morning and met Andrea at Old Navy for the start of stuff 'n save. The first 50 customers were able to get 50% off! What a deal, right? Yeah, everyone else thought so too because when I got there (before 10) there was a HUGE line going up the side of the building. We were not able to get 50% off but I did buy a few pairs of shorts for our upcoming cruise in June! The fun part was getting to shop with Andrea though. I haven't seen her since she was pregnant with Garrett so it was fun! We are planning on going out to dinner sunday night with a few other friends and I am already looking forward to that.

Tonight Emma-Leigh has soccer practice at 6 and then we have no other plans for the weekend! I really need to work on mine and Emma-Leigh's closet - out with the winter clothes, in with the summer clothes!

Today is such a BEAUTIFUL day!

A little bit of negativity....

Damion can not get a break. It seems like when something goes wrong, it all goes wrong. I feel so bad for him and can not do anything to help. He is such a good person, he really is but it seems like he gets taken advantage of daily. I don't understand how people actually think they can have work done on their house and then decide they don't have the money to pay. I've said it before but does anyone actually think they can go to the grocery store, get groceries and leave without paying? I just wish, hope, pray that one day he will get some relief. He works ALL the time, comes home late EVERY SINGLE NIGHT and is stressed to the very max. He skips lunch because he's so busy, drinks coffee all day long and usually eats around 9pm and goes straight to bed. He's overweight, stressed out, not getting much sleep - we all know that is not a healthy combination. When he decided to quit his job at Wilsonart and become a general contractor, owning his own business, I just wanted him to be happy. He had a great job at Wilsonart, great benefits, great hours - it was all great! He was bored and wanted to do more with his hands. He is an excellent builder - a not so great business person. I'm feeling sorry for him today :(


That's us in Mexico in January, 2008.

On a positive note, today is Aimee's birthday and she is off from work today and tomorrow. I will man this ship by myself...and be bored doing it. We laugh so much everyday, it's kinda sad when one of us is alone.

Madison is getting baptised tonight. I am very excited although she is brushing it off like it's no big deal. Mom, dad, Brett, Sarah & Riley will definitly be there. Hopefully Damion, Donald & Vickie will make it as well.

If I haven't mentioned it already, Flat Stanley has made it to Pinehurst and is enjoying his stay so far. He also has a blog so if you haven't seen it, check it out. Emma-Leigh will have a great project to share with her class. Tiff always does such a good job with stuff like that.

Last night after work I met mom and the girls at the gym and after that, we ventured to the grocery store for a few things and then headed over to mom and dad's for hot dogs with Brett, Sarah & Riley. It was nice! But then that lead to a late night, late baths, late homework finisher uppers for the girls which then lead to a crazy morning this morning! Upside is - it's the middle of the week. It's all downhill from here!!

Where did the weekend go?

Are your speakers on? Do you hear the song that's playing? Yeah, that's what I was listening to on the way to take Madison & Bayley to school this morning. I have never heard of this song. Sure, it's catchy...but the lyrics? The vulgar words? Where do they get stuff like this? I'm telling you, middle school is tough. Tougher as a mom, I think. Anyway, this song won't be the #1 song in the playlist for long. Feel free to change it if you'd rather hear something else. Trust me, I won't be offended!

The weekend was beautiful!! Friday night we hung out at home. Damion worked late and Madison went to dinner with Bayely at Apollo Flame then they went to Target. Emma-Leigh and I went to Boston Market and brought dinner home. After Madison got home we went to Target to get birthday presents for each of their friends and then to CVS to get these new little bracelets. They're the new fad. I can't remember the name of them but they're jellyish type bracelets and when you take them off, they make a shape...like a crown or a wand or a fish or a sunshine...you get the point. They're pretty cute.

Saturday Emma-Leigh and I got up pretty early, got ready and went to get my car inspected. We secretly left Madison at home alone with a note under her door telling her where we were. She was still asleep when we got back. At 2pm, Emma-Leigh had a birthday party to go to. It was her friend from her class, Hannah. I dropped her off at the party, went home to get Madison (she was still primping and not ready), took her to Cameron's for Bayley & Cameron's joint birthday party, then went back to get Emma-Leigh. She and Hannah had already worked out a sleepover so she ended up coming over to our house. They had a lot of fun! Madison spent the night with Bayley so it was nice for Emma-Leigh and Hannah to be able to hang out together.





Sunday we went to church. Me, Emma-Leigh and Hannah. We met Cindy, her mom, Brody, Bayley and Madison there. After that we all went to Firehouse and Amelia joined the girls, Damion met us there as well. After that, the girls went back to Cindy's house and I took Emma-Leigh, Hannah and Brody with me. We went to Discount Shoes with Damion and then went home so they could all play outside. It was a beautiful day and Brody and Emma-Leigh enjoyed each other's company for a change.



They played all day. Hannah's mom picked her up around 3pm but Brody and EL played until about 6:30 and I finally had to take him home and go get Madison. Cindy and her mom were working on dinner and invited us to stay and eat so we did! Steaks, baked potato, salad...it was very good!

So it's back to the routine today...Monday is never any fun.

Easter / Spring Break

Boy am I behind! Time sure does get away from you! Keeping up with this blog thing is a lot of work but very rewarding. Let me try to update you on what all has been going on this past week...

Last friday was Good Friday and I was off work. Madison had spent the night with Cameron on thursday night so it was just Emma-Leigh and I. We went to the park, ate lunch and she rode her scooter. The weather was very nice. Not too hot with a wonderful breeze. She chose to wear a dress...she says she's cooler that way. She also told me that she will ride this Dora scooter when she's 20.



Friday night EL (that's what we'll call her since her name is so darn long) she had her first soccer practice. She had a great time! After that we met Shawn, April & Abigail at our usual friday night hang out :) papas & beer!



Madison spent the night at Cameron's again on Friday night. They were working on building a "tree house" and hadn't quite finished yet. So Cam called and begged for Madison to stay another night so they could have one more day to work on it. Here's the final product...



EL and I dyed Easter eggs on Saturday while Madison & Cameron were busy at work! EL rode her scooter in the driveway, made tracks with her sidewalk chalk and we just hung out at home, relaxing.



Saturday night, the girls and I (and Cameron) went to Panera for dinner. Cameron stayed the night and the Easter Bunny visited! We weren't able to go to church Sunday morning. It wasn't a good morning. Madison got up late, her hair wouldn't do right, her dress was too short...I was upset because Damion wasn't going and we were late so we ended up not going at all. I was bummed.



Sunday night the 4 of us went to dinner with mom, dad, brett, sarah & riley to PF Chang's. It was delicious! For some reason, the holidays don't seem the same now that I'm older. I don't feel like we are with our family as much as we should be. Mom and dad were at the lake this weekend, as were Vickie and Donald. It was the perfect weekend to be at the lake but we weren't able to go because EL had soccer friday night. Damion ended up working a little while on Sunday, we only did 1 egg hunt but he wasn't home for it. I don't know, it just doesn't feel the same. Here are Damion and EL washing the car...



Monday & Tuesday I was off work to hang out with the girls. We went to the park both days. We had a blast!! It was extremely hot - like 84 with a light breeze. We packed a picnic lunch both days. On Monday, Madison's friends, Emily & Lily were there. They ended up coming home with her and spent the night. Tuesday we were up and at it again! The creek was freezing cold but they had a lot of fun.





ok, that's about it. It was back to work for me yesterday and boy was it tough! Short week though so we are doing good. Also, Damion was sick yesterday. He didn't get out of the bed - some kind of stomach bug got him. He's back at it today though hopefully he will stay well!

Oh! What a glorious day!

Today the sun is shining and it is B E A U T I F U L!!!! It's about 82 degrees outside and just gorgeous! I can not wait to get outside and enjoy it!

Last night was our usual Wednesday night routine. Church then home for baths/showers and to finish up any leftover homework.

Today I had lunch with Sarah and Riley at Ianucci's. Cheese bread and marinara is our favorite!



I am very anxious about being off work until Wednesday. We don't have any plans but the weather is going to be wonderful! I was hoping maybe we could spend the day at the lake either tomorrow or Saturday. Emma-Leigh is supposed to have soccer practice tomorrow night. Very odd to me since it is Good Friday but nonetheless it is her first practice and she can not miss!

Still praying that Damion will be at church with us on Easter morning...please keep him in mind.

Happy Easter!!