I didn't realize....

I was so far behind. Now I'm overwhelmed...even more.

Let's rewind back to Thursday night, June 30th. Shawn's birthday. Shawn, April, Damion, Abigail and I went to Elena's for Shawn's birthday dinner. All of us (except for Abigail) had chicken. We all got sick. Diarrhea sick. Every 45 minutes (or less) on the toilet. Too much information, I know but you need the full story. Remember my spa day I was gonna have on Friday? well, I still went. It lasted an hour and a half. I almost didn't make it. It is the worst feeling in. the. world. to not have control of your body. I enjoyed the spa treatment - it was probably the best massage I have ever had - and I've had quite a few. I just couldn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked because the whole time I'm praying that I just make it through it. As soon as it was over, I rushed to the bathroom :( Cindy went with me that day and had a body wrap. Since her treatment didn't last as long as mine, she was waiting in the lounging area for me, relaxing, enjoying her time. All I wanted to do was take a hot shower and get out of there. I want to go back. After that, Cindy and I went to the mall. I really wanted to enjoy my day. I REALLY did. During our brief time at the mall, I probably went to the bathroom at least 3 times. Not fun. I hate public bathrooms. So needless to say, my lake trip was postponed until later on in the afternoon. My plan was to go straight to mom and dad's camper but I had to stop at the lake house on the way down TO USE THE BATHROOM. ugh! and I was SO hungry, STARVING. So when dad served up some chicken and corn on the cob from the grill I dug in. It didn't last long. Then the next day, I had to be taken back and forth from our little island of Jamaica to the bathroom. I was miserable. Finally, on Sunday I was feeling MUCH better. Here are some pics -










This was one of the highlights of the weekend. Damion's dad would come speeding by on the jet ski and splash everyone. It was a HUGE spray of water and the kids (even dad) LOVED it!






Hooray! For those of you that were wondering, Damion made it down on Sunday afternoon - but left after dinner Sunday night.


Alejandra drew a hopscotch board(?) and the kids had a fun time! They never REALLY knew how to play until she told them.



On Monday, when we returned home, we went over to Cindy & Randy's for a cookout with them, Michelle & Scott. Damion worked too late and didn't get to come.







Now that last week is covered - here's what I've been doing this week...missing Madison.
She has been away at Southwind Wyldlife Camp in Florida since last Saturday night. I have missed having her at home. She likes to be away, she's very independent so it doesn't really come as a surprise to me that I haven't talked to her ALL week. I'm disappointed but the pictures that the counselor has posted has assured me she is having a wonderful time. I'll share a few of them with you :)






This is one of my favorites. So natural, so Madison. I bet she didn't even know it was being taken.










Looks like they had a fun time, huh? I can't wait to hear all about it. She will be home around 11:30pm tonight!

While Madison has been off at camp, Emma-Leigh has spent her week at Sarah's Summer Day Camp with Riley and Reagan. She has enjoyed her lazy week although staying up late and getting up early has taken its toll on her. She is very tired.

Brett and I took the girls to Chick-fil-A on Tuesday night for "Family night".




Wednesday night, Brett and Sarah went out for drinks with their friends and I got to take Riley & Reagan to my house :) mom came over too. We got food from KFC and took it home to eat. Riley ate a chicken leg for the FIRST TIME! She liked it!

Yesterday, Sarah showed her art skills by painting the girl's faces...

that actually scares me just a little bit.



That's about it! Tomorrow we will have Emma-Leigh's birthday - pool - party at the racquet club. Let's hope it doesn't rain. Welcome home Madison! I have missed you!!!

I've got the jitters...

...and that's because my good friend, Millie, who happens to be my co-worker brought me an enormous sized iced coffee from Starbucks and it has pushed me slightly over the edge. I can't focus. So I'm blogging instead... let's see, what can we discuss? We can discuss the fact that my girls are growing up, right before my very eyes and just here lately they've proven it to me. You see, they are staying home alone this summer. I had mixed feelings about it at first. I was afraid they would kill each other. I was afraid they'd starve to death. I was afraid the dogs wouldn't make it. I have been proven wrong. They've done beautifully. So what if EL had popcorn for lunch yesterday? She fixed it herself. Madison usually skips breakfast and wakes up at lunchtime. She pretty much fends for herself but it looks to me like she's been having breakfast (cereal) at lunchtime. Works for me. I have been putting a cereal bowl on the counter, along with a box of cereal for Emma-Leigh daily. I also pour a glass of milk and put it in the refrigerator so she can just pour that into her cereal bowl instead of trying to lift the whole gallon of milk. She's done great. They both have. I am so very proud of them!

Last week, EL was in dance camp at Centerstage. She had a good time but told me she was NOT doing it next year. She said it was just too much hard work. She didn't like having to wake up early and go. Maybe she will change her mind. I would like to get her in a hip-hop class one night a week but cheerleading is starting in August, so not sure if we will be able to swing both. We will see. Anyway, here's a picture from dance camp -


This weekend we are headed to the lake :) mom and dad will take Madison, Emma-Leigh and Bayley down tomorrow at noon. I have a spa day scheduled at Suraj on Friday and will head down right after it. Another spa day you say? ;) that's because my other co-worker, Jeanne, gave me a groupon for a free spa package. I can hardly wait! I'm not even sure what all is involved but it doesn't matter. I'm going!

Please cross your fingers that Damion comes down to the lake on Sunday. He said he MIGHT. You just never know with him! Happy 4th of July!

catching up...

I've fallen behind AGAIN. sorry, folks. Just can't get it together. Let me try to catch you up on all that's been happening around here...

rewind to...Saturday, June 11th. . . Shawn & Kim's 40th Birthday Surprise Party @ P.F Chang's. Afterwards, we went to Elaine's at Grove Park Inn. We had a good night!

This is usually what happens when we are together...I am trying to get Damion to do something (in this case, take a picture) and Shawn is looking at us like we're a bunch of fools.

This one turned out much better :)

The Busby's!
Riley also had her 3rd birthday party on Saturday night. Damion & I were unable to attend but the girls got to go with mom and dad. Here are a few favorite pictures I stole from Sarah ;)

The birthday girl with her Mimi.

Don't you love this swim suit? Used to be Emma-Leigh's! I love that :)

Reagan & Madison in their kinda-sorta matching swim suits.

Since Damion and I were unable to attend Riley's party we took her to Build-a-Bear last Thursday night. She had been anticipating this night for weeks! We began the evening by having dinner in the food court...Riley and Emma-Leigh chose chick-fil-a. Then it was off to "Building Bear" as Riley liked to call it.

It didn't take her too long to decide which animal she wanted...

and she was SO sweet...thanking Damion without even being told to do it. He was smiling from ear to ear...you know that doesn't happen often!

and the fun didn't stop there ~ Riley spent the night with us Thursday night...Damion got kicked out of the bed...

I think Riley enjoyed her sleepover...she didn't fall asleep until around 1:30am. She was just too excited!

On Saturday, Madison & Bayley were invited to celebrate Ashley's birthday by having massages and pedicures. This was their first massage!

First step - paperwork.

Looks relaxing, doesn't it? They had a great time! Later on that day, Cindy & I indulged ourselves as well and went for pedicures! I love a good foot rub!

Sunday was Father's Day. If Damion had it his way, he would've been in bed all day long but we were on the hunt for dad some fishing gear, then had lunch at Ichiban. Later on, Madison & I went over to mom and dad's to take dad his gift - which ended up being a card and cash. He was pleased.

and that's about it! Yesterday was Sarah's birthday so we all went to Ichiban for dinner! twice in one week ;)

Oh and Mom got the position at the new intermediate school that she had applied for. The school will not be finished in time for this upcoming school year as they had originally planned but chances are, when school does start, she will be working at Valley Springs until Koontz is completed. EL is okay with this change, she knows her grammie will be at her new school when she is in 5th and 6th grades.

Happy Summer!

Last day of 7th and 3rd grades

This morning sucked. There's just no other word for it. I can't ever have both the girls get up and get ready and both be happy. It's either one or the other. This morning, EL was the grumpy one. She was extremely tired and slow going and then what she had planned to wear, she couldn't find. See the other day, she took one of my shirts that I hadn't worn in a while and cut it into a vest for herself. She had Damion sew a button on it and was just delighted with the finished product. Only today, it was nowhere to be found. I have NO clue where it could have ended up. She had originally planned to take it to school with her on Thursday for the 3rd grade auction but when I asked her who bought it she said she had forgotten it at home. Guess tonight we will be digging thru the trashcan. So here is our first day of school / last day of school traditional pictures...

August 2010 - First day of school


June 2011 - Last day of school

I can't believe how fast they are growing up and this year has FLOWN by!

Now let's rewind to last Friday...Madison, Bayley, Julia, Ashley, Holly and Cameron all made the cheerleading squad. No one got left out this year! Now let's hope we have as good a year this upcoming season as we had last year.


Sunday night we went to dinner at El Charro for Brett's birthday. Since we were all at the lake last weekend it kinda got pushed back. Don't worry though, he celebrated! LoL Riley wanted her hair in braids like Madison's - it looked so cute when she was finished.


Emma-Leigh won her class spelling bee on Monday so Tuesday the top 4 spellers from each class had a sort of "championship" spelling bee. EL didn't do so hot. She misspelled "piece" but she looked good doing it.


Also on Tuesday, we celebrated EL's birthday at school. Her birthday isn't until July 21 but since it's during the summer her teacher gave the option of celebrating before school is out. So sweet. They do a neat little thing too. They light a candle, which symbolizes the sun, Emma-Leigh is the earth - she takes 9 trips around the sun, symbolizing each year she's alive. After each trip, I shared a picture of what she did that year. It was pretty fun. Then we had cookie cake and juice!






Wednesday was Emma-Leigh's awards program. I didn't know she was getting an award, just went to hear her sing. Surprisingly, she received an Achievement Award for Most Improved - probably in Math. She had a F on her mid-term and brought it up to a B by the time report cards came out. I was beaming :) she also got a blue cord symbolizing the A/B Honor Roll. Yippee!


Today Tiff & fam comes to town and tomorrow is Riley's bday party. Unfortunately, Damion and I will not be attending Riley's party :( very sad. Instead, we will be going to Shawn & Kim's 40th surprise birthday party. Riley understands - actually, all she worries about is whether or not her Mimi is coming - yes, Madison & Emma-Leigh are going to her party. I hope to spend my Saturday before the party at the pool, in the sunshine...we shall see. Hope everyone has a good kickoff to summer weekend!

End of the school year...

which means cheerleading tryouts are just one day away. If you've forgotten the drama of last year, just go back and read blog posts from June 2010. Madison said last night she is NOT confident that she will make the team. Cheerleading is all she has done - since she was 5 years old. I can't imagine her not cheering. Guess we will find out tomorrow night!

This past weekend we went to the lake. Brandon and his family didn't get to come because he had to go to Europe again for work. Brett & Sarah had some friends, dad had some work friends, Cindy & Bayley and Noelle came with me. Needless to say, there were about 35 people on our little island of Jamaica. It was fun! Here are a few pictures -


Isn't that a lovely sight? I was actually trying to take a picture of him skiing - I didn't think he'd be able to get up that fast. To my surprise, he did AND gave us a shot of that white hiney! Thanks dad :)


Madison & Bayley think they are pro-cheerleaders and try to stunt on just about everything!

This is usually what ends up happening!

We had a really fun time! Can't wait for many more weekends like that this summer!

okay, so my spa day was ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!

Since no cameras are allowed inside, we snapped this one before going in - here's Vickie, mom, me and Cindy. The day was a BLAST. I can not even describe how perfect it was. The weather was gorgeous - beautiful blue skies (no clouds) and HOT, extremely hot, the hottest day of the week! We started out by laying out in the sun - at 9:30am. Mom and Vickie were scheduled for their treatments at 11:45am so after they were done we had lunch in the cafe. Mine and Cindy's treatments weren't until 4pm and 4:15pm so we layed out in the sun and played in the pools until then. We left there at about 6:30pm. It was GLORIOUS and I can not wait to do it again!

The pool at the racquet club has NOT opened yet. Huge bummer. Apparently something is wrong with the pump and they have yet to get it fixed. I was hoping to take the girls there on Saturday or Sunday but not sure if we will or not. We could always go to the downtown location but I don't really want to go that far...

Cindy leaves for Florida tonight for her nephew's graduation so Bayley is hanging with us for a few days. Let's hope they both make the cheer squad tomorrow night or this weekend will suck.

Happy day everyone!