Out of steam

That didn't take long, did it? Breakfast wasn't served this morning. It was a bagel and yogurt covered pretzels on our way out the door. I'm tired. It's Monday. I'm a tad bit grumpy. I don't even really have a legit reason to be grumpy. It's just petty stuff - I'll make a list.... 1. The kitchen counter was cluttered this morning when I woke up. It wasn't that way when I left it last night... 2. Dirty dishes in the sink. Again, not the way I left it. 3. The laundry never ends. 4. Emma-L's room is a COMPLETE disaster. And she doesn't even care. I start to hyperventilate when I walk in there. 5. I'm tired. 6. I'm tired of having to beat my kids out of bed. That's a good enough start. I truly have no reason to complain. I actually kinda feel better jotting it all down. See? No big deal. I have a few pictures to share since last time I blogged. Just Madison doing what she loves ~

She was "crowned" MVP at Thursday night's game. Which means I was "crowned" MVP mom. Yay! LoL. I had this gigantic corsage to wear. It was lovely. Way to go Madison! Friday night was youth night at the Varsity game. EL got to cheer with the big girls. She loved it.

Did I mention we went to see Hootie & the Blowfish in Charleston last weekend? Yep. Me and Damion, Brett and Sarah, and Sarah's friend Casey and his girlfriend. It was fun. Perfect weather but I didn't get to put my toes in the sand :( Next year we want to take the girls, Riley and maybe Reagan, too. I mentioned it to Madison already, she was like "okay, no." LoL.

It's extremely quiet at work. There's enough going on to keep us busy, but no one is here. And no one has been hired yet. I'm not worried. It's just strange. Labor Day weekend is coming up, yay! We have no plans. Damion mentioned he might go fishing. That's his new thing. See how happy he is? I don't know what the girls and I will do...

Summer is over. School is back in session. Here's the traditional picture

This year was a bit different - we had a couple extra :)

I loved it. We had a great morning and so far, one week later, we are still doing great - everything right on schedule, I've even been fixing something for breakfast every morning :) I hope I don't run out of steam any time soon. Here's a picture of me and Madison driving to her first day of high school....which I didn't cry about, btw.

So to get you caught up on the summer, it'll be a walk through pictures. It's too much to do any other way...

For Madison, summer began with a trip to Maryland for North Bay Camp with her Wyldlife group. She had a great time!

You can tell from her expression in this picture that she was SO happy to be there, with her friends. Because where else would she want to be? EL turned 10 over the summer and chose to have her party at home. Damion made her a slip 'n slide. I was worried how that would turn out, but it was perfect.

Dad took Madison and Emma-Leigh to sliding rock one day. They chose not to go down the rock, said the water was way too cold.

I took a week off work to just hang out with the girls. It rained EVERY.DAY. which is normally awesome for me...just not on my week off work. On the one day it didn't rain, Cindy and I took the kids to a water park. It was fun...until we got rained out.

EL got to go see Titanic with her friend Grace over the summer...at least I think it was summertime then, LoL. I can't keep up!

Madison made the JV cheer squad. Bayley made Varsity. At first it was sad. Madison had a feeling this would happen. She knew Varsity needed a strong base and that Bayley was the one for the job. It still hurt. But she's extremely happy with her team AND she's a captain! Here's a picture from the night Coach Robyn told her.

And here's the JV and Varsity girls -

They're doing big stunts on the squad, Madison is super excited about them. She explains them to me every night after practice. I'm clueless. I have no clue what these jumps and twists and turns are called. I'm proud of her though.

She's changed my life forever ya know. They both have, it just so happens Madison likes to pose for pictures, LoL. Just a small update in regards to work - we've had 4 therapists leave in the last 3 months. It's creepy around here. Today is Millie's last day which is actually kinda sad for me. She's moving to Switzerland. We haven't hired anyone yet and we need 4 new people. I hate change and getting all these new people credentialed with all our insurance panels is gonna suck but nothin' I can do about it. Oh and today is Damion's birthday, he's 39! We don't have anything planned, that's the way he likes it. Hopefully it won't be another 2 months before I blog again. It takes forever and throws a kink in my routine ;)

End of school / Summertime :)

I know you're just waiting for this picture - at least I know my sister is...they're her fav. First day of school ~ August 2011 Last day of school ~ June 2012 My, how they've grown! I didn't have a hard time at all this day. Mainly because mom works at the new school that Emma-Leigh will be going to and there wasn't an end of the year program for Madison, or I probably would have been in tears. The first day of high school will get me, for sure. Here's what I found written on Madison's mirror on the morning of the last day of school ~ Like always, I've been a slack blogger. So it'll be pictures, mostly. And here lately, I feel like I've already shared these photos, either on facebook or instagram...and I don't wanna duplicate but...here we go. EL got Perfect Attendance for the year this year! Way to go EL! I'm kinda proud of that, to be honest. It's hard getting them up and ready every single day. And she never got sick! Madison, either. BUT she missed 1 day because she went to Florida for spring break with Bayley and they came back a day late... EL was fortunate enough to have a really great teacher this year..who was also named Teacher of the Year - Mrs. Ballard. Here's EL and 2 of her close friends, Maeve and Charlotte. Saturday was cheerleading interview day - don't they look pretty all dressed up? & here's the whole group...oh how I hope they are all on the team together! Lio had a photo shoot the other day ~ this one is my favorite! I can't wait to get my hands on his little chunky self! I think that about covers it! We find out tonight the results of cheerleading...I'll keep you posted. FYI - I don't like blogger anymore. Not sure why my pictures and text are all over the place...sorry 'bout that.

what the heck?

I sign in to blog and everything has changed. I don't even know what I'm doing, where to go.... makes perfect sense, actually. Why when I'm feeling ~ blah, do I turn to my blog? It's been over a month. Guess if you're only ~ blah once a month you're doing good. My blog doesn't talk back, doesn't give me advice, doesn't argue, fuss or fight. Maybe that's why....I don't even know if this will post. I'm so confused. I haven't had my synthroid in 5 days. 5 days. And my throat hurts, I'm tired and I could cry at any moment. I keep forgetting to go get it. The pharmacy closes at 7pm. With all the running around I do after work, by the time I do remember, it's after 7 o'clock. I have to get it today. and coffee at Starbucks while I'm there. I found 2 4leaf clovers today. Lot of good that did. They never bring me good luck though...maybe they just keep the bad luck away. I have lots of pictures to share but from the looks of this new layout, that may not happen any time soon. I hate change. I hate trying to figure stuff out. Especially on my own. On a brighter note, Prince Abbey will be here in less than 3 weeks..there's something to look forward to!

Spring!

It's been a long time...I just can't find enough time in my day to get everything done; and you all know how I feel about this blog...so overwhelming. So here's some pictures! Enjoy :) One night EL's girl scout troop painted ceiling tiles at Glen Arden. They turned out great! Most of the time, when I walk into Madison's room - this is what I see...I NEVER get tired of their laughter! Madison spent Spring Break in Florida with Bayley while I stayed behind to work :( Riley and Reagan came over to dye eggs with us this year....no pictures of Reagan, she was way too busy playing with the dogs. Sunday evening we went over to mom and dad's for dinner and the girls had an Easter egg hunt...here's our attempt at a picture of the 3 of them. Not so great. An update on the home front: Damion's schedule has changed to where he works 8am-8pm, rotating days, being off every other weekend. That can be a good (and bad) thing. We still aren't used to spending a whole lot of time together, LoL. He continues to go to the doctor for various things. Just yesterday he went to Blue Ridge Bone & Joint for his hands. He's been having a numbing sensation through both of them and is unable to grip or make a fist. I think his body is just worn out. They ended up giving him a shot in both wrists of Cortizone, some Celebrex and a brace to wear on each hand...we'll see how that goes. Tomorrow he goes for a colonoscopy and endoscopy... We found out just the other day that cheerleading tryouts for TCR are the week of May 1st. Madison is terrified. I am already stressing over it. I don't want her to make Varsity, she of course wants to make Varsity but doesn't think she will. Her theory is that there are only 3 spots available on the Varsity team - 2 base slots, 1 flyer slot. She is quite certain Bayley will get one of the base slots and Montana (her co-captain) will receive the flyer slot. I would prefer she and Bayley not get split up and they both just try out for the JV team. Madison thinks I'm holding them back by settling for JV. I'm gonna keep my mouth shut from here on out, I just hope it all works out. I'm gonna try to load a video of Madison driving for the first time. Dawn and Cameron were the brave passengers...hopefully it will download.

Monday morning blues

I'm cold, hungry, tired, kinda grumpy and even though it's Monday, we're kinda slow here at work. If I close my eyes for just one second, I think I might fall asleep. I don't really have much to blog about, I'm just bored and wanna do something other than fix rejected claims. I'd like some coffee..but that ain't happenin' so - let's see...I think I'm at that point again where I want to blog but I don't want anybody to read it, LoL. What's the point of that, I know. And if I do like Serenity said and changed some names, every one would know who I'm thinking about anyway so that wouldn't really work for me. Not that I'm talking "about" people. That's not what I mean. It's just funny how one's actions can effect my mood...I have a terrible headache and can't think straight. I was up too late last night, didn't sleep very good and my alarm went off way too early. Our weekend was good though. Didn't do a whole lot but Brett, Sarah and the girls came over yesterday afternoon and that was fun. Sarah and I did a little coupon shopping and then we fixed crab legs, mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner. They were SO good! Damion worked until 11:30 last night so he didn't get to partake of the wonderful meal. I had fun! Sadly, no pictures. I think I'm gonna go look for some Tylenol, I can barely keep my eyes open my head hurts so bad. Hopefully this day will get better....

Private posting

Have you ever wanted to blog about something...but not want others to read it? Guess that's not the point of blogging, huh? That's the way I've been feeling lately. So instead, how 'bout I catch you up thru pictures? sounds good.

ok, so...Valentine's Day dance at Glen Arden. Damion took EL. She was SO excited!


After the dance, Maddy spent the night with Emma-Leigh. They came to pick me up and we went to Moe's for dinner. I had this hope that I would be doing something enjoyable while they were at the dance...yeah, um...didn't happen. I went to the grocery store. Yay me.


We had Madison's cheerleading dinner at some point over the last couple weeks. It was at French Fryz. Here she is with her award for being Captain.


This past Saturday, EL's girl scout troop had a cookie booth set up at Lowe's. She really enjoyed it.


Princess Madison has been grounded for the last 6 days. Damion wanted to do something with them on Valentine's Day and it turned in to a disaster. She wanted to go to the movies instead of hanging out with us, and we were gonna let her go to the movies, just not by herself. As it turned out, Bayley couldn't go. So Madison was stuck hanging out with us. We should've left her at home. She was miserable and made the rest of us miserable. Needless to say, her disrespectful attitude earned her a ticket to nowhere for the next 2 weeks, AND she has to ride the bus to mom and dad's everyday. She's so happy. So on Friday night, she slept. Saturday she slept late and decided she didn't need to take a shower. She was pleasant. She watched tv in the living room instead of staying locked up in her own room. Sunday she did crafty things all day and really enjoyed being at home, even if she'd never admit it. It sucks to be grounded, but hopefully she has learned something.