Am I the only adult that doesn't drink coffee?

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Kentucky again. This time it was without the kids & with my sister. We left early on a Saturday morning & met our cousin, Caroline. She lives in Tennessee and we met halfway. Well, it was a little over halfway for Caroline. I don't think she minded though. Anytime any of us get a drive alone, it doesn't seem to matter if it is for one hour or 15 hours. :)

Last year, Ashley met Caroline and they had a blast. I couldn't go then because it was mine and Nate's anniversary. So this time we scheduled it for a few weeks earlier. Nate left Friday night & he and the kids went to stay with his parents for the weekend. They were having Easter. I was on the fence about going with Ashley or having Easter at Nate's parents. I hated to miss my kids hunting eggs. But, I decided to go with Ash. And no offense, but I'm sooo glad I did. Us mama's need breaks now & then and I realized that I wasn't going to die if I didn't see my kids hunt for eggs one time.

So that Friday, I got the pleasure of going to dinner with my dad & step mom. And since my dad is awesome, I didn't have to pay. And I even got a Margarita! They had to break out their glasses to see the menu. Oh joy...I can't wait to get older ;) Dad doesn't ever bring his, so he has to borrow. Notice the rhinestones on his black glasses?
Saturday morning, bright and early, we headed out. I was of course 15 minutes late picking Ashley up. I always am late picking her up. Always. And she hates it with a passion. It is a good thing she loves me so much. We got to Kentucky around 10:15 am & started the day with Caroline. We shopped, we ate, we got pedicures, went to the movies & ended the night with...coffee. I'm telling you, I'm the only adult who doesn't drink coffee. No matter where I am with Ash, the subject turns to coffee. They are like coffee connoisseurs. Call me a redneck, but all I need is my fountain Diet Pepsi & I am yours! We stopped in at the ol' Starbucks & Caroline and Ashley ordered the fancy coffee. I ordered Hot Chocolate. If you had a gun to my head, I wouldn't know what the names are of any of those fancy coffees.

Ash at the hotel...

Caroline...

Ash & Caroline on their luxurious King size bed...

Now here is where it gets funny. A couple of years ago, Ash & I went to Tennessee to another one of our cousin's weddings. They put our family up in the Embassy Suites. She & I shared a room. You walked in the door and there was the living area. You walked thru another door & there were 2 beds. She and I had spent about 7 hours on the road, plus shopping, plus some beer drinking, plus an Ambien for me & I was OUT. I remember her waking me up yelling at me that I was snoring so loud. The next night, I slept in the living area on the couch bed. Since we had the door in between, we closed it. And we both slept like babies.

That brings me to this night. When looking for a room, I told her that I wished we could find something with like a separate bedroom. I was paranoid of snoring. I'm not good when it comes to sleeping in a room with other people. I don't sleep well (unless I've done the above) because I'm paranoid. I don't take Ambien anymore so I'm clearly not a zombie like I use to be. She books this room & tells me the picture looks like it has a divider. I told her that she & Caroline could share the bed & I would sleep on the other side of the divider (you know, to hopefully drown out anything). Here is the great divider...

Yep...that's it. The thing with the TV on it. You see the bed and the couch on the other side of the "divider". Maybe the picture was a little misleading? Or maybe Ashley needs to have her eyes checked? So here is my bed. Once pulled out, it wasn't too bad.

But take a look at this shower. I could have gotten use to that thing.

We all ended up having a wonderful time & I'm so excited for next year!

Kentucky Woman

Last month, on the kids' spring break, me & the three plus granny took a trip down to Kentucky. We stayed with JoAnna & Andy (actually Andy stayed at Jo's grandma's because we all couldn't fit in their house). The kids had a great time and enjoyed seeing their cousin, Carter. The 5 hour trip down went pretty smooth. The 5 hour trip back (a couple days later) went not so smooth. They were worn out & we were ready to get home. But, we made it back in one piece. My granny is the best traveling companion. She doesn't complain a bit. She's not a back seat driver & it helped that I had an extra set of hands instead of me with the three by myself.

These were taken on the way home. I bribed the kids with ice cream so we could hopefully enjoy the last hour of driving in peace. It didn't work.

Jonah's not an ice cream or sweets guy. He would take small licks and that was it.

It was maybe 5 licks total.

Now this was on the way down. We stopped in Ohio at a McDonalds & while I was getting the kids back in to the van, I noticed this car beside me. It was trashed. Nasty trashed. There were Coke cans from the bottom of the floorboard up past the seat.

The back of the car was filled with Pet Taxi's and trash. Yikes!

Isabel is JoAnna's dad's hunting room. My kids have never been around dead stuffed animals. Poor thing thought this was just so cute.

Jo and the kids + Carter taking a trip to the good ol' Walmart. As you can tell, it rained. The whole time. I was hoping since we were going South, the weather would be warmer and nice. Not so much this time.

Carter in his Spiderman get up

Jonah and a dinosaur

Story time before bed. Their place is 2 bedroom, so me and my kiddos slept in one room. The boys slept on an air mattress that we took down & Isabel and I slept on the bed in that room. Carter slept in his room & Jo slept on the couch.

Isabel loved this stuffed horse

Jonah got to drive "Poppy's" (JoAnna's dad) golf cart. He loved it.

Lets talk about Facebook

Are you on Facebook? I am. And I have to say, I hope it isn't around when my kids get old enough to be on it. I guess that could be a few short years as I know a 7 year old who has an account. Really...I do. I'm learning that people are nuts on Facebook. Psycho. But I can't peel my eyes away from the soap opera that it is. I get embarrassed for some of my "friends" when they post crazy things. Some are adults. But, there are a few teenagers that I have on my friends list who are of unsound mind. Seriously mental with a capital M. And I wonder why in the crap their parents don't take away their computers.

There is one person who comes to mind when I think "Crazy!" They post status updates about every 10 minutes. Their status updates always talk about their BFF's, the b*&^%$# who need to "grow up" and their love life. "Baby, I love you...baby, I can't live without you...baby, baby, baby, baby, BABY!" And one minute they are "in a relationship", the next "single" and after that, "engaged". A teenager for crying out loud! Why aren't their parents stepping in? I can't believe the cussing that comes out of their mouths. Crap, I'm almost 35 years old & if I say "hell" on here, my mom gets offended.

Why can't I delete them? Why oh why? I get sucked in to their stupidity and then I have to tell Nate about it. Sometimes we get a good laugh out of it. But really, its sad.

So parents, if you have kids who are on Facebook, you may want to check out what they are writing to see what kind of embarrassment they are causing. Or, you may just be a redneck who doesn't give a crap.

The haunting of Isabel's room

I'm convinced that Isabel's bedroom has a "spirit". Most nights, Isabel will wake up a couple hours after going to bed. She usually screams for daddy. Most of the time, he will go and see what she wants. I'm a vile, mean person at night. I can't help it. I've always been that way. Even in my younger years if I got woke up in the middle of the night, I wasn't happy. Just ask my brother & sister. I have no idea how I stayed so calm during the infant stage. I chalk it up to meds & God :)

We think that Iz has nightmares because most of the time, she isn't fully awake. She'll talk in gibberish & then once Nate snaps her out of it, she acts like she has no clue why she woke up or why she screamed. I, of course, think that "someone" wakes her. I'm pretty sure Nate thinks I'm crazy. Her room is always cooler than any others. Nate says, "our room stays cool too, Shan." Yes Nate, but our door is usually closed. Hers is not. Hello...cool room + screaming = spirits!

Last week, she did her usual "Daddy" scream. Nate was in her room for a while before he came back to bed. He said she was sitting in the middle of her bed & got up. She walked over to her lamp & said something to the effect of, "we can't see their faces...their white." Nate thinks she was talking about her light. However, she got down on her knees & looked under her bed. Nate said she got up & he said, "What's wrong, Isabel" & she snapped out of it. She asked if she could go to bed.

So last night I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed. I could hear Nate snoring so I knew he was asleep. I heard her scream. I went & looked in to her room. We keep her door cracked open. I could see her sitting up. She was saying, "But I need my daddy. I need my daddy." I went in & asked her what she was doing. She said something again about white. I said, "Who are you talking to?" She said, "The white boy" and I said, "What is he saying?" and she said, "He can't see." I then asked if the boy was nice to her & she said yes. After a few minutes of talking, she closed her eyes. I finished getting ready & before I went to bed, I peeked in her room for a few minutes. I was hoping to get a glimpse of something. Of course, nothing happened.

It isn't unusual for her to be standing in the middle of her room, pointing to something. I'm tempted to ask the previous guy who lived here if anything happened. Maybe I'll contact the show "Paranormal State". Talk about embarrassing Nate. Or maybe I am just crazy.

They are ready...

Is it even possible that my kids are ready for Kindergarten?

No way...weren't they just born?

The day is drawing near. I've been given the green light from the kids' teachers. "They are ready", they tell me. I'm getting choked up just typing this. How will I handle it, come August? We went to Kindergarten roundup on Wednesday. If you've been to K roundup, you know you have to fill out a ton of paperwork. Well, imagine that....times 3! That's a crap load of paperwork. Thank God for my sister who met me at the school. She kept the kids corralled while I hovered over paperwork. Each child was taken in to a separate room and asked questions. I wondered how come Ashley asked Jasper, "Where's your wrist?" when we got out of the car. She then told me that the kids would be asked questions & she remembered they asked Trevor that question when he went to round up. The lady who administered the questions said they did well. This morning, I had meetings with all three teachers & the principal of our next school. Not to toot my own horn, but they had nothing but great things to say about my kids. Ummm, yea, they must be way different when they are around mama. :) All three were tested to see where they stood. Isabel & Jonah were at the high end of average & Jasper scored above average. The principal viewed some of the things their teacher's had & said she had no doubt they were ready. The question remains...full or half day. They've been going to Pre-K for 2 years, everyday. It is for 2 1/2 hours. That is the amount they would be in half day Kindergarten. Their teachers think they will get bored if I don't send them full day. I know it will be beneficial to them. I know the whole schedule adjustment will be hell the first few weeks. But, I'm leaning towards full day. I'm just not sure I'M ready....

Jasper and Jonah

"He ain't heavy, he's my brother." --Roe Fulkerson

Because every little girl should have a beer mug hat

This picture was taken a few weeks back when Isabel & I went shopping at a party supply house for a baby shower. She put this hat on & I whipped out my phone & took her picture. I thought it was the cutest thing. THEN, I realized, only when I went back to look at the photo on my phone, what type of hat it was. There I was telling her how cute it was & "Let mama take your picture"...all the while my 4 year old is sporting a nice tall draft. I still think she's the cutest little beer mug sporting 4 year old girl!

Those Kids

I just had to take a moment and blog about my precious children who are playing outside at this moment. We live next door to some older children. They aren't crazy old...about 3 years older (the youngest) than mine. I have a hard time letting them "go" and just play. I worry about older kids not being nice to them. That is normal, right? And I notice that older kids think they are the same size as my 4 year olds & attempt to ride on their toys. The fact is, they are too big for their ride on toys. They can't peddle them because they have no leg room & their weight is greater than mine (not mine obviously..if it was, than we'd have a huge problem seeing as I'm a voluptuous...umm, yea, sure...voluptuous girl). So, it's a nice day today. The kids went outside to play and neighborhood kids rode their bikes down, along with their friends. Jasper says, "You guys wanna play on our trampoline?" I bite my tongue (don't be the bag of a neighbor, Shannon..don't do it). They all get on the trampoline except for Izzy. She rides her bike. Of course, one of the neighbor's friends tries to ride on a peddle car. I hear Iz say, "Are you peddling?" The girl (who is probably 8 or 9) says, "Yes." Iz says, "Good job...good job". She's such a mother hen. I'm keeping an eye on the kids from the kitchen window. It's open. I see Jasper kick. I yell out, "Jasper! No kicking or everyone is getting off the trampoline!" Then I say to Isabel, "Go ask them to take their shoes off & tell them your mama said to." She waltzes back there like her poop don't stink & screams, "Hey kids! Take your shoes off...right now!!" I'm wondering how long those kids will want to stay at my house.

My loves