I am coming with a trash sack ...

Normally when Eythen is taking to long on picking up his room ... I tell him that I am getting a trash sack and throwing away everything that is left on the floor.  Now don't go feeling sorry for the little guy ... Eythen will have been given about 14 zillion times chances to pick up his toys, before I pull the "trash sack card". 

Anyways ... the other night was the same 'ol song and dance.  "Eythen go pick up your room."  "Eythen are you done picking up your room?"  "Eythen how many times do I have to ask you to pick up your room?"  "Eythen!  Seriously!  Pick up your room!"  "Now! Eythen!"  "Eythen what exactly are you doing up there if you are not picking up your room?" 

Now ... after 14 zillion attempts  ... (Yes!  That was 14 zillion times that I asked him to pick up his room ... you may have just lost count or lost your train of thought while you were reading this blog) I pulled the "trash sack card".  Except ... there was a slight problem this time.  I was in the middle of doing 14 zillion things (Yes!  Really!  I was doing 14 zillion things at once!  I am a great multi tasking kind of gal)  ... AND he really DID have some pieces of paper on the floor that were trash.  So when I said, "Eythen, get the trash picked up in your room.  Or I am coming with a trash sack and throwing at all away."  (notice I told him to pick up the TRASH in his room ... not his toys)  He instantly put his hands in the air in an "excited manner" and said, "Great!  That is where trash is suspose to go!  Thanks Mommy!  I am gonna go play then!" 

Shoot!     Eythen 1  Mommy 0     The 5 year old won that round!!!

Aren't you suspose to be in bed???

Last night, Clint and I were watching the KU vs. Mizzu game.  We had put Eythen to bed around 7:30 ... and come this point in the evening ... it was nearly 8:45.  As Clint and I are cheering on the Jayhawks, we hear a faint "YES!" behind us.  We turn around and see Eythen watching the KU game behind us.  I looked at him ... and said "Come here little man."  As he was walking into the living room, I asked him, "What exactly are you doing ot of bed?"  He replied with, "I just wanted to know the numbers on the tv!  KU wins alot!"  (Meaning ... he wanted to see if KU's number was higher than MU's number.  If it is higher ... he knows that KU is winning.)  So ... just when the little guy was about to get into trouble for getting out of bed ... he said something that won over his Daddy.  Clint just starts grinning from ear to ear.  He looks at Eythen and says, "As good of a reason as that is ... and believe me ... I am glad you want to know if KU is winning or not ... your behind needs to be in bed." 

Who could get mad at the Lil' KU fan?!?!?  Certainly not Clint or I!!!

Darn stop sign ruined it all ...

I was on my way home from picking Harleigh up from school today (Breeanna was home sick and Eythen does not have preschool on early release days) and what did we just happen to see???  The Eudora Police in ACTION!  Oh yes!!!  This is something Clint would literally stop in the center of the street to watch (he is such a "have to know exactly what is going on" type of person) ... he is gonna be so bummed when he hears what Harleigh and I got to see ... and he was no where to witness it.

I normally just go straight home after I get the kids ... but I had to get some bills mailed off ASAP ... before we had numerous late fees ... so Harleigh and I headed to the post office.  As I was sitting at the stop sign, getting ready to turn the corner, I glanced ahead of me ... and there it was.  Two of the Eudora Police cars had closed in a van ... one was in front of the van and one was behind the van. The passenger door to the van was open and the guy jumped out ... not sure if he was gonna try to run or what ... but that sure would have added to the excitement that Harleigh and I was watchin goin down.  Then ... out of no where ... one cop pulls his gun out and takes the normal "position" that you see people do on tv.  Feet planted on the ground, one foot in front of the other ... arms straight ahead.  HOLY COW!!! 

CRAP!!!  Back to reality ... I am at a stop sign ... and there are cars behind me.  I have my blinker on ... so I HAVE to turn.  I can not "suddenly" take my blinker off and "suddenly" need to go straight.  (Just a little FYI ... that is EXACTLY what Clint would have done.  Blinker off.  Drive straight.) 

DARN IT!!!  Just when the action is getting good.

So ... off to the post office we go ... at a little bit of a fast pace ... "just in case" the action is still going down on my way home.  SO ... as I am approaching the road where the "action" is ... Harleigh and I glance over to see what is going on.  There are more Eudora Police there now ... and the man has his coat/long sleeve shirt off and is in hand cuffs up against the police car.  Oh yeah ... his van is no longer there ... not sure where it disappeared to in the 2 minutes that it took me to get to the post office. 

Anywho ... I am assuming that they drove him off in the cop car ... but just like the last time ... I got to that same exact stop sign and put my blinker on.

Go Eudora Police Department!  Woot!  Woot!  The most action I have ever seen is the police show up at the park that was 2 houses down from us and get after some rowdy teenagers.  And ... oh yeah ... Clint getting pulled over.

Back among the living ...

Holy Cow!!!  I can NOT remember the last time that I have been so darn sick.  Normally, I am the one that is taking care of everyone else ... and I somehow always seem to avoid it.  Not this time!  I was the first one to get it ... and I was down and out for the count!!!

Monday morning when I was getting the girls ready for school, I suddenly did not feel so well.  I can not be getting sick ... I do not have time to get sick.  Unfortunately, by the time Eythen and I got back from taking the girls to school ... I was praying for someone to come and carry me up the stairs and put me into bed. 

I think I better call in and request a sick day.  Wait a minute!  What is the number a Mommy calls when she is sick?!?!?!  Is it a 1-800 number?  Is it unlisted?  Was it given out on the one day I missed at lamaze class?  Can I find it in the yellow pages?  Was it is in the book, "What to expect when you are expecting" that every soon-to-be Mom buys?  Maybe if I google it?  CRAP!!!  I do not remember receiving this phone number when I left the hospital with any of my kids!!!

As the day dragged on and on and on ... Eythen only came and requested/asked for a few things through out the day ... while I went back and forth from laying on the bathroom floor to crawling into bed.  For example:

"Can I have a pop tart?" 
I'd say, "Sure Eythen, I do not care."

"Can I have an Oreo?" 
After being woke up I said, "Go for it buddy!"

"Mommy!  I just got 1st place on Mario Kart!" 
As I was laying on the bathroom floor (which he did not seem to find the least bit odd when he was telling me about Mario Kart.)  I put a smile on my face and told him, "That is amazing little man!"

"Can I have another Oreo?" 
He, had a sweet little grin on his face.  So I HAD to reply with, "I guess so, Eythen."

"Can I play on the computer?" 
I looked at his big blue eyes and said, "Only if you play on the websites that I have wrote down, Eythen."

"Can I have another Oreo?" 
HUH?!?!?!  I had to flash him a confused look with this Oreo dilema that he was putting in front of me. 
I asked him, "How many times have I said yes to this question?" 
He looked at me with an innoncent grin and said, "I think just one time, Mommy." 
He was being such a good boy the whole entire morning ... and I did not have the energy to even debate it.  "Oh what the heck, Eythen.  I do not care."

"When is it time for me to go to school?" 
HUH?!?!?! SCHOOL?!?!?!  F*#%!!!  I totally forgot about getting Eythen to preschool.  Opps!!! 
I replied with, "Sorry Eythen, you do not have preschool today.  The teachers are not even there." 

Now Now Now ... don't judge me for that.  If you were on your death bed ... I am pretty sure you would tell my little E-Man the same exact thing.  So SHHH!!!!  Let's just keep this between you and me.  *wink*  *wink*  MUM's the word on the school bit if it EVER comes up in conversation between you and the little guy at the Moore house.  In ways ... it was for the best.  Remember all the times I said yes to the Oreo's???  Well, the evidence was staring me back in the face.  It would have taken me hours to scrub off the ring of black that surrounded his little mouth.

OH S*#@!!!  It was the moment that I was secretly dreading since I had realized that Mom's do not get to call in sick ... 3:00 ... school is out for Breeanna and Harleigh.  Must. Get. Up.  So ... while I was looking oh so hot  (I had not combed my hair once the whole entire day) in my oversized sweatshirt and PJ pants on ... I moaned and groaned ... and drug myself out of bed and down the stairs. 

Once we FINALLY pulled back into the driveway ... I was finally safe back in my house with my bathroom floor just a few feet away from me.  As I drug myself inside ... I informed the girls that they were in charge of themselves ... and I went back to praying that someone would come and carry me back up the stairs.  I then continued my ritual for the day of laying on the bathroom floor and crawling back into Clint's and my bed.  I only heard a few:

"Hey that is MINE!"
or
"Give me that BACK!"
or
"You are not the boss of me!"
or
"I had that first."
or 
"I am going to go tell Mommy!"
which I would hollar down the stairs ... "Mommy does not really care right now."

Then ... sometimes ... there would be udder and complete ... silence!!!  This can be a deadly thing in our house.  That is when you have NO IDEA what is going on.  There could be glitter all over the floor, sharpie markers all over the hallway, things being dropped down the toilet to see if they float, someone sucker punched a fellow family member, the dog could possibly be getting a new hair-do ... really ... in our house ... there could be numerous things going on if all you hear is silence or the faint sound of giggles every now and then in the house.  BUT ... if I wanted to know what was going on ... that meant crawling out of bed and praying for someone to carry me down the stairs ... and that was just not gonna happen.  They would be fine ... wouldn't they?

Of all the days for Clint to work late ... it HAD to be the ONE day that I was sick.  I did not hear Eythen's footsteps running across the living room floor followed by, "Daddy's home!" until well after 6:00.  Now ... Daddy was in charge. 

I had fallen back asleep and was woke up to Harleigh, standing at the edge of the bed, staring at me.  She smiled and gave me this sweet little wave that she always does when she wants something. 

She then asked me, "Can we watch some tv when we go to bed?" 

Bedtime?  It was already 7:30/7:45ish?  I glanced at the clock to see it looking back at me with the bright red numbers of 8:45!  HUH?!?!? 

I looked at her and said, "What in the world is your Dad doing having you up this late?"  She shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, we just got done eating dinner." 

Boy oh boy. 

I hollared down the stairs to Clint, "The kids should have been in bed a long time ago, Clinton." 

I then heard my layed back husband reply with, "I am getting them there ... in just a few minutes." 

Whatever ... they got fed dinner at least, right!?!?! 

I decided not to even ask if the clothes were layed out for the morning or if their reading was done or if rooms were picked up or if showers were taken or if ... well ... you get my point.  Suddenly, my layed back husband came walking into our room with a caring smile on his face, carring glass of Sprite for me ... and that was all that mattered at that very moment.

Here we are ... nearly 2 days later ... and I am pretty sure I am gonna be cleaning up the after math of the tornado that ripped through my house from these past 2 days ... for the next week. 

In case you are wondering what happened on Tuesday ... it was the same 'ol song and dance for the most part.  Well, I guess there was one exception ... Eythen could not ask me for any Oreo's all day long.  Reason being ... he ate them all the day before.

The man of my dreams ...

A friends of mine was talking the other day about wanting to finally meet the "Man of her Dreams".  Well, it got me thinking about the "Man of my Dreams".  When I was a little girl ... I had created who this guy would be.  I even daydreamed every now on then ... about that exact moment we would cross pathes with one another.  The "Man of my Dreams" was out there somewhere ... and I could not wait to meet him.

Hit the forward button ... so we can avoid the moments where I got my heart broken & the other "learning moments" in between.  We arrive to August of 1998.  The exact moment in my life ... when things would never be the same again.  The moment when I would realize, that everything I had imagined growing up ... no longer mattered.  Clint was definately not the vision that I had made the "Man of my Dreams" out to be in my head.  As a matter of fact ... he was nothing like the "Man of my Dreams".  Truth be told ... the "Man of my Dreams" ... well ... he does not even come close to holding a candle in the wind to my Clinton.  Clint is so much more than the "Man of my Dreams" ever could be or wanted to be. 

Hit the forward button one more time, & skip past the hard times & awkard "learning moments" in our marriage.  We arrive to January 2010.  The "Man of my Dreams" no longer even exist in my mind anymore ... I can not even tell you how I imagined him when I was a younger girl.  I can not remember if he had blonde or brown hair ... brown or blue eyes ... was he tall or average height???  The "Man of my Dreams" is a distant faded vision in the back of my mind. 

After nearly 10 years of marriage ... Clint still takes my breath away.  I still get butterflies in my tummy when he holds my hand.  To this day, I get weak in the knees when he kisses me.  Clint is everything that I never knew I needed ... & yet ... he is everything that I always knew I wanted.  Just when I do not think I could possibly love this man more than I do at that exact moment ... I fall deeper in love with him the following day. 

Because of that exact moment in August of 1998 ... my life is now complete.  Clint Moore is the "Man of my Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow" ... & in my book ... that is so much more than the "Man of my Dreams" ever could be.

Thank goodness I have these things ...

1.  The smell of pizza through out the house.  Then I know that means I do not have to cook for the day.

2.  Extra Strength Tylenol Rapid Release

3.  4 wheel drive in my SUV on mornings it is snowing and I have to take my kids to school.

4.  Speaking of taking my kids to school ... I am grateful I can take my kids to school in my PJ pants.

5.  When the large bathroom stall is available in the public restrooms.  It is way to hard to keep track of all 3 kids in a bathroom full of adults.

6.  Which leads me to the factor that I am always glad to see public restrooms that have hand sanitizer as well as hand soap for two reasons.
      a.  Long sleeves + hand soap + 1 sink and 3 kids crowded around it  = 3 kids that still have a soapy film on their hands and wet sleeves.  Hand sanitizer is much more convient at times like that!!!

      b.  If the restroom has hand sanitizer, then I do not have to try to dig to the bottom of my purse (while trying to juggle my keys and shopping bags and while telling Eythen to get back here) trying to find the hand sanitizer to spray the kids down with.

7.  There was a key word in #6b ... Over sized purses!!!  Gotta love them!!!

8.  Lip plumping pink lip gloss

9.  Dr. Pepper in a plastic cup full of ice

10. The stand up tanning bed.  My arm pits never seem to tan.

11. Flip flops!!!

12. KU Basketball

13. If you say the word, "KU Basketball" ... then you HAVE to say the name, "Sherron Collins".

14. Taco Bell

15. Tweezers ... what in the world would peoples eye brows look like if we did not have tweezers in the world?

16. My weather radio ... someone has to warn me if a tornado is gonna rip my house away.

17. Scarfs ... they not only keep your neck warm ... but they look cute, too!

18. Boxed wine ... affordable ... and Yummy!!!

19. I think texting is the best invention EVER!!!  Sometimes you wanna tell someone something ... and you just do not wanna bother calling them and going through the "Hi!"  "How are you?" etc.

20. All of those horizontal cushiony things that are around my house to lay down on!!!

21.  Which leads to NAPS!!!

22. DIGITAL CAMERAS!!!  They save me on developing horrible pictures and wasting my film and money.  That little delete button ... is a blessing.

23. Crest White Strips

24. Sweatpants and sweatshirts ... makes the perfect outfit for a stay at home mom in the winter.

25. Rechargable batteries

26. Bounce dryer sheets ... for more than one reason:
          a.  When I am doing laundry, they prevent the clothes from sticking together and sending an electric shock down my body when I am folding them.

          b.  Harleigh's hair!  I wipe down her whole head with one in the morning.  Not only does it make her smell like she just came out of the dryer ... It also prevents the top layer of her hair from standing on end ... as long as she does not make any sudden movement the rest of the day. 

27. Email ... AGAIN ... sometimes you just want to tell someone something and you do not wanna bother calling them going through the whole basic conversation of:  "Hi!"  "How are you?"  "I was just calling because ...".

28. Three simple letters ... D.V.R.

29. CLR cleaner ... that stuff will get ANYTHING clean and shiney!!!

30. TV's in the car ... if you have kids ... I do not even need to explain why this is a bonus.

31. Husbands ... they take out the trash and pump your gas for you when it is cold outside.

32. The invention that prevents husbands from snoring!  Oh wait ... no one has came up with that yet.  *sigh*

33. Unlimited long distance calling

34. Big and Sexy Hair Root Booster

35. Bottled water

36. Homemade sugar cookies with a large amount of frosting on them ... HMMM!!!!

37. Ugg boots ... cozy and cute!!!

38. Debit cards

39. Garage door opener

40. Old Navy

Multple Uses ...

Use #494 for Bounce Dryer Sheets: Harleigh's hair saver! Directions: Wipe down Harleigh's complete head in the morning with one Bounce Dryer Sheet. It will not only makes her smell like she just came out of the dryer, but it helps her out of control, crazy, wild woman hair lay down for awhile. Guaranteed to work, for at least 5 minutes or until she puts her ear muffs on to leave the house. Which ever one comes first.

The photo bandit strikes again ...

In a previous blog (Did Someone Use My Camera ... posted in October) ... I talked about finding all of these "odd" and "unusual" photos on my camera. Families beware!!! There is a "photo bandit" on the loose!!! Well ... that darn "photo bandit" striked again. Some how this unknown person takes your camera and snaps MANY various photos. MANY RANDOM PHOTOS!!! I will get a shot of the frig and then the fireplace, a photo on the wall and suddenly a pillow on the bed, a stuffed animal to an extreme close up of our dog's ear. The selection does give me a wide variety of things to look at I must say. But who is this darn Photo Bandit that keeps sucking all of the battery out of my camera and taking 100's of photos at one time?

The mystery is still unsolved ... But the case file remains open ...

I guess the world may never know ...

Football vs. Basketball

There is two reasons why I love basketball season.

1. Kansas Jayhawks 2. Football is almost over!!!

So ... right off the bat with this blog, you might come to the conclusion that I am not a big fan of football. And well ... you would be correct. Let's just say ... Ummm??? How do I put this polietly without hurting my husbands feelings??? When "Honey Can You Get Me A Beer Season" rolls around ... I ... Well ... Uhhh ... I am just gonna pleed the 5th and say that I do not care for football all that much.

Yes, I have pulled out my "pouty card" and flashed it to Clint on numerous occassions when football has been on the tv ALL day on Sunday. I have even promised some "let's put the kids to bed early" things ... just to avoid that darn thing on the tv ALL freaking day. If this tells you how obsessed my husband is with not only KU football, but football in general ... he proposed on Super Bowl Sunday. Yeah! Try to top that one on the romantic list!!!

So to sum it up ... my marriage is put on hold until halftime during Sundays ... and any other day that football is on. As for tailgating at KU games ... that is a whole nother story in itself. I am pretty sure Clint deep down thinks that tailgating is a sport and if he is not there ubber hours before AND after the game ... the KU football players will not have a CLUE what to do.

Now ... onto KU BASKETBALL!!! Ok ... I will admit it ... I am slighty obsessed with Sherron Collins. JUST A LITTLE BIT!!! But who can blame me?? Remember that shot that was heard all around the world when KU won the National Championship??? The one that Mario Chalmers made!!!??? Well, Sherron Collins was the one that passed him the ball!!! He is the heart of the Kansas Jayhawks, an outstanding point guard, he is the leader for the 2009 -2010 basketball team ... and ok ... he is easy on the eyes as well.

In December we got the chance to take all 3 kids to a KU game (Thanks to my black market, secret service, scalping ticket sister. Kudos to you Janet!!!). All 3 of them have been to a game before ... in fact numerous ones ... but all 5 of us have never been able to go at the same time. This Momma was PUMPED!!!

When we walked into the game ... they had an area for kids to make their own signs ... which I thought was really cool. Breeanna and Harleigh wanted to bust out their artistic side of them ... but the line was HUGE and ... well ... Sherron was waiting on me to find my seat.

I asked Harleigh (aka: Bugs) at half time if she was having fun, and she replied with, "Yeah. I am just watching the clock count down to 0."

I had a thought for a PERFECT sign for Eythen to carry that Sherron was sure to notice ... but Clint convinced me other wise. So Eythen decided to go with GO KU.

I do not really need to tell you about the game ... KU won ... of course. AND they did some ALLI-OOP's!!! My favorite play EVER!!!

... time to load 'em up and head home.

Welcome to the Science Fair ...

I guess this blog should start off with Breeanna's Science Fair. The 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students always put on a Science Fair every year for the parents to come and view. Breeanna was SO darn proud of her project ... and the group of girls that was in her group. She could hardly wait till Open House so Clint and I could see what she had been working on. We walk down to the lunch room to view ALL the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders experiments. And lordy be ... there was a TON of them. Then towards the back corner of the lunch room ... there was Breeanna's larger poster board with her "Climbing Color" project. The smile on her face, while she told us all about it, would make any parent smile. AND ... she even got 3rd place!!! Our next stop, at the Open House, was Harleigh's 1st grade area. All of the 1st graders had done "mini experiments". They all made a car out of a milk carton and had a slope in the middle of the 1st graders pod for the student to race them down to show the parents. Harleigh kept "hogging" the slope to show us over and over and over and over and over and over and over ... Are you getting the point yet??? ... and over and over and over ... Oh wait!!! Now Eythen wanted to try out big sister's car out on the slope (please note that other 1st graders were waiting to use the slope as well) ... and over and over and over and over ... Ok Harleigh and Eythen, I think it is someone else's turn to show their parents. * double pouty face*

So that leads me to the next part of my blog ...

A few weeks back, the kids came up the stairs and asked me to close my eyes and walk down the stairs. Each of them grabbed onto my arm and "guided" me down the flight of stairs with my eyes "closed". (Yes ... I was secretly peaking. Put the factor that I am a clutz and trip over air at times and add in 3 excited kids pulling you down a flight of stairs ... that equals a trip to the ER ... and who has the time (or money) for that?!?!? So, you would be peeking, too. Plus, what good would I be if I had a broken arm and leg? How would I make this house run if I had cast on certain body parts? Well ... then again ... maybe would get me out of cooking?!?!? No ... Wait a minute ... Clint would just order take out until I was back in game. Back to reality ....). Ok ... where was I??? Oh yeah ... peaking while I was being pulled down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, there was a sign saying ... SCIENCE FAIR with an arrow.

A little farther there was another sign ... WELCOME TO THE SCIENCE FAIR

My 3 little ones made their own Science Fair. They made "inventions" out of tinker toys!!! Shoot ... Breeanna even download songs to the computer ... so there was music during the viewing.

Here are some of their "inventions".

Unfortunately ... I can not tell you what they are suspsose to be. I was suspose to "judge" on who had the best project, but I was not allowed to ask any questions on what they were or how they worked. And since I was the "judge", they made a "grade card" for me to fill out for each project.

In case you are wondering ... it was a 3 way tie with everyone getting an A!!!

I survived 2009 ...

I survived 2009!!! I think t-shirts should be made to say that!!! I am pretty sure alot of other people feel the way Clint and I do. Although ... I must admit ... at times ... you feel like you are the only one in the world dealing with certain stuff. I know, I know, I know ... there are SO many other families out there that have been dealing with this darn economy ... but when the tears are falling and the stress is as thick as fog in your house ... you start to feel really alone and that no one out there understands what you are going through. I have to admit ... I NEVER thought this stuff would happen to Clint and I. We put money in the bank when we could, and our bills were always paid. But ... that dreaded word "layed off", I NEVER thought that would be US!!! Then ... BAM!!! He lost his job not once ... but TWICE in six months. Yeah!!! So the word "money" was something that came up alot in our conversations, but it was not a "nice word". It had turned more into a "cuss word" that was thrown around and dodged from time to time. At times, it felt like we were robbing Peter to pay Paul. But ... some how ... we did it. Then we have the second "cuss word" in our family. The word "House". Yeah ... such a simple word. A word that is suspose to mean family, comfort, safety and security ... suddenly meant ... UGH!!!! In February we "sold" our house and moved into a rental ... only to find out that the day before closing ... THEY FREAKING BACKED OUT!!! OH YES!!! After the tears fell for a day ... we got to the stage of being TICKED OFF!!! (If anyone wants to track down Mr. and Mrs. Roper ... who now lives in Lawrence ... Clint and I have a few choice words for them. Yes ... 10 months later ... we are still a bit ticked off. *grin*) So, we loaded up our family and moved back to our "home". THEN ... the "buyers" tried to sue us for the earnest money ... THAT WE HAD TO GIVE BACK TO THEM!!! They sent us a horrible nasty email (which I kept in hopes to look back on one day and laugh about) saying that it was OUR fault that we had all the moving cost and that WE forked out all the money to pay for the things they wanted fixed. Uhhh ... what else are we suspose to do when we thought we "sold" or house? So ... next came the stage of ... *rolling eyes* ... "shrugging our shoulders" and moving on. What else could we do? We wanted to put it behind us and forget about it. BUT ... that is kind of hard when we had complete strangers coming up to us in the grocery store, gas station, PTO meetings and even walking up to us in our own driveway ... asking us what exactly happened with the house. I kept telling Clint ... that this is part of living in a small town ... but it still threw him for a loop. BUT ... I know all of my fellow Erie folk ... know exactly what I am talking about. haa haa Don't get me wrong ... 2009 brought my family another year of safety and health, and that means SO much more than all the bad things that happened. Everytime I started to cry or Clint would get stressed out ... we would remind one another that the kids and ourselves were healthy and that was what truely mattered. 2009 brought us some ups ... and alot of downs. BUT ... Clint and I made it through!!! We survived it together. Yes, at times, it felt like it was Clint and me against the world ... but by gosh ... we sure did make one heck of a team!!! On a side note ... we did finally sell out house and officially CLOSED on October 27th. We moved into a 2 bedroom rental. Yes, I know what you are thinking, "Don't you have 3 kids?" Why yes we do!!! That is why when the owners of the townhomes called us 4 short weeks after we moved in, asking us if we wanted to move into a 3 bedroom that was becoming available ... we could not say "YES" fast enough. In case you are counting ... that is packing up our family and moving FOUR different times in TEN months!!!

P.S. There are a few people out there ... and you know who you are ... Clint and I would NEVER have made it through this past year without you (for more reasons that one)!!! The saying "The people that truely care about you ... They are the ones that are walking in the door when everyone is walking out". Well ... it means more to me now than before when I just reading it in a book.