Rough day post

I'm overwhelmed.

Completely.

Do you ever feel like you have a ton to do and can't do it all so you just wanna throw in the towel and say "Nevermind. I quit."?

It is only Wednesday, but feels like it should be Friday!  Agh.  Most of you know that I watch two little girls part time.  The reason I do it part time is because I am not cut out to do it full time.  At all.  My friend, who does it the other half of the week, is on vacation this week, so I have the little jewels all day, every day.  Sigh.  It probably wouldn't be that big of a deal any other week, but the block party that I blogged about a while back is SATURDAY.  I have so many things I am trying to finalize and so many calls to make.  It has been really hard to do this with 3 little ones in the background.  What gets done will get done and what doesn't...well, it won't.  

There are some silver linings at the end of this week, though, Praise THE LORD!  He knew what I would need and when I would need it even before I took on this project. :)  That makes me happy!  

~~ Gatlinburg ~~

Eric and I head out of town Sunday morning for our annual Gatlinburg trip with Matt & Melanie.  Kid free.  Yes indeedie.  A good time will be had for sure!  We haven't been able to go the last two years, so this is the year of the Come Back.  Yay!!

~~ G & T ~~

Next weekend is a G & T weekend...woo hoo!  Super excited for that.  I'm sure as you read this, you are so excited for our posts that you can hardly contain yourselves. ;)  Hang in there.  It won't be long!  

And, of course, these two are always a silver lining for me. :)

{disclaimer: Maggie was obsessed with Eric's belt and insisted on wearing it.  She is not starting a strip tease. ;)}

Huber's

The first grade classes had a field trip to Huber's Orchard & Winery yesterday!  Unfortunately, I couldn't go, but when it comes to picking apples and punkins, Eric is really the best anyway.  Levi was uber excited that his Daddy was going!  I told Eric to take pictures and I think he did a pretty great job!    

Levi said it was one of the best days of his life. 

Precious. 

Love that boy. :)

Our weekend according to Instagram

I would like to say that we had a low key weekend, but that wasn't the case!  Friday afternoon, I got a text from Melanie and they wanted to hang out Friday night.  I told her that I was temporarily crippled, so she offered to bring dinner and hang at our house.  Perfect!  I made a dessert.  Yes, I baked.  Gasp!  And it was really good {and easy!}...

 Apple Dump Cake {Put 2 cans of Apple Pie Filling in a pan, pour one yellow cake mix on top of the filling, and top with a stick and a half of butter. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.} YUM.  I served it hot with some vanilla ice cream and we sat out by the fire out back.  Perfection!  The kids had a blast while the adults got to have some quality gabbing time. :)

Saturday was soccer and then that evening, a group of us from church went to pass out flyers in the neighborhood where we are doing the block party.  I pulled my boot cast out of the closet and we headed out.  I was quite a sight pushing Maggie in the stroller in my boot cast. ;)  Levi did awesome!  He wanted to hand out the flyer and tell each person about the upcoming block party and that God loves them.  We played at the park for a few minutes while we were there.  

 Then on Sunday, we had a big family reunion for my Dad's side of the family.  MISSED YOU, BETH!!! :)))  The kids had a blast playing at the playground.  This little guy ran around until I thought he would pass out from exhaustion! 

 Such a cutie pie!

 Levi got into a wild football game with the big kids!  He loved every minute of it. :)

 Maggie wanted to swing the entire time.  Daddy was happy to oblige.

 Please excuse my abnormally large head in this picture!  It is the only one we took. :/  Bad angle. ;) 

Seriously, though, it was a great weekend with my little family.  I am loving this weather!  Here's to fall and the fun things on the horizon!! :)

I need a bubble

I could very easily title this post Most Embarrassing Moments, but that might attract more readers than my normal 8 or 9. ;)  You guys are about to embark on a journey of ghetto weird injuries of mine.  I have no idea how I hurt myself so easily, except that I just have a knack for it.  In hindsight, I'm sure my parents think my middle name should have been Grace.  I have a whole list I could share, but I will just pick a few for your enjoyment.

When I was younger, elementary school age, I was running home from my next door neighbor's house to see if I could spend the night.  Not remembering that my dad secured the fence around our pool with cables during the winter, I ran smack dab into one of the cables, clotheslining myself and landing on my rear end.  According to my mother, I have always been dramatic and a bit of a hypochondriac {imagine that!}, so when I kept complaining, she ignored me.  Finally, after a day or two, she took me to the doctor and I had broken my collar bone.  They put me in a beautiful brace that wrapped around my neck and shoulders for several weeks.  Lovely.

Fast forward to 1999.  Weekend trip to Lake Cumberland with my sister, Travis & Jenny, Eric, and our friend, Matt.  After a day on the boat, we were headed back to a condo.  As I was walking down the stairs, I slipped and heard my ankle pop.  Immediately, it swelled to the size of a soft ball.  I remember Travis & Jenny giving each other a look like "wow, that's bad!" while telling me, "It's okay, I'm sure it is fine!"  They iced it, stuck me in a recliner and loaded me up with about 50 ibuprofen. ;)  Once we made it back home, I got a nice boot cast. ;)

Last year, Gretchen and I kicked off one of our G & T weekends with a local 5K.  After the race, we got cleaned up and headed out for some shopping.  Oh my word, my foot was killing me!  And, we only WALKED the 5K.  After a few days of complaining, I went to the doctor and I had fractured my foot.  I fractured my foot walking.  People!  Who does that?  Once again, I got another boot cast.  Oy.  

Wednesday night, I was walking behind Maggie out of the kitchen when she stopped in front of me and I kicked her foot.  My pinkie toe and my 4th toe went two different directions around her heel and I felt like I was going to black out.  Yes, I have a flare for the drama, but it hurt really bad!!  I cried and the kids looked at me like I was insane.  The left side of my foot is still swollen after almost 48 hours.  I can barely walk.  

I know there is nothing that can be done for a broken toe, but I was afraid that it might be dislocated.  Or, if it was broken, that they might have to re-break it.  Luckily for me, I have a brother who worked many years in the ER and has seen lots of fun things.  He looked at it and doesn't think it is broken or dislocated.  He did, however, send me a YouTube video on how to fix your dislocated toe yourself.  O.M.W.  He is insane.  So, I'm doing what I do best...ice & elevate.  Sigh.  Oh, and I found some pain medicine in the cabinet from 2007.  Rock on!  ;) 

America, bless God

After church Sunday, Eric and I took the kids over to The Wall.  There is a half-sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall that travels around the country and we were blessed to have The Wall in Clarksville for the weekend.

 The statistics were staggering.  I studied the Vietnam War in high school, but I don't know that you fully appreciate what you learn until you become an adult.  At least, that is the case for me.  I did not remember that the war lasted from 1959 until 1975.  I did not remember that more than 58,000 people died.  You guys, these people died so that WE CAN BE FREE.  That humbles me.  We also saw this memorial there.  I started to cry as I read it to Levi: September 11, 2001, The Day The Eagle Cried.  He just kept asking me why people would be so mean and want to crash planes into America's buildings.   

 Levi has an incredible passion for America.  He loves watching the Military Channel and he is so inquisitive about wars, soldiers, our flag...pretty much anything having to do with the military.

 I told him a story yesterday about the brother of one of my friends from choir.  He made it home from the Vietnam War, but his best friend died there.  A little while after I told him that, he came to me and said, "Mom, I'm so sorry about that guy that died in the war."  He is so sweet. :) 

Our choir was also slotted to sing yesterday during one of the programs.  It was a really sweet time.  Several times, I looked up to see some of the veterans who were sitting in the crowd crying.  Again, very humbling. 

 All of our singing wore Maggie out. ;)

 After our choir sang, I introduced Levi to my friend that I told him about.  He told her, "I'm sorry about your brother's friend.  That's really sad."  Love.His.Heart.

He was so full of questions yesterday.  "What happened to that man's arm?" "Why is that man crying?" "What is all the writing on the wall?"  Again, it was very humbling to try and explain things to Levi.  I felt so very inadequate being the one to share about our past.  But, I also felt thankful. Very thankful.  

Our little Phil

One of my favorite golfers is Phil Mickelson.  I love watching him play!  Before Eric and I got married, I would have never guessed myself to become a fan of golf.  When the PGA came to Valhalla, we got tickets and I was hooked!  Now, I really enjoy watching it. :)

Eric's dad is out of town, so tonight we invited his mom over for dinner.  After dinner, Eric decided it was time for Levi to learn how to swing a club. ;)  He took him out back and talked him through his form.  On the first swing, Levi hit the ball over the back gate and it stopped about 4 feet short of our neighbor's back window!  Eric looked at me and said, "Um, I think we need to go to the driving range." ;)  So, we loaded up and headed for Golfer's Paradise.

 Look at the concentration.

 Pretty good form for his first time out!

 I think Eric was having some Proud Papa moments!

 And, sometimes, when nature calls, well...it calls. ;)

 And, not to be outdone by her brother, Maggie got in on the action.

 Proud Momma moment: several times, Levi almost hit the 50 yard sign!  Way to go, buddy!

 And, let me tell you -- I'm amazed at this machine right here!  I wanted to go over and ask the guy if I could collect the golf balls, but Eric just stared at me like "don't be ghetto, Tracey".  Whatevs.

Here's to more fun at the driving range!!! :)

cake is good

We were invited to a birthday party tonight.  When we pulled up, my awesome son announced, "Mom, I forgot shoes."  Oy.  Good thing we were just going to Jami's!  I can say that, because it is true.  Going to Jami's is pretty close to hanging at home. ;) 

 The birthday party was for this adorable little pizza faced guy!!  HE IS TWO.  How is that possible?

 When we got there, I thought it was hilarious that the whole fam was watching home videos.  Everyone was all "oooh" and "ahhh"-ing.  Too cute!  You would hear a screaming baby in the background noise and someone would say, "There's Cameron."  Ha!

 My kids immediately took off for Cooper's room and messed it up. ;)

 Love this friend so much!

 And, it is always interesting to have these two guys around:

Thanks, James for a fun night!!  Any reason to get together and celebrate with pizza and CAKE is just fine with me. :)  Happy 2nd Birthday, little Cameron Scott!!  We love you.

It's official...I *can* cook!

I've been on a little cooking spell lately.  This is unusual for me because I usually don't cook.  At all.  I have a bad habit of buying lots of "stuff" at the grocery store and then it sits in our cabinet until it expires. ;)  SO, I am on a mission to use everything in our pantry cabinet and deep freezer before I buy more stuff at the grocery!  Yes, I probably need a new hobby.

So, when Eric popped in around lunch time yesterday, he asked what I was making for dinner. 

Me: Ummm, I'm not sure.  I got the crock pot out, put some chicken in there and some other stuff that was in the cabinet. {Insert big goofy smile on my face!}

Eric: {Looking like he might already hurl} Great.

Me: I'm sure it will be good!

Eric: I'll call on my way home from school and see if I need to pick something up.

Me: Sigh.



I would like to happily report that dinner turned out GREAT!  {I used two cans of Cream of Chicken soup and added a packet of dry Ranch mix to it, poured it over the chicken, cooked it on low for four hours. Added some cooked pasta and let it all 'sit' together for about 30 minutes.  Voila!}

 After dinner, we headed to play tennis with some friends.  Levi loved it!  And, this time, he was able to play with someone who played like he knew how to play. ;)

 Big surprise -- Daddy came home at 6 o'clock last night!  Woot!!!  The kids were so excited to see him.  He helped Levi with his homework and this was HUGE for me.  I was able to do a gazillion other things while they concentrated on reading about a pig and counted pennies. 

 And, this little one doesn't like to be left out.  She begs to do homework, too.  So we sit her up there with paper, crayons and stickers.  When she is done, she screams, "YAY MAGGIE!"  ;)

 Once the little man was in bed, Maggie and I settled in for an episode of The Wiggles.  She has recently taken to them and Barney {aka: Barbie or Bobby}.  Good times. ;)