Wood Stain

Last night A-daddy and I finally caught an episode of "Dancing With the Stars". Well I have a hillbilly husband who doesn't really get the concept of the whole show. It is hilarious to watch it with them. He always critiques every single thing about the dancers. From what they are wearing to how they dance. He's a country boy so he is surprised that some of the female dancers come out half naked. He doesn't go to the city a lot so he he doesn't realize that some girls dress like that just to go to the mall. Anyway, the best part of getting to watch this particular show with my wonderful husband is that he is so witty at times. If you don't watch the show this is Karina Smirnoff and Steve Wozniak.

When they were standing at the judges table waiting for their scores to be read, my brilliant husband said "somebody got a hold of her and put some wood stain on her". He was referring to how dark her skin was. It was hilarious! Cause he was serious. From the mouth of a good ole southern boy!

It's a Monday

This morning was just terrible at our house. Nothing went right. Luckily Aaron did not go into work early this morning so he was around to help out. To start things off everyone got up late including me. Aaron cut his finger while making Shelby breakfast. She did not want to wear warm clothes today. So she complained about everything in life. AND my car wouldn't start. The battery was dead. And I mean dead!! Aaron had to jump it off so I could finally get to work. We all said our goodbyes with a smile on our face. But really I think we just needed to get away from each other for the day. So hopefully my sweet little family is at work and school not thinking about our zoo like morning.

The Burrow's

I did send a text to a friend who works at Shel's school and asked her to tell Shel that I love her. She did and Shel smiled.

We had a non eventful weekend. It was too cold outside to do anything. When you walked outside the wind almost blew you down so we stayed indoors. It was a little warmer yesterday so Aaron saddled up Pancake and went for a short ride. Me and Shel hung out at home. It was so nice to finally have a relaxing weekend.

Shel enjoyed her slumber party. They went to bed sometime after 3a.m. She took about a 30 minute nap Saturday afternoon but that's it. She was in rare form for the rest of the day. She went to bed around 9p.m. and slept till 8:30 a.m. when we woke her up for church. But she had a blast. Now she's anxious about her own slumber party that we will be having on April 17th. Have I lost my mind??

Just wondering

Last night as we were laying in bed I wondered if there were other wives out there that had to endure TV shows like Top Gear, Dirtiest Jobs, Ax Men and Ice Road Truckers? When A-daddy comes in for the night he always gets the remote and finds some dumb man show. I am normally doing something else so I don't have to endure it ( at that time). But then when it's bed time and we're both watching the TV he again resumes to the man shows. And I always always ask that we watch something that we both agree on. His answer is always" we would if you weren't going to be asleep in 2.4 seconds". He is right about that, I do fall asleep rather quickly. But that's beside the point. For those 2.4 seconds I am awake I'd like to watch something that has absolutely nothing to do with men trying to show off their masculinity. Sad to say I think I will always loose at the choice to watch something we both agree on. Do you watch those shows also? If so, I am soooo sorry!


Shel hasn't been to her bio dad's this week because she just wanted to hang out at home. We were away from home a lot over Spring Break. But tonight she has been invited to a slumber party. So Aaron and I will be alone. I should be excited about being alone with my husband and I am and all BUT the issue is that this is her first slumber party in DeKalb( I know the child's parents so don't freak out about me letting my baby go to a complete strangers house for a sleepover). And the weather forecast is calling for storms. So basically what I'm saying is that mommy is having a little of an attachment issue. I had gotten so used to her being with me every day that it's hard to let her go. Whether it's to a friend's house or to her bio dad's house. I am excited for her though cause she has been looking so forward to the party. So I have to be strong and not let her see my emotions. I will be fine and she will be fine but I just love my baby so much. After all she's the only one I got. Which makes me tend to baby her a little too much. I know lots of friends and my husband would agree to that. But there just not Shelby's mommy. And I can handle it. Besides if you got to look at this face everyday would you want it to go somewhere else? Didn't think so!
Have a great weekend!

Meet Pancake

She is a red roan horse. And she's beautiful. Her name is Pancake because she has feet as flat as a pancake. The reason I'm introducing you to her today is because I'm exhausted. See I have this amazing husband who acts like her.

When you ride Pancake for a while and she gets hot and sweaty the first thing she does when you unsaddle her and set her free in the pasture is ....ROLL!! And well she's kind of a big girl and so when she gets on the ground and tries to go from one side to the other it's sort of a chore for her. She has to work really hard to roll over. It's quite sad to watch from a distance. There are times I want to go out in the pasture and help her get over. But she eventually gets the oomph to get to the other side.

Last night I had JUST drifted off to sleep when Aaron decided he wasn't comfortable. So the drama began. He couldn't just calmly, quietly, respectfully, normally roll over. Oh no! He had to pretend he was Pancake trying to get from one side to the other. So of course he woke me up because he didn't calmy, quietly, respectfully, normally just roll over. But when I woke up I didn't feel a bit sorry for him like I do the mare. I was angry. Very angry! I was tired. So I hollered at him "woh mare"!!!!! That's what he says to her when he is on her back and she tries to do something that she shouldn't. Which is quite often. She tends to have a mind of her own. She's kind of cranky sometimes too. We get along so well!

Do you think A-daddy cared that he woke me up? Well, no. Do you think A-daddy thought he was amusing in his sleeping habits? Well, yea. I told him that if he continued to act like a horse then he and Pancake could be closer than ever before. They could sleep in the pasture-together!

I have to admit that it was quite comical with the drama and all. We had a good laugh and went back to sleep happily ever after.

Back to school

Well, today is our 2nd day back at school after Spring Break and it stinks!! Shel and I both have had a really tough time getting back into a routine. It's not so much the going to school as it is the getting up at 5:30. It's just terrible. Shel and I had a conversation this morning about how great it would be if school started at 10:00am. Wouldn't that just be fabulous!

Most of you who read my blog also read Kelly's Korner but just in case there's that one who doesn't I want to let you know about a little boy who desperately needs prayers right now. His name is Stellan. While still in the womb the doctors told his parents that he would not survive because of a heart condition. When Stellan was born he was completely healthy. He has been healthy ever since. Sunday night after a quick trip to the ER for what they thought was just a little cold he slipped into SVT after a breathing treatment. You can go read read Mck mama blog and read all about Stellan. She has a very interesting story and her attitude is like none other.

For all of you "Bachelor" fans did you see who is dancing on "Dancing With The Stars"? It's none other than.... Melissa. You know she's the one that Jason picked first and then dumped. I unfortuantly have been busy every single Monday night and have had to watch(listen) to it while doing other things. So I have yet to see her dance. But if I had to guess I bet she's good.

Most Photogenic and 1st Runner Up

She did it!! I was afraid when we left dress rehearsal Friday night that she was going to cry when she got on stage and beg me not to do it. As the pageant got closer and closer the more scared she got and had totally lost all confidence. But Saturday night when it was her turn to walk the runaway she shined like a true star. She was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! You could not tell that she was terrified and completely sick to her stomach. When the MC started announcing winners I could not breathe. I think the more I sat there the more nervous I got. The first award given was Most Photogenic and well...... we won! Then they announced 2nd runner up and we didn't get that. Then it was first runner up and they announced #6 - Shelby Smith. I was the proudest mommy there! I could not believe it. I mean she was by far the most beautiful there was. But I am a little prejudice. Okay, alot prejudice. When the whole thing was said and done she then started thinking about the other girls who didn't win anything and she got sad. I am telling you there's probably not another winning contestant in this world that has thought about the girls not winning. She is more beautiful on the inside than she is on the out. And well just look at her. Could she really get any more prettier? She earned her title. Needless to say I am the proud mother of 1st runner up Miss Petite DeKalb 2009.

Before the interview





Getting ready for the pageant


she was very scared





All of my pictures were blurry and dark. But there were so many of Shelby's fans there surely someone got some good pictures. I will post more if I get some.

P.S. Thank you to everyone who came to support Shelby. It really meant a lot to her and to me and Aaron. Thank you to Judi for helping us get ready and cleaning my house. You're the best friend a girl could have. Thanks mom and dad for bringing dinner for everyone and entertaining while we were getting ready. Also, for buying everyone's ticket. And for being such great supporters of Shelby. We love you all!!

IT'S ALMOST HERE!!

The time has finally come for.......SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!! Yeah! We are so excited to get a week off school. We are going to visit Tiff and Tan man the end of next week. We are really looking forward to watching Tan man play another soccer game. We got to go this fall and watch a game but haven't been back since. He is so cute while he's playing and he's very very serious about the game. There is no clowning when game time comes. Here's our little dude in action. He's #7

God bless his momma! His daddy's away at warrant officer school and she's left to do all the parenting by herself. She's about to go insane. So I feel for ya sista. But it's a good thing he's yours. He's the coolest kid on earth!

But first we have to get through the weekend. Tonight my BFF, Judi is coming to spend the weekend with us. She is going to help me get Shel ready for the pageant. We have dress rehearsal tonight. Interview and pageant tomorrow. She's had practice the past couple of nights. They do not allow parents to stay during practice so I haven't been able to see her in action. We have not done any modeling classes, no spray tan and no interview sessions. So we are rookies to the pageant world. But my goodness I refuse to spray tan my 8 yr. old. Of course when I announced that I wasn't having her tanned other pagenat moms about had a heart attack. But, I sure didn't let it bother me one bit. Shel was the one that decided she wanted to do the pageant and we were all for it but we let her know up front that if she won she would win by natural looks and natural talent. So I'm anxious to see tonight how natural we are in the pageant world. It ought to be interesting. I just hope we don't embarass ourselves. And if we do, oh well. It won't be the first... or last time.

Since I haven't posted in a few days I want to wish my sister-in-law, Megan, a Happy Belated Birthday!

Have a great weekend!

What happened....

....to the beautiful weather. It's cold and raining!

When Shel was a little bitty girl around 2-ish she would always say"it's code and wainin". If it was raining it had to be cold and if it was cold it had to be raining. Oh, she was so precious and innocent and didn't have a smart mouth at that age.

And now I get to look at this beautiful face whose mouth I'd like to tape shut.

I was so excited about working in flower beds and buying pretty colorful flowers. Now I have to wait a couple of more weeks. AND my new fence will have to be put on hold til the ground drys out again. Oh well I guess I need to look at the bright side of things. Aaron will be stuck inside and now he can help me with chores! Yeah!

Entryway, Fat and Choices

That's right I'm getting a new entry way to my house. Aaron has so kindly worked very hard the past couple of months to build me a beautiful new cedar entryway. Well, it's not finished yet or I'd show it to you but just like me you have to wait til it's all done to see it. Just know it rocks! If you're nice I'll show you a sneak preview soon. Just not today.

This week is going to be booger to get through. There is quite a lot going in Shelby's social life. I'm just the mom who caters to her every need and makes sure she's at the right place at the right time. I guess that's what mom's do when they have little girls who want to participate in every thing at the same time. But like I've said before we're just so glad she's gotten to this point. We would never complain about it. We are so proud of her and who she's becoming.

The other day I got up, looked in the mirror and saw that I was THE FAT GIRL!! You know the girl that people talk gaining a lot of weight. I am officially my before divorce weight. See when I got divorced I lost about 30 pounds in just a matter of 2 months. Remember though - I was devastated and the thought of food make me puke and I had no energy or desire to eat. Not healthy at all I know. But back then I was just trying to survive and take care of Shel. Now that I am happy and in love again fat has sneaked in my body. I'm not sure how that happened. Maybe eating ice cream, cake and chips and hot sauce helped the fat find me. I don't know. Well now that I am out of denial of gaining a lot of weight I've decided that I no longer want to be THE FAT GIRL!

I have started exercising again. Not by my want to just by my HAVE to. We are eating better at our house and I have increased my water intake. A couple of weeks ago I realized I was going days without water. I was only drinking Diet carbonated beverages. That's not very intelligent! So now we are on the right road to loosing a little weight. Hopefully it will end up being a lot of weight.

Also we are in the process of making a lot of decisions concerning our family. Some of the choices we are facing are not easy. I would like to ask you to please pray for our family. We need some direction as to what to do next. We are getting close to the decision and really need guidance. Please just remember us.


Have a great week!!

It has been a crazy week. Again! I told you all on Monday that I was going to post pictures and this is the first time I've even turned my computer on since then.

We all survived TAKS on Tuesday. Things were pretty smooth but it was a very long day. At my school we didn't finish until it was time to go home. Shel said they finished before lunch but had to keep a testing environment because there were kids within the school still testing. So she had a VERY long day herself.

We all spent Wednesday recovering. Shel said they got a lot of free time that day.

Then there weren't enough hours in the day yesterday. I gave a TAKS to a new student during the morning hours. She finished before lunch. But I spent the rest of the afternoon covering my class and another class. My room was packed! I was relieved when the clock struck 3:00( ha! that rhymed). So when I got home I was so stressed from the day that I decided to try to get back to my exercise routine that I started a month ago and didn't stick to after a couple of weeks. The weather was perfect and I really wanted to be outside and clear my mind from the day. So I walked(jogged) against the wind that was blowing really hard at times. I felt great when it was done. Then Aaron and I went to get Shel from dance and then went straight over to her softball meeting.

We got on a really good team. The coach is very nice. He's all about the girls keeping a positive attitude and ONLY saying positive things. I am a big supporter of "if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all". I think our personalities will click. I really didn't want on a team that was going to criticize the kids all the time and take the fun out of playing. Most of the girls on the team are from her school. She's very excited about starting to play. Now we have to go get all the necessities to play.

So I guess we'll be making a trip to T-town for softball needs and finishing up all the pageant needs. Cause don't forget we have the pageant next weekend. She will have pageant practice next Wed. before church and between tap and ballet on Thurs. Friday is dress rehearsal and will probably be the first softball practice of the year. Coach is supposed to let us know as soon as he knows. He has scheduled work out days set in place. Our lives just got a little more chaotic! Softball practice will be on Tues. from 5:30 - 7:00 and on Friday from 7:00 - 8:30. We are going to get everything we need this weekend so next week we can try to hold our head above water.

Now about those pictures I will post them just don't know when. Sorry but at least I can admit my faults.

This is a really boring post I know but I wanted to catch all of you up since I haven't really had a chance to talk to any of you this week. Hope you have a good weekend.

P.S. I'll try to be a little more interesting next week. No promises though!

P.S.S. I just realized on my "Great Friends!" post I didn't give you a face with the name so here's my BFF, Judi

JUST KIDDING!

Well ,I told you Saturday I would have pics of the girls posted but I don't. Yesterday turned out to be crazy and BUSY!

We didn't make it to church because Aaron came in and out all night. He would stop in and grab something, go back out, stop in again and get something else, go back out. Then at 4a.m. he came in for good and I got up and we visited for a little while. So Sunday morn I was exhausted. And Grace unexpectedly spent the weekend with us so her momma didn't bring any clothes for her when they came in town Friday night. Shel didn't have any shoes that fit her. Shelby's foot is as big as mine.

I started the morning off with breakfast and laundry. Spent the entire day doing laundry and feeding kids. Every time I turned around they were hungry. You would of thought they were 2 teenage boys. They practically ate me out of the house. I seriously didn't realize girls had boy appetites.

Around 5:45 I headed off to T-town to meet Grace's dad. And on the way home Aaron called to let me know that his upset stomach was more than just upset. He had reason to believe it was a VIRUS!! He had been to the rest room more times than normal with just a usual upset tummy. So my thoughts were...NO!!!!!!!!!!!! We can't be sick this week. It's TAKS time. There is no room for sickness. Oh no... what are we to do????

We left Aaron in the bed this morning as he had been up ALL night running back and forth to the bathroom(every hour on the hour). Well every time he got up I woke up. I was late for work this morning because we had no tummy medicine at our house and in DeKalb if get sicker in the middle of the night... well , that's just too bad. New Boston is the closest 24 hour store. So you just have to wait till morning. I guess I should have been a little more prepared just in case he got sicker but we are talking about me. So I had to get him some medicine. I took it over to him, fixed him a glass of orange juice and listened to him whine a little more before I headed off to school.

Because I have yet to download my pictures of the girls that are HILARIOUS I will leave you with the only one I do have on my computer. It's nothing special but it's a start to a chore that I hate to do (put pictures on my computer).Check out Shelby's bling purse and Grace's wet head. I will post the other pics tonight - promise. But I don't pinky promise. Cause we don't ever know what my whiny, sick, sad husband is going to need from me when I get home.

P.S. Aaron did not do well at the hunt. Actually he lost BAD! His team ended up with NOTHING! Aw it is sad. I know. Better luck next year. (I really could have used the payout money)

P.S.S. SO FAR SHEL AND I ARE HEALTHY! PLEASE PRAY WE STAY THAT WAY - AT LEAST UNTIL TAKS IS OVER ON WEDNESDAY!!!