Whole Lotta Love

Hello, again :) Sorry about the lack of links yesterday. I could have sworn that I did that... but I guess now. It's totally fixed now, so if you missed it, just click on yesterdays post on the blog, and it'll be there now :)

Joe wasn't feeling well yesterday, so he slept on my couch last night. And then slept in in the morning too. Poor kid. He wasn't really sick, but was feeling a bit puny. He drank a lot of gatorade/poweraid, and I think it was helping.

Jim came in to snuggle for a bit in the morning, and we were all awake at 9am. Aunt Sue was still feeling ichy. Even more so than yesterday. There's such a thing as Sun sickness, right? After you get a sunburn? Gives you flu like symptoms? Diarreah, vomiting, feeling nasty? Poor Aunt Sue..

We spent the morning at home, relaxing and watching TV and chillin'.

That's a happy face for being as sick as she was!

My generic family. Still. I SO need to get some pics of Captain America and I in there!
At 10:30am, I went to Costco with Amanda and Terra, and Aunt Sue decided to stay home to rest. Tom watched the kids. Thanks, Tom! You're the best :)

Amanda picked me up, and we drove over to Terras house, and waited for her to get back from Daycare. Then we went in her van, and headed to Costco. Amanda wanted to get supplies for the birthday party.

We found this when we first walked in. Um, ok. My favorite part was "No More Toilet Paper". ROFL! I guess it washes you off, then dries you off.... ok.....
Um, yeah, after seeing some of these pictures of myself, tomorrow is TOTALLY shower day. Even if we are going to the splash park. ha! Here's Amanda and I
This shagg rug was SOOOO soft! I could have felt it all day. hehe.

I think I was hungry... Everything looked FABULOUS!

OK, so maybe he didn't look fabulous, but he looked cool. hehe.

This guy was HUGE and super soft! Some older ladies saw me, and were giggling at me. hehe.

I told you I was hungry!

I have 3 melons...

Amanda got fruit, and hot dogs, and hamburgers, and buns, and plates, and cups, and chips, and napkins, and potatoes, and a whole cart full of stuff, and we headed to the front. The check out guys were SUPER fast!




We paid (I saw we - hehe. i didn't get anything) and headed to the van. And back to post we went. We unloaded the van at Amanda's house, and Terra and Eryn went off to lunch, and Amanda and I headed to the commissary. Our kids were still at my house, and we decided to buy stuff for hot dogs and have a cook out at my house.

Check out the wagon wheel bench out front of the commissary!
We went to make sure that the commissary still had the cake order for Austin's b-day party, and I snapped a photo of this cake they were making. It was pretty cool.
We grabbed the few things that we needed, and went to the self checkout line.
And headed back to my house. Jake was awake by then, and everyone seemed to be doing ok. We cooked the hot dogs, and fed the kids. Yes, I'm weird. I eat miracle whip on my hot dog. And nothing else...

These chips were SO good. I don't remember what kind they were, but they were fancy BBQ ones. Thanks, Amanda, for getting them for us! SO tasty! We kept those for the grown ups, and gave the cheese puffy ones to the kids. hehe.
I was feeling kinda nasty at the commissary, and decided that if I didn't feel any better after eating lunch, that I was gonna stay home and take a nap. I'd thought about running with Amanda to pick up the birthday pinata. But yeah, I was still feeling nasty.

So after lunch, Amanda and Austin headed out on their errands, Aunt Sue went upstairs to take a nap in Eme's room, and I headed to my room to take a nap. And I took a pill. And felt SO much better when I woke up. I don't know what was the matter, but the nap sure did me good :)

I woke up around 3:30pm, and started cleaning up. And Jake was in a mood. Sigh. Not again. He's usually remorseful for a few days after a blow up. Apparently that's not the case these days.

Well, he got mad about something or another, and was being mean to kids, and disrespectful, and he got grounded from electronics for mouthing off. And was SUPER mad. And cut loose, and decided to swear at me. We don't swear in our family. At all. Even Captain America doesn't swear. Sigh.

I did my best to ignore him, and gathered up all the electronics in the house, and locked it in my room. With the kids. Because I didn't wanna punish them too. So they played in my room for the afternoon.

After about 30 minutes, he calmed himself down. But was still grounded. And then he was bored. Amanda and Brain went to the store to get a b-day present for Austin, and I babysat him for a bit. He played with Joe and Jim, and watched a movie with Jimmy inside Jim's room. They were back in about an hour.

I started some dinner around 5pm. Should have started it earlier, but I do my best. hehe. I bought some leg quarters, or something like that (chicken) at the commissary during it's grand opening, and tonight was the night to cook it.

I arranged the defrosted pieces on 2 baking trays, and sprinkled some seasoning on it (a tomato, basil, and garlic dry seasoning packet). Then I drizzled some balsamic vinegar over it, then some oil. And I baked it at 350 for about an hour. I checked it with a meat thermometer to make sure it was done.

I boiled up a TON of potatoes, and made some mashed potatoes. Skin on, because that's easier. I added butter, and margarine, and some garlic powder, and milk, and parmsean cheese to it. OMHeavens, they were good! I collected the drippings from the chicken, and added a gravy packet to it, then boiled it until gravy consistency. Oh yeah, this was gonna be a tasty dinner :)

We ate around 6:45pm. And Jake was NOT happy that dinner was late. Sigh. That child needs to control his mouth. I"m thinking that when we take him in for his therapy appointment on the 28th, I'll ask about the increased violence and temper and rudeness. Maybe there IS something they can give him to mellow him out. Because with a deployed dad, I don't know how much more of this I can handle...

My dad and Eme and Ella (my sister Madi's 4 year old) got in from Ft Hood around 7pm. They were pretty excited to be there and be out of the car. hehe. It's a 8-9 hour drive! They got some dinner, and we all played and chatted. Then my mom and Madi and Lily (2) got there. They had 2 separate cars.

And the house was chaos. hehe. But fun chaos. The kids had SO much fun running around playing. And playing with the dog, and with each other, and with toys, and what not.

At 8pm, Madi and my mom and I loaded up in the Saturn, and headed to the Mall. Madi had some Gymboree reward dollars to spend, and they expired REAL soon. She found a few things that she liked.

I don't have kids that wear that size, so I wandered down to Charming Charlies (accessories store). And it was about 10-15 minutes until closing. And the woman was closing the door. I asked if it was closed, and she was like, Yeah, it's 9pm.

No, it's only quarter till, I told her. She tried to argue it with me, and finally I was like, fine, I'll go. Then she was like, Well, you can still come in..... Heck no, I don't wanna walk around your store now... ha! Take that, I"m not spending my $$ there. hehe. I showed her. LOL! So I headed back to Gymboree and hung with my mom and sis.

Madi picked what she wanted, paid, and it was time to go. It was 9pm, and everything was closed. We walked back out of the mall, but I couldn't help but notice the naked metal man...
We drove back home, and there were kids everywhere. hehe. They had toys out, and were playing, and were having a GRAND time. It was getting late, so we helped everyone wind down, and go to bed. Joe was sleeping on the top bunk in his room, and grandma and grandpa were on the bottom full bunk.

Eme was in her room, and Madi and Ella and Lily were staying up there too. And Jim was sleeping on the couch in my room. We have a full house, that's for sure! Oh yeah, and Aunt Sue is on the couch. Poor Aunt Sue :)

Anyway, we got the kids to bed, and mom and dad and Jake and I and Boxer headed out for a walk. It started off real good, but at the 1/4 way mark, Jake was trying to run a little bit with Boxer, and Boxer crossed in front of him, tripped him, and Jake went down. And got SUPER mad. Poor Boxer cowered down like he was gonna get beat. I wonder if his previous owners did that.

I ended up walking with Boxer the rest of the time. We did 2 laps around the neighborhood, but Jake went inside after the first lap. He was still mad from falling. Mom and Dad and I and Boxer finished up the laps. It was a nice walk. I could have done a few more :)

We came back home, and chatted for a bit, then everyone went to bed at 11pm. And I came in my room to blog. And here it is, 11:41pm. Tomorrow at 11am, we're going to Biggs park for a b-day party. And then home for the afternoon, and we're planning on a grown ups evening out. Tom is gonna babysit, and Jake is gonna go to the youth center. I don't like leaving him at home with the kids when I'm not here...


Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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LOVE this one, Sharon! Great colors and clustering :)

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

New stuff in the store for the week! Yippee! Click on the link below to go to my store to pick them up! HERE.

Awesome layouts, Sharon! You really did a GREAT job!

It was a good day today. Especially after the crappy night the night before! I blogged early, so I didn't get a chance to come back and tell about my horrible crappy night. hehe. Well, I wasn't laughing last night...

Jake was not pleased with what I made for dinner, and made sure that I was painfully aware of it. He was being rude and mean and trying to hurt my feelings. Sometimes kids suck. And he was being mean to the other kids. And it just kept getting worse and worse. It finally got so bad that I had to ban him from electronics.

I went through the house, and locked it all in my room. Then I checked his room, and found not one, but two portable DVD players. So I took them, and then went back for the extension cord. And he fought me for it. Sigh. He ended up pulling me all around the house (cause I wouldn't let go), then finally pushed me across the room, and I fell into the couch (where Tom and Boxer were sitting). It really upset Aunt Sue, and me too. I spent the rest of the evening crying in my room. But all the electronics were locked up, as were the fridge and pantry.

He came in a few times to apologize, but I was upset and pissed off by that point. After about 3 times, I told him it was ok, and that I'd be fine by the morning. He seemed ok with that. It was an early evening for everyone.

But it was all good when we woke up. Jimmy came in and snuggled with me for a few hours in the early morning. Love that little kid :) And I was up and going by 8:30am. I woke up Jake at 9am, so he and Tom and I could get ready to go and get our new ID's. They expire on the 28th of this month.

I gathered up our documents (Power of Attorney, old ID cards, etc), we made ourselves look presentable, and off we went. Aunt sue stayed home with Joe and Jim, and Tom and Jake and I headed up there at 9:35am. I'd found a site online to make appointments, and had one for 9:45am, 10am, and 10:15am. Last time we'd gone for ID's, it'd taken HOURS of waiting in line.

We got to the place, and were instantly in with the lady. SO cool! I realized that I'd left my POA in the truck, so the chickie had the boys fill out forms, and I went and grabbed it. She photographed the boys, then they signed their ID cards. Then it was my turn, and by 10am, all 3 of use were done! And we were on our way back home with our new ID cards. Now there is efficiency!

Me on the way home

This is the new shirt that Aunt Sue gave me. SUPER cute, huh? I loved it!

Aunt Sue and I

I tried getting a pic of Joe and Jim, and they were both trying to hide from me. I got Joe here!

And Jim!

Tom was more cooperative!

Awe, Boxer is sweet :)

Jake was having a rough morning, since he was grounded from Electronics. He was bored, and picking on people. He and Aunt Sue decided to stay home from the pool, so the other kids and I got ready to go. We packed sack lunches, and as we were about ready to leave the house, Jake changed his mind and decided to come. Oh joy. hehe.

Aunt Sue decided to stay home still, and off we went, to the outdoor pool. Liz and kids were there, and Terra and kids came too. And we had SUCH a fun time visiting and chatting. We all needed some "mom" time. hehe.

Jim and a Twin

One of Liz's kids

We left the pool at 2pm, and headed back home. Joe and Jim instantly got in our pool, and Aunt Sue and I went to hang in the outside pool. But then the big kids came out too, and it was getting WAY too rowdy.

So she and I sat on the chairs and sunned ourselves. And it got WAY too hot. So we filled up the little pool with fresh water, and laid in there. And sunned ourselves some more. There were SO many holes in that little pool, and luckily I had some patches. So was sunned and patched and sunned some more.

At 4 something, we came back inside, leaving the little boys to play in the pool. Jake was napping on the couch.

And I started dinner. Here's me, cooking in the kitchen.

I made homemade calzones. I used my standard pizza dough recipe. 1 package yeast, 1 cup warm water, 1 tbsp sugar, 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 2 TBSP oil.

I rolled it out, then spread spaghetti sauce on 1/2 the dough. Then put on shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese (not the bag stuff, that's nasty - ha!), and some Parmesan cheese, and some ground turkey (1 lb ground turkey, 1/2 onion (diced), garlic, browned). And folded the calzone over on itself, and sealed the edges.

I placed it on a WELL greased cookie sheet, and put a little oil on my hands, and rubbed it on the calzone. And baked it until golden at 400 degrees.

Here's how it turned out! SO freaking tasty! Even Jimmy ate it - hehe. And Jake didn't complain about food tonight. Apparently I'm a wonderful cook...



After dinner, I sat down to load my store. And it took FOREVER. I had one kit that I had to package up, and when I went to load the others in the store, I discovered that Word Clusters 4 was not what it was supposed to be. It was actually Word Clusters 2... So I had to re-do it. And then realized that what I re-did was Word Clusters 3. Sigh. So I re-did it again! Finally, I got it all right.

Aunt Sue and I were supposed to go to the Comedy Club, but she got real sunburned today. And was feeling a bit icky. So was Joe. But I don't think he got that sunburned. Not sure what was the matter with him.

We decided to make a Walmart run instead. She needed After Sunburn gel, and Joe needed Gatorade. And we needed paper plates, plastic plates (we used to have TONS, and they've all magically disappeared this week...), and toilet paper. Don't wanna be without toilet paper, you know.


Aunt Sue got a soda from the coolers by the register, and I decided to go to McDonalds and get one. And yeah, it was SO not fast... I waited in line for like 10 minutes for a freaking soda and a $1 parfait... Should have just got the soda for $1.50 from the cooler, right? Sorry, Aunt Sue!

And we headed home. We put all the things away, and cleaned up a tiny bit, and I put Joe to bed in my room on my little couch, and snuggled with him a bit. Then I put Jim to bed in his room, and snuggled in his bed with him for a little bit.

I helped Jake get some Sunburn gel on (he was pretty red!), and I helped Aunt Sue get some on too. The places that she couldn't reach. She was SUPER red! Poor Aunt Sue!

I sat down to blog and such, and the kids and I turned on a movie from Netflix. The Dragon Wars. Oh yeah, SUPER dumb... But it was good background noise. Giant snake dragon thing attacking LA... The boys seemed entertained. Aunt Sue was worried about watching a scary moving and having night mares, but yeah, there was nothing to worry about from this one. It was SO dumb. hehe.

Tomorrow, Aunt Sue and Amanda and Terra and I are planning a trip to Costco. Amanda has a B-day party for Austin planned for Saturday, and wants to get some stuff. And we're ALWAYS up for a Costco run. We don't have cards, so whenever a friend is going and offers, we go for fun. hehe.

Then, if it's not thunder storming, we're going to the pool at 1pm tomorrow. Maybe we'll go and catch a dollar movie if the weather doesn't cooperate? My parents and sister are driving back from Ft. Hood to here tomorrow, and should be in in the evening. Excited to see my sis and her little girls!


Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Awe, cute hand holding picture! I wanna hold someone's hand.... Can you guess who? hehe. Thanks for the layout, Sharon!