Yeah Todd!

Todd got home last night late due to getting stuck in major traffic in Atlanta. He said his knuckles were white by the time he got through it all.....it is funny how we used to drive in it everyday, and then just being a way from it for 4 years you feel like you have never done it before.
Anyway, Todd had a great meeting and he was recognized as being "The Best in his Region". He was given a gold star, which is the highest award Longhorn gives out, short of GM of the year, and a cash bonus to boot....not a ton of money, but it was nice that he was recognized and he is gonna take his cash and spend it at Bass Pro....imagine that! LOL He has been wanting a fairly expensive pair of binoculars, so he told me last night he thinks he is gonna use his gift cards he got for Christmas and this bonus, and finally go and buy them for himself. You have to know my husband doesn't spend money on himself very often, so I am happy he is gonna do this! He works hard every day, so I am thrilled he was recognized for his efforts.
Well that is all I have to share today.
Talk to you all later.

I Love America....

Today I fulfilled my American duties......I voted first thing this morning. I decided to take advantage of early voting so I can beat the crowds. I was in and out before you could say God Bless America!
I came home and did a priliminary tax return. We are going to get our taxes done professionally this year due to the merger of Todd's company and some stock issues that I really don't understand, but I went and plugged in the numbers as I understood it. It looks like we are going to owe a little to the State, but we are still going to get a federal return this year....that is if I did it right. It did make me feel a little bit better because I was freaking out earlier in the week thinking we were going to have to pay out the ying yang!
Then I finally took the time to post my retired stamp sets that I want to sell on a stamping site I go to quite often. Well, I have made quite a bit of money tonight. It actually was crazy for a while there. The sets were selling so fast, I couldn't keep up with the emails. It was so funny. Everytime I would go and read an email, 3 more would come in. I was laughing so hard!
So today I participated in the right to vote, the drudgery of kinda paying taxes, and the joy of free enterprise. There are not a lot of countries in the world that would allow any one of these, much less all three! I love America!
Todd is in Atlanta right now, and we miss him already. He did have dinner with Ron, our old neighbor, and he found out one of our other old neighbors, John (the Harley man), died. He was such a good guy. I hated to hear that. I am waiting to hear from him tonight to find out how his meetings went today. He has meetings all day again tomorrow, so he won't be home until late tomorrow night!
Well, I guess that is all for now. Have a great evening.

Bailey has New Glasses

This picture has my Bailey's personality screaming from it.....she is like this all the time. Full Throttle! She is so excited about her new glasses. The hot pink matches her personality! She was so cute when we picked them up because they are starting to reduce the strength in her bifocals. She says, "Mom, the bifocal line isn't as big!!!!" I know in her heart her glasses bother her a bit, so it was neat to see that momentary glimmer of hope in her face. As a mom who wore glasses as a child, I know how different I always felt. And how self conscious I was when the glasses came off because my eye turned in like hers does. I remember thinking to myself, "when will I be able to take these dumb things off completely". My day came in my teen years, and I know hers will come someday too. Sometimes I don't know if she will look like the same Bailey without them, since she has had them since she was 1 1/2. She is so dang cute with them on, and when she takes them off, she looks so grown up. I don't know if I will be ready for her to get to that milestone. Ahh, such is the life of a parent, I guess.

Bailey cheered this morning as well. She did a great job as usual. Her star this week was for Best Cheers. The squad was small this week as we had a lot of girls out sick, but with Bailey's loud voice, they didn't miss a beat when it came to volume!!! LOL

Well I guess that is all for now. It is cold and rainy today, so I am gonna go and cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie with the girls.

Talk to you all soon.

Boring Week

I feel like I haven't posted on here in forever.......it is not that I am slacking on it, I just have nothing to report as far as the family is concerned. It basically has been a pretty boring week here. It is cold outside today. I don't know what the high is going to be today, but this morning when we went out to leave for school/work, it was like 24 on my thermometer in my van. So that is cold for South Georgia.
We don't even have a ton planned for the weekend. Which for me that is probably a good thing as I don't get to just do nothing very often. Bailey does have a game tomorrow at 8:45 in the morning, and then hopefully her glasses will be in, and we can run to Albany to pick them up. I have to call Lenscrafters today to see if they are in yet. Other than that, there isn't much else going on. We are going to Mary Catherine's birthday party today at 4:30 at a new ice cream shop that opened downtown so that should be fun. I know the girls are looking forward to that.
Todd has to leave on Monday to go to a General Manager's training session in Atlanta. He will be gone until Wednesday. He is going to meet up with our old neighbor and fishing buddy while he is up there to have dinner and catch up. There still is not enough water in the lakes up there for them to plan to fish together......it is amazing how dry the lakes are, scary actually.
Other than that, there is not a whole ton else to report. I hope you all have a great weekend. Keep warm!

Weigh In Results

Well, Todd had his first weigh in today for his Biggest Loser competition. He has lost 10 lbs!!!!! His waist went down 1.25 inches as well! I am so proud of him! He has been very diligent about his eating and his exercise. His goal is to lose 15-20 pounds total, and he is already well on his way! I just thought I would update you all on his progress.

Yeah Sarah!!!

Well, Sarah placed first in the Dairy Quiz Bowl! She is holding the plaque above. I asked her why she was not in her dress up clothes and she said she thought to take the picture after they had all changed into to their comfy traveling clothes. So she really was dressed up for the actual event. I was just glad she even thought to take the picture. We are very proud of her. She was more excited about the fact that she got to see snow! It started snowing in Athens just as they were leaving, so the adults pulled over so the kids could get out of the van and dance around in the flakes. Sarah said there were a couple of kids on the bus who had never seen snow before and they were soooo excited, and she was like.....this is nothing.....you don't even know what real snow is all about! I laughed cuz she acts like she is the expert in snowfall....my little southern belle thinks she has seen it all! Now if you want to talk about the Blizzard of '77 or the likes, then we have something to talk about, but for now I will just let her think she knows it all!!! LOL

Bailey did well yesterday as well. She got "Best Leadership" in the game yesterday. She got a red star to put on her megaphone and she is so proud of that one cuz "that is the best star you can get". I said to her, "I thought you said last week's star you got was the best one...now you say this one is." She insisted that this week's star trumps last weeks! We went to Albany to go get her glasses ordered....we should get them by next week. They are bright pink.....sounds strange, but they are cute on her.

To answer some of your comments on my spitting "angel".....the parents were sent a note due to the fact the gramma picked him up....not that the note will do anything because the parents are idiots too. I do like parts of my job...the children are not all spawns of the devil like him.....I do think I will be doing something else though next year. I haven't made a final decision yet.

I guess that is all for now. Have a good week!

Love you all!

Weekly Update

Hey everyone.....it has been a long week with not a ton going on, but I still find myself glad the weekend is here.
I had a rough day yesterday, as one of the "angels" that I teach decided to spit in my face......yes, I love my job. It took everything in my power not to smack him. I thought Diane, my boss, was gonna kill him. I literally cringe when this child walks into the classroom each day. I hate myself for feeling that way about a child. He just is such a little brat!!!!! I really want to smack the parents as well, but I don't think that would do any good either. Imagine the snot nose little bully in all the movies you have seen.....that is this child. In fact I think he may have a future in movies portraying the bully. Along with that at the start of my day, things just kept getting worse. Yesterday by 12:30, I was ready to go belly up to a bar somewhere and drink myself into oblivion....it didn't happen because I have to still be a mommy, but let me tell you if I didn't have to pick up my children at school and shuffle them here and there, yesterday would have been a good day to just find Margaritaville!!! LOL
Sarah left yesterday for Athens, Ga with 4H to participate in the Dairy Quiz Bowl....it is a trivia competition about cows and the dairy industry. I don't know how the team will do, but we will find out tonight when she calls me after the competition. She should be back late tonight. I hope they do well.
Bailey has another game today at 11:30, and then we are going to head to Albany to go order her new glasses. They are starting to reduce the strength in the bifocals so within a couple of years, she will be in a single lense, and at that time be able to go into contacts if she wants to.
Todd is losing weight and has his first weigh in on Monday. I can tell he has lost a lot already because his belly has gone down quite a bit. I, on the other hand, have gained weight......I am attributing it to muscle gain.....at least that is what I hope it is......my clothes are still fitting well, so I am gonna go with that theory as it makes me feel better to say that is what it is.....LOL
We have a three day weekend due to MLK day, so after church tomorrow we are gonna just hang out until Todd gets home and then I think we are gonna take the kids to see a movie. Monday I am gonna try and run Bailey to the orthodontist as she has a loose bracket. I have got to make some time to do some stamping this weekend as well, as I have my Stampers 10 club coming up and I have nothing planned for it.
I guess that is all for now. I will post how Sarah did once I hear from her!
Have a great weekend.

"Give me a B-A-I-L-E-Y"

Good Morning! Today was Bailey's first game for Upward Cheerleading! She did soooo good and looked so cute! All the girls did a great job! Bailey got the "gold star" for being the most spirited! She was very excited! It was so cute because at half time they did a dance for the crowd, but before they did it, they introduced the cheerleaders...complete with a fog machine! Bailey was the first one and she runs out and starts fanning the smoke away from her face! I know most of you can picture her doing it. She was standing in the middle of the court with her nose curled up, mouthing to me "it stinks". All I could do was laugh......she is a drama queen through and through!
Well, we are a week into Todd's diet plan and he is doing well with it. He is refusing to weigh himself until his weigh in on the 21st. I hope he loses something because he is putting so much effort into it. We have walked everyday religiously either at the track at church, or on the treadmill here at the house. Todd started weights this week too. I have yet to start that as I am pretty content walking right now.
We were all pretty tired last night with getting back to school and stuff this week. We should all be in the routine by the middle of next week again. We hope to anyway.
I guess that is all for now. I just thought I would get these pictures of Bailey posted early. I have chores to do, and then I have vowed I am going to finish a book I have been reading today!
Hope you all have a great weekend!

Working Hard

Hey there! Sorry it has been a few days since I have posted. We started back to school today, and we are all tired. The kids actually were excited to go back. I wasn't looking too forward to facing my class today, but they all actually were pretty good.

Todd and I have been diligently following our healthy eating plan and walking everyday. It has been hard, but we are surviving. Todd has been having a good time with the people at work that are participating in the Biggest Loser challenge. He is such a competitor, and he is going all out for this. It is kinda funny how dedicated he has become with it. His first weigh in was on Monday, and he wasn't happy with the number he got...but then again who is ever happy with the number on the scale. The ones I am feeling sorry for are our kids. The girls want junk food so bad to be in the house.....it is really amazing how much junk we are accustomed to eating. Our bodies are definitely reacting to the good for you food we are eating. It is like going through withdrawls like a drug addict!

I don't have a ton to report other than that. Bailey has her first cheerleading game on Saturday, so I will post pictures of her in her outfit on Saturday. Hope you all have a great week.

BRRRRR!!!! It is cold outside!

YEP!!!! Those are icicles! They are man-made but they are still icicles in South Georgia! Our friends, Jay and Susan told us to stop by their house this morning, which we did after dropping Sarah off to babysit. How pretty it was to see this tree in their front yard. Jay did this for his children and Bailey was so excited to see it! He turned a sprinkler on last night to wet his tree down and this is the results of that task. Todd and I had never heard of this before, so it was neat to see.....being that the only time we get to see icicles is when we make our trek home to NY in the wintertime! Bailey thought it was soooooo cool. She kept going on and on about it after we left. She thought it was so cool that she 'slipped' on the ice under the tree and she fell and her hands got cold! In the bottom picture she was "hoping" the ice would drip in her mouth, but it didn't.....
So that proves to all of you how cold it can get down here. Last night it got down to 18 degrees, but no snow........we can only pray for that.......but if it ever does, we do have our sleds here hanging in the garage! LOL

Off to a good start

We have been really trying to stick to our exercise program we vowed we would do at the start of the new year. We have walked everyday so far, 3 miles each day, at our church on the track. This upcoming Monday is the start of Tifton's Biggest Loser. Todd has joined it with several of his employees. He is hoping to drop about 15-20 pounds. It is a 12 week program, so we will see how it will work out for him. If I could just get him to understand that ice cream with chocolate sauce and peanuts is not part of the healthy eating program, we should be okay! LOL
I really hope he succeeds at it. I am gonna take pictures of him before and after, but I won't post them until the end of the program.
The girls and I start back to school/work next Wednesday, so we still have a few days to enjoy our freedom. The next few days are going to be filled with doctor's appointments, haircuts etc., so we won't be hanging out as much as we have been.
I hope you all have had a good start to the new year as well! I will talk to you all soon.