Spring "Break"...Yea, Right!

For all of you moms out there, you'll understand when I say having a "week off" is an absolute joke. My relaxing week off with the kids for Spring Break has undoubtedly turned into a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of busy. We had no real plans to speak of and yet I have not had a chance to sit and relax. So I have had zero chance to blog this whole week. But the kids are gone now, so we'll see how far I get....

I don't even know if I've told you, but our house is officially for sale. 

 Halleluiah!!!!

 It's been on the market since last November. It's been really slow showing, but I have been totally ok with that. It's given us a chance to get into a routine of keeping the house clean. It is now March and I am still trying to figure out that routine. It is sooooo hard keeping the house "spotless". I have found a special place in my heart for a messy house. The time I spend trying to keep everything clean is ridiculous!! I am praising the good Lord that I don't have OCD! I am pretty sure either me or the kids would be dead by now if I did! Lol!! It is nice coming home to a clean house though. I've never really known what that feels like. I'm diggin' it :)

Everyone keeps asking us where we are looking to buy and our answer is, we don't know. We aren't even going to start looking until we've sold this house. It is so much harder to sell these days, I just don't want to find the perfect house and then have it yanked out from under us because this one didn't sell in time. I just pray that it sells soon because our oldest starts middle school in 5 months and I really want her to go to a different school.

Anyway, so our house is for sale. Tell all of your friends!!

Hmmmm.....

Ok, lets back up a bit. Christmas. 

We had a pretty good Christmas if I do say so myself. The kids finally got what they have been begging me for for years.....

 We are officially pet owners!!

 I have been dodging that bullet for as long as I could. I finally gave in, but with the condition that we would do it the cliche way. Every kids' dream is to open a box Christmas morning with a puppy and/or kitten inside. So, that's what we did. :)

They were so surprised! My dad video tapped the whole thing and I wish I could post that on here. Maybe I can get a clip of the video and post it on here sometime. It was a priceless moment. I think it scared Bubba though. Lol!! Instead of instinctively grabbing one of the animals, he stood up as if he were going to run away. Lol!! They love those babies so much.

It is so crazy how different dogs and cats really are. Charlie is sooooo needy. And Gracie is not. I love them both very much, but I am positive that I am more of a cat kinda girl....or maybe an "older dog" kinda girl. Lol!! Speaking of, we were actually dog-sitting for some friends of ours over the Christmas holiday and I think she was just as surprised to see those babies jump out of the box.

Meet our "older dog".

We have been keeping Chi Chi for our friends for quite a while now and she has definitely spoiled me to what I thought life would be like with a dog. It has been very different though. :)

OH!! I almost forgot! We have a big announcement to make....


Drum roll please........

 
 We have been Smoke-Free since January 1st!!!!!
Happy New Year's to us!!


And it has been soooooo hard. After the first couple of weeks, we were doing pretty good. We started watching a new show on Netflix recently and we've really gotten into it. So much so that we are staying up until midnight sometimes trying to watch another episode. How dumb is that?!? "Just one more. Just one more." Idiots! Anyway, all they do on this show, I swear, is SMOKE!! At first I thought it was just me. So I didn't want to say anything thinking I was just being weak. But last week, Kyle is the one that pointed out how much they smoked and how much he had been craving one lately too. So did we stop watching it to keep us from relapsing? Of course not! Instead, we are staying up later trying to finish all of the episodes as fast as we can.

STUPID. STUPID. STUPID!!!!!

We will be done with the show tonight, thank goodness. But I'm sure the desire to smoke isn't going to just disappear. Prayers for our strength would be much appreciated. :)



Ummmmm.......well, I think I am going to stop there. My kids are home and making it difficult to get much more accomplished.

So, hopefully I will talk again soon :)

Hi :)

I just thought I would take the time to check in and say, 

 
"I AM STILL ALIVE!!!"

 

It has been crazy busy, and sometimes just crazy, over here. The amount of which I am behind is soooo overwhelming, I just can't make myself sit down and type. 

It is finally spring break now, so I am hoping to do some major catching up :)

But until then, I leave  you with this....

Time For A Break

We survived another semester!!!!!

Yesterday was the kids' last day of school for the fall semester. This also included ballet and karate. HALLELUIAH!!! Praise the Lord!! I love that the kids have something they can do that they really enjoy, but this momma needs a break.

We had watch days in ballet and certificates handed out in karate. And if my computer cooperates, I have a couple of videos...

Sen-sea (sp ?) Gray and Bubba

My little karate kid :)

He had a lot of fun in karate. He gave his teacher a run for his money, though. Lol!!! I think we'll try it again in the spring semester. So say a little prayer for his Sen-sea.  :)

Bailee's last day came next. 

Bailee.... Bailee..... Bailee....

She tested us ALL semester.

 

August 2012:

"Please Mommy please!! I WANT to take karate!! Please, oh please!!"

September 2012:

"Do I HAVE to go today? I don't want to go to karate!!"

To the very end, she tried to get out of it, but we pushed her to finish. When we went to her last day, her Sen-sea handed out new belts to those that had leveled up and stripes to those who had made progress.

Her class :)

She received her first stripe

Sen-sea Bob and Bailee

As we drove home, she told us she wanted to get her next belt. :) It's amazing how a little recognition changes her attitude :) We'll see how the spring semester goes...

Next, was Madison's watch day. We finally got to see what they had been working on and a sneak peek to their recital costumes. She was very shy at first with all of the parents watching, but finally came out of her shell.

My baby's on the front row this year :)

Too cute :)

Ms. Lugene (aka Best Ballet Teacher EVER) and Madison

This was not the best video I had, but it's the only one I could get to upload. She's the one in all black on the front row.

 

She is still loving ballet. I think she's going to turn out to be a little "Kenzie".

And last, but not least, was Kenzie. Because she is in an older class, she thinks she is too cool for her momma to take pictures or video. So this was all I could squeeze out of her that day.

My pretty ballerina

All I can say is, I can't wait for her recital!!! Her dances are AWESOME!!!

Now that we are done for the year, I get to just relax and enjoy the next two weeks off from work, school, ballet, gymnastics....my life, really. Lol!! It's going to be AWESOME!!

Happy Winter Break!!