A day in the life...at least today anyway

It is that time of year again when my husband is working almost uncountable hours on the project that he and his boss at Milestone Paint and Body are taking to the SEMA show.  The SEMA show is in Las Vegas, the first week of November, and right now is crunch time.  Especially since we are taking a family vacation during Fall Break, the 3rd week in October.  So, C has been working a lot and that leaves me to do most everything.  That being said, I thought I would give a quick rundown of how today has gone.  It is currently 8:41, and I got up at 6:45 this morning... 

6:50 - Got the boys up for school.  We are running late as the bus usually comes right about 7:30...
7:25 - Boys are up and dressed, trying eat their Cheerios before the bus arrives.
7:28 - They are still inside getting their backpacks on and I hear the bus outside.  So, I rush them out the door knocking Alex down and spilling Cheerios in the process.  But, the boys made it to the bus as I am handing Isaac his glasses so he doesn't forget them.
7:35 - I leave for work
4:50 - I leave work to pick the boys up from aftercare.
5:35 - I have the boys and we are headed to pick up Isaac's Nintendo DS charger that he left at our friends' house over the weekend.
6:00ish - We arrive at our friends' house and the boys start playing.
6:45ish - We leave and head home to start dinner/homework/baths/a little tv time/teethbrushing

The next few things are a blur as far as the time frame.  So, I'll summarize... We walked in the door and I decided what to have for dinner.  Thank goodness for Schwan's Home Delivery, because they have made dinner so much easier.  I put the Angus Meatloaf patties in the oven to cook.  Then I started helping Alex with his homework.  Also during this time, I dealt with Isaac's MAJOR attitude about what I'm not exactly sure.  It resulted in him getting in the shower and me threatening no dinner for him.  Then he straightened up.  When dinner was ready, the boys and I ate together and tried to start watching Spooky Buddies (we didn't get far on that).  When I finished eating dinner and the boys were finishing up, I put chocolate chip cookies (also from Schwan's) in the oven for dessert.  When Alex finished his dinner, (he's almost always last), I gave him a quick shower.  Then I decided since it's Wednesday, I need to wash some clothes to be sure C has clean ones for work.  During that time, the timer for the oven went off, so I had to quickly retrieve the cookies from the oven so they didn't burn.  Mission accomplished, the cookies were great!  I had one as I was telling the boys it was time to go to bed.  But, not before Alex had an ice cream pop and Isaac had 2 chocolate chip cookies.  Also while they were watching Spooky Buddies and eating their dessert, I prepared their lunch money for tomorrow and put it in their backpacks.  Finally, after the desserts, we stopped the Spooky Buddies DVD, after I promised they could resume it tomorrow, and went to brush teeth and get in the bed.  Whew!  Are you tired yet?  After the boys got in bed, I returned a phone call and then decided I needed to document this day.  So, here we are.

Before I can go to bed I have to put clothes in the dryer, clean up the kitchen and then hopefully stay awake until my hubby gets home.  What a day.  Tomorrow will be a nice change of pace though.  It is HCA Community Day and I will be volunteering with Love Helps.  It is local nonprofit organization that works in our public schools to encourage student achievement and responsible behavior.  I am really looking forward to it.

It is now 8:58.  My day summed up in 17 minutes...  Not bad.

Fall Pictures

Today I have been in a pretty grumpy mood.  So, to brighten my day, I decided to take some pictures of my boys.  I am really pleased with how they turned out.  I even had them printed at Walmart and framed a couple.  Happy Saturday!  Not quite ready for fall, at least not until we get back from the beach.  More on that later...

I remember

I was sitting in my internal audit class during my senior year at Lipscomb University.  I received a text message on my beeper from Clarence.  We were engaged then, not married yet.  He told me that a plane crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings.  I remember wondering what in the world was going on.  Terrorism was not the first thing that came to mind.  Then I left school a short time later to go to a meeting as part of my internship with HCA.  I remember hearing nothing but news about the two planes that had now crashed into the Towers.  I remember driving down I-40 near the airport and not seeing one plane in the sky.  It was the weirdest feeling.  I wasn't really sure what to feel.  Once I arrived at the conference center where our meeting was to be held, it was decided that it just didn't seem right to go ahead with the meeting.  So, we all left and I headed on to the office where my internship was.  I remember one of the ladies in the office bringing her young son to work with her that day because she just couldn't bear to take him to daycare.  I didn't really understand it then, but now that I'm a mother, I do.  In times like those, you want to keep your children close.  You want to feel like you are protecting them and that they feel safe, even if they don't really know what is going on.  I remember hearing Lee Greenwood's song on the radio and tears coming to my eyes because "I am proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me, and I'll gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.  Because there ain't no doubt I love this land.  God Bless the U.S.A."  Never before that day did that song mean so much to me, did I have so much pride in our Country.  I remember seeing the footage of the towers falling and people jumping from windows so many stories above the ground.  I was shocked by those images among many others.  I had that strange compulsion to keep watching the footage in complete disbelief.  I will never forget that day and all the lives that were lost.  It still stuns me today that our Country was the victim of such an attack.  It is almost unreal that it was such a premeditated action.  9.11.01, 9-1-1.  Unbelievable.  I remember.  10 years later.  I will never forget.

Summer is winding down

A couple of weekends ago we had tickets to take the boys to see the Titans play the Chicago Bears in a preseason game.  C and I are Chicago Bears fans, and our boys are Titans fans.  It was a fun night.  Grampy got the tickets from work, and our seats were great!  The Bears ended up losing by one, but it was ok because it was so fun to see the boys so happy that their team won.

To wind down our summer, we all went to Nashville Shores with Nana and Pops and all the cousins.  I think everyone had a great time despite the rain.  I was so happy that C joined us this time.  I think he had a good time too because all the children were having so much fun.

Now that Labor Day has passed, the end of summer has officially come.  So now, we're in the full swing of school and waiting for Fall Break.  I'm sure the weeks will fly by!

Daddy's special pancakes

Alex was pretty excited about his special name pancakes

our great seats!

excited after the Titans scored

Urlacher!

pretty excited to be there

C and I in our Bears apparel and Isaac in his Titans'

Camden playing in the sand at the playground where Donevyn played football on Saturday

Devin, Donevyn's brother, playing at the playground too

My dirty boy.  If he's not dirty, he's not having fun!

Jaylen playing at the playground

my big boy

Isaac seriously tired of me taking his picture

Another pic of Devin

Donevyn at Nashville Shores sitting in the floats that were stacked up

Isaac playing in the floats too

another one

Jaylen playing in the floats too

Everyone who went to Nashville Shores:
Devin, Jaylen, Donevyn, Parris (Donevyn's Sister), Camden, Isaac and Alex
It was Parris' birthday! :)

Alex before we left the house to go over to Kelli and Steve's.