Summer 2012

 Chase and AJ first day of 7th and 9th grade

 Jianna first day of 5th grade

Jianna and friend Ashton walking up our street to bus stop

Hello everyone! Wow time flies by! Wish I was better at this, but thanks for your patience. So, I left off in the spring and now here we are and school has already started as of August 3rd. A huge adjustment for my kids. They still want to be on vacation. Can't say I blame them. It's feeling like summer too much to think about homework! I took a few pictures of the first day of school. I have an elementary, middle school and yes,,,one high schooler!
But, I should head back to where I left off..in the spring. Baseball was in full swing and we had our first homerun for Chase. A very exciting day and overall his team did well, placing 4th in the season.
Jianna was selected for 10u all stars and participated with her team in several tournaments. Some of the girls were also from her travel team so she had a great time and we were very proud of her.
In May, AJ had his 8th grade dance and end of year activities. After the dance the kids all hung out at Fro Yo...for those that need translation,, thats frozen yogurt. He had a great time.

 AJ,looking handsome!

the gang at Lovin'Spoons

AJ and good friend Chesney and the nice corrsaige..

So, on to June...School was out may 18th and we  left for our vegas vacation may 30th. It went by really fast but we managed to visit a little with almost everyone we could get in, in 2 weeks. We went to California for a long weekend and saw our family there. So hard to say goodbye to cousins,aunties and especially Nana.

Chase(11),AJ(13),Ryan(12),Luke(3)Abby(5),Jianna(9),and Makayla(8)

Me and Nana Shirley

Once we were home we were busy with AJ and his Summer Baseball program preparing him for high school baseball. It was really fun to see him on the big field and he did well with the transition. He mostly was back at 2nd base and he did great. We just didn't get too many games in due to the daily thunderstorms we have here. It was crazy that from end of May to end of June it, almost rained everyday! Except for cancelling baseball, the storms are cool!
The first week of July Rob finally had vacation so we loaded up the kids, the dog and we headed to Florida. We hung out as a family at the beach everyday. It was in a town called Ponte Vedra Beach, FL and they allow dogs on the beach after 5pm. Jessie slowly got over her phobia of water and even swam a little in the ocean.

A fort in St. Augustine, Fl

The rest of the summer was a lot of play and squeaking out as much fun as possible. Our good friends the Collins from Las Vegas were heading to Florida for a vacation the first week of school, so I did what I hope my kids know is a cool mom thing. I let them skip school on Friday the 10th and we left at 4am and drove down to Clearwater, Fl and had more fun in the sun. Aj and Nik were inseperable and I thought to myself,,that's a life long friendship I'm proud to be a part of.Barb, Nik's mom, and I had many laughs watching them all interact. Nik is one more big bro to Chase and Jianna.

 Still not sure if Chase read that shirt prior to the picture,,,but the irony of it is priceless..

What goofy kids.....

Well, that's about all. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and the update. Miss you all.. Sandie

Our Family Happenings so far in 2012

Hey Ya'll!! I know I'm slow to update this blog but really have no excuses. So, I won't offer any but just start in with what's new in Georgia.

AJ got his braces off on January 16,2012. He was very excited and also worried about whether any of the skittles, coke, starbursts and other not so braces friendly foods were finally going to reveal themselves.But, other than needing a good cleaning and getting fitted for a retainer,,,,all is well.

Funny sign at AJ's tournament....

He also started up at the end of January with a new baseball team and has traveled to Brunswick GA for his first tournament March 10th. They placed second and he came home with his first Georgia hardware(trophy).He is enjoying pitching and has been moved from second base to shortstop and likes the challenge of learning that position. My favorite is still watching him snag amazing fly balls in centerfield and a new mitt is in the mail now. Think it's time for a new chair for me, maybe a super deluxe padded one cause I'll be watching lots of games!!

Chase has been counting down the days to little league opening day. His new team is the Sand Gnats. Go figure since they are the state insect.....just kidding.. but they are THE most annoying little bugs on the planet. They bit like a mosquito and leave red bites EVERYWHERE. I've tried every bug spray, lotion, one called No Gnats, and the ever popular Skin so Softly by Avon. They laugh at me and bite me anyways!!The Skin So Softly Oil which I got at the Ace Hardware store(hahahaha,,,,funny all by itself) actually keeps them at bay for a minute or two but I feel like a greased up target....Yuck!!
So, anyways, Chase hates them just as much so we get a chuckle at the team name. The coach has Chase pitching and catching and occasionally 3rd base. Time for a new chest protector for him...more baseball equipment....
Chase has also started as a member of the Chess club. Don't tell anyone at Neal, but our undefeated Chess champ 3 years running actually lost a few the first club meeting. He has revenge in mind for next meeting! I think he is ready for the challenge.
Jianna had also started with a travel team for a 10u fastpitch softball team. They are the Southern Explosions. She has been to 2 tournaments, one in February with a 2nd place trophy, and one in March, also 2nd place. Pretty cool that she got to go to the championship game 2 out of 2 times. This was a first for the team and they have nicknamed Jianna their good luck charm. Especially funny moment at the last tournament was when Jianna got up to bat playing a pretty serious rival the USSSA Georgia Pride team. With bases loaded and 2 outs lil G was up to bat. The count got to full at 3/2 and the opposing coach told the girls from the outfield to come in closer since they didn't expect anything but a strikeout and judging by her size he brought them in to a very shallow outfield position. BIG mistake. Jianna hit the plate, gave a lil butt wiggle and hit that ball so hard to left field the girl had to run after it. She had 2 RBI's and eventually came around on the next hit to score. The next time she was up to bat,,, they gave her respect!She was so proud of herself and mama bear was too!!Next tournament this weekend in Summerville SC.

So, other than baseball and softball the kids are really enjoying themselves and have been outside almost everyday after school going fishing, bikes, scooters, roller skates, you name it. the boys have learned to kayake and that is AJ's new favorite. He just has to remember the sunscreen. A true life jacket sun tan/burn looks worse than a farmer tan. He had stripes!
So looking forward this week, AJ has to go to High School orientation on Thursday,,,did I just put that in writing? YIKES!!! Today, I am sooooo not ready for that idea. Guess I'll see how I feel about it Thursday. Boy does time fly.

December 2011

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I can't believe how fast time goes by. We started off the month with celebrating Jianna's 9th birthday. Yikes! how did that happen that my "baby" is already 9? I swear I am still working off the baby weight right? Maybe that's called peri-menipause..hahahaha.Anyways, Jianna declared that she would like to have an official "spa day" in lieu of a traditional birthday party. So we headed to a local salon that I have to say was fantastic and smelled wonderful, like all those Aveda products. She had a full afternoon of pampering including hair washing,blow drying, style, nails and toes too! She loved every minute of it.

Jianna at Lavender Hill Day Spa 12-3-2011

So next we visited at place called Midnight Pottery and painted together a small dish for mommy and a jewlery box for Jianna. We did pretty good. The hard part was waiting for their call to pick up our finished creations.

Earlier in the morning there was a Christmas parade going down the "main street" of town in Richmond Hill. Jianna said it was a big birthday celebration! It reminded us of the parade we saw the summer of 2010 in Custer South Dakota. They were even throwing candy and beads, which my kids scored bigger than Halloween. I swear I was throwing the candy back when they weren't looking!! The funny part was the dentist who had a float and did NOT throw candy...whewww.

Wildcats? Do I live in the movie High School Musical?

Don't know why but they made me smile!

Not Fire department...furr Dept.. that's our neighbor  Robbie in the overalls. Yeehawwww.

So, the parade was a hit with all of us. It was really cool to feel part of a community and see a whole town come together, shut main street down and have some good ol' fashion fun. And literally nothing else was open or going on in town until this was wrapped up at noon.
We also were able to attend the town chili cook off and tree lighting night with our new neigbors Nick and Jeanne and their kids Nick Jr. and Cecelia. There were hay rides and face painting and of course some very competitive chili cooks! The trophy for first place was taller than me!Our favorite was actually a white chili with chicken.

For those of you who heard my recap of this hayride you know why Jianna is smiling so proudly!

Well, after a busy few weeks leading up to Christmas and getting ready to celebrate a new year tonight, I'm glad things are a little quiet. Reflecting back on 2011, and thinking about the new year ahead, today I am filled with gratefulness for all the blessings of 2011, my wonderful family and friends and very hopeful for what God will bring us in the new year.Take care ya'll!!

Block Party and our Thanksgiving

Seems I have lots going on since my life slowed down. Actually, it has slowed down and been a lot of fun since my job is now unpacking my life and purging through anything not necessary. I recently heard a commentator for some daytime show talking about hoarders and how to NOT become one. So, I stopped unpacking, grabbed a cup of coffee and thought,, this could be interesting. I'm surrounded by stuff, boxes are winning 10 to 1, and we're going to listen to a show about organizing my life!! By mid show, I was compelled to start back to work determined not to let my stuff control me! I felt sooo much better considering I'm not as bad as I could be and well,,,it was free therapy. One take away line was when he said how to sort through your stuff. He said" just pick a random drawer or BOX(emphasis mine), dump it on the floor and then put away only the stuff you need". He determined this by saying, anything that is not adding value to your life RIGHT NOW should go. Well, that narrows it down. None of my stuff really adds value to my life. The bible says where your heart is, that is where your treasure is and I think about that and I know that my family and friends are definitely my treasures and all this stuff is just, well,,, stuff. Sort of made me put things in a different perspective, helped me let go of the things not adding value to my life and drive away later that day with full boxes to donate. At the end of the day, I gained a living room and a changed heart. Yes, we can actually walk into the living room now,,,yippee!!
As for the adventures for our family since my first post,we were invited to a "low country boil" and oyster roast from our next door neighbor Robbie. He was turning 40 and it was a good chance to meet some of the neighbors. We had a great time and felt like we were camping in our own backyard with a campfire, and the woods right there under the stars. They cook the oysters over the campfire with a grate and big burlap sacks that are wet. The "low boil' is done in a turkey fryer looking thing and had shrimp,onions,potatoes,corn on the cob, sausage and stuff in it. Very yummy. Have to say it was awesome.


Neighbor Robbie prepping the fire and the oysters..



The Fire......or in Georgia   the furrrrr..

Just swinging!

Don't let go!!

Yummy oysters!!

We managed to cook a turkey and have our Thanksgiving the following weekend and were all stuffed and happy.

We left Friday for a quick tourist type trip to Atlanta. We visited the Aquarium and the World of Coke. I would definitely recommend them both. At the world of coke the fun part was tasting all the sodas from around the world in this big room with nothing but plastic cups, soda dispensers and a very sticky floor.There were 60 flavors in that room,,think I was sick after like 20! One of my favorites was from South Africa,"Bibo", and our least favorite hands down was "Beverly" from Italy. It literally tasted like you were sucking on an aspirin..YUCK...

 Checkin' it all out at the aquarium...

Jianna, AJ, and Chase

 I dare you to try all 60+ flavors!

I think I need to burp.....

Welcome Home! We've Arrived!

For all those friends and family who wished I had a Facebook account,,well,, this is as close as I get! I hope you will enjoy our journey and a few pictures to make you laugh as we start our new life in our new home state of Georgia. So many of you made this transition go as smooth as possible and I have to say I couldn't have done it without you! All the love and support has been amazing.Thank you for everything!

So, now on to the good stuff. We left Las Vegas on November 14th full of excitement and a little restless. After all, it's been a whirlwind for all of 2011, and the moment has finally arrived. What would I do without the constant "to do" list and my crazy color coordinated calendar? You all who have seen this are laughing right now.

We arrived at the airport with 3 kids, 1 stressed out dog complete with airport approved carrier bigger than I can carry, 6 checked bags, 4 carry ons, 4 backpacks, one purse...whewwww. We say our goodbyes to Jessie and head for the gate.And of course, Jianna was the winner of a complimentary personal screening. I told her she should be that lucky and win us the lottery! But instead of being annoyed, I just smile. Of course we would have this happen...really? Once on board, we check 2 of the 4 bags because they are too big,,,oh darn...Up side,, no charge for this service and at this point I don't even care if it makes it to Savannah! I think every person on the plane thinks I'm crazy or feels mildly sorry for me as I am sweating trying to get everyone seated and fight the bags. And we are the next to the last row on the plane that has like 40 rows. You get the picture... Comical really if you think about it however, not in the moment.
Next it's refreshment time and yup,, you guessed it, on of my kids dumped there entire drink on their lap. No worries,, we have so much carry on I have the pj's from last night stuffed in a carry on! See,, a good reason to have a carry on!! Problem,,, have to walk through Atlanta airport in pajamas...Still smiling though!!








When we finally arrive,,on time I might add,, we were so excited to see Rob. He was hiding behind a pillar and jumped out to surprise us. It was awesome and the kids were sooooo excited!! This is the picture right then of them.

AJ, Chase, Daddy, Jianna

This is all our stuff in the back of Rob's truck....I know you are impressed now with my successful trip! And Rob didn't even complain once(he actually thought it would be worse)...