I turned 28 years old today......

.....again.
.
Today was a great day! It's the one day I can justify being lazy most of the day. I stayed in bed until 10am. I wasn't asleep the whole time, but I was relaxed and comfortable. My husband even brought me breakfast in bed. OK, it was the generic version of Cocoa Pebbles, but he brought it to me with very little arm twisting.
When he returned home from bus visitation, I got flowers and chocolates. We decided to not get each other B-Day gifts due to our recent trip to Florida, just a little something to acknowledge the day. Then we went out to eat. I love Cracker Barrel, but my husband hates it. So, we compromised and went to Cracker Barrel. Hey, it was my birthday so I got to pick, right? We got back around 3:00 and I took a nap! I was tired from all that I had to do that morning. (I did do the dishes....meaning I emptied out the dishwasher, and then filled it.)
We picked our son up from his teen activity and headed over to a friend's house for dessert. Julia made me a birthday cake (with a 28 on it), and she had all our kids and the adults sing to me. It was sweet! She must think I smell or something because she gave me shower gel and such in the guise of a birthday present, but I appreciated it anyway. :) Thank you so much Julia. Your friendship means a great deal to me.
God has greatly blessed me with a great husband, children, church, and friends. It's more than I deserve. I tend to take these things for granted and I shouldn't.

Christmas Card Pics

Really, what are you suppose to do with those pictures that get sent with those Christmas cards? I have no problem throwing away the cards, but I have a problem tossing the pictures. Honestly, do people expect me to save them? Probably not. I have no illusions that my Christmas family picture, so lovingly enclosed in each Christmas card, is gracing the wall of each and every home that received them. I'm sure our picture is underneath the torn wrapping paper and empty boxes at some junkyard. It's a little sad, isn't it?
Well, fear not, all you who sent us a picture. You are *forever immortalized on our wall *for all time. I bought a frame, a really expensive one from Walmart, and made a collage out of all those pics. Thankfully, we didn't receive all that many photos so my job was easy.
So, for this year anyway, I have no "guilt" about tossing familiar faces into the trash. Your face is safe ....for now.



*forever - by forever I mean for the time being
*for all time - probably means until next Christmas

Nothin' Special

I've stared a new blog for our family vacation. It's really just a spot to put my memories and all the pictures in one place. So far, I've just put up info on our arrival there, no pictures. It's really rather boring, but that's me. It's more for our family than anyone else, but you're more that welcome to visit. I'll eventually put up pictures....some day. I'll keep you posted.

http://www.ourfloridavacation2009.blogspot.com/

"I miss the green..."

...this is what Katelyn said when we arrived at the airport on Saturday. I'm glad to be home, but I miss the "green" too.

These pictures were taken while we were waiting in line for one of the rides. I'm the proud owner of photoshop (as of Christmas), but these pictures were not edited. Sorry, but since I'm pretty much "computer dumb" I think it will take me awhile to do anything other than crop the occasional picture.

It's cold!

Ok, for Florida, it's cold. Here I am watching my children play in the pool from inside the house. The pool's heated so as long as they stay in the pool or hot tub (did I mention the hot tub?) they stay warm. I'm inside the house because it's below 55 degrees outside and I'm, contrary to popular belief, NOT crazy. I will , however, be enjoying the hot tub after the children are in bed.
I can't believe how fast the time has flown. When we first arrived, it seemed like a very long vacation. Now, it's almost over. I don't really mind. Vacations are great, but coming home is even better. I'm just not looking forward to the packing and navigating through the airport. At least we get to fly as opposed to driving.
I'm sorry there haven't been any pictures, believe me I took plenty. I download pictures to my main computer, not the laptop that I brought with me.
I hear that's it's been pretty cold up north. I hope ya'll can warm it up some before we get home on Saturday. I'll be sending warm thoughts your way.

A Florida First

I went to church today! This is the first time that I have been healthy enough to attend church in Florida. The past three trips (2003,2004,2005) I have been very sick over the trip. I think I catch something on the plane ride down. Each trip I end up on antibiotics, either after the trip is over or during the trip. This year I'm completely healthy....so far.
Some bad news though......today is the last really warm day. A cold front is coming through. Really, on Friday the high will only be only 59 degrees. It's terrible, isn't it? Right now the kids are swimming in the pool of the house we rented. It's beautiful. It's nice to take a trip south in the winter, a break from the cold. I highly recommend if at all possible.
The first year we came, they had record low temperature. It was as low as 32 degrees if I remember right. It was at least that low because it was on the news that someone's sprinkler had frozen. The cold weather didn't bother us because they showed pictures of the horrible weather in Rochester, NY on the local news. It was much worse than 32 degrees. It's almost funny how panicked Floridians get when the temperature is at or below freezing, but I guess they have citrus crops to consider.
Well, I hope everyone is happy and healthy, even though it's cold! See you Sunday!

We made it!

I was really paranoid. Not about the flying, but about the stomach bug that is going around. All week I was afraid that one of us would get the "bug" and we would be unable to fly. I, actually, did have a stomach "thing" the day before. I never did throw up (sorry for thought), but my stomach was "off" the whole day before our flight and into the day of our flight. So far, everyone is healthy. I pray we stay that way. I'm a little disappointed in the weather. It's only suppose to hit 78 degrees tomorrow. Oh, well, I guess I'll suffer through. :)

Mark 13:18

Mark 13:18 is a verse I read last night in my Bible.

And pray ye that your flight be not in winter.

Did I tell you that tomorrow we are traveling to Florida? Yeah....we're flying. Pray for us. :)

I just threw this picture in because I thought he was cute. He may be the reason we are stopped by security at the airport tomorrow!