Camping trip

Well, we are home from our first camping trip with the new pop-up. It wasn't quite what we expected. It rained the entire time and was freezing. We had to use the heater in the camper by day 2 after nearly freezing to death on the first night. I think the high on Sat. was 52'. Nice.
We made the most of it. The boys were really disappointed because they were hoping to go swimming and do some fishing. The only thing that made the it not so bad is the fact that we are going to the cabin in 6 days. YAY!
If it weren't raining..I'd be more bummed that the weekend went so fast. Next time we go will be the 4th of July and that will give us more time to enjoy it and enjoy our time together. We had some family game time and fun with Chuck and Amy, but it will be nice to have it sunny and not so rushed next time.

This makes me sad

As I looked at this picture again tonight....I suddenly noticed something that I hadn't the other day. Timmy seemed more long and lean to me, I chalked it up to the way the pic had to stretch to fit my desktop. Then I looked closer......
....he is standing on his tip toes.

So, that made me look closer at this one.....


...and this one....

...same thing. Poor guy. He's so self conscious of his height.

Grrrrr!!

How is it possible to love children so much and yet get so mad at them that you throw things at them? I lost my temper in the van tonight. They were so loud and obnoxious in the back seat...wouldn't quiet down...wouldn't stop argueing....wouldn't give us a moment's peace....so, WHACK! I whipped a DVD case back at them...it hit the ceiling hard and came down in the middle of the oldest 3. THAT got them quiet. Quiet enough to hear me lose my mind! Two guesses on whether or not they made a SOUND for the next 15 minutes.
It's so comforting to know that resorting to violent outbursts will get their attention. They don't teach THAT in any of the parenting books.
God, help me.

More bad news

I've been talking to Shannon's mom every day as she's been the one dropping off Hannah. She has kept me posted on Caleb and every day the news gets worse. First, the tumor, then the surgery to remove it. They went in there and found out that half was too deep and could not be removed. Not good. Yesterday was the worst part though when she told me that the biopsy showed that it is cancer. :(
I"m just so upset about it. He just turned 24. Shannon's obviously distraught. I don't know from here what will happen to him. I'm assuming some sort of chemo or radiation to shrink it, but I can't imagine it's ever a good prognosis when you have an inoperable brain cancer. **sigh** Life's never so bad when you compare it to something like this, huh. Thank you, Lord, for my family's health.

On a lighter note....This morning when I went in to wake Tony up (much to his displeasure) he looked at me and with total sincerity asked, "How come I never hear the rooster?"

The wedding

We got home last night after traveling to IL for Chris's wedding. We had such a good time! The boys danced until midnight.....all 6 of them. The reception was at the hotel we were staying which was attached to a casino, so I snuck out of the dance a couple times to try my luck at blackjack. I ended up winning $400! So, that paid for our trip completely. Others were going out there as well throughout the night and some got lucky and some didn't...like Lil.

gotta bring tony to school.....to be continued.....


Okay, it's now nighttime. I started this in the morning and had to leave it for the day. I just downloaded the pics and they turned out really cute. There are a lot that Tony and Tanner took cuz I gave them the

Oh my gosh, it's now Tues. morning. HAHAHA!!! I stopped last night in mid sentence and just got back to it. Too funny...today's...er...yesterday's post is really a good metaphor for my crazy life.

Okay, so where was I? Oh, the wedding. We had fun. LOL.
Here are some pics that I took. Of course, the boys all matched. Actually, when we got the clothes out of the suitcase, I realized that I somehow left Trae's shorts at home. They all had khaki ones for their outfit. So...he put on his black ones, went to the wedding, and we bought new ones before going to the reception. It made me so happy to spend $14 on a pair of shorts that we have 3 of at home. UGH!
They danced all night and blew bubbles that the bride and groom had all over.

In front of the cake table

The cool dudes

This was a candy table they had for the kids. It had about 15 different kinds of candy and treats for the kids so they could fill up BEFORE dinner and get on total sugar highs all night. No wonder they weren't tired.

So sad

Hannah got dropped off today by her grandma and told me some terrible news. Caleb, Shannon's boyfriend, went to the ER last night cuz he had migraines so bad that he was throwing up. They did an MRI and he has a brain tumor. :(
I can't get him off my mind today, it's so awful. I'm just praying at this point that it's not cancerous. If its not, then hopefully it's in a place where they can remove it. He's so young, you just hate to see someone who looked so healthy 2 days earlier suddenly fall so sick. Shannon is beside herself, of course. I'm anxious to hear how things go.
On a happier note, Jason picked up the camper last night. Looks good in the driveway. LOL He was actually cutting down a few tree branches on the side of the driveway so that they wouldn't hit the camper being parked there. When he cut one of them down, it flung back at him and he ducked his head. The branch ended up hitting him in the back of the head and gave him a pretty good gash. I didn't see it until hours later when I got home from work. By that time, it was pretty dried up, but it was long. I don't think he would have needed stitches, but they would have probably glued it together or something. It's not bad and it's sealing together so it should be fine. He sure had a headache last night though.
We're heading to Ill. tonight when Jay gets home. I'm getting packed....eventually...and doing laundry and stuff. Hopefully, we won't run into any traffic.
I'll check in after the weekend is over.

woohoo

I have a follower! Hi Sarah!

Things have been pretty normal since Monday. Back to daycare, back to kids driving me crazy, back to not having any time for anything....oh well.
I should be cleaning and packing today. We are leaving for Illinios tomorrow for Chris's wedding. I"m anxious for the trip...even the 5 hour drive. It's forced relaxation and that's something I could use. I'm torn right now between heading to the park or something or getting stuff done around the house. Whatever doesn't get done today has to be done tomorrow, so I suppose I should just stay here. We'll see, I haven't decided yet. I'll rent some movies before we go so we can at least keep busy that way in the car. The boys are charging their MP3's and gameboys, so that helps too. Me....I'm bring a good book and a pillow.
Jay and I had some errands to run last night and then we met up at Trappers for some food and bingo. Jay actually won a game, but so did another person so it was a split pot. That was still $28 so that paid our bill and some of the bingo. I'll take a cheap night out like that any day.
I have to work tonight, but Jay is going to Chucks to pick up the camper. I am SOOO excited to have it and be able to use it. We are going camping with Chuck and Amy next weekend. We will break in the camper and they will use their trailer for the first time, so it should be a ton of fun!

Lighthearted moment.....Yesterday I took Tanner onto my lap and laid him back like I was rocking him. He looked up at me and touched my hair and with the most sincere voice said "mom, your hair is so pretty...it's the prettiest hair I ever saw" Awww....so sweet and so wrong....I think it's been 4 days since I washed my hair. I guess the saying is right....Love is blind.
My baby boy.