Fish On

Some of the guys at the fire house love fishing.  Charlie's been off work (work related injury) and has spent some time with his buddies when they've gone out fishing.  He used to go fishing occasionally years ago, before we met. 

Charlie went to Walmart while the kids were in school yesterday and bought them each a fishing rod.  Tabytha has been fishing before, but, John and Jessi have never been fishing.  They were super excited to try it.

Charlie took us to a pond close to our house after the kids got home from school.  Hooks were batted with worms and lines were cast out into the water.  The kids were having a great time.  Of course the first few casts didn't get any bites from the fish and they started getting discouraged.  A little more time passed and Tabytha got her first bite.  She hooked her first catch of the evening.  

A little while later John caught his very first fish.  He was ecstatic!  Laughing and cheering his catch.  He didn't even mind tossing it back in the water.  Jessi wasn't able to catch anything, but, she still had a great time.  When all was said and done Tabytha had caught a total of 4 fish and John was content with the 1. 

A Break From Reality

Charlie and I just returned home from a week away on a cruise.  It was fantastic.  We went with 2 other couples we're very good friends with.  My mother-in-law came to our house to watch the kids for the week we were gone.

Charlie and I boarded the Carnival Glory May 19th in Norfolk, VA after a 4 hour drive with Drea, Ronnie, Mike and Lisa from Mike and Lisa's house in Denton.

We found our room, unpacked and went exploring the ship.  We all met up for dinner together, ate, laughed and talked about the fun we were going to have throughout the week aboard the ship and at the beaches in the Bahama's we were sailing to.

Dinner each night was incredible.  We were fortunate to have the same waiter each night and he was beyond phenomenal.  Each night we were greeted with genuine smiles from the wait staff, they pulled the chairs out for each of us ladies, placed our cloth napkin in our lap and opened our menu for us.  The food on the ship was amazing.  Trying things we've never tried before and enjoying foods we have had before.

Tuesday morning our ship arrived in Nassau Bahamas.  Fortunately for the 6 of us, Drea's childhood nanny lives in Nassau and she gave us directions to a beach only the locals go to away from other tourists.  We found our way to the beach, set up our lounge chairs and enjoyed the crystal clear blue waters.  Ms. Elease met us there a couple hours later and it was a lovely reunion for Drea and me.  I haven't seen Ms. Elease in 16 years and she had a little difficulty remembering me specifically after so much time, but, she was thrilled to see ALL of us none the less.  Ms. Elease even called a friend of hers to bring us all lunch from KFC.  The sky opened up on us and we all took cover under some trees on the beach and chowed down on our fried chicken.  The rain was a bit of a bummer, but, it didn't dampen our spirits.  After lunch we caught another bus back into the city and did the tourist thing, snapping pictures and buying knick knacks from the locals.

After a couple hours of playing tourist we said our goodbye's to Ms. Elease and made our way back on the ship.  Wednesday morning we awoke in Freeport Bahamas.  We left the ship and found our way to another picturesque beach.  We were the first to arrive and had first dibs on the best spot to settle down on the beach.  Drea and I took about a million pictures.  After a couple hours the rains found us again and we took shelter inside the covered bar.  The rain cut our beach day short, again, so we took a bus back to port and got back on the ship.

Wednesday evening and all day Thursday were spent on the ship on our way back to Norfolk, VA.  There was a lot to do on the ship so we never had a chance to get bored.  We spent a little time in the casino (where I won $458!), saw a couple live shows, lounged around on the lido deck and ate more food than anyone should eat in a month (!!!).  Thursday afternoon/early evening before dinner we all went to one of the theaters to play bingo.  None of us won the $1,000 jackpot, but, we had fun.  After bingo was an onboard "Game Show".  We stayed for that and I was even chosen from the crowd to participate.  It was so much fun!  The team I was on didn't win the round, but, I went away with a small parting gift and awesome memories.

Charlie and I were more relaxed during our week on the cruise than we have been since we got married.  We came home with some trinkets from the Bahamas, spectacular pictures and a lifetime of unforgettable memories.  It was a truly wonderful and amazing time and I'm so glad we were able to enjoy it with each other and share the experience with our dear friends.  

Hubby's New Hobby

Ok, so being a volunteer fire fighter isn't exactly a "hobby".  My husband joined the nearby fire company about a year ago.  His father was a volunteer fire fighter for his entire adult life and now Charlie is following in his dad's footsteps and carrying on the tradition.  I'm so proud of him and proud to tell people my husband is a fire fighter.  Plus, he's super cute in all his gear :)

Charlie's gone through several training classes and in this picture he's participating "MVC" (Motor Vehicle Crash) training.  Learning how to use the Jaws of Life, how to cut the windshield out of a vehicle, how to break windows to get access to passengers trapped in the vehicle and so on.  The instructor allowed me to be there to photograph the training.

I actually learned a lot while observing and taking pictures.  Even though it was only a training session at the firehouse when anyone was using any equipment all joking was put aside and they were focused on the task at hand with the mindset that someone was in the vehicle needing rescuing.    

Going From Caged Animal To Free Roaming

 

The picture on the top is the only one I got before the renovations really got started in my kitchen.  As you can see the counter top has been removed.  My kitchen and dinning room used to be divided by that ugly paneled cabinet and when I cooked I felt very disconnected from the rest of the house and in turn, disconnected from my family and friends.

The photo on the bottom right is my new kitchen layout with the cabinet and new counter top rotated and now running along the kitchen wall rather than jutting out from the wall.

The photo on the bottom left is my new view of the dinning room.  No longer am I cut off from the rest of the house while I'm preparing meals and the space is wide open for family and friends to actually join me in the kitchen and socialize comfortably without feeling cramped.

In the 4 weeks husband and I worked on our living room, kitchen and dinning room, I think my "new" kitchen/dinning room is my absolute favorite update.  It went from dingy yellow, baby blue counter tops, laminate wood flooring in the dinning room and linoleum in the kitchen and clutter on the walls to a welcoming wide open space of blue heaven, neutral counter tops (even a new set of cabinets along one wall making a nice 'buffet' style feel with extra storage in the cabinets for all my nifty kitchen gadgets and equipment), laminate wood flooring throughout the whole space, crown molding, framing out the entryway to the living room and beautiful wainscoting.

It was a grueling 4 weeks between limited hours after husband got home from work in the evenings, keeping up with getting kids on and off the bus for school, checking homework, cooking, attempted cleaning, running my regular errands along with countless trips for supplies to Lowe's and so on.  I know 4 weeks is NOT a long time for ALL the work we put into the house updating and renovating, but, throwing the day to day of life with a family it seemed like a very long time.  I wouldn't go back and change anything about it, though.  It was WELL worth the blood, sweat and tears and our house now feels like a home and I look forward to having family and friends come for visits and meals to share together with us.

Making Some Changes

So.  It's been over a year since my last post.  Not that I haven't had anything to post about.  I mean, come on, I have 3 children, a husband, wonderful family and awesome friends.  There's ALWAYS something to post about.  Anywho.  Instead of going back and trying to remember details of so many fun things my family and I did since my last post I'll just start from the big project my husband and I completed in this new year.  The picture on the left is the "Before" picture of our living room.  The picture on the right is the "After".

In the span of 4 hectic, messy, dusty, late night, debris filled weeks Charlie and I were able to soften up the look and feel of our living room.  Going from bold and in your face "Fabulous Red", a tiled corner (where a wood stove used to be), laminate wood flooring and a large area rug to a warmer and more neutral wall color, crown molding and carpeting.  We DID use some of the old laminate flooring for the entry of our house as a place to take off shoes and not muck up the new carpet as quickly.

I'm THRILLED with the new look and our friends and family who've been over and remember the "old" look have been very complimentary about the 'new' look.  It really feels like we've got a new house.  We also renovated our kitchen in the same 4 weeks we redid our living room, but, that's the next post :)

Tiger Gets Her Diploma

Today my sister graduated high school.  It seems like just yesterday I myself was in high school and she was the adorable baby on the school bus everyone loved so much.

Bethany has plans to attend college in the fall for a criminal justice degree of some sort and when she's old enough she wants to join the police academy and become a police officer.

I didn't have any set career plans when I graduated and Bethany has known for sure what she wants to do for several years now.  I'm so proud of the young woman she's becoming and seeing what the Lord has in store for the next chapter in her life.  I'm glad to have her as my sister :) 

Day Trip To DC

Today I kept the kids out of school, packed them in the Tacoma and headed to Washington DC for the day.  Tabytha, John and Jessi had been looking forward to this day for weeks.  Last night I packed bag lunches, Capri sun drinks and bottled water for a picnic lunch on the mall.  We met up with my friend, Jen, and her kids at the metro station in New Carollton.  We got our metro passes and waited for our other friend, Drea, and her kids to arrive.

We got on the metro and made our way to DC.  It was nearly noon when we arrived so we all decided to sit in a grassy area and have lunch before we went to the Museum of Natural History.  When we were done with lunch we gathered up all the kids.  11 kids between me, Jen and Drea, 10 of which were between the ages of 9 months and 5 yrs old.

During the last few steps before getting into the museum itself, Jessi started dragging and fussing and I realized I over estimated her ability to be able to handle all the walking we were going to do and SHOULD have brought the umbrella stroller for her.  As luck would have it, just inside the building, after going through the metal detectors, I spotted a wheelchair by the information desk.  I snatched it and put Jessi in it to keep her quiet for a bit.  It was big enough to have 2-3 kids in it at one time, so, I rotated all the little ones throughout the day so they each had a turn to rest their legs and have a ride.  It worked out perfectly and I firmly believe it alleviated any potential meltdowns we may have had with any of the little ones (remember, 10 children age 5 and under!!!)

Drea, Me and Jen and our kids

We did a LOT of walking and to be honest, all the kids were great while we were in the museum.  Although, with that many children we were constantly counting and recounting to make sure we had all 11 kids at all times.  We got a lot of looks throughout the day that's for sure.  I mean, come on, 3 women with 11 kids.  Jen pushing a double stroller with 2 kids in it, one baby on her chest and a child on her shoulders, Drea had an umbrella stroller holding the hand of another child and me pushing a wheelchair with 2-3 kids in it at any given time and a couple kids walking.  We certainly were a sight.

Two other friends of ours were coming from PA to meet up with us, but, a late start to their day and traffic prevented them from getting there to walk the Natural History Museum with us.  When the day was winding down Jen had to head back and Drea and I waited around for our other 2 friends to make it so we could at least see them and chat for a bit before we, too, had to leave and get back to our homes.

Me, Drea, Allyson and Bree with all our kids

Around 3pm our friends, Bree with her 3 kids and Ally with her 2 kids, finally made it to where we were.  We only had about half an hour with them before we had to go, but, it really was a treat to finally be able to meet these two women who I've built a friendship with through our mommy group on facebook over the past several years.

The day was drawing to an end and some of the little ones were spent and getting fussy so Drea and I said goodbye to our friends, gathered up the kids we came with and headed back to the metro station.  One or two kids dozed off on the metro.  Getting back to the parking garage Drea and I said our goodbyes and my kids and I headed back home.

It was a fantastic day.  John is looking forward to telling his teachers and classmates all about seeing the dinosaur bones.  I know this will be a day the kids are going to remember for a very long time.  I hope we'll be able to get back to DC this summer when Charlie can come and experience the fun with us :)