Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is tomorrow so Happy Day. Here is a pic of me and my twin brother Gearold (Gee). He lives in Pearland Tx. and I saw him when I was in Tx. last week for Noel's funeral.

Advocare

I know some of you already know about Advocare and some of you don't. For those who don't I am very excited about the products from Advocare. Alan and I have been using their supplements, we have both lost 17 pounds! You can check out my website and read more about the company.
The cool thing about it is they have endorsers like Wes Welker, Drew Brees, and Michael W. Smith and Kutless who are not paid! They endorse the products because they really work. I love the energy drink Spark. It is sugar free and works great without the rollercoaster effect. If you want I'll bring you a sample. Just ask.

So check out http://www.advocarerichmond.com/

Cycling Class

It is hard to describe what a cycling class does to a newbie like myself. I am hoping this picture will give you an idea of what it felt like when it was over.

One thing I love about American Family (gym) is that they put all the workout studios upstairs. By doing this you get two workouts, one in the class and one trying not to fall down the stairs because your muscles are mush. I think it must be entertaining for the front desk to watch newbies walk like we're really wasted down those stairs because we can't control our legs.

I know everyone loves it when I talk about my vijayjay, so I can't describe a cycling class without saying OOOOUUUUCCCHHH! Half way through the class I thought to myself a numb vijayjay cannot be good. My friend who suggested I do the class leans over and says, don't worry it'll get better. I'm not sure I want to toughen up that area. But it was a very good class in retrospect, I finished it alive and staggered my way down the stairs when it was over. If you do get a chance to take a class with Ashley (Instructor) on the West End at Am Fam I highly recommend it.

Is it me?

I was watching Oprah the other day and she had Lisa Ling on the show. Is it me or does Lisa Ling look like a muppet from the Dark Crystal? On the show her ears even stick out little from her hair. Weird.

Vacation 2008

Our vacation this year was not exactly what I had planned it to be. We had actually planned on going to the beach again for another week of sitting on the beach, reading, frollicking in the waves and general laziness. But due to some family situations we ended up going to Kansas. Why Ks. you ask, because that is where all of Alan's family lives. Just so we're clear, no sand, no beach, no frollicking.
But all in all it was fine, minus the drive. The extremely long drive. The kids got to see their cousins they haven't seen in 5 years and we caught up with some old friends.

So let me explain the pictures. As some of you may know there's not a whole lot to do in Ks. Hence some of Alan's childhood stories that disturb us all.

We spent time with the cousins, which are the kids in the photos with my kids. We also went to the number one attraction called Big Brutus. Big Brutus is the largest or was the largest mining shovel in Ks. It's such a popular attraction we were the only ones there that day, oh I take that back, on our way out a small group of "mentally challenged" people showed up to take in the spectacle. I'm not kidding.

We also went to the Precious Moments Chapel. They are alot more popular in the midwest, trust me on this one. It is a really neat place though. Especially if you love Precious Moments enough and you can never find the right t-shirt to express it.

We also took in the George Washington Carver museum. Wow, who knew you could do so much with peanuts! We got to make peanut milk with the local park ranger, again we were the only ones there. We were later joined by what I think are homeschoolers, not sure though.

Oh, last but not least we visited the Baxter Springs Mining Museum. Alan's grandfather had big part in establishing this place. So if you're ever in Ks. and need some site seeing suggestions just let us know.

Rotten Neighbor.com

I heard about this website on the news so I thought I would check it out. It is really cool. You can put in your address and it will show you were sex offenders are in your area. You click on the icon and it will pop up thier offense, click on more details and it will give you an address and the picture of the sex offender.

www.rottenneighbor.com

Another Note:

I was in the car with Noah today. He pulled out his wallet, handed me his fake credit card and told me to go and buy myself something nice. He's such a trip.

Summer

Ok, I haven't blogged in forever, I know! It's summertime! It has been a busy busy summer so far.
I got my first tattoo this summer, very cool. I'll have to take a picture of it and post it. Did it hurt? Yes, but so did childbirth and I did that 3 times.
My mom moved to Va. on June 1st. The kids are in heaven with her here.
More recently we went to see Jim Gaffagan in concert at the Landmark theatre with the other church staff. He was so funny I had a headache from laughing so hard. I have a new appreciation for bacon after his act.
The church is in process of hiring a new worship pastor. I think it's kind of exciting, it will be great to have some new blood and fresh ideas at RCC.
We are trying to decide what to do for vacation. Another painful task.

I'll try to get back to blogging more often, I said try.

Lace Up Your Boxing Gloves

Over the past week I have realized more than ever that as Christians, wives, moms, and friends we need to lace up our fighting gloves. The Bible talks about putting on the full armor to gaurd yourself. But in our culture it seems like more than ever we need to fight for our families and friends not just ourselves.
We need to let our family and friends know that we will fight for them. I think about the old movies when a "victim" tells the bad guy my (fill in the blank) will come for me, you'll be sorry.
Let your spouse, kids and friends know that you will come for them, no matter what they get themselves into. We all make mistakes, right. Not to say that some fights won't be bloody and ugly but I know the only way Satan can destroy your family is from within. So let the ones you love know, you might do or be doing something really stupid, but I'm gonna lace up my gloves and we're gone fight for our family. But take heart, if you serve God you are never fighting alone.

Project of the Week

Before After

This was my project of the week. We were given a set of these in tables. The brown is the before and the black is the after. It was alot of fun redoing these tables and they look so different. I had to sand the heck out of them because they had a really shiny venier (I don't think I spelled that right). I also took of the large gold fixtures and sawed off the middle bar thing.
So now I have a matching set of tables for my bedroom, woohoo!

Whoa to the fro!

Ok, yes this is Zeik's 2007-08 school photo. And yes I forgot it was picture day. There goes my mother of the year award yet again. How might the photo be different you ask, well for starters the blue t-shirt with a truck on it. Obviously the photographer thought crossing his arms would cover up the worst of it. And of course the hair! Ziek inherited my hair, lucky him. Just like me if my hair is not properly forced into submission everyday it looks a little unruly, thus the fro. It is apparent Zeik's hair was at some point brushed out or fluffed, probaly by the little black comb school photographers have bought stock in.
What is the deal with the background? Hey kids just relax like your in the sunroom of your grandma's house. Could we squeeze anymore furniture into this shot, really!

In the Motherhood

Ok, I have a new find. There is a new website called In the Motherhood. It is so hilarious. There are webisodes by 3 women who are so funny, all about motherhood. You must check this out. It will make you say, "well at least I'm not the only one".
http://www.inthemotherhood.com/Default.aspx

Camping Out

Noah and our two neighbor boys decided they were going to go camping last night. This endevear kept them busy most of the day, so I just went along with it. They needed a tent and the only person who had one was Zeik. Well they didn't want any "little" kids on thier campout so Ziek negotiated Noah's prize Pokeman card for use of the tent. This is not a normal tent by the way, it is an Incredible tent, like the movie The Incredible's. It was bought for Zeik when he was 2 so it was not meant for 3 big boys, but you couldn't tell them that.
The boys spent better part of the day building something out of wood and gathering supplies for the tent.
To be honest I didn't think they would last much past dark. I was wrong, again. By the time I went to bed at 11:30 they were all fast asleep. They looked like sardines in that tent. Let me also tell you the already smell like wet dogs on any normal day so multiply that times 3 and squeeze it into a preschool tent. SMELLY!
Well Alan and I didn't sleep well because we and by we I mean Alan kept getting up and making sure they were Ok. At the 4:00am check the boys were up having thier morning snack of peanuts. Alan finally made Noah come in at 6:00am and take a shower and get some more sleep.

You can see how grown up they are by all the stuffed animals.

Maymont Day

We went to Maymont today with Sommer and her kids, Harrison and Madison. The weather could not have been better. We had alot of fun and I thought for sure it would wear the kids out going up and down all those hills-WRONG! It wore me out, but not them. What else is new?
Hannah and Noah are entering a photo contest at the library so some of the pics were taken by them to use as possible candidates.

Kids Party Wagon

Ok, it's official I am now (along with Sommer) a small business owner. We decided to start a business to fill a nitch in the market. It is called Kids Party Wagon. You can check out our website for all the info. Please let us know if we can host your child's party.

http://www.kidspartywagon.com/

We are very excited and would love for you to tell your friends and family!

Cool Stuff

I found this company called Connexxions. It has some really fun and ingenious products for us suburbanites. If you are planning a party or any kind of get together you should check out these products.

http://www.makeconnexxions.com/

Hilarious

Ok, this is one of my new favorite SNL skits. Alan and I are always laughing at all the side effects on the drug commercials and this is perfect. Who wouldn't want to take a birth control pill that may make you grow a second vagina and a leathery tail? I mean c'mon!

Click the link below to check out the video of my new favorite SNL skit:
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/02/26/saturday-night-live-spoofs-dtc-at-barrs-expense/

Hmmm...

Today is Sunday, it's always crazy at our house on Sunday! I did not get home until after 6:00pm. We had church then I had a women's ministry meeting. At the meeting it was announced that Sommer and I would no longer be doing Bloom. I love Bloom, it is like my baby since Sommer and I created it from scratch and planned every meeting each month. But I am just to tired to deal with the "powers that be" anymore. A few years ago I would have stood and fought and said "I'll make this work no matter what!" But I just don't have the time or energy anymore. Plus I am trying to not only manage my time but my energy as well. Should I expend alot of energy fighting against the "powers that be" or direct my energy at more well meaning things like my family, friends work etc...? HMMMM...
Bloom will continue in a different format, more social outings, which should be fun. The women's ministry will take it over.

New Job!

Yes, I finally got another job. It seems like it took forever but it was worth the wait. I am working for the Innsbrook foundation. For those of you who don't know Innsbrook is a large business complex in Glen Allen.
The foundation plans the events that happen at Innsbrook as well as the concert series. I also get my own office, very cool!

Title

I know I haven't blogged in a long time. Sorry. It has been so busy, especially for a housewife who sits around eating bon bons all day and watching soap operas. I have been helping Alan at church every week, it's amazing how busy my days are even though I'm not "working".
I had a coupon for m&m's for the retreat, I should have known an unattended bag of peanut m&m's should not be laying around my house. I'll have to buy another bag the day we leave. Oh well.
Alan and I are taking the dancing class at church. It's really starting to be fun since it's not like learning chinese anymore. We just finished the fox trot and we will start the east coast swing next week. It should be fun, and a good time start if you want to take the class.

Dancing Class

Alan and I are taking a ballroom dancing class at church, yes church. If genetics are any indication of how well we will do we are in trouble. Below is a clip of Noah "freestyling" as we like to call it, with his dance moves. You will also notice his brother and sister in the background completely unphased by this demonstration.

New Year

I know I haven't blogged in a while. It has been a crazy few weeks for me. I have decided to set a New Year's resolution. No not to lose weight, I figured I'll wait until they do lipo at Patient First. I have decided to resolve to grow spiritually this year. I think the more spiritually fit I am the other areas I struggle with will fall into place.
It has definately been a rough new year, as most of you know I lost my job right before Christmas. This has really changed the plans I had for this year. But I have really seen how out of balance my life was since I've been at home with lots of free time. I have been able to spend time with the kids and not be constantly on call with work, I have been able to do what I love, women's ministry, and not feel like I'm totally distracted all the time. I have been able to help Alan with children's ministry, something I haven't been able to really focus on. So even though it sucks losing my job it has had its advantages.
Speaking of women's ministry, Sommer and I are starting a class on 2/3 at 5:00. We are reading the book Preparing your daughter for every women's battle. This will be an eight week class I think every women with a girl should take. You can email me for more info or to sign up.