Rant...As a parent have you ever had to.....

So I have to laugh because my Mother In Law is always telling me that I should write something "not as positive" on my blog so ppl know the realness of parenting four teenagers. I haven't really had anything to write about that wasn't that positive lately until now ha! Let me tell you the trials and tribulations of parenting.

So my son is in 4H. This is something he wanted to join and not only did he decide he wanted to join one of the clubs in 4H but he wanted to join 5! We say okay its going to be a lot of meeting and work. He agreed he wanted to do this all so we went all in. We would be helping him do Shooting Sports, Leadership, Horse, Beginners Beef and Cooking.

So lets skip to Beginners Beef where we asked him if he would like to raise a Steer. This would be really costly to us but then he would have this project, show it at fair and sell it. He would pay us back for the Steer and all the feed and then keep the remaining money for himself. We were excited because this gives him responsibility and also money for himself after all the hard work. We talk to our Ranching friends.....he goes there and hand picks his Steer out. We schedule for drop off and Voila he has his Steer! This is a big thing so we asked four times to see if he was sure this is what he wanted to do.

Fast Forward. Steer is at our ranch. We have all the Hay and are driving to go get the Grain that it will need for the month. As we are driving our son tells us that he is actually not interested in having a Steer. The Steer that is 1500.00 and we already hand picked and the ranchers we got it from already took time to bring it to us. Goodness. I think Ryan and I seriously didn't know what to say. What happened to the excitement that was there two days ago? Mind you we had asked him FOUR times to MAKE sure.

So then its up to Ryan and I to decide what we are going to do. We ask why he doesn't want the Steer and he said he is bored with 4H and doesn't want to do it. We ask why have things changed in just a couple days and why hadn't he spoken up before we decided to go buy a Steer. We think during the first day he has the Steer he saw how much work you have to put into it because his mind hadn't changed till then.

Side note...A Steer doesn't help out our family at all. If it was a Heifer we could breed it or eat it but a Steer is solely for him to raise, grow, show and sell.

The car was just quiet as we are trying to figure out what we are going to do at this point. We are a family that once you start something ....you finish it. You have to try something once and if you don't like it then you don't have to do it again. 4h is only half way done. I think we were quiet because well it kind of makes you perplexed because as parents you are running your child around to make sure they are at every event and doing what they need. We already bought the clothes for 4H, paid all the fees, found how to get the animal he needs to show and sell. Our minds were racing. Now what? We have a 1500.00 dollar animal that will cost 4,000 dollars by the time we are done. Its not something we would get as a family because we aren't going to sell it. We want ones we can breed or eat later.

So as a parent what runs through your mind. Do we make him do it anyways? Do we put money into something he may or may not hate? How do we show him responsibility? How do we talk to him about not being passive and speaking up so this kind of dilemma doesn't happen? Do we talk to the Rancher and see if he will take the Steer back? Does he stay in 4H? How do we have our child be happy and be responsible? What lesson can we all learn from this? How do we teach him how frustrating this can be and how we could of prevented it all together?

So after a lot of Ryan and I talking, we decided he needs to finish 4H. It was his decision to do 4H and once our family starts something they need to finish it. Does he have to show an animal to be in 4H? No. So we called our ranching friends and talked to them about what happened. They graciously said they would take it back. If someone isn't really into their animal they might not take care of it the way it should be. That wouldn't be fair to the animal. Of course, we never would of let the Steer not be taking care of but I understand the point. Thankfully they said they would take it back. Putting 4,000 dollars into an animal that you are having a kid HAVE to take care of to us seems silly. So we are still teaching responsibility but not having it be taken out of our pocket. Our son will still have to help with animals, learn about them and work hard. It just wont be with his own. We also talked to him about being passive and speaking up for yourself. Don't say things you THINK people want to hear. Say what you want and don't want. Especially when asked four times if you wanted a Steer and each time was a yes lol! He had to call the Rancher himself also to tell him why he had changed his mind. We feel he needed to explain himself because it is teaching him something about responsibilities especially when others are helping you out.

Thankfully this is one of the many learning experience we will have with ALL the kids as we go along in life. If you don't have these bumps in the road.....you aren't learning. We had to really think about how to handle the situation. No yelling was done. Some head scratching was but it turned out all right. It is a learning experience for us all. Don't you love parenting? I do.....its new and different each day. Especially with four teenagers. Don't worry tomorrow we will have some trial and tribulation with another one of the kids. Its always one of the kids learning a new lesson in life. :) Who knows which one it will be but it will be someone haha.

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How do I have a 17 year old at 24?

First off I would like to know how is my oldest turning 17 if I am only 24 years old? How is that even possible?

I seriously cannot believe Jackson is growing up so fast in front of my eyes. 17 is well...practically 18 and then he is considered an adult by law. Not by me of course because well all my kids will always be my babies. I don't care if they are 38 and think they are adults....they are still my kids :) Hmmm I wonder if that is how my dad or my Mother in law look at Ryan and I still? We will still puff out our chests and stand tall and act like we are adults though even though we are probably still their babies. :)

Being a blended family I haven't had the luck to have Jackson since he was born but I have had him since he was this 10 year old kid who when he hugged me wasn't even close to my shoulders yet. This little kid who was skinny with these big little ears and big blue eyes. Now he is taller than me...still skinny but has muscles (he would kill me if I didn't say that) and he grew into his ears lol:)

In 7 years that he has been in my life I have loved him since day one. He has always been our jokester of the house. The "pusher" of sorts. He sometimes will argue so well that Ryan and I start to wonder if we really are making the right decision. The one thing I do know is that when he puts his mind to something he gets it done. He is my mechanical kid. He can fix things that I never would even know where to start and is a hard worker when he works with his dad on the ranch. He is a good kid.

I seriously cant believe I have a 17 year old though. I guess with him being the oldest and his sister being 9 months behind I am just shocked each time.  I am 38 and have a 17 year old. I am 38 and have a 17 year old. I AM 38 and have a 17 year old. NOPE.....still doesn't sound right lol! I am going to have to tell him that he is just 14 like his other two brothers or something just so I feel okay about him growing up.

I feel like I don't have enough time. Ok so I know I have his whole life but he is a Junior already and then next year he will be a Senior and then College or Coast Guard (that's his passion at the moment). He has way too good of grades right now to be a Junior twice so I guess I better just wrap my mind around that yes my oldest is 17 and he will be a Senior next year. AHHH!

Is this something all parents go through? The thinking they don't have enough time to teach them everything they need to know before he is on his own. I mean he will never be on his own as we will always be here for him but it feels like I am in a time crunch for sure.

Anyways Jack has a good birthday. It was kind of spread through the weekend because on his actual bday he had an away game for basketball. So he got home really late. In our family and I am not sure how this happened but it happened years ago when the kids actually had bday parties with ppl over and food served we put a price on the bdays. Each kid so they couldn't complain that one got more than another got 200 dollars. This though was for the party....the cake....and then presents. This was happening before the four of them were even teenagers and we used to have tons of friends over for airsoft games or sleepovers or themed parties. Their 16th bday is much, much bigger as we only have one BIG bday like that for each kid. Jackson last year got a dirt bike for his bday. Cassie then after got a huge Masquerade party with all her friends and family and DJ. THAT only happens once in their lives lol. Its going to be interesting when Josh and Jason turn 16 in two years because they are only two months apart. We might be broke. Lets hope they decide to do something together. Anyways back to the 200 dollar thing. Now that they are teenagers they don't want the parties or get together as much. They want cold hard cash to add to all the other cash they get from family. Then they buy something that is obscenely expensive to us but they JUST HAVE TO HAVE. Jackson got his money from us and then some from his mom, my dad, my sister, his grandma etc.....I swear he has more money than we do lol. Anyways he has decided to buy BEATS which are headphones. 340 dollar ones. To me that is so insane but we have always told them that its their bday money and they can spend it on what they want. I mean Ryan and I aren't going to buy those for them. So now two kids have them (Cassie saved up Christmas money).

Let me tell you though its just not as fun giving cash. I like to shop and buy something that means something and give it to them to open. What's the fun in cash? Not much. They love it though. So this year I had to find away to make it fun to open the money. I got the 200 dollars in ones, fives, tens and twenties. I taped each dollar to the next in a row. Then I put it in a tin that said happy bday with a pull tab. Once Jackson pulled it.....and pulled...and pulled...and pulled to have the money keep going out. If Ryan and I could of we would of done all ones just to make it more fun. We also gave him his favorite soda and snickers since he is always asking for that.

It was pretty fun I guess to do it that way. We ended up having the bday family dinner on Sunday though since everyone was so busy. The kids always get to chose their favorite meal. Jacks is ribs and mashed potatoes.

He also got his mud pie (my kid is so like me sometimes lol) but he wanted two so we all can have a piece and he had one whole pie to himself. Smart kid huh.......

Anyways it was a good weekend. Happy Bdays were sung, food was eaten and BEATS were bought. I still cannot believe I have a 17 year old. It will probably take me a year to get to used to it and by then he will be turning 18. YIKES! Someone slow down the clock!

Happy Bday Jackson. May this year be the best you have had yet. May Blessing be upon you and may you continue to grow and mature into a wonderful young man. I love you with all my heart!


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MIA....missing in non action?

Ahhhh the glories of a low immune system;) Been in the hospital now for three days going on four. Remember how I said I got sick Super Bowl Sunday? It hasn't gone away. Yeah! Lucky me .....not. :)

By day 9 Ryan took me to ER and they said I had bronchitis and asthma on top of it. Three breathing treatments later and medicines, inhalers etc we were sent home. Next day even though I had been on antibodies for days I felt worse. Being in remission from Cushings Disease I still have low immune system being only 6 months post op from brain surgery. Everything else is a thousand times better though. For that I am so terribly grateful! The sickness part though seems to go on and on for me. End up having to stress dose cortisol (since now it's my friend not my enemy) because sickness eats it up.

I thought I would get better but I just couldn't breathe. Coughing so much and so hard I would vomit. Had to breathe really shallow and talk low to not cough. Felt extremely dizzy and not hungry at all. We ended up going back to the ER mid day since my MD was out of town this week.  They admitted me into the hospital within 40 minutes. I have been here since.....laying in my hospital bed under that ugly pink blanket ha!

Good news is I am getting better. I am so pumped full of steroids right now. 160 mg cortisol daily. Breathing treatments every hour on the hour and some even in between, antibodies and fluids. Now on day three here I am feeling better even more so and have breathing treatments every two hours. I look a wreck but the only time I am up is to go to the bathroom or shower or I am short of breathe.

Something I learned is when you have Cushings that cortisol masks some things like auto immune problems or asthma etc bec the cortisol is naturally so high from the tumor that you just don't know it. So in remission I am finding out I have asthma.....maybe always have had it but it was masked. Well guys......bronchitis and asthma don't mix.....at all. Just trust me on this one haha.

We are on day 12 of being sick I really am feeling bad. Not health wise but bad that my family is having to keep on keeping on without me. I am very lucky to have the husband I have. He is so generous and kind in all ways and knows that this of course is out of my control. He always asks me "well if it were me in your place what would you do?". I would do anything I could of course but I definitely think I would be way more cranky than he is ha! We really lucked out too bec the day I got admitted Grandma Sally (Ryan's mom and my awesome MIL) was coming up to stay with us. It never ceases to amaze me how she just jumps right in and helps and doesn't gripe about it. With my mom in heaven it really makes me think that she somehow has a touch in her that helps Sally to be there for us when we really need it.....along with the fact she would just do it anyways. My mom would always come to the rescue like that. Anything for me or her grand kids....she would make sure that they were being taken care of so Ryan could help take care of me. Ryan and I are both blessed to have those type of ppl in our lives. I may not have my mom but I do have my second mom Sally. Fiesty and Fun.....just like my mom was. Okay seriously now I am crying lol. I will just say that's from only having 3.5 hours of sleep in 3 days ( gotta love that cortisol....not).

I am really hoping to be home tomorrow but if not tomorrow I pray I am not here on valentines day.  Even though no matter where I am I will feel loved by family and friends. I am typing on my I Pad so I don't think I can add pictures to my blog or you would see the beautiful flowers and cards and books I have received. Yesterday I was so taken back because someone I know through Facebook who is a friend of a friend but retired teacher at our kids school came by and gave me flowers, candy, a beautiful chicken soup for soul book ( she doesn't know this but it had special meaning to me because my mom was published in one) and a book to keep me busy. It was beyond sweet. I wanted her to be able to sit and chat but I would start coughing as soon as I talked so that will have to wait for another day.

Then.....in walks in my husband and daughter couple hours later. Man I have to figure out how to add pictures. I seriously almost cried. They looked like they were moving in lol. They brought me a late lunch and flowers, my coveted grapes and orange juice, coffee and then MY P UPPY MOLLY!!!!!!! Ryan had called ahead and asked and begged and they said yes for a little bit. Mind you Molly is only 2 pound Shih Tzu that doesn't shed. She was so happy to see me and I her. To me that was one of the most romantic gestures because it was so thoughtful.....a surprise ....and effort was put into it. Seriously I will always remember that....! I had a great visit with them but I knew they would have to go and pick up and drop off the boys for basketball soon.  I am really blessed to have such a good family.

Right as they were leaving I got a delivery. I was really feeling loved. It helped too because the fact that I can't sleep on all this cortisol they are pumping into me I am here a lot by myself. My husband wants to be here more but it's 1 hour drive just to get here and then one back. Plus I really want our household to keep going because our kids are so busy. He constantly is telling me he feels bad bec I tell him to not come back. It makes me feel better that Sally and him can get everything done at home. He just ends up texting me right when he wakes up till he goes to sleep anyways. Lol. Anyways back to my delivery......omg they were the most beautiful flowers!!! As soon as I saw the card I knew who they were from when the front of it said "Farmer Rae" lol. That's a nickname a couple of my friends call me because when I first moved to the ranch I kept collecting all these bottle fed animals......calves.....lambs.....puppies lol.....it's a big joke that they think I need a skunk now or a giraffe. These two friends are always giving me such strength I don't even think they know how much strength they give me. I am very thankful for our families friendship.

So I may be in the hospital.....I may not be sleeping.... But I know I am loved. Not because I am here but because that's how I feel daily.  I am hoping tomorrow I will be outta here because I am pretty bored. Ok extremely bored but I will stay till I am well.

Super bowl is about Basketball?

Ok I know that Super bowl is about Football but this Super bowl weekend we had 5 basketball games for our kids so I am going to say its more about Basketball:)

Friday was Homecoming night. In our town we have Homecoming for Football and also for Basketball. Seniors had the feed for which I was grateful because I didn't have to help work it since I have 8th thru Juniors in my house. Juniors did have the Bake Sale and Sophomores were doing a donation 50/50 so we will still busy. I was happy that I was able to really sit down and watch the games. High School played Friday. Josh is in JV and did really well. He tried to make two shots which was awesome that he got out there. This is his first year playing he is a freshman. Here is the link to see his tries Josh Shot 

Josh making a shot

Jackson is a Junior and in Varsity. I love watching them come out because all the little kids line up at the locker room to make like a tunnel. You know that has to make them feel awesome. Its easy to explain but better to show so here is the link.....Varsity Coming In

Josh and Jackson both won their games. After they had a Homecoming dance and we had two extra kids spending the night at our house. I kind of like that our kids don't really go to other ppl houses to spend the night but rather their friends always want to come here. Makes it fun and also I can always keep my watchful eye out:) Gosh MOM I know right! :) Here is Jackson getting his groove on in basketball too....Jackson Playing 

Jack making a shot

Friday was a long night with the kids coming home at 1am from the dance. Then we had to get back up in the morning early because Jason had a game and the 8th graders were doing concessions the whole tournament. I left early with a couple of the kids and Ryan brought the rest right before the game. The 8th graders did good at selling the concessions for their 8th grade graduation and big trip. Jason's team did really well at both of their games. They lost BUT they made more points than they ever have. This is Jason's first year of basketball also and he made a shot in both games. I was so proud. Here is that video....Jacks Shot! 

Jason making a shot

At the end of the events I actually wasn't feeling well. I had felt that morning I was coming down with something but my head was pounding away by the time we got home. Ryan ended up taking Jason to go get his first ever steer for 4H. I don't know what he is going to name him yet  but I am sure he will come up with something clever. I love that Jason is going to show a Steer this year and sell him later. How it works in our house is we will buy the animal for the kids, we will buy the feed too. Everything is marked down though in our journal and when Jason sells the steer we get our money back in full and he gets to keep the rest for himself. If he is smart he will use some of that to buy a steer for the next year and keep making money. You can make 1000 plus dollars. Ryan jokes with me that we should get a bunch and sell them for more money for the kids college. I am starting to think that is a good idea and not so much of a joke. Here is Jason's Steer....:)

Jasons new steer for 4H

Also Saturday night Jason got invited by his good friend Cooper and their family to go to a College Basketball game. I think was a great thing because even though they had scored more point than they ever have at their game today the boys were pretty bummed out. To tears even for my 8th grade son. Its all a learning experience and he has fun 99 percent of the time and was feeling fine after the game. Thank you Albaugh family for taking him. He had a great time and is still talking about it and what he had learned!

Is the weekend over yet? Nope! I know right! You think with all of this we would be done but we are just onto Sunday now ha! We were going to go to church and also to a Super bowl party at our friends but ended up staying home in our PJs because I was not even close to feeling well.

I am thankful I have the husband I do. He made Nachos and wings for the kids and we all piled in the family room to watch the game. I took a long nap before the game started and he woke me up just in time. We had a great time watching the game together. Would of been a lot of fun to be with our friends but didn't want to be spreading those germs. Josh and I were rooting for the Seahawks and the other four were rooting for the Patriots. We laughed though because midway Cassie said that she was going to root for the Seahawks that she was confused because of the color of their jersey. Football is not Cassie's thing. She is an Anime, drawing lover through and through. She likes Anime so much that when I walked into the bathroom I saw her Wig that she does Cosplay with hanging up because she had washed it ha! Yep that's my Cassie Girl!

Cassie cosplay Wig

The day ended well. Only thing I didn't like about the Superbowl was at the end when they were throwing punches. We were all talking about how that is so unsportsmanlike and how its not something we would do in our household. It made how much they tried and did a good job (both teams) look foolish and took away from the great game they had.

So super bowl is over now. We have Katy Perrys song stuck in our head and I am ready for Bed again. It was a good weekend!

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Date night!

Let's be real....when you have four teens everyday is a busy day! Saturday doesn't mean things slow down just because it's a weekend;)

Jason,our youngest teen, had his 8th grade basketball away game. He had two actually. This time it was kinda painful for the kids bec they lost by a lot. I think those are learning situations though because you look for what was good and learn from the rest. We have 5 kids playing again this time so hey had no subs. For some reason they kept playing the same play over and over so the other team caught on quickly. They will learn and grow. I was super impressed because my son made a basket!!! This was his second game ever and first year playing and he made a basket!! I cheered so hard my throat hurt ;) Was a proud momma!

After we came home  we watched the videos I took and commented on what we could do better and watched the basket Jason made oh you know....ten times lol ;)

Next was date night! Kids were gonna stay home with a couple movies and some gumbo I made and we were having adult night. I think it's really important for a marriage and for the kids to see that we enjoy going out with each other. Our lives revolve around our kids and they know that. They even tell us that we should go out more and laugh more. Funny since we are always laughing. Sometimes as a parent though things get busy and it's schedule or no time or pickin up kids here or there. Just have to take that time. If your kid had an event to go to you would make the time......that's what we should do for ourselves too. I am glad we do date nights or even date lunches and love to spend time together. 

Okay so our friends asked us to go on a double date to the movie "American Sniper" and out to Chinese food. We happily accepted. We are good friends as a couple but bog hour husbands are best buds so that's super nice. Don't you hate it when you go out as a couple but he guy or the girl doesn't like their spouse? We don't have to do this which is so nice!

We went to Chinese and talked adult talk.....life. It was refreshing. Then we went to the movies. So it was kinda funny because I am a popcorn addict but recently I stopped drinking my coveted Diet Pepsi about month ago so when I ordered large popcorn extra butter and a diet soda my husband laughed. Hey it's my date night. As we sit though and I took my first sip.....it tasted like crap to me!!! I walked back and got a water bottle and Ryan drank my drink.

The movie was excellent and although I knew the story on the legendary sniper I didn't know the ending. Don't worry I won't spoil it for you!!!! Or will I? Just kidding I won't. It was a really good movie and what a great story! I admit I cried and it made me think of all those amazing soldiers who have helped their brothers and their country. My father served, my sister, brother in law and my grandparents, my husbands family, our friend who was with us that evening and even my ex husband for 6 years.  

After all was said and done...we had a great time with our friends. So much so we decided to go bi weekly to the movies together. This will be huge in itself considering we haven't been to a movie in forever and well he closet movie theater is 47 or so miles away;) 

It was a good night, with good friends and we were blessed to have the time to do it;)

Seriously they are weird!

My kids seriously are weird! Just like Ryan and I. Today was their last day of finals! Woot Woot! I never saw bigger smiles to be done with finals this whole week. Josh was finally cleared to play Basketball after his concussion from practice so Josh went to an away game tonight. Jackson went the other way to another away game for the Varsity. When both of them are in two different places we stay back with the other kids.

We picked up Cassie and Jason and took them food shopping tonight and to do some errands. They are seriously funny kids. I am so happy they get along so well. They are always laughing and teasing each other. Just plain ol having fun. On the way to the store I said that I am kind of tired to Ryan. Cassie pipes in with "that's because you have four kids duh". Then Jason asked, "why did you have so many anyways?" I said it was because I had Cassie and Josh and then these two boys came along that I loved just as much. I love you all. Then Jason laughed and said ,"Enough to never be able to sleep again?" I just laughed and told him of course!

Jason and Cassie

Its been a kind of interesting day. I found out from my Dr that I am low on a hormone that might make me have to take shots for the rest of my life. They are really expensive too (1500 a month). Thank goodness insurance will cover it but its not something I really wanted to do. I will find out more on my next Dr visit. I am growth hormone deficient. Yes adults have this. Its from probably when they took the tumor off my pituitary they might have gotten a little too much. So we will deal with it as we go. Might help my tiredness every morning. I swear ppl think I sound like I am sleeping till like 11am ha! When in fact I get up at 445 with Josh most days for Basketball.

Anyways I have been working on my website for CUSHINGSTORIES.COM with my partner Rachel who is also a Cushie. We are almost complete although its taken us almost 3 months to get enough stories, videos, blogs....
I am rather excited about it! I think its really going to help others with this disease. Plus it gives hope with stories of remission (like me). Between having a family of 6 and everyone being pretty active it has taken us along time to finish it. This Sunday though it will be complete so check it out.
www.cushingstories.com

While I was working on the website Ryan asked what we wanted for dinner. I think that is so romantic when a husband sees you are working hard on something and instead of asking what's for dinner.....he asks what you would like:) Steak Salads it was. We love steak salads and since I am trying to low carb it a bit this sounded super yummy to me.

After our delicious dinner Ryan and I went crazy ha! Have you ever lost something that you knew you JUST had? Our debit card was by the computer because we had just finished paying off our cruise and we could not find it ANYWHERE! We both saw it at the same spot. Then you start to hypothesis where it could be. I seriously thought maybe we threw it away and looked in the trash. GAG! After hand washing and him walking around in circles looking for it. BAM....there it was. He had moved it with some of his work paperwork to his desk LOL. Seriously I think the kids thought we were crazy but we were getting more of a work out looking for it in the house than they were playing Wii HA! Thankfully we found it and all is good.

Here are Cassie and Jason playing Wii......Dancing to a song! Dance Dance 2015
click here...Jason/Cassie Dancing to Wii

The night is winding down. Jason and Cassie are still playing Wii. Ryan is working on work paperwork and I am just waiting for the phone call to go pick up the boys from the school when they get back. Seems like a normal Friday to me. Both Jackson and Josh won their games. Jackson got all 4 free throws and Josh played hard the last quarter of the game!

Jack getting ready for Free throw

Defence! Joshua

Except for this.......shhh....and its a secret. We will see how many of you actually read this but I am thinking of getting another puppy that was born 4 weeks ago. She looks like my dog growing up and is so cute! Thinking. My heart says yes and my mind says no since we already have four dogs that we love very much. Jackson has Ninja, Jason has Maggie, Josh has Jasper and Ryan has Sierra. Cassie has her cats out in the barn she is not a dog person. So that leaves me lol.....right??? What wins out? The heart or the mind. A good friend of mine once said to think with my head not my heart because I am such an animal lover.

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Seriously Dying!

My Mouth is on FIRE!!!! All I can say is you cant have a romantic lunch date with your husband when your eyes are watering, your mouth is on fire and you are practically crying and drooling! HA!

I am dying!

Today I went to the Chiropractor. My neck has been out for some time and I just wake up from the pain of it. Ryan came with me today and got adjusted too since his rib was out again. We decided to have a nice lunch before we had to go back and pick up the kids. They have been off school half days this whole week because of finals. Its not like they can get off the bus and just walk to the house because its miles....

Anyways Ryan was laughing so hard. It started like this....Me telling him he looked cute. He decided to do poses for me since I said I was going to blog this lol. BEFORE I even knew I was about to wish I had a fire extinguisher for my mouth. So it started normal just like these pictures.....

And ended up with me looking like this.....

I couldn't eat it if I tried. The lady who served us said to me that it says "Diablo" which means "Devil?" like Devil HOT!!! My goodness my shrimp was so hot. Did I say it was so hot yet? HOT HOT HOT! Anyways I put it to the side to take home so Josh could eat it because that kid LOVES hot food. Apparently my Cajun ancestry skipped me and went to him. Even the spicy eating all the time child had a hard time with this! I took pictures to have proof. HA!

Josh thinks its way hot too

So moral of the story is...ASK! Ask what really is in there and if you are going to have to sit next to a fire hydrant to be okay after you eat it.

So much for trying to be low carb right now ha! I probably would of been better with a taco or enchilada. :)


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Twins? Tahoe? FUN!

When your three year old niece tells you that all she wants for her Birthday is for her cousins to come play with her.....you listen:)

Between Jason's Basketball game and school we weren't able to make the 5 hour drive to Mariah's 3rd birthday. Since we lucked out and it was a three day weekend we decided to get a house and pet sitter and head over to see our nieces. Mariah just turned 3 and Kylie is almost 6. Love these girls and they love, love their cousins!

Its funny when you see the interaction of teenagers with their little cousins. You would think they thought they were too good to do something but they get down on the ground and have tea parties. I love seeing how excited my nieces get with the kids.

Now Kelly is Ryan's twin sister. Kelly is older by a couple of minutes. As we are all growing older she doesn't say that as much now ha! My mother in law Sally came down too so we all could get together. It was really fun. I am very lucky because I get along with my mother in law. I know ppl are used to hearing the "MIL" jokes or "oh my MIL is so horrible she says this or that" but I am blessed to really truly like her. We could even hang out without her son, my husband....GASP! I know right!

I love Ryan's family a lot. They mean the world to me and 7 years ago they took me and my children in as their own. I am sure I get on their nerves or get cranky sometimes but they have been there for me through everything. My MIL even has taken me home from the hospital and taken care of me a few times. She will drive hours to come see us and even to watch our house, animals, kids anytime we need her to help out. Most of the time 9 times out of 10 she offers before we even ask. That in itself is pretty amazing!

With a blended family of four teenagers you would think ppl would treat the kids differently....but they don't. They are all told the same things..."I love you", "Use your fork properly", "How are your grades?", "You are so funny" ETC. Its nice to be apart of such a fun, entertaining family.

Anyways on to the day! Kelly and Dave and the kids had everything set up for us to stay there. Its not easy having a family of 6 come to stay. Kelly is always the very gracious host and I am thankful for that. Where they live they have a community pool that is apart of the package so we always bring our swimsuits come rain, shine or snow (hey its Tahoe). The first thing we did was head on over to the pool after our greetings and hellos. Dave stayed back and Grandma Sally (MIL) stayed back to start cooking dinner for everyone.

We had so much fun. I am so impressed with my niece Kylie who is five. She swims around with her goggles and flippers like she is a mermaid. I really think she should go into the swim team because she is an amazing swimmer. She can be like her Auntie Rae Rae and do swim team all through all her school years. She cracks me up because hooked onto Jason and wouldn't let him out of her sight. Love that kid!

Mariah went back and forth from the hot tub to the pool with us. She is so cute with her little ladybug life jacket. She would swim from Ryan to me to Jackson and Cassie. She was all over the place too just swimming and smiling away. She would keep going to Ryan or I so we could throw her in the air. Mariah would be thrown and go underwater and come up smiling wanting more.

Cassie and Jason were swimming with the kids a lot and hot tubing with us all. Then the craziness ensued!!!! Josh decided he was going to belly flop off of the diving board. He went and did it and SMACK! straight to the belly. WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO DO THAT ON PURPOSE? Teenagers are weird creatures I tell ya. After him doing it about 3 times Jackson decided to do it also. What were they thinking? I do have to say out of the four kids Josh and Jack are always the dare devil ones. The other two are the watchers lol.  I tried getting Josh on video tape but the Video ran out and after that solid good belly flop he was done with doing it. So Jackson decided to do one and only belly flop before we left. I cracked up because he held his face and his well..."jewels" as he calls it and SMACK!! down he went. I actually got that one on video and you can see it by clicking this link! I am telling him not to waste my time because my phone was at 3 percent and we had 60 seconds of video left hahaha! He came up all smiles but had a bloody nose. We learned our lesson....if you are going to be crazy enough to do a belly flop...DONT hold your face because it will smack your nose! Click here to see his Belly Flop Jacksons Belly Flop

So as you can see teens can be crazy. We all went back to Kelly and Dave's house, showered and were pretty hungry. Dave had finished BBQ the chicken which was delicious and Grandma had finished all the yummy goodies to go with it. We all ate and watched a movie.

Fast forward to the next morning. Everyone is everywhere lol. I announce that I need to go to the donut shop to get us all donuts as everyone is eating cake from the birthday party ha! Collins family definitely has a sweet tooth:) We don't have a donut place anywhere near us where we live and I just wanted a donut considering I had decided to start low carbing the next day! After everyone's breakfast we did what we do best......Ryan helped him mom on her laptop on how to use it, Kids studied for their finals and took turns playing with the girls. I played Connect Four with Mariah and taught Mariah and Kylie how to play Candy land. Connect Four with a 3 year old is pretty interesting. Its basically match the color haha and Mariah saying "I got you!". LOL..... I loved watching Kylies wheels turn in her head on Candy land and really understand it. Such smart little girls! Uncle Dave showed the kids a helicopter and Kelly was just making sure everyone had what they needed for everything. She is organized like that which I love.

Around lunchtime we decided to all go over to a little Mexican Bistro Place with clean good foods. We had Grandma, Donna (her bff), our crew of 6 and then took the little girls so Mom and Dad could have an hour or so of peace:) We went to go meet Amber and Austin which is Ryan's bff. Amber is also a twin. She grew up with Ryan and they were always Babysat together. Amber and Austin are amazing. They are the only couple I know that liked each other in middle school. Dated each other in High School and after High school got married. They have only ever been with each other their whole lives and are still very much in love. I love seeing them. Ryan loves it more though because they have always been so much apart of each others lives.

The kids say that Austin is like a really big 12 year old and they always fight on who gets to sit next to him or who is going to talk to him first. Amber is this amazingly smart gal who I think has a heart of gold. I liked her the first instant I saw her. We had a great time at lunch and everyone talked, ate, and talked some more. Soon it seemed like 15 minutes had only gone by but it had been almost 2 hours. We had to say our goodbyes but we knew we would be seeing them probably in the next couple weeks closer to our house. As we were leaving they gave us this huge box of t-shirts and sweatshirts for the kids. Its all logos from their shop that they own called IN YOUR FACE SIGNS AND TEES. I love places that are family owned and ran! Check out their website if every interested....  In Your Face Signs and Tees

So the day was already getting to the point where we had to pack up and get ready to go. I already was missing the girls before we even left. I love being able to see everyone and have fun. I love the joking and all the memories. We had a 5 hour drive home and kids had to be back by bedtime so they could be well rested for Finals Week. We all gave our hugs and said our "see you soon" and headed on the road to go home. It was a fun short little trip and I am glad we did it. I am thankful for Dave and Kelly's hospitality. Its not easy having 6 ppl come to anyone's home. We will be back soon. Until then.......

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DAD....I am blogging about you

Lake Tahoe here we come! When a 3 year old asks you to come to visit her for her birthday.... You go! Five hours away lives my husbands twin sister and her family. We love visiting them and our nieces. I called my dad and told him we would be in Tahoe for a day and half. He automatically said "Great! We will drive there and meet you for lunch." I feel blessed that my dad and stepmom will come visit and drive hour and half just to see us for lunch. We left early in the morning to make it there by one. We actually got there like 20 minutes early so we stopped off at one of the beaches at Lake Tahoe to just walk around, stretch our legs etc. 

It was pretty fun. We decided to take couple pictures and see who could throw the rocks the farthest. It seriously cracks me up when you see a father (Ryan) trying to throw rocks further than his teenage kids. I love watching their competitions;) Teens are always trying to be faster, stronger or smarter than their parents. ;)

 

Then we went to Applebees to meet my Dad and Andy.

First I should start with I am already laughing because I know my dad is going to read this so I wanted to try and embarrass him somehow in all fun....but nothing crazy happened lol. 

 

I was really happy to see them. My stepmom Andrea had cut her long curly hair into a shorter style and I love it!!! Looks to me like it would take hours to do but she said it takes 3 minutes! Man! I want hair like that! It's super cute! As always it was good to see them and especially see my dad. 

I guess I should do some background. When my mother was pregnant with me my biological father Larry Ray passed away from a ruptured spleen. My mom of course was devistated her husband was gone. She was young nurse raising little me by herself. My Aunt Jacque talked to my mom about writing this service guy that she had known in high school (Vaughn the one I met with today) and she did. One thing lead to another and she met her second love of her life. My Mom and Dad got married and I was adopted by him when I was 1. They had my sister a year later. I love my dad! He has been my dad my whole life and never treated me any different. My sister is my full sister to me and my dad my full dad! The best part about my family is Larrys family, my dads family and my moms family are all really good friends and we all get along. Nothing has never been different or weird. ;) I am blessed! My mom and dad were married for over 30 years before she passed away from stage 4 cancer. My dad remarried Andrea who really is a good fit for my dad and they make each other happy. It's nice that we all get along and it goes back to how I was raised....family is family blood or not. It's the same way I feel about all four of my children even though two are biological and two aren't. Family is family! 

The kids had a good time too. They were playing games and annoying each other as brothers and sisters do. Ryan and I talked with my Dad, Andrea and had a good time. Even though we see each other every few months...they seem to have to come see us more than we can make it there to see them. Its hard when you have a family of 6 to get up and go. Plus we need house and animal sitters. We Caught up on what was going on our lives. Talked with the kids and how someone seems to always be getting hurt, how their grades were and how sports was going. 

It was great seeing them. It always warms my heart to be around family. I teased my Dad about me blogging about him. Andrea teased him that he might be famous and why would I blog about him all the time. We laughed a lot:) After lots of hugs we said our goodbyes. We were headed to Ryans sisters house and they were going to head back to their home. I miss them already! So Dad...look look you have a blog about you!!! :) You can now say you are famous:)


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Question of the day.....Who is in your "family" that is not blood related? A special uncle or aunt? A grandma?