Where's Lucy?

My Princesses

Aunt Janell and Uncle Wyatt took the girls to the Pirate and Princess night at Disney. There were going to the park for a while and then going to a Character Dinner with all the characters. After that they are staying in one of Disney's hotels and then coming back home after breakfast. Janell and Wyatt took Bresa last year and we dressed her all up but this year they wanted to take both of them. What lucky girls!! I know they will have a blast, Bresa has been talking about it all week long! I hope the rain stays away the cold weather doesn't interfere with their fun. I can't wait to hear all about it tomorrow when I go to pick them up. Thanks Janell and Wyatt, you guys are the best!!

Daytona Beach

I had to go to Daytona to pick something up at the school campus there so I figured I would give my friend, Reba, a call while I was in the area. Reba works at the court house as an attorney and I hadn't seen her since dinner at the Melting Pot so I wanted to hang out a bit if she had time. When I called she said she was just getting off work so I met her there and then we just hung out. We went down to the beach and walked a good ways before turning around and walking back. Later we headed to her place and got some pizza and just talked and caught up. It was great seeing her again, we are both always so busy and sometimes forget to make time to hang out. It was wonderful talking to you Reba! We will do it again real soon.

Too much to do

You may have noticed that last week and this week I have been slacking a bit when it comes to the blog. I have good reasons, so let me explain. Most of you know that I started school last year in the Fall semester. I took three classes because my fourth was dropped when there weren't enough students enrolled in it. I decided that I really wanted to get a job at the SPD so instead of just moping around waiting for it I decided to get a degree to help me along and add to my resume along with the volunteer work I was giving. Well I ended up getting my job at SPD a couple months into the semester but since I had already started school I decided I would continue on to get my degree. You never know what the future holds and a degree can't hurt. Anyhow, last semester I earned a 4.0 with straight A's in all my classes and decided to take up three more classes this semester. I am currently taking Math, Development Psychology, and Physical Science. I go to school Tues, Wed, and Thurs nights. I wake up on these days around 5:30, get ready for work, make dinner for the family so it is ready for them when they get home in the evening, I go to work, come home, finish preparing dinner, do my homework, go to school, come home, eat dinner, and go to bed. As you can see there is not much time for blogging and my computer usually doesn't even get turned on until Friday. Instead of trying to find time to blog I am just going to let everyone know that until this semester is over, I will only be blogging on S, M, F, & Sa. Should Peter feel the desire to post something, he may, but if I were you I wouldn't expect it.

Lucy's in the Dog House

Lucy hasn't been the best kitty the last few days. Normally she is great but maybe because I am away at work or school more she has been acting up. Saturday night, when we got home from our friend Scott and Diane's it was pretty late and I guess Lucy was mad about that so she sprayed one of the rugs in out bathroom. Then the other night she jumped up on the dining-room table while we were eating dinner. She is never on any furniture other than the one chair she sleeps on so this was really out of character. Today while I was unloading the groceries, Lucy escaped twice even though she knows she isn't aloud outside. I don't know what got into her, must be the teenage years, whatever it is she needs to straighten up.

Warm and Cozy

For Christmas, the girls got these really cute bath robes. We started using them after they get out of the tub in my bathroom while they run to get their clothes from their rooms on the other side of the house. The girls are so adorable in these robes, I just want to pick them up and squeeze them. :) They like the hoods the best but I like how soft and cozy they are when I give them big hugs.

Story Time

My Dad and Judy came home from Maine a couple weeks ago but Judy was sick so I didn't get to see them until today. They stopped by the house to see me and the girls after they visited Peter at the shop. The girls showed them how much they loved their horse, Booster, that Grandpa and Grandma Judy had gotten for them. Dad and Judy didn't realize how big he was or how much he moved and responded. They could understand immediately how the girls could keep busy with him for hours. A little later while Dad and I unloaded somethings they brought for the house, Judy read the girls a couple stories before they had to be going. Hopefully soon we will be able to get together again and have dinner or something. Whenever our schedule allows for such. Thanks for stopping by Dad and Judy, it was so great to finally see you both again!!

Christmas still?

The girls got a package in the mail from my friend Cindy. There were all exited when I opened it up and there were two wrapped presents inside. They tore through that paper so quick to find the treasure inside. Cindy sent the girls these really cute shirts and though you can't tell on the picture too well, Brye's is really soft and furry like and Abbi's has miniature umbrella buttons sewn on the umbrella of the shirt. Too Cute!! Thanks Cindy!!!

Look we're twins!

Another piece to the puzzle

I got the girls this really cool puzzle for Christmas. Each piece is a cube with 6 different pictures on it and you have to find the right side to make up the picture you are trying for. I thought it would be a little bit of a challenge for Brye but she proved me wrong (how can I be surprised?) again. She figured out each step with no problem and put together all six pictures in record time. Abbi has a great time trying and she is getting a lot better every time she plays with it. She needs a little help here and there but I think pretty soon she will be good to go all by herself.

Remember when...

Cinderella

After church today, Peter had to go to town to take care of a few things so the girls and I stayed home to play. Brye wanted to play with her little Ariel figures so we got them all out and Abbi went got her Cinderella things. Abbi thinks she is Cinderella, because of Halloween, so every-time she sees anything with the princess on it she says "Look Mommy, it's me, Cinderella." It's really cute. Anyhow, we played with all the dolls for a long time until they decided they wanted to play with Booster (the horse). I don't want my girls to grow up, I guess we will just have to have more. :)

Please Pray

I sent out a prayer request about a month ago, asking for prayers for a few different people who were in difficult situations. I just got the following email from a good friend, Claire, whose daughter was one of those I asked for prayers for. Please read the following and please keep Donna and her family in your daily prayers...

It is with a saddened heart, but filled with faith and hope that I update you on Donna.
She got the word today that her cancer, renal cancer of the lungs, is inoperable and incurable. There are 3 treatments available and for now she will be on a pill which is rather new and all of the side effects aren't known. She will be four weeks on, two weeks off. If this fails, they can go to an IV treatment. , and quite honestly I forget what the 3rd one is . No radiation. The doctor told her to go on with the trip which she and Dennis had paid for and planned since August. Going skiing in Colorado with their 2 boys and the boys girlfriends. She will have a rough road ahead.
I would also ask that you please pray that the insurance company will pay for the medications which are very expensive.
Thank you all for your support, love and concern. Donna appears to be in pretty good shape in spite of the news she got awhile ago.
IHN
Claire

Breakfast for dinner

I have been working a bit of overtime lately, trying to get the place in order before I start school next week. I left the office around 6 tonight and when I got home I made dinner and put it in the oven. Well, it takes 90 minutes to cook and the girls can't stay up that late, especially since Brye has school tomorrow, so we had to compromise. After some discussing, they decided they wanted eggs and toast for dinner and so Peter made them their own dinner and they happily ate it all up. They will probably always be those types of people who could eat breakfast anytime of the day. Personally, I don't like breakfast foods at all, but I am glad to see my girls aren't as picky as I am.

Surprise!!

Today, while I was at work, the ladies up in Records (where anyone who comes through the door has to talk to before anyone will come and help them) called me in my office and told me that I had something up front. I was really confused because normally they only call me to tell me someone is there that wants some property or some State's Attorney wants to view evidence or something like that. I was thinking "what could be up there for me?" if I had ordered anything it would have had to go through the property manager and she would bring it to me so I really had no clue. When I got to Record's door I saw some beautiful flowers on the desk and said "Aww, who got flowers?" They smiled and said "must be you." When they handed me the vase I read the card and found out that my wonderful wonderful husband sent them to me. He is so sweet!! I put them on the secretary's desk right out side my office door (the position is currently vacant) so that everyone could enjoy them (and maybe be a little jealous). They are my favorite kind of flower, Gerber Daisies. I am so lucky to have married the best man ever!

Guitar Stuph!

Well, we've been quite busy around here lately. Chellee's been trying to catch up a bit at work and so she's taking the night off from the blog. I thought I'd fill everyone in on some of the details of my latest project.

I've been building a bass for one of my customers. I've been working on it a bit longer than I anticipated, but it's been coming together better than I'd hoped.





It's a design collaboration between Dan (my customer) and I built to his spec. You can read about it on my guitar web site. Check back often for more shop project news.

PLAY BALL!!!

One of the many things the girls got from Santa was softball gear. I use to play softball when I was younger up until my sophomore year of high-school when I started getting involved in other things. I always loved it and have thought about joining a local team but it seems like I am always pregnant. :) Anyhow I really want my girls to play a sport that they enjoy just as much as I did so my mom got them gloves a ball and a bat and tee to learn how to play. With Daddy, we all practiced catching and hitting and throwing. We had a lot of fun and we played for a long time. The girls loved hitting and started getting pretty descent at catching. They are still a little afraid of the ball but I think all kids go through that at first. Here are some shots of the girls in action today.

Play, for young and old(er)

Earlier today I met up with Steve and Heather and their friend Robin and their kids. I took the girls to Jay Blanchard Park and they all ran around together. We had a nice lunch at the park and talked and caught up. The kids ran around for a long time and while we were there I ran into Jake and her daughter Kendrah. It was great to see them so unexpectedly and we talked for a while before she had to get going. Brye made friends with a very fat squirrel who was not shy at all. After Robin had to take her daughter home for a nap Steve and Heather and I took our kids out caching (what else?). I had to grab up 11 finds to make it to 1200 finds for me so we went from cache to cache until we got there. We picked up a bunch around the UCF area and then headed back to my mom's house. We dropped off all the kids with Papa and then went to dinner at the Roadhouse. I headed home after grabbing up the girls and set to work logging all my finds from the earlier caches we found.

Peter's Famous, Again!

Peter was in the paper again for his shop. He had another reporter stop by his store one day and interview Peter and take some pictures. It was totally unexpected and we welcomed the free advertisement. This new article was in The Forum, a local paper distributed to all of West Volusia County (where we live) for free. The paper was delivered on Saturday and the next day at church (before we even saw it) our friend said he saw Peter again before we mentioned the new article. If you click the pictures you can see them larger in another window. I tried to make them large enough so you would be able to read the print, hopefully it works for you.

Back to the Woods

Since I had the day off of work today, Steve and Heather and I decided to make a day of caching out of it. We loaded up the kids in Steve's car and headed up the Ocala National Forest. There is an abundance of quick park and grabs up there and there are never any onlookers or traffic to have to deal with. We took some scary winding roads and trails we weren't sure we would be able to drive through without getting stuck and found many caches to add to our numbers. The kids were really great and hardly fussed at all. I am not really sure how many I ended up with, I haven't logged my finds yet and I didn't take notes just lots of pictures. Steve and Heather ended up getting a few more than me since we stopped at a couple that I had already grabbed when I did the Finder's Fest back in October last year. Since Steve has gotten here I have found about 25 caches in just a couple of days and before he had gotten here I hadn't gone caching in almost a month. With school, work, the girls, and Christmas it has just been hard for me to find the time. It was very refreshing to get out and grab some finds today and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We had a great time and we saw some really cool things. We were hoping to see more wild life but we didn't see much more than some birds and a few hunting dogs. Often times when reading other cachers logs or talking with them they will tell you about how they saw black bears (don't worry they are herbivores) while they were out. We saw plenty of deer tracks but no deer to go with them. When we finally headed back home the sun was already setting and the temperature had dropped quite a bit.