Isn't he just the cutest?!?!?!?

Today I thought I would blog about my little Great nephew, Tyler. He is simply the cutest, cuddliest, heart melting-iest little man on this side of the Mississippi! I get the priveledge of watching him through the day and boy, are we enjoying him!

The whole household has fallen in love with this guy!

Does it get any sweeter than this?

Yes..I'm still alive.....

I know, who can believe that I actually am writing a post? It's only been what, 7 months since my last? Wonders never cease!

Life has been busy as usual. The kids are wrapping up their summer vacation and will start school on the 18th of this month. That is hard to believe, summer has gone by really fast! Casey will start junior high, he will be in the 7th grade. I can see the teenage years flying at me and it scares me to death! I'm not quite sure what to do with a teenager but I guess I'll learn! He is already 2 inches taller than me! He is currently begging me each day for a cell phone of his very own. His argument is that "mom, everyone except me has their own". I so remember using that argument about things I wanted when I was his age.... some things never die!

Brady will have a birthday next week. He will turn 11 and is going into the 5th grade. This year Brady had to get braces. He picked red and blue, Patriot colors. He is already anxious to have them off, but will have to wait another year and half. He hasn't done much with his summer and I'm thinking he is ready for school to start so he has something to keep him busy!

Kaitlyn is 7 and keeps busy playing with sister. She loves barbies, baby dolls and stuffed animals. She keeps busy the entire day playing with one or the other. She will be in the 2nd grade and is terribly excited to start school! She loves it! She is counting down the days till she can go!

Miah , my baby, is 5 and starts kindergarten this fall. It is so bitter-sweet. I want her home with me but at the same time I love watching her grow and learn. She is a sweetie pie who can make us all laugh! She to is looking forward to school! I just may shed a tear or two come that day. I know she will love it, like her sister does though!

I have started babysitting my little great nephew, Tyler. He is so sweet and I love having him around! He fits right in and is so loved by his great aunt and his cousins! They think the world of him and all are anxious to help me out with him. They love to feed him, talk to him, lay by him on the floor, and play with him. They have gotten some pretty big grins out of him and that makes their day! We love having the little guy stay with us during the day!

So...that i what is going on in my life these day...who knows when my next post will be!
-Mindy

What a Christmas!

The Holidays are now over for another year. I can't believe how time flies! This year we had a busy, busy, but so very nice time! I had lots of my family come and we spent a lot of time with them! My brother Jeff came and stayed for a little over a week, my niece Tara came and it was great to see her and spend some time with her, she is so sweet! My brother Shawn and his wife, Dawn came. It was so nice to see them as well. The only sibling that was not here was Lisa, I wish she could of been, that would of made it perfect!

I'm now fully recovered from my surgery. It feels so good to feel good again! I'm so glad its over and I don't have to think about it again!

The kids have been out of school going on two weeks now. I think we are all ready to have them go back. They miss the interaction part of it, and I miss something for them to do all day! They get on one anther's nerves here at the house and therefore on mine as well! They will start again on Monday. Four more days, four more days, I think I can hold out. Lets hope so anyway.

Well, I finally posted. Its been awhile. I hope this blog find you all well and enjoying the crisp, cold days of winter! -Mindy

On the road to recovery....

It's done. My surgery was done Tuesday morning. I'm back at home now trying to get back to normal. Everything went well, no major complications, thank goodness. I do have quite a lot of pain and I move like a turtle, but that is getting better with each day. I can't take the prescribed pain medicine as it makes me entirely too sick feeling. So I take some Advil and bear with it. I would rather feel the pain other than to feel dizzy and nauseous so terribly bad. I'm anxious for things to get back to normal to where I can take care of my family and my home and not lay around so much. It will come, they say. I try and do doctor's orders but I find it hard to be so lazy! Anyway, I'm happy the surgeries over and I can put it behind me.

I have yet another proud parent blog to share with you. We had Kaitlyn's parent/teachers conference last night and she received a glowing report! Her teacher told us that Kaitlyn is her favorite, but don't tell anyone. LOL . I wonder how many other parents heard that as well! None the less, it made me proud. She is at the very top of her class with reading and she can read at a third grade level. Pretty good for a first grader, huh? Her other subjects are extraordinary as well. She is such a good student. I asked her teacher if she has any problems at all, and I got the reply, " well, there is one problem". I asked what and she jokingly said that she has to ask Kaitlyn not to work so hard. So I guess that means no problems! She does really well. Brady conference went well too, he is a bright kid. His reading and grammar and spelling are extraordinary as well and he has no problems with his work. His argumentative nature was brought up though. I told his teacher we deal with that as well. That's Brady for you, he will get done what he was asked, but has to put up argument first. All in all, the conference went well.

Hope you all have a great weekend! -Mindy

Another Halloween done....

Yet another Halloween is gone. Now we are left with sugar filled kids to deal with! I'm caught between trying to limit their candy intake or just let them have at it for a day or two and then it will be over. I always try to limit it, but then I have it around for months, which is not good for a Mom who is trying to stay away from chocolate as much as possible. We had a really good time though. We went trick or treating to the town's businesses and after that we headed up to the church for the Harvest Party. A good time was had by all. Lots of people showed up to the party and there were costumes everywhere! I love to see the kids in their costumes, they have so much fun! Casey was dressed as Casey, he is far too cool to get caught wearing a costume! Although he did wear his Dad's Letterman's jacket, although I still have no idea why. He just thought it was pretty cool I guess. Brady, or should I say Britney, went to the party dressed as a girl. We had to convince Dad that this was okay being it Halloween and all, but that took some doing. Tad took one look at Brady and said, "this is soooo wrong on so many levels". I reassured him that is was all in fun. He finally settled down about it and let him out of the house. Kaitlyn was a black kitty cat, and very adorable I might add, and Miah was a pink Bunny rabbit, also adorable. They had a good time, as we all did.

I am scheduled to go in for my surgery on Tuesday. As the day draws near, I am feeling a little nervous. I know it will be fine, but losing a body part seems like a big deal to me. Oh well, it will be nice to get this dealt with and to go on with life as usual.

Brady knocked out half his front tooth yesterday. In three weeks he will have another x-ray to see if the root is dead or not, if it is he will have a root canal, and then a partial will be made for him until he is an adult. Lets hope the roots are not dead. If they are okay, then they will crown it and all will be okay. Poor kid, looks like he is straight from the hills! There always seems to be something going on and it seemed like it always involves Brady in some way or another. I guess you could say he has a little bit of a black cloud over him. He handles it well and is not in too much pain, thank goodness.

So, that's a day in the life of me! I hope you have a great day and Robin, Happy Birthday to you!!! Love you lots!!! -Mindy

Fun Times....

Well, I finally succumbed to my stubbornness concerning starting a budget. I put up a good fight I believe. But my own common sense won out and I finally told my husband that, yes, I will sit down with him and work out a budget. That is how I spent my Monday morning. I can definitely think of more enjoyable ways to spend a morning, but what are ya gonna do? Its funny, and not funny ha ha like, but just a Wow! kind of funny, how much debt a person actually realizes they have when its all written down like. I'm now to the point of stressing about how in the world are we are going to manage this, especially with my surgery and Christmas looming before us. So, if you would, please pray for this situation in my family. It really does worry me and I feel like I'm going to collapse under this strain. I keep trying to look in the future of being debt free, but the worries of today make themselves known in almost every thought.

On a brighter note, I'll talk about my kids. Brady had his last football game on Saturday and he received the Best running back award. He was so very proud of himself and it did wonders for his confidence! He loves football and will miss playing until next year. He is such a good boy! Don't get me wrong, he has his moments where I feel like smacking him a good one, but overall he is a caring and considerate boy who has a strong sense of right from wrong. I hope this will carry him through the vastly approaching adolescence years!

Casey, my 12 year old, has been on my proud list lately. He had a real struggle with grades and such and we put our foot down concerning it. We told him he has to get his grades up, or his life as he knows it, will be over. No more football, no more spending time with buddies, no more video games, t.v., anything that is fun until he gets them up. Well, he took as seriously and has managed a turn around with his grades. I'm proud of him and always knew he could do it! He is a bright kid, he proved that to us long ago.

My girls, Kaitlyn and Miah are keeping busy with their school and with playing girlie activities, such as dolls and barbies. They love to play together and miss each other when they are apart. They are good girls, as sweet as can be. God has really blessed me with quite the family. This picture is of them one morning last week when I rounded them up and snapped a shot of them together!

I hope this blog find you all well and enjoying this Autumn season! -Mindy

What a week!!!

What a week, to say the least! Last Monday my poor hubby was involved in a car accident. He is okay, but things could of been much, much worse. He ended up with a broken nose and the left side of his face all cut up. He rear ended a stopped pickup in his dad's pickup going 65 miles per hour. Needless to say, his dad's truck was totaled. When i saw that truck, I thanked God for sparing my husband. It was bad. Crunched. Ka-put. But, my hubby's whole and that is what matters.

We spent the rest of the week recovering. He is back to work and doing well. This is a picture of Tad the night of the accident. Miah took one look at him and asked me if he was dead. I said, "no Miah, daddy's not dead, he's just hurt". She accepted that and proceeded to give her Daddy a hug, very gently-like.

All is well again and God is good. I'm thankful for His blessings and His protective covering on my family. -Mindy