What a BUSY Day!

Today started out as a nice lazy day, because I slept in until 7:30.  Then I ate a leisurely breakfast after feeding the kids, but I ran out of time for a cup of coffee.  Then I hit the floor running for a lot of things that were hurry up and wait!

The first trip was to the vet with our cat.  Just a checkup visit, but when we got there, they were backed up because they had 3 emergencies come in.  So, there I waited with 3 kids.  What fun!  The visit went quick when we got in, so that was nice and there were no problems.

Next, we dropped the cat off at home, picked up a 4th child and went off to the library.  I signed everyone up for the reading programs for their age level and then they picked out their books for the next few days.  Easy as pie!  (hmmm, pie, might have to make one)

Then McDonalds for lunch, because we were already out.  Went through the drive thru and brought it home to eat.  And I got the leftovers that my kids didn't eat.  (Not so good for my stomach, but oh well)!

AC Moore was next since they had a craft afternoon.  We did our shopping first and then stood in line to make the patriotic shirts.  While they were drying we stood in line to get the temporary tatoos.  Did I mention the lines????  It's a popular place during these craft afternoons!  There were at least 50 kids there with their parents.  But, we managed and then we came home and the craziness is still going strong. 

Since we haven't really been home today, I have NO CLUE what we're eating for dinner, so that's next in my plan.  I'm sure since my freezer is well stocked, I should be able to find something quick and easy!  I'll get to that in my next couple of posts later this week.

I'll also be posting my savings for the year on coupons and my goals for the rest of the year!

Our Vacation Part Four - Leaving Family and Friends and Returning Home

We're back from another weekend away, while I try to finish our last vacation's post!  I'm going to have to start typing these up ahead of time, so all I have to do is hit post!

It was bittersweeet when we left Savannah.  We had a wonderful time and lots of fun, but saying goodbye is always hard.  What made it easier was knowing that we would be seeing them when they came up here in July AND that knowing we could Skype any time we had a moment or two.

We got up about 5:30 am to finish loading the van and to give out hugs and then we started out.

My husband drove the beginning of the drive, which was nice, because he was able to see how long it took to get through South Carolina and North Carolina. I had driven most of that on the way down while he slept, so he didn't realize how long they were.  He also got the Virginia part on the way back and his comment was "Does this state ever end???"  Mine was "Eventually!!" as I drifted back off to sleep...............

It took us 17 1/2 hours to get home and when we arrived, we had tired kids, tired parents and one very happy kitty, who wanted to play all night.  What an adventure and YES, I would do it all again.

Our Vacation Part Three - The Beach and Shopping

Here is the long waited for part three of our trip dpwn south! 

The beaches down there are fabulous and the water and scenery is beautiful!  The best part is that you can watch dolphins as they're going by!  I could sit on the sand, reading a book, catching some rays and watching the dolphins all day.  The kids and my husband, well, maybe not so much.......

Here is what we did at Tybee Island Beach and Hilton Head Beach:

The kids and my husband went in the water and played, swam and searched for sand dollars.  They also built sand castles complete with moats.  I sat and watched, handed out snacks, caught some rays and did a little reading.  Also, I was the picture taker. 

We found a dead jellyfish that had washed up onto the sand so we had a little science lesson (don't you love it when you can have a teachable moment  :)  ). 

When we were in Hilton Head and done at the beach, we went to the outlets.  My daughter had to go into Justice (of course) and we also went into Old Navy.  My daughter bought quite a few things from Justice, but they were all reasonably priced.  A lot were on clearance or on sale and the store was running a 40% off everything special.  Works for me!  Old Navy had a few things that I purchased for myself and a few baby items for my sister's new little one in September.

All in all, it was a beautiful, fun filled, tiring, family and friends, hanging out kind of day!  What a bonus!

Motts for Tots free product from Vocalpoint

This is an awesome deal if you have little ones in the house (or even not so little ones!).  Vocalpoint is sending out free Motts for Tots juice.  All you need to do is be a member of Vocalpoint and that's an easy thing to do!  Just sign up and you will get lots of free products and coupons throughout the year.  They ask for your opinions on products along with other feedback and you can talk to other moms out there.  It's a fabulous program.  (Can you tell I love this......?)

Here is the link for this offer:

www.vocalpoint.com/mottsfortots

Sorry for my Absence

I have to apologize for my absence the last few days and for not continuing my series on my vacation.  I haven't been feeling very well and have spent the majority of the last 3 days in bed.  My computer wasn't on except to pay bills yesterday and that was a MAJOR chore (as always!). 

I am planning to continue the posts by this Friday, I just need to take a couple of days to catch up on all of the stuff in the house.  :)  I would so much rather be posting!  I can't even begin to think of all of the stuff I've been missing on the posts I normally read...........the things I could've received for only a little money or for free.  But that's what my stockpile is for!! 

Besides, that's what happens when you're a mom living with RA and fibromyalgia.  Things don't always go as planned and I'm sure there's a reason why this happened.................Haven't figured it out yet, but I'm sure it will become clear when I need to know!

Have a great day!

Vacation Part Two - The Ceremonies

After our long day of travel, I had been ready for a break, but 2 days of ceremonies was not exactly what I had in mind!  No, the ceremonies weren't all day affairs, but when you add in the time it takes to get everyone ready and there early and then the ceremony itself, well, let's just say, it took time.

The first ceremony was the awards and scholarship ceremony and took about 3 hours.  They went through a list of awards and scholarships that the students received and called those students to the stage one at a time.  Lots of speeches on what the award or scholarship entailed and what the student had to accomplish, in order to be chosen.  And my children sat through this, without misbehaving at all!  Who would've thought?

The graduation itself was the next night.  Lots of excitement and a LOT more people were in attendance.  There was a chance of rain and we were outside on bleachers around the football field.  This took a little less time than the night before, but was still two and a half hours.  There were lots of speakers, including one of the alumni and then each student crossed the stage to receive the diploma holder.  Not even the actual diploma!  They wouldn't receive that until after they went into the school and made sure they didn't owe any books, money, etc...... 

I couldn't believe that my youngest stepchild was actually old enough to be graduating!  It was definitely an emotional moment and one that I will remember forever.  I am so grateful that we were able to attend!  My children were so happy to be included and yes, they did behave the night of the graduation as well.  Everyone was so proud of them, including their sisi!

Stay tuned for the next part of my vacation series, in the days to come.........................

Our Vacation to Savannah Part One - The Drive

Now, I might be slightly crazy at times, but I thought that I might have really lost it when I decided we would drive down to Savannah (again!).  We did this drive 7 years ago when the kids were much younger and my thought now was "well, they are older.....". Oh boy, the way my brain thinks!

We left at 3:00 a.m.. The van was loaded the night before with everything except for the cooler and the family.  That was the easy part.  Next was the driving.  My husband started and my thought was that the kids would fall back asleep for a while. No, that's not what happened.  The excitement started and never ended for the entire trip.  By 5 my daughter wanted to start her schoolwork, even though it was still dark outside.  I managed to hold her off until 6.  My oldest son wanted to sleep but his younger brother kept waking him up because he couldn't seem to stop talking. 

We were pointing out a lot of the landmarks and making sure we let the kids know what state we were in.  And there were a lot of them!  We managed to go through New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.  I was the lucky one to drive through Maryland, part of Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia. 

Snacks were a definite on this trip along with lots of drinks.  Lunch was eaten at a rest stop at a picnic table and consisted of sandwiches, fruit, pudding and more drinks.  Dinner was at Arby's and everything was from the dollar menu. 

The only other glitch we had was that when we went to turn on the A/C in the warmer states, we discovered that it wasn't working.  Uh-Oh, definite issue when the temps are up in the 90's and 100's! 

Our arrival at our destination was at 8:00 p.m.. A wonderful 17 hours of driving and spending time with my crew and we all survived!  It wasn't as bad as I thought and yes, I would do it all again, eventually........

Stay tuned for the next part of this series............................