Wonderful Day for the Zoo

It was such a gorgeous day Saturday, we decided to take the kids to the zoo. We had the best time. After the zoo, we went to eat dinner at Carino's. All I can say is yummo!!! It was delicious. After being on this "new lifestyle" for the past three weeks, it was good to eat something that actually tasted!!! Ty was obssessed with the bread they bring you. We went through three loaves, and I'm gonna say he ate 75% of it. Needless to say when his food came, he was already full. Oh well, it was good for lunch the next day.

After dinner we headed home, and somehow I convinced Clay to make a slight detour to the Promenade at Chenal. I've been hearing about the new DSW shoe store, and I've been dying to go. It was Heaven!!! I could have spent a small fortune there, but seeing as how we had bought six pairs of shoes this past week, I was banned from buying anymore. Oh well, it was still fun to look. If you haven't been to the Promenade, you should definitely go. It is such a fun atmosphere. It's a lot like the Landing in Branson. They had a band that was playing live music, lots of stores that you would normally find in the mall, and an Imax theatre. We're going to try to go back this coming weekend and take the kids to see a movie.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

My little monkeys

What my little monkey's are usually doing

My three guys

Clay said this looked like me & him!

Isn't he beautiful?

Ty being his goofy self

My favorite animal...preferably on a belt or shoes!!! :)

This was called a dik-dik. Basically, it's just a tiny deer. Only weighs about 13lbs. he was so cute!! The boys just wanted to take him home.

Glad I got this picture, they're usually not this sweet!

Me and my honey

Right at home

Hunter was taking a picture of me and Clay, and Ty put his hand over the lense, if you look close, you can see my "mean" face!

Back to school

Well, we did it. We made it to school on time, (early, in fact!) and no incident to be reported! Maybe just a few tears when I got home. I know, I know, you would think I would be used to all of this by now, after all this is my fifth year to do this, but it's still hard to let your babies go.

Of course I had to take pictures of them before we left, and then walked them to their classes and took more pictures...I think they were ready for me to leave!

I can't believe he's already in 1st grade!!!

He looks so big...hard to believe he'll be in middle school this time next year!

Hunter with his teacher, Mrs. Davis. I absolutley love her. I got to work with her last year and we became good friends. She is an awesome teacher. Hunter is going to have a great year!

Ty with his teacher, Mrs. Lichtenstein. She is such a sweet, sweet lady. Ty is going to love her!!!

Ty with his friend, Noah. They had to hang their backpacks beside each other!

Sitting at his desk for the first time...right on the front row...just where he need to be!!!

So I just had to share this with you. Monday night we took the kids to buy their new tennis shoes for school. I always let them pick out whatever they want. So Hunter picked his out first, and Ty saw them and wanted the same pair. (You can see them in the pictures above) Then as we were about to leave, Ty spotted these...

He HAD to have them...he said they were the kind of shoes that they wore in "The Sandlot." So we got his size and he tried them on and immediately he started running around the store. He was so happy, he said these shoes made him run super fast. So of course I couldn't say no. I can't deny my baby if he wants to run fast!

While we were there, of course I had to look at shoes. I mean, I can't just walk into a shoe store and not look, right? I spotted a pair of Sperry Top Siders that I have wanted all summer. I've never bought them because really, all I wear during the summer is flip flops anyway, and I'm too cheap to spend that much money on a pair of shoes I'll hardly ever wear. Clay tried to convince me to get them, but I didn't. Well, my sweet, sweet husband went back when he got off work the next day and bought them and another pair of Yellowbox flip flops for me.

I LOVE these shoes!!!

Just What I've Been Looking For

Last weekend our community had their annual Bargains Galore on Hwy 64, which basically is miles and miles of yardsales. So the boys and I got up and about early (by early, I mean 8:00am...you know I don't stir about any earlier than that!), went to pick up my mom and set off. We had so much fun!!! I even taught the boys a little about negotiating. They did great for their first time, they came home with 2 Playstation games, a board game, 2 metal airplanes, and an Indiana Jones hat for $6!!! After a FULL day of yardsaling, all I came home with was this...

...Can you say YAY!!!! I have been looking for an antique school desk for a long time. Everytime I come across one in an antique store or flea market, they are either in really bad shape, or they want anywhere from $50-$100. I found this lil' beauty right before we were about to head home. They were only asking $25 and I got them down to $15!!! A great bargain, I think! Ever since I knew I wanted to be a school teacher, I wanted one of these desks for my classroom. Right now it's just a fixture in the boys' bedroom, but hopefully one day soon it will be in my classroom!

What's Missing?

Three teeth! That's what! I know it's hard to tell from the picture, but poor Hunter had to go have three of his baby teeth pulled last week at the dentist.

It all started a few weeks back when he went to have his routine teeth cleaning. They decided then that he was definitely going to need braces to fix his poor little teeth, so they needed to go ahead and start the long (expensive) process. He had the three canine teeth that he hadn't lost pulled. When these permanant teeth start to grow in, we'll have to go back and have either some or all of them removed. Then when all of that is finished, we should be able to get braces.

I was a little nervous taking him to have these teeth pulled because Hunter takes after me when it comes to pain....we are big sissy's!!! He made himself sick thinking about it all day. As soon as we got to the dentist office they gave him some "happy gas" and all his worries went out the door. He was so funny! After the doctor finished giving him all of his shots, Hunter said, when are you going to give me a shot? He didn't feel a thing! He was too preoccupied trying to lift his hands and feet...he thought it was funny that they felt so heavy!

I wonder if they sell that "happy gas" to Mommy's???

What do I do now???

Last week my mother-in-law called me and said that she wanted to take the boys and do something for the day before they started back to school. Ok, great I thought. The whole day to myself! So, she came and got the boys around 8:30 this morning.

I then proceded to clean my house and finish the laundry. Everything's done in the house, so I thought I would go get a mani & pedi (something you can NOT do with 2 boys). I thought after that I would do some shopping. But for what??? I don't want to buy myself any clothes until I lose all the weight I'm trying to lose, and last week I took the boys shopping for school clothes, so they don't need ANYTHING. Can you believe I'm saying this??? Me??? No shopping??? I know, I'm as shocked as you are...so I headed home.

So here it is, just 1:30, and I don't have a thing to do. It's completely silent here. I don't like silence. I know most of you are thinking I'm probably crazy about now, but I miss my boys!!! As much as I complain about how wild my kids are, I don't know what I would do without them. Yes, if they were here, I would be able to hear the Disney Channel and PlayStation in the background, and Ty throwing something at Hunter because he wouldn't give him his turn at whatever game they were playing, then Hunter chasing Ty down the hall trying to throw something back at Ty, and eventually, landing on the couch in a full blown fight. All to make up and do it again in 15 minutes. But that's my life. That's the life I love. I would take all the ruckus any day over silence.

Changes

After going back and forth for awhile, I finally decided to make it official and resign from my job at school so I can go back to school full time. I really enjoyed the classes that I took this summer and I'm ready to dive in and get it done. It should only take me about 2 years, or maybe 2 1/2(I'm thinking about getting certified to teach special education) to finish. In the grand scheme of things, that doesn't really seem like a long time to me. I know it will fly by. Thank you for all of your encouragement. And please keep Clay in your prayers...I don't know if he can make it that long playing "Mr. Mom"!!! :)

Day One...

Today is day one of my new diet....oh excuse me...I mean my "new lifestyle". Yep, for the 163rd time in my life I am going on a diet {new lifestyle}. But, I am positive that it is going to be different this time. This time, I have a little help. I am going to a weight management clinic. I had to sit through a two & half hour seminar yesterday morning telling me what I could and could not eat, how much I could eat, when I could eat, how I should exercise....and so on and so forth. And did I mention that I can have absolutley NO DIET COKES!!! I think that alone is enough to drive a person insane, but I AM going to do it. Cold turkey. I actually gave my brother all of the diet cokes I had in the house last night so I couldn't "accidently" drink one. I know it's not going to be easy, but this is the time I'm going to do it. I am going to stick with it. That's why I'm telling you guys. I want you to hold me responsible when you see me in the drive-thru at Starbucks ordering a Grande Mocha Frappuccino....or at Sonic ordering a large Diet Coke....or at Dairy Queen ordering a Cookie Dough Blizzard....