College take 2.....errr 3??

After High School, I went to college for a semester and did terrible. I withdrew before the end of the first semester so I wouldn't fail. It was crushing. (Granted, my adviser had over-loaded me for my first semester, but I didn't know that then...) I certainly wasn't a genius, but I felt like I was pretty smart. After that, I enrolled at a technical college for a Respiratory Therapy certificate. I think I finished one or two quarters there before life just took over. I got married, started working more to help pay the bills, and then we started our family, and I was lucky enough to become a stay-at-home-mom. There just wasn't any time for school. And I was content with that. Over the years I've thought about starting back to school, even just to take one or two classes here and there, but the timing never worked out (and for a reason, I believe--Heavenly Father knows best!!).

This fall, I will have 4 kids in school. In another 2 years, Lindsey will go too, and I won't have anyone home during the day. I think this brought on more thought to going back to school. Of course this is new territory for me, and has been met with worry as well. My kids still need me, so can I do both? Will this put a strain on my marriage? So many questions.

In trying to decide what to study, I've tried to think about all the different things that interest me. The problem is I like a lot of different things, but for some reason I keep coming back to Nursing. The next decision to make was where to go? This was kind of difficult for me too. But in the end, what made the decision for me is I want to have a degree, not just a certificate. It might seem silly, and maybe it is, but for whatever reason I really want a degree, or more specifically, a Bachelor's degree. What's strange is I don't look at other people who go through certificate nursing programs and think less of them, in fact I'm quite impressed! But this just feels *right* for me!

Today I took the first leap and submitted my application to college! Despite my worries (that will probably ALWAYS be there) of whether I can handle it all, and meet the needs of my family, etc....I AM EXCITED! I have no idea how long it will take me to finish, or what speed bumps I'll surely meet along the way, but it's the first time in a lot of years that it just feels *right*!

College, here I come!
My kids are already teasing me that they will be asking me if I've done MY homework! :)

Summer Plans!

It's already summer break for the kids! In efforts to keep away the grumpies and fighting, I've attempted to have tons of stuff to keep the kiddos busy and having fun. We started on Thursday by decorating journals that they will write in over the summer. They really had fun picking out papers and what they wanted on it, and I showed them how to cover the books. (I will post pictures later, but they really turned out cute!) We've already had a couple entries in their journals, and it's been fun sharing them with each other. On Friday, since it was Rob's birthday, I had them each write something about their Dad. Then after dinner, they each got to share their entry with him.

The pool is open and we will take our first dip tomorrow!!! I can hardly wait. It's so much fun, and the kids have a total blast (not to mention, they play hard and thus, sleep hard at the end of the day!). We are going to grill out and just play the day away. We plan on spending a LOT of time there this summer!

I'm running my second 5K on June 12th! I'm really excited. I am by no means a good runner, but I REALLY enjoyed the first race, and want to do more! My only goal is to better my time each race, even if it's only by a few seconds. I have LOTS of room for improvement. :) My twin sister is doing it with me. She is a great motivator!

June 17th marks 10 years Rob and I have been married. Hard to believe it's been ten years. It sure has gone by fast! I am the luckiest girl around to have such a great guy. I still get butterflies when he holds my hand, or kisses me. I am more in love with him than ever. Though we (like any marriage) have had our ups and downs over the last 10 years, we've stuck together. Rob is truly my very best friend. Here's to another 10 years (and many more!). We're going to visit Rob's parents and take the kids to the beach, and then Rob and I are going to run away for the weekend to Savannah. I love that we are able to get away from time to time by ourselves. A huge thanks goes to Mema and PePa for watching the kids!

The end of June, we'll be visiting them again but this time for a Baby Shower for my sister in law. I'm beyond excited for Megan and Caleb. They are going to be great parents. I look forward to meeting little Jude when he arrives in September. It seems almost strange to watch them go through this phase of first time parenthood. Seems like I was *just* there. Hard to believe it's been almost nine years. It'll be amazing to see how this little sweet baby changes their lives forever (for good!!). There truly is nothing like being a mom!

July brings (hopefully) another beach trip! When Mom and I went to Panama City Beach in April, it was just SO fun, that we decided we really wanted to go back there again. The beaches are SO nice. Hopefully, though, this oil spill will stay away from our beautiful beach! We are planning a trip back to Panama City with Rob and the kids, as well as some of my siblings and their families for 4th of July weekend. I'm sure if we don't go there, we will find somewhere else to go, but I REALLY love it there.

That's basically our summer planned out. Throw in some library days, playgroups, and some day trips, and we've got a very full summer. I love it!

May Birthdays!

May is a busy month! Not only is school coming to an end, which means all the end of year activities, but birthdays too!!

Haley turned six on May 18th!!


I can't believe she's six. Time has just flown by!! I love my bug-a-boo SO much. She is so sweet, and still loves to snuggle with her momma. ;0) Haley's pretty independent (I suppose that comes from being the middle child) but also loves being with everyone. She likes Barbies and dancing and her favorite color is purple. I just love that bug! (I refer to her as "Bug" quite often!)

This year, we had a small family celebration on her birthday. We were so happy that my Uncle Don and Aunt Nancy were able to come visit, and happened to be in town for her birthday as well!













Sticking with the same idea as her cake (and because we had so much fondant left over), I made cupcakes for her to take to class. Sadly this is the only picture I got of them. Think ahead next time, Erin!!




The that weekend, Haley had her first friend party. We did some painting and "creating" and even decorated cupcakes (to eat of course). She had so much fun!






















Then on May 28th, Rob turned 35!! I LOVE teasing him that he's so old! HA! (I'm so much younger because I'm still in my twenties. :D) But I also tell him I keep him young. We celebrated as a family, and as always, the kids got in there to help lick off the candles!

Thankfuls everyday keep the woes away

Whenever I start feeling sorry for myself about something, and start feeling like "woe is me", I try to remember some very sound advice I once received.

When I was pregnant with Lindsey, as I neared my due date, I was, like most pregnant women, READY. I was ready see my feet again, ready to sleep on my stomach, ready to eat without having heartburn, all those things. I wanted my baby in my arms instead of inside me. I'd never gone overdue with any of my other babies. Alexis came 3 days early, and the other 3 I was induced either a few days before, or on their due date. I just naturally assumed that Lindsey would be the same. Induced right around her due date.
So, the week before I was due, I went in for my prenatal visit, hoping it would be my last. Much to my dismay, it wasn't. My doctor was going to be out of town the next week, and my cervix was not favorable to be induced yet, so we scheduled a tentative induction for 2 weeks later, a week over due. But my doctor was optimistic and he said he really didn't think that I would make to that date. It was, afterall my 5th baby!

When I left his office and got in my car, the flood gates opened. It seemed like an eternity away, 2 more weeks. I cried as I told my husband that we'd have to wait another 2 weeks, and I cried some more when I called to tell my mom. (I blame some of it on pregnancy hormones.) The response I got from my mom was not what I expected. She said, "But at least you get to have the baby...Think about those you don't get to..." She also said that maybe I could think of ways to serve others, and that it would help the time go by faster. My first reaction was "ugh, I wanted sympathy!!" But I got over that quickly and realized how selfish I was being, and how precious the gift of this baby is, and waiting another two weeks was not going to kill me. I started thinking about all the reasons I had to be thankful, and tried to do things for others, and it totally changed my outlook.

I did make it to my next appointment, two weeks later, much to my dr's surprise, and even made it a couple more days to my induction. But once I changed my attitude, and focused on what I have to be thankful for, it was easy. It just wasn't important to me, how long I had to wait after that.

Since then, off and on when I've found myself feeling sorry for myself again, I think about this experience, and find reasons to be thankful again, and find my attitude changes and I think less of myself and more of others. So I find myself continually trying to be always thankful.

Cyber-friend (now IRL TOO!)

When I got pregnant with Haley, I joined an online messageboard for women expecting babies the same month as me. It was neat to be able to talk to other women who were going through similar things, and just having that friendship. We grew to become a close bunch of friends as we prepared for celebrated the births of our babies. The years have passed, our group has gotten a little smaller and we now talk on a private messageboard. Our babies that brought us all together are turning 6. We've been together through good and bad times. We've celebrated with each other for special occasions, and been a shoulder to lean on when someone needed it. We've welcomed new babies into our group as some of us have added to our families, and we've cried as some of us lost dear loved ones. This little group is like a second family to me.
It's from this group that I met my friend Mikki. We went from talking on our board to emailing each other, and then talking via IM or text messages, and then talking on the phone, and our friendship has become even closer. This past weekend, Mikki came to visit and we got to meet in real life for the first time. It's honestly like we've known each other our whole lives. I think I was a little nervous because I am initially a very shy person when I first meet someone. I worried that maybe there would be some awkward silences, but there really wasn't. She laughed right along with me as I took my first (of several) wrong turns as we left the Atlanta airport.
I didn't realize how much I must talk about her until this visit because my kids were really excited to meet Mikki as well. I thought they might be a little shy as sometimes kids can be around new people, but they weren't at all! Robby and Lexi were saying yesterday evening "I wish Mikki didn't have to go home, I wish she could stay here forever....I love Mikki." It was really sweet to see how they took her just as I did!
As it always happens, the weekend flew by all too fast and we found ourselves driving back to the airport today to say our "See you laters" (I hate goodbyes). David told me as we pulled away that he was sad. I was sad too. But we're already working on the "next time" we'll get to see each other. :)