hey sarah, beat this!!!

i have been meaning to put this picture on here, and since Sarah (my wicked sister-in-law) wrote all over her blog about her "surprise" valentine's weekend, i thought this would be the perfect time to post this picture....one freezing, cold, blistering morning on our (me and the babes) mad dash out the door to school, this is what i found when i opened the back door!!! all together now...aaawwwwwwww! MAP said he put it out there the nite before! sometimes he can be romantic..i hate that word. it's so soapoperaish!

another week

well i thought i just may try a different color.....that bold at the beginning made me feel fat!!! so here we are skinny!! i haven't been on here since valentine's weekend...i have been busy! so now i am gonna have to write yet another book to get it all in!!! first off, i LOVE LOVE LOVE my new stove/range. although i have yet to get the blinds that i almost killed my husband over. i WILL get them!! Rivers was in a pageant this weekend... and won!!!! it was probably her last pageant though. lots of things are done and go on that i absolutely DO NOT agree w/. from the beginning when i saw how the girls are "made up" and dressed, i said i would not do that to Rivers, and i didn't. i didn't spend $500 on a dress, i didn't put on more than powder, lip gloss and what little mascara i could get her to sit still for, and that was still too much if you ask me! i paid $50 for a dress from the second hand store that was not even comparable to the "new age" dress, so i revamped it to the point i absolutely loved it and it would be the dress (she would either win or loose) in all pageants she would be in. she loved it cause it sparkled and it was pink...if you ask me it was "Rivers". well, another of my opinions that i believe is: if you go and try to add to natural beauty, you just mess it up. and when i went adding makeup to Rivers, well, i just shouldn't have done it. anyway, i was waiting for a pageant to come up where it stated it was natural and absolutely no makeup was to be worn by any girls under the age of 7. well, this past sunday was the day for us, cause that is exactly what kind of pageant it was!!!! not one touch of makeup was put on my baby girl and not one strand of fake hair was on her head!!!!! Rivers won prettiest hair, most photogenic AND she was the queen!!!!! she glowed when she saw they were putting a crown on her head!!!! she loves pageants but she doesn't have to do them. we may do natural pageants in the future (they are scarce) but no more GLITZ! that is my new "i am sick of hearing the word" word!! GLITZ! uugggghhhhhh! i found some pictures of other girls that are in pageants and it is really sad at what the moms do to the girls. the before and after pictures are unbelievable. well, enough of that!
yesterday Jake, Rivers, and I accompanied Ben's pre-k class to the goat farm!!! who would have thought you could spend 3 hours at a goat farm and not be ready to come home!! baby goats are so cute!! and let me say, there were lots and lots of baby goats there!! the kids had bundles of fun!! we even got to talk about marijuana!! not really! they had a boykin? spaniel out there they were training to be a drug dog. the officer had a bag of marijuana and it was hidden in a large grass field and the puppy went all over sniffing and finally he went to the drugs and sat down on it!!!!! that was too cool!! after a sack lunch and potty breaks behind the horse wagon, we headed home. it has been a fun week so far, and we are so looking forwasd to the warm weather coming this weekend...and then of course comes the cold again!!!! sick of it!!!!!!! as ms. priss says"toodles"!!BYE

Valentine's weekend

well, not a whole lot has been goin' on around here...this past weeekend, my folks went a campin, and MAP had the weekend off. we were gonna take the boys and girl to the little grand canyon, and the rainy, nasty lookin' weather scared us away! sooooo the boys ended up a campin' also. MAP and i drove w/ the girl baby up to lake blackshear fri. nite and stopped @ cracker barrel ( @ the request of the girl baby) and got grilled ckn. salads (mommy's fav.) and some other fixins' to go w/ steak!!! YUM!!
went to eat and then headed home. good nites sleep, but woke too early cause there were no kids around! got up and went to albany in search of a new stove/oven/range..whatever you wanna call it, and some plantation shutters that are loooonnnnggg overdue! MAP and i almost killed each other (more me wanting to wrap my heands around his neck, or simply sling my beloved cast iron skillet at his head) just trying to come to an agreement on how to measure for the blinds!!! he wanted to come to "an agreement"? how can you come to an agreement when there are two people? i said my way was right, and he said his way was right!!! no medium there. i was not doing it the way he said...the difficult way. get to lowes ...had to use my measurements....DID NOT get any blinds...he will go w/ my father to get the blinds and they will be right!!!!! found a range/stove/oven what ever! hidden element in the botton OMG easy cleanup! ceramic glass top OMG easy cleanup! will go by tomorrow to pay for it and MAP will p/u and bring it home. anyone wanna guess what the argument tomorrow will be about??? how to put in a stove/range/oven!!! went back to the ;ake to hang out and visit in the cold and again nasty weather. came home alone again...except w/ girl baby! stopped by rite aid to get a last minute v'day card for MAP and ran in to some friends that suggested we go eat at shoney's for dinner. holy cow!!! 2 ribeyes cooked to perfection( mine hardly warmed), salads, potatoes, drinks, AND CHEESECAKE for dessert!!!! $22.00! beat that!! this was the FIRST EVER Valentine's dinner that MAP and i had gone out to on Valentine's nite! EVER!!turned in early again and then got up early early and went to spend too mush on groceries at walmart. jake loves to tell his g'ma to "look at all our food" when i shop like that! it isn't very often cause i usually go every week instead of wait til we are out of everything!!! i hate to go to walmart and have to spend $300 at one time on FOOD!!!!! i usually do around $75 ~ $100 a week. doesn't seem so bad that way. oh, well, Jake will have a very large selection of breakfast lunch and dinner choices for the next few weeks!!! ggrrrrhhhhh!
anyway, i gotta go turn the snoring bear over before he wakes the household! the walls are startin to shake!!

little Ben sick again!

well, it has been a good week so far......not much happening except the norm......if there is a norm! bible study today, Ben went also so i could take him to the doctor....that cough is stilll around. he just cannot kick it!! we are trying..he came in to our room a few minutes ago and grinned and said " i true up" poor puppy. i heard him coughing!! he is now in our bed!? wonder if that is the last time for the night!? nothing like waking up to PUKE! he can't help it, so that makes it not so bad, if there is such a thing . anyway, hopefully he'll be okay at school tomorrow. i am stillllll ready for the summer. everything seems to be pretty well in the summer....although las tyear the week after school got out, Jake landed in the hospital w/ something for a WHOLE week!! fun fun fun! but even more faun was Rivers in there the very next week w/ the very dame thing!!! that got the summer of to a swell start. Luckily mr. Ben slid by. well, that has been the highlight for the beginning of the week. i am supposed to get my hair "did" friday..i hope. i always look forward to that. 2 hours all to me w/out the kids. that is all i need after a long frustrating week, but so far so good. man i wish he'd stop coughing. i don't know how he sleeps. i feel so bad for him. he'll stop coughing completly in a little while. well, he usually does anyway. i better go get some sleep just in case i am on "puke duty" tonight!! gotta love it!

new week

well, it has been a couple days......not much interesting has happened....yesterday mr. Ben had a 5 year ckup...all is well PTL!!! hole in the eye caused by a tinker toy has healed......PTL, again. no other problems ......well, he did get two inhalers for his coughing...seems to be asthmatic? if that makes any sense??? anyway, today Rivers was flowergirl in my cousins wedding, and the boys stayed home w/ my people and went chasing smoke clouds....Ben informed my mom that if our neighbors caught our other neighbors' house on fire that "ms. maria was gonna beat the holy hell out of them"????? i absolutely DO NOT know where he came up w/ that from!!!! i HAVE NEVER said "holy hell"!! you never know w/ Jake and Ben, what will come out of their mouthes next. i hate to say i laughed when i heard what he said, but it just catches you the right? way? it has been a long week!!! i will not say at the beginning of this coming week that i am ready to get it goin!!! sure hope tomorrow will be as pretty as today!!! God Bless you alllllll!

i definately smell a beach trip comin'

man is it ever cold out today!!!!! i, like my best friend, am dreaming of warm sand between my toes!!! i would like to be sweating right about now, and i would'nt even mind swatting away a few gnats!!!! anything but this cold!!! next week for my bible study class on tuesday, since it is the week of valentines, i am gonna make pound cake loaves, and HOMEMADE whipped cream, along w/ fresh strawberries and sugar!!! i can't wait!!! the girls do not know what they are in for!!!!! you can't live in the south and NOT like poundcake!!! especially mine!!! my best friend re~named it "TON cake"!!! i, like my other friend tresure, LOVE LOVE LOVE to cook (although i have not yet been lucky enough to meet paula!!)....i really like to cook for large crowds! anyway, not much has been going on this week. i finally got the carpet dry and am visioning how the boys' bathroom will look after the remodle. we are definately taking the sink OUT (including the massive cabinet that it sits on) and we're getting a pedistal sink. more room, less mess? a fresh coat of paint~ probably a pretty, calmimg blue color? i am hoping to get Rivers her own bathroom in the next year or so. it is sooo wrong for a little girl to have to share a bathroom w/ two older brothers!! well, let me go get middle man from school. i can't wait to get him!!! i stoppped by his nana and papa's house while in tifton today and his papa had gotten him some fishing tackle!!!! you have to know Ben! i guarantee you'll NEVER come across another little boy that likes to fish more than Ben! there are probably a lot of grown men out there that Ben can outfish. he amazes me. seriously. ask his teachers. for martin luther king day at school, the kids had to color a picture and fill in the blank "i have a dream_________". well, Ben had them write in " i have a dream that i am gonna go fishing." it is ALL ABOUT FISHING. and you have no idea how excited he is gonna be when i give him the tackle!!!

just a note

also i would like to add.....i am a busy woman w/ three small children, so forgive me when i spell things wrong!!.....i know how to spell, but i try to get things done as quick as possible, and i DO NOT have time to spell check....you all know what i meant anyway!!! hope this is not too boring for you.

the beginning

well, here goes!!! a good friend of mine suggested i do this, so it goes!!! many people have said i should have started a book about the interesting things that have happened since i had children. you could make milllllions from your stories they said........I AGREE!!!!! my life has been a whirlwind since january 19th of 2002...the day before Jake~my 7yr. old~was born! couple years later came Ben~my 5 yr. old~ and then Rivers Marie, the queen of queens was born just 2 1/2 years later!!!! things rolled pretty smoothe w/ the first, except for his large 10 1/2 lb. self! when Ben got here is when all the real fun began!!! swallowing pennies that would not come out, and then coding when the doctors went in to get it, stating first that only 1 in 100 will stop breathing when they go down their throat! guess what???? Ben was the winner!!! he fell out of a chair onto a hardwood floor and got a gushy tomato spot on his little head only to find out from the ct scan that he was missing the very center of his brain!!!!! doesn't matter though and we wouldn't have know unless this happened!! many more interesting things happened and i got to go tot the er for the first time in my life after i had boys....still no rides in an ambulance!!! PTL!!! wait, no, did i mention the day that the queen decided to make her mother keel over???? when she fell 15 ft. out of her brothers' TREE HOUSE? (meaning it is IN. A. TREE.)!!! just four short days before she was supposed to be the flowergirl in her uncles wedding??? guess what!!! 911 that's what!!! the baby girl was the first to give me a ride in an ambulance!!! go figure!!! she went to the ER w/ a great concusion!!! and people, let me tell you from experience.....thank God EVERY day for your hard headed children!!!! i will never complain of mine being hard headed. anyway, everyday around here is something new...some days you wanna laugh at everything, and some days like today, when the toilet ran...and ran and ran and ran for like an hour and Jake informed me the toilet "ran over"? WRONG!!! it flooded is what it did!!! all you wanna do is cry!!! i got it up!!! Jake's lesson for the day "how to get up massive amounts of water in record time" . that will come in handy one day, and lucky for him he got to see how a woman would do it!!!! man, my friend is so gonna be sorry she introduced me to this!!! i DO NOT know how to make a llllloooonnnnngggggggg story short!!!!!