Two peas in a pod

Sometimes it seems things in life bring you down and you loose focus on the more important stuff.

While hanging out with the kids around the house the past couple of days it has struck me how close they have become. It seems to have happened overnight although in reality it has been happening since they met of course but has really picked up pace in the past month or so. These two are inseparable. They are literally by each others side 24 hours a day 7 days a week. They wake up together, beg for breakfast together, take baths together, even sleep together. The list goes on but you get the point. Yes of course they fight, sometimes more than others, but they always go right back for more. It's like they are magnets drawn to each other but they are so polar opposites personality wise that it just seems odd but is always very interesting to watch.

Some of my best memories growing up were with my brother. The trouble we got into, the inventions we made, camping in our rooms with sheet tents. Those were all the best memories and I'm so happy to see my children bonding like that.

Other news: Dylan is finally the proud owner of his very own Power Wheels. He has been stuck riding around on a Dora the Explorer lil' quad or a barbie jeep until now. No more hand me downs for him. He finally has his very own BOY power wheels. He loves it. Can you tell? We did have about two hours rain free today so he was able to get out and ride.

And we have broke out the Bubba teeth around the house. They are always good for a laugh. So here we are saying "Hey y'all"

A craptastic week

Why are things sooo crappy right now? It seems when we finally get a small break something else happens.

It has rained for 3 weeks straight. I swear I cannot remember what the sun looks like it has been so long. I know we need rain but why can't we just have or normal evening shower for an hour and the rest of the day be ok. I put the pool up in the backyard because it had been nice and sunny and about 88 degrees everyday. It was nice for 3 days so I got the kids dressed to go swimming for the first time and there was a big ole' dead squirrel in the pool. I emptied the pool, cleaned it, and filled it back up and it has rained everyday since then. When you wake up in the morning it looks like it is about 8pm all day long with the dreaded rain showers in between.

To top off the rain depression going on around here we also have a major money shortage. Cam's work messed up his paycheck last week and lets just say we got a paycheck about 3/10 of what we are used to. We got in contact with them and they are going to fix the mistake and put it on next weeks pay but that doesn't help the bills that are due this week. You know the non important ones such as our house and 2 car payments that are automatically withdrawn on a certain day every month. No big deal, we are rolling in the dough.

Speaking of the cars my van is still in the shop. They had a hard time getting a new transmission approved because it was just replaced 7 months ago so Honda has the dealership jumping through hoops. I was told today that it should be done by Tuesday. We shall see. In the mean time we are stuck driving a Nissan Versa. Have you ever seen one of these things? I swear my kids are riding on the back bumper. It scares the poop out of me driving them anywhere in this thing. I make sure I have an escape route every time we make a stop and watch very carefully that we are not going to get rear ended. Here a picture of one. Just keep in mind that the back seat sits on top of the rear wheels and the kids can pretty much touch the back glass while strapped in their car seats.

Staying on the subject of cars Cam's truck has also had a bad week. After learning of our super duper paycheck he decided to take up an offer to make some side money. He needed some tools so he went to his work to get them out of his toolbox. It was then that he had the experience of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lets backtrack a little on this one. We had picked his grandma up to get her out of the house for a little while and brought her to the Huddle House. She likes to talk to the people up there and have a cup of hot tea and the kids love the strawberry waffles. Everything was great, everyone ate and had a few laughs. Since we were out and as Livi says "we wive way far away in Purry" we decided we would pick up my lovely rental car, Cam the kids and his grandma would stop by the shop to pick up some tools, and then we would meet back at his grandma's house. Every thing got done in that order, just another small incident was thrown in there.

While he was in getting his tools grandma, Livi, and Diggy were waiting in the truck. One of the guys that had just finished working on a car backed it out of the shop. Should be simple right? I guess the poor kid that had just finished putting tires on this car didn't know that a break job had been done prior. Lets just say that this car back out of the shop with no breaks. It did stop though. On the side of Cam's truck! I guess his grandma jumped out of the truck and started yelling for Cam and the boy that did it just jumped out of the car and ran back into the shop. It was a pretty funny scene from what I hear, well except for the wrecked cars. I would have paid money to see grandma B out in that parking lot. It's hilarious to hear Livi describe it all and what everyone was doing in her words. Dylan just slept through it. That strawberry waffle had him knocked out.

Cams truck: It doesn't look so bad in this picture

We went and got an estimate for his truck and it was over $1500 in damage. We are just waiting until next week when he gets to drive a lovely rental car.

I think that is about all that has been going on around here lately. Hopefully this long weekend will bring some sunshine and maybe we will win the lottery or something. I don't know but something has got to give.

Just have to show off!

Well I just thought I would bring some excitement to this blog! I have to say that I have been completely surprised by my hubby this evening!


He has been fussing the past 3 days about having to work today (a Sunday) and it has been a pretty stressful week. He gave me money last night to buy the necklace I had wanted for Mothers Day. (He was going to get it but waited till the last minute and of course more important things came up and he never got it.) Anyway back to today. I go to buy the necklace which is part of a limited series and they are sold out. A twinge of disappointment set in but I accepted it. At lunch time he called to see if I got it and I told him no.


Fast forward to this evening all his family starts showing up at our house for dinner and he informs me he will be at least another hour late getting off work. No problem everything gets done and he finally shows up 2 hours late. Dinner goes on and everyone finally leaves. We get to talking about my jewelry somehow and I sarcastically comment on the necklace I wanted but was no longer available. He goes to check on the kids and comes back with the Kay jeweler box. I was so surprised and felt bad about jokingly pulling the guilt trip on him. He left from work and went to Macon to get the last necklace within 200 miles knowing that all his family was sitting at our house waiting for him to "get off work". He did have to work late but not that late! So he said he was going to save it for later in the week but since I made him feel so bad about it he just decided to give it to me now... poor guy :0)


So here is a picture of my new necklace!

What a week

Well this has been a bad week for our family. Saturday afternoon Cam's grandfather (a.k.a dad) passed away. It has been a long time coming but was still very sad and unexpected. We have spent our week coming to terms, and doing funeral things. We have tried to be there as much as possible for his grandma because her husband and her children are all she has and now part of that is gone.
Robert Cecil Blanton -WARNER ROBINS - Robert Cecil Blanton, 74, entered into rest on Saturday, May 9, 2009. -Mr. Blanton was born on May 20, 1934, in Argillite, Kentucky. He worked for the United States Government and retired as a Recruiter for the United States Air Force. He loved his family and friends while enjoying and loving life itself. His parents, John Blanton and Ruby Litteral Blanton, preceded him in death. -His memory will forever be treasured by his loving wife of fifty-three years, Kathleen Kay Blanton; children, Robert M. Blanton, Deanna L. Mashburn, Lori (William) Meeks, Robert Cameron (Ashley) Blanton, and Jeremy Craig (Kasey) Blanton, all of Warner Robins; fifteen siblings; seven grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and sixty-two nieces and nephews. -Visitation will be Tuesday, May 12, 2009, from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at McCullough Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13, 2009, in the chapel of McCullough Funeral Home, Reverend Floyd Neace officiating. -Go to http://www.mcculloughfh.com/ to sign the Online Registry for the family. -McCullough Funeral Home has charge of arrangements. Robert Blanton

On a happy note I finally got to meet all the family from Kentucky. Well it was only about 1/4 of them I guess, from what I hear. They were all really nice and came to our house for fellowship after the service. Everyone sat in the backyard and talked and ate and most importantly sang. The songs they sang were so lovely and calming to the soul. They truly are a talented bunch and I feel so lucky to have gotten to meet them, especially at a time like this. I think their visit down to GA was exactly what Cam's grandma needed and I'm so glad we were able to provide a place for us all to gather and relax. Here is a video we were able to capture. It's kinda long but I don't know how to shorten it.

On to more annoying things: my van

As you recall I have just gotten my van back from fixing paint again on Wednesday. By Friday I was back to the dealer again except for this time it's a transmission problem. They had already replaced the trans under another recall the same time they painted it the first time. It seems to be going out again, although when they drove it Friday they didn't find anything wrong. They told me to drive it and bring it back when it acts up consistently or gets a check engine light. Isn't that how all service trips to the shop seem to go? Anyway I guess we will be headed up there bright and early Monday morning again because it is acting up consistently if I do say so myself. A small part of me wants this lovely service manager to take it for a test drive again and let it scare the crap out of him as he pulls out into the 5 lanes of traffic only to discover that he isn't going anywhere fast. Maybe that will teach him to doubt me again!(insert evil laugh here) I really think I am ready to sell this problem. If only I could get what I owe on it, it would be gone tomorrow! I think I am going to try selling it this week, well as soon as the transmission is replaced again. No one in there right mind would pay even $3,000 for it the way it drives now. Wish me luck cause I'm gonna need it. I may just be crazy by the time this nightmare is over!

Frustrations... just a vent.

Well since we have been back from our life at the zoo it seems things just can't go right.

Alivia drama
It started with the cream for Alivia's back. You are supposed to keep it bandaged at night after you apply it to make sure it is being absorbed instead of rubbed off. I cannot seem to find any tape that doesn't leave a horrible red mark or peel her skin off when you remove it. The poor girl has these red squares from tape all over her and looks like she has been beaten by Spongebob. It also takes at least 30 mins. a night to apply this stuff which is a major pain when working with a 3 yr old. Out of desperation I have succumbed to the internet gods and bought some new stuff to try specifically for her condition. It's FDA approved and a money back guarantee so I thought I'd give it a shot. Wish us luck on this one. Did I mention she has about double the number of bumps now than when we started this prescribed cream?

Van drama
This past Monday I brought my van through the car wash cause it was pretty dirty after all the traveling with our little monsters. Every thing was great until I got home. As I was getting Diggy out I noticed a chip in the paint at the top of his door.
(Disclaimer: My van had a recall about 6 months ago for a paint defect for my color. We got that fixed, supposedly, which was an absolute nightmare: We brought it in they said it would take a week to repaint. On day 7 I contacted them about it and it wasn't done so I asked for a rental car. I get this crappy little car to drive but I was happy after spending a week at the house alone. 34 days, a couple of temper flares, rude statements, and threats I finally got my van back.)
So when I run my finger across the chip more falls off. Great. I call Honda again and schedule a time to bring it back in. As I am getting ready to drive to the Honda dealership I touched the spot again, to reassure myself of the battle that lie ahead, and a massive 2 foot section of paint comes off! When the manager (whom I had had words with before) saw the problem again they didn't give me a hard time like I expected. They gave me a rental car right away and told me it would be done today.
I get a call this morning that they found more spots coming off and it MIGHT be done Monday. I swear this is an exact replay of the last time but I already have a rental car (that smells horribly of cigarettes might I add) instead of being car less for a week. This just makes my stomach hurt thinking about all the paint problems I will have to deal with until I get another vehicle. It's really crappy that I have to pay $400 a month for a car missing huge paint spots and spends so much time in the shop!

DO NOT LET ANYONE BUY ANY HONDA VEHICLE YEARS 2004-2006 IN THE MIDNIGHT BLUE PEARL PAINT COLOR. THEY ARE ALL AFFECTED BY THIS RECALL! That is my public service announcement for the year.

Sleep:
There is also this annoying noise in my neighborhood that keeps me up at night. It's been going for 2 days now. It sounds like there is a giant vacuum in one of my neighbors backyard. This noise happens about 3 times a year and last about a week. I feel like some freak with super hearing because no one else seems to be bothered by it. If I could just figure out were it's coming from.


Thank you. I feel better now. Catch you later.

Spur of the moment vacation

This past weekend we made a spur of the moment decision for a mini family vacation. Cam got Saturday and Sunday off, which never happens, and we decided to take advantage of it. We spent the weekend in Pine Mt. in a cute little cabin in the woods.

The main attraction:

Our main purpose in wanting to go here was to bring the kids to the Wild Animal Safari. Cam and I went here on our honeymoon and had a great time and thought it would be fun to share it with our children almost 5 years later. Wow it doesn't seem that we have been married for 5 years this August! The kids LOVED the safari and getting to feed all the animals. It is basically a forest, pasture type place where you rent one of their vans (or take your own car which I would NOT recommend) and the animals run free and come up to your windows for you to feed them.

Cam and the kids with some kind of cow

Inside of something big and drooly's mouth. I even think he was kind enough to burp on us.

The giraffe that followed us a little ways.

Alivia was a little intimidated by the bulls and buffalo at first but quickly warmed up to them. It probably didn't help that her introduction to a buffalo was when she turned around feeding a baby deer mesmerized by "aww it so cute look at the baby deer mommy" and then turned around to a buffalo head in her window basically sucking her ear. That girl flew over her seat faster than I ever thought a three year old could move. It was hilarious although she didn't think so. My little sweet talker even got to kiss the zebra.Dylan was the feeding champ and carried the drool to prove it. He was not afraid of any of the animals and had this nasty thick drool stringing in between his fingers and dripping down his elbows. He really got into his work if you know what I mean. He did have a near tragic moment when I wasn't paying attention and he was trying to feed an ostrich. They are some mean birds. We got his hand back in just as it was coming in for the peck. We did lay some food on the window sill for him to eat but I would not recommend feeding them by hand.Good thing dad went beyond reasonable when purchasing food. They recommend buying 2 cups per person but he bought us a 50 lbs bag! We only had one cupful left when we finished the safari and carried it to the walk through section of the zoo.

At the cabin: After the safari we went back to the cabin to check things out and do some fishing. Each of the cabins are decorated with antiques in different themes. This time we got a 2 bedroom cabin called the General Store. It was super nice and Alivia didn't want to come home on Sunday.
The fishing at the cabin wasn't too shabby either. We caught a lot of huge brim and a catfish in the hour and a half we were there. The kids were busy playing with the ducks and a turtle we caught. I think they were surprised that ducks actually fly since neither of ours do. But that's just because we keep them so well fed that they look like butterball ducks compared to the wild ones.

As it got dark we thought it would be fun to start a camp fire and make some s'mores for a bed time snack. Diggy thought it was great but Liv decided she liked the marshmallows better uncooked. Roasting marshmallows didn't last to long because of course Livi didn't want hers roasted and Mr. Independent was a little dangerous slinging flaming marshmallows around. We called it an early night and the kids actually got to bed at their bed time. Cam and I stayed out and enjoyed our fire and the jacuzzi. Oh yeah I can't forget to mention the famous plug in fireplace... it's a sure hit!

Sunday:

Sunday morning we started our trip home. It was hard to talk Alivia into leaving her beautiful room with stars on the pillow as she described it. We had to promise her that we would come back to the wood house again. We were also a little sad to have to leave so soon and have decided that we will try to take a trip back here once a year.

On the ride home we stopped at FDR's Little White house in Warm Springs. Cam had never been there and it had been a few years since I had been so we stopped to check it out. It was nice and they have built a really nice museum since I had been there. Livi seemed to enjoy it and liked the little teacups they had on display in the 1930's kitchen. Dylan being the shy one that he is surprised us by going up to one of the park security guards and starting up a conversation. The guard, Charles, kindly took the kids by the hand and pointed out all the cool little things that little kids might be interested in. We even got a picture. Up the road from the Little White house was the Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery. They had an aquarium but we didn't go in. We just went to the ponds to see all the fish they were growing and the kids got to feed some fish also. It was interesting and they even had an alligator sitting out there. Cam wanted to get his fishing pole and I had to promptly remind him of all the "government property no fishing" signs posted everywhere.

We finally made it home after picking up miss Daisy and stopping by Josh's house to pick up some plants he had. We were exhausted but did get everything unpacked and ready for Monday morning to start our cycle over again. The kids enjoyed sleeping in the same room so much in the cabin that they wanted to sleep together in Alivia's room that night. This was the first time they actually slept together and I thought it was cute so I took a picture. They actually made it through the night together on the floor!

Alivia's Monday morning Dr. appt:

This morning we had to wake up bright and early to bring Alivia to her dermatology appointment. It started out bad because Alivia would not wake up and Dylan was in some kind of a foul mood. After wrestling them to get clothes on eat their breakfast brush their teeth and get out the door we arrived 5 minutes late. We get to the counter and the receptionist promptly informs us we were to be there 35 mins. ago to fill out paper work since Alivia hadn't been there since 2006. All I could do was sigh and remind myself that it was just a Monday morning.

Alivia's appt. went fine and she got a diagnosis for her spreading mole problem she has developed here recently. I guess a virus triggered the spread of the moles so they are contagious if she happens to bust one open. This is just great. So now I have to give them baths separately and make sure they are not sharing towels or wrestling to rough. Just one more thing to worry about.

They prescribed her some retinal a to use for 6 weeks and then we have to go back in for another consultation and to schedule laser removal for the rest of them. She has about 18 right now but I'm hoping this cream will get rid of most of them. They will have to put her under for the laser removal so that is a little scary but I'm sure she will be fine. Could you imagine the doctor bill for having 18 moles removed? Ugh... I hope this cream that no pharmacy seems to carry and cost an arm and two legs helps when we get it. My poor baby girl has had a rough time with odd medical procedures in her lifetime.

A trip to the zoo

Yesterday my mom and I decided to take a trip to the zoo. The weather has been nice so we decided we had better take this trip before the weather got ridiculously hot, which I know it will be all to soon.

We went to the Chehaw Park Zoo in Albany because I just cannot stand the crowds in Atlanta and the kids didn't know they missed the elephants and giraffes in Atlanta. The kids had a good time and were exhausted by the end of the day.

We started our adventure with a train ride through the woods around the park. Alivia loved it and thought it was the promised train ride that she is to get for her 4th birthday. Dylan on the other hand was ok the first ten minutes sitting there. After that it was all I could do to keep him from jumping out the side of the moving train. My silly daredevil.

As you can hear from Alivia's giggles she really enjoyed her train ride. Dylan, not so much.

After the train ride we had to go check out the reptile house where both kids were quite enthusiastic to see some snakes and frogs. Gross!

Dylan was a little scared to approach the "petting zoo" animals but got giddy and had to check them out when he heard the pigs rooting in the mud. He didn't want to leave them when he figured out how cool, yet stinky they were.

I didn't get many more pictures at the zoo because I had to keep an eye on the Diggy man. He was chasing squirrels off the path and into the woods. Picking up cow ants and other strange bugs along the trail. Trying to jump in the water at all the little bridges we had to cross over, and he even tried swimming with the gators. Remember we are near the Okefenokee swamp and things are kinda nasty. I swear he is all boy! Here are some gators ready to get a taste of Diggy.

After the zoo we went to the playground in the park. The playground is massive and I always have fears of losing one of the kids every time we go. Good thing the 5 bus loads of kids had gone before we got there to play. There were only 2 other kids at the playground with us so that worked out nicely.

Aside from our zoo trip not much else is going on around here. I wish we had things to do around here for the kids. That is one thing I have always hated about our town. I've done every kind of search I can think of to find things to do around here but all we have is an air force museum and golf courses. The city parks are nasty, old, and rickety but we still go for the occasional picnic. It's just hard to entertain the kids all day every day and I think we need to have more fun in our lives. I guess we will just have to take the occasional day trip and drive 2 hrs one way to get that though.