I got an award...I got an award....LAlala!!!

Thanks goes out to Mimi
for giving me my FIRST award!!!

Yes, My FIRST EVER blogging award!!!! Awwww! I'm so excited about it....now let me see if I can figure out the rules...

You must list 5 current obsessions - then pass the award on to 5 other bloggers! So - here we go!

Obessession.....Hmmm......

1*I've ALWAYS been a little obsessed with Tim McGraw! OMG! I don't care if he's short! I don't - i don't! I just love love love him!!!!!

2*I'm a little obsesessed with a clean house! CALL ME CRAZY! I know a mom of 3 boys - who has TIME to clean!!! Not I, so when I do get a chance to get my hands on my house....WATCH OUT!!!! So - usually, like ONCE a month, I have a clean house.

3*I'm becoming more and more obsessed with "changing up" the house. Re-decorating a little. Keep in mind we just moved into our house last fall, so I'm having all sorts of fun "personalizing" it. IF ONLY I WAS RICH!!!

4*Craigslist! Who out there does NOT love Craigslist!?!?!? OH MY! In the past week I've gotten at least 2 awesome bargains on there! I got an entire LOT of 4T clothes. All name brand clothes. 1 pair of jeans, 5 pairs of sweats, 8 shirts, a hat, a pair of pajamas, and a fleece hoodie. Guess how much?! $6.00!!!! Yes, you read that right!!! BARGAIN!!!!

5*Amish! As many of you have been reading.....I have some sort of fetish with the Amish! I just finished my 1st series of books on them, getting ready to start another series. And I STILL want to be "sneaky" and drive by their houses and take pics to post for all of my blogging buddies!!!

Shew! DONE! I did it! YEA!!!!

Now - I would like to pass this award on, to.....(drum roll please!)

Brandy

Sugar Boogers

Cara

Carney's

Georgie

My Latest Project

So, my latest project was a little one, but i think it made a HUGE difference in the looks! This is a small area of our master bathroom. Otherwise known as "Cory's office." Yes, all reading material stays in the bathroom! (I will never understand it, but whatever!) So the first picture is before and the 2nd picture is after. I bought these magazine racks as raw wood. I stained them and hung them up. I LOVE it! I feel like it completely changed the looks!

Now i have bigger and better projects going through my head....I can't wait to get started. I will post pics soon.

You Won't Believe It......

I know you guys won't believe this, HOWEVER......we went to the lake this weekend! LOL! I'm SO funny!!!
This is just a random pic of Hunter - but I thought it was cute.

So Cory went Scuba diving and was letting Dylan and Hunter get a taste of what it's like. He showed them how to breathe through the regulator. Then he tied weights on the tank and dropped it to the bottom and let them swim down to it and breathe underwater. It's a little nerve-racking when your child goes underwater and does not re-surface.

I think Dylan liked it a little better than Hunter.

All in all it was another fun lake day. I LOVE summer time!!!!

Amish update

Well, I have finished book 1 and 2 of this series, on the Amish. VERY GOOD BOOKS! I highly recommend these! I'm pretty sure they are non-fiction, but it's still interesting for me to learn their ways. The reasons for "believers" to get "shunned," etc. But it's in "storybook" form.
This book is based around an Amish girl in her early 20's who discovers that she is adopted, from a non-Amish heritage. I don't want to say too much about it, afraid I will give the story line away.
Something else interesting.....as I said before, we have Amish that live 4- 5 miles down the road from us. So yesterday, as I'm sitting in our little town's barbershop waiting for my son to get his hair cut, I pick up the local paper. And there is an ad in there for a local Bank and it has a pictures of it's employees. One of them being a young Amish lady with her kapp on. THAT was also VERY interesting to me. I wasn't aware that Amish women worked outside of the home?
In reading these books, I've also learned that the Amish ways and the Mennonite ways are similiar. They are like "cousins" in the religious family. Mennonite's are allowed to drive cars, have electricity, etc. I am not aware where they draw the line?
I plan on driving by the Amish homes soon and trying to get some pics of them. With the weather cooling down, I might be able to catch some of the outside, etc. And of course I will post them for all of you to see!
Yep....keeping on with my "Amish stalking" ways!

Wordful Wednesday

Pictures as promised!!!! I just love this picture of Cory! (I know-call me crazy!) I think it's cool with the sky as the background. And he's cute too! :)

Shannon and I taking a swim.....

I don't think anyone told Cory to smile?
(These pics are from the current adult lake day!)

Random Tuesday

*WOW! It feels like FOREVER since I've done a Random Tuesday!

*Still thinking about my fun weekend. I told Cory last night-we are doing that AT LEAST one more time before summer is over.

*So Coby was in the bathtub last night and playing with "you know what" I said "what are you doing?" He said "Making sure my pee-pee isn't dead." OH LORD-do they REALLY need to be worrying about that at this age?

*Hunter is bored bored!

*Am I the only mother saying "when does school start!??!?!"

*Going to try something new for dinner tonight and make cabbage rolls. Something I've never made before.

*I would love to scrapbook again someday. Not sure when that day will EVER come?

*I need to be at stay-at-home mom just to get everything accomplished. BUT I still need my weekly paycheck from work, at the same time.

*Still addicted to reading about my Amish. VERY interesting people.

Adult Weekend

So, I don't have THE pics to post yet...they will be following soon. HOWEVER, this past weekend, Cory and I had a day at the lake with no children. WE RARELY do this. I even started feeling guilty after we dropped Coby off. But kept trying to tell myself that we need some time for just "us." Everyone says it's healthy for your relationship, blah, blah.
I am SO happy that we did it!!!
We had an awesome time! There were SO many people at the lake! Boats tied up to boats, on a continous line! OMG! I couldn't BELIEVE how many boats were there. We had a few friends there and LOT'S of people that we didn't even know!
Anyway - we stayed all day and even a little too late! We decided next time - we are just going to stay the night on the boat and not have to worry about anything. Loading up the boat, driving home, etc.
So my thought for today:

ADULT LAKE DAYS ROCK!!!!

I'm Back! I'm Back! I'm Back!

We are Back from Sea World! We had an AMAZING trip!!!! I've always dreamed of going there, since i was little. And FINALLY got the opportunity! I feel SO lucky!! We had a great time!

Shamu and the other whales, dolphins, sea lions, otters, walrus', and beluga whales were totally amazing!

Coby doesn't call the Killer Whale "Shamu" he says it's "Shampoo!" SOO cute, so i don't correct him!

I have lot's to update all my friendly bloggers on, but for now just wanted to give you a sneak peek and let you know that I am back - and ready to BLOG............

My new "intrigue"

Yes, my new "intrigue" is the Amish. Why you ask? Well, where we live, we have an Amish community approximately 4-5 miles down the road. And now, due to this, I just want to learn more and more about them. I read a book a few months back that I can't recall the name of right now, but something about "Bridges to Lancaster County." VERY GOOD. So, now I'm in starting a new series by Beverly Lewis, the first book in the series is called "The Shunning." I'm so excited, I started it a little bit last night and I'm already hooked!
So does anyone know much about the Amish people?
Some of the things I've learned is:
* Children are not allowed to have bibles, until over the age of 18.
* When a man does not have a "beard" that means he is still single.
*When the Amish have "church" someone reads from a German bible. For however long they want...if they want to read you the bible for 4 hours, then you sit and listen!
*Amish family's take turns having their church services at each other's homes.
I could go on and on.
Anyway - yesterday as I was driving home, there is a huge field down the road from us. And the Amish cut it down a few days ago, and were bailing it yesterday. I drove SO slow trying to watch them and get a good look at them. I think I've turned into an AMISH STALKER! HELP!!!!
One Sunday as we were driving to the lake, we had 3 or 4 Amish horse and buggy's in front of us on our way. Of course we drove very slow and let them stay ahead of us. Then as they turned into the home that they were having church at - we saw another family, coming from the opposite direction pulling a wagon with the 2 younger children in it. It is just SO neat to me!
If you have ANY interesting facts about the Amish - please let me in on them! I so badly want to go visit one of them and just spend a day with them. Of course - not when it's 90 or 100 degress! (No a/c!) LOL!

Wordless Wednesday.....

Coby being silly playing in Summer's pool........

Summer (my neice) just happy that she doesn't have to be in the pool WITH COBY!

Daddy's Birthday

Sort of reversed the order of the pics, but that's ok! :) These are from Daddy's birthday, last night. Coby and Daddy blowing out the candles.

A pic of little man with the cake. Because yes....he DID put all the sprinkles on it. He was so proud.

The masterpiece! Ok, well it's not beautiful. And it's DEFINITELY not my mom's cake! But it worked and daddy was happy with it, so that's all that matters, right?

4th of July pics

This is Coby on Friday afternoon. We went to my parents to have a cookout and Coby wanted to "swim" in Summer's pool! It was pretty funny!

This is my dear darling 3 year old last night. We decided to do a few fireworks. Check Coby out....He's "double sparklering it!" LOL! (And just for the record....I let the child dress himself yesterday. Hence the non-matching shirt and shorts and if you will notice his shoes are on the wrong feet too!)

Dylan and Hunter...........They liked the big bang stuff rather than the boring fountains. OF COURSE! Bottle rockets and black cats were a big hit for them!