With

Olivia is learning to read. And this process is a learning process for Mommy. It's during homework time that I find that I am reminded that parenting can be hard work sometimes. I expect Olivia and Cooper to be perfect - and I constantly have to remind myself that they are human. God didn't make them perfect, doesn't expect them to be, so I shouldn't either. Homework time is a struggle for Olivia and I. Not because she can't do the work - but because she tries to do it so fast and it get it over with. We go over a list of 100 sight words almost nightly and the harder words are a breeze for OGG. But every time, and I mean EVERY time we get to the word "with" - she totally clams up and can't remember it. It frustrates me ssssssooo much; but I know it's frustrating for her too. She's a little sponge and can remember EVERYTHING so this one little word that is giving her trouble drives her nuts. I know she'll get it, she's too smart NOT too but WITH might just be the death of me! :) I love how much she can read now - and she loves to show off her skills. We may throw a party when she memorizes this word!

Girl Scouts

Olivia had a "Bridging Ceremony" at her Girl Scouts meeting today. She did great - she is now officially a Daisy! She is very excited and can't wait to start earning badges. She got to go up in front of everyone and light a candle and of course - she was not shy one bit. That's my girl! :) Here's some pictures - they may be a little blurry....Al took some of them and he can't work a camera to save his life.

Olivia lightening her candle.

Ok, so this one is supposed to be at the end but since I can't figure out how to do my pictures correctly, it's out of order. The kids got some rain boots at Target Saturday. And seriously....they have wore them NON. STOP. Cooper even wore his to the grocery store this morning. Nice.

Troop #29

Olivia with her teacher, Ms. Brenda during the ceremony. Brenda and I actually went to high school together so I think it's neat that Olivia is now being taught by her. She's a great teacher and really loves being involved with Girl Scouts. I think she and Olivia will get along pretty well.

Daisy

Olivia becomes a Girl Scout today - she is super excited! She'll be a Daisy until next year and then move up to a Brownie. I will be taking pictures of the Bridging Ceremony today and will post them later. She is so excited. Mommy is too - I have an inside connection to girl scout cookies baby! : )

Rush!

As most of my loyal blog readers know, I had my gallbladder removed this past October. I had been having "stomach issues" for a good 3 years before I finally found out what was causing all my problems. What a HUGE relief it's been. You have no idea how much better you feel when you get your digestive system back in order. Of course, my happiness was very short lived because I then developed IBS - which SUCKS. I have struggled with finding ways to alleviate my problems for almost a year. A few months ago, I happened upon a website for Digestive Advantage - it's a medical food that is geared specifically towards IBS (they also have a few other OTC remedies for things like Lactose Intolerance) and thought I would give it a try. It has worked WONDERS. I take this pill every day, steer clear of my "trigger" foods and I have done G-R-E-A-T. I still have days where my stomach bothers me, but they are few and far between. Basically this pill contains all the healthy bacteria that you would find in things like yogurt; however, yogurt was one of my trigger foods so I couldn't eat it. I feel like a million bucks compared to how I felt a year ago. I haven't had caffeine in a good 4 months so this morning I thought I would drink a Dr. Pepper. I figured since this medicine has been working so well, I would see how I reacted to my trigger items. I took 3 sips and I swear I could tell a difference immediately! LOL I seriously felt tingly and like I could climb the walls. Wow! I had to put the rest of the drink away because there is just no way I can drink that. How crazy is that? I do miss Dr. Pepper though - I wish they made Caffeine free Dr Pepper! :)

Anyways, if you are looking for a good website for WW points, try this one www.dwlz.com - I go here almost every day now.

Pat Conroy

Me, Pam, Teresa, and our newest book club member, Halley went to Columbia today to get our books signed by Pat Conroy. We are reading his latest "South of Broad" and thought it would be fun to actually meet him. Teresa got pictures of everyone on her iPhone so I'll share that later. He was a very nice man - although I only got to actually talk to him for about 30 seconds. But he did personalize our books which I thought was really cool! We had to wait in line for about an hour and a half but we didn't really seem to notice because we ran our mouths the entire time. Ha ha! I will definitely try to go to more book signings! Something about having the author actually sign your book makes it really neato.

Oh, and I love Red Robin now - I had a grilled salmon burger and it was DELICIOUS!!!!!

Mountain Weekend

Al and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on September 14th. We decided to take a weekend trip to the mountains - just the two of us....which we both really enjoyed. I didn't wear makeup ONCE. It was a "my man loves me just the way I am" type of weekend. Perfect. Here's some pictures of our trip.

On Saturday we rode over to Gatlinburg and went to all kinds of museums, shops, and stores. It was fabulous - we were sssssooo tired when we finally got back to the cabin. My favorite stop was the Hollywood Wax Museum - please visit if you ever get a chance!

Myself with Willie Nelson - I wish I could show all my pictures from here - check out Face Book!

Al with one of the last REMAINING General Lee's - he even got his picture made in it. He won't admit this, but he was in *heaven*.

We fed bears in Cherokee - they had Black, Grizzlies, and this funny looking bear I've never seen. I read the sign that said where these bears were from, but I don't remember now. Sorry.

Our view from our cabin - which was very secluded. Al loved it, I did too mostly, until it got very, very dark. Noises, noises, noises - they really messed with me! LOL

Our beautiful cabin - it's literally on the side of the mountain. If you want to inquire about renting, let me know. It's very reasonable and perfectly between Maggie Valley and Cherokee.

School Pictures

Finally - I have internet at home!!! Yay!!! Here's some pictures I've been meaning to post for awhile. The kids had their school pictures made in late August. They were too, too darling!

Cooper and Olivia - love his cheese grin!!!!

My little MAN!

Olivia - never smiles.....never.

7 wonderful years

Today is mine and Al's 7th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary Al!!! I can't believe it's only been 7 years - we've been together in each other's lives for almost 10 now......and have two beautiful kids to show for it. Thanks for being the best husband, father, supporter - and most of all, FRIEND. Al is without a doubt my bestest friend ever. :) I hope we celebrate 77 more babe!

We went to the mountains this past weekend to celebrate - something we have NEVER done before. I wasn't happy about leaving the kids behind, but we never, ever do anything like this. We had ssssoo much fun. We spent time in Maggie Valley, Cherokee, and Gatlinburg. I definitely want to go back. Our cabin was BEAUTIFUL and very secluded. Perfect for us. We took our time doing whatever we wanted, ate whenever we wanted, ate way too much sweets, and just spent some really nice quality time together. I never even wore makeup once! LOL It's a weekend I won't forget for a long, long time. I took tons of pictures so I will post those as soon as I can.

Love you Al! Happy Anniversary!

Taylor Swift

Al and I took Olivia to see Taylor Swift in Greenville on the 4th. Olivia had a BLAST!!! She was literally in awe of being so close to Taylor (even though our seats were VERY high up!). The girl sitting next to us was even named Taylor and she thought that was the best thing ever. :) We got to see Kellie Pickler sing for about 30 minutes before TS came on stage. Olivia was ssssoo tired so we didn't make it through the whole show. I tried so hard to get her to go to sleep on the ride up there but she was just too excited too. By 10 pm, she was so ready to crash! It was a lot of fun though - I have pictures but my PC at home is not working and we don't have wireless right now so it'll be after the 16th before I can post the pictures I have. I must say, Taylor Swift puts on a very good show!

Better in September!

I promise to be a better blogger in September!!! Cooper had his 4 year old check up today - not sure about his stats yet, will post those later. He had to have FOUR shots but Al said he took them like a champ. Didn't even cry - I am so proud of my little man!