We arrived safe and sound in Florida today.  While Paul at our rental and played with the kids, I went out to do the grocery shopping.  While there is a Publix just down the road, I thought I would use our new GPS and head to a Super Wal-mart since it was only like 10 miles away.   After driving in a down pour, getting stuck in a traffic jam due to an accident and dealing with trying to find a parking spot I now know why I should of just went to the local store.  I could of saved close to an hour of my time!  (if not more)

While shopping at wal-mart though it was funny to see short sleeve shirts on clearance.  Here up in Michigan the short sleeve stuff is just starting to make it’s way onto the racks.  While we do have the clearances going on, they are for the winter clothes instead.  Plus here they have aisles of swimming and summer outdoor things like pond kits. While we could think of putting a pond in right now, the only real planning we could do would be to draw it out on paper.  No digging and getting it all put together, until the snow melts and the ground thaws.

All I can say is after 1 day down here, I’m so ready for spring to arrive up north.  Why oh why did that groundhog have to see his shadow?!?

Let me just say I’m so proud of all my facebook friends who set a goal this year of loosing weight as I swear every one of them are still updating their facebook pages letting us know how they are working out (Cardio, weight training), what they are using (Treadmill, Elliptical or dip machine) and to top it off, they also have been excited telling us how much they have lost! I have one friend who has lost 14 pounds this year so far!! (Way to go Heather!)

Reading all their posts gets me motivated as I keep thinking if they can do it, so can I! So far I’ve only lost 5 lbs this year, but that’s with me not trying hard and not doing the exercising I should.  My goal is when we get back from our vacation to haul out the treadmill and start working out again on that.  After all it worked a year or two ago, I’m sure it will this year too!

It seems like every day my Dad ends up having a really bad headache.  I know this was going on back when he was working (he retired 8 year ago.. I can’t believe it’s been 8 years already!) and we thought maybe it was just stress from work.  But since it continued after he retired we knew that wasn’t the case.  He went to the doctor and they did do a scan (don’t remember if it was a cat scan or MRI) and thankfully they didn’t see any cancer and the doctor said that he has arthritis in his neck which is causing the headaches. 

That’s where I wish there was something I could do to get rid of it for him so he could go headache free for while.  I found a psoriatic arthritis treatment, but first off I don’t know if that’s the kind of arthritis he has.  (Honestly I didn’t know there were certain kinds)  Plus after reading the warnings on it I’m thinking maybe he would be better to have the headaches.  Of course who am I to say since I’m not living with them every day.

Guess I’ll just keep searching and praying I can find something all natural that will help him.

Those that know me, know I’m not the biggest jewelry person out there.  The only thing I wear jewelry wise is my wedding & engagement ring.  Other than that the only time I wear anything else is when I’m going some place nice and then it’s just a necklace.  I used to wear ear rings, but since I haven’t worn them in years (yes years) my holes have already closed up. 

While I’m not a big jewelry fan I don’t mind looking at the cheap jewelry stores at the mall.  (No need paying big money for them if I’m not really going to use them)   What’s fun though is looking at the home made jewelry at the arts & craft sales.  It seems like quite a few people are making bracelet’s out of beads and necklaces, rings or bracelets out of glass tile. If I was to buy a necklace I’m thinking the glass tile might be a great way to go as you can add some nice color.

This is an example of the necklaces I’m talking about.  I ended up finding this one on ebay and I just love the color of it.

What kind of Jewelry do you like?  Do you stay with the gold & silver?  Or do you like the different kinds that are made with beads & glass tile?

Before we know it, our trip to Disney & Orange Beach, AL will be here.   After feeling the frigid temps outside today, I’m wishing I could say today was the day we would head south!  I just can’t believe how cold it is out there.  While picking Katie up from Preschool, I heard the Kindergarten teachers tell the students that they will be staying inside for recess because of the temps.  (I was actually glad I heard that otherwise I would of been worrying about Kevin)

Ok.. back to my topic.  I’ve been debating on how to pack for our vacation this year.  Usually I try to pack all my clothes and the kids clothes in a big suitcase and then Paul packs all his stuff in a big duffel bag.  This year I’m thinking of trying to pack all of our clothes in a big tote.  I’m hoping it we fit everything in one tote, then it will be easier to pack everything into the back of the minivan and also easier to carry into the house by Disney and condo when we visit my parents.

I still have to figure what to put the kids books and toys in.   One year I put all the books in a big milk crate, but then realized I really didn’t need to bring a crate full of books for the kids because the more books I bring, the more that gets scattered through-out the minivan.  I’m thinking last year I packed their books, leapsters and whatever else they wanted to bring in their own back-packs.  Of course this year I have a feeling Kevin will be bringing more homework than last year so I’ll  have to figure out something else for that as I don’t want it getting mixed up or lost.   Maybe I can put that with my laptop… then I know it will arrive safely.  ~wink~

So when you go for a long trip in the car… how do you pack all your stuff?  Does each person bring their own suitcase?  Or do you try and squish everything in one thing?  Then what about the stuff for the kids?  Do they get  their own thing or do you mix everything together?

I’m just hoping to be much more organized this year and I’m not quite sure how to do that.

I’m so glad clothes are included in a doll outfit!  LOL

I am so proud to say that my little scrapper (Kevin) ended up competing in his first ever Karate (sparring) competition Saturday!

We ended up driving over to Madison Heights Friday night so we wouldn’t have to drive that 2 1/2 hours Saturday morning.  Kevin woke up bright and early Saturday morning.  I’m not sure if it was due to us sleeping some place different or because he was excited/nervous for the unknown.

I got the kids dressed and went downstairs and had breakfast.  (We stayed at the Hampton Inn and highly recommend them, before staying though check out Room Saver as we ended up saving $12 by using a coupon off there!)   After breakfast we went back upstairs and I told Kevin to start changing into his uniform and he started crying saying he didn’t want to go.  (I knew it was only the nerves talking so I let him just be for awhile)   Paul ended up waking up and took Katie back downstairs so he could have breakfast and while they were gone Mr. Joe called to say they were 25 minutes away.     At that point Kevin was willing to get into his uniform.  While he got ready, I got everything packed so when Paul came back up we could take off. 

We got to the competition and it was quite busy.  Thankfully someone had welcomed us when we walked in and showed us where we needed to go.  I’m so glad we pre-registered as it was a long line to get in otherwise.   We ended up finding Team Rade no problem (thankfully they called us to tell us which ring they were by) and the kids each got a package of crayons and coloring book to keep them busy while we waited for their turn to spar.   We got there at 10am and I should of looked at the time when they finally sparred, but it was quite awhile after lunch as they did forms and weapons first.   It was way to much for Katie so Paul ended up taking her away for awhile.  They ended up finding a target to shop at so life was good for her.     Thankfully they made it back in time to watch Kevin spar.  

There ended up being 12 kids in the 6 yr old novice divsion and I had no clue how Kevin was going to do.  I had watched Jessie & Jake give what they had, but it ended up being not enough.  So I honestly thought the same would happen to Kevin since he had never done this before and they had.   Then they called his name and my heart started pounded.  I told him it was his turn and he started walking out in the ring while I quick hurried to the other side so I could get a good video.  

This is his first match

All I was hoping for was that he would be able to at least score.  If he scored, then I would of felt like he won.  It turned out that he actually won the match!  So then he was going to be able to fight again.  Once again all I was wishing for was for him to score and low and behold, he ended up winning again and then was going to be fighting for the 1st or 2nd place!  GULP!!  My little boy?!?  Fighting in the “champion round” for the 6 yr olds!  I couldn’t believe it.

Kevin’s 2nd match

Once again I was wishing for just one point, but unfortantly that didn’t happen this time and he ended up loosing 0-5, but I was still proud as a peacock for my son since he had never done this before.   They called his name for 2nd place and he went out there and then the top 4 walked over to the trophy table where they handed him his REAL trophy. 

Kevin with his first ever trohpy for sparring!

Kevin & Katie.  (She was so proud of her big brother)

Jessie, Kevin & Jake after their matches. 

What was really funny was the next morning when Kevin woke up and went running to his trophy and just sat with it on the couch looking at it and saying…  “It’s real mom!  It’s a real trophy!”. 

Needless to say he is excited to go to class tonight as his instructors told him to bring his trophy!  He also can’t wait until his sound sharing day (like show & tell) for the letter T as he wants to bring this as well.  I told him he could, but Momma will be bringing it for him as I would rather him not carry it on the bus.  (I’m sure you know why)

So that was our exciting weekend!  One I know we will never forget!

I just wanted to say I’m so thankful that Paul has been learning over the years how to fix our own trucks & cars.  Thankfully we have the older style vehicles where there isn’t as much electronical stuff to go wrong.  For example this past week his radiator went kaput so he ended up replacing it all by himself saving us quite a bit of money.  What’s really nice though is when you are able to find a deal on Mopar performance parts so you don’t have to pay top dollar.

Even though he was able to fix that, I guess he did find some more things that are wrong with it, so we will still be taking it in Monday to get fixed, but at least it won’t be as much as it could of been.  Wish us luck that whatever else needs fixing won’t cost us an arm and a leg.