He is not "ONE" any longer.....

Well, Tim is not longer a VIRGIN!!! YES, you read that right. Hard to believe he is 39 and still a virgin...he is nice looking, gets along with others, no body odor but he was still a virgin..THAT was untill YESTERDAY and I am the reason he is not any longer!!! As his wife is THOUSANDS a miles away Tim can now say he is no longer a virgin!!!
TIM was a SMOOTHIE VIRGIN. *GASP*
I know...how can a man be 39 and never have a smoothie..SHOCKING to me too as I had 2 yesterday as I could not let him "smoothie drink alone". Tims "first" was a Cranberry Truffle which is my ALL time favorite (even though now I do not order it for me anymore as it has white chocolate in it). I think he will now be one of those MEN who go away for business and check each corner for a Tropical Smoothie Cafe and then calling home with a smoothie by his side.

My Cleaning Schedule

Happy New Year

I know it has been a while since I posted and this is going to be a QUICK not picture one:(
Christmas was very nice and all the decorations are put away. I think I packed them all up on the 27th as I am one of those that feels when the 25th is over so is Christmas! We did have a very nice Christmas and the kids were HAPPY so when you have HAPPY kids the parents are HAPPY!!! Tyler is on the fence on weither there is a *anta or not. Before Christmas he said "I know it is you" WELL Christmas came and he now says "I know it is not you as you would NEVER buy me ALL this stuff"..lol!!!
Our friends who moved to England 3 LONG years ago were here after Christmas and left today to go back. Nicholas and Andrew have been BEST FRIENDS since Pre K and so miss each other so they had a BALL this week! Good news is they are moving back this summer so the kids are HAPPY!!!
We had our annual News Years Party again last night and had 39 adults and kids! I have to say it went really well. Someone brought the Rock Band thing and the kids had a BALL with it!!! We had 20 kids and 19 adults and 5 of the kids were 11 to 7 We had 2 17 year old girls and we had 13 kids that were 13 to 15!!! Can I tell you it was TEEN AGE HEAVEN in my basement. Nicholas lost his voice from singing (and he is NOT a good singer). Almost all were swim familes so the kids are together a lot so it is NICE!!!
It is hard to believe that 2007 is OVER and it is now 2008!
I can not say I am sorry to see 2007 leave as it was not a good year for me. Losing my mom to Cancer was the hardest and worse thing that I have ever gone through.
We are flying out in the morning to see Hanks side of the family in SLC. The kids are hoping to go sking while they are there and I am hoping to do NOTHING!!!
I will post some pictures later:)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I hope everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
I can not believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I love all the before stuff..shopping, baking (I made way to many cookies again this year), decorating and then it is ALL over in a day. I usually take our tree and decorations down before New Years since we have a party but this year I might leave it up. We are picking up my dad tomorrow to spend Christmas eve with us and then Christmas day we will go to my sisters. This year will be hard with out my mom but I know "she is with us each day in someway".
Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

And the winner is TYLER

Tylers school had a raffle for a Indiana Pacers Basketball the was signed by ALL the Pacers players. I bought 12 tickets for $10 and put each kid on 6 tickets and TYLER WON. I meant to take a picture of him to post but forgot before he went to bed so I will add later. He is THRILLED that he was the winner:)

S*W*I*M

Yes, this weekend was a swim meet. Friday night, Saturday and Sunday AM we were at the POOL:)
The meet was in Bloomington which is around a hour away. Now add some snow and ice and you are out of the house by 5:15.
Nicholas did well and took off in almost everything he swam PLUS he got the high points trophy for his age group.
WTG Nicholas!!
*this photo was taken this summer.

1 Year Later

Well, today was a year since my surgery. I am down 118 pds. (YES, I have really slowed up) and I feel GREAT!!!
For me it was the best decision I have ever made. It is a PERSONAL choice and one other might not agree with and that is OK as it was the right choice for me.
What did I learn in a year.....
1.Gastic Bypass is not the easy way out. It is a TOOL and I still have to fight the desire to eat "JUNK" all the time. Some days I make better decisions then other days.
2.Fat clothes Sell on ebay:)
3. I could not have done this without ALL my friends and families support.
4.Denise will stay up WAY Past her bedtime to sit at a hospital when her friend can not stop crying. (I still owe you BIG TIME)

My 1 year goal was 120 and I did not make it but I am OK with that as I will:)

WHY

WHY is it when you are at...LETS say Cards or maybe BUNCO and you leave your camera in a room WHY do CERTAIN people (DENISE) think it is soo FUNNY to take a million pictures lets say THEIR SHOE, TRACYS Tatoo, WRAPPING PAPER,A LIZARD,A BUTTON,A SOCK, A CHRISTMAS PLATE..ETC...WHY WHY WHY.
BIGGER Question is WHY am I FRIENDS with these IDIOTS?

Christmas BuNcO

Last night was our Christmas Bunco. We had our Ornament exchange so when you BuNcOed you got to PICK one of steal from someone else. Well there were 3 of us who NEVER Buncoed the whole night...Mary, Lora and myself. I was the first of the non buncoers to pick one of the last 3 and I have to say I LOVE the ones I got the most. (Thank you Rita:)
Today Tyler helped me make MORE Brown Bread and next we are making Ginger Bread that is suppose to taste like *tarBucks. Tomorrow we are going to start on Christmas Cookies:)
*I had Tyler take the picture of ME in my new snowman sweater and NO I am not as tall as the ceiling:)

My First Christmas in Heaven

*My sister sent this to me yesterday and YES I cried. I hope my mom feels this way but it is so DAMN hard

This poem was written by a 13 year old boy who died of a brain tumor that he had battled for four years. He died on December 14, 1997. He gave this to his mom before he died. His name was Ben.

My First Christmas in Heaven
I see the countless
Christmas trees
around the world below
With tiny lights, like Heaven's stars,
reflecting on the snow

The sight is so spectacular,
please wipe away the tear
For I am spending Christmas with
Jesus Christ this year.

I hear the many Christmas songs
that people hold so dear
But the sounds of music can't compare
with the Christmas choir up here.

I have no words to tell you,
the joy their voices bring,
For it is beyond description,
to hear the angels sing.

I know how much you miss me,
I see the pain inside your heart.
But I am not so far away,
We really aren't apart.

So be happy for me, dear ones,
You know I hold you dear.
And be glad I'm spending Christmas
with Jesus Christ this year.

I sent you each a special gift,
from my heavenly home above.
I sent you each a memory
of my undying love.

After all, love is a gift more precious
than pure gold.
was always most important
the stories Jesus told.

Please love and keep each other,
my Father said to do.
I can't count the blessing or love
has for each of you.

So have a Merry Christmas and
Wipe away that tear
Remember, I am spending Christmas with
Jesus Christ this year

We Got ELFED:)

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1157064534

Christmas Picture

I had our Christmas picture made today and I have to say I am not thrilled with it at all BUT it is DONE. This is probally my least favorite card I have had done but Hank leaves tomorrow so it will do. Here is a couple of the ones we did not use:)

Brown Bread

My mom made Brown Bread every year and gave out to everyone:) Well I got the brown bread recipe and it means to much to me so I made Brown Bread for the first time this year. I sent all but 1 small and 1 large loaf home with my dad to give to his neighbors. When my mom was really bad at the end her neighbor said "Christmas will not be the same with out Marys Brown Bread". Well Shirley is getting Marys Brown Bread but it is just made by ME:)

Thanksgiving Dinner take 2!!

Saturday night we went to my sisters for ANOTHER Thanksgiving dinner and I have to say I thought everything tasted better as I did not have to cook...All I brought was our NEW Drink:)
Lindsey brought her new boyfriend and we all liked him a lot. He seemed really nice and we all loved his GA accent. I sat at the KIDS table and have to say I enjoyed myself as Kaitlin, Nicholas and Tyler were great company and you can get by with a little more there. I had more fun making fun of our GRAVY boat which was LITTLE!!!
We took a few pictures of the 4 grandkids together and I ordered a sweatshirt for my dad for Christmas from the kids with the on it. He is SO HARD to buy for and he wants NOTHING.
Saturday was defiantly a hard dinner without my mom. We all knew she was missing and we had a toast with Ice Wine (thanks Sadie) to her!

Thanksgiving Dinner

I had Thanksgiving dinner at my house as my sister and I trade off each year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She is actually having one at her house today as my neice and her "friend" are in from Altanta and both of my sisters girls went to their dads.
So for Thanksgiving we had the Jarrards, Conroys my dad and my sister. Hank deep fried a turkey and it was GOOD!!
I made a NEW drink and it was 1 1/2 ounces of Watermelon Vodka, 1/2 ounce of Triple Sec and 3 ounces of Cranberry Juice:) Guess what I am taking to my sisters today!!!

Tyler the Pioneer

Tyler's class went to Simmons 1 room school house today. They had to dress up as pioneers and spent the whole day acting and learning like pioneer kids. He LOVED it:)

1 Wish

Tyler told me today that I know if you had 1 wish you would wish for Grandma to come back to life. I just smiled at him and Hank who it not paying 1 bit of attention says I think she would wish for a new computer (WRONG HANK) and he says to Tyler what would you wish for...Tyler says the same as Mom. I cried and I am sure Hank who STILL is not paying attention thinks Tyler wants a new computer too.
This is so much harder then I ever thought it would be.

My Floor

Hank layed the Floor in the familyroom Saturday AND can I say I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!
I bought the rug this week and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it too:)
Nicholas had a swim meet this weekend so I went there and timed with DENISE and all I can say is we had pretty darn much FUN. Saturday she brought the smoothies and I brought them on Sunday. Our new motto is "Friends who Smoothie together STAY together"!!
Friday night I had a "moms night out" with Denise, Joanne, Mary and Barb and it was another FUN night.
So it was a GOOD WEEKEND at my house!!!

Thanksgiving Hangman

Halloween

Happy Halloween a day late. We had a beautiful night for Halloween here. Perfect temp. NO rain and lots of kids were out:) I actually think it was the most we have had in a while. Not that I think that MOST of them live by us. When a car is following LAZY parent is driving behind a kid odds are they do not live by you.
Nicholas "walked" around with friends but did not trick or treat and Tyler went as a Zombie. (FYI when the mom does not remember to buy Halloween make up MARY KAY works GREAT...goes on better and can make a 10 year old boy look half dead:)
Tyler came home..emptied his candy and said "can you believe someone gave me RAISINS. I had to run to the store to buy 300 hot dog buns for the FALL FESTIVAL and told him the next big kid that comes to the door that has a car following him RE- TREAT him with the raisins:)
Hope you had a Happy Halloween also!!
The Fall Festival and Chili Dinner is TOMORROW night. I decided this week that I am not messing with the popcorn popper at school so I am actually going to pop popcorn at home and fill plastic hands and sell them at the bake sale. It is a PAIN to clean the popper..we always BURN a few batches and it is another worker we need so we are not using it. I will be SO GLAD when this is over. I have to say I am PRETTY *amn organized and as of now have ALL my volunteers and even a few extra. Now they are need to show up and remember to bring there donations in of Chili, Bake Sale items, Soda and Water!!!