Chaos! as usual....

OK, it's the 30th and I have to try to get one more entry in this month! It's a personal challenge to see how many people I can send into shock (especially for those of you who haven't even had a chance to read the one I actually posted yesterday)! So Memorial Day weekend will be one to remember this year! Too funny!
We spent the weekend in Birmingham at my sister's house with all of my family except one of my sisters and her family. I know that sounds weird - there are six of us siblings so five met for the weekend and my Aunt and Uncle have become honorary FOO members and my cousin joined in the fun too!
We had Thai food (my cousin's contribution) quite the experience. I wasn't sure how the children would do with that so I asked them all to TRY it and be polite and we would figure out something else later if they didn't like it. They did great. They ate a little and then told my cousin that they "... appreciated the cultural experience." It was interesting though and some of it was tasty too!
We mostly visited and relaxed a lot with the family. Monday we came home and thats when the adventures began (although Keith refuses to call them adventures because we usually refer to things that are low or no cost as adventures and this was definitely NOT one of those)!
As we were driving home (I65) some weird things started to happen with the car. Like when Keith used the turn signal, the radio clicked off. So he said, "something is wrong." Almost as soon as that came out of his mouth, the car started jerking - like loss of power - and died. He navigated us from the left lane to the side of the road on the right. It was raining pretty hard and we were stuck. Keith called for a tow truck and we waited. We played Go Fish while we waited. The hardest part was for the females who had to go to the bathroom... the rain didn't help and we couldn't do anything but wait. So, the tow truck finally arrived and was willing (thankfully) to stop for us girls and the driver made lots of calls trying to get things going to get the car fixed that afternoon. It was late though so we had to stay the night in the hotel (I wrote "the" hotel because there was only one in Cornersville, TN). We went to the hotel and the driver lowered the trailer for us to be able to climb into the van and get out our suitcases. As I was standing on the edge of the trailer (remember it had been raining) I slipped off and landed on my rear end on the concrete! OUCH! Worse yet was the fact that I twisted my knee on the way down. I sat in a puddle of water laughing at how ridiculous this was and how silly I must look! Long story short, we dropped about $800 (between hotel and repairs for the car - new alternator) for that very expensive night in Cornersville, TN!
I have to laugh at the whole thing though. Keith was able to pull us off the rod to safety, thank God, we had a place to stay and it could have happened at a worse time or place! God is good! The understatement of the century! I've often thought that the way to handle garbage in our lives is a choice, you either laugh or you cry and laughing is a whole lot more fun! I think I could do stand up comedy with our life experiences!!
I hope that you have a blest and enjoyable weekend with family and those you love! Pray that mine is productive as I have a tonsillectomy scheduled for Monday morning and I will "not be able to do ANYTHING for two weeks" as the doctor says. I need to get a lot done today, tomorrow and Sunday! May you be blest to find joy in your moments of trial!

Another fun family day!

I know that there are some of you who will probably think I'm about to die or something since I have posted three times in one month! Crazy I know, but I had to brag for a few moments. As some of you know, last year our family won a nice commemorative edition Super Stock Soap Box Derby car. Bailey began her driving career last summer with that car. Tyler was too young and Courtney had her wisdom teeth removed the day before, so Bailey won the opportunity hands down. She made it through her heats to the "Sweet 16" and then she lost. Not bad for a first time out!
This year, we were given a Stock car for Tyler to race. This car was in pretty bad shape but Tyler and Keith worked long and hard together to bring it up to specs! Long story short... Tyler and Bailey about gave Keith a heart attack by making it all the way to the final race! Seriously though, we were close! Tyler was a bit more disappointed than Bailey - he actually wanted first! We had such a blast cheering them on! Thank you to the friends who stopped by to help cheer and those who stayed longer than they had to, just to support them! For those of you who didn't make it this year, it's o.k., we're hooked and hopefully you can make it next year - I anticipate that we'll be there! I'm going to try to put in some photos but I' m having a hard time narrowing it down (and now that Keith reads this, I want to make sure I get the right ones! LOL!!)
When I look back on this event and the fun family day, I think about all the fun family time preparing... Especially the fun "Keith and Tyler time" and "Keith and Bailey time," but some other extra family time to prepare them for race day. What fun we had! I am SO thankful for our children and the fun that we have because of things they are involved in and allow us to be a part of! I certainly hope that they know how much we love them and enjoy spending time with them!

Long time overdue!

Well, I know this entry is long overdue for those of you who read my entries. I have been asked by several people how it all turned out... The camping was cold and wet. Friday night was so cold that I hardly slept a wink. I lay there wondering if we made the right choice and then hoped that the children would remember the whole thing in a good light. Saturday morning we went to the Scouts flag raising. It took twenty people to carry the flag in, then they raised it on the largest flagpole in the National park system. The thought that immediately came to mind was, "This was worth freezing last night." Saturday started out beautiful and continued throughout the day! We all five had a great day and all five of us met the requirements for the Lincoln Bicentennial Award. That was nice but even better was the time spent together.
We overcame cold, no fire pit and rain together. We were able to focus on time together without cell phones or IPods or DS games. Nothing but family and fun! We made eggs in baggies and boiling water (pretty cool!) (Sidebar: this should be done with no more than three eggs per bag - six is too many and takes too long for the bags to withstand the heat - LOL!!). We met some new people and had fun using our new hand-washing station (which everyone thought was pretty cool). It was truly a great experience!
Courtney and Bailey got up and sang in front of a crowd, with a mic! We got pictures that will be favorites forever! I asked the others about the experience and they all said that it was fun. None of the children complained about the no electronics rule. They were all wonderful about the whole weekend (even the cold)! I think it will be a weekend remembered more with the fond memories than the cold wet ones (although I can't imagine that the cold and wet will be forgotten).
We had so much fun and got SO tired out that Sunday morning we decided that we needed to sleep in. Tyler and Keith were up as usual, Courtney stayed in bed until 10 and Bailey until 12. I was the sloth of all sloths and stayed in bed until 4:30! Of course I woke up with a migraine and couldn't get rid of it until 4:30 so there was nothing else to do!
Thank you all for prayers on our behalf! It was a great weekend! Even though the cold and wet will ever stay in our memories, I think it will be a good memory for many years to come!

Family bonding

Isn't it Smally who says that the best family bonding takes place during disastrous camping trips? Well, we are heading to southern Indiana for a weekend of camping in the rain-filled forecast. I'm excited about it and also wondering if this will be something we sit and talk about years from now as; "Do you remember that one time we went camping and stayed thee whole time in the visitor's center?" or "Do you remember that really cool weekend we spent at the Lincoln Bicentennial Encampment- man that was fun!" To further allow for bonding, we have declared it a weekend without "electrics". There will be cell phones for emergency use only, no ipods or other musical devices, etc. With one teen, one preteen and one electronics savvy boy, this should be interesting! If you think of it, say a prayer for us. I'll try to remember and find time to post after the trip to let you know how it went!
Have a GREAT Mother's Day!