3rd Times a Charm

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I swear we are cursed. After spending an amazing Thanksgiving holiday with our family Paul and I are relaxing on the couch discussing the fun we had while listening to the kids play, when he gets a text. I knew from his reaction it wasn't good news and why I didn't put two ad two together I don't know. Our buyers walked...Again. So three time in one month we have gone through this. This time we knew it was a sure deal. It was an investor who was already aware of the condition of the foundation and knew what a deal he was getting. I don't know why these people feel the need to mess with us. I just do not get it. I have no hope in selling this house. It will be the end of our sanity. An endless money pit. We are now preparing to fix the foundation. How you ask, by selling our camper trailer. Yup yippee for us. I know it's just a material item and we can always get another one, but I find myself super sad. The kids LOVE camping. We love camping. As a matter of fact Kailee's had her bag packed for two weeks now and asks every other day when we are going camping again. I am beyond bummed, beyond sad, angry, frustrated, and lost. Lost as to what to do. At my breaking point. Lost all hope. Tired of getting the run around and being jerked around. Tired of people playing with our emotions. Just tired. It's hard for me to concentrate, hard to put on the happy face for the kids, hard to get through the day. I just want to crawl under the blankets and sleep forever. UGH...

Paul unlike me has moved forward. He's pissed don't get me wrong, but he's been great with the kids. He pulled the tree out like we planned despite me already changing my mind and wanting anything to do with it. He put it up, plugged it in and let the kids enjoy it the rest of the night. He played with them the majority of the rest of today. Do I feel bad of course I do, but I can't help it. I'm depressed and mad and I just can't help the mood I'm in. I just cannot be the positive one any longer and keep believing everything will work out. I just do not feel it anymore. Well I'm off. Going to hide under my blankets.

Home Sweet Home

As promised here's a recap of the last day of our trip. Well we are back from Flagstaff. Back to reality. Back to our home. The drive home was beautiful and full of strange weather.There was dust storms and rain off and on and then perfectly sunny weather at the end. The kids of course did awesome the entire way home. They are pros at this point when it comes to traveling.
We woke up about 8 this morning to meet the family for breakfast before heading out. Breakfast was delicious. Of course neither of the kids wanted to eat with the snow waiting for them outside. We managed to get them to eat pretty decently and then out we went. The kids got all bundled up in their new winter gear and all but ran out the door. It was cold but not cold to where you couldn't enjoy all the snow around you. The kids ran around, threw snow balls at each other, Paul, and I, Kailee made a snow angel, Justin kept running and the falling/jumping into the snow. They loved it! They had so much fun I thought they were never going to want to come in. I was surprised to see both kids getting hit by snow balls and taking it with stride and throwing them right back. They made sure and got their uncle Jeff and cousins Cami and Jayden as well as their daddy. Thank goodness I had my cameras. I only got hit a few times LOL. Justin loved throwing snow at Kailee and laughing his evil new ha ha ha laugh. And Kailee for payback decided to stuff his back pockets full of snow, which I didn't find out until we came in and JP sat on my lap. Talk about cold! Once inside the kids played with their cousin Cami, while the adults played skipbo. Of course kids will be kids and their restlessness soon took over and trouble they found. Crawling under the table after their cousin Cami and pulling straws off the table was a sure way to get on my bad side. I know it seems as if I'm a strict mom, but some things just are not acceptable in public. For one floors are disgusting and full of germs, and for two crawling under tables is disrespectful. I don't pack toys and books for hotel rooms, because when we go somewhere my theory is we entertain ourselves as a family and I do not rely on toys and books to keep them busy so Paul and I can do our own thing. Needless to say they were bored and wanted attention, so I couldn't focus on the game and found myself not enjoying myself. No biggie the game was soon over and the hard part of saying good bye was here. It was a quick good bye since we had all been delayed due to the weather and were already off our schedules.
After saying good bye and loading up we took our time and drove into Flagstaff just enjoying the snow filled mountains and ground. It was beautiful. Absolutly beautiful. I actually wanted to stay and just play in the snow some more. LOL But we had to get back. We only stopped once and that was so Kailee could go potty and we could get some lunch. Like I mentioned earlier the kids did great. When we pulled up into the drive way they were deff ready to get out of the car. There was a get together on base, but I opted not to go and stay home with the kids. I've been having tightness in my chest and chest pains since last night and the kids were exhasted. After some dinner and a nice hot bath they were out. JP has a slight runny nose, so I'm waiting to see if it turns into anything. Why I'm still up I have no idea. I am so tired and in pain it's not even funny. I need to get to bed because we already promised the kids we would put up and decorate the tree in the morning.

We are Home

So we made it home safe and sound and of course exhausted. I'll be on a little later with all new updates and posts. I'm completely wiped out and have been dealing with tightness in my chest and difficulty breathing since last night. Needless to say I'm just trying to take it easy tonight.

Polar Express

Well we are headed to Flagstaff to ride the Polar Express. I am super excited for the kids! We have never been or done anything like this before. And, not only is it our first time, but we get to experience it with Paul's mom, Paul's sister, his brother in law, our niece and nephew, and Paul's grandma. I think the kids will have a blast. I mean what kid wouldn't have a good time on a train ride where you get cookies, hot chocolate and get to meet Santa? Heck I'm even excited to ride the train, eat cookies and chocolate milk(just don't tell me the calories), and see the big guy. And, we didn't even have to wake up super early since it's only a four hour drive.

So we made it to Flagstaff with just about 20 or so minutes to spare before dinner time. The kids did amazing on the drive. Not to mention the drive was beautiful. You can definitely tell it's winter and we even saw a bit of snow on the way. At the hotel it had snowed and was starting again and it was all I could do to get the kids to go inside and get ready, because miss Kailee was more interested in the snow and playing in it. LOL We all load up and head to an Italian restaurant for dinner that Paul's sister was so kind to make reservations for. Not only that but it was kid friendly. Perfect. The kids even got to play with dough while waiting. While enjoying our dinner we hear a bunch of kids going crazy and look out the windows to see the snow really coming down. It was so pretty. I don't think I've ever seen snow like it before. Dinner was done and we all loaded up to make the 30 minute drive to the Polar Express. It was already dark by the time we got there and all you saw was lights everywhere. The kids were amazed. While Paul and Jeff parked the kids, Cami and Jayden, Steph, Paul's mom, grandma and I went inside and waiting. Kailee immediately saw jewelry and was in a trance. She found of course the hottest pink, most sparkly bracelet you could imagine. At 17 bucks it was staying but sure glad she loved looking at it. Kailee, Justin, and Cami played a little and posed by the tree. After a few we booked it to make the train ride in time and let me tell you. I have never held on to my kid's hands so tight. It was packed. I'm not talking mall play area or Chuckie Cheese packed. I'm talking holly crap packed. Of course we were on B and we had to go from Z to B in a mad rush. I was practically dragging my poor kids to keep up bc all they were interested in were the lights and looking for Santa LOL. So we get on and it is soooo warm. We opted not to let the kids wear their Christmas pjs because it really was just too cold. Bone chilling cold. But that's ok. They didn't notice they were probably the only kids in regular clothes. LOL So the train takes off and shortly after they bring out the cookies and hot chocolate. The kids of course loved that and looking out the window. Then they read The Polar Express book sang a few songs, which turned into probably 30 minutes of songs at a dead stop. Nothing like kids and adults singing their hearts out while we are at a dead stop. Paul was miserable. He is not a people person much less a people person singing out of tune to numerous Christmas songs person. Lucky for us the kids didn't get restless they just enjoyed the time. They were told some reindeer were stuck on the tracks, but us adults knew better. There ended up being some type of wreck. Once the train started moving again the kids saw the North Pole and Santa even waved. Then as all the kids were sitting there Santa made his big appearance. Kailee's face lit up like a Christmas tree. She was so happy. He handed her a bell and she looked like she was just given a new puppy or something. I mean her face was just..wow I'll never forget her expression. JP got his next and to my surprise he didn't cry or get scared of Santa. He of course started ringing his bell and was too cute and happy to have one like his big sister. Right before we get back we realize it's snowing. Like really snowing. Coming down really good almost like a blizzard. Kailee of course loved it. Her and I playing in it a little bit. JP was carried by Paul. Thank the Lord for Paul. He is so good about carrying Justin in crowds and putting my anxiety at bay. He's just so little and it crowds I freak out. Kailee will hold your hold and she's bigger and can keep up much better than JP's little legs in the snow. Justin's face was priceless as the snow fell on his face and Kailee was just way beyond excited to be in the snow having it fall all around her. After some quick pics by the tree inside we decided ok we better get back. It was dark, we were in the truck, it was a 30 minute drive and we weren't used to driving in the snow.
That's were all the excitement turned to pure fear. We couldn't see crap. Not the road, not the lines, not our own lights nothing. We were in a white out. I have never been so scared in my life. Big trucks just flying by, other cars flying by and we can't see at all. We ended up pulling off because we couldn't see and too get some gas to add weight to the rear. We get back on and slip, slide, and loose traction. Avoid being hit, avoid hitting sliding cars. Just plain scary. The kids, bless their hearts. I mean they were wonderful. Scared, but super quiet and so well behaved. I love those two. They were such a big help just by sitting there not complaining or whining and just being so good so Paul could concentrate. There were a few times I gasped and just put my face practically between my legs I was so scared. And Paul. Well he just took it like a pro. I mean you would have thought he was in clear 90 degree weather. I have never been so grateful or impressed with his driving ability. We ended up getting pretty close to our exit when we came to a stand still. We got to see a snow plower, ambulance, and a few police cars which Justin loved. There was an accident which caused traffic to back up. Of course after sitting in the car forever way longer than the 30 minute drive Justin had to go potty. He had been holding it for so long and Paul had just got out to take him outside when he saw traffic starting to move. So we told Justin to hold it and he would get a hot wheel. Boy did that make him excited. Needless to say our 30 minute drive back took 2 hours. We got to the hotel safe said our good nights and the kids and I were up in the hotel room like nothing. Paul went downstairs and had a few much needed beers with Jeff. I took a super hot bath to try and calm my nerves and ease my back while the kids slept. Paul came back up to the room and him and I had the best luck. We caught a marathon of Lock up Raw. Of course he made it through like half an episode before the snoring began LOL.

Friday

So this morning Kailee seems to be doing somewhat better. She made it through the night without throwing up. She still isn't eating much but I expect that for a few days. Justin however is now complaining of his stomach hurting. I have a feeling we are about to go through with him what we have been with Kailee. Yippee! And it just keeps getting better. I completely forgot to update the status on our house. The buyers...decided to walk afterall. So we are back a t square one. The foundation inspectors found foundation problems. So we for sure have foundation issues we have to fix. We were quoted a price of about 6,000 to fix all the damages. So not only did we lose our buyers we now get to fork over 6,000 just for foundation alone. Luckily the roof is being covered by our insurance so the house will get a new roof at no cost to us. I just feel like everything is falling apart and crashing down upon us. Don't get me wrong I am still very grateful for my kids, husband, and all the countless blessing we have been blessed with. It just feels like the stress and bad happening keep coming our way. I'm hoping at this point nothing else goes wrong and we can make it through the Holiday season happy and healthy.

Thursday

So it's been a few days since I last posted and not a whole lot has been going on. Mainly just cleaning, testing, organizing, and dealing with Kailee being sick. Not too sure what's going on with her but she's been throwing up only at night for three days now. The first night we knew nothing about it until Paul came home from work that morning and found her mess in the bathroom sink. At least she was somewhat neat about it and made it to the bathroom. Her reasoning for not telling me. She knew I was tired and needed rest so she didn't want to wake me. She even put her bedding in the laundry room and somehow managed to put some new bedding on her bed. That girl I tell you. That whole day she complained of her belly hurting and didn't eat much at all. She did however drink a ton so I wasn't too concerned. All day the next she played and would complain off and on of her belly hurting but nothing. Then she managed to throw up a little again that night. Then all day yesterday it was a pretty good day. She ate breakfast and half of her lunch only complained once of her belly hurting and I associated it with her not wanting to pick up her mess in the playroom since that's when she chose to complain. She ate really well at dinner. I was quite proud of her and she got a much deserved treat afterwards. I thought we were done with the vomitting...Boy was I wrong. So I go in her room at 1am just to kiss her and check on her before I went to bed and I noticed she was asleep but kinda tossing from side to side. So, I whispered if she needed to go potty and she said no and covered herself back up. Well I bent to fold a blanket and as soon as a turned around she started throwing up a little but wasn't awake. Very scary. I picked her up and brought her in the bathroom where she basically threw up everything she had that day and it. I had literally just mopped the floors too. :( Well I got her all cleaned up and noticed her skin had a red blotchy rash all over so I started my fifth degree asking if she ate anything new, did she touch anything outside earlier she wasn't supposed to, had she been playing in make up or lotions in her room the usual since she has super sensative skin. I couldn't find any advidence to suggtust other wise and since she said no I went with it. I decided to sleep with her in the computer room and I literally got no sleep. She tossed and turned, got up twice feeling like she needed to again but nothing, once to go potty, and freezed the whole the night. Her skin was soooo cold. Needless to say she woke up perfectly fine this morning and with the exception of not eating has been back to her normal self. I will say anytime she drinks or eats anything she immediately says her belly hurts. I'm giving it a few days before I call the doc mainly because I don't want to take her anywhere near a clinic or walk in clinic with the Swine flu and strep going around. And since she's continuing a healthy fluid intake I'm not concerned about dehydration. I just hope she gets better before the family starts coming in next week.

Lazy Mondays

What a lazy day. I've cleaned the house a little and the kids and I have played quite a bit, but after staying up until 3am taking quizzes I feel like I have no energy. So, today will continue to be a lazy day where the kids and I just hang out together and entertain ourselves instead of going out. Plus it's chilly here. :( Boo to chilly weather.

A Semi Smile is Returning

Despite having a ton going on and being stressed to my braking point days like today make me very grateful and remind me to be appreciative for what I do have. Paul got off of work and he's been running around the house with the kids all morning and afternoon. The kids are loving it and of course not giving him a moment to rest. I love hearing the kids laugh and Paul laugh at the kids. The kids love Paul so much and after all the news we have received lately I really don't know how our family would keep going or survive without him. Don't get me wrong he has a ton of stress as well and dealing with our house in Texas is no cake for him, but he brings a sense of calmness right now into our house. I on the other hand am a ball of nerves and feel like I could cry at any moment. I can usually handle the bigger stuff and seem to get bogged down by the smaller stuff, so this is new territory for me. While the kids, Paul and I sat on the couch and watched car shows to hear JP scream car truck car truck over and over was comedic relief. Kailee played princess and seeing her and JP run through the house chasing each other and yelling I'm married! I'm married and then hearing each of the proclaim they were married to each other was hilarious. Paul wrestling with Abbey and the kids getting upset and screaming at their daddy to stop and attacking him brought a huge smile to my face. I know our family will be ok. I know in the end I have nothing to worry about for even if we lose everything we have we have each other. And, that is going to be my mentality for now. I'm just going to have to try and put everything else behind and continue to appreciate what we have as a family.

More confusion

Talk about confusion... Our Realtor called Paul earlier in the day stating the original buyers who decided to walk away are still interested in the house. However, we still have no idea the extent of damage to the foundation. Paul spent the majority of the afternoon calling all of the foundation inspectors in Abilene to set up dates and times they could come out and inspect the house. The earliest is Thursday. So by Thursday we will hopefully know for sure just how much damage there is and rather or not the buys want to proceed with purchasing the house. It's 2:30 am I am wide awake with so much going through my head. The house, Thanksgiving, school, Christmas, the kids, just a variety of thoughts rolling over and over through my head. I haven't got much sleep since the news of the buyers walking away and I don't foresee mush in my future. I am stressed to the max at this moment and I really hate being like this during the Holiday Season. It's making it very hard for me to even get excited about Thanksgiving or buying presents for Christmas. We have so much to look forward to in the next couple of months and I just really wish this dark cloud would give it a break already and move from above my head.

And the :( Just Keeps Coming

So now not only do I have a ton on my mind as far as out Texas property goes and losing our buyer. I just got word that my great grandma Breaux died. My mom was super close to her grandma and my heart goes out to her. I've only met her a few times and she was the sweetest lady you could ever meet. We took Kailee to see her when Kailee was about 4 months old and here recently when Paul was deployed Justin and Kailee both got to spend the day with her. She's been dealing withAlzheimer's for some time now but could still carry on a conversation with you and recognize you after you explained who you were. She loved children and I would always hear how much she enjoyed receiving pictures of the kids. I know she's in a much better place and no longer suffering physically or dealing with fighting over her or her stuff so that puts my mind at ease.

:(

UGH it still doesn't seem real. Still hasn't sunk in. I tried not to get my hopes up and had thought I did a pretty good job. Guess not. I am super sad and upset. I would've posted as soon as I got back from having dinner with Paul, but in all honesty I was hoping for a call saying it was a joke. The kids and I didn't stay long. It was like neither of us (Paul or I) could really muster the energy to pretend everything was ok. Basically where we are at is the house is no longer under contract or sold. The buyers walked away. We've been here before and I really thought if it happened again I would know how to handle it. The home inspection failed with the inspector putting multiple areas of foundation damage. We could have handled and gotten past and probably salvaged our buys over anything else, but not foundation damage. It honestly feels like de ja vu considering this is exactly how it went down last time only it was speculated foundation damage due to a covered up crack in the outside brick. We had the brick work repaired and was told they honestly didn't feel it was foundation damage. That was almost two years ago when we moved here. Now here we are again, only this time the inspector feels there are multiple areas althought he didn't specify which areas. He felt the floors were uneven in quite a few spots. There were cracks in the flooring, doors wouldn't shut properly and the list seemed to go on and on. So here we are now with no buyer, our renters lease up in March, and not having a clue the extent of the foundation problems and all the way here in Az. We were just in Texas and had to fork over quite a bit of money to have trees trimmed, trees trimmed off of power lines and plumbing fixed. It's a never ending battle with this house. Foundation work is not cheap ranging anywhere from 500 to 10,000 and more in costs. I feel like this house is cursed and seriously will be the downfall of my family. As a one income household it always seems as soon as we get ahead a little we take two steps back, only this is like taking a million steps back. We are in limbo as to what to do now and have to wait to hear more from our realtor as well as figure out our next step. I have faith and I know we will be fine by God's grace, but even I must admit it's hard not to get discouraged at this point.

Patagonia Lake Recap

What an awesome time we had camping at Patagonia Lake. It was absolutely beautiful. We could actually see the lake from our camp spot and to actually get to the water was maybe a 30 second walk. So imagine waking up every morning and seeing this as soon as you exit your tent or camper. Well I the family and got to enjoy this beautiful view this whole camping trip. I must say this is my favorite spot yet. It was such a relaxing and fun time together. Well for me it was. The kids seemed to really enjoy this spot too. They had stairs, tons of trees they could climb in, the water to throw stuff in, beautiful weather the entire time, lots of different birds and animals to see, and they even got to go out on a boat twice. I'll be back with the full update and pics a littler later.

Grrr!

Oh my what a day. Got word from Paul that he was approved his day off and that we would be able to go camping Monday. This time we are going to Patagonia Lake. We'll be gone Monday through Wednesday so a bit longer than last time. I'm excited to take the camper trailer out again and hoping we get some time in at the lake. I think he would be super fun for the kids to go out on the boat. We'll see though. So after making a trip to Wal Mart for last minute stuff and then the grocery store on the way home, I had just enough to make and take dinner to Paul at the station. The kids are in the tub and I am exhausted. WM always seems to be a horrible experience for us, and this time proved no different. Tons of people and long lines. I was so frazzled by the time we got out there. I mean I literally had a headache from all the noise. Now I'm off to pack and get everything ready for tomorrow. I'll be back with pictures later.

Prayers PLEASE!

So Paul just got home from riding his quad with some great news. We have a potential buyer for our home in Texas. They made an offer and we did a counter so we are waiting to hear their decision with the counter. Nothing is for sure or even near complete. We are still in the very beginning stages. Just to even have someone interested in this market is a blessing. So if you have time please put us in your prayers.

**UPDATE** So the house sold!!!!!! I'm super excited and really trying not to get my hopes up at the same time since we have been here before and it not worked out. However, as long as the inspection goes well, and God willing it will, and they don't walk away we are so done with that house. It will be the biggest relief ever for us. More to come as I find out more. Thanks to everyone who offered well wishes and prayers.

No sleep = Thankfullness

So I'm up. It's 9:30 am which is sleeping in for us. I didn't fall asleep until about 5am. Too much running through my mind, too many thoughts of unfinished tasks, countless walks up and down the halls checking on the kids and triple checking the doors are locked, Abbey's snoring, and just overall anxiousness. But I'm up. It's another day I get to spend with my amazing kids and husband and for that alone I am thankful. Thankful I get to see skys like above and really take the time to appreciate their beauty. Not too much on the agenda today as far as those amazing kids are concerned. I'm having a little alone time to go snap pictures of a friend's wedding and then go to my other friends concert. I haven't got to see her and her husband's band play yet so I am just a little excited. :) It's going to be hard to leave my kids later today I have to admit. It always is. But, I know they are going to have a blast hanging out with daddy all day.

Lazy Day

Days like today really make me stop and count my blessings. I woke up this morning to my desktop being corrupted and all my setting removed. Not only that, but I had no pictures in the my pictures folder. I normally do not keep pictures in that folder because it slows down the computer and takes up a lot of space on my C drive. Mind you when I upload it's not a few pictures it's anywhere from 1500 to 3500 at a time. The day we left to go camping I quickly emptied my memory stick on my Canon which had the end of our Texas trip through the 4th of November. Naturally waking up to 0 pictures in the folder I know I put my Canon pictures in upset me a ton. I was actually tearing up as I was frantically searching every drive and folder on my computer. I even went under Paul's log in in hopes of being able to access my folders and drives. No luck whats so ever. LUCKILY my dad is a computer guru. I called him and he walked me through how to go in to drives directly through windows bypassing the desktop. I tell you without my dad and mom I have no idea what I would do sometimes. It's sad I still depend on them so much at my age but they are great what can I say. LOVE YOU MOM AND DAD!!!! Anyways, I was able to find all of my pictures and move them over to my external. So once the kids go down I will finish updating and adding some much needed pictures to this blog.

After waking up to that I had to leave the house to get my mind off of everything I almost lost. I know they are only pictures but for me those are my memories. I don't print off pictures for us, so knowing I might have forever lost JP making silly faces with my mom, my dad reading to Kailee, Chris being attacked by my kids, the kids dressed up at Halloween, sliding at the park, or hugs and kisses from daddy once home from Texas just made me super sad. So I loaded the kids up in the car and off we went to run some errands. It was really close to Justin's nap time so I knew my time was limited. I just didn't know how limited it was....We made it to Ross just to scope out Christmas gift prospectives and made it back to the car to head to Target when the meltdowns started. Justin was hungry and overly tired and Kailee well she was just not like her normal up for shopping self. Thankfully they started in the car and not in the middle of the store. LOL Once home Justin immediately went down and Kailee and I spent some time together dancing to The Fresh Beat Band. Then Kailee and I decided to start on dinner. I have been wanting chillie for the longest so I decided to make a big pot and take it up to Paul at the station.
Justin woke up ready to go so the kids and I loaded up and went to the station. We had our dinner with Paul and made it home with enough time for a bath and more dancing. As a matter of fact the kids are dancing and singing along to the FBB as I sit here typing this entry.

Sometimes life can get super busy or even overwhelming during the holiday season, or I know for me it can. So for the month of November I'm going to make an extra point to slow down, count my blessings, and remember family is what makes life.

Playing Catch Up

Bare with me as I back track and attempt to catch this blog up. We have been basically going non stop since we got back from Texas and to say I have been motivated to blog about it would be a complete lie. So please bare with me as I get back into the mind set of blogging.

Out of the Woods and Back Home.

So we are FINALLY back home after what seemed like traveling the entire day. We really took today easy and just relaxed. All of us woke up officially at 9. I had been up quite a few time before then thanks to an assortment of different birds feeling the need to start singing. LOL Not to mention the bright sun shining through the blinds as soon as it came up. The kids slept like rocks. They were absolutely adorable all curled up in their fleece tie blankets. So once they woke up they were of course ready to go outside and start playing. They didn't even want their pj's changed LOL Justin slept with his Cars shoes on the entire night as if to say see mommy I already have my shoes on. Of course I made them put regular clothes on before they went out. The kids are outside playing, Abbey's being tied up by Paul, water is boiling for coffee, and I set out to start making some cheese eggs that we had all been looking forward to since I mentioned it the night before. Well...we had just a slight problem but a good lesson learned. Paul and I weren't completely sure the fridge part of the refrigerator was staying cool enough so we stuck the eggs in the smaller compartment which was apparently the freezer, because everyone of the eggs were frozen. Of course we figure out it was the freezer in the middle of the night when him and I woke up freezing, but I assumed once they were in the refrigerator they would unfreeze. So not the case. So...I just make the comment to Paul about there not being any meal or challenge to hard for the Iron Chef to complete. LOL In go the frozen eggs into the skillet and I think to myself good thing I'm not a big egg person because honestly it didn't even look appealing much less edible. Once they started melting I added some milk and what do you know? The eggs ended up turning into some pretty good scrambled eggs with cheese. I was quite proud of myself for turning that around. Of course the kids were no longer hungry since I had snuck the mini cinnamon rolls. Hey I figure if the eggs didn't turn out no reason to make them starve and I knew Paul and I could have held off on breakfast if need be. Paul turned on the radio and we all sat and had breakfast while jamming out. Once breakfast was done and cleaned up I went outside and sat on the blanket with Justin and Abbey. Talk about peaceful. I really took the time to slow down and just enjoy a solid 25 minutes with my little man taking in the view, listening to the birds and and the wind. It was absolutely beautiful. Justin sat there quietly as if he was taking it all in as well. That was until a truck drove behind us and then the peacefulness was broke by him making loud car noses and excitedly yelling big truck momma big truck. Then Kailee came out from the trailer from having a few princess stories read to her by Paul.(Lucky him LOL) And, next thing you know we are all sitting outside taking it in and just enjoying each others company. About1 we decided to start packing everything up and get ready to head back. Once everything was ready we took off back home. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get back home and JP fell asleep as soon as I buckled him in. Kailee was content watching her movies and I was thrilled looking back at this overnight trip and how successful it was. We made it home about 4:30 just in time for the kids to be hungry and cranky. LOL So I started on dinner while Paul finished unloading. We all had dinner together and afterwords the kids and Paul built buildings with their blocks while I cleaned up. Next thing I knew it was bath time so off the kids went to the tub. After wards they had to pleasure of picking up their playroom. Both kids were in bed by ten and asleep. Paul and I got ready for bed and then just layed in bed and surfed the net. Me reading about all the hate and horribleness in this world and him of course vegging out on anything and everything car related. It was an awesome end.

Parker Canyon Overnight Camping Trip

Today we are headed up to Parker Canyon for a little over night stay. This time we are taking our camper and making it a trial run to see how the kids do. We are taking it easy and not rushing. Kids aren't even awake yet and it's already 8:00. I am really excited to go camping with the kids, Paul, and Abbey. I think its going to be so much fun to stay in our camper in a new location. So I'll be back a little later with updates.

We got to the campsite much later than we had anticipated. It was probably around 3. We knew the kids were going to be hungry because we hadn't had lunch yet so we decided to set up and have an early dinner. So we got the trailer set up and during the process I look out at the kids and see Justin and Kailee walking up and down the steps. Not a big deal cause both of them love steps. Then I see Kailee start walking up the side of the step which were slightly more inclined than the others. Oh great here comes JP right behind her. So I step and tell them to stay off the side ones. No sooner than I finish telling them and turn around to head back to the trailer do I see JP start to tumble down the center of the stairs. He lost his footing and before I can even get back to them he's falling face first down the sitars. BAM his hands do not hold him up and his face takes a bouncing off the concrete steps. Immediately he starts screaming so I run to pick him up and try my hardest to soothe him and quiet him down since we are the only people with kids in the whole area and we all know what a traumatized hurt two year old can sound like. So I'm sitting there holding him, telling him it's ok with Kailee on my side all upset asking if he's ok I start to see blood at the corner of his mouth. I say open your mouth and his entire mouth is filled with blood. I had already evaluated the lovely knew cut to his chin, but to see his mouth filled up with blood all around the teeth and gum area really freaked me out. I just kept thinking oh my gosh how am I going to explain all his teeth being chipped and busted out to the dentist and oh crap how do I get to the dentist in a timely manor when we are all the way out here. So I go get some water to have his rinse his mouth out so I can better evaluate his teeth. Once he rinses his mouth out I start doing a teeth check making sure all are there not chipped or wiggling and am super surprised to see no damage to his teeth. However, I do find the source of the blood. He bit the inside of his cheek really well. After I let him up he was fine. You never would have known he just face dived down some stairs. I can honestly say he broke our campsite in LOL. This camping trip was all about first for the kids. They got to put the charcoal in the fire pit, they got to help put the lighter fluid in, they got to pretend to hold daddy's gun, chop wood, and even put the wood in the fire pit, as well as help with food preparation and adding the food on to the grill.
Around 5 Paul started the fire going and we got everything ready for dinner. The kids of course wanted hot dogs, Paul was having steak and baked beans, and me, well I had a salad. It was supposed to be topped with chicken but stupid me forgot I even brought chicken LOL. So we all eating dinner and the sun starts going down and let me tell you the sky was absolutely breath taking. The clouds started to change from white, to light pink, to hot pink, to neon orange, to a light purple and next thing you know the clouds are gone and we were looking at nothing but stars. After dinner and the kids playing some more we let them roast some marshmallows. Paul made sure the kids had everything they needed for smores and we all sat by the fire roasting marshmallows eating smores. The kids went from my lap to Paul's and I just really enjoyed our family time together. Well, minus all the mini heart attacks Justin kept giving me as he would walk around the fire LOL. Around 9 I took the kids inside and changed them into their pj's. After a few rounds of giggles and attempts to postpone their sleep we said out prayer, story, and song and they were out. I don't know around what time but Paul and I woke up freezing. We realized we left two windows open. So he closed those and turned on the heat. WOW! Talk about a nice luxery to have. Already here we are in a nice trailer opposed to a tent on the ground and now we get heat. I was in heaven. That's also when Paul discovered the fridge was definitely working and we had put the butter, sour cream, and eggs in the freezer and out eggs were frozen. After getting the camper nice and toasty him and I fell back to sleep. It was a really nice day of camping and quality family time.