It happened...

You know when you have lived with someone for almost 19 years, day in and day out, it is REALLY hard to let them go! But I suppose this mother duck has to let her duckling fly (or just waddle)!! We drove Hannah down to Dixie on Thursday and by Friday morning she was shooing us out the door. Let me just tell you that 4 hour drive home was the longest ride of my life! I couldn't bring myself to go into her room until late last night, it was so sad! And even more touching is the fact that when I went to put something away this morning in her room, I found Hailey asleep in her bed. Let's just say it's hard on all of us :(

But this is the way life is right?, you get used to having your little family all safe and sound under one roof and then one by one they leave you...boo hoo. Hannah is so excited though and I know she is going to do great things with her life...now I just need to figure out what to do with mine!

More Florida Fun...

OUR FLORIDA FOOD FIGHT!

Gross but so fun!!

Super Cool Dad...

I always knew my dad was a stud but when I came across this old picture of him it reminded me of this other stud...
Hmmm...who knew my dad had already created the role of "Tristian" from Legends of the Fall. So here's to you dad, I have a whole new admiration for you now!

My panties are definitely in a WAD!

REALLY???

REALLY???

Is it really ok and just acceptable to joke about SOMEONE else's 14 year old daughter getting knocked up by a pro baseball player??

Is this what the public thinks is funny? I personally think it's so sad. And I think I am pretty liberal on most issues and don't usually get offended by the media or Hollywood persona. Maybe it's because I have 4 of my own daughters or maybe it's just cause I am a decent human being, BUT I would like to think we could respect our daughters and young women just a bit more than this. I really try to keep my blog pretty light and happy but this just bugged me!! And I usually like Letterman...I just think this is totally classless.

I don't care where you come from, what religion you are, if you are republican or democrat, male or female, have daughters or not...all I'm asking is to not take this so lightly. FOR Hells sake...she's 14 and he's what???, 30ish. Just not funny to me.

K, that's all...just had to step onto that soap box.

(Oh and if you don't know what I'm talking about...go to YOU TUBE and enter in Letterman commenting on Sarah Palin's daughter, Willow)

She did it!

Ok, so the big graduation day finally came and I checked, she really did get a HS diploma! (Not that I had reason to think she wouldn't.) We are proud of her but I can't believe I have a daughter ready to go to college. After all, I'm pretty sure I just recently attended my own HS graduation.

One minute we are here...

And suddenly we've jumped here...

But we love her and look forward to her future!

Graduation, Birthdays and Banquets

I know, I know, I have been a very bad blogger lately!! I do apologize, as I'm sure you all have been waiting with baited breath for my next post. And I'm also sorry to say that there will probably be a few more posts regarding Hannah's graduation...after all, after 18 years, the big day is THIS week. Yesterday we were sitting in church (All of us a little bored I might add) when Hope whipped up this little drawing...we all got a good chuckle from it. I hope you can read it, it really is a hoot. I love the comments she has coming from each one of our mouths...

Moving on to Hailey's end of year banquet...YEAH we survived our first year of competitive dance. After all the sacrifices, especially the one where we sold our oldest child into slavery, we made it! I have to say that I am super, duper proud of her and she really worked her fanny off this year. These are some of the darling girls that she danced with...

Here's Hailey with her award for "Little Miss Animation"...hmmm I wonder where she gets that from????

And last but not least....HOPE turned 11. Ok, I know it happened well over a month ago, BUT...I've been busy (sort of). She had a great birthday, scored big with her first IPOD (thanks Mimi and Ruff) and a TV!! She was able to have a big party with lots of her friends and I know that was a hit. I really love this girl...she is super funny, lights up the room with her HUGE personality and is so nurturing. She's the BEST babysitter ever! So Happy Belated Birthday Hope...we love you so much.

She's not so little any more!

So my little Hannah has just up and grown up on me!! She didn't ask if this was ok, she just went ahead and did it! In just a little more than 3 weeks she'll be graduating from HS and I can't believe it. I really am proud of her even if I'm gonna bawl my eyes out when she leaves. And if you are wondering who took these awesome pictures of her, it's the amazingly talented Melissa http://melissaephotography.blogspot.com/ ! I love her and her skillz :)

2 Great Weekends!

So this past weekend I was able to get away with some of my dearest girlfriends and head to Park City. We had so many great laughs and I had a blast. We all stayed up late and played games, and talked, and ate and laughed, and ate (Oh, did I already mention that one?) It was awesome and I love these girls.

Chrissy Lou and Char!All of us enjoying a long, yummy, fondue dinner!

Me and Char

The first night...We were all giving ourselves facials which is why Rach looks a little pale :)

The girls keeping busy in the kitchen!

The 2nd great weekend I've had was over Easter. Randy decided last minute that we should take the kids and travel to Vegas and see how much we could get for them....I mean, take them for a fun long weekend!! And of course when you think of Vegas and Fun, you think Circus Circus! Y'up...they loved it there...the Adventuredome and the pool, they were pretty much set.

And if that didn't sound good enough maybe we could meet Criss Angel...Y'ep...we met him. Have you ever seen 4 young girls screaming and crying over this Mindfreak??? Yeah, that would pretty much be my 3 younger ones and a friend. We were just strolling through the Luxor when Hudsen said, "That's him (meaning Criss)". After that it was a complete zoo...there was a crowd following him and we jumped right in. He walked down to his gift store and then signed autographs and took pictures for about 20 minutes. My girls thought that they had died and gone to heaven!!

Ignore the dude on the right...I have no idea who he is!

All in all...we had a great time, it was sunny and warm and it was just fun to get-away. And in case you were wondering, we did come back with all 4 children. (No Hannah though, she was too cool for us and was on Spring Break with her friends!)

Excerpts from a 2nd Graders autobiography...

Oh that Hudsen, have I ever mentioned how much I love that little girl??? She makes me laugh so hard and I can't seem to get enough of her. The following has been taken from her recently written and published 2nd Grade memoirs...gotta love it!!Love that she is a self proclaimed "Excellent Shopper"....she must get that from me!
Who needs to "Expect great things from Macy's"....that is way overrated!

My Latest Gig...

So I really haven't been doing any parties lately...it's just too much work for not enough pay. But I do love me some creative outlets, so when I was asked if I'd like to decorate for a baby shower in 3 days...I said, "Hmmmmm...sure". After all, I could pull it off in such a short time, right??? Oh and by the way I forgot I was going on a field trip with Hope's class from 8am to 3pm and then needed to be at the place at 5 to set up, so NO problem...(I started to ask myself What Was I Smokin?) But no worries, thanks to a nice friend (thanks Kimmie) and a husband who played Mr. Mom all day (taking care of a sick Hudsen) I got the job done AND I was happy with it.

Phew...now hopefully I can sleep...it's been 3 nights in a row where I've been up most of the night! And now I can take care of the rest of life :)

I'm not sure this is healthy...

So my cute little 13 year old Hailey is obsessed with this boy like I have never seen anyone obsessed before!!! If you spend any time at all with her, you'd know I am not over exaggerating even a tiny bit. I think she has every space on her bedroom walls covered with his face. She giggles like only a 13 year old girl can whenever she sees him. I think she has seen Twilight at least 70 times...I kid you not!! Yesterday I took her into the store to buy her own copy of Twilight and she cradled it like a baby and got upset when I casually tossed it into the cart. She claims she is married to him and when I mention the fact that I think he likes the girls and likes to party, she tells me that she knows...that they are in counseling, working through this issue!

Now I'm asking you...is this healthy???

You say Roman, I say Ramen...

Plus this...

EQUALS A VERY FUNNY STORY...

The girls and I were sitting on Hudsens bed just gabbing and having fun when we noticed that Joe Jonas (well, the poster of Joe on Hudsens wall) was wearing a ring that had roman numerals on it. So Hope says, "Oh yeah I've noticed those ramen numerals before!" I said to her, "did you just say Ramen numerals?" Y'up she did...all those years she has thought that it was RAMEN numerals not ROMAN. But maybe she's onto something there, Ramen noodles are yummy and since they are very bendy we could easily bend them into numbers!! I'm telling you-that
girl is hilarious and most of the time she doesn't even know it!!!!

Hudsen's Baptism

Yesterday was Hudsen's big day...her baptism!! She was all smiles, although she skipped breakfast because she said her tummy was nervous. Overall it went great and we are so proud of her! I guess I only embarrassed her once...after I gave my talk she said it was embarrassing 'cause I talked too long (although the other girls said I didn't!). Oh well, sorry Huds...I'll try not to embarrass you anymore in life...actually that's not true, I try all the time to embarrass my kids.

The Ultimate in Tattling!!

This girl really goes all out when it comes to tattling!! Hudsen obviously wanted to go straight to the big cheese, the head boss, the enforcer...her dad! Randy found this little number on his laptop. Oh man, we got a good laugh from it. I especially love that she added the date...good to know Hudsen. You are a cutie!!

Loathing, Unadulterated Loathing

So I am totally copying this off Kaesy's blog...I loved it!!

"If you could punch anyone, who would it be?

Please pretend this is a tag and share the loathe."

Right now it would be that stupid Tatiana from AI....I seriously could just pummel her face. But don't worry, I'm in Anger Management for my issues!! (But really, I hate her self absorbed, ugly, diva self!)

What Fun!

Florida was great and hard to come home...even though I missed my cute husband and Hannah and Hailey. Not real warm weather, but still sunny and great! We spent 4 days in Orlando with my sister and her family and then 4 days in Jacksonville with my mom and dad. They finally moved into their new home and it's beautiful. Of course I wouldn't expect any less with my mom...she is one talented woman! I can't wait to go back when they've settled in and see all the great decor.

While in Orlando the girls and I went to DisneyWorld and although it rained the whole time it was great. There were no lines and we got on every ride we wanted to...and those of you that frequent Disney know that's almost impossible in one day. We also went to a Cirque du Soleil show...the girls loved it! Hope and Hudsen swam everyday in Angie's (heated) pool, not something they'd get to do here in January! In Jacksonville we went for bike rides, painted pottery and went to the beach. Oh yeah, we ate ALOT!

So thanks mom and dad and Sellers, we had a GREAT trip! Now back to the real world...Ugh!

A Romantic Valentines...

Now don't say I've never been romantic with you.... All things considered, I'd say this is the MOST romantic Valentine I've seen. I mean, what is more romantic than your period????? I found this sweet little niblet in the Good Housekeeping magazine I was reading ( Yes I know what you are thinking, "you've got to be at least 70 to read that magazine"). But I was quite content reading about how to get out stains and the what to do with old sweaters (You wash them and then cut out circles to use them as coasters...I kid you not!) So naturally this ad caught my eye...I hope Randy will find this at Hallmark and surprise me with it this Valentines Day.

Florida or Bust

I'm here...and will be here tomorrow...
Need I say more? It'll be magical I'm sure :)

I just about bust a gut when I saw this picture!! How much do I love Ellen...she is the best. Now, if I could only get MY hands on that hat...it would go great with my Sunday dress.