Freezer

Well, it looks like we need a new deep freezer. Shay went to get chicken out for dinner tonight and it was thawing. We had to throw out some food but have saved most of it. We will have to cook it all tonight and I wont have to cook this weekend. Lots of leftovers........

Gardening

In August we started growing plants from seeds. We have had fun watching them grow. A couple weeks ago Steve built us this stand so we could hang our plants topsy turvy style. As you can see in the above picture it is going pretty well. We have 2 types of tomatoes hanging and 2 types of cucumbers. We still have more tomatoes to hang. I have to scrub out the buckets first.

I know, you are all probably thinking we are crazy for starting our garden now. But in Florida you plant you garden in the fall and winter months or else it will get destroyed during hurricane season. Not to mention its too hot here to grow tomatoes during the summer. The shrivel and die.

This is our yellow squash plant. It is growing in a regular container. It seems to be fairing well, so I didn't want to move it and chance killing it. Its flowering already so I will take that is a good sign.

This is a container with more cucumbers in it. We didn't have enough buckets at first so we just left these ones in here. They are flowering now too so we will leave them alone now.

These are all the other tomato plants we have growing. I need to get them into containers tomorrow or in the ground with streaks to grow up so we don't lose them. The white container in the side view is a butterfly garden. Once they bloom they are suppose to attract butterflies. We planted them from seeds too.

This is our last set of plants. In the eggs are pepper plants that we planted straight out of the peppers. In the big container is a passion fruit vine that we started from seeds. We are hoping they take off. I love passion fruit juice. If it works, next year this time we should have tons of passion fruit. We also have a star fruit tree but I didn't take a picture of that one.

Baby No More

Zach being silly

Darth & Matthew

Cool guitar lamp.

Tug of war.
Girls beat the boys....

The rip stick

Well, Saturday Zach turned 8. He is my baby no more. Not that he has been for a while. But where did the time go?

My kids love the way we do birthdays around here. They have a party with all their friends during the day and than for dinner we have the adults over. Grandma Jean couldn't make it this year. She was sick. But we had a nice turn out for the kids party and the adult party.

We had chicken, beef, and chocolate fondue for dinner with all the adults. Zach invited our chiropractor, Mike and he came with his girlfriend, Adreana. Paul, Helen & Randy where here, Roger & Tali and Poppy Andre. It was a nice turn out.

Steve, Shay and Zach got tickets to Sea World with Paul and Randy for Sunday. So I guess you could say that Zach had an awesome birthday. He even got to show off his stitches. Which came out on Monday.

Believe it or not his favorite gift was the sewing kit I gave him. It is a blue and white tool box with lefty scissors, seam ripper, magnetic pin catcher, blue pins, measuring tape, rolling cutter, needle threader, fabric for several projects and matching thread. Shaylin got the same thing except all her stuff was pink and her box was yellow and white. I couldn't fine a pink one.

I fell trying out his new rip stick an dgot a stren look from Dr. Mike when he found out. I laughed and told him it was job security for him!!!!

How was your weekend???

Apron Give Away

Check out the following link to enter to win a very cute holiday apron.

http://pennyraine.com/blog/2008/09/another-holiday-apron-give-away-contest/#comment-1638

A Trip to the ER

The results of a "hard" days work....

Zach showing how tough he is...

Today was a nerve wracking day for sure!! I went to a friends house to have my hair cut. I brought the kids because they have a pool. All was fine until it was time to wash my hair .

My friend was just starting the sink water and the screaming started. We made it outside to high pitched squeals and Shay yelling "OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH!! ZACH IS BLEEDING!! MOM!!! ZACH IS BLEEDING!!" Well, my heart just stopped. They where coming out of the pool and Zach was COVERED in blood.

I am sorry to say, I jumped on Shaylin for her continued screams. I know she was scared but I needed calm to figure out what happened and what to do next. I ran in the house grabbed paper towels, than listened as Shay told me what happened.

Well, the youngest girl found some billiard balls and decided to throw them in the pool. Well Zach's head got the brunt of the purple # 4 ball. My friend helped me rinse Zach off and brought him to the local fire house to be looked at. By the time we made the 2 minute trip his head had stopped bleeding. They gave me some ice and told me to bring him to the ER. They could take me but it would be a $600.00 bill. (By the way, my sister was at my friends house too. So the kids where not left unattended.)

We got back to my friends house, I collected Shay and zoomed home for Daddy, tissues, and a pair of shoes for Zach. We left his in the rush. In all of this, Zach kept saying, "I wish this was a bad dream and that I would wake up and it would be over." Than when we got to the firehouse he asked, "Mom. can I get a toy after all of this is over. I think I have been a good boy." That made us laugh. It broke the tension.

Well we checked into the ER at 5:05pm. They gave us some fresh ice and and new towel for Zach's head. It was pretty busy in there. It was over an hour before we where called. When we finally got called back, we heard that they had 30 triage beds and they where all full. There was this lady having massive chest pains on a bed in the hall. It was really freaking the kids out. She was crying out and rocking back and forth. It was scary.

They sent us back to Minor care. We watched the sport highlights on the news. The one highlight for all of this is when Zach found out that the Dolphins won today. (Daddy told him on the ride over and he finally cracked a smile. From then on he did better. He just needed a little boost. Shay was really good with him too. She held the ice on his head for the ride over and talked to keep him awake.)

Well, we finally got called back at Minor care. I went back with Zach. Steve and Shay stayed in the waiting room. A nurse came in and cleaned the wound. Than a really nice DR came in to talk to Zach. He dripped litocane in the wound a few times to numb it up a bit. Than when Zach was a little numb he broke out with the needle. Zach was trembling in fear. But he did everything the DR told him to do and didn't cry or move. He got 5 stitches. I think he kept expecting it to hurt more than it did. Once it was over he was good. He kept asking when we could go to Walmart to get that toy. It was 7:30pm.

Well, after we came home and ate dinner, I ran to Walmart. I needed Tylenol for Zach all I had was Motrin. So he got his toy. We ran into one of his friends mom and his friend had cut his leg open with a utility knife shortly before Zach got hurt. We met them in the band-ade isle.

Zach gets the stitched out on Monday the 29th. We are going in for his well check up that day, so they will have a little extra work to do that day.....

All in all it was a good day. For what happened, there is minimal damage. The worst is the stress we all went through. And Zach's pain of course. But he said it was worth it to get the toy........

Oh, I did apologize to Shay for yelling at her when it all happened. I explained that I understood that she was scared but that her screaming was freaking out her brother more and I needed her to tell me what happened. She apologized to me for freaking so bad. Not that I can blame her cause I was freaking out too. She just didn't know it.

So how was your day????

Shay's 13th Birthday Party

Opening Gifts

Friends watching the fun

Pedicure Time!!

More foot soaking.

Boys checking out the gifts.

A Teenager!!!

Today my first baby becomes a teenager. Shay is turning 13 today!! We had a party with her friends yesterday. They played games and then I filled up tubs with warm water and foot soaking crystals for pedicures. They had a blast!! Shay got a few surprise gifts. The biggest being a "Vero" Bradley purse that her grandma made for her. It is so pretty!! The girls just loved it. They all said it was better than the real thing because it was made with love. I agree!!

I will post pictures of the party later. Its a little after midnight and the camera is in my room. I don't want to wake up Steve. He took some medicine before bed. He got stung by a wasp and has tons of little bites all over him. I am not sure what chewed him up but there is a trail up his legs and back. He must have picked something up on his towel when he was in the hot tub last night.

Shay has decided to make dinner tonight for her "real" birthday. Grandma & Poppy didn't come over for the party today. Grandma was very sick. Poppy's birthday was Friday. We are waiting until Grandma feels better and can enjoy the celebration to have dinner with him. But she did say she would try to come tonight for dinner. Shay is making lasagna & garlic bread. (Her favorite.) I'll be on hand to help her out. But she wants to make it all herself. She is growing into a fine young lady.

Well, I need to try and get some sleep. I am fighting a sinus cold and have a hard time sleeping lately. Between the sinus pressure and the back pain I don't sleep much these days... Hopefully my FMS will calm down and my back pain will ease for a spell.

Have a good night all. I will post pictures after church.