Karens chaos called...life

Kids....ya just gotta love em'!!!

The above is a close up picture of a "stain" on our newly painted garage door.  It's kind of hard to see, so in the next picture, I backed up a bit so you can get the full effect.

It's a spot about the size of a quarter.  Don and I noticed it the other day while we were playing in the driveway with Ty.

I asked what it was.  Nobody knew.  Don looked closer and said he thought it was a burn mark form a "pop it" you know..those little white round things in wrappers that on the Fourth of July, kids run around throwing at the ground and they "pop" like a little explosion.  They leave burn marks on the ground and that's the kind of mark on the garage door!!

When we asked again, Tyler knew nothing.  Kind of funy since the pop its are on his work bench in the garage.

Sooooo, reminding him that he IS an only child and since his dad and I didn't do it and we doubted that the dog did, we asked again!!  Again, he has no clue!!

Short of beating it out of him, I decided to try to wash it.  Burns don't wash.  So I get to look at that spot everytime I pull in and out of the garage daily.  Mind you...I am in and out of that place a hundred times a day!!

Now, I know I am a little OCD with some stuff, but it is just driving me CRAZY!! 

It's like the garage door is a face and the spot is a huge pimple!!

It probably wouldn't have been so bad, except for the fact that Don just painted all the doors this past summer and they look brand new!!

I'm tellin' ya!! 

I CANNOT WAIT for Ty to get his own house!!

I will bounce balls all over, jump over the furniture, hang on the cupboard doors, touch all the windows, spill on all the floors, dirty the bathroom mirrors, make his dog run through the house like an elephant and spin all the throw rugs around, make cool aid and leave the powder on the countertop so when he washes the countertop later it turns into a sticky mess, use his laptop and let the battery die, slam doors, ring his doorbell and run, leave his doors open when the air is on and then when I am done doing that.....I am going to head to the garage and leave my bike in the middle of it, get in his car and roll the windows up and down, up and down, then using the electric seat button, move his seats back and forth back and forth and NOT leave them in the position they WERE in, throw my food wrappers on the floor and leave the crumbs in the seats, poke EVERY button possible...SEVERAL times, step on the seats to climb into the back seat (the ONLY button he DOESN'T use is the one to flip the seat forward to get in back) change the radio station and turn it up loud, open the glove box and take everything out and question him as to why he has those things in it.

I am going to do all of this in about 15 minutes and then get out of the car and look at him with a dumb look on my face and ask him what his problem is and why is he soooo grumpy and tell him he needs to take a chill pill.  OHHHHH...I am SO NOT KIDDING!!!!

Welcome to my life!!  That's a day in a nut shell for me!!! 

I will do this to him if I am still living long enough to see him get his own house and car!! Thus the weekend away with girlfriends this week!!!!!!  Can't wait ladies!!

All of the above is just typical kid stuff, we all have done it or gone through it.

I now know why my parents go to Florida for the winter and love every minute of it!!  They have earned every minute of it.  ENJOY!!!!  Sorry for all of the above that I did as a child!!  :)  :)  :)

The funny part...................I will miss him this weekend while I'm away with the girls!!

   

Winter fun!

This past weekend Don and Tyler made their annual igloo.

They do this every year.  Don plows all the snow from the parking lot into one big pile and then they carve out the inside and make an igloo.  I got in it and apparently, over the course of time, I have become claustrophobic!!  I got in it and started to completely freak out!!  It was the most horrific feeling!  I came flying out of there like I was in a burning house!!!  I actually had the feeling that I was going to be sick!!  It was really weird!!  Gotta love getting old!!  I have never experienced that feeling before!!

Then they decided to give the dog a ride on the sled, she loved it!!!

She had so much fun!!!  Except that now when she's inside and they are sledding, she goes crazy to get outside cause she knows what she is missing!!

Then..............they weren't going to rest until they had ME on a sled!!!!!!!!!  Well, let me tell ya!!  I did it!!  But I am WAY TOO OLD for that stuff anymore!!  I fell off and went rolling away!!!  You feel EVERY bump there is!!  Not good!!  I lasted 3 times around the house and had to stop.  I can remember doing that stuff all day long when I was a kid!! Have I mentioned I don't like this getting old stuff?!!?!?

Well, we are supposed to get 5-8 inches of snow tonight with the possibility of 7-11 inches.  YEAH!!

I think I'll stick to watching them play from the window!!

  

Too much New Year's Eve!!

 
It looks like somebody had too much fun on New Year's Eve!!

HA HA HA

We had a good time having dinner, bowling and then snacks and laughs with some good friends!

I only wish I could have the noise of BLOWING HORNS come through the computer for your enjoyment!!  I KNOW we enjoyed it last night!!!!  HA HA HA  Oh to be a kid again!!

We wish all of you a happy and healthy 2010!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Poster perfect Christmas!

As Tyler gets older, gift buying gets harder!!

This year, thanks to Tom Short of www.Shortpics.com, the gift ideas were much easier!!

Tom is the father of one of Tyler's soccer teammates.  He takes photos of all of the boys at all of the games and then posts them on his website for all of us other parents to view and purchase posters if we would like.

So.............I did!!  Not only the posters, but, since I have a terrible camera (I don't know if it's the camera or the operator?!!?) I also purchased all the individual photos for the soccer scrapbook.

When flipping through the book, you can definitely see where my photos end and Tom's start!!

The posters turned out great!!  Here they are!  Again, remember I took the photos of the posters, they are in a plastic frame with glare and I don't know how to turn the flash off on my camera...(again camera or operator?!!?!?)  so they are much better in person, but you will get the drift!!

This next one is a 12x12 that Tom did for me as a "thank you" for my prior purchases.

It is a picture and the newspaper article from the Championship game at the Bolingbrook Tournament.

All of the above posters were made with the photos that Tom took at the games.

He can also create things with photos of your own.  The next one shows that.  Tyler shot his first deer this year and Tom had the idea of making a poster to remember that!!  It turned out great!

Thanks Tom!!

He can do many different layouts using many different sports and activities.  His website, www.shortpics.com has all the different examples.  It's a fun way to preserve memories.

Again, the glare on some of them don't do them justice, they are great in person, but, this will give you an idea of what can be done!!   

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

It's a day filled with snow and more snow here!

Tyler loves it!

This is how he is spending his day!

He loves being pulled around by the four wheeler!! 

They have now been out there over two hours, just zig zagging and circling!!!

I would love to see him water ski!!  Maybe this summer!

Enjoy your snow!!

SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you that are checking in here to see what I've been up to, sorry!!!

I have been trying to post since last Friday!!  Today is Thursday!!

For some reason, my computer won't let me download my pictures to the blog!!  The computer is about to go out the window!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't do posts without photos, it just isn't right!!!!  They are half the fun!!

This really needs to get cleared up!!!  I am getting behind in my material, I have about seven posts sitting here ready to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has happened a couple of times in the past.  It takes a couple of weeks and it just goes away.  I'm not sure if it's problem with the site "typepad" itself or what, but, hopefully it gets back on trrack soon!!!

I guess I will get back to getting ready for Christmas!!

Everyone stay warm and healthy!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The turkey is in the oven, the parade is on the TV, Grandpa and Grandma are on their way and the boys are on the beach.

Before they left, I had them make cards for all of you at home.

I would post them, however, my computer is not letting me!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I will try tonight and see if it works then.  They are nice and they did work hard on them.

I have a turkey in my oven and Ellen has a ham in hers.  So all at our table will be happy.  Then the usuals, potatos and gravy, stuffing, corn, rolls and pumpkin pie.  I can't wait!!

Monica, you can enjoy your day, Ryan's cough is much better...he slept through the night and said he got a good nights sleep.  I gave him more medicine this morning.  He still is coughing, but only about 50% of what he was!!  It was the first night he slept through, uninterupted.  I'm sure just getting a good nights sleep will help him!!

Hope everyone enjoys their day and has a stomach ache by the end!!

Day 4, Wednesday!!!!!

Rain, Rain...go away!!!

Can ya see where I'm going with this??!?!?!?

Oh well.....everyday can't be perfect!!

Today it rained most of the day and when it wasn't raining....it was just plain ugly!!

So......we watched a little TV this morning in our PJ's and relaxed!

Then we got ready and went out to lunch to a restaurant that we saw dolphins at last time we were there. For those of you that go here...it was...The Gulf Shore Restaurant.

Thinking it would be a long shot that we would see dolphins again.......but Tyler wanting to go soooooooooooo bad....we decided to go.

They sat us at a window table and we sat down and the dolphin started swimming by!!!  Tyler came unglued!!!!  He was so excited!!!  We had a wonderful lunch and then went window shopping to a strip mall that has all the side walks under roof so we could still go in the rain.

Then it was off to CVS to get Ryan some cough medicine for a persistant cough that he has.

After that we went back to the condo to play dominoes on the patio, it was raing but coming straight down so we were still able to "enjoy" the outdoors, since it was still warm.

After a while we headed to a movie theater across the street and just down one block.  We went to see the movie "Old Dogs".  It was hilarious!!  The theater was one of those that has tables and chairs and you actually sit and eat while watching the movie!!  It was really cool!!

We then went to Ellen's condo to play more games and hang out for the night and relax.  I have been saying that we are relaxing a lot....that's easy to do here.  The kids decided to go swimming since it is not raining anymore, they just got back and are watching TV now.

Here a the only couple of pictures I took today.

Even with the rain....it wasn't a washout!!!

We had a good time...in all honesty....it was a nice break from the beach!!  

Day 3.....Tuesday!

Not much happening today....really rather uneventful.

Other than the boys waking up at the crack of dawn!!  It's been a LONG day.

Full of rest and relaxation!  I never thought I'd hear myself say this...but...I think too much sitting around makes me feel....AUGHHHH!! 

Ellen and I went to the grocery store this morning to shop for the Thanksgiving meal.

Then we all headed to the beach.  Then back to the pool.  Then back to the beach.  And so on!!

We came back to the condo to shower and get dinner ready for tonight.  Mom and Dad came and we grilled steaks down by the pool.  It was wonderful!!!

We then went to the pier on the "main drag" where all the little shops and restaurants are and walked around a bit, bought a T-shirt, watched some guys fish off the pier and then had ice cream.

I think more of the same is what's going to go on around here tomorrow.  I did call and schedule a sightseeing/dolphin boat ride for myself, Tyler, Ryan and Stephanie.  That will be on Friday morning.

Here's a couple of pictures from the pool.  Not many pictures today, sorry!

Ellen and I left them at the pool while we went to the grocery store this morning.  The girls were in charge...all must have gone well because they weren't on the bottom when we got back!!!!  The girls are in the background and look really thrilled to have been given this job!!!!

I'll be back tomorrow!!

Good night!!

 
 

Day 2...Monday!

Well.................today started at 7:00AM...YES...7:00AM.

Apparently my child does not know how to sleep in on vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At least he doesn't come in and wake me up....however....I hear him and can't fall back asleep!!

We wait for Ryan to get up.....he's a consistant 7:45AM riser.

So...............here we are at 8:10AM!!!!!

Have mercy!!!!

I am exhausted!!!

I did not know it was possible to give birth to a cartoon....but I did....yep....the Ever Ready Energizer Bunny!!

They had a castle built before the Cabana dude had all the cabanas set up for the day!!

We decided to go to the Bubble Room on Captiva Island for lunch and stop to do some shelling on Sanibel Island afterwards.

The girls each took turns riding in the convertible, one on the way there and one on the way back.  Neither Ellen or I have a car to fit everyone, so we both had to drive.

Yes.................we took Ellen (or Negative Nancy as Britt likes to call her) kicking and screaming!!

She would have rather been on the beach!!

All is good now...as soon as we got back she informed us that she can die now.....she's been to the Bubble Room!!  (She liked it)  In fact, in the parking lot as we were leaving...she took a picture of the place.....I yelled to her and told her that she is now an "official" tourist and I wanted a picture of her taking a picture!!!

We then left and headed to a public beach where the kids picked up some shells!!

We left Ft. Myers Beach and headed to Sanibel Island, then to Captiva Island.  The ride was gorgeous.  Lots of water...long.....long bridges and BEAUTIFUL homes!!  You wouldn't know there's a recession!!!

In fact, they weren't just homes, they were mansions and that's NOT dramatized!!!  I have NEVER seen places like this except for on TV!!!  WOW!!!! 

Here are some pictures form this excursion!!

That was one of three bridges we had to go over to get there.

This bridge was like a roller coaster ride....up up up and all we could see waas sky!!

The Bubble Room was cool!  It has five dining rooms and each is decorated differently.  One is decorated for Christmas.  The tables are hollow and have glass tops and in each on there are different things such as old Pez dispensers, old baseball cards, old matchbox cars.  All collectable type things.  Different and neat!

The waves there were much bigger then in Ft. Myers!!

We then got back home and went to beach for a couple of hours and then got ready to got out for dinner.  Mom and Dad took us to Mantanza's.

It's our favorite restaurant!!  It's on the water and the boats pull up and dock and come in to eat.

Love it!!

No Don, we didn't have gator tail like when you went with us!!!

But!!  Tyler did try the calamari and LIKED it!!

I have to go.....I am beat....the couch is calling!!

Again....no checking of the grammar!!  I won't for the rest of the trip!!  I do this at night and am lucky to have both eyes open!!!

See you tomorrow!!