Check it out!

Plans are final & we are marching forward. Myself & two of my friends are planning a children's consignment sale for Cleveland County and we are so excited to be offering something like this in our area. If you live in the area, I hope you will give us a try...whether to consign, shop or both. We are now scheduling appointments for consignors. Check out our website for more information.

www.shelbyclothesline.webs.com

Mr. Lizard

Kensley had a fascination with a lizard at one of her visits to my parents house. She named it Mr. Lizard & it's hilarious to hear her talk about it. Really what's funniest is her expressions & formations of her mouth when she says it. Enjoy!

My burden bearer

I don't know about you, but summer for me can be.... trying... to say the least. When you've got kids in school, who have been constantly entertained for most of the day, and then you go into summer mode... with really no schedule... we have issues. At least in my house. I call them "too much time on your hands" and "boredom". It takes some adjustment in our house to get used to being around each other ALL day long again. This year, seems to have taken a little longer than in the past. However, all this to say, I've lost it a few times & just said "enough!" I get to the point where I just can't take the constant arguing & fussing anymore and I kind of blow... like steam coming out of a train. Today, was one of those days. Kensley had to argue or whine about EVERYTHING that took place this morning, the boys always feel the need to make it even worse & aggravate her too, their constant arguing between each other, one of them knocked our clock off the kitchen wall & it broke, Kensley locked herself in her room & decided her babydolls needed lotion, therefore lotion was all over the place & her hands were covered and she couldn't open then door...then when i tried to pick the lock it wouldn't budge... therefore making me freak out even more because I couldn't get in...(I'm getting a little sidetracked but you get my point here....)

I don't know why I let myself get to this point. It should be so simple to just say "okay, Lord, I can't deal anymore, you need to take over." But I don't. I, for some strange reason, feel the need that I can handle it all on my own... but I never can. As I reached my boiling point today I took a "time out" in the bathroom and just said a prayer..."Lord you have to take over, I just can't deal anymore." As I regrouped myself & tried to hold back the tears, I came to sit down & read a devotion for today.

Well, as the Lord always so graciously does, it totally applied to me & my situation today.
"Bring them here to me." Matthew 14:18
.... the devotion talks about a mom who is reminded by her son that needed help with his homework....if you can't do it, just bring it to me & I'll help you with it. Isn't that what God is always telling us? When I am overwhelmed: "If you can't do it, just bring it to Me."

Ahhh... that was what I needed to hear at that exact moment in time. A simple reminder by such a short verse. The Lord is my burden bearer and all I need to do is release it to Him.

4th of July

(Linda, Janet, me, Heather, Joy, Cheryl & Stacy)

I always look forward to the time every year when I get to see my best friends from college. We try to get together at least once a year. We have the best time & the past 2 years we've had our annual gathering at the Boiling Springs YMCA waterpark. It's really perfect because we have plenty of room & the kids have plenty of entertainment. The only downfall is that we just don't have quite enough time to talk. Anyhoo... we had our gathering today & had a blast as usual. Only one of the girls was unable to make it this year but the rest of us were there. We keep growing in numbers with more kiddos being added each year. We'll have two more little ones next time we meet because Heather & Linda are both expecting. I love these girls so much & I'm so thankful that we have all remained friends through the years. Even though I don't get to talk to them as frequent as we would probably all like, we have all remained close.

Here's a group shot of all of us... minus Leslie & her family.


You can check out the rest of my photos on Facebook or here

Happy 7th Birthday... Carter!

Today is my little Carter-Loo's birthday. It couldn't have come soon enough for him. He's been wanting to be 7 really bad now for about 6 months. First thing when he woke up this morning he said "yes I'm 7" with a big fist punch in the air. Fresh out of bed he ran to the kitchen to find his present. Luckily, it was what he wanted... (no, not a dog... that's what he "really" wanted) a Lego City Police Station.

We went to the pool to swim today. This really has been a blessing for us this year. It gives the kids something to do & there is always a sloo of friends there for them to play with. The boys decided they wanted to learn to dive this year.
Chandler almost has it perfected.

Then, there is Carter. He thinks he's got it. However, you can tell from the picture that he's heading for a big, fat belly buster. He tried so many times the other night that his whole chest/belly was bright red. He's still not giving up though.

Then there is Kensley who just wanted to sit with her new Dora towel & eat a snack.

It's a tradition in our family that we take the kids out to eat on their birthday & they get to choose where they want to go. Carter chose Arbys... well, okay, whatever... it IS after all his birthday. So we get there & after I ordered all the food they tell me they are out of roast beef. Seriously!?! Isn't that what Arby's primarily serves... roast beef? I was pretty upset, but everyone conceeded to have chicken & stayed. Carter brought his friend Peyton home today after the pool. He joined us for supper as well. They had a great day!

Carowinds

We had a family trip today (minus Kensley) to Carowinds. Literally, it's been about 5 years since I've been (and that trip consisted of standing in the wave pool for a few minutes-not swimming b/c there was no room- waiting in line for an hour & half to ride one of the water rides & ended up having to leave b/c we ran out of time and riding 1 roller coaster & a few kiddie rides) and I forgot that I wasn't missing much.

It was great family time today & loved spending some time with just the boys, but I am getting too old to do the roller coaster thing anymore. We were all super pumped walking into the park & gung-ho to ride every ride. Well, then... uh, we rode 1.... and ummm.... well, it wasn't great. Chandler & Corby rode the Vortex first (the stand up coaster) and got off & Chandler said he had a headache. So then we make our way around the park to ride a few more rides & the kids keep asking to go to the water park. We were trying to hold off on that as long as we could. So we hit Thunder "beat me to death" Road and were going to ride as a whole family. Carter chickened out last minute, so Corby went out with him and me & Chandler rode it. What was I thinking!!!!????? I forgot how badly that thing jostles your brains. It wasn't fun at all.... my boobs were practically coming out of my shirt by the time the ride ended. I quickly tried to pack everything back in before we came into the station so people wouldn't think it was an x-rated ride. Oh, what a headache. I just wanted something to drink...but we kept walking. We rode a few more rides, had lunch and then gave it up & headed to the waterpark. Now that was fun. We should have spent most of the day there. The boys loved it & we got to ride everything together as a family. We hung around there until it closed & decided to hit a couple more rides before the park closed.

So the "all new" Carolina Cobra roller coaster was right in front of us. It looked so intriguing and fun so me & Corby decided to ride it. Big mistake.... I didn't open my eyes once & after it was over we both looked at each other & said "no more coasters". We both had a headache & I felt sick to my stomach. I was tired, hot, had a headache & felt sick. I just wanted to go home.

All in all, it was a fun day. We are all pooped tonight & I feel sure we will sleep very well tonight. Here's a couple pics I took. The quality is not great b/c it's my camera phone, but it's all I had.

Pull up a chair

and get ready to laugh. This is probably one of the funniest blogs I've read in a while.
cakewrecks.blogspot.com

From what I've gathered, I think this is Mary Alice from Ace of Cakes show on the Food Network. Not only are the posts absolutely hilarious, the pictures of these cakes & her commentary just make it all the better.