A totally AWESOME Vacation!

We are back from our 10 day long vacation and it is back to the real world tomorrow.  We had a GREAT time.  This picture above is in St Thomas.  We 4 took a roller coaster ride over a very high mountain with a mad man cab driver.  This is the top of the mountain and you can see the beach in the background that we were heading to.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Josh and Matt had gone parasailing with their teen group from the cruise this day.

This is in St. Martin on a catamaran ride.  We went to a deserted island and snorkeled and hung out on the beach.  We also went to Nassau another day.  The kids all met friends and we didn’t see them much.  Darn!  They had kids clubs for each age and they would do all kind of crazy things and usually show back up in our room about 2:30 am.  This had to be the best family vacation ever and we sure plan to do it again.

St. Martin

View of the beach we went to in St Thomas from the top of a mountain.  It is just so beautiful there.

Our last night on the ship. 

Kendall leaves for the mountains tomorrow and Josh and Matt register for school on Thursday.  My how time flies.  We are ready for another vacation already.

A Sad Day

Cassie 1991-2008

Yestday was a very sad day in our household.  We had to put our very loved Cassie to sleep.  I think it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  She was the most special dog ever.  I got her when she would just fit into the palm of your hand, before I had any children.  She went through so much with me including divorce and raising babies alone until Dave.  She helped me to clean babies’ faces, “vaccum” food from the floor and keep me company and lick my tears when I was lonely.  When Dave and I got married she was sleeping in the bed with me and I remember him saying, “Uh, is that dog going to be sleeping with us?”  My answer, “I had Cassie way before you.”  She did sleep with us up until several years ago when she couldn’t jump onto the bed anymore.  She had a GREAT life and was not sick for one day until her arthritis started a few years back.  After medicine was started she was up and running again.  She even ran around the yard up until a few months back when she started going blind.  She started running into things and appearing to be going downhill.  One of her eyes went bad about a month ago and declined rapidly until she looked to be in pain.  In the past few days she was not able to sleep much, started crying, stopped eating and was getting really sick.  After a heart-wrenching decision was made to put her to sleep,  we took her in to Amanda, our AWESOME vet.  She went very peacefully as all of us, along with Amanda stood there and cried.  We will miss that ole girl!!

Our Show Dog

Well, as if the Barr household isn’t crazy enough, Dave decided we needed more craziness and more mouths to feed.  Another dog was found at the lake this past weekend and guess what?….You guess it, it is in our backyard.  We needed another dog so badly.  When he called to say he was bringing her home, I asked what kind she was/or rather what she looked like.  One of Dave’s co-workers shouted in the background, “this is a show dog”.  Well, she is really cute, but no show dog.

Kendall has named her Ellie and says she is her dog.  Actually, I think she is Sammy’s dog.  They play together a lot.  In fact, they are together today.  They are both at the mobile vet for the day.  Ellie is getting shots and checked out and Sammy is getting fixed today.  Sammy is getting quite big.

 

A week from tomorrow, all 6 of us hit the road for Port Canaveral to leave for our cruise.  We are all really excited.  We are going to have a GREAT time!  I will definitely post pics of the Carribean when we get back and make everyone jealous.

July Celebrations

Josh is officially learning to drive.  He passed his learner’s license test.  That was the written one.  The driving part, that is a different story.  We kind of have to learn how to turn without going into ditches.  I am not a very good rider, especially when it comes to a teen.  He got a bass guitar for his birthday.  We celebrated the 4th with Chris on his new boat, with Daniel’s birthday party, and fireworks with our neighbors, the Gerdemans.  We had a great day.

Josh and Payton leave Friday for Gatlinburg with Memaw and Grandaddy and the boys’ friends, Bradley and Stephen.  The day after they get back, we leave for our cruise.  We are all really excited about that.  This has been one busy summer.  Matt went to Colorado to stay with Dave’s Aunt and Uncle for a week in June.  Here he is there

It is beautiful.

We are ready for Dave’s work schedule to let up a bit.  We haven’t seen him much these last several days.  That is another reason I am ready for our cruise.  Hope everyone had as good a 4th as we did.  

Gatlinburg and Snakes and Hail!

We had a GREAT time away, but were thankful to get back home to Dave.  We had an uneventful drive to Charlotte to stay for a few days at LeAnn’s for Eli’s birthday party.  He had a cool Laser Tag party.  Eli also had a few days of school left.  Here is a picture of all but Josh and Sam at a 50’s diner we went to for brunch in Charlotte.   

  Here is Sam at the diner.

The day Eli got out of school… LeAnn and I, our six kids and Lucy (her English Shepher dog) loaded up the suburban and drive to Gatlinburg.  You can already imagine how it was driving with 6 kids through the mountains- which makes me nervous anyway.  Just the other side of Ashville it started to rain.  It got harder and harder and we started to hear little “plinks” on the windshield.  LeAnn and I looked at each other and said, “Surely this isn’t hail?!”  In a second or two it was hailing and rainng so hard you couldn’t see the road right in front of you.  We were scared to pull over, thinking someone might hit us.  So, with kids carrying on and Lucy barking with EVERY thunder clash, we inched along the side of the mountain about 5 miles an hour.  When it was all said and done, I have little hail dings all in my windshield, but we were safe.

We arrived at the cabin where the kids had a blast in the creek.  They fished- Payton’s favorite.  Wouldn’t you know, Woody, with the home-made rod caught the most fish.  Maybe Chad could try this…. 

One day we all walked down the mountain/hill to Memaw and Grandaddy’s cabin, but decided it was shorted to just cross the creek to get back to our cabin.  I was deathly afraid of snakes and everything else that might be in the water, so when we got to the other side, I hurried up the steps to get back inside.  As I came up the steps and passsed by the first door to the downstairs, I caught something out of the side of my eye.  When I turned to look at it, it was about a 3 foot long snake sprawled across the door.  I screamed, jump on a bench and took off.  Yuck!  The kids were all screaming too.  As Grandaddy and Chris came to rescue the snake he slithered under the deck.  But, I was constantly looking for those things the rest of the time there and thinking one was going to get into my bed.   Needless to say, there wasn’t much sleeping on this trip.  Not to mention, one night racoons on the porch woke me up at 3am.  It sounded like they were playing in the kitchen.  I was too scared to get up, so I just sat up in bed watching for something to walk by my door in the kitchen.   

    

Off on our Mom Adventure

The kids and I leave today for our week+ long vacation, if that is what you call it.  It will be Dave’s vacation anyway.  We will drive to Charlotte today to stay with LeAnn and Chris for several days.  Tomorrow is Eli’s “Laser Tag Birthday Party”.  He turned 8.  We will stay there until Tuesday because Eli is still in school until then.  Then, all 8 of us… me, LeAnn, Josh, Kendall, Payton, Eli, Woody, Sam-plus Lucy the dog, will drive over the Gatlinburg for the rest of the week.  That should be “fun”…all 8 of us in my car.  Memaw, Grandaddy, and Tic-Tock will show up Wednesday.  I am looking forward to sitting on the balcony of the cabin and listening to the creek pass by.  I will post pictures when we get back home.

I filled my car up last week and it was $100.  I was down to a little less than 1/2 a tank, so I filled back up all the way yesterday- another $86.  Yuck!!!  I am sure anyone that has ridden with me knows that this kills me.  I NEVER put more than $30 or $35 in because I feel like I am wasting money, so my car usually sits near empty.  The kids all shout when the gas light starts to ding, “We gotta get gas”.

We will miss Dave greatly while gone, but he is going to be very busy.  We will also miss Cassie and Sammy.  I hope they are well taken care of.  I don’t think Cassie will notice too much that we are gone, but Sammy will probably miss us a lot.  She is the sweetest little dog, or I should say “young” dog.  We will get back the day before Father’s day, just in time to celebrate with our daddies.   

Update on Lucie- this past week she passed the 3 pound mark and doctors and nurses are all shocked at how well she is doing.  

Summer!

Well, summer is finally here.  We grilled out last night with the Gerdeman’s.  Kendall and Josh were gone with their dad, so it was just me, Dave and Payton.  Payton swam after dinner while Jill and I canoed and the boys supervised and laughed at us.  We had a great time.  We are so happy to have another set of friends in the neighborhood-someone else to borrow eggs from.

Payton is already on restriction for a little temper loss the other day.  Kendall and Evelyn were aggravating him and he lost it- damaging some pool chairs.  SO, Payton is already enjoying his summer.  He get off on Wed though and then I won’t see him very often.  He will be out his bike or fishing most of the time, I am sure.  He gets his braces on Wednesday too.  What a big day.

Here is an updated picture of Lucie.  She is doing great.  Isn’t she precious!!!  She is a miracle.

We are now counting down days to leave for LeAnn’s on the 6th.  We are ready for a little break away.  We will miss Dave, but he will be busy.  He is taking some sort of leadership thingy in the fall.  They are sending him to Kansas for 2 weeks, but he has 40 hours of on-line studying to do prior to it.  Sounds really fun, huh?

My poor Cassie is having a little more trouble walking/standing, etc.  Poor thing her left eye drains something nasty and stinky and Sammy tries to give her a bath, but she still stinks.  Cassie seems to like the attention though, with only an occassionaly growl at her.  I pray that she just goes in her sleep and I do not have to put her to sleep.  I have had her for almost 17 years and that is like putting your child to sleep.  She really doesn’t appear to be suffering, but unsteady.  Rodney is still kicking too.  We seem to have animals that live forever.  Our gerbil lived for a long while with a hole in his side.  Yuck!

We are making a big buy today.  A dryer!  Yahoo!!!  You need earplugs to be near our current one while it is working.  It makes this terrible screaching and we just know it will die any minute.  So, as soon as Dave gets home, it’s off to Home Depot.  FUN! FUN!      

1 more day!

School is officially out in 1 day.  Payton has honor’s day tomorrow and Josh has one last final in the am, ending at 945.  This is geometry, the most important one.  I will be praying hard from 8:10 until then.

Lucie is doing great.  She continues to gain weight and is off the ventilator.  I hope to post a new picture soon.  Her grandmother is hogging them right now.

I am in search of cups with an initial or something on it.  I might have to resort to my Uppercase LIving friend, Jill for this.  During the summer-well, weekends too, the kids manage to dirty up every cup in this house.  They drink from one and set it down, forget where it is, so pick up a new one when thirsty again.  So, I had the bright idea to get ones with “J”, “M”, “K”, and “P” on them.  If they can’t find their initial cup, they are out of luck.  Then, we also will know who left their dirty cup out for Sammy to tip over.  If anyone sees cups like this, let me know.  We tried the color coded ones at one time, but the kids forgot their color- the boys did anyway.  We also have a new set of rules for the summer.  One included Kendall vacuming the house twice a week.  Oh my, you would have thought she was asked to paint the house biweekly.  It was a knock down, drag out between her and Dave.  I am still not sure who won.  It was probably Kendall, because she succeeded in Dave having a nervous breakdown- not a hard thing to do.  Hopefully our house will be a little more peaceful and clean this summer, but I am not crossing my fingers.

Our new couches come tomorrow.  I cannot wait to get rid of these stinky ones.  They are brown leather.  It took me a month or so to convince Dave to purchase leather.  I am excited to see the new look and get rid of the bad smell.  Milk cereal, dog drool, among who knows what else does not settle well on fabric.  Here is a picture of it.

         

Well, I was approved for my vacation request for Dec.  I asked off for the Saturday after Christmas for a few days and it was approved today.  Looks like we will be heading to Illinois that weekend for some snowskiing- which I have never done.  We have NEVER been to Dave’s mom’s at Christmas either, so she is going to be really excited about that.  Hope we all come back in one piece.

It’s Friday!! & Pray for Lucie!

Thank Goodness It’s Friday!  We only have one more week of school.  It is hard to believe.  Before we know it, summer will be over and we will be heading back to registration.  The older I get, the faster time flies.

No big plans for the weekend.  Dave is working tomorrow and we will probably just hang out around the pool.  Sunday we will go to church then to eat at my mom’s.  They will be coming back from Gatlinburg Sat and bringing BBQ from Oinkers for our Sunday lunch.  The kids favorite!

I have been doing a little research on purchasing a truck for Josh- not right now, but in about 6 months.  I would love to spend as little as possible, of course.  Plus, the least you spend, the cheaper the insurance.  Hopefully I can find something pretty descent for less than $5000.  SO, if you hear of anything, let me know.  I cannot believe he will be 15 in a little more than a month.  Yikes!  We took a driving adventure a few weeks ago.  I have now recovered from my whip lash.  I took him to one of the parks in Dave’s truck and let him drive around.  Wow, I could only take about 10 minutes before I was about to have a nervous breakdown.  I don’t know how I will handle it when we get on the real road with real cars.  It can only get better!!!

Keep little Lucie Putnam in your prayers.  Her grandmother works with me.  She was born 1 week ago, weighing 1 pounds 11 oz.  She was very early, but she had gastroschesis, which means her intestines were on the outside.  She was so little that it took 2 different surgeries to get them all back inside.  She is now a little over 2 pounds and today they are weaning her off of the ventilator.  She is adorable, by pictures.  He grandmother says her head is the size of a softball.  They are really exhausted and broke from driving back and forth to Atlanta everyday.  She is at Egelston right now, from the surgery.  She will be transported back to Northside before too long.  I will keep you updated and have inserted a picture of baby Lucie.

Mother’s Day

I had an AWESOME Mother’s Day!  We went to church and went to eat lunch at my mom’s with Tic Tock, Chris and Phyllis, and their boys.   We came home after lunch and just hung out here.  Later in the day, Dave took a nap and I went walking with my new friend, Jill.  It was a very relaxing day.  I got some new perfume…Jessica McClintock”Forever and Always”, and the kids each made me something.  Payton drew a portrait of me and had a little paragraph about me to the side of it.  Gotta have it framed.  Kendall picked a really pretty flower and pressed it into a glass picture frame.  Josh made a wooden sign that said MOM, but the o was a heart.  I was very impressd.  Dave also gave me some lingerie.  So it was a wonderful day and today is back to business.

Tomorrow night I have to go a Mary Kay party…Thanks Julia!  Payton has guitar and Josh has Scouts.  I will probably be watching Daniel and Sawyer in the afternoon for Memaw to help Josh with his math- reviewing for finals.  Memawkeeps the boys one day a week for Chris to get some things done.  Although, he does get a lot more done with the boysthan I would think he could.  I ran into him in the grocery store today with Daniel and the groceries in the buggy and Sawyer on his back in a backpack.  They alwaysdraw a lot of attention wherever they go.  A stay at home dad is a site no matter what.

A week from tomorrow I will be hosting my “Uppercase Living” party at Jill’s, the rep, house.  She has larger rooms for people to gather and she has ideas/examples already on her walls.  I think everyone is going to love it.  Katie says she loves it and wants to decorate her whole new house with it- when she gets one.  Better have a party Katie, so you can afford it.