The women on my mom’s side of the family gathered together for our 2010 Girls’ Weekend.  We had a great time relaxing, talking, shopping and enjoying the scenery.

This year we honored Aunt Tootsie with a Tootsie Roll party!

We barely had the table ready in time for her arrival! We were thrilled to have found a fun set of party decor.

Aunt Tootsie’s daughter, Kandis. My pretty cousin. The first cousin.

Aunt Kathy took this pic. I hate to have anyone missing. Mom had us all make a jar of exfoliate. It made our hands silky smooth.

Aunt Kathy is in this one, but Mom is now missing.

Here we are relaxing in front of the country home we rented for the weekend.  We were so far out that none of us had cell phone connections, the gravel road was completely flooded in one direction,  and when outside at night there was literally no light – at all. It was odd to those of us accustomed to light pollution.

We had a blast spending a couple of days in a quaint little town in the middle of wine country. Great shopping and good food were big hits, of course! Kandis, Aunt Punkie and Mom posing showing off their new rings.

I had to get in on it, too!

Ok, so we were all pretty excited over our jewels!

Aunt Punkie was totally in her element when we stopped off at a winery with live music. We had fun watching her dance!

She found someone else to be her partner. A nice, random lady

Aunt Punkie and Kandis ended the weekend perfectly.

There was so much I didn’t capture in pictures. I was too busy relaxing and having fun.

I’m looking forward to next year.

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I love my techy husband!

Check out his new blog, Blue Collar Coaching, in my links. He’s added another business to his life! He’s putting what he’s learned about business to good use, helping other entrepreneurs  as a business coach.

We plan on podcasting soon! Our call letters are BCRN, Blue Collar Radio Network! Unfortunately the two microphones James has ordered have been fried by our usb hub. He finally figured out the problem!

Check out his business website, Builders Installation Group. We are in the process of getting a professional pic of James. We need to update his amateur  tough-guy pose! hehe!

Lydia and Jessika’s friend, Liv, doctored some photos of the girls. They are too cute and silly not to share.

Domino sleeping on the way down!

Our good friends, Robin and Larry, invited us to travel to Branson for the weekend. The highlight was of course, Silver Dollar City, a wonderfully clean and friendly theme park. It was a blast.

Anjelia was rather attached to Larry for the weekend. Robin and Larry were brave to invite a family of six on a get-away weekend!

Elaina and her daddy.

I enjoyed the ginormous Flemish Giant bunny!

And Anjelia liked the little goats!

The girls were curious about the old school house. Kinda wish things were still this way for my kids.

The girls loved the roller coasters. Elaina jumped on the barn swing with Lydia and my blood pressure went up. This thing is a beast of a ride. Elaina and I both survived the experience! Jessica and Olivia were roller coaster riding machines. Lydia was brave and tried them all. Larry bought the video of Lydia riding Wildfire, a 66 mile per hour ride with five upside down loops. Her expressions are hilarious the entire ride! I was proud of them all for being brave. Anjelia loved the Powder Keg. It starts by going from 0 to 60 in two seconds! Pretty daring for a six-year-old!

Our family at The Landing. It was beautiful. Would love to see the fountain show at night.

We toured Marvel Cave. It is a one hour walk underground! Very cool. It’s amazing that there are gorgeous water falls underground! The girls got to see some bats and lots of beautiful formations.

A big thank you to Larry, Robin and Olivia for sharing their bring-a-friend tickets with us! We had a great time spending the weekend with your family. Thanks for the memories!

Well, I know I have neglected Percolations. James is encouraging me to turn Percolations into a weekly pod cast. I think that would be a lot of fun and I’m actually considering it. There are a number of things that I am passionate about and maybe there are a few people out there who would listen to a few minutes of me and a guest visiting and sharing our thoughts and our life. I really want to revive Percolations. There is something special about sharing life with others.

Speaking of sharing life, this in some ways has been an awesome season for me and in other ways it’s been a difficult change. Anjelia turned into a kindergartner last fall, leaving me at home alone. I have thought and thought about getting a J O B. Honestly it doesn’t appeal to me at all. My passion is still my home and family.  My family of six does require so much work inside our home to keep it running efficiently, while maintaining a stable and loving environment. I’ve LOVED participating in every field trip and jumping in the car and leaving on a whim is sooooooo fun! It had been years since leaving the house was so easy with no one but myself to get out the door. I am three minutes away from school when my kids are sick and need me. I don’t have to worry about what to do on holiday breaks and three month summer vacation. Lydia is out of school at 2:30 and I am there to pick her up.  I take them in the morning and pick them up each afternoon. (the bus is a scary thing. lots of negative stories) This new stage of my life is one of availability; consistently being there when my kids need me. I don’t want to trade a minute of that away.

Before all my kids were in school, I felt like I did get respect for staying at home. As kindergarten neared I began to get a lot of questions about what I was going to do now. Just yesterday, someone asked me what I did and I told them I was a stay-at-home mom. When they found out that all my kids were in school, they laughed and told me that wasn’t a real job. It hurt me so badly, like a knife in my chest.

In a way, though, maybe this is good for me. I need to focus on what I feel God has called me to do and what I feel is best for my family. It shouldn’t matter what others think and I know I’m too over sensitive about it. This is definitely a learning and growing time for me.

So, there you have it, after a long sabbatical, a little bit of my life to share. Let’s see where new ideas lead me.

Love to all.

My girls have been singing Officer Bob’s praises for two years! Lydia graduated from the D.A.R.E. program last year; Jessica graduated last night. Officer Bob teaches D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). He is a hero in our community. He eats lunch at school with the kids, visits them at the pool in the summer and helps the disadvantaged kids shop for back to school items (I see him at Wal-Mart with them each year). Officer Bob’s plans include moving his office to the elementary building. If a kid is suspected of skipping school, Officer Bob drives to their home to find them. If there’s a kid event going on, Officer Bob is there. He greets the girls at the Primary door each morning and waves goodbye to Lydia each afternoon at the Middle School. Officer Bob is a vital part of our community and we are so thankful to him for all that he does!

It was nice visiting with you this evening!

Mmmmmmmm. . . candy! Who wants to be mommy’s favorite! hehehehe!

Peace out, dude . . . or something like that. . .

It’s no wonder James was stressed when he left this morning. He had to rent this big machine for a multi-unit job that started today. He had to figure out how to get several hundred cabinets out of a semi and onto the third floor of an apartment building! Yikes!

Today has come and gone with a pretty hefty price tag for our business. I am hoping and praying we reap the benefits of the work in a timely manner! It’s funded with government money. I guess the government jobs are starting to come around. It’s a bit hairy though. Since it’s government funded James has to pay prevailing wage. (LOTS of bucks per hour). We won’t start getting paid for the work for weeks to come and payroll is just around the corner each week. Pray for James!

James and I on our nineteenth anniversary! It’s amazing how deep a relationship can go and I know we haven’t even scratched the surface yet compared with people who have been married two to three times this long.

I enjoy taking pictures of James’ kitchens. I especially enjoy doing so when he is in the pic! With the kids in school I have had a little more freedom and have gotten to tag along a few times. My job is to take pics of the various kitchens!

It’s been such a blessing having his office at home in our basement. He now has his very own man-cave!!! It’s a dream come true for him! (I doubt very many men have guinea pigs and rabbits in their man-cave! hehe!) They are good for stress!