No change yet...

Well I've been asked by a few people if I have changed my blog to private yet (and left them off the approval list....lol) - the answer is NO I haven't done anything. Mainly because I've been working so much I just haven't had the time to even bother with posting anything.

I have plenty of time today as I sit in airports all day so I thought I would just take some time and update this ole blog here.

I have been working a lot doing my merchandising I started last year. I really do love it and I've enjoyed the extra money coming in. We are not living paycheck to paycheck anymore and we've been able to afford trips and some extras lately. My job is very flexible in that I can choose the jobs I want to do and work 1-2 twelve-fourteen hour days a week instead of 5 days a week (if I so choose.) I generally try to limit my work days to 3 lonnnngggg days a week.

Because of the flexibility of my schedule AND the extra money I am currently in the Houston airport waiting for my flight to Seattle and then on to Honolulu again! My daughter Felicia who lives in Hawaii called me yesterday morning and said she thought she had broken her foot and she was waiting for a friend to come get her and take her to the hospital. It's her right foot (driving foot.) She called me back later to confirm that her foot was indeed broken and she gets to wear this lovely boot for 6 weeks.
As soon as I told Greg what happened, he said "you need to go help her...let me find you a flight." I tried being "reasonable" and said "we can't afford it, I have to work, what about Dakota..." to which my darling husband said "Elisa! How is Felicia going to drive the boys to school, carry Shawn around and do what she needs to do while on crutches!?" He was right, but as a mom/working mom I'm dealing with guilt over just dropping everything and heading to Hawaii...even though my ADULT daughter does need me. Her hubby is on a ship far, far away and she has 3 rowdy boys (including this little angel below) to deal with.
Oh boy oh boy...I'll be pinching this little angel's sweet cheeks this evening!! So, after much encouragement from my dear husband and after working out a few kinks in my working schedule...I boarded a plane this morning at 6:00 heading to Hawaii! When I left Pensacola, it was overcast/cloudy. We ascended above the clouds and this was my view...so beautiful!

The sun was shining and there was a layer of clouds below me as far as I could see...and NO clouds above me!
This is my darling Felicia and her new attachments for the next few weeks....

Love my "mama" job

I mentioned in a previous post that Greg & Dakota were sick. Greg has a "cold" whereas Dakota has the flu I believe...he's got all the yucky symptoms anyway. They both spent the day in bed yesterday.

I've moved my computer desk from my bedroom out to the living room so I can work in peace without having to listen to the TV my husband loves to watch. Dakota made a pallet on the floor in the living room at my feet by my computer desk instead of laying in his bed or in bed with his daddy. I had to chuckle at this. He's 13 yrs old - that hard in-between age where he is beginning to want his freedom and make his own choices, yet he is still just a young boy...MY young boy. :-) Now here he is sick and he is curling up on the floor at my feet because he wants his mama to be close to him.
I was supposed to go to a concert last night with a friend. I ran to the store to pick up some food/soup, etc and while I was gone I called my friend and bailed on her and her teenage daughter. She is a mother and completely understood why I just didn't feel right about leaving Dakota.

When I got back to the house and told Greg what I had done he said "WHAT?! Hello!! I'm here!" I told Greg "I'm a mom, that's my job and I love it...so I'm staying home and taking care of our boy." There will be another concert down the road. I am slowly "losing" my children to life...they are all growing up and moving on (Praise God since that's as it should be!) so I'm not passing up this opportunity to love on and nurse my son back to health.

This is the group I was going to see last night - Skillet - I've seen them once before in concert and loved it. I must admit I LOVE Christian rock and enjoy going to these concerts. They are sooooo energetic!

Are kids worthy of respect?

This is something I've been thinking about lately and just wanted to put out there to share with whoever happens to read my blog...all 3 of you. ***snicker snicker***

Dakota just turned 13. That is a hard age for any 13-yr-old. Because Dakota has always been homeschooled and never gone to public school and because he has 5 much older brothers/sisters and four sets of grandparents he has been around adults his entire life. That's not to say he doesn't have friends his own age, he has several friends he plays with regularly and he has never had any problem hanging out with kids.

The problem comes with adults. He is so used to his family treating him with respect and allowing him to do and think for himself. When we are "out in the world" and I'm trying to teach him things or I take him with me on jobs so I can teach him skills that may be useful later on, it's so frustrating when an adult looks at Dakota and sees a "kid" and forms an opinion like "oh great, a bratty kid to deal with" and is not helpful or completely overlooks him BECAUSE he's a kid! Grrrr, I get so frustrated with this!

Trying to teach him skills of how to ask questions politely and find out information only to be met with a rude, obnoxious adult who quite obviously doesn't want to be bothered by a "child"...just burns me up! Then the next time we are faced with this situation Dakota is scared to ask questions or go pay for something...because of the ignorant adult he had to deal with the previous time. Unfortunately, Dakota is a people pleaser so he takes things like this to heart - it weighs heavily on him, therefore weighing heavily on me. :-(

There have been several instances of this happening lately and I just don't understand why some adults feel like kids are not worthy of the same respect they themselves expect?

Flag Football

While we went to Tallahassee on Saturday for Justin's graduation from FSU, Dakota had his first flag football game. He's never played on a flag football team before. They play at the church sometimes and he likes it a lot so when we heard they were starting a league in the community we decided to sign him up. I hated to miss his first game! I praise God I have such a great friend and aunt to Dakota that she took care of him for the day and took some pictures for me.
(Dakota is #26)


He's going after the boy with the ball...

Congratulations!

My stepson, Justin, graduated from Florida State University this weekend. We traveled to Tallahassee on Saturday to attend his graduation.

He has a few days off now before he begins studying for his Master's degree on May 11th. This time next year we'll be attending his graduation for that degree. Way to go Justin!!!!

Surprise! Surprise!

I've been doing some Merchandising work the last few months. I picked up a merchandising job working in a local CVS store (of ALL places...LOL) back before Christmas. I received an email last Friday from the lady who runs the company - she was saying there is a big job coming up in March and she had picked up some extra stores and she was just giving us a heads-up to make sure we were available. I sent her an email and asked her if she had picked up any additional stores in Pensacola (where I live) and if so could I work them. She sent me the list back and informed me that "yes, actually she HAD picked up some additional ones and she would love for me to take all of them if I could." There were 18 stores on the list!!! I was thrilled at the news!

I called Greg to tell him I had picked up 18 CVS stores I was going to have to merchandise in March.

His response "So, what does that mean?"

I'm a little baffled by his flat response. What do you mean "what does that mean?" Are ya kidding me? An extra bonus of money is what that means!

After a few more seconds of me realizing he's not too thrilled about this news I got off the phone and stewed for a few minutes. To make a long story short....after several phone calls back and forth between my two daughters, myself and my dear husband - the girls realized how upset I was at his lack of response so they realized they all better let me in on a little surprise they were holding back from me

I'm going to Hawaii on March 18th for 2 1/2 weeks

Felicia and Greg had been planning it and bought me a ticket as a surprise! Greg sent me a text message after Felicia told me the news and it said "Now you see why I wasn't happy about the job :-)" What a sweetie!

I contacted the lady this morning about the CVS jobs and told her about my surprise trip and asked her if she should re-assign the stores to somebody else or would I have enough time to do them. She said she was supposed to give us the work on March 15th. She doesn't want to re-assign the stores because she doesn't want to train anybody else so she told me to do what I can do the two days before I leave and then she would come in town and complete the stores for me!! Wow! Praise the Lord!

Excuse me Baldie

Image via Wikipedia

I was talking to my daughter, Felicia, on the phone a couple days ago. She lives in Hawaii and we were discussing my upcoming trip to visit her. While we were talking she was shopping in Walmart. She began to tell me this funny story about a conversation she and her husband had. Her husband is 23 (or 24?) yrs old and has very thinning hair so he just shaves his head and keeps himself bald most of the time. He's in the Navy and that hairstyle, or lack thereof, works out for him anyway.

Felicia was telling me how she and Will were joking around with each other and saying things like...(this was all in fun)

Will "well, if you left me who would want you with your three kids and, and...."

Felicia "You're one to be talking baldie!"

Now remember Felicia is on the phone in Walmart and relaying this conversation to me....right when Felicia said that to me "You're one to be talking baldie!" a bald-headed man walked by her and said "HEY!" and put his hand on his head.

Felicia just about died! She said "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry...I was talking on the phone! I wasn't talking to you!" I heard the whole thing from my end and as she is profusely apologizing I am busting a gut laughing.

Talking About Sex

We are so blessed to have a young youth pastor at church who isn't afraid to speak to the kids about sex. He never shies away from the subject and he teaches lessons on it quite frequently. He not only works at the church but he is also the drum instructor for our local high school marching band. Because of his constant interaction with the kids he KNOWS what they are faced with, what they are talking about, and what they are dealing with on a daily basis. He wants them to be equipped to handle these issues from a Christian standpoint.

When Dakota first got into the youth group last year, we went to a parent meeting where Jesse (our youth pastor) let us all know what we could expect from him and what he would be discussing with the kids throughout the year. I had always thought Dakota and I had a pretty good line of communication going as far as sex was concerned. He asked me questions and I answered them - no problem. I would also take advantage of opportunities (in movies for instance) where something was not in align with God's word and discuss why it was wrong or why I believed the way I did. I must say though when Jesse said NOTHING was off limits, he meant NOTHING was off limits...I was a little nervous at first.

That was last year. It has been a wonderful year for Dakota. He has an accountability group he meets and prays with and he has matured so much this last year. He and I went to dinner recently and he was asking me some questions about sex. We were casually talking about it and he told me he was so glad that we could just have a normal conversation about sex. He said he gets frustrated when Jesse is preaching a lesson and some of the younger kids start giggling and making wisecracks and he doesn't understand why they do that. I must admit I was having a hard time containing my own giggles listening to the serious tone in the voice of my 12-yr-old when talking about sex!

Happy Birthday Tina and Felicia!!

My girls are 21 today!
I am so proud of both of you and I love and miss you both dearly! You are amazing mothers yourselves!
Hope you enjoy the pictures...

When the girls were first born, Tina had very little hair and Felicia had a head full of black hair. Family members were trying to get me to get their ears pierced but I didn't want to.
When they reached about 6 mos old they were both bald - and looked exactly alike! I couldn't tell them apart and I actually got them mixed up one day and fed one of them twice and didn't feed the other one at all. It was only after hours of her crying and me trying to figure out what was wrong with her that I realized my mistake. I went that weekend and got their ears pierced and one wore pearls and the other wore diamonds - so I could tell them apart!
The girls were attached to these HUGE pacifiers until they turned 3 yrs old. They wouldn't accept any other type of pacifier - these type were extremely hard to find too! When we could find them we would buy several to keep on hand. Look at how big those things are - nothing like the tiny little things babies use today. LOL
All dressed up and ready for church - Easter Sunday
Most of my pictures from this point on are in scrapbooks already so I had to take pictures of my scrapbook pages. The girls went to a Christian school until 3rd grade - they had to wear dresses every day - they had LOTS and lots of dresses!

They spent the night at grandparents house the night before their school pictures were taken. They wanted to get themselves ready that day for their school pictures and THIS is how they dressed - exactly alike!! At first I was so upset when I got their pictures back because they didn't fix their hair and all they wore was a tshirt but the more I looked at the pictures the more I enjoyed them because it was the girls quirky sense of humor coming out in those pictures - they share that sense of humor that's for sure!
Greg used to bleach his hair really blonde. Felicia decided she wanted to do her hair like that and she let Greg do it - ugh...it was horrible! She kept it blonde for awhile then I took her to a salon and spent a ton of money to "fix" it. The pictures below on the top are her before and after pictures from 7th grade. Tina is on the bottom.
When the girls turned 16 I took them out to get their nails done, to Glamor Shots and to a special surprise dinner at The Melting Pot. Everything we did was a surprise that day - I had told them to just keep the day open and I took them from one thing to the next. We had a great day!
Now Tina has her sweet 2-yr-old baby girl - Bailee and she lives in Albany, GA with her marine husband and she is finishing up her degree online where she has been on the President's list for her grades! Congratulations Honey!!
Felicia has her two precious boys - Allan who will be 5 on Dec. 18th and Nathan who is 3 and she lives in Hawaii with her Navy husband.
She just graduated from Massage Therapy school a few months ago - congratulations honey - I am so proud of you because I KNOW how hard this was to get through this with your two younguns and your hubs being gone all the time AND your added pregnancy on top of that!!
This is my darling Felicia as of yesterday...she has 4 weeks left in her 3rd pregnancy...bless her heart - she's ready to pop! You look beautiful darling!
Happy Birthday Tina and Felicia! I love you both so much! I wish I could be with you today but know that you are both in my heart and thoughts and prayers.

Highs and Lows

Dakota and I had a date night last night. We went shopping for a Christmas present for his daddy (no, we didn't find anything yet) and then we went to dinner. We had a very good time! He turned 12 in August. For the most part Dakota is an awesome kid but since he has turned 12 he has gotten a little mouthy at times and after spending all day with him every day I tend to get tired of being around him by evening time...because I am tired of the "arguing/debating" we do back and forth all day.

Dakota and Bailee at the zoo in Albany, GA in November

He's not arguing in a loud, yelling abrasive manner. He has the type of personality where he wants to debate and question every single thing and after 12 hours of this a day I am exhausted.
Let me give you an example - Yesterday was one of those days! His father and I are planning on painting the kitchen and doing some redecorating in there. I have been looking up ideas online for putting in a backsplash and wanted to run to Home Depot and Lowe's to pick up some samples of things. I asked Dakota to go along. BIG MISTAKE!

We've already decided we are going to paint the kitchen red so I was trying to match my samples to the red paint stick thing I had. Dakota picked up some paint color books and started saying things like "wow, this green is beautiful mom" or "look at this blue and orange together...isn't it pretty?" and "THESE colors would look great in the kitchen...dontcha think so mom?" and as I looked at the colors he was pointing to and saw that they were FAR AWAY FROM RED I said "yes, they would look nice if we had not already decided on red."

Then he says "Unh...you just need to consider other colors too! You might like other colors if you would look!"

I said "Umm, excuse me how do you know we haven't looked? You are assuming we jumped right in and said we are going with red without looking at anything else?"

Then he crosses his arms and says "Well, if you aren't even going to listen to my opinion I don't know why you brought me here. You don't need me here anyway. You and dad are going to be the final judge about it and you aren't listening to me anyway so I'm not saying another word!"

That was pretty much how THAT shopping experience went so I quickly found my samples while he moped along in silence and we got out of there. I tried to discuss it with him in the car on the drive home but he was being stubborn so I said "fine, lets' work on your times tables instead!" so we did math the whole way home. Once we got home I gave him writing work and Science to do on his own and I left for a couple hours to go right up the road to meet my friend CJ for tea/dessert.

CJ and Caleb at his 2nd birthday party in November

I love getting together with her and just sitting and talking! We talk and laugh and sometimes cry...it is so refreshing and I feel rejuvenated and ready to be a mom and wife again. Dakota called me right after I had left CJ to see if I was on the way home yet. He wanted me to know he had done all his work and he was going to get online to play one of his games. I told him I was 5 mins from the house. He told me he loved me. When I got home he came up to me and said "I need a hug" and we hugged and he kissed me - all was forgiven.

I'm in GA

I'm in GA for awhile with Tina and Bailee. Not sure how long I'm going to be here. I'm enjoying spending time with my daughter and granddaughter. Her husband Bryant is gone out of town a lot right now because of Marine Birthday Balls so this worked out to be a good time to come see Tina.

We went to Chehaw zoo and park today to get out and enjoy this gorgeous fall weather. The leaves on the trees are changing up here more than they are at home in FL so I'm really enjoying driving around on these country back roads and just taking in the scenery. I took pictures but I left my cord at home that would allow me to take my pictures off my camera so that will have to wait.

Happy Birthday Brianna

My stepdaughter, Brianna turned 17 on Friday. She and Justin, her brother came over for a dinner on Saturday night. I can't believe how big she is getting. She is an 11th grader this year. When her father and I got married she had just turned 4-yrs-old but I have known her since she was 18-mo-old as an adorable little red-head. These days she likes to color her hair so her beautiful red hair doesn't show. Happy Birthday Brianna!

My goofy husband wouldn't keep his eyes open for any of the pictures!

Justin is a senior at Florida State University...notice Greg's shirt (yeah, he roots for Florida! Always has and always will!) BIG Rivalry in our house! LOL

Yearly Doctor Visit

I took Dakota in for a physical last week. I didn't take him to the doctor last year for a checkup. I guess I just forgot to. He wasn't sick last year so he hasn't been to see his doctor in almost 2 years. I can't believe it's been that long! Before we went I told him he was probably going to have to get a tetanus booster since he was 12 yrs old now and I thought that was about the time he needed one. Turned out he had to get three shots! Yikes! Sorry buddy!

Three shots, a finger prick, and a 30-min ear irrigation later we were FINALLY able to leave - WOW - needless to say, my young man wasn't in the best mood the rest of the day.

FYI: If your child is acting like they can't hear you, maybe they can't. Dakota failed his hearing test they did until they irrigated his ears. You would not believe the nasty, junky stuff that came out of there! Once they did that, he passed with flying colors.

Stick to your guns son

Recently Dakota was in a position where he and a few others (friends/family) were playing a Truth or Dare game. I personally despise this game and opted out of playing when they invited me to play. It wasn't long before the whole group came to find us - Greg & I - to get our assistance in making Dakota play along the right way.

The premise behind this game is when it's your turn you choose to tell the truth or take a dare and the other players can ask you anything for your truth or demand you to do anything for your dare. Apparently Dakota didn't agree with some of the things they were telling him to do so he just wasn't doing them. They were starting to ridicule him; he was beginning to get upset...see why I don't like this game?

I asked them what exactly they were trying to have him do. I was a little shocked myself when they told me and slightly embarrassed (and for that reason I'm not going to put it on here) so I told Dakota in front of them how proud I was of him for standing up for his morals and not going along with the crowd and caving in to peer pressure just because they were ridiculing him. I let him know he was making the right decision and he has no reason to feel bad for standing up for himself over a ridiculous game. It was amazing to watch the transformation come over him as I spoke to him...he stood a little taller and didn't look as dejected as when he had first come out to me.

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Dakota has gotten to where he's been helping our Children's Director every Sunday morning in our Children's Worship service instead of coming into Adult Worship. He loves being in there helping. I sometimes wonder if he is doing that just to get out of going to "big" church but he seems to take such ownership and responsibility of that job that I've let him continue doing it. I've talked to the Children's Director and told her to let me know if he is ever in the way or not helping and I will make him come with me into Worship.

I received this email from her Monday morning:

Thank you so much for letting Dakota help in Children's Church. He is such a blessing and an awesome helper!!!! He is great with the kids and doesn't let them play around when they are supposed to be listening. He knows how to redirect them in a great way. :) He is like having an adult in there helping. Just wanted to brag on him.

I'm so proud of my little guy! Ummm, I mean my young man!

Bowling Fun

Generally we've always let the kids have a birthday party every other year. This year was Dakota's year to have a party with his friends. He decided he would like a bowling party. When he made out his invitation list he had all boys on there at first. I knew he had several girls in the youth department he was friends with so I asked if he wanted to invite any of the girls...his response "Sure, I guess."

I began to get scared when the RSVP's started coming in and the only ones who seemed to be coming at first were GIRLS! Uh-oh...I don't think that would go over very well! Praise God though some of his guy pals were able to make it and they all had a great time.

Dakota's youth pastor Jesse and his fiance' Jessie (she just had her wisdom teeth out so she was in a little pain) - Dakota adores these two - I am so glad they showed up for awhile!

One of his friends is signing Dakota's "souvenir" Birthday Bowling Pin

We had three lanes and 18 bowlers - I realized later I didn't even pay attention to how well (or not) anybody did!

Dakota and his "crew" - motley lookin' bunch aren't they? lol

Brianna (my stepdaughter) trying to hold on to Bailee (my granddaughter) - Bailee was the center of attention as she went from one person to the next...cheering Dakota on and clapping and encouraging him the entire time. She LOVES Dakota!Jackie and Brittany - I had to sneak this picture - they always run and hide from me when I am trying to take their picture! They are sweet girls and friends of Dakota's.

Bailee is pointing to Dakota on the other side of the table as he is opening his presents. She wants to be closer to Dakota. Tina, Bryant and Bailee just drove from CA last week and arrived in town Friday evening. They are moving to their new home in GA this next week!

Bailee went over to Pops (Greg) and begged for him to pick her up...guess she figured that was as close as she could get to Dakota for right now. LOL

Tina & Bryant were staying at the beach house again so after the party we went to hang out with them for awhile. Dakota's best friend (Jacob - here with him in the hammock) came home with us after the party and spent the night with Dakota. It cracks me up how much Dakota and Jacob look alike - except Jacob is much smaller. Dakota is 4 mos older than him.

Brianna holding Bailee on the pier

The sunset was stunning last night! I tried so hard to get a good picture but just couldn't do it justice...oh well, this one will have to do.

Pictures from Dakota's Birthday

Dakota is having a bowling party on Saturday with his friends. Yesterday (his birthday), he and I spent the day together out and about town. I took him shopping and let him pick out a few things he wanted. He is of the age now it is really hard to buy gifts for him unless we just give him gift cards to his favorite store - EB Games or GameStop! He told me three things he wanted and (since all three fell within the price range of what we were going to spend on his gift) he was able to get them all. He was a happy boy last night!

Yes he is ALL boy! These are two of his gifts - a Nerf gun with a laser pointer that shoots out these Nerf "thingies" and another gun that just makes loud, annoying noises when you shoot it. I know this because I got to hear it ALL DAY YESTERDAY!

This is what Dakota looked like last night as he was waiting for his dad to come out of the bathroom...can you say "Attack!"??He chose this cake - a Cookies 'n Cream cake - a chocolate lovers dream. Hmmmm, I think he did this because he knows I don't like chocolate very much and his daddy can't eat sweets like this!

Greg, me and Dakota - I think by this time next year I'll be dwarfed by these two!!

Dakota wants a cookie cake for Saturday's party - or a cake with a picture of him and Jet (our dog) on it so I had to take this picture of the two of them.

Dakota and my mom and stepdad (his Bops and Mimi)