We're on our way...

To West Virginia! 

We are leaving today at 4pm to head north to visit my grandmother and more family.  I'm excited to spend the next week with my parents, Fischer, and Cameron.  I'm truly blessed with great family.  I have two of the greatest parents in the world.  (:  

We will spend the first half of the week in West Virginia and Kentucky, and then we will head to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg on Friday.  Hopefully Cameron will get to go to Dollywood or Splash Mountain while we are in Pigeon Forge.  I would like to take Fischer to the aquarium, eat lots of yummy food, and do nothing!

A little off subject - Last night I got a pedicure with Cassie while the boys had ice cream.  While enjoying my relaxing pedi, CJ sent me the picture below of my wild child!




Fischer's Funny Face



Weekend Update

Friday night was a laid back night.  We hung around the house and watched movies.  Fischer watched The Little Engine That Could and after he went to bed, C.J. and I watched The Dilemma.   Both were cute movies.  And yes, I stayed awake! (:

Saturday morning we got up early and traveled to Buena Vista for Hallie Kate's birthday.  For those of you who don't know, Hallie Kate is Tink's daughter.  Tink would be my pretend cousin.  Someone asked us this weekend how we are related, so I explained.  Tink is my mom's step sister's ex husband's ex girlfriend's daughter.  (:  My Uncle Wes and Tink's mom, Marianne, dated for a really long time, which made Tink my cousin.  We've been friends since we were little bitty.  Our connection is a bit blurry, but our friendship definitely is not!  And by the way, Tink's real name is Laura Beth... (:  Anyway, Hallie Kate turned four last week, so we went to her party. 

Hallie Kate and her yummy cake

Bridgett, Rhonda, Tink, Tuffy

Fischer LOVES cake, but it's all a "cu-cake" to him.  When the cake arrived on Saturday, he crawled in the chair, grabbed a fork and was about to dig in when I caught him.  Little stinker! He was not about to wait on the birthday girl . 

He absolutely loved his time with Colten and Hallie Kate.  They played and played.  He actually stayed up until 1am playing! 

Hallie Kate, Fischer, Colten

Sassy & Rotten

Shortly after Fischer and I went to bed Saturday night (actually, Sunday morning!) Colten lost one of his two front teeth!  So, the Tooth Fairy made a visited to the O'Neal house and left $5!  Inflation has really taken off... I used to get $1! 

Colten *minus a tooth!*

Sunday morning we drove back to Tifton.. C.J. did homework, Fischer napped and I went to the pool.  Nothing too exciting (:

Challenge

Write a letter.  Not an email. Not a text.  Write a letter - you know, snail mail...  :)

Hodge Podge!

I've been working on this blog for days.  I've been busy at work and I haven't been able to get my pictures to cooperate, so I've given up several times.  And, as you can tell by my jacked up banner at the top, I am frustrated with my template, etc.  So, if you notice that my background changes a lot please ignore it (:

Saturday morning we went to the Farmer's Market.  If you know Fischer, you know he loves trains.  Since the Farmer's Market is in the old train depot, they have an old train there.  He had to play... and mama had to take pics! :)

Sunday we went to Berry Good Farms to pick blackberries.  We did this last year also, and Fischer loved them just as much this year as he did last.  He kept eating the blackberries right off of the bushes.  They don't use any pesticides, so it was safe eatin'. :)

 I'm scared Fischer is a little OCD.  All of a sudden everything is yucky.  He's always had a problem with dirt and sand being on his hands or feet, but it's gotten extreme.  Dirt on the ground is yucky, bugs are yucky, freckles are yucky... everything is yucky!  Yesterday he got the broom out and started sweeping up a mess he made, all while saying "Mama, yucky!"  Part of me wants to be concerned, but the other part really likes the thought of him liking things clean. 

I think it should be illegal to place any kind of gumball machine or claw machine in a restaurant.  Actually, I think it should be illegal in any establishment where you are trying to keep your child seated longer than 5 minutes.  We went to Pizza Hut for dinner last night with  my parents and we could not eat as a family.  Someone was constantly tearing Fischer away from a machine.  We didn't have to buy anything, he just wanted to look.

Under Construction...

I'm not real sure what I'm doing here!!  I do know that I wish I was better at HTML... I wish I would have paid more attention in Mr. Beadle's class in college! 

Challenge

I challenge you to spend time with friends you haven't seen in a while! Eat, drink, and be merry! (:

This challenge is easy, exciting, and much needed for most.  I thought this was well suited for my first challenge due to my motivation to blog again! 

I'm back!

Well, hello there!

After a great weekend with the girls, I have been re-inspired to blog!  I want so badly to be great at this, so here is my second shot.  Rather than making up for lost time, I am just going to start over! (:

I spent last week at Callaway Gardens for a GACE Conference.  I had a great time meeting new people, learning new things, and of course, eating great food.  We had lots of guest speakers who had great ideas, stories and advice. 

After the conference I had a weekend with the girls in Sautee, Georgia.  We had such a great time!  We woke up Saturday morning and as we were sitting around drinking coffee we started talking about other people's blogs (Lauren - I raved about yours all morning!), and how much we loved reading them.  We then decided that all four of us were going to commit to blogging!!  We gave each other "assignments".  My assignment is to challenge my readers.   So, occasionally I will challenge you to do something you may not have thought of, done in a while, or even want to do.    Get ready! (:

We spent the day by the pool catching up. After the pool we got dressed and went to dinner at Chophouse at LaPrade's.  We really enjoyed their food!  After dinner we hung out at the marina and took pictures.  We acted like we were in college again!

Meet Dixie! Dixie is the grand dog of a couple we met at the marina.  Her mother was in South America meditating for six weeks. (:  We didn't ask too many questions about Dixie's mom. 

Sunday was a very, very long day... I had not seen Fischer since Tuesday!  The drive from North Georgia to South Georgia seemed like it would never end.  When I got home Fischer met me outside with a big hug!  When I walked into the house I had a huge surprise!  While I was gone, CJ and a friend put new floors in our den/dining area... !!!  I am SO excited. Now I need a rug... Suggestions?