"Legates' Family Vacation" ~Coming Summer Of 2011~

My husband is so smart, I would just like to say that. A few weeks ago, Jeremy and I were talking about vacation this summer. He wanted to take a "REAL" vacation this time, and not just short day trips like we do on most vacations. He suggested that we let the kids decide. My first thought was "You can't just let them pick anything you know." but my husband being the smart man he is, had already come up with a plan to safeguard against that. He suggested that we (meaning Jeremy and I), would pick out 3 places (3 family approved places)(3 price approved places), and from there we would let the kids decide. Brilliant! And the 3 choices are...


~The Beach~
Outer banks NC
     -Sand castles
     -Waves
     -Swimming
     -Mini golf

~The Mountains~
Smith mountain lake VA
     -Lake
     -Boats
     -Hiking
     -Fishing

~History~
Williamsburg VA
     -Discovery
     -Learning
     -Great wolf loge
     -Bush gardens


Jeremy had a slide show made on the computer, explaining all of the places and fun things to do there. Very exciting! We showed this to the boys Monday morning. They were very excited, and they love the slide show with all of the pictures and such. We told them to take a few days to think about it, and not the tell us anything yet, and on Friday they would write in their journals, and tell where they wanted to go and why. Wonderful plan! This gave them a few days to really think it over.

Yup it's Friday, and yes the votes are in, so where are we going? Well I'll just write what the kids wrote.

~Darien~
     I would like to go to the Mountains, because we can go fishing and paddle a paddle boat. I never did that before, and I want to know what it is like. I would also like to climb a Mountain.

~Zachary~
     I want to go to the Beach. I want to go there because I like to play mimi golf and play in the sand. When I play mimi golf I will play with a red ball, and when I play in the sand I will make a big sand castle.

~Nathaniel~ (with help from mommy, on writing and spelling)
     For vacation this summer I want to go to the Beach. At the beach I'm going to make a sand castle. I would also like to play in the water.


So there you have it. The beach won. That was a big surprise for me, because I was sure all 3 of them were going to pick History (because of the Great wolf loge), but none of them did. I'm glad they all wrote about what they wanted and nothing else. Now I know how they feel, and I hope Darien won't be to disappointed. I'm sure once he gets a golf club in his hand he'll be fine. Thanks for reading!

What I want for Christmas is...

So I have been hearing a lot of Christmas wishing in my house lately. I'm sure all of you with kids have been as well. It has been a lot of "I want this for Christmas." and "Can I have that?"

Its also no big surprise that my kids have a few video games on their list. My oldest Darien, has a very big item on his list "The Lego Harry Potter Hogwart's Castle." Now I know Christmas is (to some degree) about making your kids happy, but to what extent?

This year I have been stressing to my kids the true meaning of Christmas, because this year I feel like they are all big enough (not counting Olivia) to understand. Of course they already knew the true meaning of Christmas, but this year I have been stressing it.

I don't want my kids to grow up thinking they can have whatever they want. If only life were that easy right? The thing is that, the big item that Darien wants is $130. Yeah, their is no way! Now if Darien were an only child and that was all he was getting then sure maybe (a big maybe, mind you), but no.

Now you may think (not all of you but some maybe) that maybe it's not fair, that he is not an only child, and that if he really wants it... I mean if an only child could have that for Christmas, then why can't a child with siblings?... It does seen kind of unfair right?... Wrong!!

This is where the frustration starts (kind of). See it's a gift from God to have siblings, I remember when I was little, that I always had someone to play with, and it was really nice. I remember playing Barbies with Mindy, and playing Cars with Wesley, and also remember playing stuffed animal with little Shelby (not so little anymore). When I was a kids I did everything with them, and that it was fun, and to have this particular gift, sometimes you have to make sacrifices (and they are well worth it). My children also have this blessing, and I want them to think of it as a gift. I told him the reason he can't have that item is because it's to much for just one item, and if I buy this one item, that only he wants, it's not fair to everyone else. I think he understands now. The real reason that he wanted it was because, he wanted all of the characters. This will be easily solved by buying two of the smaller, and less expensive sets. Yay for me!

See I have been seeing a big flaw in my generation, they are really selfish. They must have THIS car, and THAT computer, and they HAVE to have this, and WEAR that name brand, and have THIS furniture, and it's just sick. Why?... No wonder America has no money, it's because of them! They finance EVERYTHING, and then they don't have the money to pay for it, so the government does. Yeah that's right, and yeah that's what I think, and I am not going to let my children grow up acting and thinking like that. Take a stand America, and start raising your children right.

Okay I'm sorry I let this post go into they whole America spending problem, but I just want to remind all of you parents to focus on what's important, and teach your kids to do the same. Merry Christmas!

That is all thanks for reading :)

Trick-or-treating / Christmas shopping!

So last night I went trick-or-treating with my sons, and Jeremy stayed at home with the baby. We had tons of fun. I made up a map of our neighbor hood so we could mark off the houses once we rang the bell, The plan was to try to get them all. I set out with the boys. Darien and Zachary were Power Rangers, and Nathaniel was Batman, I was Winnie the Pooh.

It was fun, we didn't get to all of the houses, because it was windy out, and that made it colder, but we did end up with a lot of candy. Plenty, and it should last us a long time. I had so much fun. One of our neighbors had made their garage into a haunted house. If you walked through, you got more candy. Darien was the only one brave enough to do it. He said it was dark and there were skeletons, and scary costumes, but he wanted the candy, and he didn't care. He came out laughing and said "That was fun mom!" Nathaniel just hung on to my leg, he wasn't going anywhere near that house. I saw some really great costumes. One kids was dress up like a robot, it was great. He even had a flash light in has head piece. I also saw a really good Vampire one. It didn't look cheaply made, and she looked great in it. Lots of people were just hanging out in their font yard, playing music, dancing, and handing out candy. It was great, like a big neighbor hood hang out. After covering about half the neighbor hood, we headed home. We ate some candy, then went to bed. The kids now have plenty of candy. I divided it up and put it into buckets with their names on them, so they can eat it at their on pace (when allowed). I told the boys that they can eat some after meals, as long as they ate all of their food, and after school work. Sugar rush anyone?


I also have good news (well good for me), I'm all finished Christmas shopping! YAY! I finished it on Friday, and I am so happy, and I can't wait to wrap all of the gifts. I order it all online. Right now Amazon and Toys R Us are offering free shipping so it just made sense to order all of them. This way I don't have to worry about trying to buy things without my kids seeing. Since I homeschool, they don't go to school, so I can't buy things when they are at school, and they always go with me everywhere. I also got to compare prices with both Amazon and Toys R Us (they don't always have the same), and buy things from the best place. I started by making a wish list on Toys R Us, then I took that list and looked up all of those items on Amazon, and I wrote down who had the best price. This saved me $40 dollars. If I order everything off of Toys R Us, then the total would have been $360, and if I order everything off of Amazon the the total would have been $370, but since I went back and forth the total was $320 (yeah). Amazon has really good prices on Lego, and Toys R Us has great prices on Board games.

This year my husband and I thought of a great Idea. We are not putting labels on the boys gifts, because they share everything anyways. This way they will all get more presents, and it took the pressure off of us, because we didn't have to worry about how much money we spent on each of them. We just got things they all would like. So much easier!

Bones and Kettle Corn

So last Thursday (the 14th), Jeremy had a class and had to say over night in Philadelphia. I love to watch Bones, however Jeremy doesn't like it much, so on the Thursday nights that he is home, I just skip it and watch it on hulu the next day. So last Thursday I was super excited, because I would be able to watch Bones on the night it aired, without hearing "Oh no were watching this?" My plan was to put that kids to bed turn on Bones, and pop some Kettle pop corn. Once I started flipping through the channels however, I soon dicovered that there wasn't any Bones, there was only MLB play-offs (sad). I hadn't pop my pop corn yet (thank goodness), and I thought about still doing it and eat it while playing warcraft, but decided that I wasn't hungry enought to eat the whole thing, and it's a crime to waste kettle pop corn, and it just a bad idea. I just can't live with myself knowing that I had wasted kettle corn

When I was telling all of this to Jeremy, and I mentioned to him about wasting kettle corn, and everything else, he laughed and said "So if you were applying for a loan and they bring up your credit history, it's going to have in red letters '"Can't be trusted wasted kettle corn!"' Exactly!

So don't go wasting Kettle corn, it's just a bad idea.

Christmas Decorating

Okay so I know what you are thinking... "It's way to early to decorate for Christmas." Well not in my house where I'm in-charge of the decorating. I like to put it up early so I can enjoy it longer. It makes me happy. I'm not much of a Halloween decorator, sure I like the holiday, I just feel like it's way over done. So most years once I get enough of all of the Halloween going on, I put up my Christmas tree.


Yesterday was mostly a cleaning day for me. The house was awful and I needed to get it back on track. I recruited the boys to help me, and they did a great job, so to reward all of us I got out the Christmas tree. We got out the tree, set it up, plugged it in, and nothing (good thing we didn't decorate it first). It was so sad. We have a per-lit tree and none of the lights were working (*cry*). I had gotten this tree from Target  only 2 years ago. My mom bought a Target tree the same year I did, and hers messed up much sooner, so I knew it was coming. We put our sad faces aside, and I got out the Santa's Workshop. It's a set that was given to us by Jeremy's parents, he use to help set it up as a kid. And it was broken (*cry* again). It wasn't to bad, nothing a little glue won't fix, but it was so sad. So with our decorating going nowhere, the kids and I set out to buy a new Christmas tree. We went to Wal-mart. Our last tree, the one before the Target one, was a pre-lit tree from wal-mart, and it lasted for 5 years (good track record). We found one for $68, and that's a get price for a 6ft tree. We also bought some ribbon, and garland. We got home and began to decorate. YAY!! I'm so happy that we didn't have anymore disappointments. So all is well, and my house looks great, and I am super happy. Word of advice... "Never buy a target tree." Thanks for reading!

Independence in the way...

So the holiday season is fast approaching, and I'm looking forward to it, for the most part. I am sorry to say that I am not looking forward to all of the family dinners. I'm just going to be honest in this post. I have been having some difficulty trying to fit back into my family ever since moving back. I know it has been over a year, and I should have figured it out by now, but I haven't. Most family gatherings I spend my time sitting and talking with Jeremy. Yeah I know I can do that any time. I just don't know how to relate to them anymore, and part of that is my fault, but part of it is not (I would just like to put that in).

Okay so the part that is my fault... I have changed, I don't depend on them for friendship like I use to. I have grown use to being my own friend, and being Jeremy's best friend, and him being mine. Yes that is how marriage is supposed to be, but on most days Jeremy is the only adult I talk to, and I have grown use to that. I am also not good at starting conversation, nor am I good at keeping them going, not with new people anyways, and that is how my family is to me now, they are new people. I have meet them before, but we have fallen away, and changed, and now they are new. So yes my indifference, and my lack of social skills in an awkward situation is what the problem is.

The part that isn't my fault... I have mentioned in the past that some of my family members were bitter towards me (for whatever reason), and that makes things really difficult. It has gotten a little better, but not much. It was mentioned to me some time ago that some curtain family members were upset with me, for reasons I can not control (I'm not going to go into it), and that just really hurt me. It wasn't fair, I was far away, and I missed my family, and I thought about them, and sent my prayers to them, and longed to see them again, and I find out that they are mad at me. I don't want this to sound like a wine-fest, but it just wasn't fair, and like I said before it really hurt. I have since just let it go, and not mentioned anything to them, but it makes me reluctant to talk to them. So my hurt, and their feeling towards is, are the problems.

The holiday season was very hard for me last year, because I had to juggle so much family time. We live close to both mine, and his families, and I have to play the fair game with visiting, and it's not easy. I also don't enjoy all of the driving. Back when we lived 3000 miles away, we didn't have to worry about that, we did the holidays how we wanted to, and it was great. Okay yes I know, I did say that I missed my family, and I did (and do), and so here I am. Yes I wanted to come back, yes I wanted my kids to see their grandparents more. Yes I wanted to reconnect with my Sisters, brother, family members, and all of my old friends. Yeah great fun! All I have to say for myself is nothing is ever easy (which is a quote from the character Zedd, in my favorite book series The Sword Of Truth). Zedd is so right!

I just hope that I will gain some understanding from other people, maybe by them reading this. I didn't want to put any of my family on the spot or make them feel bad. This post was more to explain myself and why I act the way that I do. I just want them to know that I love them, and I'm working on the relationship part. God has really laid it on my heart to work on this, and I am trying (maybe not hard enough, but trying). I also want to say that I do enjoy reconnecting, and it has worked-out with some of my old friends (so they don't feel like I dislike being with them), and I just want to thank them for being patient with me (Dawn and Becky you are awesome). Thanks for reading and putting up with this post.

Pumpkins are painted!

Yay! So starting from the top... Daddy's, Zachary's, Darien's, Mine, Nathaniel's, and Olivia's!

Yesterday was some-what of a crazy day. My plan was to go grocery shopping and catch up on some house work. Now I did get to do that just not in the way that I planed. I woke up late, and this is all do to the sun coming up later and later. It's hard to wake up on time, if the sun isn't getting up with you. I like to be up at 6am, but with the way the sun is raising these days, I haven't been waking up until 7am. I need day light saving to end, and it will soon (just a few more weeks), but not soon enough. I had forgotten to make a list the night before, so I had to make it after getting up, or should I say after feeding the kids. Jeremy also got up late, because I got up late (I'm his alarm clock), but he has the day off (for the most part). He had only a few work related things to do. We get to ft Meade Commissary (yup that's where I shop, best thing about being a military family), and they are still doing construction on part of the store (on the joys). Shopping doesn't take to long, and I didn't stray from the list (yay). We get home, and with great difficulty I carried everything inside (the boys and pets kept getting in my way). Zachary and Nathaniel did help me put it all away though (Darien is to cool to help apparently, that's okay he's the only one who didn't move up on the treasure chart)(haha). After that I feed Olivia, put her down for a nap, and started on laundry (I hate laundry). Zachary kept asking me "When are we going to paint our pumpkins mom?" I kept telling him "Later, we need Daddy to be home, so we can do it as a family." So of course the second Jeremy steps in the door... "Can we paint our pumpkins now?" At this time, we had just finished lunch, and I needed to get dinner ready. I was making home made soup. Meanwhile I'm still catching up on laundry, dishes, and whatever else. I told Zachary to wait until after dinner. Made the soup and only Zachary and I liked it. Last time I made it the only one who gave me grief was Darien, and Jeremy loved it and was practically licking his bowl, but this time... All I have to say for myself is that I made it the same way, so I don't know why they didn't like it. I thought it was great. Yup after that we painted our pumpkins. Yay! Now lets hope today is a bit easier.

Fall is finally here!

Yay! I was getting a little tired of the hot summer weather, that we get here on the east coast. I was also waiting with excitement to wear my fall and winter clothes, and I am happy to say that for past 2 days I have been wearing things from my winter wardrobe. Today in this...

Yes it is cute. I have been waiting to wear it.

Last week on the way to Jeremy's parents house, we bought pumpkins, for us to paint, like we did last year. The pumpkins are half price over there (compared to how they are over here). Yeah Wow. I'll post pictures of the paining of the pumpkins once we do them, but here are the pictures from last year...

I'm excited about trick or treating! This year we are all going together, not that I mind just sitting at home and handing out candy, it's just not as fun. This year we are all going together, even little Olivia has a costume. Darien and Zachary are power rangers, Nathaniel is Bat Man, and Olivia is a ladybug. I was just going to wear my Pooh Bear ears, and go as Pooh again, and Jeremy was joking that he was going to be a Sailor.

Tonight we plan on going to Awana, at our new church, for the first time. I'm excited, and I'll tell you how it turns out. Not much else to say, thanks for reading, will write again soon!

Interesting...

Hello! Well things have still been pretty normal around here for the most part. You know how things can get?...

So Sunday I tried out a new church, I know I said (some post ago), that I had found a church, and my search was over. I think that I just wanted the search to be over so much, and I was trying to hard to like that place. I'm not saying that there was something wrong with that church, its just I didn't fit in there. I was very different from everyone else, and I just don't think they understood me. I'm also not too fond of trying out churches. In most cases it turns out really good, or really bad. You walk in and no one notices you, or everyone does. You feel really welcome, or like your not supposed to be here. You agree with all of what the Pastor is saying, or nothing at all. Even if everything goes well, the first Sunday is also just a trial, you still don't really know if you should go there. What if the people were just acting nice? They still don't really know you... Yes I'm sure you get it... It's not fun...

Okay you get the picture... I guess I'm just really picky when it comes to churches. I want to feel like I belong, I want a good children's program, I want a Pastor that can teach me something, and I want to be able to make new friends! Is it selfish of me, to want that? Being a stay at home, and homeschooling mom, makes it hard to meet new people and make new friends, but I need to (for me). My past experience with that, has shown me, that one of the best places to make new friend is at church (am I awful for that?). I have run into a lot of fake friends in the past. These people act nice, but then talk about you behind your back, and or only call you when they need something. Most of the time all these people do is complain and gossip. They have nothing encouraging to say ever! Hint if this sounds like you, then you really aren't a good friend (I'm just saying). Sorry to be so bold in this post, but it's the truth.

So this new church I'm going to is Arundel Baptist Church. Back when my kids took Karate I was invited there by one of the parents. I know it took me long enough to use that invite... Everyone was very nice, and they made me feel welcome. They have a great children's program, and they have Awana on Wednesday nights. The kids are excited to go back, and so am I. They also have some fun activities planed for the month of October... They are doing a Fall Festival Trunk or Treat... You dress up, decorate your car, and bring candy. It's on the 30th, I have no idea how I would ever start to decorate my car, (a.k.a. Mini Van named Phantom) but I do want to go.

So on other news... Jeremy is only a few weeks from a trip to San Diego! How did this happen? He has just recently been offered that Nuc coordinator position, and there is going to be a conference in San Diego next month. I know, lucky! Yes I did just get to go myself, so I shouldn't be jealous (shouldn't be...). I'm happy he gets to go, and he is happy to. He is also really excited about being the Nuc coordinator.

Yesterday, Jeremy and I got to go on a date. Yeah I know... Since when does this ever happen? He got off of work early, and we drove to his parents' house. They watched the kids for us, and we went to see a movie, and out to dinner. We saw The Other Guys... Not a very good movie, but it had some funny things in it. We ate at Old Mill Crab House! I was born in Maryland, so I love Crabs. It was wonderful!! Thank you Mom and Dad for watching the kids!! I love you!!

Well that's all for now, thanks for reading.

Lately...

Okay so I know it has been a little while since I blogged. Well things have been pretty normal around here, and I haven't had much to blog about. Not that my life is boring, but I'm sure you guys don't want to read a post that is just about normal stuff like... Today I woke up, and showered. Then I ate breakfast..... you get the point. There are somethings (little things) that have happened in the last few weeks, that stand out, and if you want to hear about those than keep on reading.

We now have Start Trek DS9 on DVD! We just got it and I am super excited to watch it. So far we have only seen the first episode. We started watching that on Thursday, but only got half way through, then finished it yesterday. Jeremy is on this new diet and workout, and that has been interesting. He has lost some weight (not that he need to lose much mind you), and he super excited about it. The first week of his new diet however, he was super grumpy, it's funny how yummy food can make you so happy, and how not being able to have it, can make you so mad. I think that's why I avoid diets.

Homeschooling is going great. On most weeks we can finish early and take Friday off. We also just got our "Book It" stuff in the mail. I'm sure you remember Book It from when you were a kid. Well they also do it for Homeschool families. It also gives me the freedom to do the program the ways I want, and customize it if need be. I decided to do it by hours. They will get there ticket if they do 10 hours of reading. I even made up a reading log. Now of course once I told the kids about this, they were like "10 Hours! That's a long time." Then I explained... "You don't have to do it all at once. You can start by doing 30 mins a day, and if you do it like that, then it will take you 20 days. If you do 1 hour a day then it will take you 10." Of course after I explain that, Darien jumps in and says "Well I'm going to do 2 hours a day, so it will only take me 5 days." Yeah I really don't think he's going to do that.

On Thursday Link got lost! Wednesday night, I asked the boys to let Samson out, so they did, but Link went out with him. Now normally that's fine, we have a fence. Ten minutes later, I ask the boys to let Samson back in, and they did, but Link didn't want to, so they just closed the door. I didn't even know Link had gone out in the first place. So he was left outside all night. This gave him time to figure out a way out of the fence. I get up Thursday, and can't find Link anywhere, so I ask the boys if they had seen him. "Oh you are looking for Link... well he stayed outside last night." Oh my! Well he wasn't in the back yard anymore. So I start to make up fliers....

Lost Cat

Orange and white Tabby. Goes by the name Link.

Has a tag, but with wrong address and phone number.

Please call ***-***-****

We went out and put them up all over the neighborhood. We came home, and I notice our garage door is open, so I go in and close it. Once closed I hear a Meowww, and Link jumps out of a box. Yup he got out of the backyard, came around front, and went into the garage and hid. I know he is a smart cat.

This past weekend I had my little sister Shelby over to visit!

I know she is super cute!!

She came over and on Saturday we all went to the Renaissance Festival. 

Yeah that does sound like fun, and it should have been, but no. There were way to many people there, and because of that, we didn't get to see all of the fun stuff. Last year we had a lot of fun, but I guess now to many people know about it, and I hate crowds.

Also while Shelby was over, Link found a new hiding spot...

Yeah... Wow... and he's my chubby kitty, so I don't know how he does it...

Sunday we went shopping, just the girls. At least that was fun...

Well that's all for now, thanks for reading...