This Week

This week is going to be very busy for us.  I think.  I only have to work 3 days this week so that will be nice (and allow me to get some beach packing done).

As for a menu, let's just say this Mama has NO CLUE.  I think we will have some sort of beef tomorrow night (Monday) and chicken legs on Tuesday.  Of course I'll do some veggies and such with those meals.

If I'm not back to blogging before the 4th, have a HAPPY JULY 4th !

Baseball 2013

It's no secret this Mama LOVES some baseball !  I love to watch my boys play it and I like to watch college baseball live (and on TV).

This year, my boys were on separate teams (Nolan moved up a level and Carter stayed at the 8U level) which caused a little stress for me because I wasn't able to go to all of their games, etc.  Hubby and I had to split and go separate ways to games.  The good thing is that hubby coached Carter's team so at least both boys had one parent at each game!  Whew!

 They do let the kids play with sunglasses on, even at this age, because the sun is SO bright!!!

 Nolan's sweet teacher came to see him and several of his friends play because they were all on the same team! 

 Carter getting ready to field a ball !

 He is SOME kind of serious about this game we call baseball !

 Some of my favorite pictures are the action shots!

 Swing !!!

There is hardly anything better than watching a good game of baseball !  Go team go!

Summer Goals

I planned to call this post "June Goals" and then I realized it's like June 24 so I knew nothing on my goals list would get done by Friday. HA!  I figured I'd be better off calling it Summer Goals so as to give myself some serious time to get them accomplished!

There are a few projects I've wanted to get done for quite some time and summer just seems like the right time to get them done.

I am SO fortunate in that I have an employer who lets me take one day per week off during the summer.  I have done this for years and it's truly the sunshine in my life.  I know in 10 or 15 years I'll look back and be SO happy that I took the time to spend at least one day a week during the summer with my boys.  Since I HAVE to work and I can't work from home, this is just how it has to be for now.  I go in REALLY early (6am) so that I am off work by 3:00 each day so I still get lots of afternoon hours with the boys as well.

This summer, I'd like to:

• Clean out the kids' closets and dresser drawers!
• Make a list of what the boys need for school clothing
• Get a window treatment of some type for my HUGE living room window
• Order a new calendar (HELLO ERIN CONDREN)
• Make a housecleaning worksheet to see if it would help break up my tasks
• Clean out my medicine cabinet
• Clean out the make up and misc drawer in the master bathroom 
• Clean out the refrigerator and freezer(s)
• If possible, clean out the shed!

 Hopefully soon I'll get at least a few of these done and I can blog about them!

Menu & Weekend

Our weekend was FULL !  Our youngest had a baseball tournament that started last Thursday night!  They played SO WELL and came in 2nd !   Baseball games took us through the entire weekend.

I piddled around the house Saturday afternoon and evening  doing laundry, cleaning, etc.

We grabbed a few groceries this evening and now I'm ready for this week, which will prove to be just as busy since we don't have a babysitter for 2 days (I guess the boys will be with hubby) and the boys have dentist and orthodontist appointments on Wednesday.  WHEW!

We did get a few housekeeping items done this afternoon such as cleaning out my truck, photo editing, bill paying, cleaning, laundry, etc.

On our menu for the week is:

Monday - snacks for dinner (a summer tradition in my family) and salad
Tuesday - pork chops, squash, okra, tomato and cucumber salad
Wednesday - roast, potatoes, and carrots (maybe some rice for me instead of potatoes?)
Thursday - chicken and yellow rice?  something with chicken
Friday - leftovers

What's on your menu for the week?

A Walk....

I've been on a BIG weight-loss journey this year.  I started in February with the help of some of my "baseball mamas" when we did a big competition.  I didn't win the competition, but it did serve to kick-off some serious weight loss for me.

My goal is to lose 75 pounds.  Yes.  75.  Well, at least 60.   So far, I'm down about 18 pounds (which is a big deal for me).

To help me lose the weight, when I have the time during the week, I like to try and walk/jog about 10 miles a week.  I'd like to do about 15 per week, but right now my time is so sparse that I'm having trouble finding time to do 5-8 miles a week.   This is also my time to think and pray.

I was on a walk last night and this was my view coming back into my driveway....

Pretty spectacular huh?  I love it.  So calm.  So peaceful.

I NEVER post truly personal things on my blog, but I've been going through a few struggles recently and I was reminded so much of this verse (from New Living Translation) Exodus 14:14 - "The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm."

If this picture doesn't exude calm, I don't know what does.

I'm staying calm.  And He's fighting for me.  I love it.

Organizing Files

I was reading a blog this morning about organizing files and it made me think that mine REALLY need to be cleaned out AND reorganized!  This is probably something that I need to do each January but really, I'm happy to find the time to get it done at all, much less in January! HA!

I've talked before about "tax time" at our house and what it looks like and really, if all those papers were better organized, maybe I could get done faster!


Many of you know we are using the Dave Ramsey method to become debt-free and I've talked a LITTLE bit on my blog about it.  I came across Dave's method of organizing important documents this morning while reading.

I'm thinking my goal for this summer (as in June/July) will be to reorganize my files and see what I can purge, keep, and make an overall better system.

Are your files organized?  What system do you use?  I'd love to hear you opinions on how your files are organized!

Happy Birthday to ME

My birthday was last Friday and to celebrate, my girlfriend and I, (and all 4 of our kids), loaded up and headed to our favorite place - DISNEY.  This is the same girlfriend that I went with back in May for her daughter's birthday.  The hubby was in watermelons so he couldn't/didn't want to go and my friend's husband works out of town, so it was just us!

We arrived at our hotel on Friday morning and were able to check-in right away (YAY!).   We immediately put our luggage down, packed a few snacks and headed to the Magic Kingdom.  We had a certain sweet little girl that was begging to ride Dumbo, so that's the first thing we did.  

Considering it was JUNE in FLORIDA, and HOT as the blue blazes, the kids did really well.  And really, I've lived here all my life.  I think it was about 89 on Friday with a heat index of maybe mid 90s or so?  Maybe even 100?  Either way, I know it could have been much worse.

We rode a few rides, and visited a few gift shops, where Chip and Dale made an appearance! HA!

 For my birthday dinner, all I really wanted was to eat at Trail's End Restaurant.  They have a "comfort food" buffet and because all of us really get tired of park-food, we love to eat there.  They have lots of games for the kids to play before being seated--hula hoops, horseshoes, a playground, checkers, etc.  It's really really neat!

 Our gang told the waiter it was my birthday and at the end of our meal, he brought me out a strawberry shortcake, and had the dining area shout Happy Birthday...it was a little embarrassing, but oh well--all in good fun!

 When we travel together, we get adjoining rooms because our kids love to go back and forth between the rooms in the evenings and early mornings.  They just have a blast together and are SO well behaved.  This is my oldest and my friend's youngest one night watching a show on TV.  IT WAS SO CUTE!!

Saturday morning dawned bright and early and we hopped on a bus to head to Epcot!  The kids each had something they wanted to ride and were so excited!

We had a great day at Epcot Saturday and then headed home in the early afternoon.  What a great birthday trip to Disney we all had!

This Week and a Menu

This week is going to be VERY busy in our house!  It's just a crazy time of year for us as hubby is "in melons" as we like to say.  This really means that he is harvesting our watermelon crop.  Sometimes he will leave the house at 6 or 7 am and get home at 10 or 11 at night.  LONG, HOT days.

We have a few trips planned for the summer and I can hardly wait to share with you what they are!  You'll have to stay tuned for that!

On my menu for this week is....

Monday - spaghetti (because I already have the meat thawed and it's easy)
Tuesday - onion baked pork chops
Wednesday - shepherd's pie?  (not sure yet about Wednesday)
Thursday and Friday we will be at a baseball tournament
Saturday - up for debate! HA!

I hope to be back to regular posting in the next week or so.

A SNAKE Encounter

Growing up in Florida, snakes were a natural part of our environment.  I can remember being taught about snakes beginning at a very young age.  In fact, to this day I still remember "red on yellow kill a fella, red on black, friend of Jack".  (the Coral Snake rhyme).

I'm not deathly afraid of snakes.  I'm not terrified of snakes.  I don't "like" them, but I know they are in our environment and inevitably, I'm going to "run" across one in my every day life because of where we live and such.  Most certainly though, I'll kill one in a New York minute if I run across it though.  HA!

We've tried to teach our boys snake safety (for lack of a better term).  We've taught them not to touch them, don't try to pick them up, call an adult if you see a snake, etc. etc.

Last Saturday afternoon, I was going out the back door and felt something hit my arm.  I happened to look down right about the same time a LONG snake was slithering off my arm and fell onto the back porch.  Oh yes my friends.  A snake had slithered up the door jam and fell on my arm when I opened the door.  I.Almost.Died.

Did I scream?  YES.  Did I drop what was in my hands?  NO.  Thankfully I had Carter home with me and he went out our other back door and got a "sword" and chopped the snake's head off.  I did at least have the wherewithall to take some photos of the snake so my husband believed me! HA!

The snake looked like it had a diamond pattern to me and it sort of did, but I wasn't about to start freaking out just yet.  Carter said it was an oak snake (but I think he may have been just guessing?).  It looked like some sort of rattler to me.  Here's a photo (taken through the door of course).

Anyhow, Carter to the rescue and he was SO proud that he helped Mama get rid of the snake.  Yes, that would be a sword he's holding.  Yes, he's supervised when using it.  Don't judge.

I did get some good pictures of the snake with my good camera, but I haven't cleared the camera card yet, so these photos will have to do.  Hubby got home and thought it MIGHT have been a Pygmy Rattler, but after looking at the snake and the pictures, decided it was in fact an Oak Snake.

I'd say it's a dead snake now.

A Disney Birthday

There's nothing better than celebrating a birthday at Disney!  It's just MAGICAL!  A girlfriend of mine has a daughter who, instead of having a big party, decided she wanted to go to Disney for the weekend.  Being that her girls and my boys get along great and we all have passes, she asked if we wanted to tag along with them for the weekend.  Did she even need to ask?  WE LOVE DISNEY and of course said YES!

Clearly the sun was in our eyes here, HA!

Of course it was May in Florida, but we didn't care! We were there to have a good time!  We fought the rain all weekend but that didn't affect us at all!  We trudged right through to have our good time!

Our trip was also during Epcot's flower festival, so the flowers and topiaries were BEAUTIFUL.

My friend's daughter brought along one of her little friends and her older sister (whom we also know) so there was a pile of us, but all the kids did GREAT and we just kept saying over and over how much fun we had and how well behaved the kids were!

In fact, every time we turned around, my friend's youngest daughter had a hold of my youngest boy's hand.  It was TOO PRECIOUS for words.

The parks we visited while in Disney were the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios.  We even had dinner one night at Trail's End which we all LOVE.  It's very low key and relaxing.  The restaurant is at Fort Wilderness, so you have to get there by boat or bus.  The kids had a great dinner of "home-cooked" food and then we let them play tetherball before we boarded the boat.

What a great trip with amazingly good kids! 

Late week randoms

A few random thoughts for today...

*I still haven't finished all my laundry.

*Operation Clean House is full-on as my cousin flies in Sunday night.  I haven't seen her in years and she's coming here to watch another cousin graduate high school.  SO EXCITED.

*Carter made the All Star baseball team, so we're still in baseball through at least late June.

*I cleaned my truck out this past weekend.  How does so much trash get in my vehicle?

*The school year is winding down for us (we are out in June) and I have lots of events to attend.  Awards ceremonies, spelling bees, breakfasts, etc. 

Looking forward to the weekend....

"Plastic Surgery"

As noted in previous posts, our family is on a mission to become debt-free.  We have put dollars and cents toward debt and have made a little progress but this past weekend, we made a HUGE step.

We did some plastic surgery.  Otherwise known as cutting up credit cards.  We haven't used our cards in a few years (except one or two) so it wasn't THAT big a deal to do this but I was a little nervous about it.  There's just something about cutting up the card that is a little unnerving.  But, we did it and I haven't looked back!  Yes, I even cut up my beloved Disney Visa!

Another step in our journey......

My Purse

I've always been into organizing things and like my things to be nice and neat.  I've had to let go of some of that in the past year because we're REALLY busy with the boys and sometimes, everything is not "in its place".

The same goes for my purse.  I like it to be where I can find things I'm looking for quickly.  It had gotten out of control lately, so I decided over the long weekend to organize and change my purse.

No, I don't normally carry around my kids' birth certificates but I needed them for something and I had a few other extra documents in my purse this past week because I need to renew my driver's license and they need about 52 forms of ID for me to renew it. HA!

The first step was to take everything out of my purse so I could sort it and throw away the trash!

I saw on another blog somewhere a lady that "containerizes" everything in her purse so she can switch easily if she needs to.  I really liked that idea so each of my like items went into various pouches and such.

There.  MUCH better.  Now I can switch purses if I need to quickly and easily AND all my things are organized.

I'm left with a great summer purse that is well organized!

Again?

How is it possible that I went another entire week with NO posting on the blog?  I HATE that I don't have the time to post every single day.  I'd LOVE to post every day.  I have plenty of material to blog about between trips to Disney, baseball, the boys' accomplishments, organizing, etc. but the problem is no time!

Here are a few things for now -

• All-Stars baseball started this week and that means we still have 2 nights a week of practice.
  
• I haven't lost any more weight, but I haven't gained any either.  That's success in my book.  HA!
  
• I have BIG plans for this weekend which include setting up some blog posts for next week.  We'll see how those plans go.
  
• I plan to get back to my weekly menu postings on the blog and in life!  I've been slacking due to baseball season and my wallet nor my waistline like it.

Who has big plans for the weekend?  What are you doing?

Mid-Week Randoms

It may appear that I have fallen off the blogging band-wagon, but the truth is, I'm desperately trying to find a sense of balance these days between kids, work, baseball, and everything else.

I had big intentions of blogging last week but time seemed to slip away from me every evening.  Here is what has been going on.

*Baseball.  Lots of baseball.  And no stopping on the horizon, as Carter made the All Star Team, so we're in baseball through June.  At least.

*Photography.  Several really FUN and SWEET photo sessions lately and I can't wait to share a few amazing photos with you!

*Disney.  Was there any doubt?  The boys and I went for a weekend a few weeks ago with a girlfriend of mine and her daughters to celebrate her birthday.  TONS of fun.  Kids were great.  Perfect trip!

*Dieting & Exercising.  I've lost about 13 pounds and feel great!  I'm back to exercising regularly like I should be and I'm doing a 5K in January (in Disney of course).

*Laundry.  I need a laundry fairy.  Seriously.  I have about 20 or more CLEAN loads of laundry that need to be folded.  Thank goodness I have a huge bedroom and there is plenty of room for said laundry. HA!

*More Baseball.

p.s.  I don't think the laundry is going to get folded anytime soon either.  Don't judge.  At least it's clean.

An Update

We're knee deep in baseball season right now with a 3 day tournament approaching tomorrow.  That's my excuse for not blogging for a week.

That being said, I thought I would provide you with a link to one of my past posts on how to clean baseball pants !

BEST TIP EVER.

http://surrounded-by-boys.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-to-for-moms-of-boys.html

If I'm not back by Monday y'all come looking for me on a baseball diamond somewhere in the US, okay?!?!?!

I Did It.

I took the plunge y'all.  Signed, sealed, delivered  paid for.

source

I'm officially REGISTERED for the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend !  I registered this morning for the 5K and I'm SO EXCITED !  Hubby's cousin that was recently married also registered and we're going to do this together!  We have been burning up the email this morning with our excitement!  She and I are both on big weight loss goals and felt like January was a great month to celebrate our successes and finish a 5K!

This is my very FIRST 5K race and it couldn't be in a happier place!  That's not to say I'm not nervous about it, because I AM, but I think it's a nervous excitement.

Wish me luck!

p.s.  runDisney has no idea who I am, I'm just super excited about running!

My New Baseball Shirt

I got a new shirt a few weeks ago and absolutely love it.  It was a custom design (by me!) and I had a place in the "big city" digitize and put it on a shirt for me.

Yes.  Baseball season is in full swing around here.  (no pun intended)  HA!

Spring Break Fun 2013

My boys were on Spring Break (the week before last) and even though I had to work a few days of it and two of us were SICK SICK SICK, we still managed to have some serious fun!

One day we went to Chuck E Cheese and had pizza then played games for a few hours.
One day we just "hung out" at home and stayed in our pajamas all day long!
One day, we went to our favorite place!

Carter and I were very sick up until this very day (and in fact went to Disney with horrible sinus infections!).  I took lots of Motrin with me in our bag and we just kept taking it as often as we could.

We decided we were going to have FUN no matter what!  We all love DISNEY so it was fitting that we travel here again for our Spring Break.  A few years ago, we went for several days, but this time, we just stayed the day.

The kids had a blast!  (and so did this Mama!)  I was so scared when we got there because I knew it would be busy for Spring Break but I didn't realize how busy!  There were people everywhere!  However, it all worked out and we rode every single ride we wanted to! (and more!)

They rode Dumbo (which they never get to do)

And of course, the carousel.  This was when we were hunting a little bit of shade and this was the ticket! HA!  It was rather cool weather and only got hot during the middle of the day.  I'd say it was PERFECT Disney weather if there was such a thing.  It did rain on us for about 15 minutes toward the end of our day, but we didn't even mind--we were about to head home anyhow.

We even saw a few special people while we were there!  We ran into Nolan's school teacher and her daughter and their "Oma" (Grandmother).  She and my boys rode Space Mountain while her daughter and Oma rode It's a Small World.  That's more my speed.  HA!

Overall, it was a great Spring Break and a fantastic time at Disney!

Our Indiana Hoosier at the Gator Baseball game

Baseball is probably my family's favorite sport!  We are definitely a BASEBALL family!  Both boys play little league ball and of course hubby played ball through little league, school, and then through college.

That being said, we LOVE going to see our beloved Gators play baseball!  It's nothing for us to be at UF 2 or 3 times per weekend for a game series or a single game!  My in-laws are so sweet (all the time) and give us their tickets (most of the time, since they don't go very often).

While the hubby assisted coached our local high school team (he now only coaches little league), he saw many talented young men come through the program!  One such young man (Christian Morris) now plays for Indiana!  It was especially exciting when we saw that our Gators would be playing Indiana!  Hubby was smack dab in the middle of breaking ground and planting so he was unable to make the game, but I took the boys and we had a blast!

It was SO HOT that day even though it had been cold the entire week prior!  Florida's weather is VERY unpredictable.  I was so glad we wore shorts!

The game was great, but even better was being able to see "our" Christian play the sport he loves!  Christian had a big crowd of supporters at the game--friends and family from our area were there to cheer him on! 

After the game, we were able to go to the exit tunnel and grab a quick picture with him before he had to load on the Indiana bus !

We sure do miss him around here but are so proud of him and wish him the best !

Giveaway Winner !

I'm so excited about the giveaway!  If you didn't enter the contest, you missed out!  Just look how cute this dish towel is!!  And you just can't beat a monogrammed dish towel!

I had never seen so many entries from my gal pals!  Some of y'all had like 4 entries each!  Some only had 1 and some had 2, but ALL had a great chance of winning!  I'm thrilled with the participation for the embroidered dish towel!

The WINNER is......

TANIA at http://taniascott.blogspot.com/ !  Thank you for entering the contest Tania!  I'm so excited for you!!!  **Tania, be sure to send me an email at charonbenton@dishmail.net so I can get the details for/from you for the embroidered towel !

Thanks y'all !  Happy Easter!

Family Fun

We spent some time with my brother, his girlfriend, and my nieces last weekend and had a blast!  It's always a good time when we're together!  Tons of laughter!  Not to mention, our kids get along fabulously!

A pick up game of baseball and grilled burgers are hard to beat!  Ice-cream with Reese cups topping for dessert topped off the fun!

Even though I got a nice purple bruise on my leg from a stray ball, it was SO MUCH FUN!  I figured since we had all been at the ball field since early that morning, everyone would be tired of baseball, but not so! 

What a fun day with FUN people!  Love my family!

p.s. Don't forget about my giveaway, details here.