This week has been like any other. Girl Scouts, Volleyball, Girl Scouts, Baseball, Softball, Field Trip, Birthday Party.... and the list goes on!!
Monday night hubby decided to start on my brother's Senior pictures and so far they are looking really great!!! He brought along his "friend" Ashley and took pics in his track outfit, football gear, dressed up, dressed down and a really cool one of him standing there with his back to the camera so that you can see his tattoo ( my idea :o)) There were also a few of him and Ashley together, which turned out really cute!!! Hopefully sometime this weekend we can find some places outside to get more pics done. It is supposed to rain Saturday and we have a bunch of stuff planned so we are shooting for Sunday. I have a few ideas that I want done so we are going to have to go to several places to get what I want done.
Saturday is our busy busy busy day. My younger daughter has a field trip to the Police Department with her Girl Scouts, so I will be going on that field trip to get lots and lots of pictures!! I have very few pics of the girls doing Girl Scout stuff and this is the first field trip that she has had with the group so it should be fun! Then we have softball practice and the younger daughter has a birthday party to go to so I will be doing that too... Just call me Chauffeur mom!!! Then next week, my kiddos will finally start playing games!!! Our daughters is the 2nd and our sons is the 4th. Plus, Spring Break starts next week so the kids will be off at the end of next week again! Can't they just go to school for a whole week?!?!?!?! I swear it seems like they are off at least once a week!
OK, off to practice I go...Just another day in my life...........

Last night was volleyball and I had a great time. There were 8 of us there so it was wonderful to have 2 teams and get a lot of volleying in! I forgot to mention that I actually made 2 baskets last week at volleyball, but last night was a no basket night for us! :o) Guess I should not be aiming for the basketball net huh? But, I am one of those that has no control over where her ball is being hit, so the baskets from last week were quite the hit! :o) Our new volleyball is the absolute best, nice and soft and NO bruising!! Yes, we are weenies, but we prefer the no bruising!
One of the moms had the great idea of playing the rest of our time together and for the very last game invite our husbands and play against them. Which I think is a great idea. It would be interesting to see how the hubbies do against us awesome moms! They would not have a chance!!
The kids only have a half day today and then we are off to the library to get some more books. The kids have enjoyed going to the library so I am hoping that I can make it a once a week or couple of week deal for us. Plus they have off for the rest of the week and it will be great to give them something to do, like READ!! Tomorrow is Parent/Teacher conferences for all the kids. It will be great to see how much my kiddos have progressed and have really taken on their own identities in school. Even the youngest has really come to his own and has really become his own individual self. There was other news of our principal retiring at the end of this school year. I have really enjoyed having her as the principal and will be sad to see her go. From the rumors going around the assistant principal wants her job. A girlfriend of mine that is a teacher at another school would love to see him become our principal. So it will be interesting to see what happens at the end of the year. Then to see how smooth the transition is next year. All 4 of my kiddos will be at the school next year so I will be spending time up at the school and involved with what is going on.
OK, on to other things... I was going to check my email and an article caught my eye... What Makes Men Fall in Love? I thought that it was an interesting article. Some of the stuff I thought was just a given, and some stuff I found interesting. The part where they want an independent woman, I think that is very important. Who wants to have someone clinging to them 24/7 with no interests of their own? I personally love my hobby times and the times that I get out to be "one of the girls". Which is completely different for me. Before, I was one of the guys! During high school and right afterwards 99% of my friends were guys!! One of my very best friends, Matt, was getting ready to go into the Marines and we spent all our time together, partying, and just hanging out and being "one of the guys". Our group of friends were guys, other than me as the exception, and we did everything together. I did not date any of the guys that I hung out with (ewww) and really did not date (the guys were a wee bit protective) anybody else. So after I finally got into a serious relationship (and married that serious relationship) I had to readjust to being a girl!! Which took quite a bit of doing. I am not the shopping, makeup, gotta have 200 pairs of shoes type of girl, nor will I ever be! So I had to find a happy medium and found scrapbooking and stamping. Which is now one of my passions. So I can appreciate a man wanting a woman who loves to do her own thing. But I also have to say that as a woman I appreciate the same. I want my man to have interests, to have a hobby and get out and do things. But, as a side note, I also enjoy being a part of my hubbies interests and enjoy him having an interest in my hobbies!!
A man that wants to have GUY time is something else. Of course he wants to have guy time, just like us women want to have girl time. There are times that I just want to hang out with my best friend and do not want there to be a purpose other than just to hang out. Out to lunch, scrapbook shopping, pedicures, whatever... everyone needs time to themselves and it should be enjoyed thoroughly!
Now the next one is interesting to me... a woman with a strut... huh... this is one that I have never heard! I do not pay attention to the way that I walk, let alone "strut". Nor have I ever watched how others strut! I guess that is something that I will have to pay attention to next time I am out!
And the last one... a Woman who has a good taste in ties... that is very interesting!! I have this thing for ties. I absolutely LOVE picking out ties. I have probably picked out 90% of my husbands ties and generally pick out the shirts to go with them. He generally picks out his suits, but I have always given my opinion as to which one I like. I just love, love, LOVE ties though. My hubby probably has 50 ties and there are times that I just look at ties to see what is out there and once in a while will pick one up, though I prefer him to be there, since his taste does differ from mine from time to time.
So, I guess most of the article just made sense to me, I do not wait on my husband hand and foot but there are times that I will do things like bring him his dinner plate, or make him something that he wants or bring him a drink. But in return he does the same for me. There are times that he will stop by Starbucks and pick up my favorite drink or pick up dinner for the 2 of us and surprise me with something that I love. I will iron his work clothes and he will iron mine on occasion. But I think that all goes with a relationship. It is a give and take on both ends and has to be to be successful.

Nothing new to report. The weekend was a pretty quiet one. It snowed on Saturday, it did not stick but it was the most beautiful, fluffy snow. Our daughter was supposed to have softball practice but they canceled it cuz they thought that it was too cold for the kids to play. Their first game is April 2nd. They are going to play 12 games this season, and most of the games are reasonable. There is one that is on a Sunday at 8 a.m. and a few pretty late games but for the most part they are reasonable. We do not have a schedule for our son yet, for some reason they had to have all the boys signature for the roster before they will give us a schedule. So hopefully we will have it soon. Hell, I do not even know what the name of the team is yet!
We did not do much for St. Patties Day, my mom made Corned Beef and Cabbage so we went there for dinner. Mom ended up going out with her friends and dad and hubby and I played games for the evening. Sunday V and I worked the Girl Scout cookie booth from 4-7. We were only supposed to be there for a little while, but some of the girls did not show up and even the leader of the troop was an hour late. So we ended up there longer than we planned. But her and a few of the other girls did sell quite a few cookies!!
This is a fairly quiet week, the kids only have school for a part of the week. Wednesday is a half day for them and then hubby took Thursday off so that we could do all 4 of the kids parent/teacher conferences. Then they are off all day on Friday. Fun, fun with the kids having a 4 1/2 day weekend!
My brothers prom is this weekend... too bad I have not talked to Jen in a while, he does not have a date, maybe she could have gone with him!! :o) I have scrapbooking this Saturday and then I have an Arbonne party on Sunday.
Now I gotta get to making dinner...

Blah, blah, blah. Same ole story different day. The kids are keeping us going every which way and I have been staying busy "working". The older 2 finally have all the equipment that they need for Softball and Baseball. I just cannot believe what it takes for kids to play sports these days!! I am sure that we could have gone the really cheap way and got the kids the cheapest of everything, but then, would it really be worth it? I could have bought the $10 helmet, but it felt so cheap that I am afraid that if they were hit in the head with a ball it would bust! So instead we spend $45 on a helmet and guard and hope for the best! Then bats, oh my goodness!! The choices and the prices!!! Anywhere from $20 to $200 well the $200 is where I stopped looking and decided that I did not want to know how much higher they went!! Shoes were actually not too bad. I did not get the cheapest but I also did not get the most expensive. I got name brand stuff hoping that it will last for the season and maybe can be passed on to our other kiddos if they decide they want to play! :o) Doubt that will work out in my favor though!
Last night I got to play volleyball!! I have to say that I missed it!! One of the ladies bought a new ball, its a 12 & under ball and it was really really soft!! NO bruises!!! :o) Next is knee pads and maybe I will be willing to dive for a ball, don't hold your breath though! I did get stood up by someone that was supposed to show up and play with us ladies and I am not sure what the reason is, but hey, I had a good time with everyone else that was there. There were only 6 of us but it was perfect for us to have 3 on 3 and we got a lot of playing time in.
On to other things... Girl Scouts has some pretty strict rules... If you are an adult and want to go to meetings or on field trips you have to be a registered adult and you have to go through all the hoops and have references. OK, so I understand the background check it makes sense... but good grief. You have to have all that stuff done to even go to a meeting. Unfortunately, there are a few things that have not been finished so now I am scrambling to get them done. You have to have 3 references, so I think I finally have that done. My best friend, another really good friend and my next door neighbor are my 3 references. How many people can say they have references that they have known for most of their lives? One of mine I have known for 28 years... she happens to be 28. I have known her all my life and am super lucky to still have her in my life.
Well, there is more to say but I have to cut it short so that I can get ready for Baseball practice and Girl Scouts... hope all is well!

Our time out on the farm was wonderful. I have to say that it is not something that I want to do all the time but for that one week it was good. We were up by 6 every morning, out feeding the animals shortly after and then later that afternoon did it all again along with getting the eggs. I think the worst part was the dogs. They have 8 dogs and a few of them became attached and drove me nuts by being under foot and constantly there. I think that it really wore the kids out and also the puppy.
Saturday was a really busy day. We picked up Girl Scout cookies, had batting cages for our older daughter, and a meeting for my oldest sons baseball. We have gotten all the stuff for our daughters softball now have to get everything for our son. I cannot believe all that it takes!! Bats, bat bags, helmet with guard, gloves, glove, shoes, uniform, 11'' balls... the whole thing is costing me an arm and a leg!! Plus we have to pay for the batting cages. *sigh* We ordered the uniform for our daughter and the other one is in the works. Our daughters team is the Cool Cats with red and white as team colors and our sons colors are blue and white and we are not sure about the name yet. The kids are thinking up what they want and the coach will pick something.
Something I forgot to mention... a couple of weeks ago one of my really good friends saw us on the highway. At first we had no idea who in the world it was but finally realized it was my friend Matt! I had not seen him in over a year so it was great to see him driving down the highway :o)
Ok, well off to get stuff done. This is a really busy week for me. Girl Scouts, Baseball, Softball, Volleyball blah blah blah!!

Ready for a comment that has never been said by me??? FARMER BREN. Yup, that is me! At least for this week. Some friends of ours decided that they needed a vacation and asked us to come down to their farm and watch over the livestock. They have pot-bellied pigs, a horse, chickens, geese, dogs, goats and cats. So since Saturday we have been down here taking care of the farm. I have actually really enjoyed it! There is a routine and that routine is really very easy. They have 3 baby goats that the kids have loved playing with. The dogs are a lot of fun for the kids and our dog has absolutely loved being around them all. I have even collected chicken eggs!! *sigh* Wow... me as a farmer. Things never cease to amaze me :o)
The kids are still going to school and since we live about 45 minutes away we are having to get up extra early, but that is ok too! We will see how it goes closer to the end of the week when we are exhausted from doing so much and getting up an hour earlier than we are used to! Ok, have to get out the door to get my youngest to school. I am sure I will update again soon!