The Kern Klan

My Massive Bi-Annual Blog Post

2010-02-25T08:14:00.007-05:00

So this massive long post that will be completely unorganized is dedicated to Shelby Moore:-) It's a catch up from September to Christmas. It was going to be way too complicated to reorder all these pictures...

Christmas Day was spent opening presents and also Justin finally loosing his 2 bottom teeth. He'd had his perm. one coming in behind for quite some time so I was glad to see the baby tooth finally gone.
We spent the 23rd and 24th of December at the best place on earth, The Great Wolf Lodge. We have one here in Charlotte, NC and it was so much fun for all of us. It may become a family tradition at Christmas Time now.

Case was having so much fun watching the "snow" fall in the lobby and listen to story time before bed. So I know the rest of them don't look good in this picture but I did so it made the cut!

Justin and Case got to color and decorate there own T-shirt and Bag.

They also got a "Build A Wolf" too.

There is an 85 degree year round water park at this place. So much fun and something for every age. Justin finally went down the water slide. He was really proud.

Case I think spent the whole time on this Jet Ski. He also loved the wave pool.

Me and Case getting dry and warmed up for a minute.

So it snowed the week before Christmas. The boys loved it but I really just don't like snow. Never have...as a side note...why can't Loren take 1 good picture?

Case did not want to come inside

Poor kid had plastic bags up his leg to keep him dry. We really should get snow gear sometime.

I had my friend Gina take some pictures of the boys for our Christmas Cards. Case was a totally Punk the whole time!

This picture below was chosen for our Christmas Card. It really just shows Case in his true colors!

For Justin's 6th Birthday Party we had some boys over to make Marshmellow Guns. They had so much fun shooting them...Loren of course had to use his air compressor. I told him it was an unfair advantage. Besides, it really hurt to get hit with that thing!

The boys thought it was pretty cool.

My mom and brother Ben and family came to visit during Halloween.

Poor Case got a repeat costume from Justin when he was that size. I'll do better next year!

We went to a pumpkin patch back in October. It was really nice just to hang out with the family.

They had a corn pit to play in

I really liked this picture of me and Case

Justin took a 4 week Lego class this past Fall at the Science Center. He really loved it!

He learned all about levers and wheels and how to make things rotate.

So this is the end of my HUGE Blog post. Sorry for neglecting it. I'll "try" to do better. Facebook has ruined my blogyness :-)

Justin's first day of Kindergarten!!

2009-09-01T19:37:00.002-04:00

Justin started Kindergarten on August 25th! It was a happy day!! Here's the table he started out at with more boys than girls on it...however I just went to Orientation tonight and he was moved and sits by a girl. That would explain the I hate sitting by girls comment for the past week:-)

Pointing to his name on the door.

That morning getting ready to walk to school. He was so excited. He makes his own lunch every morning and he has adding vacuming to his chore chart. He is getting so big and I'm so proud of him! He's been waiting for Kindergarten for a year now. Ever since his 2 cousins, Porter and Preston starting last year it's been killing him not going to.

Case Turns 2!!

2009-09-01T19:17:00.002-04:00

Case turned 2 on August 7th!! We were totally lame and didn't do any kind of a "party" He got some geo trax's and a Jr. Tag Reader with all his birthday money.

Justin was really disappointed that I didn't make a cake and the one that I bought was too small. And someone pointed out on Facebook when I posted this picture there that Case needs his own "Special Day" Plate! So Nana Kern needs to work on that since she got Justin one:-)
Loren had a day off that week so we went to the Transportation Museum in Salisbury, NC and rode a train and saw lots of old cars, trains, and buses.

I really do have 3 handsome boys don't I?

Loren's Race

2009-09-01T16:40:00.005-04:00

I went to St. Loius Race with my brother Ben. He were awake for over 24 hours that trip but it was worth it! We left at 7am and drove 5 hours there to hang out all day for qualifying and then the race that night. Here's Loren getting ready for the race to start. We're at the pit box already and he is weighing the gas cans. They hold around 11 or 12 gallons and weigh 85 pounds. He'll wiegh them before and after a pit stop.
Me and Loren during the race hanging out waiting for a pit stop. I got to wear some headphones and listen to the driver, crew chief, and spotter. It's the only way to watch a race!

Just hanging around waiting for something to do.

Man he's sexy:-)...good thing he doesn't read this blog or he'd kill me for saying that:-)

This is a video of one of his pit stops. He doesn't go over the wall when the car gets there. He's the one squatting down with his butt to you:-)

Russell Sims Aquatic Center in Bowling Green, KY

2009-09-01T15:50:00.004-04:00

We went to TN this summer for 4 weeks. While there a bunch of us went to the Aquatic Center in Bowling Green, KY. It's a great splash pad for younger kids! Justin with 3 of his cousins, Porter, Preston, & Gavin. He had so much fun playing with this boys all summer!

Liz and Kayea (if I spelled her name wrong don't yell at me:-)
Me and the boys

Kaleb and the back half of Preston

Gavin being silly

This little girl totally rules her world with that look!

Justin

Baby Emmett and his fat foot

Case

Justin again. Seriously this place is great for kids! We had a blast!!

June...

2009-09-01T15:35:00.002-04:00

June 22nd was our 7 year Anniversary. We went out to dinner and that was about it. Not super exciting. I did get an excuse to dress up and actually do my hair into something besides a pony tail.

This is Justin and his friend Nicholas. He is out next door neighbor. Thank goodness for this kids this summer! He entertained Justin alot!! They both started Kindergarten together too...by the way...this bike is so old!!! It came from our barn in TN and Justin was washing it off. He can ride it though and that saved about $80 for a bigger bike.

Of course Case had to wash his bike too!

Justin was sent to Time Out and this is what I found 10 minutes later!

Hello...Hello... Is this thing on?

2009-09-01T13:33:00.005-04:00

So this is a marathon post and I don't care enough to arrange photos in any kind of order. Sorry!! I'm trying to play catch up since May I think! Man I've been bad...sorry:-)

If I can remember that far back...My inlaws came to visit in May. FIL was here for 2 weeks while my MIL came out for 5 of those days. We did lots and had so much fun!

Me and the boys at the Asheboro, NC Zoo. It's a great zoo and we had a great day seeing all the animals.
Another day we went to the Natural Science Center in Greensboro, NC. Loren actually had the day off.. This is Mike my FIL...you can see why Loren never takes a seriously picture. Neither one of them are capable of being serious!

Also at the Science Center. This place totally rocks. They have an outdoor animail exhibit with Tigers, Monkeys, Meerkats, Anteaters, Petting Zoo...and many more. You are so close to all of these animales I think it's much better than the zoo plus not as much walking.

Me and the boys took my In Laws Strawberry picking. It's my favorite thing to do every May.

Case hates Strawberries, I think the texture gets to him. But he loves pulling off all the green ones!

The best part of this Farm was the Tractor ride to the Strawberry field. Case loves him some tractors!

Ok-back to the Zoo now...They have this great place for the kids to play at. Loved how this picture turned out!

Justin is just not capable of looking at the camera! I don't know what to do about it. I'll say "Look at the camera" and all he'll do is turn his head off to it and then look off. Drives me crazy!

My In Laws again with the boys at the Zoo.

We took Mike to see Loren's work one day and show off all the cool NASCAR stuff. He was pretty impressed with the set up there.

Papa Kern is so good with the boys. Case and Justin loved having him here for so long. Even if he was wore out by the time he left!

Case just being cute!

Here's a picture on Mother's Day before we went to church.

So I think I got all of May. On the June, July, and August...stay tuned...

Photo Session

2009-05-03T18:42:00.002-04:00

While we were in TN during Easter we had pictures taken at Moss Wright Park from a great girl, Christy Williams. Her photography blog is: http://cnwphotography.blogspot.com She posted a couple of posts of the boys pictures. I'm too lazy to upload pics her so check them out over there!

http://cnwphotography.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-cant-believe-i-forgot-this-one.html

http://cnwphotography.blogspot.com/2009/04/justin-and-case.html

It was like 56 degrees that morning and Case was not a happy camper. But she did a great job and I love how they turned out!

The Verdict Is In!

2009-04-26T21:19:00.003-04:00

I got a lot of different advice on how to handle Case's Paci addiction. I really have been toying with this for a few months now. I felt like by taking it away during the day was a good start but if I didn't do it now it was going to be harder down the road. To those who were on Case's side and supported his Paci, believe me...he thanks you and wants to come live with you cause I'm a mean mom! I got my idea from my friend Whitney. Someone she knows did it this way and I thought it was cute. (I should add that Whitney didn't fully support me in doing it now. She wanted to wait till 2...It's ok...Case likes you more than me right now)

I took him to Build A Bear and we brought all his Paci's. The girl helping us felt really bad about being the bad guy. She said she felt like the nurse at the doctor's office giving shots. Case picked out this cute dog that we named, "Paci" ( I know I'm cruel. Sorry!) We decided to put all 4 Paci's inside and place them where he can feel them. I thought this would make him happy...I was wrong...

Here he is thinking what a fun game this is. He loves "lets hide my paci game"! He did this willingly until the last one which we had to pry out of his mouth. But still no tears yet...Oh man!!! Only 2 left!
Bye Bye Paci! You've been a great friend to me. You've loved me when my mom thought it was "tough love" to let me "cry it out" when I was just a baby. I'll always love you...I'll never let you go...I'll never let you go...(sorry I had to throw Titanic in there)

He thought stuffing the dog was really fun. The machine made a lot of noise. (Sorry Justin is picking his nose)

"Hey mom my Paci's stuck in this dog's foot. Anybody have a knife on them so I can cute it out? Anybody...anybody..."

So, I did this on Thursday. Thursday night was kinda rough going to bed. I almost cracked and killed the dog myself just to make my baby boy happy again! It was heart breaking! He cried for almost an hour until I finally layed down with him. He woke up again at 2am upset but only cried for 10 minutes. The next day he cried at nap time for only 5 minutes. That next night he cried maybe 5 minutes. The third night no crying. Just held onto the dogs foot and went to sleep. Overall, I'm glad I did it now and not later. I'm sure I would have talked myself out of it at 2. Paci the Dog is treated with love and respect. He likes to carry it around during the day and squeeze his tummy and legs to feel the paci's and laugh. I don't think he'll need to much therapy in the future for this. At least I hope not!

As a side note, Case was supposed to be napping today but instead we found him doing this! Seriously, Justin was never like this. The thought would never come to his mind to do this. I couldn't help but laugh. And thankfully it wasn't a sharpie! (obviously he's still a happy kid!)

Case needs your vote!

2009-04-22T14:57:00.004-04:00

So, I've been toying with the idea of getting rid of Case's paci. 2 months ago I took it away during the day and he did fine with that. I really want to get rid of it all together now. I was going to wait till he turned 2 but I seriously don't want to have to keep track of it all summer while we are on vacation. He REALLY loves his pace!
He loves to hide them all over the house. When we moved I think I found 6 hidden. (which meant I had to buy 6 new ones at some point)

The love he feels for his paci's is the same as what Justin feels for his "baby". Would I take away his baby? Heck NO! I would drive an hour out of my way just to bring it back from where he left it. I would spend $30+ on overnight shipping just to have a replacement. Then proceed to run over it just to make it look gross like the old one. I did this 2 different times!
Just look at his love and pure joy at having all these paci's! What would you do? Case would appreciate your vote on the matter.

Thanks!

2009-04-02T09:00:00.005-04:00

Here's the pictures for my house finally...This is the dinning area. The door to the right is a big walk in pantry. I really really love that! I've never had no much space for food and dishes. This light fixture is seriously one of like 3 in the whole house! Why don't people put in lights for bedrooms? Not everyone has a ton of lamps! So now I've got to find me some cheap lamps so I can see in our bedrooms.

Here's the living room. We put the entertainment center in front of the fireplace. There was really no other spot for it next to a cable outlet. It's not too obvious unless you are really looking. Everything is kinda a mess this morning cause Justin and Case were given a train table from a lady in our new church. Her boys grew out of theirs so I'm still trying to figure out where to put it. It's kinda too big for their room...I think the living room is where it will have to go. But then where do I put all the junk I was hiding next to the couch? That is my quest today.

This is our 3rd bedroom/office. Justin and Case are sharing now until they are 18:-) I need the space for my biz and we need a place for Papa Boyles to crash when he comes thru here on business almost monthly.

The boys finally got their bunk beds in this week and it is a lifesaver! I love love love these beds. We got the matching dresser to go with it. All of their clothes fit inside except church clothes so those are hanging in the small closet. The lightning McQueen lamp is the only source of light in here. Very frustrating!

My biggest love of these beds is the steps and storage in those steps. Thanks to Elisa and Patrick who got Preston and Gavin the same ones I had to have them too. I was able to fit all the toys except train tracks and blocks in these storage steps. The closet has the book shelf with some books and that's it! Their room has managed to stay mostly clean! Plus Case can climb up and down without breaking his neck!

So ignore my messed up bed. I just woke up and haven't gotten that far yet. Our room is kinda big but again, no light fixture so I have a little lamp to power our room. Kinda dumb...as a side note...I haven't had carpet before since I've been married and it's been kinda nice and warm. It's new carpet since the last tenants ruined the old ones. The entry and living room has hardwood floors and the kitchen and bathrooms have cheap linoleum. I'm really happy with the new place and someday I might ever decorate...

2009-04-02T08:43:00.004-04:00

We went to the Asheboro Zoo on Monday. It was a beautiful day for the Zoo. 65 degrees and sunny and not very crowded. We got a year membership so we'll be going a lot! Our friends from our old neighborhood came with us. The cute redhead is Maci and she LOVES Case!

This Gorilla was huge! Just after I took this picture he started walking on just his legs right up to the window. Case loved it and kept saying OUH OUH AHH AHH. (gotta love play house disney!)

Case got a stuffed Giraffe so he was really happy to see one.

Here is Justin and his friend Aiden. Justin got a stuffed River Otter. He's proudly displayed in the Bison's horn.

Here's me and the boys at the playground. I think we are sitting on a praying mantis?

2009-04-02T08:22:00.004-04:00

On one of my many trips back to our old neighborhood Justin and Case are very sleepy. It was an hour drive each way. They look so sweet and peaceful...

For St. Patrick's Day I made Green Eggs and Green Biscuits. Justin really didn't want to eat any of it but I made him. He did like it afterwards but put up a pretty big fight.

This is what happens when Justin takes my camera. I get a ton of pictures of his cars!

And an equal amount of pictures of his nose!

What We've Been Up To...

2009-03-31T18:51:00.004-04:00

We've been a little busy with moving 2 weeks ago. I think I've been back to Troutman, NC (our old house) like 6 different times for appointments and work since we've been here. Hasn't really helped to need to unpack. I've waited on taking piture for when the house is unpacked and the boys had their Bunkbeds put up. I'll get those pictures taken and uploaded soon. On other news...Loren's had a great couple weeks at work. In Bristol, on the 21st Kevin Harvick won. It was a great race and I made my brother Patrick talk to me on the phone for the final 10 laps. (I needed someone to hold my hand:-) They won and it was fun to great a better glimpse of Loren on TV. He's in the picture below standing behind and to your right of Kevin Harvick.

Then on Monday, this week (30th) Kevin drove in the Truck Series the #2 Truck. Loren had to go help with that since it was an extra truck. Kevin won again! Here's just a picture of the truck. I know no body really cares but I'm proud of Loren and the job that he does. It's kinda worth it when he's gone all the time to have the team win.

I'll update again with more pictures of the house. Me and the boys also went to the Zoo on Monday so I'll get those pictures uploaded and posted.

(I really just wanted to get rid of that scary 90's picture of me that's been mocking me when I pulled up my blog. I'm sure most of you were sick of it too!)

2009-03-07T12:31:00.002-05:00

I seriously have no excuse for this picture I found. (I should be packing instead of looking at pictures) This is from the 80's like maybe 6th grade? It's bad!!! Why would I do my hair this way? Those bangs...I was so proud of them and the aeresol can of hair spray was my best friend!

2009-03-06T17:45:00.002-05:00

Here's a picture of Loren at the race last weekend in Vegas. He is behind the car to the right holding the Sunco Gas Can. They had a great start in the race but was involved in a huge wreck half way thru. It's kinda fun finding pics of my hubby on the internet and watching for him on TV. Luckily he doesn't race this weekend so hopefully we'll be able to get all packed and ready to go next week. All I need to do is stay off facebook and all the other addicting things on the web and I might get all packed!

My Crazy Week

2009-02-28T20:36:00.004-05:00

So my week started out really crappy! But this blog is not a place to get into why it all went to hell last Saturday. Just know it hasn't improved on that issue...Then on Monday I took Case to the Doctor because he'd had a runny nose and temp. during the weekend and he started a bad cough. Turns out it was RSV. I guess after the age of 2 you don't get RSV but poor Case is only 18 months old. And where do we go at 18 months old? That's right... Nursery at Church. It was his 2nd time going and he ended up the RSV and breathing treatments for a week. We go back on Monday to retest. He sounds a lot better and he's been finally eating and drinking and sleeping good. It's a really pitiful picture!

Also this week I've been preparing for my first Scentsy Show. It was for a small venue of about 500 people. I was awake all night thinking that I need to remember this and that and finally gave up and got going at 4:45 am. It rained all day today so I think the numbers were way down than what they had the year before but we did awesome! Our booth was full from 8:30am-2:00pm. I sold $400 and possibly a few recruits. I'm crossing my fingers. A lot of people interested in parties so hopefully I'll be busy. I really liked doing the show. It just took a ton of work and money to put together. The lady with me is Deanna. She signed up under me in September last year. She came to help me out today. We had a blast! I'm so glad it's over. Now I get to focus on packing to move in 2 weeks. YIKES!

It's hard to tell but that shinny white light is a Groovy White Plugin all lite up. So pretty! Loren made me some great Plug In displays and they were so cute.

Loren also made this Peg Board for all my scents. I like having a crafty guy. Except when he thought it was a good idea to not paint over the yucky white peg board. Black is definitely the better way to go. I'm just sayin'...

And here's the whole shot of my display. Seriously if I told you how much all this product was worth priced out individually...I'd be a poor woman. But I did make a profit and some wonderful contacts. So not too bad for a Saturday!

Sorry for all the Scentsy stuff. It was just a fun day after a crappy week! I'm glad it's over!!

We Are Moving...Again...

2009-02-19T10:34:00.002-05:00

We've been talking about moving when Justin was done with school in June to be closer to Loren's work. He has been driving 60 miles each way since August and the gas on that isn't fun. It hit me when Loren was gone to the race in Daytona that he isn't going to be around very much anymore and I didn't want to do the majority of the move by myself. So my bright idea was to move in March since Loren is only gone for 1 race in the 21st. But in order to get that done we needed to find a Rental Home this week of next in order to give our current Landlord a 30 day notice. I drove around Tuesday and didn't find alot in our price range. I drove around Wednesday and I happened to call a lady who goes to the new Ward I was trying to get into and she said there was a Rental that just went up in her neighborhood so I checked it out and loved it.
Don't get to excited about this house above...it's the one across the street. But just wanted to show the type of neighborhood it was. Very nice and quiet.This is our new house...at least for the next year. If Loren still has a job next season, we'll buy something. The house has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Brand new carpet was just put in last week in the bedrooms. The foyer and living room have nice hardwood floors. The kitchen is just the original linoleum. The yard is very small compared to what we are used to but clean and nice landscapes in the back.

This is the kitchen (obviously)...I've never had this much counter top or cabinet space. And even a Wine rack above the Fridge. What can I do with that? hmmm...

So I like that fun shelves next to the fireplace. It has identical shelves on the opposite side. (The space heater is not part of the house)

My favorite part is how close the school is for Justin. We'll just have to walk maybe 200 yards around the corner and walk across this path and he'll be in the back field of the elementary. He'll be very sad he won't get to ride a bus but I'm more than thrilled we don't have to drive to school and wait in a long line of cars to pick him up.

I've never lived in a neighborhood that you could walk thru in the middle of the street and not worry about cars since I've been married.

So there you have it. We are moving on March 14th in 3 weeks an hour away and I'm very excited for the change.

2009-02-12T09:05:00.003-05:00

I finally broke down and shaved Case's hair this week. I wish I hadn't cause now he really looks just like Justin! So cute! He's got a crazy swirly in the front that is going to drive me crazy so I think I just need to get used to a shaved head. Something about a first haircut really makes boys look all grown up.
He was really good and let us shave it. No squirming around at all! Don't you just love those cheeks of his?

We got to keep this supper cute baby Basset Hound for 2 days a couple of weeks ago. Her name is Mildred and Case's new best friend. This little puppy loved him. She'd follow him around all day when she wasn't sleeping. He was really gentle and wants one all for himself now. She was the perfect size for Case.

I just need to work on Loren for another dog. He's not very interested in another one though. Once we move this summer (closer to his work) we'll start wearing him down about it! Seriously how can you say no to this little boy?

Loren is back to work

2009-02-09T20:08:00.002-05:00

So Loren left today for Daytona and will be gone till late Saturday Night. The race is Saturday and Kevin is driving this time. He is sharing the car with Tony Stewart (who we only like when he's driving the car :-) and Ryan Newman ( I think we like him always...) I think Cale Gale is also driving on some short tracks. They will all drive the car through out the season. We got some good drivers so I hope some races get won this year. I know most of you don't car about this and normally I would not either but seriously I have no life and I watch NASCAR now just to get a look at Loren if I can. If you are ever bored like me watch during Qualifying, you can usually see him. He isn't part of the pit crew that goes over the wall but he does catch tires as they are thrown back and gets the extra gas can. He mostly helps with set up before the races.

One last thing (I know you all want all the info you can get) people are confused who he works for so I'll try to break it down for you. Loren is employed by KHI (Keving Harvick Inc.) He works on the Nationwide Series #33 car. The driver changes race to race between the guys I mentioned above. The main reason for this is sponsorship. So, this is the tricky part...Kevin Harvick owes this car (as well as 2 Trucks in Camping World Truck Series) but he, himself is employed by RCR and drives in the Cup Series #29 Penske Car. This is not who Loren works for. So, the race last weekend Kevin won (yeah for him) that had nothing to do with Loren because Kevin was driving the #29 Cup Car for RCR.

I know nobody cared about this but I get questions on it sometimes. So, when in doubt root for the #33 car in the Nationwide Series. Doesn't matter who the Sponsor is or who is driving it, just know Loren is there and he helped build it. Here's the car from last year. I don't have a current picture of it with the Sponsor this year. It will look different for most of the races.

This ends my lesson in NASCAR. If you stuck around this long you get an 'A'. If you didn't you fail...sorry, that's just how it goes.

Momma! Where are you?

2009-01-27T11:51:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I was able to get away for a very short 48 hours. I was the quickest 48 hours but so worth it! My friend Abby Wilson had a baby on the 14th this month. I knew if I didn't take a chance to get away before Loren starting racing again I would be stuck here till Spring Break in April. By then the baby will be 3 months old and not a baby anymore! As most of you know, Loren travels to all the Races with his team. What does that mean exactly? Well, starting the weekend of Valentine's Day until Nov. 20th he is gone every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. He has 3 weekends in March with no races and 1 weekend in September and 1 weekend in october with no races. So basically I will get no alone time till Thanksgiving.

This weekend was great all by myself. I got to Abby's around 3pm and snuggled baby Wesley. I got to play with his big sister Izzy at 5:45am on Saturday and watch cartoons. We had a blast playing with the baby. I spent Satruday Night at my parents house and happily took 2 Tylenol PM's and slept GREAT without listening to a baby moniter. I woke up at 7:30am which hasn't happened since before Case was born. It was great! I went to church and then saw my brothers and their kids before I drove back home.

So, thanks Loren for playing with the kiddos and not complaining that I wanted to go alone. I really enjoyed my weekend!

Is it already January?

2009-01-08T13:22:00.005-05:00

Seriously, I apoligize for not updating in almost a month. I'm sick of looking at the same post everytime I get on here to see if you guys updated your blog. I don't know why I'm such a loser at posting myself...

These pictures are not in any kind of order. I'm really not in the mood the fix that. I just thought Case was being cute. He really hates it when I'm on the computer so he stalks me at my feet under the table until I cave and play with him. (btw-do you love my ugly wallpaper? I can't wait to move out of this place! 5 more months!!)
So I am a loser mom and didn't get any pictures Christmas morning. I was so focused on the dumb video camera being on that I totally forgot to take pictures. I think theses are from like 2 days after. Case got a "Pat Pat Rocket". He really loves Little Enstiens and this Rocket makes all kinds of noises. Loren is in the back ground playing with his new PSP game he got for christmas.

Justin got a "Tag Reader" with 3 different books. He really loves this. It is a great teaching tool. I can plug in up to the computer and it will transfer his info and send me a progress report. It'll tell me what he is struggling on and what he understands. It is very interactive. I've been really happy with it so far. This is also his new robe. Loren thought is was a dumb gift but Justin really likes to wear ir.

JoJo (Grandma Pat) gave most of the grandkids (20+) gift cards to Build a Bear. This was the best gift! They had a great time picking out animals and Justin has even demoted "Baby" to second favorite. (if you knew his love for "Baby" you'd know this is a big deal!) Case got a dog that is really soft and I named him "Patch". Sorry it's not very creative.

Justin picked out this dog. His name is "Sip" I have no idea where that came from but that is what he named him. Apparently Sip loves Iron Man because that is the shirt he picked out. And since Case didn't dress his dog, Justin had enough left over to buy Sip some roller skates and saftey helmet and pads. He goes to school with him and is his sleep buddy at nap time. They are best friends.

So Case was flipping out the other day and wouldn't chill out so Loren thought it would be funny to put him in the hamper. It was funny until he knocked it over and fell out and started crying even harder.

I did take pictures Christmas Eve when Santa came and dropped off his stuff. Justin and Case got to share a Crane Truck and a Dump Truck. They each got a new book and stuffed animal. (Santa really likes KOLH'S charity books and animals) Santa even left Justin a little note thanking him for his picture that he drew for him and the cookies and carrots for the Reindeer.

Also, every Friday I take Case to a play group sponsored by the county here. They offer a clean indoor play room with tons of toys. He goes with his friend Macie and loves it!

Justin did talk to Santa but he was very disapointed when he didn't get the Transformers he asked for.

Here is Justin at his schools Christmas progam singing very loud. I wish I knew how to edit my video cause it is pretty funny! Sorry for the blur I wasnt taking the picture.

Well, that's what we have been up to lately. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. If I didn't send you a Christmas Card I'm sorry that I'm a loser but you should know that by know!

2008-12-17T11:20:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure what this is a picture of but it is just one example of what he does all the time. He is really starting to love drawing. And they are getting from good. His imagination is great. The other day he drew a van with a christmas tree on the top. It looked just like it.

There's not much I can say about Case and his Paci's. He just loves them. I fould a bunch the other day hiding so when he woke up from his nap he was so happy!

I was incharge of our Relief Society (Women's Group @ Church) Christmas Program. I was so proud of the decorations and how they turned out. Those light were going to be the death of me but they worked and it was a great program. We talked about the different Christmas Hymns and their origins and then we sang together as a group and some of us preformed. Some how I got talked into a duet of Silent Night in German. Not sure how that happened since I'm the one who was assigning the preformers. But I didn't mess up the words too much.

Do you see my pretty Nativity Set from Willow Tree that my wonderful Mother in Law got for me a few years ago! It's so pretty!

We aren't going anywhere for Christmas since we went to TN for Thanksgiving. We are feeding the missionaries that day so that will be fun. I think the kids have gotten spoiled like always and some how I talked Loren into a group gift. A new bedding set with new sheets that don't snag on my rough heels. We are already using them and I love it!

I hope all of your Christmas's are wonderful and I'll catch up again in the new year. 2009!!

2008-12-10T15:24:00.000-05:00

This video is so funny and it might be better than the movie! I'm just sayin'

Free Give Away Again!

2008-12-08T15:18:00.002-05:00

So I keep entering these contests because I assume I'll win something eventually...right? N-E-Ways...this blog, give away today is giving away a FREE Reversivble Camera Strap Cover. It's really cute and all I had to do was leave a comment. I was able to add my name 4 different times. Once for just leaving a post on my blog about my Best Picture taken. So here is my Best Picture. You've seen it before I think. It's of Case and his hooded towel. I just love his expression! Check out the blog to see what they give away everyday!

Free $100.00 Target Gift Card

2008-12-02T14:25:00.001-05:00

There is this great blog that is giving away FREE stuff every day and today is a $100.00 Gift Card to Target. All you have to do is leave a comment. If you go there give my name as a referral so I can have my name added again. Thanks!!

www.giveawaytoday.blogspot.com

My Thanksgiving Travels

2008-12-01T15:49:00.007-05:00

Man this past month really few by! It was so busy and now only 4 weeks till Christmas. I'll go ahead and apologize for all the pictures in random order. But I am very lazy and I don't want to go back and put them in order. Me and the family got to got to TN for Thanksgiving. YEAH!! It was last minute decision but way worth it. We stayed at my dad's house and got to see alot of people. We didn't leave until late on Wednesday cause Loren had to work. We got to my dad's house around 1am (2am to us). Case really hates traveling at night when he'd rather be in his bed asleep. He cried about 4 hours of our 7 hour drive. Fun huh? But all was well the next day. We spent Thanksgiving at my friend Abby's house. She was so nice to let us crash her meal. My peps went to KY to eat with Pat's (my step-mom) family. We had a great meal with our friends the Hanson's, Wilson's, and Scott Gibson. Thank's Abby for feeding us. On Friday Me and my brother Ben went to visit my Grandmother who lives in a Nursing Home in KY. I hadn't seen her since this summer. I used to live close and was able to visit more but now I'm 7 hours away. I am her Guardian (POA-ish) and I've got to be incharge of her care. She is doing good and we let talk to my mom (her daughter) for like 15 minutes. She really enjoyed that. She hasn't been vocal for about a year and doesn't know who anyone is anymore. But when my mom started talking to her her eyes really lite up and I could tell she was really concentrating. It was good to see her. On Saturday all the grandkids made Christmas cookies at my parents house. We had 12 kids there and it was chaos! I got to finally hold my new nephew Emmett. I just loved him and his sweet baby smell! Saturday night I went to the movies with my friend Claire. We saw Australia. Man I am in love with that man! Hugh Jackman is Yummy!!! (BTW-Loren was throwing up all day Saturday. Fun huh?) Sunday we drove back home and now I've got to dig myself out of this pile of laundry but instead I am updating my blog and changing the back ground. I've got good priorities huh? Well, that's my update. oh-yeah...I finally advanced in rank with my Scentsy Business. Yeah for me! My paycheck for November Rocked and it is paying for Christmas, a new colored printer, maybe a pedicure...it's been too long! On to the pictures. Again I'm sorry they are out of order...

Me and my sister Morgan. She's very pretty and 17! Holy Cow!!

Baby Emmett. He loved his Aunt Becca and slept in my arms for an hour. I've got the touch!

Me and Emmett. (do you like my shirt? It says..."Practice Safe Scents" makes me laugh when I wear it!

Justin is making Christmas Cookies with his cousins. He had so much fun!

This is Izzy, Abby's daughter. She is so stinkin' cute. She gave me inspiration on what to get Case for Christmas. No it's not the My Little Ponies. I got him the same Rocket. He loved her's at Thanksgiving. Thanks Izzy for sharing!

Me and my Grandma Wheat. Believe me...she looks a million times better now than she did a year ago.

Justin and his friend Ethan at Thanksgiving Dinner

I really want a cool timer like this. Very helpful when making a turkey that took an extra hour to cook!

This is Becca Hanson and Abby. I love hangin' with these girls!

Case is chillin' in this pick car. He doesn't care what color his ride is!

Walking a little outside

And finally just a cool picture of what he does all day long!

(Disclaimer: I apologize for the offensive massive zit on my chin thru most of these pictures. Believe me it hurt me more than it is hurting you to see it!)

That's it! Hope everyone had a great Weekend!

Twilight!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-20T19:59:00.003-05:00

So, I'd first like to dedicate this post to my dear friend. You know who you are:-) As I sit here staring at my clock (8:00pm) on Thursday night the eve of Twilight I can't help but wish this clock went a little faster. I've never been more thankful to be on the East Coast until now when I get to see the movie a whole 2 and 3 hours before my family and friends. Hehe...

I'm going to the midnight release in 4 short hours. I have on my Twilight Shirt that I bought in Forks, WA this summer. It says I was bitten in Forks. I thought it was good enough since the place will be surrounded by 15 year olds in Prom Dresses. I'm not that crazy. Seriously...I'm almost 30! So the t-shirt will have to do. I've got my Mountain Dew (ok it's really Mello Yellow) to help me stay awake. Sadly enough my bed time is usually 9:30. I'm gonna be dead to the world tomorrow. But so worth it! I've decided to repost my pictures from this summer when I went to Forks. (Don't be jealous)

Me and Case Freezing in La Push! Very Pretty!! Maybe this was first beach I don't remember.

This is the sunset from LaPush. Still very cold but so worth it.

Here is the Outfitters Store where Bella worked. They had everything in there.

From left to right: my niece Brianna, Me, my sister Amy, and my sister Morgan. We walked around for a minute but the school was locked up for Summer Break.

I'm just so glad that this movie is finally here so I can get on with my life. I really want a movie for books 3 and 4. I think the fight scene in book 3 would totally rock and I'm curious how they would do Renesme in book 4.

I hope those who care get to go see the movie (minus hubby the first time. he can come when I see it again.) Have a great time!!

Love these Signs!

2008-11-20T16:11:00.003-05:00

So, friends of mine from High School make these really fun Name Signs. You should check them out. They are having a drawing and giving one away if you post a comment on your own blog. So, you should check it out here

Justin is 5!

2008-11-16T09:21:00.004-05:00

Justin turned 5 on Thursday, November 13th. I can't believe how big he looks. When he got dressed for church this morning he was so handsome I had to take a picture! I didn't have any baby pictures saved on this computer so I almost just put one of Case since they looked the same as babies. Justin was just 2 pounds bigger. But I didn't do it. Sorry...
I feel like a loser mom for not having a birthday party for Justin this year. He is at the age where he knows the difference. Last year went drove back to TN so he could have a party with his cousins and friends. We had just moved to NC and I felt bad. This year he really doesn't have any friends except Aiden and the kids from school. I wasn't inviting the kids from school cause some of the parents are just scary so we just celebrated a little each day for 3 days. On Tuesday it was Veteran's Day so Justin didn't have any school. I took his friend Aiden and him to a NASCAR themed restaurant and they ate and played arcade games. They loved it.

Then on Wednesday Night we opened presents from us and his Grandparents and we blew out candles on some brownies that I made last minute. (I wasn't prepared for the cake part! Loser I know) Loren was going to be in Miami for the last Race so we did the presents early.

Then on his birthday I took cupcakes to his class and they sang happy birthday to him. He had a good time all 3 days so I don't think he noticed being short changed. (sorry this picture is fuzzy)

I can't believe he is already 5 and will be in Kindergarten next year. I can't wait. He is such a funny kid and is so busy all the time. He really loves school except for the taking a nap part. He's learning a lot and starting to do alot more on his own now.

A couple of facts about Justin: his favorite color is Red. He doesn't like the word Dinner. I don't know why but if I say it's time for dinner he puts up a fight about eating. But if I call it food time or a snack it's ok. I hope he grows out of this. I drives me crazy. He loves to make up songs and sing them all the time until you find yourself singing them too. He loves to play and loves his baby brother. He's a great kid and really fun to play with.

I love you buddy and Happy Birthday!

(thought this was a cute picture!)

Hangin' in the Sun

2008-11-09T19:37:00.005-05:00

This past week has been so nice and somewhat warm! Which makes me very happy. we saw mid 70's a few times and took advantage of it one day when we had Loren with us and went to the park. Here's a picture of Justin hanging on to a race car. The pose was his idea.

Sadly enough, I think this was Case's first time on a swing! He really loved it. It's kinda hard to get an action shot but just look at his face. Loving it!

Justin and Case going down the slides together. It's so much more fun when they can do stuff together. Now if we can only get Case to walk with us he will totally be in there.

I thought this picture was so great of my handsome boys. We had a fun time at the park and enjoyed the last of the warm weather. (Have I ever mentioned I HATE the cold?)

Ok...so I had a great opportunity to go to Atlanta, GA this weekend for a Scentsy Regional Conference. Can I first just say that I have not been without my kids since January and I really needing those 27 hours away! I drove to Atlanta Friday night (4 1/2 hours) and stayed with Amy Carter (Abby Wilson's sister) and her family. Thank you so much for letting me crash at your home even thou you've only meet me a few times. Ya'll really saved me a ton of money! I got there in time for bed and was out the door by 7am the next morning. The Conference was in Atlanta so I had about an hour drive that morning. I think the main reason I went was because I had signed up 3 recruits in September and I really have no idea what I'm doing. I got into Scentsy because I wanted to help pay my Summer travels and it did. But then I signed up some people and I had to think about someone else's success besides mine. I had to decide if I wanted to just Sell or if I wanted to Sell and really make a go at this. I learned alot at the conference and met some great people who are in my area. I've been kinda by myself since I signed up so it was great to meet others that I can go to for suggestions.

So, driving home I really thought about everything and I really think I want to make a go at this. I'd love to not only make a little money on the side for me but I'd love to help contribute to our household. We really want to buy another house and keep our TN home and continue to rent it out. And with the economy the way it is we're gonna have to have a decent down payment. So my new goal is to work towards saving for a home.

I know you don't really care about this but I'm really excited about it. I got to meet the Owners of Scentsy, Orville and Heidi Thompson. My sister Amy actually knows them from 15 years ago before they bought Scentsy. They tried to talk her into being a consultant 4 years ago but she was too busy. She thought is was pretty funny when I told her what I had signed up for back in March. I had meet Heidi and Orville when I was like 13 visiting my sister so it was fun to meet them again. This company is growing so fast out West and it's just starting in the South so I'm excited about the possibilities! If you want to know more about Scentsy just click www.scentsy.com/rkern

Happy Halloween and other Fun Stuff!!

2008-11-01T21:05:00.005-04:00

The boys costumes this year really made me laugh! The only thing that would have made it better was Case walking...but maybe next year! I got the costume idea from the Family Fun magazine. Case is a Gnome and Justin is a Gnome sitting on a Toadstool. It took a little convincing on my part to get Justin into this costume. He really wanted to be something from Star Wars or Transformers. When he saw the "skirt" he had to wear he was not very excited. I told him that the Blue hat made him a boy Gnome and he seemed to accept that. He did like it in the end and we got alot of compliments while Trick or Treating.

Don't you just want to squeeze Case? He was really good all night long walking around in the cold.

This is the Family Fun inspiration from last year. Justin (almost 4) was a "Candy Robot" and Case (almost 3 months) was a "Sweet Pea" .

We had to stop and take a break from walking. He was begging to go home within an hour!

This is his friend Aiden. Aiden and his family came with us so we wouldn't be alone. Loren was in Texas for a race and missed out on all the fun.

He was so tired!

Also, last weekend we went to the NC Hot Air Balloon Festival. It was really nice weather and Loren got to go with us so that was a bonus! So many balloons and I think Case could have died a very happy baby. He loves Balloons!

These things are huge close up!

And lastly, a few weeks ago I found a Caterpillar outside that attached itself to our beach towel. I took it off and put it into this jar thinking I totally killed it. By the next morning it had reattached itself to the stick I provided and then 2 1/2 weeks later it hatched! Very cool. Justin was so proud!

Good bye pretty Butterfly!

In other news...I voted early on Thursday and it only took me 30 minutes in line! Very happy about that. Loren however will be there all night on Tuesday after work. Have you voted? If not good luck on Tuesday. It will be a long night I think...

Nascar Anyone?

2008-10-14T16:38:00.003-04:00

So seriously...where did my life go wrong? Nascar? Seriously? Well, some day I need to except it and get used to it cause we ain't movin' any time soon! There was a race in NC this past weekend so me and Justin decided to see what Loren does 3 days out of every week. Besides the drunk rednecks and chain smokers it was kinda fun. We were just a few rows up right in front of pit row so we could kinda see Loren. I never knew how loud it could be. We didn't come prepared so we bought ear plugs. Those things are hard to get to stay in on Justin and man you could really tell how dirty his ears were! We didn't stay for the whole race cause they had 2 rain delays for a few sprinkles and the race lasted till after 1am. We went home around 11pm. We did get to see 2 wrecks in front of us and watch Justin's favorite drivers go round and around. Justin had a huge grin on his face the whole time.

Here's Justin trying to see Loren across the field.
The #33 car was Kevin Harvick's during a Pit Stop. Loren was there somewhere.
Me and Justin having fun and going deaf at the same time
Trying to preserve my kids hearing!

I can say that I was glad to go. It's nice to see what my hubby does and it wasn't totally horrible. I might even go again some day!

Sweet Baby Case!!

2008-10-08T11:58:00.004-04:00

I haven't gotten a picture of Case with me or Loren in a while so I decided it was time. He is such a funny kid and very sneaky lately!

So, I was yelling at Justin for the past 2 days because he couldn't find his new shoes and he can't wear his crocks or sandals to school. He never puts his shoes away when he gets home from school and so he had to wear his church shoes the past 2 days and he wasn't very happy about it. Well today Case was playing by me at the computer and opened the filing cabinet and guess what I found? Yup...Justin's new shoes and it was Case who lost them the whole time. So now I feel like a jerk and will have to tell Justin I'm sorry for yelling at him...however, if he had put his shoes away in the first place Case would never had hid them!
Seeing his shoes in the filing cabinet reminded me of the other funny hiding places Case has put stuff. So I had to recreate them for you. Justin last week went to pee and starting yelling for me to come and see what Case did...you guessed it...Justin's sandals were in the toilet! (They have since then been disinfected!)
I always have a problem with Case and keeping up with his pacies. He currently has 4 and I can only tell you where 1 is. It's in his mouth. However, the other day Justin went to get some fruit snacks out of the pantry and yelled for me to see what Case had did...again...his paci was in the Fruit Snack box!

2008-10-01T19:43:00.003-04:00

Not alot has been going on this past week. Loren was in Delaware I think and this week he's in Talladega for an ARCA race. Then next week he has a race in NC so no traveling and I finally get to go to my first NASCAR race. I'm not sure if I should be proud of this or not...I'll let you know...I think by the 18th he will have a weekend off and I think I am due a date and some flowers. This past week I finally signed up 3 consultants to sell Scentsy with me and I am learning how much extra work I have to do now. I've been training the ladies who live close to me and it's been rough since NC hasn't had a lot of gas in the past week. But I am excited to make a little extra money for christmas.

So, every morning when Case wakes up and Justin is usually already up I put Case on the couch with Justin while I take a shower. He usually sits there the whole time I'm in the shower and shares a bowl of dried cereal and watched cartoons with his brother. Sometimes Justin even turns it on the Wiggles for Case. He's a good brother that way. I couldn't resist this cute picture of their morning bonding!
This other day Justin comes running to me and says to come look where Case was. I looked in Justin's closet and saw that he pushed the stool over to the bookshelf and climbed on top of it. Isn't he a genius! I had the run and grab the camera for this one. This kids can't walk but he sure is motivated to climb!
I hope everyone has a great week!

This is Out of Control

2008-09-26T07:21:00.003-04:00

This post is just something I need to write and get off my chest and vent and then I will quit obsessing about it. I promise!

Unless you don't watch TV or read the paper or talk to anyone else I'm sure you know about the "Economic Crisis". I'm so beyond sick and tired of hearing about it. Yes our economy is in trouble. Yes people are in a lot of debt. Yes the banks are in debt too. No the government should NOT bail them out! I think it's crazy that the government first is calling it a "Bail Out" hello! what does that teach the people of this country and our children who we are hopefully teaching how not to be in debt? It teaches them they can accept all those credit card applications they get in the mail, they can get that nice new home they know they can't afford with that "interest only" loan that they know they won't be able to afford once the agreement is over and they have to start paying the real mortgage payment. This country has taught us by example how to live way out of our means and that is including these banks who gave all of the people the loans and credit cards!

I know of one person who went Bankrupt not even 2 years ago and already this person has 5 credit cards and racked up $3000.00 in debt on those cards! Who gives a person a credit card when they went bankrupt 2 seconds ago? The idiot banks and financial institutes do and they are the ones now crashing!

So, I say let the banks crash and let all these people who are too big for their britches crash too. It will hopefully teach them how not to handle their money and then this country can hopefully climb out of this hole we put ourselves in...

Disclaimer: I do realized situations happen were jobs are lost, gas prices are insane, food costs go up, and just about everything you budget for has changed in the past year. The cost of living is not very cheap right now. This rant is mostly directed to not living within your means and giving out loans and credit cards like they are candy...

ok...I feel better. sorry if i offended anyone. that wasn't my intent. i promise my next blog will be happy with pictures of my kids:-)

2008-09-19T09:43:00.002-04:00

Sorry it's been forever since I've updated my blog. Nothing really has been going on exciting. My that's why I haven't felt like talking about nothing. Loren has been working and traveling every week. But there is an end in site come Thanksgiving. He'll have a few months off during the off season so we'll get him on the weekends. It hasn't been as bad as I thought having him gone thou. He is usually away Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Sometimes it just Thursday and Friday. He's usually around on Sundays so I don't complain.

I went to a baby shower for a girl at church the other week and made some really fun gifts. Of course I can't take credit for these ideas. I made a hooded towel. (thanks Chantell for the idea)

And then I made a Memory Can out of a paint can and some scrapbook paper. (Thanks Elissa for this idea! I love the one she made for Case) I also made a couple of burp rags and a blanket. It was nice to have a project to do.
Justin was being silly one night. He's actually silly every night and we made some fun spikes in his hair. I'm not really sure what this pose is...
And Case was just being his cute self in the car yesterday. He is adjusting to having Justin gone all day and having to play with me. I'm not as funny as his big brother is. He's been cuting his 3rd molar for like the past 2 weeks and been supper crabby. I can't wait till all those come in! And in case some of you are wondering...he's still not walking! He's almost 14 months old and could care less. I was really hoping he'd be walking by Halloween but I don't see that happening. That's all our exciting news. I'm doing good. Staying busy with my Scentsy Business and meeting a lot of new people doing it. It's been nice to have my own "mad cash" to spend and shop with. The weather is finally in the upper 70's and low 80's so I'm so happy to finally have my fall weather here!

Happy Birthday Loren and Justin goes to School!

2008-09-01T16:08:00.003-04:00

So, Loren had a birthday on the 26th and turned 31. Happy Birthday!! I'd like to point out the color of cake that I made him. I really wanted the cherry frosting so he got stuck with the pink frosting:-) For his birthday he got a PSP video game. He was actually surprised that I got it for him but he was the one complaining that all the guys have one on the plane when they go to races. I happened to be paying attention that day and got him one. He got to try it out this past weekend on his way to California and was happy he had something to do on the long flight. Case was being really quiet one day and we all know what that mean...he got into one of my crystal light drink pouches and broke the foil on it and had it all over himself and the floor.
So, I was really disappointed that Justin wasn't starting school this year becuase he has a late birthday. However, the good people of NC, Iredell County feel it is nessesary to sponsor a "More At Four" program. If you qualify financilly they pay for the whole thing. Well, I got him into it and yeah for me he is gone M-F 8:30-3:00! They feed him breakfast and a hot lunch everyday! And did I mention that it is free to me? He had a 1/2 day last week and starts full schedule on tomorrow. I feel a little bad that I'm not the kind of mom who got weepy on the first day of school...I was so excited you people have no idea!
He has his own little cubby to keep his stuff in.
I did hang around the first day while he ate breakfast. He actually drank the milk which he doesn't at home. He said that if he drank it at school then he will get big and strong.
When I came to pick him up he was really mad and didn't want to leave. He'd already been there for 4 hours! Him and his friend Aiden got the same class and this is their favorite station to play in. That kid can really build some impressive bridges and roads with blocks!!

Worker's Comp??

2008-08-19T16:09:00.003-04:00

So this is the last time that I try to hang with Justin and do crafts!!! Does anybody know where you file for Worker's Comp when you're a mother? I'd love the number!! I swear it's like a 2 1/2 degree burn!
However, this is the result of our bonding time togther. Hot glue guns should be outlawed. It is Michael's fault because they had these kits on clearance!
As a side note...I've posted before about Justin's problem with animals in the bed...this is a little out of control. There were some more under the blankets as well. Is there soem kind of 12-step program I can look into?
And finally...isn't Case so stinkin' CUTE!!! I can't stand how much I love this kid!

Case's Birthday Party

2008-08-13T09:52:00.005-04:00

Here is my way last minute birthday cake that I did for Case. I made the cake the day before but I had no idea until like 2 hours before the party. Thanks to Justin for letting me borrow his farm animals from his 1st birthday party. Anyone love my homemade Silo? In case you care it's a Pringles can with a fruit cup on top...seriously last minute!

Case didn't really care about the cake. At least he didn't cry when he had to touch it like Justin did! He loved the tractor attached to the ballons better. Just some pictures of his gifts. We had a really small attendance for the part since our family is mostly in TN but we did have a few people there. He definitely got spoiled from his Grandparents. Thanks Jo Jo and Papa Boyles for the ride on Truck. And thanks to Papa and Nanna Kern for the cash. It went to some fun toys. He got 2 different Leap Frog Fridge games. One is the Barn one and the other has vehicles. With the money he also got this awesome kitchen. Everything on it makes noises and the oven and fridge opens and closes. This one is his favorite and Justin likes it too!
These next two pictures are not from the party but from Yesterday outside. It is finally starting to cool off here so me and the boys try to hang out outside a little bit each day. Case still won't walk but he won't crawl outside on the grass either. He bear crawls and it's really funny to see. However, don't count him out yet cause he saw Justin climb up this slide so he had to try it to. He got all the way to the top! He just couldn't pull himself up!!! I'm really in trouble I think with this kid:-)
Justin seriously pushed Case around for like 30 minutes. What a good Brother!

Well, there you have it! Our last week is good ol' Troutman, NC. Thanks for stopping by to read our blog! I love staying connected even in this little way with our family and friends!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASE

2008-08-07T09:41:00.007-04:00

So, exactly one year ago today I was in the hospital being induced with Case. What I thought was going to be a scary and painful delivery was actually pretty darn easy compared to Justin who was 9lb 7oz. Case was born on August 7th, 2007 at 12:06pm weighting in at 7lb 5oz. Just going by his weight he was already my favorite child. (Justin never had a chance!) We have had a crazy year and I can't believe how fast it has gone. Just in his first 2 months of life Loren saw him I think a total of 10 days because he was working in NC and I was living with my parents after we got our house rented out. In October we finally joined him and everything was pretty calm after that.

This kid has been the complete opposite of Justin! I think Justin came out the size of a 4 month old and started crawling at 5 months and walking at 8 months! It took Case forever to roll over and he didn't even start to crawl until 9 months! He's still not walking and doesn't really even care to. I try to hold his hands and walk with him but he sits down after a few steps. He will pull himself up on stuff and he's really good at climbing. (something Justin never did) I can already tell he's going to get into a lot of mischief! He is very vocal and loves to talk. He says mama, dada, ba (this is for bite and ball) and he knows what I'm talking about when I ask where his phone and drink is.

He is such an easy going kid and I'm so thankful he's apart of our family. He is a joy to be around and I can't wait to see what he accomplishes this next year!

He was like 3 weeks old

He loves his brother Justin

He loves his Paci (I finally got him to take a new brand:-)He will finally hold his own Juice Cup!!!!

He loves any kind of food!

He's got some amazing skill at holding stuff between his toes!

And...he hates it when he doesn't get his way!!

Lastly...I just want to say thank you to my beautiful new camera I had to buy a new one since my old one died on my trip to AZ. I took most of these pictures this morning with it!

Breaking Dawn

2008-08-03T16:49:00.004-04:00

Hey Ladies (not sure how many guys read this...)

So as most of you know the 4th book of the Twilight series came out on Saturday, August 2nd and that I am just a little obsessed! I attended the midnight party at Barnes and Noble and I was sure that I was the only (almost) 30 something there who wasn't bringing her daughter. I talked my friend Carly into going with me so I wasn't a total loser. When we got there we were totally under-dressed! All the young girls were in prom dress and all gothed out. Funny huh? We waited our turn and got my book and I was on my way by 12:10am.

So, I only allowed myself one chapter and then went to bed. I spent the WHOLE day reading that book. By the time my kids were in bed I was getting ready to get back on the couch and assume the position when I looked down at the living room floor... I swear I think the only thing the boys ate all day was fish crackers and fruit snacks cause the area rug was covered in it! I'm a great mom huh? I did warn Loren before hand what the day was going to look like. He had no high expectations! I am happy to say I finished the book at 1am Sunday morning. I seriously couldn't put it down! I'm really sad now that it is over and I have nothing to look forward to till the movie. I really want the story to continue. She did leave it kinda open but the last page did say THE END!

I'd love to know any ones comments on the final book when you finish reading it. I don't expect everyone to be a loser mom and wife like me and have it read in one day. I can wait patiently for a few days for someone to read it!

I won't put any SPOILERS in the post but I am going to leave a comment in that section for a discussion. So...IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BOOK AND DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING...DON'T READ THE COMMENTS!!!!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Here we go! I hope you brought Popcorn!!!

2008-07-28T07:52:00.027-04:00

So, I am finally home. Yesterday I drove back from Tennessee. I had stayed there for a week so I could go to a wedding then I came home. If I would have stayed just 2 more days it would have been 7 weeks since I'd been home. Seriously...when I go on vacation, I go on vacation!

I'm going to try and blog all of this today and get it over with, but with Case wanting my attention we'll just have to wait and see how far I get today.

I left home on June 10th and drove to my dad's in TN. I prefer to fly Southwest cause they have straight thru flights to WA and from AZ so I left my car at my dad's. I was there for like 2 days so me and my friends got together and had a pool party at my dad's. There was like 30 people there and 2/3 of them were kids under the age of 4. It was crazy but a ton of fun and somehow nobody drowned under our watch:-) I had so much fun with everyone and I wish I still lived close by. I totally take for granted what great friends I made in TN and I love you guys and miss you a tons. Thanks for always wanting to get together when I come to town!

Justin and Case having fun in the water

Bethany holding Riley and her daughter Shelby

Izzy and Emma

Megan and Seth up top and her daughter Cloe down below

Liz and Kalaya...sorry if I misspelled her name

I just love Greta! She got this cupcake everywhere and I mean everywhere!

(Sorry if I missed some pictures but Abby has all the copies and she said she'd email them to everyone!)
OK...onto my next adventure. We flew to WA on June 13th (lucky huh?) It was a almost 5 hour flight which wouldn't have been bad if I was a better mom...You see at the pool party the day before my friend Abby put sun block on Case (thanks Abby for being a better mom then me!) but I didn't put anything on myself of Justin. Now...Justin is a total champ when it comes to tanning and never burning, thanks to his daddy...but I guess our hours of playing in the pool wasn't good...luckily the "bad bubbles" didn't pop-up till after we got to WA. However the plane ride was rough cause we both were pretty sun burned on the shoulders. (Sorry Buddy!)

We stayed in WA for 2 weeks and had so much fun. I'm gonna try to remember everything but you can always go read about it on my sister's blog. Her name is Amy on my sidebar. She had hers posted a month ago. When I got home last night I had to shuffle through over 1200 photo's of that trip! I didn't take any of them cause my camera sucks (total breakage happened in AZ!!) so everyone downloaded the pictures and we just burned a CD of the trip. Amy took me and her Daughter Brianna along with some of friends to the Cheese Cake Factory for her birthday. She went and turned 17 on me and that is way too crazy!!! The food was so yummy and of course the cheese cake was heavenly. Thanks Amy for the yummy night out. We have a great video of me and Amy singing in the car to Debbie Gibson, "I get lost in his eyes"... I'm not sure if that is what it's called but I'm gonna try to find it and put it on my music thing. It was pretty funny and some day Amy is gonna have it on her blog. The second weekend we took the younger kids to a park to play on and I got to learn that I'm no longer 10 years old! Justin was playing tag with his cousin Aaron and his friend who are 8 and of course Justin wasn't doing very good so I decided to play and make it even. The rule was you couldn't touch the sand and I was running around in flip flops...not a good combo! I was going across the monkey bars (which to my defense didn't use to be that short!) I had to fold my legs under myself while I was swinging. When I got to the end my hands slipped and I fell and landed on the wooden landing. My shin took the fall and I had a HUGE goose egg and I STILL have a bump on my leg. It's been over a month! Morale of the story??? I'M ALMOST 30 AND I SHOULD ACT LIKE IT!!!

Justin and favorite Cousin Aaron

We then went to Forks, WA! I like to take a moment here and ask for a moment of silence for the dumb books that have got me and few other people obsessed. (you know who you are!) We did do other things on this trip. Otherwise we would have not been able to trick err talk Paul (Amy's hubby) into going on a fun trip to the Olympic Peninsula to see the the HOH Rain Forest and the beautiful Ocean...hee hee hee!

On the way over to the Peninsula we took a ferry across the Sound and and then drove like 3 hours to Forks. The drive over was very curvy and Justin kept complaining of a "sore throat". Sorry bud nothing I can do about a sore...apparently that is code word for throw up! This was a mess. Luckily I had a change of clothes!

Ok people...if you don't know what these books are all about go educate yourself. I have a link to the Authors website on my side bar. There is a movie coming out in December and the 4th book if coming out Saturday. Then you can truly appreciate my next few comments. But if you don't care then just skip all this blah blah blah:-) First I just want to comment on how this town is totally cashing in on the Twilight Books. The main street was like less then 2 miles long and the town fit in nicely all around it. We went to a local burger joint and they had a "Bella Burger" which of course I got. I'm not if Bella would really want a burger with Swiss cheese and pineapple but it was yummy and if you ordered it then you got a pair of glow in the dark vampire teeth. Not very accurate to the book but funny and Justin liked to play with them.

Brianna, Me, Amy, and Morgan infront of the Forks High School sign

This is La Push at sunset. It was just like I pictured it in the book.

Me and Case snugglin' at La Push

Baby Case was freezing and he really loved his Uncle Paul!

Everybody (including Paul!) at Cape Flattery. The most Northwestern Point of the US

Everybody at the Hoh Rain Forest. This place had so HUGE trees!

Have you ever seen a more stupid looking car?

Also at this place they were kind enough to give us a copy of the "Twilight Points of Interest". It was a map of the town and what corresponded to the book. So of course we took our picture at Forks High School. La Push (the ocean) was so beautiful! We went there our first night. It was so cold and windy that day but so pretty. I almost asked a kid who could have been Jacob Black if he'd let us take a picture with him but I thought that would have been rude. I'm a chicken! Justin insisted on walking in the FREEZING ocean and of course a wave knocked him down. And now he's just gonna have to go back to the hotel in his birthday suit. You'd think after the first time being knocked into the water he'd want out but no...He wasn't cold! The second time I put my foot down and I had to drag up to the car kicking and screaming.

This is me trying to talk Justin into going to the car but he kept telling me he's not freezing!

My trip with Amy was 2 weeks but it went by too quickly! I think the only time we had together with no kids was a trip to Cost Co. My wonderful Nieces...Brianna, Kenzie, and Carly babysat the boys like champs. To thank them I made them all curtains for their rooms. They turned out great and they are supposed to emailing me pictures of them...I'm still waiting! We then drove down to Portland, OR to visit my mother in law and to see Loren. He got to fly in and spend the next 9 days with us! We had a busy and fun time in OR. Jo (mom-in-law), had a lot of fun things planned. We went on a Stern Wheeler. It's a boat with a big paddle on the back. It was a very beautiful area! Jo treated me and her to a very nice pedicure at a real spa. I loved it and and my toes still look good. Thanks Jo! Me and Loren even got to go on a nice date for our anniversary that I missed:-( by ourselves while the boys played with Nanna Jo. We also spent the day out with Thomas up by Mt. Hood. Justin still loves trains and it was great. Thank you Jo for a great visit and we can't wait to see you again.

This is us on the Thomas Train. It was so nice to have Loren with us!

Nanna and Case

Nanna and Justin

This picture is to prove that Case is fully capable to hold his own cup. He would disagree though!

Loren, Justin, and Jo riding on a little train and Case down below exhausted from our trip!

Next me, Loren, and the boys flew to Sacramento, CA to visit his dad. We had a ton of fun with Grandpa. He was a good sport and drove us down to the Jelly Belly Factory and waited in line for over an hour to see the factory tour. If was well worth it. Who would have thought it takes up to a week to make 1 jelly belly! They are yummy!

George Clooney made out of Jelly Belly's

Loren and his dad

Justin really wanted this Jelly Belly Car!

Loren and his dad found some so styro foam airplanes that his mom bought a long time ago and they never put them together. We spent a few day flying and mostly crashing and retrieving these planes. It was lots of fun.

Grandpa watched Case so me and Loren could take Justin to see Wall-E. It's a really cute movie and it was great to spend time with Justin.

Went went to see Loren's grandparents and his Aunt and Uncle. His grandparents hadn't seen Justin since he was 13 months old and it was the first time they saw Case. The boys are their only Great-Grandchildren and it was important to me that they see them. I'm glad they did cause we just found out the Loren's Grandpa has Pancreatic Cancer. It was great to see them with the boys.

This is Loren's family on his dad's side. From left: Great Grandpa Pinard, Loren, Justin, Me, Aunt Janice, Uncle Bruce, Great Grandma Pinard, Case, and Grandpa Kern

I got a 4 Generation shot of Great Grandpa Pinard, Grandpa Kern, Loren, Justin and Case

Loren and his Grandma Joy

Case with his Great Grandpa Pinard...he never got to meet the other ones

We left to go to AZ and Loren left to NC on July 5th. It was sad to have him leave but we were so glad that he was able to make it out to join us!

If you are still reading this good for you. Please feel free to take a 15 minute break and make yourself a sandwich. Seriously...my fingers are starting to cramp up!

Arizona was surprisingly a very nice visit! I got to meet 2 of nieces for the first time. Claire who is 4 months old and Amena who is 14-ish months old. I spent a week at my friend Sarah Sarah's house. She worked alot of night shifts while I was there so I didn't get to spend enough time with her. But I did get to make her hubby watch to season finale to the Bachelorette and a few episodes of So You Think You Can Dance. Her daughter Tiffany is a little over a year old and loved Case. They were great friends!

syncranized stair crawling!

This is my friend Becca Wilcox's daughter Kaylyn with Case

Me and Baby Claire

I then spent a week at Lucinda's house. She is a total rock star for watching my kiddos a lot for me while I helped out my sister and mom some. Me and my mom got a rare day out to the Cheese Cake Factory (i love it ok!) It was nice to spend some time with her. Justin also got to spend the night with his Nanna Wheat a few times. He had so much fun! My sister Katie, Lucinda and myself spent 4 hours one day scrap booking Katie's baby album that me and Amy got for her a few months ago. We got alot done even with 7 kids running around. Jake and Harmoni (my brother and sis-in-law) came out to Katie's one night and we had dinner. It meant a lot for my mom to have some of her grand kids together. It was a challenge getting them all to sit still for a picture. Lastly...I just wanted to say a big thank you to Amy, my Mom, Katie, Lucinda, and Harmoni for doing Scentsy Candle parties and orders! You guys paid off my rental car that I had to get in AZ and it was a huge help!!! I know what a pain it is to do but I really Appreciated it!!!

Justin and Cole

Nathan, Justin, and Rilee (cousins)

Lucinda's Hubby wrestling with Cole and Justin

Trying to get pictures with screaming kids is really funny. Back row is Lincoln, Rilee, Nathan and Justin...front row not having any fun is Claire, Amena, and Case

I flew back to TN on July 19th and stayed for a week. I went to Girls Camp a little and hung out. I really miss that calling and all my friends! We spent a day with the Moore's who are moving to Italy for a few years. We'll miss you guys! I stayed in Tn for a week so I could attend my friends wedding. I met Abby Epps way back in the 8th grade when I lived in TN and it was fun going to the wedding and reception and seeing other people for way back then . When I get the picture emailed to me I'll post it. We drove back yesterday the 27th.

I can't believe we were gone so long. I just wanted to tell Loren that I love him a ton and thank you for never making me feel guilty for being gone so long! We missed you tons and I promise to stay home for a long time!!!

Ok people. There you go. I'm a little scared to publish this post...I hope it doesn't crash Blogger:-)

A quick post!

2008-07-23T18:32:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone. This is just a short post. I promise to give up all the info of my adventures this summer soon. I know you all are sitting on the edge of your seats waiting. I'm going home on Sunday and dedicating next week to blogging.

This post is for Loren. As a lot of you know. Loren's job with Lynch Racing finally ended. Yeah! And he now works for KHI (Kevin Harvick Inc.) We are soooooo excited for this opportunity. It's a great team with good drivers. So hopefully that means job security. The down side is it's 60 miles away so moving is in our future again...UGG! This past weekend Loren went with Kevin Harvick to help out in a Late Model Race in Maine. He won the race and Loren had to work in the pit crew. Not his job of choice and now he really doesn't want that job. If you care you should ask about the experience. I'll leave the embarrasing story for him to tell. But good job honey! He helped build the car and did a great job!

I haven't disappered!

2008-07-02T22:34:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I just wanted to let ya'll know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! Since there are so many people who sit by their computers every day waiting for me to update my blog. ha ha...I'm smack in the middle of my marathon vacation. I've been to Seattle, WA (including Forks, WA...OME or OMJ if you swing that way?) as well as Portland, OR. I am currently in Sacrameto, CA and we just got back from the Jelly Belly Factory...a.k.a. best place on earth! So, I have a ton of pictures that need to be uploaded on to someones computer so I can post those. I'll be in Mesa, AZ the 5th -19th so I'll try to bum a computer from someone. We have had so much fun. It's a little tiring traveling with 2 kids. Actually, I'm going to rephrase that to It's a little tiring traveling with a 11 month old. Justin is a champ on Airplanes. But I think Case really hate Portable Cribs and not getting his 2 naps every day. We've gone from 53 degree weather to I'm sure it's going to be 110-ish degree weather in AZ. I can't wait! So, for those who care...give me a week and I'll have some fun pictures to share. Later:-)

2008-06-01T16:25:00.009-04:00

So do you remember back in the day when you went on a date with a boy and you were nervous and you wanted to hold his hand. You over analyzed every move he made to see if he was giving any "signs" that he wanted to hold your hand too! Well, my sweet baby Case is already goin' there! We were on our way to the Zoo last week with my friend Jen. Her daughter Macy loves Case and she is not the shy type. She kept grabbing his hand trying wanting to hold it.

After many attempts he finally let her have his hand.

Here is Justin at the Zoo. I didn't get any pictures of him and the animals. I know I'm a loser!

Last night we all went to the local Rodeo. It was kinda hot and muggy so we didn't stay for the actual Rodeo but we were there for over 3 hours playing and eating so yummy ribs. Here's so pictures of Justin lovin' the bouncy things. He did not want to leave them!

This is a little random but I think in the past I have mentioned Justin's obssesion with all his animals. He sleeps with 7 of them and on occasion other fun toys from the day. It usually takes him like 30 minutes to stop talking to all his animals to fall asleep. When I went to check on him last night before I went to bed this is what I found. It made he laugh. And believe me if I tried to move anything he would have cussed he out in the morning!

The animals by his feet had there own pillow and blanket. He was almost falling off his bed because there was no room left for him. So funny!

So, I've been waiting for the Special Edition of Eclipse to come out so I could read the first chapter to Breaking Dawn. It came out yesterday so I went to buy it. They also included the cover art for Breakig Dawn. I'm dying to know what it means. Does the Red Pawn and the White Queen represent Bella? It's fun to read all the interesting theories of this. I like to look at http://www.twilightmoms.com/ they have some fun discusions for this. BTW-if you have no idea what I'm talking about go to http://www.stephiemeyer.com/ and get yourself educated! If you have any ideas what this cover could mean, I'd love to hear them.

And finally my last thought of the week:-) Why do baby companies constantly change their product and styles right when you lose all your paci's but one and y our child won't take any other brand. I spent like over an hour one night last week looking for this pacifier. It turns out that Evenflo is no longer making the 6m+ ones but I called the company directly and they sent me the 0-6m size. I was thrilled! But when I got them I realized that Case probably had the bigger size cause the nipple part is longer. So, I'm giving him the new ones to play with to see if he'll except it eventually. I know most of you are thinking that I should just get rid of the Paci. Well, I'm just not ready for that challenge. He's only 10 months old and he could care less about a bottle so we are working on that one right now. And we about to embark on a 6 week vacation so I really don't want to rock the boat right now. However, I really do wish that baby companies would atleast give us a heads up when they decide to change the product so we can stock up!

Pictures

2008-05-24T13:59:00.010-04:00

So, I have finally gotten professional pictures taken with our whole family. Case is almost 10 months old and this is his first real pictures. I swear I have a ton of professional ones of Justin before he was even 1! I feel bad Case is getting shafted! I'll try to do better. It was very hard to make a choice on which pictures to go with. There were so many good ones. (As a side not...do I really look like this? I don't think I do...why do you always see yourself differently???) Enjoy!

2008-05-20T20:45:00.011-04:00

So, I've been putting off uploading my pictures from Mother's Day and other random items...Mother's Day was good. Justin was so excited for like the whole week leading up to it because he had a secret. He'd come up to me and whisper in my ear what he made for me but he was always too quiet for me to hear. He was very clever. He and Loren had gone to the Home Depot Kids Craft a few weekends before and he made me a wooden flower vase(now a nifty pencil holder on my desk) along with some wooden flowers. He was very proud of all the stickers he put on it. Loren got me a 7qt. Crock pot. I know, not very exciting...but I was so happy! I've been using one from our wedding that is round and only holds like 4-5qt. Not very big. Since then I've used it 3 times and I'm very happy about it. I also found a great Crock pot blog on one of my friends site. This girls does a new recipe every day. All the recipes I've tried have been wonderful! Her site is http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com/ and I've got it on my side bar if anyone is interested!

A few weeks ago we checked out the local lake scene. It's like 15 minutes from here. They actually had a pretty clean play area. We didn't come prepared to swim but Justin enjoyed playing in the sand and dragging this huge stick around.

Me and Case just hung out on a towel and watched all the kids playing. He so stinking cute isn't he!!!

Justin's been in soccer since the first of April and honestly the kid is bad! It's his first year and granted alot of the kids don't have the skill but he just doesn't care! He'd rather chase the other kids around. He did finally make like 3 goals and I did get in on my video camera. It was so funny to watch mostly. I think we'll try t-ball next time...

Here's a picture of me and Justin. I just realized I don't have very many of me and him together. He's such a cheeze!

This is Justin's Bearded Dragon, Cash. He seriously sleeps like he is dead to the world. Nothing can wake this guy till morning!

Here's a pretty dress I just finished for my friend Jen's daughter, Macy. She just turned 1 and I'm very happy with how it turned out!

This is the back view

Teething

2008-05-13T12:36:00.003-04:00

Ok...so here is how my night went last night...Case and Justin are in bed by 7:15pm. Yeah for me! I get to watch my shows with out my kids. Well, Case woke up like 45 minutes later and was not happy. I tried to let him cry it out but 20 minutes of hysterics from a baby who never does that was all I could take. I got him out of bed and he was so not happy. He already has 6 teeth and has had minimal discomfort. He's never acted like this until now. I tried Motrin, Tylenol, and teething tablets but nothing really seemed to help. Finally I sat in his room and rocked with him till he calmed down. He chilled out enough by 9pm and went to sleep. Well, stupid me thought yeah I can watch my shows on my DVR now. So I didn't get to sleep till 10:30 and he was up again at 3:00am...so we started to process over again. It took till 5:00am for him to chill out enough and go back to sleep. Then Loren was up at 5:45, Justin was up at 6:45 and Case was up at 7:15...I'm not sure how much sleep that was but it really wasn't enough for me...The tooth still hasn't cut yet but it's real close.

I'd love some suggestions. Justin never cared and seriously this sucks! Besides that I'm doing good and enjoying the nice weather. I haven't had to have my heat or ac on in like 2 weeks.

This is Justin's last week at soccer so I'll try to get some pictures up soon. Have a great week! Oh yeah...I read the "Host" by Stephenie Meyer last week and I totally loved it. Just as much as I loved Twilight so if you've read the Twilight books you got to try this one out! It's like over 600 pages but I like involved stories!

Virginia Trip

2008-04-30T21:33:00.004-04:00

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post...I've been a little distracted and every time I sat down to write something, I had my camera in my car and couldn't upload the pictures that I wanted. I know you're probably thinking...why doesn't she just get off her lazy butt and go out to the car and get the camera...well I don't have a good answer for that.

In case anybody is wondering which dress I picked, it was the Blue one. I had a pretty even split on both dresses. However, I have yet to return the Green dress so who knows...

This past weekend we had a pretty spontaneous trip to Norfolk, VA. Loren's brother Garrett is in the Navy and his ship the, USS Whidbey Island came in after being out since last October. We meet up with his mom from Portland and girlfriend, Susan from Savannah, GA. We had a hotel right on the Ocean . The sun just about blinded me the first morning looking out on the Ocean! (reminded me of what Edward Cullen would look like in the sun...if you don't know what I'm talking about, SHAME ON YOU!) On Saturday we paid $17.00 to drive from Norfolk to the East Peninsula of VA. Apparently building a 17.5 mile long bridge/underwater tunnel is impressive and they charge you a mortgage payment just to see it! The rest of the day was spent on the beach building a sand castle and just hanging out with Nanna who we don't get to see often enough. On Sunday we meet up with Susan and waited on the Naval Base for a couple hours in the cold and wind. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the skanky girls waiting for their man after 7 long months...Susan felt bad that she was severely overdressed! Oh-well! Justin thought the ship was pretty cool and was glad to see his Uncle Garrett again. We all got to spend a few hours together before we had to drive home Sunday night.
(Seriously! I need a tan!)

Lastly...a little hubby bragging is in order. After a few weeks of Loren sick of seeing all my Scentsy crud all over the floor he finally built me a desk to help keep me organized. I love it and someday I will get organized! (so I know many of you will be jealous of my floral 1980's wallpaper behind the desk)

This is picture of the boys waiting for Loren to finish building the desk so we could all go home.

Dress Poll

2008-04-15T21:45:00.003-04:00

Ok people...I went to 2 different Kolh's in the last two days and one took almost an hour to get to. I really wanted one of these dresses but now I can't decide which color to keep! So, I'm letting America decide which one is prettier. The Blue or the Green Dress. And no I can't keep them both because I bought way too much other stuff and I need to take one back...I really feel like my mother right now buying something and then returning it...

I Love Fun Presents!

2008-04-13T13:38:00.004-04:00

So, this past week was LONG and CRAZY! I think I've been a little stressed out with my first Scentsy Party and every time I went to bed I'd be thinking about what I needed to do. Loren was in Arizona for a few days for a race and it's always a little out of whack when he's not around. And for the 2nd year in a row he wasn't with me on my birthday. Last year he was living in NC already while I was in TN still waiting to have the baby and then this year he was gone again due to a race. I guess I should just except it if we stay with this profession but I still like to whine for just a minute. Besides, I'm not going to be here for our anniversary and I'll also be gone for like 6 weeks this summer so...can I call that even?

My Scentsy party was a hit. I only had like 6 people come to the actual party but a lady from my bank called on Tuesday and asked if I could bring my stuff in on Wednesday and show it to all the Lady's in the bank. That was great. I got like 5 orders from them and hopefully some parties down the road. It's really hard when you don't know alot of people besides those at church. It kind of limits your prospects, so I was pumped! Thank you to everyone who ordered! I think I've sold around $900.00 so that makes me happy to have come really close to reaching my goal! If anyone didn't get a chance to place an order you don't need to wait for a party to do so. Just go to my site and place it there...

Now on to my birthday. Since Loren wasn't around 2 of my friends from church came by and we watched a movie and hung out. On Monday before Loren left I got a very nice pedicure and manicure. Thanks Loren! Pat got me a very pretty necklace. My mom gave me a very useful key finder. My sister Amy got me a fabulous avocado scooper/slicer, and then I got me a camcorder with all the birthday money I collected. Thanks for the donations! I can't wait to record Justin's first soccer game. I'm sure it will be priceless!

My new avacodo scooper/slicer

My key finder. And it's very cute!
My pretty new necklace.

My new camcorder! Finally

Lastly, I don't think I mentioned that Case has an ear infection. It's been going on for like 3 weeks now and we are on our 3rd round of antibiotics. Poor guy is not very happy and he has also cut 3 teeth during all of this. I feel really bad for him. I hope this last round of drugs does the trick.

(So for some reason blogger is being dumb today and it wouldn't let me drag my pictures where I wanted them. Instead I had to cut and paste my text around my pictures. Very annoying!)

What I do when I'm bored...

2008-04-05T13:23:00.006-04:00

So, this morning I was bored and really wasn't in the mood to build a train track with Justin so I spent like 2 hours messing with this blog layout. (I know I should spend more time with my kid but seriously I'm over the trains and anything having to do with Transformers!...besides we were in the same room and I did interact with him:-) I like this layout much better now. I found another great site that does free layouts and it was very easy to do. I am very dumb when it comes to computers and I did it without too much trouble. If your interested in which site I used it's: www.matiekay.blogspot.com I liked her site because her layouts fit my whole page. I included the link on my site bar as well. Then I decided to add some songs to my site. It was very fun. However if your taste in music is not the same as mine then just hit mute or turn it off and you won't be offended:-) And if your wondering how I can go from Alice in Chains to Jim Brickman I'd like to blame it on certain people from high school and in my defense it's only this one album of Alice in Chains and most of the CD is pretty mellow...

On the first Saturday of the month Home Depot does a Kids Workshop and Justin has been going now for almost a year. It is great and I definitely recommend checking into your local Home Depot to see if they do the same. Each month is a new craft and they get a Home Depot Apron and a new pin that represents what craft they did that day. So Justin's apron has over 12 pins on it now. It is completely free and Justin loves to build stuff. Some of his past projects have been a Race Car, Pirate Ship, Pencil Box, Train, and today we built a Flower Planter Box. We then went to the garden department and bought some flowers and soil. If was fun to put it to use. Me and Justin made a big mess of the soil but he is excited to watch the new flowers bloom and the other ones to grow bigger.

Coming up this week I am having my Launch Party for Scentsy on Friday, April 11th at my house. I've spent the last few days sending out invites and I am hoping for a good turn out. However, if you don't live by me (not many people do) please feel free to visit my site and check out their great product. Your welcome to place an order even if you can't attend to party. It will still go towards my party goal. My goal is to sell over $1000.00 and really get this off to a good start. If you have any questions about the warmers please let me know. I'd be happy to send you a catalog. You can also download one from my site. I've left a link on my sidebar that will take you directly to my site.

Hello Again

2008-03-30T17:48:00.010-04:00

Ok...so I know I've been a loser and not posted anything for a long time. There hasn't been alot to say. Easter was cold and of course the boys couldn't wear the outfits cause they were shorts. Then, again this Sunday it's like 45 for a high so agian not going to happen. Maybe next week I'll get them in them and put an Easter basket in their hands and claim they were from Easter..he he he.

So since my last post I have got a root canal (not very fun) and tomorrow I get to have a second one (still not very fun). In case most of you have dental insurance be glad cause these puppies are for the low low cost of $4000.00 ish and some change. Yikes! But the good news is half of my mouth fells real good finally and the other half soon will too. Last week I went to Tennessee to visit my friends. We had so much fun seeing everyone. I swear my visits are so short and crammed with so much to do. We spent the day with my friend Bethany and her family. Her son Nate is Justin's age and he loves to go to thier house. They are moving to Italy this summer for the next few years. I am very jealous! I wanted to say thanks to Debbi and her family for feeding us dinner. And a huge shout out to Becca Hansen for always willing to watch my kiddos while I have stuff to do.

Which brings my to my fun news...I called my hair lady and asked her if her hair perming skills have improved since 1987 and she assured me they have. So, I finally did it. It was a little scary but I got real big rods and in a few weeks it'll relax some more and well...I was just bored and rash decisions always come from boredom...

Scary I know but it's actually not to bad. The not so fun part of my trip was Case had an ear infection. Crabby! He's been boycotting milk for about a week now and now I know why. I swear he only drinks like 8-12 ounces a day. He's had like 5 days of the antibiotics so shouldn't that get better? It's driving me crazy cause he won't drink water or juice either so now I'm obsessed with dehydration...anyways he'll go back to the doctor this week to check his ears again so I'll ask the doctor then. Also, about Case is he's got 3 teeth right now and 3 more coming in but I really wanted to get a good picture of the snaggle tooth, so here it is...
The three new teeth are on the top so no more snaggle.
(Thank you Abby for helping my get this cute picture! Case was not cooperating!)

So another funny thing from our trip was Justin passed out on the bathroom floor. I led him in there from the living room floor where he was asleep to give him and Case a bath. I had to go and get Case from his high chair first and when I got back to the bathroom this is what I saw. I hope it's not a prequel for what's to come in high school.

And finally here are some pictures of me and the kiddos at the park with our friends Jen, Aiden, and Massy

Justin and his friend Aiden

Case and his friend Massy

She's really petite and will be 1 at the end of April and Case is a horse and is only 8 months old. But he loves her all the same.

So, I think I covered everything that's been going on. Oh, I signed up to be a consultant for a great Candle company called Scentsy. They have a wonderful product. Check out my website and tell me what you think. www.scentsy.com/rkern I've also added a link in my sidebar to this site.

Speed Test

2008-03-11T10:05:00.002-04:00

So, my friend had this on her blog and I totally suck! But I thought it was fun. Leave me a comment and tell me how you did.

(I moved the speed test to my side bar if your curious)

I've Been Tagged!

2008-03-11T09:01:00.000-04:00

I got tagged so here we go...

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Sadly enough I was a senior in High School and sending my boyfriend on a mission. I didn't do very good at waiting for him:-) I was working full time and couldn't wait to get out of school. I was getting ready to move to Washington to live with my sister and her family.

2. 5 Things on my to-do list today...
* Take the boys to the Library for Story Time
* Do some major laundry
* Play outside and enjoy the warmer weather
* Make my famous "Yummy Sandwiches" (Abby knows what I mean)
* Attempt to go to Enrichment tonight...we'll see how that goes...

3. 5 Snacks I enjoy...
* Betty Crocker Hershey's Frosted Supreme Brownie Mix
* Mello Yellow
* Sour Cream and Onion Pringles
*Frozen Pretzels with Chez Whiz (seriously)
*Sweet Tart Jelly Beans

4. 3 Bad Habits...
* I chew my finger nails
* I'm a picker...zits, scabs, hair in the wrong places (sorry Loren)
* I love trashy Reality TV

5. What would you do if you were instantly a Billionaire?
I would pay off my mortgage and then build my dream house on the back of my property in TN. Loren wouldn't work any more and he'd finally finish his Drag Car and race it. We would travel like crazy and visit our families all the time.

6. Places I've Lived...
* Troutman, North Carolina
* White House, Tennessee
* St. George, Utah
* Gilbert, Arizona
* Snohomish, Washington
* Mesa, Arizona

7. Jobs I've Had/Have...
* Mom
* Outback Steakhouse (off and on for the past 10 years)
* Staffmark Staffing Services
* CIT customer service
* Nielsen's Frozen Custard (you have no idea how bad I want a Grinder!)
* Wells Fargo Back
* County Seat (it used to be a retail store in the Mall)

8. 5 Things People Don't Know About Me...
* I don't shave my legs everyday (or every other day either...)
* I won't pluck my eyebrow's unless I'm desperate (I like to wax them)
* I don't wear any shoes when I drive
* I am deathly afraid of needles and epidurals (that's all Sarah's fault)
* I don't like Loren to do the dishes because he puts them in the dishwasher wrong. It's a total mess when does it. I'm a little of a control freak that way! So people know I'm a control freak but the dishwasher thing is a little OCD!

So, I hope you enjoyed. I only tag Amy cause everyone else has done this at some point.

The Double Wide

2008-03-04T10:17:00.000-05:00

So here is the double wide that I live in. It's not too bad because they put new hard wood floors throughout the house so we were walking on 30 years of someone else's scuz. And we are only here till Sept. when we either move back or buy something without a hitch for a truck! If I knew how to attach a song to this it would be "She is the queen on my double wide trailer with the polyester curtains and the redwood deck..." I don't know who sings it but it's country and I think of it fondly when I come home.

Also, here are some pictures of "Cash". Justin's Bearded Dragon. He's a pretty neat animal to have and I haven't killed it yet. It's been almost 3 months. Some day he will get to be 2 feet long in about another 1-2 years. And possibly live for up to 10 years.

Brag on Me!

2008-03-04T10:04:00.001-05:00

So, I decided to make a blessing dress for my sister's new baby. I'm very proud of it and I think it turned out good. I only had to call and ask one dumb question about the directions. About 90% I did on my own. I had to sew the sleeves on by hand because they were too small to fit into my sewing machine. I also made her other daughter who is almost 3 a dress too because she is not going to like that the new baby in the house is getting all these fun presents and she isn't. The pink dress I really can't take credit for because it only involved 1 seam down the side and sewing in a few pieces of ribbon. Not a lot of skill is required to make that one but it is cute none the less. So, I think I need a girl. Anybody have any suggestions that really work? I won't be thinking about it though for at lest 2-3 more years though.

I now have 23 niece's and nephew's!

2008-03-03T08:50:00.000-05:00

My sister Katie had her 3rd baby on Saturday, March 1st at 3:30am in Mesa, Arizona. She came in weighing an amazing 8lbs. 6oz. and 21 in. long. She was born 3 weeks early and if the doctor would have broken her water sooner her birthday could have been on Leap Year. Oh well. Her name is Emma Claire Lent and they are calling her Claire. Everyone is doing good and as soon as she sends me pictures I'll post them.

Becca

Everybody's Sick But Me!

2008-02-28T09:06:00.000-05:00

Ok...so Loren came home on Sunday after being gone the better part of 2 weeks. He was in Cali and I decided I hate that place because he brought back with him a nasty virus. So I was really exited to finally see him again and actually spend some time with him but by Monday morning he had a high temp. and complained of his chest hurting and coughing and pretty much stayed in bed all day. So, on Tuesay he attempted work for like an hour and gave up but not before infecting everyone there and came home and spent the rest of the day in bed. Also, on Tuesday Justin got the same fever and everything else that comes with it. On Wednesday Case starts in on it too. So can anyone guess how my night went? well, me and Case spent the night in the living room so I could keep him calm and also so I could hear Justin. Justin woke up at 1am with a 103' temp. (not good, right?) so, after a cold shower for him and laying in bed with him holding a wash cloth to his head the temp came down enough so he could sleep and I could try to sleep. So, with the sun up and shinning I have slept for like 2 maybe 3 hours. Loren is at work and both kids have temps and for some reason I am not sick yet...(someone knock on wood!) Besides all of that I'm glad to have my hubby back. Because even though he infected our house he did call and ask if I wanted him to come home early and give me a break. Nice huh?

Ok...so stay tuned for pictures of our humble abode. I know some of you will love it!

Becca

Here we go...

2008-02-22T13:22:00.000-05:00

So, I have done it...I've crossed over and got a blog! Let me just recap how this came about. First of all if anyone ever saw the computer we were using you'd understand why our current leap into technology is great. Loren has never really cared but I have a need to be connected! Well, we were going to get a new computer a year ago but life happened and we got layed off, had a baby, and moved. So it never happened till now! Yeah! Then, I had to convince Loren that a faster internet was a must have. We've always had dial up and the slow boat dial up at that. It was all I could do to not scream when I got online. So, just today we got DSL hooked up! So, now my friends...I am connected to the world and you.

My goal with this thing is to keep the people who care updated on our little family. It is so hard to do that when the majority of my peps live on the West Coast. So I will try to post pics of our happenings as ofter as I can. If any of you have blogs yourself let me know so I can enjoy your family as well. Much love! (I know this picture is old of us so I'll try to get a better one up soon.)

Becca