Not Quite According to Plan...

I've been so excited about Christmas break.  I have so much I want to accomplish over this month-long break - books to read, projects to work on, cleaning and organizing to do.  I was ready to hit the ground running Thursday, my first day with no classes.  It started out okay, although I had a busy end of the week last week.

Then this week happened.  My week so far...

• I cooked for a church dinner.
• I almost destroyed my cake for the church dinner.
• I went to church.
• I got sick.
• I slept in.
• I went to work.
• My washing machine broke.
• I got sicker.
• The dog puked on my pillow.
• I sat in the puke on my pillow.
• My house is a mess.
• My presents aren't wrapped.
• The boys are fighting.
• I yelled at the boys.
• The toilet overflowed.
• ...Merry Christmas - where's my Grinch hat?

Thank goodness for God's grace, even when I'm exhausted and nothing is going according to plan!  One day, hopefully soon, I'll look back on the week before Christmas 2011 and laugh...

The First 5K That (Sort Of) Wasn't

Saturday was the big day - the day I planned to run/walk my first 5K.  Let's just say things didn't go quite as planned...

Friday night, my husband told me that he was way behind on his work for the weekend, and desperately needed to catch up.  He had errands to run and things to do, and he couldn't watch the kids Saturday morning as planned.  I texted my boss and told her I wouldn't be able to make it after all.  She suggested that I bring the boys - it's a family-friendly event and there would be lots of kids there.  Obviously, my boys are not ready to run a 5K, so plans changed a bit.

Bright and early Saturday morning, we headed to the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event.  It was so fun, although I think my boys were traumatized when 1,200+ women opened the walk by singing "I Will Survive" and doing Zumba!  We started the walk with the group, then doubled back at around the half-mile point, when my youngest started to tire out.  We headed back to the start/finish line and cheered on our team as they crossed the finish line.  Even though it didn't work out as planned, it was fun.  Best of all, my oldest son is already wanting to go back next year and walk the whole thing.  (BTW - My boss took some great pictures - I'll post some as soon as I get them from her.)

It's Just a Season

There is an appointed time for everything.  And there is a time for every event under heaven...

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Life is full of seasons.  There are seasons of new beginnings, like marriage and the birth of babies.  There are seasons of transitions, like starting or leaving a job or moving to a new town.  There are easy and hard seasons, seasons you enjoy and seasons you can't wait to see pass.

This is a strange season for me.  It's exciting, because I'm following my dreams and transitioning into a new phase in my life.  It's hard, because, honestly, going through dental hygiene school while working and raising a family is the hardest thing I've ever done.  It's frustrating, because it's hard balancing my roles as a wife, mom, manager, and student. 

It's a season of tears and joys, highs and lows, exhaustion and exasperation.  It's a season of questioning my decisions (and my sanity).  It's a season of wondering if it's all going to pay off or all go up in smoke.  It's a season of pushing myself beyond what I ever dreamed I was capable of, then having to dig down deep and push myself more.  It's a season of begging God for fresh strength every day, several times a day, and learning to rely on Him like never before.

Right now, I'm focusing on finishing this semester strong.  I only have six weeks left, then I get a month off for Christmas break.  I'm looking forward to relaxing with my family, reading some books, and maybe working on a couple of crafty projects.  We'll probably watch some movies, maybe take a mini-vacation, and just enjoy time together.  We'll all need it, because my spring semester will be the hardest of the entire dental hygiene program.

A Cardiologist and a New Perspective

Life can get pretty stressful for me sometimes...and then something can happen that puts it all in perspective.  That's what has happened at our home during the past three weeks.

It all started with my husband having sudden chest pains about three weeks ago.  We thought he'd pulled a muscle while working on his truck.  After a couple of days, the pain went away.  Then it came back.  Finally, a week and a half ago, he made a trip to our family doctor.  The doctor did an EKG and set up an appointment with the cardiologist.  Last Monday my husband went to the cardiologist, who didn't seem too concerned but planned to schedule him for more tests.  Then Wednesday hit...

Robby's truck was in the shop, so I dropped him and our boys off at the church before I headed to class until lunchtime.  At 9:00 I left class for a break and checked my phone to find a message from my husband.  He told me that something was happening, and he thought it might be his heart.  A church member was driving him for an emergency visit to the cardiologist and he wanted to tell me that I might need to leave class and head over there.  He told me that he loved me.  I honestly didn't know if I would hear his voice any more after that message.

Panic doesn't even begin to describe what I felt.  I rushed into class in tears.  Classmates helped me get my things together and I sped to the doctor's office to be with Robby.  To make a long story short, five hours and two tests later, we found out that my husband's heart is in great shape.  Apparently he suffered a massive anxiety attack, and may have some underlying minor medical problems causing them.  Our family doctor is trying some different treatments until we find what works.  He's still having daily attacks, but he's finding ways to manage them a little better.  I've been giving him a little advice - I struggled with anxiety attacks for about a year in 2006/2007.

It's been a really scary week and a half for us.  I want to say thanks to all my Twitter friends, especially my Hello Mornings #mym2 girls and my Good Morning Girls group, Sisters in Spirit, for all your prayers and encouraging words.  All I can say is, I'm so thankful my husband is okay.  School is important, but I have to admit, whether or not I make an A on a test isn't quite so important anymore.  Life has a different feel after a crisis.  Gratitude reigns in our family right now.

The Many Sides of Motherhood

Some days a mom just needs some extra encouragement...this past week, it came from my blogging friend MommaKristi.  We had some lists going on Twitter this week, and between the two of us, we came up with a good list of the many sides of motherhood in this season of my life...

Don't you love it when God sends you just what you need, just when you need it most?  Thanks, Kristi!

What Touches a Momma's Heart

Last week was a really hard week.  If you read my post Tuesday, you know that I've been struggling with "mommy guilt" and the heavy load of balancing college, work, and family.  I was pretty down, but God always knows what we need.  I found my oldest son's prayer list on the floor a couple of days on it.  On it were two requests - Mrs. Jackie's uncle (Mrs. Jackie is a lady in our church) and Mom.  He knew I needed prayer, and he was praying for me.  That touched this momma's heart in a way he will never know.  God knew exactly what I needed, and He sent it by way of a precious nine year old boy.

When Your Heart Breaks...

A few words broke this momma's heart last week. We were all in the car, and we were talking about marriage and how we hope our boys don't marry too young. I was telling the boys that it's important for them to finish college and get a good job before they get married so they can take care of their family. My six year old said, "I don't think I'll like college." I asked why not. He replied, "Because you have to be away from your family for five or six days."
It hurt so much it might as well have been a knife in my heart. My husband immediately looked over at me. He knew it hit me hard. He assured me that Spencer didn't really mean anything by it. I grabbed for a tissue in my purse, hiding my tears from my kids. Even now, a few days later, it still makes my heart ache to think about it.
I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that I'm doing exactly what God wants me to be doing right now. That doesn't make this road an easy one, though. I miss my kids when I'm away from home all day. When I want to just go home after classes, I have to go to work, because we still have to pay our bills, including my tuition. When I get home, exhausted beyond words, and want to just relax and have fun with my family, I have to study and do homework and cook dinner and wash clothes. On the weekends, I struggle to play catch up, getting groceries and doing housework, and studying - always studying.
This weekend, I tried to remind the kids of why I'm going back to school. I was off work, so I took them to a friend's birthday party. They went grocery shopping with me. They watched cartoons and skateboarded and played in the backyard while I did housework. We had dinner together as a family. They told me how much they loved our weekend. I reminded them that one reason I decided to go back to school is time with them. When I graduate and start my new career, I'll be home by 6:00 every night (instead of 8:00) and I'll never have to work weekends. I'll have lots more time off, more flexibility, and more money. I reminded them that it will be worth it. Hearing the joy in Spencer's voice when he realized that this isn't forever started to heal the ache in my heart.
I have to remind myself of that a lot. I have to sacrifice now to make things better in the long run. The sacrifices are hard, and they hurt. All I can do is cling even tighter to God and trust in His strength to see me through. It will be worth it all in the end.

When Living Simply Isn't So Simple

Simplify.  Just saying the word makes me feel more relaxed.  I see myself with less to do, less to worry about, and more time to relax.  I see myself sipping raspberry lemonade on a private beach...okay, that's just wishful thinking, but you get the point.

But what happens when you're at a place in your life where you can't simplify?  What happens when you have too many irons in the fire, but you can't take anything out or it will all fall apart?  That's where I am now.

Work is going well - extremely well, in fact.  We've worked hard to get it there, and we're going to have to work harder to keep it moving in the right direction.

School is great.  It's amazing.  I love it, and I know that dental hygiene is the career I was made for.  It's a perfect fit for me.  It's also extremely demanding: five classes, required community service hours, numerous online assignments, a group project, rotations in senior clinic, choosing a topic for my freshman research project, two case studies, a patients education simulation, and finding my own patients to meet radiology requirements...and that's just this semester!

A lot of the girls in the program have already quit their jobs, but that's not an option for me...and honestly, I wouldn't want to even if it was an an option.  I enjoy my job, and most of my patients on my list are work contacts.  Cutting my hours back would be great, but that's not an option either.

Simplicity is not an option for me right now.  That won't come until I start my new career in 2013.  So I try to juggle and find all the support I can get.  My husband is my biggest fan - he does all he can to help me out.  My boys are chipping in more and are such great helpers.  I'm so excited about my new Good Morning Girls accountability/Bible study/prayer group.  I'm also an obsessive planner, so that helps too.  I'm hanging on to God with all I have, trusting Him to give me the strength and wisdom to get through this very un-simplified season of my life.  With Him, I know I'll make it!

Summer, Laundry, and the OMG Class

Wow.  No other words come to mind as I look back on the last five weeks...except maybe boot camp.  I can see why this class earned the nickname "the OMG class" - oh my goodness how did I make it through that class?

I made it by the grace of God and nothing else.  Thursday I finished the hardest class of my life with my first B ever and officially moved on in the dental hygiene program.  It was brutal.  I shed many tears the past five weeks.  I questioned my sanity and why I decided to do this in the first place.  I was barely keeping my head above water as I attempted to balance work, classes, studying, family and home.  "Home" got the short end of the stick, so on my few days off before fall, I'm going to give it some TLC and catch up on laundry and cleaning.

I'm also looking forward to lots of fun time with my boys.  Thursday night we snuggled up together to watch "Phineus and Ferb. "  Last night we made English muffin pizzas when I got home from work.  Today I'm hoping to squeeze in some geocaching.  They just a couple of more weeks before homeschooling starts anew, so we're going to have some last-minute summer fun while we still can.

Unfortunately my Hello Mornings time and my Hide His Word efforts also got the short end of the stick.  My times were very short.  I feel drained and exhausted mentally spiritually and look forward to spending lots of time in my Ephesians study and my Psalm 143 memorization during the next few days.  I also need to figure out how to make things work better, like my quiet time and my housework plans.  Fall is said to be much easier than summer but I know that none of it will be easy.

Weird, Wild and Wacky

That pretty much sums up my week...its been absolutely bizzare!  All my schedules and plans have been thrown totally off track this week, it seems.

I'm one of two managers at the gym where I work.  The two of us split the responsibilities and get a LOT of things done each week.  Well, this week the other manager is taking a much deserved week long vacation, so I'm trying to cover some of her work, as well as my own.  If anyone has perfected the art of cloning, now is the time to let me know...I need multiples of me right now!  Today I'll do everything from membership sales appointments to first workouts to inventory and the daily deposit.  Definitely a wild week...

Its also coming down to crunch time for college deadlines.  Tomorrow I have to pay my tuition for my summer class, to the tune of $600...ouch.  Today I have to order my lab coats and name tags.  I ordered yet another book yesterday for fall.  That gives me 4 of the 8 books I need.  The remaining books need to be ordered by mid- July so I don't have to pay extra for rush shipping.

Throw in the fact that my husband is working on a mega church event for Saturday.  We're having our annual Freedom Celebration, which includes a big car and motorcycle show.  Its a ton of fun, but you can see that this is definitely not a boring week.

Yesterday brought major excitement, too, as my baby lost his first tooth.  As I write this (via my Droid X...gotta love technology) I'm waiting for him to get up and discover what the tooth fairy brought.  I love being a mom.  And that ends today's totally random post...  (For the record, one last random thought - I always tell people that my brain jumps from topic to topic - my husband tells me it works in spurts - I'm not convinced he's wrong...lol.)

Momma Trauma

Last weekend, I experienced something traumatic, something no woman should ever have to go through.  It was an experience that will be burned into my memory forever.  I went swimsuit shopping.

We live an hour from the beach, but we haven't been there in more than two years.  It dawned on us lately that we're crazy.  We used to plan vacations to the beach as a special treat, and now that we're so close, we don't go.  So we decided that next weekend is the perfect time to spend a day in the sun.  The only problem with that is that I didn't own a swimsuit.  I haven't owned one for a long time.  Having children inspires me to do a lot of things, but squeezing my "baby pooch" into a spandex suit is not one of them.

Last Sunday, I headed to my favorite store (Ross...I love a good bargain!) and chose a few to try on.  I decided to go with a two piece "tankini" style that would cover as much skin as possible.  (I found a shorts-style wetsuit that I thought seriously about, but I'm not sure my hubby and kids would want to be seen with me if I wore that.)  I took the suits and headed to dressing room.

Words cannot describe it.  Do they intentionally design swimsuits to hug the ugliest, flabbiest areas of your body?  Ugh.  I think I burned calories just trying to get into the awful things.  I stood in front of the mirror thinking back to my skinny, 120 pound college body.  Back then I thought I was so ugly in a swimsuit...too bad I couldn't go back and trade bodies.  Two babies and thirty-plus pounds later, that college figure looks pretty good...

I was brave.  I was strong.  I picked a cute little striped halter top with black bottoms.  I'm going to find some cute shorts to wear over that and cover a little more of my "pooch."  I'm going to stroll down the beach with my baby flab and my ghostly white legs and have fun with my kids.  If I get jealous of the skinny, tan college kids strolling the beach with us, I'll just remind myself that it's nothing that 15 years and two or three kids won't change...

Fun (Frugal) Summer Ideas

I'm so excited to be guest posting this weekend at 3 Moms in 1!  I hope you'll check out her awesome blog and my post on fun (and frugal) ideas for summer fun.

Things I Wish They'd Told Me

This is a re-post of something I originally wrote in April 2010, but I couldn't resist sharing it today in honor of Mother's Day...

What are 10 things you wish you would have known before you became a mother?


Oh, wow...I was only 22 when I became a mom, so there were a lot of things I didn't know!

1. Motherhood is 90% guilt!

Those words from my former boss have helped me so much! As a working mom - well, really as a mom, period - guilt is part of the game. Just knowing that I'm not the only one who feels guilty about stuff helps relieve a little of the guilt.

2. No matter what you do, someone is going to criticize you for it.

Case in point...our pediatrician wanted us to wait until our oldest son was four months old to start giving him infant cereal. By the time he was two months old, he weighed 14 pounds. I called him my sumo baby...he had so many rolls of baby fat he resembled the Michelin Man. One day a church member came up to me, asking if he'd started cereal. I explained our pediatrican's views, and she replied - with a straight face - "You're going to starve that child if you don't start him on cereal." Really? Someone's always going to disagree with your decisions...you just have to do what's best for your family and let the critics say what they will...sometimes you'll even get a good laugh about it!

3. Sleep deprivation is brutal - but it won't last forever.

Those first three months were tough, especially for a nursing mom. No one else can take care of those midnight feedings! I fell asleep in our big oversized living room chair, cradling a baby in my arms, more nights than I want to admit.

4. Watching your husband as a father will make you see him in a whole new light and love him even more.

My husband is an amazing dad! Watching him with our boys, seeing his absolute adoration of them, just makes me fall more in love with him. I am so blessed!

5. You will be amazed at how much you can do one-handed while cradling a baby on your hip.

Type, cook, do laundry, clean, write notes, shop for groceries...the list goes on. A mom's multi-tasking skills are amazing!

6. One small child multiplies your laundry by at least 10 times it's normal amount.

Clothes changes are numerous...and it's amazing how much stuff such a tiny little person needs.

7. Hang on to every moment, because it goes by too fast.

Ok, so they did tell me that...but I didn't realize how true it was. Even when you try to hang on to every moment, it still flies by. Those moments are so precious and so fleeting.

8. You are stronger and tougher than you know.

Childbirth alone proves that...so do all the bumps and bruises, the broken bones and stiches, the fingers getting slammed in the car door...

9. You really can love someone so much it hurts.

Need I say more?

10. Being a mother gives you the greatest understanding you'll ever have of God's love for us.

As much as I love my kids, as much as I would do anything for them, including die for them - how tiny is that love compared to God's love for us? Wow...it's breathtaking.

9 Weeks to Get It Together

Nine weeks.  It's all I have left until I start the dental hygiene program and become pretty much a full-time student.  Nine weeks until I juggle being in class or clinicals for 20 hours a week with being at work 30 hours a week, in addition to my family, home, and church.  It's exciting.  It's terrifying. It's overwhelming.

I have so much I want to get done during these next nine weeks.  There are so many things I want to accomplish and so many projects I want to finish.  Here are my goals:

1. Master the art of couponing - okay, I may not master it, but I'd like to figure it out enough to cut my grocery bill in half every week.  All that extra money can help me pay for books and supplies.
2. Work through Sarah Mae's "31 Days to Clean" ebook - we're going to have to be super-organized to manage this, and I want my house ready.
3. Finish the Bible in 90 Days challenge - I am woefully behind, but I know I can still catch up and finish on time.
4. Read Ted Dekker's new book, The Priest's Graveyard, because he's my favorite author and it will be the last book (other than textbooks) that I'll be able to read for a long time.
5. Have a yard sale.  It won't be very big, but again, any extra money will help.  My supplies are going to cost double what I expected.

It's going to be a busy nine weeks, but I'm ready.  I'm so excited about my journey that begins in July!

Although this wasn't specifically a Working Mommy Wednesday post, I felt that it went along well with this week's prompts.  I have a lot of goals, but this week my focus is going to be on "31 Days to Clean" and getting my house neat and organized!  My simple goal for the week is to do the challenges each day.

When Family Comes Together

I've been pretty absent from my blog and Twitter this week.  Sunday night, my husband's 88 year old grandfather passed away.  It wasn't unexpected...but you're never really prepared for the death of someone you love.  We left Monday and made the 13 hour drive to Missouri for the services.  The funeral, including full military honors at the graveside service, is later this morning.

Robby's grandfather was a wonderful man.  He and Robby's grandmother had been married for over 70 years.  His relationship with Christ came first in his life, and he was so proud that all six of his grandchildren, and both of his adult great-children, are in the ministry in some way.  He loved his two children, six grandchildren, 18 great-children, and his first great-great-grandchild.  Family was top priority to him. He will be greatly missed.  Please keep our family in your prayers.  I know today will be hard, and tomorrow we all face the long trips back home. 

Next week, all should be back to normal for my family.  Or, I should say, we'll start settling into a new normal as I pull my paperwork together and prepare to start dental hygiene school in July.  There's a lot to think about in the days and weeks ahead.   Prayers are appreciated!

I'm guest posting today!

I'm so excited to be guest posting today over at Mommyhead Adventures.  Tara is a mom of two kids under the age of two, both with special needs.  She has an awesome blog.  I hope you'll check it out!

I'm sharing my own story of our experience with our youngest son.  We faced the possibility of him having Down's syndrome, and I was shocked by the opinions of some of the medical professionals we dealt with and how they treated us.  Stop by Tara's blog and check it out!

My Joy and My Challenge

They are my greatest joys and my greatest challenges.  They changed my life forever when they entered it.

My youngest, who gave us a major health scare three months in our pregnancy, and another at birth.  My always smiling, always happy, always making people laugh, cuddle-loving son.  Active, athletic, outgoing, laid-back and optimistic, he is his daddy all over again.

My oldest, who is approaching his teen years much too quickly.  My sometimes easy-going son who can become the poster child for strong willed children everywhere in seconds.  My son who picks flowers and makes cards to make his momma smile.  Artistic, emotional, creative, compassionate, perfectionist - undeniably just like me.

I never knew until I had my sons that you really can love so much it hurts.  And I never knew how helpless I would sometimes feel as a mom.  Sometimes, I have no idea what to do with these precious gifts or how to parent them - they're polar opposities, and what works with one fails with the other.  I'm at a total loss.  Some days, all I can do is pray and beg for wisdom and guidance and grace.  That's why I'm taking the 21 Days of Prayer for our Sons challenge, beginning April 1.  Will you join me?  Buy the ebook Warrior Prayers - it will change your prayer life forever - and join the challenge to do something that can change our sons' lives forever.

A Bad Rap for Social Media?

Before I start today...I'm so excited to be guest posting today for the very first time! You can check out my post at one of my favorite blogs...please stop by and check it out!






I saw an interview recently with a mom whose family gave up all technology for six months because the mom felt that they were all too attached to it.  I understand where they're coming from, but I can't help but think that's looking only at the bad side of technology.  I hear people talking often about the evils and dangers of social media.  While I see their point, I also feel that social media and technology get a bad rap.  The good points of it are all too often overlooked.  Social media has been a huge benefit to me in so many different ways...

1. Our family is scattered throughout the country, ranging from six hours to fourteen hours driving distance away from us.  Thanks to Facebook, we can keep up with everyone in one place.  Sure, I'm on it pretty much every day, and yes, I probably spend too much time on it...but I'm able to stay connected with my parents, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, neices, nephews, cousins, friends...you get the idea.  There are a lot of people to keep in touch with!
2. I have found so much spiritual encouragement thanks to the internet!  From Bible studies to inspirational ideas to accountability groups, you can find it all online.  Just this year, thanks to blogs and Twitter, I've started keeping a gratitude journal, memorizing Ephesians, digging into Bible study, reading through the Bible in a year, and getting up early each morning for quiet time and exercise.  I've also found accountability groups and discussions to help me stick with it all.
3. There are so many great resources available through social media - ideas and resources for fitness, time management, organizing, recipes, and more.  Just take a look at my resource page and you'll see what I mean!
4. Support is everywhere!  Three and a half years ago, as a new working mom, I was stressed out and overwhelmed.  I desperately needed to hear from other moms who were in the same situation.  I needed to know that guilt is normal, that it takes time to adjust, and that you can find a lot of joy, even if you're not in the situation you'd hoped for.  Thanks to Twitter, Blog Frog, and other sites, I found that support, and now I hope to help provide support with my own blog.

Whenever I hear people start bashing social media and the internet, I try to step in and give my own take on it.  I share how much it has helped me and the benefits it's added to my life.  I think that it's time to focusing on the good that social media and technology are doing.

Setting My Goals - 3 in 30

I just stumbled across the 3 in 30 challenge (via Twitter) at The Tuckers Take Tennessee.  I love this idea!  I have lots of goals for 2011, which I blogged about last month, and it can get overwhelming sometimes.  I think that breaking them down into 3 smaller goals each month will help me get them done.  So here are my 3 for February:

1. Follow my daily FlyLady routines!
This is a habit that I've been kinda-sorta doing...some days it gets done, other days it doesn't.  I want to make it a daily habit, because I know it will go a long way towards keeping us all more organized.  I'm also trying to get my kids into the habit - they each have a folder now with their daily jobs and homeschool assignments.

2. Get to bed on time every night.
I am by nature a night owl, but after a long day at work, I'm too exhausted to get anything done at night.  I started consistently getting up early a while back, and now I've started the Hello Mornings challenge at Inspired to Action, so I'm getting up even earlier.  The problem is I also like to stay up late...late nights and early mornings do not a happy mommy make.  So I've got to get myself to be at 10:30, 11:00 at the latest, each night.  Maybe then I won't require a venti Starbucks skinny carmel machiatto to get me going...

3. Have a family devotional time each night with my boys.
This is a habit I was really good at for a while, but during a very difficult college semester (this past fall) I let it slide too much.  Now we're totally out of the habit.  I'm doing great with my daily quiet time - now it's time for the kids to see that example lived out.  So every night, I plan to read our Keys for Kids devotional, pray with my boys, and spend a little time talking about what God has done that day.

A Day in the Life of...

I found this link up at Simply Rebekah, and loved the idea!  You take a picture for each hour of your day, and post a photo diary of your day.  I chose Saturday, which was a pretty typcial day for me.  So here it goes...

6:00 a.m.  Breakfast and my Bible before work (I only have to work Saturday once a month...it's usually just during the week.)

 7:00 a.m.  Getting ready - have to be out the door in 30 minutes

8:00 a.m.  Unlocking the doors of the gym for a bunch of people who are ready to work out!

Okay, and that's where the pictures stopped for a while...it's hard to stop and snap pictures at work.  But here's how it went...

9:00 a.m.  Help people set up their Smart Equipment for their workouts

10:00 a.m.  Zumba

11:00 a.m.  Grab a quick snack...still recovering from Zumba!

12:00 p.m.  Start closing up and cleaning up

1:00 p.m.  On my way home!

2:00 p.m.  Hubby grilled hamburgers for a late lunch

3:00 p.m.  Time on my laptop - working on my blog, and playing on Facebook

4:00 p.m.  (Okay, 3:45) Sonic run for Happy Hour

5:00 p.m.  Helping hubby get ready for Sunday

6:00 p.m.  Still helping hubby as the kids entertain themselves

7:00 p.m.  Send out a few emails to friends

8:00 p.m.  Almost finished helping at our church

9:00 p.m.  Work on blog (this post!) as hubby battles his computer - the kids are wearing out, and we are too, but we're almost done...

10:00 p.m.  Finally home to see a very happy Yorkie and eat a very, very late dinner

Okay, she doesn't look happy...she was happy we were home, but she HATES having her picture taken!

11:00 p.m.  My wonderful, beautiful bed...oh how I love you!