Catching Up

Happy New Year! Well since I last posted, Cameron has turned 14 and Kelsie 17. We bought a 3rd car...a very exciting experience as now Kelsie has transportation more readily available to her. Kind of makes me sad...I don't want her to be more independent from me...although I won't lie...yesterday morning it was awfully nice that she could take herself to school. She's a good girl though, I don't see her wanting to be gone from us all the time.

As for me...let's see...since I last posted, I've had surgery on my leg/hip to remove a hematoma-type thing that I got as a result of falling down the steps on 29 October; I've had an ultrasound scope/biopsy of what turned out to be a cyst in my stomach; a CT scan of my carotid arteries; an MRI of my head....hmmmm...is that all? Seems like so much more! Waiting on the results of my MRI. I will tell you that the Lord gave me peace while in the MRI. I sang praise songs and prayed during the 1.25 hours of the test. Not something I really want to do again, but thankful that I got through it pretty easily. If you have been praying for me through this junk, thank you so much.

Today is my dad's birthday -- my folks have been in FL for the past 5 weeks enjoying wonderful weather. Wish we could have gotten down there, but as you can see, we've been busy. Happy Birthday, Dad!

It's been great weather here too -- love when it stays in the 50s and 60s during Jan & Feb.

Happy 2012!

Merry Christmas Eve

As I wait for Santa to arrive...actually, I think he already arrived ;-), I think back over the last year and wonder where the time has gone. Really not only 2011, but the past several years. Whoever said "time flies", really was right. What will 2012 hold, I wonder. Will it go as fast as 2011 did, and the year before that, and the year before that? My guess is yes. I've had some health struggles the past few months. I wish those times would fly on by - and sometimes I wonder, why those times don't seem to fly by quite as quickly as the good times. But through it all, I've been blessed. I pray in 2012 that I can be strong in the Lord, live in His plan and be a blessing as I have been blessed. I pray that my family and friends will experience His blessings and that the Lord will continue His hedge of protection around my kids. Merry Christmas Eve and Merry Christmas everyone.

My Worker Girl

I am not sure why I have a picture of Kelsie's friend with her apron and bow tie on but not of Kelsie????

Going Red

The blog is going "Red" in support of the Cardinals' post season participation! I will admit, I was SO done with them about 3 weeks ago. I couldn't help it. I was done! But, now I am back ;-)

In other news, let's see...my partner Ashley and I won our City Finals match a couple of weeks ago. I am now officially over-committed with tennis. And I'm tired.

Kelsie's job is still going well. Cam is playing his fair share of tennis...so is Kenny. Did I mention that I'm tired?

August....

I have to have an August post! But, I didn't want to until I could post a picture of my new little worker girl in her Steak n Shake uniform. But alas, I am too lazy to find the camera card and the adapter, and....well you get the picture (no pun intended). Anyway that was the big news of the month, Kelsie got her first "real", non-babysitting job and she's doing great at it. I have had to pry her tip money out of her hot little hands so it can go into her bank account. She's made so much $$$, I'm thinking of quitting my job and becoming a Steak n Shake waitress myself ;-) I am very proud of how she has managed work, friends, and homework. They are working her to death, though, so we may need to make a few adjustments, we'll see. As August passes...happy September to us all.

Ft. Lauderdale

We spent last week in Ft. Lauderdale. It was a great weather week, rained a little bit one late afternoon, but that was it. We had a good time with one exception. One of us was sick. Check the pictures out...who is missing? And now he's given the sickness to me...sore throat, etc. :-(, but...we press on. These are a few pix -- haven't uploaded all of them to the computer yet. Heather was able to fly to FLL and join us for most of the week, I think the girls really enjoyed themselves. And we got to see the Linn's in Miami, but I don't have those pix uploaded yet, except the one of Cameron quacking the quacker from the Ducks ride.

I'm Tired and Ready to Go Home

Lots of driving, a graduation party, seeing good friends, more driving, more driving, work, more driving, a wedding, family, some stress, driving, work, more good friends, driving, work, driving, driving, home. I'm about in the middle of all of that right now. I'm tired. I am thankful for the Lord keeping me healthy and I'm thankful for my family and friends, safe travels, my job. Come Saturday, I'll be heading home. Here are a few pictures from my niece Shayna's wedding. She was a beautiful bride, it was a wonderful wedding.

Happy Mother's Day

This might be the best mother's day ever. Stay with me. I'm sitting in a hotel room on Base without my kids, my husband, my mother, all by myself. Sometimes on mother's day, I really wish for just peace and quiet. A nap. Some alone time. Today, this mother's day, I am getting just that. And what I miss most? My kids, my husband, my mom, my dad (who are at my house taking care of my family). So while I wonder why my plans didn't work out, to be home today, maybe I'm learning something...on those mother's days that I long for some peace and quiet, a nap, some alone time, while those aren't bad things, I should treasure the hub bub a little more ;-) - and learning that just might make this the best mother's day ever.

I hope my mom, my mother in law and all of the other moms who read my blog have a very happy mother's day -- no matter what you are doing today!

The Very Important Post!

Kenny has finished his long awaited memoir and "You Can't Take the Bronx Out of My Dad" has been published!!! I am very proud of him -- this is a huge accomplishment. If you would like to check it out and purchase this soon to be best seller, visit his blog: http://www.kenhand.blogspot.com/ I have had a lot of feedback from friends and family who have already bought it and they can't stop laughing ;-) Let me know what you think.

The Long Awaited UPdate

Ok, well...I've been planning a big post since last Saturday...I think it was Saturday when I was on the tennis court, taking a lesson and I did something I've never done before. I hit myself with my racket -- on my chin -- it brought tears to my eyes, it was the hardest hit forehand I've ever swung -- and there was my chin. It hurt really bad. Well, I put ice on it, it was totally black and blue the next day. So, knowing that I needed to update my blog, I had my husband, and both kids try and take pictures of my chin that would do the black and blue justice, but not make my neck/face look fat and not show up my nose. That was a difficult task all the way around. So, yesterday, I decide that I'll upload the picture....when much to my dismay, the picture card was missing from the camera. So, I'm wondering, was it missing when the pictures were taken and I'll need the cord to plug into the computer (which I don't know where that is), or is it on the card, which I don't know where that is. So, I gave up and here I am without a picture. Please take my word for it, it scared a lot of people this week when they saw me ;-)

So that's what's been going on around here. Now that I am back blogging -- please stay tuned...I"m going to have one more VERY IMPORTANT post, probably within the next 2 days ;-)

I MUST!

I MUST update my blog! I MUST update my blog! I WILL update my blog....sooon!!!!!! Update coming soon....

Sweet 16

Shockingly enough, my baby is 16. I know, everyone says, where does the time go? And they would be right -- I don't know where the last 16 years has gone. Here are a few pix from Kelsie's dinner at the Melting Pot and from her horse show. Kelsie Lyn Gardner Collins Hand, I'm proud to be your mom. I love you!

The picture above scares me! Who let these kids lose with weapons???

Nick tried to suck up the remaining chocolate with a straw! Why haven't I ever thought of that?

I haven't made rolled out sugar cookies in a long time -- but a sweet 16 deserves the best!

I Did Something Crazy Today

For about 2.5 hours, I chipped ice off of a tennis court. Why? I wanted to play. I didn't think it was going to be all that hard -- it was, until someone brought a hammer. That actually worked pretty well. Of course I had to hammer with my left hand because I didn't want to overuse my right arm, had to save that for the match. We got the match in despite the fact that a river continued to run behind the baseline. I'm not sure about this whole tennis thing -- my mom's right, tennis players are worse than golfers. But we did win our match ;-)

Bizarre!

Well, did you know that I guess Atlanta owns about 6 snow plows? I think Cumming owns ZERO. Also, I don't think they have access to salt either. I am mind boggled that 6 inches of snow and a little bit of sleet below and on top has brought the city to a stand still. Get this: I went out for some chili from Wendy's today -- it was closed! So were: McDonald's, Chik fil A, Burger King, Arby's, Steak n Shake, Chili's, Subway and everything else except Huddle House (I don't even know what that is), Starbucks and Walmart. I ended up at Walmart, but they didn't even have chicken made up. I left with some bologna, bread, chips, salsa, bagel bites and milk...the staples. I couldn't carry much because I was afraid of slipping and falling on the ICED PARKING LOT. There was no way to roll a cart out to the car. So, tomorrow is day 3 of the schools being closed -- will this ever end? Temps are not supposed to get above freezing until possibly Friday -- that's the only way that this stuff will go away -- without snow plows or salt, we just have to wait for the sun to burn it off. It's interesting. I grew up in the north, we would never stand for such craziness! ;-)

Never Before Published (by me) Pictures

Since I haven't posted pix in awhile, thought I would put some random pix out here -- then I realized most of them are from Thanksgiving -- so not so random ;-)

Blogging

I still think blogging is better than Facebook. Kelsie says that my blog is boring b/c I haven't been putting pictures up. Here is some randomness: It's been cold here -- much to my dismay. Tonight there is icing -- kids went to bed sure that school would be cancelled tomorrow -- only problem is that it's supposed to be 50 plus degrees tomorrow. So, they have delayed school start by 2 hours. They are not going to be happy campers when they find this out in the morning. More randomness: I was sick on Saturday so I did some online shopping for Christmas. I went out a bit today too, so I feel much better about all of that. What else? I spent about 2 hours on the Walgreens website tonight trying to make our Christmas card. I will see how it turned out tomorrow -- then, well, I will have to see if I actually address them and send them out. I did buy stamps, so I guess it's a step in the right direction. Thankful that my father-in-law is healing nicely from his stay in the hospital and in rehab. He's headed back home on Friday! Kelsie, hope I didn't bore you to death!

400

The day came...this morning. The kids and I went to church (Kenny wasn't feeling well). After church, Kelsie had the car keys and wanted to drive home. As usual, we stopped at Donut Connection, that went pretty well considering the parking lot is crazy and getting thru the drive thru is a challenge because of how cramped it is. Then the realization hit -- in order to get home, we have to drive on 400. I figured, it's Sunday morning, traffic won't be bad, now is the time for me to get tough, bare down and let Kelsie get on 400. I was good until she tells me that I can't be eating my donut and drinking my milk, I need to pay attention to her. YIKES! So I stuffed the donut down (maybe a reason I need to drop about 20 lbs) and focused. She made a nice left onto the ramp; I looked over my shoulder to the left and the "no Sunday morning traffic" I had anticipated was not the reality...traffic everywhere. I tried to remain calm, and I did a darn good job of it -- here it came, here came the merging...whew, I'm home safe and sound.

October 26th...and more

Today is my husband's birthday -- Happy Birthday Kenny! We've had a good night, hopefully he's had a good day. He's working with Cam now on the Amazing Science Cell Project -- thank goodness because this mother is not a science-project mother!

It's been an eventful October. Cam finished up Fall baseball, Kelsie started her riding show season this past Sunday - she placed first, so that was cool. Ruth & Heather came for a visit, we had a good time with them here. Kenny and I made it to the mixed doubles playoffs. We were supposed to have our first playoff match tonight, but we got rained out. My women's doubles team made it to the playoffs too, we have our first match this Saturday. So, I'm tired, but thankful for our good health and all of the activities. Oh, Ken and Cam went camping this past Saturday night -- they had such a great time that they are taking Kelsie and Laura this Saturday -- notice that one person is missing from the camping equation ;-)

October...BRRRRR!

I can't believe it's October and about 45 degrees outside -- this is crazy! Hopefully it will warm back up soon. I spent 10 days in STL, mostly working. Back home now and need to get back into a groove. I understand that my husband was interviewed for his book while I was away. Now there's only 1 problem with this book of his -- I am not mentioned once in it! I think this is going to really affect sales, so in the editing process, I expect some changes...so don't give up!

The big news: KELSIE HAS HER DRIVER'S PERMIT!

Seriously?

Last week some friends met me at Lotawata Creek in Fairview Heights for dinner. It had been quite awhile since I had been there and I remember the portions being big, but this was crazy! Chris ordered some kind of burger with onion rings and this is what it looked like:



Check out how big the "toothpick" had to be to hold the thing together!

The steak I ordered was pretty "normal" sized, but the baked potato was humongous!