Great Smokey Mountains

This weekend was my mom and step dad's 11th anniversary. They decided they wanted to go to Pigeon Forge, TN to celebrate. They headed up Thursday after playing a round of golf here in town. They invited me and Maddy up for the weekend. I was trying to keep it a surprise for Maddy, but come Wednesday I just couldn't contain my excitement any more. I told her we were going on a small vacation. Her eyes lit up and she excitedly asked, "To the beach?!?!?!" I told her we were going to the mountains. I took a video of her with my phone to send to my mom and step dad...

I actually got myself up Friday morning at 5:17 a.m. so I wouldn't have to work until 10 p.m. and drive 2 hours. We didn't get on the road until 10 p.m. because I still had to pack me and get the car packed and then get Manny taken care of. When we got to the cabin Maddy was so excited to look around. I took some pictures of the cabin on our last day, so the beds weren't made. It had four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. It was so pretty!!!

Maddy loved to play the balls. More than anything though she enjoyed going up and down the stairs. Forget the stair master...just go with Maddy somewhere there are stairs and you will be toned up in no time! We didn't get into bed until 1:50 a.m. We got a rude awakening at 7 a.m. from the alarm. That thing drove me crazy! We finally got up at 7:30 a.m. and were so tired but yet so excited to go ride rides. That alarm did not have a power button so I just unplugged it lol. We headed to the Log Cabin Pancake House. Maddy had a banana and I had biscuits n gravy.

 Maddy was already starting to get quite moody by this point. After breakfast we hit OshKosh for tax free weekend and got Maddy some clothes.

After shopping we headed back to the cabin to get ready for Splash Country...only Maddy fell asleep on the way there and we ended up sitting in the truck outside the cabin for an hour or so. Maddy woke up crying and saying no and she was very frustrated. We waited for her to let us know when she was ready and out of no where she said, "I'm ready to go Pops." We asked her if she wanted to ride rides or go play in the water and of coarse she wanted to ride rides. We decided to skip Splash Country and go to Dollywood. Weather wise that was a great move. When we got to Dollywood we headed straight for the kiddie rides. Our first ride was the carousel.

Then we hit the rest of the kiddie rides.

We tried to catch the train several times but two times it was full and then when we finally were able to sit and wait for it they closed it down because there was lightning in the area. Before long the bottom dropped out. We made it to what was supposed to be a singing show (we thought it was the bird show) and five minutes before it was supposed to start they said they were not going to have the show due to the storm. We decided to just leave the park and go eat dinner. We ate at this amazing restaurant called the Bull Fish grill. I got the slow roasted prime rib and oh my gosh...it was just amazing. Maddy was not in any mood to eat. She just kept crawling under the table and trying to touch the people behind us and banging on the window and jumping on the seat...it was just such fun lol. On the way to the cabin Maddy was starting to fuss and I did something to her my grandmother used to do to me. I asked her what was on her shoulder and pretended like something was there, then I grabbed it and said got it! She just looked at me and I said I got grumpy now I need to get gripey. I started on her other shoulder and all of a sudden she started saying, "GET IT, GET IT,GET IT!!!" She thought there was a bug on her and she hates bugs! She's in a very literal stage right now and I wasn't thinking about that when I did that...oops. After dinner we just chilled at the cabin. Maddy played with her baby and her "mountain" and of coarse with the balls.

We got to bed by 9 p.m. and got to sleep in until 8:30 a.m. We had to be checked out by 10.

 I had no idea what the plan was for the day, so I was quite surprised when we turned around and went right back to Dollywood. We ate at a place called Aunt Granny's in the park and the food there was also really good. It's a buffet line and has true southern cooking there.

We went to ride the elephants and the teacups then the carousel again.

 We decided to go catch the bird show and the stunt dog show. I didn't get any pics of the bird show..my mom did and I will post when I get them and the dog show didn't allow flash photography but it was a really neat show. I highly recommend it. Maddy was so interested because they start out with like a black light type show and all you see are the lights and the frisbee's they use have lights in them so it was really neat. All the dogs were adopted from the human society and they trained them using clickers and toys. Just goes to show it's never too late to train a dog.

 After the stunt dog show we were able to catch the train. We decided it was time to go after the train because Maddy was real tired and it was fixing to rain. Me and my stepdad and Maddy rode the tram back to the car and right before we got to our car it was just sheets of rain pouring down. It was so cold and miserable. I carried Maddy and ran to the car and even though the car was just a few feet away we were drenched. Maddy laughed as we ran but once she got in the car she was quite upset she got soaked. We didn't even make it 1 minute before she was passed out asleep. We got some food at Sonic and headed to Cades Cove. We saw horses and deer and turkey. After that it was time to go home.

Thursday's Thoughts

I don't have much to talk about as of yet. I actually think that's a good thing. Sure I could continue on with work stuff, but I kinda want to escape work for just a minute lol. I have been trying my best to get myself on a different schedule. My ideal schedule would be: wake up at 5 a.m., shower/get ready, clean the house until 6, work from 6-7:20, get Maddy up...dressed...fed...and out the door by 8:10, come home and finish work, get Maddy by 5:35, eat dinner, play, put Maddy to bed, work, exercise, go to bed. None of that happens lol. I don't get out of bed until the very last minute. Here lately it's been around 7:40 a.m. and then we have to rush to be ready in time. I've been trying different things to make me get out of bed and the last two days I almost succeeded, but ended up staying in bed. I'm contemplating buying coffee and have it set to brew and be done so when my alarm goes off I will smell it and it will make me want to get up and get some. I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but I do LOVE the smell of it and it usually makes me want some even if it doesn't taste as good as it smells. Work is real stressful right now, more than usual, so I think I am just procrastinating facing the stress each and every day.

I've officially started a hopeful new journey in life. I'm not revealing what it is until it actually happens. I'm beyond excited and am praying hard it will all work out :)

Tuesday was such a pain...literally!!! It was raining here that morning and I was in a hurry to get Maddy in her car seat. I have a two door car so I always have one leg in the car and the other leg out of the car. I have no idea what happened because I've done this for almost 3 years now and NEVER has this happened. I had just got part of Maddy's seat buckled on her when all of a sudden I feel this horrible pain on my leg. I instantly dropped my jaw open and said OWWWW!!! Maddy was sitting on my lap kind of...so therefore I must not have had part of her seat buckled lol. She didn't quite know what to do. She kept asking me what happened. I tried so hard not to cry. I looked over to see what happened and saw the door had my knee pinned against the car. I could feel it swell instantly and I was instantly sick to my stomach from the pain. I'm still not sure if I damaged my knee or not, but it's a bit hard to walk without going ow,ow, ow lol. My knee got hit on both the inside and the outside so I have two bruises. I only got a picture of one because my phone is out of memory. It's the smaller bruise area that I just cannot touch at all. I can't sit down and bend my leg and if I run or something of that nature it ends up hurting real bad soon after. I have a picture of the bruise that formed that day and then what it looked like the next day.

It's not been fun at all!

I didn't get a chance to 'support' Chick-Fil-A yesterday, but I verbally support them. I do not hate people, but I do believe in God and the bible.

Me and Maddy have a very fun weekend this week and I can't wait to share the pictures. I just hope I remember to take my SD card out of my computer lol. Maybe I should just take my computer to be safe.

Yesterday we had a severe storm roll through here and actually was under a tornado warning. I had no clue we were going to have such a storm and when my weather radio went off and said tornado warning I got a little worried. I love studying the weather and I often watch the clouds so yesterday I was found outside looking for any formation. I decided I better stay inside because the lightning was pretty fierce. I saw this little guy trying to stay dry from the downpour that had just started.

I took some of Maddy's artwork home this week and when I saw this I wanted to cry.

There was another painting she did that said, "A present for mommy." That was just so sweet!

Well, that is all I can think of that has happened thus far. I won't be posting for a few days because Friday night Maddy and I are headed out of town and won't be back until late Sunday :)

Weekend Grief

I've been struggling with talking about our weekend this time around. It seems as if the devil has just decided to unleash on my family and it started the beginning of last week. Some of you who read this may not feel anything that horrible happened. I can tell you that it may not sound bad, but it sure feels awful. Last week my grandfather went in for I think his 3rd hip replacement surgery. He was scared to death he would not make it through surgery so as he was waiting to go back he decided to apologize for all the things he did or didn't do. The good news is he came out just fine and had no complications after surgery. This was the smoothest one he has had. My mom was at the hospital nonstop. Maddy had a bout of behavior issues all last week. Everything I asked her to do or even told her to do was no or she would do the complete opposite. I felt like she just did not take me seriously at all and that really bothered me. She found out at the store that mommy meant business when I put her candy back. Monday was probably the easiest day of the week for me, but not for my mom. The worst thing that I can remember happening on Monday was when I picked Maddy up from school I noticed her arm was real red then I saw a big scratch on her arm that almost looked like a gash. I asked her what happened and she said it was from an egg.

On Tuesday she got so mad at me that she actually hit me. She hasn't hit me in a long time. I have no idea why she decided to hit me that day. Needless to say she got several time outs last week. I began to feel like maybe I was doing something wrong. I remembered a post I had read on another blog that talked about how she felt like all she did with her 3 year old was discipline her and tell her no. I finally realized that Maddy was just going through on of her phases and eventually she would work it out. I was in a big mess at work...oh wait..I'm always in a big mess at work lol. Wednesday my mom came over for a visit. That was a pretty good day as well. I believe on Thursday my mom told me that her dog Toaby (he was 16 years old and I still to this day remember going and getting him from the humane society) was not doing well at all. We all knew he was not going to be around much longer, but I didn't think it would hurt as bad as it did when the time came...especially since I wasn't living with him anymore...I was wrong. On Saturday I woke up and I just started thinking about Toaby and I felt real sad. I texted my mom this and this was her reply.

I was glad she told me, but at the same time part of me wished I hadn't known. I had to pray all the way up to her house that I wouldn't cry. When I walked through the door I instantly felt sadness and empty. My mom did a great job of putting on her happy face for Maddy. We played for a little bit then jumped in the car to go get ice cream. Ice cream makes everything better lol. Here is a cute pic of Maddy I took before we went to my mom's.

My mom and I were talking at Baskin Robbins and it got on the subject of Toaby and we both struggled to keep our composure so we decided it was a great time to leave. I've been without a vacuum and with Manny here I was in desperate need of one. I compared lots of vacuum's and decided to go with the Hoover pet vacuum. I love it because it's a purple-y color and it really has done a great job so far...but it's still new lol.

On Sunday we did our normal routine of going to church. Maddy loves church even though she struggles with the initial seperation. She told me before we left that she liked church but she might cry. I told her it was ok to cry sometimes when we are sad. She said, "Yeah." When we got to church she was so proud to be walking with us without holding my hand...I don't normally let her do that lol. We got our beeper and went to her room. She hesitated going in, but she did finally walk in on her own. I kept telling her it would be ok and mommy would be right back for her. I'm hoping to get her involved in Awana's and children's choir when they start back. I really think she will love it. Our pastor has been preaching on brokenness and this Sunday preached about when we are going through brokenness it's natural to ask why but instead of asking why to look for the possiblities that can come from it such as it draws us closer to God. My devotion has been right in line with what he has been preaching and it is at a much needed time.

There have been some real eye opening things that have happened to us since we started going to church again. I am choosing to keep those things private. I will ask for a silent prayer request for Maddy.  We went back up to my mom's for a little bit to help them move in their new couch and so they could help me get my vacuum cord unstuck lol. Maddy still calls my mom's house her house. She made it clear she wanted to go home. It was told to her that she was home and she said, "No! my nana's house" I think she is still struggling some with us moving. I don't blame her...my mom's house was the only home she's known. When it was time to leave my mom gave her some money to buy her a new movie. I wish I had taken some video of it because she held onto that money. She sat it down so she could eat her candy, but when we got to the store she was looking frantically for her money. I told her I was going to hold it until we got in the store. WHen we got in the store she made sure to keep her money. She was borderline not getting a movie because she wouldn't listen, but I was able to salvage her mood and get her movie. She has really gotten into the new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on tv. I was looking for a caillou one but she already had the only one they had. She picked an Elmo out and just as we were leaving I saw Mickey Mouse. I asked her which she wanted and she picked one out and still wanted Elmo...I couldn't tell her no so she got 2 movies.

We did have a good weekend, but there were some very sad moments. Toaby was such a great dog who had a big heart. When you were sick or sad he would come curl up right beside you to comfort you. He had so much life in him even in his old age. When we first got him we were convinced we had beethoven on our hands. He had such big paws and destroyed our house. Everything you saw on Marley and Me we experienced with Toaby and the sadness of them losing Marley is the same sadness we feel over losing Toaby. Our pets are family too and Toaby will be greatly missed. I'm going to post my favorite picture of him. This was taken in 2006.

He Said and More

There's a song I've fallen in love with on the radio. It's by Group 1 Crew and called He Said. I heard this song at just the perfect time a few weeks ago and find myself once again needing to hear the words. This week has been a bit rough. Maddy has not been herself, work is just a mess as usual, and I have some personal issues I'm also dealing with. This song is a great reminder that everything I'm going through is something I can handle because it's been given to me. Sometimes I feel like I might break, but it's these moments in life that end up teaching you the most and helping you grow as a person. No matter what you're going through just remember God is always there!

On a completely different note...I made my first fettuccine alfredo tonight. I think it turned out pretty good, just took a while to cook lol.

I've had a rough time keeping up with daily chores this week. I'm hoping this isn't how it's going to be from here on out. I have stayed behind all week, so I'm hoping it's just this tough time and it'll pass.

I seem to be ready for Christmas already. I'm not looking forward to the cold weather, but I am ready for Christmas. I've already bought Maddy one present, but it's only because it's a new item and stores were selling out fast for their preorder. I jumped on board and am so excited for her to have it. I feel quite certain I will be sick looking through the black friday sales because I'm sure somewhere will have it for a great price. Oh well lol.

I've been gearing up for Maddy's birthday. In just two short months she will be three years old. I seriously can't believe that. I've been toying with the idea of going to River City Pottery for her party to let her and the other kids paint pottery and then coming back here for her group present, but I can't decide. I may have already mentioned this in another post, but if not...I am asking family members to contribute to a group gift of a wooden swing set. I've been looking around online for those as well and it's just amazing how expensive they can be. Her theme is going to be Caillou. I've asked her a bunch of times what she wanted and it was between Bob, Barney, Caillou, and Elmo. She switches back and forth a lot, but when she wants to watch a movie it's always Caillou.

Maddy is fixing to transition to the next classroom sometime in mid August. I'm kind of glad because she runs to that room a bunch. I think she is getting bored with the class she's in now and their toys. She's been in this room since January.

I got my flute back!!! I played it a little today and surprisingly could still read most of the music lol. I have trouble glancing at the flats and sharps, but I'm hoping it won't be too long before I pick it back up. My advice to anybody who plays an instrument...do NOT put it down!!! I put my flute down approximately six years ago. I have missed playing it and am hoping I can get involved in the church orchestra once again. I have missed church...I've been off and on since Maddy was born, but I'm so glad to be back at my home church.

I do believe I've rambled enough for one night. Thank goodness it's Friday tomorrow :)