Kendall chose to have her 16th birthday party at Welcome Swim club!
I am only posting pictures of my family to respect her friends!
Party prep included lots of ballons!
Wordless Wednesday – Kendall’s Birthday
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Category Archives: Braxton
Braxton Pre-School Graduation Post
Braxton had a pre-school graduation ceremony on Friday June 7th. Haley flew in to attend along with Zach’s 8th grade ceremony. Of course we all showed up in force to celebrate with him!
Braxton and “his wife” Dallas who we all love and adore!
5 Things Friday Catch up Edition!
- Our Disney trip was AWESOME! We enjoyed Easter Sunday with David and Haley at the Beach. David and Haley also joined us and Braxton for a couple of days of Disney fun! We were able to enjoy the campground and have discovered that Hoop De Doo Review is our favorite show! We are also learning that sticking with what we know we like is maybe better than trying all the things. This was our first and last trip to Steakhouse 71, burnt steak is not acceptable on any level. Although it was suggested that we go for breakfast so maybe!
- I came home on Sunday feeling absolutely miserable! I walked inside, took a shower and went to bed. I had a cough that lasted for 10 days. I still have a cough, but it is much better. I was discussing with Matt that I have been sick more and worse this year than I can ever remember.
- I still LOVE the camper. Side note, it took us a full week to actually get it cleaned out this time. However, I can say it is definitely our money pit. Each time we take it out we end up needing to replace some items. This trip, the toilet has to be replaced. It is leaking water both in the bowl and on the floor. Matt has already replaced the seal, so the full thing is replaced this time. We also have to replace a taillight that cracked and the latch on the screen door. Sunday morning before leaving we discovered that a light bulb needed to be replaced! Next up will likely be the door!
- Because of being so sick on the way home, it has taken almost a full two weeks for me to catch up on everything including blogging! Now I can begin my count down to summer. Technically, we have 8 weeks left in the school year with 5 of actual treatment.
- I have been super busy this week, working on getting the garden planted. We or I should say Matt worked hard before we left, and the greenhouse worked like a charm! I will be planting out all the tomatoes and green peppers in the next week depending on the weather.
5 Things Friday
- Last weekend we spent some time shopping to fulfill some summer needs. I did not realize that both Kendall and Zach needed new shoes. I still have a small list of items that are needed but I hope to finish those up this weekend as well. This was expensive but we spent time at Goodwill and Bargains by the Bin before heading to the other stores. Zach was able to find T-shirts at Belks for around $10 each!
- Another good deal last weekend was Shutterfly offered 8×8 books starting at $10. This is an awesome deal, actually one of my favorites. I ended up spending a great deal of time, really too much time, finishing up several projects. I ordered a total of 6 books and ended up spending $130 including shipping. The extra cost came from using Disney themes and extra pages (anything over 20). I do have one additional book I would like to get made and printed. This week Shutterfly is offering unlimited pages so I may see what that cost would be. But this depends on my time.
- We are headed to Disney in a short time. I have set a couple of goals for myself in order not to be the fat mom that slows everyone down. The first is that I spend at least 12 hours on the treadmill at the YMCA. I did my first hour last night so 11 more to go. I also want Braxton to get used to walking as we are not planning to use a stroller on this trip. The hope is that we can start family walks on Sundays and Lily would like to do at least one other walk during the week. The problem again is time at home.
- I have officially lost weight. In fact, I received a compliment on it last week! I have lost 16 pounds since December! I am also down one jean size which is super fun!
- We did not even remotely stick to the pantry challenge this month. So I have decided that we will do a strict pantry challenge with the exception of milk and water and soda until our Costco trip prior to leaving. The challenge will begin March 1st. We will be going to Costco before then but no other trips will be made unless something is a necessity by my standards.
Wordless Wednesday- Junk Food Sunday
Saving on Saturday
Today the focus was on using what we have! We headed out really early for Braxton’s ballgame. I did not want to stop and purchase breakfast, so I made a German pancake and a package of sausage links from the freezer. For lunch, I made meatballs and lil smokies in the crockpot. And for dinner, I added sour dough waffles.
We also finished taking down all the Christmas decorations. I absolutely LOVED having the curtain rod with ornaments over the kitchen sink. In fact, I liked it so much that I decided that I needed to purchase a curtain to go on the rod. However, when I found my bag of Valentine’s items, I decided I could use some of these items and hold off buying a curtain. I do love the way it turned out.
I also went ahead and decorated the sign outside again with things we already have! It also turned out as well.
Total spent today was $20 for entrance into the game.
Every little bit counts!
5 Things Friday- Travel Edition
- My mom, Granny, Amanda, Braxton, Lily, Izzy (Lily best friend), Kendall, Zach, Matt and I headed to Haley’s in Florida with the camper on Thursday December 28th. The trip down started at 4;45 and we arrived around 6:30pm so a 14 hour trip including stops for gas, breakfast and lunch. We headed home on January 2nd. Lily and Izzy were in the car with Granny as Amanda had flown home on Sunday. We started the trip around 8:15 am. and arrived home at 11:30, a 16 hour trip. It took us 6 hours to get out of Florida instead of 4. This was I felt like our longest and slowest trip ever. After much discussion, we are not exactly sure what we could have done differently to make the trip shorter.
- Everyone included David and Haley headed to Disney Springs on Friday December 29th, which was Granny’s birthday.
Braxton got his face painted as well! 
- Saturday was our Christmas celebration. I spent a couple of hours at Urgent Care. After dinner, Kendall, Izzy, Lily and I headed to the camper. I went to sleep, and the girls enjoyed a girls game which included lots of giggles. Matt and Zach stayed and watched a football game at Haley and David’s. Zach ended up staying at Haley’s for Saturday, Sunday and Monday night. He and Ryder played lots of video games.
- Sunday, New Year’s Eve was spent eating and laughing and just hanging out!
The girls headed to do a little bit of shopping at Target and Ross. Lots of football was watched as well. I ended up back at the camper early. But everyone else set off fireworks and played with sparkers! It is always nice to spend time with family. - Monday s adventure included a cold trip to the beach!
I put my toes in the water, it was cold. Zach and Braxton played in the water. Everyone else watched them as the water was too cold. We all enjoyed just being on a beach the first day of 2024!
Wordless Wednesday- Trip
One of our favorite things to do when we travel is EAT! Our recent trip to Florida was even better because some of the time David cooked some of the best food I have ever eaten!
Cracker Barrel is our first traditional stop on a trip!
We celebrated Granny’s birthday at Disney Springs at Earl of Sandwich-one of our absolute favorites!
We also ate at Texas Roadhouse for dinner!
Our Best place that we ate is also our newest favorite place! This will be a definite stop each trip to see Haley! These are called Bento boxes!
Merry Christmas
Thanksgiving
This year was the most relax and uneventful holiday in a long time. However, it was not without illness as Lily caught a stomach bug! Hopefully she does not share with the rest of us.
We were very happy and surprised that Haley and David ended up spending the holiday with us. Unplanned but fun!
Thursday, we have lunch at my brothers with all the family and lots of food. We were in charge of the turkey, stuffing and 3 deserts. I was very glad to have leftovers and even planned on snacking most of the evening!
Friday, we worked on getting our Christmas decorations up for most of the day and took things a little bit slower paced. I decided to treat everyone, and we ended up going out to eat at a Japanese steak house. The food was awesome, and we all enjoyed it!
After dropping Braxton off, most of us decided to head out for some Black Friday shopping. Our biggest purchase of the evening? pillows!