I'm ready!!

My bags are packed I'm ready to go, Yeah the rest of that song doesn't really fit cause I'm not leaving on a jet plane and the loves of my life are comming with me... But I'm ready to get home to Quincy for a break!!!
Gil has been gone quite a bit in the last 2 weeks so we really need some family time to reconnect and we seem to do that better when we get out of town! I love road trips with my hubby, I love laughing, talking and singing in the car with him. It's so much fun! Maybe it's because it takes me back to my days as a kid when all 6 of us would load up in the minivan and head to Florida or Pennsylvania... man those trips were long, and rough but they hold some of the best memories! Like the time that mom and I got locked in a gas station bathroom that smelled like... well we'll stop there. I remember the time that we had to stop on the side of the road for Adam to pee, and he just couldn't go cause of the traffic, so we all cheered him on till his duty was done. I'll always hold dear the late night talks I had with my dad while he was driving and I was trying to keep both of us awake.I remember feeding Laura a bottle in the back of the car when she was just 6 months old. Katie and I used to hide the candy bag and sneak treats all night long! We used to all talk about how cool it would be if we could just fly to our destination, but man I would've missed out on a lot of memories!
So we're getting ready to head to Quincy, and I'm soooo excited to see our friends and loved ones. I'm ready to play cards with Pete and Laura, and ready to drink coffee with my mom, I'm ready to dance and sing with my dad, and to laugh and talk with my sisters... I'm ready to see all sorts of other friends that we love and miss and I'm ready to give lots of hugs to people I haven't seen in awhile! So now we're just waiting for Gil to get home! Oh yeah and I guess I lied I gotta get started packing those bags! Love to you all and those of you in Quincy, hopefully we'll get a chance to catch up!

Diapers Forever!

I think my little man is a genius!! Ok I know all mothers think that but I really do think that Carter is a smart little man. He counts to ten like a pro, he's talking like crazy, he knows all about football and touchdowns, and he can even sing the theme song to McDonalds... and yells "I'm lovin' it" at the end! So I really thought that he would pick up on this potty training things fairly easy.. Think again Ang!
I've had so much advice and I've tried everything! I'm one of those moms that loves advice, I don't get frustrated at all when people tell me what worked for them, in fact I rush home and try it. We're tried watching daddy, we've tried M&M's for going potty, we've tried sitting on the potty all day for two days straight, none of it's working. One thing I've been told by many moms is not to use Pull Up's cause then the child can't feel that they are wet. They said to put him in normal underwear and if he does wet himself he won't like the feeling and he'll let ya know. That'll teach him not to do it in his pants.... Well not Carter. That kid would sit in his wet pants all day if I let him. I think he likes that warm feeling:-) He just really doesn't care! I'm starting to think he won't be able to start school till he's 10!
But I'm trying not to loose hope.. we were waiting in line yesterday to pick him up from Sunday school, and I heard many parents asking their kids and teachers if they had any accidents... I was happy to see a couple kids that had, I know others are struggling too!
So I'm off to start another load of pee-soaked underwear in the wash.... man this is getting old. So any of you mom's out there that have done this before... if you have anything that really worked, I'd love to hear it! Those of you that have three or four kids... man, hats off to ya!

Love ya all and hope that you have a wonderful Monday!

Keepin Busy!!

Where has the time gone!?!? It's been awhile since I last posted. Well time here is actually flying by and I can't believe it.
I remember when we moved to Colorado and for the first 6 months I was very sad and felt like I was all by myself. Of course I had Gil and Carter, but at the time Gil was working lots of hours and Carter was 6 months old and his days were full of eating sleeping and messing his diapers. So needless to say I was maybe a little depressed. I expected to go through the same transition here, since it's a new place and I knew we wouldn't have any friends at first.
I'm happy to say that it's the exact opposite of what I dreaded. I am sooo happy here. Yes, I still miss my friends in Quincy and in Colorado a ton, and wish they were all here but I'm making more friends!! This is such a huge thing for me because it's so tough for me to make friends. I am such a shy person if I don't know you. It's so hard for me to put myself out there and talk to strangers. I just hate it. So two weeks ago when I was driving down my street and my neighbors whistled for me to stop I thought about just ignoring them, but something or somebody:-) told me to stop. They introduced themselves and told me they were planning an evening to hang out. The boys were going to play penny poker and the girls were going to hang out. They just needed to find a place to host it. Out of nowhere I said..."well we can have it at my place" It shocked me cause that is sooo not like me at all. I love to host parties, but not with stangers. So that Saturday night my house was clean, food was made and I was a bundle of nerves. I kissed Gil goodbye and he said " hey just be yourself"
We had a blast. The ladies are all older than I am but we really just hit it off. We talked about everything, we joked and laughed and one point even started to get teary-eyed over a story. It was such a good time. Gil came home and I was so happy and excited that I couldn't even sleep. The best part is they are all home during the days!!!
So last week I wanted to go back to Quincy because Gil was going to be gone and I didn't want to be here by myself. Due to gas prices and hopefully a trip home for Halloween, I couldn't go. I was dreading the week by myself! So he left Monday morning and I cried.
Tuesday morning I got a call from Joyce and Jennifer and they asked me to come down for coffee. Joyce is older but Jennifer has 3 boys and is close to my age. Carter and I walked down and had an enjoyable morning sitting and talking over coffee. The rest of the week we were always on the go. We took walks down to see all our new friends,went out to lunch one day, Jennifer and the boys walked down one evening and we all played football in the backyard. I was even able to share with them about my heavy heart due to some sad news that we received Saturday and they actually really cared and they even said they would be praying for the family involved. Good friendships are starting to form. By the time I knew it Sunday rolled around and we were going to pick up Gil.
God is sooo awesome. He really does have his hands all over this move for us. We are so happy to be here and it just seems to get better each day. We were happy to have Gil home and we've been spending this week having a lot of family time. It's amazing how much better family time goes when the whole family is happy.
So that's what's been going on here in Oronogo Missouri. Hope I didn't bore ya all but just wanted to update you on how we're doing here.