Another Christmas come and gone

We had a great Christmas this year. We were blessed with a little extra money so everyone got exactly what they wanted. Shelby and Koty asked for a Nintendo DS and Santa brought it to them. Lacey asked for My Little Ponies Skate Park and Santa brought that plus another Ponies Amusement Park. She loves them. Everyone got clothes and games. The family got Rockband game for the Wii. That has been a blast. Courtney got socks and underwear plus some of her bills paid off by us. She has been on Santa's bad list, unfortunately. I got Larry an electric wet/dry shaver, some jeans and cologne. He got me a Garmin Nuvi gps, exactly what I wanted. It will make it so much easier to deliver avon and find host homes for Pampered Chef shows. Grandpa Smith came over in the afternoon. He didn't seem himself. I think he was a little down. We got him a dvd player and a movie, some peanuts, and a framed picture of our family. Now today, the day after, everyone is quiet and into their own video games. I told them not the get used to it because the 1 hour electronics rule would go into effect on Monday. I'm so mean. lol! They also got books from santa so they need to read those too.
Everyone had a great Christmas.

It's the middle of Dec. already?

Gosh, I can finally take a breath. The last 2 months have been so hectic. I think I've had something to do or some appointment every single day. I've been planning parties for the 2nd grade and planning meetings for the Daisy troop. We've been to some Girlscout activities. I've had 3 girl scout trainings and 1 boyscout training. Larry and I went to a Christmas party that the fire department held. It was nice but a little boring for me. Larry had fun talking to all the guys. I think I'm done with the Christmas shopping. Oh I just realized I need to get Dad a couple more things. Maybe my New Years Resolution should be to blog more often. I have so many things I want to do but just don't have time. Maybe my resolution should be to make more free time and take on less.

Girl Scouts Girl Scouts Girl Scouts

I'm consumed with Girl Scouts. We have a meeting for either Shelby or Lacey every week. Plus I have training classes and planning as my job as leader. The annual fall festival was Saturday. The girls raced derby cars in the powdered puff race. They got their face painted. They made lots of crafts including a pantyhose head scarecrow and a painted mini pumpkin. Oct. 30 we have our investiture ceremony and dinner. Some girls are bridging, some are rededicating to scouting, some are joining or being welcomed into girls scouts.
Larry and Koty went to a coffin race. Larry coordinated a coffin construction at the fire department. He gathered enough people to push the coffin in the race. Manitou Springs, CO has an annual coffin race and parade in memory of Emma Crawford. The story is that she was buried on the side of the mountain in Manitou. It rained so hard that it washed away all the soil and the coffin floated down the street. Black Forest Fire Rescue won the fire dept race.

Our Weekend

Koty is going on a campout with his Boyscout Troop. This will be his first campout without Grandpa. In the past Grandpa Smith has always gone with him. Grandpa is at hunting camp so Koty gets to go by himself. There will be other adults including the Scout Master and other leaders so he should be fine. They are camping about 2 miles from our house on someone's property that is wooded and secluded.
I have a Signature Homestyles party tonight. Wonder if anyone will come.
Larry and the girls are going to the station to design a coffin. Black Forest Fire was challenged to a coffin race. It's an annual event in Manitou Springs, CO. Bet that will be a sight to see.

It's the end of warm weather

I've been sick for over 2 weeks. I had pink eye then a viral infection on the left side of my face. Really wierd. I was all clogged up. Now I just have a cough and today is the last day of my antibiotics. So, I haven't felt like blogging in a long time.
We are removing carpet from our basement today. It flooded a couple of times and now the carpet is just not healthy. Hopefully in the next week or 2 we can get something else to put down just as long as it's not carpet.
The kids have been home for fall break. They went to grandpa's for 3 days last week then had sleepovers this weekend. They have been busy. Tomorrow I am taking them to see a movie. Should be fun.

Another crappy week, sort of.

My son is still not turning in his homework. He is doing it but not turning it in. He is getting an F in 3 classes. It's driving me insane.
I did my first pampered chef show on Friday. Boy was I nervous. but I did ok and I need to learn more about the products. I hope I can make a go at this business. I have a hard time being in front of people but I htink I can do once I get the hang of things and get my own flow going during a show. Next show is in a week.
Larry worked midnights all last week. That was tiring for him.
Lacey woke up at 3 am Sat. morning puking and feeling bad. She threw up about every hour. It was a long morning. I gave her a bath about 8:30am and then she was ok the rest of the morning. By 6 that night she had a 102 fever. Poor girl. She's better today though.
Shelby doesn't want to take a cheerleading class which I thought she would enjoy. She also has to make a diorama of a habitat for sea creatures. That should be fun.
Larry and I went to dinner last night while Courtney babysat. It was our first date night in over a month.
We finished the girls' bunk beds today and got them back in their room. We rearranged some furniture, too. They thought is was so cool to have their beds bunked and have more room to play.
Another week up and gone.
This week wasn't quite as bad. It was busy but now we are getting into a routine.

Life is busy

Well last week was crazy. I started back at the riding center on Mondays and Tuesdays mornings. Tuesday afternoon was the first brownie meeting and we picked up most of the girls from the school. I had 6 with me in the excursion including Shelby. The meeting went ok but there sure are alot of girls in that troop. I think the count is around 27. The meeting ended at 6 and after clean up we made it home about 6:20. Shelby and I scarfed down some dinner (the others had already eaten) then we were off to check out the Falcon boy Scout troop that meets at the middle school. Dakota wants to change troops because he's just not friends with the any boys at the Black Forest troop. They don't go to the same school anymore so they grew apart. The Falcon troop does have some boys in it that he knows so I'm hoping he has fun. We will be transferring next week. Tuesday will be busy for our family this year. Larry has his fire dept meetings on Tuesday also. This Tuesday will be the daisy troops first meeting. Should be fun. But I'm lucky because there is only 9 girls.
Wednesday of this last week I had to go to council to turn in the daisy registrations. Boy were they lost in there. Since national revamped the program the council in Colorado Springs has been lost. It's very confusing for those working with the girls.
Thursday Larry and I went grocery shopping in the morning, picked up Lacey then drove into town to check out Costco. We got a membership and did some shopping. It was ok. I'm not sure if I like Sam's or Costco.
Friday I signed up with Pampered Chef to be a consultant. I'm very nervous about this adventure but excited too. Hopefully I can make some money and have fun.
Well that's my week in a nutshell.

Things are not going good for us.

We have sand in our water. With all this rain it's possible that our well has a crack or leak somewhere. It's not good.
Dryer needs repair so we can't use it to dry light colored clothes or whites. It leaves black marks on them. Not having a good week.

Black Forest Festival

Yesterday the kids and I rode on the Fire Dept float for the Black Forest Parade. It was alot of fun. The kids had water guns and squirted the crowds. They threw candy and stress balls. The dept. had shirt made up for the kids that said fire fighter in training. So all the kids on the float had on these yellow shirts. It looked great. After we got off the float we were able to watch the rest of the parade. After the parade we found Larry and Dakota. Dakota was being dunk in the dunk tank to raise money for MDA. We managed to find something to eat and a place to sit. The kids had hotdogs...yummy. We walked around and check out all the booths set up. Shelby found a chapter book for $1. We got Schwann's icecream. Shelby kept bugging me to get dunked so we made are way back to the dunk tank. On the way we ran into Diane, Amanda and Nick who we haven't seen in a year. We had alot to chat about. But again Shelby wanted to get dunked. So off we went to the dunk tank. Shelby took off her shoes and sock and climbed up. She had the look of fear on her face. She wasn't to sure about it. Well, she got dunked and fell in all the way. The water was over her head. Boy did that scare her. She said it was fun but she didn't do it again. I think she just wanted to get wet.
After all the excitement we got a ride back to the station in the ambulance. That was neat for the kids.
When we got home everyone was tired. The kids watch a movie and relaxed. I just sat in the chair and took a deep breath. It was a long day but fun.

Pampered Chef Show

Last night I had my first Pampered Chef show. I've always liked Pampered Chef but could never really order alot. I've only been invited to a couple of shows. Anyway, I had 6 people show up-Cathy A., Ali and her friend Michelle, Susannah, Carrie H. and Roberta C. The theme was Chocolate Bliss. We made little gooey chocolate cakes and they were so good. Sarah the consultant told me about the Pampered Chef company at Roberta's show and then some more info at my show. I think I'm going to give it a try and be a consultant. I earned $40 off the kit with my show and I could earn a 50% rebate after I have 4 shows in the first 30 days. Cathy and Carrie want to have a show so I only need 2 more. I know I can do it.
Can't wait-it sounds fun.

Getting back to school is so hectic...

Another busy 7 days...back to school shopping...open house...registration...getting up earlier...bus times..backpacks. Girl scouts is starting up again and I'm the new daisy leader for Lacey's troop. The troop is brand new with 5 kindergartener, so far. We have back to school night or open house tomorrow and our girl scouts will have a info table for any girls that might want to join. Shelby and Lacey will meet their teachers and see where their classroom is located plus they get their edukits ( school supplies we orderd last year). Today was Dakota's first day of middle school. I ca't believe it...middle school already. WOW!! He said he had a good day and met one teacher since it was a modified schedule. Larry has been on midnights for a week. That is really messing everyone's schedule up. It's hard on him and us. I'm having shoulder pain and it's been going on for about a month now. I thought it was from driving the Toyota pickup (no power steering) but now I'm thinking driving it just might be irritating it. I got a massage last week hoping that that might help the pain. It did relieve some of it but I guess I was just in knots. I need to go back so she can work on me again. I'm debating about going to the doctor for this pain. Done for now..time for the heating pad.

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Another crazy week!

Well, this week has flown by. Yesterday, Friday June 25, we went to the county fair. It's an annual tradition for our family. The kids talk about it the whole year. Shelby wanted to have her birthday at the county fair. She was disappointed when we told her the county fair isn't going in January.
The first thing we saw there was a tortoise exhibit the was pretty cool. There was a huge turtle just hangin out eating squash and lettuce. Then we heard a loud gun shot noise. We walked on and found a gunfight in progress. It was some kind of western show. It was a little boring so we walked on. There were booths full of saddles, sunglasses, western pictures and clothing. We visited all the barns and all the animals. Lacey liked the goats and bunnies. We walked through the building full of 4H stuff. The kids really like the 4H stuff that other kids made. We visited the petting zoo. A cow mooed in Shelby's face. That was funny. A duck chomped on Koty's finger. There was kangaroo demo but the lady that did the talking was so boring and dull. The babies in the little pouches were sweet. She let everyone pet some of the animals. We saw some extreme dog tricks at another demostration show. The dogs did cool tricks. Last but not least we visited the carnival. I had to ride with Shelby on one ride because she was to little to go by herself. That ride made me dizzy. I rode the ferris wheel with Lacey and she thought that was fun. Koty and Shelby rode together on mose of them. Lacey got a pony ride. The day was great. We were beat when we got home.

We survived a busy weekend

The kids are feeling better so they left for grandpa's house on Friday. We decided to rent 2 movies, the new Rambo and Untraceable. Those were the stupidest movies. They were sick, twisted and something I just don't care to see anymore. I guess I'm just getting to old for all those killing movies.
Saturday was busy. I woke up in a cleaning mood. Cleaned the 2 upstair bathrooms, swept and mopped everything that didn't have carpet and picked up. I was bored and waiting for Kristin to get here so we could go on the garden tour. She finally arrived at 11 so off we went to the first house. The garden tour was definitely interesting. I learned alot and was able to get the names of the plants I have growing in my front yard. We stopped by Subway for lunch then visited 2 more gardens before Kristin had to head home. Larry was at the fire dept. so I decided to go to the garden party that started at 3. I couldn't believe this garden that belonged to the hosts of the party. Their whole back yard was beautiful with rocks, flowers, trees, benches, trellises, veggies, waterfalls and pond. It was great to walk through it. I want my back yard like that.
Larry and I finally ended up at home around the same time and decided to go to Chilies for dinner. It was gooooood. I got the usual Buffalo Chicken Salad. After dinner we went to Lowes because I was itchin to find some plants that I saw on the garden tour. Lowes had all kinds of clearance/distressed plants that I got for a dollar or two. They were great bargains. I was so excited.
Courtney got her car on the road with new tires and oil change. She drove it to work and for some reason it's overheating. It shut down on her way home. And instead of sitting there with her car she called her friend to pick her up. She would wait out the car cooling off at their house. Well, at 1 am I get a phone call from Springs police telling me that a car registered in my name is sitting in the road. He said it needs to be moved or he will have to call a towing company. I told him it was my daughter's car and that I would call her to come get it. It took 3 calls for her to finally answer. BRAT! She almost lost her car. Today she found out that it's got a crack block or head and will cost $1500 to find out for sure. She's now on the hunt for another car.
Sunday was the fire dept. family picnic. Larry made is "famous" and "popular" potatoes salad. They roasted a pig and everyone brought side dishes. It was a good time. Everyone was actually nice with little complaining.
After the picnic we dropped off Kerry's hottub that was on our trailer. He ended up giving us a game table with foosball, pool, air hockey, ping pong and so much more. That was an awesome gift. The kids love it.
After Kerry's house we headed to Calhan to buy some fencing stuff I found on Craigslist. It was a long ride out in the middle of nowhere. But worth it. She was selling the wooden posts, t post and wire real cheap.
Grandpa brought the kids home about 7. Lacey had thrown up at his house earlier but she seemed ok. When we got home she had a 102 fever. First thing we thought was strep since the other 2 had it a week ago. I called the doctor Monday morning.

The week is only half over?????? UGH!!!

Well, this week has been one of those weeks where you just want to start over. Shelby and Dakota both came down with strep. This past weekend they were running high fevers and complaining of their throats hurting. I took them to the doctor on Monday and sure enough, they both have strep throat. They are both doing better today. So far, no sign of Lacey getting it, thank goodness.
Sunday night we discovered that our basement was flooded. We spent have the night and all day Monday sucking up water and pulling up carpet. The house smells so bad. Tuesday we sucked up more water and hung up some more carpet. It is a mess. We are hoping the carpet will be ok to lay back down.
Larry picked up his new iphone on Tuesday. That is the coolest phone. I've only had my phone, a tilt, for a couple of months but I told him that I wanted an iphone now. But I guess I will keep my phone.
Hopefully the rest of the week will be smooth sailing.

Welcome to Bell Station 1

This is the new Bell family blog. A place to document and share our lives.