Apparently the bus to normalville hasn't arrived yet!

But I promise that I will be back to regular posting this week. 

And while you wait, here are some pics from our vacation!

Update on my sister and baby!

Miss Serenity is doing great. 

She had a few setbacks early in the week and had to be put on antibiotics and a light for jaundice, but has gained a few ounces and grown a whole inch since she was born.  

My sister called yesterday upset. Her husbands family had only paid through this morning and she was worried they were going to have to leave. She said that they only had $10 to their name and no way to go.  
Thanks to all of you who donated, I was able to pay for them to stay there through Sunday. I found out that they rent is only $10 a night for the first 21 days, then $5 thereafter. As of now, they only have $10 left from those who have donated. Our families are trying to get up enough money to buy them a cheap way of getting back and forth to the hospital, and we'd appreciate your help.

 If everyone who read this blog would donate $5 or $10, we would have enough money to keep them in the Ronald McDonald House until Serenity comes home.  

This is a hard time for our family and my sister and her husband could really use some help, prayers, and support getting through this. 


 If your willing to donate, all you need is a debit or credit card and a couple of minutes. To do so, click here! 


THANKS TO ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY DONATED AND ARE PRAYING FOR OUR FAMILY!!! *Hugs!*

Next stop, Normalville!!

Since I'm too lazy to check and see if I've mentioned it, and so that you all know that I've not just been neglecting this here ole' blog, I thought I'd let you all know that we are on vacation!!

And no, not SC vacation. We are at the beach!!!

To say that this vacation was needed is an understatement. With all of the traveling with Mark's job, my sister having her baby early, the stress of making sure they are taken care of, my body and brain needed to relax.

We come down here every year to watch the Blue Angels fly and I have to say that this year's show was the best so far.

We have been down here since Thursday night and aren't leaving until Saturday morning. I hope that by then I'll be much more relaxed and able to tackle getting my little one ready for Kindergarten.

Y'all have a great week and I'll try to check in periodically.

Serenity and Auntie Trista

THANK YOU!

To all of those who have donated.

My sister called today to tell me they got into the Ronald McDonald House. THANK GOODNESS!!!

Just wanted to update everyone who has emailed checking on them.

Also, they've been asked to pay $14 a night and will be there for 2 months, so they could really use some more help!

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=jlu6UGcTU-b7bkplYb3HwC0WO3WEoJIlyGRBCtLblvOM738xkT3F9VmKKBe&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1fb6947b0aeae66fdb090c3508df63c7a078883ba93cc8aafe

Anything you can do to help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Yesterday, I got a frantic call from my mom telling me that my baby sister, who was 7 1/2 months pregnant, was being rushed to the ER after having a seizure.

Immediately, I put down everything I was doing and rushed to get the kids and I ready to go see her. On the way there, I got another call saying she was being transferred, that they couldn't find the baby's heartbeat, and that she had just had another seizure.

When I finally arrived at the hospital, they were prepping her for transfer to yet another, bigger hospital. After we arrived and they got her settled, they then told us that she had eclampsia. That the only cure for that was delivery and that they were going to do an emergency c-section.

To say that we were stressed, would be an understatement. Especially since my husband is 2 states away and I had the kids. Luckily, my inlaws came to my rescue and kept the kids for me.

After 45 minutes of waiting and pacing, my sister gave birth to a 3lb. 8oz, 16 in PRECIOUS baby girl. She had a little trouble breathing and what not, but they said that was to be expected with a preemie. As of a few hours ago, both baby and mom are doing great.

Unfortunately, they say that Serenity is expected to be in the hospital for the next 5-8 weeks, and my sister/brother-in-law live 2 hours from here.

Not only that, they don't have ANY form of transportation as my brother-in-law was in a wreck a few months ago and as you can expect, they are both wanting to be able to stay close to their baby girl.

So, here's where you come in. 

I'm adding a Donate button to this post as well as to my sidebar. If you can donate ANY amount (no amount is too small!!!!), it would be GREATLY appreciated.

Not only are they in need of money to help pay for what I can guess is going to be an expensive stay in the city and have no way of going, they don't really have a lot of money saved up and the food cost alone is more than likely going to get a little overwhelming for them.

I can't even begin to imagine what the next few months are going to be like for them and I'm hoping that I, along with your help, can help ease their burden just a little bit!!!

Life is Good

To say I've been enjoying the past few days, would be an understatement.  

Thursday, Mark and I packed up the van and headed home from SC. And this time, was the last time. (THANK GOODNESS!) 


The drive home was long and boring, but once we finally arrived home, it was all worth it. You see, I've been wanting an iPod Touch for some time now. And about 3 weeks ago, my FIL bought a new MacBook Pro and got one free. After playing with his, I just knew I had to have one. In fact, it's about all I talked about.


 Unfortunately, even though I had the money to purchase it, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. We are leaving this Thursday for the beach and I kept telling myself I could use the money for that instead.

 Anyway, to my surprise, Mark went and bought me one when we arrived home. He said that I had been so great with all of his traveling (GONE ALMOST EVERY OTHER WEEK SINCE JANUARY!!!) and he thought that I deserved it. Say it with me, AWWWWWWWWWW! 

 And y'all, if you don't have one, GET YOU ONE! I triple puffy heart it! 


Friday consisted of getting ready for our 4th of July Block Party, going to the mall and Costco with a friend, getting a pedicure, and hanging out in the front yard with the neighbors til almost 1am. 


 The party wasn't set to start until 3pm on Saturday, but a few of us were out there and already partying by noon. The food was great, the fireworks were great, the kids had a blast, the company was extremely nice, and the entertainment, well, you should have just been there!

 

And while you'd think that the next coming days couldn't get any better, I'd have to disagree. You see, next Thurday, I will be here. And I won't be coming back until the 18th.  


To say Life is Good, well, that's an understatement.

The One Where I Completely Run Myself Ragged and Can't Stay Awake To Post Tasty Thursday

So yea, I didn't forget, I just didn't have the energy to get it up.  

We went out to dinner last night, drove around downtown, and then came back. I got online with the intentions of getting the post up, and then I laid on the bed until 11 and was in bed by 11:30.  

 I have been packing all morning (WE ARE GOING HOME TODAY!!! YAY!!!!) and just haven't been able to get it up.  
 Hope you all will still join me next week and feel free to link up two posts next week if you had one up for this week. Have a safe and wonderful 4th! XOXO!

Need your input....

Since I am going to be busy getting ready to go to the beach the first of next week and then to the beach on Thursday, I am going to be scheduling some posts on both this blog and my design blog, so you won't even know I'm gone.

Here's where you come in. I am planning to write a How-To post each day for my design blog, so I need your help. Comment or Email me letting me know some of the things you would like to learn how to do when it comes to personalizing your blog.

Want to know how to remove the blogger nav bar? How to make a favicon for your site? How to fix your margins so that your posts and sidebars aren't so close together? How to add a personalized background?

Whatever it is, let me know. I'll try to narrow it down to the most popular items and then get the posts set to run Mon-Fri of next week!