Vet bill would of been..

Tuesday's blogging on Wednesday.

How cute would this be for the twins for Halloween? Funny, huh? Jacques was crunched by a UPS truck years ago, before we met. He thought it was cute.

We took the kids out for 3 pairs of new shoes yesterday. We had them measured and fit correctly. We also made a pact that we will never buy generic/cheap shoes for our kids ever. I bought a $10 Walmart pair at the end of August and they were falling apart already. And to top that off, each baby was in a size and a half to small. We also figured we should take the babies in every month or so just to measure them. Photos later.

Jason lost his 2nd tooth at school. Photos later.

I had to buy the winter PE school uniform, member that he is a 1st grader, and it was $40. I have already paid $20 for the summer set. So $60 on a 1st grader's PE clothes. Can you imagine when all 3 are grown? Oy!

I went to the Dr about my mole. They are referring me to a dermatologist to have it removed.

The vet bill was $1222 but our pet insurance covered all but $71 which was the microchip $20 and 4 months of flea meds $50. Photo later.

Soccer practice yesterday. Karate today.

I am reading my 30th novel this year.

On Tuesday, next week, there is a Mother/Son formal dinner and dance. Jason is back and forth on whether we will attend. Tomorrow is the last day for sign up so I will let you know. Jacques told me not to wear heels so I am not too much taller than my date : )

More later and photos on flickr too a little later.

Monday.

We spent yesterday at the zoo and out in the yard. These photos are from yesterday. We have a busy week, as usual, with speech once, karate twice plus a belt test then soccer practice and a game on Saturday. We have a book fair at school and I have a doctor appointment tomorrow to see about having a mole removed off my back. On Saturday, we are heading down to Augusta for a quick day trip. More photos on flickr already.

Lincoln is at the vet today being cut and micro chipped. He weighed in at 49 pounds and the vet said he would gain at least another 50 pounds. She also asked us, "Are you sure you don't want to breed him? He is a beautiful dog." We said, "No, he's just our pup." We will pick him up tonight and he has to wear a cone thingy. He wasn't allowed to eat breakfast this morning, so I am sure hoping they feed him after surgery. They should, right?

England Photos are in the works.

You can see the set by clicking here England. Still uploading.

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Dake Family Updates.

I thought I would take a blogging about vacation break and update you on household information. More blogging about vacation another day.

Monday Lincoln goes to the vet for the day to be cut and micro chipped.

Zachary is talking a lot. He will usually say what you ask him too, but he has some of his own words that I have yet to figure out. Can someone get me a toddler translator?

I read 2 novels while I was on vacation. It was so nice every evening to crawl into bed with a book, without disruptions. IE: Kids I am on Book 5 in a series of 8 so far. A 9th will be released in October. I have read 29 novels so far this year.

Tomorrow is the hubby's birthday.

Grandma Lee fell and broke her shoulder this week. I am wishing her a speedy recovery and lots of love.

I took 241 photos in Scotland and 207 in England. There were more, but I only kept the best. I have most of the Scotland set up on flickr. You can click there to see them all. I have a handful more that were shot in the wrong format in my camera and I can not access yet. I may have to call the geek squad. I will start working on posting an England set soon.

This weekend I am getting my nails done as part of the whole "Mandy Maintenance" thing I have going on. I used to have them done all the time, but as a Mom with babies, I was always worried about scratching them. I asked the hubby if I could get them done, and he said, "I could care less what you do with your nails." So I will add that to my to do list.

After I got home on Saturday, within hours, things were back to normal. We sent Jacques off to the movies for some alone time. I think he enjoyed that, but it may be likely that he slept during the movie.

I need to get back on track now that I am home. We didn't eat the best while we were gone, but we did end a lot of meals with chocolate cake and coffee. And the last few days, I have felt like I can't get enough food that actually tastes good! Becca and I made Jacques take us out for real meat, ranch and soda the minute we were out of the airport.

Zachary loves to wear mittens, he gets that from me. Plus I noticed that Ryan has much longer fingers than Zachary's short, chubby ones.

I set some goals for my return home: Get the baby's off the bottle and more Jason time. We got home on Saturday. Sunday morning, I put all the bottles in a bag and THREW THEM AWAY. And that was it. We were done. I was surprised at the success. They never really cared. Plus I have noticed a drastic change in the amount of milk we are going through. We were using a gallon a day, if not more. We were buying 8 gallons a week, maybe more.. it looks like we will only need 3-4 this week.

Goal number Two: More Jason time.. Check! This weekend Dad and Him are taking off for alone fun time.. Maybe the go cart park?? Bowling?? Then today I purchased tickets for this show in two weeks.. Watch the clip, Walking With Dinosaurs. It is only 30 seconds. We will debate who the lucky parent is that will get to take Jason. We can not take the babies. It is not for children under the age of four... HEY, I guess that puts Jacques out too!! Looks like I am that lucky parent! Wohoo!

More Later..

Scotland Photos are UP.. UPDATE.

There are 176 photos up out of the 241. You can see them all just by clicking here Scotland Photos. You can see any photo larger by clicking on it. Now tomorrow I will start on the England Set.

Update: Also I have a few more photos that are not the right size on the memory card, so as soon as I figure that out, I will post those too..

Mamma's Home!

We got back to Columbia yesterday afternoon. We were up for 22 hours, it was exhausting. Things are already back to normal. I am a little congested and Zachary is a monster. More Later. I am hoping to post pictures and review the whole trip within the next year. Cheerio.

Photos from England.

Just more random photos from the UK over the last few days. Hoping to eventually get them all on flickr and more here.

London, England.

We are here and busy as can be, seeing two or more exhibits a day. Plus we have no FREE internet access. And the rate is 5 pounds per hour, that's $10 Bucks, to you Americans. More another day.

Photos from Scotland.

Here are some photos to share from Scotland. We are having the worst time with Internet connections, mainly with uploading items. I have 300 photos to share from Scotland plus lots of stories. And so far just 40 from England. Today we are in Warwick and are catching a train to London for the next five days before heading home on Saturday. Today is all about the shopping.

Edinburgh.

Hello, all is well here. Jacques may be struggling on his end, but he is a champ and they will all make it for 8 more days. Flickr has too many hiccups to upload photos, but we are trying constantly. Yesterday we visited Holyrood House, the Queens summer home here in Scotland. We went to the Museum of Childhood, had lunch, did some shopping and had an amazing late night dinner reservation at The Witchery. It was yummy and we drank a whole bottle of wine. We are waking miles daily around the cities, going from one end to the other, then back. It is chilly here, but sunny.

Hello, From Inverness.

Hello and a quick howdy-do. Tonight we are in Inverness, Scotland and have had an amazing trip. Today we visited the University of Glasgow and took a 3.5 hour bus ride from Glasgow to Inverness. Tonight we had dinner while enjoying a glass of wine.

Yesterday, after being up for 36 hours with only 3 hours of sleep, we went to the Kelvingrove Museum, had an afternoon tea at The Willow Tea room. Then made it to bed a1 11:00 pm our time here and 6 pm States time.

I am SLOWLY posting photos to flickr when I have a minute, but it is taking a ridiculous amount of time per photo.. Here is the link to the first set SCOTLAND. I have also been video chatting with all four of my guys which gives me a tremendous smile and a huge amount of relief.

Tomorrow we are off to find the monster of Loch Ness.

Cheerio!

On my way tomorrow..

Here are just a few notes I have left for the Hubby as a reference of the dake daily grind. All 13 pages of it in a 2,400 word document. I am sure he will cling to it for life. This will become as imporant as coffee. Bell and I leave from Charlotte tomorrow around 3 pm. I will be attempting to check in daily with the blog while I am away. Watch for quick updates, and photos. More on Monday via Overseas! I love you all. Hugs, Mandy

a few new already read reads.

I started a new series this week, and this morning, I just finished book two and have already made it to chapter two in book three. There are eight in the series so far and book nine will be out in October. I have to send a Thank You out to the hubby would downloaded like seven books for me late last night, so they would be on Kindle for the trip. These two books make 27 and 28 novels read this year. This is also the series True Blood on HBO is based on, however, I haven't seen any of the episodes.

Do I have something in my teeth?

So I may have mentioned a time or twenty that Zachary is a hand full of trouble, but don't get me wrong, Ryan can throw a tantrum like no other. When he is mad, he does this up and down thing with his voice, there must be a logical term for it, but it is crazy. Plus he will head butt the floor or lay on his back, arch it and push off with his feet so he will slide across an entire room while screaming at the top of his lungs. It is not pleasant and it doesn't take much to set him off. This photo is yesterday morning of Zachary. I have more to post later. Hugs, M

I dreamt of snakes again last night.

And I woke up worried that it is Wednesday and that in 4 days, I will be in another country. But then the coffee was ready to chug, Thanks Hubby. So I relaxed and knew every thing's gonna be alright.

Hello, September.

I post a bunch of video clips here and more on flickr.

On Friday night, I watched Twilight and ordered Domino's. I tried the bread bowl pasta. It was Heaven. I only ate 1/4 off it and save the other three pieces for Jacques. It was huge and what a great price, just $5.99, we may do that more.

Did you see that Bella will wear a wig for one of the following sequels? WTH!

On Saturday, all 3 boys got haircuts.

My hubby said that my hair do makes me look younger. Score!

I am reading a new book on Kindle.

I got a pamphlet from some bible huggers over the weekend. There is a tear out book with what to read what days to accomplish reading the bible in one year. I like that. It's totally on my to do list.

The babies love chap stick. I love a chap stick bargain. I usually pay .97 cents for one, but the other day at the commissary there was a 3 pack for $1.30. Woohoo!

Zachary.. Do I ever not have crazy stories involving him? He can open the back door now. We must keep it locked. He also dove over a baby gate head first. He also thinks it is funny to drink and blow raspberries with milk and spit all over. I do not find this funny, and swat his mouth when he does this. That is unacceptable.

Ryan found a HUGE millipede in the yard yesterday and I hear, "Bug." He went back to look for it today too, but it was gone.

Two nights ago, I dreamed of snakes. I do that often. So I looked up the meaning of dreaming of snakes and it was "hidden fears" and "emotional worries." Well hell, I didn't need a dream dictionary to tell me that. Geesh!

I shopped over the weekend for shirts for the trip. I bought some in Mediums!

Jason is asking me every morning, "Mom, sign me up for day care!" He also told me that the ark is in Egypt, but that he is not sure where the Holy Grail is, but that he hopes to find it.

Scotland is 5 days away.