Last Day Of School...

Taylor and her teacher...

Taylor wrote this note on the whiteboard in her classroom, and I agree! Her teacher was GREAT!

Easter...

Taylor looking for eggs...

Kids with their loot after the hunt...

I'd put more pictures up, but my camera SUCKS! Sigh...

School Pics...

Chance

Tanner

Taylor

Spring...

I think Spring is FINALLY here! Of course it is still rather nippy in the AM, which means I have to change from jeans to shorts around lunchtime... Oh well, I still love it, but I am looking forward to 90 degree weather! :)

We decided to modify the little patio area out in front of the house, looks great I think. Yes, Carolyn did the vast majority of the work, including transplanting those leylands from back by the pool where they were getting smothered by the other plants back there...

This corner as you pull in the driveway was a constant nightmare, we never have been able to get grass to grow there, so decided to just make the entire corner a bed... Also turned out great, and yes, Carolyn did all the planting there too... :)

It is too bad that the dogwoods and azaleas only bloom for a few weeks, but they are pretty when they are in bloom... What is the wheelbarrow doing there? Next pic... :)

Some jackass ran over the drain I had installed there years ago, of course it very likely could have been me... :) Anyway, I finally dug it up and put in a new one. Without it, that area becomes a muddy mess when it rains... So back in business there...

Yes, we also have more puppies, sigh. Of course last night someone came and bought them all but one and that one we are giving away to one of our friends, so thankfully getting rid of them this time was super easy... :)

Stone Mountain...

So today Taylor and I went for our "outing", Taylor decided she wanted to bring her friend Victoria with her, so off we all went to Stone Mountain... Walking up the mountain first thing in the morning is not really what I like to do, although I'm pretty sure I was the only one going up that had a coffee in one hand and a cig in the other...

Taylor by the Grist Mill...

Ditto...

Taylor and Victoria by the covered bridge...

Us in front of the mountain. Taylor spotted a pretty good sized snake in that bush on the right.

Taylor on the way up the mountain.

So we had a great time, climbing the mountain, riding the train and just walking around...

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...

Wow, has it been that long?? Yeah, well, I have a LOT going on... :) Still continuing with the one on one outings, that is fun. Packing, which I hate, but I probably should not complain about that as Carolyn has done most, okay, all of it thus far... The thought of living anywhere else but in this house makes me nearly giddy.

I took the kids for a picnic and to the park on Saturday, we had a good time.

Tanner and William decided that climbing on the playground was the best idea...

Poor Chance broke his hand, so he was happy just swinging...

This is what moving looks like, trying to be smart about it this time, same size boxes, label everything, etc... I HATE moving, but am glad to be moving THIS time!

So yeah, work, packing, etc... That is the life right now. The funny thing is, I'm not even sure we will get the house we want as of right now, but we do not care, we ARE moving, anywhere BUT here!! :)

One On One...

So a few weeks ago, I decided we did not do enough, not that we don't do enough things, because we certainly do our share, but I thought more! So we decided to start going out on some one-on-one excursions... It all started with me and Tanner going to see 'The Mechanic', then Taylor and Carolyn went shopping, then it was off to Sparkles for some roller skating with Chance and I. Then it started over again with Carolyn and Tanner going shopping, then Taylor and I went bowling, etc at US Play and today Chance and Carolyn went and had lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse...

It works out GREAT! Carolyn and I swap it out each time, I'll go with the boys, she'll take Taylor, next time around, vice versa... We'll just keep it going from now on, along with our normal family excursions of course... :)

Taylor the day her and I went bowling

So yeah, we love it! The kids get some quality one-on-one time with Dad and Mom, and everyone gets to do whatever THEY want to do, because we let the kids choose what the "activity" will be... Everyone knows there is X number of dollars that can be spent on each excursion, so whatever they pick, that is what gets done... We LOVE it!!

That Day Again...

I Love These People...

I Want It...

Spring Is Near...

Of course I do realize that there could still be plenty more cold, we've had snow here before in April, but who cares... It is supposed to be close to 80 degrees here today!! What is up with no blogs in nearly two weeks?!? Sigh. Oh well... Yesterday a friend of ours and I took the kids to the AMA Supercross at the Georgia Dome, Carolyn was going to go, but changed her mind as she decided she did not want to mingle with 55,000 other people downtown at the Dome, and really, who can blame her, I didn't either, but the kids wanted to go, so...

First stop was to our friends house to have a party for Lucas and pick them up, so we hung out, grilled hot dogs and had cake...

Yes, I left my camera in the truck, but managed to "steal" these from Kevin's FB page. The kids loved it! Me, yeah, it was okay... I did enjoy the "Main Event" where the pros were racing, the kids were a bit bummed that their favorite lost, but it was an exciting race.

Sitting in the nose bleed seats, but still a good view. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it. The thing I hate about events like that though, is when it is over, trying to get out of there along with 55,000 other people... Luckily we had gotten a good parking space in a church parking lot across the street from the Dome and managed to get out the back and avoid the interstate and most of the traffic, whew!

So yeah, that is what is going on. Still no final decisions on anything else. Hopefully within the next few weeks. :)

Sigh...

Well, still no final approval on relocating from my Corporate HQ... So yeah, still in limbo. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm stuck here, for now... ;) Who knows, more on that when I find out...

What else is going on? Life. Tanner is going off on a ski trip this weekend with my neighbor and TJ, Taylor is having five girls over for a slumber party this weekend and Chance wants me to take him roller skating... Ugh. I suppose I will, but wow, I really don't like skating. I guess the trade off will be I'll make him go see True Grit with me... :)

Pictures?? Yeah, I don't have any because I haven't taken any in a month or so, I need to work on that. So yeah, there is the update from me for now... :)

Happy Valentine's Day Carolyn!!

They Keep Opening...

The door's that is... :)

I think the thing that amuses me the most are the people who aren't accustomed to change... This isn't even a "for sure" thing yet, but there are people who actually get an attitude that we MIGHT be moving... Mind boggling. Oh well, one thing I never did was care what anyone else thought, I could not imagine living my life that way. So anyway, we still don't know one way or the other, and we are fine with whatever happens, but like I said, another door opened today, two more to go...

I would add that we as a family, if it all works out, are VERY excited about it and as far as I'm concerned, that is ALL that matters... ;)

Limbo...

That kind of sums it up really... ;)

The Birthday Bash...

Marci threw a party for Joshua's birthday today, so we loaded up in the truck and headed to Buckhead, something we never do... :) We don't venture far from Acworth, but we had a GREAT time and got to visit with everyone. Was GREAT to see Tori, haven't seen her in years, I was trying to figure out when we last saw each other, and I believe it was when she was over here for Christmas, which was years ago. Sorry my camera SUCKS, but it does, so none of the photos came out all that great, sigh...

Marci had the party at Truffles Cafe, which is right next to her office in Buckhead...

Taylor at the party...

Carolyn and Taylor...

Tori and Marci, and yeah, like I said, my camera sucks, need to get a new one sometime... :)

Marci and Gideon, he is SO adorable!!

So that is how we spent our day, now going to watch a movie, unless my neighbor calls and wants to do the P90X stretching tonight, he had to work late, so we'll see... :)

New Home...

Or actually work place, still have to locate the home... :) Nothing is completely final yet, but the doors are flying open at an amazingly rapid pace for even me, funny how things work out when it is "the thing to do"...

That "A" on the map is where the GE facility is where I would be working...

We'll soon see if it all works out, but so far, as I said, the doors are opening before I even arrive practically... I'll keep you posted... ;)

Digital Photos...

Sigh... As I'm sure everyone does, I have tons of digital photos, and over the years of switching PC's, rebuilding my PC, etc, many of them are duplicates. Every time I wipe out Carolyn's or my PC, I back the data up to my server, so there are nearly 100,000 digital photos on the server, but if you were to eliminate the duplicates, there are probably only about 20,000 originals, if that. Anyway. I decided to use Picasa's facial recognition feature to catalog them all, so nearly four days later, it is mostly complete. It is nice now to just pick a name and see every photo I have with that person in it, but wow, what a chore... Why would I want to do that you might ask? Well, take this video for instance:



I just clicked on Tanner's name, "starred" a handful of pictures, clicked make a movie and upload to YouTube... Of course you could make a much better "movie" if you spent more time on it, but that is why I wanted to do it, I am ALWAYS looking for a 'certain' photo and can never find it, or I spend a while looking for it. Now I don't have to do that... So now that that is done, I can get back to doing something useful, like finishing that drywall in the downstairs kitchen... :(

Day 18...

Of the whole P90X thing that is... I'm about over it to be honest, but will continue on... :) Other than that? Yeah, just life. Still working on that kitchen downstairs, but these days, I do not do any remodeling during the week, only during the weekends. Too busy with work, family, etc during the week. I'm currently home alone, which is rare. Tanner is ice skating with friends, Chance is at his friends house, of course that is why I am home alone, Carolyn, Taylor and her friend went to pick up Chance and his friend, so I will soon be NOT home alone... :)

I did go get the rest of the drywall today to finish that kitchen, took out the sink and cabinets there and took down the drywall behind them. Yeah, I'm already over it, but continue on I must... :)

Of course at this point I said screw it and quit, I did get it hung on the other wall you can't see though, I suppose I'll finish it tomorrow and try to get the first coat of mud on the new pieces and the second coat on the ones I already had hung, we'll see how that works out...

Taylor and her friend with one of the puppies, I think Carolyn has them all sold already, and they won't even be ready to go to their new homes until February 14th. Of course Chance's dog, Brianna, is pregnant now too, sigh... Yes, that is a mouse trap under the cabinet there. I do believe we have finally eliminated them all, but WOW, what a chore that was!! Started when Chance got a male and female to breed for his snake. Then they "escaped" and now 39 mice later, we are hopefully mice free, what an effing nightmare!! Sigh...

So yeah, that is basically what is going on here. I'm still starving all the time, I eat all day long. I'm about over it to because I really don't like to eat. What can you do? Keep eating I suppose.

This is AWESOME!!

I have tried to use several online sites over the years to print my blog in book form, but never found one I liked until now...

Blog2Print...

This one prints comments, and is semi-customizable, the only thing I didn't care for was it didn't allow page breaks to be inserted, not a show stopper though...

Fairly reasonable too, from January 2010 until today, I had 63 blog posts, who knows how many pictures and it was 121 pages. Hard cover was $60.45 and soft cover was $50.65... You could also download the PDF for like $7.95 or have it printed in black and white for $20 I think... It would not allow me to do 2007 in one book though as there were 378 posts, actually, it wouldn't allow me to do it online, said to call, so I guess it still might be possible... So I shall start blogging more now... :) Then just print copies of each year for the kiddoes...