Better Late Than Never...

I simply have just not had time to post.  Life has been crazy the last two weeks.  All the painting we had to do to get our new carpet kept us super busy....but not as busy as trying to put everything back!  I decided quickly we had way too much stuff so we did some spring cleaning.  We got rid of a ton of stuff...some was ok to donate and other stuff was just trash.  I'm not a pack rat at all so I really don't know how I acquired so much stuff.  The big highlight of my month was getting my craft space organized FINALLY!  I was so excited to get it done that I quit working on the rest of the house and had to make a few things.  Oops...but its what I need to do to relax as I was going insane.

Last weekend - April 16-17 - I spent time with some wonderful ladies from church and attended the Women of Joy conference here in Louisville.  I had so much fun and left the conference with a new outlook on things.  Friday night I was able to hear Sarah Palin speak and while I'm not a republican, I'd vote for her in a second.  She was extremely genuine and "normal" and has good morals.  That was enough for me.  The struggles she has had, especially the last couple of years, and what she has done to overcome it is truly inspiring.  Life threw her some lemons and she's made lemonade!  I LOVED her speech.  She was just amazing.  Saturday was awesome.  I will have to say that my favorite part of Saturday was listening to Anita Renfroe.  She was HILARIOUS!  If you don't believe me, go to YouTube and look her up.  I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in all my life, especially when she did her parody of the song "You Raise Me Up" but made it all about underwire in bras.  It was just so incredibly funny.   Saturday night we got to see Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith in concert.  I cried my eyes out when Steven Curtis Chapman was talking about his daughter and the tragedy his family has been through.  The music was awesome though.  And I hope playing for an audience of 15,000 women helped him in his healing process, even if I had to cry.  Michael W. Smith was awesome also....I cannot believe he has 3 grandchildren??  I never would have guessed he was old enough.  He looks good for his age though and his music continues to touch me.  I left the conference feeling ready to tackle some things and make a few changes in my life to be a better wife and mother for my family.

Sunday I spent the day in a mad rush cleaning to get ready for my bunco night on Monday, which came and went successfully I think depsite the fact that I didn't win.  So I've now been playing for a whole year and I have yet to win.  I'm just not good at randomly rolling dice I suppose :)

Most of the rest of the week I did tons of laundry!!  I mean really....does it ever end??? Maybe if we just all quit changing clothes I can take a laundry break for once :)  But all this was in preparation for this weekend in which we all (me, Charlie, Brianna, Joey, and Oliver) went to Great Wolf Lodge in Ohio.  This was a trip for Brianna's girl scout troop and they had all been working so hard to fundraise for it.  I was surprised when we got there by a room upgrade.  Woohoo!  So we had an awesome room with lots of "room" and even a little bunk bed area for the kids.  It was awesome!  The lodge was neat and I liked the decor....as did Oliver since he tried playing with so much.  There was a lot to do without ever leaving, especially for kids, but man the prices of the "extras" was atrocious.  You definitely have to be prepared to spend money if you are going to do extras.  The waterpark though, which is why we went, was AWESOME!  Altogether they had 12 water slides which is a  lot for an indoor park.  4 of them were for kids under 5, they had 2 intermediate slides and then 6 really big slides.  They were all so much fun.  Charlie and I took turns watching Oliver and going down the slides with the kids.  It felt good to do something so fun with them.  We let them run off together with other girls from the troop and we took Oliver into the water.  He was not really a fan of the water....or rather the splashing from the other kids.  Even though the water was warm, it wasn't as warm as his bath water and so he thought it was cold.  It took him some time but he did eventually get braver and start moving around in the water without being clung onto me or Charlie.  We even went and got him a life jacket and put him down the baby waterslides.  It was SO CUTE!  I'm not sure he liked it, especially since at one point he got a face full of water, but he did it nonetheless.  Unfortunately I do not have pictures of the waterslide adventure because I can't take pictures and catch the baby at the bottom at the same time.  Brianna ended up staying with her friends' parents there at the lodge and we headed back last night.  We were SO TIRED.  I don't know how they are going to have energy to visit the waterpark again this morning but they are.  The latest facebook post indicated they were on their way. :)

Today I find myself at home with a baby that does not feel well.  His nose keeps running, he keeps pooping, he has a fever and is just kind of moody.  So it is time for me to do the mom thing and get him settled down for a nap.  I love that little boy and it just breaks my heart that he doesn't feel good. :(  Hopefully it will not take me 2 weeks to write another post!