A little homemade fun...

Our family had a great weekend! There was shopping in Orlando, a date with my hubby and a fantastic dinner prepared by mom, dad and Jen that would put any restaurant to shame. The highlight, though, was the redneck slip and slide that my husband sat up in my parents back yard. It was like a 40 foot long blue tarp that we put sprinklers on, tons of soap and the kids were pulled by a rope and slung off the end. My favorite part was when my sister decided to throw on some old clothes and participate. I know, so not Jen, but she did it. I think she had fun! Here are a few photos and a video for proof. Love you Jen...

With much thought and consideration...

Yes folks, I'm pretty sure we have decided on a name!

It took us a while to agree totally and for me to
get it through Bryan's head that we weren't naming
the baby Bryan Jr.. :)

So, here it is...

Sawyer Reagan Lutz

(And yes, Sawyer is a county in Wisconsin, so we
are keeping up with the geographical name thing)


And yes, we do watch LOST, but that's not the reason for the name.
But, hopefully this Sawyer will be just as clever with nicknames!

We went swimming today...

We went swimming today and I just wanted to share a few pictures. Raleigh has his swimmies on in some of them, but totally doesn't need them anymore. He was swimming really great at the end of our 3 hour swim today. And Huddie, well, what can I say, he is a crazy man. He has no fear WHATSOEVER! Scares me to death. I have to chase him around most of the time to stop him from jumping in on his own, but I don't mind, he has such a blast. We plan on doing the same thing tomorrow, and the day after and the day after, well, you get the point!

A new room, A new summer, A new me!

Remember I told you that Pappy (Phil) was working on our 3rd floor to turn it in to a bedroom for Raleigh. Well, I have some pictures. It sure has come a long way and Pappy has worked sooooo hard.

This is the stairway going up to the new room...

This is going to be a cool little hiding place for Raleigh to play in. It is at the top of the stairs and is just big enough for 2 or 3 kids to sit it. We are trying to utilize all space. He is going to love this!



This is part of the main room. There will be 2 dormer windows open, 1 is covered and 1 is part of my huge storage closet...

This is our Pappy, sweating and working so hard! Raleigh wants to put bunk beds on the wall where he is standing.

This will be the view from one of Raleigh's windows! High, huh?

On another note, school is over. I am glad but I will also miss my sweet kids. We had graduation at 8:30, which is why the kids look so lovely. All but 2 of my 24 students got checked out after graduation, so I only had 2 the rest of the day.

Bryan came and brought me Huddie and Raleigh came with Mom after they drove through the terrible storm that went through yesterday!

This is a picture Raleigh drew of his Robot Mom with a baby in her tummy and really big floppy ears...What's up with that?


I sat on the floor and tried to teach Raleigh to play connect four. He was only interested in winning and Huddie was throwing the pieces at us.

THEN, Mom, Raleigh, Huddie and I went to a great new restaurant I have been wanting to take her to called Peach Valley Cafe to enjoy a bit to eat.

Don't I look tired! Look how droopy those eyes are...

Huddie...

Raleigh...

The three stooges!

I am excited about summer and am looking forward to rest and swimming with my kids. Oh, and maybe actually making dinner again! I can't wait!

Can you smell it?

I can smell summer coming. It is blowing just over the hill. 2 DAYS LEFT!!!!! I don't know if I have ever been so excited for a summer before. I am trying to slow down this week and really enjoy my students. They have really been gettin' on my nerves as of late and I am trying to end without feeling that way. We have our class party tomorrow and then 5th grade graduation on Friday. Raleigh's school ended last week, so YaYa has him this week. Boy, we sure do miss the little guy around here. It is awful quiet. He is having a blast, though. She and Raleigh are in Orlando with my Dad enjoying some "vacation" time. They will join us Friday up here is Gainesville! I can't wait... Oh, and no, we don't have a permanent name for this little baby boy yet. Let me rephrase, I have one, I am just waiting on Bryan to say OK. I will let you know when we decide!

I am a hot mess...

Today is not my day. I have been doing really well so far in this pregnancy. But everything seems to have hit today. My kids won't stop screaming, I feel like the worst mother ever and Hudson keeps hitting me for no apparent reason and I can't get him to stop. It all started when I got to Raleigh's school to pick him up today and realized that his end of year party was indeed today and not tomorrow like I had previously thought. Bummer! Mother of the year flew right out the window. The teacher made out like it wasn't a big deal that they were missing the stuff we signed up to bring, but it was to me. We got home and I tried to clean up the mess that is my house, just like I do every day, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I sat down on the couch and began to cry. Raleigh came to me, hugged me and said, "Mommy, you can do this. It's OK! I know how we can do better.....'puter games." I guess pbskids solves all his problems, just not mine. So, I went upstairs to change and this is where the hot mess began. I used a baby wipe to remove all traces of makeup (because I felt like I was suffocating) because the make up remover wipes I bought at target have made my eyes swollen, red and bumpy. I'm too blasted cheap to buy the good wipes. When the heck will I stop making the same mistake. I took off the beautiful maternity dress that belonged to my sister because I felt that I could no longer pull it off. I preceded to put on bleached out short black shorts, an ugly purple monstrosity of a shirt, bronze flip flops and I pulled my hair back in a black headband, one side flipping out and the other, not so much. (I took a picture but it was too scary for the Internet) I made dinner because Phil is up here working on turning out 3rd floor into a bedroom for Raleigh and I didn't want him to go hungry. After dinner I decided to go to Publix and get snacks for Raleigh's class tomorrow to try and make up for being such an A+ mom. And guess what, I went how I looked. I didn't even wipes the kids faces after dinner, so they fit in with me. It was like white trash family come to town for the first time in a while. What a day. At least Raleigh's class will have apples, carrot chips and dip for a snack tomorrow. Please pray that I am back to myself by tomorrow. I don't know if I can handle another day like today. Physically or mentally. I need a bath...

I have a cat...

I have a cat. A beautiful cat. Did I ever mention that? Her name is Jenny (no, not after my sister) and she is British. British you ask? Yes British. When Bryan and I imagine her as a character in a movie, we picture her speaking with a British accent and being a snob. Why a snob? Well, let's just say she is not the friendliest. She doesn't require much attention and is selective to whom she gets attention from. Does she like the boys? Of course not! We once asked her what it would take for her to be sweeter to the boys, because they love her so, and she responded that we would have to remove their arms, legs and voice boxes, then maybe she would consider liking them. Well, that's not going to happen, so I guess we will just have to live with it. So, today she had a visit to the Vet. She had her check up and got a haircut! She gets so hairy and matted that I can often find 8-12 hairballs on the ground a day. NOT the kind you puck, but the kind that just falls off because it has been hanging there so long. When we take her, we have them give her the "Lion Cut". You'll understand when you see the pictures below. When we bring her home she is friendlier and friskier. So don't feel bad for her, she likes it, really!

Look at that ball on the end of her tail...

These boots are made for walkin'... and what a beautiful mane.

Oh, and did I mention that Raleigh is back from his 4 day stay with YaYa! I sure did miss the little turd!