Trip to Branson.

My sister had planned her wedding day for August 2nd. Exactly 11 months from our wedding. She asked me to be in her wedding, which I gladly accepted. So it was trip time! Greg decided to take a week off and mentioned that he would like to maybe spend a day or two doing something family wise. I don't think we have officially taken a "family vacation" aside from our trips with parents or other family. Our first plan was to go to Dodge City, Kansas. However, that changed, and we decided on Branson, MO. Our destination was Nebraska, but, we weighed out the driving time and it was the same to either place in between.

When we got to Branson it was extremely humid. We checked into the hotel and decided to go eat. Right off the bat it was frustrating dealing with the clerk to change our room from upstairs to ground level. Then, the room was gross. I took my shoes off at the door (out of habit from home I presume), and my feet were sticky! The floors felt as if they had been steam cleaned with an over abundance of cleaner maybe? At any rate, we went just down the street to the steak house. It must have been a full moon because the food wasn't good. It was late, so I factored in the idea that we missed the best part of the cook's day!

The next day we decided that we were going to find a different hotel to stay in but first we had to go stop at the Toy Museum. Oh how awesome! Greg and I reminisced about all the toys we remembered growing up that are not common to acquire these days. The kids probably thought we were crazy because we were actually excited. "Oh, I remember that!" "Oh look look! I had that growing up!"
It was probably pretty embarrassing too! (LOL)

Anyway, we took pictures. Maybe you older folks could even remember some before our time! :) :)

Aww LIONS!!! heehee

HA! Kids being silly!

Cabbage Patch Dolls!!!!!! That is SOOOOO 80's!

Brandy and Jeremy had one of these!!
Of course, anything with a car- Greg has to have a picture! So why not one with the whole family :)
Did you notice the hamburgler behind us????

Dolls! (Yes, even my lil baby girl doll!!)

Musical sweeper! There happens to be one here!
I so remember doll houses.We had those doll heads that you could do their hair and make up!
Cannot forget the dishes!


TRUCKS! And other cool stuff too!

Camera's!
Remember the xylophone?? LOL
Raggedy Ann and Andy Dolls!!!
Who could ever forget Strawberry Shortcake!

More Trucks!
HA! Star Wars! This was for sure Jeremy's favorite spot!



When we were exiting the museum, we spoke to the owner of this toy extravaganza to see how long and HOW he could obtain all these different toys from multiple generations. He stated that a lot of people have donated them, and estate sales help as well. He said that occasionally he and his wife will stop at a garage sale, but typically they are not the place to find old toys.

It was amazing going through childhood for a while!

On Vacation

On vacation in Nebraska. I will post as soon as we get home as we are too busy while here.
:)

Jeremy's boo boo

Brandy and Jeremy were playing around and Jeremy hit his head on the end of her dresser. He didn't cry, and handled it well. He gashed his head but not deep enough to go to the ER. I cleaned it up with peroxide and used the liquid band aid to close up the wound. Here is a picture.
I had to cut around the hair to be able to work with using the liquid band aid, but after talking with my sister, she said it wasn't necessary. I am glad I didn't shave the area LOL. It's easily covered up by the length of the surrounding hair!

On the way to Church

So today Greg wanted to take the kids for a ride on the motorcycle. We decided that one would ride with him on the way to church, and the other would ride on the way back. Brandy went first.



Jeremy's turn :)
Brandy making a face

Jeremy looks so little!

Yes, I was going through all the rules and how to's before we left this morning. And Jeremy got to hear it all the way to church. (LOL) Hey, I'm mom.. I can do that :)

Major Job

Ok, so I have blogged about going through Brandy and Jeremy's rooms and proved the pictures of my madness! Well, it was my turn to clean out and organize my closet. 3 years of things have incurred in there, not to mention -all that Greg had in there previously as well! It was scary but I knew I had to conquer!!! (haha)

This was the start of the unloading what was inside!
and more...
And more... I actually ran out of room in my bedroom and extended a few things into the bathroom!
AT LAST! Light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, that white 2 door shelf unit was not in there previously. Brandy helped me dolly it into the bedroom.
The closet inside is complete. Although there are 7 boxes to sift through and re-store them in plastic bins that will fit on the shelves. I plan to make these contents fit into one bin, two at the MOST.
Oh, and I also learned that there was a mouse that took residence behind the filing cabinet. Although he is probably the one I flushed down the toilet months ago, he managed to drag what seemed to be the wrapper remains of a peanut butter cup candy.
All clean! Now to go through boxes!

Hobby Lobby

I had to go run and get dog food and since Hobby Lobby was next door, we decided to stop and let Brandy pick something crafty to do. Jeremy picked his airplane book and she needed something to do.
Jeremy was not happy about this stop once he learned that we were there to look for scrapbooking, although he managed to be self entertained by his gameboy (normally we do not let either one of them bring an electronic). Then, he became VERY unhappy and a bit argumentative when he asked for something and I had to tell him not this time, it was Brandy's turn. This was his look.
After looking around for things that Brandy could do, she finally decided that she wanted to purchase flip flops to decorate them. There were 9 different colors to pick from as you can tell.
She also decided to purchase a few things for scrapbooking as well. She has a nice album I bought for her a few weeks ago that was on sale. She is very VERY creative!

Jeremy and his Airplanes!

So we went to Michael's store yesterday to pick up a few things for a project I am working on. While we were there, Greg and Jeremy ran next door to Home Depot to kill some time. Brandy and I were walking around looking for sales and clearance. We obviously lost track of time (as it is easy to do so in a store as such)! Greg and Jeremy were back, and I quickly scurried to another isle so I could keep looking. They went to mosey around a bit. They also were all being so patient as I took nearly and hour just looking around.

Jeremy found an awesome paper airplane book. Greg stated to both of them that they should find something they can do on the days they can't be outside due to the weather/heat in place of sitting and watching TV or video games. (Good idea hunnie!!!) We purchased the book for Jeremy.

When we got home, Jeremy was SO frustrated because he couldn't figure out how to make the planes even with the directions. Greg and I sat and went through step by step with him on what to do. At first he was VERY apprehensive and argumentative, but with calm voices and good damage control, he eased back. It was a success!! The whole reason of blogging this is because I took pictures of what he created today. You should know that there are several different planes in this book, and he has accomplished 4 total! (Three being on his own totally!!) GO JEREMY!!!

Monday- Spring cleaning in summer!

From 12:00 PM until (just now) 6:50 PM we are FINALLY completed with Brandy's room. It was Brandy's turn to go through every single little thing in her room from top to bottom, side to side, in and out. We had A LOT to go through in the course of two years. (And this doesn't include going through all the important school memorabilia that will too, take HOURS ha!)

Jeremy and I did this last week, in which he had one full bag of toys to donate, one full bag of trash, and one full bag of clothes (with shoes) to give away. As for Brandy, she had one full bag of clothes to give to her cousin Brianna, one full bag of clothes to give away to charity, and one full bag of trash! It was very easy to put all her "toys" in the bag of things to donate to her cousin, because it was all girly stuff that Brianna would like to have (Jewelry, lip gloss, hair stuff).
Anyway, Here are the before and after pictures.

YAY!!! Now, until next year...

Duke and Daisy!

Haha... Greg and I were watching boxer video's on YouTube, and thought it would be cute to try to get them on video too. So, here's what we got.

Sunday Night

So I had to run to a store tonight and everyone tagged along. Afterwards, we stopped to eat dinner and Greg had a surprise for Jeremy when we were done. We drove up to the high school and the guys skated for a bit while Brandy and I took pictures and video.



Once we saw this sign, we loaded the skateboards into the car and headed home. We felt that it was important to show obedience rather than just finish out the daylight. ;)

Here is some video we took.

Duck, Turtles and Fish...

We decided after church today to purchase a loaf of bread and go feed the ducks. (The lake isn't too far out out of the way on our trail we took home) Everytime have been to the dock, there are lots of ducks, but we never think to bring bread to feed them. Anyway, it was cool, the kids, Greg and I fed them, and we saw alot of ducks, fish and even turtles, which had moss growing on their shells! Gross!