Dr Pepper

Oh my! It is like Brown gold in a bottle! I am so addicted to it! I tell myself everyday, "Today is the last day I will drink this hip and thigh expanding soda." I can't quit it though. Has anyone heard of a rehab for soft drink lovers? If so, I will pack my bags and check myself in!

Saying goodbye

Nothing in my life is more gut wrenching than having to say goodbye to loved ones. Luckily our recent move has landed us smack dab in the center of most of our relatives and friends so saying goodbye doesn't happen as often as it used to. So goodbye Kleenex! Recently though, my niece started going back to her dad's for visitation. For over a year we didn't have to say goodbye or plan family activities around her visitation. I got used to having her with us all the time. Life was good, life was peaceful. My niece and I have had a special bond. She was the first little one I saw come into this world. Oh boy did she make an entrance! From that point on life has been all the sweeter. There is a special place in my heart for that brown eyed girl! It was her that made me want to be a mother. This past weekend she went back to her dad's. I had to say goodbye. It is a court ordered visitation. One that none of us agree with. Let me tell you, when you think America is the land of dreams and freedom of speech, sit back and listen to the stories of women who are going through custody battles with the biological fathers and see just how much freedom we really have. I am quickly learning that our society and judicial system does not care what a child thinks or feels. Their voice does not matter. It is alright for someone to commit a crime but as long as they are a biological parent they have rights to see that child. No matter how much danger that child may be put in. We try to raise our children to be strong and to have a voice. What do you do when the courts say their voice does not matter? How do you explain to a child that no matter how much they fear a person and feel invisible around that person it doesn't matter. They have to listen to the law. A law which is supposed to protect them. The law gets laid down and despite your fears and anguish you can not protect your child. Our judicial system is broken. Too many years of bullS@#! cases have crushed the system. Each case should be unique and treated according to circumstance, but not anymore. I am bitter, I am tired and I am not even the one who is in the fight. For years I have watched my loved ones fight for a normal life. A life with peace and contentment and normalcy. The peace flag had been waived, life seemed to be good but in a moment of anger and rage it all came crashing down. We thought at last no more goodbyes, but he escaped his judgement here on earth and the courts allowed him to be back in her life and now....... we are back to saying goodbye.

Something has to change. Our judicial system is broken. There are children all over this country who have a voice but are not heard. What are we teaching them? How are they going to grow up? This just isn't right.

It's been a long time!

Wow! Have the cob webs been growing on my blog or what? I have been neglecting my blog now for a few weeks. I just simply can't ignore it any longer. My fingers have been anticipating getting back to my page and my loyal readers. While I may not have as many readers as Dooce.com or The Pioneer Woman (yes I am putting a plug in there because I really love their sites) my readers are loyal and have missed me! I don't know what to say except I have been lazy. My kids are out of school for the summer, so my chaotic life has calmed down a bit. I don't have to rush to get kids fed, bathed and in bed. No more school lunches to throw together at the last minute. No more papers to sign or backpacks to clean. OK.... I need to wipe a tear...not! Summer vacation is always a much anticipated time of year for our family. We love the out doors. If it isn't raining outside we are usually basking in the radical rays of the sun! Just last weekend we packed up our family at the last minute threw together some snacks, air mattresses and lawn chairs and headed to the drive in. I will tell you for this 32 year old woman and mother of 4, the drive in is one of the highlights of my life! I had never been to one so I was in for a treat. We had the best time! Where on this planet can you entertain 3 adults and 5 kids for $11.00?!? I didn't really make it to the second movie. I crawled up on the air mattress we had in the back of our truck and crashed out. I will tell you it was just the best time. The drive in is a dying breed that really needs to come back. Life wouldn't be as wonderful with out drive ins!

Stolen Bike

OK when you make the accusation that something of yours has been stolen you probably should be prepared to back it up right? Well not so much in the case of my daughter's missing bike. If you have seen my garage lately it looks as though a bike rally has temporarily taken place in there. Having 4 kids each with a passion for bicycles and a husband that feeds that passion, I have a ton of bikes in my garage. After we found my daughter hiding in a closet, right before we were going to call 911 and fill out our first missing persons report we went door to door again. We had to let everyone know; yes we found our girl, but now we are looking for her bike. We were very disappointed that someone would take it out of our front yard. After going from door to door and ruling out the high possibility of our daughter leaving it somewhere we pretty much resided ourselves to the fact it was gone forever. Her bike had been the first victim of theft our family has had to deal with in regards to our children's belongings.

Now recently my sister in law has taken a new residence very close to us. The kids have actually been able to ride their bikes to her house on couple of occasions. Our daughter had gone on one of these excursions the day before she crippled her finger doing a cartwheel in the house. Two of her bikes now were residing at my sis in laws house, this of which I had no idea. Now I have like 20 kids 20 pets and a husband or two and well I can't keep up with who's bike is who's and where they are and oh it just makes my head hurt thinking about it! So funny story short, I'm over visiting at my sis in laws last night. Somehow we got on the topic of my daughter's missing bike. Sis in law tells me there is still a bike in her garage. How can that be? My husband and my daughter had gone over a few nights before to pick up her bike. So there is just no possible way her bike is in that garage. I go out to the garage and to my surprise the "Stolen' bike is in the there! Oh my gosh, the night she had gone over there to get her favorite bike she was actually on a pain killer for her poor finger and she picked the wrong bike! Thank goodness the bike went in the back of our pick up truck with her daddy and she didn't ride it home. There is no telling where that little girl would have ended up!! She got a really big laugh at herself and learned a very important lesson as to why you don't quickly accuse people of stealing!!

Panic! Missing Child or maybe not......

This past weekend turned out to be a weekend full of surprises! On Saturday evening my daughter came running into the house screaming her bike had been stolen. I was quick to tell her before we start making such serious accusations we need to be sure the bike just hasn't been misplaced. Shortly after this little dramatic episode it was time for me to put the two year old to bed for the night. Now in the South where we live it is daylight savings time so it is still light outside when the two year old goes to bed. Finally the little booger fell asleep! I went outside to over see the progress our two older boys were making on the garage clean up. Hubby told me I needed to get our daughter to help out with this huge task. The last I saw of her, she had stormed off into her room spouting off how she was going to find the person who stole her bike and get even. Poor thing... well she wasn't in her room. I sent my 8 year old down to my neighbor's house. If she can't be found she is usually over there. Well we were told that the girls went on a bike ride but that was impossible because her bike was "Stolen" and her friend's bike was in my yard. So I had to make the dreaded phone call to my neighbor and let her know the girls were MIA. She came right out and between her, myself and my husband we covered some territory quick. Before the search went out doors I screamed in my house for both of them, but no answer. We went door to door and no one had seen them. I jumped in the truck and drove around the surrounding neighborhoods with my head hanging out the window yelling for the girls. I can't imagine how ridiculous and possessed I must have looked. So many crazy thoughts were running through my head! When I returned back to the house I saw my daughter's friend walking across our yard with her mother. Do you know where those girls where? Hiding in my 8 year old's closet from my 8 year old! They wanted to jump out and scare him! They didn't hear my frantic screams because the washer and dryer were running! Good grief! I am now searching the Internet for affordable home tracking devices!