Saturday Trip to Target

No big deal- few things to pick up at Target. Karlee napping, so I decide to take Brandon. First mistake.. going to Target on a Saturday mid morning. Second mistake.. thinking that taking Brandon alone would be just fine. We discussed behavior the entire ride there... "I promise to be a good boy..."
We arrive.. had to get popcorn and icee (thought that it would entertain him during the trip). Icee machine broken..... the first tear breaks. A diet coke will do. Tears disappear. 5 minutes into trip- popcorn spills. Clean it up and go on. 10 minutes later- popcorn spills. My voice gets a little louder. Then lid comes off diet coke.... cup dumps over. "Mommy, I didn't mean to, it just fell ober" Ok, starting to get a little distraught, but I can handle this. Piling my purchases into buggy (trying not to put them in the big part of the cart to entice curious hands). I then hear this strange noise of something scattering all over the floor... it was the cup of Easy Mac, opened and spilled. Voice REALLY loud now. Ready to go. Get to register.. Brandon had to help. Items go flying in the counter mixed in with someone else's... along with a candy bar and sucker from the kid reachable parent-hated candy shelf. Put those back. tears and yelling start.... "I want some candy"..... Popcorn spills again, clean that up. ahhhh! Check out (with hopes that I only paid for my stuff). Get in car and drive down the parking lot to Publix to pick up a few groceries. The "I wants" start all over. My voice is REALLY REALLY loud. Half way through the store I realize that I forgot a birthday present at Target (my original reason for making the trip). Find a display of gift cards- perfect.. Toys R Us to the rescue. Get to checkout. 2 packs of gum make it through the scanner. As I am trying to grab hold of the wrist and hang on with one hand, I open wallet with other to pay... no debit card. The machine at Target ate it... So I get out the backup checkbook. Cashier informs me that I can't pay for the gift card with a check. No cash. No gift card. So much for that idea. Gotta head back to Target anyway. Get Brandon off the floor and head out the door. Back at Target.. customer service. Wait 25 minutes for a manager to bring card. Brandon is running through the customer service doors and jumping from table to table in the cafe. I take deep breath and hold back.... get card and have to go stand in line to sign some log that I got it back... another 10 minutes. Face it hot and I am ready to explode. Wander to back of store to pick out an outfit. No buggy this time- in a hurry. Look down and I see flip flops but no Brandon. Call his name, he eventually appears with smirk. Grab hold of the arm and drag to checkout. Fingers begin grabbing candy.. hand gets a good poppin. Meltdown starts. Pay and get debit card. Ready to go.. No Brandon. I stand in front of registers and calmly wait for him to make appearance. Wait.. wait.... begin walking up and down... No Brandon. Start calling.... no answer. Panic sets in. Manager sees me looking... the search continues. I am in full panic mode calling his name very loudly. I am sure everyone in Target has heard the name "Brandon" by now. And ready for this out of control kid and mom to GET OUT! I walk to front doors and low and behold.. there he is standing outside in the front entrance people watching with a cute little smile on his face. And I am sure everyone just smiled and waved back. Not so cute to me.... fill in blank to next part of story.
Get home.. everyone snoozing. Begin putting groceries away. As I am carrying the cans of soda into fridge, one drops, hits my big toe and then the floor. Explosion. Root Beer spewing out everywhere.. inside everything in the fridge, the blinds, the floors, the ceiling, my eyes, hair, clothing, cabinets...... and I just stood there. Frozen. I officially called it quits for the day.... i was DUNZO!
Anyone wanna take a trip to Target with me? It'll be fun.... We can even get an Icee and Popcorn!!

Life in the Fast Lane

It's Friday night again and this last week went by faster than I can blink... And here's a breakdown of the race....
Last Friday- nursing Karlee's pinkeye and Jalen's so called "fever", planting some flowers in the yard, Spring Carnival at school
Saturday- John and kids went on a day trip to Charlotte to visit Aunt Tonya and Cousins, an entire day with the girls for me- pedicures, shopping, lunch, coffee.., A late afternoon birthday party for Jalen's buddy, a wonderful dinner at Bonefish to celebrate Angela's birthday (John loved the Tilapia that he got tricked into eating. NOT. We haven't stopped hearing about it since).. then downtown for some fun with our friends. We actually do get some time away thanks to Netti! (above pictures from the festivities)
Sunday- Church service, ushering and working in the nursery, afternoon laundry, setting up new laptop for John. Thanks Tonya-we owe ya!
Monday- John work, kids back to school/daycare, small cleaning job for me, John orientation for school via quick phone conference, help Janelle with yard work, and the best part of the day- listening to 3 people try to sell me a Kirby vacuum.... hmm already got one but that didn't stop them from sitting in my living room for 3 hours doing a demo. Time I DIDN'T have to spare. Lesson learned.. don't answer the door to strangers!
Tuesday- work, suppose to have a doctor apt for Karlee but for the first time ever, we had negative test results so we were free and clear this week (yippee!), John began his studies... and was consumed until midnight, and I got a quick glance at my fav show American Idol
Wednesday- catch up on house cleaning and chores, a few hours on the computer working on financial/tax issues, quick evening trip to Target with Janelle, more studies for John, and of course the American Idol results show
Thursday- another cleaning job, afternoon nap induced with lots of cold medicine to try and fight a nasty bug that has hit me, evening playtime outside with the kids
Today- cleaning job, two trips to the bank, laundry, and a trip to Bojangles for some good ole southern chicken.

Of course this is just a brief overview but it sums up our weekly life- In the fast lane. The Hawkins 500!

As I sit here on the patio blogging on our new laptop, I am enjoying the summer weather while the kids play in the sandbox. Not so bad after all!

Taking one step back but five forward

It's happened.. John is officially a student again! Everything went well with his admissions process with Grad school and will begin classes on Tuesday. After his 4 year stint at Wofford, he swore he would never study or write another paper again in his life, and reality has set in.... it's getting ready to all start over. Books, laptop, PDA, more books... wow, it's strange! And everything has happened so fast that personally I have not taken it all in yet. I am so proud of his motivation and courage to take this step, especially at 33 years of age. Jalen let him know that homework had to get done before he could play everyday! I guess what we have been pounding in his little head is working! We will see how it works with Daddy!

It's been a quiet week, but it couldn't end without some sort of sickness in our family. Jalen was sent home from school yesterday with a very low grade fever (which has mysteriously gone away since he came home) and the nurse informed us that he was NOT allowed back at school today (ya know, the 24 hours rule). hmmmm... We have a Spring Carnival at school tonight.... and of course he has let me know that he is ALL better. So all rest and no play today despite the symptoms that don't exist. interesting how that works, isn't it!? It's not over there... I took Karlee to daycare this morning and as I was dropping her off I noticed her eye looked funny... yup the good ole pink eye. It's been going around the daycare for weeks so I wasn't shocked. Thank goodness we have the meds at home so it saved a trip to the doctor.
Hopefully the rest of our weekend will go smoothly...

A Record Set

We did it... after a long 3 weeks of "cleansing", we managed to stay away from the doctor's office! A record for the Hawkins family. Karlee has been on the mend and doing well. We do go back for a followup appointment tomorrow with the specialist, but thank goodness it's only that. We are seeing runny noises again, but I will take that! I can only guess that the extreme weather patterns here in the south are to blame... it was 38 degrees last night but will be 80 again by Friday.
We survived Spring Break.. barely! Jalen and I spent some alone time while the little ones were at daycare. We saw the Dr. Suess's Horton Hears a Who movie and the week didn't go by without a visit to San Jose for some cheese dip and taco's! The past few weekends have been filled with yard work and playing outside. Brandon's new obsession this week is finding "holy polies" in the yard with his friend Emma. I guess "Holy" sounds better than "Roly"..... whatever works. I have even found several of his little friends around the house... on the counter and kitchen table. I definitely draw the line there! No critters in the house. But he insists that they are not bugs. Another battle lost!
The big news in the family is that John has decided it is time for a drastic change in life.. He has enrolled in the Masters of Business Admin program with the University of Phoenix. The carpet industry will soon be seeing the end of John's talents. The courses will be online and should take approximately 18 months to finish. Until then, please keep this direction that God has laid on John's heart in your prayers. This will definitely be a challenging time for all of us as we seek His wisdom and guidance for our family and future. We are unsure of what lies ahead, but we know that this is a huge step and leap of faith to completely change the direction of John's career, emotionally, physically, and financially.

We have a busy weekend ahead... Spring Carnival at school, birthday celebration for Angela, and nursery service at church. That's all for this week.... Love to all!