Tropical Cafe

I think my kids are super cute!  Bonnie is very creative and she decided that the Wog kids were going to start a restaurant and they called it Tropical Café.  They take orders, make menus and do all the work.  At first my control freak self was nervous about it, wasting food, putting too much meat on sandwiches and such but after I realized I was getting someone to make my lunch, I totally encouraged it!  

They make these strange delicious concoctions with ice cream with a dash of orange juice, whip cream and yes, sometimes Coke too!  They have aprons and sometimes on a good day, Maggie serves on roller skates. I think she is Sonic inspired!! Dan suggested we should change the name to the Wog Hog BBQ  :)

For someone who dreads cooking for the masses everyday, my plan is to encourage this, and one day each kid can cook a dinner Monday through Friday and Dan grill on the weekends!! No more cooking for me! Yippee! I am liking this plan #childlabor

Gates, Doors and More

Our hound dog KC is a hoot.  Dan and I realized that KC is really our first dog too.  We both grew up with dogs at our parent’s houses but we never had one on our own.  She has been a trip and a constant lesson in patience.  We started with gates to keep her downstairs since she LOVES to hunt the kid’s stuffed animals and will pulverize them!  I have become a hot glue gun expert from repairing them and I am considering starting a repair business!

I’ll never forget the first time I was sitting in my bed drinking coffee and she came running into my room for the first time....oh my!  That was the end of the gates.  We decided to hang little double doors that lead upstairs.  I do let her upstairs but she must have supervision because besides the stuffed animals she LOVES tearing Eddie’s used diapers….nastiness to the max!  You haven’t lived as a parent until you try to clean up that inside silica type stuff inside.  It’s pretty impossible. The doors sort of helped.  At first she could crawl under them, then she broke the latch, and then she jumped on them until the hinges came out of the wall.  I came downstairs and they were dangling on a barely hooked in the wall hinge.  We have replaced the latch multiple times moving it up and down around the holes that she leaves.  Now, she just pokes her head under the door and looks for us! The point is that dog doesn’t like being away from us!  It shows great dedication but geez.  I am hoping one day she will stop hunting Pooh Bear, the Miami Ibis (the kid’s favorites) and diapers and can just hang out upstairs and not do anything naughty! #icandream

   

True Coffee Dedication

I’ve blogged before about how blessed I am to have Dan who doesn’t even drink coffee, make it for me everyday but this past weekend he took it to a whole new level.

Dan took off for a “day trip” to NY!  The next morning we were headed to the River so OF COURSE, his flight got cancelled, didn’t have his charger, phone died and we were out of touch.  I had no idea when he would make it home….SOOOO, we waited (Super-fun with 5 kids and a nervous dog that didn’t want to get left behind…) 

I had to pack every thing which is scary.  Dan had shopped for the trip and I was praying I would get all that he bought for us to take.  Dan called when he was coming over the Bridge, and we all jumped in the car and took off!

Dan was unpacking the food while I was making the beds.  I heard him say, “Did you get your Starbucks coffee?” (It was on sale so Dan treated me!)  I told him that I packed some packet of coffee and he yells back, “Whole bean packet!” CRINGE.  Thankfully, we found some coffee in the pantry.  The next morning comes and my coffee is so stale :/  It was a rough way to start the day! 

Eddie found a bag of kid’s tools so for the next 2 days he wore protective eye gear (safety first!) and hammered and screw-drivered EVERYTHING!  The second morning I woke up and heard hideous hammering.  I was laying in a fog thinking to myself, if Eddie hammers again I am going to fly in there and confiscate that hammer and hide it for all eternity.  Finally, it stopped and I dozed back to sleep.  About 15 minutes later, Dan comes in and tells me to try the coffee.  I start singing the Little Mermaid theme song, “Ahhh, Ahhh, Ahhhhhhh, Ahhh, Ahhh, Ahhhhhh…”  HEAVEN!  Dan hammered the whole beans and made me SUPER fresh coffee!!! Woo Hoo!!  Now that is the RIGHT way to start the day!  #takingittoawholenewlevel

The Beginnings of the Smith River House

Since I make reference to our Smith River House on a regular occasion I thought I would give a quick review of how we got so blessed to have it!

Our first river trip to see the property in May 2000

Over 12 years ago, my brother and his family starting going with good friends, the McDonald’s, to their cabin near the Suwanee River for weekend get-aways!  My brother fell in love and told my mom how awesome it was.  My mom got excited about the possibility of us having a family cabin and we began to look for available property!  My brother convinced a man to sell us his 10 acres and so our journey began.  For two years, our family sacrificed every weekend and the cabin slowly got built.  The McDonald’s even had a weekend they called Habicooch (Our property is off the Withlacoochie River that connects into the Suwanee.)  Over 25 men showed up to help us finish our cabin. We moved in on Good Friday in 2003. 

Brett designed shirts and gave
them to all who worked!

The crazy thing is my kids will never remember life without the River House.  The first trip we went was on Memorial Day 2000.  My Bonnie was one year old.  She grew up there making fake fires, collecting rocks and taking nature walks through the woods.  On a weekend when we were scouting out where on the property to locate the cabin, I found out I was pregnant with Bubs and broke that news to Dan on Father’s Day and he was thrilled!!  

Found out I was pregnant with Bubs

Bub's hammered away in there!

It was grueling for me personally being without Dan every weekend.  Bubba never slept and I remember those exhausting days.  I would frequently pack up Bon and Bubs and Mom and I would head to the River!  I would pop up his “pack and play” and let him hammer and play with his toys. It was well worth it though because of the joy it brings everyone who goes.  I'll never forget the day that the floor was done and we all climbed up to see our view for the first time!  No one was more thrilled than my mom!

Mom rejoicing seeing our incredible view for the 1st time!

We have made wonderful memories there, kayaking, jumping off the trees, going to the beach around the bend, fishing, zip-lining, riding ATV’s, shooting air soft guns, swinging on the porch swing, rocking in the rocking chairs, making smores, playing cards, eating good food and most of all, being with those we love!

"Brother-in-laws become Brothers!"

 River House

It is a legacy that my mom provided for her family!!  My Dad would be so proud of her for making this happen!  Generations will love and enjoy special times together at this wonderful retreat!  #blessedbymom 

Playing with the Queen of Hearts...

I grew up in a family who played cards.  My Dad was so competitive and excelled at everything he did.  He was an awesome basketball player, rode horses, expert boat driver, barefoot skier, ping-pong genius and YES, cut-throat card player.  He was one of those smack talkers too who would constantly rib you and drive you a little crazy.  He didn’t believe in the concept of letting a kid win.  He beat the tar out of all of us kids!  I grew up playing Hearts with him.  He was the best and shot the moon on a regular basis!  I don’t ever remember beating him.

We are keeping the tradition alive! Bonnie and Bubs especially LOVE playing Hearts and make it a regular occasion on our mountain and river trips.  Dan is equally as competitive and hates to loose.  Bonnie and Bubs are really understanding the strategy of short-suiting, the importance of keeping your spades and such.  They have learned to loath getting the Queen of Hearts too! 

Last weekend at the River house, we had a monumental moment. The kids were finally going to beat their Dad.  Down to the last moment, Bonnie and Bubs were neck and neck for the win.  Dan began loosing from the first hand and declared he had the worst hands of cards he has ever had!  Bubba was ahead by nine points and Bonnie wanted to beat her smack-talking brother so bad and as fate would have it, he got the Queen and Bonnie won the game.  I loved seeing her face so happy and full of the winner’s joy!!  I being the most compassionate wife took a picture of the Queen of Hearts and emailed it to Dan, thinking he may miss her!!  :)  #rubbingitin 

A Morning with Eddie

Eddie harasses me every morning saying over and over “Can you get me dressed?”  I’m like “Dude, its not even 8 AM, where in the heck are you going?”  So finally I dress him hoping he will go occupy himself with toys or cartoons and leave me alone with my coffee cup.  Then he starts begging me, “Can I play on yours phone?”  He compulsively plays music and looks at the 800 pictures and videos on there.  Dan’s like “Why do you keep all this junk on your phone?” (Mr. “Phones Are Not For Fun”) but the kid entertains himself looking at pictures & videos of himself. #iphonegenius  He says stuff like, “I’m so cute or I'm so adorable!" Can you say, “Self-Obsessed” or what??  Ed is infatuated with JLo too!  Ed says she is "so cute" also!   He told me the other day "You got make-up on like JLo!" WOW! (By the way, I do have Christian children's music on my phone too that he ignores!)   

He also calls my Mom all the time without my knowledge and asks her "Can you pick me up in yours car and go to Kmart and buy me a car?" (Don't ask me how he finds her number.  I am pretty sure he reads at 3!) He has hundreds of matchbox cars (and yes Maw Maw has bought him most of them) and he likes to line them up (Mom taught him to do this) and hide them behind picture frames.  I think its "so cute" when I find one of his car!  His favorite is a Po-Po car!        

He then locates a curtain rod I hid under my couch in my room.  He runs out and I hear him saying, “I gonna get you bear.”  I go in the hall because I don't want him to loose an eye with it and he is pointing it in his room.  I have no idea where his bear obsession came from (I’m sure it wasn’t the 100 times he watched Brother Bear!) but he was hunting them telling the bear to “Get OUT of my woom! (room)”  I told him I’m pretty sure I saw the bear run out!!  Then he finds his guitar, goes in his room with Annie and they play VERY out of tune guitars, VERY loud! His favorite guitar song usually is one he wrote, “I love bear, I love bear…”  The noise is worsening my coffee deprived headache so I go in to tell them to HUSH and hear Eddie singing the song Grenade  “I’d catch a grenade for ya!” while strumming his guitar!  Can we all say INAPPROPRIATE!  Geez!  I was kind of surprised he wasn’t singing Usher honestly!  #futurerockstar

Ticks and Yoga

The Wogs had a tremendous time at our family River House during Spring Break last April!  When I got home, I discovered a tick on my leg and pulled it off and flushed it!  Didn’t think too much about it and never got the red ring that indicates Lyme disease.  A few days later, some freaky, weird things started happening to me. I started having numbness in my legs and arms, joint swelling, then my heart started beating fast and I could hardly breath.  Then I started having dizzy spells and confusion in the brain (please no jokes about this part! :) After, three days of all that I started running a fever and had aches and pains everywhere along with intense headaches.  I finally went to the doctor and got on the appropriate tick antibiotics and thought I would soon be on the mend.  DAYS turned into WEEKS and the symptoms intensified and I surely thought I was dying and even taught my 7 year old how to call 911 in case mommy didn’t wake up from her nap.  I slept all the time and never felt better for it.  Of course they ran a bazillion test on me for Mono, diabeties, cancer, MS, hormones, vitamin levels and everything else imaginable.  I had a nerve conduction test done  (and it hurt!!!) at the Neurologist and ALL the results determined that I was a specimen of perfect health BUT the symptoms were still driving me to madness.  I even drove myself to the ER one night, to rule out stroke and heart attack!   

I rely on the power of prayer and have been so very blessed to be in a Prayer Group for over two years.  They have prayed me through surgeries, job scares, family illnesses and more.  Well, I DRUG myself to prayer and even laid my head on the table the whole time because I was so weak and dizzy.  Those prayer warriors went to work, anointing me with oil, laying hands on me and commanding my body to get back in line to stop all this foolishness.  I left, still defeated and discouraged and not in faith at all but low and behold, despite my unbelief, I woke up the next day with no heart palpitations and my brain clear.  I attribute my turn around solely to the prayers of the saints, my dear friends and family who were standing in the gap for me. Even though the doctor said it wasn’t tick related, I honestly feel like it was!  The symptoms all lined up for multiple tick diseases even though my two Lyme’s disease tests were negative. (Can you see why my doctor banned me from Web MD??)  That blasted, tiny, little, disease- filled tick!  I still have numbness in waves in my arms and legs and a bit of vertigo but I am on the mend, praise the Lord!

 A friend had a heart to heart with me about the importance of taking time for myself, slowing down, and exercising.  It was just the word I needed and I sincerely took it to heart and started that day doing Yoga from my On Demand Exercise Channel.  OK, it was HILARIOUS.  I knew it was the one for me when he said that  Yoga would bring “Balance to the Brain!”   I so need that!  Thank you Lord, no one filmed my first attempt.  I was shocked at how out of shape I had become, barely able to touch my toes when stretching.  Years of pregnancy, nursing and hauling my large babies around had done quite a number on my neck, shoulders and back.  My joints crackled like a raging fire trying these poses.  My respect level for those groovy Yoga people sailed!!  I felt much like a complete idiot trying to do the Chair Position, the Crescent and the Warrior poses.  The best moments by far are the Downward-facing Dog.  As if my dog, KC new the name of the pose, she felt like it was her job to crawl underneath me to get me off the floor and bark, especially during that move!  Then Eddie decides he is the Yoga expert and pretty much schools me!  He would copy the most awesome Tom Morley, AKA Yoga genius!  I knew I liked Tom when he compared the Yoga breathing technique to Darth Vader! LOL  I just wasn’t in the mood for a perfect skin & body, perky blonde trying to inspire me towards never looking like her.  I have learned how to dodge my kids and dog and take the 20 minutes to focus on my health and myself.  It has been so wonderful and I am happy to say I am getting better at it everyday! (But I am still in secret fear of getting videoed and getting posted on facebook for everyone’s entertainment.  I feel certain, it would go viral on YouTube because of how ridiculous I look!!  It doesn’t help that my sister bought Annie a spy camera too, geez)  

Family Walk/Ride

Today, we ventured out on a “Family Walk/Ride.”  Some of the kids take off on their bikes and KC wants to run like a dang race horse and proceeds to drag me across the middle of our scary neighbors nice yard and I am pretty sure my arm popped out of the socket.  Ed gets mad because his pink scooter can’t keep up with the older kids and he pitches a fit in the middle of the road, throws his hat off and sits on the curb leaving his pink scooter in the middle of the street. Nice….  I get ticked and DRAG KC home and lock her in the house and try again.  We go to the park and things settle down for a few minutes even though I am trying to ignore KC's incessant howling that I can hear!  Then someone has to pee!  I briefly thought about letting them pee in the bushes but it was a girl and I would be arrested by Huck, I am pretty sure!  FINALLY we got home and I hid from the children and binged on Butterfingers!!  (Don't judge!  It's stressful over here!) #butterfingerheaven

Good Morning.... :/

Thanks to my hound dog KC, I will have stories galore for you.....well, let me back up, WAY up.....
When I was a little girl, I would get in bed with my mom in the mornings.  As I have stated before, I have never been short on words and much to my mom's dismay I wanted to chat her up in the morning.  My whole life, my Dad would quietly slip coffee to my mom and she would sit in a stupor, with her eyes closed and I swear she would at least pretend to be asleep hoping I wouldn't talk!  The rules were, NO talking and NO wiggling or I would get booted out of her bed.  Well, as fate would have it, I had five chatty, wiggly children for paybacks!  My sweet husband has carried on the coffee/stupor tradition (so much so that on Father's Day I had to asked him to make my coffee the night before because I make terrible, nasty coffee)  We managed to train the 5 children to give mom a few minutes of peace and tranquility where I would plan my day, pray (Lord knows if anyone needs prayer, it's ME!)  and read my devotionals and sometimes, fake sleep too.

So....back to the point!  Now as if the 5 kids made it difficult enough to have a quiet time, KC waits by the door downstairs and bolts upstairs at the first opportunity! Here I am, ear plugs jammed into my brain to shut out the kid noise and in a nice dreamy sleep and BAMMM, 60 pound pummel out of freakin' nowhere :/ Besides the possible injury, the way it jolts my heart to race at an insane speed, has to be unhealthy and dangerous. AND as if that is not a enough, she has to root around under my pillow to find my hidden face (you know I have to hide under the pillow to shield myself from any possible light) Today, she acted like she wanted me the heck out of HER bed, so I sit on my little couch in my room while my dog has taken over my bed, sigh...

LOLing & Hashtagging

This is so funny to me but I set this blog up and was so proud of myself and then I couldn't figure out how to post something additional.  I accidentally followed myself too!! This is going to be fun learning how to be a hip blogger.  One of my friends was joking yesterday and said my followers should be called Woggles and I told her she was on a Wog roll and then I thought that could be a new sushi idea! :)  This will be fun!

I talked to my nephew today and I told him I heard he was coming in town.  He asked if I saw it on the Book or did I really "hear" it!  I laughed and said on the Book and told him I rarely talk to people anymore and we agreed that talking is overrated (had to ask Dan how to spell that and now he is cheering like at a game, OVER--RATED, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.....) #dansmarterthanme   Oh yeah, I love to hashtag all the time.  I hashtag in my mind too!  I really do understand hashtagging thanks to my niece, the brilliant social media diva Alexandra, but I think it's funny, at least to myself!! OK that is all the blogging I can handle today so rest up!  #thewogblog :)

The Wog Blog

To my surprise people actually enjoy hearing the crazy stories about the Five Wogs and a Dog!  I have had a couple people encourage me to start a blog!  I have never been short on words so this shouldn't be a difficult project at all!  I am confident I will NEVER run out of material  with my five Wog kids and my hound dog KC! Hopefully this will be a worthwhile endeavor and bring entertainment and sentimental moments for people who care!!  Stay tuned!!!