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I can not comment on any ones blog that is with blogger
I don't understand - but I can't
I log in and fill our the comment box, put in google account
type in the security word and then Poof it takes me back to the log in place -
DRIVING ME BATTY!!!

Mothers Day

Mine was horrible - how bout yours?

Again ... year 7 of going to the races.

They were wonderful

The weather was THE.BEST we have EVER had

and the race was AWESOME.

But the day we packed up to go home ...

HORRIBLE!!!

Did I already say that?!

Hope yours was better!

Lift me up!

I am in tears, have had a horrible couple of days -
I guess this is me reaching out!
Hope my days get better asap!

Camping

So I told you we were going camping ...

Well it isn't the type camping you would call roughing it!

hahah

18 campers (travel trailers or RVs)

36+ Adults (+ because each night we have visitors)

14 + children ages 18 months - 8 years old (+ again due to visitors)

and we HAD A BLAST!

We went ahead and booked our sites for next year -

It will be our 4th annual get together at Ocean Lakes

We are already up to 21 campers reserved for next year and

HOPE TO get more!

Do you RV? Camp? Want to join us?!

Bowden showing his mad 4 wheeler skills! Tatum loving swing time with Grampie! This is only a portion of the "young'ns" A view down our road! Tatum trying out a friends bike ... she LOVED it as you can see!

Forcing myself

Forcing Myself

As of today

I am going to FORCE myself

to post 1 time a week

I just looked back in time

and I am missing so much that I used to keep up with

How do you all do it daily?!

I mean who has that kind if time?

We go camping Thursday

18 campers =

36 adults and 14 kids

should be a BLAST!!!

I am sure that will leave me with all kinds of stuff to post about next week?!

Without bad luck we would have NO luck

Well I know I said that I was making a come back ...

I lied!

Not intentionally!

But I did and I am sorry!

This is my last few months:

In no particular order ...

Our house was on lease to buy - the lady backed out

When they moved out she messed a few things up

My work ... we lost our law suit YEP $451,000 gone

lost it. not only did we not win, but we have to pay the OTHER lawyer $50,000+

SO the pay cut I got a little over 2 years ago that I thought would be fixed this year is a NO

We went to Disney ... got there and realized I left my camera charger at home, and the camper had 3 problems! (all minor, but problems non the less)

Our ac/heater in out kitchen went out ... yep we have 4 of the dang things ...

we had 5 when we bought our house - got it down to 4 and only use 3 - well 1 of the 3 bit the dust

we replace said unit and the BRAND NEW one doesn't work

we have a renter in our house they are great people, but for whatever reason thought that we wouldn't put the house back on the market -

we have missed 2 months of house on market

Tatum ... she has been sick since Christmas

yep had strep while @ Disney.

She was strep positive just before Christmas and has yet to go a week without antibiotics or a positive strep test.

So now we have surgery scheduled for Tuesday ... to remove her tonsils!

So if you can spare them please say a quick prayer for me to have some strength to make it through all of this ... I know I will but geese!

WOW where did I go?!

I hate that I keep posting this but I AM SORRY!

WOW I can not seem to get a grip on posting!

I am sorry!

My New Years Eve was a disaster.

I got upset with my husband, and well ... showed my ass pretty good.

We both own our own companies, so with that, life, 2 babies and well just LIFE - things get hard.

Things get sticky!

You (at least I do) get tired and cranky.

We take advantage of those closest to us and really this is when we should treat them the best.

BUT most of us don't.

Anyway it has been a rough start to a new year.

I am here, we are here and life is still going!

We leave this weekend to go see THE big MOUSE!!!

I can't wait!

I will be back with pictures soon!

Notes

Do you need to keep track of notes?

Do you work in construction?

Remodeling?

Want to remember every little detail of your pregnancy?

Need to keep track of your trips?

Anything that requires a time or date stamp?!
I found the PERFECT program!!!!

Jot down recipes?

Evernote

It is awesome - go check it out -

I own/run a construction company

and it is imperative that we keep notes on jobs -

A daily log of weather, conditions, problems, # of people on site, hours worked, anything!
The notes come in handy especially if it is a time sensitive job.

I can track problems and delays that would have cost extra time - especially if the problems, or delays are not our fault!

Thank you STC Computers I am glad I asked for your input on which program would work

It is awesome!!! And today is only first day using it! I can't wait to get elbow deep in it!

Forgive me

For my lack of posting -

it seems that my family is on a sleeping strike.

I never thought about the nightmares, and dreams starting

or what age they would come ... but they are here and in FULL affect!

I am a person that needs sleep - I don't need A LOT but what sleep I get

needs to be uninterrupted and good sleep while I get it.

I think it has been 3+ weeks since we have had a full night sleep.

I keep trying to remind myself that I will miss this when it is gone.

Any suggestions about how to get my 3 year old to sleep through the night when she is clearly scared?! We are in the works of remodeling so we can put her room up and ours down ... she will be closer to her brother and not all alone - I pray that this will help her stress some!

Making a move

SO ... Tatum has figured out that at night she is down stairs ALL ALONE.

It all started about 2 months ago when her and Bowden started to "watch" movies.

She doesn't say the words "I'm scared" but she says " I don't like it" which I translate to she is scared!

We have never let them sleep in our bed - but unlike making Bowden CIO (cry it out) for sleeping purposes I CAN'T leave her in her room KNOWING that she is scared.

Even though CIO with Bowden broke my heart I knew it wasn't "hurting him" this is terrifying to her and she understands!

SO we are toying with ideas on how to make her more comfortable.

She already has 4 (yes 4) night lights in her room AND the light in the bathroom which is connected to her room we leave on.

IT DOESN'T HELP ...

SO we are trying to figure out if we will:

1. put her upstairs (our room and Bowdens room is up, hers is the only one down) We could move to her room

2. remodel our extra living room into a master bedroom with attached bathroom (her room and our room would then be down leaving Bowden up by himself)

3. put her and Bowden in our room together ... in separate beds ... our room is HUGE and us move down.

4. Put her in our room alone, us move down and keep Bowden in his room by himself. (would make both up but separate rooms)

Do your kids co-room?! Have they ever?! Is it hard to move them from each other when they get older ... should I just focus on NOW or worry about older? The constant waking up and the 1 hour + that is takes us to get her back in her own bed is killing me ... we have started to let her come into our bed but not until after 5 am ...

HELP!!!

Merry Christmas from The Kemps

SICK HAS TAKEN OVER

We are all sick - Both kids have Strep Throat
Mommy has a ear ache and sinus infection
Just thankful it is this week and not next!

Bzzzz Christmas with my BE's

The host always gives a "gift" the gift always has the year, and place of party. This year Najshula was our host and we went to her house in Clinton, NC ... our gift was a ornament! Love it!
This is the Front

Here is the back of the ornament


This is the 8 of us (Tennille had to go back to feed baby Ellis) @ Walmart shopping for our gifts - this year we donated to toys for tots!

This is our group photo in Naji and Jarrett's back yard! Their house is beautiful!

Amy and JD prayed for baby Will for a long time ... here she is with her baby boy! Loving him fully!

This is me and Ruthie - isn't she adorable - she belongs to BK and Drew!

Had a blast as always .... I miss my SnowBE's already!

Christmas Cards Ordered

OMG I love Shutterfly!

I just used my code and got 50 free cards.

Which saved me over 1/2 of my card costs!

NICE! Merry Christmas to me!

They also gave me a link to share our Christmas card ...

HECK NO!!

It is in the mail!

If you don't get one in the mail - come back here

Jan 1 and I will post it!

Love it!

I also got free shipping - you can get free shipping on any order over $25 with the code ship25!

So will you get your cards from Shutterfly?!

To be honest I had a little bit of a hard time getting the free cards - IF you do it make sure that you chose a 5x7 STATIONERY CARD the link to those specific cards is attached.

I picked a "photo card" and it was not considered a stationery card. Go figure!!! But I called customer care and after a short wait was helped by a very nice man!

Thank you Shutterfly!

Christmas Card

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our house and I am ready to design my Christmas cards! Have you ever used Shutterfly for your Christmas cards?! I used Shutterfly last year for my cards and I loved them!

My favorite card this year is one that allows me to add 5 pictures to it! You can go here and see if they have a Christmas Card you would like. They have so many choices, I really liked the ones with a monogram section but I really liked the one I picked.

I also used shutterfly for the birth announcement of Bowden - IT was adorable!

You know what else is nice about Shutterfly ... they have invitations too! Yes invitations ... you can look at those here.

I have been trying to create a calendar for our parents this year - and Shutterfly does those too. What could be a better gift?! A personalized calender for the grandparents with the little faces they love the most?! Can't think of anything better!

How bout you ... are you doing personalized Christmas cards?!

Did you know that Shutterfly will give you 50 free cards if you blog about it?!

YES you read that right - 50 free cards is you blog about it!

WOW Shutterfly you ROCK!!!

I did a @ home photo shoot yesterday with my kiddos trying to catch a few good shots for our card ... one is above ... and I can promise that Santa was not harmed in the making of the photos!
Did you know if you blog about Shutterfly you can receive 50 free cards too?!
You didn't?!
Well all you have to do it go HERE! It is easy breezy!
Thank you Shutterfly you make photo sharing easy!

Its begining to look a lot like Christmas

Well we got all of our Christmas decorating done this weekend -

I LOVE this time of year!

Our yard looks kinda mix matched because the kids LOVE the big blow up items and I like the more traditional items, but you know it is all up to the kids.

We usually put up 3 trees, but this year we only put up 2 and I love it!

I love to wake to the trees lit, the stair banister covered in lit garland and all the decorations.

Love it!

How bout you?!

Have you decorated yet?!

Pictures to come ... but for now how bout this sneak picture of what I hope to put on our Christmas card -

Our Elves on the Shelves - do you do this?!

Ours are Charlotte and Wilbur

yes the babies LOVE Charlotte's Web!!

This is my attempt in trying to get a good photo for our Christmas cards ... hahah

I did get some good ones but you will have to wait and see it in the mail!

Take 30 -



Tatum being silly with our roses from the garden!

Take 200 -

My Minnie & Mickey

I love Halloween!

I like to see the kids, the families and all the pople that dress up inthe spirit of it all! This year our entire family is playing dress up!

My kids are obsessed with Mickey Mouse! can you guess what we are ...

YEP! We are the Mickey Mouse Club House!

ALL OF US! Even the Grandparents got involved!

We went camping at Daddy Joes Jelly Stone in Tabor City, NC the 1st weekend of October and had a practice run!

Today was the P-A-R-T-Y for daycare! So the kids get to practice again ...

here we all are:

Daddy = Goofy

Mommy= Clarabell

Tatum = Minnie

Bowden = Mickey

Grammie = Daisy Duck

Grampy = Pete

Nanna and Poppie = Oh Toodles


Poppie - as Oh Toodles

Mickey, Clarabell, Goofy and Minnie


Goofy and Frankenstine (friend)

My Mice!

Court Day

Today was our final day of court -

IT WAS HORRIBLE!

I cried and cried.

The "other" people LIED so much!

It actually was sad, and they actually were CAUGHT in several lies.

I am praying that the Judge picked up on that and will remember that they were NOT creditable witnesses.

I have tried to tell myself over and over that I did the right thing.

I was sworn in and I TOLD THE TRUTH!
The WHOLE truth, even when I knew the answer wasn't going to "help us."

My company has been owed $451,000+ dollars for 2 years now ... going on 2 years 2 months and it has been HORRIBLE!

The wait has been horrible, it has put a bind in my relationships with my parents, my husband, my workers and most importantly my babies!

It has mentally crushed me!

But the WORST part of all was the lies.

How does a man put his hand on the bible and stand up there and LIE?!

Really that is HORRIBLE!

I am so sorry for them, that they have to live life that way - knowing that they LIED!

I am trying to remain positive that I did MY job the best I could and I TOLD THE TRUTH through out the court process!

Right now the Judge ordered that the lawyers give a "summation" of the trial. (aprox 30 days)

Then the Judge will have aprox 30 days to determine her decision.

I am going to try and stay positive!

Please pray for my strength!

Unanswered prayers ... maybe not

Over here @ Kellys Korner she posted about wanting something so badly and thinking that God wasn't answering or hearing ... it then lead over here ... to Amy's sight. SO ... we are all sharing stories about how God finally answered our prayers -

My story starts in college 93-2000 (yes I was on the 7 year plan)

I came out of HS with a bad reputation and with HORRIBLE grades.

I got to college and realized this was my life - I had to take control.

Actually my soccer coach said shape up or ship OUT!

My friends ... soccer was my LIFE!

Anyway I prayed and prayed but really what was I praying for- to be good?!

That was all up to me! So I finally stopped praying for that!

I made it through college, with 2 serrious boyfriends (at different times hahah)

Neither of them turned into a life time partner.

I finally graduated with 2 majors and 3 minors.

Then the search was on for a JOB, Hubby, and of course that family that everyone so wants.

I knew I wouldn't get everything I wanted.

Moved home to live with my parents.

I applied for job after job teaching, my parents gave me 6 months of rent free living and then it was OUT of the house I was to go.

I started to beg God to help me find a JOB, a place to live and of course a good boy.

One day on the way to a interview I stopped @ my dads work (he owns a construction company) to bring him lunch - he was in a horrible mood. He was writing all the billings, payables, and payroll in a book with a pencil ... did I tell you it was 2000?!

I asked him why he didn't have computers "those things are too much trouble."

I saw the light - Dad I will come here work for you and I will set up some computers so they are all connected ... blah blah blah and I will substitute teach until I can get a full time job.

Told him he could pay me the least of any employee he had.

I went home and started to research construction software.

I came to work that Monday -

I got the company up and running my dad was amazed.

Then I found a cute little house that needed LOTS OF TLC.

My dad and I made a plan - he agreed to help me fix it up and he helped me get a loan.

I got a small raise because business was picking up (now that we could track stuff we were making more money)

Then it all just fell in place ... ALL IN GODS time!

By 2004 I was married to a wonderful man, 2007 baby 1 was born and 2008 baby 2 was born!

GODs big plan was baby #2.

He was a HUGE surprise. BIG Surprise.

I cried and cried I didn't want a baby - I already had a baby (she was only 5 months old)

Today we are a perfect family of 4 still at times questioning if God is hearing us, but I know he is. I just look back over the years and see all that has happened - I feel him surrounding me - I know my babies 14 months apart is the BEST thing that ever happened to me!

They are wonderful and really it was a blessing in disguise!

Oh yeah I am now the VP of my dads company and I have helped take it from 300,000 a year to doing over 5.3 million 2 years ago. Construction is currently slow right now, but we are still here and surviving!

New Baby

Okay ... TOO funny not to share!
Daddy told Tatum and Bowden that they could go to *Wal*Mart if they were good on Saturday while he was away ...
We took them today to pick their toys.
Tatum picked THIS DOLL

She begged Daddy to let her take it to bed.

He tucked them in, read them a story and kissed both of them night night.

He said the "baby doll" was sleeping as well as Tatum when I got done putting Bowden down.

I got a tea, snack and sat down with my lap top, not 2 minutes later ...

Tatum was SCREAMING and CRYING like she was being HURT.

I went running in ...

me: "Honey what is wrong?"

Tatum: "My baby wont stop crying"

me: "it is okay baby, sometimes babies cry. she needs her paci"

I then put her paci in her mouth and started to sing and pat both of their backs.

I thought "they" were both asleep

Tatum: "mommy why did she cry?"

me: "sometimes babies cry honey"

Tatum: "well you take her to your room, I need to sleep"

are you kidding me ... I almost fell on the floor!

HAHAHAHAHAH

Just like her momma!