100 Posts and Counting!...

Well, we did it!  We're officially centenarians!  Ok, not really.  The blog would have to be on the verge of celebrating it's 100th anniversary, rather than it's 100th post, but since there's not a snowball's chance in Florida of that happening we're gonna just say that we're centenarians!  

In honor of this milestone, along with the fact that we are just around the corner from our First Anniversary, we have relaunched the blog!  Along with out new look we have changed our name, (because we can!)  We are now "From Diapers to Driver's Licenses... Adventures of the Super Nanney"!  One would think that I would know a lot more than I do, having watched all these munchkins trade in their diapers for driver's licenses, but truthfully I often wonder how I could have so much more still to learn!  But let's not forget that while they may all be out of diapers, we only have 3 with licenses, so I guess that by the time they are all able to drive then I'll be the wisest of the wise!  By the way, the meaning of my name is "small, wise one".  I can't begin to dispute in how many ways that description is off!  That is SO not me!  

I hope you all like the new look of the blog, and I want to thank Julie and Coley over at LeeLou Blogs for our beautiful new look!  Thanks for putting up with me and creating such an amazing blog.  It is everything I imagined it would be, from the pink to the paisleys!  I am so blown away!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Take a few minutes to look around and admire all their hard work. 

And lastly, thanks to  all of you for reading all of these crazy musings!  If it wasn't for you all reading them, then I'd have no reason to write these things down!

Well, I'm off to finish decorating for Christmas!  Lots of work to be done!!!

Gator Farms and Light Houses

As of Monday, we are officially on Thanksgiving break!  And you all know what "break" means around here; "I'm bored so find something to keep me occupied, but it BETTER not be lame!"  So in an effort to amuse and not lose the little ones, we come up with a plan.  Well, sort of.  We came up with a plan for Monday.  We'll take the other days as they come. 

The plan was to go on a field trip to St. Augustine!  So we packed a picnic lunch and headed off to the Alligator Farm.  My sister and her kids joined us and contributed many humorous moments.  Like when Cora gazed into one of the gator enclosures and says, "Hims gots big teefs!"  Or when Duece finally wormed his way out of the stroller and started bounding about in a fit of energy.  As he chased himself around in circles he chanted, "I runnin'!  I runnin'!"  The Williemas loved chasing them around and doting on them!  Celine is such a little mother, and took good care of Cora and Deuce.  In fact all my kids took special interest in the Johns kids, and they loved showering them with attention, almost more than the little ones enjoyed receiving it!  

After an extended stint in the gift shop, we loaded up and headed over to the Light House.  We picnicked at the little park there, and the kids took this opportunity to burn off some energy and climb the beautiful old trees that shade the park.  As children, Katie and I climbed those very same trees, swung on those same swings, hung from the very monkey bars the kids were swaying upside down on, and giggled in much the same way as these children did all those years ago as we played hide and seek with our childhood friends.  It was wonderful to see these children, who I love so dearly, play in the very places my sister and I did when were little girls.  It's for reasons such as these that I cherish living in the town I grew up in.  I have never been so anxious to have my own children to share these moments with.  I keep reminding myself that it's all in God's time.

We then walked over to the light house that is just across the street.  The kids, Donna, Meghan and the older kids climbed to the top of the light house, and loved every step along the way!  Katie and I stayed on solid ground with the little ones, Cora and Deuce.  It was neat to see the kids way up at the top as they waved and called down to us.  Cora and Deuce kept us quite busy and entertained.  Cora went around "reading" all the signs, and Deuce having discovered that he is in fact a boy, took get delight in throwing anything that he found laying about on the ground.  Unfortunately the flower beds were lined with small white rocks that he would throw hand fulls of at a time.  After touring the Light Keeper's house that has been converted into a museum, we said our fair wells, and headed home.  It was a long, but wonderful day!  I am so happy that I could share it with my favorite sister and her adorable childrens.  And so happy that our kids could spend a little more time together.  Thanks for joining up, Katie, Alexis, Cora, and Deuce!  You'll have to watch the slid show I made of our fun day!  I'm warning you!  It's a long one, but it was a LONG day!

 
 

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Lastly, the new blog is COMPLETE!  In case you haven't been counting, this is my 99th blog post!  So the relaunch will either be in honor of the 100th post, or our FIRST ANNIVERSARY!  That's officially on the 6th, so depending on how long it takes to load the new layout, we'll have our new look and our new name!!!!  So keep checking back often to see the new us!!!

Until then:

Be good and God bless!

P.S.  Have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving! Please know that I am counting everyone of you as one of blessings!  Thanks for so faithfully reading the blog!  I love reading your comments!  God bless you and your families!

 

3-2-1: RE-LAUNCH!

How exciting is this?  I just received the first proof for the blog's new look!  And let me tell you, it looks cute, cute, cute!  I can't give you a sneak peak, but just think PINK, and girlie, and paisleys!  ( I love me some paisleys!)  

I am so excited about this new look, but that's not all that will be getting a makeover.  The name of the blog will be undergoing a change as well.  The address won't change, just the title of the blog.  While "A Day in the Life..." has served me well over the past year, I have never been satisfied with  it.  It wasn't very imaginative or original, so I've come up with a new title.  Sorry!   I'm afraid you won't be getting an inside look at that either.  I want it all to be a big surprise! 

The kids have been having a lot of fun putting their two cents in during this entire process.  Well, I guess that would be 8 cents if we're adding up the input from the 4 youngest.  They're the only ones who really care.  The older ones like to ignore that I have a blog at all.  They say it's embarrassing.  Where did they ever get the idea that I would embarrass them on here?  Maybe it's because of all the posts they've read (all TWO of them) they involved some crazy,  wacky stunt the little munchkins pulled.  They have some nightmare-ish idea that I might post their less than stellar grades and list all of their bad habits in alphabetical order.  Like I have time to list them, much less alphabetize them!  Huh!  Yeah right!  (By the way, they actually have stellar grades, for the most part, so that fear is totally unfounded!)   Needless to say, I am all but forbidden to blog about them.  Besides, it's the little ones that do all the cute and funny things I love to share.  The big kids are usually nowhere to be found or sitting like lumps on the couch, with the only sign of life being the non-stop clicking of the keys as they text their BFF's.  All of whom they just saw for the past 8 hours in school!  Let's face it, there's not really much that's blog-worthy about that!  I guess I'll never understand that about teens...

In short, the blog is coming!  The blog is coming!  I am very excited.  And I am barred from blogging about the older kids.  Period.  Wow, I like the little re-cap idea! Maybe I should start adding that at the end of each blog.  Maybe not.  Ok.  Not. 

So for now, until the next post...

Be good and God bless!

Mourning the Loss of a Good, Dear Friend...

Today is a sad, sad day for me.   I have experienced the loss of a dear friend, one who has shared my most cherished moments.  Someone who has been around for but a short while, not yet a year, but in that time we've grown very close, and I've come to depend upon this special someone.  Have you ever had someone in your life that you relied upon, someone you knew you could count on, no matter what?  Someone that was always there?  For every birthday, every holiday, every smile, every funny face or silly/ goofy moment?  Someone who you allowed to see the REAL you, flaws and all.   This someone was that someone for me.  

He really had seen me at my best and at my worst.  And even without makeup!  He was there to witness all the important, meaningful moments in my life this past year!  I just can't believe he's gone!  I never knew life until I had experienced it through his eyes.  He brought out a creative side of me I never knew I had, until I met him.  And now he's gone.

It started as a simple acquaintance.  I'd seen him just before Christmas in the bustle of Christmas shopping.  I made the first move- (that is SO not like me!), and we hit it off right away.  It was an easy friendship, and we'd get together every now and then.  I didn't want to give him the impression that I was obsessive, and I'll be honest- he could be a bit clicky.  But he overlooked my faults and I happily overlooked his.  To be honest we were perfect for each other.  He wasn't capable of a long term relationship- he just wasn't made for one, and I was hoping to find someone who I could spend some time with, you know, like at family get-togethers or just to hang out with.  After a while I realized that I really liked having him around, and we saw each other quite frequently: everyday, sometimes several times a day.  No matter what was going on, he was there for me.  I came to depend on his being there, supporting me, experiencing life with me.  Sadly, I took our friendship for granted.  Now I don't think I'll ever have the chance to tell him all that he meant to me.   

Today, when I reached out to him, as I've come to rely on doing, he wasn't there.  Well, he was there, but... man this is hard- he just had this blank stare, like he wasn't really there anymore.  He was just a shell, that which made him- special,  was gone.  All that remained was a cold, hard exterior.  Not at all the someone I had come to know and cherish.  According to the specialists, there could be a bit of hope that he could return to be with me, and continue our friendship.  I would love for that to be true, but I'm also realistic.  Even if he can snap out of this and go back to the someone I know and love, it will be a long and lengthy recovery.  It could takes weeks or even a month for him to fully recover.  And then, and only then, if there's no other choice, then I will have to say goodbye, and accept that it is time to move on.  The only upside to this emotionally draining situation is that I might just get a brand new someone out of this experience!  

OK- incase you hadn't guessed it yet- the someone I've been referring to is my beloved Nikon CoolPix Camera.  Today it called it quits.  I have mixed feelings over this, but thankfully I purchased the extended warrantee for the little guy, and the nice people over at Ritz Camera will be sending him off to the Nikon Hospital to be looked at.  If he can't be fixed then they will issue me a new little buddy, but either way I'm going to be without my camera for the next few weeks.  That's the part that stinks!  I literally use this thing EVERY DAY!  It captures all the funny, crazy, cutesy things the kids do each and every day.  I do have another camera.  A pretty nice one, in fact, but the convenience, and portability of My Ni just can't be beat.  I've even written him a little ditty to show my devotion and appreciation of all that he has done for me over the past 11 months.  I'll share a line of it with you as a tribute to our friendship: 

 "Nothing you could say could tear me away from My Ni! My Ni!  There's nothing you could do, cause I'm stuck like glue to My Ni!  My Ni!" 

Ok!  OK!  I ripped that off from Mary Wells, but it fits.  And I'm mourning- so cut me some slack!

In closing, I'll leave you with a final picture of the one who brought so many other pictures into my life.  Hopefully there will be many more pictures to share in the future.  (And hopefully it won't be a too distant future!)

 

"My Ni"-broken, and battered, but well loved!

 

Be Good and God bless!

P.S. Meg, now I can say that I know how you felt a few months ago!  It's just so hard...

Wern's 17 Today!

Holy cow! I can NOT believe that Warren turned 17 today!  So much has changed since I met that sweet, shy boy ten years ago!  His name for one- he prefers to be called Wern (rhymes with Vern).  I'm not sure why- it's something he picked up at school a few years back.  His dad has always called him "W", but his buddies gave him this most recent one.  He's also changed what is a common obsession with young boys- computers, into a genuine plausible future career- film making.   Some of you have seen the amazing short films he has written, produced and directed over the past few years.  In fact he's become quite well known in his school as the resident movie machine!  He's really talented, and has begun looking at universities that will teach him how to be a better film maker.  We are very proud of the man he's becoming!  That thought in itself is a HUGE change!  To have to look up to him, rather than crouch down to be eye to eye with him, is yet another change.  At 6'1" he towers above me!  There are times when I still catch glimpses of the the boy he was, I don't think that I could have ever imagined the man he would one day become.  What's amazing is that he's not done yet!  He's just a Junior in high school, and while is extremely mature, he is far from being "grown".  Like when he's playing the XBOX, or he starts fiddling with legos that are just laying around, or when he wrestles with his younger brothers.  These are the times I cherish, and make a mental note of.  It's these moments that will only become fewer and fewer as time goes by.

To Warren!  One of my favoritest 17 year olds in the whole world!  Thank you for the laughs, and all the wonderful moments you have shared with me!  I love ya, and I can't wait for the next 10 years!

In honor of Wern's 17th B Day, here's one his first productions.  It stars his little brother, Grant.  

Be good and God bless!

Welcome home, B-I-L!

Just wanted to welcome my B-I-L (brother-in-law) back home!  He's been away for many moons now, training for the FL NG, and his absence has been tough on my sister and their adorable kiddos.   Everyone was very excited to see Daddy.  Please keep Katie, Chris and their family in your prayers as they begin to prepare for Chris'  imminent deployment to Iraq in May.  As difficult as it has been on their family to have been apart for these past 6 months, it will surely be much more difficult to bear this next separation.   We can only thank God that my sister has the love and support of not only her family but Chris' as well as a wonderful pool of friends!   We will all be rallying 'round her and the kids, and sending Chris all our prayers.  I've already decided that, should he be deployed as planned, he will be adopted as our "soldier" and I've got the first several care packages planned out to send to him.  I think for now I'll take the attitude of an infamous character, Scarlett O'Hara.  "I'll think about that tomorra.  Tomorra's anotha daay!"  

Until then...

God bless our troops, and God bless America, and Be GOOD!

"Grantsylvania"- a nice place to visit, but...

I wouldn't want to live there!   Especially if all I have to look forward to is being a trash collector!  Here's the story:

Grant, being bored with his History assignment to fill in the names of the states along the East cost on a worksheet, decided to occupy his idle mind by drawing a new island off the cost of Florida.  When Meg asked him what he was doing he said that he was plotting "Grantsylvania", his new la la land.  When I asked if I could live there he graciously agreed!  Being the aspiring politician that I am, (HA!  yeah right.) I asked Grant if I could be mayor or Governor, or something along those lines.  

He replied, "Nope, that's my job!"  

"Really, well, what job can I have?"

"Ummm, you could be the trash collector, or the boat parker!"

"Boat parker?!  What's a boat parker?  And, by the way, I refuse to be the trash picker-uper!"

"That's the dude who parks all the boats!  There's no cars, only boats.  Grantsylvania is anisland, so there are LOTS of boats to park, doll face."  (Did he just call me doll face?  PUNK!)

So, rather than moving to an island smack in the path of EVERY hurricane that passes over the Atlantic- I've decided to create my own la la land.  (Some people tell me that I already live in my own little world, anyway) and I shall name it : "Shannonslovikia".  Sounds cold, but I like the weather to be a little cooler.   

Celine is feeling much better today, and I am as well.  It's amazing how much getting a good night sleep can change your outlook in life.  Today looks to be a lot better!  We off to see Madagascar 2.  For some reason His Royal Awesomeness Grant, as he prefers to be called, has called me Gloria for the past few years.  Well, since the last movie came out at least!  It's cute, but I'm having a hard time keeping up with all these nicknames!  It was so much easier when they all just called me Nana! OHHHHH!  I miss those days!  OK, I'm getting sappy, time to sign off!

One last note.  I wan to try this new feature on Blogger.  Here is a picture of Grantsylvania.  Would you like to live here?  Just click one of the boxes below to let me know!

Be good and God bless!

Beware the Red Eyed Monster!!

I have no clue what's wrong with me!!!   I am in such a stinky mood today!  I'm more snappy than a crocodile, and meaner than a grizzly bear!  Maybe it's hormones, maybe I really need a vacation, maybe I'm just a horribly mean person!  I don't know, but I'm not a very happy camper today.   I've had flu like symptoms for a few days now, but nothing horrible enough to send me to my bed.  Maybe that has me off my game?  

Whatever the reason for my foul mood, the kids are getting the brunt of it.  Not Celine, she's sickly, bad sickly.  High fever, nausea,  viciously red throat, basically the works!  So she has been safely sequestered downstairs, far from the reaches of meanie me.  Brian on the other hand... he's not had much fun today.  I usually have quite a bit of patience.  Especially in school.  I'm no Job, but do I understand that they are learning new things, and that is never easy!  No, today is a general lack of patience, which results in a serious lack in sense of humor.  So things that I would normally shrug off, or laugh off are really ruffling my feathers!  Earlier, I scared poor Brian so bad that he scratched himself with his own pencil!  I'm driving them to self mutilation!!!!  Seriously, it was just a tiny red mark, not even red, pink- light pink.  And when Meghan suggested to the boys that they have an early lunch and eat the McDonald's their dad brought home for them while it was hot, they about killed each other fleeing the room!  While I know that they were vying to see who could reach the food first, I did wonder for a brief second if it wasn't them trying to escape me...  hahaha.  

The good thing is that school's almost over.  I only have to do Religion with Grant and JP.  That won't be a problem.  God ALWAYS gives me the graces and patience I need to make that subject interesting and enjoyable.  I think that's the ONE subject they should really look forward to, and for the most part they do.  They say that "nice Shanny" teaches Religion.  I just wonder who teaches the other subjects... "the Red-eyed monster"?  (Meg teaches JP and Grant all their other subjects and I teach Brian and Celine all of theirs.  Meg is the "sweet" one!)

I'm gonna go eat some lunch myself and see if my mood doesn't improve.

Sad Day...

I should blog today.  It's supposedly a "historic" day.  While I recognize that the election of the first African-American to the office of President of the United States of America is history making, I can't help my wonder that if this same man won't be remembered through history as the man you brought our great country to it's demise.  I'm not in much of a good mood right now, and therefore not in the best frame of mind to be publishing a post.  It just wouldn't be the light funny entry you all have come to expect from me.   

As a avid defender of Life, I am most concerned what this man will do to our children in the name of "Choice".  My heart is breaking.  I'm mourning the country I knew, and dreading the country we are about to become.  If you weren't before, then PLEASE pray for our great nation.  A nation that was founded on the belief that our God is a MIGHTY God, and founded by man and women who wanted to live in a land where the people worshiped and served Him, so to be a light to ALL nations.  

We DO serve a mighty God, may He have mercy on us and our children.  May He not retract His blessing upon the United States.  And may He protect those who cannot protect themselves: our children.

God bless America

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas; PRAY FOR US!

God bless, and pray fervently...

One Voice...

It's Election Day!  Why we're still calling it "Election Day" is beyond me.  We've had 2 weeks to cast our vote, not counting all of the early votes sent in by absentee ballot.  Why don't we just go ahead and call it "Election Deadline", but then again, that's not even accurate, due to all the absentee ballots that will be sent in after today!  A little voting fact for you... I was informed yesterday that election officials don't even count the absentee ballots unless the race is VERY close.    Now I'm not sure about this piece of information, but that doesn't sound very constitutional to me.  I wouldn't doubt it, though.  

I did join in with the hundreds of thousands of Americans who opted to vote early.  I went Saturday and cast my vote at the library.  I was surprised by the 20 minute line!  But I think that I'm more surprised my the numbers of people that I'm hearing from that DIDN'T vote early.  Not that it matters, as long as you exercise your right to vote, you can do so at 6:59 p.m., for all I care.  I just thought most people would want to avoid the wait, seeing as there are record numbers predicted for the polls today.  While this does prove to be an historic election, I just pray that it's one we don't end up lamenting for decades to come.  We so desperately need a Godly leader, and it is for that I am praying for.

The kids are getting in on the voting bandwagon.  They're too young to understand the issues, but they definitely understand the importance and enormity of this election.  Celine has a game she plays in the car.  When she sees an Obama sign she cries, "BOOOOOOO", and she'll say, "YEAAHHH!" when she sees a McCain sign.  When I asked JP who he was voting for he said, "Me!  John Paul for President!"  I mentioned to him that he was too young to be President, he replied, "Not Class President!"  Grant went as McCain for Halloween, and his cousin went as Obama, but had a sign taped to his back that read "Vote for McCain!"  Brian hasn't had much to say, but I know that his mind is working overtime!  Even more interesting was the fact the Colette came home today proclaiming that she had got into a heated discussion with a boy in her class that was claiming that it wasn't "sinful" to support a woman's "right to choose".  When she asked how he could even think that abortion wasn't sinful he told her that supporting the right to choose wasn't the same as supporting abortion.  This debate lasted over several class periods.  I was very proud that she was supporting and defending Life.  It amazes me that even our youngest can grasp the importance of this election.   I just hope and pray that our fellow Americans grasp the enormity of the outcome of this day.

Be good, and may God bless America!