For all those who come to this happy place, Welcome!

I've officially turned into my mom. We all know it will happen to us eventually and bit by bit we watch our sanity slip away and we hear her phrases issue from our mouths. Well, yesterday I broke down. I turned into my mom, "a Saturday slave driver". Saturday mornings at my house growing up were always about doing chores. I remember we had to be home from sleep overs at 9am (the very latest) & then we'd clean like mad until noon or 1pm. When she would release us from bondage. I stepped into those shoes yesterday. It's no fun trying to clean 9 months pregnant & my kids would lay in front of the TV all day if I let them. Normally they are just in charge of keeping their bedrooms clean or helping me pick up around the house or do special projects (like wash walls). This week we indulged in some deep cleaning. James helped clean the main bathroom, vacuumed his bedroom, and put away his laundry. Paige cleaned my bathroom, vacuumed the front room and her b...

Yesterday I started my weekly OB appts. She checked & of course I wasn't dilated and the baby had a firm grip on my insides. This one will probably have to be drug out kicking & screaming like the other two were, but on the brighter side - the Dr. said since James was 10lbs. 2 oz. They will induce me at 39 weeks! That's just 4 weeks from now and two weeks earlier than I had anticipated. I am so ecstatic! It looks like baby Buchanan will come closer to Sept 11th instead of later. How cool is that?

Na na na na ... na na na na - hey hey hey Goodbye! We bid farewell to our disease carrying rats! It was hard for Paige to say goodbye. She was attached to these little stinkers and woke up the morning after they left us with tears in her eyes. She knows it is for the best, but lately we've had a really crappy track record with household pets. I think we might be in the "dog only" category . This is the reason they are gone. James developed this red patch on the back of his head in the early part of June. His hair fell out and we took him into the dermatologist. He said he needed to run some tests and gave us a topical ointment for other stuff. A week later his lymph nodes got huge and he went through a miserable weekend with a temperature, I assumed it was a flu bug or sinus infection. I took him to the pediatrician and she said he had picked up a bacteria & a fungus and started him on antibiotics for 10 days & a fungal treatment that would last 3 months. Th...

Paige started her 1st day of 1st grade. I can't believe how time flies & just think next year I will almost be alone... well, just me & angel baby Buchanan, but that will be just fine. Paige was so excited last night & kept getting out of bed that I threatened to " home school " her if she didn't stay in bed. She was pretty cooperative after that. She loves school and I think she knows all the damage I would inflict socially & by stunting her educational growth. It amazes me how smart she is. I really think she doesn't get that from me. She has been reading all summer and tonight she offered to read a bedtime story to James. Umm ... sure a few minutes to myself - what on earth will I do with it? She'll be a smarty like her dad. Hopefully James will be determined like his mom (not too much going on up stairs, but good social skills and determined to finish grad school no matter if he's still paying on school loans from the nursing home). ...

We have finally outgrown our lil VW Passat . After careful consideration we decided we couldn't cram 3 kids in car seats in the back and since it is paid off it would be nice to not share a car with my motorcycle riding husband when the weather isn't so peachy. So we are keeping "Snow White" for Jason's communing needs and his motorcycle for... (not so sure of the reason here.) We knew we needed something bigger then a sedan, but with gas prices so high I didn't want anything that would cost more then my mortgage to fill up every week or so. My friend Abbey told me about the Honda Pilot and how fantastic it was bla , bla , bla . I wasn't too interested - until my dad came to AZ and was helping me car shop. Once I did a little research on gas mileage of minivans & SUV's and all the different makes & models and actually test drove one, I was hooked. It is great. We bought a used 2003 sea foam greenish color. Paige & James are debating ...

Normally when I drive home from Utah it's just me & the kids and we've done it for like 5 summers & is really not a big deal... but I've also never been 8 months pregnant and ready to pop! This year my dad offered to drive me home and then fly back to Utah. It was so great since my nephew also road with us as far as Las Vegas. I've never driven the Las Vegas way except maybe once years and years ago - anyway, my dad made sure we were on track an didn't get lost. My mom loves driving this way for Hoover Dam, which I admit is pretty cool - but it takes like 3 hours longer (especially since the huge mega-bridge is under construction & everyone has to stop & stare) and when it's 114' degrees out and your a/c just isn't up to par with your internal body heater that kicks you in the ribs every so often just to make sure you haven't forgotten her/him... not worth it for me. I ended up only driving about 2 or 3 hours and my dad was "tr...

We drove up to Utah on July 22 nd and had a day to get ready & help my parents pack. For me that meant shopping with my mom and sisters & coming up with meals. It was hectic as it always is, but lots of fun. Once the chaos subsides and your on your way things really get exciting. This was our first " Byrnes Family Reunion" and we almost had everyone here this year (we missed Sunny & Alli). It was also our first time at Bear Lake. Only a 3 hour drive from my parents which was really nice since most years the minimum is 6 hours. This is Paige & Jackson in the water (I forgot my camera & had to steal this pic from my sissy's blog) This was basically the view from our camp site. We stayed at Rendezvous Beach state park (which means flushing toilets, water, and hot showers) basically luxurious camping for us - we who are used to holes in the ground and "bathing" in the local lake, freezing cold creek, or paying astronomical amounts of $ for ...