Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we went to Rod's older sister's house to visit for a few hours. We had a good time and lots of laughs. Always good to be with family during the holidays. Below are a few pictures from the evening









Rod talking with brother-in-law Dan



Two of Rod's nephews, Justin and Jason along with Justin's wife Emily



Rod's older sister Janiece




Zach playing around with some deer antlers from one of Dan's catches



The kids playing with the nintendo Wii. A favorite!

We arrived!

We got to my parents about 12:30 AM Saturday night. We were so tired and thought we would wait to unload the van. But decided we just better do it and get it over with.BRRRRR was it cold. We surely woke up out in the wind. Needless to say it was a long process because the van was not cooperating. The fender kept getting stuck on the dolly. We finally got it off and visited a few minutes and headed to bed about 1:15 am. It made for a short night!! We were up and to church on time believe it or not. Without breakfast and coffee in tow. Thus the video below of Meagan chowing on cherios in church. It is quite chilly here. The temperature after church was 30 degrees with a wind chill of -1 degrees and 30 mile per hour winds. It definately felt like the wind was going through you.
We got to see and talk to several people after church. It's always nice to see familiar faces.









We got to see Stephanie Burley and her new baby Allison. She is a cutie! I tried to smuggle her home with me. Think anyone would notice?





After lunch we had a ear waxing party. It's really interesting what you get out of your ears.






Brittany decided to take this video in church of Meagan chowing down on her breakfast. She was one hungry little one.Guess that's what happens when you don't have time for breakfast first.Sorry it's sideways. I did turn right side up, but it downloaded wrong. I really don't want to figure out why.




Later Sundy evening it really started to pepper down the snow. It didn't last too long. And this video doesn't really do it justice.

On the Road

This has pretty much been the gloomy scenery we have seen



Aren't my blondies cute?



We pretty much all look like bums on the second day of traveling



Lucy makes herself at home inbetween the front seats



Rod gets the fun job!



Zach by a big truck in the racing store



On one of our gas stops, Rod and the kids spotted some cars across the street. I think it was some type of racing store. So they stopped and went in, While Meagan & I stayed in the Motorhome and made sandwiches for lunch



This is Meag barely out of Hobe Sound!

Well lets see, where do I begin. The ultimate goal was to try and be on the road at noon on Friday. Lets just say that was a goal but it wasn't met and I knew going into it after Thursday it would not be realistic.
After a late night on Thursday I slept until almost 9 AM. That's late for me. But givin the circumstances it was needed, but yet not long enough. I woke up tired and remained that way all day!
We started with Breakfast and from there proceeded to clean the house and pack the motorhome. Now I usually like several days to do all this, take my time and organize as I go, do laundry etc. But it just didn't happen this time. My boss wouldn't let me off work to do any of this. He just can't live without me or find anything at the office if I'm not there.
I saw right away this was going to be a one sided thing. I was going to kill myself doing it all because the kids were too interested in checking out their presents they had opened. This was definately not the way we like to do Christmas. But circumstances just made it this way this year. Anyhow, I finally realized after awhile that trying to clean and pack at the same time wasn't working other than washing clothes and drying, so the program had to change. We decided packing needed to be the priority and then cleaning last.
Lets just say, my house isn't as clean as I would like it to be when we leave, but it will be there waiting for me when I get back.
We finally proceeded to get in the motorhome and try and head out about 3pm. Hey only 3 hrs off schedule, not too bad. Wrong! Rod had a few stops to make and I did too, so he went with the kids and motorhome and trailer and I went another way and we met up and hooked on the van out by 95 at cracker barrel. Well, of course we still needed some groceries and we had failed to eat lunch, so a stop was in order. We made it to Pt. St. Lucie and grabbed McD's and got some things at Target and hit the Ft, Pierce Turnpike about 7pm. Where did all that time go?
Needless to say, we drove untill 12:30AM , we were just south of Valdosta Ga when we stopped. We slept and got on the road about 8AM this morning.
It's 6:30pm and we have just hit the Kentucky line. Yeah! only about 4hrs or so to go. I guess it will be a late night. It's cold!! 50 degrees.

Christmas at home

This week has been so busy at work and just packed full with last minute shopping and whatever else you want to throw in there. We finally came to the conclusion we were going to try and leave for Ohio on Friday. Thats a whole other blog! We worked a little late on Wednesday and then headed to the mall to try to finish up some shopping. That proved to be a late night of about 11:30pm when we got home. And up early to take the motor home to get the oil changed before heading to the office at 9Am. After trying to finalize things before leaving and giving the office a good cleaning we headed home to wrap presents and eat dinner. When Grandma Kathy got there after work about 10:30 pm we had our Christmas. Meagan was tired and not a happy camper for the first part until she realized what was happening. The other kids were more than ready to tear into it and we were up till about 1AM playing and trying to get some kind of organization done of everything they had just received. needless to say I fell into bed exhausted but yet my head spinning at the thought of packing on Friday.

So much to do, So little time......

Here we are set up with our mobile office in a development that we received the go ahead to quote and write several homes in that area.
We have been super busy with about 300 homeowners to talk to and see.




This is a picture of the big tree in our church that we sang in during the annual singing tree. Here the school band is playing for the Birthday offering for Jesus.





Rod decided we were going to paint our house in the midst of me singing in the tree. I came home to him and Britt painting one night. Unfortunately we have been so busy it still isn't done. So I have multicolored walls. Beautiful!!




This past Saturday evening our development wanted everyone to participate in lighting candles in bags along your property. Not everyone participated, but those who did looked very nice. Several people also had food and people walked around looking at lights and sampling food. It was nice to be able to take a little time to socialize with friends and neighbors in the rush of the season.


And finally we were down the street visiting with the Martins. She had some great cajun caviar. Yum!



I am looking forward to closing the office and heading home for a few days to Ohio. Hopefully we won't hit any nasty weather. I have plenty to do to get ready to leave, a motorhome to pack, house to clean and paperwork at the office to finalize and an office to clean before leaving. Someone give me some energy!! I Need A Vacation!!

Taking time out to enjoy a program

Friday morning at Andrea's school all the kindergarten classes had a little christmas program. Each class got up and sang a different song along with a pre- recorded tape (well probably a CD) and each class had to dress the part. Andrea's class sang about Santa so they wore a santa hat, others sang frosty and therefore wore a black paper hat like frosty and so on. We were then invited back to their classroom for a treat.
I wasn't sure we would really be able to go because of the work schedule. But decided that work would just have to wait because my kids were more important. It's sometimes hard to put things into perspective, but I have to step back and look at the big picture. Andrea was happy we were there, but also a little shy about the whole thing.




I also have a short video of Andrea's class singing their song. Unfortunately from where I was I couldn't see her very well. She is behind a little girl who is just going to town at her dancing and singing. Andrea isn't putting much into it herself.

The Christmas Parade

packing for the parade



The packing crew eating dinner



More of the crew eating dinner



We spent the better part one evening packing bags and things to hand out in the parade. We can't say we don't spend alot of time at the office. I think it has become our home and we just visit our house occasionally. We have alot of fun working together. But time does seem to be a big factor.

That's just a portion of the local parade. Seemed smaller this year. Alot to get ready. But I guess they enjoyed being in it.

Thanksgiving and beyond

This is a little glimpse of Thanksgiving and days after. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of our meal. But it was yummy!Plenty of food!
Only a few pictures from that day and the rest are on Saturday after putting up the tree.
Life has been super busy, and unfortunately I just don't have much time to blog.
As we speak here , I am sitting at the office waiting for the parade to start with Rod,Kevin and the kids in it. Pictures will follow hopefully later.

Happy 9th Birthday Zachary!!

My only little boy turned nine years old on Sunday Nov. 18th. He is spoiled rotten since he is the only boy in the family. It's hard to believe how fast he is growing up. We had a little party for him Sunday afternoon. Of course as usual I let each one pick their special birthday meal. He chose Lasagna and garlic bread. A very simple meal to put together, and of course another wonderful cake by our friend Cindy Marroquin. She does such a beautiful job decorating. We had a few people over, our good friend Gay, our new neighbor and friend Larissa Hunter and her parents who were in town, Zola & Stanley and Grandma Brown.
Life is so busy right now. That's another whole blog to come later. But it's nice to sit back one day and celebrate life. Happy birthday Zach Man! We love you lots!

The last week....where did it go?

Where do I begin? This past week has flown by. We have been very busy in the office, and I just haven't had time to be on the internet for myself too much. So I am a little slow in posting, so we'll do the last week all in one shot.
Let's start off with Meagan. She ran into the corner of the glass table in our dining room. One of the kids were chasing her and guess she hit it just right. I had just taken the corner bumpers off about 2 weeks ago. So, we had blood everywhere and she got a nice shiner out of it. It's looking better each day. Thank goodness she didn't need any stitches.
We also had tropical storm Noel moving through our area and we received lots of rain. So this was making it impossible to dodge the raindrops and try and go door to door for trick or treating. So, we opted for the comforts of indoors and headed to the mall. This was our first experience doing the mall thing. And boy was it an experience. We entered the mall through JCPenneys. Went out into the hall and Boom! There were hundreds of people standing in a line. So you squeezed in line with the rest and made your way around the mall in a circle. They had people stationed outside the stores with candy handing each child like one piece. Needless to say after many people running you over and walking for hours. We came away with barely anything. We had 4 bags going and got not quite a candy dish full when we got home. So lets chalk that one up as experience. I suppose everyone went to the mall with the same idea of staying dry. There were hundreds of people everywhere!
Meagan has her days in the office. She is frustrated at times. But we are working on a part time sitter to get her out of the office a few hours a day. She is quite the ham sometimes.
It was good to see Tim & Sharron Teed. We went out to dinner with them to Bono's. A great BarBQ place. We had good food and some nice conversation. Always nice to slow down and enjoy life. That's been kind of hard to do lately.
Back in the middle of another week. Always plenty to do, Thursday evening we have 2 parent teacher conferences. Does the madness ever end??






Meagan's first black eye. And this looks good compared to the first day.



All my little trick or treaters


Meagan didn't care about any tricks, She just wanted the treats. She helped herself to a sucker once she figured out what they were giving her



I guess when you get up out of your seat, you stand the chance of losing it. Meagan decided my chair looked like a comfy place for a nap one day



It was good to have Tim & Sharron Teed in for a few days over the weekend.



The kids engrossed in conversation after a delicious dinner



Mommy & Meagan enjoying some after dinner conversation




This is Meagan, playing around in Dad's office. She loves to climb on everything. Somedays she is quite a handful.

Happy Birthday Jessica!!!

Today is Jessica's 12th birthday. Time is flying by so fast. We celebrated with a party on Sunday. Each child gets to pick their own birthday dinner. She chose Spaghetti and homemade meatballs. Below are a couple videos and a slideshow of the days events. Happy birthday to a special girl who is growing up way to fast!

Jessica blowing out her candles on her cake







Jessica is opening the gift from my parents up North. All the kids like grandma's boxes because they all get some kind of trinket.

Meagan and the icemaker

For those of you who think I have dropped off the earth, I have not! The last few weeks have been very busy. Trying to juggle a full time work schedule, homelife and everything in between sometimes gets the best of me. It's been several years, like 10 yrs since I have worked at a job fulltime. We are getting many people stopping by the office to check things out. We are getting our agent appointments and visits from the many companies we are writing with. So this is keeping us on our toes.

I went home the other night and while fixing dinner Meagan decided to push a chair up to the fridge and help herself to some ice. Well, you can't tell in the video but she changed it to the water button and was running water all over the floor. Of course Andrea had to help her out and change it back to ice, so she proceeds to have ice shooting out at some point. This is the fun I have to deal with on a daily basis with Meagan. She keeps us young!

7 random things about myself

I have been tagged to tell 7 things about myself. I'm not sure I can think of anything to say but here goes:

1. I recently got my Insurance License so I can start working in our new office and help my husband by being his secretary. Scary! I didn't think my little ole brain could handle all the info to pass the class. But I did it. And now I am back to work. Yeah for me!

2. Our last child was born at home with a midwife. We loved every minute of it and if we ever had to do it again we would surely do a homebirth. It was nice being in our own comfort zone and not worrying about leaving the kids or waking anyone else up to have to go to a hospital. That was the best choice we ever made!

3. I have an amazing husband that although our parents had known each other for many years, we never really new each other personally until a fluke thing of me hiring his mother to cater some food for my parents 25th anniversary, and while doing so he called home from college in Florida to talk to his mother and she proceeded to put me on the phone to say hi. It was all over from there. We went on our first date in August of 1989 to a local campmeeting in Ohio. We talked on the phone, and as Rod says I wrote him books for letters while he was in Florida at college and at Christmas he asked me to marry him . We were married in April 1990. So a short and sweet dating and engagement for us.

4. I have been through 2 house fires. One when I was in 6th grade when my parents house burnt. Thankfully I was at a friends an my parents were at work. But my dad came home to it. And the second was Rod & I's house in 1994. Rod was able to rescue Britt to get her out of the house and our dog. Although we lost our whole house and most of our belongings we learned that life is more precious than any valuables you can own.

5. In high school I was a school mascot for 2 football games my senior year. I had to dress up in Indian garb and paint my face and run around and get the spirit up. And cheer with the cheerleaders.

6. After my parents house burnt , roller skating was the big thing. I started rollerskating every weekend. I became a really good skater and took art lessons to learn how to dance the waltz etc on skates. I also learned how to do jumps such as axles, sowcows,and all those wonderful jumps ice skaters can do. I actually was in a few competitions, but never placed anywhere.

7. I am an only child and spoiled rotten by my parents. And to this day I would have to say they still spoil me with nice gifts at christmas. I love my parents very much!

I'm not sure who to tag because I think everyone has already been tagged. So if you haven't been tagged by someone, feel free to consider yourself tagged and do the same on your blog.

The New Office

We are officially in our new office. Things are looking good and getting organized. We have a few minor details to finish up. We are writing business and learning new things everyday. Meagan is adjusting to being in here with us. She gets along pretty good except at nap time. But we are getting through it. She usually sleeps about an hour in the afternoon for me. I bought her a little matt to lay on while she is asleep. We are excited about this bigger space and the new lines of business we have expanded into. So anyone who needs Auto or homeowners or business Insurance including liability, health or life Insurance we would be glad to give you a quote if we possibly can. Just more practice for us! And with some companies we need to run a minimum with them our first month even if we don't write the business. So look us up! Directly across from Circle K in Hobe Sound.








The outside of the building

The front door with lettering on it:HSBR Insurance

Conferance room minus the table

Waiting area

This is our kitchen area. Waiting on end caps for countertops and a large refridgerator


This is our training room for agents and clients for seminars

This is the messy room for now. A work area to pack AFLAC and Blue cross and other brochures for group meetings



This office is currently awaiting one of our other agents


Rod & Kevin's office



Me at my desk working away



The printing and fax area



Meagan likes standing at the door and waving to passing cars