"WHATEVER"

One of my favorite things to say is "whatever" and it can mean a bunch of different things. It really doens't matter who I am talking to. I try not to say it in front of Benton and Bailey, but since it is my nature it always comes out. So today when I picked Benton up from daycare he was in rare form. I know it is because he has been around all of those "really nice kids" at daycare all day and he is just in that mode. Anyway, when we got in the car he wanted something to drink and I didn't have anything to give him. I told him I was sorry and we would be home soon. He said under his breath "I sure am glad my brain didn't let me say whatever". I almost fell out! I guess at least he knew where it would have gotten him if he had said it. And with Bailey repeating everything everyone says, I am glad he didn't say it either. I am afraid they are going to be just like me...they won't turn out so bad after all :)

On a different note, my little Benton won't eat anything other than chicken nuggets (they have to be certain ones), pizza (it has to be a certain kind), PB-don't dare put any J and grilled cheese. Suprisingly there are no stipulations on the grilled cheese. But he did inform the other day I could also buy him carrots and apples. So I was thrilled of course and even called him from the grocery (he was at my mom's) to make sure I got the right kind of carrots. They are fermenting in the fridge as I type. So if any of you have any tips, tricks or voodoo you use on your little angels to get them to eat I would be most grateful to hear about them. He is 4 1/2 and probably only weighs 35 lbs. I may be giving him more credit than he deserves because I can only compare him to Bailey who will eat anything. And I know she weighs well in the 99th percentile. The girl will eat sushi, olives off a pizza, anything dipped in ketchup, etc. Help...I need high calorie decent foods for my boy!

Blog World

OK! I am a little upset with the blog world right now. I am very happy to be in it, but at the same time every time I try to save something it won't let me...anyone else having this problem?

The Blue Guitar

So tonight we came home from mom's house and Benton immediately comes out of his room to tell me there are ants on his rug. First of all, he doesn't have a rug in his room, he has carpet. Second of all, as my new husband/wife duty (since I am both now) I just sprayed the inside and outside of the house. When I go in his room to check out the situation, sure nuf there are ants just a grazing on a cheetoh from who knows when. So I get the spray, yes the same spray that didn't keep them OUT of the house, and go to town. They were dead in a matter of minutes. Makes me wonder how they ever made it into the house, but whatever. Mission accomplished! The thing that makes the ant story so funny is...Benton came to me with a proposed mission to kill them himself. All he needed was his blue guitar. Now the blue guitar is one Man gave him about 2 years ago. It is actually a fly swatter shaped like a guitar. When I tell you Benton thinks it can cure cancer I am not kidding. He said, "mama, if you will just give me the blue guitar I can take care of this". And the boy was as serious as a heart attack. Only after 5 minutes of wondering what in the world he meant did I fall out laughing. He meant the dang fly swatter!!! I had to explain that it wouldn't work and so he settled for the spray stuff instead. Needless to say, I will have 10 toenails digging in my back tonight so he won't have to be in his room with ants...lucky me!

I would like to address Allyson, Brandi, Becky, Lindsey and Tara. I am soooooooooo glad to be communicating with you again. I hope to add more people to my blog list and catch back up with you as well. This has been a true blessing especially with all I am going through. Getting your mind off of a divorce can be truly therapeutic. Please stay in touch and I want to hear from you and others as often as you're able to post! Love you all...

Allyson, the very cute LSU outfits are just for you sista! (obviously hers is the one I am showing off...Benton could care less as long as his shirt doesn't have a collar)

Music on my blog

You may never hear music on my blog. I have been messing with the Playlist website for well over an hour and you are still reading my blog in silence. I got all the way to the point where it says copy and paste this random address to your website or profile. WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES THAT MEAN? So at this point I have a playlist created, but it is out in WWW land waiting for me to figure out how to play the dang thing. Suggestions are welcome!

Enough about that...I was just sitting here doing my blog thing when Benton comes in the kitchen and says "mama, is it ok if I tidy my bed?" Uuummmmm..."sure baby" was all I could come up with because I didn't want to break his heart and tell him he was about to be sleeping in it (although I think he knew). Then he comes back and says "mama, since I just tidied my bed, and I really had to use my brain to do it, I think I will just sleep with you". It was hilarious! I wish that was all I had to use my brain for. How about yall?! For real doe!

I really do have funny stories to tell about Bailey, but she is at the point where only her people really know what she is saying. Her favorite things to say are "No Bent"(she says this no matter how sweet he is being), "juice back mama" (that basically means put that crap in the sippy cup back where you got it and give me the Diet Dr Pepper), "nack pease" (surely you can figure that one out and she doesn't like to wait on portions...the bag/box it comes in will do just fine) and her new favorite is "tee-tee". I just go with the flow on that one. Basically we got to the potty, she sits there the normal amount of time it would take an actual tee-teeing person to go, wipes and then says "off". I guess at least she is getting the concept. I can't wait for the day I don't have to buy diapers. Pull-ups I can handle for bed, but diapers are ridiculous. That is the industry we should all be in. Everyone has to have them and no one is insane enough to do the cloth ones.

Later Tators!

SanDestin with Man and G

My mom and stepdad took me and the kids to the beach with them a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share the trip with you. First of all, I have never been on a vacation with my children. Sounds horrible I know, but Brad and I were always "scared" if you will. I must admit it was very tiring, but so worth it too. Mom and I spent most of the time with them while Mike was in meetings. And for the record, Mike is called Man because he would never come up with a name for himself. So mom and I jokingly called him Man and it has stuck. Mom is called G because I wanted her to be called Gran and Benton couldn't say it at first so G is who she became.

I must say riding with 2 small children in a car for 6 hours must automatically qualify for a high dosage prescription of some sort of sedative. You shouldn't even have to see a doctor to get it. Xanax, Valuim...we aren't picky. And we can do it for the adults or the children. You would think having a DVD player in the car would help, but WHATEVER! Thank goodness I get car sick easily and mom had to sit in the back with the kids. Sorry mom!!! She has way more patience than me. Between "mama are we there yet?" from Benton and Bailey bowing her back trying to eject herself from her carseat I almost went crazy...and I was riding shotgun. So when we finally arrived at the hotel we let them out and said run as far as you can and come back...we will try to keep an eye on you. Not really, but that was our feelings at the time.

We really had a good time and I highly recommend everyone going to Baytowne Wharf in SanDestin. You don't have to leave the village...ever. There are like 8 restaurants, shopping and late night entertainment. They have children's entertainment every night and plenty of drinks for the parents. :) Benton is very into playing the drums and guitar. One night there was a band that totally catered to the small children. They had tamborines and blow up guitars. Benton wanted to sign autographs I think. Anyway, I can't tell you how amazing it was to watch all of those children get so into what was going on. It was adult music with child entertainment.

We didn't do the beach except to take pictures one day. Benton couldn't stand the thought of the sand getting in his shoes (a little OCD like his mama although I love the beach) and Bailey hated the waves. So we just went over one morning for pictures and that was it. The rest of the time we were at the pool. The pool was great because it was one that gradually got deeper. Bailey being the fearless one would walk out and before we knew it was "drowning" because she thought she could just walk and walk without ever going under. Benton on the other hand would hardly go past his waist without adult supervision. He is sooooooo cautious. One of their favorite things to do is a cannonball. Benton would go first and then Bailey. Of course, as they are jumping in they have to yell "cannonball". But when Bailey jumps in she says "Mannonball". Mom and I have never laughed so hard.

For those of you that remember Adrienne Simmons or still keep in touch with her, I re-met her brother one night. We were talking and I asked him where he was from and when he said Dothan I instantly remembered his face. He works at one of the nice restaurants in the village. He said Adrienne is married with 3 children and if I remember correctly living in B'ham. It was so strange running into someone I actually "knew".

Anyway, enough rambling...I am adding some pics from the trip.

correction on my spelling

First, I would like to say that I had had a few beers last night when I started typing. Just one of those days...Second, I would like to say I am picky when it comes to spelling so when I proofread my blog from last night, I found 2 errors (and hopefully I am not missing any). The first one being I left out a word somewhere in the middle and the second one being my spelling of "VOILA". The way I spelled it was quite hilarious when I went back realized what I had done. So please don't hold it against me...:)

Also, I am adding a few more pics of the children. If any of you have any blogging tips, please pass them on. I would like to know how to form the list of people on the side of the page. Are they people you have as friends or does it automatically happen when they visit your page?

a long day

Today was long. I am trying to acquire jogging as my new hobby. I met this mother at the beach who runs 5 miles a day and she says it is her sanity. I can currently only run 1-1/2 miles without walking and 5 seems like the impossible. But the more and more I do it I totally see where she is coming from. Not only do you get to clear your mind and only concentrate on where your next breath will come from, but you also get to shed a few pounds. Of course unless you are like me and think, "well I ran a little bit today so I can have 200 extra calories"...WRONG!!! Anyway, I am going to stick to it for as long as I can. Some friends of mine want me to run a 5k next weekend and I really want to. I'll let you know how it goes. In the mean time, I be "training"...and clearing my mind.

About my angels: well Benton has a sore on his booty. And I am not talking where you can just look and there it is, I mean where the sun don't shine. So here I go inspecting it and WHAM!!! He kicks me right in the face because it is so tender. I ask him why he did it and he said because I touched "it". He told me from now on if I wanted to look at it he would spread his cheeks and there would be no touching. Basically it looks like a big pimple. So Brad takes him to the MD and he says it could be from bed mites. Like I am so sure I any form of "mite" in my house. I am the most OCD person I know and I don't do mites. Next option please! Anyway, I managed to get him to soak in warm water and it did it's own thing. He told me I could put the meds on it as long as I didn't touch it. I didn't even go there and ask him how that was supposed to happen so my mom just did it real fast and OUILA!

My other little angel Bailey, and I do mean sent from above, threw the biggest tantrum you have ever seen over a dub-a-dub. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a popsicle. I can only figure she calls it that because each word has 3 syllables. So when she didn't eat her dinner and asked for a dub-a-dub and got told "NO", it was on. She cried for 15 minutes. All with no tears of course and me and mom let her do it while we sat outside and listened to the whole thing go down. She stood and screamed at the freezer for a while and then started walking back and forth from the freezer to the back door hoping we would give in. We ignored her enough that she sort of quit and I decided to talk to her about what was going and then give her the popsicle. It was like a totally different person. I hated to give in, but I am hoping she learned the lesson-whatever it was!!! I hope you all give in too...

1st Time Blogger-Site Still Under Construction

Hello everyone! It's Brandy (Simpson) Donahue...I have never done this before, mainly because I never have time and don't know how I found it tonight, but after reading all your blogs I feel like I have to keep coming back. It's like you are my little, individual soap operas...AND I LOVE IT! Hopefully you'll find my life as interesting as I have found yours. I guess the most amazing thing is that we all experience the same things while thinking we are the only ones that actually experience them. Know what I mean?! Anyways-I guess I'll get to the long story short version of what's been going on with me. That way we can all be caught up and focus on the present. So here it goes:

When I left Dothan, I moved to Jackson, MS. After I graduated high school, I went to college and became an X-ray Tech. I am currently doing CT scans at St Dominic Hospital. Far cry from becoming a cardiologist or lawyer, but doesn't everybody want to be a doctor or lawyer when they're growing up?! So I started working and after a year I met this wonderful guy named Brad Donahue...we actually met on a cruise, crazy I know! We got married and had Benton Tyler who is now 4 1/2. Then we moved to Monroe LA for 2 years and had Bailey Katherine who is now 20 months. We just moved back to Jackson in June of 2007. Brad is a drug rep so moving 3 times in 5 years was quite an experience.

Back in February, Brad asked me for a divorce. It is the most devastating news any woman can get. I often tell my mom it would have been easier to deal with if someone had called and told me he had died. Sounds strangely morbid, but you have know idea the hurt I felt. Anyway, 6 months have gone (not flown) by and I am much better. Thank goodness Benton and Bailey are so young and don't know all of what is going on. And I don't know what I would have done without my mom and stepdad. My mom is truely a supermom...she handled me and my children through this like it was nothing...and trust me, I was a basketcase!

So that is about as short as I can make it to bring you to the present. We are waiting on the house to sell and the divorce to become final. In the mean time, I am trying to find a house I can afford that is still in Madison (north Jackson) because the school system is awesome. Everything is pricey in Madison so I may have to move to a neighboring town. Jackson has lots of "suburbs" for those of you that don't know. You don't really know when you leave one and enter another. But some of my prayers that I wasn't sure God was listening to have been answered, so who knows what He has in store for us.

I am putting some pics of my angels on here and if I can find one that I look semi-slim in I'll post it too. Let me know what you think of the blog and if you guys have any blogging tips I am all ears. Can't wait to get started...