SHOW US YORU LIFE!! Favorite things/Things that make you happy!

So I got really excited about this post because if you've been a Broadus Bunchie for a long time you know that I love to tell you random things about me!

If you are new, feel free to check out some of my other posts!

Lets get on to my favorite things!
In no particular order and yes I am leaving things about the kids out. They are my heart and I love them but there are some other things that make me happy

1) Oreos. Plan and simple. I should be the spokesperson for this company. 1 bag a week.

2)Burts Bees Chapstick.

3)Sonic Cherry Limeades on a Hot Day. Sonic Sweet Tea on any other day

4) Doing random things with my family (like our impromptu camping trip this weekend)

5) Food. I love to try food. I am not a picky eater so bring it on!

6) Disney (we are days away!)

7) My blackberry. Totally understand why they call it a crackberry. Don't want to know what the iPhone would do to me.

8) Coffee

9) Balloons

10) gift cards.

11) Old Navy Flirt Jeans

12) Cranking up Pandora and jamming out to random songs Ive never heard

13) Animals. Big or Small-Exotic or Domestic Doesn't matter

14) The Beach

15) Things that are pink.

16) 50% off sales at Hobby Lobby

17) Really Cool Pictures

18) Meeting new people

19) Board Games

20) Scrapbooks

21) Long talks with older people

22) Cupcakes

23) This Blog

24) T-shirts

25) Pizza

The Broadus Bunch On the Road!

I am so excited to be debuting that Todd and I (well I and Todd agreed to go along with it) will be taking the Broadus Bunch on the road this summer!

One of my favorite things to do is to travel. I love going places, eating food, and meeting people. I am not a fancy resort type person. I like basic stuff that is affordable and enjoyable. I like real people, real places, and I like to get there in a few hours!

The first installment of our summer adventures is going to be: On the Mississippi Roads: Coastal Camping

This weekend we will be heading out to the Mississippi Coast to enjoy the real Mississippi. We are camping out for 3 days in the Backyard of Mississippi, we are eating ONLY at Mississippi owned and operated restaurants and we are doing things that you and your family can do without breaking the bank!

Then when we return we will write about all of our adventures. Details, pictures, pros, cons, what we learned. Our plan is to expose our girls to the amazing tourism that can be found right here in Mississippi and to gain a new love for our state.

The Challenge?: We have a very tight budget (less than $200 for 4 people to have food, lodging, gas, activities, souveniers) Can we do it? Can we make it the entire weekend?? 3 days? I hope so!!

Eat JXN the new food critic in town

Who doesn't love food? Who doesn't love a chance to win free stuff? Who doesn't love HONESTY?!?!

I can't think of ANYONE!

Let me tell you about a new guy in town who goes by the alias "EAT JXN". This guy  goes around the metro-Jackson area and eats at all sorts of places. He then reviews them and tweets/facebooks/blogs about his experience.

He isn't some fancy food critic with a sophisticated pallet, he is an average Joe who enjoys food. And
ever so often he can sweet talk the restaurant into giving a free meal for 2 to someone who follows him.

Broadus Bunch follower, Katie has been one of his lucky winners! She and her husband Jared enjoyed a meal at CHAR in Jackson.

I love Eat JXN because the opinions are real, not sugar coated and he really helps you figure out where to spend your money, such a key item in today's economy. This stomach growling foodie has also grabbed the reigns of social media and has used them to provide us faithful followers with "tasteful" information.

I know a few of you are local and a few of you are surrounding states, but I highly suggest you follow Eat JXN on facebook, twitter or blog you never know when you will need to know a new place to take the family, who's service needs to be avoided, or who has the most amazing dessert!

sorry to keep you waiting

So sorry to keep you all waiting, Tuesday night is the time we fellowship with our community group and by the time we got home last night I had to get the girls in bed then catch dancing with the stars finale and of course see Glee's ideas of Lady Gaga.

So let me tell you how Madyson's day went.

When we got to school yesterday morning she had to apologize to 1) the Director of the 3k program. 2) Her teacher 3) the Music teacher. This was very hard for her to do and for me to watch. She bravely walked up to each of these adults and told them she was sorry for being disrespectful and that she isn't a follower but a leader. And she had learned her lesson and she would not do it again.

Each of these very wise women talked to her about what it means to grow up and how sometimes it is easy to fall behind the actions of others but that we have to learn to stand up and to be the leader, even when it isn't easy.

She was allowed to go on the field trip. 1 of the mom's dropped her son off and acted like it was no big deal. The other little boy's grandparents decided that if he couldn't go on the field trip he would get a special trip with them to a local water park.

I was commended by her teacher at being a "pro-active" parent and I thought to myself...I'm not being pro-active I'm just doing what a parent is suppose to do.

When I picked her up yesterday afternoon she had a good day. She played with her girlfriends and when one of the little boys tried to play with her she said she told him, " right now I need to be with the girls."

So, I think our lesson worked out. I keep reminding her that she is a big girl now and her decisions will either come with praise or consequences and she gets to choose which one she wants to receive.

As of now, our week is back on track. Thursday is "Movie Night" at the preschool where we watch a movie of all the activities the kids have done this year as well as go to their classrooms and see their artwork and such.

Then Friday is their end of the year Ice Cream Party! My niece Emma, who is 10, will be spending the day with me! and I am so excited. We are going to go to the Ice Cream party then we are going to go shopping and just hang out. It hasn't been just the two of us in a while so I am excited about that!

Then this weekend I have convinced Todd to go camping with me! So we are headed to the Mississippi Coast for some camping, shopping, and MUCH needed family time. The only thing I have left to do is find someone to teach my 4 year old Sunday School Class!

Blog Fairy Visits!

Looks like Leslie Lambert, My Blog Fairy, made a visit last night! I love my new summer look! (and yes, Todd had to help pick it out...remember we can't get "too girly", it is his blog too ;).

I will be posting tonight about the outcome of yesterday. Thank you all for the supportive comments.

It all begins!

Today was a turning point in our "growing up" life.

I got to school to pick the girls up and was immediately bombarded by 3ft tall people saying, "Madyson doesn't get to go on our field trip tomorrow, she got in trouble."

Madyson DOES NOT get in trouble. EVER. I mean at school at least. She is that strong-willed but respectful child. Well as I turn to Madyson to ask her what happens she says (as her eyes fill up with tears) I got my name off the school bus for being disrespectful and for being bad"

The kids are so loud talking to me about this that her main teacher (who stays to supervise the afternoon) comes in to explain that during music class madyson and boy1 and boy2 decided not listen during music, that they were being VERY disrespectful and that the boys even used dirty words. And that that usually means (getting your name off the bus) that you don't get to go on the field trip. But that madyson redeemed herself throughout the rest of the day so she gets to go but I need to consider possible having her moved classes so she won't be with these boys, that are "the cause of her problems"

My first instinct is to cry. My child really is not a bad kid. She has gotten 4 discipline report in 4 years. 3 were when she was 2 and she bit her friends. 1 was last year.

Here we are at the end of the school year and I am now finding out that she has "problems". So on the way home I just fought back tears and had to figure out how to handle this properly. So when we got home I sent her to her room to clean up and to have some quiet time.  During this time, I lost it. I just cried and cried.

Once I had my composure I went into her room to talk about what all happened. She told me it all started over boy1 saying an ugly word and boy2 saying it and madyson says she told them to stop and then they were tickling her and she got in trouble for playing and not listening then one of the boys did something to the teacher and they didn't get smarties and they all had to go to the room and got in trouble.

(keep in mind she is 3.75yo and this was 6 hours after the incident)

So I explained to her that it is not appropriate ever to be a follower of friends that misbehave. That how we act displays how we love and if we act out and not follow the rules it shows that we are not thinking with our hearts. We had a long discussion on what Mommy (&Daddy) expect, especially when we are at school.

She got it. She was really sorry.

She had to be in bed early tonight with no cartoons. and tomorrow she has to apologize to the teachers.

Even though I don't feel like Madyson should have gotten her name off the school bus, I still respect her teachers and want her to learn that it is not okay to misbehave, ever.

I am however having a hard time with a few things. 1) that all the other kids knew what was going on. Madyson says she was embarrassed by the way the other kids treated her after they found out that she was in trouble. Humility is something that I think plays a big part in how kids develop. I do not like her feeling this way.
2) What happened to the boys? Did they get their name taken off the school bus? They said ugly words (madyson shared what they said and it hurts my heart to know that she is being exposed to this at her age)

3) Should I have her moved? She loves her girlfriends in this class, I love the parents, I have bonded with the parents through field trips and such. Why shouldn't the boys have to move?

4) The boys are both being raised by young single mothers and their grandparents. Is she lacking something at home that is drawing her to these kids? Todd and I make mistakes, we do. Todd works alot to provide for our family and I get stressed alot doing alot of the parenting alone plus working. I don't know the living situations of these boys in details (but I have been around them for almost 4 years through school and church and have seen how they behave first hand. I love them to death but also know that they are usually in the timeout chair when I pick her up)

So after this meltdown and marking of my child being exposed to the real world I go to find Aubrie Kate, who I think has been eating a Popsicle in the play room only to find that she has been coloring.....

on the couch. Yes the couch in the playroom. She has been coloring with crayons and the Popsicle.

Needless to say, when Todd got home they were already bathed and in the bed.

I really hoped to have atleast 3 years before all the drama began. But I am now sitting at the cross roads of my baby being a big girl, and having to deal with big girl things and make big girl choices, and my wittybitty baby thinking she is van gough and having to learn to only color on paper.

Sunday Funday!

Today was a very relaxing day! We got up, went to church..it was Senior Sunday so there was alot of people there early! We usually get there around 8:30 so we can get prepared for our classes and such.

After church we headed over to Todd's mom's house to have lunch. We had Barbeque and Potato Salad.. The girls played out on the deck in the wading pool for a while then we all came in and took naps!

After we woke up we had to come home to get ready for the week! This is Madyson's last week in 3k. She has a playtrip to the park on Tuesday, Movie night on Thursday, and party on Friday then she is done for the summer!

Since I work she will be switching over to 3k daycare (which is where they play & craft all day, instead of doing school work, science lab, and music class) She likes it, it is her "social school".

I miss summer break! How about you?