Thursday, March 25, 2010

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Six Baby Chicks





Our family has six new members...at least for the next few days. We intended to only get four...than five...and the boys won a sixth with their arguement, that we can't have an odd number...this way they all have a friend!
Their names are...Godzilla, Mario, Alvin, Theodore, Chicklette, Chicken Jimmy...we each picked one...even daddy! We all agreed on the sixth one!
I am using them for a photo shoot this weekend, I will be taking them to the school on Monday to share them with M's class and then they will be donated to a local farm/petting zoo.
They are lots of fun, even more work and really noisy little things. George the cat is super curious about the chirping noise coming from behind the door...let's hope he stays on the OTHER SIDE of the door!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010



Sweet S, was so excited to go to church on Sunday morning! Our pastor, asked if S, would be interested in going on stage and shooting some soccer balls into a goal. We had a missionary in, from Vapor Ministries. He was helping to raise funds for their ministry, which builds sport facilities in extremely poor towns, as well as fresh water wells.
For every goal, that S and another girl, kicked in the net, the church would dontate 5 soccer balls. They kicked 10 in. S was soooo excited!
While we were driving to church that morning, I called my mother in law to let her know what was going on. Since my father in laws fall, she hasn't been able to make it in for service. S, heard me talking to her and chimed in from the back...
YEAH MOM...CAUSE I ALWAYS HELP POOR PEOPLE!!
I then told him, that we aren't supposed to brag about helping people. We do it because it's the right thing to do.

After church, we were talking to the pastor and the missionary about how well S did. I was saying that I wished S would play soccer again this year, but that he doesn't want to play. S gave pastor a high five and told him:
I don't want to play soccer, but, I'll break out my soccer skills for this!!
Yes, my son said...break out my skills...nice!

I lost again

Again, I lost the coveted, "Mother of the Year", award. This time, my actions, caused bodily harm to my child. I am of course being overdramatic, but if you take a minute to check out M's face in these photos, you will see that some "harm", was in fact done.


The story is simple enough. We attended a birthday party. It was Sunday evening, after church. We stayed a little bit late...I think we left at 9. If you are our children, that is late. Our boys are in bed and typically fast asleep by this time. Most nights, they can be found in their beds, reading by 730 and lights out by 8. Yes, we are those parents, the ones whose kids are in bed while it's still light out...but we have THOSE kids that don't sleep in. They are up by 7am, regardless of their bedtime.
We got home and M, appeared to be asleep in his booster seat. I grabbed an armload of stuff, opened the van door, and tickled him. I told him to wake up...it was time to go in the house. Our boys OFTEN fake sleep in the car. They do this so that we will carry them in. We do oblige them and do this, but not as often. The older two are 7 and 8 and well over the acceptable "carrying" weight. Most nights, I say something silly and they laugh, with their eyes closed, and "wearily" drag themselves out of the van. This night was no exception...or so I thought.
M, giggled, opened his eyes and threw his head back with laughter. I picked him up and set him down on the driveway. He started whining that I wouldn't carry him, but I told him I couldn't. We had too much to carry in the house that night. I started toward the house, when the whining turned to screaming. My husband then started yelling to me. I turned around and saw M, laying face down in the driveway. Yes, face down.
I dropped my stuff and ran to pick him up. I got in the house and started to asses the damage done. Matt came in and kept asking M, why he did that...we couldn't figure it out! When Matt came around the van, he said M, was sitting on his knees with his hands in his pockets. He must have sat down like that on the driveway after I set him down.
Matt said the next thing he saw was M tip over...face foward. He didn't even try to put his hands out in front of him. He just feel. If you know M, this story isn't that unbelievable...in fact...it's not surprising either.
I checked his sugar, after determining that his face was ok. His sugar was fine and M said he felt fine too. I got him ice, jammies and a drink and put him in his bed. I asked him what happened and his explanation was this:

"I don't know mom. All I remember thinking is that I was REALLY, REALLY tired".

We are thinking that, he wasn't fully awake when I put him on the driveway. He must have sat down on his knees...and then fell asleep.

No mom of the year award for me folks.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

All in a Name

While rummaging through my memory chest, I stumbled on a piece of paper full of boy and girl names. I can only imagine that I spent quite some time, penning these first and middle names down. I'm certain I put lots of thought into it. I am thankful, that none of my children were named these names....

Girls - these names were especially hideous...at least most of them:
Alyssa Tace - what the heck is TACE?!?
Ashlyn Kylie - not horrible names alone...but together!?!?
Jessalyn Kyrie - again...Kyrie?!?!
Mekennah Corin - ok...this name I would actually use! I love the name Corin.
Michela Callie
Kaylin Alay - what is Alay...
Terriel Grace - TERRIEL...WHAT ON EARTH - grace is a great name!!
Kirstin Dahae - Dahae..I got nothin.
Michaella Alexius
Tessa Grace - I still LOVE LOVE LOVE the name Tess.
Avery Tess
Avery Denise

Boys ... I used none of these names for my three sons. In fact, they weren't even discussed. Thankfully, they are horrid and out there.
Blake Kendal
Trevor Barret - Barret...hmm...he wouldn't hate me for that one would he?!?
Curt Baden - Baden...ummmm...yeah.
Brendan Scott
Chad Garret - which is my cousins first and last name...I don't think he would have been born when I wrote out this list!!
Zachary Taylor
Austin Tyler
Cody Barret - boy, I really liked that Barret/Garret thing
Jonathan Matthew
David Michael
Blake Bannon...Bannon...not to be confused with Dannon yogurt.

Memories

I went through my Hope Chest last night. Not the one that I started when I met my husband, but the one from Jr. High and High School. It's an ugly black trunk, that I painted with brightly colored finger paints. I'll have to remember to take a photo of it...just for a memory.

I went through and threw out old dried flowers...especially if I couldn't remember who they were from. I have some old corsages that were dried and petals had long fallen off. I found a few old books from my Marriage and Family class, as well as my Home Ec classes. I threw those away too...I'm not sure why I saved them. Maybe, I thought I'd use them...I did laugh at the test we took on Pregnancy and Child Birth...I got a D on it!! Maybe, that's why my first two children are only 13 months apart, I didn't understand how that whole process worked!?!?!

I laughed and laughed last night at some of the notes, trinkets and newspaper clippings I kept! Matt couldn't believe all the stuff I saved...some stuff he didn't understand why on earth I'd kept it...others he was jealous of and wished he would have saved more of his memories!

I smiled at notes from my grandma, dad and mom. I teared up at cards from my Mamaw..I miss her horribly and wish she could have met my boys. She would have ADORED them! It was fun to read my old diary and laugh at the drama that surrounded my teen years!

My favorite notes were the ones that my cousins and a friend of mine all wrote back and forth...we pretended we were married, to our then TRUE LOVES, and that we had super successful careers as mothers, pediatricians, presidents and great musicians. Our spouses were equally successful and famous! It made me chuckle to think we thought we could have SEVEN children, be pregnancy, juggle a house, a job and a marriage and still have time to jot three page letters to our dearest friends!! Little did we know, the reality of that situation!!! It was fun to pretend though! The three of us were avid readers back in the day...and it shows in our writing! Such imagination!!

It also made me stop and pray for my boys! I hope, they can avoid some of the heartache and drama of high school! I want them to love and enjoy their teen years, but I want them to stay teenagers!! I hope that the fact that they are MALE will cut out some of the drama for them. I'm certain many of the boys we ladies were crying over, didn't think twice about our "breakups" and then were off to play ball with their buddies!!

If only they'd learn from us...and listen. I know I didn't' listen to my parents about all of it, so I can't imagine my boys will listen any better! Let's hope my husband is better prepare for teenagers than I am! Thankfully, I still have a few years to prepare myself!