Thank you Sam, Craig, and the Lord.

Well...no pictures today.  But I've been meaning to post:  We have a cardinal nesting in the bush outside our kitchen table window.  It's perfect for observing without disturbing.  We can watch the mom come sit on her nest and go get food.  We're excited for the eggs to hatch!  Then we'll be able to see her feed the babies.

Why has it taken me so long to post when I've been wanting to for a while (besides procrastination)?  Our computer crashed a couple weeks ago and... we went to Sam's Club, now we're back up and running with a reasonable deal on computers. (still trying to retrieve data off the old hard-drive) Thank you Sam Walton for your warehouse of Sam's Club that hasn't gone as trashy or cheap and the "other" side of your company!

We found a super deal on Craig's list this month for a leather couch and two matching chairs and ottoman ....sweet!  Now I'm needing to learn how to care for said leather...recommendations on cleaners/conditioners?
We also found some bookshelves and bedding.  WooHoo...thank you Craig for your list!  (now I need to take the app. off my phone before I find something else I "need" and eventually go broke)

Now that we are getting nice furniture that we have picked out together, I'm getting anxious to start painting our house the colors we love. But I'm in the middle of cleaning my house for a special event.  My parents are coming to visit on Thursday...am I stressed...yes.  It's raining so I can't send the kids out to play and deter them from mess making...sigh.  Thank you Lord for sending the rain, thunder, and lightning that are bringing my garden nutrients and keep my kids in doors for some splendid bonding time and lessons in home economics (hahaha).

BTW, I am going to venture into the land of Homeschooling.  Went to a book swap and sell.  Got some GREAT material and fell for some stuff I'm not interested in, whoops!  But my kids are taking very well to the "lessons."  After my initial excitement...then overwhelming realization...then denial...I'm back to excitement and my kids are a big motivation in how happy they are when we work on things.

Next task:  to get on a schedule for schooling...cleaning...and all those home projects I have lined up for myself.

Ta Ta Till Then!

Frogs, Bunnies, and Ducks, oh my!

'Tis the Season to be Happy!  I'm updating again, woohoo!  Well in the season of Spring and Easter here are a few pictures of our latest adventures.

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  My budding photographer, Dee, has been kidnapping my camera.  This is one of his best shots of the month, although he really does have an eye and gets many good ones.  I've not cropped it or touched it up in any way.    

Pete the Frog

 

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   We have rabbits all over the neighborhood.  It was so fun to see their prints in the snow and they have come out so often to play lately.  The kids love seeing them jump/run so fast.  We even found a bunny nest in our back yard.  Unfortunately we've needing to invest in some chicken wire to keep said furry and cuddly varmints out of our garden.

~~~

Our little Wee had a birthday, I can't believe she's three.  Here is the family during present opening time.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart you are growing up to be so strong and creative.  We all love hearing you sing to us throughout the day!

Love Ya!

~~~

   We had some friends over for Easter, we had an egg hunt and everything.  So say hi to Jax and baby Ax.  We ended up with more then 120 eggs for them to find!

Wee, Baby Hee, Dee, Baby Ax, and Jax

On your Mark...Get Ready... 

Hunt!

Sorting the Loot

Dee, Baby Ax, and Wee with Momma (me) 

 

Jax with his Daddy

Even our Baby Hee got an egg or two

Thank you Mr. Snuggles, you are so patient with us all and have such happy smiles for everyone, how can we feel anything but love for you and your dimples.

Love ya!

~~~

   Our neighbors are raising some baby ducks and the teenage girl often babysits my kids.  She brought a couple of the ducks over for my kids to play with.  As you can see they had a blast.  We have an old sandbox that was full of rain water and melted snow that the ducks thoroughly enjoyed as well.  Little Wee couldn't stop cuddling them, watching her chase them was so adorable.  Dee got a little nervous when one nibbled his finger so he was much happier watching.  If they weren't my own kids I might have been nauseous with all the cuteness that was happening....But then Dee saved me from all the fun fluffy stomach wrenching adorableness that was happening.  While we were outside my friend and her 1 year old stopped by.  We were all out playing with the ducks: Me, my kids, my neighbor, her daughter (the babysitter), my friend, and her one year old son.  As the adults are sitting on a bench visiting my son runs up with his pants down at his ankles.  "Momma, I have to go potty!"

"Well then, pull up your pants and run inside to the bathroom!" I'm slightly embarrassed at this point.

"Momma, I have to go POTTY!" Standing still looking like he doesn't know what to do.                         "Go inside."

Then my kiddo proceeds to pee right there in front of us.  I'm at first laughing inside then realize my friends are here so I become mortified...and then...

"Look momma, I peed in the grass like dadda did."

At the this point everyone is laughing.  Having had this conversation with him many times in the last year I have to explain to my friends that my DH (Dear Husband) and I have no idea where or when this happened.  He has talked about it before and my DH is adamant that this has never happened. (well he must have seen it some where, hmm!  hahaha)

Thanks for being so sincere, kiddo.  You ALWAYS make me laugh, which I love to do and I am so grateful the Lord let me have you in my life.

Love ya!

Updated finally....

Kissy kissy...cute picture of Dee and Wee.




Well I just read my last post...about a year ago. And my, what has not happened in this year. I was expecting our 3rd at the time but wasn't ready to announce it, that was the "exciting news" I spoke of. They did not end up renewing my husband for a year, he only got the month. We found a job working at Accenture being a consultant for FEMA. Now he gets to tell them how to fix their problems :-D We had to move to Kansas City suburbs in May. We sold our house in Texas within a month of putting it on the market. Then we bought a house in Missouri back in August. Had boy number 2 (child #3) in September. Experienced his brother's divorce at the beginning of December. I didn't have a computer while we staged the house because we shipped most of our things up already and I didn't have the patience to try it from my iphone. So I got out of the habit of blogging... Bad me! I'm excited that next month a couple of our good friends are coming to visit, and in May my brother and a dear friend are both getting married so I will be visiting the homeland of Texas again for a few weeks. I lost my last grandmother last summer and my last grandfather this winter. My parents returned from being out of the country for 3 years. We've had friends come visit and one of my sisters since moving here and that is all so far :-(

Dee cut Wee's hair this week...a couple weeks ago she fell and got a massive bruise on her chin and I was wanting pictures so I've been waiting for it to go away and now it has but she has horrible patches of short hair all over her head. sigh, I hope to have it "softened" so the pictures are not too awful.

Newest addition to our family, dubbed "Hee"

(Taken few weeks ago...the day Wee's chin got whacked).

The Sounds of Silence

Well there was so much going on that I was not willing to post about at the time...but now things have changed. Life was hard for a while when my husband was deployed (for only 4 month) while down in South Texas helping with the after math of Hurricane Ike. I was not about to post that I was currently a single parent and home alone for so long. But rest assured he is home safe now. It has been such a roller coaster this last month. Readjusting to having another adult in the house has been a fun adventure. My husband also got called into the office to be told he had 6 days left at his employment because congress failed to renew his employment...great timing. Thankfully they gave him a one month extension and are now giving him a one year extension. Count your blessings! Normally his boss just filled out the correct paperwork and they renewed him every year, he is still needed and the project he is working on just got extended to 4 years...yet they failed to renew him...and others across the Nation holding the same position. Next year he could reapply for the job...for an additional year but he will have to reapply. And I'm grateful for the benefits that we provide for our veterans but it is highly likely that he could be beat out by a veteran not because they were more qualified or even closely to equally qualifying but because they get more "points" in the grading system and we are not so excited about "hoping" we might keep the job, especially during this economic crunch. We are grateful that we have a year in which to search out and hopefully find another job. We would also like to keep him within the Federal Government but that might not happen. With all the money that the current administration is putting into the public sector you would think they would also address their own employees...but no. In fact, there still are many agencies that have yet to get a new head...including FEMA. And this allows for nothing to be approved for money or policy changing or ...hiring on certain levels so...the budget it due to Congress this summer, there is already a shortage since a big portion has been handed out to the public and no one is around saying where the cuts are going to come from and if they should just add to the deficit or not. Mostly this is all done in November but with the change of hands, well we haven't worked here through a hand change before but this is taking for ever and has crippled the Agency. They also have a hiring freeze...does that make sense to anyone else? They will fill the jobs that have already been advertised for but will just not fill those positions that have not, regardless of what it is. Shouldn't we be providing MORE jobs at a time like this? And is was not too long ago that FEMA got reprimanded by congress because one of the biggest problems during the Hurricane Katrina relief effort was the lack of man power so we have been told we need to create more positions and hire more....there is just a lot I am not understanding right now....too much is not being done soon enough while other things are quickly being taken care of that are questionable. I'm just confused on the whys and whens, much like many others of you out there.

On a side note, the kiddos are growing like crazy and I am really starting to consider home schooling. I have been trying to talk myself out of it for about 1 1/2 years now but I feel like that is what the Lord wants me to do so now I'm trying to suck it up and do it. I want to least until high school, then there is too much curriculum that I don't know well enough to teach someone. But I just found a man, I grew up with his children, started an institute of learning American History and Government based on the founding Fathers....very interesting. It's getting me excited. There is also a very strong home schooling community around here where we live (for that alone I hope we don't have to move with a new job). And I'm going to go interrogate people about what curriculum they choice and why...and way. I hope to post again soon since I have much more exciting news ahead.

TT4N

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Throwing a fit right before Christmas!

Well I had a rough morning today. Usually when that happens my Son is really good about it. He'll cuddle with me in bed and watch TV for a while. If he get's hungry he will grab a box of cereal and a snack cup and have me pour it for him, he's happy to eat it dry. Or he'll get a piece of cheese or an apple, despite my less then over the top mom abilities he is a really good kid (just high energy). This morning I thought he was doing the same for breakfast...I should have realized how long it was taking but sadly I did not. This might have been for the best...my son made a pb&j sandwich by himself. He often helps me make them at lunch but I'd never seen him do all the steps. He got the step stool out, grabbed a paper towel and put 2 slices of bread on it, grabbed a butter knife and strawberry jelly, and peanut butter. Thankfully we have the squeezable jelly right now. He put the peanut butter and jelly on the bread and put them together. I was sitting (laying really) in bed and he walks in eating a sandwich. I got a bit worried and ran into the kitchen, although the knife and jars were still out, there were no huge globs of jelly or peanut butter. Yeah Kiddo for doing it yourself!

I finally got up and was eating some breakfast when we had a conversation, his imagination really came out. My husband just got home from being deployed for almost 4 months, my kids would always ask where he was and the reply was he was at work...far away. Usually he works so close that he comes home for lunch, he is currently working that close now. But he's off to work before the children are up.

My son asked..."mom where's dada? Dada at work far far away," very dramatically. "Dada is at work party, with a hat. Dada likes party hats."

Me "He's at a party, with party hats?"

Kiddos "yeah, and they have kicking and hitting, and they climb a mountain."

Me "This sounds like a great party with kicking and hitting and hiking."

Him "No hiking mom, hitting and kicking.....then they climb a mountain and the pirates go aarrgh. They find the pirate box...the pirate treasure box full of moneys and they say aargh SUPRISE!!! hahahahaha!"

Funny kid, he keeps me on my toes!

Thanks, Husband of Mine

Ok, I've been wanting to write one of these for a couple month now but with certain events happening as of late...the opportunity has never felt more needed or appropriate. (thank goodness for spellchecker)




1. I am so thankful for a guy who will give me the spelling of a word anytime of day, even when I call him at work just for that.

2. I'm thankful for his patience with me and all my problems.

3. I'm thankful for his willingness to do the right thing regardless of what the "norm" would be.

4. I'm thankful for the loyalty that he has for every person that is dear to his heart (or has been in his past).

5. I'm thankful for his handiness and willingness to work hard around our house.

6. I'm thankful for his peacemaking nature.

7. I'm thankful for his ability to calm almost anyone.

8. ...for his natural ability to soften someone's heart, if even for a moment.

9. ...to know he'll never give up on me.

10. ...for his ability to laugh at my lame jokes.

11. ...for his willingness to come home and cook almost every night.

12. ...for his love of helping and serving others.

13. ...he understands my ability to love many people so deeply.

14. ...for knowing how wonderful he is when I hear others complain about their spouses and know he does so much that many other men don't do.

15. ...for his faithfulness to me and our marriage.

16. ...for his support of me following my heart and dreams.

17. ...for his pushiness that keeps me from loosing myself in motherhood.

18. ...that he can understand my mother (while I can't).

19. ...that he can't lie to me (whew, what a relief).

20. ...he is and always has been a wonderful father.

21. ...for his tender heart.

22. ...for his determination to change for the better, no matter how hard or long for the change to come.

23. ...for his continual mind set that there are many sides to every story.

24. ...for his testimony of how families can be forever and doing all he can to make that happen.

25. ...for his ability to adapt to the people he is around without compromising himself or his values.

26. ...that he lives close to the Spirit.

27. ...for his ability to see what I can become and to explain it to me again and again.

28. ...for his ability to overcome physical obstacles (just called him for that spelling)

well, that's just the tip of the iceberg but my kids are up and my time is over. Glad I remember to update this!

Today was a First

Well my son is not a calm kid, never believed he was. He tries to be very helpful, and often doesn't know his own strength. Today was a first for me.

We were at an indoor playground to avoid the cold and some parents yelled at me. They told me I need to get my son under control and that he was just too rough. Well the first time, I felt bad a little but I saw what happened and he was ok. He was just the only big boy playing on a slide with a bunch of girls....and we all know boys can be a little rougher but I didn't think it was out of hand. The next time I didn't see it happen but a man came and said Dee pushed a girl down the stairs....opps. Dee said he was helping her but I still put him in time out (for the second time). The 3rd time I think the parents were out to get him and a really sad thing happened. A bunch of kids were climbing on a structure clearly marked "please don't climb on" in many places. My son was not one of them...A little girl wanted to climb up so she started to climb up the wall to get to the structure. Dee saw that she was struggling to climb onto something and tried to help her up, not realizing he was pushing her over a wall. Well she fell over (not very far 1 1/2 feet) and went face first onto the tile floor.

I got verbally attacked by 3 sets of parents and what could I do but leave. I said sorry and quickly gathered our things. Thankfully my friend and her kids were there and she totally thought they were out to get my son. I was glad for her emotional support because I'm not sure what I would have done. I'm already an emotional wreck this week....sigh. Well I hope getting this out there helps me to move on....I've got 2 days to do 2 weeks of work. No time for weepy self pity right now!!!