We hung with pirates....

We hung out with some pirates this past weekend at the Renaissance Festival.

And one amazing Wizard!!

A letter to Big Boy

Your 5th birthday has so quickly come and gone. Now, son, you are a boy. There is no denying it any longer. There is no baby left. Where I once cradled the fat little baby who emerged from my body, I now struggle to catch long enough for a well-deserved kiss or hug.

It makes me stop. I struggle to contain the tears. I struggle to stop the wave of angst that comes around when I think about the time that has passed. Friends and family have the same, well-meaning statement...."Enjoy them while they are young. They grow much too fast".

I do. I DO enjoy you. I've loved every.single.moment. since you made your first cry. I love every bit of you. When you were moments old, screaming in frustration of being thrust into the light. When you were four months old, and staring at me with the wonder of who I was. I loved it when you were two and you would babble on about everything and nothing at all. I loved it when you announced at three years old that "soon I be big like Daddy". I love it when I come home after being absent for a few hours and hear you scream "Mama!!!!!" as you run down the hall to greet me. I really love it when you talk about "last night, when I was little....". I love it all. I love you.

And as much as it tears me up in the knowledge that you are growing up, I'm unbelievably proud of the young man you are becoming. You are wise, son. You are kind. You have great love and great compassion for all things. I love how you wrap your arms around Max and claim the dog as yours. I am so touched at the love you have for your brother, in your already present guidance and protection of your younger sibling. I love how you boast at how you are so much bigger than him, relishing in the fact that you will always be the BIG BROTHER. You have a dry and practical sense of humor. Your quickly gaining in that smart sense of humor that I love as well. You are FUNNY! And you are emotional. You'll likely grow to hate that at some point. But I hope you embrace it. Face it son, you care....deeply. Much like your Daddy.

So as much sadness as I feel about losing my "baby", I'm amazingly proud of the boy you are. I thank God each and every day for you. I thank Him, that in His Infinite wisdom that He felt I was deserved to be your Mama. I don't know how that is entirely possible. But grateful, I truly am.

I love you son. I adore you. There are not enough words. Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Every Woman's Dream

A man that does her dishes for her, on a Saturday night.

Ahhhh....

True Love!

Boys are so darn cute sometimes....

Little Boy is growing so. doggone. fast. I can hardly keep up. So I gotta keep track of the latest "Little Boy Speak" before it changes. Because it does daily.

One of his very favorite things to do these days is to sneak up on you and try to surprise you. Except he announces himself way too early. It's adorable....



Mama! I sneaked on you!!

Home, some more...

Friend Makin' Monday!

Gotta get in my Friend Makin' Monday post before the day is over!!

Today is CONFESSIONS over at Kasey's All That Is Good blog. Oh let's see....what do I have to confess today? (I'm reaching back into those Catholic days now....)

1. I sometimes, ahem, all-too-often get impatient with the boys and just really want to run outta the house. Like to Canada.....

2. I eat rotisserie chicken straight off the bone. I cannot even wait to put the doggone bird on a plate. And I'm doing that now...no, there is no shame....

3. I have been known to eat an entire loaf of yummy, warm, Italian multi-grain bread from Publix. Slathered with butter. And I'm not really that ashamed at all.....

4. When I was 13, I once ran down to the mailbox with my best friend wearing just a towel. The mailbox was about 300 yards from the house. On the way back, we weren't wearing a towel at all.....

5. When I told my mother I was dating a new guy, she said great! Then I told her he was Indian. She says, "That's nice. We have some relatives in Wyoming...." After spitting tea through my nose, I had to explain he was from INDIA, not Wyoming!

6. I plan to home school the boys. Part of the reason truly is because I cannot bear the thought of them being away from the family for 40+ hours a week. Selfishly, I want to teach them. I want to be the one to open their eyes to the world around them. I don't want any other person to have that privilege.

Oh...that's plenty of dirt on me today friends. Head on over to Kasey's and try to make friends that don't have nearly as many hidden secrets....!

Please pass it on....

I found this today while wandering around. After drying my tears and thanking God for our blessings, I wanted to pass this onto you. We continue to keep the boys in their 5-point harness and carseats. They are not the ones noted but another brand. Since the boys are not over 40lbs yet, ours work well. They are little yet. They barely are 34lbs. still at 3 1/2 and almost 5-years old! But now I'm reminded that even if they were 40lbs., I should keep them right where they are. My prayers go out to the family of little Kyle. I cannot imagine their pain. But I will do my part to honor Kyle's memory and remind my mom friends to protect their children as best only we can. The rest is up to God.

Please feel free to link up to this post on any of the parenting blogs you visit. It is our duty to share Kyle's story.

The Importance of a 5 point harness car seat from Laura Bower on Vimeo.

Friend Makin' Monday!

I'm jumping the friend wagon because hey! Everyone needs friends! And I made some wonderful new ones last week. AND I really LOVE this question and the story that goes along with it! Yes--shameless promotion going on here and I'm just sayin'....

How did you and your significant other meet? and if you don't have a significant other at the moment then what would be your dream way to meet him?
SuperHubs & I met in 1999. A friend of mine was taking flying lessons and asked if I wanted to tag along to one of his flight lessons. Considering we had just moved to the area and I knew virtually three people, I thought what the heck?! So we get to the flight school and while we were waiting for his instructor, I wandered around the lobby of the flight school, checking out the "Mile High Club" t-shirts! Then my friend says to me, "This is Ben, my instructor". And around turns this dark, handsome, YOUNG guy with a fantastic smile and he shook my hand. I shook his hand and thought, OK--cute, young and great smile. That was about it for then. We went up into the airplane and started talking about the flight, Dallas and then he wanted my infinite wisdom on relationships with women! The whole flight was monopolized with me telling him how truly evil women could be, except me of course! That is how we met. The best part of this story is that we became terrific friends for the next year. We dated other people and became such great friends that we hung out all the time. Sometime during that year though, I began to realize that he meant so much to me. And somehow, during that year, I realized that I loved him not only for my friend, my terrific, irritating, funny, exhausting, challenging friend but that I was IN LOVE with him too! It took another couple of months for me gather the strength to tell him. And another six months before we realized that we really did love one another. That's a whole other story. It involves a little secret rendevous-ing and ah...well maybe, a little too hot for print, you know?! :) And that my friends, was 10 glorious years ago, 5 which we are married and two beautiful little boys later....

Go on over to Kasey's Place to get more friends. And wish her a HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! And join us on the friend wagon! Because, really, we all just want to be friends, right?

Friend Makin' Monday!

My friend Sarah over at I Blame Mom is in on this great little meme today too! I thought I'd jump in here and reveal a little more about the mystery o' me!

Here it is. Today's task: Copy and paste these questions to your blog and give them your own answers.

Then head on over to Sarah or All That is Good where it all started and look at everyone else's answers. Go ahead! Get to know another blogger and MAKE A FRIEND today! Yeah!!

You wouldn't be caught dead where?: at my birth...obviously! Other than that....oh let's just say a pit of viper snakes would not be a good hangin' spot for me.

Do you have any hidden talents?: All my wonderful and amazing talents are already out there! LOL! However, some of them cannot be revealed to the general public and you will just have to wonder now won't you?

Name two things you consider yourself to be very good at: I'm a pretty decent cook, according to SH and the friends. And this Mama gig is fitting in rather nicely. Most days, I think that we are all living and breathing and that is a good thing!

Name two things you consider yourself to be very bad at: I am not a huge fan of logic problems. Much to my hubs chagrin--he is good at them and of course, takes every possible moment to stump me to prove his superiority. And then there is the bad habit of not sticking with a task or project until the very end. I tend to give up a little easily at times.

Have you ever won a trophy? Several for Top Pig at the 4-H fair when I was 9 years old. Still have them. Oh the pride!

Name one thing not many people know about you: I think I'm a rather open book. Especially now that this blog exists. But sometimes I'm caught off guard that people "never imagined" something about me. I guess I would have to say the farm kid thing---people are always shocked that I grew up a farm kid in the Midwest.

Name your earliest memory: Waking up to hear my brother's new puppy whimpering in the basket in the hallway. Her name was Chase and she lived to be 17 years old, believe it or not! She was the BEST dog in the world!

What was your favorite musical group in jr. high? Why Jr. High? I don't remember but I was a huge fan of Air Supply back in those days.

What was something the worst roommate you ever had did? I've never had a roommate! Only a husband. And let's just say that I don't find expulsion of bodily fluids something I want to hear....

When you were a kid what did you want to be when you grew up?: My cousin and I played that we were famous singers, all. the. time! I really wanted to grow up and sing country music. I'm still sad I didn't pursue that dream.

What was your worst dating experience?: I was not a big dating kind of gal. More like hung out with groups of people. But I did have what I *thought* would be a great date with a guy to see a Picasso exhibit at the local museum. The exhibit was amazing! The guy---strange is not quite adequate enough word to describe him! Conversation kept going in the direction of really personal hygiene issues and yes, this was a FIRST date and no, that is not something I really talk about with even my closest friends. I ran, not walked, away from that one!

If you were about to die what would your last meal be?: A wonderful, fresh, hearty loaf of multi-grain bread with Irish butter. For the WHOLE MEAL! Yum!

Who is the most important person in you life?: I can't limit that to one. That is too difficult. Everyone has a role and of course, my husband and children are equally important. I will say though that my God comes first and foremost, always!

If your house was on fire what 3 things would you grab on your way out?: My children and husband. That's three.....everything else can be replaced.

Did you learn anything? How about it....want to be my friend?!

A full day...

Mother's Day was full of wonderful things. Two of my favorite parts:

Sugar:


My little sugar....exhausted and done!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Before I

was a Mom
I made and ate hot meals.
I had unstained clothing.
I had quiet conversations on the phone.

Before I was a Mom
I slept as late as I wanted
And never worried about how late
I got into bed.
I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was a Mom,
I cleaned my house each day.
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to lullabies.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't worry whether or not my
plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been pooped on,
Spit up on,
Chewed on,
Peed on,
Or pinched by tiny fingers.

Before I was a Mom,
I had complete control of myself;
My thoughts,
My body,
And my mind.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so that doctors could do tests or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't
want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew something so small could affect my
life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of having my
heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a
Mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of
the night every ten minutes to make
sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
The joy,
The love,
The heartache,
The wonderfulment,
Or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so
much before I was a Mom.

Author Unknown

Raising Polite Kids

We received, what I believe, is one of the nicest compliments ever, just the other day. Friends of ours, rather 'new' friends, invited us over for dinner and a play date with Big Boy's BFF. These two boys get along famously and we, as parents, do as well. We've really grown fond of the whole family. And they paid us the nicest compliment the other day. We had not seen them for about 2 weeks, because of back-to-back vacations for them and us. When we saw them, both of our boys ran up to hug the mom and dad, before running to play with the boy. They were very excited to see everyone, parents as well as the boys. And that was the compliment. The mom, my friend, noticed how friendly our boys are to them, as parents. They were genuinely excited to see both the mom and dad. And she noticed that particular quality. "They are always so excited to see us as well as our son. That is wonderful!" she stated. And, though I had not really noticed, it didn't surprise me. Our children are expected to greet both adult and children, everyone who is in the room or in the family, when we visit other families. We see it as a sign of respect. And from the time they were capable of waving hi or blowing a kiss, we've encouraged them to greet our guests and say goodbye when they were leaving. It never occurred to us that it was a "novelty" but now we have noticed that not all kids are taught this. But we have always made it an expectation and it comes very naturally at this point. And it was so nice to have someone notice. Raising polite and respectful children is high on our list of priorities. We spend a great deal of time talking to them and demonstrating to them, how to be respectful to others. They watch us so closely and it is necessary to show them how to be respectful, as well as openly discussing respect. We identify how others are not kind or respectful, when we see it. Big Boy has gotten quite astute at picking these things up and talks about it often. That is What Works For Us---raising polite, respectful kids. And how wonderful that it is starting to show!

Hop on over this week to We Are That Family for more WFMW tips!

And the cycle continues...

I witnessed a very interesting conversation between the Big Boy and Little Man the other day in the car.....

Big Boy: You are bacon.

Little Guy: Am not.

Big Boy: You ARE bacon and I'm going to eat you!

Little Guy: I NOT, I Little Guy!

Big Boy (in his best singing voice): You are bacon and I'm eating your eyes....la la la la la la

Little Guy (screaming at this point): I'M NOT BACON, I LITTLE GUY!!!!

Big Boy continued singing about how he was eating bacon and Little Guy kept screaming about how he was NOT bacon and should not be eaten.

So as our world is disinegrating before our very eyes, the cycle of brotherly love continues....

What are the Rules?

I'm so proud I could just pop! Big Boy asked me that question just the other day before we went on an errand and went to the store. "What are the rules, Mama?" I'm SO PROUD that he actually pays attention! You see, we review three very specific, simple and effective rules, every time we go somewhere with the boys. They are:

--Quiet voices
--Walking feet
--Listening ears

That's it. Sums it up nicely. And it works! And it's very Kid Friendly! At 3 & 4 years old, they understand it. It works for just about any situation. And most importantly, they follow them rather well. Try it! We review these 3 rules every time we go somewhere, whether it is to the doctor office, the grocery store, someones home or church. It's Kid Friendly Friday folks....what is your Kid Friendly tidbit?

I Blame My Mother has other great tips to make your life more Kid Friendly! See you there!

Kid Friendly Friday! Raising Responsible Kids

Super Hubby & I started on the family a little later than many. I'm...ahem...what you would call an 'older mom'. It was intentional, and luck I suppose. But I always knew that this parenthood gig would be one of great importance. And I didn't take on the thought, nor the actuality of it, lightly. I knew it was time when Super Hubby and I found one another and decided that we'd venture through the rest of our lives, together. I knew he would be a great dad because we talked long and often about our values. One of those values that we agreed upon so adamantly was the concept of raising responsible kids. Responsible not only for themselves, but each other, responsible to God and truly for their world that surrounds them.

We've also realized that in the mere four years that we've been working at this task, how truly monstrous the task at hand is. So we try very hard to break it into smaller increments and work the value of responsibility in at every opportunity we can. Daily, we talk aloud at how they must be responsible for their environment. The house belongs not just to Mama and Daddy but to us all and we all must care for it. Now before you envision child labor, I'll clarify that at 3 & 4 years old, we give them age-appropriate responsibilities. Here is a list of things we have them do already:

*The oldest is responsible to help feed the dogs. He cannot reach the food yet but once I've gotten the container for him, he places the food in their respective dishes and calls them to eat.
*Both boys take recycled items to the bins in the garage.
*They clear their dirty dishes from the table and place them into the sink after meals.
*They help set the table before meals.
*They help clear their toys and pick up their room, daily. They don't get everything in the correct place but as long as the attempt is made, we consider it success!
*Yesterday they helped in the yard, raking leaves and cleaning up. This really rather equated to raking a few leaves into a pile with their kid-sized rakes but we talked a lot about responsibility of keeping the yard looking nice. They were pretty proud of their leaf pile!
*They throw away their own trash instead of just handing it to a parent.

It doesn't really equate to a lot of work, but all of these little tasks, and the discussions about responsibility that go with them will add up over time. We use the word RESPONSIBILITY a lot in our home. We want them to understand the concept and more importantly, practice it often. What we don't know yet, obviously, is the difficult task of teaching and enforcing responsibility as they grow. What we do feel very confident in though, is how teaching this particular value now at these young ages prepares them so much more for the challenging tasks that lie ahead.

Head on over to http://iblamemom.blogspot.com/ for more Kid Friendly Friday bits of wisdom! It's fantastic!

Letting Go

One of the foremost goals for myself is to live my life in the way God intended it. That being said, I'm not really sure what that means. I mean, it sounds good. It sounds so gentle and so deep and so thoughtful. Yeah, maybe..... Mostly it means that I am trying to let go more and trying to just let things happen. In a very 12-step kind of way, I suppose. Except I tried the 12-step thing before, and I'm not particularly good at it. I tried in terms of eating, which I like to do and probably do way too much of. But how do you Let Go and Let God determine if you eat the bread or not? I never got it. So now I'm trying it again, but in terms of oh, let's just say, just about everything.


I'm a reactor. Nuclear sometimes. I have a non-existent level of patience, I interrupt others all the time (ask SH......he'll tell you all about it, except I'll probably jump in there to tell you first), I have a lightening-fast temper and I jump to conclusions. Usually, not the accurate one. So I'm working on letting go. I'm working on counting to 5.....but let's face it....I rarely get to 3. I'm getting better and better at this when SH is not home. He's not home often because he travels for his job and is gone 3-4 days a week. I'm really good at taking a moment to pause, reflect and speak before inserting my foot.....when we are on the phone. I'm really--NO REALLY--bad at doing this when we are in the same room together. I tend to get pretty wound up quickly when the energy is in the room. I think that it is such an issue in my relationship with SH right now because God is trying, begging, pleading and forcing me to look at how destructive that personality trait truly is. It is a lesson in faith I'm telling you. Do I have enough faith that if I just shut up for a few moments, I'll still get what I need? Do I have enough faith that my needs will be met? Do I have enough faith that I will be nurtured? Do I have enough faith that even if it is not my way, it is still The Way? I am really bothered by that notion. That I don't have enough faith to carry me through. Because if I don't have enough faith, how do I teach the boys about it? If I don't have enough faith now, what is in store for all eternity for me?