Learning every step of the way

I have this wonderful little hobby with my camera. I am obsessed with taking pics of my kids! They are so gorgeous and the camera loves them! I am so biased! Anyway, this is my latest creation with Sammy! He is so cute and handsome here! I just love the camera! It catches those brief moments of pure happiness and joy and holds it embraced in time FOREVER! I see pics or moments of my babies and I see scripture too. I am amazed by God's love for us and I always have a scripture pop into my mind when I see images, especially like this one! Children are such gifts from God! I just pray right now and give God thanks for my babies. They truly are my oxygen in this smoggy world!
I love you T-D and Sammy-Pooh!

I got a tattoo, I joined the club...

For all two of you who read this, you already know that I got the tattoo, because you were with me when I got it!
I really was surprised that it was not all that big of a deal.
It did not hurt, it just stung for a second. Your adrenaline takes care of the pain.
I know about adrenaline covering pain, because I have given birth twice to two large baby boys! I did the last one, with no drugs! Adrenaline sweeps over your senses and gives you this weird sense of euphoria and you cannot remember the pain after it is gone!
That has to be why people continue to reproduce, because without the adrenaline, it would hurt like hell!

Back to the tattoo, I love it. I have wanted it for a while and have thought through it very thoroughly. I researched every avenue of the art, spiritual nature and reprocussions of it, and even been patient about it-which is tough for me!~

I decided on a turquoise dove with an olive branch in its mouth. I love the symbol of hope that is behind the little bird. My son, Tristan, immediately upon seeing it launched into the Noah's Ark story and told me that the bird brought forth the promise of hope, peace, and that God also gave the bird a rainbow...I love his rendition, it is told with animation and passion. Just like a Bible story should be told.
Who would have thought a thing on my foot would ever tell a story about God?
Weirder things have happened, I am sure of that.

wild ride

My two sons absolutely keep me on my toes.
They are so amazing to watch as they bounce from one activity to the next
with enthusiasm and wonder. My baby, especially. He just cracks me up
when he decides that he is finished with one activity and then he
never wants to do the activity that he just dropped ever again.

He gets this look in his eyes...
Ambition is what I call it.
He will conquer what he seeks out to find!

I never stop when I with them.
They never stop when I am with them.
When the babysitter, Micaela, comes over, I have to leave the premises.
If not, the kids are all over me and I end up not getting the freedom to
do as I need or want! I just pay for another being to be around me!
But, as soon as I am gone, they are great and they have a blast with her.
Kids just want to be with their parents, momma especially.
I am so blessed by their willingness to put up with my angry temper as long as
they just get to be near me.
That is love...that is a wild ride.

WOW! Beach fun!

I made it back. It was interesting! I just travelled 350 some odd miles to the gulf coast to hang out with my brother and his kids, my mom and dad, and my two babies. Wow! I am exhausted. I drove the way down there with my brother and his two lovelies in tow. We made lots of stops, but it was fun to play tag and he was great to help me with my kids. His kids had a blast. All 4 kiddos played in the ocean, even Sam. Sam is usually very afraid of the water and he just dove in like it was the coolest thing in the world!

The way back was great. I just did it all by myself! I drove, no one following or leading me. I did it! And, I did it with T-man and Sam!

The ride was cool and very enjoyable as far as the kids go except when we got to Warrior, onthe other side of B'Ham, and Sammy's DVD player stopped working and all Hades broke loose. He screamed for 45 miles! It was insane!

Jeremy was awesome and when we came home, he took the boys out to celebrate Father's Day!

Thank you God for a safe trip!

Glad to be home.

Going to the beach! :)

Well, I get take my two lovelies to the beach tomorrow! I am stoked and very nervous about travelling all that way to Destin by myself with the boys. Jeremy will have to stay and work here, so it is just me.
I have stuffed my little Mariner full and organized and planned out the logistics of bathroom breaks and bored books!
Wish me luck and pray for a safe trip!
This was an unexpected, yet very wanted trip, so YAY, go me!
Think of poor old Jeremy here all alone and then also consider him blessed that he can get some rest too!

Put upon a pedastal

My mom taught me that family was the most important thing that there was in this world next to following Christ. Let's just face it, our moms are the ones who introduce us to most everything.
My mom had this amazing way of showing us things, and then by default because there were three of us and no one to help her with us, she would leave us to our own exploring. At least that is what I remember, my mom was just so busy. I have actually turned into that lady! She has so many wonderful characteristics and it is so weird that I now have to look at her as a peer (because I am now an adult). She's got her hands full dealing with us all of the time.

You never stop being a mom, even when your own children become moms and dads on their own. We put our moms and our dads too, up on these really high pedastals and then we can't look down to them or give them the feeling of being human too. Once I began to grow up and become an adult and have kids of my own I slowly would feel the tug of my mom's apron strings trying to hold on a little more, just for a moment longer. Isn't that what we all seek, to be in the shelter of the wing without the charm of the remarks and comments. At times I could have sent my mom shears by FED-EX to officially just go on and get it over with, cut them already and let me grow up!
But, somehow they always grew back, longer and stronger, but different.

That mighty pedastal is a tough place to be as a parent and it is not easily removed either. My mom still sits there, as she should in some respects, and in others it is not fair to her. I expected the perfect mom, and God gave me her. She always did the best she could and most days she is still working to reach that insurmountable line of the crown of the Roman columned pedastal.

I strive to be there for my kids the way she has always fought to be there for us, my brothers and me. It is so hard to be another person or to be their example.
My mom has shown me a lot of great things. She has taught me a lot of great lessons in life and she still does everyday, regardless if I want to be shown or taught. That is what moms do, they reign from atop their thronely pedastal and instill wisdom and judgement upon their meager servants!

divide and conquer

Okay, why as humans do we think we have to seek out, divide, and then conquer every little thing we do?
Everything does not have to be answered, especially things concerning God, and not everything has to have a purpose. We can be just goofy and act all crazy sometimes without it having some profound meaning and reaction from everybody!
Just had to blog that...there are a lot of crazy things that seem to happen to me everyday that just drive me bananas that I just can't fix!

The love of my life

My hubby is so wonderful. He is respecting and kind. He loves me regardless of my attitude, bossiness, brashness, weight gain, and any other short coming I can think of.

I am overly critical at times and just want to get to get through the day so that I can crash and hopefully sleep and wake up a "better" person the next day. He is so faithful and loyal with his everyday work at his job and he just loves me. I can see that in every little thing he does. I just love him. AWWWWW!

I remember the times when we were all PDA and lovie dovie on each other and that is cool that that moment has passed, because our kids absorb all of that right now. We will be those two old people sitting in our rocking chairs living vicariously through our children and recollecting our wild youths. We were very wild youths! :-)

Especially him!~

I love him and I just wanted to write that a hundred times over and over about how much I love him!

He is so supporting and loving, and handsome and caring...

The Tudors

THE TUDORS

If anyone has seen this program on Showtime called the Tudors, give me some feedback. Season two just ended and I am grasping for some more information about this crazy, mixed up family of centuries ago. King Henry VIII was a nut!

He had lots of wives, doesn't sound too different from today, huh?

He married out of obligation, he got rid of her. He married out of lust, but disowned his church, faith, and God to get that; he beheaded her. He then married for love. She was the only one of his wives that "left him" and that was by death not laid down by him, instead she died during child birth. King Henry then married an older, yet uglier woman as an alliance between England and another country, he got rid of her. Finally, in an older age, he is depressed, no longer hot looking and he has married to find a woman to be a step-mom to his children. Poor guy. NOT!

He actually realized that he needed to make all of his kids no longer "bastards" to the throne of England (several dramas to play out after his own death).

The actor set to portray King Henry VIII may be allright looking in our minds, but check out the dog Henry was in his latter days:

He thought that all these women would replace his faith. Or at least that is what I think. He was so sad. He wanted a legitimate male heir to his throne, well all the baby momma's that he had only either produced healthy females or their pregnancies were miscarried when a male son was in their wombs. Finally he has a male heir with his beloved Jane Seymour and she dies at childbirth and his son is sickly, but lives to finally become king. He dies shortly after his dad does.

It says on one website about the series that "obsession can change the world." Wow, that is so true. All it takes is one small idea or even one sin and things just blow up to something so large that covering it up just becomes impossible, so BOOM! We just extradicate ourselves from God and our faith. Heavy lightness here!

Now, if you think I just ruined the third and fourth seasons for you, no no!

Showtime really has made King Henry's life seem so realistic and as a viewer you are able to see how much a person's life 400 years or so ago is like your very own. Only instead of messengers by horse, we have cellphones and tv!

If you have not seen the Tudors, it is running re-runs from season 2 right now...I just bought season 1 on DVD and cannot wait to watch it as I just came in on Season 2!

Here is a link so you can check out more about the series: http://www.sho.com/site/tudors/home.do

Rosco

A couple of months ago, my oldest son turned 4. We went to the pound and adopted him a dog, that was his one birthday wish. The dog was a beagle/hound mix and we named her Aubie. Well, Sammy, my youngest son, decided that Aubie was more of a stuffed animal and he liked to drag her around by her ears. Well, I just could not have that for several reasons. Aubie was and probably still is a little angel. She was so needy for attention and love. Well, T-man was awesome about our having to return Aubie to the Animal Shelter. I broke my heart to hear him tell me that, "Sammy was just not ready to have a dog." I mean, come on, the boy just turned four! He already has this amazing compassion for others and life.

Well, for several days he would run in the door at the house to check if Aubie was in the back yard, and every time, she was not. About three weeks after his fourth birthday he had forgotten about Aubie and she was just a passing memory.

Then this beautiful, big ole baby came into our life...Rosco.

Jeremy found him out at the plant where he works, he was in danger because he had crawled under the fence and was inside BP/Amoco. Rosco was scared and very appreciative to be with Jeremy.

I get a call that there is a dog in our backyard, not be alarmed and he is a nice dog. That is all I get from my very, uhumm, informative husband! Well, turns out Rosco was only around 14 or 15 weeks old, we thought for sure he was at least 6-7 months old, we were shocked!

I am really concerned that T-man would get really upset if Rosco did not work out. For Rosco's first week, man things went great. He did not chew up anything, dig up anything, or bite and nip at the boys...he was home free and we were suckered into his scheme!

Well, the second week was quite different. He chewed up the feet and one of the arms to the cracker barrell rocking chair he was laying in in the picture above. He dug up all my flowers and began a massive hole by the concrete of the porch. He, by the third week we had him, weighed 28 lbs. Rosco is now around 24 weeks old and he weighs in at about 48 lbs.! He is a hoss! The vet anticipates him being around 70lbs. at full term adult life! He is a big baby and wants to cuddle up in your lap, at 45 lbs!

Friends

You know friends are like the most amazing relationship someone can experience. One day you can be just chatting around about nothing and then the next day you can have deep, life changing conversations that change the face of the friendship.

I have had lots of close friends in my adult life. Some of them have come and gone just as easily as I met them and then others kind of flow in and out of your life a like a breeze. I have one or two buddies that I would love to see more of, but never ever get the chance to do so.

I have this friend, Julie, we call her Ju-Ju because my oldest son, Tristan, couldn't pronounce her name when he was small and so he came up with Ju-Ju! We love that! Julie is awesome. She is a great friend for me, an irrational nut-case, and she really listens to everything I have to say. One of the greatest things she does for me is that she shoots me straight when it comes to reality. She has really had to learn to deal with what she calls the female counterpart to her husband, Matt. At first I did not think I was anything like his ole crazy self, but I see some parallels.

I just love her, no matter what she thinks of me, I always know that she will be there through thick or thin. Some days my own insecurities get in the way and I wonder why in the world would she want me as her friend. Anyway, we all get weirded out sometimes. Oh well, la-t-da!

Friendship is a cool thing that I need. I love having friends. It is such a vulnerable part of yourself, friendship with another human being, that sometimes you want to just back off and be "safe" when things get too tough.

Some people think you have to earn friendship and that is just not true. It is like the love you have for your spouse or children, it is just there one day and like magic...you can't control it.