That time a year ago

I have a laundry list (isn’t that what they call it?) of things waiting on me that need to get done and sitting at this computer looking through pictures and blogging is not on there. Maybe I should get up and go pencil it in so that when I am through here I can go mark it of my list and feel productive!!
Yes, that is what I will do!

I sat down looking for something else and ended up looking through pics from last year around this time and was hit by a huge wave of nostalgia and other emotional feelings. So I felt inclined to blog about it. Aren’t you lucky?

We’ve been back in this house for almost one year now, May 2 will be a year. When I think back (and I do often) on how March and April of 2014 were spent, it makes me tired and sad and happy all at the same time. It also humbles me because I am reminded of all the many lessons we learned during that period of our lives. And lastly it makes me so grateful that our lessons were short lived and the repercussions did not last to very long.

It makes me tired thinking of how we literally busted our behinds for 2 months working on that house. It makes me sad thinking about how much time we lost with our kids during that particular point and how miserable Jon and I ended up being out there. And it makes me happy remembering how much pure fun our kids had while we were there. They came home, did their homework and went outside and didn’t come back in until bed time. They climbed trees and learned to ride their bikes and just had the best time kids could have. I can still hear their happy squeals through that kitchen window!! They loved it so!

It humbles me when I remember the most important lesson we learned is that you have to wait on the Lord. You cannot MAKE His will your will. If you try, you will create a disaster.

It makes me grateful because our disaster was fairly easy to recover come. We certainly didn’t deserve that but the Lord is merciful and He chose to bless us that way. For that I am grateful.

We moved back 3 weeks before school was out. As sad as we all were to leave that little house I cannot begin to describe the relief we experienced when we finally spent that 1st night back. I can’t describe it but I will never forget it. Never.

Note: All these pictures were taken around the 1st week we moved back

helping his mama practice with her light in door ways

contemplating life back on 7th Ave

throwing the ball on top of the roof

the still very rare occasion that these two laugh and play together :)

this was right before she lost her very 1st tooth

grandaddy came for field day at school

The Struggle Is Real, Y'all

The struggle of life is real. The struggle to stay on task is real. The struggle to stay caught up is real. But today the struggle to learn to ride a tricycle when you have extra short legs, now that is real. Bless her heart. We’re trying, we’re learning and one day our legs will grow enough where we don’t have to struggle!!

Real quick, I did send my camera off and I did have a few things repaired on it and even though I’ve only used it twice since it came back, wow. I wish I had sent it off months and months ago!! Well worth the money. And as far as printing off pictures goes, I finally dived in and tried a new printing company that had been recommended to me and printed of about 65 pics just to see and I was very impressed. Mpix is the company and I highly recommend them!! Super fast turn over time and awesome quality!! I also had 3 large canvas printed and finally got them hung on the wall. I’m no where near being done but I feel very good about my efforts and will most certainly continue!!

I thought I had lost them all....

All my pictures in Lightroom that is. I know. I sat at the computer trying to tell myself that it was not possible. I then sat at my computer telling myself to figure it out on my own and not run outside screaming to Jon that my life as I knew it was over. So I sat here at this desk hyperventilating and bawling like a baby while I googled my problem and found the answer. You can really solve any thing with google these days. Well, almost anything! What happened, you ask? Well I am doing some serious cleaning an purging and organizing to my files and downloaded the latest version of Lightroom. I was unaware that it would open in a different way and when I went to find a certain picture, I couldn’t find any thing. Sheer panic I tell ya!! While all this was going on I kept reminding myself that my three children were still alive and in the living room watching t.v. so life would go on. But all I could think about was all the priceless, timeless pictures of my children living their life, doing every day things. I kept thinking about all the shots of their eye lashes and their little hands performing tasks and the quiet little moments that I quietly shoot while they are unaware that I am in the room. And that is what stopped my heart. Not the portraits or even the holidays. It was the everyday things that I will never be able to recall to mind. And that was the serious wake up call that I needed to get my rear into action and start PRINTING my pictures. Whether it be snap shots for an album or memory books or portraits to hang on the wall, they are going to be printed. Its about time we start enjoying my “art” any way. Why in the world would I continue to let 2 years worth of timeless moments of our lives just sit on my hard drive? Insanity, I tell ya. Insanity. So, the next time you come to my house, be prepared to ooohhh and awwww :)

 Moving on. The last 3 months around here have just been marvelous. Busy at times but then whats new? My blog stalker asked me the other day “Are you telling me that nothing exciting has happened in your children’s lives over the last 2 months?” Hahahaha!!! I love my blog stalker :)

Exciting things happen every day even if it’s just fight #1232 that I’ve had to break up between my eldest and my youngest. No kidding now, those 2 have been fighting like cats and dogs lately. It’s been rough and I’ve decided that it’s just a sheer test of my will. And my patience and my ability to give them grace and mercy at the times they need it most. Y’all, the struggle is real!!

Here is a run down of the things that have been happening lately. And by run down, lets see how much I can remember before Angel Baby Face wakes up and wants me to play babies!!

1. Audrey Grace tested into the “Gifted” program which is incredibly exciting and wonderful news for her!! Her brother did not, unfortunately, and one day I will sit down and write all about why I think the public school gifted system is a crock. In the meant time, I better find him an art teacher so that he can pass the next time he is tested. Yep, its a crock.

2. James and Audrey both have made all A Honor Roll so far this year and have both made their A.R. goal. Audrey is reading her red dot books and James just made it to that level. He was super proud of himself!!

3. Olivia. Well, Olivia keeps us all in stitches (when she’s not making us want to jam pencils in our eyes) and she keeps me busy. All day long. She loves to help around the house and has really gotten into role playing (cue the baby talk) and we have to go upstairs every day to play tea party and play with her My Little Pony Castle and all the little ponies. I’ve decided to NOT send her to preschool in the Fall. I just cannot bare to part with her yet. Hers will only be 4 and it’s such a long day and this is the reason I stay at home any way. So we don’t have to send the kids off to something they/we are not ready for!!

4. James is going to play baseball this year, pitching machine baseball to be exact. Im a little nervous about that but he’s over the moon excited!

5. The girls are still dancing up a storm on Tuesday’s and Olivia is very impressive with all the terms she’s learned and she practices her moves every day! Audrey has come a long way since last year and it’s amazing to see her in action. I’m so proud of her. The recital this year will be The Princess and the Frog and Audrey will be one of Charlotte’s whispers but we don’t know what Olivia will be. But I do know that I can hardly wait to see her up on that stage!!

Till next time.....

Survival Week

Well hello there. Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas to ya!! We got back from our 9 day stint in the Big Easy and I got the bronchitis. Aint NO body got time fer dat! Especially this time of year!! Doesn’t my body know that little piece of vital info? Apparently not. Today, even though my energy is sacked from last night’s parade, my chest feels like there is hope on the horizon.

As my title to this much anticipated blog post states, this week has been that of survival. Get up, get the hubs and kids off to school (which leaves me feeling like I ran a 5k by the time they are out of the door) and then fall into bed and sleep until they all come home 8 hours later. NOT. I WISH. I did stay in the bed a lot on Monday and Tuesday snuggling (while hacking) with my feisty lil’ ray of sunshine only to get up and do the essentials: wash clothes, pour ingredients into the crock pot for supper and pick and deliver kids when I had to. I know I’m not sick enough to complain and def not as sick as I could be or as other people are today but just this little set back really has be thanking the Lord for my general over all good health!!

I’m really looking forward to this weekend. If we’d had any thing planned for it, I’ll be honest and say that I probably would of canceled it. I’m really hoping that nobody else comes down with any thing but I’ve resolved myself to the fact that they probably will and that will be ok. Right? Right. We are spending Christmas here at our house this year and there are not enough words in the English language to express how excited we all are!! It’s been since I was expecting Olivia that we’ve spent a Christmas here, so 4 years ago. Since we don’t have to haul any thing 500 miles, we may have gone a little overboard this year. But that’s ok too, right? RIGHT!!!!

James rode in the Christmas parade last night as King of Whigham. He looked so dang cute up there!!! Audrey was asked to ride on the school’s float dressed as occupation of her choice and she chose a teacher! Im so very very glad that it was not cold last night, it was a balmy 69 degrees as we rode through the streets of Cairo. Jon rode in the Polaris with James and I was going to as well but they asked me to ride on the float and help hold a reindeer that kept falling over. Olivia rode in my lap and as we rode under the lights downtown she looked up at me and said “Mama is this our town?” Made me get all teary eyed!! We live in such an amazing little town and I am so thankful that my children are being given the opportunity to know small town life and appreciate it and feel and know that they are a part of it.

I set the bar to high for myself most of the time and end up in failure most of the time so I will sign off for now and hope to post again soon about our trip :)

Disclaimer: King James was hyped up to get to his car but when he got there his mood immediately changed. After some “prodding” I discovered that he realized he was not going to get to catch any candy. #childhoodprobs

The Last of October

We had a great week, albeit a busy one. We’ve had a great month, in fact, even though it’s been a tear your hair out crazy month it’s been good. And even better has been these last 2 weekends where we have stayed home all saturday long and did nothing except whatever we wanted to do. For instance, Jon got up at the you know what crack of dawn to go hunting in 30 degree weather with 20 mile an hour winds this morning. And I slept until 9:15. Amazing. How is that possible you ask? Well James and Audrey are at the age where they go turn the t.v. on and watch it until I wake up, no prob. Olivia sometimes is cool with that and sometimes not. This morning she was cool with it but it was not because she was being thoughtful of me. No, it’s because she could eat candy this morning if I stayed asleep. Oh well, for me on a Saturday to be able to actually sleep late.....

This week was Red Ribbon Week at school to raise awareness about drugs. I find it ironic that they chose a 70’s theme and a Rock-n-roll theme. Aren’t we trying to raise awareness AGAINST drugs? Yes. So why are we encouraging the children to dress up as people from three of the most drug induced decades in American History?? Hey, I’m just saying how ironic it is! We (I) had so much fun coming up with ideas and ways to dress them!! I’m not the type of person to go out and spend a lot of money on costumes. In fact I usually wait until the absolute last second available to make any kind of plans for a costume so that’s probably why I don’t spend a lot of money on them. I was a little more prepared this year simply because Jacob’s mom called to see if James would want to be his twin on twin day. So we started talking and planning about a week in advance. Oohhh la la.

It’s either this stiff, deer in headlights look or... 

Silliness. I like the silliness personally

Tuesday was dress up day at dance so Miss Olivia went as an elephant using Audrey’s first recital costume. She was totes adorbs. And everyone squealed with delight to see an elephant in the midst of all those Princess Elsa’s :)

And wow do I need to clean and re-paint my back door. Heavens to Betsy I had no idea just how dirty and chipped it was until I took these pictures. Any suggestions for a new color? I am thinking red or possibly going all out and being that house in the neighborhood with the turquoise blue doors.

On Thursday we had the spotlight program at school where James and Audrey were both awarded with All A’s Honor Roll and meeting their A.R. goal for the 1st 9 weeks. I’m so proud of them!!

On Friday there was a “Halloween snack” that I helped with and I got there a little early (SHOCKER!!) so the teacher told me to feel free to walk around the class room and take pictures while the kids were reading. So.....guess what I did?

Kings, Pumpkins and 5 pairs of Socks

I absolutely love this time of year! And the weather here has been absolutely perfect the last 2 weeks and next weeks forecast looks to be more of the same. The mornings are cold enough that you have to wear a jacket outside but you can shed it by the afternoon because it warms up very nicely with out any humidity and the evenings are just as great as the mornings. Nice and cool to be able to enjoy some hot chocolate out on the porch swing. My favorite!!

Friday was a wonderful day and not only because of the weather. My daddy made it home safe and sound from East Africa!! James won the King fund raiser at school (yay!) and we painted pumpkins and played socks for our Fun Family Friday. Socks? Hold that thought!

To say that I am excited that James won, meaning he raised the most money out of the 12 boys that were competing, would be an understatement. Selling those tshirts was a huge undertaking and even though all the money we raised goes to our school’s PTO seriously makes it worth the effort, if he hadn’t won I possibly might could of been slightly disappointed that all my hard work was uh, just that; hard work. But to be able to put that smile on his face and the excitement in his eyes when they announced his name as the winner, was 100% worth it and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!! He didn’t think he was gonna win and Jon and I were very skeptical just because we know how much of a competition it can be but as the Principal had each child sit down after telling each bracket of money raised and James was 1 of 2 boys still standing I punched Jon in the arm and whispered “I think we may of done it!! I think we might have just won this thing!!” We raised $1385.75 and while that is a very large number I knew that the child who won last year raised a little over $2000!! So you see, the bar is set pretty high!

I had some lovely pumpkins sitting on our porch and the kids have been BEGGING to paint them ever since I put them out there! I really enjoyed having the plain, normal pumpkins sitting there with my gigantic mums, they were a nice touch to the fall decor and they really  helped to take your attention off the cluttered porch (if you follow me on instagram you should be laughing right now!). But being the good, kind, generous mother that I am, I finally caved to their continuous begging and we all painted pumpkins in the front yard for Fun Family Friday!! While I enjoy the fact that the wildly colored pumpkins are just another reminder that kids live here, I think I may have to go back and get me some more plain pumpkins :)

I have yet to go out and snap a picture of the porch as it looks now but I will!! It’s wild!

A new tradition that has been added to our FFF, is the game of socks. Jon heard someone talking about it on the radio one day and decided it sounded like fun and once he introduced it to the kids, thats all they want to do! I’ll admit it took a little to get me on board but now I highly recommend it. It’s tons of fun!! Basically what you do is everyone puts on socks and pulls them up as high as you can get them, you put your feet all touching at your toes and scream “SOCKS” and you start scrambling to get every ones sock off their feet while trying to keep yours on. Who ever has at least one sock still on by the time everyone else has had theirs ripped off, is the winner, winner chicken dinner. It’s a blast!! One day I will have to set up the camera on the tripod and give you all some laughs!!