WOW, a year sure does fly by when you are having fun...

I have been watching and waiting all weekend for updates from Kelly regarding Harper. I have done little else. I am so glad to hear that she is doing better. The power of prayer is amazing! I will continue to pray for Kelly, Scott and baby Harper. What an amazing story that little girl will have; God will surely work through her as she grows.

I noticed today that it has been a year since I started blogging! Wow, what a year it has been. This has been the most fun I have had in a while. It has become so much more to me than just a blog. I have made new friends, I have learned new things about old friends. I have created memories for my family, I have been so blessed through this blog.

I started looking back over the last year and several post made me laugh. It was so great to see what amazing fun as a family we had during 2008. Here are a few of my favorite memories, you can click on the links to read the original post:

The Great Mudbowl 2008 : How much fun was that day! Ethan and Jacob are the best of friends. They are not able to see each other near as often as we would love, but when they are together it is so wonderful to watch them play. This day was no exception! I have NEVER, NEVER, NEVER seen two little boys so dirty!!! That was such a great day.

The great hair debate of '08 : Some were memories I could have never had to relive again, like Scarlett chopping off her hair the night before Easter. I guess that is what you get when you have a very head strong determined four year old for a child ( a four year old that knows where scissors are).

My princess turned five years old in 2008 : Sweet Scarlett is growing up right before my eyes. It makes me so sad to see her getting so big. After reading this post I thought about how quickly six years was approaching. That made me really sad...

My sweet aunt Myrtle passed away on Christmas Eve. She was 95 and she was ready to go and be with Jesus. I am so glad we shared her final birthday here on Earth with her. She never had children of her own, but oh how she loved kids!

There were so many memories packed into this blog. I could keep going on and on about my favorite post. Ethan turned seven, we moved into a new house, there were Razorback games, baseball, soccer, cheerleading and so much more.

I feel so blessed to have the amazing family I have. I am such a lucky mom! I have two of the most amazing kids.

Here it is 2am, and as usual I am wide awake.. one of the unfortunate side effects of 15 years of night shift. Scarlett will soon be six years old but she will always be my baby. She just woke up crying because she was in bed by herself. I still race to her side, tell her everything is okay and of course pick her up and put her in bed with her daddy and I. I have come to realize I don't really want some things to change...Time for bed, I have a five year old that needs me...

Oh, and I almost forgot.. the tent.. well that didn't work out so well. Seems that I am a bit challenged in the ways of tent making. I drug our big ol'camping tent into the house, opened it up and TRIED to put it together. Oh how I wish I had pictures! That was a riot!!! After a few attempts I gave up and put the thing back in the package and promised them we would built the tent outside as soon as it warmed up!!! We have settled for a few of the classic chair and blanket tents, but it seems playing the Wii is more important and the tent just got in the way. So for now, we are back to our beds and waiting for a nice spring day.

Me and my big mouth...

One thing that I am definitely guilty of A LOT is speaking before I really think things through. I managed to do it again today. We were doing our school work and during our history lessons we talked about Nomads. The kids loved the fact that they were wanderers and lived in tents or caves. We headed outside on a journey to build our own nomad like dwelling. Fast forward forty minutes and we realize it would take FOREVER to build a dwelling place for us to play in so we setttle for a smaller version just for stuffed animals. It all worked out great because during science we talked about habitats, so the kids were able to tie it all in together. It is so much fun watching them grasp new concepts and learn new things.

Yes, I did try to get a picture of Scarlett beside the "fort" but the sun was bright which made her very unhappy and she refused to sit there and smile until the sun was gone! Guess who or rather what won that battle!

Back to the backyard and my big mouth...I tell them we can build our tent in the backyard and sleep in it and then they could really see how the Nomads lived. Major excitement breaks out! "Yes, Yes, let's do it NOW, let's build it today!". Luckily I have to work tonight, but I have promised we would build the tent tomorrow. Pray for me that we don't actually have to sleep in the tent! I know it would not be very Nomad like if I built it in the carport so that we can use our portable heater, but that may just be what we do. We did got and get our tent and the kids have looked at it and begged all afternoon. I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut!!! Stay tuned for the rest of the Nomad journey.

What a wonderful world...

This weekend has been Heaven! It has been so long since we have taken a weekend to ourselves and done absolutely NOTHING!! I can't remember the last time I had a whole weekend off with nothing to do. It was great!


Friday after school work was finished my granny and my uncle came by the house and visited. Ethan talked Uncle James into playing a few games of basketball and they had a great time! After winning a game he decided he would leave on a high note! We ran to Sonic for my last Diet Coke with Lemon. I am going on a hiatus. I still go to Sonic, but last year discovered a big Route 44 ice water with lemon was almost as good. (Yes, I will keep telling myself that). :) I finally finished getting the last of my Christmas items down and in the attic. I felt very accomplished!


Saturday morning the kids had their first Upwards games. The kids looked so cute in their uniforms. Ethan was up bright and early on is own and had on all his accessories. He even had on white sweat bands. He likes to accessorize his uniforms! A boy after his mothers heart.



Ethan had the dreaded 9am game! Early for a family that likes to stay up late and sleep in. Ethan played really hard and was great on defense. He is usually a very passive player so we were happy to see him hustle and stay after his opponent. He didn't score any points.. but the guy he defended didn't score any points either. :) Next we were off to Scarlett's game. She was so excited to be able to get out there and cheer. She was able to watch the other cheerleaders at Ethan's game so I think that helped her get ready for her game.

Scarlett and Ethan both did so well. I was so proud of them. Scarlett and I had a long talk before the game about "what if she messed up"... I made sure she knew that just trying her best was all that mattered. After each game the kids are given awards for their particpation. Ethan received the Best Effort Star to put on his jersey and Scarlett was given the Most Spirit star for her megaphone. They were proud of themselves!

After the games we went to lunch with some of our friends and had a great visit. The kids were happy to see their friend. Saturday afternoon I did something I had not been able to do in months... I took a NAP! It felt so good to curl up in bed and sleep a few hours (okay, maybe it did end up being several hours). I woke up at 7pm!!! Luckily I had already fixed some soup for dinner it just needed to be warmed.

Sunday was definitely a day of rest. I took another nap Sunday afternoon!!! I was spoiled this weekend. Nothing to do, no one to see and I took full advantage of my "free" time!

Of course all this sleeping is having a negative effect on me at this particular moment. It is 2:55 am and I am WIDE AWAKE!!! I have folded ALL my laundry, cleaned the bathtub, taken a bath and still do not feel sleepy! I guess I need to quit sleeping so much! ha!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Back online...

My new DSL modem arrived today! Yeah!!! I can rejoin the world of the internet. I have been so lost this past month without my computer. I did have dial up, but let me tell you, once you are used to DSL and then you try to use dial it, it just will not cut it. I would get so frustrated that after five minutes of trying to upload pictures, post a blog, I would just shut down the computer.

I am so thankful to be back and hopefully I can now find some interesting things to blog about.

We are working on getting our sweet little puppy housetrained. UGHH! That is not going so well. It has only been two weeks so maybe we are expecting too much, but it has made dear hubby a little frustrated. If anybody has any ideas or things that worked for them please feel free to share them with me. I am open for trying anything.

Scarlett and Ethan both have their first games this weekend. They are very excited about their games. I have been practicing Scarlett's cheers with her and she is doing so good. I am very proud of her. Ethan is a natural athlete (okay, yes I am a little biased) but.. he is doing really well at basketball practice so I hope that translate to good things on the court. After the game we are going to lunch with some of our favorite people! The kids are so excited to see Hayden. It has been a long time and according to them they thought they were "never going to see him again"!

Hope you all have a fabulous Friday!!!!

New Year and New Thoughts...

I read this article in a local magazine here and it was so appropriate for a new year and some new thoughts. I thought I would paraphrase and add some thoughts and some revelations for 2009. Yes, I am a little late on the whole New Years Resolutions.. I have a few, but if I NEVER verbalize them I seem to do a little better. This article talked about kicking a bad man "to the curb"; but it went much further than that. It talked about things in our life that need to be "kicked to the curb". Wow, do I have plenty of those things. Rather it is pettiness, worry, gossip, fear, anything that wastes my time and does not bring joy or fulfillment to my life. This year I am going to visualize my self kicking each one of my bad habits to the curb. How fun it will be to watch all those bad things go out with the trash. Bad habits are no way to treat YOURSELF! No way to treat a woman. You would kick a bad man to the curb if he didn't treat you right, so why would you treat yourself bad, too? While others will be proud of your changes, and proud of your new found joy, it will be YOU that takes charge of your own life and the things you do. January being the month of resolutions and revelations, I have found I need to TAKE OUT THE TRASH! Meet me on the curb in 2009! :)

the week after...

Christmas came and went and we were still having a good time. On Sunday night the 28th, we celebrated Christmas at my in-laws since Autie Lolo, Uncle T, Jacob, Lillie and Lauren came to Arkansas to see us! The kids were so happy to get to play with their cousins again so soon. Lauren fell in LOVE with Gizmo! I am almost positive she NEVER put him down unless she was absolutely forced. :) It was very sweet. I definitely see a puppy in her future.
On Monday, I turned 36!! Yikes! I sometimes wonder when I got so old when I still feel so young! I had a great birthday, and I am STILL waiting for my mint chocolate chip ice cream cake! UH HUM.. MOM!!!! I did make the only cake I know how to make. I can't bake at all except a coconut cake, and I make a very good coconut cake.The kids played for two days straight and had the best time. Lots of football was played in our front yard and Gizmo received lots of love!

Scarlett told me on Wednesday afternoon that she wished she lived in Tennessee so she could see her friends (cousins) everyday! I know she time is coming when the week long visits in the summer will need to start, but how do you let go??? I am going to have to prepare for the first time Ethan asked to go stay at Jacob's without us. I know the day will come.

New Years Eve we stayed home and partied! ha! We spread out the food all over the bar and munched and watched TV. Did you see that motorcycle jump across the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas??? WOW! That guy is amazing.. but definitely crazy! We watched Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve and played several games of bowling on the Wii. Our neighbors shot off a ton of fireworks at midnight, so we had a great display right out our back window.

2008 was a wonderful year filled with new friends, new experiences, and so many blessings. I am so thankful for such a wonderful year! I look forward to 2009 with my wonderful family! Happy New Year Everybody!!!