First Time Ever I Saw Your Face...

LOVE Day 4

It goes without saying that I totally LOVE my family. So, like Leigh Ann my first few days of this month it is very easy to think of things I love.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this little boy! He has brought endless amounts of sunshine to my life.

I love his big cheesy smile just like his mom's. I love his curly red hair. I love his easy going laid back personality. I love that he gets so fired up about his sports and takes playing by the rules very seriously.

I love that he says thank you for the little things I do for him. I love that he ends his prayers with "Thank you Baby Jesus". I love his sweet spirit.

I love his outgoing personality. He rarely meets a stranger. Young or old if you are willing to listen to him he is going to sit and talk to you. He is respectful and kind to others.

I love that he still gets up in the morning and the first thing he does is give me a hug and kiss. I love that he takes nothing for granted. I love that he is not afraid to show love.

I love everything about this little boy! I was blessed beyond what I imagined on September 18, 2001. In an instant my whole world was changed with one small little boy.

I love you, I love you, I do...

I love my husband! That's an easy one right? But I love him so much more today than I did in 2000 when we said I do. I love him for all different reasons. I love him for being an amazing father to our two beautiful children. For being so involved in their lives and being truly invested in our family. I love him for supporting me in everything I do. I know that sometimes it is hard to support me and occasionally my mouth gets me in trouble, but he always stands behind me. I love him for providing for our family, for being a hard working man. I love him for his consistency, and strength. I love him for the silly things, like taking me to concert after concert just because I really like the band, or watching chick flicks with me on a Saturday night. I love him for giving me my space when I need it, for knowing that I need that time alone. I love him for backyard bonfires with the kids, creating new family traditions that we all enjoy.

I love him for being goofy with me! I know it is really hard for him to be goofy, but he does it, he is willing to go there with me. Which brings up the Santa hat picture.. Matthew, this is just for you! Jack was given such a hard time about this picture.. but you see.. he was just doing it to humor me, just doing it because I enjoy being a little silly. Because he loves me, he did it! But people like Matthew and several others in my family have given him a hard time about the Santa hat. I say wear it proud! I love you Jack Cash for loving me ENOUGH!

Love is in the air...

February, the month of LOVE! What a great idea I saw on a couple of blogs.. in honor of LOVE taking the whole month of February to post daily about things you love! What great inspiration! Today is February 3rd, so I have a couple of days to catch up on. My February 1st post was all about the SNOW! So, I love SNOW! BUT.. just for a couple of days! I remember being so excited as a kid to wake up and see the ground covered with snow. I had that same excitement Saturday morning! How fabulous it was to get outside and sled and play! So, I LOVE SNOW!

February 2nd would have been an easy post.. I had it planned out.. I just never got around to posting. OOPS! So, had I of posted yesterday it would have been about my brother, Matthew. Yesterday was his birthday, so appropriately Matthew would have been the thing I love. I know, ewww, mush mush..but I do love him and am very proud of him. He was ten years younger than me, so while most people my age would have been gone from home and not around much, I was there. Being that I didn't get married until I was 28, I was there all through high school with him. I remember him being the pesky 6 and 7 year old that bugged Abby, Michelle and I while we practiced for cheerleading tryouts. I remember taking him to and from practices for baseball. I was there cheering him on at football and baseball. Took him to his first Garth Brooks show for his 16th birthday. I tease him about being the Golden child, but I am very proud of him. So, for February 2nd my post would have been that I love my brother Matthew, and I know I promised you THE picture.. so, that leads me to February 3rd and what I love. :) More to follow...

It's a Snow Day! It's a Fun Day!

This past weekend we had Arkansas' version of winter weather. Definitely not a lot of snow, more ice and sleet but just as much fun to play in outside! Jack was off work so we were so excited to get out with the kids and get the sled going. Ethan kept saying "This isn't a snow day, its a fun day!". So, it officially became known as a Cash Family Fun Day!
We sled over hills, through ditches, down piles of rocks, and even on the flat street. Scarlett would run and dive on the sled and go flying down the road. We tried pushing them a few times, but after Jack fell twice we thought we might be pushing OUR luck. I even got on the sled a couple of times. Hubby was not allowed to take pictures of that. I forgot just how much fun sledding was! We told the kids story of our glory days of late night sledding.. which only made them think we were going back out into the snow after dark. They were disappointed to hear that it was not happening.



When we finally walked back home Gizmo was waiting patiently in the window. He was so mad that we did not take him with us, but we were afraid it would get way too cold for him. Not like he is a dog or anything! ha! Once Jack got back in his recliner Gizmo quickly got in his spot to settle down for a winter nap. Giz is so funny! He waits at the foot of the recliner until Jack props up his feet and then he jumps right up there and lays down. Nightly this is his routine. Such a spoiled dog! Saturday was filled with more of the same. We headed back out after lunch to do a little more sledding, made a few snow angels, and I even introduced the kids to snow ice cream! I remember my mom making this for me when I was little, we loved it! My kids did too!
Such a perfect weekend! I am so blessed with a wonderfully fun family! Ethan told us Saturday night that "it was his best weekend ever"... as parents I don't think there is anything we enjoy hearing more!

What's this? A post? Oh My! Inspiration has finally hit me! :)

I have been inspired to start my blog back. My "little" brother, Matthew, started blogging and his New Year's resolution was to blog more. What a great idea! So, I decided to clean up the ole blog and get started again. Hopefully this time I will be a little more faithful to the blog.

Matt and Dana announced at Christmas that they were expecting their first child. How exciting! I was so excited for them. That means I get to be an aunt again! New little baby to hold and love! Wonderful. I just read Matt's blog post about his "Three Expectations of Being a Dad" and he was looking for some feedback so I thought I would share some advice and words of wisdom.

1. Throw out any and all expectations you have of yourself or your wife. I remember reading books and thinking of all the things I would not do. Definitely having a child would not change my life, nothing would be different. WRONG! There were days I would sit in the chair all day and just hold Ethan. Several times a day I would find myself crying as I held him still amazed that this beautiful child was mine. So, don't expect to understand any of it until you are holding the baby and then everything changes in an instant.

2. Enjoy these nine months. Be there for the doctors appointments. Do the little things Dana wants. Lean on each other, talk about all the changes. Having your first child is such a precious time in a marriage. These nine months are going to be filled with excitement, fear, worry, ... just about every emotion you can think of. Enjoy it all! Be there for it all! Share your thoughts with each other. This will strengthen your marriage as the time passes.

3. Definitely be totally involved. There is nothing that makes a wife love their husband more than seeing them hold their child. Watching your husband love and nurture this child you created is an amazing blessing. So, you are right, don't be afraid to invest time, love and all emotion on your child. You will not regret it. But yes, there are still times that saying "Go ask your mother" will be accepted. Some things we just do better. :)

4. You can never, ever show too much emotion. The "I love you's", the kisses and hugs all come pretty freely but there will never be too much of them. Ethan still gets up every morning and comes right to me for a kiss and a hug. I love it! There is nothing better than having the love of a child.

5. Being parents is a huge responsibility. It is a little scary at first. There is no manual, no rulebook to follow. Trust your instincts, trust your knowledge and always do what you feel is best for your child and your family. Even if it is not the norm.

I am so happy for Dana and you! I know you will both be wonderful parents! Jack and I are always here if you have any questions or need anything. We don't always get things right, but I feel like we are doing a pretty good job with the gifts of children we were given. I am so excited and love you both!

Oh My GOOODNESS.....

I can not believe it has been over two months since I posted... oops! I am not sure when and where I forgot about the blog, but I will go back and post all the fun stuff we have been doing. Mostly for me, but any of you out there that still check in, we have been doing great and doing LOTS of fun things. :)During this two month hiatus Ethan has become a total love of all things "Titanic". He read about it, watches shows about it and just all around want to learn more about it. We built our very own Titanic out of boxes. The kids had so much fun painting and decorating the box. Hans Solo, Storm Troopers and many army men were kind enough to join us on our journey aboard the ship. :)Last night we decided we would host our very own Titanic dinner in honor of the anniversary. The kids made a sign and decorated it to welcome all the guest aboard the Titanic.
They dressed up, and entered the "ship" (which was decorated by them) and sat down to their menus. They enjoyed mom and her very fake accent. I even had the glasses "tinged" at me a few times so they could change their order, or add to it. :) A few times I think it was even just for the fun of it.

The kids had a great meal. They chose their own meat and dessert and enjoyed their appetizers. This was such a fun night for all of us. I think we will have to make this something we do every year. :) I am sure by next year the kids will be into something else and we will have to plan a dinner around that theme.
We got the "good dishes" out and fancy glasses. They sat at the table by themselves and were so sweet. We even had a question and answer time for the Titanic guest. Although at this point, I think Ethan knows more about the Titanic than any of the rest of us.
They enjoyed the meal and laughed profusely at Chef Daddy. He had already caught Scarlett's eye in this picture. He just put his chef hat on and she found that very funny.

Not sure Chef Daddy was thrilled about the hat. But I can tell you that he got another big laugh this morning when I uploaded the picture. :)
all those pictures and that was just last night! !! I am going to have a hard time catching up on two months worth of things. I have missed my blogging and missed reading everybodies blogs. It is time for me get caught up on all of you!!! If your still around and checking in.. I"M BAAAACK! :)

Going backwards...what we did in February...

I thought I would try to sum up the past two months in a few backwards/backdated post. The month of February was a lot of fun. We were busy.. but busy just like any other month of the year.

We played basketball.. lots of basketball... and I am so sad I didn't update more during the season. Ethan did very well and loved playing!! Scarlett enjoyed her cheerleading, but was glad when the season was over. Basketball took us straight into soccer, and soccer has taken us straight into baseball. I think this will be our perpetual calendar for many years to come. I just WISH we could find a sport Ethan enjoyed playing!!! ha!

In between our sports activities we planned a few field trips. We went to the State Capital during the Inauguration week and had a wonderful tour. They really enjoyed learning the history behind the capital. That of course led us to the Old State House, or "the old capital", as the kids call it. On our only cold and wintery day of the year we made the cutest "redneck" birdfeeder. The kids feared the birds would be too cold and have nothing to eat, so we searched the cabinets and found things that we thought they could eat. We toasted bread, crushed wheat crackers, and made our very own bird feeder. Daddy helped hang it up outside once we were done. Nothing like a milk jug bird feeder hanging in your back yard! :)On one of the semi warmer days in February we went to Pinnacle Mountain and walked the trails. The kids loved getting outdoors again. These two are in no way meant to be kept inside for long periods of time. They enjoy being outside too much!
I am pretty sure you are not supposed to be hanging on the branches in a state park, but the pictures turned out cute.. we got them off of them quickly.. or should I say their daddy corrected my mistake quickly.


and of course we had our Valentine's Day party. We got lucky and it was such a nice day! The kids were able to play outside, we made cards and cookies. Even some of the mom's got in on the action.
That just about sums of February...sure seems we were busier than that!