No Joy in Mudville. . .

Well, we lost our game today. Actually we lost two games today. It was sooooo hot. The poor kids were just little puddles. We won our game last night and then played this morning and lost then had to play again and lost that one too. So we are out of the tournament. Poor Jack came out of the dugout crying and said it's over Mommy we don't get to play anymore. He was so sad. It broke my heart. They were playing some really good teams from other areas.
We will retire his jersey this year and move on.

Our next adventure will be football. Yes, I am a ball park mother. As long as my kids are having fun and want to do it I am there for them. The football thing I am a little worried about though. He moves up to tackle this year and he is not that big. He is fast though so I hope that will help.

I guess we will spend the rest of our summer basking in the sun at the pool. Yeah!!

Some more Thomas- isms. . .

While we were at the doctor for Jacks' physical Thomas had to remind the doctor that Jack is allergic to "dust bunnies" HA HA, He is in fact allergic to dust mites. Thomas insisted that they were dust bunnies. Anyway.

Today we were getting in the car and Thomas wanted to kiss me on the lips. I told him my lips were for his Daddy only. He said so when I get married I can kiss on the lips. I said yes. He said, "Mommy I hope when I grow up that I can marry you." I told him that was very sweet but I bet that he would meet someone later that he would want to marry. I also told him he needed to marry someone his own age. He then said, " OK maybe I will marry Jessica and Jarrets' Mommy." I just laughed. Wendy is one of my best friends I thought she would love to know that my son wanted to marry her. Wayne you better look out. Thomas is trying to move in on you.

Something cool for the kids. . .

I was reading this magazine, "All You" and it had a cool idea for your kids this summer. Their readers send in tips and cool stuff to save money and such. One reader said she let her kids create their own movie. She said they wrote their own scripts and rehearsed it and then filmed it. She said later the whole family would sit down and watch it together. I though that was pretty cool. I may try that with my kids. Who knows we may have another Lucas on our hands. You never know until you try.

I told Jack about it and since he is the only one that can write I told him he would have to write the script and that I would help film it for them. I think the reader that suggested this had more than 2 kids. He seemed pretty interested but who knows. I may try it later in the summer after All Stars calms down. I will keep you posted.

Here is another Thomas- ism:

Yesterday the door bell rang and of course the herd went running. It was our neighbor and I told the boys they could go out and talk for a while. Thomas shut the door on me and said, "We need our privacy mom," Now I ask you what do a 5, 6, and 8 year old need privacy for? That was a hoot!

God? ? ?

My husband and I watched a really good movie the other night. "Facing the Giants" It is about football and one man that had so much heart ache and pain heaped upon him it could have made anyone crazy. But he had an amazing faith in God and prayed. God answered his prayers not on the mans time schedule but on Gods' time schedule. You know he is famous for that. We pray and he answers our prayers only sometimes it is hard for us to wait. This was an awesome movie. Of course I cried through the whole thing. It was great.

I feel drawn today to write about this because it moved me so much. Sorry but I am just that way. My husband and I are Christians and are trying to raise our children in a Christian environment. I am a firm believer in prayer and its' power.

In 1996 my father fell through the roof of our barn. It just so happened I was at home for a visit. My mom called me on her cell phone and told me what happened and I called 911. I raced to the barn and when I got there, there were 3 fire trucks, 2 ambulances and several volunteer vehicles. They had my dad on a stretcher taking him to the ambulance. When we got to the hospital they did x-rays and found that dad had crushed his right arm. He was going to need emergency surgery to save it. He was in surgery for 5 1/2 hours. In the wee hours of Sunday morning the doctor came in and told us that he made it through surgery and would be in ICU for a day or two and then would be able to go home. We prayed a lot that night for God to help dad. We found out that not only had he crushed his arm but he had cracked his pelvis and lacerated his kidney. He was in ICU in traction for the pelvis. Well things went for ok to really bad in 24 hours. Dad had to be put on a respirator. A lot of things went on during that time and he ended up in ICU for 3 weeks. He turned 64 in ICU mostly unaware of anything that was going on. We were only allowed to see him at certain times and for short intervals. It was during this time that I became very close to God. We were on a first name basis. I prayed all the time. Everyday there was something new that was causing problems. He had good days and bad days. After 3 weeks he finally got to be moved to another floor and was off the respirator. He was still in traction for the pelvis though. After 2 weeks he was released to go home to a hospital bed in the basement. He had to stay in it for 6 more weeks. He had to learn how to walk again. My Dad is truly a walking miracle. The doctors never expected him to recover the way he did. He took 18 units of blood while he was in ICU.

My dad is now 76 and people still tell the story of when he fell between 17-23 feet through the roof of the barn. He told me years later that while in ICU that there was one time he felt real peace and he said I could have let go. I am at peace with my life and with the Lord. Then he said he thought about Mom and said he could not leave her with all the horses to take care of. He also said he made several promises to God. He didn't elaborate about that part though.

I still pray everyday and I feel that my life has truly been blessed. I am also teaching my children to pray. They pray for their friends when they are sick or when they are traveling with their families. The night after the tornadoes came through Thomas prayed for the people and the children whose homes were damaged. That really touched my heart.

Mommy is the adult she can do what she wants to. . .

This is part of the conversation that ensued on the way to the pool this morning. Jack asked what I had brought for snacks and when I told him he was not happy. Then he asked what I brought for myself to eat and drink. I told him I had a Dr. Pepper for myself. He moaned and whined because he does not get soda very often. Thomas said she is the adult and can do what she wants to. I said yeah! I don't let my kids have soda because one, it is not good for them but the other reason is I feel like I have to have it and I don't want them to get that way. They only get milk and some juice at home. On a rare occasion when we go to McDonalds I let them get sprite. I don't like for them to have juice either because of all the sugar.

Now back to I get to do what I want to. Hmmm, Now I wanted to sleep late today but because of my (2) two legged children and my one four legged child I was up at 6:30. I get to do what I want to do.

I would love to eat chocolate all the time. But, if I did I would probably make myself sick and weigh 500lbs. I get to do what I want to do.

I would love to go to the beach every weekend. But, if I did my kids would never get to college. I get to do what I want to do.

I would love to get my nails done every so often. But then we would not get to eat that week. I get to do what I want to do.

Being an adult and getting to do what you want to do stinks. But I will have that occasional Dr. Pepper when I want one.

My children are in for a rude awakening when they get older. They think that as adults that you can do anything you want. What they do not realize is all the sacrifice that goes on when you become an adult and have a family. I will certainly remind them of this when they have their families.

I would not trade them for anything though. I love em. They keep me hopping.

So what will I want to do today? I am taking Jack to ball practice.

Brother Vs. Brother

Why is it the older brother feels the need to traumatize and terrorize the little brother? I honestly don't know. My brother and sister are a good bit older than me and maybe my brain has blocked out all the trauma. Jack the oldest told Thomas the youngest that their teddy bears come to life at night and that if you are mean to them they will get even with you while you sleep. So now the teddy bears must sleep downstairs away from them. Thomas is not mean to his bear but he is still scared.

Now in Jacks' defense, when he was in kindergarten they had a teddy bear day and all of the kids could bring their bears to school. Now the bears had a sleep over at school and guess what. They were all in different places in the room than where the kids had left them. Now the teacher told them that they must have come to life to play with all the fun toys in the room. Jack said the toys were thrown about and some of the bears were in the center area playing with them. The kids got a big kick out of all this. We never did hear a lot about it from Jack.

Now he decides to share with Thomas all about the bears and their abilities. Thomas and Jack both believe just about anything you tell them. They believe all people are good and so on. Ahhh, the sweet innocence of youth. I used to be the same way. I am more of a skeptic now.

Jack has a spend the night party tonight with a friend. Thomas is afraid to sleep by himself. Thanks Jack! I guess I am going to be camping out in Jacks' bed tonight. Oh, my aching back.

I guess this will be one of those stories to tell when they get married. Or maybe when the graduate from high school or college. My brother enjoyed telling everyone, at my Wedding, about my imaginary playmate Jill. I had her for a couple of years. Needless to say I was an embarrassment to my family. That is probably why my brother chose to tell that story at my Wedding.

Ode to My Hubby. . .

This is an ode to my Husband on Fathers' Day. He is such a great Dad. These days of the fast paced life we lead it is hard for a father to work 40+ hours per week and play with the kids. Well I have to give my Husband credit for doing just that. He takes after his father I am sure. His Dad passed away in March of 2005. I had the honor of knowing him and being his daughter-in-law for 12 years. I loved him dearly. All the stories I heard of him from Mark about growing up were wonderful. He worked very long hours and sometimes different shifts. He always made time for Mark. No matter how tired he was he always would play ball with him or go fishing ect. . .

Mark truly is a great Dad. He takes the kids to the movies on the weekends and that in turn gives me a break. He doesn't just take them to see things he wants to see either. He took them to "Horton Hears a Who". He said that was a stinker. But, because the kids wanted to see it, he took them. He plays in the yard with them and takes them fishing. He loves to fish and so do the kids. Sometime we get to eat what they have caught.

Today they played ball in the yard for about 3 hours in the heat. I think Mark was the biggest kid out there. Some of the neighbor kids came over and played too. I know there are men out there that don't do these things and fellas let me tell you, you are missing out. I talk a lot about seeing things through your kids eyes. The one thing I see in my kids eyes about my husband is that he is the best Dad around.

I must tell you one tell about him that might embarrass him. When we had Jack our oldest he did not want to eat after he was born. Now Mark and I neither one knew that much about kids we were just winging it. Jack would not nurse. It had been 2 days and he was still not latching on. He was being kinda bottle fed in a strange sort of way. Those of you that have had dealings with the "Breast Nazis" know what I am talking about. Mark came to me one evening with tears in his eyes. He said, "What are we going to do when we get home if he is not nursing? He will starve to death." I laughed a little and told him I would give him formula before I would let him starve. We both laughed then. I don't think Mark had ever held a child before we had ours. He never held his nephew or nieces. I do remember in the Hospital looking over groggily and seeing him hold Jack and watching a football game on TV.
Once we got home from the Hospital it was a team effort. He took a week off of work to help me when each child was born. He got up with me for those 3am feedings. He did fall asleep in the floor in front of me but never the less he was in the room with me. I had 2 c-sections so he had to help carry the baby to each room because I could not carry him. He changed diapers too. That was an event in our house. I will never forget him changing Jack one day and I heard the most awful scream and I got to the room as fast as I could and Jack had peed all over the wall and Mark. I told him next time please don't scream I just about threw a stitch trying to get down the hall. I thought he had dropped Jack or something.

Mark has always taken care of the kids with me. He even did bath time too. He did not want to give them a bath until they could sit up though and that was fine with me. I will never forget Jack must have been about 2 years old and I had to go on a trip for work. I had told my parents about it and my Mom asked, "Who will take care of Jack?" I laughed and said his Daddy. I was only gone for 2 days and I knew Mark could handle it. He did fine without me.

I know that when my kids get older and have their own families that they will remember what a great Dad they had. I hope they take after him and his fathering skills. I love my hubby dearly and am so proud of the Father that he is.

Proud Mom! ! ! !

I have to brag a little today about Jack. Today was Honors Assembly at school. Jack received an award for his AR (Accelerated Reading) today. I am so proud of him. He was the only 2nd grader to receive an AR award today. I am proud because this is something he did on his own. I did not push him to do this. He loves to read and is good at it. He is reading at a 4th-5th grade level. He likes to read Magic Tree House books. I am glad he likes to read. I did not like to read at his age. It is only in my "old age" that I have found joy in reading. My husband on the other hand reads all the time. I guess I have to give him credit on this one. He reads everything and even as a kid he read a lot.

Jack had 71 AR points. If you do not know what AR is; the kids have to read books and take tests on them to see that they comprehended the book. For each book he read he took a test and received from 1/2 point to 3 points per test. There was a minimum point value you had to reach before you could be recognized. I am not sure what that is but I do know that Jack exceeded it.

Reading is so important and I am so glad that the school is recognizing kids for their reading. I am not just saying that because Jack got his award either. There are schools that recognize high candy sales or high magazine sales and other such mess. We need to be recognizing and encouraging academic performance. If we do not encourage our children to excel in academia you just might be taking care of them on in to their old age instead of vice versa. I always encourage independence with my kids. I want them to be able to leave the nest and excel in the "real" world. I know I do shelter them some. Some people that know me may think I shelter them to much. I don't see it as sheltering but as protecting them. They are so innocent, they think the "S" word is "Stupid." I love that. I hope that I can continue to protect them. We talk about bad language and things they are not supposed to say. I have heard some terrible things out of kids mouths at the ball field and ect.. Things I would not repeat. I wonder sometimes who they have heard talk that way. Do they really hear it on TV? Or have the poor things heard it because it has been said to them. I love that my children are innocent I want to keep them that way.

Sorry about the bragging. I'm a Mom it's my job.

How Hot Will It Get?

Last night Jack had a ball game and I cannot believe how hot it was at 6:00pm. We were outside for about an hour and my shirt was soaking wet. The poor kids were pouring water over their heads to cool off. You would think at 6pm that it would be cooling off. We were even playing down in a hole where it is usually cooler. My husband kept saying the sun will be going down soon. It did not go down before we were through playing. Thomas was not even in the game and he was soaking wet too. His hair looked like he just stepped out of the tub. I love watching my kids play ball but my goodness it was hot last night. This season is almost done and then we start All Stars. My only hope is that those games will be later in the day so the kids don't get so hot. Jack is excited about All Stars this will be his first year.

I guess when I am not at the pool trying to keep cool this summer I will be at the ball field watching my "little" All Star.

Treating yourself !!

I bought a gift certificate for myself to go to the spa. I figured I deserved it. I have a long hot summer with two grouchy boys to look forward to, I should pamper myself while I can. I bought this online you could get a $50 gift certificate for $25 so I did. I decided to go for the full body massage. Now normally I am not a massage kinda girl but, this was wonderful. I opted for the Swedish which is supposed to be less painful than the one to relieve stress. It was still somewhat painful. The lady that did mine said I had a lot of tension in my neck and shoulders. Hummmm, wonder why that is? Could this be the reason I chose to pamper myself. I have decided to follow the philosophy that; I am the only me I have and I need to take care of me. I have put others first for so long and I need to take care of me or those others will not have anyone to take care of them. HAHA!! Seriously, what good are we as mothers if we do not take care of ourselves. I know we all neglect ourselves to provide for everyone else. Stop, take stock in you, and today do a little pampering for yourself.

The great thing about all of this is that my husband is so nice he takes the kids to the movies or bowling so that I can have some time to myself. He does understand as a stay at home mother it is hard work and we do everything but stay at home. Thomas asked where I was going that day and I told him the spa. He said Mommy are your going to the Auto spa? I told him no I was going to a people spa. The place we take the car to get it washed is the Auto Spa and Thomas loves it because it sprays all of those pretty colors of soap.

So today I recommend you all take some Me time and pamper yourself. Even if you only take some extra time in the tub our shower do it for you.

Remembering Canie. . .

We just recently had to put our beautiful Chocolate Lab to sleep. Her name was Canie she was almost 15 yrs. old. This was a very hard decision that my husband and I had to make. We loved her so much. She was our first animal after we got married. My husband always wanted a big dog he only had little dogs growing up. (Poor baby). All I had was big dogs growing up so I knew how much trouble they would be. He was in for a treat. This was one of those I told you so moments. I have only had a few of those with him. We moved in to a new house right after we were married and he immediately started looking for a big lab. We had a nice big back yard that could handle a large dog. It was our garage that was not ready for those big puppy teeth. She chewed everything. If it was wood she had her mouth on it. We tried everything to keep her off of it including putting hot sauce on it. She liked hot sauce. We fenced in our back yard so she would have plenty of room to run. My husband planted Cypress trees in the back yard about 20 of them. Everyday Canie would meet him at the gate with one in her mouth so happy to see her Daddy. She dug up every one of them. Needless to say that was an I told you so moment. We decided at two we would breed her and let her have a litter of puppies. She had 11 puppies right after Christmas. They all lived. We sold all but one of them. We kept a yellow male. His name is Jake. My boys grew up with Canie and Jake. Jack would chase Canie and grab her tail she never minded it either. She was very easy going. My husband always wanted a dog that would fetch. Canie did fetch but only when she wanted to. Not when he wanted to. She was funny that way. She was very loving though. The year we had the big ice storm and the power was out for several days he got the bright idea that she would keep us warm. We had moved our mattress into the living room in front of the fireplace. He let her in and she ran upstairs we got her under the covers with us and she rolled over and all four legs just running and through all the covers off. Ah, again and I told you so moment. We left her in the garage one day and somehow the door to the house did not close and she got in. She was probably in the house alone for several hours. We found teeth marks on the remote, she licked the stove, she had moved things from one room to the other, and she had taken ornaments off of the tree and chewed on them. We found things miss placed for weeks. Another I told you so moment. The dogs never really barked unless they needed too. When I say that I mean, Canie only barked at strange cars, snakes, and smoke. So we always new when someone was cooking out or when someone drove up in our driveway. She did save us one night. She began barking about midnight on a Saturday night and I made Mark go out and check. He went downstairs and he was going to shock the dogs in to not barking. So he threw open the door and yelled really loud, "Stop that". Much to his surprise two heads popped up from between our cars. Our neighbors kids were trying to break into our cars. Now how is that for a surprise. I think he scared those boys as much as the dogs and himself. The dogs got the Royal treatment from that point on.

Jack was very sad the day Canie died. He cried and he wanted her back. He did not understand how much pain she was in due to the pancreatitis. She was very sick. Mark and I both cried and I still cry some days when I think of all the things she has done and all she meant to us as a family. I have a lot of pictures of her and we will always tell stories of her just as I have told you. These are only a few of the stories of Canie. She was a great dog, friend, mother, and protector. My sister said it best when she said, "We are here to take care of and protect our animals in life and in death." She was trying to ease my pain in the decision we had to make.

Canie you will be missed! We love you! Craters' Cajun Hurricane September 9, 1994- May 29, 2008