{ha!}

I am sitting here typing as fast as I can go for a deadline of early am.

I just heard Scott tell Noah he was Curious George about everything.

His response, "no, I'm not. I already know everything."

hmmmmm......

:)

{to: scott, from me}

When is our next date night?

The dress is in the mail.

It should arrive Monday.

We may need to make plans somewhere other than our last stop.....

Taco Bell. ;)

{haunted house}

This house haunts me. Not in the scary ghost way, but in the tragic love story sense. I drive past it several times a week, I grew up next to it and it still makes my heart so sad. I'll post the story soon, but for now just knew I needed to get it up or I never would. Stay tuned.......but warning, it will break your heart.

{family party}

On Sunday, we celebrated N's birthday with family. Not certain how we got to the point of having two parties every year - but, of course, the more parties the better for the boys. No complaints there! And, I don't mind skipping my bd! Funny how age works. :)



Noah wanted a blue cake. Although I gave the wrong instructions....he wanted dark blue icing....it still turned out pretty cute!

I love my frizzy hair! That is due to being caught in a rain downpour without an umbrella. Shouldn't be shocking as I showed up for nursery duty at church almost an hour late and thought I was on time? That is after I showed up two weeks early last time. TH: you may seriously want to fire me. So, I scrambled a bit as the party started at 1 pm. :)

Sweet Olivia in the background :)

The cake = a thumbs up.

Pictures courtesy of Angela. :) I was a little side-tracked. Unfortunately, Uncle Shawn wasn't with us. I know he is sad that he missed out! ha! But he was flying to Alabama for work. Or, was that Austin, Texas? Or, maybe Tennessee? (sorry, inside joke) but, we missed you.....Mr. Uncle Shawn Sir.

Happy, happy birthday sweet boy! We are one blessed family to have you grace our lives!

{i love these guys!}

N has definitely been blessed with some great friends; and we have been blessed with their parents. Truly. Last Friday night after some craziness on my part re: pick-ups, I brought a vehicle full of little guys home to celebrate N's 9th birthday. Although the guys in charge of the hay bales ran out of time and I didn't get the forts I had planned.......I don't think it phased the boys. In fact, they rearranged them so many times it wouldn't have mattered! :) And, I was right in the middle of the fights, even though my pink can of silly string got snatched from me and turned on me. It isn't suppose to work like that? Honestly, I was so sore by the next afternoon I could barely walk.

Seriously, is N praying before we started? :)



I promise, no one got hurt. Thank you GOD! We tend to have a track record for injuries when we get together like this in groups. I guess that is how it works with boys?!?

Rearranging, tearing down, and building.....

I love this one of sweet T! He had already had a rough day at school with a mishap on the playground. So happy he was still able to come!

It didn't slow him down any!

Running for his life! :)

Noah had confiscated the bag of nerf bullets above. Bad move. ;)

Hmmm...do you think they are plotting?

To the moms & dads - thank you so much! N had a great time. It is very bittersweet to see these boys that just yesterday were swinging their bats at t-ball practice for the first time. They are all growing into sweet young men. They are always a joy to have around and although I may cringe when I hear......."yes, ma'm" (really, am I a ma'm already???) they are really great little boys!

And, who would have thought? Hay bales from the barn, a few cans of silly string and nerf guns could have yielded so much fun. Note to self: it doesn't take "elaborate" for little guys! :)

{home sweet home}

it really is about the little things.

we get to stay home today with the exception of picking up sweet brother from school today at 3. then, it is straight back home. well, with possibly a short trip through sonic.

today: i'm in comfy clothes, working away. i feel MUCH better than i did yesterday. do not know what was up with that? i did take one of my 10 minute power naps and it did help a bit. not like i was hoping. but, i suppose last nights sleep did the trick.

my mom is still sick. scott is still asleep. the dog is asleep. but, i have a cute little guy who allowed me to put clothes on him this morning (it's FREEZING! where are you spring?) who is watching go diego go. he hates that show. but, i have to qualify tv time with something somewhat educational. it irritates him because "mommy, they ask you these questions when they ALREADY know the answers to them".

i've got a hot cup of coffee. and, a glass of sweet tea. the laundry is heavy into it's long, never-ending day.

but, i am home! not in a physician's waiting room praying that the air droplets from the person who sneezed do not make it across the span of the room to me. i am not in an md's office either waiting for md or going through this flare-up of migraines he has had and trying to remember which med to start in 2 weeks, which one to start the week after that, which one I can break in half, which one i need to start at full strength and then back off if he can't stay awake. yep, i got all of that. nor am i sitting in the car for an hour waiting for him to return to the car watching meatballs fall from the sky in an attempt to keep little man occupied.

no, i am at home. yea! and, i do not write any of the above for any other reason than to remind myself that being at home is often a very great thing. and, thinking back on our busy-crazy week.....it is never far from my thoughts that it could definitely be worse in so many ways.

just thankful i am home.

the rat race begins again at 6 am tomorrow! :) so i am s-a-v-o-r-i-n-g.......

{should I? or should I not?

okay, you may have seen a post about this dress a week or so ago. i left it up about 7 minutes and ripped it back down. for some reason........i.love.this.dress. i almost ordered it for scott for v-day as we are realllllllly trying to have date nights. but, didn't. it shows shoulder (gee?) but, i am weird with stuff like that for myself. but, think it is always so cute for others? i am sure it has alot to do with my very resticted upbringing. but, after two weeks, i am still drooling over this dress. and, not alot of things cause me to drool. if the body came with it.........i would have ordered 10!

should i?

{oh,no}

Wow. Seriously, I am praying that I simply have a case of EXTREME fatigue. Literally, I am sitting here and my arms are so tired it is difficult to type. It takes effort to raise them to the keyboard. I am not kidding. :( That is not the norm as I can type for days typically. I am dragging in a big way. It just worries me as my mom has been out sick since early last week and now Scott. Evan now has a cough that started just this morning and is laying down. I cannot get sick. Or, I guess I could, but, I reallllllllllllllllllly don't need to get sick and need some energy in a big way to tackle my current assignment and that pesky to-do list.

I am guzzling a Mountain Dew.


Let's hope!

{to: heather, from: me}

I suppose since I call her at 10 pm begging for help on where to place living room furniture because I can't get it to work, or 3 pm in a frantic situation as Scott has surprised me with a bedroom suite I absolutely fell in the love with and the movers are on their way in an attempt to avoid the snow....I guess I should let her see how she arranged my room over the phone. :)


It's definitely different! But, I love it so much though. Scott and I have never had a bedroom set. We used the bed I bought from a couple I babysat for in college up until we had to convert to a king size mattress after the kiddos decided they pretty much preferred our bed on most nights.

;) So, we just had the bed on bed rails without a headboard or anything. I did splurge and bought $20 risers from Wal-mart to give the mattress a little lift. :)

The bedroom was really the only room left to really furnish. It's been a slow process. And, although I would see beds I thought were absolutely beautiful - it never was "the one". So, I held out. And, stuck to my simple bed rails.

The above picture - the woods is all marked up and has a very weathered look. Scott asked if we got a discount for it being so scuffed up. ha! And, the answer was nada!

{yikes, I accidentally deleted the picture and will never get in back in order}

Dearest TH: do you know how you mentioned one thing leading to another? Well, those red walls that I painted just two years ago? They will be different this summer. I thought Scott would stroke, but he is in 100% agreement. We love our kitchen red, but, this has too much "burgundy" to it. I am going to do something fun and different. I want it to look old with texture. We shall see. That is a summer project for sure. I shouldn't even be posting this, but, I've been typing since 4:15 am - so, my brain needed to wander.

The above, a chest! woo-hoo! You would not believe where all of my t-shirts, unmentionables, socks, etc have been stashed over the years. It is so nice to have a place to put them that does not require a ladder to reach!

Yep, I loaded the pictures in backwards as always.

It is terrible to make because my comforter is so heavy, stuffing it into the sides is back-breaking - but, I love it when it is finished and will love it more when the walls look like I have in my head. That's a scary thought!

The sweet thing is when I saw the bed - I KNEW it was the one. But, of course was pricey. However, Scott did wonders in negotiating it down. It is amazing - I so need to learn to do that! It was basically a take it or leave it and it was a floor sample - so they decided to move it! yea! I really didn't think we would get it and when we walked away from it that day I was so sad and disappointed, but didn't let him know exactly how much. He returned to the store later with his parents and called me with the surprise news! He's always been like that.....someday remind me to tell you the story about the stealth. ;)

Thanks so much, Babe! It was worth the wait!

addendum: oh, yeah......the room definitely needs new lamps - but Hobby Lobby did not have them on sale last week. :( So, my scrawny ones will have to do for now. Not sure when I'll venture back up there. ha! and notice the picture-hanger-thing above the headboard. it's still up to?? ALSO, I love "puffy" beds. You know, the ones that look like marshmallows that you could just die in. Well, we used to have a feather bed. LOVED it, Scott did not because the pokey-feather things. Then we got the new mattress with the pillow top - it was/is nice. But, I've had such a battle sleeping of late, I thought increasing the comfort factor might do the trick. So, I searched Overstock and just got overwhelmed. Then, I spied a high loft, down alternative mattress PAD at Wal-mart by accident. It fits the mattress surprisingly well and it stays on and is sooooooo comfy. It was not on the bed when I took these pictures. I am alllll about comfort when I sleep. Well, when you often have little skinny elbows and knees that poke you after they've made their way to your bed during the night - any deep sleep prior to that is priceless. So, is the cuddling with the skinny elbows and knees in the morning. ;)

{bittersweet}

do you hear those fighter jets flying over head?

i am saying prayers every time i hear them as they are about to deploy to afganistan.

makes your heart swell with pride, but at the same time, it's hard to imagine that within a 48 hour period beginning on the 7th, they will be flying far from here to defend us.

brings tears to my eyes.

i have a super-special cousin accompanying those jets.

counting the days until he gets back home in may.

{whew!}

quick post to let you know we survived a busy, fun, and full weekend! i have a list of return calls, texts, etc to make, several pictures and entries to post.....but, unfortunately, i have a full day of work and 3 MD appts for scott to fit in somehow? and, mom is still sick :(

be back as soon as i can!

the coffee is brewing non-stop at this point. :)

{Happy Valentine's Day}

Scott and I actually had a date night! That's the first in a long, long time. He had to leave during the movie previews and get a 2nd set of ear plugs, but he made it through. We got a late start so our plans had to be quickly rearranged. We saw Dear John - which was so good, but, I could not stop crying! So bittersweet. And, then we weren't very hungry and actually VERY tired (isn't that soooooooo incredibly sad?!?) that we stopped at a fancy place called....Taco Bell! Can you believe that? Scott got in trouble with his sister the next day but I had to confess it was my pitiful idea! It was kind-of sweet because it definitely took us back to our real dating days in which we had many late night meals there. So, it was not too terribly bad. ;)

Church was very sweet today. It definitely makes me want to fight even harder to finish well. Finish well with the one I started with. :) It was amazing that even he and I have been together 21 YEARS! Although our recent years have taken somewhat of a different spin due to some of the health obstacles - I am eternally grateful for such a wonderful and loving husband. He definitely treats me like a princess and loves me very well.

I love you with all of my heart Scott! Thank you for my incredible surprises! Happy Valentine's Day!

{just in case.....}

you ever wonder why there aren' t many pictures of scott and I.......the little guys cannot hold the camera still.............

ALTHOUGH, with that much blurring.......it does seem to soften the wrinkles!

{proud mommy!}

Whew! He made it!

Evan has enjoyed his first season of Upward Basketball more and more with each game. It was very sad to see him so overwhelmed with all of it during the first several games, but made my heart so full to see him catching on and trying so hard as we made it through the season. We had a big task to reach before the end of season - make a basket.

He has the sweetest coach in the fact that he strived so hard to help them make at least one basket - as much as he could without actually lifting them to the basket. Evan was the only one left and has been his focus over the past several games. Despite so many attempts - they all fell short. He was becoming very discouraged and my heart was breaking - but of course, continued to encourage and cheer him on!

But yesterday after two back to back games, although he was very tired, he made it! Our little section went wild as it didn't take long for everyone (including the opposing team) to catch on to how big of a deal this was. We were all on our feet and I don't think his feet ever touched the ground the rest of the day. I didn't get a picture of it, but thankfully we got it on video.

How sweet it was!

Warming up! I got chastised last week because he didn' t get to warm up long enough (per E)

The BIG entrance! They love this! Still missing our other little E - so happy he is out of the cast but sad he missed the season. They announced him yesterday anyway. :)
Just before the game. Notice - he takes it all in. He has become very serious about basketball.

Sweet preschool friend Deacon! They should not be this big!

Do ya think we need a hair cut? (I hope this makes Aunt J smile)

So proud of you sweet boy!!!!

{this n' that}

whew! what a day!

had car worked on, dental appt {ouch, wires reworked and tightened!}, MD - all before 9:30.
home to work.
en-route to pick up noah, realized i had failed to carry along pictures i was scheduled to drop off in 15 minutes.
u-turn
call to TH to rescue poor child of mindless mom at school who would otherwise be sitting on the curb in the cold weather {i know, i'm losing out on mom of the year}
deliver pictures
pick up son
sweet tea.....ahhh.....
hand gestures {not what you think} to friend HG at stop sign
start long list of return calls
work
phone consult
very late dinner at the table {chicken and dumplings, yum! worth the wait think}
homework
kiddos

have almost made it!

but, i'm off to snuggle with above kiddos! the best part of the day. although nice visit and glass of sweet tea, close 2nd.

{my dog}

has an ear infection.

Seriously.

If it's not my child.

It's my dog.

Maybe it's all the smoking on her chew toys.