Tag Archives: family

Summer Vacation is here!!

School is finished and the kids are enjoying their first day of summer vacation! I feel like it’s been a long time coming honestly. With Brooke in high school, Zach in middle school, and Matthew in elementary, I’ve done my fair share of school events and driving. I’m ready for a break.

It was a transitional year for each of my kids, and there were some struggles. Struggles that I hope will resolve before Fall comes around. I’m ready for the laid back days, no 6 am alarm going off, and no morning rush. Days spent at the pool and movies are calling to me. Maybe a trip to the zoo if it cools down a bit, and even the Children’s Museum.

What’s on your agenda for the summer?

It was bound to happen

With two boys , ages 12 and 7, it was bound to happen. Or so they tell me. Other moms of wild and rambunctious boys who are obsessed with wrestling. Every time I turn around my boys are wrestling and rolling around on the floor, being really rough with each other. It seems brutal to  me, but they assure me they’re just playing around. I’m constantly telling them to settle down, be nice, and hands off of each other. CONSTANTLY!

Two weeks ago Matthew accidentally hit Zach in the mouth, causing a swollen and bloody lip. Last week Zach accidentally hit Matthew just under his eye. I’m so used to the rough housing that I didn’t immediately pay attention. A little bit later I noticed something under his eye. A reddish blackened area that looked like this..

This is how it looked the next day when he went to school. Guys, let me just say that I felt so awful about sending him to school looking like this that I sent his teacher an email trying to explain it. I think I failed.

But I tell you it was bound to happen with these boys of mine. My sweet, precious boys.

Weekend Re-cap

It’s tough to be a mom and have two kids doing different activities in different locations at the same time. Can someone just split me in half and put my heart back together?

Friday night Brooke danced at the JV football game and the boys raced. I’ve attended all the other football games to watch her dance, and missed the boys racing on those nights. This night was different in that Zach moved up out of the Restrictor class to the Open Wing class. Instead of racing with boys aged 10-16, he was now racing with 16++. My baby racing with grown men! I wanted to be there for that first time.

Brooke tells me they had their best performance ever, so YAY! I’m sad I missed it baby girl, but thank you for understanding. Matthew had an astounding night. He passed a few cars, and ended up finishing 5th in the feature. He is making great strides, and he’s only just turned 7, so I am so proud of him.

Zach moved up and qualified 3rd fast, won the heat race and won the feature. It was so awesome to see that smile back on his face, and to see these grown men coming up and praising him for doing so well. My heart swells! It was amazing.

Saturday brought another football game, this time Varsity played at Lucas Oil Stadium, and Brooke danced at pre-game. She was right, best performance ever. My baby girl is so beautiful all the time, but when she dances, she is absolutely radiant! I can’t take my eyes off of her to see what the whole group is doing. God has gifted her with dance. It DID NOT come from me.

I left the game early and rushed to Martinsville to see the boys race again. We had never been to this track, and don’t think we will ever go back. It was too small and sandy dirt, so they were sliding all over the place. Good experience for them, but not enjoyable.

Church yesterday was awesome! The sermon was about Abraham, and what to do when you don’t know what to do. One thing that still sticks in my mind is this…God doesn’t want you to follow a plan, He wants you to follow HIM!

The boys went to the woods after lunch, and Brooke and I spent some quiet time together, then we went to the grocery store. Busy weekend, and I don’t really feel like I accomplished much. I’m ready for the busy season to come to a close, and spend some time with my family at home.

Love is a choice

I love my husband.  I do!  But life seems to happen and we get busy with the kids and neglect to spend “quality time” with each other as a couple.  Friday night we changed that.  Our church hosted an event called Married Life Live and it was awesome!  Laughter, tears, kissing, hand holding, goofy, and totally what we needed.  Our homework is to continue on with a date night for the next 6 months.  We are going to take that time for us, because it will strengthen our family as well.

Another amazing thing happened at our church yesterday.  Pastor Scott concluded his sermon series on marriage by calling all the husbands in the room to go to the back and pick a red carnation for their wife, present it to her and lead her by the arm to the front of the church.  We stood at the front with LOTS of other married couples, and he told us to look into each others eyes and maybe talk about what we did when we lit our unity candle on our wedding day, while someone sang.  I can’t even remember what the song was because I was crying!!!  After the song, and it was wonderful, I do remember that, Pastor Scott led us all in a marriage vow renewal!

I have had the best weekend!  For those of you that have read Jay and Laura’s  book, He said, She said…..the “conversation” was great too!!

A GREAT RECIPE

A GREAT RECIPE

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the
ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Talk to God about what
is going on in your life. Buy a lock if you have to.

3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, ‘My
purpose is to __________ today. I am thankful for ______________ ‘.

4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is
manufactured in plants..

5.. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan
salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of
the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest
your energy in the positive present moment.

8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a College
kid with a maxed out charge card.

9. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

11. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

12. You are not so important that you have to win every argument. Agree to
disagree.

13. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.

14. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey
is all about.

15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In five years, will
this matter?’

17. Forgive everyone for everything.

18. What other people think of you is none of your business.

19. GOD heals everything – but you have to ask Him.

20. However good o r bad a situation is, it will change.

21. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will.
Stay in touch!!!

22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am
thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.

24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

25. When you are feeling down, start listing your many blessings. You’ll be
smiling before you know it.

I received this in an email and it was too good to just delete.

How to know where Grace lives

The following excerpt is by Angela Thomas Guffey, from her book Tender Mercy for a Mother’s Soul.

  • All the neighborhood kids want to hang out at the house where grace lives.
  • There is always enough for one more where grace lives…one more for dinner…one more to sleep over…one more hug or kiss.
  • You can see people dancing where grace lives.
  • You can hear things like “please forgive me, I was wrong…  You are my treasure…”
  • The eyes of the children where grace lives shine with joy and anticipation.  They have not been wounded by impossible expectations.  They have not been distanced by rejection.  They have been embraced and accepted and loved.
  • The moms at the house where grace lives are just regular, everyday moms, but God lives inside them.  By His power, they are becoming holy and righteous and good.  They stumble but recover quickly.  They make mistakes but say, “I’m sorry.”  They get blown by the winds of heartache and adversity, but their hearts remain tender toward God. 

Matthew-isms

Last night the boys and I were sitting in our big snuggler chair.  One of them, ahem, passed gas.  Matthew says, “he’s the tootiest”! 

Brooke was dropped off at cheer practice, and then we took Zach to a friends house, so Mattie and I were on our own for a while this afternoon.  I decided to head over to the christian book store.  Matthew is always so good when we’re there.  They have lego blocks to play with, and usually a Veggietales movie playing.  Matthew was exceptionally well behaved today, so at the checkout he got to pick something out.  OK, so you know those rubbery shoes that you can put these cute little doo dads in?  Crocs I think.  Anyway, they have bracelets made out of the same rubbery stuff, and they have charms to go on them.  One of Matthew’s is a guitar that says “Jesus Rocks”.  So yeah, he’s going around saying Jesus Rocks!  It’s so cute!

My daughter, the cheerleader…

Last week was difficult.  We had smiles, conflicts, tears, and drama.  Brooke and her friend A had cheer practice twice and then try outs on Friday.  The conflicts were with dance, which I had feared wouldn’t go well.  I’m still a bit upset about how things were handled, but praying about how to respond. 

The tryouts went well, except she committed the one cardinal sin of a cheerleader.  Apparently you’re not supposed to say WOOOO.  And she did… 

I want you to try it yourself.  Do a little cheer and try to finish it with something other than Woooo.  It’s hard isn’t it? 

The results were supposed to be posted at 8:00 p.m.  We went and waited in the rain for an hour before they actually posted the results.  The wait was grueling and nerve racking to say the least.  It’s not something we are accustomed to at all.  My baby girl has been dancing since she was two years old, so that’s all we know.  This is a whole different crowd we’re dealing with. 

The results were in, and she made it.  She made it, and she was upset and crying.  Terribly sad and stricken.  How does a mom respond to that and make it better?  Well, prayer and chocolate of course!  See, there’s fall cheerleaders and winter cheerleaders.  Brooke wanted fall, and was chosen for winter.  Her friend A was chosen for fall.  I think it’s great because I really don’t understand football all that much, and it’s played outside in the cold and rain.  We’ll be inside a warm gym watching basketball, and she’ll have a floor to do her stuff on.  Daddy told her Indiana is known for their hoops anyway.  She has some friends on the same squad, and her friend who is a boy  told her all the kids go to the basketball games.  Now she’s excited!  We’re really proud of her too.  Out of 24 girls, only 16 were chosen and she was one of them.  Go Brooke!!!!!

Dance Update

Yesterday was Brooke’s last dance competition of the season.  It’s kind of sad, but kind of a relief too.  It went really well.  Hip Hop had some changes made, and they were missing M, who recently had surgery.  Get better soon M!!  We miss you.  It looked good, and scored a gold, with overall ranking placed 3rd out of 5.  Tap and Jazz were the best I’ve seen ever.  The judges thought so too, because they both scored a Platinum.  Both of them placed in the top 10 as well.  It was a very good outcome for them, and I’m very proud of them.  Most of them have worked so hard.  My Boo bear certainly has! 

Tomorrow she’s gonna try out for cheerleading.  My baby, entering the 7th grade, and she wants to be a cheerleader.  One of her friends from dance is trying out as well, and her mom is having a hip replacement tomorrow.  Please keep Kim in your prayers.  She’s been suffering in pain for a while now. 

 

Rambling

Sometimes I just can’t think of a title. 

Last week was spring break here, and it was cool and rainy.  While the boys were at the grandparents house, Brooke and I hung out.  The next day was her turn to sleep over at Grammie’s, so the boys and I watched The Game Plan and played games.  We had two days with dental appointments, and on Friday Zach and I went to the eye doctor to see about him getting contacts.  I was really surprised that his vision had gotten worse in 10 months, and with his glasses he was 20/40.  He did really well with the contacts, and in fact got them in on the third and second try.  Then he had to take one out, and put it back in, and his vision was tested again.  The new prescription made him 20/20.  It’s all pretty amazing to me to watch, but anyone who knows me understands what a weenie I am when it comes to eye drops.  It just gweebs me out!!  Now I’m watching my 9 year old son put these in his eyes like it’s nothing.  Something I didn’t expect was the samples that they had in the office.  They sent us home with them that day!  After that we came home and researched “mens” haircuts.  He decided on an Ashton Kutcher look and it turned out really nice.  I’m just so glad I can see his ears and forehead now!  Matthew got a buzz cut, not intentionally on my part.  I said a typical boys cut, and before I knew what was going on the clippers were on and a stripe of hair was gone.  Hopefully it will warm up soon so his head doesn’t freeze! 

That doesn’t seem likely though, as the first race is scheduled for Saturday, and snow flurries are being predicted.  We went out to the track tonight to practice, and the 160 motor is junk.  I don’t even want to run it if we’re not going to be competitive, so we need to figure something out before Saturday.  We’ll see.

I have so much on my To Do list this week, and I know it’s not going to get checked off.  That really bugs me, but I still don’t see a way to get it all done.  So this post was pretty boring, but my life.  And I’m happy.  God Bless You!