Another Milestone Met...and I'm finally done!!!

So...met another milestone in my family this week...my sweet little Brennan had his first experience with trying to "run away" yesterday. He was having a fit I guess over his Gameboy DS (he was having trouble getting through a level on his Super Mario game I guess) anyway I was trying to help him calm down but he was giving me a lot of attitude and in the end I took the game away from him...after all it's just a game (obviously not to a boy though)...needless to say unbeknownst to me he snuck out of the house and went over to my neighbors where they found him on their back porch when they got home...I guess he was even planning on packing a bag, but decided against that at the last minute. So I guess now the fun begins huh ;-) Thank God for good neighbors who understand my boys BTW.

OK...for those who know me..you'll understand the rest of this post...

Since pretty much oh I'd say about October I had been working on an afghan...finally finished it last night...as many of you know besides scrapbooking, I also LOVE to crochet...another creative outlet for me...I'm not one to just sit and watch TV...if I'm watching TV, 9 chances out of 10 you'll catch a crochet hook in my hand. (Multitasker at work after all)...

This afghan is something I mainly worked on while waiting to pick up the boys from school...it was a great portable project since I had to make oh about 836 of these little squares! Great way though to get rid of my scrap rolls of yarn BTW...and to be honest I could probably make another one with all the scraps I have! So after months of labor here it is:

Well I'm off to find my next project :-) Have an awesome weekend!

Found this...thought it was cool.

Found this on another blog I was purusing tonight...check it out...and do one for yourself.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

He's Ready...

Can't believe this time is finally here...signed up my baby for kindergarten last night...he was SSSOOO excited...he actually thought that he was starting school and couldn't wait to get to the school....of course with his "Here I am" attitude. (grin)

Of course he was all excited about school until Brennan burst his bubble and told him he had to get shots before he started school...of course he's NOT excited about that...but he will be getting his shots May 8th...and I'm sure he'll be fine.

As each day goes by right now I feel like my babies are slowly slipping through my hands and first of all I thank God for blessing me with these little bundles of energy...I wouldn't change it for the world. I know there are days, but when I think about the whole package...it's really all worth it. Yet, it's sad...they are not meant to be here forever I know...(which is a good AND bad thing)...they are only here for me "teach them the way they should go" and then allow them to take what was taught them and make a life of their own. So I will cherish the moments I have on this journey...through memories, through my scrapbooks, through my journals...and hold them in my heart always.

May you take a moment today to cherish the life God has blessed you with.

So much to talk about....

So much to talk about since I was last on here...where to start...hmm..this may be like another one of my rambling posts so forgive me...

Well...went to a play on Friday night with my neighbors...met my neighbor's co-worker...he was really good in the play...impressed.

Saturday...had to clean my bathroom carpet because one of the girls had a little accident Friday night...so when I drag out my carpet machine I usually do as much as I can on a full tank of "cleaner". So I did my bathroom, the chairs in the dining room (which were going to get done next month anyway since the girls will be gone), and my back porch. I even had the boys helping me Saturday with my "spring cleaning" and they actually helped out cleaning the back porch for me, washing windows, cleaning walls...it tickled my heart and we were actually having a good time...it was nice. I also pulled weeds and mulched my back garden...by evening I was whipped.

Also my very good friend (we've been friends since 6th grade) came to visit for a couple hours on Saturday. It was nice.

Traveled to see Pastor Dean and Rachel and Pastor Lisa on Sunday at their church. It was so nice to see them again...and not only that, they invited me to sing on their praise team. It was like old times and though I don't think I did them any justice (they tend to sing a little low for me), I SOOO enjoyed doing it...and I know God smiled cause I was making a joyful noise anyway. They had a missionary speaking at their church and they were so awesome. My hubby was even moved to tears, which I won't even go on that dynamic...but they were really good...they are missionaries to the Indian Reservations in Arizona. Then we had a nice international lunch at the church and then went to a park to visit so the kids could play and we wouldn't get interrupted while we visited...was a great time.

Got home in enough time to go to my Praise Team practice...and I'll be honest....after traveling I really didn't want to go to practice...I was so tired and had a slight headache to boot, but I went...I was 15 minutes late, but I was there...and it was a good thing cause it was just Joann, Michelle and myself. And we practiced anyway and you could just feel the spirit of God while we practiced...it sounded so great (not that I'm bragging about myself...please), but it really did sound good. I was uplifted and I left with a smile on my face and I wasn't quite as tired.

Today I watched the girls of course and got my laundry done and got dinner and fed the kids and had the dishes washed before my 6:00 meeting...I was boogying. Right now I'm trying to get some e-Bay done so I can get some $$ for Disney (taking a break at the moment of course) and hoping to get a church calendar started, some minutes from my meetings typed up...we'll see how it goes.

My baby gets signed up for kindergarten tomorrow ....can't believe this is finally here...wow...also I'll probably sign him up for Safety City tomorrow too...it's a week long thing that teaches kids about dialing 911, stranger danger, fire safety, gun safety and respecting street signs, crossing the street properly...my other two boys went through it...can't believe that it's Colton's turn...suddenly I'm really starting to feel old.

Got our dinner reservations made for Disney....YIPEEE.





Well I better get back to work...

Unfortunately the reality of today...

Just received a distrubing phone call...I had seen on the news about a school in Columbus area was put into lock down this morning...nothing disclosed as to why.

Then I just received a phone call from our school's superintendent that an e-mail threat was sent to an area school (assuming it was the school in question) and that our school district was not one of the school's involved and that our children are indeed safe and that we shouldn't be alarmed (unfortunately receiving a call like that scared me to death and I'm literally shaking). Unfortunately that is the reality of today's society...getting calls like that make homeschooling maybe not such a bad idea...

Keep Virginia Tech in your prayers of course with what they are dealing with and for those sick people who think that scaring people and taking lives is funny or a sport. Pray for our country, pray for peace...pray for our children.

Here is a website I found showing those who fell victim to this senseless shooting...check it out here...my heart goes out to the families. Just goes to show that you never know when your time is up...make sure your life is right cause you just never ever know.

Life today...Randomness

Here I am...hubby is back to work after a week's vacation (much needed for him),

The guy who is taking over the supervisor job at the P.O. passed his test!! One step closer of getting hubby out of that position and back to normalcy..somewhat.

Brennie is away today on a field trip with his class to the zoo

Still cold here in Ohio...we did have maybe an hour of warm sunshine yesterday though...it was nice...would like to see more of it!

Will be heading here on Friday to see a play that my neighbor's co-worker is in about Mark Twain and Teddy Roosevelt.

Here is one of the layouts I made after my No Scrapbooking fast:

Will hopefully be heading to Columbus this weekend to visit our old Pastor and his wife. They are preparing to leave the church they are at now and looks like they may be heading even further away so we thought we would visit before God leads them in a new direction.

Just a comment....there is such a difference between girls and boys...and I don't mean the obvious. Enough said.

Currently my boys are carrying grades of all A's and one B...so stinkin proud of them...especially with Brennan since he's been struggling so much...so stinkin' proud!

Still trying to figure out restaurants to go to for our trip...hopefully get hubby to work with me on that tonight.

So I have been half watching Idol...still...if you have been reduced to watching this awful season as well and actually watched Tuesday night...who do you think is going home?? Still hoping Sanjaya goes, but wouldn't be upset if Chris goes home too. Heard a little of LaKisha's and wasn't impressed with what little I heard...IMO she made the ultimate AI mistake...singing a song by a winning AI contestant...you just don't do that...you're only setting yourself up for disaster.

I am so blessed to have what I have...though there may be struggles and things that even I can't control (can we REALLY control anything anyway??)...I am blessed...hard working hubby, great boys, a home, gifts that God has given me. He is so good to me!

Taht enough randomness for now. Have a great week!

It's Official!!!

Guess where we are heading the end of next month?? It's official....rooms are booked...air travel has been made...unfortunately we have to fly out of Pittsburgh instead of our usual airport, but for a savings of $ 500.00 we'll drive to Pittsburgh! I'm pretty excited...kids are pumped because we are going during this:

They are so excited about seeing the Star Wars characters and all...I'm happy just for them. Daddy I think will be happier once he gets there...the idea of plunking down that kind of $$$ always makes him sweat a bit, but I think once he's there and sees the fun his boys are having he'll consider it all worth it...hopefully ;-)

Today we went to the library and saw this...our local library bought a liscense so they can show movies...so once a month on a Saturday morning they show a family movie...for free, complete with snacks even. Great way to have a family day all together without spending lots of $$...and I'm all for family opportunities without the pricetag! (We can save that money for Disney). Charlotte's Web is such a timeless, great movie. This new version is just as great I think. I remember when I was a teenager and my little brother (there's 16 years between us) used to watch the animated version of this movie over and over and over. Him being the tough guy now would probably be embarrassed to know that I said this all over the internet, but hey what are big sis's for anyway...sorry Luke!

Went and had dinner last night saw this with the neighbors...HILARIOUS!! I laughed most of the movie...hubby especially liked the credits with Ty from Extreme Makeover...Dad, I don't know if you've seen this movie yet, but this is one that has your kind of humor in it...I think you'd like it. This movie just had me in stitches...it's been a while that a movie has made me laugh this much...saw another movie from our Netflix called The Illusionist...recommended by my sister and Netflix gave it a gold star rating...unfortantely I wasn't as impressed...pretty predictable to me and the movie moved kind of slow...that's all I'm going to say in case you haven't seen it yet. Just goes to show you that we all like different things (or that I shouldn't take my sis's advice for movies...just kidding sis ;-) )

Well I think I'm just going to finish up on some laundry and kind of take it easy and maybe play with the boys...too cold and rainy to do much else. Have a great day!

Brennan Update...

For those in the family that have been asking...here is the Brennan update:

Went to the doctor yesterday (btw did I say how much I LOVE and respect my doctor...he's awesome!) He pretty much told me what I kind of already knew...that his sniffing his hands & neck twisting is a nervous condition...his way of coping in high stress situations. So doc gave us these options:

1) See a child psychiatrist and put him on meds (which the doctor and I agreed was NOT an option)

2) Talk to his teacher and see if there is a way to correct any problems he may be having (kids picking on him, stressful situations)...in all honesty I think the teacher is the problem, but I won't go into that here.

3) Homeschool him.

We take him back in a month to see if the situation worsens and just check up on him. So what are we going to do?? Not entirely sure yet, but if it was earlier in the school year I would probably pull him and try to homeschool (though the thought of that scares me a bit), but with only 6 weeks of school left I'm not sure that it would be all that beneficial pulling him like that and then trying to acclimate him to doing "school" at home...the thing I want most is building his self confidence and the thing I want most to avoid is hurting his self esteem...I don't want him to think that he's different or that he's stupid (which he already tells himself that)...I want him to think that even though he may be different in some areas in his life that God made him special and that he's great just the way he is. What I'm thinking of doing is keeping him in school until the end of the year and then try and work with him at home with homeschooling books during the summer...that way I can see how he acclimates and how well I do with it. Brennan is just the type of kid that doesn't do well in big crowds and social situations. I'm not going to condemn him for that because I'm kind of the same way...I was a lot that way when I was younger. God has kind of forced me out of that shell over the last few years :-) So your continued prayers for Brennan will be much appreciated and also for me and hubby as we make decisions about what to do.

And just a note...the snow is gone, but has been replaced by rain which is supposed to last through the weekend....come on spring...we miss you!

I'm Dreaming Of A White....Easter??

Yes folks...I woke up this morning to a white Easter...snow was on the ground. So much for spring I guess. I always say God has a sense of humor...I think it was just God's way of reminding us how with the death and resurrection of our Lord and the sacrifice He made for us...if we accept Him as our Savior, He will make us white as snow. Interesting how God tries to get His point across though isn't it??

Hope you have had a happy Easter...our family just took advantage of some relaxing, naps, and just enjoying each other...and I even got to scrapbook a little today!! HOORAY!!

Many blessings to you!

Thank you for your sacrifice...

I Will Give You Rest...

Hanging on to this scripture at the moment...

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:27-29

Long night last night....Colton is sick. Temp. of 102.2 Just got back from the doctor. He has a cold and an ear infection...possibly strep throat too. Luckily Austin is feeling better though other than a slight cough.

Momma is tired...thank goodness for Tim Horton's English Toffee Capp...wouldn't be functioning at the moment.

So I have the couch bed unfolded, movies are playing, boys are watching, boys are home until Tuesday. So I'm coming to you Lord. My prayer is that You would grant me the scripture above after I get my pile of laundry folded and dishes washed in the sink...Lord just give me a nap...I'll be happy with just a nap. ;-)

Thanks for all the prayers too folks about the last post...you are all so awesome!

It's difficult in the valley...

Sometimes life comes at you and you just wonder why and how and all those questions. I usually try to keep things here light and I try to point to the good things. I hate making this a place to dump all my junk but sometimes it's theraputic to "write" things out...maybe in writing out the "junk" it will help find the sunshine.

Lots of things going on right now....my heart is heavy...I'm physically tired...emotionally tired too.

Hubby's situation at work hasn't gotten any better. Still working lots of hours and only getting paid for 8-10 hours tops...it's been hard. I just like having my family all together, especially for dinner time...now if we do that it's only maybe on Sunday's. Hubby has been stressed, I've been stressed. We've both been a little tempermental with each other even though we aren't trying to direct it AT each other...it's hard. It's much easier raising kids as a team than on your own and it feels like it's been that way for a while. God bless single momma's! They deserve a lot of respect for doing things on their own.

My middle son Brennan has developed some tics over the last month...he does this weird thing with his neck and sniffs his hands a lot...we have an appointment next week with the doctor...I'm worried of course. I know it's all in God's hands and He is in control. It's just that this little guy has been through so much in his life...he always seems to be the one that struggles the most, has the most obstacles and just seems to get the short end of the stick and as a momma it breaks my heart. I'm afraid of him becoming self conscious of himself and others picking on him...he's such a sweet little boy and I know God has a plan for him just the way he is...after all Moses stuttered and he did great things! But I am just a concerned and worried Momma...it breaks my heart. If you find a few minutes please pray for my little guy.

My other two boys are starting to come down with colds. Hoping they aren't sick for Easter.

It seems like things are all piling up at once, people needing me to do this or that...I really should be doing other things in fact than being on here, but if I don't let this out I'm not sure what I'll do. Just have to vent it out.

Thanks for being my sounding board, my soft place to fall.