weekend madness

headed to braxton's first basketball game tonight.

going to norm and michelle's afterwards to book our CRUISE to the BAHAMAS!!!!

jared and i are getting away tomorrow night.

we are going to columbia to the stoney creek inn.

going swimming,

out to eat,

and shop!

have a great weekend everyone!

1000 Word Thursday!!

Here is a picture of my dad and Bronson. they were out biking yesterday. my dad and my boys have the closest bond you could ever ask for. he does so much with them, he will pick up bronson everyday after preschool, and sometimes he gets braylon too. he is getting him more and more. he also gets braxton every day after school. i hope that my boys remember every moment that they spend with my dad b/c someday they will be the greatest memories!

our new purchase

last year jared and i talked about getting a new tv. but then kept putting it off. well when we seen how awesome vance and andrea's was, it made us want to go ahead and do it. we were going to get one, we weren't, were, weren't.... but now we have it! our old tv wasn't going to make the dtv transition and one speaker was completley blown, so here is our new purchase! we are still waiting on our surround sound, which should be in by thursday or friday! i am super excited about it:) the tv has an awesome picture and i can't believe the huge difference between HD and Normal! we still have a lot of learning to do before we ever master it. so andrea, you will be getting lots of questions about the DVR and stuff. i am excited to be able to pause shows and tape shows when we are not home.

thanks

i don't want to leave anyone out so i am thanking you ALL for all that you did to help my party be a hit! you know who you are...... andrea, amanda, heather, amee, michelle, jenn and whoever else was involved! i am a lucky person! you guys are all great friends and cousins:) i love you all!

SURPRISE!!

and that i was!

if you can't read what that cakes says this is what it says: CURVY, PURDY and TURNIN 30!

saturday night andrea threw me a surprise 30th birthday party. all along i thought it was suppose to be vance's 30th birthday party. so you can imagine my surprise when all of my family showed up! and i even had to help decorate my own party:)

andrea did a great job planning and getting me there. she knew i would know something was up if she didn't have me help her ahead of time. so i got there at 5:00 and helped a little bit. at 6:30 she had me go downstairs and help her move some trim..... well jared was suppose to get everyone from outside to inside. but somehow he didn't. so once i was back upstairs they had bronson tell me he needed to show me something downstairs. so i go down there and he says "daddy wanted me to show you something but i don't know what he wants me to show you". hmmmm, this is when i got really suspicious! so as i went back upstairs there was alllll these people there, FOR ME!! i think counting kids and all, there were 49 people there! wow, all just for me! so thank you to everyone that helped andrea pull this one off! i am a very inquisitive person, so to pull it off was a lot of work:) there was lots of good food, lots of friends and family and presents:)

andrea~ thank you from the bottom of my heart! you don't have any idea how much that meant to me! you did an awesome job and i know that it was really tough since how i asked lots of questions:) so thank you for being the best friend anyone could ask for!

Ramon Noodle Salad

1 head of BOK Cabbage (i use romaine lettuce)
1 bunch of green onions
Use any other salad ingredient you want to. I always just use green onions.

Brown in 1/4 cup oleo: 2 pkgs of ramon noodles, crushed and 1 pkg of slivered almonds.

Dressing:
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c oil
2 T soy sauce
1/4 c white vinegar.
Boil for one minute. Let cool before putting on salad.

I usually do the ramon noodles and almonds and the dressing before hand and put in separate containers until right before we eat the salad. If you put the dressing on too soon the noodles and almonds will get soggy. They say you can mix the seasoning packages from the noodles with the salad, but I don't.

My day

well i feel like my big "30" birthday is finally here. we have been celebrating off and on for a week now! last night my mom and dad got me a trifle bowl and a digital scale. today dolores got me a candle and a picture album AND made me some awesome cookies, fruit pizza and a blt dip. my mom and dad sent me some beautiful purple flowers and my in laws sent me the beautiful roses and a canle. check out the color of the one rose.... isn't it different?!!

THEN......... my friend michelle came in to my office and said my van looked pretty. i said "my van?". and this is what i found!! i am not sure who the culprit is, but they did get me!!!

so all in all it has been a great day! tonight i am going out to eat with andrea (and colby and vance too, maybe), then we are headed to the woman's retreat at the church. tomorrow night is vance's party. another full weekend! so have a great weekend everyone!

thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday!

phone calls

bronson has learned my work phone number. he calls at least twice a day. well he has already called me 4 times today and it is only 10:30. i think the only reason he calls is b/c he is proud that he can do it all by himself. today he called to wish me a happy birthday, then to ask me where my dad was and then the last one...... brace yourself

bronson: "mommy?"
me: "yes"
bronson: "braylon is being bad to me"
me: "why"
bronson: "because he is humping me"
me: "tell him to stop or he is going to shelly's"
bronson: "ok, bye"
me: "bye"

are you kidding me? crazy boys!

1000 Word Thursday!

Check out that wrangler butt! Bronson wanted "cowboy jeans" for his birthday last year. You know, the ones with that thingy on the butt. So, that is what he got. I had him pose like this so we could see his cute little butt in the cowboy jeans. And take notice that they have that little thingy on the butt!




For more 1000 word thursday post go here!

Great Friends

i have some great friends!!!!

several of us went out for my birthday on friday night. we trudged through the nasty snow and went to eat at napoli's. i got "free" chocolate cheesecake. corin got me a card and a really neat little book. thanks corin! heather bought my supper and tiff paid my way into the movies! thanks guys! then we went to walmart and the girls got some "bling, bling" teeth and some lighted crowns. we walked into the movies like that. we were pretty silly looking. we went and saw "he's not that into you". I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT!!! it was terrible and very long!!!

last night was bunco. we had lots of great food! erin- i will get that recipe on here soon. tiffany brought a "YUMMY" cake for me! it was soooo good. she also bought me a new pair of jeans and a new shirt. they were super cute. thanks tiff! also, andrea made heather and i "bunco birthday babe" hats. they were awesome!! thanks andrea:) heather gave me a super sweet card and some bath and body works stuff. thanks heather! oh yeah, and i WON!!! i got second last time and then first this time. they will be kicking me out if i don't slow down:)

so i just wanted to let everyone know what great friends i have!!! i love you all and thank you for making my birthday great! and you know what the best part is? my birthday isn't even until friday! go me!

also, andrea i just wanted to tell you that you did a good job making the bunco money container, the sash and the hats. you are just so creative! thanks!

backfired!

today on my way home for lunch i noticed that someone had a low tire. i noticed that their wife was at work so i figured i would call and tell her so he could maybe air it up before he headed home. so i called and told her. well in about fifteen minutes she called me back and was very agitated about it and just wanted to tell me that he was OK and that is wasn't FLAT. which i knew this and had told her that is was just low. but i guess she took it the wrong way. the more i thought about it the more it bothered me. so i went by her work and told her that i was sorry if i upset her. she preceded to tell me that she was just really tired of people butting in and this and that and on and on. i know this poor lady has a lot on her plate,but to me if someone is just trying to help, you should be happy about it. and i also know that sometimes you just have enough and you just blow! and i guess it was time for her to blow. i am glad that she let it all out and am hoping that she really understood why i was telling her. had it been you, or you, or you i would have done the same thing, called and told you! so please keep this lady and her family in your prayers. they have some medical issues going on in their family and i am afraid it is wearing on her.

surprise!

Jared is coming home today!!!! What a great surprise:)

Excited!!!!

i am sooooo excited for our girls night out tonight! we are celebrating my birthday a week early. i am ready for a night away from my boys, as much as i love them, i do need some "me" time! we are going out to eat at napoli's and then to a movie, i think! i hope we all have a great time! i am sure we will. here is to a great weekend! happy valentines' day!

oh yeah..... look what my wonderful hubby sent me today!!! i didn't know if he would remember valentine's day since he was gone, but he proved me wrong! way to go babe!

1000 Word Thursday

braylon thought he needed to blow dry his hair too:) do you ever feel bad b/c you use more "atwt" pictures for one child than you do the others? he is just at that stage where he does some pretty funny things.

traditions

every year grandma teresa wants to help the boys make their valentine's day boxes. this year braxton made a football field. he came up with the idea all by himself and did it all by himself. it turned out great!! he is hoping it will win the contest at school. he is afraid that other kids will have their parents do theirs for them so they will be better than his and his won't win. i told him if that happens at least he knows he did his by himself. bronson did a basketball court. i helped him out a little bit. i drew the lines in pencil and then he had to trace over them. he did a great job too. braylon's box is a mouse. grandma teresa did it. braylon doesn't really care yet. i took a picture of braxton with his box, but it didn't register on my camera. my battery was going dead and it didn't save, so i will have to take another one. i did get one of just the box though.

bronson and braxton working very hard.

grandma teresa and braylon working very hard

bronson with his finished project, a basketball court

braylon with his finished project, a mouse.

braxton's finished project, a football field.

didn't these guys do a great job? i think so:)

couple funnies

this morning i was sitting on the couch at shelly's and braxton was practically sitting on top of me, bronson was sitting on my left leg and braylon decided he needed to get up there too. bronson said "mommy, don't you wish you had a bigger lap?" i said yes i do:) he said " so does daddy!"

then when i was getting ready to leave huck was hitting mason and braylon got right in huck's face and said "don't hit, that's not rude." and he had that finger a pointin too.

these little guys just crack me up.

and he is off

jared took off this morning for southern MO. he will be gone 10-12 days. i hate to see him go, but am glad that he is getting the opportunity. it will be very good expierence for him. i think braxton is having the hardest time with it. i let him stay home today from school b/c he cried and cried this morning when jared was about to leave. i figured my dad would be the best therapy for him. below is a picture of what it looked like at my house last night. jared wanted the boys by his side and they didn't want to get too far away from him. i wonder if they would be like that if i was gonna leave for that many days?:) so please keep jared, dick and steve in your prayers as they travel and help restore power and also pray that vance, norm, jim and jake have a safe trip home. i checked the weather today to see what it was going to be like down there. well, tomorrow they are suppose to have straight line winds, possible tornados and hail. they say they could have more power outages. so i hope that what they have accomplished down there that it won't be wiped out again!

Robbers

the other night i was laying on the couch reading a book and these three little silly boys came running into the living room all decked out like "robbers". they were dressed in dark colors, stocking hats on, gloves on and some fake guns! they were hilarious. they all pointed their make shift guns at me and told me that it was a hold up! i took a couple more pictures of all of them together but they didn't save on my camera. so enjoy what i did get:)

25 things......

Ok, i have been tagged by Erin and I have been working on my list in my head for the last couple of days. I would think of something and say oh, yeah i can put that on my list. So here I am to do that list and for the love of me, I can't remember them! So frustrating!!! So here it goes.....

1. I have been "in love" with 3 different guys.
2. I once drank 6+ Mt Dews on a road trip. I couldn't drink Mt. Dew for a long time after that.
3. I quit drinking pop over a year ago. I will try to drink Dr. Pepper (i used to drink one a day before I quit drinking pop) every once in awhile and I can't stand it. So when I need a pop fix, I take a sip of Mt. Dew. and it fixes my fix, go figure!
4. I got pregnant before Jared and I got married. We had only been dating for ummm, 4 months.
5. Had I not gotten pregnant I doubt Jared and I would still be together. Most people didn't give us 6 months and we are going on 11 years of marriage.
6. When I delivered Bronson and they told me he was a boy, I cried! I wanted a girl so bad.
7. I wanted 4 kids. Jared wanted 1. So we compromised with 3. Go ME!
8. I talk to my mom every day! Even when I didn't live here I would call her every day. I can't imagine going a day without talking to her.
9. My mom and dad would take me on a family vacation EVERY year. I want to do this for my kids.
10. I want to go to Hawaii, Mexico and on a cruise before I die. I may be marking 2 of these off of my list soon:)
11. I was sent to the principals office 2 times during my school days. Once in 8th grade for kissing in the hallway. Second time was during my senior year. We were making fun of a guy on the opposing basketball team. He wasn't wearing a cup and so his little thing would bounce up and down everytime he would run. So when he was at the free throw line shooting, we yelled "he's over the line, he's over the line!" oops:)
12. My first kiss was at a 7th grade dance. We had a contest who could kiss their boyfriend the most. I don't remember who won, must not have been me.
13. I have a soft spot for people that don't have much. I just want to give and give to them.
14. My biggest fear is losing my kids. I have cried many of times just looking at them sleeping and thinking that is what they would look like in a coffin. Morbid, I know!
15. I am a picture taking machine. I am all about taking pictures but when it goes to putting them in albums, i hate it! I don't like to buy albums. I do have all of them in order by month and year though. So when I go to put them in the albums I will put them in their by date.
16. I love for my house to be clean. I used to be a lot worse than I am now. Now I just don't have the time to clean it like I like to.
17. I love to have parties for all different holidays for adults! But, when it comes time for me to have a party for my kids birthday, I am not good about doing it.
18. I once won over $5000 at a casino. I think I could have been addicted to gambling very easily. After I won that money I probably haven't been gambling a half dozen times.
19. I often wonder where I would be at had I went to college.
20. If I ever get voted out of my job I would like to go to school to be an accountant.
21. Jared and I got married at the Precious Moments hotel in Carthage, Missouri. It was a great day! The only thing I regret is that my grandparents weren't there to witness it.
22. My dad is the greatest! He has a very special bond with my kids. Sometimes I am jealous of the relationship he has with them, but wouldn't change any of it.
23. I hate to shop! I will go every now and then. I think shoes and purses are overrated!
24. I think making a bed is for the birds. What is the point? You are just going to get back in it again and mess it all up again. I do like for my bed to made when I am having company though.
25. I have an obsession with making sure I have nothing in my teeth. After every time I eat I will look in the mirror to check my teeth. I am kind of like those people that after they eat they have to put more lip gloss/stick on or check their makeup in the mirror.

Whew, that wasn't too hard. I think I could probably do another 25:)

1000 words thursday

CHALK ONE UP FOR BRAYLON! this is what he looked like after helping us chalk the baseball field last summer. he was covered from head to toe. he was mad in this picture b/c the chalk was "hurtin hie eyes". i did clean him up, after i took a picture of course:)

thanks to jen you can view more 1000 words thursday post here.

bette update

i sympathize with anyone that has to put someone in the nursing home. yesterday was soooo hard. i was strong, but seeing your MIL break down is so very hard to watch.

bette was mad and threw a fit about going to the nursing home. it took a lot of talking, jared picking her up out of the car and several people pushing her to get into the nursing home. penny and edith were life savers. they knew exactly what to do and kept her occupied while we left. it is just like leaving a screaming/crying child at the babysitter/school. they will keep throwing a fit until you leave and then they are ok.

i seen her this morning at 6:00 am, when i was dropping something off for her. she didn't recognize me so that was good. someone did call and tell me that she is walking around with her coat on and carrying her nightgown. she keeps asking people to take her home. it will be a long few days to get her adjusted. so please keep her in your prayers and please keep our family in your prayers too.

i sent her some flowers today and took some picture frames down with 6 pictures in them to maybe brighten her days!

you know, God is great!!! and just like everyone says, "He has a plan". jared was frustrated when they asked him to go to the ice storm last week and then they turned around and said he couldn't go. but i have been thinking and i realize that God had that in His plans. b/c He knew that bette was going to need to go the nursing home and that jared would need to be there for his mom when that happened. so THANK YOU GOD for always being there and knowing the plan you have for us.

Prayers Please

today is going to be a very hard day for our family.

i just got a call from jared's mom saying that bette (jared's grandma) was out wandering around and couldn't find her house. for those of you that don't know the history of bette, she has alzheimers. she has been battling it for several years and it is just getting worse each day.

so today we are putting her into the nursing home. this is a very hard thing for jared's mom and the rest of the family. so please lift us up in your prayers.

i will keep you updated.

Mechanics in the Makings

last night i had to go to KV to get my oil changed. the last time that we were there bronson got to go underneath and help out. they remembered him and they let him and braxton help out. bronson did more helping and braxton did more supervising. i think it is great that these guys take time out of their day to show these little guys the ropes. hopefully they took lots of notes so when they get a little bigger they can help me out and do it for me rather than taking it somewhere else to get it done. do you think it is wishful thinking?

here they are both underneath my van.

bronson checking the pressure in my tires and adding air if needed. he learned, righty tighty, lefty loosey out of this one:)

bronson washing my windshield. since he couldn't reach the guy got him a step stool so he could. and check out braxton, either he is bored to death or making sure bronson is doing it right.

braxton is so nice to not want to get in there and do everything. he knew bronson would like it so he let him have all the glory. what a great kid!!!

A smile is the universal welcome. ~Max Eastman

Smiling is infectious,You can catch it like the flu. Someone smiled at me today, And I started smiling too.~Author Unknown

don't you just love when you wake up in the morning b/c a little one next to you is stirring and your first thought is "man, i don't want to get up?" and then you turn and look at that special little one and they just smile at you? I LOVE THAT!

i love when i hear my childrens laughter and then i laugh because their laugh is contagious.

have you ever noticed that if you smile at someone, they most generally smile back?

have you ever noticed if you are watching someone that is laughing that you most generally will laugh or smile just from watching them?

have you ever noticed that when someone is chasing you around, you laugh the whole time you are running?

have you ever noticed how happy little kids are? how they laugh and smile all the time? don't you think we should learn more from them and quit taking everything so serious?

I DO!!

just a few thoughts to ponder on this great monday!

SMILE~ it is a great day to be alive!!