Life Lessons

I want my children to grow up with the valuable life lessons that everyone should know. I would normally write these down for them to read later to remind them of what they need to know. But if I write something in this house on a piece of paper it's sure to get lost. So I have decided to put them here. On the internet so that they have them forever.

Life Lesson #1: To my sons; always open the door for the lady behind you, or your date.
To my daughters; give him the opportunity to open the door for you.
My dad would always go out to the car for my bonus mom when she got home. Always, everyday, as soon as she pulled into the driveway he would get up and go outside and help her with whatever she had to bring in. Even if it was just a lunch box. That has made an impact on me.

Rush, Rush, Rush

Fall is here and so are the busy schedules. It seems like every fall we are running around like crazy trying to do everything and anything that we can. There are so many ball games and fall festivals and fairs to attend. We just can't do them all. But we try. I love running around. It may make me worn out but I feel like I have accomplished so much in a day if I spend it rushing kids to soccer then to karate then back to pick kid A up from soccer just to head back to karate to pick kid B up from there and then it's off to the house to cook dinner and shower and hit the bed. Also the kids sleep so good after a good soccer practice. Or whatever sport they are playing at the time. Jay mouns and growns about how busy we all stay but it gets me through the day and I don't spend the entire day sitting on my butt eatting whatever I can find in the cabinet.
Take this week for example. Monday started with my waking up before the sun and then getting the kids up and ready and out the door for school. Dropped the big kids off and then hustled back to the house for some cleaning and laundry before running back out the door to go to my class. Done with my class an hour later and off to pick up Allie at Grams's. Home to feed her lunch and put her down for a nap. Ah, peace and quiet. At least for an hour or so. I work on homework, laundry and catch up on a show that I have had DVRd for a couple of weeks now. Still didn't finish one episode. Wake Allie up and go pick up Chase from his school. Then I'm on a mission to collect as many US Cellular cards for the elementary school that I can for a contest that we are in to win $150,000.  Pick up at the elementary school only after having to spend 15 extra minutes getting Kylie off of the school bus.  Rush home to do homework, more laundry, and make dinner. Ha! I think I am on top of things today. When we pull the pork tenderloin out of the oven we discover that it nowhere near ready to eat. So Jay whips out the frying pan and starts cooking. (We make such a great team when we work together). We eat dinner as a family. It doesn't happen always but it's something that Jay and I try to do as much as we can.
After dinner is over Landon and Jay are off to cub scouts and I rush the others out the door and over to Grams's b/c I have two meetings at the school tonight. Home from meetings and Grams's and it's showers and bedtime. Now I lay here in the bed with my laptop out and a 4 year old beside me asleep.   Jay is still at the fire department or at Bingo so it's Chase and me hanging out in my bed.
Tomorrow will be just as busy but just typing all of that has made me exhausted so I'm going to curl up next to my buddy and wake up in the morning to do it all over again.
Good night!

Eagle Scout in the Making

He's growing into a little man now. Tonight was his first night of Cub Scouts. He has waited so long to be a boy scout.  So many years watching Kylie do a Girl Scout and talking about how he is going to sell more cookies than her. We had to explain that boy scouts don't sell cookies. They sell popcorn. So once he figured out that he would say that he would still outsell her just in popcorn. I haven't heard much of the details of how the night went but he is really excited about it and I had to persuade him to take off his uniform so he wouldn't get anything on it at the table. Jay will be his Pack leader or Den leader or whatever they call it. I am so glad that they have something that they can do together. He never really bonded closely with Landon when he was a baby. Landon is so much of a mommy's boy that he really doesn't give Jay the time of day. So I'm so happy that they have this to do together. I just hope that he sticks with it. For a few years at least. He will gain so much from scouts that I just can't teach him.

Baby Girl Gets a Haircut

I finally took Allie to get her first haircut. It went better than Landon's first one, thank the Lord. Landon screamed at his first haircut and everyone after that too. He is just now comfortable going to get a haircut. But Allie did well. We gave her a chocolate bar and she sat there and ate it while Becky cut her little curls. I wanted to cry but I stayed strong. No tears were shed. Probably because I could see her sweet little face again without having to move her bangs. She still has curls in the back so not all is lost. Maybe she will have a little bit of curly hair. At least for a little while.

So Many Changes

So many changes and so little time to enjoy those things that are changing. Allie has turned one. She is actually 14 months now. We have had our last first birthday and Christmas. Our last first tooth and sickness. And tomorrow we will have our last first haircut. Her hair is going crazy. It is totally unmanageable and I cannot do anything with it besides pull it up into pig tails. Which is totally cute but when it's down it's crazy. I wanted to wait until she was two but that just isn't going to happen. So tomorrow we will check another first off the list and I will cry over one last bag of curls.
My baby girl has her own little personality now too. She may be the baby of the family but she will tell those boys what she thinks. And we just wish we could understand her. She will tell me that she needs a diaper or that she is hungry or if she wants to go to bed. She will at least bring me her blanket or a snack when she is tired.
With all the big kids in school now we are getting to spend more time together. I can sit and watch her play for hours. She looks so happy just sitting there undisturbed. We cleaned out her closet today and she was right there with me the whole time helping. Or at least throwing stuff all over the room.
She is just so amazingly wonderful. I am so glad that God made me her mommy!

Turning Over a New Leaf

I love the fall. It's September. The weather is cooling off.  I noticed the leaves are starting to change colors. Fall is here. Or at least it is coming. And with the new season arriving, I've decided to turn over a new leaf as well. I am going to try to be more welcoming and more open about things.  I tend to hold grudges for a long time. A trait that I inherited honestly.  I can hold a grudge better than anyone I know.
There are lots of people that I know that have hurt me or have been rude or who just don't like me. I am not totally aware of all these people. I think sometimes that people just don't get me. I don't have many people that I am truly friends with. Most are acquaintances that I deal with through school or the fire department. There are a few who are true friends. Maybe this is true with all people. As you grow older you realize that having a few great  friends is better than having a whole mess of those who are merely just there. I could probably count on one hand how many of those who would rush over and help me out in a time of need.
 I have decided to put myself out there more. To be more likable. To be more friendly. Cause Lord knows I can be hateful if the mood strikes me.
We will see how this all goes.

B-I-N-G-O and a Vasectomy

Tonight I had my first lesson in Bingo. Real Bingo though, for money. Jay and Josh and Karrie have been going for about a month now and have really gotten into it. I can see why, it's FUN! So now we are going to have to come up with a schedule of how we are going to rotate playing bingo and watching the kids. He doesn't know it yet but yep, I believe that's going to happen.
Allie turns 1 on Sunday. I cannot believe my baby will be one. Chase turned 4 last week. I cannot believe that he is 4 years old already.  He goes to school this year. As long as the government doesn't shut it down before we can get him in. I took him to the doctor on Tuesday. He had to get four shots and his finger pricked. Poor little fellow I felt so bad for him.
Now that Allie is a year old and Chase is 4, Jay and I have started the discussions of having another baby. I would love to have one more and at one time Jay wanted an entire football team. But now he is thinking that he might be done having babies. He doesn't want to be 65 and sitting at their high school graduation. And he didn't want to be 75 walking his daughter down the aisle.  So we have made an appointment to go talk with a doctor about a vasectomy. While I am not totally for it, I do see his point and there is a part of me that would like to be done. But just yesterday a baby commerical came on tv and I about cried! I would love to have one more but I know that I do not want one right now or even 10 months from now and we aren't getting any younger with each passing day. So I have agreed to go and talk with a doctor.