Heartwarming moments...

"A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path."-- Agatha Christie

I.LOVE.MY.CHILDREN!

But don't we all??  Every thing I do, every day, I ask myself am I doing something that will make my kids proud of me?  Am I doing something I'd want them to do?  I tell my children EVERYDAY that I love them! multiple times a day sometimes.  I try to do my best everyday in raising them, hopefully to be strong, independent, GOD loving people.  I pray that they become great parents and spouses.  That they are happy at whatever they chose to do in life. 

I love that my 15, almost 16 yr old, still gives me a hug everyday. That he tells me he loves me in his silly little "I love you tooo" tone that he does.

I love that my 11 yr old baby girl loves to curl up in my lap still, she plays with my hair, and kisses me on the cheek and tells me she loves me.

I love that my sweet soon to be 9 yr old son holds my hand.  But what I love most is when he's allowed to make a pallet on my floor and sleep for the night.. he always sleeps on my side of the bed on the floor.. and he reaches his little hand up on the bed, and I'll reach over, and we hold hands.  He rubs his little fingers up and down on my hand.  My heart melts.  I get tears in my eyes thinking about the love I have for my children.  I get tears in my eyes trying to remember those moments, forever.  It won't last, I know that.  I will cherish that as much as I can, until he doesn't want to do it anymore. 

All of my kids, in my opinion, are great, sweet well rounded kids.  They are all soft, kind hearted people.  And I pray that carries over into adulthood.  I pray that my boys are like their dad.  He's always telling me he loves me, that he thinks I'm beautiful, doing things to bring a smile to my face.  And I pray that Aleena finds someone as sweet for her as well...

I love you my sweet babies...

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Soccer season has started

This weekend marked the beginning of a new soccer season!  We had 3 practices on Saturday!  Talk about just being thrown into it!   Peyton had a special treat at his practice!  Some soccer players from the local high school team showed up to practice with them!!!  They had a GREAT time!!

Peyton on the far right, tongue sticking out!

Peyton #23

Also.. I just finished day 2 level 1 of the 30day shred!  I still had to take a few breaks, but not as many!! and I can feel it in my arms and legs more today!!  It hurts to get up and down from the couch, wash my hair etc.  I just really wish I'd feel it in my abdomen, that's where I need the most work!! :-D

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Fun family time...

The last few days my Grandma was alive, she kept saying how she wanted all of us to stay close to each other.  She was the mother of 13, and had MANY grandkids and great grandkids.  She expressed many times that she wanted everyone to always be there for each other, and maintain a good relationship.  Today marking the anniversary of her passing, we figured we'd do something together. I had hoped it would be something that all of us could do, but didn't work out that way.  Ended up just being my mom, her 3 kids and her 6 grandkids.. We went rollerskating, and then my mom and one of my sisters came over for dinner afterwards.  We had a great time!  Here are some pictures from our night.

My sister Johann with my niece Emma

Peyton making his way around the rink

Aleena with her cousin Emma

Me with my niece Lacie

Johann, Me, Melanie and our mom

My mom with my 3 kids.

Me and Aleena

Me with my baby sis.

Me and my mommy..

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One more day...

Last night I had a crazy dream

A wish was granted just for me

It could be for anything

I didn't ask for money

Or a mansion in Malibu

I simply wished, for one more day with you

One more day

One more time

One more sunset, maybe I'd be satisfied

But then again

I know what it would do

Leave me wishing still, for one more day with you

 

 
Tomorrow marks 2 yrs since my Grandma passed away.. It's so hard to believe its been 2 yrs since I last told her I loved you, felt her soft skin, kissed her sweet cheek, touched her soft hair..  Its in understatement to say this woman is missed.. Dearly.. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her, and wish I could sit in her living room with her again, watch her hug my kids, or give me a hug. Share another story with her, watch her do a little dance, smile at me.. I try to keep the memory of her alive, share stories about her with my kids, remember things about her.  I remember the night she passed away, and I was sitting on the couch with Jeff, in a complete fog, trying to make sense of everything.. I just kept crying, and rubbing my hands, saying I never wanted to forget her touch.  I always told her I loved her soft hands, we all did.. I miss her dearly... we all do...

This picture brings a smile to my face.  To tell my kids that Grandma had passed, was a really hard thing to do.  Aleena had seen her the night before she passed, and was so upset that things didn't seem to be doing good.  When I told her that Grandma didn't make it through the night, she ran upstairs crying, and came back down with this picture, saying she had drawn it for Grandma, to make her feel better.  I broke down, again. We put this in the casket with my Grandma, and the lady at the funeral home was kind enough to scan it and email it to me. It's now framed, in a collage of pictures in our entry way.

 

What Is a Grandma?

A grandma is warm hugs and sweet memories. She remembers all of your accomplishments and forgets all of your mistakes. She is someone you can tell your secrets and worries to, and she hopes and prays that all your dreams come true. She always loves you, no matter what. She can see past temper tantrums and bad moods, and makes it clear that they don't affect how precious you are to her. She is an encouraging word and a tender touch. She is full of proud smiles. She is the one person in the world who loves you with all her heart, who remembers the child you were and cherishes the person you've become. ~Barbara Cage~


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Fun day with Lacie

This morning my sister called me asking if I could babysit my niece Lacie for a few hours! 
Lacie turned 2 in July, and she never ceases to amaze me.  With my kids being older, its easy to forget how fun these years are!  She tagged along to soccer practices and loved the playground, and the pond, and just running around everywhere!! Here are a few pictures of her today on our fun time together...

She seen a plane in the sky and was running around with her arms out saying "In the sky".. :-)

A few weeks ago I went skating with some family members, and Lacie was there, she REFUSED to go skating!!  Kicking, screaming, red in the face NO she was not going to go skating!!  We were talking about Dora, and I told her that if she'd put those skates on and go skating I'd go buy her some Dora skates!  After 1.5 hrs of fit throwing, she obliged, and put on the rental skates and had a great time for an hour.  So I held up to my promise, and today I went on a hunt for Dora Skates!

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me and hubby...

Words can't express how I feel about my husband Jeff right now.  Some of you have been around for a long time, and know that our relationship has been anything but perfect!  Jeff and I went on our first day nearly 14 yrs ago!!  Can you believe it?? I was a kid! 19 yrs old.  and I had a kid!! Joey, he was 2.  Jeff was a newly divorced man, I think for about a year or so... and was living back at home with his parents.  I won't go into our life history right now.. 

When I moved to TX from MI 15 yrs ago, I never thought in my wildest dreams I would have met someone who takes such great care of me, and our kids.  He truely treats me like a princess, and I adore every minute of it!  And I count my blessings everyday.

2.5 yrs ago I was consulting divorce attorneys and researching apartments, ready to divorce him, over issues we were having.  I won't go into details on all that was going on, some of you know what was going on..

But today, nearly 2.5 yrs later.  I love this man more then I did nearly 10 yrs ago when we said "I do".. isn't that the way its supposed to be?? To love him more today then yesterday?  I believe that your attitude when you wake up sets the precedence for how your day will be.  If I woke up tomorrow and thought about the things this man does that drives me nuts, that is ALL I would focus on all day long, everything negative.  I'd forget about all of the great things he does for us.  I try my hardest to wake up everyday, and include him in my prayers, pray that I show this man how much I truley love him, and that I only do things that please HIM on a daily basis.  I pray that Jeff makes holy decisions in his actions everyday, that everything he does with me, and the kids, showcases his love for HIM.  Jeff and I can't fix things on our own.. we need HIS guidance to get through things...  Not only with my husband, but with my children.  I try not to think about what others think about the things I'm doing, as long as I know I'm doing the best I can for HIM, my hubby, and my children.  And I think between me and Jeff, we are doing a great job.  Ok, digressing a little huh!  :-)

It's easy to let LIFE get in the way.  Get up, go to work, come home, deal with kids, cook dinner, housework, never ending chores, sports, etc.. and we don't always fit time in there to be a married couple!  That's one thing I know me and Jeff need to work on.  Right now its hard though.  Hes gone back to retail which means working a lot of crazy hours, and weekends, and not knowing ahead of time what we have to work with.  Now that our kids are older, we really need to start just doing things together, last minute with each other.  The kids need to see how much we really care for each other, and love each other.  I want the kids to see that marriage is full of great rewards, but also has it's hard times.  Our kids see us disagree, but they see us loving each other later that day.  They know we don't always get along 100%, but I hope they see how much we love each other.

I love you honey, and thanks for all you do!





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Random Weekend pictures

A local sports radio station that my husband listens to does an event every year that he's always sure to be a part of.  They have several athletes come in and do autograph sessions.  There is always 1 big headliner, someone who has been retired for years etc, that everyone knows.  This year it was Barry Sanders.  My husband is a HUGE sports fan, and goes to as many autograph sessions a year as he can.  For this event he's always camping out early in the AM to be sure to get a good spot in line for a ticket to get the autograph.  This year he got there at 4AM, on one of the coldest nights!  We had our biggest snow fall in decades!  He put his chair in his spot, and sat.. for a bit, he went to the truck to sleep for a while as well.  The line started moving at 10:30!  They were told that they were handing out 300 tickets, they counted and Jeff was in the 250 range!  Yay for him!!  But, when he got through the door, they were told sorry but they are all gone!!  My honey stood outside in the freezing cold for nothing!  :-( 

The long line
of people waiting to go in..












I dropped Peyton off to him just a little before the line started moving, in hopes that Jeff would get 2 autographs..

Peyton with 3 hats on his head?

confused I guess....

Jeff and Peyton then stood in line to get tickets for another autograph session, which they were lucky enough to get!!  Then the 3 of us headed over to Chili's for the longest lunch ever!! Our waitress was SUUUPPPERR slow!!! 

Me and Peyton waiting on our food...

I dropped them back off after lunch so they could get this guys autograph!

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Jr. Rangers Fan Club Membership

Click here to sign up

When you have a family that plays in sports the way mine does, there's no denying that we are huge sports fans. 

I've had dancers, soccer, football, basketball, softball, tball/baseball and volleyball.

Last year we decided to sign the kids up as a Jr Ranger, and let me tell you, it was worth every penny!

We just signed them up again for the 2nd year!! 

This is what you get when you sign up.

Join the Jr. Rangers club and get:

Jr. Rangers Drawstring Bag

5' x3' Jr. Rangers Banner

VIP Membership Pass and Lanyard

8 Ticket Vouchers for 2010 Rangers home games (some restrictions apply)

Coupons redeemable at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington

15% off Rangers merchandise in the Majestic Grand Slam Gift Shop (some restrictions apply)

Invitations to "Members Only" Jr. Rangers events

VIP "Front of the Line" access to every Sunday afternoon Run the Bases

 

With these vouchers you get free kids tickets to a pre determined game.  One thing I didn't find out last year was if your unable to make it to the game on the voucher, if you can exchange it for another game?? Might be worth asking, I'm sure there will be big games you wouldn't be able to switch too.  Last year with those vouchers you could buy additional tickets for the game for $12.50 each, on the voucher it says for an upper reserved ticket I think?  But we were able to get tickets down on the lower level, outfield, in some of our favorite sections!  So ask what sections you could go to when turning them in.  Let me know if you have any questions!!  We hope to see you out there!! :-D

 

 

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Record Breaking Snow Amounts!!

Snow, Snow, and more snow!!!!  Some parts of TX ended up with nearly a foot of snow, with most of us averaging 7-9" I think I heard??  All I know was that it was A LOT of snow!! The kids didn't have school today so I stayed home with them.  We had fun making snowmen, having snowball fights, and just enjoying the beauty of it all, from inside the nice warm house!!  Aleena and Peyton were out there ALL day long, having so much fun.  Joey.. he didn't want any part of it, he's like his momma, wants the cold in small spurts!! 
Here are a few pictures of our day!!

I've also been SUPER busy working on my diaper cakes.. I REALLY enjoy making these, and would love for business to take off.  I'm trying to come up with incentives for people, that would make it worth while for them to share my business with friends and co-workers... any ideas??  Id love to find people that would highlight my business on there blog for a day? make a quick post? something?  :-D  Take a look at my link below, let me know what you think!!!  Let me know you were here...

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