My Guys

I just have to brag for a minute...

Tonight Jack had a baseball game at 6pm. Corey had been working in the city - about an hour from home - all day long, but the man just almost won't miss anything that his kids do, so he loaded up in rush-hour traffic and headed to the ballpark to watch his little boy play. He made it just in time to see a bit of the last of the game - just in time for Jack to know that his daddy loves him enough to make it to his game, no matter what. When I saw Corey at the game he told me that he had found out that he got the big client that he has been working on for a while. I was so proud of him. He has worked hard at pursuing them, all the while, knowing that God is in control, and if He doesn't want Corey to have that particular client - or any certain client - he doesn't want them either. No matter the loss in income. He's got faith that amazes me! Anyway, we were very excited about the new deal and went to dinner to celebrate. While there, Corey told us that he had not finished what he had to do at the job that he had been at today, so he had to go back - an hour away - and finish tonight. He wouldn't even be able to get started until after 10pm. I have said it before, and I will say it again... and again... The man is the hardest worker I have ever seen. Well, he is rubbing off on his son. When Corey came home to change clothes before he left for work again, Jack changed clothes too and gathered a pillow, a blanket, and his Gameboy and went "to work" with his daddy. Some might think that that is crazy - to drive hours out of the way in the middle of work for your kid's game or to let an 8-year-old go "to work" in the middle of the night - but I think that it is amazing. What an example of priorities is my little Jack getting from his daddy tonight?!? You put family first, you work hard, you do what it takes to spend time together... I am truly blessed to have the man that I have.

Tonight With Cooper

Cooper still takes a nap most every day... or at least he spends a couple of hours in his bed each afternoon where he is supposedto be taking a nap.  Today, however, naptime was not in the cards for him.  By the time I had to keep him up to go get the big kids from school, rush home to get Jack changed into his baseball uniform, run to WalMart to get snacks for the baseball team, and make it to the baseball game in time for Jack to warm up... there was no time for a nap for little Cooper.  Normally, that would mean that we come straight home from the game, quickly feed him a peanut butter sandwich (or something equally as fast) and put him to bed before the "I didn't have a nap today" behavior emerges.  Tonight though, we left the game and headed to a restaurant for a "Daddy got a new client" dinner celebration!  (WAY TO GO COREY!!!)  It was risky, but he made it through the meal with the only melt-down occurring when the waiter took his plate at the end of dinner.  (Man, you don't mess with Cooper's food!)  We got home, and I was all gung-ho and ready to tuck him in for the night until he said in the cutest voice ever... "Are you guys watching American Idol?  Can I watch it with you?"... as he climbed up into the pile o' people on the couch.  Still, I would have put him in his bed at a commercial if he hadn't been so dadgum adorable... There is nothing cuter than a 2-year-old saying, "I like Randy Jackson."  And the fact that he knows and can say "Syesha"and "David Archuleta" is just hilarious to us... SO... He stayed up - like the 10-year-old that he thinks he is - and watched American Idol... until he fell asleep in my arms.  That is a rare occurrence, and I love it when it happens!  And since he was sleeping where we could see him (as opposed to in his crib), we were finally able to get a picture of his "new thing".  Sucking his thumb!  The poor baby hurt one of the fingers that he typically sucks a week ago, and ever since he has whole-heartedly sucked his thumb.  I didn't even know that kids would start that at almost 3 years old!  But he did... Here's what the cutie looks like when he is doing it...

Irresistible

The Thing About Bloggin'

So, I have been mulling over this blogging thing for a few weeks.  I love it.  But why do I love it?  Is is weird that I love it?  Do I need to justify it (for you?  for myself?)?

When I first started a blog - 2 years ago - it was just a "here are my pictures" kind of blog.  I didn't keep up with it for long.  It didn't do much for me.  I abandoned it.  Over the next year, I started reading a few people's blogs.  They were more of the "this is what I am thinking, learning, contemplating" kind of blogs.  Now that, I could get into that.  I liked reading people that I had things in common with or that I found interesting.  But still, I was not ready to blog myself... my feeling, my thoughts, my hopes, my fears, my hurts, my joys.  Until one day.  Once I tried it, I was hooked.

So after thinking about this for a few weeks, here are my thoughts on why I blog:

1. I want to document things for my kids to look back on. I want them to see the pictures of the things that our family did together and know my thoughts about those things.  I want them to know how I feel about them.  I want them to have it down on paper (or a computer screen) that I am madly in love with them.  I love being their mommy.  I love their daddy.  I also want them to be able to look back at my entries someday and see what their crazy-old-mom was thinking when she did this-or-that.  I want them to be able to see that I am just a human- a broken-human - trying to live this life to the best of my ability.  I want them to see the struggles that I have in all areas of my life.  I want them to learn from them and know that I can relate to their struggling as they navigate through their lives.

2. It is a good way to keep in touch with people and let them know what is going on in my family's life.  Sadly, I have just about abandon the idea of snail-mail altogether.  Email is still an option for some things, but as far as sharing our family's photos and what we are up to, this is the way to go.  Plus, it gives the reader an option to look at every adorable picture of my darling kids or just skim through every few months and catch the highlights.  (Why you'd do that, I do not know.  :) )

3.  I want to be known.  At first it was scary to put myself "out there".  I didn't want to be judged... but I did want to be known.  Desperately.  I was in the midst of some serious evolution, - finding a "new normal"- and I needed to figure out who I was and quit pretending that I was who I wasn't.  Not that I was intentionally acting like someone that I wasn't... but I was changed and/or changing.  I needed a way to work through that and to present myself to those that chose to get to know me.  The new me.  The different me.  The constantly changing me.  

4. I sometimes need a place to work through my junk. When my mind is jumbled with thoughts, I sometimes sort through how I am feeling by writing it down.  Sometimes my entries are for me, and me only.  (and it is cheaper than therapy)

5. I like getting to know "you" on a deeper level. Around the time that I started blogging regularly, several of my family and friends and acquaintances did too.  I cannot say how great I think it is that you did... and that I get the privilege of getting to know you better because of the parts of yourselves that you allow to be shown through your blogs.  Knowing people - really knowing them - is so important to me.  I don't have any desire to know people on a surface basis.  If we are going to invest into each other's lives,  I say let's get down and dirty.  Lets get to know each others junk.  Hopes, fears, frustrations.  Reality.  I think that that has happened for me with my blogging friends.  I know you guys better and you know me better than we did a year or two ago.  None of that "How are you?/ Just fine." junk goes on between us anymore.  When we pass each other in a public place I have an idea how you are and you kind of know how I am too.  There is a sense of understanding that we now have because of this little window into each others souls that we have each granted each other.  We can be authentic.  What a novel idea.

6. It is the most awesome prayer-chain out there.  Where else can a person awaiting a double lung transplant or parents of a micro-preemie baby or a mother that has just lost her infant daughter get thousands of "bonus prayers"?  Or what about plain-old-me.  I am not going to call each and every one of you and say, my kids are puking, I have not slept in 5 nights, my heart is broken right now, etc. and ask for your prayers.  But if I post it, I know that you are thinking about me and my family and my situation and maybe you are lifting me up in prayer.  Really... prayers flooding heaven for you because you are one of those blogging-people.  I think that that is amazing.

7.  There are just some people that are interesting and funny and creative, and I am intrigued by them. I have always liked to people-watch.  Blog-reading is the ultimate in people-watching.  I can come into someone's craft room, and see the things that they have created.  I can read someone that is totally different from me and learn from them.  I can look at certain blogs when I just need a good laugh or want to be inspired to take a beautiful photograph.  I can read an interesting mommy-blog and see that my life is not so different than hers and get inspired by her ideas. 

8. It gives me something to do at 3am. Yes, I am a bit of an insomniac.  So, if you don't mind... could you post something every once in a while for me to read in the middle of the night?

So there you have it... I am a card carrying member of the bloggy-world.  And probably will be for a long, long time.  Now you know why.

Makes Me Laugh Monday

So many bloggy-people have these recurring columns each week on a certain day of the week..."Things I Love Thursday" (I love that one!), "Works For Me Wednesday", etc.  Well, I am not sure that I am up for that kind of commitment, but today there is just something that is making me laugh.  A lot.  And on a Monday, of all things!  So here is the first (of probably a random number) of my "Makes Me Laugh Monday" editions.  Don't look for one next Monday... it probably won't be here.  ;)

My friend posted a link on her site a few days ago to a blog called Stuff Christians Like.  That particular post was not so much on the funny side as it was on the all-out-good side... but the majority of the blog that she was talking about is (as my sisters and I like to say) hi-freakin'-larious.  It is kind of a sarcastic look at some of the funny (and usually "normal") things that we Christians do.  (And we all know how wonderful sarcasm can be, don't we?)  Today, I have sneeked a peak as often as I could to read this guy's snippets.  Dang!  He is funny!  You should check him out.

Sleepless

Tonight, I can't sleep.  It makes no sense.  I am tired.  But I just can't.  My mind is racing.  

So I am surfing... and I just found this from "Soule Mama".  You must read it.

It is beautiful.  

I think that it is part of why I do what I do... the photographs, the scrapbooks, the blog, the stories...

I have seen Alzheimer's.  I have seen the stories disappear.  Forever.  I have felt the sadness that that brings.  

I'm A Sentimental Pack Rat

Today I went through 3 boxes that I discovered after the move.

I thought that I had gotten rid of all of Allie's clothes that were not keepsakes, but as we were going through the mountain of boxes that were hastily moved and shoved into our new garage, I found 3 boxes of clothes and shoes that were hers. I had saved them. That is what I do. Save stuff... for "just in case"... and because I get attached... really attached... to the memories that are tied to things. As my sister-in-law and I were going through the boxes to see if there were things that she might want for her little girl, I walked down memory lane in my head as each article of clothing was pulled from the box and evaluated. I was surprised at how I vividly I remembered my sweet little curly headed girl in almost each and every outfit. I remember pushing her in her navy blue stroller as I bought most of the things in those boxes. I remember how special it was when I actually bought her something at the Gymboree store as opposed to the thrift stores and garage sales that her clothes usually came from. (She was the best little shopper! She still is!) I remember the way that her hair was fixed when she wore certain things. I remember that she wore a hat with others. I remember dressing her in the little watermelon-collared dresses that I had always dreamed of dressing my little girl in. I remember her little bitty body in a little bitty leotard when she first started taking gymnastics. I remember the picnic that we had and the park that we were at when she wore one shirt. I could almost smell her sweet little girl scent as I looked at the green overalls that she wore the night that she stayed up until 3:00 in the morning to meet her new baby brother. I remember her wearing the "spinning dress" and the dress that she wore to hunt Easter eggs in that year.

I know that these "things" are not the things that are important to most people, but to me - for whatever reason - they are treasured. They remind me of my true treasures... and how quickly they go from the baby section to the big girl section in the department store... and in life.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

Just thought that I should give props to my girl, Allie, for the awesome picture that she took that I am using as my new header.  The girl has an eye for photography!  I can't wait to see the things that she does someday with her creativity!  My friend, Amanda, was able to take Allie's picture (one of my all-time-favorites) and make this lovely header for me.  I love it!  Thanks, you two!