Thankful Tuesday...

Thing's I am Thankful for today:

*Having a job
*Amazing kids who love me unconditionally
*A best friend for a Husband
*Strength beyond imaginable
*Ability to bite my tongue when needed
*Ability to speak my tongue when needed
*Ability to know the difference of those
*Having a big heart, although at times that means it gets hurt easily
*Stability in an unstable world
*Puppy Dog eyes
*Smiles that brighten the world
*Friends who never give up on me
*Family that is always there
*Looks that require no words
*Hugs that can make the day
*Candles that smell good and change the mood of the house
*Childhood innocence
*Childhood honesty
*A home to call my own
*Being a Mother
*Neighbors who have my back
*The Sun each day
*The Star's each night

XOXO

Happy Friday Quote...

T.E. Lawrence of Arabia wrote in his Memoirs:

"All people dream, but not all equally. Those who dream by the night, in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible."

XOXO

Alice in Wonderland...

Has anyone seen the new version of Alice in Wonderland made by Tim Burton? I really had no desire to see it in the theaters as I am not a fan of Tim Burton's work normally. But someone gave Emily the movie a few months ago, and this past weekend I had 6 loads of laundry to sit and fold so I threw the movie on and sat down to fold.

I have to say, I was overall amazed with the movie. Very good special effects and they did a good job with the story line. It's still kinda "out there" for little kids to see. Emily still says it scares her.

As the credits were playing, this song I have playing on my blog "Alice" started playing. And the words grabbed me. I sat and listened to it realizing it fits my life perfect right now.

My world has been flipped upside down, inside out, spun around and dropped in the last two years. And just when i think it has to get better, or we've reached the end, it starts all over. I had a medical professional look at me in amazement and say "I can't believe your still standing with all you deal with." I guess that pretty much sums up my life.

So this song, written by Avril Lavigne for the movie made me realize my life right now is much like Alice's in the movie. I fell through a hole and have been fighting my way back. Every corner, there is some rabbit or twiddle Dee's waiting for me, a smoking caterpillar telling me it's all a dream, a wicked witch laughing that I'll never get to the end.

But you know what? I will get there. I will make it. I didn't come this far to have a tea party with the Mad Hatter. So watch out Wicked Witch...I'm coming after you!

XOXO

One Year ago...

I can remember the way Austin use to look and sound. But it's not until you do this, they you really see the growth and how they've changed. 8th grade vs. 9th grade!

Just so you can see what I'm talking about, here is the difference one year makes to a growing teenage boy.

I think I need to have more babies. I'm not going to be able to deal with this whole growing up thing the kids do. Someone smack me please...

XOXO

Sob....Wahhhhh...

Gulp...I have someone I need to introduce you too. This person came from my body, was born into this world a 6 week Preemie with difficulties in the NICU that we weren't sure he would be alright, 20+ surgeries to date, grade school to Middle School to High School!!! Ack!!!

My Son, Austin:

Sobbing uncontrollably...My baby is all grown up! I don't know when it happened. Because in May, he was still my little boy. I still had to look down at him, Could still reach around him with my arms to hug him, could tickle him and play tag around the house.

*side note: the photos are all the same, they just gave me a disk with all three color tints on it*

Now? Now he stands taller then me by 3 inches (he's 5'9), his foot has grown 2 shoe sizes (Men's 10 now) and he's gained 15lbs. His face is maturing and filling out. Losing that babyish look of pre-puberty chubbiness.

His voice is cracking now. Won't be long before that sweet Lil' voice I love so much will be gone forever replaced with a deep, resonating sound. When we hugged before, it was his arms around my waist and I hugging his shoulders, now it is my arms around his waist and his around my shoulders. Now he is the one looking down at me.

When I see him around other kids and how he overtakes them in size, I have to remind myself that he is still 13. My baby that was so small and skinny in that NICU is now the linebacker.

He is definitely going to be over 6'2 like his dad. One doctor predicted he will be taller then that.

*sigh*

XOXO

Oh my poor blog...

How I've neglected you...I promise to get back on track. I promise to start blogging again. I promise to...

Oh who am I kidding???

I will be living in my car for the next 3 months. You think I'm kidding?

Austin started High School last week. We're talking the big leagues here. His school operates on a 4x4 block system. Which means they only take 4 classes at a time. But they are Concentrated classes. So instead of 8 classes of 45 minutes each, they take 4 classes for 1-1/2 hours. Then the second semester they take a different 4 classes. So they still get the 8 subjects all year, but now the teachers have longer to get the information to sink in. I like the idea. Instead of 7 subjects (PE doesn't count) of homework each night, they just have 3 or 4 but more of it. So each night he has about 1-1/2 hours of Homework.

Soccer also started last week. Oh and guess what? After 10 years of being Team Mom/Manager, I informed the coaches and parents THIS YEAR I am not doing it. Could someone else please step up and do it? Hello? Is this thing on? Anyone? *birds chirping*

So yea, I got roped back into it. It was the coaches speech of "but you are the best of the best and how can i do it without you and you have perfected it so no one wants to take it on and how will i ever be able to coach if i don't have you?" Then it was the league going "You gotta have a manager" and the parents all standing there LOOKING at me...
Where was I? Soccer 3x a week then games start in a few weeks and we travel for those. All over. I have our big water cooler for Austin to bring, a 5 person bench seat that folds to bring, a 10 ft flag/banner to bring and assemble at each game, 3 chairs for DH, Em and I to sit in at the game, a Pop Up Canopy to sit under in the 100+ sun and a snack/toy bag to entertain Emily! Phew...I'm exhausted already.

Oh you thought I was done? hahahahahahahahahaha....

Monday starts Baseball for Austin too. Yep...just shoot me now. High School Fall Baseball. Practice is 2x a week with tournaments on weekends. Tryouts start Monday. If you want any chance of making the Spring Team, you have to play Fall. There are only 18 kids on the spring team. 8 are returning JV players. They have 30+ kids trying out for 10 spots. If you play Fall ball, Coaches give those kids 50% better chance of making it and pick those kids before any fresh kids coming in. So pretty much, if you wanna play at all, you gotta start now! Oh and Fall Ball, is 80% returning Spring players, and they only take a handful of new players. So if you bomb tryouts, your pretty much done for the year.

But NO PRESSURE...right?

I sure hope Austin can keep up with it all. He's not very good at juggling things. He's been in school one week and already missed his homework one day. So we're riding him now. Gotta start off strong.

Oh and did I mention that this is only ONE of my kids schedules??? Now you see why I will be living in my car...Take, pick up, take, pick up, take, pick up...where am I suppose to be?

XOXO

Happy Friday Quote...

The 7 traits of a Best Friend:

Supportive
Active
Respectful
Caring
Assuring
Sensitive
Mindful

In other words...SARCASM...

XOXO

Date night...sort of...

Sunday DH and I set off to spend some time together. With our daughter. Our son was gone for the weekend, and so it was the three of us. It was a pretty stressful weekend, so late in the afternoon we set off to visit one of our fav restaurants in a town about 25 minutes away.
This is her 1st attempt...

Emily was getting bored waiting for them to open, and then to wait for service. I happen to have my camera in my purse and handed it to her to entertain herself while we waited.
Here is her collage.

I had to laugh because all the pics she took of me were clear and focused. But when ever she snapped one of DH, it was blurry. No matter how I tried to help her, his came out fuzzy. She was having a blast. And I have to say...she got some good ones.

Maybe I see a future involving Photography for her???

XOXO

First day of school...

It's so hard to believe the kiddo's started school already. Now don't get me wrong, I was ready for them to go. Well, sort of. I was more ready for them to get out of my house and give me some peace. LOL.

So I officially have a High Schooler now. I'm still having issues with that. He informed us that he wanted "Dad" to take him to school on the first day in the "Cool new car" to show off and not "Mom". WHATEVER!!!I don't have any pictures of him on his first day. Sad. But he leaves at like 7:20am and I was just getting out of the shower, and well...the camera was not ready.

Emily is now a 4th grader! She is thrilled with it. Loves her teacher. And the best part? She has her Best Friend in her class again this year! Yea! They did Sleepovers all summer together and so it was like they've never been apart. My babies are growing up and I don't like it! *stomping foot on ground*

Checking for Mom & Dad one last time...

*sigh*

On the other hand, I only have 8 more years until the last one is out of school and on the way to my freedom!!!

Gotta look at it with the Glass half full attitude, right? ;o)

XOXO

Where have I been...

I can not believe it has been so long since I blogged! I'm so sorry my friends. But I have a reason. A good one. You see, I was on vacation for 10 days!!! See? I told you it was a good one.

We went camping for 5 of those days. School shopped, unpacked and washed everything, moved furniture around, clothes school shopping, school orientations, school schedules, back to work and buried in work!

I can't believe summer is over already and the kids start school Tuesday. I am half excited to get them out and I am half dreading it because it means homework, schedules, carpool, projects, sports, practices, meetings. It means jumping back into LIFE! And I'm not really ready for that.

The kids are though. They are super excited to see their friends, see what teachers they have, classes, etc. Not me.

Monday we start Soccer. Tuesday we start School. Wednesday Mom has a nervous breakdown. Thursday DH kicks said Mom in rear and tells her to "suck it up". Friday Mom takes deep breathe and ignores the fact that her son is now in High School.

XOXO

P.S. Did I mention that DH had a Mid Life Crisis and went out and bought a Brand New Muscle Car with any mention or approval from me???? Yea...that's a post for another day.