Puke!!!!

Fortunately for all of you I have no pictures of our past week and fortunately for me the puking part has left the lights party of 4. Our little Trever decided to take his turn at standing over the toilet this past week. I know none of you care to here all the details, but I would like to share the one part that made me giggle through it all. I was nice and cozy on the couch and slowly getting sleepy as I was watching and listening to George Straight sing on the television and all the sudden I hear a gag, running of little feet on the wood floor followed by "mommy, I throwded up everywhere." Please notice the e.d. I put in there......that is exactly how he said it. As I ran him to the bathroom we made it just in time to the toilet for the next up-chuck. I was rubbing his back and offering comforting words like "I'm so sorry, buddy." I went to his room and started pulling the comforter and sheets off his bed and I feel his hand rubbing my back and he said "I'm so sorry mommy. I know it's so gross." I just cracked up and I heard Jeff giggling in the living room. The truth is vomit does not bother me no matter who's vomit it might be...........but, please don't ask me to clean up poop!!!!

Memories that make me smile.............

As I was going through pictures to prepare for
my shutterfly photo book I found myself smiling,





laughing, crying, and thanking God for these




moments and these people.

There are times I forget how little they were...........






















There are moments I wish I could have back.......







There are times I'm reminded my children are so blessed to have such a great daddy!!!

There are these three that inspire me to be better, motivate me to give it my all, and remind me that there is nothing better.............

There are those who are always smiling and tend to always make me smile..............

There are some who just show me how to enjoy the moment.....

There are those who love me no matter what.....




There are those who are in my life to remind me
I am blessed and I will survive even though it feels like I'm drowning....................













There are those that remind me at times you must get dirty to have fun!!

Those I wish we were with more..........

There are those that remind me that you must hold on to every moment because one day you might be across the country from one another.............

These are the ones that make my kids feel loved.................

I love this picture and I love these kids..............

There are times when silly faces are needed!!!!














There are times when friends make it all better.













There are times that we actually do experience farmlife....................












There are people I thought I would never live without and now wish I'd never taken one moment with them for granted.....................












This is someone I rarely get to see, but wish I could be with more.....................she always makes me laugh



Can you guess who is under this costume?

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE PICTURE OF AMY?????????? I HAVE NO IDEA.........BUT I KNOW I COULD NOT LIVE THIS LIFE WITHHOUT HER...................OR HER HUMOR

There are times I'm mesmerized by her beauty.........

These are the times that just make me proud to be a mom...........................

I love to be with her...................

There are times I just could squeeze them............

d I need to say anything? He is the cutest thing..........even with his wart hogs.............

There are times my heart ache's just to wrap my arms around Alana Grace. Isn't she gorgeous?!!!!! She looks just like Shannan and reminds me how special my sister really is.................

There are those who say they want to be your friend and then spend their life proving it..........

These are the times I'm thankful I homeschool..........

These are the moments I realize life truly can be a party.............................

What can I say? He loves her............................

What will they look like at 16? I can't imagine them being anymore beautiful than they are now....................

There are those that look at me in the eyes and make me feel loved without saying a word...............

There are those who will always be proud.........

This is the one who loves me unconditionally, gives me a push when I need it, holds me when I can't move, listens to me when I need to gab ALOT!!!, and at the end of the day he tucks me in right next to him.................

You may wonder why the need to blog all of these pictures. This week I was reminded of the journey I've been on and how thankful I should be:

At 16 one of my high school friends told me I wasn't pretty enough to get Jeff

At 17 I was told my uterus would never hold a baby because my endometriosis was too bad

I was told by another friend (well, so I thought they were my friend) that if I moved away I would never have friends and my kids would grow up all alone.

At 22 Jeff married me and moved me to Oxford.

During the first week living in Oxford Samantha called me and said she wanted to be my friend. Jill opened her arms up and welcomed me into her life.

Two weeks later we went to Amy and Brent's for dinner.

In 1999 we started going to the Vineyard..................

In 2002 I birthed a baby girl and we named her Abbie Rae.

In 2004............oops!! I birthed a boy and we named him Trever Lee. He was a wonderful surprise.

My children have been with these friends since the day they were born.

Need I say more????????????????? I'm tuly blessed!!!!!

Refreshed and Renewed

I had the best weekend and the greatest Mother's Day present from my wonderful hubby and children. Jeff sent me off along with Dawn to Lido beach in Sarasota for a weekend get away. We arrived at Lido beach Friday afternoon and started our weekend retreat with an early dinner at Bonefish Grill. I had Diablo pasta and oh was it divine. We made it back to our hotel in time for a walk down the beach and had a few hours of girl talk while waiting for the sunset. It's amazing how much talking us woman can do when we are not interrupted.
There were some musicians down on the beach playing and the waves sounded so great crashing on the shore. I new that very moment that every part of stress, anxiety, fear, and worry were about to leave my mind, body, and soul. All I could think of was how my husband truly knows my heart and how to fill a love tank.
We slept in until 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning and headed down to Blue Dolphin Cafe for a quick breakfast. I had one of a kind western omelet with monterey Jack cheese made to perfection and was ready for some rays. We became lazy beach bums for the rest of the day........literally from 10:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. We only moved to get in the water a few times, to grab a Pina Colada, oh, and flip our pages as we each read our books. There were a couple of times we would hear a crying child and our motherly instincts would make us jump. Our bodies actually ached Saturday night from not doing anything all day. We knew we had to move or we would be useless come Sunday morning. We decided on Carraba's that night for dinner and I must recommend the Sirloin Marsala. Oh.........there are no words. Thank God Dawn gets a HUGE discount for all OSI restaurants. We ate dirt cheap and still had fine dining. We then walked through all the shops on the circle. Have you ever been in the store Black and White Market? Wow, what beautiful clothes!! I couldn't afford any of it, but wanted to buy it all. I have to find an outlet. We finished our retreat up by spending Sunday on the beach again and then by the pool. It was bitter-sweet during our departure. I so wish my family could have just packed up and come to me.

The water was simply...................well, lets just say I never had a problem seeing my toes or seashells on the bottom of the ocean floor even when I was in the water up to my neck. It was breath-taking.

I can not wait to take my family there. I know they will love it. I came home refreshed and ready to see my favorite three. They were all awaiting my arrival with smiles and all I could do was squeeze them and say thank you. I know I was smiling from ear to ear. We had a wonderful evening out on our porch. Jeff had grilled a nice little dinner for all of us to enjoy together. I tucked my kids in bed and curled up with my hubby in the chair for the rest of the evening.

Sorry there are no pics, but we just were too lazy to go back to the room for the camera.

One other thing. Congrats to Pike's Electric!!! We won the championship game and are T-ball Champions!! I'm so proud of those children.

OUR LIFE IN THE T-BALL WORLD

We have had such a great time during this t-ball season. Abbie has done so well and Trever, well, I will say he is just now starting to enjoy it now that it's coming to an end. Have I mentioned that my hubby is a great coach? These kids just love him and Ray. They have done so well coaching. I have thoroughly enjoyed being dug-out mom to all 11 kids. I'm so thankful that Dawn was dug-out mom with me. We actually had several parents volunteer to help out as well. We've only lost 3 games and the kids have had a blast!!! We've laughed, cried, wiped snotty noses (not my own children's noses), and screamed to the top of our lungs in excitement for these little munchkins. I'm somewhat sad that I will be saying good-bye to these prescious little ones. I've grown to love them as though they are my own. It's been a blessing to watch them all get to know each other and I hope somehow they remember us as showing kindness and love. It has been an honor to serve these children in our community.

I'm posting some pictures from our last game and some pictures of fans. We had a great night and ended at Beef O Brady's with our extended family. I forgot to change my date on my camera when I changed the batteries. How irritating that the date is wrong.........

GO PIKE'S ELECTRIC!!!!