Ready for Fall

This has probably been the best summer our family has ever had. It was spent with each other, and there is no better way! I'm ready for football season, tailgaiting, yummy party food, chili cookoffs, and brisk mornings when I can open my windows to fresh air that will fill my house. This year, like all the others, was a hot one! I'm exctied for leaves changing colors, scare-crows, pumpkin patches, scarfs, and cardigans... I can't wait to start burning my pumpkin spice candles!!

Here's to a wonderful summer and the welcome of fall!!

Summertime, and the livin's EASY!

The best part about summer is spending more time at home. My house is so much cleaner... Surprising I know. But i believe children need to learn to take part in chores to help around the house. Even tho I can clean up much faster, they have to learn. After dinner, clean up is a family affair. The boys started doing chores very young. They all know how to clean bathrooms, put toys away, make their beds, sweep, mop, dust, rinse plates, and load the dishwasher. They can all put their laundry away too. During school it seems like we are so busy going here-there- and everywhere that we don't have time to sit at home and just be a family and work together.... YAY FOR SUMMER!!

This is the other reason why I HEART summer. THE BEACH!! We vowed as a family we would take advantage this year... AND WE HAVE!!! We have three more big beach trips planned before we are back in school and I CAN'T WAIT!!

i think i have a sickness....

... I don't know what i am going to do when i can't dress my boys alike anymore.... it's gonna throw my sight totally out of wack!

My World

Oh Life's An Hourglass.......

Little boy, when you speak

I can't help but kiss your cheeks

I love the way you grab my hands

And tell me all about your plans

Rocket high, comets fly

You and I could take a ride

And fly away to Neverland

And give our best to Peter Pan

When you reach for the stars

Don't forget who you are

And please don't turn around and grow up way too fast

See the sand in my grasp

From the first to the last

Every grain becomes a memory of the past

Oh, life's an hourglass

Life is an hourglass

Stories read, prayer is said

Close your eyes sleepyhead

While angels linger in your dreams

And hold you in their feathered wings

Just like you, I was small

Not that long ago at all

I wish you all the happiness

That God gives freely if you ask

When you reach for the stars

Don't forget who you are

And please don't turn around and grow up way too fast

See the sand in my grasp

From the first to the last

Every grain becomes a memory of the past

Oh, life's an hourglass

Life is an hourglass  

 Lyrics to:  "Hourglass" by Mindy Gledhill

Moments that bring me Joy

I was reading 11th heaven's blog and she posted a picture of "moments that bring me Joy".... She has many more children than i do and i can't imagine the craziness at her her home... but none the less there is always noise throughout the day of boys fighting, crying, laughing, and playing... "he hit me", "mom i'm done going potty", "mom, i'm hungry", "mom, will u read me a story", "mom, he isn't letting me play", "mom, he keeps going in my room"... "mom, mom, .....MOOOM!" You get the point.  Although I hit moments where I think... "surely I'm about to go nuts!" I also have many moments where i realized just exactly how blessed i truly am to have the noise i have in my home.... These pictures brings me JOY...

Lucas (2) preping for a swim.

Cart and Jax riding with Dad while cutting the grass.

Silly Carter with his underware hat.

...and bathtime fun!

Happy Monday!!

Dear Bloggers and Fellow Stalkers

Indeed it is true.  Life is oh so terribly busy.  My neighbors frequently tell me the only thing they see of me are my tail lights as I pull in and out of my garage day in and day out going to school, picking up from school, going to the gym, going to soccer, going to scouts, going to church, dropping off meals and going to meetings.  Does this sound like you? I'm sure it does.  I enjoy blogging my life on the computer for all to read and love even more reading all the posts you post.  What's that you say?  You didn't know that i read your blogs too?  Well I do.  I have just stopped leaving comments.  This saves me time of having to scribble that funky word blurp in order for your comment to be submitted or to just plain sign in.  For those that i have to enter my email, password, dob, blood type, and hair color... I still check, but not as often due to the time it takes to get in there.  So continue to stalk me because I'm stalking you and looking at your pictures and googling over your sweet children, laughing at your funny jokes, and streaking tears when your stories touch me.  I love you all and thanks for reading! 

My sweet Lucas turned 8 in August.  I remember that day so well.  My world has never been the same for the better.  I remember not sleeping for days after he was born (literally) because I was so worried I would miss something in his life.  I was an emotional wreck.  I was terrified to leave the hospital or go to the store with him in fear that someone would try and take him from me.  The name Lucas has a very sweet meaning behind it.  Before Joe left for his mission he went to live with a family that touched his heart forever.  This family lost their son to a tragic accident a few years before Joe came to live with him.  His name was Lucas.  When we were trying to come up with a name for our little baby boy, one day Joe said to me.... What about Lucas?  I instantly loved the name and we knew we wanted it.  Joe called his adopted family and asked if they would mind.  They agreed, and even traveled out for lucas' baby blessing in Iowa.  When Lucas was born and they came to visit the mother shared with me that the name Lucas meant "bringer of light"... No words could better describe this sweet spirit.  He truly a boy that has brought light to our home and to all he meets. 

(For those who are not of the same faith, this is just a short explanation of what baptism is in our church)

We believe that when a child turns 8, they become old enuf to begin to understand the difference between right and wrong and then become responsible for the actions they make.  It's almost as if the first 8 years prior are the pregame show to learn and try out these skills that they are taught.  Once they are baptised they become and official member of the church and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost is a constant companion to each of us that helps us to make the right decision. (Kind of like Jiminey Cricket in Pinocchio) As long as we do the things we should and make good decisions the Holy Ghost is our content guide or compass to help us along our way.  However, we all make wrong decisions.  So it's our responsibility that when we do this that we make amends for the wrong we did and try to live better.  This is a daily occurrence as none of us are perfect.  In our church we take the sacrament once a week to "renew" our baptism covenants we have made.  Essentially, each Sunday when we take the bread and water that has been blessed it's as if we have been baptized all over again and we are made "clean" again.  Here are some pictures of that day and the slide show we made at his baptism for everyone to watch.  The song I picked was "child of light".... this song could not be more perfect for our sweet Lucas.---nevermind... i couldn't get it to load... too bad... it would've made you cry too!

LOVE YOU LUCAS!

October Birthday Boy, Parades, FarmTime, and Halloween Costumes

I don't have much time to post so here goes... again, please don't check for grammatical errors!!! October was a crazy month, just like the other 9 months we have had thus far this year... I'm so glad we are entering November and December, You know, the slowest time for everyone...!!!! (eye roll)... If i am not in the docs office being heavily medication for craziness you and I both will be surprised!! So here are some October highlights:

1.October began hot like every other October in the south. (Yes my boys are standing on cars that could roll at any minute, and yes i do encourage this for good photo opps!) (and yes my children are wearing nice polo shirts while running around in their diapers and underweat underneath... it's the preppy/wt look...)(and yes lucas is picking his nose in the backgroud of the first picture!!)



The boys are not only standing on something they can fall off of... THEY ARE DANCING TO THE BEAT!!



2.Lucas came home with his 9week report card with perfect marks across the board and a note from his teacher begging me to keep him in school for the remainder of the year and that the admin would work with us in keeping him in good standing with attendance. (**explains why i was going to take him out, if you already know, skip the next paragraph)

**as a side note, for any of you that don't already know, we had some trips planned before the school year that have and will take him out of school, which really racks up on the attendence charts. The schools are really cracking down on how many days your child misses school and have quite the severe punishments if your child is not there (ie, saturday school, meeting with admin, and truency court ?!?!?!?!) While i understand that rules must be in place, it stinks when your child is bored in school and makes good grades. So my plan was to pull him out this last month, but it looks as though he will stay thru the year!!)**

So it looks as though Lucas will stay in school for now, which does leave me more time to focus on my two little bizzybees at home!!

3.Joe and the boys went to a local farm day... complete with BOILED PNUTS... yummy yummy!!







3.Carter locked his brother in the car for over an hour!! Long story short, I buckled jaxon into the car went into the house and told carter to jump in his seat... Carter somehow missed the part where i said "get in and stay in" in the 20 times i yelled it, and jumped in hit the automatic lock button and jumped out... WITH MY KEYS STILL IN THE CAR! NICE! Luckily it was a relatively cool day and the temp was not bad. I called and got a locksmith out while trying to explain in my sweet mother but panic voice to PLEASE HURRY, MY CHILD IS INSIDE! After 50 min and not having anyone here i called back to find a new dispatch gal on the phone telling me she had no clue their was a baby and that no one had even left yet to come to my house... SO I BECAME UNGLUED AND BEGAN TO CRY AND YELL AT THEIR INCOMPITENCE AND HOW CAN YOU BE IN BUSINESS TONE! Come to find out she was just totally out of the loop and a locksmith was in fact on his way and was there shortly after. Once the ordeal was done and i was feeling my limbs once again my friend told me that if you have a child locked in the car that the police will come and take care of it... I'M SURE THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN A LOT QUICKER! But Jaxon was a trooper and wasn't even upset until the end. THANK HEAVENS!

4.On the 26 we celebrated Jaxon's 2nd birthay!! woot woot!! He is such a joy! He speaks like crazy and is very quick witted...(ofcours i feel that way about all my children, but this #3 takes the cake on quick learner!)... he begs to go to the bathroom and I refuse... (I'll save that for another post)he speaks and knows his numbers and colors better than 2, and is so cute "i just want to smash his face!"... it's a term of endearment the hubby uses on him when he squeezes his cheecks together.. it makes jaxon squeal with joy when we do it... POOR CHILD!

5.Our town had a local parade that we went to watch with friends.



me and kimberly...

me and maria... who actually went into labor later that day!!!


6.For most that know me, I enjoy keeping my boys matching or coordinating. Because lucas is at school all day and in a different clothes section all together, I generally try to just keep him in the same color patterns if i can help it... so naturally i like them to have a theme for halloween. This year i was late in my prep and was racking my brain up til the week before halloween and our church's trunk of treating... I came up with a Dr. Seuss theme... Lucas was going to be the cat in the hat and carter and jaxon were going to be "thing 1" and "thing 2"... when i told lucas of my decision lucas said to me..."aw, i really wanna be a ninja"... to which i replied too bad you'll be the cat in the hat... deal! (in kinder convincing words) to which he agreed (bad mother i know!!!, it's just like when i guilted him into being terrified one more time by going on tower of terror with my at disney the month before.... SHAME ON YOU, AMANDA!!) But joe did intervene, He heard the conversation and told me i couldn't make lucas be something he didn't want to be all in the name of matching... so lucas was a ninja and IIIII was THE CAT IN THE HAT! Joe was totally right and it turned out very cute indeed. I didn'm make lucas' costume, but i did make the boys and my costume... Here's the final result!!






**by the end of the night, both boys were suffering from hair loss, they were leaving remnants of blue hair on each door step they crossed... kindda like leaving a momento behind, something to be remembered by!!!

**on a side note... i was impressed at the quality of candy this year... lately it seems we have been inendated with smarties and dum dums...(blek) but this year we filled bowls and bowls with snickers, hershey's, skittles, and other GOOD STUFF!

I also planned a huge baby shower for my dear friend maria with her mother sybil. We spent hours and hours planning and I spent mega time making my curtains and covering some chairs i purchased... I'll post those pix soon...!!!

**okay spell check isn't working so i am throwing this online without any form of proof reading... =(

Lucas Starting School

Last week my sweet Lucas turned 7 yrs old. Where does the time go? He is a great big brother and very responsible. I love having him at home with me. He reminds me when he is suppose to be on restriction and has a memory and sense of direction that is astounding.



As most of you know last year I opted to keep lucas home from school to homeschool. I LOVED it!! I never realized I would enjoy it so much. I use to be very anti until i really dug in and did some research and found how rewarding it can be. I would like to continue, but with moving into our new home last month I have many things that are keeping me tied up and I don't want it to keep lucas behind. I prayerfully made the decision 6 weeks ago and enrolled him in school soon after.

Here are some picture of his first day of school. (sorry some pictures are so blurry... i couldn't get carter to sit still... plus they are all taken with my phone)



**one last picture before they jumped in the car to go.... you can tell they were pictured out**




Silly boys





as you can tell from the theme of most of these pictures... carter and lucas would much rather be silly than to strike a GQ pose for mamma...





He seems to have a wonderful teacher and he likes going... Each day I pick him up and ask how his day went he always announces first the length of recess, and that he has to sit a lot....I miss him so much everyday!! I love you Lucas!!!