9/11 Thoughts

It's been several days since I've posted . . .

David and I had a nice anniversary on the 8th. We went out to eat and to see a movie. It was the 17th anniversary - hard to believe!!

Today has stirred up lots of emotions again. Although I knew no one personally that was lost in the 9/11 attack, it certainly brings all those emotions back and the sadness for the families that lost loved ones. I remember being at work when David called me on the phone. He was working nights at the time and had just gotten home and flipped on the tv. As we were talking about the first plane hitting the tower, the 2nd one came along and hit. It still didn't occur to me that this could actually be a terrorist attack. Not until the plane hit in DC did I start to realize what was actually happening. I remember feeling the urgent need to go home, scoop up my children, and just be with my family. Adam had soccer practice that evening and it was so weird to look up in that beautiful blue, clear sky and not see any airplanes fly overhead.

I also remember how, on the Saturday before, we had gotten together with David's side of the family for BJ's birthday. Then the next Saturday, we got together for David and BJ's mom's birthday. It was so weird how the world had changed from 1 birthday celebration to the next a week later.

It's been a day of reflecting and prayer . . . I continue to pray for those families that lost loved ones.

Back Among the Living Again

Gahhhhh! What a rough few days! Had a yucky, yucky cold or allergies or SOMETHING -- so I've been out of commission for several days. Pretty much hung out on the couch with the remote and my nose spray so I could breathe. Glad the worst of that is over. We've all had our turn at it except Amber -- I sure hope she's able to dodge it.

I promised to post pictures but that didn't happen. Actually I need to do that . . . David got a few good pictures (in between raindrops) of the Panthers/Steelers game from the other night. I was impressed considering he NEVER does the picture-taking . . . it's always me. I sent him with a clean memory card so there was no danger of him accidentally deleting some unsaved pictures. LOL. I did fuss at him though - he only took 7 pictures. He said, "I thought I took more than that." He always fusses at me for taking SO MANY but hey, its digital, why not take tons. You can always delete the bad ones.

My sweet little puppies got a taste of the underground fence yesterday. Poor babies. We've had the yellow "caution" flags up for a few weeks or so and have told them "NO" every time they've gotten close to a flag . . . but yesterday we put the collars on them. It didn't take them long to figure out. I felt soooo bad. Then later on in the day, little Cocoa forgot and went tearing across the boundary. Poor baby - he yelped and come running to mommy. I had to hold him for a while. It makes me feel bad -- but we can't keep them locked up in a lot all the time. And once they learn I don't think they'll venture over again. I just hate to see them playing and forget and then come running back with their little tails between their legs. Roxie had her turn too -- but she only went across once. They're still so bad to chew each others collars - so for right now we're just putting the collars on when we're out with them. Eventually they'll keep them on all the time and won't have to be confined to that lot when we're not home.

School's Back In and Lunar Eclipse

Well yesterday was the first day back to school! Whoo hooo! Kids seemed to have had a good day . . . Adam was really antsy about high school but I think he had a good day - even though he had homework. He took a sandwich because he had heard such horror stories about how they run out of food early and you can't get lunch. He's not much of a sandwich eater, but did take a pb&j and some other snacks just in case. It burns me up that they (being the school) think they may run out of food for the kids. Adam's class is the biggest class yet to come through (462 kids). You would think that if they had this problem before, they would try to fix it before the huge class of 462 kids gets there. Anyway, it didnt seem to be a problem yesterday. Adam said he went in the cafeteria and there was plenty of room and food. False alarm I guess. But we have heard in the past that they would run out of food before all the kids could get fed.

Amber had a hand sanitizer diaster in her bookbag. LOL. The BIG bottle of hand sanitizer that we bought her to last all year somehow spilled in her bookbag. She had a mess - but apparently a germ-free bookbag. LOL. Poor baby! She had a good day too.

We're back to veiwing the sky again . . . this time to catch the lunar eclipse. Adam gets extra credit if he made a point to see it . . . so here we are, in jamas again, getting up at 5:15 in the morning to see the lunar eclipse. We watched it for about 30 minutes - it was almost covered by the time we went back in. I laid back down for about 20 minutes then it was time to get up. Grrrrrrrr! I hate interrupted sleep!

I'll post some pictures tomorrow. Gotta get my card cleaned off before David takes the camera to the Panther's game Thursday night. I don't trust him with "unsaved" pictures (long story - to be saved for another post).

Looking in the Sky Again

The countdown is on . . . less than 1 week before school starts back. Unbelievable! Farewell summer vacation!

So, last night, at about 8:40 or so, David pipes up and says "we've got 4 minutes." I'm like "what? Four minutes till what?" Here I am, already showered and in my jamas, but we all head out to the patio to see the space shuttle and the international space station. We actually did see it - it lasted barely a minute at the most. Just right across the sky - one in front of the other. At least we were out gazing at the sky at a reasonable hour this time.

Growing Babies

With the impending start of school a little over a week away, I realize how this year is going to be an interesting year . . . the first year of high school for Adam and the last year of elementary school for Amber. It makes me sad to think of these milestones. Honestly, it seems like just last year Amber was starting kindergarten and Adam was in the 4th grade. The years have flown by! But then when I see how excited they are - it makes me proud and I can't help but be happy!




And, of course, my 4-legged babies are growing too!

And I Missed the BIG ONE

I must mention . . . while I was up getting the lovely picture below, I apparently missed the biggest one of all darting across the sky! They were all "ohhhhhhhhhh LOOOOOOKKKKKKK" while I'm fiddling with the camera in the dark. What we sacrifice to get the perfect picture! LOL! That's okay though - at least my babies got to see it and they thought it was so awesome to get up at 2:30 in the morning to do something like that. At least I've got the picture to remind me of how fun it is to do something crazy and out-of-the-ordinary every now and then!

Meteorite Showers

We're so goofy . . . for 2 nights in a row, we have gotten up with Vicki while she's visiting from New Mexico in the early morning to see the meteorites. The first night, Sunday night, was really worth losing the sleep over. Vicki had said she would definitely get up to use the bathroom through the night and would get us all up then. As it turned out, I ended up having to potty first, so I woke everybody up and here we go out on the patio. It didn't take long to figure out we definitely needed some pillows - that concrete is HARD! LOL! Anyway, the first night, we saw lots . . . probably between 20-25 over the course of an hour (we had no idea we were out there that long: time flies when you're having fun I guess).

But last night, I only saw 3 . . . the kids and Vicki saw around 5. Not NEARLY as active as the night before and definitely not worth getting up for, but it was fun! It's been a long time since I've done anything that crazy and off the wall! I'm paying for it today, though . . . very very sleepy!

Finally Did Some Scrapbooking

FINALLY!!!! I managed to find some time to sit down and play with my new August kit from Treasured Scrapbooking! I love the colors in it and have several different sets of pictures to use with it. I'm happy with this layout . . . brings back such memories seeing pictures of Adam when he was that young -- and now here he is getting ready to head off to high school. Just unbelievable!

I'm hoping to play with this kit some more tonight -- I've got the cutest pictures of Amber when she went to a birthday party at Spa La De Da. They'll be so cute with these papers. Shoot - maybe I'll even get really productive and do 2 pages tonight. We'll see!

Miserably HOT HOT HOT

Wow! I can't believe how hot it has been this week! And it's gonna get even hotter I hear! I took yesterday off to help Mama cook for our big family get together last night. I had to go to the grocery store and it was miserable just getting in the car. Just crazy weather! The kids brought the pups in for several hours yesterday and they just slept and slept like babies. They're so funny. Spoiled rotten! David bought them a kiddie pool that they are finally enjoying. They were a little unsure of it at first but now Cocoa dives right in and Roxie is right behind him. of course, the kids think they can hop in too with the puppies! When these pups are full-grown, everybody won't be able to fit into the pool!

I just love the colors in that picture - mainly because of Amber's bathing suit - lol. I just got my August kit from Treasured Scrapbooking and this picture will go PERFECTLY with the colors in that kit! Can't wait to play. Maybe tonight will be the night I can finally play with my new kits! They're awesome!

August Already

Wow! I can't believe we are already 6 days into August! Where has summer gone? We've laid kinda low the last few weeks . . . just enjoying a break from baseball. My 40th birthday came and went and luckily I don't feel any different. Wasn't such a big deal after all! My puppies are growing like weeds! They're so smart. Cocoa can play dead now and they both can give howdy! Just smart little rascals! Vicki is in town from New Mexico and we are enjoying spending time with her. She'll be here till the 15th. Guess I'll get back to work!

Catching up on being tagged . . .

Oh my!!! Kelly "tagged" me about a month ago and I went on vacation, blah blah blah, and here it is a month later and I haven't responded. Sooooooooo - here are 7 random things about me that might be interesting to some poor bored soul!

1. I'm a germ freak -- especially on vacations. I'm just weird about touching door knobs, going in public bathrooms, walking around a hotel pool barefooted . . . just a freak. And Adam says I have turned him into a little germ freak too. Poor child - he's just like me . . . washes his hands constantly. Now Amber, on the other hand, germs don't seem to bother her. I constantly keep anti-bacterial gel with me at all times to wipe down stuff.

2. I love peanut butter. Rarely does a day go by that I don't eat some peanut butter. I keep a jar of it here at work and have been known to stick a spoon down in there and have at it.

3. I'm anal about how the dishwasher gets loaded every night. This is actually hilarious considering I never had a dishwasher at home growing up and now I seem to think I'm the only one at my house that can correctly and efficiently load the dishwasher. It must be a control issue I have. LOL.

4. I'm a procrastinator . . . especially with my scrapbooking. I'm so afraid I'm going to do a page and then find something I love that I could've used on that page. Makes no sense! The "freak" part coming out in me again apparently.

5. I'm a homebody -- My most favorite thing in the world is staying home and watching a movie with my family on a friday night. Maybe it's because we're not home very often . . . always on a ballfield -- which I love too. If I'm not home, I WANNA be on a ballfield watching my babies play!

6. Mexican food is my all-time favorite. We eat it at least once a week. I love it! And I love having a margarita with it! Finger foods are my next favorite -- just love any kind of finger foods!

7. I actually enjoy cooking and baking -- but ONLY when I have plenty of time to come up with something creative. If it's a ballgame night - I don't want to bother with it. But give me a Saturday at home, and I love baking bread and making dinner. It's the cleanup part that drives me insane!

Okay -- if you've made it to this paragraph, God Bless You! And Kelly, if you read this -- can you tag some people for me? LOL. I don't know anybody else that blogs. How sad is that! So, if you get tagged by Kelly in my honor, I'll add you to my list. (giggle, giggle)

It's Been a While . . .

Gracious! I was so excited about starting this blog and I've let a whole month slide by since I've last updated it. We've had a lot going on . . . took a wonderful vacation to Hershey, PA and then Niagara Falls, Canada with some of the Graham family. Then the next week after we were back from vacation, our beloved Lucky got sick. That was hard. She was a member of our family and it just broke our hearts. But shortly after that, we were blessed with new members of the family . . . 6.4 lb Roxie and 8.4 lb Cocoa. They haven't taken Lucky's "place," but they surely have brought us many smiles and are a part of the family now. We, of course, miss Lucky and all the special things she did. We now realize just how low-maintenance she was. These new puppies are just like infants -- but we feel blessed to have found the perfect fit for our family so soon after losing Lucky.

Then on to allstars . . . Adam is playing allstars for the Davidson County 14U team. That has been fun. Although they lost their first 2 games (in embarrassing fashion for the 2nd game), he seems to be having fun and is sharpening his baseball skills yet again. He's played baseball since February of this year. We figured up -- after these 2 games at North Surry -- he has played every position sometime this year except for 1st, pitcher, and catcher. That says something to me -- he's a very versatile player and one you can put anywhere.

Amber was disappointed that she wasn't chosen for the 10U allstar softball team . . . but it just wasn't meant to be. It has given her more time to baby the puppies. She seems to have hooked up with Roxie and Adam seems to have hooked up with Cocoa. It's funny how that works. Of course, I love BOTH of those precious puppies . . . but Cocoa is probably the one I go to first and Roxie is David's baby girl. Just funny!

Alright -- let me see if I can stick some pictures in here of all our excitement.

A Few More Pictures . . .

A few more pictures . . .

Happy Friday

Busy Friday so far, but a good one! No work for me today! Whoohooo! Miss Amber has made straight A's all year so me and David went to her Honor Roll Tea this morning. We're so proud. She was one of only 6 4th graders that made straight A's all year.

Last night was fun too. Adam had a good ballgame. He played flawlessly and got to play the whole game. He played his beloved 2nd base up until the 5th inning, then he got moved over to shortstop. It amazes me that he can play any position and adapt so well. For this Midway Braves team, he has played 2nd base, 3rd base, shortstop, left field, and center field. He wants to pitch - maybe he'll get a chance sometime.

Well - I'm off to do a few chores since I'm off today . . . unload/load the dishwasher, wash clothes, blah blah blah.

My First Ramble

How cool is this! I have my own blog! Thanks, Kelly, for the "Rambling" idea . . . I love it and it fits me to a tee! I'm sure nobody really cares, but this is where I'm going to record all of those special little moments in life that I don't want to forget . . . including the crazy, hectic ones. Life goes at such a fast pace - it seems like a blur - I don't want to forget things and I want my kids to look back and reflect on some of these moments - even the ordinary ones that don't seem like much at the time. They're all part of life!

Welp - off to get some work done. Adam has a ballgame tonight so I'm sure I'll be talking about it tomorrow. Tomorrow is the Honor Roll Tea for Amber - I'll be chatting about that too I'm sure. This is gonna be fun! Tah Tah for now!