Hello 31

So Happy Birthday to Me!
I have to say between the messages, posts, phone calls, text messages, cards, and face-to-face birthday wishes today I felt so blessed. Thank you to everyone who remembered. You are such amazing people and having you in my life is reassuring and truly a blessing. I love you all.
Today started with a field trip with the 3rd grade to the National Weather Service in Calera. It was pretty interesting to see how everything is actually forecasted. Especially after being so close to so much devastation, it literally hitting home, it was pretty cool. I was glad that Danny was so excited I was going and that having momma around is still okay. He even told me Happy Birthday several times and gave me a huge hug in front of his class. It was great!
John Michael had a great day at school and even got a green face! Now that my friends is a birthday gift. Hoping that he keeps it up, I am so proud of him.
We came home and tackled homework, which was not an easy task because we were all so tired. A nap would have been much better, but we do what we have to do.
Then we headed to the ballpark. Danny had practice. When we got there I got the best surprise....Brandon was there. I thought he was going to have to work until 7 so him being there was great. I wanted family time for my birthday and I got it. Even a family dinner, sort of it was ballpark food and there is a lot to be desired from Clay's concession stand. It is pretty horrible for ballpark chicken fingers.
Well, many changes coming tomorrow to me personally. I plan to make 31 rock! More details coming soon. It will be awesome I can assure you of that!
For now, good night and again thank you so much for the birthday wishes. Know that you are all in my thoughts and prayers.

Merry Christmas

So Santa arrived about 1:30 and the boys were up at 2:00, we did get them back in bed until about 4, just to make sure Santa had time to get here. I cannot believe they were up so early. Well Danny was and he waited till 4 to wake John Michael.
It was great to head downstairs and see all of the amazing things that Santa had left. The boys got a game table that has like 12 games they can play. They also got all sorts of legos, Wii Games, DS Games, books, Crayons, Markers, Candy, Nerf Guns, board games, and so much more. Santa definitely made it a great day for the boys, so full of magic. They also are able to keep the elves through the Epiphany which is amazing for them. For these 12 days of Christmas though the elves will give the boys a good deed to do each and in turn they will make even more of a connection to Christ. Next year I think the elves will have them do this through Advent and Christmas.
We came upstairs to open presents, and so I could get breakfast started. We had ham and biscuits, which is Brandon's favorite Christmas morning breakfast. While we said the blessing, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. This is my favorite thing to do Christmas and I always cry during the song. There is something truly amazing about Christmas and the celebration of Jesus' birthday.
The presents under the tree were abundant, and I am so thankful for all of my gifts. The boys' said that it was the best Christmas ever and this made my day.
Meme, Pop, Meemaw, Uncle Brock, and Aunt B came by to visit and see what Santa brought to us. It was great getting to visit with them.
We had a great day at home with each other. This is what makes Christmas so great, we stay home and enjoy the day and each other. There are not many days that we are able to do that so when we can I am so thankful for them. I hope that everyone had very special, magical and Merry Christmas!

One Down Two to Go

So Brandon is officially on Christmas Break as of a little after 7 tonight :) Tomorrow my other 2 men will be joining him on Christmas break. I still have a few more sessions, but then I too will be on Christmas break. I love it when we have time together and hopefully we can do all of the things that we have to do, need to do and want to do. We shall see.
The boys' had a great day at school. We came home to hustle through homework and then we were off again. Tonight Danny had basketball practice and pictures. He did great. I love the fact that he loves sports as much as he does. Both of the boys do, which is great in my opinion. He did great for his pictures, at least from what I could tell, while Kristin is doing them I stay away, both of my boys do much better for someone who is not me. Kristin is great though, she owns Future Memories Photography.
I had a session this morning on Morris Avenue. Gorgeous family. It was a great session the only problem was fighting the rain that would come and go, which is never good for the photographer or those being photographed. I think it was all good though.
After basketball practice we went to Hamburger Heaven, with JT. Danny really wanted to and it meant I did not have to try to figure out something to get or do. It also changed our routing that we have been in all week. Home, dinner, shower, bed became dinner, home, shower, bed. Sometimes it is the small things that matter most.
Well, I am off to bed. Tomorrow is going to be extremely busy.

Holy Saturday

Wow! What a Saturday is seriously all that I can say, it was definitely a productive one though, which always makes me feel better.

It started this morning. Brandon immediately got to work outside in an attempt to beat the heat. He is doing an amazing job with the flower beds. I am so proud of them and I appreciate all of the work that he has done and is still doing so much.

Danny had a game today at 11:30, which meant that we were at the park at 10:30. It was a great game, a bit of a nail biter, but they won. The final score was 17-16, if I remember right. John Michael was off today so it was just a one game Saturday, I have to admit I felt a little lost.

We came home and I got to work in the kitchen and the boys got to work in their rooms. That was an all day ordeal just because they would not do it. Seriously it was about an hour max worth of work, but it took about 5 hours. They did it though. I feel much better, now to get to the rest of the house. I am cleaning out and up again. I swear it never ends. I also have been catching up on laundry. There were 2 loads alone in Danny's room. A lot I think was clean and just on his closet floor for some reason, but none the less it was 2 extra loads. I wanted to get the big winter coats done, but so far that has not happened. There is always tomorrow though.

We also dyed Easter Eggs. The boys had a blast, I am horrible about fogetting to do them and I was glad that I remembered this year. After seeing how much fun they had, I will definitely remember from now on!

Brandon got all of the edging in around the beds, the tulip shrub planted and has started on adding mulch to it all. He plans on finishing tomorrow too. He also has several things other things to get planted. I think the goal is tomorrow for it all.

Tomorrow might be Easter but after Mass, and an Easter Egg Hunt and lunch we will be against a deadline at the house and we will all be pitching in. It should be a great family day though so I am not complaining. Any day that we get to spend together is a great one and holidays are extra special.

Well, I have to put up the spaghetti sauce and then the Easter Bunny will come. In the past years he comes while we are at Mass, but we always come home and are cooking for lunch/dinner here. Since we are going out it will be later so we figure he will come tonight. Before I go to bed I will be remembering all of you in my thoughts and prayers. I hope that you have a very blessed Easter.

Ultimate Clash Night

Tonight we started getting John Michael's gifts out of the van. It has been nice not having to deal with the clutter of more, but I know that he has been ready to get them out. Tonight we got out Ultimate Clash, the boxing game. Danny, John Michael and myself all had a good time playing each other. I am pretty sure John Michael ended up the champion tonight. I am sure there will be a rematch at some point in the near future.

Brandon's camera finally came in, I know that he is excited. I was glad when UPS rang the doorbell. I have been stalking the front door waiting on them. We even had his Aunt Paula come and stalk the door for us while I went to get the boys from their various schools. Now to get us both some jobs lined up.

The boys were in bed before 9 but it is Brandon's night to work late. Needless to say I am not in bed yet, but I am headed there shortly. Before I go to bed I will as always say a special prayer for all of my friends and family. I hope that you all have the joy of Ultimate Clash with your little ones. Even if the game is different the experience is a great one. So many of us think we will have a million opportunities to play with our little ones, but it is not always the case, so take every opportunity you are given.