Last Sunday

If all goes as planned this will be the last Sunday in our house.  So many memories here, but I know that they will always be in our hearts.  We have a good bit of work to do to get the house ready to sell, but we will worry about that after we get in the new house.  It will all get done though.
I cannot believe that we are counting down on one hand the days till we have the new house keys.  I am so ready, and I know everyone else is too.
Brandon went in to work today to get a few hours in for the week since we have the final walk through, closing and all that jazz.  Needless to say today felt a lot like a Monday, which will probably have me off the rest of the week. 
Well, I am off, I am praying that all goes on schedule this week.  If something happens and we do not close I will be devistated and I will have two very upset boys on my hands, especially since Danny's party is dependant on us moving this week.

The First Flood

This morning was the first school Mass that I missed. And while I wanted to and feel like I needed to go I also knew that I was needed at mom's and I know that God knows that. The boys' said that they would definitely thank Jesus for keeping so many people safe and to please continue to do so.

After I dropped the boys off I picked mom up. She was ready to go. We made our first venture down Old Springville Road since Sunday. This was a horrific sight and one that will forever be with me. Nothing is the same. The landscape has forever been changed. So many amazing memories, learning how to drive for one that all seemed to take place on Old Springville Road. While the road is still there it does not look the same.

Now to mom's.

So today we waited and waited on the insurance man. In the meantime we cleaned out the deep freezer and the refrigerator and freezer and took inventory so that she can get reimbursed for everything that she lost. This was the easy part of the day.

When we made our walk through for the morning and the rest of the ceiling in my old room had come down and was on the floor. This was unbelievable sight to see. She had her China and Crystal from when her and dad got married there and it was also on the ground. While there is a monetary value, the sentimental value for her cannot be matched.

Brandon headed to the attic to see what he could get out and down came my childhood or what was left of it. I guess when I was about 13 and wanted a "big girl's room" I packed up all of the things that I could not get rid of to save for when I had a little girl. Well, there was no saving them. While the value was all sentimental except for my Little Women Madam Alexander Dolls there is a lot to be said about watching it all come down.

When I started to really go through I had gotten the boys from school. There was actually a few things that they wanted so we boxed them up as they looked salvageable, just need some good cleaning. So many things went to the garbage. 6 bags of my childhood.

My first jewelry box. i remember dad buying it for me when I got my ears pierced. My Valentine teddy bear that daddy gave me when I was almost 8 years old. The baby doll that I had and played with so much that her head had to be reattached several times, even when I went to daycare for the first time and the wicked woman was so mad that I was up asking her that she locked me in a closet. My cheerleader uniforms from the days of cheering for the Huffman Raiders where I met some of the most amazing people that I am still in contact with. This list could go on for day, but that gives you an idea of where I was on memory lane all day. There were a few things that made me laugh, and that is what I chose for the picture today.

I would like to thank again all of the volunteers who have given of their time and talents to help. Thank you to Home Depot who took the time to come out and bring boxes full of things that will definitely be useful. Thank you to Chick-fil-A for the HOT chicken sandwhiches for lunch. Thank you to Shane Shirley who took the time out to get look at mom's house and give an opinion from a builder's perspective. Thank you to all of the people that I know I am forgetting. You have all done so much and it means so much! Thank you Mr. Ken and Lance for the boxes, they will definitely be useful as we start this packing process hard and heavy tomorrow.

Well, again a shower and the bed are calling my name. Until tomorrow!

Remember When...

So today has been interesting. My nose still hurts and has started to itch like mad. Hopefully tomorrow it will even be better. I did at least feel human today and managed to make some progress in our office. John Michael seems to feel a little bit better, still not 100% but hopefully a good nights sleep will make all the difference.

So did you have those little colored pegs that you put on the plastic sleeve and then ironed to make shapes and what not. Well, the boys found one it is Spongebob and they decided to get it out today. It was so funny to watch them make a crabby patty with these colored pegs and then I ironed it for them. They were excited when it was done and could not believe it. It brought back a lot of fun memories for me too.

Danny came home from school, his last Wednesday by the way, and did his homework. No fighting, no arguing just did it and was done by 4. It was great, he even said so. Why did it take him to the last day to get it figured out? Hopefully he will remember it for 3rd grade. Heck hopefully he will remember it tomorrow.

I have worked on pictures on and off all day and still have a ton to do but I am getting there! Hopefully soon I will have even more done. We shall see.

Well, I am off to bed, I hope that you all have sweet dreams. I will say a prayer for each of you. Remembering back when things were simple seems so hard to do but then a silly activity can bring it all back. Memories are great and should be cherished, they are even better when you combine a good memorywith the present to make more!

The Mother of all Water Heaters

The Mother of all Water Heaters has been installed thanks to my amazing husband Brandon and help from an old friend Adam Abts. First, I cannot thank Adam enough for coming over and lending a hand. It meant a lot. Thank you too his wife too for letting him come over. This water heater is really cool, it is a Hybrid from GE. I am super excited, and will be even more excited if it truly cuts my electric bill some! I will let you all know the outcome for that.

This morning was baseball tryouts. I did not take my camera because of the rain, but it was a lot of fun. Brandon is coaching John Michael's team, and they will meet tomorrow to chose teams. I am excited to watch my little man grow. Danny's team was picked today, and he is on Cale Webb's team. It should be a lot of fun. Danny loves baseball and I know that he will grow so much this year. I am looking forward to watching all of his games too, hopefully they will not have games at the same time. Missing one or the other is not something that I want to ever have to do. They start practice this week so expect a lot of baseball pictures in the upcoming blogs, especially once games begin. But I do think that this is where we temporarily change our address to the ballpark. Great memories coming.

I had a photo session today for a first birthday and it was a lot of fun. It was an old friends little girl, Ashlyn, and she is a doll. Tomorrow a baptism. I am looking forward to working on all of these pictures. I love photography and when I am able to capture memories for others that I know will last a lifetime and more for them means everything to me. Watch the other blog for more on each of these amazing sessions.

Well it is after 10, but I am off to bed. I am worn out. Rainy days are the best for a nap, but that was not in the cards. It is all good though. Before I go to bed as always I will be remembering all of you in my prayers. I hope that this Saturday was full of fun, laughter and love for you all. I was very blessed to see two friends that I have not seen in years.

John Michael is 5

So today my baby boy turned 5 years old. I cannot believe it! It does not seem like five years has gone by since that sweet newborn cry surged through the house in the middle of the night, since I changed those tiny diapers. It seems like yesterday I was convinced he would be headed to high school in diapers because he did not want to use a potty. I thought the pacifier was going to be stashed in his pillow case for college, because he loved it. The waddle walk does not seem like years ago, yet now he can run as fast as lightening. He is almost done with pre-school and is headed to kindergarten this fall. He plays baseball and cannot wait to add soccer and chess to his after school activities. Five years seems like a long time, but in all honesty if you blink it is gone and all I have is amazing memories and some great pictures!

We had a great day. This morning he woke up in the best of the moods. He wanted Cheese Whiz and Chicken Biscuit Crackers for breakfast so that is what the boys had. I do not think I could stomach that before 7 am. Brandon took a half a day at work so was able to surprise him when we picked him up from school. He is so used to it just being mom. He took blue and yellow batman cupcakes to school, and he was blue after school. I love icing dye. It was so cute. Danny took a blue one for snack and he even had a blue mouth after school. He was quite surprised to have mom and dad there on a Wednesday too! We went to Party City to get goody bags and just random party supplies for this weekend. Books-A-Million was added to the stops and he got a Super Mario Brothers Yahtzee game and Danny got a new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. Dinner at Cici's was the next stop where the boys spent abut $15 in the games. He wanted desert at Logan's with a Yee-Haw and he got it. He even had a surprise visitor, his Aunt B and her friend Katie! He loved it. They even brought him a few surprises, including a balloon which he loves! Now if we could get him to sleep. He has had a bath and yet he will not give it up, and momma and daddy are ready to go to bed! I guess the sugar high is still in effect. I am just thankful for an amazing day with my family. I am also very thankful that John Michael had "the best birthday day ever." It made my day when he told me that!

Well, it is definitely not before 9, in fact we are creeping up on 11, but a day like today was well worth a late night! Before I go to bed I will remember all of my friends and family in my prayers. I hope that you remember what a gift each day is that is why we refer to it as the present. Cherish the little things and always hold onto all of the memories!

Paw Prints

So over the past few days I have noticed more and more how much my little babies are turning into little men. They have always had such amazing personalities. They are truly growing by leaps and bounds. I was told that time flies, but lately that has a whole new meaning to me. I am determined to give my children the best of everything that I can. I know that I want them to be happy and healthy and I want them to love life and most importantly I want them to live it.

So many times I look back and think about the things that I should have done differently when I was very young. While I truly think that my childhood was perfect, I also know how much one relatives mistakes totally took over my life and changed everything. I try not to look at it as a negative, but even as I am older there are so many more negatives than positives when referring to this situation. I want my boys to be exposed to the positives and I want to keep them away from the negatives. While I know that I cannot shelter them, I also know that I can protect them from certain things.

I was sitting here with Danny and he was holding my hand and I knew that was my picture for today! He is almost eight and it does not seem like it has been that long ago that he was just coming home from the hospital.

Well, I am obviously still not in bed before 9:00, maybe one night this week, but I doubt it since this was the calmest night that we had for the week. There is so much going on this week, but it will all be a lot of fun! I cannot wait to see how amazing this week turns out.

Before I go to bed I remember all of my friends and family in my prayers. I also ask you all to remember we all have people in our past and there are usually reasons they are not in our present. Stay positive and stay with positive people, they will take you the furthest in life. I do ask for a prayer from all of you. I am working on a pretty big quote for my photography business and I really want and need this opportunity! Thank you all!

Aren't Sundays supposed to be for rest?

Well for the living the time to rest is limited. I think that the most important thing that we all have to do is enjoy the day and forget the resting but definitely make sure that we are living it!

Today was hectic but fun. Both the boys are now signed up to play baseball which should be a lot of fun. I am excited about Clay park, especially after everything that they seemed to have changed. Taking control of the ballpark away from the city is probably a positive, it always ran just fine without them, and then it got rocky, so hopefully they got it back on track and things will start to change positively for the park and all of us who have amazing memories from the past and are looking forward to making them in the present and in the future.

We were able to get the Christmas stuff in the den down so now it is just a few odd and end things left. The problem is the closet under the stairs where we keep it all seems to have shrunk. The office might have to catch the overflow, at least until we floor the attic and make use of all that space!

The picture is of Danny finishing up the sandwich that he and John Michael made! They found the recipe online and they really wanted to make it! It was so sweet!

Tomorrow I plan to cook meals at least for this week. I really want to do the once a month cooking but I have to get a little more organized before that can happen. Maybe I can work on that next week. I do want to get at least enough for this week done tomorrow and then I can focus on getting our taxes ready the rest of the week.

Before I head to bed I will be praying for all of my friends and family. I love you all and hope that all of your dreams and desires are positively answered. I hope that you all enjoy each day and live it to the best potential!

Lions, Tigers, and LEGOS Oh My!!

Today was a nice Friday, typical with Brandon and John Michael home. We spent most of the morning playing with legos. It was fun! When Danny got out of school we all went to pick him up and had a really nice afternoon and evening.

I have been trying to declutter and came across a lot of CDs. Most of them have pictures on them from when Danny was a baby. I have definitely dried a lot of tears as I was able to see so many pictures of my dad and many of them were from my dad. I miss him so much and while I have had to keep living I often wonder how different things would be if he were here. I know that he is healthy now though and that he is with God, and while that makes me smile, it also hurts. I figure it always will.

I have a lot to get done this weekend and it does not look like going to Auburn is in the cards. That is slightly upsetting, as I wish we could be there. I love my Auburn Tigers and while I will not be there physically, my heart is always with them! Plus we really do not need to spend the money on the gas at this point. Maybe if it would warm up a little I would be able to get some photo shoots in.

So, I am watching the news and am concerned about the words significant and snow being used together. Does anyone know where Al Gore is these days? I would love to discuss global warming with him, but I would like for him to spend the night in Alabama (Grayson Valley) outside in his underwear.

Danny has his third basketball game in the morning and I am very excited about it, and he is too! He really loves it and I am so glad. Baseball will be starting soon, so I am going to change my address to the Clay Ballpark. Both boys are playing so hectic will be a key word!

Well, I am headed to bed guys....still not making that 9:00 deadline. I will keep trying though! I will be saying a prayer for all of my friends and family tonight. For everyone going to Auburn, have a wonderful time and take some pictures for me! Also be safe! I hope that everyone has an amazing weekend! See you all Saturday!