Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Let It Go
Along with every other kid in the world, mine are obsessed with Frozen. Ashton has taken a particular liking to the song Let It Go. This is his version in the dark car while daddy was getting gas and he was munching on a breadstick. He refuses to let me video tape him so the fact that a ladder was in the way of me turning on the light, worked out to my advantage. Enjoy!
Monday, February 24, 2014
Winter Escape
A few weeks ago we were blessed with a week in Key Largo, Florida. We went with Jason's family but stayed at my Pop Pops house. He passed away last year, but his house is still for sale so we were able to spend a week at an amazing house for no charge!
Of course getting down there was a challenge since my BIL's family was on a different flight and the night before all of their flights were cancelled and had to be rescheduled. And my MIL went into the ER the morning we were to leave with pnemonia. And our flight out was delayed 4 hours right as were were waiting to get on the plane. We missed our connection, spent the night in Atlanta, were re-routed to West Palm and had to drive an extra 1 1/2 to get to KL so our family actually missed the first day of the trip. But, after all of that, it tops up there as one of our best family trips ever!
The boys were AMAZING considering all the waiting and early mornings we had to deal with. Ashton loved the plane and he kept repeating,"this is so cool." He had conversations with the flight attendants about flying and after they got over the fact that he was only 2, they all decided he was destined to be a pilot when he grew up:)
Going into this trip my main goal was to keep Ashton alive. Sounds a little drastic but the house had a pool in it so I had nightmares about Ashton jumping in without me knowing. I prepped him before we left and kept telling him he had to ask before he went in the pool. Of course he could have cared less about all of that once we got there. For the most part, he always asked to put his arms on before he went in. There was one episode where he thought he could swim in the hot tub on his own but he was quickly diverted.
The weather was divine. They had experienced cold spells the weeks before but we were so lucky to have the weather take a turn the day we arrived. Locals complained that it was 10 degrees hotter than normal there. We reminded them it was only 10 degrees here when we left:)
We loved to spend the days down at the resort pool. The water was a little warmer for the kids and there was a beach area with playground attached to it and a splash pad that the kids loved to play on. My favorite part was the Pina Coladas by the pool as we listened to a guy singing island music. Pure relaxation if you ask me.
Grant made great strides in his swimming. He refused to put his head under water when we got there but peer pressure caused him to ask my SIL to dunk him like his cousin and after that, he was hooked. He wouldn't stop putting his head under and loved to prove to us he has a freakishly long lung capacity.
My main goal on a vacation is to relax. Jason's is to find as many activities as he can to keep him busy. We had discussed excursions before we left and had thrown out the idea of swimming with dolphins. I have always wanted to do that- it is number three on my life list actually. Jason could have cared less about it so I figured this was my chance since my SIL and her girls also really wanted to go. So, one day the boys headed off to the alligator farm and the girls headed off to Dolphin Cove. It was one of the coolest experiences ever. We were the only ones there so we got extra time and exercises with them. I couldn't stop smiling the rest of the day.
Boy stuff.....
Our other excursion was to the State Park for snorkeling. The Keys are not known for their beaches so we only stayed a short time and left Jason there to go on the snorkel trip. Unfortunately we also left Grant's sandals and goggles there too;(
For the most part we stayed close to the house. We went out to eat twice but the chiggars were horrible and most of us got eaten alive by them so we tended to stay inside the house once it was dark. Other than that, we took leisurely trips around the resort in my Pop Pops golf cart (by far Ashton's favorite), did some shopping in the downtown area and looked at all ginormous yachts. The kids would be sick of the pool in the afternoon so they all sat around with their electronics and sang songs. It was quite the scene.
We were all sad to leave. We were welcomed home to lots of snow at the end of our driveway and the shell of our house being completely frozen. Ugh. The boys woke us up the next morning and asked if we could go back to Florida. If only we could say YES!
Of course getting down there was a challenge since my BIL's family was on a different flight and the night before all of their flights were cancelled and had to be rescheduled. And my MIL went into the ER the morning we were to leave with pnemonia. And our flight out was delayed 4 hours right as were were waiting to get on the plane. We missed our connection, spent the night in Atlanta, were re-routed to West Palm and had to drive an extra 1 1/2 to get to KL so our family actually missed the first day of the trip. But, after all of that, it tops up there as one of our best family trips ever!
 |
| Thank goodness for a dvd payer and a new Peppa Pig dvd while we waited in the airport for 4 hours! |
The boys were AMAZING considering all the waiting and early mornings we had to deal with. Ashton loved the plane and he kept repeating,"this is so cool." He had conversations with the flight attendants about flying and after they got over the fact that he was only 2, they all decided he was destined to be a pilot when he grew up:)
Going into this trip my main goal was to keep Ashton alive. Sounds a little drastic but the house had a pool in it so I had nightmares about Ashton jumping in without me knowing. I prepped him before we left and kept telling him he had to ask before he went in the pool. Of course he could have cared less about all of that once we got there. For the most part, he always asked to put his arms on before he went in. There was one episode where he thought he could swim in the hot tub on his own but he was quickly diverted.
The weather was divine. They had experienced cold spells the weeks before but we were so lucky to have the weather take a turn the day we arrived. Locals complained that it was 10 degrees hotter than normal there. We reminded them it was only 10 degrees here when we left:)
We loved to spend the days down at the resort pool. The water was a little warmer for the kids and there was a beach area with playground attached to it and a splash pad that the kids loved to play on. My favorite part was the Pina Coladas by the pool as we listened to a guy singing island music. Pure relaxation if you ask me.
 |
| My two little fishies... |
 |
| Yes, this is the middle of the day on the beach. During the week we felt like we had the entire resort to ourselves! |
 |
| One of them always has a funny face when I am in the picture! |
Grant made great strides in his swimming. He refused to put his head under water when we got there but peer pressure caused him to ask my SIL to dunk him like his cousin and after that, he was hooked. He wouldn't stop putting his head under and loved to prove to us he has a freakishly long lung capacity.
My main goal on a vacation is to relax. Jason's is to find as many activities as he can to keep him busy. We had discussed excursions before we left and had thrown out the idea of swimming with dolphins. I have always wanted to do that- it is number three on my life list actually. Jason could have cared less about it so I figured this was my chance since my SIL and her girls also really wanted to go. So, one day the boys headed off to the alligator farm and the girls headed off to Dolphin Cove. It was one of the coolest experiences ever. We were the only ones there so we got extra time and exercises with them. I couldn't stop smiling the rest of the day.
Boy stuff.....
Our other excursion was to the State Park for snorkeling. The Keys are not known for their beaches so we only stayed a short time and left Jason there to go on the snorkel trip. Unfortunately we also left Grant's sandals and goggles there too;(
For the most part we stayed close to the house. We went out to eat twice but the chiggars were horrible and most of us got eaten alive by them so we tended to stay inside the house once it was dark. Other than that, we took leisurely trips around the resort in my Pop Pops golf cart (by far Ashton's favorite), did some shopping in the downtown area and looked at all ginormous yachts. The kids would be sick of the pool in the afternoon so they all sat around with their electronics and sang songs. It was quite the scene.
We were all sad to leave. We were welcomed home to lots of snow at the end of our driveway and the shell of our house being completely frozen. Ugh. The boys woke us up the next morning and asked if we could go back to Florida. If only we could say YES!
Sunday, February 16, 2014
weekly ten
1. Thanks for all of your kind comments. I have finally come out of my cranky/depressed/feeling sorry for myself state of mind. This is a post that I started a week before we went on vacation so some of it is older content. Just bare with me. Florida pics will come next.
2. The other day Grant and I were playing Chutes and Ladders. I looked over and he had his hand down his pants.
Me: Grant, get your hand out of your pants.
Grant: But this is what I do when my pepe gets big. It makes it better.
Me: speechless
oh.my.word. I am so scared for what my future holds with boys.
3. After missing a week of work with sickness, I went back this week to a snow cave office. The drifts were so far up my window I could barely see out. It made me feel cold all day long.
4. I grew up in Georgia which is why I had to chuckle a little after their snow a couple weeks ago. I used to think that an inch of snow was a lot. We would go outside and make snowmen and still have grass sticking out of the snow. So far this winter we have had 120 inches here... far cry from the Georgia winters of my youth!
5. Ashton goes in for his weight check this week. I am a little concerned since he seems to be way too busy to eat these days. Getting him to sit still at dinner is nearly impossible.
6. As Grant and I were finishing up our prayers the other night, he mentioned Brooke and Alexcyn since we pray for them every night. He started on some random 4 year old tangent about their heads and hats and what happened if their heads fell off. This is thanks to his cousin who told him his sisters friends mom cut their heads off:/ Anyways, he ended the extremely random conversation with,"mom, how can Brooke and Alexcyn have heads? They are a statue." We talk about them a lot and go visit their grave a lot and he has even seen pictures which is why his comment surprised me so much. We obviously failed to explain all of it together....oops. Hopefully he isn't scared for life thinking his sisters are a cement gravestone.
7. We were starting to go a little stir crazy over here not being able to get out in these cold temps.
So, we turned our house into a ski hill complete with a ski lift. And then we did crafts, ate snow ice cream, watched a movie, had a dance party and then tried to figure out what to do with the remaining 6 hours in our day..... We are ready to be able to go outside again!
8. Grant may look just like his dad, but on the inside he is all his momma. He hates change and had the worst transition back from vacation ever. Between sickness and snow days and vacation, he missed 4 days of school. You would have thought it was the first day. I had to drag him into the room kicking and screaming and Miss Rachel had to pull him off of me and carry him into the room. Needless to say, I walked out of there in tears myself.
9. The other night Ashton asked for chocolate milk. He had already had his glass for the day and it was bedtime so I got him water. He looked at the cup and said,"water, mamma?" I told him yes it was water. He asked again and I confirmed and then he slammed the cup down on the table and said,"unbelievable." I almost peed in my pants I was laughing so hard. Where does he come up with this stuff????
10. Blessing of the week: the reminder to live for the moment and make sure God is in your heart. The college friend I mentioned in an earlier blog received some bad news about her condition and she ended her post to go hug the ones you hold dear to your heart and never take a moment for granted. It was then that I realized my extreme crankiness about the weather was absurd. So our house won't be done when we hoped. So our car has a dent in it from snow. So I cry every time I back out of our extraordinarily narrow driveway... I am here and I have my boys and that is the only thing that should matter. Why is it I have to remind myself of that all.of.the.time?
2. The other day Grant and I were playing Chutes and Ladders. I looked over and he had his hand down his pants.
Me: Grant, get your hand out of your pants.
Grant: But this is what I do when my pepe gets big. It makes it better.
Me: speechless
oh.my.word. I am so scared for what my future holds with boys.
3. After missing a week of work with sickness, I went back this week to a snow cave office. The drifts were so far up my window I could barely see out. It made me feel cold all day long.
4. I grew up in Georgia which is why I had to chuckle a little after their snow a couple weeks ago. I used to think that an inch of snow was a lot. We would go outside and make snowmen and still have grass sticking out of the snow. So far this winter we have had 120 inches here... far cry from the Georgia winters of my youth!
5. Ashton goes in for his weight check this week. I am a little concerned since he seems to be way too busy to eat these days. Getting him to sit still at dinner is nearly impossible.
6. As Grant and I were finishing up our prayers the other night, he mentioned Brooke and Alexcyn since we pray for them every night. He started on some random 4 year old tangent about their heads and hats and what happened if their heads fell off. This is thanks to his cousin who told him his sisters friends mom cut their heads off:/ Anyways, he ended the extremely random conversation with,"mom, how can Brooke and Alexcyn have heads? They are a statue." We talk about them a lot and go visit their grave a lot and he has even seen pictures which is why his comment surprised me so much. We obviously failed to explain all of it together....oops. Hopefully he isn't scared for life thinking his sisters are a cement gravestone.
7. We were starting to go a little stir crazy over here not being able to get out in these cold temps.
So, we turned our house into a ski hill complete with a ski lift. And then we did crafts, ate snow ice cream, watched a movie, had a dance party and then tried to figure out what to do with the remaining 6 hours in our day..... We are ready to be able to go outside again!
8. Grant may look just like his dad, but on the inside he is all his momma. He hates change and had the worst transition back from vacation ever. Between sickness and snow days and vacation, he missed 4 days of school. You would have thought it was the first day. I had to drag him into the room kicking and screaming and Miss Rachel had to pull him off of me and carry him into the room. Needless to say, I walked out of there in tears myself.
9. The other night Ashton asked for chocolate milk. He had already had his glass for the day and it was bedtime so I got him water. He looked at the cup and said,"water, mamma?" I told him yes it was water. He asked again and I confirmed and then he slammed the cup down on the table and said,"unbelievable." I almost peed in my pants I was laughing so hard. Where does he come up with this stuff????
10. Blessing of the week: the reminder to live for the moment and make sure God is in your heart. The college friend I mentioned in an earlier blog received some bad news about her condition and she ended her post to go hug the ones you hold dear to your heart and never take a moment for granted. It was then that I realized my extreme crankiness about the weather was absurd. So our house won't be done when we hoped. So our car has a dent in it from snow. So I cry every time I back out of our extraordinarily narrow driveway... I am here and I have my boys and that is the only thing that should matter. Why is it I have to remind myself of that all.of.the.time?
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
I know it has been forever since I posted. For a while, I was just depressed because of all this snow and didn't feel like writing. Then we went on vacation to Florida and enjoyed an amazing week in the sun. Now we are back and unfortunately I am back to being depressed:) I pray every night that the snow will stop for at least a week so the builders can get something done on our house and then it snows 5 more inches. I love snowy winters, but not when I am trying to build a house. So, for now I will leave you with a FL pic to hold you over until I get the energy to condense more pictures and actually write something.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
weekly 10
1. I was praising God on Tuesday with the results of my mammogram/ultrasound. And then I checked my facebook and saw the news of two people I went to college with that have been diagnosed with cancer. Definitely humbled me and made me that much more grateful for the good news I received. One of the girls was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. She is my age and was first diagnosed at age 30 when pregnant with her son. I thought pregnancy was full of anxiety, but add chemo to that... she is definitely a strong woman. She actually started an amazing non profit org for those dealing with cancer called Hope Scarves. Check it out here.... http://hopescarves.org/
2. I tried to stay away from it as long as I could, but Ashton finally became victim to the stomach flu on Sunday night. Grant seemed to think it was an appropriate time to claim a tummy ache to get out of going to school the next day. Not cool that he is starting this at age 4.
3. The anticipation of when the rest of us will get the flu is killing me. I wish we could just get it over with already.
4. Ashton built me a beautiful house the other day. Not sure how I feel about the polar bear on the roof though- that might give me nightmares! It is funny how different my boys are. Grant could give or take building blocks but Ashton will sit for an hour straight and just build.
5. While I am mentioning differences.... Ashton refuses to let me do anything for him. Grant on the other hand refuses to do anything for himself. Polar opposites.
6. Ashton's favorite food these days is green olives. He would sit down and eat an entire can if we let him.
7. The other night at dinner, I asked Grant to pray and he did a great job thanking God for the beautiful day even though it was only 9 degrees outside and we couldn't leave the house! Ashton asked if he could pray too... "Dear Lord. Bless the juice and the pepsi (what he was calling 7 up when he was sick) and this and this and this as he proceeded to point to the peas, turkey burger and avacado on his plate. It was so precious.
8. If I knew it was going to snow this much this winter, I probably would have asked for a snow blower for Christmas. My back hurts.
9. I was trying summer clothes on Grant the other day and realized that he has grown out of his wardrobe from last summer already. I knew he had gotten taller, but that just confirmed it. My baby is no longer looking like my baby. Sigh.
10. Blessing of the week: our house is framed! It seemed like it took forever and a day to get to this point. Now that it is here, I am ecstatic! We have had these plans in our heads for so long that I literally cried as we walked through it because it is actually happening. And then I cried because we had to shovel 8 inches of snow off the main floor:)
2. I tried to stay away from it as long as I could, but Ashton finally became victim to the stomach flu on Sunday night. Grant seemed to think it was an appropriate time to claim a tummy ache to get out of going to school the next day. Not cool that he is starting this at age 4.
3. The anticipation of when the rest of us will get the flu is killing me. I wish we could just get it over with already.
4. Ashton built me a beautiful house the other day. Not sure how I feel about the polar bear on the roof though- that might give me nightmares! It is funny how different my boys are. Grant could give or take building blocks but Ashton will sit for an hour straight and just build.
5. While I am mentioning differences.... Ashton refuses to let me do anything for him. Grant on the other hand refuses to do anything for himself. Polar opposites.
6. Ashton's favorite food these days is green olives. He would sit down and eat an entire can if we let him.
7. The other night at dinner, I asked Grant to pray and he did a great job thanking God for the beautiful day even though it was only 9 degrees outside and we couldn't leave the house! Ashton asked if he could pray too... "Dear Lord. Bless the juice and the pepsi (what he was calling 7 up when he was sick) and this and this and this as he proceeded to point to the peas, turkey burger and avacado on his plate. It was so precious.
8. If I knew it was going to snow this much this winter, I probably would have asked for a snow blower for Christmas. My back hurts.
9. I was trying summer clothes on Grant the other day and realized that he has grown out of his wardrobe from last summer already. I knew he had gotten taller, but that just confirmed it. My baby is no longer looking like my baby. Sigh.
10. Blessing of the week: our house is framed! It seemed like it took forever and a day to get to this point. Now that it is here, I am ecstatic! We have had these plans in our heads for so long that I literally cried as we walked through it because it is actually happening. And then I cried because we had to shovel 8 inches of snow off the main floor:)
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
good news....
It is not a cancerous lump! It is glandular tissue that has been there
the whole time but is suddenly becoming more prominent/large due to
hormones in my body. I always knew I was full of wacky hormones:)
I have to consult with my dr now to find out what to do about the lump from here. I am just so thankful that they could tell me right there on the spot that it was nothing of concern and not make me wait a couple days.
I was so full of anxiety before this appointment. Everyone kept telling me it would be nothing, but you only ever hear about the women who go in and hear the news that it is cancer and that is what your mind goes to. This past week definitely gave me a new perspective on everything. I hugged my boys a little tighter and have learned to not sweat the small stuff meaning my house is a disastrous mess and I don't care!
Thank you all so much for the prayers and words of encouragement. I definitely felt a peace as I sat in that freezing cold office waiting for my results. It was a peace that I know only could come from all the prayers lifting me up. I am grateful.
I have to consult with my dr now to find out what to do about the lump from here. I am just so thankful that they could tell me right there on the spot that it was nothing of concern and not make me wait a couple days.
I was so full of anxiety before this appointment. Everyone kept telling me it would be nothing, but you only ever hear about the women who go in and hear the news that it is cancer and that is what your mind goes to. This past week definitely gave me a new perspective on everything. I hugged my boys a little tighter and have learned to not sweat the small stuff meaning my house is a disastrous mess and I don't care!
Thank you all so much for the prayers and words of encouragement. I definitely felt a peace as I sat in that freezing cold office waiting for my results. It was a peace that I know only could come from all the prayers lifting me up. I am grateful.
Prayers
I would really appreciate some prayers today. I am having a mammogram and ultrasound on a lump in my right breast at 2:30. I found the lump in November and assumed it was a cyst due to the characteristics of it and the info I read on webmd. Last week at my annual exam, my dr thought it was excess tissue. Either way, I am a 'go instantly to worse case scenario' type of gal and am totally freaking out. If you think of it today, could you please lift me up with prayers of peace for my heart and mind and prayers that this lump is not cancerous. Thanks!
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