I usually like to include a picture with each of my posts, but there isn"t one today.  Today's writing is purely for me.  Hopefully just saying a few things will relieve some of the stress that I am feeling.  As I write this, my mom is at the hospital being prepped for a biopsy.  I know I should be there with her....I'm going, I just needed a few minutes to myself first.  My day started this morning about 5:30am getting up and taking her to the hospital so she could be there on time for her procedure, then coming back home and getting children ready for school and to school on time. Grayson has a field trip today and is really upset with me that I can't be there and I am feeling sooooo guilty about it, but just can't be everywhere I need to be sometimes.  Parker has a baseball scrimmage game today, Tyler is at school but still not feeling well and Kanon has Football Conditioning today.  Oh and did I mention....I need to be working for one of my contracts with my consulting business. You see, I am the only family my mom has close by to care for her and ever since her stroke a few years ago, she needs me to drive her places, give her insulin shots to her, grocery shop for her, etc... and sometimes (like today) it becomes a little overwhelming.  I am praying that the results from her biopsy will be ok and nothing serious.  I'm feeling a little out of control with everything right now, but I know it will pass. I just need to BREATHE.  I know God has a plan and this is just all part of it so I am going to trust him and just do the best I can.  I may need to take an extra dose of my blood pressure medicine though.

Savor the Sweet Moments in the Midst of Chaos.....

Ok, I'm finally getting around to providing an update.  Last week was crazy busy! Some weeks it seems like its a test to see just how many things/activities we can cram in a week.  Thanks to the rain last week canceling a few baseball practices and track meet, we actually made it through. Ever since I got my new sewing machine and decided to enhance my sewing skills, I never have any free time it seems.  The weeks just keep getting busier. I really want to have just  few hours to devote to my sewing. I have however finished the curtains in my keeping room and breakfast area and made Grayson a cute little outfit (don't be too critical, it's my first).

Sewing is definitely fun and relaxing, I really want to get better at it. Enough about me....I have a cute story that I can't leave here without mentioning.  Last week in the midst of our craziness there were a few moments with the kids where I couldn't help but stop and laugh.  Grayson is in second grade at the same school that all 3 of her brothers attended for second grade as well.  She has been hearing about this field trip that they all took in second grade to Turner Field where the Braves play, so as you can imagine they have told her about it and she wanted to go too.  Well, I'm not sure the school was even considering that as one of their field trips this year, but Grayson in her sweet little mind thought they would go.  She thought she would get to go just as her brothers did.  Well...Grayson came home from school the other day and proudly announced to me that they had canceled all field trips until... as she put it "get this little budget thingy worked out".  She then very proudly said, "I guess I won't get to go to TURNIP FIELD after all".  As you can imagine it was so cute and funny.  She and Kanon have a way with words sometimes that is just too cute.  I love the innocence she maintains. These are the moments that I can't get enough of.  They seem to be passing by so fast. The children are growing so fast and sometimes I find myself wanting them to be babies once again, especially the teenagers. But I know growing up is part of the process and there will be other moments to capture my heart just as these do. Blessings until next time................

A Weekend In Athens

What a great weekend we just spent in Athens with special friends.  Friday night we went to a Georgia Gymdawgs Meet, Saturday... a Georgia basketball game, hanging out on the Georgia Campus, lunch, shopping and manicures and pedicures for the girls.  Thank you KL and Martha for a wonderful weekend jam packed with fun.  We also got to see Kennon's last Upward Basketball game.  We love the times that we get to spend with KL and Martha and their children Kennon and Reese. Don and KL have been friends since I think they were about 3 years old and they are still sharing times together, they are just older now and have lots of children in tow. We are back home now and back to reality.  I now have to get ready for a busy week with the God's Little Sprout's Consignment Sale at Church ( a very worthy cause to raise money for local missions within our community).  I have served on this committee for several years and love to be a part of it, even though it is an exhausting week.  Baseball practice for Parker also begins this week along with Tyler's first CHS Track Meet.  Grayson has regular gymnastics this week and Kanon has a chorus concert on Thursday.  I probably won't know my name by the end of the week.  Pictures usually speak louder than words, so you can see from the pictures how much fun we had this weekend.... Enjoy!!

               Parker and Grayson acting silly waiting to leave for Athens

                         How much stuff do we need for 1 night????

The girls being pampered and loving it, can you say high maintenance girls?

We plan to send this to our local newspaper for the Where in the World Feature.

Don and KL and their boys who are the same age.  I have an identical picture like this when the boys were only 1.  I guess the next time I take one, the boys will be taller than their daddy's.

Whew....What A Weekend!!!!

I thought weekends were for relaxing...I was wrong! Crazy busy weekend for mom and dad's taxi service. Don't get me wrong though, I love the fact that my children are so blessed with wonderful friends to have fun with on the weekends. Tyler had a friend spend the night with him on Friday, Saturday was little league tryouts for Parker and then he went to spend the night with his great friend Michael on Saturday night to celebrate Michael's birthday. They (about 7 eight and nine year old boys) went to a KSU basketball game. A big thank you to Michael's dad for that trip. Tyler met his friend Ben Saturday afternoon for a run at Dellinger and then he was off to Ben's house for the night, while Grayson had her little friend Kaylie spend the night.  Don worked for a little while covering a baseball game for his school on Saturday then came home and watched a movie with me. Kanon played football outside and video games with our neighbor most of the day.  Love those times!! Sunday was Church and rounding up all my children from their friends houses and cleaning for me, while Don spent an extra special day with Grayson all by herself.  They went to see the movie Tooth Fairy which Grayson loved.  The weather was perfect so we ended the weekend by grilling out.  I am soooo ready for Spring.  Out of everything that happened throughout the weekend, my favorite moment was when Parker said to me on the way to his friend Michael's house "Mom, I will miss our family devotion time tonight!". You see, we started a few days ago having a devotion time in the evening just before bedtime.  This was something we felt strongly about making time for (we should have been doing it a long time ago), but you know how it goes...we say we're going to do it but never start.  Well, I almost cried when Parker made that comment to me about missing it.  It just reinforced to me it's the time together that matters the most sharing in the love of God. We are truly BLESSED!

As you can see from the picture below, Parker enjoyed his Saturday night with his friends. Ha..he slept most of the day on Sunday after I picked him up. I wonder why......Rebecca said they didn't go to sleep until after 3:00am. He was a tired little boy!

                 He fell asleep on the ottoman in the keeping room.

Winter Break

What a great winter break from school for the family.  The children were out of school last Friday and Monday.  We enjoyed some time to recharge our batteries and not have to be in a million different places. During the break we received a surprise, we were blessed with an amazing snow.  It was beautiful!! The kids had a great time playing in it.  I'm thinking it's really the first big (well big for our area) snow Parker and Grayson have seen. Parker and Grayson couldn't wait to start playing and even played Friday night along with the two older boys and dad (way to cold for me... I stayed inside for that one).  Saturday morning, we got up and we're outside playing by 9:30am before any of it could melt away. I think snow brings out the kid in everyone a little.  We didn't have sleds, so we had to get creative with cookie sheets.  They actually worked pretty well. Later that afternoon, after making sure roads were clear, Don and I spent the afternoon shopping and enjoyed a nice, quiet dinner alone to celebrate Valentines Day.  Thank you honey for a great Valentines Day Celebration. Our family is so busy most of the time with activities that when we get the chance to stay home and just enjoy being together, we jump on it.  So... after Church on Sunday, that's just what we did.  I love it when the entire family is at home. It gives me such a warm feeling.  I know that everyone is safe, secure and happy. On Monday, we decided to go as a family and find something fun to do.  We chose bowling and we were terrible at it, but had a blast!  Make sure you ask my family who won...Ha!  I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I am truly blessed with an amazing husband and wonderful children, I love you all very much!

Our House

Well...today is the first day I really begin to capture all of those priceless moments within my family or should I say adventures within our family.  Our life is moving so fast I feel like I can't ever really catch up. This morning is one of those unusually quiet mornings while all of the children are in school and my sweetie is at work.  The real fun begins after school when mom's taxi service is in full force.  My oldest has a cross country social tonight while by youngest boy, Parker has his last basketball game of the season.  Parker loves basketball and has great potential.  I love the passion that he displays for the sport and I love to watch each and every game.  What a great litttle group of kids he has played with this season. This blog, I hope will not only be entertaining to read, but therapeautic for me.  You see, I love to write but just do not have enough time in my day to make it happen. Starting this blog will provide me with the motivation and responsibility to keep it updated.  With a family of six and a mother, who I also care for, there is always laundry, shopping, activities and cleaning to do.  I also have a small consulting business that I run as well.  So....needless to say I stay extremely busy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I promise to add pictures and funny stories along the way. Blessings until next time!!!!!