Has Eight Years Really Gone By????

Happy Birthday Benjamin!!!!! To my beautiful eight year old boy, who has surpassed all of my expectations on what it would be like to be your mom. You are everything I imagined you to be and more. I still remember the very first time I held you and cried,"My baby, my baby," you were a dream come to life. Everyday that I get to be your mom is a blessing and I am so glad the Lord put you in our family. In eight years from now you will be sixteen and I won't even post how old that makes me!!!! Slow down babe, let me hold onto you a little bit longer. I love you more than you could ever know and I am so proud of who you are and who I get to watch you become. Love, Mom

It All Comes Out In The Wash

A plastic tiger,a grape jolly rancher wrapper,a Nerf dart,a red Flipping Frog, a G.I. Joe guy, a few water balloons,a battleship peg,a pencil, a couple of rocks,keys,a Lego helmet,a Chucke Cheese token and some other not as important coins, a tube of sunscreen for lips, a spinner to a happy meal toy, a big black bug, an outer space gun, some sort of hook thing that says "not for climbing" (oh, they don't know my boys),a Shiver Me Timbers braclet, a pretty swirl rock, a guitar pick and the one thing you might expect to see come out of the laundry pile....a dryer sheet.
Camoflauged beneath Power Rangers underwear and in between Old Navy t-shirts,these are the little surprises that accumulate in our laundry pile. These items just linger in the basket waiting to be rediscovered and claimed by the ones to which they belong. Some will be fought over, others tossed aside,and a few will be mindlessly shoved into small pockets only to repeat the cycle. The Normal/Heavy Duty cycle that is;)

Without A Stitch

This is not the way I was expecting Sam to look when I got him up from his nap on Sunday. When he laid down he had on a diaper, a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and when he got up....nothing, nada, zip, zero, zilch. He has expertly learned how to disrobe himself and since Sunday, three more times. I walk in his room and there he sits in his crib au naturel, just a grin on his face. He is very proud of his inventive acquirement and I am equally amused. Is the "miracle of the moment" when I am wiping poo off of bed rails or changing crib sheets again? Maybe the miracle is that I would do this everyday for the rest of my life just to see the charmed little boy smile,to feel his hand in mine while I walk him to the tub, and to tickle his bare naked tummy.

Surviving The Fourth

It's crazy but true, the fourth of July has come and gone, all without a hitch. Wow! It was amazing. The guys put on an incredible show once again, the weather was perfect, tons of food, good friends, and everyone still has ten fingers and ten toes.(all the moms can breathe) The night was fabutastic!!!(my own made up word) Now we just sit around and talk about it until the next fourth. It's kinda like the post- Christmas feeling, only it's 96 degrees outside. A huge hug and thankyou to all who serve this country with courage, today, tomorrow and yesterday and to the One who set me free, I'll serve You, from a humbled, broken, and grateful heart. Relentlessly.