At heart attack?

Yep. On December 21, 2013, I had a heart attack. At 39 I suffered a massive heart attack. Who could imagine it? Certainly not me. Even as it was happening in the ER, I was fighting with them that it wasn't really happening. I had a gas bubble in my throat. I'm way too young to have a heart attack. I have regular blood tests done and have always been told how great my cholesterol is, heck, even the Cardiologist on staff in the ER pulled up my blood work and said how excellent it was. Genetics. Good old genetics. My dad had quadruple by pass surgery at 40, he died at the age of 47, 3 days before his 48th birthday, actually. My mom had a stent or two placed and congestive heart failure and passed away shortly after her 57th birthday. Genetics. I always thought that was a bull shit excuse. Now, to convince my sister to stop be scared and get checked out herself... I honestly still don't believe it. I know it's all I've been talking about and thinking about the past 2 weeks since it happened, but really, this just freaked me out. I suffered a massive heart attack known as the Widow Maker. I could have seen my husband for the very last time that morning...and my kids for the very last time the night before. My sister...Thanksgiving. Scary. I can't imagine never seeing them, or the last time they saw me, being sick. All I could do was tell my husband I was sorry, the entire time it was happening. I saw how scared he was when I looked over at him as I was being rushed into surgery for a stent. I never want to see him like that again. It was worse than when our son came 2 months early. Or maybe I was just more with it this time. I remember telling them over and over as they were shoving nitro pills under my tongue that I just have gas. I was in surgery withing 3O minutes of arriving at The Christ Hospital. I remember the surgeon leaning over me while placing the stent saying "You are one of 3% who survived The Widow Maker". I heard of it, I knew how bad it was. Still I couldn't believe her, I'm 39. In the top picture, you can see where the blood has stopped flowing through my main artery. On the bottom picture, you can see where the stent was placed and the artery was opened. It's there, black and white. Crazy, unbelievable. Thank you God, for giving me a second chance!!!

Munising, MI Vacation 2013 Favorite spot #2 Log Slide!

My second favorite viewing spot in the U.P is from the observation deck of the Log Slides. This is just a picture I snapped on my cell phone and it doesn't do the scenery justice. It's even more gorgeous and breathtaking in person. Last year, on our trip to the U.P. we drove right past this scenic area several times and just didn't "have time" to check them out. I made sure this year to make the time and I am so happy that I did. Traveling down the Log Slide can take only seconds, but there are warning signs all over of the many people who had to be rescued because coming up can take an hour or more. You can read about the history of the Log Slides on THIS blog. John walked pretty far down the Log Slide before I started yelling at him and begging him to come back up. The boys were itching to go down and I could see them all being stuck at the bottom. If I weren't such a wuss, I would have loved to have seen them go down and try to make it back up. The following pictures are from the actual Log Slide and not on the observation deck. The Slide goes straight down into the water, no gradual dip down, it goes STRAIGHT down.

Vacation 2013 Munising, MI

I've been MIA in the blog world lately, but since we just got back from another fabulous vacation in Munising, MI, I will blog about that for the next few days. I'm going to blog some of my favorite shots of our trip. If you've never been to Munising, MI, I suggest you go. Last year was our first trip to the U.P of MI and it's clear, The Powell's were all born to be Yoopers. Yoopers? For the non U.P people, that's what the people of the Upper Peninsula are called. The picture posted above is a shot of Miners Castle, a part of the Pictured Rocks shore line. It is my absolute favorite place in the U.P. to look at. This was taken on the observation deck, you can hike down a trail to get a closer look at the rock formation. The family did, I stayed on top at the observation deck this year. I am not one who believes in Vow renewals for anniversaries, and I'll spare you the "why", but if I did, THIS is where our renewal would take place. Right on this overlook. You can't ask for better scenery. Maybe one of our kids will decide to get married here, can you just imagine how pretty that would be? In 2 years, we will celebrate our 20th anniversary. I'm thinking we should celebrate it right here. :D On your way to Miners Castle observation deck, you would have noticed signs to Miners Falls. If you have not gone, I suggest you stop and hike to Miners Falls as well. The hike is an easy one and one I would highly recommend. This is a picture of what you are missing if you decide to skip that hike. It would be a shame to miss something this beautiful.

Free to a good home

You are probably looking at this picture wondering which is free to a good home; the boy or the dog? Both would be fine with me right now. OK, neither, really, but right now in my mind, I'm giving them both away. You see, looking at this picture, you see a comfy, happy dog, but in reality, you have a bitch who flips her empty water bowl over and howls until it gets filled, then simply snubs the fresh, cold water you put in there and opts for the gross toilet water instead. There are 4 kids in this house, there is no guarantee that water is always "clean". She has decided the food she has been eating for the past 12 years is no longer good enough for her. No matter how hungry she is, she will snub her Pedigree and only eat Beneful, the sort of expensive stuff, of course. We tried several different kinds, cheap, mid priced and expensive before she settled on this kind. It could be worse, there are way more brands that are still more expensive. This dog has also decided she will no longer go in our back yard because *GASP* there is a big scary cat who frequents the yard. OMG! A cat!! This dog weighs over 60lbs and she is scared of a cat???!!! So, she now poops in the front yard, or, on our enclosed porch, where ever she feels like it. This is new. No explanation. She has been house trained since before she came into our lives and until recently, she has never done this. Today, she has been banned to the back yard only. I don't want to see her in my house or near me at the moment. I fully admit, I hope that cat is dancing in front of her, tormenting her all day long. I'm tempted to find the neighborhood stray and tie it to a tree near her so it will torment her, just for payback. The boy...oh how I love this little boy of mine. Right now the only "problem" with him is that he is afraid of his own shadow. So when he wakes up at the crack of dawn on a day when there is no school, he wakes the 4 year old and makes him go to the living room first. That long journey, about 30 feet, from his bedroom to the living room could cause serious trouble with all the monsters and spirits who live in our house. He knows we have ghosts, he rolled over one night and felts it's nose. I have a feeling that was the 4 year old's nose because Joey makes Nic sleep in his bed with him!!! Bunk beds are not close enough, they both sleep in the same twin sized bed on the top, together. It's pretty funny because when Nic gets mad at Joey, he will threaten him with "I'm not sleeping in your bed toinght" and Joey suddenly apologizes and straightens up. I love the power the 4 year old has over his 9 year old brother. LOL!

Cool whip cookies

Dominic loves to cook and bake. My 4, soon to be 5 year old could spend every second he has in the kitchen cooking. He is our only child who has ever shown any interest in helping me. Dominic loves food. I mean, he really loves food. There are very few things he will refuse to eat. In fact, corn might be the only thing I can think of that he doesn't like. My sister ruined his whole life a year ago on Thanksgiving by putting that "nasty stuffs" on his plate and thinking he was going to eat it. While searching through Pinterest, I came across a recipe for Cool Whip Cookies on this blog. Those seem easy enough for Dominic to make and we have all the ingredients in the house. So, he got to baking this morning and here is how his cookies turned out.

I totally forgot to get a picture of him actually making the cookies. I was too busy standing over him and forcing myself to give up control, so this is the only picture I have of the cookies. We let them cool and decided to give them a try. I have to admit, I was very skeptical that these would turn out. How can something so easy even come close to tasting good? So few ingredients, not enough of anything to make them taste good, right? WRONG! These things were pretty darn good! I used Cherry Chip cake mix and I used 2 cups of cool whip instead of the 1 the recipe calls for. I also had to double the cook time to 16 minutes.

Wow, it has been almost a year since I last posted on my blog. It is my resolution to post at least once a week. I would love to do it once a day, but you know, even my kids aren't always funny. Looking back at this, I have to wonder who these kids are that I posted pictures of. They look nothing like my kids. Hmmmm, have I forgotten what they once looked like? I must have. Time to update some pictures. Hailee:

Hanna:

Joey:

Dominic:

The compromise

For years, for as long as I can remember, I've had to buy Joey adjustable waist jeans and pants that come in SLIM. The boy has always been seriously skinny. Gotta admit, he only eats peanut butter and fruit, 24/7. He has been this way since about the age of 18 months. Funny because I craved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when I was pregnant. I am not a fan of peanut butter typically, but every day during my pregnancy, I had a 1/2 of a pb&j sandwich for breakfast at work. For snack, I would dip pretzel rods or carrots into a jar of peanut butter I kept in my desk. I am not shocked he loves peanut butter.

Recently, I've noticed he is finally gaining some much needed weight. We can no longer see his ribs or the bones in his back. He's looking healthy. The other morning, as he was getting dressed for school, he was struggling to get his jeans on. Now believe me, he hasn't gained "that much" weight. It was just funny to see him twist to get jeans on that have always fit him. Never thought I'd see the day. He was starting to whine about his jeans being uncomfortable. I kept telling him they are fine, just get dressed. Finally, he starts to cry and when I asked what the deal is, he looked at me with sad, tear-filled eyes and said "Mom, these jeans are compromising my manhood!!!" Trying not to die laughing, I walked into his room to find the only pair of jeans he has that are not slim. He puts them on, gives a little shake and says "Ahhh, comfort for my manhood!"

Shouldn't have caught me so off guard, it's typical Joey! And here is a little funny I found that sums Joey up perfectly. Enjoy!

A Sunday Riddle

What do you get when you mix a Don't Spill The Beans game, and a Nerf Blaster with Joey and Dominic?

Can you see where this is going? LOL!!!! Only my boys would decide to stuff the blaster with the beans and try hard to shoot them out. It has been an interesting day, that's for sure. I have to laugh, I know who was the master mind behind this, however, no one will admit it. They both stand there smiling and laughing. Thankfully it didn't shoot or jam the gun. The boys were heart broken over this. They had it planned perfectly. What they didn't plan was Nic sticking his face right up to the gun as Joey tried AGAIN to shoot it. The Nerf bullet that was in another chamber fired and left a perfect welt right next to his nose. Thankfully it wasn't his eye or this post would be taking a whole different turn.

Most days I am thankful for the laughter that these kids bring into our lives, however after something like this, I am thankful I can lock them in their room...from my side of the door!

Here comes Santa Clause...

And there goes Dominic, right up my butt!

I thought it would be fun to surprise Nic with a trip to the mall since I needed to finish up some shopping and he could see Santa. I knew, with his odd ball people fear, that he wouldn't be too thrilled to see the Big Man, but it would be fun for me. I won't lie, I love to watch screaming kids sit on Santa's lap. Those pictures are great!

I couldn't get Nic anywhere close to Santa. He saw a train ride right next to Santa and he wouldn't even ride that because it was too close to Santa. So, as he has himself smashed up against a store window, hands covering his eyes, Santa gets up out of his chair. I picked Dominic up and walked over to Santa. Santa started rubbing his back and talking to him about Mater from Cars. You would think this would make the boy loosen up right? WRONG! He couldn't get up my butt since I was holding him, so he decided to climb down my shirt. Santa wouldn't take the hint and just kept trying to talk to Nic.

As we walked away, Nic decided he hated me. He stomped his foot when we got out of eye-shot from Santa and told me so. People probably thought I was crazy because I lost it. I was laughing so hard I couldn't stop. When I asked him who was going to leave him presents because Santa won't come to our house now, he said "I don't need any" and stomped his foot again and closed his eyes. That is is sign of being a total brat. You get the closed eyes, head up look. I tried to explain how upset his sisters and brother will be to learn Santa won't come to our house and he informs me "Joey is bad anyway". Ahhhahhahaa!!! Can't really argue that one!

Since I don't have a new picture of Santa and Dominic from this year, here is one from 2009. The last time he would see Santa in person. Enjoy! :D

Just call me Yoda!

Yesterday was a crazy day, but that is typical in our house. Our little guy hasn't been sleeping well from the raging ear infection he has, so I was not looking forward to waking him up for school. Don't get me wrong, he LOVES school and doesn't want to miss a single day. I just knew he was going to wake up pissy from a lack of sleep.

I went in his room and said "Niiiic, time to get up. It's a school day!" Hearing that, he typically springs to his feet and runs to the table for breakfast. Oh, but not yesterday. Nope, not my son. He stayed under his Star Wars blanket, all toasty and warm. I was half tempted to get under the covers with him, I was freezing, and he looked so comfy. I called for him to get up again and the blankets suddenly get kicked onto the floor and he springs to his feet. Success, right? NOPE! He stood in place, arms folded across his chest with the meanest look on his face that I have ever seen. The mean monster speaks to me. "I not Nic, I YODA. You call me YODA today. Destroy the Sith, we must. You got that, Mom?" Ummm, yeah, whatever Yoda. Breakfast is on the table.

We get to school and by this time, he is so excited he can't wait to get out of his car seat. He knows his friends will be there and his day will be wonderful. He loves his teacher, talks about her all the time. We have drop off and the director gets each child out of the car for you and they walk into their rooms from there. He gives me my good-bye kiss and I said "Have a great day, Yoda. I'll see you soon." He stops dead in his tracks and with a look of great disgust, he looks back to me and yells "Mom, I am Dominic now, don't call me Yoda when we are here."

I. Can't. Win.

This picture is from Monday. He was shoving his last piece of chocolate from St. Nick in his mouth. :D That's my boy!

Happy Thanksgiving?!?!?!?!?

On facebook, I've been reading the 30 days of Thanks people have been posting because of our upcoming holiday. I thought this was stupid...mostly because this year has been HORRIBLE and I just want it to be over. This year, my extended family said hello and goodbye to their son in 45 minutes. My friend Ashley passed away in August at the age of 41 because of Inflammatory Breast Cancer and in September, my very dear friend, Debi, passed away just days after her 33rd birthday from liver cancer. Our oldest daughter broke not one but 3 bones, our second daughter was rushed to the ER for staples. There has been more that I just don't feel the need to post. We'll just say this has been a hard and trying year.

Then, as I thought more about this post, I see all that I do have to be thankful for. I have the most awesome husband any woman could ever ask for. I have 4 healthy kids, who mean the world to me. I have a great relationship with my sister. Even though my extended family had to say goodbye to their son, they still experienced a love that no one will ever know. For that, I am thankful. I have had the pleasure of calling Debi and Ashley my friends. I had the pleasure of spending time with each of these ladies and the impact they have had on my life has been immeasurable. I'm thankful that Debi's husband has let us reach out to him and still stay connected, even just in small ways. I am thankful Debi's boys have the love and support they deserve from a great Dad and wonderful grandparents. I know Debi is smiling down on them. I am thankful for some very awesome friends. Without them, I'm not sure where I would be. I have been blessed beyond belief in the friend department.

The best thing I have to be thankful for...our "new" family! Mr. Crafty recently reconnected to his biological family and it seems as though life has now fallen into place, especially for him. This has been a long time coming and I am so very, very thankful the reunion took place this year. It seems like I have known all of them forever, even though I, myself, just met them for the first time this year. Mr. Crafty smiles every day, he sort of has the "pep in his step" you hear people talk about. His life seems to be truly complete. I love seeing how happy he is, and for that, I am expecially thankful. I am thankful they get to see the wonderful man he is, how great of a person he is and how much he adores his family. I am thankful our kids will have the pleasure of calling them family; Grandma, Aunts, cousins.

So yes, while I thought I didn't have much to be thankful for...I discovered I have more blessing to be thankful for than a lot of people could ever wish for.

If you are reading this, you have had some impact in my life and for you, I am also thankful. Enjoy your holidy and know I appreciate you.

The "NEW" and improved Crafty's

Mr. Crafty and I decided we have had enough of looking the way we have been for quite a few years. It's time to get healthy for us and for our kids. It's only fair to the entire family. So, this June we decided we would completely change what we eat. We follow a low carb, diabetic diet and yes, we do allow ourselves special treats when we are craving something bad enough. You will never survive any eating plan by completely cutting out food, so we don't. Those cravings are few and far between now, so really, there are no troubles. We eat 90% veggies and then allow ourselves 10% for protein or other foods. Even as people "on the go", we manage to make this work and it takes no effort really. It's about being smart and making smart choices. OK, driving and eating a salad is pretty much impossible, and shoving your face with salad at a red light only makes you look like a cow. My suggestion is to just pull into the parking lot and enjoy your salad, or whatever you are eating. My point is, it is easy and can be done, so no excuses.

If only I could find my motivation to get back on my treadmill. In February, I was starting the couch to 5k program again since I took off the summer before and never got back on. My goal was to run a leg of the Flying Pig Marathon for the first time in my life, but I stepped wrong while on my treadmill and crushed my foot. This kept me in a boot/soft cast from February until June. I gained even more weight while not being able to do anything. I broke 2 bones on the top of my foot, crushed my arch, shattered a plantar plate or something and tore some muscles. It wasn't pretty. Anyway, I started back up a few times since June, but once I start feeling the pressure on my foot, I freak out and take the next day off. This leads to taking the next day off, the next day, the next day. You get the picture. I'm scared. I need to get over it. I miss running...BAD. I enjoyed it so much the first time I started last year (2010). I'll get there, I know I will, I just have to schedule time, it's beyond time to put me first.

Anyway, so far, in 3 months, I have lost 30 pounds and Mr. Crafty has lost 60 lbs. I would love to sneak some sugar into his salads for lunch, it doesn't seem fair. LOL!!!!

I'm so proud of Mr. Crafty. He looks amazing. Until I did these side by side shots (posted below), I couldn't see it anywhere on me. Now I at least see it in my face. The ever so adoring Mr. Crafty says my face now looks long. Uhhh...is that supposed to be a compliment? I've turned into stretch?!?! He absolutely loses sugar free brownie points for that comment.

Here it is, our side by side shots.
Me: Feb 2011 -

Me: August 2011 -

Mr. Crafty (with a less than thrilled Dominic) - Feb 2011

Mr. Crafty - Sept 2011

If airplanes in the night sky...

I'll spare you, I won't sing the song, but it did come to my mind as I was typing this entry. Not that you could hear me if I did sing it.

If you know me, my family, you know about Joey. You know that the sweet looking 7 year old is really the devil in disguise. You can't let his big and beautiful blue eyes and long dark eye lashes fool you. Not even when he bats them at you. He is hilariously funny, mostly because he has no idea he is so funny. He is smart, way too smart for being 7. Loves to build and take things apart so he can put them back together. He fixes things for me, like my broken dishwasher. Joey is honest, or, I should say, brutally honest. His honesty is so bad that when we are in public and he opens his mouth, we all cringe and hold our breath afraid of what he is going to say. He has never been into sports, just trains and now Star Wars. I mean, just a few month back he saw a baby picture of himself holding a football and he said "Awww, is that me with a basketball". *Sigh* There went my dreams of having a quarterback for a son.

Imagine my surprise on the last day of 1st grade, when he brought me a paper about football saying he wanted to sign up. He was so excited. I jumped on it. I wasn't about to let him even take a second to think about what he just said. I jumped on the computer and signed him up within 5 seconds of him saying he wanted to play. He never has touched a football, much less watched a game. I didn't care, this was MY dream. He was signed up and for his uniform #, we picked #7...you know, after John Elway (Denver Broncos).

He has been playing for about a month now. And he is still just as clueless as he was the first day of practice. I watched my dreams shatter right before my eyes. It's ok though, he is having a blast. How do I know he is? Well, it is obvious when you watch him at practice. Especially when they warm up. One warm up is to run the length of the field and back. As all the kids are busting their butts to get back to the coach, there is Joey, dead last, twirling as he runs and has his arms straight out pointing to either side like an airplane as he makes the noise of "Brrrrrooooomm" with every twirl he does. Parents crack up and I am in tears laughing. The coaches? They aren't too fond of him. Another way to tell, last night the coaches gave him the ball and it was his job to run into another kid who was told to tackle him. I thought this was fabulous because he is scared to death of being tackled. He believes his head is going to pop off. So, this kid is coming full speed at Joey and what did he do? Threw the ball at the kid and took off running like a little bitch in the opposite direction. Oh, the howls coming from the parents. Again, I almost died laughing. Watching the 4 grown, very big coaches turn around to not face him and see them cracking up was also priceless. However, being the coach and needing to correct him, he gets in Joey's face and yells at him and tells him to do it again and don't throw the ball. He told Joey if he dropped the ball, he had to run the hill. The kids hate the hill. I don't blame them one bit. Second try...Joey runs down the side, and starts up the middle. He sees the kid coming at him and hides behind the coach's legs and yells "neener neener neener". He never dropped the ball. It's sort of frustrating, but at the same time, so incredibly hilarious because if you know Joey, it's 100% something only he would do.

So, twice a week and every Saturday morning, I get to watch my dreams slip away and pray that Dominic does much better when he is old enough to play. LOL!!!

Oh no I di-int!

Do you remember your parents saying things to you that would absolutely make your skin crawl? You probably swore that you would never say them when you got older. People probably always told you that you too would one day say the same things to your kids, and you would roll your eyes and think "Great! Another old person who thinks I'm going to be just like my parents!" You stood your ground, you would never say anything so stupid. Parents are old, things today weren't like they were back when your parents were little, right? I mean, the old people who lived my house still had a record player when cassette tapes were the rage. You could hear your parents snicker and catch them winking at each other as you argued you would never say stupid things like they did.

One thing I really hated to hear my Dad say was "You're going to school, not the prom, hurry up and get out of here before you are late". UGH! I'm having flashbacks of that as I type it out. I can hear his voice so clearly in my head. I haven't heard that voice in 15 years and it would be nice...if it was any other saying of his except for that one. I remember slamming my stuff around the minute he would yell that up the steps to me. It made me so mad!

Hailee, our almost 14 year old, was running a little late for school. She likes to get there right at 7 so she can hang out with her friends before the bell at 7:30. She leaves the house at 5 til 7 so she can be there. It was 7:00 on the button and she was still getting ready in her room. Before I had time to even think about what was coming out of my mouth, the words just flew out. "Let's go, Hailee, you're going to school, not the prom!!!!!!!!!!!" I felt the air suck back into my body with force, I felt my eyes squint shut and could feel the muscles in my face tense up right as I said it. Yep, I said it, I actually said it.

I was tempted to rinse my mouth out with soap for that one.

On that note, I'll leave you with my prom picture. Don't laugh at my huge hair...but you can tell how long it would take to get ready, I mean, teasing the hair that high would take at least an hour alone, add in make up and mirror gawking and we're talking almost 2 hours.

Ahhh, young love. This would be Mr. Crafty and I from May 1992. My senior prom.

If there is admission into Heaven...

So, today was the funeral for a friend of mine. A very young friend. Her name was Ashley. She was just 41, the mother of 2 small kids, ages 9 and 5. Kids who were much to young to be without their mother, that's for sure. Ashley was diagnosed in 2009 with Stage IV Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

Every phone call she made started with "Hello beautiful", and if I was having a bad day when she called, that ALWAYS cheered me up. How could it not? If she received bad news from scans and she would call, she still started that call with "Hello beautiful". Truth be told, she was the beautiful one. Inside and out. With the church being standing room only, you can only imagine the impact she had on everyone's lives. There will certainly be a void in our world, but I know that she wouldn't want us to be crying over her. She always told me she admired my sense of humor, so I decided that I wouldn't be too emotional today. I would try to find the positive. It won't be easy when deep down I'm so sad.

As I walked into the visitation, a kind of calm/peace came over me, and I kind of cracked a smile. It was probably the first in a few days for me. I was even able to joke with a good friend that I was shocked the church was still standing after she walked in. If there was one person to get Kristy into a church, it would have been Ashley...that right there is proof enough of the awesome woman she was.

I met Ashley through coupons. Yes, you read that right. LOL! There is actually a group of us who became good friends that way. I met her just a few months before her diagnosis. I'll still never forget when we found out. We met at another friend's house and not wanting to bring attention to her diagnosis, we all wore pink shirts. If you know me, you know how much I hate pink. It's one of my favorite shirts now though...simply because of what it represents. And not that it represents breast cancer, but that it represents us girls coming together for Ashley. That night was crazy, I remember the lost look in her eyes, the numbness in her soul. Yet, sitting next to her on the couch, she grabbed my leg, and said "what's up, beautiful?". That's just how she was.

She was a fighter, that is for sure. She promised to never give up the fight, and she sure didn't. No one expected it to end this way, we thought she was going to be the one miracle patient who beat the odds of Stage IV Inflammatory Breast Cancer. We didn't think it, we expected it, we were sure because of the fight she had in her. She was determined. This wasn't going to beat her.

Unfortunately on August 17th, she lost that battle. And, it doesn't feel right saying she "lost the battle". She gave it everything she had and more. She didn't give up, not even for a second. So, I don't know how to word what happened here. All I know is because of this disease, 2 young kids are without their mother, a Mother and Father had to bury their daughter, people were left behind.

We never did get to work on the scrapbook she wanted desperately to put together with me. I think of that almost every night now. I'd still love to do it, her kids deserve it. She had a story to write, we were just never going to give it an ending. Those were her exact words to me on the phone one day. "I want to write my story, but there will never be an ending because I'm not going anywhere."

But, that's all getting mushy again, and I won't do it today. I'll leave you with this. If there is admission into Heaven, you better believe Ashley has a coupon!!!

Good bye, beautiful, you will be missed by many!

Time flies

Before you know it, that precious, beautiful little baby you were holding in your arms is a teenager. That teenager comes equipt with eye rolls, attitude, lots of laughs and their very own unique style. A style I might not like, but she feels comfortable, so why worry?

Today, another sort of touching day in Church. The youth got up to talk to the congregation about their mission trips they just came back from. The middle schoolers went to one, while the high schoolers went to another. Our oldest is a Middle schooler.

She was standing there with her group of friends, telling stories about the fun they had, the workshops they attended, the crops they worked on, the meditation they did, etc. As she was standing there, playing with her hair and rubbing her nose as she does when she is embarrassed or nervous, I was envisioning our little girl. The one who used to sport her prettiest dress ups, big purple hat, feather boa and the most gorgeous high heels a dollar could get you.

What I was seeing was someone totally different. What I was seeing is my almost grown 13 (soon to be 14) year old, wearing real make up, having her colored hair that is flat ironed, her all black clothing and gawdy gym shoes. I suddenly realized that yep, she is growing up. The MP3 wearing, texting, eye rolling girl is the same little girl who (still) laughs at the goofiest stuff...and can't stop or control the laughter, the same baby girl who wore those dress up outfits to the store. Yep, I was getting teary eyed. It seriously seems like yesterday I was holding her in my arms, now I'm excited when I get a good night kiss from her.

These kids, they've got to stop grown up!

Proof Joey is the devil.

First, let me start this off by stating that I absolutely love my Joey-Joe. He has always been my "rotten child", or as I like to call him, "The one my parents wished on me". He's just as mean and rotten as I was as a child, although he has not beaten anyone up (yet). By the time I was 7, a boy in our neighborhood used to walk around with a bike chain and lock to hit me with if I ever came near him again. Yeah, I was "that kid". I beat him up so much he had to carry protection with him everywhere.

Today, Nic and I were driving around running some errands. I asked him to sing his ABC's for me so that I can assure his preschool teacher he still knows his alphabet. He adores his teacher, Ms. Shannon. Everything he does, he asks if I will tell her in an email. I pretend to email her and he gets very excited to hear how she emails back and is thrilled with his progress. Come on...you've never told those kinds of lies to your kids? LOL!

Today, he decided he was not going to sing his ABC's. There was nothing I could do to get him to do it. Well, I could have bribed him with M&M's, but that's going to extremes when I know he knows his alphabet. So, I told him I would let Ms. Shannon know he forgot his alphabet and she would probably cry.

None of this phased Dominic. He, at 3, is pretty wise. Even at 3 he knows that his older brother must have always been the devil. How do I know this? Because after I told him that Ms. Shannon was going to cry, he looked at me with a very serious face and said "Teachers doesn't have tears. They cried them all out when Joey was a little boy"!!!!!!

Yes Dominic, you are probably right. ROFLMAO!!!

Who would believe someone so handsome would be so mean?

It shouldn't be allowed...

This little story isn't about the kids, it's about me and one of my many issues I have. I hate feet. I mean, I literally hate feet. They gross me out, far more than anyone can ever understand. I could seriously suffer a heart attack if someone touches me with their feet...and this is one of the reasons I will not share blankets with my husband. Yes, even in a deep sleep if a foot touches me, I'll freak out and possibly puke everywhere. When our oldest was born, the nurse brought her to me, and my mom quickly unwrapped her from her blankets to show me how perfect she was. In my drugged stupor from having a c-section, I almost tossed my perfect baby across the room as a foot almost touched my skin! Yes, my dislike of feet is *THAT* bad. Had it not been for my mom grabbing her, there is no telling what may have happened. LOL!

So, imagine my surprise as I am sitting on the couch, eating a salad and watching some TV. A commercial for News 5 comes on and the 2 news anchors are talking about an upcoming story. They say something like "Don't be grossed out, we'll test this product" and what do they show??? Someone shaving dead skin from their nasty feet using a ped-egg. That's it!!! Dinner is over. O-V-E-R! How can you even put these images on TV?

Have you seen the commercial? Check it out HERE. Tell me, is this something you want to see without warning of the vile dead skin shaving being shown? Blaaaaaaahhh, I think NOT.

Now I understand why people always say it's horrible to watch TV and eat at the same time.

Missing our Lee Lee

It's that time of year again. Time for Hailee to go on a mission trip with our church and the group of middle school kids. Last year was her first adventure. She had a wonderful time and came home with a ton of stories and a renewed feeling of self worth. No mother and father in their right minds would deny their child that experience.

I remember being miserable when she was gone last year. To the point I didn't want to leave my house because I needed to be a Mom of 4, not 3. I know it sounds weird, but, well, it just felt different. She has always been around as our family has grown and it wasn't like she was just spending the night somewhere for one night, she was gone last year for 7 days. We all missed her terribly. So much so, that Dominic wouldn't talk to her when she came back home. He was mad because she left him. LOL!

This year, it is just a 5 day trip. I know it is a temporary break and I realize that sometimes that "know it all" attitude and her constant eye rolls bug me more than anything, but right now, I wouldn't mind so much getting an eye roll. Our house dynamics change with out her, as I am sure they would with out any one of the kids. Everything is off kilter. It's truly a sign we were meant to be a family of 6. I'm just missing her right now, even though I would never deny her this trip, this experience, or a chance to get away from US. She needs the break as well, it's obviously time for her to grow up. As much as I want to, I can't stop the aging process.

I miss you Lee...I hope you are having the time of your life.

That's sign language in our house.

Today was Hailee's confirmation. As I sat in church thinking back over the past 13 years and how far I've come as a parent, how far Hailee has come as our daughter and how much our lives changed in these past 13 or so years, I looked down trying not to cry. I see Joey out of the corner of my eye playing with paper. I thought "no big deal, he's quiet in Church right now, not disrupting Pastor Kathy or anyone else and not fidgeting." WAIT...that means something is wrong. Seriously wrong. Panic starts to rush over me and I automatically tune out what Kathy is saying...or whoever it was reading at the time. I can't tell you who is around me all of a sudden, because, all I see is Joey finishing up his paper air plane he just constructed out of the prayer cards in the pew. The evil grin of "haaaahaaa, look out below" rushes over his face and I feel all the blood rush to my head. I have two options, pass out or stop the boy in his tracks. Only, I'm frozen. I see him start to pull his arm back, still with his evil grin on his face. Right before launch, he decided to look at me out of the corner of his eye to see if he is going to be able to get away with this or not. Our eyes meet. I don't remember saying anything, but I remember showing my clenched teeth. That's sign language in our house. It means, DO IT AND DIE. Suddenly, the evil grin is gone, his head hangs in disbelief. I know what he's thinking. He's thinking "Man, if I didn't look at her, I would be sailing this plane right through our service." Supermom kicked in and that little piece of paper became mine. Phew, I survived that one.

The kids were called up to leave for Children's church and while we had every intention of having Joey stay with us to see his sister make her Confirmation, I asked him to leave. I'm not really sure what I was thinking to begin with. Of course he wouldn't sit with us that long...and behave at the same time. "See ya soon, sucker", that was the look I got as he was walking out past me.

After service, Joey came running up to show me the craft he worked on in Children's Church. What did they make? YUP, paper airplanes. Maybe God really does have a sense of humor.