Check out my other blog for new items for the Fourth.

Cole and Thomas

This says it all...he had the best time and his highlight was the huge Thomas balloon at the end.

Happy Birthday Gus!

Gus is 2!
So I know this is a little late...May 20th was his day! But there's always time to celebrate!
I know amazing isn't it.
Just a few favorites about Gus.
He first loves, to love everyone, mostly Mommy(I can brag, I'm Mommy!)
He loves anything round, balls, cars, trains, hats, glasses...
He loves animals, DOGS to be exact.
He loves using his has for crafting and messing.
Baths...
The one thing he doesn't like is SLEEPING...we are still working on that.
Also he is POTTY TRAINED...yeah, no more diapers!

New things he's learning...riding a trike, catching a football, putting on his shoes(crocks)
We love him and it is a little sad, but as Rob says if he was our first he would have been our last...because of the sleeping thing!

Date Night

Tonight Rob took me out on a DATE...I know don't gasp, only recently have we been able financially to do this, which means we PAID the babysitter! I know, (double gasp). Rob took me to see Letters to Juliet...can I say it was a beautiful movie and rated PG although, I would not take my 8 year old...she doesn't want to see a love story. It had a great setting the Italian country side and who can not love a good love story, with humor, even Rob was into it. The music was wonderful and since Rob's family is from Italy, Italy has always been on my list to venture to after this movie it definitely was...so if you get a chance, husbands take your wives, or girls go with your girlfriend for a mom's day out...loved it!

(photo from www.impawards.com )

My Family

My cousin and family did a 5k in Minnesota and I love this picture so...if you could see the picture bigger it would be Cass on the left the front of there green shirts say Karen(my Aunt) for a cure...on the back of Cass's it says SURVIVOR and under it for my mom and for ME, Cassie. Her husband is next to her and the back of his says for my mother in law and for my wife...what a sweet momment that they were able to share with us.
My Aunt, Karen passed away 13 years ago from complications of Breast cancer and last August at age 28 Cass was diagnosed with the same cancer that killed her mom. She did a complete removal of the breasts and had reconstruction surgery. Went through months of chemo and is now in remission. My other cousin Chandra, Cassie's sister also carries the gene for this strand of breast cancer...there are so many reasons we need a cure, there are three right here in my family!
Anyway this picture was so sweet and touching I wanted to share. Also if you are interested in a breast cancer awareness sticker, I sell them for $2.00 and half the proceeds go to the Susan B. research for breast cancer.

Happy Mother's Day...Dad

On this day that we celebrate Mother's Day I think of my Dad and all he has done, sacrificed for my brother and I so that he could do the job my birth mother was unable to do. My dad raised my brother from such a young age that I have no tangible memory of her. I think of all the mothers that my Dad put in my path so I would have good role models. Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Schlottman, Mrs. Brist, there are more but I remember these women most because there were around when I was under 13 and I learned the most from just being in there presence.

My Dad is the one who would say I couldn't have done it without Heavenly Father's help. He gave up his career because he didn't think it was best to get his children up at 4:30 every morning to go to the sitters. Or if he had to be stationed over seas who would be there to help then...so he did what any great father would do and took care of his family the best that he could, without government assistance, except for once when I was in jr high for a six month period. I remember at one time he was working THREE jobs to make it so we could just get by. He was a janitor, worked at a lumber store, and KFC. He has an amazing work ethic and it is great to see him now after all these years still working so hard to help the family anyway he can, even if it is not needed.

I love that he loves our children so and I can always count on him. When I was pregnant with our first child B, I worried, 'what if I freek out like my mom did and leave'...oh I was so scared of this. I talked with my Dad of my concerns and he said if I ever get overwhelmed that he would drive the 45 minutes and come stay with me. That was such a reassurance. I never had that momment but I remember in the first year of B's life my Dad showed up every Saturday morning at 8am with breakfast in hand just to play with his first grandchild. What a wonderful gift to remember on this my 9th Mother's Day...the gift my Dad gave me is the examples from so many woman and the best example from him...Happy Mother's Day...Dad!

my thoughts

So today I heard on the radio that a man had gone to a Lowe's store garbage compacter to sleep and the person working at the store started the compactor and the man in the trash was compacted to death. When I heard this I thought what an awful thing. Then later on in the day this story came back to me and it made me think how did things get so bad that you couldn't ask for help and that you had to sleep in a garbage can. When did it get so bad that family had no idea of the struggles you had that they would give up on you...maybe they didn't know, maybe you where too proud to say something, maybe...there are lots of maybes...in this. It was just a sad note.


On to my other thought...OK, I cry easily...when I see a touching moment, hear a sad story, watch a commercial. I try not to show it in public because of the humiliation I 've received int he past...BY BOYS...so I tell my boys that if it touches you in a way that crying is it for you then it is OK...not a whiny cry though...that is annoying. Here are some examples of what I'm talking about...when I see a sharing, honest to goodness, not watching for another reaction sharing moment between my children. When the lady in line with me at the post told me today that her mother passed away and then her father one year later to almost the date and they were married 65 years. When I watched Lady Jane the other and just balled at the end because she was so naive and in love and strong...

sleepless nights

We are going through sleepless nights lately and it isn't G but C...he is waking puking, in his bed and then sleeps on the couch...day three and is eating very little and only a few freeze pops...this is not normal. C didn't get sick until he was three and now, well maybe it is the allergies, they have been killer even for me and I am not into taking meds just live through it because they haven't been that bad, til this year.

And G had two diarrhea diapers last night...on a good note, I let B ride her bike the FOUR blocks to school by herself...I know and I know I did it when I was that age...life is just different now. Wish me luck with the boys.

Me, my feelings, my life

So I am trying something new...I will be writing things of myself, for myself...I will also post fun things too, but there will be some changes.

" LOVE IN THE HOME"

If I lived in a house of spotless beauty
with everything in it's place~
but not have love, I am a
housekeeper...not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing
and decorative achievements
but have not love, my children
learn cleanliness...not Godliness.

Love leaves the dust, in search
of a child's laugh.
Love smiles at tiny fingerprints on
the newly cleaned window pane.

Love wipes away the tears before
it wipes up the spilled milk.
Love picks up the child before it
picks up the toys.

Love is present through the trials.
Love reproves, teaches and
is responsive.

Love crawls with the baby,
walks with the toddler,
runs with the child,
then stands aside to let the
youth walk into adulthood.

Love is the key that opens
salvation's message to a childs heart.

Before I became a mother I took glory
in my house of perfection.
Now I glory in God's perfection
of my child he lent to me.

As a mother, there is much I must
teach my child, but the greatest of
all...is LOVE.
(unknown and added to by me)

This is me to a tee...you come to my home and it is not the neatest, cleanest or anything we think it should be but there is love and respect...and LOVE!