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2010 7TH GRADE CONCERT BAND

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It's the little things!

Thank goodness Friday is here. I am ready to be at home, where I belong! Steven and his Dad are on their way to celebrate the 100th anniversary with the scouts this weekend. I plan on enjoying the Kiwanis pancake breakfast tomorrow. Is this something that we only do in Decatur? I hope not! It is nothing but pancakes and sausage served by our Kiwanis club. It is one of my highlights of the year! After a long day of running around, I am finally home just in time to step out again. We are celebrating another birthday. This time it is Blake's brother. He is 28, still a spring chicken. So, back to my title...the little things. I ordered Bryce some new shoes because he needed some. He had no more tennis shoes that fit, only some clogs and of course we have the rain boots. These new shoes came in today. They were waiting on me when I arrived home. I just love having packages on the porch even if I know what is in them. I had taken advantage of day care today and left Bryce there while I did my running around. After I picked him up and put him in the car, I told him about his shoes being in. As we are rolling down the road he tells me he wants to be at our house. I told him we would be there soon. He said good. Then all of the sudden he said "Fank you mommy for my shoes!" It was so sweet and I melted right there! TGIF everyone! Have a great weekend.

Do you "heart"?

It's that time again folks! Time to take a minute and think about the good in our life! All too often the bad and ugly is the forefront, so today is the day to take a step back and realize what life is all about! How many times do you only think of the negative? Do you tell your children what positives they have given you this week? I know I haven't been too good this week about sharing the love, so to speak! All you have to do is think what you "heart" the most this week!

I heart that we were able to go to Indiana!

I heart my husband!

I heart snow!

I heart that spring will be here soon!

I heart Steven's clean room!

I heart a monkey jumping on my bed!

So, what do you heart today?

XOXO

Wordless Wednesday

Good Morning

My head hurts this morning. I am trying to wean from the sodas, mainly Coca-Cola. I used to not drink soda at all. I would only drink Gatorade or water but times have changed and now I try like an addict to leave behind such yumminess. It aches all the way down into my neck and I just want to go back to bed. I slept very good last night and I am a leeetle peeved that my head has to hurt today. I did grab a coke at Chickfila this morning hoping that it may help my headache but now 2 hours later it still just throbs.

We had a good morning getting ready for school today. That is always nice. Yesterday was a disaster in the morning. You know how it goes after a trip. It was a morning where no one was doing anything right. Steven's room looked like it had vomited, Bryce did not want to wear clothes, and I was going to be late if we didn't get out the door. Why can't we just get our clothes on and leave? Why do I have to tell Steven everyday to make a lunch? Isn't eating important? Why do toddlers resist clothes so much or is this just my child? My nephew loves his clothes and his shoes. He actually asked Nana the other day to put them back on after a nap. So, since they share genes, one would think that they may be similar in some ways but they are more different than peanut butter and jelly. It didn't help that I was still tired and on a short fuse. I am sure no one ever has mornings like that! We did make up for it last night. We baked Totino's pizzas and then after dinner we all hung out in Blake and I's room watching the Olympics. It was a nice low key evening but just what we all needed. Thankfully, the hubs put Bryce to bed last night and after that I ended up asleep by 830. We have a really exciting night life.

We now are gearing up for the cold again. James Spann, out of Birmingham, was talking about a blizzard in NYC, snow in the deep south(we are south but not deep), and nasty cold temps for at least a couple more weeks. I hope to scrounge up some firewood and enjoy the last couple of fires this weekend. We really want to go and see Shutter Island this weekend but I think we might wait a little bit because we have to start turning dirt for our garden and there are a lot of things that require my attention in the house, like laundry and dust! So, I am off for my day. I hope you all enjoy yours!

I love to Visit!

We were so excited to go and visit my cousin Amy in Aurora, Indiana this weekend. There were many great things about this trip but the number one for the kids would have to be snow! We were all very excited to see snow and had no idea how much there really was until Saturday morning. We didn't want to cut into our vacation time so we didn't leave until after work on Friday. We had a nice drive up and noticed the snow on the ground but we had no idea how much they really had until the daylight hours the next morning. The original plan was to ski on Saturday all day, however, Amy's mother in law thankfully called and informed us that it was a madhouse at Perfect North Slopes. She advised us to wait until after 5. They stay open late anyway so it really made no difference to us. We then decided to go eat with her folks at a mexican restaurant in downtown Aurora. I know now that I am a southerner because when her dad ordered a margarita at 11:30am, I thought, "WOW it is early." It is not that drinking is bad but after living down here for so long, drinking has a big stigma or people act like they don't drink at all. (note I said act. I once had a boss who would buy his beer 25 miles away just so he wouldn't see any of his friends!) Anyway....I loved being "home" again! I can still navigate those roads like I could actually drive when we lived there! I was 5 when we moved south.

Bryce playing at a skateboard park near the old Aurora High School!
That's where his grandparents met and went to school!

The next two shots are Stevens. I wish I could claim them. He did a wonderful job!

This is the great view from Amy's back deck! I wish my view was that good!

What is going on?????????

I do not understand what is happening in our world. I live in North Alabama and recently we had a shooting a block away from my work, at UAH. I attended UAH as a nursing and biology student. I did change my major, however, the scariness of this is all too real! I could have been in her class. I could be ANYWHERE and a shooting happen. Did stuff like this used to happen? Has the media just made it easier to report instantly? We have something happening now every couple of days. We do not go a week without something. bombs, guns, knifes, planes! You never know. We must be thankful for what God has given us. We must have faith in Him. We must trust Him. We must believe that he knows when our time will end. He is the only one who does! Even though it is a pretty scary world right now, it is much less scary giving it all to God!

Winter Olympics 2010

Are you watching the Olympics?  We have been this year.  This is something new to us.  We have never really sat down and paid any attention to them at all!  The level of athleticism is astounding.  They have a dream, something that they have worked their entire life to do and now they are accomplishing it.  I truly enjoy the pride, the humbleness, and the drive that these athletes exhibit.  I love knowing that children are watching.  These guys and girls can show our children that they can achieve just about anything!  And they make it look so easy, too!  I am proud to be an American, as we have so many talented people representing us. 

Show Us Your Life ~~~ Ministries

I wanted to participate in Kelly's Korner's Show Us Your Life ~ Ministries edition.  I have many plans of things that I would like to do!  I was a teenage mom and I would really like to help other teenagers eventually.  I wish I could say that it is something that I do right now but I can't.  I am a mother who HAS to work.  I know that we could do without some things but the bulk of our paychecks do go towards bills.  I digress, I was a teenage parent and I wouldn't change my life for anything.  Yes, it was hard.  Yes, my life was completely changed.  Yes, there were many things that I didn't get to do.  YES, I would do it all again!  Steven is a blessing but don't think that I didn't struggle.  I was on my own and had to do it all myself.  I did marry his father and we made it 3 years.  That is more than most teenage parents.  We had a house and cars.  I stayed in high school and finished up my senior year while working at a gas station and Taco Bell.  Not too glamorous, I know, but we were happy.  There were many problems and my parents did help after I was divorced.  Steven is a happy, Christ Loving child.  He loves his mom and his dad.  My ex doesn't live in town but his family does.  They, also, supported us and helped us through the years.  Teachers and principals did not believe in me.  My high school principal told me that I did not belong in his school.  There is no reason for this.  I am now remarried to the love of my life and have not one, but two boys.  The only thing is there was no one that could help me with processes.  The health department helped some but trying to weed through government help is hard especially when you are young and have barely had your own bank account.

I want to be involved in unplanned pregnancies.  I want to help young girls with no idea what is going on.  I mean I look back and OMG I was sooooo young!  I have no idea how I made it.  I look at my annual income and cannot believe how we made it, but we did.  There are many teenagers that don't have help at all and do not know where to start.  I want to encourage young ladies to take care of their children and not to pass the buck off to someone else, I don't mean that they shouldn't consider adoption.  I believe in adoption but as a young teen I was not okay with my own adoption at that time to be able to give my child up myself.  There needs to somewhere these young girls can go.  They need to be told that they can still do anything.  Pregnancy is a life sentence but it is not a death sentence.   So, this is my ministry.  I haven't figured out how to do it yet but one day I will!

The Purpose Driven Live was great for me.  It helped me to come to terms with my own problems.  There was one thing that really stuck to me during this study.

Your parents may not have planned you, but God did.  He was not at all surprised by your birth. 

xoxo,
 

I need to go where those chilly winds don't blow!

We are not blessed with snow often. While I would love one good blizzard, just as much as any other southerner, I am glad we don't get too much of this white stuff. Our whole city shuts down when we get any snow. I was loving the snow day and the much needed extra weekend. The hubs work was closed too! It was great getting the extra snuggles and loves. Steven is truly getting close to being a teenager. He woke up and looked at the snow and went back to bed. Bryce was not having it. The only problem is we are not stocked for this weather. We are lucky to even get even a little windbreaker on him, so we do not have much attire for the wintry weather. Luckily, I have a hand me down hat and some gloves I found at Kmart. The snow was mostly melted Monday but the melted snow turned to ice on Monday night. That granted Blake and I some extra time Tuesday morning to get ready for work.

I Heart Thursday!

I am participating in this weeks I "heart"... at You and Me Plus Three. Go there now to add yours and read others!!  
I love "I heart Thursdays!"  Life is so special and sometimes the little things are pushed under the rug.  It is important to remember the little things and to take a big breath of what God gives us.  Everything is a blessing whether it is realized right away or not.

I "heart" the Winter Olympics!

I "heart" snuggling in the bed with the kiddos!

I "heart" that the alarm only went off because Steve-O left the motion detector on with the pups in the house!

I "heart" that we are going to see cousins this weekend!

I "heart" Skyline Chili!

I "heart" fighting with the hubs only to make up later and realize we were fighting for a stupid reason!

I "heart" the way Bryce smells.

I "heart" Steven's blue eyes!

I "heart" snow days.

I "heart" SUNSHINE!

Cornelius Knigga, Yep that's MY Grandpa!

We celebrated a wonderful birthday this weekend.  My Grandpa, Cornelius Knigga, turned 86!  He has lived through the depression, WWII, the Korean War, Kennedy, Vietnam, you catch my drift.  My grandparents are super special to me because I was the only grandchild to be kept by them when little.   My mom still worked until we had multiple small children running around.  So, every morning my papaw would pick me up in his omni, he was just getting off third shift at the Seagram's Plant.  We would then drive to their house.  He would take me and throw me in the bed with grandma.  He told me this story all the time growing up.  Most of my memories contain my grandparents.  We never did anything outlandish but I loved going to the flea markets or just to KFC with them.  Grandma has been gone for almost 8 years!  Grandpa is slowing fading due to the Alhiezmers but I still love him!

Saturday we braved the cold and headed over to the veteran's home.  The facility is great and they take good care of him.  Erin, Zac, Michael, Steven, Bryce, Blake, Mom, and I were all there.  We do not have much family and the family that we do have lives a good distance from here.

Bryce had to help with his candles.  He is obsessed with the candles. 

He also had to help Grandpa blow them out.  Well, Bryce mainly did the blowing!

My Grandpa!

Here's the fam

Me and my Pawpaw!

Not Me Monday

   I love MckMama!  She is so brave to post her life for all of us to read.  Mondays have been dubbed Not Me Monday!  Let's take a ride through my not me's! 

I most certainly did not plan to purchase a tv for our living room, only so we may enjoy a few more minutes of laying in the bed.  We did not move the tv to our bedroom.  This would not be so that we can try to wake up because our little monster wakes up at the crack, and I do mean crack of dawn!  We would never use the tv as a way to entertain the child so we can stay snuggled in the bed.

 

I certainly would never not look for the hubs wedding ring.  I mean, come on!  A wedding ring isn't something that is important.  It isn't something that I hold special.  So, when we were on a hunt to locate this not so special piece of jewelry, I would never  just give up because the hubs should know better anyway.    I would never act so selfishly in my own marriage.

 

I would never take advantage of a GREAT snow day!  No working mother takes the day off. 

 

I surely didn't take a very long nap Saturday afternoon either.  There absolutely no laundry that needed to be tended to!

 

We are loving our snow day.  Hope you are having a great Monday!

 

xoxo

Snow Day