HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

BOO AT THE ZOO

What should we do for family night? Oh I don't know, How about go to an overly price NIGHT OF TERROR!! The kids will love it!

So here's the deal. The Little Rock Zoo puts on a carnival every year around Halloween. It cost $5 dollars a person to get in and that will get you a strip of 9 tickets. They have little booths set up through out the park with people handing out candy. Each ticket gets you 2 pieces of candy. There are carnival rides all over the place but you have to purchase other tickets for those rides.Of course against our children's request we did NOT purchase these tickets. To expensive for a family of 6 And just not worth it. Needless to say we were not prepared for our wallets to be cleaned out that night. They had food but again not included in the admission. There were a few haunted houses that you could pay cash for. $1 to $5 depending on how spooked you wanted to get. And we did pay $5 dollars for all the boys and Daddy to go through the lamest haunted house / maze. Jaren loved it though. He pretended he was a real trooper saving the world. I know what your thinking, At least there were animals to see. WRONG!!! No Animals! Not even scary ones that you might see out around Halloween. Nothing!! To top the whole evening off it was the coldest night we have had so far this fall. In the 40's with a strong wind. Pretty cold! And Don didn't even want to go but I convinced him it would be fun. Oops! My bad! Sorry Don! Now that I painted this horrible picture of the night let me tell you why I actually had a good time.

BECAUSE OF THESE KIDS!

They had so much fun. Brigham couldn't get enough of everything. He was in wide-eyed wonderment with every light, every sound, every scary thing he saw the whole night long. Jaren was excited to see other storm troopers and star wars characters. There were lots of them. He actually went up to one kid who was about his age and said. "Hi, My name is commander Rex and you are my storm trooper." It was endearing because of how innocent it was and comical for how serious he was. He's so funny! Layton liked all the spooky stuff and at one point was begging for a chance to go into a scary haunted...uhh...tent. (Not really a house) And kelland enjoyed.....Well, kelland enjoys everything. So he was just happy to be there. We did just really have a good time as a family and for as cold as it was and lack of funds for the night there really wasn't a lot of complaining. Now that is a miracle all in itself. Despite all this I can pretty much grantee that we will NOT be going back next year. Once is enough for us. We wouldn't want to ruin a good thing now would we?

Another season of FOOTBALL!!!!!

So It has begun again. Flag football. This season they are the Browns. Layton was not very happy about that because he really doesn't care for the NFL team. But I was excited because I like the colors better. Hee Hee!

This was the first game and it was hot that day. Layton was playing very well and they beat the other team pretty bad. Of coarse I forget the score but it was bad.

I brought lots of water that day because it was hot and the kids went through all of them before half time. This was a sweet moment between brothers and I couldn't help but document it.

I'll keep you updated on the success of the Browns. It should be a great season.

Ear Surgery Again?!

Poor sweet Kelland. He has had so many problems with his ears. He has had 2 sets of tubes already and his adenoids out. But he still had ear infections. This time they put permanent T-tubes in. These wont come out until they are taken out And that wont be for at least 3 years. Which, by that time, we hope he can be over this stage of his life.

We had his hearing checked because he wouldn't listen very well. For about a year he had significant hearing loss in one ear because it was blocked. He has never had good balance and because of that he is very clumsy and he runs funny. I hope that this will help him and he can start to run normal. He is starting school and kids can be cruel. (Yes his run is that bad)

I could tell when we got there that he remembered. He was walking like he was going to his doom. Head down, dragging his feet and sighing every once in a while. I felt so bad for him. I have to say he did great though. Very brave. He took his goofy juice like a man, which was a big deal because the last 2 times he would spit it out everywhere. Also, after the goofy juice started working and they were ready to take him I would walk half way with him in my arms and they would have to pull him away from me with that confused, groggy look on his face. This time he just hopped into his bed and they wheeled him away. He barely seemed to care that I was still there. I actually missed him clinging to me. It made me realize he is growing up. And I miss him.

Waiting for all the doctors to come in can be pretty boring. But we made up for it. Oh the fun you can have when you have a camera. (he always likes to play like he is asleep for the camera. I know, I don't get it either but it sure is funny)

He had the camera for a while. This was the only picture that made sense. I sat there and posed several times but he wouldn't take the picture unless I was waving. Funny huh?

I took this picture because he was starting to act real funny. And you could just see on his face that the goofy juice, as they put it, was taking effect.

So into bed he went.

And off to dream world. Sweet dreams my sweet baby................ Oh they grow up so fast.

Just to prove it here was is first ear surgery. He wasn't quite 2 yet I don't think. But really in the space of 3 years he has changed this much. That is mind-boggling! Don't you think? (Isn't he so cute and precious! I could just eat him up he was so cute!) Also, just on a side note........ This was taken before he started getting treatments for his Immune deficiency. Look how pale he was. I knew then that my 3 boys were pale and that this was the cause of it but to see how different he is now is kind of amazing. I just found that interesting. (See Natalie and Tiffany it does help)

I put these two pictures in because it goes to show that some things don't change. Just funny that I got the same picture without knowing it.

What a cutie! He recovered very well and I am happy to say that we are already seeing improvements in his balance and hearing. Thank goodness! Hopefully we wont have to worry about it for a long time.

I am Grateful for music!

I don't know if you have noticed my list to the right of all the things I'm grateful for. Well I just added another.....Music. What would life be without music. Everybody enjoys it. I know people who always have a tune in their heads and I've gone to school with people who dreamed of being on Broadway and would sing their way through life. Even my husband, as he drifts of to sleep, starts tapping his foot and moving his fingers to the silent beat in his head. (always makes me laugh, that's a musician for you) I was never one of these people but music is still something I don't want to live without. I love the little things in life and music seems to be part of those little things sometimes. Like when your really having a bad day and all of the sudden you hear an up beat song and it puts a smile on your face and you just have to move and dance. Like this song for me..... SUDDENLY I SEE, from KT Tunstall.

Or songs that empower you. Like DARE YOU TO MOVE from Switchfoot.

Switchfoot has a lot of songs like this but I manly like them because Don likes them and we have been listening to them for years. We've gone to a few of their concerts and the songs hold a lot of different memories. Another thing I love about music. Everywhere we've lived we have music to go with it. On road trips we like to pull out our CD collection and reminisce about all the songs and where we lived when it first came out. Don and I have known each other close to 20 years now so we have quite a collection. This is one of my favorite things to do.We also like to watch TV together. One of our favorites is Scrubs on NBC now (I think) Anyway this song HOW TO SAVE A LIFE from the Frey is on one of our favorite episodes. And when I hear it, it will always remind me of my husband and the fun we have being together watching simple TV. Oh how I miss this when he's gone. That feeling I don't ever want to forget. Also music that I hear when I was growing up like the whole JELLYFISH album. So many memories with cousins and family road trips. Thank you Natalie for finding them again.

When a song comes along that fits your life perfectly in that moment, It's magic. This happened to me a while back when I attended Time out for Woman. Michael McLean sang a song called Lullaby for me. The song to me was very moving. It was a long summer without my husband and every word he sang rang true and I couldn't stop crying. It explained my feelings so well. May be you have felt this way before.

This hasn't been a day that I would call my best.

I'd give myself a failing grade if this had been a test

I did not comfort you when you were all alone

I was to busy crying through some problems of my own

Today I have not been the Mom you needed me to be

And tonight I wish that you could sing a lullaby for me

I'm glad that you can sleep. I wish that I could too

I'm sorry that today I wasn't really there for you

I must have slipped away to some far distant land

Where I'm the child who cries until her mother takes her hand

Tomorrow I'll reclaim my proper place

I'll tuck you in and gently kiss your face

I'll do the things a mom's supposed to do

And I'll know what those things should be

Cause now I need them too

This hasn't been a day that I want to repeat

I'm sorry I could only say I'm sorry while you sleep

Today I have not been the mom you needed me to be

And tonight I wish that you could sing

A lullaby for me

Tonight I need someone to sing

A lullaby for me

And then he started playing the hymn

("Oh Savior stay this night with me, behold tis eventide")

And even now I get teary eyed because it felt so real to me. I left there feeling understood and loved. Yes, I had my days where I wasn't exactly the Mom they needed. But it was ok. I'm not alone in this feeling. What a wonderful blessing to have this song to remind me of this. I'm so grateful.

This song LUCKY from Jason Mraz was another that truly hit home for me. And I played it over and over again singing my heart out with mixed emotions of love and heart ache. I'm so lucky to be in love with my best friend but I missed him because he was across the ocean like the song says. And it has become our NEW song. Every word fit the situation. And I love it when that happens.

COME HOME By One Republic was a hard one to get through. Just after he left I went to a One Republic concert with a good friend of mine and he started this song with an explanation that he wrote this for a friend who's other half is in the desert fighting in this crazy war. And when he started to sing he was singing just to me. And it took everything i had not to loose it right there. I would later play it over and over singing (more like pleading) the chorus "come home Come home." I know it sounds so sad but it did bring me comfort. And Church music always brings me comfort. And it calms me more then any other kind of music can. Sometimes when I'm rushing here and there and the kids are fighting and whining I turn my church music on and it calms me. And I am sane again. The power of music has entered my life, yet again. And it consumes me. I hope you enjoy my play list. There are some really good tunes in there. Some you could truly be grateful for. I know I am.

Thank you for calling Pizza Hut. May I take your order?

My sister Natalie challenged all her readers a while back to post one of their embarrassing moments. And I meant to get to it but other things kept coming up and really, I forgot about it. She was even nice enough to create a very well illustrated drawing of that wonderful moment in my life. And I found it yesterday as I was cleaning out my email. So here we go...... Thank you Natalie for pushing me to humiliate myself. I can always count on you.

After giving my sister a hard time I have to admit that this really isn't that bad. It was more funny then embarrassing. But my face still turned a nice shade of pink, non the less. It was one of my very first jobs and I was working at Pizza Hut calling services. You know, "Will this be pick up or delivery?" It was just this big open room with rows of tables with computers and phones.Well it was Friday night, our busiest night, and I was getting tired. I answered the phone with "Thank you for calling Pizza Butt! OH I MEAN..." immediately I heard the guy on the other line burst out laughing. Also the person next to me started laughing and I was so flustered I just hung up on the guy. The person next to me was a friend (thank goodness) and we just laughed about it. I didn't live that down for a long time after. You would think that they would have heard somebody do that before. But they assured me no one had. Whatever! I was a legend in the eyes of my coworkers, or so I told myself. When I got home to tell my family, everybody enjoyed it. Again it was really just funny. A mistake any one of us would make.........Right? Anyway,That was one of many embarrassing moments. If you feel so inclined to do so, Post one of your embarrassing moments for all of us to enjoy. It's fun. And everybody always likes a good laugh. Maybe you're as talented as my sister and can create an image to illustrate to help visualize the moment better. Thanks again Nat. I hope you enjoyed it!