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Saturday, October 29, 2011

Fall Followers Fest!

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Who doesn't love a good blog hop? 

Casey teamed up with some other lovely ladies IllyDanielle, and Jess to host the fun.

If you are new here, let me tell you a little about myself.

Sure, you could click on all the tabs at the top of my blog and find out more information about me than you'd ever want to know.  I'll spare you a step and tell you the Reader's Digest version.

I'm a 34 year old wife and mommy.

I'm married to my best friend, Mark.  That may sound cliche but it's true.  He makes me a better person and there's not anyone else I'd rather spend time with than him.  We've been happily married for 9 years (it'll be 10 in June 2012, woo hoo!).

I have two incredible little boys.  They are AMAZING!  Will is about to turn 5 and Ben turned 2 in June.  Life is an adventure with them.  As I type this, they are playing in the dirt in my garden.  I love little boys!



{Photos by Lauren}

 I'm also a junior high history teacher.  I've taught for 10 years.

I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere in Texas.  I started blogging because I loved reading other blogs.  When I started blogging I had no idea that I'd find such a community in the blogosphere.  Since I live in such a small town it can be hard to find people who have similar interests.  I've "found my people" through blogging.  I've made so many special friendships with people from California to Long Island.  The connection is hard to explain to others who don't blog.  You know what I mean?  I'm sure you can relate.

If you are new to my blog, some of my writing has been more serious lately.  It's just a reflection of life, which has been a challenge.  I've been heavyhearted in the last few months.  We've struggled with the death of my grandfather and other challenges like my father-in-law's diagnosis with cancer.  Through it all we've been able to remember who is in control.  I'm forever grateful for the love of Christ and the grace and patience of God.

I'm thankful for my faith which sustains me.  I'm thankful for my church, friends, family and so many other things, big and small, I'm blessed with.

This blog is all about our family, faith, life in a small town, traveling, friendship, clothes, maybe a recipe here or there and lots of other randomness.  Sometimes serious sometimes silly.

Thank you for stopping by and leave a comment to say hi.  I'd love to get to know you!

Friday, October 28, 2011

HipstaFriday

Since I use the Hipstamatic App instead of Instagram, I titled the post HipstaFriday--get it.  I can't think of anything clever to call these posts so that's as good as it gets.  I suppose I could just title it InstaFriday and put the date, but that's about as original and creative as my WIWW post titles.  I could also call it Phone Dump Friday, but that's not very appealing.  Anything with the word 'dump' shouldn't be in my title.  I will stop there.

Let's get to the photos!

*These are in no chronological order whatsoever.


I have been known to try take photos of my boys at inconvenient times.   A couple of weeks ago we went to the grocery store to buy milk.  We trying to get in and out quickly but I just had to take a couple of photos of Ben and Will by the pumpkins.  I love fall, can you blame me?

Ben cooperated, but while I was taking this photo Will was knocking over piles of pumpkins.


I finally got Will to sit still so I could take one photo of him.


Saturday we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  Yum-O!

The boys enjoy playing in the country store as much as I enjoy the pancakes and bacon.


Ben really likes to look at the fish at Wal-Mart.  I do, too.




Will is not a big fan of hats or caps.  I have no idea why he decided to wear this one. Since he rarely wears a cap, I knew I'd better take a photo because he won't wear one again.  Ben's the opposite.  He loves to wear caps.  On a side note, Will looks so big in this photo.  I can't believe he will be 5 years old in less than a week!  Where does the time go?


This is the entrance to Fuddruckers.  The boys thought the footprints were so cool.

Those are awful big shoes to fill, Ben!



This should be after the pumpkin photo.  It was taken the same day.  I wasted time here because I had to get a photo of Will and Ben pushing the little shopping carts.  Thank goodness the grocery store wasn't very crowded because the boys can get a little crazy pushing the carts around.  Mark and I took several hits to the ankle and calf.


This was taken at the beginning of October when we celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday.  Will thinks every birthday meal has to be followed by frozen yogurt at Yumi-Licious.  I have to admit that it's not a bad idea.  Papa Jerry shared his yogurt with Ben.

Mamaw Carol and Ben


I didn't know that Honeycrisp apples were seasonal.  The lady at Sam's who offered samples informed all about Honeycrips apples.  I bought a huge bag at Sam's and I also bought a gallon of Honeycrisp apple cider. 



I got some earrings from Ike and Co today in the mail!  I might be just a little obsessed with her shop.  No seriously, Angie is the best and her jewelry is beautiful.  You'll definitely be seeing the new goodies in my WIWW posts.


This week Will and Ben have had a stomach bug that's going around.  Yuck!  Thank goodness both are on the mend.  The boys' bathroom counter looked like this.  I have an arsenal of cleaning supplies and disinfectants.  I also have my old standby bleach that didn't make the photo.

I've done countless loads of laundry.  It's not easy to operate the washing machine at 3:00a.m.


Texas Rangers
World Series
So intense!  My husabnd is true fan of all the Dallas sports teams--Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks and Texas Rangers.  I didn't think anything could top the Mavs winning the NBA championship this summer.  A Texas Rangers World Series definitely could.  Game 6 was intense and my husband may have a few more gray hairs because of it.  It's so disappointing that the Rangers lost and have to play Game 7.  For my husband and all of the other loyal Rangers fans, I hope they can make it happen.  I know he wasn't the only guy going crazy during the game.  All I had to do was check my facebook updates and so many people posted that their husbands couldn't take it.  I could relate.  I was texting back and forth with my brother the entire game.  He was super disapointed, too.  I'm still a fan...Let's Go Rangers!!!



Silly Will

Silly Ben

life rearranged





Flashback Friday: Halloween

I love Halloween!

Growing up I lived outside of a small rural town in the country.  There were no neighborhoods to go trick-or-treating.  We had a Halloween Carnival (or is it politically correct to say Fall Festival) where we could dress up at my school, but other than that Halloween was something I didn't get to celebrate. 

When Mark and I married and built our little house in town I was so excited about our first Halloween.  I bought lots of candy and waited in anticipation for our first trick-or-treaters.  I had the best time seeing all of the kids (and some grownups) in their costumes.

About five years ago we started giving away candy for our church at our town's local Halloween festival "Halloween on the Square".  Local businesses, organizations and churches line the streets of our downtown square and all of the kiddos walk around and fill up their bags with candy.  There are bounce houses and a costume contest.  These are the things I love about living in a small town.  It's safe and so much fun. 

Since Halloween is one of my favorite times of year, and I've only been blogging since May 2010, I wanted to flashback to some of my favorite images of the boys dressed up for Halloween.  Get ready for some photo overload!


Will
2007
This was Will's first Halloween.  He was just about to turn a year old.  He's always loved monkeys so when we saw this costume we knew it would be perfect for him.  It was so neat to get Will dressed in his adorable costume and go downtown.  I remember the weather was perfect and we all had such a good time.

Will at his first Halloween on the Square.

Probably one of my favorite photos ever of Mark and Will.
 

Will
2008
Will was almost two and I was pregnant with Ben.  I had pretty yucky morning sickness and was exhausted because I was still in the first trimester.  We decided to go with the super hero theme and Will was Batman.  The Batman mask stayed on for about 2 minutes so the rest of the evening he just wore the costume minus the mask.  Still very cute!

This was his first year to get in the bounce house. 

Trying to get him to pose for a photo was as hard as it was then as it is now. 

Will and Ben
2009
This was such a special Halloween.  I love celebrating holidays with both boys.  Ben was four months old.  This spider costume was perfect for my little guy.  He was my Itsy Bitsy Spider.


I love the expression on his face in this photo.  If we could put a thought bubble above his head it might read, "What the heck have my parents made me wear?"

Will was the King of the Jungle.  So far, Will's lion costume and monkey costume have been my favorite.  We were pleasantly surprised when Will kept the hood to his costume up all night.  He also let me paint his face, which made the costume complete.

More bounce house fun :)

I still have this photo framed on my desk at school.  Since I was still recovering from Bell's Palsy, this photo was one of the first where I actually felt like myself after months of facial paralysis.

Could he be any cuter?!?  I think not!

I wish I could go back in time and kiss those sweet baby cheeks!

The fun is over.  Time to go home.
Did you notice Ben's super cute baby Chuck Taylors?  Awesome!

Will and Ben
2010
I wrote a couple of posts here, here, and here about Halloween last year.

Will was Buzz Lightyear and we recycled Will's first costume and Ben was a monkey. 

Halloween
2011
We're going with the super hero theme again.  Ben will be Batman and Will is going to be Spiderman.  I can't wait to take photos on Monday when we are at Halloween on the Square.

Hope you have a safe and fun time trick-or-treating!



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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Heaven and Earth

When you deal with the death of someone close you can't help but think about the afterlife.  As a Christian, I have the hope of Heaven.  I find peace and comfort in that, but I won't lie, it's difficult to have a complete and total understanding of such an abstract idea.  I know the Bible teaches about what we must do to have a home in heaven, but it's still hard to comprehend.  It's the unknown. 

How do you explain the unknown?

I struggled with how to explain the death of my grandfather (who was like my father) to Will who is four.  Because Will is smart and observant I worried about how to tell him Papa Ralph passed away.  I worried that his death might create a phobia of getting sick, being in the hospital and nursing homes because Papa had been sick, he'd been in the hospital and the nursing home.  I worried about creating a fear of going to sleep.  I worried so much on top of all of the grief and sadness.  I decided to seek advice from a couple of older and wiser individuals.  There's a lady at my church, Kathryn, she's a mom to grown children who are all faithful Christians.  I figured she and her husband have done something right so I trust her advice.  Kathryn told me to answer questions as Will asked them and don't overdo it.  She said kids ask what they want to know and sometimes we can overly explain something and make it more complicated.  I liked the simplicity of her answer.  That's the approach I took.

We found out early in the morning of September 22nd that Papa Ralph passed away.  That was a Thursday, and I didn't tell Will until Sunday.  I needed time to grieve and process all of my feelings.  I wanted to make sure that I was thoughtful and calm when I talked to him. 

On Sunday we went to visit my grandma in the nursing home.  Ben had asked for Papa Ralph all day long.  He's only two so Papa Ralph was just a part of our normal visitation routine and he didn't understand why he wasn't with us when we visited the nursing home.  Will, on the other hand, knew Papa had been sick and still thought he was in the nursing home, which was different than the one where my grandma lives.  As we were leaving the nursing home, we were holding hands and walking to the car and I told Will . 

I said "Papa Ralph has passed away. He doesn't live on earth anymore. We can't visit him at his assisted living apartment, the hospital or the nursing home. We can still talk about him and look at pictures of him if we miss him." 

I think that's all I could say without crying.  Will never said a word.  He was very quiet and deep in thought.  He got into the car and sat very quiet.  I would turn around and check on him.  I told him that I loved him.  He never said anything.  I think he was processing it all.  I'm sure the events of the last several days finally made sense.  After several minutes, he finally said something.  He asked for some gum because I'd promised him a piece if he'd be good at the nursing home.  That reminded me that he's still four, and it brought a smile to us all in such a sad moment.

In the following weeks, we'd mention Papa Ralph and Will would say he doesn't live on earth anymore.  He also noticed that people sent plants and flowers.  He said, "When people don't live on earth, you send plants to them."  Funny observation.  He's also noticed that sometimes I cry when I'm sad.  He's cautious when he talks about Papa Ralph, but he has talked about him passing away.  I try to make an effort to talk about Papa because I want Will to know it's okay to still talk about him and remember him.

About a week ago, Will was sitting in his room reading his A is for Astronaut book.  When he got to letter E it showed a drawing of Earth.  He stared at it for a very long time.  He pointed to the black surrounding the earth and said, "This is not earth.  This is where Papa Ralph is.  He is in heaven."  Whenever he reads that book, he says "Papa Ralph is in heaven."  I reassure him that Papa has gone to be with God.


I took this photo of Will last night looking at his book.  He said the same thing when he got to the page with Earth.

You can see he is pointing the black area "Heaven" as he calls it.

I'm not sure what Will comprehends.  Sometimes I think it's a lot more than I give him credit for. 

I'm not sure if we did things the right way, but we did the best we knew how at the time.

Dealing with death is difficult, even more so when it's someone you are very close to.

We've taken the boys to funeral homes for viewings (or as we call them family nights/visitations).  We've also taken the boys to at least one funeral., but we have not ever had someone so close pass away.  My boys spent a lot of time with Papa Ralph.  We saw him almost every week.  My fear in the entire situation was that Will was old enough to understand what was going on, but too young to comprehend it all.  I didn't want him to infer things that were not right and have unhealthy fears or phobias of death because of it.  Of course, it's okay to be sad, but it's also important to know that death is a part of life.  A very difficult part of life, but it is how God has created us.

For all of my worry, things have been okay.  Will has been okay and I think has a better grasp of losing Papa than I imagined.  Will's simple observations have been a comfort.

I never imagined that a book not related to death and dying would have been what Will needed to make the connection between Papa Ralph passing and the afterlife.




Monday, October 24, 2011

More Kiddos, Less Me

Sometimes I feel like my blog has more photos of me than my children, family and friends.  Today I want to have more of them and less of me.  I really try to find a balance in blogging.  I like my WIWW posts, but I like even more that my blog keeps a record of our family.  I'm not great about keeping a journal so it's also been the perfect place to preserve special moments and everyday life.

I'm sharing my random ramblings on Miscellaneous Monday at lowercase letters and Lisa Leonard.

{one}
Ben is in a big boy bed!
We removed the front of his crib on October 13th and attached the toddler bed rail.  I was nervous about the transition.  I remember converting Will's crib to a toddler bed.  He stayed in it the first night, but as soon as he realized he could get out of bed he'd hit the ground running.  I remember Mark waiting in the hall to catch Will as he ran down the hall, and then putting him back to bed over and over.  It's funny now but not at the time.  I expected the same thing from Ben.  I was pleasantly surprised when he stayed in bed all night long.  He was even unsure if he could get up in the morning.  By now Ben's figured out that he can get in and out, but he's staying in his bed much longer than I ever thought.  Nap time is a little tricky.  He gets in bed, but as soon as I leave the room he's up playing.  He plays for a little bit and then settles down and usually goes to sleep.  In the mornings, instead of screaming for me to come and get him, like he did when he was still in his crib, he gets out on his own.  If I'm still in bed, he and Will start watching cartoons in the living room.  Of course, this wakes me up, but it's nice to wake up to the boys playing instead of waking up to screaming.

Ben has to have his blankie and lots of animals.

This photo was taken just after we finished attaching the toddler rail.  Ben's nice and comfy and Will wants to check it out, too.  Will even went to his room and brought Ben an extra pillow.  I thought that was super sweet.

Sometimes they like to get in Ben's bed and read books.  I love this!

{two}
On October 24th we had a family reunion at Bonham State Park.  Each fall we meet up with my mother-in-law's family.  Last year we went to Cooper Lake State Park (read about it here).  It was beautiful weather and everyone enjoyed spending time together. 

Will had fun playing with his cousins and extended cousins.  Sidewalk chalk and bubbles travel easily.  We usually bring those to the reunion to occupy the kiddos. 

My mother-in-law is on the right.  In the photo is her sister, great-niece, niece and granddaughter. 

{three}
Spaghetti (or as Ben says "sga-betti)
Wow!  It makes such a mess.  I guess that's why my boys love it so much.
Did you notice the noddle on his head?  Good times!

Did you notice the noddles on the table? 

Who knew dinner time could be so much fun? 

{four} 
Saturday the boys played outside in the perfect weather.  They lined up their cars and they were ready for an adventure.  They told me they were going to the cafe.  They also had to stop and get gas along the way.  Their imaginations are phenomenal.  It's awesome to see them play together.  They have such a good time. 

I think Will is pointing the way to the cafe. 

Really, another picture? 

  
{five}
Drop by tomorrow and I'll be sharing some neat thoughts from Will.  Its his perspective on Heaven and Earth since my grandpa passed away.  Saturday it was a month since Papa's death and I couldn't help but be sad.  Will's sweet words made me feel better.

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