A sad, rainy day

I didn't know Karen Clifton. I wish I had so I could have said "thank you" before it was too late. She was a girl from Mt. Zion who was killed last week in Iraq. From all accounts, she was happy to be in the Army and felt that she was doing important work. She died doing something she really believed in. I don't know how I feel about the war. I hate to see people--especially our soldiers--being killed. I do know that I support the people that are over there trying to do the right thing for all of us. I also know that my heart is breaking for the Clifton family. As a mother, I cannot imagine losing a child--ever. I'm sure it meant a lot to them today to see hundreds of people lined up along the highway in Mt. Zion to welcome Karen home. I ended up going the opposite direction of the procession so I pulled over (so did everyone else, thank goodness!) And sat in my car until it was ready to pass by me. It was pouring down rain and I didn't have an umbrella but it seemed wrong to sit in my car while it was going by. When this girl gave up her life for our country it seemed pretty trivial to get soaked in the rain. I cried and cried and I still cry when I start thinking about that poor family and all the other families who have gone through the same thing. Please keep them in your prayers.

Chuck

I seem to favor using two pictures on a layout. One never seems to tell the whole story and three or more can start to look crowded. See the little tooth in the center of one of the bottom circles? I asked Parker if I could put his actual tooth on the page and he said, "Go make a color copy and use that." Good thinking buddy! See, it's a good thing I have him around. Just imagine how much I'm going to depend on him to do my thinking when he gets older! He already thinks he knows everything--I'm sure that only gets worse.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese in Bloomington yesterday for a little getaway. I wanted to go to the scrapbook store and a few other places. I finally wised up and got Happy Meals on the way because they NEVER eat at Chuck E. Cheese. I had a coupon for 100 tokens for $10.00. We were there for about an hour and a half. They are at a weird age where they are too big for the baby stuff and too little for the video games for older kids. However, they have a good time. Parker loves air hockey. I always did too when I was a kid. Jack just goes around putting token into games and staying for about 3 seconds and then running somewhere else. A smart kid would follow him and finish playing all his games. Chuck E. Cheese is another place to make observations about people. Not nearly as amusing as the water park though. I saw a women carrying around a baby who could not have been more than a few weeks old. If I could think of the most germ infested place to take a new baby--other than a public restroom or the doctor's office--it would be Chuck E. Cheese. My doctor always told me not to take newborn out into public for the first few months. I disobeyed that suggestion, but I sure wouldn't have taken a two week old to Chuck E. Cheese. I also saw a women leave her baby who was probably about 15 months old by himself why she took the big brother to the bathroom. Of course, the little guy realizes that mommy is no where around and starts crying and searching for her. I looked around for her but didn't see her so I picked him up and stood by their table with her crying kid. (She took her purse but not her baby.) When she came back I said, "He couldn't find mommy and was pretty upset so I thought I better keep an eye on him." She consoled him and I think she was embarrassed. I didn't mean to embarrass her but come on--take him with you. Oh yes, I saw a woman who had really low rider jeans on but she had rolled down the waistband to make them even lower. She had the body to pull it off. Why wear jeans at all? One final note, it is not safe to be anywhere near Jack playing skee ball.

Christmas in June

Joy and A Trip Down Memory Lane

I just love these photos of Jack. Our neighbor, Steve Bowman, was kind enough to make a CD with all the pictures from his grandaughter's birthday party. Jack was so cute riding that horse. He wasn't scared at all and just had a smile on his face the whole time. These pictures were the beginning of my thinking that I really, really, really want a new camera. The close up of Jack was taken from all the way across the yard, but it's so sharp. I don't need anything fancy, just something with more megapixels and more zoom capability. I also need it to have a sports setting where you can take photos really fast. I actually love my camera, but I think it's time to move on up. So, I'll just go out back and pick a few bills off our money tree and run out and buy one. My want list is soooo much bigger than my bank account.

This book was one of my favorites as a kid. Can you even imagine a book with this title being printed now? I'm sure it would be banned from libararies. Obviously it has absolutely nothing to do with homosexuals but it does make you wonder what the book is about, doesn't it? It could have been called "Something STRANGE Is Going On" or "Something WEIRD Is Going On." My Grandma always had the best books. She signed my cousin, John, up for the Scholastic Book Club and they always had so much to read. She also bought him these children's encyclopedias which were just awesome. She still has all the books and the encyclopedias which I like to borrow for my kids. At this point they don't love them as much as I did, but they will. My parents used to ship us off to Grandma's for a week every summer. When we weren't outside (which was 99% of the time because that's what kids did when we were little!) I was reading books--everything I could get my hands on. Those were the days! I remember getting awfully homesick back then. I wonder what in the world my parents did for that week!? Hey, shouldn't I be shipping my own kids off for a week? I would miss them too much. Well, maybe not. Somehow I don't think it would work the same since we live 2 minutes away from my parents. My Grandma lives in St.Elmo which is a little over and hour away. However, if we told the boys that we were out of town and our house was locked..............................
****Edited to respond to my sister who has left a comment.
The reason that my Grandma memories are different from Tracy's memories are because when we got shipped down there for a week, I stayed with Grandma and Tracy stayed with our Aunt Ann. I liked to play with John who lived at Grandma's house and Tracy liked to play with our cousin Kyra. I don't know what other memories Tracy doesn't remember. She has selective memory anyway. ;-) She is making me sound like I make stuff up for my blog. I need to have her make a list of stuff she remembers and see if I remember it too.

Sweet Little jack

This didn't turn out like I envisioned it, but I still like it. It reminds me of a 50's diner. My mom said it reminds her of a fair.

Water Park Observations

Note to self--don't have children facing the sun when taking photos. Nice squinty faces guys!

Yesterday the boys and I went to Knight's Action Park in Springfield for a day of fun at the water park. This is the first time Jack has ever been and I wasn't really sure how he would do. Fortunately, he is a little bit skittish about water, so there was no running off for him. We had a few logistical problems figuring out how to do the Lazy River and the wave pool with both of them wanting their own intertubes. Everyone has to be in a tube, so it was kind of tricky but I finally managed to talk Jack into sharing with me. (There was no finesse here, I basically said, "if you don't ride with Mommy, you are going to drown.") It was a very enjoyable, expensive day ($55.00 for the 3 of us and we were there for 3 1/2 hours) When we left, Parker said, "you didn't give me any minutes." I didn't know what he was talking about but he explained that I didn't tell him 15 more minutes, then 10, then 5. He's right. I just said that we were going to have to leave in a little bit. Ooops. He is right. I shouldn't forget the minutes. Because my children are not exactly the adventurous type, they didn't wander far and wouldn't even dream about going down a big waterslide. This means that they played peacefully nearby while I had all the time in the world to observe the many wonders of a water park. I'm not talking fountains and slides, people, I'm talking OTHER PEOPLE!!!! You see some really amazing things when everyone is in a bathing suit. When I see women who definitely should not be wearing a bikini, my first thought is always, "gross". (Don't get all offended--this is what I think about my own body in a bikini!) Then I start to think, well, good for them. If they are confident enough to go out in public all lumpy and bumpy and squishy and spilling out--then more power to them. I certainly don't have that kind of confidence. I also like the women who come in complete make-up with hair done and jewelry in place. Even if you aren't planning to get in the water, it is a water park. There is no place for fussiness. However, you don't have to be a disgusting slob and there is plenty of that too. And lots and lots of tattoos. BIG ones. I also made an observation that young mothers seem to look better in a bathing suit than those of us who had children later in life. Even if you are thin, things just aren't where they used to be. Unless, of course, you are lucky enough to be surgically helped putting it back where it belongs. There was plenty of that too. Lucky dogs. I saw a women nursing right there in the pool in the most discreet way I have ever seen and she didn't have anything with her--no blanket, no towel, not even a tissue. She just used her hand to cup her baby's face and you couldn't see a thing. In fact, I will bet that most people didn't even know what she was doing. I have no problem with nursing in public if it is done discreetly. However, I wouldn't give my baby a bottle in the pool, so maybe that wasn't the best place for a feeding. Bravo for her though for finding a way so that my boys didn't see her boobs and ask me a bunch of questions that I don't really feel like I should have to answer at the water park or the mall or the zoo. I am going to make sure that my boys know to be aware of people around them and to be polite. Many, many of the older kids either don't know about this quality, or they forgot it. We were constantly getting bumped and splashed and kicked by big kids. When we were in the 2 foot water which is supposed to be for the preschool set. I saw something truly disgusting. Not much turns my stomach and I am definitely not one to be overly concerned about germs and such. (Which I swear is why my children very rarely get sick. KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!!!) However, I saw a man with some kind of skin condition that was so gross it almost made me gag. He had these large scars all over his torso. I couldn't tell if they were open wounds, but I'm sure hoping they weren't. I have never seen anything like it and I hope I never do again. Bleck!!!! I seriously thought about getting out of the pool in case he was some kind of bio-terrorist who was infecting the whole wave pool with leprosy. Man it was gross. Poor man. I'm sure he got lots of stares. Maybe he should think about getting one of those water shirts to wear when he goes to the pool. Because if I was grossed out, I can think of several friends who might have actually lost their lunch and went up to the ticket booth to ask for a refund. So, we had a good day at the water park and I'm sure we will go back soon. I can't wait to try out my new bikini! ;-)

Mission Organization--Part 1

So last week my friend Dawn came over to help me organize my dining room/scrapbook office. She has the cleanest, most organized house I have ever seen and she LOVES to do this kind of thing, so I finally swallowed my pride and let her see my mess in all it's glory. Trust me, it is very hard to admit that you don't know how to clean. Cleaning seems like it should be natural, logical process, but it isn't for me. My house isn't really dirty, it's just messy. I hate it, Travis hates it--it's embarrassing, but yet, I can't seem to get a handle on it. Anyway, Dawn has vowed to straighten me out--literally. She is amazing! The first thing we did was take everything except the furniture out of the room. Yipes! Lots and lots and lots of stuff. This is where I always put things that just didn't seem to have a home. Then we cleaned. So I wiped down the table and the chairs and Dawn says, "Did you remember to wash the legs and the spindles?" What??? You are supposed to do that too? I have to admit that it honestly never even occurred to me. I only do that if I actually see something on them to wipe off. That is why Dawn is here to help me! So after everything was shiny clean, we started putting stuff back in the room. She had so many great ideas and a clear idea of how the room should function. It looks a million times better and it is already "working" better for me. Even Parker and Jack are enjoying the improvements. Oh yes, I should mention that it took us 5 hours to do what we did and it isn't completely finished because we have a rather large (but manageable) pile of stuff that still needs to find a more appropriate home somewhere else. I was sooooo dog tired that night I practically fell into bed! On to the next room!!!!!!!!!!

And here is a scrapbook page that I did instead of doing the homework that Dawn assigned to me (which is done now so don't get all freaked out Dawn!)

1 Month

This is my most unfavorite portrait of Parker. It just doesn't really look like him. It was taken at Walmart. I think that rug behind him looks like a bath mat. Oh well, even if it's a bad picture, it's still nice to have a photo of that moment in his life. Sorry Jack. I have really let you down in this area!
On our way home from golf this morning I saw a turtle crossing the road. Then I saw a truck deliberatley hit it. The turtle went flying. For some reason, I find this very disturbing. I mean, turtles are the least offensive of almost any animal I can think of. Why would you try to hit one? Jerk. He's probably still laughing about it too. I'm not an animal lover, but come on, a turtle!?

Parker at 2

In the big clean-up of my scrapbook room/dining room, I found some BIG portraits of Parker. (Poor Jack doesn't get taken to the photo studio much.) Anyway, they are too big to keep in an album, so I cut them down (which was hard even though I had no other use for them) and scrapped them. This is a total scraplift of Shannon Tidwell. I keep a journal for both of the boys and these words were what I wrote on the eve of Parker's 2nd birthday. A good reminder for me today because he woke up whining and hasn't stopped since.

This is the page I scraplifted. There is no shame in scraplifing--if you see something you like, go for it! Just make sure that you acknowledge that you didn't come up with the idea, otherwise it's stealing (that's for you Bob Dondeville!)

More Dad pages

Walk With Me Grandpa

This is one of my all time favorite pages that I've ever done. First of all you can't beat the cute pictures. Second of all, I looooooooooove this paper and have just been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it. Thirdly, finding a poem to fit the pictures was the icing on the cake. Love it if I do say so myself!
- We went to the mall today and the boys were pretty darn good.
- Then I got a headache and we had to leave.
- I still have a headache.
- Parker just came up to me and said, "Is there anything I can do for you?" Then he gave me a hug. I hope he's always so sweet.
- Our neighbors had a garage sale today and the boys wanted to go, but I told them they wouldn't find anything because they just have a little girl and they would only have girl stuff. Well, Buddy took them down there and guess what? The dad is a Star Wars collector and was getting rid of a bunch of stuff--dirt cheap. They hit the mother-load. Actually, they each got an action figure, my dad picked up 4 of the movies, I bought 4 books and Parker found a model that he can do when he's 12. All for $7.00. I made them wait until I looked on ebay to see if any of it was worth anything before they opened it. It was, but not worth enough to hassle with ebay.
- Parker threw up in the van after golf this morning. Oops--too much heat and not enough nourishment and water. My fault. He made a very quick recovery. He is a seasoned barfer so he grabbed an empty bag when he felt it coming on. Quick thinking Parker!
- Jack already broke Parker's Star Wars action figure.

Helping Hands

Parker is 6 months old in this picture. He was already crawling and pulling himself up to stand. What a little maniac he used to be! Somewhere along the way he became much more cautious.

Daddy and Jack

Parker said a very naughty word today and my parents heard him. And then he told them he learned that word from me. He's right. But did he have to tell on me!? Well, guess what? I'm not perfect and on occasion, I get pretty mad and use a bad word. I guess I will have to be a little more careful though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daddy

I was very into simplicity for a while. These are my all time favorite pictures of Travis and Parker. Notice that Travis is scowling at me, but not as bad as usual when I point the camera toward him.

A baseball weekend

- a hotel with an outdoor pool just isn't as much fun as a hotel with an indoor pool
- rain delays STINK
- My thoughts on sunflower seeds: they make a huge, HUGE mess. They take a lot of work for very little payoff.
- Concession stands at the ballpark can me a mother's best friend (ice cold water, a hot dog) or worst enemy (popsicles, pixie sticks, nerds ropes).
- If a five year old spends enough time around 14 year olds, he will start to act like one.
- Boys never seem to grow out of being gross.
- Or wrestling.
- Or making messes.
- Or whining.
- It's amazing you can be leading 5-1 and one out away from winning the championship when the other team's big hitter comes in and knocks in a double with a runner on second.
- We got second place.
- That still qualifies them to go to the World Series.
- I love the families on Travis' team.
- Parker is getting big enough that I don't see much of him during the games. He is off finding other kids and playing with them.
- I'm proud that he is able to make friends, but a little sad that he's growing up and away from me.
- Jack has made buddies with several of the dads on the team.
- They love him.
- No self-respecting baseball dad can resist when a cute little blonde kids with that ornery twinkle in his eye climbs up on your lap and asks if you can show him how to eat sunflower seeds.
- My kids did so many cute things this weekend: Jack colored with a little friend for at least 30 minutes; Parker set up a "camp" under the bleachers and instructed all the other kids on how to camp; Parker got in on a baseball game with a bunch of girls that looked to be about 12. He could barely lift the bat; of course, Jack with the dads
BUT
I forgot my camera.

We're off!

This is kind of old. I was really into handwriting for a while. We are headed out this afternoon for a baseball tournament so I won't have computer access until Monday. That is going to be hard for me. I have become a blogging (reading others and posting on my own) addict.

We got a recall notice on our dishwasher. They will give you a $150.00 rebate on a new washer. The problem is that I am not comfortable using it until we are able to get a new one. Crap, now I'm going to have to do my dishes by hand.

Parker is back in his hitting slump. He loves baseball and I know that he will begin to get frustrated if he doesn't figure it out soon. Yes, he's only five, but when almost all the other players (even the ones who have their heads in the clouds) are getting hits, he's going to start to wonder what's wrong with him. We'll get it figured out.

Have a great weekend.

my Father's Day tribute

In honor of Father's day, I'm only going to post layouts about the dads in my life for the next week. I don't have too many of Travis with the boys because he scowls at the camera. Or rolls his eyes. Or doesn't look at the camera. Basically every photo looks like crap which doesn't make me want to scrap them.

I didn't stick to my "no fast food" rule for the week. We got Culver's (for me and Jack) and McDonald's (for Parker.) It was a simple case of poor planning on my part. Parker had a game last night and we didn't eat before and by the time the game was over, it was really too late to make anything. I also really like Culver's.

Parker entertained me and our neighbor all afternoon because he was in imagination overdrive. He is so clever when it comes to finding gear to outfit himself to "be" something. Today he was a police officer/investigator. He had me make a badge and an identification card (made to flip open like a real officer). He loaded down his pockets with handcuffs, plastic baggies, plastic gloves, gun (a red and white power ranger water gun for those of you who are anti-toy gun). And then he went searching for clues. He began picking up cigarette butts and wanted to figure out who the different kinds belonged to. He even made Don, our neighbor, take him to "question" our other neighbor, Mike--a known smoker. God love Don (and Mike) for playing along! When Parker was really little he used to sit over at Don and Patti's and look through Don's tackle box. He was mesmerized by all the different flys (don't worry there were no hooks) One time, a part of a bright pink rubber salamander showed up in his diaper. It must have looked tasty! We are sooooo lucky to have awesome neighbors! That is something no amount of money could ever buy.

It is 12:16 a.m. and I am not feeling tired yet. That is not good.

Good night.

Deep Thoughts with Sara Foreman

- Parker woke up this morning around 6:30 and said, "I fell asleep with gum in my mouth and now it's everywhere." Talk about a crappy way to wake up. And he wasn't kidding. It was everywhere. Not just a big glob. It was like it had a chemical breakdown overnight and was now in tiny little sticky pieces all over him and the sheets. (my sheets because he sleeps with me which is a whole other story) Luckily, Goo Gone removed the worst of it and it was grape so you can't really see it in his hair. I hate gum.
- Tracy and Ryan's house was hit by lightning this past weekend. They were in Nashville and the babies were here. It caught fire but was put out quickly. There is a lot of mess and damage to the walls/floors/ceilings, but everything else seems to be fine.
- My goal this week is to not go to any fast food restaurants. Not because I'm being health conscious--because we will be out of town Fri-Sun and every meal will be fast food. That get's expensive so I'm avoiding it this week to save money.
- I should do it for health reasons too.
- But I really love french fries.
- I can't think of too many fried things I don't like.
- It shows.
- I have two inch roots that I will be getting highlighted on Thursday. I always wait to long and then end up looking like a fool with half black/half yellow hair.
- I'm starting to waiver on my "grow my hair out until I'm 40" promise.
- I had better get back upstairs.
- I have written out a tentative schedule for our family and I really would like to see it work. However, today was supposed to be the first day and the gum threw the whole thing off. Maybe tomorrow!