LAUGHING ALL THE WAY THROUGH

Honor's Day

2009-05-31T20:17:00.004-04:00

E2 got an award for having an all A average for the year! Great job! We are so proud of you. See how all your hard work has paid off? Keep up the great work!

Lessons with Lance

2009-05-30T14:46:00.012-04:00

Here are some shots of E1 working with Lance just after he came home.

Elizabeth making sure he is "kid proof".

E2 is our official "cool down rider" and he loves his job!

We have all falling in love with Lance. He makes us smile!

I'll post about his first show later. It was GREAT!

LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL!!!!

2009-05-19T15:26:00.001-04:00

Need I say more?

HUGE Catch-up!

2009-05-12T16:19:00.009-04:00

I know I know...It's been way to long...bla, bla, bla! I promise if you make it to the end of this you will see why it has been so very long!

Christmas was great! J was home and we enjoyed a stress free holiday.

We had a wonderful time at my sister's house. And a nice quiet time at our house with J's family.

And then just a couple of weeks later E1 turned 14! I still can't believe that one! Loving all my new gray hair though!

What a blessing she has been for us! I love you sweet girl! Never change! Well...except maybe for the eye rolling, bossing your baby brothers, staying up late reading, how incredible difficult you are to wake up in the morning...No really...I love this girl!

And just 2 weeks after she turned 14, E2 turned 9! Yes its that wonderful age where for one more year you are a single digit old! What a really neat, kind, loving sweet boy you are! I have loved these last 9 years with you!

February marked the beginning of the horse show season. E1 had a great start! Her teammate was champion and she was reserved champion! Way to go girls! What a great start!

And then the search began to intensify! The search for what? You will never believe this one! J and I and E1's trainer had been talking about this for a while. Talking, looking, praying, looking...I know I drove her CRAZY and I still am!

After we both started to pray and got our Bible Studies to pray we found him! He is wonderful! He is so gentle and loving and soft and hard working and just a joy to be around!

Yes we did! We bought a horse! This is Lance. He is a 8 year old (will be 9 on May 17th) thoroughbred gilding. He is "off the track" and has his tattoo. We looked his ID up and his race name is SetMyHeartOnFire. Is that perfect or what?! After having him for the last 4 weeks we now know why he is "off the track". He is just to gentle to be a race horse! We are all still learning so much about him and him about us. Last week-end E1 took him to his 1st show. I'll have to tell about that one later. The 3 Es are complaining they are hungry. Hmm...imagine that!

Aahhhh...A Break!!

2009-02-24T15:44:00.005-05:00

Hmmm...O.K. a few have asked if I was ever going to "blog" again. Yes, Yes I am. I just needed a break first.

J was home over the holidays and all I wanted to do was soak up his being home before the outage season started back up. We even managed to have some friends over and they snagged a rare family picture!

How did E1 manage to get in the picture without me making her "GET THAT HAIR OUT OF YOUR EYES!!!" O.K. this is what we look like most of the time!

I have missed sharing the goofy life we live with you too! And don't worry...there's more to come, like birthdays, book store begging and another horse show!

Her 1st Show

2008-11-10T08:51:00.025-05:00

This Saturday Elizabeth took E1 to her 1st horse show. It was a day filled with great excitement. I got to watch Elizabeth coach E1 through her 1st show, watch Grace have an incredible show and allow Elizabeth to coach me through my first show as well.

I cry...a lot. I cry when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm excited, when I'm feeling lost or when I'm feeling accomplished. Needless to say...I cried a lot Saturday. Actually I didn't. I just didn't say anything all day because I knew if I did the tears would start and never end! I don't know why God made me this way. I just keep telling myself what Karen Kingsbury said to me when I got to meet her, "Don't worry about the tears. They make your eyes sparkle!" So I try to embrace that thought every time the tears come, and they come often!

OK back to the show...I was told by several friends that a horse show is a lot of "hurry up and wait". And they were so right!

Grace was showing 1st. She did so incredibly great! I can't even remember how many blue ribbons she got!

It was an honor to get to watch all of her and Elizabeth's hard work pay off. And to get to see what was in store for E1. Thanks Grace! You had a great show and it was an honor to get to watch you!

Saturday was special in many different ways. For E1, I'm sure just getting to go to her 1st show was special in and of itself but look who got to come too!

YES! J took the day off and got to watch too! It was a special day for all! The two of them had a great day together!

The girl has nerves of steal! If she was ever nervous, she never

showed us!

OK it was finally her turn to get in the arena and show Cricket. Elizabeth took her to the warm up arena 1st.

And then the fun started! These next few are of her showing.

She was entered in 6 different classes. These were HUGE classes too. I have never seen so many horses in an arena at one time! There were somewhere between 15 - 20 riders in these classes! The 1st 3 came and went without a win. Elizabeth was right there talking me all the way through them. What a great coach! I bet she never dreamed she would have to coach me too!! On the 4th class (a "cantor in groups" class) I was praying for God to shine a light on E1 that the judge could see. Yes Elizabeth had already told me not to expect to much at the 1st show. E1 was just getting her feet wet and we were here to see if she even enjoyed the whole experience.

This was a much smaller class. I think only 8 were in this one. Cricket is a pony Check out the size difference.

She is the 3rd from the left. They are lined up waiting for the announcer to call them in groups to canter around the arena for the judge to do her thing. Then they line up for the announcement of who won.

I was standing there with J on one side rubbing my neck (he knew I was chocking back the tears) and Elizabeth on the other when 1st place was called, then 2nd place, then 3rd place then 4th place was called to # 476, then 5th was called, wait wait wait!!! Number 476 is E1!!! She did it! She won a ribbon! She got 4th place!!! Needless to say the tears are coming even now as I type this!

We were all excited! Look at that smile!

She was then off to the warm-up arena to get ready for jumping.

She was ready, Cricket was ready. We waited and waited and waited...

Finally it was her turn! It was getting so late that the announcer had asked that the riders not make the "courtesy circle" but to enter the arena and go straight to the 1st jump. Lets just say after all that waiting, Cricket needed a "courtesy circle"! He stepped over, not jumped but STEPPED over the 1st 2 jumps! Elizabeth, J and myself laughed so hard!! Eden managed to get him to obey and he jumped the last 2!

We all thought she deserved a ribbon for not beating Cricket after that stunt!

Here she is with her ribbon!

Elizabeth kept us going all day! She taught me so much that day. What things meant, what was a good horse, a good rider, what judges look for and most of all...to keep laughing!

Thank you Elizabeth! We had a blast and she can't wait for the next season to start in March! You have truly blessed us! I could never come up with enough words to let you know how much you mean to us and to E1!

OK I know this was REALLY long and had too many pictures but...It was our 1st and so here are 2 more!

And I have to give Emmy and huge "THANK-YOU" too for letting her show

Cricket!

Grubbing

2008-11-09T18:28:00.007-05:00

Have you ever been grubbing? I know, it sounded corny to me too. My sister found this place in the North Ga. mountains. You can check out their web page: http://www.goldngem.com/ I got the directions, the address, plugged it into the GPS and off we went. The kids and I had fun. We found all kinds of stones such as amethyst, quarts, tiger's eye, raw rubies and raw emeralds and much more.

Let me explain more. What you do is you pay for a bucket of what looks like rocks and then stand at these troughs. You pour out some of the stone and dip you screen into the water washing off the dirt. You then look through your load picking out your treasures.

You can also pan for gold. This is much harder and VERY time consuming. Younger kids will enjoy this for all of about 45 sec.!

We had fun grubbing and going down the dirt road the GPS insisted we turn onto!

Halloween Fun

2008-11-09T14:12:00.007-05:00

This year we had E1 as a...hmmm...not sure what you call this. A blond Japanese maybe? E2 was Indiana Jones and E3 was Pikachu.

Halloween is a fun time. It's a time to dress up and visit with your neighbors. And of course a time to overindulge in candy. It's now more than a week later and that stuff just wont go away! Time to pack it up and share with others.

It was fun to watch all three get excited and get ready this year. I was afraid with E1 being 13 she would not show interest. Her friend saved the night with an invitation to one of the local colleges for a night filled with games and treats. She had fun, her friends had fun and I had fun watching her put together this outfit. Check out those eyelashes!

Yep, those are purple and silver lashes. Thank-you Wal-Mart!

Her friends were cute too. A Japanese blond, a pirate and a scary strange thingy.

Hope your family had as much fun as we did!

Finding a love

2008-11-09T10:32:00.012-05:00

It is interesting as a parent to watch our kids try new sports and different activities. Some we like OK, some we have found are just not for us. We have also learned so much about our kids too. E1- not competitive at all, E2 - just wants everyone to be happy (and not too loud), E3 can make a competition out of eating dinner. E1 has been to camp the past 4 summers. She is gone for 2 weeks. This camp has let her try new things without mom there to scare her out of them because of the "danger" involved. Each summer she has said horseback ridding was her favorite activity. Boy, I'm glad I was not there to talk her out of it. I tried to ignore this as much as possible. She was persistent though. Finally last year, after much research mind you, I knew I could not hold her back any longer. I found a GREAT/SUPER trainer that not only loves what she does but loves my kids too. Riding is so good for their self-esteem, great exercise and a huge confidence builder. E2 and E3 decided they wanted to ride too. Oh boy! So much to think about, so much to worry about! Elizabeth took us under her wing and not only taught our guys how to ride safely but taught me how to breath while watching! In no time she had E1 where she could walk, trot, canter with ease. Next came the hard part. Well the hard part for me! Jumping. Oh My!! As if watching your child on top of this huge animal was not hard enough, now you want my child to jump over those rails?!? Was she crazy? No, she wasn't. She knew my child's ability better than I did. E1 could not wait to jump and in no time she was. I can not begin to tell you how it feels to see your love, a piece of your heart, go jumping through the air on the back of an animal that I will be honest about, scared me to death! So you see, not only have E1, E2 and E3 learned so much, I have too. I love these animals now! My heart no longer sputters out of control while around them. I can't wait to go to the stables with my guys. Those horses have boosted this family's confidence! Elizabeth I owe you many thanks for all you have done for us through your love of horses and kids! It's one year later and E1 and E2 still ride. E1 would go every day if I could send her. E3 is ready for baseball to start again this spring and for football next summer/fall.

Here are some pictures of a lesson just a couple of weeks ago.

This is E2 in the 2-point position. Great for the legs!

This is E1 warming up on Cricket, aka Pony. He is a pony. You might think having her on a small horse would make me feel better. No, you see, Pony has an attitude (much like her's!). He has dumped her at a jump on more than one occasion! She and Elizabeth have worked really hard and now he is much better. Take a look.

Isn't it amazing to think this 13 year old girl that weighs 100 lbs (with cloths on and wet hair!) could make this huge animal do that?!? This is what makes E1 happy. This is her "thing"! This is her. I love you baby girl! Go after your dreams, no matter how big they seem!

We love our trainer! She is stern, full of knowledge and EXTREMELY funny! See?

See why we love her so much? No wonder we can't wait to get to the stables!

Birthday Wishes

2008-11-09T09:58:00.012-05:00

Birthdays are so special. E3 turned 7 at the end of September - yes I know I'm a little slow getting this up. God has blessed us with getting to watch E3 grow so much these past 12 months. From learning to read, learning to care for others, to learning the importance of family, he has embraced them all.

We let the kids pick what kind of party they want when they are in the 1st grade. A Big party with all class mates, small party with just a few friends or a family party with just our closest family. This year E3 surprised us all. He wanted a "family" party. "Just my family mom, these are who are the 'specialest' to me!" How could I complain with that? My heart melted and I was filled with joy! Here we all are. The only one not seen is Kelli, she offered to take the picture.

Family and cookie cake. Mmmmm... That was a GREAT choice! Check out this HUGE cookie!

He could not wait to blow out the candles and start eating!

After a cook-out, cake and ice cream we let the kids loose on a pinata. We all had loads of fun!

Those guys had a blast! E3, thanks for sharing your special day with your family! We love you so much!!

Dinner Confessions

2008-10-28T18:21:00.009-04:00

Some nights I am just to tired to fight over dinner. Yes I know I have already confessed the whole Ramen thing. Tonight was just one of those nights. I have reached a new low. This has been a favorite "treat" of mine for some time now. Tonight however, it became dinner!

WAIT! It gets better! This is what we put on them!

WAIT! This too!!

Of course we all got a good dose of the Flintstones Vitamins for desert. WOW! OK! Boy I feel better after getting that off my chest. Maybe now would be a good time to ask for prayers for good health. Did you noticed it was the "Reduced Fat" peanut butter? Does that make it any better?

IN THESE ECONOMIC "HARD" TIMES

2008-10-04T16:14:00.005-04:00

My kids have to endure my listening to Fox Business Channel when its "mom's turn" to watch the TV. I guess some of the resent discussions of the economic "hard" times has rubbed off. This is how my children are helping J and I save money.

They ask for this stuff at least 3X's a week! I give in once a week...OK maybe twice! I think I am still trying to recover from living on this stuff in college. YUCK! I don't even like the smell of it. But on the good side its only $.17 per bag, ready in 3 minutes and when I give in to their request I get to eat Frosted Shredded Wheat! YUMMMM! Now that sounds good!

Is there any nutritional value in Ramen? I'll just have to give an extra vitamin on those nights!

A-POP-A-LIPS AND PEPPER ALLEY

2008-10-03T21:19:00.005-04:00

I Love to hear how my kids interpret words they hear. E1 is 13 and will sometimes say in a moment of sarcasm (wonder where she learned that?) "It's a sign of the apocalypse!" E2 must have been trying to process this for some time. On our way home from school a few days ago he asked, "Mom, what's the a-pop-a-lips?" We still laugh at this! Once E1 explained how to pronounce the correct word and what it meant, E2 thought his interpretation was pretty funny too!

Today E3 answered my daily question of "did you have fun today?" with a "YES MOM! We had a pepper alley today!" That must have been one "hot" pep rally! Go UCS!

Got to love my gang! They keep me in smiles!

Market Nerd

2008-09-20T22:29:00.004-04:00

Yes, it is true. I am a market nerd. I really have to pace myself. I will turn on Fox News Business channel and can sit and watch the market for hours! I get excited just thinking about it. E1 just found out this past week that I get up early to not take my shower and get ready for the day or to cook that nice hot breakfast but to have a quite moment with God and then...the excitement begins! Yes, I even watch the "futures" trading on my channel! (notice how I called it "my" channel) If J is out of town and it's during the school week the TV never changes channels. Hmmm...channel 106 sounds so soothing! And its even better if you have some icecream while watching.

I just can't bring myself to watch much other TV. Reality shows make me feel sick to my stomach and everything else is just...well just not as exciting as the stock market! See, you always thought I was a little off, now you know for sure! For those of you that would not admit it too, I added a market summery at the bottom. Go ahead, you know you want to know what the market did today. I want tell!

Oh the things they say!

2008-09-14T21:52:00.004-04:00

E2 can come up with the funnest things! We planted a late summer garden in August and E2 had to plant radishes. They are his favorite! He has been sooooo patient waiting for those to be ready. He checks them everyday and waters when needed. He was so excited to tell me, "Look mom! We grew a radish butt!!" I got so tickled I couldn't even correct his choice in words. But take a look at it! He's right!

Another example:

He also asked on the way home from school if he could get a new video game. Bless him, he's been asking all summer! Then he got an idea and asked if he could take the money from his savings account and buy the game. E1 was quick to answer for me telling him that he had to save his money to buy a car because, "you're crazy if you think mom and dad are going to buy you one!" Guess she heard me say that a few to many times! He must have been thinking about this all afternoon and into the next morning. On the way to school he made this statement: "Mom I thought that they give you a car when you pass your test." I love the way their minds work. My guys can always make me laugh!

HE'S ON A ROLL!!!

2008-09-14T21:40:00.002-04:00

Just had to let you know that E3 is on a roll!! We worked hard again this week and take a look at both his site word test AND his spelling test!!

We wrote the words on paper, on the foggy bathroom mirror, in shaving cream on the patio and in the dirt on the back of the van. I may never wash my van again! YES that grade is a 101!!! he even got a bonus word!!!

He is doing so good with reading now too! Thank you S.E. for giving us the idea to cover the sentences with a index card! This works great!! He loves to read now!

Growing Pains

2008-09-05T20:53:00.006-04:00

This has been a very hard week. I think one of the hardest things as a mom I have had to do is watch my children grow up. I don't mean the "I can't believe they are this old" kind of pain I'm talking about the "I can't fix this for them" kind of pain. As a few of you know and have joined me in my prayer team I built for my youngest, E3, he is having a hard time learning to read. I picked up on this last year and made sure he was tutored all through the summer (one hour twice a week). He did really well. A 1st grade teacher from their school that was leaving her 1st grade position to be the teacher that tutored and put together special learning plans for those students that needed extra help, was his tutor. She knew what he would need. She and E3 worked hard and she had him ready. However school has started and E3 is struggling with reading. Many of my close friends know how this hurts me because I am a HUGE reader. I love to read and pray to pass this love on to my children. I volunteer in the school library 2xs a week so the librarians can go to the Lower campus and have "Library time" with the younger kids. Why? I just can't imagine a child going to the library and it being closed! What a crusher! Any way, reading is important and I was one of those goofy pregnant moms that read to her baby! So you can see why this would hurt. The 1st week of school E3 and I worked hard on his sight words. We read the list, we made flash cards, we played games. He knew those words at bedtime the night before the test. The out come? A 55 on his 1st test. The 2nd week we did more reading of list, more flash cards, more games. He could read every word again. The outcome? A 70. I was crushed! I quickly emailed his teacher and his tutor and had a meeting. The meeting took place the night after E3 cried himself to sleep, sobbing and saying "I'm so stupid." I don't think I have cried so hard! E1 quickly stepped in and cooked us dinner (with my help). Remember she is only 13! What a trooper she is! The next morning we meet and came up with a game plan. That was the 1st time I have ever broken down in front of my kids teachers. I was humbled. I couldn't "fix" my son. I felt helpless. That same night we played and worked with the flashcards again. He proudly sat in his daddy's lap and read every word! Let me just throw in here what a blessing it was to have dad home to watch this all unfold. He is usually out of town this time of year. On the way to school, after we dropped off E1 and E2 at the upper campus, I reminded E3 that he had a test this morning. He responding with a grunt and a groan and said he wished we had studied more. I don't what made me think to say what came out of my mouth (come on, we all know where it came from! I had so many people praying for us!) but I turned around to look him in the eyes (at the red light) and told him that those sight words were nothing more than letters on paper and you are bigger, braver and smarter than ANY word. He looked right back, smiled and said, "you're right mom!" The outcome? Take a look! Can you see that? It's a 90!!! YES!!! He made a 90!!! He was so proud of himself! Of course we all are! Mrs. D (his teacher) emailed me while I was in the Library. I was so excited. After I called J to let him know I locked up the Library and ran down stairs to his tutor and let her know! YES!!! I locked the Library! I don't know if my pep talk is what helped or all those prayers or what but HE DID IT!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH MRS. D AND MRS. C!!! Look at the joy in his face! Yours too Mrs.D! What a wonderful school to be a part of! Now I know without a doubt that we are at the right place! Boy! growing pains hurt don't they?

Wondering...

2008-08-26T08:45:00.013-04:00

I look around my house that God has so greatly blessed me with and can honestly say I am at a point in my life where I am thankful for the dirty dishes in the sink because that means we had food to eat, thankful for all the laundry piled up because that means God has bless us with clothes to wear and thankful for all the dirt my family tracks in because that means we were healthy enough to come and go. However... How do my kids manage to go from this... To This in just one week! And from this... To this...in just one week? Now I understand my deep desire for this!

First Week Down!

2008-08-22T18:19:00.000-04:00

YEA, YEA, YEA!!!! The first full week of school is behind us! We have checked out books, bought more supplies (I know that book cover was NOT on the original list!) and even failed a test! And E1 started running this week! I am trying sooooo very hard not to get excited! I love to run and if I talk to much about it she would turn the other way and declare running was the worst thing ever thought of. She is every bit of the 13 year old she is! I love her to bits though. I love all my Es! Each one is so special and so very different. But I'm sure you guys all know and feel the same way.

I am really sleepy and in total denial that I was so lazy this summer and loved every minute of it. How quickly I grow tired of one routine and look forward to the next. Give me a couple of weeks and I'm sure I will be looking forward to next summer with anticipation. Having them in a great school where I am not the only one praying over them sure does help! What great teachers we have been blessed with! Of course I feel this way now...just wait until the assignments start pouring in and I can't keep them strait! I'm sure to change my mind, only to be reminded all to quickly how very blessed we are to be where we are. Yes I am well aware that sounded corny and shallow but it was the best I could come up with on my binge of sugar and pizza I consumed trying to keep up with my kids energy! What was I thinking?

Hope all of you had a good start to school too. And I hope you are as tired as I am! That would make me feel better and not so "What the heck's wrong with me" ish. Maybe if I joined E3 in a game of Wii I would feel better and wake up. Or better yet why don't I just lie on the couch and watch him play. That would feel even better!

A Frist For Everything!

2008-08-20T16:52:00.000-04:00

Oh My!! As if I have time for this! I have enjoyed reading some of my friends blogs so much I thought I would give it a try too. I'm still not sure about adding pictures but know I will figure that out soon. It's Wednesday which means no homework for the younger guys and a light load for E1. School is off to a great start. The kids are happy and get into the van with smiles. My prayer is that it is well for all of us. The start of school can be nerve racking for kids and parents. I forget how nervous I get each year. Nervous for my kids- that they will have friends, have fun learning, not show that side I see when I think I can see the horns sprouting from their blond heads! I hope that through this I can be as entertaining as some of you have been for me. And to reassure you that you are not in this alone and we all have days that we wish we could forget.