The Power of the Pen!!

Hi Everyone!!

Maybe I will continue to blog - its been so much fun and I have enjoyed everyone else's too.  Blogging has demonstrated our writing talents and caused us to improve because we are writing about things that are important to us.  Being good writers will help in the workplace because we appear credible just by having good communication skills not only verbal but written as well.

I have written about my four sons.  During my math term here at Kaplan, my Professor even figured the odds of my having four sons and no daughters with a mathematical formula. Can anyone believe that before I children, my wish was to have only one girl and that was it??  I truly believe that God knows best and I am thankful everyday for the blessings I have.  

My sons are my greatest accomplishment.  My only hopes for them are that they take care of their responsibilites, contribute to humanity by helping others, and leave things better than they found them.  I am posting my two favorite pictures of the boys all together this time.  I love the pictures of them all four together!

Christmas 2010

Every year we go with my parents, siblings and their children (a group of 23 this last Christmas) and we

ride the "Polar Express" at the Texas State Railroad. 

June 2008

This was in Gulf Shores, AL after Matthew graduated.  We stayed at my good friend's condo right on the beach.  This was the best trip ever.  Matthew & Tyler are still friends with girls they met on the beach that week!

Lastly, a big hug and thank you to all of our service people who are away from home, family and friends doing a job that only the best of the best chose to do.  God Bless Our Soldiers!!!  Come Home Soon!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hi Everyone!!

It will be Valentine's Day on Monday, but the celebrations have already begun.  Lane had his kindegarten party on Friday.  We spent the whole week working on doing Valentine's.  We went to the store and he chose "Power Ranger" Valentines to address and give to his friends.  Having 4 boys over 20 years and we're still into the Power Rangers (yuck).  Lane worked really hard on his cards and we taped a chocolate marshmallow candy on the back of each one.  We were in charge of bringing chips to the party so I let him chose that also.  He chose a 24 pack of snack sized bags of assorted Sun chips.  At 41, I am enjoying being a mom so much.  It just seems like when Mathew & Tyler were little and I was 20 something, things were really stressed.  Lane loves kindegarten and I am loving it right along with him.  My camera is not working (getting a new one in the next couple of days) so I am submitting Lane's Thanksgiving photo.  He made this outfit at school out of paper and then insisted we take his picture - its so cute.

Justin has had double duty caring for all of his animals this week.  His heifer is doing well despite the cold weather.  A turtle that was recently rescued by Justin has been living in my laundry room to keep warm.  My third born also caught a small bird this week with his bare hands.  He found it in our garage and was able to get it into his hands and then set it free.  Justin does things that sometimes that other people would be afraid to do like catching wild animals - even once a grass snake.  He says that he is going to become a veterinarian - and I think that would be great!  Here is a picture taken a couple of years back.  These are Justin's hampsters, Stripe & Wombo - he named them and completely cared for them (yuck, rats).

 Tyler is gone today to his girlfriend's golf tournament.  He & she both play golf.  I think they are both really good players, both have won several tournaments.  I hope Tyler does something nice for Jesse on Valentine's Day, I have mentioned before that he is overly careful with his money and he really does not like buying gifts.  Matthew on the other hand, spent a whole paycheck on a Valentine's Day gift for his Valentine - which I thought was a little extreme for a 17 year old.  Here is a picture of Tyler and Jesse.

Speaking of Matthew, I have sent him several messages but still I have not heard from him.  For all I know, he could be in an entirely different location doing who knows what.  I am trying to remain positive, believing that my boy is safe and happy.  I just want to hear from him.  Here is a picture of my two oldest boys when we picked up Matthew from bootcamp last June in Missouri.

The Power of Positive Thinking

Having all my boys around the dinner table sharing a good meal!

New This Week!!

Hi Everyone,

This week, I know most of us have been hit by a severe winter storm.  Here in Huntsville, TX, we have felt it too.  When I picked up Justin & Lane yesterday from school, I was told that classes were cancelled today due to icy roads.  My husband, Steve, works in Houston and he did not go to work.  Also, here I am at home.  Tyler, however did go to work today and I have spent most of the day worried about him.

When Tyler got up this morning at 5 a.m., I got up also to try to see if he would stay home.  He refused.  I ended up giving him Steve's lunch to take with him since Steve stayed home.  I have called him once and he says that everything is okay.  We had sleet and snow this morning but now it has stopped - I am praying for a safe drive home for him.

                                                   Overly dedicated!!!



Justin and Lane have had a great day playing outside.  They have jumped on the trampoline and when they have gotten too cold, they would come inside to play their wii game, eat or fight - its been lots of fun.  Steve and I have spent the day being lazy watching television and napping.  We are hopefully going out for Mexican food later.  I am thankful that we have electricity and water - I know several people may not have their utilities right now and hope that everyone is safe and warm.

                                                           Our Backyard


No word from Matthew this week.  I start to worry when I don't hear from him.  I sent him a message on his e-mail but still no word.  I miss him.  Its hard being a mom to a grown adult because you have to let them make their own decisions and live their own life. 

               
                                                  Come Home Soon, My Soldier, My Son!!!

Moving on..............

Hi Everyone!

Nothing new this week except that I filed my two older boys taxes and I know they are anxiously waiting to get their money back.  Tyler claims that he thinks I skipped a lot of deductions that could have gotten him back a lot more money.  I will have to see it to believe it.  He is so concerned about money - I guess its a good thing.

Matthew has not called this week from Afghanistan but I will be mailing him some DVDs as per his request.  His grandmother called me and said that she received a card back that she mailed to him because of insufficient address.  I checked what I had and all we can figure out is that she may have missed one of the digits on his zip code.  The post office blacked out the zip code so we could not know for sure.  I am ready for Matthew to give this Army business up but he talks about signing up for other missions as soon as possible.

This week, Justin and Lane have been in trouble almost every day.  Justin (13) is unable to do chores because it gets in the way of his social time.  Everyday there are numerous kids at my house and they are not doing anything wrong, just playing and having fun.  The problem is that Justin has chores and homework and this has to come first.

Lane my kindergartner,  has had teacher remarks in his folder all week instead of the usual frog stamp that means he has been good.  He told me that the problem was that his teacher has been in a bad mood all week - right.  I told him if she was in a bad mood that he put her in it.  Finally, on Friday, Ms. Roberts put the remark, "better" in the folder.  We will see what happens next week.

My Four Sons - What's New??

#1
I heard from Matthew again, he is still enjoying his service to the United States of America.  He asked me to mail the electric guitar that we got him for Christmas and also some DVD's that he can watch on his computer.  He says that his battalion has a band - I would love to hear them play!!  I am missing my son so bad.

 #2

Tyler is doing good this week - he's working hard.  On Sunday, he went to church with my parents where his other grandparents also attend church.  He and his grandparents are very close - there is a very special bond!  I am so proud that we have the grandparents close to us.

#3

Justin is our little animal lover.  This week he has rescued a new turtle and set up a new home for it.  He has is in our laundry room to keep it warm.  Justin loves turtles and could probably write a book about them by now.  He has studied turtles by reading about them on the internet - he knows their habits and what they like to eat.  He catches a new turtle about every other month.  He will keep the turtle in captivity for about two weeks and he actually observes them - what a smarty!!

#4

Lane is helping Justin with his heifer a lot here lately.  This is a picture of him two years ago with Tyler's heifer, Miss Million Dollar Baby that won Grand Reserve Champion at the Walker County Fair.  I believe Lane will definitely carry on the family tradition when it is his time to participate in the heifer scramble. 

On With The New Year!!

Today I got an e-mail from Matthew.  He says he doing great and that he just got the Christmas card that I mailed him before Christmas last week.  He says that he showed all of his buddies his family and he seemed really happy to get the photo.  We miss our soldier :(

Son #2, Tyler,  went to a youth retreat with church this weekend and has returned home today (Sunday).  Tyler seems exhausted but he had a great time.  He is considering being a youth minister - that would make me really proud to have a son that was called into ministry.  If Tyler does not enter into ministry that's alright also - we are called for a special purpose, its just that one has to find out what their special purpose is.

Justin and Lane have just gone back to school but already they had 3 days of no school.  Two on Thursday and Friday for teacher work days and they will be out tomorrow (Monday January 17, 2011) for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.   The boys are enjoying their days of no school but the weather is cold, wet and dreary so they have been staying in a good bit.  Here is a look at our house in the mist of the yucky weather:

Over the weekend, Justin had a progress show for his heifer, Miss Secretariat.  He had to get up early on Saturday (1-15-11) and get his heifer loaded into the trailer to be hauled to the fair grounds for check in by 8:30 am.  The progress show consists of each member of the scramble heifer program - about 40 youths and their heifers coming to the fair grounds with their animals.  The youths will weigh the animals through a process of walking the heifer through the arena and then leading her into a squeeze shoot that has a special scale to weigh the animals.  The youths will also have to present their record books which contain a daily activity log that details what the heifer ate and what activities the youth conducted with the heifer such as walking her, bathing or grooming her.  The record books also contain the youth's up to date feed bills and school grades.  If the youths are failing any grades at school, they are not allowed to particiapate until passing all grades.  Justin did a great job and his heifer gained a whooping 65lbs. since last month.  Here is Justin and Miss Secretariat:

Post Holidays

Now that the holidays are over, it seems like life is moving faster than ever!!  The last couple of months have passed like a blurr and their are so many activities on the way that its hard to catch my breath sometimes.  One New Year's resolution I made is to take some time everyday to slow down and meditate so that I can keep my focus and be the best wife, mom and employee that I can be.  Children need to be able to be proud of their parents I believe.  Even though no one is perfect, through the eyes of our children, we need to be good examples.  If anyone is like me, I can pick out my parent's faults but nobody else had better even try!  I hope everyone is enjoying the New Year and that blessings will come to us this year like never before.  On this blog, I am posting my Christmas card picture of the boys.  They hate getting together and posing for my Christmas card photo but its a treasure to me!