Just another day in Paradise

Just an ordinary Monday

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:22:45 GMT

Austin was doing his homework on my bed last night while I was reading in the corner of the room. I looked up to check on him and thought it was one of the cutest scenes I'd seen in a while. So I did what any mother worth her salt would do; I grabbed my camera sitting beside me and I snapped a picture! I know he's mine and I know that I'm a tad bit biased, but come on - is this not adorable? What you can't see so much is how his tongue is sticking out a little bit. I've always said that if my boys didn't have tongues they'd never be able to think. Whenever they're writing or are in deep thought working on something, their tongues are always sticking out.

Austin has a hamster named Sydney in his room. Tucker is absolutely fascinated by the strange creature in the funny plastic box. Whenever we can't find him, it's a sure bet that he's sitting stone still in front of Sydney's cage looking just like this:

Every once in a while you'll hear a little whimper from him but for the most part he just sits and stares. I wonder what is going through his mind? I have known him to sit just like this for as long as an hour. I sure hope Sydney doesn't manage to escape her cage.

When Sarah Kate got married we had an extra bedroom in our house. Not one to let such an opportunity pass me by, I quickly moved Austin to Sarah's old room and took over his room for my scrapbooking room. This has been such a dream for me! I can go in there and work and make a mess and not have to clean it all up every time I want to scrapbook. I can mess to my hearts content and then walk out and shut the door. I believe everyone should have such a room, whether you scrapbook or not! Here it is in all it's messy glory!

They say that "she who dies with the most paper wins". I'm working on it!

MY GARDEN

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:12:24 GMT

It all starts in the Spring with this, and my unbridled enthusiasm!

To plant something in dirt and then water it and tend it is one of my favorite things to do. I wish I had a daily picture of these plants over the past 3 months to see it truly happen in front of my eyes, but this will have to do:

Taken the first of June:

Here is the same plant taken today:

Below is one of the hanging baskets that I purchase already planted from a local annual farm. They are so beautiful when I first hang them and they satisfy my hunger for beautiful full flowers while I'm waiting for my newly planted things to "take off".

These hanging pots tend to get very tired long before the end of summer so I cut them back severely about a week and a half ago. I wish I'd taken a picture of them right before I trimmed them back because they looked very bad and not a whole lot better after I trimmed them. However, they've recovered somewhat and while they don't look as pretty as they did when they were new, they look a heck of a lot better than they did a couple of weeks ago.

Below is a picture of my impatiens bed. I use lots of Osmokote when I plant these because they have a lot of growing to do to fill in all the space that I need them to fill. Doesn't it look pitiful in the beginning......

And here is what that bed looks like today! I love the pink and orange together!

Worth the wait, huh?

Here is one of the twin pots that I plant and place on the bench seats on the deck:

And here is what that same pot looked like today. I love it!!!

And here are just some shots I got while outside in the garden today.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:35:00 GMT

As hard as it is for me to believe, Austin started 4th Grade on Monday. We went shopping on Saturday and bought his school supplies. He absolutely loves to shop for school supplies. Note the very clean white tennis shoes. He wanted black ones like last year but I insisted on white ones. I'm almost wishing I'd allowed the black ones because every little bit of dirt that gets on them freaks him out. I'm sure that by next week he'll be over the whole thing!

It's tradition in this family that you have to pose for "first day of school" pictures on the first day of school and in one of them you have to hold up fingers to indicate what grade your entering. Much to Austin's chagrin, the tradition continues!

I'm sure you can see how thrilled he was to be putting up with my nonsense.

It has also become a tradition with Austin that Tucker be included in at least one picture. So, here are my "boys".

Little Boy Camp Out

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:17:16 GMT

Around mid July, Austin and his buddies decided it was time to have the old camp out in the backyard. One of his buddies got their family tent and drug it into our backyard. The problem was no one knew how to put it up! Guess who got pressed in to service?! Well they had an instruction manual but it had gotten wet and all the pages were stuck together and I had a heck of a time trying to figure it out. Finally, just as it was about to get dark the kid got his dad to come over and help me get it put up.

Here it is finally set up. I had no idea this thing was going to be so BIG!

And here they are all set up inside. When I was a kid and we had a backyard camp out we each had a blanket and a pillow and if we were really lucky someone's parents would let us have a flashlight. These kids were set up for actual living! They had two electric fans, a TV WITH a Playstation 2, coolers, flashlights, lanterns, board games and several decks of cards! Boy, camping out sure has changed!

The first night there were four of them. They were relatively quiet and things went off without a hitch. They were so good that when they asked if they could do it again the next night I said, "Sure!". Well, in the course of the day they proceeded to add three more to their numbers. One of these kids I had never even heard of. But I didn't want to spoil their fun so I let them do it. Things were waaay different the second night. They were loud, they were running around the back yard at midnight whooping and hollering like it was noon and in general being rowdy boys. I went out and played the spoil sport mom several times reminding them that it was late and it was a weeknight and that neighbors were trying to sleep and had to get up early in the morning. Finally they did settle down.

The next morning surprise, surprise all but three of them had disappeared and it was left to the three to dismantle camp and put things away. THIS after they'd gotten no sleep and were literally little crabby zombies! Suddenly camping wasn't so much fun and Austin said he'd had enough camping to last him for about 3 years! Yeah, we'll see!

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:10:48 GMT

I just realized that I haven't shared some very good news! Patrick and Amber got engaged on June 30th!.

Here is how he pulled it off: I told Amber that I had tickets to the Florence Freedom Baseball game and asked them if they'd like to go with us. Baseball has been so much a part of Patrick's life for so long that it only made sense that he would propose at a baseball game! He had it arranged ahead of time with the people at the game that they would call Amber up (she was chosen at random(ha ha) from the stands to come up on top of the dugout and play the "what's in the box game" between the top and the bottom of the second inning. The first box had a sponge in it and they asked her if she'd like to trade for what was in the second box. The second box had a battery in it so they asked her if she'd like to trade for what was in the third box. The third box had a doorstop in it. Then the emcee said that there was one more box but that her friend, Patrick would have to give it to her. With that, Patrick walked up on top of the dugout and dropped to one knee and asked her to marry him in front of the whole stadium! The crowd went crazy cheering and Amber was in total shock and awe. What she didn't know was that her Mom and Dad and their best friends were there watching from the wings along with Patrick's grandmother and aunt, and Amber's cousin Michelle, who along with me set them up on their first blind date.

I was video taping the actual proposal but here are some pictures taken with my camera right afterwards:

On July 26th Amber's Mom and Dad had an engagement party for them at their home. Here are some pictures from that party: (It was a luau/swim party)

They are getting married in October of 2009. Happy planning days ahead!

Austin's place in this family

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:20:00 GMT

Now I ask you to look at these pictures and tell me that Austin isn't a very lucky and loved little boy!

(Patrick and Austin eating at Skyline while out with Emily in June)

Ok, so I'll admit that I'm a terrible journal keeper. It's not that I don't think about it, I do. I will work out a wonderful entry while I'm doing laundry, or watering flowers, or doing dishes and then...well, I just don't ever sit down and enter it. You should read some of the wonderful things I've come up with in my head! No, really, they are very good!

(Austin and Sarah Kate on our Green River Camping/Boating trip this summer)

I was just looking through some pictures that I have on the computer and realized that I have darn cute kids! Then I was struck by how very lucky our little Austin is to have the siblings that he has. While sometimes I feel bad that he hasn't had someone close to his own age to play with on a daily basis like Patrick, Emily and Sarah had. He's definitely missed out on a lot by not having that but what he has instead is something that not too many kids get and that's having three grown up siblings that think he's the absolute cat's pajamas. Plus he has Sarah's husband, Bennie and Patrick's fiancee Amber that are so good to him. I mean this kid has it made. He gets to do a lot of things that he wouldn't ordinarily get to do if it were just his Dad and I to entertain him. He is so used to being around adults that he actually prefers adults to kids if the truth were known. That isn't always a good thing necessarily but it's the fact of the matter.

(Austin and Emily playing around at Grandma's when Em was home in June)

Being older parents this time around makes me think of things that I didn't really worry about with the first three. While we did have a will when they were little directing that they would be raised by my sister if anything were to happen to us, it wasn't something that I really worried about happening. With Austin, that possibility is a little more uppermost in my mind at the time. I hope that I'm around to attend the graduations of Austin's children but if I'm not and even if I'm not around to attend Austin's graduation from high school I know that he will be well loved and taken care of by three of the best siblings a kid could ever have.

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:55:09 GMT

My heart is almost too full right now to do this entry justice but suffice it to say that I have been given one of the greatest gifts of my life this week. It is my daughter, Emily. She has been home for a much anticipated visit. Our hearts are full with love and gratitude. A family restored is one of God's greatest gifts. This is the very first picture I have of all my kids together!! I love it!

Emily left to go back to Florida today. She took a major chunk of my heart with her. I so dearly love that girl.

My Yankee Doddle Dandy

Sat, 03 May 2008 23:09:37 GMT

I had a picture CD that I picked up from Walgreens that I had completely forgotten about. I was thrilled to open it and find these pictures of Austin from the 4th of July last year. I just had to share them. My little Yankee Doddle Dandy!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:19:48 GMT

I must sadly report that our joy was shortlived. Sarah miscarried over the weekend. They are heartbroken but are being real troopers. They will try again and I know that in the near future we will have wonderful news to share. I just keep wishing there was some magical protective blanket that we could wrap around our kids to protect them from ever having their hearts broken.

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:49:44 GMT

That's right people!!! I'm joining the Grandmother's Club and I couldn't be more excited! Sarah and Bennie are expecting in December! Having had a baby late in life myself I wasn't really baby hungry when some of my friends started getting grandchildren. But I've noticed in the past year or two that I've felt that hunger growing. Austin is 9 now (THAT is impossible to believe!), I think we've just about squeezed every ounce of baby out of him and I find myself really missing having a real little one around.

Sarah and Bennie have experienced infertility issues and after the first attempt at artificial insemination (Yes, it's Bennie's baby) they were successful!

I had always imagined how it would feel to hear that a grandchild is on the way. Well, let me tell you, I had very much underestimated how wonderful that would feel. It's hard to put it into words but I can tell you without question that it feels wonderful! My baby is going to be a mother! It's kind of like my child squared! It's exponential love. I can't wait to meet this little soul and spoil it absolutely rotten. Yep, I'm going to be one of those obnoxious grandmothers who pull out tons of pictures and expect everyone to ooh and ahh over my perfect grandchild. Fair warning!