YOUR Gonna Miss This…Moment 64… with a contest!

So sorry to have skipped out on this for the past two weeks!  Something had to give, and it was the blog that took the hit!  LOL!  Stay tuned till the end of this post for some special announcements!

Yesterday, it snowed.  A LOT. Enough to send the schools home early & delay school (or cancel in some districts) today. 

We had a delay.  So, Kiahna and I were here alone.  I decided to take my camera and go out & see what we could find to photograph.

Kiahna hasn’t wanted to go out in the snow and play with the other kids… but today with me… she loved stomping around in the snow!

It was so beautiful, snow was everywhere and on everything!

A fun day for Kiahna and I, one I will miss as she goes off to school on days like today with the other kids next year.

We only got stuck 2 times in the snow!  Both in my parents lane!  I tried going there to get pictures of the birds by their feeders…

The snow is so beautiful.  Much preferred to the mud in my mind!

Now, for the special announcement!  I have chosen three of the photos I took today and spent some time editing them!  I think that I am going to get some prints made of them & hang them on the wall!  I am pleased with how they turned out.  I am offering them for sale through my business if anyone would like one of their own. 

I am also giving one away to one person who left a comment on my last post!  Kelly @ My Dot on His Line is the winner!  Random.com choose, & I am thrilled since she said how much she is wishing for at least one snowflake!  Here is her snowflake!!  Congrats Kelly!

AND I am giving one away to one person who plays along with me this week on this carnival!

I hope you like them!  Go here to see them larger.

 

Words are changeable & removable.  Winner gets their choice.  The size of the print will be 11 x 14.

To be eligible you first MUST play along.  Either in on your blog OR in my comments.  If you post on your blog you must link up AND leave a comment.

To be entered again you can twitter & post about the contest on your blog post.  So that is 2 more entries if you do both of those.  So three chances to enter!

Email me with questions!

Pam

Grab a cup of coffee with me…

I am in the mood to write, I hope you are in the mood to read & write back!

It’s snowing… but it didn’t start until about 7:30 when the kids were leaving for school… so they are in school & I am home with “nowhere to go” on my calendar (at least not until 3:00 dental appointments, you didn’t think I would be free all day did you??)

I have been so overwhelmed for the past few months, I haven’t had the delight of writing and reading blogs that I used to enjoy.  I’ve wondered if I had somehow missed something and lost the joy of writing?  Maybe I have.  The ability to balance writing, photography, business, laundry, 3 or 4 kids in sports, cooking, cleaning, exercise, Bible study, 2 dogs, large yard… and an illusive ex-husband… far beyond my human ability for sure.   Asking HIM how HE wants me to use my time.  One day at a time.

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After our Quitting incident earlier this week, James went into this swim meet on Tuesday night and got the only first place on the whole boys team! 

In diving…

 

His girlfriend, Alisen, also dives…

Memories…

They look like they are having fun, don’t  you think!  Actually, after tonight, (if they travel the hour plus to their swim meet) James will not be diving any more. 

There was another boy who dove last year, but had an injury.  Well, he’s back and so the coaches want to use James in more swimming events and use the other boy in the diving.  You can only be in 4 events a meet & diving counts as one. 

Spring Musical Parts have been assigned.  James has a lead in that, and Zach has a small speaking/singing part.  The Musical is "Friday knig*ht Fever” and James is “Barry” and Zach is one of the “3 thugs"

I need to start a list of the things that need to be done for graduation.  I decided to rent a fellowship hall to have James’ party in.  Thankful that I don’t have to figure out how I am going to host it here!

James asked me last night if my taxes were done yet (UM NO!)  He is ready to see how much financial aid he is going to have for college.  Makes me nervous!

One thing that I LOVE about Face*book is getting to see other poeple’s pictures!  Especially when my kids are somewhere and I & my own camera are not! 

James on New Year’s Eve…

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Zach is challenging.  Much like his mother in ways I’d rather not admit.  Much more socially active than his older brother. 

Practicing his driving on icy roads.

Complaining about his coaches & his teachers.

Trying to pass Biology.

Playing basketball.

Has his first “real” girlfriend.

(that picture showed up on my phone, before he got his own phone!)  Oh, and this girl, Meg, Happens to be first cousins with James girlfriend, Alisen… sigh.

Got his first phone for Christmas.

15 thinking he should have every privilege of his 18 year old brother.

Ripping me along by the reigns if I am not careful!!!!!  Goodness!

I love this kid, he is so cute & fun to have around, but as I always say, “there is a reason” he’s so cute! 

He’s in need of some balance in his life too.  How to balance school work with a busy social life & 3 sports & a musical… & a girlfriend.  He needs me to use my brake, probably even more than I already do.

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Leah has a birthday this weekend!  She is turning 13!  Someone asked her last weekend if she was my “15 year old”!  She is taller than me now & her feet are 2 sizes bigger too!

Last weekend she had a birthday party with one of her friends, who turned 13 last month, at her friends house…

I wasn’t there… but I got these pictures off of face*book!

 

wow. those didn’t copy well.  oh well.

This girl had quite the social life over Christmas break…  She went on a ski trip with Campus Life that lasted 3 days!  Monday-Wednesday…

She took my old camera along, but I don’t know where the cord is to get the pictures off of the camera! 

Then she went to a New Year’s Eve Party…

yes, that was on face*book!  “open wide for the camera Leah”

Then she had her birthday party… we saw more of her on face*book than we did at home!

Hope I can survive 3 teenagers… uuuuuhhhhhh….

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Lucas is still sweet & eleven… not too many of those “nasty” hormones messing up his disposition yet!

He says that basketball is his favorite sport…

& I am not about to tell him that he doesn’t seem possess that natural ability or the aggressiveness it takes for sports.  Maybe they will come one day & he will decide he really wants to excel and make the effort, but for now he just seems to be way too easy going for sports… so… my mission is go encourage him to be all that he can be and not feel like he isn’t just because he chooses to do different things than his older brothers.

The other things is that Lucas really really struggles to do “average” in school.  Needs to be pushed to challenge himself, and needs to work hard to do well. 

I’ve recently asked his teachers from the past 2 years if they think that Lucas could have a learning disability.  Neither of them suspect that he does.

Maybe it just falls in line with his whole disposition.  So relaxed & non-aggressive about everything that it almost is a disability of it’s own if he isn't careful!

Totally not complaining…

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Jadon…

Jadon…

 

Jadon…

The recess monitor told me that he gave her a picture he drew yesterday.  She told them to make her something creative with their play-doh.  He drew her a picture of play-doh.

Thinking outside the box.

He pulled a tuft of his hair out the other night.  Said he wanted me to cut it anyway.

Read his first book to me the other night… “Hop on Pop”.  He and I were both so thrilled!

Still dealing with the damp pants… should have called the doctor for a prescription according to the instructions I was given at our appointment, but I hate to do that.  Not sure how much help was given to him at school with this issue.  I know his teacher is a first year kindergarten teacher & a man…not sure this is too high on his list of concerns.  Not blaming him, just not sure that medication is the solution for a problem that appears to be “I’m too busy to remember go go & then I can’t wait when I do remember”

We had friends come and stay with us over New Years.  One of Sheila’s boys are his age, they had so much fun together!

We all (the 3 youngest and myself) enjoyed having Sheila & her 4 kids here over New Years & then going to a hotel for swimming with them & having them here for 3 nights!  We played games & the kids played, it was nice for both of us single moms!

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Kiahna is doing well!  When Jadon was reading his book to us, she told me quite a few of her letters!  I think watching Jadon read kind of inspired her!  I hope!

Her and I just braved the snow and took the trash out to the road. 

Mostly we are just enjoying being together & she asks questions about everything and I try to find 5 year old answers for her.

She was probably the MOST excited to find that she is not just going to have ONE BABY cousin this spring but TWO!!! 

My sister, Allison & Brent are going to have a baby too!!

Kiahna is extremely interested in babies & where they come from & how there get there, and how they come out & when she gets to have one of her own!  OH MY!!  Such interesting conversations we have had.

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Christmas at my parents house was nice!

The photo book we created for them was a hit!

Leah with her two “same age” cousins, Livia & Koty…

Are you still with me!   Leave me a message if you endured that whole thing!!  Maybe I’ll have to find a prize for someone who comments after reading this all!! Been working on it all morning!  & now I hear the schools are dismissing early!  Better go!

Pam

Quitting

Yesterday I found out just how much I don’t like quitting.

Yesterday my oldest son TEXTED me DURING school hours, while I was at Walmart.

Irritation #1.

He’s breaking the rules & texting during school (he’s in pub class, where there isn’t traditional classroom, but still breaking the rules)

Irritation #2

Nonchalantly telling someone you are doing something that you know is going to (or at least you should know) upset them & doing it by text, and acting like they should have known, because they “told” you before they were thinking about it.

NO!

So, James says, “mom, I am going to quit swimming today & then I am going over to my friends house and we are going to go over to this gym and lift weights for 2 hours”

um… NO!

“I told you I was thinking of quitting, and it just isn’t fun anymore, I don’t like it and I think I should quit”

(is there a word for arguing through texting?) maybe I’ll create one… how about a “textgument”.

Yes, that works, so our textgument continued back and forth with me getting more and more frustrated and irritated, all the while trying to shop and remember what groceries I was looking for.

I told him that we were not going to continue this over text and that we would talk after school.

He didn’t like that answer.

Grandpa was called (by me, and then by James after I told James he needed to call Grandpa)

Grandpa advised James not to quit until he talked to his mom & that he needed to go home and talk to me face to face.

The good thing for me is that I had the time it took to finish shopping, drive to pick up Kiahna at preschool, wait for her to come out, drive home, & wait for him to arrive after school, to climb down off the wall that this had threw me up on, and to analyze my feelings and why I was so upset, and on what levels I was upset, and to decide how I wanted to handle this.

Never mind that I totally forgot about my groceries in the back of my van.  That didn’t happen, remember?

The biggest thing that I felt is my absolute rage over quitting for the reasons of something being “too hard” and “not fun anymore”. 

Isn’t that the largest reasons why people give up on their marriages these days? 

This morning on the news I heard that 45% of Americans are “unhappy” in their jobs.  The DJ made some comment about people needing to be happy that they have a job at all!  AMEN!

I’ll tell you, it really had me upset.  When I finally remembered my groceries & unpacked them, I didn’t even remember that I had bought some of the things I had in there.

James came home, and I was in a much more rational state of mind.  I laid out to him my different reasons why I didn’t agree with quitting.  & the different things that will change around here if he decided to quit.  & my frustrations over some other issues going on in our home over Christmas break.

He called Grandpa to come over.  I think he thought that Grandpa would override my thoughts and that Grandpa might give him his way.

Nope.

Grandpa went through the exact same things I had just said, and confirmed them to James.  James seemed to understand and see that he was wrong in this choice somewhere during the conversation.

Things about quitting and getting a job and not being able to do other activities he wants to do, and about responsibility, and living out what you say you believe, and about consequences.

It all ended with James saying he understands.  He’s NOT quitting the swim team.  Me compromising on a small issue and telling him that if he could keep up his grades he could still go the gym and lift weights after swimming if he wanted to.

(but the fact that he now has a lead in the school musical & between class, swimming, musical practice, hum weight lifting 2 hours a day??  & he already has a weight training class every day during school!!  good grief!)

He went to the gym.  Came home and hugged me.  Apologized. Thanked me for not letting him get away with that.

Wow.

I was blown away.  Thankful.  (checked for high fever) & so blessed. 

One of the things that I said to James, and my dad said too… as James was saying “I’ve never quit anything before and you guys are making such a big deal about this” 

YES!  It is a big deal.  I will NEVER be okay with ANY of my children quitting for the reasons of “it’s too hard”, “I don’t like it anymore”, “It’s just not fun”

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHO CARES!!  Do you know how many things I do every day that I DON’T find fun!!!!!  Or don’t LIKE to do!!  Let’s not even go to TOO HARD!!!

It was all I could do not to yell!! GROW UP!!

That’s what grown ups do.  They do things that are hard.  Things that are not fun.  Things that they don’t like to do.  They don’t give up because it’s not fun anymore. They don’t stop and decide to do something else just because it looks more fun.

At least they shouldn’t.

How many grown ups do though.

It just creates a fire in me.

The fuel being that my own husband gave up.  Decided it was “too hard” to work on our marriage.  That I wasn’t “fun anymore”.  That there was something else out there that looked more fun.  After all, shouldn’t we all just be happy? 

NO.

What a different world this would be if people didn’t quit when it got hard.  If people didn’t quit when it wasn’t fun anymore.  If people didn’t quit when something else looked more fun.

I pray that my sons & daughters NEVER EVER quit for any of those reasons.  I pray that I never do either.  I wish with all my heart that my husband hadn’t.

Would it be hard to fix this disaster that he had created with his choices?  Yes.  Would it be fun?  No.  Would there be other things that seemed easier?  Yes. 

But, what grows character?  What is honorable?  What reflects the light of Jesus Christ who we say we serve?

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”  -James 1:12

I’ll get off my soap box now.  Maybe.

Pam

Not Me, Monday…

Oh, so many things did NOT happen here lately…

Jadon didn’t pull a tuff of hair off his cute curly top, causing me to have to cut it all off again.

Zach didn’t come out of basketball practice in 16 degree weather (not counting the windchill) without his shirt on!  NOPE!

James didn’t get his ear pierced. (grrrrrr)

Leah isn’t turning 13 this weekend.

I will not become the mother of 3 teenagers.  Not me.

Lucas did not get our out of town guests lost coming home from Walmart.  Nope.  Lucas knows where he lives, he’s 11.

I was not arguing with my oldest child by text today while he was in school.  Nope.

I don’t despise arguing by text.

I didn’t forget that I had groceries in my van after I got home because I was so upset by our argument.

I didn’t remember my groceries & as I was putting them away wasn’t surprised by some of the things I didn’t even remember buying. Nope!

James didn’t come to me tonight with a hug and an apology for the argument we had today…

Parenting never feels like it will swallow me up.

The keys of my lap top are not sticky.  Nope.  None of my children would get my laptop sticky.

None of these things happened here.  No way.

Pam