Moments

There are moments in motherhood that are precious gifts. Now the problem is that I usually don't even stop to appreciate them. They fly by me and I never even notice. Every once in awhile I catch them though and this is one of them. Reid said to me, "look what I made, do you know what it is?" It seems so obvious as I look at the picture, but I was only half looking and said, "no, what is it?" It's Jesus on the cross. Yes, now I see. It's Jesus on the cross.

0-1 for both the Bulls and the Fastbreakers

Cade and Reid both started their basketball seasons with a loss. Cade was rather upset by the loss, but Reid was happy that he had scored. Cade played a good game. He had quite a few rebounds, which I was excited to see him grab ahold of the ball and not let anyone get to it. He had one shot off of an offensive rebound. It almost went in. The other team kind of annoyed me. They just cleared out the right side and had same kid drive in every play. Even though Cade's team lost (14-25), I am happy he was not on that team. I mean the other kids on that team barely touched the ball. I can see a lot of improvement in Cade from last year and I think he is going to learn even more this year. Go Bulls! Reid's team lost (8-20). Craig had told me ahead of time that Reid had changed from last year. He's a lot more aggressive and less timid. He played point guard the second half and was annoyed when one of the kids on his team didn't actually take the ball out of bounds when he was supposed to. Not sure if he just wanted the ball or if he knew the kid just wasn't doing it right. Either way, funny Reid moment. Reid shot twice, he missed the first (of course I got a picture of that one) and made the second. Reid dribbling past his buddy Sherman, that was guarding him. He drove on in for a shot. Yes, he is shooting with his right hand. (he is left-handed) I put this picture in because the little girl leading the pack was tough. I mean really good. She could shoot, dribble, pass better than anyone else on the court. Her name is Caroline.

Baby Doll Girl

Aleah is turning into a baby doll girl. She sleeps with them, holds them, and carries them around. On Monday I took Aleah to the doctor. She has been struggling with eczema, but while we were there they gave her a wellness exam and shots. She recovered quickly, but hated the bandaids on her legs. So when we got home, I took them off. At first I did not know where she had put them, but then I saw. Her baby must have gotten shots today too.

Most of the time when I go in to get Aleah in the morning and after her nap, she will be holding a baby. And when I am putting her down, I have to make sure she has one to hold.

Baby Blaiz

January 23, God blessed us with a new little nephew/cousin. Craig has to share his birthday with little Blaiz. Sunday afternoon we went to the hospital with Busia and Dzia Dzia to meet the newest little family member.

All the little "Ski" hands wanting to touch the newest little miracle.

Aleah was instantly excited. I think she thought it was a new baby doll for her to bring home. Little Blaiz was swarmed by my kids.

The new family of 5.

The Big "40"

Craig had quite the birthday weekend. Which I think was good, it distracted from the fact that he turned 40. (He was NOT happy about that fact.)

It really started a few months back when my friend, Lori sent me a schedule for scrapbooking events. There were two that we both thought we could make. One was in December, did not work out, and the other one was on Craig's birthday. Now Craig likes to make everyone feel sorry for him, but when I first mentioned the crop to him he reassured me that he did not care at all if I went. So Lori and I planned on going to the crop, paid the money, and the rest is history.

Now I was excited to go to the crop, no denying it. I have been a bit of a hermit over the past year. I don't have a lot of friends and it's been hard to get away from Aleah, since she never took a bottle past 2 months. So I put time into ordering pictures and organizing them.

Trey was very excited too. I was finally going to start his baby album. Poor child, he's 5. And as Reid so eloquently pointed out to me, "you mean Trey does not have any albums." Putting salt into my already guilt ridden conscience. So Trey wanted to come with me and did not understand why he could not go.

So come Saturday morning, I was up and showered and heading out the door on Craig's 40th Birthday. I called back home on the way there, to point out that it was the gloomiest day in the history of the world. I thought the earth was mourning with Craig. Craig liked that, I might add. (it was the gloomiest day in the history of the world too). I got to the church and unloaded my stuff and set up. Let the festivities begin!!!

Yes, sadly I was this excited to get away.

Now I called home sometime a little after lunch to check on Craig. He was in a good mood, giving me a rough time. He told me he was cleaning, because somebody had to since I was off playing on his birthday.

I called back home a little later, probably around 3:00. He seemed very stressed. His mom and dad was there and they had Jaxon and Elijah with them. Melinda had went to the hospital and nobody was sure what was going on. But Craig did not seem happy. I offered to come home, he said no no.

I called back home just a little bit later, probably around 4:30. Craig was in a good mood. Jaxon and Elijah were still there. Melinda was having the baby. His parents had to go home to get medicine. And Jaxon and Elijah were staying with us. Now by this point I was going nuts with laughter. I told him then that I would come home early. He was in a good mood at this point and told me to take my time. I ended up staying for the meal before I came home.

I got home around 7:30. Craig was trying to get kids ready for bed and was NO LONGER IN A GOOD MOOD. He likes to tell everyone how I walked in and started yelling. Not exactly true, but it is my role to regain order once Craig has whipped all the kids up into a frenzy. I realize now that should have been in our vows. I ended up separating kids, mainly because I did not want to send Jaxon and Elijah home so overtired. I still ended up using my mean mom voice telling the two of them to go to sleep. But it was not until after 9:00.

So that is how we spent Craig's 40th birthday.

We did have a quick piece of cake and ice cream with his parents the next day, before we went to the hospital to see Baby Blaiz.

Yoga Mat / Spider Race Track a very Versatile Piece

It's a snow day today and by 9:00 we had already ate breakfast and played a game of Go Fish and the kids had the little tent out going CRAZY. (Oh, it's going to be a long day.)Trey came up with the idea of putting the spiders on the yoga mat. (They won't go on the carpet.) Aleah took control of his remote and then Reid quickly saw the possibilities and joined in. Cade was sitting on the couch reading. This game went very well, other than Aleah was spinning and hitting everyone with the remote.

 

Look at that belly.

 

 

 

The boys are out in the snow now and Aleah is asleep. Peace and quiet, how long will it last?

I got the boys back out to play in the snow again. It was a little more work this time. I had to turn off the championship football game from last night (Alabama beats Texas). Don't tell Cade though he wants to watch the whole game. Then I had snow pants on everyone and all of a sudden there was blood on the floor, Trey's nose. Well a little bloody nose won't stop this mom from getting her three boys outside. I packed his nose with gauze and Vaseline. (We should be a boxing family.)And out the door they all went. I just put Aleah down for nap #2, and now I am having a Calgon moment, as I watch my 3 wild boys dragging each other through the snow. My life would inspire Hallmark cards.

Bad Story

I hate to share this story, because it's so bad. But I need to share this story, because it's so bad.

We got a lot of snow and the kids got sent home from school early. Trey's preschool was cancelled. So in my head we were going to have a couple of extra hours to go out and play in the snow. Fun, right?

I sent the boys out to shovel a little first. Then they headed to the back yard to play. Reid came in and told me that they were going to use the shovels to build a fort. I did not like the idea, but after cautioning him to be careful and not hit anyone with it, I agreed. I had to do a couple things and then Aleah and I headed to the basement. I thought I could watch them and Aleah could play. It had been less than 5 minutes since I spoke to Reid. By the time I walked down the steps I could hear Cade screaming. Not crying, but screaming. It took me a minute to find out what had happened. Cade couldn't really talk, Trey was crying that Reid hurt Cade, and Reid was already trying to defend himself. The basic story is the Reid swung the shovel and hit Cade in the neck. I of course handled the situation in a calm Christian way. Did you believe that last part? Well, I was yelling at Reid and just praying that Cade's neck was alright. I made Reid sit in the basement by himself while I went up and assessed Cade. He seemed alright, so I went back down and told Reid to go out and shovel the driveway by him.

That is the end to my Ugly story.