photography by www.ashleyhopper.com

pride...

you've seen him eat green beans, but have we ever even formally introduced him? well, here he is. i never knew my hearts real capacity until i met wyatt. tate and lane are two unbelievable little boys. lane is the bat boy for tate's ball team, but can practically out run, out catch, out throw some of the boys on the team. tate is constantly proud of him and doesn't hesitate to tell him so. lane stands as tall as he can stretch at the front of the line to shake hands with the opposing team after games because the coaches have told him he earned that spot and the big boys just step aside to let him lead the way. with all of the fun we have had and all of the birthdays they have shared in july and all of the firsts they have conquered together, i never dreamed of how astonished they would be of their little brother wyatt almost daily! every new noise, rolling over, now trying to sit up...they will shout it from the rooftops and cheer him along every step of the way. i feel like i am having my own little olympics sometimes...tears of joy and all.

green beans are chewy...

the gag reflex must not be quite as strong for our new little one. our oldest would gag when the spoon got right under his nose. still funny to watch! isn't he so cute???

doomsday

today will start another school year for me. i will likely blubber from the moment i get into the car to leave the sitters for at least 5 or 6 miles. i pledge to come prepared...make-up, my cell phone (so my husband can make fun/comfort me), and a diet dr.pepper. will wyatt remember me tonight? will the big boys behave? will my job bring with it the rewards and fulfillment it always does?
i realize that some people think that their job is the hardest, but i salute anyone who is a mom and works. my husband and i were just talking about this last night. he finally admitted that i DO have a job in the summers...and two during the school year. smart guy!

gossip @ 33...

gossip: (gos-uhp) idle talk or rumor, esp. about the personal or private affairs of others:

apparently this post was not taken well by some readers (didn't know i had any or that they were full of opinions) oh well! I live in a house full of boys, so crying over things is not always understood but my husband listens and manages to comfort me anyway! :)
"The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever."Psalm 28:7-9

my reality...

i actually submitted this to jeff foxworthy's website. we shall see if it posts. it might seem funny to some, and others you may not get it at first. yes, it IS a true story.

YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK IF YOUR SON AND HIS UNCLE ARE ON THE SAME T-BALL TEAM.

at it again...

i LOVE sewing, and i especially love sewing for new babies... i attempted a quilt for my brother's newborn. she is now 1 and i am not sure if it is still intact. i have been too afraid to ask. i used so-so fabric and some of my husband's old levi's. very cute. very not perfectly sewn. i have ventured into a little better fabric. chenille. someone gave me a burp cloth for our newest addition, wyatt, and it was chenille on one side and a light flannel on the other. it is truly my favorite because of size and absorbency. seeing how i have the viper child, i am in constant contact with my burp cloth. anywho, i decided to give them a try. i am in the middle of project # 2 with this same idea...only for a little miracle child named Brody. these were for enchanted Ella, our neighbor and friends who much like us are entering the 3 kids club. that fun, fabulous world where you, believe it or not, get strange looks in the store because you have more than 2. it's like people think we must be involved in some religious cult because we didn't stop at the sacred 2. enjoy, and i think chenille is messy but wonderful. easy to piece together and washes well!

isn't it ironic?

I used to love that song...Alanis Morrissette, cool chic. Anyway, I sometimes find life to be this way!

• A few years ago, we uprooted and moved to the Denver area. I loved it...stayed home with the boys, actually worked out several times a week, and felt like when my husband came home from work that I too had put in a full day. We were satisfied, but missed the comforts of grandparents close by and family near. So, at our first opportunity...we moved back. Stayed with the same company until recently when they started shutting down branches and my smart husband saw it coming and found a new job. Within a week of this, they let everyone go at his branch but two people. Rumor has it, he may have stayed but would have been asked to move again.
• Upon moving back, I took my job back teaching in the public school. We were not sure the pay difference between the move and to be on the safe side (and the fact that I loved my job) I got it right back. The following school year, we decide that we can take a pay cut for me to join the ranks of the Christian school in our town. We were enrolling our boys anyway, and they had an opening in my area. Oddly enough, it was an opening created by the same lady leaving whose job I had previously taken in the public school.
• We had made an appointment late in the previous school year with my doctor to have my tubes tied. This may seem like too much information, but for the sake of documentation on my part I am going to continue. My husband is diabetic and takes a magnitude of medicines daily. We have scheduled him to have his wisdom teeth removed 4 different times and each one ends in a 'no go' due to sugar being high and potentials of healing time taking too long. Therefore, he was not and may never be a good candidate for the male equivalent of a tube tying. I had not been on a regular track since having our second boy, had tried 8 different types of birth control in a 2.5 year time frame, and after being 'normal' my entire life, my body was saying enough is enough! My appointment for pre-op was at the end of July, and I was told on the phone...well, you know the routine he (doc) will want you to phase off of the old pills to prepare for new ones or in this case the procedure. I had done this so many times, but this time...I had to call the nurse back two weeks before the appointment and ask her to change it to a 'oh my, we are having another one' appointment. We walk in and the doc says to my husband...Why are YOU here? Did you just want to come have an annual with her?? My husband replies, "Well, we got this card in the mail that says the third one is free!" After a few belly bumps and high fives (our doc is crazy and is the same one to have delivered both of the boys) we have been well on our way to a third...and guess what? It's also a boy!
• Did I mention that the job switch for my husband happened AFTER deciding I could take a huge pay cut and move to a new school where I sometimes feel like I am working to pay tuition and lunch tickets only? Well, it did and he also took a cut. At the same time, one of his all time dreams came true. The church asked him to LEAD a worship service...yes, he became a bi-vocational music minister. Our pay had once again evened out, I did not say exceeded limits or the college funds are once again busting at the seams. I said evened out. We can live and live comfortably.
• Oh, and did I mention that when I took my new job our old baby sitter was retiring? The only woman that had ever watched my two boys was done?? What was I going to do with a new baby? and What was I going to say to my new principal? Thanks for the job, but I am going to need from about March to May off work :) Well, the school has infant care for the staff at an amazingly low rate. So, if I continue to work (and I will pending all is well with baby and mom or no other changes occur) then me and 'my 3 sons' will all get up each morning next year and head to school together. A wonderful school with wonderful students and wonderful parent support and best of all the daily teachings from the Word.
• On a Denver note, our only friends that lived there just moved within 2 hours of us here and my precious little sister from here just moved to Denver one week ago. The Denver branch/headquarters of my husband's old work is rumored to be shutting down and they will leave the remaining braches open on a quarterly basis depending on productivity and profits. My brother-in-law who was our only family in Denver, just months after we moved back here sent his wife and daughter back here and they have been in the middle of a sticky divorce for these past few years...still not final.

Irony? No way...God has a plan and no one can write a better life story for you than He can. I thank Him daily for the blessings and watchful eye He provides for my family. My boys are awesome!!! Daddy included! We have learned a lot about family in the last few years. We have learned even more about Faith.

Proverbs 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

During this time of the year, I always think about Mary. I am quite sure she had a different 'plan' for she and Joseph. A little house on a hill somewhere, a few kiddos, maybe some livestock? She soon found out, just as my husband and I have, that she was not in charge. She would be given the ultimate gift, just as we have been given! Thank you Jesus...for without You nothing is possible!

harlem

my little sister and the love of her life are purchasing a new home and she wanted a place to document their ideas and journey to remodeling it to make it their own... here you go emily and harley! congrats! we love you guys!

funny blessings

my oldest is a bright, 5 year old kindy who made it through the 1/2 of kindergarten just fine. after christmas break and a few different snow weeks...he developed a separation issue. he sort of already had the issue, but it had not reared it's ugly head in quite sometime! his sweet, young, wonderful teacher sat my husband and i down at parent conferences to give us the news. we can be slightly intimidating, you would have almost had to be there to see what i mean...my husband is a big, strong man and i have taught for 10 years. the combo for this young teacher left her figiting in her seat and staring at the floor for a minute. HE NEEDS TO DO THIS KINDY THING AGAIN!!! not at all a shock to us, since we had been bribing him to go for the last month. we were up to one Tums a day to make it out the door so he wouldn't have a belly ache. i winked at the doctor when we were there for an appointment and asked her if the tums was a good solution. she said, 'oh yes, and a glass of milk is fine too'. funny that he didn't appear to be listening until that moment and piped in...'can it be flavored?'
he is doing great now! the whole kindy again thing is fine, yet our district could not guarantee us all day kindergarten. his teacher did state that it would do him no good to do 1/2 day again. he can already read and spell as well as anyone in the class and academically it would be torture for him to sit through 1/2 day again. SO, i called our local christian school for enrollment. his little brother was going to start the 3y.o. program there this year anyway, so hey, why not go the same direction every morning.
one thing led to another and by loud knocking, unchanging grace of God, a persistant prayer chain, and honesty about wants and needs...we are ALL going there next year. i am going to teach 6th grade!!! not a new gig for me...the teaching thing. teaching in a christian school is going to rock! i will no longer have to explain things 'in my opinion' i will be able to talk about the true nature of our scientific world through biblical examples.
thank you Jesus for the opportunity to serve you! thank you for your constant watch over me and my family. thank you for the blessing of being home with my boys in the summer and now, what i feel will be the next best thing to being a stay at home mom! i love my career and am excited for this turn of events!!!!

thirty something

Do you remember that TV show? I used to think these people were old...
I had a birthday yesterday and 32 seems really old right now. I was loving yesterday. My boys went to the sitter/grandma's for a bit. I took my car in to have it serviced. Got to have lunch with all the ladies in my life. That's right mom, sis, sis, sis-in-law...all in one spot!! Went to see one of my bestest friend's new little baby (fought off hormonal rages to have another one based on his little smell). Did a little window shopping alone, picked up some dog food and milk, then went to get the boys.
Last night was probably when my age began to set in. We were invited to 'corporate night' at OktoberFest here in town. I got a designated driver wristband so that I could drink all of the diet beverages I wanted all night. I thought that was a clever idea. I watched, laughed, watched, laughed...and remembered a time that I may have actually looked forward to dancing the chicken on top of those very same tables. It was fun! Safe and fun!
I think my favorite part of the day was coming home with my tipsy husband :) to see my mom so proudly displaying a jack-o-lantern that she and the boys had made. Drying the seeds of course that my oldest had washed one by one. The boys were tucked neatly in...tired and content.
I can't tell you how great it feels to be fulfilled in life. God continues to be good...His mercy is everlasting. He allowed our family to spread it's wings, fly back home to OK, and enjoy our existence...no matter our age.

Mother of the Year

Yes, it is true. School is waaaaayyyy back in swing and I am beginning to fall behind on my duties as a mother. With our oldest now a Kindy, and our youngest a mean 2...life is wild when I get out of school. I can't complain, I have the best schedule in the world.

6:45 drop off kids in their p.j.'s
7:00ish arrive to mold the minds of 135 hormonal 7th graders
8:00 - 12:05 teach 5 classes...it is a fast pace with only 5 minutes between classes, but if I can make it through that marathon I am home free.
12:05 - 12:35 'lunch' which consists of one day of cafeteria duty a week and the other days I get to go to the elementary next door and walk my little man into kindy. Even on duty day! I just leave the cafeteria in the charge of our gym teacher and two other teachers trying to keep 600+ students from throwing food, etc. and I run across campus to go walk in my little scholar. Hey, I should count this as exercise.
12:40 - 1:25 my planning time...a solitary moment of the day when I can do whatever I, yes that was, I want! Sometimes go chat with my sister, also my school's librarian and a brilliant photographer Sometimes I get in my car and drive to hobby lobby and dream about all the cards I want to make, or the blanket I want to sew my brother and his wife who are expecting.
1:30 - 2:20 teach 7th period. Actually it is not quite fair to say 'teach' because I have never met a group of students so hard to teach. They are rude, disrespectful, tired of school by the end of the day...here I am fresh off a heavenly break. They usually drive me to want to find the nearest marjarita bar on the way home...but I would never do that :) I can't drink in the company of my closest friends without spilling something on someone. I always think it is a sign from God.
2:20 - 3:10 Clean up 7th hour's mess and get ready for the next day. Walk back to the elementary and pick up my charming kindy.

After that it is a whirlwind tour of picking up ornery little man, go home and start some laundry, start dinner, yard work, homework (me and kindy) man the phones from soccer parents (yes, my husband coaches the team which makes me mom/coach/organizer of all things good), disgruntled family members going through hard times, catch up on friend phone calls, make a card or two for any birthday or special occasion coming up, play with the children, show my husband love and affection because he is the best!
Although in my mind there is a web of sarcasm woven through the typing of that schedule... it really is the best. I just have to prioritize the wants vs. the needs as far as things to do. I need to focus on the joy in getting some of it done. I have even thought about a housekeeper?? Am I lazy? I certainly was not raised to think that was normal.
On the flip side of positive, I have at least 3/4 of an inch of roots showing which includes gray. I took my youngest for his 2 year 'well' check to find out he had double ear infections. I about died right there in the office. Not to mention when I went to pick him up from the sitter he had wet his entire suit of clothes during nap time. We were digging through the old stash of clothes that she had collected over the years...found a pair of neon green shorts, score! Now if we could just find a shirt...no, we had to dig through the other little sleeping boy's bag and found low and behold a power ranger t-shirt! I don't even let my children watch that show. He wore that and his cute little chuck taylor converse all stars (which are blue). When do you want your child to look better than they do at church???? The Doctor! Don't ask me why?? They strip them down anyway!!
My oldest had lollipop day at school and I have read every memo and still cannot find the one that talks about the day. He had to inform me on the way to the car that he did not get one and everyone else did. I immediately walk to the office and purchase him one. Luckily they were continuing the sale after school. Then I later find out in my neurotic quizzing of the poor child that the teacher didn't let them eat them in class anyway. I was picturing him sad and teary having to watch everyone else enjoy a tasty treat.
Pray for my sanity!