Playing at Lowe's

These two had way too much fun at Lowe's last night. They made it easier to spend a ton of money. They thought hitting each other with doors was fun.

Pamela

Feeling Beachie

The statements are: 1. Every time I hear _my husband call me Dear___ I think of __some mean man down grading his wife. I know it is silly but I seriously asked him to stop calling me Dear because it annoyed me. And he did not even say it to sound that way. ___ 2. Sometimes I feel like I forgot how to _live__ because I __consumed with what needs done in the day___. 3. So if there was one New Years resolution you could make it would be_to cook more at home and eat out less___ because you know you can keep it 4. If I could have any pet it would be a _mastiff or saint Bernard dog____and I would _sleep with it and train it to let my kids use it as a pillow___with it Pamela

My Blog Needs Help

I am looking for someone to help me update my blog. It has been years since I have had a blog make over and since then I have changed several things and messed up several things. It needs a total re do but for now I would like to focus on a few things. Here is what I need: 1. Someone to make me a new header 2. Someone to tell me how to add a signature to each post 3. Someone to make it possible to link my post to pinterest/facebook 4. Someone to clean up my blog 5. Someone to tell me what I am doing wrong. When I copy a blog post from someplace like word it makes the whole post run together instead. Any suggestions on who to have do this that will not charge me $200. I am not looking for something fancy. I would eventually like to switch my blog to one I own. Any suggestions on how to do that would be helpful. I have some goals for my blog this year. I would like to really tell you more of what is going on in my life instead of just short little post. I have used my blog as a personal scrapbook for a couple of years but would like to really make it into more of a journal. I would love to communicate more with my readers. I think we all have a lot going on in our lives and could encourage and up lift one another. What do you look for in a blog? Is it that it is cute and full of edited photos? If so sadly you will probably not find that here. The most I can do is take the red out of photos. A cute blog I may be able to pull off. Well only if I find someone to do it for me. Pamela

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I am so excited to share that my husband is home this year. I am feeling very blessed today. My husband is home. We are in our new home (okay it is 100 years old). The kids are happy with what they got for Christmas. This year we changed things. Instead of buying the kids a bunch of junk for the sake of having lots of things to open we decided to get them each three gifts. They each got something you need, something you read and something you want. It was perfect. 

  My husband has been off for the last few weeks. I am so going to miss him when he goes back to work. He has even gone two weeks without shaving. It is weird to see him with facial hair.  

  I hope you have had a amazing Christmas and focused on what is important. For me today is about enjoying my family and taking time to relax together. 

Pamela

The Legend of Ranger

I was recently given a wonderful opportunity. I was given the opportunity to review The Legend of Ranger. What a neat fun story. It was the story of a reindeer that wanted to fly but could not. I will not tell you rather Ranger ever learned to fly. I will tell you that my children enjoyed this story because the pictures were amazing. We all want to have a special ability that we don’t. I personally want to be able to have a double to clean while I cook. This book is different than most Christmas stories because it is a chapter book. That means I was able to read the book over several days instead of just in a few minutes. This book also gave us plenty to talk about. We talked about how we should work hard at what we want to learn to do. We talked about how sometimes what we want is not what is right for us. The author of this book is a retired Major General. It is hard for me to imagine someone who was in the military for 30 years being able to write such a compassionate book. The thing I like most about this book is that all profits will be donated to Antonia J. Giallourakis Endowed Fund in Art Therapy for Children with Cancer at Massachusetts General Hospital. You can order this book and the toy or even the audio on Amazon. The audio would be neat for all of those long car rides we are doing right now. You can read more about the author Alan Salisbury right here. Please look at these other links to learn more about the book and the people it will benefit. http://opusonestudios.com https://www.facebook.com/OpusOneStudios https://twitter.com/opusonestudios Pamela

Feeling Beachie times Three

The statements: 1. How is it _that we are going to be home owners again____? 2. I can’t believe how much easier it was to buy a house the first time____ than to _buy this time in the country. You would think having well water was having a oil well.___. 3. I like my _land___ and _may never go into town again.____ 4. If I could I would do _a makeover on this old farm house_______ all day _and night so it would just be done. I have missed Feeling Beachie so I am going to go back and give you my answers for the last couple of weeks that I missed. The statements: 1. I am a __perfectionist; I can do something and instantly want to do it again to see if I can do it differently or better.____ 2. When I was little I was _always playing pretend and I always played school. ____ 3. Sometimes I just need to _realized that my time line is not everyone else’s time line__ but I constantly question why people cannot get things done quicker______ 4. The best thing about the holiday’s __is having my husband home, We have spent more than one Christmas alone and this is amazing. I am adding a #5 The saddest thing about the holidays is: not living by family. I would love to have family over and build family traditions and just hang out together. The statements: 1. Have you _sent out Christmas cards__ yet? I have, I mailed them out while I was staying in the hotel. If you did not get one from me and would like one just send me a e-mail with your address. 2. I was born in _the 70’s to a teen mom, she actually snuck out and left the state to visit my dad who was at basic training. Oh and my dad wanted my name to be Gypsy Dawn. __ 3. I have never stole anythng__at least as far as I know., But I have had to take a few things back because they got dropped in a diaper bag or under a car seat. My question is why does the store not reward you for not stealing instead of looking at you like you’re a idiot for returning it. 4. I can’t stand__when people look down on someone for not breastfeeding or cloth diapering or having 20 kids. __

It is Cold

Pamela

Today has been a great relaxing day. Well besides one child having the second round of the stomach bug. We finished up Christmas shopping went to lunch and then we just relaxed. I have done laundry in the hotel all day. I know it is costly but I do not want to take dirty laundry to the new house. 

Speaking of which I will be able to see the new house in 14 hours. I chose not to drive by today since I could not look inside. 

  I love hotel life. Spending time together. Today we bought a Bingo game to play as a family. Anything to pass the time and enjoy one another. 

  The weather here is cold, no freezing. I cannot get warm and the poor dog had to be carried back inside today. Do they make coats and boots for big dogs? 

I can't wait to share pictures with you. But for now I must get back to laundry and my babies. 

Almost Home

No idea what all my post did not post. Yesterday was stressful to say the least. Between loosing a tire on the boat trailer and kids being done in the car and then hitting a snow storm I about lost it. The lights on the trailer did not work so I could not see my husbands vehicle. We decided that while we were still 5 hours from Illinois it was best to stop for the night.

   Just so you know it is not easy to find a hotel that will give us 2 pet rooms. We stopped at motel 6 because it was the first one we came to. I was a little nervous because hello motel 6. But they had the rooms and at this point I was in tears. 

   Honestly I was amazed when we walked into our room. Look at these pictures. Does this look like a motel 6? We got two rooms. I kept the four youngest and the cat and my hero kept the dog and the three oldest. 

  Everyone is up and going. My hero is loading the vehicles right now. We had to bring all the suitcases in because they were in the back of his truck. We have a car top carrier but it froze shut. I am telling you this has been a adventure. 

  Today's plans are to drive the last 5 hours to our final destination. The roads look clear. I am hoping they are. Then we will take all but our suitcases to the storage unit. 

Please pray as we drive today.

Pamela 

Stuck on the Side of the Road

This is me blogging from the side of the highway. Anything to keep busy. Have I said I hate driving let alone being on the side of the road. The boat had a blow out. Praising that my husband was driving and able to get off the road safely. Praising that for this second the baby is quiet. Praising we have roadside assistance and praising they can get here quickly. 

Did I tell you the dog and toddler are over the stomach bug but the cat got sick in her cage this morning so I am hoping she is okay. 

Please pray we continue to stay safe until the tow truck arrives and that we can rent or buy or repair whatever it is that needs done quickly. Please pay for strength and energy. I did not sleep well last night and we still have 7 hours to drive today. 

Thankful the Stomach bug is Gone

Ahh I got sleep, not four or five hours but I slept. James has officially been stomach bug free for 24 hopefully this means we are done. 

 Yesterday  the kids got to play with cousins and aunts. It was a great day. 

Today we are making cookies and packing up. The plan is to leave early in the morning for Illinois. I am so excited to be there and get settled.

Pamela

Good-Bye Mr. Guinea Pig

Good wonderful snowy morning. We woke up to snow which thrills the kids but reminds me I need to go buy hats and gloves. 

  Our first day was a adventure to say the least. The leasing agency was late which means the kids sat in the car a hour longer than they needed to. Then we stop at walmart to pick up another tote for last minute things and the toddler up chucks everywhere. Once we finally. Get on the road it is smooth sailing. We stopped for lunch and the toddler had two more accidents. This poor child acts like nothing is wrong but I feel horrible for him. The weather was great and the kids were great. They watched little rascals and I listened to Chonda Pierce in my blue tooth. 

  Sadly our guinea pig died on the drive. The first couple of hours he was climbing out of his box and being his normal self. At lunch my husband said he thought he was dying. I said no way he has been normal. Twenty minutes later Faith said mom the guinea pig is dead. I said no he is just sleeping and she responded with " mom he is on his side with his eyes open". 

  The guinea pig loss makes us sad because we have had him 2 years. We got him from a rescue who found him in the dump. Originally his name was Patch but he was called Sir Pee's A lot for obvious reasons. 

  I hate this for my kids. When we first moved to Bragg our cat of 18 years died. We were in the house 2 days when she died. 

  The picture I am showing was taken in the first hour of our trip. 

Pamela

Prayers

Please pray with us, in exactly 18 hours we will put 7 kids, a cat, a dog and a guinea pig in two vehicles and begin our trip. 

There are several prayer request:

1. One child has a stomach bug

2. Two children have what we thinks are the beginings of colds. 

3 two parents who have not slept well and need rest

4 for weather, I am extremely nervous about the road conditions as we will be driving through mountains 

5 for safety as we travel, that the vehicles tub smoothly and we are able to get there safely 

6 for me I do not enjoy driving but add the weather to that and I am a nervous wreck. 

 We will pull out of our home around 9am in the morning, if you think about it please take a minute to stop and pray. 

  Also take a minute to laugh, can you imagine two vehicles, with 7 kids a cat, a dog, a guinea pig pulling a boat with 9 suit cases and a million other bags and crates. 

Pamela

It is Time to Clean

Can I just say it does not matter how much you spend on a air mattress (and I spent a small fortune) they always deflate. My hips do not handle it well. Everyone else slept well.  Today we are cleaning and cleaning and then cleaning before someone comes this afternoon to clean. 

   Speaking of cleaning did I tell you that we found a snake skin in the garage YUCK! 

   Tonight we have dinner with friends. I am also going to a friends to do laundry this afternoon. I forget that with a family this size you have to do laundry daily. 

   A amazing friend did being me biscuits and gravy this morning. She said it was to celebrate my birthday eve eve. Yes my birthday is on Sunday and yes it will be spent scrubbing walls and loading vehicles.

Almost Done

We are almost done, the home inspector should have been here thirty minutes ago to clear this house. All the kids and pets have been setting in the vehicles for 35 minutes. We wanted them out of the way before she got here. Trying to stay positive that we are making them set longer for no reason but I know if they come back in the house they will track dirt. 

I had a amazing birthday last night and cannot wait to tell you about it. 

Pamela

Feeling Grateful

What a emotional few days. Yesterday was my farewell. It was a amazing time of affirmations. I am not good about hearing positive things about myself, I left feeling loved and appreciated. 

 Today was our last Sunday at church. It was bittersweet. I try to avoid saying good bye at all cost. Honestly I have always been afraid of crying in public. It is  especially hard when I see how this fellowship has bonded with my children. How they have loved on my family and not judged us. 

  Did I tell you today is my birthday. We are spending the day buying a last minute gift for a friends child and then exchanging pants for one of mine and going for Mexican for dinner. I woke up to  candy and cards from my husband. Later on in the morning he shared something on his heart. I told him then that is all I need. For him to share something from his heart is true intimacy. Something honestly that has not always been there. 

 Okay, time to get going. We have errands and then a ton of stuff to cram into two vehicles. 

Pamela

Stomach Bugs

Today is a easy day except it is not. The plan was to get my hair done this morning and then go to my farewell and then dinner with friends. That was before we were up until almost midnight then the baby was up congested and the toddler was up all night with the stomach flu. 

Please oh please let him be the only one who gets the stomach flu. 

Seriously, please pray we can get some rest and that this stomach flu is gone quickly. 

This is one room of air mattresses. Tonight there will be more as we empty more rooms. 

Pamela 

Our House is Empty

The truck is loaded. It took about 8 hours and four men but everything is gone. Well  except for the roaster they forgot. 

  Rob just took the boys to pick up a couple of things from Lowes while the girls and I stayed home and ate the last of the ice cream. We reminded Jacob he was part of the girls club and could not tell anyone we had ice cream. 

   Tonight we will sleep on air mattresses. It will be just like camping. 

   I have to tell you the funniest thing this week has been how scared yes packers and the movers were of my animals. I get the dog because she is big but even the guinea pig scared them and you would have thought the cat had rabies the way they looked for her before coming into a room. I am laughing but it is sad to think of what made them this scared. 

  So far only one thing got broken and it was a piece of my polish pottery but I am not claiming it. They were super nice and accidents happen. 

   Time to get the girls in the shower before the boys get home. 

Pamela 

Day 4

Day 4, today the movers load everything onto the truck. Yesterday was crazy. Last minute packing, movers constantly needing questions answered, someone came to put stabilizers on the washer and dryer. Someone from transportation came by to make sure things were going well. And then we had a erogation specialist here 5 times because he did not have the right parts. 

   Did you know that spouses now get 500 pounds of professional gear and yes homeschool material is considered professional gear. And when you are still paying off the last move every pound counts. 

Jacob does want you to know that this move is not concerning him and he is just laying around.

   We did get our hotel booked for the first part (I almost said leg). We also  called about turning on the electric/gas turned on which is the same company. Things are definitely getting real now. 

Pam

Wordless Wednesday

S

He is either saying my baby or this baby needs to stop kicking me.

Nursing our Blessing as Toddlers

 I have said before that I love breast feeding but have never been successful in doing it much longer than a year. I have a friend who is still nursing her almost 3 year old and I love her for it. This is what she wrote recently. I instantly knew I had to share it. I am also sharing pictures of how we spend our days together. 

This is what she wrote recently:Ok I said to someone yesterday I would never post a picture of me nursing my toddler. You know because it will be there for life.  Seriously, this is normal, this is beautiful, this makes our days special. I love when he says mommy nurse please. I love that he asks to cuddle. I do get frustrated and get tired at night and want to throw him out of bed. But, he is wanting mommy right now. That will not be forever. I am going to appreciate this bonding time. This is the first child of mine I was able to breast feed. Thankful to a @trooppetrie for her encouragement. Some will mock me for self led weening. But this will not last forever. And I enjoy every minute HE wants to snuggle. I think people myself included should become apart/actively of support groups for older nursing children. Nurse in public, don't be ashamed. Nurse in front of kids, I nurse in front of my 7 year old autistic child uncovered, do you know what she says? Elijah's hungry mommy. Nursing=Natural. It is a part of life. I think that last part was a rant, but you get the picture. Don't be afraid. Covered or uncovered. And don't listen to the books, listen to you and your child. You both will know when the time is right.

   Thank you Lindsie for your honesty and thank you @doulanurse247 for taking amazing pictures. 

Pamela

Day 2

Well I made it through day one of packing. It actually was not that hard since I was gone about 4 hours. I had errands and counseling.

Counseling went well. Her little girl was there which was a great distraction. I do not handle good-byes and try to avoid them at all cost. My son has one more appointment in the week so it did not seek like a final good-bye even though my husband will take him.

  The kids are doing well. Jason is who I have even worried about most but he is doing okay. I think he needed to see them pack everyone's stuff not just his. He has asked several times if we can follow the moving van. 

   Today I am taking a friend to the doctor so I will be out if the house for part of the time. This helps with getting the kids out of the house for a while. 

  By the way has anyone seen my other brown shoe?

Pamela

10 minute warning

The movers should be here in 10 minutes? Ask me if I am ready. Nope not mentally or physically ready. So much still to do. It just does not seem real that soon strange men will be in every room of my house packing. I hope I remembered to pull out everything I need. 

Underwear-check

Diapers-check

Baby blankets- check

Wordful Wednesday full of Duct Tape

Oh you say your homemade bread is sliced thick and will not fit into a sandwich bag. Okay, then just use duct tape to close that bag. Isn't that what all normal people do? Pamela

The Day I Left My Boy

I left this boy with dad long enough to run out and buy chicken. I received a SOS. I do not think he cared that we needed chicken. I told him I would not leave him for a long time. 

Pamela

Feeling Beachie

The statements: 1. I don’t remember the last time I truly did _nothing and let my body just relax. ___ 2. Sometimes I wish video games____ were _not___ invented. I dislike how they consume my children’s brains. 3. I love when someone __helps___ you, especially when you do not ask but should have. 4. If I could I would do __reading therapy with my daughter______ all day, she is growing and thriving more than I can imagine. I just wish I could work with her for hours every day. Pamela

Baked potatoes

I love Pinterest, I don't know how to link from my phone but wanted to share this recipe. 

 Melt butter in the bottom of a pan, sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese, then cut potatoes in half and lay in pan. 

Bake at 400 for 45 minutes

Potty Training with a New Baby

I was once told not to make any changes when a new baby comes. That was thrown out the window when Jacob was born. You see our life is crazy busy. We have no less 6 appointments a week. So potty training has been on the back burner. My husband took time off when Jacob was born. He decided it was a great time to potty train and guess what HE WAS RIGHT! Yes, I just admitted my husband was right about something. I think James enjoys the special attention he is getting. I am enjoying that there will soon be less diapers to change. My budget is grateful for fewer diapers. On the negative note it is 3:30AM and I am awake. James did not make it to the bathroom and woke up. Poor thing, I don’t mind at all but feel bad that it woke him up. Have you done anything crazy like potty train a toddler while caring for a newborn? It can be done. Pamela

No Guilt When Parenting

I know I should be making packing list, I should be cleaning out closets, I should be sleeping more. Laundry is not getting put away every day, floors are not getting mopped. Bed time is not happening right at 8pm. I am not putting on makeup daily, heck I often do not even make it out of my nursing tank top when I am home. But it is okay because I am snuggling this growing baby. I am nursing this snuggling baby. I am taking time to snuggle other growing blessings. This time is flying by, the kids are growing fast. I look at my 16 year old who will be turning 17 year old soon and cannot believe he is taller than me now. So for today I will take time each day to love on this baby before he gets too big to want to snuggle with me. When I am over whelmed with life I will remember that it will pass. Sometimes I have to just stop in the middle of a math lesson and pray with my kids for strength and energy to make it through the day. Sometimes I even have to drink caffeine to help not fall asleep during reading. Sometimes I have to nap, stop what I am doing and just rest. And you know what that is okay. If I do not take care of myself then I cannot take care of my blessings. I have to be honest and say I am writing this at 3:30 in the morning. The baby is asleep in the swing, the house is quiet. I should be sleeping. I am exhausted but right now I just needed a few minutes to play on the computer. I wish I could tell all new moms to take a breath and take care of themselves. I wish I could take time to snuggle and blog and eat a cookie without guilt. I wish I could ask for help, accept help when it is offered. But I am human and often feel like I have to do it all myself. Pamela

Just Roll With It

Just roll with it! My goal for this blog is to be honest with my blog. Honestly, I have so much I want to write about but then life gets busy and then I worry about my spelling and grammar. I do not want to go back and read everything again. Which is comical because this is what I fuss about on a daily basis to my teen. I have talked about life with a son who has asbergers before. Some of the social skills issues he has. I have to be honest the thought of moving is made harder by the fact that he has to meet new people. First impressions are not always great with him. But once you know him for a couple of minutes you will love him. He is the most giving, helpful child you will meet. He is great with little kids , patient beyond what seems possible and has a love for any child with special needs. This will all make sense in a few minutes. I have posted hundreds of pictures of my newest blessing Jacob. He is so precious and so snuggly and content to just set in my arms and look at the walls. I constantly get comments about how bright his eyes are and they have been since birth, how he looks around constantly. All of this is true. But I have noticed something recently he looks around all the time but not at one thing and not at anyone. He does not follow objects or even look at the ceiling fan. I think what startles me most is that you can literally touch his eye lashes before he will blink. At first I reminded myself he is a infant. Stop reading the what to expect app because he is not doing what it says. Then I noticed something else. He does not smile. Sure when he is nursing he smiles and a couple of times he has smiled at someone. They ooh and ahh about a cute little chubby smile. In my heart I knew it was just a coincidence. I kept telling myself that he is only 5 weeks, then 6, then 7 and finally 8 weeks. I did decide I should have his eyes examined. I have eye issues and my husband had eye issues. So I made a apointment. Remember we are moving in 3 weeks. Well this week we had Jacobs two month appointment. He weighed 11.12 pounds which means he has gained 3 pounds since birth. He has also grown 3 inches. He looked great. He is super strong and has had great head control since birth. She asked if I had any concerns. I told her about him not looking at me or smiling. Honestly, I just knew she would say give it time. So she examines him and looks at his eyes for several minutes before saying “I need to talk to someone” and then walks out of the room. Talk about scary. She comes back and says she agrees he needs to see the eye doctor ASAP. Then says she is putting in a referral for early intervention. That shocked me. I asked why and she said the words that made me want to cry and laugh out loud at the same time. She said “because he has no social skills”. No social skills, that is funny. I know all about lack of social skills. We see the eye doctor next Thursday. She is pretty sure Early Intervention will get me in before the move. If not she will type something out before we move to take with us. So now back to the title. I took my daughter to reading therapy yesterday and at the end I was talking to her therapist about Jacob. Really laughing about the social skills statement because she has heard some of the craziness. Her comment to me made me smile and think. She said well if there is ever a parent to have a child with special needs it is you. She said some parents hear there child is delayed and they can think of nothing else. That I hear it and think okay what do we do to help them. Please know I am not saying Jacob has anything wrong. Heck, he could start smiling and cooing today. He could just be lazy and enjoying his time and be on his own schedule. But I do think the correct thing is to watch him closely and make sure we are staying on top of it. I ask you to pray with us. Pray that Early Intervention can get us in quickly and give us some idea about what is going on before we move. Pray for our appointment with the eye doctor on Thursday. I ask you to pray for our family as we move and find new therapist for my other two and find new doctors. Pray as we find a church and meet new people. Pamela

Feeling Beachie

The statements: 1. _Moving_____ make me _say things that make no sense and babble like a baby_____ because_I am juggling ten different things at one time.___ 2. Whenever someone _tells me ____ that _i have my hands full____ I get very _annoyed because I really want them to understand I do not have my hands full but my heart is full. ____ 3. I know I should never __yell at my kids or husband___ but sometimes I can’t help it 4. I have fond memories of having a big sister through big brothers/big sisters____ from childhood Pamela

I Miss Daddy

I recently received a book to review. When I first heard about the book I knew I would enjoy it. Any book that helps my children deal with deployment is a great book. We have gone through 8 deployments and let me tell you they never get easier. This book dealt with something that no other book I have read dealt with. I Miss Daddy , deals with how kids behave and feel while dad is deployed. In “I Miss Daddy” Jana acts out. She acts out because her routine is not the same and dad is not there. I have experienced this several times. It is so hard to understand what our children are feeling. Acacia Slaton Beumer is a amazing author and really touched me. She really understands what being a military wife feels like. I would love for you to read this amazing book. You can find this book on Amazon.I think it would make a great gift for anyone who is new to the military. Or for a special child whose father or mother is deployed or about to deploy. I love that this book has discussion questions in the back. Something I do not see in very many books. Thank you Acacia Beumer for allowing me to review your book. Pamela

Do I Eat or Hold a Baby

Dad, give me the baby. See dad this is how you hold him if you want him to stop crying. I love how she is willing to help. She actually gets offended if I do not let her help. She has learned if she asks to hold the baby during meals I will let her. It is an amazing treat to be able to eat a meal without rushing or spilling it on Jacob’s head. Pamela

Thirty Day Notice

We are less than 30 days out from the big move. There is now a for rent sign in our yard.

  We have also signed a contract on a new house. I am hoping the inspections are done this week. Please pray with us that this process is smooth and quick. I really do not want to live in a hotel for very long.

  I am going to update as we go through the next month. Today I straightened all the book shelves and organized school materials. 

   This weekend I cleaned out the boys closet and dresser. Hoping to work in the kitchen tomorrow. 

   I also scheduled someone to come in and do some of the cleaning after the movers leave. This is the house that we have a contract on.

Pamela

5 Weeks in a World of Camo

5 weeks old. I am really behind in posting pictures of this blessing. If you follow me on Instagram you are constantly seeing him but my poor boy has not even been given a spot on the blogs side bar. I have tried but cannot get it to work, HELP! I remember when I had my first son I would not allow any camo. Now I love Army haircuts and camo on my baby boy. He is getting so big. I have asked him to stop growing but he just will not listen. I know it would stress me if he was not growing (been there done that). Jacob loves to be held and snuggled. Okay, that is not totally true; he loves to be snuggled if it leads to nursing. He loves to nurse. He loves to eat. Pamela

Grace is 8, How did this Happen

We are in birthday mode here. We have four birthdays in a month. Grace had a great birthday. She decided to take a few friends for manicures and pedicures. It had to be the cutest thing ever. They all chose their colors and enjoyed being pampered. Every year I give my kids the choice: we can buy their birthday cake or I can make it or they can make it. They always choose to make it and decorate it themselves. I know it does not make for perfect cakes or beautiful pictures. But I do not mind. It lets them be creative. It gives them something special to do on their special day. Grace is our miracle (I know they are all miracles), my water broke at 26 weeks and I delivered her at 31 weeks weighing 2.12 pounds. She is a healthy beautiful baby girl. You heard that right, she may be 8 but she is my baby girl. She loves to snuggle and begs to sleep with us. She takes pride in taking care of the little ones. She will be the first to bring you a cold drink. She lives for dressing up. I have loved watching her grow and change. It has not always been easy but God has shown us that he is there. Grace is my sensitive child. One minute she is outgoing and talks your ear off. The next minute she is shy and clinging to mom. She loves to learn and keeps me on my toes to keep up with her. Pamela

Birthday Cake

Hope's eleventh birthday cake. It was so much fun to make. I am so grateful I have kids who want me to make there cake. This has to be the easiest cake to make. I will definitely make it again. It was fun because there is no guilt about eating oreos and m&m's on the same day you eat birthday cake. Pamela