The Cart

Let me tell you right now.
It's true.
No matter how much you say you won't.
The baby gets spoiled.
You just can't help it.

My kids have always begged.
And begged.
And begged.
To ride in those car carts at the grocery store.
And I have refused.
And refused.
And refused.

So you know where this is going, right?

Yesterday Jobe and I went to the grocery store.
And, of course,
like he does nearly every time we are there,
he asks if we can use the car shopping cart.
And I said...
Yes.

No idea how that came out of my mouth.
I have never answered that question with a yes before.

He was thrilled.
I'm pretty sure that at first he didn't believe me.
But I put him in the cart.
And off we went.

It was horrible.
For me.
Wonderful.
For him.

Those things are huge.
You run into things.
Like displays.
You take up the entire aisle.
People either look at you funny.
Or chuckle at you.
As if to say:
You are a sucker.

It is no fun at all.
I will never do it again.

Look how pleased Jobe is though.
Thinking he's pretty cool.But I will not do this again.
Really.
I won't.

He may be the spoiled baby.
But he will not talk me into it again.
Nope.
He won't.

Signs of Spring

1 Corinthians 3:7
So neither the one who plants
nor the one who waters is anything,
but only God,
Who makes things grow.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

Let the Madness Begin

It's obvious that March Madness is here.
I think the brackets had babies overnight.
They are all over our house.This morning all of my boys were filling out more brackets.
From youngest.To oldest.
Brookie and I filled out brackets too.
We are normal about it though.
We each only do one.

This is Jake's favorite time of year.
Pretty sure it even trumps Christmas.
He's filled out 11 brackets.
Probably did another one at school this morning.
Before the games started.
I doubt he's focusing very well today.

He and Ryan even did a bracket for our cat.
I'm not kidding.
All the teams with "cat" mascots were the winners.
Who knew there were so many mascots involving felines?
Even then, they couldn't have the K-State Wildcats winning.
Sorry to you K-Staters.
Please still be my friend.

The #1 choice at our house is KU.
Even though we all realize it's a long shot.
They let us down nearly every year.
But several brackets do have Kentucky as champions.

Does your family go all crazy this time of year?
Who are you picking to win it all?

Older Ones

Going thru what seemed like thousands of pictures.
For Mom and Dad's anniversary.
Was exhausting fun.

I found so many great pictures.
That brought back great memories.
Here's just a few.
I promise.

Jakie waited until he was nearly 15 months old to walk.
But one day he just decided to go.
He picked up his little dog Tracker.
And took off.He was so proud of himself.
From that time on
Tracker always had to go to bed with him.
When Jakie is really laughing,
he still looks just like this.
He was also the roundest of my babies.
So squeezable!

Brookie's first trip to American Girl in Chicago.This is just one of the sweetest pictures of her.
Her hair.
Her little arms.
That already look like they have tiny little muscles.
She's a wiry thing.
So cute!

And one of my favorites of the two of them.They always got along so well.
The past few years,
there has been a little more fighting.
But recently,
it seems they are getting along better again.

Once I got into high school,
my brother and I hardly ever fought.
Probably because I was so mature.
Ha!
Seroiusly, we were really good friends.

So I'm hoping that is how Brookie and Jakie
soon see each other.

This is my brother and I.
On vacation.
Our best family vacation.
The summer before my senior year.
He was going to be a sophmore.My mom says it's one of her favorite pictures of us.

There you have it.
A teeny trip down memory lane.
Thanks for indulging me.

Oh How My Mind Rambles

I finally threw my poinsettia out.
On Thursday.
I feel better having that done.
It was clearly a difficult task.
Since it took me a couple months.
Phew.
One big project done.

So far today I have
cleaned my pantry cupboard
taken Jobie to a dentist appointment
paid some bills
picked up the family room
washed and dried some dishes
washed a load of laundry
and folded a load from the weekend.

It's beautiful outside.
I hope to get some work done out there.
Before school is out.
Then I'll take Jake to an eye appointment
get Brookie from track practice
take her to soccer practice
and make supper.

The other day Jobie put his hands over his earsand asked:
Mommy, can you hear me talking to you?
So cute!
When I said yes,
he was a little disappointed.
He must have thought
he'd discovered something pretty amazing.
Only to have his mom ruin it.

My time with him at home is rapidly disappearing.
Before I know it Fall will be here.
And he will be walking into a kindergarten classroom.

What is so exciting
about watching each other
play games on an ipad?
Ezzie had two friends over Friday.
He was so excited.
Counted down the days all week.
Knew exactly what he wanted for snack.
Chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches.I got a picture of the snack.
But no picture of the boys.
It's all about priorities, people.

Jake had two friends over also.
Most days anywhere from 1-3 friends
come home with him after school.
When I brought the snack outside to them,
one of them said:
Oh man! I've never had homemade ones before! Thanks!
Made my day.

All of us cuddled up on the couch Saturday night.
And watched Courageous.
It was good.

The last couple of weeks
I've been discovering the fun of instagram.
I finally got an iphone.
I'm giddy over icloud.
The syncing between my ipad and iphone.
How fun!

I've also jumped on the pinterest bandwagon.
Last night I pinned an outfit I liked.
And within minutes it had over 200 repins.
Today it has almost 400.
Crazy stuff.

One last thing.
My wrapper from my Dove chocolate.I asked Ryan if that would be sexy.
Then I asked him how to be mysterious.
He just looked at me,
grinned
and kinda rolled his eyes.

Apparently asking how to be mysterious
is neither mysterious
or sexy.
A lesson learned.

The King of Joy

Anyone want a 4 year old today?
Naughty little boy so far.Wednesday he spent half the day.
Singing a little song he made up.
Only one line.
Over and over.
"I am the king of joy."

He is most certainly not.
The King of Joy.
Not right now anyway.
Not ever really.
(Even though it's really cute.
And we are all much happier
when he thinks he's the king of joy.)

But, he is not really the king of joy.
Because:
Joy can only come from the Lord.
From His Word.
From a relationship with Him.

My Father is heaven is the King of Joy.

Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life;
You will fill me with joy in Your presence,
with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.I Thessalonians 2:20
Indeed, You are our glory and joy.

Each week Beki at therustedchain hosts Fingerprint Friday and uses a song by Steven Curtis Chapman as a springboard. Join in. It's a great way to be reminded of God's presence.

The Weekend

We had so much fun this weekend.
Lot and lots of time with family.

Friday night.
Dinner.
The Keeper of the Plains.
Dessert.We put together an album for Mom and Dad.
Just a little story of their life.
And we each wrote a little message to them.

I had to break into their house a couple of times.
To find pictures for it.
I thumbed through 40 years of pictures.
That takes awhile.
But brought back some great memories.

The 7 grandkids.
My brother and sis-in-law.
The Keeper.We had a hotel for Mom and Dad Friday night.
The rest of us went home.
And swapped some cousins around for sleepovers.
Then back to do more with Mom and Dad the next morning.

Saturday.
Bowling.
Lunch.
A little museum.Jobie was the funniest to watch.
He is soo competitive.After he would roll the ball,
he would go stand by the ball return and watch.
It sometimes took a LONG time.
For the ball to reach the pins.He would jump up and down.
Hands in the air.
When he knocked down pins.
If he missed.
Look out.
He was frustrated.
We let my parents have the actual evening
of their anniversary
(Saturday night)
to themselves.

Hope they had a good time.
We sure did.
Saturday evening, Brookelynn kept saying:
That was so much fun.

Sunday.
Church.
And lunch with Ryan's family.
7 grandkids there too.
(Brookie is the only girl.)
But in June that number will be 8!
I'm going to be an aunt again!
Ryan's youngest brother and his wife.
Kid #3 coming.

Brookie with the current youngest.
Great weekend.
I'm so thankful for all of my family.

40

Today.
My parents have been married 40 years.

We're spending time with them this weekend.
Just being together.
Our family of 13.It might be time for another family photo.
Don't you think?

It all started out like this.Just the 2 of them.
Dad thought Mom was cute.
Asked her out.

Then before long.
They were married.
Headed off to their honeymoon.So cute.

Can't believe 5 years have already gone by.
Since this picture was taken.
40 years filled with lots of love.Happy anniversary, Dad and Mom!
Thanks for giving us a beautiful example of love.