Father's Day

Today was a great day. First we let Wayne sleep in late, then we served him breakfast in bed. I made biscuits, sausage, eggs and gravy and the kids brought it to him. After he go up he thought we should go somewhere. So we went on a road trip today :)

We went to Hawks Nest and New River Gorge. Cody's friend Blake is up here for some of the summer so it was nice being able to show him some of our beautiful state.
We had a picnic lunch at the bottom of Hawks Nest on the river. That is always fun, we have done that before. Wayne saw a man that he grew up with while we were there, so it was nice for him to be able to catch up with him. They had several hummingbird feeders there and the birds were feeding. We were actually able to get some pictures of them.

I was able to get some pictures of people coming off of the white water on the New River under the New River Gorge bridge. That was fun to watch. Blake couldn't believe that they close the outside lanes of the bridge each year for one day in October so that people can parachute and bungee jump from the bridge. Being from the flatland of southeast Texas, he was in awe.

Right now it is about 11:20 p.m. Ariel has a friend spending the night and them and Cody and Blake are outside playing "spotlight". They are having a ball! One good thing from it....maybe it will keep the coons, opposums and bears out of the garbage cans tonight....Oh and maybe the coyotes won't come in so close to the house either. If you have never heard them yelp, then it will scare the crap out of you when you first hear them. It is tough to get back to sleep when they wake you up out of a sound sleep too!!! :)


Night.....

Summer has begun...

Well the kids are out of school and I am ready for them to go back :) We are done with all of the end of school year activities. It is kind of sad though knowing that I no longer have children in elementary school. Everyday I get older and so are my children. I wish I could go back in time to when they were little and watch them grow all over again. You know when you are young you kind of take it for granted that they (the children) will stay little for a long time. But then when they have gotten older you realize at just how fast the time has gone by.

I must admit though that I do like this chapter of my life too. I can't wait to see my grandson! I see my children doing more things in their own lives and becoming their own persons. I just hope I have done my job well and I have taught them the things that they need to have to become responsible adults.

It will be busy middle to end of the summer as Ariel made the flag corp. So practice will begin around the first of August. Cody will be starting Cross Country Track so that will be an everyday thing also. Joey will go to summer camp during the summer too. And Wayne will be starting his anatomy and physiology classes next week and then his paramedic classes in the fall. So we are only going to have about a month of down time for the kids and me.

Cody's graduation banquet was the other night. I was so very proud of him. These are the certificates that he was awarded:

• St. Jude Children's Research hospital Math-A-Thon for participation
• 6th grade Basketball and 6th grade basketball champions
• Certificate of Appreciation and most likely to be a firefighter or EMT (from teachers)
• Certificate of Appreciation of Leading the Pledge of Allegiance
• Certificate of Graduation for completing the 6th grade
• Citizenship award

He also received two trophies. One for basketball and one for Citizenship :)

Now for things I remember:

I remember four of my pets. Heidi, she was a miniature collie. Bear, he was a long haired black German Shepard. Mittens was my cat and Chinkie Poo was my peek a poo.

I remember the day that my mom had to have Heidi put to sleep.

I remember us going to the Angelina Lake and staying with friends that my daddy worked with and frying catfish :)

I remember going camping with my boyfriend and almost drowning because I thought that I could swim out to the buoy where they were at. It was a lot further than what I thought. That was also the weekend when I was severly sunburned and ended up in the emergency room when I got home and mama saw me :)

I remember going to Aunt Loretta's and Dunky Don's when he would bring in the shrimp boat and going to buy shrimp.

I remember Aunt Loretta spanking me once because I wouldn't eat my spinach and I got sick from it.

I remember that I always wanted to be popular in school, but I never was. That seems so trivial now, but back then it was a big thing.

O.K. well I guess that is enough for now. I will write some more in a few days :) Thanks for reading.

Just a few more things...

that I remember...

You know those big wooden spools that rope for ships are on? Well my daddy used to ship out on a sea going tug boat, the Satoca, and when the spools were empty he would load one up on his truck and bring home for me. We would put it on its side so that it would roll... I would climb on it and "walk on it while it rolled"....Those were fun!

I remember when Ariel was little, about 4 years old, we went to Conner's tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree. Well Ariel was running around and having a blast when all of a sudden she started running down a hill. Her little legs were going so fast and her big little cheeks were bouncing up and down and she couldn't stop! I had to dart out in front of her to catch her so that she wouldn't fall. It was soooo cute and soooo funny!

Well that is it for now, we are on our way out the door to Cody's Elementary graduation. I will post later and post pictures :)

Whew....

Well I am glad that this past weekend is over!!!! Ariel's party was a HUGE success!!! She had soooo much fun :) So many kids showed up. My friend Kathy made two cakes for the party and there was NONE left :) Absent minded me forgot my camera this weekend!! I cannot believe that I forgot it. I was able to take a couple of pics with one of Ariel's friends camera but she hasn't uploaded them yet...as soon as she does then I can snag them and copy and post them...

I wasn't able to get anything done in the house this weekend so it is a mess, but I am working on that. Well not right now because I am taking a break and writing on here ;)

Not much else to say right now, so I will close this one out....talk at ya later :)

Well.....

The past two days have been something else, that is all I can say... Yesterday I was on my way to pick up Wayne's paycheck. I was about 3 miles from home. A huge doe ran out in front of me and I hit it. It did $2000 worth of damage to my car. So yesterday I was running doing errands and I stopped at a body shop to get a quote on getting the car fixed. They opened the hood and then it took them all most 45 minutes to get it to shut again.... I am so glad for insurance and I can get a rental while my car is being repaired.

Last night I took Ariel and 2 of her friends shopping. I didn't know that it could take so long for girls to try on swimsuits, lol... We spent three hours in one store!!!! lololol....It was fun though. Ariel was able to get a few things as her maw maw bought her a swimsuit earlier in the week. And the other two girls were happy with the swimsuits that they got. Then I took them all to Pizza Hut for Pizza :) We had fun last night.

Today was the day for the Flag Corp tryouts. Ariel made the team. She said that she messed up and froze, but I guess it wasn't that bad since she made it ;) And she didn't drop the pole when she did the toss!!!! I am sooooo very proud of her. She has gotten so involved with school this year, I just wish her grades showed it. Hopefully next year will be better grade wise.

The school year will be over this coming week on June 7th. Cody has graduation from elementary school and will be going to Junior High next year. My baby is getting big :(

You know it is amazing at how when you are young and in school it seems like life moves soooo slow and you can't wait until you graduate from school. Now that I am in my 40's life goes by so very quickly. I wish that it would slow down and my children would stay smaller longer. But they are growing up and way too fast. It is hard to believe that I am a grandma now. Dominick, what can I say... I can't wait to be able to hold you in my arms little man. Your mommy grew up way to fast and I think that you will too. I think you are going to be all grown before I get to see you. Germany is way to far away! But you know I am so very proud of your mommy! She has really grown up and I can see from all of the pictures that she sends to me and from talking to her on the phone that you have the best mommy ever and she loves you with all of her heart and soul. You and your daddy mean the world to her. I am so happy that Jesus thought that your mommy was special enough to give you to her. She really needed you and you needed her. I love you Tiffany and Dominick (and Matt too :) ).

Joey has really started to grow lately. It is so hard to believe that he is 16 now. We have had a hard 16 years learning to help you with your Autism. This past school year you have come so far! And you are finally growing! You are now as tall as me, which I know 5 foot isn't that tall, but for how little you are, you are now a giant! It seems like everyday that you come home from school you have learned something new too. You are always in such a good mood when you get off of the school bus.

Your teacher has been wonderful with you this year and really cares about you learning. It is rare to find a teacher that really does care...And even though he is a substitute teacher because our school district is lacking qualified teachers, he loves you and cares for you. I truly believe that it is because he knows what it is like because he also has a special needs child and understands how hard it is to find people who really care about how far you go in this life and that you will have to be guided in whatever you do for the rest of your life. He knows that you can learn and will not accept it when people try to say that "these kids" can't learn, we know that they and you can learn! You are proving that by leaps and bounds this year! I am so very proud of you and thank God for giving you to me. You have taught me so many things Joey. You have taught me patience, kindness, love for everyone and many more things. Oh yes you can get on my nerves, but you are so very special to me and I love you so much. I hope that one day you will be able to read and when you do that you will be able to read this.

Ariel, my youngest daughter, my baby girl. You scared me when you were little because of being developmentally delayed. I asked God why me? What did I do so wrong to have two children with special needs. I was told by 2 people that God gave you to me because I was the only one that he could trust to take care of you and Joey. And with persistance, love and hard work you overcame your disability. I am so proud of the young woman that you have become. You have such a sweet spirit and geniunely love people. I am so glad at the interest that you have taken in participating in extracurricular activities at school. I know that you really didn't like band, but I think that me pushing you to be in band has really helped. I know that I pushed you into being in track, but you found out that you loved it and I am so proud of you! And now you have made it on the Flag Corp team! WOW!!! I never had the courage to do what you are doing in school. You are such a shining light and you spread that light wherever you go and with whoever you meet. Keep it up and keep your determination and you will succeed in everything that you choose to do in your life.

And now my baby, Cody....You are my wild man. You know I always joke at the fact that we knew the doctors on a first name basis at the emergency room by the time that you were two years old, lolol... You would get into and try everything. And you still do, but just don't get hurt as often. You are so much like your daddy. It is almost as if I didn't have anything to do with you. You don't look like me, except for the brown eyes and you don't act anything like me. You are definitly daddy's boy; unless you want to cuddle then you are mommy's boy :) You love to do whatever your daddy does. You love to take things apart and find out how they work, now if I can just get you to clean up your mess when you are done then I will have made progress! There aren't too many boys that can say that they have done the things that you have done. Change the oil in a car, help to change an engine in a car, have your CPR/First aid card. Have sprayed water from a firehose. You are so gung ho with everything that you do. You know you never let the fact of you being short right now stop you from being in basketball for the last three year. It didn't stop you knowing that you were the smallest person on the team. You showed them was a big person you are and that you are part of a team. And then this year, your team won the County Championship game! I am so proud of you! You are such a caring little man too. You don't like it when people's feelings are hurt and you want to alway's help them. You really flip out when someone says something about Joey too. You are his protector and I am so proud and happy that Joey has a brother like you to protect him when he is away from me. I am proud of you Cody. I love the boy that you are now and I can't wait to see the man that you become.

Gosh, I don't know what got me into this kick tonight, but it has made me feel so good to sit and write this to each of you and hope that one day you will read it and know how much I love each of you and cherish each of you. You are all so very special to me and I love you all. And remember that you can come to me and talk to me about anything and that I will love each of you know matter what. I love ya'll :)