What really matters

There is so very much I want to blog about, but have no extra time for that right now, but something that I do want to make sure that I remember in the future, is a special moment we had today. This trumps all the crap I could have been writing about, if I were to update our blog with our past couple of months of heavier than usual trials.

Braxton who is currently five, found out that one of his friends his age can ride his bike without training wheels, so Brax asked us if he could try. Dexter said sure buddy, lets do it today. They took off his training wheels and then Dex ran behind him, holding onto his seat and Brax took off like a natural. After a quick overview of how brakes work, he went up to the top of the driveway, to ride down the hill by himself. Dexter looked up to see him stopped on his little bike, with his arms folded and his head bowed. Dex asked what he was doing and if he was okay, and he said, "Shhh, I'm praying to Jesus, asking for him to help me". There is no greater gift my children could give me, than for me to see them have a testimony of God and Jesus Christ. I am so thankful today that my little boy, who can be such the monster at times, is learning to have faith in Christ. What a sweet joy!

I often feel that all that we teach our boys each day, goes right in one ear and out through the other. But it is in times like this that I see that all of the time spent teaching them about our love for God and our Saviour is ALL worth it, and that every bit helps their love for them grow.

Lastly, today I spent most of the morning with 5 children, ages 2,2,3,4 & 5, in my car. It could have been so much worse than it was, but I felt the impression come upon me that I was being prayed for today, and that Heavenly Father was following through on the prayers being asked. I made it through the day easier than I believe I would have today if I hadn't had that extra help given to me. I later found out that my friend who spent the day serving at the temple had been praying, specifically for me to have an easy day today, among other things, and she knew that I needed it, and though I didn't speak to her all day, I could feel the extra strength.

This could be seen as silly to some, or that I may have been imagining things, but I am here to tell you that when our Father in Heaven impresses comfort, peace, strength etc... onto you through the Holy Ghost, it cannot be mistaken. There is nothing else that can replicate the peaceful feelings of the Holy Ghost.

I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to have seen prayer in action today, for myself, for others, and especially for my sweet five year old boy. Thank you for reading this, I hope it will inspire someone who needs it.

A lot of stuff. Sounds exciting, huh?

So much has happened since I last posted, that I have been too overwhelmed with what I might share first to even know where to begin writing. Did that make sense? No. That's okay, it doesn't always make sense to me either.

I am going to take a deep breath and catch you up all in one swoop, and not in completely perfect order either. Ready. Deep breath. Go:

I got to go visit the Emergency Room twice this summer.

First Because I deep Fried the tip of my finger... Ouch!

Then a month later, because I got stung by a scorpion out in the shop. The scorpion was venomous, even though they are supposed to be harmless here in Oklahoma. Ooopsie, one of those Arizona scorpions must of hitched a ride all the way here, cause it was burning venom my arm and across my chest like fire. And the ER doctor seemed to not know quite what to do at first, because he came in reading to us that they were not supposed to be venomous here in OK, and that's what the book said, and the book knows.

Dexter hadn't been to the Emergency Room yet, so he had himself a mini-stroke, and got to go visit, and they even had him stay a couple of days in the fancy-dancy hospital. He gets to go visit lots of new doctors now, and we even have ourselves a PCP (primary Care Physician). (They made us get one)

Dexter is okay now, but is undergoing rounds of testing and taking daily medications.

Turns out the things that are happening to him, are not supposed to happen to a young man under the age of 30, like having strokes.

I also get to inject B-12 shots into him regularly. I am becoming a professional.

My anxiety has been real high lately, I don't think you could imagine why?

Ethan started preschool, but we decided to not to send him to the public Pre-K this year, as his birthday was about a week off from the cutoff and I think the private 3-days a week, half-day class will be best for him. No Need to rush him, we've decided.

Braxton is enjoying kindergarten, and has homework everyday! I've been told that Kindergarten is now what 1st grade used to be. Eeeekk... and it's all shoved into 2.5hrs/day. There is already some concern again regarding his ADHD, and he will undergo thorough testing in January.

We got a toddler kitten. Well, actually it found us. It just wandered it's sweet little self over to our property one day, and never left. Shhhh... it might have to do with the boys and I giving it just a teensy-tinsy bit of milk that first day. We voted with our adopted Family and decided to name her "Penny". She is mostly copper with creamy swirls of white running through her fur. I almost wanted to name her dreamsicle, cause that's what she looks like, but Penny seems to fit her perfectly.

Turns out we are the place where all the cool cats want to be. The past couple of nights we have heard penny and another cat fighting. Penny always tells them off, cause this is her house, and she lives here. It kind of interrupts our sleep a little though, so hopefully they leave her alone soon, and take the raccoons with them.

About the raccoons, I am about to go on a stake-out one of these nights. When we first moved in, I thought oh, sweet! We have little raccoons!!! Now I want em' gone. Real bad. I am becoming quite the farm girl, or ranch or whatever you would call our property out in our little part of the Oklahoma Forrest. Who would have thunk it!

Also, Penny is going in to get shots, and spayed tomorrow, which totally ruins the boys plans of her having lots of baby kitties. The boys were telling me all about how they were going to have to get her something soft to lay on, for when she gets pregnant. That's when I said oh, no! We are definitely not doing baby kittens. They were sad, but that's okay, because it's not even kind of worth it to me, to hold the cute little kittens that she could possibly have, because I don't want to be responsible for them. See how MUCH I have grown! In a previous time my desire to hold and nurture sweet little kittens, would have overtaken my wisdom. No longer! Also, I support the price is right show. What's his name always said at the end that we need to spay and or neuter our animals. I agree. Wish her luck. She's gonna need it. Also, she gets to come inside tonight. Eeeee.... I am so excited.

Happy Fourth Birthday Ethan!

Dearest Ethan,

Well, I am not going to say that this was my favorite year, but I still love you, and since I am writing this a month late (we have been so busy having fun together) and postdating it back to the 15th of August, when I should have written it, I can say that you are a great 4-year old! I think three is just a difficult year for many littles. Four is going to be great, and you are such a joy!

Memories from this past year include, but are not limited to:

• An amazing growth spurt, that turned you into a little boy, instead of a toddler!

• Moving to a new house, and you laying in your bed with mommy beside you, as you told me that you really really wanted to move back to our old house, the one that had a backyard, with grass in it.

• Listening to your sweet voice as you tried to tell me something faster than you were actually able to speak, so you would repeat yourself over and over in frustration until you got the whole sentence out. That made you mad, because you like things to be just so and really don't like "bumps in the road".

• You were still very clingy to mommy and quite shy. I think preschool will really help with that this year.

You are such a fast little bike rider, with training wheels still on of course, but you can take turns faster than a bolt of lightening. As well as the great arm that you have, daddy has been teaching you the basics of how to throw and catch a football. You are better than me that's for sure.

You are all boy! You love Spiderman, Batman, Fighting, and pretending you are a monster. Raaaaaaaarrrrrrrr. You also love dinosaurs and carrying things in your hands or pockets all of the time. Particularly money. I mostly give you pennies and nickels, because you lose them a lot! You are smart and like to keep your things all to yourself (aka: don't like to share them!), so you hide your things like money and treats from everyone, so that no one can get to em' when you aren't looking. It's really smart actually.

You love playing with your brother and you both fight with each other as much as you like each other, or maybe you fight more, but I like to hope that you will stay best friends forever!

We will miss the baby part of you growing into a sweet little boy, with a strong mind that knows what he wants, but can be very kind sensitive and gentle at times as well.

Here is to a great year of being Four!

We love you so much Ethan! I am interested to look back on these birthday posts when you are older, so you can see all that you have grown!

love,
your mommy

The Chef Knife

As you may have read, I have been dusting off my pots and pans and trying my arts at cooking. I did burn my finger (ER worthy) a few weeks ago, which is ALL Amy's fault by the way! Anyway, so I have been cooking a little, and I kind of like it. Oh yeah, I also really need to give a HUGE plug to my favorite cooking blogs, because without them I would not have made many of the yummy recipe's that my little fam-bam have devoured in the past little while, soon hopefully to be long while.

Anyway, I was using my "Chef's Knife" to cut some vegetables. Because cooking is SO revolutionary in our home, the boys stopped dead into their tracks when they saw me using such a unique gadget, that also looked like a weapon (they like weapons). They both said in perfect harmony, "Mommy! What is that?" "it's weally weally big and Shawp". In my proudest cooking voice, " well, children, it's a Chef's Knife". Their eyes were huge and I had to make them promise me never to touch one, as it is actually very dangerous. For the rest of the day, I was a mommy on a pedestal, because I could use a Chef Knife.

For the past few weeks, when they talk about killing bad guys, as they usually do, it usually involves a Chef's Knife. Or if they are scared of something or talking about their fears of monsters, they tell me to use my Chef's Knife to get the bad guys. I will never look at a Chef's Knife the same way again. I only wish that I could remember my first experience seeing such an amazing item.

Dear Children:

((ME YELLING)) Calling all little children!!! If you want to leave TJ Maxx immediately, then please read below:

Tier one:
Begin by grabbing a blanket from a shelf, and then scream to your brother that it's your and he can't have it. He should then tackle you on the ground, where you will loudly wrestle over the clean, neat, price tagged blanket. Do this until an employee walks by nonchalantly, to see what the racket is about, then walks by again staring at your mother anxiously wondering what she is going to do about the horrid situation that is happening to one of the stores items. This should get your mom's engine going.

Tier two:
While you are next to the breakables, begin fighting over who will help push the cart. Kind of try not to break everything, because then your mother may have to pay for everything with the grocery and electricity bill money, which a kids gotta eat, ya know what I mean. Please don't give up at this point, I know it looks like she won't break, but she will, your mother will lose it and you will get to leave soon, as long as you follow this tried and true, kid-tested plan.

Tier three:
In order for the plan to be most effective make sure that you and your brother both have to sit in time-out at least once, then you must shove your brother and start hitting your mom, this should get you into one final time-out, where you will then refuse to stay in the time-out spot, as well as start screaming on the top of your lungs.

That'll do it, she should then carry you through the store like a sack of unruly potatoes, while leaving her cart behind angrily.

Extra Credit:
If you really feel like being a monster, please pound on her back and scream loudly as she carries you out of the store, then scratch and pinch at any skin you see, necks work well. Then when she buckles you into your booster seat, undo the buckle several times until she has to practically sit on top of you, then bolt to her seat and turn on the car and put it in reverse faster than a flash of lightening. This little trick will most likely buy you.....about an hour in your room for some quiet time, so that she doesn't do anything illegal to you.

Good luck, and please send all questions and correspondence to our testing crew at:

littlesneaks @ monsterchildrenintraining . com

We share our home with others...

On the way to the grocery today, I saw four beautiful deer, two Mama's and two little's (I believe). They were so pretty and peaceful. One was gracefully resting on our neighbors very large lawn, and the other three were just being graceful near by. Between that and the cute little squirrels, that I have to try really hard not to hit, all I would need are some dwarfs and I could call myself Snow White. Which means that soon, I am going to get to go to sleep for a long time, and my chiseled husband is going to have to come find me resting with my makeup and hair in absolute perfect condition, lying on a bench in the garden dreaming away ever so sweetly. Okay, so first I need to kick out our roommates (and build a pretty garden with a bench) to make my Snow White dreams a reality.

Whom are our roommates? Oh yes, well we have a rather large and obnoxious raccoon, that really really thinks that this is his home, in fact I am pretty sure that I saw him crawling into the little wooden doghouse off of our back deck tonight. He has a huge bushy black and white striped tail and he is quite a bit larger than what I thought a raccoon should be. The first time we met, we had just moved in and I hadn't set up trash service yet, so I set a bag of garbage out on the front porch, and "Pester" (that's what we'll call him) shredded open the bag, and then commenced to find a McDonalds bag and shred it to pieces, and he then move onto the inside wrapper of a partially eaten burger and gobbled that up, complete with finding an open sauce container and licking it out clean. I had been warned, but didn't realize they were THAT ravenous. I am now here to officially note that they are really that ravenous, because if I leave anything out on accident, he will have it torn up and spread out faster than you can say "yee-ha!".

Then we got our garbage cans and we thought, "Ah Ha, Suckah!" we've got you now, neener neener neeeener, you can't get our garbage! Or so we thought, because... Pester can. Pester can climb up a garbage can, and open the lid, and climb inside, then knock the whole thing over, and go through all of the garbage and spread it out like a smorgasbord all over Oklahome!

We also have an armadillo, which I think is fine, except for he likes to waddle out into the middle of the road and sit there, so he can FREAK me out while I am driving down the lane. Then I have to wait for him to move so I don't run him over.

Then we have bunnies, turtles, and we did have tadpoles in our wannabe Coi pond, but we drained it, so I think it's bye-bye tadpoles for now. We also have snakes, which Dexter killed a HUGE one with a rake and then brought it to show me, so that I knew what to watch out for. I don't think I would have ever tried to make friends with a snake, but now Dexter knows that I know, so therefore I will never talk to, pet, or try to play with any snakes.

Almost last, but not least... I think we might be the official breeding ground for Ticks, which are on my top 3 list of things that I absolutely HATE with all of my guts right now! They are scary and gross, and we have to spend lots of money buying OFF spray, and then practically drink it to go outside, and then they still climb up us (us being mostly, Dex) and bite us and try to steal our blood. We also have scorpions (EEEEEEEKKKKKKK!) and lots of spiders and all different types of ants, some very large. Oh yes, and don't forget the wasps, and the cockroaches that sometimes commit suicide in my kitchen, and then they leave themselves rolled over nasty on my countertop. The freshness of waking up to a new day, ends quickly when I see a suicidal cockroach in my kitchen.

I used to feel bad about killing the bugs, and the pesty rodents, but now I am trying to conjure up an effective plan to make them all die!!!

Okay, so yes, I am angry at our house guests, and it's turning me into a bug killing lunatic. That's all. Wish me a cockroach-free kitchen tomorrow morning! Operation Snow White has officially begun.

Who is Amy?

post-title's that didn't make the cut:

1. Where's Amy? (you know like where's Waldo) I could have had fun with that, inserting a pic of Amy hiding in a busy city in Asia, possibly at a market, hiding behind a bushel bucket of corn, and you'd have to find her. See... fun.

2. Amy. International woman of mystery... then I could have a segment as a faux 20/20 or Dateline with the topic being, "Does this woman really exist?". All we can find of her (online at least), resides on a not-so well known blog, written by... of all things a flighty hairstylist, who is very sporadic in her posting schedule at that.

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Being that she makes appearances on this blog, because I spend a decent amount of time with her, you get to know a little bit about her, BUT... only a little bit, because as much as I have tried to convince her to create an internet footprint for her amazing self, she won't do it. She's kind of probably to good to be on the internet... The internet might not be able to handle, Amy.

Let me tell you something(s) about Amy:

1. She is like Martha Stewart on Steroids, but not real steroids, just pretend, amazing, invisible ones.

2. She puts up with my oddness, and lets me sometimes write little tiny bits of things about her on the internet. (Shhhh... but I might have to start secretly video recording her, as she does her amazingness, so that I, I mean SHE can become secretly famous and make lots and lots of money by blog-worshipping Amy fans.

3. She can sew like you wouldn't believe. She is like a balloon twisting artist, but with fabric. You tell her what you want, she twists it up, aaaand it doesn't pop.

4. She has a fantastic sense of style, maybe we can go shopping with her and record her through the clothing racks, so that we too can be accessorized by Amy via the internet. I am going to need to trick her into sewing me a spring colored fabric camoflauge hair-wrap with a matching camera cover, so she doesn't recognize me)

5. She also is a really good cook (how am I going to sneakily video record her while she cooks? I think my bum is too large to squeeze myself into one of her kitchen cabinets) She actually is the reason that I have gone from making my family's food menu grow from only consisting of nuggets, corndogs & if they were lucky pizza, to now having a menu that I plan each week. We actually have a grocery budget now. This is good. But, I did burn my finger off.. Partially, because I was trying to reinact cooking like her at my own home, with out her supervision. People... I went to the emergency room, because of her. She did not mention to use tongs, rather than sticking her hand in frying oils). Please use tongs, she might forget to mention this on her future cooking show.

Lastly, Amy had a rough long day, because her three year old was behaving... well...like a typical three year old. So, she got her own dang post.

So, that's who she is, or at least a little bit of who she is, maybe you will get proof of this later, but that's all for now.

P.S. I have many lovely wonderful friends, but most of them already have some sort of an online footprint, and Amy doesn't so she gets her own post and I still love everyone. That's all. Thank you for visiting today.

P.S.S. I am not the only one that calls Amy before they make a purchase, or cook a dish, to make sure that she approves. She kind of knows everything, and she also uses power tools, and owns her own miter-saw. If you want to bombard her by sending her on your knee, begging, pleading emails to start a blog, so that you to can benefit from her great wisdoms, I may have a certain someone's info, and might be able to work something out.