Life Goes On... even when it hurts.

   It's painful to imagine, having to lose the person you depend on most. Even harder to imagine if you share every part of your life with this person - your spouse - including the beautiful children you have created together. The thought of losing Rob is painful and it's just that, a thought.

   Now, imagine if you had two beautiful children - whom may have come in a untimely matter but are so very much special, as all children are! Imagine that you managed to survive a high school pregnancy, and a young marriage and you've made it - at just 20 years old you have a husband, two little girls, a son on the way , a new house and both are in jobs that you love - how great. Now imagine it being pulled away from you in a flash. It's not fair - I think that has gone through my head about A MILLION times in the last four months.
   My sweet baby cousin Melisa went through this - she's only 20, and has been through HELL. But she is STRONG, stronger than I think I could ever be in her shoes. Since that fateful day in September she has had to suffer though her 2nd wedding anniversary, her husband's 21st birthday, a Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the birth of her son - without her husband at her side. Fletcher was killed by injuries from a four wheeler accident and ripped from this earth away from the people that loved him and he loved back. It's tragic and as I said - it's SO NOT FAIR! . . . My sweet Melisa has an amazing family - on all sides of her life - she's supported and man she is TOUGH! I love that girl - two days before Christmas her first son, Karson Fletcher made his debut into the world to join his Mama and two big sisters and HE IS BEAUTIFUL!! Oh man, and TINY!! A true miracle - he is amazing. :) Melisa let me take some picture of him and i hope to take more! I love it - baby pics are a challenge but I hope to get some good ones! Anyway, thought I'd share - I love you Melisa and your sweet babies...

Sweet Baby Karson - 5 days old

Sweet Little Feet...

So little next to his daddy's handprint!

<3 He is amazing. I'm so happy he is here - and i know he'll be raised by one of the most amazing Moms that I know!

Bust A Move...

It's official. I am a fan of online Christmas shopping now! After cruising Amazon for days and days - I have gifts taken care of for my neice, nephew (with them shipped to HAWAII for FREE!), a start on my Mom and almost ALL of my kids' gifts! YES! While I don't feel like I'm quite all the way there, it's a start! :) Big bonus of the whole "event" - no searching store after store to try and figure out what to get... I might just finish most of my shopping online!

Very exciting, right? Well, maybe not for you - but for me, oh so much! :)

Only 15 days left... Merry Christmas...



Beating out the scrooge...

* * * CHRISTMAS 2011 * * *



Today is December 5th, and it's almost over! - 20 more days until Christmas, 19 until my boys open all their gifts before they go to their Dad's house for the 2nd half of break (AHH, the fun of divorce - sharing). So, as this wonderful time approaches, how is this Mommy of three feeling? Like a big ole cranky SCROOGE!

Exhibit A: How I'm feeling...

So, each day I contemplate - how in the world do I get this feeling to GO AWAY! I'm not even sure why I'm stuck in this funk, but here I am. Part of me thinks it is because our house is too small to decorate (even some cute decorations would just look like clutter, it's pretty packed in here!) - and part of me thinks I'm scared once I start shopping it is going to be hard to get something for everyone on the list, and I think it causes some underlying anxiety... but I guess I just need to find ways to get in the mood, to find my ...

I somehow think this will be easier said than done. . . so, I'm going to try a few things and see how it goes!

   1) Pray about it. . . Surely finding the joy in the celebration of the birth of Christ could be helped along with a little prayer. . .

    2) Baking. I've started practicing treats for Christmas celebrations ... hoping it helps get me in the spirit. . .

    3) I suppose, shopping will be on the list eventually - hopefully some planning and careful BUDGETING of the money we've set aside will take the stress out of this event. Anyone want to come along?

    4) Did I mention I should probably pray a bit more? :)

As we speed through the next 19 days . . . enjoy preparing for such a wonderful time of year to spend with family.... and maybe, if you've got a minute, send up a shout-out to the Big Guy for me to BEAT OUT THIS SCROOGEness I've got!!

:) Merry Christmas :)

Slacker... a title I use too often...

So, I try to write here, post it - don't like it so much. BUT, I'm not one to post & delete, I figure it's out there so, out there it will stay. Somehow the entire year is slipping by and it's almost December, seriously! How did that happen?! DANG... so what's new? 

Pinterest. Have you tried it? Be careful, you could see hours slip away in moments - though, many great ideas could spring from said sessions of cruising Pinterest... I'm hoping to try some of the yummy looking recipes and awesome DIY ideas! :) First up with the boys tomorrow night, GLOWING MT. DEW - must try it! ... anywho... check. it. OUT!



Thanksgiving... NEXT WEEK! Shut the front door! My FAVORITE... the only holiday spent with my Dad's side of the family as a whole... a super weekend filled with Hunting, Games, Fabulous Food and this year a few tears I'm sure - some years are rough and when there is loss, it seems to hit hard on this day - this year we'll be toastin' Fletcher, who was for sure taken MUCH too soon! ...

Up Next... December. Potlucks, Ornament Exchanges, Parent's Day Out, "Men's Club!" (you didn't hear that from ME!), and Christmas Vacation... and then the biggie - Christmas. Time to start Christmas shopping... Robs and I like to accomplish this task in a timely fashion, about Dec. 23 or so... we're good shoppers under pressure! Ha! Sad but true, and this year I am going to try and be a little more ahead of the game! ;)

Ok... I guess this Slacker post will do for now... One more update on the Jax man.. Wrestling is mostly at an end for this year, he did fantastic this season and seems to love it. Little brother is ready to get on board in the spring! One last tourney this year on Dec 3rd in Moscow - THANK GOODNESS it's close!! This year we traveled to - Kooskia, Orofino, Lewiston and Cottonwood! YIKES! :)

Happy Thanksgiving week!! :)

Who knew!?

Seriously. (my favorite word) ... 

WHO KNEW my little man Jaxson could be such a tough little one! Today he wrestled for the first time ever at his first ever tournament. ;) His age group was kiddos born in the year 2004 & 2005 - we was put in the 87# weight class (he weighed in at 69# today). He got to wrestle three matches today. In his first match, he learned that wrestling is not easy. He got a well experienced opponent that knew what was going on, but he looked pretty fearless. I'm pretty sure my Mom cried as he was slammed on the mat multiple times, yelling out in pain, before getting pinned in the 2nd round. Ouch. He came off the mat, upset and obvoiusly yanked out of his fantasy of how it was going to happen! After a few minutes, he was calm and ready to try again!

Match 2 - this was much better. As I mentioned before, his class was up to 87# and he was 69#... I'm pretty sure opponent #2 was one of the kiddos at the height of this class - and you could think being a bit bigger would be an advantage BUT his weight was mostly around his little love handles... To Jaxson's favor, he was a bit slow and Jaxson managed to get a pin in the 1st round, YAY! A WIN!

Match 3 - This round Jaxson wrestled a teammate that he had practiced against earlier in the week. ;) After some coaching by Kiel (his dad) on how to do a half-nelson to roll your opponent to his back - he was able to get this one with a pin in round 2!  ;) yay!

By the end of it all he was 2-1 with two pins and 12 points total, he got a 2nd place medal and was super excited! Looks like we might have years of wrestling ahead of us! ;)

Also, WHO KNEW... my kids would never stop growing. They both gained over 1" since July - no wonder their pants keep looking like capris ... these kiddos are going to break the bank!! ;)

Slacker!!

So, it's been almost two months since I have posted here... what a slacker! In my defense, my computer is DEAD and I have to steal one from my parents when I need a computer... my awesome daddy brought one over for me to use, so many I can post a bit - we'll see. 

Summer has FLOWN by, it is pretty much gone! From my previous list of stuff to do, we've accomplished most of them. We've had a few camping trips, even one in the yard.  We've hit the park and pool a few times - but could probably do that more often, by the time it was hot I was working too much and we missed out - hoping to go a few times this next week- MY LAST WEEK OF SUMMER WITH THE BOYS! - We did hit Silverwood this month - it was fun but OH SO EXHAUSTING! WOW. We had 6 kids and 3 adults - it worked out pretty ok though. The weddings this summer, missed them all - something always came up, I'm pretty sure they didn't miss me. And last but not least, gardening - yup, pretty much a fail. My Dad & Mom did an AWESOME job with their 3+ plots that they made! It was a hard year to garden anyway, and they rock. ;)

Two weeks... that's all that is left until SCHOOL STARTS!! It's crazy, I'm super excited for it - Jaxson will be in 2nd grade, mixed with the 3rd grade class - he'll be in the same room as his cousin Taylor - should be interesting! Landon will be doing his last year of Preschool, I wish a little bit he could be moving to Kindergarten, but he's 2 months too young, so he'll have to chill in Preschool with his best buddy Cora - I know he misses her this summer! ;) Reisse is just going to have to sit back and watch for a few years - today she is 18 months old, time is flying! How did my kids get so big!? Yikes!!

Off to get Reisse's 1 year pics, technically she's still a year old right?

Fabulous Friday Foto... (A little Early)

This picture will probably follow my poor daughter for life... We were using the tent as a giant play yard while camping, and she decided that she wanted out - and as she was smashing her face up against the netting yelling at me, I snapped away (as any responsible parent would!).. Enjoy.

Happy Weekend!

xoxo