Mother's Day

I have mixed feelings about Mother's Day. I don't think I am a particularly good mother. I don't like to cook. I lose my patience easily. I am critical. I don't spend time doing crafty or imaginative things with my kids. I let them watch too much tv. I don't spend as much time with them as I should. I don't get out and play games with them very often. I don't pray with them as much as I should. I don't read with them as much as I should. I do desire to do these things, I just don't make the time for it. I love my kids with all my soul. I love being around them. They are funny and have great personalities. They make me proud. (most of the time! :0) ) Sometimes I give all of my energy away to other people's kids during the day that I don't have any left to give to my own. Do I feel guilty about this? Obviously.

This summer I plan on focusing my attention on my kids the way I should throughout the year. I am going to play with them, cook for them, make things with them. We are going to go swimming, read, pray and hang out together. I am going to try to let go of my controlling nature and just be in the moment this summer. We aren't going to have a schedule or an agenda. We are going to enjoy just being together. This is my plan~ I plan to not plan! I plan to have fun and make memories with my kids and Drew, of course.

Another reason I have mixed feelings about Mother's Day is because I was not a particularly good daughter to my mother. I was critical, lost my patience easily and showed my temper (a lot). Do I feel guilty about this? Obviously.

There is nothing I can do about this. She is gone and I cannot undo what I did. I can try to be a better mother to my kids than I was a daughter. I can try to show my kids what a good marriage looks like. I can try to show my sons how to treat a girl and I can try to show my daughter how she should be treated.

I am thankful that Drew treats me like it's Mother's Day every day throughout the year. He cooks, cleans and tells me I am "off duty" when he is home. Thanks, Sweetie for picking up where I leave off as a mother. Your kids are very blessed to have you as a daddy and I am so thankful to have you as a husband.

So, this Mother's Day I am just going to try to enjoy being a mother. There are so many women out there who aren't able to have babies or women who have lost their babies. I am thankful that I am a mother and thankful that I still have the opportunity to be a better one.

Hair Cuts

When I was pregnant for the third time and found out I was going to have a girl I was so looking forward to the days I could do girl stuff with my daughter. Today was one of our first.

Addie and I both got hair cuts today. She has never had one and I wasn't totally sure what I was going to have done with it. Veronica talked me into just having it trimmed and letting it grow some more. It didn't take much convincing. I will be a little daring with my hair, but I want her to look like a little girl. I looked so much like a little boy when I was younger that I don't want her being mistaken for a boy. Plus, I like being able to put it up and she looks so cute with it down.

Addie watched me get mine cut first. Then it was her turn. She cried a little bit at first until she was given a ring pop! Other than crying for about a minute, she was very good. Veronica just trimmed it a little and angled the front a bit. She gave Veronica a hug when it was finished and told her, "Da du." (Thank you) When we got home the boys were gone and I had to take some pictures of our new dos. What do you think?

Wordless Wednesday

New Members of the Family!

Meet Adam and Little Joe! Yes, the boys named them after two of the boys on Bonanza!


Oriental fire-bellied toads



Their habitat

and their dinner!

Jackson received a tadpole/frog habitat for his birthday. It comes with a mail-in certificate for a FREE tadpole. The shipping for the tadpole is $7.99. Determined to NOT pay $7.99 for shipping for a tadpole, I set off to the nearest PetSmart. Drew just knew my little adventure would cost us $50 instead of $7.99. He tried to get me to just pay the $7.99 and be done with it. I wouldn't hear of it.

So, my friend, Kecia, and I took her daughter, Brea, and Bryson and Jackson to go pick out two tadpoles at PetSmart. When we got there, of course, there were no tadpoles. I decided to get two frogs instead and then I wouldn't have to worry about killing the tadpoles. They only had one kind of frog and they were $6.99 each. Way under Drew's prediction of $50, so I decided to buy them. The friendly girl working at PetSmart reminded me that frogs need to eat. They eat crickets. Okay, I ask for 30 crickets~ enough to feed two frogs for a week. (They each eat 2 crickets a day. I bought two extra crickets in case a couple die.) The friendly girl at PetSmart reminded me that the crickets will need some place to live. She kindly showed us the cricket house. The crickets also need to eat. I picked up a jar of cricket food. Yes, you can see where this is going! I ended up spending more on the CRICKETS than on the frogs!

But all was not lost because Drew was wrong about the $50. I only spent $39.47. Clearly under his prediction of $50. (I did tell the friendly PetSmart girl that I COULD NOT spent $50 because I had to prove my husband wrong!) So, 30 minutes and $39.47 later, we are the proud owners of two Oriental fire-bellied toads that are supposed to live 10-20 years and grow to be 5-6 inches long! We'll just have to see about that!

After we set up the habitat, cricket house and got the "boys" settled into their new home, Drew googled Oriental fire-bellied toads. He read that if one toad jumps on the back of another toad, the one on top is most likely a male. Bryson's toad, Adam, jumped on top of Jackson's toad, Little Joe. He quickly pointed this out to Jackson and told Jackson that Little Joe was really a girl. Jackson was not too happy with this information. Then, upon further examination, the boys noticed that Little Joe only has one hand! He right hand is missing. So not only does Jackson have a girl toad, he also has a handicapped toad!

I talked to Jackson this morning and told him that Adam probably accidentally jumped on Little Joe because they were excited about their new home and I was sure his toad was really a boy. This satisfied him. Hopefully, Little Joe won't lay eggs any time soon!

Jackson's FIFTH Birthday Party!

My dad bought Jackson some cowboy clothes~ shirt, jeans, bootts and a hat! He was so excited and wanted to wear everything to his party at Cabela's. He looked so cute. He can round-up any cowgirl he wants looking that cute!


Here's his cute cake we got from Creative Memories. They did a wonderful job.



I can't believe my little boy is five. He is getting so big and will start kindergarten in the fall.

Here is Bryson at the shooting gallery. The kids had fun shooting at all the animals.

This is the gang. Jackson's friend,O, in the green shirt didn't like the animals at all. She stayed by her daddy most of the time. She and Jackson love each other so much so he was able to persuade her to stand by him for a picture.

We didn't take Addison to the party. She still had her spots and we didn't want to expose anyone to chicken pox or whatever she has.

Jackson had a great time and enjoyed having a day that was all about him. Being the middle child means that he sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, so it was good to be able to focus just on him for a day. He is such a sweet little boy and I look forward to the young man he is going to become.

Pox on your house

I think Addison has chicken pox. I stayed home from work with her yesterday because I just wasn't sure. I didn't want to take her to the doctor for two reasons: 1) I didn't want to expose her to anything else~ especially the flu or swine flu and 2) I didn't want to pay $25 for them to tell me that it's the chicken pox! These pictures were taken yesterday. She has more "pots" as she calls them today. She started saying that they "hurt." I think she may mean that they itch, but then again they may hurt. Any moms out there want to confirm that these are indeed chicken pox? I know you won't charge me $25 for a diagnosis!

Photo Friday

I took this one of Jackson last night. How sweet that face is~ even with food in the corners of his mouth!


Breon, Uncle Daddy, and Addison having a tea party last Sunday!



The kids are learning what it takes to be animal owners. Drew has taught them to clean up after the dogs! The did a pretty good job!

Addison checking out the "catch."

Yee Haw! Addison is wearing Jackson's boots and hat. The boys love to watch Bonanza and Addison wants to be just like them. She will say, "Atch owboys, Mommy," when she want to watch Bonanza with the boys.