i got to pick up my kids from school yesterday. and i know, you are probably wondering what the big deal in that is. well, for me, it's a treat. because of my work schedule i don't ever pick up my kids from school. so when they left for school that morning, i told them i didn't have to work so i would be picking them up.

so was it really that special picking them up you might ask? and i would have to say definitely!! andrew was the first one out, and interestingly enough right on his heels was a little girl whose name we have heard pop up every now and again since the first week of school! she even sits at his table during lunch!! how interesting to note that even though we don't hear a lot about her, she seems to always be not far behind. he jumps in the car with his usual "hi mommy!" and it made me glad to get to see him in action.

then out comes the two little ones. they put their stuff in the back of the car and jump right in with avery barely getting the door shut before he starts telling me about a game they played at school that day and insisting that we play it right that second. so for five minutes we sat in the parking lot playing this game and trying to figure out exactly how it was played. we finally conquered it, and played the whole way home.

now in the middle of the game my daughter, who i might add, was thrilled to see me there when she walked out of the school building, quietly handed me a paper she had brought home from school. she had received an 109.5% on her early american report that she had to do. she had went to school the previous day all dressed up in her prairie dress as priscilla alden. she then had to get up and read her report, and show her picture to the class. and we had worked hard that week to get her report written, and that was a lot of work for a 3rd grader (and a 3rd graders mom). but we did it, costume and all and she was rewarded well for her efforts.

and i guess i was rewarded well myself. i got the privilege of being there on time to get them when they got out early, and to visit with them for the seven minute ride home. maybe not one of the biggest moments in their lives, but for me, it was rewarding. i know there won't be one of those moments again for a little while, so i enjoyed it all the way home.

Ahhh, yes!! kids do say the darnedest things!! and when they are your kids it seems like the funniest things. this was certainly the case in our little house this week, definitely the week for funny comments.

Andrew, our oldest, plays jr. varsity basketball this year. and since their dad is such a sports nut he is ALWAYS coaching, even when they are not playing. he takes them to the gym on off days to help them improve their game. so, he has been working with andrew on staying in front of his guy in his position of center/forward to keep him from getting the ball and or scoring. well, this weekend he dressed for the varsity tournament, and we really didnt think he would see playing time, but indeed he did, and indeed he did very well. (his mother was especially impressed) so down the court he goes to get set up for defense, and he executed perfectly, hand in front of the guy, and then to him being in front of the guy, and sure enough the guy missed the shot, but not before hitting andrew in the mouth and literally moving his teeth. so, needless to say, he comes out of the game, and yes, on saturday we have to make an emergency trip to the dentist. so as we are traveling his dad makes a funny comment, trying to lighten the moment, of "man, i cant take you and your brother anywhere. every time i do we end up in the emergency room." to which andrew fires back, "well, dad, you told me to get in front of him and i did, so this is your fault." to which we all just laughed, and then rejoiced over the fact that at least he had blocked his shot. GREAT JOB, son!! mom is proud!!!

then there is little avery!! little and definitely still innocent!! the other night after dinner my husband starts making these funny little comments to me that he knows make me blush. now why after 15 years of marriage i still blush, i really dont know, but i kind of get the feeling that my husband likes to do this. so, after he was done with his little banter, he proceeded to help me get the kids ready for bed. so as we are all in the get ready for bed mode, i went into my room to put laundry away, and as i was coming out chad comes barreling through the door to body slam me on the bed, another favorite pastime of his, and start very over dramatically acting like we are making out. as if we are crazy teenagers or something. so, of course in walks mr. avery, who looks at his dad in disgust and says, "dad, stop flirting!!" and walks right back out of the room. after we stopped laughing chad says, "i think i better clarify flirting with that boy" nah, thats ok, its fine for now!!! it means he is still my little boy, for awhile!!

and yes, last but not least is our little esther. esther takes piano lessons, and i have made a huge effort this year to sit down with her each night and help her with her lessons. and thankfully we have seen some improvement!! so friday, her piano teacher comes up to me because she wants to tell me something very "nice and sweet, about your daughter." now this is a switch i can handle, something good about my little hellion!! well, apparently in her last piano lesson, her teacher gave her a book with christmas songs to mess around with during the holiday seasons. so, as they were looking through the book, she proceeds to ask esther what her favorite part of christmas is. to which my daughter replies, "well, i DO like the presents, but my favorite part is the 'little people', to which her teacher said, "you mean the nativity?" and esther replies, "yes, the little people are my favorite." AHHH!!! so maybe there is something to my little esther pester after all!!

so, as you can see, my days are always full of surprises, and definitely a lot of laughs provided by the little people living in my house. and what a joy they are to me!! i love you chad, andrew, avery and esther!!

well, here i am again girls. i always wonder exactly what it is that i have to blog about, but it has become very apparent to me this week.....my little family. my little family consists of my husband, my oldest son, and my two little hellion children. and my what a week!!

i was reminded this week as i sat back and watched my little family at work how good the Lord has been to me. growing up all i wanted was to be a wife and mom, and i am still very amazed by it all, even after 15 years. almost daily there was some "happening" that either required me to be the disciplinarian or kept me in absolute stitches, and as i watched all this unfold it became apparent to me that i should be blogging all these incidents, so i will never forget them, and so in years to come i can amuse my children by saying, "i remember a time.....". so, that is my new goal, to blog each day about what has happened in my little world!!

so, here is a glimpse into my world this week, back tracking to tuesday evening.......on tuesday's i pick up all the kids from their various places after i get off work, andrew is my first stop at basketball practice, and then i go to get my little ones, lovingly dubbed, "the hellions". so by the time i get home its 6:00. on tuesdays my husband does not get home from class until 7:30, so in this hour and a half of time we finish any homework, do lessons, and i start dinner. on this particular day, the only one with homework was andrew, my oldest. so he sits down to do homework and i visit with him a little while i am preparing dinner. the other two are in the living playing a nice little game of school. now, the thing about the two little ones playing nicely together is that it is a rare thing, and always amazes me that they CAN get along when they want too.

so everyone is in their spots doing what their doing, life is good for a moment. while preparing dinner i decide to make lunches for the next day, and accidentally made andrew's, even though he had just said to me that he wanted to eat chicken chili at school tomorrow. he assures me its not a big deal he will catch it thursday, so i got on the phone to my friend who works in the cafeteria to see if they will serve that on thursday. yes, they will, so its all good, i redeemed myself, life can go on. well, in the meantime, i had noticed that in the living room we had gone from playing school to playing recess, this being demonstrated by the fact that my two little ones are wrestling on the floor, but its all good, its all in good fun. so, i continue with my phone call, get ready to hang up, when in from "recess" walks my two little school children, avery holding his hand over his face, and in obvious pain, and esther walking in behind him with her hand over her head. i quickly say goodbye, and get ready to assess the damage when avery pulls his hand away from his face to reveal a very red cheek, and a nice black bump as well. during "recess" esther had hit his face with the back of her head. so for a few minutes chaos ensued. we got ice for avery, a pat on the head for esther, and my oldest andrew just offered a shake of the head and his every so timely comment of, "hey avery, hows it feel to get beat up my your little sister?". thank you, big brother, that really helped!!!

but the good in all of this was, andrew still got his chicken chili on thursday, the two little fighting hellions were actually being nice to one another, and left "recess" with no hard feelings, i got dinner made (although i did burn my lima beans), and even in the middle managed to have a 10 minute conversation with my sister, sheri. and when dad came in the door at 7:30, things were in place, the table set, all was calm! and he says...."hey, what's happenin'"

"oh, nothing dear!!" i thought, "just another day at recess!!!!"

Don't forget, we must maintain our image. These were the words my mother spoke to me last week, and they have been the object of much thought these last two weeks. An image! At my age, being married and the mother of three I wondered if it were possible to have an image. But I knew given the circumstances, which are this week the same as last, exactly what she meant.

My husband Chad is in the army reserves, although lately it feels like the regular army because he has been gone so much. In February and March he went to Germany for three weeks, then last week he went for almost the whole week down to the firing range in Kentucky. And now he is gone again for two and a half weeks to Wisconsin, working on his promotion! I always hate it when he goes away, I really do kind of like that boy, but I try to be a big girl!! So, I try to find something good in him being gone and for me it comes in little blessings like the following: I take a break from things like shaving, wearing make up every day, and sometimes I just brush through my hair instead of doing it right!! So, on this particular morning, I had gotten up late, and had places to be at 9:30, so I bathed quickly, wore no make up, put a quick straighten through my hair, and asked my mom if I looked ok! She said yes, but quick to add that I had an image to maintain. Exactly what does that mean one might ask? For me, its easy............

I am a wife, I am a mother, I am a daughter, a sister. But my other image is that of an army wife. Although Chad has yet to be deployed, I know in my heart it is coming. I guess because of that, it makes you view life differently. I think I love him more (much to his annoyance), I appreciate the things he does more, I appreciate everyday that he is here, especially when you personally know someone whose husband is leaving in a few weeks. Sometimes as I go throughout my day, running errands and working I hear people talk, about the war, the president, the military, and politics and I listen with a certain curiosity. Sometimes I want to join in but know its best to be silent, sometimes I do join in, sometimes I want to tell them how wrong they are, and sometimes I even purposely pull in front of cars with stickers against the war just so they can see my pro war sticker and the army plate on the back of my car. And then there are times when I want to stand up and shout to everyone that "hello, my husband is in the army!" because I guess for me, I am so proud of him. And in some respects, I guess it makes me special. It may be my husband who one day has to defend this country, and give those people who oppose the war the freedom to gripe!! And boy won't they be glad they still have the freedom to grip. I am proud to be an army wife, don't mind my image at all.

I am reminded on a weekly basis of the that no matter what the bad publicity may be there are people who appreciate what our soldiers do and care about the safety of my husband and our family. People at my church ask, people at my bank ask, my neighbors ask, my photographer asks, and even an old classmate from high school asked me about him, and i had no idea he even knew Chad was in the army. Every where I go, I take this image with me, I wear it proudly. And almost daily, I am reminded of how much I have to be thankful for, for you see, he is still here with me. So, although he has been gone much of the time since March, and it does make my heart sad, I am truly glad that it is only temporary, and soon he will be back with us. But while he is gone, I will work on my image. I walk around with a little extra pride in my heart, a little extra attitude if you will, for who he is, who that makes me, and if you want to know and have the time, I will be glad to tell you all about that.

So, yes mom, I will remember who I am, even when Chad is gone. I will try to look my best each day, will strive to do my best at mothering, working, and keeping house while he is gone. I will try my best to step up to the plate in all areas while he is gone. And I will always look for opportunities to tell you about my husband Chad, who is almost a Sergeant in the Army Reserves!!

And besides, aren't men in uniform so much better looking!!!
Lucky me!!

Saying goodbye to a friend, we have all done it. This is what I had to do today, say goodbye to someone, or maybe I should something, that I loved very much.

A few years ago my husband, Chad joined the army. It nearly rocked my world as I had never been apart from him for very long at a time. And of course while he was away at basic and AIT, I had a wreck in our van, which did nothing to boost my emotions!!! But he, in his ever calming way, assured me that this was not a big deal, and maybe it was time to get a new car anyway.

So when he got home, we started the adventure of car shopping. We looked at vans and SUV's and talked money, and went back and forth. When it was all said and done, the choices were either a brand new van, or a two year old Chevy Trailblazer. Well, I was really over driving a van, and REALLY wanted that SUV. Yet, I knew Chad thought we should probably get the van.

So we held off a few days for him to decide. Then one evening he came to pick me up after work and said he was taking me back to look again at the cars, nothing I really wanted to do. So when we got to the Chevy dealer, I got to get into that Trailblazer I wanted, and I got to drive it away. While I was at work, he had done all the paperwork, and bought that thing for me. And of course, it's been a great car until just recently when the gas prices started to rise. That's when my husband started to complain. And if you knew my husband, you would know how out of character it is for him to complain. He started threatening to get rid of it, and kept complaining, and as I live and breath, the more he complained the higher the gas prices got. Even I was ready for it to go!!!

So, on Wednesday, I said goodbye to my friend. We traded that gas hog in for a Pontiac Vibe!! Very economical!! Chad spent hours researching and looking and talking to salespeople, nothing I would be willing to do, and he finally made the decision. We would trade. He was kind enough however to make sure I was ok with this. And how in the world do you say no when he is trying to save us money. So, while I know it was the best decision to make, I hated to see my blessed Trailblazer go away, but only because ........my husband bought that car for me!!! Perhaps because he loves me!! I wonder how many other girls can say that?

I think I am a very lucky girl, my husband loves me!!!!

well, here i am, getting ready to blog. my sisters are very good at this and would really appreciate it if i would keep up. so...here i go!!

tonight my boys had a spring concert at the school they attend. it involved only music. both of my boys play instruments and sing in the choir. andrew, my oldest at 13, plays the trumpet. avery, my youngest at 10 plays the saxophone. it is so very exciting to hear them play, and as a mom many emotions go through me as i sit and listen to them.

the first emotion i feel is a little sadness, for two reasons. first, my husband chad wasnt there. i love music, and i really missed not being able to sit with him and enjoy this moment!!! everything in my life is so much better when i can share it with him!!! i do love him! and you have to keep reading to fine the second part of this.

the second emotion i feel is wonder. i cannot figure out how these two boys got so big all of a sudden and then i cant believe how they can make those instruments play so smoothly, and then i am reminded that i really had nothing to do with it. i am just the mom. i make sure they practice each night, get them to all the activities, and then just sit and listen, like the other 100's of mothers, but when they are yours you feel as if they are the only one in the room. and yes, a little bit of the "i am so proud of you" feeling creeps in as well, i guess thats only natural.

and i guess the last emotion i feel is love. i love music, my life is saturated with all kinds of music. and when i hear music like i heard tonight my heart is almost overwhelmed with love, to the point that it just wants to burst. i am reminded how much i love my husband, how i like to sit very close to him and listen to the band. i am filled with love for my kids, a love that comes just simply from being a mom. and then my mind travels to other people i know. i always think of my sisters when i hear music. my sister shellie is pursuing a career in opera, and obviously can sing!! my other sister, sheri, plays the piano for everything in her church. well, almost!! she feels like it sometimes. when they still lived at home, they were quite the duo, one sang and the other played. and i found a lot of joy in just listening to them. then there is alyssa, such a wonder that she is even in the family, and yet somehow she belongs. and is even playing the piano, poor thing!! then there are my parents, who have made all this possible, with no great claims to fame for themselves. they just tried to give us girls what we wanted and needed. the only thing they really get out of it it that they simply enjoy listening as i do.

and now i am back to my first point, a little sadness. here is the second reason for my little bit of sadness. i dont play the piano or sing very well, but i love to sing with my sisters in the living room of my parents home. it is a favorite past time of mine, and one that has somehow gotten away from us. which makes me feel a little sad. we have spent many an hour in the living room singing our hearts away to no one other than our parents. i think little girls, and i know you have checked this already this morning, that maybe one weekend when we are all together, we should sing!!! for maybe if we sing, we wont argue!!! hehehe!! and wouldnt mom and dad enjoy that so much!! so for each one of you girls, here is your assignment for the day, remember back to one of those times, and see if it doesnt make your heart overwhelmed with love!! its music and its spring, a time for love.

and chad, i love you the most!!!

I don't know if you had the opportunity to watch or listen to the Roger Clemens hearing today, but I did. I mostly listened because I was at work and had work to do, but I tuned in to Fox News to see how things were going, and listened as I worked. It was most interesting, I thought. There were times when I laughed. There were times when I said to myself, "did they really just say that"? There were times when I cheered for the senator doing the questioning, and there were times I cheered for Roger, but there were times also, when I was just begging him to please come clean. Yet, at no time did I find myself cheering for Brian McNamee. Sorry, just do not care for the guy. But in the end, my thoughts at the end of the day were this:

This whole scandal with baseball and with the Mitchell Report, have not tarnished my love of baseball one bit. I love the game, I LOVE the world series, and I love the Boston Red Sox. My husband has even set up my computer screen to honor the Red Sox, if you doubt my sincerity. Score one for the husband!!! It hasn't even really tarnished my opinion of Roger Clemens. I have seen him play too may baseball games I guess. The whole ordeal has left me a little somber. I most certainly believe Roger is lying, but I also believe that inside he must be a scared little boy who is very afraid of watching the dreams he worked so hard for go right down the drain. Had he asked my advise, I would have told him to "'fess up right away and move on". His reputation could have survived. But I really believe he will now be remembered as a liar on Capitol Hill, instead of the great baseball player he was, and for that I am truly sorry for him.

As for Brian McNamee, i highly doubt the reason he came clean was because of a sudden burst of conscience, or out of concern for the players. I am of the opinion that when the waters started to rise, he decided to swim instead of sink, and get out early ahead of the others. Had there never been an inquiry into steroid use in baseball, he would still be supplying the drugs these guys thought they needed. So, in my book, yes he was probably more truthful of the two, but my hat is not off to him, he was out for number one, just like Roger Clemens. Please do not misunderstand what I am saying, my hat is not off to Roger Clemens either, yet, because he lies he is the one crucified. Lying is your first instinct when you think you are in trouble, or may lose everything, and I believe Roger Clemens thought he would lose it all. How very sad for him!!!