Forgive Them Anyway

People are often unreasonable and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.
Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.
It never was between you and them anyway.

- Mother Teresa

Dashing through the snow…

In a one horse open sleigh redneck open sleigh, O’er the hills we go…

Barking all the way…Esther just couldn’t wrap her brain around what was going on.

The kids were having a BLAST!  I even took a ride—I did get some video of all the madness.  (i.e. the horses running on the other side of the fence, the dog barking, the kids squealing and laughing, myself screaming to “be careful”) 

At one point I heard Mario ask, “Wanna go out in the field and find some hills so we can get some air?!!”

They (the kids) thought that sounded like a great idea, but since they were getting enough “air” in our yard to keep my blood pressure up, I talked them out of it.

Esther—If you can’t beat ‘em…join em’:

She finally decided to forget jumping up at horses and barking at them to stop…so she ran a hundred laps around the house instead.

 

After sledding we went in and warmed up.  In the afternoon we came back out and built a snowman and snowwoman.

             

We had fun in the snow, now I’m ready for springtime, flowers, warm weather and sunshine.

What Are Little Boys Made Of?

“Snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that’s what little boys are made of…”

If you’ve ever wondered what it means to be classified as “All Boy”  here are a few of my requirements.

#1:  Magnet to mud. 

(Like Jaiden doesn’t like it just as much as him)

#2.  We do things like this:

…and this:

…and this:

and my mom knows it’s not an accident, because we wear a look like this:

#3.  We ride hard and we ride fast.  We tip our rocking horses over forward sometimes because it terrifies our mothers.  We also like to bulldog anything that happens by…like dogs. Or sisters.

   

#4.  We act innocent and look like this:

But my mama knows better. She knows that before she got this cute picture, I probably had my puppy in a full nelson or did a belly flop on her.

Still, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

I’m her little helper and I’m good at making her laugh.

Extreme Makeover

This shelf was in our house growing up.  It belonged to my mom, and she had it as far back as I can remember.

One day when I was home, they had been cleaning out the shop and she was going to get rid of it.  I wanted it.  So she gave it to me.  And I assumed that gave me permission to what I wanted with it???

So I painted it…added a crackle coat…and put new knobs on it…

And I guess Jaiden took this picture of her brother with my camera while I was painting off the deck.  If your wondering, those are trampoline parts that need to be moved in the background.

And here is the finished product, hanging in my laundry room with my scrapbook ribbon and some other stuff in it.

I never get to scrapbook but I like to go look at “my spot”  that has all my stuff in the event I ever got around to it.  I made this table for Mario one anniversary.  The desk was a freebie and I just took photos of us and Jaiden (Jeryn wasn’t born yet) at the barn and various other places that had stuff to do with horses, etc. along with some articles about some tie-down ropers that Mario liked and glued them to the table with some stuff from Hobby Lobby and then poured several clear coats of something else from Hobby Lobby to make it sort of like glass on top.   And that might have been the longest run on sentence known to man.

 

Below:  I love the four photographs on this part of the desk, beginning with top photo going clockwise…Mario and I on horseback at a family farm of some very special friends while we were dating, Mario, Joe and Breylin with Tahos INSIDE a building next to the pool table, the three of us at a local rodeo one night, and Trigger sniffing a flower in Jaiden’s hand when she was probably about 10 months old.

 

The picture of the little cute boy standing on the side of the stock trailer in the next picture wearing cowboy boots and a hat is Mario :)  He was probably about Jeryn’s age in this photo I’m guessing…the other photo of Jaiden on my lap was made on one VERY HOT day when Mario talked us into staying out and opening chutes for him.

P.S.   For the life of me I cannot figure out WHY everything on the sidebar has suddenly jumped to the bottom of the page…it’s driving me crazy! Any suggestions on how to fix it?? When I go into edit it, it shows that it’s in the proper place.  Weird.

Weekend Get Away…

Just a few pictures form a quick weekend getaway over New Year’s last weekend….

       

Something unusual happened…he fell asleep in the restaurant!  That has only happened one other time since he was in an infant carrier.  He was SO tired and he was crawling under the table…over the table…around the table…I knew if I could just get him still, he would go…IT WORKED! He slept the entire meal.  Look at those little sweet boots while he was sleeping :)

When he woke up, it was back to reality…here he is RIDING on his suitcase through the lobby.

There was a Build-a-Bear close by so we made had to make time before leaving.  Jaiden wanted the dog and I sort of think Jeryn wanted one too…but every time I would ask him, Mario would interject with “He just wants the pony…”

I don’t think he cared either way… he was having so much fun!

We made it back in to town and dropped our bags off at home and headed to meet some of Mario’s family for pizza and a chance to get our kiddos together.  Here they are: Jamal, Christian, Jeryn, Jaiden, and Zoey (underneath) Marlee.

Christmas& New Year’s Recap

Just a few photos from the holidays…

Above: Artwork from my five year old.  She was working away one night and asked me if a donkey had a “big tail or a little tail?”  I went over to see what she was doing and was completely blessed to find this!  I especially love the baby Jesus in the manger. And the donkey.  Oh, and the wise men.  And Joseph and Mary.  And the stable and manger.  And the star.  And I’m thinking those two guys on the right side might be shepherds.  Did I mention that I’m really proud of this piece?

We celebrated an early Christmas with my parents and sister’s family this year. 

You can go here to peek at a few photos from that weekend on my sister’s blog.

Christmas Eve:  My dad came to visit us and see Mario’s office.  He treated us to lunch and then came back to the house to play with the kids.  NeNe had given the kids their gifts before Christmas since we wouldn’t see them on Christmas and so they had some new stuff to play with.  They played with Jaiden’s new Play-doh set and Jeryn’s new pistols/holster set.  Yes, I know that people say you shouldn’t let your kids play with toy guns, and maybe you shouldn’t.  But my baby loves Gene Autry and he also watches some other old black and white westerns where they just shoot toward rocks and stuff and he and Grandad had a lot of fun shooting at mountain lions that get after the cattle.  And “buffawo” (buffalo).

Dad made a cowboy hat for himself and a mustache for Jeryn…

The kids and I made some cookies…

I couldn’t really tell if Jeryn liked the icing or not…what do you think??

That night we loaded up and went to our annual Christmas Eve service at our church.  We sing some songs and the kids wear their pajamas and get to go on stage and listen to a story.  But the kids were so tired they fell asleep on the way…

But the power nap helped, and they got to hear a cute story.  I didn’t get any good pictures of them during the story because they were sitting in front of two poinsettias the size of them. 

  

We sing several songs every year, but my favorite part is one song in particular.  I love love LOVE hearing Mary Did You Know.  Mark Lowery, a Christian comedian that I got to see several times growing up penned the words, and they are certainly inspired!  I have heard lots of people sing it over the years and it’s always touching, but when the guy at our church sings it each year there is just an anointing and I hang on to every single word.

 

These pictures were taken before we had any presents under the tree, but I wanted to have a photo to remember what our tree looked like this year.

Christmas Morning:

Mario wanted to get both kids a new hat, and they loved them!

 

Jaiden had asked for a sweater or shirt for Esther.  Target had some for a $1 at the front of the store so I wrapped one up for J and here we are putting it on her.  Esther didn’t know what to think.

Jaiden had asked for a Snuggie last year, so she was excited to get it one year later…haha!

After opening gifts, I made breakfast: bacon, eggs, cinnamon apples, and waffles with caramel pecan syrup.  After that we loaded up and went to Mario’s parents:

A cowboy can never have too many ropes…he didn’t get a new one for Christmas, but Breylin did.  Bubby brought two of his own and found Brey’s new one, so he was set!

 

These boys just wanted to play ball…

 

Meanwile, I think my reverse psychology is working.  J…on her own…went over to shoot a few hoops and I heard her say under her breath, “I can’t stop until I get ten.”  A sat and watched her from a distance and she got on a roll and made it up in the fifties and I had to make her stop to go with me to do something else! Now, THAT’S MY GIRL! :)

This was the first Christmas ever (that I can recall?) not being at my parents on Christmas day/night.  So after Christmas, the kids and I went back to Mo & Grandad’s where we spent a few days.  We spent New Year’s Eve with friends from our community group and let our kiddos play together.  The next day, Mario and I headed out for a quick little weekend trip with the kids.  Made it back just in time to meet with some of his family in town, and then yesterday my friend and I took our girls to see the Princess and the Frog that just came out in theatres.   We had a nice (and busy) vacation but now it’s back to school, work, and the usual! 

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

A few pictures from her Christmas Program last week:

Here’s the sweet girl all dressed up for her big night…

I’ve always loved this pink coat. Her granny (Mario’s mom) found this for her two Christmases ago but it was still a little big last year. This year it fits her just right!

And this is my sweet friend Tina’s two boys. Aren’t they adorable? She also has a baby on the way!

Here is J with a few of her classmates…

And I thought this picture was pretty cute. I love this kid anyway because he is a little cowboy. Always wears his cowboy hat and his family’s Christmas card had a picture of him decked out on his pony standing on their doorstep. It was so cute. I loved his little sport jacket and tie and when I took the picture he leaned over toward Jaiden and smiled.

I was too far away to get a very good picture, but I was able to get closer as they exited the stage.

After the program was over we hurried to one of my coworkers and his wife’s house where we had our annual office Christmas Party. In the past we have always brought a gift and played a little game. This year we tossed out our old tradition for a new and better one. Our office sponsored a couple of families in need and we all brought our gifts that night for a wrapping party! It was really neat.

Thanks Tim & Shelly for opening up your home to us :)

Imagine this: Jeryn found found something to rope with. He also walked away with a nice pair of chaps…compliments of Cody, Tim & Shelly’s sweet little boy that had outgrown them.

We just returned from my parents from an early Christmas with my sister, her family, and my grandparents. We had a wonderful time together. (Hopefully some pictures of that soon). I guess I’m almost all ready for Christmas even though I feel like I’ve still got lots of running around to do. I am so thankful this year for so many things. I pray that you and your families have a great Christmas as you rejoice in the Lord and celebrate the birth of our Savior!