Wordless Wednesday: Man, it's a hot one!

Remembering Grandpa Bob

Grandpa Bob went to live with Jesus 6 years ago today. Because I lost my father very early, Grandpa was my only real father figure. He taught me to ride a bike, how to dive, and walked me down the aisle when I got married. When I changed my major to elementary ed in college and had to take Physics 210, Grandpa bought an extra textbook so he could help me with my homework over the phone. (Trust me, I needed a LOT of help!) He sent me personal notes at least once a month while I was at Purdue, just to encourage me. When Grandpa lost his leg in a horrific car accident, he was the picture of positive attitude in the face of adversity. And when Parkinson's began to deteriorate his body, he continued to have a constant smile on his face and make his family a priority. I miss him daily and am very saddened that he never got to meet Ruby (who would have absolutely had him wrapped around her pinkie finger!) and David, but I look forward to the time we will be together again.

I Heart Faces: Purple

The I Heart Faces challenge this week is purple. With a four year old little girl in the house, there was no shortage of photos with purple in them!

I love this one because of its simplistic, "every-dayness". Ruby and I were just getting ready to go for a walk (and stroller ride, respectively). I also love it because Ruby is wearing shorts. This little girl has worn dresses nearly exclusively for almost half of her life at this point, so her wearing shorts is definitely photo worthy! Her smile in this photo just makes me want to smile right along with her.

Messy Monday

The sunset we happened upon last night

My Aunt Sharon with David

My cousin Haley with David

A recent photo of Grandma Alice (the only one I got of her last night did not turn out well)

Boys from Eli's pack at Wright Patterson

It seems to me that the messy our house is on Monday morning, the more fun we had over the weekend. Let me just say, my house is a wreck:)

Eli & Jason left the house bright and early Saturday morning for a cub scout field trip to Wright Patterson Air Force Museum. They had a fantastic time and were gone from about 7:30 am to 7:30 pm! I have heard a lot of snippets about airplanes, and it seems that Eli really loved the airplane painted up like a shark best.

Well, the girls couldn't let the boys have all the fun! Ruby and I (and David) went to the theatre to see "Ramona & Beezus". The highlight for us eating a big bag of popcorn! The popcorn consumption in our house has gone WAY down since Eli got braces. After the movie we went to Lowe's to pick up a lamp as a present for my Grandma's birthday. It cracked me up how much Ruby loved lamp shopping! After Lowe's we decided to drop in on my Aunt Charrie. My cousin Reece was in Riley when David was born, so Charrie had not yet met David. By the time we got home, we were due for some down time, a quick dinner, and Ruby fell asleep early.


Sunday morning we went to church, had some lunch and ran some errands. After rest time, we went to Ruby Tuesdays to celebrate Grandma Alice's 85th birthday. The highlight of the night (to me) was at dinner. Grandma had ordered a strawberry lemonade, which arrived in a tall, slender glass. My aunt Sharon asked Grandma what was in her glass. Grandma got that mischievous look in her eyes and flatly stated, "Booze!". After dinner we took Grandma back to Greentree and had cupcakes and presents. After we left, I told Jason to "take the long way home" (Mommy code for: some grumpy child needs to fall asleep in the car). As we were driving, we came across the most gorgeous view of the sunset. What a perfect end to a perfect weekend.

(Sorry all the photos are at the top and in reverse order. Some day I'm going to have all this blog stuff figured out-- but today is not that day-- there's a sandbox outside with my name on it!)

Thankfulness Thursday: Cleaning out the "Funk"

2009 "Thankfulness Tree"

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! -- Psalm 100:4

Yesterday, I was in quite a "funk". Sleep deprivation combined with too much focus on things that don't matter (ie a perfectly clean house), did not look good on me. Ugh! So I have woken up this morning determined that today will be different! Today, I am going to start the day by thanking God for a portion of what he has blessed me with (in no particular order).

I am thankful for:

1. KLove. It's amazing how much a radio station can help me focus on what matters!

2. my family. I am truly humbled by the fact that Jason, Eli, Ruby, and David have been placed in my life.

3. "I love you Mama"s. Nothing melts my heart more than a giant leg hug and an unprompted "I love you Mama" (or "Mom", depending upon whether it's Eli or Ruby)!

4. mom friends. A couple weeks ago, I told a group of moms that there was a night early on when I could have left David on someone's doorstep and been completely fine with it (until after a good night's sleep). Only a group of young moms could hear this with empathy and understand that it doesn't mean I'm a bad mom-- it just means I was really tired.

5. an emergency fund. I can sleep at night knowing that if something hits the fan financially, we have an emergency fund to tap into to bail us out.

6. First Pres. Very few parent have the pleasure of saying their children attend a preschool where their children are loved as much there as at home. I feel that way at First Pres.

7. a strong marriage. Jason and I have our ups and downs, but after nearly 11 years of marriage, I know for sure that he is not going anywhere.

8. hand-me-downs. I have been blessed with a friend who has a daughter slightly older than Ruby and sons slightly older than David. She has saved me hundreds in clothing by loaning us her hand-me-downs. It's awesome!

9. newborn snuggles. I have to admit, I'm not usually a "baby" person. Don't get me wrong, I like babies, but I think I could have adopted 2 year olds and not felt like I missed out. There is something, though, about my little 11 pounder sitting on my shoulder all curled up while I rock him in the rocking chair that just melts my heart.

10. photos/ scrapbooks. I do not have a great memory. I am thankful for ways to preserve my memories. I hope that someday Jason and I will be sitting on the porch swing, looking at our old scrapbooks, reminiscing about the time Ruby got the rose from Belle at Disney World or Eli's drum phase. I hope that this blog will be an addition to that collection, as someone said to me, "a way to remember the everyday".

Wordless Wednesday: I Dream of Sleepy

I Heart Faces: Over My Head

One of my favorite things about my friend Carrie's blog is always her entries to the I Heart Faces contests. Not only do I love looking at others' photos, I'm kind of fond of taking some myself! Those of you who look through my 100+ photos a month from Snapfish know exactly what I mean! So I digress...

Anyway, I thought that since I've started a blog, I would give the contest a try. This photo is one of my all-time favorites for two reasons: 1. This is the day that I learned I could edit photos right on my camera! and 2. Despite my "suggestions", this smiling face disappeared less than 5 minutes later as the pretty pink balloon sailed into the sky!

Not Me!

Several months ago I was sitting at a Bunco table telling my friend Aubrey how beautiful the photos on her blog were. I have been a long time reader of several friends' blogs, but when Aubrey suggested I start a blog, I nearly laughed out loud. Not Me! Yet, here I am... Ugh!

The truth of the matter is, I am an all-or-nothing kind of personality. I am either going to become obsessed with this blog and spend WAY too much time perfecting it, or I will give up completely in a month or so. We'll see...

For now at least, enjoy the musings of Christine-- stay-at-home mother of three, former teacher, horrific speller, and blogger?!