My Generation...

I got this email from a friend of mine and boy, it made me feel old... and I'm only 33!!! I've changed a few things and added my thoughts... leave me your comments!! :-)

Adults used to tell me all about how hard things were when they were growing up... like walking twenty-five miles to school every morning....Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda.

  I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to tell kids about how easy they've got it and how much they've grown... but now that I'm over the 30, I can't help but look around and notice all the changes and well... how much they've grown...   

When I was a kid we didn't have the Internet.  If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!
 
There was no email!!  We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk it all the way to the mailbox... then it would take like a week to get there!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us.  As a matter of fact, grandparents and the parents of all my friends also had permission to spank my butt!

There were no MP3's or iTunes!  If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the
record store and shoplift it yourself! But the best way was to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up! There were no CD players!  We had tape decks in our car.  We'd play our favorite tape and when we'd eject it, the tape would come undone or get twisted up... sometimes you'd get lucky and could use your pinky finger to roll it back up! Most of the time, it was so wadded up, you'd have to throw it away and BUY a new one!!
 
We didn't have fancy stuff like 'call waiting' or 'caller ID'!  If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal! And when the phone rang, you had no idea who it was!  It could
be your school, your parents, your boss... you just didn't know!!!  You had to pick it up and take your chances!
 
There weren't any cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your friends. OH MY GOODNESS !!!  Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics!  We
had the Atari 2600 and Nintendo! With games like 'Space Invaders', 'Asteroids', 'Pong', you actually had to use your imagination!!! Those games just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!  The best had to be Duck Hunt, though... I could play that for hours!!

We had to use a little book called a "TV Guide" to find out what was on! If you were super organized, you'd highlight and dogear the pages to make sure you didn't miss your favorite shows! Channel surfing?! Oh yeah... You had to get off your butt and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! Thankfully remotes came along when we were in middle school and high school!!
 
And quite possibly the worst was that we could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning!!  Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!

Our parents told us to stay outside and play, do chores or read! No electronics to soothe and comfort us!

 

Car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky like me, you got to stand in the front seat as your daddy took you to the store and you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if they had to stop suddenly!

 

See!  That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!  
Regards, The Over 30 Crowd

 

That email definitely brought back memories!! I had to post it, my kids will never believe I had to wait a week to watch Tom & Jerry!! 

Happy Mama's Day!

Well first off, Happy Mother's Day!! :-)

Mine has been awesome! We started off Mother's Day at church this morning and it was TERRIFIC! Mom invited Memaw to come to BBC with us! Much to my surprise, we sang many of my favorite praise songs, "This is How We Overcome", "You Said", "Jesus, Lover of my Soul", etc, etc, etc (If you know anything about me, you know I lerrrve me some praise!! anywho...) all the Mama's received a pink carnation and Pastor Lon had a great sermon about the many women that accompanied Jesus to the cross... it was a great mornin' at th' church house! :-)

After going by Mom & Dad's to change clothes, we headed to the cemetery to put new flowers on my Grandaddy's grave for "Decoration"... (maybe you're wondering what Decoration is... well, basically it's tradition... deep tradition... many cemeteries hold it on Mother's Day, others just hold it on any ordinary Sunday... for us, it's on Mother's Day... I suppose it's because that's when folks used to come home to visit and it was stamped in time forever to be on that day...)

Well, then we headed to Red Lobster for lunch!! It was me, Steve, Trey, Blake, Mom, Dad, Memaw, my aunt Phylliss, uncle Frankie and cousin Jr... we were missing 8 of our crew. :-( I hate they couldn't make it... Even though we had to wait for about 45 minutes, it was soooo good! The talapia was YUMMY!! Let's back up a minute though... while we were waiting, there were other people outside sitting around chatting and all of a sudden, we hear a guitar and a voice singing... yep, right there on the grass outside the Red Lobster! That kid was really good! I don't know what songs he was singing, but since they were "PG", I let Blake go over to watch and listen... I wanted soooo bad to take a picture, but I was one of only a few chickens at the seafood restaurant... I was definitely the only live one. Believe me, I won't let that happen again. I had my camera in my purse and was too chicken to get it out! I don't know what was wrong with me... lesson learned.

*This is where a picture of a kid playing guitar outside Red Lobster should be. When that happens again, I'll post a picture for you. I know, I know...

Steve & the boys gave me a gift card for Kohl's!! Steve put on the card that it was only $10... but I know him better than that! I told him with only $10 I'd have to stay in the earring section 'til I picked out a pair!! :-) Turns out it's a $200 card!! WOOO HOOO! Looks like I'll be goin' shoppin' this week!!

We gave Mom a food chopper... that's what she asked for, I promise!! Her 'old faithful' broke, so she needed a replacement... I had no idea of what else to get her, so instead of getting another little cheap one like she had, I went to Williams Sanoma and got a good'en...
So after lunch, we (me, Steve, Trey, Blake, Mom, Dad & Memaw) went to a movie... "Letters to God"... it was a fantastic movie, but so sad! I don't want to ruin it for you, but let me warn you... TAKE A BOX OF TISSUE!! I looked terrible when I came out of there!! The kids love to watch me cry during a movie and believe me, they got an eye-full today! Sheesh!! It was so good, though... I highly recommend it!!



On the way home, we stopped by Arby's for a milkshake... Life is good today...

So here's my Letter to God for you...
God, Thank you for the person reading this post... there's no reason that they should want to take time to read something that's written by me... but maybe they need to know You. Maybe they're reading this to see what I'm up to, but I pray that they only see You." Love, Karen

My new friend...

I have no idea what to write about tonight, besides the fact that I'm ready to head to bed and I can't for two reasons... 1. because my baby boy is laying asleep in my lap... and 2. because I'm glued to this computer because of blogs such as Jasmine Star and Live in the Name of Love and Natalie Norton... I love those girls...

The first reason is very peaceful and wonderful, because well... he's my velcro-baby. That's his nick-name from when he was a baby and toddler and he wanted to be on my hip 24/7. Something he still does to this day is rub the back of my arm when he's sleepy... Trey used to rub my earlobe... I guess every kid has something that sends them straight to sleepyland... I played with my hair, ok, I still do... ANYWHO... having him sleeping on my lap is so sweet.

The second reason... oh, well, those are my guilty pleasure everyday. Yes, everyday. Jasmine and Bianca are twin sisters... Jasmine is a ROCKIN' wedding photographer from California and Bianca is a public speaker... actually, a 'real' Christian woman that LOVES the Lord and is trying hard to make sure that the whole world hears about Him! Natalie is actually the first blogger that I ever followed... she is a FANTASTIC family photographer from Hawaii. I first blogged about Jasmine and Natalie here and I've been stalking, er... following them for over a year... A few months ago, I found Bianca on Jasmine's blog... she's now been added to my daily rotation! :-)

So, without further ado... I'd like to introduce my newest friend (can I still say that even though she doesn't know it? yes, I vote yes.) Ladies and gentlemen... please put your hands together and your mouse on this link to welcome... Bianca Juarez!

In The Name of Love from Bianca Juarez on Vimeo.

Aw Geez...

Well, instead of sitting in Gatlinburg, TN on the BBC Couple's Retreat, I'm still sitting right here in Lickskillet, AL. I wish I could say it was because of some 'cool' reason, but no.

Yesterday afternoon Blake gets back to the church from Chuck E Cheese and he says "Mommie, my tummy hurts." When he didn't want to go to his first baseball practice of the new season I knew he was serious. I made a quick call to his coach to let him know that we weren't going to make it and headed home... by this time, he was starting to run a fever and his throat was bothering him too...

The night lasted much longer for him than it did for me... he was in bed and asleep by 6pm, that's not a typo... 6pm. His temp was 102.4 and climbing so I quickly got him some meds and prayed that he'd get better... quick!

Well, needless to say, today did not go as planned. We took off to the doctor's office this morning and (...btw, props to Physicians Medical Walk In Fayetteville!! They were AWESOME! We got there at 9:03 and had a prescription in our hand and walking out the door by 9:45!...) he has strep... with tonsils the size of watermelons, it's hard to miss... but the folks at PM were great... very small wait time and ready to help! We'll definitely visit them again, but I hope not any time soon!!

After picking up the meds, we headed home... the boys stayed there while I headed to work to finish up some stuff that has to be done for Sunday... I was there longer than I wanted, but I got everything done that 'had' to be done... the rest will just have to wait!

Well, we have hopes of leaving in the morning-- after 10am-- to head up to Gatlinburg, but with Dad having bronchitis and the shingles, we'll have to just play it by ear. Geez...

Just cuz I know posts with pictures are better... here ya go... it's a random pic of my sick little baby boy. He'll be up-n-at-'em again real soon!!

A day in the life...

Hey everybody... I know you must feel so neglected. I really hate that I don't blog as much as I want to, but it's so hard to take a minute and just type about the daily happenings of lil ole me... really, I can nut-shell it for ya... get up (late), fix lunches, bolt out the door (late), get Trey to school, get Blake to school and go upstairs to work... work a little, play a little, get Blake (late), pick up Trey (late), * or go home (*insert random errand here), straighten the house, take the boys to practice (for whichever sport they happen to be playing at the time), sit at practice, go home, get boys into bed, check my email and facebook, go to bed.

And that's about it... I would say boring, but no, no, no my friend... never a dull moment with me. (if you are around me for any amount of time, you will find out that I have a very infectious laugh... as I'm told quite often!) Not only that, but with two boys, it's crazy more often than its sane... ask any mom of boys, they'll tell ya that I'm shootin' it straight. This is not meant to belittle other mommas, yet it is to let you know that it takes some-kind-of-momma to be a mom of only boys... some-kind meaning a half crazy one.

So as you can see, a day in the life of me is not boring, per se, but it is pretty mundane.... mostly the same ole, same ole. BUT THEN... there's a day like today when I decide that I'll cook my homemade-made-up-by-me soup and I decide to get the boys hair cut... don't worry, nothing catastrophic happened, everybody liked the soup and the boys hair looks great! Hey, even SUPER picky-eater-children's-pastor, Justin ate a whole bowl of soup!! He doesn't like soup, tomatoes or vegetables, so this is a huge win in my favor... especially considering that it was especially hard for him to pick around all the veggies in the tomato based "Italian soup"... ((let me know if you want the recipe!)) So I guess you may be wondering why I said, "BUT THEN... there's a day like today when...". And so, the rest of the story...

I took the boys to get their hair cut at a local salon... she did a great job, but her 4 year old grand-son was there and to say he was a hand-ful would be like telling you that Katrina was a small storm that got a few houses wet. Ok, usually I'm the one mad as fire at my kids for cutting up and not listening... but this time, my kiddos looked like angels, I mean trumpet-toting, halo-wearing angels!! At one point, I made Blake sit on my lap because even though he wasn't doing anything that was 'bad', but just him being able to walk around was feeding this kid's rambunctocity (yes, I am aware that I just added a word to the dictionary) to levels that no one on earth could possibly measure. I know my kids are rambunctious boys and many times they go overboard... waaaaaay overboard, but this kid asked me "Why can't he get up?" and I said, "Because you two are being very wild and I told him he has to sit in my lap so y'all will settle down." Pretty straight-forward, right?! And then it happened... the next few things from his mouth B.U.R.N.E.D M.E. U.P... I mean, I could feel my blood pressure rising and my face had to be flaming with fire! He said, "If he can't get up and play with me, I'm NOT going to be nice!" I said, "He has to sit down because I'm his Mommie and I said he has to, and you need to listen to your Mommie too." (She was washing a lady's hair, within earshot, but I don't know how much she actually heard... she had gotten on to him several times, but with very obvious meaningless threats) THEN HE SAID TO ME, "Just go home, go home, go home, just go home." ((My face is getting flush just thinking about it!!)) I was sitting down, so I leaned closer to him and said, "_his name here_, that is enough, you WILL NOT talk to me that way, do you understand me? And you better go over there to your Mommie. Now." (Yep... read it just like you know how I said it... I was BOILING!!!) I don't know if said Mommie overheard what I told him or not, but the next thing I knew, she was taking him to the back room (for the ump-teenth time during our visit)and I overheard her say, "___name____, you better listen, you don't want your grandmother to come over here, you know what you'll get." WHAT?!!?!!!???!!! Excuse me here, but again, my blood pressure rises because I'm thinking "grandmother?????, seriously?!" COME ON MOMMIE!!!! What in the world are you doing?! I know all of this was bothering the lady that was getting her hair washed, she had already asked me if "all of those were my babies"... I was quick to show her my kids and disclaim __name__... Bless her heart, I know her nerves had to be shot! I know mine were!!

So tell me about your latest 'experience', was it as fun as mine??!!

My Little Blakers' B'day Weekend...

This weekend was really... well, great!

Friday: I was able to be off work which is pretty rare... I went shopping and had some fun out messin' around with Mama & Blakers and lunch with my hubby! We went b'day shoppin' for Blakers, can you believe my BABY is SEVEN YEARS OLD!??!?!! Besides asking for a 4 wheeler or dirt bike, we had it pretty easy... we took him to Toys R Us first... and crazy as it seems, he really didn't want too much! He wanted a Pitch-back (pitch a baseball, it bounces back) and some baseballs, but then he wanted to go to WalMart... yeah, WalMart... that's where he went partially crazy. He started wanting everything!! He wanted a bunch of 'odd-n-ends', so instead of making him tell me different things that I could go back and pick up later, I went ahead and let him just put them in the buggy so he got exactly what he wanted... but he didn't know that Mom had gotten him a new PSP at Toys R Us and he didn't know that I had gotten him a new game, so he was REALLY surprised!! It was so funny to watch him open the game before the PSP! He was so confused...
Saturday: Steve was off work, which was VERY rare... we slept in (another rare-ity) then went to get fireworks... that was super-fun... well, for the boys that is! Dad and Uncle Wayne met us over there... they were checking out the Big Stuff while the boys were throwing stuff in their baskets faster than Lil E on race day! We left with $220 worth of fireworks... this is the yearly 'boy trip'... I always go along, but I don't answer questions such as "Mom, can I have this" or "Mom, what does this do"... I throw my hands up, raise my eyebrows and make a wierd 'i dunno' face and say "This is a boy trip, ask a boy"... I love it!!
Then we headed to Aunt Ann & Uncle Jip's new house for Dad's side of the family's get-together for the 4th.... there was food, fun and swimming! We had a ton of fun... I took Blakers a cake (that he picked out!) and everybody sang "Happy Birthday" to him!
Then it was time for Fireworks!! Chris, Jackie, Ethan, Anna Kate, Jamarri, Mom, Dad and Memaw came over to see the whole neighborhood 'light up'! It's always fun to watch one road 'battle' the other!
Sunday: We slept in again... yes, I was convicted... but I'll have to say it's been a LONG time since we've done that... anyway... we went to eat and then to see TRANSFORMERS at the IMAX!! It was definitely a great movie and a cool way to see it!!

Well, that's our weekend in a nutshell... time for nighty-night!!

ABC's of Me

These are the ABC's about being Karen.


(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your ABC's of Me, tag 20 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.


A - Age: 22... that's what Keith said on my bday and I'm sticking to it. JK 33...

B - Bed size: King!

C - Chore you hate: laundry

D - Drive a: SUV, Buick Rendezvous

E - Essential start your day item: juice or milk

F - Favorite Foods: Tokyo Japanese or Rosie's Mexican

G - Gold or Silver: silver

H - Height: 5'3

I - Instruments you play(ed): trumpet and the microphone.

J - Job title: Ministry Assistant

K - Kid(s): 5... 26,24,22,11 & 6 (3 are step, I have stretch marks to prove the other 2)

L - Living arrangements: home in subdivision

M - Married or single: Married

N - Nicknames: KAY-ren, Kar'n-Earl (thanks Jim McClure),

O- Outdoor activity you enjoy the most: to watch? Baseball and football... to do? sit

P - Pets: none, but am currently being begged to get a dog

Q - Famous Movie Quote: "Help me, help you"... "You had me at hello"... any guesses?

R - Right or left handed: right, but can use both sometimes...

S - Siblings: Nada.

T - Time you wake up: 6:30-7am

U - United States favorite place to visit: Beach!

V - Vegetable favorite: Tomatoes, I know the whole veggie/fruit thing, but tomatoes.

W - Ways you run late: um, anything... always late

X - X-rays you've had: can't remember!

Y - Yummy food you make: Hamburger helper, spaghetti and that bbq chicken my kids ate like they had never eaten before!

Z - Zoo favorite – tigers

Ok, that was fun... fun over.

Bizzy, bizzy, bizzy...

Yeah, I know, I spelled it wrong... but that's where being the owner of this blog comes in handy! :-D So, I'm just wondering... does it seem like you're staying bizzy all the time?! I can't seem to slow down!!! We're either at the ball park, church or work ALL.THE.TIME. My house looks like a tornado hit it... messy and laundry needs to be folded and put up... and I just stare at it like it's gonna clean itself. (Boy, what I would pay for a self-cleaning house!)
So tell me, is it just me? I have a list of things I'd LOVE to do, but I can't seem to stay home long enough to do them!!
I love my life, though... maybe being this bizzy has something to do with a fun heart!
Love til next time... whenever that is!!

Stupidity... and Mastercard...

This has taken me way to long to post, but I had a lot of folks asking what I did to my SUV a couple of weeks ago... well, here's the story:

I backed into the garage to unload the groceries as usual, but what was UNusual was that Steve was home to help unload... so he opens up the back hatch and takes in a few bags. Nothing bad about that, right?! That is FABULOUS! Here comes the bad part... I realized I had parked too close to Steve's van to get me and the supper out of the car, so I thought I'd move over a tidge... (yeah, you know where this is going)... I forgot that the hatch was open when I pulled up!!!!!!!! The rear windshield wiper got caught on the bottom lip of the garage door and bent the door... but that's not the worst part... because of the pressure on the wiper, the BACK GLASS SHATTERED! Here's a nice little pic of my damage:I have to take a moment to brag on my hubby... he didn't KILL me! This is my 2nd run-in with the garage door (pun intended)... we bought the current door only 3 years ago, so I thought I was a goner for sure... he did turn around and walk back in the house to the refuge of the 'big chair' in the living room (his non-matching eBay find) for about 10 minutes, then he walked to the front porch and said "Don't worry about it, we'll get it fixed"... WHAT?!!?!! I said, "Are you ok, are you in shock or do you have a fever?" He chuckled and said he was fine and came over and gave me a hug and said, "That's why we have insurance."
I was blown away!!! So to all you hubbies out there, take this little piece of advice from me... next time she does something really stupid, just take a time out and evaluate what's most important... her or the boo-boo... I bet you'll react like Steve did if you take this little gem of advice!

So now for my MasterCard commercial:
1 garage door repair: $110
1 rear glass replacement: $250
1 husband that didn't scream or kill: Priceless

I love Picnik'in!!

(((Been a while, huh??? Well, if you're missing me, it's cuz you're not on Facebook!!! I am loving that site!!!)))
You're probably wondering WHAT IN THE WORLD I'm talking about when I say ""I love Picnik'in!!""... well, I'm so glad you asked! My friend, Amy, told me about a FREE (yes, FREE) photo editing site named Picnik... You can upgrade to the 'ad-less', bigger workspaced, Premium version for only $24.95, like I did, but you have a BUNCH of options available on the Free version!
If you've edited any pics or gone farther in photography than just taking pics of your kids and pets, you've heard of Photoshop... I have tried to take time to learn it, but to little avail. I have learned a few things, but only a few because I learn by doing, not reading a book... I definitely do not have a 'technical mind' so I thought, "Why not! I'll try Picnik!" (Ok, so it wasn't that dramatic.) So I tried it... and I LOVE IT! Before taking the full dive, I Googled some reviews... I found one review that really stuck out... Pam said something like 'I have Photoshop CS2 on my desktop and everytime I open it, I look at it, then close it'... I'm pretty much the same way, so I contacted her... come to find out, she's a PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER in Okinowa, JAPAN!!!! Her photos are truly amazing...
I have Photoshop Elements 6, which is much easier to use than CS2/3/4, but still aggravating with all the layer stuff and 'technical mess'... I love photography because I can be creative and capture moments in time that would have passed and been forgotten, but because I had the guts to snap the button when no one else would, I have captured a memory that now can never be completely forgotten. With so much going into an image, whether its a pretty landscape or a gorgeous baby or a beaming bride, I don't want to spend my precious time trying to figure out what layer I should put in or whatever... so I find my self clicking open Picnik 100% more than I click open the Photoshop...
Will die-hard, pro photographers gasp at the thought? Of course!
Will people like me love the ease and fun of Picnik? YES, YES, YES!
Will I eventually learn Photoshop? I dunno... I may try, but for now, Picnik is my obsession!

You're probably wondering why I posted about Picnik instead of something grand going on in my crazy life... well, it's cuz right now, my boys aren't currently playing a sport and it's cold outside... Needless to say, I'm not getting out much... that is, not past going to church and work (which is one in the same) Mom's house, Wal Mart or some other warm spots around Hazel Green... I can't wait for SPRING to get here so I'll want to go outside!!

Ok, so tell me what you think of this... of course it was edited on Picnik!

The original:

Picnik'd:

Survey Says!

Ok, so you know this is my 'digital journal' for my kiddos so I have to do this one... this came across FB today, and I thought I'd put it in my blog so they could read about themselves in a few years (or decades!). I'm gonna do it a little different though, instead of doing it only for the 'first-born', I'm gonna do both kiddos... Answers for Trey on top, Blake's on bottom.

1. WAS YOUR PREGNANCY PLANNED?
yes
yes

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
yes
yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
excited, but scared
excited, but dreading diapers after having one that was potty-trained!

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU?
NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!
NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
21... yes, 21 and pregnant, just my luck. :-) jk
25

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
Pregnancy test... 3 times!
Pregnancy test... once!

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
Trey's dad, Mike... then my Mom
Steve, then Mom!

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
Not at first, then the closer it got to us being able to find out, I wanted to.
Yes!

9. DUE DATE?
Aug 19... and he came on his due date!
July 4th... and he came on his due date too!!

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?
yes... so bad that I was put in the hospital for dehydration... I had VERY bloodshot eyes, pale skin, pregnant and barefoot... I looked like I had just arrived from Redneck Central!
No... the pregnancy was wonderful, the delivery... not so much.

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
Ice Cream... but that craving is still there, I never lost it!
Ice Cream again!

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST?
Smelling a Chicken sandwich... I had left the lunch bag from Checkers in the car by mistake, it took me SEVERAL years to finally eat another chicken sandwich.
I don't remember with him... it was a great pregnancy.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX?
male
male

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
No, but I would have sworn he was a girl until they told me different... I just knew I was having a girl...
No, but again, I would have sworn I was having a girl until they did the ultrasound... I can usually guess other people's, but apparently not my own!

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY?
28
8

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
yes, probably too many of them!
yes, at Calvary Assembly

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
they were planned
it was planned

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
no, just the dehydration and nausea in the first tri-mester, after that it was smooth sailing!
not at all...

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Huntsville Hospital
Huntsville Hospital

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
12 hours, started at about 5 in the morning, he came at 5:03pm
10 hours, I was induced at 7, he came at 4:57pm

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
Mike... he drove while I 'bout beat out the window with every contraction.
Steve... I was headed to be induced, so no pain this time!!

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Mike, but before I had the baby, I had 22 people in my room!
Steve, because I had to have a c-section

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
Natural
C-section... he was up too high, cord was wrapped around his neck and he was breech!

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
ABSOLUTELY!!!!
ABSOLUTELY!!!!

27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH?
8 lbs, 4 oz.
8lbs even

28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ?
August 19th, 5:03pm
July 4th, 4:57pm

30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
James Michael III, "Trey"
Steven Blake

31. HOW OLD ARE THEY TODAY?
11 yrs
6yrs

So there ya go boys... a little about your birth into this great big world!
I Love You Both!
Mom... :-)

25 Random Things About Me...

25 Random Things About Me...
Ok, I got this from a friend of mine from High School... I thought it was pretty cool, mostly because there were things on her list that I didn't know about her, even though I've known her for what seems like forever! So, I thought, Hmmm... maybe there's some stuff about me that I take for granted that everybody knows and just maybe they don't! So here ya go... sorry if you didn't really want to know, and if not... well, stop reading! :-)

1. I am a Daughter of the Most High King... therefore, a Princess!
2. I have a great husband, that's 15 years older than me!
3. I am a Mommy of 2 wonderful, growing, talented, sweet, competitive, sport-loving, smart, sneaky boys
4. I am a Step-mom of 2 beautiful girls and one handsome boy... the oldest is only 6 years younger than me, so maybe I should say young ladies and young man
5. I am a Step-Mother-in-law to one beautiful step-daughter-in-law
6. I am a Mimi to 4 terrific grandkids... 3 boys, 1 girl...
7. My doggie that I've had for 5 years and I loved more than any other animal I've ever had died 2 weeks ago.
8. I love to worship God... singing, dancing, whatever... just PRAISE!
9. I love photography, just wish I had more time to do it and learn more!
10. I love heights...the higher the better... being on the Empire State Building observation deck was AWESOME!
11. I have to sign my kids in at school way too much.
12. I HATE DOING THE LAUNDRY!!
13. I don't watch the news much because I think the media stirs the pot too much: economy, etc
14. I'm not a fan of the rain... I know we need it, but I still don't like getting wet in good clothes/shoes.
15. I love to laugh. If you know me at ALL, you already knew that.
16. I want to be a size 10.
17. I am a procrastinator... but thankfully I work well under pressure!
18. I was saved on September 14, 1993.
19. I think this is making me think too much.
20. I am an only child... yeah, I know SPOILED ROTTEN.
21. I love my job.
22. I love Mexican food!
23. I miss Team Hearn, mostly Tiff
24. I can't wait to go on our Cruise to the Bahamas in October!!
25. I was totally at a loss when I wanted to make the last one the best. Oh well, sorry.

I started this blog as a 'digital journal' of sorts for my kids... When they're all grown up they can look back and read this and say, "Yep, she was actually as goofy as I remember." Love ya T-baby and Spunkadoo... KL ;-)

Basketball season is finally done!

Ok, I love my kiddos and they love their sports... and boy, it seems like this year's basketball season has lasted FOREVER! It was really the same as last year, so I guess we were just busier this year or something... I took a TON of pictures (did you doubt that I would?) I'm trying to get them uploaded to my online gallery for folks to see, but for some reason I can't get that blasted thing to cooperate with me... which is really why I came over to my little blogity-blog... I haven't posted anything since DEC 22ND!! It's really hard for me to think of something to say 'cuz I'm just one of those girls that 'lives in the moment'... by the time I get to where I can write, I've forgotten what happened that day or get busy doing something else (cough-facebook-cough)... Facebook has become pretty fun for me, I don't get into all those little game-things, but I really like being able to 'stalk from a distance' :-) Seriously, its great to keep up with my friends (new and old) without having to sit down for hours to catch up and forget half of the things I was going to tell her!!! The only thing is that I've gotta get better at keeping MYSELF updated! Much like here, I like to check on other folks, but not keep my own updated! Well, with this little post, I got a two-fer... once I click 'publish post', it goes on Blogger AND Facebook!! Woo Hoo!!! Once again, I'm multi-tasking!
Here are a few of those basketball pics I was talking about:






Let me know what you think about the pics!! Hugs, KL B-)

Boys + Basketball= Basketcase.

I love my boys! I like basketball! Those two make me a basketcase! (Stay tuned in the spring when the equation changes to baseball!) We joined the local gym a few months ago, thinking that we could go as a family, but as life would have it... we haven't even stepped foot in there in about 2 months... it lasted for a little while and was great while it lasted!

Anyway, back to the story.

So, Blake had practice tonight, then we jetted on over to Trey's first game of the season... they won! 17-12! T made one point from a freethrow, got some rebounds and stole 2 balls away!
Blake has his first game tomorrow morning, I hope they do well!!!

Thanks for listening, but enough of my ramblings...

My favorite group... EVER!

Hey, so who loves Casting Crowns more than me? Yeah, that's what I thought... nobody. I was just listening to Mark Hall on Rick and Bubba a little bit ago and heard a snippet of their newest Christmas song, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"... ok, so I LOVE IT! That CD is on my "Must Buy For Myself Before Christmas" List... I make that list every year, cuz I'm sort of an impatient kinda girl... But in this case, you HAVE to HAVE this BEFORE Christmas 'cuz you want to play it as Christmas gets closer... and closer... and closer! I've been telling the kiddies that its "not time to put up the tree yet, Thanksgiving isn't even over yet!" (I'm the one that HATES to see Valentine's candy on the shelves in December) But the more I hear this great Christmas music, the more it makes me want to climb up in the attic to get the tree down! Ok,
so go on over to the CC website and hear the song for yourself... it plays automatically... you'll love it, I promise.... Merry Christmas!... I mean, Happy Thanksgiving! ;-)

A week in the life...

Hey folks!
Well, this is probably my busiest week EVER! At least it feels like it anyway... we're having BYF Day (that means Bring Your Friend Day) at church this Sunday, and it is B.U.S.Y. around there! We've been doing a lot of construction over the last few months 'cuz we're bumpin' up the coolness factor in the youth & kids areas... well, since we have guests coming this weekend, we've been bustin' it to get our house 'in order' plus we started setting up tables, media and other stuff today to get ready... (hey! even Steve got in on it... on his OFF DAY!) I was so impressed... cha-ching on the brownie points!!
And since it was Daddy's day off, we had lunch at school with the boys and Abby... we took Happy Meals from MickyD's... cha-ching for us! (pun intended) We all had a good time, its so funny to watch the other kiddos when parents come to lunch... they get so excited that "outsiders" came inside with them! ;-)

Ok, bad mama on me... my T-baby celebrated his "first kill" (his words) on Sunday and I still haven't shared it with you... I'll post some pics tomorrow, I'm too tired to walk out to the car to get the camera... I'm tellin' ya, I'm pooped from all that manual labor today!

Here's a few more pics from the library... (they were already in the computer) these were from the Lincoln County Fair a few weeks ago... of course, I forgot to post them... I promise I have good intentions, just a bad mem

BTW, wanna come to BYF with me?!

New Picasa 3!

Google has a photo-editing software that's free, yep FREE, called Picasa... I couldn't say enough about it when I first found it about 2 years ago and now it's even better! I like using it when I don't have much time... you can get it here. The picture at the top of my blog that Blake took was edited using it... really all I did was add the text to that one, but you get the idea... You can retouch a photo (like if you had a spot on your lens, you can take it out!), you can make movies, slideshows, collages, upload directly to your blog or web album, add text & watermarks to your pics, and much much more! (I'm sounding like an infomercial now, so...) I'm just telling ya, it's great... and did I mention FREE?! ;-D

School time already!?

Wow, this summer has just ZOOOOOOMED by! The kiddos start back to school on Wednesday... and yes, there is a reason that you are sensing a bit of a grin on my face... ;-)
I dearly love my kids, but I'm not one of those moms that says, "Oh, school is already starting back, how I wish the kids had more time at home".... Oh, no, no, no my friend, this is more of what you'll hear coming from my mouth... "THANK YOU JESUS!" (Yes, that's all caps because it's a SHOUT!) I have said many, many times that I could never be a 'homeschool mom', believe me, my kids would hate it and so would I! The ONLY thing we would all love is that we could sleep late! We're social butterflies that LOVE to be around other people, my being at home for 6 years with "baby Blake" was enough! In fact, I'm not the only one that is glad that they're starting back, they are completely STOKED! I was always really glad to start school too, I couldn't sleep well and was really nervous my "First Day of School Outfit", you know what I'm talking about... it has finally hit Trey... up until this year, he hasn't really given a rip what I laid out for him to wear, but yesterday he was with his Dad when he was told I was school shopping and I heard this voice on the other end of the phone that said "Mom, can you please come meet Kristen to get me so I can pick out my own clothes, PLEASE"... I told him that if I picked up something hideous that all he had to do was tell me he didn't like it and we'd take it back, no questions asked... he agreed and all was well... SO, when we got home, I was anxious to show him all his new clothes... we were getting out all the "stuff" in the garage when they pulled up and he was ready to inspect the days finds... all I had to do was pull those shoes out and his eyes lit up and the grin was from ear to ear... all I could hear was "and its headed over the fence, ladies and gentlemen, its a... a... HOME RUN!!!" Oh yea, Mom's still got it... ;-D

Slowly but surely!

Well, I'm beginning to see why I didn't do so well in my scrapbooking endeavors... its very few and far between that I get a chance to sit down and do anything for a long (or short for that matter) period of time; whenever I do, I'm watching a little tv with the kiddos or its with my nemesis: the laundry. My cutie-patoodies can definitely attest to the fact that I HATE LAUNDRY! I don't mind the washing and drying, its the folding and putting up that I can't stand... I was watching Jon & Kate+8 tonite for a little while and I heard her say the same thing... that's when it really hit me. "I only have 2 kids and I hate laundry... she must REALLY hate laundry to the 10th power!" I did learn that she has some really great neighbors that help her on Thursdays to fold and put up, which I think is just FABULOUS! What a terrific idea! The only thing is that I don't think my neighbors will have as much pity on me... yeah, I can count on that. Anyway... its been a while since I've 'talked' to you, so I thought I'd post a little sumthin' sumthin'!

I've taken some great photos lately, some of my cuz'ins and the boys at the beach that I haven't taken the time to work on yet because of everything making me busy as a bee... you know, I remember being busy when I worked at the Courthouse and Bob Wallace, but it just wasn't like this... I don't think... maybe that's because back then I only had Trey?? I dunno, I guess life happens when you least expect it, huh? I'm learnin' everyday...

Something I'm loving is working, though. The only thing I don't like is... well, two things... I don't like getting up early during the summer, but more than that, I don't like having to take my kids to babysitters. BUT, thankfully, my Thurs & Fri's are VERY flexible during the summer, that makes it MUCH easier to 'cope'. Believe me, because of the first reason I really look forward to Thursdays now!

Ok, so I've GOT to learn how to use my new Photoshop Elements 6... I think I'll love it, but I'm so accustomed to using Picasa that I'm hitting walls... not that its too complicated, its just that I hate to read owners manuals and it seems that I'm gonna have to or teach myself over a very long time... anyway, Britt, I'm gettin' there, I promise Bailey will still be 3 when I get those pics to you!!

Well, I've gotta go... I was writing all of this while waiting for some files to write to my external drive and its done! Now my darling little laptop won't go crazy on me! ;-)

Y'all have a great Thursday, I know I will!! ;-D
Hugs,
Karen :-)