Ahh... Tis the season!

Wow has time flown by since the last post!

We have had and exciting fall!

We had a fun Halloween! Clayton was Buzz Lightyear and his friend Danny was Dracula! I'm still trying to find a picture of Tyler! He got to spend the night with his cousins so I didn't see much of him.

Clayton got to go to the pumpkin patch with his class. He's the one on the end!

Tyler's 6th grade class got to have an awesome fall party outside at the recreation area by our house! They played games and roasted marshmallows, but boy was that wind cold!

Thanksgiving was TASTY as always! We got to enjoy a visit with Doug's brother and his wife, Eric and Sarah! We miss them when they are gone!

Last spring, Doug bought a 1948 Red Ford pickup truck. We drove from Hastings, NE to Lee's Summit, MO and he turned around with a couple of friends and drove to Denver to pick it up. Then turned around and drove back to Lee's Summit. Whew! He's been working hard on his truck. Lots of good pictures there too but I think I'll have to start a new blog for that!

We also have some exciting news about Doug's job! His boss said there was a position available at their job site in Johannesburg, South Africa. Wow! That was a lot to think about it. Doug new at some point he would have to go visit but a long-term job assignment, 12 months, what should we do???

Well we did some research and talked with some folks there with families and PRAYED! And as Doug said, "We've tossed our hat into the proverbial ring!" Now we have to wait on the head honchos to tell us yes or no! We are really hoping for yes. After all the agonizing we are so excited and just can't wait to find out!

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Christmas!

Happy Birthday to Clayton-A Month Late!!

I am so behind! It' seems like we've been soooo busy lately that time just flies by!

Here's Clayton's first day of school!

Tyler's doing great! He made it into ASPIRE, Lee's Summit's schools gifted program. This is the third program he's made it into. We are so proud of him!

Here's some shots from Clayton's birthday! He had it at Dave's Gymnastics factory! Lots of fun! I think that we wore out a few kids!

Clayton finished up Itty Bitty Football! He's been steeling lots of flags and he got a few touchdowns!

Oh Holy Cow!

Wow, what in the world happened to summer? It seems like it flew by!

So what have we been up to this summer? Well lots of trip to the neighborhood pool.

A trip to the KC Zoo with old friends. We bought the extra ticket and that gave us unlimited rides on the train, tram and carousel.

It was such a beautiful day that day! All the animals were out and we got to go in and see the new rain forest exhibit.

Tyler went to Boy Scout camp for 10 Days all by himself. Clayton sure missed him! It was the second session at camp and they kicked it off great. The first and second night they had to "evacuate" their campsite to the mess hall because of severe storm with high winds and lightening. The middle part wasn't too bad but they had heat index over 100 the last part of camp. They still had a blast!

Doug finally finished his coffee and end tables. They turned out beautiful! Doug always likes to do a big project over Christmas. This year he got started on the tables but since we were back and forth from KC to Hastings he didn't have a lot of time to work on them in between moving.

Clayton got pumpkins off his pumpkin plant. I know it's a little early for pumpkins and I think that's because they were planted so early but he was sure proud of them.

Did I mention how much he loves this Kool-Aid days tank top?

We also went to St. Louis for vacation this year. The kids were dying to go and did we have fun! If you ever get there you have to check out the City Museum. We spent all day there last Monday and it was worth every penny!


Whew! I think that will do it for now! I'll have to post anything I missed!

Urban Farmer

Our new neighbors seem to think that we should have stayed in Nebraska because Clayton is turning into quite the "urban" farmer. This year at school they planted a pumpkin seed and he's been tending it faithfully since before Mother's day. This little plant made a 300 mile car ride to Kansas City and WOW has it grown!

They had extra pea plants at school so thinking originally that it wouldn't make it a week at home I picked one up too. So here we are a whole month in a half later eating peas off that plant! Clayton is so proud he can't wait to send Ms Becky

pictures.

Happy Birthday Tyler

Yesterday was Tyler's birthday. Wow how do they grow up fast! Tyler is turned 11 this year and that means that he is officially a pre-teen. Any word that includes "teen" is scary!

He had all of his old friends over and his cousing and grandparents. We had a beach theme party and they got to swim at the pool, a pinata, and beachy cupcakes. They had lots of fun!

Did you ever wonder what the inside of the stovetop looks like?

If you were ever wondering what the inside of a smooth top stove looks like, here you go.

Yikes! Don't every drop a large acrylic cup on the glass. This was the stove that came with the house and boy was I MAD when I broke it. Luckily the other 3 burners and the oven works so we have been making due.

My husband loves me enough to let me purchase a new stove as long as I continue to make tasty dinners on it. Not to big of a price to pay!!! Thanks hon!

Toto, I don't think we're in Nebraska anymore?

So the big move went well. Or as well as can be expected with the way our luck runs. We had a lot of great help on Thursday evening packing up and great company while we cleaned the carpets.

We hit the road Friday morning and all was going good. About 20 mile north of St. Joseph, Missouri, I kept thinking we're almost there, Doug calls me and tells me that he's glad the guy at the Budget place circled the roadside emeregency number on the pamphlet. He had a rear tire blowout on the moving truck! UGGGG! I could not believe it! Clayton and I were about 5 miles behind him because he left a little earlier than us and I was slowly catching up. So as we come around the curve on I-29 highway I see the giant tire peel laying on the middle of the road.

Luckily nothing to bad happend other than Doug being a little shaken. So we pull off the highway exit, in Oregon, Missouri, and that's when the big waiting game began. Luckily it was by some nice woods and a really cool pond. (Insert sacasm here!)

Two and a half hours later we hit the road. Our now 6 hour trip has turned into 9 hours! We could have driven to Denver in that amount of time. Somehow we survived and arrived to my sister and her crew of moving kids! We emptied about 85% of the truck out Friday night with just a few dressers and the deep freeze left for the strong men on Saturday.

(New definition of "hot dog")

So we are here and I am edging towards exhaustion. We are glad to be home!

To be a kid again.

At our house in Hastings Tyler's room is upstairs and since we're starting to pack I decided to spend the day yesterday packing up Tyler's closet and some of his toys. WOW! Can you believe how much stuff a kid can collect in a year! Two bags of trash, a box of Goodwill donations, and 8 moving boxes of stuff later, we're finally done!



While we were up there it had been thundering and it seemed really loud because we were so close, at least to the 4 year old mind we were. Clayton is terrified of thunder, it was a long night last night, and I have told him in the past that the thunder is the angels bowling up in heaven. And that conversation leads to how did they get up there and why can't we see God. He's full of questions!


Clayton is sitting at the window with one of those oozy slime containers and it was oozing it's way back down to the bottom of the bottle and as the bubble made it's way to the top he says, "God, I am going to talk to you when the next bubble pops." So he waits and the little bubble get to the top and he leans against the screen in the window, eyes lifted toward sky, and says, "Hello God. Are you up there?" He waited a little and said it again and then he looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. I told him that he had to listen a little harder because that God usually talks very softly so he needs to listen very hard and be very quiet. So he sat and listened; very still and very quiet. All he could hear was the thunder. His eyes were wide and he had a big smile.



Isn't the innocence of our children amazing! I wish I could always look to God with that same hopefullness and not wanting anything but to hear His voice! Wow! I never new my 4 year old could teach me so much!

Babies!

So I've had a lot on my mind lately and it seems like my posts haven't been that fun so I decided to show off my babies! Does it seem like we are going to have a bumper crop of babies this year! I'm feeling like I need to take a look at my babies and and remember how small they were. I wanted to share them with everyone! So here's a few of my favorite pictures of my babies!

Tyler and Clayton Easter 2006!

This is our mighty huntress Tina!

Our good old girl, Sandy! She was not thrilled to have a pup in the house!

This is our pretty boy Pete. He's living it up with the in-laws in Kansas City because we can't have cats in our rental.

And these are my cowboys today! Tyler is 10 (Almost 11) and Clayton is 4.

So these are my babies! Good luck to all the new moms and moms to be out there! There's nothing but fun in store for you!

The Five Year Plan

More often than not lately I catch myself feeling not quite right. I feel a little... off. I recently went out with some "old friends". The things that they are worried about are so not what I am anymore. When I say "old friends" they are not from that long ago. They are some of the girls that I worked with at a job that I was at about a year and half ago, when my priorities were somewhere else, and I hadn't found a good balance yet. So now begins the struggle that I haven't really ever had to deal with, who am I?

Who am I?

I feel like I am torn between who I was and who I am and who I am going to be. Is this a struggle for everyone? Once I finished high school I made a deal with myself to always be confident in who I was. Always knowing what the next step would be and stick with the "Five Year Plan." I always had it lined out in my head what I wanted to be doing in five years. College, marriage, kids, job, kids, house, etc. I sure didn't think that God was going to throw a wrench in that plan by up and moving us out of state. That was NOT in the five year plan. Since it was a good opportunity for Doug; I can tweak the plan a little. We'll move. I'll get by for a year and pick up where I left off. I thought that when we moved back to KC I would be able to pick up where I left off. I could step back into those shoes and start right back where I was. The question is now, do I want to?

I'm not so worried about going back and pretty much starting over. I've already done that here in Hastings and I feel like once you've done it you can do it again. There is no fear there but there is a little worry about losing what I have come to love so much about who I have become at this point in my life. I'm sure about my walk with God, I'm more in love with my husband now than I think I was when we got married, and I'm sure that I absolutely love being a mom. Moving into this new phase of my life is going to upset that balance.

So what will I do? I sure can't sit and worry about it for two more months. Keeping this in mind I am going to lay it all out for the Lord to tell me what to do next. All I can hope for is that I chose the easy path, even though nothing is ever easy, and fully trust in Him to guide my steps.

Full to the Brim

So this weekend we traveled to Kansas City, which I'm sure some people know that we are in limbo here in Hastings and will be going back to Kansas City in a few months. This is a common trip for us but this wasn't the usual weekend back home.

Friday morning the women began to descended upon my house one car at a time. This all started about 8:00 and my dear husband just grinned and welcomed everyone in! At 8:00 in the morning! Remember we didn't get home until about midnight on Thursday! What a great guy!

So the reason for the invasion was to attend the Women of Faith Conference at the Sprint Center. I was baptized at our church in Raytown last year with my best boy, Tyler, and I feel like I am still a small child in my walk with God. Still trying to get my balance and understand what and how the Lord speaks to me. I have been waiting so long for this opprotunity. I couldn't wait to the conference and absorb all the wisdom these wonderful women, and a few men, were going to teach me!

The music was wonderful, we got to see the first performances of the year! Including Steven Curtis Chapman and you may remember Mandisa from American Idol. I can't wait to get their music off iTunes. There were great speakers from all walks of life and all ages. I am so appreciative for their openness about their lives and the way the Lord has worked in them. But the one thing that I keep hearing over and over from them is that God forgives and forgets. So why is it so hard to forgive ourselves? Why do we have to constantly struggle to let our past mistakes go?

So I prayed that I can just give these things over to him and let him take away all the pain and struggle that can go with these things. And you know when I left on Saturday afternoon I felt so wonderful! I was exhausted from head to toe and my brain felt like it was going to burst from all the thinking I did over the weekend but I felt refreshed! I felt as though God had touched my life in a way that I will never forget and I hoped that I could feel like this everyday. I felt like tomorrow was a new day and all I had to do was keep giving it over to God!

Last night when I we finally made it back to Hastings, of course I had to check my e-mail and my facebook and there my dear friend had posted how she was feeling. I feel like it said it all, "Only a relationship with God fills your life with peace...".

I have to agree with her on that and that I am to full to the brim too.

Great Friends

What a beautiful day today was! We were blessed this week to have 3 gorgeous days in a row. Sunny and a little wind just to let us know that winter is not quite over. The kids loved to get out of the house. It was like letting the inmates loose! What a great week.

When we moved here I was so sad. I missed my home, my job, and my everyday rushing around. Doug's hours had picked up and he was gone at least 12 hours a day. I had a house full of boxes and no one around. It was summer time so no school parents to get to know. HOW WAS I GOING TO SURVIVE A YEAR LIKE THIS? About a week after we moved here and I signed my kids up to go to VBS at a church in town. That's where I saw the MOPS sign. What is MOPS? Will they like me? How terrible will my kids be compared to theirs?

As I checked my kids in that first day I didn't know I was meeting one of those MOPS. What a friendly smile and a beautiful baby girl. Oh how Clayton talked about that baby girl. He went through a faze that he was totally fixated with babies. Little fingers and little toes. So the first play date I went to, all the faces weren't completely new. How fun was the little splash pool at the park? I didn't even know they had these anymore.

Well it turns out they liked me okay. At least they let me hang around with them. I honestly can't imagine what I would have done with myself this year without my beloved mom friends. They've been there to see how terrible my kids can be and how great they can be. I've watched all the of their children grow in such a short time I feel sad that I can't see how all of them will turn out. I know we will not be that far away but no one will ever compare to you, my friends. Thanks for making these times here some of the best times in my life!

Dirty Cheese

I'm not a total neat freak. I am not a complete germ-a-phobe either. If anyone would just pop over anytime during the week you would all witness this but I cannot get past the dirty food thing. I don't know if the warming weather and blowing dirt have brought out the beast in me but I can't get past it! I can't scrape the mold off the jelly and I can't eat off the side of the sandwich that my kids have bitten off of.



I think it was brought to my attention yesterday when we were at the park and the sweetest little boy came up and sat right next to me with the dirtiest piece of cheese that I have ever seen! So being a little grossed out I tried to switch the cheese with the piece in the middle but it was as dirty as the top one. Uuuggghhh! It was making me a little queasy when one of my other great mom friends said, "Just don't look." So I turned my head and just didn't look.



You know, we have been on so many camping trips that I thought I was past this issue. My children have probably ingested more dirt than most children. How many times has Tyler gone fishing with Doug, digging worms out of that little styrofoam container and halfway through the day he's digging in the cooler in for a peanut butter sandwich? How many time has Clayton been in the sandbox and come running in for fruit snacks? How many times did I make them wash their hands? I wasn't their for the worms and I just assume since it's OUR sanbox it's clean?


So today as we sat at the park and I watched my friends darling little girl pick up a packet of BK carmel off the ground, I held my tongue, for about 10 seconds. Please don't eat the stick carmel packet with grass and dirt stuck all over it! The packet wasn't even open! It wasn't even sticky! I think it had been there for about 5 seconds! Calm myself! My friends probably think I'm nuts! Now as I sit here typing this note, I don't think dirt is bad! I don't think you are dirty! I admit it... I have a problem. So please support me as I work through these issues!


So it's not the end of the world if my children eat a little dirt. After all the little boy with the dirty cheese came back today all healthy and smiles, just as cute as the day before. As I am trying to conquer this "phobia" please allow me to fall off the wagon a time or two. So next time the little guys drop their cheese on ground, I am going to remember, "Just don't look." Thanks fellow mom!

Bad Looking

It seems like on a daily basis at our house we talk about "bad looking." Not bad looking people or ourselves but having "bad looking" skills. I wonder why in the world the good Lord blessed boys (and men) with bad looking skills? There is a daily hunt for the Gameboy charger or the left shoe or the missing camo glove that my hubby HAS to HAVE to take hunting. Why oh why can they not put their stuff in the same place every time?

That leads my thought to a recent trip to the Sears at our local, or semi-local, shopping mall. We all were enjoying the trip, as much as we can with a rambunctious 4 year old boy, when he went missing. He ran away from dad out into the mall and disappeared. How terrified was I when the hubby called me and told me he was gone.

As I ran out into the food court, the busiest place in the mall that day, I tried to remember all the things that I had read and listened to all these years of having kids and I could not for the life of me remember a darn thing that they said. All I could do was yell his name and hope that he would pop out and say, "Here I am!" That didn't happen.

He turned up about 10 minutes, and minus 10 years of my life, later. He was in the jeans rack back in the Sears. My hubby found him just bawling and scared to death backed all the way against the wall. He just kept crying that he couldn't find us. Let me tell you, that was the longest ten minutes of my life. I know that most moms unfortunately at some time or another have also had this unpleasant experience. As I ran to security all I could hope was that their "looking" skills were better than the ones we have at home.

Everything turned out great in the end, except for the fact that half of Grand Island watched me bawl until my masscara ran, when so many times it does not. And can you believe the worst looker in my house was the one that found my boy? Hmm... how's that for "good looking"?