Valentines Day

Homeless

Well let me see first of all Hello everyone, I know it has been a while sense I posted last so here goes. We had a wonderful Christmas, my niece Crystal went to California for Christmas so it was just the 7 of us for Christmas Mom, Bill and us so it was quiet... well sort of. 3 days after Christmas the job I had been going to never opened the doors again so here I am on unemployment again, this is just awful looking for a job in January. We are looking forward to our move but we have things that keep cropping up that drive us crazy. They are building a new Lowe's around the corner from us and they will be opening really soon, well they have the other building next door that they outgrew well everything that is in the old store is not being transferred to the new store so they are selling everything for 35-50 percent off. Now would be the most wonderful time to have no income when we could have gotten all we needed to do upgrades to our house at a decent price. grrr.
Well now for the second part of my post, are you wondering about the title of this post? Well we have a family of 3 living with us because they are homeless, Charles and I were talking the other day saying "we know there is homelessness out there but is is so different when it is someone you know". I worked at RL OConnor with this person and our kids go to school together, we were both laid off at the same time and her husband was unemployed at the time as well, now knowing this, because they made to much money on unemployment they couldn't get state aid. So the dilemma, let them sleep in their car or in our garage? We are all just a paycheck away from homelessness and I just heard a statistic the other day the average age of the person on the street is 9 years old, because of this same situation. Well now we are a family of 8 at the moment. Here is to moving forward!

Holiday Meme

Holiday Meme: Thanks Sheri for this jumpstart to the holidays 1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate with whipped cream or marshmallows. 2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrapped it is more fun that way! 3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? The tree has white lights, I can't get my family to do lights outside. 4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, I used to go hunting for it every year and getting it fresh but I don't seem to find it up in Seattle 5. When do you put your decorations up? Generally the weekend after Thanksgiving but this year it still needs to go up. 6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I love mashed potatoes and gravy 7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Getting a heart locket from a favorite Aunt that got mixed up with the trash and burned then finding a new one. 8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? What's the truth? We were always told Santa and getting Santa gifts. You mean to tell me Santa isn't real? 9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, Christmas pajamas, Charles and I started this tradition when Joshua was born, one of my co-workers at the time told me that this is what she did with her family when they were young and we thought it was a wonderful idea. 10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? All reds and greens, red wooden beads, gold bows, santas and bells...white lights 11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it, love it, love it. 12. Can you ice skate? Not anymore 13. Do you remember your favorite gift? No, I don't. 14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with family. Celebrating Jesus' birth. 15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pumpkin pie. 16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Piling into the car and looking at Christmas lights. 17. What tops your tree? A Christmas Angel 18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? I love them both. 19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Gloria 20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?? Yum, especially with hot chocolate

Yet Again

Well here we go again yesterday at the end of the day when I was at work the entire sales staff was called into the conference room (mind you this is a normal occurrence) but this time we were all told thank you for all of your hard work but this just isn't working as we had planed so we are laying you all off. This is really hard because yes, it is just before the Holidays thus making for another really lean Christmas and we only needed another 7 months till we move but this really makes me happy because My Boss was an ASS he was very controlling and paranoid he was always worried that someone would steal everything he owns. SO now I am off to celebrate with Charles, Cecil and Aathina. Yea!

Happy Birthday

Charles I wanted to wish you a very Happy Birthday. I Love you very much and I hope that your next year is wonderful.

Deck of Cards

Deck of Cards It was quiet that day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines for some reason hadn't been heard. The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week. As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk. Just then an army sergeant came in and said, "Why aren't you with the rest of the platoon?" The soldier replied, "I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord." The sergeant said, "Looks to me like you're going to play cards." The soldier said, "No, sir. You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country, I've decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards." The sergeant asked in disbelief, "How will you do that?" "You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there is only one God. The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, Old and New Testaments. The Three represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Five is for the five virgins there were ten but only five of them were glorified. The Six is for the six days it took God to create the Heavens and Earth. The Seven is for the day God rested after making His Creation. The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives -- the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed the Earth. The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed of leprosy. He cleansed ten, but nine never thanked Him. The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on tablets made of stone. The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God's first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the joker of eternal hell. The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary. The King stands for Jesus, for he is the King of all kings. When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, one for every day of the year. There are a total of 52 cards in a deck; each is a week - 52 weeks in a year. The four suits represent the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Each suit has thirteen cards -- there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter. So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for."The sergeant just stood there. After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, he said, "Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?"

Happy Birthday Joseph

Last Born Child You are a special child Our youngest child so unique God made you so very special So wonderful and sweet!You are the baby of the familyAnd we treasure each thing you do Nothing is as precious asThe phenomena that is you! You have reaped the benefits Of the knowledge we've acquired And now we know as parents We don't have to work so hard.You have eaten cookies that have dropped And landed on the floor We just applied the "five second rule"Or maybe even more! We learned we probably wouldn't break you And that you would probably surrive; That a few germs wouldn't be fatal And you would probably thrive. You have had the pleasure Of having siblings to adore you To look up to, learn from and fight with And sometimes to ignore you! Your birth order was no accident But was by God's design That you were our last born Precious child of mine! I love you very Much Joe I hope you had a wonderful birthday.

Butterfly House Again

 

Butterfly House

 

More Seattle

 

A Day in Seattle

 

Flying High Into The Wild Blue Yonder...

Here are a couple pictures of Joshua in his Airforce Uniform isnt he cute?
 

TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING
THROUGH THE DESERT.
DURING SOME POINT OF THE
JOURNEY THEY HAD AN
ARGUMENT AND ONE FRIEND
SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE...

THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED
WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT
SAYING ANYTHING,
WROTE IN THE SAND:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND
SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.

THEY KEPT ON WALKING,
UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS,
WHERE THEY DECIDED
TO LEISURE IN THE WARM WATERS.

THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN
SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE
MIRE AND STARTED DROWNING,
BUT THE OTHER FRIEND SAVED HIM.

AFTER RECOVERING FROM
THE NEAR DROWNING,
HE WROTE ON A STONE:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND
SAVED MY LIFE.

THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED
AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND
ASKED HIM, "AFTER I HURT YOU,
YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND NOW,
YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?"

THE OTHER FRIEND REPLIED
"WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US
WE SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN
IN SAND WHERE WINDS OF
FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY.

BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES
SOMETHING GOOD FOR US,
WE MUST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE
WHERE NO WIND
CAN EVER ERASE IT."

LEARN TO WRITE
YOUR HURTS IN
THE SAND AND TO
CARVE YOUR
BENEFITS IN STONE.

DO NOT VALUE THE THINGS
YOU HAVE IN YOUR LIFE,

BUT VALUE WHO YOU HAVE IN YOUR LIFE!!

Fried Worms

Ok for Nic's birthday I take the boys to see the movie, it is a cute movie and it even has a story line it isn't just a gross out film. LOL I must say if you are squeamish at all about worms and eating them.... It was cute and the boys loved the movie it was very much a young teen movie. I loved how they put out a movie for this age group.

Birthday Fun

Nicholas had a birthday party last night for his 13th birthday he had a wonderful time, he had 2 friends come over to celebrate we had pizza and soda, movies and dump cake they stayed up until I think something like 3 or 4am talking. Boys! Now I want to explain something I wanted to make Nic's birthday really special so I get the cake all together light the candles and I am taking his cake to put it on the table and the cake slid off of the tray it was on and just like a piece of Jelly bread when it falls and it lands jelly side down...... So did the cake. Ok now I am really upset, but of course there isn't anything I can do I yell hey it is under the 10 second rule... the boys all yell back COOL! so we picked up the "dump cake" put the candles back into the cake and we take this cake that looks like it has been in a battle zone in we sing Happy Birthday and then we all "Let them eat cake" LOL I just love boys!

Happy Birthday Nicholas

I've always loved you so much because you drew a tough spot in the family and it made you stronger for it. You cried less, had more patience, wore faded hand-me-downs, and never in your life did anything first. But it only made you more special. You were the one we relaxed with, who helped us realize a dog could kiss you and you wouldn't get sick you could cross a street by yourself long before you were old enough to get married. And you helped us understand the world wouldn't collapse if you went to bed with dirty feet. You were the child of our busy, ambitious years. Without you, we could never have survived the changes and the tedium of the routine that is marriage. Nicholas Aaron I love you very much have a wonderful 13th birthday.

I'm Back! Whew!

Well now that I have a new computer I can now catch up on a bunch of things that I haven't really been able to do. First of all I need to say HappyBirthday to two of my 7 nephews you can see their pictures here Evan turned 8, and Gavin turned 6 here. I am still learning my new picture printer so new pictures will be coming in the near future. I now need to get picture paper too it prints pictures without the need for a computer, I am so happy, payday isn't coming fast enough. We had a wonderful time on vacation we spent a lot of time in and around the pool visiting with family and having a good laugh. My brother just had his pool finished as well as Mom and dad so it was fun seeing the different pools Mom and dad have a really traditional pool rectangular in shape very blue with blue tiles around the top and is a perfect pool for doing daily laps in for exercise it doesn't have a really deep area but was a perfect pool for just lounging around and a beautiful deck area for quiet conversations. Aaron on the other hand has a free form pool that he designed himself that has a large sitting area that has a space in it to put an umbrella in for his MIL who is handicapped the pool has dark brown tiles around the top and is a gunnite pool with small pebbles put into the concrete so you get a really outdoor feel to it with a waterfall that comes down into the deep end with a large rock for diving off of. Both pools have so much to offer when it comes to entertaining. The boys spent so much time it the pools the first part of the week that when it came to the end of the week they were happy just sitting in the house catching up on movies... LOL We had a very nice time with Ken, Kris and the Kids, Jared and Caylum were all over Charles. We had a very fun time.

When the cats away.....

The mice will play. This is the only time I get to blog, my boss is away from the office. :) Charles and I missed getting our new computer by one day I am kicking myself for missing the sale on Dell's that they had at Costco, we waited and planned for that sale... grrr Charles doesn't want to get a Dell over the internet or over the phone because he has issues with it so we will be on the hunt again for a pc that he can touch and feel. Best buy, Circut City, Office Depot here we come.

We are in count down mode for vacation, 2 more weeks to go, this is going to be the longest 2 weeks as it always is. I have the boys in swim lessons this week so they can get some extra help with their form they are having so much fun the pool has a slide on the side that reminds me of the ones at the water park they love that slide. Next year I am getting the season passes for them so they can go over when ever they want and have a day of fun.

I can't believe that Nicholas will be 13 next month the boys are growing up so fast. I already have a teenager and now I have another one, I think someone needs to shoot "Father Time" because the "time marches on" thing is getting really old. LOL

The things with Charles and I are the same, work, home, church.... The days of our lives.

Happy Anniversary

Mom & Dad we hope that you have a wonderful Anniversary, and a very happy day. We can't wait to come and visit. I hope that you had a wonderful time camping.
We love you lots.

Working Through The Pain

What makes our children become gluttons for punishment? We got a trampoline a week ago it was a hand-me-down from a friend that just wanted a new one... Well the boys have been on it non stop for the week everyday from the time they get home from school till they come in for dinner, hours and hours, well that is all good and fine, great exercise etc. I get it, but lately I am hearing "Mom I can't walk my legs are killing me" "Mom can you bring me some Tylenol I can't get out of bed" "Mom the tops of my feet hurt", "Mom" "Mom" "Mom".... LOL it is so funny but will they stay off of the trampoline for a little while to give themselves a break. No!