Jake

Our cat Jake passed away in the middle of the night last night. We were expecting it soon. I think he was holding on until the boys got home. We told them what was going on and they told him goodbye. Steven and Matthew helped Brian bury him in the backyard this morning. I am glad that he had a long life (he was 15-16 years old) and his life was full of love.

I have posted the first picture before, but the one on the bottom was taken about 8 years ago or so. We don't have many good pictures of him.

Just some ramblings....

The boys return from Illinois in a couple of hours. Even though I have enjoyed the quiet and only having one child to take care of, I have missed my boys so much. I can't wait to hear their stories and see what they come home with. Course the job of "detoxing" them from all that junk I am sure they had starts too.

I can't believe that 2009 is quickly approaching. I would be lying if I said I am sad to see 2008 go. I can not wait to see what the new year brings. 2008 has been a little on the rough side for us. Especially July with Brian's cancer diagnosis. We were blessed with a quick healing and no side effects. Brian continues to do well. It did however teach us not to take everything in life for granted and appreciate everyone in your life. You never know what life will bring.

I hate to do New Year's Resolutions, but since I have two events happening this summer, I guess it would be to lose weight. Brian has a cousin who is getting married the beginning of June, so I want to lose some for that. Did I mention that our vacation will start then too. She is getting married in Charleston. We will head over to Folly Beach after that. Also, get this....my 10 year high school reunion should be this summer. I would like to lose some for that. I don't necessarily have a goal to lose, but there is plenty so any number will be a good one.

What are your resolutions? Tell me about them.

Merry Christmas....

from our home to yours! Hope you guys had a great day. We had a great couple of days. We all got lots of gifts. So much so that I can NOT see my living room floor right now and I am going insane. (I know short trip huh?) I just got the boys packed up and off with their Grandma and Papa (my parents). They are heading up to Illinois for a few days for Christmas up there. We were going to try to go, but Kendall ended up getting a fever and I just didn't want to travel with a sick kid. Done it before and so not fun trying to find an ER out of state. So it should be interesting having only 1 child for a few days.

As much fun as Christmas was with all the presents and food and fun, we still tried to remind the kids of the REASON for Christmas. The boys are getting older now so they are getting it more and more.

Course it was a little bittersweet, because I couldn't get my friends out of my mind. Luckily they had an uneventful day today, so that was good. Be sure to check in on them. http://www.maxeyweb.com for the whole story if you haven't already.

Enjoy the video below.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

4th Photo

I saw on a friend's blog this afternoon. You go into your pictures and pick the 4th photo in the 4th folder. This is what I got.

This was a last minute picture we took of Matthew before school the following day. They needed to bring in pictures of their pets.

95%

Yeah, the doctor's were able to remove 95% of that tumor out of Annette's brain. PRAISE GOD!!! Continue to pray for her recovery and that the pathology report comes back quickly and that they can know for sure what they are dealing with.

Maxey Web has been updated

Wow, the outpouring of love, prayer and support for my friends, The Maxey's has been so overwhelming for me that I can only imagine how they feel. Continue to pray and spread the word for others to pray. They have updated their site on some info of their precious Annette so please check it out. http://www.maxeyweb.com

Here are some pics that I was able to snag of this adorable child.

WHY???

Why? That seems to be the question of the day. Why does this little girl have a brain tumor? Why do her parents have to relive all of this again? I could sit here and ponder this forever. Instead I am going to get on my knees and lift little Annette and her family up. Only God knows why and I will let Him figure all this out. I am asking everyone who reads this to pray as well. Please go to this website... www.maxeyweb.com and PRAY!!!

4 DAYS!!!

Kendall has been in underwear for 4 days now. She has had maybe 3 or 4 accidents, but they were on the way to the bathroom. She is barely 2 and mostly potty trained. I had heard little girls were easier (for the most part, exceptions to every rule) to potty train, but I didn't believe it til now. I can't believe my little girl doesn't need diapers. Well except to sleep in of course.

Not too much to really write about, so I will just make a post with pictures (cause I know that is what you really come here for).

These two were from Steven's school Fall Festival. Matthew had his hair sprayed (which it took over a week to get the red out) and I had "Hoo Hair.

These are from Kendall's family birthday party. That girl loves to be the center of attention. Course what girl doesn't?

Obviously, this is when we went to see Santa. It was so neat because he brought 4 of his reindeer with him. Matthew acted like he wanted nothing to do with him, but he is such a faker. Kendall did NOT like being near the jolly fat man at all!!

Neither Matthew or Kendall really wanted anything to do with Mrs. Claus either. Matthew planted himself firmly at daddy's side. Luckily we had one good sport. He knows that we will still take the picture so might as well go with it.

Well I guess that is about it.

Has it really been 9 years?!?

Brian and I while we were dating.

Today is Brian and my 9th Wedding Anniversary. WOW!!! I can hardly believe it.

Disco Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Classic Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Charleston Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy 2nd Birthday Kendall!

The official birthday post. Said every in the previous post, but just wanted to recognize K on her actual birthday!!

I LOVE the picture below, it is my FAVE!!!!

Kendall is turning 2!!

I'm doing this a day early, because I will be busy tomorrow. Oh and I just couldn't wait. My baby girl will be 2 YEARS OLD tomorrow. I can't believe it. We already had her party with her friends. Tomorrow night we will be doing a family party. Can't wait. So that is what I will be busy doing tomorrow, cooking the dinner and baking the cake. Well I couldn't go without making another little slide show. There are a lot of pictures. That is because I got a wonderful camera after she was born so of course I had to use it. I condensed the slide show as much as I could, but it is still long...about 20 minutes or so. Enjoy and don't forget to leave comments. I need the love. There is a "comments" button below the posts that you can leave them on here. Also, don't forget to turn off the music player above.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Wordless Wednesday!!

Romans 13

Reading this made me feel better in knowing what I should do and how I should act for the next 4 years.

Romans 13

Submission to the Authorities

1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2.Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3.For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4.For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5.Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6.This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7.Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Love, for the Day is Near

8.Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9.The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet,"[a] and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b] 10.Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

11.And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12.The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13.Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14.Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.[c]

Soooo.....

It is going to be a rough 4 years coming, but we can all know that God is in control. He has a plan for everything and although we might not know yet what it is. I am just afraid that some people voted the way they did because they wanted a black president and didn't look at what he stands for. Don't get me wrong, I have NOTHING against the color of his skin, just the color of his heart. I can't believe people wanted someone who won't put his hand on his heart for our National Anthem, an anthem that is for the country he is gonna be president for, this bothers me so bad. What is he gonna put his hand on when it comes to the Inauguration? Not going to get all into this, because I am just giving up my worries and fears and yes anger to God and let him handle everything. He is the only one that can. I just wanted to come here and get this off my chest.

The "right" reason to vote?

We went to vote this morning. We only had to wait about 45 minutes, if that. What was really interesting about it is the boys were really interested in the process, especially Steven. They have been studying about the Democratic process in school. They did a mock election too. Needless to say I was very proud to say that when he told me that 15 students voted for McCain and only 3 voted for Obama. I do however have a concern that he didn't know who was running for VP for either party. He told me that since we (Brian and I) were talking so much about voting for McCain that he decided to vote for him as well. I asked Steven if they talked about each candidate and what they stood for and he told me no. Now I understand that at this age they may not understand everything, but I just wish that they would let the kids know that they need to educate themselves about who they will be voting for and not just vote for someone because their parents are voting for or who there friends are voting for. Of course that also gave us a clue that we as is parents need to take up where his class left off and talk to him a little on each candidate. We just went over the basics but I think it helped him get really excited about today (or so we thought). When it came time for us to go cast our ballet I took Matthew with me and Brian had Kendall and Steven. Matthew watched what I did and asked a couple times what I was doing, but not too much (not that I was expecting a 5 year old to ask profound political questions, even if I do think he will be some type of public figure when he gets older). Brian was able to walk Steven through each of his votes and show him the names and Steven got to see up close the whole process. I was done before them and was already at the car and Steven came out with a smile on his face. I thought it was because he was excited about what he did this morning, until he asked "Is it time to go get our free Starbucks now?" Yes folks, he did listen to all of our teaching and I am thankful for that, but he also listened to me telling Brian about free cup of coffee for the voters. That little stink. We bought him a hot chocolate since he was there, but didn't technically cast a vote. He said, "I can't wait til I'm 18 so I can vote and get my own cup of coffee". Well whatever gets him to the polls.

Keep praying for our nation and pray that the right person gets into office.

Halloween 2008

We had a great time last night. The kids got so much candy, and mommy and daddy got great exercise. You wanna see what the kids were?

Can you guess what Steven was? He labeled it "Zombie Skater Punk."

For you Star Wars fans you should know what Matthew was...but for those of you that have never seen the movies, he was a Storm Trooper.

I had to take two different angle pictures of Kendall to get her whole costume. She was our little Care Bear.

The rest are just a few random pics that we got. I love Halloween and the excitement leading up to it. I do have to say that I am not sad that it is over now. Let the holidays begin. As you can tell I love Christmas music and I just can't let myself play Christmas music before Halloween is over. I gotta let each holiday have it's day, so to speak. Hope everyone had a great Halloween.

CHEATER CAUGHT IN THE ACT (Original Upload)

Again just love these things, they are always good to liven up your day.

When the wife doesn't listen

I just love stuff like this, too funny!!

Carving a pumpkin

Last night we carved a pumpkin for Halloween. Steven was all over sticking his hands inside to pull out the insides. Matthew didn't like it but he did help a little. Kendall wanted NOTHING to do with it. We had fun doing it and I think it turned out so good.

It was a fun night with the family. Unfortunately the whole night was not fun. As we were putting out the pumpkin we noticed lots of activity in our neighborhood. I went to check it out and found a house on fire. The whole house went up in flames. As far as I know right now, no one was home at the time except three dogs, which didn't make it. The lady of the house came home and when she opened the front door smoke and flames came shooting out. The fire was so hot that it melted the siding on one of the houses next to it and warped the window frames. I drove by it this morning and that family lost everything in the house. Luckily they didn't loose what is most important, their lives or the lives of their loved ones. Things can be replaced. It is just extra sad because it is the beginning of the holidays. Please take time to say a prayer for this family. I will update as I get updates.