Excuses, Excuses!!!

When I started this blog, I was concerned that it would be similar to my scrapbook experience.

You see for many years, I was on top of the scrapbook thing. I had a Christmas book, a book for the current year and then "A" had a baby book that was complete and full of stories, pictures and memories, all the way through her first 18 months of life.

Then J3 came along and scrapbooking became less of a priority. I decided to just keep up with the Christmas book and to work on J3's baby book. And now, here it is 8 years later and J3 just has a stack of loose pages with some pictures instead of a baby book. The last year I finished in the Christmas book was 2003. And I have a very large stack of boxes filled with pictures stuffed underneath a round table in my living room (it is covered by a table cloth...if that is any consolation).

If any one is still even checking the blog to see if there are any entries, they will see that the last time I posted anything it was in April and it was all about what happened this past December.

Is it fair to say that I am a little behind????

So, what do I do? Even try to catch up. Or should I just start with more recent info and just let December thru August be a mystery to the 2 people that might happen to read this blog???

Stay tuned for the answer. I just hope that it will be posted before then end of this decade!!

Gaggle

Gaggle, J3, "A" and Lala...

The last post was the story of the new kitchen counter tops and my nephew, Gaggle. I thought I would take a moment to share with you how he received the name Gaggle, because if I were you I would be thinking "What kind of self respecting, young man would be walking around with the nickname Gaggle?"

Well, it came about like this...

When J3 was just a little fellow, he loved his big cousins (still does, quite frankly!). And as I have mentioned before, two of his big cousins were around us quite a bit back in the day.

I miss "the day" by the way.

Well, anyways...J3 was just learning how to talk and was trying with all his might to not take a nap one day because LaLa and Gaggle were at the house. As I was rocking him, he picked his head up and looked at me, pointing to the door, hoping that I would get the clue that playtime with the cousins seemed a whole lot better than a nap. Somehow during this process, the name of his cousins came up.

As he and I were having this "heart to heart" in the rocking chair, he was trying to pronounce Kyle's name (I try not to use real names here, but I think in this instance it is okay!!.)

I would slowly say Kyle's name, dragging out the sounds of this one syllable word.

"Kyyyyyy ull" I said.

J3 looked satisfied and responded with a heartfelt "moo". It wasn't just any old moo, it was as long and drawn out as my attempt at Kyle. "MOOOOOOOOOOOO"

Okay, that totally cracked me up.

He thought I was saying cow.

So I tried again. "Kyyyyy ull" Adding more emphasis on the "ull" this time.

J3 was ready. With a look of shear determination he rattled off his best pronunciation of his beloved cousin's name, but alas what came out wasn't Kyle, but instead was Gaggle.

Side note - Wonder why my kids were never good nappers?

Well, any how, he no longer calls him Gaggle...another sign that my kids are growing up.

And sadly, we also no longer have visits from Katchtika and Hippapotopoo. But that is another story for another day!

More Christmas "Slackness" and an Amazing Surprise

We spent Christmas with our family in Tennessee and had a great time. It is so wonderful to all be together. The kids have a lot of fun hanging out together...they don't get to do it enough!

I continue along in my theme of not doing the things that I should and/or want to do by not taking any pictures while we were at their house...I mean really! What kind of mom doesn't get pictures of their kids on Christmas morning! UGH!!!

One thing that we did get pictures of though (thanks to "A" and her new camera) was the amazing surprise by my more than amazing nephew.

For years, sweet "Gaggle"(the name is another story for another time), one of my sister's sons, has been very bothered by the fact that I have had to live with ugly laminate (or faux wood, as I always liked to refer to them.Trying to make the best of it, you know!) counter tops. So in all of his preciousness and thoughtfulness, he decided that he was going to install new granite tile counter tops as a surprise while we were away. J2 was concerned about me not knowing anything about it and at least having a chance to have input on what would be installed, so they told me ahead of time what was going on.

My sister, who has wonderful taste and the ability to make things look like a million bucks on a dollar-fifty budget, picked out the tile, which was black granite and beautiful. Then while we were away, Gaggle and his dad worked to install the counter tops, a new sink and a new faucet.

When we got back into town, Gaggle met us at the door with a blindfold in hand, making sure that things would be a surprise to the end. It was so cute! He walked me in and took off the blind fold to revealing a kitchen that went from this....









to this!!!!!










It looked amazing!! Absolutely beautiful!!

I am still enjoying the new counter tops. It has made a big difference in the appearance of my kitchen.

But the best part, in all honesty, is the fact that Gaggle cared enough about me to do something so special. How many 21 year old guys would give up days of their Christmas break to work on their aunt's kitchen, with not one thing in it for him. It just means so much...really more than words can say.

There hasn't been a day that has gone by when I haven't thought about him and prayed for him while keeping those counter tops clean and shiny! He is a blessing...an amazing young man.

And a shout out to his dad too for being there and working with him. I know that his knowledge and expertise really helped make it such a quality job!!

What We Hold To....

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

Few Words and Lots of Catching Up

We bought a Christmas Tree. The kids gave it a name...I think it was Bob. Or was that last year's tree's name?






Then we came home and I took pictures to use in our Christmas card. The cards turned out so cute. Right now they are under my bed...I never mailed them. They are addressed and everything. I didn't post the picture that I used on the cards, just in case I use them next year!!!

By the way, I just love my kids...they make the simplest of things so much fun!












We continued a long standing Christmas tradition and made cookies (and a mess!) with one of my favorite people in the whole world...my niece, LaLa.










J3 sang in the Christmas musical...it was incredibly cute (almost as cute as he was!!)
"A" was his biggest fan! What a sweetie!

Oh, To Be Young...

Twice in my life I have gotten the notion to run a half marathon. The first time I decided to try it, it was 1996. J2 and I had been wanting to start a family for a while, and things weren't going very well, and one of the things the doctors told me to do was to cut back on my exercise. After many months of no changes, I decided to just forget it and go back to my normal routine. In fact, one of my closest friends at the time wanted me to train with her to run a half marathon.

So we started training, working out on our own during the week and then running a long run together on the weekends. We had worked up to 10 miles on our long run, but suddenly things started getting harder. I remember running a short run with my sister and struggling through every step. (She said afterwards that she thought "Man, she is not in very good shape to have been running as much as she has!)

Well, the short version of the story is that I soon found out I was 8 weeks pregnant and because I didn't want to take any chances at all, I quickly decided to end my training regime and put the half marathon idea on hold. My friend went ahead and successfully ran and did fantastic. We went and cheered her on! I missed running it with her, but I was so thankful for the reason I wasn't running that it made up for it!

Fast forward to 2000. Again, J2 and I decided to try the same half marathon in the fall. We started training for it (I think that my niece, LaLa, was training with us too, but I am not certain). We had worked our way up to 6 miles on the long run and guess what - I found out after several years of wanting to have another baby with no luck, that I was pregnant again! So, once again the half marathon idea was put on hold.

Do you see a pattern here? J2 now says - no more half marathon training. We are too old for the unintended blessing that seems to come with it!!

But on Thanksgiving day we had the joy of getting to go and watch two nephews, one niece and my nephews girlfriend successfully run the half marathon on Thanksgiving Day! They did really did great!

We were all incredibly proud of them.

And as far as training goes...well, for most of them, there was none. LaLa had been running to get ready. KN has all his army training, which has gotten him in great shape, but hasn't been running anything with that kind of distance. L, KN's girlfriend had never ran more than 3 miles before. And as for DW...well, he just thought it would be fun to join in and stopped by Wal-mart to pick up a $10 pair of running shoes for the race!

Oh, to be young and able to just go- "Hey guys, let's go run 13 miles next Thursday" and then make it look easy!

Set Another Place at the Table

Our family traveled to my parents in GA for Thanksgiving. It was quite a crowd...twenty four to be exact.

One of the many great things about my parents is the fact that there is always room for one more at the table (or in the house for that matter!) Growing up they always welcomed our friends into their home.

Although we are all grown and gone, with families of our own, when we return for a visit it doesn't matter how many people are going to be there. They still welcome those we bring along with open arms.

This Thanksgiving was no different...just my parents, the four kids, our spouses and children total twenty-two. But when my nephew's girlfriend, who lives in a different state (and is awesome, by the way) wanted to come, Mom and Dad said sure. Then when my niece wanted to bring along a high school girl who is in a group she disciples, Mom and Dad said sure!

The amazing thing is that they don't just let them come...they immediately treat them like one of their own.

They have blessed so many people by their generosity and hospitality and have set such a great example of how to love your "neighbor" as yourself. I am incredibly thankful for them and all that they do!

Oh yes...When you look at the pictures, you may think that it looks more like Christmas than Thanksgiving. Well you are right (and wrong at the same time!!)

See, it is Thanksgiving but we went ahead and did our Christmas gift exchange since we weren't going to be together again at Christmas time!