Dip Dip What?

Sarah and Paden were practicing for their future Dancing with the Stars debut ...I can assure everyone it will be very short lived:) They were dipping with each other and the kids....Obviously Paden is a good dipper.

Sarah and Seth missed the objective somehow? lol:)

Jeremy and Hannah!

Jeremy, our nephew at Freed, messaged me last week that he and his sweet girlfriend Hannah were going to come and visit. Neat Neat! I know they are so very close by, but school is a bit demanding (lol) and my life is generally crazy ( lol again!) and we just do not get together like we should!

I was so glad to be able to chat and visit...the kids all loved it. Hannah and Sarah went to my bible class, while Stuart, Paden and Jeremy went to class with Scott. After church we finally (I was slipping a bit!) managed to stop and get some pictures...I love these kids!!!

Sweet sisters!

Sarah had promised Tori she would make chocolate covered strawberries for her Chocolate tasting Day on Friday. Last night about 9:30 (after an afternoon of fun and church) Tori suddenly remembers that her chocolate tasting was moved to THURSDAY since the fitness challenge was moved to Friday. Scott got up this morning (early this morning) and went to Wal-Mart to get the berries. I washed and dried them. Sarah, well Sarah worked her magic on them and voila`.....beautiful double chocolate berries! Tori came home saying they were ALL eaten:) She was so happy! Thank you Sarah:)

Jake's Jake:)

This morning Jacob and Michael got up very early, walked into the woods about 2 1/2 miles and waited for this turkey:) I know Jacob was tickled but Michael was just beside himself....he was talking 90 to nothing telling me the "whole" story:) I loved it. Memories...that's what these kind of days make. Jacob did find Michael a turkey and Michael shot, sadly missing, but the excitement certainly wasn't missing!

They got all cleaned up and were off to school (late but happy)!

My Mothers Day gift from Scott:)

My Mother's Day gift from Scott was the first two years of my blog (2005-2006). What a super neat treat for us all!! The first two books arrived yesterday and my children have all sat around enjoying them:) I am super duper pleased with this blog printing place...only wish I didn't blog so much! lol:) I might be getting months and years of the blogs every birthday, mother's day and Christmas for years to come!

All in a day...

I was in Memphis yesterday morning by 8:30am. I had a family session with Zack. It went well (well, as well as average). Zack is growing! I took new clothes and bought new clothes, spending a couple of hours off campus together.

Then I was home to pick up my kiddos. I dropped Mercedez off at Cheer leading, Jessie picked up Rosie for a combined birthday outing for Rosie and Hannah, Stuart rolled in with a truck load of dorm stuff (including a couch he gave to Joe for his house), dinner was started. In the midst of the afternoon Seth pulled a tooth, his first ever pulled by himself! HUGE accomplishment in his mind:)

Mercedez and Scott got home...MERCEDEZ was elected CAPTAIN of her squad:) She and her friend Karli are both Captains...although Mercedez has assured me they are not Co-Captains, both are Captains. I am not yet sure of the significance of that ....but it certainly does not made my pride any less!

Earlier in the day Victoria's coach called to ask to use our ball field. So after dinner we had Victoria's team here at our house for practice( our field is dryer than the ball fields:)


And Seth had pictures taken at 6:15....followed by a game at 7:30 and Michael,Dan and Ryan's game at 7:45. I have to laugh and tell you that I will always have the picture below in my mind! I was standing with Sarah and friends talking when I suddenly realized I didn't see Seth. The boys were all behind one of the fields taking individual pictures and when they were done they were standing around talking with buddies. As I scanned the boys I saw three boys rolling down a grassy hill (grass stains and itching was surely part of their night!), 6 boys throwing rocks, and no Seth. My heart pounded (humm...didn't I just blog about parents who don't watch their kids!?). I looked again at the hill and rolling boys 15 feet to my left, at the boys throwing rocks 20 feet to my right and right before I really panicked, I just looked up. 10 feet in front of me was this...Such a picture of Seth! I suppose he might have known who was playing, certainly not any brothers, but he was just leaned up against the fencing watching the game. I sighed, took the picture, then walked over to my son who had no idea I thought him lost. Have I mentioned this kid loves baseball....even when he isn't playing:)

"This isn't our first rodeo"

I have had a son who has been trying to "live life on his own". Not a bad idea except he is still a tween:) He has been disrespectful to others (in secret and hiding) and been will-fully defiant (when I am not watching). I think the fact that I am typing this blog speaks pretty loudly that his actions are not in secret and I am watching! He has really been "testing the waters" so to speak.

I caught him in a "dad knows" lie. The second the words left him mouth I was dialing the cell phone. The deer in the head-light look spoke wonders. Apparently dad did not know.

I talked to Scott about the week and the behaviors, and that for whatever reason when our children begin to hit their teenage years they think we're just stupid. Scott always smiles, shakes his head and says "This isn't our first rodeo!". Truer words have not been spoken. This child is about our 15th tween/teen....lol...we really aren't stupid, our kids have made us downright smart:)

In the course of our conversation with this son I told him, "You might have a problem communicating with us. But you need to understand that dad and I are INCREDIBLE communicators! You will not play the "dad said/mom said" and it work, unless it's true. We seriously ROCK (yes I used that word...lol) at communicating!"

I type this for all my kiddos reading. You can try (as many many have before), you can even think that we might not know what's going on...but you would likely be wrong. Dad and I do communicate....we practice VERY WELL what we preach. Because communication makes all the difference in this life. You might try it! :)