Holidays....

As the holidays approach my husband and I  have the same conversation we have had for the past 12 years.  He wants to stay home on Christmas Day.  We ALWAYS go to my Mom's for Christmas.  It is they way it has always been. As I child we went to my Grandma's House. I do not really remember a Christmas at home as a child, but I am sure there were Christmas's at 'our house'. Anyway, with the older children on there own and coming back to CC for the holidays it is really important to him so I agreed.  At first I was not happy about this at all and worried how my Mom would feel about it.  My brothers are all grown and mostly gone, one lives with his wife about an hour out of town, one lives 6 hours away and just had a new baby!! the other lives in town.  So I really want what family can be together on Christmas morning. After several days of thinking about it I came to realize that if I want no family drama this year I will have to suck it up and give in to my husbands request, after all I have had it my way for the past 12 Christmases. I am getting excited about Christmas at home, just for the fact that it will be a lazy laid back day and my kids can play with all their new things all day long. 

Now it seems as if My Mom and Dad will be going to Paradise to spend Christmas with my brother, his wife, and their 2 children.  I am happy for that as my children have always had Grandma and Grandpa on Christmas day and I want that for my brother and his new born daughter....but it will be mighty lonely here without them...Not sure 100% how all this will play out and I know it will be just fine come Christmas morning...however it makes me sad to think that the day has come when our family is being split apart instead of growing larger... I guess we cant always have everyone all in the same place every single holiday. I just wish there was a way for all of us to be  in the same place at the same time and HAPPY about it and I feel like this year because I have  choosen to honor my husbands wishes and give our children a Christmas at Home that there are going to be some hurt feelings....

Thoughts....

The following is just random thoughts of mine from the past week or so...
Missing the kids after they left...A little after 24 hours we learned of a tragic and sudden death in the family of someone far to young to leave this world and especially the way he did...This passing  would bring home the kids again the following weekend..I was so glad to see them again yet it was sad....Many tears were shared and the mood was defiantly blue..We left the little ones with Grandma and Grandpa while the rest of us went to the celebration of life services and reception...and while it was one of the saddest days I enjoyed spending time with people I have not seen in a long while...It was good to see my big kids make connections with certain people whom I feared were lost forever due to things that happened in the past... As soon as we said our good-byes and walked out of the church the only thing I wanted was to go to Grandma's and get my little ones and hold onto them never letting go!  Life is precious and short..I would love to know that I have done everything I have ever wanted to and always let those I love dearly know that...if anything should ever happen to me unexpectedly I would hope that each and every person I love knows without a doubt that I do love them dearly....As sad as I was this last week I would like to think that God had a hand in this and he was trying to send a message to those of us left behind..why he choose the one he did and the way he did I will never even pretend to begin to understand it but as we all know God works in mysterious ways and for whatever reason he choose this special person to leave us early....you will always be missed....

Independence Day

This year could not have been more perfect. The parade was awesome..so many people were in the parade and lining the streets. It started out foggy but soon cleared up and was a little on the warm side for Crescent City. After standing in line for our doughboy we all wandered around to see what was being sold then headed on down to the beach to wait for the fireworks.  The beach was perfect. The tide was just starting to go out, the fog cleared up, absolutely no clouds and we had a large stretch of the beach all to ourselves...The kids could climb on the rocks, build sand castles and squeal with delight all they wanted.  After several hours of relaxing, listening to the waves, and watching the pelican and hawk look for food we built our bonfire...Cooked corn on the cob, Taylor's Sausages, and s'mores!!!  Shortly after fillling our bellies the fireworks started!  They were amazing this year...Made it through the entire display with NO FOG!  The only trouble with sunshine like that...we are STILL sore from the sunburn..

Summer Days

I just love summer days like today...woke up early and had the quite house all to myself for 3 hours. Gene was at work, Ayden spent the night at grandmas, Aaron at his mom's, and Zoe slept until 9:30...Then Zoe and I went to Grants Pass to shop for groceries for the 4th... yummmm  BBQ'ed hot dogs and s'mores. Can't wait to spend the day with family and friends at the beach! tomorrows agend? get up early scrap a few pages, make s'mores cookies, and wait for Bryce to get home from Santa Rosa... Its going to be a great weekend....

First time....

Ok...I have finally joined the world of blogging...Not really sure how long I will keep with this or how it will go.  I have been off of work for less then one week and it is getting harder each day to sit at home. Hoping that within another week or so this feeling will pass and I wil enjoy being at home again for the summer.

The garden is getting planted slowly, a lot slower then I would like actually...but when you live in an area that calls for snow in late May and still getting into the low 30's at night it is quite difficult to get the garden in early.  And of course the first two tweeks in June are insanely busy in our household, birthdays, dance recitials, finishing up T-Ball and the end of the school year. I usually have to wait until school is out to start the garden and by then it is so bloody hot out it makes spending the whole day out there planting a little difficult. So I try to spend the early mornings out in the garden playing in the dirt. Then it is time to water the roses, the lawn, the pumpkin patch, etc. 

After lunch the kids are ready to go to the river and swim for awhile..and yes most of us are a little sunburned already! Ayden is already getting a little board and Zoe is becoming quite negetive lately!!  Thinking this Mama is going to get the whiteboard out again and create a schedule for them. Did it last summer and as much as they hated it their behavior was marvelous as they knew what to expect and just how long before their favorite activity! Well I hope this finds each of you enjoying your summer activites and healthy...Hope to update you all soon....