Christmas activities of late

The holiday season tends to be a busy one for pretty much everyone. There are parties to go to, decorations to put up, gifts to buy & wrap, etc. You want to be sure to "slow down" as much as you can to really actually enjoy everything, rather than just fly through it all. I just wanted to say that... and, to tell you a little of what we've done lately.

We took the girls to pick out a tree. That was a fun trip. Olivia chose the perfect tree (which totally grew on the way home, I promise). We all decorated it together. For a long while, Adelle wouldn't touch it at all; she would literally hug the wall to go past the tree (like she knew it didn't belong inside). That was cute.
The tree has lots of white lights & we decided just to go with red ornaments this year. I made a red bow to go on top. This past week, Adelle has gotten used to the tree & it's pretty hard to keep her from pulling the glittery ornaments down. She did get into the decorating spirit though... She had seen us putting things on the tree, so she added her own things... a nutragrain bar... one of her snow boots... a toy... LOL.
Olivia & I put up the kiddos' pink tree. It has white lights & pink ornaments. Of course, the tree itself is also pink.  ;)

We went to the 56th Army Band's unit "Holiday Party". Everyone is so careful to be PC about everything. they insisted on calling it a holiday party & yet, there was a massive Christmas tree & Santa came to see the kids. Hmmmm.... sounds like a Christmas party to me. Ha!
At any rate, we had a pretty good time. I had volunteered to help the FRG with preparations & with the "white elephant" game. This had me on my feet for most of the night. It's probably important to the story if I mention now that I had on some hott new boots. The pain-to-hottness ratio was almost too close though. I thought. My feet. Would fall. Off!
Anyway, the food was good (my homemade cheesecake got devoured), Olivia & Adelle had a great time, I got to see Kerri & Terri (neither of which I see often enough) & I made a few new friends. Oh, and the gift we ended up with is pretty cool.

Let's see... what else?

Friday night, I put the kids down for bed & then went to hang out with Kate. We don't get to spend near enough time together. We watched Eclipse, again, had a few drinks & yummy appetizer-type foods and talked for a long time. I dare say we both needed a relaxing-kid free-girl's night. Thanks, lady!

Saturday night (last night), Becki came over, with two of her kids, to watch the girls, so that Eric & I could go to a Christmas party. It was at our neighbors' house across the street. It was a themed party (which I totally love, btw) to which the men could come dressed as a reindeer or an elf & the women could come dressed as their interpretation on Mrs. Claus or an elf.
If I had to give the party a title... it would be "Ho! Ho! Ho!". And, really what I mean is: the ho-ho-hoier, the better! Lol. Some of us ladies were dressed a tad on the sexy side.
The food was great- I took double chocolate chip brownies. The battle over whether to play holiday music or regular chart topping stuff was ongoing & quite amusing. The drinks were nice- I think Eric likes American Honey (whiskey). We took tons of pics that I'll try to get & post later (some of them anyway). We did a gift exchange there too. I think everyone had a great time.
Meanwhile... the girls were awesome for Becki & they had a lot of fun with Ian & Will.

As for holiday festivities, there are three more things on our to-do list.
1) We want to take the girls to "Zoo Lights". Point Defiance Zoo strings millions of Christmas lights throughout the entire park for families to walk through.
2) I'm sure we'll go to a Christmas service at church. The girls will look beautiful in they're matching dresses.
3) On Christmas day, after we've opened gifts & had family time, we plan to go to the Apelar household. They invited us for lunch/play time. Amy says that we have to come in our PJs, because that's a lazy day. We can totally do that.  :)

As much as I want a white Christmas, I don't see that happening. I'm going to try super hard to stay optimistic though. You know... crossin' my fingers & what have you.

I hope everyone is enjoying the season. You should.
Make sure to enjoy each other.

Peace.

Eric's birthday, Christmas decor & packing

The 29th anniversary of Eric's birthday was Sunday. Olivia offered to make breakfast in bed, but he told her, "Just bring me a Star-crunch & a Dr. Pepper." Lol. The breakfast of champions! I made a real breakfast instead. Eric opened cards from everyone & his present from us. He ended up getting three shirts & some kind of tool from Lowe's that works in like 60-something different ways (he specifically asked for this). Later, we went to a few stores & then had a great dinner at AppleBee's (Meme got him a gift card). Seriously, it was soooo good. He seemed to enjoy his day.  :)

We put up our Willow Tree: Demdaco "The Christmas Story" nativity. Besides that, the only other Christmasy things done around here are: a snowman welcome sign by the door, some jingle bells on the doorknob & two gifts wrapped. All other gifts & decorations are stashed in various places. We've decided to go Saturday to cut down our tree. The weather looks good for that. Although we'd all rather there be snow on the ground, the forecast calls for sunshine & a high of 41. I'm also going to try to sweet talk Eric into hanging our lights outside on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Gift-wrapping may have to wait until Eric is home from work. Adelle likes to stomp on the paper while I'm trying to wrap. I went yesterday to help the Band FRG buy stuff fr the unit Holiday party. That was pretty fun & help me get a little more in the Christmas spirit.

I have our Christmas cards addressed, but I've run out of stamps. Adelle permitting, I plan to go to the post office today & mail them all. I don't think I've ever mailed them this early. December 1. Btw... Happy birthday to my Aunt Kim!

The main reason I'm having trouble embracing the spirit this year is because our house is full of moving boxes. I've packed a good many already, but I have a LONG way to go. I do have to thank some people for giving us boxes. Thanks, Becki! Thanks, Kerri & Luke! Thanks, AVON!  ;)  Ugh. Speaking of packing... I gotta get to it. Write more later.

Thanksgiving

Mom & Jacob came up for Thanksgiving week (Sunday - Saturday). It was so nice having them here. Our week was full & pretty busy, but at the same time, we got to just hang out & relax a good bit.

When we picked them up from the airport Sunday & brought them back to the house, it had been snowing most of the morning, there was about an inch of snow on everything & it was still coming down. When we got up Monday morning, there was a little more snow & the temperature wasn't supposed to get above freezing all day. Olivia went to school & Eric went to work. Around lunch, the post commander shut down post & sent everyone home, so we went & got Olivia out of school early when Eric came home. We all got bundled up & played in the snow for a while. By this time, it had been really coming down all day & there was a nice, soft, powdery 3-inch cover on everything.

Tuesday, school was cancelled due to road conditions. It had snowed more the night before & temps were in the 20s. Wednesday was more of the same- no school for Olivia & white stuff everywhere. Mom & I spent the day cooking our (Wednesday night) Thanksgiving meal. Olivia & Jacob went to see "Mega Mind". We had a great dinner: Dr. Pepper basted turkey, cornbread dressing, gravy, mashed sweet potatoes w/ cinnamon & sugar apples, baby lima beans, broccoli casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce, sweet tea, pumpkin-chai cheesecake w/ caramel-rum sauce & pecan pie!!!

Thursday, Eric, Jacob & Olivia went to Chrystal Mountain to go skiing & snowboarding. Olivia got a lesson on skiing & got to ride a snowmobile. Eric took some pics for me with a water proof camera. I'll get those up once they're developed. Jacob made a new canine friend. ;)  Mom, Adelle & I stayed at the house to get some packing done. Yeah... We packed some... We watched the Macy's Parade (USM's band- The Pride of Mississippi- marched). There was also some football-watching & napping taking place... But, hey- that's tradition, right?! That night, Eric & Jacob went to Toys 'R' Us to the "doors-open-at-10am-for-crazy-people" sale. They stood in line OUTSIDE for an hour & a half and then stood in the checkout line INSIDE for an hour & a half. Got the last one on the shelf of what we wanted.

Friday, Mom, Olivia & I went shopping for a while. Made a few small purchases. We weren't going for any of the "big-ticket" items. Later, we played some Apples-to-Apples & watched USM play football.

Saturday, we had to take them back to the airport. Boo. Roxy went with her Meme. She was so excited.

We really did have a nice visit. We got some packing done (& I've done a little more since then). Our countdown is now at 35 days. Crazy.

Anyway, I just wanted to share our Thanksgiving. I hope you all had a nice one as well.

Stuff

 I just wanted to share a few things.

1) Adelle did something too funny yesterday. I gave her a bag of bite-sized pretzels for her snack. I watched as she took one out of the bag & stuck the whole thing in her mouth. After it had been there a good two minutes & she had sucked all the salt off of it, she stuck it back in the bag & got another one. Eww!!

2) My computer keyboard is being weird. If I type too fast, it's like the poor thing can't keep up & it completely skips random letters. If I'm not careful, my words are incomplete & spell check goes crazy. It's quite frustrating.

3) Mom & Jacob will be here in about 72 hours.

4) A lady is coming to visit Lucky today. I placed an ad for him. He doesn't really fit in with our family. Don't worry about Eric though... He'll get another birthday present.

5) The more I put it off, the more I realize how much stuff we have in this house to pack up. And, we only have 45 days in which to do it.

I think that's it for now. If anything really cool happens, I'll let ya know.  :)

The Separation of Church and...

Me.

I'm not sure who all actually reads my blog. With that being said... Some of you may (or may not) be surprised by the fact that over the past 14 months, I have been to church a total of about 5 times. Anyone care to know why or would you like to go ahead and start judging me right away?

At first, I was angry. I pouted with God for quite some time for taking my dad before He should have. It's all part of the grieving process. Anger is one of the steps. So, I went through it (btw... I'm still not "un-angry" about it). That part passes, as best it can, and then a deeper depression hits.

I tried going back, but everything the pastor said made me even more sad than I already was. I ended up crying (bawling, really) & had to leave. What was the point in even going if I wasn't going to sit & listen?

Then, it became more of a personal thing for me... I mean, socially... Which church should never be about... Anyway- our family's absence did not prompt ANYONE from the church to visit, write, call, text, etc. Not the pastor, or the associate pastor or the music team or any member of the congregation. Now, I realize that we are not official "members" of the church. It's mainly because we knew we were up here temporarily & didn't see the point of moving our letters repeatedly. However, we have been attending the same church since August of 2008. Not just attending either. We were very active. Eric played in the praise team 2-3 services pretty much every week (work permitting) & I sang some & everyone knew Olivia.

We went a few weeks ago. Would you believe that the pastor didn't say hi. Neither did the associate pastor. Or anyone from the praise team. The only people that spoke to us were the couple sitting beside us. Nice, right? And, the associate pastor was preaching, of all things, about how if one member of the church is missing or not living up to their spiritual potential then the whole church suffers. Yeah, right! They don't even notice when you're not there!

I think what makes it worse for me is the fact that the associate pastor's kid goes to the same school as Olivia. They used to be friends. Now, when his wife (or he, sometimes) stands outside of the school in the afternoons waiting to pick up kids, I don't get so much as a smile or a nod or a wave- nothing. And, last week, a [good] friend of mine snapped at me for not being in church lately. She didn't bother to ask why.

I talk to God every day. That's MY business. Church is supposed to feel like family and I've yet to find one that does. Which leads me to my next point...

I AM a member of FBC Purvis and I have not received one call, text, letter, email, etc from ANYONE in that church since my dad passed away (almost 14 months ago). My mom is also a member- has been since before I can remember. Everyone there knows there. Heck, everyone in Purvis pretty much does. And, if they don't, then they knew Daddy or they know Jacob. Would you believe that not one person from her church has called or stopped by to check on her? Not one. Not even the pastor himself. After church one day, Mom even told him she'd like for him to come over & he said, "Thank you". Guess what...? He never came. Or called. I want to quote some scripture now...
James 1:27:²⁷Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction..."
Well, folks, although she despises the term, my mother is a widow & this is her time of affliction. I don't think it gets more clear than that. Shouldn't SOMEONE godly be checking on her?

I'm not perfect. I don't now, nor have I ever claimed to be. I just want to put this out there for everyone: I'm not a heathen. I may not go to church when & where you want me to. I pray. I have taught Olivia the importance of prayer. I have my priorities exactly the way I think they should be. I do not believe that every waking moment should be spent in church. Just because the doors are open doesn't mean I have to enter them. Some people are so determined to be there ALL THE TIME & to give every bit of their energy & focus to God that they neglect spending quality time with their family. You have to have a balance. I do not judge people for going just as I do not judge people for not going. I have some Baptist friends & some Methodist friends. I have friends that are Catholic. My dearest friend up here is a former Jehovah's Witness. And, I have a Mormon friend. I also have friends that don't go at all. It's who you are & what you do that matters to me.

There are always church-goers that can't figure out why "outsiders" don't want any part of religion. Maybe it's because there are so many people pretending to care. People get dressed up & smile at you inside the doors of the church, but that's about it. Like I said... It's actions that matter.

If you feel like sharing this with people you know, go ahead. I'm not ashamed nor am I hiding anything. My Purvis friends have my permission to forward it if you'd like. Maybe it will get someone's attention.

Thank you. The end.

I wanna drive fast.

I don't know if it's the scenery up here, or the fact that I've read all the Twilight books more than once, or a combination of those two things, but lately, I find that I wanna drive really fast. Let me explain...

According to the books, vampires, more specifically the Cullens, drive very fast. We're talking upwards of 160-180mph. The setting for the story is up here in the Olympic Peninsula. The roads are winding. There is almost always a thick fog seeping through the lush foliage & underbrush on either side of the road. I can't describe to you how beautiful I find this to be.

At any rate, I want a fast car (& I suppose immortality), so that I can drive like they do.

Just sayin'.

Eric got Lucky today...

I know Eric's birthday isn't for another three weeks, but he got an early present today. He got Lucky.

Lucky is a four year old Yorkie. I had seen him advertised on a friend's facebook page a while back. He's registered, very friendly, great with kids & he knows some tricks. The lady was asking $200, which isn't bad. There were several comments under his picture from other people saying stuff like, "He's so cute, but we can't have pets in our apartment", or, "He's precious, but we already have 4 pets", etc... She lowered the price & explained to people that she & her family had to move & they weren't allowed to take him along. She seemed kind of desperate to find him a good home. I checked back every now & then just out of curiosity. About five days ago, he was still available & she was basically saying that he'd have to go to the shelter. I told her that I couldn't pay for him, but if he really needed a place to go, I would try to help her find someone that wanted him. She told me I could have him- that she'd rather he go to a good home for free than to a shelter.

So... She had him groomed, loaded up all his toys & dishes & food, and brought him to meet me. Olivia, Adelle & I surprised Eric this morning. He really had no clue. Thankfully, he likes Lucky. The little guy is cute, well behaved, "fixed", & already seems to be comfortable with us. He ran right in last night, jumped up on the couch, then onto the back of the couch & got comfy there. He & Roxy get along. Adelle even grabbed a handful of his hair & he just whined & looked at me; he didn't growl or snap at her.

Roxy is going home with her Meme in three weeks. She'll be happy there with Sparkle. Roxy doesn't like the cold, rainy weather of WA & she absolutely ADORES her Meme. I have felt bad for a while now that Eric will be making the 5-6 day drive from WA to MS all alone. I was kinda hoping that having Lucky for company might help just a little.

Anyways, that's Eric's early birthday present story. The only thing he mentioned wanting really is a shirt he saw at Target. He'll probably get that & not be at all surprised by it. But, hey... It's $10. And, really... We've already surprised him pretty good.   :)

CWA: 12/30/1947 - 9/24/2009

Daddy never really cared for his given name, Cecil Wardell Aycock Jr. Luckily, it was one that could be easily shortened and so most people referred to him as “Dell”. To some he was “Officer Aycock”. To others he was “Stump”. And, to a select few, he was “Gilligan”, "The Skipper" or “Barney Fife”. But, no matter what you called him, one thing’s for sure… He was definitely “one in a million”.

Husband. Father. Papa.
Son. Grandson. Brother. Uncle.
Police Officer. Fireman. Sensei. Mentor. Role Model.
Honest. Loyal. Loving. Compassionate. Humorous. Trustworthy. Happy. Adventurous. Brave. Fun-loving. Fair. Understanding. Forgiving. Patient.

Friend.

I could go on & on.

As much as I’ve wanted to write this, and as many times as I’ve started to… I dread doing it. Simply because, I know I’ll leave something out.

I never knew my dad as a “brother” or “grandson”. The people in his life that referred to him as those things were gone before I was born. However, I can honestly say that I have known him as everything else listed above, and more.

My dad was such a great husband to my mom. Jacob & I never saw them fight. They very rarely got upset with each other. In fact, I can recall only twice in my life that I saw them bicker. Once, I don’t remember the reason, but it ended in laughter. The other time, Dad wasn’t taking his heart pills & Mom was frustrated with him about that- fair enough. He ALWAYS supported her. He encouraged (but didn’t push) her to continue her education all the way through receiving her doctorate. It never bothered him that she made more money than he did; he was genuinely proud of her accomplishments. I’ve seen my parents play together. I’ve seen them be silly. My whole life, as a unit, they worked better together than anyone I’ve ever met. Mama would be better suited to tell you about his role as “husband”, but from where I stood, he had it right.

As a father… well, I couldn’t have asked for a better daddy. My dad loved his children. He was at every band concert, theater production, dance recital, karate tournament, football game, basketball game, t-ball game, etc. that I remember, just cheering us on. He was proud of us. Heck, Daddy even came to all of my Jr. High & High School dances, including prom! Funny thing… I don’t remember him doing the same for Jacob… Hmmm… He taught us that it was okay to be ourselves. We never had to worry about being accepted in our home. Even when we disappointed him, we knew we were loved unconditionally. He played with us- got involved in whatever we were doing. I can’t explain to you what it was like to have him as my dad. I can say this though: I was NEVER embarrassed or ashamed or hesitant to tell people that I was his daughter.

Olivia was the only one who really got to know him as Papa (although, he became “Papa Dell” to us all). He would have done absolutely anything she asked. He had a big hand in spoiling her, I know that much for sure. They spent a lot of time together, due to us living with (or close to) them a good bit. He taught her to fish and to drive a 4-wheeler. They hung out together every day after school. He would pick her up and take her to get a treat and watch her until I got off work. He went to her school play the day I couldn’t take off. She always knew that Papa was there when she needed him. Adelle didn’t get the privilege, but I KNOW he would have loved her just as much.

Dad accomplished more in his lifetime than most of us could ever dream about:
He was a fire fighter for eight years. He used to take us around Hattiesburg & tell us the places he‘d worked fires.
I bet a lot of you never knew that he flew planes. He was working on his pilot license before he took over the family business- Aycock’s Auto Trim.
He ran the auto trim shop in one end of a building and taught karate in the other end. He was my Sensei for a while. He took my older brothers and me to karate tournaments on a regular basis. Did you know that he fought (& technically beat) Bill “Superfoot” Wallace? *Look that guy up if you don’t know who he is.*
He was a constable at Camp Shelby and he worked for the Lamar Co. Sherriff’s Dept.
He was a certified police officer and most recently, he was the school resource officer for Purvis, k-12.

My dad was a mentor. He was a role model. He was the same to everyone he met. There was nothing fake about how he was with people. His kindness and honesty was consistent. Friends of mine have told me that they hated getting in trouble (yes, with the law), because it disappointed him. Kids at the school said that he kept them out of trouble, just be being available in case they needed guidance- someone to talk to. When Daddy was in the hospital, he almost always had guests. The stories I heard made me respect him even more than I already did. People that went to school with him told us that he was friendly to everyone- it didn’t matter to him what “social standing” you had. People who worked with him told us about his work ethic… how he was hardworking, but how he also kept the atmosphere light and fun. Friends of his told us wild stories that I’m hoping my mother will compile into a book someday along with the stories we experienced ourselves. I’ll never forget family vacations to Gatlinburg and Orlando when we’ve heard “Hey, Aycock!” from across the street. Everywhere we went, someone knew him. He was well known, and very well liked.

Daddy appreciated his family and friends and he never took them for granted. He would’ve done anything to protect those close to him. Aside from spending time with loved ones, he enjoyed various past times. He liked to fish and camp and sometimes hunt. He was a fan of John Wayne (well, westerns in general) and COPS. He loved taking us out on the boat and most recently, taking Mom out on his motorcycle. He got a kick out of seeing us all smile and laugh. And so, if you were around enough, you might have just heard an “off color” joke or two.
　
　

Today has been one year since he had to go. It was premature; I don’t really care what people say about it being “your time”. The world (at least our part of it) was not ready to say good-bye.

When we had the wake, there were between 800 - 900 signatures of people that came to pay their respects. I only wish I knew it would be like that for me. I wish that I had made the impact on people that my father made.

I know that there is so much more I should say. When I write about emotional things, however, my mind jumps around from thought to thought and I end up leaving things out. Feel free to leave comments below. Share something about Dad, if you’d like. Forward this page too, if you want. I want people to know that it’s okay, even good, to talk about him. Yes, he’s gone, and yes, life does technically go on, but for some of us, it will never go on quite the same. I don’t miss him any less now, just because a year has passed. I don’t want people to forget this wonderful person…

Our Girls

I was thinking that it's about time to give everyone a general update on the kiddos. I'll start with our first born, Olivia...

Olivia is almost 8 1/2 years old now & is in 3rd grade. So far, she loves it. She has a great teacher & actually looks forward to going to school. She loves to read. When she finished 2nd grade, her reading level was a 4.8 (which means she was almost reading at a 5th grade level). I'n excited to see how she tests this year.

She's in Shudokan Karate & has just been promoted to yellow belt with black stripe. Her next belt, that she'll test for before we move, is blue. She should have no trouble passing her test as she seems to have a natural ability for martial arts. She does well on her katas, but so far she's not a big fan of sparing.

Our Olivia is officially a model for John Casablancas & doesn't mind telling you that- Ha! She loves fashion & puts a lot of time & effort into her wardrobe choices. This is why she's not too thrilled about the upcoming change to a school with "uniforms". She is, however, excited to be in school with Layton & Baleigh. But, on the flip side, she's not ready to leave Taylor, Jada, Lauren & all her other friends here.

She goes through growth spurts like crazy. She's in one right now, actually. I think she's around 4'4". Her doctor says she'll be taller than me. I say that's not very tall. Lol. She has to wear a size 8 Slim. Eight for the length of her legs & slim for her lack of any visible body fat. If it weren't for her height, she would still be in a 5 - 6 waist. All this to say, she's built like her daddy. His childhood pictures were all long & lean. Mine, not so much. She still has blond hair. Her eyes, once obviously blue, are now green most days (& sometimes still blue). I like that they're green; my mom has green eyes (& so did my dad).

When it comes to food, we got lucky with her. She's not super picky. She loves pretty much all fruits & veggies. She tries lots of new things. I think her favorite meal at home would be pork chops, fried okra, fried squash, green beans & corn bread. ;)

Olivia is such a great kid. She's healthy, smart, talented, sweet, beautiful, caring, funny, athletic, artistic, musical, considerate, helpful, kind... And, that's just the beginning. We are very lucky to have her.

Now, our second born, Adelle...

Where to begin? Adelle is just over 10 months old. She isn't in daycare or anything like that; she spends her days with me. We take Sissy to school, we play, she naps, she eats (throughout the day- she's a snacker), we play some more & then we go pick up Sissy.

She likes to dance. She has a unique dance of stomping her feet. We enjoy it & usually follow suit. If a commercial with music or a music video comes on TV, she'll stop whatever she's doing to come stare at the TV & dance. We keep the Disney channel on a good bit, so she really likes Selena Gomez & Hannah Montana.

Adelle started walking 3 days before she turned 9 months. That's pretty early, I think. She hasn't really stopped since then either. She loves to play hide & seek with her daddy. Once she finds him, he chases her. It's cute to see her try to run. If the gate is not up, she really likes climbing the stairs to her room. She doesn't know how to come back down yet.

We will be starting the potty training soon. Wish us luck.

She is a lot more picky when it comes to eating. She likes yogurt drops. If you try to feed her anything that's not quite as yummy as a yogurt drop, she will scream at you. One day she'll like noodles or green beans, the next day she won't. She does like oreos & nilla wafers. Mmmm.

She's built a little more like me. My dad used to call be Budah.

Adelle is a morning person. She wakes up babbling & smiling. She still sleeps with us though. I'm hoping she'll start sleeping in her bed soon. We shall see... Ha!

She has 1 1/2 teeth so far. I wish she had more (so does she) so she could eat more solids. Formula is expensive & can't taste near as good as real food. As for her growth spurts, I'd say she's around 20 lbs now. I'm not sure about her length. Doc says she's petite.

She had red hair for a while, and although it's getting lighter, I can still see a hint of strawberry. I think, due to her temper tantrums & yelling at me, that her roots will remain forever red. Her eyes, as of now, are still blue, like Eric's.

Adelle is healthy, loving, playful, temper-mental, smart, beautiful, funny, curious, energetic, determined, and a joy to have around. We're very lucky to have her.

My photographer friend, Amy, will be taking our pictures soon. They'll be our first real family photos since we became four. I'll make sure to post them ASAP & send some out as well. I hope you enjoyed my update. I'm sure there is a ton more I could tell you about our angels. However, the one just woke up from her nap & so blogging time is over. ;)

I'd like to close with the lyrics from a song that my mom used to sing to me. I, in turn, sing it to both my girls...

"Where are you going, my little one, little one?

Where are you going, my baby, my love?

Turn around and you're two...

Turn around and you're four...

Turn around and you're a woman

walking out of the door.

Turn around, turn around, turn around and you're grown.

Turn around and you're a mommy

with babes of your own."

A Chill in the Air

Okay, so... I thought I loved Autumn until I moved to Washington. Now, I know one hundred percent, beyond a shadow of a doubt that I absolutely  {l-o-v-e}  it. You don't truly appreciate the chill in the air or the changing colors of the leaves until you mix it with the clear, fresh air of a mountain state. It's days like today that honestly make me question leaving a place like this. There's more to it than just the weather though....

The city where we live is so pretty. WA takes pride in its landscaping along highways, sidewalks, etc. You don't see litter. The streets are lined on either side with huge evergreens & lush foliage. And, anywhere you are, you can find a view of Mt. Rainier. At times, it's absolutely breath taking. There are mornings, when the sun is coming up, the light hits the snow covered mountain just right and gives it purple & orange tones. One day I will successfully capture this in a photo.

We only have a few short months up here. At first (2 years ago), I was slightly resentful of having to move 2,652 miles from everything & everyone I know. Now, I wouldn't go back & change that. I've experienced a place unlike any I've ever been before. I am definately planning to come back for at least one visit in the near future. If any of you get the chance, I suggest you do the same. There's so much to see & do.

**This is a pic of Mt. Rainier taken from the plane on our flight back from MS in July**

Inspiration & Motivation

We were at Fred Meyer one day last week (that's a local grocery/retail store - very similar to Wal*Mart -  for those readers not in WA). There was a man in a wheelchair; he looked to be in his mid to late 40's. He didn't have either of his legs. It looked like they had both been amputated at about mid thigh. He was pushing his own grocery cart. That doesn't sound too impressive to some people maybe, but there's more... It wasn't a motorized chair or power scooter thing. He was wheeling himself with one hand & navigating his cart with the other. He was also kind enough to stop & let us go through first (even though we tried to let him). Eric & I both said pretty much the same thing to each other at the same time, and it went something like this: "Here's this guy, obviously physically handicapped, doing this all on his own. HE'S the one that needs to use a powered chair, not all the fat, lazy people you usually see riding around in them." It honestly made me just a little angry to think about the people that eat themselves enormous & then are too lazy to do anything about it, so they have to ride around Wal*Mart in the dang scooter. But, more than angry, it made me feel thankful for my abilities, and motivated to do more for myself & not be lazy.

Thanks for reading my first blog. The next one will be about family. I promise not to be ranting.  :)