Cassie's Graduation

My cousin, Cassie, graduated from high school Friday night and she had her party yesterday (Saturday). We drove to the party which was a little over an hour away for us and it was well worth our drive. We had so much fun visiting with my family and eating some really good food!

People have always said Cassie looks like me and now since I've lost a bunch of weight I have been told I look like my Aunt Colleen, which is Cassie's mom. Guess we all are really related after all! Anyway, we look pics yesterday and you be the judge. Do we look alike or not?! I also posted pictures of my other family members as well.





Laura, Colleen, Cassie, Me and Mom

Laura, Colleen, Cassie & Me

Colleen, Cassie and Me

Cassie and Me

Colleen and Me

Flowers Cont.

Here are the rest of the flower pics since blogger won't let me show them all in one post.

Flowers

I have been on a flower kick lately. I bought bedding plants at the local Kroger on Wed. and paid $2 for a cell of six and the next day they went on sale for a buck! I should have waited a day longer! Anyway, I planted them when I got home in pots and a couple window boxes. I had extra potting soil left over and didn't want it to go to waste so I headed back to Krogers this afternoon and bought more plants...this time for a $1 each and used the rest of my soil. I took some pics to share, so here they are.

A Little of This and That

I was blessed with a new camera since my other camera that's not even 1 yr. old died and I have some pictures to share. Its a Kodak Easyshare M380 10.2 megapixel and I love it. It has a large view screen which was a must for me.

My first subject to test out the new camera was Sunny since she was the only one willing to indulge me so I could play with my new camera. Of course, she was laying on the living room floor chewing on a chew stick and happy to be doing so. In case you don't know by now..........I love my DOG!!! She's my girl! She's spoiled rotten, barks in jealousy when anyone hugs or kisses me and is great with the boys. I should say she's great with Kota since Jordan has very little to do with her. He's a typical teenager...it's all about him. Kota adores her!

I was at the ball park last night and sat in the rain watching Kota play against the Cubs which were also an undefeated team until they played us! We won 8-3. Kota played awesome. He played shortstop then first base and made the game ending catch with a pop fly that he had to run for. We are so proud of him!

We are also very proud of Jordan who graduates from 8th grade next Tuesday. He informed me yesterday when I picked him up from school that he is going to play soccer in high school. I have asked him off and on for the last year if he thought he would play in high school and he said he didn't know. We left the decision totally up to him and he said he signed up to play when the high school soccer coach came to the junior high yesterday. I guess the coach is super nice and all the boys really like him.

More good news! The head high school basketball coach resigned! Yeah! The community was thrilled to hear the great news. This coach has met lots of opposition from parents and his coaching style and the way he interacts with the boys is.....how should I put it? Less than desirable and I'll leave it at that. I have been praying he would resign since Jordan is definitely gonna play basketball in high school. I really didn't want to deal with this coach for 4 yrs. and have Jordan not play or quit because he wasn't one of the "chosen" ones! Anyway, lots of good things happening! And summer is just beginning. Oh and in case I haven't given an update on weight loss I'm down 122 lbs! Woooo Hoooo!

Here are some pics I took with my new camera.


Ain't she pretty!


My Sunshine


Kota playing first base



Oh, and a pic of me from graduation last Thursday night.

Stolen Bicycle

Very few things make me REALLY, REALLY MAD but having my 14 yr. old son's $300 bike he got 3 WEEKS AGO FOR A GRADUATION PRESENT IS ONE THING THAT MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL! So the story goes like this. Wednesday night Jordan was riding his new bike with a group of friends about 6:30 p.m. while Joel and I were at Dakota's baseball game. I called Jordan on my way home at 7pm and asked where he was (which was only a few blocks from our house) and told him to be home by 8:15. At 8:30 he wasn't home so I called and he told me some kid took his bike and wasn't back yet. At this point I didn't have the whole story so I told him to get his bike back and come right home. 15 min. went by and still Jordan wasn't home. I called again and he said the kid that took his bike was a bad kid and he just kinda took the bike from him and took off. Jordan was afraid to even tell me the kids name for fear of getting beat up. I asked if this kid was 14 yrs. old and he told me he was 19!!! That's right, 19 yrs. old! I flipped out on the phone and asked again who it was he finally told me and would you believe I know who the kid is because his younger brother goes to the school I teach at. Joel and I got in the truck and went to where Jordan and his friends were. Jordan's friend also had his bike taken by the 19 yr. old's girlfriend who I know very well! I walked up to the boy's house and talked to the mom. She said she had tried to call him and he wouldn't answer his phone. This kid that took Jordan's bike is trouble with a capital T! He's been in DT home, in jail and on probation. The only reason Jordan let him take the bike was because he's scared of him! By the time I got to Jordan the bike had been gone 3 hrs. which to me is stealing. I told the mother I was gonna call the cops and report the bike stolen and tell who took it and she agreed. We came home and did just that. The cop came to the house and took our statement and we are pressing charges. To make a very long story short, I called the girlfriend of the 19 yr. old's mother and talked with her, told her what was going on and I was mad as hell. She called her daughter, told her I was waiting for Jordan's bike to be returned along with the Jordan's friends bike. Jordan's friend got his bike back that night but Jordan did not.

The next day which was Friday, May 21st, I called the girl's mother again and wanted to know where the boyfriend was that took Jordan's bike. She called me back and told me he sold the bike for $50 to her ex-husbands nephew and he was gonna sell the bike cause it's an expensive bike and he new it was "hot"! I called the ex-husband and told him what was going on and he had 1 hour to get the bike back from his nephew. In the meantime I called the cops again and told them who had the bike. They couldn't track the guy down so I had to wait for the officer who came to our house the night before to come on duty at 6pm. At 4:45 pm I get a call and the bike is at the ex-husbands house and we are to come get it. Needless to say, we have the bike back, it's in great shape except for some loose spokes which can be tightened. We are still pressing charges against the kid who stole it and I hope he's still on probation so this will send him to jail for a while!

I was just sick about all of this. I had the worst headache for 24 hours and was in tears more than one time over Jordan's graduation present being stolen! I can't stand people who think it's okay to take from someone what they want while others like ourselves work for and earn an honest living to buy the things we need or want! Takers make me so angry I could spit nails! I had some very bad words come out of my mouth on more than one occasion during this ordeal. Thank God He's a forgiving God! I want to praise God for getting the bike back in good shape. I did send my angels out to guard and protect that bike and bring it back in one piece. My prayers were answered and God is faithful in all things! Amen!

Hamster Wranglers

Add that title to the many other titles I have! Joel woke Kota and I up at 5 am the other morning to tell us one of the beloved hamsters had gotten out and was running wild in the kitchen. Kota got up first since I think this time of the morning is somewhat "evil" and was hoping he could wrangle the critter on all on his own. This was not to be the case, unfortunately! I heard the call come from the kitchen....MOM!!! and this is where I really did have to get out of bed at this evil time! So here we are, in the kitchen, hamster behind the stove, Kota with a drum stick to use for leverage to poke the said critter from his hiding place and so such luck! I then had to move the stove and kitchen table and chairs so I could use the drum stick as a cattle prod and get the hamster to move toward Kota on the other side of the stove. We did have success and he was captured! YEAH!!! Kota returned him to his cage to join his brother and then we promptly put masking tape on the door to the top of their cage. You may ask how he got out and I will tell you, when my neice was over she opened the door to the top of their cage that they use as their "bedroom" and broke the latch. I actually thought I should put tape on it then and there but didn't cause I thought.."they can't get out". I was wrong and my punishment was to get up at evil 5am and wrangle the darn thing! He is safe and sound and in permanent lock down from here on out.

My Neck of the Woods

I don't know about your neck of the woods but my woods are muddy and my neck is wet from ALL THE RAIN!!!!!!!!! We have had so much rain this spring. Our basement is holding water and the basement is partially finished but thank goodness it's in the unfinished part that the water is coming in. My mom calls me this afternoon and she lives in a very nice garden apt. and they have never had water in the building since it was built but guess what??? She has water in her apt. and we had to move furniture and the landlord is there as I type this trying to wet vac it up. Our area has been hit with so much rain the ground can't handle anymore. I know God promised He would never flood the earth again and I'm believing in that promise!

Kota has had two baseball games canceled this week so he has a make up game tomorrow afternoon. I don't think the field will be dry enough for him to play but we'll have to wait and see. This was my last full week of school. Monday and Tuesday are working days for my students then Wed. we will go to City Park and have a picnic and play day. Thursday is graduation practice and we dismiss at 11:00 am. I can't believe Kota is almost done with fourth grade. Jordan graduates from eighth grade on June 2nd and then he's on to high school. How can my first born possibly be going in to high school?? Where has the time gone?? I ask these questions and in reality time just keeps marching on. I get a year older and so do the boys. I am trying to savor these days with them but with Jordan being in full blown teenage mode there are days when I would like to drop kick him as far as I can. I'll tell ya what.....when he turned 12 it was like I had a totally different kid on my hands. And it's only grown from there in the last two years. He always has so many plans............never answers his phone......never texts me back and it drives me CRAZY!!! But he's sure to call if he needs a RIDE OR MONEY!!! Teenagers!!!

I guess I should mention that I have a neurotic dog as well! Sunny is scared to death of storms. There isn't enough benadryl in the world to calm her down. The poor thing.....she shakes so bad and pants up a storm when it thunders. I can't have her on the bed when she's like that because the whole bed shakes and we can't sleep. So where did she go the other night during the storm you might ask?! To Jordan's room of course! She must have really been desperate to go to his room cause he gives her the least amount of attention. She was under his bed and in his bed shake, rattle and rollin all night! Guess she's pretty smart after to all to torture him with no sleep and let the rest of us have a peaceful night! At least I trained one of them right! Here's to hoping sunny days are just around the corner!

A Tribute to My Mother

With this being Mother's Day and all I want to pay tribute to the most wonderful mother in the world....who might that be??? Why, MY MOTHER OF COURSE! Her name is Gloria and she is GLORIOUS!

There are so many things I can say about my mother, but my words will not do her justice. She is kind, compassionate, attentive, caring, loving, prayerful and full of all the special ingredients a mother comes with. My mom is my not only my mother but also my friend. For that I should probably refer to her as "frother". But I won't. God chose the womb for me to make my way into this world and the choice He made was perfect, but then again, God doesn't make mistakes! Growing up she was always there to comfort me, encourage me and teach me all I needed to know to make my way in this world. If it weren't for her love and support thru the years I don't know where I would be. Her love in my life is such a force that makes me want to be a better person. She is a rock for me to lean on, gives me Godly advice when I need a Godly word and the best gramma to my boys a daughter could ever ask for. My mom rocks!!!!!!

I have been blessed to have her for my mother for 40 yrs. now and there is no other mother in the world that I would want. If I can be half the mother to my boys that she is to me then I will consider my mothering skills a great success. I learned from the best teacher! Mom, I love you with all my heart. You have made me the person I am today and I will love you until the end of time and then some!! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO YOU MOM!

My Baby is 10!

My youngest son turns 10 at 7:28 pm tonight! I can't believe it's been 10 yrs. since we brought home this incredible gift from God. He has added so much joy to our lives and for him to be 10 is almost unbelievable. He's funny, witty, athletic and smart!!! He loves my fat arms and thinks my butt is skinny and for that I love him even more.

The day we brought him home from the hospital I knew my family was complete. I couldn't have asked for a better boy! Thank you God for allowing me to be his mother.

Home Run Hitter

Dakota hit his first home run of the minor league season last night! It was the top of the first inning, he's the lead off batter and he hit the second pitch, it hit the top of the fence in straight away center field and went over! Everyone was on their feet cheering. He hit 14 home runs last season on the cub league field but this field is much bigger. It's even bigger than the field he plays on at Southside Diamond. He ran those bases and the team all came out to congratulate him. It was awesome!

Kota's birthday is this Friday. We have a party planned for him on Sat. He loves birthdays. He always has. One of his favorite things is birthday cake! That boy sure does love birthday cake. He has two games this week. One on Tuesday night and another on Friday night. This will be the start of the regular baseball season. We played six games in two weeks in a tournament before reg. season started.

Jordan has been riding his new bike with his friends all day. He wanted a new bike for 8th grade graduation and it cost almost $300! And it doesn't even have a kickstand! LOL! I guess the guy who sold him the bike told Joel it's a bike you use for jumps and "tricks" so they don't have kickstands. This was really hard for Joel to understand since now it has to lean against something. He said for $300 you should at least get a kickstand with it! I told Joel we must be getting old.

Kota has his best friend, Adam, over to play right now. Joel is cooking steaks on the grill. We are also having rice, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and pasta salad. Yum! Gotta go help get it ready. Hope you all had a great weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather.