Football Scrimmage

Today was the first football scrimmage against Edison. The score ended up "tied". It was weird seeing those orange and blue colors again, and even weirder was I was cheering against them. (LOL) I enjoy watching the football games Brandon plays in, but I must confess I do sometimes cover my eyes. I know he is growing up, but it's hard to watch your baby play so rough. I've tried so hard over the last ten years to teach him especially about being easy and gentle with things. Much too my surprise at these games I'm yelling for him to tackle these other boys. Out of all the sports Brandon loves football the most. I loved cheering football the most when I was younger. I do however close my eyes when there is a big pile up hoping my son is not on the bottom of the pile. Okay to find my son in the second picture here's what you do: find the biggest kid on the orange and blue team, next look down at the little kid trying to tackle him, and finally he's next to the number 40. Let me know if you still have trouble finding him.

First Day of School

Today is the day I've been counting down for for the last 40 days. It's the day the kids go back to school! The first day is usually the hardest. The kids are excited and nervous at the same time. Madeline was up before I was getting ready, and as a typical young woman tried on several outfits before a decision was met. In defense of her she was happy with the first outfit she had on, it was I who had to say no. First impressions are important they just are. She was more worried about making that first impression with her peers, and I was more focused on her teachers. We made a compromise and everyone was happy. She caught the bus at 6:30. Next was Brandon he knew what he was wearing, and what accessories he wanted, the baseball cap. We compromised with no baseball cap on day 1 seeing how he can only wear it on the bus. He caught the bus at 8:01. I prayed for them, gave them both a kiss, and told them I loved them. Now the rest of the day is up to them.

Chubby Girls

Let me start off by saying I am a chubby girl, always have been. Yes I would like to take off a few extra pounds I've put on over the years for my health most of all. However, I am happy with who I am right now. The weight will come off one day, but I'm not that kind of person who obsesses about it. I can still easily look in the mirror, and say 'I still got it, still looking good today'. It's just the type of person I am. Gotta love yourself! All this being said Norwalk is having a contest titled 'Norwalk's biggest loser' (from the tv show) cash prizes given out to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in female, and male category. The rec is hosting it so they give reduced rate for memberships and encourage healthy eating, and exercise. They don't allow diet pills, or surgery during the contest. I seriously gave it a lot of thought, but thought maybe I would try it one more time on my own before joining. Yesterday was day 1 I ate very healthy for me. I thought okay not to bad, until last night. I can count on my hand how many times I've ever had heartburn (I am fortunate), and after eating healthy for a day I think all the vegetables gave me the worst case of heartburn I've ever had. I think I shocked my system too much, but maybe that's what it needed. I'll give the vegetables one more chance today. Over the last few years I've come up with some great advice for all my chubby girls out there:

1. A chubby girl should never stick her hand all the way in a Pringles can.



2. A chubby girl should never let her chubby friend sit on her lap in a weight limited chair.



3. A chubby girl should always love her herself, and leave the sweat pants at home when going to a public place.



4. A chubby girl shouldn't indulge in her skinny friends eating binges.



5. A chubby girl should give serious thought to a string bikini, even though they make them in her size.

This is just my top five chubby girl advice. The bottom line is love yourself, and be proud of who you are.

Getting Ready For School

School is starting in just a few days, so at our house we are preparing. The kids have had their physicals, dentists appt., and even the eye doctors this year. Brandon had to get glasses for the first time. He is not happy at all about this. Maddie's prescription even changed so much that she needed new glasses. We have done the school shopping etc. We are now fine twecking our schedules. Bed time is hard for them to adjust to, but we're working on it. The calendar has already been marked, and the kids have already highlighted the days off. Shoes are been laced correctly (why do shoes not come prelaced). So I'm thinking okay we are doing well until Maddie gives me her list of worries. Her biggest one seems to be being late for school (since they now give out detentions for this, or so she thinks). So to ease her fears we got her an alarm clock, and put Grami in charge of giving us a quick ring in the mornings before she leaves for work. I thought the alarm clock would be enough for her to be unworried. It wasn't until I let her know Grami would call us in the morning to make sure we were up and moving did she relax. I guess that's just another quality that grandma's have. I would like to think yeah mommy made all your worries go away, but it was grami who made this one all better.

A New Chapter

There are times in your life that you look back and say how that was a changing point in my life. As you get older you are able to see a situation as a changing point before you make the change. Today I am able to see that my life is about to change. The question is will I make the right choices with the change? I sure hope so. I pray for wisdom, and God's grace on my family. You may be wondering what the change is. Brian's promotion will be taking an effect within the next month. My classes are getting close to the end. The biggest change is my children. Maddie is going to middle school this year, and that opens up doors for her, but it also opens up a whole different world of challenges and temptations. I think it is more scary for me than her. Brandon will be at the elementary without his big sister. This is time for him to be more independent. Again more scary for me than him. It seems the older I get the quicker time goes by. It seemed like only yesterday when I brought them home from the hospital. Change is part of life, and one grows stagnate without it. So onward and upward, here we go!

Check out my Slide Show!

Okay I know it's not in the proper layout spot, but it's some more pictures. Simple remember simple.

Remembering

I know I already posted today, but I thought I'd post one more. Sadly, this is the time of year I reflect. It should be at the end of the year or the start of the year, but for me it's August. As I was going through pictures today for the blog I ran across some pictures of dear loved ones that are no longer here. I think it would be okay for me to take a little time to remember who they were in my life.

Lowell Morrow, my father-in-law, and my children's grandpa. He passed away last summer of lung cancer. He was a big part of my children's life. He went to the races with Brandon. He was a huge contributor to Madeline's doll collection (she still doesn't take any out of the boxes). He loved his family, and enjoyed all of his grandchildren.

Aunt Brenda, my aunt, and my friend. Aunt Brenda has been gone three years this summer. She made a huge impact on my life. She loved her family. She was one of those aunts that was at all the important events, and at all the unimportant everyday events. I miss her a lot, as does everyone else that she impacted on. She was one of a kind.

Grandma Pearl, my grandma. Grandma Pearl has been gone six years this past winter. My best memories of her was at Easters, and the summer time. She had so many of us grandchildren, and yet she remembered all of our names. She would sit and tell stories. Some of the stories were of relatives, and some were her soaps. I didn't know all the relatives, or all the soaps. The way she could tell a story it didn't matter who the people were I just wanted to hear more.

Grandma Morrow, my children's grandma. She was Lowell's wife, and passed away nine years earlier. She had a fire about her that made people love her. She loved her family and fought for them whenever necessary. She was a very special person in my family's life. She is greatly missed.

Clean House

Yes, you read the title correctly. Today I am blogging about cleaning my house. I love a clean house, however my house is not always clean. Last night I didn't feel real well so I turned in early before I even picked up. That resulted in a messy house today. I worked on my research paper some this morning, and figured I'd get to it around lunch time. Of course that automatically meant someone would be stopping by. One would think that I would know this lesson already, but I rolled the dice. Pooh and the kids stopped by before lunch. I was embarrassed to say the least. Now the house is clean, and you know no one will stop by until its messy again. I'm off to wash some curtains, and windows.

Tip of the day: Laugh it's good for the soul, and whatever ales you.

Summer is coming to an end

Summer is finally coming to an end. It seems as though it has been a longer summer than usual this year. Summer for our family consists of endless baseball and softball games in the hot blazing heat. I wouldn't trade it though. As my kids are getting older I realize that we may not have many more summers left with ball games every night. My kids have been playing sports since they were five. When your kids are little they just want you to sign them up. Then they want to get better so they practice out there in the yard. They give years of practicing, crying, laughing, getting excited, winning, losing, it's all there. (Thus why there is so many sports movies out there.) Madeline finally hit the age this year that she couldn't just sign up, practicing and doing her best wasn't all she had to do. She has a huge 2013 class, so there are many that have practiced and done their best. She had to earn a spot on the team for her fall sport. Sadly, that didn't happen for her. I was prepared to console her, be angry with her, take her shopping, eat ice cream with her whatever it took. My independent little girl didn't want none of that she just wanted to keep practicing in the back yard and get better for the next try out. As much as we try to teach our children, they seem to teach me more with every graying year. As I reflect on this summer it was a learning one for me, and a great deal of fun as well. We spent most of the summer at ball games. We took mini vacations to the rec with Wendy and her family. (I truly had fun on those days.) We had fires in the back yard with marshmallows, hot dogs, and plenty of bug spray. The kids and Brian spent time fishing coming back to tell me all about the huge granddaddy bass that got away. Brandon learned out to mow the grass this summer. Madeline learned how beautiful sunrise is. We haven't seen Heather this summer, but she too is taking on her own adventures in life. Only a week till school starts, but the summer adventure was a good one.