LIONS

These are the super cute lions we made for our safari pack meeting last night. We had so much fun making them with our scouts!

Hot Air Balloon!!!

Yesterday we were out walking in the morning with our very dear friends. This is what we saw on our way home! It was so cool to be so close to this hot air balloon! I think the adults liked it more than the kids. We got to watch it land and watch them fold the balloon up and put it in it's bag. It really was fun, too bad we only had cell phone cameras!!!

McKinley's Hats

These are McKinley's many cute hat's through the years. Starting with day one and ending just a few weeks ago! What a cute little girl! I absolutely LOVE the baby pic of her in her car seat all in pink with the beanie over her eyes.

My Teenager

I have tons of pics to post another day but today is about my teenager. That's right I am the mother of a teenager.....seriously. I don't know how to deal with this but I'm learning as I go. I'm leaning on what I remember from my parent's raising me and my instincts. I'm also using what I know from my religion, prayers and many, many talks with my husband.

My son, Travis, turned 13 in June. For some strange reason I thought I would get a few months before all the teenage stuff starts, nope. For all you future parents of teenagers beware.....the drama starts almost immediately.

Travis has been spending a lot of time after school on facebook chatting with his friends. After hours on the computer he goes to "hang out" with his friends. Keep in mind his friends includes girls (one girl in-particular). He has gotten to the point where he doesn't like to go and do anything with his family anymore because he would prefer to be with friends. I have thought a few times that he spends too much time with his friends. I keep reminding myself that he is a good kid, he has high morals and he reports to us on a regular basis. So....I shouldn't be worried right? Wrong.

He is a good kid and there isn't much to worry about. However, there has been the occasional missed text that he forget to send or he came in a few minutes after curfew, which by the way is pretty early. Yesterday he was asked to watch the little kids for a few minutes. Well the kids pounded on my bedroom door the entire time I was in the shower. I actually got out of the shower to make sure the house wasn't burning down because it was none stop. Turns out Travis was tired and didn't want to come get them. Why was he tired? Out to late with friends. We decided despite his actions with his siblings to let him go out with friends. Well he was supposed to test us and let us know where he was going to be and he forgot. Ooops.

Consequence.....a few days without friends. If he can't help us out and show the responsibility he is asked then action must be taken. Today Travis approached me and asked what his punishment was going to be. How good to ask for his punishment!!! Anyway we ended up talking for over an hour. I LOVE this boy. He is able to talk with me and express all this thoughts, feelings and emotions. How many teenagers do that with their parents? We are very lucky. He reports to us ever time he is away, when he comes home we hear all about what he did while he was gone. I love that. I hope it never changes. I do, however, hate the part where his feelings are hurt or his heart is broken.

I guess the whole point of this post is to express the love I have for Travis. He is my step-son by birth and/or marriage but to me he is MY SON just like McKinley and Ty are my kids. He lives with me, he talks with me, he reports to me, he respects me and he is sealed for time and all eternity to ME! I am thankful every day to have him in my life and to share the love that we do. I feel blessed not only to be his Mom but to have the closeness that we share. I love to talk to him and cry with him. He is the best!

After a few days the punishment will be over and all will be back to normal. I just pray that he will continue to be a good kid and talk to me as openly as always. I love you Travis. I know punishment sucks. I just want the best for you now and always.

Funny Ty

This is my sweet baby Ty-Ty. I love him to death. These pics are just of him having fun and showing off a little bit of his funny personality. Ty is 19 months old and he is so hilarious. He makes us laugh every day.
In this first pic he is wearing Kinley's granny glasses from the day she had her eyes dilated. The second pic is him getting finger paint all over himself. Forget painting on paper what are bodies for!! Pic number three is him being impatient. Come on now the boy needs to eat! The next one is my favorite! We were grocery shopping and he just couldn't handle it anymore.....he had to sleep. We made soft pillows out of paper towels and mop sponges. Priceless. The last pic is of him sleeping with a football. Ty loves sports of all kinds and if he sees a ball forget it, it will become his.

Lin's Meat Sale!!!!

Check this out! On Saturday Lin's had a meat sale. It was awesome! I'm sure we got more than we should have but it feels so good, as a Mother, to know that your freezer is full and your family will be able to eat for months.

My freezer has never been this full in my life! The two bottom shelves and the drawer are all full of meats. We got 40 pounds of chicken breasts, it was only sold in bulk boxes. We got 13 pounds of hamburger, a package of pork chops, 4 packages of bacon, country style ribs, spare ribs and 2 roasts! Talk about a hook up!!! All of this cost us less than we normally spend on just chicken and hamburger for 3 months and we will be eating this for at least 6-8 months.

Getting it figured out!

Thanks friends for all of your help. I got some great advice from you about how to add more friends to my blog. I do have to admit I am a visual person so my friend Cyndi came over and helped me yesterday. Thank you soooo much Cyndi!! You are the best friend ever! She showed me how to cut and paste the addresses and it is super simple, I'm just computer challenged. I can't wait to check out what's going on with all my new friends!