Shafted...AGAIN!

As if it weren't enough that OU beat us out for the Big 12 Championship, AND for the National Championship Game, now, we're being shafted again...by Pop Tarts of all things!



While I am thrilled, that OU didn't rate high enough to be shown on the actual PopTarts, you will notice that they and many other schools are still represented on the box? Lots of other schools...

BUT NOT UT!!!

I suggest a boycott of PopTarts until they make a box with UT represented on it! And while we're at it, how about a Wheaties Box too? And for all you Aggies out there, you didn't make the box either, so quit your giggling!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Today is my husband's 41st birthday! So, in the time-honored bloggy tradition, the kids and I have come up with a list of 41 things we love about him. And even though he generally doesn't read the blog...or have any desire to do so...we're posting it anyway!!!

Forty-One Things We Love About You:

41. You're a handsome specimen of a man!
40. You make pretty babies. (Um...MADE pretty babies...all done now!:))
39. You allow the children to try things that I never would.
38. You coach the kids' baseball teams.
37. The kids WANT you to coach their teams. :)
36. You encourage the kids to try new things if they want to.
35. You ask me to video tape Maddie cheering when you can't make it to the game.
34. You show Benji what you're working on, and explain how you do it, and why.

33. You get Jon's sense of humor and you laugh out loud with him.

32. You recognize Maddie's inner beauty and you adore her.

31. You smile whenever Dave walks into the room.

30. You always seem impressed when I show you my latest cake.

29. You don't allow the children to be disrespectful to me...ever.

28. When you do something, it is of the highest quality.

27. Everyone wants you to do stuff for them (See #28).

26. When you have worked in someone's house, they want to keep you around even after you're finished.

25. When you work, you work hard.

24. When you play, you play even harder.

23. You don't like to play without me.

22. Or the kids.

21. But you will, if you see that perhaps I need a break.

20. You have allowed me to take a weekend or two away by myself, and the kids were still alive when I got back.

19. You stayed up most of the night to install my new washer and dryer so they would be ready for me to use as soon as I woke up.

18. You even scrubbed the laundry room top to bottom before you put them in, so I wouldn't have to do it.

17. You bought me a new oven one year for Christmas, because you knew I really wanted one...even though you really wanted to paint the house instead.

18. You never do anything half-heartedly.

17. You are always willing to help out any of my family when they need you.

16. You are a now a NASCAR fan...even though when I got you, you were strictly an "Indy Car" man.

15. You always take me to cool places. (This one was from Maddie)

14. You always buy us the best presents. (This was Benji's contribution)

13. You are funny. (This from little Dave)

12. You have a truck. (Um...that came from Jon)

11. You share your chips with us (From Maddie and Dave)

10. You let us eat Pop Tarts for breakfast at the Deer Lease. (From all the children)

9. You laugh at stupid movies with us. (From the boys)

8. You rewind funny stuff on t.v. over and over and over...

7. And you laugh harder every time you replay it.

6. You are my hero (aka Cuh-Cuh Boy)

5. You genuinely like spending time with the kids.

4. You don't like leaving the kids behind when we go out for our anniversary...you think they should be included.

3. You cry at Maddie's dance recitals.

2. You cried at the birth of each one of our children.

1. You love me more than anything else in the whole world....and you make sure that I know that.

Happy Birthday Ben!

We love you very much!!!

Just Wanted to Share This With You All

Last week when I went to pick up Benji from Youth Group, they were watching this video. It is just so powerful, that I wanted to share it with all of you. The Youth Group did an altar call for anyone that was touched by the video and they had a lot of girls AND boys on their knees sobbing at the altar. It started off a little slowly, but it is extremely powerful at the end.

The Circle of Life...

This has been an interesting week. I've had some tough days with the kids. I've had some very productive days around the house. I've had one very full day followed by one very lazy evening. We've had a birth in the family, and this morning we've had a death...

My grandmother died this morning. I didn't know my grandmother all that well since I grew up here in Texas and she lived most of her life in Montana. We visited her a few times in Montana when I was growing up, and I have wonderful memories of trips to Glacier National Park and seeing the Grand Tetons. And the fried chicken. Oh.my.word. did grandma make some good fried chicken! I also have some not so wonderful memories of eating trout for breakfast...eeww! I remember that as a kid I liked my grandmother quite a bit. We seemed to have a lot in common (affinity for trout aside). She liked to watch t.v. :) She liked to read. And later in life, after I started Tole Painting as a hobby, I discovered that my grandmother painted as well. She did Rosemaling mostly. I did one simple rosemaling project in my painting club and I believe I sent her a picture of it. When her eyes got too bad to be able to see well enough to paint, she sent me a lot of her supplies and unfinished projects. Some of them I painted, and some I passed on to fellow painters. Her art kit I refurbished and gave as a gift to my niece (who is an amazing artist herself) as a gift. Oddly enough, it was this same niece who gave us a new life just three days before our grandmother's life was taken...

My parents brought my grandmother down here to live in Texas several months ago. It was so much fun to be able to introduce her to my children. My children never got to meet any of their other great-grandparents. It was wonderful to get to share Mother's Day, Family Birthdays, and the Fourth of July celebrations with my grandmother. She was doing so well when she first moved down here that we got to spend a lot of time with her doing family stuff. I'm grateful for those memories.

But my grandmother suffered from post-polio syndrome which brought with it many, many problems. In the end, her lungs gave out and the doctors just couldn't get them to work again. I have been praying for the past week that if God had accomplished all He had for her to do in this world, that He would go ahead and take her home and end her pain. I guess she had finished the race, because He took her home this morning. She is finally healed. I'm sure that she is not only walking those streets of gold, but dancing on them as well free from the pain and disabilities that accompanied a body that survived polio as a child, but was never completely healed. And I bet that very soon, she'll probably start painting again. She'll paint a masterpiece with two brand new eyes and vision that we can't even imagine! I hope she paints one or two for me to hang in my mansion when I get there!

So, I'm sad for those of us who are still here, missing her. But I'm happy for my grandmother who is finally pain free...and I hope she has found my three babies up there and is loving on them and holding them in a way she wasn't able to hold my babies down here.

Goodbye Grandma Lila. We will miss you. We love you. And we can't wait to see you again on the other side!



This picture is of my mom and dad on the right, my dad's sister and her husband with their son on the left, and my grandmother in the middle. This picture was taken probably at least ten years ago, but it's the only one I have of my grandmother on my computer, and I wanted you all to see her.