My Very Blessed Nephew

Ben came by yesterday for me to remove part of his stitches. This kid is so blessed to be alive! I removed all of the stitches from his face and behind his ear and the rest of the stitches and staples have to come out next week. He did start the dental work process Wednesday so he can get his pretty, normal/non redneck smile back:)

Emma was so sweet with him. She kept looking at him and saying "Do Do" for boo boo. She tried to help me with the stitch removal and putting the steri strips on. She was so cute rubbing his arm and "taking care" of him.

Kissing the uninjured side of his face!

It's official, in the words of Alice Cooper, "School's Out for Summer!". Let the games begin. Ashton made the high school basketball team and starts his camps and practices on Monday. Brady leaves for church camp on Sunday. I am hopeful that when he returns he can get his drivers license and maybe find a job. This kid needs some major doses of reality!

Bo is off from work next week, but he has a major amount of work to do around here. We have to get a pump for our pool and get it opened, yard work, barn work, house work, work, work, work. He will probably wish he was not "off".

So the summer begins and it will end before we blink our eyes. My oldest is a Junior in high school now, Ashton will be a freshman.......I can't believe it. Then there is miss priss who just goes with the flow. She just takes it all in and looks at all these boys in and out of our house as part of the family. No wonder she is such a tomboy.

Shirtless Slurper Girl

Weekend Wrap Up

Please notice that my handsome son who looks adorable in his suit and tie and had new shoes to match chose to wear his skate shoes. "Mom, those others are way too big" he tells me after I bought them and after he tried them on. Amazingly they were "great" in the store. He still looks too stinking handsome.

This is my neighbor John tying Brady's tie. Bo was not home yet and I had no idea how to tie it. He was kind enough to help us out.

I found this picture still on my camera and thought my boy looked so cute. He wouldn't like it, but I do.

We had a good weekend overall. I managed to survive Friday night and it was a very busy night. Bo survived working Saturday but it sure ruins the weekend.

We had a horrible scare Saturday night. My youngest nephew (Ben) was in a car accident with another guy and they are both extremely lucky to be alive. Ben has approximately 80 stitches and staples, 2 broken teeth, and a lot of soreness. The other young man has a broken jaw and was in surgery yesterday. The truck they were in was destroyed and they are so blessed to be alive. It was such a scare and we are so thankful that God protected them both. Poor Ben looks awful, but he is doing okay. He was most upset about having his clothes cut off in the ambulance! He is going to be out of commission for a few days but otherwise he is okay.

Well, not much exciting around here and we are off the gymnastics. I have a basement full of boys scavenging for food and I'm a bit leery of leaving my house:)

Our Week In Review

I get tired of saying it and I'm sure everyone gets tired of hearing it, but man, another busy week. I will be so glad when school is out and banquets are over and all the end of the year things that keep you so busy are done.


Monday night Brady had a band performance. I would offer to show the video but the graphics are horrible and it reminds me of the Blair Witch Project. The music sounded great however! I think the reason the graphics are terrible might have something to do with recording it while holding a 3 year old who was "blowing" her horn and pointed out her Bubba. It was pretty hilarious.


Tuesday night was the sports banquet for Ashton's school. I would also post a picture of him receiving his awards, but he accepted them so quickly that I just wasn't' fast enough. Again, I think it may have had something to do with holding a 3 year old who was attempting to feed herself spaghetti and it landing on my shoes.


Wednesday, speech. We then had a play date with Ian, a little boy at speech. Emma was a bit unsure of the whole play area at McDonald's. She wanted me to climb and I just kept telling her she was on her own. After a while, I looked up and she was at the top with a smile that was beaming with pride and down the slide she came. After that, she was hooked. She wasn't scared anymore and I have never been more proud of her determination. I was not proud of the "fit" she had when it was time to leave.

Ashton and friends at the banquet. If you could bottle that "coolness" and sell it, WOW.....

Thursday was also speech and a drive home in torrential rains. I was afraid we were about to have more flooding but so far so good. Yesterday afternoon I had to take Brady shopping for a suit. My baby is growing up. Luckily we found one on our first try and he has never looked more handsome, just ask him. He has his band banquet tonight and I'm pretty sure he will be the best dressed guy there. I wish I could attend but I have to work as usual. After shopping, we headed to Kroger to do some much needed grocery shopping. It turned into a late night, but we managed to get it all done.

So that was my busy week in a nutshell. A busy weekend is ahead since Bo has to work tomorrow. Thank goodness I don't have any extra shifts this week and I hope to be able to go to church on Sunday. I have not been to church in 6 weeks since I have been working extra! I'm pretty sure they will hand me a visitor's card when I walk in.

Have a great weekend.

Doesn't Anyone in this House Wear Clothes?

First of all, HAPPY 14th BIRTHDAY to my Ashton. Yes, he has lived to 14. I make no guarantees about 15.......


He always wants (demands) breakfast in bed on his birthday and I try to oblige. This morning he had 4 cherry turnovers and 5 pieces of bacon. Not too bad for a birthday breakfast. Doesn't he just look so happy.

My sweet sleeping angel......

These are some not so good pictures from gymnastics last week. Emma is loving "jump, jump" as she calls it. However this week she was being challenged by her teacher to do a seat bounce and she was not interested. Emma gave her "the look" and her teacher along with the other moms lost it laughing. She has mastered the cutting her eyes look and she knows it. She did not do a seat bounce.

We had dinner last night with my in-laws and Uncle Edd to celebrate Ashton's birthday as well as a late celebration for Brady. We ate a Kobe's and Emma was completely mesmerized with the hibachi grill and the chef's hat.

I'm sure that it's hard to tell which of these two causes me the most trouble. I'll give you a hint, the one on the left....Please say a prayer that he passes his Algebra I exam today. I thought he was downstairs studying last night but he inadvertently admitted to me that he was watching Star Wars instead.

This is a horrible picture, but the scene is too cute. Bo took this Saturday while the kids were outside on the Jump Jump. Notice that they are all topless. Emma thinks she has to be just like the boys. The trampoline is her new favorite toy of all times.

Continues to be topless and zipping herself up in it.

Topless jumping. Look at that smile. What a life! She tried to get mommy to take her top off as well, but that would not be as cute!

It has been another busy week. The boys finally went back to school yesterday and only have a couple of weeks left. Those days are filled with exams and concerts and banquets, etc. If the week off due to the flood was any indication, I may have to kill some more chickens. These boys are eating me out of house and home!



Emma and I had and appointment on Tuesday with the Technology Access Center and that was a really cool deal. They have lots of toys and games and computers that allow individuals with special needs to use them. We brought home the coolest mouse for Emma to give a trial run. It has a large tracking ball in the center and 2 buttons on each side for her to use. We have not played any games yet but I can't wait to give it a try. She is loving it so far while she watches Shaun the Sheep. Who is this Shaun you ask? He and his fellow flock members have taken over where the Wiggles left off. It is her favorite thing to watch and when she wants to watch it she comes and gets me and makes a sheep sound. It does concern me that there are no words in it, but she has mastered "baa, baa" and perhaps will make a good shepherd someday.

Speech therapy continues. When Emma finished up yesterday Ms. Jane (the sweetest woman on this Earth) came out and so sweetly said "Let's go outside to talk." NEVER A GOOD SIGN. She told me that Emma and her butted heads yesterday. I AM SHOCKED. Emma is intent on doing everything her way and doesn't want to listen at times. AGAIN, I AM SHOCKED. So we just decided that it was okay to be a little firmer with her at speech in an attempt to get her attention. While getting ready for speech this morning I kept telling her we were going to see Ms. Jane and that she was going to have to be a really good listener and a good girl for Ms. Jane. Emma kept telling me "Doe". However, Ms. Jane was all smiles today when Emma was finished and apparently had listened and did a great job. I'm telling you, this little girl is a mess! She knows how to work it.

At long last I managed to purchase some furniture for the man cave den. It had consisted of a twin mattress and bean bags and now it has a real sofa with recliners on each end as well as a extra large recliner and end table. The boys are so happy. Ashton picked out a lamp last night and then informed me he wanted to "pimp" it up down there with a strobe light, lava lamps and a small refrigerator. Needless to say, there ain't gonna be no pimping in this house!

Nashville Tennessee Flood 2010

Friday

This is a depressing post. Sorry. I'm just not feeling much joy right now.


I am thankful that our home was not involved in the flood damage. My sister-in-law is in the process of cleaning up her home. It's a mess and will take a lot of time to complete. There are MANY others who have a lot more damage than her. It's just unimaginable the damage that has occurred in our county and some of the surrounding counties.


School continues to be out. As of right now our kids will go back on Wednesday but the kids from the southern part of the county are finished for the year. The schools have lots of damage, the roads and bridges are a mess. It's just a disaster.


I will say this. I am so proud of our "volunteer" state. Tennesseans have come together to help each other and have not sat around waiting on the federal government to tell them what to do. They rescued each other, they had fed their neighbors, clothed their neighbors, cried for their neighbors, raised over 1.7 MILLION dollars in a telethon last night on the local news channel. This state is amazing and I am so proud. The work is going to take a long time, the healing even longer. I am so proud to be from the volunteer state.


Everything seems so surreal right now. I just feel kind of numb and I know that I'm not exactly the nicest, happiest person to be around right now. I attended the memorial service last night for my coworker whose husband died 3 weeks after being diagnosed with cancer. 3 weeks. That is unimaginable. After I got home, I received a call from another friend that my friend and former boss Carl had died. He has suffered so much in the last few months and was only diagnosed with cancer approximately 8 months ago. He was our leader at work. He loved John Wayne and he was a lot like him. Tall, strong, just bigger than life. When he resigned from work we were just floored. It was so hard to think about him not being there. He was the only guy with all of us hormonal women and yet he survived! Then within a few weeks we found out about the cancer. We knew that it was bad, but we didn't want to think about this part of it. How could someone like him, who could tell you the biggest line of bull and make you believe it, how could he be gone. We loved him and he loved us. Sure, he was our boss and we got mad at him many times. He was the manager and he had to make decisions that none of us liked sometimes, but we loved him even if we didn't like the decisions. That's the not so fun part of being the boss.


So I say goodbye to someone very dear to me. He will be missed so much by so many. But the thought that sticks in my mind is that he told his family 2 nights ago that he was ready to go HOME. He was tired and he knew where his "HOME" was. He was prepared and he knew that something better was on the other side. Did he want to leave his family? Of course not. No one ever does, but he was ready. I am proud to say he was my friend.


Please offer up additional prayers for his family right now. Not only did they lose their husband and dad, their house was flooded while they were at the hospital. They have lost so much. Somehow it just doesn't seem fair.

When I Said I Do, I Meant That I.......

I am a farm girl. I have a lot of fond memories of working on the farm. I also have some that I wouldn't consider "fond". Just because I was born a farm girl didn't mean I liked all that went along with it.


When I Bo and I were dating in high school he used to laugh and say he never knew what he would see in our kitchen sink when he brought me home from a date. My dad and brother liked to hunt and there was always some type of wild game around. We also killed our own pork and beef, so I was used to that lifestyle growing up. Not a bad racket actually.


I do not ever recall killing our own chickens. We got our own eggs, but that was the extent of that. I have heard my mom talk about killing chickens when she was a kid and young adult.


Well, today was the day. My husband decided today was the day to begin our journey to self sufficiency and all natural eating. Well, I'm really just making that up. I think he just wanted to kill something.

So the before shots are really yucky I know. I was a bit overwhelmed when he brought these in to me to cut up into pieces. I have cut up many chickens before, but those were neatly packaged and on sale from the store for .89 cents a pound. These were not neatly packaged at all. They bordered on being disgusting. Bordered heck, they were Disgusting. So what is a self respecting farm girl to do in a situation like this. CALL MY MOM. So my sweet mother came over and helped me cut up these creatures. Apparently there is a lot more involved in cutting up a whole chicken that has been freshly killed than one that you buy at Kroger. Well, 4 chickens and a little heaving later, this was the final result.

So my chicken is fresh. I know where it came from and what it was fed. I know they were treated well. Except for that one rooster who was always getting picked on by the others. As we say in the South, bless his heart. At least he doesn't have to suffer anymore.

The only thing missing during this chicken fiesta was Hank Williams Jr. singing "A Country Boy Can Survive" in the background.

Please note, no chickens suffered needlessly during this process. If you are a member of PETA do not contact me. This was not my decision and you really don't want to mess with my husband. I have seen him with an axe and it scared me:)

Flooding in Tennessee

http//www.wsmv.com/index.html


It is amazing the amount of water the Middle Tennessee area has received in the last 2 days. 15 inches! There are people all around who have lost their homes and automobiles, at least 6 dead in the Nashville area and several more around the area.


My sister-in-law's home has flooded and she is currently staying with my in laws. Thank God she is okay because at least 2 other people in her neighborhood are dead.


All of the schools in our area are closed. Vanderbilt Children's Hospital flooded and all elective surgeries were cancelled. Downtown Nashville is a disaster. Hundreds of water evacuations being done. It is beyond belief.


Luckily today the weather is beautiful and no more rain expected.