Happy Father's Day

When I stop to think about the kind of father that Jose is, I get all emotional. I am a child of divorce. My father was physically abusive to mom, my sister and to me. It was very hard to grow up dealing with that.
When I was in my 20's my plan after college was to adopt older children because I was positive I would never marry and figured it would be easier to adopt older children. The ones that most people don't want.
I just could not see trusting a man enough to marry him. And certainly I could never trust that a man would not walk out or hurt my children. In my plan, I was going to adopt when I was 25.

Well, God had a different plan. I met Jose several months before turning 25. I knew after we met that he was the man I was going to marry. Which was a little confusing to me given that it was not in my life plan.:) He stole my heart and won my trust. I'm so glad that God had such a different plan for my life.

Saying that he is an amazing father is such an understatement. He never missed one doctor's appointment when I was pregnant with Ruben and Marissa. Since the day Ruben was born he has been a hands on father. There is not one thing that he doesn't do for the kids. He changes diapers, feeds them, bathes them, clips their nails, takes them to the doctor, tucks them in at night, plays with them and so much more. He has never once complained about helping with the kids. He has never once said that since I am a stay at home mom it's my job to do all of those things. He loves our kids with all his heart. He even cooks and is a great cook at that.

I'm not sure what I did to deserve him. I guess that is just God's grace in play. I don't even want to imagine what my life would be like now had I followed my plan and not Gods. I thank God everyday for my husband. He is so many things to me and has brought so much into my life. I could not ask for a better husband or father for my children.


Ruben just had to buy him a Star Wars shirt for Father's Day.

Play Date with Josh and Jake

I haven't posted in a while. I have been really busy lately. Tuesday we took a break from all our running and went to Josh and Jake's house for a play date. The kids had a great time as usual. We ate at the Mexican restaurant for lunch. Ruben was really upset that we could not go back to their house after lunch and play. It was close to 2 pm and Marissa really needed a nap. I glanced back at her in her car seat as we were heading back to Hopkinsville and she was out before we passed the Dairy Queen in Elkton. So I knew that I had made the right decision.

They actually posed for a few pictures but the battery on my camera needed to be charged so I did not get many pictures. Here are a few. They looked at the camera in the first one but the others they were all about watching television.

Stuff and Mount It!

This past Saturday was "Take A Kid Fishing" at the Jeffers Bend Environmental Center and Kiesha and I were brave enough to take Ruben and Marissa angling for some guppies. We were out there finding Nemo with our baited hook.

At first we thought we would go down to the little creek and see what was biting there. After 30 minutes it was hopeless - we weren't getting any bites, our hooks kept getting snagged on downed tree branches, they would get hung on the creek embankment, and I kept hitting tree branches while casting. So we looked for greener pastures. Ruben and I were determined to catch a fish. We had our super duper poles, our lucky hats, and lucky worms.

We thought we would catch a 20 pounder down at the pond. We hit the first open spot at the pond, next to a red-haired boy, with freckles, and a straw-hat to boot. I felt at a disadvantaged next to him because I was guessing his "paw" probably taught him all the ins and outs of fishing in these parts of the woods. Well Ruben and I thought we would do better by casting out two lines, increase our odds of catching the big one. Well, we got lots of nibbles and lost a couple of worms to a hungry lil fish out there but no cigar. Ruben had to sit down a bit and think about our situation. Little did I know that, while we had our lucky hats and lucky worms on our side we did not have our lucky Marissa out there working a line.

It took Marissa all of 5 minutes to catch a fish. Mommy came down after taking the photos above and asked if Marissa could fish. I gave her my line and she tugged on the pole and moved it here and there and Mommy kept asking her to hold it steady but it turns out all the tugging and moving worked. Who knew!

We were very proud of Marissa catching her first fish. Ruben caught his first fish at last years "Take a Kid Fishing" day. Back then he didn't want to touch the fish and take it off the hook and he didn't want to do it this year either. Marissa was all about the fish. She wanted to play with it.

What luck. Well, Kiesha thought we needed photo evidence because no one out there would probably believe us, but she did catch a fish. Well, it was a small fish, probably bait for catching a larger fish, but nevertheless her first catch. We threw it back in the pond, but we should have had it stuffed and mounted over her crib. :-)

P.S. If you don't believe that I was fishing next to Tom Sawyer, take a look at the little boy over my right shoulder. Hahahahaha.

Great Trip to Ashland

I left Thursday night around 7 pm to go on my trip. Six hours in a car by myself was a little piece of heaven I have to say. I missed the kids a lot but it was nice. I was able to spend so one on one time with my niece, best friend and Godson. It was a great trip. Deb and I went out to eat Friday night with no children. I don't think that has happened in at least four years!
I left around 7 am Sunday morning to come home. I was surprised and maybe a little disappointed to find that the house did not fall apart without me, and the kids survived.

Elaina and I had a blast. As soon as she saw me Friday morning she screamed "I love you Kee Kee!"

This was our nap time. Sshhh, don't tell Nana Dee.



See, we did actually sleep. lol



Putting on Aunt Kee Kee's makeup.



Playing baseball.



Being adorable.

Look Mom, No Tears

Ruben had his 4 year old shots Monday. He got two shots in each arm. The nurse warned him that the last one would burn. I am so proud of him. He sat really still and did not cry at all. The nurse told him it was ok to cry or scream but he didn't.

Yesterday his arm was really swollen from the shots and I kept saying his arm was so big. He said "Yeah Mom,it is because I'm growing into a man!" lol
Not so fast little guy, slow down mommy is not ready for you to grow up.

Daddy's Don't Do Hair

That is what Jose said when I told him he needed to learn to do Marissa's hair. I'm going out of town this weekend and he will have the kids. I told him he needed to pratice. He did try, it was quite funny!

Maybe I would have better luck teaching Ruben :)

Happy Mother's Day

It's been a really wonderful weekend. Saturday was my birthday and the kids went to Mom and DD's. Jose and I went to Clarksville to eat and then came home and watched movies last night. Today we took pot roast to mom's and spent a couple of hours there.

Tomorrow Roo gets his 4 year old shots. I'm not sure how it will go. I have talked to him about it and he knows it will hurt for a few seconds and then be over. I am hoping it will go smoothly.

Pictures from today.

From a Baby to a Little Lady

Nov. 2007


I did not realize it would happen quite this fast.

April 2008



I'M NOT READY!

Roo's 4th Birthday Party

I've been meaning to post these but I just have not felt like blogging lately. Our family has been going through some things. Please keep my little sister and our family in your prayers.

Roo and I made his cake. He wanted a light saber cake and it turned out better than I thought it would. Since I don't usually do cakes I ordered a back up one just in case. It is the one with Yoda on it behind the light saber cake a few pics down. The kids all loved the light saber cake and only wanted it.
We made the kids light saber out of PVC pipe and pool noodles. The kids loved them. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the kids with them.