Our Days Of Fear.

Lately, I have been avoiding my blog and mostly this post like there is no tomorrow. But I cannot run from needing to get my feelings, my frustration and my hurt for these families out. I avoided the news the day the tragedy of Newtown took place. Why you may ask? Because my heart simply could not handle it. I am not strong enough to watch these children be so scared and these families frantically cry out for the safety of their babies.

My daughter is 6 and she is the light of the my life; along with her brother. I can never imagine the pain of loosing her, like so many 6 year olds lost their lives in a very senseless way on Friday. Do I blame gun control, religion, his mother for teaching a person with mental illness how to use such a weapon, or the bastard himself behind this tragedy? I'm not sure. But I do know that God is the one who can take the pain and the fear that we all now stuck with away.

I sat in church Sunday with my arms wrapped around Charli and just cried. She is oblivious to the mass shooting, because I never want to take her sense of safety at school away. It isn't fair to her. It isn't fair to anyone that we are living in a day of fear. When I go to the movies, walmart or any other place my mind has always wondered off to a safety plan. But now I look for the nearest exits and the quickest way to hide my little ones or to get on them to protect them.

I understand living in a day of fear only because Curtis is a police officer. Daily I fear getting a call that something has happened to him. Two times, I have but thankfully they were from him and he was just fine. I have lost friends in car accidents. But living in fear of sending my daughter to elementary school is nonsense. It is completely the devil works and he is quickly taking over if we do not get back to the ground that our forefathers founded our country on.

My heart hurts for these families more than I can ever express in words. I am very sure that anyone who reads this can understand, especially if you have kids. But our pain and the media is not going to make things better for these families. Do I think it is okay for the media to be filming the processions of the funeral? Of course not. Let these babies and heroic teachers rest easy. It is their time to fly with Christ, not to be posted on every tv, computer and facebook page. I do want to know what was going through this mans mind when he acted upon is evil aggression but we will never really know.

But I do know that it will never change from this day forward that I will hug Charli with extra tight Momma bear arms as she heads out the door. I have cried as I sent her away and I will probably continue to do this from time to time. Even though she is literally at the back of the farm she is not close enough for myself to keep her safe. But I do know that her teacher who loves her babies with all of her heart will protect her. She sent all of the families the sweetest email on Monday morning explaining to us that she understands our fears and her first priority is our children when they arrive. I have prayed for Charli to have an exceptional teacher, and that prayer has been answered.

 

I know this Christmas we will all be hugging our families more gently but I also think we should be hugging our teachers a little more too. This is a prime example for all who have not seen before just how much of heroes our teachers really are.

I may be preaching to the choir but I ask you to pray for Newtown; most of all the families of the ones who went to be with the Lord on that senseless day for we will never really know their pain.

1st Annual Cookie Exchange

This weekend I hosted my first ever cookie exchange. Even though I knew it would be a crazy time for a lot of the friends and family I have, I wanted to give a chance for a few of us to get together. I was so very thankful for everyone that was able to come out and put forth the effort in making their cookies.

I honestly have never made homemade cookies before. I found a cute Pinterest reindeer recipe and went with it. Although, Charli and I may have had a flare up or seven because she hates peanut butter. But with a lot of reminders that there would be plenty of others to eat she was okay. My cookies turned out a little silly looking and probably were laughed and made fun of at all of the reindeer games, but they were tasty!

All of the cookies were so delicious, and even after everyone packed baggies to go I have a dining room table still full. I am sharing with Sunday School teachers , bus drivers and doctors offices (Bryar was diagnosed with croup this morning. Please pray he gets well quickly) I had a great time spending girl time with the ladies and listen to the kids play so hard.

I am excited to continue to tradition and let it continue to grow in the coming years. Now I shall go get a sugar high while baby B is resting.

12 on 12-12-12

 

12 Things I love About Curtis:

 

1. How great of a Daddy he is.

2. His love for his work and even more so of how much he loves Gunner.

3. His pride and ambition to better.

4. His love for the Lord.

5. That he always makes sure to tell me he loves me before hanging up or going to sleep

6. His karaoke moments. They are so good yet crack me up to the point of tears, every time.

7. How he can make me laugh in .5 seconds when I am mad.

8. That he loves me for me, even when I am cranky.

9. How he repeats one liners from movies like Lonesome Dove.

10. His love & respect for his family.

11. That he tends to remember our anniversary better than I do.

12. He always tries his best to make it to family events, no matter what even if he is at work.

 

 

12 Things I Love About Charli  Beth:

 

1. How she calls me Mommy.

2. She has the biggest heart of any child I have ever met.

3. Her ambition to become better at school work & sports.

4. The love that she has for her brother. She is the best big sister, ever.

5. She is not scared to work for things - chores or on the farm.

6. When I listen to her pray or sing about Jesus my heart melts.

7. When she kisses me goodnight and wraps her hands around my neck & says "see ya tomorrow."

8. When I say "birthday smile" she immediately cocks her hip, puts her hand on it and smiles.

9. When you talk to her, it is like speaking with an adult.

10. She loves to wear bows and get fancy, yet would rather wear her boots everywhere. 

11. The love that she has for horses and has not given up on her dream  of having one.

12. That she continues to think that boys have cooties!

 

 

12 Things I Love About Bryar:

 

1. His love for me. Really, this boy loves me a whole lot.

2. How beautiful and blue his eyes are, just like Charli's at this age.

3. When Curtis walks into the room he just smiles the sweetest smile.

4. The way he loves and watches CB's every move.

5. When he plays his little heart out in the tub.

6. How much he loves food and tries to eat everything.

7. His big belly laughs, even if they are few & far between.

8. His "flash face" smile.

9. That he loves to hear me sing, although I cannot carry a tune what-so-ever.

10. When I lay down next to him, he puts one arm under me to hold my hair and the other on my cheek.

11. His HUGE opened mouth kisses that he loves to give out.

12. When I brush his hair after bath time, he loves to brush mine in return. Hopefully that will not last forever though.

 

 

 



Woodburn Parade

Our family attended the Woodburn parade this weekend to watch Charli Beth come by with the 4-H Cloverbuds that she has recently joined. The girl was absolutely ecstatic about being able to ride on a wagon in a parade - no matter that the parade had no more than 20 things in it, mostly including tractors. She just wanted to be seen.

So we spent our night making a 4-H poster to staple to the wagon. After, I got a little OCD on coloring it in to make it extra bright and buying CB reindeer ears we were set!

So we slightly snuggled up due to the nasty rain and headed out down the road. Charli literally just joined 4-H last month, so we really have not gotten to know the leader or anyone else just yet. Char is typically pretty shy at first until she really gets to know someone. But her leader Amanda said that she has had no problem talking a whole lot ;)

At the first 4-H meeting that we attended, it was pet night and we were not aware that the kids were doing speeches along with their animals. I asked Charli if she was up for using a picture on my phone and talking about "her big brother Gunner" as she calls him. Let me tell you how proud I was of her! She was not shy at all and did a great job too! So I should of known that Charli was going to love 4-H.

Their wagon went by a little quick but thankfully my Mom and MIL were able to get some photos!
I also had the girls to pose when they returned! Aren't they so cute? I hope they continue to have blast together at their meetings!

We also let Bryar enjoy his very first sucker during the parade. We were a sticky mess afterwards, but boy did he enjoy it!

 

After the parade, we enjoyed CFA for lunch of course were Charli Beth sadly got spit in the face by a boy in the play area. Ugh.. Momma Bear could of took him out but thankfully his family left before I came in contact with them.

Hometown Parade

Last weekend, the kids and I ventured out to our hometown for their yearly Christmas parade. I have made it to every parade since Charli was born, except last year due to working at the police department. Just another reason to be thankful for no nights shifts now. My Mom always has family and friends over immediately after, for soups and tons of goodies. As always she really out done herself this year. I ate way more than I should have and I am pretty sure that baby B did so as well.

 For as long as I can remember our family always gathers at the same exact spot to watch the floats come by. People in this small town take their parade very seriously as well. No joke. They go and park their cars in the early morning hours just to ensure their quality of float sighting.

This year also had to be the warmest year that I can recall as well. No jackets was amazing but it honestly just does not seem like Christmas time in Kentucky, yet.

The theme of the parade was "Christmas Vacation" and boy did some of the people really get into it. I swear one man looked to be pulled right off the Christmas Vacation movie scene. Not to shabby Scottsvegas, I must give you a total thumbs up for this years parades and the lack of thousands of church floats.

Christmas Tree Craziness

Two. That is how many Christmas trees we have had thus far in our marriage. Two years in a row we have had real trees. Last year, we were easy my husband got us a tree at Lowe's because we had left over gift cards from our wedding and boom we were ready to go. This year, he had to be a little more difficult. This tree has almost caused, this wife a nervous breakdown.

 Tears were even almost sought after when he brought in the first tree. Yes, the first.

When my Husband was a child, his Dad and he would go out onto the farm and cut down their trees. They would cut cedar trees, which are a lot more work. I believe you have to cut them half way up then practically cut them in the middle again. But this is what he wanted to do, and who wouldn't love to go cut their own tree?

 One afternoon we headed out to the farm and found the tree that we all thought would work. Sure it was tall, but some had to come off anyways. Well, the chainsaw messed up a bit and no gloves were to be found so my Father in law came to the rescue. When two men get together with a chainsaw and a Christmas tree, the tree because a little less than ever intended.

 

 So, we went and found another tree for them to cut down. Down the tree came and I perked my smile up and said it would work. Well, once it came into the house with buckets, sheets and all. I finally admitted that tears were about to flow because it was truly in fact the ugliest tree. Then my gracious Father in law agreed and helped me convince Curtis that going out and spending $39 was a great idea, especially at this point.

Thank goodness that he finally came to terms, and we headed for Lowe's. We spent about 20 minutes, picking up trees, asking questions, finding some dead ones, and then finding the perfect tree. But 20 minutes to get the perfect tree, I would take any day over the stress we had just endured.

We get the tree home and brought inside before we realize that the bottom is going to have to be cut as well. I stood holding our tree for a good 10 minutes while Curtis went to the barn to get trimmers. After a lot of whispering curse words, vacuuming needles and frustration we finally got our tree into the stand.

Holy haystacks. I wish I could half way explain to you how funny yet stressful this entire tree adventure was. I was pretty sure that one of us was not going to live to see Christmas day, but we made it and only spent $42.75 taxes and all on our tree...it was totally worth it too.

Christmas Cards

There is honestly no better way in sending out the largest amount of love to someone during the Christmas season than sending a beautiful card with your adorable children on it. I know our family absolutely loves picking out the perfect photo and making sure our cards have the sweetest messages entitled with it. Last year we picked a photo that displayed our entire family, even the k9 Gunner. But typically, I love to show off how much Charli has grown and now I am able to include Bryar as well.

Even if you families live close by or far away a simple yet beautiful holiday card is a perfect way to show that you are thinking about them. A lot of family members keep cards from year to year so they are able to compare the changes within families. I have actually found several from bloggers last year, and just smile at how much our babies have grown up since then. My Mother in law also uses her cards from past years as gift tags for gifts. What a cute idea to be resourceful!

One company that has always stuck out to me when having cards printed or even photos is Tiny Prints. This is a company that is owned by Shutterfly and as well all know how wonderful Shutterfly is, Tiny Prints cannot disappoint.

 

Tiny Prints has so many Christmas cards to pick from that are absolutely adorable. I know as I was scrolling through, I could not help but want to pick out several different styles for my family!

 

Our family has honestly let time get away from us without ordering Christmas cards! So I better get on the ball and order one of these card with my cute little babies on it.

 

If you are anything like me and need to order here are some codes to help you out:

 

Good Thur 12/5-12/6

20% off $49 of more OR 25% off $149

DECSW25

 

Also for a limited time they are offering free shipping!

FREESHIP12

 

The Polka Dot Baby Strikes Again

This weekend while visiting my family, I noticed that Bryar had a rash. After showing a few people, everyone thought that it was a heat rash since he didn't have a temperature. The weather in Southern Kentucky is a tad strange right now being in the mid 60's. So of course I am dressing him in layers in case in cools down.

The next morning when we woke up B's rash had spread majorly. I knew then that it was something different. So when one o'clock finally rolled around we went to a new urgent care in town. Where I am pretty sure that every case of the tummy bug decided to hang out for the day as well. Eek!

After two hours of waiting, the ladies forgetting about us and apologizing a trillion times Bryar was called back. Only to wait some more. We quickly figured out that their urgent care wasn't so urgent after all. The Dr. came in (finally) and said that Bryar's rash was indeed Roseola, just as we had thought. He also had a low grade fever and a double ear infection that we were unaware of. We were sent away with a dose of amoxicillin and orders to stay away from other kids until his fever has completely went away.

Hopefully Mr. Polka Dots will not stay spotted as long as he did in the summer and this will get better quickly!