Wordless Wednesday

One of my favorites from this summer. Maybe she does like him sometimes!

For more Wordless Wednesday visit: Go Graham Go, Jolly Mom, or Mrs. Cox’s Slice o’Heaven.

Take Me Back Tuesday ~The Dog Post

Once upon a time… before we had kids we had dogs.

The first one came with Hubby, Sir Callahan the Great Dane. Callahan was brindle in color and one of the best dogs I have ever met. I remember his weight topping out at about 150. With a dog this big you learned to teach them to lay down at meal time, the phrase “back up”, and to grab the tail before it wagged you to death!

In March of 1991 we added Akita to the family. Adopted from our local Human Society Akita was a Lab- Rottweiler mix who was found on the side of a country road with crows trying to get to him. His name Akita was shortened from an Indian name that meant “little fighter” and he had a fighting spirit until the day he died.

About April 1991

Sometime in 1994 we lost Callahan to basic old age. Akita was lonely so in comes Watney. A Chow-German Sheppard mix, Watney came from a local pet store. Sweet Watney was our sad story for even though we got him when he was about 4 months old, someone had treated him very cruelly in his early months. He never really got over that and for a Chow was very submissive, quiet and probably the most loving dog I have ever had.

December 1995

In December of 1996 we somehow decided that 2 dogs were just not enough and got Theisen (Ti) from a local pet store. A Border Collie-German Sheppard mix Ti brought new energy to the house along with a desire to chew on everything we owned! Named “The Woodpecker Dog” by a friend, lovely Ti chewed up our wood block furniture, the cushions on it, dad’s shoes and everything else he could find.

Sometime in 1998 maybe? This is what a house with 3 dogs looks like! They could eat 40 pounds of dog food in a 2 week period, were the best of friends, a joy to have around, and truly my children at the time!

The hopefully short end of this long dog story is that we lost Watney first out of these 3. Sometime in 2003 if memory serves me correctly. Then my first child was born in 2004. We lost Akita second, sometime in 2006 when my second child was just months old. Ti is now our only dog who reaches the very respectable age of 13 next month! (and no, there will be no more children added to the family!)

Now that you have been Taken Back through our dog story go visit my friend Kari to see some other Take Me Back Tuesday posts!

A Giveaway Addicted Mommy for Take Me Back Tuesday!

Quotable Sunday ~Leo Buscaglia

Too often we under estimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

If one wishes to know love, one must live love, in action.

Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.

Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love.

Love is always open arms. If you close your arms about love you will find that you are left holding only yourself.

The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position.

Only when we give joyfully, without hesitation or thought of gain, can we truly know what love means.

Who is Leo Buscaglia?

Felice Leonardo "Leo" Buscaglia, Ph.D. (31 March 1924 – 12 June 1998) was an author and motivational speaker, and a professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Southern California.

He gained fame on the USC campus through his non-credit course titled "Love 1A," which became the basis for his first book, titled simply LOVE. His dynamic speaking style was discovered by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and his televised lectures earned great popularity in the 1980s.

Leo Buscaglia authored a number of New York Times bestselling inspirational books on love and human reticence, including The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, Bus 9 to Paradise, Living Loving and Learning, Love, and My Father. In lectures he often protested, in outrage at the comparative absence of writings on the subject, "I got the copyright for love!!!"

Want to post a few quotes of your own, or read some other great ones? Just visit A Daily Dose of Toni for more Quotable Sunday!

Wordless Wednesday ~My Brother

 

I have posted a ton of pictures for Take Me Back Tuesday of my Brother.  Here he is in “real time” if you will with his family!  His girls are 9,8,6 and 2!  Heaven help him, he is going to need it!

For more Wordless Wednesday please visit: Go Graham Go, J. Leigh Designz or Jolly Mom

Take Me Back Tuesday ~1970

Take me back to October 1970! I would have been 20 months old, making my brother 4 1/2.

These pictures were take for no apparent reason than probably we were dressed up for church or something like that! Make sure to scroll down and see the second photo, it proves that my sweet brother from the first photo wasn’t sweet all the time (yes, he is pulling my hair)! Too funny that my Dad caught that on film!

Funny, the little rocking chair I am sitting in in the second photo now resides in my sons room!

Want to post a Take Me Back photo of your own, or maybe see what some others are up to??

Just hop on over to A Giveaway Addicted Mommy! Click on the line below to join in!!

A Giveaway Addicted Mommy for Take Me Back Tuesday!

Quotable Sunday ~Competing

Welcome to Quotable Sunday! This week I didn’t want my theme to be entirely about winning, or about losing either! So I went with competing!

Here my Angel played in her second soccer game of the season, while they don’t keep score at this age it sure was good to see her enjoying the game!

While it's important to win, it's imperative to compete. ~ Dave Weinbaum

The thrill isn't in the winning, it's in the doing. ~ Chuck Noll

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

I’m a winner. I just didn’t win today. ~ Greg Norman

Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them--a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill. ~ Muhammad Ali

Anyone who believes that the competitive spirit in America is dead has never been in a supermarket when the cashier opens another checkout line. ~ Ann Landers

Want to post a few quotes of your own, or read some other great ones? Just visit A Daily Dose of Toni for more Quotable Sunday!

Wordless Wednesday ~I love 3

I love having a 3 year old again. I love the expressiveness, watching him come into his own personality. Just love him period!

For more Wordless Wednesday please visit: Go Graham Go, J. Leigh Designz or Jolly Mom

Take Me Back Tuesday ~Not That Far This Week!

We are only stepping back to  August of 2006.  Our first professional portraits after Cutie Bug was born, (well the first that turned out any good since Angel didn’t throw a major fit this time).   I love that the photographer got a nice smile out of my son!  He was about 4 months old at the time, my daughter just a few months past 2. 

I guess I am in one of the “Don’t Blink” modes today since once again I can’t believe the kids are almost 5 1/2 and 3 1/2!  Someone tell me where the last 3 years went again?!?!

Want to post a Take Me Back photo of your own, or maybe see what some others are up to??

Just hop on over to A Giveaway Addicted Mommy! Click on the line below to join in!!

A Giveaway Addicted Mommy for Take Me Back Tuesday!

Just For Today!

Yea, so I slacked off today and didn’t get a post up for Quotable Sunday! I hate it when that happens because it is one of my favorite days of the week! Just chalk that up to Hubby actually not working on a Sunday, and a local Biker fund raiser we just had to be at.

So anyway, I decided to post for you instead one of my all time favorite poems! Yes, I have this one on my bulletin board at work too! Since I have said that like 3 times in the last week, I swear this week I am so taking a picture of said bulletin board and posting all of the quotes I have up there for next weeks Quotable Sunday….until then, enjoy:

TO MY CHILD:

Just for this morning, I am going to smile when I see your face and laugh when I feel like crying.

Just for this morning, I will let you choose what you want to wear, and smile and say how perfect it is.

Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play.

Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.

Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles.

Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.

Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to fix them.

Just for this afternoon, I will take us to McDonald's and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys..

Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born and how much I love you.

Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.

Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars.

Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows.

Just for this evening when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.

I will think about the mothers and fathers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers and fathers who are visiting their children's graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers and fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly, and screaming inside that they can't handle it anymore.

And when I kiss you good night I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then, that I will thank God for you, and ask him for nothing, except one more day...

Please ignore the fact that this photo is blurry, because it really shows my kid’s personalities so well!

Happy, Happy Birthday Baby!

To the best Husband and Father ever!! Happy Birthday Baby!!! Just so you know:

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in / my heart)i am never without it ~ e.e. cummings

Please join me in saying “Happy Birthday to my Hubby!” (9/11 will always live in our hearts, but I will always think of your first!)

Wordless Wednesday ~A Year

The Difference a year makes

June 2008

August 2009

For more Wordless Wednesday please visit: Go Graham Go, J. Leigh Designz or Jolly Mom

Take Me Back Tuesday ~1988

Man, was I really ever this young? These pictures are from the summer break after my first year of college! Putting me at the ripe old age of 19!

The first picture is of me and my best friend. The second is of the whole group of us that hung out together. I am the one if front with the red striped shirt on. It was of of the guy’s birthdays and we were at a local reservoir hanging on the beach and boating with his family!

Looking back now it is sad because there is not a person in the pictures that I still keep in touch with. It is strange how friendships can just fade away over time as the priorities in your life change! There have been many times over the years I have though of these friends and missed them as well.

Want to post a Take Me Back photo of your own, or maybe see what some others are up to??

Just hop on over to A Giveaway Addicted Mommy! Click on the line below to join in!!

A Giveaway Addicted Mommy for Take Me Back Tuesday!

Quotable Sunday ~Proverbs

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you are enjoying your Labor Day Weekend as much as I am. We are not doing anything special, since Hubby works in retail he of course has shifts all weekend. I love having the opportunity to spend an extra day with the kiddos though!

This week I threw together a few Proverbs for you to ponder:

One going to take a pointed stick to poke a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts. ~ West African Proverb

You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was ~ Irish Proverb

An inch of time cannot be bought with an inch of gold. ~ Chinese Proverb

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. ~ Greek Proverb

A book, tight shut, is but a block of paper. ~ Chinese Proverb

Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it. ~ Swedish Proverb

Great minds discuss ideas, medium minds discuss events, and little minds discuss people. ~ Hindu Proverb

Instead of complaining that the rosebush is full of thorns, be happy that the thorn bush has roses. ~ German Proverb

Want to post a few quotes of your own, or read some other great ones? Just visit A Daily Dose of Toni for more Quotable Sunday!

In Case You Were Wondering

In case you were wondering...the week was like this:

Last Friday...Boy with fever.
Saturday....Boy with fever.
Sunday....Boy feeling better, small fever. Going to visit Grandma anyway (1 1/2 hours away).

Sunday evening, boy finally no fever!! Visit with friends so no time for Quotable Sunday (missed it A LOT!).

Monday...back on track. No, wait, after-school daycare calls and daughter has 102 degree fever. (What a shock right).
Monday night....daughter complains of sore throat and hard time swallowing (are you thinking what I am thinking?). Husband also complains of body aches and generally not feeling well.

Tuesday morning....Daughter still has small fever Tylenol hasn't kicked. Mom calls doctor, leaves child home with Dad and goes to work.

Tuesday late morning.....Mom leaves work to take daughter to Doctor. Surprise! Strep!Daughter sick when she was little (18 months) ...can we say Aww?

Tuesday early afternoon....Mom and daughter wait 45 minutes to fill prescription to cure Strep! (Daughter felt good enough to put away a nice Hot Chocolate at Starbucks while we wait though!)
Tuesday middle afternoon.....Daughter back with Dad after lovely medicine and both sleep the afternoon away. Mom back at work of course.
Please note: No time for Take Me Back Tuesday!! (Missed that one ALOT too!)

Wednesday AM: Daughter has had enough medicine to go back to school (she is very happy too!). Dad feels good enough to go to work today!
Wednesday late AM: Mom picks up Son from daycare for eye doctor appointment. Drives to City 30 minutes away to see specialist. Finds out at doctor we are a week early!!!
Wednesday Noon: Enjoys impromptu lunch with son anyway.
Wednesday Late afternoon: Mom goes back to work knowing there was so not time for Wordless Wednesday!!
Mom wishes it was Friday and says her favorite saying: Just Shoot Me Now!!

Late Wednesday:
Mom wishes she could catch up with her Google Reader (300 unread posts...what??) and decides to post instead!

Mom has to share that she just received her new VADO pocket cam!!! I so found out about a great deal from Dell that Ellen at Thrifty & Chic Mom posted about: A VADO for 39.99, and it was shipped free! I did have to order the Pink one, but Hubby will learn to deal right?
So watch out blogging world, not only will you see my kids in action soon, but you may actually see my face in the next month (but only if you say please)!

Thanks for visiting and reading this longer than normal post. Crazy thing is, I didn't realize people would miss me and guess what?? They Did!! (Thanks blueviolet!)