T is for....

I'm baaaack! I'm so bad about missing letters and weeks around here, so thanks for your patience if I'm not doing every assignment!

Let's see....

For this week's assignment, what does t remind me of??

First thing that comes to mind is that T is for THANKFUL! I am representing this by this lovely thankful tree I found through flikr!


Photo Courtesy Jenosale

I have SO many things to be thankful for, I could be here all day telling you!! :)

The next thing that comes to mind is my favorite college team, Tennessee!! GO BIG ORANGE!



Photo courtesy View From Rocky Top

I love me some Volunteer football!

Another T that comes to mind is how much I love my TWO sisters!! I don't have a picture of them right now...maybe I'll come back and add one later, but they are two of my very best friends. God made us sisters, but I'm thrilled to also call them my friends. I know I can count on them NO MATTER WHAT!

Something else I'm very thankful for it TIME to spend with my loved ones. As I said earlier, I'm so very blessed! I'm glad that I have a job that allows me to spend evenings, weekends, and summers off with my little family. I'm so blessed that my husband and I are both so close to our families, and that they live in the area for the most part. We don't spend nearly as much TIME with them as we'd like, but we're grateful for every opportunity to spend TIME with them!! I love them all!!



Photo courtesy ToniVC

Last but certainly not least, I'm so thankful that I have the ability and the desire to THINK for myself. I have come to realize that I LIKE to learn! If someone had told me that 25 years ago, I would have laughed them out of the room. But now that I am older, I realize what a gift it is to learn new things. I am thankful that we live in a country where free THOUGHT is welcomed and encouraged. I've been very blessed to be able to further my education over the past few years. It hasn't been without its struggles, but it is definitely a reward in itself!



Photo courtesy karola riegler photography


THANKS for reading!! Have a wonderful weekend!

Alphabe-Thursday: R is for Robbie!

Today's is a no-brainer! Pics of my favorite baby boy-child! :) He's growing so quickly! He's got a little cold/ear infection right now, so I was trying to rock him to sleep. Part of me was hoping that I could get a little nap in as well, but I stopped myself and remembered that it wouldn't be much longer that he would tolerate me rocking him, and that I need to cherish every second!



Here he is in 'baby jail', as his Daddy calls it! He's in the hallway between the living room and the kitchen, and we're in the kitchen. He loves to pull himself up on the baby gate and then sit back down, over and over! He's doing really well at pulling up, is a crawling champ, and likes to walk holding fingers, too!



Here he is in his precious little Smokey outfit! Hey, we raise 'em up right here in Tennesseee country (even though we actually live across the border in Virginia!)



This was taken at Dollywood back in the fall...I know I'm a little biased, but don't I have three handsome sons??



And last, I know I've shared this picture before but I LOVE this shot of him! So angelic he is here...til he wakes up!

I'm very blessed at the opportunity that God has given me to parent all three of my sons, but I feel especially blessed to be mommy to Robbie, since he was our surprise baby!

Have a GREAT Thursday!

Review: Power Rangers Samurai

They're baaacck...the Power Rangers, that is! I've been following Power Rangers for many many years now, back since they first started and my nephews were obsessed with the Mighty Morphin variety back in the mid-90s. Isaac, my oldest, went through a Power Rangers phase, and now my 7 year old, Adam, is having his turn.

The latest incarnation of the Power Rangers is Power Rangers Samurai, and they have also changed to a new channel: the shows used to shown on Disney stations, but now they are being shown on Nickelodeon. Either way, this show gets my thumbs up for several reasons!

One: since my boys are very active in a Tae Kwon Do school, I like having them watch a show related to martial arts. Contrary to what some people thought years ago when the series started, watching this show doesn't promote general violence. The only time that the Power Rangers start fighting is against the bad guys in order to 'save' the planet! Who can argue against fighting evil??! Not me!

Two: This show promotes healthy living. By healthy living, I don't just mean exercise and eating nutritional foods. This show does not have bad language, the characters are not disrespectful to their elders, and it promotes friendship and teamwork. I find these to be values that I want my children to embody, and not all the shows they like to watch encourage these. Power Rangers Samurai is one that I know that will continue to show them ways to act that I would support.

As a parent, I am concerned about my children getting enough exercise, and I'll be the first to admit that they probably see me sitting on the couch too much. I like showing them others getting exercise, and am hopeful that this is something they will continue to want to do throughout their lives. To be honest, THEY inspire ME to get more active!!

If your child hasn't checked out Power Rangers Samurai yet, encourage it!!

Natural disasters

Hi, ya'll! Yeah, yeah....I fell off the planet there for a while again! I'm sorry about that! I guess maybe if I felt like anyone actually noticed that I didn't write, I would be less likely to neglect ye olde blog, but sometimes I feel like no one does. But then I get to thinking: who do I really write this for anyway? And deep down, I know it is for my own personal satisfaction that I write.

So here I am! I found a neat site that has a blog prompt each day, so I thought I'd put that to use today. Today's question was this:

Have you ever experienced an earthquake, flood, or other natural disaster?

And yes, I actually have experienced some small floods here in the area. Thankfully our own house has only flooded with minor damage twice: once when I was pregnant with Adam, and one other time when Isaac and Adam were little.

We've had some flooding in the area: a big flood in '77 that actually wiped a small town off the map here in the county, and another similar flood in '02, I believe. Neither were here in town, but the one in '02 got close enough for me! One side of the closest bridge to us over the Holston River was closed, and that made me nervous, especially as the mama of a small child at the time!

So there you go: writer's slump cleared! :)