8.26.@2:26PM

IMG_0686w, originally uploaded by TH.Photography.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. No, I didn't cry; my guys gave me a great birthday. I guess I could put my age here, let's just say it's not 26- and truthfully, I don't think I'd want to go back there. But in honor of my birthday I want to share 26 (completely random) things about me:

1.  My mom calls me every August 26 exactly at 2:26 in the afternoon which marks
    both my birthdate and birth time. She does this for each of her 6 children.
2.  I have to ask my mom what time my own children were born-that or look up
    their records somewhere.
3.  My mom has taught me a lot about life and how to live it well-with grace,
    strength and faith. Thanks mom. My dad has taught me so much, too!
4.  My first date with my husband was on the 26th. I never realized how that is
     such a familiar number in my life's events.
5.  I love cold pillows, warm socks and the silky binding on fluffy blankets.
6.  Always is the perfect time to be at the beach. That will never change.
7.  There are no words: Hummingbird Cake-my favorite:
8.  I am an all or nothing person. That can be a really good thing, or not so much.
9.  To know me means to know how much I love teaching.
10. I gave birth to my two sons just about ten years apart.
11. Dr. Bohannon, my anesthesiologist, was a high school friend of my husband's.
     They were almost happier to see one another again (as they shook hands
     over my very large and viciously contracting belly) as I was to meet him. He
     was there for both of my c/sections as well as my gallbladder operation.
     I <3 him!
12. Everywhere we go, Troy runs into someone he knows.
     He talks to them for hours, it seems...my past friendships grew in other places.
13. My BS in Education was earned at LU. I have only great memories of my
     years there and it's a heartwarming journey anytime I'm near to visit.
14. My best friends truly have loved at all times. Proverbs 17:17
15. Sometimes I think I don't deserve my husband.
16. Sometimes I think I don't want to be around my husband.
17. Those beams in my eyes seem to be recurring. (See #16)
18. I need to PLAN. Everything. Always.
19. I am NO fun to live with if my house, to-do list, life...is out of order.
20. My teenager says I'm OCD. I'll have to think about that one a little more. Ok.
     I'll give it to him...a little bit.
21. I love to write.
22. I love to take pictures.
23. I don't write or take pictures enough (probably because they're not
     written down in my planner.)
24. If you meet me and don't know that I love the Lord-or more, that He loves
     me, I consider that to my detriment.
     It's sort of back to the beach thing again (vs17-18).
25. I worry too much about what- ifs and miss too many could-have-beens along
     the way.
26. Do you remember wishing on your third and last fictional wish
     for even more wishes?
     That's where I am with my last random thing about me. I think I'll come back
     later with more and not write a last one here and now. (I'm a planner, yes,
     but not usually "in the box.") I like that about me. (This doesn't count as #26-
     or maybe it does, and the Genie showed up!)

MEDIUM boy, not baby boy, fyi.

IMG_4570w, originally uploaded by TH.Photography.

There's my baby boy. Shhhhh, don't tell him I said that. Unaware that he had a fever (only the 2nd time he's been sick), we visited a park one morning this week and took a couple photos. You know what they say about judging a book by its cover-THIS, my friends, is what cooperation looks like in our world. He's feeling better and is back to his smiley self. :)

3.three.3.THREE

IMG_7905w copy, originally uploaded by TH.Photography.

My three guys. No matter how you put it, my heart is at least 3 times bigger than it was the day I was born. All for one and one for all. Life simply gets no better than when those three sets of hands and feet move in agreement, if not in unison. So many similarities yet as different as they can be. I love them all to the moon and beyond. Thank you, Lord, for my three guys.

A lump of coal

Here's tonight's Nicholasism as we drove home from Grandma's and Grandpa's house:

Nicholas, "Mommy, LOOK! A train! Can we stop to take a picture?"
Me, "I can't pull off the highway right now, but that is a neat train!"
N, "What's in that train and what is it for?"
Me, "That's coal. It's used by some things for fuel similar to how fire works in a fire place."
N, "Oh, well that's a lot of coal."
Me, "Yeah, some people would say that's what naughty kids get in their stockings from Santa."
N, "Well I guess that's where it's going then, to the North Pole getting ready for Christmas."
:)

An normal day...

adaywithMitchel2web, originally uploaded by TH.Photography.

but far from ordinary. I love my son!

A day with my firstborn.

mitchelcollage1web, originally uploaded by TH.Photography.

Last week Mitchel and I got a chance to spend the day alone. Nobody who knows him will be surprised by the photos: Baseball bat, baseball, food, computers, diet cokes...they define the boy. Punch buggy: well, that keeps the travel time fun and I take the chance every now and again to tease him that it's going to be my car of choice for him. That's a long ways from his Corvette dreams. His dreams, my nightmares. Thanks for a fun day, Big M. We can't do it enough! Thank the Lord for a new battery for you computer (free)!

A Pool and a couple pairs of wings

IMG_0704w, originally uploaded by TH.Photography.

Relaxing pool side and nothing gets the little winged boy out of the water faster than the sighting of another winged thing. A colorful Macaw on the Caribbean Man's arm. was too interesting to pass by.. So there we stood, dripping and twisted among all our swimming gear to see this pretty bird. Macaws develop large vocabularies. Who wouldn't speak to my son? And who wouldn't stop speaking?. Short but squweak and it was back into pool for more pirate adventures - leaving the Macaw to fly away home freely with his pirate.                                                                                                      Please.

Digging deeper

IMG_0477w, originally uploaded by TH.Photography.
We could call him Digger. He digs for everything: sand, lost toys, frogs, worms, clams ...answers unexpected and, well, boogers as the little boy in him requires.  I have a photo for that too.
We need to head back to the beach as his digging is obviously incomplete. Stay tuned.

The Big. The Bad. The Boy. The BOSS!

IMG_6390galleryWM, originally uploaded by TH.Photography.

With his blue blanket. And so it goes that he is me. Still, I have to love his, umm, "Instructive" expression as he hangs onto the corner of his beloved blanket. Ahhh, still my little boy in there! I think he may have some ideas of his own bottled up in that little mind of his...and he's not afraid to let them out! Look out world!

beautiful mountain breezes and baseball

STABbaseball036, originally uploaded by TH.Photography.

Well, this the rare side you see of my son playing ball. The fun side! Look at that smile on his face as he talks smack to a varsity teammate. Boys live for afternoons like this. At times, like currently, baseball gets worn out and strung on (from my perspective), but it's this team, The Patriots, who I love to see Big M play with. It's this team's parents who I look forward to getting to know more and more, and it's this team whose coaches bridge the balance of character training, athletic training and life lessons from son to player.
I am here and ready to cheer on the guys as they strive to learn, to follow direction and and take leadership from the coaches- to their own lives and also to their teammates.
I am excited and eager to see these boys bring 2 outstanding rosters to every game this year: Patriots: LOVE, SUPPORT and DEFEND...it's your namesake. We're behind you 100 percent!