One of Those Days

It's just been one of those days...Not a bad day, not a great day, just a day to sit back and be thankful and be reminded just how much I love my life. I uploaded a ton of pictures today, yes a ton. I think I uploaded almost 600 to Kodak.

As I sat and waited for them to load I looked to my right and saw my darling husband out the windows working in the yard. As I sat still in a quiet house I could hear the calm breathing of my sleeping baby boy through the monitor. And picture after picture that ran across the screen was of my very smiley 3 year old Bug that always takes my breath away. And very quickly I was reminded what a LUCKY girl I am and how much I truly love my family, friends and my life.

Here are some pictures that just made me smile...No comments needed.

Show Us Where You Live Friday

It's time again to show off my house thanks to Kelly @ http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/

Today is kid's rooms. FUN FUN!!! I love looking at everyone else's and getting ideas.

For today I am breaking my rule and you will be able to see the little monsters names b/c they are plastered all over their rooms. :)

Here's THE BUGS ROOM

I love her bed b/c it's got the trundle under it with tons of storage. Later we will get a mattress so she can have sleep overs with friends.

My very favorite part of her room is the saying above her bed.

Her cute ceiling fan that she LOVES!

My sister made her that picture above her dresser and gave her that cross at her baptism.

The view from her bed

The view from her closet. I had pictures in the growth chart but she kept taking them out so I just decided to leave them out until she gets older.

Now on to Baby Bam's Room...

My husband put up the chair rail. I want to do red and brown stripes below it. I have to beg him! :)

Love this from PB on his wall


I had this roman shade and the dust ruffle on his crib made by a neighbor. It matches his bedding perfect. She did an awesome job. I love it.
My sister made the cute picture below for him.


And Daddy painted this painting above his crib. I want to get it framed. Didn't he do a fabulous job?!!

That little Train rug came from Target!
He sleeps with that teddy bear and little blue bunny. His birth mother gave him the bunny. My mom gave him the teddy bear. He snuggles up with both of them. It's so cute!

My kids love this moose I got at a consignment sale!

The Cross my sister gave him at his baptism.
Go straight ahead folks to Exit...

"That's our rooms. Hope you liked them...Come back next Friday!!"

BYE BYE!!!

Holding Our Breath

Well, I have been cleaning out closets since 7:30 this morning, and I was looking for an excuse to take a break, so here I am.

My last post was a downer huh? Well, my sweet and charming husband gave in...we didn't get to boating BUT we did make it out to my friends camp site. We ate, played corn hole and enjoyed some drinks while all the kids played.

There were 9 kids there. The oldest 2 just finished kindergarten. The youngest was Baby Bam. The kids had a blast, as did the adults. The Bug and I ended up spending the night in Amy's new camper. Seth and Bam went home with hopes of coming back the next morning to hang on the lake, no such luck. It rained. It's raining now. We have had the rainiest (is that a word) spring. Oh well. My grass and flowers are doing really well.

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So, as of my last post looking back, we were petrified. This was a very real reality. The Bug was likely leaving us, losing her back to the very life she came from - the one she was taken from.

We knew what this life meant for The Bug. We didn't know what it meant for us and our future and at that time it didn't matter. Yes, we would be devastated, but it wasn't about US. It was about THE BUG, and C. C was still on the run. She was no where to be found. The reality was, we probably only had only a few days left with The Bug but much bigger than that, she had only a few days left with us.

She was just getting caught up on her immunizations, since she had received none since birth. She was gaining weight, and thriving, but was still having trouble with wheezing and breathing. The thought of her going back to a very smokey house scared the hell out of us. Who would give her the much needed breathing treatments she required? How would the smoking effect her health? I was scared. We were scared.

We would call The Bug's GAL but would get nothing. She was off and on. One day she would act like we were her best friends and the next day she would be short and curt with us. I didn't get it. It was very odd.

Her DCS worker seemed to be on The Bug's side (which also happened to be ours), and that was good but then she decided to quit talking to us. It truly was strange. We wondered, and we stressed and we talked it through, but just got more and more confused. We didn't have clear answers and we didn't understand, but we knew what was at stake.

We understood by now her family situation. We knew details and heard stories. We lived the results of the clear neglect. We lived the reality first hand in several occasions. This was no place for a baby, or a child. We were so scared. We prayed, we cried, we didn't sleep. We held her close. Little did we know that this was the very bitter beginning of the fight of our lives.

A few days before court we got a phone call. Court would be postponed. Violet's boyfriend, Tom had died. He had a heart attack and was gone. Violet was devastated. We too were sad for her. He had just been in court a few days ago. Now he was gone. Court would be postponed until JANUARY. This meant at least 2 more months with The Bug. This meant two more months for C to appear. This meant 2 more months of other dysfunctional family coming out of the woodwork. This meant two more months of DCS searching for other family to take The Bug. This was their job. We knew that... and we were SCARED TO DEATH!!!!

We were beyond HAPPY to be spending the holidays with with The Bug What a wonderful holiday season this was going to be. -Well Sort Of - soon, we would have another foster baby join us, just a few months younger than The Bug. This was going to be interesting. To say the least, it kept us VERY BUSY!!

A few pics from back in that day...

Thank God for Baby Einstein!

Baby J

The Bug and Baby J, waiting for Santa...

Me and Silly Baby J...

Um, Yes, this is what that 2 weeks was like... HELP!

The Family Christmas 2007

Ms. Clause

Uh Oh...Mr. Clause is MAD and he was like this for 2 Weeks. Poor Baby!

The SWEETEST LITTLE BUG IN THE WORLD!!!

Annoyed...

Yep, I sure am.

It's Memorial Day weekend and here I sit. The kids are asleep and Seth is working in the yard and I am BORED!

My family has a lake house in KY that I would sooooo be at, BUT the hot water heater flipped out and flooded the entire downstairs. All was ruined when my parents arrived up there a few weeks ago to find the mess. They just got everything settled with the insurance co. so finally we are able to start getting it cleaned up and back in shape. For now, there is no hot water. Soooo... we aren't there. :( Sucks!

3 of my best girlfriends and their families are on the lake here at home and called begging us to come but SETH didn't want to... UGH. I serioulsy hate it when that happens. One of us ends up disappointed. HMPHH...I guess today that is ME!

It was supposed to rain but instead is turning out to be beautiful and here I sit. UGH.

I am so annoyed!!!

Here are some BEFORE pics of the basement at the lake...I'll take some new ones once it gets fixed.

There are also 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and my Dad's "shop" down there. All - flooded.

Ugh... I am so annoyed. I mentioned that already huh?

It's FRIDAY...Time to show you where I live!

Show us where you live FRIDAY on Kelly's Blog! http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/

It'e the dining room edition and well, my dining room is rather boring... and if you ask me, and I DO live here so I guess my thoughts count...A dining room is wasted space. I sooo wish I could use this space to make my kitchen bigger, or expand my office, or hell...I would rather have a bigger back yard, woops, that's the wrong side of the house. Anyhow, here is my dining room that has been used...ummmm... I think about 4 times in 4 years.

The Ceiling and Chandelier

Another Boring View

The empty bowl that sometimes, if I feel like it, I put different things in for different holidays...Like Easter Eggs or Christmas ornaments.

The Hutch and all the boring stuff that's in it...

You're Bored aren't you?! Me Too...

I do love my PB rug though!!!

...And this print that is always on sale at every Bed Bath and Beyond around the country. I don't care, I like it anyway.

Well, I will end with something that will make you SMILE!!! There's nothing boring about this guy!