Memorial Day...My version

So I am going to stick my neck out and talk to you about my thoughts on Memorial weekend. In doing so I am just voicing my opinion and hope that everyone can appreciate, respect, and most of all not be offended. So here goes...

I remember getting soo exciting about Memorial weekend when I was younger. It meant that we were going to have an extra long weekend at the lake house sitting in the sun. We had sooo much fun! We would play sand volleyball, go boating, and drive around golf carts. Let me just say our "lake house" meant a trailer with golf carts, air conditioner, and most of all phone and cable. It was the life!

However all that changed for me when I lost our daughter, Graycee. We now spend it by driving to Manhattan to visit our daughter. We stop by Hobby Lobby and pick out some flowers to replace the winter ones, grab some baby wipes to clean up her head stone, and I sit, cry, and think. My thoughts are always the same; how old she would be, what she would look like, talk like, and how beautiful she was.

Memorial day is for remembering the fallen heroes of our country and I haven't forgotten why we celebrate this holiday! This is just my version of the holiday now. I use this time to reflect on the past and focus on my future with my family. Memorial day is full of raw emotions for me as I feel sad, happy, scared, and thankful all at the same time.

This is Graycee's beautiful headstone that Brian and I created. I remember telling Brian I wanted the sparkly pink vase and him giving me that are you serious look. WE however love the pink vase and he comments on how fitting it is every year! The picture is of our hands. This photo makes me smile! Brian and Graycee have the exact same line pattern on the palm of their hands.

How do you celebrate/remember Memorial weekend?

Dandelions=Allergic Conjunctivitis/Chemosis

Oh my cute little boys decided to bring in a handful each of these "beautiful flowers" for their mommy! I was soo excited and thought how sweet are my boys!

I rinsed a vegetable can and placed them inside and 5 minutes later this is what my eye looked like!! I noticed that my eye was blurry and my nose was dripping and so I thought oh just my allergies until I looked in the mirror. I ran to the cell phone and called Brian and said my eye is swelling so much I can't close it! I was getting anxious b/c in 3 hours I was headed to my cousin's graduation and we were hours from home. Thankfully Brian was able to get a prescription of Lotemax.
I did Lotemax every 15 minutes until the swelling was gone! As you can tell I LOVE MY OPTOMETRIST!


Here is Brian's diagnosis:

Allergic Conjunctivitis with grade 4 Chemosis

I had extensive swelling of the conjunctiva (clear membrane that covers the white part of the eye). The bubbled part is the swollen membrane.

Moral of the story is I won't be touching dandelions ever again! :)

Lila-3 months (yesterday!)

Lila's stats:

Weight: 10 pounds 15 ounces
Height: 23 inches

I think it is darling how you can see her personality in these photos. Doesn't she look like a princess in this outfit, thank you Shellie! Oh my little princess LOVES to talk! Every time we put her in the swing she looks at her mobile with the sea animals and just babbles on and on.

Lila sleeps from 9pm until 4:30 then nurses and goes back to bed until Miles comes in at 8am. It has been so fun to watch her personality develop. Lila is such a happy content little gal and I feel soooo lucky to have her in our lives!

New Things Lila can do: talk, talk, talk, and somehow she manages to find herself sideways in the crib each morning.

Favorite things: SMILE! she smiles sooo much, also hearing her mamas voice

Places Lila went: Topeka, Stockton, and Phillipsburg

Special Events: We attended a Mother's Day celebration in honor of Alice Carpenter (great-grandmother) It was a bittersweet celebration as she loved entertaining family but we all celebrated in memory of her. I had a special relationship with her and miss her! We also traveled to Stockton Kansas for Amanda French's(cousin) high school graduation. We stayed at Great grandpa Joe and great grandma Darla's house and then on to Phillipsburg to see Grandpa Terry, Grandma Cheri, Aunt Stephanie, and cousin Hunter. In Stockton we also had a BBQ with my biological family and the boys had so much fun playing with everyone.

My birthday breakfast!

This morning Owen asked me to stay in my room until he called me. He said he was going to make me something. Owen knocked on my door and told me breakfast was served! :) Owen called it peanut butter oreo sandwich. It was 2 pieces of wheat toast smothered with peanut butter on both slices with 4 double stuffed oreo's inside. YUMMY! Like any good mother I tasted it and LOVED it! ha I hear another knock and here comes Miles with a plate in his hand. He created a sandwich too for me! It was a slice of wheat toast with a blob of strawberry jam with fruity marshmallows on top with 3 double stuffed oreo's stacked on that.

I am pretty lucky to have such creative chefs around here! They were sooo proud! They got the idea for breakfast in bed when daddy served me on Mother's Day. How sweet are my guys! I love my boys.

The winner is....

Tiffany

Congratulations!

Tiffany won the cd No Changin' Us by Point of Grace. I know that she will enjoy this CD! I just happen to be visiting her next week! I can't wait to have some girl time with her, it's always soo fun!

Thank you to all who entered and left kind words. You are all so sweet!

Bring the rain+Don't forget giveaway ends...

I LOVE, LOVE storms you know the ones that don't do damage but make your grass grow! There is just something about rain that makes the grass grow. So bring on the rain! We just seeded our HUGE yard a couple of weeks ago and we are starting to see our tiny little babies sprout. It has been really fun but WAY TOO MUCH WORK! We have to water 3 times a day which means I have to use 4 sprinklers and move them 7 times to reach all the areas. Of course this has become MY chore b/c I am at home, ugh. I know I won't be complaining about it once my kids can play in it.

Here are some pics of our grass and some night pics of some of the storms we have had. Enjoy the pics.


DON'T FORGET THE CD GIVEAWAY ENDS TOMORROW!!! See post below.

25,000 HITS! Let's celebrate!

I can't believe it has been a year and a half since I have started this blog and I have reached 25,000 hits!!

Thank you all for supporting me during my good times and my sad times! I have some amazing blog friends and I can't thank each of you enough. The support I have received is inspiring and that is why I continue to write! I also LOVE, LOVE, the comments!

So now it's time to CELEBRATE WITH SOME BLOG CANDY!!


One winner will receive a newly released cd of Point of Grace the album is called
No Changin' Us. These gals have great voices and also inspire me! One of my favorite songs on this album is called Love and Laundry.

You can be entered into the drawing 3 ways! If you do all 3 then you get your name in 3 times! Best of luck!

1. Leave a comment on this blog entry.
2. Add yourself to my google friend.
3. Put my button on your blog and leave a comment saying you did so-I will check :)

*The winner will be chosen on May 12th and is open to all US residents!