Kitchen Ideas

http://beatricebanks.blogspot.com/2011/05/galley-kitchens-looking-grand.html

Ladies Man

...18, 19, 20 pushups

Fun times with Alistair...

Run Forrest...RUN!!

Attention: Alistair appointed head of house maintenance

Alistair has appointed himself head of preventative maintenance. He is making sure all drawers are functional. 

This job ain't as easy as it looks!

Can you give a brotha a hand? I seem to be in a pickle

Run over daddy in 3 easy steps...

1. Innocent approach

2. Attack!

3. Daddy down

My BIG boy

In a few short weeks, my sweet Alistair will be 6 months old.....that is half of a year!  How did that happen?  It really seems like only yesterday I brought him home from the hospital, a nervous wreck!

He has grown so much and is doing so much-how amazing to watch his little face as he tries to figure out how to get the rattle in his mouth (since that is where everything goes, of course).  What delight in my soul to hear his laugh, and how my heart physically aches when he cries and I can't do anything to console him (like when he slams his face with a toy :) 

In the past few months, he has grown by leaps and bounds!!  At his 4 month check up he was over 17 lbs and 28 inches long!!  He was 97% in height, following in his brothers footsteps maybe?  He will be 6 months in two weeks and I am pretty sure he will have at least hit the 20 lb mark-if not passing it.  And just last week, his first two baby teeth made their debut, he is certainly getting to be a big boy!  But aside from the physical changes, he is also making some amazing developmental changes.  He can sit up on his own now and rolls over whenever the mood strikes (which isn't too often), he can also read the newspaper (well not quite, but he is getting close to hear Roger tell it).  He loves to splash in the bathtub and in the pool.  Loves to slap his daddy around.  Loves to squeeze mommy's face and loves to pull off Spencer's glasses.

He has got to be one of the happiest babies I have ever seen and I am enjoying every minute of baby motherhood!

It seems he has always been a part of our lives.  I guess for the past few years, he was that glimmer of hope-something I longed for and waited for with great anticipation.  So maybe that is why he seems to have already been around.

Spencer is a fast one!!!

This school year has ended for Spencer with a bang!  Not only has he finished the 4th grade, but he has now finished his time in Elementary School.  Yes, next year my sweet little boy will be in middle school.  I remember when I was in middle school and I would be remiss to tell you that I am truly terrified of this stage in his life.  So many things he will learn, both good and bad, over the next few years and he is no longer going to be as naive and innocent and he once was.  But I suppose that is the way life works.

His end of year program was a few days before the last day of school and he received several awards!  He got an award for A & B honor roll all year.  He got an award for being in the top 5% of his class on the standardized testing, he got an award for being the fastest runner in the 9 year old catagory!!  THis one surprised me, I know he is pretty fast-but top place??  I was amazed.  I too often take for granted what a wonderful son I have in Spencer.  He is smart and funny, and apparently quite fast.

 This is his medal for A & B honor roll

 Trophy for being a stealth runner!!!

Certificate for being so darn smart!

And Alistair was so proud of his big brother, that he just got all tuckered out.

Bring on Middle School!  At least I know now that if Spencer gets in a pickle he can outrun whatever is chasing him.

Backslidin'

Spencer has lately been asking me why we don't go to church. Will we ever go to church? Why can't I just drop him off at church? I remember asking the same questions of my mother at around his age, and I suppose it proves that we are a product of our environment-unless we change the cycle. I always thought that I would grow up to be a church goer. I had a pretty good run going when Spencer was little. Then came the divorce.....

I will admit that I not only stopped attending church, I stopped a lot of things when I found myself a single parent living with my parents, then my grandparents. I slowly started to live again, but never had the fire to get back into church like I was before. It really conflicted too much with my "me time". I have thought a lot about that lately and am completely ashamed of myself and some of the paths that I have been down. I wouldn't change it, because those experiences make me who I am. The wife, mother, step-mother, aunt that I am. But I am still ashamed.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a church service that really spoke to my heart and made me think a lot about all the time that had passed since I was last active in a church, or active in the Word for that matter. I don't want my children to grow up not knowing the Word of God and not having the precious experience of knowing that Jesus loves me this I know.

How intimidating to walk into a building, where everyone knows everyone, except you. Where you feel completely out of place, then the message comes and you know this is right where God wants you to be at this exact moment. I hope that this fire continues to burn, that my sons can grow up in a Christian home, that I will have the courage to walk through those doors again and pick up where my journey left off.

I am ready for change in my heart and in my life. I am ready for a new closeness with God that I can share with my children. I am ready!

Jordan's Happy Day

Six years and two months ago I started dating the wonderful man that was to become my husband. And in dating him, I got the wonderful gift of Jordan. I remember seeing her on her 13th birthday and that I got her a shirt with fairy things on it because I thought she was into all that mystical stuff. I remember when I found out he had a daughter the same age as the twins how excited I was because I knew how girls were at that age, and I felt very confident that I would bond well with Jordan. Boy was I wrong on one end, Jordan was nothing like the twins I had been a stepmother to for the past nine years!! But I was right on one front we did bond well. Jordan, at the time was a sweet, naive, little girl that could beat most grown men at any video game thrown her way. She was, and still is, very artistically talented and has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger. She has grown into a beautiful, smart, sassy woman-who now serves our country in United States Navy. I couldn't be more proud of my daughter.

Today she is nineteen. She has accomplished so many things and has so many things left to see and do in this great adventure we call life. Six years and two months ago I met my daughter for the first time and it has been a wonderful ride ever since. Happy Birthday to my sweet Jordania!!!

Please leave old friend

I have recently been vistited by an old "friend" of mine. He has set up residence here, although I have repeatedly asked him to LEAVE. He is the voice that defies reason, he is the little devil on my shoulder making me doubt everything I do and question all logical assumption. Sometimes he is so quiet I think he is gone, and sometimes he is so loud I cannot think of anything but shutting him up. Today he is loud and I decided, I am going to get on that treadmill and run him out of here, but of course while finally getting up to a jogging pace, he whispered in my ear, loud enough to hear over the whirring of the treadmill, loud enough to hear over the music from the television, "You know if you trip and fall off of this thing, there is no one here to help you-no one to take care of the baby, who will wake up hungry-with no one to feed him". I told him to shut up and kept on running. Of course I still heard his words, but I am trying my hardest to not give them substance. I am bound and determined to no longer LISTEN to him. I will eventually get him out of my life, out of my thoughts. For now I will just have to co-exist with him and hope he gets bored enough to leave.

It only lasts five minutes....

As I was riding in the car with my sister in law, Lori, and we were discussing the ups of downs of an infant again, she shared with me something that her Aunt told her, "it only lasts 5 minutes". That really sat with me and I have thought about it all morning. How so very true that is. I think back to when my Spencer was a newborn and would keep me up all night and all day, how scared and tired and crazy and depressed I was, but it only lasted five minutes, or so it seems. Before I knew it, we were celebrating his first birthday out by the pool at the apartment we lived in at the time, and even then I wished for him to be bigger, to be able to play more independently, to be able to fully feed himself a meal, to be able to TELL me what was wrong, and before I knew it that 5 minutes passed and he was turning two, and was able to do all of those things and yet I always looked ahead, never enjoying those precious minutes as they passed right by me. Along came the third, fourth, fifth birthday, and not once did I stop to think how fast it was all passing me by.

My Spencer is going to turn 10 in a few months. He is a good boy, smart, sensitive and caring, but can be sassy with that mouth of his. I will, from here on out, remind myself that this 5 minutes will pass and he will be graduating from high school......getting married.....having his own children, God willing. And when he calls to tell me how his baby is keeping he and his wife up all night, how his little child is going through the terrible two's, how his sweet angel stayed out past curfew, I will most likely laugh and say something along the lines of "Glad I am done with that phase in my life". But I know in my heart I will be thinking and longing to get those minutes back. Those precious minutes that fly by before you even realize it.

Oh and I guess it would make sense to announce the arrival of Alistair Mackie Clayton, born December 26, 2011, just in time for a tax write off!! That boy was thinking ahead in the womb! Jordan left for Navy bootcamp two weeks before his arrival. One left and one came....Spencer is still here!

BUSTED!

So yesterday, I spent the day shopping with my sisters in law and my aunt and was totally called out on how infrequest my blogging has been! Now that I am somewhat of a stay at home mommy, I am going to make more of an effort to keep up with this thing!

I love it when people in your life call you out on things out of love and make you feel like a failure, which in turn inspires you NOT to be a failure and then....well you know what happens. You become a WINNER!! Look at Charlie Sheen, he was acting a fool, got called out on it and voila-he spends every media minute talking about what a winner he is!!

Spencer came home today after a spring break week with his Dad, and Lord knows I missed him! It was also so special to see the look of recognition on Alistair's face when he saw him. Can a three month old remember someone he hasn't seen in a week? Who knows, but I swear when he saw his big brother his little face lit up as if to say, "there you are! I have been looking for you" Spence is such a good big brother! He loves his little A so much and really can't wait to play with him as he gets bigger.

So as much as I wish I had some thought provoking and inspiring words to type to the world, I am at a loss. I guess as I keep up with this blog I will come up with some truly witty things to say. Until then......

WOW

Has it really been so many months since I wrote on this blog? Let me catch you up, since the last entry we have given the dog away, bought a house, owned two homes for two months (since one was in Cotton Lakes, we called it our lake house until it sold). I got a new job, knocked off four more classes and will be graduating on schedule in December. Spencer has lost three teeth and is in 2nd grade and loving it. Jordan has lost her retainer and in 11th grade and wishing for graduation. Roger is taking it one day at a time trying to hurt the children lol!!!

Life is fabulous if I do say so myself!!

Sorry for the delay!!

I know I haven't been as good at blogging as I thought I would be, but things on our end have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. We enjoyed a nice visit with Roger's sister, her husband and their five children along with Roger's brother from San Fran and the other two brothers that live in Birmingham. It was a family reunion of sorts.

I am halfway done with this term of school then 6 classes left until my short lived freedom (pre-MBA) <-- This is still on the thinking block so we will see.

Roger's job is moving and grooving and he loves it almost as much as we love having him back home in our hometown. Moving was never something I really wanted to do in the phase of our lives, but you gotta go where the money (or job) is sometimes. Either way we would have made it as we have made it through all of the little trials and tribulations of the last year.

Spencer is doing well in wrapping up his first grade year, to date he has read over 70 books in the schools AR reading program and is doing very well in school. We have recently noticed a talent in his basketball skills and may be investigating a team sport of sorts in that area in the future.

Jordan is diligently trying to put this year of school in the history books so to speak. She won three regional awards for her artwork and will continue with lessons throughout the summer. SHe is super excited about inheriting the Rodeo to drive and is anticipating the license she needs to operate it. Soon, little Jordan, soon....

Roger is off again............

Roger was home for the weekend and we all had a great time trying to settle into our routine with him here. We went bowling with his brother, Kimball and his wife Jamie, on Sunday night and Spencer beat both of them!! We all had a really great time. Roger left again this morning on a flight heading back to Virginia and is going to brave the crowds tomorrow in DC and try to get to work. I miss him so much more now than ever before because I know how long it will be before I see him again.

School is keeping me really busy and it helps me to focus my energy on something other than the fact that our family is incomplete with Roger away. Rylee (our puppy) is growing by leaps and bounds and the vet told me that we are doing everything right. Her appetite is healthy and she is a very happy and rambunctious dog!

Jordan and Spencer are doing well making it on their own with me at school all the time and I hope they don't kill each other before I finish.

Rylee loves her turtle, just like her Momma!!

This is our sweet little baby, Rylee. She is 2 and 1/2 pounds of pure playfulness. I picked her up last night from my sweet Aunt and Uncle and she took to me right away. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, but hopefully that will get better in time. Can't wait for you to meet her.

Roger is really gone.....

It is official, Spencer is now the man of the house, Lord help us all!! Roger left this morning to go to D.C. and i can feel the miles between us growing. Please keep us in your prayers.....