Little things

After we put the kids to bed tonight, Don and I laid down on our bed, watching television. After only 10 minutes, we hear someone open the door and go into the bathroom. Only a minute later, we see a small silhouette in our door way. Jaxon asks us "what you guys doing?" "What you watching on tv?" Don answered we were about to watch him get back in his room if he didn't want to get in BIG trouble, and the little guy ran.

We have been playing a lot of what we call the "animal game". It is something I made up to help them stay awake on the 15 minute drive coming back from the pool. I am thinking of an animal... and then they describe the animal and someone else guesses it. Generally Wyatt comes up with great descriptions of animals like penguins, rabbits, ducks, etc. Lucas is getting the hang of it, but mostly makes up his own animals. OR keeps telling, "that not it" and 20 seconds later, when we have all given up, tells us it is the animal we have already been guessing. Jaxon always chooses a zebra (white and black stripe) or a crocodile (it's mouth goes like this *while his hands slap together*)

Randomly the boys will tell me "M is for mouth!" or "P is for puppy!" Just in the car, while watching tv or anywhere they hear a word a think about it, they will tell me what it starts with. The other day they were watching tv and I am not sure what they heard, but all the suddenly Wyatt blurts out, "B is for butt, Mommy!". Butt is a "potty word" in our house otherwise it would be talked about every minute of the day, but I just praised him on his sounding out skills and let it slide :)

Busy Days

With the temperature rising, the only solution besides running to the air condition of Sam's Club -is going to a local water park. It is the same one we discovered at the end of last summer, but this year the boys are able to enjoy so much more of it!

90% of the pool is only three feet deep, so the boys just wander all around it, chasing each other and finding new ways to put their faces in the water. Their favorite of the moment is to swim under my out stretched arm. They sleep so well after these days at the water park, and for that -Don and I are very thankful.

Summer nights

Today a few summer thoughts came to mind. This morning I felt the familiar scorch on my hands today as I went to wash them. Here in Las Vegas, we have to run the water until it is not scorching hot. Isn't that crazy?

Generally when I am on my way home from sewing at my moms, I like to drive with the windows down -which leads to turning the radio up, which in turn leads to a little car jam session. Tonight it is past 10 pm here, but still over 100 degrees outside. Having the windows down is like having a blow dryer on my hair the entire time. Thank goodness for air conditioning though so it is still enjoyable. Goodness knows I can not drive with the windows down during the day. At least one of the three boys would complain about the it being too windy no matter the weather outside.

I used to have a purple Amigo that we called Juanita. On nights that I am able to drive with the windows down and music blaring, her sale becomes my biggest regret. I really miss the independence and freedom that Juanita made me feel. I loved having the top off I miss looking into the backseat and seeing a thin layer of sand covering her purple interior.

Because of the passing of Michael Jackson, tongiht they had Billy Jean playing on the radio and I couldn't help but dance a bit to the song. Afterwards came Boys to Men and I felt between the songs, I was in a time warp. Imagine how shocked I was to look in the mirror and not see 18 year old me, but a thirty something -glasses wearing person -in a mom mobile. But I don't mind (much). What I did mind was when I came closer to my house and I put the windows up, and turned the music down on the radio and heard myself sing. Gah!

Omaha to Indiana

When we left Omaha the next morning, we knew the next stop would be Indiana by dinner time. But having a 20 hour drive the day before really took it's toll on us and we ended up sleeping longer than we thought we would and then the trailer took longer to collapse than we though it would as well. Combined with losing hours as we drove East, we were falling further and further behind.

Somewhere across Iowa we started noticing the windmills scattered across the horizon. As we got closer we couldn't believe the farm land out there would have all these huge modern looking windmills! They were huge and beautiful and gave us something to look at for the next hour or so.

We made a stop at one of my childhood homes in Illinois. The town was right off the freeway and we just wanted to do a drive by to take a picture of the house. We only lived there for five years, but the house was beautiful and we loved our neighbors, one who still lived there (the Strohman's)and the other (the Wright's) who had moved a few minutes away years ago. When we pulled on the street we saw Mrs Strohman outside of her house! My mom jumped out of the car so excited to see her and we all were hugging and saying our hellos when a car pulled on the street and it was Mrs Wright!


It was such an awesome surprise to get to see them when we were just expecting to be happy enough with taking a picture of our old house. Mrs Wright coming by was a complete chance happening and we were all so happy and giddy. About a half hour later we left with a beach ball from Mr. Wright's work and got back on the interstate with Indiana on the Tom Tom.

Just as it was getting dark we pulled up to my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Harry's house. The boys were ready to break free out of the car and meet Jayson and Tyler, and get a little something in their tummies. After a delicious pizza dinner where the boys warmed up to one another, it was like a switch had been turned on. Outside they went and all five of them just ran around and around, wrestling, playing tag, hiding and scaring each other non stop for over an hour.

They laughed, giggled and screeched so loud I thought for sure the neighbors would complain (it was about 10 pm there!) but luckily no one seemed to mind. I loved that the boys had never met their cousins before but since they all knew they were family all five of them just opened up and had so much fun together. All the play time gave my mom a chance to catch up with my Aunt and Uncle, and Emily and I got to catch up too! The whole day had been full of driving, but seeing our old neighbors (who we hadn't seen since Don and I my wedding almost 10 years ago!), my Aunt and Uncle, and Emily and her family (who we had never even got to meet her family before!) made all the driving so worth while. What an awesome trip this was so far!

Our Belle Girl

An exact week ago today, we came home from our almost three week vacation. Our dog Belle stayed with my parents while we were gone. It just made more sense that way since it was her second home anyhow. They said she hadn't eaten well while we were gone and we all just figured she was sad that her people were gone without her. When we got home that night, I hand fed Belle some food that she ate just fine and taking note of how much food was in her dish, we decided to revisit the situation in a few days.

Belle is the best dog. She knows how to do so many things -of course the sit, roll over, play dead are easy ones. Fetch is one of her favorite, but she always impressed people when we said we couldn't reach something and she would bring it to our hands. Once I dropped the remote behind our bed and dang if that smart Belle girl didn't just run back and get it right away.

She was a daddy's girl- jumping in the pool with Don when ever she could- but she loved to play attack Don when we wrestled around and I would tell her to bite daddy's butt. She would nibble at his tush until he would jump and she and I would always win that way. She loved early morning cuddles and would scoot to Don's place on bed as soon as he would get out to work in the mornings.

We never not once had to worry about Belle with the boys. When they were babies they would just crawl all over her, pulling her fur and ears and she would just lick the baby food right off their faces in return. Not only off their faces though, I never had a crumb on the floor thanks to her help cleaning in the kitchen.

As the boys were between the ages of two and three Belle became one of their best friends, my mom commenting it was as if they were finally all of the same age mentality. The boys would hide Belles toys under their shirt and run through the living room screeching in suspense of her getting them and her tail wagging as she chased them.

Today it became clear to us Belle was not herself when Don tried to feed her a breakfast sausage and she turned her head. At the vets we were told she had a tumor and it had spread to her lungs as well. It didn't look good for her. We would have months at the most. We brought her home with the intention of just spoiling her rotten. To give her all the love and steak she could handle until she couldn't handle any more.

Unfortunately, a few more hours is all she had left to give us.

Our house is missing her already. My feet will miss her little body that I would normally complain was the cause of my funky sleeping positions. My face will miss her morning kisses. And my heart will miss the faithful, forever hopeful furry little girl that our Belle girl was to us.

Rest in peace, little Belle.

Just call me mom

The creative team I am on had an assignment/contest. It was to make an "all about me" page. The idea of those make me cringe because there is not much to "me" right now, but in the end I am pretty pleased with how it came out.



It reads:
When I set out to do an about me page, I was embarrassed that the main thing I do is be a mom. My life completely revolves around the four guys in my life- my husband and my boys. Getting the boys dressed in the morning, then what is for breakfast? If we have school that day, it is a bit of running around to get there on time. Some days we go to the park or to my moms house to give them a change of pace. Then everyday it is the same question of what to feed them for lunch and dinner. Followed by bath and bed time where I get ready to do it all over again the next day. Fill in the spots in-between with laundry and refereeing arguments, some cleaning and playing and that is my life right now.

But when I got to think about it, there is not any other place I would rather be right now. I am so glad I get to cuddle my little boys when they wake up in the morning and fill their need for loves during the day. Having them sit on my lap as I read Thomas the Train book for the fourth time in a row. To feel their little arms squeeze my neck when I get a hug is priceless. I get to watch them learn new words, ideas and concepts everyday and I hear the words,” I love you” at least one hundred times a day.

So while the question of “Who am I?” may not have such a big, important, dimensional answer that it could have ten years ago, it is the answer that I fought so hard to give. There is nothing more I would love to be at this point at my life, than a full time mom and a very blessed wife.

journaled July 2009


More of my scrap pages can be found by clicking here.

Las Vegas to Omaha

Our trip started out with a huge itinerary. 10 stops in less than three weeks! Don and I made reservations for most of our campsites well over 4 months ago and we have been over the route hundreds of times. Lists had been written, checked, and double checked. We had to think about things we may need out on the road that we have no need for here at home. Do you have any idea how many types of bug spray there are? Or the chemicals they put inside them? So many new things for us to learn.

Our trip began May 27th. We had taken my dad's Hummer for the third row option since my mom was tagging along for the first few days and our cars just wouldn't have fit more than five people. Our plan was to leave at dinner time and drive 20 hours straight from Las Vegas through Utah and Colorado and finally reach Omaha, Nebraska. We were driving straight to the Gaggiano side of my family.

The boys slept fine most of the first night. Except they woke up every time we had to stop for gas. It wasn't much of an issue for the most part -except a little after 3am when they all woke up and saw the sun rising somewhere is Colorado. After declaring "the sun's awake!" all three stayed up for a couple hours and one by one they would fall back asleep, although Lucas held out until past lunch time.

We got to Omaha at dinner time and the boys were ready to RUN! Luckily for us, KOA put us smack next to the playground. The boys ran up and down the gigantic slide and swung on the swing and hung from the bars as Don and I set up the camper. Right after dinner time Lisa, Lori, Lynn, Aunt Shirley and Uncle Matt joined us for a couple hours.

This part of the family is more of my Mom's generation, but it was so awesome to catch up with them (outside of Facebook) and get to know them all face to face.