My Favorite Prayer

This is the prayer card that was made when grandma passed away. It has always been a favorite prayer of mine and I can still hear grandma playing this on her organ, which I have. I always had tried to learn how to play this, but never successfully did. The song I learned well how to play on her organ was "Let There Be Peace on Earth". This was the first song she ever taught me, besides how to play "Happy Birthday". Love you grandma! We all miss you very much!

Grandma Cooke

Grandma Cooke passed away this morning and my heart is very sad! She was such a sweet person and I am going to miss her terribly. We found out almost 3 years ago that she had congestive heart failure and that it would be only a matter of time. Little did we all know that she would live this long. I love you very much grandma and you will always and forever be in my heart!

My Kids!

As I'm sitting at my computer still awake at 11:45pm, I felt compelled to post on my blog about how lucky I am to be a mom to three beautiful children I have been blessed by God with.

I tend to think that I am way too hard on them many times and I find myself struggling to find that happy medium between not letting them get away with everything and being that cool mom you can always count on.

I think it comes down to the fact that I have a hard time letting go...Brian is in first grade and seems to be taking many steps towards being more independent each day. I feel like he sometimes acts like he doesn't need me, even though I know he does. I am amazed at how smart he is. He's very kind, gentle and loving towards everyone he meets. Except for the occasional brawl with his sister - Katie. He looks up to his dad, whom he adores and wants to be just like him when he grows up. I'm thinking he might be an architect someday, because he can make any creation out of a pile of legos in a matter of minutes. The imagination he has is overwhelming to me.

Katie...what can I say! She is quite the little princess and is trying to spread her wings just as much as Brian is. She gets very frustrated with me at times, because I don't allow her to do everything that her big brother does. She is very stubborn, which I'm not sure what side of the family she gets that from...ha, ha!!! She loves to show her little sister how to do many things. She may be quick to get angry, but she always seems to come back with an even quicker apology. She also is very loving towards all her friends and by friends she also includes all those children she meets for the occasional 30 minute play time at the park. Damon and I know we are going to have our hands full with this one!!

Last but certainly not least...Emily or Emi Lou as I call her. She is such a neat combination of both Brian and Katie. She carries a lot of the same traits that they have. Like Brian, she seems to be very smart and quick to pick things up. She is like Katie in that she has the same smile, her amazing likeness and her lovingness towards babies.

I know that I may not be perfect in raising my children, but I'm not sure if anyone is. What I do know is that I love them all equally and I can't imagine my life any other way. They are such a blessed gift and I feel so lucky that God has allowed me to be a mother.

This may seem like a ridiculous posting; however, I just needed to put down in writing what I was feeling, so at least someday, my kids will know that even though I do get upset with them and make them follow rules, it is only because I love them and want them to grow up being the best they can be. Right now, I am always accused of ruining their life and it's not fair! I have to think back to my childhood and I can remember saying those things to my parents a time or two. Now I get it! It's all done out of love!

Catch up time!

Well, I definitely have not been doing well in keeping up with my posts. Christmas was an absolute blast. Emily was definitely more involved this year and it was exciting and joyous to see all three kids waking up on Christmas morning.

January was a pretty uneventful month. The Winter break from school was nice. I don't think I took the kids anywhere during that time. Everyone got their naps in and was happy. We rang in the New Year at a party hosted by one of Damon's co-workers. We then had some friends of ours stay the night and we got up the next morning and had a nice breakfast together. It was so much fun!!

February has come and gone very quickly. Damon and I are taking another cruise and are leaving this weekend. Damon's parents are coming up to watch the kids. We are leaving from Miami this time and heading to Key West and back to Cozumel. I am definitely looking forward to it. Damon has been traveling so much that we are looking forward to having this time together.

I have recently entered into the Facebook world. I'm still learning how it all works, but am finding that it is a great way to reconnect with some long lost high school friends! I am also going to post some pictures from Christmas to now. These are some of my favorite pictures! I had trouble with the caption size, this was my first time doing this. But at least the pictures are there! Love to all!!! :-)

Time Flies!!!!

Wow! I can't believe it has almost been 2 months since my last blog. Time flies when you're having fun, right? November started out kind of rocky. I had to have my gall bladder removed the first part of the month. I woke up at midnight, a couple of days before Halloween, in terrible pain. I thought it was a bad case of heart burn. Turns out I had an attack. I ended up going in for surgery on the 3rd. Everything went just fine. I was pretty out of it the first day but by the next day, I was feeling better. I was back up and running a week after.

Thanksgiving was wonderful! We went back to see all the family, including my Aunt and Uncle who drove from Ohio. It was really nice. We came back home on Friday afternoon and spent the rest of the weekend decorating for Christmas. The kids are getting so excited for Santa. I thought I spotted Santa several nights ago with one of his reindeer outside my kitchen window. The kids were not acting the best and as soon as they heard me say that, all was calm and good!!! I just love Santa!!! He has the magic touch.

Katie's last day of school is tomorrow and Brian's is on Friday. Katie has her Christmas program and Brian will have a party on Friday. Then we will be done until after the first of the year.

It will be nice to have a break from running everyone around. I feel like that's all I get done doing everyday. I also take a couple of my daycare kids to preschool as well. It's been working out just fine, but the break is defnitiely nice!!!

Well, I gotta go for now. The munchkins are running rampid! Take care to all of you and hopefully, I will keep up better on my posting duties!!

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth!!!

As you can see Brian has lost a lot of teeth within the past month or so. In fact, he lost 2 this week! He's like his mom. If he finds one that is even remotely loose, he will sit in the bathroom and work with it until it is out. I told him he better slow down or I am going to have to get the blender out for all his meals.

He has been walking around singing that wonderful Christmas tune, All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth! This picture was taken by his teacher. There are several other kids with missing teeth and she put them on her class site.

Brian has been just thriving as a first grader this year. We have seen such a difference between Kindergarten to now. He's excited about learning and will come home and give you a complete recap of the days events. I'm soaking it up now, because I know in a few years, this will most likely not happen.

We are so proud of him!

GO HAWKS GO!!!!!

Tomorrow morning is the big day for all of us Hawkeye fans around here. Tomorrow we will finally show the Iowa State Cyclones just how good we really are. In keeping with this topic, I wanted to share the best story about God I have ever heard...

Gene Chizek (Iowa State Coach), after living a full life, died. When he got to heaven, God was showing him around. They came to a modest little house with a faded Cyclones flag in the window. "This house is yours for eternity, Gene," said God. "This is very special; not everyone gets a house up here." Gene felt special, indeed, and walked up to his house. On his way up the porch, he noticed another house just around the corner. It was a 3-story mansion with a Black and Gold sidewalk, a 50 foot tall flagpole with an enormous Hawkeye flag, and in every window, a Hawkeye symbol. Gene looked at God and said "God, I'm not trying to be ungrateful, but I have a question. I was a good coach, I went to three consecutive bowl games, and I turned around Iowa State's entire program." God said "So what do you want to know, Gene?" "Well, why does Kirk Ferentz (Iowa Coach) get a better house than me?"
God chuckled, and said "Gene, that's not Kirk's house, it's mine."

GO HAWKS GO!!!!!!!!!!!