It's finally here...

Our 10th Annual Cropover.

So exciting. I'm just waiting to get on the road.

Meet at the hotel tonight at 7:30p. Dinner reservations for all of us at Carraba's and then back to the hotel. The conference room will be available at that time and you can scrapbook/sleep/swim...whatever you want till whenever you want.

The official crop starts tomorrow and goes from 8-8. Many fun prizes and contests.

Wish you all could be here.

Now I need to get moving and get the rest of the decorations ready and packed. Almost done with it all and not feeling any pressure.

On a side note - we usually don't do a 24 hour cropover - just 12. However, since it is our 10th year, we decided to double our time together. YAY!!

Later!

Thank you -

Thank you to those that remembered Treyton's birthday. I know you can't all be here, but it just makes his face light up when you call to talk to him or when you text.

Can't even believe that my little (BIG) 9 pound 1 ounce baby is 6!! 8-) He was the sweetest and easiest baby - and although he is a regular kind of kid now that does regular kind of kid stuff, he still have an incredibly giving heart and shows the rest of us up in un-selfishness.

Pictures will be here soon - oh, in a year or so. 8-)

Oh, yeah!

This is by Cal Thomas for a FOX news forum!

You Can’t Fake Authenticity

What is it about Sarah Palin that has gotten the liberal media’s knickers in a twist? Why are they criticizing, even mocking, everything from her hair to her faith?

She is exactly what the feminists claim to want and admire in women: strong, self-assured, a working mom, a political leader. But wait, she is a conservative Republican and because of that they hate her for displaying all of the aforementioned characteristics.

They are appalled that she would keep a Down Syndrome child when she could have aborted him. They are outraged when she speaks of God as if she knows Him, when their only acquaintance with the name is as a curse word, followed by “damn.” They are even disgusted that she has five children, as they think one (or maybe two) is enough.

Sarah Palin is to the left what sunlight is to a vampire. Her high heels have knocked them back on the heels of their comfortable shoes.

She has galvanized and united the social and economic conservatives, when the left thought it saw an unbridgeable divide between the “oil and water” elements of the Republican Party.

The USA Today-Gallup Poll published Monday shows a ten point advantage for McCain-Palin among likely voters — the most important constituency. That is a remarkable turnaround when you consider Obama received an eight-point bounce from the Democratic Convention, which has now been wiped-out.

I think it has something to do with the fact that average people, who live in what the left thinks of as “flyover” country, identify with a woman who has an intact, yet imperfect family. They can visualize her pushing a grocery cart at the supermarket and shopping at Wal-Mart.

You can’t fake genuineness and if this trend continues, Obama and the entire Democratic Party — which thought it had this election in the bag — will be left to wonder over the next four years how they got their pockets picked by someone they arrogantly consider a yahoo from moose country.

Back to school...FIRST GRADE!

We had "Meet your Teacher" yesterday afternoon and we were so excited to see Treyton's name on Mr. Pennington's list of students. I was so shocked. Shouldn't have been. I felt again this year that God wanted me to leave my hands off of the teacher thing and let Him take care of it. So I did - was kind of hard. You see, Treyton wanted Mr. Pennington to be his teacher so bad and so I wanted to just go in and request that Treyton be in his class. And I could have - but didn't because of the real feeling that God wanted to take care of it. And He did. What an amazing answer to prayer. Serious Faith Booster at a time when I really needed it.

Looking at his new books after finding his new desk

Nathan showing him some stuff in the classroom yesterday. The twins went with us.

A very happy and excited boy this morning. He couldn't even eat. He told me, "I'm not sure I can eat all this; I'm just so excited to get to school".

After some guidance from Aunt Paulette and from Mommy and Daddy, he decided that he really didn't need a new back-pack this year. He did have money for it, and we told him he could if he decided he really needed one. We were proud of the decision he made. It wouldn't have hurt a thing if he would've bought a new one, but I think he made a very mature choice.
An 8:00am phone call from Daddy this morning. We leave at 8:05. Although this mommy would love to say that his eyes look like they are teary because he just can't handle leaving me, it is actually just that he has really sensitive eyes and I had just taken a picture and so they were still watering. Way to burst my balloon! 8-) It's okay - I want him to want to go.

At his desk - ready to go....errr...should I say...ready for ME to go. lol
Backpack in his locker.

So there you have it ... we are back to school. The twins are fine - although they do keep asking how much longer until he will be home.

I miss him - can't wait till he is home. Can not even wait until I hear what he learned today - which probably isn't much since it's first day review.

Riding, Roping and .....

Revitalizing family time...yup, we are off to the Millersburg Fair Rodeo tonight. 4th straight year. All the boys can think about is whether they will be able to ride the sheep tonight. We will see...Daddy says yes if we get there in time. I think they are already pre-selected though.

They can ride them - as long as they promise me it won't bring a future of cowboy hats, cowboy boots and belt buckles. LOL! Not a thing wrong with all those things - just not how I see them 10 years from now. ...brings a smile to my face...

Jackson's wrist was proven to be a nasty spider bite. He is okay and was in no terrible danger, however, the Dr. says that had he gotten the same bite on his neck or face it might have been an emergency. It seems as though the spider bite wasn't totally awful in itself, but that Jackson was just really allergic to it.

After the Dr. mentioned a spider bite, Jackson piped up and say, "Oh yeah, I was just letting it play there and when I was done I hit it off on the rocks". We assume that the "hitting it off on the rock" scared the spider and it then bit him.

He still has some scale-y looking stuff where the bite was, but it is just from where all the blisters have gone down and we are left with the dead skin from those blisters.

Sorry it took so long to update this info - we were on vacation all last week. I would assume that pictures will follow in a few hours/days, however, I won't promise as we all know how my blog-background looks.

Love all!

Jackson's Wrist

Just a quick blog to ask for some prayers for Jackson. He has apparently either hurt his wrist or has gotten a spider bite. It is extremely swollen and has some discoloration. The Dr. at the ER says it is a possibility that it is cracked, but not completely sure as "4 year old wrist X-ray's are hard to read because of all the movement still going on with a child's bones" (will someone in the medical field verify that this is true). He is now on a couple of medications, but we aren't totally sure what is going on so don't know for sure that the medicine will be doing much for him (I am in no way in favor of giving my child medicine if he doesn't need it, but something does have to be done). We are watching it for 24 hours and then if not any better will be going to Akron Children's for more tests and possibly blood work.

Just pray that we would figure out what is going on. I do have a couple pics of it, but haven't gotten them downloaded yet.

Treyton did fall down steps yesterday and Jackson was coming up the same stairs so he knocked him down. Treyton has a huge, nasty black eye from the fall and it is possible that Jackson's arm got hurt when this happened. It is also possible that it was hurt on a trampoline that he was jumping on on Tuesday night. It could also look like a bug/spider bite, but there is no actual bite place visible.

Thanks for the time that you take to say a short prayer for this issue.

8-)

Summer fun!

It was actually last spring when I took these pics, but I was looking through all of my pictures the other day and these just looked like nothing but summer fun. They had so much fun - just gettin' dirty! Isn't that what summer seems to be all about? If you think differently than that, your laundry apparently differs from mine! 8-)

I seriously had combed the childs hair in the picture above, but it was just amazing how fast it was looking like this again. Marci will kill me!

I should also say...

To those who have been a little impatient....(MELODIE)...I have been working many, many hours a week. I'm so sorry to all of you....(MELODIE)....for the delay. I know you missed me greatly!!

8-) 8-)

It isn't so normal around here after all...

Treyton is now at Uncle Jack and Aunt Paulette's. He wasn't supposed to be going until mid-august or so, but Aunt Paulette got a little worried that something would happen during that exact time and then school would be starting and he wouldn't be able to go.

So...He is there - and having the time of his life to be sure.

He left on Sunday and they said they would just let him decide when he was ready to come back. I should've told them Merry Christmas, because you can be sure if he had his way that is just how long he would be there.

I miss my smart little man, but I am so happy he is getting his time out there with them.

They are just the best!!

...And so, yes, life is now back to normal!

They're almost home...

It has been 5 very different days around here since Friday. Jackson and Jada left Friday morning to spend some time with some very, very favorite family. Those of you that know us at all have heard plenty of times about Uncle Jack and Aunt Paulette. Well, that is where they have been and we are leaving here in just a few minutes to meet them to pick them up. Can't wait to see them!!

It's early...

...but I'm still up and awake and ready for the day and have been since 4:45. The last 2 weeks have unfortunately been heavy on awake and light on sleep. I know it has to do with some extreme allergy issues that keep me from breathing good. Saturday and Sunday nights were the best nights of sleep for quite a while, but last night (Monday) was again a little light on sleep. Although I certainly don't require 8 hours of sleep a night (which has been a good thing in the past), I would still like to have more than 3 or 4. My "feel good" runs down really quick when I go for a long time without a good nights rest. Don't really know why I'm telling you all of this except for the fact that it is laying HEAVY on my heart - and I'm getting a little sick of it!! 8-)

I have to work at Nathan's office today from 9-5. When I get home, I will be working on different things for the early weekend. Plans seem to be going good for the party and we are excited about it. Wish you all could come!


Also, a HUGE congratulations to some of our really great friends - Jonathan and Leanna! We are so happy for you. Aubrey is totally and completely gorgeous...just adding to the beauty that Lindsey had already created! Can't wait to see ya!


I was looking around on my computer this morning and found this layout I did of the twins when they were 10 weeks old. It's amazing what 3 years and 42 weeks does for a baby, huh? I think they both look very different from what they did when they were babies. Obviously you can still tell that these pictures are of them, but .....


Have a great day!


Love!

The twins had a FUN birthday!

We had a wonderful day together as a family yesterday. Nathan takes off work on the kids birthdays and so we just do whatever it is that they ask. One of them wanted to go to McDonald's and swimming and the other one wanted to go to El Rodeo and to Sluggers and Putters (a great putt-putt, bumper boat, go-kart, batting cages type of place). We were headed to Sluggers and Putters when it started raining - it was pouring actually. So we had to cancel that this time, but we did go swimming and were there for a few hours. We also went to both McDonald's and El Rodeo. Our church is having VBS this week so we went there last night.

We have started a (somewhat) fun tradition for our family - at least while the kids are young. We have "family bed" on the night before any one persons birthday and we all sleep together here in our bed. A king size bed gets small REALLY quick with 3 squirmy kiddies. 8-) They love it, but like I said - it is for while they are young. Can't see us doing this with an 18 year old and 2 17 year olds. LOL!

Our party isn't till Thursday the 19th. We are combining their birthday with Treyton's Kindergarten party. Should be great fun!

Anyway - Happy, Happy 4th Birthday to our precious "babies"!

Have a great day.

You know, it is powerful to me how much responsibility lies on our shoulders as mom's. I'm glad to see that Jada is understanding what being a mommy is so young in life. This was over-heard a few days ago.

Jackson - "I'm going to be the mommy."
Jada - "You can't be the mommy because you are a boy."
**Jackson let this go because it was true after all**
Jada - "No, I'm going to be the mommy and I'm going to make supper - Let's go to McDonald's!"

Ahhh, yes - that is what being a mommy is all about!

8-)

It's been a long time...

Hey, friends. Not sure I have anyone that still checks by now, but I am here for a second. I'm sorry I have been MIA for so long. Several different things are and have been taking all my time and so it seems to me that those things must be taken care of before I can justify time spent here online.

For those that are concerned, Treyton is much better. We are down to 2-3 bandaids at this time. Still have just a touch of infection, but it is totally under control. Thank you so much all of you for your prayers - and thanks to my precious sister for blogging about it so that there were prayers being said for him. I love you, Mel!

TAGGED...

1. What I was doing 10 years ago. (I was 17)

• Getting ready to graduate from high school
• Planning to go to College at GBS
• Falling in love with a guy that had the biggest and softest heart - and still does

2. 5 things on my to-do list today.

• Dust
• Sweep
• Clean all three potty's/bathrooms
• Vacuum
• Read with Treyton for "right to read" week which they are having at school
• Set up for the crop tomorrow night
• Settle a dispute
• Settle a dispute
• Settle a dispute
• Settle a dispute

3. Snacks I enjoy

• Ritz Crackers
• Townhouse Crackers
• Triscuits
• Cheese-nips
• Graham Crackers
• Yep, ANY kind of cracker would always be my first choice of a snack

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire

• Pay for my kids school/college, and then their adult housing needs
• Give generously and consistently to both sides of my family who are called to ministry.
• Give a large sum to my church
• Pay off my house
• Invest

I must add a few "real" things here too....all of the above things are the important things and I would definitely do them first...but there are things that all of us want, too. Here are mine.

• Open the largest scrapbook store you could find
• Buy a 1967 Ford Mustang: Fastback for Nathan 8-)
• I'll just take a little BMW or something...lol
• Fly my family to Paris for a month vacation

5. Bad Habits I have

• Not getting in touch with family and friends like I want to
• Procrastinating - It all gets done, but not as fast as Nathan would like. lol
• Would taking too many pictures fit in here? Depends on who you ask. Like Nathan...or Amanda?! lol
• Getting sick to death of routine; I am always up for change. Any type. Sometimes though it could verge on not just being happy with life as it is right now. Like it is perfectly fine that my great room furniture hasn't been changed around in a couple of weeks. 8-)

6. 5 places I have lived

• Brent, Alabama
• I could list several million here while we were traveling, but oddly enough they only lasted a week
• Beach City, Ohio
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Bedford, Indiana
• Massillon, Ohio

7. Jobs I've held

• Ice Cream Specialist at Midway
• Waitress at a restaurant Nathan and his family owned
• Kindergarten teacher at BCBMC
• 4, 5 and 6th grade teacher at SCCA
• Teller at Hoosier Hills Credit Union
• Scrapbook Instructor at Scrap Happy Scrapbook Store
• I do happen to be a Mommy, too although I'm not sure I'm employed because the paychecks seem to be non-existent. lol

8. 5 people to tag

Don't think I will tag anyone...this was fun though.

Later!

Wanna hear Treyton read?

Here is a link that will take you to a page that Treyton's teacher uploads to when her students read a book. Enjoy. It is cute. Of course, I would think that.

http://tuslawblogs.org/communities/files/85/3976/The%20Race%20(Treyton).mp3

Wedding Day.

Here you go - meant to do this a little quicker, but due to an extremely hectic last couple of weeks it just didn't happen. WARNING: red eyes will appear due to extreme low lighting - haven't had a chance to go through and fix them yet.

Picking up the groom to take to the wedding.

Getting ready

We are ready - if this picture doesn't show the differences in their personalities, I don't know what would. A slight grin vs. a full-blown cheeser.
Actually, in reality - one of them just knows how to smile for a camera and the other one is still doing a bit of a fake look. 8-)
I know I'm his mother, but....
And yet another who can't keep his eyes open because of the flash so we nearly always have a lazy eye look. It's okay though - he means well. lol
Love this pic - with her you have to just catch her just right for a decent pic. Otherwise you get the aforementioned "cheese".
Yep, love that hair.

My incredible husband and his brothers who sang a simply beautiful (and nearly tearful for me) rendition of "The Rose". It was undoubtedly the best they had ever sung together.
Getting ready to come down the aisle. Nathan was on the other side of the church with a different camera so I don't have great pics of the coming in.

She did drop more than one flower this time. They walked seperately.
It was the bride's choice to have them walk up and then sit on the front seat with us. So this was taken once they got to us.
Jackson was the ring-bearer....they used an adorable bear for that. It was so cute.
Jada's basket

Mr. & Mrs.
A couple relaxed shots on way to reception.

D J - Introducing Jackson and Jada Weaver
If you will click on this picture you will see how seriously Jackson took his dancing. His tongue is out in fine fashion. He takes dancing very seriously and was the center of attention more than once on the dance floor.



The got this move down quickly. She had a "princess" look on her face each and every time and he felt like he was quite a success.
Treyton wasn't feeling too good. Felt bad for him - just wanted to sleep.
And so here he is - if a child can sleep through music being this loud, then more than likely a parent should let him sleep. Here he is sleeping on a couple of chairs lined up, but he was moved a couple of times through the night and still slept on.Just love this pic.
A very nice uncle who grew even more cool in his neices and nephews eyes this night.
Very cute picture of Nathan's nephew smiling and dancing with Jada.
Daddy and his princess. He can get sappy just looking at this child. I do admit to crying a little while holding the twins and listening to "...I don't know much, but I know I love you" being played by the DJ. Beautifully emotional moment.
Daddy and his very humorous (really) prince. He makes us laugh consistently.
Here you can see the people standing around in a circle around Jackson while he took his liberty there on the dance floor. Awww.....Certainly you knew this picture was coming.
And we made it...they were absolutley perfect. I know - I'm bragging. Seriously though, when you are a parent and you have two children in a wedding, you can get pretty nervous as to what their actions might be through the day. I was so pleased with how good they did.

We were sleeping when our heads hit the pillow at nearly 1:00am.
Mama's boy
Mommy's baby boy. I know - I still call the twins "the babies". Bad habit, but I don't see it being broken any time soon even though they are (unbelievably) nearly 4 years old.

I certainly hope no one was bored with these pictures. Tons of them and I apologize to those of you working on dial-up speed. You can shoot me later. 8-)

Love