Talkin' About Heaven...

Last night, on the way home from church there was a beautiful full, glowing moon.  Gracelyn and Ayden were sitting in the back of the car, talking about how pretty it was.  Then Gracelyn asked, "Mommy, does Jesus live on the moon?" And then started one of the sweetest conversations I have ever had in my life...

"No, Gracelyn, Jesus doesn't live on the moon.  He lives in Heaven," I told her. 
"Well, is Heaven in the sky?"  asked Ayden.
"No," I replied, "Heaven is past the sky.  We can't even see it," I told him.
"Well, how come we never go there?" asked Gracelyn.
"Yeah," said Ayden, "Let's go to Heaven!"
I had to think a minute before I could respond to this.  What exactly could I say?
"We can't go to Heaven yet.  That's where we'll go when we die," I told them. 
"Well, I don't want to do that!" Gracelyn exclaimed.
"You don't want to do what?" I asked.  "You don't want to go to Heaven?"
"I want to go to Heaven, but I don't want to die!" said Gracelyn. 

TO BE CONTINUED...

Five Question Friday

This is the first time I've ever joined a blog hop!  I always love reading other bloggers' posts, so I thought I would give it a try myself!

1. Do you close the bathroom door when you are home alone?

LOL Funny question...Well, I am never home alone...ever.  But, I still don't close the bathroom door.  LOL I don't even close it at my parents house! ha!  If I hear someone coming I might try to close it real quick, or sometimes I just scream that I am using the bathroom and tell them not to look! :)

2. You have to walk around with a word on your forehead. That word describes you. One word. What is it?

I'm having to sit a minute and think about this one.  I think it would have to be BLESSED.  Because that is so true about my life.  Every person God has placed in my life is amazing, and I never want to take that for granted!


3. What store do you refuse to shop at and why?

Hot Topic. Hands down.  I am probably the furthest person from gothic, and that store just freaks me out. 

4. If you participated in arranged marriages for your child(ren), who would you choose for your child(ren)?

I have absolutely no idea who I would choose fo rmy children.  I have thought about them getting married, but that is soooo far away, and I don't even want to think about that yet!
I just want them to marry someone who will love them, treat them right, and make sure they are always happy.


5. If you could pick how and when you would die, would you?

I really don't want to know when I will die.  Because that day would always be in the back of my mind.  I want to enjoy my life up until the very last minute.  As far as choosing how I would die?  Of course I would rather die peacefully than in some tragic way! 
But I am so thankful that no matter how, and no matter when my life ends, I will be spending eternity with Jesus.
. 

Ready for Some Sleep!!

I am SO glad tomorrow is Friday! Today was an exhausting day...I had work, of course, then as soon as I left there I went straight to Gracelyn's school for open house...then tonight I had to go back to my school for a meeting. I am so glad to be sitting on the couch right now, and in just a few minutes I will be laying in my bed!
Gracelyn and Ayden stayed with my mom while I was at school tonight, and thankfully she gave them a bath and fed them for me!! They both fell asleep on the way home so I put them straight in bed. I am hoping they let me sleep a little later than 6:30 AM this Saturday...last Saturday morning they were wide awake before the sun came up! LOL!
I want to write about something funny that happened yesterday morning because I don't ever want to forget this...my iron is messed up so I had to iron Gracelyn's school clothes at Mama's yesterday morning. I went ahead and fixed her hair and put on her shoes before we left our house, but I left her in the t-shirt she had slept in. She had a hard time waking up yesterday morning, and when I put her in the car I said, "Gracelyn! Are you really wearing that to school??!!" She looked down and saw she was in just a t-shirt and panties and the look on her face was priceless!! Her eyes popped open and her mouth dropped, and she said, "Mommy! Are you kidding me?! Everybody's going to see my panties!" It was hilarious! How scary it must've been for a minute for her to think she was actually wearing that to school. I've had nightmares about things like that! LOL She was a funny looking sight, though with her hair fixed wtih a big pink bow, her cute little shoes...and then her panties and a t-shirt!! haha!
Well, it has come time for me to crawl in bed and snuggle close to Michael :)
This is definitely one thing that will make me smile at the end of the day...

There's not a night that goes by that I don't kiss their little sleeping faces over and over, praying the Lord will keep them safe and save their souls as soon as they are old enough to understand how.

It's Monday Again!

I can't believe it's already Monday already! Why does this weekend always fly by so fast?! I love, love, love Friday afternoons because I know the next two days are MINE! But before I know it, it's 5:00 AM Monday morning, and I am being awoken by the annoying sound of my alarm. I always hope that I'm just dreaming that I hear the alarm going off. I love when I wake up and look at the clock to see it's only 1:30 or 2 in the morning, but when I wake up and see that's it's 4:30 or anything close to 5, I literally want to cry! LOL

Saturday night we went shopping so I could buy some work clothes. I am sooo picky when it comes to buying clothes, and I was so excited that I actually found quite a few things I liked!

I wore one of the outfits to church yesterday and after church Ayden ran up and hugged me when he came out of the nursrery....I sat down and bent over to hug him, and my skirt got caught underneath me and ripped down the side. I was so upset :(

Then I started this morning off by trying to iron my brand new shirt...I really wish I had read the tag that said DO NOT IRON first...I pretty much burned a whole through the entire sleeve. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't ripped my skirt yesterday. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I was so upset. Michael asked me what was wrong, and I just started sobbing. He was so sweet because he just stood there and hugged me until I stopped crying. This was after he only got about four hours of sleep because he worked three wrecks last night, one of which was a fatality, and was called out at 6 this morning for another wreck. But, I'm glad he still found the time to hold me tight and let me cry because of my streak of bad luck with putting holes in my clothes! ha!

This afternoon Gracelyn had to decorate a "flip-flop" for homework. I had bought her some glitter, sequins, and stick-on flowers, so we went outside on the front porch and started glamming up her flip-flop! Of course Ayden wanted in on it, so I drew him a smiley face and let him sprinkle glitter on it. They had so much fun, and so did I :)
Even Paws tried to get in on the fun!

Such a bittersweet day...

Today was the day I knew would be hard ever since I first held my baby girl on May 24, 2006. Gracelyn started kindergarten. We went to Meet the Teacher last night, and Gracelyn was so excited to see her new classroom. But, this morning, when I kissed her bye and knew I was leaving my little girl at a big school with so many people without me there to take care of her...it just broke my heart...into a million pieces. I'm still supposed to be feeding her a bottle and looking into her eyes as she stares at me and makes those sweet little baby noises. I'm still supposed to be rocking her and singing her to sleep every night. I'm not supposed to be leaving her by herself all day, every day! I need to be there to take care of her if she gets hurt, take up for her if someone is mean to her, tickle her to get her in a good mood when she's upset, wipe her tears when she cries. I was so proud of her, though. When I left her in her classroom this morning, I left in tears...and when I got in my car, the tears kept flowing...and throughout the day, every time I thought about her eating her lunch in the cafetera or playing at recess, the tears would start again...and as I am typing about it, replaying it al in my mind, I sit here with tears rolling down my cheeks again.

Yes, I may be a bit emotional about it, but this is MY baby. I never want to see her hurt or see her heart broken.

I am so thankful, though, that Gracelyn has the absolute sweetest teacher and teacher's assistant in the world. They are so loving and caring, and I know she is taken care of..it just hurts that I'm not the one taking care of her while she's at school. The teacher gave all the mommys a little note today that was sooo sweet (and of course, made me cry more), but it was so thoughtful of her to think about us and what we were going through.

My once in a while update...

Summer vacation has already come and sadly almost gone! I looked at the calendar today...which I had been putting off for a while now..and realized school starts back three weeks from tomorrow :( But, I am starting a new job teaching at the high school this year, so I at least can look forward to something new and different...and hopefully something more enjoyable.

I want to catch up on a lot of pictures tonight. I haven't posted pictures from Gracelyn's birthday party in May..and what's worse than that, I haven't posted pictures from Ayden's party wayyyyy back in January! I think that may be why I dread blogging sometimes, because I feel like I have to catch up on things every time I do. So maybe after tonight, I can stay caught up. I highly doubt it, but we'll see.

Today me, Gracelyn, and Ayden went shopping with my mama, Kortney, and Jayden. I have to say I wasn't in a shopping mood today..which is very rare! Not sure what was wrong, but I have just felt tired, sleepy, and short-tempered all day! So I am guessing I wasn't the most fun shopping-buddy today, and I feel kind of bad about that. Also, while I'm thinking about it, I know I am and English teacher, and trust me, I know proper grammar...I know that I should've written Gracelyn, Ayden, and I at the beginning of this paragraph, but I was raised in South Mississippi, and that's just how we talk! I know it's not "grammatically correct", but I just feel weird saying it any different! ha! So, sometimes, I may say it correctly, and other times I may not! LOL

Anyway....back on topic :) I cut Michael's hair tonight after supper, and he (like always) was in a mood to pick on me, trying to be funny. Wellll...I got him back tonight! While he was in the shower I went and took every single towel out of the bathroom so he was left with nothing when he got out of the shower! I have to say it was pretty funny when I was watching from the balcony and he came in the living room looking for towels! hahaha!

I guess I will start with pictures of Ayden's birthday party:
Ok, maybe I won't! For some reason, it's not letting upload pictures tonight...oh well...maybe tomorrow :)

My baby is FIVE years old!

I can't believe it. I cannot believe how quickly time has passed. I barely feel like I should be graduated high school..much less have a precious little girl who turned five-years-old today! On Gracelyn and Ayden's birthdays, I like to think back to the days they were born and re-play every moment in my head. I was induced with Gracelyn, and the labor went MUCH easier with her than it did with Ayden. I remember after getting to hold her a while, they took her to clean her up and get me settled in a new room. It felt like an eternity before they brought her back to me. But, before they brought her back in, I just sat there, terrified and scared to death of seeing her again! I know that sounds odd, but I could not believe that precious little life was mine and Michael's to raise! I remember crying and But, the moment they laid her in my arms again, everything was perfect and all of my fears were gone.
Today, since I had to work, Mama made cupcakes with Gracelyn and Ayden for her birthday. I let Gracelyn choose where she wanted to eat tonight...and surprise! She wanted to go to McDonald's! ha! Michael is working around Yazoo City for the next few days, so we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese this past Saturday night since he wouldn't be here to go out to eat on her birthday.
Her party is this coming Saturday, and I have barely started doing any planning! I have been so busy with school that I haven't had time to think straight! So, hopefully Thursday and Friday I can spend getting ready for the party...and cleaning my house!
On the way home from McDonald's tonight, I was telling Gracelyn how five years ago she came out of my tummy and was in this world for the first time. Well, she proceeded to ask me how she came out of my tummy...I thought just telling her the doctor took her out would be a good enough answer...but no! She kept on and on and on....haha! It was a very awkward conversation, to say the least! LOL She kept saying, "But, how, Mommy? Where did I come out of?" So I finally told her she came out of my belly button, and even though she acted like that was a really weird place for a baby to come out, she finally stopped asking why...thank goodness! Because I was running out of things to say!
I love that little girl so much! She always has us laughing! She is always acting silly and putting on a show. And she is definitely my daughter because she is as prissy as they come...always wanting to put on make up before we get out of the car and she knows she cannot go in public without a bow in her hair! The Lord blessed me with both her and Ayden. I know I don't deserve such blessings, but I am so thankful the Lord saw fit to give them to me anyway.

It's Been a While...AGAIN!

I really do worry about not updating my blog...I worry about it a lot! I worry about forgetting things Gracelyn and Ayden say or do....because I have already forgotten so much that I never even wrote down. Every day I promise myself I will set aside time after the kids are in bed to sit down at least a couple of times a week to update this. I fail miserably EVERY DAY!! And I really do want to write every day...but before I know it, it's already 11:00 p.m. or midnight and I can barely hold my eyes open!

But I did want to make sure I blogged today because something happened Saturday that I never want to forget about. Now, I know that all parents think their kids are the cutest and funniest in the world...but mine really are! LOL I'm just kidding...I mean, of course I think they are, but others may not! ha! So, anyway, I did a few Easter photo sessions Saturday, and Michael brought over some of his mom's baby ducks for me to use. They were definitely camera shy, so having them in pictures didn't work out, so I just left them in their box most of the day. Late that evening, when I was finishing up, Michael came and got the box of ducks to take back to his mom. Then I heard him say, "Brooke! One of the ducks were missing!" I figured he had to have miscounted them because we had hardly even taken them out of the box...how could one be missing?? So I went and counted them myself, and sure enough, there was only nine instead of ten. So we went searching through the weeds and by the pond, thinking we would find the duck...and most probably not alive! Well, Kortney's friend (boyfriend, really, but she won't admit it!) said he had seen Gracelyn carrying a duck around earlier. Immediately, I thought, of course Gracelyn has it! First of all, that girl is very sneaky, and she's definitely an animal lover! So I went looking for her and Ayden. They were nowhere to be found outside, so I went inside yelling their names. I couldn't hear a peep from them, which was very unusual. So I went upstairs, and saw that their playroom door was closed. I called their names again, and Gracelyn eased her way out of the playroom and closed the door right behind her so I couldn't see in. I asked her if she took the duck somewhere, and she just stared at me, trying way too hard to look innocent. I said, "Gracelyn! Where is the duck!?" About that time, Ayden threw the door open, and said, "Mommy! The duck is right here!" He ran inside their little tent and brought that poor duck out with its legs flailing and quacking for dear life! It was one of the funniest sights I had ever seen! Gracelyn told me the whole story later...it turns out they'd had the duck upstairs for hours! They had put it under a towel they found in the garage, walked right past Michael while he was working in the yard, and took it upstairs without him ever even knowing! Gracelyn said, "We had to leave the duck upstairs by itself when Daddy told us it was time to eat lunch!" LOL!!! They even sat with Michael and ate lunch, and he said they never gave a single indication they were hiding a duck upstairs! SNEAKY kids!! I guess they were planning to raise a duck in the playroom without us ever knowing?!?! I just wish I had a video of the whole thing...starting with them sneaking the duck in the house all the way til when I found it! We definitely got a laugh from it. Sure, I could've gotten on to them for sneaking the duck in the house, but how could I get on to them when I was laughing so hard?!

Michael's cousins have an old fishing boat out at our pond, so Sunday after church, we took the boat out. It was SO much fun! The boat has a ton of little holes in it, so Michael used his coffee cup to scoop all the water out! Paws jumped in there with us for a little while, which Gracelyn and Ayden loved, but it wasn't so fun after he jumped in the pond and Michael had to drag his body back in the boat, that he kept shaking off over and over, getting us drenched with wet dog/pond water. So that was pretty gross!

I am so excited that next week is spring break! I have been counting down the days! I can't wait to go to bed at whatever time I feel like it and not have to get up before the sun rises in the mornings :)

Three Years in the Blink of an Eye

It doesn't seem possible..my baby is THREE years old today! Where has the time gone?! I feel terrible because I barely got to see him at all today. He, Gracelyn, and Michael are all sick with bad chest congestion and fevers, so they were home all day while I was at work. I had to go to three basketball games after school to take pictures for the yearbook, fly by Wal-Mart to pick up stuff to make cupcakes and a small gift for Ayden to open tonight and then through the McDonald's drive thru to get the birthday boy supper from his favorite place ever. I got home around 8:30 and we didn't even start the cupcakes til after 9!! So we had a late night. Gracelyn and Ayden decorated their own and loved it...probably because they got to make a huge mess with the sprinkles! LOL
We are not having Ayden's party until the 29th of this month, so I wanted him to at least have one gift to open tonight. I got him a little magnifying glass and a miniature lantern that matched (he is absolutely obsessed with flashlights, so I figured he would love the lantern!) It wasn't much at all, but you would've thought I gave him the world.
I love that little boy so much. He is the first one to hug me, kiss me, and tell me he loves me. He never, ever forgets to say his blessing before he eats...and if he gets second servings, he will say it again...and sometimes he'll say it before every bite!! He has such a big heart and is so loving and sweet...now yes, he does have his "moments" where he may not seem like the sweetest boy in the world...but isn't that just called the "Terrible Two's?!" If that's the case, then as of today, the "Terrible Two's" are OVER!!!! Ha!! I somehow doubt it...something tells me it will roll over into the "Terrible Three's!"
But no matter what...that precious boy has hold of Mommy's heart...and always will.

Sweet dreams :)