Some Pivacy Please

For the past couple of years whenever Ella was using the restroom and someone would walk in she'd say, "some pivacy please" and I loved it. She now inserts r's properly into her words and that sweet saying is gone but in honor of it we're taking our blog private. It's become apparent to me lately that we've had some activity on the blog that concerns me. So if you're a regular reader and I know you, email me and let me know that you'd like to continue popping in from time to time. If you're a regular reader and I don't know you, well we'll just have to see what happens. Our 4 children are the most important things in the world to us so this isn't meant to make things complicated, just give us "pivacy" in a busy blogging world.

Lost Time

Life just keeps sailing on by and my time on the blog has been zero to say the least. I know I felt as a mom to young ones several years ago that our lives were so busy and I wondered how I'd get it all done but now it's just downright nuts. We're never at home and with with the three boys playing baseball we're gone all the time. Add homework, Max's budding life as a pre-teen and church activities too, we're swamped. Life is full but very busy. So the long list of photos below summarizes some of the last month and a half.

Mark took a a trip to Augusta, Georgia to see the practice round at the Master's with his parents and only brother. They had a great time. Mark came home with a renewed desire to have the best lawn on the block so we've been out in the yard a lot this weekend. Of course it helps that I have a brother in law that works for Scott's lawn products and we get awesome freebies.

Max was confirmed on Palm Sunday and my parents were able to make the trip down to celebrate with us. It was a very special service seeing Max publically profess his beliefs. He wrote an excellent faith statement and we were so proud. All the confirmands lit small votives and Max was the last one to light his and it just wouldn't light. He finally got it to work and Pastor Harland commented on how tough it was but then as he began to pray the candle went out. I was so concerned knowing Max would be aware of it but at the end of the prayer it came to life again. Mark closed the service and said he was praying during Harland's prayer that the candle would burn brightly and it did! Max will most certainly burn brightly in the world. It's our prayer all the time as he leaves our house and enters his big world of middle school.

Baseball has been so fun this season. Max is in his last year of Majors and we prayed so hard that he'd have a coach that was encouraging, instructional and would mentor him to improve his game. We got all that and more. Coach Morrow loves the game as much as Max and he's been having a great season. His stats so far are great and we'll post them all at the end of the season. I thought I was stressed enough with one pitcher in the family but it looks like we could have two more coming right behind Max. Ben was put in as a relief pitcher two weeks ago with two boys on base and the team was attempting to make a come back. Ben struck out three boys in a row and was given the game ball that night. His face when he came home to tell me, I had a migraine that night, so Mark was thankfully on hand to catch the glory, was just priceless. And Mark Thomas is one of only three kids on his team that can throw the ball across the plate. So he's a budding star as well. He looks so cute on the mound and is also a killer short stop making excellent throws to first base tagging out more runners than I can count so far this season.

Let's see now, little Miss Ella Bella. She wanted to buy chopsticks a few weeks ago at HEB and all the kids use them regularly. Cracks me up but hey, if they eat more on their plate then I'm all for it. I've bought her a few new dresses for spring and she's had fun getting all dressed up. She managed to rob her grandmother of some jewelry while home on spring break so one pic has her with her pearls. All the kids went to Mount Vernon on their trip and had a ball. Ella told me when she got home that they saw Martha Washington's dress, necklace and hat but she immediately said, "well her dress was a reproduction but her necklace was real." Someone was listening to the docent.

And lastly, little Whiskers. One little photo of the cat that has come so far from her humble beginnings. She was left dumped in a trash can nearly a year ago at the YMCA and now she roams the house with a sense of pretentiousness. She's super sweet and will purr at just about anyone or anything and lately she's taken to napping in the front dining room window in a hand painted southern living at home bowl.

We're crazy busy but happy, healthy and thankful for all that the Lord has given to us. Especially on this Easter Sunday. Ever mindful of our imperfections and the grace God bestowed upon us to send his son to give his life for ours.

Pet Rocks and Middle School

There's just never enough time in the day to post to our blog it seems lately so this will be brief. Baseball season has started so we're home even less but we're all ready for the big capping ceremony and for the season to get underway. Three boys in different leagues, practices each at least twice a week and you can tell why I'm never at home. Maybe I should take my laptop to the fields and post from there.

Anyway, short, funny story. Max is now in 6th grade at the middle school and he's a great student, in all honors classes. The work is not for the faint of heart though. I can't even help him with his math anymore. Thank God Mark is gifted in the subject. He gets in my car most days when I pick him up and tells me how bored he's been all day. Not sure if things are not challenging enough or if he's just giving me a line. So earlier in the week Ella is wandering around the front yard looking for a rock. She asks her older brother to help her find one and he is quite puzzled at the request and asks her why on earth she needs to find a rock.

She quickly tells him that she'll be painting it at school the next day because they're all making pet rocks in class. Max turns and looks right at me and says, "I want to go back to kindergarten."

Boys will be Boys

I have known for years and years that boys are different than girls. From the very beginning when we had one and then added two more our lives have been full of noise, dirt and squabbles. When Ella finally made her debut I was completely shocked at how different they really are. So needless to say I could write about story after story but will let only detail this one for the day.

We've seen a lot of things break through the years but since we've lived in this house the boys have broken three panes of glass in different windows and if you know me well enough you'll know that my house is my sanctuary and I take great pride in keeping it clean and having it look nice. So broken window panes don't exactly fall under either of those categories. My husband, whom I love dearly, is not the most handy dandy of men. So he's just covered them up with plastic and duct tape. Oh so lovely. I cringe every time I look at them because they look awful and if I knew how to fix them believe me I would. I also know that I could call a glass company but money is never in abundance around here so it wasn't high on the priority list.

Well yesterday Ben and MT came running home while I was out front working in my flower beds and they had these two rather large dogs running right behind them. Ben said they were up in the road several blocks down and they didn't want them to get hurt so they just brought them home with them. "Oh no you don't" I said, "let them go and they'll find their home." Being the ever obedient child, Ben took the dogs and put them in our back yard and then got the phone to call the owners listed on one of their tags. I could hear him say, "Do you have two golden retrievers?" and then he said, "We have them at our house." I said let me talk to them, thinking that they'd think they'd been kidnapped since Ben gave no other details. So I told the man where we lived and he promptly sent someone over to get them.

When the owner's fiance came over she was so glad the boys had found the dogs and thanked them for being so kind. She then looked at me and said, "my fiance owns a glass company and he told me to tell you to call him if you needed any glass work done and we'd do it for free." Did you hear that FREE!!! So obviously, I then looked at the boys after the nice woman drove away and thanked them for doing such a kind deed. Ben looked at me and said, "you're only happy now because we can get our windows fixed."

Lots of updates

Mardi Gras Girl! Ella wasn't able to go to a birthday party for a friend in her class but his brother came to Ben's party and gave her these party favors. She told me she was Mardi Gras girl and if she zapped her hands at me she could throw me around the room. I suggested she zap her hands and make the house be clean.

Max and MT with one of the toys he got from his party. Nerf guns with vests to mark their targets.

Because Mark Thomas's birthday is on December 1st, putting a party together for him is always so difficult for me. The time of year is just so busy for our family so this year we decided to do a combined party with Ben, since his birthday is at the end of January. The store I work at owns the only skating rink in town so we booked a private party for two hours and they each invited several friends. They had a great time and I'm thinking it was one of the easiest parties I've ever put together. So maybe this will become a yearly event.







The boys took this picture of Whiskers and thought it was so hilarious that her eyes were green. They laughed and laughed, to the point of it not being funny to the mom in the house.

Mark brought home some interesting gifts for the kids this time. He visited a store where he could purchase custom made scrubs and lotions so Ellas was dying to try hers out. Quite the beauty huh?

While Mark was gone working on his doctorate we had many eventful days. I was sick the first week he was gone. So thankful that I had taken a week of vacation from work because all I did was lay on the couch. The second week went better but it was pretty crazy getting all 4 kids out the door each morning and getting everything done in the evening. One evening I went to get into the program on my computer where I keep all my financial info and realized that the file wouldn't open. I spent almost an hour online with a Quicken rep only to discover that my files had somehow been corrupted so all of my data was lost. I was nearly in tears. I got up from the computer and turned the corner only to discover that while I was lamenting over the programing error, Max had made dinner for everyone. He can really be such a help when he wants to.

Ella went to a Build a Bear party two weeks ago and came home with "Mini Ben". Out of all the girly things she could have chosen, she picked a dog and dressed him up like a boy scout and named him after her brother. She even had Mini-Ben put on his birth certificate. When I asked the other two boys how they felt about not having him named after them they looked at me and said, "we don't care." Such kindness in their hearts.

Mark went to his first youth lock in and slept the better part of the next day on the couch. Isn't he so cute?

Over half way there

Well we're over half way into our tour at home without Dad. Mark left last week for his two week stint in Austin to work on his doctorate. He goes for two weeks in January and two weeks in June. I took the first week off from work just to be able to relax a little while the kids were at school. My relaxing turned into laying on the couch almost every day because I had a cold that just now seems to be on it's way out. I watched several movies on tv and napped more than I have in years so I guess I can't complain.

I know Mark feels like we can get along without him just fine, but that's simply not true. We miss him terribly. The kids ask me every day, "how many more days until Dad gets home?" and when people ask them where their dad is, the little ones will say, "he's at pastor school." I can't even begin to list all the ways I miss him. I always take on new appreciation for single parents with multiple kids. I really do not know how they do it. Actually, I do, but not long term and without a supportive spouse that always returns home. Hurry home Mark. We'll all be here waiting for you!

Cancer Sucks

It seems like when I was younger I heard about cancer every now and then. Maybe someone you knew, knew someone suffering with a horrible form but now it seems like cancer is everywhere and affects the least likely people at the youngest of ages. This week someone I went to high school with passed away at the young age of 31. Only married 4 years and full of life. She fought for 10 hard months but lost the battle. We ran in similar circles and played on the tennis team together but did not know each other that well. I've kept up with her journal for the last few months and was so impressed with her bravery and strength. Please pray for her family as they remember her tomorrow at her funeral and pray for strength and courage to get through the coming days. Her name was Megan.

I also received an email from my mother in law this morning that my sister in law's mother was going in for a cat scan today for a mass that was found on one of her lungs. The scan may not be that clear because the dye burst one of her veins today, very painful I was told, and they're not yet sure if they'll get a clear enough image to give them a diagnosis. Prayers that the scan is clear enough to read and that the news is positive would be greatly appreciated.

As Megan said several times, "Cancer Sucks." May you rest peacefully on this new journey.