This picture just cracks me up. This is Bethany and Rayne saying " I'm hot & your not". Rayne just loves the girls.

When Echo's kids where here in July the kids loved to sit on the steps at Grams and they loved Kennywood.

When I sleep my hair gets messed up. But Brandin's hair just gets out of control. It takes on a life of its own

Brandin went to the beach to camp with his BFF. CJ & his family go every year. Brandin and CJ did not hang out so much last year. I am very glad things have worked out and they have gotten close again.

I loved the idea of making bows. My sister Echo told me how last year but I never found the time. Now that cheer leading is starting I want to have a variety of ribbons for MJ. So I got the ribbon and clips.. Echo told me just put the ribbon on a rod and bake it in the oven on low heat for 2 to 3 min. So MJ & I cut the ribbon and got it all ready I turned the oven on low . Low to me is like 200-250. Since it only needed to bake for 3 min . I set the time and MJ and I enjoyed a coke and watched it bake. Remember the shrinky dink. I'm not sure why we felt the need to watch it like it was going to do something spectacular. We baked it the first time and let it cool in front of the air conditioner. It did not work so MJ and I tried it 3 more times. It still did not work . So we called aunt Echo. She says we I know I'm right but let me call my good friend and I'll call you back.......Well she was 1/2 wrong. Low heat my butt. You need to have it on 375. And 3 min. Yeah O.K...try 25 in. So we did not watch it this time but it worked. We love it. We are working on a few different ones. This picture does not do it justice but next time MJ wears it I will take her picture.

Fish

So We have a really big fish tank. It was my grandfathers then my mothers and I just ended up with it. So we have around 13 fish in it now but we can not seem to get any more to stay alive. The kids love to go to the pet store and look around and then pick out fish. We went there last week. Braxton picked 2 new water frogs for the tank we already have one and he loves it. Brandin picked out another shark we already have two. I wanted some really cute colorful fish but they never like the ones I like and if I really thought they would not die I would just buy one for me to. But its for the kids. MJ loves the ones that were called Dalmatians. She called them oreo's. I told the lady to bag us up two of them. She was so nice and told MJ that two were pregnant and would be having babies with in the week. "Honey would you like those?". Why would she ask her that she should have asked me. But needless to say we came home with two pregnant fish. We also got a snail . The lady said we do not have any out here I will get one and I will bring it to check out. Sounded OK to me. When we got to check out She had a snail alright. It was bigger then a golf ball. It was the biggest blackest snail I have ever seen. So when we left Brandin went to the car with the kids and I walked next door to Target to get vanilla Ice Cream for the picnic ( I will explain that in another post). When I came out of target Brandin was jumping up and down in the parking lot. MJ was crying her eyes out in the car and Braxton was trying to calm her down by holding her. I ran to the car because they were acting like something tragic just happened. Well........The one fish was having babies. Sounds like the kids should have been delighted. but no the other fish in the bag were eating them almost as fast as she was having them. My children saw first hand the pyramid of life. We live 20 min. from town. So I rushed home and MJ was so upset. Fish have alot of babies. Over 30 little fish lived. The other fish ate more then double that. So now 3 days later all of the fish, frogs and babies are dead. The only thing still alive is the giant snail. But I called the pet store to tell the lady who sold us the fish about the babies dieing and I asked her if I could have done something to save them. I am glad I called. Did you know Pet Smart has a two week return policy on their fish. To bad I already flushed them. But now we can buy buy buy and return return return. I am so excited. Looks like we will be going to the pet Smart more often now.

Is it just me or are these girls cute. They look so much alike. They both love the sun. And I am jealous of their natural highlights.

Stoner Reunion..What fun. We had a great day. As usual I was in charge of kids games. We had Cherios Bingo, Amazing Bubbles, Snow Cones, Pinata, Volleyball, Ring Toss, Swimming... I have even more ideas for next year!

Uncle Tim turned 50..So Aunt Terri had a suprise party. It rained all day. But she had the party at the Uphold Pavilion. It stopped raining in the evening we had a fire. This is a picture of me my daughter McKayla and Heathers (Red) daughter. I can not remember her name...Ugh.

So 4th of July we celebrate! It is one of my Grams favorite days....We woke up early and went to the canonsburg parade.. WOW. Hundreds of people and the parade was over 2 hours long...After that we went to Ruthies for a picnic.

We go camping every year at Tub Run. We are the WACP. We are crazy people club. so anyway our group grows bigger every year. What fun. We had activites everyday for the kids and adults. We had tea parties, water ballons, sand castle contests, bike races (for skins ..hehe), light parades, flashlight walks, we caught crabs, looked for sea shells, (that is another story for another day.). So here are some pictures from the tea party....I never said the adults regular tea we had Long Island Iceteas.....ooohhh.ya they were refreshing.. Hats and pearls required or no tea for You!

So we went to the Lake everyday. The kids played on the fake beach and looked for those special sea shells. ... Yep who would have ever guessed that Tub RUn had sea creatures.. that leave shells. Well OK . I purchase them at the store and our wonderful friend Haley would go down right before us and toss them around everyday. The kids were so excited to find them. The funniest thing was all of the other campers questioning where the kids found seashells at.... One man said to his wife. They do have to buy the sand from somewhere ..they came with it. ..Now that sand has been there for over 10 years and they do not put more every year...DUH! Mommy Island was a hit we would all get on and push ourselves out to the middle of the lake. One adult would say back to monitor the situation at shore ( the kids ). It always seemed to be Gram Lu. There got to be so many Mom's wanting on Mommy Island by the end of the week we had to start hooking the kids spiders to the Island. The last saturday we were there (we stayed 10 days). I ended up on the spider. we were floating for about an hour or so and we were all chatting and laughing....I woke up 6 hours later to Casey saying just unhook her and let her float away.... They let me take a big nap...But sure they never offered me sun block or shade....I was lookin' like a lobster...

Is was a great trip...Casey, Becky & Angie loved the Island.....Going camping and need so ideas...Just ask I bet I could surprise you!

Gram Big Cheese and the girls.

Echo and her family arrvied last night. We got to bed a 4am. Gram is so excited all of the kids are here. She was the firsit one up this morning . The kids were in and out up and down. Way to much stimulation for Gram.

I am ready to POP with excitement. My neice and nephew are coming to visit me for 2 weeks. We have so many things planned. I almost want to cry with excitment. Mckayla has all of their matching clothes lined up in her room and Braxton has Noah & his stuffed into a little suitcase. Not sure when he thinks they are going but he tells me ahncnsdfopuiudosasjdangfgfdsa,.,.,asdkjbhdfuijebfv,,aselsdlfnrjkddfrtrtraaaa aaa. Yes my 4 year old still talks like a caveman. So where ever he thinks they are going sounds great. And the way he flaps his arms when he tells me I think they might fly there or dig a hole to get there. Or maybe ride on a fire breathing dragon. I know its not nice to make fun of him but he gets so excited and makes no sense.

Pappy Butch got Braxton a new puppy. He loves it so much. The puppy runs around pulling Braxton's pants down. Every evening Braxton runs around the living room so the dog will chase him. The dog bites his underwear and does not let go until they rip. Now after 10 pair of underwear in the trash I do not think it is very funny. Brandin can not wait to go hunting with the dog.

Braxtons hair

Braxton loves his haircut. Every summer we let him decide on how he wants it cut. For the last 2 years this is what he picked. I have gel in every color. yes he is my little rock star.

My orphan

On Monday I was so sick. I still had to go to work. While i was trying to pull myself together I told McKayla & Braxton to get ready to go. Brandin is at church camp for the week and so they had to go with me. They went out to the van. I got in and never looked back. (No I did not forget them). When I arrived at work Mckayla jumped out and TADA she was still in her robe. She is always trying to play jokes on me so I laughed and told her get that robe off. She said OK. Off the robe came and there she stood in her pretty pink silk underwear. After work I went to the store to get he and Bethany some matching clothes. I got so many looks from people I just kept saying" I sure wish you would have gotten dressed today". I think the people at the store were thinking thank goodness her mom is buying her all those clothes. Because she only owns a robe. (A dirty one at that). She was very upset that I took this picture.

It is another ball season. Braxton & Mckayla play on the Farmington Fire Department Team, The Chiefs. "Wee-Ball". Yes we all love Wee-Ball it is for ages 3-5. Everyone is a winner we have no outs and everyone bats every inning. (Yes Mckayla is 6 but do not tell anyone) I did not want to be at the ball field for Tee-Ball and Wee-Ball. That would just be to much. So Wee-Ball everyone one is a winner. The kids are learning the basics. Which way to run. What to do with the ball. But from what I see the kids are teaching each other how to make awesome dirt castles in the out field. And I think sometimes they forget we are playing ball. They all run and tackle the ball in a kid pile up. 1 ball 10 little kids. Braxton hits the ball waits for an applause then runs. Sometimes he runs to first then stops and chats with a girl from Preschool then moves on. We can not forget this is after several swings to even hit the ball from the tee. The kids are so cute. One team has a 16 year old as a coach. he is doing it for a school project. I give him credit this is a hard age for a young man to control let alone 10 of them. I hear him in the outfield yelling to the kids. It is like catching Ice cream in your glove. And you know then it is not about ball anymore. The kids start saying I want ice cream, I like vanilla, who has ice cream. They crack me up. I am betting this guy does not have kids anytime soon. The best birth control ever.

CJ's Birthday

What a great time. This kids had so much fun. CJ is Brandin's best friend. They have been the best of friends since age 5. CJ at first wanted only boys at his party. After Brandin talked him into having girls come....Well CJ told Brandin he could invite some girls if he wanted. This picture speaks one thousand words. .....More girls then boys were there. The boys have never seen the girls in bathing suits before. I wish I would have had the video camera out when the girls came up on the deck together for the 1st time. The boys looked scared to death. That would have been a million dollar memory. I have known all of these kids since they were in diapers. I am begining to feel old.

Donkey basketball. Becky played. I said no way!. Becky said as she got out of the shower and was deciding on what to wear he thoughts were. ....I'd better wear pretty panties incase I get hurt and I have to go to the hospital...I better wear a really sturdy bra so I do not give myself a black eye. ..Yes Becky almost everyone has these thoughts. But you are the only one in the world who talks out loud about them.

I have not posted in a long time so I can tell you it has been crazy. My husband PJ broke his foot. Yes as I said before he thinks he is a Dirt Bike Racer. Well GO GO DIRT BIKE RACER right to the ER>>RRRRRRRR. 7 hours we waited and now he is in a walking cast for 4 weeks. I think I would rather take care of a 10 sick 3 year olds then 1 adult man with a hurt foot. He has more compassion for my father now. For those who have not heard my father got he right leg removed last July. He is still not healed yet because of the diabetes. So now PJ realizes how hard it is for my dad.

Popcorn

Today I volunteered at our Elementary School for Popcorn. This is a project I am proud of because I started it 4 years ago. Each grade has a special day like China Day, Kinder. Graduation, Dr. Suess, Fiesta Etc. Anyway each year these events get bigger and bigger and our Parent teacher Org. make a budget for it. We ran in to problems where each grade was not pulling their weight in fundraising. So I talked the PTO into buying a popcorn machine and some supplies. To start it was less then $500.00. I told them we could use it for Fun Day, Talent Show, Plays and much more. So it started.. Each grade was responsible for 4 weeks. Each Thursday that grade has to find parent volunteers to come in around 8am and take money for popcorn and mark the kids hand with the number of bags purchased. When that was done we popped and popped and I mean pop. (Now remember our school only has 250 students) 300 bags later we realized this is great. At .50 cents a bag (it has 2 scoops of popcorn) we average about $100-150 a week. The money goes directly into a fund for that grade. If you do not sell it, you do not get the funds. This really got more parents into the school. I guess telling them straight up your kids grade will not get if you do not help gives them drive.??#?! This gives the teachers extra money for additional supplies and activities. We did start a raffle so each bag you purchased you got a chance to win s donated item. Some kids take home 5-8 bags. I wonder if they really eat it? We hand it out at lunch. The bus drivers at first were not very happy but we have not heard them complain lately. So that is what I had planned on doing today. But I got called into work so Angie & Lacie were left to pop,pop,pop...bag,bag,bag,fold,fold,fold.....excitment I tell you.
We are having our Annual Calendar Party (Auction). If anyone really reads this blog and would like some information on this type of fundraiser I would be glad to share an easy way to make anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000.

Motorcross

It is Motorcross season yet again. We did at one time plant corn and pumpkins in this field. But hey who needs corn when you can have a mudhole. I'm sure the people who live around us are so excited. The noise, noise, noise and you can not forget the dust. I can't complain. It keeps everyone close all summer. Every weekend when we are not racing we hand out and watch everyone ride. Then in the evening we build a fire and roast marshmallows. YUMMMY :> This year I am not so excited for the racing season. Braxton's doctor said he should not race because of his Perthes and he is going to cry everytime we are watching Brandin race. Also PJ now has a bike that is up to race standards. He is so excited to be able to race in the old people division. That is not really what it is called but it is for old people who really are just out for fun. I have a fear that he is going to hurt himself. I can not get him to understand that he is not Moto Racer material. In his little bitty world he thinks he cool. So PJ tells me all the time now. "honey they called, I am performing at the Pittburgh Arena". he thinks that is so funny. I think they called him alright, called him and said they want a Arena Clown. The first race is in 2 weeks we will see.....

2nd trip tp the mall.

So I loved the American Eagle pants. When we were there the ladies had Brandin try on some shirts. He loves them. You know if I had picked these out and asked him to wear them he would think I was nuts. But because 2 beautiful ladies from the store asked him to try them on and said how good he looked he thinks they are great.

Easter

Easter! My kids had a great day. This year we spent most of the day with just our family. This was so different. We have never spent any holiday with just us. We did have PJ's mom and Dad and PJ's sister and family over for dessert but that was it. Can you believe the Easter Bunny hid my kids baskets. They had so much fun trying to find them. Brandin got up first and found them all. Just so he knew where everyone elses were before them. We are very blessed.

Life

I have posted this for my sister. She called me late last night and it was almost chillfully dejavu. She was calling to let me know her sister in law died in a car accident. This was so tragic. She was a beautiful young woman. It will be long hard and painful road for the Kirkland family. But I can say she came from a family that is one with God. With that my heart is at ease knowing that she is heading to a wonderful place.


The Dash!
The pastor spoke at my grandfathers funeral and she spoke of him and she referred to the dates on his tombstone from the beginning - to the end. She noted that first came his date of birth and then spoke the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For that dash represented all the time that he spent alive on earth...And now only those who loved him know what that little line is worth.For it matters not, how much we own,The cars...the house...the cash,What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash. So think about this long and hard...Are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left, that can still be rearranged. If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real, and always try to understand the way other people feel. and be less quick to anger, show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before. If we treat each other with respect, and more often wear a smile..Remembering that this special dash might last but a little while. So, when your eulogy's being read life's actions to rehash...Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?

These are two poems I have come to love. The pain you feel of with the loss of a loved one is one can't not explain. I can say May heart goes out to those who have lost a brother or sister the pain never really goes away. Try not to think of what they will miss. Your children laughing & growing up. Try to remember all the things you already have shared and know that they are still around. But only in your heart.


Autumn Rain
Do not stand by my grave and weep.I am not there, I do not sleep.I am a thousand winds that blow,I am the diamond glints upon the snow.I am the sunlight on ripened grain andI am the gentle autumn rain.When you awaken in the morning’s hush,I am that swift uplifting rush,Of quiet birds in circled flight.I am the soft star that shines at night.Do not stand by my grave and cry,I am not there, I did not die.
I’m Free
Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m freeI’m following the path God has laid you see.I took His hand when I heard him callI turned my back and left it all.
I could not stay another dayTo laugh, to love, to work, to play.Tasks left undone must stay that wayI found that peace at the close of day.
If my parting has left a voidThen fill it with remembered joy.A friendship shared, a laugh, a kissOh yes, these things I too will miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrowI wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.My life’s been full, I savored muchGood friends, good times, a loved one’s touch.
Perhaps my time seemed all too briefDon’t lengthen it now with undue grief.Lift up your hearts and peace to theeGod wanted me now; He set me free.
After Glow
I’d like the memory of meto be a happy one.I’d like to leave an after glowof smiles when life is done.I’d like to leave an echowhispering softly down the ways,Of happy times and laughing timesand bright and sunny days.I’d like the tears of those who grieve,to dry before the sunof happy memoriesthat I leave when life is done.

I am still here
When tomorrow starts without me,And I am not there to see,If the sun should rise and find your eyesAll filled with tears for me;I wish so much you wouldn’t cryThe way you did today,While thinking of the many things,We didn’t get to say.I know how much you love me,As much as I love youAnd each time you think of me,I know you’ll miss me too;But when tomorrow starts without me,Please try to understand,That an angel came and called my name,And took me by the hand,And said my place was ready,In heaven far above,And that I’d have to leave behind All those I dearly love.But as I turn to walk away,A tear fell from my eye,For all my life I’d always thought,I didn't want to die.I had so much to live for,So much yet left to do,It seemed almost impossibleThat I was leaving you.I thought of all those yesterdaysThe good ones and the bad,I thought of all the love we shared,All the fun we had.If I could relive yesterday,Just even for a while,I’d say goodbye and kiss youAnd maybe see you smile.But then I’d fully realizeThat this could never be,For emptiness and memories,Would take the place of me.And when I thought of worldly thingsI might miss come tomorrow,I thought of you, and when I didMy heart was filled with sorrow.But when I walked through those gates,I felt so much at home.When God looked down and smiled at me,From His great golden throne.He said, "This is eternity, And all I've promised you."Today your life on earth has pastBut here like starts anew.I promise no tomorrow,But today will always last,And since each day’s the same wayThere’s no longing for the past. You have been so faithful,So trusting and so true.Though there were timesYou did some things you know you shouldn’t doBut you have been forgiven,And at last you are freeSo won’t you come and take my handAnd share my life with me?SO when tomorrow starts without me,Don’t think we are far apart,For every time you think of meI’m right here in your heart.

So this may not seem like such a big deal to you but for me it seems to be a big situation....Who stole my sons butt???? My son is 12 and I am having a horriable time finding pants that really fit. For those who watched the Wonder Years ..Brandin hates going pant shopping and I hate taking him. We try on so many and somedtimes never come home with any. To big To loose To Long To worn. Holes, ....... What is a mom to do? His oldest pants were size 14. These were so long they drug on the ground. So we tried Levi Student Pants. You can pick waist and lenght. But they do not carry the lenght I need. My son has about a 26 waist and a 24 lenght. He has not had a growth spert yet and his father is not really that tall. So this may by an on going problem. So I found that Levi carried husky. Brandin is no husky but a friend told me to try it. So we did they were a little better. So now we are in a 12 husky. they are pictured above. What was I thinking is my son in there somewhere? The lenght is OK but everything else is just hanging there. Soooo.I went to American Eagle and the ladies tried to help. They make a 26-28. we are working in the right direction. That photo is posted above to. I think I might call somewhere and have the lenght fixed. But you know as soon as I do he will look like Steve Erk...