Family

It's been a while since I've sat down to write a blog post that contained of any sustenance. And if I'm being honest, it's been a long while. 

The truth is not really that much has been happening that doesn't happen to other people. The normal and mundane life. I mean I can write everyday that we did homework and had either football or basketball practice. I can write what I or Hubs cooked for dinner. But unless I had a cooking, which I do not, no one wants to read that.

I took an unintentional break to be present in my family's life. As much as I want to chronicle the lives of my family, I decided being present mattered more. I wanted to be there and involved. I wanted to live in moment with them. I wanted to be there with my camera in hand to capture the moment they would one day look back on and remember that millisecond of time.  

I've also learned how to say no to things I felt took to much time away from my family. I've learned how to not feel bad about it either. My family is my first priority and they are the ones who I want to spend my time with,even if we are sitting around watching Harry Potter for the 985412637 time. My time with them is something I'm just not willing to comprise on. 

So I hope you enjoy Thanksgiving with your family. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And maybe I'll drop in here and there but for now, I've given myself permission to be with the ones I love the most, my family.
 

It's Over

Well it's taken me this long to come to terms that the Astros will not be in the world series this year. 

I was really hoping we would be going all the way to the end October. 

This isn't the look of defeat, it's the look of we are taking a few days off, some of us are having surgery, to heal, recoup, and get ready for next season.  We've got 121 days and we will be back.

 Thanks guys for another amazing season, I'm sad it's over. 
 

It's Post Season

It's post season baby! Do work boys.

 

Year 21

You are one of the best gifts God has given me. 

You are my person.
 

You are my friend, my supporter, my soft landing. 

My tough love, my believer of dreams, my validator, my reminder.

My holder of fears, my knower of deep secrets, my release of self doubt. 

My trusted space, my sacred soul, my forever bond. 

Happy 21 Anniversary Hubs! I love you.  

God's Timing Is Perfect

I posted this on Facebook on August 28. Which marked one year after Hurricane Harvey. 

"I am not the same person I was a year ago. Harvey changed me. 

We along with so many others we know lost our homes and everything we held close. I lost the sense of security my home provided for me and my family. 

But today I am focusing on the positive. I am choosing to see God's hand in all of this. I know it was only by His grace, peace, and timing we are where we are today. 

I'm not discounting the struggle to get here. It was tough. The emotional ties to certain items we lost still makes my breath catch when I think of them and still brings me to tears. And even thought we had a brand new home 3 months later, we were still fighting with the insurance company for another 4 months. 

However, in the midst of all the chaos I always felt peace. I felt God's presence and knew he would take care of us. I am so grateful for friends, high school classmates, family, and strangers who helped us. We are so much better off today than we were before Harvey. 

God's timing is always perfect."

It has been a whirlwind since I posted this.

Between all the memories of the one year anniversary stirred up combined with the Facebook memories which weren't helping either, I was feeling a sad. I had a Facebook memory pop up two days later that had me crying at the words R1 spoke.

There has been so much sadness that only piled on to those memories. This past week our community lost two teenagers in a tragic car accident. R1 had known one of them since kindergarten and the other since 8th grade, he even took her to their senior prom in May. 

So as you can see it's been a hard week.

But again I chose to focus on the positive and the one who gave me faith and hope.

The Last Supper

I posted this picture one year ago yesterday on Facebook with the comment that said Harvey isn't stopping Hubs. 

Little did I know that would be the last meal we ever ate in our house. The next day was a flurry of packing up things, moving things to higher ground, and just preparing to evacuate. 

We evacuated on August 28, 2017 and by the next morning we had several feet of water of in our home. 

It's so hard to believe it has been a year. 

I still have several friends that are not back in the their homes. I have several that are still in the middle of rebuilding. 

I have chosen to see the blessing in what was Hurricane Harvey. My family and I are doing amazing. We are truly blessed and I for that I am so grateful and thankful. 

And Then There Was One

First day of school 2018. My big 8th grader.

For the first time in what feels like forever, I only had one child in the first day of school picture. I also only had one child to fill out paper work for school and only one for meet the teacher. I won't lie, it felt weird and it made me a little sad.

R2, I hope you have an amazing school year. I pray things come easy for you and if they don't, I know your never quit attitude will help you conquer anything. 

And please Father Time, can you slow down just a little bit. These years are going by way to fast!

18

Happy 18th Birthday R1!

How did we get here so fast. It seems as if I have been saying this a lot lately.  Eighteen years have come and gone in the blink of an eye. 

I remember holding you in my arms for the first time after you were born. The walk into school and down the kindergarten hallway to Mrs. Dunivant's class room, watching you get that first hit off of the baseball tee, the first time you ran out onto the football, when I let you drive my car around the neighborhood, driving you up to the school to see if you made the high school baseball team, and the senior walk with your classmates back at the elementary school (well that one was just a few months ago). 

 
These precious memories and so many others feel as if they just happened. 

But as you are just beginning the beautiful road ahead and while you begin to navigate your next life steps, just know that you will face a number of different experiences and here are a few things you need to know. 

1. Do not accept anything less than what you need. Find out makes you happy and learn to not settle for anything less.

2.  Create a list of things you want to achieve and work on making them happen. Dream big and find out ways to make them reality. 


3. Don't be afraid of failing, be afraid of not trying. You're bound to fail because reaching goals is never easy. Keep working on your goals and learn from failures. If you do not try, you might it regret it one day. Do not give up!

4. Listen to your parents and spend time with them. Yes we know you are an adult but learn to appreciate everything we have done for you. Know that we are and always be your biggest cheerleaders in life. We will always be your safe place to land. When you come to visit do not knock on the door, just walk in and right into our arms for a big hug.

5. Do not be consumed with technology all the time. Unplug. Enjoy the conversation of others around you. You will be happier for it. 

6. Make memories. Live your life and create memories that will last a lifetime. People come and go in your life, make the most of it and live in the moment. You have so much in your life that you have yet to experience. Just remember not to take a single moment for granted. Keep your eyes open and embrace everything that life has to offer. 

The next 18 years of your life will be even greater than the first 18. I promise!

Disney 2018

A month before R1 graduated from high school Hubs and I thought it might be a good idea to take a family vacation. We wanted to recognize his accomplishment. So we asked him where he wanted to go and one of his answers was Disney World and Universal Studios. 

We had been to Disney before in 2014 and thought well this time we could also go to Universal. So the planning began and let me say nothing like waiting till the last minute to plan a Disney vacation. I will also say this, Hubs did an amazing job. We got the hotel we wanted, the fast passes we wanted, and even the restaurants at the time we wanted. 

Hubs and I also decided not to tell the boys that we were going to Disney but rather that we were going to Gulf Shores, Alabama. We had been there before too so we thought that might work for a surprise. 

We left Saturday, June 16th and got halfway down the street before I blurted out that I needed to see I remembered to pack the box with all of the supplies. I made R1 get out and check and bring me the box. Actually the box contained our Magic Bands for Disney. R1 retrieved the box and got back in the car. At that point Hubs told them to open the box because it contained items needed for vacation. The boys were so shocked. R2 just kept saying over and over, WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY! R1 was a little more low key but he was just as excited. 

If you can't tell, we drove to Florida. Yep, drove. We stopped just outside of Tallahassee to spend the night because well we had made several stops along the way and we were all a bit tired of being in the car. Lets face it 12 hours in the car no matter how many stops you make is just to long. 

Anyway we rolled into Orlando early Sunday afternoon and then the fun began. 

 

We spent two days at Universal Studios and completely geeked out Harry Potter World. I can't even explain the attention to detail they put into this park. It is just like the books and the movies. If you like Harry Potter and you haven't been, YOU HAVE TO GO! R2 was so funny, while we were standing in Ollivanders Wand Shop he looked right at Hubs and said, "I've never felt so nerdy in all my life." But that nerdiness didn't stop him from wanting to buy a wand.

Escape from Gringotts with R1 and R2

 We spent the following three days at Disney. Since we had been before we knew what we wanted to see that we missed the last time and what we wanted to do again. We also had park hoppers so we went from park to park to park.

Traditional picture with a green army man from Toy Story.

Anything Toy Story and Peter Pan are my favorites. One of my favorite rides is Toy Story Mania located in the Hollywood Studios park. The ride is designed so you play virtual carnival games in 3D. There are 5 different games in all. We all rode it and I ended up wrecking my guys on the scoring part. So much so that I also ended up with the high score of the park that day.

Breakfast at Chef Mickey is a standard. There is no better way to start the day.

It was an fabulous vacation and I enjoyed all of the family time and the memories we made. 

He Graduates

May I present to you, our Class of 2018 Senior Graduate, R1. 

I am so proud of this kid! He has accomplished so much in the four short years of high school. This past week has been a flurry of all sorts of events leading up to this day. I will admit that two of those days I was a crying mess. But on this night, not one tear fell. I just kept my eyes on R1 and smiled the entire time. Well, I looked at Hubs to but that was because he was a floor marshal on the same row as R1. Sorry (well I'm not really sorry) for the picture overload that is is about to take place. 

The processional in

Waiting to walk up on stage

The special hand shake with the principal, Mr. B

Receiving his diploma from a wonderful board member who has always supported him

The big bear hug given to the Assistant Principal, aka, Aunt T

The special congratulations dance moment between R1 and Hubs

He did it!

The celebration!

We are so proud of him!

R1 and his church youth leader, Jana

The grandparents

R1 and the BFF. This time he wasn't surprised

R1 and his baseball buddies, Logan and Jack

R1 and Mason, aka the Kings of Kilgore

R2, our future graduate, in 5 years

Class of 2018 Senior Walk

The school district where R1 attends school has a tradition of Senior Walk. It's where the kids dress in their graduation regalia and walk the halls of the elementary school. Kind of like a lets bring it back to where they started their school academic career.

The little ones are brought out and line the hallways waiting for the seniors to walk by and give them a hi-five. Also the teachers are waiting to hug their former students. 

It's almost bittersweet for me as Hubs taught at the elementary school for 17 years before moving to the high school. Most of the teachers have known R1 since birth. 

Today was senior walk for R1 and his classmates. I would like to say I held it all together but I did not. I was a crying mess. Just another bittersweet memory as part of his senior year. 

Here are a few pictures of R1 during his walk and his elementary school teachers. 

R1 walking the elementary school hallway for the last time

 

Class of 2018 and their elementary school teachers

R1 and his 5th grade science teacher

R1 and his 4th grade teachers

 

R1 and his 3rd grade teacher

 

R1 and his 5th grade teacher who just happened to be his dad

R1 and my BFF

R1 and his 1st grade teacher in 2018

R1 and his 1st grade teacher in 2006

R1 in 1st grade. His teacher had a bulletin board by her classroom door with all of her babies pictures from 2006. She even had their class shirt pinned on the board

 

This was one of my favorite pictures from the day The BFF gave him the biggest hug and a kiss on the check. Clearly he was surprised. Me, I loved it!

 

The End of High School Baseball

Friday night brought the end of R1's high school baseball season. We lost in game 2 of the area playoffs. 

Our boys played their hearts out and left it all on the field, however the umpires didn't help us any either. It was a tough series.

The boys walked off the field with their heads held high and straight into the dugout where they proceeded with a 40 minute hug/cry fest with one another. Then one by one they began to walk out to us parents who waiting just outside the dugout door.  When the boys were all out of the dugout more hugging and crying ensued this time with us parents. 

When R1 walked out of the dugout with red swollen eyes and tear stained cheeks I just grabbed into a big hug and he kept saying over and over, this is so much harder than what I thought. He never thought it would hit him this hard. R1 has played baseball since he was four and with most of these guys for 14 years. His season as a baseball player has come to an end.

One of R1's teammates put out a tweet on Twitter later that evening to all of the seniors.

And in true R1 fashion, he came back with a pun.

R1, your dad and I have loved watching you play baseball over the years. Your love for the game and growth as a player has been a joy to witness. This last season has truly been bittersweet.