First snow day of the year. The kids were pretty excited. Except for my son, who was supposed to start track today. He's old enough now to understand today has to be made up at the end of year. I am so ready for spring, I can hardly stand it. Luckily I have food in the fridge and movies we just rented. I hope this stuff doesn't stick around long or my sanity will be tested for sure. Spring...where are you??

Today's project...getting a picture for a photo contest I want to enter. The theme is pets. The 3 catagories are capturing your pet with a little friend, dressing up your pet or pets when they're babies. I chose the first catagory because #1, Ridge is just way too big to be in the puppy catagory and #2, there is no way my hubby would let us dress Ridge up in some crazy tutu. So, my little girl volunteered to pose with Ridge. It didn't go as well as I had hoped. As you can tell from the first photo, Ridge's tongue got in the way! But, I'll enter a few and hope for the best. First place is a digital camera! I hope we at least get an honorable mention after what we went through... :)

My baby girl has a diagnoses...Vasovagal Syncope. A big word for a little girl. Two years ago, she had a seizure-like episode. Come to find out, she had minor little episodes periodically since she was only about 1 yrs. old. It was the hardest thing to witness and the hardest thing to watch her go through the tests. An EEG, blood work to test for diabetes, epilepsy and some other diseases I can't even remember. After they all came back negative, we had to make the choice to give her a CAT scan, which would reveal any tumors in her brain. That was bad, but even worse was the 3 day wait for the results. In those horribly long 3 days, i would watch her play, dance, run and hope, pray and literally cry for no tumors. The scan came back all normal. no tumors. but still, we didn't know what would cause her to react like she had. The doctors told us to carry on as normal, they couldn't find anything physically wrong with her. We went for a whole year and then it happened again. Then again it happened just last December. She lost her tooth, saw blood and fell to the floor in a seizure-like state. Minutes later, she was back to her normal self. Then just last week, I got a call from the school nurse. She had went down on the playground. My heart went into my throat. By the time I got there she was awake. I took her home, she ate lunch and was running around like nothing had happened. After doing some research at Mayo Clinic, we have finally nailed down her condition. Vasovagal Syncope. It's a nerve in her neck that is triggered by something like the sight of blood, dehydration, hunger and several others. These are the 3 I notice that could be the culprits for her reactions. It causes her to basically faint. 85% of children outgrow it. Scheww. I can't tell you how glad I am to know a name for this thing. She is a bright, beautiful little girl who brightens up your day just by walking in the room. It's not often, but it may happen. I just thank God for giving us the name and the peace of mind that comes with it. There's no better feeling than that.

Run and play, little one, you're going to be just fine.

I finally get it. After 37 years of wondering what I am supposed to be doing with my life, I finally get it. It's taken me a long time to figure it out but factors contributing to the light bulb going off include...my kids, my husband, Beth Moore, friends that have reappeared in my life and most of all, just listening to what has been said to me for all these years. And accepting it.

It's funny how I pushed God out of my life. I never wanted to listen. I thought I knew what was right for me. I thought I knew what would make me feel complete. But I didn't. Over the last few years I started to realize, this is my plan. This is what I am to do. And everyday, I get it more and more. I was not destined to live the life of a millionaire, or even a thousand-aire. I wasn't meant to live the life of a famous person. I am here to raise my children in our humble home, in our humble town and live a humble life. And I love it.

You see, I get it. I get the plan. It is so clear to me now. That acceptance is what makes me feel so fulfilled, so complete. And you know what, I am so happy about where I am. Even though it took me so long to figure it out, now I can instill what I've learned into these 3 little kids running around me right now in hopes they will get it long before I did. See what I mean? It's all in the plans. Can't wait to see what else my journey has before me.

This little girl is from one of my photo shoots this weekend...she is anxiously awaiting spring too.

I almost inherited a $7000.00 painting today.

You see, I enrolled my girls in art classes at a local downtown gallery. They love them and are so excited for me to see their work when I pick them up. So today, the gallery owner, a total sweetheart, asked if I had seen this new piece she just got in. It was this huge, huge canvas painting of something I can't even remember because the price tag had my attention. $7000.00. I just kept looking at it wondering why it was so spendy when all of a sudden my littlest one came out of the workroom, came barrelling towards me and the painting. She went right up to it with her hands in a rather rough way. The painting swayed a bit back and forth. At this point, my heart is in my throat and I'm not breathing. Finally, my voice squeeked out, "Oh we don't touch $7000.00 paintings," Scheww. We got out of there in a hurry after that one.

Note to self: Exposing children to art galleries BEFORE taking art classes is a good thing!

...my girls...

Why didn't I think of this earlier???

This was a great little pastime for my girlies this weekend...give 'em a pile of shaving cream on the table and let them "fingerpaint" away! Bonus: the shaving cream eventually disappears, easy cleanup and smooth little hands. They loved writing words in the cream, drawing pictures and mostly being able to be free to be messy! Again, I ask...why didn't I think of this years ago??

You know you're getting old when entertainment is watching the laundry spin in the new washer and dryer....

I've never been very good at expressing what I'm thinking. I can write them but when it comes to words, it just doesn't come out right. There are so many things I think and when i try and speak them, my choice of words do not express what I mean. Sometimes I find myself not saying anything and later wishing I would've said this or should've said that. Maybe because I'm afraid I'll really say the wrong thing. I don't know, I just wish sometimes that I could shout out who I am and what I believe in. I want my friends and my family to really know who I am. Right now, I don't think they do because I never truly express it.

Maybe one day, my words will come and all these thoughts and dreams I have for me, my kids, my friends, will come out. And maybe I'll even make sense. Know what I mean?!

So...all is well in our household. Despite the fact the Mr. Favre has left us. My boy took the news like a pro, after the tears flowed a bit, he felt better. He said he felt like someone died and in a way, I understood how he felt. But he is so glad we went to that game and he is so glad he has pictures of it and he is so glad he can still wear his #4 jersey. And he's always going to be a Packer fan. I told him one day we'll go see all those Favre memoribilia in the Hall of Fame. And we'll even still make it to Lambeau Field. We watched the big retirement speech today and after listening to it, I was thankful once again for my young sports fanatic to look up to a guy like Brett Favre. He is such a humble man, never once boasting about all his accomplishments. He is like a silent Christian. He's someone who never talks about his faith but it shows in everything he does. That's the kind of person my boy thinks is the greatest athlete ever and I couldn't be happier about it.

It's going to be a sad afternoon after school. Just came home, turned on the TV which was already on SportsCenter as usual and there it was, all over the news..Brett Favre is retiring. My heart just sank. My boy's heart is going to sink even lower. It makes me cry to even think about how he is going to take this news. I know he is going to cry and I need to prepare myself to talk about the positives. About how we got to see him play in person, how we got to see him break the record for the most touchdowns passed ever in NFL history, about all the school papers he has written about Favre, about how just watching the games, he has learned to play football even better, about how he knows every statistcal fact by memory. and more importantly, about how he learned how being a hero like Brett Favre isn't just about breaking records but being a good person, believing in God and making the right choices in life.

I know, I know, maybe he'll take it better than what I am anticipating. But when you look up to a team and it's quarterback as much as my son does, this is going to be a big deal in his young life. So be thinking of us and although there are alot of worse things that could happen, it's still going to be a sad night for my little man. He'll always love Brett Favre, on the field or off. And he'll still be wearing his cheesehead every chance he gets. Speaking for my young Packer-roid...Go Packers!

WOOHOO!

It was the big Roger Haas basketball tournament in Yankton today. My basketball son was up before the sun this morning for his first game at 8am. It was a nail biter to the end but they won, 26-24. Second game tip off was at 9:40...another good game but the boys were pretty tired towards the end. They held on to win, 22-14. That win took them to the championship for their bracket at 3:30...you could tell they were rested, fed and had plenty of gatorade. It was an awesome game with our boys winning 36-17. They took the first place trophy and after he recovered a bit from being winded, he was all smiles. His trophy is proudly displayed in his room and marks the end of his 5th grade basketball season. What a way to end. My excitement has leveled off now too from the games and we have a bit of a break now until soccer season. Schewww. I don't know how much more competition this mom can handle. I think I get more nervous than him.

Way to go #51 and to the rest of the team!!