Trick or Treating 08

This year I only had 2 trick or treaters in tow. But it was okay cause Natalie was pretty excited to get to hand out candy. We didn't exactly have that option the 3 previous Halloweens. NOT too many kids trick or treating in the boonies :)

The boys got a double bonus this year since Truck or Treat was held at 2 different churches on Wed. Truck or Treat is where people fill the parking lot with their cars and trucks, decorate them up, and hand out candy...and some play games. There will also be hay rides, jump houses, hot dogs, and at one church..a band. It a nice "one stop shop" kinda set up...right up my alley :) Here's the boys (and Nat :)) on Wed...





Now two things you might not notice right away or know the story behind. #1 - click on the picture with Nat and Brayden. Now look at Nat's teeth...yep...that's right...she is Brace Face no longer :) And her teeth look beautiful!!! #2 - the story behind the Ti double g errr suit. Uhm, when we bought the suit a few months ago, we were afraid that Brayden would just be going as Brayden to Trick or Treat. He WOULD NOT put the suit on. One day I made him put it on and he cried his head off...yes, well aware I'm a bad Momma! I told him he couldn't take it off until he stopped crying. He dried it up immediately and still with a quivering lip and tears streaming out of his eyes he said "...I stopped my crying, can I take the Tigger suit off?". It was so sad :( A few days later he told me he'd wear the suit but not the head. I felt that that was a fair deal...and we still had a month till Halloween at that time, so I figured I still had time to work on him. And it worked, as you see in the pictures. Now I did have to bribe him with candy to put the head on, but I did what I had to do by jiggy :)

Now on to Halloween night...



Not sure how the weather was where you live on Halloween. We were a balmy 82! We hit about 8-10 houses and Matt was asking if we could be done and Brayden told me his head on burning :)...lol... And this was more walking than his little legs had done in a Tigger suit. He told me (as we are 2-3 blocks from the truck) "...I need you to hold me...I'm not heavy..." Poor little baby, guess he hears that a lot :( So I honored their requests.

Matt was just beside to get home ans help Nat hand out candy!


And I think this picture is a perfect example of...... SUGAR RUSH!!!!!!!!!!


Hope you all had a very Happy Halloween!

And last but definitely not least....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BETH AND KAY. HOPE YOU BOTH HAVE AND HAD A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!

And Happy Being Born Day to Colin Restel in sunny Florida :) Congrats in advance to the proud Momma and Daddy - Carrie and Guy :)

Punkins

No, not a misspelling...they are PUNKins around here...according to the midget :) Here are some pictures of the kids carving their punkins on Sunday. Daddy did Brayden's, but Brayden DID supervise :)













If you couldn't already tell, Nat's punkin is a Zombie face. Matt's is a bat sitting on top of a ghost's head, and Brayden's is a happy ghost face :)

...more Halloween pictures to come.......

**Stop by Jim's blog and tell him Hi so he doesn't get discouraged :)**

Great Game!!!

Please check out Jim's blog (see link on the right side of my blog) to read about Matt's awesome last game!! Awesome I tell ya :)

Our Jr. Doll

Natalie was in her first ever High School Football game half time "show". I put it in parenthesis since she didn't get to perform with the Eagle Dolls in their Halftime routine (as it was told to us that they would). They just stood on the sideline and watched the Eagle Dolls perform. But they did get to do the line up when the boys came back onto the field and they did the fight song dance. I think she really enjoyed it, but was a bit nervous.

Here are the "must have" pictures I took at the house before the game:



The Jr. dolls are lined up on the side line watching the Halftime show. Nat is 3rd from the left.


After the Eagle dolls were done with their performance, they lined back up with the Jr. dolls for when the boys come back onto the field. Nat is 4th from the right.


Go, Fight, Win Eagles!


Several pictures I took after this point has Nat making a funny face. Guess the smoke was getting in her eyes :)


It wasn't a huge performance, but it was still fun to watch her be a part of that. Brought back a lot of High School memories for me. And it was funny to see how some things just don't change...no matter the year, no matter the school size. The girls cheered a little, giggled and acted silly a little. Matt was at the end of the bleachers playing football with his friends. Jim and I wrestled the midget in the stands....it was a fun night :)

14 - 13 - 11 - FNL

First off I want to say Thank You to those who posted comments on my last blog. But for those who read, but didn't post....just know that it takes me FORever to post those pictures...just so you know...hint, hint ;)~

Now for the explanation for my title....

14 - That is the number of people from my company that just got laid off!!!!!!! This happened on Tues and Thank You to the good Lord that I was not one of the 14. 50% of my dept. is GONE!! There are now only 40 employees in my company. In company history there has never been a lay off. We've had years where they couldn't do bonuses, raises, or profit sharing...but they were able to spare jobs. This is super scary. But one of my bosses called me directly (first time EVER in 6 years) and assured me that this was a one time deal and that it won't happen again. Man alive, I hope not!

13 - That's how old my daughter is. And my sweet daughter got herself into some internet trouble...actually, possible danger. Someone she's been talking to for some time now (that I thought was a boy from school) asked her to send him something VERY inappropriate. Nat never saw this text because on the day it came in, she'd forgotten her phone on my desk while it was charging. I was there when the text came in and I about passed out! I scrolled back thru her past texts...like any good, nosy Mom (and in this case it WAS warranted) and see that up until now the conversations have been lovey dovey...but in the PG sense...very innocent. I won't go into much more detail, but the Sheriff's office is now investigating to find out the identity and AGE of this SOB. But thru all this madness, my little girl's heart has been crushed by this boy who told her he loved her and made her feel so good about herself. I've prayed heavily about this, but sometime...you just want to squash some of these SOB's like a bug!

11 - That's how old my son is. And he's having a very good run of luck and doing very well in school. He has 2 more baseball games and can't wait till the next season starts! He's also just excelling at guitar and can't wait till he can buy that electric guitar. Oh...I can only image the sounds this house will make. Might need to set him up a studio out in the shed...and sound proof it :)

11 - Is also the position I placed in the Women's category in my first 5K ever! It was such a high. Well, it was a "high" once I was able to breathe again after I finished. My goal was to simply run the whole thing and not stop. I not only did that, but sprinted the last block!!!! AND, knocked 1 min off my best time to date! Jim and my friend Karry also ran that day. They both did way better than they'd anticipated also! So proud of all of us :) You can read Jim's take on the 5K in his blog (the link is to the right on my blog).

FNL - Friday Night Lights! Once was one of our favorite shows on NBC...but sadly we don't have Direct TV and supposedly now that's the only way you can watch it :( Friday Night Lights is also what my family will be seeing this evening for the first time this season. This will be Nat's debut with the Eagle Dolls. I am very excited! I will take the best pictures I can and will post them...I promise :)

No, I didn't have Brayden in the title this time. All is good with him. He's just ready for HALLOWEEN! Not too crazy to wear the costume...but to get the CANDY!!!!

Matt's B-day Party (a month & a half late)

I know I've promised these pictures for a month and half...sorry, crazee busy and I just get sidetracked!! So here they finally are :)........

We had his 11th Bday party at Main Event in Grapevine. It's about a 45 mins drive from Decatur, so only one of his school friends came. But he had a GREAT turn out and I think everyone (parents included) had a good time :)

This picture was taken on his actually birthday. We got him his own little chocolate b-day cake so he could blow out candles on his actually b-day. Then to top it off, we took him to Yesterday's (a 50's & 60's restaurant) where he got to have a "dessert dinner" and they sang Happy Birthday and had him "ride" a blow up motorcycle in the restaurant :)


Brad, Cheryl, Krista, and Laura flew up for Matt's party that morning. Cheryl was a BIG help keeping eyes on Brayden for me so I could take pictures :)


Brayden was so delighted to have "some one small...like me..." (that's how he refers to kids his age) at the party. This little cutie is Sage. She is our 2nd cousin.


Here's Natalie, Krista, and Laura....I think the signs say it all!!


This is our friends from Justin - Kary and JJ. Kary used to do Tae-Kwon-Do with me. They are also our 1 a month poker playing buddies. Their son Ty came to the party, but I only had blurry pictures of him :(


This sweet baby is Sage's little brother Isiah (I apologize to Mom and Dad if I've spelled it wrong).


These are the proud parents of Sage and Isiah :) And they have EVERY right to be proud!! Gary is Jim's 1st cousin.


This is Cheryl and her husband Brad (the pilot that was so kind to bring them up for the weekend :))


This is Matt with his best friend for at LEAST 3 years...Evan. They are definitely like 2 peas in a pod :)


Here's the Howell's and their sweet baby nephew. The Howell's used to live directly behind us in our last house.


Matt and Evan having the best time!


Sage...future Rock Star :)


Natalie, Laura, Krista, and Brad are racing against each other. Well, Laura didn't race. I think she likes taking pictures as much as her Aunt Angie :)

Brayden was getting quite pooped at this point. So it was JUST fine to sit and watch Daddy play.


He decided that he wasn't THAT pooped and better help Dad out with this race :)


At the end of the party everyone cashed in their tickets and got to choose from a vast array of "high quality" toys. Here's Matt with his boodle:) He's quite proud!


**Oh, and as mentioned in yesterday's blog...check out Jim's new blog....

Jim's new blog

Jim has a new blog. Please take a minute or two and go check it out.

http://www.jim-ramblings.blogspot.com/

And I promise I WILL post the pictures from Matt's party here shortly. Stay tuned...

What's going on...

Sorry I've yet to post pictures from Matt's party. But to be honest, I haven't even looked at them yet. I hope to do that this week...so stay tuned :)

Here's what's been going on...

Natalie - Had her first pep rally last Tues. She was very excited and said they did really well. And here's the kicker...the principle only allows 2...yes 2!! peprallys a year. How odd is that? So she was bummed to find that out..I was to. Cause I didn't go to this past one cause I thought we'd have many more to get to go see. Plus, the jr. hill drill team doesn't perform at jr. high games. But, she is on the Jr. Dolls team and they are supposed to perform in at least 2 high school game half times. That I'm really looking forward to. She's really enjoying her advanced ballet classes that she's taking at the dance center. And she's loving the journalism "team". She has an official badge that she wears around her neck and that gives her permission to take pictures at school anytime anywhere!

Matthew - He is doing fantastic at baseball...and loving it. They had their first game weekend before last and Matt was the first kid to get a hit and he got an RBI! Of course this happens just as I was getting Nat from dance class and on my way back to the game...so I missed it, but Jim got pictures for me. He has a game this Saturday and he's pumped...so are we :) He's doing so good with guitar. He's so ready to start on a song and the teacher said he's ready. So hopefully at today lesson that's what they will work on. He's saving up all his b-day $$ so he can buy an electric guitar and amp...and he's just chomping at the bit to do this!!! He made the mural team at school. And from what I understand, they are going to be painting a mural on one of the walls at school. They haven't started yet, but this should be pretty cool.

Brayden - He has a new love...Thomas the Train and all his friends! He's watched Thomas for a while on DVDs, but now we are starting him a small collection and you'd think we gave him the world. Right now he has Edward, Emily, Elizabeth, and Duck. They are just the best ever. And to this little boy...choo-choos are IT! And they have been for a long time now. All the way back to the beginning of last school year when we used to got get Matt from school and the train would pass by as we were waiting in line to get him. At that time they were called Coo-Coos :)

There's a bunch more other things going on, but I haven't got that kinda time this morning. I'll try to get caught up on that stuff and Matt's party in a day or too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!!!!!!!!

Well it finally came (as Matt told me this morning)...he's 11! And I hope the boy has a WONDERFUL day at school cause yesterday was a bummer. His girlfriend said they should break up :( But I told him not to EVEN sweat it and not to let ANYTHING bring him down on his birthday. It might have been embarrassing, but I woke him up to me singing "Happy Birthday to youuuuu....". Then he got a candle in his cereal (very crafty I am ;). I was going to send him a balloon arrangement up to school, but I was advised that, that was NOT cool in 5th grade (...or so he said after I'd told him that I saw another boy yesterday come out with one. All fictitious of course, but I was tring to find out his thoughts on it :) I was hoping to have him picked up in a Limo after school and just taken to the house, but I can't get the people to answer the phone :( So tonight after his guitar lesson I told him that we would go to Yesterdays (a local 50's restaurant with a BIG dessert menu). There he may choose to have a dessert supper or have supper and dessert! That seemed to light him up...plus the fact that he'll get to open presents when Dad gets home :) Which I believe Matt can hold off on....but Brayden's just been beside himself with excitement. He can't wait till Matt gets to open his presents and have CAKE!! :)

Happy birthday Big Boy! We all love you bunches and hope you just have the best day EVER!!!! You really light up our lives and keep us laughing :) And you impress us daily with those super smart brains of yours. And you are just the BESTEST big brother to the crazy little miget!! Love you Buddy!

I'll post more about his party (that's on Saturday) later. Which we just found out is ALSO the day of his 1st baseball game. Don't know the time yet...nice!

34 years and 295 days!

I almost made it 35 years....almost. Yesterday was 34 years and 295 days that I have gone with ZERO cavities! Dang... I now have 4. I know that's diddly. But I thought that I'd actually be able to always say "I've never had a cavity." Guess all those years of never flossing finally caught up to me. I'm such a terrible example to the kids. And I hadn't been to the dentist in 6-7 years. So when the big kids asked me at their last dentist visit how come I never go....I figured it was time that I set a better example. I haven't told the kids that I have cavites yet, but I'm sure when I do they'll really let me have it :)

In other news....

Both big kids had another great day at school. Matt also had his 1st baseball practice and he's ready for some games!!!

Today is my Sister-In-Laws birthday. And even though I know she doesn't read my blog....HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHANDA!!!! If you know her number, give her a shout today. She'll be celebrating this b-day without Bobby this year since he just left out for his two weeks "on".

...Aaannnddd there offff.....

Yesterday was my big kids first day of school...and they were pumped. They were both so ready for school, but not so much for the work aspect. They missed their friends and were getting quite bored with me and Brayden :) They were both such a delight yesterday (and today also) morning! Which is a great treat for me because I know that here in a week or 2 there will be the occasional snarling beast in place of these delightful children :)

Here are some shots that Jim and I took as the kids were heading off to school....


Do you see Matt's pets in the background???




I wasn't sure if Brayden would be lost without the big kids around...like he had in previous years. But so far he seems to like having the house to himself.


He sure was happy to get the kids yesterday afternoon. He spotted Matt before I did as he was walking thru the mass of kids. And as I was asking Matt about his day, Brayden kept going "...ppsstt, hey, hey...Matthew...is me...Brayden...your brozer" :) It was so cute! Matt told me he had a great day and that p.e. was gonna rock this year. No little baby stuff. "We're gonna have dodge ball, rock walls, dodge ball while on the rock wall, wrestling...."

Brayden was equally happy to see Nat. He squealed out "...it's my sister!" She said that she had a great day as well and had a feeling that this was gonna be a GREAT year!

Here's hoping that day 2 is just a faboulous!! Have a great day! :)

Let me catch you up....

Ok, I'm behind as always....so let me attempt to catch up...

I know I said I'd post beach pictures, and I would if it weren't so dadgum difficult to get them all on blogger. So, my solution is...come see us :) And then I'll show you them in person :)

At the first of this month we had the first ever Berryman reunion at my house. We had 30 people show up and it was really great! It was crazee hot outside, but I think everyone had a pretty good time....and there was lots of good food (major essential to a good reunion...right? :)) We were so happy that it all worked and everyone got to come that did. Hopefully we can do the same next year and have 30+ family show up.

Natalie - She is about 6 weeks away from getting her braces off, and her teeth look pretty! She is still dancing and has added ballet to her list. We will find out this evening at meet the teacher if she will be doing dance at school also. She's hoping it doesn't conflict with Theater Arts...cause she's really looking forward to taking that class. She will be starting back with piano and art the frist week in Sept. At that point she'll have something going everyday of the week!

Matthew - He is so excited to start baseball. They are still in the sign up process, so we don't know anything about anything right now. He now in his 5th week of gutair and he LOVES it. He's really catching on too. He's still in the basics, but he said he's getting close to the teacher teaching him a song. He will also start back with art in Sept. And his schedule is starting up to lookin pretty full too :)

Brayden - He is doing fabulous with his new teeth. We are so happy! And he's completely potty trained now and has been for several weeks. He got a mini soccer ball weekend before last and he is so cute with it. Might have a future soccer player in the house :) Yesterday he asked all day if he could play with the bubbles that he got for being a good boy at his post op check on his teeth. But it just kept raining. Finally I siad "come on" and we went to the front porch. He was so cute. His little face just lit up. YES...I should have grabbed the camera, but NO..I didn't even think about it. He played for a good 30 mins. So cute!

Last weekend we travelled to San Antonio for my sister-in-law Tina's b-day and her and Billy's 18th anniversary. I had this "great" idea to go to Sea World since Nat was 2 when we went last and the boys had never been. They were so excited to get to go and see Shamu. HA! So were all the other 2 million people!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a BAD sign when we got to the Sea World exit on Loop 410 and the car were back out onto the Loop! Not good at all!!! There was an obscene amount of people there and it was disgustingly hot. We took our time going from stop to stop...trying not to melt along the way... After lunch everyone was pretty much DONE and so I foolishly suggested that we go see Shamu's show before we leave. It started in 8 mins, but I thought that was plenty of time....NOT. We get there after fighting our way thru thte mobs of people and we are told that the stadium is as max capacity and that we should come back about an hour before the next show! That was like 3 hours away!!! So we left and I was very disheartened :( I wanted them to at least get to see one show. We walked by the other theater and it was closed down cause a baby belga had just been born. But we got to see Momma and baby and that was cool just to see them swim and play.

The next day they had Tina's party and Cheryl and her girls showed up along with Tina's Mom and Step Dad. Mom and Dad got to come dowm the night before since Dad got rained out. They made some VERY yummy food and there was CAKE! That makes a party a hit to me EVERY time :) We all had a great visit and it was a great weekend..even is Sea World was a bust.

We start school on Monday and I'm sure there will be lots to update next week. So for now, you are caught up on the month of August (all except the one weekend that we spent a retarded amoun of money on school shopping...but I don't want to go there :))

Hope you all have a great week and that you are geting as much wonderful rain as wer are!

Ok, we got that over with!

Schewee!! The teef are done! Kinda stressful I'm telling ya. We got up at 4am yesterday and got to registration at the hospital at 5:30. When thru all that nonsense and they took him back about 7:15. The dentist said it'd take about 45 mins. Let me tell you when 45 mins comes and goes and no one's coming out to tell you anything...you get ansy! It ended up taking about 1.5 hours and I was about to get unglued! Then the dentist came out and I did all I could to hold back the tears. I'd never been so happy to see a dentist in my LIFE! He told us that he root canaled 5 teeth and filled 2 molars and he said that he went ahead and sealed all his back teeth...for free! This guy is the bomb I tell ya! I forgot to mention that when he came to see Brayden before the surgery he was so sweet and brought him a stuffed puppy dog!!! So when people ask me why we drive almost 40 mins to go to the dentist...THAT'S just one of the reasons why!

After the dentist talked to us we had to go back to the waiting room and wait till they removed the tubes from his nose and for him to ask for us. Shoot....the lady who finally came to get us didn't even have a chance to finish saying his first name and I was plowing thru her to get to my baby! I did all I could not to run back to him...I think Jim was in the same boat! We got back there and just broke down when we saw our limp, whimpery baby. I scooped him up and calmed him down. It probably took a good 30 mins for him to come to...then the Versed's (sp?)(they called it Giggle juice or baby Valium) after effects kicked in. He screamed for almost an hour. He was one po-ed baby. He wanted to be disconnected from all the crap he was hooked up to and he wanted it off RIGHT NOW! But they were trying to follow orders and not unhook him till they knew he could drink something and hold it down. Well, he wasn't do JACK till he got unhooked...so it was a screaming stand off. They finally caved and realized that we weren't joking when we told them that he won't calm down till you unhook him.

So we finally get him discharged after the whole nursing staff had had it with the noise. We get him in the car, start a movie, and get him some grub. ...then we got our baby back. And we've had him back ever since. Those drugs SUCKED! I'll never let my kids have that crap again...if it can be avoided!!

His teeth look great and he doesn't seem to have any pain with them. He lets me brush them and he doesn't complain at all! He's such a big boy! Here's the after shots:





Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. That really means a lot to us that you love and care for our baby :)

Teef

My baby boy is getting his teef fixed tomorrow. He'd broke 3 and chipped a few others at his 2 b-day party and they have since then started to decay. Neither the dentist or Jim & I knew it was as bad as it is. He's got more cavities in these few teeth than...well.. tooth! This was a complete suprise at our last check up. The dentist had scheduled him to come back in to get his broke/decayed teeth bonded and knew of only 1 cavity that needed to be filled. The plan was to give him a little gas in office and wham bam we are done. But as he got in there looking around, he said that there was an abcess and that's not good. He took some xrays and that's when we all just sat there dumbfounded!!! He's going to have 4-5 root canals and caps put on tomorrow. He will be put under about 7am and should be recovered by 12pm. The procedure will take place at Cooks Childrens Hospital.

I know that this is not that big of a deal and kids are put under all the time....but my baby hasn't. None of my kids have. I realize that we are very fortunate to not have had to deal with this before. But none-the-less, I am a bit worried about the being put under. I don't like that idea, but I know it has to be done or this is gonna get into his permanent teeth. But, if you don't mind...please say a little prayer for my baby tomorrow.

Here's the before picture:


I'll post the after picture and let you know how it went either tomorrow or Thursday.

159=32=10

I wanted to post this Friday but got sidetracked....huh, imagine that :)

I was elated on Friday morning because I saw something on the scale that I haven't seen in a least 6 (possibly 7) years. I am offically in the 150's! 159.4!!! And that's the what my title is about...I'm finally at 159....I've lost 32lbs....and I have 10lbs to my goal!

I really wasn't sure that this would ever happen, but I am so happy that it has. Not for vainty, but because all this hard work is finally paying off.

Thanks for letting me share my happy news with you :)

Stealing from Kim

Ok, I'm stealing a great idea from Kim. She had all her nieces and nephews line up according to age. I just loved it and have wonted to copy that idea for some time. So while at the beach I FINALLY remember and here ya go:


In order from left to right: Wesley (not shown but in our hearts is in Las Vegas doing his residency/internship...not sure of the proper term), Jordan (16), Krista (16), Taylor (15), Lorrin (15), Laura (14), Natalie (13), Matthew (10), Tyler (10), and Brayden (3)

Here's a shot of me and my siblings (not in order of age):)


From left to right:
Karen (in all our hearts and in the sea behind us :)),Billy, Me, Cheryl, and Debbie

I'll post more pictures, but here's a start. If you didn't read my explaination for the picture delay...see blog below.

...they are coming...I promise :)

The beach pictures are coming...I promise. They just take time to load and I haven't made time to do it yet. Heck, my pictures from Spring Break STILL aren't in the photo album yet!!!

But for justification...here's what's been going on at our house....we've been busy bees!

Natalie:
Takes dance every Monday in Denton. Then has private lessons every Wednesday. Yesterday we had her ortho appt and found out she has roughly 8 more weeks till she's in a retainer...woo hoo! She alternates Wednesday's with Matt working in the softball concession stand from 6:30ish - till 10:30ish. She goes to youth group on Sunday evenings and will go camping with the youth group this Sun-Tues at Lake Whitney. She still takes art once a week, but is taking the summer off on piano. But she practices everyday :)

Matthew:
This week he's in a day camp at the library. They do a scavenger hunt thru books to earn video game reward time. Today the "shake lady" came and they also got a lesson on snakes and bugs. This afternoon he'll have his first guitar lesson! He's also taking art once a week. He will have a day camp next week at the Sheriff's Dept. called the "CSI camp". He's also been a tremendous help in keeping the yard mowed!!!

Brayden:
No camps or classes. But he is having dental work done this Thursday for the 2 front teeth he broke on his 2nd b-day party. They have decayed up into his gumline :( He also has a cavity in a molar. Other than that he has been one healthy boy! And is is completely over the gugga!!! AND he had been in underwear for over a week and only had 2 accidents...AND....drum roll please....he stands when he potties!!!

Jim:
Work ,work, work....softball concession stand...and some more work. He'll be going out to Midland after Brayden's dental work on Thursday to be with his Dad. James will be having angioplasty done on Friday. Please keep him in your prayers.

Me:
Official bus driver of the Berryman kids :) Still working out 5-6 times a week. I've now lost 31 lbs and 11 lbs from my goal!!

Hope you all are having a great summer! I WILL post pictures from the beach soon :)

15!

15 years today!!!! Many, many people made bets that we wouldn't last 15 mins :) ...not to say that Jim and I do things out of spite....... ;)~~~

We've had far from the fairytale version of a marriage. We've had our rocky times, but we've learned something from each of them. We growl and snarl at each other, but it's never meant that we don't love each other. Don't think we've ever had it in us to be all kissy poo or "I love you Suger Lips". We've been more like "get the heck over here so I can hug your stubborn a--" :) .....and that works for us! How do I know???

15 years!!!

...that's how I know :) I love you Jim. Thank you for your love, understanding, and patience! I seriously would not want to have spent the past 15 years with ANYONE else and I look forward to the next 15x15x15 years with you. And I'm REALLY looking forward to cruising on the SS Happy :)

**I did a post yesterday about Matt and the deer. Check it out if you haven't already.**

Matthew and his pets :)

Matthew has mentioned many times that he'd like to shoot a deer. But I think his Mom is starting to wear off on him :) Each time he's mentioned that he'd like to shoot one, I've been saying (along with "NO!")..."wouldn't you rather have one eat out of your hand, or pet one?"

A few times a week Matt will go and put corn out for the deer. And by doing that, he's getting the deer really comfy and cozy in our back yard. They'll even bring out the new baby twins deer...and all just come and lay down in our back yard. It's really cool! They'll even hang out with him while he's mowing!!!

This past weekend Matt was allowed to buy a pellet gun. I was really worried that his kindness towards the deer was going to quickly fade. But, my fears are a thing of the past (for now :)). Yesterday, Matt was outside shooting his gun. He put it up when he saw the deer and went to go get the bucket of corn. When the deer saw the bucket....they came running...like cows do!!! It was hilarious. The deer were running towards Matt and he was running towards the garage to get more corn :)

He went and got a chair and sat in the middle of some trees and sat for a good 30 mins just as still and quite as he could (which all of you who know Matt, know this is QUITE a feat for him!) with the corn in his hand...hoping they'd come eat out of it. And he WAS tempting them. You could see it in their eyes that they wanted that corn!!



In this picture you can't see them, but the 2 babies are just to the right of Matt and back a little bit. The adults really want to eat out of Matt's hand, but their instincts are telling them not to. Hopefully, Matt can get the babies to give in...if Momma deer would just buzz off :)

I know I still need to blog about the beach, but this was so cool that I just had to share it.