missing Daddy

The Firefighter works 48 hour shifts. That's two whole days without the Man-of-the-House. We see him briefly for dinner, but we really get to missing him at night.The kids cope in various ways from sleeping in our big bed with me or sleeping with stuffed animals he got them, going up to the fire station or calling him..

..and my favorite - wearing his clothes. They especially like ones from his hamper or the fire department ones, they tell me those smell most like him.

Precious angels.

Bedtime Prayers:
God, protect our Daddy while he is away.

Keep all the firefighters safe tonight.

Be with all their families too.

Thank you for giving us the bestest Daddy in the world.

Amen.

DADshare

Interviewing the kids about DAD:

1.What is something Dad always says to you?
Princess: umm no?
Superhero: NO

2. What makes Dad happy?
Princess: me not lying
Superhero: me playing with him

3. What makes Dad sad?
Princess: lying
Superhero: us hurting him

4. How does your Dad make you laugh?
Princess: by throwing the biggest pillow at brother
Superhero: by tickling me in the chest right here

5. What was your Dad like as a child?
Princess: loving on his momma & his daddy
Superhero: (giggling) I don't know!

6. How old is your Dad?
Princess: 28, is that correct?
Superhero: 28

7. How tall is your Dad?
Princess: big?
Superhero: firty-one pounds!

8. What is his favorite thing to do?
Princess: ehhhhh love on me
Superhero: sneak up on us

9. What does your Dad do when you're not around?
Princess: fights fires, go to Wal-Mart
Superhero: put out fires


10. If your Dad becomes famous, what will it be for?
Princess: like if he wanted to be a UFC fighter, and he won, and he got lots of trophies
Superhero: because he did something good

11. What is your Dad really good at?
Princess: fightn' fires
Superhero: uhhhhh eating? (giggling again)

12. What is your Dad not very good at?
Princess: cooking
Superhero: he's not really good at throwing us in the water

13. What does your Dad do for his job?
Princess: fight fires, fight fires, fight fires... uh he's a fire fighter
Superhero: fight fires

14. What is your Dad's favorite food?
Princess: I know, I know - I don't know, maybe nachos?
Superhero: umm I don't know

15. What makes you proud of your Dad?
Princess: not making fun of my toys
Superhero: nothing

16. If your Dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?
Princess: uh Rich Franklin (cartoon sweetie) oh, uh Oliver?
Superhero: Iron Man!

17. What do you and your Dad do together?
Princess: scratch each other's backs
Superhero: what? oh play.. sometimes..

18. How are you and your Dad the same?
Princess: well my hair is long.. ohhh we have eyes.. blue eyes, together, maybe, our ears look like each other
Superhero: no way.. um, we're both boys but nothing made us the same, he's big I'm little

19. How are you and your Dad different?
Princess: because my hair is brown, his hair is yellow, my hair is long and his hair is short
Superhero: because.. I'm small & he's big

20. How do you know your Dad loves you?
Princess: because he loves me and I know it, and he loves me if I did a lie or something, he still loves me.. (cheesing) that was a good answer
Superhero: because he shows it to us

21. Where is your Dad's favorite place to go?
Princess: Taco Mayo (apparently we like tacos in this family, lol)
Superhero: karate

22. What is your Dad’s favorite movie?
Princess: Terminator? wait I got it, Bravefart (cracking up at herself) I mean Braveheart
Superhero: umm Last Samauri

23. What would be the perfect day for Dad?
Princess: his birthday, my birthday.. even Valentines (she finds it funny to repeat her answers from mine I guess)
Superhero: when uh he gets to play with me or the day he can be just me and Dad at the house, we playing

24. How does Dad get money?
Princess: by the bank
Superhero: by you sharing money (HA HA HA HA since I do the bills & all right?)

25. Is there anything else you would like to say about Dad?
Princess: I do! I love him, he's nice, he's sweet, I think he is the uh bestest boy in the world, even brother, the only one I want, the only one I need.. (rambling Hannah Montanna songs again, lol)
Superhero: yes, playing with him, and having fun

MomShare

Ask your children these questions and record their answers. This is really funny...especially with the younger ones. Delete my answers and give your kids the survey too.

Who are you giving the survey to name/age/grade
Princess, 7, 2nd grade
Superhero, 5 1/2, kindergarten

1.What is something mom always says to you?
Princess: umm, we'll see
Superhero: NO

2. What makes mom happy?
Princess: me not lying
Superhero: me not lying

3. What makes mom sad?
Princess: lying
Superhero: doing a bad thing

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Princess: ummm.. i don't know
Superhero: tickles me

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Princess: ooh that's a tough one, um funny?
Superhero: you getting silly putty & making it like poop and your Dad saying "POOP!" (giggling uncontrollably, sheesh..)

6. How old is your mom?
Princess: twenty... ummm.. eight!
Superhero: 68 (wow)

7. How tall is your mom?
Princess: shrugs, hey what does that say? shurgs?
Superhero: 31 pounds (HAHAHAHA)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Princess: (lots of thinking) celebrating birthdays and stuff like that, playing with baby J & all the kids
Superhero: ummmm Momma.. your favorite thing to do is ummmm PLAY WITH US! Is that right? Play with us?

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Princess: maybe go to meetings or somethinggggg.. midnight phone calls & sneltzing & snooobert.. (WHAT!?! repeating something she heard on Hannah Montana, lol)
Superhero: i don't know.. go to work? Can she just do the rest?


10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Princess: i don't know, what's famous mean again?
Superhero: because you are a rockstar.. can this be the last one Mom? can it?

11. What is your mom really good at?
Princess: ooohh, clean up the house? (wow, that was a surprising answer, lol)
Superhero: i don't know.. (pouting that I made him come back after she was done, lol) cooking I guess

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Princess: she's not good at.. (taps her chin).. I can't think of it first.. Mom's not good at the doing splits.. can you do the splits?
Superhero: putting us to bed? well your not (why not?) because when you put us to bed I just lay there like this.. with my eyes open (LOL)

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Princess: teach
Superhero: teach

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Princess: BROWNIES! is that your favorite thing? .. is it??
Superhero: tuna pasta

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Princess: you & Dad not making fun of my toys (that would be him doing that, not me!)
Superhero: nothing

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Princess: I got a good one.. umm on a cartoon show.. a second grade teacher on Hannah Montanna writing a book to second grade little kids, and she talked about not lyyyyyying (honey, a CARTOON) oh, Lola
Superhero: Batwoman

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Princess: love on each other, play.. some of my toys, fix my hair, ummm (sighs)
Superhero: eat (giggling.. he thinks he's so funny)

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Princess: (looking at me) weeeeeee are girls?
Superhero: no way

19. How are you and your mom different?
Princess: that our hair is.. yours is black.. mine is brown.. it's easy.. hey can you? I don't like "it's easy" HEY!
Superhero: cuz we're just made different

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Princess: cuz she's my mom
Superhero: because you show it to me (awe)

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Princess: whew-hoo-hoo.. i think Taco Bell.. no taco FACTORY! (soooo funny)
Superhero: to eat? (giggling) K-Bobs?

22. What is your mom’s favorite movie?
Princess: that's a hard hard hard one.. i don't know.. i think it's one of my movies or something like that, like princesses or something?
Superhero: umm.. what is it? really, what is it? just tell me what it is and I'll tell you.. what is your favorite movie mom? what is it?!

23. What would be the perfect day for mom?
Princess: Valentine's Day, her birthday.. and.. my birthday, and everybody else's birthdays
Superhero: if it was your birthday (geez, guess I get a little too into birthdays huh, lol)

24. How does mom get money?
Princess: by going to the office.. I mean bank
Superhero: going to the bank (giggling) is that all momma?

25. Is there anything else you would like to say about mom?
Princess: YES, uhhhh I love her, I wish we could go get a snow cone without the boys and they could go to karate and me and her could have some pretty dresses and play with each other
Superhero: (laughing hard now) YOU LIKE TO EAT... can I go play now?

not so Princesslike

Princesses are known for being kind, sweet, full of grace and honor.. honest. Tell that to my little girl who has just lied to me for the second time in a month. Last time I warned her that - lying is wrong, God says it is a sin, it hurts my feelings for her to lie to my face like that, I can no longer believe her or trust her, she'll always be in twice as much trouble for lying than she would be for just confessing, and of course.. that she'll get a spanking/grounding. Well apparently that all went in one ear & out the other.. or perhaps she needs me to PROVE that I mean business. That's according to the 'Strong Willed Child' book by the amazing Dr. Dobson.. the book that has become my instruction manual for Princess. It said that you have to earn the respect of your SWC at times. She could be simply saying to me "I don't think you're tough enough to be the boss of me."

This time is a pretty major offense. She cut her hair. I don't know how I didn't catch it sooner, maybe because she won't let me touch her hair these days. She's much to independent to let her Momma fix her hair. Well, apparently she cut herself some bangs at my sister's house awhile ago and I just saw it yesterday. She's been wearing her hair pulled back and even told me on vacation that she wants to cut it so it'll be short & her baby cousin can't pull it all the time. I've fought her for a year to get her to agree to a haircut. I should have suspected something was up. When asked about it she said

"NO Momma, NO! I didn't! I'm serious. I didn't cut my hair. I promise."

I asked her over & over and she gave me the same solemn response. I'd almost believed her if it weren't for the proof in front of my face. I gave her "the look" and answered the ringing phone. She then comes into the room with a giant weight belt of her father's (like I'm really going to spank her with it, lol) and an intense look in her eyes. She tells me that she just didn't want to be in trouble and she's very sorry. She doesn't want a spanking because that would be too embarrasing and she just doesn't know what her punishment should be. She even wrote me a note. Good grief. I made her go clean her room & go to bed. I told her I was going to talk to her father about it before we decided on anything.

**Disclaimer: I took her picture telling her I was sending it to our hairdresser to see what she could do to fix it. I realize that is lying to her, lol, but I didn't want her thinking I found this little stunt amusing enough to photograph.**

lunch

Had lunch today.. which is, of course, something I do everyday. The reason it matters today is because of the people I had lunch with.. my girls.

It's a simple thing really- to make time to get together with your friends, to make an effort to stay involved in each other's lives, to let them know you are there for them. So why is that such a difficult task sometimes? Well there's jobs, kids, spouses, family, obligations, chores & errands that can get in the way of good intentions. Which is a part of what makes our group so amazing.

All together between us we have 21 kids.. and a new little one arriving in September. Today at my humble home we had 13 of them running around. The oldest is my Princess who is 7 and the rest are 5 & under. That's a pretty crazy time as I'm sure you know. We don't get much visiting in while we're chasing toddlers around, but between shrieks & giggles we get caught up as best we can. It's just the fact of being there that counts.

I love watching the kids together-their little personalities as unique as their mommas'.. especially the girls. You can just see US in THEM. Today they played dress up.. not unlike us when we finally get a Girls Night Out.

They are oblivious to what all we go through to have these little get-togethers. Inevitably, when it's time to go, tears will be shed & a fit or two thrown about leaving their friends.. and who could blame them? Sometimes I just want to throw a fit & cry "NO!" too. Our time together is over too soon it seems and we all must go back to doing whatever we were doing before.

With all that is going on in our lives, I can't help but wonder how much longer this can last. We must adjust to the winds of change that are swirling all around us, we have no other choice, but I do hope that somehow we can defy the odds.. and weather the storm.

Don't put off to tomorrow what you could do TODAY

It's Tuesday morning and I hear the kids giggling and sneaking down the hall. They're with one of their cousins who stayed the night. I already hear talk of what each wants for breakfast and what they want to play afterwards. I see beside me a scattered mess of papers & some of the most random objects like old remotes, cords, a broken dvd player, screwdrivers, a charm to one of Princess' many necklaces. I think to myself why am I so unorganized and messy.. and lazy. I could throw out the usual excuses about how it's my summer off and we've been gone a lot and I just haven't caught up yet, but the truth is I just haven't done much WORK the past two months. I've let it all slide, doing just enough to get by. Sure I start out all gung ho when I wake up in the morning, takling little jobs left & right, but then I get distracted. Sometimes it's playing with the kids, other times it's playing on the computer. I've accepted any social invite that's come our way and yet when my Pastor asked me a few weeks ago if I was -living my summer to the fullest- I had to stop and ponder it. He didn't ask if I was enjoying my summer like most people do. That I could easily say yes to. I've ENJOYED laying around by the pool watching the kids swim & soaking up the sun. I ENJOYED talking with friends, having get-togethers, laying on the couch w/ my hubby watching movies & random television. I've ENJOYED sleeping in late, playing on Sorority Life & Farm Town & Bejeweled while sipping my coffee and not even showering til noon.
But have I lived the summer to it's fullest?
Time to be honest. No.
Have I been keeping up with my morning devotional? No. Have I been praising & praying as much as I should? No. Have I been cooking meals for my family more than we've been eating out? No. Have I let us become lazy, leaving things laying around, staying up to late, eating too many snacks throughout the day? Yes. Have I become to lax? Yes.
I know the answers, I've just been avoiding the questions. And now here it is the last of July. Soon I will be back to wishing I had a mere 5 minutes to myself to be lazy.
What I've found to be a blessed truth is that Lazieness breeds Laziness! There no escape from that or excuse that changes it. It is what it is. The more you lay around.. the more you feel the need to lay around. The more you oversleep.. the more you feel the need to sleep. It's Satan's playground and Laziness is it's name.
I've prayed for God to rescue me from it's hold, but now I realize it requires action from me. Time to get off my keister and get to work! And there's no time like the present. The time is NOW!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

It's not my darling sweet daughter who threw a ridiculous fit this morning when told "no" about her idea of inviting about 10 or so friends over to act in her musical. Noooo that wailing heard all around the neighborhood did not come from our house. It was not our Princess screaming "NOT FAIR!" and hurling herself down on her bed before I'd even had my coffee. She's much to obedient and well mannered for that.

Oh also, just so you know, it wasn't my children standing in the front yard in their underwear with a bucket claiming they wanted to have a water war in the street. It must've been the neighbor's kids.

Yearbook Reunion

Last weekend I had the pleasure of taking part in something that really meant a lot to someone very special to me.. my high school yearbook advisor, trusted teacher, mentor, and now friend. Mrs. Scoggins was not your typical teacher.. pun intended for my Hookerites :) She was inspiring, encouraging, caring and creative. I was so blessed to work under her direction. Together we soared to new heights receiving national recognition and awards usually given to big schools with big budgets. I would not be who I am without her influence and the experiences I had on the yearbook staff at Hooker High. My love for writing flourished and my affection for photographs grew. I was at home in this group even if I didn't fully know it at the time. We were a family.

What Eddy & Marilyn had to endure before finally leaving Hooker is simply not fair. The way they faced trials with strength, character, and integrity is an inspiration. I feel a sad sense of loss for Hooker schools and the students there who will never get to be a part of what we had.

On Friday, July 11 a group of us traveled to Dallas, Texas where the Scoggins now reside to attempt to show them what they'd meant to us. Eddy helped us to surprise Marilyn at Taylor Publishing where she is now an editor. I will never forget the look in her eyes when she thanked us and told us that we are the reason for her success. After tears and hugs and thanking God for each other and all our many blessings we just spent time together once again, as a family. We poured through our yearbooks and pictures of us recieving awards and our many adventures together. These things are worth their weight in gold as they are all we have left of such a special time in our lives. We talked and got caught up and took more pictures and laughed.. oh how we laughed. It truely was a reunion; a homecoming. We treasured the things in the Scoggins home which brought back such memories for us of bible studies and get togethers. It was a weekend I know none of us will ever forget. As each one left I felt the fresh pain of missing them even though it had been 10 years since I'd seen some of them. They were like new friends who were old friends and I was getting to know them all over again. Its a second chance, for me, to appreciate these people who I'd taken for granted as a teenager but who mean the world to me even now.

To ALL my yearbook comrades: I love each one of you and look forward to the day when we will meet again. Until then, you will be in my prayers.

Florida.. part deux

We weren't sure if we'd get to take a vacation this year. We knew there would be lake trips with the Wickwares and RVing with the Robertsons. Plus with the decline of the oil field leading to some missing supplemental income we thought it might be best. After looking at our savings though and the amount of vacation time the Firefighter needed to burn before July, we decided we'd go ahead and do a get-away of sorts. We quickly decided to do as we'd promised for years and take the kids to our beach in Florida. We'd gone, just the two of us to Pensacola in 2004, which was our first vacation together. I'd flown over the ocean, but I hadn't gotten to meet it yet. Let me tell you it was love at first sight! Since then we've traveled to Jamaica, Hawaii, and Mexico and have the routine down. Sleep in, drink coffee, put on swim suits, cover my hubby's body in sunscreen, grab the beach bag & go. We usually spend the days with me soaking up the sun and him tactically defending himself from it as we listen to the waves crashing on the shore and try to permanently sketch the scenery in our minds. We snack for lunch but enjoy a local restaurant, preferably on the beach, for dinner as we watch the sunset.. ahhh

I bet you know where I'm going with this, lol. The kids' didn't really cooperate with the routine. After the stress of flying with kids, rental car, traffic, maps, and finally checking in, we were pretty wore out. I was really looking forward to just laying in my beach chair the next day. However, the kids didn't see that as their idea of a good vacation. They were hot.. and sticky.. and sand was in their eyes.. and salt in their mouth.. and funny ocean creatures were out to get them. The Superhero hates putting on sunscreen, but he loves covering himself entirely with sand and rolling down the beach into the water. He very much protests the cleaning off part that follows. Princess wanted to just sit in the air conditioning and eat junk food as much as possible. Their favorite thing was to simply swim in the pool. We tried uselessly to tell them that was something they could do back home.

All in all though, we had a wonderful family vacation and the kids got to do things they'd never done like kayak and go on a dolphin cruise and bounce on a water trampoline. I really enjoyed spending time together, just the four of us, away from it all. Next year maybe we'll just take them back to Great Wolf Lodge.