Summer at Grandmommy's

While school has been out, Lil Red and I have been making trips to Grandmommy's to learn about gardening and canning. I think Lil Red liked the day we went out there for gardening better. As you can see below, he was able to check out the different kind of plants, he made friend's with his Uncle's dog and decided to cool off in his water dish. That was truly funny. He didn't play in it. He just looked at it. Crawled in shoes and all and sat there for a second and then got out, lol. He just was hot and knew how to cool off! We weeded and sprayed around the plants for ants with a soap solution. Unfortunately, Lil Red recieved his first experience with fire ants! Although, thankfully, I realized what was wrong immediately and he only recieved a few bites. This past Saturday we invested in a pair of tall galloshes for him. So we will be more prepared next time. We tried to go for a ride in the golf cart to check the mail, but the battery was having issues so we pretended instead, lol. We also had a delicious squash bundt cake that my mom made. Very yummy! She gave us mucho, fresh veggies. Then the next weekend our big order came in from the co op. We went over the following monday to can tomatoes. I don't think it would have taken that long, but I wanted stewed tomatoes and you have to use a pressure cooker. If you don't have more than one pressure cooker this process is a LONG one! And I've decided to stick to buying stewed tomatoes. Although it was fun until the end of the day. I left at 11pm b/c poor Lil Red couldn't handle it anymore. But Grandmommy went till 3 am and still had half a box to go! I had so much fun talking about the past with her and learning. I can't wait to go back and have another day there. Oh and I can't forget one of the best things was sitting on the back porch after having cleaned up our potting mess and relaxing with some ice water as we rocked on the porch. We would listen to the breeze rustle the leaves and it was so very peaceful. My mom cracked me up when she looked out over the back and said, " You know it's hot when even the weeds are withering". Said with a real southern drawl. Leave it to Mom to start a new saying :)

Tribute to the Father's in my Life

I find this Father's day that I have much to be thankful for. I had a great Dad, who inspired me to be a better person and loved me through my myriad of life's dissapointments and trials, and what's more celebrated with me my triumphs and happy days. I am also thankful for my ex-husband choosing to be part of his boys' life. Granted there are days that I'm frustrated with his decisions because they wouldn't be mine. But there is no denying that he loves his boys and has endeavored to ensure them of that. I am very grateful for that because I know how important it is to their emotional well being. I am also thankful for a sweet and wonderful Father-in-law. When Big Red and I were dating and I had the opportunity to meet his parents for the first time. I was genuinely touched by the card that his Dad left to ensure me that they approved of me. Hanging out at their cabin reminds me of my days growing up as a little girl and riding the back of my Grandfather's tractor around our property. I truly admire him and his strength of spirit. While he is a quiet man, I have had the opportunity to listen to him as he has imparted wisdom with others and always felt strengthened by it. Knowing my husband has such a father as a role model brings me such happiness. Which brings me to the fount of my happiness on this day. I am so thankful to have been blessed with a righteous man that is as wonderful a husband as he is a Dad. The day Lil Red was born and the love that poured from this man that I married both to me and his newborn son brought me such joy. I love watching him and Lil Red 'work' together. It is already apparent that Lil Red is determined to follow in his father's footsteps. The other day I was discussing this phenomena with my Mom and littlest brother and he said, that Big Red would be a good father to emulate. I so agree. He is kind, hardworking, definitely a doer, and so loving. I find myself over whelmed with my love for him on so many occasions. So happy father's day my beloved!

Moaning Myrt

Lil Red has started a new phase. If he isn't getting what he wants or he gets a minor hurt. He will start moaning and run to me and put his head on my shoulder and continue to moan. Reminds me of moaning Myrtle from Harry Potter. LOL. Anyways it's so sweet. I love my little moaner :)
And Marian, the race is definitely on! :P

Monetary blessings are more

Last Thursday I went to the kitchen to de-thaw some chicken for dinner. They are the individually frozen kind, so I had to run them under cold water for a couple of minutes to remove the glaze. While I was doing this I could hear Lil Red giggling and yacking away as he played. After 10 or 15 min I realized that I wasn't always hearing his voice come from the living room. So I walked in the dining room. He was coming from the wash room with fist fulls of.......cat litter! Yuck! I grabbed him and rushed to the sink with him and proceeded to wash his hands and feet and mouth. Yes, I think he did try a taste. Ugh! As I took him to put him in the playpen to have him out of the way while I cleaned, I got my first good look at the living room. He had thrown it a good 4 feet into the living room. It was on the carpet, under the couch, on the couch, and under the toy box. It took me minutes to clean up the mess. Disgusting. He had tried this once before 2 days earlier and we had caught him on the out set. None had gone in the mouth and just a little clean up was needed. Realizing this was a new game for him, my telling him no and putting him in time out, yelling, or spanking him wasn't going to deter him in all likley hood from doing it again, I decided I needed a gate. The next morning as I woke up and was lying in bed and going over what I wanted to accomplish that day, the thought came to my mind that I needed to consult craigslist to see if there were any baby gates up for grabs. There was one entry for a :arage sale for that morning and it started at 7:30am. That was right then! I hurriedly dressed myself and Lil Red. Chopped up some peaches and grabbed a juice cup for him and ran out the door. It was 8:30 when I arrived. As I scanned the spread for the gate my heart sank b/c it wasn't there. I had prayed the whole time going there that it would still be there when I arrived. I knew she was going to tell me it had been sold, but I felt to ask her anyways. She replied that it had been one of the first things to go. I told her that was the only reason I had come. Her face turned sympathetic as she apologized, then her face lit up and she said, "oh wait, I had another gate that I was going to put out here and I forgot about it. It's not the big durable plastic kind like the one I had this morning. It's just a wood one, but let me go get it". It was like new and perfect for what I needed it for. I expected her to ask somewhere around $10. And was perpared to negotiate down just a little. $3! Need I say more. I know that gate was meant for me. I know the Lord was looking out for our needs as I've tried to be more frugal and conscientious with what I buy, so we can get out of debt. I am so thankful for blessings like these that not only help us monetarily, but serve to enforce in my mind that my Heavenly Father is mindful of me and my family. That he loves his children and will help them as they endeavor to choose the right.

Yay for Microwaves, And Thankgoodness for Cheese!

I went to make eggs for Lil Red and me this morning only to find that my electric stove won't turn on for some reason. I was ready to just do yogurt for breakfast when I remembered along time ago making eggs in the microwave. The only thing is that it always tasted slightly like plastic to me when cooked in the microwave. So I melted some cheese on top. Cheese makes everything better! lol. So that was my blessing today. I had a microwave and cheese!

I am SSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!

I just called the charter school to ask how quickly we would know if Amadeus could attend their school because the other school gives a discount on their fees if you register before the end of June. She said it would be the latter part of June, but then asked me some more specific questions and told me that she really didn't think it was going to be a problem and that I should bring his current transcripts after they release from school. Soooooooo it looks good!

School Choices

Yesterday the secretary from the charter high school down the road from the one we currently go to, called and asked if I was still interested in Amadeus going there. I had dropped the idea as we had decided to go to this private school instead. But when she called something told me to keep my options open. Previously, Amadeus had been adamantly opposed to the idea. However, I asked him last night if any of his friends were going to this school, and he thought maybe two of them. Which makes it somewhat appealing. We got online and found they have a shorter school day which would be cool b/c I could pick him up and he could help me with Lil Red during lessons. I also like the building better. I know that sounds weird, but the building at the other school is kind of dark due to them not having tons of funding. Anyways, still not sure if he'll get in, but atleast he is open to going there if it does happen. I pointed out that if he did that Mom would definitely make enough money teaching twirling for me to continue with fencing and to be able to continue music lessons for both of them. I also made a commitment last night to Heavenly Father that if this happens that I'll start putting a good deal of the money from child support back in accounts for them to go on missions. I've always wanted to open accounts for them but never had surplus to do it. So hopefully it happens, I really feel better about the charter school than the private school. Mainly because I would have a lot less time with him if he went to the private school and it would be harder for me to be involved at his school. So keep praying for us!