2009 is drawing to a close and in hours it will be the year 2010 ( Sherry Lee, that does sound futuristic/sci-fi doesn’t it?! LOL). 2010

My word for journey in 2010, I picked LIVE. Sonrie noticed the capitalization and the emphasis on it ( I’m sure others did too) but I wish it knowingly came from me. I mean yes, it came from these fingertips but I really believe it was something deep inside me SCREAMING it out. That after 39 years of life, it really is time to LIVE…


I feel like I have been going through the motions for awhile now. I’ve said it before but but didn’t take any real action on it. A few years back my doctor had asked me about how much exercise or activity I get in a given day and when I told her how MUCH activity I got in a given day, she was pretty excited. But when I broke it down to her, she shook her head and said the term ‘stress movement’ to me in an comparison for actual exercise. Just because my schedule requires me to run around like a chicken with my head cut off, that doesn’t allow me to check it off my to do list as exercise. And such is the way of life….


I run around like a chicken with my head cut off. I am busy all the time. I have very little if any down time. In 6 months time I have managed to put 7800 miles on my brand new car (not an easy thing to do where I live). We all have busy lives. We all are scheduled out the waazoo. But I no longer just want to be busy with life. I want to live life. I want to enjoy it. I want to experience all it has to offer. And not just go through the motions….

I think I deserve that for a change.

I think we all deserve that and then some.

I don’t expect 2010 to a party one after the other. I don’t expect to automatically turn into this party animal that drinks and goes out all the time. That is NOT me. Never has been. Never will be. I accept that in me and most of my loved ones, accept it.

But what I do want is to savor my moments. Slow down to experience them. To take the time and not just rush through them but to learn from them. Photograph the down times as well as the busy. John Lennon said
‘Life is what happens to you when you are busy making plans’

Schedules and calendars help make life easier…but I don’t want them to MAKE my life

Here’s to 2010…peace, happiness, grace and joy. And to living the life we were promised…

!LIVE!

Usually for Christmas we play board games. Usually its Taboo, Yahtzee, Monopoly or something like that. Well, now..thanks to that wonderful thing we call technology, they have board games on computer and TV... Enter into the fray...Family Feud. On DVD. It was The Boys vs The Adults and we had a blast doing it....took a little getting used to but we stepped into the NEW CENTURY in regards to board games....

Jalil, it seems is upset at a 'steal' us Old
Fogey's had on the youngsters.....

I thought this question was a little....wrong

The Old Fogey's try to beat The Boys

Yeah...even Okoye was surprised they

were winning against us.....

So we wouldn't steal any of their
answers, they convened their round table to the

dinning room....

God...thank you for the blessings of family, fun and love

my niece 'Mylie-Christmas 2009

Mylie explains Christmas to the Boys....'ya'll for real!!!...there's this dude that flies allllllllllllllllllll around daworld and gives presents out!!!'

CAPTION IT!

Ali Edwards chooses a word that will “Essentially the idea is to choose a word (or let it choose you) that has the potential to make an impact on your life.’. She chooses this ‘word’ to live by and strive for over the course of one year. 365 days. I’ve decided to do this and my word, amazing yet NOT so amazingly came to me in a heart beat. It came so quick I even thought of changing it. ‘It CANT be this easy?!’ well….maybe it is.

LIVE. My word is LIVE

Pick your words people…choose what you want the new year to be about and live it…

Okoye from Christmas 2008

Knowing the kids got to sleep in this morning….its extra special when I know they normally cant sleep in on a Wednesday, LOL, yes, it’s the left over child in me, I know…

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Running Jalil’s bball shoes to the school and feeling the Christmas cheer throughout the school. Or was it the ‘Today is the Last Day of School for 13, Count ‘Em, 13 Days!!!’I’d prefer to think it was the Christmas cheer, alright. Everyone was relaxed. The principal came out to see what was going on and we joked back and forth and she remarked on how Jalil has grown not only physically this year but in his communication skills. She told how he approached HER (he struggles with the initiation of conversations) about her living by his dad and she said he held eye contact for long periods of time (which he does not do) and she said it gave her ‘warm fuzzies’. Trust me, she’s not a warm fuzzy kinda lady. But I get her…

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I love Silent Night by the Temptations…simply because my grandmother loved it. One year, she taped that song on a cassette tape straight from the radio and every year she’d pop that cassette in and BLAST it…ummmm truth be told...she’d also fix her a shot of whiskey and walk around belting Merry Christmas Baby by BB King but that’s another day AND another story...Both songs represent the essence of her in every way...I miss my TeeTee

******

Going with Okoye to buy his girlfriend her Christmas present at Bath and Body Works (very childish un-adult eye roll here, folks) and ran into the Varsity Girls Coach…oh my gosh this lady is gorgeous and an Amazon! Why cant I have legs up to there and a booty to match?! I still am waiting for the day that I can fill my jeans out! WHY????? Any who…she spoke to Okoye and she glanced at me and asked if I was his mom to which I said yes and she put her hand out to me…’I would love to shake your hand. He’s a great kid…’ Kinda took my mind off the fact that he just bought his girlfriend some smell good to make her smell good for him…urgh

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I will be 39 on Sunday…and I know..I feel it…the best is yet to come…

my mommie...

Lovin’….

The smile my mom has here....
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The fact that my boys are old enough that I don’t have to hide the wrapping supplies as I wrap presents here and there until Christmas….
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Long flannel pajama’s….
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Playing with the crying baby in front of me in the check out lane…first there was shock in disbelief in his face…then he didn’t know rather to smile back at me…then him letting out this infectious squeal of laughter at my goofy face….
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The thankful smile of the tired mom…
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We will get a light dusting of snow on Christmas….
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Almond bark Chex mix ( I will not call it buy any other name)…OMG that stuff is good…
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A new year fast approaching…its like a do-over for adults…

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Thank you Lord for being awesome to me…

Jesus is the reason for the season...



Maybe if I say that enough it will reach down deep inside of me and I can get over this funk....

I was in Walmart tonight...yes, I went this close to Christmas and no I'm not crazy nor a glutton for punishment...any way...the excitement that kids have during this time of year...is AMAZING! You can feel it popping off of them now... Since I've got two older boys, who KNOW where their presents come from...a little tinge came up in me wishing I had that 'excitement' running around in my house now...


My great niece taken in November

And this, folks, this little girl is Mia....Ava Rae's little sister.....my great niece... she was born Saturday afternoon (2 weeks early) and when people was touching her...she wasnt too happy. Understand they were poking and prodding her.....

Mia and Daddy...daddy was whispering to her at the time and it was the sweetest thing....their first daddy/daughter conversation....

when they werent poking, prodding stretching her...Mia was sound asleep. She slept a lot this weekend...

And here is Ava Rae seeing 'Sissy' up close...she is already very protective her and at one point, when the nurse was taking her away to clean her up, Ava was SCREAMING 'SISSY!!! BABY! SIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSY...' but she was also going 'ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww' at some of the guck that was still on her

Mia in all her Christmas finery....

of course i got more photo's and to be honest, i so wish i could post them. they are very intense very emotional and when I gave them to my niece she was very touched by them. Labor, for the most part, this is true: you know you went through some pain but over the years, it kinda fades to furthest corner of your mind...and all that remains is when they place your baby in your arms for the first time. THAT is what you remember and that is what you treasure.

My dear sweet Sherry Lee...you hit the nail on the head with this one....I think I may be hitting this post up several times today....

A night and morning spent in the hospital........


My niece Shanell and her fiance Dale breathing


Pretty much, Mz Ava Rae was a really good girl......except she wanted the ice chips too....

Mz Ava Rae and Daddy Dale feeding her ice cubes...one for mommie...one for me...one for mommie....two for me.....one for mommie...all for me....

The nurse's were really good with trying to keep Ava occupied...but she seemed to be the most entertained with latex gloves being blown up.....Here Grammie (my sister) blowing up the gloves

And here, my sisters fiance and Mz Ava Rae makes a castle out of urine testing cups

I mean...yeah....I'm grudgingly giving in to humming Christmas Carols every now and again...and yeah I watched Frosty the Snowman with my great niece and well yeah...I THOUGHT about baking some cookies but boy.....

what I would do for some spring time color.....

"It sure seemed like a good idea to lick that metal pole that was frozen with ice on it...."

My oldest son and my mother, his Nana...the coolest relationship I know. They talk once a day...I mean, he calls her. None of that me talking to her and then forcing him to talk to her. She gets on him worse than I do but he keeps coming back for more. She is not an athletic person yet she will 'play' at shooting hoops with him. He tells his friends 'nah...I'm hanging with Nana today.' And because he talks about her quite a bit, they know who Nana is. Gotta love it....Picture taken Thanksgiving 2009

Some more of CJ...his dad plopped him into my lap at first to which I had the pleasure of realizing that CJ has a powerfull set of lungs on him. These beautiful eyes filled with tears so fast! I hurried up and tossed him back in Nicks (dad) lap. What do babies love more than mom and dad??? Flashing yellow and green lights on camera's. I kept doing my zoom on my lens which makes lights flash on my camera and I instantly had a friend in Mr CJ...do I feel guilty for inticing him? NOPE.....

CJ is the youngest son of a high school friend of mine.

i dont think this plant realizes it is supposed to be dead. Most certainly not blooming....



up until last week,this plant was sitting in front of my house. It is some speciality mum but right now the actual name of it is the farthest thing from my mind



... i brought it in because i thought that even though it only had a few blossoms on it, the leaves were so deep and dark I thought maybe it can survive a little longer.



each day it seems like ANOTHER blossom blooms. It sits by my computer which sits right beside my patio doors so it gets ton's of sunlight and there's lots of warmth.



it is december. i have beautiful pink blossoms.



there's always hope...always.

My great niece, Anika

I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO overstand the need for a nap, right now.......

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I so hope that everyone was blessed with family, friends, love and laughter. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I'm sure when I was younger, Christmas was ranked pretty high but anytime a kid gets a ton of presents ON ONE DAY...it is bound to be a favorite. But I can always remember looking forward for Thanksgiving.

Our home was always The Spot. The Spot where everyone went to unwind and get away from the city. Holiday dinners were always jam packed because everyone would come the night before, stay up all night cooking so that we could eat at least twice the next day. The night before our little kitchen was always filled with someone making cornbread for the dressing, someone making sweet pototoe pies, someone cleaning 'chittlins'...everyone had a job to do. Our job as kids was to go in and either beg or sneak a bite of something. Thanksgiving Day more family and neighbors would come all bringing more food. It was always fun. There was always laughter. And it was always....so damn good.

This Thanksgiving, I wanted that feeling of....completeness that I felt back then. I wanted to feel that 'home' vibe. I NEEDED it. And I had that...at first.

This past Thanksgiving...things happened that hurt my family in the worst way. Intentionally and un intentional. I struggle with wanting to dive head first into my 'cave dwellers' mode but I will not allow myself to do it. By cave dweller I mean that I want to shut the world out. I find myself just wanting to be alone. Most who know me know that this is the worst of the worst of me. But I am not going down that road. Well, I'm struggling to not go that route...

I believe that everything that happens, happens for a reason. Good or bad. Big or small. There is a reason. Sometimes the reason is shown from the beginning....sometimes it takes years but eventually we get that aha! moment and realize that it WAS for a reason. I think my recent chose of certain blog's is no accident. No coincidence. If it werent for realizing my important simple things or finding the beauty in life or just trying to find my peace...I do believe that I would have went into hibernation and retreated the Friday after Thanksgiving.

This is a learning process...life is a learning process. Any one who says they have learned pretty much all there is to learn, does not know ANYTHING.

And so I turn to what I hope speaks louder than my words and go back to posting mainly photo's...