Gratefulness

Wow ~ how bad am I?! I start the week out saying I was going to post something everyday for which I am grateful. THEN I forget! So let me catch up ~~~~~

Monday ~
Grateful I didn't break my leg ~ but, I did post I was grateful Xav was in a real school!!!!!!

Tuesday ~
I was grateful my sister in law Suzanne took Xav to school, because I woke up pretty sore, and totally didn't feel like getting the other 2 monsters up and out.

Today ~
I'm grateful that I'm God's child. I'm grateful that HE loved me enough to give HIS ONLY SON to take my punishment. I am grateful that HE is merciful, gracious and most loving and compassionate and that HIS mercies are fresh and new every morning. I know I will never be able to thank HIM enough for all HE has done for me, but I hope that I live my life as a living testament to HIS mercy and grace! Phil. 3:10

Here's a video of gunner being crazy!!

Monday

On Monday, Xav had his first field trip ~ hiking to the top of Bald (Rondaxe) Mountain. I decided I wanted to go, so I did. Tucker and I crashed in on the field trip and it was beautiful. BUT ~ it made me realiz how out of shape I am. But I MADE IT TO THE TOP. A little slower than the others, but I MADE IT! And it was beautiful. It was a little cloudy at the top, but a little lower we could see the finger lakes and the trees were changing and it was absolutely gorgeous. Once I dig my camera out of my purse I will post pictures.
Tucker did better than anyone there. He only stumbled a couple times. It was cute! Me ~ I did okay going up, coming down a different story. I fell about 3 times. The first time, I was certain I broke something, but didn't. I'm still feeling the effects of it and today I am so stiff. It was very sweet cause the first time I fell and about broke my leg, I kept telling him, go on ahead, I'll catch up, just want to take a minute to rest. But Xav sat down with me and said "mom, I'm not leaving without you". He is such a darling good kid!
But Xav had such a good time, and I am grateful that he gets to be in "a real school". And he didn't mind his clutzy mom and kid brother tagging along either.

Just some more Pictures

Here are some more pictures of the family!

Finally!

Hey, everyone!
I'm so sorry for not having updated my blog recently! I have been busy, busy busy!!!!! I will also post pictures!

Well, as I sit here, I have one window and the front door open. The others are closed cause it is rather chilly here. And I am listening to the beautiful sound of a lovely fall rain. I'm so excited ~ IT'S AUTUMN!!! I have my house all decked out with my fall decorations. It's so purty, if I do say so myself!
This is my favorite season, and always make me stop to count my blessings. I think that from now till New Years, I will post one thing a day that I am thankful for ~ and it may just be a one liner, but I am determined to get it in.
Sometimes, I get too caught up in the frustrations of day to day living that I stop to be grateful for the big and little blessings.
Today's blessing ~ feeling/seeing the beauty of Autumn. The colors, cool temps, the smells. I just love it. I love cooking warm stuff like beef stews and making apple crisps. It's so comforting to me. And I am especially grateful for it this year, it being our first autumn after having no autumn in Florida. I pray I will never forget and will always be thankful that God saw fit to move us to beautiful Central New York. Thank you, Lord!!!!!!!
Now, about the fam!
We are finally settled, though I am still organizing things.
Jesse is still working at Precision Polish and not liking it any better, but his boss is good to him and we are just grateful he has a paying job. He's also in school and not enjoying that none too much either, but is determined to persevere. Although, I must say it is kinda easy for him, seeing as I am the one doing his papers and such ~ :) But, I don't mind, he works long and hard so it's the least I can do!
Him and his dad also got the basement done for my laundry room. It is so nice to have laundry facilities and not have to drag everything to my inlaws or the laundromat. And Jesse has made it very nice down there for me. He's a sweetie pie!





Xavier is LOVING going to school. And he is doing rather well. I think it's been so very good for him. He usually has a little homework every night, but that isn't too bad! He does get out at noon so he is usually done by 3 with it all! And I think he is getting used to getting up early {though, his momma doesn't like it much}. And he is getting to be such a big help around the house. We give him chores to do, and he's getting better at it all the time ~ he likes when we don't have to "pay him twice" to do a job. He gets better rewarded when it's done right the first time!




Tucker hates that Xav is in school, ~ sometimes. He does like having the Xbox 360 all to himself. But even that gets boring after a while. We are working with him on his speech. And it is getting better slowly but surely. And he can draw rather well. His favorite thing during the day is "getting homeschooled". I got him some of those preschool workbooks that he does just to try to get him ready for school next year, and he's doing a mighty fine job, although, he only wants to do the fun stuff, but not the tedious like learning his letters. Oh, well, I try not to push him too hard; I do want him to enjoy school later on!
Gunner is just such a cutie! He is FINALLY walking. I am going to try to post a video of it so ya'll can see his first faltering steps. And he's learning to talk some. We got him (or I should say, Jesse got him) to say Thank you and You're Welcome. He's such a ham. He likes to put buckets on his head and crawl around with them on while he's talking. He LOVES how it sounds and he will just crack himself up. Q-T-PIE!!!!!!!
I am just busy trying to keep up with everything. I am officially on a diet which I loathe. It's sad when you wake up in the morning and your skin hurts and you realize that it's because it's stretching to accomodate the things you are feeding it. I'm hoping I can do well with it. I am not known for my grand will power with food, or consistency to do my workouts the way I should. But, here's to trying!
And on the other hand, I am trying to start baking more and trying new things for the family. And I am already salivating over the thoughts of the Thanksgiving meal. But anyhow! I am good otherwise. Happy. I love my family and I love where we live. I am just HAPPY!!!!!!!

I've got a autumn feeling

Hey! Today was pretty cool.
On the way to church, I saw a tree that started to turn the beautiful golds and reds. YAY! It's about to start being the most beautiful time of year.
And we had our first bonfire at my inlaws tonight after church. Roasted marshmellows and hotdogs and played with fire and all that jazz!
I took some pictures, but will post them tomorrow. We are going on a fishin' picnic for Labour Day. So I will soon post pictures of it all at some point this week!

Ta for now!

Today

Today has been a nice day!
Gramma and Grampa took Xav and Tuck to the NY State fair today and they are STILL gone! It has been almost like Mom's day off! I still had Gunner, but he's a pretty pleasant critter! It was nice to get to be with him by himself! He is a funny kid!
It has been such a loverly day! It was cool and not at all summer like! We have been having to break out some jackets and I LOVE it! And it's supposed to be like this at least through the weekend! Which will be nice cause Saturday, we are planning on going to the NY State fair. I am not as froggy as my inlaws so I doubt I will be able to be there from open to close, but if the older ones can do it, maybe (and that's a big MAYBE :) ) I can survive a few hours!!!
I am excited. Jesse has talked of the NY State Fair since we decided to move back here. So I can't wait to see what all his hub-bub is all about!
Jesse is getting ready to start school come Sept. 1st. I'm excited and nervous that he gets to do it! I don't know about him.
Xavier starts in "a real school" on the 9th. Which is super exciting for him. He can't wait!!!! But what he also doesn't know is that my mom will be taking a train up here for a few days. I plan on surprising the boys with that the day she gets in ~ gonna take them to show them the train station and voila Nana will be there! So fun! They will be beside themselves. And I can't even begin to explain how hard it is to keep this secret! But, I have never been able to keep this kind of secret so I plan to this time!
Well, I shall sign off ~ not much is going on ~ just everyday life! Finally we are almost settled!

Here's some pictures

Per request ~ I have decided that since I cannot sleep tonight ~ I shall try to put up some pictures! Hope you enjoy!!! These first ones are just a test for me!

Getting settled in ~

I know I haven't said lately (or probably ever for that matter) ~ but I am loving being in New York. I never really expected to, but I am so very glad we made this move. I
My boys are loving having their cousins to play with all the time. I love having my sister in law living above me ~ it makes things VERY convenient. If I have a quick errand to run, or if she does, we don't have to drag the kiddies out. Plus, it's fun to have dinner or dessert with them several times a week. I love that my boys can wake up and say hey, mom, can we go to gramma and grampa's today! I love being able to see his aunt and uncle at church and just talk to them whenever we want to.
The cons right now are that we don't have laundry facilities and it seems that laundry builds up SUPER DUPER FAST, and that we went from a 1600 sf 4/2 house to an apartment half that size, but it's bigger than I expected!!!!!! And we are very comfy here. Just can't wait to be able to start hanging up pictures and get these last few boxes out of here!!!!!!!!
I am so looking forward to the fall. From the way I understand it, we really get to start to feel fall in just a few weeks. I am so excited!!!!!! Last night at church, we were standing outside talking and caught a whiff of something burning (like an outdoor fireplace) and it just made me REALLY want fall!!!!! I can't wait to do s'mores with the boys and rake leaves and go hiking in the changing colors of fall!!!!
I know that Jesse is having more of a difficult adjustment to this change we have made. I think he misses his career as a police officer. He won't admit it, but I can just tell that he is down. He is thankful that he has a job, but I know he doesn't love it. And that makes getting up and going to work every day a chore, not something to look forward to. He is trying to get enrolled in classes for this fall, and I think that only with the job he has will be be able to ~ so, maybe once he gets started in classes, maybe he will end up appreciating his job a little more. I just hope that ~ even though come Sept. 30th, he would've still lost his job at BSO ~ he doesn't regret making this move.
Anywho ~ I am going to be starting on a weight loss program ~ I don't know how I ended up gaining so much weight in the last 3 months. Oh, wait, YES I DO. I am an eater when I am stressed and the last 3 months have been nothing BUT stress!!!!!! So, wish me luck as I attempt to lose a few pounds. And hopefully, it will just be the beginning and I can hit the pound mark that I'm aiming for!

I'm BBBAAAAAAAACCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

Well, it has been a very long, exhausting, and hectic few weeks. We finally got moved and are practically settled in. We like it, my boys are LOVING it. Our apartment is below my sister in law and my oldest 2 love to play with her oldest 2. They have played outside all day almost everyday that we've been here. They LOVE it. And it's nice for me too!!!! :)

But since we have left, our church that we have been a part of has been going through a massive upheaval. I may not be there, but my heart still hurts for what has transpired. But I know it will all be worked out. But the thing that is breaking my heart the most is that I have been noticing that alot of crap has been strewn about and it is causing people to say UGLY things about people who were once considered part of the family. The family I so didn't want to leave has now fallen apart.
Just for the record, if we were still there, we more than likely wouldn't have stayed. We would've chosen to allow that church to be unified without my dissent. I kept my mouth shut for so long there about stuff we didn't agree with, but had no power to change because of the "powers that be", and maybe we should've pulled out a long time ago, but chose to stay whether we agreed or not ~ never over doctrinal stuff. But, that is neither here nor there.
But what bothers me the most is to see the people who have chosen to stay, throwing stones at the people who have chosen a different path ~ one that is best for their own family. It breaks my heart to see and to hear of the mud slinging going on. Sounds to me that some who have stayed have been drinking some koolaid that has been made with a special ingredient, but I digress. I still love all those people. It seems to me that they don't realize that when you take off the here and now glasses and look through the eyes of eternity no matter where we went to church, no matter who did what to whom, all that is gonna matter is knowing that no matter who you are your knee is gonna bow down and proclaim that Jesus is Lord to the Glory of God the Father. You will not be able to claim "I stayed so I'm better than someone that left." Or "I never wore pants so I get a better spot in heaven than so and so because they wore pants to church functions." Or, "I went to this college, so I am better than them cause they went to a different one." Or, I have a better talent, or anything. IT'S NOT GONNA MATTER. EVERY knee will bow. EVERY tongue will confess. Your works won't matter. It's not about you. It's about HIM and being in the best place where you can serve HIM. And it's in HIS timing and HIS placement. PERIOD.
So I just wish mud would stop being slung and people could just love one another despite where we go to church, or how we feel led by the Lord. Love each other for what we mean to another. That is something that I had to consider and something I didn't practice very well, but I strive to be better at that. All we have to remember is to look through the eyes of Christ and realize HE didn't always hang out with the religious. They shunned him because he chose to be the friends of people not accepted in their circles. We need to learn to be more like Christ. "A friend loveth at ALL times." True friendship is not meted out by where we attend church or things like that. If you were a friend once to a person, no matter what they do, or where they go, if you were truly their friend, you still will be.
But that's all I have to say to that issue!!!!!!!
I love you all very much and miss you each individually.