Celebrate

i originally didn't think that i would be finding out what the CrazyJoy word was until last night because we went to visit my parents at their lake house and there is no Internet access and we can't connect to anyone else's, especially not oldfarts. (yes that is someone's user name for their internet.)
however my sister and her fiance came this weekend and they have fancy smart phones so alas i was able to see the CrazyJoy word: Celebrate.
my mom made this awesome cake for my sister (who usually gets a cookie cake fromThe Great America Cookie Company, but again we were at the lake, so she made this pretty thing.) and we went ahead and celebrated all the summer birthdays.
let me give some background. my family: dad, mom, me and sister
birthdays: dad-summer, mom-summer, me-winter, sister-summer
along comes my husband-summer, we have baby number one-summer, then baby number two-summer, my sister is now engaged, her finance-winter (finally i get someone to share the winter with me) not only are they all in the summer, they are all in June and July. So we celebrated six of the eight in our family. it was fun, it was loud, it was wet (we were at a lake and it rained on us when we were out in the boat), it was sweet (the cake of course), it was happy.

to link up with the CrazyJoy challenge go here.

Laugh

i was so torn on what picture to choose from for laugh this weekend. i had three good ones. this one was just too cute so it won. this weekend was my son's 4th birthday. i made cupcakes for the party and once my daughter saw them with the frosting on them she wanted one. she waiting till everyone was able to get them at the party. once it was put in front of her she attacked it. she just loved it. she thought that she was something else when everyone was watchng her and giving her some attention. she just smiled and laughed at the whole family watching her. you would have thought that it was her birthday. funny girl.
to participate in the CrazyJoy photo challenge check out his posthere.

Happy Birthday

to my 4 year old.....i can't believe that my little bitty boy is now four....he is such an amazing human being....he is fully of life....full of energy....such a trooper....loads of passion....loves to sing....gives the best hugs....has come such a long way in the almost 8months he's had his tigger ears....just one special little boy....and all boy too
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET SWEET BOY! I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!

Renew

the CrazyJoy word this week is Renew. immediately when i saw the word i knew what my photograph would be of....my Bible. during Christmas break last year we were visiting my parents and attended the church that i grew up in. there i came across a read the Bible in a year pamphlet. in my 30 years i had never actually committed to reading the whole bible in a year. will i sort of had since i did go to a Bible college and took the classed Survey of the Old Testament and Survey of the New Testament and reading both were required. but i had never decided on my own to do this. something else you may want to know about me is that I'm not a big fan of new years resolutions, i try goals. so this was my goal. but not just to do it to check it off but to have my heart in it and really enjoy it and i really have. the first half of the year has been great and as i am a few weeks into the second half of the year i am excited to read more. so i feel daily renewed with my Bible reading.

Blueberries

shoveling them in
happy to be eating, this girl loves to eat

was he new face for just about everything. i think she may have stopped doing it, so i am glad that i got this picture.

keep them coming mom

Overwhelmed

i am struggling to do what is right when it comes to my little guy.

i am a stay at home mom so there is a reason that i stay at home, to be with my kids and i want to be able to teach him things and be that kind of mommy to him but am having a really hard time with it.

even trying to work, at home, on the things that we do in speech therapy, is a struggle and i can't really think outside of the box to come up with some other way of doing it.

my husband has said before that if we can't do something 100% then we sometimes just don't do it at all and i hated that when he said it but am now feeling like it is so true. no one ever said that being a parent was easy and if someone had then i think i would have a jaw dropping, shocked face, because for sure it isn't easy, especially with a special needs child.

i know that more days in preschool is going to be something that is good for him but hate the idea of it. more days away from me and then i think, what's the point of being a stay at home mom. but then with him home i don't really feel like i am teaching him anything or making a difference in preparing him for kindergarten.

i just have this inner tug of war going on and then to top it all off he has a hearing disability and i have to go up to bat for him. i am the least most assertive person out there and now i have to EXTREMELY stretch myself to make things better for this little guy. and the crappy part about it is that I'm not doing it. i totally asked my husband (who is very assertive) to handle the latest school decisions and while i am thrilled that he is doing it, don't want to do it and love that he wants to be involved in his son's life and decisions i know that he won't be able to always be the one to advocate for our little guy and that scares me because i will have to do it. i am terrified too. i am totally feeling like Moses when he told God that he couldn't be the one to speak to the Israelites because he wasn't eloquent.

if anyone is reading this please pray that whenever and wherever and whoever i have to speak to, to help my little guy in and during his schooling years that i will have the words, thoughts, ability, courage and assertiveness to do what needs to be done for the good of my son. I'm not ready for all of this and i need to be brave.

Liberty

Webster says Liberty is...
1. the quality or state of being free
a. the power to do as one pleases
b. freedom from physical restraint

seeing these two girls (one my niece and the other my daugther (8months apart)) playing on the fourth of July(the power to do as one pleases), in their red, white and blue garb, and if you notice my daugther with her grimice and letting me know to let her hand go (freedom from physical restraint) i guess she wasn't feeling very free at the moment. i feel so blessed to live in a country were my children can play and have fun without a care in the world. (the quality or state of being free)

to participate in this CrazyJoy challenge or future ones check out this site.