Ode to an Angel

For all the times you were there to put your arm around me when I was feeling down,

For all the times you played "just one more game", even though you wanted to stop three games ago,

For all the times you stay up all night, praying for safety, direction, and change,

For all the times you told me the truth, even when it wasn’t what I wanted to hear,

For all the times you let me go, even when I should have stayed, knowing I would fall, but being there to help me back up again,

For each lesson taught, without saying "I told you so",

For all the long talks, belly laughs, and shared tears of joy and sorrow,

For choosing to give me life in the midst of trying times,

For all these and so much more…I am so very grateful..

For you, Mom!

Mother's Day Eve

Whew...what a Saturday!! We started off at the baseball field for a HOT (like 90 degrees) ball game this morning. The boys played great, and won another one! After that, it was lots of running around...shopping...errands...a special day-before-Mother's Day-lunch (since Sundays are our busiest day!)...we even mananged to find time to clean the church! Needless to say, we were all bushed when we got home. The boys cooled off on the slip and slide, and Luis and I sat on the porch with tall glasses of water, enjoying the setting sun, and the boys laughing. What a fabulous day!

Plagues

The boys and I were out watering the garden after school today, and they found 12 little tiny frogs. I mean like a centimeter in length, tiny. I thought it was neat when they found one...then they kept finding more...and more...So we made a terrarium out of a large glass jar, and we studied them. They were jumping and leaping all around. I have to say, they are pretty cute little guys, and the boys love them! I couldn't believe that they found so many in such a short time...then Luis came home from work and he said, "Did you hear about the plague of frogs in Georgia?" He began to tell me how there is an infestation of frogs in a certain area of Georgia...there are tons and tons of them, and are getting into people's houses. Suddenly, our new found friends didn't seem so appealing to me anymore.

The Diamondbacks won tonight 13-2! What a great game! They are in second place right now. It is so nice having Josh and his cousin Matt on the same team (with Uncle Robbie as coach). The boys all have such fun together.

chocolate, chocolate everywhere...

I don't know if your family is anything like mine, but somehow, after any holiday that features candy (Valentine's day, Easter, etc) we have tons of left-over goodies. The Easter basket was still sitting on our counter, and the boys had long since forgotten about it's sweet treasures inside. Even Luis's last two bites of his white chocolate cross were still in there. Normally, the chocolate would call my name, and I would be the one who sneaks a piece here and there. But when I am pregnant, I have this incredible will power to stay away from things that are not healthy for me and/or the baby. (I have to admit, I choose not to exercise that will power when I am not pregnant.) Therefore...the candy has just sat there for weeks. So today, I decided to do something about it. I pulled out the double boiler, and began unwrapping bite sized snickers, and foil eggs. I looked in my snack cabinet, and found some caramel marshmallows that no one was eating. I added a little butter, and a bag of popcorn that just came out of the microwave. I made some mean looking caramel, chocolate, marshmallow popcorn balls. OK, they are probably not as good as the Harry and David popcorn with chunks of chocolate, but hey, they smell fabulous! So far, I have resisted (unless you count the time I licked my fingers after packaging all the balls)....Hopefully I can stay away altogether! The real test will be Josh, who doesn't care much for popcorn. I might have to bring them to the ball game tonight, and have my sisters kids eat them. Even so, I just love experimenting with left overs...it's always an adventure!