Pumpkins no more :-(

Today is Halloween. The last day of October. I don't quite know what the deal is with me. I guess it's the fact that I'm 45 years old, and for whatever reason, my feelings are "tender" these days!! This is the first October, since the birth of my oldest child, that we have not carved a pumpkin, or gone to the pumpkin patch to buy pumpkins and play. It's also the week of our local county fair. This year, the fair rates higher than trick or treating. It's ok I guess, I knew the day would come, I just didn't expect to feel sad about it. The twins explained to me a few weeks ago, that they were too big to go trick or treating. They first stated that they wanted to stay home and give outcandy to the children. That was until they took note that the fair was here. So, tonight is family night at the fair. The sweet MeeMa always sends the kids candy money for Halloween. The twin boy states he will honor MeeMa by spending his money at the game booths!!! Soooo the husband and I will take our three little goblins, and head to the fair, where they will join up with other friends, ride thrilling rides, and stuff themselves with that good ole fair food. It'll be fun, I'm sure. I just miss my pumpkin....

On another note, soccer is winding down. We have one more game left. I have to post another picture of the twin girl. She is just amazing on the field. You have to understand, this is the child that loves to spend her time reading, writing stories and watching animal planet. Sports is really not her thing, but put her on the soccer field and she becomes the captain of that ship! So here's another photo I captured of her this week, "taking control!" Happy Halloween!

The Pain of it all...

The oldest crashed last night at gym. She was practicing her bar releases, and hyper extended her left elbow/arm. It was not a good situation. We ended up having xrays, meds and dr. visits today. She's in alot of pain but will recover... in time. Time is a very sensitive thing for gymnasts. It takes time to advance, learn new skills, master them..progress to the next level, etc. When you get hurt, it takes time to heal, time to rebuild your strength, time to aquire lost skills etc. She has cried a river of tears in the last 24hrs. She was preparing for her first level 9 meet this weekend. It's the only meet close enough for family and friends to attend. So she's bummed.... She'll be ok... it'll take some time to heal...rebuild...get back to where she was. But she's tough. Gymnastics is her first love. There are times I pray she'll walk away from this sport. But for now, I'll just love her through it...

Sometimes I wonder....

Today was like all the other Saturdays during the school year.....too busy. It was Fall Festival at our school's church. The School PTO/Booster club handles the food sales as a fundraiser. Since I am a officer, (that's a whole other story), I had to be there. The twin girl had a soccer game, the husband and twin son were leaving to go to the FSU/Miami game in Tallahasse, and I was stuck organizing/setting up/working the Fall festival. The husband was able to attend the twin girl's first half of the game before leaving for Tallahasse. I get two phone calls that my child has scored goals, one to tie the game. She usually plays sweeper or mid fielder. Two of our players were out so she was moved up to forward. So of course, I missed her scoring... just like a few years ago, when my son hit a grand slam homerun to win a baseball game. I was at work during that game, and missed the most amazing moment of his little baseball career. Sometimes I wonder.... maybe I bring them luck, by staying away!!!!

Destyn Laine

Destyn Laine DOB:10-18-07

Yay! Destyn Laine was born yesterday! She weighed 8lbs 13oz & was 23 inches long. I can't believe I'm once again a great Aunt! I can hardly wait to hold her and kiss on her. I can still remember the day her mom was born. Life surely has a way of fast forwarding... :-)

Cousins....

Adams Beach, Taylor County Florida

My sister and I are 2ys & 3mos apart in age, with me being the eldest. Growing up, we fought like crazy, but were very close. We now have children of our own, who are all close in age. We have successfully worked at fostering close relationships between them. The boys are thicker than thieves..."cousin-brothers" is what they named themselves years ago. The two oldest girls are crazy about each other, and I have visions of them being like sisters forever, being in each other's weddings and raising their own children together. The girl twin fits nicely among the whole bunch. The oldest cousin looks out for her and gives her extra special attention and the cousin brothers often include her in their play. This past week, while they were all on Fall Break, we headed to Perry Fla, our home town. We spent several days with the grandparents (my parents). Perry is located in Taylor County on the gulf coast of N. Florida. It's a ritual to go down to the beaches and eat seafood at good ole "Roy's" restaraunt. The beaches are not your typical white sand beaches. They are marshy, swampy and harbor loads of fantastic marine life. My sister and I loved growing up in that area, fishing, crabbing and hanging out with friends and family. Now our kids share the same love. Whenever Pee Pa and Mee Ma can, they load us up and we head to the beach. Our few days in Perry didn't last long enough, but we'll be back many many times. 'Cause being with Pee pa, Mee Ma and the cousins is therapy to the soul!

Another era ends....

When our oldest was about 8 we went through the "hamster" phase. We bought dwarf hamsters, and had lots of baby hamsters. We had cages, hamster toys and supplied all her friends with new furry friends. Eventually they died out and the oldest moved on to hanging with her friends and being too busy to deal with "pets." A few years later, the twins sought out to have hamsters. The husband grimaced "No not again!" But of course, me being the tenderhearted mom that I am, convinced him that we have to let them have one, as we did their older sibling. So, eventually, "Spaz" & "Junior" became new family members. That was about 18 mos ago. Spaz died about a month ago, and Junior died today. It's a ritual that the husband takes the child out to the back yard and they bury the hamster, gold fish or whatever at the time, together. I'm not much on handling dead animals. Well today we arrived home from school to find that Junior was pemanantly asleep. The husband is out of town. Thankfully my sweet son stepped up to the plate. "I can take care of this mom." He and his twin sister went out to the back yard and buried their little pet. Thus ends the era of the hamsters in this house hold. I've been a bit nostalgic lately, realizing that time is flying by, and my children are reaching milestone after milestone. Such as life.... now the bird..... hum....

Will we survive?

I am so tired, I can't even begin. The past week has been a whirl wind of church activties, school activities, meetings, soccer games and dealing with teenage issues...and just trying to get 6hrs of sleep each night!

Some how I got voted in as volunteer coordinator for our school PTO. Ugh, what have I done.? We had a fund raiser this weekend. Our organization provide/cooked/sold meals for the local horse show. It was all weekend, and boy are the husband and I bushed!

Anyway... I'm so tired, I want to post more but it will have to wait...

night night ;-/

Kitty comes home

Well she made it, she survived 2 days at the vet, antibiotics and fluids. I, none the less, am $240 poorer. She is one happy cat. She follows us around, loves on us, talks to us constantly. She is acting very appreciative of me... hummmm wonder how long that will last. Any who.... the twin girl is so happy to have her kitty home and well!!

GrandMartha, I wish you were here...

I have a love for English. It was my favorite subject in school. I could spend hours, tucked away on some far remote island reading scripture, novels and writing short stories and poems. I think this was passed on to me from my paternal grandmother, Martha. Grandmartha taught high school english. She knew I loved to read. She bought me books, read to me, shared her writings etc. I still have some of the books she passed on to me. Grandmartha was a lover of books and correct grammer. I thought of her this evening as I was helping my oldest with her English homework. She was reviewing simple, complex, compound, compound complex sentence structure. That... I did not love! I wish Grandmartha were here to help me explain it. I can picture her sitting at my table, hovering over my oldest, calling her "dear" and delicately but precisely explaining sentence structure to her. I'm sure she would have had more patience than me! Grandmartha, I hope I'm doing ok, explaining this to your great granddaughter!

On another note, The Kitty Cat is sick and in the "hospital." Apparently she has some liver issues that is caused by a parasite or something. She ran fever for several days, and did not eat, so I took her to the vet. She got a shot of antibiotics and some fluids. The girl twin was very concerned and upset. She is so tender hearted when it comes to animals. We visited the cat at the vet today. She is much better, fever is almost gone but she isn't eating. She perked up and snuggled against us, begging with her eyes to "get out!" Hopefully she will come home tomorrow, feeling better and having a better appreciation for her caregiver...me :-)