One Word Wednesday

APRIL MORNING

Love to All,

midRae

Baby Mady

Baby Mady was my first newborn session and the only thing that keeps going through my head is that babies are hard.  Mady's mom and dad were amazing and I want  to thank them so much for giving me this amazing opportunity.  Mady was also very cute and adorable, but that little girl has some really strong legs.  I had a blast!

Such a sweet baby girl.  And full of spunk!!  Watch out mom and dad she will soon have us all wrapped around those cute little fingers.

In the mean time can I just tell you that I am in love with this sweet little girl. 

Love to All,

midRae

midSons Car

Guess what all?  Last week was my birthday and it was a really great day.  Lot's of cards, love and well wishes from all those that matter the most.  I was even gifted with 'The Blind Side.'  Now I just need to find time to watch it. 

What I did find time to do on my birthday was to take some really amazing photo's of my midSons really cool, and really fast, and really scary fast car.  He was laughing so hard at me as we drove around.  As his turbo would such in air I was suching in air and chair, I kid you not, I almost hyperventilated.  Fast cars and midRae are not happy when put together.  And please let's not talk about the fact that he also goes 'Drifting' with his car.  Too much scary for this momma.

NICE!!

He won a contest and a picture of his car will be gracing the pages of a drifting calandar.  Pretty cool!  He has worked so hard on this car, rebuilding the engine from the block, and he just loves it.  I'm pretty proud of him.  What talent he has when you realize that he has never been to school to learn any of this mechanical stuff, laymom's terms, and he even rewired the whole car.  Amazed!  Really, really amazing.  Raw Talent!

SUPER NICE!!!

So yes, mom, gets to take the photo for the calandar, and the oldest son did a little editing, I feel pretty honored.  I will actually have a photo in print.  The world may not know that it was my photo, well our photo, but who cares, they will know it was midSons car though.  Isn't it nice?!

REALLY SUPER NICE!!!

What a blessing this middle child of mine has been.  Actually I have been so very blessed with the amazing family and friends that are a part of my life.  I could not ask for more.  So yup, I had a really great birthday. 

Love to All,

midRae

HI!!!

I have to confess that I feel that I have been very remiss in my blogging.  I have been unmotivated and uninspired, frustrated and mad at life, and I could add quite a few more but I better stop before this turns into a pity party.

Moving on.

What is up with me?  Is it Spring?  Is it the end of Winter blues?  Is it camping withdrawals?  Maybe, just maybe, it's a little bit of it all.  And let's not forget that we all have our lives and the chaos that can ensue right along with everything else.  What to do?

First I wanted to do a little more update on the jogging aspect of my life.  I have been told that I can not jog for a while because I did too much too soon after the knee surgery.  What!?!  Me do too much too soon?  That would never ever happen. 

Anyways, I was stuck walking the 5K as fast as my bigger than little legs could carry me.  What a bad attitude I have, stuck?!, I should feel blessed that I could actually do it.  I was doing so good, at least I think I was I even managed to pass a few joggers.  But then we got close to the finish line and 5 people behind me decided to jog.  I found myself getting very upset and mad.  How dare they?!  How dare they pass me when I worked so hard and kept the same pace and passed them?  How dare they save up to the end and jog, when I couldn't!?  I found that to be very unfair and then I got a hold of myself and slapped me upside the head.  I decided that I needed to be thankful that I could even be there.  I decided that I needed to cheer them all on and tell them what an amazing job they did.  I decided that I needed to get beyond myself and be happy for them.  So yeah, we did it!!  We all finished, and finished with pride.  Good for us! 

Next we have a few changes going on in our lives.  We are adding one new member to our family, one more member to our household, and losing one member of the household.  Now did you all keep up with that?  Let me explain.

My oldest son and his wife are expecting their first child, my first grandbaby, this July.  It's a boy and we are so excited.  We know how to do boys.  They are both enrolled full time in college, with the daughter-in-law getting her Bachelors Degree this past December, graduating Summa Cum Laude, and getting her Masters in Accounting this December 2010.  Ada, my daughter-in-law, just became a citizen of the United States, also.  And to top that all off, her parents are coming to America before the baby is born.  Crazy.  My son should also be able to graduate next spring, yeah for him, 4 years of college in three years.  Motivated and busy!!

As for adding to our household, midMan's younger brother, Jeff, will be moving in.  He has been unemployed for a while; he got hit with a layoff, and was finally able to get a job doing what midMan does.  He and his family will be moving to our fair city in the near future but right now they just need to be able to catch up and we are so happy to be able to help.  So with all of that we needed to clean out midMan's hunting room.  Where oh where are we going to put all of that stuff?  The deer head had to stay but I am sure Jeff will not mind.  Anyways we figured it all out and he should be here in a week and a half.

Now on to losing a member of our household, my middle son's girlfriend will be moving out the end of this month.  She has decided that she needs to move forward with her life and that working at Subway was not where she wanted to be.  I am excited that she is looking towards her future.  Sometimes it is so hard for our children to make that move and I am glad that we have been able to be here when she needed us.  I hope that my son can see where she is headed and that he can figure it all out for himself, too.  I do have to say that life is hard when you are starting out and sometimes you just need to make that JUMP and see where you land.  Family is always there when it's needed.  So JUMP away, we will catch you if you need us.

Now for our other news.  tailEnd just turned 15 and is all ready to get his driving permit.  Oh boy, please help me.  Am I ready for this again?  I don't know.  But he sure is, so I had better get there and get there quick.  tailEnd also just took his ACT.  No score back yet but we are praying, he needs to pass so that he can take college classes next year. 

So my life has been flowing over with moves in and moves out, new arrivals, graduations, even a wedding coming up, working, working out, cleaning house, cooking lots of food, visiting with old friends, worrying, and ............... I sure feel like there should be more.  Oh I almost forgot photography.  I have had a few photo shoots lately with a few more planned for this week.  Can't wait.  And it's only the beginning of summer.  WOW!!  I am sure that I have missed more, but.......

I think this summer is going to be amazingly busy and fun.  What blessing we have received to be able to take part and enjoy all that we have.  We have been smiled upon and I guess I need to be reminded of that sometimes.  Good thing I got this blog, it seems to work really good when it comes to needing to be reminded of what blessing I have been given.

Love To All,

midRae

PS.The oldest son has promised me an updated blog layout.  I think it's time to push it a little harder.  I mean how many free haircuts does he think he gets anyways?  It's time to earn that perfect look that he has.

Our Babies

ZOE

14 years old and full of fun and life.

She makes us laugh and gives us loves.

And she's half blind.

BELLA

2 years old and weighing in at only 2 pounds.

She is totally in love with midMan and barely tolerates the rest of the world.

And she's blind.

Yes world, we are the proud parents of 1 1/2 blind dogs.

But we sure do love them.

Love to All,

midRae

One Word Wednesday

Swheatness!!

Love to all,

midRae

Our New Planting Bed

Last year we tried growing our garden in old water heaters turned on their sides, which you can read about HERE.  Our little garden didn't turn out too bad but this year we decided we wanted to go just a little bigger.  We got our plans for our planting bed from The Pioneer Woman, and you can read the step by step instructions HERE, but as you will see from our pictures we changed it up just a little.  Less hammering and screwing makes for a much happier midMan.

First we measured.

The we being used very loosely here.

hahahah

Then we measured again. 

Can't you see my hand right next to the amazing hand of midMan?

Then it was on to the drilling.  Lots of drilling.

And then we played with some screws,

two different sizes mind you.

After everything was screwed tightly together, we carried this big 4' x 8' box over to where we felt we would get the best results for our little garden.  No pictures of the major move, I was busy holding up my end and tailEnd just could not be bothered to get off of the computer long enough to help.  In tailEnds defense, he has been working really hard the past couple of months studying for his ACT test, which he took Saturday morning.  He really did need some down time, he's only 14. 

Boy does he have me wrapped around his little finger or what?

Notice the perfect placement of the stakes. 

That was my other job along with taking pictures.

I managed both quite well, thank you very much.

With some alignment and fear of the knots,

midMan continued on his way to success.

Ohhh how I love this man's hands, they are so strong and provide so much for us, but they can also be so very tender and loving when needed.

With a little bit of hammering.........

Some strategically placed stakes and screws.........

And some more hammering........

we have finished the frame.

No pictures yet of the finished product, I would like to get just a little dirt in for fun.  The Major Planting Bed Build went great except for the one little moment when midMan thinks he just might have hit a sprinkler line. 

OhOHOh!!!!

I guess we'll figure that out when we finally turn on the sprinklers, but for now no dirt until we can get through that little task. 

Let's hope we don't make water bubbles under the planting bed.

On a slightly better note I leave you this post with the thought that midMan's younger brother may be moving in with us for a couple of months and let me tell you, this man can grow a garden. 

I really think we are going to use his expertise this year. 

Lucky for us!!!  Yeah!!!

Love to All,

midRae

1st 5K

(I really need to teach midMan how to work the camera)

So yes, we did it.  We completed the ROTC 5K.  Shannel, my sons girlfriend, joined me in my 5K endeavor and left me way back just looking at her dust trail, not even in the cloud of dust, just way back there looking at it as it dissipated.  Shannel is an avid runner and usually runs every day.  She is amazing.  I on the other hand managed to keep a steady pace, walking as fast as I possibly could, and managed to finish in less than an hour.  I think the time was somewhere between 45 and 50 minutes.  Not too bad for an old lady with a bum knee and tedonitis inflicting it's unearthly pain in said knee.

But just watch out next year everyone, I plan to finish in a little more than half the time it took me this year, if the knee lets me.

Love to All,

midRae

Easter Hike 2010

Just a couple of views from our Easter hike.  Please enjoy as much as I did, although the knee was screaming and crying out in protest (for another post, agony), I really did enjoy our Sunday hike in the desert.

Love to All,

midRae

Carmen's Family

Love to All,

midRae