Today Is National Son Day!

They are so adorable! I am so thankful for these blessings in my life!

If I had blogged back when they were little, such stories I could tell! haha...

I have to include Tim's Newborn Photo. This was 45 1/2 years ago. We didn't know if he would live, but here he is! God did a miracle in our lives!

Boys to Men

The boys have grown so much as have we. :) The photo with all of us was our wedding day almost 37 years ago! We have taken more recent photos and I am so proud of each of them.

Chuck continues to flourish in his music as well as working as a pharmacy tech. Tim, due to a horrid reaction to a covid injection putting him in ICU with life threatening blood clots, no longer teaches but works for an insurance company. He loves his work. Joseph is teaching at a Christian college in Florida and also continuing to write. Marcus works for a construction company. What a great group of guys. :) I'm really thrilled that they are kind and loving to their sisters. Next week Joseph and Eden will be coming to visit and we cannot wait! Chuck will be coming too! Those are our two outta state guys. We also have 2 outta state girls. Albina and her husband will be coming down soon to pick up a crib for the new baby and to visit.

A Wonderful Surprise!

When I woke up this a.m.  I checked my emali, and to my wonderful surprise, there was a picture of Charlton and Lillian!!!!
Thank you so much Jodie!

Our sweet Lillian is such a joy.  Since they moved away to NM, there has been a big hole in my heart for all of them.
Lillian is going to be 9 years old soon.  She is just as precious as the day she was born.  She loves her daddy, our oldest son, Charlton and adores her mommy and big sister too.  What blessings!

Our grand daughter Kate is working this summer and will be a Senior in High School next year! I can hardly believe it!

Jodie and Charlton really like NM.  I don't blame them at all. I loved it when I lived there, and many times, especially during long, hot summers, think about NM and the mountains and camp sights where I would pile all the boys in the car on a whim, drive to the other side of the mountain , have lunch and take a hike .
There was this wonderful campground for the handicapped we would go to so Timothy could use his wheel chair.
I'll never forget the time he got a little too far ahead of me, hit a curb and tumbled down an embankment.  I was terrified, but all his tears were because he thought he broke his wheel chair. LOL

Yes, My gray hairs started early in life! :)

I do enjoy talking to Lilly on the phone and hope to see her sooner than later!  Oh how I wish NM wasn't so far away.

SPIDER MAN

Isn't he the cutest Spiderman EVER?? :)
This is our 3 year old grandson Charlie.  You can read about many of his adventures along with his brother Will and baby sister Olivia over on Ivy's blog.

This picture brought back a memory of our family when I was much younger.  Our oldest son was just 3, just like Charlie.  He too was fascinated with Spider Man, but he didn't have that fanstastic fancy shirt! LOL
He settled for capes with clothespins for Super Man, and Spidey just had to flow from his imagination.
One day, it was time for his nap.  He REALLY didn't want a nap; what three year old does!
I had put the baby down, and the other baby down and it was time for him. 
Sometimes I wish I had let him stay up just to spend extra time with him.... But he really DID need his naps.
I was walking over to scoop him up to put him to bed and he did that famous hand motion..... "HA! You're in a web!"
I could have done two things.  I could have seen his reluctance as disobedience, because he really was trying to get out of taking a nap.  Or I could buy into his playful moment, enter his world, and capture his heart.
I chose the latter. 
Pretending I was stuck in his web was actually quite fun.  He laughed with sheer glee at the sight of mommy on the floor, stuck under his powerful web. 
And after a few minutes, I broke free and he obediently went to his nap, very satisfied that he was a real Spider man for just a moment, and his web action had finally worked. :)

I'm very excited to be spending the day with the Adorables on Thursday! :)

Charlton, Marcus and Krang

In my previous post, I wrote a little about the boys.  This post is about our youngest son Marcus, and our Oldest son Charlton.

                                                           and about THIS action figure.....

A LONG time ago.... our oldest son Charlton, saved his allowance and bought a most coveted action figure.  KRANG.... In fact, it was very VERY hard to find. I remember looking and LOOKING as my son patiently went through NEARLY  every single action figure in the store until he found him.  KRANG..... He was so excited.

In fact, all the guys were excited.  They loved playing with those things, and they were happy their brother found just the one he wanted.

Chuck was between 10 and 11 and Marcus was 6.   This is when they went to Public School, and there was ALL this TRADING that would go on.  Everybody traded things. It was fun and it was cool.

Well, one morning, Marcus was so excited about Chuck's Krang, he decided to take it to school to show his friends. He KNEW he shouldn't take his brother's things.  But, he did it.  He didn't PLAN to trade it.... but he got caught up in the moment, and by NOON, he had traded Chuck's precious toy for another action figure that was not NEARLY as cool... and by 3:00, he had traded the other action figure for a tooth brush and tooth paste!  YES! SOMEBODY ACTUALLY brought a tooth brush and tooth paste to school, and Marcus was the unfortunate and GUILTY recipient.....
I'm sure he walked home from school with much trepidation. 

I distinctly remember Charlton coming down stairs after school and saying, "Mom, I can't find Krang!" "I know I left him on my bed and he is gone!" 

I asked everybody, "Anybody seen Chuck's Krang?" 
And the guilty little Marcus with great aligator tears said, 'I know what happened."
"I took him to school to share.... and then I traded him."
Charlton said, "YOU WHAT? YOU TRADED HIM? FOR WHAT?"

And that is when pitiful little Marcus held up the tooth brush and tooth paste.....
"YOU TRADED MY KRANG FOR A TOOTH BRUSH AND TOOTH PASTE???"

Charlton was in great disbelief!  Marcus was mournful.

We had a long talk with him, and he had to pay for the Krang.  But Charlton never did get another one, because they stopped making him for awhile. 
Chuck forgave Marcus, and Marcus learned a very good lesson about peer pressure and taking things that don't belong to you!

So, FAST FORWARD..... 23 years. 
Last week we were joking about Krang on Facebook.  And Marcus, who is now a married man and a CPA was thinking about how Chuck never got his Krang back.  So he went on EBAY and FOUND one in the original package, the right year and everything, and he bought it for his brother and had it  sent  to him.  He said there was no note. He wanted to see if Chuck would know who it was from. :)
I love how the guys truly love and care for each other.

The package arrived today.  I got a call from Charlton.... "Mom, do you have ANY idea who would be sending me a KRANG?" 
"A what?"
"Remember that Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle?"  "I think I had him at one time."

Oh, that.....
"Do you remember what happened to him?"

He said, no, not really! 
That is SO FUNNY! Because both Marcus and I did. :)

So I refreshed his memory a little as he died laughing.  So he called his brother. 

I am sure they had a wonderful talk tonight over something that happened very long ago that was not so pleasant at the time, yet is humorous now.  Marcus said, "Restitution at last!" :)

Tim, Chuck, Marcus and Jodie. :)

Some final thoughts:

I think sometimes kids just do things and they don't really know why.  They just don't think that deeply.  They think like kids and do things on a whim.
Marcus remembered this event very much, and I'm glad that he felt loved and not rejected. 
How  we respond  when our children do wrong will have long lasting effects upon them.
I'm so proud of my guys. :)

The events of the past with the boys and watching them grow up, has definitely had an effect on how I view things with the girls.  I don't think I'm as uptight or fearful as I was when I was younger.
The boys experienced much trauma when they were younger too, and they were all adopted by Mike after we married.
It has been an honor to be their mother. I don't deserve them; any of them.  But GOD has blessed us tremendously with each one of our children, boys and girls. :)
The boys taught me so very much about love and life.... and the girls continue to teach me. 
Loving life today...... 

A Blast From the Past

 Yes, this is us.... but something is very different.  We are YOUNGER than 2 of our boys are right now, AND all those kids are BOYS!  Yep.... Our boys. :)  I don't write often enough about the guys....they are after all, grown and married with kids of their own.  This was JUST NOT THAT LONG AGO! But OH MY how life has changed!

 Timothy is on the left, Joseph on the right and Charlton and Marcus in the middle.

 Here are  a couple of laundry baskets full of boys.

And here they are again.  4 peas in a pod. :) Pictures were just not that easy to get with real film and moving boys. :)  There were no redos. You took a picture and it was  huge guess if it turned out or not. :)

The boys were close in age. Not quite as close as the girls as that would have been physically impossible since none of them are twins. :)  There are 4  years and 9 months between the 4 of them.
We had a wonderful time raising these guys, so much so, that we are doing it all over again except there are dresses, high heels and barbies in our house now. None of those would have been found in our home before.  At least not in a kid size :)

If you go to my side bar.... 3 of the kids wives blog.  One is our youngest son's wife Ivy.  "The life of Little Eunice".  Then there is our son Tim's wife, Emily.  "God's mercy displayed".  BTW- Ivy and Emily are sisters AND sisters in law.   Which means, Tim and Marc are brothers AND brothers in law.  I think that makes the kids double cousins or something like that. :)
Then there is Joe's wife Becca.  She has 2 blogs.  Rebecca's Art, and "It's Not Easy Being Green".
Chuck and Jodie don't blog right now....
I adore each and every one of my boys and daughters in law.  And between all of them, if OLIVIA EVER decides to make an entrance, we have 10 grand children. :)

All of this is leading up to my next post.  It is about our oldest son Charlton, and our youngest son Marcus, and something that happened a long time ago.... It was restored today. :)

Stay tuned.

Oh My Goodness!

I have missed my Kids and grand girls so much!!!! They arrived early this a.m. after driving all night from NM!
I couldn't wait to hug them. :)
Here are a few highlights of our day:

 They were hugging so fast I couldn't get a good picture. :)  Together again.

 Erika knitted a scarf for Katie

 Tea Party Time

 Everybody made Chocolate covered Rasberries. YUM

 I think Lilly wears chocolate quite nicely. :)

 Uncle Bob is here! YEA!

My sweeties!
We've only just begun.... Tomorrow, the others are coming! :)

Coming Home!

Guess who's coming home for Thanksgiving!!!!!!  But there will be an extra girl to administer torture! :)

Our Oldest Son

I cannot believe it...but our oldest son Charlton is 33!  Where did the time go???
Chuck is a sweet son, husband and father.    We miss him and all of the family so much since they moved away to Albuquerque!  But we are hoping to see them for the holidays. :) 

Love you Chuck!  ( He's the fellow in the beige Tshirt playing cards with all the guys)
The girls will never get this big! LOL

My Duck

23 years ago, my friend bought this duck for me for my birthday.  I have loved this duck for years. It reminds me of my friend who moved to Colorado years ago.
This duck has been sitting guard on top of the water cooler all these years.
Tonight, Alli noticed that we needed water and decided she would fill the bottle. She didn't see my Duck, and it fell to the floor and lost a finger. BROKEN!

I seem to remember a few weeks ago a Pitcher that got broken thanks to Miss Erika.....

In both cases, it was an accident.  Poor Alli really felt badly.  She went to her bed to have a cry.
When I went in to see her, she was curled up with her blanket over her head.  I said,  "Alli, you are more important than things."
And, I want to tell you a story about your brothers.

This peaked her interest!
So I told her about the first time Dad and I left the house for  a date together after we had married.

"We left Chuck in charge and we were going to be gone for 45 minutes to an hour.
In that short time..... Chuck decided to entertain his brothers with his cool Ninja moves.  Now, in the same room that he planned his entertainment fest.... on the wall, were my collectible, ceramic bears. I had all sorts of them, on a neat wooden shelf.  I really liked them.

Of course Chuck, in his final move, used a large stick..... related to the BROOM, moved it cooly, jumping through the room like a TRUE NINJA , swung that stick and DECAPITATED every single one of my bears......

When dad and I got home, all 4 boys were sitting nicely on the couch. This gave us great discomfort, as this was not NORMAL..... I was so proud of Chuck.... "Mom, I have something to tell you."
As he was telling me his story, I turned to my bears and OH HOW I WISH I HAD A PICTURE..... they all had their heads sort of sat back on them, all crooked like.... and I burst out laughing....it was really pretty funny.

So, in the same way I am not happy that everything gets destroyed. I'm happy that all of my children are ok, and I'm happy you were just trying to help..... and in a few years, this will just be a funny story. :)"

And with that, she felt MUCH better, and she kissed me goodnight and went to sleep, safe and secure in our love for her.  :)
And Chuck would have had no idea that something he did  22 years ago, would help his little sister feel secure.  Thanks Chuck! You are still a great big brother. :)

Kate and Lillian

Oh How I miss my grand daughters! It has been so long since they left.... but we are able to talk on the phone and email all the time.

Lilly Bean is almost finished with first grade and Kate is almost finished with 9th grade!!!!! WOW!
Did I say that I miss them?  I DO!  And I know that they miss us too.  LillyBean calls and asks to talk to each person in the family.... Today she called and said, "I would like to my new Aunt Alli!" 
That little girl is just sooooo sweeet!  I am REALLY hoping they can all make it for Thanksgiving!
IF they can, and Joe and Becca make it too, we just MIGHT all be together once again, and for the first time! :)
I LOVE my family, each and every one of them.... but as they get older, it is hard to get together.

So glad that there is Email, Facebook and Blogging..... They keep us all connected.

Our Noelles

I took this last night in an impromptu moment. :) They were having a last snack before bedtime.
I just love how they came together when I said, "Photo time!" LOL

I cannot say enough about how wonderful each and every one of them are doing. :)
I am so proud of each of them.
Life changes are not easy for anybody, yet they have ALL stepped up to the plate and hit home runs.

Someday, these little ladies, just like our sweet sons will be grown and have families of their own.
The time is so short.   It seems like yesterday that our oldest son Chuck, was playing with his huggies box and eating 2 jars of food for each meal.... Our second son Tim, was finally sucking on a bottle at 6 months,
our 3rd son Joseph,was finally potty trained, our 4th son Marc, layed a log on the carpet and covered it up with a paper towel so I wouldn't notice.... LOL
That Anna announced that "She had no idea what she was going to wear" on her first morning home, that Sarah, gave Anna  a bloody nose for "taking the covers" on her second day home, that Erika said, "bye bye Ukraine" and made me cry tears of joy, and now, that Alli said, "I love you Mom and Dad!"

We cherish each moment..... so many wonderful memories.  So much to look forward to.
Nite Nite Big Men, Nite Nite Little Ladies..... Nite Nite all my children. :)

Albuquerque or Bust!

Well, they are gone. My heart aches. But I really think that Albuquerque is a good move for our kids and grand girls. We will miss them, BUT.... There is the International Balloon Festival every year.

I LOVED living in Albuquerque before Texas. I really miss it, even over 20 years later!
Apparently Chuck does too. They will be living just down the street from where we lived before.

He has all pleasant memories in Albuquerque and Jodie's new job is turning out to be a great fit. Kate and Jodie left last week to get things set up, and they are so excited.
They have already been to Petroglyph National Monument, Santa FE, Old Town, and more.
















Be Safe dear children. We love you, and we will miss you.