~ Who me? Never! ~

I did NOT take a 2 hour nap with my boys and we did NOT wake up and eat the rest of Daddy's Orange Pound cake that he made the other night.

I did NOT forget to set out chicken for dinner...

I chose to let my boys eat chicken nuggets and tater tots on purpose!

I did NOT wait to the last second of the day to do my dishes...

as in - the day isn't yet seconds away from being over quite yet.

I did NOT just feed my baby son a pink rice-crispie treat, left over from Valentine's Day, right before bed and don't worry I did NOT forget to brush his 8 teeth. No Way! I would never forget.

I did NOT just shut my older son in the basement with a Tom and Jerry, oldie but goodie, so I could watch Sarah's House that I SO devotedly do NOT dvr

every.

single.

day.

I did NOT cry during American Idol last night - No way! Never!

And there is NO WAY WHAT SO EVER a possibility that I am even remotely possibly head-over-heals for the deep smooth sound of American Idol finalist Scotty McCreery.

Never! That voice does NOT give me goosebumps.

ehem!

...

Who Me? Never!

~ monkey see ~ monkey do ~

Every afternoon, after naps, I do a bit of house cleaning.

 I load the dishwasher so it's ready for the dinner dishes and then we can run it at night,

I pick up the house and make things tidy after a day of the boys playing, playing, playing.

So since I do this the just about every single day - I guess I shouldn't be surprised - that me opening up the dishwasher tends to give my littlest son a queue to get out the...

 vacuum - he knew that vacuuming was part of our daily cleaning regimen - so he recognized it was that time of day and he brought me the vacuum - what an awesome little helper!

I couldn't believe he actually went to the closet and pulled/pushed it out. It's huge and he's so tiny!

It was adorable.

 He was SO proud of himself!

It's so awesome watching him as he is figures out new things and learns new tricks.

Tricks like getting back into the tub when mama isn't looking after he had already been dried off, lotioned up, hair combed and fresh jammies on.

Such a monkey.

~ Come Awake, Come Awake! ~

~ sleeping boys and turtle pancakes ~

~ I'm a little late but... would you be my Valentine? ~

Valentine's Day.
How was yours?
My V-Day turned out
better than expected...

but we'll get to that later...

First, pictures of my "Sweet Pea".

Over the weekend my sister and her daughter came to visit.

It blessed my heart to have these girls come and stay with us.

Lately, they've been coming to visit about once a month.

and

I'm SO loving it!

They were all dolled up and were headed to the zoo,

so I had to take some pictures

of all their adorableness.

 Sweet Pea reminds me so much of her mama when she was little.

From her long blond hair,

to her squirrelly little personality.

She's total girl from her pom pom flower headband...

to her bright pink Mary Janes...

and she has recently announced a new found love for "purple mermaids" and

has requested a "purple mermaid birthday cake".

Good Luck, Case.

These girls reside in a special place in my heart.

I am 

SO VERY

proud of both of them.

They're strong.

 They're a team.

& they love Jesus with all their hearts

I can't wait till they come visit again....

Now, my Valentine's Day.

My Valentine's Day consisted of a husband that had a bad case of the stomach flu and

two very grumpy, exhausted little boys - thus the reasons I'm a little

late with my Valentine's post...

But, as always, I was able to find the beauty in the day.

I spent the day nursing my husband back to health,

gazing at my beautiful flowers that Seat Pea and Casi brought me,

 watching What Not to Wear

(hmmm... I wonder if you can voluntarily recommend yourself for that show),

we had an awesome nap time,

a medium dinner consisting of sandwiches and chips,

early bedtimes for two little rascals,

promptly followed by the fabulous chic flick -

Letters to Juliet,

to which I highly recommend.

My Valentine's Day, 

unfortunately, not spent with my actual Valentine as we decided it would be best if he stay in

our bedroom "in quarantine" the entire time-

turned out pretty fabulous...

with flowers,

a chic flick,

lots of bear hugs from my boys

and even a certain sister gave me some earrings.

I got a Daily Bread in the mail from

my mama

and

lots of other candy goodies from

Mimi and Papa & Amuma and Papa

 that my boys gladly shared with me.

*wink*

What more could this girl ask for?

Now tell me, how was yours?

~ these chicken chasin' days ~

When I was a little
girl, my mama had
Rhode Island Reds.
We helped feed and

water them, collect the eggs and wrangle them.

We raised them from chicks and I remember when

they were in a box in our kitchen under the heat lamp.

So cute and cuddly.

We had all hens and one rooster for a long time.

We also would butcher and eat them.

But mostly what I remember about those dern chickens...

was the evil Nemesis Rooster! He was SO mean.

We would carry a stick and mom said for us just to whack him if we needed to.

Eeeeeek!

Just thinking about that mean thing, scares me.

Thankfully, we have 3 chickens that are pure pets.

Just hens, no rooster. 

 They come running to great us.

They really like Ben who tends to do most all of their care.

They love him.

I love watching them trail around behind him.

It's adorable.

We are able to pet them quite frequently.

The boys just adore them. 

 Already, Pauly will run out scraps to the chickens.

Of course, they really like that!

 He can wrangle them when it's time to close them up for the night.

 He isn't quite old enough to be trustworthy with the eggs

but soon enough he'll be able to

collect the eggs.

I remember that being one of my most favorite chores.

 Ben was pretty sure that this picture was pretty creepy... I think I agree.

 So tell me, did you have chickens?

Or did you have to take care of any chickens when you were little?

How about any rooster confrontations?

** That'll be a $1.04, please.**

Pauly boy got a
wallet for
Christmas, this is
him putting his wallet

to work.

This all started back when one day at Winco he asked me

if he could push the buttons on the

Debit Card machine.

I of course said no - because I think it is for adults and I'm grumpy that way.

I told him he could push the buttons when he had his own money...

then out loud he said, "I've got to get me some  money!"

I told him, "Join the club!"

lol.

vvvvvvv   < this was William. William. was. here.

ANYWAYS!

So, Dad and I did end up getting him a little blue wallet for Christmas and we put four quarters in it.  He scrounged up a few coins here and there and ended up wanting to take his wallet on the grocery trip to Winco to see if he could buy something fun!

He kept having to show off his wallet that was tucked into his back pocket, just like a man would carry it.

He kept looking back into his pocket to make sure it was there. It was really cute.

After much looking for the perfect treasure, he found a little car he decided he wanted to buy - you know, one of those hot wheels cars. 

He held it and looked at it the entire time while I finished up my shopping.

Then when we got up to the cashier - he put it up on the counter and got out his wallet  - he stood in line like such a big boy... made me want to cry. He even visited with the man in front of him and told him what he was buying and asked him about his items which was a little awkward but the man was kind and understood he was just a little feller. Paul was just trying to make conversation and be a big boy - it was adorable.

Randomly, he told the guy that his dad was at work today. He tends to very clearly understand the roles in our house as daddy goes to work and is happy and thankful to do so - so a lot of Pauly's pretending is him getting dressed to go to work. Ben does a good job of always being cheerful and happy he gets to go to work. It's pretty awesome to watch.

Anyhow, he got out his money and with my help paid the lady and got his first purchase ever,

this little hot wheels car. 

I was so proud of myself for juggling groceries, two boys, taking pictures of a first-timer purchaser, helping him pay for his car, sacking my own groceries. Let's just say, Winco is a make or break type of place for mamas. You either end up pulling out your hair and bawling when you're done there or you end up walking out with your kids happy and you feel like you could conquer the world for juggling it all - kids and sacking your own groceries. 

 All in all, Pauly boy made an excellent choice for his first purchase.

Don't you think?

~ life ~

I've been waiting to share
this with you for a couple of
weeks now. It is regarding
my dad and a topic that is

so dear to my heart.

I received a call from my dad about a month and a half ago.

It doesn't usually work out that my dad is calling me. Usually I sneak in a good chat with him when I'm calling the house and he answers, we chat and then he hands the phone off to Casi or Mama.

It just doesn't usually work out this way that he is calling me -
So I couldn't help but think first off: What's up?...

then he said those dreaded words, "I've got something important to tell you."

My second thought: Who died, now?...

Come on, Man! You're going to tell me something important and you have to prep me by telling me you have something important to tell me? Both my parents do this -& it drives us nuts! I always think somebody died or something terrible TERRIBLE happened. My stomach jumps up into my throat and I get all sweaty and sticky...

but really? how else are they supposed to say it? How do you tell somebody you have something important to tell them without throwing them into a panic attack?

ANYWAYS....

Well thankfully, no one had died.

My dad went on to remind me about an old friend he has, Clay Baird.

I remembered him. I think I could probably point him out to you but I never really had a real conversation with the guy as an adult and I couldn't tell you specifics about him or what he likes or what kind of a life he's had but I know him and my dad are good friends and through the years, have been keeping tabs on each other.

My mom recently reminded me that Clay's grandfather, Jake Baird, and my dad's grandfather, Charlie Fancher, were really good friends. So when the old men were together so were their grandsons (my dad and Clay). That is how Clay and my dad really got to know each other and how they became good friends.

Clay had called my dad to tell him that he had just accepted the Lord as his savior and there was something more he told my dad...
that he was dieing.

Back to our conversation - Dad shared with me that Clay was dieing.from Hepatitis C - he had got this from a blood transfusion that he had to get when he got hurt really badly when riding bulls when he was younger.

His liver is failing. His body is slowly getting poisoned from his liver not working correctly.

then Dad said it...

"I'm going to give Clay a piece of my liver."

..................... I started to cry..................

and then I said, "Are you sure?"

"Are you sure everything will be okay, Dad?"

...... tears, questions, prayers followed......

Dad went on to explain this huge process of how him and mom would have to go to California to get a ton of tests done and get tested to see if their blood were matches and see if their tissues matched and on and on.

So then I decided it was far to early to freak out & really when does freaking out help anyway?

But, I definitely had my doubts and concerns -
 Not that I didn't want this to actually happen & Not that I didn't want this amazing gift to be given -

I just knew it was time to pray, to think about what all this gift means

and what this could mean for our family
and for Clay's.

Clay will die without this transplant... it's inevitable.

I started getting this huge swarm of questions...

What kind of struggles we would go through as a family? What kind of strengths we would draw from this?

Is this safe? Will my dad be okay to live a normal life after this? Will my mom be okay with whatever happens?

So many questions...

Planning and prepping - Thinking and Praying - it was time for such things.

My sisters and I went through all the questions and possible outcomes - we prayed and cried together.
 I believe all of this has given us a good basis for being prepped for this journey.

Obviously, being prepared brings peace for any journey, especially the life-changing ones.

So off mom and dad went to California - they stayed for a few days and dad got lots of testing done...

come home and a few weeks later dad gets the call...

he is the best possible match.

Okay! Now things are getting serious.
More praying, more tears and more planning.

So as of now, mom and dad have to go back to California to see if dad is a tissue match at the end of this month.

If all goes well the surgery will be April 4th...

the day of my parents 31st Wedding Anniversary.

That's right, on my mom and dad's 31st Wedding Anniversary my dad will be getting surgery to give the greatest gift a man can ever give.

I would appreciate all the prayers you can give my family during this time, and I will do my best to update you on details.

My heart swells with pride for my Dad. I adore his selflessness. I adore that he has no shame for God and be it in his school work (oh, yes - in all of this he just started going back to school to get his college degree), his real pay-the bills-work, at church, home, in the ropin' arena, at Wal-mart or up on the mountain top - he is not afraid to sit right down with you and share God's love with you. He's just awesome like that.

 Just thinking about my adoration for my Mama brings me to tears. I watch her cast away lies told by The Destroyer and as she takes hands with God.

Trusting him to unfold the plans for them in this precious journey. 

Trusting God to prep her heart for whatever outcome and undoubtedly she will always give Him the Glory

for all of the precious gifts we are receiving from this journey. She's an awesome example of a wife after God's own heart.

So many gifts...
The gift of life.

The gift of unity for our family and a renewed love for God's mercy, love and grace.

I am thanking God and praising Him for the gift of reflection for myself.
& so many more...

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13

I shall think upon such gifts and keep my eyes forward and my nose buried.

This is the only way.

*My mama writes a blog here and please feel free to follow there also for updates.