It is much easier to become a father than to be one.
~Kent Nerburn, Letters to My Son: Reflections on Becoming a Man, 1994

He didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.
~Clarence Budington Kelland

A father carries pictures where his money used to be.

To all fathers, the happiest of days; you’ve earned it!

If I were a flower, my bud would just be emerging. Consider the blog and its demands Spring’s gentle rain.

Writing when I was younger came so easy; I use to write all types of material. Poems were my favorite. I put all my feelings into words. How I felt. How I saw life. How people had touched my heart both with love and betrayal.

I was looking back at my posts. This made me wonder where the writer in me went.

After much thought the only thing I can conceive is a lack of practice. I have not spent time writing. Recalling my written words as a young woman it came back to me. I spent many a day writing and rewriting the words on the pages until it came natural to me. Then I grew to like my work (we are our own worst critic)

My solution to this it to spend time with my emotions to write and rewrite as I once had. Proof read and rewrite and proof read again. I want to be the best I can be for you and for me. I want to have something worth reading, maybe even entertaining. With this I ask for your patience in the adventure as I find the writer in me once again. Some will be bad, some will be good, but I can’t wait until some are great!

A fellow co-worker of two years said goodbye to the 9 to 5 hustle and bustle of office life to take on the challenge and adventure of starting her own business with her hubby. I will never forget the day I interviewed her; swamped with work, my boss was vacationing in North Carolina.

A phone call came from the other building asking me to stop what I was doing to interview this young lady: She had a heavy accent and had never held a paying job before, but see if we could fit her into customer service.
Not sure if I wanted to pull my hair out or be grateful for the break, I said send her over.

She was the sweetest person I had had the pleasure of meeting in a very long time. I told the hiring staff I would give her a chance and so far it’s the best decision I’ve made at this company. She started that afternoon, the extra pair of hands that I needed so badly.

Cabbage Patch went on to learn many different departments in the company and you could count on her for anything at anytime. I miss her.

I want to send her my prayers as it has been almost 2 months since she set out to follow her dreams. May they be all she wants them to be and so much more. She deserves all that life has to offer.

The first official day of summer camp is today!

Remember how I didn’t have a plan? Yesterday we were still without a clue what to do with TJ, so my hubby set out to see what was in the area of where we work. Thankfully, he located a baseball camp, ironically just what TJ said he wanted to do.
Hubby called to find out if they still have room and left a message then took off to Sports Authority to buy him a glove. Hubby, Sara and TJ each left with one! I’ll use the one that hubby got a while back for a left handed person, though he didn’t understand why. I gave him the look and reminded him that I’m ambidextrous. I’ll play like the kids. What better way to teach them practice makes perfect and we’ll get some use out of the glove that was ordered wrong some 4+ years ago?
I swear there is a glove for hubby there too. AMB3 wanted one, but they were all way too big for her little hands.

Let’s not forget the balls to practice playing catch… or the cup to protect him. The cleats that were supposed to be $25 that were really $35. Hubby only grabbed the size; he never looked at the shoes. They where not the ones we looked at initially, but TJ thought they were much better.
He can change the Nike check to one of 6 colors.

And socks long enough to fit under the pants.

After spending $189, there was another $9 for the pants we forget the first time. Then we got to the car to find we lost one of AMB3 shoes, so I had to venture back to the store.

Fortunately, we got the call that they did have room but we were still missing stuff. Looking for a wee tiny crock and the rest for two more pants and the ¾ shirts. No crock and yet another $36. And off to camp he goes.

Yesterday was the last day of school for my older wee ones. I walked in the door from work to get my standard greeting; AMB3 (formally baby A) screamed mama mama, while my older two came running for loves (aren’t I the luckiest mom in the world?).

The next thing I knew the 8 year old gave me a look like he was about to tell me something bad resulting in him in big trouble. To my surprise he hugged me like he never wanted to let go and started to cry. He was telling me he was going to miss school. It was so touching. I’m tearing up now thinking about it.

While still holding TJ, Sara showed me the beautiful pillow case she brought home from her teachers. It was covered with clouds and other sky like things. My favorite part was her name. She was ready to replace her Dora case for this one. TJ still holding on, I continued to look at the other goodies they brought home.

Then I had more tears when I found what TJ’s teacher sent home. It was a little memory book. His name is on the cover with several pictures inside of his teacher and class and a wonderful message inside: “To the most improved student this year”, along with many more tear jerking sentiments. GOD BLESS her. It was the sweetest gift I think I have ever seen that I had not made my self. LOL. Then TJ showed me the picture of him and his teacher and he lost it some more. I told him it would not be the last time he saw Ms. Rodriguez; he’d see her again next year.
Remember all the good times and carry them with you.

I knew he was sweet and sensitive… I feel sorry for the girls when he gets older. He will break some hearts.

Now we get ready for the summer. OOH JOY! I am usually one of those moms who has the whole season planned out, but not this year. I guess we’ll wing it as we go. What do you have planned for your kids this summer? Anything so much fun that we have to do it too?

Sara’s (formally K) teacher called late last night. My first thought was this must be really bad if she is calling us at home at 9:30 in the evening.

We’ve had regular conferences about Sara throughout the year, none of them I care to remember… but this turned out to be a call I want to jump up and down and scream about… and maybe do a little dance!
I knew this kid had it in her; according to her teacher, Sara has made a great improvement in the last two weeks, bringing up her grades. Even on one of the tests she was the only one in the class of 36 to get a perfect score.

I guess we are going back to Build A Bear to dress her cat! LOL! I am so proud of her as I am all my wee ones. Keep up the good work baby. I love you.

As I mentioned before my son T did very well on the FCAT. My co-worker’s ’smart, gifted’ son also took it this year. I’ve been dying to know how he did; I knew he did well, but wanted to know how well.

She finally told me this morning that he got a 4.8, which is fabulous! I was so excited that T did better, stacked against an acknowledged ‘gifted’ child. It’s terrible, but I’m sure I had a smirk on my face because inside I was like WOW!! I just wonder if my son knows just how well he did? Does he know how really proud of him I am? I hope so because I am VERY PROUD of him. I’m always proud of my kids; they’re just really good little people… but this is a landmark event in his life.

Baby, keep up the good work! At this rate you can go to the University of Miami when you grow up and head off to college. Or Harvard! I love you sweetheart. You can make any dream you have come true, all you have to do is try.

This weekend was my birthday. It’s usually just like any other day; I can do with out all the hoopla.

This year was different from any other year for some reason. It felt like all the birthdays that have been forgotten in the past were made up for this past weekend. Friday night we went to dinner with Tom and Aunt Em and my bunch to Dave & Busters. We played games and laughed and really enjoyed ourselves.
Then Saturday my parents came over. It wasn’t planned for them to come on my birthday weekend – it was a fluke but a nice one. My Dad played games with the kids and M2 got a hair cut from Gamma while I tried to learn this blogging thing for myself. (Yes, someone else posts everything for me at the moment. ) Then the net went down. Of course!

Later we went to Dinner at Long Horn and then Target since the grandparents brought the wee ones gift cards. What an adventure for the them. LOL. I don’t think they’ll buy the kids gift cards ever again.

On Sunday the gang go together for lunch at the sports grill and then my hubby and bunch went to Build a Bear for the kids. (My son took the FCAT this year and he got his scores back on Friday. He got 5 in math and reading). Then we took the kids home, and while gamma baby sat the adults went to a movie. Went with Bobby, Mrs. B & Tom too. Afterwards we did Dave and Busters again. Got home around 2:30am and then Baby A was up at 6:30 on Monday because I forgot my alarm clock down stairs by her room. So I was up early on my birthday.

To finish off the weekend there was a BBQ with the whole gang and then a visit to the pool. WOW am I glad that this weekend is over so I can recover. Thank you everyone for the special weekend. It really means a lot to me.

My youngest daughter has this thing with my glasses. Not my hubby’s and not gamma’s (hers look very much like mine). Just mine… for some reason.

The other day while I tried to place an order on line she grabbed them from my night stand, and the next time I saw them they where mangled beyond repair. So I dug out my old glasses, which are supposed to be the same prescription, but they gave me a migraine I’ve not been able to shake for two days now.

I went to the Doctor’s office to get them fixed only to find that they’d changed their hours… and we missed them by… are you ready for this…. 5 whole minutes! So I’m trying to work with out eyes and a migraine…

It could be worse… at least I had a backup pair of glasses!

My hubby is a gadget man; he always wants the newest in toys.

Years ago when the Q phone came out he had to have it. He went from to another to another until he gave up and settled for something different.

I like to keep the same phone until I can’t replace it anymore. SO in January Hubby found that Sprint had a new Q like phone. He has the worst luck with cellular phones. He had this one replaced 3 times before he chose the LG Black Rumor. He loved it because of the full key board for texting.
He turned into a text fiend and I was getting frustrated because I didn’t like to text.

For his birthday he took me out and got me the white one. I can not tell you how much I LOVE this phone. It is the easiest phone I have ever owned and was very happy after I used it. I live to text too now. LOL

Anyway, back to hubby… His phone has a defect in it; every time you hit the down key from the main screen it turns it self off. It does this in a few places. So on Saturday we took it to the sprint store to get it checked. While waiting to be helped I saw they now have a green one. I WANT IT! Anyway they had to replace his. They tried to give him a white one. NOT! He said “if I wanted a white I would of gotten a white one”.
The girl told him that he’d have to take the white because they didn’t have any black left.

He told the girl “so if all you had was Pink I would have to take a pink one. I think NOT”
The girl finally changed it for a brand new one. I wonder how long before it acts up. My question is why can’t my white one need to be replaced and all the have it the Green one. I want the green one.