30 Days of Truth-Day 7: Someone Who Has Made Your Life Worth Living For

I have been pondering this topic for days, trying to think who the one person in my life is that makes it worth living for, and this has been a difficult process. The options are endless from my parents, siblings, kids, friends, etc.  Everyone that comes across my path in my life makes it worth living.

However, my #1 would have to be God.  Without Him, life would definitely not be worth living.  While my husband, kids, parents, siblings, and close friends all love and care for me, they all possibly can/have/will fail me from time to time.  However, God will never leave me.

I think Isaiah 40:28-31 says it best...

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Here's the LIST again too for the 30 Days of Truth.

30 Days of Truth-Day 6: Something you hope you never have to do

I hope you didn't think I had given up on the 30 days of truth challenge I committed to.  I wanted to take a little break to celebrate Tatum's birthday.

So, I am on Day 6-Something you hope you never have to do...

Well there are some obvious answers to this one...lose a family member would be one of my most obvious now that I am married with children, but I will try to post something to go along with this.

I hope I never have to look back on life (when I am MANY years older than I am now) with regret.  Regret on how I raised my kids...regret with opportunites I passed on...regret with decisions I made...regret on things said/not said....etc.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!  We have a fun packed weekend, so I will have lots of pictures to post after the weekend!

Happy 4th Birthday Tatum!!

At 12:45am this morning, Tatum officially turned FOUR!!

The first thing I said to Tatum this morning was "Happy Birthday Tatum!"

She reacted with "Yay, I'm FOUR!"

Here are just a few pictures of Tatum through the years...

Here she is just hours after birth in 2006.  These are two of my favorites....

And 2007, I loved her outfit and her little pigtails.  She was overwhelmed with all of the pumpkins, so we had to take a few little ones home.

In 2008, Tatum turned two.  We took some quick pictures outside before school.  She was doing her best to hold up two fingers for me.  Also, take note that Amigo bear is with her in this picture.  She got him as a gift for her 1st birthday and he is still around in 2010.

This is also a picture from 2008.  I took this picture at Tatum's birthday party.  I LOVED that sweater she is wearing and thought it was the perfect little birthday party outfit.

Tatum turned 3 in 2009 and I thought she was so grown up then.  She started playing soccer with the YMCA and while it was a great idea at the time, Antonio and I quickly realized that maybe we needed to wait a few more years.  She did learn some great fundamentals of the game that year.  We are hoping she will love soccer for years to come.



Now in 2010, Tatum is FOUR!!  I don't know where time is going, but wherever it is going....it is going too fast!  Tatum has gotten so tall and thin over the past year. 

Here are some things I don't want to forget about you right now...

*You are so sassy and strong-willed.  You sure keep us on our toes as well as keep us laughing. 

*The stories you tell us are funny, shocking, random, and we look forward to them every day.

*You have the sweetest, loving personality.  You love nothing more than cuddling up with mommy or daddy on the couch, asking if you can play with our hair or scratch our back, give big hugs and kisses and we can't leave out the nose kisses either.

*You are a great sleeper, but wake up at 6:15 each morning.  We would love it if you would sleep in, but as long as you don't wake up any earlier, we will make it.

*You LOVE Mateo and you two play together so well!  You don't mind sharing any and all toys.  You love to let Mateo come in your room and play too.  I worried about how the transition of you no longer being the only child would go, but you have done great!  Mateo is blessed to have such an amazing big sister!

*You have become more of a picky eater over the years.  Your favorites are pizza, speghetti, and chicken and 'dip dip' with french fries.  (I promise we rarely eat out, but these are things you ask for when we ask what you want to eat.)

*You love TV and watch way too much of it when we allow it. 

*You are the smartest thing and constantly surprise your daddy and myself with what you learn at school.  We just learned this week that you can say the Pledge of Allegiance.  (I am trying to get this on video)

*Despite my early predictions from when you were much younger, you are quiet the 'girly girl'.  You ask daily to wear a 'princess dress', love to play dress up, love to have your nails painted, and you ask for makeup and 'smell good stuff' daily. 

*You say our blessing for the family before each meal.  I love to hear your bedtime prayers because they are so sweet and kind.  We often hear you when you are alone in your room or in the bathroom just talking to God.  It makes us all smile to know that you know God is always there to listen to you when you need him or just want to talk.

*You LOVE church and ask to go all the time. 

*You wanted to take donuts and cupcakes with you to school today, so that's what we did. 

*You love all of the Disney princesses, but your favorite is The Little Mermaid.

*You also love VeggieTales and ask to listen to them everytime we are in the car.

*You are wearing 4s and 5s in clothing.  Since you have gotten so tall, pants are hard to find right now.  Some 4s are too short, and some 5s are too long.  This means that some mornings, you have to put on an outfit or 2 before we find one that fits right, but you don't mind since we call it 'dress up'.

*You are also wearing an 8, 8.5, and some 9s in shoes.  Your foot has not grown much in the last year....maybe a 1/2 size.  This means your shoe collection is crazy.

*You dress yourself every morning and just come get me to help fix your hair before we leave.  I have to help you pick out your clothes though because if you got to pick, you would wear an actual princess dress to school daily.

*You are quick to correct anyone from saying bad words...(i.e. stupid, hate, butt, booty, etc.)  I am sure not everyone you correct appreciates it, but I love your innocent heart and pray you stay this way for a LONG time!

Tatum, always know that Daddy, Mateo, and I all love you very much! 

Tatum's Birthday Celebrations

We decided this year to skip the big birthday party for Tatum and just do some things she has been asking to do for a while.

The first thing was one that Antonio was happy for me to do with Tatum alone, so that's what we did.

Tatum has been asking to go to Chuck E. Cheese for WEEKS.  Since she couldn't go to school Thursday and Friday (due to pinkeye), I decided to take her to Chuck E. Cheese Friday since she was looking and feeling fine.

She was in serious "AWE" of Chuck E. Cheese.  It was too cute.

I found a great coupon that got us a pizza, drinks, and 45 tokens for $20.  

We were there for 3 hours!!  But Tatum was great and enjoyed all of the games and rides.

Of course, as soon as we got into the car, Tatum was OUT!!  I definitely think our first trip to Chuck E. Cheese was a great success and we will have to go back soon because she just got a coupon for 20 free tokens for her birthday.

Another one of Tatum's big "LOVES" right now is VeggieTales.  She really enjoyed their DVDs when she was around 1, but now she loves the music and requests a VeggieTales CD everytime she gets into the car.  I heard that VeggieTales Live would be in town today, so we got tickets for her big birthday present.

We had GREAT seats...2nd row in the middle section.

While we were waiting on the show to start, Tatum and Mateo enjoyed their VeggieTales snacks.

I wasn't sure how long the show would last(I was guessing an hour), but an hour into the show we had an intermission.  Here is a picture of Tatum on the stage during the break.

You can see Tatum at the front in the picture below...she is in the yellow and orange.

Mateo enjoyed the show too...he did get the wiggles from time to time, but nothing Antonio and I couldn't handle together.

Since this was Tatum's birthday present, I decided to splurge and get the tickets that included the Meet and Greet with Bob and Larry.  We had to wait about 15 minutes after the show so Bob and Larry could get changed into their special outfits so they could give hugs and high-5s.

The Meet and Greet was so fast!  They asked for you to have your cameras ready, know how you want your picture(just kids, whole family, etc), and move on when you are done.  Tatum cracked me up because while we were waiting for our turn, she asked for some chapstick because she needed it in order to be ready to give Larry and Bob kisses.  She hugged and kissed them a few times.

Here is our one (and ONLY) picture from the Meet and Greet.  I am very thankful that it is a decent picture!

30 Days of Truth-Day 5: Something You Hope to Do in Your Life

First let me say that if you are following me closely you may have noticed that I skipped Day 4.  I realize this and I did it on purpose.  Day 4 was "Something you have to forgive someone for" and while I don't have anything major in this area, the little things I came up with were just a little more than I wanted to air out on a public blog.  I do not like drama, so I just skipped it.  It's my blog, I can do that, right?

Anyway, Day 5: Something You Hope to do in Your Life

I could always go with the normal things, but I will try to come up with something other than "travel", "change the world", "run a marathon", etc.  There are a few things that come to mind for this one, but I will just list a few that pop into my head first.

- Take advantage of times that I can help someone else. What do I mean by this?  There are so many times that I am out and about and can do something little to help someone out.  For example, one morning when Mateo was about 6 months old, I had to go to the donut shop to get donuts before taking the kids to school.  I must not have thought this out too well because after I had paid for the 3 boxes of donuts, I was just frozen trying to figure out how I would get 3 boxes of donuts and 2 kids to the car.  A lady in her 30s must have seen the thought in my eyes because she quickly stepped up to offer a helping hand.  She grabbed the 3 boxes of donuts and followed me to the car with them.  Was this a HUGE thing she did?  well, for me it was! but as I thanked her over and over, she told me that she had been in my same shoes and had no help.  So, that's my thinking on that one.

-I also hope to let people know what they mean to me.  I have often think about how people come out of no where to express thoughts/feelings about someone after they have passed.  While I guess this is nice for the family to hear, I often wonder if these things were ever said to the person who passed.  I was reading a blog yesterday where the blogger's father-in-law lost his job a month ago and committed suicide that night.  She was very 'raw' and wondered if more had been expressed to her FIL about how much he was loved and how important he was to the family would he have still decided to take his life.  It broke my heart as I read and it made me think of people that I should probably tell how important they are to my life.

- Get(and KEEP) my house super organized.  If you know me at all, you will know I am not(nor have I ever been) a clean freak.  However, I think I have done better and made progress over the years.  This being said, either we have WAY too much or our house is WAY too little.  Since the house size won't be changing anytime soon, I have been trying to declutter and purge our house of things that are necessary in my mind, but not used.  It always seems like as soon as I get an area clean/organized/spotless, then the family gets to it and it will look like no work has ever been attempted in that area.  FRUSTRATING!!  I love the idea of 'a place for everything and everything in its place', but how do I train the rest of the family to follow this rule?  It also seems like I always have a few "projects" going on in the house.  Oh well, it is something I will always be 'working on' I'm sure...at least until I strike it MEGA-rich and have a live-in housekeeper.

Well, I'm out of time because Tatum just woke up from her nap.  I may/may not add on to this later.

Weekend Fun

We had a great, low-key weekend.  We spent Friday night at home playing outside and enjoying the nice weather and Antonio and I watched Memphis Madness later in the night.  I am so excited for Memphis Basketball to begin!!

Saturday morning, Antonio went for a 20 mile run(He is training for the St. Jude FULL Marathon in Dec.) while the kids and I slept in a little.  After he got home, we headed to the University of Memphis football game Saturday.  The weather was beautiful, but our team didn't do so well.

The game started at 11am, so I was a little worried how the kids would do because their lunchtime is 11:30 with naptime following immediately.

I packed plenty of snacks to keep the kids busy for a while and that worked....for a while...

I was trying so hard to get a great picture of Tatum and Mateo together, but they just weren't working with me.  Tatum finally tried to help me by turning Mateo's head to try to get him to look at me.

The kids finally realized there was lots of action happening ON the field, so they finally turned around a few minutes to watch the game.

But Mateo didn't last very long.  He stayed turned around checking out all the people sitting in the stands.  He is a people watcher for sure!

We enjoyed great seats, very close to the field and Tatum really wanted Pouncer to come see her, but I tried to explain that he wouldn't be able to come over because were were sitting behind the visitors team. 

Mateo also enjoyed dropping his sippy cup and waiting to see if it would roll to him under the seat.

Since I marched in the band in college, I really wanted to see the band and wanted the kids to watch.  In the picture below, it looks like Mateo is really trying to watch the band, but he is really trying to get those empty ice cream containers that someone left behind.

Mateo LOVES people and loves getting people's attention (especially girls-young and old).  There was a Southern Miss family sitting very close to us and their 2 daughters were standing against the wall to get a picture and Mateo just walked over to them like he was supposed to be in the picture.  I went to move him and the mom told me not to because he was too cute and she wanted him in the picture. :)  Of course, I think he is the cutest little guy ever, but it made me smile to think she agreed!

30 Days of Truth-Day 3:Something You Have to Forgive Yourself For

Let's see, I am on day 3 and wondering why the heck I decided that this "30 Days of Truth" was a good thing. 

Day 3:Something You Have to Forgive Yourself For

I must admit, this one is pretty easy for me....I need to forgive myself for losing my job. 

While I know there is nothing I could have done to NOT lose my job, I still feel guilty for it.  A month before I lost my job I got a promotion and raise.  My numbers were great, yet I still lost my job.  As you may assume, life changed majorly after that.  If I weren't married with children, I probably wouldn't feel so guilty, but knowing this occurance had an impact on the whole family makes me feel more guilty. 

I know that God's Planning is perfect.  I know that we will survive.  I know that I have learned valuable lessons through all of this.  BUT, it's still hard.

30 Days of Truth-Day 2: Something You Love about Yourself

I thought yesterday's truth was difficult, but with time, I came up with several things.  However, today I am still sitting here after 20 minutes trying to come up with something that I love about myself.

I love that, although I may not be great at it, I love to write....blog.  I think it is fun to look back and see a true documentation of our lives.
I love that I have learned over the years what is truly important in life. 
I love that, given time, I can always see the bright side of things no matter how bad the situation may be.
I love that I have loving, supportive parents, siblings, husband, children, and close friends that I know will love me and be there for me no matter what, but also not hesitate to tell me when I am wrong.
I love that I can find joy in the simple, small things in life.
I love that I allow myself to be an open book to others.  I know that the things I reveal can be taken the wrong way or used for others to pass judgement, but it can also allow me to truly know someone on a deeper level and really connect.
I love that I am a giver, not a taker.
I love that I am a positive person.
I love that I do my best to make decisions in life by putting myself in the other person's shoes.
I love that I am doing this at 3am...ok, that's not true.  I love that I am sarcastic even though I try to 'contain' my sarcasm around people that don't know me well because I know everyone doesn't get it.
Finally, and most importantly, I love that I have GOD on my side in any sitauation, at anytime, and anywhere. 

My Attempt to Be A Better Blogger

I saw this on someone else's blog and although it may lead me to become a little more raw than I usually am on my blog, I also thought it might be refreshing and give me things to blog about.

So, I will be doing "30 Days of Truth" for my blog.  (If you want to see the list of what each day consists of, go HERE)

Day 1: Something you hate about yourself.

While I would love to say that I love everything about myself, I know that woudn't be the truth and since I am committing to 30 days of TRUTH, I will get to it.

I hate that I always think of the consequences instead of just being spontaneous. 
I hate that I don't think I am really, truly GREAT at anything. 
I hate that I don't know "what I want to do with the rest of my life". 
I hate that I never feel like I am good enough. 
I hate that I don't remember birthdays/anniversaries/etc. like I should. 
I hate that it is hard for me to say no to people sometimes. 
I hate that I overthink things way too often. 
I hate that the older I get, the less I trust people because of other people who have proven to be untrustable in the past. 
I hate that I love other people just the way they are, yet I don't do the same for myself. 
I hate that I don't make time to read for fun like I used to. 
I hate that I don't talk to friends often enough...except on facebook.
I hate that I am not more of a neat freak.
I hate that I have migraines, know what causes them, but can't prevent them. 
I hate that I didn't appreciate my simple upbringing more. 
I hate that we don't have more family pictures because I would rather be behind the camera than in the picture AND it is hard to take a picture of 4 without someone to take it for us.
I hate that when I first started this blog I couldn't think of much that I hate about myself, yet now I feel like I could go on forever.

I will stop here though.

To Be Continued...

I have been TRYING to upload tons of pictures from our trip to Lousiana, but blogger has changed the picture uploading process and I just don't have the patience to figure out how to upload LOTS of pictures in one post without it taking FOREVER!!  (Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.)

Anyway, I have been playing with some of the pictures that I took while we were gone and these are 2 of my favorites....

Funny thing about both of these pictures is that they were both in timeout sitting next to me when I took these. 

When I can figure out how to make this picture uploading faster, I have lots more pictures to share.