Hi Ho The Dairy-o A Traveling We Go

We're packing our bags and getting ready for a road trip. Iowa - here we come! Here's the plan: pack, shoot the DFW job, Liam flies with Gramma, finish last minute work on job, hit the road and RELAX! Sounds simple right? I have a feeling it will be more chaotic than I would like it to be, but I am praying that God gives me the strength to tap into the peace and joy He has given me through the Holy Spirit! Plus I'm bringing some muscle relaxers and a full flask! Kidding.

We are so excited to see all the Fishes and Gramma Pat! Then there's the Vegas trip with my hubby - just the two of us. Oh boy! Sleeping in 'til 9:00 and a cup of coffee with no interuptions - I can't wait. Thanks Doola and Dave, oh and Anna too!

Reality...

God is doing a work on me right now...I don't know what the end result will be, but reality has hit me today - pretty hard! I realized that this blog is done to capture life in the bowl and so far, everything I have posted is of happy times. That is so NOT life in this Fish bowl. Things, check that, LIFE is hard. I'm so blessed to now have Christ in my life and be able to share that Hope with my boys! The above image is Jude's life. Poor guy. Last night he had a pretty severe allergic reaction to something...not sure what just yet. It was so hard not to panic and cry as he was crying to me saying, "I don't want to itch anymore. Am I gong to itch forever?" After the second dose of Benadryl and a bath, both he and the hives began to calm. He was in a lot of pain and was very scared. However, I am grateful for the tears and love that we got to share in bed before he went to sleep and that Adam and I worked so well as a team.

Before I drone on, I thought I would make a short list of things that stink in this reality of life, along with some photos!

Getting a water wedgie in your Spiderman swim diaper and a Mom that doesn't do laundry often enough to allow for you to wear a real swim suit!
Getting mad on a nice Summer day when everyone else is laughing and having a good time.

Time Outs (only good in the long run - short term they are hard, hard, hard esp. when you're 4.
Crying babies in the middle of a very important photo shoot.
Wrinkles, age spots, old age, bad backs, bad pictures of yourself, etc. The list could go on here.

A bad economy

Messy rooms

Wiping three bottoms when you only have one

Realizing your spouse is your mirror and you're not looking so hot

Too much to do and not enough time to do it all

But the worst of these is not realizing that this crappy life is a true GIFT that should be enjoyed through the gift of Christ and not taking the time to do just that! He is growing me more than I could have imagined and in more ways than I knew were possible. I love my kids, my husband and my life - reality and all!

ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lately our family moto has been "ROAR!!!!!!" Every time I go into Liam's room to get him, it's the first thing he says to me. While we are eating breakfast, lunch and dinner, it's the single most used word. I think Adam started it...blame it on the hubby, right? Smart. I know. Adam will give a loud - R-O-A-RRRRRR, scare the pants off Liam and then everyone else chimes in to see who can do it the loudest and the scariest. It's pretty much - awesome! So the next time you're feeling a little blue or want to get in touch with your inner Fishness, give it a try... ROAR!

See Ya Summer

Jude has taught himself how to swim after just 2 lessons. I am so proud of him and he is VERY proud of himself. Now he wants to swim all the time. too bad Summer is over, well just for the swimming part; I can't wait to enjoy being outside in something other than 100 degree weather.
Getting his rings...
These don't really have ANYTHING to do with Summer, other than they were taken Summer of 09. he's just so cute I had to post these images for all to see. Too bad he has such a temper and opinion. I have NO idea where he gets that from! Adam I think!

Aunt Cricket took the boys to the Dallas Zoo the other day. They had a blast. So happy for them and their friendship. Cricket told me they kept asking if the animals were really alive. i think they put it, "real life." Oh these boys are so sweet!

Liam and His Teeth

While Adam was away shooting football players, we stayed at Gramma's and had so much fun.  Jude got to swim - a favorite pass time and Liam, well, he was just plain funny!  Since I posted only images of Jude from our Austin trip below, I thought I would devote this post to my little guy with all the teeth!
Tee hee hee...he is so silly.  I just love all the faces he makes.
Every time I look at this photo all I can think of is Rodney Dangerfield saying, "I tell ya, I get no respect!"  It cracks me up!
What a face!  Oh, I just love him to pieces.  Although, I have to say, Adam and I have noticed lately that our once so laid back child has quite and opinion and quite a temper!

Busy!

Okay, I just reviewed the last time I've posted anything and was shocked to see that it was back in July.  Wow, time flies when you're busy and having fun!  Over the past three weeks Adam has gone to three different cities, shot three different football teams and countless other jobs - yes, God is good!  The boys and I have gone to Austin to visit Kim and "Granna" aka Big Mama for a late summer vacation and Liam and I have been sick for over a week.  Whew...I'm tired just typing all of that.  A couple of quick individual achievements during this time include me completing Celebrate Recovery (a year long commitment), Jude learning to swim and Liam getting four new teeth - three of which are his molars!  Oh, and how could I forget, Liam has taken four steps on his own.  Jude is so proud and we're all hoping that this means he will indeed walk to college vs. crawl. Yikes - we have been busy!
Jude LOVED being at Granna's house for three days.  He swam the entire time!  He was in heaven.  We did other things too...fed the ducks, got ice cream, went to Starbucks in a wagon, ate pizza and watched some movies.  Bed time was rarely, if ever, before 9:30.  Liam enjoyed the time too and slept a lot!
All of these photos were taken on the very last day of our visit while Liam napped.  Jude LOVES the water and truly is a "Fish."

Meet Pinky Toe!

He is the newest member of our family.  His full name is Spider-man Pinky Toe Fish.  We call him Pinky Toe for short.  We were inspired by Aunt Anna to get a fish.  After meeting Joe the other night on our weekly ichat, we decided we should get a fish too.  Jude had accumulated 8 smiley faces for his various good deeds and rather than going to Chuck-E-Cheese, Jude got to get a pet!  We all love him.  
Adam took great videos of the Petco visit and selection of Pinky Toe.  Once the video is posted, I will provide a link so that everyone can experience it.  I have to be honest, it made me tear up.  I think it's mostly because I REALLY wanted to be there, but the day got away from us and the boys went to pick up Pinky Toe while I was meeting with my girls for Accountability.  The videos are funny and touching!