Thankful for my blessings

Today I am thankful for God, my husband and my children. Without them I wouldn't be where I am today.

My husband has been by my side for over seven years, through thick and thin. I can't put into words how wonderful he is to me and our children. I'm thankful for his good work ethic, and determination to always provide for his family.

I'm thankful for my son, and my daughter. They are my little miracle babies, the ones I thought I would never have. God is so good, he always knows what we need and exactly when to give it to us. His timing was perfect. These two little bundles of joy bring me so much happiness and love. They fill my life with laughter and good memories. I would do anything for them. Some days they can be more than a handful, but still I wouldn't trade a single second of our time with them for anything in this world. Each day goes by and I feel like there is no possible way I could love them anymore than I do, yet they always find away to make sure my heart is overflowing with love for them and from them. There is nothing comparable to the love of a child.

I am forever thankful, because I know at any moment any of these things could be gone. I cherish every second of every day that God lets me share with my family. 

Subtle reminders

Something so sad happened when I was checking out at the grocery store. The man in front of me had an injury of some kind and his left side/arm/hand constantly shakes. (I assume it was an injury due to the scars.)


He had trouble picking up his bags and placing them in his cart, as well as trouble with counting out his cash. The cashier offered no help with putting his bags in his cart, and stood there watching as he struggled.

There were about five or six people in line behind me and several had rude comments on how slow he was. People take things for granted all too often. You never know tomorrow you could be facing the same struggles he is facing today.

He was a sweet and handsome man, and deserves just as much respect as anyone else in this world. There's no reason to treat people the way people do now. It literally makes me want to cry. I hope whatever his situation, whatever has happened to him that he has someone at home or in his life to let him know that he is loved in this world.

I wish I had done something to help him, but I didnt' want to offend him. I just couldn't find any words. I think in a way that this was a subtle reminder from God, a reminder to be thankful for everything I have. I'm always thankful for my family and friends, but its the simple things I forget to be thankful for like my good health.

God bless this stranger! I pray for the ignorant ones who laugh at him.

 ''kindness is free''

Scarecrow Trail at Huntsville Botanical Gardens

Each year for fall Huntsville Botanical  Gardens puts together ''Scarecrow Trail'' various businesses, schools, groups etc. get together and make a scarecrow for the trail. It's always fun to go to the Botanical Gardens, we go multiple times a year.

 Fall is always extra fun though, we get to see all the creativity and hard work that is put into each scarecrow. This years theme was ''traditonal''

So one day Making Connections got together to set up the Autism Awareness Scarecrow. I don't get to be as involved with the group as I would like to be, and I was off the day they were setting up so I decided to go. Debbie did a fantastic job with the design. It's hair was spray painted and it had cute little iron on puzzle pieces all over it's overalls.

It turned out to be such a cute scarecrow too! After that my friend Whitney, my daughter and I all enjoyed a lunch at Clementine's at the Gardens. Then we took a short tour around the gardens, skipping most of the different sections of the gardens. It was so hot that day, and I had to pick up my little man from school so we were rushed for time.

Whitney working on the hair.

Little Miss Sassy working on his ''stuffing''

After it was all finished

How cool is this? I love the sunflowers, they add a nice touch!

Angry Birds made out of gourds and plastic jugs.... pretty neat! 

 

 

Giant Lilly pads in the water garden.

If you've never been you really should make plans to go. Fall is the perfect time, the weather is cooler, the leaves are changing and who doesn't love scarecrows?

 

Little Gymnast

Our little princess fell in love with all the jumps, flips and pageantry of the Olympics. She is obsessed with Gabby Douglas! She begged and begged to take gymnastics so I finally went and got her registered. She absolutely loves it!

doing a roll

Jumping on the AIRTRACK

Very first time on the bar

So proud of getting her hand stamped after completing her first class

Balance Beam

 

 

This Saturday is ''Open Gym Day'' for members and they get to bring a sibling or a friend. She  is going to take her older sister Lindsey! Super excited!

Twice the fun!!!!

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a die hard fan of Ford. Especially the mustang. Back in 2006 I got a 2000 Ford Mustang coupe, V6 that is sunburst gold. We have done so much work on it that it doesn't even look like the same car. We've added decals,new headlights, rims, rear window louvers, a new Cobra R hood, dual exhaust, a GT bumper, custom leather seats and the list goes on and on. My husband and I both enjoy going to car shows and showing our cars. I've won several trophies ranging from Huntsville,  Birmingham, even Savannah,Georgia. My car has been in numerous parades throughout the Tennessee Valley. I'm proud of all the hard work, time and money that my husband and I have poured into that car.

Photo by Olivia Photography

 

Seats by Norm's Upholstery

Photo by me

 My husband decided to get rid of his F350 duley. We wanted something fun to drive around, we rarely even drove the truck. It was just sitting there wasting away. He found a 2000 Ford Mustang GT convertible on Auto Trader online. We called the dealership and told them we would be coming up on Thursday to take a look at it. We dropped our son off at school and headed to Murfreesboro, TN. Two hours later we were in the parking lot and knew we wanted the car. You can pretty much say it was ours from the moment the salesman placed the keys in our hands and said take it for a drive. We drove it, stopped and lowered the top then went back to the dealership and told them we wanted it. I'm looking forward to this being our new project. Can't wait to see the end results!

because sometimes a girl wants to go fast :)

Sitting in the driveway at our friends hows, chatting about mustangs!
 

                                                                      

Am I insane????

Last week my  lovely package that I ordered for myself arrived, aka the INSANITY workout program.
I couldn't wait until Monday to get started! So finally Monday arrives, and I wake up ready to defeat day one of the program, which was the fit test. I didn't do as bad as I thought I would. I absolutely loved it!

So today I woke up a little sore from yesterday's workout. I was still determined to start and finish day two, which happened to be plyometric cardio circuit! Turns out I was more sore than I realized. Still I put the disk in the dvd player and started. I got to the point where my legs felt like they were a thousand pounds. I pushed myself through it, and now I'm so sore I don't even want to attempt tomorrow's session. I know I will still attempt to do day three anyways. We only have sixteen days until our trip, so that's sixteen days I can be doing an ass kicking program!

I've already quit drinking sodas and junk food. It's amazing how I went from craving such bad things to such good fresh healthy things. All week I've been eating salads, and grilled meats, and drinking water. YAY me! So excited to see my results from doing this program!

''A Red Carpet Event''

A Red Carpet Event, what an awesome name for my princesses first dance recital! It was a busy day but an amazing day! I got up and got my princess dressed in one of her big brother's button up shirts. We went to see our good friend Beverly at her salon, and of course she did an amazing job on her hair!

Next up  we headed over to the civic center for her Mary-Kay make-up by Miss Carly, who also did an amazing job on her stage make-up! She looked like a little porcelain doll!

Then she was ready to go onstage for her rehearsal. She was super excited! She went backstage then I took a seat out in the audience and waited to see her rehearsal. I'll even admit that I cried, as she was the first one to walk onto the stage with her beautiful little golden curls! Such a bittersweet moment, seeing her onstage for the first time! I can remember the day she wanted to take dance classes and she was still too young. Now here we are, her first year has just been completed!



Rehearsal



They all looked so stinkin' cute dancing around in their little costumes, with  their bouncing curls! As soon as her rehearsal was over I left the concert hall and met her as she came off stage. I hugged her and told her that she did an amazing job and I was super proud of her! The first words out of her mouth were....''where are my flowers?'' hahaha!!!! I had to explain that she was only at rehearsal and that she would get her flowers later that night after her performance! So after all that we went home and relaxed until it was time to touch up her hair. Then we went back to the civic center for make-up. I left her backstage with her group and took a seat with my family! I couldn't wait until it was her turn!!!!

Opening Act

Choo Choo  Cha Boogie





My beautiful Princess Dancer



With her teacher Miss Stacey



She was so very proud of her beautiful roses!!!!



Daddy's girl!!!!




We had a fantastic time watching her performance! I can't wait until the DVD of the show arrives next month! I'm so thankful that Ann's Studio of Dance made her first year of dance a year to remember!