"Tennessee…. If You Be My Honey Bee, I'll Be Your Buttered Biscuit!"

This is a long picture post but I have to do it for memories sake!  What a wonderful time we had with family in Tennessee.  No matter how long ya stay, it's never enough time to see everyone or do everything ya like.  That's why ya gotta keep going for more!  More miles, more memories, more family, more meals, more love.  I know it is crazy having all of us at once.  We are tickled to see family and spend time together.  That's why we keep coming back… because it's all worth it... to be with family.  It's crazy to think Nathan & I have been in Texas almost 14 years raising our family.  Tennessee will always be our Home.  It will always be special.  It will always have memories of our childhoods that you can't get anywhere else.  It will always have family and friends that make us proud to have grown up there.  It will always be in our hearts and prayers.

Our families always love us like we never left.  It's bittersweet and tears flow every time we have to say goodbye.    

But for some reason God has us in Texas.  You don't try to figure it out.  You just know when you wake up on your last morning there, the love of your life hugs you close to him and says,

 "Let's go home."

That's the moment when you know… our home is in Texas.  

This is what happens when you drive 11 hours to get to your family

 But when you arrive you see your beautiful sis and guess what…. we think alike when we shop at Target!  

 Treasure hunt at MeeMaws

 Prizes for all

 Cousins

 Backyard fun sipping with my sissy and watching those kiddos hunt 

 Big Toys for Big Daddies

Vroom Vroom

 Father's Day… 1st time I have been able to visit my Daddy's grave on the day

 MeeMaw has deer that come up cause she feeds them corn!  :)

 Orange kids love their MeeMaw

 I had so many kids that they steal her away from me too much!  Sure do love my mama

My Sweet Sissy with her Sweet Family

 My sweet nephew Cullen
He looks just like my sissy's baby pics!  It's so crazy looking at him!!!

 watching the guys play tennis 

 Father's Day love for Daddy

 The luckiest kiddos in the world

 MeeMaw and her 5 grandchildren

 Nathan & His Daddy- What a gift to be with him on Father's Day

 Guess what else was on Father's Day??  Miss Emmie Lou's 8th Birthday!  

 This child was celebrated!!!  So fun!

 A few cousins heading to the creek

 Cousin Twinkies…. We LOVE Blane and she is so wonderful with all the kiddos

 Let's see here what's in this tackle box

 Sittin on the hill takin it all in

 Have to have one of Overs' famous milkshakes when you take a break from fishin

 She thinks she can drive a tractor already

 Loved walking in the windows with this little girl

 cousin sandwich

 Ginormous Tree!  Pose Jensie Pose!

 My favorite pic of our whole trip…. these are the moments for sure!

 Big Brother and Little Brother fishing together

 someone caught a BIG Daddy 5 pounder

The girls climbing a HUGE Pine tree that has been there forever and was one of their Christmas Trees one year

 Do people fall in love on docks overlooking beautiful sunsets?  I think I did… again!

 Nonna took this group to the dollar store for a goodie.  

 Gotta have the creek pose with a rock in your hand… can't leave Tennessee till ya get that one in

 Creek time is cool time

 Random flowers on our walk to the creek

 They did what???

 They jumped off a bridge….. 

 Everyone of these crazy coons jumped over and over and loved it

 Back to MeeMaws for bouncehouse fun

 Sunflowers at my grandmas

God knew to make her my mama…. This is my new favorite picture of my mama

 MeeMaw made Noah Salisbury steak cause he loves it so much at school….. I have a feeling I need to start cooking some for this boy and Gunner LOVED it too!  

My sweet Aunt Linda brought us some beautiful canned goods…. 

 Ping Pong at MeeMaws!!  Say what????

This is the face of a WINNER…. 

over his mama

over his MeeMaw 

and not sure who else he beat

 Bounce House makes you cray cray

 Or maybe it's a 2 liter of Sunkist????

 Squirrel huntin….. 

 Me and my precious nephew 

 My HoneyBee

 Nathan's mama retiring from the hospital…. So neat to see her with all her children

 Nonna and Papa and their 8 grandchildren

 The WHOLE GANG!!  All together!  What a joy!

 Our new baby cousin Eva… happy little gal

 Some poker faces

 Papa's buck wheat for his honey bees

 Let's make rock sandwiches?

 Walk to the pond

 Sonny with his girl cousins Rue and Bailey… They got along wonderfully!

 Papa showing us all his bees

 This was so interesting and cool!  I LOVED learning about them!

 What a cool experience!

 Little Eva and Me

 Orange Family Cousins

 Silly Cousins

 Tractor Time

 Beeswax is interestingly good to chew on until all the honey is out
 and Papa's Honey is yummy, yummy, YUM!

 Time to head back to Texas… last time I saw my Mama…. 

 She sent some love back with us with these little delights… M&M cookies

Thank you Mama for all the little things you do

 This is my daughter!  I LOVE this pic!  I love her open arms! I love her happy smile! I Love that her shirt says LOVE!  I love that I am her mama!

When your motherinlaw says with a twinkle in her eye "We have been saving these little by little so we could make a pie when you were home"you just melt with love in your heart…. My fatherinlaw picked them up until she made that pie at 9:30 on our last night in Tennessee….

  Those berries just SCREAM LOVE!!!

 I will share one with these two any ol' day!
Thank ya'll so much for this.  

 Tennessee… If You Be My Honey Bee, I'll Be Your Buttered Biscuit!

What a treat to have fresh honey on a warm biscuit!  

Until next time… go dip your finger in some honey and see if it makes you sweet…. see if it makes you want a buttered biscuit.  :)

"Summer Serenity Prayer & A Slice of Humble Pie Please"

So it's summer!!!  Whooo Hooo!  We ended the school year great!!  We did a high dive into summer with birthday celebrations and swimming and friends and the library and vacation bible school…. whoop!  What's next?  

It's been a wonderful week and the kids have LOVED vacation bible school.  Our church does it at night- family style in August, so we decided to participate at a couple of our local churches with friends.  Gunner and Jensie went to the one at their preschool and Noah and Emmie went to a big one that had lots of friends from school.    They didn't want it to end…. and neither did I!  But today was the last day and OH what a day it started off to be!  

So, I have been super mellow this week and just plain happy!  We have had the perfect flow of activities… not too much but just enough.  :) I had thought after the first weekend of no school when I listed two of my children on the market… (see below for details)... that the summer was definitely gonna need some deep prayer!  That's when I started considering writing my own summer serenity prayer.  :)  Then... our first week of no school has been Vacation Bible School and just what we needed to start off the summer!  

However…. today I only had to take Noah and Emmie cause Gunner and Jensie's was done yesterday. So the morning was relaxed and pretty normal.  We weren't rushing around or anything.  I told the kiddos to get in the car so I could quickly finish up getting ready.  Braided Jensie's hair and scanned the house for doors and lights.  Took the kids to vbs and then went right across the street to the gym to get in a quick run.  I put the car in park and Gunner says, "Mama, Jensie's not in her carseat!"  GASP!  WHAT!  My brain quickly goes into….

Is she hiding in the back?  Where is she?  She's not in here!….She is AT HOME!  ALONE!  Pulling out of my spot…. My gas pedal leg is literally shaking to no end and I could hardly press the gas… I travel the 5 minutes to my home that felt like 30…. the whole time rehearsing in my brain what happened…. Oh yes… she had gone back upstairs to get her Elsa braid to clip in her hair.  I forgot and thought she was in car.  I'm talking out loud and Gunner is listening.  He is as calm as can be and says… "Well…. this is the first time we have ever left a kid anywhere."   Yes, Yes that's right Gunner…. Mommy thought she was in the car…. Dear Lord…. I pray…. My mind wants to go to bad places like the the street or pool or just her traumatized.  I wouldn't let it… I kept telling myself… she is fine…. angels are with her…. Dear God… please let her be ok.  

I pulled into the culdesac and ran inside and could  hear her crying a little before I opened the front door… I ran in and she was in the kitchen holding a tennis ball playing with Sonny (our dog) and crying to him.  I hugged her and held her and we talked about it.  She said, "I came downstairs and you were gone and I cried… Mommy come back"  

She is the child that 100 times has said to me, Mommy don't leave me!  I always say… Jensie I am NOT leaving you!  I would never leave you!!! Why would you think that?  

GULP!  GAG!  STAB MY IN MY GUT!  

I did it.  I messed up.  I left my child. 

I Am So Sorry. 

Who is serving the humble pie?  I need a slice. 

I couldn't make up a reason why this happened… I wasn't in a rush… we weren't going 90 mph trying to do too many things.  I was calm… kids were good.  It JUST happened.  Needless to say… She was fine and got over it real quick and I didn't make a huge deal cause I didn't want her to think this was going to be the norm. I told her I was so sorry and thought she was in the car and that mommy made a big boo boo and came right back to get her. She is 3 almost 4….but is smarter than a 6 year old!  She was alone less than 10 minutes but it's the magnitude of this that paralyzes a mother.  You instantly realize how easy people leave their kids in hot cars or worse.  I am telling this story because I am a real mother…. I make real mistakes and want to learn from them. The first thing Gunner said when we got in the car was, "Sooooo…. Mama made a Mistake!"  Yep, Yep I sure did.  I told him how thankful I was to have him there to help me.  I told him I needed him to start helping me count the kids.  He smiled.  

No…seriously…. I need a car count!  I count my kids all the time at home for some reason.  4 is just overwhelming sometimes…. hard to understand unless you have been there or are there with me right now.  If you are… I hope you can not judge me…but relate to the world of 4 children with me.  Us Mama's need one another and need prayer!  I have been thinking on this but after today, I have now added a line in my Summer Serenity Prayer.  

My Summer Serenity Prayer

Dear Lord,

Please give me the summer serenity I need to accept the days as they are, 

whether it's 100 degrees and meltdowns or blue skies with rainbows and perfect children.

Help to to accept the things I cannot change,

like the fact that I have 4 kids and they are KIDS and kids have needs and kids get bored and kids cry and kids are different from one day to the next.

Dear Lord, 

Please give me the courage to change the things I can,

like the way I discipline and love and howI can learn from my children what works for each one and not be afraid to try new things…. constantly….

Dear Lord,

Please give me wisdom to know the difference,

The difference in- your control and my control with my children,

Help me to have wisdom to be their guide this summer- to have fun and make memories and be thankful to YOU, our creator and giver of this season of summer.

Dear Lord, 

Please give me a clear mind to be aware of my children and how many there are.  

Please help me to stay summer slow and summer safe with my children.  

Please protect them no matter where they are… because even if I am not there…. YOU are Lord and I am thankful for your faithfulness and for never leaving my side during my journey of motherhood in the days of summer and all the days of their precious little lives. 

Amen.

Now let's see some happy pictures with happy Orange Kids! :)

 Emmie's 1st grade Celebration

 Noah's 4th Grade celebration

 Last day of school!  Let's party!

 Why?  Cause it's DADDY's Birthday!!!!

 Swimming is fun with daddy

Celebrations 

 Embrace the moments…. she's figuring it out….

 Pool Pics

 Lifeguard on duty

 Life Dog on Duty

The Entertainment is Free!

 Who is excited it's SUMMER!  

 National Donut Day and 1st Day of NO SCHOOL!!!  Whooo Hooo!

Unfortunately…. 

 This child was not for sale… she woke me up on the first day of no school with this card

 Seriously?  She must be secretly eating spoonfuls of sugar… cause she is SWEEEET

 Mama & her girls

Swimming with my Gunner

 Don't even ask me what # this is for outfits.  She changes 4 to 5 times a day…. battle won.  I gave up.

 It's always fun to see what she will come out in next…. she has plenty of self expression and confidence and her brother is looking super grown up in the pic :(

 Every night she says, "Daddy tell me a mean, scary story"  This is while sleeping with one of my dolls that I had when I was a little girl and she is missing an arm and her eyes don't work and her hair is scary

 Really?

 Yes!

 Really!

 Frozen yogurt…. MMMM

 What do the kids beg to do 1st weekend out of school…. go to the gym!!!

Lucky for me I got a workout in next to a nice lookin fella!  :)

 Then we swam and had popsicles….

 what a treat!  Library Summer Reading Challenge!  Yes Please!    

 We love the library!

 We love new popsicles too!

We love summer naps!  

My Sweet… Sweet Girl!

Happy Summer Everyone!  Don't Give Up!  We got this!  

SUMMER SERENITY!!!