Scattergories

Scattergories

My friend Nicole tagged me for Scattergories. Here are the rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Tracy

1. Famous Singer/Band: Tracy Lawrence

2. 4 letter word: Trip

3. Street: Tenth

4. Color: Taupe

5. Gifts/Presents: Trinkets

6. Vehicle: Toyota

7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: T-shirts

8. Boy Name: Tyler

9. Girl Name: Teagan

10. Movie Title: Traffic

11.Drink: Tang

12. Occupation: traffic sign holder

13. Flower: Tiger Lily

14. Celebrity: Taylor Hicks

15. Magazine: Teen

16. U.S. City: Tampa

17. Pro Sports Teams: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

18. Fruit: Tomato

19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Traffic

20. Something You Throw Away: Trash

21. Things You Shout: Thanks!

22. Cartoon Character: Teenage mutant ninja turtles

Tag - you're it! Mom, Jodi, Heather, Sheila, Grandma Doon - since you don't have blogs, post your answers in my comments section!

Everyday Miracles

Miracles happen in small ways everyday. Sometimes we pray for them, sometimes medical technology helps create them, sometimes they just happen when we're least expecting them. I'm so excited about today's miracle. I think it was a combination of prayer and medical technology that created it. Either way, it is truly a blessing from God!

C&J - congratulations on your little miracle(s). You have no idea how many people were praying for this!

Swimming, Swimming, gotta keep Swimming

Remember Dori from Finding Nemo? I LOVE the little song she sings to keep herself going! I have been singing it to Madison lately. She started swimming lessons about three weeks ago. Since she did so well boating and swimming in lakes last summer, I thought swimming lessons would be a breeze.

Silly me - I forgot that this is the kid that is afraid of snow.

Turns out - on her first day of swimming lessons, she was also afraid of water. This is Madison on her first day of swimming lessons:

She was really excited when she first saw the pool. She looked like she wanted to jump right in. As we got closer and closer to the time to get in the pool, she became more and more apprehensive.

She looks a little nervous here.

Then, reality set in. She is NOT liking this swimming thing. Not one bit.

Then, she SCREAMS. She kept on screaming until the class was over, 30 minutes later.

I was really upset that Madison did not like swimming lessons. I was so embarrased that my kid was the ONLY one that screamed through the entire first class. I think she was one of the oldest kids in the 9-18 month age group too. I kept thinking it was going to be a long five weeks of lessons and a very long summer on the boat with a kid that hates the water.

Still, I took her to the next lesson - with fear in my heart. Miraculously - she LOVED it. HUH? I don't get it. How could she hate every minute of her first lesson and then have so much fun at the next one? I guess its just like oatmeal. Three weeks ago, she LOVED oatmeal...and now, for no reason at all, she hates it.

After her second lesson - Madison was blowing bubbles in the water, playing with beach balls and noodles, and kicking her legs like a little frog. By the third lesson, the only thing she didn't like was floating on her back. She cried when it was time to get out of the pool.

Maybe it won't be such a long summer after all. Hopefully she'll see the lake as a giant pool and love it as much as she has grown to love swimming lessons!

Hug your Kids

I found out about this terrible tragedy through another blog that I read often. Check out the article at http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1681224.php. Itwill rip your heart out. This family was just driving down the road and in the blink of an eye their future was wiped out. Their family - gone. So sad, so tragic, so random. The families memorial site is at http://www.lifetomotion.com/login/coble/index.html. Look through the pictures. They look like a wonderful family - doing things with their kids, working hard, trying to live the dream. Now all of it is gone. They were doing things right - their kids were in a safe car and strapped into car seats like they should be. Yet none of it helped. Kind of makes me want to buy a tank - forget about our economical cars and gas mileage. What is more important?

I'm struck by how random this was. They look like good people, nice people...the kind of people that I would like to know. When God put his plan together, how did this make sense? How could God expect these parents to lose all three of their children and come out of it okay? I know that I wouldn't. How will they go home each day to a house that was once full of life and is now quiet?

I know I should trust God's plan - not fear it. That trust is difficult though when you see a seemingly very nice family go through this. They looked like good people - it that was his plan for them, then what is His plan for me, a person who has screwed up more than a few times?

Maybe this reads like I'm questioning my faith. I'm not - I'm just struggling to believe that this was part of God's plan. Just like I struggle to believe that it was God's plan for 32 people to die at the hand of a mad man at Virginia Tech. I am starting to think that some of these things are really the devil's plan getting in the way of God's plan.

Tagged!

Tagged!

Nicole tagged me yesterday, I have watched this thing go around all the scrapbooker blogs for the past week and wondered when it would hit me.

Here are the rules: each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to blog about their seven things and post the rules as well . At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I can't create a scrapbook page without a sketch.
2. I read about ten blogs on a daily basis - they mostly belong to people that I don't know.
3. I have a HUGE weakness for chocolate chip cookies and M&M Mcflurries.
4. I never crave ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery - but when I smell it in the mall it's usually irresistable.
5. I like getting up early on Saturday mornings and enjoying the quiet by myself - but right now, I would do just about anything for one day to sleep in!
6. Nobody knows this one - I have an incredible fear of losing a child to tragedy or illness - I'm sure most mom's have this fear - but I'm starting to think that my fear borders on needing therapy! I am not over protective or anything but I always have this little feeling of dread in the back of my mind. I struggle to accept and trust God's plan in this respect.
7. I am focusing on finding happiness in the little things in life. I have made a point in the past few weeks to pause and take note of all the little happy moments that occur on a daily basis. I am realizing that there are a lot of them - and they are so much more valuable than any happiness brought by "things."

I'm going to change this up a little bit. Since most of the people that have blogs have already been tagged - I'm requesting that the people that I tag post their 7 random facts in a comment on my blog. If you have a blog post it on your blog and provide a link in my blog's comments!

TAG:
Mom
Sheila
Grandma Muldoon
Haley (little Haley, I would love to see 7 new things that you're doing on your blog!)
Jodi D.
Laura J.
Heather E.

What a weekend!

Wow! What a gorgeous weekend! We had a lot of fun this weekend just enjoying the Minnesota spring. Who would have known that four days before we were getting slammed with eight inches of snow!?!?

On Saturday, we visited the MN Zoo. We thought that Madison would enjoy seeing all the farm babies. We had a great day, but Madison did not like the farm babies. She had the opportunity to pet a lamb, a baby goat, and even piglets. She was too scared! I must admit, they were really darn cute! There is almost nothing cuter than baby piglets climbing all over each other to nurse on mama pig! Madison liked the acquarium and the tigers the best (probably because you can't get NEAR the tigers and the acquarium is surrounded by 6 inches of plexiglas!)

This picture really shows what a gorgeous day it was on Sunday! It was warm, sunny, and oh so beautiful! I haven't seen the sky that blue in a long time! We are preparing to build a fence around our yard. Mike and his dad spent the day unloading the supplies and looking for the property line in the ground....Mike's mom and I enjoyed a bucket of slush and the sunshine! Madison ran all over the yard and did not want to go in when it was time for bed.


I just had to share this picture too. This little guy is my nephew, Riley. I grabbed a background (Mom's bath towels!) and a few pillows on Easter Sunday and made an attempt at 3-month pictures. They still might need to visit the Target photo studio, but this was a fun attempt and a good learning experience. He is such a sweet little guy!

Spring is here

So - it may only be 18 degrees outside - but spring is officially here. We got the boat out of storage last night and have big plans to get it ready for a summer on the lakes!

So - I'm posting this picture of Madison in honor of spring being here. This picture was taken by my friend, Heather, while we were boating on the Mississippi River last summer.

Madison has a few new words again too!

Cheerios

Bye, see you tomorrow!

Madison (she has only said it once and we can't get her to repeat it, but it still counts!)

So - here's to another great summer on the lake. I'm ready to crack a beer, put my feet up and soak in the sunshine!