All in a Day's Work!

Okay so yesterdeay this is my view when I did a set up at a golf tournament to benefit our local Chamber of Commerce! Can you believe this is the view I had while being able to network, get some sun without worrying about my kiddos, and just enjoy the day!

For those that know me well they know I am not doing this post to advertise what I do but I just had to share this view I had at the 18th hole - I sponsored a hole so I was able to give out goodie bags, lip savors, info./samples, and water, etc. I just think what I had to look at was gorgeous! Some time to appreciate the beautiful gifts that are free from Him in the world He created!
In between teams that past I almost didn't know what to do with myself because I am always used to being on the move, but this was nice. I do admit I had a hard time just sitting there and made use of the area I had with some mini work out things, but most of the time I just made myself enjoy the beautiful view and weather.


...And yes below I did include a picture of my table set up where I had my thing, but I do admit I think it was a great time and had sooo much fun!

















You could never tell it was windy, right? I was pretty resourceful and used "used" tees to put in the holes of the bottom of my sign. Bobby was pretty proud when I told him that...in case you are wondering...my family tells me my common sense about "everyday things" isn't the best attribute about me...but hey, we all have our downfalls! (which the reason I included this picture was to see my resourcefulness at work!)

Enjoy your day and hope you thought my view was as beautiful as I did! Blessings to you!

Red, White, and Blue Day for Madison

Last week of Madison's school was Red, White, and Blue Day...I noted we got her an outfit - we went ahead and got her a red, white, and blue shirt with a Navy zip hoodie that was on sale! She looked super cute and was so excited about her new outfit so I thought I would share the pictures! ...And BIG NEWS...she picked a red shirt instead of pink - can you believe it?...we are moving into a whole new world! My mom and I were excited about that one.

She had a great day and this week is her last week of school - I know she will miss it but it is time for summer!

This makes me even more excited for the 4th of July to arrive! We usually go to the Lake with family but I just love the 4th of July! It is sooo fun as a summer holiday - makes me think of BBQ's, outdoors, games, fun, and appreciate all the wonderful things our men and women of our country do and have done! (Is this really the shortest post I have ever done?)

Enjoy your day everyone and Blessings to you, All of us

The cutest things...

Kids say the cutest things! So I received an e-mail last night from Madison's school about this week is red, white, and blue week. Well, we are just now shopping for summer clothes for Madison - kind of when we see something she needs we will pick it up...well, we haven't made it too far there yet (only have a few warm things so a lot of keeping up with laundry). So my Mom came over to watch the girls this morning while I did some work and after I was done we headed to Old Navy since it was right by where I had to stop too. It was a beautiful day so we took the girls into the main center of the shopping area to run around a bit and get some energy out before lunch today. They were so stinkin' cute together. The first thing of course Hayley does is climb the center thing and run on the grass. Madison was running circles around it saying "I'm running so fast!" It was so cute. But what was funny today was when Madison was talking to me when we got back...now does she imitate me or what...she was talking to me while I was "focused" on completing something and yes, listening to her, but not looking at her. Her response was "Mommy...look at me please!" I just started laughing because of course that is what I say to her when she is focused doing something and tuning out everything around her - I always have her make eye contact to know she heard me. How funny that she said it back to me...she was right too!

So Hayley...so cute - her knew thing is bobbing her head when she dances. She literally runs from me when I pick out her clothes in the morning because getting dressed is not one of her favorite things. So I said to her over the past weekend ago - "Hayley get over here" (in a fun nice way). So as I chased her down she said "NO!" so matter of factly! It stopped Bobby and I in our tracks! I'm sorry but I couldn't help but laugh because I was not expecting my 1 year old (14 months) to start telling me "NO!" already! So needless to say - we are working on that. When she tells me "No" (she shakes her head "No" at the same time too)...I say "Yes" and shake my head yes and she follows by shaking her head "Yes!" (while she is smiling and laughing...she knows what she is doing and it kills me :) ).

Happy Tuesday to everyone!

Blessings from all of us!

We tried to get a picture together...but this was the best that was going to happen - they are busy girls, you know!

Kenny Chesney's Concert!

So Saturday - we had a fun day - we woke up and left for Kansas City for the Kenny Chesney concert! I was invited to go with my mother-in-law Linda and my two sister-in-laws, Monica and Melissa. NO BOYS ALLOWED! It was a great time, and I had so much fun. I hadn't been to a concert in ages (literally since I was anywhere from 8-10 going to NKOTB) and within two months I saw David Cooke and Kenny Chesney! How excited am I!

We had terrific seats too! Linda saw this black box with wheels coming around the corner in front of us and she said "I bet Kenny is in there!" We all laughed :) and sure enough he had to be because this lift was not too far in front of us and he raised up on it - how stinkin' cool. Linda said to us "I told you so...he does stuff like that!" We all laughed about that. Of course he had to come out singing "She thinks my Tractor's Sexy."

He was really enjoyable as a LIVE entertainer - the whole show was TERRIFIC. Lady Antebellum opened the show...they were great...Miranda Lambert was next - she is a little firecracker! I really enjoyed her and she is a great entertainer too!

I think I got some great shots and some video too:) He sang all his great songs and also some of my all-time favorite songs too! - Jack and Diane -

well Miranda Lambert sang I Love Rock -n-Roll which is definitely an all-time fav by me!

Okay - so this is my sister-in-law, Monica - she just does this to drive me crazy - for one - we have a thing where she likes to take pictures of me offguard (she knows I don't like pictures of myself)...so they are the most awkward moments like where I am talking and my mouth is in mid-word looking ridiculous and she will NEVER delete them which DRIVES ME CRAZY. So I thought, I will just do it back...well, my attempts didn't work out too well because my darn camera was too slow! So this is what happened. We had a really great picture taken of all four of us; however, I don't have that copy - Monica has it so I will have to get it sometime! So this is my way of doing it back...posting this picture of her being silly (can you tell I am used to talking to my girls)- BUT the funny thing is she doesn't care...which you know...is so much fun about her!

Melissa and I - we took this about 3 times until we got it right. :) I think it turned out great. Yes, and my big nose still shows!!!! (ha!) The picture she got was really neat in black and white - she has her camera set on that which I cannot figure it out for the life of me on my camera - my old one that was stolen (correction...Bobby's old one) I knew how...can you tell change with electronics is difficult for me!

Linda enjoying the concert. Monica and Melissa told me it was my turn to sit by Linda because she goes CRAZY at concerts. I didn't think she was bad at all and enjoyed sitting (standing) by her! It is fun to see how excited she gets during it though! She LOVES Kenny Chesney and made out with 2 shirts that night she proudly wore!

We had a fun night, and I really was glad I was able to go with them. It is a rarity that I get to spend time with just them and NO BOYS! Thanks guys!

MAXIMUS MORRISON CLARK

In Memory of our little "Buddy"...

January 22, 2001 - May 9, 2008

DOGS

by Wendy Silva

Dogs are great for many things, they love you unconditionally and always have time to spare,

They will sit and rest beside you, play the day away, or lick you to show you how much they care.

Dogs know that with a little affection, they can make your troubles disappear.

They stand guard to protect the ones they love, without hesitation or fear.

Dogs offer their paw in friendship and bark to show you their emotion.

They truly are a great pet filled with loyalty, friendship, love, and devotion.

Maximus lived up to that poem to the entirity which is why we chose that one today!

Today is a difficult post, but I wanted to do something...it is the year anniversary of the passing of Maximus. A year ago today we had a very difficult day...not only did I have a meeting that Friday morning that I certainly didn't want to be at just because I knew what the afternoon entailed, but also it was the Friday before Mother's Day...Mother's Day is one of my favorite days...most know because why...but were celebrating having a new addition just 2 months before with Hayley arriving but the loss of our Maximus during that special weekend was hard for us too.
So if you are not in the mood for a rather lengthy post you made click the "back" button and go to another blog! (I mean that in the best of ways :) ).






Our first picture together with Maximus! How young we all look. In case you are wondering I took pictures of pictures in scrapbook pages I did awhile back...which adds a little character. Back then we didn't have digital!


What do we love about Maximus? To be honest...so many things that we couldn't possibly explain them all but we will try to say some.

1. Maximus is one of a kind. In college Bobby surprised me with Maximus as a gift and boy was he! We came up with his name from the movie Gladiator - Bobby and I LOVE that movie! It has always been one of our all-time favorites (yes...I love those kind of movies!!!) So he was never Max but "Maximus;" however, Madison eventually came to call him that which was fine by us. His middle name...Morrison, my maiden name. I don't know why we chose that but maybe because we would eventually come to have girls? (I know those kind of thoughts come in our head). I guess I just knew...His last name obviously ours.




2. He was a vegetarian...not by choice AT ALL. He was allergic to meat protein so he had to have special vegetarian food and had to have all natural and/or organic treats - nothing with meat protein. It really got us looking at labels for our own dog. People would always laugh when we said he was a vegetarian - they would look at us like we were cruel until we said no, he's allergic! So his main form of treats were carrots. AND one of his favorite toys to play with was his stuffed carrots! Go figure that one! So every time I would cut up vegetables for dinner Maximus was by my side - he always thought I was cutting carrots. As many know they can't have all vegetables, but the ones he could we would give him. This was ESPECIALLY challenging when we went to visit our family because both sides have dogs and of course they are not vegetarians either so we would constantly have to watch him. He would do ANYTHING to get to their food (probably can't blame him either!) So when he ate it...it was VERY upset stomach, bumps around his eyes, and getting sick in store for him.

3. I used to take him running with me...he loved it. For those that ever saw him run - it was BEAUTIFUL. "Deer" is the nickname for Min Pins because of their graceful running - he would leap and bound. At my in-laws home - he escaped and if you knew Maximus - if he escaped it was a free for all...good luck catching him and drop everything for the next 1/2 hour to hour and a 1/2. However, when he did he was running with other dogs. It just stopped Bobby and I in our tracks even though we were FRANTIC. It was so beautiful because my in-laws live in the country where there is a lot of room so he was literally bounding in and out of the land. We literally never thought we would catch him but it was so beautiful at the same time. However, not all of his escapes were always so fun. Literally 5 days after I had Madison he escaped - Bobby was traveling so what in the world did I do? I had to call my neighbor and have her come watch Madison (now that made me cry just leaving her already) and I was chasing him in the creek with trees we have in front of us with hills! Now that WAS FUN! (just kidding but trying to make light of it somehow!) Maximus was the master of escaping as you can tell!

What more can we say. He is born in 2001 - January 22nd. So he was ready to leave his mother right around my birthday - Maximus was the most handsome Miniature Pinscher we have ever seen. Not kidding...yes we were his parents (owners) but we heard that from so many. "He should be a show dog..." is what we always heard. He would have been perfect but just on the "little taller side" we heard for the regulations. He always stood so proud.
We won't focus on what happened because that is still too hard to this day. But Maximus was a special dog. He went through our most difficult times Bobby and I have gone through-to-date...a loss...and our fertility failures for several years...but he went through so many good times...Madison...Hayley...and lots of fun times with both Bobby and I...the lake, he went everywhere with us in college as our friends had dogs too so they had "playdates."

We are so thankful for Maximus because always greated us at the door with so much love and happiness...which was the best feeling when we were going through those times. He was the one who would cuddle us and love us.
But from the day we got Maximus he was different. Loveable, kind, sweet, protective, and loyal! Maximus was definitely a Mommy's Boy - he LOVED his Daddy but he was always by my side and snuggled right in my stomach at night or behind my legs when I slept. When I was pregnant with both girls he had to sit in my lap by my stomach which posed as a challenge as I had a growing belly! What joy he brought to us! Some of our favorite memories of him... (maybe this isn't good to go into so much detail but we still to-date miss him more than ever).

It is funny because sometimes I still think I hear his collar jingle or hear his bark outside. That is the hardest part. Madison has a special, special bond with Maximus - I mean close! She misses him and when she sees a picture of him somewhere she says "Max is with Jesus - in heaven." It is really sweet. My Aunt Mary did something so special for us -got a book to read to Madison since she had a difficult time understanding so I would highly recommend that book to anyone in this situation in the future. All Dogs go to Heaven. It still makes me cry sometimes to see it and read it.

I cannot forget to talk about Cadence and Maximus' relationship. Maximus was always the caretaker of Cadence. From the day we got her he accepted her, loved her, and he let her do anything to him. Cadence was so attached to Maximus...she had to be sitting by him and literally on him. To do this she would back her hiney on his back and just sit there- he never minded. Whe we got Cadence one of her ears was clipped wrong (according to AKC standards...they had to be clipped and obviously it wasn't done to AKC standards). However, we LOVED that about Cadence...it fit her personality paw-fect (ha, ha), but Maximus was always concerned about her because the ear will get extra dirty. He would clean it for her by licking and often times when she wanted him to do it she would nuzzle her head by him which I guess was the "signal."


Enjoy some of their pictures together...



















Here is Maximus and Madison. Madison is climbing in his bed with him - you cannot even see him because one of her favorite things was to cover him up. As you can tell - Maximus was a very tolerant dog with the girls. We never really had an opportunity to get pictures of him with Hayley but he was already starting to love her too.







Of course, they snuggled together too!














And hugs....













When Madison first got her toddler bed, Maximus found a new sleeping mate.









And we will leave it at this picture.

Madison loved to dress Maximus up with her toys and especially necklaces. He would always let her do that...however, you can tell here he is thinking...."Help Me!"

We love you Maximus and thank you for your gifts you brought to us!

Blessings from us!

Spring Fling at Preschool

Tonight was Madison's Spring Fling at her preschool. She was so excited, and she was pretty darn FANTASTIC if we have anything to say about it! (Proud parents for sure). She missed school yesterday because her allergies were so bad...which I think I made the right choice because she was much better today...although they are still showing, but I have found some things that work to help ease her misery.

Anyhoo...they had a fun-filled program of beautiful songs to sing together for the Lord! How cute it was. They had definite signing, motions or actions, and singing of course. Right up Madison's ally! She really got into the signing and motions - WE LOVED IT! We have wonderful video of most of the songs too so it was so neat! We had the perfect seat and in a couple of the videos obnoxious parents kept leaning over in my way...urrgghhh! However, I finally started catching on just in time when they moved over that I would move first so we would not see their heads. The video ended up turning out great - perhaps I should load a video too...never done that before though so we will see. They had a fun-filled night planned after the program so that was sooo much fun!
Just some pics of Hayley too. Daddy stood behind the seating because she was already antsy before the program started...but did she love to watch everyone when it did! My girls are already people watchers...a trait both girls get from both of us!

Madison is with some of her friends...Emma and Brenton that she loves to play with! So she was super excited to be by them -it was adorable!

Afterwards they had so many games planned, jump things, food - hotdogs for the kiddos, popcorn...pretty much carnival theme. Then they had a police motorcylce, firetruck, and had a helicopter land in the parking lot. Soooo neat for me as it was my first time to be so close to one! Madison really loved that part. Hayley loved trying to run around looking for trouble as usual :) She kept thinking "free at last" it seemed...very cute!

Pictures are below from the rest of the evening.
My mom, Mena, came with us too so she really enjoyed it. During the program it was so hard not to laugh because the kids were so cute...so my mom would laugh...which makes me laugh if you heard her laugh...then my camera would jiggle...not so steady hands...but the video turned out pretty good...we just watched it.

Madison received a fire hat and waterbottle - that made her night! Hayley loved her hat too so that was really neat - wanted to wear it like Big Sis!

Blessings from all of us!

Our Weekend!

Sunday, May 3rd

Today was a cute day with the girls in matching shirts and khaki's today. Madison loves for her and Hayley to match too. - The only picture I could get of them together was with me holding Cadence for them and sitting in Daddy's lap which was completely adorable to me!

These next two pictures we just thought were cute of the girls - we hope you enjoy them too. It is so hard to get them stop long enough but how cute!

So these next two pictures are what it is really like in our household. You see Hayley just getting up from Madison having her in a non-intentional head lock...trying to give Hayley a hug because as you can tell from our main pic above Madison hugs her with her arm around her neck... (well sometimes it is intentional, but this time it wasn't). And then Madison smiling like nothing happened at all. The picture of Hayley is of the aftermath with her hair! Funny though and cute when they both end up laughing...not always the case as many of you know yourselves.

Saturday, May 2nd

Saturday was nice! Go figure we went to Lowe's again - we had to get a stake for one of our trees we forgot last weekend and Daddy got a new BBQ grill - our old one was really old and not usable after this past winter and after having gas grills we went back to the Weber charcoal (Bobby used it on Sunday for lunch since I was gone at night doing my thing, and was really excited about it :) Our early dinner was good!).

Other than that - some major cleaning [ well partially] going on - it really looked like a tornado went through the entire house and EVERY SINGLE room - literally - (I am posting Sunday night and still not done, but that's okay :) ). We were at the point we didn't even know where to start - anyone relate...hope so...

I included a picture of Madison that was really cute of her doing her puzzles that she loves all by herself - she wanted her crown on and a gown she wrapped around herself to do her Jasmine puzzle and then she continued on to Dora puzzle! Miss Hayley a.k.a. Miss Trouble found Madison's princess stickers...just wait until she notices after she is done with puzzles!

Today I had some cupcakes delivered for a surprise for Bobby. I met someone last week at a Vendor Blender I did who recently started her business - with CuppieCakes. I did half dozen in chocolate and half in vanilla - Bobby is definitely a chocolate fan and me ALWAYS vanilla. I wanted to try them out and they were delicious (plus I wanted some for an event I had on Sunday)!!! Kelley did a wonderful job and everything is from scratch...definitely someone I will remember for events in the future!

Friday, May 1st

It's Friday and Madison was so excited because her backpack came today that HAD her name on it! She was so excited as you can see! And I wanted to show a picture of it on her!

Oh and I cannot forget a picture of Cadence too - our "little girl" too! We love Cadence and how she is with the girls! We call her "pretty witty" for short but the girls call her "Cada!" Now we end up calling her "Cada" too...funny how your children's language rubs off on you sometimes! She is sweet and cute and we love her little mask on her face with the brown!

Just some other cute pictures of the girls - Miss Hayley - did I mention aka "Miss Trouble" of course has something she ran with that she isn't supposed to have - we are still working on that one - very stubborn little girl like her sister and well...guess both of our girls have no shot since BOTH Bobby and I are stubborn! We actually got a picture of

Madison below doing her "Real smile"... not that her querky one isn't cute too because it is... but that's her typical smile below!

Blessings from all of us!

Something Handmade...but not from me!

I have a post about something kind of neat...a friend has her etsy shop and makes handmade beautiful creations Angela Harris ( Angela's Etsy Shop or check out her blog Angela's Blog) - I am showing one that I put in a frame to use for home decoration because I loved the color so much (that is the color we would like to add to our living area with accessories). We have a beachy themed home - well what we would eventually like to portray! I am NOT a good decorator at all so I was excited and quite pleased with this look I did by myself. We have ladder bookshelves since around March and now and then I have been finding things for it ...it is a process for me since I have trouble in this area but sometime (and in no rush) it will be complete!

I just wanted to share her beautiful work. I needed a background to go behind the tag so I just used some tulle I had from my business around cardstock - eventually maybe I will find a background that better suits but I enjoy this for now. Some of her tags I have started to use in my business too as thank you's and to write nice things to those in my business too. They are different, unique, beautiful, and handmade which makes people feel nice (my hope) to share a nice thing every once in awhile - I have with thanks ones that I give out with gifts to my clients and have added some to Mother's Day baskets I will be/am doing. With Angela's permission I have added these pictures of her tags - my picture quality may not be as good so you will want to check out her shop.

She had made some butterfly and dragonfly ones I purchased too so I plan to eventually put those in a frame in the girl's rooms too when I come across the right frames. They are so cute! I also had to do some mini tags that I will do something special for the girls and write neat things to them every once in awhile...I have had plans in the works for awhile now to make the box to store them in, but that just hasn't happened yet either. The mini tags are shown below too.

Here are some more of her trim tags she has that I have purchased - I have more but I thought I would just show a variety.

Here are the mini butterfly and dragonfly tags she made me for the girls. They are great. Also shown are mini crown tags I use for Bobby and the "Remember When" tags for Bobby. With our MOPS group we were introduced to doing the Love Dare so I started with that which if you have never done that - it is great for anyone! Then I moved on to the "Remember When" tags for neat moments over our almost 15 years together! The crown tags - I challenged myself - just as the "remember when" tags I would leave one per day for him. The crown tags - (again an idea from Angela...boy she is wonderful and an "old soul" if you will!) - if you look in her February posts (I believe) she details it there too, but anyway "365 reasons why I love Bobby." I love challenges and challenging myself is the best thing I can do for me. You know to be honest this takes up time, and one of the reasons I am now an insomniac (but I work ahead the weeks he is out of town), but in the end it helps me when I miss him, helps me when it gets hard doing all the things I do, but the most important reason it makes him feel special when he is gone too...to know that I do miss him and he is thought of by all in our house even though it gets long and difficult sometimes! One of the things I learned in the Love Dare to continually do things - I have a great husband, and I want to make sure he is reminded of that. So for me...this idea works. Now I won't be able to do the 365 thing forever and every year...but I thought I would give it a try this year.

So these are my Thoughts on Thursday!

Blessings from all of us