BILLY stops by to shave his head

Billy came over to do some laundry and to borrow the clippers. His hair grows so fast that he likes to shave it down real short. Plus he works in a very hot plant so it is cooler that way. I can't believe how tall he is and his shoe is a size 13. It is so hard to believe that my boy has grown up so. As always he thinks he has to show off his tattoo in any picture that he takes. I do not agree with tattoos and was not happy at all with his decision. He has the names of his twin sisters and the date they died. He struggles with dealing with the death of his sisters and somehow he feels a little responsible. That of course is not possible in any way and he was only four years old at the time. He did not want me to have another baby and would clearly say that many times and was angry about it. We have spent many serious conversations about all the events that happened at that time. Some things he just refuses to talk to me about, but he felt very strongly about getting the tattoo. I know he is going to do what he wants, and I try to voice my concern in a positive way. I can not change what he has done so I can only try to guide him in future choices.

Show and Tell Friday

Once again it is time for Kelli's show and tell Friday. To find out more and how you can participate go to http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/. It is so much fun to see everyone's neat stuff in this grown up version of show and tell :)

My show and tell for today is my piano. I got my piano for FREE! I love it because it is old and it has these great little wooden flowers in the detailing of the wood. There are a few black keys missing but my dad is going to replace them for me. It is in tune and I have started taking lessons about 4 months ago. I love how relaxing it is to play and it is about the only 'me' time that I have right now. I have been looking for a piano for awhile and was so thankful when I was offered this one for free. These old ones are so heavy and it took my husband, Billy,Aaron and one of Billy's friends to move it. It was quite a job but well worth it.

Thanks for stopping by.

GAME TIME

Around here we love to play board games. We have big get togethers and play all sorts of games. Aaron and I really love the trivia games and we are both very competitive over who is smarter. :). I love to buy old board games from ebay and we have so many games now that we can not even keep count. This is one of the older trivia games and you can see the question. What two buildings are taller than the empire state building? Of course we no longer have the twin towers but that is one of the answers. Now when I have grandkids they will not have a clue about this answer, but it will make for a great discussion and to teach them about our countries history. We have another old trivia game called "Know your America". Now a lot of those answers have changed over the years, but it is so fun to try to answer the questions in relation to the year the game was made.

Fun family time!

MONDAY MEMORIES

So, once again I am posting a Monday memory that is hosted by Revee at
http://www.olderthanthecheese.blogspot.com/
My memory for today is short, but I thought you all might find it funny.
Growing up my mother nor my grandmothers ever drove. One day when I was about 10 a friend (relative thru marriage actually) stopped by our house to talk to my mom. She had her Bible in her hand. She was very serious so I stood by to listen. She said, "Doris, I have been reading my Bible and I feel that God wants me to come over and teach you how to drive." My mom was very puzzled and so she opened her Bible to John 15:13 and read the verse. GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS. How we all got a huge laugh! What a risky thing it would have been for anyone to try to teach her to drive! Mom is 67 and has still never ever tried to drive. No one in the family has ever forgotten this incident.

Proud Mom

I feel so good about some things that have happened with Aaron and Austin. Today in school, Austin's class was put into groups to do a project. The boys in his group were talking about some things that 12 year olds should not be talking about. They kept asking Austin did he know what certain things were and trying to get him to talk "dirty". Well, he would not do it. He spoke up and said he was not going to talk like that. I was very proud of him. I told him that it would have been ok to ask the teacher to put him in a new group. I know it is hard to try to stand up for what you believe in school. I know how cruel kids can be, so I am very pleased in him.
Then last week Aaron kept telling me that he wanted to switch high schools. I was very puzzled by this as he was very excited to be accepted in his current school. After several days I finally found out what the problem was. One of his good friends was being made fun of a lot by some other kids. His friend is "country" or as some might say "red neck". The kids have been teasing him real bad and Aaron saw how it was hurting him, so I guess together they decided they would just transfer schools. :) How great for Aaron to stand by his friend and be so loyal. I doubt that they will both transfer but just the thought that he would be willing to do this for a friend makes me so proud.

Show and Tell Friday

Once again it is time for show and tell friday. Visit Kelli at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ to find out more!

Well, I planned on showing an antique beaded purse, but as I was visiting my new friend Sharron's blog at http://roseofsharonmay.blogspot.com/ I was shocked to see that I had some similar items as her. I just love old kitchen gadgets and I love the way she put hers on a swag. Mine, however are just hanging on the wall. Here a just a few of them. Also showing are my mini can goods that I played with as a child. I used to put them on a kitchen christmas tree during the holidays but now I like having them out all year long. Thanks for looking!

(i think i need a better camera :)

MIAMI HURRICANE PAINT JOB IS DONE

We have finally finished the green and orange paint job in Aaron's room. This was my first attempt at painting stripes, but I think it turned out ok. The pictures are kind of dark and I just could not get any more light in there.

His display case looks really nice when it is lit up at night. We still have more of his collectibles to put on the shelf that goes around the top of his room. NOTE: Aaron got a hair cut- finally. Now if Wes would just get one :)

Next we will put a wood floor in his room. He now has white carpet and he does a very lousy job at keeping that clean!

WES COMES HOME TO DO LAUNDRY

So, Wes comes by the house today to do some laundry. I guess he still needs mom for something (like using her washer). Looks like a awful lot of clothes. He was cutting up and doing hand stands in the basket. I told you it is crazy around here :)

The one night that I decide to cook a big meal and he just happens to pick today to come over. HMM, he must have needed a good meal! I made some new recipes. Amish meatloaf and amish baked corn. They said it was very good. Here is Aaron and Wes chowing down on it.

Look at Wesley's beautiful blue eyes. To bad all that hair gets in the way of seeing them!

Monday Memories

So, now I am participating in Monday Memories from Revee's site, Country Roads. http://www.olderthanthecheese.blogspot.com/. Here is my memory for this monday.
One of my most memorable times as a child has to do with my Uncle Marlin. Some people might say that my Uncle Marlin was a stern man, a man set in his ways, a man who would speak his mind, and also maybe a man of few words. I am really not sure how people viewed him because I was a child and did not ponder things like that. I do know that he always wore suspenders and he did not like it much when kids like to "snap" them, but some how I always got away with doing it.
Growing up I did not have television, but somehow by visiting people I came to love the show Little House on the Prairie. I became a huge fan of the show and I knew that every night at 7pm the show would air. So every night I would call up my Aunt Pat and ask her if I could come up and watch Little House. She would then call into the living room to ask Uncle if I could come up and watch it with him. He would always say yes and I would trek up over the steep hill to his house and flop down in the floor in front of the TV. Now as many of you know Little House is not a show that grown men like to watch. But that man loved me enough to endure numerous episodes. He never complained or made bad comments about the show.Sometimes he would tease me about crying over the show. I remember one really sad episode and I was crying and I looked over at him and I could have swore that it was getting to him too! But he surely would never admit to that!
My Uncle Marlin has now gone home to heaven and I have many dvd sets of Little House on the Prairie. No matter how many times I watch them, the memory never goes away of me laying on the floor in front of his tv and him sitting over there on the couch patiently letting me watch it.
How I loved that man :)

Google Fun

So I am over at Diane's blog http://lenadianejennings.blogspot.com/ and she has this real funny thing about putting your name in the google search engine. You put your name and then looks like. You put this all in quotes and see what comes up. Here was mine.

Sondra looks like she has a tiny horn coming out of her head ( I was thinking unicorn like but my boys think more devil like lol)

sondra looks like a gentle honest woman (I like that one better)

Sondra looks like Ugly Betty after a hysterectomy. (that is just too hilarious!)

Sondra looks like she is in pain at the present time

Sondra looks like she has been on a trip (yes I do really need a vacation)

That was so much fun. What a great laugh I got out of it. Try it yourself and let me know what comes up for you!

Show and Tell Friday

Please visit Kelli's site at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ to find out more about show and tell!

Here is mine for today. These are two sets of salt and pepper shakers that I found at a yard sale. I used to collect alot of s/p shakers but I have since sold most of them. However, these two really stood out to me. I really love the owl ones. I would really like to know the age of them, so if any one has a clue please let me know. The body of the owls are made with green glass. Thanks for any info.

Oh, and I paid $1.00 for each!

The Dentist

So, I had to take the two youngest boys to the dentist yesterday. It is always such and adventure and everyone there always laughs at how crazy the boys are.They are all comedians. Aaron and I sometimes banter back and forth and sometimes his words are a little harsh. Well, there was a mother and daughter that came in and the daughter was talking to her mother in a horrible way. The mother just sat there and did not say a word. This girl was 13. So, when we left Aaron was talking about how bad that girl treated her mom. I had to remind him that sometimes has said things to me in public that other people might take the wrong way. It really surprised me that he felt like this girl was way out of line and I think now he is going to be more careful of how he talks to me.
It is not fun when you see a bad charictaristic of yourself in someone else. It really makes you take a step back and think twice. I have had this happen to me too. Of course you never think that you are as bad!!

Busy Weekend

Well, this weekend has been busy. I had to attend my piano class on Saturday at 2pm. Then I went to help my niece hang pictures in her new apartment. I have also been painting Aaron's room. He has chosen to use Miami University colors- green and orange. PUKE! I have been putting it off because I just cannot deal with those two colors together, but that is what he wanted. So I am painting wide stripes of each color. I have finished the orange this weekend and will move onto green later. I can't wait to see the results on this one.

Aaron and Austin

Here are my youngest two boys doing there favorite thing- playing Xbox.

Show and Tell Friday

I am trying to learn how to do Kelli's http://kellishouse.blogspot.com show and tell Friday. So it might take me some time to get it right.

Here is my show and tell (a day late)

My kitchen is full of assorted vintage items. I love old kitchen gadgets and have nearly run out of room to put any more. However, recently I was at a Goodwill store and way in the back corner I found these huge retro looking pictures. They were 3 dollars a piece and I could not pass them up. The four of them together take up just about the whole wall but I love them. The colors are so cool! They are painted on some type of fabric.

My life verse

Job 21:10
For when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

If all of you could only know how many trials I have seen in my life then you would understand why I love this verse so much. Over time I will share some of them with you.

Our Family

Welcome to my world! I am a mother of 4 boys. My youngest is now stepping into those wonderful teenage years. Here are our family facts. I am 37. My oldest son Billy is 20. Then comes John Wesley who is 19. Then came my twin girls Kayla and Ashley who died at birth. Next we have Aaron who is 15 and then my baby Austin who is 12. I divorced their father 11 years ago and remarried a wonderful man who has stepped in to take on the emotional and financial burden of the boys (and me of course). We are a Christian family although we are far from perfect. I have tried my best to instill good values in my boys, but only time will tell how well that it has worked.
We are not a wealthy bunch. Sometimes we struggle, but always make it thru. As much as I wanted a daughter, I know God knew what he was doing when he gave me all boys. They have been a wonderful bunch and we have had some great times. Many days are filled with laughter and some with sorrow, but the good always outweighs the bad.
I am so excited about sharing our life with all of you. I look forward to the support of other mothers as we all deal with this thing called LIFE!