hero of the month!!......

here she is... your very own, Madison Smith... Kids Wish Network Hero of the Month for November! O my goodness was she excited when the package arrived! Filled with goodies, t-shirts, certificates, cool games and a $200 gift card to Walmart!!! We are so proud of the way that she has persevered through all of her trauma and do agree that she is a Hero! Way to go Maddie!

PS. If you go to McDonald's this month... say YES when they ask if you want to donate a dollar to Ronald McDonald houses. they will ask whose name you want on your donation hand... I suggest you put Maddie's!!!

leaves, leaves and more leaves....

Leaves....do they ever stop falling from the trees??? We have been tackling the back yard for weeks. Last weekend we spent all day outside raking. The girls had a blast! We would fill up the tarp to pull to the street... the girls would jump on and go for a ride! We got quite the workout but they loved it! What cute pics of fall fun!

whos kid is she.......

She is just to much!!!! Gotta love this spunky kid!

scrapbooking....

this picture was taken the day before we checked in to the hospital for surgery.

I will transfer over my journal entry from that emotion night to the right page.

I just go back from 3 days of scrapbooking with 12 other women. It was so great! I LOVE getting things accomplished. I came home with 80 pages completed in the girls albums. YEAH!!! One of the things that I love the most about scrapbooking is taking trips down memory lane. Many times this weekend I found myself just frozen staring at a picture replaying all that I remember about that particular event. I have gobs of photos from this last year and everyone is so special, telling its own story. I loved journaling to my girls about how special they are, how much they are loved and what I hope for their futures. I pray that they will always know just how they make my heart smile... on the good days and the bad. When I got home I was so excited as they wanted to sit and look at all of their new pages. They LOVED looking and talking about all of the different memories. Later Jed wanted to sit and look through it all. It was so fun to just look back at the girls in the last few years. We commented about not even really remembering the details of when they were that young.... the mom fog gets in the way. I remember the daily activities the cute things they did, but until I see a picture I forget the way that the cheeks dimpled, the hair parted, the nose dripped.... thank God for the gift of freezing those moments on film. They do grow to fast..... I used to think that people were crazy when they would visit us after just having one of the girls. I would be holding a little 6 pound peanut wrapped up in a preemie outfit and they would caution..."before you know it she will be heading off to college". I would do a little "give me a break" in the back of my mind... again the mom fog! And now......uuuggghhh 6 years old already. Sob, weep. I asked Olivia last night with a sense of sadness in my voice when she got so big. She replied, "mom its just the way life goes"!!! Jed and I died laughing.

So to all of you none scrapbookers, do your kids and yourself a favor.... do something special with your photos. Don't keep those precious moments stuck in a computer or in a shoebox. Print them, share your heart at this time in your life. Journal for your kids. I laugh so many times when I read entry's from earlier. Days when I talk about just how tired I am, how the fighting and whining is going to make me go over the cliff.... and then there are the days that you read about the kids that played together...nicely! The entries about tender conversations between two sisters sandwiched together in a hospital bed after Madison's surgery.... things that would be forgotten had I not taken the time to sit and record and capture! Let the dishes go today for they will still be there tomorrow!!! Instead grab your notebook and write what you love about your kids, what drives you wild and just how much you love being the family zoo keeper. Your kids will thank you!

enough sap.....