Blogher and Best Buy Rock

Ok, so recently I entered a contest through Blogher for a $200 Best Buy gift card.....and I WON! I still can't believe it. I went to check my email and there it was, an email from the assistant manager at Blogher telling me that I had won! Can you believe it?!?! I am SO excited! I am going to put it towards a new digital camera for our family. As many of you already know, we need one bad. Ours "died" over a year ago and we have been taking pictures with our video camera. It is a WONDERFUL video camera, but it is not intended for still shots. So, you can guess how excited I am that I am that much closer to a new camera! Yay!! I want to say a BIG thank you to Blogher and Best Buy for this wonderful gift! I am so very grateful. If you are not familiar with Blogher, you should definitely go to their site and check them out. It's a great community for all of us women bloggers! (Not to exclude men, but it IS BlogHER!) And I'm sure that you are all familiar with Best Buy, but if not, I will put their link on here too so you can visit them as well. Thank you again!!!

http://www.blogher.com/

http://www.bestbuy.com/

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This past week I did not keep my oldest home on the last day of school before Christmas break because he would have gone to school and sat there to do nothing for only 3 hours because it was a half day. This had nothing to do with the fact that I have to get up at 5:30am with him so that he can get on his bus that stops in front of our house at 6:30am. Nope, not me. ;)

This past weekend was certainly not when I STARTED my Christmas shopping. I always have everything taken care well before Christmas and just sit back and relax the week of Christmas. I mean, don't you?!?! I also did not leave on Sat. to go Christmas shopping with my mom and sister telling my husband that I shouldn't be gone too long, only to not get home until 9pm. Nope, I did not leave my husband at home with the kids all day on Sat. Nope, I would never do that.

I did not take some milk out of my youngest son's bowl of cereal to put in my coffee because I had just given the last of the milk to him. I do not have to have milk in my coffee and would never be so silly as to spoon milk out of my son's cereal bowl just so I could drink a cup of coffee. I mean, who would do that?!

I am not now trying to figure out how I am going to finish Christmas shopping now that my hubby is out of town. I am not contemplating taking my children shopping with me and telling them to walk around in the store while I shop. That would be silly and I'm certainly never silly. ;)

I am not at all worried that everything won't get done in time for Christmas. I am not the worrying type and am not wondering at all how I'm going to finish Christmas shopping, (including stocking stuffers) pick up all the groceries for Christmas dinner, cook all day on Thursday, and be prepared for my in-laws who will be here Christmas morning. I mean, who would worry about all of that?! Certainly not me.

My 2 yr. old did not just walk into the room with toothpaste on his face. Now, what did NOT happen in your house this past week? Since we are all perfect and all, do share what didn't happen. ;)

Another MckGiveaway!

MckMama is doing yet another fabulous giveaway!! And to get an entry you can blog about it, so that is exactly what I'm doing! She is giving away.....get this.....Lightroom 2 photo editing software! AND....Grammie Mommy is giving away Photoshop editing software too! You can find out about Grammie Mommy's giveaway by going to her blog, which you can link to from MckMama. You just have to head over to MckMama on her blog and find out all the details so that YOU too can get all of your entries too!! HURRY! The contest runs from right now, Dec. 18th to Sunday Dec. 21st! Go!


UPDATED: To get an entry for what Grammie Mommy is giving away, I'm linking to her blog here! So, head over to her blog and get your entries in for Photoshop!!
http://grammiemommy.blogspot.com/

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This past week I did not procrastinate on taking our family Christmas picture for our Christmas cards. I never send out cards a week before Christmas not giving plenty of time to get to all of our friends and family. And I for sure have still not taken the photo and have NOT decided to snap a photo of my children in their PJ's tonight in front of our Christmas tree last minute.....nope, not me.

This past week I was not super cranky and difficult to deal with. I did not want to just go somewhere by myself and not come home for a few days. Nope, not me. I'm always chipper, easy going, and full to the brim with giving for all! I am always wonderful to be around and everyone wonders how I can manage to just be so pleasant. Ahem.

This past week I did not tell one of my children that they could just wear the pants that they wore from the day before because they didn't have anything clean to wear. I'm always on top of all of the laundry and it's always nicely put away. This has nothing to do with the fact that he has grown out of all of his pants except for 2 pairs. We always make sure that the kids have plenty of options with their clothing.

I did not go to the Dr. and have to have pellets injected into me because I have hormone levels equivalent to your great-grandmother. I am only 32 and there would be no reason for such madness. I was then not so sore that I could not lay on my left side when I slept nor sit without cringing. And I am not at all frustrated that I feel no different even thought it's only been 3 days. Nope, I'm always patient and know that this will take time and I'm just so thrilled that I will feel better. Some day.

And what have you not been doing this past week? What thing happened that you promised would never be revealed? Come on, reveal it here!!

What Women Want

Today I posted on my business blog about, as a woman, taking time for yourself. I encourage all of my female friends and family to go over and read it and take it to heart. We all need time to ourselves in order to keep on being who we are and to become better wives, moms, friends, and co-workers. Go check it out and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

www.be-simply-beautiful.blogspot.com

MckGiveaway!!

Holy Cow!! I can't believe this giveaway....it ROCKS!! I wanted to let all of you know about it so that you can enter too and it's also an entry for me because I'm blogging about it! Win win, right?!?! BlogHer and HP have teamed up to allow MckMama to give away a HP TouchSmart 600!!! Can you believe it?!?! What a great Christmas present for someone. I know whoever wins it will be ecstatic! This giveaway is open to US Residents, aged 18 and older. The contest runs from today, December 9, 2009 until Christmas Eve. You can head over to MckMama on her blog to link to her giveaway page to read all the official rules and how to get all of your entries in. Hurry! You don't want to miss out on a chance to win this!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This past week I did not spend all week looking up recipes for a dessert to take to a Christmas party this past Saturday and then end up bringing a Cheesecake sampler from the Wal-Mart bakery. I certainly didn't plan on making a fabulous Paula Dean recipe (Thanks Beth!!) and opt for Wal-Mart instead. Ahem.

I did not contemplate taking my son to the Dr. in his pajamas...as well as me staying in mine. He was not so sick that it just seemed easier than getting dressed. I did not take him to the Dr. with no shoes on because he was too tired to walk anyway. And while at said Dr. I did not stand OUTSIDE the sick child waiting room for fear that he would get even more sick. And for not wanting to get other kids sick (for real, I didn't want healthy kids getting sick), I did not just then pace back and forth in front of the reception desk holding my 2 yr. old shoe-less child.

I was not so tired one day last week that when I got up that morning to make the kids lunches for school, I did not proceed to take money out of our Christmas fund (in my wallet) and give it to the boys to BUY their lunch. I would never be that tired. I'm always up and ready to make fabulous lunches for them so that we can save our money.

I did not this past week stress completely out about Christmas....we always have it all together and I always buy presents way in advance. I never have doubts about how will even HAVE Christmas, we are always well prepared and stress this time of year never even shows it's face around here.

This past week I did not think to myself that it would be totally awesome if there REALLY WAS a Santa to take all of my worries away....that would be silly and childish and I'm a grown woman who is always realistic. Ahem. Ok, so how honest can you be today? I would love to hear about it!

Saturday Snow

They said (they, meaning the weather man) that we might get snow this past Saturday. Hmmmm, I wondered if we actually would. I love snow, I think it is beautiful. My hubby...not so much. He says that every time it snows or ices he hurts himself. So we keep him inside when it does! Ha Ha. So we awoke Saturday morning to this...







I totally LOVED it! And so did the kids....not my hubby though. So, he stayed inside and everyone else was out in it! But by that afternoon, most of it had melted. We did enjoy it though and then we went to a fabulous Christmas party that night! It was with some great people and some great food. The Jon, the kids and I had a wonderful time. It was good that they snow had melted....otherwise, Jon may not have gone to the party! Ha Ha!! Just kidding. Well, maybe. ;)

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Tree 2009

Ahhhh, the smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree!! I LOVE IT. I love everything about Christmas. The decorations, the family time, the music, the food! But what I love the most is celebrating Jesus. Celebrating his birth and what that means for all of us. I always make sure that is the main focus in my house this time of year. We always have so much fun going to get our tree after Thanksgiving. We enjoy picking out just the "right one" and bringing it home and putting it up. We string the lights and start putting on the ornaments. I make homemade sugar cookies with red and green sprinkles and hot chocolate. We enjoy each others company and then sit and enjoy our beautiful tree. It's being together doing something that we all enjoy that makes it so special. We had a great time this past weekend picking out our tree and decorating it. I hold these memories very close to my heart.

I hope that you are all enjoying the start of December!! Can you believe it?! Christmas is in 24 days!! I need to be planning! We are going to a Christmas party this Saturday and I'm taking a homemade dessert. I just have to decided what to take. Any suggestions? And hopefully we will go out looking at Christmas lights this weekend too. That is another favorite of ours. Here are a few photos from our Christmas Tree 2009 search and the final result! Ethan was so helpful picking out trees that he liked. Jon and Caleb love being silly (all the time!) and Corey was worn out by the whole experience! Austin was super serious when helping to put the tree on top of our van. Actually, he didn't know I was taking his picture and the sun was in his eyes. What is your favorite part of Christmas time? Do tell! I love hearing from all of you. Have a wonderful day!!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Ok, so this past week I did not go to my mom and dad's for Thanksgiving and only take pictures of the table before we ate. I always take pictures of my family at every holiday gathering. This did not have anything to do with the fact that I was too busy eating and for sure not because I was in a "turkey coma". I did not sample all of the deserts there. I always watch what I eat and stick to only one desert.

I also did not go to the Grand Illumination the day after Thanksgiving with my kids and proceed to eat a ton of funnel cake. I mean, who would do that after NOT sampling all the deserts from the night before? Not me. I also did not make homemade cookies the next day for my kids to enjoy and end up eating some of them myself. (Are you seeing a pattern here??!!)

I of course am now not looking for some new fad diet. You know, the ones where you lose 15 lbs. in one week? I would never be so desperate that I would stoop to attempting a fad diet. Nope, not me. I never lack confidence in how I look or feel. Ahem.

I also did not forget that today was Monday and I did not forget to write my Not Me Monday post until right now. I am also not concerned about the "last minute" writing and how it won't appear not planned out. I am always prepared for everything and I always know what day it is. I am also not so tired that I am actually contemplating taking a nap at 3:15 in the afternoon. I'm always productive and only rest when everything is done around the house. I would never take a nap with dirty dishes in the sink. I did not just smile to myself as I typed that last sentence. ;)

And what have you not been doing this past week? What would you not admit to anyone face to face, but you will to all of us internet bloggers?! I would love to hear it!

Giving Thanks....

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. It was one of the best in a long time. It wasn't rushed, everything went like it was supposed to, and we just truly enjoyed being with each other. The food was AWESOME, thanks to my wonderful mother. I can only take credit for the mashed potatoes and gravy and the broccoli w/ hollandaise. The rest was all Mom and she did a ROCKIN job. Oh! My dad smoked a turkey that came out BEAUTIFUL. Thanks Dad! And he helped us so much in the kitchen, he was such a trooper! And my sister made a wonderful homemade apple crumb pie....needless to say, it was gone by last night. So this morning I'm sitting here with my kids enjoying the fact that they are home today and we get to enjoy each other's company. Tonight we are going to the Grand Illumination downtown to hear some live Christmas music, a parade of boats all decorated and lit up for Christmas on the river, and watch a wonderful display of fireworks! Santa sings and everything!! This is an event that our city puts on every year the day after Thanksgiving and my kids love it. It is VERY cold at this event because it is right on the river and obviously it's at night. But we layer, layer, layer and head down there for some holiday fun. My hubby will probably stay at home with our 2 yr. old as it might be "too much fun" for him! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. I'm very thankful for all the Lord's blessings in my life. He truly has brought me through so much and continues to love and protect me no matter what the circumstances. I am so very thankful for Him. And so very thankful for my wonderful family and friends, you all are such a blessing to me. I will leave you with a few photos that I snapped of the table from yesterday. This was before the "eating frenzy" began. The turkey that you see is the smoked turkey, we also had a regular turkey. Yum! And after I took these pictures, I was pretty much in a turkey coma the rest of the day. Which is why you won't see anymore pictures! Well, that and I REALLY need a new camera. Maybe Santa will bring me one for Christmas. ;)

Atlanta Mckgathering

Ok, so here is my post dedicated JUST to the Atlanta Mckgathering. However, my camera (that I now want to throw out my window) screwed up on most of the pictures that we took. And the ones that did "come out", well they were horrible to say the least. Except for the one of Mckmama talking to all of us wolverines. That one was good. The others, not so good. And the first one I posted I took for this sweet lady because she forgot to bring her camera. So, I'm all, "Oh I will take your picture and send it to you!!" Ummmmm, yeah, I couldn't believe how it turned out. They were SO dark when I first uploaded them that you couldn't see us AT ALL. Just our silhouettes. So I "Dr'd" them as best as I could. And THEN I thought about not posting them at all. But I said I would post them, so I'm going to. And please know that I am totally embarrassed about them. I mean, all of you have these fabulous photos on your blog, and then you will see mine and say, "Is that a picture?", "Or, is it a blurring, dark mess?" But hey, it is what it is, right? So I'm posting them and I will look back fondly and remember what a good time I had there. (Hopefully I will look back with a NEW camera). And I did have a good time! It was so nice to meet MckMama and her family. And wonderful to meet some fellow Wolverines who totally understood me when I asked, "So, how long have you been stalking following MckMama's blog? I hope that we can all get together again some day. Hopefully when the weather is better! I'm glad to have met all of you that I did meet and glad that it's led to some new internet friendships!

Ok, I'm off to work. However, I don't have on PJ's today. Well, at least not ALL of my PJ's. I did have a meeting this morning and of course I got dressed for that. I mean, I have to draw the line at going to meetings in your PJ's. Well, at least if it's obvious that it's your PJ's! But I did get dressed. And when I got home, I changed into my lounge pants/PJ's/Don't answer the door unless you know them pants. ;)

And I'm actually looking for ideas right now for my business. Anyone? Anyone? Do share your ideas. I love hearing from you guys. Oh! And I need to do a giveaway. What do you guys think about that? Ok, I will go now. I have some customers to follow up with and an Open House to schedule. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your week!!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Ok, so this past week I did not work from home in my pajamas at all. I mean, even though I have my own business and I work from home, I'm always professional and get up and get dressed every morning. I also did not get so excited that I made quite a few sales last week that I didn't intend to make, that I danced around my house. I mean, I'm always refined and calm. And I certainly didn't ask one of my customers to borrow HER calculator to total her order because I had forgotten mine. I mean, who would do that?! I always have everything I need when I meet with a customer.

I also did not get at all nervous when I went to the Atlanta Mckgathering yesterday. So nervous that I didn't talk as much as I normally would. Who would be nervous about meeting people that you have only known online for a year and a half?! And I did not drive 2 hours in the cold, cold rain to go to this Atlanta Mckgathering saying that I didn't care WHAT happened, we were going. All of us....no matter what.

And I certainly did not take THREE pregnancy tests within the past 3 weeks because I was SO late. My hubby and I are always very responsible and I never have reason to wonder.....

I also am not dreading going out to the bank because it is still wet and cold outside, so much so that I am not contemplating just sitting home in my PJ's while I work. I don't let a silly little thing like weather keep me from going to the bank. I mean, who doesn't want to get showered, dressed, and put on full make-up just to go to the bank and come home again??

And I for sure did not decided to post pictures from the Mckgathering yesterday in a whole separate post to dedicate a post JUST to that.

So, what have you not been doing this week? What thing would you never admit to anyone, especially to thousands of strangers on the internet?! Do tell.

On The Road To Recovery

So, last week I told all of you about my hormone issue. You know, the one where I'm 32, but my body thinks that I am 80?! Ahem. Anyway, things are on the up and up. My Dr. has put me on hormone therapy and I am actually starting to feel better. I can tell that they are probably going to have to increase the dosage, I usually tank in the afternoon. She started me out on a low dose and is testing me again Dec. 1st to see where my levels are. I suspect that when those results come back, they will increase my dosage. But at least there is an answer and I'm starting to feel better!

Let's see, what else is going on in the Willard household? It's almost Thanksgiving (Woo Hoo!) and the boys will only be in school 2 days next week. I am SO thankful for when they are on vacation. I am just not a morning person. I try to be, I really do. But truthfully, I think school should start at like 9am. At the moment I am getting up at 5:30am and I have to say I DO NOT like it. Plus, I just really like spending time with my kids. I miss them when they are at school. So, when school vacations roll around, I do a happy dance! I'm looking forward to spending time with my wonderful family this next week.

Then we have Christmas right around the corner!! I so LOVE the holidays. And I mean LOVE them. We have family coming into town on Christmas day from Charleston, SC. and I am thrilled! Jon's dad and step mom are coming for a few days and I am SO excited. I love it when we get to visit. This will be the 3rd time that we have seen them this year and I hope it becomes even more frequent.

I wanted to share some wedding pictures from my mom and dad's wedding in Sept. The photographer FINALLY got the pictures to them. Why did it take 2 months....hmmmm....we're not sure. I'm going to have post them in a separate post because Blogger is being weird and won't let me post them with this post. So, stay tuned for wedding pictures! Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

Chicken With My Head Cut Off

I'm sure with the title of this post you can already tell that I have been a super busy lady lately. So to update my friends and family as to what has been going on in the Willard household, here goes. As many of you know I have not been feeling well for about the past 6 months, well really a year. But that sounds horrible, so we will stick with the six months. I had some blood work done last week and found out this past Monday that I have the hormones of a Post-Menopausal woman. Ummmm, what!? Yeah. My progesterone is "almost non-existent in my body" to quote my Dr. And guess what? My testosterone and estrogen are messed up too. Oh yay. I'm so excited. Well, I am grateful that this was discovered so they can fix it, but really?! I mean, how did this happen to someone my age? Who knows. This is all new territory for me. But it does explain a lot. The main thing that it explains is the MAJOR fatigue that I have been having. I won't go into all the other symptoms (trust me) because really who wants to know that I basically feel like I am dying every single day and I act like a crazy woman?! Ahem.

So I've been trying to be a wife, keep up with 4 boys and a HUGE dog and start my own business all while basically have the symptoms of your 80 year old grandmother. Sounds like fun you say? You want to do it too!? Nope. I didn't think so. But in all seriousness, I am so glad that this was discovered and that they are working on a solution. I am hoping to know something by tomorrow. My Dr. is actually presenting my case as a case study with all the other Dr's in the practice tomorrow while they are at lunch. Yes, that's right. My case is so freaky she needs to run it by some other Dr's so they can all drop their mouths and sit around and ponder what to do. BUT, they will figure out what to do and I WILL feel better! Hooray!!!!

I am truly thankful that all of this is coming to an end and my body will actually line up with how I feel on the inside. This has been really hard for me. My heart is to go and do and be with my husband and kids doing fun stuff as much as possible. But my body struggles to even get out of bed in the morning. So, thank you God that they found this out and there is a resolution!! And thank you to all of my friends and family who have been such a support to me during this time. I am a very blessed woman to have you all in my life!

For those of you who don't already know, I did start my own Mary Kay business and I could not be more happy with it. I am IN LOVE with Mary Kay products. I am so grateful for this opportunity that God brought into my life. And things are going really well! Feel free to contact me if you are interested in learning more about our products. They really are the best I have ever used. Or, maybe you want to join the Mary Kay team? I can do that too! Just let me know! And thank you all so much for all of your support. You guys rock!!

www.markay.com/summerwillard
www.be-simply-beautiful.blogspot.com

Prayers Answered

I'm so glad to be writing this post! Stellan is feeling much better today. He has been out of SVT since yesterday and they are slowly weaning him off his IV medicine. If all goes as planned he should be going home soon! Yay! Thank you to all of my friends and family that have been praying for Stellan. I know his family appreciates it more than you know. Please join me in continuing to pray for him. That he will continue to get better and be able to go home with his mom and dad soon. He has a birthday to celebrate!! :)

Praying For Stellan

For those of you who read my blog, please be in prayer for little Stellan. He is back in the hospital with SVT again. His first birthday is tomorrow and it is my prayer that he will be well enough by then to enjoy some birthday cake! You can click on the following Praying For Stellan button to read updates about Stellan. Please join me in praying for sweet Stellan as well as praying for the rest of his family and all of the Dr's and nurses who are caring for him. Thank you!!!!

Yay for Mary Kay!!

So I recently started selling Mary Kay and I'm SO excited about it!! Mary Kay is such a wonderful company to work for. I am also completely excited about giving back to others. My heart has always been to give back. I think that it is an important part of life to help others. After all, wouldn't you want someone to help you? It warms my heart more than I can say to know that my business will not only be helping to support my wonderful family, but it will be helping charities and ministries that I feel passionate about. And as my business grows (and hopefully this will happen SOONER rather than later!) so will the list of charities and ministries. My hope is that God will bless my business SO much that I am able to give back to quite a few organizations. And for those of you who would like to join me in this, please contact me! I would love to get you signed up to sell Mary Kay as well. It is really one of the best decisions that I have ever made. And they make it SO easy for you to succeed. I would recommend to anyone. Truly. If you aren't as interested in selling it, but are interested in ordering product to give back to other organizations, that's great too! You can go to my blog that I have dedicated to my business and follow me. This will help keep you updated on all offers that we have going on, the various charities and ministries I will be donating to, and GIVEAWAYS!! I am planning on starting giveaways very soon. And seriously, there is a product for EVERYONE. Once I got done going through all of the products and really learning about them, I was amazed! There is every kind of make-up you could ever need, skin care, body lotions, shower gels, perfume, etc!! It is WONDERFUL. They even have stuff for men too! So if you want to order something for your hubby, boyfriend, or whoever, you can! And I have used Mary Kay and it ROCKS. It is great quality and it lasts. AND (I know, I know, I'm rambling!) if you go to my website there is a Beauty on a Budget section where there are 90 products $10 or UNDER and when you shop online you get....wait for it....FREE SHIPPING! I have to admit that I was really excited about products under $10 and free shipping! Anyway, I wanted to let all of my friends and family who read this blog know about what's going on and how you can be involved. My blog that I have dedicated to my business is:
www.be-simply-beautiful.blogspot.com
And my Mary Kay website is www.marykay.com/summerwillard

Feel free to ask me ANY questions you have. I'm here to help!!

Not Me Monday!!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Ok, so this past week my boys were on Fall Break from school and I did NOT sleep late every day and not cook breakfast until 9 or 10am. Nope, I'm always up with the kids bright and early and have breakfast served by 7:30am! I then did not tell my husband that I was too tired to go to dinner AND a movie on our date night. I mean, I'm only 32 years old and there is no way that I told him that I needed to be home by 9pm so that I could go to sleep! Nope, not this young and vibrant woman! And I most certainly did not crawl back into bed this morning after my kids got on the bus, even though I had a Dr's appointment at 9am this morning. I always plan ahead. And I for sure did not just get my 2 yr. old up and get him dressed keeping him in the shirt that he slept in! Who would do that?! And I certainly didn't go to my Dr's appointment in the shirt that I slept in with just a GAP sweatshirt thrown over it. I'm always presentable and have it all together. I mean, don't you?! And now, it's your turn to be brutally honest! ;)

Best Friends

Well this past month my mom and dad got married! And as a surprise for them, my best friend flew in from TX. for the wedding. This was very special for me and for my mom and dad. You see, Sarah is not just my best friend. She is like my sister. We grew up together, went to high school together, made mistakes together and now are mothers together. She is someone who will always be my best friend, my sister. There are people in this world who you know will always be a part of your life, and she is one of them. So, having her here as a surprise was like my mom and dad having their other daughter here too. And it was wonderful!! I miss her a lot. I pray that we will get to see each other more often and that we can watch our kids hang out and play with each other. There are a lot of things that aren't certain in life, but one thing will ALWAYS be certain for me. I am an extremely blessed woman to have Sarah in my life. I love ya girl!!

Catch Up

I haven't posted in forever. We have been so busy and honestly, I haven't had the time to post anything. But I wanted to get back into the blogging world and post some recent pictures. Hopefully I can make blogging a more regular event! Here are a few pictures from the summer. I hope everyone is doing well and that you all enjoy the pictures. They are from our summer trip to Charleston. The first one is of Jon with his brother Shane and their Dad. And of course the boys at the beach. They had a blast! And I had to put on here of Corey and his "Paw Paw". Corey totally loves this guy. And I have to say that Paw Paw loves him a lot too!

Not Me Monday!!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Ok. So this week I certainly did not tell my husband that I was only going to stay "a few more minutes" at the hospital when I went to meet my new baby nephew and then end up staying until 10:00pm which was 5 hours later. I mean, it wasn't that he was just so cute that I couldn't leave. Nope, not me.

And of course when I took my kids to meet their cousin and it was lunch time, I didn't just buy my kids lunch in the hospital cafe because I was too lazy to make them lunch at home. I mean, I certainly wouldn't purchase over priced hospital food just to avoid having to make my kids something to eat...Not me!!

And it didn't take me 3 days to actually start acting like we weren't on vacation anymore after we got home. I mean, I always live in reality and I always take care of my responsibilities. Who would just sit around for 3 days after they got home from vacation and pretty much do nothing?! Certainly not me.

And it certainly isn't me who hasn't updated her blog in two weeks and has pictures and videos from vacation AND her new baby nephew...still on her video camera not loaded onto her computer. Who would do that? I am always prompt about posting pictures.

Ok, so now it's your turn to be brutally honest with yourself and of course the entire internet world. ;)

12 Years and Camping

So several months back I posted about my oldest who was almost 12. Well, he has turned 12. In fact he turned 12 on April 19th. For one of his gifts he got to go on a hiking and camping trip with just his Dad. He had been asking for awhile when the two of them could go by themselves. It took some time for them to actually go on the trip due to rain, illness, and a sprained ankle. But.....they finally got to go a couple of weeks ago! And he was so excited to go and I was excited for him. While they were gone, I sat back and reflected on how fast he is growing up. How it really does seem like yesterday that he was born and I held him in my arms. Even though so much has happened in the past 12 years, it has gone by so fast. I realize that in 6 short years he will be going off to college. And that time will go by even faster. I am trying my best to really cherish him. Cherish all the years that we have had together as mother and son. Cherish who he is and who he is becoming. I am very blessed to be his mother. As I am blessed to be the mother of all of my children. Time is passing so quickly, it is important to me to really take the time to take in each moment that I am given with my four boys. These moments are gifts. Gifts from the Lord in heaven who saw me fit to mother these four outstanding boys. How humbling that is for me and what an honor. Here are some pictures from their trip, hope you like them. Note the VERY long hair of my 12 year old boy. All my boys decided to grow their hair out....even though I really don't like it. BUT....I want to spend my time cherishing them, not worrying over what their hair looks like. Hence the long hair. :)
And besides, he is always handsome in my book. And I am so VERY proud of him.

Vacation Time.....Almost

Well the Willard's have been super busy lately. The 3 older boys were finishing up school, Ethan was finishing up baseball season, and Jon surprised me with a mini-vacation to Nashville....just the 2 of us!! It was wonderful and I will have pictures of Nashville and baseball up soon. I just wanted to step back into the blogging world to say hello. I also wanted to mention that we will be going on our annual trip to Charleston, SC. to visit family very soon! We are leaving either June 26th or July 3rd. We haven't decided yet, but we are super excited! We will be staying with Ron and Marilyn (Jon's Dad and step-mom) and they are THE BEST to stay with. I love it. It is always so relaxing and they make us feel so at home. I love spending time with them and I'm looking forward to seeing them again. I tried to find some pictures of them that were more recent, but all I could find were from our trip in 2007. And I was 8 1/2 months pregnant and REALLY hot and tired! Lol. But at least you get to see Ron and Marilyn. Very sweet people!! Well, I hope that all of you are doing well and more pictures will be coming soon!

Mother's Day 2009

Mother's Day was great! My son Ethan got up before me and made me eggs, sausage, and toast. So sweet! Caleb made me a black and white beaded bracelet and wrote me a very sweet poem. And Austin made me a wonderful card and gave me a much needed foot massage. And Corey gave me much smiles and hugs all day long! We went to my dad's house for lunch where he had prepared a wonderful Mother's Day meal. We had a great time hanging out and enjoying time with each other. I could SO get used to that kind of treatment!! Here are a few pictures from the day. I hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!!!

Easter 2009

Well, we had an awesome Easter! The boys had the best time outside....thank you God that it was sunny! We went to church that morning and then headed back to the house for lunch. My mom brought the best food! Most of it was already cooked, we just cooked a few more things and presto! Lunch for 8! We all had a great time eating, talking, and laughing. It was really nice to relax with my family. We reflected on how grateful we are that we have Jesus and that He died for us. I mean, seriously, He DIED for us. How incredible is that!? I talked with my boys about how we need to remember what Easter is all about and that they should always remember that. It's easy to get caught up in coloring eggs, candy, good food, etc. But reality is that this is a time to reflect on Jesus and how he came to SAVE us ALL. And that is a very powerful thing that should never be forgotten. Not to say that there is anything wrong with coloring eggs, candy, and good food. Because there isn't! We enjoy those things and I love to see my kids get excited about it. I just like to encourage the importance of what Easter really means. Balance is a good thing in life. Here are a few photos from the day....and I have to say that my kids are awfully cute! Ahem, pardon my bragging for a moment. Oh, and do you see our dog? Yeah, that's Riley and he is only 4 months old.....and weighs 40 pounds. Hmmmm, do you think that he is going to be rather large!? I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter!