Titus

I think to the time we didn't have Titus. Our house was cleaner -  no dog hair everywhere. It was quieter - no pitter patter of  nails on wood. I slept all night - no having to get up at 2am to take him out. But his unconditional love trumps all.

Happy 13 Birthday Elijah Valentino

Happy Birthday to our Valentine baby.

He keeps us on our toes! LOVES sweets a little too much. And says he has the best hair in the world! You can't tell this boy anything! He knows it all. Or so he thinks. But we love him none the less!

Friday Night Date

The boys and Fonzy are out at a basketball game tonight, so it's just Titus and I.

I ordered a pizza, have my pj's on, got my knitting and have romantic movies on the agenda. My kind of Friday night.

Let's do this Titus!

Setting Sun

Setting sun.

Another day coming to an end.

If you look closely, you can see new buds on the top of the trees.

Mid-week Pick Me Up

They bloomed so fast, and are only here a short while. But whenever I see them, they brighten my day.

Holly Grove Championship Game

Basketball season is a big deal here in our house. I'm sure it's Fonzy's favorite time of year. It's when he is in his element. I love watching him coach. He's so passionate about it. Fonzy has had a great season with his Holly Grove Bulldogs. The regular season they went undefeated, 12-0.

We've been so excited for this game. The boys played their hearts out, but the other team played harder. We ended up losing the game, 41-35. I was heartbroken for Fonzy and his boys. I thought he was going to be heartbroken too, but he said they played their hardest, and that's all he could ask for, and he was proud of his team. And he's already thinking of next season!

Tulips and Tables

I saw these tulip bulbs at the grocery and they called to me. It's been cold out, and this was a reminder that Spring and warmer weather is on the way. Plus, I like having flowers on our table.

Funny thing about that table - we hardly ever eat at it. I really need to make a conscience effort to get my family around the table more often. When we lived in our little apartment, with a small dining table, we ate dinner around the table every night. EVERY.NIGHT. Sometimes we didn't have enough chairs for everyone, but we would pull up desk chairs or anything we had to eat as a family at the table. Since we've moved into our house several years ago, and have a big dinning table for everyone to sit around, we hardly ever eat at the table as a family. The boys will sit at the island on stools and Fonzy and I head to the living room. Every once in a while I will make everyone sit at the table, but not enough. We need to get back to the way we use to be. Every night, around the dinner table sharing a good meal, enjoying each other's company. Soon the boys will be off to college and living their own lives and I will regret not doing this. The time is now!

Roller Skating Queen......uh, maybe not

I've been wanting roller skates for a while. I have fond memories of going to the roller rink as a kid and wanted to relive some of that fun. I pictured myself roller skating around our subdivision while Titus trotted beside me. It was perfect.....in my head.

I got my roller skates today, and realized once I put them on, I'm not as steady as I use to be. The visions of Titus and I roller skating around our hood quick changed to trying to not fall by myself! I didn't fall, but it will be a lot of practice and getting confident in skates again before I venture out skating with Titus.Those visions will just have to stay in my head a bit longer.

Puppy Dog Eyes

Let me lay right here next to you and give you puppy dog eyes.

Lunch Date

It was frosty this morning!

I normally work from home on Friday, but had to go into the office today. Which wasn't too bad since I had a lunch date with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, so needed to go out anyways.

Lunch was good. I got my chicken and waffles I've been craving and reconnect with a friend. In our hustle and bustle lives, it seems we only connect on Facebook, so it was good for the face to face. The heartfelt conversation, the laughs. I hope we can do this more often. It felt good.

Girl Scouts - Troop 4490

I signed up to be a Girl Scout leader a few months ago. Family and friends were like, "huh...where did this come from?" I'm a mom to all boys and I've never mentioned anything about Girl Scouts. Plus, I'm not a big fan of the cookies. Tag-a-longs (peanut butter and chocolate ones) are my favorite though. So where did all this come from?

Let me explain.

A few years ago, I volunteered with Big Brother/Big Sisters. I was so excited! Having all boys, I looked forward to mentoring a young girl. In my mind I saw us doing all the girly things I couldn't do with my boys. Plus, I wanted to expose my "little sister" to adventures she may not otherwise get a chance to do. To make a long story short, the girl I was matched with was a tomboy. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but she wanted to do all the same things I can do with my boys. Anything I suggested was a no go. Our relationship lasted a few months, but we both decided it was best if she found another Big sister. One who would love doing all the things she liked.

Fast forward to now. I still had the desire to volunteer with young girls, but wasn't sure what or how. Then I came across something about Girl Scouts. Hmmmm.....Girl Scouts. I started to look into all things Girl Scouts and decided I would LOVE to be a leader. Girl Scouting is not just about the cookies. It's so much more! It's empowering girls to get out in this great big world of ours. To experience new adventures and hopefully make lifelong friendships along the way. It's mentoring and making memories. There's camping, crafts, community involvement and so much more! Did I mention camping! I love to camp. Fonzy and my boys - not so much. Actually not at all. I've mentioned getting a tent and camping in the backyard and they all looked at me like I was crazy. I camped growing up and went to a summer camp and I have so many great memories. Singing around campfires, horseback riding, sleeping in cabins with a bunch of girls. So much fun! I would love to bring that experience to other girls. And now I can!

It's been a few months and I didn't have girls signed up in my new troop. Driving to a Girl Scout Open House tonight I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought maybe I could help out with another troop until girls signed up in my area, but I ended up leaving with girls in my troop - a Junior troop with girls in the 4th and 5th grade! As of right now I have 3 girls, with more on the way. My first meeting will be later this month, so I'm gathering all my information, reading tons, and getting ideas for our troop. I will admit I'm kind of nervous. As a kid, I was a Brownie for one year, so I'm going into this without being a Girl Scout for long myself. But I'm so excited! It's a new experience for me, not just the girls in my troop. We will learn and grow together!

Hats and Booties

Taking a short break from dolls to make baby hats and booties for twins. It seems whenever I'm knitting something other than dolls, I get all these ideas in my head for new dolls...never fails! I have a couple cute ideas and colors I want to use, thinking of seasons, holidays, favorite characters. I really need a notebook to start writing all these ideas down, instead of them swirling around in my head! Just need to finish these hats and booties.

This Man Here

This man here - knocked out due to drugs, but probably dreaming of basketball!

Fonzy had two wisdom teeth pulled today. Before leaving for the dentist he told the boys just in case he didn't make it out of the anesthesia that he loved them, and it has been great being their Dad. He told me basically the same thing. I hushed him and told him not to be saying anything about not coming out of the anesthesia. I always pray that God takes me before him. I don't want to be in this world without him. I pray he doesn't take either one of us, until we are well into our 90s!

While in the waiting room, I tried to knit, but couldn't. I prayed instead. Prayed that God would keep him safe, that the surgery would go well and he would be out and back to his normal self. I know it's just a simple, routine procedure, but there have been people who have gone in for routine stuff and never awake. I was so happy when I was called back to him. The assistant came out and said, "your husband told me to go get his baby momma" He was laughing and shaking his head. I told him I could only imagine what he had said under the influence of the drugs. He asked me if he was always this funny and I told him yes!

The first thing Fonzy asked me when I got into the room was to drop him off at basketball practice! Always the coach. I know he hated to miss this one day of practice, with the championship game coming up, but I told him there will be no basketball today. His assistant coaches would handle it.

He has had an awesome season, undefeated for the regular season 12-0, with just the championship game left to be the conference champs. Before he became the head coach I believe the most games the school won in a season was 4.

During basketball season, Fonzy eats, sleeps and thinks basketball. It's always on his mind. He watches the games on dvd as soon as he get's home from them. He yells at the screen like he's coaching the game all over again. He loves coaching, loves the boys he coaches and it shows. Coaching is truly his calling.

After his games Fonzy always calls his Dad to tell him how the game went. I love this. They can get on the phone and talk for hours. They have such a close relationship, I hope the boys will have the same relationship with him when they get older.

The championship game is next week Tuesday. I'm sure Fonzy won't sleep the night before. He's already so high on adrenaline, and it's days away.

I believe they will win it all!

I will be there cheering him on with "My Heart Belongs to the Basketball Coach" shirt and taking pictures to document this special time in his life. We all can't wait!

Daily

Day in and day out, we go through the motions. Work, school, home...work, school, home. But you know what? I'm ok with that.

Life is good.

Elijah and Titus

When we went to pick Titus up to bring him home with us, Elijah was the first one to hold him. At 6 weeks Titus was so tiny, wobbly on his little feet, and oh so cute.

Dogs are something special. If you've never had one, I don't think you can truly understand. You might just say, "oh, it's JUST a dog." I was actually one of those people until Titus came into our lives. This April he will be 2 years old and I can't imagine our life without him. He's a constant companion and showers love on all of us. From the first moment Elijah took him into his arms, we were smitten and still are.