Country Christmas

I had a vision for the past few years of getting a pretty country quilt and going out to a piece of land that has the big rolls of hay...and have the backdrop of what is so beautiful around here mountains and our tree's.. The clouds and sky are also unique to me..

In 2011 I was working with an awesome photographer for all our family photos. We had paid and scheduled a country vintage photo shoot.. We had bought our outfits and then a tragedy struck.. our area was hit by a series of tornados that is rare nationwide.. So the photo shoot was off.. Since then I had the idea for the roll of hay but never got the money or area to do it in.. I don't have a DSLR camera myself either.

I was lucky to find William a pair of overalls just like my grandfather would wear. Overalls for my son's size are hard to find apparently. I actually needed them for Johnny Appleseed day and someone on a yard sale page answer my request and they happened to be just like my grandfather used to wear. They were a smaller size so I just prayed they fit. They fit perfect so he wore them for Johnny Appleseed.. I was under even more pressure to get that picture done but its been cold or rainy for the most part. Its been very all over the place impossible to schedule an outdoor appointment.

I figured Skylar already had some country styled dresses I know one I bought for her birthday. I remember that a friend had pictures done JCPenny that had a bit of a country western theme.. So I called JcPenny and they had a bit of country theme but they told me the Christmas tree was up to stay.. I was like shoot. Then I saw groupon so I decided there was no time like the present to jump. I would make do with angling the Christmas tree out since we didn't get Christmas church clothes this year and William's Christmas Pajamas have also not been easy to get my hands on.

I was talking to my cousin and she said she never remembers Papa Bear (my grandfather) out of overalls I vaguely remember one time going to church with Papa Bear and Nanny on Easter Sunday and I don't think he was wearing his signature overalls but perhaps a crisp button down and slacks.

This is the only picture I have of Papa Bear (and my horse Nugget)

We went to get ready and Skylar tells me she outgrew her dress... and two dresses.. I was so frustrated and couldn't find William's button down. William's boots would go on his feet but they were really tight. Skylar also didn't want to wear her boots. I spent 45 minutes getting the kids ready I didn't have time to get myself ready or hair and make up done nothing. I was so frustrated ready to cancel the appointment with Rick being sick anyways. Rick and Skylar still wanted to go so I was like whatever.. It has been years since we've gotten our picture done.  Make do with what we got and how we look.. whatever..

We got our pictures done then walked around the mall. An elderly woman walked up to William she started to get visibly emotional. She told William how adorable he was. She said little boys don't wear overalls anymore but her grandfather always wore overalls every day of his life. He was even buried in them. Rick told her that's the reason why I chose the overalls as well because my grandfather wearing his. Just an interesting encounter. It seemed to move her that William was in them.

The Polar Express

Last night William and Skylar's school had a Polar Express party... Skylar checked out of school yesterday and didn't feel good so she didn't go. We were told to wear our Pajamas and that cookies and Cocoa would be given out (Of COURSE!) William doesn't do movies so well and I won't say he sat through the whole movie but he did STAY through the whole movie. Which is major for us. I am crossing my fingers he can see Star Wars next year.

I have seen Polar Express many times but this time I am much more impressed and it had deeper meaning. Perhaps its because its getting close to time for Skylar to have her own journey on the Polar Express I don't know. I have loved the book the movie is based on all of my life along with Good Night Moon and Where the Wild Things Are... I even cried a few times during the movie... The magic of Christmas has changed for me over the years too.. I have had to adapt to new magic and creating magic for myself. Nothing will ever be like it used to be. I wasn't like Billy (in the movie) but I had what I thought was a Norman Rockwell upbringing. It wasn't picture perfect but even the family feuds were at a cease fire for just the two months, we all got along, wishes were granted, and even strangers came to dinner. So it was very much like a Norman Rockwell upbringing. My first Christmas away from my family was hard enough because my grandfather had just passed so it was my first year not seeing my cousins, grandparents, and my mother.. my mother was alone. I had to spend Christmas with my In Laws far away from my family and it was a disaster constant fighting and arguing... it was night and day compared to my Christmas's where even the Guardian and my birth mom would get along for the better of Christmas spirit. Anyways enough on the negative reflection.. Just thought the movie had a deeper meaning for me... now Rick and I feel like we need to decide between the Polar Express in North Carolina and the Polar Limited/ Chattanooga Choo Choo for next Christmas... Its time for us... its time..

A Christmas gift my children requested....that I don't want to buy.

I know what the experts say.. they say our kids these days are too tuned into electronics and screen time is bad for them.. Dear Experts tell that to my 5 year old who has been reading since 2 or 3 and can navigate a device better than most adults. At this rate he will be coding by his 10th birthday. My son is five years old and has a very very short attention span. However he will go on Youtube.com and watch videos of people doing reviews on products, watch unboxing of products, he will watch torture tests on products... and before we had heard a peep about the Wii U. William was watching Wii U unboxings and reviews OBSESSIVELY. We have the old standard Wii you see. We decided to not upgrade or buy a new one because well this one plays Game Cube games which we still have plenty of (we still even use the Game Cube on occasion.) The new Wii isn't compatible with Game Cube products. I am VERY thankful that for the most part when you buy a new game console from Nintendo they don't make you upgrade everything... until now. I get the Ooohs and Ahh's of the Wii U. Its a nifty system but so far they only have the compatibility to suit ONE child with One of those hand held screen things... My kids would FIGHT... Now my kids don't fight all the time. They are 7 years apart in age. William is a rough and tough kid, hyper, and he likes to mimic.. He wants to be cool like his big sister so if she is watching Shaytards on Youtube William must tune it as well --sometimes. It annoys Skylar but she used to love to watch every move Alex and James made too. Before I married Rick she was very attached to her cousin Matthew who's the same age as her brother, Mackenzie. So its just one of those 5 year old little brother vs Teenage things that they do. She's just as bad.. he could be playing with Playdoh or playing a game and she practically takes it over. So I can see the Wii U being a disaster here. Did I mention that William is rough? How long would it take him to break that screen? You say yours is tough? Well he had a bumper on his Nabi Tablet he got for his birthday and the tablet broke 24 hours into game play. He's now got something like an Otterbox on the Samsung Galaxy Kids Tab 3 we bought in replacement because it DOES have that option to have an Otterbox and full coverage. Its been going strong three months and I love it because I can use the adult mode when he is at school and watch Netflix or read or whatever. I just don't think at this point I can fork over $250 for any Game System... 

My daughter well she wants a laptop (William says he wants a Mac Pro -he specifies the model too but hell if I can recall it). I am not getting my child a laptop. She already has a hand-me-down from her adult brother Iphone. That is WAY to much freedom is it is.. It scares me with the dangers online. I can't imagine gifting a laptop and saying that's fine go in your room with a computer unsupervised... ever.... like even at 20. I kid maybe 18 but then again I did some really stupid crap till I was pregnant with her so haha! I am sure these are top items on my kids wish lists but I will not buy them no matter how cheap.. I like a computer with a leash on it that if I walk past I can see what she is doing without spying on her (I will spy if I have to and she knows this even about her phone) But no I don't think I could give the kids a laptop any time soon. That's just too much freedom IMO. 

Day 5 of my Days of Thanks

Day 5 I am thankful I get the opportunity to work from home that way I can take the time needed to take care of my little monsters. The weekend before Halloween William started a cough and just wasn't acting like himself so we have had to post pone plans of taking James hiking for his birthday. He got better and surprisingly went to school all last week. I was the one that had fighting the cold. Well last night William's cough achieved level nasty and he's got a low grade fever at best. His head is still very warm even though the new thermometer isn't showing a high temp... (we have major issues with thermometers in the house LOL)

I even kept Skylar home because I know she's got the same cold and low grade fever. 

Skylar brought down her trundle mattress so they could cuddle. William is so upset he can't go to school. My alarm on my phone went off and William said its time to go... I said yes bud but we are going to stay home and rest today. He got the pouty lip and is so sad... He left the room and a minute later came back and said but please can I go to school? awww my poor baby. William has some special needs children in his Pre-K class and I am almost positive one has a compromised immune system so I don't want to chance that child getting sick. Plus with William having a fever he could get more sick from other germs.

Mackenzie's birth story

I was very pregnant with Mackenzie and I worked at Domino's with Adam at the time. Well since i couldn't really do anything but answer phones I probably spent most of the time in the office answering phones. I was on the phone with Angela and she had had Penny a few years before so she was telling me what contractions felt like. A few days later Adam was due to start vacation and I felt the sharpest pains I have ever felt in my life like someone was stabbing my cervix but it was nothing like Angela had described labor to be. I tried walking it off, resting, everything and my Midwife or nurse through the OB practice told me if I was on the phone with her and talking through them then it wasn't true labor. I ended up being in so much pain I went to Southern Regional Medical Hospital which is the closest place to me. I lived in Riverdale at the time. I had moved to Riverdale because Domino's corporate gave Adam and I the store to run. We wanted to be closer to Helene and we bought a house there. But because I got pregnant in Marietta and lived for a very short time in Woodstock my OB and Neonatalogist was in Marietta. I went to Southern Regional at 38 weeks pregnant and they hooked me up to the monitors and it showed no contractions just uterine irritation. They said they were giving me medicine to rest and they offered me demerol but I refused it. I woke up after a nap and my labor had stopped to this day I think they stopped it. I fought to see an OB and they told me they didn't have an OB on the floor yeah whatever LOL. They released me and suggested I follow up with my regular OB. So I did I had an appointment scheduled the next day anyways. Adam and I took the long drive up to Marietta that day and by the time I got to the OB's office I couldn't move I was in so much pain. They had to bring a wheel chair and get me in the office. They said they could induce me but didn't suggest it at 38 weeks. I went to Labor and Delivery and was giving a half a dose of cervidil and the monitors still didn't show contractions just uterine irritation. Of course because the contractions didn't feel like Angela had explained how they felt they felt like stabbing pains deep down LOL. After 5 minutes of pitocin my contractions were so on top of each other they had to stop it. To t his day I believe I was in true labor it just wasn't picking up. I believe my cervix was contracting and not my uterus. I remember filming Mackenzie's hiccups and then I went to sleep and slept for 9 hours. I woke up screaming bloody murder like someone was killing me in the middle of the night. Adam woke up seizing and begged his sister to help me. At the time I didn't want his sister there at all and told her to help Adam. The Midwife wanted Adam to go to the ER but Adam refused and REALLY didn't want the medical bills for something they couldn't help him with. He begged me to get the epidural that he couldn't stand to see me in that much pain so I did and fell asleep again for a few more hours I woke up from the midwife wanting to check my cervix and I told her I couldn't feel anything from my belly button down... not just numb but nothing like it wasn't there BUT I did feel wetness... My water had broke and I was at 10 CM. Time to push. I am like how am I going to push if I can't feel anything. She said think about it real hard. Adam and Jennifer held me and I watched in the mirror and pushed him out in 32 minutes. Mackenzie Robert Taylor weighed 7 lbs 1 ounce and was 17 and half inches long :) He was born at Kennestone Hosptial in Marietta GA and at the time Matthew my nephew who was born on May 24th was in NICU at the same hospital.

Words people use incorrectly

I do believe every word in my title should be capitalized....

Now I am not a stickler for words, grammar, or spelling. My friend Danielle even calls herself the typo queen. She is thankful for her Iphone has auto correct. I have always been pretty good about reading through her typo's so it couldn't have been that bad.

I am not the type to correct your spelling or grammar EVERY time. My step son does that and it drives me crazy. I don't understand the purpose of doing it ALL the time. If the person cared then they would speak correctly like a well educated snob. I don't type things out most of the time. I am a short hand junkie I admit it. I have used AOL and been in too many chat rooms for too long and over use LOL (laugh out loud). I don't like spelling probably so your more than likely to get a "prolly" out of me. If you look at my phone in my text messages very few words are shortened however. I even tend to type out numbers as one, two, etc. I have always believed "alot" is a word but I have made it my New Years resolution to use it as two. I honestly have to slow down and think between "there", "their", and "they're". Yes I try to use them correctly. I have a hard time spelling "maintenance" for some reason. I don't like to say out loud specifically because I can't pronounce it right in my opinion and never have been able to. I am a southern gal and I say "ya'll" and I always will. "You all" just seems like a waste... notice I didn't say waist. I was writing an email today to my Scentsy Consultant and I was discussing "scents" that I "sent" to my sister but it came out I "scent" to my sister. I caught my mistake after I hit send (I am a bit quick at hitting send). I corrected my mistake and had a laugh over it. Interested in Scentsy? Growing up when I would ask my guardian "Where is Mom at?" His reply would always be "Behind the at!" Oh it drove me crazy but it broke the habit... most of the time. I would tell the dogs growing up "Go lay down!". My guardian would tell me it is "lie" down so now I am busy telling Rick that it is "lie" but he probably thinks I am lying haha. I admit I don't know how to use "who" or "whom" and I might use either at anytime. I do think saying um um can be annoying and makes you look uneducated. When I talk to people online and they constantly hit the ";" or the ">;" or even the "/" instead of the key that is right next to it. How often do you miss the same key on your own keyboard? I don't care how often you type it the semi colon will never turn into an "L."Are you not coordinated enough to use the shift key and the question mark at the same time? Another one that I do correct is "Im" At least your capitalizing the "I" but its either "I'm" or "I am" and I often see I am used as Im. Just look at it and its incorrect. I know a person that says I "wood" go to the store but I am out of gas. When corrected he gets angry. He also said the sink "skirts" instead of squirts. I think sometimes when you misspell or mispronounce a word and you know its incorrect you just want to remain ignorant. The conversation with these people can quickly become like the Who's on First joke.


You might find it interesting that my school picked our senior slogan as "Class of '97 Enuff Said'"
I might get anxious but that doesn't mean I am nervous even though my nerves may be shot. Nervous and Anxious doesn't always go hand and hand.

I do love my kid-isms for their words however. When Skylar was a toddler she would say.. "I hope you deel bebber", "Bam Bam" for band aid, "Bee na" for Banana... I miss that!
William has been very good at using the actual terms for everything and not speaking baby. The only baby word he has for anything is his "sissy cup" or his "bubba"... how I detest and despised that word before it came out of his sweet little mouth. Oh yeah and our cat Cocoa is a Dodo of course I have called her Caca by Freudian slip myself!

Oh Gee! I capitalize words in the middle of the sentence

I write..

I write because:

I write because most of the time it comes naturally to me.

I have written in one form or another since I was little.

I write because I have forgotten things I would have liked to have recorded in some way and shared perhaps only with Mackenzie. I write to record thoughts, feelings, events, pictures... etc.

I write for my children to share about their childhood unfortunately its the good and bad.

I write for Mackenzie for all of the time he missed and everything I want to share with him. I write for Mackenzie.

I have had a blog since my old life. I remember my first blog on Livejournal. Its still there 

I have used Yahoo 360, Myspace, Xanga, Open Diary and other pages.  Look here

I blogged then to vent I am sure my friends were tired of  me nagging about one ex or another.

I still vent on my blog but I try not to get as deep as I used to. I wonder if that's why my comments and views went down since I became an Army Wife. 

I have a blog to write my experiences as a wife, daughter, sister, friend, Army Wife, Army Mom, and mother to kids of all different ages. I write as my experiences dealing with Aspergers. I write with my experiences in my journey as being a spouse and step mom to someone in the Military. I write for those of who've dealt with depression or mental illness or any illness at all. I have. I have overcome challenges. I defy odds.  I write for you if you can relate to being a widow, a new mom, a military wife, a military mom, I write for you.

I write because its an outlet. Its an outlet for me to express myself without laying my crazy head on some one's shoulder. I am very well aware that I am a lot to handle. The pure number of therapists and their exasperation at me wasn't my first hint. Very little people can handle all this so at least as I lay it out in a blog its in bits and pieces and you can tune me out, X out of my blog, and never come back. But I want you to come back. I love comments and feedback for the good and the bad (just not too bad okay?) I write for me.

I write because I am an emotional person. I am a talkative person. Its therapeutic for me to write.

Its therapeutic if I can read what I wrote and remember everything about that moment. There is comfort in my blog. In my home away from home

I write for the memories. Memories fade especially as you get to be elderly or you loose childhood memories as you grow so I write for my future self. I write for Alex, James, Skylar, Rick, and William.

I write because I have met many people over the years in my Mommy Support Group online and they like to hear about things I might forget to email. A lot of us have moved on from the email groups because our kids are growing up, we have started working, gotten busy or whatever the reason. Thanks to Facebook and my blog they still have a view into my life. I write for my Online Friends and Family. I write for my Mommy Group Friends.

I wrote while my husband was deployed so encase I didn't get to talk to him on the phone or I forgot to tell him something I would write and rant about my day to day on my blog as long as it wasn't too personal. I write for my husband. After all I owe my blog for introducing us ;)

I write because we are a military family. Being a military family the best way to share what is going on in my world with my extended family spread all out is to share it on my blog. I wish my mom had internet and a computer.. maybe soon. I write for Rick's family and my family.

I write because I wouldn't remember my cat's birthday's LOL. I blogged about when we got Tinker Bell and when we got Mittens.

I write on a blog because paper is too easily destroyed, misplaced, or worse. When I wrote things down in high school and middle school I used a special type of Five Star Notebook with the spiral on top. Do I have those now? No I wish I did even though my poems are probably embarrassing it was me at 15 & 16. I have been published I don't have any of that either. I write this because things are lost and forgotten.

I write this blog to inspire. Perhaps a new military wife will read this blog and realize she has the strength to survive a hard deployment. A single mom has the fight of fight left in her. A lost Christian can find their way back. A widow will learn it doesn't heal but it does get easier. I write to a mother who has lost her husband or her child as I have and just tell her to hold on. If I can educate one person with my experiences my blog has done what I want it to. I have survived child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, I've been widowed, lost the rights to my child, and I can survive two deployments! Go me! I write this blog to spread laughter. I am no comedian but I am sure something my kids have done is funny or perhaps a funny story or graphic made you smile.

I write on StormyAries Creations http://stormyariescreations.blogspot.com/ to show off. To teach. To keep track of what I do and what I create. To list ideas. To try new ideas. Its my creative side.

I write because its who I am.

The first time I saw...

my youngest William they announced that he was 8 lbs 3 oz and I said are you sure you got the right baby? My last baby was barely 5 lbs. Because of the C-Section I didn't get to do his first bath or any of that but his Apgar was a lot better than Skylar's and it was a much better experience for me and the healing was awesome. I enjoyed watching Skylar with the baby that she wanted for so long. She is such a good big sister and Rick with a new baby to love. We really didn't have any adjustment problems. William was a nursing champ before he left the hospital but he only wanted one breast. We did great! I can't believe how big he is now. Almost 2½ now and copying everything and getting into everything. I can't blog about my first memories of seeing him or his older sister and brother because I wouldn't be able to explain the joy in my heart. What a miracle having a baby is!

William & Skylar

Skylar

Mack & Adam

So sleep deprived

I am so sleep deprived after weeks since a designer made for me the header on my blog I noticed it is misspelled and that's after we played around with the spelling for awhile. Haha
I am so sleep deprived Monday and Tuesday have now ran in together and I made some Tuesday blog posts... oh well I got a head start.

William woke up at 3 am. I think I heard Rick coming upstairs but what woke me up was my cat Cocoa meowing loudly. I am not used to her being upstairs then my body sensed that Rick wasn't in bed so I got up to pee and go find Rick who was laying in William's room because William was wide awake. Apparently Rick went downstairs to get some cold medicine (he has sleep apnea and he is an insomniac) So I offered to stay up with William. William really wanted to go downstairs so I laid on the couch (caught up on Jersey Shore lol) and let him play I was hoping he would lay down on his nap spot and go back to sleep but no such luck. I put William to bed at 5:30 and I told Rick to wake up (he had to get ready for work) and I told him to get Skylar ready for school and to wake me up at 7 when he went to work. So he woke me up at 6:30 to tell me Skylar had a stomach ache and wanted to stay home which I said was okay. So when I got up between 6:30 and 7 William was awake again so I just laid on the couch and the kids played while I dozed in and out of sleep. My phone rang at 8:30 from a text message and I was busy ever since. I am so tired!

365

Every year I think I try to do the Photo Project 365 and every year there is a brief time I am just not feeling it or loose my camera. Some of my days are boring to most of ya'll & are spent at home so this year I am NOT going to do the photo project however I will try to take a picture every day. So the best way to make a New Years Resolution is to not make one. Lets give this a try. Here are my photo's from last week

Peanut vs Cars

Skylar Thursday January 5th at Gymnastics

Today at the doctors office

My geeky side.. high on my Christmas Wish list was this inexpensive thumb drive I wanted for my car. Yes its R2-D2 and yes I even spoil my car (last year she got cleaning products!)

William is probably the world youngest techie. Yes that's him on his Innotab, He also has a Itouch, a DS, a DSi, and use of his dad's laptop and his sisters Leap pad! 

William's best friend James on Saturday at James' 3rd birthday party!

Skylar after church on Sunday in her new dress I finally got off layaway she had been wanting it since Easter. Boy it is loud though! The skirt is like tissue paper!

Totally out of focus are some of my pictures thank you Otterbox or Iphone 3... Piece of crappola lol