Christmas Bush

This is one of my all time favorite Christmas memories. It's from 2006 when I was pregnant with our second child. The following story is the one I sent wrote to my friends and family via email that year. I didn't have Facebook or a blog "back then".  I hope it brings you some joy as it does me each year.

Before looking at the attachment please read the story first. It'll make more sense....



As many of you know, Tyron, Taylor and I went to the mountains ofHillsville, VA for Thanksgiving with some friends. While we were there we picked a big, pretty tree to cut down and take home. It's the biggest tree we've ever had and since we have tall ceilings in our house now it worked out great. Our only problem when we set it up was the fact that it leaned slightly which drove Tyron crazy. This past Saturday it was leaning quite a bit so we thought we would just fix it when we got home from Mike's Farm in Jacksonville. When we got home Tyron, Taylor and I went to the front yard before going inside to admire the lights that Tyron had worked on all day on the outside of the house. It was truly a Grisald moment. He plugged them in and I heard an orchestra playing in my head. It was chilly outside so Kayla and Hannah (Tyron's 7 and 8 year old nieces) went inside. Hannah came out and said "Um, Aunt Stephanie, your tree fell over". I chuckled the entire time we stood the tree back up and threw all the decorations back on it.Tyron grumbled. So it was nice and straight and there was our big beautiful tree again. So Sunday morning I get up around 6:30 to let the dog out and then hop back into bed with my sleeping beauties (Tyron and Taylor). Around 7:20 we hear what sounds like a war in our living room and yes, the tree fell again only in the other direction toward the coffee table and couch. We must have over compensated when we stood it back up the night before. Anyway,Tyron jumps out of bed and says "THAT'S IT! IT'S GOING TO THE DUMP!" Taylor opens his eyes and says "what in the world?" We stand it back up and at this point I'm not chuckling but Tyron is and we pull everything off the tree.Tyron takes it to the back yard and calls his friend who has borrowed his chainsaw. His friend comes over to bring it and I'm thinking he'll just take care of it after church. Not exactly! While I'm taking a shower and getting ready for church he fires up the chainsaw and cuts the tree...FROM THE TOP!!! Since all this happened while I was in the shower I had no idea until we got in the car and he told me. I thought he was kidding but he really wasn't. When we got home he brought it in while I was making lunch and called me into the living room to hold it while he tightened the stand. My mouth fell open and then all I could do was laugh like a hyena. I laughed so hard I cried and my face and ribs hurt. So let me give you a visual....here is a tree that the stem was cut from the top and so there are branches going over the stem which should be the point. Tyron gets his pruning shears and starts wacking....again. When he's finished our tree looks like the singing bush on the Three Amigos. So yes, we're keeping the tree/bush and it will go down in history for us. Now, feast your eyes on this....




Before



After



The Journey? The Destination? Both?

I heard myself say the old cliche to my kids in the car tonight "It's not the destination, it's the journey". Did I really just say that?! I'm so old. Anyway, as all well laid plans mine didn't happen exactly the way I had imagined it.

My public speaking professor at the community college is also the theatre/drama teacher at a high school about an hour away from my house. I work thirty minutes further than that sooooo, I left work at 5:00, got home at 5:30 and left again at 6:00 with a friend (and fellow class mate) and all three of my kids to go see a play that my professor's high school students were performing that started at 7:30. I have been telling my kids for weeks that we were going to see James and the Giant Peach live and in person.

So we head out and I actually even say as we are approaching the gate...oh, I forgot the mention this high school is on a military base...so we are approaching the gate and I'm like, WOW, WE'RE 45 MINUTES EARLY. In my simple brain I was thinking we'll pull up, the man in camo will look at a clipboard and say THANK YOU MRS. MANN, YOU CAN PULL FORWARD. Not exactly. Instead he says that I need to pull over to the little building three lanes over and get a pass. OK no biggie.  I walk in confidently holding my state issued driver's license and the man says he doesn't even know of a play on the base and there is no list with your name on it and I wasn't going on base without a sponsor.  I'm like OK WHAT?! So, as my friend and my kids are sitting in the car I return with the bad news. These two mommas weren't giving up without a little fight. We get our professors number and call him. No answer. She texts him. No reply. We SOOOO deserve extra credit!!

I'm not sure which one of us thought of it but if all we needed was a "sponsor" then all we'd have to do is ask someone in camo to help us out. So, she hops out of the car and asks a man who was obviously a marine (he was in camo) if he'd sponsor us since all we wanted to do was take the kids to a play. He agreed. YAY! Well, until she goes inside and the lady tells her she needs my vehicle registration. OK easy enough. Here she comes again running through the parking lot as our "sponsor" patiently waits inside for her to return with proof of insurance. Seriously?! I don't have a car insurance card! It's printed on my registration for goodness sake!

Now we are just about to pull away and go home when Kenly says she needs to potty. So I take her in and they see me with one child. We go back to the car and still no word from our professor which is understandable considering his production is supposed to be starting. Just when I think we've been defeated I think surely the people working in there will have some sort of sympathy for ALL THREE kids! So I say BOYS, YOU NEED TO POTTY TOO, RIIIIIIIGHT?! Of course, they are like NOOOO. So I drag them in the little building anyway and as we go in a man that works there that had witnessed our failed attempts asked what our scoop was. I give him the story and he says LET'S SEE WHAT I CAN DO.  I'm telling you, it was the kids! Hook, Line and Sinker! After some brief interrogation and getting my insurance information from the insurance fairy on the phone, we got our pass.  Can I get an AMEN?!?!

Our next little problem was directions to the school. After all that, we had neglected to ask where the school was. We eventually found a gas station where a lady directed us to the school.  We started out 45 minutes early and ended up being 20 minutes late.  At this point I think is when the kids were grumbling about not being there yet. Our journey was an adventure that I never would have expected. And our destination was well worth it.

Gilly

I don't know if it's just me but there are certain shows that I can watch that no matter what kind of mood I'm in will make me laugh my butt off and I feel better. Saturday Night Live is that show for me. Our DVR box is always full of my husband's latest ghost obsessed show and at least one episode of SNL. In the last few years Kristen Wiig has been doing a skit as a naughty school girl named Gilly. I'm telling you, I laugh like a hyena when that skit is on. I don't know what it is but it just kills me! So today I was on a field trip with Taylor and his 3rd grade class. We were outside and it was a foggy, drizzly, dreary day. I let Taylor wear my hoodie and I snapped a picture of him as we were walking around. I instantly thought of Gilly.

See the resemblance?

A real live NFL football player

Ever since the sign went up that we were getting a Dick's Sporting Goods store in town my boys have been patiently waiting for it to open. Every time we drive by they rubber neck to see if there is anything in there. When they saw cars in the parking lot they got all excited only to find out that it was just employees training. It finally opened this past week and for their grand opening they were advertising that they would have David Gerard, former ECU quarterback and Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback. Dick's Sporting Goods + a real live NFL quarterback (who went to his favorite college) = one happy 8 year old football fanatic!!! Well, first we went on the wrong day. Then when we got our days straight we got there and David Gerard wasn't. ARGH! BUT they redeemed themselves and had Mike Minter from the Carolina Panthers there instead. He played Safety for the Panthers and since Taylor played safety for Pop Warner this year he was stoked to meet a real live NFL football player that played Safety!  The boys got a helmet, a football and some color pictures autographed.  Kenly was there of course peaking over the table and he asked her name. As he was signing the picture she said "I don't want no football pit-cher!" He took the insult well and posed for a picture with the kids. As you can tell she was still less than thrilled but the boys were loving it.

11.11.11

When I was four years old my mom got remarried. I immediately fell in love with this man. I don't remember much about the beginning of our new life with him but what I do remember is him letting me put hair bows in his hair and lipstick on him. I'm not sure why he endured such torture but he did without an ounce of grumbling.  When I was six years old he legally adopted me and although I had been all this time, I was officially his little girl. I was crazy about the Smurfs back then and considered myself Smurfette so it was only natural that he be Popa Smurf. I never called him Ken, I never called him Dad. I've always called him Popa. I think it might have thrown some people off because they'd think he was my grandpa but I'd quickly correct them.  He was my dad even though he didn't have to be.

I can honestly say that in the past 30 years, he's never once disappointed me. If he said he'd be there, he would. If I asked his advice, I got it. He's never once let me down.  I'm sure there were times when he'd like to strangle me and he's never even raised his voice at me.  He's not a man of many words and doesn't get fired up easily...unless, of course, he's playing Hearts on his computer and those blankedy-blank Communists are beating him. 

There are several times in my life that looking back make me admire him even more. One time for example, my mom couldn't go to one of my cheerleading competitions in Raleigh. Popa drove three hours to and from Raleigh in a car full of chatty, giggley girls and never once complained.  Poor fella. I'm sure he was happy to get home to the quiet that night!   He proudly walked me down the aisle over 11 years ago and then when Kenly was born he sat in the hospital room holding this perfect little angel that we had named after him with tears in his eyes.  I wasn't sure he'd ever stop staring at her.  He has taken Taylor (who's 8) to football practice at least one night a week for the past 3 months with Landon (who's 4) in tow. And now he's keeping Landon at home with him a few days a week while Tyron and I are at work. I just can't imagine how many 74 year old men want to hang out with a 4 year old all day and never complain.

Today is Veteran's Day and I woke up with morning thinking about the people in my life that are serving or who have served our country. My nephew is active duty Army. I have friends whose husbands are currently deployed and so many more. I just felt like today I needed to put it in writing how much I love and adore one particular Veteran, my Popa. There's no telling what my life would have been like without him.  He's taught me so much about life without even realizing it. He's humble, kind and patient and one of the best people on the planet in my opinion.  So thank you Popa for serving our country for over 20 years in the Unites States Navy and thank you for being my daddy for the past 30 years.  I love you more than you'll ever know.

Our first day

Welp, we did it. We made it through our first day as me, the working mom. I got up extra early to make sure I had plenty of time to get us all dressed, fed and out the door.  Before I had kids I was such a loon about being places on time. My mom drilled it in me from the time I was 8 years old that "a good cheerleader is never late". Well, I had long put my pom poms down and still heard her voice in my head saying that. When my kids were born I think they were actually louder than that voice because I didn't hear it anymore.  I could barely hear anything actually and I couldn't get anywhere on time either. I know, or at least I hope that other moms can relate to running out the door, jumping the car, throwing it in reverse and OH CRAP, I FORGOT MY ______!  Never fails for me. It's either my sunglasses, coupon binder, phone, water bottle, shoes, you name it and I have forgotten it. So anyway I needed to make sure I was on time today and I was.  I fell right back in to my old routine and my kids actually survived a day without me. (*tear*)  I got to enjoy that awesome feeling of walking into the house and having 3 little happy faces run and give me tons of hugs and kisses.  AAWWW, the awesomeness of being a mommy.

My heart was full of joy from my kids but also from my friends and my sisters today. I had several friends call, text and email me just saying that they were thinking about me on my first day back to work. I know there are a bugillion working moms in the world. I'm not saying that I'm anything special. What I'm saying is that I'm blessed with an amazing family and friends who care about me even though my situation isn't that rare or special. They just understand that it's important to me which makes it important to them.

My last day

I remember talking to this young mom in the nursery at church one Sunday when I was pregnant with my second child and she was nursing her third and youngest. She was in her early 20s and I was in my late 20s.  I was struggling with the fact that my baby would be born in a couple months and I'd have to leave him just like I had with my first born to go back to work. I hardly knew this girl and it wasn't like me to just pour my heart out to a stranger but I'm so glad I did. She urged me to consider my options of staying home and spending the first precious years of my baby's life with him and his brother. I thought she was out of her mind but obviously she knew what she was saying because she was doing it. I longed to be at home with my kids but how in the world could it possibly happen?! I went home from church that day and told my husband about the conversation and surprisingly he wholeheartedly agreed that I needed to quit my full time, well paying job to be with our kids. It was the biggest leap of faith of our lives at that point and the biggest blessing in our lives too.

My last day of work was about six weeks before my baby was born. He'll be five years old in a few short months and I'm returning back to work in a few short days. The past few years have brought the greatest joy I could ever imagine. There have been hard days. There have been days that all I wanted to do was crawl in my bed and not come out. I have longed for the day that my own butt would be the only one I would wipe.  These days have gone by so fast. I have also witnessed his first steps as well as his baby sister's first steps. No amount of money would have been worth missing those milestones.

And so today, as my last day as a stay at home mom, I had planned to spend it on a 3rd grade field trip. The rainy weather postponed that so instead I have stayed in my pajamas all day, put puzzles together with my babies, snuggled on the couch and done pretty much nothing but so much at the same time. I'm going to miss days like this but I think since I've had them I won't take them for granted when they come along again.

As for that crazy 20-something that talked me into being a stay at home mommy, she's now my best friend. She's inspired, challenged, encouraged and prayed for and with me over these past 5 years.  We've spent hours on the phone and together talking about being a better wife and mom. I can't imagine what my life would have been like had God not crossed our paths that day. He definitely had a plan and I thank him every day for it and for Liz Webb.

What Melts My Heart

I enjoy seeing beautiful things. I love seeing mountain scenery, gorgeous ocean views and the landscapes that God has blessed us with. Just like every mom, I think my kids are the most adorable little boogers on the planet to look at.  They delight me in so many ways and those times definitely outweigh the times that they drive me nuts. The times that I watch my kids with their daddy are some of the sweetest. When he walks in the door from work, Kenly jumps up from where ever she is and runs to him with open arms, yelling "DADDYYYYY". I believe that no matter what he just experienced as a police officer just disappeared in that moment.  Because of his schedule at work he can't be home every night to put them to bed but when he is home the kids expect daddy to come in their rooms, pray with them each individually and snuggle as if they are the only child on the planet and the only thing that matters (because they are). 

Taylor had a bad day at school a few days ago. I'm not sure what got into him because in his four years of school the only behavior problems we've had to deal with is him being a little too talkative (not sure where the heck he got that from). So anyway, he came home from school with a note that made both of us not sure exactly how to deal with it. We sat at the kitchen table with Taylor and talked it out. Daddy was less than thrilled about the events of Taylor's day since he often has to visit the schools in his uniform to deal with kids that are "actin' a fool".  We got our point across to Taylor and at the end of it we both knew he was disappointed with himself.  My husband, with tears in his eyes, held our sweet little boy in his arms and told him he too had made mistakes and that no matter what he would always love him more than anything in the world.  I'm not gonna lie, I was a mess!!  I'm not sure what kind of impact that had on Taylor but I'm guessing it was way more effective than his daddy screaming at him and sending him to his room. 

Yes, I'm bragging on what an awesome daddy my kids have. He's not perfect. He's made mistakes. He's done some really stupid things.  He is also the most amazing daddy to our kids that I could possibley ask for and I love him more than he'll ever know.

Gum in the nose

It's never a good sign when a kid says "i dont know what's in my nose".

This is the wad of gum I just pulled out of my husband's daughter's nose. Seriously, why?!

Forgiveness = Power