Works Of Art

Both of the boys had pieces of art work that they have done at school on display at the Parkway West Regional Art Show this year. We were so proud of them both. There were pieces by children in grades K through 12 and some AMAZING works of art by all levels!

Jack's pieces are a Bedtime Bear & School bus and Mason's is a scarecrow

Happy New Year

From our home to yours, wishing you a new year of happy memories and good health.

Seven!

How is it that in a blink of an eye, he can go from this......



To this.......



Happy 7th Birthday, Jack Henry!!! We are so proud of you and love you more than you will ever know!

XOXOX

Mommy & Daddy

Wordless Wednesday

9 Years Ago

9 years ago today was ONE of the best days of my life. The day that I married my best friend and soulmate and we began a new chapter in our life.

I remember the day like it was just yesterday. We had frantically pulled our wedding together in 2 months in order to do it on a long weekend when our family and friends from out of town could travel in to be with us on our special day. 40 people were with us to be exact. A small intimate group, but those people who had supported us during our relationship and who had all "BEEN THERE" for us when we needed them the most.

9 years of marriage has brought Tim and I so many things it's hard to list them all but the biggest being a new home and a family of our own. I wouldn't want my life to be any other way!

Happy Anniversary, Honey! I love you more than you will ever know!

I said "Yes"

19 years ago today, that incredibly handsome guy up above, who is my best friend, husband and father of my children, took me on our first date.

A concert at what was then, Riverport Amphitheater, to see Eric Clapton. I went under the guise that it was 1) a free concert and 2) that I was not even remotely interested in starting a relationship with him but knew it would be a great night regardless.

It was hotter than all get out and I remember trying to get ready at my Mom's house (I had just moved home from college and was UGH, living with my Mom!). The power was out and I was NOT happy!

The night was great, concert was amazing and all went well until it was time to leave. Tim had forgotten where he parked his GRAY PONTIAC GRAND AM in the sea of cars that was the parking lot at Riverport. We walked around for at least an hour and passed the same people multiple times until we finally found it.

We get back to the car and he opens up his trunk and in it is a cooler, he opens it up and it was STOCKED with food!!! Fruit, sandwiches, drinks! What an awesome guy! That was just one of the many things that made me change my mind about him. Had I not said YES to his invite to join him at that concert, my life would probably be different now.

I am so thankful that I said "YES"!

The First Day Of School

Last week was the first day of school for both of the boys. We now have a First Grader and a Kindergartener. Where has the time gone? It feels like just yesterday I was counting down the days until Jack's arrival and look at him now.....Mason has changed right before our eyes. Our boys are growing up and aren't babies anymore.

Life Rolls On

Life continues to roll on with us! We almost have our first year of kindergarten behind us. Jack was a stud in his indoor soccer league. Lots of friends andbirthday parties and both boys are starting baseball this Spring. They just continue to get bigger and bigger before our eyes. In three days, we will have a FIVE year old and a SIX AND A HALF year old! I'm not sure where the time has gone. I'm almost afraid to blink for fear they will be graduating from High School if I do!

Worthy Of A Blog Post

A year ago, I used to be an avid Blogger. Blogging weekly and sometimes daily about my life until a voluntary career change pulled me away from my "free time" and caused me to lose touch with the Blogging world. I rarely read the Blogs that I regularly followed and as you can see from the date of my last Blog post....I rarely post too.

But.....this is something that occured because of MY BLOG and is definitely worth of Blogging about. So here I go.....

On Memorial Day 2009, with the help of my brother Hank's Blog, I posted THIS POST about remembering those who fight and who have fought for our freedom. Nothing special, just a post from the heart about being thankful for our freedoms and remembering those, especially Lt. Tom Costen, who was a POW in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and ultimately killed. I didn't think anything of it....until a couple of weeks ago, when I opened up my email and found a notice that someone had posted a comment to my blog. This is what it said: "My name is Jan. I am in possession of an Operation Desert Storm bracelet with Lt. William T Costen's name engraved on it. (St. Louis U.S.N. POW 1991 age 27) I would like to return this bracelet to his family. My email is..."

At first I was a bit skeptical as I periodically got "SPAM" comments when I was actively blogging but they had stopped. But this one made me hesitate. Hesitate from deleting it and actually made me respond to the comment with some interest. Much to my surprise the person responded back to me and it lead into a week of emails back and forth, a real conversation with a complete and utter stranger. A stranger named Jan.

Jan's Father was in US Air Force, fought in WW II, Korea and Vietnam, her husband was a US Marine who fought in Vietnam and her son is now a US Marine. To say that her life has been all about the US Military is probably an understatement. She has lived and breathed it all of her life. In one of her emails to me, Jan explained that she didn't know where she came to obtain the bracelet that she had with Tommy's info on it, she thought it may have been from a fund raiser during Operation Desert Storm but that she felt very deeply about wanting his family to have it. Ultimately, our conversations ended with my offering to help her return it to Tommy's family knowing how to reach his Mother and/or Father's widow, and waiting to see if she would send it to me....a complete and utter stranger to her.

Yesterday, as I was hanging out at home with Tim and the boys, the door bell rang and there on the ground was a package addressed to me.....from Jan. I was shocked! She sent it! She really sent it! I started to open it as the boys asked "What is it Mommy? What is it?" I hadn't told Tim anything about my email exchanges with Jan for fear that he'd think I was nuts; so I started explaining the story to him. I read Jan's letter to him and then opened the gold foil box that accompanied and this is what I found.... This beautiful bracelet - with Tommy's information on it.







I had chills reading Jan's letter and still do today as I type my post. The power of the Internet amazes me. Once just a vast unknown, it is now a way of life for all of us. Facebook has grown from what I thought was a stupid and pointless website, to an amazing way connecting with friends and something that has brought me back in contact with those I had lost touch with a long time ago and a way of just "keeping in touch" with others.

The Internet is a tool for banking, for Blogging and to find things that we're searching for and that's exactly what Jan did! Into Google or whatever search engine she was using she typed in Lt. Tom Costen's name and there in the list of links that was returned to her was my blog post that contained his name. Had I not taken the info from my brother's Blog and posted it into mine, Jan and I would have never been connected. We would have never communicated, and never been able to return the bracelet to Tommy's family as she wished to do.

So......tomorrow I am going to help Jan do what she set out to do when she commented on my Blog; Return this beautiful bracelet to the family of Lt. Costen. A somewhat awkward phone call it will be to make. But one that I will be very proud and honored to make - because I will be doing it In Honor of someone who fought bravely for ME & for Jan. Two complete and utter stragers - connected by two things, the Internet and a bracelet.