Moved.

I moved this blog a few months ago. The new web address is...


whatmattersmosttome-amberhope.blogspot.com

August 15th, football practice and media day

Spencer started high school. A freshman. It is hard to believe just a few more years and he will be graduating. He is already talking about what he wants to do after he graduates school. He mentioned being a sports medicine doctor, he loves history and threw around the idea of being a history teacher but after a few days of JROTC he is now talking about joining the Air Force.

I am amazed every day how quickly he is growing up. How tall he is and how proud I am of the man he is becoming.

I didn't get any early morning before the sun comes up pictures this year of him for the first day of school. But I definitely took my camera to his football practice and media day. Jerome took off work early to be there for media day, even though it wasn't at all what we expected (to much Friday Night Lights I guess), but we enjoyed it anyway.

I can't wait for the football games to start, the cold chill in the air, the sound of the announcer and players on the field, the crowd.....everything about the football games he is in I love.

He told me the other day he wasn't going to play next year because he dad won't be here to see him play.....I reminded him that I enjoy watching him play. "Yes, but you don't understand football like dad does", he said to me and laughed. "It doesn't matter how much I understand....I understand it enough to know when to cheer for my son out on the football field", I told him.




Jerome was yelling, "Run freshman run!" in his best Forest Gump voice to Spencer here, we were all laughing. Natalie actually took this shot and the two that follow. I LOVE this picture of the two of them. Jerome is so proud to watch him play and Spencer loves the football bond they share between them.








I love that Natalie took those pictures.

Spencer had to take an X-Large football helmet. I won't say what they call the yellow things that go on them at practice....but they couldn't get Spencer's on his helmet.

He practiced hard that day. I was surprised, because he had had very little sleep the night before, went to school all day and then practice right after. It didn't take him long to fall asleep once we were home that evening though.





Bear Crawls.


Running.




Water Break.




End of practice and time to head home, fill out a million papers, dinner and get ready for the next day of school.
Our life stays so busy during this time of year, so busy sometimes I feel like I'll go crazy with all the running around. But watching Spencer out on the field playing the game he loves.....it is all worth it.

August 15th, first day of school

The first day of school.

Natalie is in 5th grade this year.

Katie is in 4th grade.

They spent a lot more time getting ready this year for the first day of school. Natalie excitedly put on her make up. While Katie put on her clothes she had meticulously picked out a week before school even started.

Natalie picked out a backpack on looks, Katie picked out a backpack on size. She went through three backpacks last year. I continually reminded her that she didn't need to bring everything home, but she insisted. She picked out one this year that she was sure to be able to carry her school supplies to and from school every day that wouldn't tear up. And even though she rarely pulls all the stuff out that she carries home and to school everyday, she is a happy camper knowing it is tucked away neatly in her backpack.

I'm glad I was able to get one of them smiling together that morning. Because that afternoon, when the bus ran I could hear them arguing with each other all the way home.

I closed the door and sucked in that last few minutes of quiet for that day. They came stomping up the steps arguing.
Natalie burst in the door saying, "Mom! Katie is ruining my 5th grade year already!"
"No I'm NOT!", Katie screamed. Then I calmly asked Natalie what happened that she is so upset about.
"Well, she insisted on sitting in the back of the bus! Only 5th graders are supposed to be sitting in the back of the bus.I've waited my WHOLE life to get to sit on the back of the bus! And now this year I'm in 5th grade and Katie is not and she sat in the back of the bus and when all of us 5th graders told her to move she wouldn't and she was yelling and told us that she could sit anywhere she wanted to!", Natalie wailed.
Katie very matter of factly replied, "Well, I asked Mr. AlJo if I could sit in the back and he said that I could, so I did."
"But YOU AREN'T SUPPOSE TO KATIE!", Natalie screamed.
Obviously, there is an unwritten rule that only 5th graders are allowed to sit in the back of the bus. All the kids from school know it and have always gone by the unwritten rule.

So after calming both of the girls down and insisting they QUIT yelling at each other. I sat down with Katie and explained to her that even though she could sit in the back because Mr. AlJo said she could, it doesn't mean that she should. I reminded her that she will be a 5th grader next year and will want to have that privileged feeling of being able to sit back that with the 5th graders only, and that she wouldn't want some 1st grader back there because it was her turn be be that 5th grader who gets to sit in the back of the bus. She sadly agreed and also agreed to not sit in the back and that she would wait her turn.

Thirty minutes later they were outside jumping on the trampoline laughing and having fun together again.

They have been like this since they were little. They will argue with each other like crazy then not ten minutes later are laughing and playing and having fun. I just hope they don't continue this pattern in high school. I hope that they can learn how to work out their differences without yelling at each other. How to be not only sisters but best friends. How to respect each other and each other's belongings.

Time sure does have a way of sneaking up on you. I can't believe how much all three of our kids have grown. I was curious to see and compare this years first day of school picture with their kindergarten year. I still remember each of their first day of school, Spencer was sleepy but excited, Natalie was beyond excited and Katie was timid and nervous about her first day.

I don't have one of Spencer to show for this year. It is the first year I didn't take one of him in the early morning darkness before he catches the bus. This year he was up until midnight the night before school working on a school project that was due the very first day of school. He had put it together wrong and had to redo the whole thing.

I just couldn't help but think to myself, "Good one....great way to start the year off on the right foot.....up until midnight helping on a school project that he had ALL SUMMER to finish".

When Spencer came home from school, he reminded me that I also forgot to get chocolate waffles for breakfast.....it is a small tradition that was unknowingly started as a tradition Spencer's second year of school.

August 12th, Soaking up the last bit of summertime.

The last day of summer vacation we spent the day being lazy.
Natalie and Katie played with our neighbor's grandkids at the pond. They were fishing and catching turtles most of the day. Molly enjoyed watching them and would "sniff" the turtles after they would catch them and then watch them throw them back into the pond.






Spencer however waited until the week before school starts to begin reading his required English reading of "Cleopatra's Daughter". He spent most of the day in the rocker on the porch finishing up reading his book.


Then he spent the rest of the evening working on the project that was due the very first day of school. It was 10:30pm when he finished the project only to learn he had put it together wrong. Thankfully Jerome had picked him up a few extra pieces of posterboard and he was able to redo his project. He climbed in bed very late that night. I couldn't help but think this is exactly how NOT to start the school year off.
He had no problem reading the first book, "Maximum Ride", he couldn't put that book down and had it finished before the first week of summer was completed. If only he had done the same for the honors English book.....

August 8th, Sick.

Katie seems to take after me when it comes to ear infections. She always seems to have them.

This one was a bad one though. Her pediatrician prescribed her antibiotic ear drops but after a night of crying and sleeping in bed with me and Jerome I knew I needed to take her back in. Her ear canal was almost swollen shut and all this time I just thought the medicine wasn't working (actually, it wasn't, because it wasn't getting to the place it needed to be).



A few days later she was sleeping back in her own room and running around playing outside.

Chickadee.

Natalie had a wonderful fourth grade teacher this year. Everyday while they were doing this chic project at school Natalie would come home and tell me about what they had learned that day. She had an orthodontist appointment one day and was very anxious to get back to school because they were doing something very important with the eggs that day.

Along with this, she asked me every.single.day. if she could bring her chick home when it hatched. I right away didn't like the idea because I know little chicks become big roosters or hens....and that I didn't want. I repeatedly told her if I wanted to live on a farm and raise chickens I would have and that I really, really didn't want to have a chicken. Then I would remind her how often we have to tell them to feed or water Molly, our dog.....that they begged for too.

Eventually I gave in. She was so into this project at school and really, really wanted to bring her chick home. The day we picked the chick up from school you would have thought it was Christmas morning. She talked to her chick and held it close to her, then looked at me and gave me a hug and a thank you for letting the chick come home with us.

I couldn't wait to get my camera out to take some pictures of Natalie and her new chick, which she named "Buddy".  I took a lot of pictures and laughed watching her with her new chick. It started pecking at her arm and she laughed and said, "Buddy likes my freckles! He is pecking at my freckles!".

That was about two weeks ago. Since then we have ALL become attached to Buddy. He is getting bigger every day. Natalie agreed when I told her that we could bring Buddy home that when he got to big to stay inside that he would go to her friends house who has a farm and a good place where Buddy can live.

Natalie is tired of cleaning up after Buddy and asked me today when we were going to take Buddy to another home to live. I asked her why and she said, "Oh, I don't know. He makes a big messes now." I think she is ready for him to go, but everything is reversed now and I, I am not ready to see Buddy go.

Dreams.

A few weeks ago me, Jerome and the girls watched our wedding. They had never watched it before and loved it.

Well, except for the crazy hair that everyone had....they were rollling in laughter at some of the hairstyles.

They laughed at Jerome's "knee socks" and asked him why he was wearing knee socks in the wedding. He told them they weren't knee socks, laughing, and then told them they were Navy dress leggings and something special he wore for a surprise for their mommy.

Katie laughed and said, "Well.....they look like knee socks".

When the wedding ended, Natalie looked at us and asked us how much a wedding costs. We told her A LOT if you have a big wedding these days.

Then she smiled a sweet smile and said, "Well, I want a big wedding".

We laughed and told her she had better start saving for it now.

          -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Never, not once did I think Natalie took what we said to heart.

There is a new store that opened in the mall called Charming Charlie, I've been promising them a trip there to buy something if they can keep up with their chores and earn their own money to buy something.

This evening, Natalie and I had a conversation that made me laugh and smile.........and pull her close to me and give her a hug.

The conversation went a little something like this:

Me:   Natalie, pretty soon you'll have enough money saved to go to Charming Charlie.

Natalie: (very matter of fact like) Mom.....I'm not saving my money for Charming Charlie!

Me: (rather confused, then looked at her)  Well, what are you saving your money for?

Natalie: (very excitedly) My WEDDING!!

Me: Your wedding?

Natalie: (very matter of fact again) Yes....you and daddy said if I wanted a big wedding I needed to start saving for it now.

Me: (thinking this would be a good time to have a conversation just her and I) What kind of wedding do you want to have?

Natalie: I want a big wedding. I want a trane that is long....but not froofy like yours was!! I want it to cover my face. I want a long dress with sleeves.

Me:   That sounds very pretty.

Natalie:   Yes. And.....I want to marry a military man!

Me: (very surprised) A military man huh?

Natalie: Yes.

Me:   Well then, what kind of military man?

Natalie:   One with a nice uniform, not knee socks like daddy's. A uniform that is black, blue, gold and red.

Me: Do you mean a Marine?

Natalie: Yes, I like that uniform. It looks nice.

Me: Oh.....I see. (smiling)

There was a little pause and then......

Natalie:   Is it hard being married to a military man mommy?

Me:   It's a tough life chic.....but it is wonderful.

Then we just snuggled and she went on and on about her wedding. What her bridesmaids would wear. What kind of cake she wanted. What kind of flowes she would have.

I laid there and held her while she talked.

Realizing that these moments won't last long.

That pretty soon these wedding dreams she has planned really will be coming true.

And in that little space of time....I just wanted to remember her being little. Her telling me all of her dreams and plans for when she grows up.

When Love Comes Home.

The words in this song are so strong, so true and carry so much feeling with them.

I listened to this song today.

I listened to it and cried.

~Amber Hope

the simple things

There it waits.

The tire swing swing under the old sycamore tree.

Waiting.

Waiting for summer to arrive.

Waiting for bare feet to swing it back and forth.

Waiting for little hands to hold on tight.

Waiting for kids to spin round and round in circles filling the air with laughter.

Waiting for summer to arrive.

We had a break in the weather earlier this week. The kids played on the tire swing late into the evening. When I told them it was time to come inside to get cleaned up and ready for bed, they begged to play outside just a little bit longer.

I can't wait for summer to get here. To watch the kids play in the yard and swing in circles round and round on the tire swing. Just a few more weeks and summer break will will be here.

There is one sure sign of our kids getting older. That is that the tire swing is to low to the ground for them now. I guess their daddy will have to tie the rope up a little taller for them this year.

Spencer Andrew

It has been a busy couple of weeks.

Spencer took his school trip to Washington D.C. and had a great time. Jerome joined the group going and they both came home with a lot of D.C. stories and tired from all the walking and trying to sleep in the bus.

Then not long after that the kids were out on spring break. The girls and I took a trip to Ohio, Jerome had military in Williamsburg and Spencer went with a few friends to camp at the Greenbrier River in his friend's family's cabin.

The girls and I spent the week shopping for summer clothes, antiquing and having fun. Spencer spent the weekend fishing, tubing down the river, going to a local festival in Lewisburg and just hanging out with his friends.

Yesterday was the last day of spring break. Jerome had drill and the girls had spent the week with Grammie and Poppie and visiting their cousins. Jerome had to pick them up yesterday after drill and called to let me know they were going to dinner with Grann and Aunt Pam and they would be home later. So Spencer and I went to see a movie, got a bite to eat and came home. It was a pretty day and I had been wanting to get some pictures of him. We went and shot some pictures and I took a lot. It has been a long time since he has decided to cooperate for pictures, and...this time I didn't even have to bribe him either!

I took a lot of pictures. I plan to post more later. Right now I need to get dinner finished.

~Amber Hope

Light Shining Through

Yesterday evening, after a hard rainstorm, Natalie came running inside from the porch where she had been watching the rain fall. "Mommy, Mommy! You have to come and see the sky how pretty it is!", she said to me. I walked out on the porch and smiled as I looked up at the beautiful sky. "You're right", I told her, "It is a pretty sky this evening isn't it?". She then looked at me, put her hands together, letting me know she was getting ready to ask me something that she thought the answer would be no to. "Mommy, can I please, please, please use your camera and take a picture of the sky?", she asked me. I smiled and said, "Of course you can, just please be careful". She gave me a big hug and ran inside to get my camera. I showed her a few things on it, set it to auto for her and went inside to pull a load of clothes out of the dryer.

She came back in the house after some time and proudly showed me all the pictures she had taken. I told her how good they were.

Last night after putting the girls to bed, I loaded up her pictures and the one above caught my attention. I think it is beautiful. She did a beautiful job of holding a big camera in her tiny hands and capturing what she saw as beauty, the sky showing through our worn out American flag hanging from our front porch.

~Amber Hope

beauty smiling at me.

7:15am
Time to start hurrying everyone along.
Insist Spencer eat something for breakfast.
Kiss my husband goodbye for the day.
Close the door.
Braid Katie's hair.
Sign Natalie's homework.
Pack a blueberry muffin for breakfast at school.
Hear the school bus and hurry my girls along.
Kiss them goodbye and hand them a muffin.
Watch them catch the bus.
Close the door.
Open the windows.
Smell the spring air and love feeling it blow through the windows.
Start a load in the wash.
Walk in the kitchen to start my day.
Stop.
Stop, look in the window and smile.
Smile at the beautiful flowers Natalie picked for me the other day, root and all.

Sisters.

This was taken at my youngest sister's high school graduation. It is a favorite picture of mine, one with all four of us. There were quite a bit of emotions going on this day, more than can be expressed. But I look back at this picture and see the strength in all of us.
I think this is the picture I would have picked for The Pioneer Woman contest of "sisters" but I didn't know she had contests. I will be entering more pictures in her upcoming contests soon!

Creativity.

Today was one of those days.

You know, one of those days where you feel like banging your head against the wall.

I am one of those moms who rather than patiently sit back and let her kids learn how to do certain tasks......I jump in out of frustration and time and do the tasks myself because, ONE. I am able to get the task  done a LOT faster and, TWO. I like things cleaned and organized a certain way.

I have not helped my kids by doing this.

Instead, I have a thirteen year old who doesn't know how to wash his own clothes. A ten year old who at one time mistook Palmolive soap for Cascade and filled the dishwasher cup full of it.....not once, but twice (in the same wash load) because she thought she didn't add enough soap. A nine year old who would rather go to her room than to help clean.

Thankfully, I now keep Cascade drop-ins for the dishwasher. But this doesn't solve the rest of the problems I have created for myself in not teaching my kids simple household tasks they should be able to do by now.

I have come to a point where I have decided I want change. Not just a little but a lot. I am tired of unrolling dirty socks before putting them in the wash. I am tired of tripping over backpacks by the front door. I am tired of shoes being scattered everywhere (and yes they do have a place to be put) and the morning rush of, "Mom! Where is my other shoe?!"......followed of course by a reply of, "I don't know, probably wherever you left it". I am tired of toothpaste stuck to the sink, towels and laundry in the floor and water left dripping in the bathtub. I am tired of glasses of milk filled to the rim for Oreo dipping and then poured down the sink. I am tired of telling them to clean their room every day and they don't listen to me, that is until they receive a phone call from a friend to go somewhere and then magically their room can be clean in ten minutes. Oh how I could go on and on.

I love my children. I love them dearly. But these are just a few of the things that need to change here in our home. It isn't their fault....that falls on my shoulders for always "wanting to hurry and get it done".

So today I decided things would be different. I decided rather than me cleaning their bathrooms that they are perfectly old enough and capable enough to do it themselves. Spencer did pretty good.....he has cleaned his bathroom before. The girls however.......lets just say it took a lot of patience and a few laughs here and there.

Natalie and Katie share a bathroom. I divided up the cleaning tasks to be even. Believe it or not they were fighting over who got to do certain jobs. Katie wanted to clean the mirror. Natalie wanted to mop the floor. They both shared the rest of the tasks such as, scrubbing the bathtub, the toilet, putting things away, taking laundry to the laundry room and cleaning the sinks.

What would have taken me about 20 minutes to do......it took them over an hour.

That is where the wanting to bang my head against the wall came in.......it was taking FOREVER.

But my good laugh for the day came when Natalie started mopping the floor.

She mopped by the right side of the toilet (which is right next to the tub), then mopped by the door. I told her she needed to mop by the left side of the toilet and that she had missed it and explained to her how to start mopping at a far corner of the room and mop your way out of it.

"OK Mommy" she said.

Then she climbed from the doorway to the tub.....walked along the edge of the tub, all the while holding a dripping mop, and then stepped on top of the toilet (and yes the lid was closed).

"What are you doing?" I laughed and asked her.

"Well Mommy, I didn't want to put feet marks on the floor where I already mopped!".

I had to laugh, it was hilarious. She was standing on top of the toilet mopping the floor. Then I came to my senses after laughing and realized this was Natalie.......Natalie standing on top of the toilet mopping. She is the clumsiest of the three of our kids. The one who is always falling and getting hurt. The one who can trip just walking. So I helped her down and helped her mop her way out of the bathroom.

So for today I feel like I accomplished something. I feel better knowing I stepped back and let our kids do certain tasks rather than taking over so I could hurry and move on to the next one. I learned that there is certainly a creative way to do everything, including mopping a bathroom floor.

To my darlings. I love you.
Love,
Mommy xoxo

Life As We Know It.

We had quite a few plans for the weekend. Jerome has military in Williamsburg and the kids and I stayed busy yesterday. Our girls had their first winter dance and Spencer stayed over at a friend's house last night. Katie ended up staying with Sydney, one of her best friends.....so that left just Natalie and I for the rest of the evening. I was going to surprise her and take her to a movie, Gnomeo and Juliet, but by the time the dance was over we had missed at least the first 30 minutes of the movie. So we went to Target and bought a movie I had been dying to see, and Natalie was wanting to see it too. Then we went to Chili's and met my friend April and her daughter Cheyanne (they made it in time for the Gnomeo and Juliet movie). We had dinner and then Natalie and I went home, took our showers and put our pajamas on and snuggled up and watched a movie together.
It was a great movie, we laughed a lot and cried in a few parts. After the movie we went to bed. Jerome was gone so  she climbed in bed with me. We talked a little bit and then fell asleep.
I don't know if it was Chili's or a wonderful stomach bug but I was up at 3a.m. sick. I finally managed to go back to sleep and slept in this morning.
When I woke up I laid in bed thinking about that movie. I loved the movie but I LOVED the house in the movie. It gave me a few ideas for our kitchen that I have never finished. I only started on it two years ago. It has been at stand still. I still have about 6 cabinets to finish painting, the floor needs caulked and something for the windows. There is nothing on the windows right now and it creeps me out at night, especially last night since Jerome wasn't here. Life is busy all the time and just finding the time to squeeze in painting cabinet doors is last on my list. So I am making it a priority to finish our kitchen this month....well, at least by Jerome's birthday. I plan on having a surprise for him the next time he goes away on military, and I just want to finish this project first. Here are a few scenes from the movie.........

 {you can see the kitchen in the background of this picture}

{Natalie thought he was pretty cute, I had to agree with her}

{We laughed so much on this part and the Wiggles part}

We loved this movie and I am sure we will watch it again.

I loved the movie and the house.

It was just what I needed to get a little inspiration and motivation to finish our kitchen.
{and yes, I am keeping up with the one.frame.a.day project but I just haven't had a chance to post it here}

Tonight Spencer and I are watching a movie, Red....it is suppose to be funny. Nothing like spending a weekend in with the stomach bug and watching movies. I guess Jerome picked a good weekend to be gone on military......he won't have to worry about catching it from me. Natalie is staying at Grammie's house and Katie is staying at Sydney's another night.

Happy Meal.

I went to school and had lunch with Katie and Natalie Thursday. Katie has been asking for over a week for me to come to school and bring McDonald's. "McDonald's?" I'd ask her. She would reply with a firm, "Yes mommy. My friends Mommy and Daddy bring them McDonald's to school and have lunch." So after her reminding me of this all week I went to McDonald's and made it to school with two happy meals in hand. Katie was excited (I had lunch with her first, Natalie's lunch was right after hers)and I can truly say that that day she had a happy meal for lunch.



Natalie was happy too, and wanted to show all of her friends my new phone. Then she called her daddy at work....that is who she is talking to here.



Day 27 12:10

Beauty.

There was such beauty this morning outside our window. The snow was falling down in the heaviest snowflakes I have ever seen. I slipped my husband's boots on and went outside to capture a little bit of winter's beauty.



Molly followed me out and stayed with me. She was covered in snowflakes....



The kids are now home from school, it was released early due to the amount of snow and the roads getting covered quickly. I am getting ready to go into the kitchen and fix them all some tomato soup and grilled cheese. It's our favorite lunch on cold winter days like today.

Our Book.

I finished this book from Blurb over a year ago and always meant to post some pictures of how wonderful it is.  I have since started on our 2008 family book and am almost finished (I'm up to Halloween 2008) and cannot wait to order another. Although 2007 will probably be our largest book printed seeing that is the year Jerome was deployed to Afghanistan and I did a whole LOT of picture taking to keep him feeling a little closer to the kids and to home.













I love this book. I love how it turned out and that I can open it up, look back and read our memories from that year. To me it is a priceless keepsake.