July 4th...A time for family, friends, and being thankful

I was raised to be with family and friends on July 4th...to be appreciative that we live in a free country...to be thankful.  It's a kind of summer Thanksgiving for me and my family.  I wish my sister and nephew could also be here (but look forward to seeing them both within the next month).  We are so lucky to have what we have and live where we live.  I am truly blessed to have my Mother and Father living with me and my three kids.  They are our support.  The kids don't even know how blessed they are.  Our local friends are also a great support: our neighbors are great and our local friends who are able always make an effort to join us when they can.  New friends are always welcome.

Today is a day to realize where we live and the priveledges we enjoy that many other countries do not.  While I am choosing not to get into a political discussion at this point, it is not far from my mind and the longevity of our priveledges as a country does concern me.  But, for now, I plan to enjoy today with my friends that are able to make it, my family that is here, and plan to be thinking a lot of those family members and friends that could not make it.  I hope all are well and hope you each have weather as WONDERFUL as it is here today (high of about 85...AWESOME)!

Happy July 4th!

A true blessing...

Birthdays come and go...quicker and quicker the older you get.  I had the priveledge to celebrate my mother's 65th birthday today, April 25th, 2010, with her.  What a true blessing she is to me and my family.  My children would not have the ability to do what they do without her being here.  She completes the family and is so selfless in her giving of everything she does.  She is a true blessing to have and I'm so thankful she's here today at 65.  It frightens me that we have fewer years together every passing year.  I still have so much to learn from her, if I can ever loosen my ego enough to do so.

Take time to enjoy those around you.  Take time to tell them you love them.  Take time to realize what you have and how blessed you are.  Take time to celebrate the day that those you love were born and treasure the fact that they have been here with you another year. 

I love my Mother more than words will ever be able to express and I'm truly blessed.

Yorktown..."The Fighting Lady"

Yorktown..."The Fighting Lady" is an AWESOME experience!  I had the wonderful priveledge to join my son and his cub scout troop #9 on a camping adventure aboard the Aircraft Carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10), dubbed "The Fighting Lady."  We left on Friday, stayed Friday and Saturday nights on board in the same sleeping quarters as the 3300+ men that slept upon the boat during WWII and the Vietnam War and even recovered the Apollo 8 astronauts.  On Saturday morning we went to the Charleston, SC aquarium in the morning and then, in the afternoon, we had the extreme advantage of being campers on the Yorktown while the Blue Angels performed over the Charleston harbor which gave us the best seat in the house and the added advantage of meeting the pilots and the staff in person that evening on board the Yorktown.  What an exciting day.  We had what was called an "Angel" Ceiling that day (no clouds in the sky) so the Blue Angels performed for about an hour and you could see them as high as the eye could see.  Here are some select pics:

Cole now has a poster with almost all of the pilots autographs:

We even enjoyed ourselves aboard the boat going on one of the many available tours and actually sitting in the jets on board the ship.  Most of all I enjoyed seeing firsthand the excitement and joy that Cole felt experiencing the whole thing. 

Notice Cole's sleeping quarters...the guys slept in a huge bunk room (girls weren't allowed even though I snuck in on Sunday to help pack him).  He was on the bottom bunk of 4...it was amazing how they packed them in there...

And the aquarium was just as fun:

That's a real bald eagle named Freedom behind Cole

Cole in front of the big tank with divers cleaning inside...

Cole and Jack (Cole's new friend) outside the aquarium looking across the harbor at the Yorktown and sharing a bench with a big frog.

All in all it was a wonderfully memorable trip.  Cole says the best thing about the whole trip was seeing the Blue Angels...I say that it was watching Cole experience it all, but the Blue Angels were AWESOME!

Life at the Gardner household, even when it's next door

My Little Girl, Callie, is such a girl.  As of late, she's really into "girly" things.  It's quite interesting, since her Mom isn't, so I just can't figure out where she's getting the interest.  Today (4/11), she was adamant about carrying her purse with her everywhere, yes, even to sandbox while playing outside.  And, of course, she is carrying a wod full of cash (play money only, I hope), and offers to pay you for doing nice things...I personally earned $6 from her today just for giving her a piece of Trident gum. 

All three kids were playing at the neighbor's house (the twins call her LaLa) and they were past due coming home so I headed over to get them.  While at the front door I was immediately dealing with Caleb who was crying loudly about not wanting to go home and how much he loved LaLa, then my darling prissy girl, Callie, starting crying out, "WHERE's MY PURSE?  WHERE's MY PURSE?"  Over and over again, in between the "I LOVE you LA-LAs" I kept hearing, "WHERE's MY PURSE?".  Then LaLa asked Callie if she's looking for the purse on her arm...then all was better...Immediately she stopped crying out and was ready to head home.  We drug Caleb home with him screaming "I lOVE you LA-LA". 

Once we got home, Callie proceeded to her car (with her purse, of course), got in and drove right into Caleb and they were off and running...

Life at the Gardner Household is great, even when it's next door.  

My How Time Flies...

Wow, where does time go?  It seems just yesterday, I was single and never understood why those folks who worked for me had to leave work to go "deal" with their families.  How inconvenient for me at work...how could they not put work first, like I did?  Now, I'm one of those needing to leave work to be with mine.  Now I understand.  Why didn't I then?  It is amazing everything I now know that I wish I had, when I needed to know it. It scares me how much more I have to learn and the mistakes I'm making everyday, knowing I'll look back one day and wish I had known.

My oldest, Cole (pictured next to the remote at about 3 days old), who is turning eight soon, is about to get braces (at least the first round), loving on girls, able to do for himself (obviously only when he wants to), and determined to instigate the twins. 

The twins, Callie and Caleb, having just turned four and are now potty-trained (finally), determined to get dressed on their own (not to mention pick out their own clothes, even if they don't match), and absolutely willing to do everything their older brother does, even if they can't.  I was looking at pictures when each of them was a tiny baby and realized that time flies and that I'd better stop and smell the roses (as my dear friend Dwayne Hurne used to remind me everyday at work).

As you can see, each of my babies were tiny, but none as tiny as the twins, especially Caleb.  You see he is still a miracle baby to me.  I cannot believe he survived, but so thankful he did.  Now, Cole is just 11" shorter than me and expected to be at least 5'8", pushing 55 pounds and growing out of everything he owns.  Callie and Caleb finally hit the "charts" that pediatricians always compare them to, and they say my little girl might even be 5'4" (which is tall to me) with Caleb likely 5'8", possily 5'10".  Each of them has grown out of their size 2T (the size they were wearing in last fall) through 3T and now Caleb is wearing 4T with Callie wearing some 5Ts.  I don't know how they grow that much in 6 months but they have...no wonder they've been so fussy.

You see, I decided to take the time to write my first blog, influenced not only by my sister and her past blogging, but also by my dear friend Cynthia, who should turn her writing into a career, who blogs on her two daughter's blogsites.  If I take the time to write, I can at least chronical more of my special moments with my family, the Great Gardners...before time takes more of my memory.

So, look for more from me and thanks for taking the time.