Can it really be??

Our beautiful Baby is a year old today!?! Where has the time gone? It brings to mind the song my Mom always sang to us......Where are you going my little one?

It is hard to believe that a year ago today I was so unsure of what was to be.....it is a lot like being pregnant and waiting for labor to start.....waiting to hear if/when your baby's Mama would go into labor. I was actually doing the dishes feeling like he was never going to come out when I got the call. It was A, and I was so excited to hear from her.....she said we are on our way to the hospital and she said I just hope I make it.....I thought she was kidding. Nope, the baby was born on the way to the hospital......you heard that right, Jason was born in the parking lot of Long's Drugs. Jason came out being the center of attention and has relished that place ever since!! To say he is still the center of attention would be an understatement......he is a bit of a rockstar in our area. Besides being the baby of the family, all of the kid's friends are quite smitten by Jason too. So, he is NOT lacking in the attention department! :)

Jason is a sweet happy baby and we love him so much. Every day we are grateful for him and for his birth Mama A, who has blessed us beyond anything we can ever repay.


To her; what you have done is the strongest, bravest thing that any woman could ever do. I am continually amazed at the maturity it had to have taken you to trust us with your precious son. The love that you have in you, the strength, the faith.....hopefully you will be able to draw on that even now and during the rest of your life. It will take you places that ordinary (me) people can't even reach. I love you. There is NOT a day that goes by that we are not grateful, not one. We could not imagine our life without Jason. Thank you.

Jason....

loves hats! He thinks anyone wearing one is his best bud and will stare them down until he gets his hands on it....Today, Daddy's hat was all his! He obviously loves being the center of attention around here, and enjoyed his little photo shoot! hahaah!

Okay, in all seriousness....is he not darling?

Lovin' the mud Pit!

really....the silver lining in the whole ordeal of last weekend was that the kids DID enjoy the mud. and that's about it. :)

This weekend however was gorgeous weather and we got a lot done, so no complaints about this weekend! I hope you all had a good weekend!

Dear Jason,

I apologize for raining so much and making it inconvenient to play. I also am very sorry for flooding your parents basement and making last weekend miserable. After I received your letter I decided a little sun was in order, mid-afternoon.

It seems to me you enjoyed your self out in the massive mud pit your Dad dug so that he could fix the drain pipe that was smashed and made the water almost impossible to drain....thus the flooded basement.

You actually loved jumping in and you scared your Mom half to death with a head-first dive! It was however, colder than it looked.

Please forgive the miserable weather last weekend. I will try to stay away until mid-week, then be gone again by the weekend.


Regards, Mr. Rain

Oh, Ella....

Last night as Seth and I were getting the kids ready for bed, Katie noticed that Seth's insole (for his work boots) was all cut up. Katie told Seth and I said "oh, I think Ella did that while I was up stairs."
Seth then sarcastically said "oh, thanks Ella."

Ella got a gigantic smile on her face and said " Your welcome Dad....had you been trying to do that."
(*actual : yauh welcome dada, had you been twying ta do that.)

I couldn't help myself, I busted up laughing out loud and Seth soon joined me. Oh, to be as innocent and sweet as a little four year old.....she really thought Dad was grateful for all her 'hard work' as I am sure it was for her!


Hope you have a lovely Sunday.

P.S

it won't be long till I can actually reach the handle and get out on my owm anyway. I try so hard. It is so tough being eleven months old....I wish you understood!

love, jason


pps. i am a dare devil, and i don't think silly old rain will keep me out of trouble anyway. so, there. nanner- nanner boo, boo.

Dear Rain,

Please go away. I am a very busy boy who wants to be outside EVERY minute of the day.

I am begging you. I heard Mom say something like, 'wait till winter, buddy' and it scares me. What's that supposed to mean!? It couldn't possibly be worse than this??

It has been raining all day. All I want is some fresh air. Do you realize how hard this is on me? On my Mom? Sometimes when I don't get to go outside I scream incredibly loud. Like ear piercing, brain busting loud.

See. Mr. Rain, it is all your fault. I am telling my Mom that I had to do this, all because of you. Someday, i am sure we will be better friends, but right now I still don't like you. Have a good day, and hurry up and get out of here. Thank you. Love, Jason Galbraith

Friday Family Night.....

Every Friday night our family has a little tradition...we eat pizza and watch a movie together. We seldom stray from this tradition and occasionally have friends included. Last night we had Jared's friend Lane over and had a great night. Instead of eating ice cream with the movie I thought it would be fun to make some caramel corn. It was really quite easy and we loved it. Mmmm...their is still a little left, maybe I'll go finish off the bowl! :)

Blessed......

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”. Author Anna Quindlen

I read this tonight and my heart pretty much broke. It seems recently that their has been so much tragedy and it affects me. Even those people that I don't know personally, I feel for them. For their families, for their children.
I want my family to know how much they mean to me.....I hope that my family, my kids, my husband knows how I feel. If something were to happen to me I would want them to not live wondering how I felt about them.
I want to say, to be, to portray the kind of mother, person, I am. I don't want to live with regret that i didn't do enough.

I want to remember everything.....how they sound as sweet little babies, to how they talk as precious four year old to the sassy preteen. I am so scared of forgetting these things. I know I already have forgotten so many things and it breaks my heart.

Each one of my babies I have held and thought, that surely I wouldn't forget how they smell, how they look and how they feel in my arms...... I can hardly remember those moments. It is so so sad to me. I always thought the 'baby' stages of my life were going to be the longest, but I am finding out how really quickly they pass.

I am so grateful for such a beautiful family and I love my babies so much. I am going to try harder to record my life's joys. The silly, the obnoxious, the crazy things we do. All I want is the best for us, and I want them to know how I feel about them.
Ugh, the ache that I am feeling right now, is so incredible......If I died today would they know?? Would this little blog be enough for them? Have I written enough about them, about my feelings for them, about my feelings in general?? I am good on the whole sarcastic thing....I pretty much have that down. :) I just hope that that isn't all I have.

I do know for sure that I am extremely blessed and lucky to have the life I live.

9-11

I still remember where I was, what I was doing and how the entire thing seemed so unreal. It was a mixture of disbelief and complete shock. The day went on in slow motion. I was actually watching it live on Good Morning America, and was so stunned to see the second plane hit the building.....and then when the Tower fell.

I was thinking how crazy that it has been 7 years, and how blessed we are that we haven't had any other attacks on our soil since. It makes me think that maybe our government has been doing some good, you know! I am so grateful for the Men and Women who risk their lives for us day in and day out. Wherever they serve, wherever they are stationed, we appreciate you! Thank you for keeping us safe.



It is a day we will never forget.

The dramatic Dragon.....

okay, really I am not writing to tell the story of these shots. I just have been terrible lately about taking pictures so I really don't have any new ones of things we've been doing lately!
Things are getting ready to bust out over here. I went to Hamilton last night to see all of the work my Mama and Papa have been doing on the building and things are looking SO good!!

Dad worked like a dog all day prepping the walls, moving the display cases out, sweeping up and bagging yucky Sheetrock and even started texturing an area!! Crazy!! Mom pulled all the woodwork down and has several coats of shiny white paint on them, and covered the windows to add an air of mystery to the observers. (and in this small town we have a LOT of them!) So, things are definitely coming together and I am getting more and more excited.

I am now in the process of finding the flooring we will need. We have a painter coming in next week to shoot the ceiling, then we will paint the walls and lay the floors!! Wa-hoo! I can't wait to show you some of the pics!


*oh and the dragon.....Ella was very upset that I was making her share the costume with Jenna. It was totally cracking me up the drama that ensued! Oh. life is hard when you are three!

.......

....with distractions come new obsessions!! Seth put Jason on the bigger ramp with out the skate board and Jason thought this was the best thing ever....he would literally launch himself off the top of the ramp and slide down! I wished so bad that I had my video camera because it was hilarious!! He would scream out loud and laugh the whole way! :)
The last picture is all of the kids that were there for the day......all of my parents grand kids! Crazy, huh!

Skater Baby....

Mr.Jason has NO FEAR!! He was in love with the skate board the minute we got there. He was so serious about getting on it and riding, and would get really upset if we tried to distract him and get him away from the ramps! SO, yeah. He kept Seth really busy 'riding' him around, and thought he was big stuff when he took him down the ramp!! Maybe it was the mo-hawk he was sportin'....??? Who knows!


*notice the baby booty-crack showin'......he makes me happy! i love that boy so much!!

Lemon Fresh SK8 Day.....

jake had a lemon fresh skate day at the liberty skate park.......we barbecued and the kids had a blast skating on the ramps! it was a beautiful day.....perfect weather....jared has already been asking when we can go back to the skate park!

back to August......

early in August we got a surprise visit from Grama and Grampa Mason. It was so great to visit with them. They are so sweet. We are really excited and A-LOT shocked that they are going to be moving out here!! Yeah! We love you Gma and Gpa Mason!! Can't wait to see you again!

*I am pretty sure we can hook Grampa up with some good 'ole Missouri overalls. hahahahahahaha i just can't imagine him wearing them!!

Jason and Gideon....

having a blast together. So, ya....I am pretty sure that when these guys are a little older they will be looking for trouble.....together!! :) They are so cute with each other! Jason just thinks Gid is the best thing ever! I am grateful my kids have cousins so close. It is a good thing! :)