Happy Birthday Momma Llama!!!!

#55

Today marks my Mom's would be 55th birthday.... so I got her a few things

Candles

What would a birthday be without a wish?

Teddy Grahams

Peanut M&M's
(These are some of her favorite treats, and boy did she LOVE treats!)
On April 26th 1954 the world welcomed a beautiful little girl named
Natalie

Before long she grew up, made her wedding dress and got married.

A couple of years later, she found herself with a little girl .....

who soon grew to be bigger than her Mom

They have a great relationship!

I wanted to brag about my Mom on her birthday, yes I know she wasn't perfect...neither are you and I.

She was my BEST friend, my confidant, my comfort, and she loved me unconditionally. I could talk with her about anything- we needed eachother and I was lucky to have her.

We were a mother/daughter match made in heaven.

We were "Momma Llama" and "Tammy Lamby"

(coined after I got a pair of fuzzy lamb slippers for Christmas one year from her)

As mentioned earlier, my mom was a seamstress. I am talking a really talented seamstress!!

She LOVED to sew!

I was the lucky recipient of MANY dresses, pants, UNDERWEAR, prom dresses, pajamas, and anything else she could think to sew.

(I don't think I had a store bought pair of underwear until I was 9!)

I was joined by two Brothers

James and Ben

We were a pretty happy family!


Since Mom was single, money was tight. But, she made our way in the world and somehow came up with enough money to make sure we had what we needed and sometimes what we wanted.

My Mom loved me so much, and new that my teeth needed to be straightened.

The monthly budget wouldn't provide, so she donated plasma so I could have a beautiful smile.

She didn't tell me this for quite a while, but she eventually did. Now that is LOVE!!!


I love this picture of her with the boys. Look at her, she is soooo happy.

Mom always took time out for the important things in life.

Family


She always let us do fun things.!

Like make a double decker person in her long nightgowns.


She always made sure we had fun birthday parties

and awesome homemade cakes!

Halloween was always a fun time.

We always had homemade costumes, or at least partially homemade.

This year she even took apart her wedding dress and let me be a bride for Halloween.

(She also used part of her wedding dress to make me a beautiful twirly Christmas dress, which was every girls dream!)


My Mom was the oldest of her siblings. She was a great sister, a wonderful daughter, and a friend to her family.

Unfortunately in January 2000, she found out she had Melanoma.

But look at her after having surgery to remove the cancer on her lungs....

she is still hanging in there.

That was Mom, she was always hanging in there. Life would throw garbage at her, but she would always find her way. She was STRONG! She was a good example to me of faith, hard work, enduring to the end, love, courage, and hope.


This is one of the last pictures I have with her. Isn't she beautiful?

I am so glad that she got to be a part of my eternal marriage wedding day.

I miss my Mom terribly! Everyday I think of her and her love. We talk about her regularly...she is called Grandma Nanny at our house. My boys know she is in Heaven doing good things. I tell them how much she loves them and how she got to see them before they were sent down to me.

I was lucky to have her, and I am lucky to have memories to live on.

She was the best...the one and the only....Momma Llama

I Love You Mom

Happy 55th!

First Trip to the Dentist and PB&J

It was a big day for Hunter on April 23rd!

I had called a dentist on the 22nd to see if I could get Hunter into see someone because he has kind of a crazy cross bite, and I thought a boy who is almost 4 should have his teeth cleaned and checked out. Anyway, they had a cancellation and so they got us an appointment for the next morning. So, I quickly started prepping Hunter for his visit. He had LOTS of questions, such as what does he look like, what will they do, what will he ask me??? So ALL day long we talked about our trip to the dentist! Then at bedtime Hunter decided he really needed to know what he should talk to the dentist about- so we got some ideas for questions he could ask Dr. Tanner. Right before we tucked Hunter in, I found him at the computer desk with a color crayon. I thought maybe he was doing something sneaky, but he was just drawing a picture of Dr. Tanner to give to him at the visit. It was cute!

Once Hunter was in bed he kept getting out...I think he was excited and anxious about his appointment.

WE got up in the morning, got ready and out the door by 8:30. We showed up at the office, filled out the paper work, played with toys and looked at the giant fish and fake turtles in the fish tank. It was "awesome"!

Then Carol, the hygienist called us in....

She was very good at explaining what she was doing, and Hunter was VERY good at cooperating.

She was even able to get bitewing x-rays and Hunter thought the camera was cool that could take pictures of his teeth. The only thing that Hunter didn't like was the saliva sucker a.k.a

Mr. Thirsty (what the hygienist called it) Hunter would say, "No thank you" every time Carol tried to say that Mr. Thirsty needed to get a drink. It was pretty funny!

Scrub, Scrub, Scrub

All clean and everything looks good!

Dr. Tanner and Hunter
The Dr. said that the crazy cross-bite will probably work itself out. And then Hunter also has two teeth fused together on the bottom, so Dr. Tanner did a panoramic x-ray so he could see what the permanent teeth below them were doing, well....he is missing one of them! Strange, I know! But, there won't be a gap just 3 teeth inbetween the canine teeth instead of 4.
The visit ended with a truck out of the treasure chest, a new toothbrush, some dinosaur flossers, special kid toothpaste, and a cute bag to put them all in.
Hunter was so good that he got the $5 bribe that Dad promised!!

After we got home from the dentist we had a lady come over from a kids program that Hunter is part of and she taught Hunter to make a PB&J sandwich. It was fun! He wrote the recipe down with her and then did his thing.

A little Peanut Butter

A little strawberry jam

And Waa Lah! Delish!

What a fun day!

It even got better when we made cookies and took them to dad and his co-workers in the pharmacy just because we LOVE him!!

This REALLY Happens ?!?

This may not be such a strange occurance in some homes. However, in mine it is! I don't think I've EVER had one of my boys fall asleep in the car, bring him inside, and have him sleep longer than 5 minutes on the couch. It is funny because this is one day that I hoped he would wake up sooner than later.

We have 1:00 church, but 2 times a month we have presidency meeting BEFORE church. This week inparticular was a pres. meeting AND Kelly was working, so I had to take the boys with me. So, we left for church at 11:30 and got home around 4:30, that is a long day for me let alone a little guy that NEEDS a nap. Anyway, he did fall asleep in the car and stayed asleep on the couch despite the noise from Hunter and I, for 2 1/2 hours. So much for a decent bedtime!

A FEW GOOD MEN!!!!

When I was a little guy I loved playing "Army" with friends, cousins, or anyone who would humor me. I have a lot of fun memories making believe that I was saving the free world from tyranny. I think that my sons have the same genes for imagination and love of country. I myself was not in the military. I applied for a commission as a Navy pharmacist in 2003. They had seven openings nationwide. I was selected as the second alternate. Everyone that they offered the commission to accepted it. I was heartbroken. Things have worked out and I have been able to have an alaskan adventure instead.

I decided to take advantage of a skill that my wife possesses. She likes to sew. This is definitely a skill that is being lost/forgotten in our day. I was at Joann fabric with her one day. While she was sorting through frills, fabric, feathers and whatever other stuff they have there, I found some digital camo that the marines use for their uniforms. I begged my wife to make some Marine fatigues for my sons. I would have loved that as a little guy. My cousin cam and I pirated some of my Dad's old army fatigues a couple of times, but to have your own tailored fatigues.......Well my boys are pretty lucky. We got some patches and some buttons and a few things and they turned out awesome.












The military spit and shine is most definitely the officers. Hunter is no exception. Here he is with his 1st lieutenant outfit complete with silver rank insignia. His steel pot also has 1 silver bar for quick ID on the battlefield that he is in charge. Hunter likes to be reminded that he is the one in charge. He likes to march around the house and show everyone how a marine likes to march. "HupHup two three four!"

SHARP UNIFORM

LIEUTENANT!

"HOORAH!!!!"

There is no gentleman in this officer at the moment. He is ready to lead his troops to victory! Lead from the front is his motto!
































WELCOME THE "NCO"
(NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER)
OUR BELOVED SARGE!!!!!

The officers may be the spit and polish in the military, but it is the NCOs that make the machine run smoothly and efficiently. The blood and guts of every operation, they make it happen. They are in the trenches where the metal meets the meat. Our "Sarge" is no different!
Full of piss and vinegar, he is someone you don't want to mess with! He gets the job done!
Notice the 3 stripes that command the attention of all enlisted men within the sound of his bellowing roar!









It is nice to know that when the crap hits the fan you have the sarge out keeping it all under control. Chancey is deadly with his trusted sidearm. You had better do what he says or he'll bust you to private!











Let me see your "WAR FACE"!

Hunter displays his best Marine fighting spirit.


No Marine is truly complete without some sort of tough guy TATOO.

Hunter has the sting of a bee!


Now this leatherneck is complete!

Easter Fun

It was so much fun to have both boys interested in Easter this year. Chance thought the boiled eggs were fun and mostly wanted to break them, and throw them.

Dying eggs is fun, but a little scary on a wiggly "card" table.


Look how happy this activity made my boys!

Great Fun!!

We kept the eggs pretty simple. The boys colored on a few with the clear crayons, but I love the beautiful colors.

Waiting......

Easter morning was pretty fun. The boys woke up and came in our room and we all snuggled in our bed for 15 minutes or so. It gave us time to talk about the real meaning of Easter and Hunter just took it all right in. It was very sweet!

Then, we dove right into the HUNT!

Chance knew right what to do from some "practice runs" from earlier in the week.

Now, that is what I call a FULL basket...HOW EXCITING!!

Chancey stopped to have lots of tastes :)

(Don't mind the bruise in between his eyes, we think he bonked his head on his bed in the night)

The neighbor Easter Bunny left baskets outside the door too. It had a kite, coloring book, and candy for each of them. It was sweet of them.

The Sweet Fest

This is GREAT!

All I Could Do Was Laugh

So, needless to say it has been a rough COUPLE of weeks. Ever since March 21st the kids and I have been rotating turns being sick. Bad colds, coughing, sore throats, and Chancey even had a turn having a pretty bad case of "yucky diaper syndrome" and it WAS YUCKY!! Unfortunately for me, last week I got to deal with sick "homebound" children by myself, which is hard. Kelly is back now which makes it nice, but now both boys are runny/stuffy nose with cough, and he of course is working a 40 hour week. Anyway, if you are a mom you've been there done that.

So, I am already feeling crazy being cooped up and then being coughed on a snot wiped on my clothes etc... is making it even worse. It is all I can do to stay in the house :) So, we were eating lunch and afterward we had an "indoor s'more" Hunter ended up with "chocolate goatee" on his face. It actually looked pretty funny, but I got him a paper towel and told him to wipe it off. I was cleaning up and Hunter went into the bathroom. I had assumed that he wiped it off already and was just going to go potty. I was wrong! He went into the bathroom and got the cream colored hand towel soaking wet and wiped the chocolate goatee off. He came out and said, "Mom look at my face, it is clean...I wiped it on the towel!" Anyway, I feel like I should be on the Laughing Cow Cheese commercial saying, "Have You Laughed Today?" It is a good thing to be patient and have a sense of humor if you are going to be a stay at home mom.

Little Picaso's

One of our favorite activities is to color. We don't do it everyday, but atleast a few times a week. Chancey really "gets into" it.

The master of artwork contemplating his design both on paper and body.

"Look, it is like camoflauge!"
Can anyone see Chancey's arm?? Where did it go?

You might think we spent a lot of money on this beautiful artwork.

It is a FINE collection of faces after all.

But you are WRONG!!

All of our "Faces" collection was created by this young artist.

And yes, he enjoys wearing his Dad's head lamp as he creates.

A little extra light does always help.

Brilliant!