"Music in the soul can be heard by the universe." Lao Tzu

Will started taking piano lessons from Mrs. Bass in mid-March this year.  He has proved to be quite talented in it!  What an amazing kid!  While we visited Grant for Thanksgiving, he gave an impromptu concert with Timmy at Westview.  He played without any music book, sang along, and helped Timmy ALL at the same time!!  The residents LOVED their performance!

Will also performed at a Christmas Piano Program sponsored by Mrs. Bass where 28 of her students performed.  He played The First Noel and did a wonderful job!  His Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, and Grandad were all in attendance, along with me and Shaun of course. 

The Things We Do To Protect Our Family...

This is a true story. A week ago, my loving husband left all the doors open to our house. A bird flew in! And guess what??? It didn't fly back out and we haven't been able to find it! Guess who decided to show its face JUST after friends left tonight?? THE BIRD!!!! So, I grabbed Will's BB gun and ran around the house after this bird!! It ended up in the boys' bedroom!!! After shooting 5 or maybe 10 times (HA!), I finally hit the poor thing! It took about as long for me to approach it afterwards as it did to shoot it down! But, alas, RIP lil renegade bird. Now I have to patch some BB dents in the walls...

After said birdy was down for the count, I heard Will tell Timmy, "I'm really worried now.  Daddy told me we have to eat everything we shoot..."

Kindred Souls

Some friends you meet only as acquaintances.  And some friends you meet who will be friends for life.  We've had the honor of meeting our soul mate friends- all of our kids get along wonderfully (in fact, my oldest son and my friend's oldest daughter are planning to wed in the future), our husbands get along great, and most of all, my friend and I are BFF's. 
Shortly after realizing our amazing friendship, my friend's husband took a job in Texas and a move out-of-state was in store. 
What I've realized now that she and her beautiful family are gone is that they really are our true friends.  We can't WAIT to visit them in their wonderful new home!!  In fact, how does two weeks sound??!!

Will's Song

Family

These are my people- my parents, my brothers and their wonderful wives, my niece, my hubby and kiddos.  I LOVE getting together with them all in one place!  We live three states away from them, and while there are many days I wish we lived right next door, I realize the time we spend TOGETHER is that much more precious because we can't have it all the time and whenever we want.  What an impressive, dynamic group!

I love you all!

Baby Kate, Baby Kate...

This is my beautiful baby niece, Kate.  She is so funny and energetic!  I LOVE her personality and baby girl gibberish!  She turns 2 next month- I can't believe how time flies!  Timmy and Will love playing with her- Will loves reading to her and jumping around.  Timmy, being two months younger, wants toys that she has and books she's reading.  The boys couldn't have asked for a more fun cousin!  When should she expect a little brother or sister?  I'm working on talking her parents into that one!

I learned MY lesson!

So, I grew up on a farm 6 miles from a town of 1,247 people. My parents never locked the doors to their house... or to any of their cars. You trust people there. People are still good- they may screw up, but they are good people.
In contrast, my husband was a military brat living in places all over the US. Their instinct was to trust your family, but be VERY cautious of everyone else. Question whatever is told to you and always ask WHY?
The other day, while Timmy napped and Will was at school, a man ran our doorbell. Now, my husband says to never answer the door if he's not home. I think that's ridiculous! People are good, right? So, I ignore his advice, open the door and a professionally dressed man greets me. He says they are doing free carpet cleanings- no strings attached! Well, how could I pass this up? As the lone vacuum pusher in our household, I found this invitation to be a dream come true! Someone else was going to vacuum AND clean the carpets??? What a deal!
A few minutes later, I find out it's the Kirby salesman! If I could have run away I would've! This young kid comes in, vacuums my entire living room and shows me how much filth we actually live in- even after our very own vacuum cleaned the carpets, his majestic Kirby picked up tons of filth! An HOUR AND A HALF later, this kid STILL isn't done with his Kirby shpeel! Now, I have patience- at least some! But I felt like I had developed a case of ADHD after watching him vacuum my carpet over and over again for an hour and a half! I panicked realizing he was NEVER GOING TO LEAVE!!! So, I told him we had someplace to be and basically kicked him out of my house! As I drove away, thankful to be out of the situation, I looked in my rearview at that young man standing at the end of my driveway waiting for his boss to pick him up. I realized my husband was right (as much as it pains me to say it)- never answer the door when home alone. You may end up buying one of those $4000 vacuums afterall!