Screw loose?

Well, I had notes written all over my house since last Wednesday telling me NOT to eat Monday morning so I could get my blood drawn. For those of you who have read my blog before may recognize this predicament. I was supposed to get my blood drawn way back when before it even got cold. So once again I was attempting to do it this week. This morning, rather than getting up like a good little mom to make the kids lunches, I slept in till Bo pried me out of bed. I wandered downstairs still barely awake, I grabbed the cereal box off the counter and yes, ate a handful of cereal. Finally I started waking up and looked at the calendar and realized I did it again. I would have to plan another trip to the LAB, which with my schedule these days is tough. I talked to my husband later and asked him if I had a screw loose or something. His response was, “No Babe you don’t have a screw loose.” And just as I was thinking sweet things about my supportive hubby he followed it with, “That screw fell out a long time ago.” I had to laugh. That is one thing I do love about Michael. When I am stressing, he always helps me laugh. So I leave you with this, rather than stress about your “loose screws” find a way to laugh at them.

No stitches please.

Yesterday started out going great and smooth. Ya know those days that everything falls into place. We got the kids to school on time. I dropped Bo off at Debbie’s and was up at the school to volunteer on time. And then I picked Debbie up and took her to the pool for water “aerobics” and managed to get Bo out of the pool and dressed to show up on time to pick up the kids from school. Everything was amazing! I picked Timmy up at three and would go back up at five to pick the older ones up from DI. And this is where my day started to feel familiar to me. I lost track of time talking to my Mom-in-law and at five we jumped in the van to pick the kids up, only I forgot to go to the school and went to drop my mom-in-law off first. About three minutes from her house I remembered the kids. Boy did I fee like such a geek. At that point in time it was pointless to turn around. So I dropped her off and went to pick up Josh and Kate a half hour late! Oh well, whatcha gonna do. Back at the house my sis was cooking dinner for us. Both of our hubby’s were gone for the night so we decided to hang out. Dinner went great and afterward the kids played in the basement leaving my sister and my mom and I to visit. It was bliss. Soon that bliss was interrupted by screaming. And it was not the “Hey that is my toy scream” it was the “I think I lost an appendage scream.” I ran down the stairs and turned the corner to find Bo crying hard and blood covered the back of his neck. Oh my gosh I was afraid to look. I was just sure he was missing half his skull. I rushed him upstairs where my mom already had a wet towel waiting for us. I put it on his head right a way. When I would pull the towel away to peek, blood would just drip of his strands of hair like a leaky faucet. I couldn’t see the cut because the poor kid is way over due for a haircut. Since it looked like most of his skull was still there I calmed a bit and remembered a friend of mine telling me that head wounds usually look worse than they are and bleed a lot. After a couple minutes we got the bleeding to stop and I took a closer look. It was so small. I honestly couldn’t believe the kid about needed a blood donor for a cut about a centimeter wide. I was able to wash it out and I had Mike look at it when he got home. Bo was asleep and we took a flashlight in his room and we both just stared at his head. I would look at Bo’s head, then look at Mikes face, then back to Bo’s head and then look at Mikes face. I really didn’t want him to tell me it needed a stitch. Ugh. It was hard enough to get him to let me pour water over it to clean it, I can’t say he would have been to fond of the idea of becoming a patch work quilt. We decided to check it out in the morning. I made my way back to my room and collapsed on my bed. My kitchen was a mess and there were bloody towels on the counter but this mama was done for the day. Nothing like a little head injury to drain you of all ya have left. The good news is today, after an hour in the bathtub cutting away the hair, it looks pretty good. If it was on his face we would defiantly have had to stitch it, but the hair will cover the scar so we decided not to traumatize him anymore at this point in time.

Scary times, will I survive this parenthood thing?

This parenting thing sure can be scary at times. We just love these precious little terrors so much. Today my sister took her baby to the doctor because his eyes are shaking. They are sending the baby to get an MRI as a precautionary measure and then off to the ophthalmologist and a neuro consult. Of course it will take some time to find answers and in the mean time a mothers heart is left to worry. As I heard the news my mind began to wonder off to the many episodes of Grey’s Anatomy I had seen, with Derek Shepherd doing his amazing miraculous surgeries leaving you with the famous Hollywood feel good ending. I found myself hoping some handsome doctor would swoop in and give my sister the all too heroic news. But life is not a movie and it is times like these I am grateful for my faith. Sometimes the only thing that gets me through these moments of worry is that I believe in my maker. I believe he knows all and I have to believe his hand is on each one of my precious little gifts from him. So once again I hang on for dear life while this parenthood roller coaster scares me half to death.

You know you are a parent when...

You know you are a parent when….

You can’t remember the last time you slept through the night without a kid waking you up to pee or climbing in bed with you because of a bad dream.

You walk across the kitchen and step in something wet, sticky or slimy.

You calculate a time line by how old your kids were when it happened, or how many kids you had when it happened. I find myself saying, “oh, that happened two kids ago.”

And with a the help of y’all, here are a lot more “you know you are a parent when…”


~You get a call from the principal saying that your son was disrespectful and called his 8th grade math teacher by his first name. The funny part was, Kevin had no clue that Mr. Milligan's first name was Bob. He was just using a phrase from some movie that we used all the time around the house. When Mr. Milligan asked Kevin to do something, Kevin responded, "No prob, Bob." -Sandy

~ when you catch your husband (who laughs at you for watching Noggin, even when the kids aren't around) humming the tune to "The Wonderpet's Teamwork" song and you laugh because you feel vindicated and your so happy your not the only one who is getting sucked into your childs entertainment choices. –Hope

~ this may just mean your old...but when you sit on the couch...lean forward...and ask your kids to hand you a pillow for your back. Or when your oldest wants you to sit on the floor with you she says I will put a pillow down for you mom. Wait...does that just mean pregnant? –Sarah


~ You eat froot loops for breakfast, mac n cheese for lunch, and hotdogs for dinner♥ Love my babies! And for the older childern in my life, I have to put in my parent control just to watch my Monday night line-up! –Belisha

~ You start quoting your parents! –Jamie

~ When your wife says she's pregnant. –Dean

~ Under the wallet, your purse hides some baby wipes, hot wheels cars, plastic dinosaurs, and fruit snacks. –Julie

~ I second Julie's comment. :) -Jackie

~ When you consider grocery shopping and Dr apps "me" time. –Melissa

~ You answer to the cry of Mom when you aren't even with your own. –Kelly

~ When you aren't at all surprised to see your toothbrush in the toilet. –Julie

THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS…


And to sum it all up, You know you are a parent when at the end of the day, after all the milk has been spilt, the crayons have written on the walls, and the muddy foot prints tracked through the house, you look at your sleeping child and you know it’s all worth it!!!!!

Check it OUT!!!

It is a FREE Mini Workshop for the parents of Springport students. Please pass on the info, I would love to see you there!




Check this info out at JamieLightner.com Click on the Events page!

Who wins the great battle?

There is a great battle that rages inside me.
One side is the soaring eagle.
Everything the eagle stands for is good and true and beautiful, and it soars above the clouds. Even though it dips down into the valleys, it lays its eggs on the mountaintops.

The other side of me is the howling wolf.
And the raging, howling wolf represents the worst that’s in me. He eats upon my downfalls and justifies himself by his presence in the pack.

Who wins this great battle?





The one I feed.

Author Unknown


This is a poem I keep in sight, I thought some of you may like it too.

Gotta love Dad in-laws

Gotta love Dad in-laws. My poor husband was stuck outside with a broken tractor today. Fortunately he got most of the driveway plowed before he had to play “tractor mechanic.” After many hours of working on it and a trip to the Tractor store he called in the big guns, his Dad. From time to time I would peek out my door and see them working in the driveway on the tractor that will no longer move. I would look out there and think “how adorable.” I don’t know why but I just think it is the cutest thing to see Michael and his Dad working together. I guess it’s nice to know that no matter how old we get our parents are still there to help us out and offer their wisdom from the same turn of events that occurred in their life while we were the kids sitting at the table eating soup just like mine were tonight. And then my Dad in-law came in to have some hot soup and took the time to do some card tricks and tell jokes with my kids. Needless to say the whole seen just left me feeling all warm and fuzzy on such a cold blustery day.

Snow Day!

Snow day yeah! Usually when we hit about this time of year I am done with winter, done with snow, and certainly done with the cold air. But today I felt that same cozy fun feeling I felt on nights of a blizzard when I was in high school. The excitement in being able to be stranded from school, sleeping in being lazy, and just watching mother nature paint the world white. Today I watched the snow fall up, yeah, the wind was blowing so hard that it was not falling down. While I was watching the blizzard I had that same feeling all ready to make hot cocoa and watch movies. I thought to myself this is the one thing I do like about winter. A nice big blizzard that gives me an excuse to stay home in my pj’s with my kids snuggled up on the couch! I will enjoy mine, hope you enjoy yours.