no shoes and cat pee

You know how some days you stop and wonder how you got to this point in your life?  Where did you go wrong?  This isn't how you pictured it. 

Here is a recap of my moment from a couple of weeks ago.

7:40 AM-I absent mindedly put my kids in the car without grabbing their shoes. They went to the sitter's without shoes.  Not the end of the world, except they had hair cut appointments that day.  I still decided against turning around when I realized it a couple of miles from home.

3:20 PM-J.R. picks them up for hair cut appointments, and John Hinton promptly pulls a crown off one of molars with a sticky sucker from the sitters.

3:40-J.R. rushes him to the dentist-without shoes.  Now, at the hair cut place, I figured we were assuming the risk of no shoes.  But at the dentist, I feel like we were dragging the place down with respect to hygiene.  Whatever, both my kids were barefoot at the dentist. 

3:45-So, I run to the dentist to get Sammy so he can get his haircut, and he won't be permanently scarred from anything that may or may not be happening at the dentist. 

3:55-Sam and I head to the hair cut place, where he acts a fool while I get my hair highlighted then had a giant dirty diaper which I have to change on the floor of the bathroom. 

4:25-Then J.R. and John Hinton show still missing the crown.  Whatever.  My children continue to act like banshees until I banish them with their father until I'm finished. 

5:30-I finish and get in my car.  I notice a persistent stench that has been there a couple of days. 

5:40-I got home. I have J.R. come out to smell my car.  He nonchalantly deems it cat pee. I refute. I (in front of a group of party goers at my neighbors) proceed to get on my hands and knees with my butt in the air to smell every inch of my car to find the stench.  Shut. The. Front. Door.  A cat has peed on the floor mat. 

6:00-I pull the mat out and take it around front to wash it where I find both my boys butt-a-naked in front of all the neighbors.  They are playing the water hose. 

What the hell just happened?

The worst part is that they are my dang cats!!!  I rescued both of them.

We are super classy with a k. klassy.

My other love

My other little love has been under represented here lately. We can't have that.
This is my Mother's Day brunch at Anchuca. It is my favorite. To quote John Hinton, "it's the best day of my life."




I mean, it is a really good brunch, but we may need to get him out more often. Then again, what can I say, we take our food very seriously!

On that same note, Sam poured sugar into his syrup cup and drank it. But he did it quietly so all's well that ends well.




This kid made me a mother. He rocks my world. If I loved him anymore, it might just kill me.

just a little handicapped

So, we went to a party the other day and I was following Sam around like I do at parties in strange places with strange people that he does not know.  As we passed by a table of four women that I did not know, I overheard a lady say, "they wanted a handicapped one but one that was a just a little handicapped."  I kept following Sam.  Then I heard another one say, "and they are going to get his lip fixed too."  Then, in my head I thought, "Damn, Sam, they are talking about us!!!"  You know you all cuss in your head. 

I had to bust out laughing.  Sure he came from the "special needs" list.  Show me a kid who has spent two and a half years in an institution without a family who doesn't have a special need.  I have never thought of him as handicapped.  I told several friends this story and the first thing each one has said is "I bet you went off on her." 

If you don't know me in real life, then you may not know that I do not take kindly to someone hurting someone that I love.  I will give you the unholy business.  I will scratch your eyes out, rip your head off and then make you apologize for getting my hands dirty. 

You may even fancy yourself some sort of want to be beauty queen, but when you jack with my friend, I will disable you before you can say Miss Congeniality.  I'm not afraid of breaking my nose, and I have 30 pounds on you.  That's just a hypothetical, of course.  My mama tried to make me nice like her, but I have too much of my daddy in me. 

Here's the thing, don't call my kid handicapped.  Umkay?  You may not be so lucky the next time.   And what the hell does a little handicapped even mean? 

Because I need to round out this PSA with cuteness, here is me and Sammy on mothers day.  The day when their daddy told them that if they made me sad they would all get spankings.  Well, Sam has never had a spanking and it's not that out of the normal routine for John Hinton so it was not that big of a deterrent. 

Who's the lucky one?

One of the most frequent comments we get about Sam is how lucky/blessed he is that we adopted him.  We provide Sam with love, food and shelter. Not all biological children get that. Not all orphans leave their institutions.  So I do understand why someone would think that Sam was lucky.

But make no mistake, it is Sam who is the blessing, and we are so proud that he is ours.  

This is Sam three days after his palate repair surgery feeding John Hinton his pudding.  This child is such a special little nugget with a sweet, sweet spirit and a heart of gold.

Sam's recovery is right on track.  Apparently alternating between being happy and acting like a hormonal 13 year old girl at one week post surgery puts him right where he is suppose to be. 

Feel free to stop by with a drink and ear plugs (and enough to share).  You will need both of them...

evil, hate, and despair

There is much evil, hate, and despair in the world, it takes my breath away. Whether it is exploiting children, abusing the defenseless or killing the innocent in the name of a god or government, I cannot comprehend it. 

I thank God for the joy and hope I find in my children. They are pure and good and I believe God will use them for his glory.  Because I know they are not my own but his, we gave Samuel back to him by way of baptism at my home church.  No matter where I go in life, that church will always be home.  I was baptized there 20 years ago and married JR there 10 years ago. 

It was beautiful even if the pictures weren't.  We seriously need  a coach for pictures.

I love this little munchkin.  He is sassy and sweet and a mama's boy to the bone.  He is loved.

Life

This is what most of life sounds like.  Well, at least my waking non-working hours.

 

 

seriously, we need help

We cannot take a decent picture. It's time to call the professional.  Here are our attempts at Easter. This is as good as it got.

John Hinton looks like someone out of children of the corn, but how stinkin cute is Sammy's smile?