there you go- edit edit edit

Once again, I typed while tired 'TWT'... and left a few things out :-)  I didn't send some poor person a random pic from pinterest... I sent them the message at the bottom of  this post.  The picture was all for me! 

So I'll try not to be so brief tonight- i think my last post led a few people to believe we had RANDOM ticks in our home!! Jumping from the ceiling into Bodies hair <<----- not the case :-)  Bo and his cousin Mark had been playing down by the creek, digging in who knows what, playing with all of God's wondrous creations... and came home with ticks!!! i really, really, really don't like them.  at all.  not even a little bit.  I now know that tweezers will do the trick, YUCK, and that I'm not afraid to set things on fire in the house... just ticks, but you get what I'm saying. no ticks.  I'll burn 'em up.  quick like.   

This weekend we had some of my aunts on my mom's side in for a visit- We attempted a 'girls picture'

Aurelia was kicking and squealing and laughing, which made all of us laugh... ok, I may be grimacing, but ya know, it's a bit tricky to hold on to 30 pounds of wiggling Bell!!

 Abe LOVES it when we  take pictures of ourselves- we reverse that camera and start snapping! 

we take a LOT of pictures...

a Lot a LOT of pictures :-)

I love that he loves it!  

 Bodie  is getting really good with his Nerf guns!  He's also getting REALLY TALL!!! ok, not *really* tall... but he's growing quickly.  My amazing middle man! 

We had a lot of fun with cousin Christopher-  he was amazingly patient, chasing a football/boomerang/airplane at least 756,389,402 times!

LOOK at that face!!! such a clown! 

My cousin Jen and her sweet son Parker surprised us on Saturday and came to join the party!  I miss this girl so much... she's a strong momma. 

This is pretty much how we all felt by this afternoon- so full of fun we couldn't keep our eyes open!! 

The arts and craps project is DONE!! The slot is at the top ...it's a card box...  :-)  I had painted the boxes and tacked the ribbon and flowers on at the beginning of April but had never finished it!  Since the Wedding is next Saturday I thought I had better get it done!! you know you own a penguin ball! 

If you've been around me for more that 45 seconds you probably know that I have children.  Being Generous, if you've known me for more than 24 hours, you probably know that some of my children have special needs.  You may have heard, seen, or read a post or comment about the words you choose... and how the off the cuff use of the word 'Retard' as derogatory slang is  pretty much enough to make my heart stop... for just a second. I think to myself 'how is this ok? who, really, thinks that this word is just fine to use??' It came up again tonight on social media... in a person's post, someone who often comments on my posts from the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign.  so, I calmly sent them a message... worded politely.  

hey! hope you're having a good night- I don't know if you've seen any of my posts- I work with an organization that has a 'spread the word to end the word' campaign. We try to educate and inform people to choose a word other than 'retard' or 'retarded' when they are mocking someone/something... Basically, when you use the word 'retarded' you are making fun of someone, who through no choice or fault of their own, has different abilities- like Abe. People say ' i didn't mean it like that'... when you use that word, your telling your children, your friends, your community, that it's a fine word to use, and that the perpetuation of that stereotype and disrespect is acceptable. Abe can't speak, so I'm speaking up for him. Have a great night.

Then I found the below sign on Pinterest

 a good reminder for me.   I encourage people to speak up ALL the time but find it so hard to do myself.  No more.  

Happy Memorial Day!  Thankful for all who have served.