Mexican Pony Grass. This plant is so cute!

garden done! now it needs to grow

Garden before I got my hands into it!

I worked super hard on my little garden yesterday. My plan was to get enough dirt to just plant without having to dig into all th stupid rock but my plan failed. I had to dig into all the stupid rock and I'm so sore. I worked for about 3 hours digging and planting. I wonder how many calories I burned? I always wonder that. I planted knock out roses, a gardenia tree (in the corner), 2 russian sage plants, tranferred some pink yarrow, 2 lambs ear and transferred two teddy bear sunflowers and one lemmon thyme. Now it just has to grow and fill in. I also put two Mexican pony grass in the front along with two pink nymphs which are annuals. The pony grass is so cute, I love it! Finally after 8 years my yard is starting to maybe take some shape. As my kids grow and become more independent I know I will need something to nuture. I can definitely see myself being a gardener. I've already planned the next garden in my mind, maybe I'll get to that one before 8 years goes by!  Oh and I was so excited to see a lot of zinnia volunteers from last year! And, the pansies that I pulled out from the front porch pots also left seeds behind because we have new pansies coming up. How fun it will be to have white impatients and purple pansies.

Today we're planning on going to the pool and just hanging out. I think Joe is bringing some friends. I'm eager to settle into our summer routine.

Found this precious rain boot planter at Hancock. Pink and green my favorite!! Owen isn't quite sure what the heck they are when he goes out to potty. I'm excited that my gardens are doing well and the beef steak tomato plant has one tomato on it! I was getting worried. The cherry tomatoes have lots of bunches on it. I picked one cherry tomato this morning and it was so yummy!! We were at the pool yesterday and today. It is wonderful being back at Willow Trace. The kids have friends there and it is a nice pool. I'm always popping into Publix anyway so it really isn't out of the way to go that pool. Today was hot and sunny and it felt great to sit in the chair and soak up the warm sun. Tomorrow I'm working on the garden in the back and we'll go back to the pool on MOnday. No bootcamp this week so I have to be sure I get my own exercise in. We'll be back at it a week from today!  Still thinking it would be nice if some people would move. Its interesting how some people's interpretation of events is so skewed. Very very strange!

All But My Life

I was at Barnes and Noble last week and I happend to ask about the HHS summer reading book. They had a bunch so I picked one up for the kids. I was surprised to see that it is an autobiography of Gerda Weissman Klein. She is a holocaust survivor and the book is about her time during the war and her time in the concentration camps. I thought, oh wow this is a great book for the kids to read. I decided to read it first as I'm always interested in history and especially autobiography's. As I was reading, I was trying to think of what my grandparents were doing during this time. Gerda was born in 1924 so she was younger than my Grandpa Metz and a bit older than my other grandparents but around the same age as all of them. Her strength and will to live and loyalty to her family which was torn apart by the Nazi's was truly amazing. The book is heartwrenching and warm at the same time. Gerda's faith in God was unshakeable and it is apparent that God had a true mission for her to complete here on earth. One of the things I found truly amazing in this story was her love for America. It made me sit and think how amazing our country is.  On liberation day, an American soldier  sees her and tells her that the war is over and she is now free. Gerda weighed 68lbs, she had lice on her and she was pale. She was in awe of this soldier at how he didn't care that she was a Jew he told her that he too was a Jew, he didn't care that she looked more like an animal than a girl and when he called her a lady she was in disbelief.  She thanked him for fighting for her freedom. Freedom, something we take for granted here. Our birth right, being an American, how truly blessed we are. Of course I've grown up being free, free to go to my church and free to travel but reading Gerda's story made me try to imagine not being free. Honestly, I could not imagine it and I'm not sure I would have had the will to go on as she did. She finally came to America and she said when she set foot on American soil she knew she was home, she loved America from the minute she was here and she was eager to be part of the mainstream. She wanted to learn English and she would spend hours in the grocery store teaching herself. I couldn't help but think about the illegal's in our country the ones who wave their home country's flag and who will not learn English. I am happy to share my country with other's but I believe they must realize that if they are here to live, it is necessary for them to be part of our culutre, not the other way around. I think having the high school kids read this book now is perfect timing. It is important to keep stories such as Gerda's alive so our children and future generations will not forget. So they will see the importance of fighting for freedom.

I'm a waterer. I love watering my flowers, I will water my flowers even if its supposed to rain. There is something satisfying and therapeutic about watering them and esp. adding miracle grow. I've been told that I'm a nurturer and nurturers doodle circles which I've done since I was young. When the kids were babies each time I fed them, I'd think about the food and how it will help them grow and make them big and strong. I still think that when they sit down to a fabulous plate of fruit or a super healthy dinner and when they sit down to a huge bowl of ice cream I think yikes! lol. Hoover had graduation last night. Kate is officially a senior. I hope I've nurtured her in a positive way to help her find her way in the world after next year. She is so excited to be a senior. I feel like she was just graduating 8th grade. Seeing Jack get ready for high school is fun too. I know this summer will be a big summer for him.

Do you ever wish some people would just up and move? I have to admit that I kind of wish that sometimes. I know that isn't nice  but I never claimed to be perfect and I sometimes I just think, gah I wish so and so would just move...

It's Wed. Jack is the only Leventry child that has to get up for school. Poor guy! He has a History final today and a Language Arts final. He insists that he knows all of it. I kind of doubt it. We'll see though. Joe spent the night at Logans where I'm sure they had a fabulous time running around the woods trying to shoot small animals. Joe is such a boys boy it isn't even funny! He is planning a roller skating day tomorrow, he's texted and facebooked his friends. Cracks me up! Kate enjoyed an evening with all her besties last night. It makes my heart happy to see her having so much fun! Yay! I was talking to a mom yesterday about how the kids at 17 are so much more enjoyable than they were at 16. They're coming into their own, they know who their friends are and its okay to be comfortable b/c in a year, things will be changing so much.

Today is our last booty boot boot camp until the summer session starts early June. It will be nice to go at 10:30am so I'll have the rest of the day to do whatever. I think it did me good to take a week off of bootcamp. I had a good work out on Monday and I'm sore enough but I'm ready to go back today. Although, I noticed yesterday in one of the pictures Rick's mom took that my arms are bigger. I kind of panicked. they look toned and stronger which is so good but I'm not a fan of bigger. I'd rather have that than fatty and flabby. Kate always says she wants my butt and Lauren says she got her butt from me haha but I think they both have cuter booty's than me. I told Kate to get my booty she needs to be doing yoga and a lot of squats and have 4 kids. She says booties are "in" unlike when I was growing up, we didn't want a booty. Kate informed me that a wide butt is not good but a bubble but w/o fat on it is good. haha goodness!! It sounds complicated to me, I'll stick with the yoga and squats so I can maybe just maybe I can achieve the right butt!

I am still looking for a cute strapless black swim top. 40 year old boobs almost 41 year old boobs are not easy to make look cute in a swim top esp. a strapless one. I hate the bandeau type tops, I think they're ugly and don't do anything for me. I really want one with cute ruffles on it. My favorite strapless top I found several years ago at the PCB walmart. It is brown and went great with several swim skirts I have. I am determined to find a black one similar. We are going to the beach in 3.5 weeks!

Joe graduated from 5th grade today. It seems like he was just signing up for kindergarten. we've completed 7 years of school here. It was a nice little program about an hour long. He had a wonderful time at the pool party and now he is spending the night at Logan's. His summer has begun. Jack is still taking finals and Kate has one or two more. She doesn't have to go on Friday. Her summer is almost here. she went to the big graduation party last night and had a lot of fun. she said next year her class's party will be awesome! I love so much that she is enjoying all her friends. this is the time for her do that, have fun, don't stress and just enjoy. I'm excited to see what her senior year brings. Hopefully everything will be great! I'm ready for Jack to be done with school too. I know he is excited about moving on to high school and he needs summer to sleep and grow. He is changing so much right now. We were happy Rick's mom and dad could share in Joe's graduation too. Midge said it was nice to get away from Athens for a while and not think about surgeries and cancer. She really looks good and the dr. thinks the cancer is localized and should be easy to get. I hate so much that she even has to think about it.

Joe's last full day at SSC. Can't believe it's time for him to move on from there. It seems like yesterday he started kindergarten. Kate and Jack have exams this week and RIck is still recovering from jet lag. I'm doing fine with it now. It's tough coming back and being 5 hours behind! Rick and I made it to church yesterday. Fr. Fallon's homily was good but really, I think he could have cut it in half. Basically the scripture focused on Jesus saying that no one goes to the Fr. unless they go to Him first. Amen..... I've been having fun creating baby bibs for friends who've have babies. I forgot how fun and functional these bibs are. Working with babies, I know it is important to have a bib that covers everything in front! When one of the babes doesn't have one, its usually a huge mess. My bibs are so cute and custom and actually functional. I remember I had about 10 of these bibs when Kate was a baby. I have to admit that girls are way more fun to sew for b/c I can add all the fun trimmings! I am looking into purchasing some labels for them. tml for baby... I used to make matching bloomers but I remember dealing with elastic and that wasn't fun. Not sure I want to get into all that. For now, this is fun. I have a set of four wrapped for baby Anna Kate Bradford!

We're home from Hawaii. It was fabulous, Pics are up on facebook. I'm not putting any on here because I'm tired of uploading them. The Four Seasons was absolutely amazing and we were spoiled rotten! The food was awesome, the drinks were yummy although I really didn't have that many. I worked so hard to be in shape that I didn't want to blow it on drinks. We ziplined and snorkled and danced and met new people and laughed. It was great. The kids loved having mom and dad here. They did so many neat things to the house and outside. I'm excited for them to get back here on the 18th so we can talk about everything. I think I'm adjusted to the time change. The jet lag coming home was tough. Having to get up early and being on Hawaii time was hard but since I'm done working now I was able to sleep when the kids left for school. Bootcamp starts again for me on Monday. It will be so hard but it'll be good. I did work out in Hawaii and I even did yoga there which I really wanted to do. Bootcamp will kick my booty I'm sure but hopefully by the end of the week I'll be good to go. Midge and Bob are coming in on Monday and we're all going to dinner. Joe's 5th grade graduation is on Tues. I cannot believe he is going to be in 6th grade. I remember sitting outside Mrs. Norton's room when he was in kindergarten thinking that it would be so long before he'd be at Bumpus. I know I will cry when I see those children walk down the hall and the rest of the school cheering them on. He is jazzed about his pool party. Thankfully it is only 2 hours long. I'm sure he'll want to have someone over afterwards. Rick bought SEC baseball tickets which starts next week. We are all so ready for summer. Kate is almost in summer mode. Today she was with her girlfriends at one of the pools, tonight they all went to dinner and then to one of the girls house. I'm guessing Alex is with the guys tonight. Jack rode the bus home with his friend yesterday, spent the night and hung out all day. Rick finally picked him up at 7pm. Joe was Southpointe pool today. He had a great time and he is excited to go to our pool. I am too!! I started reading the HHS required summer reading book. I happened to be at Barnes and Noble yesterday and I thought to buy it. It is actually very interesting.

Had a wonderful weekend!! Ended up back in Homewood at Salon U with Alicia. She is so great with my hair and I missed her. She fixed my yucky blonde and made me a beautiful sophisticated blonde once again. Rick said he missed my "stripper" hair. ha. She did three colors, full foil and a toner and deep conditioner and didn't charge me the full amount. I'll be back for more! Also, while I was there, i dropped off two chip/dip's at http://www.alabamagoods.com/ We'll see. The girls in there are just so sweet and all the items in the shop are done by local Alabamaians. People know when they shop in Homewood everything is expensive but everything is soo cool! Anyway, after that I met Rick at Panera where he didn't eat one thing because he said he doesn't like that food. then we had yogurt, popped into Wrapsoday to see Kate, went to Academy and bought Rick some shorts and then we went home. Ahh. i was tired! I need to pack but I can't even think about it until tonight or tomorrow. Today is my last day at the playschool for the summer and my last bootcamp at least til the next session. Kate told me my hips and legs looks skinny. ha! maybe it is working all this booty camp. Mothers day was lovely. The kids and Rick gave me the Hobo bag I wanted and I got to chat with Lauren too. I'm a lucky mama.


Okay, thats all. I'm done, off the soap box. Now, I'm off to shower and use all my new Aveda products!! Ahh. love love love!!

ps. I love my friends and family and animals and the sunshine and the warm air and trips to the beach and skinny jeans and babies and two year olds and my job and flowers and yummy tomatoes. :)

Lots to say!!!!

I'm typing this with a sink full of dirty dishes. Blech! I am not motivated one bit right now to do them. They'll be there when I'm done. It has been such a nice day. All the kids were sleepy heads this morning but it is Friday and they know that they can't miss school so off they went. Rick and I walked two miles and it was actually a little chilly. I was thinking I'd get  a harder work out in later today but I was a bit sleepy after working this morning, lunching with Rick and then shopping for my mom and for me! Work was fun. Margie and I had two babies and they were so easy breezy. I picked up my Mary Kay serum from Shea and then I ran to the Compass ATM at the Grove which btw I so love! Oh goodness, it has made my life so much better having that bank right there! I cashed my nursery check and then cashed two checkes that were for Kate and Joe from Ellen. I loaned them the cash so I got 40.00 back in my wallet! I called Rick and told him I was hungry so we met at Baumhauers for lunch. We always end up going there but thats okay. I love the blk/wht chicken and the past several Fridays were Lent and I couldn't get it. I ran to Belk after lunch and bought mom her Mother's day present which I'm sooooo excited about. It is just too cute and she is gonna love it! I also bought a long strapless kint dress by Sophie Maxx and a new bra, new nude panties for my new white pants and new footie socks. Then I headed to Target to buy the cutest jammie set from the St. Barts collection and snacks for Jack and his friends. I was starting to melt by this point. I had to pick up Jack and two buds from Bumpus so I swung by there and did that. When I got home, I unloaded the bags and crawled in bed for a few. I needed a nap. Just when I got all settled, Rick called to tell me he had to see Kate and Wrapsody. I was thinking she needed money which she did but he didn't have but he went there for my present. I know what it is! Kate told him that the only thing I wanted was this very sophisticated sachel! OMG it is amazing. haha. I never spend a l ot of money on purses esp. on Coach and such b/c I just think everyone has them and most of them aren't all leather anyway so you're just paying for the name which is overrated. I've had coach bags in the past and I wasn't always happy with them. Soo, anyway, that is just my opinion, obviously. Rick bought the purse! Ahh! It will be so great to take on our trip. I haven't opened it yet, I'll get it on Sunday. I told him that really, my hair apt. tomorrow is plenty oh and maybe finishing the stone patio would be nice but I will gladly accept this bag! Now on to last night. Kate and I went to Karen Amidon's studio to view all of her senior pictures. Ohhhh goodness!!! They're all amazing. Karen said she took 3000 pictures of her and she could be a model. Anyway, Kate is not going to be a model but she sure had fun doing the shoot. There is a dvd/slideshow that is fabulous. We have to have it. Karen is going to put a link on fb so people can view it. Karen and Jeff are one talented team! We are considering which package we want to get. Kate is jazzed b/c her pics will be in the new studio which is in the preserve. We will be in big trouble when she gets married, that's for sure! It is so cool all the photography these days. Joe called me this morning on his cell phone from the bathroom. He wanted to know if he could ride home with one of his friends. I said, dude, you can't call me and ask me that b/c I didn't write a note. he's a hoot! he and his three buddies have a movie day set up for th 15th. he is definitely a mover and a shaker.  That's my Joe. Rick would have been just like that if he was a kid today.

Thursday!

Rick said everything around this church was flattened. It is so crazy that this church was left unscathed.

It is a beautiful day today. I was on standby to work this morning but miss Olivia is fine and off to school so no play school for me. I'm really enjoying my time again at the play school. I had my end of the year review and found out that I am going to be in my two's room once again! I'm so excited. All will be right in the world again. Me in my two's room hanging out the door waving to Vonnie and Susan and chatting by the other door with Shawn and Adrianna. Of course, in between those chatting times will be lots of fun filled story time and crafts and singing and dancing. I love my job so very much and I'm thankful to have it. Monday is my last day for the year at least for the play school. I will be sad to say goodbye to the babies in our class. We really love them and they make vonnie and I laugh every single day. I saw one of my babies, Stella last night while I worked in the nursery. Her mom and dad were there for young families and I loved that she knew me and trusted me and came to me for me to hold her. I told her mom that I'll be sad because she won't remember me. That is just part of it. Part of working in the play school. We're never remembered but we alll plant seeds of love that will bloom inside of those sweet children. Even though we work with very young children, I've come to know and learn that it is an important job. We do a lot of play but "Play is a child's work." They must have a loving caring safe environment to play in and I know we do the best at providing that for them. We are also busy planning our two summer camps. We've had a fabulous response already for both sessions. I have to say  that I'm truly enjoying my kids being a little older. I can be working and planning for work without the guilt of not being with them every min. I'm kind of liking that. Rick was in Tuscaloosa yesterday for the whole day. He was amazed at what he saw there. It is all so very sad. He said they went out to an area that was a former trailer park. He said when he got there, there was a guy there who told them he was fine and didn't really need anything. Rick said they told him they were there to help and they could help with removing trees and such. The guy broke down in tears and said he is exhausted and he just can't do it all anymore and he was so glad they were there. This man had been up patroling the area b/c people were looting and such. It is all so sad but there are a lot of volunteers from all over the country. In Rick's group there were people from Birmingham, Savannah, GA & Texas. He said when he was driving into Tuscaloosa he was amazed that he could see the Alabama campus all the way down McFarland Blv. He said stores like Hobby Lobby and Lowes were wiped out,gone.

Kate and I are meeting with Karen Amidon this afternoon to look at her senior pics. Karen said they're awesome and she is so excited to show us. Goodness, this will be expensive! :) Kate is doing so great, she is growing up and making mature decisions. Her friends are good, her work is good, schools is well school and its good but she is tired. We are all ready for summer. Joe had "the video" on Monday. He said they were no big deal but I'm glad he was there to see them. Jack is in the throws of puberty! His voice is changing, he is growing like crazy and he even has a little "stache" Not sure when boys start to shave that. This is a whole new ball game for me. He is so drama free it is wonderful. He has sweet friends that honestly I can't see getting into trouble in high school.

Rick and I have some shopping and planning to do this weekend in preparation for our big trip to Hawaii. I'm still kicking it hard with boot camp. Tatum said she could definitely tell my arms are so much more defined. I told her that was all fine and dandy but I want the pudge to budge on the legs! she laughed and said, it will it all takes time. I know it is working and I know I am so much stronger than I was 7 months ago when I started. I can do frog hops and not pass out  and this sounds crazy but I can do jumping jacks again with out a lot of pain. Some days are better than others, thats just the way life goes.

Our subconscious mind communicates with us in picture form. Those things that you want in your life, picture them for your subconscious mind to look at. Make that picture as exact as you possibly can. Remember to always ask that only those things that are for your highest good be brought forward.




Picture the organs of your body that have been disturbing you as perfect. If you've been having trouble with the lower back or a kidney, tell that organ now that it is perfect and perfectly functioning, because that's the way it is designed to be.

We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail. The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.


We'll meet violence with patient justice -- assured of the rightness of our cause, and confident of the victories to come." George W Bush

I hate it when facebook becomes all political. But with OBL's death, today was a day of statuses. Personally, I was happy to hear he is gone. Maybe we should not judge as a lot of people are stating but it was his time. Time to meet his maker. I think a lot of people have forgotten how they felt when the towers were hit and when they fell and when our country was under attack and how our lives have all changed. People have quotes of MLK on their statuses. I always agree with not hating and with loving first but I think that the people who are saying that today most likely said they wanted him dead and gone 10 years ago. Just my thoughts. It saddens me that liberals can be so soft. I am happy our country stayed strong and actually got the enemy. God can judge him and do what He pleases. OBL committed his sins and now he can pay the price.

thankfully the USA stayed strong in the pursuit for Osama Bin Laden. The president announced last night that military specialist shot and killed him in Pakistan. It took ten years but we got him. I would imagine a lot of people who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks can maybe have some closure. Hearing the news that obl is gone was definitely a good way to end our weekend. People are still reeling from the tornadoes last Wed. Rick and I shopped this weekend for victims and we donated to the red cross. I know there will be more opportunities to help as the weeks continue.

Kate enjoyed the weekend with Maddie and her mom and sisters at the lake .I was happy she had the weekend to get away. I worked in the nursery yesterday and Adrianna and I planned the camps for the summer. I hope we get a lot of children signed up so we can all participate in the fun! Joe went to his first unsupervised movie yesterday with two friends. I think the girls were in the next theater but he said they didn't see them. I love that he is making new friends already. He is jazzed about going to Bumpus! He said he hopes all his gang is on the same hall but he knows that is unlikely. He is a lot like Kate in the way he is so social. Already hanging with the trace girls is very reminicent of Kate at that age. We belonged to Willow Trace pool the summer going into 6th grade and that is where she met all her guy friends. I love that Joe is having so much fun and he is disciplined about his school work too. Rick loaded Jack up on fishing gear this weekend. His collar bone is better so he is excited about doing some fishing.

I just finished some yoga and now its time for work! It looks like a beautiful day. this is my last full week with the babies. :( Next Wed. I'm off to Hawaii!