The other family members

Let me introduce the kids...

Top left Bentley and Chiquita chilling at the beach

Chiquita in the middle left

Bentley and Chiquita lounging on the couch

Top right is Jerri

Middle right Maya and Ern smooching

Bottom right Maya swimming

Chiquita we got for Christmas almost 6 years ago! 
Bentley belongs to Chick #1 and he
lives back here now because he made
such a nuisance of himself that
Chick #1 almost was evicted!!
Maya was given to us by a friend 4 years ago this year
and my little sweet song bird is such a joy.  We purchased him
at the flea market about 4 years ago.
They are truly like our kids!

Belly Ache

This Goofball ate 7 sticks of beef jerky off of Little E's desk while we were gone.

We got home and saw only wrappers left.

She was thirsty for hours afterwards

so here she is laying by the door either having to pee really bad

or having to poo......

This is not the first time that she has gotten into trouble by eating something that she shouldn't have.

Last year it was the jalapeno bush and she pooped, and puked for a week solid.  I thought she was going to die.

Another time she ate a stick of butter and puked the whole night.

UGHGHGHG.......

When will she learn?!

Life Journaling

P.S. This is not mine, but along the lines of what one looks like.
Isn't it soooo cute?!

This is one that Amy did.  Just beautiful!

I have been wanting to do this life journaling thing for awhile now.  Since my summer vacation is almost here I decided to take the plunge and take this class.  It looks fun, artsy and definately an outlet for me to express some of this pent up creativity that has been swirling around in my head!  LOL.
So, I decided to take this class right here.
Amy the owner, teacher of The Paper Life is just adorable and has made a lot of videos to help you along in this artistic journey.

This is not mine either, it came from here

I can't wait to begin.
Look for the Life Journaling button on my side bar!

Captivating Chapter 1

Every girl has a dream!
There are 3 core desires in the heart of every woman:

1. To be Romanced!
first by her father
then the desire matures into a longing to be
pursued, desired, wanted as a woman!
2. To have an irreplaceable role in a Great Adventure!
 to be needed
to feel worthy
  to experience an adventure
3.  Beauty!
  The desire to be beautiful
 to feel like a princess
to be treated like a princess
to feel appreciated
  a desire to be captivating in the depths of who we are

Thtat's why we love chick flicks!
We love Cinderella! and stories like that.
Women love a man who will fight for her!!!

The Heart of a Man

1. every man wants a battle to fight....
as a boy they have weapons, they love to wrestle!
Men are made for BATTLE!

2.  Men long for ADVENTURE!
fishing
boating
dirt bikes
skateboards
guns

3.  A Beauty to Rescue!
They want a woman to fight for
want to show her their strength!

Men love Braveheart, Gladiator, Top Gun, High Noon

The desires of a man's heart and a woman's heart were meant to fit together beautifully!
His strength allows her feminine heart to flourish.
His pursuit draws out her beauty
Her beauty arouses him to play the man, it draws out his strength.
She inspires him to be a hero.

These are longings that God has written deep in our hearts
This book is not telling us to learn one more set of standards or rules to live by.  NOOOOO, something far better!  To take a journey of the heart. A journey toward restoration.  It's about discovering who we already are!!  We were made for romance, made to play an irreplaceable role in a shared adventure and who really does possess a beauty all our own to unveil.

I love chapter 1, so many aha moments for me.  Plus I see the weapons, guns, rough and tough moments that my son has a love for.  It is normal!  I see it with the boys at school also.  I see the frilly, lacey, princess, fairy stuff too with the little girls and I saw it with my own girls!

Family History

There are a few nuts in my tree!
and glorious, beautiful fruit!

Well, the title and meaning of my blog is about keeping memories.  I thought I would share with you a little about my family history!

I started with my parents and recorded, my grandparents and great grandparents.  I loved doing it, but it certainly has not been easy.  My father, his parents and so forth are not an easy bunch to follow.  My mother's side is a little easier but not much.   Anyways here is what the cover looks like. 

Growing up I was always kept in the dark, knowing not to ask questions. I had to assume, think long and hard, and talk to family. I never wanted to hurt my mom, always wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.  You never know what path someone has walked until you have walked in their shoes, and I certainly haven't. 

 I did my research on line using Ancestry.com and talking with family members.  I can tell you that I did not descend from royalty, and definately not the Cleaver Family.  But, it is where I come from.  Their lives and stories are  what I want my children to know.  They had a hard knock life.  I am grateful that the Lord guided and directed me down a differnt path.  To know Him and rely solely on Him!  I made the book using a kit from JessicaSprague and I put the book together using this site. 

There was what in our Garden?!

Yes, he was there checkin things out and not even caring that we were out there prompting him to leave!

He said he heard there were some good eatings over at the Green's and he decided to come on over!

I said, "No sir, you high tail it back over to your pond area and leave my eggplant alone!

Eli promptly went in and got him some lettuce to chew on.  You would of thought that he would of eaten that, but nope! He wanted my eggplant....

Anyways, this is what my lettuce is looking like these days.

Ahhh! Glorious lettuce........

Bell Peppers. This little plant has 5 big peppers on it!

These beauties were hidden under the leaves.  Good thing because the birds did not see them.

Our grapes are gorgeous!  Hope they are tasty!

We really don't know what we are doing... Just acting like it!  Just an experiment to see what will happen, how it happens, what to do and what not to do. 
By the way, we have some disgusting looking little wormy looking things in the compost pile and I am not liking the looks of them!

Oh Lord, please tell me that they should be there and that they are there to make our garden bountiful and beautiful!  Uh, somehow I am thinking NOT! 
Hubby informed me that he put fish guts in there! EWWWW!!!
NO WONDER!!
We do have earthworms too and I know they are good for the compost!

Boca Grande

Our weekend getaway was just what we needed!  We left Friday afternoon and made it down to Boca around  dinnertime.  Check out the beauty....

We stayed at the Innlet at Gasparilla Island in Boca.  You have pay to get onto the island.  So, you should probably have everything you need if you want to avoid the $5 fee, more if your pulling a boat.....The more comfortable people in our society reside there.  Very beautiful but very expensive. 

This is why we went, so hubby and little E could Tarpon fish.  Little E hooked one but after a fight, he got loose.  Check out the people on the boats.  There were at least 4 or more people per boat.  The boats had to really work to not hit each other.

While they fished I biked the entire island from point to point practically.  This guy was very interested in someone's Corona bottle. 

I bird watched

toured the island

A church?  It must be

This guy was so cute waiting for his owner.  People drive their golf carts or bikes everywhere.  This guy came on the golf cart with his owner.

This was interesting! I wonder what kind of jawbone?

It was a wonderful weekend, but so nice to be home.