Motherof3brothers

2012

 

It has begun..another year.  wow!!

I've thought about this day many times...seemed like it was forever away. I'd hear it happening to my friends and it seemed like an impossibility for me...but I have DONE IT.

I have turned 40..today

And although it seems like a bummer, I am spending the day in Seattle with my 15 year old getting his Infusion....it is fine by me. Any time to be with my kids is a gift. So thankful to be 40 and have this life that couldn't possibly be better. While growing up, I never could have known THIS is what God had planned for me.  I am so thankful that He has had at least 40 years written into his book beside my name. No way to know what that number is written next to SHannon Nole Young. It was decided long before I was even born (Psalm 139:16) . Becasue of that I am going to chose to LIVE AND LOVE each and every one OF THEM...days or years.

So not only do I have another fresh new year to relflect and contemplate my goals and objectives, but I have the milestone of turning 40. It takes much self control to not look around and compare myself to others, to wish for what they have, or desire their talents or gifts. It is easy to get sucked into wanting to be more like so and so, or setting my sights so far that I don't enjoy today or what I have.

And truthfully, I lack that self control often..but I thankfully, every day is a new day...and if I continue to focus on the Truth and  Strength that I know sustains me...I'll be just fine. 40 and all!

 

Right Now....

up to my elbows in ribbons, bow, photos and glue...

This year I have decided to make a Christmas album. It has been so fun looking through 15+ years of Christmas photos. The boys have grown so big... Putting this together has helped me focus on the now. Life moves so fast. I want to savor all of it. 

i love that i have started using products from Becky Higgins: Project Life. I has made a world of difference. I can whip out a page with just some cutting and writing. no worries about all the decorations and designs that got very overwhelming with scrap booking. Love the end results!!

 

 

 

 

 

Getting closer to being done...I am starting 2007. Goal is to get to 2011 by the end of the weekend. Love it!!

 

Also been working on these

130 Christmas Cards addressed and ready to be sent!! Yahoo. Feels so good to get them out.

Feels like Christmas is just around the corner. I am getting a bit antsy because I know I have ordered a few items that haven't shown up yet...this always gets me befuddled.

 

Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time.....

Warning: This is a heavily photographed post..but how can it not be. Christmas is simply delightful to photograph. Here are somethings filling me up this season...

{Blossom Hound}

 

{25 Christmas blessings}

 

{Nolen}

{Ayden}

{ketner} with cold ears

 

 

{past Christmas cards books, love looking through them and seeing the changes and growth of all our friends}

 

{Pencil Santa collection}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

flying by

Today is the last day of November 2011. Time is sailing past me. This morning as I was drinking my coffee and watching the morning news, a commercial for a Ford truck came on. It showed a young boy, probably 3 or 4, playing with his cars, and trucks and train tracks in his family's living room. it startled me because it was like looking back into my life 10+ years ago. Oh how different life is now. My boys are all teenagers (well almost). They no longer "play", or wrestle, or build things, or color, or need tucked in (well almost). I watched that commercial and I honestly got tears in my eyes because my kids are so big now. It made me cherish all those sweet times. Of course Nolen thought I was a dork for getting teary over a Ford commercial. But when I glance at all my boys, I faintly see my life without them here everyday. I know it is all normal emotions of watching your kids grow up. But it is hard nonetheless.

 

I am so thankful for my life. I am so Thankful for all of our health, our family who is nearby and adores us. I am thankful for God who blesses me each morning to be able to hug these boys who are all much taller than me. 

Thanksgiving 2011

{Dad and my brother Tim carving the bird)

{Cooking began early at our house. I love hosting Thanksgiving}

 

 

 

 

 

{The after-GLOW}

Here's a glimpse of what is occupying our lives right now. High School Basketball

 

 

 

 

It is our first experience of High School Sports. Long practices, even on the weekends. Traveling on a team bus. Late school nights   at an away game. Games being played so far away that it is impossible to attend. But is is also a refreshing beginning.

 

Oh Valentines Day, How I love you!

February 14, a day stuck in the dreary, grey center of winter. The days are way to short. Ambitions are way too far fetched. And i am holding my breath for spring.

 

 
 

 

Something about this day that renews my spark. Maybe it's all thereds, pinks and purples. Or the shiny, blingy decorations. But it makes my heart pitt-er patter a bit more.

 

 

 

 

Now I live in a house of all men. The romance runs thin in these here parts. But I will not let that stop me. Little do they know, that this afternoon I plan on showering my loves with chocolates, hot molten lava cake and flowers.

 
 

 

And big smooches and hugs. They probably think I'm crazy, but my heart swells for these men!

 

 

 

And for me..............? Well my trusty camera finally took it's last breath (hence my blurry, over/under exposed photos as of late). It is such a sad, sad thing, but luckily, St Valentine's Day is here!!! My shiny, blingy valentine, just for me, will be delivered later this week by a prince. Well actually a man in brown shorts, but I can pretend. :) Oh Valentine's Day, how I love you....{sigh}

 

 

I know you are with me on this one....Christmas has embarked quickly. I find myself in a little bit of a quandry though. I am a sucker for making memories. We have tradition after tradition that we repeat during the holidays, but this year, i feel so less frantic. i feel no urgency. I feel like I can easily push things aside I don't feel are a priority...like baking Christmas cookies this year. is this wrong of me? not sure. Last year, I did it all...we did cookies, gingerbread house, advent calendar, Christmas light viewing, and so on. but this year, I am just content to enjoy new flannel Christmas sheets, listen to Christmas music by the fire and putter through my Christmas to do list.

I am chosing J*O*Y..or it is chosing me. However it is happening, I truely submit!

memorial day

Memorial Day 2010

The long awaited 3 day holiday, just before school is dismissed for the summer. A weekend which is usually filled with trips to the lake, picnics, baseball,
 
  yardwork and of course enjoying it all only because of those who have served our country so that we can be free. This weekend has turned out quite differently. The reason is all due to mother nature! It has been downright fall weather here in Washington. No warmer than 52 and rain, rain and more rain!!

I drove home from work on Friday afternoon, and it was clearly a holiday weekend because I-5 was packed with campers. We were all traveling at a warp speed of about 8mph. I know they were all praying the forecast would be wrong. Surely it can’t rain quite that much. But oh yes, the forecast was right.

Ketner was supposed to play in a weekend baseball tournament with a team of his dudes at school, but unfortunately they had to cancel due to a family emergency. Our weekend plans changed at that moment, but the forecast did not.

We did some yardwork,

we had a BBQ with family and friends and we have all been quite lazy.

I guess this works for Memorial Day!
I usually have such high hopes sunshine and picnics and honey do lists. But this will do. Memorial day 2010 has turned out just as it should. Having downtime to reflect on our blessings….putts around a bit and if you are a teenager or preteen in this house, you are joined with other teenagers in our basement playing Xbox 360, call of duty. Do you think it is teaching them about the greatest sacrifice of mankind? They would say yes. I can’t even stand watching it enough to find out. They are in their Memorial Day element just as much as I am. And it is good! Rain and all.

 

A Mother's Day to remember

Mother’s Day 2010!

What a day….I was able to sleep in, my boys woke me up with breakfast in bed and homemade cards. We all sat in my bed eating French  toast and watching “curb Appeal” on TLC. That is about as girlie as my day got.

After 5 quick showers we headed North to watch the Seattle Mariners take on the Angels.

 
The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. 70’s and blue, blue sky. Even with a record of 8 recent Mariner losses, the sun was enough to encourage us to drive the long haul.

Alex was given tickets from his new manager. We knew the seats were pretty good but we had no idea they were this good!!     
 
 
 

 There aren’t words to describe how cool it was. The players walked past us and it was like we could reach out and touch them.

Our seats were just outside the infield, towards Left field. Two different security personal came and discussed the rules of sitting right on the edge like this

.
They warned us to ignore our instincts to catch a ball that comes our way and just duck. Wholly Cow! That is not reassuring.

We ate as much junk as any normal person can consume at a ball park.


We were handed a ball hit by Jose Lopez by Left Feilder, Juan Rivera.
The ball went right in front of us and he scooped it up, lifted his shades and walked to Ayden to give him the ball!!

How cool is that!!

We even got to watch the play on tv later this evening &  low and behold, there we were!!

 

To make it even better the Mariner’s WON.
The 8 game losing streak is over.

   

We even got to witness history in the making. Michael Saunders first major league home run!!

 

This is one happy Mama.

It was like I could peer into their sweet little minds and hear them saying…..”this will be me one day. My Mom will be here cheering ME on!!” I can’t wait………

{Nolen}

.

{Ketner}

{Ayden}

 

In their unstoppable dreams, this will be Alex and I walking to Safeco field to watch our boys:

 
 
 
 
  

Thank you boys…I Love you MORE……………….

 

oh and to top it off, Ayden is finishing his last week on Prednisone. As much as I love kissing those sweet puffy cheeks, I know he is ready to get back to normal, Skinny, bony bum and all :)

love all around

On Monday, I spent the afternoon preparing our home for Valentine’s Day. I love to do this. There is something about changing just a small part of your own home to welcome in another season or holiday.

I don’t necessarily have the perfect place to do this. My sister has a entry way table that works so perfectly. I love when she puts her springtime birds and small, blue robin’s eggs. It just makes the house so welcoming.

Since I do not have this perfect space, I usually do our big, black, square kitchen table and the buffet. It works.

I turned on my Ipod and begun my act of “spreading the love”.

It turned out quite lovely if I do say so myself. I couldn’t wait to share it with the ones I love. When the first 2 boys walked in from school, I was expecting someone to remark on the new door accessory:

 

No such luck. Ok then, they will most certainly fall head over heels in love with our table ensemble.

 
Hmmmmm…nothing, not even a mention when a handful of conversation hearts were grabbed and devoured

.
OK, I will wait until the 3^rd born comes home. He is my child who notices everything.  I waited patiently, he walked in, with his cheerful shout that he always does when he enters through the garage, “hellllllllloooooo?”  “yes!” I thought, here it comes…..the affirmation I was looking for. And the kid did not disappoint he said “cute”.

“CUTE?” That’s it?  How about a little more, please. No, just "cute" as he grabs his share of conversation hearts.

 

 
  
  
  

I guess when I imagined myself a mom, I always pictured something a bit different. I couldn’t wait to decorate my own home for my children. I was excited to have one of those dorky flags that hung from your house that you change for each season or holiday. That was gonna be me.After I married the love of my life,    I received the most valuable 3 gifts and they have shown me that

True love begins when nothing is looked for in return."
- Love Quotes by Antoine De Saint-Exupery.

 

post Christmas COMA

Oh man! phew! I am sitting here at work, the day after Christmas listening to Christmas music and the song says, "it's the most wonderful time of the year". and I agree about 99%. The post Christmas coma effect was in full swing yesterday. Alex and I stayed up LATE Christmas eve. For me, it was the normal wrapping, stocking stuffing, present organizing details. For Alex, it was the same as it always has been, putting something together that we thought would take just a small amount of time, but ends up taking hours and hours and much curse-like whispers. Alex gave Ayden one of his best "Giant' road bikes. It is a beautiful Lance Armstrong yellow bike. They can now go cyclo-cross biking together. But the bike needed to be transformed a bit for a teenager. And a few new things were added as "luxury items".  It took him until 4:30am!!! Our bedroom is right of the living room so I heard everything. Sleep was obviously lacking that night. Being parents, we recognize that it comes with the territory so we sucked it up and carried on.

We had a splendid holiday for sure. We hosted everyone and  served prime rib on Christmas eve. Had a Wii marathon, ate a glutenous amounts of food and desserts  on a beautifully decorated table with China and Roses and proceeded with Christmas Eve tidings. Once the guests left the kids cozied up in their jammies on the couch with us as we read 'Twas the Night before Christmas" and The story of Christ's birth from the Book of Matthew. We then tucked them all in together. Ketner wanted to sleep with Ayden in his room.

Finally the children were snug in their beds and I'm sure visions of track spikes, wii games and Ipod touches danced in their heads 

Christmas day began at about 6:30am, the boys were filled to the brim with fabulous gifts and the Christmas Sparkle in their eyes. We went to mom's for our traditional breakfast and went home to clean up, nap and prepare for hosting Christmas dinner. We served Ham and potatoes, but this time we ate on paper plate and plastic cups.

I will post Christmas photos soon. But I felt compelled to wish all of you a Love filled Christmas.  Keep the Christmas Spirit throughout the coming days. It will  be gone before we know it. May the TRUE meaning of this celebration keep you filled with PEACE, HOPE ad JOY.

warm* long* heartfelt* hugs  are being sent your way!!!