This has been a GREAT weekend.  We did… NOTHING!  I just love to stay home as a family, and just be home.  As busy as we all get the best thing ever is to actually have time, together.  Now this can be taken a bit to far like the fact that I stayed in my pj’s all day yesterday, and did not bother taking a shower.  Other than that it’s all good.

We spent today making Carson’s Navajo project for school.  It turned out pretty dang good.  We have a Hogan, fire, blanket, garden, animals and more.  It weighs about 10 pounds because he had to have extra sand.  So it looks as if I will be driving it to school tomorrow.  He has made it clear that it is not bus friendly!

BTW if you’re wondering why I do not have a picture of it.  My camera is still broke and until December 25th the odds of a new camera are slim, well none.  Just use your imagination.  As a matter of fact the slim part comes into play even on December 25th. LOL

Reagan had his friend Brandon over for the weekend,  We just love Brandon he is such a good kid.  There are few boys that we let come out and spend the whole entire weekend, but he just fits right in.  They are good friends.

Anthony had a dance or STOMP as he calls it.  I don’t know why it is called a stomp but whatever.  He said it was the best one ever!  He has learned how to do some pretty cool dances.  I am happy that he has the confidence to just go boogie it up when he feels like it.

I just realized I have nothing really cool to share about Lawrence and I.  That is just part of being parents I suppose.  Wait, come to think of it being a parent is pretty much the coolest thing on the planet!

I just spent the last 2 hours visiting with a friend.  It was so nice!  I think that people are put into our lives strategically, I really do.  I think know that God knows exactly when we need certain people around us.  Today is one of those times for me.  I am an over-thinker.  I over think EVERYTHING.  When you have this personality trait things get jumbled up and all of the sudden you think whoa, what in the heck has happened.  There are many times that I wish I could just have a little more faith instead of fear.  That I would not get all wild and crazy trying to make it all go the way I think that it should.  Sometimes we just have to let it go.  Realize in the big picture we are not in control of it all.

I have been sick the past week.  On top of it there has been stress within our family.  Kids just being kids, learning, trying, growing and making choices.  It has all but made me crazy.  One because I cannot control that I feel like crap, it just has to run it’s course.  Two because I must have faith that when my kids fall off the path that is set out for them in life, that they have the courage and strength to get back on.  Out of my control, have to have faith not fear.  Faith that it will all work out in the end. 

My friend reminded me of that today.  It’s not like she flat-out said “deal with it and get some faith!”  She shared her life experiences and we talked and talked and talked.  It made me realize that I need to appreciate my life more, my family more, my home more.  It reminded me how much I love my boys and where I live.  How fast it all goes by and how unpredictable it can be.  That’s life nothing to be fearful of if you have faith.

I can’t believe the week is already over.  How does that happen?  Lawrence and I were talking about how our parents used to say time goes by so fast and when you’re a kid it feels like forever.  I can actually remember being around 8 making a literal wish that I could be a grown up.  Come to think of it, I think it came true!  It does seem like it was just yesterday, hmm.

In 3  well 2 1/2 years Anthony will be leaving home to go to college.  WEIRD!    I honestly do no know how you even begin to prepare for something like that.  I should be more than ready, he has been threatening it for 13 years, lol.  He is actually going to Sadie’s this coming friday. (geesh) I am so excited for him.  The girl who asked him is a good friend of his, I am sure they will have a great time.  Man I remember those days! 

Football season is officially over.  Good and bad.  I love them games and it makes me so proud to see Anthony playing but it is so very time-consuming.  Even Anthony has complained about never being home.  I know, can you believe it?!  When you live where we do there is no such thing as a quick ride to drop your kids off.  You almost should pack a lunch. 

It was so fun to dress up Reagan and Carson for the school Halloween day.  Yeah, I know it’s a week early not sure why, but fun all the same.  It will be interesting to see what they actually be for Halloween.  Carson went from dressing up like a girl, to a limo driver, to a football player and ended up being what he called “a skateboarder struck by lightning”.   So we will see what this saturday brings.  Reagan will probably be the same.  He was a motorcycle rider that had the bike tire track across his face.  The thing with Reagan is that he will probably be the same thing for the next 5 years, lol.  Remember the bull rider?

If you are thinking, “Hmm I would love to see pictures of these boys” well your not alone!  So would I, but I somehow managed to break my camera.  A new one is on the Christmas list but I think I would have to go hi-jack Santa’s sleigh to actually get it.  Come to think of it I may have to do that for Christmas altogether

Something I have realized is that no matter how old your children are they still need their “mommy”. 

I have been a stay at home mom (that sounds so strange to me) for 2 months now.  I have noticed some big changes around here.  The house is clean..OH YEAH!  Okay that is not the only thing I have noticed the connection with my children coming back.  It is funny when you do not let the world eat up all of your time, magical things just happen.

Some of the things I have noticed…

There are more hugs given out in our house.

I am listening instead of just hearing.

Homework is getting done.

Carson has taken an interest in school.

Anthony visits with me.

Reagan still loves to be cuddled.

I still think Lawrence is wonderful.

I really like our animals.

We have fun together.

Everything does not have to wait until tomorrow.

Home is a good place to be.

You can catch up on laundry, for a day at least.

I love to bake for my family and friends.

I love to eat what I bake..Working on this one.

 Shannon

What I have done is merged the family posts in The Fabulous Fatties and my family blog together.  Now this will again be my “family blog” and The Fabulous Fatties will remain the same no changes there.  If you are a friend that I have met through The Fabulous Fatties please feel free to follow the goings on of The Lavery Life here.  If you have a family blog of your own I would love to visit it as well.

Anyway long explaination for an easy fix…Bottom line I am getting my butt back into gear on our family blog

A quick update on where we are all at right now…

Anthony is a Sophomore, I know! Craziness is abound and football season is winding down. Thank goodness. He is doing so well and has become quite a “hottie“!

Reagan is in 6th grade and madly in love with a girl. He went from wranglers and cowboys to tight pants and motorcycles. (shhh…Don’t tell him I said that about the girl.)

Carson is in 4th grade and actually taken an interest in school this year, go figure! He is still letting me baby him when no one else is around, I will take that.

Lawrence is still running the shop here at home and I am his full time parts runner.

Parts runner: A very special position that all wives should be envious of

I guess you could say I am just unemployed. For those of you who do not know already I quit working 2 months ago. It was by choice and has been a great decision. Strangely it has nothing to do with money. Sometimes what is best for your family may be a little rough on the finances but well worth it. It has taken a full 2 months to feel like things are getting back on track in this household.

Life is good here in Lavery-land. It seems like daily I get reminded of all of the blessings we have been given and just how lucky we are to have each other. At the end of the day what is important is right here under this roof, our family.

First of all I have to explain where this little red chinese outfit came from.  My son Carson was playing at his friend’s house.  Apparantly he fell in love with the outfit so much that he traded his BB gun for it.   I came home from work and there is my sweet 9-year-old on the kitchen counter eating a snack in this outfit.  You have to understand this is my son who spends his day covered in dirt, on his motorcycle catching frogs at the lake.  This is NOT his usual attire!  He just beamed because he was so excited about the outfit and thought it was the coolest thing on the planet.  He told me how he wants to go eat at the local chinese restaurant wearing it and then he proudly smiled for the picture.  Don’t you just love the picture?! 

When I first posted it on my face book it was because I just think it is so dang cute and funny that he loves the outfit so much.  The comments came pouring in, about how cute, funny and brave he is, but most of all how proud he looked in the picture.  So it made me take a second look at the picture and the little red outfit that inspired it all.  He really is proud.  There is not one little bone in his body that makes him think he cannot wear this outfit to the chinese restaurant.  When we all look at him with a smile, he just knows it is because we are all jealous and wish we had an outfit like his of our own.

I was reading this post yesterday that our dear friend Miz Fit let us know about.  It is about a pediatrician who kept telling her and her 3 1/2 year old daughter how big the little girl is, in front of the little girl!  Who in their right mind would do something like that?  Between the post and my proud son I started thinking…what happens in our lives that give us confidence or lack of ?  How early on in our lives do we start thinking I can’t or NO I could never do that?  There was an article I read a while ago that stated, the average child under 5 years old hears the word NO over 50 times a day.  There are times that we should say no as parents to keep our children safe and healthy, but have you ever thought about the word NO?  No to me means it is not possible, someone is stopping me and that I cannot do it.  All of the things we say each day to our children affect the way they feel about themselves.  I wish like hell that there was a time in my life that I could have worn a little red outfit and felt like a queen! 

So my point of the day is try to limit the word NO to the really necessary times.  Never ever talk about a child’s appearance in a negative way, especially in front of them! If your child really loves something, (even though you may be thinking absolutely not).  As long as it does not hurt anyone let them do it!  Who cares about fitting in really?  I would rather have a confident 9-year-old boy in a chinese outfit than one who feels like they cannot do anything.  A child’s self image is the foundation of their future, make sure it is a strong one.  Now go give your kid a kiss!

Today my little baby boy is turning 9 years old!  This is hard for me because I want him to stay little.  He is so much fun and so stinkin’ cute.  He does still snuggle alot and let me baby him as often as I want to, as long as no cool guys are around  I thought about all of the things I could say about Carson and the best one that came to mind is the story from my family blog, I have attached to this post.  We love Carson so much and are so proud of the fantastic young man that he is.  I hope you enjoy the following story as much as we have because it describes Carson to a T!

Today is a special day.  It is my son Reagan’s birthday He is 11 years old today!  Reagan is my middle son and he is such a tender heart I just love him to pieces.  One of the things that I love about him is that he always tells me I am pretty and skinny and beautiful.  Oh some girl is going to be very lucky someday!  We decided to let him skip school and spend the day with me and grandma having lunch and going shopping.  I know we are the coolest!   I can tell you exactly how much I weighed after I had Reagan 182 pounds.  You are going to think I am horrible but I would have to look at his birth certificate to tell you how much he weighed.  I know I am a horrible vain mother!  I am just not a numbers person that way unless it has to do with my own weight.  Gosh that even sounds worse. lol  I have 2 sister in laws and they can tell you every little detail about their children.  Then there is me, my brain just does not work like that.  My mom can even give details.  What the heck?!  Maybe the fat in my head has short circuited that part of my brain.  Hey, it could happen. 

Eleven yeas ago I was consumed with my weight and appearance.  Today, eleven years later I am consumed with my weight and appearance.  Big changes wouldn’t you say?  It got me thinking about how much time and energy I have put into my weight, my lack of weight loss and disappointment in my appearance.  One thing I know for certain is it is way to much!  Every single special moment in my life,  picture, video and piece of clothing that I have has a story regarding my weight behind it.  The most ridiculous thing to me is that my weight overshadows the event.  

So for my son’s birthday I am giving him a gift.  It is a gift of time, my time.  The time I would normally spend wrapped up in self pity and severe vain-ness (if that is even a word)  I am going to focus more of it on him today.  I am accepting who I am and loving myself today and in turn I will be able to show more love and acceptance to others.  I am going to see myself through his eyes and find the beautiful skinny mom that he sees when he looks at me.  She must be absolutely fantastic because he loves her a whole bunch!  Happy Birthday to my little cowboy Reagan, I am thrilled to go out and spend this day with him and his more than perfect Mom.

Shannon a very proud Mom

Originally posted 17th August, 2009 on The Fabulous Fatties

 It is Monday! Already what is going on? Was the weekend ever here? I think that every Monday I feel this way. Time really does tend to fly way to fast. This morning I as I am trying to get paperwork together for my son Anthony to get his learners permit (scary) I found an old gratitude journal of mine, from March-April 2000. It was so much fun to read it with the 3 rottens. Sort of ironic I am looking for paperwork to get Anthony’s drivers license and read journal entries of him playing t-ball and learning how to read. There are entries about how in love I am with Mr. Fabulous and Reagan getting potty trained, how I felt being pregnant with Carson, funny things about our family and life. This got me thinking that I need to start doing this again. I need to write down all of the little things each day that I love, enjoy and things I want to remember in the future. I have never kept and official “journal” that is why I chose the gratitude journal back in 2000. Just little snippets of life and my feelings at the moment. It was so fun to remember those times. I am officially going to start again today. However I am going to call it a Fab-itude journal instead. I am going to write 1-2 things daily that are fabulous about my life. Things I love, that make me happy and that I just think are well…. fabulous!

Who would of thought 2 ugly little baby birds would be the inspiration for today’s post?  Not me!  This week has been great I lost 2 pounds, decided weight watcher’s was not so evil and I like my new job.  All in all it was a success.  Your probably wondering  “okay so WT* is up with the baby birds?”   The baby birds came through the door on Saturday morning in the hands of my son Reagan.  He walked in and said “look Mom they were in the sprinkler pipe we need to take care of them.”  He then handed them to me, turned around walked out the door and left with my husband for the day.  Little shiz!   Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE animals. 

All day I thought about how to get rid of these birds and I could not bring myself to do it.  I got on the Internet to see how to take care of them, found them food and started feeding them….EVERY 30 MINUTES!  Yeah, I know!  When Reagan came home I thought for sure he would not want to put that much time into these little ugly birds.  Well I was wrong!  He teamed up with his brother Carson and they figured out a plan to take shifts and camp out in the front room taking turns.  They even have convinced my oldest son Anthony to help them until school get out this Friday.  Pretty impressive I must say.  Yesterday we went to my parent’s house for dinner and the boy’s decided to spend the night.  Reagan asked me to please take care of his ugly little birds and NOT do anything bad to them.  lol Like I would!  When I got home they were chirping away waiting for food.  This is not something I have been really happy about because we just don’t have time.   Reluctantly I went to feed them, I realized that they needed cleaned up so I started that process.  Something happened to my cold, cold heart while I was cleaning up those ugly little birds.  Their little eyes have opened and they just looked at me so helpless.  It got me thinking about how much they really do need us to help them until they are strong enough to stand on their own.   Since last night I have feed them, bathed them, changed out their bedding, talked to them and did it all again over and over!  I believe I have fallen in love with these two little birds that have taught me a lesson.

What I have learned is that we cannot do it all on our own.  For me, I am comparing it to my weight loss journey.  I want to be strong enough all of the time to make it but sometimes I need help.  It is okay to use the strength of other’s until we are strong enough on our own.  We have had so many comments from people who have said they are afraid to share their stories or feel like they cannot lose the weight because they are alone.  My thoughts on this are the YOU SHOULD SHARE YOUR STORIES!  In sharing your journey through a blog or what ever outlet you may find will give you strength!  It does not matter if your story is not the same as mine, every story is going to be different.  Some will be funny, some will be sad, some will be happy, some will be full of helpful information.  My point is do not hold back your story that could help you or someone else out.  Never compare yourself to someone else.  Let others help you until you ar confident to do it on your own.  The beauty about blogging and websites is that no two are the same, that is why it works so well.

Second YOU ARE NOT ALONE!  Angie and I are really here for you.  Even though we are inside your computer we will still cheer you on when you have success, be a shoulder for you when you need it and share our strength until you do not need it any longer.  We do not care if today is the first day we meet you or if you have been with us from the start.  You truly are our friend and our “Diet Buddy”. 

We could never do this without all of our new friends we have met online.  We are so very grateful to have each and every one of you with us on this journey.  Thank You so much for letting us lean on you when we have needed to and cheering us on when we have success.  When we say that “We  have the best followers and friends ever!”  We really mean it

XO Shannon

***FYI This is not a picture of the actual birds but they look identical and you have to feed them every 30 minutes morning to night luckily not throughout the night.