Prayers for VA Tech

"Peace and war begin at home. If we truly want peace in the world, let us begin by loving one another in our own families. If we want to spread joy, we need for every family to have joy"
Mother Teresa

In the wake of this weeks tragedy at Virginia Tech, I thought this quote I found appropriate. When I saw the grieving parents and shell shocked students on television, I couldn't help but think of my own children. I think of how I'll feel in a few years when Vinnie graduates from high school and heads of to college (Look kid, I don't care what you say. You ARE going to college!) You send your kids to college, or even regular school, thinking they'll be safe. And then something like this happens. I think of all the hopes and dreams these students had that will never be fulfilled. The emptiness these families must feel knowing their loved ones were taken away by a senseless violent act. It makes me want to pull my children close and just home school them. Of course, they wouldn't know how to do anything but scrapbook and take a good picture but at least I'd know they were safe. And I have to mention that it was in extremely poor taste that NBC decided to air the videotape that this lunatic sent to them. He got exactly what he wanted: publicity for the crime he was about to commit. Imagine how those families feel having to see that footage. And shame on the other news outlets who continue to show it. I have seen it on no less than 5 stations and seen clips of the footage about ten times. Is this what our nation thrives on? Seeing this guy spewing his anger and hatred on tv just before he goes and murders over 30 people? We know what he did and reading about it in the paper is enough. But having to see him spouting off on just about every station is ridiculous. OK, I'll get off of my soapbox now.

On a happy note, I love love LOVE this picture of Kieran. I took it when we were at Six Flags and he just looks so darn happy. He has been a handful lately. Just acting out & not listening. What do you do? I just tell myself, he's 5. That's him pushing the boundries. Lord help me.

Gavin gave me a little surprise this morning. Apparently last night while Jim was distracted watching American Idol (thank GOD Sanjaya got the boot), Gavin decided to take off his Pull-Up and put on his big boy underwear then put on his pajama pants over them. So I wake up this morning, in a hurry as usual, and get him dress not realizing he had underwear on until we get to the car and his pants are wet. I was like, what the heck? So obviously this child is on the road to potty training. It's been spotty since we moved to the new house, I got sick, etc. but we have been doing a half-hearted job of getting him trained. So now we are putting the training into high gear. Having big brothers who are all in underwear is definitely making him envious. I am sooooo excited to almost be done with diapers. I can't wait!! And just think, I won't have to change another diaper until I have grandchildren!

I just had to post this picture of Jim. The kids wanted to get on this jeep ride at Six Flags and needless to say, my hubby was a little big to fit in the back but he was a good sport. Kie and I rode in the front & Jim, Jamie and Gavin rode in the jeep behind us. He was looking like he wanted to kill me until I shot this picture. Gotta love a guy who will cram himself into a little car to make his kids happy.

If all goes well this weekend will be a good one. I have 2 shoots, one is Marin (weather permitting) and one in Antioch. We also have Geek Squad coming out to fix our lovely Alienware computer. Word of advice, just because it costs more doesn't necessarily mean it's better. This computer has given us nothing but trouble since we got it and now it is finally crapping out. So I am biting the bullet and having a geek (no offense) come out to fix it before I lose everything. Yes, I tried transferring everything to CD's but it keeps hanging so I am praying that the geek will be able to fix it. And maybe, just MAYBE I will be able to scrapbook at some point this weekend. I have over 100 new pictures to work on and lots of new stuff that is calling my name. And I must heed the call. Sooner or later. Have a good weekend!!!!

What is normal?

Is normal being able to leap out of bed & have a day's full of energy? Or is normal just being able to function without passing out? For me, it's the latter. I can't remember the last time I leapt out of bed full of boundless energy, ready to greet the day head-on. When was that? Like 1985? Yeah, probably. Nonetheless, life is returning to relative normalcy for me. The kids are on Spring Break this week so I was able to sleep in a couple of hours all week. And after the pneumonia, sleep is all I want to do. It seems like no matter how much I sleep I still wake up tired. Or maybe that's because I have 4 boys who run me ragged. Speaking of 4 boys, we took all of them to Six Flags Marine World last weekend. Yeah, I know it's 'Discovery Kingdom' now but it's been Marine World since I was a kid & that it shall remain. Vinnie opted to spend the weekend with his dad. He's at that age where his little brothers are embarassing so he doesn't want to go anywhere with them. Nice. But I did manage to get some great pictures of the animals. I mean real animals, not my kids. Haha!

We ran into Newman's ex-wife. Apparently she moved back from Brazil & found a great job performing at the park. Ok, that was evil but how could I resist? The kids got a kick out of the show but we took seats away from the splash zone because it wasn't quite warm enough to enjoy a good bath.

I managed to get all of them in front of the camera for a group picture. This is the only one Gavin cooperated for. He was basically carried on Jim's shoulders the whole day because he didn't want to walk. But he had fun & the boys loved all the rides. It was nice because there wasn't a ton of people there & because Jim & I weren't riding anything I was able to take the good camera. Have I said lately how much I LOVE my camera? The color & the quality of my pictures is AMAZING.

As for the twins, they are doing amazing. They went home with daddies last week in time for Easter. They are growing like crazy & absolutely beautiful. Here's the latest, taken on Easter.

Are they cute or what? So sweet. Everyone is doing well & I am still amazed everytime I look at them.

On the creative front, I haven't scrapbooked in weeks & I am seriously fiending a good crop. Hopefully I can get some work done with weekend because I just had a ton of pictures printed through Snapfish, who I must say does a great job of printing digital pics. Example: I had some pictures printeds at Sam's photo center. Downloaded them online, picked them up a few days later. And I was wondering why all the boys looked like they were wearing cherry red lipstick. So I sent the same pics to Snapfish for printing & it was well worth the extra money. So take my advice, spend the extra dough & get the pictures developed from a company that cares. No offense Sam's.

Okey doke, hope everyone is doing well. I swear, I will try my darndest to post more. Really. No seriously, I will. No excuses. Oh, and one thing hasn't changed:

I still love Patrick. I could just eat him up.