Pictures of the Week

Korbin Chase Rowell...

Enjoying the sound of raindrops falling.

And...enjoying Mommy's cup of COFFEE

with her favorite cream in it

(coffee mustache featured)!

Nie Nie Dialogues

(In honor of the Nielson Family…

picture borrowed from NieNie Dialogues Blog site.)

When I joined the blogger world, and as I read many funny, inspiring, and touching blogs, I came across one that had a post about the Nie Nie Dialogues Blog, and the story of a husband and wife who were critically injured in a private plane crash this past August. Touched by their story, and interested to read more, I clicked on the link. My heart broke as I read about their tragedy... I realize how blessed I am to have my husband and children!! "We must be thankful for today and the ones that we love, for tomorrow it can all be gone!"

Nie Nie had been blogging for a few years and as not to miss anything I started reading her blog from the beginning. WOW! What insperation and passion comes from her postings and pictures!! I have been touched...I've realized, why worry about the little things that do not matter! I started to see with different eyes...if that makes any sense! It has inspired me to be a better mommy to my children and the best wife to my husband. I am blessed!!

If you would like to read their story and updates on their recovery, I have added a button to my blog "I readNie Nie."

May the Lord bless and keep this family!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o6U-P10rHs

Thanksgiving Day

Welcome!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Come on in and please take your shoes off.

There is plenty of great food (turkey and Honey Baked Ham not pictured :-)

... and lots of desserts. We got all our pies from Polly's Pies this year (well, with the exception of the 3 cream cheese pies we made). Here are a few pictures of our thankful day. We are blessed with a wonderful family to spend it with.

Warning: Lots of pictures ahead :-)

Kristy, Morgan, & me

"Rowell Gang"...hanging out ready to eat.

Korbin (my son) and Morgan (my niece)

Baby Jared...nap time

Ryan (our son)...in a not-so-good mood...he must have been hungry...no pictures please!

Jason's brothers...Jimmy, Jeff, & Jared (and nephew Johnathan in the background sleeping).

Shelley & Jimmy

Jeff, Kristy & Mom

Korbin, Dad, Mom, & Morgan...enjoying a funny video created by the Rowell Brothers

Jason DJ'ing the kids swim party in the backyard, and Korbin attempting to play the drums as well as ride a skateboard. (It's a tradition to heat the pool every year for Thanksgiving. It gives the kids something fun to do :-) and it entertains them ALL day long!)

And a Happy Thanksgiving to my side of the family, who live in McFarland. This is the first year Jason and I weren't able to celebrate this day with both sides of our families. Traditionally, we spend the early afternoon with Mom & Dad Rowell, then drive to be with my family in the evening. This year, my parents decided to spend Thanksgiving with my sister, Patty, in Las Vegas, and for one reason or another we weren't able to make the trip down to McFarland to be with the rest of my family.

Goodbye to Paris

Contrary to the title, no, I’m not in Paris, France on top of the Eiffel Tower :-) …

A few days ago we said “goodbye” to the Family dog, whose name is Paris (female). Who named her you may ask? Well, it was a unanimous vote and the name chosen by six of the eight grandkids, at the time... (our family has grown since then). That’s what happens when you let six kids, all under the age of 11, make a decision. The vet tried to convince Mamaw (loving name our kids call our Mom, otherwise known as Marion Rowell :-) to change her name but Mamaw stuck with it.

(Paris with all her stuff...ready to go)

Paris had been part of the family for two years (give or take a few months). She’s as old as my son Korbin (who turned 2 in Sept). When Paris first joined the family she was a little tiny puppy, that Mamaw brought home. Within a few months Paris grew into a “very big” dog! Paris loved to chase and play with the kids. She also loved to eat everything in sight… she ate shoes, balls, skateboards, toys, etc; basically, anything she could get her teeth on! And believe it or not,she ate her way out of not 1 but 2 fences my bro-in-law Jimmy built and repaired on several occasions...the wood completely gone. Besides eating everything in sight, her next favorite american past time was going swimming in PAPAWS clean swimming pool!!! Hence, the reason for this goodbye. As you can see, he wasn't trained very well!! Half of our backyard looks like the empty fields where the Eiffel tower was first built… no grass, no flowers, or greenery since Paris ate it or dug it all up. (Sorry Mamaw…I wasn’t focusing my pictures too much on the landscaping, just of the kids and Paris :-)

(Korbin unaware that Paris is making her way to him...)

(Korbin telling Paris to "stop it!")

(Ryan hosing down the dog house...

getting it ready for the new home)

Happy Birthday to My Husband

Today, November 22nd, is my husband's birthday, and what a great day to start our log...considering the occasion!

This first post is dedicated to my dear husband, the love of my life, the father of our three beautiful children. I love you today, tomorrow, and always...

Well, the excitement all started the night before...I had the "bright" idea of creating him a birthday card, instead of buying the traditional $4.00 card at Wal-Mart. Anyway, I did go to Wal-Mart at about 10pm (that night) for supplies and bought scrapbooking stuff to make him a cute card, since I was inspired to create one for him, and I was going to let the kids do one too. We got back from Wal-Mart and I didn't actually get started on the card until like 1am... Yup, 1am. I stayed up until 5:30am (that's the time I crawled in bed).... Was I tired, you may ask? Not really, but my feet were freezing, since the house was really cold.

We slept in and got up at about 10am that morning. The kids n I fixed him a nice breakfast... eggs, pancakes, sausage, and had a few cups of COFFEE. I even made him a "D" shaped pancake (for Daddy). Here are a few pictures of the cards we made!! (I would post a few pictures of us, but considering we had just woken up and all of them are of us in our pj's, I figured it was best to leave them out, lol :-) They are cute though!