Dad - It's a Vivas Thing!

Sep 02 2010

Joy of Marriage

I've often said that I love Good, True and Beautiful's "Just for the Joy of It," because it makes me think of something that brought me joy this week. And there are many things I could write about. But mostly, I'll have to say it's my husband. Seriously.

He is a HUGE supporter of whatever I do. He sees more in me than I could ever see; and he has faith and confidence in me when I shutter in my lack of it. I am often time left in awe as I realize he probably truly sees me the way God intended a husband to see his wife. I hope that makes sense.

And he loves me when I am sick.

Or tired.

Grouchy.

and perhaps, even a bit irrational. (But not lately! ha ha!)

This past year, he has been by my side through it all. He was there with me throughout my illness and LENGTHY recovery.

He held me when I cried because I was going back to work full-time. He understood my tears and didn't take it personally.

And he has become a really, really good stay-at-home dad/husband.

Seriously.

He cooks…really, really good meals. And he cooks for my friends, too!

He cleans. Much better than, me, I might add.

He does laundry.

He runs errands.

He checks on me to see if I need him to do anything.

He loves me and cherishes me.

And that, my friends, is what has brought me the most joy this week!

Jun 13 2010

VIP Weekend!

Our weekend started out with Chicken Noodle Butt coming home as his class VIP! This meant that he got to keep the classroom pet…a stuffed lizard…for the weekend! He was very excited about his new friend!

It was the Talented One’s 17th birthday on Saturday, making him one VIP for the weekend, too!

Does he look happy?

We didn’t get to celebrate his birthday much on Saturday though, because hubby was in a wedding. Once his wedding duties were over, he changed out of his tux and we had some fun on the dance floor! Well, they had fun dancing while I had fun snapping pictures!

This is the Drama Queen dancing with her cousin.

And then there is Punky having a ball with the Drama Queen, Chicken Noodle Butt, the Princess, and a family friend. Can you see Chicken Noodle Butt getting down in the background? They boy went crazy on the dance floor! I wish we’d thought to video tape it as I’m sure we would have won some type of award!

And finally, the Drama Queen got her wish and was able to dance with her daddy. She was able to twist her way down while Daddy did his best to keep up with her, laughing the whole time. I just love this shot! I’m sure one day when she gets married and has her own slide show, she’ll have this one on it as a Daddy/Daughter memory!

And after all of that, we finally had a family celebration for the Talented One’s birthday. And I never even took my camera out and snapped a picture! But I did manage to have a nice time just talking and eating and hanging out. Not a bad weekend at all!

May 30 2010

My Honey

Today is our anniversary, so I thought I'd write about our love story.

Ours was a whirlwind romance………….

No, seriously, it was! We met at church. I'll never forget the first time I met hubby. He was wearing a dark purple shirt (my favorite color). Months later, he asked me to go to the church with him while he worked on some sound stuff, and instead he kidnapped snuck me up to the mountains for a romantic dinner. Two days later, he told me he loved me, and nine days after that, he proposed. We were married six months later and have been together ever since!

These days, we are raising five beautiful children together, along with my niece and nephew. We have been through thick and thin, joy and sorrow, good times and bad times together. And that is what makes our relationship so special. We are willing to continue to build our relationship through each and every hour of our lives!

We laugh, cry, laugh, love, laugh, sleep, laugh…but mostly, we love.

There is not a day that goes by that he doesn't tell me he loves me. Sometimes several times. And I, him.

We still hold hands.

We still kiss.

We still flirt.

We still love.

Most of all, we seek to serve and love one another as Christ has done for us.

I'm so glad God brought us together all those years ago, and I look forward to many more to come!

This is my favorite pic of hubby and I. I just love it!

Mar 09 2010

Quirkiness

This morning as B-boo was in search of whipped topping, I had to laugh. You see, each morning, she has a cup of hot chocolate with whipped topping and usually a bagel with cream cheese. She's willing to eat other things for breakfast, but do NOT mess with her whipped topping. Which brings us back to last night really. Hubby had to go to the store and so I asked him to get more whipped topping because I didn't want B-boo to run out. I know she'll flip if she gets up and finds none. She just can't start her day out without it. Or the chocolate.

For the most part, her chocolate is left alone. No one else seems to have the fancy for it that she does. We're talking Ghiradelli hot chocolate. Good stuff. And whipped topping.

So hubby purchases two whipped toppings, only to find out there was already one in the freezer, bring us up to three in the freezer because there was a hidden one, no TWO in the fridge. Except, one was empty and the other almost. Which of course, threw her into a panic, because that meant she might not have whipped topping for her chocolate! But, Dad to rescue, he showed her how he'd stocked up just for her.

And speaking of chocolate, the Smart One doesn't like the good stuff; he only likes the Nestle or Swiss stuff, mixed with milk instead of water. I think he's loopy, but he leaves B-boo's chocolate alone, so it works. What he likes is the gluten free waffles. Don't let him run out, because his morning preference is a waffle sandwich. This means, waffle, egg, sausage patty, cheese, waffle. He will go without the sausage, but he prefers to have the sandwich. He also prefers certain socks for his feet. They have to fit, just right. This is really important to him.

And the Talented One; you have to make sure his bagel is completely covered with cream cheese. If he sees bagel, he'll put more cream cheese on it. He's quirky in other ways, too. For instance, he doesn't like to have his hands dirty; and please don't ask him to touch raw meat. And don't touch his hair. And he likes his own bed. Always has. As an infant, he'd stay up until placed in his crib; then he'd fall asleep. To this day, he rarely does overnights because he likes his bed.

I can't blame him for that one, though. I like my own bed, too. And my pillows have to be placed a certain way or I can't sleep. And I don't like to crawl into a bed with wrinkled sheets. If my bed is unmade for any reason, I have to make it before I can crawl into it. I know, they probably get their quirkiness from me!

The only one that seems to have no real quirkiness is the Drama Queen! She's our flipperty jibbet who just goes along for the ride! She'll sleep anywhere, eat just about anything (as long as she's not allergic to it!), and doesn't always care about what she's wearing.

The only one that is even more so than her is Chicken Noodle Butt. He'll eat anything. Sometimes hubby likes to have fun with him to see how far he'll go. As in chocolate on rice mixed with ketchup and who knows what else. The joke is if no one wants it, give it to Chicken Noodle Butt. His only "quirkiness" is his calendar. He lives by that calendar! Don't mess with it; don't argue with it.

And then…there's hubby. I'm not sure I can even go there. I'd have to say his "real" quirkiness is his feeling for food. As in, if he doesn't feel like eating it, he won't. If he's not in the mood for it, he'd rather just not eat. What a funny man. I laugh when he stands in front of a full fridge, looking for something, but finding nothing that he is in the "mood" for. You gotta love him.

Our poor kids don't stand a chance at normalness.

Jan 24 2009

Bad Day Anyone?

Traveling is always fun…especially when you travel with the us! Each summer, I try to visit my parents in Colorado for a couple of weeks. So this particular trip I headed off with my usual crew consisting of my four youngest children, plus one of B-Boo’s friends. The van was packed full with a ton of suitcases, snacks, etc. We left behind hubby, who agreed to take care of the pets while we were gone. This included two snakes, 2 love birds, a rat and a hamster. The night before we left, we made sure to feed the snakes so that they’d be ok until we got back.

My parents live 12 hours from us. We head out very early in the morning and go as far as we can as fast as we can; which can take a while with small bladders and all of that. On this particular trip, we decided to stop in Farmington, New Mexico and pick up groceries at Sam’s Club. We called mom to find out what she wanted, finished shopping and headed outside; into the rain and to a very flat tire!

Luckily, we were in the same parking lot as Big O Tires…or not. They were closing in 10 minutes and it didn’t matter that I had purchased the tire from my local Big O, they refused to help. Frustrated and wondering how in the world I was going to get the tire off, fixed, back on and make it another two hours to mom’s…well, you get the picture! I was going to have to drag everything out of the van and try and figure it out! About that time, a gentleman came up to me and stated that all members of Sam’s Club get their tires fixed as a membership courtesy. I headed inside to talk to the tire people, who were busy at the moment. I waited and then spilled my story to the tire man who said that he wasn’t sure when he’d be able to help but to bring the tire in and he’d get someone to fix it. At this point, I lost it. Now, I don’t do that very often, but the thought of my groceries getting soaked, my kids sitting in the Sam’s parking lot, a flat tire and a long drive ahead finally did me in! On top of that, I’d tried to call dear hubby who was pretty short with me stating he couldn’t talk and hung up on me. Well!

Apparently my hysteria won the poor young man over, because he grabbed his tire stuff and followed me outside to the van. He took off the tire and told me to give him a few minutes and took the tire inside. By now, the kids were having fun coloring outside in the rain (ok, it was down to a sprinkle now) and so we waited.

See, now up to this point, you probably thought this story was about me, right? Nope! While we waited, I tried calling my hubby again. He answered the phone and listened patiently as I griped to him about what was going on and his ignoring me in my time of need. Then I let him talk. 🙂

Did I mention hubby was in a boot recovering from a torn Achilles tendon? And that God has granted him enormous patience when it comes to putting up with his family and their pets?

Apparently he’d been standing at the back sliding door looking out in the yard when he felt something slither across his foot. He looked down to find the ball python had escaped from his cage and had made it’s way through the house, across his foot and into the backyard. Now I understand that most men would probably have said “Good Riddance” at this point, especially with a serious injury to their ankle; but not my man! He bravely spent the next 45 minutes chasing the python around our almost quarter acre back yard and even managed to capture her! Then he had the patience to listen to me gripe about my problems and only when I was done did he ask how to lock the cage so the snake wouldn’t escape again! Now that’s what I call marriage!

About this time the tire guy came out with a fixed tire and even put it back on my van for me…and wouldn’t take a penny! I had the girls grab the groceries and help me get them loaded into the already overloaded van, at which point, B-Boo promptly dropped the berries on the ground, spilling them everywhere!

Did I mention I was having a bad day?