Beauty

This story has been stuck in my head. I've tried to find the exact story, but can't. If anyone has it, please let me know. I am going to try and remember as best I can. I only put it in quotes to show the story part.

'There was a woman that carried two water pots to the river each day. One pot did exactly what it was suppose to. It was perfect. The other pot, had a crack in it, and had lost most of it's water by the time the woman got back to her village. This happened everyday. The woman carried both pots down to the river, and came back with a pot full of water, and a pot that was almost empty because it had all leaked out.

Another woman watched this day after day, and could not figure out why she would take the cracked pot to the river everyday, only to come back almost empty. Did she not know the pot was cracked?

One day she had to find out why she did this. She asked the lady, "Do you know that one of your pots is cracked?" The other lady smiled and said, "Yes, I know it's cracked." "Then why do you waste all that energy carrying it down to the river everyday, when you know it is going to be gone when you get back?"

The lady took her to the path and said, "Look down the path, and what do you see?" The woman looked and saw that one side of the path was covered in flowers when the other side was bare. The lady that carries the pots said, "The one pot carries my water each day, and the other one leaks water along the path. They both serve a beautiful purpose. There are no flowers growing along the side of the path that I carry the perfect pot. Along the other side, the flowers grow beautifully. For each day they are watered by the pot with the small crack. It makes me smile each day to walk the path, and see the beautiful flowers."'

This story has really touched my heart. Do we feel so bad about ourselves, when we don't serve the purpose we think we should, that we forget to look at what beauty our small cracks may bring to the world? There is a beauty that each of us brings to this world that no one else can. Can we find that beauty in ourselves and in others? How boring would this world be if there were only one kind of beauty?

It's usually easy to see this beauty in friends and family. Can we see it as easily in those we don't get along with? They also have a beauty they bring to this world that no one else can. If we try to find that beauty in them, our hearts might soften toward them, and how beautiful is that!?!

Birthdays

Tomorrow is my birthday. I don't hate birthdays, but I don't really like them either. They just seem to come too quickly anymore. It's just more proof of how time flies(and I keep getting older each year)!

I was walking around today mumbling to myself "Ugh, how did I get to be 31 years old! Where did my 20's go? I can't believe I'm already 31. I don't really want to be 31." This went on and on, with me mainly mumbling to myself. I looked at the girls for a minute, and they had this weird look on their face. I said "What?" Kenadee looked at me with a smile and said, "Mom, aren't you going to be 32?". "WHAT!!" I said as I closed my eyes and tried to add it up in my head. Sure enough, I'm going to be 32. Isn't that just peachy. Another year lost!!

HAPPY DAY!

Summer 06

Since summer is over, and I don't have pictures of this summer to reminisce, I am reminiscing about last summer.

JOHN EYRE REUNION
We decided to go up in the field and play baseball. All we had were Ashtyn and Kenadee's little bat and tee ball. It ended up being a blast. It's kinda crazy that with Kyle's brother, sisters, and all the kids, we have enough to have quite a gathering.



This picture is of all the grand kids, but one. Parker had not yet arrived. Oh, and Dayna isn't a grand kid, but she gets to do what ever she wants!

Later that night we went out to Natural Corrals. We climbed, and climbed, and climbed.
From bottom to top: Allie(Spencer's), Megan(Kellee's), and Kenadee

Front: Hadley(Kellee's) and Wesley(Spencer's)
Back: Kenadee, Allie, Megan


BEAR LAKE
My friends and I try to take our kids one day each summer.




TEEBALL
Kenadee enjoyed it, I had to bribe Ashtyn to quit playing it the dirt.




I do love summer. Maybe this winter I will have pictures of this summer.

Talents

I have decided that crying is a talent. Ok, I don't mean all crying, I mean crying nicely. I'm the biggest blubberer when I cry. It's embarrassing. My face gets all red and blotchy, my voice squeaks, and I can't say anything that makes sense.

Some people can cry so nicely. They maintain their composure, their voice doesn't change, and they can continue giving their lesson, or talk with just a small tear running down their cheek. Such Talent!

So those of you that can cry nicely, add that to your talent list. And ... do you have any pointers for those of us that make a complete fool of themselves when we cry?

Confession

I have a confession to make. Are you ready? OK...I'M A HUGE NASCAR FAN!!! Ya, I know, take a minute to gasp. I love it, I love it, I love it. Kyle is not a big sports fan. Football, basketball, is not watched a lot in our house. If it is watched, I'm the one watching it. I had heard of Nascar before, but couldn't figure out what the big deal was. They say it's the fastest growing sport?!!? Are you kidding!!? All they do is drive in a circle. How exciting can that be?

So a couple of years ago we decided to watch a race and see what all the hype was about. The race just happened to be in Talladega. I have to say after that one race, I was hooked. Kyle even liked it. There is so much more to it than I ever imagined. So much team work, strategy, amazing driving, and luck. I did help that "The Big One" (the huge crash) was crazy amazing.

I love that they say a prayer, sing the National Anthem, and have jets fly over before every race. I've heard there is nothing like going to a race. Each week, each race is usually sold out. We're not talking a sell out of 50,000. We are talking about sell outs of 160,000 to 200,000 each week. It's CRAZY! I think I'm a little more crazy about it than Kyle. If I had to pick on major sports event to go to it would probably be a Nascar race. Although if I had a chance to go to the Tennis US Open, it would rank right up there with a race.

Who do I like? My Chevy man has to be Jeff Gordan or Jimmy Johnson. They are both soooooo good. My Ford man - #99, Office Depot, Carl Edwards. He is so grateful for each and every race he gets to run. The back flip after he wins, is just a plus. Dodge man? The cutest ever Kasey Kahne. He is doing horribly this year, but he's so cute I can't help but like him.

It's been so fun to watch these last few years. It's something that Kyle and I watch and enjoy together, and he would actually go to a race with me. SOMEDAY!

Avriepunzel

Yep, more Avrie stories. I do apologize, but my life these days are filled only with conversations of a 2 year old. I try and get the older two to talk when they get home, but I usually get the "How was school? Good." or the "What did you do? I forgot." comments. I try to find joy in my life, so as you can tell, my expectations aren't super high.

A lot of my day is spent trying to decipher the language of a two year old. She is talking really well, but will sometimes slip into babble. I have yet to figure out what "a fussy wa wa" means. That one has me stumped.

Anyway, the other day we did have a breakthrough. She came running up to me with her towel in hand. She threw the towel at me and said "Avriepunzel!" I handed her the towel back and said "OK". That's my usual comment when I have no idea what she is talking about, and I'm trying to get something done. She threw the towel back at me and said, a lot louder, "AVRIEPUNZEL!!" "AVRIEPUNZEL!!" I looked at her and knew she wasn't going away until I figured it out. So I began to put all of the clues together.

1. Why is she giving me a towel? She's already had her bath and her code for that is "splash, splash".
2. The towel isn't a normal towel, it's one of hers that has a hood.
3. Avriepunzel. Let me break that down - Avrie . . . punzel.
4. Towel with hood... that she puts on her head...that seems like long hair...that is just like RAPUNZEL'S!

"OH!" I said. "You want hair like Rapunzel's". "Yes" she said, "Avrie Punzel". I looked at the towel and the hood was smashed in so she couldn't get it on herself. I fixed the hood, stuck it on her head, and she ran down the hall(with the towelhair blowing in the wind) giggling and saying, "Avrie Punzel, Avrie Punzel!"

Yeah, I had a little laugh. Like I said, I'll take joy however I can get it!

Kenadee (Nessie)

Kenadee is my fun loving, sweet, oldest child. "Nessie" is what Avrie so lovingly calls her. She has become the second mom at our house. Lately she's had to be the first mom a lot. When I have got to get stuff done, she gets to take care of the other two. She doesn't complain too much, which says a lot, because the other two can be a handful.

She loves to experience and try new things. She is the animal lover of the family. She is always trying to find worms and lizards. She isn't scared one bit of the slimy little creatures. She loves to be outside helping both Grandmas in the yard or the garden. She already has this amazing ability to see how to help others. You don't have to ask, she usually knows what to do.

I am sad to say the days of Blue's Clues and Dora are pretty much over. She has moved on to High School Musical 2 and Hanna Montana. My little girl is growing up :(

She has wanted to start cooking and that has been such a huge help. She has done really well.

Her laugh makes you laugh. It is so contagious. She starts to giggle, and pretty soon everyone else has joined in.

She really wants me to have another baby. She has said that she would feed it, change it, even get up at night with it. She has fallen in love with these new baby cousins we've just gotten. She loves to hold them and take care of them. I don't think I quite believe her about the "get up at night" thing though.

She can get moody at times, but hey, she's a girl! I don't know what I would do without her.

Ashtyn (Tinkerbell)

I realize I've talked mostly about Avrie, so here are a few stories on the other two.
I have pictures of Ashtyn that are so much better than this one, but for some reason this one cracks me up. When she was little my friend Kris told me that she reminded her of Tinkerbell. It fits her to a tee. She doesn't walk any where. She flits, or dances, or twirls, or runs. She is a tiny little thing too - Energy abounding from every cell of her body. If anyone could fly based on the energy they put out, it would be her. The reason the picture cracks me up is because no matter how girly or glittery she is, she can still make such a mess. She cannot eat a thing without getting it all over.

The other thing that makes her daddy proud ... she can burp her ABC's. I have really wanted to put her in a talent show. I could dress her up to the hilt - frilly dress, curly hair, etc. As she walks out on stage, I'm sure everyone would be expecting something beautiful to come out of this thing, then she would start burping her ABC'S. I don't think I could ever get her to do it though.

Her claim to fame in the Eyre family is that she was the first grandchild that could stand on her head. John always wanted a grandchild that could do that. No help, no walls, nothing. Now the others have tried to beat her. She has contests with Wade(he's 13) to see who can stay up the longest. She wins by a mile.

She can also come up with the funniest things sometimes. She knew Avrie was going to be a girl before we did. She was drawing picture of "Flower". That was what she called her at the time. I said "Ashtyn, it could be a boy. What should we name it if it's a boy?" She crinkled up her nose, got a disgusted look on her face and said "GARBAGE"! I guess it's a good thing we got Flower instead of Garbage.

To stay up with her I have to be pretty quick-witted. Doesn't always happen, but one day it did. It was later one night, we'd been running around from this and that. I just wanted them to get out of the car quickly. That never happens, and Ashtyn was being particularly slow. She was blocking the other two from getting out, and she wouldn't move. I told her she had better get out. She looked at me and said "I am the Princess, and I only get out when I want to". I had a moment of clarity and said "Well I am the Queen, and the Queen is telling the Princess to get out of the car now!". She looked at me and knew she was beaten. She said "humph" and jumped out of the car. Score one for the Queen!

She can be stubborn, very precise, and I'll be darned if she is going to let anyone else tell her what to do. Good and bad, we love her to death.

How pathetic was that last post? Extremely pathetic - I know. It helped me feel better if you can believe that. Letting everyone know how pathetic I can be made me feel better?!? It sounds crazy, but once I wrote everything down and got it out, I felt relieved. And I saw how dumb it really sounded, so I was able to shake it off and get over it. I know the girls still love me at the end of the day even if I do everything wrong. That is all that matters. Of course your comments help, even if you were just trying to make me feel better :)

Motherhood

We went camping over the weekend. It was so nice to get away for a few days. But I was sitting with the girls one day, and this overwhelming sadness came over me. I looked at these beautiful, sweet, amazing spirits and was hit with this huge sadness. They were sent to me to nurture, to teach, to love, and to care for. They are already smarter, sweeter, kinder and more loving than I am. How am I not going to ruin their lives? I feel so bad that they have to have me as a mother. There are so many women out there that do a much better job than I do. I try, but I can't say I do my best every single day. Some days I fail. I can only hope and pray that they survive me. That is probably one of their biggest tests in this life. If you think about it, would you mind praying for my kids too! They need all the help they can get.

Oh, and Barbara is now blogging. If you know her, I'm sure she would love to hear from you.