Sharing the Love

The other day in the car I turned around to see this.....

Not sure where he learned this I am sure from his sisters, but it melted my heart. I love it when love is shared with me!

Thankful Thursday

20 Reason's I'm Thankful for my Husband:

1.  He loves me in spite of my flaws, farts, and failures.
2.  He never asks me to stop talking....I know that has to be hard to do when your married to someone who couldn't save her life by not talking lol.
3.  He ALWAYS forgives.
4.  He really is the smartest person I know. I learn something everyday from him.
5.  He understands my love of popcorn.
6.  His number one priority is family.
7.  His hugs always make me feel better, safer, and more loved each time I get one.
8.  His hands remind me of my Grandfather.
9.  His love of football.
10.  He tells me what I need to hear and not what I want to here.
11.  His love of kissing....more people should just make out like teenagers.
12.  The way he has kept the spark, excitement, and freshness of our marriage after being together 14 years. 13.  His calves are AMAZING!
14.  His ability to pull a new dinner recipe out of thin air buy just using his imagination.
15.  How he puts up with all my "projects"
16.  His obsession with clothes....it has rubbed off on me and what women wouldn't love a permanent shopping partner!
17.  How he takes everything in stride and responds unemotionally to all situations.
18.  The way he loves our children.
19.  How I catch him staring at me and how it gives me butterflies :)
20.  That he is ALWAYS him and never tries to be anyone else.

Love you Babe!
Athienna

Thankful for those times

I am thankful for those times I can sit back and just be with my family and no one else. Where the thoughts of the day just leave my mind. No thoughts, cares, deadlines, or other nonsense clouding my thoughts. This is the time when I feel at peace the most. This is a desire of mine that I wish was here more. Less of everyone else and more of just the 4 people that mean the most to me.

As a certified people pleaser it is something I struggle with everyday. The feeling that I must please everyone and end the end all that happens is I please no one. Finding that balance between family time, spouse time, friend time, work time, and everything else. Monday was that day feeling emotionally overwhelmed by this uncontrolable desire to HAVE to please everyone and doing nothing but stressing myself out.

I decided to just text my husband and say tonight we need to go bowling just us and the kids and have a good old family competition. What a great time was had by all. There was tons of food eaten, smack talk given, gutter balls thrown, and laughs had by all.

I believe that laughter is ONE medicine for the soul but for me the ONLY medicine that works for my soul is my family!

Tattoos are a family affair....

This week marked the 5 year anniversary of my Grandmothers passing. My sisters and I wanted to do something to honor her and at the same time do something that was a bonding event for us sisters. So an idea was born. A tattoo was our idea; angel wings with a heart in the middle to not only show we know she an angel in heaven but our guardian angel.

So here is us before our tattoo session:

Me, Katie and Ashley

Our tattoo on Katie. They are all the same except mine has more shading.

You know in big families it never is "fair" if half of us get something and the other half doesn't (lol). So the boys wanted to get tattoo's also and so Saturday afternoon they went on down to the tattoo shop and got inked.

My husband getting our three children's names around his wrist

John with his two children's names

Donnie with my cousin's name Christine on his arm.

 It was defiantly the most memorable weekend we have had in a while. I absolutely love all of our tattoo's and the meaning behind why we each got them. Holding my sister's hands during each of our turns is something I will never forget. Our bond is stronger not because of the picture on our bodies but because of the love we have for each other and our family. The commitment to each other no matter where we live how how often we talk we are family forever.