What are YOU thankful for?

Hey everyone!


Since the Thanksgiving holiday is just a few days away, I thought it would be intriguing to reflect on some of the blessings in my life. There are so many things I'm thankful for that I'm sure I'll unintentionally leave some out. In the midst of this life we live, I feel it's important to remind ourselves of our blessings and be thankful for all of the people in our lives.

If you receive an email from me every so often to remind you to come and check my blog, you are an important part of my life...THANK YOU.

I'm thankful for... (in no particular order)

My parents for always being there for me no matter what. For realizing and accepting my dreams. For teaching me so much about life. For loving Jason and the kids as if they were our kids instead of just "his" kids. Thank you for showing me a thing or two (or a hundred) about parenting. I continue to learn so much from you...even if we're a few hours away. Thank you for your never-ending support.

Jason for his never-ending love. For the times he makes my day when he looks at me and tells me I'm beautiful. For every laugh we share because I'm finally happy. And for so much more that I can't put into words even if I tried. He means everything to me and I thank God for him everyday. He's a beautiful person inside and out and I can't believe this is my reality...it's amazing and I wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING!

Jasmine, Luke, and Shawn...oh my God...the three of you will never read this, but I feel the need to include you. You three have taught me so much about life, love, and happiness. You are my world and I love you so much more than you will ever be able to comprehend. I am so proud of you and look forward to each day ahead. You're all so beautiful to me. You bring me an endless amount of joy. I'm so thankful that I will get to be on this journey we call life with you and watch you grow up.

All of our family back in MO. Thank you for reading my blog and viewing all of my pictures. Thank you for your support...and even those that don't. I miss all of you and I can't wait to come to MO and see you all soon!:) TIGGER...yes, my cat! Every cat I see reminds me of you and it makes me sad because I love you and I miss you like CRAZY! I can't wait until you can move in with us. I miss cuddling up with you and holding you. See you soon, buddy!

I'm thankful for so many things...my health, the people that surround me, the fact that I have somewhere to live and food to eat. I'm thankful that I'm happy and that I'm following my dreams. I'm just thankful to God that I'm alive!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving with your family. Don't forget to think about what you're thankful for. It's never too late to remind those you love that you're thinking of them and that you're thankful they're in your life.

THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU!
-Cole-

"White Horse" and "Love Story"

Hey everyone,

I have a lot of new pictures and things to post, but before I do all of that, I just wanted to gush a little bit. lol I'm a huge fan of Taylor Swift and she just had a new album come out November 11th, called Fearless. Two of my favorite songs on the new album are titled "White Horse" and "Love Story." The latter is her latest single, and the other will likely be a single (I believe it's already gone #1 on iTunes). I thought I'd post the lyrics to these songs, for those that haven't heard. I like her music so much because many times, I feel like she has snuck her way into my head and has written the very stories of my life. It's weird, I know...but some of her songs just hit that close to home.

"White Horse" is about when you're in a relationship with someone and you break up and it's that moment when you realize that the person you fell for isn't who you thought they were. It's when you're fooled into this fairy-tale feeling that isn't anywhere close to reality. It's the moment you stop and think, "Wow...this isn't the one that is going to sweep me off my feet." I think it's something that many people have been through...including myself. Here's the lyrics:

"White Horse"

Say you're sorry
That face of an angel
Comes out just when you need it to
As I paced back and forth all this time
Cause I honestly believed in you
Holding on
The days drag on
Stupid girl,
I should have known, I should have known

[Chorus]
That I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet,
Lead her up the stairwell
This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town,
I was a dreamer before you went and let me down
Now it's too late for you
And your white horse, to come around

Baby I was naive,
Got lost in your eyes
And never really had a chance
I had so many dreams
About you and me
Happy endings
Now I know

[Chorus]
That I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet,
Lead her up the stairwell
This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town,
I was a dreamer before you went and let me down
Now it's too late for you
And your white horse, to come around

And there you are on your knees,
Begging for forgiveness, begging for me
Just like I always wanted but I'm so sorry

Cause I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairytale
I'm gonna find someone someday who might actually treat me well
This is a big world, that was a small town
There in my rearview mirror disappearing now
And its too late for you and your white horse
Now its too late for you and your white horse, to catch me now

Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa
Try and catch me now
Oh, it's too late
To catch me now

Hearing the actual song would be better (so I encourage you all to "YouTube it"), but you get the idea. The next one is called "Love Story", and if you listen to country radio, I'm sure you've heard it a half a dozen times already.

"Love Story"

We were both young, when I first saw you.
I close my eyes and the flashback starts-
I'm standing there, on a balcony in summer air.

I see the lights; see the party, the ball gowns.
I see you make your way through the crowd-
You say hello, little did I know...

That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles-
And my daddy said "stay away from Juliet"-
And I was crying on the staircase-
begging you please don't go...
And I said...

Romeo take me somewhere, we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess,
It's a love story, baby, just say yes.

So I sneak out to the garden to see you.
We keep quiet, because we're dead if they knew-
So close your eyes... escape this town for a little while.
Oh, Oh.

Cause you were Romeo - I was a scarlet letter,
And my daddy said "stay away from Juliet" -
but you were everything to me-
I was begging you, please don't go-
And I said...

Romeo take me somewhere, we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess.
It's a love story, baby, just say yes-

Romeo save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel.
This love is difficult, but it's real.
Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess.
It's a love story, baby, just say yes.
Oh, Oh.

I got tired of waiting.
Wondering if you were ever coming around.
My faith in you was fading-
When I met you on the outskirts of town.
And I said...

Romeo save me, I've been feeling so alone.
I keep waiting, for you but you never come.
Is this in my head, I don't know what to think-
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said...

Marry me Juliet, you'll never have to be alone.
I love you, and that's all I really know.
I talked to your dad -- go pick out a white dress
It's a love story, baby just say... yes.
Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh.

We were both young when I first saw you.


I love this song because in a way, it resembles my life with Jason now. Mainly, it's the difference between the two songs. In the first song Taylor sings, "I'm gonna find someone someday, who might actually treat me well," and that is exactly what I've found. I also love the princess theme in "Love Story" because I feel like Jason treats me like a princess. My favorite verse of the song is this one:

"Romeo save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel.
This love is difficult, but it's real.
Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess.
It's a love story, baby, just say yes.
Oh, Oh."

The reason this verse stands out to me is because I have felt this. I know what it's like when people are trying to tell you how to feel or how to take a situation. And sometimes it seems overwhelming...but it's real. It's great knowing that you have someone who will walk with you side by side. Someone you can say, "Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess..."

I just love these songs, and I love the entire album. And obviously...I love Jason. :)

Cole

Saturday, November 15th

Hey everyone! As promised, I'm back to write to all of you. Yesterday was so much fun! My mom and dad came up to visit for a little while yesterday. They ended up getting up here about 12:30. Before they got here, I told the boys (we didn't have Jaz this weekend) my mom and dad were on their way. Luke says, "Where are we going?" I said, "Well, do you remember seeing all of those pictures on my computer of me in those white dresses? We're going to go to a place where I can try on dresses." There was a new bridal shoppe that opened in Jacksonville (the town I work in), and we were going to go check it out.

They remembered the pictures and both wanted to go with us. Shawn said, "I want to try on dresses, too!" I said, "No Shawn...dresses are for girls. Boys wear tuxedos. Don't you remember your mom's wedding? You both wore tux's then." They just sort of stared at me and finally Luke says, "Yeah but I didn't get to wear a bowtie and I want a bowtie!" So I promised the boys in our wedding, they could wear bowties. lol Then later on, Torrey came home from work and I said, "Hey Shawn...why don't you tell Torrey where you went today" and he said, "Torrey! We went to...um...the princess store!" It was so cute. LOL

So mom and dad arrived about 12:30 and we helped carry all the stuff upstairs that they brought us. THANK YOU! :) After that, the boys were very anxious to leave, so we started out for Jacksonville. We started walking around looking for bowties. They did have one on a mannequin, but they didn't have any to try on. The woman told us if we decided we wanted to order them from her shop, they'd have to special order some. I tried on three different dresses. One dress I tried on twice. It was beautiful. I'm torn between that dress and the one other favorite dress I had from the bridal shoppe in Festus, MO. Shawn looked at me and said, "Cole, you're so pretty!" It was cute. The boys were actually telling me which dresses they liked better. lol

After that, we made a quick trip to Walmart and headed back to Virginia. We met Jason at a little hometown diner called The Depot just a few minutes away from our house. None of us had ever been there before, but grandma recommended it to us. The prices were good and the amount of food was enormous. We all had to take doggie bags home with us. We came back home and took a few pictures and said our good-byes.

The rest of the night was spent just hanging out here at the house. Mom had sent the boys up some camouflage long johns and matching slippers. The boys put their new long johns on and Shawn wanted to call my mom and thank her again. Shawn fell asleep pretty early. Luke was too busy playing puzzle games on the computer.

My dad got me the new Keith Urban concert DVD and we're going to watch it tonight whenever we get back from taking the kids home. We're going to watch it on the big TV screen.

Shawn is taking a nap and it'll be time for baths pretty soon...and time to take them home. :(

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures. Even if you aren't a member on this site, you can still reply to my posts by email...so please let me know what you think about the dress!

Love,
Cole

New hair cut!

Hey everyone,

I just got my hair cut today...rather than try to explain what it looks like, here's a visual:




It looks kind of weird in the picture...but it looks really cute in person. I love it! And I can still put it up in a pony tail when I get lazy and don't want to mess with my hair. lol I had today off and we didn't do a whole lot...just got my hair cut, browsed Walmart for a few minutes and came home. Jason's been trying to fix a laptop. I've been re-doing this site.

Did you notice I changed the background? I also added a few "graphics" to the right side of the page. Then a little further down on the right side, I added some pics. Just a few of my favorites...of course I have soooo many favorites. I also added my poem, But I Aint Momma because everyone seemed to like it so much...and I'm extremely proud of that poem. I really like all of the updates...it brightens my page up more and it shows more of who I am. The site I got all of the graphics from, is a site called Aerocharm. I love that site. The reason I like it so much is because it recognizes step-mom's...and step-mom's are so often overlooked. The background I chose was a site called Pyzam...which is a pretty awesome. I just liked the tiara...and the color behind the tiara was a fall-ish color.

I'm currently reading another book by Debbie Macomber in the Navy Series. I've read the first two...I don't have #3...so I skipped to book #4. It isn't hurting anything though because there aren't any character ties in this series, so it's okay that I skip around a bit. After that...I think I'm going to read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I've heard a lot about this book and it looks interesting. Matthew (Jason's cousin) just got it at a school book fair...and he told me that I could read it whenever I wanted to. Anyway, I'm sure sometime this weekend I'll write some more!

Until next time...

Love,
Cole :)

I cannot WAIT for this weekend...

Hey everyone,

It's only Sunday, but I've been excited about this upcoming weekend since...oh, last weekend ended! lol

I'm not sure what it is, but this week I have been missing the kids a little more than usual. Sometimes our weekends just seem to fly by so fast and I'm left wondering where the time went. It seems like it takes forever for Friday to get here when Jason picks up the kids, and then I don't get off work until 10 at night, and when I come home, most of the time, they're asleep. Then Saturday is usually full with activities, and then Sunday comes. I don't like Sunday because we have to take them home. It seems like Sunday is nothing but run run run. It's up early in the morning for breakfast, play a few hours, eat lunch, get baths, and take them home. I get a little bitter sometimes, but I just wish there was more time with them. Anyway...this weekend should be fun.

My mom is coming up to hang out with us on Saturday and I can't wait! There is a new bridal shoppe that opened up in Jacksonville (the town I work in), so we may take Jas up there with us and look around. I think she'd have fun. And I have a feeling Jas won't be the only one that wants to go. lol The boys will probably want to go...maybe not Luke, he's always stuck up his dad's butt, but Shawn will probably want to go as well. We'll see. All three of them have seen the pictures of me in the bridal gowns I've tried on, and they thought it was cool. Luke even told me I looked "pretty in that one dress", which I thought was so cute. lol

It's 2:20 and I have to be at work at 3:30 and I'm so not looking forward to it. I'd rather stay here all day. lol Oh well...I have to work until Wednesday. I'm off Thursday and then I work on Friday...then I have the weekend off with the kids! I'm ready for Friday!

Love,
Cole

P.S. For those of you that have children that live with you...you have no idea how lucky you are. Sure, they may drive you crazy sometimes...but you don't know what it feels like not to have your kids but a few days out of a month. And for those that are in situations anything like mine, you know exactly how it feels. You know that immediate emptiness that takes over your entire body once you say goodbye and drive away. Don't take the life you have with your kids for granted. Others aren't quite as lucky.

Gleason Halloween 2008

Photobucket Album

Hey everyone!

I hope your Halloween was good whether you had kids to take out trick or treating, handed out candy, or just sat at home. lol Our Halloween was pretty good. I took off on Friday, since it was Halloween, so I could be here to help get the kids ready to go. We picked them up after school and got home around 5:00. I made dinner and by the time we were done it was almost 6:30. So we got the kids cleaned up and put on their costumes.

Jasmine was a Barbie princess. She said she didn't want to do anything with her hair, she just wanted it down. She did ask if she could use some of my make up, which I let her. Luke was Superman...complete with a make-shift cape. The costume was given to us by a woman I work with, and it didn't have a cape with it. Of course when he tried the costume on a few weeks ago, he didn't mention wanting a cape. But on the night of Halloween, he wanted a cape...so Jason made that happen. Shawn was Spiderman. My mom had sent up Halloween baskets for them, so they used those.

We only went to about 10 to 15 houses. We went trick or treating here in Virginia, and it wad difficult to find houses lit up giving out candy! Our favorite costume of the night was the little UPS boy. The second house we went to, there was a little boy wearing an authentic UPS uniform, complete with a hat. And his candy basket was a UPS box! It was adorable! I assume his dad is a UPS driver or something.

Before we took them to houses, we told them when they went up to the door, they should say "trick or treat" and make sure to say "thank you" when you're done. Well, what we forgot was to tell them not to grab candy...and let the people give the candy to them! The first house we went to, the lady handed Jas and Luke candy, but hadn't gotten to Shawn yet, and he got impatient, so he sticks his hand in the basket and grabs a handful of candy! lol So, after we tell him that he's supposed to wait and it's not nice to grab candy...a few houses down, the lady holds out the candy and tells them they can grab what they want. Shawn looks up at me and says, "Cole, can I?" LOL So then we modified what we told them...we told them not to grab the candy out of the bowl unless they say it's okay to pick what they want. Luke is the shy one and was just happy to get candy. Shawn on the other hand...every time he was given candy he'd ask, "What is this?" LOL And Jasmine would make conversation about the cats and dogs that people had by saying, "Oooh... I like your dog...did you know that I'm an animal person? I have a cat..." LOL

They did pretty good for themselves...they eventually started slowing down quite a bit and we all agreed to come back home. That was pretty much our Halloween...we all had a lot of fun!

Oh and just like last time...the big picture you see at the top of this post...CLICK ON IT! It will bring you to my Photobucket album and you can view all of the pictures. I really hope doing it this way doesn't make it any more difficult for some of you. If it does, I'm sorry. The other site I use to make slideshows (RockYou.com) was down today. Last time, I tried Photobucket to make it easy for my mom to get pictures and print them, but that didn't work very well. lol Anyway, I hope you can all see the pictures!

Well, that's about it for now. Until next time...

Love you all and take care,
+Cole+

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