Lil Luke is on You Tube

So, after many people asking and Matthew begging, I have finally made him a You Tube channel. He goes by Lil Luke and Mini Elvis. I have posted a few videos of him and I hope you like them. Once you watch the Video, you should be able to click the Lil Luke on the page and see the rest of his videos as well.

Lil Luke, Kick the Dust Up

Lil Luke, Country Girl

Mini Elvis, Jailhouse Rock

Let me know what you think!!!!

Luke Bryan

Luke Bryan has a new song that is being released tomorrow, did you know that? Did ya? Did ya? My son has been beyond excited for over a week! He can hardly contain himself! Today on the way home, the DJ on the radio stated that they will play this new song every hour, on the hour ALL DAY tomorrow. Matthew is.....well, there are no words for this big Luke fan!! He wants to stay home from school so he can listen to it as much as he can. He can't wait to be able to sing it at karaoke! Soon I will post a picture of him when he impersonates Luke during karaoke, baseball cap,black shirt, jeans and all. LOL.

Does your child have a role model? Anyone they want to be like when they grow up?

Summer

There are about 12 days of school left this year. All of my friends are excited and ready for the summer, but for me, this brings up the question...... What do I do with my son for the summer? I work a full time job but I still can not afford ANY of the summer camps. I do not understand why everything has to be so darn expensive. Yes, I want to see my son more. Yes I want to have him home. Yes, I am happy that it is summer time but I also HAVE to work to pay bills. No one else pays my bills, not even a penny so I have no choice but to work. Why do schools and camps have to make it so hard for working parents? It makes me want to open my own summer camp for single families!!!!

Thank goodness my sister is willing to babysit and my boss is flexible and letting me work a different shift over the summer or I have no idea what I would do. Every year it gets harder to plan but I also know that these days will soon be over and he will be all grown up. For now, I will take each day as it comes and make sure he still has a great summer!!!!

Mother's Day

Happy  Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there! 

Whether you are a single mom, separated mom, divorced mom or married mom. If you have biological child, step child, adopted child or have lost a child, you are all amazing moms and deserve to enjoy this amazing day!

God gave me an amazing son who is the best son I could possibly have. I have never met a kid like him!   For Mother's day he gave me a few gifts, fabulous things he made at school and some that Grandma helped him make. We had a water balloon fight and did some good snuggling. It was nice and Matthew did an amazing job and was so excited to celebrate with me!

I hope you all enjoyed your day as well, feel free to share your stories with me!!!

Love for my readers

I am very excited that so many people are reading this blog already! I love seeing the page views climb every single day. Based on the numbers I am seeing, I think that alot of you have the same struggles that I have, or maybe you have similar stories. I want you to know that I am here for you. Please feel free to leave a comment or send a message if you have any questions. You may be shy or not want to open up, and I completely understand that. I was there where you are but I never found a blog or any other place that I truly felt comfortable opening up so I started my own. I want you to know that I am here and together we can work through anything. I would like to build a safe community where we can all come together.  Who is willing to step out of their comfort zone first? I can not wait to get to know you! If you just want to quietly follow this blog, that is ok too. I love all of my readers!!! Thank you for being here and for your support!

By the way, don't forget that you can follow me (see the right side bar) so you do not miss a post! 

What to do?

As a mom, I generally question alot of things. I wonder if I am doing everything I can do, I wonder if there is something better I should be doing. Is there a better opportunity somewhere else? Should I get a new job? Should I try to work from home? The list goes on and on but I won't bore you with it since I am sure you all understand and have a list of your own.

Lately I have been trying to figure out what I need to do now, in order to help Matthew later. We have no friends in Monster Jam to slide Matthew in. We have no driver in our town that he can go and help. Do I need to move us to another town?

As I search for answers I read through some of the bios on Monsterjam.com I see that the drivers got the spot in many different ways. From racing remote control trucks, to racing go karts to being a mechanic for a driver. Some just built a truck and started having fun. So where do I go from here.

I have thought about moving to another town where there ARE drivers for him to learn from.

I have thought about going to UTI myself so I can learn how to fix trucks and then teach him how to do it.

I have thought about letting him race go karts but I have NO idea where to come up with the money for that.

He wants his dad to be a monster jam driver, anyone know anyone? HA! Just kidding!

But on a serious note, I am struggling to figure out what I can do today to help him succeed with his dream later. I would do anything for my son, now I just have to decide what anything means and how to make the money to do what needs to be done!!!

Elvis is back

So, as I mentioned before, one of the things Matthew wants to do is to be on the radio like Luke Bryan.I was unsure how I can help with this one until we were at dinner one night and karaoke started in the back room. We go wondering back there and Matthew did not want to leave. He got up with all the confidence in the world and started singing Luke Bryan songs like a pro. Everyone was shocked at his courage.

The second time we went an Elvis impersonator was there. Matthew did not understand who this guy was. He watched him perform and started talking to the guy (Tony). Tony gave Matthew a scarf during one performance and explained who Elvis was. Now, 7 months later, we go to Karaoke every Friday night where Matthew sings Luke Bryan songs and also performs as Mini Elvis. Elvis and Mini Elvis often perform together and are a crowd favorite.

 

The crowd there loves Matthew. He has some regulars that come back to see him every Friday. His public performing, and speaking has improved. His confidence is boosting so I think we are heading in the right direction. While we were in Vegas, we had Matthew dress up and walk the strip. He had a blast! How many seven year olds do you know that dress like Elvis and sing some of his songs? I do not know if he will ever be on the radio like Luke Bryan but I do know that he is having a blast pretending to be him! Soon I will post pictures of him doing karaoke dressed as Luke.

What is your favorite truck?

What is your favorite truck? That is the question that everyone asks Matthew. His answer is always the same... "I don't have a favorite, I love them all!" His answer has now changed. Over the weekend, Monster Jam came to town. Since Candice Jolly was going to be there, he was wearing his Monster Mutt Dalmatian hat (one of many fun MJ hats he has). He started off the night cheering for everyone but he only made it through round one before he zoned in on Candice. He was screaming "GO CANDICE" at the top of his lungs for the rest of the show. He was mad when someone beat her and excited when she was winning. His excitement was genuine and contagious. Now, let me just tell you, we have a tiny civic center arena. These trucks can barely manage to do a donut. We just went to VEGAS. Did you catch that? Monster Jam World Finals in VEGAS and he is screaming just as loud in this little arena. A true Monster Jam fan.

Now, back to this amazing night where he found a truck/driver that he favors...... Candice won freestyle and Matthew could not have been more proud. He yelled and cheered then looked at me and said, "I knew she could do it mom!" When Candice took her award and headed up to the stands, Matthew went crazy, when he realized she was heading to him......there are no words for what happened but let me try to explain. Candace came over, handed the award to Matthew and talked to him for a minute. Excitement radiated off his entire body. You could not wipe the smile off his face. He just kept saying, "Candace heard me yelling, she came and found me." He carried this award around the civic center so he could go get her to sign it after the show. He would not let go of it. Candace signed a special note to him on it and he was so proud. He carried it to the car, got buckled in and held it all the way home. From the back seat I kept hearing "this is a dream. This HAS to be a dream! Did I REALLY get the award? Did Candice really come find me? I have GOT to be dreaming! Are you SURE this is not a dream?" I laughed and said, it is not a dream, this was all real. He finally calmed down and fell asleep in the car, when we got home, I realized that he was sleeping and still clutching the award. Precious.

When he woke up in the morning, he checked to see if he still had it and was running around yelling that it really was not a dream!  Several days later, he has taken a picture of it to school to share with his friends, told everyone he has talked to about how cool Candice is and protects the award like nothing else. Soon, we will move into a new place, where we will be able to set up his monster jam room again and he can not wait to get that award hanging in there as the main focus. Once that happens, I will be sure to put pictures here for you to see. His room looked so cool before we had to pack it away and move.

So anyway, the truth of the matter is that Matthew's life was touched by an angel and changed. Now if you ask Matthew what his favorite truck is, his answer will be "Monster Mutt Dalmatian with Candice Jolly because she is amazing and she loves me!"  That was a night he will never forget. One day in a few years when he is a Monster Jam driver with Candice, I think they will be great friends!

Thank you Candice for all you do, you are an amazing role model and a very sweet person!

Monster Jam, The Last Day

Saturday.....There are no words for Saturday to explain the level of awesomeness..... Let me see if I can try

We get to the pit party, Matthew only needed 7 more autographs to have them all. So we get in, get those 7 and enjoy all of the rest of the event.We checked out the booths, RC and hotwheels tent, and enjoy some shows at the stage. Matthew was chosen to go onstage and answer some trivia (he is still talking about that)

He also got to participate in the dalmatian fashion parade with Candice Jolly. This was a great event! I loved seeing some of the other drivers come out sporting their spots in support! This is a great idea and a wonderful event!

 

We enjoyed the long parade featuring all of the trucks that were there which was amazing and then we headed into the stadium. Freestyle was better than we expected it to be and we were sad when it was over.  

What about next year you ask? We will be there! I have put some plans in place to save money so I am not behind on bills like I am now. We will find a way to make it again, this event was very much worth it! 

Monster Jam World Finals Part 2

When I was pregnant and I found out I was having a boy, I did not know what to do. What do you do with a boy? What do they like? How do you share the same things? Well, Monster Jam is the answer! I never imagined I would know so much about trucks but I have found that I love every bit of it! I know more about trucks and drivers than anyone I know! Strange! LOL. That being said, I do not know who was more excited when we got to Friday!

We were waiting for the pit party to start where Matthew informed me that he wanted to see Dennis Anderson. WHAT? He is too popular Matthew, we will never get to see him. Matthew just looked at me and said, "yes we will! We are close to the front" Now, mind you, we have seen Dennis Anderson at 2 other events. We have pictures with him and his autograph but that is not enough, Matthew wanted to see him again. So you know when they open the pit party doors, you see those fools running through the pit party? Yup, you guessed it, that was us. We ran all the way through so we could get a spot in line. I was out of breath and half dead but the look on Matthew's face when Dennis walked up was well worth it.

 

 We then continued on our adventure, getting autographs and pictures with other drivers. Everyone was amazing. Matthew was asking questions and they all answered with out a problem. This is one of the main reasons I love and support Monster Jam. They truly seem to love their fans and they help each other. Yes they are competing but they are also a family. 

After the pit party we enjoyed the parade and then went in for racing. By the end of the night, Matthew had almost lost his voice and was exhausted. He fell asleep before we made it to the hotel and had great dreams all night! 

Want to know about the best day ever? Stay tuned.......

Monster Jam World Finals

Now that we are back home, I wanted to share our Monster Jam World Finals experience with you.....

The day has come and the excitement is real! Wednesday night we went to Club Madrid for the showing of last years world finals. That was amazing. Matthew loved every second of it. He did not want to leave!

Thursday....there just are not any words. We went to the double down pit party and spent hours visiting drivers and checking out their trucks. He kept saying that this must be a dream, there is no way this is real!

My heart was full that day. Words can not describe watching your son go through something so big and exciting to him. After the pit party we enjoyed the parade of trucks and then went into the stadium for qualifying and the young gun shootout. He was so excited.....well, here, you can see for yourself, he was so excited you can barely see him in this picture cuz he is jumping so hard as he cheers on all of the trucks.

This was the most amazing day of my life. But don't worry, soon I will be posting about the last two days on the World Finals. You don't want to miss that!!!!

The Turn Around

 Matthew has been saving his money since he found out about Monster Jam. He wanted to go to the World Finals in Vegas. He saved EVERY SINGLE PENNY. All of his tooth fairy money, birthday money, loose change he found in parking lots or in the house. 2 years ago he told me and I quote cuz it is burned in my memory- "don't worry mommy, I know that you will never have enough money so I will pay for the Monster Jam trip." Heartbroken. Absolutely heartbroken. I felt like the worst mom in the world and I spiraled down. I struggled for a while saying to myself that without a husband helping pay the bills, I could never do anything so big.

So 2 months ago when I decided that I was going to make a change to my life to better my child, the first thing I did was plan a trip. I raised my head up and decided to show my son that we can do anything we want to do. I used my next paycheck to buy the double down tickets. I would NOT worry about the bills, this trip is important. After I had the tickets I told Matthew that I was trying to plan this trip but I needed his help. Boy did he help! He let me sell a lot of his toys on Craigslist to pay for the plane tickets. Then he asked me what else he could do. We came up with ideas and he sold Hershey kiss roses for Valentine's day. When that started working, he told me he was going to pay for the hotel for all 8 nights we were there. I laughed but then saw the look of pure determination on his face and said ok. He made magnets and started selling those. He talked to everyone he saw, walked up to people he did not know and somehow encouraged them all to buy his stuff (don't worry, I was with him the whole time). He made more than enough to pay for the hotel and he was so proud. I started selling stuff on eBay to bring in extra money and together, we made this trip happen. No husband, No dad, no one helping pay the bills. We did it ourselves!

Falling in love with Monster Jam

When Matthew was one, his grandparents and I got free tickets and took him to see a small monster truck show. It was simple and muddy. It was love at first sight. He wanted a toy monster truck so bad but they were expensive there so we went to Wal-mart and let him pick out a truck. Boy were we shocked to see a grave digger truck! We had NO idea he was still around! Awesome! Since I saw grave digger when I was younger, I thought it was really cool that my son could get to know him too! We met a guy who drives a monster truck who told us about the SPEED channel (has now moved to Fox1 sports). We raced home, turned it on and Matthew did not move until the Monster Jam show ended. He immediately wanted to watch more. He was hooked, 120%.

Now here we are, 6 years later. Matthew has NEVER waivered. He is still 120% in love with Monster Jam, has over 30 shows saved on the DVR (he would have more but there is no room) he knows who drives what truck, he can tell you what trucks they used to drive and well.....he can tell you a whole lot of other information about these trucks, don't believe me? All you have to do is ask him, but here is your warning, once you start up a conversation with him about Monster Jam, he will talk your ear off with an excitement that you can not even imagine.

He has a Monster Jam room (as soon as we get our own place, it will be set back up cuz he really misses it!), he collects the smaller trucks and at last count he has 500 of that size (thank goodness for cheap prices and yard sales!) This year his picture made it into the Monster Jam Yearbook and yes, he thinks he is a celebrity now! LOL. He has talked about what his own monster truck will look like and was very upset when he recently found out you have to be 18 to drive for Monster Jam.

No matter what other people say or think, Matthew has stuck to his dreams. He will tell you that he WILL be a monster Jam driver. Not IF but WHEN he drives, what he plans to do. He follows the career of all the drivers, he has no favorite driver or truck. He loves them all and gets excited when the win and cries when they lose. Never a dull moment in this house.........

Why this blog is here

We all have moments as a parent that we doubt ourselves. I know that I have always struggled with my own obstacles that are all purely in my head.  For instance, my seven year old son wants to be a monster jam truck driver, a professional football player and a singer on the radio just like Luke Bryan. Those are HUGE dreams that seem impossible to this simple, struggling woman. We do not have that kind of money, power or even friends in the fields that can help. What is a mom to do??? For years I have used excuses, I am a single mom, acting as both mom AND dad to my son, I am working full time and doing part time work on the side and yet after bills, I still have no money, I have alot of debt, we live with my parents and life is not generally fun or pleasant. See, lots of excuses.......

Well, about 2 months ago I decided to change my thoughts and actions. ANYTHING is possible and my son can be whatever he wants. Dream big baby, cuz you WILL get there. This blog is designed to share his journey with you as well as a way for me to keep myself on track. The question now is what can I do as a mom to get my son ready to make his dreams come true. I am terrified but ready. I am going to put my fears aside and encourage him to take classes, try racing and well....anything else that will get him a step closer to his dreams.  Follow us as we make changes to our life and show the world that even a kid being raised by a poor single mom can make his big dreams become a reality!!!!