Southern Lovin'

Why was my vacuuming delayed today?

2009-06-02T16:08:00.002-04:00

My vacuuming was delayed today because I decided to indulge my son's sense of curiosity. After he watched me remove and unclog the dirt canister on my vacuum (I was being lazy and sucked up something I shouldn't have that wedged in the canister), he got all excited looking at all the tubes and seeing how it worked - if you suck something up off the floor it goes in here, then up here, then shoots into here and spins around and around! Hey! Mom! Don't put the canister back on! I want to see if it will suck up this bead and shoot it out of here!..... Hmmm..... Should I say no and go about my housework or should I indulge my son's curiosity in seeing how things work and have fun conducting an experiment? ... It would be kinda cool seeing it shoot little gold beads across the room.... Okay. So we proceeded to try sucking up beads and getting the vacuum to propel them across the room (with the kids safely on the bed and out of way of any oncoming projectiles). It was pretty cool trying, then trying to figure out why it didn't work, and figure out where the beads went since they disappeared in but never came out, finally finding them wedged in with the air filter. The ultimate conclusion: Dyson must have seen people like us coming and built their vacuums in such a way as to prevent projectile experimentation!!

Now off to finish my boring housework!

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Kid Quote of the Day

2009-06-02T16:05:00.002-04:00

Jared: Mom, can you cook my clothes for me?
Mom: Cook your clothes???
Jared: Yeah, so they will be nice and toasty!

(interpretation: during the school year I always put his sweat pants and sweat shirt in the dryer on HI so they were nice and toasty. It was the best way to get him up and out of bed in the morning without a fight.)

Memorial Day Weekend Camping Fun!

2009-05-28T09:11:00.037-04:00

Just wanted to share some photos from our awesome holiday weekend camping trip with the family. We had a wonderful time! My cousin and her family were able to come join us for a day hike and dinner. Can't wait for the next trip! Forgive me - the photos are out of order but I need to get busy with other stuff right now rather than continue to fight with this. I think you'll get the idea!!!

You'll have to forgive me for the horrible spacing and squooshed verbiage on some of the photos too. I want to scream because I have tried and tried and can't fix it!!! Ugh!

Our Camper all set up - boy did the awning come in handy since it rained so much over the weekend!

Mommy is relaxing while the kids did their thing. Jared looks like he's in time out in this photo but he's not. He's using the cooler and camper step to hold his crayons, pencils and papers. Abigail is playing in the rain while Rachel takes a nap inside.

Daddy and his kids. This photo started out with just him and Rachel - sort of proof that she does sometimes show her daddy that she loves him (she's a mama's girl). Then Abigail said, "Me too!" And of course Jared wanted to be in it too. Daddy's got lots of lovin' around him!

We had a lot of good open space around us so the kids could run and play while we enjoyed sitting!

Daddy and the older two!

Anybody remember the old, old commercial "Quack! Quack! Waddle! Waddle!"

My cousin's hubby Gabe holding their daughter Mattie. Yes, he has a monkey on his back. That monkey would be Jared!

Cousins lined up during feeding time!

Playing soccer with Daddy and brother.

We were certainly in enemy territory, surrounded by Clemson fans.

Starting a fire.

My loves.

I love this one!

This is Jared's impression of Mommy when she's having a coniption fit!

Hilarious! And pretty darn accurate!

Mattie, Jared, Jenny and Mommy.

A very wet bunch of kids! We ended up in a down pour on our return hike from the waterfall. Everone was quite soaked and cold.

A soggy Mattie and Gabe.

Jared's "pets." Millipedes found on the trail. Big fat ones.

I kept getting sweet, strangling hugs from my passenger.

Too Sweet!

More sweet hugs from my love bug!

Sweet Princess Abigail and Bug Boy Jared.

We adults were busy doing something (I think getting the little ones back on our backs after a brief stop) and when I looked up there were the older two sitting a ways off sharing bugs and looking so cute.

They are such good buds sometimes.

A proud boy and his bugs!

See?

A beautiful sight!

Taking a break at the waterfall and feeding Mattie a snack.

John to the rescue! We were all sitting around while the kids played and all of a sudden John shot past me like a bolt of lightening! I looked up in time to see only branches and leaves swaying after Jared had fallen off this huge tree and disappeared into the abyss! Thankfully he didn't get hurt!

Daddy and Princess.

Jenny.

Gabe and Mattie

Abigail exploring.

Jared exploring.

Daddy, the conqueror!

Our descent down to the waterfall.

Our hike in.

Mama on a mission!

Check out those chicken legs! Bok-Kahk!

Getting ready for the hike.

(I told you the photos were out of order!)

Rachel all packed up and ready to ride!

Packing up. Strapping down.

A very handsome hubby!

Playing a board game while it rains outside.

Fun for everyone!

Quiet reading time before bed.

Jared was working on his workbook and Rachel kept asking, "What doin'?"

Playing soccer with Daddy.

More soccer with Daddy.

Relaxing around the fire eating s'mores!

Daddy cooking his s'mores.

Everyone watching Daddy cooking his s'mores!

A very sticky little girl!!!

A happy and very sticky trio.

Jared and Abigail roasting their marshmallows.

Lunch at the campsite.

Shucking corn for dinner. Rachel started squealing when she found the hidden treasure inside those green husks! COOOORRRRNNNN!!!

A short hike around the campground. It wasn't really this dark. It was really pretty and green everwhere but the flash was on and made it look darker. The kids were so cute!!!!

A Few Things I Love About Motherhood…

2009-04-10T23:19:00.003-04:00

While rocking my precious one in the dark before putting her to bed, listening to the soft slurping sound of her sucking her thumb, I felt that pudgy little hand reach up, find my face and softly pat my cheek.
Looking closely into the face of my sweet, pig-tailed two-year old, at her bright smile and squishy round cheeks I say, “Give Mommy a kiss-kiss?” I lean in, nearly nose-to-nose, looking at those big round smiling eyes as her mouth forms not a cute fishy pucker but a big open circle and greets me with a BURRRRP!
Taking the kids out to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and while waiting for it to arrive, my four-year old princess points to a picture of a pretty blond on an advertisement and says, “Look Mommy! Hannah Montana!” “No, sweetie,” I say. “That’s Dolly Parton.” A blank look. “Oh.” Wow - I instantly feel a lot more dated!
Laying in the dark with my sweet heart, I feel her reach over, feeling around for something. She finds my hand and pulls it around her in a warm, snuggly hug.
The knowledge that any time I have ever wanted my son to take a nap, no matter how resistant he may be to the idea, I can win and have him snoring away as long as I will lay with him, rubbing his bare back, then his neck and finally his hair. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred it will work, even now. Of course this is if I don't fall asleep first!!
And if he's running around crazy and I want him to instantly calm down, I reach out as he whizzes past, get him to stand still long enough for me to ask him a question or tell him something as I strategically start rubbing his hair. I can let go as if to let him be on his way again, but often times he will resist the cast-off and snuggle up to me saying something like, "Keep doing it, Mommy. Keep rubbing my hair." I can usually get him to stand calmly, snuggled up to me, for at least five minutes like that. Then when he does run off again, he's at least a gear or two lower than when I snagged him.
It amazes me how you can know your child is going to throw up before they ever do it just by looking at their face. And then even more amazing is how you find yourself rushing in without hesitation to catch the puke in your double-cupped hands before it hits the pillow so that you won’t have to change the bed sheets!
It’s interesting to me to realize how much more capable I can be on so little sleep than I ever imagined possible. This coming from someone who once relished 12 hours of sleep per night on the weekends and whose family knew to never call before noon! I have become quite good at functioning on very little sleep and/or continuously disrupted sleep whether through those newborn months with round the clock feedings or through various stages where all three children have EACH woken me up at different times throughout the night EVERY night!
Poopy Faces! Sounds gross I know, but the expressions that my kids make while pushing out the poop are so funny! It’s almost like a smile, but not. The eyes get a little strained, the sides of the mouth curl up a little like the beginnings of a smile but the lips don’t part. Then after the impending wet “Plop!” their faces relax and the incessant chatter returns as if there had never been the slightest interruption!
That most wonderful sound of a true, deep belly laugh that can only be achieved through the best of tickle-attacks. They are lost in a blissful world of sensation almost completely unable to catch their breath from laughing so hard. And as soon as you stop and they find themselves able to breathe again, they giggle out with eyes still dancing, “Again! Again!”
The pride my six-year old son exudes when he talks to a new adult, eagerly introducing himself, introducing both of his sisters, telling all of their ages and then sharing a drawing at hand or recounting an accomplishment or a new experience he’s just had. His eyes dance, his grin ear-to-ear, his dimples so deep. And you can just see and feel how proud he feels while talking to this adult, holding their undivided attention.
One thing I definitely don’t like about motherhood is the feeling of failure. We mothers expect way too much of ourselves, feel like we have to be the master of everything, feel like everyone is judging us and our ability as a mother, worry that our kids are going to see right through us, not respect us, or worse, end up hating us. But just as I start feeling so down and upset because my kids obey my husband so much better than me… they get a boo-boo. Or they wake up in the middle of the night. Or they can’t find something. And who do they come to? Mommy. They want Mommy’s love to heal that boo-boo or chase away the bad dreams or help them find that lost treasure. When they come to me to ask me a question or to show me a new, exciting find, my heart swells with pride and joy and I feel loved and successful all over again. I feel like I am doing it right! I am a good Mommy! I may not be the perfect Mommy, but no one other than God will ever love them more or be willing to doing more for them than me, their Mommy!
We had started letting my six year old son take showers on his own rather than getting a bath with his sisters. The tub was getting a bit too crowded and Mommy was getting a little more than soaked with each bath. I forget how it came about, but several months later, I ended up bathing Jared separately after the girls rather than having him shower on his own. While bathing him, I commented to him on how much I was enjoying bathing him and how I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it. He seemed somewhat confused by the comment so I tried to explain but figured much of my explanation about him being my first-born was lost on him. A couple nights later I told him that I was about to bathe the girls and then I wanted him to get into the shower when they were done. He said, “No, Mommy. I want you to bathe me tonight.” I said, “Oh really? How come?” His reply was so sweet, “because I know how much you miss it.”

Live Your Life with No Regrets!

2008-09-21T21:14:00.004-04:00

Hey y'all! I know I haven't posted in QUITE a while, which is actually rather ironic considering the title of my last blog! But anyway, I just had these thoughts running through my head this morning and thought I'd jot them down. I was getting ready for church and kept running over and over a situation with my kids yesterday during a party we hosted and regretting how I'd handled it (or rather didn't handle it well enough). It was nothing major, a small disciplinary issue with my kids. But afterwards I was, and continued being all night long, totally self-conscious about what kind of parent my friends were thinking I was (too strict, too lax, I should let up, I should whip them into shape, etc) and I hated that feeling. I hate feeling that sick ick in my stomach when I have regret. And I use that word carefully because I usually pride myself on not having regret. I firmly believe that my life and the person I am, is the sum total of my experiences and my decisions. So, today I reminded myself that I can't have regrets. I should just make a decision to handle that situation differently next time and move on. My friends, who are truly my friends, will continue to love me and will forgive my flaws. So, below are the thoughts that I jotted down and thought I'd share. I hope you all had a Wonderfully God Blessed weekend!

PS - I'll offer a real update into the lives of the Marzullos later on.... soon, hopefully.

Live Your Life with No Regrets

Live your life with no regrets! That doesn’t mean live your life like there’s no tomorrow, living with abandon. That means live life honestly, loyally, truly. Love your husband intently in case tomorrow doesn’t come. Smother your kids and drive them up the wall by kissing them and hugging them and chasing them around to pinch their little tooshies!! Tell all of your loved ones how special they are and how much of an impact they've had on your life. Write them a note - they'll probably cherish if forever. Be smart with your money. Live BELOW your means. Create margin in your life.

Living without regret also doesn’t mean letting opportunity pass you by. Don't live in a box like a hermit because you're being too frugal or too serious or working yourself to death. Have fun! Smartly budget your money and your time so that when opportunity does come along you can freely, at the drop of a hat (or at least with minimal effort), go on that vacation, buy that car, have that fun gadget, go to that show. You should be able to enjoy life and feel truly happy and free, rather than trapped or burdened. Get out of debt! Stay out of debt!

When necessary, swallow your pride and say you’re sorry. Keep open communication so that if someone else needs to say they’re sorry, they can realize the hurt they’ve caused (possibly without knowing) and can right the wrong. Don’t hold grudges - grudges are poison to your body and spirit. Give second chances.

Love Yourself!!! We are always our own worst enemy! After having been stretched to such enormous lengths by three pregnancies (one of which was large twins), I realize that my previous dislike of my figure before kids was unnecessary and too harsh and never again will I have that body back. So I have to love the one I'm in now.

Let God Love You! He already loves you. We're the ones who can't forgive ourselves for our misdeeds. Letting someone else love us and forgive us is sometimes very hard to do... but He wants you to let Him!

If you're like me and have a two-second memory (on a good day!), learn to appreciate your SHORT short-term memory. Sometimes being naive is great, especially when it means you let go of and forget the things that had upset you so much in the moment.

So, think about it. Do it. Live Your Life with No Regret!!!

Help! I'm Blogging and I Can't Shut Up!

2008-06-25T23:42:00.002-04:00

I just find it kinda funny that I have had dry spells, going without nary a post for months, and then here I've posted seven times in the last 24 hours!!! Eight if you count this one!! Hee hee. I guess I'll try to take a break for a good (too short) nights sleep. Nighty, Night!

1,000,002 uses for Duct Tape!

2008-06-25T23:15:00.003-04:00

I truly marvel at how you can leave a 3 yr old and a 5 yr old alone for just a few minutes and return to find such amazing dishevelment and destruction! I left the room looking like this

and returned to find it like this

I freaked when I thought they'd broken the crib completely but was happy to discover they'd only disassembled it. Yes, they stood there, not moving, with looks on their faces like... "HE/SHE did it!!!"

However, before I could reassemble the crib tonight and put it back together, I had to pull out the ol' handy dandy DUCT TAPE!!! You see the crib mattress makes for the best entertainment when used as a trampoline! The kids have had a BLAST jumping on it and yes, I try to holler at them every time... well nearly every time... sometimes I figure they're not bleeding or killing each other right now so, oh what the heck, just let 'em jump for a minute! Oh and of course they also have a blast when Jared "falls" underneath the mattress and Abigail "falls" on top of it, feels this "odd lump" below and proceeds to jump endlessly on top of the mattress to "figure out" what's under there. All the while, Jared is below oomph'ing and giggling away! Unfortunately, their past time has turned the mattress into this.

It finally died... split at the seams... foam "innards" starting to pour out. Yet! I cannot concede to pay money for another mattress that, if Rachel follows the lead of her big brother and sister, will only be used for another six months max (Monkey Boy Jared crawled out of this crib at 17 months to my utter horror and dismay and Abigail was out at 22 months!). I will not give in that easily! So, out comes the duct tape (and yes, the kids' safety scissors)! Oh and also the packing tape when I ran out of my duct tape since we have oh so much of THAT laying around right now - click here for the details on our house selling fiasco that has left us with many a box and many a roll of packing tape. So, anyway, I "mended" the mattress and we're back in business again.

So do you think this was one of the uses that the inventors of Duct Tape expected for their product?

I Will Not Be Broken - 5 Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis

2008-06-25T21:23:00.002-04:00

Okay, so this is funny. I love how God lines things up sometimes!!! Here I had a rough time today and posted about it below. I feel better now. And I can happily stand and say that I survived our loss, praise be to God for that. And then this evening I found this post from Robin at Around the Island. Please go visit her post. ANYONE who has suffered any trauma in their lives, be it "the loss of a loved one, or a serious illness, or the loss of a job, or the breakup of a marriage, or any one of a thousand other tragedies and crises that turn our lives into chaos in a single moment" would benefit from reading her post entitled I Will Not Be Broken - 5 Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis .

God Bless!!

Lil' Miss Soggy Bottom

2008-06-25T20:55:00.003-04:00

Is this just too funny or what? I've seen some soggy, saggy bottoms before but this one tops them all. That diaper just can't hang any lower!!

Will This Pain Ever Go Away?

2008-06-25T12:58:00.009-04:00

Today was one of those days. I was going along just fine until I saw them. I do fine for so long. I think about her often but I'm okay. Then there are days like today when I feel that horrible stab of pain in my heart and feel the tears well up from out of now where. The "them" I refer to was a beautiful set of twin girls at the gym today. I've seen them before. They are so cute. They look to be about 3 1/2 years old. Obviously twins, yet obviously fraternal. Sitting in their little class of about 5-6 kids taking swimming lessons. Their eyes dancing with joy at the splashing and the fun. Then when class is over, Mom comes and picks them both up. They're so beautiful. That's how my girls would be. My 3 1/2 year old daughter Abigail was a twin. I often think of her sister, Jessica, and long to see them playing together and having fun like these twin girls were doing. I'm usually fine with reminding myself that God had other plans for her and for our family when he chose to take her home. But today seeing those girls looking just as know Abigail and Jessica would look together, I found myself fighting tears and feeling that horrible stabbing pain in my chest again. I know God has a plan for our lives. I know that we only see the tiniest little pieces of that plan. I know that my baby Jessica is with him and I will see her again. I also know that if we hadn't lost Jessica, we wouldn't have had Rachel and I would never trade away my baby girl. I just wish that I could fill back in that dotted line in our family portrait where Jessica should be standing. I want to see our full family portrait with my son, both of my twin girls and my baby girl Rachel. It's frustrating! It's annoying! It makes me angry when I start to fall apart like this all over again! The logical side of me says, "Buck up! Move on!" The mommy in me is dying to have my baby girl back... or as Abigail almost angrily corrects me, "I'm a BIG girl! I'm not a BABY!" ... So, I want my now BIG girl back. I've always secretly dreamed that one day I would receive this phone call saying that someone found her and she was coming home. All I had to do was go pick her up and everything would be okay again. As if she'd only been lost or hiding. Oh this makes me mad! I know I shouldn't wish for such things. My heart just aches and it's a wonderful escape, if only for a moment, to imagine having my baby girl home with me.

OK - deep breath, wipe my face off ..... I can do this...

I guess for those of you who don't know me, you're wondering what I'm talking about. So, as I second and triple guess whether I should post my worst heart ache to the world or not, here it goes... here are all of the details.

First, here's the joyful part of how/when I found out we were having twins:

When I went in for my first doctors appointment for my second pregnancy I was so excited. We had gotten pregnant on the second try and that meant that Jared would be only 20 months old when his new baby brother or sister was born. I loved knowing they would be so close in age. I had kept track of my cycles so I knew that I was about 9 weeks pregnant at the time of this appointment. However, when the doctor did her exam, she said, “Hmm. Your uterus feels larger than I would expect for this gestational age. I’d like to get an ultrasound and check things out. Either you’re further along than you think or you could be having twins.” I thought to myself, “Yeah, right. I know darn well when I had my last cycle so I know I’m not further along. And I’m sure that it’s not twins because I don’t have twins in my family!” (While I now understand that you can have twins even if they don’t run in the family, I did talk to my grandparents later and found out that there were twins about five generations back. Kinda neat to learn.) But I was all for an ultrasound because I would love to see my baby!! Even if it was just a “blob” at this early stage. I laid down on the table and low and behold just as soon as the image popped up on the screen it was as obvious as could be – TWINS!!! I was ecstatic! I was so overjoyed. I could not stop smiling. My first thought was, “Wow! God has blessed me with TWO babies!!!” I was so excited!!! But I had to get my poker face ready and believe me when I say that I normally have the worst poker face on earth!!! I found out we were having twins at 1:00pm. I had to first go home and pick up Jared from my neighbor’s house and act like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Later that day, I talked to Mom on the phone and again couldn't say a word! I had to wait until 10:00pm that night until John came home from a work-related event to be able to spill the beans!! All day I thought about how I was going to spring the news on him. It had to be something creative. So, I decided to cut out these colorful letters and tape them to the big bathroom mirror. John always comes in and immediately changes clothes and washes his face. Since our closet is in the bathroom it would be the first place he would go. That night when he finally got home, he walked into the bathroom, turned on the light and just stopped! He didn’t say a word! Unfortunately, I was standing behind him and couldn't see his face and he wouldn’t turn around because he’d heard me turn on the camera with the hopes of getting a shot of his expression! He just stood there speechless for a long while. He later said he wouldn't have believed me except for the four undeniable ultrasound photos taped below the message. It was so funny! It was great! He was a little freaked out… immediately started talking about some of the financial implications and how this was going to change things regarding hiking trips (how do you carry three infant/toddlers with only two people on a rugged trail?) and our hopes of getting a boat in the next couple of months (how do you hold onto one active toddler and two wee ones on a boat?). But ultimately he warmed to the idea quite well! In fact we started talking about names and had solidly decided on them before I was even out of the first trimester!

Fast forward seven months or so….

These were taken 5 days before we delivered. I love the one with Jared poking mommy's HUGE belly with a toy! This dress was about all I could wear at the end!

Abigail and Jessica had been breech for most of the pregnancy. We had wanted a regular vaginal birth but had scheduled a c-section at 37 weeks since it is a safer method than trying to deliver breech babies. Our c-section was scheduled for Thursday, October 28th. On Sunday, October 24th, I had commented to John about how active Jessica was being that day. She was really kicking and moving around whereas she was normally the less active of the two. Monday, Jessica seemed to have returned to her less active ways, only moving a little here and there, but I felt like everything was fine since I still kept feeling movement on her side (she was on my right and Abigail was on my left). On Tuesday, October 26th we went for our last ultrasound appointment just to double check that they were both still breech (and therefore I still required a c-section) and to ask any last questions we may have had. Mom (who had all but moved in with us over the last month or more to help since I was so huge and was having so many Braxton Hicks contractions that I had basically put myself on bed rest), Jared and I all loaded into the van and met John at the OB office. Mom kept Jared in the waiting room while John and I went in for the ultrasound. The ultrasound technician, Joyce, started out examining ‘baby A,’ which we had already decided was Abigail, and said that Abigail looked great. Then she moved over to my right side to check ‘baby B’ (Jessica) and mentioned that Jessica had turned. She was now head down. I was very surprised by this because I really didn’t think she had enough room to turn or that I would feel a lot of discomfort if she did turn since both girls were so big and I certainly didn't have any room left to stretch! John and I started talking and laughing about various things while Joyce continued her examination. I will never forget what happened next. Joyce put her hand on my arm and said “Becky, I’m afraid we have a problem.” I immediately looked at the screen and knew what she was saying. After having had so many ultrasounds throughout this pregnancy, I immediately recognized what I was looking at when I looked at the screen. She had the screen showing the lines for the heart rate and instead of being wavy like they always had been in the past, the lines were flat. She said, “’Baby B’ doesn’t have a heart beat.” All I could say over and over was “No, God, No!” John and I grabbed each other and sobbed and sobbed. I asked Joyce, “Are you sure?!” She offered to look again, but I told her no, I could see the lines. John and I cried for a long time. Finally one of the doctors came in to talk to us. We told her that we wanted to get Abigail out as soon as possible to make sure she was ok. Dr. Fairbrother told us that they had already called the hospital and they were expecting us. John drove us in his car while Mom and Jared followed in the van behind us. We made phone calls to my sister, my dad, John’s mom, John’s dad, and his best friend, James on the way to the hospital. We asked for Frank, who is a preacher, to pray for us and asked James, who lived nearby, to loan us a camera since we wanted to photograph the girls’ birth but didn’t have ours with us. Kathy was already at the hospital when we walked in. As soon as I saw her I fell apart all over again. Daddy and Lynn got there soon after we had checked in. We ended up having to wait until 9pm that night to deliver but thankfully Abigail came out beautiful and healthy and screamed with the most wonderful set of lungs when she was born. When Jessica came out, I looked to John and asked, “Is she?” and he said no, she wasn’t alive. I had held onto hope because even though I knew what I saw on the ultrasound, I kept feeling movement on her side of my belly during our drive to the hospital. We agreed later that it must have been Abigail pushing her. One of my most treasured photos is the one of Abigail and Jessica side by side in the operating room proving that through this nightmare, we really did give girth to two beautiful twin baby girls – Abigail Faith (7 lb 9 oz) and Jessica Lynn (7 lb 11 oz).

........

..... clear throat, deep breath....

........

Having cried through writing most of this, and again every time I re-read it and proof-read it, I must say I'm feeling better now. It's amazing how therapeutic writing really is. Anyway, I do hope that I can use my experience of losing Jessica to help other women suffering loss (today is just one of my weak days). I want people to know how wonderful God is. How loving He is. How he provides and is your strength when you need Him most. Through your weakness, God is glorified. And I thank Him so much for blessing us with even that brief time with our beautiful daughter, Jessica. She is my angel in heaven. And I am still the mother of four!

Dresses for My Girly Girl

2008-06-24T23:09:00.003-04:00

Grandma Jill sent a wonderful surprise package to Abigail the other day. My girly girl loves pretty dresses and Grandma found a couple that she couldn't pass up for the price!! Abigail's eyes lit up at soon as she saw them. And as soon as she was in them, she was off spinning in cirlces till she made herself dizzy!!! Thank you Grandma Jill!

Kiss My Grits!

2008-06-24T22:51:00.005-04:00

Tonight, I opted for a "breakfast for dinner" dinner. I made pancakes, eggs, sausage, and grits. I loooove breakfast food and the kids would eat pancakes and waffles 24/7 if I allowed them! The older kids turn up their noses at grits (what kind of southern kids am I raising here?!?!) but Rachel decided that she quite enjoyed them! Well, until she was full.... and then she continued to enjoy them... enjoyed squooshing them and rubbing them all over herself like a nice exfoliating body rub!!

As with most toddlers, food doesn't always make it to her mouth. Sometimes her toes get quite hungry as well!

Thankfully, today, being the beautiful summer day that it was, offered a nicely warmed kiddy pool waiting in the back yard for her "bath." I took her diaper off, dumped several little buckets full of nice warm water over her to wash off the grits in the grass and then let her have fun in the "tub." Yes, we do own a perfectly good real tub inside the house but this one was much more enjoyable tonight! :) We'll use the real one tomorrow.

Bathe your Kids, Not the Bathroom!

2008-06-24T14:05:00.007-04:00

It's Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday!! This is the day I look forward to all week (yes, I do have a life. I just really look forward to this post!) because Shannon, at Rocks in My Dryer, hosts her Works for Me Wednesdays blog carnival where I can get all kinds of wonderful tips and tid bits that have helped me in so many ways! Tips from food preparation, to kids crafts, to de-funking smelly dish towels and other funky smelling laundry!!! Today is my first ever WFMW post but I share this tip with every mom of small kids that I meet. It really works for me!!

Splish splash, I was taking a bath,
Long about a Saturday night…

One of the best tips I ever read in a parenting magazine was to buy a clear shower curtain. Every kid loves to splash. They have so much fun and their little faces light up with the biggest grins! My face, however, not quite so cheery. Instead of thinking about how much fun my little ones were having, I was grimacing at how much cleaning I would have to do afterwards. I would watch as water cascaded down the walls and cabinet doors and mirror! As much as I might want to be that easy-going mom who can relish her kids joy and shrug her shoulders at a little bit of extra work sopping up the bathroom floor, that’s just not me. So, when I read this tip, I felt I’d hit upon a goldmine. Go to the dollar store or WalMart and buy a regular old CLEAR shower curtain. If you must have the matching bathroom ensemble which includes the cutesy shower curtain, just use the clear one behind it and toss the cute non-see-through curtain over the top of the curtain rod during bath time. As soon as you feel your kids are old enough to not have a constant hand on them, pull the clear shower curtain closed. Tip: we have a fiberglass tub/shower so I wet the side walls and smooth the curtain to the wetness to create a seal keeping the water from coming out the sides. Once the curtain is pulled, I tell the kids, “Alright! Go for it!!! SPLASH!!! SPLASH!!! SPLASH!!! C’mon! Harder!! SPLASH!!!” They have an absolute blast! Their eyes are squeezed tight, mouths open in a wonderful laugh, arms are flailing every direction slapping the water and splashing as big as they can! I only call them down when it starts going over the top of the shower rod and onto my head! Oh, and of course, if they are bathing with a sibling who isn’t enjoying the robust fun, they must either calm their splashing down or turn around with their back to the sibling and splash the other way. This way I can allow them to have fun yet I can keep an eye on them and know they are being safe.

This is something that REALLY works for me.

Head on over to Rocks in My Dryer for a treasure trove of more tips and tid bits that may make your life just a little bit easier!!

Full-sentence Conversations and Small bathrooms

2008-06-21T16:16:00.002-04:00

Wow! Last night, John and I were finally able to enjoy a date night for the first time in a long time! The gym I belong to offers a "Date Night" where they'll keep the kids between 5pm-8pm at no extra charge. Talk about a deal! Not paying for babysitting for three kids! That right there was the deal closer when I was trying to decide on which gym to join (and no we won't go into how long it's been since I was last in there to really work out)! Anyway, there were so many perks to being able to go out to eat last night without the kids, which I realize is no new earth shattering news to any of you but hear me out. Now, it wasn't a fancy-schmancy restaurant or anything like that. Just one of your basic restaurant chains with lots of yummy food that I don't have to cook! Or clean up for that matter! So, there were perks #1 and #2. Perk #3 was having full-sentence conversation! And I know that you mommies and daddies out there (glance around for head count) know what I'm talking about. It's the (glance around again for another head count, can't find one, oh, there she is) rare ability to actually finish a conversation without having to (Jared! Get down!) stop two-million times to (Abigail, for the last time, leave your sister alone!) scream at, ahem, I mean redirect, your little monsters, er, angels, energies (Rachel! No, no. No touch!....Abi-gaaaaaail!). So, for a rare couple of hours I was able to actually complete my sentences, have full intact thought processes (at least to the best of my lack-of-sleep, never-again-be-the-same mommy-brain will allow me). I was able to truly focus on the conversation, really taste and savor every bite of my food which (oh I was in heaven) included a margarita!!!! The first margarita these lips have tasted in what we determined to be nearly five years!!! Oh my word that margarita tasted so good! ... Ok, back to the point. Perk #4, or maybe #5 if you count that margarita, was after the dinner and great conversation (including much laughter) was over. We stopped by a local dealership to snoop around for ideas of what John's next car/truck/suv may be. I needed to go potty, uh, I mean visit the ladies room. As soon as I stepped foot in the door my mommy-brain immediately started scoping the stalls to see if the biggest stall at the end was open. ... but then I remembered that I was "me" tonight, not "mommy." That means that I get to use the little potty ... er, bathroom stall! I don't have to find the biggest stall to cram four people into all-the-while sounding like an auctioneer calling out don't-touch-that-keep-your-hands-in-your-pockets-yes-sweety-that's-the-toilet-paper-Jared-get-up-off-the-floor-no-sweety-that's-a-trash-basket-no-don't-touch-it-yes-that's-a-loud-flush-no-i-don't-know-what-she's-doing-next-door-yes-mommy-has-to-potty-too-don't-talk-so-loud-yes-the-echos-are-neat-but-stop-yelling-are-you-done-yet?-don't-forget-to-wipe-your-bottom-get-up-off-that-nasty-floor!-don't-you-open-that-door-yet-I'm-not-done-stop-touching-stuff-ok-lets-get-out-of-here-(before I lose my mind)!!! So, there ya' have it. My amazing night, one that I have been needing, was a wonderful date with my love, yummy food, great conversation and small bathrooms!!!

Quote of the Day

2008-06-20T09:45:00.003-04:00

My nephews went to visit their cousins last week. They were thoroughly enjoying their cousins' trampoline so they, of course, were also begging their mom (my sister) and daddy for one of their own. Wayne, who is very against trampolines and their dangers, said, "We will never have a trampoline as long as I'm alive!" The boys thought for a moment and then asked, "Can Mommy buy us one after you're dead?"

Don'tcha' just feel the love?!?!

Too Cool!!

2008-06-09T22:52:00.002-04:00

Check out the video posted on Perfectly Cloudy's blog. Too Cool! She does all kinds of accents. I'd love to hear her Georgia accent!

Totally Cool Give Away at Rocks In My Dryer

2008-06-05T17:41:00.004-04:00

I LOOOVE going over to Rocks In My Dryer. Her Works-for-Me-Wednesdays column is the best idea ever! I could spend hours and hours collecting wonderful information over there! She also hosts free give aways. This week she's offering an amazing package of Christian CDs including one from WOW Hits 1 which is a new compilation CD, full of hit songs from Christian artists such as Steven Curtis Chapman, Casting Crowns and Chris Tomlin. Hop on over to Rocks In My Dryer to see her blog and enter her give away (even though it means more competition for me). But watch out - you may find yourself still at your computer hours later! Good stuff over there! :) Great job, Shannon!

Cadillac Campin' at it's Best!!

2008-06-04T20:13:00.010-04:00

This past weekend we went "Cadillac camping" and had a GREAT time! "Cadillac camping" is the term we use when referring to camping in a campground where you can drive up to your camp site, especially if it's a campground with a bathhouse, real toilets and perhaps even hot-water showers!!! Now that's some fancy, shmancy campin'! Normally, John and I hike out on the Appalachian Trail with everything on our backs. And in order to avoid hauling 100 lbs around on your back, you tend to pack very lightly, bringing only what you need and even then you second and triple guess that list and eventually leave most of it behind. You eat lots of Cliff bars and trail mix. If you get fancy, you can buy some of those freeze dried meals in a bag at REI or Dicks. They're actually quite good. And you pack a water filter so that when you come across a stream you can refill your water supply without the threat of contracting various water born diseases! Now that's adventure! ;) "Cadillac camping," on the other hand, is where you drive up in your car and unload every little thing you ever dreamed you maybe, possibly could sort of need as long as it all fits into or on top of your car. And I won't even go into the possibilities if you own a camper! That's like living in the Ritz!

So, anyway, we went "Cadillac camping" for the first time in years (which should explain my excitement)! We packed our mack-daddy 8-man tent, camping chairs (two big ones for us and two pint-sized ones for Jared and Abigail). Thankfully, my mother-in-law kept Rachel for us. Having a go-go-go 16 month old at a campground on a lake would NOT have been a relaxing vacation!!! We packed our Coleman stove, 5 gallon water jug, hammock (which ended up not getting hung because we were too busy doing other things). And best of all, we brought TONS of food!!!

When you hike out on the AT, your eating trail mix and cooking only what is necessary over a little bunson-burner type of stoves. When you "Cadillac camp," the possibilities are endless!!! I remember growing up camping with my family - I'd wake up and Mom was already up, standing at the little Coleman stove cooking eggs and bacon. So that's what I wanted to do. We camped with another family from our church group so we split the food assignments and boy did we eat good! For breakfast we had big ol' bacon/egg/sausage/cheese toasted bagels and English muffins, pancakes, and Cinnamon buns. Granted they weren't much to look at as they were cooked over this little stove with limited hi/low capabilities... it was more like hi/HI or off. But we ate so good!! The food, our day on the lake with great friends, and the big mack-daddy tent with a blow up mattress under our sleeping bags made for an awesome trip. The weather was awesome. We cooked s'mores over the campfire. We spent the day on the lake tubing and having a blast. Our friends' kids were similar ages to our kids and boy did they ever hit it off!! And that in itself made things even easier on us because the kids were constantly engaged, playing, having fun and not getting into trouble. Wow! I can't wait to go again! Here are some photos of our awesome weekend:

We got there Friday night and set up camp. I thought this photo was cute. Mama Bear, Daddy Bear and two wee-little bears...

The view out the back of our tent Saturday morning. The lake is currently so low that you can walk out a loooong ways from the normal shore line.

After a great breakfast, we all hopped into the boat and took off. All of the kids piled up front to ride in the bow. It's always fun to ride up front with the wide open view, the full force of the wind, not to mention how the front bounces much more over the waves than the back. The girls were holding on tight, having a blast, and whenever we slowed down and weren't bouncing as much, Corine would start bouncing up and down trying to make the boat bounce! This girl is going to love roller coasters when she gets bigger!

Daddy and Jared on the tube.

Daddy and Abigail on the tube with Mommy driving. No, I'm not mad, just concentrating. It's the first time I've driven the boat this year with tubers. You have to watch the lake for other boats, watch the speedometer to make sure you're going fast enough, but not too fast. Thankfully the other adults in the boat are responsible for keeping an eye on the tuber! Push the throttle to speed up, but watch it closely because it's a delayed response so all of a sudden you're going too fast and have to back it down. Scan the water for where you're about to make a turn - wide turn to avoid zipping the kids off the line and into a tumbling derby they'll later need therapy for. Now you realize you've slowed down too much. Scan all around for other boats. Check speed. Gotta speed up through the turn because the boat slows down during turns. Scan water ahead for any debris/obstacles (aka trees sticking up that would normally be WAY submerged during normal lake levels) so that you don't crash the boat or drag your tuber over the limbs/stumps sticking out of the water (we nearly did that when Kent was on it!). Scan for boats, speed up, make turn, don't turn too hard with kids on or go ahead and turn harder with John on (he loves a good sling-shot-past-the-boat kind of ride). Scan for debris. Watch speedometer and slow back down. Scan for boats, scan for debris, check speed, try to steal a quick glance at your victim hanging on for dear life behind you... You get the point. So, needless to say that when John was on and I was really zipping it around this way and that, I had to tell the kids, who were trying to offer me commentary on Daddy's awesome performance and telling me to look at Daddy, "I can't talk right now! Mommy's trying to concentrate on her driving! Tell me later!"

A closer shot of Daddy and Abigail.

Kent's turn.

Watch him Go!

Kent with Conner.
Kent with Corine.

My turn! Whoo Hoo!!

Jenny's turn with Conner.

Time to anchor and have lunch. We put the top up and enjoyed sitting back while the kids played for at least two hours. Jared skipped lunch and just played and played and played!!! After Conner was done with his sandwich he hopped in and those two boys were nothing but a set of constant giggles and squeals as they kept playing on the tube, flipping it over, trying to climb on the other float, flipping it over, etc etc etc. Boy, I remember the days of having that much energy... I wish we could siphon off a little from the kids every now and then just to help us keep up with them! Meanwhile, us lazy adults got to sit back with our feet up for a while and just talk.

Time to ride again. Where do all of the kids choose to sit? Up front, of course!!

We finished off our day with a little feeding frenzy. There's one cove you can go to near the dam where you will always find lots of geese ready for a snack. One wave of the arm like you're throwing something into the water and they all come paddling as fast as their little webbed-feet will go. The kids always love this part.

Back at camp, we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. And, well, we would never consider going to bed without roasting marshmallows over the campfire and making s'mores!!! Yum Yum!!!

Oh and after a day like this, we didn't have to fuss at the kids even the first time to be quiet and go to sleep... they zonked out as soon as their heads hit the pillow! Actually, so did we!!

Aaaaahhhh!!! These are the days that memories are made of! I can't wait to go again! The kids were asking when our next camping trip would be before we even packed up good on Sunday morning. I think they like camping!!!

Our Florida Vacation

2008-06-03T14:11:00.013-04:00

Hey there - just wanted to try to get some pics up from our vacation to Florida. My sister-in-law's wedding went great and she was beautiful! The kids had a great time and we loved being with family! Can't wait to go down there again! Hopefully later this summer...

Our first day was spent just hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house while everyone worked on wedding day preparations. Look what Grandma Jill bought for Abigail! She wore this dress allllll day long and couldn't understand the next morning when I told her no, she couldn't wear this dress to the wedding. Yes, it's a pretty dress but this isn't what we're going to wear to Aunt Kelly's wedding.

Even a princess needs her beauty sleep!

Grandpa tells the best stories. He had Abigail's and Jared's eyes and ears locked on him! Rachel enjoyed it too I think!

A very tired princess ready to go check into our hotel room.

Grandpa getting ready to officiate the wedding Saturday morning. Jared and Abigail were perfect stand-ins!

Grandpa (Kelly's dad) officiated Kelly & Danny's wedding. It was really great. First he and John (Kelly's brother, my beloved hubby) both walked her down the aisle and then he turned and officiated the ceremony. It was really touching.

I love this picture of Danny smiling as Kelly walks down the aisle. So sweet!

Kelly, the beautiful bride, Lee Ann (left), Amy (right) - John's three sisters.

All of the family in attendance at this wedding. I love these big family group shots.

John and Kelly.

The good ol' cake in the face shot.

Amy put Kelly's tiara on Abigail. Oh so fitting for my little girly, girl! I can hear the music now, "And here she comes, Miss America!"

After the reception, Jared parked himself at the kitchen sink with a butter knife and a bunch of extra strawberries. He had it down pat: rinse it off, cut off the top, pop it in the mouth, rinse, cut, pop, rinse, cut, pop, rinse, cut, pop! This was one of those moments where it hits me how much my baby boy is growing up! He doesn't need me to prep his strawberries because he's a big boy and can do it all by himself!

A beautiful shot of my baby girl! (and her kissable, smoochable, eat-em-up cheeks!)

My proud boy and his lizard belly!

We learned on this trip that we're going to have to keep an eye on our princess! She seems to like older men! Drew, the best man at the wedding, is admittedly a good looking guy and boy he won Abigail over! She talked his ear off and flirted and made eyes at him all night! She even let him hold her beloved blanket!!! Someone mentioned that she'd given him her blanket and several of us said, "What?! Whoooaaa!!!" The next day she kept asking, "Where's Drew?" I think we've witnessed her first crush!!

Monday was so much fun! First we played arcade games with the kids and redeemed our tickets for fun prizes. Then we raced go-karts. They had two-seater go-karts so Abigail and I raced John and Jared on the first go 'round. Then we swapped off and Jared and I raced Daddy and Abigail. That was fun! Then we spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach before changing and having dinner at the restaurant on the pier. Fun, fun day with the kids!

My Marzullo Men!

My Marzullo Men Building Stuff!

Hey, I can't let Daddy have all the fun. Mommy likes to play in the sand too!

Jared's shirt had "life guard" on the sleeve so he asked if he could go show the life guard. He talked to the life guard for a while, telling him all about the big waves he jumped.

Then the life guard let him sit up on his "perch" for a photo opp.

Who knew a bike rack could be so much fun?

Jared and Grandpa.

Three generations of Marzullo Men!

Family shot before leaving to head home.

Rachel loved her cousin Conner! Unfortunately he didn't return her love in quite the same way. She's a rough and tumble 16 month old who kept sitting on him, wanting him to wrestle with her. He just sat there bug-eyed, pleading for someone to get her off of him!!! I think they'll have a total blast together next year when he's her age and a little more capable of defending himself! They both gave sweet hugs when we left.

A few worn out, zonked out kids on our way home.

They may be tired, but they are still oh, so cool!

My Kids Eat Free!

2008-05-29T20:07:00.003-04:00

Hey! Check out this website I just found. It's MyKidsEatFree.com and you can search for restaurants in 40 states! Cool! There aren't many listed in my area but it's a great resource for me to check back into over time to see if more are added! A friend and I are planning on meeting for dinner Tuesday night with the kids.... I know where we're going... where MyKidsEatFree!!! :)

UPDATE:
Ooo!! And here is another one I just found... CouponDivas.com. This has a ton of restaurants listed!!

Hee Hee Hee!!

The Marzullo House-selling Fiasco

2008-05-28T21:59:00.011-04:00

Wow - I was just reading my post from February 18th and it's funny how stressed I was then and how little did I know what an emotional roller coaster we were headed for! God was probably sitting there thinking, "You'd better hold on a little tighter there girly 'cause you're about to learn to lean on me a little more..." Now, I must preface this by saying that I do realize how superficial and unimportant much of this sounds when I go on and on below about our "stresses" considering that we were (thank God) only dealing with house issues rather than serious health or financial issues. Our stresses were more like frustrations and annoyances in the grand scheme of things. It's just that when we were in the middle of it all, it was very, very stressful and trying. So, with that said, here's the update on what's been going on with our house in the last few months.

In late February, John and I both came down with the flu and oh what fun that was with both of us feeling like death-warmed-over at the same time and trying to maintain a house and family with three kids, ages barely-5 and under. We'd felt horrible, rotten and just plain awful all week. Friday morning, February 29th, I had a migraine and could hardly get up off the couch. Late that afternoon I started feeling a little better. Early that evening we got a call from an agent asking to show our house the next morning. John and I thought that since we were feeling a little better, we'd try to straighten the house a bit that night and make the final decision in the morning as to whether we felt up to showing the house the next day. I perked up and did more than I'd expected. We straightened and vacuumed and yes, disinfected the house with lots of Clorox wipes. The next morning, John still felt rotten but I felt ok and so I cleaned around him and then ushered him to the van so we could leave the house just long enough to show it and then come home. The people came, they saw, they loved it! John and I came home and both hit the couch. I started going down hill again and felt rotten by night fall. However, we received a offer that Tuesday night!! We ended up with a really good contract with a closing date in less than 30 days and we were so excited! I kept thinking how this must be a God-blessed thing because of how we'd felt so rotten, then it was like God "parted the waters" so we could feel good enough to get the house cleaned up and then afterwards the waters returned. That following Saturday I went out on a marathon house-hunting trip with our agent and looked at 12-13 houses. I loved the very first one we looked at but didn't really give it much thought because it was out of our price range. Out of all of the houses we looked at that day, that one and one other, which was in a bad traffic location, were the only ones that had even the slightest potential. At first I didn't even tell John about the house I liked other than to say I liked it but it was too expensive. I mentioned it casually again later that evening and John said, "Well, let me see it [online]." He loved it. He agreed with our agent's thought that we could at least make an offer and see how low they'd be willing to drop the price. I thought that there was no way they'd come down that low but sure, ok. So, we went back the next day and looked together and loved it. We made an offer and they actually came down to our price!! I thought God must be blessing this process! We looked at each other with silly grins on our faces realizing that we were about to buy this awesome house, in an awesome location, in an awesome school district, at an awesome price and we were going to LIVE there!! It was going to be ours!! And we could live there for the next 20 years!! It must be God's will!! All went well with the inspection on our house with minor requests for repairs. All went well with the inspection on the new house and the sellers were willing to make all requested repairs minus 1-2 which we could live with. We were set! We got the staging company to come take all of their staging stuff away. For those of you unfamiliar with staging, it means that we had this company come in and decorate the house so as to appeal to buyers with really nice decorations, furniture moved around for the best flow, and most traces of us (photos, personal trinkets and clutter) removed so that the buyer can most easily imagine themselves there. It really gives you an edge over the competition when buyers come into a beautiful haven rather than the cluttered, undecorated mess like MANY houses I've seen on the market and like how our house had previously looked with my really bad pack-rat tendencies and serious lack of any decorating skill whatsoever! So anyway, we un-staged (if that's a word). We packed up tons of our stuff. We had an appointment to close on our house on Thursday, April 3rd at noon and then turn around and close on the new house at 3pm. Happy days!! (Insert screeching sound of brakes here!) Just 3 days before our closing date, it started falling apart. I won't go into all of the details but the ladies buying our house (an adult woman and her mother) had basically hired some totally amateur and confused lender at "Bob's Mortgage Co" who freaked them out with ever-changing and incorrect numbers, who in turn hired a lazy appraiser from "Bob's Appraisals" who didn't do her job and freaked the ladies with a way wrong appraisal (a later appraisal by a different appraiser showed a price truer to the other houses in the neighborhood and to our agreed on price). We and both agents went back and forth with them for two days trying to explain the errors. Practically every hour, there would be some new twist on the situation. We finally just dropped our price to much lower than our contract just to get them to close. By now it's Wednesday, the day before our closing. It's now too late to get the papers over to the lawyers office for the closing so the ladies agree to close on Friday. We set it up. We continue to pack. Thursday afternoon they call back and say they want out of the deal altogether. We freak. Then after much back and forth and anxious waiting for answers they agree to close on Monday. We pack. The agents are telling us they are sure it will close this time and there's no need to worry! They've never seen one not go to closing. They've seen them delayed but never actually not close. This is our first house which we bought new from the builder so what do we know?!?! Friday night around 6pm, the buyers' agent emails our agent with a request to terminate the contract! We had everything packed!! The only stuff not in boxes was what we figured we needed for the next two days!!!! Our entire house was packed up!!! We had put in orders to stop utilities here and connect utilities at the new house. We'd already put in forwarding orders for our mail. We had paid for inspections and appraisals and connection fees. The people selling us the new house had already moved out and into an apartment!! Needless to say they were a bit stressed at the news because our contract with them was contingent on the sale of our house since we can't afford two mortgages! So we had to cancel that closing and now they're stuck with a mortgage and an apartment rent! So after more back and forth and failed attempts to get these ladies to close, we finally accepted that the deal was indeed dead. We had to unpack and basically move back into our house. We had to make a ton of calls to make sure our utilities didn't get cut off on us leaving us sitting in the dark as well as cancel the new utilities at the other house. We raced to the Post Office to put in a new change of address request routing our mail back here, hoping it wouldn't end up floating around in space for months or getting lost in the confusion. We had to pay to have our house RE-staged. I would like to have avoided that cost but as I said before not only do I NOT have an eye for decorating, I also therefore don't have stuff to decorate with if I wanted to try to do it myself and now we can't even find the few things that we do own because they've been packed somewhere or buried in storage! So we had to pay to re-stage it. (In this market, you need to have something that gives you an edge over the next house so we feel it's in our best interest in order to get this thing sold.) Now, a month and a half later we're still living in our house, back on the market, enjoying our home yet still hoping to sell it soon. We've always loved living here so that's not a problem. We will continue to deal with John's long commute but thankfully it is improved somewhat during summer months. But I am hoping to sell and get settled wherever we end up before school starts in August so that the kids won't have to be moved after they've just gotten used to their new classes, teachers, and friends in the fall.

So, anyway, there it is in a nutshell. It was stressful while we were going through it but we praise God that we still have our health, our safety, our family, and our finances. I was totally confused because I really thought it was a totally God-blessed thing! I didn't feel like we were forcing anything. But I don't know. Either God wanted us to go through this process to learn. Or I need to learn to listen to God better. Or both. Either way, apparently that wasn't the house God wants us to have and we just continue to pray that God will send us the right buyers for this house and that He will send the right house to us when we're ready to buy. We want to do His will and follow His lead.

Oh and on other topics we went on vacation last week to Florida. It was actually for my sister-in-law's wedding but hey, if there's family and a beach then it's a vacation!!! I'll try to send photos of those events later.

I Have Been Blessed With BEAUTY!!!

2008-05-09T22:56:00.001-04:00

Yes, that’s what I said. But no, I’m not arrogant or full of pride. Well, yes, pride… I have been blessed with the indescribable beauty of a husband’s true love. He loves me, needs me and misses me when we’re apart. He makes me feel important, desirable and worthy.

I have been blessed with the heart-swelling beauty of three healthy, happy children who ask for mommy when someone else steps in to give me a much needed break. As much as I may worry about the negative impact left by my latest tirade over disobedience or messes made, they still want my snuggles, my attention and my love.

I have been blessed with the beauty of having my own loving, supportive parents always there for me at the drop of a hat, no matter what I may need, loving me and encouraging me. I have the beauty of a sister who is my best friend.

Yes, I have been abundantly blessed with BEAUTY!!!

Activities with Preschoolers

2008-02-21T00:23:00.003-05:00

I was just surfing the blogosphere and learned about Amazing Afternoons web site! I'm totally excited about this! I have always wanted to be able to do things with the kids beit educational or just fun (which is actually how kids learn, through play) but I have always felt lost as to what to do or how to come up with any kind of organized theme (books, songs, projects). This site does it all for you! I'm totally psyched about starting to get these worksheets and having some kind of plan already laid out for me so that I can do the types of things that allow me to really spend time with my kids, nurturing them and growing their minds and skills. If you've got young children, you've got to go check this out! Hee hee - I'm excited!

Thought for the Day:

2008-02-20T23:36:00.002-05:00

I got an email from a friend today that had a few lines I thought were great.

Thoughts for the day:
If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.
If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.
He sends you flowers every spring.
He sends you a sunrise every morning.
Face it, friend - He is crazy about you!

God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

Read this line very slowly and let it sink in...
If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

Where are you sitting right now? - Additional Note:

2008-02-20T23:26:00.002-05:00

I sat down yesterday and re-read my last blog posting followed by those few before it. I thought, "how appropriate is that?!" when I got to this post and re-read Beth Moore's words "Never misunderstand pain as permission to forego the will of God." I was just talking in my last post about the discomforts of the house selling/buying process and how it's so hard to sit and faithfully allow God to drive the direction of my life rather than me taking over and trying to do it myself. And then there was that line. So perfect for that situation ... and yet how quickly I'd forgotten it. "Pain" in this statement doesn't have to mean what we consider to be the true definition of pain. It's anything uncomfortable or difficult. And there I was taking my emotional discomfort as permission to forego the will of God.

Just something to think about .....

Where are you sitting right now?

2008-02-18T23:13:00.005-05:00

Ok, so many of you know that our house is on the market. We've been trying to sell our house for over four months now. A little frustrating, yes. A little stressful, yes. But all the while, I've been reminding myself that God will send the right buyers to us at the right time. And He'll send the right house for us to move to. It will all be fine. He's in charge. And I have felt such peace about the whole thing. It's actually been kinda nice in a way ... other than the annoyance, of course, of having to maintain a clean and "perfect" house (despite two preschoolers and a toddler) so that we'll be ready at the drop of a hat when that agent calls and asks to show it to a client in 10 minutes! But we finally painted that last couple of rooms and replaced the kitchen vinyl and the bathroom tile where it needed it. We got rid of all the clutter that I now realize was so suffocating. And to top it off we hired a company to stage our home so that it looks more appealing to prospective buyers. I've LOVED living in my house this last few months! It's great! It's so much more beautiful and comfortable! But nevertheless, I HATE living in limbo. I can't do things I would normally do because I don't want to mess up the house. We have moved all of the kids big toys to storage and kept just the toys that fit in a few small bins in the corner. And I am constantly losing things because when people do call and want to see the house, we scoop up everything that's not nailed down (laundry, mail, misc. papers, books, etc) and hide it so that the house looks nice and clean. Then once we come home, I can't find things because I've hidden them - from myself!!! Ok, so that's my gripe session. Makes me feel a little better to fuss a touch. On to the real topic at hand....

After the turn of the year, when traffic started picking up and we started showing our home more, our real estate agent recommended that we get out there and start looking at houses so that we would know what our options are once we do get a contract. Sure! Sounds reasonable. However, I've begun to stress over this!! Our first weekend out, we found THE PERFECT HOUSE! I was flipping out! On the way home, I was trying to figure out if we could "float" two mortgages! This is something that no, we can't do and no, we don't want to do and no, this doesn't feel like I'm trusting the Lord! This feels like I'm trying to manipulate things and force them to fit MY plan. So, I smacked myself around a little and straightened up. Then our agent sent us several more houses to look at. My husband latched onto a fixer-upper and was rather interested in it but only if we could get the price down and some repairs done. That didn't pan out so no big deal. Then this weekend, I went out with our agent and looked at two more houses (while John stayed home with the sick kiddos). The first was really nice but the neighborhood was "eh." The second one, however, was a great house, in the perfect location, in a beautiful neighborhood, with more room than I'd know what to do with! It's a foreclosure so it's a good deal, although it has lots of repairs needed, but oh my word, the potential!! So, for the last two days my mind has been racing! I've been seriously glued to this house! How much would all of the repairs cost? Can I knock out that kitchen wall to make it open up to the living room? How can I find out if that's a load-bearing wall? What if that damage to the porch door really is termites? Can you still buy a house that's had termite damage? How much would new carpet cost? Can we afford a home equity line for all of the repairs over and above our mortgage? How much could we talk the bank down on the price? What are other houses in the neighborhood selling for? Can we "float" two mortgages so that we can go ahead and buy this one now and start on the renovations so that we'd be ready to move in once we eventually get a buyer for this one? Good grief! It's so easy to see now that these are rediculous questions! Why am I stressing so much over this stupid house? And note-to-self: there's something about all this finagling that isn't feeling quite "right." I recognized this afternoon what I was doing (again). I realized that I had basically decided that I was smarter than God and was trying to bump him out of the way so that I could do things my way. Picture, if you will, standing next to someone and doing that little hip-bump that knocks them off balance and out of your way (or that reminds you of the school dances in junior high where the girls are all giggling as they bump-bump each other's hips to that funky beat - yes, I'm still a dork). So, I realized today that I was trying to bump God to the side. Then tonight at small group, I asked for prayer to help me remember to keep God in the driver seat. We were all laughing about my rediculous thought processes when one of the guys said, "Just don't go. " We kept laughing and continued on with prayer requests but my mind stuck on those words. Well, duh! Ya know that makes a whole lotta sense!!! If I'm stressing over the houses that I go look at, then (Dork!) DON'T GO LOOK! I was praying about it on the way home and got a new image in my head. Rather than me simply offering a could-be cutesy hip bump to God, what I was really doing was more like the following: rather than sitting in my passenger seat, with my little seat belt on, hands nicely clasped in my lap, looking out the window and enjoying the view, here I was arms and legs outstretched as I lean over, clamoring and scratching for the steering wheel, trying to shove my foot over the console and down onto the pedals and trying to wedge my butt into the seat and shove God right out the door! Hmmm... Now, that's just not cool. Does that sound respectful of God? Does that sound faithful of his sovereignty? Is that trust? Or is that some totally dispresctful show of arrogance that I should know how to drive better than He? He sees the full portait on this huge canvass. I see my mega-pixel splat of color on my wee little corner. So, this whole, long, rambling story was to simply ask you where are you sitting? Are you sitting in the passenger seat, politely and faithfully enjoying the view as you allow God to lead you where He wants your life to go? Or are you grabbing at the wheel, shoving your foot down trying to reach the pedals and trying to butt God out of the way? Needless to say, I apologized to God tonight.

Personalized Gifts and Custom Embroidery

2008-02-05T21:23:00.000-05:00

One of my friends just started her own business. She has the cutest stuff and I wanted to share with everyone. Either click here or visit her site at www.shopmemento.com. Hmmm... now how much money can I spend this month?? Time to shop!

Quote of the Day

2008-02-04T23:56:00.001-05:00

This weekend Abigail came into our room while John and I were laying across our bed just talking. It was already made up, all of the pillows properly stacked. He was sitting on one corner and I was laying across the other. Abigail comes in, climbs up and wants to jump on the bed and land in the pile of pillows. We said, "No jumping on the bed, sweetie." She says in her three-year-old-high-pitched-wee-little-voice, "I knoooow. I have uh ideeeea. Wes tom-pro-mize. I push an you faw off de bed!" It was just hilarious to hear this wee widdle voice say such a mouthful of a word: compromise. Who could resist such a thing?!?!?

Sharing a little of His word....

2008-01-31T07:07:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to share a few thoughts that keep ringing in my head from some bible study and preaching I heard yesterday and last night .... I wanted to share these in case it touches someone else out there ....

I recently started a Beth Moore bible study, Living Beyond Yourself. Yesterday I was reading about living a crucified life: living not for your own will but dying to yourself and living for God's will. There was a statment that just keeps ringing in my head. She said,

"Never misunderstand pain [emotional, physical, spiritual] as permission to forego the will of God."

"Never misunderstand pain as permission to forego the will of God."

I just thought that was a powerful statement because so often people say, "Oh, well, God would never want me to suffer so I'll...[you fill in the blank]." But what God wants is for you to keep His word ... even when it's difficult.

Another interesting thing I heard was last night while watching a show featuring pastor Henry Wright from Pleasant Valley Church in Thomaston, GA, author of A More Excellent Way. The focus of his book is connecting the dots between our sins and our diseases. It was a very interesting discussion. My husband borrowed this book from a friend but had to return it and now we are thinking about buying a copy of our own.

He was talking about blessings and curses. He said that when you follow God's word, He will fullfill His promises and offer you blessings. However, when you don't follow His word, you are essentially following a different word (Satan's word) and as the consequence, you receive Satan's "blessings" (aka curses).

... kinda makes sense ...

He also talked about how he did a word study and looked up the word "if" as it applied to the scriptures in Deuteronomy about blessings and curses. IF we obey the Lord and follow His word, we will receive blessings - he found that this "if" meant quickly, we'll receive the blessings quickly - but IF we do not follow His word, we will receive curses - he found that the different word "if" used here meant slowly - we will recieve curses slowly, in time... which is how diseases work.

.... hhmmmm...

...just a few things that I thought were interesting and I felt the urge to share, just in case it touches someone else out there...

Additional note:
Please don't get angry with me if you have an ailment and say "I'm not a sinner!" We are all sinners. I think we need to all pray and ask God to reveal to us how we can better follow His word. I'm doing this myself...

Flannel Sheets - You Are My New Love!

2008-01-29T00:09:00.001-05:00

Haaaallelujah! Haaaaallelujah! Hallelujah!Hallelujah! Hal-leee-luuuu-jaaah!!!!

Ahhh!!!! Flannel - my new love!

Every night as I sit like a moron at this computer until 1:00 a.m. ... 2:00 a.m., rather than going to bed at 10:00 p.m. at the LATEST (I've obviously not yet successfully achieved that goal for 2008), I freeze my butt off here in the dark and then eventually get into bed. I lay there like a popsicle, trying to snuggle up to John to tap into his body heat (without waking him up from a jolt of cold toes... wait, who am I kidding?! NOTHING wakes him up!), yet continue to shiver out of my skin until I have put on three pairs of thick, zero-degree hiking socks and retrieved my beloved fleece throw from the hall closet. Finally, I then have some relief and can drift off. I had considered using an electric blanket. However, after going up into the attic to dig out the old gotta-be-over-30-years-old-electric-blanket-of-my-youth from a box and plugging it in to see if it still worked, we felt no heat. Instead, I placed both of my hands on the blanket, paused, looked at John with my head tilted a little and said, "Do you feel that?" He placed his hands on the blanket feeling around for the eluding warmth and said, "What?" "That." He paused a moment and then we both realized that the "tickle" that I was feeling was ELECTRICITY!!! "AAaaahh!" I jerked my hands back, a little freaked by the feeling of live electricity crawling under my fingertips! So, uh, no electric blanket for me, thank you very much! We talked about buying a new one but then the whole electric-current-running-over-my-entire-body-thing flashed cancerous thoughts through my head (yes, I realize this is going overboard but that's what went through my head) and I wasn't as excited about the idea anymore.

Flash back to Christmas. Abigail received flannel Dora sheets for her bed. Followed were several 3:00 a.m. visits over the course of the next month, "Mommy, come sleep with me." Here I am zombie-shuffling to her bed answering, "Okay, but just for a little while, sweetie" (actually thinking "sure, anything, as long as it means sleeeeeep.....zzzzz!"). I realized during those sweet yet sleep-deprived snuggles in her small bed just how warm her bed was. Especially after I would wake at 4:00 a.m. and return to my own cold, cold sheets (repeat process: snuggle up to John for warmth and hope that I don't disturb him with my coldness). So, I was sold. Note to self: add "buy flannel sheets" to my To Do list in the morning.

And then we come to tonight. I finally got the sheets. I finally got them on the bed. I (again) was up too late tonight and therefore partially frozen by the time I crawled into bed. But, aaahhhh - my first socked foot slid under the covers. My other socked foot slid under the covers (yes, don't I just scream sexiness here!). I could already tell the difference! I slid the rest of my body under the covers and layed my head down on an already inviting pillow case. I was already halfway thawed rather than nearly to the deep-freeze stage! Snuggle to John and done. I was thawed and ready for sleep! And I must say the ensuing lightening storm of static shooting and darting around under the sheets as I was sliding in was quite entertaining!!

... then of course I couldn't sleep because I wanted to share my new found joy with the world! So here, again, it is 1:00 a.m. as I sit at the computer! But that's fine. I sit here wrapped in my fleece throw just knowing that I can crawl back into my flannel bed when I'm done (allthewhile giggling at the lightening show) and snuggle up nice and toasty!

Thank you God for flannel!

Quote of the Day

2008-01-28T23:39:00.001-05:00

Today's quote is not from one of the kids this time but shamelessly taken from a fellow blogger whose site I love to visit. I just loved this quote and wanted to share:

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." (William Butler Yeats)

...just simmer on that one for a minute....

Guess what Grandma? I can say Sh*t!!

2008-01-23T12:17:00.000-05:00

We often work with the older kids on saying their S's as they both tend to lisp, saying 'th' rather than 's.' This weekend, John had been working with Jared trying to show him how to hold his mouth with his front teeth together to get more of an 's' sound rather than letting his tongue come out and make the 'th' sound. Jared was doing really good. Grandma called about that time and Jared was itching to talk to her as always. The first thing he says to her is, "Guess what Grandma? I can say Sh*t!" Both John's and my head jerked around!! I leaned over toward the phone in Jared's hand and said, "We're working on our S's today. He's trying to say "sit!" I could hear Grandma quietly say, "Ooooh." John and I were silently dying laughing as Jared continued his conversation!

Wanna Save Some Money?

2008-01-10T23:54:00.001-05:00

I was just over on Kisses of Sunshine reading the feedback she received to her request for money saving tips. There were several websites for grocery savings and penny pinching that look great. I'll look at them in more detail later but wanted to share the link to her post "A Pain in the..." from January 7th.

Happy Savings!

2 More Goals

2008-01-10T23:44:00.000-05:00

Adding to my list of Resolutions/GOALS.....

The proverbial "lose weight" will be added to my list as I still haven't lost all that 'baby weight' and Rachel is about to turn a year old! I will, will, WILL lose the final 10-15 pounds and will hopefully look half way decent in a swim suit this year - I hope!?! I at least want to fit back into my old clothes and stop feeling the need to "hide" behind big baggy shirts!

I'll steal one from Natalie - I too would like to scrapbook 30 pages this year. That would give me a quantifiable goal to help me on my way to at least making a dent in catching up on my scrapbooking.... which I've not touched in THREE years! I gotta a lotta work ahead of me!

Resolutions ...er.... Goals for 2008 (and beyond)

2008-01-09T02:24:00.000-05:00

While I don't believe in making New Years Resolutions and normally don't make them, Natalie tagged me to list my resolutions for 2008. I don't call these my "New Years Resolutions" but I did actually start a list a couple of months ago of habits I wanted to create, or one could call them my goals moving forward. I guess it's sorta like the difference between calling it a "diet" and a "life style change." I realize the list is long but I've been thinking about this for the last few months and adding to it when I think of something else I'd like to do from now on (another key difference - "from now on" vs "this year")... anyway.... here ya' go.

1. Bedtime 10:30pm (11:00pm at the latest)
2. kids bedtime 7:30pm (8:00pm at the latest)
3. get into the habit of Menu Planning Mondays (plan minimum one week menus and shopping list)
4. pick out the kids M-F clothes on Sunday night
5. fold and put away laundry RIGHT out of the dryer (no more wading through MOUNTAINS of clean laundry)
6. run dishwasher every night and unload every morning to keep kitchen cleaner/nicer
7. limit the kids TV watching time to 2 hrs max per day (and that still sounds bad)
8. moisturize hands every time I wash and every time I can think about it (they're always horribly dry and rough and screaming for me to pick at them)
9. stop picking! (I'm a picker - I pick at my fingers, my face, my lips, anything I can get hold of!)
10. start coloring my gray!!!
11. snack healthier (I'd gotten really slack over the last few months on my eating habits)
12. check my credit card statement online daily to help monitor my spending and maintain my budget
13. limit my own computer time daily
14. exercise minimum 2 times per week, preferably 3 times per week
15. prep/cook 1-2 meals ahead of time weekly
16. get kids up no later than 7:15am to avoid running late every morning
17. be less "busy" and more available to the kids
18. stop impulse buying, even if I have to come back on another (dreaded) trip to get it later after I've thought about it longer and determined that it's in the budget
19. read 20-30 minutes every day (Bible or other Christian material)
20. read to the kids daily (we already read Bible stories nightly but I want to read other books to the kids for their enjoyment and for more focused one-on-one or actually one-on-two time)
21. use coupons more

Quote of the Day

2008-01-01T10:54:00.000-05:00

Scene: Daddy and Jared playing football (in the house no less!!!)

Jared: "You throw good Daddy. Like Me!"

Massive Marzullo Update.....

2007-12-20T16:01:00.000-05:00

Ok - so I've been a total slacker in the last two months and haven't updated my blog in a while... I'm sorry. I've been fussed at for not updating it in so long and, believe me, I've wanted to on many occasions, but I established a new rule for myself back in the fall about going to bed on time and not staying up until the wee hours of the morning "playing" on my blog. Well, I'm blowing that one outta the water tonight but I figured I just HAD to get back on track. I'll just have to figure out some other time of day (heh! yeah right!) to do my bloggin.' Anyway, if you're ready to grab a cuppa joe and pull up a comfy seat, then I'll catch everyone up to date. Ready? ... here we go.....

Ok, since Halloween...

Unfortunately, my sister had a miscarriage. She was around 8 weeks along. She handled it really well though. She has a strong faith in God and said they will keep trying. So, I keep praying that God will bless them with another baby (preferably a girl - she already has two very energetic boys).

Abigail's 3rd birthday party was a lot of fun. Her birthday is actually in October but it's so close to Halloween and we had so much going on that we ended up celebrating it the first weekend in November. It was so cute to see all the kids playing the games and running around. The kids all made their own party hats; we had tricycle relay races (everyone won little gold medals); we enjoyed bubble blowing and of course the big finale was everyone getting to take a whack at the pinata! They were all dying for the pinata to come out. Even more so than for the cake!

The next week we gave my mom a surprise birthday dinner for her 60th birthday. She said that she kinda figured something might be up Daddy's sleeve when she came home from work that day and suggested to Daddy that they go to a different restaurant than the one they'd already agreed on. Daddy said, "no, I really have my heart set on Provinos." Mom thought to herself, "it's MY birthday!" But, she quietly went along and SURPRISE! (the kids all LOVED shouting Surprise!) there we all were! I think she really enjoyed it! :)

That next weekend, Mom kept all three kids for us and let me and John go on a weekend camping trip - - - just... me... and.. John!! Wow - after the hand-wringing nervousness and guilt ridden feeling of "abandoning" my children finally wore off, I soooo enjoyed the peace and quiet and lack of someone always being attached to my leg or needing me to wipe their bottom! It was great! We hiked. We slept in our two-man tent. We enjoyed real conversation with complete sentences! I'm afraid the weekend proved to be a bit more tortuous for Mom since Rachel wouldn't nap. So she was juggling all three kids the entire time - which means constantly fussing at the older two to leave the baby alone for TWO seconds, stay out of her face, stop knocking her over, give back her toy, etc etc etc. I felt really bad for giving Mom such a tough weekend. Of course the kids loved have Nana up so they had a great time!

I have to include this small "event" that occurred the following week. The kids and I had a teddy bear picnic in the back yard. It was such a beautiful day so we spread out a blanket and invited a few guests to have lunch with us. I believe that "Regular Teddy" and "Big Teddy" (yes, we're really original with names in this house) had a good time.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Our craft this year was a Tree of Thanksgiving. I forget who I got the idea from (someone's blog or some other craft website?) so I'm afraid I can't offer proper credits but we had a great time filling it up with our leaves and reading everyone's answers. We had everything from drawings and thanks for grass, crayons and transformers to thanks for wonderful marriages, great kids, comfortable finances, good health and my grandad put "thankful just to be here!" We were too!!

Thanksgiving weekend, John and I took the kids to a nearby park to play. It was really cold so we bundled the kids in their coats, hats and gloves. As soon as they were released, the older two darted off for the playground while Daddy and I were still wrestling the baby into her coat and hat, etc. We were keeping a close eye out for the older two and once Rachel was set, we too headed for the playground. Unfortunately, in the midst of all the hub-bub, I forgot to hide my purse. So someone came along, busted out my window and stole it!! I'm thankful that it was just a smash-and-grab, no one was hurt and I had my most important items on me (keys, cell phone, main credit card and license). So all they really got was $20 in cash and a bunch of other useless stuff. As soon as we found the van had been smashed, we called the police and the banks. We cancelled everything and got new accounts set up. It was really just an annoyance more than anything. I was more irritated at me for leaving it in plain sight. I know not to do that and I always try to make sure nothing valuable is ever in plain sight but I just got busy and forgot this time. Well, approximately $350 later (new window, new purse, replaced several purse items), we were back in business. Oh but I had to share this photo. It's the sticker that used to be on my window which was now laying in the pile of glass in the parking lot. It says "This Vehicle Protected by Theft Deterrent System." Uh... apparently the thief forgot to read the little sticker and get scared before smashing it to smithereens! I am happy to say, however, that by a neat turn of events, we got a call about a month later (a few days after Christmas) from a gentleman who informed us that while on a walk down near the creek that runs through his property, he found a purse laying in the water! John met him the next morning and picked it up. It seems like it must have just been kids who had stolen it because all of my other credit cards were still there, my checks were still there, everything! Including a couple of gift cards! So, they really were only after cash! Well, they got $20. And I got a stinky, fishy smelling purse that had to be thrown out!!! Oh well.

Ah, and of course I can't forget to mention the loooovely stomach bug that visited our house the next week. Oh how fun that was! Abigail started throwing up (in my van no doubt, THREE times! I guess she wanted to make sure it was well coated...) around 6pm. I started getting sick around 9:00pm. Jared joined us as 2:00am. John had a peachy time taking care of us all night (while trying to keep Rachel isolated away from us and our germs) until he decided to join the party around 9:00am the next morning. What a lovely bunch we were. Thank GOD it was only a 24 hour thing and also that it skipped Rachel! By the time John started getting sick I was able to at least stand upright enough to take over. Hopefully that was our complete dose of ICK for the year.

Jared's school Christmas program was absolutely adorable!! Our son was the little boy on stage shouting the lyrics at the top of his lungs. There's always one in every performance and he was it this time. He was so cute. He did a great job. We were so proud of him!

Somewhere in December we went for about about two weeks without a microwave. Ours died and I never realized just how much I rely on that wonderful invention until it was no more!! It's amazing how much I use it for everything from re-heating my coffee, to heating the baby's food, to cooking Jared's hot dogs, to defrosting meat for dinner and then cooking that same meat in the micro. I'm too lazy to prepare dinner more than an hour ahead of time so I rely on the micro to nuke it fast! We got it fixed and our now back in business with a new appreciation for this wonderful invention!

My grandad and dad both had surgeries in mid-December. Thanks be to God that they were both successful and both gentlemen are healing nicely. My Pop had a roto-rooter procedure done on his main artery in his neck. His doctor found that he had a very large amount of blockage in that artery so they went in and basically performed a roto-rooter cleaning and scooped out all the goop. Lovely image, I know, but I thought it sounded rather odd - never heard of that one before. Thankfully, he did beautifully and was home the very next day! Daddy had his surgery two days later to remove all of the hardware that the doctors put his ankle back together with last year after it was crushed by a bob-cat (tractor). His body had been fighting having all that metal in him all year so they decided to take it back out. Here's an x-ray of what his ankle looked like before the extraction. After the surgery, the doctors handed Daddy a little container with the plate and all of his screws rattling around in it. I thought it was funny because it looked just like what you'd go to the local hardware store for. Nothing fancy - just average Ace Hardware type screws. Personally, I think Daddy's having fun carrying his hardware around and showing everyone. ;)

Just a few days before Christmas we went on a family hike in the mountains. I carried Rachel in the backpack and put John on chasing duty.

I'm a horrible aunt to forget the birthday so soon, but somewhere in November my sister-in-law had her baby. A healthy, bouncing baby boy named Connor. Two days after Christmas, my cousin had her baby. A healthy, sweet baby girl named Mattie. Congratulations to both Mommies and Daddies!

Finally, New Year's weekend, (yes, I know the date on this post is pre-Christmas but that's when I started my draft. I'm actually finishing and posting on 1/8/08... or actually 1/9/08 since it's the middle of the night by now!!) my mother-in-law kept Rachel and let John and I take Jared and Abigail on a weekend vacation to Rock City, TN. We thoroughly enjoyed Rock City in the daylight and then went back after dark to see their lights display. Our accommodations that night were our new 8-man, mack-daddy, Ritz hotel of a tent. John and I felt so swank! Quite an upgrade from the small 2-3 man tents that we use when hiking the Appalachian trail. For those occasions, the smaller the better. But we had elbow-room on top of elbow-room here! The kids had a blast using their little lanterns and head-lights (flash lights that you wear like a coal-miner on your forehead). They loved camping and then exploring the next day while we broke camp. On Sunday, we rode the Incline Railway and played on top of the mountain before heading back home. We had a great time!

And that pretty much catches us up to date. I hope I didn't bore you to tears! I will try not to go so long between posts again. And I hope you'll come back real soon now, ya hear?

Boo, Y'all!

2007-11-04T21:59:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween! Hope yours was as fun as ours was! We had a great time. The kids were so excited to dress up and get CANDY!!! I had pirate costumes ready to wear and since Jared loves to play with swords I just knew he'd love it. But no, he wanted to be an elephant! An elephant?! Yes, an elephant. Okaaaay. After several days of casually asking him every so often what he wanted to be for Halloween and getting the same response, "I want to be an Elephant!" I thought ok, I'll do it. I went online and found instructions for making an elephant costume, made my list of needed supplies, called WalMart to make sure they had plain grey sweat suits (to be cut up and transformed) and I was ready to do this. I picked Jared up from school and in the WalMart parking lot confirmed his request one last time. Yes, he still wanted to be an elephant. Abigail pipes up and says, "Me too! I want to me an elephant like Jared!" Jared balks. I said, "Ok, you can both be elephants but as soon as we go in there and buy the stuff for it, there's no changing your minds." "No, I don't want Abigail to be the same as me! I don't want to be an elephant!" (roll eyes) "Ok, then what do you want to be?" "A power ranger!" ... and off to Party City we go. Jared wanted to be every picture he saw but was fairly consistant on choosing the Power Ranger once I narrowed down his choices. Abigail wanted to be everything she saw and had no consistency whatsoever so we finally left with one blue Power Ranger suit and a decision that we could just dive into the dress up box and put Abigail in whatever suited her fancy 5 minutes before we walked out the door for trick or treating. I had this cute princess / fairy dress that I thought she'd love but alas that stayed on only 5 minutes before she said she wanted to take it off and be Tigger. So, our final selections were: 1 blue Power Ranger, 1 Tigger and 1 Pumpkin Pooh. The funny thing is that when Jared was an infant he was Pumpkin Pooh for Halloween. When Abigail was a baby, she was Pumpkin Pooh and Jared was Tigger. This year, Rachel was Pumpkin Pooh and Abigail was Tigger. Too bad I didn't have a Rabbit, Piglet or Eyore costume for Jared! Anyway, here's how my crew looked:

((( By the way, if anyone can tell me why I can no longer click on my photos to see a larger version please send me a comment and let me know. In my earlier posts you could do that but in my last post and this one, you can't??? Thanks!!)))

Here's our crew - ready to go! Tigger, Pumpkin Pooh and the Blue Power Ranger

We went with our neighbors - the kids loved it! Well, all except Rachel who wasn't too thrilled at this point!

Rachel traveled the night in style - Giddy Up, Daddy!

Note Jared looking in the window - "Hey, I KNOW you're in there!"

Jared and Abigail in hot pursuit of the next handful of sweets, leaving Mommy and Daddy in the dust!

John, trying to get the kids to hold up.

Rachel - "Hey, who turned out the lights?! Oh, there you are...."

Abigail trying to manage her load on the way home! The kids racked up and those bags were rather heavy by the end of it all!

We stopped by Miss Ashley's house for one final handful of goodies and some fun. Since we live in a ranch on a slab, the kids are in HEAVEN any time we visit friends that have *gasp!* STAIRS!!!! Over and Over and Over, they leapt over that five or six steps at top and then relished every bump and thump as they did belly slides down to the bottom. Jared is doing some sort of Power Ranger pose here.

Aahhh, one semi-calm moment as they pause their sugar-rushed craziness for a photo opp.

A 4x9 Meme

2007-10-27T23:32:00.000-04:00

"What's a meme?" you may ask? I hope someone else has to ask that question because I did. So, I looked it up on m-w.com - Webster's online dictionary. Meme: an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture. Well, I've seen all sorts of these little things all over the blogosphere and I have hence been tagged by Natalie (Yes, Jenny, you also tagged me and I promise I'll post on your meme as well! Sorry!)

Here goes...

4 jobs I've had in my life:
McDonald's cashier
county tag office clerk
apartment leasing agent
business analyst
(and my favorites - Wife & Mommy!! ok - so that's five and six but who's counting?!)

4 movies I'd watch over and over:
(I'm going to change this one to movies I HAVE watched over and over and expose my cheesiness):
The Sound of Music
Pretty Woman
Out of Sight (Jennifer Lopez/George Clooney)
Ronin (Robert De Niro/Jean Reno)

4 places I have lived:
Georgia
Georgia
Georgia
Georgia

4 TV shows I watch:
Heros
Grays Anatomy
Little Einsteins
Backyardigans

4 Places I've Been:
Cozumel
Cancun
Grand Canyon
Washington DC
(all pre-kids)

4 websites I visit daily:
my email account (several times daily)
my friends' blogs
my credit card company (to keep dibs on my monthly spending - trying to keep in budget)

4 of my favorite foods:
my mom's BBQ chicken
chocolate cake with chocolate icing (Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker)
milk
french toast with peanut butter and lots of syrup

4 places I'd rather be right now:
in bed sleeping but I can't seem to tear myself away from the brain suction of the computer
on a beach in Cancun (with my husband)
on a cruise ship (with my husband)
hiking / camping on the A.T. (with my husband)
(can you tell we could use some adult-only vacation time?)

4 bloggers I now tag for this:
Jenny
all of my other friends who have blogs have already been tagged so anyone else who wants to leave me a comment and link to their meme on their site

Jared's got a girlfriend! Jared's got a girlfriend!

2007-10-27T23:08:00.001-04:00

Is this the cutest thing or what?! Jared has been coming home from school for weeks now talking about this little girl, Jordan. I worried that it may be a one-way thing but then he got an invitation to her birthday party. I email her mom asking for gift ideas and through our discussions I learned that his infatuation was most certainly a two-way thing. Her mom said that if nothing else, him showing up would be birthday gift enough! Jared has been looking forward to her party all week, asking daily, "When can we go to Jordan's house?" This morning, as we drove up to her house, we saw Jordan standing, looking out her front door (glass storm door). As soon as Jared saw her he said, "There's my girlfriend!" As soon as Jordan saw him (his mom later told me) she said, "I think I see him! He's here!" As we walked up to the house Jordan hopped and skipped down the front steps to greet him. They were so cute all morning at the party! They hugged good-bye at the end. And, of course, John and I made certain to get a photo of them together. She's looking at him in the photo but oh, you should have seen the love in his eyes as they looked at each other after the photo was taken!!

Can't you just see the little cartoon hearts pip-popping overhead?!

Thankful Thursday Thirteen

2007-10-25T22:03:00.000-04:00

Rather than sitting quietly and having disciplined daily prayer time, I'm more of a scattered pattern pray-er. I'll shoot up a prayer here and in an hour I'll shoot up another prayer there. I shoot a few more up later in the day here, there and yonder. My prayers are probably about 50/50 - "Thank you God" and "Please Gimme Gimme." I don't think my Gimme's are too bad - not like I'm asking for riches or fame, just continued health and safety for my husband, my kids, and myself and of course a quick sale of this house because I dislike being in limbo. Today I thought I'd join so many other bloggers and start my own Thankful Thursday list because I really do have so much that I am thankful to God for.

I thank God for:

healthy, happy, strong, loving children
a husband who loves me, supports me, shows me daily how much I mean to him and how much he needs me, who is smart, loving, funny, sexy, and my best friend - I thank God for crossing our paths and leading me to him
parents who have always been loving, encouraging and supportive, who have been a wonderful example for me to watch and learn from (as parents, as husband/wife)
a wonderful sister who I'm so grateful to also call my friend, always there for me, understanding, loving, encouraging, supportive
wonderful in-laws - my mother-in-law who is so loving, giving, and always so happy to see you; my father-in-law and step-mother-in-law who are the most wonderful spiritual examples and teachers (I want to have their faith and love for God), and they're so much fun to be around
my grandparents who are so sweet and loving, full of stories and memories, never a cross word, always so thoughtful, a wonderful example of a long-lasting, loving marriage of 60-some-odd years, still so sweet sitting together on the couch side-by-side (close together too, not far apart), taking care of each other in love
my health and the health of my family (physically, mentally, spiritually)
my God, who, as hard as it is to imagine, loves me even more than I love my own children (and I could just eat them up!), who has blessed me over and over and over again
my faith in God, which as much as it needs to grow, has helped me through tough times - thankfully my faith turned me toward God when we lost our daughter Jessica, rather than allowing me to turn away in pain
our financial position - God has blessed us financially and is allowing us the freedom to try to sell our house for a larger one closer to John's work, to make the necessary repairs and upgrades to this one, to replace the broken digital camera without hesitation when it breaks so that we don't have to miss any priceless moments, to feel free from stress, strain, worry over bills or debts
the extra $10 that I found in my pocket today after praying that God would send me some extra cash, to send one of those little paychecks from the church or something since I used all my cash yard saling last weekend and can't dip into my checking account right now
I'm thankful for how much Jared and Abigail LOVE Rachel. It totally stresses me out when all three are trying to play in the same room because Jared and Abigail are constantly smothering Rachel and fighting with each other over who gets to play with her. I usually have to pick Rachel up to "save" her from her brother and sister. But it's just so wonderful that the stress is because they ADORE her so much. They want to play with her, make her smile and laugh, feed her, "help" her (more like drag her).
those sweet times when I can just sit back and watch the "show" and listen as the imagination flows from Jared and Abigail as they play together.

I could go on all night but I'll leave it at thirteen (only because it starts with 'th') :)

When Can We Go To The Hospital Again?

2007-10-25T21:51:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning, Jared and Abigail were sitting at the table happily devouring their morning waffles as I stood at the kitchen sink. Jared says (out of the blue), "When can we go to the hospital again?" I asked the obvious question, "Why do you want to go the hospital again?" He lifts the fork to his mouth for his next bite as he says, "I want to have another baby if God will let us." I just smiled and said "Well, honey I don't know... Why do you want to have another baby?" "Because they're cute." I said, "Hmm, well, I'll let your daddy know." "Okay."

I'm a Christian

2007-10-14T22:01:00.001-04:00

I love this poem I found on another blog. I've pasted it below to make sure all will see. It's wonderful! May you all be blessed!

When I say…”I’m a Christian”
I’m not shouting “I’m clean living’.”
I’m whispering “I was lost,
Now I’m found and forgiven.”

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I don’t speak of this with pride.
I’m confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not trying to be strong.
I’m professing that I’m weak
And need His strength to carry on.

When I say…” I am a Christian”
I’m not bragging of success.
I’m admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

When I say…” I am a Christian”
I’m not claiming to be perfect.
My flaws are far too visible–
But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches,
So I call upon His name.

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not holier than thou,
I’m just a simple sinner
Who received God’s good grace, somehow!

Birds and the Bees

2007-10-14T20:32:00.001-04:00

I was crying I was laughing so hard the other night when I found this post. Please click here and see how this mom's birds and bees discussion went with her son.

Then click here for Part II of that discussion.

Thank God I don't have to have this discussion with my kids for another 6-8 years. But when I do I hope that I can be so frank with my kids. Way to Go Anne!

The amazing things kids do!

2007-09-30T00:28:00.000-04:00

I found this hilarious post on Stretch Mark Mama's site. I don't know which reaction I would have first: the Bust-A-Gut-Laughter-Call-Daddy-At-Work-And-Tell-Him-What-His-Crazy-Kids-Have-Done reaction or the Gasp-Of-Fright-Coupled-With-The-Please-Dear-God-Don't-Let-That-Be-Permenant-Ink reaction! Too Funny!!

I'm going to be an Aunt - Again!

2007-09-30T00:06:00.000-04:00

My sister floored me the other day when she called me on the phone. I clicked over to her, told her I was on the phone with our cousin and asked if I could call her back. She said, "Sure! I didn't want to take too much of your time. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be needing some advice from you soon since you're already experienced with having three kids."

... pause....

"You're NOT!"

"I AM!!"

... and then I think I said about, oh... 568 Oh My Gosh's! I just couldn't wrap my head around it! I thought (as did most everyone) that they were done!

So, HEE HEE!! My sister's having another baby!!! I keep praying to God, "Please dear Lord, let this be a healthy pregnancy, a healthy baby, a healthy delivery and mommy... and Lord? Can I ask for a girl?"

I guess we shall soon find out!!

HEE HEE!!

Drill Sergeant Mom - Part II

2007-09-20T00:06:00.000-04:00

Now... having said all that good, mushy (and very true) stuff in Part I, please let me tell you a little about my afternoon yesterday. It's funny that two of my friends recently posted blogs about having a day that deserved a little "bottoms up" at then end of it (here and here)! Last night when hubby came home I said "I'm done!" He asked if everything was ok and I said "I deserve a Corona tonight!"

My trio did just fine in the morning and we even got to school a few minutes EARLY!!!! And for those of you who know me, you know that this just DOESN'T happen! That afternoon I picked my little man up from school ... and then it all began. First he didn't want to stay in his room for nap/quiet time (this is Mommy's well deserved daily break - Mommies deserve quiet time too!) so I got onto him over and over. After naps were over he kept bugging, annoying, aggrivating Abigail (just as big brothers are supposed to do, I know) and so there was the constant whining, crying and shouting from her to "Sop it! Wee me awone!" Next he's trying to dump out the entire twenty-four ounce tub of raisins and won't obey when I tell him repeatedly "that's enough, no more" (sounds minor enough but we're building here...). Then he begins to pour his milk out on the floor (thankfully I grabbed his cup in time to ask "WHAT are you doing?!"). This is followed by his taking my yard stick, which he "rides" galloping around the house as his horse (I was fine with that) and then pounding the living daylights out of it with a hammer, sending splinters of wood flying around my room. "ENOUGH! Go sit on the couch and DON'T MOVE until we're ready to go to the store!" I get Rachel up and change her diaper while she constantly tries to flip over and crawl off the dresser. The phone rings. As I'm simultaneously trying to get off the phone with telemarketer and pin Abigail down to put on her shoes I hear a crash (eyes roll). I go into the living room to see our only remaining lamp (you guess why it was the only remaining one) laying in the floor broken into MANY pieces! Needless to say he hadn't been sitting still on the couch as I had instructed. Trying to keep my cool (after slamming the phone down, thereby killing the digital display screen - it won't display numbers or anything any more), I respond to his apologies with "I know you didn't intentionally break the lamp but I'm NOT happy that you disobeyed! If you had been sitting still the lamp wouldn't be broken, now would it?" (Deep breaths. It's only a lamp. Who cares? Chill out!) Proceed to the grocery store with all three in tow. Listen to an hour long barrage of "he's touching me" "stop!" "move over!" "Moooooom" "Can I have a gumball? Why not? I want a gum ball. Mooooooom!" All the while I'm threatening them to dare not get up out of their little blue buggy seats and to stop poking the baby!

So, as you can see, it's not that the infractions are all that severe as much as they are just one after another after another after another after another after another after another after another after another ... get the point? So by the time we pull into the drive (the entire car ride home was filled with questions - why this? why that? why this? why that? Moooooom!), and see that Daddy is home, I'm DONE! .... It may not sound that bad to you... I know that I'm a little tense and need to chill out... But I DESERVED a CORONA after dinner!

Drill Sergeant Mom - Part I

2007-09-19T23:46:00.000-04:00

Oh my Gosh! I just found a post on a fellow blogger's site that states what I have so often felt about myself as a parent!!! Drill Sergeant Dad captures the questions I have wondered about myself -- Who is this person yelling and being so impatient?! These beautiful children should be relished for all of their energy (Lord knows Jared has enough for an army), for all of their inquisitiveness (I would love to get one of those ticker things so that I can click it once for each question he asks during a day - heck, during one car ride!!), for their impulsiveness (I'm way too reserved, boring and unimaginative!), and for all of their attention seeking silliness and play (Jared is my clown and Abigial is my performer). Instead, I all too often hear such a harsh, impatient voice barking orders. I always make it a point to never put them down personally but I do complain way too often about their not listening or obeying or thinking about what they're doing. I want so badly to be a good mom. I want to be that super-mom that never raises her voice, is always so patient and loving and encouraging. I pray daily that God will give me the wisdom to know how to best raise my children. I try to teach them manners and proper behavior. My fears are that I hold on too tightly and don't let them "breathe" enough as children but then I fear that if I don't keep a hold on them, they won't learn proper behavior or responsibility. I pray that I don't "screw them up" as so many adults cry about how their parents messed them up. I realize now how difficult it really is to be a parent (and am that much more thankful for my own). But I try - I really do. And I hope they will always know how much I love them - I love them to bits!!

Getting ready to move...

2007-09-12T22:56:00.000-04:00

Whew! It's been a whirlwind around here since we got back from vacation! I never knew it would be so involved to sell our house! Or rather to get it READY to sell. We've interviewed several real estate agents and selected one. We've had our consultation with the staging people and are looking forward to getting their proposal on how to really swoop prospective buyers off their feet! We've decided on all of the flooring selections - we're getting the flooring replaced in three rooms (which we've been wanting to do for years now but been too cheap to spend the money before now). We're going to get a quote tomorrow from someone for painting our bathroom and REpainting our CRAYOLA YELLOW kitchen to a more neutral tone (a few years ago we painted it what we thought would be a pretty, cheery yellow. We got started and thought "oh how pretty" and then we kept painting and thought "oh.... um..." and then we finished and ever since then we constantly think we've left the lights on in the kitchen because it's so BRIGHT!). I ordered a new dishwasher today - ours decided to die shortly after we returned home from vacation. We've made several runs with the truck and van both packed FULL of boxes of CLUTTER! Our house hasn't changed much - but there are approximately 50 boxes of STUFF in our newly rented storage unit and our garage. How does this happen?? We still need to call the handy man to come do a handful of other things around the house like the caulking and a few small repairs that we just don't have the time or gumption to tackle. And I have some serious scrubbing to do to clean the baths and kitchen to look like new (and to remove the grimey yet cute finger prints and smudges off the walls). UGH! Well, I guess if this is what makes up the stress that I have in my life (that I've been blessed with the finanacial ability to move, a loving husband and active (and THANK GOD healthy) children that keep messing up my stacks and taking up my packing/cleaning time, then I'll GLADLY carry my lot. Thank you Jesus for all of these blessings!

Oh and if anyone has any tips on selling your house or trying to sell while having three tots in tow let me know!! I'm open to all kinds of advice!!

Blessed Be Your Name

2007-09-11T14:40:00.000-04:00

This morning I read an update on a fellow blogger Amy Whilhoite. Sadly, she passed yesterday after fighting a battle with leukemia. Her faith in God was so inspiring and I encourage you to read her blog.

Then this afternoon I recieved this verse in my email:

Hebrews 10:35-36 Therefore you mustn't lose your courage and confidence, for it will bring you a great reward. You see, you must patiently hold on to your faith so that you will do what God wants and thus receive what He has promised.

It seemed fitting for her and others who are fighting their battles and holding so faithfully to God's promises.

Additionally, I thought it very interesting that when Amy was originally diagnosed with leukemia the song that she said was stuck in her mind was "Blessed Be Your Name." That song gave her strength to deal with her horrifying news. That is the same song that played over and over in my mind when we lost our baby Jessica. The chorus of it ran over and over in my mind that first few days. Then about a week or so later the other verse popped into my mind, "He gives and He takes away." It was interesting to me how I remembered the part about blessing God's name even in the midst of our heartache and then later I remembered that additional verse and it seemed so appropriately timed... Anyway, that song helped me a lot.

Squeeze your little ones and your loved ones tonight and love them with all your might. You never know when God will call you (or them) home.

Hilarious Ebay Listing!!

2007-09-11T14:36:00.000-04:00

This is hilarious!! You gotta click here to read this ebay listing from a mom of six! Too Funny!

Update on our Vacation, Etc.

2007-09-09T13:17:00.001-04:00

Hey y’all! Sorry I haven’t blogged in quite a while. I’ve been busy, busy, busy ever since we got back from vacation!

Back in the late spring, John and I had been talking (again) about selling our house and moving closer to John’s work. We’ve talked about selling many times in the past – we’ll sell this year… in five years… no, next year…, no, we’ll stick it out another three years… ok, next summer…. Well, while we were on vacation we finally decided that we were both ready to go ahead and move this year. We’d both been praying about it, asking for God’s guidance and both felt that we were getting the same word. So, as soon as we got home I started making phone calls to real estate agents, staging companies, moving companies, storage companies, handy-man services, flooring repair companies and starting to de-clutter our home (and Oh My Gosh do we ever have clutter!!). Jared also just started Awanas club and preschool. I’ve been attending the teacher training sessions for each of the three MOPS programs that I’ll be working childcare for this year. I’ll be a Discussion Group Leader for the Night MOPS program that I’ll be a member of this year and have been trying to learn what I missed during a meeting I was out of town for. I need to make about 10-15 phone calls for that. I’m the president of our homeowners association and on the social committee. We’re trying to join a new small group through our church (so I'm trying to find a babysitter) and I’ll be joining a new bible study group on Wednesdays while Jared’s at Awanas… so… I’m having a hard time keeping my head on straight right now!! And I have SO much packing and cleaning to do that I don’t know where to start!

Now, having said all that, let me back up a little. Our family photos taken before we left town turned out great! The kids did beautifully! The photographer was very good with them. He and the guy who helped us pick out our selections were Great – especially considering how late we were (John couldn’t get out of work as early as he’d hoped and traffic was bad). We ended up picking our selections after their closing hours and left the mall when all of the stores were turning off their lights! But they were so patient with us with whole time! I’ll see if I can scan in the photos later. We don’t have a scanner but I can go to the UPS store around the corner and get that done when I have time (???).

As far as our family vacation…. We stayed at a time share on Singer Island in Florida in the same place as John’s dad, step-mom and three sisters. Our rooms were not facing the ocean like I usually “require” for a beach vacation but that turned out to be perfectly fine. Our room was less than 10 feet from the poolside – if you walked out of our door and didn’t turn you’d fall in! The kids had a blast swimming constantly. We were able to sit and relax at the tables in the shade, talking with family, watching the kids and listening to the baby monitor which easily picked up in our room while the baby slept – SOOO much better than if we had been trapped in our room while she napped or if we'd had to torture her (and us) by keeping her up and out with us when she was tired. This also turned out to be a real blessing when our 2 yr old popped up out of the water and yelling “POOPY!!!” and needed to run to the potty! I was so glad we weren’t in some high-rise where we had to search for a potty or worry about packing up ALL of our stuff to make the trek to and from the pool every time. If we wanted something we just stepped back into the room to get it.

The beach was beautiful!!! From our room, you walked through this beautifully landscaped path with trees and bushes and then down a sandy path through the sand dunes. It was so beautiful! This was also the time of year that the sea turtles were hatching. Scattered all up and down the beach were sea turtle nests that had been marked off with caution tape so that people wouldn’t disturb them. Unfortunately when the little babies are born at night, they all too often get confused by the street and building lights and head back up the beach towards the hotels rather than out to the water. So we had several exciting trips out to the ocean whenever someone found a baby turtle by the hotel. I also joined several of John’s relatives one morning as they went out for their daily sunrise walk and watched as a volunteer dug out the rest of a nest that had hatched the night before. She dug out the remaining babies that hadn’t made it out yet (still alive), counted those babies who didn’t survive, counted the remaining unhatched eggs, and counted all of the hatched eggs to determine how many babies made it out of the nest. The baby turtles were so cute as they worked they way to the water!

I think the best thing about the entire vacation was being able to be with family for the whole week. It’s nice to have family reunions and gatherings but the time is too short. When you spend the whole week together you have the chance to really talk and hang out. All together there were 15 of us – the five of us plus John’s dad and step-mom (Frank and Jill), his three sisters (Lee Ann, Amy and Kelly), his step-uncle (Tim) and his two girls (Erika and Ana), his step-Grandma (Bobbie) and Amy's boyfriend (Matt) who joined us for a couple of days. Another great thing about family is BABYSITTERS!!!!!! Having family around at the pool allowed us to relax – more eyes on the kids. One afternoon my father-in-law kept the kids so that we could go out on Tim’s sailboat. (AAaaaahhh!!! So Nice!! I just sat back and relaxed in the sun and watch the view while the guys talked.) And one night, John’s sisters kept the kids while John and I went out to a nice dinner with his folks. Wonderful food, wonderful company!! Yep – family is GREAT thing!!!

Anyway, now that I’ve written a book – I’ll show you some of the photos!! There are just so many great photos it's hard to choose so here are LOTS! (click on the photo to view a larger image)

The waves were huge the first day at the beach

Hopper - check out the water trails from his feet.

I love this shot

Aunt Lee Ann shows Abigail a turtle she just found over by the pool. We all scampered down to the beach to set it free.

The volunteers digging out a turtle's nest that hatched during the night. See the empty egg shells?
... And they're off!!

Aaahh! At last!

My Beauty!

The sunrises were just gorgeous!! Every five seconds the colors were changing!
This is the path through the sand dunes.

Thank you God for your Creations!

Having a Blast with Grandpa in the pool!

Jared learned to swim without his floaties!!!

Daddy's got his girls!

Party time!

My two quackers!

We got to see one of old friends Chris and her son while we were on her end of the world! It was so great seeing her!! And Jack is such a cutie!!

I love this shot!

We're Back!

2007-08-30T07:44:00.001-04:00

Hey y'all! Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. We got our family portrait on Friday, the 17th (they turned out Wonderful - thank you for all of the feedback on which outfits to choose!) and then we left town the next day for a week long vacation in Florida. Oh, it was so wonderful!!! I'll post a couple of photos here and then offer more play-by-play and more photos later. Needless to say I'm having a hard time getting my brain back into "reality" mode!

Yes, I'm a dork!

2007-08-15T20:44:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! I did something today that I thought was a really good idea. When one of my friends stopped by and I told her about it, she just stood there for a second, looked at me and shook her head in disbelief as she said slowly, "you are silly...." I think she may have been thinking something else other than "silly." It made sense to me but I realized as I looked at her that hmmm.... this may be one of my dorkish moments .... You decide....

This coming Friday we will be going to have our family portrait taken. We haven't had a formal portrait (as formal as Olan Mills or The Picture People - I guess 'professional' would be the right word rather than 'formal') since Jared was 6 months old!! He's 4 1/2 years old now!!! Anyway, the brilliant thing that I did (I still think it was rather smart) was to pull out a handful of shirts for each of the five of us, lay them all out neatly on the dining room table so that I could see the colors and patterns and then start trying to decide what outfits would best coordinate. In order to make this decision, I laid one of John's shirts on the floor, mine next to it but slightly lower since I'm not as tall as he is. Then I laid one of Jared's shirts down in front of ours and slightly below (to represent his height) followed by a similar presentation for a shirt for each of the girls. Then I used my digital camera to take photos of the display so that I could sit back at the computer and carefully review each combination for the best color and pattern coordination. Are you laughing yet? See, to me this made perfect sense! And this is just one of the wonderful ways that our digital technology can be used! It's quick. It's not wasteful - I don't have to spend money to develop a roll of film that was produced for my whimsical uses. I can delete anything I don't want to keep (any color combinations that I deem not to "flow" well together...) from the computer thereby saving digital space. And I can get John's input later if I so desire! I now realize that this would be after he gives me "the look." Well, I guess this is just one of the (many) silly reasons why he loves me so much! Here are just a few of the combinations - you take a look and let me know what you think. :)

If you have breasts or know someone who does...

2007-08-14T03:18:00.000-04:00

If you have breasts or know someone who does, please be aware of Inflammatory Breast Cancer, a different type of (aggressive) breast cancer that is just recently getting press. Here's a link to a fellow blogger with it. Please read her message.

And I love her new view on life, however long we think it may be. Read her post about living. It's beautifully written and thought prevoking. My prayers are with her.

Yee Haw! Ride 'em cowboy!

2007-08-12T19:10:00.000-04:00

Friday night Jared went to his first rodeo! John has been wanting to take him for ages but it seemed like every rodeo we heard about was after the fact. Plus they all start at 8pm which is his bedtime! Fortunately, we found out about this one just in time (on Friday morning) and John decided he’d take him even if it was late – he’d probably be fine. Well, Jared did great. He loved the rodeo! And of course John had a blast too! He hadn’t been to a rodeo since he was little! They saw trick riding, clowns doing rope tricks, calf roping, barrel racing, and bull riding. They told me that one of the trick riders rode standing on the backs of two horses as they jumped through a ring of fire! John said that Jared ran around on the bleachers and played in between events but as soon as John would say “they’re about to start the next thing,” Jared immediately ran to his daddy’s side and was glued to his seat. He didn’t want to walk around or look for souvenirs. He wanted to keep watching the events. He had a great time … at least up until he fell off the bleachers and scraped his leg up really bad. At that point he said “I don’t like this place! I want to go home!” But after some time passed, he started talking excitedly again about his evening and is really looking forward to going to his next rodeo. He came home with the BIGGEST smile on his face and his eyes were so big and bright as he told me what all they did and saw! He was so CUTE when I opened the door and saw him standing there wearing his new white cowboy hat, holding his lasso and sporting the biggest grin!

The next rodeo will be in town in about three weeks only 15-20 minutes from our house. We’ll all go to that one together. Jared says he wants to go to all of the rodeos because that’s what Daddy did when he was little. He also asked “did you fall off the bleachers too when you were little?” He wants so much to be like his daddy.

What's for lunch?

2007-08-12T13:19:00.000-04:00

This is the conversation that occurred after church today in John’s efforts to expand Abigail’s palate….

John: Ok – what do you want for lunch today? How about a hamburger?
Abigail: How ‘bout dwrill teese? (grilled cheese)
John: How about a hot dog?
Abigail: How ‘bout dwrill teese?
John: How about a sloppy joe?
Abigail: How ‘bout dwrill teese?
John: How about a ham sandwich?
Abigail: How ‘bout dwrill teese?
John: How about…
Abigail: I mean – I not hundry…
John: Ok – grill cheese…

Rules for Mommy

2007-08-11T16:34:00.000-04:00

One of the challenges that I face with my kids is that I get so frustrated (and angry and short tempered) telling them over and over to stop throwing things in the house, don't play with your food, no we're not watching any more TV, leave your sister alone! All this week I've been reciting my Rules for Mommy in my head (over and over and over):

Speak slowly - it's hard to be harsh and angry when you're speaking slow, complete sentences. Besides, you may end up better explaining the situation with slow complete sentences so that they'll understand what the problem is rather than just that Mommy's upset again.

Speak softly - it's hard to lose your temper and yell when you are speaking softly

Speak lovingly - a preacher recently spoke in his sermon about how we, as parents, are writing the very pages of our child's book. Each child is a book, a gift from God. He has given them to us, given us their book to write. So, from heaven He can flip through the pages and see how you or I have impacted this child's life.

So, my Rules for Mommy this week are to:

Speak slowly
Speak softly
Speak lovingly

A Day at Stone Mountain

2007-08-11T14:56:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday we went to Stone Mountain. We really weren’t sure how the day would play out with a 4 year old, a 2 year old and an infant (all without naps) but we went with the mindset of “let’s go and if the kids start melting down we’ll leave before the laser show.” Starting out with this in mind helped us relax knowing that our day was flexible (even though, the planner I am, I really wanted to do w, x, y, AND z).

As soon as we got there we headed for the sky lift - buckets that carry about 20 people at a time on a tiny string of a cable way up to the top of the mountain. It’s exciting to watch the people and trees shrink away and the birds fly by you as you rise higher and higher! Of course there were a few other passengers who were a little less enthusiastic as they stood glued to their spot, eyes clamped shut, knuckles turning white as they held onto their seat, praying for the ride to be over soon. The kids thankfully were not scared at all but had their noses glued to the window with huge smiles on their faces all the way to the top and back down again. Once up top, the kids had a blast running and jumping around on top of mountain (making Mommy and Daddy very nervous). The kids excitedly pointed out a crow that was flying around high in the sky below where we were standing. Rachel, bless her heart, was just hanging out, along for the ride in the Snugli attached to my front. Poor thing! She was way too hot in that Snugli but she never once complained. After we enjoyed our ride back off the mountain we met up with John’s mom, my sister, brother-in-law and their boys and Wayne’s brother’s family. We had all agreed to wear red so that not only were the kids easy to spot in a crowd but we too would be easy to spot should the kids get separated from us (I was terrified of losing the kids in the big crowds at the laser show.) After we all met up, we rode the train around the mountain. I think the kids really had fun on the train. And finally we claimed our spot on the grass, laid out our blankets, set up our lawn chairs (and Rachel’s pack n play), and waited for the laser show to begin. The kids played and ran and colored and blew bubbles. Ah, the innocence of childhood! Meanwhile, we parents were keeping a hawk’s eye glued on them to make sure they didn’t slip away or get too wild and bother any of the other hundreds of people around us. We bought a mosquito net to drape over Rachel’s pack n play so that she could have the freedom to play (without eating grass) and/or sleep without worrying too much about bugs. The laser show was awesome! I hadn’t been in years. The music and fireworks were wonderful and the kids were glued to their seats (Thank God!). We all had a GREAT time! And all week long, the kids have been asking (over and over) “when can we go back?”

Thank You Lord for My Burdens

2007-08-11T13:44:00.001-04:00

Thank you Lord for my burdens. Thank you Lord for letting my burdens consist of me having too much house work to do and being tired from staying up until 2:00am on the computer looking up creative activities and lessons for my children. Thank you for letting me have the stresses I have because my healthy, vibrant four year old and my healthy, adorable 2 year old aren’t obeying my every nagging command. Thank you for letting my burden be not getting a break because my beautiful, healthy baby woke early from her nap. Thank you for a loving, awesome husband who adores me who wants me to stop what late night things I’m accomplishing after the kids are finally in bed so that I’ll come to bed with him instead of him going to bed alone. Thank you Lord for being so good to me and giving me these wonderful "burdens" and help me remember that they are all Blessings from you!

Some Recent Photos

2007-08-07T23:58:00.000-04:00

My two cutie pies!

And does anyone question why I call him my Monkey Boy?!?!?!

This is a 5 foot high play house that he's propped against as he's walking up our house!

This was taken at Rachel's 6 month check up appt. Rachel was sitting up on her own and the three of them reminded me of "hear no evil," "see no evil" and "speak no evil." The nurse practitioner we saw that day was totally wowed by Rachel's physical abilities at this age. She was not only rolling over every which-a-way that she could (difficult to get this girl to sit still!), but she was sitting up and already transitioning from her belly to sitting up on her own which is separate milestone. She's now crawling like a champ. And last night she started pulling up! Last night she pulled up to her knees. Tonight she pulled up to a standing position!! I'm going to be chasing after her VERY soon!!!

We just bought Abigail her own big-girl bike. She hopped up there like she'd been doing it for ages. It was so weird to see her sitting so big and tall on that bike! She's not a baby anymore!! And yes, Jared is wearing his Tigger costume!

Here's my squirmy wormy! Waiting on that dinner - c'mon Mom!

Quotes of the Day

2007-08-07T23:03:00.000-04:00

I had to share these! Kids may make you crazy but oh how they make you smile! I love 'em!

Jared: I can’t go outside because I have a sore toe.
Mommy: Where’s your sore toe?
Jared: On one of these feets.
Mommy: Which toes is it?
Jared: It’s this one or this one.
Mommy: You don’t know which one is your sore toe?
Jared: No.

Today I found myself saying:

“Tell me why you had to go to time out?”
“Are you supposed to sit on your sister’s head?!”

This is one from last week:

Jared, Abigail and I were outside in the back yard. The kids paused their splashing in the kiddy pool long enough to enjoy a popsicle when I said, “Hey I hear a helicopter.” Jared looked around and saw it and said, “Is he flying up to heaven? Is he going to go see God?” You have to love their sweet innocence!

Hey y'all - I'm Bloggin!

2007-08-07T21:42:00.000-04:00

Hey y'all! Check this out - I'm a blogger too! (ok - just got the Dr. Pepper tune in my head - He's a blogger! She's a blogger! Wouldn't ya like to be a blogger too? Be a blogger!) Anyway, several of my friends have their own blogs and I thought they were a really cool way to keep in touch with friends and family so, here I am giving it a try. Now, I will also state that if it weren't for my awesome hubby and his technical knowhow, this household would likely not even have an email account. I have little patience for figuring out computer stuff. So this will probably be a simple blog without a lot of bells and whistles but hey, no biggy.

As I'm sitting here typing, I'm listening to the oh so NOT relaxing tunes of a screaming six month old in her crib. She's overtired because we were keeping her up waiting for big sister Abigail and big brother Jared to go to sleep so that we could do our betime juggling act and let her (Rachel) go to bed in her crib. Let me back up and explain the situation.

We live in a 3 bedroom house so Abigail and Jared share a room while Rachel has her own. The older kids have loved sharing their room over the past year but it's been stressing us out. Unless Abigail is asleep when we put Jared to bed (for naps or night time) they party, they laugh, they scream, they fight, they throw things back and forth, they take things from each other, they bounce off the beds, the walls and each other. Hubby and I have offered bribes of treats if they will be quiet and stay in bed, we've taken away stuffed animals, we've spanked, we've sat in their room until they go to sleep or layed down with them (which of course takes time away from us and our personal down time before we get in bed). We have gotten totally fed up with this nightly battle to get them to go to sleep before 11:00 every single night (and their bedtimes are around 7:30 or 8:00)!

So, what we decided to do is this - are you ready? See if you can keep up ... We bought a blow up mattress and put it in the floor in Rachel's room. Abigail takes her nap and also goes down for her nightly bedtime in Rachel's room on this mattress. I leave her there for her full nap, either with Rachel already asleep in her crib or I may put Rachel in the pack 'n' play in our room. Jared is really starting to outgrow his naps so he can now play quietly or read during nap time. Before this arrangement, I had really been coming down on him hard for making ANY noise (keep in mind he's FOUR) and especially for waking Abigail during the nap time (but my sanity requires that he still have a nap/quiet time so that I can get a break or sometimes my own nap). So now, he just plays quietly and reads books in his room. He's allowed to talk and make some noise (as long as it's still quiet) and he's happier. I'm SO much happier. We're all happier.

Anyway, at night, we put Jared in his room, Abigail on her mattress in Rachel's room and the plan is for Rachel to already be asleep. I usually wait until John and I are about to go to bed to move Abigail back to her own bed in the room she shares with Jared. Both Jared and Abigail have been going to sleep MUCH faster at night and it's been MUCH less stressful for us! We still have to go back there at least a couple of times at night though because they want their doors open but they end up giggling across the hall or getting out of their rooms and running back and forth. So, I go back there and shut their doors. Abigail usually wails for a few minutes and Jared typically sneaks his back open after we're gone so I still have to go threaten him again before he leaves it and goes to sleep. Tonight, however, is not going quite so smoothly. Rachel was already up when we put Abigail and Jared to bed. So the plan was to wait until Abigail went to sleep, put Rachel in her crib, and move Abigail back to her bed. Unfortunately Abigail and Jared kept playing and opening their doors and not going to sleep. Rachel was getting really fussy so we finally decided to move Abigail back into her room with Jared , put Rachel in her crib, and have Daddy sit in the hallway ready to fuss the occasional "be quiet!" to the two gigglers while Rachel continues to scream from her crib. AAAaaaahhhh!!!!

Oooo! Hey ... they have all finally quieted down. I think we may finally get some peace and quiet tonight. Oops - nope. Spoke too soon....

Well anyway, this arrangement has been quite a bit of a juggling act but (other than tonight) it's been much better!

On to other topics, I took the kids to the pool today. Jared and Abigail are little fish with their little swimmies on. They love the pool! Rachel had a great time too. She's such a great baby - just laid back and goes with the flow. She sat in her little float and splashed in the water while the other two jumped and splashed and acted crazy. Here are some photos I took on my cell phone.