We're Back!

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!

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...

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!

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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.