Come on

I never make New Years Resolutions. I think they just set you up for a failure. Why do you have to come up with a goal when a new year is starting? Why can't you just decide to do something new in June? Why January 1st? Those were my questions before. I am looking forward to 2010. I can't wait to say goodbye to 2009.
I should have taken the ringing of 2009 as sign. I truly believe that I was right. So this year I have decided that I will not ring in the New Year with black eyed peas and ham.
No way! I am skipping my traditional meal and going for a ribeye steak complete with pirogies, sweet corn and garlic bread. It can't hurt to try a new meal if the old one didn't work. I will be making a New Years Resolution too. Well actually a few resolutions. One of them...

I am taking my life back. It's time to cut some ties with obligations and people that are holding me back and keeping me busy from the important things in my life. I have already started working on it and it feels good to lift those weights off of me.
Cheers! Here's a toast to the good times!

Look at me mom

I couldn't resist taking a picture of Little E wearing his sister's church shoes. I told the kids to put on some shoes to come say goodbye to momma this morning. It was pretty cold out today, 33 degress to be exact and I wasn't letting them walk on the cold concrete. We have a ritual of daddy and the kids following me outside to get kisses, hugs and waves goodbye when I leave. I wasn't letting the cold weather stop us. So, Little E grabbed the quickest shoe he could shove his foot into. Actually, that is not the whole truth. For the past few days, he has been putting them on and walking around the house in them. I can't help but laugh.

Kids will be kids.

Not me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.Welcome to Not Me! Monday where you can see what things I have "not" been doing all week.

I did not order Christmas cards this past Tuesday morning to be picked for same day developing. Then rush around after picking the kids from after school care and daycare to get them picked up. The same cards that are sitting on my kitchen table in front of me to be finished and mailed out. Not me! I'm not that bad of a procrastinator!

I did not let my daughter convince me to order a chocolate lava cake at Chili's when it was 9:30 at night, an hour past her bedtime. Nope not me!

I would never after letting both kids eat such lava cake go to bed without brushing their teeth. I always brush the sugary sweets from their mouths before bedtime. Not me!!

I would never spend 2 hours of my employer's time refreshing a website to watch and wait for a giveaway. When I should be waiting on customers and giving them my undivided attention. Not me!

I would never forget to pull out the camera from the stroller while my kids were enjoying the snow at Celebration. Not me! What kind of mother forgets to take pictures of the event that they waited weeks to go to do. Drove an hour to do and didn't get THAT picture. Never, not me!

Mystery Box

Have you ever gotten a box at your door that was unexpected? I'm sure you have. I got one of those yesterday. I slowed down in front of the house as I was pulling around to back into the driveway. The kids could see the box and they were so excited! What made this box more enticing to Kay and Little E was that it had one of those smiles on the side of it. ( It's one of those Amazon boxes.) This is the conversation in the truck.

Kay: "Mom there's a box a the door!"

Me: "I see it. I see it."

Little E: "A box, momma! A box".

Me: "I wonder who sent that."

Kay: " I don't know, can we open it?"

Me: "Let's see who sent it first."

I continue to back into the driveway while we're discussing the curiosity of this box. As soon as I get the engine turned off they were squirming to get out of their car seats. (E is in a car seat and yes my 6 year old K is in a booster seat.) They ran over to the box and were inspecting it and couldn't wait until I got over there to look at it too. This was the conversation at the door.

Kay: "Mom look at it! It's a big box. It says it's from FedEx." (It had a fed ex drop off label)

Me: "Oh I see. Yes, FedEx delivered it sweetie." I answered her as I'm reading the label on the box. Hmmm, LTC Nutrition. Who the heck is that? I thought to myself.

After I got the kids, the box and all our stuff in the house I knew it would be a matter of minutes before they would want to open it. Thankfully they were more concerned with turning on the Christmas tree lights and our polar bear. I called DH to see if he purchased a Christmas gift for me and I shouldn't be opening the box. After I found out he didn't get me a surprise gift, I figured what the heck. I opened it without any little eyes watching ( how did I get so lucky) and found a Hot Wheels toy track inside. I closed the box quickly and told Little E and Kay to leave the box alone.
I knew who the box came from now. Haha! My brother who lives in North Florida is coming into town for Christmas and he must have had Little E's gift delivered to our house. It would have been helpful if he had called to tell me this ahead of time. It would have saved me the curiosity of what, who and why.
I called my brother after securing the package. I told him that I got a very large box delivered to me.Of course he thought he told me about it. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since he does have a new baby this year. The holidays are crazy enough, but add a baby to a first time father. Well you know..it's crazy. He did tell me that Kay's gift would be showing up too and when they get in town (Christmas Eve) that he'll need to wrap them. Good luck on that one. I may need to step in and do it for him. Not sure where I'll find the time either, but I'm sure I can squeeze in another package to wrap in amongst the large pile I already have.
Geez, I don't even want to think about it.

All I want for Christmas is......

Photoshop Lightroom 8!!! At least I hope I win it because I won't be buying it.You can try to win it also. Just get on over to MckMama's website! You'll see all the details over there. So get out your keyboards and don't forget to link up to Facebook, Twitter and get a blog! You're going to need those tools to get into this contest! No Dear Santa letters will get you an entry.

Merry Christmas and good luck!

Not me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.



This is the first time I have participated in Not me! Monday. Now you can see more of my crazy ramblings.

I did not frantically call hubby after Little E turned on the Christmas tree this morning and it rotated but the lights didn't turn on. To only find out later, when I was more calm, that the plug had come loose. Nope, not me!

I did not let Little E eat the candy cane he got from Santa after crying and whining for ten minutes, even after he didn't eat his dinner. Nope, not me! Why kind of mother am I anyway? Not me!

I did not shoosh my daughter and tell her to wait while I was chatting on the phone, when I could have just answered her in the time it took do shoosh her. That was not me who should have just let her ask me her question and get on with my chatting. Nope not me!

It was not me who uploaded the Christmas pictures of the kids, picked out a design and never ordered them. Then thought about maybe making them after-Christmas cards instead. Nope not me!

I did not make hubby stay awake with me Tuesday night while I stayed up wrapping Christmas gifts for the kids at church. I would never force him to stay up until midnight when it was my idea to help out, not his. Nope not me! That would have been so insensitive.

I did not lay in bed ignoring the whining dog in his crate to go potty and make hubby get up and do it. Seeing how the dog who wanted to go out is My dog. Nope, Not me!


There you have it! A few of my Not mes for the week. Now go do yours!

Greener Pastures

I couldn't resist taking pictures of Kay and Little E in front of the cow pasture. These cows have been some fun entertainment for my kids and my niece and nephew. I'm glad that I got some pictures because my brother is selling his house. I'm going to miss those cows.

I mean the bovine, cows. MOO!! Not my family. Just a little bit of humor.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of Little E while I still had the camera in the truck. He was being pretty silly while enjoying his first piece of gum. Well actually his fourth piece. That was the first piece that he continued to chew and not swallow.

Photographs in my mind

Have you ever thought, " I wish I had my camera with me"? The thought might have crossed your mind on a routine outing and your kids did something silly. You wished you had it right then and you maybe even attempted a shot with your cell phone. I had the same thought this morning. But the only difference was that I wish I had slept with it. Crazy, I know.
I woke up late this morning, as I do every Saturday. I lay there debating if I should get up then or wait for the alarm to go off again after me hitting the snooze button. Then I heard my sweet little boy's voice. I looked up and expected him to be standing in my doorway but he wasn't there. I sat upright in my bed and could see the family room illuminated by colorful lighting. I quietly slipped out of bed and walked to the doorway of my room. There I could see that the Christmas tree was lit up and there on the floor was Little E. He was laying on his stomach, one arm around the cat and they were admiring the tree. It was a moment that I wish I could capture.
The thought crossed my mind about trying to get the camera and take his picture. But I knew if I attempted to do it, he would notice that I was up and it would be over. I quietly got back into my bed and told hubby about it. He got up and looked out the room at our son. It's one of those quiet, tender moments that you will never forget. Even if I couldn't take a picture, it will forever be in my mind.

Pretty Boy

I am proud to admit that I really like my Little Man's haircut. I have discovered that hair gel and de-tangling spray work wonders. Even a little hairspray has helped too. Of course by the time I pick him up from daycare his big boy hairdo is gone. It's ok though, everyone should be able to start thee day with a good hair day. One day he'll outgrow the rolling around on the floor, pulling my (just made bed) comforter over his head and rubbing his head into the couch and pillows. I'll miss those days when he gets older. For now, I'm enjoying the moments.

Yummy Recipe

Last night at my Bible study group we celebrated Christmas. We throw ourselves an annual Christmas party and exchange gifts and enjoy potluck food. Each of us was asked to bring a dish of our choice, whether sweet or salty. Of course most of it was sweets. Well, my favorite in particular was homemade ice cream sandwiches! And they're not made with ice cream. They're made with cool whip, milk, pudding mix and sandwiched between graham crackers. Oh they were heavenly. I had never had one before and the lady that made them said they would be a great dessert to make for my kids.
So here's the recipe. It's really, really easy.
1 4oz box of pudding ( she used vanilla flavored)
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups cool whip
16 graham crackers (halved)

In medium bowl, blend in the pudding to the milk with electric mixer. When well mixed, fold in cool whip. On a plate or pan placed 8 halved graham crackers and dollop the cool whip mixture on top of each. Top each with the other half to make a sandwich. Immediately freeze them for at least 2 hours. They will be soft enough to eat if serving thereafter. If you are planning to store them, move them from the pan to ziploc bags. When serving at a later time, they only take about 10 minutes to soften for eating.

You can vary on the pudding flavor and the graham cracker flavor. I'm going to try some strawberry flavored with chocolate graham crackers. I will update and let you know how they turn out.

Girls Night Out

This past Wednesday I went out with some friends with high school. The girl Ti (as I will call her) who invited me to go was in town for a week. She and her boyfriend live in New Jersey now. My other friend Ji whom I keep in contact with on Facebook was there with a few of her friends. The plan was to go to see New Moon followed by dinner at Carlos and Charlies. I was apprehensive about going because I had no idea who else was going and I don't like to leave my comfort zone. If I know you and we're in the same room I'm energetic and bubbly. If I don't know you, I'm shy and keep to myself.
I was running late, or at least I thought I was, to the movie. I had missed the exit of the interstate and called Ji to let her know what happened. She knew the area well enough to give me directions through town if I got off at the next exit. She said she would save me a seat in the theater. I got worried about that, only because I wasn't sure where the seat would be. I figured that I'd be stuck on an end some where next to ome one I didn't know.
I made it to the movie with 5 minutes to spare, even after grabbing a small popcorn and a Sprite. To my surprise, my friend Ji had saved me a seat right next to her. I was relieved and happy.
The movie was awesome! If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. I was an Edward fan after the first movie, but now I have switched to the other side. Anyways, I've gotten off track. It happen easily for me. Random thoughts all over the place.
After the movie was over we headed over to the restaurant. If you've ever been to Carlos and Charlies on a weekend, getting in the door is not an easy task. It's crazy crowded and you can't move with the amount of people in there. On a weekday, in the middle of the week. We were like the only ones there! Talk about preferred service! I have never been there for dinner, let me say their food is AMAZING!! They serve some really authentic mexican food. I highly reccomend the guacamole. It is fresh made.
There I go again, randomnness.
Hanging out with the ladies was exactly what I needed. We all went to high school together so sitting around laughing, reminiscing, having a drink and dinner was so fun! I didn't run in the same circle as any of the other ladies except Ji. So getting to know them now that we're older was fun. She and I were friends in school and still have kept in touch for the past 15 years after graduating. I am so looking forward to hanging out with some fun friends again. Just catching up, laughing, being us.

Rolling with the tide

For quite some time, Little E has needed a haircut. He had gorgeous light brown hair with natural blond highlights. It was long on top and bowl cut style, the only style a home haircut would allow. It was so long that it covered his eyebrows and skimmed the tops of his eyes. I only trimmed it when I could get him to sit still long enough for me to comb it and grab the scissors for a snip. This last weekend my sister in law took some Christmas photos of the kids for me. I had tried my best to keep his hair out of his face, but the hairspray wasn't holding in the wind.





Sunday evening I decided that I was going to cut his hair. I wanted to get a good trim on it and get it out of his eyes. So I got out the hair trimmer and using the #2 guard I cut the back and underneath of his hair. I changed guards and put on the #8 and holding the long parts of his hair I tried trimming the ends of it without laying the cutter against his head. My husband was watching me from the kitchen table while I was attempting this. He tells me "you're wasting your time trying it like that, just do it." I look over at him and ask him "how short do you think it would be?" He holds up his fingers about 2 1/2 inches apart and I should have questioned it further but I took his word for it. That was my BIG mistake. I started cutting and heard this mmmmmrrrddd noise as my son's hair was being forced into the cutter's blades. Now mind you, I was standing from behind him and cutting from the forehead back so I couldn't see what it looked like. The only thing I did see was a four inch lock of blond hair on the kitchen floor. I was speechless. Hubby says to me" you're going to have to finish it now. It's all chunked up in the front".
What?! What!!! What are you saying. The thoughts running in my mind. What was I thinking?? I looked down at his forehead and pulled his hair back and you could see the hair missing from different spots. There was no turning back now. I took the cutter and continued through his hair, watching it fall to the floor. I was near the end, when looked at my sweet boy's face and nearly lost it. I was in complete shock as to how much this "new" haircut changed his appearance. I gasped and welled up with tears. My husband knew I was in shock and he reassured me, telling me it was ok.
I finished trimming the sides and put the cutter down and brushed the hair from Little E's face. He was beaming with delight and could not wait to see his hair. It was a bit reassuring. I'm still very sad about his hair. It's only hair, right? It'll grow back. Right?


Here's the after picture taken on Thanksgiving Day at my brother's house.

Cherished moments

As a full-time working mom (FTWM) I've found a balance between work, family and church. Our scheduled after work , after school activities and meetings are always the same. This week is out of the norm, or maybe not? With the holidays approaching there will be more outings I'm sure. I usually only have two evenings a week that I'm out of the house and one for Little Miss. This week we have everyday booked with something going on every night. I was exhausted before it even started.
Last night I was required to attend a meeting at church. The 7pm start of the meeting didn't allow much time for me to get the kids picked up. Then go home to eat dinner before I had to leave. I planned on grabbing a quick fast food meal at McDonald's. A choice that I thought the kids would enjoy since they would get a prize in their Happy Meals.
I picked up Little Miss first and gave her the option to choose where she would like to eat. I wouldn't normally ask her but she has been doing better in school and I thought that would be a good reward. She picked the local buffet restaurant. I wasn't prepared to pay for a sit down dinner and was a bit trepidatious about taking both kids to a buffet by myself. By MYSELF. I wasn't sure if I could handle getting a plate for a two year old and a six year old and leave them unattended while I get myself a plate.
I attempted to change Little Miss' mind but she wasn't budging. With some thought on how I would handle it, I complied. After picking up Little E, we were on our way. Little Miss excitedly told the good news to her little brother. He kept repeating the restaurants name in his lispy vocabulary. She couldn't even contain herself after we pulled in and parked. She jumped out while I was unbuckling Little E and waited at the door to the restaurant.
I scanned out a good table close enough to the buffet and left our ticket there. The kids followed me as I grabbed a plate for each and gave Little Miss hers to carry. The little guy wanted to carry his too but I knew that would have resulted in a mess. He happily agreed to mommy serving the portions of mashed potatoes, mini corn dogs and mac/cheese on his plate. Once I got them situated at the table and we blessed their food ( I am so proud of my little girl for remembering to do this, even out in public.) I navigated my way through the buffet while keeping an eye on them.
The kids ate like champs. Little Miss ate all of her dinner and even tried some cantaloupe and honey dew melon. Little E ate most of what was on his plate along with a yeast roll and pat of butter. I enjoyed sitting down with them in the restaurant. They ate their dinners so well, I gave them permission to get some ice cream from the dessert section. Little E proudly announced his "ice cone" to the other kids eating dinner. I expected a stressed out, rush-rush dinner with my children and was rewarded with wonderful behavior. I know God blessed me last night with the evening. We missed having daddy at our meal, but God gave me the time to enjoy my children without the chaos.
Thank you Lord for showing me.

Living for God

I love how God leads us where we need to go. If we follow him and continue in the direction that he wants it makes sense. You see the signs and feel loved. He loves us so much that he wants what is best for us. With that thought, I read an article on a blog I follow. It was definitely what I was looking for.

Here's from Like a Warm Cup Of Coffee

Under the Microscope-Using Parables Today

A few months ago I subscribed to a couple of different Christian websites that send daily or weekly faith updates. You could choose articles on family, love, marriage or just the daily which has many different items in it. At first I wasn't getting any emails from them and thought that I messed up and typed it wrong. To my surprise, I was getting them but they were going into my spam mail. I usually just glance in that folder and don't pay much attention past the first page since there are usually 3-4 pages of spam. But for some reason on Tuesday I went through all of them looking for something and now I couldn't tell you what email it was, but I found my daily updates from Crosswalk. I was so excited and immediately moved them to my inbox and added them to my address book. I skimmed through them but none of the articles interested me.

The title for yesterday's email caught my eye, "Is Truth Really Plural? Postmodernism in Full Flower". I didn't and still don't know what postmodernism is but I was curious. The article was pretty deep for me and I scrolled through the page and stopped at "Why We Need Parables". The article goes on to explain why parables are important in sermons and how they help get across a message and why Jesus used them. Halfway through it, the author suggests taking one of Jesus' parables and reading it and rereading, then praying about it and then go about your day. Then he gives you 5 key points/questions about the parable. At the end of the article he suggests a few parables to start with. I focused on Matthew 18:21-35 The Unmerciful Servant. I did as the author suggested and read the scripture a couple of times. I read in a couple of different Bible versions so I could get every detail of it. This morning, I checked my email and from my weekly Crosswalk women email, the title was "The Power of Forgiveness".

WHOA. God is definitely trying to get a point across to me. This article talks about how it's usually easy to say I'm sorry and the wronged person accepts it. But it's challenging when deep wounds cause that person to no accept or harbor ill feelings and lash out in malice. That is truly me. I was recently wronged and was able to accept the words of apology but am still wounded.
I quote" It's pretty ridiculous when you stop and think about it-to let some mean or thoughtless person who has hurt you continue to rob you of your joy. When we live in resentment and anger we miss the beauty and opportunity of today."

I am so thankful that our Lord God led me to his Word. I'm trying everyday to be a better person, wife, parent, friend and Christian. Not in any particular order. I will not let wrong doings rob me of my joy! Keep the faith.

Pumpkin Hunters

We did it again! We survived the great pumpkin hunt and found a keeper. Little Miss and Little E enjoyed themselves so much at the pumpkin patch. They couldn't wait to get out of the car and run for them. We took a lot of pictures, many of which Little E wouldn't sit still and smile. He was more concerned with jumping in the hay and being silly with friends.

We are planning to carve our pumpkin on this Thursday. I will have camera in hand to capture the carving and scooping of pumpkin "goo" out. Daddy will be the carver while, Little Miss will be the "goo" assistant scooper. This will be the first year that Little E will be able to participate. It ought to be pretty funny.

Saying Goodbye to a dependable friend

Yesterday I finally decided that it was time to say goodbye to our Graco highchair. We bought it in 2003 after Little Miss was born. We haven't been using it for awhile. Maybe since Little E was 18 months old and he turned 2 in July. At first I wanted to just pack it up and save it for another baby. ( Since I still would like to have at least one more child. But the economy doesn't agree with that and those ideas have been put on hold.) But as time wore on, the sentimental value of it was gone and the higchair had become a new catch all. For those papers that need to be signed for school and if they made it to the office, you'd never see them again, or a resting spot for toys that had not gotten put away-YET. She was only 4 months old when we started using it. Being first time parents, waiting to use new gadgets was pretty tough. But this highchair came with and 3 position recline, so it could be used with smaller babies if you wanted to lean them back.
I searched through my my archives last night and found this one of Little Miss. I would have to say she is between 6-8 months old in this photograph.

Here is one of my little guy sitting in it. I tried to find a photo with him in it at about the same age as Little Miss, but it was not happening. I'll have to keep looking.

So back to my story. I decided it was time for it to go. I am hosting a Candle Party in my home this coming Friday evening. I couldn't bear to have my friends come over and see the highchair still out. I don;t have to the room to store it and it's not in resale condition, so I took one last photo of it (yes, I know, I'm a NUT) and moved it out the front door. I moved a "new"( to us anyways) 2 shelf bookcase in it's spot last night. I found some knick knacks and books to make it look like it's been there. And VOILA!! Silly me, I forgot to take o pic of that.

Last note.. hubby made a joke of this last night. When I asked him if he took it out to the trash can he said he did. Then he asked me "if I wanted a photo of it out there too?" I said "really"?? He laughs at me and said "no way". I would've have kept it too. Like I said, I am a NUT.

So long Graco. The garbage men came today. I know he'll be gone when I get home.

Wednesdays for Wyatt -by Letting Go and Letting God

Wednesdays for Wyatt


It’s official... Today is our very first post for Wednesdays for Wyatt! Thank you for coming over and participating.


It’s quite simple to participate. All you have to do is copy and paste this post on your blog, and come back here to link up with MckLinky! Once you do that, your all set to win this first ever Wednesday’s for Wyatt giveaway. Let make this a huge success, shall we?


Really quickly... (I haven't had a chance to correct my button yet. My editing program is on my OTHER computer, Wednesday's should be Wendsdays with out the ', because as I understand it, it makes it possessive. OOPS!)


Now, back to the good stuff!


For those of you who are not familiar with my family and what we are trying to achieve, here’s a brief run down...


Our son Wyatt was diagnosed with a fatal condition at our 18 week ultrasound, but chose to carry him to term. We waited to meet our son with love, all the time praying we would get to see him alive.


On June 1, 2009, Wyatt made his way into the world by c-section. To our amazement he had a faint heartbeat and was breathing! He died two minutes later, but I’ve clung to the two minutes my son and I breathed the same air since his passing.


Upon calling to get a copy of Wyatt’s birth certificate, I found out he was listed as a stillborn. You would assume it was a mistake (like I did), but there was no mistake. According to the definition of live birth in Tennessee my son was not “alive enough” to be deemed a live born baby. His two minutes of life has gone unrecognized by my state, and I intend to change this piece of legislation so I can solidify the validity of my son’s short life.


Wednesdays for Wyatt was created to help spread awareness for a law that needs to be changed, as well as to generate more traffic to my petition. So if you’re reading this, thanks for taking the time to help our family!


We are currently up to 1,253 signatures. Hurray! We’ve made it over my initial goal of 1,000 signatures, and now I’m dreaming big! You think you can help me get 5,000 signatures by Thanksgiving? I bet you could, and I hope this Wednesdays for Wyatt helps out tremendously. Post this to your blogs, facebook, myspace... wherever you can think of. I can’t wait to see how many more signatures we receive from this. I have a great feeling!


The contest will only be open today. You have until 11:59 pm to post this on your blog and come back here to link up with MckLinky in order to qualify for this Wednesdays for Wyatt giveaway. Good luck everybody and thanks for participating.

New Signature

So working with my new signature has been a real pain. I made one but I haven't figured out how to make it transparent.


Any help or suggestions would be great.

Bittersweet

Today is my 8th Wedding Anniversary. Happy Anniversary to me! I titled this blog "Bittersweet" because this year it's a happy and sad time. Last year my friend gave birth to her daughter Ashlyn Skye on October 13th, 2008. I was soo excited to be sharing my anniversary with such a special person. Sadly, five months later on March 13, 2009 Baby Ashlyn passed away. This year, today it is hard to share my special day with her. Our circle of friends are a bit sorrowful and sad that she would have celebrated her 1st birthday today. I have come to terms with her death and I cannot wait to meet her one day when I arrive in heaven. It brings me great joy that one day I meet this wonderful person in heaven. The hard part now is having the strength to tell those around me without hurtful glances.

Coping with the kids-Part 2

I thought that Little Miss was going to pull it off. The first two days of school last week she came home with green behavior reports. By Wednesday I had gotten a few rewards purchased for good behavior and she came home again with green. She liked the idea of getting a reward but didn't seem too thrilled with the Halloween tatoos I gave her. Thursday she was picked up by Grandma and told her that she had gotten a green. My mom had asked me in advance if Little Miss was good was she allowed to have some candy corn. By Friday morning I was excited because I had purchased her a new purse as a large reward for a week of "greens". When I picked her up on Friday I looked at the weekly report and felt sad. Little Miss had not gotten a green on Thursday when in fact it was a yellow. I explained to her that she would not receive the large reward but only a small one and why. She broke down in tears. My heart hurt for her but I knew that if I gave in that she would learn nothing from this. I encouraged her to not give up and try harder the next week. I hope that she gets the lesson from this.

Coping with the kids

Things haven't been the best with Little Miss at school lately. She's been going to 1st grade for five weeks now and it's been quite a struggle. She is my social butterfly, when she's in a comfortable setting, and it's been her biggest downfall at school. None of my discipline tricks have been working on her and I'm getting to my wits end.
I'll briefly explain how it works in her teacher's class. They have a daily behavior chart where each student starts on green each day. One warning you go to yellow, 2 warnings you go to red and 3 warnings you go to blue and mommy/daddy get a phone call. I would say that on average, she's on green 40% of the time. In addition to staying on green, each student gets a sticker on their chart that are used for a party at the end of each month. Students that don't get enough stickers will not participate in the party.
Everyday I ask Little Miss what color she was on for the day. You can pretty much tell from her demeanor when I pick her up from school, what color she had. The bad thing is that you only get a weekly report from the teacher on Friday. So I have to find out from her daily why she got a warning and discipline accordingly. What makes the Friday report the worst, is that a few times Little Miss was wrong on her daily color and she was reprimanded for nothing.
Yesterday was the icing on the cake. I pick her up from after school care and she says to me "mom, I got was yellow again today."
"Oh really, what did you do today?" I ask.
"I don't know."she nonchalantly answers me.
"Yes you do. Your teacher has you move your color so you know why. Was it talking again?" I press her.
"Noooooooooo. I don't remember why. Ms. K moved it this time" she whines.
"You have to know what you did. Has it gotten to the point that when you're doing wrong you don't even know it anymore? I guess that were going to have to take more stuff away. When you remember what it is you did, you can have your toys back." I say.
"noooooo. " (she starts weeping and crying)
I really don't like doing this to her. I don't know what else to do anymore. I'm losing hope on this battle. Honestly, I don't think it bothers her that I keep taking her belongings away. She's not phased by it. So I checked out another blog that I follow and I'm hoping I can seek guidance and support on this issue.

Little Miss is a smart kid and she's missing out when she's talking. The socializing with her friends is fine, but she needs to know when she should be doing it.

It's got to get better.

Summer Vacation Revisited-Part 1

Only four weeks after school started I've decided to post about our summer. I'll go backwards and start from the last major event. Pixy Girl's 6th birthday! We decided to celebrate it at home with just family this year and enjoy sub sandwiches, chips, cake and ice cream. It was nice not having to worry about entertaining a bunch of kids and all the chaos that goes into a larger scale party.

Pixy Girl still scored plenty of gifts from the grandmas, her aunts/uncles and mommy and daddy. The gift that she hoping to get and even asked for while she went gift shopping with my mother was presented at the end of the party. A brand new bicycle!!


She couldn't wait to try it out. She jumped on it without any shoes and tried to pedal it out on the lawn. She didn't get too far before her feet started hurting.



Here she is all suited up with her helmet and she has her shoes on, even though you can't see them. As you can tell from her face, she wasn't haven't a good time with it. Living on a dirt road was going to take some time to learn how to pedal harder on the packed road. Since the party she has mastered riding and enjoys doing it every chance she gets.









Having a party in August requires water and LOTS of it to keep
cool. So we busted out the shamu kiddie pool for the Pixy Girl, Little Prince and their little cousins. What a great idea that was! They had a barrel of laughs playing with the water spout. I think the adults had more fun shooting it in their faces!













What a better way to end the party with cake and ice cream. Chocolate cake iced with chocolate fudge with vanilla ice cream to be exact. YUM!

The gift of books

I have been away from blogging lately. If I'm on the computer I'm consumed by Facebook or email. I'm going to try and write at least one blog a week. I put some thought into this and figured if I had the time on Monday evenings after my Bible Study group I'd try to reflect on the previous week. It's a start.

So anyways, while I was spending some time on Facebook playing one of the application games I like I needed more coins to buy some virtual "goodies". You can pay for coins with "real" money but I refuse to, so I followed one of the offers on the link. I picked a book club subscription and what a great deal! I love books and am finally starting to find the time again to read them. Of course like any of those movie clubs or book clubs you get the 5 item for 99 cents plus shipping deal and then you're required to buy up to 4 items in a year or two's time. I picked three novels, one inspirational novel by Joyce Meyer and 2 more Christian books. When my order arrived at home it was accompanied by flyers about more books.

I thought I was going to have a hard time finding more books to pick, but I've already picked three and can't wait until I get more. I'm halfway through the book Any Minute by Joyce Meyer. If you haven't read it, it's about a woman caught up in the whirlwind of trying to be the corporate mommy who has lost her way with God. Something tragic happens and changes everything.

I'm looking at it this way, it was a good thing me playing those silly games on FB. It led me to my love of books again in a strange way. I'll keep you posted on my book and the next one I'm reading.

Opening my heart

Yesterday was the last day of my church's Vacation Bible School. It was the finale for the week, our big chance to get the Word of God to the children. If it didn't get through to them, it certainly left me hungry for more.
I didn't want to be as involved so I took a smaller job this year and was in charge of the preschool/toddler group. Since the little ones I had were younger than 3, I took them to their class earlier than the older kids. It was too much to expect to have them sit for 20 minutes and watch a Bible Story with everyone else. But God had other plans for me, I was there.

My mom became ill yesterday and she needed some one to be the leader in the Crafts class. I was resistant at first because I didn't want the responsibility of teaching the groups. I was especially negative about it because I didn't know what they would be working on and didn't feel prepared with only hours notice. Come on, it was the last night of VBS. I thought about and turned to God and asked , what is the best thing to do? He spoke to my heart and I knew I needed to do this for the kids.

Boy, am I glad that I was there. After the opening program, all the kids sit together for the Bible Story. Pastor Phyllis from the Community Life Worship Center taught the Bible stories. Pastor Phyllis is from the church that has been using our Fellowship Hall on Sundays to worship in. For the past 2 years we have joined with them to hold VBS.

The story she was going to tell was about Jesus' crucifixion and she was going to do a pantomime. Her miming touched me on so many levels. Her actions, along with the narrated music, were amazing. I felt so sad that Jesus did that for us and here were all these innocent children learning how much LOVE he had for us. She acted out when he carried that heavy cross and I wanted to be there to help him. Words cannot describe the feeling in that Fellowship Hall last night. The one thing I hope those children remember, is that Jesus is Alive! and that he lives in you and me. What a blessing in disguise that was for me. I can't thank God enough for showing me where I needed to be.

God is Great!




For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son, so that those who believeth in Him, will not perish but have everlasting Life. John 3:16

Reflections

Why is when some one is ill, hurt or not doing so well do people want prayer? They tell you the bad news and ask you to pray. I know there is nothing wrong with that request, but I always have the doubt. I dutifully as a Christian take a moment and say a prayer for that loved one. I tell them that I will keep that person in my thoughts and prayers. But what do words really do? We are only mere mortals. We cannot perform miracles.
I say all this because a friend's grandmother is ill and today she posted that Hospice has been called. I know it cannot be just because I had doubt. I feel that it was time. God is now calling her home. We should be happy for her. We should be happy that she will live eternally. I know that my friend is sad. She needs God now. I hope she can see that.

Busy Summer

Wow. I thought the anticipation of going to visit my brother was bad. For the next two months I'm going to be very consumed with 4th of July celebrations, birthday parties, VBS, vacation and Disney World.
We've been invited to our friends Fourth of July party. To keep the kids cool, there will be kiddie pools, water slides, sprinklers and lots of juice and water to go around. For the parents, we're hoping to have an ADULT-sized water slide and we can't forget the BBQ!! I will be making my famous macaroni salad and I might surprise everyone with a yummy dessert. I'm leaning towards cool and refreshing on this one. Soo possibly a fruit salad or strawberry shortcake!! Yummy. I've heard they're having a real DJ this year, so it should be a BLAST. And we can't forget the fireworks! The kids are going to have alot of fun. I can't wait.
Evan celebrates his 2nd birthday next month. I decided that we would have a large friends and family celebration at our local State Park. I vowed I would never have a large birthday party at the house again. Or at least the current house we live in. Since the weather has been EXTREMELY, unseasonably HOT what better way to celebrate with cold water nearby to splash and swim in. It's a lot cheaper than renting a $200-300 water slide, not to mention the added expense of a security deposit.
Two weeks after we celebrate Evan's birthday, we're taking a "stay-vacation". We won't be traveling too far from home. We're planning a few beach outings, hoping to potty train Evan and we're taking Kelly and Evan to Disney World for her 6th birthday. We had originally planned to take her horse-back riding but for liability reasons they require a minimum age of 9 to ride the horses. So that idea got scratched and we had to come up with another idea for her celebration.
I can't believe we're actually doing it. DISNEY!!! Here were come Mickey Mouse! What a great way to spend the summer. We're so busy with weekly activities and the weekend's are full of fun stuff.
By the way, I'm wishing myself good luck on my potty training adventure. I'll keep a log of how it goes. I'm hoping he's going potty by the end of July. Big boy under pants or BUST!

Trying for Months

Ok, so this might be the easiest way to find some help. I am not program friendly and I have tried about a hundred times now. I want to change my blog to a 3 column. And I also want to change my blog background to a custom one. I located some elements that I want to use but once I get into the Paint.net program, well let's just say we dont' work well together. I will try one more time this weekend at home with hubby. He has Powerpoint on his computer so I'm hoping we figure it out on that one. But if not, HELP!!!!!!!!!!! The Free ones are nice but not my style. I really really would love to learn this but I'm frustrated. Thanks for reading. Pass along if you could.

Household Cleaners

Being a neat freak and obsessive cleaner, I don't mind giving and receiving tips on how it can be done better. Better with a more effective cleaner or more efficient and saving me time. Recently I switched toilet cleaner brands to be more "eco-friendly". I also tried using back to basics cleaners that include lemon juice, baking soda and ammonia. I'm not sure that using more "eco-friendly" products save money in your wallet.

I started with cleaning the bathroom sink and tub with baking soda. It scrubbed away the grime and soap scum without scratching the counter-top. It removed most of the iron in the bottom of the tub and the dirty tub ring was gone. I was pleasantly surprised. It was nice to use a cleaner and not smell the "bleachy" chemical smell associated with most household cleaners.
The downfall, just a few days later the tub was beginning to look grimy again and it took quite a bit of baking soda to clean the tub. It may only cost about 40 cents for a small box, but when you need to use more than half the box each time it adds up.

I moved onto the toilet with my new GreenWorks toilet bowl cleaner. I try to use thick gel-type toilet cleaners. I feel that if it starts under the rim and has time to sit on the "slimy toilet scum", it's going to be more effective. The Greenworks is thicker, has no chemical smell but doesn't hold up against my original brand. It does not remove the iron stain and the mildew that grows around the water line came back before the next cleaning. I clean the toilets every week and it was nasty before 7 days.

I cleaned the tub last night with my tried and true duo. My soft scrub and clorox cleanup. The clorox removes the grime and iron and the soft scrub finished it off. So until I can find an eco-friendly cleaner that keeps my bathrooms cleaner for at least a week, I'm going back to my bleach buddies. Oh, don't get in a hurry forget to use gloves. I did that last night too. My hands smelled of bleach for hours. Another reason to keep on my mission.

Feeling the Blessings

I have been so excited even through my days this week. I know the Lord is trying to shine through me even with heartache. This weekend is the first time I will be performing my duties as a Deacon at the church. I have been failing as a dedicated Christian the past few weeks and I am glad to be going to church and feeling the Holy Spirit within me. I know that I am walking in his footsteps.
I feel so good talking about going to church and feel like I shed a weight off my shoulders. It's amazing.

Gotta find the brighter side

As I try to be a better person and Christian I know that I should always find the good in things. It's so much easier to think negatively and want to attack back.
I'm thinking how would Jesus handle my current situation. I don't think that there is scripture in the Bible that describes a moment where Jesus had to deal with friends. If some one knows of one, please tell me. I have not read the entire Bible yet. I'm not well versed on these things.

A friend of mine unintentionally hurt my feelings today. It didn't help that I was already having a bad morning. Maybe that is why it seemed worse or maybe that's why God made it happen today. Who knows? I'm sure this is another one of his tests. I tried to handle it without losing my temper. I would have normally gotten so upset that I would ignore that person or blow up. I learned my lesson with another friend that blowing up doesn't work. I also found out that ignoring the problem, the other person doesn't learn anything and the problem doesn't go away. So I told her that she hurt me. Exactly like that. She responded with excuses and apologized. I still didn't feel better about and responded back with questions. She then turned the blame on me. Now, I ignored her. Why is it when people know they were wrong, they want to turn it back on some one else? Why can't people own up to their mistakes and accept them?

I think that is one thing I have learned. I grow everyday as a better person and I make mistakes. I own up to them and try not to make the same ones again. I'm not trying to toot my own horn here but where do I go from here? I will continue to add to this post... but for now this is where I'll leave it.

Under-commercialized

Ok, is it just me or is there not much Easter decorations available in the stores? Is it the economy? Or are retailers not buying much because the consumer isn't going to buy it? Or if they did buy it, would it be at a marked down price and it the profits wouldn't be worth it? Every other Christian holiday and others are over marketed and the stores are flooded with items for you to buy. But I have found it very hard to get Easter decorations for the house. I have checked Walmart, Michaels and Big Lots. Walmart had nothing. Just cheap stuffed animal rabbits. No thanks. Michaels had crafty stuff, but not much of what I was looking for. And Big Lots was slim pickings. I'm heading to Target today. I was there a few weeks ago and nothing caught my eye. Hopefully I'll score something.

Busy Life

I haven't been on in awhile. Life has been so busy and today I took the time to wind down. It wasn't really by choice, it kinda happened and it was fun. Kelly had no school today because of teacher duty day. I was going to take Evan to daycare for a couple of hours to go see a friend who was supposed to have her baby today via c-section. Early this morning I got a text message that the delivery was canceled. I thought what the hey, I'll keep Evan here and hang with the kiddos today. We had such a good time. We watched some cartoons, played with some little pet shop animals, dug out some legos and played bouncey ball in the kitchen. After Evan got up from nap we had fun sending daddy text messages with videos and pictures. It was a great day well spent with my babies. I'm usually so busy with work, church, friends, housework or just the day to day life responsibilites that I haven't taken a day to just be with them in awhile. I loved it!

7 Random Things About Me..Inspired by Laura

This is tough choosing only seven random things about me, but I'm enjoying the challenge. One of the blogs I follow by Laura, inspired me to do this.

1. I used to enjoy sleeping with the fan on and hating sleeping with socks on my feet. Now I find myself turning my fan on low, the heat up and wearing long lounge pants and socks to bed. Am I getting old?

2. I love peanut butter, banana and mayonaise sandwiches. The bread has to be toasted, the bananas sliced and the mayo is slathered on heavy. I love mayo! Me loving mayonaise is not random. LOL.

3. I am currently trying to read two books at one time. This is crazy because I have a hard enough time getting one book finished with my busy life, let alone two. I am reading Many Waters and Monster. ( Monster is a fiction book about Bigfoot-pretty interesting)

4. I love and hate my SUV. I always wanted a Ford Explorer and was very happy with it until a few months ago. So many things have started to go wrong and my warranty has ended.

5. I used to love the Fall Season, but I have changed my mind. I love Spring. I love when the grass in green and recently cut. The flowers are blooming and it's warm but not sticky hot yet. It stays dark until 8:30 and I can enjoy playing outside with the kids longer.

6. Six is the number that my daughter was born on. In so many ways that day has changed my life. I gained a new member to my family and what a blessing she has been. It opened up a new door in my life. I'm so thankful for everything that has happened since then. The people that have come into my life and I really can thank my little girl for that.

7. I love to cook. I enjoy making meals and getting creative with them.

That's a few randoms about me, some old and some new. Hope that you get inspired and write some of your own.

Well Water

Having a well is really a great thing. There are no water bills, you don't have to worry about contaminants that some terrorist could put in there, it's ground temperature and it's clean. Downfall, if you have no power= no water, if you don't filter it, you have iron on everything and if the temperature drops to freezing, the well freezes.
This morning was the coldest morning we have had this winter and I had no water. I had enough water to take my shower before I realized that I drained the water that was in the holding tank and hot water heater. Not a good thing. Thankfully this was at 5:30 in the morning and my husband was still home. He tried to warm the pipes with my hairdryer which didn't work. He decided that he would make a fire in our burnpit (those mobile kind) and put it next to the pump to heat up the pipes.

But I didn't have time to wait for the pipes to get warm. This was a school day and I had both kids to get ready, with or without running water. I was glad that I still had a gallon jug and some Zephyrhills bottles of water left in my computer room. It was the funniest thing. I felt like we were camping out with no running water in a modern home. LOL.
So having a well hasn't been the best thing, when it comes to a day like today. It's supposed to freeze again tonight. They're forcasting a deep freeze. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Wish me luck.

I am so blessed

Last night while I was at Bible Study the group and I were reflecting on a point we were discussing. A few members of the group had missed Sunday service because they were out of town for the holidays. We were talking about how the world is always changing but the Lord never changes and how important it is to witness to others. One of the ladies that had been out of town told us about an experience she had on Sunday. She said that she felt like she missed out not being in church and expressed her feelings to some other people she was with. Those people didn't understand the big deal. They said that you don't have to go to church to be with God or pray to God. After she told us this story it reminded me of something that I had been thinking about that Monday afternoon.
I was cleaning Kay's room and I started to think about when she gets older. That she'll have responsibilities and I hope that she loves God enough to continue going to church when she is a teenager. I hope that if put in a situation where she has to choose going to do something fun on a Sunday or going to church that she chooses God. I hope that it's important to her.

Back to Bible Study. So I told my friend about what she missed on Sunday service during the NOW Testament (this is when all the youth come forward to chat with the Pastor). Our Pastor was talking about the Holy Family and asked Kay if she knew who they were. She remembered that Mary and Joseph were Jesus' parents and said their names. I was so proud! One, because she actually didn't clam up in front of a crowd and two, because she remembered!

I am so blessed by God to have this wonderful child. Blessed to be her mother.

Kids do the darndest things

After eating dinner, I always ask Evan if he's done and he answers in his little boy voice "ahh done". It's the cutest thing. When he got down from his high chair tonight he must have not been finished. He ate his dinner before us because we were eating tacos and he doesn't like them yet. He sat down at his big boy chair at the table he that uses sometimes and said "eat". We gave him some cheese but he handed it back. I finished eating and sat down in the family room. Evan was wandering around, climbing up in my lap and busy being a boy. I never noticed when he walked over to his highchair and dug into the seat area. He pulled out a cookie that he left there from dinner and ate it. Not my idea of a snack. Boys will be boys. Something I'm trying to get used to.

Happy New Year or not?

Most of my friends hope that 2009 is going to be a better year. Not sure if they just mean financially because a few of them have had some rough times. REALLY rough times. I on the other hand am being very optimistic. Like why does the start of a new calendar year mean a clean slate? It doesn't really. The hardships and woe are carried over from December 31st to January 1st.
I'm the type of person who believes in "signs". Some people may think they're just coincidences but not me. Rewind to the New Year's Party we were at. We're counting down the ball, 10...9...8...7...6....5...4....3....2.. and the tv goes to black and white fuzz!! What the hell? We're all in shock. What happened? Did the network go out? Then my sister in law hands me a tv controller. She must've hit it with her elbow or sat on it or something. In those few seconds we lost the start of 2009. Ok, coincidence or what? Scary..
Another sign that 2009 is possibly going to be bad. It's a southern tradtion to eat ham and black- eyed peas on New Year's Day. To make it easier my mom bought frozen black-eyed peas instead of dried which take several hours to soften. The package for the frozen said 30 minutes. Well, we cooked them little peas for over an hour and they were still hard. We all ate what we could swallow. I smothered mine in mayonaise. In hopes of having a good year I ate more than I would have, just in case. I payed for it later. About an hour after dinner my stomache was killing me. I felt like I ate at an All You Can Eat buffet. I swear it was those black-eyed peas. They must've been swelling up in my stomache. I thought I was going to burst from the stomache pressure.
It all boils down that it might not be a good year.
But I'm not ruling out a good year. 2009 is 12 months long and it could pull through and be the start of better times.