Ringmaster of the 3 Ring Circus

Wordless Wednesday: When No One Was Looking

2012-01-25T18:58:00.000-05:00

A False Start

2012-01-24T21:22:00.001-05:00

Well, my last blog entry was about starting to use my blog to share more than just stories about my kids. I am supposed to be using my blog to share my heart, to share the things God is showing me. I guess I was off to a "false start." I kept thinking of things to share, but I just haven't taken the time to blog. At first my excuse was the holidays but that came and went. Now my excuse is I don't have enough hours in the day. I don't have enough time for ~~Facebook, Pinterest, eBay~~,cooking, cleaning, caring for my children and husband and blogging. Add to that I have an incredible urge every January to buy every possible organizational thing advertised and reorganize something. This year I set my sights on the computer room, cubbies, and snack cabinet. None of those are finished, but they are at least a work in progress.

So enough of excuses...update time. Our new year has been off to a good start. Corey and Donnie and a few friends went to the Capital One Bowl and had a BLAST! Not only did they have a fun time, they got to watch an awesome game! Corey really wanted an XBOX 360 for Christmas, but Santa brought him tickets to the game instead. I am sure it was an experience he won't forget! Also Hannah was able to contacts, instead of glasses, which she has been begging me for since last year's eye exam. Thankfully she was a good candidate for them and after a few days of stress about not being able to get them in, she has the hang of it. Allie has started taking ballet lessons, and she loves it. It is so fun to watch her. Soon enough I will remember to bring my camera so I can share pictures. Jon Tyler is just enjoying hanging out with me, I suppose. At least that's what I gather from the fact that he is very reluctant to leave his momma.

School started back on the 9th. Some people assume that I am thrilled when they go back to school, but it is usually the opposite. It is so much calmer around here during the day, but I pay for it at night when everyone has homework and is grumpy from being in school all day. This is the longest nine weeks we have - literally - they actually have to go 11 weeks. State testing interferes with our schedule since we aren't a traditional school. Believe me when I say those 2 extra weeks are really L-O-N-G.

I am...well, I'm trying without success to find time to do everything I need and want to do. My earlier kidding aside, I am trying to find time to work on my novel that has been floating around in my head and for the first time in years, I have actually put more than a paragraph on paper. (well, in the computer, anyway. I really miss actually writing, but that's a side note and yes, I know I'm a nerd.) I also am toying with a way to start a small (maybe tiny is the better word) card and craft business. This is probably a phase, but I would love to find a way over the next two years to make enough money at that not to have to go back to work full time. It think it would be best for my family if I can be on a flexible schedule even when they are all in school.

Well, unless you are one of my kids' grandparents, you probably found this post incredibly boring. I apologize for that. But stay tuned...Wordless Wednesday is coming.

Starting Where I Am

2011-11-16T21:12:00.007-05:00

Our Sunday church service was wonderful, and I was very glad to be a part of it. There was a spirit of worship, and I was able to stand back and see God work in several ways. We have been talking about our calling. So many people get hung up on this word. It tends to make people think of being in ministry when, in fact, it can be as simple as doing what you are doing where you are. Donnie and I and about 15 other people were part of a presentation where we shared our calling. We had to write our calling on a large piece of cardboard and hold it up for the congregation to read. I shared that mine is to be a stay at home mom (which I am) and a future writer (which I am working on and have been for a very.long.time.) When we got there and were running through our presentation, Hannah came to me frantically reminding me that we had KidsJam (aka Children's Church). I had traded with a friend and didn't realize that our time was so soon. I had nothing planned. Nothing. And we had the older kids (1st through 3rd grade). If you've never worked with kids you may not realize that no plan means they will eat you for lunch. My topic was peace, and suddenly I felt anything but peace. I had about 15 minutes to pull together something. I prayed (begged God for an idea) and I grabbed my Nook and searched my Bible for peace, finally settling on the story of Mary as she annointed Jesus feet with oil. When we left the auditorium I realized what a large group I had. Preparing to be eaten, I got everyone settled and started into the lesson. We started with a game of Hangman and talked about peace and what came to mind when we thought about peace. The more we got into the lesson, the more I realized what a sweet peace was there. The kids were attentive and everything flowed amazingly well. It was one of the best lessons I had ever taught. After the lesson was over we returned for the end of the service and there was a challenge by our pastor to take our calling out into the world. He ended the service with a candle lighting service and it was beautiful. It was beautiful not because of all the candles being lit but because of what it signified. I was standing at the end of a line and one of our youth came by and asked me to light her candle. After a few minutes passed, one of the kids I just taught asked me to light his candle. Then in just another minute, Allie, my youngest tugged on my shirt and asked me if she could hold my candle. It was amazing to watch that...to realize we are not only called to take the light out of the church and into the world but we are also called to pass it down from generation to generation. My final moment in Sunday's service was a message that has changed the way I look at my blog. I was thinking about the word "future" on my card, and I was bothered by that. I want to write one of these novels floating around in my head. Then God spoke very clearly to me. "Start where you are." That leads me to my blog. This is where I am. Yes I love sharing the funny things I see and hear in my day to day life, and I will still share those. But I also want to use this as a way to share some deeper thoughts, some insights God has given me, and some things to prayerfully encourage someone. I hope you will look forward to reading! Please check back and leave a comment!!

Funniest Threat I've Ever Overheard a Momma Threaten

2011-11-05T23:47:00.002-04:00

Our town has its very own redneck entertainment every Friday night - amateur wrestling. Only don't tell the die-hards I used the term amateur. I do still have to live here. Friday night I was leaving the Fall Festival with my kids when there was a family in front of us. The oldest child looked to be about 6 and was wailing, just crying hysterically. This continued all the way to the parking lot. Now I will admit, I had an "If that was my child..." moment. She said nothing to this child and I began to wonder if she was just going to ignore her forever. But we were nearly to the car when the momma looked over to the kid and said, "Do you wanna go to wrestlin'?" The little girl nodded. "Then hush," came her reply. I have threatened a lot of things, but that has to be the funniest thing I've ever overheard.

Wordless Wednesday: Because I Tortured Them & Made Them Turn Off the TV

2011-09-21T21:36:00.003-04:00

Three Years

2011-09-19T21:41:00.000-04:00

Today we celebrated Jon Tyler's third birthday. (Where has the time gone?) We enjoyed lunch at McDonalds and had supper, cupcakes, and presents. His party is Friday. He enjoyed his cupcake and after three years has perfected the blowing out the candles process.

Allie made him a special present just from her. He gave her the biggest hug after.

She also helped him open his other presents.

We are also super excited that he has caught up on his speech. At three he "aged out" of the speech program he was in and was tested by the school district, and that testing showed he didn't need additional therapy. Praise God!

Photo Friday: Reading

2011-09-09T21:36:00.001-04:00

Allie is reading!! She chose Put Me in the Zoo for us to read together a few nights ago. She sat down before I could get there and just started reading it...and kept going and going and going. My baby girl is reading all on her own! What an accomplishment! We are so proud of her!

Photo Friday: a flashback

2011-09-02T08:31:00.004-04:00

Found this when I was cleaning off my fridge. Thought I'd share.

While poetry may not be his strong suit, he's a smart rascal!

Wipeout! Party

2011-07-25T09:46:00.000-04:00

Corey celebrated his 9th birthday with a Wipeout Party. Yes, Wipeout as in the TV show. We have really enjoyed watching it and when party time rolled around, Hannah suggested we do that for Corey's party. So on July 23, the contestants arrived to compete in our very own Wipeout course, complete with pool, slip n slide, dish soap, shaving cream and trampoline. The kids were timed going through an obstacle course. It was great fun for everyone.

The birthday boy was our first contestant.

The shaving cream was a big hit...I had forgotten its magical powers to turn kids into maniacs.

A few more contestants...

Even the big kid competed. He lost by 2 seconds to cousin Jordan.

The final times...

Jon Tyler gets to hang out with the big kids.

No Wipeout Party is complete without a "Big Balls" cake...

...and presents!

Catchin' Up is Hard to Do

2011-07-19T09:31:00.000-04:00

As I looked back over my pictures I realize how very few I have from this summer break. You know that is very unusual for me and I have a simple explanation. I blinked, and summer was gone. We went from this

to this in no time flat.

Secondly we did very little besides swim and you can't take pics in the water. We try to take an end of the summer day trip and this year we took Hannah, Corey and Allie tubing in NC. Jon Tyler didn't meet the height requirements. It was a fabulous trip, but you'll have to take my word for it because, once again, you can't photograph in the water. Next time I will buy a waterproof camera.

So that sums it up, folks. (How's that for an ending?)

I Fell For It

2011-06-22T17:31:00.003-04:00

Obviously it is feast or famine on this blog. In May I apparently had lots more free time than any other month this year since I posted as many times in May as the whole rest of this year. Now with summer break in full swing, it is famine. I am presently sitting by the pool listening to pure summmer joy and thinking that my neighbors probably curse the day I got a pool, and I felt the need to share this moment. Allie and her friend Marlee are swimming when suddenly the worse argument occurred. "I'm telling your momma!" "You won't be my friend in first grade!" "Why did I even have to come here today?" "I don't even want a best friend!" It was brutal, I'm telling you. I spent a few minutes debating on whether to intervene or not. I'm pretty much one for letting kids solve their own problems. When it got to the point where I thought feelings were about to get hurt, and I could make it a teaching moment, I called both girls over. I asked them what they were fighting over and Marlee looked at Allie and Allie looked at Marlee and they both said, "You tell her." They started to smile and giggle so I told them they could not laugh 'cause they were mad at each other. Of course, that made them laugh harder. Then they both looked at me and one of them said, "We were pretendin'!" and laughed hysterically. I totally fell for it, and I think tomorrow night when Hannah goes to drama, I'm going to cart them along. I believe they could teach the other kids a thing or two.

Thank You Could Never Be Enough

2011-05-29T23:10:00.003-04:00

We live in a country that enjoys more freedom and blessings than probably anywhere on earth. It is because of these brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice. There is no way to put a thank you into words for what they've done for us.

Speed Street

2011-05-26T22:11:00.002-04:00

Well, while the cats away the mice will play, as the saying goes and today we played alright. Kelly and I took the kids to Speed Street in Charlotte today and it was totally fun. Here is why we went.

I saw where Cars 2 characters were going to be on display and I had to take Jon Tyler. I had to. So I signed my older two out and we headed up. To save having to find a parking place when streets had been blocked off and walking miles and payin to park, we rode the light rail from Pineville. That is my new favorite thing. After us Beverly Hillbillies figured out how to buy tickets, of course, and where to board the train, we loved it. It truly was country come to town. We got off just 2 blocks from where we needed to be and quickly found the Kidzone. Cheerios sponsored that part and there were samples of every thing imagineable, for free at that. We go pictues with Tony the Tiger, the Lucky Charms man and others. The kids scored Hamburger Helper hands and there was free ice cream. Anyway you look at it, that is the bomb. Then we found Lightning McQueen, Mater, and Finn (he's the new guy for you Cars rookies). The kids got their pictures taken with them and got to play on some inflatables. Then we boarded the train and rode back to our car. It was a perfectly fun, spontaneous afternoon, and I'm so glad we did i

Washington, DC Bound

2011-05-24T23:38:00.002-04:00

Very early this morning, Donnie and Hannah boarded a bus with 40 something other excited students and parents for Washington, DC. Since I have been sweating the virus all weekend, I am so glad this day is finally here. It is a weird feeling though. This is the farthest distance and longest time apart that I've ever had from either of them. It seems like they are having a wonderful time, and I'm so excited they will have this time together. They have called several times and sent a few pictures. Gotta love technology. I'm sure I'll have plenty of blog worthy material when they get home.

Their afternoon view.

Trying to Stay Well

2011-05-21T09:12:00.003-04:00

Donnie is supposed to be at a church men's retreat this weekend but he woke up Friday with an awful (!) stomach virus. He has been sick ever since. Last night Kelly got it, so I am on pins and needles around here. There is NOTHING worse than a stomach virus winding its way through 8 people. Been there done that when there were five of us, and I still have flashbacks. To make it worse, Hannah and Donnie leave for Washington, DC on a field trip Tuesday. We have out the Lysol and the hand sanitizer and are using it in mass amounts. I have Lysol-ed all door knobs, lightswitches, sink fixtures, toilets seats, chairs where the sick sat, the gate at the bottom of the stairs, phones, and remotes. Did I mention I HATE the stomach virus? Hannah came downstairs fully dressed, whereas I usually have to beg them to get dressed on Saturdays. When I asked her why she was dressed, she replied, "This house is full of germs and outside is not. I'm going to ride my bike." Can't argue with that.

Photo Friday

2011-05-20T15:38:00.003-04:00

Jon Tyler has been introduced to wrestling by my nephew Rayden. He thinks anytime he's got his shirt off is wrestling time. Here are some of his moves.

Isn't he a cutie?

Wordless Wednesday - Triple Coupons - $76.31

2011-05-18T15:24:00.001-04:00

Annual Softball Game

2011-05-14T14:31:00.002-04:00

Every year the employees of our county play our rescue squad and the winner plays the sherriff's department. Every year they serve barbeque, which is personally one of my favorite reasons for going, aside from watching my hunky hubby play. Every year my husband says he's not playing. He's too old, he'll get hurt, he'll be sore for days...blah, blah, blah. Every year he gets "talked into it". Every year the county employees get beaten. Well almost every year. This year proved different. On Thursday (yes, the day after the storm) they held their annual softball game. Donnie got "talked into it" at the last minute, and I mean really last minute. He called me on his way to tell me he was indeed playing. They county employees won the first game for only the second time ever. My honey played well. They lost the second game but it was still fun to watch.

Donnie behind the plate

and speaking to his biggest fans - Hannah and Corey

There is a huge mound of ~~dirt~~ red clay at the ball field which my children inevitably find. I've actually learned to dress them in the oldest clothes they own and let them go at it. This year was no exception. Jon Tyler and Allie had a ball, as you can see.

Here is further evidence of their fun.

The Storm

2011-05-13T13:16:00.000-04:00

We awoke Wednesday morning at about 1:15 to a crazy bad thunderstorm. What actually woke us was the fan we run at night going off because we lost power. The lightning was unreal, lighting up the sky almost constantly and the thunder and wind were frightening. Allie was at our bedside in a matter of seconds. I came to get my phone so we'd have an alarm for the next morning. Kelly met me downstairs and Hannah and Corey soon joined us. We could see our neighbors out even in the middle of the night trying to see what was going on. I figured we'd have power back on within a few hours and clean up a few limbs the next day. Boy was I wrong. I got a call about 6:30 that school was cancelled, and that's when I realized we'd had a very serious storm. We got up when the sun came up and went outside to take a look around. We had only a few limbs down but my neighbors had a large limb on top of their car, another neighbor's pecan tree fell and yet another neighbor lost their trampoline to a large tree branch. We checked Facebook and found out the damage was much more severe around town. Like any good Americans would do in a time of disaster, we headed to Bojangles for breakfast and rode around to see what was happening. I was really shocked. My pastor had a tree fall through his living room and many people had large trees down, roof damage, and other damage. We spent the morning helping with limbs and waiting on power. Donnie headed to work to find his office had been flooded. By the afternoon it was clear we were probably going to be without power for at least the night. Thankfully our neighbor had power so we ran a drop cord from his garage and plugged in our refrigerator, TV and 2 fans. We didn't get power back for 36 hours, but many of my friends were without for 3 days. My kids school was still without power on Thursday so they were out of school that day too. I am very thankful we didn't sustain any serious damage. I have never experienced any storm quite like that. I can only imagine what the people of Alabama woke up to just a few weeks before us.

Here are a few pictures we took around town. Most of them were taken by Hannah on a bike ride through the neighborhood.

Reverse

2011-05-09T16:24:00.006-04:00

It's been so long since I've really updated my blog that even blogger didn't recognize me. (Well, I'm exaggerating but only a little). I don't really have a valid reason or even a bad excuse for not blogging, unless you count running a household with a hubby and 4 children plus 2 more but I'll get to that later. I was going to go back, post those things I missed and link them to this post. I don't know why - it just makes me feel better and more efficient. But I have a confession. I started this post about 3 days ago and I haven't gotten even this post finished yet. So I decided it would be better if I just gave a brief synopsis.

Early April brought spring break, a little later than usual this year, thanks to PASS testing. My birthday was the 6th, and I had a great day celebrating. My kids and my mom made muffins and sang Happy Birthday to me on the toilet. It was supposed to be breakfast in bed, but I'd gotten up to go to the bathroom when they arrived. You know what they say about getting to use the bathroom by yourself once you have kids - well it applies even on birthdays. But as Corey put it, "I think it surprised us more than it surprised you."

We took a trip to Walterboro to visit my dad and stepmom. It was really nice. The kids enjoyed their time in the country. We even stayed an extra day and took in an Easter egg hunt at their church, which was really fun. Those people know how to throw down when it comes to the kids. They hunted eggs, dyed eggs, ate hotdogs, played sports. It was great!

On the way home my sister called me from the ER where she'd been diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung for us commoners). This kills people folks; it's very serious. She spent two days in the hospital and is doing much better. Plus she has been out of work for a while so she and her son are staying with us until she can find something. When you got six people living in a house, what's two more? I'm sure this will make for some good blogging material so stay tuned...

Well I think that wraps up the overview. See you haven't missed much. I would promise to do better, but, well, that may not be a promise I can keep so let's just say I'll try.

Lost and Found

2011-05-08T14:54:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was Allie's birthday party. Usually the day of a party I am running around like a chicken with my head chopped off, but this day was actually very calm, except for one minor incident. At lunch time we had seven kids here - my 4, my 2 nephews and a neighborhood kid. No, it wasn't party time yet. We - my mom, Kelly & I - were trying to feed the masses when Jon Tyler went missing. We realized it when we had all the older kids seated and eating and then we couldn't find him. Kelly said she'd just come from upstairs and he wasn't there. I ran outside and checked his usually hiding spot - the van. I didn't see him in our yard anywhere. I ran upstairs to check Corey's room, just in case. Still nowhere to be found. I checked my neighbor's garage and my mom started around the block. My neighbor across the street asked what we were looking for and when Mom told her, she started walking in the other direction. The older kids began searching too and I was near panic thinking that finally, I had really lost my child. (I say finally because he's given us plenty of short scares in the past.) Kelly remembered that the night before, he and Rayden had been playing in Corey's room when he got under Corey's bed. He has one of those captain type beds, up a little higher with storage under it. She ran back and opened the door and called his name. She didn't hear or see him in there. She started back down the stairs when she heard him. He was really under that bed and he was so quiet and it was so dark that when she opened it she couldn't find him. I've never been so relieved in all my life. We called to Mom and the neighbor that we'd found him and everything returned to normal - relatively speaking. The neighborhood kid remarked, "Boy, I would wanna play hide and seek with him." I personally think he has a new superpower - the ability to make 5 minutes seem like 25.

A Princess Turns Six!

2011-05-03T20:58:00.001-04:00

Always makes us laugh - it just comes naturally
Likes all things girly
Loves to snuggle (always has)
Independent little booger
Easy-going, along for the ride

Our little princess Allie turned 6 today! Where has the time gone?!

A Picture Story

2011-03-28T21:11:00.004-04:00

This is the gate meant to keep little Princess Charming downstairs.

This is little Prince Charming getting ready to climb over the gate and go upstairs.

This is little Prince Charming succeeding in going upstairs.

This is little Prince Charming looking cute so he won't get a spanking for going upstairs.

Everytime I go upstairs to retrieve him, he looks at me and says, "Hug, hug." Yes, I know what you are thinking, "How can you spank him after that?" It is hard, nearly impossible, and it happens rarely.

This Chick Got Sold Out

2011-03-22T13:28:00.000-04:00

Sunday night Samuel Thomas of Hopegiver's International spoke at our church. Our church has had a lengthy relationship with both Samuel and his father, M.A., who passed away last year. I love to hear the Word spoken by them, and I am amazed at how both men can take a verse from a familiar story and make it so profound. Sunday night Samuel spoke on Mary & Martha. If you know the story, you've always been taught that Mary was doing the right thing by sitting at Jesus' feet. Shame on Martha, we've all thought, for putting preparations before Jesus. We've tried not to be her, the one working, while others worshipped. There are books about being a Mary and not a Martha. In this case, could she have made a better choice - one with more eternal benefit? I'm sure she could have, but did you know she was also a worshippper? A little while later when her brother Lazarus had died, it was Martha who confessed Jesus as the Son of God. Pretty amazing, if you think about it. As Samuel pointed out, God wants us to be both workers and worshippers. There is a time for both. I have to admit, I'm a worker by nature. I don't like to sit still, so I often find myself like the Martha who was busy with her preparations, but I want to be both and I'm working on that. Are you both a worker and worshipper?

The end of an era

2011-03-12T21:11:00.003-05:00

Jon Tyler & Allie are spending their first night in their new bunk beds. This moment is bittersweet, meaning Jon Tyler is now in a big boy bed! For me, these things are fun because it is something new and sad because my baby is growing up. We are in the process of bidding farewell to our old faithful crib which is almost 16 years old and has been through 6 kids, obviously not all mine. In the process means that I can't get it apart. I've always had trouble with it and it's always led me to the point of losing my sanity. So it is partly disassembled and still in their room (which I do not recommend when trying to transition. 'nough said). Allie is as tickled as she can be and so excited about her new bed and being big enough to sleep on top. I think when you are the third child being big enough to do anything is exciting! So we'll see how this new phase of life goes for them. I'm praying for a smooth transition.

Speech Update

2011-02-24T21:59:00.002-05:00

A few months back I posted about Jon Tyler's speech delay. Since then he has started early intervention with Easter Seals every Tuesday. He really enjoys his time with Ms. Monique. He is picking up words and she is teaching him some signs to go along with basic words. He can sign "please" and chooses to do that instead of saying it. Last Tuesday Ms. Monique brought Mr. Potato Head. Jon Tyler enjoys Mr. Potato head and quickly put his eyes, ears and nose in. Then he turned him over and made a pooting noise with his mouth. Ms. Monique (stifling a laugh) tried to redirect him. And again he turned him around and made a pooting noise. Ms. Monique asked him what Mr. Potato Head did. I'm not sure what he expected him to say but plain as day, he said, "Pooped." Even though he doesn't say a lot, he seems to have just the right words at just the right time. LOL!

Out of the Mouths of Babes - OUCH

2011-02-22T23:21:00.003-05:00

I wouldn't be human if I didn't post some of the not funny, but brutally honest, things my kids say. And my blog wouldn't reflect our real life either. So here goes.

Tonight after our family devotions, Corey prayed and when he finished his prayer, he prayed, "And please don't let Mom get mad during homework." OUCH.

I have to admit I am short-patiented and mean during homework, so tonight I vowed to work on that. As a former educator, I have to admit that I find homework to be totally useless. I probably owe my former students and their parents an apology, because I gave homework. Now as a parent I find it to be a nuisance, a thief of what's left of the day's play time.

So after my reality check, I sat with my two middle kids and worked with them, without losing my cool. It was much more pleasant, for both them and me. Sometimes what kids say is not funny, but it is what I need to hear. Has anybody else ever gotten a reality check from their kids?

Birthday Girl!

2011-02-10T10:44:00.002-05:00

Happy and humorous and helpful
Adamant about whatever she believes in
Nice to everyone
No is not in her vocabulary
A "tween" now
Has drama in her veins

Happy 11th Birthday to my precious oldest child!

January by the Numbers (and pictures)

2011-01-31T13:32:00.006-05:00

50 (give or take)- laps on the go cart

3 - go kart repairs

1 - trip to the ER (unrelated to the go kart or snow)

7 - inches of snow

2 - new sleds

5 - extra days off from school

2 - days of playing in snow

6 - extra loads of laundry caused by snow

1 - car repair

2 - doctor visits

1 - kidney stone (passed, thank God)

2 - cases of the flu

60 - dollars worth of Tamiflu

0 - dollars left at the end of the month

48 - days until the official start of spring

But who's counting?

Did Ya Miss Me?

2011-01-25T17:01:00.006-05:00

You probably didn't even notice I was gone, but I was. So here's the synopsis of our beginning of 2011.

To begin the new year, my pastor introduced the idea of a 21 day churchwide fast. It was up to each person if and how they participated. I would have considering fasting from food but the purpose behind the fast is to take our minds off food and focus on our relationship with the Lord. Considering the fact that I still have to feed 5 other people, I didn't feel like a food fast would be very effective for me. So I chose to fast from all things unnecessary on the computer - meaning no blog, no Facebook, no window shopping. Only bill paying and checking email every few days. I have to say that I was looking forward to it to have a chance to refocus and my time away provided me with just that. At lot of my devotional reading was centered around seeking God. Not by coincidence either. I needed to be reminded of that. I am reading a new book called Jesus Calling. It's a pretty neat devotional book if you're looking for one.

The kids 3 week break got extended to 4 weeks thanks to a monster snow and freezing weather. The day they were supposed to go back it snowed. I am as bad as a kid when it snows. I get giddy from the first mention of the word in the forecast. Corey had a short little emergency room visit during the snow for back pain. He'd been laying around not feeling really well all weekend and on Monday morning he woke us about 4 in bad pain. We thought maybe he had a kidney stone, it tends to run in the family. They checked him for that and appendicitis but thankfully he didn't have either. Turns out to be "digestive issues" and I think you all can read between the lines there. Thankfully he still got to play in the snow.

Jon Tyler has started an early intervention program for speech and will be evaluated by a speech therapist to see if he will need speech therapy to "catch up". He is speech delayed, which means basically not talking as much as he should be but there is no apparent cause (no hearing issues, autism, etc.). He has his first session on Tuesday morning which went well.

Other than that there is little to report on the homefront. While I was fasting, I thought of a hundred things I wanted to blog, but now I can remember them. Go figure. I'm hoping they might return to me and I'll post them. I know you can hardly wait...

Farewell 2010

2010-12-30T15:21:00.005-05:00

I hope that those of you reading this blog have had a prosperous year and a blessed Holiday season. I stole an idea last year to recap 2009 and I like it so I'm doing it again.

January was cold, colder, and coldest. I don't remember it ever being so cold for so long. Our year started out inside, well most of it. Donnie and his brother did get to go see the Gamecocks play in a bowl game but they froze and the Cocks lost so I'm pretty sure that wasn't money well spent.

February was birthday month. Hannah entered the double digits and we were able to celebrate with friends and family. We also pulled off a surprise party for my mother in law who didn't expect everyone to be there for her. We also took a trip to see my dad and stepmom and were there for a wonderful snowstorm .

In March we completed a home improvement project that was long overdue and we have enjoyed that immensely. Hannah and Corey finished up the nine weeks with science projects and we enjoyed a nice 3 week break.

April brought Easter and a fun family gathering with an Easter egg hunt followed by an Easter egg fight and of course, singing. We sat around in my mother in law's front yard and enjoyed each other's company for hours. It was a beautiful, perfect afternoon. I will never forget that, because 2 weeks later we faced the tragedy of losing my brother in law. His death was hard on so many levels, to process that someone so full of life could be gone so quickly is still beyond my comprehension. I know many of you prayed for us through that and I realize more and more that prayer is no small task in a situation like that. For that I am grateful to you all.

May was a big month for Allie. She celebrated her 5th birthday and graduated from preschool in pirate fashion.

In June,Hannah and Corey finished up their school year. Hannah played the lead role as Stuart in Stuart Little in their school play. As soon as school was out we enjoyed a trip to Charleston with my inlaws (I think we actually squealed tires leaving car line that day). By the time we got home it was basically too hot to breathe, and I am thankful for year round school because we only had a few weeks of trying to find some cool entertainment.

In July the kids were back to school and Allie started with them. She was proud to start K5 and I managed not to cry as I left her - barely. I have enjoyed my time with Jon Tyler, but I'm not sure he enjoys playing with me as much as them. Corey celebrated turning 8 with a family party.

For August I have little to report. Hannah and Corey participated in the Little Theater's performance of a Kidsummer Night's Dream. It was a cute spin on Shakespeare's play. I was really proud of both of them. I was impressed that Corey stepped out and did something different.

September brought fall break for the kids and our trip to the beach. I absolutely loved the beach this time of year. It was perfect weather, not too hot, not too cold. We had some friends there at the same time we were there and we really enjoyed getting together with them and walking a mile down the beach to get ice cream. A whole mile. Really. The bright side is I'm sure I walked off all my ice cream. Jon Tyler also turned 2. We had a great time celebrating his and his papaw's birthday since they are a week apart.

In October Donnie and I celebrated our 14th anniversary. We had a nice date at Frankie's Fun Park, rode the go karts without having to figure out what kid was riding with which parent and played a round of put put. We also got the best present any parent could wish for when Hannah and Corey asked Jesus into their hearts and were baptized on Halloween. We had a great time celebrating that!

November began the typical holiday stuff, which I love. Donnie celebrated his birthday on Veteran's Day (which means he gets his birthday off). We enjoyed Thanksgiving at my sister in law's and followed up with some Black Friday shopping, of course. If anything else significant happened during November I have since forgotten it due to the whirlwind of the holidays.

This month has been a busy one as well. My father-in-law had aortic valve replacement on the 8th and is recovering well. He is ready to be "back at it" but isn't quite up for a marathon. Prior to surgery he was in excellent physical shape so I'm sure he will be up and about again soon. He was home in time for Christmas which was the best present any of us hoped for. Our kids had fun hosting a birthday party for Baby Jesus to celebrate with their friends the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior. We had our typical family celebration on Christmas Eve and enjoyed time with my family on Christmas day and the day after. It was a nice holiday season.

As for 2011, I pray that it will be a blessed year for you all. For those of you we see often, we treasure you and for those of you we haven't seen in years, we hope you know you are never far from our thoughts and our memories.

TV Timeout

2010-11-22T13:38:00.006-05:00

For a while now, my children have been struggling with listening and I've felt like if my face had a screen on it, they might actually listen to me. Then about 2 weeks ago I was watching "19 Kids and Counting" and Michelle Duggar said something that really hit home. She was talking about the character qualities she tries to teach her children early on and one of them was attentiveness. It was a lightbulb moment for me. I really mulled that thought over all day the next day. I decided my kids needed screen restriction, meaning they had to give up anything that had a screen (TV, computer, DS...). Their inattentiveness is partly my fault for allowing them to use those things too much anyway, and this was a pretty big step considering how much time they spend watching TV and playing games. I have to say that we are making baby steps. Maybe I expect too much (although I don't really think so, I just said that in case you think I expect too much) but I see no reason why I should even have to tell an 8 and 10 year old to pick up their clothes and toys. I think they know I expect that and have chosen not to do it. I shouldn't come into their room in constant disarray. They keep asking when they will get the screens back and my thoughts are that I hope we will never go back to the way we were. They have been allowed special privileges, such as watching a movie or ballgame together and this weekend they were allowed some computer and TV time. I think it makes for more meaningful time if we all watch together and they aren't mindless surfing the web if they have to ask permission to use it. In the meantime, here are some things I have caught them doing instead.

Card making - Hannah did this one on her own.

Corey and Allie have traded their screen addiction for Lego addiction.

Corey has completed (almost) Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself.

And most importantly, they are spending time together.

The List

2010-11-15T13:40:00.003-05:00

About 2 weeks ago, Jon Tyler went for his 2 year old well child visit. Yes, I am little behind, but what's new? He weighed a whopping 24.6 pounds and is 33 3/4 inches tall and yes, he still has a big head. He is supposed to be speaking between 30 and 50 words, but with 5 other talkers in this house, he has trouble getting in any words. Plus we know what he wants so if he points and grunts, we get it for him. His pediatrician wants him up to 30 words within 2 months or they may consider starting him in speech therapy. I am not freaking out or anything because I feel pretty confident that he hears well since he does pretty much the opposite of what we tell him. ("Stand right here," and he takes off, etc.) Only kidding. He is actually pretty obedient and he follows directions without arguing, which is more than I can say for the rest of them. I have started a list and we're up to about 25 so I think 30 is a reachable goal. It's funny how much the older kids pay attention to when he says something now, though, so we can add words to the list. He's even thrown in a few 2 word phrases, "Go Cocks" and "Watch chugachoos." What more does he need in his life right now?

Confession

2010-11-10T08:10:00.003-05:00

I have a confession to make. For years I've been a time change hater. I do NOT like it being dark by 6:00. Evening became my favorite time of day way back when I worked at Bonnie Doone as a camp counselor. My family and I spend lots of evenings outside playing or taking walks, so every year when the time changes, it depresses me. Until this year. I mastered the whole time change mental game. Instead of setting our clocks back at bedtime on Saturday, I waited until we were all up on Sunday morning. Then when Jon Tyler woke up and my clock said 7:00 instead of 6:00, I just wasn't as ill. Plus when I set the clocks back on Sunday morning, we had an extra hour to get ready for church. We still made it in the parking lot on 2 wheels at 10:28, but that is beside the point. I have noticed some nice benefits to the earlier time. For one, everyone seems to get up easier. For the past two mornings, the 3 school kids have been up when I got up. Another thing that is working really well is bedtime. It seems calmer because everyone has to stay in after supper. So we get homework done, get everyone bathed, and have time to sit down together. (OK,so watching Billy the Exterminator extract a dead and rotting cat doesn't exactly count as quality time, but we were together.) So even though I miss our nice "outside" time from April to October, I think we can have some nice "inside" time during this time change. I'm going to try to make the best of it anyway!

Of course, as my friend Margaret pointed out, I have missed 2 appointments in 2 days, so maybe this whole thing has adversely affected me more than I realize. But we'll see.

2010-11-07T22:12:00.004-05:00

I am really ashamed that I have not posted this sooner because it is the most awesome thing a parent can hope for. Last Sunday Hannah & Corey both were baptized after asking Jesus into their heart on October 25, the Monday before. Several years ago our pastor started a really cool thing where he will allow other people to baptize besides himself so Donnie got to baptize his own children. I absolutely love that! My kids did too and were adamant that he get to do it. Here is the video of their baptism for you all to enjoy. You will probably have to turn the volume way up, but I just had to share this.

Hannah has been asking questions off and on for several years now about getting saved. We kept telling her that we wanted her to wait until she was a little older so we would know that she understood. (This, by the way, is a personal preference and is just what we felt was right.) Monday night she finally got to asking again and was insistent that she get to ask Jesus into her heart. We had a big evangelistic push this year for our Fall Festival and her words to us were, "How am I supposed to tell everyone how great it is if I haven't done it myself?" Yes, she blows us away sometimes. As we ask her about what it means to have that relationship, she answered our questions and as she was answering, so was Corey. We just really felt like he understood and was ready so we prayed with both of them. I have to say it was an incredible experience to watch my children being born into the kingom! What an amazing God we serve!

Things That Blessed My Heart Today

2010-10-23T23:26:00.003-04:00

Listening to my 8 year old sing his heart out with "Jesus, Jesus, at your feet. Oh, to dwell and never leave. Jesus, Jesus at your feet. There is nowhere else for me..."

Watching my 2 year old beckon for his big brother to follow him around at the park and seeing them slide together.

Cooking hotdogs and marshmallows over a bonfire on a real stick.

Hearing a lot of great memories of an incredible, Godly man who impacted countless people. Jay Harvey, we miss you and love you...

Photo Friday: Fourth Children Really Do Have To Do Everything for Themselves

2010-09-24T09:15:00.000-04:00

Well, since I missed Wordless Wednesday with this one I am creating Photo Friday. That way I don't have to be wordless, too, because this deserves a brief explanation.
The other night I heard water running in the bathroom and since Jon Tyler was MIA, I figured it best to investigate. As I thought he was the culprit. He had taken off his clothes and was brushing his teeth. When Hannah and Corey were that age that independence would never have occurred to them. God bless them for that, because if it had my younger two may not be here.

Birthday Boy!!

2010-09-19T20:59:00.000-04:00

Jonathan Tyler was born
On September 19, weighing
Nearly 9 pounds - 8 lb 14 oz and he was
Tall, at 22 inches. Now he is 2
Years old and this is hard to believe. He is full of
Life and love and
Energy. He is our special boy and we are
Really glad God blessed us with him!

Even though his "party" isn't til next weekend, we had cupcakes. He was a pro at blowing out his candles and had them out before we even finished Happy Birthday!

Curious George is one of his favorites!

He got to open his present from his brother and sisters.

He loved it and played with it for a LONG time!

Tracy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2010-09-09T21:20:00.003-04:00

Today was just one of those days. There were no flat tires, fender benders or broken bones. But every little thing that could have gone wrong - did. One can only take so many little incidents until they come UNGLUED!

To begin with I overflowed the washing machine. It does this funky thing where it leaks all over the floor if you change load capacity in mid stream. We can't find any possible place where if leaks from, you just walk in and - voila - there's water everywhere. Today it got all the way to the computer room before I found it. As I was cleaning it up, Jon Tyler came running along and did a wipeout.

I was waiting for the phone company to come change my internet from cable to DSL. They were supposed to be here between 8:15 and 9:25, per the "customer service" rep in the office last week. Well, they called at 9:50 to schedule my job. What?!?! So I missed my kids Patriot Day program all because of waiting on them. I am not happy about that.

CVS was sold out of the netbook I wanted to buy and probably won't get more in.

I had to pick Hannah up from school early because she has a stomach ache. Turns out it was anxiety. That is a different story and all I will say on here is I might have to go "red" on some folks. My mama bear claws are coming out.

My printer quit printing. The stupid "printer cannot communicate with the computer" thing. Restarting did not work. Guess I will reinstall it now. I would have done it during nap time if I didn't spend most of nap time trying to find the installation disk.

I got crossed up with my car line buddy, my son is mad at me for not picking him up when I picked Hannah up. He "oooed" at her, which has become a major sin in my house. So his punishment was no TobyMac music for the day. (Don't laugh, it is a very appropriate punishment considering his obsession.) And on the way home I forgot to stop at the post office as I drove RIGHT BY IT. So I had to go back before I could go home.

My 5 year old decided to draw a nearly life size self portrait. On her bedroom wall. In crayon. I spanked her. Hard. Her cousin watched her do it.

For those who hung in there til the end of this, I commend you. I have no profound thought, no light at the end of the tunnel thought for tonight. I have a dirty kitchen and 4 loads of laundry to fold. Oh, wait, tomorrow's Friday and 3 days til we leave for the beach. I lied - there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

A Few Funnies

2010-09-03T13:42:00.003-04:00

I have been meaning to post these for QUITE some time and just now remembered. These are things my kids have said, specifically the "middletons" as I call them - that's what happens when you have 2 middle children.

Me to Corey: Why didn't you eat your oranges at lunch?
Corey: I couldn't get 'em opened so I just skipped ahead to cookies.

Allie: When I grow up I wanna be Joker's wife

Allie: (playing superheroes with Corey) OH NO! I GOT A BOMB ON MY BUTT!!!"

Lastly, (and this one scares me the most)
Corey: Mom, When I grow up, will you pay my bills?
Me: No, son, you'll get a job and make money to pay your own bills.
Corey: But I wanna spend my money on other stuff, like video games.

Circus Update

2010-08-29T18:35:00.005-04:00

No, the circus has not packed up and left town. The ringmaster (that being me) has not ~~had~~ taken the time to blog AT ALL. I'm not even sure I know where to begin at this point. Maybe I should work in reverse order.

We are just coming off of Hannah and Corey's performance with the little theater. They do a children's workshop in town every year and this year was Hannah's 2nd and Corey's 1st. They have been practicing since June and ended their workshop with "A KidSummer Night's Dream." It was one of my favorite plays they've been in, truly funny! I will *try* to post some video clips, if that is not technologically too far over my head.

School is going well. Hannah likes her teacher, even though she thought he was going to be scary. Corey is tolerating the time, so far. I just don't know what else to say about that, except that I am genuinely praying that he will start to like school. If you think about it, join me in that one. Allie loves it. She is the social butterfly of the class, and anytime I join them for lunch, she is talking up a storm. They use a little trick called hug and bubble. They are supposed to wrap their arms around themselves and puff out their cheeks to remind them to be quiet when walking in the halls. (Hence they can't hit/touch anyone if they are hugging themselves and can't talk with their cheeks all puffed out.) My cousin and good friend teaches there and let's just say she told me there ain't much bubblin' goin' on.

I am enjoying my days, to be honest. I love the time I get to spend with Jon Tyler and I love that he still naps in the afternoon. It is very different around here, though. Whenever the others went off to preschool, the one behind them was already talking. Jon Tyler is not a talker, at least not too much. The quiet is weird. Refreshing, but weird. You would think I could blog daily and I probably could, if I had enough fun and exciting stuff going on, but I have taken up a few new hobbies, or I should say, resumed old ones. Plus I am trying to use my times when Jon Tyler is asleep wisely. That only happens a little, though. Back at the first of the year, I picked my scrapbooking stuff back up and began to work on a scrapbook of our year. I thought if I started with the new year, I could keep up. How could I have been so foolish? I am up to Easter, so far. It is nearly September. I need to pick up the pace, but scrapbooking led to another hobby - card making. So you see, I am just a woman of too many hobbies. I wish I could teach myself to live without sleep. (only kidding. maybe.)

I will try to do better about updating. Of course, I say that all the time. My kids say little things that I think I should blog, but I don't take the time. I am sorry for disappointing all 5 of you. Til next time...

The Birthday Boy

2010-07-22T08:38:00.003-04:00

C - creative story teller
O - obsessive about his toys
R - really into Karate Kid, silly bandz, and TobyMac
E - eager to make others laugh
Y - young age of 8 today!

Happy Birthday to my precious son!!

Wordless Wednesday - Mommy's Helper

2010-07-21T23:30:00.002-04:00

First Day of School

2010-07-15T22:38:00.008-04:00

As many of you may know, my children attend a year round school and yesterday was the first day back. It was also Allie's first day of kindergarten (sniff). I can't believe my baby girl is already in school or that my big girl is in her last year of elementary school (sniff, sniff, sob). They all had good first days, are happy with their teacher and seem very happy with school, (except Corey because he doesn't associate the words very happy and school in the same sentence, but he at least likes his teacher). Here are the ever famous first day shots by the back door.

(an after shot)

Just an Observation

2010-07-13T08:28:00.003-04:00

I hope that my youngest child's obsession with doing this EVERY day means he is going to love reading.

A Typical Saturday Morning

2010-07-10T11:18:00.005-04:00

This is my yard sale buddy. We have been going since he was probably 2, if that old, because he is an early riser (I swear, he is in farmer training) and he couldn't stay quiet so we'd go yard sale-ing. One day when he was almost 4, I left him at home because he was still asleep (gasp) and I was up and ready to go. I went to one yard sale and came back because I needed something. I opened the door and standing 6 feet inside was my son, bawling his eyes out. I have never again left him home while I went out. This morning he told me all about the movie he saw with his friend yesterday. Some days he makes up stories while we ride, and some days he spends most of his times making sound effects. But I have come to treasure these times, and I hope he has fond memories of this when he grows up.

These are our treasures for the day. I hit the jackpot for Jon Tyler some fall/winter clothes. Love it when that happens.

After we yard sale I come home and make breakfast. We look forward to this time every week, when we can all eat together.

And this is after breakfast entertainment. Yes the little one is not really playing; he is rehearsing for the future. What can I say? Boys will be boys.

Momma Brag

2010-06-07T21:40:00.007-04:00

We have been busy wrapping up the school year and preparing for a mini vacation, so I haven't had much time to catch up on everyone. Here is a brief synopsis of how bright my kids are (how's that for a momma's point of view?).

Corey - Sometimes I fear Corey gets overlooked, because although he is bright and does well in school, he could really care less. School gets in the way of his play time. I have seen tremendous growth in him this year, and I am thankful that his teacher was patient with him and challenged him all at once. He received a Math Achievement Award, Reading Achievement Award, and Good Writer Award. I am so proud of his academics for this year. He got E's and one S on his report card. He did a great job!

Hannah - Hannah finished out the year with a bang! She got the leading role of Stuart in the play Stuart Little at school. They have been practicing this for the last nine weeks and her performance was the week before school was out. More pics to follow. She won the science fair for 4th grade also for her project about hula hooping. She ended the year with a good report card too!

Jon Tyler - This little guy is now sleeping all night. Finally. And more recently, he has slept in his crib, in his room! I asked his pediatrician about his not sleeping and she recommended the old cry it out method. Thank God we didn't have to resort to this. One night he kept waking up and out of desperation, we just kept firmly telling him to lay back down. Amazingly this worked and after abour 3 nights of that, he was sleeping all night. He is also done with the bottle!! Note the sippy cup waiting on him in the picture. It's his favorite - Toy Story and even though it has Woody on it, he says "uzz" (Buzz) everytime he gets it. He is talking a lot more too. Some of his new additions beside uzz are DaDa, Uh-Oh, Co-co (I think this is for Corey) and Copper (my friend's dog, but he calls every dog Copper). I am amazed when he comes up with a new one, so much that I sometimes miss it. The other day he kept saying "cacka, cacka" over and over. He must've said it 5 times before I realized he wanted another cracker.

Allie - This little stinker has been out of school for a few weeks. They ended the year with pirates and field day. Since then she has been my little helper and sidekick. She has helped in the garden, kept up with her little brother and done lots of household chores with me. She is anxiously awaiting the start of kindergarten, and I am not.

Wordless Wednesday - Too Stinkin' Cute (no pun intended)

2010-05-26T16:01:00.004-04:00

New diapers!

I think my bacon just got burnt.

2010-05-26T00:52:00.002-04:00

My kids love to tell each other that. I'm afraid it might just be a local thing, knowing our town the way I do. At any rate, today I had my nephew during lunch. He is not picky unlike some I know so I offered him some pineapple with his Spaghetti Os. Here is the conversation that followed.

Rayden: Allie, it's pineapple. It tastes good.
Allie: No, I don't like it.
Rayden: I do.
Allie: It tastes like casserole.

Guess what we had the night before for supper. You got it - casserole. I know a slam on my cooking when I hear one. Yep, my bacon got burnt.

The End of an (Preschool) Era

2010-05-21T22:18:00.004-04:00

Allie is officially through with preschool. Her last day was today, and they had field day, which involved a bunch of water games. Last Friday was their end of the year program where they did a pirate themed program. It was adorable! They sang songs and had centers set up around the room to show what they'd learned throughout the year. At the end they gave each child an "award" which was their teacher's prediction of what they would be when they grew up. Allie was most likely to be a C.E.O. I think it fits.

Pirate cousins Allie and Rayden posed for a picture before the program. There is a lot of love between these two.

One of the books they read was an alphabet story. Rayden is the "R" and Allie is "X" marks the spot.

Afterward they had some outdoor activities for the kids to enjoy, s'mores, a jumpy castle, treasure hunting, tatoos, among other stuff. Everybody really enjoyed themselves. Jon Tyler even got a complimentary eye patch.

I can't believe how quickly the year has passed and how much she has learned and grown in this year. She can write all her letters and Corey is teaching her to add. She got along so well with her classmates and had a year long crush on James. Only two short months until she starts kindergarten. Her orientation was Tuesday and thankfully she knew enough kids from preschool to make her feel comfortable. She was worried about missing her friends, but I know she will settle in to her new environment quickly. I'm just glad we have 2 months to enjoy no school.

Hope He Grows Into His Head

2010-05-20T00:23:00.003-04:00

Jon Tyler had his 18 month check up today (he is 20 months old, so we are a few months behind. no big). I took him to our new doctor. He was the same as Allie in that he is 25th percentile in height at 32 1/4 inches and 10th percentile in weight at 23.4 pounds. He is in the 75th percentile, however, in head circumference. The doctor (nurse practioner, but whatever) actually laughed when she told me that. I hope he grows into that head. I suppose he will. I have always thought he had a pretty head, and today's visit doesn't change that. Besides, he needs room for all his "smarts", or at least for all that scheming. He had 3 shots, as we somehow got behind in that as well. Poor 4th child. He ~~was a little upset~~ screamed bloody murder over the shots. All the way out of the office. And into the car. And down the street to Walgreens. He then quieted to a grumble through Walgreen's. He seemed irritated by the bandaids, though so I took them off and he was much happier. I did leave one on while we went in KMart and he entertained the people behind us by pulling up his shorts and showing it off. I won't mention any names, but a certain much older sister of his has to tell us all of her ailments and I think he might be following suit in the melodrama. Thankfully he is a happy and healthy little guy - big head and all.

Check Up

2010-05-13T23:26:00.000-04:00

Allie had her five year old check up today. I've been saying for months that I was going to change pediatricians. After months of sitting in our current office feeling like I was in a clinic or better yet, a MASH unit, I bit the bullet. The office where I decided to move to is actually one that Hannah went to as an infant. They have now moved to a super fancy office and I suppose I will be helping them pay for that building. It is a worthy investment, however. When I walked in, there was a spacious waiting room and the concept of well child room was actually in place. At my old pediatrician, the well child room is the room all the sick people sit in when the sick people room fills up. I literally cringed going in there, dared my children to touch anything and bathed when we got home. My new pediatrician had me arrive 30 minutes early to complete paperwork. You must be thinking that people write really slow around here. Quite the contrary, the amount of paperwork is ungodly, completely insane. I brought the other 3 kids' paperwork home so I could do in ~~peace and quiet~~ front of TV. Enough rambling.

Allie was in true form and talked openly and candidly to the doctor, with complete animation. She told about her brother and his shenanigans, about our trampoline (I was hoping she'd leave that one off as doctors frown on these things), and a number of other ramblings (don't know where she got that from). She even informed the doctor that she could lick her armpit and proceeded to try a demonstration. I would say I was mortally embarrassed, but I was laughing too hard. She did great on her vision screening. When she couldn't see the bottom line, she leaned over, cupped her hand and whispered, "What is dat??" We hit somewhat of a snag,too, with the whole finger prick thing, which caused a total freak out. SO glad that nurse could snip it in a hurry. She was all of 41 inches tall and 34.6 pounds. That is the 25th and 10th percentile, respectively, which I think is nuts. I would be afraid of that going to kindergarten but she's had 5 years of training by her older brother and can hold her own pretty well. She talks a good game, too, and I think I'd be scared of her if I was in kindergarten. I guess she will follow suit as one of the shortest in the class, a trait my older two hate.

So to recap...Allie had a good visit, is small, and I like my new pediatrician. Yeah, I coulda said that to start with and saved you the trouble.

Not so wordless Wednesday ~ Healing

2010-05-12T01:09:00.005-04:00

This picture makes my heart happy. These are two of my nieces being their silly selves. They are also two whose father died recently. The one holding the pink guitar has been pursuing a music career for several years and the girl's got talent. They both do, along with their younger sister, but this one is passionate about it. It is in her blood. She has competed in and placed in several music competitions, including winning the American Idol Experience last year at Disney. Let's just say she's awesome.

The week of her father's death, she said she'd never play and sing again, which would have been the second great tragedy in this situation. My prayer for her was that God would draw her back to it, that she couldn't not sing, and that is need be, she would pick up her guitar without even realizing she'd done it. God has answered that prayer. Already in the past three weeks, she's been invited to sing at another Christian music competition. (That means I'm not just being partial.) She has also recorded several songs on a CD for this contest, including one she wrote.

I have changed my prayer. Now I am praying that what this world lost in the talent of her father, God would increase one hundred-fold in her. I can't wait to see Him answer that one.

Good Neighbors

2010-05-08T22:13:00.002-04:00

Growing up I had limited experience with neighbors, at least those not related to me. We lived in the country so neighbors were not close by, not like I have now. When I was in high school we moved but I never had a connection with the people who were our neighbors. Donnie and I were married 11 years and 1 week before we moved into our house and not once in those 11 years 1 week did we have sane neighbors on both sides. When we first married our neighbor was a drug dealer, when we moved to Chester the lady who shared our duplex was certifiably crazy and when we bought our first house, our neighbors were yard nazis. I say all this to tell you that it took us 11 years and 1 week to find good neighbors, but when we found them, we really struck gold.

We share a driveway with our neighbors to the right, Don and Pete (I know you may be confused here, but don't worry, they're not life partners. I have found it customary in Chester for some women to be called men's names. I can't figure it out amd stopped trying, but I felt you should know Pete is a she.) The shared driveway thing is the way our neighborhood was created when it was built 50+ years ago. Don has lived here his whole life, grew up around the corner, got married and moved into the house where he lives now. Don can tell you all kinds of history about this place. He makes me wish I lived "back in the day." He has known Donnie and his family for years and years, at least back to their high school days (not Donnie's, his parents). He went to our church and served faithfully there until God called him to pastor a small congregation.

He cuts grass as a side job and owns an impressive amount of rakes, pitchforks, and shovels. He used to cut our grass occasionally when Donnie had so much work to do, he couldn't get to it. We worked out a pretty sweet deal - he cut our grass and I'd bake him a cake (pun intended - haha). Don has always told us we could borrow whatever yard tools we needed. The other day while he was out working in his own yard, I asked him if we could borrow his tiller to make a small garden spot. He gave me a little advice about using it and I told him I'd try to get it from him a little later since I had to run errands. He asked me where I planned on putting it. I told him and left to do what I had to do. When I came back this is what I found.

My sweet neighbor had tilled my spot for me. When I thanked him, he told me he didn't mind, that it gave him something to do. Believe me, he has plenty to do, but I am so very thankful for him and for his blessing us in that way. The Bible tells us in several places to love your neighbor as yourself. There are many folks who do that. Then there are folks like Don who love their neighbors more.

Birthday Girl!!! (pics added)

2010-05-03T22:17:00.005-04:00

Allie turned five today!! Hard to believe she has grown so quickly and that she will be in kindergarten come July. It breaks my heart. In our tradition of allowing them to have big birthday parties every other year, this was Allie's year. She had a Minnie Mouse party at Burger King, with LOTS of friends and family. She really had fun being queen (or should I say, mouse) for a day!!

Pics will not load so I will edit later!

Life, Death, and Other Antonyms

2010-04-22T14:17:00.004-04:00

Faith. Doubt.
Helpful. Helpless.
Past. Present.
Is. Was.
Unreal. Too real.
Having all the right answers. Having no answers at all.

These are all the things we've experienced this week as my brother-in-law, Jay, died tragically on Sunday. I have begged God to go before us and been unable to pray at all. I have had faith that God is with us and doubted Him all the same. I have seen such helpfulness in the midst of helplessness. I have said was instead of is. I have wished for the past instead of the present. I have known that even though this is unreal, it is all too real. And I have known all the right answers, but really have had none at all.

I have watched my sister-in-law lose her best friend and my nieces lose their father. I have seen grown men and women reduced to sobs and I've seen expressions of tenderness from people who never struck me as tender. I have watched preachers cry and admit that it is okay to ask God why. And even though I have spent my last few days finding clothes for a funeral, ordering flowers and saying goodbye, I have yet to believe that Jay is really gone.

To know Jay was to love him. He was infectiously funny, caring and talented. He loved God and his family and his heart was at least as big as he was. Jay was one of the most talented singers I've ever heard, and as a music minister could put together some of the best productions I've ever seen churches do. It struck me the day after he died that not only had we lost our loved one, but that the world lost talent I cannot describe. His former pastor pointed out that Jay could pull off big musical productions in his church that took countless people and hours, because people wanted to be around Jay so they would do what he was doing. Pretty neat way to remember somebody, I thought.

Please pray for us. I know God works ALL things for his good, but right now all is a hard word to stomach. I know God knew this was coming and is not shaken to his core the way we are. I know God will never leave us nor forsake us. I know my sweet family will learn to laugh again. I know that love for each other will see them through. I know more good times will come. I know these things because God said them and I'm going to believe them. But it's hard all the same...

I've Waited Years for This

2010-04-17T23:16:00.004-04:00

Friday morning at some point before sunrise(ish), I realized Allie was in the bed with us, BETWEEN us. The between us part is not that significant considering anytime anyone has crawled in the bed, it has been between us. What was significant, was that I could remember how she got there. I was only slightly puzzled and certainly not bothered enough to lose my last few minutes of sleep worrying about it. When I woke her to get ready for school, I told her that I didn't remember her coming to our bed. She said, "That's because I went in Daddy's di-wection" (she can't say her r's). I think in ten years of being a mother, no one has ever gone "in Daddy's direction." When we moved 2 1/2 years ago, I threatened to sleep on the opposite side of the bed, just to see if they'd walk all the way around to get me. Then I realized that I knew the answer to that and better not upset the laws of nature by sleeping on the wrong side of the bed when I've slept on the right side for all these years. I know every mom has her stories about kids waking her instead of their dad, so here's some encouragement - once a decade they might go in his direction!

At long last

2010-04-15T07:52:00.009-04:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged in over a month. There is, however, good reason. My computer was stolen. Ok, stolen is not the word I'm looking for - more like hijacked. The suspects are 10,7, and 4 and have been known to disguise themselves like this. Don't let the cuteness of the sock hop girl fool ya. She was in on it too.

We have been on Spring Break for 3 1/2 wonderful weeks. Not many people can say that, but we get that luxury thanks to their year round school. It was fun, relaxing, and a great time together. The weather was PERFECT! Not one day was it too cold to play outside. Usually we make a trip to visit family during our breaks, but this time we stayed home. I thought it would make our break seem long and boring, but it really was nice. I took a thousand pictures, but I'll just a share a small portion of them.

For starters, the older two both had friends spend the night, and they really enjoyed that. I have to admit having sleepovers is not my favorite thing to do. I am a little bit selfish there. I figure during the school week they spend more time with their friends than with me, so when they're not in school, I like to spend time with them. But I have to put aside that about once a break and endure. I know...I'm quite the party pooper. Allie's friend joined us the next day, so she wasn't left out. We went McDonald's and let them play along with the younger two and my friend and her two. Yep, eight kids, two adults - we got some strange looks.

Hannah and her friend - a self portrait!

Corey and his bud on the trampoline. While it looks like they are jumping, they were actually doing karate they'd learned at school. Go figure.

Allie and her friend did a puppet show. So cute!

Jon Tyler tackled the park!

We also did the park, a shopping day, a visit from Grandmommmy, bike riding and LOTS of trampoline jumping. Corey learned to ride his bike after much ~~threatening~~ persuasion. That was very exciting accomplishment because even though we took off his training wheels last fall, he had no interest in riding. zero, zilch. I kept telling him how much he'd enjoy it if he could ride without training wheels. Now I can't keep him off of it.

Riding off into the sunset.

There was also the spring consignment sale mixed in there which took a few days of my time, but it was much less painful that this last one. There is just something refreshing about spring clothing and the fact that it takes up WAY less space in the drawers and closets, not to mention the laundry hamper. And miraculously this year it did not freeze after I got all the winter stuff put away.

Of course there was Easter egg hunts, egg dyeing and Easter baskets.

I celebrated another birthday and had a great time with my family. Donnie asked me what I wanted for my birthday and rather than name something just to say I did, I decided I wanted shrubs for my yard. Last year we pulled up these hideously large holly bushed that had been there forever, or at least as long as we've owned this house and never replanted anything. We are about 75% done with that. Pics will follow, I promise because I have found out landscaping is not for wimps and I fully intend on showing off our hard work.

I think that having my computer hijacked was kinda nice. It gave me time with my kids to enjoy this beautiful break - when I could pry them away from Club Penguin and, of all things, ebay. (window shopping, of course) Now they are back in school, but we are dreaming of carefree summer days in the not too distant (42 school days to be exact) future.

Wordless Wednesday - Spring is coming!

2010-03-10T23:31:00.003-05:00

Science Projects

2010-03-10T23:08:00.004-05:00

As promised here are the finished science projects. I am very proud of both kids and the effort they put into them.

Corey also wrote this paragraph about his penguin habitat.

"The animal I chose is the penguin. It lives in the wet and cold Antarctica. A penguin's prey is a fish. A penguin drinks salt water. Penguins can be at least 4 feet tall and weigh 90 pounds, but some are much smaller. The smallest penguins are 16 inches tall and weigh about 2 pounds. Penguins are my favorite animal."

I was impressed that he is learning to use details and voice in his writing, and that he can write a good paragraph from start to finish. I learned today in his teacher conference that he is on grade level, and in fact a little ahead of it for this point in second grade. Since he was in 3 year old preschool, he has been capable of things that I didn't even know he could do because he is my somewhat reserved child.

This one, however, is the "showoff" and I have always known what she was capable of because she ALWAYS tells us. I wouldn't have it any other way. Her project was really fun. She pretty much did it all by herself, especially the display part.

Concrete part 2

2010-03-10T21:57:00.004-05:00

The concreke (as Allie says) is done. We will have to wait on the highway dept. to come and fix their part at the end, and we cannot drive on it til the weekend, but we are so excited about this. My kids couldn't wait to try it out Tuesday afternoon.

After...

Hannah & Allie give test it out on their bikes.

Corey tries it out on the scooter thingys we scored at a yard sale last spring.

Not to be outdone, Jon Tyler tries one out, too.

Our neighbors have always been gracious about letting our kids use their bikes and scooters on their concrete slab and they have used it as their turn around spot for their bikes. I hope he realizes that now it will be impossible to keep them off. I don't think he cares. I think a poet once wrote, "Good fences make good neighbors." I guess in our case, good concreke makes good neighbors.

March, Projects, and Cement!

2010-03-09T10:02:00.006-05:00

I'm procrastinating so I thought it would be a good time to update my blog. Graciously, March has arrived. Of course it snowed on the second day of March, which satisfied my snow fetish. Now the weather seems to be on an upswing and believe me, we are ever so grateful for that. Only 7 days til Spring Break!!

Both kids have projects due tomorrow and both are pretty much finished. Hannah had her first ever science fair project and has worked really hard on it. She tested the effectiveness of the Wii Fit hula hoop vs. the old fashioned hula hoop to see which raised heart rates more. (Hint: video games do have some benefits.) Corey had to create an animal habitat, and he, of course, chose a penguin. I'm going to snap some pictures to post hopefully tomorrow, along with the paragraph Corey wrote about penguins. Good stuff for a second grader.

Yesterday was an exciting day around here. We have wanted to pave our shared driveway for about 3 years or more. With all the rain this year, it is nearly washing away. Our neighbor who shares it (and owns a new truck - lol) finally decided he'd like to paved too. Yesterday it happened. Or started happening actually. They are working as I type to finish and will probably be working all day. I'm adding concrete finisher to the list of jobs I hope I never have to work, along with bra fit specialist and gastroenterologist nurse (stories for another time). They worked for over twelve hours yesterday, including in the dark and were still working when I went to bed. It was pretty fun for the kids to watch. Here's a few shots from the day.

One last shot of the "old" driveway. As my neighbor said, Thank the Lord.

Prepping the driveway was fun to watch.

The Onlookers

Pouring the first concrete

Almost done with the first part

This made realize that I need to do some more blogging about our house. It is quite a story in itself and I will get to that soon. If you don't the story of our house, stay tuned.

In other news, I nearly ran over myself yesterday. Literally. I can laugh about this now, but at the time, it was pretty scary. I was in a rush (of course) and started backing out only to realize I needed to move the wagon out of the way. So I put the car into what I thought was park and got out. I stepped a few feet and saw the van rolling forward. My first reaction was to try and stop it but I could get back in so it ended up dragging me along with it. After knocking the grill, a kerosene heater, the pushmower and my double stroller off the carport and into the yard, it stopped. Other than a few bruises and some pavement burn, all is well. I think literally an angel must have stopped my van, because I can't figure any other way it could have stopped. The two biggest casualties are the stroller which lost a wheel and my favorite thrift store (lol) pants, so I am thankful to God for protection(even if I am mad about my pants).

Well, the laundry isn't doing itself so I guess I better pull this to a close. Thanks for reading.

Snow Pictures - Finally!

2010-02-23T13:50:00.008-05:00

Well, now that it is 60 degress, I decided to share my snow pictures, for those who read this but don't have Facebook, or in my mother's case, who have Facebook and don't check it. ever. (I know she's going to read this - that's why I said that. Love you Mom!)

We have since had a BEAUTIFUL weekend in which my children were ~~locked out~~ not allowed to sit and watch TV. It has induced a serious case of Spring Fever. We have only 17 days til Spring Break. That is only 16 more days of waking my children only to hear crying and begging me not to send them to school.

Without further ramblings, here goes...

There was snow angel making

Snow babies trudging through the snow

A snow princess who preferred building snowmen to getting pelted by her brother with snowballs

The snowball monster. He. does. not. have. an. off. button.

My hottie hubby in the snow.

"Indiana" Snowman

Almost 6 inches of snow - the most since we had a white Christmas in 1989.

Dad's Pond - my favorite shot of all the scenic ones. I didn't even take in black and white and this is how it turned out. That fascinated me.

I was also fascinated that I took this picture at the same time as the pond, but because of the sunlight, got a totally different shot from the same spot.

Dad's front yard aka next year's Christmas card.

Wordless Wednesday: A Source of Great Excitement, Sad but True

2010-02-17T14:38:00.002-05:00

Wordless Wednesday: Birthday Girl

2010-02-10T09:29:00.003-05:00

The best thing to EVER happen in February!

Birthday par-tay! Times two

2010-02-08T13:50:00.001-05:00

We had a weekend of partying around here and the title of this blog doesn't really do it justice. We had Hannah's party on Saturday for her friends. She wanted to play the Wii, dance (the limbo, among other things),

and decorate their own cakes.

The cakes were really cute. Here's Hannah's "10" cake.

And there was, of course, presents. Hannah got some neat stuff and she's really enjoyed them.

That afternoon Allie had a birthday party for a friend of hers, so we joined about 8 rambunctious four year olds for that. No pictures of that because I was just along for the ride on that one.

Sunday we had family over for birthday celebrations. Aside from Hannah, my mother-in-law and 2 sisters-in-law have a birthday the same week, so we had a shin-dig. Here, Hannah and MaMaw share blowing out the candles.

And then opened more presents. Here she shares the spotlight with her aunt Kathy whose birthday she was supposed to share. However, she took a little longer to get here and therefore was born the next day on her aunt Laura's day.

We shooed everyone out the door in time to go to our small group Super Bowl party and called it a night around 10. Thankfully the kids have a short week at school.

February is not my friend

2010-02-04T13:29:00.001-05:00

For MANY years, I have had a deep dislike of February. It is the longest shortest month of the year. When I was a kid, it seemed to last forever, and I would find myself living for March. The only exceptions I can remember is college, when classes didn't start back til February so the newness of the semester made it fly by and the year Hannah was born because that's when time started FLYING. As a teacher, it was the month when all my sweetest kids turned sour and my brightest students existed in a fog. It is also usually the month when the New Year's Resolution wears off and I realize, once again, that I'm a diet flunkie. OK, I lied. That happens the second week of January, but I am usually able to keep my house clean and my life organized until February. I have tried not to carry this dislike over into my family and now my children, but it doesn't seem to be working. February is that month when the cold overwhelms me, because I am tired of not being able to get out and tired of not being able to send my kids out. It is the month of the drama in the morning, of prying my children out of bed and the "I-don't-want-to-go-to-school" begging starts. This even happens with my oldest, who loves school. The next part I have really debated on putting in here and I type with trembling fingers. It is the anniversary of the stomach virus that I will likely never forget, so I always get a little freaked out that it may come again, just to add to the joys of February. So I am a February hater. I wonder if they have a support group for those of us who cannot take another minute of the weather and are living for Spring.

Wordless Wednesday: Instant Entertainment

2010-02-03T22:31:00.005-05:00

Allie and Wii Yoga

2010-02-01T14:41:00.003-05:00

The Wii: "Try to keep your center of balance in the yellow circle."
Allie: "I can't do the yellow circle."

The Wii: "Don't push yourself. Do only what you feel comfortable doing."
Allie: "I'm alweady uncomfo'table."

ROFLOL.

Ice Ice Baby!

2010-01-31T09:25:00.008-05:00

This is what we woke up to yesterday morning.

That is ice on the trees and power lines(!) in case the picture is not very clear.

It never really got above about 29 degrees so I actually took these pictures this morning. Because we only get about 2 of these a year, I love to be "snowed in" or in this case iced in. It's especially nice when you don't have to go anywhere. We rented a couple of movies since we knew that this was a very real possibility for us, and I can now say I have seen all 4 Indiana Jones movies. This is the joy of having boys around, and I know one day my daughters will be better wives because of this. (Sorry, I digressed.)

About two years ago on a morning we quite like this we found out something that led to this announcement. Don't worry - we have no announcements this time. We also experienced this snowfall back when Hannah was 4 and I got to sled for the first time ever. Yes we really had a foot of snow. I may never see anything like that again so I will always cherish those times. Then there was the snow fall of last year and my personal favorite - the snowfall 10 years ago the week Hannah was due.

Most people either love or hate the winter weather. I love it - in moderate doses and I'm hoping I will have one good snow this year to share with everyone before this winter is over. We really are "due" for one.

In the meanwhile, here's a few more winter weather shots!

Wordless Wednesday - On the Move

2010-01-27T22:34:00.001-05:00

The Trouble with January

2010-01-17T08:07:00.008-05:00

The trouble with January is that it follows December, which had plenty of blog worthy material. January is both a let down and a relief. I love Christmas and we keep our schedule moderate during that time. We don't have parties all the time, just a few, and a half dozen school programs, but Christmas eve, Christmas and the weekend were all rushed. Hence January is a nice calm month. Because of year round schedule, the kids were out til the 11th and have off Monday, so it's been nice to have some extra time to enjoy their new toys.

January is also a time for a new start. This part of January I like. I have "plans" this year. Plus I have plans for my plans, at least in my head. I decided not to call the resolutions, because those are soon forgotten. I may be splitting hairs here, but for me it's psychology. My plans are to continue on my diet, get organized, read the Bible through, and stick to a budget.

The diet restart has gotten off to a slow start, but I think I am finally back on track. Limited sugar and carbs (as in almost none), low fat, in short - rabbit food. I am hoping to use the Wii fit for my exercise program until I can get out and walk when it warms up.

I am feeling much more successful in the organizing part. I have spent some time purging around here but trying to become a "minimalist" is not working for me. For those who aren't familiar with that, here's my working definition: people who throw away anything they haven't touched in 3 days. Those folks aren't usually sentimental either so they don't keep all the junk their kids do. I am learning, however, to be really selective here, because junk times 4 is just crazy. I feel like we are busting at the seams in this house and that should not be. Even though there are 6 of us who live here, we have a decent amount of space. I have read Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's book though (they have 19 kids, so I put a lot of stock in their advice) and they made a good point. Her philosophy is that you need as much storage space as you do living space. So my "plan" for this is for Donnie to build a storage building. He We have hemmed and hawed long enough. Hence every time I have to dig something from our tiny attic, I have to repent for what I said when I banged my head on the rafters. So my plan is to clean out and ~~encourage~~ ~~stongly urge~~ demand to have a storage building. I have been promised the top floor and I am already dreaming of how I would like to organize it. (Does this mean I need counseling?)

As far as my Bible reading I am up to Genesis 40 something. Pretty cool stuff. I have never read the whole book of Genesis much less the whole Bible. Another cool thing that I knew but never really thought about is this. My friend Kevin is one of our pastors and he spoke Sunday. When he speaks, I get IT. He has a wonderfully simple way of explaining the very complex. Sunday he pointed out that every story in the Bible points to Jesus. Yes, that includes the Old Testament. Every. Story. Plus I am fascinated by the Isrealites, so I have enjoyed my reading thus far.

For budgeting help we bought Quicken and so far I like it. I have had to enter my data manually which is a pain, but it tells us where we spent our money. I know how much I spent on groceries, what percentage of our income my house payment is, and how much I spent at Walmart (I may not like that one before this is all said and done. It might get me in trouble). Anyway, it's very cool.

So there ya have it, my plans for the year. I am sure there are a ton more I should have, but if I get these accomplished, hopefully other things will fall into place too.

Home Improvement Projects

2010-01-07T19:43:00.006-05:00

We have done two minor home improvement projects around here, but they have made life a little easier, in a sense. We first installed a baby gate across the doorway to the kitchen. This is not Jon Tyler's favorite, and he stands at the gate and cries while I make supper and empty the dishwasher without his assistance. Sometimes I prefer his assistance over his incessant screaming, so I let him in anyway. Okay, so this happens more often than not. So I probably spent $30 for nothing. But never fear, I'm sure I can get $5 for it at my next yard sale, hence the reason I hate buying anything for kids brand spanking new.

Our second project is my favorite. When we renovated our house, I insisted on a regular door to the laundry room instead of a bi-fold because I liked the look of the regular door. Note to self (and anyone reading who is renovating) - go for practical over pretty. The door worked great until we got a freezer, then it wouldn't open enough for me to get in there with a clothes basket. So we took the door down and have been dealing with a laundry room in constant disarray that everyone can see. Now we have a handy folding door. It slides out of the way very compactly and was a nice $24 at Lowes. (That endorsement was free, by the way). I was so very excited when my sister in law came the other day and I got to toss everything in the laundry room and shut the door.

Now that the New Year is in, I'm sure I can find a few more projects that need to be done, but by the time we get to them I will have forgotten what they were.

Wordless Wednesday - New Year's Resolution?

2010-01-06T19:36:00.003-05:00

New Year, New Bed

2010-01-05T08:26:00.004-05:00

Allie has been sleeping on my 20 year old daybed for about a year now with a full size comforter draped over the back of it. So Santa brought her a new comforter set, but she still had the same old creaky bed. We could hear her move every time she rolled over. It was that loud. I'd been meaning to look on Craigslist for a twin bed but hadn't gotten around to it until last week. I found this cute little bed that was just what we needed and nothing we didn't. It came with the box springs, which I didn't have, but no mattress, which I did have. It was in Charlotte and emailed and the people still had it. I couldn't believe it! Usually I email and the item is already sold. They were only asking $30! So Sunday afternoon I went to pick it up. I think it looks great and is a neat way God provided in the new year for Allie-cat!

Here's her new bed all fixed up.

By the way, I'm giving away the other bed. If anybody knows someone who needs one, let me know.

2009 Highlights!

2009-12-31T22:11:00.006-05:00

Sadly my New Year's Eve is spent in my jammies and blogging, but that is okay because earlier was Cyclone with the family and Uno before bed. We spent the day in Columbia with my mom and did Chuck E. Cheese and shopping. Fun times!!

As for 2009 highlights, my friend Denise did this and I liked it so I'm copying her idea.
January - We tightened our budget, not because of a new year's resolution, but because of state budget cuts, Donnie's pay was cut by $400 a month. After a panic attack moment, we realized that God would provide as He always did and He was faithful. I also started couponing that month, not exactly because of the cuts, but it came at a good time and it's kinda fun. On a good note, we enjoyed a snow day as well.

February - Hannah's 9th birthday, and as is typical of February, lots of sickies.

March - the start of our Spring 3 Week break and our trip to Walterboro/Columbia. Jon Tyler got his first taste of "real" food which he took a liking too. Corey really started improving on reading in school!

April - For my birthday my sister threw me a birthday party, Mom kept the kids so we could spend a day at Concord Mills and I got a Wii for my big day! We (Hannah, Donnie and I) played a family in the Easter drama at church, I hosted Easter dinner at our house.

May - Springtime in full swing, Allie's 4th birthday, Hannah's first drama with ATL (she got to play Chip the teacup from Beauty and the Beast during the final performance - the one we got to see!) and lots of outdoor play! We received a huge financial blessing six years late(from an insurance policy my dad cancelled six years ago), and yet at just the right time - 2 weeks before vacation!

June - the end of the school year (Hallelujah!), our annual beach vacation, my in-law's 50th wedding anniversary, Hannah started her first summer workshop with the Chester Little Theater and Jon Tyler put crawling in full swing!

July - a visit to see my Dad who was recovering from back surgery, our best day trip EVER to Looking Glass Falls, the beginning of the new school year (we're on a year round schedule), and Corey turned seven, complete with Indiana Jones birthday party (it was a blast - I hate I never posted any pics of it, because it was the best party I'd ever thrown)!

August - Allie's first day of preschool went off without a hitch. She absolutely loved it! I took a job at the library and then retired before I ever even started, citing no time for "real" work. Hannah completed her first season with the Chester Little Theater with Alice in Wonderland. Corey started karate with school and began demonstrating his new moves on me daily.

September - our fall break and it was BEAUTIFUL! We took a trip to Gatlinburg, and celebrated Jon Tyler's first birthday.

October brought our 13th anniversary, our 2nd anniversary of living in our house, Jon Tyler walking, Halloween and I think that was about it.

November is becoming one of my favorite months with it's cooler weather and the beginning of the holidays. This year we went to my grandmother's for Thanksgiving and it had been a few years since we'd gone, so it was nice. Jon Tyler got his first haircut and showed us all he can accomplish in a small amount of time.

December brought about the busy-ness of the holidays but also a time to spend together enjoying each other. It is always enjoyable, if busy, to celebrate the birth of Jesus. There is to me something magical and fun about this time of year. I hope my children will always remember Christmas as a special time when they grow up. I may not get everything right, but I will always try to teach the importance of Christmas and do for others so my children will know that Christmas is not about what they want or get, but about the gift of God's Son, Emmanuel, God WITH us!

2009 showed me once again to do things God's way and I hope to put this into practice in 2010 as well!

Memorable Christmas Moments

2009-12-28T21:11:00.007-05:00

1. Black Friday (need I say more?)

2. 3 christmas programs and 1 piano recital in 7 days.

3. Having my Christmas tree fall over.

4. Christmas with Mom ~ we got a gift card to Frankies Fun Park in Columbia - for the grownups only! I can't wait. Also fun memory - photo session afterwards.

5. 3 days before Christmas, My Sister in law and me, 6 kids, Chick fil A, the mall, bowling and she said, "We keep getting strange looks." That's what happens when the circus comes to town, chick! Welcome to my world.

6. Witnessing my husband's giving heart in action. It never ceases to amaze me.

7. Our Christmas Eve Miracle of being spared the stomach virus. Corey was literally over the toilet Christmas eve, because he felt sick, and I COULD NOT miss Christmas Eve at the in laws. COULD. NOT. It is my favorite of all of Christmas. I was in tears and asked Donnie to pray. He did and five minutes later, nothing. Corey was up and better and pinging off the walls. I know God made him well. It was really quite funny because Donnie told him to stay put and then he had to go set up luminaries at church. Corey came to me in my bathroom and said, "Mom, I feel better." I was ecstatic! He said, "But Dad told me to stay there." My obedient child. Christmas eve was wonderful.

8. My kids on Christmas morning. I love seeing their excitement. Jon Tyler was the funniest. He got a Lion King ride on and played with it all morning. I was impressed. I expected him to play with everyone else's toys!

9. Playing Clue at dad's and my sister saying, "Hide your cards! I'm prone to cheat!" At least she's prone to be honest about her issues.

10. Spending ALL DAY today trying out their (and my) new toys. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark before breakfast, pancakes at lunch time, building Legos, Playing Lucky Ducks, Scrabble, Wii, watching Donnie play MarioKart. Great stuff! Got my new phone working, the laundry room got a new door (and we survived the home improvement project without any (ahem) discussions).

11. Last but not least, spending special time with all my family. Oh, yeah, and barbeque!

Husband Brag

2009-12-22T07:58:00.003-05:00

Saturday was the best day! Why? Because of my honey. I left around 11:45 to run to the post office and I told him I wanted to run by Cato to look for some clothes. He told me to take my time and find something nice. When I got back, we ate lunch and he mentioned that he needed to finish a few Christmas things. I figured he was taking his dad with him, but he didn't. Guess who he took? ALL FOUR CHILDREN. What a man! I had the house all to myself. Since we had planned to clean around here anyway that afternoon, I worked around here while they were gone. I was simply amazed at how much I could get done without anyone around. I even made it to the grocery store for the week. It was so pleasant. They were home when I got here so while I made supper, Donnie started baths. What man would take all four shopping and do baths? I just had to brag.

A Mary Christmas

2009-12-19T00:03:00.003-05:00

I read an article the other day about a little girl who made a card for her mother and it said, "Mary Christmas." The daughter didn't catch the significance of her misspelling, but her mother did. In Luke 10, the story is told about sisters whom Jesus was visiting. Mary sat at his feet and listened to his teaching while Martha busied herself with making sure everything was "just right" for Him. Martha was upset that Mary wasn't helping, but Jesus pointed out that she had chosen what was better. So, here I am at the end of my Martha week. Actually two of them. We had program after program, teacher gifts to prepare, brunches, drop-ins, you know the holiday drill. Not to mention the wrapping gifts (I'm almost done for shopping for them), the Christmas cards (really, they are coming), etc. My problem is that I love this season, I love the fellowshipping and the extra little things that go along with the holidays. I just wish they were spread out and not all bunched into two weeks. I want to slow down, savor it, have a Mary Christmas! So I have a few days to do this now that the kids are out of school. We are going to bake goodies, because we want to, not because we have to (well, I do have to for Christmas eve, but I'm taking the easy way out, mostly) and beyond that the children and I have no plans for next week. I'm hoping we can come up with some fun stuff to do around here, but I hope none of it involves being out of our jammies before noon. I pray all of you will have a Mary Christmas too!!

A Battle of Wills and Reverse Psychology

2009-12-17T13:58:00.003-05:00

Allie is one we constantly have to battle about eating. She is very picky. Very. Today she had yogurt which she likes but after eating about 3 bites she wanted to be "done." I told her she had to eat it all. For one thing, it was a small container and I didn't think that was too much to ask. Secondly, it was one of those annoying containers with the foil top so I would have either had to ditch it or put in a separate container. After going back and forth, I told her her baby brother was eating his, thinking (for some odd reason) that she might be persuaded to eat hers. I don't know why I thought this as it's never worked before. To this she replies, "He can have mine." Stinker. We continued to sit and argue over this yogurt and informed her that was eating if she intended to get up from the table. After I saw this would work I tried a different approach. I took it from her and informed her that she couldn't have it. I also told her she couldn't have it anymore because she didn't eat it this time. It was gone in 5 minutes. Now who's the master of reverse psychology? Ha!

Oh, Christmas Tree.

2009-12-11T23:11:00.000-05:00

Wednesday afternoon as I was looking over weekly folders, helping Hannah with her homework, and other mundane Wednesday things, I heard a crash in the living room. I ran in to find the Christmas tree sprawled out across the floor and I couldn't find Jon Tyler. Momentary panic, 2 older kids crying, and one thought - NOT AGAIN (more to come on that). To relieve your nerves at this point, I did find Jon Tyler and he was not under the tree. He was just beside it and is small enough to be hidden by a rather large tree. I lifted it back up, and held it in place while I called Donnie to come home. He arrived very quickly and we discovered that the stand had broken beyond repair. I was devastated. My big, beautiful tree that I've had for seven year, I thought we'd have to get rid of it. Let me digress here to say that artificial really is the way to go. There is just something about being able to manuever the branches to hide the "holes". This comes from one too many trees that looked great at the tree farm only to have a major deformity when I got them home. That coupled with the fact that we are too cheap to buy a really nice one has caused me to gladly embrace my fake tree. Thankfully I found a tree stand to replace that one and we were back in business. Can I tell you that decorating the tree the second time is just not as exciting as the first time?

Our moment of dejavu was met from a similar event ten years ago. I was very pregnant with Hannah and Donnie had just had surgery, so he took his friend Mark with him to get our tree. The story has two versions. One is that Mark cut the trunk crooked and had to trim it off straight. The other is that Donnie didn't want to pay for a taller tree and got Mark to cut it as close as possible to fall under the 6 foot mark. I'll let you decide which of those you believe, I have my own opinions (Did I mention we're cheap?) At any rate, the tree didn't have enough trunk to fit in the stand so we ended up wedging it in. Every so often I would look at the tree and notice it was leaning a little more than before. One night I was asleep in the recliner when I heard it. I didn't want to open my eyes, because I knew what it was. Donnie, on the other hand, only heard a loud bang from the bedroom and had no idea what had happened. I still snicker at my wild eyed honey flying into the living room at 3 am. We hoisted that one back up as well, but another tree stand would not help it, so we tied it to the curtain rod for the remainder of the holiday season.

How many people do you really know who've had a tree fall over ... twice?

Wordless Wednesday - bedtime snack

2009-12-09T00:01:00.003-05:00

I Got Sold Out!

2009-11-28T21:56:00.004-05:00

If you know me very well, you know I LOVE Black Friday. I would go if I had nothing, absolutely nothing, to buy and just watch people. I love the rush of a good deal, buying for people whom I care about, a hot lunch at a fancy sit down restaurant, the fellowship of good friends. But with 4 kids and a bunch of family, I'm never gonna have nothing to buy, so the planning begins weeks in advance. I am kind of obsessed, I admit. Black Friday websites, making my list, revising my list, copying my list into my Black Friday notebook as opposed to my master Christmas list. Did I mention I'm obsessed. (Why can't I be this organized about anything else?) This year, we found a flat screen TV we wanted and after 2 years of shopping for them, I decided I would do anything legal (and nice, not gonna spoil anyone's shopping day) to get one. Mom and I left about 3:45 to be in line at Walmart for this TV. I must say their new Black Friday was VERY impressive. Not having to wait in the cold until 5 when everyone rushes in all at once was a great plan. I am just very sorry it cost someone his life for them to make the changes. We got our TV (early - didn't realize it wasn't just an early bird special) and other goodies, dropped it off at home and headed for Toys R Us. That place is always a mad house but the line moved quickly thanks to some awesome managers and were done and to the mall by about 8:30. Long story short, we made ~~many~~ ~~several~~ a few more stops, met friends for lunch, it was AWESOME.

Here's the sold out part. Donnie was home with the kids. (I am supposed to tell you that he is wonderful for keeping all 4 children all day, giving me free reign on the shopping and virtually no curfew. He really IS wonderful, but he would have done this just about anytime and not just Black Friday, 'cause he's good like that.) I called to check in on them midafternoon and he told me he'd gotten a call from the bank a little earlier. I just KNEW he was pulling my leg! He said they wanted to confirm that some purchases were made from our account that day. "NO WAY!" I said. Then he quoted amounts. I was dumbfounded!! They really did want to verify and told him how much I had spent at three different places. DUH, folks! It was Black Friday. I mean, I appreciate their concern that I may have getting my identity thieved, but really, they could get a girl in trouble!! He, by the way, could not really verify that these amounts had been spent by me, as he had no idea where I was shopping or how much I was spending. (Dear Founders, Mark it down. I am going shopping next Black Friday. It may be the next time I get away to do this. I will be spending money. Please refrain from calling my husband to verify this. Your faithful customer, Tracy) Only 363 days til next Black Friday. ;)

Wordless Wednesday - Why Can' t We Be Friends?

2009-11-25T23:22:00.003-05:00

In Honor of Saturday

One year olds!!

2009-11-24T23:01:00.003-05:00

Today while I cleaned the kitchen, this is what Jon Tyler did.

We moved on. I cleaned the bedroom. This is what Jon Tyler did.

I am thinking that I defeated the purpose and should just play and not clean. That, however, will not go over very well for long. Thank God for cough medicine that makes babies sleepy so they take four hour naps. He really does have an awful cough, and I am somewhat nervous about a long weekend and this cough. We do, however, have the cough meds, a nebulizer and are praying for a recovery without a doctor visit.

My Book

2009-11-20T11:44:00.002-05:00

I've heard many mothers say they are going to write a book on things they never knew they would say to their children but I've never actually seen the book. I'm going to write my own. From this morning I have to add - "No more light sabers before school." Yep, never pictured myself saying that one when I pictured having children. While we are on the subject, I always wanted 4 children and as much as a person can picture that, I tried to. I never, however, NEVER pictured the amount of laundry generated by four children. Especially in cooler weather. NEVER.

Just random Friday thoughts.

November

2009-11-19T08:23:00.007-05:00

Well, I can't believe it is the middle of November and this is my first post. I have been, I suppose, too busy to blog, but I can't remember what I've been doing to be too busy. There has been some ebaying (mostly selling, which is a good thing) and online shopping for Christmas so I haven't spent time on my blog. Truth be told, the month has flown by us uneventfully. At any rate - here are some highlights.

We celebrated Mom's birthday at the zoo the first weekend. Corey thought it was weird to celebrate her birthday there and he wanted to know how she was going to find that any fun. Truth is, as I explained to him, she chose it, so all of us (my sister and her boys included) met and spent the day there. Pictures are coming.

Next came Donnie's birthday on Veteran's Day. This is the first year that he has had the day off in about 8 years so he enjoyed a lazy day. We had a lunch date (yes, alone!) and his parents ate with us at supper.

Jon Tyler is walking, really walking now. Until about 2 weeks ago he'd walk a little ways, fall down and crawl to his destination. Now he can stand himself back up and keep going. Oh, yeah he can do this too. I caught him up there one day.

He LOVES being outside and has a fit when he can't go out. He walks across the driveway to the neighbor's and back, or around to the front and climbs the steps (if I turn my back for 2 seconds), eats a few rocks. You know, typical one year old stuff.

He also got his first haircut not long ago. I thought the during shot was great, but he wasn't very cooperative after for me to get a good shot of the new 'do.

Allie is loving K4! She is learning very quickly, recognizes most of her letters and can write about half of them. Her teacher, Mrs. Nita, is leaving next week and she will have Mrs. Diane after Thanksgiving. I am happy for Nita, but VERY sad for Allie. She really loves her, and Mrs. Nita is the best thing since sliced bread when in comes to preschool!

Corey is still making a game out of about every movie he can think of. He and his loyal side kick Allie are in Star Wars one minute and Indiana Jones or Batman the next. His teacher is out on maternity leave until after Christmas, but all seems good so far.

Hannah has won the award as our first, and prayerfully only (Please Lord!) flu victim. She has complained of feeling tired all week and had a low fever in the afternoons. She was fine in the mornings, though, so I sent her to school. Not smart, but two weeks ago 10 of the 14 students in her class were out with something so I don't think we did too much harm. So, we will be spending this weekend indoors, missing her best friend's birthday, the Point of Grace concert, and Thanksgiving stew at church Sunday evening. Boo!

As for me, I've shrunk 12 pounds (as London Tipton would say, YAY ME!! but I should also say Yay, God!). Six pounds to go before Christmas. I'm going to be cutting it close, but maybe it will happen!! We've also started a new home group, which is basically a group of us as friends who meet and share and pray for each other. Our last experience was much different and I'll just leave it at that. We are SO enjoying this time around! Great friends - I'm looking forward to years of "doing life" with them!

Well this post ended up sounding like one of those Christmas letters you write for Christmas cards each year, but I figured it was the easiest way to let everyone know how November is treating us. So, don't count on a Christmas letter. A card - yes, picture enclosed - hopefully, a letter - most likely not!

BOO!

2009-10-31T22:50:00.006-04:00

Our Friendly Jack O Lantern - This is probably the best Jack-o-lantern I've ever carved. I've never had much success, but I bought a handy dandy pumpkin carving tool so we were able to put a "little" more detail (which means this year he got eyebrowns). It was fun, so watch out next year, I'm thinking of moving up to dremel's power tool for carving.

Howdy, y'all!

Yes, I know I'm a princess!

RIBBIT!

First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Tacky Day & 50's Day!

2009-10-28T14:17:00.002-04:00

Sweet Sockhop Girl

I think they live all year for this one day.

Midweek Funnies

2009-10-07T22:59:00.003-04:00

No wordless Wednesday around here and it's been awhile since I posted some "things heard 'round the house," so how about a few funnies.

Corey was memorizing Psalm 23 today and repeated, "The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want him," and "He leads me in paths of righteousness for Pete's sake."

Allie gave me a dollar and told me, "Now you're a little bit rich."

And a few from the past few months.

Me: Son, why didn't you eat your orange?
Corey: I couldn't get it open, so I just skipped ahead to cookies.

Allie, obviously from playing with her brother: Know what, when I grow up, I wanna be Joker's Wife.

Corey, at random: When I grow up will you pay my bills?
Me: No, Son, that's why you get a job.
Corey: But, I want to keep my money.

I'm starting to worry about these kids.

The Magnolia Leaf Fight

2009-10-04T22:14:00.005-04:00

Today is the 13th anniversary of the great magnolia leaf fight. Now you might be thinking that it must have been some fight for me to remember the date. It was, in fact, the day before our wedding. Donnie and I had left Charleston and headed to Walterboro Friday morning. I led him to the motel where he and his family were staying and went by my house to drop off some things. Since we did a lot of things ourselves we were supposed to clip magnolia leaves to use as greenery at my grandparent's house. I went back by the motel to get Donnie so he could help and he was NOWHERE to be found. I thought it was a little odd, but I went on to my grandparents and Granddaddy and I went to work. Granddaddy was at times a quiet man, but get him by himself and he was a really funny guy. We joked and talked as we worked, although I can't for the life of me remembered what we talked about. We loaded the back of his little Ford Ranger "slap full" with these leaves and started for the church, me riding in the back of the truck to make sure they were okay. (Yes, I am aware that is not smart and most likely, illegal) We dropped by to see if Donnie had returned. Still no Donnie. We unloaded, went back to the hotel to check again, and still could not find my future groom. I should have known this would be a precursor of things to come because Donnie will still go for rides and not return ~~before I am irate~~ in a timely manner. My temper was rising each time we stopped by and could not find him, and the madder I got, the more tickled my granddaddy got. Another load was clipped, taken to the church and you guessed it, Donnie was still missing. Finally a third load was being clipped and I was so mad I could have spit nails. Granddaddy was all out laughing by this point. After our final load, we went back by to find that Donnie, his family and all of his groomsmen were hanging out, watching TV and totally oblivious to the pack that I was about to blow my stack. He answered the door, ever so casually, "Hey, Babe, what's up?" Well, I told him what was up - my blood pressure! After listening to me rant and rave a few minutes and apologizing profusely (there again, a glimpse into the future), all was well. Looking back it is probably to only fight I actually remember, but here is why I remember it. If Donnie had shown up, I would have missed out on that time with my grandfather and now that he is gone, I would trade that for anything. That and the fact that it is one of my funniest wedding stories.

Randomness Ramble

2009-10-01T11:10:00.022-04:00

With the kids out of school, consignment season, and our trip to Gatlinburg, I haven't had time to ramble much, so here goes.

THE DENTIST
I got up this morning to take the kids to their 9:15 dental appointment, and we were actually ahead of schedule. If you know me well, you know being on time isn't my thing, much less being early. I was brushing my teeth and walking around in my bedroom (because I am too ADD to stand still and brush my teeth) when I heard something fall (not a kid, just a something)in the bathroom where I'd left Jon Tyler. That can't be good, I thought. I went in the bathroom to this...

(the yellow thing is a plant that used to sit on the back of the toilet)

I realized that my chances of being ~~early~~ on time were vanishing. I now have a new nickname for Jon Tyler - Termite - it destroys everything in its path. His Indian name is "He who snatches defeat from the jaws of victory." A quick vacuum job, dusting the multitudes of books/magazines that make their way to the bathroom and we were back on our way.

We arrived (5 minutes late) and found out even more fun things. Hannah will have two teeth pulled on Monday because her adult teeth are coming in behind her baby teeth. The dentist also said I could go ahead and schedule an appointment with the orthodontist for Corey, age 7, "whenever I wanted to" because he is "going to have issues." Lovely. The receptionist advised me to wait 8 weeks however since the orthodontist they refer kids to is building a new office and moving. I guess they need my help paying for it! Ha!

A TALE OF TWO PILLOWS
I've been meaning to post these two pictures for weeks. The first one is a pillow I made for Hannah at her very first Vacation Bible School. It was made from a t shirt and said, "God is with Hannah" prior to the gaping hole that has been worn in it. Some time back she began sleeping with it every night to ease her nighttime anxiety (and boy, does she have some!). When it began disentegrating, her father told her she had to throw it away, which brought on the drama. So we made a plan to redo the pillow. After many weeks of ~~procrastination~~ not getting around to it, I finally whipped out my sewing machine and made her a new one. Yes, I can sew in a straight line. She wanted her old one put into her new one, which I thought made it extra special and the stuffing put around it, so we did and she did her own decorating this time. It was really fun to do together.

CAN I BE TRANSPARENT FOR A MOMENT?
Transparency is not my thing, even more than being on time is not my thing, but here goes. I am finally motivated to do something about my "baby fat." I weigh as much now as I did when I came home from the hospital with Jon Tyler so I have set for myself attainable (I hope) goals. My first is to lose 18 pounds by Christmas. I have a little less than three months. I have lost 2 of those so far. I have eaten lots of rabbit food this week. I am trying my own plan which includes portion control and where I pretty much do low carbs/no sugar for two weeks and then add back only good carbs, whole grains, stuff like that. I'll let you know how it goes. Feel free to ask. Maybe that will kick me in the butt if I need it. As of now, I've had no sugar since Monday which could be some sort of record for me. I have now quit having "the shakes from withdrawl" LOL. As far as an exercise routine, I open to suggestions. What worked for you? I am thinking walking and pilates.

HELLO FALL! WE'VE MISSED YOU!
This is my favorite 3 week break because it has the nicest weather. We have spent lots of time outside the past few days. On Tuesday, the kids and I developed a trampoline routine that we did til we laughed so hard we fell down. Too bad I have no pictures of THAT to post. I decided that if I get hurt on that thing, I can file workmans comp. After all, part of my job is to interact with my children. My employer would probably balk at this claim. However, he was impressed with our routine. (I think he was impressed that my 34 year old, *** pound butt could do the same thing my children could do. Just not for long.)

THE CHANGE
Of seasons (gotcha!) always brings out the change in clothes. So I must get off of the computer now, because this is what awaits me. I have exhausted the two pair of pants I had stashed back and since it will be around 40 degrees tomorrow, I have to wash some for the kiddies.

If you've gotten through all this without nodding off to sleep, I applaude you. Thanks for reading, my loyal followers (all 5 of you)!

Gatlinburg

2009-09-30T09:37:00.016-04:00

Since the kids are out on 3 week break, we took a mini vacation to Gatlinburg for a few days last week. It was so nice and relaxing, a nice change of scenery. It seems like each time we go there, we don't want to come home. We were riding up and Donnie said, "It just doesn't seem like it would ever get old, does it?" So true.

We spent Wednesday evening, Thursday and Friday evening in Gatlinburg, rode the trolley, and did the tourist thing. Our biggest venture was Ober Gatlinburg where we rode an air tramway up to a ski resort. Then we rode a chair lift even further up the mountain for some awesome views and bluegrass music. Jon Tyler was sleepy and cried/screamed for the 10 minute tram ride. It was packed and hot on the tram and his screaming was, I think, the equivalent of being on an airplane with a screaming kid. Good thing I'll never see most of those people again.(hehe) Once we got over there, I got him to nap while we rode the chair lift and it was so pleasant.

Here is a view from the tram and the pictures of each kid we took at the top.

(I absolutely LOVE this pic of Corey. I think it is the best shot I've ever taken of him.)

We spent some time on Friday in Pigeon Forge and shopped at the outlets, rode the go carts and went to a FREE (!) Titanic preview exhibit. Allie has never been old enough or tall enough to ride on her own so she was ready for her first time around the track.

She did pretty good for her first race, beating out her older siblings. (I'm not really sure who won, who got lapped or wrecked, but at least here, she's in the lead)

Jon Tyler was too small to drive but he enjoyed flying the plane.

Oh, yeah, Jon Tyler got his first taste of chocolate milk at Shoney's breakfast buffet. YUM!

Our last night we walked around Gatlinburg and found some neat little "village shops" (AKA- steal your money tourist shops) where we stopped to snap some pics.

The last thing we did was ride the elevator up the Space Needle and got a night view from 407 feet up. (Yeah, a little freaky.)

It was a fun trip. Now I must finish this blog up so I can go do some online research. We are shopping for an apple farms in east Tennesse/western NC. I'll let you know if we find one. We might need some help loading the moving van. ;-)

Wordless Wednesday - Consignment Season

2009-09-30T09:26:00.004-04:00

Little Man's First Birthday! (lots of pics, too)

2009-09-22T22:50:00.009-04:00

We celebrated Jon Tyler's first birthday Saturday with family. He is such a ham and enjoyed the attention. He probably figured that being #4 he was lucky to get any attention and would take it. He did the best job on his cake of any of his siblings, which is why I have included a bazillion photos of the cake. He was, in fact, much more impressed with cake than with presents. We read him about 2 cards and opened one present before he decided he was "done." While I realize some people love the big party thing for their kids, we are not into that. By the time we combine Jon Tyler's siblings and cousins we get 7 kids under 10, and I think that is plenty big enough. So, when Jon Tyler was done, they stepped in and helped him open his presents.

Amazingly I didn't have this terrible time with him turning one like I thought I would. I dreaded it for weeks and then it just sort of came and I was okay with that. I still can't believe it so maybe I'm just in shock. Time does fly when you're having fun, and this bunch is definitely fun!!

Testing...

Getting a first taste of icing

Diggin' in!!

Look, Ma!

A little in the hair for good measure!

YUM!

Cake Hangover

Present time!

New jammies

Checking out the goods!

2009-09-11T22:20:00.008-04:00

The kids school held a Patriots Day ceremony to honor our heroes and to remember this day. They've done it every year and every year it moves me to tears. I was drawn back to where I was on 9/11, amazed that the student from my 4th grade class that day are now college freshmen and that the students sitting with me were preschoolers at best on that day.

Here are some of the heroes honored today. I wish you could see a "kid" on the back row in Marine dress uniform named Billy. I have known Billy since he really was a kid, a teen who volunteered helping me teach elementary aged kids on Sunday nights when he wasn't much older than them. We've been praying for Billy as a church and his standing there was quite simply an answer to those prayers. Billy just returned from his first tour in Iraq and I'm sure in all of his 20 years, he has seen more horror over there than I will ever see. This morning when Hannah woke up the first thing she said was, "Oh, man, I wish I could've invited Billy." When I watched him marching in the other heroes these school honored, I almost couldn't keep the tears at bay. His mom is and has been one of my kids' preschool teachers for years and she asked me today in carline to "pray Billy out of Afghanistan" which is where he's set to go in 13 months. So if you think about it, pray for Billy with us.

The 4th and 5th grade chorus sang "God Bless the USA." Hannah is in the front row next to the police officer.

They released balloons...

...and took a freedom walk. (Corey is in the black shirt.)

Take Time - written 9/14/01

2009-09-11T22:11:00.003-04:00

Take time to tell you loved ones
What they mean in your life,
How they've loved you, how they've helped you,
How they've guided you through strife.

Take time to tell your neighbors
How you enjoy their company.
Take time to lend a helping hand
To a stranger who is in need.

Take time to tell a friend thank you
For the times they've been there,
For the encouragement they've given,
Or when they offered up a prayer.

Take time to tell your children
That they are God's precious treasures.
Tell them of all the joy they've brought you,
Through innocent childlike pleasures.

Take time to tell your spouse you love them
That you appreciate all they do,
That you couldn't imagine life without them.
Let them know you need them, too.

Take time to enjoy earth's beauty,
The mountains and the sea,
To enjoy the world created
By God for you and me.

Take time to reflect,
To laugh and play.
Take time to grieve,
To love and pray.

For we are not promised tomorrow.
This day could be our last.
Don't let a chance to "take time"
Slip forever into the past.

For all who perished on Sept. 11, 2001 and for those who will no longer get to "take time" with their loved ones. May we never forget.

Wordless Wednesday - Toothless

2009-09-02T23:13:00.002-04:00

The Slow Down

2009-08-31T13:30:00.006-04:00

Well,after last week and the weekend, I finally have time to post again. Last week I spent most of time driving and I think I passes myself a few times. Now that drama is over for Hannah, I can relax a little and get into a good afterschool routine. Since school started back in July, Hannah has had drama practice 3 days a week. I REALLY questioned whether this was worth it, but after seeing the performance of Alice in Wonderland this past weekend, I am sure it was. She loved performing, and we loved watching. Corey wanted to see it again, so I'm trying to talk him into doing it next year. I will try to post a short video clip later, but I can't figure out how to view it on my computer, so I'm working on that. If anyone has any techie advice, I would appreciate it. I videoed it using my Kodak camera, if that helps anyone. For now, here are the pictures.

Giving the grand tour of backstage.

Getting makeup done

The cutest little doormouse in all of Alice in Wonderland history.

Stay at home mom?

2009-08-27T08:31:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I
dropped off Allie at school
went to Walmart
dropped off Jon Tyler at his MaMaw's
volunteered at the kids school
got a haircut
picked up Jon Tyler
dropped off some stuff at a friend's house
picked Allie up
came home for lunch and naps (theirs, of course, not mine)
picked up the kids
paid the phone bill
dropped off my carpool kid
came home for snack
took Hannah to drama
ran through Wendy's drive thru
came home for supper
went to church
left to pick Hannah up from drama
went to Fred's because they ran over
went back to Wendy's for her supper
went back to church for everyone else
came home for bed.

Today I
need to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things
need to go to CVS because they shorted me on Monday
will make a casserole and take to church
want to pick up my nephew to play with Allie
have to pick up kids
will take Hannah to drama
have to drop off carpool kid
will come home for supper
have to pick Hannah up from drama.

Who coined the phrase "stay at home mom"? We really need to talk.