Misery loves company!

OK, I am such a bad person! I just read my friend, Michelle's, blog. I must say I smiled and smirked to know that she has had a similar week to mine. I know it's mean, but you see, she is just perfect in so many ways...and well knowing she also isn't a morning person gives me slight enjoyment. My husband has also been gone this week. I wrote in my last blog how I was gathering myself up and changing my attitude because I had been quite the baby because he was getting to go to New York and not me. OK - the truth is that this has turned into a week long battle. At times I've swayed from good attitude to bad attitude as fast as within 15 minutes periodically. There you have it. I feel like the Apostle Paul when he says, "the things I want to do I don't do, and the things I don't want to do I do." If you just inserted "feel" in there everytime it says "do" you'd have some insight into my internal battle this week. I'm not as smart as Michelle. I guess I keep thinking that if I don't go to bed then he's not really gone. It's so silly! I know that I'll be the one with the kids the whole next day - and it's not fair to have a sleepy mommy. A sleepy mommy is a grumpy mommy in our house. My boys are so funny. They get up in the middle of the night and they stealthily walk into my room and then just stand at the side of the bed until I wake up. So it's always a startling wake up while I whisper out loudly, "who's there?" I don't know why I ask because it's always one of the boys- but I have to admit it scares me everytime. But I am such a sleepy head that I don't get up and walk them back to their bed. I just pull back the covers and let them in. Grace just sleeps quietly in her own bed. Did I say quietly? Oh I forgot to mention that she often talks loudly or yells out in her sleep. She's such a social child that she must dream of playing with her friends because I'll be sound asleep and then she'll yell out, "I'm next!" Or, "Will!" Sometimes she just laughs really loud. It suddenly wakes me up and I sit straight up in bed and it takes me a minute to figure out what just happened. As loudly as Jason snores you'd think that when he's gone I'd sleep like a baby. But I don't. And just like Michelle I spend most of the morning with the coffee cup pressed against my lips. I even decorated my kitchen in coffee decor. So now I'm sitting here singing, "The best part of waking up...is Foldgers in my cup!"
Please go to the following connection and enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KBhtHbJNF0

Or if you really love mornings like me and Michelle...watch this one!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt8QmhllSuk

I'm so glad that I have a husband who loves the Lord with all his heart! Today is Sunday and this morning I had a bad case of "bad attitude". You see today Jason flies to New York City for a conference. I wanted so bad to go with him! It just didn't work out this time. But like any "child" that doesn't get their way I spent a great deal of the morning feeling sorry for myself. Jason was so patient. He was very loving with me and I could tell he was standing in faith for me. That's one of the beautiful benefits of marriage. When one of you feels weak the other stands strong. He was very strong this morning. Very positive. Very loving. And very patient. I often give my children this great little lecture about how we don't get our way when we throw a fit. I frequently tell them that now that they've thrown a fit I can't give them what they wanted. I tell them that when they don't get their way they have a choice to either feel sorry for themselves and focus on yucky feelings or they can choose to shake it off and count their blessings. Yikes. Today I really needed my own lecture. The Pastor's message today was titled "A Day of Liberation". The text was Luke 13:10-17. He pointed out that the crippled woman was there in the synagogue again - even after 18 years of being bent over and crippled. When Jesus saw her he called her forward and said, "Woman, you have been set free from your infirmity." She could have felt sorry for herself that day and not went to hear the teaching. She could have held bitterness in her heart for the 18 years she spent not healed. She could have chosen to focus on thoughts of doubt and unbelief. What if she had said to herself, "Why should I bother going again. God has forgotten me. God must not really love me or He would have healed me many years ago. I'm just a nobody." Maybe she did have some of those thoughts that morning. Maybe she didn't even notice Jesus noticing her. But in His great love and grace He was attracted to her. He heard her silent cry. He touched her and gave her the desire of her heart. If she had let her actions be driven by doubt and self-pity she never would have seen her dream realized. So today as my heart wants to act like a child and total up all the little tiny things that I didn't get when I wanted - I choose to let my faith mobilize my actions and not my feelings. I choose to stand and proclaim that His Word is true. I have benefits because my life has been redeemed from the pit and I'm crowned with love and compassion. He satisfies my desires with good things - and my youth will be renewed like the eagle's. He has compassion on me, His child. (Psalm 103) He has come to give me a life that is full and abundant! (John 10:10) God is able to make all grace abound to me, so that in all things at all times, having all that I need, I will be able to abound in every good work. And He will make me rich in every way so that I can be generous on every occasion, and it is through this generosity that thanksgiving and praise will be given to God. (2 Cor. 9:8-11) So today I'm shaking it off and counting my blessings! I've got a lot to count. Thank you, Lord, for Jason!

It's in the Motherhood Bylaws!

I find it absolutely ironic and somewhat blonde that I participated in last night's family events considering my good friend's recent blog. You'll have to go see "sofabellie" at the "my friend's blogs" on the right side. Recently Julie blogged about cooking with her two little girls. Well last night all three of my children magically remembered that Grace had gotten an Easy Bake oven for Christmas last year. After she got it for Christmas we had to try it out and I think we made a couple of things during the holiday break. But then I put it up in the pantry so that no one would be tempted to get it out and try to cook on their own. Maybe I'm a terrible mom but I just conveniently forgot that it was up there. Before you judge me remember back to the Easy Bake days of your yesteryear. You have to preheat that little light bulb inside for about 15 minutes before you start. Then it takes about 15 minutes for that little light bulb to cook anything. And do you remember what those little mixes tasted like? Well yesterday all three kids really wanted to get it down and make a Friday night desert. So being that it's in the Motherhood Bylaws that you must oblige children when they want to help in the kitchen because it stimulates their learning and is like quality family time or something - I put a smile on my face and got down the Easy Bake. All three kids lined up beside the counter top on three chairs. There was a little fussing on how close the boys were to Grace since she was going to do the actual baking. And then the boys had to push each other off their chairs at least once or twice before we could actually start cooking. So then with a smile that went from here to Connecticut Grace mixed up the little tiny packet of chocolate brownie mix and smeared it into the little tiny baking pan and then put it in the oven. She let Will set the timer for 12 minutes and then went to mixing the frosting. A little too much water accidentally went into the frosting so it kinda ended up like chocolate water. Then the awaited moment arrived and we took out the teenie weenie brownie only to decide that it was a little too crusty and too small to properly delight our family of five. So I went to the cupboard and pulled out a box of chocolate cake mix and we mixed that up with one less egg and a little more oil (so we didn't have a rising catastrophe in the Easy Bake). We then baked five little cakes one by one in the Easy Bake (although at this point I no longer think that "easy" deserves to be in the name). At 12 minutes per cake plus the couple minutes of "oooooh"ing and "aaaahhh"ing in between - it turned out to be a couple of hours of family fun. My little creative princess decided the cakes would be properly topped with a scoop of ice cream - and well - she was right! I spent two hours patiently and was rewarded with chocolate and ice cream. Friday fun!

If at first you don't succeed!

I know the idea here is that I blog close to everyday. I'm not sure why I keep falling behind. So what's been happening to me this week? Well, Monday I decided if I was going to keep this running consistent I'd have to come up with a new daily time. Through the spring and summer the sun was up till 9 or 10pm. I'd put the kids down and let Jason unwind while I went jogging about 8:30pm. I was doing pretty good and up to about 6.5 miles. OK I know this is hard to believe but in about 3 weeks I've slid way back! I decided that there would be no schedule conflicts or excuses if I changed my run time to 5AM! By no excuses I mean other than the "I'm so tired I can't wake up!" excuse! So did I run Monday at 5AM? Yes. How did it go? Well, 1/3 of the way through I must not have had as much spring in my step as usual because I caught my toe in the sidewalk and went flying through air and landed on my hands and knees. The good news: I yelled shoot on the way down. (Although it was still dark out and nobody was awake yet- so you just have to take my word for it that "shoot" is what I yelled.) The bad news: I won't be wearing short skirts for a while.) So your next question is: How did your run go Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I'm still working on the schedule. Do I still get kudos if I sandwich the week and just run Monday and Friday? For the record I did get up and keep running after I fell. I'm really trying. You know what they say...If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. What can I say - I don't give up.

"Forgive me for I have not blogged."

It's been a crazy week! Tonight I sat down with the computer and realized that it's been a week since I last blogged. I felt like I should be going to computer confession. I must make this short though because the Colts are playing NY Giants. Manning against Manning!! How exciting! But don't think I'm too much of a sports guru - I've enjoyed the Peyton Manning commercials as much as I have the game. Bowl of cereal - about $1. Oversized candle on the coffee table - $6. Fuzzy blanket "borrowed" from mother-in-law 6 months ago - free. Cuddling with my Hunky Husband while watching the Colts - PRICELESS!

Labor Day!

Don't you just hate it when you go to look up a house online - or look up a picture in a yearbook - and it says, "No Photo Available"? Well unfortunately for all time when my kids go to recall Labor Day 2006 that's exactly what they'll find. Here's why: We decided at the last minute to go down to Indy Sunday night and stay at the Holiday Inn where the Caribbean's Cove is located. Since Sunday afternoon I was sitting an open house till 4PM that meant afterwards I was running around my house trying to get everyone packed for the last minute sleepover. I didn't do too bad packing! I managed to pack our entire family of 5 into one single bag for the overnight trip! Not too shabby, eh? OK, so Jason is insisting that I note that HE packed his stuff in the bag and now he's trying to turn it into WE packed all our stuff into 1 bag. Whatever. So anyway we had a wonderful evening jumping on the bed in the hotel. (A tradition we adopted from Aunt Michelle and practice religiously.) We went out to eat at one of the hotel restaurants, which was a little eventful because some of the kitchen staff got into a fight back in the kitchen so we got to listen to it from out in the restaurant. Then we cuddled and watched TV and got ready for bed. It was kinda funny because the hotel messed up our reservation a little. Did you ever watch the Seinfeld episode where he argues with the car rental place and tells them, "So you're good at TAKING the reservation, it's the KEEPING the reservation that you don't do."? Our reservation turned out just like that so we ended up in a room that had one king bed and a "complimentary" roll away bed waiting for us in the room. It's a good thing that the roll away was complimentary because I don't think they could have paid someone to sleep on it. But Jason and I thought - the kids won't care! Kids will sleep on anything. Wrong. Jason went out for a walk while I tried to get the kids to sleep. Let's just say when he came back all the kids were not in the roll away. They were in our bed. Our little princess was the first to point out that it was just too uncomfortable - guess she felt the pea. So we did like any good parents would do. We waited till they were all asleep and then put them in the roll away. But then it's the funniest thing. Next thing I know I'm waking up the next morning and all the kids are back in our bed and lo and behold - what the? - I'm in the roll away by myself! I think I must have decided that it was too crowded during the night and picked lumpiness over toes in my nose. Monday we went for breakfast then headed to the indoor water park. It was awesome! I wish we would have caught on film their simultaneous "WWOOOOWWW" when we walked in. Oh yeah, the lack of pictures. While WE were frantically packing I looked everywhere for the new digital camera that I had just used the other day - but it was nowhere to be found! It was mystifying! So I went to grab the video camera and realized that I had forgot to plug it in so it didn't have enough battery power. So the weekend was left to be captured by the recesses of our minds. Back to the story- the water park was wonderful! It had a big kid's area that was really shallow and filled with water falling, spraying all around, and a big ship sort of thing in the middle with a huge wooden bucket over the whole thing. Water continually poured into the gigantic wooden bucket and when it got so full it would start to ding to let you know it was about to tip. So all the kids would run around to the side where it poured out and then there would be a beautiful sounding gleeful scream as the giant bucket would pour TONS of water over all the children standing below. Then over on the other side there was a lazy river where you could float around through it in inter tubes. And if that wasn't fun enough there were huge tubes above that made the biggest water slides that I've seen. There was one yellow slide that was big enough that you could fit a double inter tube in - that's the one we took Grace and Will down several times. Then there was a green tube and a blue tube that you just sat down and slide down on your own. We decided the kids weren't quite ready for that yet. It's a good thing because Jason decided to try them out. He started with the blue tube. When he got down he came to me and said it was absolutely terrifying! He said the entire slide it was pitch black! You were sliding down at a high rate of speed, being bumped all around, and the whole way you couldn't see a thing. I'm so glad we didn't send Will down that!!! He said the green wasn't quite as bad - but still a little too much for the kids. So the whole day we enjoyed playing and laughing and having the greatest time. Much to the kids' dismay we eventually had to leave. It was the funniest thing. We were home settling down for the night and I was mumbling how disappointed I was that I hadn't found the camera. I was trying to convince everyone that I was absolutely sure that I had laid it on the bar when just by chance I glanced up at the bookshelf. It was on the very top of the bookshelf! I can barely reach the top of the bookshelf! That's when the kids said, "Oh yeah, the babysitter put it there the other night because she caught us playing with it." I had found it one hour after we had returned home. Well there is one picture that will make me think of this weekend. This is the picture I found on the camera when I turned it on.

http://www.caribbeancovewaterpark.com

Family Pictures

We haven't had a family picture taken for a few years! So this was fun. I quickly remembered why we only do professional pictures every year or so. The kids were - well - kids. Grace did pretty good. She likes getting her picture taken. The boys like getting their picture taken too - but for an entirely different reason. They like making a sport out of pretending to make sweet smiles and then as soon as the photographer says "ready, set, - cheese" on cheese the boys quickly change to a face they feel would be particularly comical for family pictures. Yes it was so much fun! We really wanted one of the kids by themselves and one of the guys all together. Those didn't happen. We got this family picture, one of Jay and I, and one really cute one of Grace with me. I'll post those later. For now let's just enjoy the family picture. Aaaahhhhh, don't they just look like such a nice, sane, controlled, peaceful, perfect little family. --Yeah that's why you get family pictures taken!

On a serious note - I really am blessed! I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful family. Yesterday I was showing a home and there was a little plaque on the wall that said, "I could not be more proud and thankful for anything so much as to know that my children love the Lord." I almost started to cry. There reallly is no more satisfying feeling than when one of your children shares from their heart how much they love the Lord! Thank you God!!!!!

School's Cool!

We're back in school and it's so cool!!!

I can't believe the summer's over. Today the kids finished their second week of school. We are so proud of them. Grace is in 2nd grade. Last year she transfered to a new school 3 weeks into the school year because we found out she qualified for the gifted and talented program our public school offers. The whole year Will didn't think it was fair that now she got to ride a bus because her school was farther away. It wasn't my idea for anyone to ride a bus, but since her bus driver was a good friend of ours I relented for her to ride in the mornings. Well we were so excited to find out this summer that Will qualified for gifted and talented program as well! They call it the "Key" program and we just love it! It's also cool 'cause our neighbor is their new principal.

All kids are different and they all have talents in different areas. Grace is an incredible reader and writes like nothing I've ever seen before. Will is totally fascinated by anything science related and does great in math. Both are dramatic! I don't know where they get that from!

Yesterday I had to make a trip to the school so that Ethan and I could deliver their newly caught Praying Mantis to them. Ethan discovered it the day before while the other two were at school and when they got home you would have thought we had found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

Today we let it go. Will got very upset and insisted we let the poor guy go because after all, "Praying Mantis' are almost extinct! If we don't let him go he'll never grow up and have a family and children!"

They just love school and I'm glad! Maybe tomorrow I'll download their first day of school pics and tell some of their fun stories about their first days of school.

Love them! Love them! Love them!

(p.s. This picture was taken earlier this summer. One day they were all upstairs playing and proudly came down all dressed exactly alike. They were so thrilled with themselves they insisted I take their picture. They picked the place in the garden even. They're kinda shy that way!)