The Life and Times of Mommy.

Wordless Wednesday...Easter 2011

2011-04-27T11:19:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone had a blessed Easter!

TTFN,

'take another little piece of my heart now, baby...'

2011-04-05T12:48:00.006-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted, but I've been kinda busy...

This is the belly shot the night before she was born.

Wow. ALL baby, right??

Meet the baby inside...

~~Welcome~~

Aubrey Alaina Waltman

March 24, 2011

8lbs 6oz, 21.5in long

My first time to hold her...

Napping together...

Sweet baby girl.

Look at those cheeks!! :)

Proud Daddy.

Papa love.

Going home.

Tiny toes.

Precious.

Love.

Paul took the last few pics...aren't they beautiful? The lighting in

our hospital room was great, in case you didn't notice...all the pics

we took there turned out really great, lighting wise.

We've been home since last Saturday, and doing well. She's a sweet

baby, and all the kids just love her (so far ;) I will have to post pics

of the other kids with her later.

We came up with her first name the night before, and even with that,

her middle name was undecided until after she was born. Aubrey is

a name that means worlds to me-it was my Grandfather's name-but

I have a cousin with a little girl named Aubrey. After a lot of debate,

and a few phone calls, I discovered that my cousin had another reason

to call her daughter Aubrey, and they live in California,

so Paul and I decided to go with it. I originally wanted to name

Emmie that, but my cousin's little girl was born first. I love it,

but have trouble not accidentally calling her Emmie!! LOL!! :)

Anyway, I was thinking as I saw her for the first time how crazy it

is that no matter how many children we have, I still have the same

feelings of awe...of pure, unconditional love. I know sometimes that

when we have the first we can't imagine how we could ever love

another child as much...but then the second comes along and it's just

like, oh, ok, that's how that works!! And it's been like that each time.

I've been trying to figure out how to explain it, and instead of thinking

that each child is taking up space inside our hearts, eventually

crowding each other, either God made our hearts to grow with each

one or He gave us just the right amount of chambers to hold each

child He intends to give us. I am still amazed. And in love with

each one. Thank you, God...my cup overflows.

Gotta go...feeding time!! :)

TTFN,

I am...

2011-03-10T13:23:00.003-06:00

~37 weeks and 3 days pregnant.

~2 weeks and 4 days from my actual due date.

~2 weeks to the day from our scheduled c-section.

~not sure we're gonna make it that long!

~trying to enjoy the last days of this pregnancy...

because it may be our last.

~alternately moody and happy all the time...short

tempered and patient...it's a weird combination.

~still not sure what we're gonna name her.

(again, suggestions are welcome!!)

~uncomfortable all the time...yet still amazed at

what is going on inside my body!

~BLOGGING!! :)

~eating WAY too much...giving myself some

fierce indigestion.

~unable to draw a good, deep breath.

(seriously, have you ever looked at a diagram

of where your organs go during pregnancy??)

~trying to get my house ready...I put things off

way too long, and now I'm too big to do alot of things!

~sure she's going to be a big one.

~ready to hold our precious baby.

~blessed beyond measure.

TTFN,

March??

2011-03-03T14:05:00.004-06:00

Seriously.

March?

Wow...time flies...and somehow manages to drag

all at the same time. I told Paul the other night that

this has been the longest pregnancy on record. At least

that's how it feels to me! At the same time, I don't think

we're quite ready for her to be here yet...you know...since

she still doesn't have a name and all. Poor kid.

{any suggestions welcomed}

On the bright side, the girls rooms upstairs are almost

finished-we're hoping to move them in this weekend.

I'll have to post pics when they are done.

Then we just have to put Noah in the twin bed with his and

Jacob's new bedding, and get Emmie settled into the toddler

bed in the girl's old room after we move them out and get it

all cleaned up, and get the baby stuff out and

ready for the baby...

Phew...did I say we weren't quite ready yet??

In other baby news, I'm roughly the size of a whale.

Really, I've never been this big, I don't think, and the

funny part is I'm ALL BABY. So I look sort of like a stick

bug that swallowed an olive.

Yeah, I'll give you a minute to process that one...

She's very active, and I'm very awkward. And tired.

And very pregnant. I'm not complaining too much, though.

I DO love being pregnant, and I am crazy excited to meet

the newest member of our brood, so the aches and pains,

and distorted body image are very much worth it. :)

Wanna know what I'm most curious about with this one??

All the girls in our house-including me-have blue eyes.

All the boys in our house-including Paul-have brown eyes.

Will this baby follow the pattern?? This is one of my favorite

parts of having a new baby...who will she look like, whose

temperament will she have, will she follow the unusual

gender-eye-color pattern thing we have going on??

As of now, we are scheduled for a repeat c-section on

March 24th. I'm none too happy about the section...I hate

them...but after the mild scare with Emmie, I'm just doing

what I feel is safest for the baby. Although my OB did say

that if I went into labor on my own before that and things

progressed quickly and smoothly (they never have in the past)

that we could try the v-bac again. In his words, 'You HAVE

had more vaginal births than c-sections at this point, and

it stands to reason that you could do it again.'

I had a successful v-bac with Noah, and then things got a

little scary with Emmie near the end, and I made the call to

just do the section for her safety. I would LOVE to have

another v-bac, but we'll just have to see. I'm praying

about it, and I'll do whatever I feel God is leading us to

do when the time comes.

If you're still out there, thanks! :)

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-a little Disney...then and now

2011-01-19T14:08:00.004-06:00

Noah...Disney World...Nov. 2008

Noah...Disney World (same spot)...Dec. 2010

I'm trying to get back into blogging. I'm trying.

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday...Halloween style 2010

2010-11-03T00:31:00.004-05:00

I don't know why Emmie was being so silly,

but the pics are cute anyway!! ;)

TTFN,

P.S. just in case you were wondering, the

older 2 didn't dress up this year. :(

And...

2010-11-01T14:02:00.004-05:00

For those of you who don't know via Facebook...

We're super excited and can't wait to meet her!! :)

And just a little sweet...

When I was getting dressed Friday, Noah asked where I

was going. When I said I was going to the Dr, in typical Noah

fashion he suddenly had a cough and insisted he needed to

go to the Dr too. I explained that I was not sick, but I had to

go and let the Dr check out the baby. When we got back, he

looked at me expectantly, then looked all around me.

Then he looked up at me curiously and said,

"But where's the new baby?? I thought you were going to get it!"

He's very ready for his new baby to get here. :)

TTFN,

18 weeks-belly shot

2010-10-25T16:24:00.004-05:00

Yes, this is my messy bedroom and my unmade bed.

Don't judge me.

And this is my 18 week belly. Not even 5 months, and I

feel HUGE! LOL!!

Yeah, I didn't do my hair or makeup today, so no face shot.

Don't judge me.

I'm feeling much better this week, and am very excited to

go to the Dr. on Friday and find out what our little nudger is.

Pink or blue??? :)

On a serious note, I would covet your prayers for my friend,

Konnie, whose mom has bone cancer and is going through a

huge ordeal. The whole family has really been through it the

last year and a half or so, and I know they would all appreciate

any prayers lifted up on their behalf.

I guess blogging once a week is better than once every

3 months or so!! Hope everyone's having a great Monday.

TTFN,

P.S. Just wanted to thank Julie for the phrase 'Don't judge me.'

It comes in handy. ;)

I make no promises...

2010-10-18T19:15:00.002-05:00

Ok, the fact that the last time I posted I was 4 weeks PG

is pretty sad considering I am 17 weeks today.

{SIGH}

Where have I been? Mostly on my couch-

Nauseous and exhausted like I've never been before.

This has been the hardest pregnancy so far.

Seriously. Bad. Stuff.

I might have posted sooner, you know, if I could have

picked my head up.

Now that the nasties have subsided enough, maybe I will

be able to post more frequently. But I make no promises.

Other than that, the pregnancy is going fine. I've lost weight-

no big surprise-and the baby sounds fine. We have 'the' ultrasound

a week from Friday to find out the sex of the baby. I don't have

any feelings one way or the other about what I think it might be-

that's pretty unusual too. Not that it matters at this point! ;)

I've been in maternity clothes for a few weeks now...I guess they're

not kidding when they say you get bigger earlier with each

pregnancy...I'm a whale already. I can't wait to see just how

huge I get by the end! <--insert sarcasm here--

Anyway, I just thought I'd update. And I really will try to

keep posting. I do read everyone's blogs still, and I even comment

now and then. Miss y'all! :)

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday...wanna see what I saw??

2010-07-21T18:07:00.003-05:00

Sorry the lines are so faint...I didn't take the picture right away

and they faded!! The Dr. did confirm it today, though! We are

officially 4 weeks and 2 days pregnant! :)

TTFN,

Waiting for Michael...

2010-07-16T13:42:00.003-05:00

The concert was amazing-as usual, Michael didn't disappoint!

This was only our 3rd time to see him! :)

Our 'romantic' night out turned out a little less than romantic.

I forget how stressful it can be to NOT know exactly where

you're going in NOLA-I guess that since I've been sick,

I wasn't in my right brain...I didn't use mapquest to

make sure I knew where the Arena was,

and I didn't make dinner plans.

We were running just a bit later than we wanted, so we

called and had Ashton do mapquest for us, and after

driving to the Arena first to make sure I was certain

of where it was, (I had no idea it was part of the SuperDome)

we set off toward Canal to find some grub.

Ever been to NOLA and tried to drive much? It's a city of one way

streets, it's definitely much better walking, and we just didn't have time

to find a parking place, walk somewhere to eat,

and make it back before the show started.

So I dropped Paul off at the corner McDonald's and circled the block

5 times before picking him up on the same corner. We drove back to

the Arena and ate our McD's in the parking garage.

Yeah, I know, every girl's dream, right?

SOOOOO romantic!!

{insert sarcasm. LOTS of sarcasm.}

It was really funny, though, even then, and with the free

tickets and the cheap meal, we've been

joking about our cheap date ever since.

I'd do it again just to spend time with my honey.

Oh, and Paul too.

BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-Wheeeeeeeee!!!

2010-07-14T13:46:00.002-05:00

TTFN,

betcha thought...

2010-07-13T16:25:00.003-05:00

that I'd disappeared again, didn't ya??

Well, I (sort of) did.

I've spent 3 of the last 5 days quarantined in our

upstairs room sick. Again. With strep. AGAIN.

UGH.

And just because strep twice in one month isn't enough,

remember that horrific mouth infection Emmie had?

Yep. Got that too.

I'm just barely beginning to feel human again. I did let Paul

go back to work yesterday, and I did spend most of yesterday

laying on the couch wondering how people who don't have

a 13 and 11 year old function with littles when

they're sick!!

Thank you, Ashton and Sydney

BTW, the fever blister on the outside of my mouth is SCARY.

Seriously, I'd post a pic, but it would make people sick.

I've never seen one like this. It's freaky.

The worst part is that Paul and I have a hot date tomorrow

night. Yeah, it's the middle of the week, but we don't

plan the concert schedule of Michael Buble. Cause, ya know,

if I did, he'd get real tired of performing in my living room.

I'm just sayin.

We're driving almost an hour and a half to NOLA to see

Michael Buble, enjoying a night out together, dressing up,

and I look like someone tried to take off my bottom lip

with a flame thrower!

Anyway, it'll be fine.

Did I mention we're seeing Michael Buble?

(again)

Did I mention I WON the tickets??

(again)

Did I mention that Michael Buble doesn't actually have to

see ME, and that makes it all better?!?!?

BWAHAHAHA.

Ahem

The only way it could be any better

(other than having a normal lip, that it is)

is if we had a whole day to spend

in NOLA, but oh, well. Maybe next time!!

I'll let you know how it goes!

TTFN,

Wordy Wednesday...

2010-07-07T14:34:00.006-05:00

I'm so far behind I think I'm about to lap myself!!

I'm here, and I'm thankful for those of you who are

still here too!!

Here's a brief rundown/catch up. We...

Celebrated our 14 year anniversary!!

Spent two weeks in Disney...had a fantastic time-BUT-

found out that my two littles can be crazy stressful when

naps exit the scene and are replaced by long,

miserably hot days.

I got the sickest I think I've ever been with strep throat

just days after we got back from Disney. For the first time

in our marriage, Paul had to stay home from work to take care

of me and the kids. I spent a full 48 hours closed up in our upstairs

room with no contact with the kids-approx 16 straight hours

of that time were spent unconscious-lots of fever and meds.

I don't remember most of that week.

Had a second and a sixth birthday!

(well, they weren't MINE, of course, but you know)

Had some dramatic GARBAGE go on with some friends and

some people that I thought were friends. I'm not gonna

name any names, but one of the gossip/drama causers

is a pretty popular blogger around here...

and a (former?) IRL friend.

I am saddened to find out that she is NOT the person

I thought she was...or who she pretends to be.

Found out we do not have a special souvenir in the making.

A little disappointed about that, but

we'll keep working on it! ;)

Work on the upstairs addition has come to a temporary halt...

it's very hard to work in the non-air-conditioned attic when the

temps up there get close to 130 degrees cause it's so stinkin hot here!

I lost a friend to an overdose. It was unbelievably hard for me to

wrap my mind around. And just hard. Very hard.

Emmie has been running fever since last Wednesday. I took her

to the Dr. Friday just because I wanted her seen before the holiday

so if she needed meds she could get on them and we could go about

our weekend. The Dr. told me what I already knew...it was viral.

But said if she was still running fever Sunday or Monday to bring

her back. I hate that. Really? You will be able to do something with

her virus then that you can't do now??

Anyway, by Monday she was still running

fever, but had a new symptom...her gums were swollen and bleeding.

This worried me a bit and after looking into her mouth, I thought

her front teeth looked funny, so I made her another appt. Paul wanted

me to take her to the dentist instead, and I tried to get her an appt

there, but with no luck. I loaded her up for her Dr's appt knowing that

I just needed to hear what the problem was...I'm not a worrier, but I

felt that there was more to her symptoms than just her teeth and fever.

The Dr. looked in her mouth for all of one second and said she has a

severe herpes infection all in her mouth. (the herpes that causes cold sores,

NOT the other kind!!) Ashton and Paul get them all the time, and

Ashton has had one for almost 2 weeks by this time, so I knew where

Emmie got it from. I was relieved to know what was wrong,

but surprised by the severity of Emmie's symptoms.

Apparently babies get it BAD.

Of course, it's still a virus, so the Dr. said there isn't anything we

can do but wait it out. Thankfully she is some better now, I have to

cut her food into tiny bites, and her gums still bleed, but the fever is

mostly gone and she's finally eating!!

She lost 2lbs from Friday to Monday from not eating. She's too tiny as

is it...she didn't need to lose weight!

And now I have my first ever cold sore. Thanks, E.

I had NO IDEA how miserable they are.

I can't even imagine what my poor baby has been through the

last week! I have since found out that a dentist WILL prescribe

meds for it that shortens the duration, and that makes me a little

angry with her pedi, but by the time we went in Monday she was on

the downhill slope, and from what I've read the meds work best if

you catch the virus in the beginning stages.

Next time it's not supposed to be nearly as bad.

We saw Toy Story 3.

I cried.

If I don't see Eclipse soon, I may cry again.

Still here?? LOL...sorry that was so long!! I'm going to try to get

back into the swing of blogging, and in the process also type up and

post-date some back posts. I've missed A LOT that I need to

post about. If you don't want to do all the catch-up posts, I'll

understand. But this blog is also my scrapbook/family record thingy,

so I feel the need to update all the stuff I missed.

It feels good to be back! :)

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday...'Daddy, that was MY bite!!'

2010-06-16T17:42:00.003-05:00

this is just where I'm at...

2010-06-12T03:04:00.003-05:00

why am I still awake? life is too tired for me to ponder tonight...or maybe it's just me that's tired and life that's wide awake. too many brain things going on inside my head today...I'll truly never understand the minds of other people...those who don't think the way I do about things. why do they think the way they do? why are things that are repugnant to me alright in their minds?what makes right RIGHT and wrong WRONG...where is the line? why do some feel the need to hurt without considering the repercussions in others lives? a ripple becomes a wave by the time it reaches the edge of the pond...actions by one can affect all...is that too much power over another person? I'm rambling...but spilling...so necessary to clear the cobwebs. tired...yet my brain keeps running...to catch up to those whose brains are fast and furious, weak and wicked...do I want to catch up? do I want to find the devil's playground in the will of those I thought I knew but don't know at all? illusion is a strange friend. do I have the strength to face those demons tonight?? I'll have to go lay on my face a while and let God deal with it...

that's all I have left...
sorry for the ramble...pray for hurt friends...pray for gossipers within our own church family who hurt them with untruths...pray that I can be a help in time of uncertainty.

TTFN,

Say a little prayer for our coast...

2010-04-30T09:26:00.002-05:00

Most of you already know that I live on the gulf coast of

Mississippi. Not directly on the coast-we live about 25 miles

inland-but there is something very scary happening

right now on our beautiful coast.

You have certainly all heard about the Deep Horizon off-

shore drilling rig that exploded last week in the Gulf of

Mexico. They originally reported that it was spilling just

a small amount of oil into the Gulf, but now we know that

it is spilling as much as 5000 barrels, or 200,000 gallons

of oil into our water everyday. They are now saying

that it could take as much as 3 months to be able to cap

the leak. And this morning I read that they are expecting

this oil spill to be worse than the worst oil spill in history-

the Exxon Valdez.

I can't even begin to tell you how bad this is for the coast. It

affects every part of life here. The wildlife is in horrific danger,

the people who make their living fishing and shrimping are in

danger of losing their livelihoods, and the seafood industry as

a whole-epecially the local restaurants and markets are in a

really bad spot.

In addition to praying for the families of the workers lost when the

rig exploded, will you please, please pray for the coast? Especially

this weekend as the oil will actually be hitting the shore as early as

this morning. I will keep you updated as I know more.

Thank you in advance.

TTFN,

Ok, let's try that again...

2010-04-23T14:27:00.010-05:00

So that last post was a total flub.

Sorry.

I hit 'enter' when I meant to hit 'tab.'

Thus, the postless post was born.

The 'hahahaha' was not becuase there was nothing

in the post. I promise.

I was laughing at the fact that so many of you guessed

that we are adding on because I'm pregnant.

Because I'm NOT.

{yet}

We ARE adding on...everyone got that part right. We are

a family of 7 living in a 3Br/2Ba house, and things are just tight!

Paul, Emmie, and I share the master, Jacob and Noah share a room,

and Ashton and Sydney share a room.

We are adding 2 bedrooms and a full bath in the unused part of the

attic. We already have a big 'media' room up there.

Ashton and Sydney will have their own (small) rooms, and a (small)

bathroom to share among themselves and with anyone in the

upstairs room who needs to use the facilities but doesn't want

to walk back down the stairs. (read: everyone)

Jacob and Noah will continue to share their room, and Emmie will get

the room Ashton and Sydney share. She may have to share it

one day as well.

As far as me being PG, like I said before, I'm NOT. But we are

going to Disney in a month (a month EXACTLY, as a matter of fact)

and for the first time since our honeymoon, we will have a room to

to ourselves!!

Ahem.

{grin}

Let's just say we'd like to bring back a...shall we say...special...souvenir.

{blush}

And if it doesn't happen then, we will continue trying.

I'll keep you posted on the upstairs building...and

I'll let you know something when I know something! :)

TTFN,

Hahahaha!!

2010-04-23T14:00:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday...what in the world...

2010-04-21T10:09:00.004-05:00

...is Paul working on in the attic???

TTFN,

P.S. Konnie...you don't get to answer this one cause you

already know!! LOL!! ;)

My other sweet boy...

2010-04-09T10:00:00.001-05:00

Jacob's paper he brought home this week;

(verbatim)

Wun deay I wint too The Jungl and I sol a wolf.

and I toold him too sit.

The End.

LOVE IT.

Best story EVA.

TTFN,

Just me and Syd...

2010-04-08T16:05:00.007-05:00

Syd and I are in Jackson again, this time for

the All State choir festival. We'll be here till

Saturday. This is my first time away from my

babies for more than a night, and Paul's first

time taking care of them for this long-but he will

have help from his mom, so I'm not too worried.

Missing all my babies (the big ones too) already!

Things were a bit stressful when we got here because

our choir director was running late (as usual*) and

I wasn't sure we could check in, but not only were we

able to, the lady said they had my Marriott number

-which I didn't even know I had-

and they were bumping us up to a concierge room!!

Super cool-even though it's a pretty normal

looking room. Very nice, though, and clean. And the

bath stuff is Bath and Body Works which totally rocks! :)

*just a side note-YES, I am normally late. For everything.

But this guy...OMGosh, he makes me look super organized

and super punctual!! To be a teacher, he's NEVER prepared,

and always the last one to any choir function. Also, I just

wanted to point out (because it's my blog and I can)

that we managed to leave early this morning.

Yep. EARLY! Yay me!

We left before our scheduled time. Maybe a first.

But then, as a super bonus, when our director got here, he

informed me that the choir boosters voted to pay our

entire trip, including meals! Whoo-hoo!!! Praise the Lord!!

Now I can afford the $12.95 per 24hrs on internet I'm

having to pay to type this!!

Hahahahahaha!

I'm so in my element here. I think I had more fun at the first

rehearsal than Sydney did! I was just wishing I had the music

so I could sing along! I'm a total choir nerd! :) I miss all this.

Anyway, I'll be on here as time allows. They've got us

on a pretty tight schedule, but after this evening they

aren't allowing parents into rehearsals so I'll have some free

time here and there. Hope everyone had a great

weekend! I know I am!

TTFN,

P.S. If you're wondering about the title...(it's one thing

on the dashboard and something else when you open

it) 3 words...complete user error. :/

Wordless Wednesday-Sydney sings at the capitol.

2010-04-07T14:09:00.001-05:00

TTFN,

Sweet boy...

2010-04-06T11:46:00.002-05:00

Last night at bedtime:

Sydney-'Noah, God is watching over us all the time!'

Noah (looking around) 'Where is He?'

Sydney-'Well, He's invisible. We can't see Him.'

Noah-(pouting, with his lip sticking out) 'Aww...but I

wanted to pway hide-and-seet wif Him!'

Not Me Monday-♫Don't You...Forget About Me♪

2010-03-29T10:25:00.002-05:00

Not Me Monday!

A blog carnival created by

MckMama.

Where we all share our (not so) short comings.

It has not been just over a month since my last post.

I am not horrified at myself for slacking. However, we have

not been pretty busy, and I did not find it easier and easier

to just not blog as the time went on. I am also not horribly

behind on blog reading-I am so sorry!!! I haven't decided

if I'm going to try to catch up or just move on from here.

(If any of you had anything momentous or exciting go on

while I was absent, please add a link in the comments so I

can go read and celebrate with you!! :)

Here are a few things I/we have not been doing:

1. I have become an avid couponer. I had no idea how

time consuming it is! I have been saving lots of money,

though, and it's quite a rush!

2. I sent my youngest to church one Sunday in a dress

that the hem was all the way out of. I may have just

taped it back up with packing tape. Maybe.

3. Ball season has started. It's a bit stressful this year.

Jacob has games on school nights that don't START till 8:15.

That's 15 minutes past his bedtime already, so I'm really not

happy about that. It is what it is, though. Pictures to follow.

4. Paul's dad passed away Sunday the 21st. His funeral was

this past Wednesday. It was a wonderful service, although it was

much harder on Paul than he thought it would be. It was a long,

emotionally and physically tiring week, but we know where he

is and he's not suffering any more. I am thankful that the kids

got to visit him one last time while he was still lucid.

5. I missed my one year blogiversary. Not because I wasn't blogging,

it was back in January when I WAS, but because my blog counter

was wrong. And no matter how many times I try to fix it, the

counter always starts off wrong. This is also my 200th post!!

6. Noah has become obsessed with rocks. He always has rocks, rock

piles, rock buddies, etc. It's really cute...until I step on one, barefoot,

in the middle of the living room floor!

Thanks to those who are still here...I love and miss you all!!

TTFN,

If nautical nonsense is something you wish...

2010-02-23T06:07:00.000-06:00

An actual dinner conversation:

Paul and I are eating Subway and the kids are eating

chicken strips from the corner gas station. (at home)

(These strips rival KFC. Seriously.)

Noah seems to realize Paul has something different than

he does and says something I've very rarely heard him say:

"Daddy, I-ona bite-a yours."

After staring at me in disbelief for a moment, Paul leans over

and gives Noah a bite of his Subway club with the works.

As soon as the bite goes in it is promptly yucked back into

Paul's hand.

Noah points at the lettuce on Paul's sub seriously and says,

"Daddy, I dest don't wike your seaweed!"

Maybe we watch too much Spongebob.

TTFN,

Not welcome here.

2010-02-18T13:55:00.004-06:00

99.99999% of you are always welcome here.

I ♥ you all, and find some guilty pleasure in knowing

that you like coming here and reading about me and

my family. You leave positive comments and I even chat

with some of you through email and Facebook.

I am so very thankful for the new friendships.

However.

A few days ago I had a visitor who, hiding behind

anonymous, left me a nasty comment about

a fellow blogger whom I consider to be a friend.

The comment was hurtful, used language I don't

use, and even managed to have racism in it.

I will not tolerate this on MY BLOG.

First and foremost, this is my FAMILY blog. It is personally

insulting to me that anyone would comment on a post

that was very special to me in a way that is meant

to hurt someone. My family, and especially my children,

read this blog. No one will leave nasty or inappropriate

comments here. They will be deleted immediately, and

the commenter will be blocked.

Second, the person who was insulted is a friend.

I don't know her personal business because it is just that-

HER BUSINESS.

Anything she is doing or has done in her life that may

(or may not)

be the right thing to do is between her and God.

NOT YOU AND HER.

Especially if you don't buck up and admit who you are.

Hiding behind anonymous is just cowardly.

It is not for me or you to judge, and by you doing so,

I think you are just as much in the wrong as anything

(you think) she might be doing.

Grow up. We're not in high school anymore.

Get over it. Let her live her life and you live yours.

If she is not hurting you personally, move on.

If she is, tell her so-openly so that she knows who you are-

and deal with it.

Know that you and your nasty comments are

not welcome here.

For now I am not turning off my anonymous comments.

I have had some very nice people comment using the

anonymous feature, and I don't want to block that.

But I will.

TTFN,

13-now

2010-02-11T13:45:00.005-06:00

Trying something new with my pictures...I hope they show up right.

I took these the other day.

We had about 5 minutes, she was impatient, and the sun

was directly in her face. She doesn't usually glow quite that

much! LOL.

They are still beautiful.

Make-up and jewelry.

Friends and boys.

I hope you will be willing

to share it all with me.

You are growing too fast...

but thankfully not grown yet.

Enjoy it, baby girl. You only get these years once.

I will be here for the whole ride. No matter what.

Hang on tightly to God, and know that only He

loves you more than daddy and I do.

tears.

joy.

love.

baby.

girl.

woman.

TTFN,

13-then

2010-02-10T14:00:00.001-06:00

This post is only three weeks late... :( Sorry Ash.

Between my procrastination, my scanner not scanning,

and blogger refusing to upload all the pictures I wanted

to post, this post is roughly 3 weeks in the making.

Because I couldn't upload the old and new pictures at the

same time (what's up with Blogger???) I'm doing a 'then'

post and a 'now' post. And because my scanner is dumb,

the youngest picture I have of Ash is one of her 1yr old pics.

You gave me the best job title I've ever had;

Momma.

Beautiful from birth, you have always had amazingly blue eyes.
You look so much like your dad's 2yr old pictures here it's
unreal. With the exception of the long hair, of course! :)
You still look more like your dad.

Sweet and funny, always quick to smile and laugh.

Amazed by butterflies and all animals, you wanted to
be a vet from the time you were about 3.

Sometimes quiet and introspective-always smart and thoughtful.

The gratuitous snaggle-tooth shot-one of my favorite looks.

Sorry, Ash.

And sorry to my

readers for the blurry shot!

Always liked short-medium hair better than long.

Girlie and tom-boy all rolled into one.

Loves food and all things eating!! ;)

Wonderful big sister-little mother hen.

Beautiful smile, loves to laugh.

Too big, but not yet grown-

almost as tall as me!

I can't believe you are 13.

You were and always will be my first

baby girl. I love you more than any words

could express. I thank God for you everyday.

TTFN,

Go team!!

2010-02-07T14:14:00.004-06:00

So...today's the day!!

Who are you rootin for?

Are you even gonna watch?

I was playing with the fondant yesterday and

made these. Nothing fancy, but definitely fun!

Go Team!!

(I personally have no team...not a big football fan myself.

Just getting into all the fun. :)

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-Don't that just take the cake?

2010-01-27T10:01:00.005-06:00

Alternately titled:

Another reason I'll never lose weight

The reason I didn't have time to get online

all weekend.

It was far from perfect, but all in all I think it's

pretty darn good for our first fondant attempt! :)

TTFN,

Noah's birthday!

2010-01-26T08:53:00.000-06:00

My sweet baby boy.

I loved you before I ever knew you.

You have my heart and soul.

Lots of pictures to follow!!

Naked belly picture warning!!

Noah Aaron Waltman

1-16-2007

7lbs 13oz

Going home!!

You clawed your face up!! Poor baby. :)

You made (and still) make the funniest faces!!
You are always happy.

You have sugar everywhere!

Your smile melts me.

I love your sweet little toddler cheeks and teeth.

You love your sister...even when y'all are fighting over toys!

You love your daddy.

You charm everyone you meet.

Your eyes mesmerize me!

You love life.

Thank you for loving me.

You get excited about everything.

You make life fun.

You give awesome hugs.

You are growing up too fast...

I love that you still baby talk.

I love that you love to cuddle.

I love that you put your hands on my

cheeks to give me a kiss.

I love you because you are you.

TTFN,

Forgive me for not posting this sooner, little man!! :)

Wordless Wednesday-the reason I'll never lose weight...

2010-01-20T09:51:00.006-06:00

'I pity the fool that touches MY doughnut!'

pictures courtesy of my cell phone.

We love this place! :)

TTFN,

Guess who's turning 3??

2010-01-16T17:17:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday sweet Noah!!

I love you more than mud!!!! ;)

I'll do a real birthday post early next week!!

TTFN,

Melancholy

2010-01-14T09:14:00.003-06:00

Sorry, this is going to be one of those downer

kinda posts. That's just where I am today.

Paul's dad's cancer is pretty much throughout his

body. There's not much they can or are willing

to do as he's 72 and not in the best health anyway.

The Dr told him they can do chemo but it's not going

to cure anything...it may just prolong things a bit-

and make him miserable in the meantime.

They gave him 3-6 months, and said a year would be

an absolute miracle.

I am sad. I am troubled. But not for the reasons you

think. Yes, I am sad that he is dying, but I know he is

saved and has said he is ready to go home to Jesus so as

sad as his dying is, I know where he's going and that is

some comfort.

I am sad that the kids and I hardly know him. I am troubled

that we are not closer to him, and that he is dying without

really knowing his grandchildren or them really knowing

him. I am bothered that he and his son never really got along.

Paul and his dad have never been close, and although they

have both made huge strides in the last few years to remedy

the situation, they still don't have a typical father-son

relationship. And now it's almost too late to change anything.

I am praying that they can resolve 37 years of issues in

3-6 months. Sounds impossible, but with God, all things

are possible. I think Paul really needs to face his dad,

say him what needs to be said, and give him his forgiveness.

And I pray that his dad will listen.

I've never known anyone who's been handed a death sentence

and it is truly bizarre. I can't wrap my brain around it.

We have told the children he has cancer, but haven't told them

he only has a short time left. I don't think we will tell them.

It's hard enough for me to process...I can't imagine being young

and having to deal with it.

Thank you for praying along with me when I posted about the

his cancer the first time. You cannot know how much it means

to know that I have friends that I've never even met

(and a few I have!) who are

willing to go before the Lord and petition on the behalf of

my family member. Thank you, thank you. You

all mean so much to me!

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday...kleptomaniac or future hoarder??

2010-01-13T09:20:00.004-06:00

What in the world...

is wrong...

with Emmie's legs and torso??

Aha! Busted!!!

This is her new favorite thing to do. I literally pulled

toys out of her jammies after I took this last pic!

Soooo funny...and she's soooo proud!!

TTFN,

The Lemonade Award

2010-01-12T19:10:00.000-06:00

My friend Julie over at Momma4Real gave me the

Lemonade award last month and I'm just getting

around to posting about it! Sorry Julie!!

Thank you so much!!

The way this award works is:

1. Thank the giver of the award and link to their blog.

2. List 5 things about yourself.

3. Link 5 new recipients and notify them.

So...5 things about me...

1. I've always liked scary stuff. The first books I

bought on my own were Christopher Pike.

{tell me I'm not the only one who knows who he is}

I love supernatural stories...

vampires, ghosts, werewolves, vampires.

Hehe.

2. If life had gone according to my plan, I'd be living in

New York right now, singing in a Broadway show. When

I graduated I wanted nothing more than to be Eponine

in Les Miserables. I had the drama/vocal scholarship to

Northwestern State University (where I recently found out I

only missed meeting Kimber there by a year!! How cool would

that have been?? I only attended about 3 months.)

My plan, obviously, was not God's plan.

Thank you, Lord. :)

I am, however, halfway through my senior year of a music

ed degree with an emphasis in voice, but I haven't attended

school since around 2001. As of right now I have no real

desire to go back and finish it. My desire is to finish having

babies and raise my family. Then maybe I'll go back.

I do, however, miss the singing.

3. I don't like to take baths.

Wait-let me rephrase.

I don't like to bathe.

Good grief...that's not any better...

Let me try again.

I don't like bathing in the bathtub.

I love a hot soak in the tub, but then I wash my hair,

put the conditioner in to sit while I soap up. Then I

get in the shower to rinse off. I just can't stand knowing

I'm rinsing off in the same yuck I was trying to wash

off to begin with!

4. I'm a painfully picky eater. And I hate it. I don't like most

veggies or any seafood. Paul says my

tastebuds don't work right, but I say they work too well.

I think they're hyper-sensitive and I taste everything

TOO well. My overworking sense of smell doesn't help.

Things like broccoli or seafood smell so strongly that I

can't even put them to my mouth. I try to taste new things.

Alot of it just tastes bad to me.

5. I belly dance.

Are you laughing?? Stop laughing!

I didn't say I was any good at it, but I do take lessons.

My friend Konnie and I have taken 4 or 5 semesters

worth. It's fun time by ourselves, plus it's a workout,

and you can't help but feel sexy when you're moving

your various body parts like that! I highly recommend it.

And my picks are:

1. Kimber at Day in the Life of a Girl Named Kimber

2. Kelli at Random Thoughts of a Supermom

3. Erica at Scottsville

4. Christie Rose at The Secret Life of an American Wife and Mom

5. Mimi at He & Me + 3

TTFN,

P.S. I tried to post this way earlier but Blogger was wiggin'

out and wouldn't publish or save!

I forgot to say...

2010-01-09T03:16:00.003-06:00

Roll Tide!!!

Sorry all my Texas friends (and Kimber ;) It was a great game.

I was really sorry that McCoy got injured. I think it would have

been a much closer game if he hadn't!!

Work in progress...and the one in which I talk about boobs.

2010-01-08T14:19:00.009-06:00

Ok, so just to get rid of the Christmas stuff

-which I still haven't done around my house, BTW-

I went ahead and put up the new background and header.

I got the background from One Cute Blog, but I made the

header myself. (With her permission, of course.)

I will put a picture in when I get a new group shot-

hence the large space in the center.

I'm also working on a new button and a post divider.

Anyone know how in the world to make the background

on the divider transparent?? I'm going a bit batty ~~failing~~ trying.

I tried to make my own (really cute) background, and actually did it,

but I can't make it show up the right size when I put it on my blog.

I'm saving as the correct size, and uploading it correctly (I think)

but when I try to use it, it doesn't stretch all the way across

my screen. Any helpful tips?? HTML is very frustrating!!

In other news, as of Monday, Emmie has finally stopped nursing.

We were only nursing before nap and bedtime anyway, and

she was playing more than eating, and frankly I'm just ready

to be able to take Excedrin again! (I realize that sounds horribly

selfish, but my headaches have been more and more frequent

lately, and Tylenol and Ibuprofen don't touch them anymore)

It is a sad milestone anyway-even at 19 months-and I miss it

already. So do my boobs. Seriously, pain and fullness abound.

But they're already easing on their own without me having to do

anything about it-like wrap them or pump till the milk is gone.

I swore after I stopped nursing Ashton that I'd never wrap them

up again. After walking around for 2 weeks looking like the

uni-boober I was left with sad, floppy, pancake-like caricatures

of my former (quite nice if I do say so myself) boobs. So with each

child since I have just weaned to once or twice a day before I

stopped nursing so that things could dry up without assistance.

And it has worked! They will never be what they used to be

(without surgical intervention) but at least they don't resemble

large deflated balloons!

Speaking of Emmie (What? That last paragraph was about Emmie!

Cause there's no way I'd write a whole paragraph about my

mammaries! That might just be wierd!! :)

Yesterday she figured out how to climb out of her playpen.

What's the big deal, you ask? The play pen is her bed.

I don't remember if I blogged about it, but due to lack of

~~anywhere else to put her~~

room in our house, Emmie has been in our bedroom

since birth. She is the lightest sleeper I have ever known, and for

the first year of her life, she woke up every time anyone even moved

the covers in the same room with her. This, of course, led to sleepless nights,

and to Paul moving out of our bedroom-not out of anger, but simply so

he could get sleep and function at work! After a while we were unhappy

with that arrangement so we decided to put her in a playpen in our closet.

Miraculous.

She started sleeping all night and Paul moved back to our room, and

everything was wonderful. Till yesterday. Now she's back in her

crib in our bedroom and yesterday was pretty rough. Today was

better, though, she didn't cry at all when I laid her down for

her nap, so I think she's dealing. Other than the fact that we can't

go it our bedroom when she's asleep-and she's a long napper-and we

have to sneak into bed at night and we can't move once we're there,

I think it's gonna be ok. I hope. At this point I can't even think

about having to get up with her at night again...I'm yawning

just thinking about it! :)

TTFN,

Validated

2010-01-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

Warning: This post is going to be on a controversial

topic. Which is why I'm writing it in the first place.

Cause it shouldn't be.

One of the hardest parts of raising children, to me, is

the discipline part. If I'm being totally honest, Paul and I

don't always see eye to eye on how discipline should be

handled. We have, after many years of struggle, finally

stopped criticising each other's methods in front of the children.

(I know-horrible and inexcusable! We are finally trying

to always back each other up as much as possible!)

There are still times, however, when I say nothing in the moment

because I don't want to contradict him in front of the kids but then

when we're alone, I am quick to point out if I didn't agree with

how he handled things. And he does the same.

In our defense, we also comment when we think the other handled

a situation well. I think this kind of support is very important!!

Now...these discussions are in some ways good and bad.

They are good because sometimes we fuss without seeing the

whole situation and the other can either defend or explain the

behavior (not in front of the kids) and we can discuss how it

could have been handled differently. We can then go to the

child(ren) and discuss what happened and why.

They are bad because it sometimes feels like we are second guessing

each other. Paul is the heavy and I am the softy. This causes

friction sometimes because some issues he thinks are big deals

I don't always see that way.

You would think at this point we would have our act together,

but honestly, as the kids get older, the need for different,

still useful discipline is making things difficult!

For example, we can't punish Ashton and Sydney the same way

we punish the little ones-time out or standing in the corner just

don't have the same effect on the older two!

So, I guess discipline is an ever evolving thing.

One thing we never disagreed on was spanking.

We DO spank our children. But only when;

A) they are young

B) all attempts at other discipline have failed, or

C) their behavior is endangering themselves or others.

Now let's be clear. We DO NOT beat our children or physically,

mentally, or emotionally abuse them in ANY WAY. We

love our children more than life itself and only provide what

we consider disciplline in the form of loving guidance.

Having said all that, I need to say that the world has taken

spanking and made it taboo. Parents who spank are the

pariahs of society and their children are doomed to either die

at the hands of their violent parents or become violent societal

misfits themselves.

Studies have shown this is true. Right?

Finally, there is a study that shows differently.

Read here:

Study: Spanked Children May Grow Up To Be Happy,

More Successful

Most everyone I know and have ever known were spanked.

I was spanked. And none are any the worse for it today.

Most are wonderful people raising wonderful children

who are almost always also spanked.

And after years of feeling like I needed to hide the fact that

I spank my children, I finally feel validated. Isn't it horrible

that we can allow society so much control over what should

be very personal decisions??

Do you spank your children? (or did you when they were little?)

Just wondering.

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-please turn into a frog!

2010-01-06T08:56:00.003-06:00

Going way back to 2000 for this one!! :)

Please say a prayer for Paul's dad today. They discovered cancer

in his lungs yesterday and think it has spread to his kidneys.

They are doing a biopsy this morning to see. Thanks in advance.

TTFN,

Just random

2010-01-05T14:03:00.004-06:00

OMGosh it's cold here!! We're having record lows.

I HATE cold weather. Seriously.

That's why I live in the south!!

Getting up and getting the kids back to school has been

so much harder due to the low 20 degree weather

I've had to drag everyone out in the last 2 days!

I guess I'm glad we're actually having a winter, but

**********BBBRRRRRR**********

We are considering getting a dog. I must be crazy.

CRAZY I TELL YOU.

We actually went to the Mobile SPCA on Saturday and

met the sweetest doggie ever. We are discussing going

back and getting him, but he's so timid I'm afraid our

household would just be torture for him! We did decide

that we weren't going to pay for another expensive breed

cause that hasn't worked out so well for us in the past,

so we've been scouring petfinder.com for a shelter dog.

On a sad note, a local family lost their 10 month old when she

fell in the tub after her sister got out. Apparently the tub wasn't

drained and by the time her mom found her it was too late.

I found out later that her dad is someone I have known all my

life, but haven't seen in years. I am brokenhearted for this

family. We have been very strict about the bathroom since

Jacob was about 13 months and a friend of a friend lost a 14 month

old who fell head first in the toilet. After that we have been

insistant that the bathroom doors stay shut at all times,

and when the little ones get big enough to open the doors

by themselves we put door knob covers on. I never even

thought about that stuff when the older girls were little, and

it's scary to think about how quickly something like that

can happen. Please say a quick prayer for this family.

I hope everyone is enjoying the first week of 2010. It's been

crazy and COLD here, but we're getting back into the swing

of things, which is always a relief. Now, if you'll excuse me,

I'm going to go put my new Shark mop to good use!!

And yes, I do realize it's not Christmas anymore!!

I am currently working on a new background!! :)

TTFN,

Not Me Monday...is it over already?!?

2010-01-04T09:58:00.007-06:00

Let me start by saying we did not have a super-fantastic

Christmas/New Year holiday.

Christmas was not the usual mad dash, last minute shopping

that it usually is, although it was not better than years past

-think; this year we were only still shopping the weekend before

versus still shopping on Christmas Eve in the past-

I know. Nice.

I did not, for a few days, let the house go to the point that I wanted

to close my eyes as I walked through it. This would not have

been seriously dangerous, as there were toys EVERYWHERE.

Anyone else not have a toy factory explode in their living room?

We did not have a nice family Christmas with no travel crammed

in anywhere. We usually go somewhere on a mini-vaca in the 2

weeks the kids are out. This year we opted to stay home. It totally

did not make the time seem to last!!

Having said that, however, we did not take a spur of the moment

trip to a fantastic, fun restaurant about an hour away. As we were

leaving the house we did not decide, also spur of the moment style,

to get a hotel room for that night and did not call our closest friends

to see if they wanted to do the same!

They didn't! (Except they really did!!)

It was not a great excursion, and I probably won't do a post

about it later in the week!

I also did not book our Disney vacation for this May-

and these same friends are not going at the same time!!

And I am not so unbelievably excited!!

It was not nice to be able to put our new timeshare to

work, not just for us, but for our friends too!

I am not one of those people who is kind of sad to see 2009 go.

I did not think 2009 was a pretty good year, and I really can't

think of anything in particular to complain about.*

*Sidebar: this is not a 'my-life-is-perfect-nothing ever goes

wrong-we-have-no-problems' bluff. I am not covering

up unhappiness or telling fairy tales. I am just saying that

in 2009 for us, there was more good than bad and I prefer to

remember it that way. This sidebar was brought on by the sudden

insurgence of people demanding 'totally honest blogging' and

'full disclosure blogging.' I try to do that as much as I am comfortable with,

but come on.

It's my life, my blog, and my prerogative to tell as much

or as little as I darn well please. Sorry if that sounded harsh.

We do not have 2 birthdays in our household this month, so it's

not possible that my baby is turning 13!!! OMGosh. Writing that

made it seem so much more real!! I'm not having trouble getting

my brain around that one!! Pray for me! :)

I am also not coming up on my one year blogiversary,

AND

my 200th post!!

I am not thinking I might just have to have one wicked

fun giveaway. You know, if I can get creative!! :)

More about that later.

Not Me's aside, I cannot believe the holidays flew by so

quickly. I was not ready for Paul to go back to work, or

the kids to go back to school!! Although, I must admit, I

am loving the reinstating(reinstatement??)of naptime!!

I hope everyone had a great holiday vacation as well.

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-At least they're all in the picture

2009-12-30T12:38:00.003-06:00

Note: as a precaution we did not decorate the tree this year-

Emmie and Noah are too ~~desrtuctive~~ curious for that.

And the star is not crooked. Really. That's just an illusion.

They're not all looking, but hey, at least they're all in the picture!!

TTFN,

Anyone with tips for getting them all to sit still and look at the
camera at the same time, please share!! PLEASE!! :)

A prayer for you...

2009-12-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

This prayer was at the end of a song we used to sing in youth.

It has stuck with me for all these years.

May your days be filled with the peace and promise

that was born that holy night;

and the joy which came through that tiny babe

multiply through all our lives.

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope your Christmas was filled with beauty and wonder.

And maybe a few gifts. ;)

See you soon when we will (hopefully) be back to our

regularly scheduled programming!!

TTFN,

The True Christmas

2009-12-24T13:27:00.004-06:00

Luke 2
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

I truly love this story. The pictures are from the movie

The Nativity.

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. The entire

family can watch it but I would consider covering little

eyes for the first few minutes as Herrod's men commit their

slaughter of innocents. It caught us a bit off guard, but it's

biblically correct so I can't really complain.

I've been busy this last week, but please know that I'm checking

in and I am praying for all of you in need of prayers right now

(read:Julie@mom4real! OMGosh, girl! I hope you feel better!!!)

Have a great Christmas Eve and keep it real.

TTFN,

Wordy Wednesday-what should have been?

2009-12-16T09:53:00.004-06:00

If you're not a Twilight fan this post will mean nothing to you.

If you are a fan, this may be blasphemy.

I've made no bones about my feelings about Robert Pattinson.

He's ok as Edward. He'll do.

But he's not MY Edward...not the image I had in my head

when I was reading the books.

So the other day I came across something on the internet about

Stephenie Meyer being Mormon and went looking for details.

She IS a practising Mormon, BTW, and put in the movie contract

that none of the movies could be rated R because, as a Mormon,

she doesn't watch rated R movies! Good for you, Stephenie!

While I was searching, I discovered something very interesting...

Robert Pattinson isn't her perfect Edward either!

This yummy guy is;

Meet Henry Cavill, Stephenie Meyer's choice for Edward.

Ahem.

All I can say is wow. Yeah, he is MUCH closer to MY Edward!

So, you're wondering why they didn't transform

Henry Cavill into Edward Cullen?

By the time the movie deal was offered and then all

the kinks were worked out, Henry had hit the ripe old

age of 24, and they were afraid he was just too ole

to play the 17 (albeit 108) year old Edward.

Such a shame.

This last pic is off Stephenie Meyer's website.

Rare indeed.

You're welcome.

TTFN,

P.S. For those of you so inclined, there are pics out there of

Mr. Cavill shirtless-I was not comfortable posting those here.

However...let's just say he would be perfectly capable of giving

a certain, often shirtless, buff werewolf a run for his money physically.

As eye candy, anyway.

Something I wouldn't say about the current (hairy!) Edward!

'Pa rum pa pum pum...'

2009-12-10T12:17:00.003-06:00

Today was going to be an easy, fun post.

God had other ideas!

Don't you love it when He steps in?

His ideas are always better than mine anyway!!

The littles and I were eating lunch and I had the radio

on-with Christmas music playing, of course.

{Note-I LOVE Christmas music, but I burn out on it

QUICKLY. I listen to it some, then have to change

the station and listen to regular music a while!}

Anyway, The Little Drummer Boy was playing and I

wasn't really listening, but then for some reason the

lyrics really resounded in my head.

(I typed out the lyrics and left out all the

pa rum pa pum pums for the sake of time and

my fingers. You know where they go! :)

Come they told me

The newborn King to see

Our finest gifts we bring

To lay before the King

So to honor him

When we come

Little baby

I am a poor boy too

I have no gift to bring

That's fit to give a King

Shall I play for you

On my drum

Mary nodded

The ox and lamb kept time

I played my best for Him

I played my drum for Him

Then He smiled at me

Me and my drum

How much do these lyrics resonate with me??

Truly, I have NO gift to bring that is fit to

give the King. Nothing.

I can buy and give gifts to everyone I know. But what

do I have...what can I do...what can I give that's good enough

for the King of Heaven and Earth?

Nothing. At. All.

Suddenly my unworthiness was blatently apparent to me.

'I am a poor boy too.'

Wow.

But the song tells an amazing story.

Even those who have no gift to bring still have something

He wants.

Ourselves. All of us. All we have.

And I don't think that's too much to ask, considering the

unbelievable gift He has given us.

"I played my best for Him.'

Do I? Do I play my best for Him? I'm not talking about

actually playing music, of course. Me playing the drum

would be little more than making a joyful noise!

I mean in my life. Do I live for Him? Do I do my best for Him

in my walk and talk? Do others see Him in me?

I hope so. I pray so. And I keep trying to make it more so.

The King of all creation wants you to bring your best.

What gift will you give the King this Christmas?

Will you play your best for Him?

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-Saturday night snack!

2009-12-08T22:22:00.003-06:00

Modified smores! YUM!!

TTFN,

P.S. Please excuse anything strange...I'm playing around with fonts!
Trial and error!!! (mostly error!! :)

Not Me Monday!

2009-12-07T10:36:00.006-06:00

Free therapy!

Head over to MckMama's and link up!

I do not already miss warm weather. I seriously dislike

cold weather and having to wear so many layers I feel like

a robot whose joints rusted.

(You know, unable to bend for all the layers of clothes with

your arms and legs stuck out at unnatural angles!)

Global warming, what??

Is that why it's unusually cold everywhere?

I am not such a cheap-o that I have not been sitting around

under a blanket and usually with my jacket on (like now)

so that I don't have to turn on the heater. Our bill this month

was not almost $70 LESS than it was last month, and I do not

think that was REALLY nice!!

In my defense, I AM making sure the kids

are all in their warm jammies all the time, and if the jammies

don't have feet in them, I put socks on them!!

I did not go out Friday night without kids OR Paul which hasn't

happened in...I can't remember when. Paul and I go out

without the kids every now and again, but I rarely go anywhere

without Paul. I did not have a good time, laughing harder

than I have laughed in years (thank you Melynda)

with some friends I hardly ever see,

and others I haven't seen in about 13 years!!

It was strange to be without my hubby, but it was still fun.

After being out Friday night, I did not have to get up and have

Sydney at the school by 8 for a parade that didn't start till 11!

We were not just a little late because I was not just a little frustrated

at having to get up so early on a Saturday when things didn't get

rolling till much later! I would never make my kid late out of spite.

Not me!!

And I did not do a blog overhaul! I do not hope y'all like it!! :)

What did you do last week?

Hope it was fun! :)

TTFN,

Evel Emmie Knievel

2009-12-04T13:23:00.006-06:00

Alternately titled:

The one who's going to make me go completely gray.

My first 3 kids were what you might call vanilla.

Well behaved, quiet, ease-going, you get the picture.

When Noah was a baby, he was the sweetest baby you could imagine.

Then I got pregnant with Emmie (he was 8 months) and he suddenly

became 'boy wonder'. He was strong, determined, fast, and the worst

climber I'd ever known. He climbed all. the. time.

Even so, he was precious...sweet and loving, he could do most anything

and it was ok because he'd throw those little hands around my neck

and I was a goner.

Still am. Totally over the moon for that kid.

And all the rest too.

So, anyway.

Then along came Emmie. She wasn't like any of the other babies.

All the rest had been wonderful, quiet babies.

Emmie was not. It's not that she was really fussy...except that

she was. Well, more than the others, anyway. She fussed a lot

in the evenings, and HATED to be in the car.

Now, she's getting big. She still fusses when she doesn't get her

way, and has learned to throw fits. Not that they get her anywhere,

I guess they're just the thing to do at this age. And she still

hates to be in the car.

And now she, like her older brother, has discovered climbing.

She is more daring than her brother ever thought about being.

She climbs anything that can't climb her first. Any. thing.

At first it was simple things like the coffee table and the couches.

Then she realized she could use the couch to get onto the sofa

table as well-all the while, taking out anything that happened

to be in her way-pictures, lamps, whatever.

Then it was the piano. She climbed on the bench, up the front and

onto the back, again knocking off everything.

But the kicker happened yesterday.

She started hollaring,

"Momma-TUCK! TUCK, MOMMA!!"

Tuck=stuck.

And I cringed. Cause I knew.

I didn't know what exactly, but I knew.

I walked into the living room to find this:

Yeah, that's right. I took a picture of her hanging off the

OUTSIDE of the staircase. They're blurry cause I was

trying to hurry before she fell her little butt off.

She thinks it's hilarious-as you can tell from the second picture.

She's done it over and over and over.

We can't leave her alone in the living room anymore,

even for a second.

Ugh. I can just feel the gray hairs coming in.

Are you still there??

2009-12-02T14:14:00.003-06:00

Hello?

(hello...hello...hello)

Anyone there??

{chirp, chirp}

Sigh.

I hope y'all haven't given up on me!

I'm still here.

I've just been busy the last week with family stuff.

It was a great week!

I'll be posting the next few days about it-with pictures!

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-Calgon, take me away.

2009-11-18T00:10:00.004-06:00

I so needed this today.

Lots going on...stress, worry, lots of prayer.

I haven't decided whether to blog about it or not.

It's hard to make that call when it's not your life you're

thinking about blogging about.

Let me just ask that you all be in prayer for my parents.

Both are having serious issues, financially, physically,

mentally, and spiritually.

Satan is hitting them HARD. And they don't have the faith

that we do to see them through-my dad is unsaved, and my

mom is so discouraged she actually told me the other day,

"You keep praying. At least He listens to you."

My heart is breaking it is so heavy. I don't know what to

do or how to help.

I may post more later if I feel more comfortable with it.

If not, I would ask you to lift them up anyway.

Thank you, in advance.

(Ok, so it's NOT wordless. I needed more it this way.)

TTFN,

Halftime bath.

2009-11-14T21:24:00.004-06:00

{sigh}

The first 13 years of my marriage were ideal.

I had the man who didn't care a bit about

fishing, hunting, or sports.

That's all changed.

Well, not the fishing, hunting, or sports in general part.

But now he's ADDICTED to Alabama football!

UGH.

And even worse, he's got the older 3 all into it too.

Oh well. Here's hoping that Alabama football is the only

change he makes.

Being the good wife that I am, I'm totally

~~aware that there's no point in complaining~~

being supportive!

So this is what happened in our house tonight:

We were watching the game, and I asked him if he would

bathe the younger 3. He looked at me like I'd lost my mind

and waved his hand at the TV.

I sighed but right then the announcer said there was 4 minutes

left till halftime and I seized the moment, commenting that

he could bathe them during halftime.

He agreed and we watched the rest of the first half.

Then it was time for the halftime bath. And keeping in the

football spirit (I guess that's what he was doing!)
I heard:

Paul "JACOB, DO YOU WANT TO TAKE A BATH IN THIS TUB??"

Jacob (rather timidly-this isn't how bath usually starts) "Yes, sir?"

Paul "I SAID, DO YOU WANT TO TAKE A BATH IN THIS TUB??

Jacob (catching on) "YES SIR!!"

Paul "LET ME HEAR YOU SAY, 'ROLL TIDE!'"

Jacob "ROLL TIDE!"

Paul "NOAH, DO YOU WANT TO TAKE A BATH IN THIS TUB??"

Noah (following Jacob's lead) "YESSEW!"
Paul "LET ME HEAR YOU SAY 'ROLL TIDE!'"

Noah "WOLL TIDE!"

Paul (still loudly, but trying not to scare her)

"EMMIE, DO YOU WANT TO TAKE A BATH IN THIS TUB??"

Emmie "BAAAAH" (Emmiespeak for 'bath')

Paul "LET ME HEAR YOU SAY 'ROLL TIDE'"

Emmie "AHHHH BAAAAH!!"

Paul(laughing) "GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME-GET IN HERE!!"

{sigh again}

At least he's doing stuff with the kids. :)

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-In Honor and Memory.

2009-11-11T10:19:00.003-06:00

Thank you.

TTFN,

'I can't complain, but sometimes I still do.'

2009-11-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

I was listening to the radio on Friday when the song

'Life's been good to me so far'

by Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh came on.

Yeah, I was listening to old rock. It's a vice.

It's not one of my favorites, but I know it well enough

to sing along. This time though one line struck me.

Hard.

'I can't complain but sometimes I still do.'

Yep. That's me. Nice to meetcha.

I've been reading a few blogs lately, a new one in particular,

where the financial situation of the families blogged

about has brought my own life into sharp perspective.

'I can't complain but sometimes I still do.'

Even though I'm thankful Paul has a good, full-time job,

and is even in the process of a promotion,

I complain that he has to work overtime.

Even though I'm thankful we live in a beautiful, 3br, 2ba home,

I complain that there's never enough room.

Even though we drive a really nice van that's big enough

for our family (now and with room for expansion ;)

I complain that it's not the kind I wanted.

Even though I'm thankful Paul gets paid every week,

I complain because we usually live paycheck to paycheck.

(If we could stop being stupid with money this

wouldn't be an issue.)

Even though we have groceries and a beautiful home,

and nice clothes to wear,

I complain about having to cook, clean, and do laundry.

'I can't complain but sometimes I still do.'

But from now on I'm going to try to stop complaining

and start praising God for His faithfulness instead.

Maybe then I can appreciate what we DO have.

TTFN,

Stellan's team wins the world series!! :)

2009-11-09T19:09:00.002-06:00

Praise be to the Lord God Almighty!

Miracle baby Stellan has received another miracle

tonight!!

Wanna go see for yourself?

www.mycharmingkids.net

I can't imagine the relief their family is

experiencing tonight.

I know I'M experiencing relief!! I've been

praying so hard all day. And now it's over.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation!

Ida, Ida, go away...come again another-ok, scratch that. Just go away!

2009-11-09T11:46:00.004-06:00

What?? A hurricane-in November?

Ugh.

This is only the 4th recorded storm in November, and

the first to ever hit the upper gulf coast.

(Since they started recording them, anyway)

Nice to be a statistic, huh?

Not so much.

At least it's supposed to fizzle and become a Tropical

Storm before it hits land. We'll likely only get alot of

wind and heavy rain.

Pray for no flooding for those directly on the coast.

(we live about 25 miles inland so our threat isn't

nearly as bad as theirs.)

Pray for no tornados-a serious threat with these

kinds of systems.

The kids are excited, though, because school is letting out

at 1:30 today, will certainly be closed tomorrow, and they

already had Wednesday off for Veteran's Day.

This is the predicted path.

Photo courtesy of the NOAA website

Hopefully we won't lose power or cell or internet

services, but if we do, I'll chat with y'all in a day or two!

TTFN,

Roll Tide!

2009-11-07T23:45:00.004-06:00

Just for Paul...

What do Tigers and sandcastles have in common?

They both get washed away when the Tide rolls in!

Sorry, Kimber.

You know I love you more'n my luggage!! ;)

TTFN,

Not really Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-04T12:57:00.003-06:00

Ok, so this really was too easy!

This is hilarious to me-Sydney put his shoes and because

his costume covered them up, I didn't know until the end

of the night when I took them off!

Poor baby! It's a good thing those shoes are a bit too big.

When I saw this picture, I just cracked up.

I think you all knew right away!!

(with the exception of Mel, and I laughed so

hard at her comment that I almost fell off my chair!)

So, congrats, Nan!! Let me know what kind of gift card

you'd like, with your address, and I'll get it right out to you!!

I keep thinking of things I'd like to blog about and then

never get around to them. I've gotten lazy with the blog

lately. :( Anyone else have that problem??

Hope everyone has a Wonderful Wednesday!

TTFN,

Costumed fun-and a contest!!

2009-11-02T13:12:00.005-06:00

The kids had a blast Saturday night.

They had so much fun dressing up.

Emmie giggled all night, and REFUSED to let

anyone else touch her candy bucket-and insisted on getting

her own candy from everyone-cause, ya know, if they get

close enough to put something in, they're close enough

to take stuff out too!! It was hilarious.

Noah told everyone,

"Twick or Tweet!"

After they handed over the candy, he said,

"Happy Hawoween!!"

Soooo cute.

Now for the costumes!!

"Ride like the wind, Bullseye!"

"To Infinity...And Beyond!"

"You got a friend in me."

"Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home!"

Ladybug bum. Hehe.

Seriously though, fly away AFTER I get a decent picture!!!

My butterfly and carhop.

The roundup gang! LOL.
(Yes, we're one heavy-Syd had a friend over)

Ashton ditched us for a party, but she had a great time,
and we made do without her. :(

This turned out to be one cheap Halloween. The only
costume we had to buy was Emmie's, and it was only $15.

Jacob and Noah's were borrowed, and Sydney's was from
a program Ashton was in in 5th grade.

Ashton's wings were a reused costume from when she was
2. Totally not kidding-I'll have to see if I can find the pics.

Halloween is usually really expensive for us, so this was
REALLY nice.

Thanks to those who were willing to loan costumes-
we love you! :)

And finally, for the contest...

This is a picture of my Buzz Lightyear pondering

how to defeat Zurg.

The first commenter who can tell me what's wrong
with this picture will get a $10 gift card of their choosing-
Target, Starbucks, Michaels, wherever. As long as it's
within driving distance of my house!! :)

Good luck!!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!!

TTFN,

Fun Friday!

2009-10-30T09:12:00.002-05:00

I know that some of my friends here are crafters,

so when I came across this last night I thought I'd share

it with all of you!

Michael's has a kids craft club online where they have cute

printables and lots of fun craft ideas for kids.

You can also have a birthday party there!

Who knew??

But what caught my eye was the Halloween craft event

they put on.

From 10-Noon on Saturday kids can come in to receive

a free trick-or-treat pail, enjoy a free coloring activity,

free Crayola Model Magic Fusion, and a Make-it, Take-it

Halloween frame!

Children will also receive a free balloon and candy.

(while supplies last, of course!)

I'm not sure if we're going to try to attend, but it sure

sounds fun! And you can't beat free!!

Hope y'all have a great weekend, and be safe if you

go trick-or-treating! :)

TTFN,

Jacob's field trip

2009-10-29T12:39:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I got to go on Jacob's first field trip with him!

(Thank you, Mrs. Linda for keeping the littles)

We went here:

This is our local children's museum. Can you see my little

man in the shadows up there?? I wanted him to stand on

the top, but that black metal rail completely covered his face.

They have lots of exhibits, some are large areas designed for

imaginitive play, some are areas for learning, and our guide told the

kids they could touch anything they could reach.

And they did! They had a blast!!

'All aboard the choo-choo train, all aboard, all aboard!

Choo-choo!*'

*this is the song from Choo-choo Soul, if you don't

watch The Disney Channel.

Hey, Skipper, where's Gilligan?

Pull!!

Time for a spot of tea.

This was a giant climbing apparatus that went from floor

to ceiling through the middle of the building.

(yeah, well, saying 'apparatus' sounds better

than saying 'thingy')

Jacob loved it!!

After our time inside, we went out to the picnic area and

ate our sack lunches. Strangely I don't have any pictures

of this. Maybe I just didn't want any evidence of me

~~stuffing my face like a hog~~ eating. :)

Jacob's class (most of them)
Cheese!

Silly face!!

I wish this picture had come out better. I think my camera
focused on the tree instead of Jacob. I suppose it is the bigger
object in the shot!

Notice the boo-boo on Jacob's chin that isn't in the rest of the
pictures. He fell outside and managed to skin his chin and
the insides of his elbows. I still haven't figured out how he
did that!

Other than the fall, it was a wonderful day. I love that I got to
spend the day with just Jacob. We don't get time alone too often.
He's a wonderful, sweet boy, and I adore him!

Thank you, Jacob, for letting me tag along!

TTFN,

I♥Faces-Halloween dress up.

2009-10-26T13:47:00.003-05:00

The unhappy Mickey.

Most of the pictures of Noah from this period of

his life have this exact face. He hated pictures!

It was funny, and not very funny all at the same

time.

When I saw this weeks theme over on I ♥ Faces,

I immediately thought of this picture.

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-pet peeves...I mean, come ON.

2009-10-21T10:51:00.002-05:00

Is it too much to ask...??

(tell me I'm not the only one whose kids do this...)

(please, please tell me...)

TTFN,

"You know me..."

2009-10-20T12:02:00.003-05:00

Sorry about not doing a Not Me Monday yesterday.

It's not that I didn't have enough to do one,

I just had a horrible headache and couldn't get

excited about doing it.

So, anyway, Paul called yesterday from work, and I

could tell from the sound of his voice that something

was wrong. Then he said,

"You know me..."

And I cringed.

The rest of that sentence went something very much

like, "if there's a way to get hurt, I'm going to find it.

I fell down a flight of stairs that didn't have a hand rail."

And I cringed again.

"How bad is it?"

"Oh, it's not that bad. I landed on my right shoulder, though,

and the metal step shoved right under my shoulder blade."

Luckily, he went down on his back, and not end over end!

He went out to the company hospital and they sent him home early,

but didn't do xrays or anything which frustrates me.

The reason he pointed out that he hurt his right shoulder is

because he tore his rotator cuff in that same shoulder in

another accident at work about 6 years ago.

That one required surgery and around 6 months out of work.

That one could so easily have killed him.

That one still gives me chills to think about.

But thank God, he walked away with just a torn rotator cuff.

And thank God for workman's comp!! LOL. We'd have never

made it without it.

My poor husband is an accident magnet. Surely you remember

that less than 3 months ago he cut his thumb on his table saw?

Yeah, it was his right thumb.

{sigh}

Then my thoughts start going places I don't like to go.

Morbid and melancholy places I don't like to think about.

And then I pray about it and feel better.

Until the next time he calls and says,

"You know me..."

Well, as long as he can still call I guess I'll be ok.

Sorry this was such a downer. This is just where I

am today. Thanks for listening. Or reading.

Or whatever.

TTFN,

Finally, a winner!!

2009-10-16T10:39:00.004-05:00

Ok, so after having no laptop and then no

internet at all, I am finally back!!

And so, without further ado...

The Joseph DVD giveaway had a whopping

14 comments.

Random.org was kind enough to pick a winner for me.

And the winner is...

My newest follower, Rachel! Her comment;

sweetpea08 said...
My favorite Bible Story was always Jonah and the Whale!

rachel_demille@yahoo.com
October 13, 2009 5:30 PM

Get me your mailing address, Rachel and I will get you

your DVD. I know you and your family will love it!

Thanks for commenting and following! I hope to get to know

you better soon!! :)

Thanks to everyone who entered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On an unrelated subject...

Blogger is driving me nuts with again with the spacing-

and even worse, when I try to fix it, it really messes up! I

know HOW to fix it, but when I type instead of adding

what I'm typing, it types over stuff that's already there!

Anyone else having that problem??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BTW, I am catching up on my reading, and trying to

comment too, but I'm backed up since Wednesday!! It's

crazy, so if I don't comment, please know that I DID read

your posts, I just didn't have time to comment.

TTFN,

Postponement...

2009-10-14T15:20:00.002-05:00

Frustration.

I am sitting at the library typing this.

Our DSL is out and the technician couldn't

come today.

So, I'm postponing the Joseph DVD giveaway

until at least Friday!

If you haven't entered, now's your chance!!

I'm going to be so far behind in my reading and

commenting!! Ugh.

Oh, well. I guess I'll see ya when I see ya!!

TTFN,

How'd that happen?!?

2009-10-13T15:56:00.004-05:00

Don't forget to enter my Joseph giveaway HERE!!

Ok...yesterday was Columbus Day and the kids

didn't have school. So being the ~~mildly insane~~

good mom I am, I decided to take the kids on an outing.

Now, having kids of such varying age means that I

have to get creative with our outings.

So we went to lunch, shopping at the Aero outlet,

and {grimace} Chuck E. Cheese.

Shopping to make the older girls happy, and Chuck E.

to appease the boys-mine+Steven. 6 kids total.

Neither is my idea of fun.

{come on...dragging 4 kids 5 and under shopping

and then dragging ME and the 10 and 12 year old

around Chuck E. Cheese??

Nope. No stress possibilities at all.}

Throw in how long it takes for us to load and unload

everyone and monsoon-like storms by the end of the

adventure, and it was one heck of a day!

But I did get some great buys at the outlet, and it

really was a good day altogether. Everyone behaved

very well, and Noah only wandered off at Chuck E.'s and

had to be brought back to me crying twice. Seriously.

The funny for the day happened when we pulled up to

Chick-Fil-A for lunch. Ashton went to unbuckle Emmie

from her carseat. Then we heard,

"EMMIE! Where is your diaper??"

After some deep breaths and prayers for composure I

went to Emmie's seat to see what she could

possibly be talking about.

Sure enough, Emmie was buck naked under her dress.

All I could say was,

"How in the world did THAT happen?!?"

Taking a page from Noah's book, she had apparently removed her

diaper at the house before Ashton put her in the van.

And somehow Ashton never noticed.

Thank God she didn't have any bodily functions

on the way there!! That would have been pretty much

par for the course around here.

Ugh. Did I already mention duct tape for diapers??

Don't forget, today's the last day to enter for my

Joseph DVD giveaway!

If you haven't entered already, please do so now!! :)

TTFN,

Sunday's Song

2009-10-11T08:00:00.002-05:00

Make sure you enter my Joseph giveaway HERE!!

Have a favorite worship song-new or old-
that you'd like to share? Have a story to go along
with why it's so special to you? Tell me what song
moves you and why-leave me a comment or, if you
want to blog about it, leave me a link to your blog!

Flashback, circa 1983!!

Friends

Words: Deborah D. Smith

Music: Michael W. Smith

Packing up the dreams God planted

In the fertile soil of you

Can't believe the hopes He's granted

Means a chapter in your life is through

But we'll keep you close as always

It won't even seem you've gone

'Cause our hearts in big and small ways

Will keep the love that keeps us strong

Chorus:And friends are friends forever

If the Lord's the Lord of them

And a friend will not say never

'Cause the welcome will not end

Though it's hard to let you go

In the Father's hands we know

That a lifetime's not too long

to live as friends.

With the faith and love God's given

Springing from the hope we know

We will pray the joy you'll live in

Is the strength that now you show

But we'll keep you close as always

It won't even seem you've gone

'Cause our hearts in big and small ways

Will keep the love that keeps us strong

Chorus: And friends are friends forever

If the Lord's the Lord of them

And a friend will not say never

'Cause the welcome will not end

Though it's hard to let you go

In the Father's hands we know

That a lifetime's not too long

to live as friends.

Listen here:

BTW, the name of the song is just 'Friends.' This version was the only one

on the playlist website that was the full length so I chose it even though it

is not correctly named.

I lost two friends at two different times in high

school. This song was played at the funeral of the

first, and by the time second one died, I could no longer

listen to this song.

It took me years to hear it without

crying. Even now, it moves me in ways very few other

songs do. I miss both friends. Both were wonderful,

amazing christian kids. It was truly a hard thing to

understand, then and now.

I am thankful to have the knowledge that I will see

them again one day!!

Hope you are having a blessed Sunday!

TTFN,

Bye-bye for now, my laptop...

2009-10-09T08:00:00.001-05:00

Make sure you enter my Joseph giveaway HERE!!

Yesterday I packed her up.

Then I called the Fedex people to come get her.

My laptop is heading off for a 7-10 day vacation.

I must say, it's much needed.

She's been so rundown lately she just can't seem to

keep up!

She's having hot flashes and breakdowns frequently.

Finally I called and made arrangements for her

to get the treatment she needs.

A week+ of rest and relaxation.

Time to charge her batteries (or get a new one if

that's the problem!) and come back feeling (and

maybe even being) like new!!

Goodbye, laptop.

I will

~~go absolutely out of my mind without you~~

miss you.

In the meantime, I will have to make do with the

~~dinosaur~~ desktop upstairs...

which means I won't get to be on very often as

going upstairs means leaving the little ones

unsupervised.

And as we all know, bad things happen when I leave my

little ones unsupervised!! ;)

TTFN,

Much randomness and a giveaway!!

2009-10-08T08:00:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to do some follow ups:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Date night was wonderful! We went to Longhorn

Steakhouse with two other couples that we enjoy spending

time with for supper and I got chicken!! {very out of character

for me-I LOVE steak, but I just wasn't feelin it!}

Then we went to Marble Slab Creamery and I got a MONSTER

dish of ice cream with caramel, fudge, pecans...

YUMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Yeah, I know...Curves, here I come!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The aftermath of the Noah poop story was pretty simple,

I cleaned him and Emmie up first, and gave them to

Ashton to keep OUT OF THE LIVING ROOM!

While she kept them occupied I got a bowl and filled it

with some very strong, concentrated, antibacterial

cleaner and wet a cleaning rag.

First I wiped the bulk of the...ahem...mess...up and went

and washed out my rag. Then I went back and got to

work with the cleaner.

My couch was quite wet by the time I finished scrubbing

and rinsing and scrubbing and rinsing, but at least it

no longer smelled like poop! Then I did the same with

the rug and the rocking chair (which I didn't discover had

anything on it until I was leaving the living room!)

Meghan, I would have LOVED to have gotten a new couch,

but it just wasn't in the budget!!

On a somewhat related note, I am having much hesitation on my part

when it comes to putting Noah in underwear...

I can't imagine why.

And strangely, duct tape on the diaper seems a real option.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, in response to the comments on my Sunday's Song post,

I have decided that since NONE of you have seen the movie

Joseph King of Dreams I'm just going to have to

give a copy of it away!!

That's right. I like it so much and am so amazed that

it is so underwatched that I am going to give

away a copy to one of my bloggy friends!!

It's a great telling of the story of Joseph, and it is really

Biblically accurate. I was a bit surprised because it's

a Hollywood made movie, not a Christian film!

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me what

your favorite Bible story is! That'll get you entered.

For more entries;

1. Follow me.

2. Grab my button.

3. Blog about this giveaway, and in addition to telling what your

favorite story is, also tell me why!

Just leave me a comment for each thing you do

(and link if you blog about it)

so that you can get your extra entries!

I will pick a winner next Wednesday!!

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday...a snotty-nosed (and eyed) little boy!

2009-10-06T23:35:00.004-05:00

Poor baby!!

If you click on the pic you can see what the post title means.

It's gross, though!

And BTW, I would NEVER take a picture of my poor, sick, sweet baby boy

when he's all snotty and yucky!

TTFN,

Not Me Monday! On not Monday Tuesday.

2009-10-06T13:26:00.005-05:00

Welcome to Not Me Monday!
Free therapy brought to you courtesy of
MckMama.
Hop on over to see what she and all the other
moms have not been doing this week.

(Sorry this is late...We had another visit to the

pediatrician Monday {Noah does have an ear infection,

and his eyes and nose are just POURING snot!}

and after being gone most of the day,

I was too busy and then just too tired!!)

While driving in the car the other day, we were not

totally jammin to Single Ladies by Beyonce.

Ashton did not look at me, dead serious, and say,

"Is she saying, 'I'm a Chevrolet?'"

I did not almost drive off the road laughing.

(Don't know the song? Go back and watch this

post. It's the song the baby is dancing to. She

actually says, "All the single ladies" over and over.)

Noah's potty training is on again, off again, but when

when we're 'on' he doesn't say the funniest stuff!!

The other day we'd been sitting there for about 15

minutes with nothing happening and I was trying to

rush him along. He grabs his whacker, stares at it

a minute, looks at me shaking his head and says,

"I fink da baddewies dest runned out!"

Another time, he pulled his whacker up and pointed

to his scrotum and said,

"Mommy, what's dis?"

After a moment trying to remember what we

call them (cause, ya know, it's all about consistency when you're

teaching your kids the wrong names to call their

private parts!) I finally just said,

"That's your scrotum."

He looked at me like I had lost my mind.

"Noooooo, dat not my FWOTOM!!"

I was not on the phone the other night with a friend

that I don't get to chat with very much. She did not

call to pick my brain for all my ~~useless~~ wonderful

Disney knowledge. I am not a virtual well of ~~still~~

~~useless~~ all-things-Disney knowledge. I do not love

going to Disney, and helping friends plan fantastic,

fun family trips!

Since I never had that phone conversation, and I never get

caught up on the phone and forget to check on my little

ones for more than a few minutes at a time, I was

certainly not still on the phone when the following

story didn't happen.

I realized that Noah was, once again, sans diaper.

I went into the living room to re-diaper him when I

was assaulted by much foul odor. Though I have blocked

much of it from my memory, I think this is pretty much

what went down:

"Noah, why don't you have on a diaper?"

"And why does the living room REEK of poo-poo??"

"And what's that all over the couch???"

"OMGOSH!! Did you seriouly wipe poop all over

the couch????"

"AND THE RUG?????"

"AND WHAT IS THAT ALL OVER EMM...???"

I'm pretty sure that by this time my voice had escalated

to decibels that only dogs could hear. My friend was

~~laughing her butt off~~ expressing her sympathy, though,

so even if she couldn't understand what I was saying anymore,

she certainly understood what was going on.

The worst part was that when I picked up the diaper,

there was NO POOP RESIDUE IN IT. Yep.

He totally took his diaper off, took a poop, and smeared

it across half the living room and let his sister play in

it too!! (I'm wondering about the whole

'teach them to share' thing now.)

I finally took a deep breath

(through my mouth-the smell was RANK)

and told my friend,

"I think I need to get off the phone now and clean my

kids and living room up. I'll talk to you later."

She was laughing so hard she was only able to screech out

"Ok! I can't wait to read your blog this week!!!"

And THAT, my friends, is what

NEVER HAPPENED TO ME

this week.

P.S. Be watching for a giveaway the end of the week!

TTFN,

Sunday's Song

2009-10-04T20:06:00.005-05:00

Have a favorite worship song-new or old-

that you'd like to share? Have a story to go along

with why it's so special to you? Tell me what song

moves you and why-leave me a comment or, if you

want to blog about it, leave me a link to your blog!

I haven't done this the past 2 Sundays, and I've missed

doing it. Music really is a spiritual outlet for me.

I feel it in my soul. :)

This morning just as I had the thought that we were

actually going to make it to church (we've been once

in the last 6 weeks or so due to illnesses that seem to

spring up on the weekends!) Satan stepped in yet again.

I kid you not, within 10 minutes of me telling everyone

to go get dressed for church Noah began squalling,

complaining that his ear hurt.

He went from being totally fine to crying and running

fever. In 10 minutes.

There must really be something going on at church

that Satan doesn't want us hearing!! It's getting

somewhat discouraging.

But after I put some drops in Noah's

ear and gave him some acetaminophen

Paul decided we would at least watch a Christian

movie since we weren't going to make it

to church.

We watched Joseph King of Dreams. If you've never

seen this movie, I highly recommend it.

It tells the Biblical story of Joseph with surprising

accuracy. The kids love it and afterward, Paul had a short

discussion with the older kids about the point of the whole

Joseph story. It was really a good Bible lesson.

There is a song in the movie that I really love, and when

I heard it today, I just knew it was the one I needed

to blog about. I just love these lyrics!

{Joseph's character is voiced by Ben Affleck, but I'm

pretty sure it's not him singing.}

You Know Better Than I

Joseph The King of Dreams

I thought I did what's right
I thought I had the answer
I thought I chose the surest road
But that road brought me here
So I put up a fight
And told You how to help me
And just when I had given up
The truth is coming clear, for...

Chorus:
You know...Better Than I
You know...the way
I've let go...the need to know why
'Cause You know Better Than I

If this has been a test
I cannot see the reason
But maybe knowing,
I don't know
Is part of getting through
I try to do what's best
And faith has made it easy
To see the best thing I can do
Is put my faith in You, for...

Repeat Chorus

Bridge
I saw one cloud, and thought it was the sky
I saw a bird and thought that I could follow
But it was You who taught that bird to fly
If I let You reach me... Will You teach me?

Chorus:
For...
You know...Better Than I
You know...the way
I've let go...the need to know why
I'll take what answers You supply
'Cause You know Better Than I

Watch and hear the clip from the movie here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRSEDL1mGlI

Joy Williams also has a fantastic version of the song on

one of her cds.

BTW, I copied and pasted these words from a lyric

website and I had to correct a few of the lyrics and

some of the spelling, so please excuse any other

errors you find-they are not mine!! :)

I hope you had a blessed Sunday!

TTFN,

Date night!

2009-10-03T15:03:00.004-05:00

I just had a long luxurious bubble bath in my huge tub.

~~~~Ummmm~~~~

Now Paul and I are about to get ready and go out to eat

and have a kid-free night with some friends!

Yay for date night!!

After the last few weeks, I need a night away.

Ok...I'm off to get ready! Have a great Saturday!

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-first flight

2009-09-29T14:26:00.004-05:00

Pics courtesy of my phone (again.)

TTFN,

Specifically

2009-09-29T13:18:00.003-05:00

I find these days that I am reading several blogs

where life events have become particularly hard on

the blog author.

It is amazing to me to find that I care so much about all

my bloggy friends even though I have known them

such a short time and have never met them in person.

I am sad for my friends who are struggling and they are

constantly in my thoughts and prayers.

That said, as I was leaving a comment on one of these

blogs the other day, I noticed the comment above mine said

something that weighed heavily on me all weekend.

"Let me know specifically what to pray for."

(emphasis mine)

At first I couldn't really put my finger on exactly what

it was about that statement that bothered me, but after

thinking about it and the blog it was left on, I realized

what my issue was.

The author of this particular blog has given no details

of the struggle she is going through in her life right now.

She has just let us know, specifically, that these are very

dark, hard times for her.

I don't think anyone should have to disclose anymore

information than that for us to be able to pray for them.

We know she is hurting, we know she is in need, and that

is all we need to know, specifically.

We serve a wonderful God who loves all His creation

and when we pray to Him on someone elses behalf,

He knows exactly what they need. Specifically.

Sometimes I think we use the excuse of praying for

someone to try and get more details than they are

willing or ready to share.

As in, "If you'll let me know what's going on, specifically,

I'll know more specifically what to pray for."

And I think, specifically, that it's the wrong way

to go about it.

Will you not pray for them if they don't let you in

on the specifics? And are you not putting God in a

tiny box?

Does any of that make sense or am I overreacting?

TTFN,

What goes around...

2009-09-25T10:00:00.003-05:00

In a large household germs are never your friend.

The weekend we flew to Houston, Paul was sick.

That following week Jacob had Bronchitis.

That next weekend Emmie got croup.

This week Noah has had croup.

Imagine living with harbor seals.

That's what it has sounded like in my house.

Nonstop barking!

And now, of course,

I am getting sick.

What goes around comes around, right?

Yeah, the party never stops! ;)

Hmmph. (cough, cough, sniffle)

TTFN,

One of the cutest baby videos ever!!

2009-09-24T16:58:00.002-05:00

I'm not totally into blogging today, so I decided to

post this. Have a great day!

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday...I'm ready.

2009-09-23T12:53:00.002-05:00

Where I wish we were right now...

Photo taken by Paul on our last Disney vacation.

TTFN,

Hurry up...and wait!

2009-09-22T17:17:00.004-05:00

As parents we find ourselves rushing the milestones.

Somehow our kids are smarter, or better, or we're the

best mom if our kids reach certain points younger than other

babies. It occured to me that all we're doing is

wishing their childhood away.

And it make me think.

How many times do you find yourself saying:

Hurry up and sit up!!

Wait-how'd you get so big?

Hurry up and crawl!!

Wait-stop getting into everything!

Hurry up and walk!!

Wait-slow down, Mommy can't keep up!

Hurry up and talk!!

Wait-can't I have JUST A MOMENT'S PEACE?

Hurry up and go to school!!

Wait-I really miss you when you're not here with me!!

Hurry up and grow up!!

Wait-where did my sweet baby go??

I looked at my kids today and wondered

that last question. Where are my babies??

They are just too big. Slow down and enjoy

your babies today-even in the stressful moments!

They'll be gone before you know it!

TTFN,

Not Me Monday!

2009-09-21T17:32:00.003-05:00

Welcome to Not Me Monday!

Free therapy brought to you courtesy of

MckMama.

Hop on over to see what she and all the other

moms have not been doing this week.

I did not get weighed and measured at Curves

last Thursday. I was not just a little disappointed

that I have only lost one pound. I was not, however,

comforted by the fact that I've lost a total of 3.5in!

And I will not admit that after the frist 2 weeks I had lost 3.5

pounds but have since put them back on. Nope, not me!

It was totally not me and hubby who left some

~ahem~

bedroom paraphernalia

in our upstairs room where the kids go to play

video games. We are totally responsible with our

stuff and never leave it where it can be found by

the kids. It was not where we left it when we rushed

to move it, however, it was shoved under the chair.

We are not fairly certain that Ashton must have found

it and just hid it. It was not quite embarrassing.

It is not my Noah who frequently 'checks' everyone

for poo-poo. He does not grab the waistband of your

pants, yank them toward the floor, and hollar,

"Do you have poo-poo, Mommy?"

(Or Daddy, or Ashna, or Ninny, etc. None of us is safe.)

That's all I got this week...Hope you had a great Monday!

TTFN,

To answer your questions

2009-09-17T13:32:00.003-05:00

I thought I would answer the questions and comment

on the comments about my lovely hair pics!

That post was originally going to be titled;

'The head shots I DIDN'T send to the modeling agency!'

But I've never sent any pics to a modeling agency, so

it didn't really fit. It was just silly.

First, I don't have nearly as much hair as it looks like

I do. But I certainly do have BIG hair. In fact, in

school I was 'The Big Hair Girl.'

As in, 'You know Jennifer-the big hair girl!'

'Oh, yeah! That one!'

Yep. That's me.

Anyway, Kelli, no this wasn't after some formal where

I had my hair done up. {Thank God-I would've stayed

home with that 'do!}

Here's the low down:

I had a HORRIBLE headache {I get those sometimes} and

I was laying on the couch with Paul playing with my hair.

Inspiration struck and I had him go get a brush. Then I laid

face down on the couch and had him brush my hair

backward-as in from my neck to the top of my head-in

long strokes. It felt WONDERFUL.

This went on for at least 20 minutes.

Then I picked my head up.

I thought Paul was going to fall off the couch laughing. He ran

to get a mirror and the camera and I decided, what the heck,

and posed {rather goofily, of course!}

I couldn't believe how well my hair stayed straight up! It

was SOOO funny. There are also pictures of me sitting

up wiping my eyes because we were laughing so hard

we were crying.

There is also a pic of Jake {the dog you can somewhat

see by my feet in the pics} getting excited by all the commotion

-in his own way- and doing that thing that dogs do.

To my backside no less.

This just added to the hilarity.

And for Julie and Kimber-this pic was taken about 9 years

ago. Thanks for the compliments! If you can't tell the

difference between then and now, either I need a big make

over, or I'm doing something right!! :)

BTW, Erica, I loved your makeover!!

And thanks to Konnie's hubby, Isaac who called

me a Barney character. Love you, too, Isaac. ;)

See, Konnie, I told you I'd post them!

I mean, if I can't laugh at me, who can?? {Don't answer that!}

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday...if you could use a laugh...

2009-09-16T13:21:00.003-05:00

Holy cow.

TTFN,

Sunday's song.

2009-09-13T17:41:00.005-05:00

Have a favorite worship song-new or old-that
you'd like to share? Have a story to go along with
why it's so special to you? Tell me what song
moves you and why-leave me a comment or, if you
want to blog about it,a link to your blog!

Just because I LOVE Third Day!!

Love Song

I've heard it said

that a man would climb a mountain

Just to be with the one he loves.

How many times

has he broken that promise

It has never been done.

I've never climbed the highest mountain,

But I walked the hill of Calvary.

[Chorus]Just to be with you, I will do anything

There's no price I would not pay no

Just to be with you, I would give everything

I would give my life away.

I've heard it said that a man would swim the ocean

Just to be with the one he loves

All of those dreams are an empty motion.

It can never be done.

I've never swam the deepest ocean,

But I walked upon the raging sea.

[Repeat Chorus]Just to be with you, I will do anything

There's no price I would not pay no

Just to be with you, I would give everything

I would give my life away.

[Bridge]I know that you don't understand

the fullness of My love.

How I died upon the cross for your sins.

And I know that you don't realize

how much that I give you

But I promise, I would do it all again.

Just to be with you, I've done everything

There's no price I did not pay no

Just to be with you, I gave everything

Yes, I gave my life away. Just to be with you.

Wanna listen?

Listening to this song I can just imagine Jesus

singing it to me.

Hope you had a blessed Sunday.

TTFN,

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig

2009-09-12T18:34:00.003-05:00

We're back!

And we have a van!!

And I'm EXHAUSTED!!

And Paul's sick!!!

I drove approximately 700 miles.

ONE WAY.

Thank GOD we flew over there!!!

I'll post more later-with the few pics

I actually took.

Kimber-I am so sorry I didn't get back to you.

I would have loved to meet you.

We actually had to stop last night and

stay in a hotel cause we were both too tired.

We stayed in Baton Rouge-

but the timing wouldn't have worked out.

Maybe another time!!! Soon, I hope.

Gotta go finish supper now.

Homemade chicken parmesan. Yum.

TTFN,

A change of plans...

2009-09-10T16:37:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited!

Tomorrow, instead of driving 7+ hours,

we're going to fly!!

I've never been on a plane before, so I'm

SUPER stoked!

Sounds silly, I suppose.

But now it's just going to be Paul and me-

YAY!!!

Umm...I mean...BOO-HOO!! ;)

It's still going to be a long day.

We'll fly out of New Orleans at 12:30ish

and be in Houston by 1:30ish.

Then price haggling over the van.

Fun.

Then we get to drive back home!

We should get home about 1AM

But, did I mention I get to fly on a plane??

Even though I am not the least superstitious,

it has not escaped me that I am flying on

September 11th. Which sends a little

chill down my spine. But I'm not going to let that

bother me!

Pray for me. I'll be the one white-knuckling

it all the way to Houston! With a HUGE grin!!

TTFN,

Jump Start Review and Giveaway!

2009-09-10T13:55:00.006-05:00

I am excited to be able to review and blog about

JumpStart! Both my older girls played JumpStart

when they were little on CD-ROM and LOVED it!

Let me give you a bit of background-we are a game

playing family. We play everything; board games,

card games, computer games, Nintendo games, and

everyone's new favorite is our Wii. I knew there wouldn't

be any trouble getting into the JumpStart world again!

I let Jacob play and he was excited because I don't

usually let him use my laptop, so it was double

fun! He jumped right in with both feet!!

I think that even with all the great games, his

absolute favorite thing to do was create his own

character. He loved making a person that looked

like him and then dressing himself up! I didn't

think we'd ever get beyond that step.

This is the Jumpee Builder (not Jacob's, obviously!)

They get to pick a silly name:

Jacob's character's name is Jacob Lavacomet!
Too funny!

His favorite place to play was Storyland. He loved

the Learning House. And with him going to Kindergarten

this year, I loved it too! He also enjoyed the dressing tent,

the Library, and the Slide!

There is a 'Ghost Town' and he wouldn't even

go in there. He's a bit of a 'fraidycat. :)

I also love that they have parent's areas and a blog

that has family fun suggestions such as craft

ideas and science projects disguised as games!

I think it's a great program, and Jacob really did

love playing it. It is fairly easy for the little ones

to navigate once they do it a few times.

One thing that I think is a pro and con is that it

has SO many areas to explore and games to play

that it might be a bit overwhelming.

Jacob kept going back and doing the same stuff

over and over and I wondered if it was because

there was just too much to choose from!

Like I said, though, that's a good thing too-the

kids can do lots of things and not get bored.

Now for the good stuff-A Giveaway!!

JumpStart has graciously offered a three month

subscription to a lucky reader!

All you have to do is leave me a comment and tell

me who would get to play JumpStart at your house!

Want more chances? Follow me and leave another

comment for another entry. Blog about my giveaway

and leave me another comment to let me know and

get one more entry. Grab my button and leave...

Well, I think you know the drill. :)

The contest will be closed Friday morning, September

the 18th. I will let the wonderful random number

generator choose the lucky winner then annonuce

it shortly thereafter! Good luck!

TTFN,

We're goin on a trip!

2009-09-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

Bright and early Friday morning, Paul, Emmie and

I myself are heading out West across South MS, all of

Louisiana, and into Texas.

We are driving I10 into Houston. I've never been to

Houston before, so this should be an exciting trip.

Not so much.

We're driving over Friday and turning around and

driving right back Saturday.

Madness, right? A 7+ hr each way drive in 24 hours

with a one year old who doesn't particularly care to ride

doesn't sound fun to you?

So why are we going?

This is why:

We are going to hopefully pick up this van.

I say hopefully because if we drive all the way out there

and there is something wrong with the van or for some

reason we can't get it, I may pull out ALL my hair.

It is the ONLY gold E350 within 400 miles of us. It is one

of 2 that even show up for sale ANYWHERE. The other

happens to also be in Houston. Most of the rest are white, and

maybe I'm just being picky, but I just don't want white.

I have to admit, I'm not terribly excited about driving a

church van. I mean, really. We are getting rid of

my Toyota, which I LOVE, and getting that. Hmph.

I am excited that I have a family big enough to

need one, though-with room to add more!

And that's good enough for me.

On a good note, we do have a serious buyer for our van,

so I guess things are working out like they are supposed

to.

Pray for a safe journey for the 3 of us, and pray that my

MIL is able to keep her sanity while staying with the

other 4!! :)

Thanks!

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-At play.

2009-09-09T12:36:00.009-05:00

Anyone else notice their pics become blurry in blogger?

These pics weren't blurry before. Just wondering.

TTFN,