Because I care

I'll admit it. I like to read People magazine and catch up on the stars. I like to see them shopping and playing at the beach etc. Its probably one of the things on my "List of things to weed out of my life". But I have to say, I'm so troubled by the news of Owen Wilson. He is one of those actors that can get me laughing so hard it hurts. My first introduction to Owen was in "Meet the Parents". He had a smaller role, but I think it was one that brought on larger roles. He's just so stinkin' funny. And I'll just go ahead and admit it. "You, Me, and Dupree" is one of the funniest movies I've seen in awhile. I think its rated "R" and we rarely, if at all, rent movies with that rating. We rented it strictly because we love Owen. And it of course has many inappropriate things. But that Owen Wilson makes me laugh. If you hadn't heard he had some sort of suicide attempt. Why is it always the funny ones who want to end their lives? Because they feel they always have to be funny? Who knows. Owen, here's my message to you, since I know your a regular reader of my blog. "Get right with the Lord, then keep making those funny movies (minus the crude humor)."

bedtime lullaby?

Bedtime is one of my favorite times of the day. And Paige is all about the lullaby. Its very sweet to hear the voice of a 2 year old singing sweet songs like "Jesus Love Me", "Twinkle, Twinkle, little star", and the like.

Her newest obsession is "The Wiggles". And for some reason the only Wiggles video left at the library was "Merry Christmas Wiggles." So of course we checked it out. So her new bedtime lullaby turned in to Jingle Bells. She will need to know this one in a few months so I'm happy to oblige, for I love ALL things Christmas.

Last night, here's how the lullaby went:
Paige: Jingle Butt, Jingle Butt, Jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open butt, HEY!

That's right, that sweet little voice is now adding the word "butt" to every song she knows. There's also "Papa, Mama, Baby Butt, baby Butt, baby Butt.

I know I need to correct this, but last night I couldn't keep the laughter in, she sang it with such conviction. We'll set a goal of correcting it before December.

Oh, Now I get it.

I have never met my match in life before. That is until I had Paige. Words can not describe the joy and the tears that girl brings me. She gives these kisses that are so sweet. She screams so loud I really think she's going to break my favorite glass pitcher.

Today, I had a moment. A moment when God imparted on me just a small piece of his very big plan for me. The reason why Paige is my daughter is not for me to hone some great parenting skills in order to write a book later (I thought this earlier). He's building my character. And if there's one thing I've learned about God's refinement - its not always a quick process. I have begged and pleaded for him to quit "refining me" in certain areas of my life. And for some odd reason, I don't think He's taking my advice. So with this one, I'm just going to consent early on. I'm throwing up my hands and saying "God, go ahead, refine me because I know your going to anyway. Whether I put up a fight or not." Plus, I don't know what the heck to do with this daughter you gave me.

I honestly have good intentions

My sister, bless her heart. It was only a matter of time before she became a subject of one of my blogs. She is thousands of miles away, but her big sisterly ways still impede my conscience.

Traci is all about doing things and eating things in the most natural form they come in. I could give you the big long drawn out reason as to why she suddenly turned this way, but it really would take me forever. The short version is she drank too much hot diet coke which gave her all these wacky symptoms that no physician could diagnose. It turned out to be because of the aspartame in the diet coke.....that turns to poison in when hot.

Anyway, she has felt it her duty to let everyone know of all the different, harmful things we are ingesting on a daily basis. Most everything I enjoy eating is on the "shouldn't eat list". Now I have changed some of my ways. She really should be proud of herself. I actually read the labels at the store. Some of my friends have even made comments on how healthy my family eats. (Granted, I will always have that stash of chocolate, which is why I am officially the chunky sister. Some people are addicted to cocaine, for me its all things sweet.) Maybe its a big sister thing, maybe its just a my big sister thing, but when I am about to have something really unhealthy like canned cinnamon rolls, I can just picture my sister's face, and she is shaking her head disapprovingly.

There really is a point to all this.

I want to do what is best for my children and teach them good eating habits. So I checked out about 7 books from the library on making your own baby food, because its time for Rene'. I bought all my ingredients and made up the first batch of pureed carrots in my blender. As I was browsing the books, I kept reading how sterile your utensils and blender need to be and I thought to myself "I sure hope that spatula I used didn't have any of that crusted stuff on it that the dishwasher leaves sometimes." I then decided that this was probably going to be way to complicated, I do have 3 children you know. And I promptly headed off to Wal mart to get some organic baby food. Now some of you are probably can't believe I'm buying organic baby food and some (Traci) can't believe I'm not making my baby food. This, my friends, is why God made us all individuals. You can make your own baby food, purchase it, or even purchase organic baby food - life is full of choices. We just all have to make choices we can live with.

I am comfortable with my choice to buy organic baby food.

Because I'm keeping it real......

Its just one of those odd things about me, I want my life to look like it does in commercials. Especially the Christmas ones. The children bound down the stairs on Christmas morning to a glowing tree with beautifully wrapped presents around. Mom and Dad are drinking coffee and smiling at one another. Or its the first day of school and everyone is sitting down to a large homecooked breakfast in their extra large kitchen with many windows. Its all about the memories.

So it was the first day of school in our house today, for Zak. I was going to get up early and make a nice breakfast, even though he doesn't go to school until the afternoon. And I did get up early - like 4 times, thanks to Rene'. None of those times did I get up and begin to prepare the large breakfast I had in mind. Instead Paige woke me at 5. After an hour of trying to get her to go back to sleep I realized it was pointless and stumbled into the kitchen grabbing at the coffee pot. I could feel it - I was ultra cranky. I don't do well without much sleep. The only homemade breakfast I could muster up were some blueberry muffins.

The morning was rather uneventful, as we're waiting for the clock to move faster. And by the time its time to take Zak to school, I'm getting really sleepy again. I grabbed the video camera, scooped up the children and we were off. He did fine, as usual. And I somehow felt I'd ripped him off by not making a bigger deal of his first day of school. While I left a smiling, waving boy in the classroom, I heard from another mother in the parking lot, he was not so happy. I toyed with the idea of going in, but then I didn't want to be one of those moms, so I took my now cranky other 2 children home for their naps. Here's a pic of the first day of school last year

And here is this years pic

The good news is I have 13 more years and 2 more children to perfect the first day of school memories.

Its my blog and I can whine if I want to.

Okay, This is strictly a vent and if your not in the mood to hear one, you might want to check someone else's blog. I promise I won't be offended.



I AM SO STINKING TIRED. Remember that queen of overcommittment post? Well, I'm still depending on the Lord to deliver me from the fact that I can't say "no".



I just got back from a power trip to CO, where we stayed up much too late because they are an hour earlier. I then came home to clean my house like it has never been cleaned before because I was hosting my first Southern Living at Home party in this town. I squeezed in a meeting for the ministry called "REST" at my church for mothers of preschoolers. (The name is slightly ironic for those of us who plan it) Then today my children had 3 different play dates. The first one was a regularly scheduled play date. Then my aunt called and said my cousin and his kids were in town so that was the 2nd one. Then Andy's cousin called and said her babysitter's kids were sick and she needed to go to work so that made 3. That is why my daughter just put herself to bed at 6:30pm.



I need to go to work, I need to work from home, and all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch Guiding Light that I recorded from earlier today. Tomorrow Zak meets his new Pre-K teacher and then Friday he officially starts school.



The bottom line is I'm going to have to cut out the late night TV watching of Frazier which Andy and I love so much. Its about to kill me. (They don't make sitcoms like that anymore., you know).



With that said, Its 7:00 and I am going to sit in the bathtub, read a book, and probably fall asleep before I finish the first page.

Our Sunday

5:45am the alarm goes off, and we hit snooze.

5:50am we have to get up if we want to get to the airport in time to head home.

7:10am Our initial time to leave was 6:30am. Our plane leaves in less than 3 hours. We have a 2 hour drive ahead of us and security at Denver International Airport.

8:50am We pull up to DIA curbside, kiss and hug our goodbyes and stand at curbside check in.

8:51am I realize Rene' is poopy and its on the verge of spilling over on me, Zak has to desperately go to the bathroom.

8:55am The United Airlines employee tells us our bag is 15 pounds over the limit and we need to take something out or go inside and check an additional bag (plastic bag).

8:56am Thank goodness for a husband who loves space saver bags because he just opened up our suitcase, pulled out the tightly vacuumed bag and stuck it in the airline bag. We were off

8:58am We're in our respective bathrooms, THERE IS NO CHANGING TABLE IN THE WOMEN"S BATHROOM. (Yes, I realize all caps means your yelling, because I am.)

8:59am I change Rene' on some random chairs.

9:00am We enter the security line, which is moving, but the line winds so far outside of the designated area, I know we're in for a wild ride.

9:15am Still in the security line

9:20am I start praying

9:39am We're finally out of security and on the little underground train to our terminal. Note: there is only one train working.

9:50am We arrive at gate B47 where there is no one but the lady taking boarding passes

9:52am The 5 of us make our way to the very back of the plane with 120 eyes on us, sweat is dripping down my forehead because I am carrying an 18 pound baby on my chest, Zak's spiderman suitcase is bumping every 5th aisle passenger.

9:55am We are in our seats in Row 20 bound for home with 5 minutes to spare.

I'm too worn out to even relay the events of our arrival. That could be another post in itself.

We had a bittersweet week in Colorado Springs, paying our respects to dear Aunt Sydney and enjoying family.

VBS fun

Last night was VBS at our church. We just do a one night thing, and do it up really big. I volunteered Andy and I to work with the 2-3 1/2 year olds. Simply because they were done at 8:00pm and the bigger kids weren't done till 10pm.

It all began with me taking all 3 of my children up to the church by myself because Andy was going to be late, of course. So I knew I had to purchase 4 T-shirts and feed my children pizza all by myself before Andy would get there. I planned to get there a few minutes early so I could be first at the T-shirt table so I wouldn't have to wait in a line with 3 little ones in tow. I had my check all written out - I was prepared. So as soon as I get there I am the first in line and thankful for the gift of organization. I am rattling off T-shirt sizes to the guy while the line gets long behind me. I think I might have jostled Rene' too much because she spit up all over the floor, me, and my new T-shirt. With an audience behind me, I bend down to the floor, grab and extra outfit out of my diaper bag and clean the floor with it, all while holding Rene' and repeating the T-shirt sizes to the T-shirt guy, and Paige pointing and yelling at the top of her lungs "spit up, spit up, spit up". Now I am wearing some low rise pants. And I went with undergarments that were comfortable, not necessarily stylish or the right pair for the pants, all knowing that I would be buying a T-shirt that would well cover my low rise pants and underwear that showed. At this point I hadn't put on my T-shirt so everyone behind me got a great view of my navy blue underwear sticking out of my low rise pants. And the funny is, while I am juggling all of these things, no one behind me offers to help. And the person standing next to me was the nursery worker who was going to take care of Rene' and I thought just maybe she would offer to hold her, but not a chance. So that was my experience at the T-shirt table.

We rush off to the mothers nursing room to change because that is the only place I can lay Rene' on the floor. I then drop her off in her class and the remaining children and I go hit the pizza table. It was very crowded, and I realized I needed to get 3 plates and drinks. So I begin my juggling act only to look over at my children eating the ice that is keeping the drinks cold. I finally convince them to take a bottle of water, not the ice and we find a space on the floor to eat. The only mishap there was Paige spilling all her water on the floor. Since it was water, I rubbed it in with my foot and we promptly left for our classes.

The next 2 hours was spent moving 17, 2-3/12 year olds, from "country" (the whole theme was Northview Jones - based on Indiana Jones) to country. If you have ever tried to keep track of 17 toddlers in VBS madness, you can only sympathize. If you haven't, just picture utter chaos. There is this chain of rings that they are all supposed to hold on to while we move them from place to place. There were only 3 of us adults and we basically spent 2 hours corralling them back to the chain of rings. I have never been so tired in my life.

All in all, they had a great time. And next year, I will volunteer with the class that doesn't need a string of rings to move from place to place.

One Second can change your life

We got word last night that Andy's aunt and uncle were in a terrible car accident. His aunt didn't make it. As I sat consoling my husband I kept thinking to myself. These are the things you just don't think will happen to your family. I have never known anyone so close to die in such a sudden and tragic way. My days in Colorado, I sat many a morning at her table drinking coffee and shooting the breeze at "breakfast club". I'm going to share a few things about Sydney that will help you know what the world lost yesterday.

Sydney is the wife of Jimmy, a mom of 5, grandma of 11. She is Andy's dad's sister. She is a FABULOUS cook. Every holiday or birthday you are hoping to get one of her homemade desserts as a gift. Many times Andy asked for her famous macaroon tarts for his birthday. I personally wanted her pie. Her crusts were just perfect. She made the desserts for the Juniper Valley Restaurant. You would always find an open door and some yummy treat at her house. She had a love for her grandchildren that was so evident in the way she interacted with them. There was always one of them at her house at any given time. Every fall, you could always count on Sydney to have a Denver Bronco party. The family would all meet in her large living room for football and family time. And you could count on her to be wearing blue and orange. Every holiday consisted of some time at her house. She has this large living room with this great fireplace that is always burning in the winter. She took care of 99 year old Evelyn nearly every day. Taking her dinners or stopping for a visit. She loved golf and would take lots of trips with her husband Jimmy to play on various courses. You could count on her for an honest opinion. And most of the time, what Sydney said was gospel. She always had great jewelry on. I never paid much attention to acessories until I moved to CO and always saw Sydney with great matching jewelry. She was my next door neighbor for 2 years. She was a devoted Catholic. She loved her family dearly. Sydney we love you and we'll miss you.

Just take a moment today to remember the only reason we are on this earth is to see how many people we can take with us to heaven when we die. And the only way to do that is by the blood of Jesus. The difference of 1 second can change your life. Now go give your family a hug, and please remember ours as we move with heavy hearts through the rest of our week.