Testosterone and some pumpkin carving tools

This is what happens when the males in the family are in charge of pumpkin carving.

Yes, that would be Darth Vadar.

Because it just wouldn't be a holiday......

WITHOUT SOME PERSON IN MY HOUSE UNDER THE AGE OF 6 WHO IS SICK!

I am a clean person. My husband is a clean person. (If your not counting how many different toys are on the floor) We eat a lot healthier than some people. So why, do tell, are my children sick all the time????? We've got fevers and watery eyes in 2 out of 3. I'll just thank the Lord that this kind of sickness usually just requires lots of hugs and kisses and no cleaning up of you know what. You know its bad though when Paige is asking to go to bed.

Despite the fevers, I plan on dressing up the little kitty cat and flower, because these are the times that make for memories. "Remember that Halloween when Paige and Rene' were sick and we made them dress up anyway?" I will refrain from taking them to Mothers Day Out, but I figure Paige can trick or treat via the stroller so as not to miss out on the fun.

Fun.... My definition of fun has sure changed from pre-children years.

Grandma teaches us about pumpkins?

Today was the annual school trip to the pumpkin patch. I would post pictures but frankly, I didn't feel like lugging the camera all over. So we've just got the memories. It was your basic trip to the pumpkin patch with many many children, a sack lunch, and a hay and corn maze. But this was different from the other pumpkin patches we'd been to before. You get to sit on some hay bales and "grandma" gives a short lesson in pumpkins. It starts out with the rules. No playing with the hay. She was saying this to the 4 and 5 year olds....... many of whom were boys. She explains that just like moms, dads, and teachers have rules, so does the pumpkin patch - Don't play with the hay. And now I'm just going to quote her " you know how some boys and girls are out smoking and drinking - they're not following the rules" Remember, she's talking to 4 and 5 year olds. I wondered if some of the poor children wondered what was wrong with drinking their juice. They then got a lesson on a "lung disorder called asthma". Anyway - she shared many facts about the different kinds of pumpkins, which were quite interesting. Then she closed the lesson with this - again, the only way to do it justice is to quote her. " What happens if you leave your gourd in a chair and someone sits on it and it breaks? Who's fault is it? (Many blank stares) Its your fault. Its your fault if you leave your pumpkin or gourd somewhere where someone can sit on it. There's no one else to blame but you. Now go enjoy your day at the pumpkin patch!"

A Shout Out to the Clergy

If you didn't already know, its Pastor Appreciation Month. And so I feel obligated to post my thoughts and feelings on the clergy and the hardest job in the world. Just think about it. When your a pastor you have to deal with many things. One might be just answering "the call" even when you don't want to. I personally am so thankful for not getting "the call" to pastor. God knows I tend to run on a short fuse and my mouth would have me in trouble no matter how many times I read the passage on "how a tiny spark can start a fire, so is it with the tongue." (My paraphrasing, obviously) God just knows what he's doing. Back to the clergy.....they have to deal with so much. The opinions of many people (most who would rather criticize, rather than serve or pray). That alone would make me quit in one day. You have to have a tough skin. And you have to be confident in standing by yourself if you are so called. I'll tell you what I have no tolerance for - those who criticize a church, its pastor, or its activities, when they are 1) not being an advocate for change if need be or 2) not praying for Gods will or 3) just yakking about it in order to bring dissension. I believe if you have a problem with the church, how its run, or the person God put in charge of that church, you need to take it to God in prayer, not people. In MOST cases, the pastor is doing what he feels is best, and lets remember - God ordained him to be the head of our church, not us, or we would be the one on the pulpit. And if the pastor isn't acting unethically, or unbiblically, its probably just a matter of "fluff" - so cut them some slack. So those who criticize a sermon, talk, or the like need to take into consideration the fact that if they think they can do it better, you best be in line to preach it next week. (in my opinion, of course) So this is my sincere thanks to the pastors in my life who have accepted the call, have endured many a criticism and have had an interest in my family's spiritual life enough to "preach it". Namely, our current pastor, Tony Bailey. Our prior pastor, Gene Grate, and my youth pastors, Paul Baker, Jeff Cox, and Mike Shinn. I am forever grateful for your time, leadership, and friendship. Now, go bake some cookies, write a note, or personally thank your pastor for caring enough to stand before you every week and deliver the Word.

Sleep

Gone are the days of sleeping until noon in college in my cozy dorm room in the winter. Gone are the days of sleeping in on a Saturday morning after a long week of work at the office. The definition of how much sleep I need used to be 8 hours. These days - I'm praying for 5. Its amazing how essential it is, yet how little I seem to get. Last night was the night of all nights. It all starts with the problem of me putting my sleep first and not helping Rene' learn to sleep through the night. Her little internal clock is now set. I know this because she wakes up at midnight and 4 on the dot. And because I want to sleep too, I nurse her and put her back to bed. Well weaning is coming soon and I am foreseeing a nightmare ahead when I want her to be totally weaned and she's still waking up at night, expecting "the ninny" as we call it at my house. That was probably TMI - but we're all family. ANYWAY - I prepped Andy for the fact that when she woke up, he was going to have to put her back to sleep because if it were me, we all know what would happen. He was game....... Midnight - like clockwork - and crying for the next 2 1/2 hours. The poor man tried everything from rocking, to the lullaby CD, to holding, to rubbing her back - you name it, he tried it. And well, it ended up like every other night. Except since the girls share a room Paige was up most of that time, then ended up in our bed because she couldn't go to sleep because of all the crying, or course.

So at this point, I know that you readers aren't ones for posting comments, but I am desperately needing some help from across the nation. I need tips, stories, and encouragement. I fully realize this is my fault as Andy has been so nice to point out. I don't know how I got so soft.

On a funny note - my other 2 are into switching beds. Zack sure looks peaceful sleeping in the pink and purple butterfly sheets while his sister snoozes in his room with his beloved "Copper". I just might be creating another habit we'll have to break.

Inspiration

I have an obsession today. Its reading this blog. I just found it from another blog and now every spare minute I am pouring over her archives. She lives in a renovated one room schoolhouse and she is the queen of domesticity. I have a love for all things domestic and now I see how totally behind I am. I am prepared to now take my cooking to another level, purchase a sewing machine, and host many, many exquisite parties. I am however not on board with the homeschooling. I will avoid that at all costs, although if I see the need, I'll suck it up and do it. And I'm not really into vintage anything, but it is very fun to see her style. And she's a lawyer on the side. Why oh why can't I have neighbors like this woman?

PG-13

This might not be appropriate, but I just want to give you a glimpse of my day. And I think you'll probably get a good guttural laugh out of it.

I'm (trying) to feed my 9 month old (who has now refused solid food for the 3rd day in a row), when my dear sweet barely 2 year old Paige comes up to me and says "Look mom, at my penis". She has a toy lobster hanging out the top her her pants. And she's laughing hysterically.

I don't even know what to say now.

Back to what I know.

I've been in a funk the past few weeks. I haven't wanted to cook, clean, or pretty much do anything. Organization usually rules my life. That's the way I function best. I like to plan out my meals each week, and have my daily "to do" list handy. I don't quite understand why I've veered off the beaten path but I have got to get myself back on it. I think I wanted to just try throwing caution to the wind and letting my day just "happen". Or maybe its because I'm in the vicious cycle of overcommitment. But what that has left me with is a very dirty kitchen and my kids watching way too much TV. So this the day of me turning back to my normally motivated, organized self. I figure if I can give myself a little pep talk via the blog then I'll have to hold myself accountable. So self, lets do what we do best and get to lists and charts.

A post without the "p" word

The look Rene' gives everyone


cousins a.k.a. partners in crime

Who Knew you could get your PHD in puke

If your still reading after that title, I commend you. I know I have my P.H.D. , because it isn't phasing me anymore. Yesterday was my 32nd b-day. I was sick with the body aches and my dear sweet infant gave me the gift of puke for my b-day. My birthday activities included cleaning up puke, having a little of the chocolate I got for my birthday, and cleaning up puke. I don't really remember a whole lot of birthdays after 20. They all just kind of muddle together when you get old. But I do believe this one will be the most memorable. Yesterday morning, I sent my in laws off, who had to stay an extra day because they were aching and puking. Then Rene' carried the torch for them since they left. I just have to think that we have gotten our sickness over for this fall season. In the aftermath, I am bleaching everything in sight and trying to get my house back to normal. Really, there is no such thing as normal.

Parties, puking, and pirates

Those 3 things were the main event at our house this past weekend. It was a fun one. The birthday boy had a great time and I made it yet another birthday without him asking to have a "friend" party. Don't get me wrong. We love our friends. But I am waiting until he asks me to invite his friends to his birthday party. Parties get much more complicated when friends come, with games, party favors and the like. And I know they'll be in the future at some point so I'll wait till then to break out the plastic party bags and rubber balls.

And it just wouldnt' be a party if someone hadn't puked. No one actually puked at the party but cousin Parker had to take the hit first on Friday. Then Rene' last night and Paige today. Its inevitible when family comes that one child gets sick and then the rest do.

And the pirate party turned into a space party at the last minute - with him telling me next year would be pirates and then the next would be Star Wars.

I'll leave you with some pics.

Thanks Uncle Chris and Aunt Lana for his first whoopie cushion.

Astronaut cupcakes

Those are guilty looks from frosting stealers.

Braum Family Farm tour

It was the first full day with family in town and we headed to the Braum Family Farm and Plant to see how they make and package our milk, ice cream and yogurt. Here are a few pics and I'll leave you with a few facts.

• 24-36 hours after a cow is milked, the milk is packaged and on the truck headed to your local Braum's store.
• Braums milk has 50% more calcium than other brands of milk due to some patented process they do through a bunch of pipes. (I kindof missed this)
• They rotate their flavors ever 4-6 days.
• We saw a new flavor on the first day of production - fried ice cream. It should be in stores in a few days. We also saw them package Egg Nog and Butter Brickle ice cream.
• They are building a beef herd now so they can sell their own beef too.

If you click on the pics, you can see them much larger.

If dreams could come true......

I heard Zak telling his friend this dream in the back of our van the other day.

Zak: "I had the scariest dream last night."
Hailey: "Really?"
Zak: "Yeah, I dreamed there was a bad guy in our house and he killed my mom into a toy. And then I couldn't eat breakfast, lunch and dinner because the toy couldn't make it"
Hailey: "Oh, that's bad"

It gives me purpose now, making all those meals. My poor little boy would be devastated if I couldn't make him his PB Honey sandwich.

Will I EVER learn??????

I just don't get it. How I get myself into the predicament of being over committed is beyond me. I can't get a handle on it and its DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!! This week my mind is just spinning and I'm going no where. My "to do" list is out of control......I mean out of control people. I know its a complete disservice to my family to be so totally busy and a few years ago I deemed life success with how many things I could be involved in. But today, I'm desperately searching for a way to get out of everything. Sit back and hold on because I'm going to take you for a ride on my train.

We'll just start with today. This is usually my "busy" day. I take the little ones to Mothers Day Out and Zak goes to work with me until time to go to preschool. I then go to school with Zak as I am volunteering in his class on Wednesday's (I do remember putting on my volunteer form that I could not work every Wed, but the girl who I'm trading off with just had a baby. Now I'm every Wed). I get dinner ready and then head off to Bible Study. That's normally how it works.
Today happened a little differently, Rene' is under the weather so I thought it best not to subject her to a plethora of new germs at MDO. Which means I can't go to work, nor can I volunteer in Zak's classroom. So I'm home trying to do a few things for work while Zak watches "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" in Spanish. Yes, that's his new thing, he wants to watch all of his videos on the Spanish setting. I'm bowing out of Bible study this evening, only because my in-laws (6 of them) are coming tomorrow. Wal Mart is a necessity today if we are to eat anything besides cereal. And I just might want to clean my house so as my company won't know what my house really looks like on any normal day. And there's that pirate cake I promised I'd make and oh yeah, a party needs to go with the pirate cake because that is why the in-laws are coming. But I sure can't do any of that tomorrow morning because they are making the cutest canvas craft at REST tomorrow at church. (REST is an oxymoron)

Have I worn you out yet? I'm dying for a nap today because I STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN RENE' TO SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!

With that, I must sign off now.
Can you put my inability to say "no" on your prayer list??????

Pirates

For some odd reason, my son who has never seen any pirate movie except for Scooby Doo and the Pirate Ghost Ship, is into pirates. We're gearing up for a pirate birthday party this week. Over the weekend I found pirate costumes at the dollar store. Now, I don't know what I was expecting to get at the dollar store, but now I know. For a dollar, its going to be paper. Nevertheless, it was good times this weekend. Now all I have to do is let the paper costumes be my inspiration for planning the birthday party. I have to say though, after 3 years of Thomas the Train themed parties, I'm looking forward to the pirate one.