Scary Times

Let me first say that I am not staying awake at night worried about what is going on in the financial world......yet. Things are scary right now, but it isn't the first time tough times have come and certainly won't be the last. I do know though that things can get much worse, and that is scary. As a christian I do trust in God to take care of us, and the Bible tells us not to worry, but I am human and I do.

I worry about my parents. My dad lost his job a year and a half ago, due to his company moving to India, nice, huh?! And he is def. a good ways away from being old enough to retire. Which, with this economy, who knows if/when that will happen. He has another job, but it doesn't pay near what he did make, my mom works too, but they are barely making it right now. I still have a younger brother and sister that live with them, so I know that makes it hard. His story is one of millions across the country, I know.

Anyone ever seen the boxing movie The Cinderella Man, it is set during the depression. I know those times could happen again, and it wasn't pretty.

So here is my plan to get us ready. We have to cut out most unnecessary spending, I say most, not all. We can still afford some frivolous things. I consider my self inherently frugal, and I am, but I do my fair share of wasteful spending. So our belts are going to get tighter. Not as much McDonalds or a new purse here, or a new shirt there, or getting highlights. I can go back to just one color. We need to quit eating junk anyway, so that could definitely go. Maybe with all this cutting away of junk, I will cut away some of this fat I have been holding on to as well!

My point is, we need to be better prepared for whatever comes, good or bad. So here I go. Hmmmm, I think this might call for some spread sheets and lists. I LOVE to organize, oh goody!

It's my party......

and I'll cry if I want to! I am going to whine a little bit here. I have not gotten over my head stuff and now I feel super lousy. I feel very light headed and just generally yucky and tired. It has been over a week since all this started, so I am wondering if it has turned into a sinus infection or something. I have never had one, but with my symptoms continuing to get worse I think it's more than just a cold or allergies.

Also today is our town wide rummage sales and here I sit at home sick with three kids. I love, love, love, love rummage sales. I am a rummage sale freak! So it is breaking my heart to not get to go:(

Ok, pity party is over, gotta go to stinky Wal Mart to get milk and bread or my kids might starve, yuk! Hope everyone else is having a much better day!

I'm In Love!

Ok, you can totally tell I am a mom of three if I am blogging about my washer and dryer, lol! Only a mom would do that. But I love these guys. We got them about 2 months ago and they are fabulous. I did not have a front loading washer before, and man was I missing out! These were on clearance at Sears for like $700 a piece, which is not much much more than the top loaders, and were worth every penny. They would have been worth the $1000 that they were originally priced at! Why do I love them so much you ask?

Well before if I did all the laundry in one day it would take at least 15 loads, in the tiny washer we had. Now 7-9, depending on how many towels there are. And one load a day keeps me caught up, where before I had to do at least 2 loads a day to keep caught up. Bottom line, less time doing laundry! Hallelujah! And like every woman I know, I loathe laundry, so any less laundry time is great. If you ever need a new washer, front loaders are the only way to go, if you ask me, unless of course you enjoy doing laundry! Here are a few pics. Aren't they pretty?




Of course Gabe had to get in on the picture taking action.

In case you are wondering, this is his usual attire, he is Captain underpants, lol!

Pics

Here are some pics just because:)


I think she has inherited her mom's shoe fettish!


Riding brother's bike, this time wearing sissy's shoes.

I don't think you can see in this picture and truly appreciate how really filthy his face and hands are, obviously it makes him very happy!

Daddy cut his hair, but Gabe likes to think he does it as well.

She always does this when Daddy is watching her. Makes me wonder what he is actually doing while I am gone, lol!

I'm It!

I have been tagged by Charisse at www.charissejournal.blogspot.com.

Here are the rules:
Link the person who tagged you
Mention the rules on your blog
Tell about 6 quirks of yours
Tag 6 fellow bloggers of yours to do the same
Leave a comment to let them know

#1 Not sure if this is quirky or not, but spit grosses me out. Any kind of spit. And what really grosses me out is when kids chew up some food and then spit it back out, blak!

#2 I don't like cats. Not that I want harm to come to them, but I can't stand touching them. And I absolutely hate it when they try to rub up against my legs. Yes, for you cat lovers, I think kittens are adorable, but they do grow up!

#3 When/if I get the stomach flu I never throw up. I just lay around in misery all day feeling super nauseated. So I always gag myself so I can vomit to get some relief. I know that is gross, but hey this is a quirky list.

#4 Ok this is another kind of gross one. If my husband has a pimple on his back I cannot rest until it is popped. I like get obsessed with it or something.

#5 I can eat sour cream on almost anything. I am a huge condiment lover, and when we were on Atkins sour cream was one of the few condiments you could have so I learned to eat it with everything. Eggs, steak, fries, if it was dippable or sauce worthy it got sour cream and I came to really like it on everything.

#6 I don't like to write with blue ink, black only please.

There ya go, not too quirky, but who knows everybody might think I'm super wierd!

Typical Mom Day

All high school students should have to live for one full week with all the responsibilities of a mom with at least 2 kids, preferably more. Cause I'm telling you even those of us who were "old" when we had our kids and were in a good marriage would have thought good and hard before having kids if we truly knew how hard it was when they are little.

I am soooo sleepy this morning, Gabe did not fall asleep until about midnight last night, so I did not get to sleep til after he did. Today is my day to take snack to Kayleigh's brownie meeting tonight, so I am working on homemade cookies right now. I know, I know, I could have just bought something today since I am so tired, but I was determined not to. I am really bad about having the plans to make something homemade and then caving and buying store made, so I purposed to not do that this time, and thankfully they are almost all done! Gwen is cutting God only knows how many teeth right now and is super fussy. I have neither showered nor brushed my teeth yet. And this definitely is not one of the "bad" days, it's just a typical day.

I want to clarify that I love being a stay at home mom, but being a mom, either stay home or work outside the home, is not for the faint of heart. There is lots of vomit, poop, sleepless nights, baby fat (mine, not theirs), stress, snot, slobber, did I mention vomit and puke? But there is also, big beautiful innocent eyes, soft baby curls, laughs, love, hugs, kisses and smiles of pure joy. I guess the payoff is worth it, but the journey can be kind of rough!

It Should Be A Law That Moms Can't Get Sick

I feel pretty lousy today, it's sinus stuff. Let me first say that before I had kids it was a rare occasion for me to even have a cold. So not only have my lovely children wrecked my looks, they have wrecked my health as well, lol! Every single time the stomach flu or regular flu bug enters my house I get it. Last winter alone I had the stomach flu, regular flu and strep throat, ugh. I am already dreading this winter and all the germy's it brings with it. I need to get on some really potent vitamins. I also used to never, ever have allergy/sinus problems, now every spring and fall I battle it. Oh, I guess it is worth it to look at three beautiful, mostly smiling, faces everyday, and to get the hugs and kisses from said children. Some day, preferably soon, I will have my pre baby body back, and maybe someday I will have my pre baby health back too? Eh, here's to hoping!

My Favorite Day of the Week

is Sunday. Since I was a little bitty kid Sunday morning has meant getting up (relatively) early, putting on your pretty dress and going to church. After church was eating lunch and resting, then going to church that night. To some people that might sound like the most boring day ever, but I have never thought church was boring. I guess cause I always went to exciting churches that really love the Lord. There is something very comforting to me to have this routine/tradition. And it has never just been a routine for me, that I just did it because I was supposed to, and it shouldn't for anyone, I have always thoroughly enjoyed church. We should worship God and talk with Him all the time every day, but to have a day set aside especially for that to me is special.

And now I am able to share this with my own children, and it is the greatest lesson in faithfulness that I believe I can teach them, as my own parents taught me. Our tradition is to go out to eat after church, no cooking goes on in this house on Sunday, lol! I still like to "rest" in the afternoons. But I honestly cannot wait for Sundays to roll around. On Sunday nights I think oh I can't wait until it is Sunday again. And I hope that my children feel the same way when they are adults.

Every day should be Sunday for a Christian, and I really do strive to live that every day, I do not want to be a "Sunday" Christian. That is what I want my children to see in me the most, not only do I love going to church on Sunday, but that my christianity doesn't end when I walk out those church doors. That truly is my desire.

I hope every one enjoys their Sunday as much as I will enjoy mine!

A binky addict

I was looking back over the pics I just posted and noticed that in every single one of them Gwen has her binky in her mouth. Her binky is her most favoritest thing on earth. But I guess I need to snap more pics of her without it, lol! She really doesn't have it 24/7, just 23/7! Honestly I am not even going to think of breaking her from it until she is two. We might cut back on it and keep it only for sleepy times, or when she is sick or I have to leave her somewhere at about 18 months.

But when we broke Gabe from his binky at 18 months he went from sleeping through the night to waking about 4 times a night and that lasted until just recently and I am NOT doing that again. And if anybody (my mil, oops did I type that out loud!) might hint around that she is too old to have a binky and that I should break her from it, they can feel free to come to my house and spend the night and get up with her when she wakes in the middle of the night, every night, for the next 2 years until she learns to sleep soundly without it, and I am most certainly NOT joking, lol!

Taking a binky from a toddler that sleeps soundly is like waking a bear from hibernation, you just don't do it!

More pics

Here are some more pics I thought I would share.

Here are the kiddos with dad outside on the swing on a gorgeous fall day.


I was finally able to get what little hair Gwen has in a little ponytail. She looked sooo cute, of course it lasted only a couple of hours, but it's the first time she has ever left anything in her hair.

This is how Gwen wakes up every morning, in a chair with her cup, doll and her blankey.

After I took this picture of Gabe I realized how fitting it really was. He can be a sweet, loving, stick up for his sisters great boy. And then can be as ornery as a snake the next minute, punching his sisters in the back. I guess that is the typical struggle of good vs. evil that we all face. As a Christian the Holy Spirit is prompting us to do what is right and what God wants us to do and our flesh is pulling us in the other direction. Sometimes the Spirit gets the victory and sometimes our flesh does. Luckily we don't wear our colors on the outside to show which one is winning from day to day! And boy am I thankful for that, lol!

Nuttin' Honey

Nothing much going on right now, and that feels soooo good! I am having a pampered chef party tonight. Looking forward to that. I am not one who goes to a lot of these kind of parties and I never have them, so it should be a fun rare treat. But I gotta do some cleaning first, yuk!

Parent/teacher conference was last night for Kayleigh. The first one of the year is not a one on one meeting, just a group meeting to go over rules, expectations, etc. Kayleigh does very well in school so far. But in the next 2-3 years the work and the tests will get much harder and way more complicated and I worry about her alot. She is very smart, so it's not that I dont' think she can learn it, but she distracts very easily, daydreams alot, doesn't listen close enough and doesn't follow directions well. Sometimes it also seems like concepts that take steps to figure out are very difficult for her, such as math, all these together can be a bad combination. We will cross that bridge when we come to it, and maybe by then she will have disciplined herself, along with our help, to be a better listener.

Kayleigh's bed still has not come in yet, I am getting very impatient! When it does I will take pictures of our house and finally post them. I just know everyone is waiting with baited breath, right?!

I am having a giant garage sale in a couple of weeks, can't wait to get it cleaned out so we can actually park in it. Especially on days when it is raining sheets, like on Sunday when I was trying to get in the van to go to church and got dumped on, thanks Ike!

Have a great day!

Bloggy Friends

I have really gotten into blogging lately, and love that I am making all these new online friends. I am reading alot of blogs and adding new ones to my list quite often. I love it! Of course eventually I would probably run out of room for all the ones I read, but until then my list will just continue to grow. You can never have too many friends!

So, I have a question - Why do you think blogging is so much fun for so many people. Why are we so interested in other peoples lives? Are we nosy, bored, curious, etc.? For me it's a lot of all of those. Mostly curiosity. And I like to read stories that make me feel good about life and are refreshing and uplifting and are about real people. That and I am just plain nosy, lol!

Why do you read?

Do You Remember?

What you were doing when you heard the news. I know none of us will ever forget what we were doing 7 years ago today. Any time I see the video of the airplane hitting the towers it brings back all the emotions and thoughts from that day. There just aren't words for how we all felt. What a scary world we live in. But as a Christian I hold fast in my belief that God is in control and I can trust in Him, that no matter what happens He allows it, and when the bad things do happen He is there to hold us up and carry us through it. I don't understand His plan or why these things happen, but I do as a parent understand a tiny bit of His love for us, His children. And that is what I rest in.

Whence cometh my help, my help comes from the Lord. Psalms

Some random pics.

I thought I would post a few pics today, haven't done any before and will try to do some more often. I also realized I need to step up the picture taking, don't have very many recent ones:( Anyway here ya go.

Gwen at our old house being silly.




Our first night in the new house, it's a little blurry, sorry.

Gwen with crazy morning hair.

Kayleigh's first day of school with her teacher.

"Fall"ing into a routine

Today is the beginning of the end of summer, it was pretty chilly this morning and is nice and cool today. But that's ok, autumn is awesome as well! The air is off the windows are open and it is a great day weather wise.

We have "fall"en into a pretty good routine now that school has started, which is really nice, cause my life was feeling very chaotic this summer! Glad that's all over.

I spent too much money today, yuk! This morning when I put Gabe's cold weather shoes on they were really tight so we headed out to do some shopping. We went to JCPenneys, and they had their infant shoes bogo, so he and Gwen both got a pair of New Balance gym shoes that are velcro, the best invention ever for a 3 year old! They are both super cute, and these are Gwen's first pair of gym shoes cause she has only worn the soft Robeez type shoes til now. Then Kayleigh needed leotards, tights and shoes for dance class so we went to Wal Mart and Payless for those things and all together they were about $60, but the leotards I bought her should last a couple of years, hopefully. And we had lunch at Cracker Barrel, yummy!

On a political note, I absolutely, positively cannot wait for this election to be over. I am soooo tired of the mudslinging, negative ads on both sides and the slew of misinformation that abounds about all of the candidates. It makes me sick, every 4 years I get really disgusted! Don't get me wrong I love our country, usually genuinely like who I vote for and feel very blessed to be able to vote and wouldn't want it any other way, but campaigning today is just way out of control in my humble opinion. And I don't necessarily think it is always the candidates doing, but it is their campaign and I think the buck ultimately stops with them and to me none of them do a very good job of keeping that in check. Just wanted to vent a little about that, I won't blog about it again, but needed to get that off my chest. Whew, I feel better already, lol!

My Hubby's gonna be a deacon! Updated at bottom

I realized I hadn't written about this, so here it is! Our church recently asked 7 or 8 men to consider being considered (lol) to be a deacon and Donny was one of them.

For those who may not know, our faith, we are Baptist, have men in the church who under the pastor/preacher are leaders/servants in the church.

They are leaders in the sense that they help guide the church in spiritual decisions and are there to give any counseling or prayer for people in the church when the pastor has a lot on his plate and are to be good examples of what a christian should be.

They are servants in the sense that they are there to assist the pastor, and the church, in anything that they need.

It is a huge honor to be asked to be one, but also a great responsiblity, not only for Donny but for me and the kids as well. I am very proud of him, and pray that God gives us the strength and grace to be Godly, loving, supportive Christians, in our church and in our community. Please pray for us!

I updated to add that he passed the "test", realized that I left that out of the post. They ask candidates questions to see if they qualify, or are a fit for the position and now they all are being ordained this Sunday evening. He even bought a suit for the event, which is quite remarkable for Donny. Anyway just thought I would add that in case anyone was wondering.

A good mommy day.

Before I had kids, and I think we all do, I dreamt about what the days will be like at home with them. Of course before you have them you have NO idea that all those ideas are hysterical cause we all know parenthood isn't anything what we thought it would be, it's better of course, but definitely different, and much harder, than we thought. But today I had one of those almost perfect mommy days, for me anyway!

I got up early, which for me is a major deal, I'm not an early, early morning person. But I have been getting up at 6 am since our oldest started back to school and my days are much more productive. Anyway, got up early, got her to school and got all the morning chores done that I like to do, making the beds, doing and putting away a few loads of laundry, general picking up. Gwen went down for a nap at 11:00, and Gabe and I had an hour of preschool.

My poor middle child, he has been so left out of the educational loop, lol! When Kayleigh was his age, she knew her alphabet, could identify all of them, knew all her shapes, even the weird ones like trapezoid, all her colors could count to at least 10, etc. Because I worked with her all the time! Since Gabe and Gwen were born closer together, and we had the fire he has learned pretty much nothing, and I am very embarrassed and ashamed of that. For the past month I have been working on colors with him and vowed that when Kayleigh went back to school I would work with him alot. So today was our first day of that.

He did very well, we did playdough to work on colors and cut out shapes, we sang the alphabet song together quite a few times, he doesn't know it yet, but I know it won't take him long. Then when he gets all of that down I want to start letter recognition and spelling his name. We had such a good time and he is so lovable and calm when he has me or dad all to himself, it was just really nice.

Then we all had lunch, as Gwen had awaken, and after lunch I made homemade no bake cookies. I felt very much the homemaker/sahm stereotype today and it felt nice cause I don't feel that way very often! I usually don't have enough energy or patience! I know everyday will not be this productive or calm, and I won't always feel very energetic or patient, but I will take those days when I can get them and enjoy every minute of them, and will file these days away in my memory for when my kids are adults and playing play dough with their own children, cause as we all know those days are just around the corner!

My oldest baby turns 8!

I know people have been saying this for the past 2000 years, but where has the time gone! I cannot believe it has been 8 years since she was born. The first few years of her life were so tough because of all the hurdles we faced and seemed to just go by, one lazy day after another, with no end in sight to her being a lovable sweet innocent toddler. And then she started kindergarten and, bam, her life is flying by like an airplane.

She has come such a long way. For a little girl who didn't walk until she was almost 2, or say any words until she was over 2. Couldn't jump, run, hop, skip, or do any of the things her friends were doing when they were 2 or 3, didn't feed herself until she was like 19 months, and we had no idea if she would ever be completely "normal", she is amazing! She not only walks, she plays kick ball with all her friends at school, she won't shut up most of the time, lol, jumps on the trampoline, and does all the things a normal 8 year old does. I look back at those first few weeks of her life and I am so thankful for where she is today. It was a devastating time in our lives and we didn't know where life would take us with this beautiful red headed baby that we loved so much and hurt so much for. It has been the best ride of our lives and we are so blessed and so thankful to God for her everyday.

She is still a lovable sweet innocent little girl, who is sooo smart and compassionate, of which I am the most proud of her. I hope the next 8 years are just as sweet as the first 8, although I think we might be in for a bumpy ride, lol! Thank you God for my children.