Tonight's Bedtime Conversation

K - I think I know what Santa is getting me for Christmas.

M (mom) - What's that?

K - A scooter.

M - But that's what he got you last year and I don't think he'll bring you the same thing 2 years in a row.

K - Then he might bring me a bike.

M - You got a bike for your birthday.

K - Yeah but he doesn't know that.

M - Well I think if he keeps track of who is naughty and who is nice he probably also knows who has a bike and who needs one.

K - If Micah is on that naughty list I sure won't be surprised. You know, mom, if you are on the naughty list, you get gunk and tar in your stocking.

M - Or lumps of coal?

K - Yeah. I'll check his stocking and if he gets that, I'll trade stockings with him so that he has some Christmas joy.




Sweet sister! Note that there is no concern on her part as to whether or not she is on the naughty list!

Best of luck to us all, that we all make the nice list and don't get gunk in our stockings!

12 Christmas Facts

Okay - I got tagged. So here are some Christmas facts about me...


1. I have a funky nativity scene that my friend Susan gave me about 8 years ago. It is pretty strange-looking - I don't know if I actually like it but I always put it up each year and it has become a family tradition, so I guess I like it just for that reason. It is a bit miraculous since it has actually survived this long - it's made by Mikasa and is fine china. Not a good construction for life in this house!

2. I buy Katie a nutcracker every year. When we had our first Christmas as married folks, we had nothing to decorate with. I thought it would be cool for her to have a collection to take with her when she gets a home. I try to find one that defines her for that year. This year's is a fairy, but don't tell her because she hasn't gotten it yet!

3. Rick buys me a Hallmark ornament every year but my favorite (of all 12 - he hasn't missed a year) is the first one he gave me. It has 2 squirrels roasting acorns over a flickering fire. The boy squirrel is burning his acorn because he's not paying attention to it - he's too busy mooning over the girl squirrel!

4. Last year I set up the tree in the kitchen to protect it from Micah. This year, it's back in the living room but there are only about 25 ornaments on it to save my sanity! So far, it's still standing. Knock on wood!

5. My mother in law (who is wonderful in every other way) makes a strawberry jello frozen salad-type-thing every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas that the whole family loves. I finally got the courage this year to tell her I don't like it. We had a good laugh about that. It was just too hard to keep up the act! 12 years is a long time! One great thing, though - my mother in law gave me a Christmas journal the first year we were married. It has a place for a family picture and lines to write in what we did that year, who we spent time with and what special gifts we got. I love it and have updated it every single year.

6. My mom makes some things I don't like either, but my favorite cookie that she made when I was younger and that I make now is the little oatmeal balls rolled in powdered sugar. They always taste a bit better when mom makes them, though. My favorite Christmas gift from my dad was a stuffed raccoon, named Racky, which he gave me when I was only 6 or 7 or 8. He said he picked it out and it had a place of honor in my bed for a long time. Wait, that's 2 facts. Sorry. Just had to get that one in.

7. When we were littler, my mom had a funny igloo with penguins that went with it. She always set it in the bay window at Christmas time. Unfortunately, the igloo was made of styrofoam and the penguins had sharp beaks and we pecked the igloo to death. It was too iresistable to jab those beaks into the styrofoam. I still miss that igloo.

8. We also had a great advent calendar that my bratty little brother asked for when mom and dad moved a few years ago. I started making one in about 1998 - it's not moving too quickly. When I'm at my brother's house this Christmas, I will probably steal that advent calendar if I see it out.

9. I do love my family and Rick's family. Being with all of them at the same time is fun but it gives me a stomachache most years. I think it's the rowdiness, combined with close quarters, sitting too long and too much to eat. I wouldn't trade the time but I am prepared for the cramps. Does that happen to anyone else?

10. I don't pretend that all the gifts come from Santa. Maybe I'm just selfish, but I want my kids to think Mom is cool too.

11. Rick is slowly recovering from his Grinch-er-osity. This condition resulted after working in retail jewelry for 9 consecutive Christmases. He doesn't ever Christmas shop with me but I really don't mind. I actually prefer shopping alone (or with kids if I have lots of snacks.) I think that makes me a bit of a freak!

12. I don't really care about having a white Christmas. It would be fun to see my kids play in snow but I don't care when that happens. I live in the south for a good reason and I am not envious of you snow-covered, freezing-in-your-beds, wearing-puffy-coats-just-to-check-the-mail northerners. Ya'll hear that? But merry Christmas all the same!


Fact #7 really made me laugh as I typed it out. I bet my brothers remember that igloo.

You might not have wanted to know about #9. But it's a fact!


Okay. Now I tag Brenda, Philip (since you don't have anything else to do this week!) and Heather M (not Heather Jo - like you are going to update your blog any time soon! You might have gotten this done by next Christmas!)

Merry Christmas from Katie, Micah and their cousins...

(hint - click on the words "merry Christmas".... there you go!)

Funny Things...

Kids are a lot of work and headache (let's just be honest) but they can be so entertaining.

One of our biggest laughs of the month was yesterday - Katie watched the movie "Pocohontas", which she has seen before. I was reading a book, with my amazing ability to block out noise (Rick is so impressed by that) so I was unaware that the movie had just ended with John Smith sailing away from Pocohontas, back to England. All I knew was that Katie flew onto my lap weeping. I look at Rick for some clue and he is laughing his head off, silently, which was sweet. Turns out, she's crying for Pocohontas. Weeping, actually. And not just for a minute. This went on and on and got funnier and funnier. She has such a tender heart. Unfortunately, this doesn't always extend to REAL people, such as those which live with her!

Micah's funny new thing is to come in for a kiss but just bump into me, then back off and sadly say, "It's broken, mama!"

Let's play a little game - one popular at our house. It's called "What the heck is Micah saying?"

The sound of the word is 'keem-peter'. This one we actually know but I wonder if anyone else has a clue.

Well, that's about all I got! It's been a slow week!

Last Night's Bedtime Conversation...

Mom: Katie - time to say your prayer.

Katie: Dear God, Thank you for this day. Please help the pilgrims get home on the Mayflower safely. Amen.... Mom, did they get home safely?

Mom: Baby, that all happened a long time ago.

Katie: Was that in 1982?

2 Thoughts...

A couple years ago, one of the middle schoolers at church asked me, "When your baby (Micah was a baby at the time) poops in his diaper and you have to change him, does it still stink to you, since he's your baby?"

Bless her heart.

Dear R.K. - Yes. It stinks. Badly. (And I hear a resounding AMEN from Rick.)

I thought about this yesterday because I was struck by something that is different in my experience with my kids than my experience with other kids. When I was teaching I developed a massive gross-out phobia with loose/losing teeth. It seriously made me nauseas to see kids wiggle and pull out their teeth.

Well, Katie lost her second tooth yesterday and it was ugly. I can't explain exactly how this happened. All I really understood from her hysterical crying was that a blanket snagged this not-very-loose tooth and when she rolled over in bed, it jerked the tooth out. It was bloody and seemed to hurt quite a bit. But I realized later that day that I hadn't been particularly grossed out. I felt bad for Katie and somewhat perplexed as to how that all happened, but not grossed out. Score one for the mom. 2 teeth down, many more to go. My favorite part of the whole tooth-losing event was listening to Katie this morning, reenact how she woke up and discovered that the tooth box was empty of the tooth and full of a dollar!

Speaking of favorite times, I think that our assembly at church yesterday was one of my all time favorites - at least in the top 10. During the singing time, Micah (who was dressed exactly like Rick in a blue dress shirt and khaki pants) led his own little worship time in the aisle beside me with a yellow crayon as his microphone. He has his little hands in the air and he was singing at the top of his lungs! It was beautiful. I think Rick had a hard time keeping everyone together because there weren't too many eyes on him - they were all watching Micah and laughing their heads off. I know that he isn't supposed to be providing the entertainment - in fact, I know he didn't even see anyone watching him because he'd have stopped if he did. He was just all into the praise music. But I just can't stifle that enthusiasm! It is so cool to see him praising God and trying to be like his dad! I can't think of a more beautiful thing that could happen in our assembly, so I let him sing on! The dancing got a little crazy, but sometimes you just can't help yourself!

Scarmbled Eggs, Chicken Nuggets and Micah's Nose

Parenting is such a learning experience. Yesterday, I learned that scrambled eggs are much the same consistency as, well, there's not a very nice way to say this...well, as snot. I know this now because Micah stuck them up his nose but fortunately, due to their unique consistency, they blew right out into a tissue! Breakfast, anyone?

They tell you during your parenting crash course that you shouldn't leave young children unattended while they are eating. I heard this. What they didn't tell you is that while a child is eating, safely secured in his highchair, you can get a surprising amount of work done. (This, along with many other things, is why I always lose my mother-of-the-year award in early January!) With Katie, this unattended eating issue only came up once, when she stuck a straight pretzel in her ear and broke it off. (Thanks to Shari and her suction machine, we were spared an ER visit.) However, with Micah this is becoming a bigger issue.

The funniest occurrence was on our mega-trip a couple months ago. We were eating Chick-fil-a in the car. As he finished his nuggets, Micah started calmly saying "Mama. Chicken. Nose." Micah says strange stuff, so I don't get too worked up. He might have thought he saw me put chicken in my nose, which I was pretty sure I hadn't. He might have been wondering if chicken's had noses. Or, it was possible that he was saying something that had nothing to do with chickens or noses. I did look in his nose and of course I couldn't see anything, so along we went.

We stayed in a hotel that night and the next morning, Rick took him down to the continental breakfast. A crowded hotel breakfast is hairy enough - add a fast and determined 2 year old and Rick's patience was put to the test. But the best part, which I laughed heartily about upon hearing it, was when Micah did a gi-normous sneeze in the middle of it all and out flew a rather large piece of chicken. We now know that Micah's nasal cavity must be quite large to have accommodated such a chunk of chicken! Honey mustard, anyone?

Ahhh... the glamorous life! And it's only getting better!

A Plain Old Sunday

Well, it's just another day around here. Let's see what I can tell you...

Micah started going happily into his preschool last week, for the first time. Previously, he would start, from the moment he saw me put his backpack in the car, saying "No no Miss Debbie does bubbles." (Miss Debbie is his teacher and she usually ends the day with a massive bubble-blowing event, earning her the name from Micah "Miss-Debbie-does-bubbles".) He has gone from throwing a raging fit when we leave him to now throwing a fit when we pick him up. I think that kid has a quota of fits he must throw each day because it seems pretty arbitrary when he throws them. He wants music on. He doesn't want music on. He wants certain music on. He wants it louder, softer, etc.... But fortunately for him, he's a lover and my frustration is diminished when he (frequently) showers his love on me. One of my friends said her 3 year old asked her, at a rather tense parent-child moment, "Mama, are you trying not to kill us?" I guess Micah might sense that at times, so he pours on the charm!

I am daily astounded at what Katie is learning at school. It's been mostly good stuff so far! I'm sure the bad stuff will astound me too, whenever we get around to that! The other night we were laying in her bed thinking of everything that starts with the letter "M". I said "marshmallow" and she said, "Hey mom, did you know that is a compound word?" Wow! She's in kindergarten, for Pete's sake! Anyway, I'll quit there to avoid the "look-my-kids-a-genius" obnoxiousness that irritates me with other people! I'll save the listing of her amazing accomplishments for my parents. Isn't that the great thing about grandparents? They never tire of hearing how wonderful your kid is!

Anyway, Rick is doing good too. He launched a website for his jewelry stuff - you can see it here . The business has been just enough for him and we are blessed by the chance to keep his skills up and supplement our income.

I wrapped 6 Christmas gifts last night. I was pretty proud of myself. Not that they look exceptional or anything, but that is just 6 gifts that I won't have to buy the week before Christmas! I know, it's a glamorous life. You don't have to remind me.

Well, unfortunately, that's about all I got. I'll sign off with one of my new favorite quotes...

"Some people are like slinkies - not really good for anything, but they bring a smile to your face when pushed down the stairs."

PS - By the way, in the picture above, Katie is not squatting down - Micah is really that tall! Yikes!

Tools

Here are my deep thoughts for the week!

I think that we are born with certain innate tools. I think this is different than talents or skills.

I'll use myself as an example. And Rick of course!

I was born with an internal clock (set to the right time!). Here is why I think this.

I always know what time it is, within about 15 minutes. Time never gets away from me (like some people say happens to them when they are late.) I am rarely late - usually I am annoyingly early. I can estimate how long something will take me to do and I am usually right.

I know that this is innate because Rick doesn't have it. He has learned a lot of habits from me, so he is not usually late nowadays, but it's not in his blood. He is frequently shocked at what time it is and he is bad at estimating how long something will take. We joke about it - he'll say, "It'll just take a minute." and I'll say, "Great - see you in a few hours!"

On the flip side, however, he has an innate compass. He knows where we are, which direction is out and when to turn. I can look at the sun and, since I always know what time it is, can tell where north is but that doesn't mean I can get anywhere. We live next to a huge neighborhood with winding streets. It is faster to get to the east side of town if we cut through that neighborhood. Rick has been taking that shortcut several times a week for 3 years but I still can't find my way through it. I have a hard time figuring out interstates - I-26 near my house runs north and south but is labelled east and west and I can't remember which direction I need to take to go one exit north of where I am. And the corn-field maze. Don't get me started. Talk about panic attack!

In addition to a clock, I have an internal calculator. Don't take this to mean I'm good at math. I can honestly say I am terrible at math - I don't know calculus from geometry. But I can do math in my head and usually pretty quick. This annoys people too. I think it is a challenge. But this tool goes defunct if I don't have enough sleep.

Rick has an internal tape measure. I'm at a little disadvantage here because I learned metric growing up and now I have to use the other. But I still don't think I have the measurement tool.

Rick can usually know what size blinds we need for the window we didn't measure before going to Lowe's. I would be estimating between 45 and 70 inches! He gets a little closer. I will, however, know that if it costs $29.99 and we have a 15% off coupon, we'll only pay about $158 for it (after he buys a new drill to install it) and it will take approximately 3 months to do the job (after we put it off in favor of anything else)! We are quite a team!

That's all I got!

Halloween Scrooge

If there was a character that felt about Halloween like Scrooge felt about Christmas, that would be like me. I don't have any spiritual issues about it. I just don't like it. I am annoyed by the persistent knocking on the door, stressed by finding the cutest costume, frustrated by the deluge of sugar on my family, etc. Pretty Scroog-ish, eh? But I grudgingly went along with things again this year, although I refused to pay for costumes. Here was what we came up with - Roman citizens...






It was kinda funny because everyone called Micah "Little Ceasar" (like the pizza guy) and some of the teenagers kept saying that my kids were dressed for a frat party, not a halloween party. That made me laugh and overall, we had a good time at a Halloween party with folks from church and I only spent $6 on the costumes, so life is good!

7 Years of Plenty?

Totally random thought here. Has anyone noticed a larger than usual crop of acorns this year? Pulling out of the driveway each morning sounds like we are driving over bubble wrap, there are so many acorns that have accumulated overnight. What is so funny to me is the squirrels climb up to the top of our oak trees, which would be about 60 or more feet up, and shake the branches to make them fall. Have they not noticed that there are about 7,000,000 of them already on the ground? Let's work a little smarter, little squirrels. That could explain why you are not on the top of your food chain!

On a more frightening note, has anyone ever been hit with an acorn that has fallen down 60 feet? I can't do the math on that anymore, but I'd estimate the velocity of an acorn could reach a force similar to the force Micah uses tackling Katie when he wants to take her down! In either situation, it's going to hurt. We are about to start using helmets outside.

I just wonder if I should be concerned about the plethora of acorns. I may have to consult the farmer's almanac and see what that bodes for the winter. Maybe I should be squirreling something away too. Mac and cheese was on sale at Publix this week - buy one get one free. Hmmmm...

This truly is a glamorous life I lead.

For example, I had 2 major victories today in the domestic goddess department. First, I figured out how to get the straps off of Micah's high chair so that I could wash 2 years worth of crust out of them. You might think this is minor. If so, then you have never witnessed the magnitude of crust that can accumulate on anything a toddler routinely touches. Especially one that eats like Micah!

Secondly, I actually finished all of the laundry today. Finished. As in all washed, all dryed, all folded and all put away. Even the hang up stuff! Every article of clothing except for what we were wearing! I even washed tennis shoes and a jacket, all of the detached high chair paraphernalia and every one of the towels in this house. In fact, I didn't know we had that many towels. (Does anyone else feel like they are always scrounging for a towel in the morning? Many a day, I have settled for a damp pink one that Katie had used the night before.) Problem was, there was some serious jamming going on to get all of the towels in the cabinet. Maybe I should have left some in the dirty clothes hamper, but that would have made this only a minor laundry victory.

The trade-off for these feats of domestic splendor was in the loss of some drywall. Let me explain. Micah is a little Houdini. He has mastered almost every baby-type lock, including the door knob covers. So in order to let him out of my sight, he has to be either strapped in his high chair (via the formerly crusty straps) or thoroughly gated in. I have a tension mounted gate that stretches across the hallway to keep him out of the bedrooms and I was determined to do that today. I had to tighten the tension rods repeatedly because he kept busting through them. I finally got them so tight that I had to leave the thing up all day, leaping over it even while he was asleep, because I couldn't get it off. Rick finally managed to get it off, along with a chunk of drywall on each side of my newly painted hallway. Bummer.

BUT, refer back to my 2 major domestic victories. Don't "they" say something like 'victory demands sacrifice'?

On a totally separate note, I have to jot down a very happy mom moment for the sake of posterity. Katie has not been the most fun kid these days. She has a pretty sassy mouth on her (shocker, huh) and she is extremely moody (another big shock). But yesterday, we were at a Daisy Scout meeting at Moe's (southwest restaurant). Moe's was voted as the troop's favorite restaurant and they graciously agreed to let us come eat as much chips and queso as we could pack down them. Anyway, the TV was on and there was coverage of a fire and explosion somewhere. Katie (my TV junkie - no surprise there) spotted it and drew the attention of all the girls to the TV. Then she said, "We need to pray for the people in that fire. Everyone hold hands." She then proceeded to tell the girl next to her to offer the prayer, which she did. Incidentally, it was a rather lengthy prayer, although very sweet, and Katie couldn't make it all the way through without dipping a chip - the sneaky dipping of the chip was rather comical. But I was just so proud of her tender heart! If only all of us had such an immediate inclination to pray in the face of tragedy!

It is a glamorous life! All I am lacking is an extremely large pair of dark sunglasses and then everyone would know how glamorous it is!

51 hours in the car and 2,947 miles later...

...we survived the marathon trip and have recovered nicely! We hit 15 states plus one province and lived to tell about it! We had a great visit with my mom and dad, Rick's mom and dad, all of my brothers and friends in Arkansas. Rick also had a GREAT reunion show with the Christian group he sang with for 10 years and we had a lot of fun catching up with those guys.

There is much more to tell but I'm sleepy tonight, so I'll leave you with some glimpses of our incredible journey...




Micah's first taste of hockey (outside of my parents church in Canada on a Sunday!) They don't normally play hockey at church, by the way! It only seems that way!




We actually got to wear winter clothes in Canada!




My parents are still finishing building their house. My dad and brothers let him "help"! I guess this is what "training up a child in the way he should go" means in my family!




Ahhh... cousins! This is Jolene and she is tougher than she looks, fortunately for her!

Last night, we had a praise gathering at church and Rick had sent out an e-mail earlier in the week asking for song requests. It was cool because one of our members is currently deployed to Afghanistan and he sent Rick a request via e-mail. Rick records the assemblies onto DVD and sends them to Jeff, so he knew Jeff would get to hear his request.

I was so moved when we sang the song he requested. The first line says, "Over all the earth, You reign on high." I started to wonder if this brother is able to see God reigning in Afghanistan right now.

I've been to a lot of places in this country, and in the world, where you could look out over the creation and know that God reigns. You'd be blind not to see that at Niagara Falls, or looking over the Swiss Alps, in the sun setting over the Black Sea or in the waves crashing onto some of the beautiful, undisturbed beaches of South Carolina. I've known God reigned when I watched medical professionals serve the underserved at free medical clinics in Arkansas and here in South Carolina and I've known God reigned when I've seen men sweating over building homes for people who've lost theirs in a storm. I have felt like I've almost seen the very face of God in my newborn babies and in watching some amazing women of God showing comfort to each other. Creation and the work of God-loving people testify to the reign of God.

I believe the words of Psalm 48 and I know in faith that God reigns over all of the earth. But I can imagine it is really hard for people to see that in some areas of the world right now.

Psalm 48:7 "God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne."

A day in the life...

So, Katie has been partnered up with a 4th grader (a "real, live 4th grader", she calls him) who's name is Ben (or so we thought) for these first few weeks of school who reads to her when they have "book buddy" time. This has happened 3 or 4 times already and she has talked at length about Ben.

So tonight we were going over her day as I was tucking her in, she mentions that they had book buddies today. So I say, "Oh, how is Ben?"

She says, "By the way mom, his name is not Ben."

I say, "Oh. Okay. What is his name."

"I don't really know. But it sure isn't Ben." (I'd have liked to see how she figured that out, since she's been calling him Ben for a month. She gets that from Rick.)

I say, "Are you sure it is the same guy you have been reading with all along?"

She says, "Yeah. It's okay. He never remembers my name either. I keep telling him, 'I'm Katie. Katie. Katie.' But he never remembers. So I started telling him my name is Lindsay!"

Maybe Ben, or whoever he is, could pick up a few tips from Katie, or whoever she is!

What are they teaching them these days...

So, Rick took a birthday snack to Katie's class this week. It was our first glimpse into her little world since she started school. He said it was pretty crazy - a lot of little bodies in a little room - but that she was having a great time and the other kids seemed pretty nice (with a couple exceptions.) Since he had to take the snack at 1:00 (yeah, they eat lunch at 9:50 am!) and pickup line starts forming around 2:00, I suggested he stay for the rest of the afternoon and ask the teachers if they had anything he could do...

...which is how he ended up in the teacher work room stapling number books together! Go little Ricky!

Anyway, he said the most entertaining/unusual part of his adventures in kindergarten was when Mrs. Pearson announced that everyone needed to finish their snack because it was time to go out for recess. Rick said that "recess" was barely out of her mouth when 5 (no exaggeration) kids asked Katie if they could be her cat! And 1 asked to be her dog?

What is up with that?

We still have no clue why her classmates are campaigning to be her pet. She was tired to the point of tears last night so I forgot to ask. I think we will be needing to have a little chat tonight.

2

It's official, though I've known it for a while now! His favorite word is "no", he wants to do everything himself and he follows me around like a shadow! But I love him! I almost can't remember life without him, back when we got enough sleep and didn't have any baby gates or baby locks in the house and when no one threw fits and everyone ate neatly. But really, I can barely remember that!

Random Memory

I was thinking back the other day to something that happened 13 years ago! I can't remember what triggered that memory. I must be getting old since I have significant memory of something that far back. Anyway, Rick and I were dating and were at the mall. In that foggy, lovey phase, we stepped into a jewelry store in the mall to look at engagement rings. We weren't really ready to buy anything (meaning, our student loan money hadn't come in so we were still broke) but we wanted to look (and I wanted to be able to tell my girlfriends that I'd been engagement-ring shopping!)

Anyway, the sales lady, when she figured out that we weren't planning to buy anything immediately, told us that we shouldn't wait too long to buy a diamond because THE DIAMOND SUPPLY IN THE WORLD WAS ALMOST DEPLETED! She actually told us that in the near future, everyone was going to have "champagne" diamonds (translation - ugly brown diamonds) because they had almost finished mining all of the earth's clear white diamonds. We actually got a little worried about that.

Funny how things end up. Rick is 12 years into a career in jewelry, and still having no trouble buying white diamonds,(and with new diamond mines still being discovered) and we hadn't thought of that trip to the mall in over 10 years. I wonder if the sales lady really believed what she told us or if she flat out lied to us. Our worry over what she said goes to show how easily we can have the wool pulled over our eyes when we are in the vulnerable position of not knowing something. Obviously, no one can know about everything (even people who act like they do!), so we are all in the position at times.

I am not sure why I thought of that, but to set your mind at ease, I don't think that in this century the world will run out of nice diamonds. Although, if you are worried, we can hook you up with a big one today, just in case!

The Theory of Relativity

I can't remember exactly what the actual, scientific theory of relativity means, but here is what that term means to me today...

Kids and Time - there is a relativity that is not understood by kids. For example, a friend of mine's delightful 5 year old heard someone say "Jesus is coming soon" so she asked her mom how it would be when Jesus came. Her mom explained the trumpets and the thunder and all that. Like 5 minutes later, a truck rumbled by and the child hollers "It's Jesus - I hear him!" There is just no concept of the relativity of time. You can't blame them - we say, "It will be bedtime soon." and "Soon it will be fall and you can wear blue jeans again. " and "Jesus is coming soon." There should be more specific terms.

6 Inches - When you are talking about the distance between earth and the sun, 6 inches is relatively insignificant. When you are trying to see how far it is from here to there on a map, again, relatively insignificant. When you are moving a piano, still not that big of a deal. When you are discussing the difference between a full-size bed and a queen-size bed, it doesn't sound very significant. YET, when 2 of you are trying to sleep in a full-size bed, instead of a queen-size bed, those missing 6 inches will kill ya! So if we seem a little grumpy over the next few weeks, just know that it is all relative to those 6 inches of missing bed (all 6 of which I think were taken off of my side since Rick seems to not be noticing the difference.)

Teeth - since you have 16 or 20 of them in your mouth, you would think that missing one is relatively minor. Yet, Katie can't seem to talk without spitting these days. I guess that having a 3 mm gap in the front is making all the difference in her ability to keep her slobber in while she talks! Here's hoping they don't all fall out at once. We'll have to wear rain slickers just to chat with her!

So those are the theories of relativity in this house!

There is less of Katie to love...

Yet another milestone! After 3 months of wiggling, it came out in the tub! Now the tooth fairy has to run somewhere to get a dollar? Or should it be $5? A quarter? What is the going tooth-fairy rate these days?

Yet Another Milestone...

There have just been so many milestones lately, I feel like I am tripping over them. Today, Micah started school - only preschool, but still a big thing for him. Unfortunately, he didn't sleep very well last night and I don't think he felt 100%, but we went anyway. (By my twisted logic, I figure that he'd be grumpy here or there, and they get paid, so I let him go!) He cried when we left, sadly, but just so you know, Micah (in case you read this some day), I stood outside the door and listened for 20 minutes until you got happy, and I was sad too. You can tell the therapist that if you ever decide that me leaving you crying at preschool traumatized you for life!

The good news was that when I picked him up at noon, I stood in the classroom watching him for a good 5 minutes before he even noticed me there. He had a good time, I think, runny nose and all. I enjoyed the morning - I began a new Bible study with some girls and it's nice to not have to rush through it.

So here are some of the captured moments. (I'm sure Rick will create another podcast with the video he took, in case you are dying to see the live action version!)



The backpack is a little large, but so cute! He likes the "pack pack" part of school!



This is when I should have left! But I just had to say good bye, which is when the tears started. (If anyone is ever at church and wonders what exactly "weeping and knashing of teeth" looks like, you can just imagine the first day of preschool with 10 nearly-2-year-olds leaving their mamma's for the first time!)



His class has 7 boys and 3 girls. I would not be volunteering to be in charge of that mess! But Miss Debbie and Miss Elaine are veteraned 2-year-old teachers, so I will happily let them do their thing!

In other Micah news, we are starting to see 3 and 4 word sentences! It is very cute! Today at lunch he kept saying, "mo chikit muck agin pees." I knew exactly what he wanted. If you can't figure it out, you probably need to come for a visit! Anyway, it is so sweet to listen to his little voice, especially when he sings! He definately got more of the music gene than Katie did and it is so cool to see it develop. We'll try to get that on video - it would make a good podcast, I'm sure! (By the way, if you did download his podcasts from iTunes, thanks for indulging my technologically obesessed husband!)

I hope your day was as exciting as ours!

The Other Child

I have been a little preoccupied with Katie's things this week, but I wanted to let all 4 of my faithful readers know I haven't forgotten the little Mike. Thursday morning, we were all dressed and fed and ready to go and it was only 8:00! What a new scene for us! So we sat on the couch and pondered our new little existance - just him and me. I came to the conclusion that we can finally do what HE wants. He has been packed around to all of his sisters events for 2 years. Now is Micah time. So we sat a little longer with me trying to figure out what he might want to do. I haven't given that much thought!

So we ended up at the park. It was surprisingly cool and there was no one there. An empty park is no fun to Katie but Micah loved it! He had no one to stand in line behind, no one on the swings to kick him when he walked in front, no one to be hit with the rocks he loves to throw. It was great! We stayed 2 hours. He did miss Katie, though. As soon as she got home, she shucked her clothes and he put them on over his own. It was cute.

So here is the little man these days. He is cute beyond words and such a ham. The child plays to the crowd, even wose than Katie did at this age. He has a touch of OCD in that he wants the same song played over and over until he learns it and can sing along. There is nothing more precious than hearing a little child sing "Lord, You're Beautiful".



He has made this week survivable for me. We are both excited for Saturday, though. There is something just-not-right with Katie gone!

I don't know who's brilliant idea it was to give a sweet, defenseless baby to a couple, expect them to love and protect the little creature for 5 or 6 years, while they grow more and more attached to the thing, and then ask them to just hand it off on some arbitrary day in August to a couple of strangers who have a paper on the wall that says they know what they are doing in a room FULL of little people, just one of which you had trouble handling sometimes, and then expect you to go on about your merry day without another word from them for 6 or 7 hours. To make matters worse, they expect you to jerk that sweet sleeping child out of bed at an hour that man was not meant to walk to earth (since it is still DARK) so that later they can try to get the poor child to sleep on a towel, sardined up against kids they've never met, in the bright light, on a concrete floor and with a belly full of greasy popcorn chicken and fries. Why couldn't we have just let them sleep in the morning and skipped the whole nap farce? And what in the heck is popcorn chicken? Did it start out as a dry kernel of chicken before it hit the grease?

Maybe I'm just a little emotional right now, but I miss my kiddo. We did survive the morning. She did great. She was nervous but brave and it was hard to leave her in her chair, waving goodbye, and not go back for another kiss. But I was heartened to see that as I walked away, she was drawing a happy sunshine on her paper. Here are some of the moments...

The requisite "First-Day-of-School-in-front-of-the-house" picture. I have the one of Darrell and I waiting by the mailbox for the bus on my first day of kindergarten, framed on a shelf.



This one kills me. She didn't even need to hold my hand. She didn't know that I needed to hold hers...



Katie finding her own little piece of real estate - the illustrious cubby - with Mrs. Roberts (who is quickly emerging as the favored of the 2 teachers.)



And the final farewells. I don't think Micah has realized that anything is different today!



So there it is. Now I only have a couple more hours to wait to hear what I missed. And I just can't wait!

The Final Day...

We had classroom orientation today at Katie's school. Can I just say that I need to rent the saddest movie tonight and just get these tears out! I feel like I have been choking on them for a week - they feel like such a weight! I'm thinking "Stepmom" or "My Life" or something like that is in order for tonight.

So anyway, back to the orientation. Katie flat out refused to enter the classroom! All of you who can't imagine that she is ever shy - you should have been there. So we waited a couple minutes in the hall. I finally told her I was ready so she hid behind me and we went in. It really took her a few minutes to warm up! I am praying she gets a good night sleep tonight because if she is tired tomorrow, she might pull the same stunt and I'm not sure I can leave her there crying.

Here are some pics of the morning.

This is the front of the school. There are 1045 students this year, which includes 9 kindergarten classes! I think there were fewer than 9 classes in the entire elementary school that I went to!



Katie could not be bothered with drawing a picture of her family! She only sat still for a couple minutes!



She did immediately get excited about the books!




This car is in the library. What is up with her reading the paper? I don't even read the paper!



So that is the latest. I'll hopefully get some pictures tomorrow. Thanks for indulging me as I take this agonizing journey back to elementary school! We are really excited for Katie and totally at ease with everything - just mournful of the leaving of a phase of her life and all too aware of how quickly the days are passing us by!

Wow - the clock is SOOO ticking!

A day and a half until my preschooler enters the world of her next 13 years.

A day and a half until I have to start planning around a school schedule and quit going to theme parks when no one else is there.

A day and a half until I start waiting anxiously to hear how her day spent with other people went, and hope I didn't miss too much.

A day and a half until Katie has to wait until 2:30 to get a hug if she gets hurt or gets her feelings hurt.

A day and a half until I get to start running errands with only one child. Okay - that's a good part!

It'll be a big day and a half!

Shifting gears (and avoiding tears) I have to share the latest funny thing. Today, Katie finally wanted to work on her preschool workbook that she has been against working on all summer. So she was determined to do all of it! Anyway, on one page we were graphing the number of legs each farm animal has. I had to call each animal a "her". She said, "They are all girls mom, unless they poop. If they poop, they are boys!" Hopefully, she'll keep to the theory that boys stink for at least another 13 years.

1.5 days...and no longer counting.

Funny Katie Quote of The Day

Today, Katie was washing out a pair of panties that she had messed in. She hollered at me, "You know mom, a long time ago, if a kid had an accident, they'd have to wash their panties out down at the river!" That's about right, I guess.

I guess that means she's ready for school! Good thing, because there's 4 days and counting.....

Our new favorite place

We are getting ready for a renovation on our master bath and have been plotting and planning our method of attack. I have driven by this store several times, called the Restore, run and managed by Habitat for Humanity, and always wanted to stop in. So today, we went to scope it out. It was awesome! There were dozens and dozens of windows and doors, shutters, bathroom fixtures, cabinets, furniture, bricks, light fixtures, etc. The window assortment was the most amazing. There were all sorts of custom shapes and styles, many of them still in their original packaging. The worker folks old us that the stock came from a variety of places - some was recycled and was not new, other stuff was slightly damaged and a lot of it was new overstocked items from home imrprovement stores. There was also some cool old stuff - one door was like the old doors in the middle school I went to, with windows on the top half and made of old, heavy wood. It was $20 - if 'd had a place to keep it, I would've bought it for sentimental value. There were some cool, angled-type windows and some really neat french door ensembles.

We ended up buying a window for the bathroom that matches the other windows in the bedroom - it was brand new - for $40! Then, we got a new marble vanity top with 2 underneath-mounted sinks for $99! (It is still in the truck - we will need some big friends to help us get it out!) We also got a solid cherry kitchen table with the leaf that folds down into the table for $65 - granted, it doesn't have any legs, but Rick is already remedying that in the garage! We cut a lot off our bathroom budget and everything in the store is tax-free too, with the proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity, so it was a winner all around. We will definately be hitting that store again frequently.

Anyway, that was the cool thing for the day! We will have to post some before and after pics of the bathroom whenever we get started. There are some details we are still working out but we hope to get started in the next few weeks. If you have nothing else to do, you are welcome to come demo with us! It should be fun...

It's all fun and games until someone pukes in the playland!

So it's 480 degrees (roughly) and we are running out of money and things to fill the day! If someone wants me to do their back to school shopping (and foot the bill of course), I'd be glad to because I am bored out of my gourd today. That doesn't mean I don't have anything to do - just nothing that is appealing to do with 2 whiny kids and a car that feels like an oven, on less than $5.00.

So we have been hitting the "fun" (term used loosely) restaurants this week for lunch and a bit of energy exertion (theirs, not mine). Today it was Burger King. Apparently, most of the other moms in town thought it was a good idea too, so it was packed...

...until the worker-man said kindly, "We need to clear the playland for just a few minutes while we clean some vomit out of the little car thingy." Wow. What a way to empty Burger King of about 75 people in less than a minute. I think the lake dropped a couple inches too, shortly after that, as about 30 moms scrubbed their kids from head to toe (Katie is still soaking as we speak). I think the only thing that could make these last, hot, grumpy days of summer any longer is a stomach virus!

But on a lighter note, Micah is becoming a little quirky in his old age. In a stroke of brilliance (I thought at the time), I got him eating his vegetables one night with a toothpick (we said "on a steeek", like the jalepeno on a stick guy). Unfotunately, he has now abandoned all other forms of self feeding and will only eat stuff off of a "steeek". It's a little tedious. We haven't tried rice since this started. Or soup. I'll keep you posted about that.

Only 2 weeks left until school. We are getting nervous about the morning times. Currently, we are weening Katie off of the 10 am waking schedule. Shooting for 9:30 by the end of the week. We need to get to 6:45. Not sure how that will go. But she is ready - she's been wearing jeans and a SWEATER all week. DId I mention that it's nearly 800 degrees outside? Just checking. She cracked me up again the other night. We were eating chicken soup (I know - bad idea in August but I couldn't come up with anything else) and Rick got a little bone in his. Katie commented, "I wonder why they put bones in the chicken? What good is that?" Maybe I'd be that smart if I could sleep until 10:00 every morning.

The kids are playing together a little more these days. That is usually a good thing, although 2 conniving little minds are truly scarier than one. Yesterday, they played that they were cops and arrested the vaccuum cleaner. The vaccuum has been the source of much delight these past couple weeks. Once again I ask myself why I buy toys when the hard plastic vaccuum attachments are what they play with all day. Describing the arrest of the vaccum on the phone to my friend Holly resulted in a suggestion that they need a little "respect of the household appliances" crash course. I think I probably need the "it's not always good in the long run to let kids do whatever it takes to keep them from whining" crash course instead. But it's a little too hot for that today! Besides, at least I didn't let them eat cookies or doritos for breakfast, like I know some moms are prone to do.

Yet.

13 days and counting...

I think I might miss her...

It struck me this week as the three of us (me, K and M) were driving through town, and I was watching them in the backseat through my rear-view as they shared a book and Katie "read" to Micah, that - OH MY GOODNESS - SHE IS LEAVING ME! I really thought that kindergarten was going to be great and that I wouldn't miss her a bit, but now I think I will. Granted, she is climbing the walls and making me crazy these days and she is bored and annoying and all that. But she is also sweet and good to her brother (most of the time) and she is so loving and snuggly, and she is helpful (most of the time) and funny. Today, there is a guy pressure washing the house - she asked me if he was done with the bathrooms and could she go potty! If only... And earlier this week, she pulled a hard boiled egg out of the fridge, who's shell had cracked while it was cooking, and she freaked out - "Mom - this one is hatching!" She keeps me in stitches.

Anyway, I just had to share that epiphany. It's not the going that makes me sad - she'll love it and grow up so much at school. It's just the leaving me behind that makes me sad. I guess I better get used to it. Loving and leaving is pretty much what kids do.

In the meantime, I have a lot to do. Micah is so confused - too much female influence. At the shoe store today, he pulled off the cool tennis shoes I had him try on and put on some sparkly pink flip-flops instead. Then he shed his baseball cap to put on a Hello-Kitty hat instead. (At least he can match his accessories.) Katie going to kindergarten will probably be good for him - help him get his blues and pinks straight!

17 days and counting...

Recap of the last few weeks...

Well, I am sorry not to have posted in a while. We have been busy at times, climbing the walls at others. I took the kids to Arkansas and we had a great trip. Cristy summarized it well on her blog - http://thefarleyfamily.blogspot.com/2007/07/castleman-time-last-tuesday-one-of-anna.html - so you can check hers out - she even got pictures posted. The drive was long but manageable. We only stopped 3 times in the 11 hours going there, if you count the FOUR service stations I went into at the same exit in Atlanta, trying to find a bathroom that wasn't out of order, as one stop. After the first 3 hours, which were the longest, I think the kids resigned themselves to getting old and grey in their seats and quit whining, so the last 8 hours were fine.

I think this was the hardest trip to Searcy that I've taken, not because I did it solo. It is just that the 3 years we have been gone have gone by fast for me, so it doesn't feel like that long. But 3 years is really a long time and although we invested 12 years of our lives there, we are officially now "someone who used to live here", as in "Meet my friend Teresa - she used to live here."

That makes me want to scream. Of course, it is technically correct. We did use to live there and we did move away. But we also left our blood, sweat and tears in that town, and especially at Downtown Church, so it is hard to feel thrown into the same category as everyone else that has passed through Searcy at one point or another. I guess that, because of our investment into the town, part of us still lives there anyway. I know it's just words but for whatever reason, they just bit me a little hard on this trip.

The other hard part was on Sunday. There was a baby dedication at church and Katie asked what was going on. I told her that the elders were praying for the new baby and it's family and I told her that they had prayed for her in just the same way when she was born. She said, "They prayed for me at THIS church?" I told her yes, that we used to go to this church and that dad was the worship minister here. She didn't believe me because she doesn't remember it at all.

Sob.

But this Thursday officially marks our 3 year anniversary here and she was nearly 3 when we moved so I guess she has now lived in SC longer than she lived in AR. Wow.

The trip overall was great - don't mean to dwell on the negative. We are looking forward to all 4 of us going back in September for a reunion concert with the guys Rick sang with.

And we celebrate the 3 years we have been here - they have been good years and we feel so blessed that "The boundary lines have fallen for us in pleasant places." (Psalm 16)

If I can get my act together, I'll post some pics that I took on our trip.

Just a few pictures from this week. It has been so hot here that we decided to bring the scooters and riding things in and we moved the furntiture to accomodate a riding area on the wood floor. It was fun and hopefully didn't do too much damage to the floor! There were only a few minor wrecks and we only saw blood once!

The sailor outfit on Micah was a fun hand-me-down. Rick wasn't too hip on it until he saw everyone loving it at church. I think I sold him on it a little. The hat was hilarious and Micah kept it on all morning!

Funny kids. Good times!

Brains

You know, one of my mantra's as a parent is that you don't have to be really smart, just a little smarter than your kids. It's getting to where it's touch and go, here at our house. Today, Katie told me that the words in the book she was "reading" to Micah were spelled wrong. (Under the pink hat was the word `pink' - she thought they spelled `hat' wrong.) Makes sense I guess. (This was the time to interject the "Your happiness in life is all about expectations..." speech, but I refrained.) I did get a little more worried when Micah brought me a wet diaper. I assumed he had busted into a trash can somewhere in the house til I noticed that he was looking a little skinny inside his overalls. Sure enough, somehow he managed to get his diaper off while remaining fully dressed in shorts overalls. I'm a little worried about the ramifications of this new trick.

I think I might need to go back to school.

I do feel a little better, though, that Katie mistook some of Micah's slobber, that had dripped onto the floor, for bug pee. Oh, and the other day, she watched a news clip about 2 dead bodies that were found on the road in downtown Columbia, naked. She reported to all, "The police found a male and a thee-male and they were unclothed in the road." We cracked up a little at that! The reporter said it was an accident and that no foul-play was involved. Sorry, but Katie and I agreed that if you are found naked in the road, it is no accident! (We skipped lightly over the dead part with her.)

I guess that's all I have for today!

Reflections on the beach...

Katie and cousin Zachary, bearing live crabs! At least, they were alive at some point before this trip down the dunes!


Beware, floating things! She has a net!


Micah, fearlessly taking on the waves! If we'd let go, he'd be in Africa by now.



While not yet an expert, I am beginning to consider myself at least fairly educated about South Carolina Beaches. I have now visited 5 of them (if you count Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle, Surfside and Springmaid as one, which I will for this thought). I have been to 4 different ones this year alone. So, just in case you plan to visit Souh Carolina any time soon, here are my thoughts...

My number one pick is Seabrook Island. It is all privately owned and the entire island is gated, so you have to rent a house there to enjoy the island, but it is worth the time and money. Included in your rental is access to all of the resort amenities, like the pools, golfing, etc. While the sand is whiter and fluffier in more touristy areas, like Myrtle Beach, the island beaches are quiet and natural. At Seabrook, there is a lot of attention paid to preservation and protecting the natural wildlife, especially the sea turtles. There aren't any hotels on the island - only privately owned homes and condos - and no buildings actually on the beaches. Another cool thing about the island is that there are beaches on both the Atlantic side, which have waves, and on the backwater side, which makes for calm water and excellent playground for dolphins, which we saw continually on that beach. The island pace is slow - lots of folks on bikes and golf carts - and there is no commercialization at all - just palms and live oaks trees as far as you can see! When you need anything, it is a short jaunt off the island to a cool little shopping area between Seabrook and Kiawah Islands. Charleston is about 30 minutes down the road. Perfect for a quiet week in the sun! (The first 2 pics are of the Seabrook Island beach on the Atlantic side)

Edisto Island is similar in ecology and pace. You can camp at the state park there, which my parents try to do any time they head down here. Where Seabrook Island is well laid out and the homes are all well kept and "nice", there is more variety in Edisto, so you have to be a little more picky if you rent a house, and it isn't a resort town, so you don't have the club amenities. But it is natural and quiet and there are a lot of shells on the beaches. It is also further from Charleston and "activities".

Isle of Palms is nice if you have the money to rent a big house right on the beach! We have our women's retreat there every year and rent a house that sleeps about 30 people! There are a lot of those type of properties there. I would recommend that for the off season. It is closer to Charleston, on the north side, so it is good if you plan to run in and out of town. The beaches are nice but less preserved than you get further down the coast.

Folly Beach is a lot like Isle of Palms to me but the sand is a little more groomed. It is pretty tight to get around on but it has pretty good waves, especially in the area that Hurricane Hugo washed out a few years ago!

And then, of course, there is the Grand Strand - Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle, Surfside, Springmaid, etc. All of these are about 3 hours from us, which is further than Charleston beaches, which is one strike against them! On the positive side, there are more options for accommodations in Myrtle Beach - hotels, condos, houses, etc. - and you can find places that rent for shorter periods than the standard week long rentals in Charleston. There is plenty of shopping and eating places, as well as mini golfing, water parks, etc. Standard tourist fare. The beaches are groomed daily, so there is lots of fluffy white sand, and you can stay right on the beach, so it's a quick in and out of the ocean. And you only have to go about 2 minutes in any direction to buy a $5 t-shirt or a $3 boogie board. (That's a joke.) But the obvious negative is the crowds. If you want to visit this area, all I can say is "off-season". September is the best time to go, in my opinion. The water is still warm, the shops and restaurants are still open and there are about 60% fewer people there than you find in June - August. Also, we like North Myrtle Beach as opposed to the others. It is a little quieter up there and you are only minutes from some pretty spots up in North Carolina. (The third picture is North Myrtle Beach.)

Anyway, those are my thoughts. We'd love to show you around, so if you crave the beach, come see us!

Men in hats...

Myrtle Beach 2007

Some glimpses of the infamous trip to the beach (which we came home early from!)

A Couple Random Thoughts...

I was living on the edge today. I went to the mall with both kids and only 2 wipes, one of which I had to use to sanitize the table before we could eat. Amazingly, my germophobia beats out the anxiety of wondering if Micah would have a blow-out when I had only one wipe remaining! Talk about risky!

No blowout. All was well.

I saw a really red neck thing. This guy was at the mall with his 2 kids and we were eating in the food court when I saw him. He had his kids in a Sears shopping cart. Some would argue that Sears itself is redneck. My issue was that we were at least half way down the mall from Sears. What in the heck was he doing with his kids in a Sears shopping cart? In the middle of the mall? Rent a stroller already!

That probably shouldn't have bothered me!

Good thing, though. I really love Grandma Miriam. She loves my kids and babysits them even when they are whiny.

Good night!

The Post-Mike Era

This week, we spent a few days at the beach with my oldest brother and his wife and my nephew. After being there a day or 2, my sister-in-law said that if she had a kid like Micah, she'd have to be medicated! I laughed! I probably do need to be medicated! But it's like I told my friend HJ when she had twins - it's not like you have an option to put up with or not put up with your kids. Besides, you get used to the insanity and it becomes a good friend!

So I was thinking of all the changes to our life since Mike came along, or more specifically since he started moving around. Here is the condensed list.

1. If you happen to fall asleep on the couch during waking hours, you would be well advised to lay with one arm over your face and the other over anything else you want protected, since you will probably awaken to the feeling of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" book (which is surprisingly hard) being slammed on you and Micah saying "Gin" (which does not mean the adult beverage you will be tempted to partake of in large quantities following this awakening, but rather it means "please, dear friend, could you kindly sing the spider song again, for the 4,758th time today, for my enjoyment".)

2. We currently suffer from air circulation problems in our house, where Katie's room is about 50 degrees and the kitchen is about 90 degrees, due to the fact that all of the doors are shut in the house in an effort to minimize the damage that Mike is able to inflict on our belongings. It is also noticable on some of the doors a dent or 2 at the precise level of Micah's head, which he frequently uses to open things, the way that some people use their hands.

3. There is much enthusiastic love to be shared, especially with dad. But there are also many black eyes and bloody noses on the part of those receiving Micah's love. Yes indeed, sometimes love hurts.

4. Our furniture is arranged in an extremely strange way, to the untrained eye. There is a small cabinet in front of the entertainment center (to keep him from sticking things in the VCR and to keep the TV from being reprogrammed in Spanish, which is surprisingly hard to fix if you DON'T SPEAK SPANISH!) ; there is nothing on most of the shelves - I believe in other cultures, those areas are for books. What a strange idea! Similarly, you might assume from our furniture that we bought it from "L-bracket Wonderland" because there is a metal "L" shaped piece attached to everything which is in turn attached to a wall stud. These were added by the master of baby-proofing to each piece as Micah learned to pull each piece over.

5. We have come to wish that the Wiggles had made more videos, not because we like the Wiggles even slightly, but because listening to a variety of annoying videos is preferable to listening to the same annoying video over and over. (Can any of you veteran parents recognize this request? "uhhMEE uhhhMEEE")

6. We have stopped rolling our eyes when we see kids throwing a fit in stores or running wild in a restauarant and we have stocked up on suckers and other tools of bribery.

7. We have come to understand how you can so powerfully love someone that so powerfully frustrates you as he so pwerfully makes you laugh and then so powerfully gives you a bloody lip with a very well intentioned kiss that you wouldn't trade for anything!

Those are my thoughts for the day. Gotta go - it's time to restart the video!

Oh Where, Oh where are the large orange barrels?

They are gone! I can hardly believe it! I got lost on the way home today. After 3 years of dodging striped orange barrels, I am now driving straight down Hwy 6 and there are people driving on all sides of me. It is crazy! For my non-South Carolina friends, the construction on the Hwy outside our neighborhood began just before we moved here and finally finished TODAY! I am overwhelmed with lane driving options, yet it is less exciting, not having to avoid certain death by wayward back hoe or asphalt truck! I will miss our friendly construction crew with their lovely orange vests and constant cigarettes (which Katie comments on daily. "Mom - look at that man making a bad decision.")

So, Philip and Jaime, you can move back now but don't freak out if you can't find us. We live just down the nice black road with fresh lines and once again have a sign outside our neighborhood! I'll throw a barrel out there to guide you if you need it!

Does barrel have one "L" or 2?

Good Decisions

We have been trying to emphasize making good decisions with Katie the last couple years. The thought is that if we always tell her what to do, she will be ill-equipped to make good choices when we aren't around all the time, namely when she starts school this fall. The funny part about this is that she feels compelled to let everyone else know when they are making bad choices! One of my brothers is a casual pipe-smoker. We had talked to Katie about how smoking is a bad choice. When she saw my brother smoking his pipe, she told him, "Uncle Darrell, I think you are making a bad decision!" It was funny!

Tonight I was trying to use the same strategy to get her to brush her teeth. Occasionally she is too sleepy or lazy to want to brush, so tonight I didn't argue with her. I just told her she could go on to bed. I found this picture online and called her back in to look at it. I told her that this person didn't brush their teeth! She decided that she wanted to brush!

It was sweet later, though, because at bedtime, she prayed, "Dear God, please help that person who didn't brush their teeth and help their cavities not hurt!"

So, person pictured above, whoever you are, Katie hopes your teeth aren't hurting too badly! And thanks for posting the pic on yahoo images for my object lesson! Because of you, one little 5 year old brushed her teeth with no fight tonight! :)

I had a different kind of evening yesterday. My friend Holly (yes, the same one who suggested the Mud-fest – I must be slow for still going with her suggestions!) answered an ad in the paper for us to participate in a survey for folks who listen to country music. We sat in a conference room for 2 hours and listened to clips of 600 country songs and rated them on a scale of never heard the song, hate the song, am tired of the song, have no opinion, like the song and it’s a favorite song. Not a bad way to earn $75! It struck me, as I was filling in very few #6’s (favorite song) that I am a music snob. I had quite a lot of #3’s (tired of the song) and way more #1’s (never heard it) than the guy next to me. (I wasn’t cheating, just doing a little survey of my own!) And amazingly, after 600 songs I was still able to think of a bunch that they didn’t play. That led me to consider what some of my favorite, “even-if-you-don’t-like-country-music-you’ll-like-this-song”, songs are and I compiled this short list. If you haven’t heard these songs, you haven’t really lived. You oughta give just one of them a listen on i-tunes. (If I was as smart as Shane, I’d make you a playlist.)

1. Good Directions – Billy Currington
2. The Good Stuff – Kenny Chesney
3. Red Neck Yacht Club – Craig Morgan
4. Mayberry – Rascal Flatts
5. Somebody’s Hero – Jamie O’Neal
6. My Front Porch Looking In - Lonestar

So that’s my thought for the day. Anyone got one to add to the list?

The Case of the Reappearing Snickerdoodle

I could really use a Hardy Boy today.

Back in March, our friends parents came to visit from OK. On a previous visit, their mom had made some snickerdoodles and given some to us. They were only the finest snickerdoodles ever and, snickerdoodles being my favorite cookie, I went crazy. So this most recent visit, she made some more for us. I thought we had eaten them all, but a couple weeks later, Micah is playing in the living room and I come into the room and see him crunching on a snickerdoodle. I have no idea where he got it - it was somewhere in the living room. It was pretty hard by then. Of course, I took it away, he screamed, and life continued. A couple more weeks pass and again, I see him crunching on another snickerdoodle. Again - no idea where he got it. This time, I conciously remember putting it in the trash. That cookie never saw the light of day again.

By now, it has been 2 or 3 months since we last had snickdoodles. And wouldn't you know it, I found Micah trying to eat another one TODAY! It was extremely hard and he didn't get more than a few crumbs off it. But I still have no idea where his stash is! I don't keep the most tidy house ever but I know I've cleaned everywhere at least once or twice in the last 3 months, yet I have not uncovered the source of the snickerdoodles. Fortunately, there are no bugs in the house. Or maybe that is unfortunate, since they would inevitably lead me to the cookies! I am a little baffled as to what to do. Micah is pretty smart - he waits until I am not in the room to visit his stash! I wonder what else he has hidden!

Mud Mania 2007

I don't feel like these pictures need any explanation. They are fairly self explanatory. Kids in mud. I do feel the need to explain what in the world I was doing there, though. It's all Holly's fault. "It's a great, free community event. The kids will love it. There are places to clean them up - just bring some soap and a towel. It'll be fun." blah blah blah

Uhhh... Fun for who? Truly, during the actual mud slinging, Katie had a great time and so did Micah, once he got used to the idea that he was supposed to get dirty (he would have been more comfortable with the idea if he had been in a nice outfit, just before he was supposed to get his picture made!) He walked on tip toes to avoid the mud for the first 15 minutes, but lucky for him, he has a big sister to show him how to have real fun! Unfortunately, it was about 75 degrees and breezy, so it got pretty chilly during the hose off. But 3 baths later, they are only slightly mud-stained.

Note to self - be more suspicious when Holly suggests great, free community events! Just kidding, Holly!

Uckkk is just not the same...

Earlier this week, Rick sold his truck. Actually, it felt like he just left his truck at Carmax and stole some money while he was there! We have loved and appreciated the ole' "uckk", as Micah calls it, but it was dying a slow and expensive death, so we were also happy to let it go!

The saddest part was listing to Micah cry the whole way home from selling it. "Uckk, uckk, uckk.." Katie was so sweet to try to explain that we would get another uckkk! We finally had to drop the whole uckk discussion. (And no wonder the kid can't talk right!)

Anyway, today we replaced old uckk. Unfortunately, this new (to us) one is a 4 door (one of the reasons we needed another truck) and he is sitting in the back again. No more sitting by dad with the wind blowing through his hair - this one actually has a/c! (I propose a toast for the first time that both of our vehicles have a/c at the same time.) Micah is not thrilled with the new arrangements. He sat in the back during the test drive and pointed at me in the front passenger seat, accusingly, since I was apparently in his seat! He was not happy. But then I gave him a sucker and he forgave me! (Too bad that doesn't work for everyone, but that's another blog!)

But that's the new order around here. I posted a pic of a similar truck that I found online. Rick's version doesn't have the running boards or a bed cover, nor is it parked by such a nice green lawn! But hopefully now you will recognize us if we honk when we see you on the road!

It's official...

...My kids are southerners. Last night, Katie was talking to my mom on the phone. Katie was telling her about some pets she had seen in the pet store. I didn't hear my moms side of the conversation, but then I think she proceeded to tell Katie about some of the wildlife that they have living up where they are. All I heard before I fell out laughing was Katie say,

"You saw a deer? Cool! Did you shoot it?"

Children's Museum

I wanted to post these pictures from the Columbia children's museum. It was really cool. Micah liked the fact that he could maul and climb on everything. Katie liked dressing up in each exhibit, like a fireman, farmer, construction worker, dentist, etc. Next time you come visit, we'll have to go!