free book~yea!

Gracie had her Spring party today at school. It was fun for all! We got to help her table make their little bunnies and helped pass out cupcakes, etc. The children we worked with at her table are all lots of fun & really sweet. What did katie do? She played with the kitchen, just like at the Winter party. It kept her quiet and happy which is a good thing!

Chris grilled pork chops tonight, so the girls played out in the backyard while he was doing that. Poor katie, look at her hair! I'm trying to decide what to do with it. let it grow to 1 length or cut some bangs and bob it off more? I saw a little girl at a local restaurant last week with the most precious haircut that I would love for katie to have. the problem is that I don't know how to explain it to Nicole, the girl who cuts our hair. I'm hoping to see her around town (it's not too big of a town) and ask permission to take a picture with my phone. I don't exactly know how to do that, but I guess I could figure it out.

I forgot to mention that I got an email from Meredith Efken the other day. After she had commented on the previous post when I talked about her book, sahm I Am, I had shamelessly hinted that I should get a free copy of her new book that is coming out in November, @Home For the Holidays. She replied with this

In appreciation for calling me a "celebrity" or at
least almost a celebrity, I will be very happy to send you a copy of the
sequel to SAHM. Flattery will get you EVERYWHERE! :) But you have to promise
to rant and rave about the book to everyone you meet, okay?

I'm very excited about the complimentary copy I will be receiving and consider it ranted & raved about already! The first one was so enjoyable, so I'm sure the next one will be as well!

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Welcome to the world, baby jay! My cousin and his wife, jon & Laura, had their little bundle of joy this week. What does that make him to my children? First cousin, once removed? Second cousin? I've never understood that!

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Next week is Gracie's Spring Break. She is excited because we are going to the zoo with a friend of hers. I hope to find other fun things to do as well. I look forward to having her home all week! I had thought about driving to see my grandparents but chickened out because of the 7 hour drive I'd have to do by myself with the girls. I plan to go visit them this summer and take my mom along. I'd like Chris to go, but I'm not sure how much time he could take and I don't want to rush it too much.

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Chris & Gracie were watching Annie together tonight, but both of them have just left for bed. Chris went to a late movie last night with some friends and got home around 1. Us old folks can't stay up that late anymore without it affecting us! lol

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Sorry for any typos as far as things not being capitalized. Our computer keyboard isn't behaving.

Why?

Why in the world would this conversation ever take place?

Me: What is all over your sock?

Gracie: toothpaste.

Me: Why is there toothpaste on your sock?

Gracie: I don't know.

Is 'shoot' a bad word?

With Gracie starting school this year, we've had quite a few talks about some things some of her classmates do that are right and/or wrong. She will frequently tell us things that someone does or says and we'll talk about why that was wrong and discuss how she responded to it and how she should respond if it happens again. So far, we've been quite proud of how she is doing with all of this. True, there is a part of us that wishes she never had to be exposed to some of these things, but all in all, she is staying true to being the sweet little girl we sent to school back in August. For us, sheltering her from anything & everything bad isn't the answer. Instead, we are choosing to be pro active in many respects and talk, talk, talk (& pray, pray, pray)! Yesterday after we discussed some issues she's had with one of her "friends," she said, "That was a long talk!" LOL (Sometimes I get a little carried away.....and you should see the role playing I create! A little quirky perhaps but I figure it'll stick in her mind!)

She is so much like me that it's not even funny in alot of ways. I have always had a very guilty conscience and have always felt better when I "confess" things. Gracie seems to be this same way! If I ask her if anything bad happened at school, I better be ready to listen because she's going to tell me. This is a good thing, but sometimes I admit to wishing she wouldn't tell me everything! I'm sure she does probably leave some things out, but she really does tell me alot, and I'm thankful. That gives us a chance to discuss it and decide the best way to handle the situation according to how God would want her to. (Don't get me wrong, it's not like alot of bad things happen everyday. There is lots of good!)

Well, tonight I asked Chris if he had done something that he was supposed to do last night. He had forgotten to do it and he loudly replied from the other room, "Oh, Shoot!" I said, "I guess that means no." Gracie repeated, "I guess that means no." A few minutes later, she said, "Is 'shoot' a bad word?" I started laughing and told her it wasn't very nice. I then called for Chris to come into the room so we could discuss it with him as well since he was the offender in this case! He hugged her and explained that it wasn't really a bad word but that he probably shouldn't have said it and thanked her for pointing it out.

I laughed and said to her, "You have such an intuitive spirit!" (referring to the fact that something inside of her told her that the way he had said 'shoot' wasn't very nice)

Without missing a beat, she turned around and firmly said with a smile, "That's the way God made me!!!!"

Dear Lord,
Thank you for my sweet 5 year old's spirit of seeming to know what is right and what is wrong. I know she doesn't understand it all and even as part of me longs for her complete innocence to return, I am happy to see that she is willing to talk to us about things that concern her and eager to do what pleases You. Please help Chris & I to raise her the way You want us to. When we make mistakes, please help us to correct them. Please guide us to say the right things and to say not too much & not too little.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

Thank you God for keeping my baby safe!

Thank you God for keeping my baby & all of the students at her school safe today.

Before I even had a chance to look at Gracie's folder, a friend called me while she was on the way home. "Have you read the letter about the wreck at school?" I was confused and didn't know what she was talking about. Between her telling me and reading the letter that I had now gotten out of Gracie's backpack, I figured out what had happened. This is part of what the principal wrote:

Dear Parents,

.......About 10:30 AM, I heard a loud crashing sound from my office in the back of the main office area, near the playground. A man, driving his truck down _____Road, traveling towards McDonald's, had become ill and lost control of his truck. The truck went off the road to the right several houses before you turn to come to ______. He drove through the edge of front yards until he intersected ____ Street. His truck crossed ____ Street and entered our campus right at the spot where our front driveway meets with ____ Street. The truck came through our fence, over the elevated dirt area around the big tree on the corner of the playground, and traveled across the playground until it collided with the big, wooden fort and slide structure. Both truck and the equipment had extensive damage...........

Apparently there were police cars & an ambulance up there. I live right down the street from the school and didn't hear a thing! I hear sirens often and my ears usually kind of perk up to try to figure out if they're going to the school, but I didn't hear any today. I think the reason no students were out there was because it had been raining. Thank you God for rain! I have been playing the "what if" game all afternoon in my brain. I just cannot fathom the horror of it all if children had been on the playground. I know it wouldn't have been Gracie's class, but still. I am so thankful to God for protecting these children today. I don't believe that it's coincidence that the students who should have been out there just weren't out there today. This was a God thing!

The even neater thing is that today I was praying even harder for Gracie than usual....for some reason. She has a little "friend" at school who has been a little difficult lately. Chris & I have been so proud of how she's handled some of the situations with her, but it's still something we plan to talk to her about often and pray about alot. So, today I had been praying alot about this situation. I just had this feeling today of missing her more than usual and needing to pray for her more. While my prayers were not focused necessarily on her physical safety, I still find it ironic that on a day when I felt compelled to pray harder for her than usual a horrible tragedy at her school was avoided.

Thank you God for keeping my baby safe!

Jekyll & Hyde

For some reason, she doesn't look as cute pitching a fit as when she's praying.....

Thankful

Thank you God for moments like these.

found & safe

The mom & daughters have been found and are safe. I guess now they have begun the task of questioning the wife to try & figure out what happened. This story has been on my mind almost non-stop since hearing of it earlier today. It is so disturbing to me.

Oh dear Lord,
Please be with this family. I shudder to think about what those girls have been through and I hate to think about this supposedly happy family turning out to be just another family who weren't what they appeared to be. Please Lord, help the investigation to be done correctly and justice be done and please protect those sweet, innocent girls. Protect their mother as well. Please don't let her be guilty of any wrongdoing. It's easy to suspect her but we don't really know. Please help all of us to reserve our judgment and wrap your arms around all of them.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

prayer request

My brother, who lives in Nashville, sent me a prayer request this morning about this story.
Here is what he had to say about it.

Wednesday night, former Bellevue youth minister and friend to Beth and I, Matt Winkler was found murdered in his home when he did not show up at church for the evening services. There is a state wide amber alert out for his wife Mary and their three little precious girls ages 8, 6 and 1. They have not been seen since Tuesday evening. We worked with Matt with the youth at church and considered him a friend even though we had only since them once in the last year. He was a minister now at 4th Avenue Church of Christ in Selmer, TN.
Please keep this family in your prayers.

This is so sad. Please remember them in prayer today.

baptism for parrots?

another funny Gracie story:

We were listening to our Steve Green's Hide 'Em In Your Heart cd and one of the songs talks about every creature praising God. She asked why it said 'creature.' I explained that it means God made everyone and we should all praise God. She said something like, "Yeah, but creature means animals." I'm thinking, "Yes, and I know that, but I'm not sure how to explain this because I'm not exactly sure what it means myself!" I stumbled through some sort of explanation about how God made everyone and everything and we should all be grateful and thankful and how animals don't really understand what that means. She said something like, "Well, if you had a parrot, you could like read it a Bible story. You could just say one word and then it could repeat it."

My daughter. The evangelist for animals. I wonder what she'll do when the parrot responds to the call for baptism?!?!

HA!

the 10 Commandments

*Bump!*....(few seconds later)...."Waaaahhhh!"

I ran into the living room to find Katie flat on her back on our hardwood floors. Gracie had "the look" on her face.

"Did you push her?!?!?!"

"No."

"Waaaahhhhh!"

"Did you push her?!?!?"

"Well, she was trying to step on my puzzle......."

"DID YOU PUSH HER?!?!?"

"But, she was..........."

"DID YOU PUSH HER?!?!?"

"Yes."

A spanking was administered and she was sent to her room. I spent some time with Katie and talked with Gracie explaining some more of her punishment and explaining that she was in trouble for pushing Katie and for lying about it.

A little later, I went into her room where she had been banished to simply spend time on her bed with no books or toys and she couldn't lay down.

I asked her, "Do you know why it's wrong to lie?"

She said, "Because I get in trouble?"

I said, "No. That's not why it's wrong. Why is it wrong?"

She thought hard for a minute and said, "Because it says it in the 10 Commandments?"

She got a smile & hug after that.

pinky toenails are important

I know she's only 5, but why can't she be responsible for 2 things in the morning? Her lunchbox & her backpack?

How many times have we gotten in the van and I'll ask her, "Did you get your lunchbox?" and she says, "Oh, no! Why did you forget that, Mommy?" Excuse me?!?!? Not much gets me more upset than a statement like that. I explain to her that it is her responsibility to get her lunchbox, not mine. I make the lunch, she can get it out of the refrigerator before we leave. If she's having tray lunch, I always tell her.

Well, today we get to school without her backpack! She's getting out of the van in carline which she has to do rather quickly so as not to anger the carline duty teachers. No, really, they're not that bad, but one of the ladies on duty this morning is my least favorite because she doesn't even pretend to be having a good morning~ever. She just stands there waving her arm over & over telling us to keep moving. A simple smile & wave "hello" would be nice. One time I got really upset with her because Gracie had about a gabillion things she was trying to get out of the car (It was Valentine's Day and she had gifts.)......Anyway, I won't go into the whole story, but suffice it to say that I'm glad she's not a regular classroom teacher; I think she's a speech teacher and I hope my kids don't need to take speech. ANYWAY.......so Gracie's getting out of the van and I say, "Do you have your backpack?" She gets this distraught look and I say, "Okay. Tell Miss S I'll bring it."

Now, what I should have done is tell Gracie to get back in the van, driven the 2 minutes back home, run in to get the backpack, driven back through carline and dropped her off then. She wouldn't have been late. But no. I didn't make that decision. Let me just say that when I go through carline in the mornings, I don't primp beforehand. I throw on some jeans, a t-shirt, no makeup, my glasses, alot of times shoes that don't match. I usually end up thinking, "Oh, I hope I don't have to get out of the car for any reason." Kind of like what our mothers used to say, "Wear clean underwear. What if you're in a wreck?!?!" So, I had to go home, jump in the shower, get "real" dressed, put in my contacts, put on makeup, get Katie dressed, comb her hair and go back up to the school to take the backpack. I had taken enough time by this time that I had to go to the office and get a pass before going to her class. I thought about skipping the whole pass thing because her classroom is literally like a mile from the office, well not really, but I actually got stopped by a teacher the other day as if she thought I was up to no good. My pass was under my coat so she couldn't see it. That's fine that she did that. It's a safety thing and I'm glad she was looking out for the students, so today I went to get my pass.

Now, on a regular day I might have just not taken the backpack and let Gracie suffer the consequences if there would be any. But....today is Spring picture day. Yeah, Spring picture day. It's about 45 degrees and raining! Gracie looks cute & springy once she takes off her big heavy sweater! So, I felt like I had to take the backpack because the money for the pictures was in her folder and if she didn't have the money she wouldn't get a class picture.

All before 8:00 this morning.
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Who knew a pinky toenail could mean so much?

Last night, I stubbed my pinky toe on something. I don't even remember what, I just remember doing it and that it hurt bad. It kept hurting and I kept thinking that I need to check on it and see if it was red or something. When I finally did that, about 30 minutes later, I noticed that there was blood on my sock! I freaked a little and pulled off my sock to find blood all over my toe and my toenail is not quite as attached as before. I gently pulled on my toenail and it hurts and starts to bleed. I went to wash off my toe and decided I need to cut the toenail because I figure it's going to catch on stuff and keep hurting. There's not much to a pinky toenail anyway, and once I started cutting, I kept cutting. I basically took the whole nail off! Ew! It doesn't look pretty and it doesn't feel great! I woke up about 4:45 and could hardly go back to sleep. It didn't hurt so much as just kind of throbbed and felt swollen & "weird."

I got up and took off the bandaid and put some peroxide on it. Ouch! I finally went back to sleep and this morning it still felt weird. I could barely get my shoe on and after my shower, I noticed that it was bleeding again. So, I put another bandaid on it and different shoes that allowed for a little more room. *sigh* I've always had ugly feet and now they're even uglier.
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Another one of Katie's friends has the dreaded rotovirus. How does it keep missing us? *Knock on wood!* Our family has just had little, inconsistent touches of this stomach stuff, nothing like what some of our friends have had. Poor things.

I don't understand.

Why is it when someone else lists something on Ebay for $0.99, it sells for $30+, but when I list something on Ebay for $0.99, it sells for $0.99?!?!?!?

*sigh*

Patty Cake, Patty Cake!

Miss Patty Cake, that is! The show was tonight and it was lots of fun! Katie, who I thought would be really into it, was awestruck for about 3 minutes and then spent the rest of the time wiggling all over the place. Gracie, who I had thought might be a little old for it and a bit bored, had a great time! Goes to show what I know, huh?!? Gracie and her little friend, "A," sang & danced in the aisle with alot of other little kids. They seemed to really enjoy it. I just love the positive message she sends of Jesus and His love for all of us! She focuses on praising God and being thankful and references the Bible quite a bit. This show focused alot on Easter and she used the "Resurrection Eggs." It's really great to hear children singing, "There was a shake and a rattle and the stone was rolled away.........Jesus is risen, we have been given a mighty resurrection day!" Gracie really wanted the eggs. I didn't buy them, but we do have the book already that goes along with them.

We got there quite early and saved seats for our friends. It also gave me time to look at the things she had to offer like cd's, etc. I just got a couple of things. It was tempting to buy alot, but I restrained at least a little. Katie colored in a coloring book that the police department had given out (they were there doing free child i.d. kits). They also had Miss Patty Cake videos playing and she enjoyed that. I think she participated more in watching those than the actual "live" show! Go figure! I had gotten Gracie a t-shirt & a dress (see above picture) and Katie pretty much insisted on wearing the t-shirt. It was quite large to say the least. I had gotten it for Gracie with the intention of letting Katie have the one I'd gotten Gracie a couple of years ago. I guess since Gracie had on the dress (along with about a dozen other little girls) Katie felt she needed to have on something new, too!

After the show, they let you sit with Miss Patty Cake and take pictures and let her sign items. We snuck out a little early in order to get a good place in line. (They had said they'd given out 700 tickets!) While we were standing there, I saw a lady who I recognized as being the mother of one of my good friends from high school! She lives in Atlanta and since we weren't in Atlanta, it was quite a surprise to see her, but such a nice surprise! Her other daughter (my friend's sister) lives in the town where the show was and had just had her 3rd baby this week, so her mom was in town visiting and had brought one of her grandchildren to the show. I spent quite a bit of time at her house while in high school and my friend spent a good bit of time at my house as well, so it was wonderful to see her mom! I think the last time I'd seen her was when Gracie was about 9 months old...right before we moved to South Carolina! I saw my friend maybe a year and a half ago when she came to town to visit her sister, but she lives in Ohio so we certainly don't see each other often. Her mom said she was probably coming this summer to visit her sister, so I hope to see her then!

After the show, we went with our friends to Cracker Barrel. Yum!
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I think my mom found a bed! Whoo hoo! She sent me a picture of one to see what I thought, but the picture was taken in her backyard, so I'm assuming that means she's already bought it! It sounds like she has plans to paint it and have someone fix one of the rails. It is really cute, so I'm excited!

Katie is loving the temporary bed we have set up for her. She doesn't have a very big room at all; in fact it's quite tiny, so we have to be creative with how we set things up, but she loves it! Also, I have to brag on her by saying that she did a very big girl thing tonight in the p-o-t-t-y, and I'm not just talking about p-e-e! Without going into too many details, my poor little girl struggles with this sometimes and when we were coming home, we could tell she was trying, so we set her on the p-o-t-t-y when we got home. A few minutes later Chris checked and voila! Success! We made such a big deal we made her cry. We're just so proud of her and hope we can be disciplined enough to keep going with this training business and make this a consistent thing!

big girl

From this:

to this!
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No, it's not her "real" bed, but it's a temporary bed until we can get her something else. Mom's still looking. Chris is talking about building something. We'll see what happens. For now, this is what we have and Katie, sweet thing, doesn't care what kind of bed we get her. She's just happy! We should all be more like little children sometimes.

This next week, I'm sure I will be standing in her doorway often thinking through different ways I can arrange things and what color to paint the walls (I'm thinking green!). She's in there right now taking a nap. For a long time, she kept rustling around but never got off the bed and wasn't fussing. Last I checked on her, she wasn't asleep but was very still. I haven't heard a peep in awhile so I think she's fallen asleep. My precious big 2 year old girl.

catching up

It seems like my blogging has gotten more & more sporadic lately. I don't like that. I really want this to be a way to journal about my family, specifically the girls, so I hope to keep up with it regularly. Let's see, what happened this week?
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*Monday, fell asleep on the couch before The Apprentice even came on and ended up going to bed. Chris taped it for me.
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*Meeting up at the school Tuesday evening. Snuck in a trip to the public library~by myself~first. (blissful!) Only missed the first singer on American Idol. Watched part of Amazing Race before going to bed. I am getting old and can't stay up as late as easily as I used to be able to. So sad.
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*Worked at the school Wednesday morning. I enjoyed working with Gracie & "M." Those 2 little girls have such fun giggling together! They both read for me and took A.R. tests. I have to brag on Gracie. After I'd done some work in the workroom for Miss S, she asked me if I'd like to read & do A.R. tests with some of them. She told me to ask Gracie who she wanted to take with her. Miss S is conscious of the fact that Gracie thinks it's "cool" to work with me when I come and almost always allows her to go first and allows her to choose a friend to go with us. At the time, Gracie was working with a sweet little boy, "A." He has worked with me before and I enjoy being with him. He really is so cute & sweet. He started "begging" to go with me. I was secretly hoping Gracie would just choose him since I could tell he really wanted to go. Well, of course, she chose "M"~her favorite school friend of late. I said something to "A" about how maybe he could go next and Gracie said, "Well, he could go first." I thought that was really sweet of her.

*Church that night. We are really enjoying our new church building. We have been so blessed with such a nice facility and I hope we use it according to how God wants us to. Alissa's family was visiting that night and it was so cute to see Gracie & Aidan holding hands as they walked to Bible Class together. They have been friends since they were about
8 & 9 months old but due to his family attending a different church now and Gracie being in school during our weekly playgroup, they rarely see each other, so it was nice for them to have that time together. They played hide & seek after church and truly enjoyed it.

*Got home in time to see Melissa kicked off American Idol. Personally, I was glad. I didn't care much for her.
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*Playgroup Thursday morning. Chris came home early. Dropped Katie off with him while I went to get Gracie from school. Came home, finished packing and headed to Atlanta. Mom had dinner almost ready, ate, bathed Katie and the girls stayed up way late. Katie slept on a big girl bed for the first time by herself (a trundle bed that was very low to the floor) and did great!

*Had Katie's 2 year old pictures taken this morning. So cute! Went to Dad's office, he got to show off the girls, went to lunch, dropped him back off at work, went back to Mom & Dad's house and decided we all needed to take a nap before driving home. We all crashed, although Katie didn't do as well on the big girl bed this time. She kept getting up and playing and eventually ended up falling asleep but then waking up when she fell off the bed! It was only a few inches off the floor but still a rude awakening. Packed stuff up, got in the car and headed home. Got home around 8:45.

*My cousin, Andrea called! We haven't talked in forever, so that was great to catch up!

*Betty sent me a link to a blog where a lady had interviewed the lady who wrote SAHM I Am.
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*Tomorrow there is a workday at the church building. I'm not sure we'll make it to that or not, but I'm feeling like we should. Gracie has a birthday party to go to. We go see Miss Patty Cake tomorrow night. Chris is thrilled! (yeah, right!)

Katie's birthday continued + our weekend

The weekend is over, we had a great Life Group tonight, I'm blogging, Buble is playing.....life is good.
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Thank you to all of you who commented with 'Happy Birthday' wishes for my sweet 2 year old. I'd like to write more about her big day. Thursday night, I set out her gifts and some balloons ont the table. Friday morning, I baked blueberry muffins in Elmo liners for her breakfast. We got her up right before Gracie went to school and she immediately started munching on the muffin. We let her open 2 gifts and had to promise Gracie that she wouldn't open any more until she was with us!

Katie played a little that morning while Chris & I finished up most of the cleaning that needed to be done since my parents were coming that afternoon. We drove out to a place where we were able to rent a couple of games for her party. After we got home to drop off Chris' truck, we delivered a goodie bag for her sweet little friend who'd been so sick all week and wasn't able to come to her party. Then we went shopping to pick up some more things for the party and the weekend. We went home to get things ready and waited for my parents to show up.

They came just a little while before we left to pick up Gracie from school. Of course, when she saw Grammer standing on the sidewalk at school, she got sooo excited! We walked home and just hung out a little while before going to decorate for the party. We opened the rest of Katie's gifts from us, my parents & Chris' parents when we got home, also. A little before 4, Chris, Gracie & I left to pick up some balloons I'd ordered. Katie stayed home with my parents and took a much needed nap.

We got the balloons and headed to the community center where we'd rented a room and began to decorate. We've been having our playgroup there since we haven't had a church building for over a year, and I tried to make it look as little like playgroup as possible. I wanted it to be more special than just "normal" playgroup. We got the decorating done then I raced to Dollar Tree to get 1 more tablecloth while Chris & Gracie went home to pick up the food and the rest of the family....especially the birthday girl!

We got back to the room and started having fun! It was really a rather simple party. We'd only invited 3 little friends and 1 couldn't come because he was sick. I picked up Happy Meals for the kids and the adults had chicken tenders from Wal-Mart (which were huge & very good, I thought!), grapes, chips & cheese cubes along with tea & sodas to drink. My good friend, Melissa had made a precious Jo-Jo cake for us, too. She is very talented in the cake decorating department.

A side note: for Gracie's 1st birthday, my mom made a cute cake that looked like a woman's hat, for her 2nd birthday, Melissa & Alissa rescued me with making a precious ladybug cake. (I tried to do it myself, but it looked more like a drunk spider.....I'm not even kidding!) For her 3rd birthday, my mom ordered a beautiful Strawberry Shortcake cake. For her 4th birthday, I ordered a Nemo cake from Publix but they lost the order, so we ended up with Nemo cupcakes and a plain~free~bakery cake. Surprisingly, I wasn't that upset. I'm still not sure why I wasn't upset because that's usually the kind of thing that will throw me into hysterics! For her 5th birthday, we had a real tea party at a cute little tea room downtown so we had no cake for the party. We had a cookie cake at home. For Katie's 1st birthday, Melissa made a butterfly cake that was really pretty.

Anyway.....I guess I kind of went off on a tangent there, didn't I???

After we'd sung and handed out cake & ice cream, her friend, Bryson threw up right into his mommy's hands! Good catch, Kate! I felt so bad for him~and for his parents! We missed them when they left to go home but understood that he needed to rest. Poor thing still isn't feeling great.

After we ate and the kids played some more, we opened the gifts from her friends. She only had 1 little friend there at the time, but we had the gifts from the other 2 who couldn't be there. She has sweet friends who got her such nice gifts. She also gave her friend a goodie bag. Then, we cleaned up and went home! We ended the night by watching 2 of her new gifts: a Miss Patty Cake video and Stanley the Stinkbug (a Hermie video).

She is a precious 2 year old and I'm so thankful for her! I am grateful that God chose me to be her Mommy!
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Saturday, we went to a flea market with my parents. As part of Katie's birthday, they are going to buy her a bed, and I like old ones, so Mom's been scoutin' out flea markets and the like. She has a booth at an antique mall where she sells antiques. (obviously, huh??) She loves antiques and anything old basically and is really good at finding a bargain on something great! When she finds one, she plans to have a lady paint it "shabby chic" white for me. I know she'll find something eventually. Until then, we plan to put Katie in a rollaway bed that we have. She got new bedding from Chris' parents, so we'll probably get that set up pretty soon. We ate lunch at a great pizza place. Sausage & Feta pizza is our absolute favorite!!!!!!

Gracie had a birthday party to go to for a friend from school. I was very nervous about leaving her at the party since it's a family I don't know well. The mom told me that I could drop her off or stay with her. I appreciated her willingness to let me stay if I wanted to. I was nervous, but I actually felt pretty comfortable about it because we've had at least 4 playdates with this girl and her mom. Once at Burger King, once at her house (and I stayed), once at my house (where her mom stayed) and once at the park. I also talk to the mom 2-3 times a week when we pick the girls up from school. So, it's not like I didn't know the mom at all. She is a very sweet lady and very attentive to her daughter, so I left Gracie decorating her goodie bag in the front yard. They also painted birdhouses, had a treasure hunt in the front yard, played Bingo, made their own pizzas and ate cake. I think fun was had by all.....and I gained a little independence, I think! I don't think I would have left her if I hadn't felt like I knew the mom well enough to know that she was a good mother, etc. I'm just not going to feel comfortable letting her go to somone's house that I haven't already been to and spent quite a bit of time with at least one of the parents.

The mom had mentioned a sleep-over party a few weeks ago and I tried to discourage that. I was "subtle" about it. I just said that Gracie had just recently had her first sleep-over and it was with a girl who we've known for a really long time. After a few minutes, the mom said, "Yeah, I think they may just be too young right now." *whew* I knew I wasn't going to let her do that yet and wasn't sure how to go about saying no without being rude. I'm just not ready for sleep-overs with people that I don't know really, really well.

Mom & I went downtown to check out some antique stores while Katie & Chris and my dad stayed home. We went to pick up Gracie then went home and hung out a little. The girls played outside some with my dad (he "coached" Gracie on how to make a basket when playing basketball and she did pretty well!) then we started cooking for dinner and bathed the girls, etc. Chris & I snuck out for a movie date since we had some built in babysitters! We saw "Failure to Launch." I didn't think it was that great.

Today was church and eating out for lunch. A wedding shower, run to Kroger to get a dessert for Life Group, go to Life Group and eat afterwards and come home to get the girls in bed. It's been a long weekend but a good one.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet Katie Boo!

Whew! What a day! I don't want to post too much because it's already past midnight and tomorrow will start early, but I just had to post a couple of pictures from Katie big day! From blueberry muffins for breakfast baked in Elmo liners to ending the day watching her new Miss Patty Cake dvd, she had a fun time, even with one of her buddies throwing up during her party! It certainly didn't cause her to skip a beat with eating her cake & ice cream~but I am hoping to hear that he's well soon! I'll write more later.

Would you?

Would you survive?

"celebrity" contact

I feel like I've been touched by a celebrity! Well, not really a celebrity, but an author anyway. Meredith Efken (click her name for a link to her website) visited my blog and left a comment! Remember me talking about her book, SAHM I Am a few weeks ago? Apparently, she ran across it and thanked me for posting about it! She said a new book, @Home for the Holidays, will be out in November 2006. Maybe I'm easily impressed, but I am impressed that she commented! Think I can get a free book for giving her free publicity?!?! *wink*
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Chris & Gracie seem to be fine this morning. Katie is in a great mood. I'm anxiously awaiting her "stinky" for the day to see if it's back to normal. Please!!!!! The things we moms look forward to! I'm feeling okay. I had Sprite & peanut butter crackers for breakfast.
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Kate finds out today if Bryson will have a baby brother or a baby sister!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4 more days until Katie is 2! Did I mention that I need some Kleenex?!?! *sniff sniff*
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We have bedding for Katie's big girl bed and have been debating over when to put her in the big bed. Well, actually we don't have a "real" big bed for her yet, but we have a rollaway bed we plan to use until we get one. Grammer (aka my mom) is looking for a bed for her and plans to have a lady paint it shabby chic white for her! FUN! Anyway, yesterday Katie was upset with me for putting her in the baby bed. I thought she wanted to sleep but apparently she didn't. I left her in there while I took a shower, thinking she might fall asleep. Um....no! Instead, she decided to climb out of the bed. She succeeded in hittin' the floor. I don't think she hit it the way she planned, but she hit it alright! I ran in there......after just getting out of the shower if you know what I mean....and picked her up. She wasn't hurt, but it hit the point home that she is ready for that big girl bed!

awful bug

Quote of the day from my 5 year old:
"Why can I not just say she has diarrhea?"

This was said when I told her that if her Bible Class teacher asks if she has any prayer requests, she should say that her baby sister has a little upset tummy. I laughed and said, "Sure. You can say that." A new teacher starts this morning and I don't think she's ever taught this age before. She needs to learn quickly what can happen when you teach 5 year olds!
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So yes, I am home with Katie Boo this morning due to her upset tummy. She really acts like she feels pretty good, although she's been a little clingier. She's had some "bad diapers" since Thursday. In isolation, I might not think too much of it, but having had at least one "weird" one each day since Thursday causes me to think something's just not right. Sooo, she's home with me this morning. Chris stayed with her last night during the wedding. I was hoping to take her to church tonight. We're meeting all together and having potluck rather than Life Groups, but since she already had a bad one this morning, I imagine Chris will stay home with her tonight. If she has another one today, I'll probably call the doctor tomorrow. I don't know that he's going to say a whole lot about it other than use the famous word, "viral," but it just makes me feel better sometimes to take her in. Chris, Gracie and I seem to be okay. A couple of times of tummy upset, but nothing too bad. My parents are coming this weekend for Katie's birthday, so I'm hoping she's all better! Right now, she's playing and watching "Ermie," (aka Hermie) her current favorite character!
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Yesterday was the Heartwalk. I really do need to get out & walk more often. We're going to the beach this summer with my size 2 (if even) sister-in-law, Erin, so I really need to walk more often! I know I'll never be as petite as she is, but it'd be nice to be smaller than I am now. Gracie did really well; Chris only carried her a short part of the 3 miles. Katie rode in the stroller of course.
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Gracie loves to write, so she wrote a story yesterday that we're going to enter in a writing contest. I heard the Reading Rainbow guy advertising the contest on one of our local public television stations and told Gracie about it. She had heard about it as well and is excited. She wrote & illustrated the story yesterday, and I need to get it in the mail by Friday. You cannot believe how hard it is for me to not "revamp" the story by myself. After her first "draft," I did give her some suggestions on different sentence ideas she could add. She was short of the minimum number of words, so she had to add some anyway. I showed her the winning entries of one of the other years and tried to "encourage" her to add more details to her pictures, etc. She is happy with her creation, so after we make sure we've followed all the rules as far as page numbers, etc., we will send it on. Do I think it will win? Probably not, but I'm proud of her for submitting anything. I have to say that some of the Kindergarten winners from one of the other years look like they had alot of help from someone older. It's not my place to judge that, but they just look really good for Kindergarten!
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One of my friends just called me to inform me that her son threw up this morning. *sigh* We were with them Thursday, Friday and yesterday. This stomach bug is just flying around this town! If we're going to get it full blown with the throwing up & everything, I want to get it now and get it over with!!!!!! Kate called yesterday and they've all had it too. *sigh again!*

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Dear Lord,

Please be with everyone around here who is sick and help them all to be well again soon! Specifically Katie, Dillon, Kate, Scott & Bryson. Please don't let anyone else get sick with this awful bug.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen

PTA secretary????

The last couple of days.................

Gracie had some "tummy issues" Wednesday afternoon & evening so we kept her home from church. It breaks our hearts but warms them at the same time when she cries when we tell her we're not going to Bible Class. I'm glad she enjoys it so much, but with all the "crud" that's been going around (including her best friend throwing up on the table in Bible Class Sunday) we decided it was best to keep her in. She was feeling okay Thursday morning and hadn't had any more "issues," so I sent her to school that morning with a note for them to call me if she had any problems. She did fine, so I'm glad I went ahead and sent her. She really wanted to go and I think I knew deep down that she'd be fine. I did go purchase the forehead thermometer several people have recommended. I'm tired of playing eeny meeny miney mo with which thermometer to use. I'm hoping I'll like this one.
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Last night, Chris went up to our new church building to help do some work. Since today was a teacher workday, he decided to take Gracie with him. She thought that was so cool! She got to play with several of her little friends who were also up there.
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Today, I took Gracie and headed to a book sale where there were tons of books for sale. I mean, tons! Kate called me from the parking lot and couldn't find a place to park there were so many people. I never did figure out exactly how much each book cost, but I got 10 books (some children & some adult) for $6. Pretty good deal! After that, Gracie & I went to a nearby town and did a little shopping. Poor thing, alot of her pants had gotten to be such high waters, I had to get her some new ones. She's 5 1/2 but has still been wearing some 4's. Just in the past 2 weeks, they've gotten so short, so I went to get some more 5's. The problem is that some of them are still just so big! I'm such a fan of the adjustable waist pants that lots of places are carrying right now, but even with some of those, they just look weird because I have to pull the adjustable part so tight. We go through this every season with her. She's just got such a petite frame! For a long time, we called her "tiny hiney." She has decided now that that is embarrassing, so we're no longer allowed to use that phrase!

Cute story: I tend to be pretty conservative in what I want the girls to wear. I hope to instill a good sense of modesty in them based on a desire to please God. This makes it hard to shop sometimes, even for a 5 year old. Unfortunately, alot of places are selling things for 5 year olds, and even younger, that are just tacky & "inappropriate." (That is a word that works with Gracie.) Today, I saw a halter top that I deemed to be inappropriate. I just don't particularly care for that type of shirt. I told Gracie that it was inappropriate and explained to her why I thought so. She said something like, "I'll never buy that even if it looks cute!" I thought that was an important point and told her that sometimes something will look really cute, but it may still be inappropriate. Ask me in 10 years if she's still so easy to convince of what's appropriate or not!
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We ate dinner with some friends tonight. Always fun.
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Tomorrow morning, we're walking in the Heartwalk. 3 miles. Not my favorite thing to do, but my husband signed us up and it won't kill me and will probably even do me some good!
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We have a wedding tomorrow night in our new church building and then we will meet for the first time for church in the new building Sunday. We've been meeting in a temporary place for over a year! After reading the book I talk about below, I sincerely hope, and will pray, that we keep our focus on Jesus and don't get swept up in the excitement of a new building so much that we lose that focus.
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Katie Boo turns 2 on Friday! Pass the Kleenex please! *sniff sniff*
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I kept reading Jetty Betty and Elizabeth blog about reading Francine Rivers. I went to the library last week and decided to give her a try. Well, I finished reading And the Shofar Blew a couple of days ago. I really enjoyed it and found myself looking forward to getting comfortable on the couch and reading some more. I was intrigued to find out how things got resolved in the end. It is very good and has given me things to think about. I guess the main thing I got out of it is that our main focus has to be on Jesus or we're doing it wrong.

I'm going to start Unveiled next. It is the first in her Lineage of Grace series and is the story of Tamar. I'm hoping to like it.
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I am thankful for the angels who kept Gracie & I safe today while traveling a little ways for our shopping outing. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I kept doing stupid things while driving! (If Chris reads this, I'm going to be in trouble!) I just kept saying things like, "oops!" or "Where did they come from?" I was really impressed with this one lady. I turned on my blinker, checked my side mirror and started to change lanes. I remember thinking that I know I have a blind spot and should turn around to double check. As soon as I started getting over, I heard a honk. Sure enough, there had been a car in my blind spot. I got back over and looked at the driver. Instead of flipping me off like many people would have done, the lady just kind of smiled and waved as if to say, "It's okay. I know you didn't mean to." That really impressed me and made me think that I need to be more patient when I'm driving and someone else does something stupid. Instead of getting mad at them, I should smile & wave. For the record, it's not like I was driving like a maniac; I just should have been paying a little better attention.
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Tuesday night, Gracie's school celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday with an educational carnival. I think we actually celebrated it a tad early, but that's okay. They had lots of educational games set up in the cafeteria for the students to play. Gracie had a blast! While Chris and the girls got started with that, I went to a PTA meeting in the library and then joined them later. I think I may be PTA secretary next year. *yikes* The time for officer selection is upon us, and someone had asked me to think about being on the board. I wasn't sure about it and had decided that secretary is the only position I'd be interested in right now. I figure I might be interested in President or Vice President one day but not yet. I never want to be treasurer. At a meeting the other night, they said the secretary was staying on in her position (you can hold the same position for 2 years). I told her later that secretary was the only position I felt comfortable doing right now. She said, "You can have it!" I think she's going to move up to be one of the VP's and I'll be secretary. It doesn't appear that anyone is jumping to be President, but I'm sure it'll work out. I'm excited but also scared. Who knows? Someone else may want to be secretary and maybe there'll be an election and I'll lose! The lady who was secretary this year helped me alot while organizing the Family Enrichment Night, so if I do end up doing it, I'm glad she'll be a VP.

I know I need to pray about this for more than one reason and I ask that you pray for me as well. One, I need to pray that God's will be done in whether or not I really end up holding this office. Two, If I do end up doing it, I need to pray that God will help me to do positive things while holding the office. I know many people say God can't be in a public school, but I know that He's there and I intend to do what I can to show that to people. I don't always know how to do that effectively, but that will be part of my prayer.

• I know He's there when I talk with Gracie's teacher's aide and she mentions something that happened "at church."
• I know He's there when I talk with my new friend Mary Beth whose son is in Gracie's class and we discuss how we have to keep praying for our children.
• I know He's there when Kate boldly bows her head during the "moment of silence" and her public high school students know she's praying.
• I know He's there when my sister-in-law, Erin, talks about storing up treasures in Heaven with her public high school students.
• I know He was there when Chester Drawers spoke at Gracie's school and openly spoke of God.
• I know He's there when Gracie talks about her friend "M" talking about how she goes to church.
• I know He was there when Gracie took her Bible for Show & Tell during "B" week.
• I know He was there when we had "See You at the Pole" back in September.
• I know He's there even amidst the bad things. The bad things make Him sad, but I still know He's there.

God is everywhere! He is so present. It's just up to us to make Him known to all.

Our 2 sweeties

I don't have too much to say tonight, but I was tired of looking at the pictures of spaghetti sauce, so here is a picture of our 2 girls.