Knees to the earth

Amy

2007-09-12T11:31:00.000-05:00

Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, Amy Wilhoite went home to her Savior. Throughout her blogging her ordeal I learned so much and was convicted on so many levels in how I should view my circumstances.

I remember a post she wrote a few months ago in March. In this post she told how she was studying up on heaven on John Piper's website (desiringgod.com)

She posted it this way:
"as though studying up on some country I'm visiting on vacation soon" she added: "Sad that only the prospect of death has me at this place, because I believe as Christians we should be focusing on the fact that our stay on earth is quite brief and very temporal. Very little matters when you view it in light of eternity. ......................Please always remember that even if I do not continue here on this earth, I will achieve ultimate healing in heaven. One way or the other, your prayers will all be answered. It is a miracle that we are not consumed day by day. (2 Cor. 4:16)"

(Quote from a post in July)
"I am tired, weary, broken, and so weary of this long, slow death. I know God has a purpose in all of this -- I know He is still sovereign -- I know He still holds my days, but the fight is leaving me, and I find myself longing for relief from this daily assault on my body."

While my heart aches for her family and her little boy she has left behind, at the same time there is a peace knowing she can see Jesus and has received her ultimate healing .

Please pray for her husband, infant son, and her friends and family that are grieving. Memorial details are on her blog. http://wilhoite.blogspot.com/

So how's the potty training going (Potty training Part 2)

2007-08-17T17:53:00.001-05:00

It's a slow day in my bloggerville when my last 2 posts are on the potty habits of my 2 year old, but I did say I'd update so here's the progress report

Weeeeellll, actually, it's a mixed review here so far. Last weekend she did awesome! Saturday she finally peed (can you "say" peed online?) ok she "pee pee'd" -hmm not sure that sounds any better, but you get the point. THAT is what she did Saturday.
Her accomplishments Saturday were mainly because I rushed her to the potty midstream (as she was wetting my shirt).
Sunday, however was much better - she actually told me when she had to go and then it was a mad dash for the potty. Right now our only drawback is once she sits down she holds it in and begins to cry. I think it is because she doesn't want to let it go in the potty ??.
I end up having to hug her and tell her it is ok to let it go in the potty. Then she screams and hollers with this look of terror on her face as she goes in the potty all while I have to hold her down so she doesn't get up midstream.

So to wrap up our progress so far: she is "going" in the potty (and on the potty, and on the floor) - but the concept of the potty being the place to go is starting to hit her.

She does not like going in her "big girl pants" and at night when she has on a diaper she will wake up and tell me she has to go or has gone and insists on being changed right away. (usually at 4:15 am).

We haven't even tackled the other bodily function - Holding her down to do the one is enough for us right now.

I have a few other posts saved as drafts that I need to upload photos on. So they will be coming soon. Taking K to the potty every 15 minutes eats up a lot of my time so blogging and photo uploading are slow...But I promise updates soon! I know Candi is waiting on me to posts the photos from our trip to Georgia. :)

Potty training part 1

2007-07-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

Today we began our potty training adventure - officially. Actually, I tried starting to potty train her the end of May, but it was right after we officially weaned. She was having trouble keeping her fluid intake at the right levels and ended up spending a day and part of an evening in Children's Hospital because she was dehydrated.

My poor baby had to have a catheter to get urine samples and she was so dehydrated they were not even able to get blood when they tried on her arms twice! So needless to say we postponed potty training and let her get back to normal.

Now she's gotten her fluid intake regulated and can tell me when she's wet/or poopy (She yells "MOM, I poo poo" - and poo poo is what she calls anything she does in her diaper)- so to me that mean the next step is potty training. I do not use pull ups when potty training except when we are going out in public, and diapers are only for night time....although past few nights she has stayed dry.

Today she wore her "big girl" pants all day and only had 3 accidents....still hasn't done anything in the potty, but she sure has done a lot of sitting. I am having her train Elmo while I train her and she really likes checking to make sure Elmo is "dry" and then putting him on the potty. I think Elmo has been on the potty today more than she has.

So basically what I'm doing is checking her every 15 minutes and I'll ask if she's dry - if she is, she gets a treat and I have her sit on the potty - at some point she will hopefully do something in the potty and receive a bigger treat and loads of applause. If she's wet, we do a change of pants (no treat) and we start the 15 minutes all over again. That's the plan - it's been a while since I've had to potty train so I'm trying to remember what I did the last 2 times (10-13 years ago!) and pick what worked best.

I'm open to suggestions and will let you know how tomorrow goes.

East to West

2007-07-29T23:36:00.000-05:00

5 Minutes for Mom is Giving away a 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV!

2007-07-27T20:15:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't love a giveaway? Click on over to 5minutesformoms.com (one of my favorite blogs) and see their latest giveaway sponsored by Best Buy.

Prayer request -

2007-07-23T08:08:00.000-05:00

Please pray for this family. Their beautiful daughter drowned last week at the beach. Please say a a prayer for them, especially tomorrow and the days following. I'm sure she and her family would appreciate your prayers and encouraging comments.

The story of a bird in a shoe.............

2007-07-14T22:36:00.000-05:00

JP's football season ended on a rather "muddy" note last year. When we came in from his last game his football cleats were not allowed in the house. I had them put out on the back porch with the intentions of hosing them down at a later time.
Fast forward to now nearly a year later - and guess what? - Those cleats still sit on the back porch waiting to be hosed down. I was rearranging things on the porch and saw something odd with his shoe.
There was a bunch of straw sticking out of it - my first thought was - "why did my son put straw in his shoe?" (If you know JP, that is a valid question)
I picked it up to see if there was an obivious explanation before questioning him and saw that this straw was not just stuffed in there carelessly - but that great care had been taken in arranging each piece of grass, hay, and plastic baggie. A bird had built a nest in those muddy cleats. I started to dump it out, thinking it had served it's purpose and the birds were long gone, but decided to save the shoe to show Randy at a later date.

Two weeks later, the shoe still sat there ( I get sidetracked easily) - I went to grab the shoe to show Randy and when I reached for it a bird came flying out of the shoe! I was so startled - I don't know how I didn't drop the shoe. Good thing I didn't because the shoe now held these:

Here's mommy bird on our swing set waiting for me to put the camera away and go back inside.

A few days later I was more careful to not touch the shoe and just held my camera up high over the shoe and snapped a quick picture to see what was inside at this point. I caught a picture of mommy bird sitting happily on her eggs.

About 2 days later, (about a week ago) I was on the porch to set up Kit Kat's water table when I heard lots of little chirps! I grabbed my camera (of course!) and caught these new little ones waiting on mommy.

Not very pretty at this stage are they?

That brings us to today. I heard chirping all day - I kept thinking surely these babies are about ready to fly the nest - I took a picture of the inside of the shoe to see if they were still in there, but the shoe was empty.

But the chirping was definitely coming from the porch. I walked around the bicycles and when I got to the picnic table it was definitely louder. There was a baby birdie sitting under our picnic table trying to hide in the table cloth. I moved the table cloth and the bird ran - to a corner of the yard to hide. (but we have 3 dogs out there!)

On a mission to save the birdie Randy and I tried to corner it into a box but it ran underneath the fence to the front side of our house under a set of bushes, and we just let it go at that point. At least our dogs couldn't get a hold of it. This was the best full shot of the bird I was able to get, but we were trying to get it in the box so it turned out blurry.

Here it is going under our fence

So our little bird adventure has come to an end, and to think it all started with some muddy football cleats on our back porch.

"Me mommy"

2007-07-12T21:01:00.000-05:00

While I was reading my email today, my little one crawled into my lap and held my face in her hands, looking deep into my eyes she said "Awww - me mommy". Then I was given the biggest, sweetest smile and a hug. (all together now..."awwwww")

People are always mentioning how spoiled she is or will be - but I think they've got it backwards...I'm definitely the one that's spoiled.

Wordless Wednesday #3

2007-07-04T22:55:00.000-05:00

Noses ("beeeeep")

More Wordless Wednesday participants at: 5minutesformoms.com

Happy 2nd Birthday! (with slideshow)

2007-07-04T16:27:00.000-05:00

My baby turned 2 last Sunday and we celebrated her birthday here at the house. I purchased a B@rney cake pan off Eb@y and attempted to bake her cake before I left for church that morning. Evidently letting it cool in the pan while we were at church was not a good idea...as it stuck to the pan and I had a hard time getting it out. With less than 3 hours before her party, Daddy made a quick trip to the store and bought more cake mix so I could try again. We also had a hard time with frosting colors....I purchased store bought "icing coloring" and it tasted NASTY!!! So in the end we settled on using a couple drops of red and blue food coloring for the purple icing. I piped on the icing using bag with a star tip, used green sprinkles for the belly, chocolate icing for the mouth, and chocolate chips for the eyes and nose (white frosting for the blank space and the teeth). I think he turned out pretty cute, not as purple as the actual "Barney", but Kit Kat, knew who the cake was meant to be. She enjoyed all her presents - and the next day kept asking if it was still her birthday - :)

Here is a slide show of the pictures from her "party":

Wordless Wednesday #2

2007-05-30T11:01:00.000-05:00

Chocolate Cupcakes

More Wordless Wednesday participants at 5minutesformoms.com

Wordless Wednesday #1

2007-05-23T07:46:00.000-05:00

Shaving cream on the kitchen table

This is my first Wordless Wednesday post - I don't know if it's 'legal' to use 2 photos, or for me to have this many 'words', but I couldn't post one without the other. ;)

More Wordless Wednesday participants at 5minutesformoms.com

Baby Talk and more pictures

2007-05-21T13:05:00.001-05:00

Well, I realized that Kit Kat - that is what I usually call her. Daddy calls her "Poo-Poo" (I like Kit Kat much better). It is so funny, when Daddy comes home, he will say "Hi, Poo-Poo" and she will smile and say "Hi Poo-Poo", but for the sake of this blog I shall refer to her with my term of endearment.

Back to my original thought - I realized that Kit Kat has been getting more of a vocabulary and that her baby talk is dwindling and her funny way of saying words is being replaced with proper enunciations. :(
I want to make a note of all the words and phrases that she says now before they are gone from her and my memory.

She calls me "MA!" loudly all the time! I just love it, although after 20-30 times in a row it starts to drive me batty. I'll ask her what she wants and she goes into a 2-3 minute rant of baby babble. Only to finish and yell out "MA!", again.
"Melmo" - (Elmo) - isn't that every toddler's favorite red furry "guy"? although I noticed yesterday she was saying it correctly most of the time.
"Baahey" - That's the purple dino (Barney)
"Juuz" - Usually means juice - can often be confused with shoes (glad she knows sign language for both)
"I keem" - (Ice cream) - often confused with "I swing" - she doesn't know the signs for these, but if she runs for the fridge vs the back door we get the point.
"Pish" - (Push) - She loves to push in the VCR tapes, and the clasp on her carseat, and the shopping cart at the grocery store.
"Boo'sh" - (bless you) - anytime someone sneezes she runs to tell them "Boo'sh"
"bloosh" - her fake sneeze - afterwards she'll "bless herself" and then thank herself for the blessing. She's too funny.
"I eat" - (No translation needed) - Her favorite phrase. :)
"Diss" - (Dance) - What she does in sissy's room.
"Ow'bize" - (outside)
"Ow'wize" - (elmocize) - don't ask
"peez" - (please)
"dee do" - (thank you)
"pood" - (food) toy food that she plays with in her play kitchen set
"da dose" - (stinky toes) that's what we call her toes
"bopple" - (apple)
"bo'bo" - (dog) - I think she got this from the sound she thinks the dogs make when they bark. She used to say "dog" "dog" - then it went to "bo' bo" and has been that for a while now.
'bih bid" - (big bird)
"ku kuz" - (popsicle) - don't know how she got that.
"di chay" - (diaper change) - although I hope those days are soon over! :)
"bed bedy" - (belly belly) - she loves to poke hers and say "ooh" and if she catches a glimpse of yours she'll poke you, too!
"pee boo" - (peek a boo)
"mees" - (knees)
Peetz - (pizza)

She can say the typical things like: eyes, ears, hair, nose, baby, up, chair, ouch, and other words that aren't coming to mind right now. We are all having so much fun watching our little "copy cat" copy what we say and do.

Here are some recent pictures:

Sissy with Kit Kat and some of the many stuffed animals in this house

Daddy making 'Melmo' dance

Going up J.P.'s (big brother's) bicycle ramp. (He has tried to teach her to go off on her big wheel - Ahh! boys!)

Sammie, Kit Kat, and Princess - checking out the neighbor in the back yard.

Being silly

How many "melmos" can one girl have?

Barney's still a hit!

You'll have to excuse the messy hair this was right after breakfast

Happy Mother's Day

2007-05-14T22:46:00.000-05:00

My sister Natalie spent the day with us for Mother's Day - She tried to get a good photo of me with my "babies" -

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

This was as good as we were going to get.

A work of art

2007-04-18T13:02:00.000-05:00

Now I really look like daddy!

Adding a new prayer button

2007-04-17T22:16:00.000-05:00

I'd like to draw attention once again to the section on the left hand side of my blog with the special prayer request buttons. I will be adding another button to that list tonight. This button is for Heather. I've never met Heather, but I read her blog and have prayed frequently for her little girl. Her little girl is Emma Grace and a prayer button for little Emma Grace has been on the left hand side of my blog for nearly as long as I've had a blog. It's somewhat funny how this blog has made this world a little bit smaller and a lot more personal as I am drawn to the lives and prayer needs of others and their children. I know not everyone is who they claim to be online and I am careful who I read and choose to keep tabs on. It is somewhat odd how people I've never met, have made my laugh and made me cry, encouraged me in my biblical responsibilities to my family and to God, and some have recently prompted me to bow my head in prayer for them. Here is why I am requesting prayers on Heather's behalf and adding her prayer button underneath her daughter's in my side bar.

Heather recently had a MRI come back showing what doctors have called an inoperable brain tumor. Following Heather as she opens her heart through this has been nothing short of encouraging and inspiring. In situations where faith is tested she is standing strong. I know she may not feel strong, but I also know in our weakness He is strong.

This news of Heather's ordeal has struck me a little more personally than just reading about some stranger with a brain tumor. Not only because I've followed Heather and Emma Grace's stories for so long they hardly feel like strangers, but it is even more personal than that. For the past few months I have had some health issues and recently had my own brain scan done - Thankfully my scan came back clear of any tumors and blockages, and we are pursuing other possibilities for my concerns.

I often wonder if I would have withstood an unfavorable diagnosis such as she has. One thing is for certain, if you want to see faith in action all you have to do is read any of Heather's post and know where she stands. She truly has a testimony. I hope that anyone left reading my blog will offer up prayers on Heather's behalf and send her an encouraging word or two.

There are other ladies organizing a love offering/web-a-thon of sorts for Heather tomorrow. They would like to help as she is headed to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota on April 25th- if anyone is interested in participating with that 'BooMama' has the details here on her site.

Long awaited update

2007-04-11T20:07:00.000-05:00

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Psalm 68:19

Well, I apologize for the lack of new posts here since November, and if it's just Mom and Dad left as my faithful readers I can completely understand. There is no real way to put into writing all the details to fill in the blanks for the months I've been on a blogging break. So, I've decided to do it in pictures.

Her favorite place with all her animals:

If sissy wants to fit on the couch :

'K' helped sissy prepare our scaled down Christmas tree

Every year we have a big Christmas party at our home on Christmas Eve. My sisters and their children, my dad and stepmother, and my stepbrother came.
Here are 2 of my younger sisters with 'K'

My stepbrother

My sister Natalie and my stepmother

All the kids get to open the presents from their grandparents at the party. They love it! Here is sissy and cousin "care bear" showing baby 'K' how to open presents.

The tree Christmas morning - before the chaos

Big brother 'J' finally gets a haircut - BEFORE

AFTER!

January was filled with sissy's basketball games

'K' loves basketballs! Good thing there were extras
around the court just for little ones to play with.

Snack time - Look how healthy!

Why is she looking so excited?

Hmm - forget healthy! Let's have cookies

Randy and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary Feb.1st! Here are my anniversary gifts. Who would have ever thought I'd be so excited to get a washing machine as a present.

Here is what she does when she is dressed for church. She watches Barney with Barney while the rest of us finish getting ready. See the "Barney trance"

Valentines Day they all got chocolate apples (with a gummy worm) from me. Here they are enjoying their apples. That is 'K's new face when you tell her to say "cheese"....she does this every time you get out the camera. I think it is cute - :)

Sleeping on the couch in Barney P.J.s

Ok - that catches up through the end of February. Next post will have March and April pictures

Requesting Prayers for Amy

2007-02-24T12:02:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't updated my blog in a long time - I promise I will get around to that soon.
I just wanted to bring attention to my special prayer requests section on the left side of my blog, I have had a prayer button up for Amy Wilhoite for several months now - if you haven't taken the chance to read up on Amy - please stop by her blog and say a special prayer for her.

Thank you!!

Reading time

2006-11-03T18:40:00.000-05:00

She brought her book basket on the couch so sissy could read her a story.

or 2

or ..... more,
and of course let's top it off with her toy cell phone (that goes nearly everywhere with her.)

What a great big brother!

2006-11-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

We have been in the process of training K to stay on the rug in the kitchen when she eats her snack. Today I asked her big brother if he wanted to help by setting a good example for his sister. He agreed! He even sacrificed his pride and drank from a sippy cup to show her how she should eat and drink her snack on the rug. It all went pretty well, until K decided to bite the heads off all her animal crackers and then take her brother's and do the same to his!

Bath time

2006-10-23T09:30:00.000-05:00

She used to like her baths, but here lately, she screams as soon as she hears the water running. She doesn't even want her toys to touch the water. Each toy I dropped in the water she would instantly pick up and hug it to her so it wouldn't get wet. You can see she held all the toys I dropped.

Happy 13th Birthday to my special young lady!

2006-10-19T22:13:00.000-05:00

Happy 13, 'sissy' - we love you!

Homeschooling with a toddler

2006-10-18T06:08:00.000-05:00

Now that K is down to napping in the afternoon only, it is a little bit harder to keep her occupied while the older two get their school work completed. Although she has not been too difficult, I'm thinking we may back the start of our school days up to the afternoon when she goes down for her big noon nap. Here are some pictures of what our school day has been like.

Working hard with sissy on math. Note the snagged action figure from big brother's room and how she is holding her pen upside down. (Thankfully!!)

I thought this was cute. She was trying to hold her hand under her chin in the "thinking" pose like her big sissy was doing earlier.

I guess she decided sissy needed EXTRA help with Math

While I was taking the above pictures J was in the other room working on his math. When I went to check on him, this is what I found.

So I asked him - "How's math going this morning?"

His answer

Updating my blog

2006-10-16T06:09:00.000-05:00

I have been informed by my sister Melanie that she and the ladies at the hospital where she works are tired of looking at K eat a raspberry popscicle.

A not so subtle hint that I need to update my blog. :)

Sorry I've been so slow in updating, but I was sick for a couple weeks there and didn't feel much like posting. I think I had the flu - ick. I think I've met the sickness quota for the season. I'm also in the process of redoing our schedule now that K has transitioned down to 1 nap, and it has cut out some of my computer time.

If you ask J the best thing about mom being sick would be that the Cahill's (Mel) made us a dinner last week so I didn't have to cook and we could take a break from fast food - I just love my care group. J is a big fan of people bring us meals - I don't know if I should take that as a comment on my cooking or not. He is always telling me to have another baby so all those people will bring us food again (HA!) now I think he's secretly hoping I get sick again.

During this sickness I was made increasingly aware of how many useless words I use during the day. I come from a line of women with sharp wit and even sharper tongues. We have a quick comeback for everything and I really have a struggle in that area. Due to the coughing episodes I was having, while I was sick, I had very little use of my voice. I found that I was much more careful with what I said - because my "voice time" was limited. It was almost comical squelching phrases and comments that would have normally rolled right off my tongue.

It really brought new light to Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

I was struck by how much more careful I was with my words when it hurt 'me' to talk - Now if I can just write that verse on the foreheads of my children so that it will come to mind more readily when I am talking to them.

I know that most of my visitors don't come to read my posts, but to see the pictures so here they are:

Playing outside on the porch: Daddy was on vacation this past week and cleaned off the porch he built and we opened up the French doors and let K play out on the porch. She had so much fun stepping up into the house and then back down onto the porch. She did that over and over again. She thought it was extremely funny that she could still see me on the other side of the glass door.

(words below pictures :-) )

Inside

Outside

Inside

Oustide -trying to escape - Good thing she has a big head - ha ha

Silly faces through the glass

Well I was going to post some pictures for Melanie (my sister) that I took the night I had her kids sleep over last month, but blogger has decided that I can't post anymore pictures right now, so I will try again later.

Getting molars means

2006-10-02T15:50:00.000-05:00

Daddy gives you Raspberry popsicles (to feed yourself!) :-D

Recent pictures

2006-09-27T11:06:00.000-05:00

(You can now leave comments - Thanks for the heads up, Tammy!)

They had requested I take a photo of them enjoying their watermelon and share it on the blog. Silly kids. :) (Sorry, I'm just a little late with posting them.)
They also wanted to make sure I said hello for them to Aunt Sharon, and Granny (Jones) since they haven't talked to you all in a while. (Hello!!)

"K" has really taken to baby dolls and on her latest raid of big sister's room she snagged this one - I don't think her big sis will be getting this one back anytime soon. As far as the pacifier, this is a new thing. I had tried to give her one when she was a few months old and she didn't want anything to do with them. Now she's noticed the other kids in her class at church that have them, and I noticed her staring at them and trying to take them. I pulled out one of her old ones at home and she plopped it right in. We keep it in her crib for bedtime now (helpful with us cutting out her night nursing). She doesn't even suck on it, just holds it in her mouth. She still doesn't take the pacifier too often, but for some reason this nap she wanted the baby, her blanket and "binkie".

Her new car - when she sits facing forward she pushes her self backwards, so I guess this solves that problem?

No biting

2006-09-22T23:00:00.000-05:00

K got a new book a few days ago. The book is titled "No biting".

Here is a synopsis of the book:
No biting, No biting friends - what's ok to bite - an apple ... No hitting, No hitting mommy - what's ok to hit - a drum, following the flow so far?
Next came
No kicking, No kicking the dog - what?? For some reason that made me laugh. Is there really a toddler epedimic of dog kicking that this book is addressing? I've done this mommy thing 3 times and I have yet to have one kick the dog. However, I did dig up this picture of "J" at age 3 with our dog, and he wasn't kicking our dog - he was well - you see

(click to see larger)

Hmm too bad they didn't have a "Don't lick" page.
Now when I read that book to "K" she cracks up laughing when I get to that page. I guess she thinks that's funny, too.

Friday afternoon in the park

2006-09-15T16:12:00.000-05:00

We were blessed with such lovely weather today, so we loaded up the van and headed to the park. Here are pictures from today.

Caught off guard ;0)

Really liking the swing

No hands!
Out of the swing and ready to explore

She's getting so independent now - she just waved "bye" and took off.

Ok - playing with my picture software - :)

Prayer request for Susan

2006-09-12T12:10:00.000-05:00

Many of you already know Susan's story, but I'm passing this prayer request on for those that don't. Please pray for Susan today. Susan is scheduled to be induced today. She found out in June that the baby has Potter's Syndrome, meaning the baby doesn't appear to have kidneys and is not expected to survive long once born. Here are her specific prayer requests on her blog:

That we have a quick and safe labor and delivery

That I don't have to have a c-section

Please pray specifically for my children, Colt (13) and Riley (2). While Colt is really old enough to understand, he still hasn't expressed his grief much and I'm pretty sure that "the dam" will break after the baby gets here. Riley doesn't really understand what's happening at all, but I worry about the emotional scars on both of my children from this.

That the Lord's will be done, what ever that may be. While we pray for a miracle we also know that the Lord may have reasons we don't understand for the baby not to survive.

That Lord helps us to accept his desicion, what ever it may be. That His grace and mercy comfort us.

New favorite way to eat..

2006-09-07T16:44:00.000-05:00

Vols...

2006-09-02T21:58:00.000-05:00

You would think the Vols didn't win tonight ~

(Just a tad dramatic, don't you think?)

I found this outfit at a yard sale 6 months ago and bought it thinking it would fit just right - but it is already looking a bit short. (Good thing it was only $1!) It is an 18 month old sized outfit (she's 14 months)

:( - Oh well, I have a long sleeve one that is bigger, hopefully when cooler weather comes it won't be too short. Maybe by then she'll have better team spirit, too.

I finally got a smile out of her, but it was as she was running away.

I think this is the "best" one I could get out of that photo session:

I did get some more smiles, but she was in her rocking chair watching Barney, and not me with the camera: (These smiles were ALL for Barney, not me)

I'm back....

2006-08-30T15:30:00.000-05:00

I have been sick (if you know anything about shingles hopefully you will sympathize.)

The Cause of Shingles
(Article from Epigee Women's Health)

Shingles is caused by the same chickenpox virus that many of us suffered from as children. This virus, known as "varicella-zoster," can lie dormant in your system for many years after initial exposure. This means that, even after your chickenpox disappears, the varicella-zoster virus remains in your body, traveling deep beneath your skin and along your nerve fibers.. This virus can then reactivate later on (usually years after you have had the chickenpox), and begins to travel back along your nerve fibers until it reaches the surface of your skin. This is what causes the characteristic shingles rash. Sometimes known as St. Anthony's Fire because of its fiery nerve and muscle pain, shingles can reoccur many times in some individuals.
(The rest of this article can be found here)

I had the chicken pox rash on my lower back and across my right hip, Oww! That was not conducive to sitting and blogging, or much of anything. Now that is clearing up, but I am still having some weird nerve pains along the right side of my body. From the top of my right shoulder to the bottom of my feet will feel like I am being stuck with pins and needles or just sharp sporadic electric shock like feelings will hit me on that side. In an weird kind of coincidence, my baby sister in Florida called last week and she was just diagnosed with the same thing, and her rash was in the same area only instead of across her hip it went up her back. Her case has been much worse than mine. If you know Candi, you know she always seems to get the worst case of anything. She is the one that thinks she has the flu, but ends up hospitalized with e-coli poisoning, or her colds seem to always turn to pneumonia.

For some reason, no matter what it is, she seems to get the rough end of it .
(I Love ya, Candice!! I hope you are feeling better!!)

Well, now that you all have had an update on me - the 3 posts (yes I did 3 posts today!!) below are the updates you all more than likely came to see:

Big sister A updates:

2006-08-30T15:29:00.000-05:00

She is officially taller than me! Nothing more to say. :( I knew it would happen one day, just not this day. I may have to look her in the nose when I tell her to go to bed, but I still get to tuck her in!!

Big brother "J" updates:

2006-08-30T15:28:00.000-05:00

His football season has really kicked into gear the past 2 weeks. He was so excited to finally be in pads. His exact words to me a few weeks ago were: "I can't wait till we get in pads, I really want to hit somebody! " (Words that make a mom shudder.) True to his words, he has come out hitting hard so far. In their first pre-season game he was named Defensive MVP (by the opposing team!) and was given a trophy.

The season (only 2 weeks old) has already been a tough one for the team, they have lost 2 of their players to injuries. One boy went out the first game in an ambulance with a neck sprain, then last week another boy on the team went out in an ambulance with a dislocated elbow and broken arm! And they have only played pre season games. The regular season games start this weekend. Loose teeth make me woozy and I am blessed with the boy that loves to play football and roller hockey. Not only does he love the sports, but he seems to have some talent in them both. I wouldn't trade him for any other. So while my head may be bowed in prayer during his games it is probably also bowed because I don't want to look.

J in action

(Don't worry those big boys are on his team!)

My big tough boy still likes me to "tuck" him in at night.
(We call this the "mummy tuck")

Little Lady K Updates:

2006-08-30T15:27:00.000-05:00

She has had so many firsts the past couple of weeks. I am not sure I can remember what they all are.

Here are a few:
She now sings! It is incredibly funny. She likes the song Mr. Sun (she does the hand movements and everything!) and she sings it to herself in bed when she is going to sleep. She is not saying the real words, but you can tell by her tune what she is trying to sing.

She has mastered the movements to Itsy Bitsy Spider and can even say - "sitsy bissy". She has learned how to kick a ball and loves to kick anything round she can find in the floor.

She has learned to climb - and the other morning when I was standing on the coffee table (I know - good example, Mom) changing a light bulb in the ceiling fan, I looked down find her up on the table with me.

She has been earning major cute points lately when she gives me at least 20 kisses through the slats of her crib at night when I put her to bed. Then she wakes me at 2:00 A.M. (her crib is in our room by my side of the bed) and I find her with her lips puckered and her head pressed against the bars of the crib waiting for me to roll over and give her a kiss. Since it is usually 2 or 3 in the morning when she does this, those cute points really work in her favor!!

That's all I can think of right now, so I hope you enjoy the pictures - which my sister Melanie reminds me, is why people visit my blog in the first place.

Looking serious (actually sleepy) on the couch with Daddy

Resting on Daddy

Hangin' in big sister's room

Enough pictures, Mom!

This is what happens

2006-08-08T13:56:00.000-05:00

after dinner when your belly is full, and you sit to watch Barney with your big sister.

Saying good bye

2006-08-07T17:59:00.000-05:00

To the Van Essens..........Well our care group is in the process of becoming smaller - On this past Wednesday evening we had a picnic to say goodbye to the Van Essens. As sad as I am to see them leave, I'm even more excited to see the wonderful things God has in store for them. It has been such a beautiful thing to watch them patiently wait on God in this move and see them humbly submit during Dave's job search. I'm so glad that Des decided to keep a blog before she left so I have a perfect way to peek in on her and her family as they grace the great state of Texas.

It seems like it was just yesterday:(Me, Desiree, Patti)

This was taken 6 days before I had 'K' at a combined baby shower our care group had. Can you believe we have had 4 new babies born into our care group in the past year since this was taken. As if the children didn't out number the adults already. :)

At the picnic Wednesday:

(That's Desiree's little Abigail in the background in Mrs. Pat's arms)

Desiree posted more pictures from the picnic on her blog, before they left.

This Friday our care group will shrink just a little bit more when we will be saying goodbye to the Hodgsons.

I know it's August, but

2006-08-07T13:44:00.000-05:00

I'm posting our pictures from the 4th of July!

I knew I was going to be late posting these, but didn't expect I'd be this late. The few times I have attempted to post these pictures, blogger was not cooperating. Although it is no longer even July - here are the pictures from the 4th of July. (At least I got them up before Christmas, Mom) :)

For the 4th of July we went to visit my 94 year old grandmother and watch the fireworks display from her yard. She has an optimal view from her front porch of the big show her county puts on. She had purchased some new dresses with hats (grandma loves her hats!) for 'K' and wanted a mini-fashion show. Unfortunately for us and the pictures, 'K' wasn't not quite as enthusiastic about the show as we were. We still think she looked cute in her dresses and hats.

(She doesn't look too happy with the hat, Daddy)

(Using my camera's "fireworks" setting -didn't realize it had one until then)

Works for me Wednesday (#6)

2006-07-26T09:38:00.000-05:00

I realize it has been nearly a month since my last WFMW post - and that's simply because I don't have that much that "works for me" as I am a continual work in progress through many trial and error experiences.....Now if Shannon decides to host a "What does not work for me" blog carnival then I will have plenty of posts to participate.

Now that the sickness has pretty much left our home - we are all back in our massive declutter mode before we kick off our homeschool year full force.

My older children are responsible to keep their rooms clean, but I do not have the time to declutter the rooms for them. In a moment of what I will characterize as motherly ingenuity - I discovered a way to get them motivated to let go of that "favorite shirt" from 3 years ago; or the matchbox car with the missing wheel that was a treasured gift from grandma.

I pay them! *gasps* I pay them a dime for every donation they make to the give away pile up to $5 each. That comes out to 50 items removed from EACH of their rooms !!!! Count 'em ... 50 x 2 = 100 items out of my house!!! It is amazing the dramatic loss of value that shirt and matchbox car go through as it is tossed into the give away pile in the quest for the $5 ~~payoff~~ reward. So far we do this about twice a year, once before school starts and once before Christmas. They have yet to miss the $5 mark the past 2 years we've done this.

Not that they would not get rid of some things without the promise of payment, they really enjoy going through their things thinking of someone else that would enjoy being blessed with it, and have passed on things throughout the year. This method just increases the amount of things they will get rid of. They still have ample training in the pitfalls of a love of money, and they pay their tithe and learn many valuable lessons in money management.

My guess is that some may consider this bribery, but for now it works for me!

*Edited* - This year my older daughter's room is in a bigger need of decluttering than before, so I have lowered the amount from 10 cents an item, to a nickel an item ... she has to go for 100 items now to reach the full $5 goal.

What's the real reason?

2006-07-24T14:07:00.000-05:00

Is it the runny noses around here causing our tissue shortage or something more on the mischievous side????

Quarantine

2006-07-22T23:37:00.000-05:00

Well it looks as if I'm the last one standing. It's a good thing I understand "cold-ese" or else none of this would make sense:

"Bom, ah tink ah hab uh code. By node dis duft dup an ah cad bWEEthe ....ah deed tum bore bedicine."

Stuffy noses, fevers, aches and chills - Oh My!

If you happen to stop by, leave the chicken soup on the doorstep and run.

Busy week

2006-07-18T17:21:00.000-05:00

There's a whole lot I could blog about, from the "new" furniture I planned to take pictures of, the 4th of July photos I haven't posted yet, to the not so sober driver that wrecked across from our driveway and ended up bloodied and passed out in our foyer! oh yeah - then there's the mouse that was in the master bedroom for a week that we FINALLY caught. EEK!

To say the least this has been an eventful week....add to that a baby battling a cold/sinus infection and cutting 4 teeth at the same time and you can see my time is spoken for. So for now these and other stories will have to wait.

In the meantime, I know that the Grandmas were concerned with my last photo blog - so here's a photo I took Monday to show how quickly baby healed up. Much better! :)

Back up those blogger templates

2006-07-14T09:11:00.000-05:00

This morning I discovered that half off my blogger template was gone!? Had to retype a lot that I had not backed up. I know I should have saved a copy of my latest changes, but I didn't. So if you use blogger, please learn from my mistake. :)

To back up your blog - go to the Blogger's Template tab, and copy and paste the template code to a text file and save it on your computer.

More pictures

2006-07-13T14:57:00.000-05:00

Wow! It's been a week since last post. Randy's on vacation this week so we are getting a lot of work done around the house. Mom moved last week and gave us her new living room set, her bedroom set, a window bench, and an extra couch.

We passed on our older sets and rearranged some rooms. I'll post some pictures of our "new" furniture later. I'm getting behind in my picture posting - I still need to get the 4th of July pictures up, too. Maybe tomorrow.

....in the meantime, here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks.

More pictures from cousin's visit:

Chasing baby cousin for a drink.

Here they are watching the "daddies" out on the porch.

Letting Aunt Holly hold her!! :)

Trying to catch baby cousin for a kiss.

'K' Playing with her doll baby

Kids being silly

Playing in the Rain

(Yes, sometimes I let them)

I think the dogs think the kids are crazy for being out in the rain

Here she is - the wet "rabbit killer" herself....Princess...the name fit when she was a pup.

And the Award goes to...........

2006-07-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

For her starring role in "No!.....The End of the World"

(While taping the "itsty bitsy spider" she decided she wanted the camera instead. She was told No - this is where this clip picks up.)

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Play date!

2006-07-05T17:54:00.000-05:00

'K' had her first play date today. We went to the splash park - She has been before, but not as a play date. Even though she'd had a nap, 'K' wasn't really in the mood to play (until it was time to go home). We had the chance to meet and play with a mom and her little boy from our May/June mommies message board.

Here they are checking out the water

Here is little Ian being friendly

I think she is like her momma, and doesn't like water in her faceI had forgotten how much fun play dates were. I am excited to get to have more of them!

Wonder what they were saying........

2006-07-03T19:22:00.000-05:00

Allow me to set the scene. Baby cousin came to visit. We gave 'K' her own cup of water (see her left hand). We gave baby cousin one of K's sippy cups of water (see K's right hand).

They were seriously having a baby babble discussion.
I am not sure what they were saying,
but we have had fun trying to guess ... :)

Works for Me Wednesday (#5)

2006-06-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

(45 min. till Thursday, but I made it!)

Baby sign language has been a recent topic on our May/June mommies message board and I can say it definitely works for us here. When 'K' was around 5 months we started signing the word "milk" by the time she was 7 months she would sign for milk back to us.

I was skeptical as to how much she'd actually learn at such a young age, but I have been pleasantly surprised. She mastered "eat, milk, & more" by 10 months.

When she's hungry and wants to nurse she will come to me and sign milk, while I also know that "mmmnummah" also means milk - and "aaaheeeeah" means eat - it is nice to have the reassurance of her signing.

Just last week she learned "up" and "down" and we are currently learning "bath" and "diaper change".

I came across a website that has free online video of signs. We use this site to show us the correct way to do each sign. It really doesn't take much time at all to implement signs. We simply watch the video and use the chosen sign whenever we use the word we are working on.

I have noticed that since she was 11 months she is picking up on more and more signs. She is able to tell us what she wants and we can understand her signs, even if we can't understand her baby talk.

Here is the website that "works for us": Baby Sign language (select the ASL for babies link)

- Crystal

List of other WFMW participants

Happy Birthday (slideshow) - Party pictures below....

2006-06-25T13:46:00.000-05:00

(For best viewing allow to fully load then replay)

Birthday party pictures

2006-06-25T09:43:00.000-05:00

We had a birthday party for 'K' at our house yesterday with family. The cake turned out beautiful, but no one wanted to eat it....I don't think I'll do the picture cake again. I thought she'd be shy and overwhelmed by all the people and attention, but she loved it. She clapped and danced for everybody and actually let people hold her. After cake and ice cream she started breaking out in hives on her face. I guess this means it's not just Ibuprofen that she's allergic to. Other than the hives and the fact she fell and hit her head on the wall, she had a great day.

By request, I'm posting a lot of pictures so that family from out of town can get a peek.

(Thank you for the card, Aunt Sharon!)

----------------------------------------------------

June 24, 2005Doesn't she look peaceful after 32+ hours of labor?
She weighed 8lbs 1oz., was 22 inches long.

One year later - Here's the birthday girl today!

The birthday cake! (that no one wanted to eat)

Getting ready to blow out the candles

The hat didn't last long - had to snap this quick!

Yummy goldfish crackers!

She got new shoes!

and a "dog-dog"

Wearing her new shoes and kissing her "dog dog" from G-daddy

Posing with G-daddy and her "dog dog"
(starting to get hives on her cheek)

One more with the "dog-dog"

Works for me Wednesday (#4)

2006-06-21T15:30:00.000-05:00

I'm a little late today. I haven't had much "free time" to blog. We are gearing up to start school again on Monday, and I still have a lot of new books to go through.

Here's my weak attempt at a WFMW post: I have been wondering all week what I would post for my tip and then it came to me this morning at the changing table. Don't laugh - I get some of my best ideas at the changing table (maybe it's because I seem to spend a lot of time there lately) But on a shelf next to the changing table are 2 spray bottles.

The first is Dawn Power Dissolver. This is great if you are still dealing with "diaper blowouts" - I always had a hard time getting the stains out until a friend recommended using Dawn Power Dissolver. I keep a bottle near the changing table so as soon as I remove soiled clothes I can give them a quick spray. I tried this on clothes that had been washed/dried before but still had some discoloration and it made them look new again. This has removed many many stains that my other stain removers couldn't get out. (Great on onesies - you mommas know what I mean)

The other bottle I keep at the changing table is a little spray bottle with baking soda and water in it. At diaper change time I just spray a little on baby's bottom and use a wipe. The baking soda helps neutralize the ammonia and keeps diaper rash away. I discovered this when 'A' was little and none of my babies have had diaper rash since, and we don't have to use any creams.

For more WFMW posts - The list of other participants can be found here .

Happy Father's Day

2006-06-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

Happy Father's Day, Randy!

We Love you!

--------------------------------------------------------

&
Happy Father's Day to my dad

We all love you, too!

Just a thought.......

2006-06-16T13:46:00.000-05:00

With Father's Day around the corner, the newspaper and TV ads are just crammed full of advertisements of all the things a dad could want. This morning I saw for the 'umpteenth' time a Se@rs Commercial done to the tune of "Silver Bells". In this commercial "Dad" was bumbling all over, cutting power cords and such, and desperately needed more Cr@ftsman tools to rescue himself from doing any further damage with the ones he had. The kids laughed, and I admit that I did at first, before I was convicted by how bad "Dads" (men) were being portrayed.

Where is the commercial where the dad comes home from working all week (or all day), and gets on his Cr@ftsm@n mower and cuts the grass, or gets his tools out to work on the car so his family has something safe and reliable to drive, builds a deck out back and a picnic table for them to enjoy, or builds a laundry room so no one is stuck doing laundry in the hot or cold garage? Just a thought - because that's the kind of dad/husband we have here, that's the kind of dad/husband/man I want my son to be....might make me want to go out and buy more Se@rs tools.

Ok - I know it was a commercial and meant in fun (I guess), and maybe I should lighten up, but it seemed (to me) a rather emasculating commercial and yet another jab at the role GOD has for the men in our lives.

The kids and I said how thankful we were to have the dad/husband we have. We are now making him a special surprise for him to enjoy when he gets home. :)

(This was not meant to pick on Se@rs - I've seen other commercials here lately that don't put dad in a good light, and if you watch TV you'd see a lot of the shows on don't either.)

Countdown

2006-06-16T00:05:00.000-05:00

A year ago today.....

2006-06-14T12:43:00.000-05:00

I came across this picture as I was organizing my digital images into a new program. It was dated a year ago today. I took this "headless" picture as part of a picture sharing post on a May/June mommies board I am a part of.

Works for Me Wednesday (#3)

2006-06-14T11:00:00.000-05:00

This is my only my 3rd entry for the Works for Me Wednesday postings, and already I'm racking my brain all week long trying to think of what I do that may be a useful tip to someone else.

I'm calling this week's entry the "Never ending snack mix jar".

About a year ago I purchased a large container of animal crackers. (The 4lb bucket at S@ms Cub.) Once my kids emptied it, I decided to set that up as our Snack mix jar.

The key to the "Never ending snack mix jar" is to keep a steady supply of pretzels -
Since I do my "staple" shopping once a month, every month I buy a few bags of pretzels (usually not more than $1 a bag - I stock up when they are on sale) I also add a big bag of miniature marshmallows and a bag of chocolate chips to my grocery list.

Every Monday I pour a bag of pretzels into the jar, and I scoop a cup or so of EITHER marshmallows or chocolate chips in with them. I usually alternate between the chocolate chips and marshmallows weekly. I then check our cereal boxes and if there isn't enough cereal in a box for both kids to have a bowl I add this to our jar mixture. Through the week as they eat cereal for breakfast, whenever a box gets low, the remaining cereal is added as well.

The mixture is always changing, and the bucket is rarely empty (I can always add a bag of pretzels if it's low). At snack time they shake up the jar and fill up a snack size Zipl0c baggie with the "ever changing", "never ending" snack mix.

You can check out all the WFMW participants' links at http://www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/.

Fun with yard sale finds...

2006-06-13T19:31:00.000-05:00

Every Saturday morning (starting in May) when it isn't raining, I hit the yard sales with my girls and sometimes our neighbor. Armed with a biscuit, orange juice, and $20, we scour the little neighborhoods in our area looking for "treasure". Sometimes we spend the entire 20 in a hour, sometimes it takes 3 or more hours, and sometimes we don't spend much of it at all. Either way it is fun running around with my daughters.

Randy always laughs and says I need to host a yard sale rather than attend them, but he forks over the $20 anyways since he enjoys seeing what I bring in....especially when it's for him. :)

This past weekend was the weekend for "K" - because nearly everything we found was for her, except the couple of Tweety items we found that "A" just had to add to her collection.

Here are pictures of "K" enjoying her new goodies...

These were taken looking through her 'new' Little Tikes Peek-A-Boo tunnel.

Can you find the baby? ........There she is!

Good thing Daddy was just a cell phone call away with an extra $8 (yep, I went over my limit this time) and the truck . We had this toy box (and the pool) for him to haul home, too.

She has definitely benefited from our excursions lately - this was our $5 find a couple of weekends ago -

Who knows what we will find this weekend......I'll keep you posted. :)

Rabbit Season

2006-06-13T05:58:00.000-05:00

You would think that 3 large dogs would be a sufficient deterrent to coming into our yard for any self loving rabbit, but unfortunately it would seem to not be the case.

Groups of rabbits are often seen eating the clover in the yards adjacent to ours at all times of the day. A "would be" peaceful scene disturbed only by the incessant barking of our dogs as they race along the fence line salivating for a taste.

I have yet to understand what drives these little rabbits in their futile attempt to graze in our yard - perhaps they think the grass looks greener on our side of the fence - it really isn't (imagine what 3 dogs do to a yard).
Whatever the reasoning - it has proven to be a bad idea, as once again the carnage had to be removed from the yard.

{{Sigh}} I guess if the 3 dogs aren't enough deterrent to these cute little bunnies, perhaps the ever growing rabbit grave site on the other side of our yard will be.

Pool time

2006-06-12T20:44:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from this weekend. I found this plastic pool with a slide and sprinkler at a yard sale for $5 - I figured I'd get $5 worth of use out of it. Randy and I set it up on the back porch and let the kids make a mess - um - I mean "play" in it. After a brief protest "K" decided that cold water wasn't that bad after all. Of course the added playmates made it more appealing, too.

Update on allergy/hives: The hives are gone, but when they cleared up she broke out in little blisters. No one seems to have a clue as to what they are, or what may have caused them.
The doctor doesn't think chicken pox because they are only on her arms and legs. He did say it would be a good idea to keep her away from other kids while they heal up - since we don't know what they are. We have missed all our friends at church and care group the past 2 weeks.
Good news is they are almost completely cleared up! There are just a few remaining on her arms. There are light scars on her legs where they used to be, but they are getting lighter every day and I don't think they will leave a permanent mark.

As far as what triggered the allergic reaction a few weeks ago: we think we've narrowed it down to Ibuprofen. She had a couple of doses 2 days before she broke out, but I was told that the liver in infants takes longer to process things so it is possible to have a delayed reaction of a day or so from having the medication.

Thanks to all who prayed and wished her well.

Random Favorite Photos

2006-06-08T06:47:00.000-05:00

Not much to write about this morning - Don't have any recent pictures worth posting, so I went back through my digital photos folder and pulled out some of my favorites that I haven't posted.

This isn't just for the camera, they really can be this silly.

An unhappy little reindeer

Sometimes he wishes he had a brother

Pretending to be locked up at Granny's house

Just a cute one

another cute one - I miss that big toothless grin!

I remember when she couldn't move around and defend herself from pictures like this.

Works for Me Wednesday

2006-06-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

This isn't something I created or came up with, rather it is something I found that we use in our household.

It is called "The Ultimate Kids Internet" or "TUKI" for short. It is an internet browser for kids.

In our house we have been blessed that we all have our own computers, (except for "K" of course). Having a husband that likes to build computers has made that possible.

The older 2 have a computer station set up in the school/rec. room which is attached to the office where the adults computers are.

Everything is right out in the open and I can check in freely. But in reality I can't stand over both shoulders constantly. I wanted something to block inappropriate sites for when I wan't right next to them.

I searched the internet for filters and kid friendly programs, and that is when I came across TUKI. We had unsuccessfully tried Net Nanny, her concept was great, but she had many failures....sites she was supposed to block would come through when I tested it...and I found it to be unreliable. The other programs were costly and their interfaces weren't always easy to follow.

TUKI is an internet browser and filter built into one, and it is completely parent controlled and FREE. It is so easy to use. There are different browser designs you can choose from there is "Noah's Net" geared more for the younger kids, there is a "sports themed browser" that my 10 year old son just loves, and my daughter (12) uses the ladybug themed browser.

With TUKI - you set up a list of sites your kids can visit. If you have more than one child the settings can be customized per child. There is also an animated character that pops up from time to time with tips and or reminders that you can set. EX: I set mine to remind my kids they must brush their teeth before getting on the computer, and "remember to do your chores" etc....

You have soo much flexibility and control over what is available on this program. Nothing takes the place of adult supervision but this helps tremendously.

If there is a website they come across that they want to visit and it isn't on the list an alternate page with a policeman figure comes up that tells them that site isn't on the approved list and they need to get a parent to approve the site.

There is a paid service which I have purchased because my daughter is approaching her teen years (4 more months!!!) and really wanted/needed email. Using TUKI 's paid service she can have email, but I set up a "buddy list" - that means that only email from the buddy list addresses will come through. It is just great! No spam and she can email her grandparents, and a few of her friends. She can also get her email notices from the local library, etc.

It works wonderfully for us!

(Disclaimer: I like this program so much I did join their affiliate program. If you want to bypass my links you can read about TUKI at childrenseducationalnetwork.com)

Why I haven't posted more recent pictures of K

2006-06-06T09:37:00.000-05:00

She is fascinated with the camera. As soon as I bring it out, she is after it.

Funny quotes for Fridays

2006-06-02T21:57:00.002-05:00

I've seen interesting columns on some of my friends' blogs like: Works for Me Wednesday and the Thursday Thirteen. Well, for those days when I have "bloggers block", I've come up with one for my own blog - that is "Funny quotes for Fridays". This will either be a funny quote from someone famous or not so famous, or it may be something funny the kids have said.

Feel free to join in.

The following conversation took place a few weeks back upon leaving the dr's office:

J: "Mom, can we stop at McDon@ld's for lunch? I'm starvin'!

A: "Yeah mom, we're starvin'!

Mom: "Not today, I wasn't planning on stopping anywhere else so I didn't bring any cash"

A: "Oh look, there's a bank right over there, mom"

J: (looking incredulously at his sister) "We can't rob a bank!"

Mom and A: - laughing uncontrollably

J: (even more confused) "Well, we can't.....we have the baby in the car!"

Works for Me Wednesday

2006-05-31T16:45:00.000-05:00

Homemaking/housekeeping and organization do not come naturally to me. The genes that my mother was blessed with in that area skipped right over me. In an order to make up for some of the short comings in this gifting I have little tricks I have found and adopted to make things a little easier and orderly for myself and those that have to live with me.

That is where this tip that "works for me" comes from:

When I load the dishwasher I have each compartment of the silverware caddy assigned a specific piece of silverware. This layout coincides with how the silverware drawer is divided.

My caddy has 6 compartments. On the left side the 3 compartments are:

Plastics, serving spoons and baby spoons/silverware
Tablespoons and tall teaspoons
Regular spoons

On the right side the 3 compartments are:
Forks
Butter knives
Steak knives

Doing it this way makes it so easy to unload the caddy. Especially for the children. I also remove the caddy from the dishwasher to empty it - I found it much easier and back friendly to set the caddy on the counter top and empty each compartment into the matching drawer divider.

This may not be an original idea - I know it isn't - I read and adopted it from somewhere, but I have used this for years and it is one of my "OCD" (obsessive compulsive) tendencies. Yes, even a pack rat can have OCD tendencies.

So even though the idea isn't originally mine - it "Works for Me" and therefore earns a place in this category :)

For more ideas be sure to see the list of other participants posted on the Rocks in my dryer blog.

Ahhh The Joys of Parenting Sinners

2006-05-31T07:35:00.000-05:00

Question: Which of the following prompted this musing?

A.) The rolling of the eyes
B.) The complaints mumbled under breath
C.) The bad attitude veiled beneath a face void of any expression when spoken to, or
D.) The tantrum pitched when daddy's dirty shoe was removed from a 'mouth aimed' grasp

Answer: It was all of the above and more. (If you know my children, feel free to match the sin to the appropriate child)

There are some days that seem to go smoothly, where correction is administered and received appropriately, words of wisdom flow easily and surprisingly from my mouth, schedule and order are maintained, dinner is ready by 6:00 pm, and children go to bed on time AND stay in it! These days of peace can often lead to a dangerous path of trusting self to do a great job in parenting these children entrusted to me.

Then there are days (like yesterday) where it seems as if my sweet 'innocent' children were abducted by aliens as I slept and replaced with children that look an awful lot like mine, but are blatantly full of sin and are willing to fight my authority at every turn. No - I realize they weren't abducted by aliens and this is not something that happened overnight. They were born that way...and it is God's grace that I have days like yesterday, to remind myself, that in order to parent these little sinners I have a desperate need for their creator and Saviour.

It was so hard to imagine the sin that lay beneath these sweet little faces:

However, it is Howard's message where he referred to "little seedbeds of sin", that frequently comes to mind as I watch my newest little one growing up (way too fast), and as I catch more glimpses into the depth of their sin, my own sin is often revealed. Wait a minute, a sinner raising sinners? Sounds too close to "the blind leading the blind" doesn't it?

It is another Howard message taught last Sunday to the rescue - So yes, I realize I am a sinner (a justified sinner) parenting sinners, and that in itself would seem to be a futile task and often causes me to ask the question "what authority do I have to address their sin when mine is so evidently on display?" - but my authority in this mission is not in context of who I am as a sinner, it was not given to me through the labor and delivery staff that placed my babies in my arms and told me I could take them home, it is not because of my stature (good thing since A is only 1/2 inch shorter than I am), and as I so often remind myself - my authority isn't based on the fact I can raise my voice, lose control, and banish them to their rooms for the day - :)

But as Howard taught Sunday, my authority is in the context of who I am representing (GOD) ....and as effectively quoted:

"Our limitations are not limits to our usefulness" - Ligon Duncan

or as I like to say:

"Thank goodness GOD can still work despite myself" - Yours Truly

ok not quite as poetic, but I've always said that because it has always been proven true. So far today, I have listened to the cries, screams, and bemoanings of 3 children as we have done breakfast, chores, and attempted to finish some schoolwork. You would think I am the worst mother in the world to hear their pleas, and if it weren't for the Mother's Day cards and gifts pinned to the cork board near my desk that announce to all that I am "the world's greatest" - I would be tempted to think that is what they truly believe.

I can not be their Saviour (Thanks J. Hodgson for reminding me at care group Friday), but I can point them to their Saviour. That realization, as hard as it is to remember, is reason for us all to breathe a sigh of relief.

It is a joy to be the parent of these 3 wonderful children. (Being their mother gives me license to use the term "wonderful" liberally does it not? :)) I can definitely see evidence of God's grace in each one of them and I know all hope is not lost.

Now I must end my ramblings for there is another argument brewing in the room adjacent to me, and selfishness is rearing it's head. Unkind words are being spoken and hearts are being tested. (Whew - isn't there a parenting class at the church tonight??)

Bumper sticker quote of the day:

"It's hard to stumble when you're on your knees"

Thank goodness for green beans!

2006-05-30T15:51:00.000-05:00

K's elimination diet has been somewhat difficult to maintain. She doesn't want anything to do with baby food, and the "grown up" food she was eating is currently on the elimination list.
To make up for these missed meals - she has added an extra 4 nursing sessions!!! I feel as if I have grown a new 22 pound permanent appendage.

One "grown up" food she has liked for months are her green beans. I didn't mark them for elimination...and if it weren't for green beans she wouldn't have much variety from the 'rice and apples/bananas' diet, and I wouldn't get much of a break between feedings.

Tonight she has eaten more than 1/2 a can of green beans and would eat more if the rest of us weren't eating them.

Friday is our next dr. visit - I plan to ask for a referral to an allergist. I would like to try and positively identify the offending food or substance without further trial and error.

Until then - it's a "green light" for green beans!.....that is unless there is a green bean allergy out there somewhere. I haven't heard of one so I think we are safe.

No more spaghetti

2006-05-25T11:39:00.000-05:00

Remember the picture post I posted a few weeks back where 'K' ate/wore her spaghetti - well this is what happened last night after having a few penne noodles with just a little sauce - (These are from this morning. For some reason she looked worse this morning than she did yesterday.)

So no more spaghetti for a while. Until we eliminate that as the cause for the hives. Dr. says it could be pasta/grains or tomato products. We're now doing an elimination diet - which is kinda hard since she doesn't have that big of a diet. I also have to eliminate tomato products from my diet as long as she's still nursing.

I don't have any experience with food allergies - but if I can't come to the bottom of what the allergy is in the next 2 weeks - we will have to be referred to an allergist.

Prayers for wisdom and healing appreciated - :)

"Discover your Knoxville" Day

2006-05-11T10:41:00.000-05:00

Just passing this info I found on to my friends/family in Knoxville

Info taken from:
http://knoxville.org/events/discoveryourknoxville/

"Discover Your Knoxville" Day - Visit many Knox County attractions for FREE! (May 13)

By presenting a valid Knox County driver’s license at any of the participating attractions during special admission hours on “Discover Your Knoxville” day, residents may enter free of charge.

On board for “Discover Your Knoxville” are the following Knox County attractions: Arts & Cultural Alliance, Beck Cultural Exchange Center, Bleak House/Confederate Memorial Hall, Blount Mansion, Crescent Bend, Daisy Place Girl Scout Museum, UT Downtown Gallery, East Tennessee Discovery Center, East Tennessee History Center, Farragut Folklife Museum, McClung Museum, Icearium, Ijams Nature Center, James White’s Fort, One Vision Plaza/Knoxville Visitor Center, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville Zoo, Mabry-Hazen House, Marble Springs, Three Rivers Rambler, Star of Knoxville Riverboat, Tennessee Theatre, Woman’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the Zuma Fun Center.

For more information on “Discover Your Knoxville” day, including each attraction’s special free admission hours, call the Knoxville Visitor Center or click here

Spaghetti

2006-05-06T13:46:00.000-05:00

Didn't start out too bad

Then she decided to do this: OH NO!!

Finished result:

As messy as she is/was - she cleans up pretty well

Kisses from Daddy

2006-05-05T10:59:00.000-05:00

One more picture because I just couldn't resist

Since I had to go through all my pictures to post the pictures from Candi's visit - I came across this one and had to post it.

Pictures from Candi's visit

2006-05-05T07:13:00.000-05:00

I did get a little behind in posting - but here are the pictures from my sister Candi's visit. She lives in Florida with her husband and 4 kids. They were here for a few days in March. - I was able to see my nephew for the first time and she was able to see K for the first time as well.

(We had a great time visiting - Thanks for asking Desiree)

Warning: Picture heavy post! :)

Candi at our home for J's birthday party

So happy to see her - I just love my baby sister!

My "new to me" nephew with his mommy

Candi and her husband Tony

My niece and nephew "snuggle bunny" and "man man"

Snuggle, Man man, and Tater tot (L to R)

Dad came for a visit, too

The birthday boy

The next day we headed out to Grandma L's house. Doesn't she look good for a 93 year young woman??

J with his Great Grandma

All the girls on Great Grandma's "big bed"

The next day we had desserts at my Aunt Joy's house

Me holding K - My Aunt Joy holding my nephew Daniel

Candi with my other sister Natalie

My sister Melanie, Candi, ME, and our cousin Mikka

Dad, Candi, Mom

All the grandkids (+ cousin Aaron next to J in the back row) Wow 10 of them between us girls.

Pictures from last week's trip to the park

2006-05-04T19:01:00.000-05:00

Clean Heart Clean Home

2006-03-31T20:21:00.000-05:00

I know some of you may not need this, but I really do. So starting tomorrow I will be joining a group of bloggers in the CHCH challenge.

You can click the button to find out more about Amy's challenge.

Steps???

2006-03-17T13:06:00.000-05:00

Ok - If you can get past the messy school/playroom and the messy mom you will see what 'K' did yesterday!

Video Sharing at DropShots.com

Scrapbook pages

2006-02-13T11:36:00.000-05:00

I have really been working on my digital scrapbooking lately and that has taken place of my blog posting time. Since I have completed a few pages I thought I would upload them here for you all to take a peek.

K is now crawling, standing, walking holding on to furniture and basically GETTING INTO EVERYTHING!! More motivation to get things more organized. Please pray for her and daddy as they have both been sick and K is getting 4 top teeth. (the front two have broken through).

Enjoy!

Tagged

2006-01-15T16:55:00.000-05:00

I've been tagged by my friend Suzanne - to post 5 random things about myself. ............here goes.........

I hate water in my face and absolutely can't stand it in my ears - which leads into my next random thing -
I failed swimming at UT. The only "F" I've ever received.
I have 20:20 vision in my right eye and 20:600 in my left – so without my glasses I have very little (if any) depth perception. So don't toss anything at me and expect me to catch it or come even close.
I cannot make biscuits from scratch that couldn't double as masonry bricks no matter how hard I try or what recipe I follow.
I can still recite the 44 most commonly used prepositions that I memorized in the 4th grade. This is amazing for me because I usually forget why I've gone into a room, 5 seconds after I get up to do something.

Now as far as who to tag next - I first tag Sara from my online May/June mommies group (the only other "Blogger" blogger I know that Suzanne didn't tag .) I then tag my sisters (Melanie, Natalie, & Candice) and my other family members (inlaws, too!) and friends that read my blog and are "non bloggers". So they can either :

A. Start their own blogs :-)
B. Post their 5 random things as a comment to this post.

I look forward to reading about the people that read my blog.

Ready or not here I come!!!

2006-01-05T09:26:00.000-05:00

Oh no - Not ready!! Not ready! Rolling over just isn't good enough anymore?? Yesterday when she rolled over she instantly got on her knees! What's scarier is she tried to ...pull herself up using the entertainment center last night!!! Ahhhh! Again - Not ready!!

Blog updates and additions

2006-01-04T15:37:00.000-05:00

Blog updates:

Ok - The rush of the holidays has put my blogging entries behind. If you haven't noticed I have yet to post Thanksgiving photos or Christmas photos. I will be posting those - and back dating them so that they fall in order with the other posts. So please feel free to go back and look for those "new" posts (coming soon).

Blog additions:

Blogging Buddies - I am adding a list of fellow bloggers whose company I am happy to keep. If you are not on the list and would like to be - let me know so I can check out your blog and add you.
Mommy sites - These are just a few sites I like because they are helpful in some of the tasks I have to do as a mom/wife. Since a lot of my visitors are moms and wives I am sharing the links with you all.

More "tweaking" of this blog will happen as I learn more customization options.
Thanks for visiting our blog - remember: comments/replies are welcome.

Can you guess what this is???

2006-01-04T12:54:00.000-05:00

Any clearer now?
Well - maybe not, but............
It's offical, the sleepless nights and screaming baby were not all for naught - we finally have a "breakthrough".....On Tuesday Dec. 27, 2005 it was discovered that............. K has teeth!!!
(These rosy cheeks were a clue it was coming)

The bottom left incisor broke through the skin Tuesday and by the next Monday (Jan. 1st) she "rang in" the New Year with the right one coming through. I am so grateful that the non-stop fussing and screaming are at an end for the time being, however, I miss that toothless ear to ear grin.

I haven't been able to get a clear shot of these new pearly whites. (You can see I tried) As soon as I catch them on camera - you will be able to find them here.

Cereal Time!

2005-12-24T12:10:00.000-05:00

Today is K's 6-month "birthday". It is hard to believe 1/2 a year has passed since she was born.
We decided that when she became 6 months old we would start her on cereal/solids - so that makes today.....Cereal time.

Here she is ready to begin - she's as excited as I am!

What is this stuff, Mom?

Yummm....Whatever it is, Give me More!!!

Ooops - I seem to have gotten some on my chin.

Ok - I'm full now

Randy's Birthday

2005-11-22T00:58:00.000-05:00

Randy's Birthday

Well so much for our going out to dinner plans - I came down with flu-like symptoms Sunday and barely moved from bed all day Monday.

Randy isn't much of a cake person - but he does like the Little Debbie Zebra cakes so we improvised for his birthday this year.

We will do better by him once I feel better - I promise. He thought it was funny, though - he even blew out his candles and ate his "cakes".

Noteworthy

2005-11-20T14:44:00.000-05:00

Today is Tuesday November 22. I am back dating this entry to line up with the timeline of the events. Since I went several days (almost a week) without updating the blog, here is a brief recap of the missing week in what I picked as "Noteworthy" moments.

Monday

We made a rare family trip to Walmart. As we were getting out of the car - J asked Randy - "Are you and mom splitting up?" Randy looked at me to see if there was something he didn't know about - he told J "not that I know of" - J thought for a minute and realized he'd left out the critical part of his question "Uh...I mean when we get in the store - not in life."

Wednesday

Hmmm - lets see - Wednesday Nov. 16 - K finally rolled from her back to her tummy! She's been rolling from her tummy to her back for awhile (Made getting "tummy time" photos difficult as you can see) - Still no teeth, lots of sucking fingers and gnawing hands.

She moved this week from her "shrinking bassinet" to her crib. It is taking a little more work to get her to sleep, but I think we are going to make it after all.

Friday

A very cold morning - became even more evident due to a power outage in our area from around 7:20 am till 8:30. As the temperature in the house started to drop we began layering up under and on top of our "jammies" to stay warm.

A "well-fed" Carmel stayed warm

A will have to knit a little bit faster if she wants to keep warm with this scarf today.

(There are no pictures of Justin during this cold episode - he choose to stay in bed for this one.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now you are somewhat caught up on the days I missed posting. I will try to do better in the future with regular updates.

Say Cheese........Please.....

2005-11-14T15:10:00.000-05:00

You see many photos here of K's huge grin - ever wondered how we get her to smile so big? True, she's a pretty happy baby and smiles are fairly easy - but to get the really BIG grins, well, you have to go the extra mile. Here is a behind the scenes shot - (she thought I was taking only the baby's picture - ha!)

See what the desire to obtain a smile from a
4 1/2 month old baby will do to a near teenage girl -

My future blogger

2005-11-14T00:43:00.000-05:00

K - my future blogger

She loves sitting with us at the computer and always trys to type with us - last night daddy finally let her "have at" the keyboard.

These were some other cute shots of her and daddy at the computer last night:

Thank God for Dirty Dishes

2005-11-08T15:18:00.000-05:00

Thank GOD for Dirty Dishes
author unknown

Thank GOD for Dirty Dishes,
They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry,
We are eating very well.
With home and health and happiness,
I shouldn't want to fuss.
For by this stack of evidence,
GOD's been very good to us.

I came across this in my cookbook "Not just beans" . It seemed appropriate for me at the time and I thought I'd share it.

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast
love endures forever!
Psalms 118:29; ESV

I bought Cocoa Pebbles

2005-11-07T10:54:00.000-05:00

I hear the gasps all around as the title is read. My 11 grams of sugar limit has been broken by 1 gram. May I no longer be accused of only feeding my family pine cones, berries, and straw.

Here is the proof for those that need a bit more convincing.

Ok, seriously - Does this look like a child that really NEEDS an extra gram of sugar???

Why that song?

2005-11-04T08:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I posted the words to a song by Chris Tomlin
(who by the way has a blog, too)

The Song is titled "We fall down".

It is a song I know I've sung 1,000 times or more, so why now is that song stuck in my head? Why now does the meaning of the song affect me so strongly? I typically sing this song and think of how we should cast all our cares and anxieties on Him because He cares for us (Peter 5:7), but this time the words are really standing out to me and it means a bit more than that. To me this song just reflects the utter humility I desire to express.

Let's look at the first verse - We fall down (short and to the point)

Emphasis on the word fall - because when a person falls it is "usually" not purposefully. (It is usually an uncoordinated act on my part causing me to surrender to gravity. ) : o)

To be more specific - one definition of the word means: "To lose an upright or erect position suddenly"

The word fall in this context illustrates a different way of coming before the throne. Falling is so different from bowing or kneeling which can imply some power in the action that is our own, however FALLING down before God expresses a greater sense of the surrender.

Second verse - We lay our crowns

Here's where the meaning has changed for me - this isn't just simply casting our "cares" on him, this is casting our "crowns". A crown is something precious to us that we have put on. A crown is a symbol of sovereignty, which is defined as complete independence and self-government, autonomy, freedom from external control. These may be little things, or even big things that we fail to put under the umbrella of God's grace and sovereignty and instead take credit or pride in accomplishing or possessing.

Ahh there's the word - Pride - I knew that would come up somewhere. Pride - working in direct opposition to humility.

I am reminded of verses Deuteronomy 8:11-17 ESV

“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth."

I realize now why God is using this song to minister to me in a new way. I see that when I do things throughout my day without acknowledging God or take credit for things going well or even not so well - I am presuming autonomy and self governance and that is the essence of pride.

It is so easy to slip into that prideful frame of mind and put on that crown when my house is clean, the kids are behaving and dinner is done on time when Randy comes home. I may wear a crown when my kids are on "their best behavior" at Grandma's house or even when one my children recognizes their sin using a scripture "I" taught them. How arrogant is my pride -

".........As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you." C. S. Lewis

I pray that through God's grace to lay not only my cares, but my crowns at His feet.

We fall down

2005-11-03T13:05:00.000-05:00

We Fall Down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The greatness of
Mercy and love
At the feet of Jesus

We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
Is the lamb

My Jesus, I love you
I know thou are mine
To thee all the follies of sin I resent
My gracious redeemer
My savior, art thou
If ever I'll love you My Jesus tis now

We Fall Down - Chris Tomlin

The girls

2005-11-03T11:52:00.000-05:00

My curly girlies!

No she did not stand up by herself!! :)

2005-11-01T14:44:00.000-05:00

Ok - I've gotten the emails regarding this photo - No she did not stand up by herself!! :)
While she has yet to prove she is not a child prodigy - the milestone of standing up on her own appears to be a little ways off.

What has caused this "confusion" ? I believe I can solve it all this way:

Exhibit 1

This original photo is somewhat deceptive because it doesn't have a "time" stamp on it. If it did, you'd see that 1 second after this was taken, the following shot was taken.

Exhibit 2

She stood on her own AFTER her Daddy 'stood/propped her up - but she was leaning over on the couch for support - it was for just a second and then she fell over.

So it actually went more like this:

Here they are as promised

2005-11-01T13:24:00.000-05:00

Perhaps the cutest nerd you’ll ever see –

And my adventure seeking dirt bike rider

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

2005-10-31T23:24:00.000-05:00

BAAA

These were taken before we went Trunk-or-Treating at the church down the street from us. She slept through the entire thing. A went as a nerd (yes, she actually had to dress up - LOL) - and J wore his dirt bike gear. I'll post them later.

Helmet

2005-10-25T16:56:00.000-05:00

After earning all the stickers on the back of the helmet - today they have to turn them in. Here's a picture of them all first. We tried to take them off so he could save them, but they started tearing.

J's football season

2005-10-21T22:39:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures from J's football season. The team made it to the playoffs, but they were eliminated in the first game against No. 1 Northwest. All the boys appeared to have a great time and have become good friends. On a side note: I survived my first year of watching my son play tackle football. It wasn't as hard to watch as I thought it would be, and he's ready for next year!

Growing up so fast

2005-10-19T14:46:00.000-05:00

Can this be true? Is my "little girl" really 12 years old? Where have the past 12 years gone? As I reflect on how much she has grown, I am also struck by how much I have grown, too. Not to mention how much our family has grown, adding Dad, a 9 year old brother and a 4 month old sister.
This 5'1 tall young lady in the room next to mine was once the 7lb 14oz 22in baby I brought home from the hospital. As she transformed into the smiley/drooling 6 month old pictured on the right - I should have realized how fast time was going then. I thank God for showering me/us with grace as a single mother back then. There were so many things he was working in our lives then - that I am beginning to see now. I'm thankful that He continues to show us grace and cover us in His love.

Thank you Lord for my daughter.

Guess who's 12 today????

2005-10-19T09:08:00.000-05:00

Fall Pops Concert

2005-10-18T22:19:00.000-05:00

A after her band concert tonight. She did a beautiful job on the flute. The entire program was nice. What a talented group of young people. Most of them practice daily, take private lessons once a week, and attend 2 hour band rehersals every Tuesday. She has been enjoying the experience greatly. Oh yeah - Tomorrow is her 12th birthday!!!!

Knees to the earth

2005-10-17T10:56:00.000-05:00

You may notice from time to time I will post lyrics to a song that is impacting my thought life at the moment. I don't post these lyrics simply because of a lack of original thoughts on my part to share. I post these lyrics because at many stages in my life God has used music to reach me and keep my thoughts, and I wish to share the music lyrics with all of you.

Wonderful Savior
My heart belongs to Thee
I will remember always the blood you shed for me
Wonderful Savior
My heart will know Your worth
So let me embrace You always as I walk this earth

Be blessed, be loved, be lifted high
Be treasured here, be glorified
I owe my life to You, my Lord
Here I am...

Beautiful Jesus
How may I bless Your heart?
Knees to the earth, I bow down to everything You are
Beautiful Jesus
You are my only worth
So I will embrace You always as I walk this earth
Watermark – KNEES TO THE EARTH From the album: THE PUREST PLACE

beginning

2005-10-01T08:01:00.000-05:00

This is not my first blog. I usually blog elsewhere, although not on a regular basis. I am moving some of my previous blogs here at the request of several of my friends who blog here regularly. So I now officially have 2 blog sites and one family photo site. Please understand that with this many online "obligations" one or all of these will be neglected at one time or another.

I finally got a big smile!

2005-09-16T09:49:00.000-05:00

Ok - K has been giving me the biggest smiles for about a week now and these are not a result of "gas". However, she does not seem to have her sister's "smile and strike a pose" ability when the camera comes out. After several unsuccesful attempts at capturing her smile on film - Yesterday I decided to strap her in the Moby Wrap and dance in front of the bathroom mirror to get it. Isn't it funny the sounds we will make and the things we will do to get a smile out of a baby?

Well here are the shots we came up with -

No dancing = no smile

This is blurry do the the "dancing/bouncing"

I wonder where she gets the sucking her bottom lip from???

Added because I thought it was just a great shot

And after 5 minutes of serious baby talk and dancing: I finally got my big smile!