Doing well...

B is doing well. He sent this photo today and I thought it was a GREAT picture of him. Thought I'd share...

So tired...

... his pants fell off? Not sure about this one... When I went to get Matthew up from his nap, this is how I found him. He never really explained what he was doing, or how his pants were falling off while he was asleep....

I love this man...

I was looking through some photos, and I stopped on this one. I love this man. There's no way around it, through it, over it. It just is. I love him. With all my being. I am blessed to have found him, he means more to me than he'll ever know.

Your Daily Dose

"They know me in a way no one else ever has.
They open me to things I never new existed.
They drive me to insanity and push me to my depths.
They are the beat of my heart,
the pulse in my veins,
and the energy in my soul --
They are my kids."

My new toy

When we went camping last summer, we rented some bikes and a bike "trailer" to haul the kids in. We all had a great time and have talked about getting all the stuff we'd need to bike on a regular basis.
Well, a friend of mine gave me a nearly new bike trailer. All I was missing was the bike. Oh, and a rack for the back of the car since the trailer is in the back of the car. (You should have seen me at WalMart trying to figure out how to get the bike in the back since I didn't plan for the "minimal assembly required" in order to actually use the bike rack home from the store.)

Anyway, Taaaa-Daaaa.....

Crafty Cadey

Cadey has always loved to do "projects" but has just recently really gotten creative. She will take WHATEVER she can find and make something great out of it.

For instance, yellow construction paper, scissors, staples, and a marker? Wa-La: Princess Aurora/Sleeping Beauty Wig




How about construction paper scraps, scissors, markers, and staples? Duh, a paper doll!



And now for the finishing acts:

Your Daily Dose

'Whatever you give a woman, she's going to multiply.

If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.

If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.

If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.

She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.

So - if you give her any crap, you will receive a ton of shit.'

Rainy Day

We had a rainy day yesterday. After picking Cadey up from school, we came home and walked the neighbor's dog, Olive.

Enjoy the photos of the walk and the splashin' in the mud puddles!

Your Daily Dose

"By the time a woman realizes her mother was right,
she has a daughter who thinks she's wrong."

So true, so true. Sorry, Momma. You should have gotten more credit for correct answers!!

We're fine

My neighbor called yesterday and said, "Thanks, Annie. By renting that generator, you've effectively guaranteed we won't have anything to worry about."

He was right. What we actually received from Hanna pales in comparison to our regular, end of the day thunderstorms. I think all said, we had A wind gust -- maybe up to about 15 MPH, and about 1.5 inches of rain. SHEESH!!

I'm really trying to take the "glass half full" approach on this one and tell myself that now I know what I'll need to do in case we do need to prepare for a hurricane.

But, for now, we're enjoying the grass which was watered for free, and the beautiful sunrise.

A great article...

Mommy Lessons
By Elizabeth Davies

Chatting with an elderly woman in the supermarket check-out, I joked that I just might drive around for an hour on the way home in order to keep my snoozing newborn asleep.

She laughed, adding, “Not with the price of gas, you won’t!”

What that woman didn’t realize was that, to the exhausted mother of a newborn, a sleeping baby is priceless. $4 a gallon for gas? Fill me up. Heck, go ahead and triple the price. It’s worth it to hear that glorious sound of snoring in the back seat.

Three months into this roller-coaster ride of motherhood, I’ve learned more than I ever did in four years at college. I feel as if I’ve earned a bachelor’s degree in parenting, and yet something tells me that, years from now, there still will be more to learn.

I’ve read entire books, scoured magazine articles and searched the web for answers. Some weeks, it’s about feeding. Other weeks, it’s sleep training. And yet, with all that information, there were some things I simply had to learn on my own.

Here are some of the lessons parenthood has to offer:

* The human bladder can hold out much longer than you ever imagined.
* Daily showers are overrated.
* Playing endless rounds of Pat-A-Cake can be more fun than a raging party on a Saturday night, so long as you have the right little person to play it with.
* A jumbo pack of Pampers has 88 diapers. That only sounds like a lot.
* People say dumb things.
* They ask when the baby is due, long after you’ve given birth. They say, “What a sweet little girl” to a child decked out in navy blue race cars and footballs.
* You can survive without steady amounts of food and sleep for lengthy periods of time. You aren’t pleasant to be around, but it’s do-able.
* A seven-pound person without the ability to speak, walk or form complete thoughts is somehow able to undo even the best-laid plans.
* A numb arm and cramped neck are a small price to pay for a baby who isn’t crying.
* Your spouse is a far more extraordinary person than you realized on your wedding day.
* If ever you said, “I would never do that,” you will be forced to eat your words.
* Thought you wouldn’t let your child cry in the grocery store? Once you’ve spent 30 minutes changing, dressing and loading your child into the car, then driving 15 minutes to the store and simultaneously spending 40 minutes shaking a rattle with one hand while picking out produce with the other, you’re not about to go home empty-handed.
* Time speeds up once you have a child. Somehow, 24 hours passes in a flash – even if you’ve spent most of it awake.
* The external stuff just doesn’t matter, so long as you’re making memories with the people you love.

It’s entirely likely that, long after I’m gone, my son will remember me as a woman who had spit-up on her shoulder, wrinkles in her clothes and a layer of dust on her furniture.

I’m okay with that.

Hunkering Down

Apparently Hanna is moving closer to us than predicted. Originally we were told just some rain and 10-20 mile an hour wind gusts overnight and into tomorrow morning. Now we're being told 40-50 mph winds, with 2-5 inches of rain, and that the storm should hit between 5 and 6 p.m. EST.

I did some planning and preparation earlier in the week, such as renting a generator and buying water, but have just now spent the last 45 minutes "tying down" our property. I'm not really expecting this one to be a doozy, but I am expecting to be without power. However, Ike is on Hanna's heels and that one has me worried!

So, for now, pray for us. We'll be in contact after the storm.

Your Daily Dose

I just received a really cool catalog in the mail that has a lot of really cool prints in it with great sayings, verses, poems and it made me start thinking. "Hmmm... I know a lot of people who would enjoy this." So, hence, the development of "Your Daily Dose."

I am going to post some of my favorites. I hope to do it frequently, but with tropical storms and hurricanes knocking on my door my time on the computer might be cut short. So, I'll do what I can.

Here's the first one... ENJOY!!

May the light always find you on a dreary day.
When you need to be home, may you find a way.
May you always have courage to take a chance.
And never find frogs in your underpants.

--an anonymous Scandinavian

No accidents...

In God's great world, there are no accidents. Everything that happens is part of His plan. As my recent Bible study stated, "God orchestrates the circumstances in my life to reveal His plan."

It's amazing to me how He reveals that. It's also amazing to me how it can take me so long before I actually get what God is telling me. (How many blessings have I missed out on because I didn't hear His word??)

I have been going to other churches in our area to give MOPS presentations. I have been to several different denominational churches. All of which I might have chosen when looking for a church for our family.

Let me digress for a second and explain how we came to be at our church. It's very close to our house. It meets in a non-threatening environment, a school. I saw the signs for the church every weekend. Their signs read, "Meeting you where you are." There was another sign that read, "Church clothes," and had a picture of blue jeans. I tried it. I liked it. Bryan came home. We went together. He liked it. And over time that 'like' became love.

But, I'd always believed we'd just lucked out in finding a church for us on our first try. However, after going to present at other churches and being a part of the services, God pointed out to me that He sent us to TCF for a reason. It was His plan!

Don't get me wrong. The other services were fine. I'm sure they were pleasing to God's ears. However, they just weren't our style. It took me about three services to realize that God was speaking to me. Telling me I was right where He wanted me. Telling me I'd found home.