Movie, Soccer and the rest of this week

Friday night, Adam and I went to see the movie "Fireproof". It was amazing. The story was so moving and I think anyone who is married or thinking about getting married one day should go see it. The longer you are married, the easier it is to let things creep in and get between you and your spouse. Sometimes they are very little things that can totally destroy your relationship. At the very least, this movie reminds you to intentionally love your spouse, even when you don't "feel" like it. It is so easy to take them for granted...that they'll always be there, that you're both so confident in your relationship that you don't ever need to work on it. So not true...marriages are crumbling all around us and we have to fight to protect our marriages! I can remember when I first got married and I heard people getting divorced over money. I truly couldn't understand. I thought it meant they were fighting about how to spend their money or how to save their money. While that might sometimes be the case, now after 11 years of marriage (in November) I have learned that sometimes the marriage crumbles due to the stress of money issues. We all go into marriage with preconceived ideas and some marriages end simply because the marriage can't live up to the expectations. When you couple the stress of money and kids with the influences in the outside world, it takes both people truly committed to keep the marriage in tact. Not too long ago, one of my friends was celebrating their 16th wedding anniversary. She told me it was her anniversary by saying, "God in His great mercy has helped us stay married for 16 years." What a true statement. It takes both people and God to make a marriage work like it is supposed to. And, if you truly study the role of a wife and the role of a husband in the Bible, it is pretty much contrary to the way the world views men and women and their roles in the home. But, I have also found that my marriage only runs smoothly when both of us are aware of our duties as man and wife and trying and praying to follow those roles. (Okay, here is where everyone says DUH! God's plan is God's plan because it protects us and makes our lives so much easier! But, while His plan is always simple, it's not always easy!) Anyway, Adam and I ordered the Love Dare books from the movie and I cannot wait to get started. The movie alone had an impact on our marriage, so I'm looking forward to seeing what 40 days will do.
Onto a much more shallow subject...On Saturday, Zoe had a soccer game. She is doing so well this year! It's like something has just clicked and everything is coming together with her game. Her foot work has improved greatly - she kicks with both feet! And, she is getting faster too. She is also a lot better at anticipating things during the game. Last week, she scored three goals and this week she scored two goals! She really enjoys it too and she has a good coach this season. Also, her Daddy works with her just about everyday outside. It's so neat to see her play and play well!
This will probably be my last blog entry this week. Starting tomorrow, my week goes into hyperdrive. Tomorrow night is church. Thursday night, I have the Ladies Extravaganza at the church. This is where some of the ladies host a table and decorate it and we get together and have dinner and a speaker. I'm hosting a table with my friend, who is coming in from Alabama. During the dinner, Adam has to meet with our new prospective pastor who is coming in for the weekend. Then, Friday during the day I will be decorating a cake for a friend's marriage recommitment ceremony. That night, I will go to one building at the church to set up the cake, then go to another building to meet the prospective pastor for a few minutes. Then, we go back to the other building and go to the recommitment ceremony. Saturday morning, we have the big service day at the church. Then a soccer game. Then from 2-5, we have the big fundraiser at Zoe and Sebastian's school. Then, Sunday morning the prospective pastor is preaching in view of a call. At four o'clock, I have a meeting with the music ministry and the new pastor. Sunday night, we will vote on the pastor and then head to AWANA with the new pastor to await the vote. So, we are pretty busy this weekend, but I am looking forward to every bit of it!
Then, next weekend - we're going on our first family camping trip!!

Friends

Sometimes I look around at my friends and I am amazed at all of my friendships! God has truly blessed me with some of the greatest friends and I love how different they all are. God uses each one of them to teach me new things and stretch me, most of the time without me even realizing it! I am going to talk about two of them. I have other friends, but these two are the ones I have regular communication with and the ones that know me best.
The first one - this friend lives five hours away from me, but we talk very often. She is a working mother of two and loves being a professional. She is the friend who drove the three hours to visitation when Adam's mom passed away and just hung out with me for like four hours. I didn't even ask her. She just called and said she was on her way, dropped her kids off at her in-laws house and came. It was so touching and meant so much. We were friends in college, but not that close. In 1998, I moved to Mississippi, away from everyone I knew, for Adam to go to law school and she moved to Tunnel Hill, IL for her husband to go to school. Our friendship deepened and grew through that experience. We talked on the phone for hours and our friendship grew. She now lives in Memphis and we only get to see each other about twice a year, but we continue to email and call each other and I love her like a sister.
The second one - this friend is a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom of five (with probably more coming in the future). She is the most organized and creative person I know. She convicts me daily with how she cares for her family and home. She is my "natural" friend - if she saw how much processed food was in my home, she would probably faint. Well, not really, because she knows me very well. She is the opposite of me in so many ways. She nurses her babies for at least a year, I count down the days when I can put a bottle with formula in my baby's mouth! (judge me if you want to, I don't care...I've had four babies and they all have felt loved and are healthy, so I can confidently say that I absolutely hate nursing without feeling like a bad mother) She soaks beans during the day to cook for her family for supper. Me, well...I'm all about frozen beans and peas. Just the other day she was talking about how long brown rice takes to cook and my response was, "It takes no time in the boil-in-a-bag!" She homeschools and I am enjoying my two big kids school experience. (It works for us right now. I've stopped making definitive statements. The quickest way for me to guarantee that God will call me to homeschool is to say something stupid like, "I'll NEVER homeschool." Nope. I think I'll stick with "School is working for us right now.") She has her kids on a chore schedule. I get my kids to help out with housework, but it is definitely not organized at all. They watch almost no TV, we watch some TV. She is so creative. She makes clothes and purses and does neat stuff to teach her kids. Not to mention that she has their family finances in such order that I think she could probably fix just about any financial crisis a fortune 500 company faced. She is the person (apart from Adam) that I have been completely transparent with. She knows all my personality flaws and still loves me! She never judges me. She responds with love and with practical things to try to solve the problem. She is the one who came immediately to my house just to sit with me when Adam's mom passed away and he had already headed home. She showed up at my house with chocolate (always a necessity) and things to do in the car for the kids since I would be driving the three hours alone with the three big kids. Then she kept Annabelle from Friday to Monday so I could go to the funeral without having to worry about a 2 1/2 year old. Then, when Adam and I went to Texas, she kept Annabelle from Thursday to Monday and even kept the boys as well that Sunday night because our flight got delayed and I didn't have anyone to keep the boys! (remember she already has 5 kids of her own!) I know I can call her with any crisis and she will come running. She and I are so different, but it makes our friendship so much fun!
BUT, one thing I have in common with each of these ladies is our love for Jesus Christ and our determination to instill Christian values in our children. We strive to love our husbands and our children so that they see Christ in us. We all love a great Christian praise song and can always talk about how a particular sermon impacted us. Or how something we read in the Bible taught us something new. I love these women as sisters (and we are sisters in Christ!) and I am thankful to God each day that He has brought these amazing women in my life. I am thankful that He loves me enough to bless me with such friends.

Information for Shoppers

So, I have now worked in retail for a year. (I never thought I would be there a year) Well, I actually worked retail while I was in college, but it was at a very small Christian bookstore, which was a completely different experience than this year at Target. So, I have done lots of different jobs while at the great big bullseye, and I am now ready to write about some of it. I realize that not everyone has had a job in retail, so there may be somethings that the average shopper doesn't know. Well, I am judging by some of the people who came through my line during my 5 1/2 hour cashier shift the other night.

1. Get off the phone. I understand there are emergency situations where this is not possible. But, please don't stand there and have a personal conversation while checking out. You can't possibly pay attention to what is going on and talk at the same time. It is so much easier to fix a mistake before the transaction is closed. Once you hang up and look at your receipt and realize that the item you thought was 29.99 rang up for 49.99, it is much harder to fix and involves more people.

2. Get ready. It should come as no surprise to you after you have stood in a check out line that at the end of it, the cashier is going to expect some sort of payment. If you're paying cash, get it out. Unwad the dollar bills and, if you absolutely have to make exact change, get it out of the bottom of your purse. (By the way, there is not actually an award for paying with exact change or getting an even amount back, I promise.) If you are paying with a check, write out what you can. The name of the store, the date, your signed name, etc. If you're paying with a card, get it out. If it's a debit card, know your PIN. If you aren't sure of your PIN, run it as credit card, don't try different PINs, it slows everything down and I am being scored on the speed of the transaction.

3. Keep your children out of my space. I too shop with multiple children and I seem to be able to keep mine out of the cashier's area. So can you. I'm pretty sure you can keep them from jumping up on my conveyer belt and scanner area too. If they jump up there, I at least expect you to make an attempt to get them down. I don't think that's unreasonable.

4. If I offer you a store credit card, please realize that it is only because the computer has prompted me to do so. I don't personally want you to have one. Feel free not to share your credit history with me or why you think the card that earns you points at Disney World is a better idea. A simple, "No thank you" or "Not right now" will suffice. I am secretly hoping you say no anyway, because it takes more time to fill out the application. But I have to ask, because there are secret shoppers and I got in trouble for not asking before.

5. Just because I have on the appropriate colored shirt and a nametag does not mean I have been thoroughly trained in every area of the store. I will do my best to help you or try to find someone who knows the answer to your question, but you cannot look annoyed if I don't know the answer right away and you for sure cannot be rude. Do you really think I am going to try to move quicker if you are rude and insulting?

6. Sales Tax is more in Tennessee than it is in Georgia. We don't have an income tax. If you purchase a dress for $19.99, it's going to cost you $21.84 in Tennessee or $21.19 in Georgia. I have no control over it. Do you want the dress or not?

7. Any kind of return policy that we have implemented (which, is implemented at the corporate level and the girl making $6.50 an hour at the guest service desk is not just being unreasonable) is that way because people try to cheat and steal no matter what you have in place and it is the best system that corporate could come up with to keep the least amount of people to steal and cheat. Please take the online survey and complain to corporate, but no amount of cursing at me and calling me names that I've never even heard before will override my computer system.

8. Last, but not least, the check out line is not the appropriate venue to share your political views with me. I don't want to hear your views on McCain/Palin, Obama/Biden, the environment, abortion, creation vs. evolution, what the US should do about their dependence on foreign oil, etc. Just because I am a cashier does not mean I am not educated and am not informed on all of these issues. I don't have time to actually teach you why you are wrong or to discuss why I agree with you if you are right, so it's best just not to share.

This is definitely not an exhaustive list, but it hits the highlights. In the movie "Men In Black", Tommy Lee Jones makes a great statement. "A person is smart. People are stupid." There is some definite truth in that statement!

The Cake I Made Today

This is the cake I just finished for a surprise 40th birthday party tonight! It's just white cake with buttercream icing. She wanted a lot of black on it...Hope they like it!

To entertain Annabelle and Jude during the decorating, I gave them each their own icing to play with. Don't worry, it's not the same icing I used on the cake! :) They had fun squeezing it onto their plates and, obviously eating it as well.

A Little Venting

Sometimes I feel like I am going in twenty different directions at a hundred miles an hour. This week, on Monday after Adam got home, I got to go out to a movie with my mom for her birthday. This, of course, was fun, but involved getting supper made for the rest of the family before I left, so it was somewhat stressful. Then, Tuesday, the kids get home from school, we quickly did homework for Wednesday, get everyone dressed and head to the soccer field. Adam meets us there, then I go to work until 10:30pm. Wednesday, I met a girl at my mom's house (my oven is broken right now) to teach her to bake a cake. We had to bake actually two big cakes so it took about four hours start to finish. Then, Wednesday night, we have church. Once again, get everyone dressed and in the car and meet Adam there. Adam and Sebastian get finished before everyone else, so he takes Sebastian home and I get the other three after choir. Now, we're to Thursday. After dropping the kids at school (once again getting everyone dressed and in the car) I head to the church to take care of some choir stuff. We're there until around 11, when I'm supposed to meet Adam for lunch. I get to the restaurant and he calls and says he is stuck at the closing he was attending. Can I just wait a few minutes? Sure. It's a mexican restaurant so I'll take the kids in and we'll eat chips and salsa till he gets here in 10 minutes. So, I go in with my two kiddos and we sit down. I decided to go ahead and order the kids food so they can be eating. Forty minutes later is when Adam arrived. (Not his fault at all and he did call a couple of times in between) But, the kids were already done eating by the time he got there. I waited till he got there to order, so then we ate. The kids of course were a little restless, so the end of the meal wasn't near as fun as the beginning. Then we head home for nap/rest time. The kids get home from school, we get everyone dressed (again) and in the car (again) and head to soccer. The good news is that I didn't actually have to work so I got to stay at soccer. I told Adam that I needed to go to Sam's to pick up something for the cake I am making for tonight. Then, he says, well the kids won't eat till late if you do that. Yada, yada, yada. Fine. I'll go in the morning. Then, once I am already at home, I realize that Sam's doesn't open until TEN! UGH!!! So, now I have to try to finish the cake before tonight. This morning, Adam says he'll take the two big kids to school if I will let him work a little late tonight and meet us at Parents Night Out. Okay. So, I will get to get all four kids dressed and in the car (again!) plus the cake because it is going with us tonight. I will so enjoy Parents Night Out tonight, I cannot even begin to tell you!
Now, I realize that there are people who do way more than I do. But, I am really tired this week for some reason. And, our soccer game is at 9 am Saturday. Adam will go to work in the morning and meet us at the field. Which will mean I get to get everyone up, dressed and in the car everyday this week! And then do it all over next week! I can't wait till Fall Break!!!

My Views on My Children and the Size of My Family

Okay, I have been doing some deep soul searching and praying and discussing with my husband and now I would like to articulate my feelings on family size/number of children. My dearest friend has a "quiverfull" view of her family size and our discussion on the matter made me step back and think about what I truly believe and why I believe it. I truly admire her for her convictions on this matter and how she sticks to those convictions unashamedly in a world that doesn't share this position. Girl, our discussion really made me nail down what I believe and why and, you're so right about there being an enormous freedom in that. I will also put a disclaimer on this that these are MY thoughts and I think each family is unique. God's plan for me is not the same plan He has for everyone, so please don't think any of this is meant to be preachy or judgemental. This is just where I stand.

Okay, so I have friends who have two children who say their family is complete and they just knew their family was complete after two children. I have other friends who say the same thing after four children. Then I know people who are my mom's age who say they wish they had had more than two children, but that's just what everyone else did, so they did too. I really would like not to look back with regret when I have grown children and some grandchildren. I know I might have some regrets, but I am trying to avoid as many as possible.

Anyway, I have never felt that "my family is complete" feeling. I don't know what it feels like. I have heard it's kind of like how you knew who to marry. You just know. Okay, so I don't have that feeling. I seem to waffle between wanting another child and not really ever wanting to think about having another child. Admittedly, these moods tend to be dictated by the behavior of my four little ones, but anyway.

So, after this discussion with my friend, I began praying about this and reading the Bible trying to decide what my feelings are on this issue. I prayed that my decision would not be swayed by fear or what other people might think or anything other than what God's plan is for MY life. So here it is...

I think that children are blessings from God. He has blessed me with four precious and special children and I am grateful every day for them. (Maybe not every moment of everyday, like right now as I am arguing with my fourth grader about whether her homework answer is correct) And, three of those four times, I was not asking him for those blessings! He knew exactly what I needed and when I needed it, no matter what I had planned. There is no way for me to articulate the joy these four little ones have given me. The little things - the unprompted "I love you"s, the funny things they say, the feeling I get when I teach them something new. All of those things have intrinsic value that simply cannot be measured. I am so thankful for them and I know that God has entrusted them to me when they are still His and He is still in complete control.

I do believe in birth control. Not all forms of birth control, mind you. I am firmly against anything that causes the abortion of a fertilized egg. I believe that life begins at conception, the moment the sperm enters the egg. If I am to actually take a stand on this issue, I have already ruled out the most popular forms of birth control - pills and IUD. I realize that birth control pills have medical purposes too, so please know that I am still talking about me. There's also the little thing that two of my children came about while I was on birth control pills (this is before I knew what they did - I thought they only prevented ovulation) so I also have a teensy bit of distrust for them.

I also think that my family can be complete without any type of surgical procedure. In my small section of the world, vasectomies and tubal ligations seem to be the norm. Where is the rule that in order to be "done" having children, I have to let a doctor physically and permanently alter me or my husband? I'm not completely against these procedures or anything, but I don't understand the rush to have these done. I'm not saying I will never have one of these procedures done, but I am still very young, I think. I know someone who opted to have a hysterectomy simply because she was tired of having periods - she was 31 years old at the time! I don't understand.

I do trust God about the size of my family, but prevention does not mean that I don't trust Him. I trust Him with my life too, but I still take precautions against illness and other things that could impact my family. And right now, another baby would negatively impact my family. Right now, I am trusting God and using my practical side (which is also in His image) and deciding not to increase my family size. For me, there is such a peace with that. I am doing my part with this decision and if He decides to bless us with another baby, then He will provide everything we need. I also think that one day I will want another child. But, for now, I am resting in His promises to provide all my needs and that He always has my best at heart.

Again, I am not posting this to offend anyone in anyway. God makes families in all sizes and shapes and colors and He does this according to His will. He is such a good and merciful God and I am just trying to discern His will so I can always be right in the center of it.

Lessons from Miss Spider

As you can imagine, with four kiddos, I am very familiar with just about anything on the wonderful television channels of Nick Jr. and Noggin. One of these shows is Miss Spider's Sunny Patch. Couldn't they have come up with a longer name? Anyway, yesterday on Miss Spider, all of Miss Spider's kids had something going on at the same time. A violin recital, some sport game, web surfing, a play and a race. All at the same time. Well, the dad (don't remember his name) fell and hurt himself, so he couldn't help Miss Spider. So, Miss Spider still promised all her children that she would be at each event. Of course, in her rushing around to get every where at once, she sprained one of her ankles (don't think spiders actually have ankles, but I don't think a lesson on arachnids were what the writers were going for here) and couldn't get to all of the events. In one way or another, she actually let down each of her children because she didn't get to see any of the things they were doing. The kids learned that their mother was simply a spider and not a super mom.
But, it got me thinking...how many times do I promise my kids something and not deliver? I try really hard not to promise to do something and not follow through, but my kids are also the children of someone who is just a flawed human. I'm not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. But, on a deeper note, how often do I promise things to God and not follow through? I think I would be embarrassed to actually type the answer! Why is it so hard to be consistent in my relationship with Him? I don't have a hard time maintaining my human relationships, why do I do it with Him? My dear husband has taught me many things, but one thing is that if I decide to do anything, I will fail. If I say, "I'm going to have my quiet time each day...or I'm going to memorize scripture..." or any number of things, I'm going to fail. I can only do it with God's help. So, to maintain a regular prayer time, I have to PRAY! God designed it so the only way to keep a relationship with Him is to depend on Him to give me the discipline to keep the relationship! He is amazing!!

My Not-So-Productive Day

So, today has not been my most productive day. Yesterday, however, I got four loads of laundry washed, dried, folded and put away. I also cleaned the house from the weekend. This was after a meeting at the church and a trip to the store. So, this morning when I woke up with the beginnings of a cold (not a sinus infection, and, no I am not pregnant-I seem to always get an unexplained sinus infection at the beginning of each pregnancy) I decided today would be a bit less productive. I am feeling a little better. Jude and I took a brief nap and it was nice. Well, he played his DS while I cuddled with him and napped a little. But, now I have decided that since I am feeling better, I think I will make some rice crispy treats for the kids when everyone is home. We have soccer tonight and I have to work, but it's looking like rain, so maybe we won't have to go to soccer.
The boys have these little flashlight headbands, you know that are elastic and strap to your head. Well, this morning, Sebastian gets out of the car and I am looking at him walking into school with his backpack on his back and the flashlight on his head. I so wish I had a camera with me. It was so funny. That boy definitely marches to the beat of his own drummer. He is so precious.
Other than that, life was pretty slow here at the house today, which was very nice. I don't have very many days without a real agenda, so I have enjoyed it.

More about the Pastor

So our church has been without a pastor for a little over a year. So last night was the "big announcement" of who they are bringing before the church to be our new Senior Pastor. Then he comes to preach and we vote on him, but odds are he is our new pastor. I cannot tell you how excited I am about him! He is 32 years old and about to have his first child (like, this week sometime). He has such a powerful testimony and I cannot wait to meet him and his wife when they come hopefully the first week of October. Their names are Robby and Kandi and they are from New Orleans. It is so exciting! I love the idea of having someone so young in our church! I'm so excited!

Real Quick Entry and More Later

So tonight at church they are announcing who our new Senior Pastor will be. Well, they are announcing who will be coming to preach "in view of a call" and then he comes and we meet him, listen to him preach, drill him with questions and then vote on him. But, odds are that he will be the new pastor. Our church has been without a pastor for a little over a year, so everyone is very excited about the announcement. So, I will post later about the man. We are very excited!
On a personal note, I joined the mentoring program at our church. This is where they pair up one woman to mentor and one woman to be the mentoree. Well, I found out this morning that my mentor will be Pam R. and I am very excited about this! She and her husband are two people that my husband and I greatly respect and I am so looking forward to getting to know her better and to grow spiritually together!

Good Times with Good Friends

So yesterday was a good day. We took the big kids to school and then ran errands for most of the day. While I was driving around, I happened upon the campaign headquarters for McCain/Palin in my city. I didn't even know it was there. So we went in and got two bumper stickers and a yard sign. They didn't have yard signs with Palin's name on it yet so we'll go back and get one with her name on it later. The ladies in there were so nice - they gave my two little ones cupcakes! Then we did a little grocery shopping. I really don't like doing this with any kids. It costs so much more when they are with you! But, it had to be done.
Then we came home and I mowed the backyard. If you've never seen my backyard, this is about an hour to an hour and a half project. It's big and the grass is thick. But, I do some of my best thinking while I am mowing. It's time that is pretty much uninterrupted. My kids play outside while I am out there so I know what they are doing, but they don't talk to me. So I was able to sort out some pretty important stuff that I may or may not blog about later. But, it was really nice to be able to think it out.
Then, last night, our dear friends came over for pizza and cake to celebrate Annabelle's birthday. We had lots of fun! They have five kiddos, so just our two families together is 13 people. When we get together, we have four adults, two nine year olds, an eight year old, two five year olds, a four year old, two three year olds and a one year old. It's a bit of a zoo, but lots of fun! Annabelle had a Backyardigans cake that I didn't make, but it was good and she was delighted. We had already given her all her presents so we just had fun. It was a great night with good friends!

RNC Speeches Last Night

I want to start this post by saying that if you live in the United States and are over the age of 18, please make sure you are registered to vote and that you GO VOTE! No matter who you vote for, please exercise this right that you have just by living in this great land. It is a right that can be taken away, so please be grateful for it and go vote!! Okay, that's my PSA for the day.



Secondly, if you don't want to know my political thoughts, then stop reading. I'll warn you that I am a pro-life conservative Christian who thinks people should be allowed to own guns if they want to (after all, the first thing Hitler did was disarm the people...is that really what we want?) and I think we do have a responsibility to care for the earth that God created, but I still believe that man was created above the animals and plants. So, if you don't want to hear about it, you should probably stop reading.

Okay, last night I watched some of Romney's speech, and all of Huckabee, Guiliani and Palin. What a great night to be a conservative Republican! It was so much fun! I liked Huckabee's speech and his story about the desks and the veterans was very touching. Then the camera shot over to a veteran wiping tears from his eyes...very moving. Adam and I both teared up. I thought Huckabee did a good job.

Guiliani was so great too. He comes across as just a good ole boy from the Bronx. When he outright laughed at the community organizer thing, it was so funny. I think instead of trying to come up with things that Obama has done to try to prove he has experience, they should just say, Yep, you're right...he has no experience...but he has great ideas on ____. Of course, he will have to articulate some ideas instead of just saying he doesn't like what Bush is doing.

Anyway, Guiliani had the crowd all riled up before Sarah Palin even stepped onto the stage.

So, then her family came in and took their seats. All the kids, including the future son-in-law, and Todd Palin came in and sat with Cindy McCain. It was endearing as they sort of passed the baby around. The daughter had him first and then Cindy and then Todd. Eventually, the littlest girl got him and there was a precious shot of her licking her hand to smooth his hair out. It was great.

Palin's speech was so great. It was funny, inspiring and exciting! She has a plan to cut our dependence on foreign oil (this is different from Obama's plan to cut our dependence on the Middle East for oil, since we get our oil from various sources-Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, not just Saudi Arabia.) which I think is great. We need to drill AND work on other types of energy. I agree with her that we can't just do nothing until we get the technology to do the other kinds. She just sort of touched on the pregnant teenage daughter thing, but then went on about the rest of it. Good for her. The focus needs to be on other things. The daughter has no bearing on her ability to be VP, just as Al Gore's son had no bearing on his being able to be VP.

All in all, it was a great night and a great night to be a Republican! I am actually excited about voting in November!! GO MCCAIN/PALIN!!

A Good Day and Some Funny Stuff

Today started out really well. I was a little nervous that Sebastian wouldn't want to go back to school after the long weekend, but he got up and was ready to go. Then we hit our first snag...today was purple day. The first two weeks, every day is a different color and they are supposed to wear that color. Well, the only purple shirt that we have that isn't a girl's shirt is a Veggie Tales shirt that the boys sleep in. So, Sebastian's first protest was that he didn't want to wear his pajamas. Okay. So I explain to him that the shirt isn't actually pajamas, he just sleeps in it sometimes. Well, then he said, "I don't wear purple. I'm not a girl. Girls wear purple." He assumed his position that means, "I am absolutely not budging on this issue." So, he picked out a blue striped shirt and I told him he could take the blue shirt with him and, if no one else had on purple, he could put the blue one on. This is after I told him, "Cole...Jake...(insert any name of some of the kids in his class) will have on purple." Well, he seemed content to just take another shirt with him. So we all got in the car and headed off to school.
While we are still sitting in the car rider line, I look in my rearview mirror to see Sebastian has already changed out of the purple shirt and into the blue one - all without unbuckling his seatbelt! Houdini! So, the next arrangement was that he wore the blue shirt and took the purple shirt with him. Fortunately, that was fine with him and he got out with no problem. When he got home, he immediately informed me that no one else was wearing purple and he told me he should wear the blue one. He's a funny kid.

On to Annabelle's birthday...we went and had lunch with Adam and got to see his new office. He didn't change jobs, but his firm moved into a new office. It's really nice and I got to meet some people I hadn't met yet. Then we went to Applebee's. I really like Applebees, but it's not large family friendly, so we never go. But, since it was just the four of us, it was fun. Then I took Annabelle shopping to pick out some presents. She got a big baby doll (who she named Carly) a new stroller, some baby bottles, sippy cups and a big pink ball. I also got her a cookie cake. We are having a little party for her on Friday night with some friends, because tonight I had to work and Zoe had soccer practice. But, Annabelle had a special day and she enjoyed telling everyone she met that she was three years old today!

Happy Birthday, Annabelle!

I can't believe that Annabelle is three years old today! Time goes by so fast. It seems like just yesterday on one hand, but I also can't remember her not being in the family. I am also so that her middle name is the same as Adam's mom. I had no idea that his mom would have so little time with her. Annabelle is a funny kids, with some great facial expressions. She is very very verbal and has no trouble telling us exactly what she wants and thinks.
Here are some pictures.

Happy Birthday, Peanut!

Annabelle and Grandmother

Mid Sentence

My Big Three Year Old

Labor Day

How long were your labors?
Child #1 - doctor told me to go to the hospital
Child #2 - fourth trip to the hospital, contractions 2 minutes apart
Child # 3 - Tons of contractions
Child #4 - More contractions

How did you know you were in labor?
Child #1 - 2 1/2 hours (way too short, horrible experience)
Child #2 - 11 hours
Child #3 - 9 hours
Child #4 - 21 very long hours

Where did you deliver?
Hospital for all of them...

Drugs? Epidural for #1 and #4 (I got tired in hour 18) and natural for #2 and #3

C-section? Nope. Almost on #2, but everything settled down.

Who delivered? My doctor for #1 and #2, a nurse for #3 (doctor showed up 20 minutes later) and an on call doctor for #4

I got this from this site...
http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/2008/08/laborious.html