Children Are A Blessing From the Lord

Children are a blessing from the Lord. Children are a blessing from the Lord. Children are a blessing from the Lord. Children are a blessing from the Lord. Children are a blessing from the Lord. Children are a blessing from the Lord. Children are a blessing from the Lord. Children are a blessing from the Lord.

No I'm not about to lose my cool, what makes you think that???!!!!

Workin' Like a Woman

We have a joke in our house, on the days that my husband feels like he has worked so hard and is just exhausted by the end of the day that he can barely hold his head up at the dinner table, I say "So you worked like a woman today huh?" AS OPPOSED TO...sitting behind a desk (without children interrupting him every 5 seconds), eating lunch with friends at a yummy restaurant (without children interrupting him every 5 seconds), completing tasks on his to-do list (without children interrupting him every 5 seconds). No, there's no bitterness. Really. Well, today, I have TRULY worked like a woman. Like I do every day. Cause last time I checked, I'm all woman! Actually, though, I think today I have worked more like SUPER woman. I got up and made the girls and myself a very healthy breakfast, started cleaning house and doing laundry, scrubbed the bathrooms, vacuumed, dusted, fed the girls a snack, put a roast and carrots in the slow cooker for dinner, then I went outside and mowed the backyard, swept and hosed off the back patio and lawn chairs, came inside and gave my children, the dog, and myself a shower. Yes, we all showered together! That was a hoot. Yes, my girls have seen me naked all you modesty freaks! It's really not a big deal. We all have the same parts, mine are just bigger. Much bigger. And as soon as I'm done telling you nice folks what all I've done today, I'm going to quickly make my husband's camp booklet on this computer for Jr. Camp which starts tomorrow, then I'm going to put the clean sheets on the beds, fold and put away my LAST load of laundry (YIPPEE) and then we're going to pick up Lexi's friend Caroline for a sleepover! Which means I'll be entertaining a guest this evening before I eventually CRASH and sleep really really hard from all my super woman work! Yes, I have truly worked like the woman of all women today!

Blessings

Today, I had an epiphany. It hit me up side the head like a 2x4! WHAM! This whole lack of gratitude and not so thankful attitude that has been adopted by my 5 yr old...uh, hello, she learned it from me! And probably in a very inadvertent way. It's not like I'm blatantly ungrateful. Tonight as I was basking in my hot bubble bath, which I do every night (see...ungrateful), it occurred to me that God has blessed us over and over and over again so abundantly these last few months that I've kind of come to expect it in a way...? It's become such the norm that I'm not surprised and caught off guard by the blessings sometimes?

You know, I was just thinking to myself the other day, that Lexi (Ashton just isn't old enough to show it yet, but she's probably headed down the same self righteous path) just kind of expects surprises and gifts. When she gets something new, it's just not a big deal to her any more. She's like, "whatever". And as I was thinking about it, it REALLY bothered me because I don't want to raise a spoiled rotten brat that expects everything to be given to her without her having to lift a finger to earn it. I want her to appreciate what she has. She is old enough to do chores and old enough to earn some sort of a reward for doing those things, so that when she DOES get them, they are truly a blessing to her, not just something she expected would land in the shopping basket.

And yet, I am SO the same way with my Heavenly Father. I ask Him for something and when He comes through for me, oh, sure I say thank you, but do I really really really FEEL the attitude of gratitude in my spirit? Do I make a big deal of it and tell my children, "Look, look what God has done for us, look how He has provided this for us, isn't this a miraculous blessing, isn't God so good?" And in the same way that it breaks my heart to see my child be so complacent about her blessings, I believe He experiences that same feeling of sorrow when I overlook the blessings and just accept them as the "norm", the "expected" gifts.

I believe that we have become such an obese society, and I'm not just talking about food. But food is a good indicator for all of the other worldly possessions we tend to hoard and "eat up". And yet, do I have the desire to go on a materialism diet to go along with my actual weight watcher's diet? Well, if you mean, do I want to give it all up? Heck no. I like my stuff. BUT I do hope and pray that I will never again take for granted each and every blessing as it lands in my "shopping basket" and that my children will learn that blessings aren't things to be expected, they are a gift, and we are truly privileged to receive them.

I went to a birthday party recently and the birthday girl was so truly joyful over EVERY SINGLE PRESENT. It was so much fun to watch her! Her eyes would light up every time she opened something new. And sadly, my girls aren't like that. Because getting "stuff", for them, is like an every day occurrence it seems. Even though it may be junk from a $.25 cent machine! I want our eyes to light up in the face of a blessing. I want the birthday girl reaction! Doesn't our Heavenly Father deserve that same feeling of joy that I experienced when the birthday girl opened my gift, and her eyes lit up, and I could tell she was truly filled with gratitude for the gift she had just received?

Obviously, there are things we can do with our children to teach this attitude as they get older. I would love for our family, when my children are old enough, to serve as a family regulary in some form of a feeding kitchen or somewhere that my children can witness poverty first hand in their own community. And eventually when they are old enough, we will take family mission trips together, because I want them to be exposed to a view of the world that is much broader than they can experience in their home environment. But what can we do now, as parents of little ones, to get this in their heads, to learn NOW, not later, what it means to be grateful and thankful for what we have and for the blessings God heaps upon us daily? I'm listening. Bring it!

"Blessings crown the head of the righteous..." Proverbs 10:6

Weekend Recap

So like you care, but here's what we did this weekend:

Friday, I worked all day while Cary stayed home with the girls then we went to have fajitas for dinner. I had them on corn tortillas (less points) and I didn't eat any chips! YEA ME!

Saturday, we had family love time all morning. Then I cleaned house all afternoon. Then we went on our date. We went to see "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 3D. Not my kind of movie, but it was interesting. If you're into Sci Fi, which I'm not. It was a totally clean and would appropriate for older children, but I think a little too scary and action packed for younger kids. But since I picked the restaurant, I let him pick the movie, thus the Sci Fi thriller! Oh, and at the movie, I had a little popcorn, no butter, and I snuck in a pak of the Nabisco 100 calorie pak Oreo bites, (candy covered oreos) and a diet sprite. Then after the movie, we went to one of my favorite places to eat...Pei Wei! I know I've spoken the praises of Pei Wei on the ol' blog before but really, it's SO good. It's the cheaper version of P.F. Chang's, owned by the same company and some of the menu is the exact same too. But it's more like the fast food version of P.F. Chang's, but yet there are still waiters that bring your food out. It's a very swanky joint. And I'm such a nerd, I actually looked up the nutritional value of everything before I went so I'd know what to order. I ended up getting the lettuce wraps....SO good. And I was going to get the edamama (boiled soybeans in the pod) too, but ended up with a spring roll instead. (I had to have SOME form of guilty pleasure!) And their Chi tea is SO good.

Today, we went to church and then ate at Chili's after church. I had the guiltless chicken platter, 11 points! And after church we came home and all crashed for a few hours. Then woke up and cooked taco soup for dinner and all watched a DVRed episode of Little Bear (at my request). Now my laundry pile awaits.

This week I must accomplish:
1. Finishing the church website once and for all!
2. Finish writing all my thank you letters for VBS.
3. Take Ashton to the doctor to get her physical and shots.
4. Find something to sign my kids up for for Fall (ballet or gymnastics or soccer or cheerleading or something!)
5. Complete a home school evaluation for a girl at church
6. Do much laundry! (that just goes without saying, right?)
7. Buy Lexi's school supplies and uniforms.

A Date Night FINALLY!

Well, after 7 months, we are finally having a date night tonight! I think date nights are a critical necessity in a marriage. It's so important that you continue to cultivate your relationship after getting married, ESPECIALLY when you have children. And it's also great for our children to see us "date" each other. Our pastor in Dallas did a marriage series not too long ago called "Love Affair"....SO GOOD. And he said that you and your spouse should have a weekly date night. He has 4 kids. And in theory, yes, that sounds like a WONDERFUL plan. But all I can think is, who can afford that? The reason we DON'T go on more dates is because we can't afford it. We can afford to go out and we can afford a babysitter, but we can't afford to go out AND have a babysitter! We don't live near our family, so we totally have to rely on our church family. We have excellent teenage babysitter options, WONDERFUL girls! But that costs money. And even with this option, is it just me, I'm always watching the clock feeling an urgency to get home. Maybe because time means money, but also because I don't want to inconvenience someone even though I'm paying them. Is that crazy? We have great friends. But they all have 4 kids. 4+2=6. I can't do that to my friends! (Plus let's be honest, I might have to return the favor and I'm not really the babysitting type! There's a reason I only have TWO children!) There are a handful of grandmotherly types that I know would do us the favor of watching our children but I'm not good at asking for FREE favors! And then I would feel so guilty like I was taking advantage of them the whole time I was out that I wouldn't enjoy myself! So, you see, that leaves us with the other option...NO DATE NIGHTS! But today we are having free childcare by our preschool director. She has offered several times and it's been almost a year since she has kept them, so I don't feel like I'm taking advantage of her or anything. And I know she loves children and loves watching children. So perhaps I will be able to enjoy myself!

And now after reading this post, it seems that I'm doing the waa waa waa whiney thing. And maybe I am. I'm entitled! Once a month!

WW Update

I don't know what's gotten into me. I started Weight Watchers officially on Wednesday. Okay, so that was just yesterday. I have to say, this is the FIRST TIME in my entire life that I have been able to make healthy food choices for two straight days without ONE SINGLE ioda of temptation or crazy urges to make a midnight run to Sonic after my family is in bed! In fact, I haven't had one single coke (real coke) in 2 whole days. That's truly a record for me. In the past on WW, I've always calculated in that 3 point coke each day as a necessity. But this time, I haven't had the desire. I haven't had any dessert items at all. And it's not like they are forbidden, you just have to count your points. And I've had plenty of points left over each day to have a can of coke or a bowl of ice cream, but I've had no desire whatsoever. Tonight, Lexi left her uneaten brownie with me as I was cleaning the kitchen and I just put it back in the container with no desire to eat it, even though I still had 7 points left for today. I feel like I'm eating all day long and I'm totally full after every meal, and I still have all these points left. It's insane. This has never happened to me. Usually after a few hours on a diet, I'm sneaking in the kitchen to take a sip of some coke or nibble on some chocolate or something. I don't own a scale at my house, so I have no clue if I've lost any weight yet, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that I'm doing really well at making better food choices so I can eat to live, not live to eat! I had cabbage tonight. Better take some beano! Watch out Barbie...there's a new sexy in town!

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

This morning, Cary fixed me breakfast. He's trying to be really helpful and supportive of my new weight watchers journey, so he got up early and asked me what I could have to eat and then he fixed it for me. Such a dear! When we all sat down to eat breakfast, Lexi said, "Is it Mother's Day?" Like as if Daddy only fixes breakfast on Mother's Day! Too funny!

A little while later, she was playing with her Barbie dolls and she came up to me and asked, "Do they make Mommy Barbie dolls?" I said, "You mean like ones with babies in their tummies?" And she said, "No, I mean fat, like you." I said, "No, but maybe when you get bigger you can go work for the Barbie company and you can convince them that they SHOULD make Barbie dolls of ALL shapes and sizes!!!!"

Full Moon Perhaps???

Strange things are happening here. For starters...

Now this might not appear strange or out of the ordinary to you, but my dog, uh uhm, I mean my spotted girl, is SUCH a princess that we don't even call her a dog! She never rolls around in the grass because that's what REAL dogs do and she's NOT a dog! She even has a people name, "Candice". But yesterday she kept scratching at the front door and I kept taking her to the backyard. Then she'd go to the front door and scratch some more and the trend would continue. Until finally after the 5th time, I put her on a leash and I took her to the front yard and this is what she did...

The crazy girl just kept rolling around in the grass, like a dog! And I kept yelling, "Candice, stop that, you're not a dog, stop that, you're getting dirty!" And like she cared. I even left her there to go inside and get my camera. Came back out...she was still in the same spot. Bizarre. It makes me want to ask, "Who are you and what have you done with my spotted girl?"

And then, as if that was not wierd enough...

Last night while Cary and I were watching our favorite show, "King of Queens", we looked down and saw our MALE cat curled up in this hot pink, satin, fur trimmed, sissy bed! It was intended for the build a bear (FEMALE) dog, but try telling HIM that!

AND THEN...as if that were not enough...today I joined Weight Watchers. Totally on my own, not by force! And I'm actually excited about it...that's the wierdest part of all! Who gets excited about Weight Watchers? I am not setting a goal weight, I just want to get healthier. The "ideal weight" printed in the book for my height makes me laugh. My bones weigh more than that! But this is not about weight to me. Just overall health. I don't want to get obsessed with pounds and the number on the scale, nor the size I wear. Because I love my curves, I just want them to not be quite so...lumpy? I just want to feel better and have more energy and live long enough to enjoy my children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and long enough to see my Aggies win a National Championship (and that, my friends, could be a while!)

Speaking of...39 more days till Aggie football starts...WHOOP!

Sleeping Beauty's Very Unrestful Day

Is "unrestful" even a word? I don't really know! But nevertheless, you get the point! Saturday was very eventful. It all began by waking up early to take Nanny and Granny to the airport. We enjoyed their visit so much and hated to see them leave. After leaving the airport, we went to our first birthday party of the day, down the street. It was a Little Mermaid party with lots of outdoor water toys. The girls had a great time and were waterlogged! Three hours into that party, we said our goodbyes and came home to get cleaned up and transformed into Sleeping Beauty. She really was quite sleepy and even nodded off a few times in the car on the way to birthday party #2, but refused to mess up her hair by laying her hair on the carseat so her head just kept bobbing. Such a princess! I put make-up on her (that girl has eyelashes to die for) and curled her hair and put sparkly things in her hair with a crown. Of course the outfit would not be complete without the princess light up flip flops! Then we made our way to Disney's Grand Floridian restaurant, 1900 Park Faire, which serves the character dinners. Cinderella, Prince Charming, the wicked step sisters and step mother were our entertainment while we ate prime rib and salmon and chicken marsala and the best mashed potatoes I've ever had in my life. Oh, and a castle birthday cake, can't forget that! It was a very cute party, although I couldn't stop adding up the cost in my head. After party #2, we headed over to downtown Disney to see our good friends from Dallas, Gatlan and Denise, who are at Disney on vacation this week with their kiddos. Needless to say, Sleeping Beauty was wiped out and fell asleep in the car on the way home!

One Month From Today...

my baby girl will be starting KINDERGARTEN! I can't believe it. Where has the summer gone? Where have the past 5 years gone??? It's bittersweet. On one hand, I'm so excited to see what the future holds for her in school and with her new friends. But on the other hand, I'm going to miss her terribly when she's at school every day. And I'm really NOT excited about her wearing a uniform. When I taught in public schools, I was ALL FOR uniforms! I loved them! As a professional educator, I'm an official uniform advocate! But as a PARENT of an adorable girl who has the cutest clothes in the world and a TON of them, I want to protest!!! Oh and Lexi wants to ride the school bus, to which I say, "over my dead body!" I mean, I'm okay with public schools and that is the route we're taking and that's what God has chosen for our family and I couldn't be happier or more peaceful about it, but there will be NO SCHOOL BUS RIDING! I remember how bad the school bus rides were when I was a kid and that was like a really long time ago. I remember the day a high school boy pinched my bootie and I was like in the 2nd grade. No, she will NOT be riding the bus. Now, to all of you readers out there also sending your children to school (I know, many of you homeschool) but to all of you like me who are like pushing your kids out the door (did I say that) I meant, sending your children off to that wonderful place called school, here are some tips from the teacher in me:

1. Send a "first day of school" gift to your child's teacher, principal, counselor, and office staff. TRUST ME...BRIBERY WORKS! And make sure to put your child's name nice a big somewhere on the card!

2. Send gifts to your child's teacher OFTEN, even simple things like chocolate. TRUST ME...BRIBERY WORKS!

3. At Christmas time and on teacher appreciation week, organize a collection to be taken up from the other children in the class and buy the teacher a REALLY NICE GIFT, like a massage gift certificate. TRUST ME...BRIBERY WORKS!

4. Volunteer to help the teacher throughout the week with xeroxing or whatever she needs done...TRUST ME...BRIBERY WORKS!

5. When I was a teacher, I would always tell parents, "If you'll promise to only believe HALF of what they say about me, I'll promise to only believe HALF of what they say about you!" And it's the truth. Kids say the darndest things. And they tell their teachers EVERYTHING! So watch out!

The Sunshine State...really???

THIS RAIN! Don't get me wrong, my newly laid sod is LOVING it! We have the greenest grass in the neighborhood, and I mean that in a totally boastful way! What has it been, a solid month, of daily rain? Or more? And I'm not talking afternoon Florida showers, for my friends back in TX! I'm talking monsoonal! I learned last year that there are some definite rainy seasons here, late Sept-early Nov, June and July, and late Jan-Feb. Well, I guess these beautiful tropical plants don't get green all on their own! And the rain does keep the temperatures down, thus keeping my electricity bill down. I'm trying to think positive!

But the rain DID NOT keep the crowds out of Seaworld today. I got to thinking, these people have spent THOUSANDS of dollars on their Orlando vacation and a little bit of rain (or monsoonal rain I should say) will not keep them out of the tourist spots. But we did, despite the rain, go to Seaworld today and it was fabulous. Panchos and all! I love that place. I love animals!! Therefore I love Seaworld! We did the "pay for a day, come back all year" pass. I really want to go to the new "Seaworld After Dark" that they've been advertising. Looks neat! But we were drenched and tired, so we left the park around 7ish. The girls really seemed to enjoy it. They were so good and totally into all the shows and attractions. Lexi was disappointed that we didn't get to ride a roller coaster. Maybe next time.

I can't wait for my girls to be old enough to go to Seaworld camps during the summer. I mean, if they want to! I had a cousin that used to go every year and she always learned so much about marine biology and had such neat experiences. She would go for a whole week every summer, like spend the night and all. So cool! I want to go to Discovery Cove. Has anyone ever been there? It's very expensive, but you get to really interact with the animals and swim with the dolphins and everything. It would be a neat birthday present for me...hint hint. It's something crazy like the same price as a Disney Annual Pass right? I checked into it. Once. Then I put on my pajamas and kept dreaming. But I hope that my children will love and respect animals as much as I do. Lexi is already a BIG animal lover. She was already asking today how old she has to be to swim with the dolphins and I reminded her that first, she has to be a VERY good swimmer to do what those trainers were doing.

Oh, the first of many trips to Seaworld Orlando! You gotta love living in a tourist town, rain and all!

I HEART SKYPE!

I got to SEE my husband today!!!! He's still in Honduras, but we got to see each other on the computer thanks to Skype! If you have friends and family afar, I highly recommend this. You can download Skype for free on their website (google it) and then you can talk and see each other through your webcams and microphones. We use it all the time, even when he's at work. Some days he just asks me to leave Skype on while I'm doing chores and hanging out with the girls so he can hear what's going on in the house and see us walk by the computer every now and then. Yes, I know, we're creepy like that! So this morning, I got a surprise Skype call from him. I didn't even think they had computer access there, so it was a pleasant surprise. We'll get to see each other every day now! He said things are going great. He's doing VBS with 10-13 yr olds these first 3 days. He said many of the kids had never even seen a swimming pool before so they spent the day being lifeguards b/c none of the kids could swim! He's having fun. And so am I. We went to St. Pete yesterday to the beach and to eat at one of my favorite places, Sea Critters. It was fun. We're going to Seaworld later in the week. We're surving without daddy, but we miss him terribly! He sent me this picture of him. He's the bald guy! (Bald is sexy!!!) The guy next to him is our youth praise and worship leader at our church.

Well, it happened...

The moment I've been dreading since the doctor said, "It's a girl!" Call me shallow and worldly, I don't really care...FASHION MATTERS! Appearance counts! It just does. It's a cruel world so you gotta look good! My children have been "blessed" to have a mom who puts fashion as a top notch priority. (or maybe it's a curse) I've never taken my children to a store and let them pick out their own clothes. Are you kidding? Who does that? No way, I buy them what I know will be cute on them (or should I say Granny buys them what she knows will be cute on them). I lay out their clothes each day so that everything matches and is grouped accordingly. There are no choices when it comes to clothing in this house. That would resemble a...democracy! Heck no. And it would be a fashion NIGHTMARE! But today was different. I made a mistake. I took the children INTO the shoe store. On purpose. I know, WHAT was I thinking? It gives me the shivers now just thinking about it. We were on the hunt for some new flip flops. And then...it happened. What happened, you ask? THESE HAPPENED...

Now upon first glance, not so bad, right? Well, they happen to break my top two fashion rules. #1...NO CHARACTERS ALLOWED ON CLOTHING ITEMS. Look closely. Do you see them? Yes, those dad gummed Disney princesses. They're taking over the world people! I don't allow shoes, swimsuits, clothing, comforters, backpacks, nor any accessory with a character on it. Well, I actually bended the rule recently by allowing them to have character pajamas. I figured that was harmless enough right? I mean, who's gonna see the pajamas? Well, you give an inch, they take a mile! So now we have princess flip flops.

OH BUT WAIT...there's more...

THEY LIGHT UP! Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rule #2 BROKEN! Nothing that is covered in sequins, glitter or LIGHTS UP shall be worn upon the feet!

Oh my stars! What has the world come to? My child is wearing LIGHT UP DISNEY PRINCESS flip flops. I need chocolate. Now!

Adios!

My beloved is heading out tomorrow for Honduras! Please be in prayer for him and the other 17 church members who are going on this mission trip. He went last year and had a wonderful experience. They will be teaching 10-13 yr olds at a camp, working in a soup kitchen, doing some construction projects, and doing some street evangelism. He's such a man! He can sleep anywhere, pee anywhere, eat anywhere, and basically function anywhere. Not me! Honduras...NO WAY JOSE! I'm happy as a lark right here in the good ol' USofA! Just after we see Daddy off, my mom and grandmother will be arriving from San Antonio! So we'll go from Adios to Hola! (All this Spanish talk is making hungry for some Mexican food!) I'm sure we will keep the girls so busy this week that they won't have time to miss daddy too much. Well, that's not true. We already miss him and he's not even gone yet.

Yesterday, we ventured to another FL town that we hadn't yet been to since moving here...Daytona! Okay, so I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was going to be kind of trashy and cheap and basically hooker-like, based on news reports and such. But I really really liked it! A lot! It had a lot of character. So much of it has been renovated in the last few years and I can see why it is such a tourist attraction. The beach was wonderful, except that the water was so cold, I couldn't go any further than my ankles! We actually went with a purpose, not just to kill time. We went to cook and feed lunch to our youth group who was there at youth camp. They went to the Student Life @ the Beach conference with about 6000 other youth from all over the country. I heard it was AMAZING, Louie Giglio was the camp pastor and CHRIS TOMLIN was the worship leader. Holy cow! I even wanted to go to youth camp! All the kids thought it was insane that Chris Tomlin used to lead worship at one of the college Bible Studies I attended regularly at A&M. And we thought he was such a DORK! He was a skinny, skrawny lil fella, totally unattractive. He had a crush on my roomate and she avoided him like the plague because he was so....EW! It was a small Bible study, about 50 people, and we met at the chapel on the A&M campus. WHO KNEW what God had in store for that guy! (But of course only greatness comes out of Texas!) Louie Giglio also made quite a few appearances at A&M. I heard him speak on many occassions. He's a gifted man! Anyhoo, so back to Daytona. I was out in the sun for about 6 hours. We cooked outside by the pool and then walked down to the beach afterwards. I'm just a wee bit on the pink side today.

So with my mom in town and all the crazy fun we're gonna have, I don't know how much I'll be online next week. So Adios amigos! I must go eat me some Mexican food now.

AMAZING!

We just found out today that God has provided for our family in a BIG way! Cary's seminary has been PAID FOR! Thank you sweet Jesus! Cary started seminary back in Fort Worth after college and went for about 2 years working on his Master's in Divinity. But never finished and working at a church full time (not to mention being young and maybe a little irresponsible) his grades were not so hot. But since we've moved to FL, he has resolved to finish that Master's degree, which is about half complete. But it is so expensive! We were going to try to do one class a semester because that's all we could afford honestly. And it would have taken 10 years to finish school! But Cary received word today that an anonymous donor has made a financial contribution for him to finish his seminary education. So he will be starting back to school this fall. Isn't that exciting? And when I called my mom to tell her, she said, "You're not going to believe this, but I actually prayed for THIS VERY THING earlier in the week, that God would lay that on someone's heart and that He would provide a way for Cary to finish school." To which I replied, "Can you pray me up a car??? Preferably new or gently used, 30 mpg???" To whomever the anonymous donor is, I'm praying BIG blessings upon them and our family will be forever grateful! And thank you Jesus for your AMAZING provision yet again! This is how you know you're living in the sweet spot of God's will for your life...the blessing are so abundant, they just follow you wherever you go. You can't even outrun them, they just keep catching up to you!

Fun day with friends...

Today our friends from "Circus of Love" blog came over to play and swim with us. The kids had a GREAT time! My girls are head over heels in love with that baby!!! It was so neat to see them interact with a baby. Lexi has always been naturally nurturing. If she doesn't have a baby doll in arms, she has a crayon or some other object which she is pretending is her baby and is nurturing it to death! (Which is especially funny because I'm SO NOT the nurturing type, not sure where she gets it!) And Ashton was just as sweet with the baby today as Lexi was which surprised me a bit. I thought she would have "other" plans for him like oh I don't know, turning him upside down in his carseat or something. She's kind of mischevious like that. But she was wonderful with him. Although I know that if he had been a sibling, he would have so been upside down in that carseat! But our kids all play really well together. I'm so excited that my children are starting to develop some friendships here in FL. And Kathryn and I have a special connection. She was once, too, a minister's wife so she can totally relate to all that comes with that. And trust me, you could never imagine what it's like unless you've done it. Being married to the ministry is a calling like no other. Her husband is now a traveling youth evangelist. Bless her heart! With 4 children under the age of 7! She's THE woman! I would be so like, "Uh, God, this is NOT what I signed up for!" But she does it so graciously! They came over at about 3 and we played and visited while dinner cooked in the slow cooker. Then we went to the pool...IN THE RAIN. Who does that? Only people with 6 children in their house. There was no thunder. We swam for a good hour or more IN THE RAIN. Then we came home and ate dinner and the kids played some more. It was pure fun I tell you.

Cary is on his way home from Miami right now. He did get his passport, to all who have been following that drama of a story! So he can officially go to Honduras next week on the mission trip. YEA!

Skin bleach and other stuff

I got a pretty wretched sunburn last Thursday. We went to a birthday bash at a local pool/waterpark. But I was a big dumbie. I didn't apply my steel armour sunscreen until after we had been at the pool for almost 2 hours. My back and shoulders are in excruciating pain. Still. So much so that my children are having mercy upon me and doing "mommy surgery". What's "mommy surgery" you ask? It's my little invention. It's my way of getting them to rub on my feet and legs and back without calling it the selfless act of massaging. I say, "Come do surgery on mommy's feet" and they use their little doctor tools to make "incisions" and stuff. It feels really good. It does. I promise. Try it. And then I say, "Oh, I think Mommy's legs need surgery." And then "I think mommy's arms need surgery" and then "I think mommy's head needs surgery." It's really quite relaxing. And I can rest my eyelids in the process. See, I really am a mommy genius! So today, the girls were doing surgery on my back because Lexi thought it would make my sunburn feel better. And she was so gentle and it really did feel nice because my sunburn is in the extreme itchy phase, yet still in pain too. Well, Ashton thought she would do foot surgery while Lexi did back surgery. She was applying lotion, I mean "medication" to my feet and it was so heavenly that I never thought to actually peek down there and make sure it really was lotion, I mean "medication". Until Lexi said, "Uh oh Mommy, you're not gonna be very happy with Ashton!" And I thought for a brief second, "I don't care...THIS FEELS SO GOOD! Please shut up!" But I finally asked, "Why won't I be very happy with Ashton?" And Lexi replied, "Because LOOK what she's putting on your feet!" And she held up the bottle of skin bleach! Now, this brings me to another rabbit to chase. Go ahead, ask it! I know you're dying to know. "Why do you own skin bleach Heather?" Why that's a FABULOUS question. Well, you see, I once was a little black girl. Oh I'm kidding. I have these really ugly and embarrassing dark spots on my knees. I've tried everything to get them to lighten up, including skin bleach. Nothing works. I'm so over it and now when people make fun of my knees I just say, "It's because I spend so much time on my knees in prayer." And that shuts them up! So hence, the skin bleach! I was frozen solid on my bed, my feet caked with skin bleach, Ashton's hands both covered in it as well. Cary was not home yet. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't walk on the carpet like that. Ashton was about to have it all over her clothes. Long story short, I sent Lexi to get me a towel. I wiped Ashton first then sent her to the bathroom with Lexi to wash her hands with soap, then I wiped the mega goo off of my feet and tippy toed to the tub for a good rinse down. All the while hoping that my feet would not be 3 shades whiter by morning!!!! By all accounts, I think we're in good shape so far.

This afternoon, after the skin bleach incident, we went to Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water park. We bought those after 2:00 annual passes last week and we definitely intend on using them as often as possible! Typhoon Lagoon was AMAZING! I liked it so much better than Blizzard Beach. If only a little cabana boy had brought me a pina colada in a coconut shell while Aunt Jemima was looking after my children, it really would have been THE PERFECT DAY! It was very tropical. And there was Jimmy Buffett music. I like him. And after the park closes, did you know they let REAL surfers come in the park with their REAL surf boards and ride the waves in the wave pool? I'm guessing for a "small", Disney-like fee. And we had ice cream for dinner. Not on purpose. But the burger places closed at 7 and we weren't ready to eat till 7:30. All that was open was the ice cream hut. So we got the $9 "garbage pail"...I'm not kidding. That's really what it's called. It was HUGE, so huge that we ate and ate and ate and didn't even eat half of it by the time we were all full. That thing could feel 10 people. It was INSANE. And it was like marble slab on STEROIDS! Well, it IS Disney after all, where everything is on steroids. Do they do anything half way?

So that was our day, in a coconut shell. Haha, get it? In a nutshell...coconut shell...heeeheee. A very busy week awaits. My friend, Kathryn (circus of love blogger) and I have much fun on our to-do lists this week! While the men are away, the wives shall play!

Happy 4th!

We did the All-American thing today. I worked! We grilled out! We took naps! We went to happy hour at Sonic! We watched fireworks! Those are all very "American" don't you think? We did NOT however conceive another child. (Inside Joke) Both of my girls were conceived on July 4th. Not on purpose either. Nope, no more conceptions in this house. We kind of prefer the average American sized family of 2.4 kids. I guess the cat and dog take care of that .4 issue. See, having a 3rd child would totally mess with our 2 to a seat rides at Disney World. Not to mention, I'm not sure I want to be out-numbered by little people.

I do have about a half day's worth of work to do tomorrow at the office and then I think we're going to go see Wall E. Lexi has been seeing the previews for that for like a year from one of her other Disney movies. She has been so excited about it! And then Sunday after church, I promised my "other child" (Cary) that we would go to Blizzard Beach. Although this totally goes against my "Avoid Disney at all costs the week of July 4th" Policy. Like everyone in America goes to Disney this week it seems. Listen people, they do the same fireworks show 365 days a year! Come in October! Trust me!

I am in MAJOR need of a vacation. Have I said that enough? I've been entering every "win a vacation" sweepstakes on the web these last few months, but the only thing I've won is a spot on all the tele-marketing calling lists! Yippee! I want a tropical paradise getaway. Complete with a pina coloda in a cocunt shell with a cute little pink umbrella in it and young boys fanning me with palm leaves. Okay, so truly I would totally settle for the Holiday Inn in St. Pete just an hour down the road. But a girl can dream, can't she?

Pictures for Granny

My mom is havin' her some baby girl withdrawals. So Granny, these pics are for you. See you in 10 days!

Here's Lexi showing off her new earrings. She finally got to change them out after getting them pierced on Mother's Day.

Dear God, please let it rain waffles!

Last weekend, Cary made waffles for breakfast. I'm not sure WHO in this house would leave their plate on the table, oh wait, yes I do know. He shall remain nameless. But nevertheless, Candice likes to help me with the dishes.

I can only imagine what she must have been thinking..."Dear God, please let it rain waffles today."

30 minutes later...

30 minutes later...

She's persistent!

30 minutes later...

Where's the love people?

Oh for Heaven's sake! Help yourself Candice. It's your lucky day!