Friday, September 7, 2012

I love....

...how he calls me when he's at the church with Kevin just because he misses me.  :D

I love....

...how she says "moo-mee" instead of movie.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Whew!

What a day!

Today started at 7:30.  Kevin is sick, so I heard him barking in the bedroom first thing this morning (I crashed on the couch because Livi wanted to sleep with Daddy and I didn't feel like moving her when I was ready for bed).  Poor guy.  He got sick Monday night and has been down for the count since then.  He plans to try to go to work tomorrow, but we'll see about that.  He usually gets worse in the night. 

Benjamin's piano lessons started again today.  His teacher arrived at 9.  Once she got here, I ran to Walmart to grab something for our homeschool group's Not Back To School Party. 

When Benjamin's piano lessons were over, I slathered the children in sunscreen and we headed out for the NBTSP at the new splash pad in town.  To say that it was hot would be ridiculous.  It was miserable.  Since this is the official kickoff for the school year, there were tons of families at today's park day, and we all crammed ourselves under this one pavilion.  I should have sat at the other one, but that seems a bit anti-social.  Anyway, the kids had a blast.

We got home at around 12:45 and spent some time with Kevin.  I threw in laundry and folded a load.  Then I played a bit of Paper Mario with Benjamin.  He's really been enjoying that.

Later we went to the neighbor's house to keep her 4 little girls for about an hour and a half.  I did a little work while I was there to bless her, and left feeling happy.

When we got back, I made some homemade chicken soup for Kevin.  We all had dinner before I headed over to the other neighbor's house for a new Bible study that started tonight.

It was a crazy day, but I feel great about how everything went.  I've been praying a lot lately about God helping me to handle my stress better.  I don't want to fuss at the children or my husband simply because I'm feeling anxious.  It seems to be helping lately.

In other news.....

Olivia has declared that she would like to learn to read NOW.  She insists that I teach her immediately.  Once she realized that she had to learn all of her ABCs in order to read, she knocked them all out in about a week and a half.  I was blown away!  I guess that when she really wants something......  Anyway, we started learning what vowels are now.  We sing Old McDonald with AEIOU at the end instead of EIEIO.  It feels a bit ridiculous to be teaching my 4 year old about vowels and phonics, but we're going to do it anyway.  She's excited.  It is fun to have her walking around saying, "buh-buh-buh banana" and "mmm mmm mmm Mommy!!" 

Benjamin is spending lots of time making new creations with his Legos.  He finally moved out of the room that he and Olivia were sharing and into the office.  He really enjoys having his own space.  He builds creations and doesn't worry about his sister playing with them (aka destroying them).  We bought him a new bed.  We decided on a captain's bed because it has drawers underneath where he can store his Legos.  It came with a trundle, but we decided not to put the mattress there and, instead, are letting him use it to store his completed creations.

That's what's up!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Crabbing with Pawpaw!

 We visited family in Louisiana in June.  There were lots of fun things to do!  One thing that my children haven't done yet is go crabbing.  I suppose that most children haven't done that, but if you're from the New Orleans area, it's just as normal as going to the park.  Well, calling it normal is probably a stretch.  ;)

Daddy had taken several days off during the week we were visiting.  He called one morning to see if the children wanted to go out crabbing.  I jumped at the opportunity because I had always loved it when I was a child, and I knew that the kids would love it too.  Benjamin was very excited.  He got to help Daddy set everything up.  I didn't think he'd want to because it involves touching raw chicken, but he was all for it!  I told Mom that Olivia was probably down there touching everything gross while Benjamin watched.  I was wrong.
 







Olivia got bored and went to play on the playground.

To set up, you take raw chicken (or any type of meat, really) and tie a string to it.  You put a weight by the chicken so that it sinks to the bottom.  Benjamin threaded the weights, Daddy tied them all on, and then Benjamin wrapped them up to take out to Salt Bayou.

The water was deeper than I remembered.  Olivia couldn't go out alone, so she sat with Mamaw.

This is exactly how I picture Daddy....in the bayou, trudging through the mud, catching some sort of creature.  :D

Olivia talked Mamaw into getting a little closer to the water.

This is what they were catching.  Fun!

You take the chicken and tie each individual string to a line that runs across the bayou. Then you come back and pull them in slowly, one at a time.  You keep the net ready and then drop the chicken (with crab hanging on) into the net.  You shake the crab off and then throw the chicken back in.  If it falls through the holes of the net, it's too small.  If not, dump it in the bucket and move to the next line.  Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Mamaw caved.  She's a sweet Mamaw.  Livi got in the water after all.

Daddy paused for a picture with Olivia.

These are what the houses look like all along the bayou.  If you look closely, you'll see that they are all up on pilings.  Almost all of these houses are new because most were completely washed away in Katrina.  Yes, washed away.  You could drive down the road and see how a house had been completely lifted off of it's pilings and then dropped across the street or down the block, etc.  Amazing.
Olivia and I decided to leave early because she was very disappointed that she couldn't swim like Ben.  We went back to Jenny's apartment and went swimming there for a while before we headed out to dinner with Pawpaw and Mamaw.


This is what a crab looks like after you cook it. 

Olivia eating frog legs (!!) with my Dad.  This kid rocks!

We had to have a talk about how to eat shrimp.  LOL!

Mom was showing Benjamin how to peel a crab.  He was not impressed!  While catching crabs may be fun, he declared later, "Yuck! Crab is gross." 

This is a different kind of crab, but Olivia liked the claws on this one more because they were bigger.                         




A couple of days later my dad came and took Benjamin out fishing.  Benjamin wasn't sure what he liked the best, but he sure thinks my dad is fun!!  I am glad that the children got to experience something that was so common to me as a child.  I should remember these things more.  :D

Olivia and Cicadas

She loves cicada shells.  Benjamin hates them.  He shivers when he even looks at them.  Several weeks ago she found several on the side of the house.  She picked them off of the house and stuck some of them onto her shirt. 

She even looks like she has a sneaky plan!

She is very happy about this!!



She had to pause so that they could have a kiss.  :D

It was funny.  It was even funnier when she said, "Mommy, I gonna go show dees to Bruller (brother) 'cause he will freak out!!!"  Then she giggled and ran to Benjamin's room.  She was right, he did freak out.  "Mom!!  Olivia has bugs on her shirt and she won't stop showing them to me!!"  I should have encouraged her to not torture her brother, however, it is hard to do that when you're cracking up laughing.  She is so different from her brother.

This morning she was riding her bike up and down the driveway.  She has learned to use her "big bike."  I was sitting on the porch because she wanted me to watch how fast she could go.  One time when she got close to the porch she noticed a cicada shell on the wall.  She pulled it off and stuck it to her shirt.  She told me that she hoped he could hold on in all the wind because she was going to ride "SO FAST!"  She was thrilled when he made it through the trip. 

What will she think of next?

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Week in Review: Benjamin turns 9!

Benjamin:  Psst, Olivia, what did Mommy get me for my present?
Olivia:  Oh. An ooooooooooold boot!!

Olivia (holding up 4 fingers):  Mommy, I'm four.  But when I put my uller finger up like dis (lifts her thumb slowly), I'M FIVE!!

Benjamin saved his birthday money and his allowance and bought himself a camera.  He took 57 pictures on the first day.  It is hilarious to look through them.  Especially the one where it appeared to be under water.  He said, "Well, the camera said it was waterproof so I took it in the tub."  Oh, son of mine.  We discussed the different between "water resistant" and "waterproof."  Luckily it still works.  Thanks God!

We did the "Dress up like a cow and get free Chick-Fil-A" thing.  We met up with Angie, Jenna, Melissa, and all of their children.  So much fun!!

Benjamin turned 9.  Wow!

Benjamin had his family birthday party as a dinner at Papacita's instead.  He insisted that they NOT sing to him.  He wouldn't even let us bring out the birthday stuff until their were no waiters around.  He invited Dennis, Debra, Judah, Ev, Ken, David, Lori, Marissa, and Burr.  We had a good time.

Benjamin had his Sonic-themed birthday sleepover.  He invited Jasper, Josh, Blake, and Cody.  They played in the yard, made their own pizzas, ate Sonic-topped cupcakes, played Sonic video games, and then built Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction.  He had a blast. 

Olivia spent the night with Dennis and Debra while Benjamin was having his sleepover.  She went with Dennis to drop the dogs at the groomer and went to the grocery with Aunt Debra.  She sure loves them.

I saw a wonderful part of my son's heart last night.  I had fussed at him quite strongly for something he did.  I was a bit too harsh.  Last night I went in to apologize to him.  I teared up and he said, "Mommy, have you prayed about this?"  Oh, sweet son.  You're so smart.  You have the right perspective at 9 years old, and I'm struggling at 33.  God, please protect this part of his heart. 

I love those 2.  I am so undeserving, but thankful nonetheless.



 

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Wii are "best fwiends!"

One thing I love about that sweet husband of mine is that when he sets his mind to something, he follows through.  He has decided to work on his health.  He has been using our dusty Wii Fit game and doing the yoga setting.  He is finding that it is really helping his back, neck, and posture.  Oh, it is also great father/daughter bonding time!

Olivia is interested in anything that Daddy is interested in.  She says it "because Daddy is my best fwiend!"   If Daddy likes Cheerios, Olivia likes Cheerios.  If Daddy likes reading, Olivia likes reading.  If Daddy jumps off a cliff.....well, she'd probably send Benjamin.  Anyway, Olivia decided that she needed "to get some eddercise like Daddy to be healfy."

Stretchiiiiiiiing.


This one is my favorite.

Racing!
She even stands like him.  I love this!

He is such a good Dad.  I love that man!

Who knew?!

After making the belly cakes for the baby showers at church, the pastor's wife asked me if I'd make the wedding cake for her SIL.  I have never made a wedding cake before.  I really wanted to do it simply to see if I could do it.  However, weddings and all things wedding-y tend to be very emotional things, so I didn't want to say yes, botch the whole cake job, and have a disappointed bride.  Keeping this in mind, I said yes.  (?!?!!)  There is something wrong with me.

Luckily, Evelyn was excited and wanted to help me.  She is really good at artistic things.  I am good at practical, methodical things.  We ended up being a great pair.

This is what we ended up with.  I was thrilled.  Hm.  Who knew that Ev and I could make wedding cakes.  I should probably change my phone number......  ;D

Beginning.  I think it is pretty just like this.

Terry wanted a teacup on the top that was tipped over and had flowers spilling out of it.

Cake sitting on top of little bowls of purple glass beads.  The cake was lit from underneath.

I love that they set it on burlap.  Pretty.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Cakes!

I've been messing around with cake stuff too.  I find that fondant is a lot easier than people think it is.  It's really like rolling out Playdoh (did I write about Playdoh twice in one day?!?!) and cutting shapes out of it.  So far I've made 3 belly cakes for baby showers at church and Olivia's birthday cake.  I really like them!






Memorial Day Fun

For Memorial Day we asked our new neighbors to come over and have dinner with us.  They have 4 little girls in their household.  My Olivia is thrilled about this.  She's already talking about having them over for a sleepover.  What is it with girls and sleepovers?

Kevin and Benjamin set up a pavilion next to our inflatable water slide, and the girls spent hours sliding and giggling and such.  Our new neighbor brought over a large bench, and we were all able to sit outside and chit chat until it was time to start dinner.

Kevin grilled steaks and we had baked potatoes, broccoli, salads, a fruit tray, and fried green tomatoes.  They had never had fried green tomatoes before.  They seemed a bit leery of them, but ended up liking them very much. 

We finished off the evening with a game of Scrabble.  It was wonderful to find out that they were Scrabble fans too!

Here's to new neighbors!!

Weeeeeeeeee!! 

My smaller engineer getting everything set up.

Ahhhh...Playdoh smell

Do you remember that smell?

Olivia purchased 8 containers of Playdoh today with her allowance (note how many shades of pink she purchased).  As soon as we opened it up I remembered the smell.  It sort of made me feel happy.  Odd, huh?

She couldn't wait to get home and use it!  She grabbed my rolling pin and two baskets of cookie cutters and went to town.  She's currently making "a medicine bottle."  Interesting.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Girls!!!

The new neighbors have 4 little girls.  Three of them are over here playing right now.  Olivia is the happiest girl in the world!!  All I hear is chattering and giggling and squealing.  This makes me happy too.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Self-confidence, check!

I was at the chiropractor's office a few months ago.  I had the children with me.  We were sitting in a little room, and I had a massaging thing on my neck.  There were two older ladies in there with us.  They were looking at Olivia and smiling. 

Then one lady asks, "So, how old are you?" 

Olivia says, "I'm free years old.  And I know I'm pretty.  You don't have to tell me." 

The lady looked at me and asked what Olivia had said.  I had never been more thankful for that "only Momma can decipher what the child says" thing.  I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled.  I wanted to crawl under the table!     
I know that she hears it often, but I never realized that she picked it up.  I certainly never realized she could verbalize that she heard it. 

Kevin has often said that he prefers to tell her that she is smart, funny, nice, loving, good at dancing, fun, a great artist, etc. etc.  He wants her to notice those inside sort of things that really make her who she is.  I didn't think that she'd pick up on that stuff yet either.  I guess I was wrong. 

Inside stuff it is.....

"I'm amazing"

Kevin and I take the children out on dates once a month.  One month he has Olivia and I have Benjamin.  The next month we switch.  Last night Benjamin and I went out on our date. We had to head home early, so we finished up our date this morning by going to garage sales.  As we were driving I asked Benjamin to tell me something about himself that I didn't know.  He said, "How about I'm amazing?!"  I told him I already knew that.  He laughed and said, "How about I'm amazingly funny!?" 

Yup, he sure is!  He makes me smile.

"We are like da sheeps"

I was standing in the kitchen on Thursday morning trying to cook breakfast for the children.  It had been a very hard week, so I was having a hard time keeping it together.  I'm stirring oatmeal and crying.  Olivia is sitting in a chair behind me chattering away as Olivia does.  Then she says, "Mommy, do you know Jesus is a shepherd and we are like da sheeps?  And he pick us up berrrrry gentle and HOLD US!"  Then she continued chattering. 

Oh how I needed to hear that!  Sweet little baby speaking words to soothe me when I need them.....

"Out of the mouths of babes......"

Friday, May 11, 2012

Too big to wrap

Olivia says, "Mommy, what do you want for Mudder's day?" I tell her, "I'd like a hotel."  Without missing a beat, Olivia rolls her eyes (!) and says, "Mommy. That is too big to wrap. You know dat!"

Thursday, February 2, 2012

What I should be doing....

...finishing my grocery list.  I started it about 10.5 hours ago.  Yeah....about that.

What I am doing....Everything but that.  I have checked on a washing machine part for my brother-in-law, looked up how to write I LOVE YOU in some binary form, looked at a low carb website while eating cake, and even considered doing the 30 Day Shred exercise video (I ruled that out after the whole "eat cake" thing).

I had better go do it.  I wish Mom was here already.  She is the one person I know who actually LIKES to cook.  She cooks almost all day long.  It's insane.  I'm glad she's coming to visit, but I'm even happier that she's insane!!  6 days and counting......

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Baby steps

Today I danced around the kitchen with my Livi girl.  We like Adele. Benjamin came in and joined us very briefly.  I love to see him dance.  He is shy about it, but it makes me smile.

We had lunch with Kevin.  Benjamin called Kevin to tell him that he got a 100% on his spelling test, and then invited Kevin to lunch.  It was sweet.  I love that Olivia sticks her hand in the mouth of the lion statue in front of the restaurant and then hollers, "Daddy!  Help me!  Save me!"  

Olivia "helped" me mop.  She is actually really enjoying helping me clean as long as we're together.  I sort of like it.  She also hung out with me and chit chatted while I scrubbed the tub.  :oD

Benjamin spent the last part of the evening curled up in my bed reading on my Kindle.  I love that he is reading long chapter books now.  It's exciting to see him really get into a good book.  I can't wait to see what it is he likes.

Kevin came home from work feeling nice.  He wrote an important email and was very pleased with himself.  I am pleased with him too.  It's nice to see him shine.

Tamryn and the kids came for dinner tonight.  I made a cajun soup and biscuits.  Yum.  We played a game called Carcassonne.  It's a really fun strategy game (I only say that because I won. Otherwise I don't use strategy and fun in the same sentence.  The game was fun though!) and had a great time talking.  Dessert?  I got to watch Tam's little girl take her first steps.  That was special.  This is the kind of thing I love....dinner with friends, playing games, talking, enjoying the children. 

Kevin and I wrapped up the evening with an episode of Little House on the Prairie.  I love that show.  This one was about when Dr. Baker falls in love with a young woman named Kate, but decides that he can't marry her because he is old enough to be her father.  I didn't realize it until halfway through the show, but Kevin is a lot older than me, and I'm sure glad that he never changed his mind.  I don't know what I'd ever do without that man!

Ahhhhh....happy sigh.  Thank you, God, for this life.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Goodbye Facebook. Hello Life.

I've said it many times in the past 6 months, but I've never actually done it.  There were many reasons that I "needed" to be on Facebook.  I followed my coupon blogs on there.  That is where my Free Kindle Books listing was. Who would take care of the giant fake mansions that I built with the profits from my burgeoning carrotsicles crop?!! The most important reason was that all of my pictures were on Facebook and how do I get them off? 

When I got to thinking about it, all of those things were rather ridiculous.  I can click right over to my coupon blogs and Kindle websites.  I can take my pictures off of Facebook (FYI...it's tedious!).  I can plant real flowers with my children!!  I can actually live my life without Facebook.  I may actually be able to live the kind of life that people pretend to live on Facebook because I'd have the time to do so. 

If I were to be completely honest, I didn't want to leave.  I can keep up with what everyone else is up to!  I can see my sister's coworker's uncle's vacation pictures from their exorbitant vacation to a little known island.  Or, to state it correctly, I can look into the lives of other people whom I don't really have anything to do with on any given day.  Then I walk away feeling lonely and less-than.

I think that this is where Facebook was crippling for me.  I want to be honest here.  I have, for all of my life, struggled with self-esteem issues.  Facebook did not help this!!   On Facebook, I had about 85 "friends."  In the last month do you know how many of those "friends" called, wrote, or visited me?  Six...and that number includes my mother and 2 sisters.  Pre-Facebook, this would have been just fine.  That would have brought contentment.  My mother and sisters are my favorite friends.  The other three people are ones that are very near and dear to me.  To have that many people close to my heart should be enough, but I found myself being discontent.  This realization was the start for me. 

I started to feel very sad that none of these 85 people were actually active in my life.  I started to look at the pictures of my 85 "friends" and ask myself, "Why am I never included in these dinners, outings, play dates, cooking dates, etc etc etc.?"  I saw pictures of what other people were doing with their children and questioned my own mothering.  I started to wonder what was wrong with me.  I started to wonder about my worth.

But, you know what, I do indeed get out with my friends.  We have fun!  I do indeed take my children to fun places.  We cook together and play games and act silly.  I just don't write about all of that or put up pictures of every teeny tiny thing that we do.  There's also a lot of regular life that happens.  Some days my children don't listen.  Some days I yell.  Some days I don't get out of pajamas.  Some days we eat oatmeal for dinner.  Those are the things that happen in everyone's lives, but they don't talk about it.  So, not factoring that in was really skewing my view of what was real.

I realized that I'd rather talk to my friends on the phone and hear their voices.  I'd like to know how her day really was and be able to tell from the inflection in her voice if there's something deeper.  I don't want to just know that "Today Bubbanator and Lil' Bub Jr. III went to Al's BBQd things while I rested at home."  I want to know that she was disappointed that she didn't get to go dig into some BBQd things.  Or I want to hear that she is excited that she actually got to stay home and paint all 10 fingernails at once! 

I want real life and not just a picture that I put a fictional story to.  I don't want to be given permission to be lazy and not call simply because I feel like I already know everything that is going on.  Because, in reality, I don't.