The Bland Clan

Happy Birthday Stephanie

2010-01-10T11:13:00.001-08:00

I know I am a little out of order with the posts, but hey at least I am posting. Stephanie turned 6 years old on January 4th. I cannot believe that she is already 6. I can remember like it was yesterday holding her in my arms for the first time. It has been 6 wonderful years and I am so proud of the young lady that she is becoming. Her heart is open and softening to the calling of the Lord and we pray that soon she will receive Christ as her Lord and Savior. We celebrated her birthday with a party at Monkey Joes. Because there was no school on Monday we actually had her party on that day. She invited a couple of friends from school and a couple from church. All the girls had a blast and we were so proud of Stephanie because she made sure to include everyone and they all played really well together even though they didn't all know each other.

Easy Bake or Not

2010-01-10T11:00:00.001-08:00

Stephanie got an Easy Bake Oven for her birthday this year. We had been given one by a friend recently, but it was missing some of the necessary utensils. Stephanie has been bugging me ever since to get the trays so she could use it. After looking at the expense to replace the trays vs buy a new one, I opted to just buy her a new one for her birthday. I remember having one when I was little and I really liked it. Now I must tell you that Stephanie is not know for her fondness of sticking with me in the kitchen. She generally will get started with me and then decide that she is done(way earlier than the task is finished). This is very much unlike Katie who willingly sticks the entire process out! So, I got the Easy Bake Oven set up and we were ready to bake. She chose the yellow cake with the chocolate frosting after no little pressure from mommy that the sugar cookies were too adventurous for our first time. I tried really hard to not just do it all myself and to actually let her do most of it. I am thinking at this time that maybe this will encourage and spark her desire to be in the kitchen more! Well, as our adventure proceeds she begins to get a little frustrated. There was so little batter that it was a little difficult to get out of the bowl and into the pan. She of course decided that she would rather relinquish the duties to me, yet again. This time though I made her stick it out. The finished product in my opinion was not worth the trouble, a little too thin, and not so appealing looking. However, when asked today what she thought of her Easy Bake Oven, she stated that it was awesome. So, I guess that we will attempt this cooking experience again and maybe next time our cake will come out a little fluffier. Maybe we will even attempt the sugar cookies, sprinkles and all!

He's Here

2010-01-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a long time since I last posted, but I suppose you could say that I have been a little busy. Our precious baby boy arrived on Wed, Dec. 16th at 3:48am. While we were anticipating his arrival that week by induction, he decided to make his appearance a little earlier than scheduled. I thought I might share the story with those of you who may be interested and haven't yet heard it. I really want to write it down for myself though so I don't forget it. I was scheduled for an induction on Thursday, Dec 17th which was 9 days before my due date. My plan was to work on Monday and Wed and then have the induction done on Thursday. I went to the doctor on Monday feeling pretty bad with some very uncomfortable back pain that had been lingering on for several days. I was having a rather difficult time working due to the pain. The doctor checked me and I was no further along that the previous appt(about 2 cm). They hooked me up to the monitor just to make sure that I wasn't having any regular contractions and of course I wasn't. So my doctor bid me goodbye and said he'd see me bright and early Thurs morning. Since I was just so uncomfortable, I decided that it was best to call it quits at work so I proceeded home for my last few days before the induction. On Tuesday, I decided that I really needed to bake goodies for people at Chris's work so I embarked upon Wamart to shop for supplies. My intent was to finish early in the day and relax, but for those of you who know anything about my Tuesdays, there isn't much time in the day for doing much. So, at 10pm when Chris came home from his dinner meeting I was still cooking. He sat down at the table with me and I finally finished up at 11:30pm. I arranged and rearranged the refrigerator until I finally had all 5 platters strategically placed and carefully shut the door. I then walked over to the stove to finish cleaning up and ..... "I think my water just broke." No exclamation just a calm statement and then I proceeded to tell Chris to call K. as I walked into the bathroom. A few minutes passed by and I said to Chris, Did you call K.? To which he replies what for? I think that I ignored this and waited a few more minutes and then asked the same question again to which he responded "Why in the world would I call K.?" To this I boldly exclaimed that my water had broken and we had two children sleeping upstairs and we needed to go to the hospital! Now, I will say that once in the car Chris did apologize saying that he just couldn't understand why he should call K. as he was thinking all along that she was in school and he needed to call someone else instead..I like to believe that he was just in shock and not sure what to do as this had never happened to us before quite like this with our other children. And as he said, we didn't discuss who to call because this isn't how it was supposed to happen! I guess that God just knew that it was time for us to welcome Andrew in our arms a little earlier. We are so glad He did! So we proceed to wait on K. and I change my clothes and finish gathering my things, straighten the house and take out the trash(YES! I took out the trash). At this point I was not having strong regular contractions so I was just busying myself. "I think my water just broke." No exclamation just a calm statement and then I proceeded to tell Chris to call K. as I walked into the bathroom. A few minutes passed by and I said to Chris, Did you call K.? To which he replies what for? I think that I ignored this and waited a few more minutes and then asked the same question again to which he responded "Why in the world would I call K.?" To this I boldly exclaimed that my water had broken and we had two children sleeping upstairs and we needed to go to the hospital! Now, I will say that once in the car Chris did apologize saying that he just couldn't understand why he should call K. as he was thinking all along that she was in school and he needed to call someone else instead..I like to believe that he was just in shock and not sure what to do as this had never happened to us before quite like this with our other children. So we proceed to wait on K. and I change my clothes and finish gathering my things, straighten the house and take out the trash(YES! I took out the trash). At this point I was not having strong regular contractions so I was just busying myself. On the way to the hospital the contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart, but still very tolerable in pain. When we got there I was at 4cm and in 1 hour I was at 8cm and waiting on an epidural...I have never gone this far without an epidural and it was not my intent to do so this time either. I finally got my epidural and a little rest for about an hour and then my sweet boy arrived at 3:48am! He is precious and we adore him. That's his birth story and I just wanted to share it with everyone. Here are a few pictures of our little man!

Just waiting

2009-12-12T13:04:00.000-08:00

I thought that while I had some free time I would update my 2 readers(who already know this anyway). I am scheduled to be induced on Thursday. I went to the doctor on Wed. and I had dilated 1-1.5 cm and was 50% effaced. I go back on Monday for another appointment and then induction on Thurs. I am doing pretty good. I had pretty noticeable contractions on Wed and Thurs morning and again in the evening, but nothing really regular. I am scheduled to work on Monday and Wed, but I am taking it one day at a time. As of right now I will be at work on Monday and see what the doctor says before I make a decision about Wed. I am actually pretty impressed with how ready I actually am. All my Christmas presents are bought and wrapped with the exception of just a few. All the Christmas decorations are up and I have done some Christmas baking and put it away in the freezer. I have all the teacher gifts ready to give with the exception of a few minor details like needing saran wrap to wrap the plates in. The nursery is ready, Andrew's clothes are washed, folded and put away, and the car seat is installed in the car. So, now I am really just in wait mode. I am actually quite glad that most things are done because the motivation right now is zero and I am exhausted. I think that the 'nesting has left and now I am just tired. Well, that is my update on me. I will do my best to let you know when my little man arrives, complete with pictures as soon as I can.

Andrew's shower

2009-12-05T20:12:00.000-08:00

I had my baby shower for our sweet little boy just 3 weeks ago. It was an awesome time and I was so blessed to have so many people show their love for us. I was overwhelmed at the turn-out and I still am. 34 weeks My roommate and very good friend from college came to spend the weekend with me and go to the shower. She brought her two precious children with her as well. She and I were together thru thick and thin in pharmacy school and have remained in touch since. I am so glad she was able to come. Surprise! Yes, this is my best friend from NE and I couldn't have been more surprised to have her arrive at my house on Friday night unannounced. Her husband made the arrangements with mine and everyone did a great job keeping the secret.(a hard thing to do where I am concerned) Look at all those gifts! My mom and Vicki of course came for the shower as well. In case you haven't figured it out yet, this made for a very full house for the weekend. It was great though. I love to have company and what better time to be surrounded by so much love..... As if the day hadn't been wonderful enough, I was blessed to have my dear friend J. and her two children there as well. J. and I are very excited to have the privilege of having two little boys that will be just a few months apart. However, J's baby G. is living proof that GOD IS SO GOOD. G. is her little miracle after 7+ years of infertility and I am so blessed to say that I have been able to witness what God has done in this family's life. I can't wait for Andrew and G. to meet!

My first project as a kindergartener

2009-12-05T19:57:00.001-08:00

If you are a mom and you have school age children then you will so understand this. Stephanie brought home her first 'project' just prior to Thanksgiving. Inside her folder I found this shape(supposed to be a turkey, but I had to be told that to figure it out) made out of poster board and a detailed letter from the kindergarten department explaining what she was supposed to do with it. The letter went something like this...'As a fun project we would like each child to decorate their turkey as either a pilgrim or an indian.....' So, hence began MY first kindergarten project as a 32 year old mom. Stephanie chose to decorate her turkey as pilgrim and while this required lots of my so called 'help', I must say that she did a rather good job. I of course had to find patterns for pilgrim clothes and then 'draw' them out. Now, if you know anything of my drawing skills then you know that this pilgrim was by no means dressed by the finest designer. Artist I am not!!!! Anyway, I then proceeded to cut them out and trace them on felt and then it was time for Stephanie to work her magic. She then cut the out herself and glued them to the 'turkey'. I believe that between the two of us we did a pretty good job given my lovely skills. I will say though that this was definitely a project that looked the work of a kindergarten rather than that of the professional. That's what it was supposed to be right? Never mind the fact that the mom did actually contribute a lot of help to the whole endeavor. As I said, I am no artist. Looks like I will have many opportunities though in the years to come to polish those certain skills that obviously missed during my own schooling years. Why you say? Well, I officially believe that I being said parent have entered into kindergarten again!

Cute as a Cupcake

2009-12-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I will admit that I have the same problem as many other moms...I like to dress my girls alike. Sometimes this is a love shared by my two growing girls and other times not so much. This was one of those particular days though when I was able to convince the two to wear their coordinating outfits. I bought this outfits last year and couldn't wait for it to get cool enough outside for them to wear them. In case you can't read the shirts, they say "Cute as a Cupcake". And I must say that I believe they are indeed just that cute...the clothes yes, but the girls definitely!

Best Friends

2009-12-05T19:47:00.000-08:00

These pictures are just too cute not to share. This is Katie and her best friend, L. L. and Katie are in Mother's Day Out together as well as the same class at church. Katie goes home with L. on the days that I work and then we try to have L. over here some as well. The two are very inseparable and I just love L. She was one of my Puggles in AWANA last year and one of my Cubbies this year. I fell instantly in love with her and she and Katie were fast best friends.

Katie's New Found Love

2009-12-05T19:37:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a long time since I blogged and I apologize. I am just a little busier than normal if you can actually believe it. Please cut me a little slack though as I am preparing for our new little bundle as well as trying to wrap up last minute details for the holidays. But I am ready to catch my few readers(very few I am sure) up with some pictures and stories. So hang on as I have a few posts coming up. First up is a new found talent for my Katie Bug. Katie and I have gotten ourselves into a rather good routine in the mornings. I get both girls up at the same time and they get dressed and have their breakfast. So once Stephanie is on the bus, Katie and I have about and hour before we have to leave to drop her off at school and me at work. So, I usually sit down and work on my Bible Study and while I am doing that Katie generally will join me at the table. She has become quite a good colorer staying in the lines and just really producing some very good pictures. Now though, she has found a new love of puzzles. She likes to put them together and is very good requiring little help. So, here are her latest creations.

Halloween

2009-11-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

We had our traditional halloween with the Maxwell family this year. We have been trick or treating with them for four years now and have officially named it a tradition. We began our evening with dinner together as we watched the rain fall outside the dining room window. The rain settled down just in time for us to head out, but we had our umbrellas in hand just in case. Just as we were finished with our last row of houses, it began to rain. So up went the umbrellas and off we went. Stephanie was a pajama girl Katie was Cinderella It is kinda hard to tell from this picture, but Cinderella is not so very happy. She had to trade her glass slippers in for pink tennis shoes as her Cinderella shoes were hurting her feet and not up for the journey! We call these the after Halloween costumes. As J. says, this was the result of too much candy! We had a great time and while the kids enjoyed the trick or treating, we adults just enjoyed the time together.

A tough adjustment

2009-10-28T18:49:00.001-07:00

This has been a rough 3 months for us here. As everyone knows, Stephanie started kindergarten in August. What an adjustment that has been! We have had ups and downs since August, but recently I, and Chris, took a good look at the past 3 months and realized that we have really had a whole lot of downs and not so many ups at all. Ever since school started we have noticed a significant trend in rebellion for Stephanie, whining, crying etc. At one point I finally admitted that the hardest part of the day was the moment she arrive home from school. The question of what would set her off today was very prevalent in my ind and I never quite knew what to expect. She cried or whined about the littlest things, out right refused to do other things and was just rebellious. Getting dressed in the mornings was always a battle as was the evenings. I was missing my sweet Stephanie and experiencing a side of her that I really wasn't prepared for. All that said, I assumed that all of this was just the beginnings of a new stage, or just kindergarten in general. Now let me say also that Chris was out of town a good bit over the course of a month. This certainly didn't help with the attitude. That is not to say that I can't control my child, but there is definitely something to be said about a child who knows when they can press the limits! Well, as discouraged as I was, I refused to give up and just say that this was the way it was going to be. We recently decided after much prayer that it was time for Chris and I to step down from choir for a while. It was just getting too hard to be gone the extra night every week. I work on Wednesdays and it was just grueling on me to have to leave work, eat on the way to church and then wait until after church to see the girls only to merely bring them home and put them to bed. So we stepped down. Well, still after trying to slim down our activities and be home more I was still seeing the same response from Stephanie. So, I gave it some thought and talked it over with Chris and we decided to try and implement something else. We both agreed that while Stephanie denied being tired(I mean really, what 5 year old says they are tired?), that a lot of her attitude and rebellion had to be directly linked to exhaustion. We both agreed that as hard as this would be to do, we had to make a conscious effort to give it a try. So, we have now backed up bedtime to 7:30. This really means that most nights she is in bed by 8 with the occasional 830. But this is way better than 830-900 every night. Guess what? Yes, it has been successful. We have seen less temper tantrums, crying, whining, and much less rebellion. Now yes, daddy is no longer gone on trips which helps, but we both believe that a large part of the problem was just exhaustion. So, I say all this to say that we now have seen a return of our sweet, compliant Stephanie( for the most part!) and we are both so thankful. Now our challenge is to keep it up and make a habit before we throw a baby into the mix in just two short months!!!

GO Gamecocks

2009-10-04T13:17:00.001-07:00

Chris decided that it was time for all four of us to go to a Gamecocks game together. He picked a great weekend. It was a night game and the weather was perfect. Chris had an overnight trip to Boston on Friday so friend graciously volunteered to give the girls and I a ride to the game, complete with a pit stop at a hotel to drop off our stuff. Thanks to our friend, he not only took us by the hotel,but also he and his daughter helped to give my kids a shoulder ride into the stadium--a life saver for me by far. The girls and I got to the game and were seated just as kick off was about to take place. We successfully climbed up to row 39(or maybe I should say I did) and had great seats in the lower level on a row with extra foot room. A major plus since we were cramming 4 people into two seas. The extra space gave the girls room to move around. Aside from being next to the visiting band the seats were pretty good. We only have 2 season tickets and so these were the extra tickets we bought. Chris decided to use these seats instead of our regular seats since ours are in the upper deck. I must say that this was a great decision on his part! Chris arrived shortly after the game started. The girls were excellent. As I said earlier, the weather was great and it was nice and cool. The girls made it thru the whole game and were dancing and everything else to the music. Stephanie even got into the gamecock cheer. After the game we walked back to Chris's car which was not a close walk(at least as far as the girls and I were concerned). Chris alternated piggy back rides for the girls while myself and the other girl held hands and walked the distance mostly down a rocky railroad track. No complaints whatsoever were uttered from their mouths. We were so proud of them and will definitely plan another game for next year.

Just like Uncle Ben

2009-10-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

I found Katie in the sun room on Tuesday and this is what I saw. She loves to play dress up and sometimes she can come up with the silliest outfits. She is so much like my brother Ben it is scary. Her demeanor, character and her ability to just enjoy life is almost a carbon copy of Ben. All of these make her such a sweet and loving young lady and she is really turning out to be so much fun.

It's a....

2009-10-01T19:37:00.001-07:00

BOY. Yes, in case you read this and didn't know we are having a boy. I am sure that this is not news to many as most who read this blog are just friends nearby anyway, but I thought I would share it anyway. His name will be Andrew Jarrett. The first name is a name that Chris and I have had picked out for years and 'Jarrett' is his mom's maiden name. We decided that since she has passed away we would carry on her name in him, whom she was never able to meet. Vicki made this. It is made from all the kinds of things you would find in a little boys pocket. My mom came up this weekend and helped me finish painting the nursery. She and Vicki moved the furniture and put the crib together. I am excited that this is all done and now all that is left is just little stuff like decorating etc. VIcki is working on a mural for his room which is a scene from Guess How Much I Love You. I am so excited and can't wait to see what it will look like. I have seen the drawing she did, but not the final product(she is actually making it on foam which I will then attach to the wall) The girls have these kind of pictures on their walls and it is very nice. My mom has again outdone herself and made the nursery bedding. All of it is done with the exception of the crib skirt. She is finishing that up. All in all we are close to being done with the exception of lots of little things. I am looking forward to having it done before the holidays. Helping mom make the bed. Look at how big they are! So hard to believe that this used to be their crib!

Sniffing it out

2009-08-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

This one is just too funny not to share... On Monday when D. picked Katie up from school, Mrs. C. told her this story about Katie and told her to make sure that she shared it with us. Apparently, Katie came up to her teacher on Monday and told her that someone was stinky and had pooped in their pants. Mrs. C. tried to contain her composure and proceeded to tell Katie to go find out who it was and to let her know. So, Katie walked around the classroom 'sniffing' all the kids until she found the culprit. She then proceeded to to just look at Mrs. C giving her the eye that the 'stinkiness' had been found. Yes, that would be my Katie.

Katie's first week of Cubbies

2009-08-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

Ok. We have embarke.d upon a new year of AWANA. Stephanie has been in Cubbies for the past two years and did wonderful. She memorized her verses and amazed us greatly over the past two years She has now graduated to Sparks where Chris has moved up with her to help in her class. Last year Katie was in Puggles, a new AWANA group for 2 year olds. I was one of the leaders in Puggles last year and grew so attached to many of the kids in there that I decided to move up with them this year to Cubbies. Now, Puggles was great, but there was not any scripture memorization for the 2 year olds. So, now that we are 3(almost 4 actually) Katie is having to memorize scripture. So, knowing what a challenge Katie is I figure that this will probably be a tough year, but I am definitely going to give it my best with her. Last week was our first week to actually have to sit down and learn verses and this particular week required her to memorize 2 verses(shortened) and the Cubbies motto. Katie already has real issues with sitting still and focusing. So, I am already thinking that is probably going to be a very touch year for us. The first day we sit down to work on our verses and what is Katie doing while I am trying to teach her the verses, just guess? That's right, she was hanging upside down on the couch and all I can think is how this child is so different from her sister and how this year will be the death of me! I just know that my child will never learn the verses and I will look like the worst mom/leader for not teaching my child the verses! So, maybe by now you are wondering how the week went since we are now in our second week. Well, I must say that I did keep working with her despite her constant inability to stay still and the result.....Sunday morning on the way into Sunday School, guess what Katie was doing? You got it, telling her daddy and I all her verses for that week. I was so proud. I guess that even if she does hang upside down on the couch she is still retaining something!

Katie's first day fo 3-K

2009-08-25T19:23:00.001-07:00

I do realize that I am over a week behind on posting this. However, I must admit that quite frankly I somehow managed to let this important mile stone for Katie slip past the blog. I certainly did not meant to. Katie happily went off to 3-K last Monday and was very excited. She has the same teacher this year as Steffie had for 3-K. When I was called by the teacher just to give me the info for the upcoming year, her exact words to me were 'I can't wait to get my hands on her'. Since you are reading my blog, I will assume that most of you probably know about my sweet Katie Bug. However, I am sure that you also know that I have always said that she beats to her drum, wears me out etc. No doubt teacher wanted to get her hands on that sweet Katie Bug. However, while I have no doubt over the teacher's ability to handle my 'too much to handle girl', I am not sure that she knows just what she is in for. First day of school I dropped Katie off with specific instructions to her teacher that should Katie misbehave, for I knew inevitably that she would, that she was to write me a note. I get home from work that day and what do I find, but a note. I carefully and expectantly read the note and find these words. "Katie was pretty good today. The only problem we had was that I had to get on to her for being too bossy." Now, to that all I have to say is no way! Not my Katie. I can't imagine where she could have gotten that from! So, that was the first day and so far I haven't received any more notes. I just hope that we can keep it that way!

Finger?? Painting

2009-08-25T19:17:00.001-07:00

This would be Katie's rendition of finger painting. I on the other hand would call this more of a hand/arm painting project. She had a great time though and did pretty good keeping her mess contained, thankfully.

Things they say

2009-08-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

Today while Stephanie and Katie were playing, Chris and I hear Katie saying something to Stephanie. All of sudden Chris just busts out laughing. I didn't hear exactly what she said so I asked him. She proceeded to ask Stephanie if she wanted to 'wait until after Clark Howard is over?" For those of you who don't know who Clark Howard is, he is a financial gooroo that comes on the radio. He also has a tv show on Saturday and Sunday from 4-5pm. Chris always watches this show. I just had to share this because Chris and I thought it was hilarious. Oh the things they say.

Stephanie's First Day of Kindergarten

2009-08-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

The day that I never thought would come finally arrived. I sent my oldest daughter to kindergarten on Monday. I cannot believe that time has flown by so quickly. I remember all the times people told me to savor every moment because they grow up so fast. I always thought to myself that I just couldn't wait to get to the point that they weren't under my feet all the time. Well I now understand all those words of wisdom. Stephanie was very excited about her first day of kindergarten. We woke her up and had her fed and dressed without any issues. We had decided that we would take her to school the first day and then let her ride the bus from then on. So, the four of us piled into the car and headed off. We got there and all was well. As we were hugging and kissing her goodbye, she started to cry(I am pretty sure that this was instigated by another little girl in the class who was already crying). Anyway, I took one look at my precious baby crying and I couldn't stop the tears. I decided that it was best at that point for me to kiss her and make my exit so as to to create anymore of a scene. So, I left her tender hearted, sensitive daddy to settle her in....For those of you who know Chris, you know that he is very tender and has a very special bond with Stephanie. He remained composed despite the tears that proceeded down his cheeks. We finally made our exit and all was well until we got in the car. It was at that point that I let the tears come. All Katie could say all morning was mommy don' cry anymore. I am happy that my little girl is growing up. It is just that all of a sudden I realized that she was no longer going to be under my watchful eye all the time. There was going to be someone else influencing her and others around her. I was no longer going to be able to steer her away from activities or conversations that I may deem inappropriate. I could no longer control what she said to others, the tone she used or whether or not she was being polite. So the lingering question was, 'Have I taught her what she needs to know up until this point?' Will she represent Christ? I know that she has not accepted Christ into her life yet, but would she remember to be a light for Jesus in the way that she knows how at this point? All of these questions ran thru my head and the only thing that I could do was to turn her over to GOd. I have always prayed for her safety and her salvation, but now I find myself lifting her up to Him many times a day. I think that yet again God is teaching me that I must do His will and teach my children His word and He will direct not only my path, but theirs as well. So, we are going on day #4 tomorrow and I believe that we will survive this difficult journey just as we have every other journey up until this point, but we must stay on our knees.

Vacation and a little education

2009-08-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

We headed back to Amelia Island the third week of July for our annual trip. Chris and I are members of the Georgia Society of Health System Pharmacists(GSHP). They hold their annual summer meeting at Amelia Island and Chris and I have been attending since I was pregnant with Katie. The meeting is designed to be a family vacation and the programs are scheduled in such a way that it makes it very conducive to bring your families along. Because Chris and I are both pharmacists though we always bring my mom and Vicki along to care for the girls. The first few years we went were nice, but still rather challenging for mom and Vicki as the girls were little and we didn't know the plantation well enough to know exactly what we were getting into. This year turned out to be our best year ever. Chris and I both decided to do only the bare minimum education programs we had to and just to enjoy the rest of the time with the girls and mom and Vicki. We had a resort view villa which was a short walk down a board walk to the beach. There was also a very nice pool right at the villa. We were all able to relax and just have a wonderful time. The beach is always rather choppy so we don't generally spend a lot of time there. However, this year mom and Vicki brought kites and so we went down to fly kites for a while. Stephanie was insistent on 'jumping' the waves and so we tried to oblige her. You will see in the pictures though that the water was just way too rough. Keep in mind that they were only ankle to mid calf deep! One day mom and Vicki took the girls on a walk along the beach and decided to come and meet Chris and I at the Beach Club Grill. The walk should have taken then no more than 30 minutes, but as it turned out it was more like 2+ hours. They went the wrong way on the beach!!! Afterwards, anytime a mention about a walk on the beach was made the girls would quickly say 'nooooooo' Chris and I had a good laugh about while the 4 of them were just rather sore. We had a great trip and are already thinking about our next trip. This time though we remember where we stayed and we will be requesting it.

Omaha 2009

2009-08-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been terrible at blogging lately, but we have been really busy. We were out of town for 3 weeks in July. The summer was terribly busy, bu in a good way. I'll try to play catch-up a little over the next few days. The firs part of July started out with our annual vacation with the Harrisons. This was our year to fly to Nebraska. The girls were at grandma' s the beginning of the week and so we picked them up in Columbia on our way to the Charlotte airport. We flew from Charlotte to Kansas City and the flight there was relatively uneventful. Our plane in Charlotte was late taking off, which just meant that we had a very short to no lay over. We arrived on time in Kansas City and the Harrisons were there to greet us. We stayed the night in Kansas City and enjoyed half of the next day there as well. On Friday afternoon we piled into the cars for our 2.5 hour drive to Omaha. The weather was rather cool while we were there with very cool evenings for the most part. We actually had to wear jackets on July 4th while we were outside shooting fireworks. Chris and J. were more excited about the firework shooting than the kids were, but that is not surprising. They are just kids in a grown up body anyway. We enjoyed our visit to the fullest as usual. J. and I enjoyed some shopping and eating time together and Chris and J. enjoyed lots of time in the basement playing XBox. One night they actually played thru the night. I had to get up to go to the bathroom and realized that Chris was not in the bed. When I went down to ask them if they realized what time it was they just looked at me dumb founded. There was no clock and of course they were in the basement so they had no concept of time. The visit was great and as always went by way too fast . There were lots of tears shed by all as we boarded the plane to come home again. Our friendships have only grown stronger over the years. The kids all get along very well and S. is very good with my girls. Katie and Talia have always bonded quickly and being the baby Katie clings to S. as well. This year Katie and Z. found time to play together and they bonded as well. We hated to leave as always, but look forward to our visit again next summer. %2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fblandman19%2Falbumid%2F5368048357633050657%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26authkey%3DGv1sRgCPSnotjfsJyIBQ%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="288" height="192">

Pedicures with the girls

2009-08-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

Our neighbors and friends from across the street had to move this summer. We have lived in this house for 8 years. Chris and I moved here just 2 months after we married and this family has been our neighbors ever since. L. was pregnant with her 3rd child when we moved in and several years later she and I were pregnant again at the same time. L. child A. and Stephanie became fast best friends. They couldn't stay away from each other and all four girls played together constantly. One or the other family always had at any given time 1-2 extra girls. Back in Oct/Nov our friend lost his job and so he has been prayerfully searching for a job ever since. He finally found a job in June in MS. The inevitable was finally upon us and we were faced with the reality that they would really be moving. We tried to allow the girls to spend as much time together as possible. The had lots of sleep overs and lots of play dates. As a final get together of sorts, we decided to take all 4 girls with us for 'pedicures' We went to Tip Toe nails in Evans and proceeded to have our toes done. The 4 girls had their toes painted and then were able to watch a DVD while L. and I had our pedicure. It was a great time and we created an unforgettable memory that day.

Swimming with Friends

2009-06-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

We went to the pool today with some good friends from church. L. is Katie's friend. They are in class together at church and school. L. was one of my Puggles in AWANA and I developed a fast bond with her. So, naturally her mom D. and I have become friends too. Today was the second of our pool dates together. We have enjoyed getting together and the time goes by very quickly as the kids play together very well for the most part. Katie and L. posing for their picture. Steffie in an action shot! L. all geared up!

Backyard Fun

2009-06-24T15:04:00.001-07:00

We recently had some friends to give us a nice swing set for the girls and he and Chris put it together not too long ago. The kids have really enjoyed playing on it and it has been a great asset. On Monday, I had yard work to do so I set the sprinkler up so that it would be on the swing set. The girls put their bathing suits on and had a blast. When asked it they were having fun Steffie said, "Yes, this is better than the pool. This is the best day of my life." If only I could remind her of this on other days that she is complaining about this, that and the other.

Uncle Justin

2009-06-24T14:48:00.001-07:00

We went to Aiken on Sunday(Father's Day) to have dinner with Uncle Justin. We were supposed to meet Chris's dad too, but he wasn't able to come. We had a good time nonetheless. The girls were thrilled to see Uncle Justin as he was them. We ended the evening with the 'traditional' ice cream run. It is hard to tell in these pictures, but the girls were covered in their ice cream by the time we left. They enjoyed every last bite-the ones that didn't land on their clothes at least.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-24T14:36:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Father's Day pretty simple this year. We had plans to go to Aiken for dinner with Chris's dad and brother so we just had sandwiches for lunch. Chris said all he wanted was to watch tv and take a nap. So, I tried to oblige, but as it turned out our children have a bit of a hard time understanding how to play 'quietly'. Chris did get some time to rest, but I don't suppose it was exactly what he had in mind. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful husband and he is an awesome daddy. I couldn't ask for a better man for my children. We love you.

Stephanie's Preschool Program

2009-05-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Stephanie's preschool program. I don't like to call it a 'graduation' because that just sounds like something so 'old'. Anyway, the plan was that I was to drop the girls off at school at 9:30 and Chris was going to arrive from work to the school at 9:30 to watch the program. Since I had recently gone on the field trip with her, I was going to leave and go into work and just Chris was going to stay. No big deal. So I thought! So, we get there and I drop Katie off in her classroom after she screams and pitches a fit that she doesn't want the happy meal they are ordering her because she wants what I packed in her lunch box. (I might need to say that oops I forgot about the happy meals and packed her lunch). So, I left the lunch box just in case all while knowing that she would eat the happy meal when everyone else had one too. Anyway, back to the story....So we see Chris and I kiss Stephanie goodbye and proceed to leave the building as I watch all the moms and dads take their seats in the auditorium for the program. I get to my car and realize that there is absolutely no way that I can go to work at this point. I am beside myself that 1) my daughter is 'graduating' from preschool and 2) I have decided that it is no big deal for me to miss her 'graduation' program. Now mind you, there has been no guilt trip from Stephanie. She is perfectly happy to have daddy with her. Mommy on the other hand is not okay. So, I do the awful employee thing and call the boss and explain the situation and ask if it would be alright if I come in late. I go back inside and try to dry my eyes and I see my beautiful daughter exiting for the bathroom. She sees me and I pick her up and apologize, to which she doesn't understand...I explain that mommy should have never chosen work over her and I am sorry. She just says, "mommy, that's okay". So, I nearly made the worst mistake of motherhood yet(not the last I'm sure), but fortunately my instinct took over in time and I was able to be there for the first of many 'bigs' in my daughter's life. I say all this to say that I know that regardless of how great the program is or isn't, it is still a big deal to be there for every milestone in your child's life. I would have regretted and been so miserable if I had not stayed the extra 30minutes to see her program. I am so sad to see her done with this phase of life and I am so not looking forward to seeing her off to kindergarten next year. But I know that this too is part of growing up...for her and mostly for me!

Florida Vacation

2009-05-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

We went to Florida this past week. Chris had a conference to attend so he dropped the girls and I off in Deland to visit with the Robinsons. We had a blast and then rejoined Chris on Saturday for a trip to the Magic Kingdom. The trip was wonderful. While with Denise, we took the girls for a few hours to the beach in Daytona. Denise and I did not wear a bathing suit(big mistake) and found out real quick that that didn't matter to the girls. Steffie was very eager to jump over the waves and kept wanting to go deeper and deeper. Katie was hesitant at first and just stood back and watched. She eventually got into it too. By the time we left Denise and I were soaked from top to bottom. Who needs a bathing suit? We also took the girls to the springs one day. For those of you who don't know, the water coming from the springs is 72 degrees. The girls jumped right in and didn't seem to mind the cold one bit. Enjoy the pictures from our trip.

Stephanie's Farm Field Trip

2009-04-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Stephanie's class trip to the farm. Every year the 4 years venture to a near by farm of a lady that goes to the church where their preschool is. She showed them all the animals she had and took them thru her vegetable and flower garden. At the end of the trip she took them thru her 'fairy' garden. She told the story of how the fairies only came out at night and they came out to sprinkle flower dust on the flowers to make them grow. In the garden there were lots of 'fairy' homes and one special door. This little wooden door was at the bottom of a tree and she told them that when they were done with their work at night they would go in thru the door and up into the tree where they lived. So each child passed by and took a look at the 'fairy door'. As we passed by Stephanie looked down there and she looked up at me and she said, 'mom, there's just and old tree behind that door'. I proceeded to ignore her thinking I would just talk to her about it at home. She said it a few other times until I finally whispered to her that it was make believe and then she just quietted up. I just thought about how much she is like me sometimes. It is rather scary! Stephanie and her best buddies at school There's no telling what they were saying that she was trying to convice them wasn't true! I have to admit that I really didn't know peacocks could fly. These peacocks were huge and they flew and perched themselves way up in the trees. The weren't exactly quiet either when they were doing it.

Savannah Rapids

2009-04-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, the girls and I went with the neighbor to Savannah Rapids. I had actually only been there once for a banquet and had never had the opportunity to really look around. The girls weren't thrilled to walk as much as we did, but we did enjoy the scenery. They enjoyed looking at the 'waterfalls' and all the turtles. The turtles were quite abundant in and out of the water.

Katie's new Hair Cut

2009-04-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got Katie's hair cut. She has been letting her bangs grow out and it was driving me crazy because it just never looked good. So I thought I would give the bangs a little help and cut the back. I didn't mean for it to go quite this short, but I love it and I think she does too. The only down side is that it makes her look so grown up!

Feeding Time

2009-04-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry, but I couldn't think of an original title...so there it is. Anyway, lately Chris and I have been amazed by how well the girls are eating. Stephanie has been doing pretty good for a while, but now Katie is also doing good. Stephanie is eating everything on her plate and asking for more. While Katie generally likes to take her time, she is eating well and cleaning her plate as well. I am not talking about kid food either. For example, we had Mahi mahi, grilled chicken, fresh green beans and tomatoes for dinner on Saturday night. The kids tried the Mahi mahi, and Katie really liked it. Stephanie was okay with it, but preferred the chicken. They cleaned their plates! There wasn't a shred of food left. I had actually only cooked the chicken in case they wouldn't eat the fish. So I had a whole meal's worth of chicken plus the mahi and I thought for sure we would have left overs. Not so! Anyway, I am so proud of my girls. I have always made my kids eat what we ate or at least try it, but I have never been one to fix them something else. If they didn't like it then they just didn't eat. Well, it is all paying off now and I am so proud that I have kids that will eat just about anything. Yeah for my diligence is what I say!

Riverfront Park

2009-04-19T14:00:00.001-07:00

We went to my mom's for a little while the end of Master's Week. The girls stayed the whole week and Chris and I arrived on Wednesday. We had a great time hanging out with family. One of the days we took the kids to Riverfront Park in North Charleston. This is a park that they built on the old Navy Base. As you can see from the pictures, it is right on the water---BEAUTIFUL. We enjoyed most of the day there. Chris enjoyed reading about all the history. The girls enjoyed playing in the spray area and on the weird playground and I just enjoyed being in the sun.

New carpet Finally

2009-03-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

I know that I have been just terrible about the whole blogging thing. I am addicted to facebook and just never seem to have time to blog. I guess if I didn't feel like I should post pictures all the time then I could blog more. Posting the pictures is what takes so long. Anyway, I thought I would give a run down of what we are currently doing in our house. We, actually I, am in project mode again. Chris and I are finally going to be able to put some new carpet/flooring in our house. We are having the master bedroom, living room, and stairs recarpeted. The carpet goes in the Monday after spring break. Yeah! We are also putting laminate(same as in the kitchen) in the dining room. So, all this means that I am painting!. I am currently working on the living room. I have one coat on 3 of the walls and hope to finish the second coat and work on the 4th wall. It is behind the entertainment center so we have to tackle moving that first! We will eventually have all the main walls in the house repainted, foyer, stairs, hall etc. The question that remains is will I do it or will we end up paying someone? I will attempt it and we'll see where we go from there. I have to have Chris home for the most part because I'll need to get on the extension ladder. We'll see what happens. It may take me a year to finish. Who knows? Well, that is what I am up to. I am hoping to get me house back in some sort of order this weekend. I really want to go outside and work in the yard, but given the current weather situation, I guess I'll be in the house painting(which I need to be anyway) and not having to feel guilty about not being outside tackling the major spring yard clean-up!

Horse Show

2009-03-27T19:29:00.001-07:00

Uncle Eddie was in North Augusta with P. for a horse show/practice. I decided to take the girls and go see them. It took us an hour to get there(should have only taken 30 minutes) because I wasn't sure where I was going and I'm not so good at navigating thru Augusta to North Augusta without the interstate. Anyway, we finally arrived and had a blast. Stephanie loved the horse and really enjoyed riding it. Katie on the other hand was a little shy and timid. She rode with P. and held onto his neck the whole time. Stephanie rode with P. and then rode by herself with Uncle Eddie walking the horse. It was quite cold in the Hibadrome, so we bundled up in Uncle Eddie and P.'s coats. I just wish they had told us how cold it was in there. Thank goodness we all grabbed a light coat before leaving!

Getting into spring

2009-03-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

I took the girls to the park last week to enjoy the beginnings of spring weather. We met up with several other families from church and had a blast. I love the spring weather! We'll be soaking up lots of opportunities to go to the park while it is good weather outside. Unfortunately, the summers aren't always best for the park around here. We'll spend most of the summer in the water because of the heat. I'm not complaining though. Here are just a few pictures from our day.

flowers

2009-03-27T18:58:00.001-07:00

Nap Time

2009-03-26T05:28:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday, I had a chance to lay on the couch for a little while before we left for church. Katie crawled up there with me and this is what happened. It was too sweet not to capture.

Enamored with the new arrival

2009-03-26T05:10:00.000-07:00

My friend A had her baby girl on March 12. We took the girls to the hospital to see her. As you can tell, they were not enamored at all by her. They were both so gentle and sweet with her. When Katie was done holding her it was my turn. As I was holding her Katie came over and proceeded to unwrap the blanket from around her. She looked at her fingers and her arms and then her legs and then she proceeded to take off her socks. It was precious. She just had to check every part of her out.

Opa Visits and the zoo

2009-03-26T04:36:00.000-07:00

My dad came to visit a few weeks ago. He stayed with us from Thursday night to Sunday. The girls were so excited for him to come and really enjoyed having him here. He picked them up from school on Friday which they thought was great. He took them for ice cream and then to play at McDonalds. Afterwards, he brought them home and turned the couch around and set up a movie on the wall with all the works, popcorn and all. They had a blast. On Saturday, we all headed for the zoo and were planning to have our family pictures made. The zoo was great, but the pictures didn't happen. They were running over an hour behind and so we opted to have that done next time we are in Charleston. Not sure what happened to Chris in all these pictures. He was there though.

Catch up

2009-03-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...I have been just terrible at this blogging thing. I am so addicted to facebook and just don't seem to find the time to blog. Please forgive me... Life is hopping along rather rapidly here. I cannot believe that we are already over half way thru with March! While the year has quickly gone by already, I must say that it has also been the hardest 2 and a half months of my life. God is teaching me thru it all and I choosing to glorify him in all situations. Enough of that...so here is what we are up to these days... Sunday-Sunday School at 9:30am, church at 10:45am...Sunday School meeting at 4:30 pm(Chris), AWANA at 6pm Monday-I am keeping a 2 month old from 6am to 3pm, drop Steffie off at school at 9:30am, laundry, pick Steffie up at 1:30pm; Gymnastics from 4-5pm, BSF(Chris) 6-9pm, attempt to go to the gym in the spare hours Tuesday-Bible study 10-12, go to the gym sometime between 4 and 8pm, swim lessons from 5:30-6 Wed-Drop girls at school 9:30am, Work 10-6, Choir practice Thurs-Gym in the morning, Swim lessons 5:30-6 Fri-Drop girls at school 9:30am, work 10-6, Sat--work?, ???? This is only the list of activities that occur on a regular basis, then there are things like sunday school parties, keeping up relationships with friends, yard work and other misc projects that somehow are a part of having a family/house. Yes, we are busy around here and this is only my schedule. Chris seems to always have way more on his 'busy' plate than I do. I must say that I am grateful that my 'busy' plate consists of a lot more hours in which to complete than he does(he works a full time job you know) Anyway, I am not complaining just realizing that life is really crazy and busy. So, what else is going on around here... Stephanie is learning how to ride a bike without training wheels. I still can't completely let go of her, but we are making progress. Katie has learned how to write the letter 'K' and 't' and we are currently working on the letter 'a'. She can almost spell her name out loud(sometimes she needs a little reminder abou the letter a). Both girls are enjoying gymnatics and just started swimming lessons yesterday which they did really well at. So, I guess that pretty much covers it for now. I'll try to update again soon.

God Shows Off

2009-03-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. I just have to share that God sure put on a show today. As many of you know, one of our ministers lost their 2 month old daughter to an awful skin disease last May. Well, since they have gone thru adoption proceedings and have just been waiting on the right child. So, today is the birthday of their baby girl. She would have been one year old today. But here's the awesome part...Today they picked up their baby boy and brought him home. I believe the call for the adoption people/agency came on Tuesday and they picked him up today. Now tell me that is not so COOL! Only God can orchestrate that! He says so in His word....I will supply all you needs, I have plans for you, I love you....What more needs to be said. Thanks God for such a wonderful reminder and display or your awesomeness, holiness, and majesty.

Precious

2009-03-01T18:08:00.000-08:00

Chris and I went on a double date last night to the Chop House. We had a long wait for 90 minutes, but that was okay because it gave us an opportunity to chat with our friends. The food was phenomenal from appetizer to dessert. Good place for a nice date. They do take reservations/call ahead seating for anyone interested. I just didn't think to do that. Shame on me. This is what we found when we got home. As you can see, the girls still sleep together. As a matter of fact, they sleep together every night. I am still in awe and filled with joy every time I see them like this. I love it. They are such beautiful, precious gifts from God. I am so thankful. I hope that they will always be this close.

8 years

2009-03-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

I know I am terrible at this blogging thing, but I have been addicted to facebook. There I admitted it. I have an addiction. Do you think there a Facebook Anonymous group I can join? Trouble is I am sure I might see many of you there too! Anyway, life here has been hectic as usual, but very good. Chris and I celebrated our 8th anniversary this past Tuesday. We went out for dinner at Bonefish and then coffee and dessert at a local coffee/cafe shop. The dessert was out of this world wonderful. It seems like we have been together forever and then like we just met. This past year has been so sweet for Chris and I. We are both digging deeper into God's word and in turn we are finding that we are being drawn closer to him and one another(duh!) Chris and I went to Hilton Head two weeks ago for a marriage retreat. It was awesome to be together and to reinforce things we already knew, but we taking for granted. God also used the time to allow us to talk and reflect on things we hadn't talked about. I highly reccommend the retreat to any married couple(young or old). I guess that is all for us now. I'll try not to make it so long next time, but no promises.

Sweet times...Lord continue to teach me

2009-02-02T17:25:00.000-08:00

Days around our house have gotten sweeter these days. I am still not sure what God's purpose is in us losing our baby, but I know that there have been a few changes in me. I am enjoying some extra special time with my girls. Things like reading books, curling hair, coloring etc have taken on a whole new light for me. I am finding that I am spending more time doing with them rather than shooing them while I complete a task. I'm not sure how this is all occurring, but I am still keeping on task with my everyday chores etc., but I am just loving my time with the girls. God is keeping me strong about the loss of the baby too. I am having to answer occasional questions and listen to occasional cries from Stephanie and Katie about the baby's death(none of which are brought up by myself or Chris). My girls have always just seemed to have impecable memories. I guess that God is using this to help us teach Stephanie and Katie that we don't always know why things happen and things aren't always as happy as we want them to be, but we still have to trust God. That is a hard lesson for a mature adult, much less a 5 and 3 year old(of course they only can comprehend so much of it). Anyway, I just thought that I would share a little of what God is doing in us as a family. We are still waiting to see what God has in store for us. We know that no matter what it is it will be great. Because we serve a GREAT, GREAT God.

Stephanie's check-up

2009-01-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

Today I took Stephanie to the doctor for her 5 year old check-up. She is growing up so very fast and is becoming quite a fine young lady. No shots today, just a hemoglobin stick, but you still would have thought she had had a shot. She didn't even cry until after the fact and then she just let on. She is such a drama queen. Here are her stats: 40 lbs 42 in I don't exactly remember her percentiles, but she is right around 50% on both. Dr. B. says she is doing great and very well proportioned. Sorry no pictures, but the computer has had to go to the hospital so we are surviving on the one upstairs(thanks Aunt V. for getting this one up and running for us--we never thought we'd actually have to depend on it!).

The untamed monkey

2009-01-19T19:34:00.000-08:00

Can someone please explain to me why it is that my Katie bug suddenly acts like an untamed monkey whenever it is time for devotion. I know she is a bit of a wild child(or at least that is what I like to call her), but she was trying to climb on my head tonight. Seriously people...that is just not right. I think there is something wrong with her.

Sadness like never before

2009-01-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I am writing this, other than perhaps I need to get it off of my chest. Chris and I experienced the loss of a child yesterday. I didn't even really have a chance to blog and let everyone know that we were expecting. I guess I should start at the beginning. We found out about 2 months ago that we had been blessed again and would become parents again. We were both so excited. I had been praying for such a long time that God would show us if he wanted us to have another baby. I felt that I was ready, but Chris was not certain. God answered my prayers and Chris and I had agreed together that we would like to try to have another baby if it was God's will. We were ecstatic to find out a couple of months later that we were expecting. I kept things quiet until I was about 8 or 9weeks and then we told several very close friends and of course our girls. The cat was out of the bag then!!! I was about to bust to tell so everyone quickly found out. We agreed that we would tell our family on Christmas day(which is the reason for not blogging about it until now) Stephanie and Katie did an awesome job of not leaking the news to their grandparents. I was so proud of them. Anyway, things were going along great. I was tired, but not at all sick. All in all I felt really good. But I was not alarmed because my previous pregnancies were pretty much the same with just a little nausea with Stephanie. The holidays came and we were so busy and then Christmas arrived and we told our parents. I was 11 weeks pregnant and felt that even though I had not heard the baby's heart beat(I was scheduled to go to the doctor today) everything was fine. I wasn't having any any problems and had never had a miscarriage. I had had 2 healthy pregnancies surely I wouldn't be affected? Everyone was so excited. I was at my mom's on New Years Day and went to the bathroom one last time before leaving to drive home. At this moment my excitement as I knew it came crashing down. I will not give any details other than to say that the timing was terrible and I was unable to see the doctor. I stayed at my mom's until Friday morning and drove to the doctor's office. He had ordered blood work, but was not there to see me. Over the next 3 days, things progressively got worse and I was certain that I was miscarrying. I have never felt such emotional pain before. We celebrated Stephanie's birthday over the weekend and it was bitter sweet. I tried really hard to enjoy it for her sake, but I was crying inside. On Monday, we went to the doctor and were told that our baby had died. We both were expecting it, but it didn't make it any easier. Why am I telling you all of this? Maybe because I want you to know that I am okay...maybe because I want the word to spread so that I don't have to answer the questions a ton of times...maybe I just need to vent. I don't know. I do know that God has a plan and that our baby is in heaven with him. I have no idea how people go thru this that don't have a relationship with our Lord and Saviour. I know that God is going to teach me thru this experience. My heart aches, but I am okay. I know now how painful miscarriage is for a woman. I hope that maybe I will be able to help someone else that is going thru this same pain. I want to say thank you to everyone who has prayed for us, helped us, taken care of our kids, provided a meal for us or whatever else you may have done. We love you. Our God is bigger than any heartache we may ever experience; I know this, believe it and hold onto his truths. My favorite verse is still 'I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me' Phil 4:13. And second to it is Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know that plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I praise my Lord for his wonderful Word.

katie on the balancing beam

2009-01-04T14:17:00.000-08:00

This was taken at Stephanie's birthday party. We didn't get Stephanie, but we did get Katie. Both girls start gymnastics tomorrow. It should be lots of fun.

Happy Birthday Stephanie

2009-01-04T13:36:00.000-08:00

Today is my sweet Stephanie's 5th birthday. I can hardly believe that she is 5 and will be starting kindergarten in August. We had her birthday party yesterday at the Family Y and she had a blast. It was a gymnastics party and they got to do several things in the gymnastics room. She was too cute and way to big to be my little girl. She is growing up to be a beautiful girl. She has a very tender heart and is very polite and kind. Her manerisms are changing every day(some which we like and others we don't like so much). She is excited to be 5 and can't wait to start kindergarten(I on the other hand can wait). Happy Birthday Baby. Check out those legs! A few of the party animals. My dad and stepmom came and were able to bring my step brothers two girls(these are Stephanie and Katie's only cousins) Stephanie on the balancing beam. Stephanie with two of her most favorite people.

Publish Post

Revelation

2008-12-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

This is what I heard at 3:30 am...Mom, there is a roach in the bathroom(Katie). Well, use my bathroom(mom) pitterpatter Stephanie, mom says to use her bathroom(Katie yelling up the stairs to Stephanie) pitterpatter (Stephanie coming down the stairs) I already used the bathroom. pitterpatter THUD-- I ran into the box(Katie's comment after running over the laundry basket in my room and dumping all the folded clothes in the floor)... I just love this kind of drama in the middle of the night!!!!

Christmas Cookies and the before

2008-12-09T19:05:00.001-08:00

Today was our day to do our traditional Christmas cookie decorating. This year I was excited about the prospects of really enjoying it as the girls were able to do most of the decorating. I was right and it turned out to be wonderful fun despite the hours right up to it. Let me share about the hours prior to... I thought I was doing great. I had the steaks marinating and the twice baked potatoes ready to go back in the over. The sugar cookies were all mixed up and in the fridge waiting to be baked. I was ready to get dinner on and then on to the festivities. Then I had a revelation...it would be a better idea for me to actually bake the cookies so we could decorate them after dinner instead of standing around waiting on them to cook/cool. So, I pulled out the dough and began to cut the cookies with the cookie cutters(Disaster #1) The dough was too gooey and was impossible to work with. Thankfully I had a sugar cookie mix in the cabinet. I quickly whipped that up and will use the other to make mexican wedding cookies instead. With the cookies baking and breathed a sigh of relief. The grill was going and I was waiting on Chris to call and say he was on his way home. When he called, I put the potatoes in and headed out to put the steaks on. (Disaster #2) I discovered the grill as now off--the gas had run out. So, I decided to stick the oven on broil and hope for the best. The steaks turned out good and dinner proceeded as planned(thank goodness). Next up was the decorating which did not come with any disasters. The girls did a good job(for a 4 and 3 year old that is). They glopped icing on and poured sprinkles everywhere---but they had fun. No yelling, fussing or fighting and all had a good time. Enjoy the pictures. Stephanie decorating her cookies That's Katie's cookie--not just a glob of icing! Katie licking the knife. Daddy enjoying the fruits of our labor--he did decorate a few. Stephanie eating and decorating at the same time. Katie eating that gooey cookie

Catching up with November

2008-12-03T18:47:00.001-08:00

I realize that it has been an extremely long time since I posted. Let's just say I am a slacker. We have been extremely busy and I'll be brief as I tell all that we have done.... Chris went to the Swamp(University of Florida) we several of his friends and the girls and I headed to mom's for Disney on Ice. We had a blast and the girls loved every second of the show. We had our Sunday school Christmas party the weekend before Thanksgiving. Yes, I know it was early for a Christmas party, but we planned that way to try to keep th ings less hectic thru the season. We had a great turn out at the party and we laughed so hard that many of us cried. It was a great time of laughter and fellowship. We put up one of our trees before Thanksgiving to get a jump start on decorating since we were going out of town for Thanksgiving and are having a party at our house this weekend. The girls got to open their traditional Christmas pjs and also received their ornaments for this year. Katie got an ornament of Sleeping Beauty as this was the once princess that she was enthralled with at Disney. Stephanie received an ornament with three of the princesses as she was just thrilled with all of them. Chris got an ornament of ESPN guys! I received a tweety and sylvester ornament that was just adorable(I love Tweety and Chris has given me several tweety ornaments over the years). Stephanie had her class party the Friday before Thanksgiving and I was able to take off work so I could be there. I of course left my camera at home(shame on me), but will hopefully get the pics from someone else. Her class dressed up like Pilgrims and the 3 year olds were indians. They were all adorable. Finally, we headed home to my mom's for Thanksgiving. We ate at my aunt and uncle's on Thursday and had traditional Thanksgiving at my mom's on Saturday night with some friends. My husband was greatly dissapointed that we are venturing elsewhere for Thanksgiving(we have never done this in all our years of marriage) so my mom satisfied him by cooking at home as well(turkey, dessert etc). Actually I think mom had planned on it anyway. I actually did most of the cooking this time around. I made the pies, turkey and dressing and Vicki made the macaroni and cheese and sweet potato casserole. It was all wonderful...again.. We had the chance to visit with some friends and their new baby both Thursday night and Saturday night. I had seen H., but no one else had. The girls were thrilled with him and doted all over him. As you can see, we were very busy and the busyness hasn't stopped. Our house is all decorated now with 2 trees, wreaths, and lights and tomorrow I will begin the cooking for our annual pharmacist party. I'll try not to make the next blog as far apart as this one. Enjoy a few pictures....

Off the wall

2008-11-17T12:41:00.000-08:00

Okay, Stephanie was sick a couple of weeks ago with her annual 'ring in the fall/winter' illness. In case you don't know this usually means we bump up the steroid inhaler again and go into 'winter mode'. Well, we never seem to bump the inhaler up until we realize that the nose has stopped running, but the cough just won't go away. So, once we realize this we increase her steroid and everything usually gets back to normal. Well, I took off to mom's for a short visit to see Disney on Ice on Thursday night. I realize while in the car that Stephanie just will not stop coughing. Seems like it was getting worse to me. I then remember that I have left the house without the nebulizer or the her albuterol (rescue) inhaler...I'm ju.st not in the habit of carrying them anymore since she doesn't generally need them. So, I get a little panicked that perhaps she might need a little albuterol to help that cough and I have NONE. So, I track down our pediatrician while in the coliseum(to see Disney on Ice) and have her call the medicine in to the local pharmacy(thankfully I had the spacer with me or else I would have been out of about $60 or so). So, we start the albuterol on Thursday night and continue to give it to her three time a day thru the weekend. Now we are at Sunday afternoon where my story really begins... While at the lunch table on Sunday, Stephanie has one foot in her chair and the other on the window sill. She will not stay still. I can't get ther to focus while I am going over her AWANA verses and she is just wild, to put it mildly. At this point I realize that all of this is from the albuterol(which I know this happens and I always forget since we rarely have to use it). The child was running thru the house, screaming, jumping all around, climbing on the window sill....come on this is so not Stephanie. Katie maybe, but not Stephanie! To top it all off when I finally figure it out I remember that the girls didn't go to sleep until 11pm on Saturday night!!!! Somehow it all makes since at this point to me. Her cough is gone and so Chris decided that we would stop it last night. I figured that she would be good today at school and then I arrive only to find out that she was defiant and was calling names today. She called a kid a poo poo diaper because she wanted to play with someone else(In case you are wondering this came from Dennis the Mennace which I will not allow her to watch again--I didn't realize that boy was so ugly!) I'm just glad that I opened the conversation up with her teacher(who is a good friend by the way) by asking if she was wild today...I just hope that this is all medicine related!!!!

A Reminder

2008-11-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful day today in the Lord's House. Dr. Gray Allison is with us for a revival today thru Wednesay. We will spend the entire week in the book of Jude. I didn't realize that one little book was so packed full. We only did 4 verses today! Anyway, all that aside...We have been giving the girls an allowance(allotment as Chris calls it) each week for completing their chores. They have to put a portion in their piggy bank to save, they tithe a portion, and they have a portion to spend(or save if they wish). Stephanie is old enough to go to children's church where they take up an offering each week. She gives her tithe during that time. Since Katie is too young for children's church, we go and pick her up at the end of each service and bring her in to give her offering.(our church takes up the offering at the end). Today, while the offering was being taken up and the praise team was singing, I saw Katie lift up her hands. You see, the praise team and other members of the congregation were lifting their hands up in praise and worship to our Lord. So, naturally Katie did what she saw them doing. The Bible calls us to be imitators of Christ. Katie had no idea what she was doing today, but it struck me that she would just automatically do what she saw others doing. I was quickly humbled to realize that I have a very importan job to do. I must imitate Christ because my daughter is going to imitate me--Oh how often I am reminded of that in the speech and mannerisms of my girls! I praise that Lord that even though Katie had no idea what she was doing, she is learning at a young age what it means to sing and give praise to the Lord.

You made my day

2008-11-04T12:10:00.000-08:00

Today I received this beautiful arrangement of roses. I knew the minute I saw them that they were from my sweet husband. No, he didn't do anything wrong. We have not said any harsh words to each other lately. I knew because of the color of the roses. Here's the story.... When we were dating in college, I was at home for the summer and Chris was working in Aiken. He came to visit me for my birthday and carried a dozen, peach roses in a graduated cylinder in the front seat of his car all the way from Aiken to Summerville. He won lots of brownie points that day. Ever since, I always get peach roses, not red. Now, these roses aren't peach, but yellow. However, the florist didn't have peach and told him they would send yellow instead. But when they arrived they have a beautiful peach tint to them and so I still figured they must have come from him. He's the greatest husband and I am so thankful that God gave him to me!!!

My baby is growing up

2008-11-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

Chris called today and wanted to talk to Stephanie. I called her downstairs and this is what happened during their conversation. I am having a really hard time dealing with this grown-up child. I have been told since day 1 of motherhood how quickly they grow up. I guess I just didn't think that it would happen to me. My oldest has become quite a grown up girl and I am sad.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

We have just commenced the Trick or Treat adventure for this year and have successfully put the children to bed. Now the candy is all ours!!!! We had a great time. The girls were Raggedy Anne and Andy thanks to grandma's sowing. Thanks grandma. They were a hit. They got lots of compliments and we heard many times that they were the cutest of the night. We thought so, but they're just our kids. The Wizard of Oz clan, otherwise know as the M. Family, joined us yet again for this year's trick or treating. It is always great to have an older one around to help steer the children the right way. Katie fell so many times in her quest for candy that I lost count. She kept right on going. We've decided that next year we will have to come up with a theme for all three of them. (this is the third year we've done this with the M.s minus the mister since he has been unable to join us until this year.) Ms. K. and J. joined us again this year as well. Everyone had a blast, but we did freeze our little tooshies off this year....

Helen, GA

2008-10-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

We went to Helen this weekend because Chris had to speak at a GSHP(pharmacy) conference. We left on Friday night around 8:45 and arrived around midnight. We took the girls on a frog pond nature walk on Saturday. The walk was a little muddy because of all the rain, but not too bad. The girls enjoyed riding on daddy's shoulders. Saturday afternoon we ventured over to BabyLand USA. This is the home of the original cabbage patch kids. We got to view the 'birth' a cabbage patch and hear the 'story' of the cabbage patch kids. The girls enjoyed it, but were disapointed that we didn't buy them a baby doll. To the tune of $175 for a bottom of the line original baby, I think not! They had the 'knock offs' but we already have one of those. The girls both fell asleep in the car on the way home and so Chris and I thought we might venture into Helen to see what there was to do. Unfortunately we turned the corner out of the state park and were immediately met by a line of traffic. Oktoberfest is going on right now so the traffic was tremendous. We decided that this was not the time to try that. We'll have to go back again some time. We had a nice dinner at the lodge, provided by GSHP, on Saturday night. Chris stayed and watch part of a football game and I ventured back to try to get the girls to sleep. The hope was that they would be asleep by the time he came back...no such luck. So the two of us sat in the corner with the bathroom light on until they fell asleep. The things we'll do to get kids to go to sleep! Chris did his talk on Sunday and did a great job(so I hear) Someone stopped on the way out and said that he had the most questions of any speaker and did a great job. I'll take their word for it as I am sure he did. We headed out after the talk and ate at an awesome bbq place in Helen for lunch and then headed home for AWANA. It was a quick trip, but good to get away. Enjoy the pictures!!!

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Live and Learn

2008-10-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

This is one of those wonderful recipes that you make one time and then never attempt again. I found this recipe in the Family Fun Magazine(love that magazine). You use prepared pie crust and cut out your shapes. You then are supposed to fill the middle with mini chocolate chips or whatever you choose(marshmallows etc). Then brush the edges with an egg mixture and place another cookie cut out on top and then pinch together. They turned out great and tasted wonderful, but there were two problems. First of all, one shell only makes about 10-11 cookies. Second, they took forever to make. I think that if I ever try this again I will use bigger cookie cutters. It was just really hard to get the candy to stay in such a small place. Everyone raved about them though so maybe it was worth the effort.

Riding Bikes

2008-10-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

Now that fall is upon us, at least for a few days, the girls have been enjoying riding their bikes outside. They have had a blast. Stephanie likes to ride down the hill(that is all we have here--no flat ground in this neighborhood) screaming. Katie just looks funny with her little legs just a peddling. She is pretty good at it too.

Sorry the picture aren't that great. I really to read up on how to find/use the sport setting on my camera. Mabye there will be time tomorrow. In the mean time, hopefully you can get the picture.

Visiting with Oma and Opa

2008-10-21T19:14:00.000-07:00

The girls and I went to my dad's house Saturday night for a visit. The girls had a great time. They ventured upstairs with Uncle Jonathan and had a great time hollering down from the upstairs(it overlooks into the living room). They each picked stuffed bear out of the toy pile and Oma drew a picture of it for the to color. She had a rainbow crayon and so she taught them how to use it. That thought that was very cool! Oma helping Katie with the rainbow crayon. Katie listening intently to Opa.

The 'Pumpkin Patch'

2008-10-21T18:57:00.001-07:00

After we left the scarecrows, we headed over to the pumpkin patch. Now for anyone who has a true pumpkin patch, this is not really a patch. It is more like a church parking lot, but this is our rendition here. The wind wasn't quite as brisk so I was able to actually get the girls with their cute pumkin shirts(hairbows and all--thanks J.H.). We plan to go to another one here at home and I'll post those pictures soon too.

Main Street Scarecrow contest

2008-10-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

We went to mom's this weekend and did our traditional fall stuff. Every year in the center of town they have a scarecrow contest. Different companies set up scarecrows and they leave them on display. It has been a tradition of ours to go ever since Stephanie was a baby. The scarecrows were fun, but we were not prepared for the brisk wind that would hit us. It was 87 degrees on Friday and when we road by the bank on Saturday it said 57 degrees! Something is wrong with this weather! Anyway, here are a few of the pictures. It's a little chilly! Okay, here is the story behind this one. This a picture of a scarecrow next to a toilet. Mom had to replace the toilet in her bathroom. She put the old toilet in the back of her truck and headed off to work with the intention of going to the dump after work. Well, she arrived at the dump 5 minutes too late. So she left with the toilet in the back of the truck again. This time she had to carry it around for the next 2 days because the dump was closed the next day. So, trip number one for the girls after arriving at grandma's was to go to the dump to get rid of the toilet!

The gymnastics pose!

This is the scarecrow rendition of Obama and McCain.

Making biscuits

2008-10-21T13:55:00.001-07:00

Katie helped mom make homemade biscuits this weekend. She was a real trooper and didn't complain one bit about the mess that she was getting all over her hands. Stephanie on the other hand politely declined the offer to help make biscuits.

Katie's chores

2008-10-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

Recently Chris and I developed a chore chart for the girls to keep track of what they did. The chores are all things that they had been doing all along, but it was time to keep a record of it so that we could reward them with there 'allotment' money. We have done a terrible job of checking it off the chart, but I keep track and make sure that they do what they are supposed to in order to earn their money. They are too excited to get their money and to have it divided up so that they can give their tithe and then put the money in their piggy banks. I must do a better job at the checking off on the chart, but the girls are doing great with their part.

Here is a picture(I know it is rather bland-no pun intended), but I wanted to show you what a great job Katie does at setting the table. Mind you she does all the counting etc...I'll take pictures soon of Stephanie making her bed and post them too.

Missing church

2008-10-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

Things here have been crazy as you probably have guessed by my absence in blogging as well as any other event that I am normally involved in. Let's start back at the beginning of October... I went to Kansas City to visit my friend J.H. While I was gone, Katie and Chris were both sick with the stomach virus. I thought that I had escaped it, but when I got back I came down with it too. So, that took me out of church again. This past weekend I had a trip to my mom's planned and I couldn't cancel it because it took a lot of rearranging(work, babysitters etc.) to be able to get it together. So, I missed church again. This coming weekend, we are traveling to Helen, GA where Chris will be doing a talk on Sunday at a conference. We plan to take the girls to the Cabbage Patch Hospital(or whatever it is called) on Saturday, but we will miss church again Sunday morning. I am sorry to be absent from church and I do miss my church family as well as sitting under the teaching of our pastor. However, I know that there are times when you just can't help it. I will be back after next week and hopefully I won't have any more month long absences. To my credit, I have been attending services on Wednesday each week.

My Never Bothered/never phased Katie

2008-10-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

I went away for the weekend this past weekend and while I was gone Katie and Chris had the stomach bug. Katie started it and so in an attempt to keep Stephanie from getting sick, Chris wouldn't allow them to sleep together(a reasonable request in my opinion) Anyway, upon putting them to bed Chris left, but not really...he was listening outside their room. Here is how the conversation went... 'Stephanie, will you sleep with me?' No Katie because daddy said I coudln't. Stephanie, please will you sleep with me? Okay.' As Stephanie climbs in the bed and gets comfortable, Katie discovers that daddy is watching and says, 'Stephanie, look who is looking at us'. ... This is so Katie. Never phased, bothered or otherwise upset. She just goes with the flow and doesn't seem to be too concerned with whatever comes her way....Even a spanking!!!! Kids are so different.

Teaching

2008-09-30T12:26:00.000-07:00

I have been praying lately with a friend. I usually pray at night after my kids are in bed and last night my friend had to do something else, but forgot to tell me. So, she called today to let me know that she forgot and boy did she call at a good time. I shared with her some struggles that I am going thru right now. It was not a good time to pray because my kids were running around, but she told me that she would call me back while Katie was napping. When she called, I told Stephanie that I was going into my room to pray. This set her off with the questions..."Why are you praying? What are you praying about?" I tried to explain the best I could for a four year old. (I should have just left her alone and she would never have noticed I was gone!). Anyway, I went into my closet(yes, literally the closet so that she couldn't find me). In the middle of our prayer time, I hear her come in and start calling my name. She proceded to call my name throughout the whole house and then outside. After I hung up the phone I had to be gentle with her and try to explain the situation to her. Here is how I explained it...I told her that there would be times when mommy wants to spend time with God and I want to do it with just God. Just like when she and daddy or she and mommy go out on a date. I asked her why mommy and Katie couldn't go with her and daddy and she said because they wanted it to be just them. I think maybe a small lightbulb came on.

I just hope that she understands. I don't often steal away to prayer during the day because I generally have my quiet time early in the morning or late at night. But today I realized that it is just as important sometimes for my children to see me praying, or even crying. I want them to know that we don't just pray at night or at meals, but that knowing God is about talking to him all the time, even when it doesn't quite fit into our routine.

God's word to me

2008-09-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

Today we completed our Bible Study by Beth Moore, 'Stepping Up'. I have to say that the video today spoke more to me than any of the others. I'm not sure if it is because I wasn't as attentive the other days or the message was just aimed right at me. We've been studying the Psalms of Ascents and during the videos we have been studying about the 3 Feasts that the Israelites(pilgrims) journeyed to each year. Today we focused on what we need to do to make our pilgramage to Zion the most satisfying. Of all the times to hear this, today we focused a little on Hebrew 12:1-2 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perserverance the race marked out for us."Heb 12:1 I think that many of us have heard this time and time again, but today we did not focus on 'the sin that so easily entangles'--this is what most of us focus on. Today, we talked about the 'everything that hinders'. Beth made a statement that 'We cannot do a thousand things to the glory of God'. Wow! What a powerful statement for me. I am struggling so much right now with the busyness of every day life. You know, all the good things we do that keep us so busy...I am sure I am not the only one in this whirlwind. I am just thankful that today God chose to speak directly to me about an issue that has been so pressing on me in this season of my life. He speaks always, but today I was listening!

Stephanie's First Carolina Game

2008-09-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

This is Chris writing the blog. Yesterday was a special day for Stephanie as I took her to her first Carolina game vs. UAB. I promised her last year that I would take her to a game this year. I felt she was finally old enough to make it worthwhile. I have to say I was as excited as she was.

The afternoon started out interesting. As usual, our pregame meal was at Rush's off HWY 378 in Columbia. Stephanie had a JR. BBQ sandwich and I had my usual burger combo. Unfortunately, I was carrying Stephanie and the tray of food and dropped one of the milkshakes which exploded on the floor onto me, Stephanie, and a lady nearby wearing a white shirt! She was very gracious and even offered to go get someone to mop it up. I will remember this next time I get food or drink spilled on me on accident.

From there we went toward our parking spot off Bluff Road. I went the back way on purpose so that Stephanie could get a good appreciation for how big Williams-Brice Stadium was. She was amazed at the size and all of the people wearing garnet and black walking around.

As we proceeded toward the stadium, we had great timing and ran into the band. Stephanie loved hearing the band up close and was ready to go in to cheer on the Gamecocks.

I was hoping to have time to get a picture with either Cocky or the cheerleaders for Stephanie but time ran out on us. We were able to get the Gamecock painted on her face. She was adorable if I must say so myself!

The game went well. She of course had a lot of questions and tried to answer them the best I could for a 4 year old. I told her that football was based on two major principles. First, the team with the ball was trying to get where the letters are. Second, the team without the ball is trying to stop the team from doing that and going for the ball themselves.

The fans around me were great. They just loved the fact that it was her first game and she was so into it. Cotton candy and water help! She was great and very well behaved. I left in the 4th quarter mainly to beat traffic and get back in a reasonable time because sunday school/church were in the morning. She was upset and said "Daddy-the game isn't even over yet". Diehard gamecock fans would be proud. Especially her daddy.

'Fireproof'

2008-09-26T20:01:00.001-07:00

Chris and I went to see the movie 'Fireproof' tonight. It was again a great movie just like Facing the Giants. It was a down to earth movie that spoke about real issues that we deal with in marriage. For those of you who don't know, it was produced by a church out of Albany, GA and is the same church that did 'Facing the Giants'. The actors did an excellent job and the script was right on target for what today's culture needs to hear. I am short on words to really describe the movie without giving it away. I do want to encourage everyone to go and see it. Regardless of whether you are married or not, we need to support this movie. Our families are suffering greatly in this day and age. We need to let the world know that we still believe that the design of marriage set up by God is not to be taken lightly. I pray that many will enter this movie just because it looks like a good movie, but will leave with a changed view and most importantly a changed life. Please, please support this movie!

Little Annette

2008-09-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

Children sometimes have a way of making us aware of exactly what we say and do. For a lack of a better statement, they say and do exactly as we say and do. I often find myself listening to a 'tape recorder' and hearing verbatim what I know that I have said myself. The latest is this..."Katie, I can't hear you. You are mumbling" or "You have to speak up" This was the conversation that went on in the car tonight on the way home from church. It is so funny to listen to her say it back(although I do have to get on to her for trying to be the parent), but it definitely isn't funny when I am having to say it myself.

Birthday Girl

2008-09-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

This was the birthday girl's picture that I took on her birthday. I have really struggled with this birthday. Something about turning 3 just means that you are no longer a baby anymore. I have often asked Katie to 'stay just the way she is' She tells me that she will, but when she turned 3 I asked her about is and she just told me that she had to turn 3, but she would still stay the way she is. I just love this age and I hate to see it pass so quickly. But, I know that I am not the only one that feels this way. I love you Katie Bug!

Katie's party

2008-09-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

We had Katie's party on Saturday and I think that everyone had a good time. Since this was a 3rd birthday party, many of her friends had never been to a birthday pary so this was a first. We had some that clung to their mommies, but all in all everyone particpated and had a great time. Katie's most favorite present was a package of Dora panties. She opened them and took off running. I assumed that she was going to change into them, but instead she headed straight upstairs to put them in her drawer. She left all the rest of the presents and all of her friends right there in the floor. I guess she figured it was her party so we would all wait on her. She was right. Katie was joined on the table by L.C. as we all sang Happy Birthday to her. Just as it was time to blow out the candles, L.C. did it for her. It was funny for all of us, but not so for Katie. I was exhausted after the party, but everyone said that they thought it went really well. I sure hope so because I felt like it was just chaotic. But what's not chaotic about a birthday party, especially for a 3 year old.

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Build A Bear

2008-09-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

We took the girls to Build A Bear on Thursday night. This was part of Katie's birthday present, but we had to go early because our coupons were only good until today. We let Stephanie get a new bear too. Katie did much better this time than last year. She really got into it and I think that both of the girls are really attached to their new critters. I say critters because Katie's is actually a cat and not a bear. As for their names... Well, Stephanie named them last year. Katie's was named Kaylee and Stephanie's was named Emily. So this year it was Stephanie's idea to just swop names. So we now have 2 Emilys and 2 Kaylees. We are so original. The girls have slept with them every night and I am so glad that Katie likes hers this time because last year she never did really like hers. I guess it was just a little much for her at 2.

Stuffing

Rubbing their hears to give them lots of love

Giving them Baths

Dressing them

Proud as can be!

Forward Roll

2008-09-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

Here's the pictures of the forward rolls that Stephanie taught Katie how to do. I thought I got some pretty good action shots!! I guess I didn't do too good actually getting them going forward though. Sometimes I really hate that digital camera delay!

Gymnastics

2008-09-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

Stephanie started gymnastics yesterday. She is taking a 7 week course at the Y. I wanted her to try and see if she liked it and then let her choose between gymnastics and ballet. I'll put her in some place close to us once we know what she will take. She did really well yesterday and enjoyed it. Her teacher wanted to know if she had ever taken before and said that she could probably move up to the next class. I'll keep her where she is for now since we are just trying it and this class is the best time for us. I was very proud of her though. I'll post pictures later of her doing her 'forward flips' and showing Katie how to do it. Katie was very upset when she realized that she couldn't stay at gymnastics too. She had already taken her shoes off like the rest of the kids and was ready to stay. I felt so bad. She cried for 5+ minutes. It is so tough being the little one.

A day at the park

2008-09-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

We went to Brookfield Park today with M. from church. Our first stop was her house. The girls had asked in the car if we were going to get to go into her house. I had told them no that we were just going to meet her there and then she was going to follow us to the park. Well, M. immediately asked them if they wanted to come in and see her 'nest' The didn't know what that meant, but they were very happy to go in her house. M. gave us the grand tour and then the girls were satisfied and ready to go to the park after convincing Mrs. M. that she needed to change from her tennis shoes into flip flops. We arrived at the park and I was very happy to see that the water fountain was working since the last time we went it was broken. The girls said that water was cold, but that didn't stop them. They ran around and had a ball and then Katie had to have her usual fall. She fell right on the concrete and scraped up her cheek. She cried briefly and then was fine. We went to the swing and the girls were happy to be able to swing. Steffie can now swing completely by herself and Katie was happy to have M. push her. We ended our day at the park with picnic lunch and then said goodbye to Mrs. M.

Making the Aiken Rounds

2008-09-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

We went to Aiken on Monday and met grandad and Uncle J. for lunch. After leaving our 2 hour lunch at Ryans(the girls were excellent) we headed off to visit Mr. and Mrs. J. We hadn't seen them since Chris's mom died last year. They hadn't seen the girls since Katie was just a few months old. We had a great visit with them. The girls and Mrs. J were fast friends and before I knew it they were at the table doing 'crafts'. Before we left, Mr. J. commenced the visit by restling and playing with the girls. We all had a blast and vowed that we needed to visit again soon. After leaving there we headed over to D. & T's to see their new house(not so new now, but I hadn't ever been there). The girls were good there too, but we were all getting tired. Chris reminisced with Pumpkin Head(a nickname for a friend from high school) while the rest of us just sat around and beared with the conversation. The conversation was rather one sided as Pumpkin Head and can talk with the best of them. D. and Chris never really did get to talk because Pumpkin Head was so long winded. We finally left Aiken around 7:45 and headed home. It was chicken nuggets in the car for the girls and then off to bed. I tried to put in a slide show. Let's hope it worked.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2008-08-31T17:45:00.001-07:00

Chris is 32 now. He has been gloating the last month and a half that we are the same age. I am glad to say that I am younger now! We really didn't do much today which was nice. We went to church this morning and then off to Captain D's for lunch(Chris's choice). We didn't have church tonight because of the holiday(our church usually gives us two Sunday nights a year to be with the family). We had a friend over tonight for dinner. He is a pharmacy student and Chris met him thru BSF this last year. We had a nice time and Chris and I just ate it up...(we love having the ability to help out a poor college student) Enough of that side note. I was acutally able to surprise Chris for his birthday. I always struggle with buying gifts ahead of time because he watches the checkbook like a hawk so I could never pull anything off without him at least knowing I was spending xxx amount of money. I pulled it off this time though. I bought him a new LCD tv. I waited until yesterday while he was at work to buy it and I hid the receipt and hoped that he wouldn't check the online transactions until today. It worked. He even asked me after he opened it how I managed to keep this one a secret. I was very proud of myself. Daddy & his girls Chris & I(we are too excited that our Steffie can now take our picture-maybe now we'll have more of the two of us) The girls intently watching daddy.

Daddy giving Katie a kiss after opening his card.

Still eagerly waiting on daddy to open presents...they did really good keeping 'the secret' for 24 hours! I was proud of them.

Happy Birthday Babe! I love you.

Cooking with Mommy

2008-08-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

Stephanie and I made Chris's birthday cake yesterday. She was quite the helper and stayed with it the whole time. I tried to throw in a few math lessons while we were doing it. I really enjoyed the time with her and I think she had a good time too. Sifting the flour

Adding the butter

Adding the flour

Watching the mixer do it's thing!

The chef! I let her lick the bowl despite my usual insistance that she can't have raw eggs(Chris almost died from salmonella poisoning when he was younger!)

Enjoying the fruits of her labor...

Every last lick!

The final product(iced by me of course)

We're making progress

2008-08-28T16:25:00.001-07:00

I have really made a concerted effort over the last 2 months to make sure that we are eating more meals at home and less out to eat. I have also really been trying to cook decent meals instead of sandwiches etc. I have done a pretty good job and am even cooking for myself and the girls when Chris isn't home for dinner. I have noticed that the girls are becoming increasingly easier to eat dinner with. They don't complain nearly as much about the food and then don't take as long to eat. I have steadily been increasing their proportion size because I have noticed that they will not eat seconds when offered, but will eat it if it is already on their plate. Well, tonight we had a record breaker. I made this concoction tonight with squash, zucchini, noodles and spaghetti sauce. The girls ate every bite of their very decent size proportion. There was not whining or complaining and I didn't hear one word about how they didn't like squash and zucchini. As a matter of fact, they both exclaimed that they love squash and zucchini. I am not quite sure that they 'love' it, but we are certainly making progress and I don't feel like I am cooking just for it to be wasted by my two munchkins.

Sisters

2008-08-26T12:02:00.001-07:00

When I went up to tun the lights out last night after the girls 'quiet time' Katie was a little fussy and started to cry. I told them goodnight and went on back downstairs. I was hoping that she would just stop and go on to sleep. I knew she was tired because she hadn't fallen asleep until 4 pm for her nap and then I woke her up at 4:30. I assumed that she had indeed fallen asleep because I didn't hear anything else out of her. When Chris got home last night he went upstairs to kiss the girls goodnight and this is what her found. I guess Katie had started crying and so Stephanie asked her if she wanted her to sleep with her. Obviously this is what Katie wanted. There have been several occassions that they have mentioned something in the morning that made me think that they had slept together or at least been in each other's bed at some point. I always brushed it off, but I guess now I know. I thought it was so sweet that Stephanie would comfort Katie like this. She got kuddos for this this morning.

What a Day!

2008-08-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

Today did not start out so good. Well, let's just say yesterday didn't end so good and it continued to today. Stephanie fell in the driveway yesterday and banged up her knees, elbows and her big toe. This commenced with about 45 minutes to an hour of crying and of course fussiness the rest of the night. For those of you who don't know, Stephanie is definitely my drama queen. I tried to be really sympathetic and held her for about 30 mintues. I offered a wet paper towel, ice pack, bandaids, medicine, phone calls to grandma---you name it I offered it and nothing was good enough. When I asked her what she wanted she said that she wanted me to hold her. So I did! For about 30 minutes I was okay with holding her, but after that I was ready for her to be over it and let me up...I had things to do you know. Okay, so Chris got home finally and she did finally stop the major whaling(sp). We had dinner and then her friends came over and she bounced right from the dinner table up the stairs to play. I announed it was time for the friends to go home and for her and Katie to collect the trash to which Stephanie announced she couldn't because she was hurting. The next battle was the shower. I proceeded to make her get in the shower despite Chris's insistance that we should just let that one alone for tonight. I insisted she had to have a shower because she was filthy and her hair was terribly sweaty from all the crying. Needless to say, I put her in the shower and left only to hear her screaming of how badly it hurt. I need to add at this point that despite my patience wearing thin I was a bit sorry I had done this. So, I turned the shower off and got her out and proceeded to sponge bathe her since I was certain that going to be dirty was not an option tonight. I bathed her on the counter and then proceeded to wash her hair in the bathroom sink. Chris walked in and said how uncomfortable and awkward we both looked. Stephanie looked at him and said "I'm just fine with this!" We all just laughed and decided that at least the ice was broken at this point. The rest of the night went well and she went to bed without any trouble. Okay, Stephanie wakes up this morning and is at the top of the stairs crying and whaling again at how bad her knees hurt and she can't walk. (you know the stiff feeling of a scraped knee). I carried her down the stairs with the hope that eventually she would stop her fussing. So, she watches tv while I get dressed and then we proceed to the breakfast table all the while she is still moaning and groaning off and on. After breakfast I tell her that I will give her Motrin. I am still calm at this point and carrying her around and catering to her. We get upstairs and I brush her teeth and go to give her the Motrin. She tells me how nasty it is and I tell her to drink it anyway so it will make her feel better. I even gave her a glass of water to chase it down with! Well, we end with her spitting the motrin in the sink and me spanking her and then putting her on the floor and hitting the counter with the wooden spoon out of great amounts of frustration! This of course makes her more upset and she continues to whale. So, I do what I do not want to do and I call her daddy. I hate it when I have to admit that I can't handle a situation. So, daddy calms her down and as he says he pulls out his bag of tricks and tells her if she will take the Motrin that I'll get her milkshake. May I add that I by no means think that she deserves a milkshake at this point. We proceed thru the rest of the getting dressed routine and I carry her downstairs and get her shoes on and put her in the car. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I had to go to Bible study this morning and I am a facilitator so I was trying really hard to to miss it or be late! We get to church and I think that I have found my child again. She proceeds to get out of the car and says that she can walk now! Phew, she's back! Not so quick. We get into the church and I proceed to drop her off. She gets very upset because I had told her that she and A. would be coming with me because I didn't think that they would let A. go in the nursery since she was not registered(I was watching her today while L. was at a meeting). Stephanie, begins to whale again and pitch a fit. Thankfully, I go to church there and the nursery director just helped me push her in the door and then I tried to regain my composure to walk into Bible study. God is gracious though. I was refreshed and renewed when I left Bible Study. Stephanie stopped crying within 5 minutes and by the time I picked her up she was running down the hallway. I was glad to be over this part of my day. We'll see how bath time goes tonight!

Precious Babies

2008-08-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share this pictures. Chris took these the other night while they were sleeping(obviously).

Pre-K

2008-08-18T12:57:00.001-07:00

Stephanie's first day of Pre-K was today. She woke up on her own at 8:30 this morning. I could tell that she was excited. She was extremely cooperative getting dressed this morning and didn't even finish her cereal, which rarely happens! When we got to school today, while I was signing her in, she went straight into her class. I had to ask her to tell me goodbye! Have I said lately that I really think she is growing up too fast!!

When I asked her what she had learned she told me that she had learned about the circle and that it goes around and around and never stops. It is so nice to be at the place where you ask them something about their day and they actually remember it! She must have had a good time because when we got home she was anxious to color one of her pages and do a few other "school" related activities. She even said while sitting at the table that she loves school. Chris and I both did too, so let's just hope this attitude keeps up!

Awana Update

2008-08-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our first night of AWANA. I am helping in Puggles this year, the 2 year old class. So I am with Katie. We had 13 kids tonight. I am currently the only leader and then we have 2 Puggles directors. They have the 2 year old nursery volunteers in there to help, but we still need leaders. I heard that there were 50 Cubbies tonight and only 5 leaders. That's a lot of kids! Please pray that God will place a burden upon the hearts of his people to step forward and take part in the work of his kingdom. Tonight was a crazy night with games and just registration. For the first night in Puggles I think we did real well. All 13 of the 2 years old sat still and paid attention during story time. Amazing!!! All in all the night was good, I think, for the first night.

Bible Verses

2008-08-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

Katie has learned her first two Bible verses over the last month or so. During our evening devotion time, we have a memory verse for every week. Her first verse is Genesis 1:1 and the second one was Ps 89:28. I have been so proud of her and so excited to hear her say her verses with such excitement. We are starting Puggles at our church this year which is part of the Awana program. This is a class for 2 year olds. I am thrilled that Katie will be a part of it and I will actually be a leader in that class this year. God just really tugged at my heart as I watched Katie learn her verses this summer and Stephanie all last year. I am excited to get involved and to see what God will do in the hear of these little children as well as my own life. Please pray for me that I will be able to share the message of Christ and that God will work in my own life to empower me to be who he has called me to be.

Devotion Time

2008-08-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Last night during our devotion time, we we learning about the famine during the time of Joseph. When we got to the part where Joseph's brothers come to Egypt to find food, Chris asked Stephanie what she would do if she opened the refrigerator and there was no food? She said , "Well, I guess if I had a car and could drive, I would go to Walmart." Chris then asked her what she'd do if there was no food at Walmart. She said, "Well, I guess I'd go to Krogers." I guess you can tell where we shop! We of course used this as a teaching lesson that that was what the brothers were basically doing...looking everywhere for food. This just gave Chris and I a good laugh. It was just so funny listening to her tell what she would do. She is growing up way to fast!

Finally! It's Done

2008-08-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, I finally fixed the sprinkler system. After over 2 months of messing with this thing the war is finally over...and I won! I now have a very long(about 50ft) whole in my side yard, but aside from that (which will be covered up tonight) it is fixed. I do have to reattach the two heads that I moved, but that is a minor issue. So, it turns out that in one of my(or my sprinkler friend from work) digging quests to change out the heads on my side yard, I managed to cut the electrical wires which send the electricity from the automatic time to the system to turn it on. After digging the whole back up and finding the cut wire(a relief in itself) I mended that problem only to discover that it still didn't work. I ran a wire from the timer in the garage to the timer in the front and got nothing. Then I ran the wire from the garage to the hole where the wires were cut and got power. I'm not sure what happend, but somehow the wires between the garage and the side yard were fried/not working whatever. Anyway, I dug a very long whole from the hole in the side of the house to the hole in the yard under the kitchen window, bought the electrical wire and then fed the wire thru the hole in the garage to the hole on the outside of the house(actually my neighbor did this...I think that the complicated things got in the way of this simple task! Thanks, L). I pulled the wire and reattached and walah(sp). we have automatic sprinklers going off---after replacing the fuse that my husband discovered was blown. Job completed. Thanks for your endurance of my stories and complaints etc thru this whole process. My friend J. from work says now it is time to move onto another project. No thanks...I think I'll stick to the things I know how to do for awhile.

New Shoes

2008-08-12T15:21:00.001-07:00

Here are the new shoes. Katie's are on the left and Stephanie's on the right. Aren't they cute?

No Nap

2008-08-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

Since we went shopping today, Katie didn't get her nap. I decided that I would make the girls 'rest' until Chris got home(only about an hour or so). I sent Stephanie to my room and Katie to the couch. I put a movie in for Katie and my plan worked. She fell asleep. I'll wake her up in a few minutes and at least she'll have gotten enough sleep to make it to bedtime tonight.

Shoe Fettish

2008-08-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

We ventured out today for a shopping trip. We were supposed to go to the pool today with our neighbor, but the weather turned out to be quite cloudy. So, we decided to take the three girls and go to Chik Fil A for lunch and then a few shopping errands. Steffie needed shoes and my friend was looking for party supplies for her daughter's birthday. First stop was lunch and then off to the party store. The same party store that L. and I were at when we were pregnant with A. and Steffie and Laura was backed into by another man as they were pulling out of the parking place...side note sorry. The girls were really good in the party store so we ventured out to Kohl's to do a little shoe shopping. Steffie needed shoes for school and L. is always up to shopping(she prefers to do it without kids, but who doesn't) Anyway, we get to the shoe department and all three girls are quite content because there are gobs of shoes to try on. Never mind that they are not their size or remotely in my price range. Needless to say I came away with four pair of shoes, two pair for each of my girls.. I know, I was only shopping for Stephanie, but I fould a cute pair of sandals for Katie for next year for $5 and then I found a pair of adorable sketchers for $12. Now she has two pair of everyday shoes for the fall/winter. As for Stephanie, I came away with an adorable pair or pink Munchin shoes and a pair of sketcher tennis shoes. I had a good time and the best part is that I can take my receipt back tomorrow along with my $10 coupon and get my money back...YEAH!!! Anyway, I just love shoes and it appears that my children do too so since their shoes tend to be cheaper, I will just live thru them...at least for now!

Good Friends

2008-08-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

We went to the the Q's house for dinner on Saturday night and had a wonderful time. The girls were so excited to see K. and Mr. B. When we got there Katie was legs and arms were just a jumping with all her excitement. It was great to see them so excited about the visit. It was just a little over 2 years ago with this family made an unexpected appearance into our lives. S. started babysitting for us in May 2006 while we were in transition trying to find a new permanent sitter. Her mom, K, became our permanent sitter in August of that year until the following May. S. and K. have been such a blessing to our girls and the girls quickly grew attached to them as they to the girls. An amazing bond developed for all involved including Mr. B. and J(the dad and son of the family). Even after S. left for college and K. decided to go to college, we have kept in touch and try to see and talk to them as often as we can. S. still babysits some when she is home and as much as she can in the summers. The girls love it when J., who is 11, comes to play too. We had a wonderful evening talking and laughing together. The girls played hide and go seek with J. while the rest of us just talked. We can't begin to thank God enough for this wonderful family. They have blessed us in more ways than they will ever know and we are so thankful to have them as a part of our lives.

Stephanie & S.

Katie & S. playing the tickle game.

Katie, Mrs. K. & Stephanie

A Hard Lesson

2008-08-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

Today we were faced with one of many of life's hard lessons for Stephanie. Tonight while at dinner I was questioning Chris about who was on the answering machine. He told me that my friend G. had called just wondering if we had accidentally come home with a certain ring that had been given to her daughter L. last week by her brother. This prompted the whole thing and here is the background... The girls and I went to G.'s house yesterday for a 'play date'. The kids all played really well together and G. and I were able to talk for most of the 3 hours...amazing, huh? Anyway, when we got home I discovered that Stephanie had returned home with some lip gloss in her pocket that did not belong to her. I immediately confiscated it and reprimanded her for taking things that don't belong to her etc. I then proceeded to question her about what else was in her pockets to which she exclaimed that all she had were her hair bows(which she did pull out and show me). Trusting her, I then dropped it. So, tonight when I heard about the phone call I immediately asked Stephanie if she knew where Mrs. G's ring was. This is a whole other story as I thought the ring belonged to my friend and not her daughter and that perhaps Stephanie had been playing somewhere she shouldn't have. Ok, sorry for the side track. Anyway, Stephanie tells me that yes the ring is upstairs. At this point I am very angry and I immediately send Stephanie upstairs to get it. When she returns I tell her that she has to call and apologize and then daddy and I will decide about her other punishment for lying to me yesterday about the contents of her pockets. Stephanie called and apologized thru many tears and then I got on the phone. G. was of course not mad and totally understood, but I was of course mortified. Side note...G. would not have particulary noticed the loss of this piece of 'play jewelry' except that her son had just been out of town and brought this back just last week as a gift for his little sister. You see, my girls have a tendency to fill pockets and pocket books with whatever they want and then I have to empty them later. This often happens while playing with the girls across the street and we always have to have 'the talk' about not taking other people's stuff. I'm not sure that this is always innocent as I am sure they are often trying to be a little sneaky. Anyway, this was a lesson that was very hard to learn for Stephanie and equally as hard for Chris and I to teach. Let's just say we were all glad to see this lesson learned over with...it would be nice if we didn't have to reteach it. Fat chance though!

Opa's Visist

2008-08-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

My dad(Opa) came to visit this weekend. We had a nice relaxing weekend just enjoying each other's company. On Friday we took the girls to Jumpin Party Zone. I had planned for us to go to the pool, but according to the weather it was supposed to rain most of the day. As it turned out it was a beautiful day! We did go to the pool that night and the girls were able to show Opa all of their new swimming tricks. On Saturday, dad went with us to the ministry project. He helped me at the ball toss and also helped bag popcorn. For those of you who don't know, I'll give the story of how my dad came to be called 'Opa'. My dad was stationed in Germany for five years when I was younger. He and my stepmom loved it there and so when my step brother and his wife had their first child, dad and Yarbi picked Opa and Oma for their names. These are the German names for grandpa and grandma. That is how we came to have an Opa.

Ministry Project

2008-08-03T13:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we participated in a ministry project along with several of our Sunday School class members. The ministry was thru Broad Stree Ministries and Miracle Making Ministries. They were having a block party for the neighborhood during which time there were games and activities, a devotional time and a time for the kids to be able to get school supplies which had been donated. We took our girls and had a great time helping out. Our job was to help with the games. I'm not sure what my game was called, but it was some sort of ball toss. The kids had to toss these plastic balls into these containers which were floating in a small pool of water. Chris helped with the potato sack races. Stephanie and Katie did a great job helping as well. They helped drag the pool full of water back to our station and helped to collect and hand the balls to the kids. The day was extremely hot but the girls were real troopers and didn't complain. There was even a water slide there which they were told they couldn't get on because we didn't bring bathing suits(and as we explained that this was not about them, but about serving others). This concept may not have quite been understood, but I am certain they understood at least a little because they didn't complain at all about not being able to get on the water slide either. We were so glad that we went and were able to be a part of this ministry. Please be in prayer for this ministry and the family as a whole. The overwhelming absence of fathers at this event was astonishing. Dads in the home and playing an active role in the lives of their children is a concept that is falling by the wayside. We need to really bathe the family unit in prayer and pray especially for those familes who are trying to make it without a father in the home. Stephanie dragging the pool over to be filled. Struggling to drag a pool full of water to our station.(the water hose wouldn't reach us) A member of our Sunday School class working at the fishing booth.

Katie comforting a crying little girl. Katie was so sweet and gave all the little kids hugs when they came up.

The Things We Ask

2008-07-29T05:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was making a dessert for dinner at a friend's house when I discovered that I was out of flour. Katie was down for a nap and I couldn't wait on Chris to bring it home from work so I had no choice but to call on the neighbor. Normally I wouldn't have hesitated, but it was pouring down rain outside. Well, given my current situation, I decided to call on my loving daughter Stephanie to do my dirty work. I assumed she would give me fits for sending her across the street in the rain, but she was quite willing and agreeable as she usually is for such 'borrowing trips'. I geared her up with an umbrella and then handed her a container to carry the flour in. After struggling to even hold up the umbrella(I really do need to by her a kid size umbrella) and then trying to juggle the container too she looked at me with this serious look and said..."Mom, I'll go and come right back with the umbrella and get the container, I promise." I just about died right there. I proceded to tell her that that wouldn't work and so I thought for a moment and decided that a plastic bag to put the container in and then over her arm would be best and off she went. As I went in the house, I reflected on what had just happened. I was just looking myself in the face. So many times I have seen myself in my children, but this time I really struck a nerve. You see, there was a time when I was in elemtary school that I had to take and exam for the gifted and talented program. My mom told me that I probably wouldn't make it in because I had no common sense. She was right. I came home from school that day and asked my mom about one of the test questions. The question was "In order to teach, a teacher must have a. students b. text books or c. a classroom. " I told my mom that I figured you didn't have to have books or a classroom, but you had to have teachers. And my reply was, "Is that one of those common sense questions you were talking about?" I would like to think that I have lots more common sense these days, but I sure hope that my children gain that at a much earlier age. I took a few pictures to help remind me of this event. My Stephanie was such a trooper and didn't even know she had caused me to have such a chuckle!