April

I just got word that my grandmother, Froggie, passed away this morning. Only three weeks after T’s grandfather died. April has turned into quite an odd month.
My Dad pointed out that April has been a month in which many of our family members have passed away.
In a way, spring is a great time for this. God may simply be taking the older folks home while he is birthing beautiful new life around us. We should not only be thankful for the lives of our loved ones who have gone but also for the new life that surround us.
I am so thankful for the life of Froggie and for what she has meant to our family. I will miss her dearly. It seems so odd to say goodbye to someone that has impacted our lives for so many years.
At the same time I am thankful for the new life that has come with spring. The flowers, trees, birds and nature that surround us… as well as the new babies that are being born and will be born in the near future. We are blessed to experience these cycles of life and I thank God for the sorrow and the joy that he enables us to embrace at certain times in our lives.

so... heading back to L'burg this week. Please keep our family in your prayers.

"wow!" news

the voice on the phone said,
"There are THREE of them."

I'm so excited... and speechless! Congrats you guys!!

(hint: the rest of you will have to do your homework to find out what this means)
have fun! ;-)

sleepover

The sleepover went amazingly well.
Our small group was here until almost 10pm. Having a great discussion about the state of our marriages. :p
Then the boys watched a calm video while I set up the sleeping bags and pillows.
At 11pm they were ready to zip up.
I mentioned that they may hear the cat come down and eat from the cat dish. L totally got creeped out and insisted on going to his own bed... go figure. But he soon went back down and joined the older boys.
They whispered and joked for about an hour and I went down at midnight and told them to quiet down a bit. I think that they fell asleep shortly after.
It seems that they had a great time.
Another successful event.

wet cookout day

As for the cleaning... everything is purdy in my house. I agree that it is good to get it done with in one shot and then let it go for about a month. I think that process will be my new routine.

I'm glad that I'm finally learning these tips after many years. A very important fact that I have finally learned.... Never mop your floors before a party. Especially before a cookout on a rainy day. Save the mopping for the day after! Duh... why hadn't I thought of that one before?!

Tonight we have a cookout with our small group. I was really excited to have everyone over for the first official cookout of the season. And it's raining.
I had even bought a cutsie beverage bucket to put some "cold ones" in. Is it proper to have a bucket of ice and drinks inside your kitchen?? I'm praying that the rain will clear up as the evening approaches. I'd really hate not getting to use the bucket. ha.

The boys are having their first official sleepover tonight. One of their friends will be spending the night tonight after the cookout. It should be an interesting night!

I caved in.

I was simply going to pick up the floors and vacuum today. But I became crazy again.
I've learned today that you simply can't pick up a floor and vacuum. One thing leads to another, ya know?!
Somehow I managed to get D to clean out from under his bed and I flew through both kid's rooms and straighened things up. The clutter under the bed quickly covered the entire floor and took most of the morning to sort through. I'm proud that D was able to do most of it on his own and we even gathered an entire trash bag of stuff to throw out!! yay!!
(sigh of relief that L still uses a mattress on the floor... why rush getting a bed frame... that would be twice the mess!)
Anyway, I managed to gut most of the house this morning. Even putting all the plants outdoors. I'm feeling accomplished so far but the bathrooms still need a scrubbing. Maybe tomorrow.
I feel like such a failure. I was doing so good at NOT cleaning. I guess old habits are hard to break.
I do feel somewhat relieved that I may only need to do a major cleaning about once a month. That's okay, right?! haha!

a life crisis?

I think that I must be turning over a new leaf. I’ve been on a cleaning strike for about a month now. (It may be time to clean the toilets today. And possibly vacuum.) But other than that, I haven’t been motivated to do any housework except keep the clothes clean.
Today I decided to go on a cooking strike as well. I am getting tired of rushing around to have dinner on the table by 5pm in order for me to leave for work at 6. My new plan is to have T cook dinner for him and the kids sometime later in the evening.
(It has been great being outdoors while it is light in the evenings. Why rush everything just to cook dinner??) On my “off” nights, we’ve been out in the yard till late and we don’t even worry about dinner until after 7pm. It’s been very relaxing.
So, all that to say, I’m taking a more laid back approach to my housewife responsibilities. I’ve been too organized for too long and I’ve decided that it’s time to chill.
I’m also trying to find “myself” in all of this… since I’ve been too wrapped up in being a mom, wife, etc.
By golly, I can be my own person too!!

our little furry friends

Well, I am back online after several days that were filled with a birthday party, a baby shower, a trip to Grandma's, a potluck, a horseback ride, work, Easter, a 3 hour nap, preschool and babysitting.
Today is our first full, free day at home. And I was still antsy and had to go out and meet T for lunch. I've finally got the kids down for nap and I think I'll read a bit and take a snooze too, if possible.
The household chores are piling up but I really want this to be a free day. No work tonight either!!
I was thinking of going to a local plant nursery and picking out a few flowers for the yard. the kids and I stopped by today but there were way too many to choose from. I will need T's opinion.
We were lucky to get hostas and liriope, for free, from our family. What a wonderful difference a few plants make!!

Speaking of our yard...
For those of you that heard our "bat" story last year.... they are back!!! AND... they didn't choose the nice bat house that we installed for them. what punks. From the sounds of it, and the looks of it, it seems like they are behind our chimney?! I'm sending up my lovely husband to check it out tonight. It's time for us to lay down the law and send those guys out of here!

the thing to do...

This blogging thing seems to be spreading like wild fire.
Be sure to keep up to date with folks that I have added to my list in the margin.
I'm so thrilled that I can keep up to date with everyone!

An official Bulldog

Daniel had an appointment for Kindergarten Registration today at 1pm. They did a “screening” for reading readiness and Daniel did super well. He also got his picture taken to aid his teacher in the fall. AND he (we) got to meet with the Principal, Mr. Berry, who gave Daniel a super little talk and gave him a “goody bag” with things that will help him get ready for kindergarten. Magnetic numbers, a pencil, crayons, glue, scissors, play dough and a book called “The Night Before Kindergarten”. Best of all (in my opinion) he was given a stuffed red bulldog. It turns out that the school is home to the Gordon Barbour Bulldogs. Fun mascot.
We’ve gotten all the info we need. Now we wait for orientation, and for school to start on August 23rd.
I am so excited for Daniel!

An interesting note: I ran into a 1st grade teacher in the hallway… whom I went to school with in L’burg!! What a small world!!

Tip for eating out with kids...

Yesterday was our 7th wedding anniversary.
After discovering that I had to work last night… T and I decided to go out for our anniversary dinner on Sunday night instead.
Since it was a last minute idea, the kids came along. (I know how pathetic that sounds). On the way to the restaurant, we encouraged the kids to be invisible and silent as their parents enjoyed an anniversary meal.
Surprising enough, it was one of the most pleasurable evenings out with the kids. They were calm and quiet.
Perhaps the invisible/silent request worked. We'll certainly try that one again!

Last week

Last week seemed pretty eventful in the scheme of things.
We enjoyed a visit from my sister and bro-in-law on Saturday the 1st. In the late afternoon, we received a call that T’s grandfather probably wouldn’t live through the night.
So, we frantically packed things up and headed to L’burg.
T and I stayed up with his grandmother, by his grandfather’s bedside, all night. Elmer passed away at 6:35am on Sunday, April 2.
I never knew what it would be like to watch someone die. It wasn’t too morbid or as depressing as I had imagined. It was really a blessing. Hard to explain all of the emotions of the night but the overall sense of peace was amazing. I assume that it was such an event since Elmer had lived a long full life of 85 years and he was SO ready to move on and be with Jesus. It is so nice to know that he is no longer suffering from the cancer that had eaten away at his body. I feel very fortunate that I could be there as he was departing this world.

Sadly enough T was scheduled to leave for Italy on Monday. His plans could not be changed so we said goodbye and sent him over the big puddle.
The kids and I stayed in L’burg with T’s family and proceeded with the funeral plans and family time. Everything went smoothly. T’s brother, Thad, spoke very eloquently at the funeral and made a wonderful tribute to his grandfather. I must admit it was the best funeral that I have attended. (if they can be ranked).

We headed back home on Saturday night, arriving just a few hours before T came home. We were glad to see that he didn’t go down in a fiery plane crash.

We are getting back into the swing of things this week.

I'm back

Sorry to my loyal fans for my lack of blogging lately. :)
We were unexpectedly gone all last week. I'll try to post an update when I get my brain back in order.
keep checking in...

My big accomplishment today...

I bypassed gas at sheetz this morning at a price $2.49. We went to the gym and ran our usual errands. I got gas at WilcoHess for $2.42 while I was in town. As I came home, Sheetz was $2.55. Seems like I was just in time for the big bargains. Ticks me off that they decide to raise prices just because the weather is nice!

Speaking of weather… I wonder what the weather is like in Italy these days. My hubby leaves for Italy on Monday for business. (big head slap for not getting my passport!!)
I’m sure that he’ll have tons of fun visiting a foreign country for a week… and it's sooo close to our 7th anniversary date!
Sigh.

God is constantly teaching us!

There is a new little person that has become part of our lives within the past few months. In fact, three new people that we come into contact with on a daily basis. It looks like they will be part of our lives for a long while.
I had many thoughts about these folks since they look and act a bit differently than we do. I’ve thought mean things about them and looked down on them in several ways. But lately, God has really been convicting me of my rude and horrible behavior!
What kind of people are we when we judge others? I know that Jesus is ashamed of how we treat those that are different than us. Sure, we have read the story of the good Samaritan (and tons of other Bible stories) and it’s so easy for us to go to church and talk about loving everyone. But how good are we at actually putting it into practice?!? How often do we love people as jesus loves them?!
Life is pretty easy when we can choose who we hang out with and where we go. But what happens when we are confronted with people that are “different”? We’ve got to admit that our initial reaction is to run and hide. Surely we wouldn’t want to associate with “those people”.
What a joke… “those people” are who Jesus hung out with!
So, I am making a point to “love your neighbor as yourself”… literally.
Today, we took our neighbor along with us to the library and to taco bell. She was a complete joy!
When we got home today, I read a book that L had picked out. It was a 'Powerpuff Girls' book entitled Creature Teacher.
Here is how God confirmed me today:

“So… you’re saying that we shouldn’t judge people by what they look like,” said Blossom.
“Even if they are monsters,” agreed Buttercup.
“And even if they look super mean and scary,” added Bubbles.
“Exactly,” said the substitute. “Just look at you three. You’re sweet little girls. Nobody would ever guess that you have superpowers and can save the city from bad guys!” He gave the Girls a hug.

Wow. Sometimes God can be SO obvious. It’s so true that we have His superpowers, and if we choose to use them we can “save the city”!
I can feel his hug today.

Am I supposed to know him?

I was at work last night. It was a calm evening. A man was shopping near me and I asked the obvious, “can I help you find something”. He said that he was fine, that he was just “walking all around this place”. That was cool so I kept about my business.
About two minutes later- two other employees walked past me and approached the man- saying “I know you probably don’t like to be bothered but I’m a big fan of yours. I love your work and your movies are great. Do you mind if I have your autograph.” (then they had the nerve to ask me for a pen. I didn’t have one.)
I couldn’t believe how lame these people sounded but at the same time I was completely baffled at who that guy could be! Was I supposed to recognize him as someone famous?!?!?
I asked the next person that was approaching what the fuss was all about. They said that it was Steve Carell. And still, I had no clue. They went on to explain that Steve Carell is the actor in 40 Year Old Virgin, he was also in Anchorman and is currently starring in the sitcom, The Office. He’s also in many other films and tv shows (I felt compelled to google him last night)
Well, of course I’ve seen this guy at some point but I sure couldn’t pick him off of the street like the other leaches that I work with. They were all so thrilled… getting autographs, taking pictures and looking like kids in a candy shop. Go figure.
It Turns out that Steve Carell has the lead role in Evan Almighty (Bruce Almighty 2) which has just starting filming in the Crozet/Charlottesville area.
I had been assisting a gal throughout the evening as she was shopping for bedding, etc. Through our conversations I learned that she was in town for the “filming” and that she was the assistant to the director. It sounded like they all had just moved in to apartments and she was buying a comforter and tons of other household stuff. She picked out a $90 quilt for her “temporary” living arrangements. No wonder it costs so much to make movies… especially if they are furnishing temporary apartments for the people involved. One of my co-workers says that they are renting beds from Primetime (a rent to own place).
Interesting.
My co-workers are hoping that some of the other actors will wander through Target while they are in town. There may be a good chance of that since there’s not really much to do in Charlottesville. The assistant to the director said that it was certainly a change from Los Angeles. Yeah, that’s an understatement.

applesauce

I slept in today while trying to ignore the boys playing loudly in the other room. They had helped themselves to yogurt and applesauce and they were playing Pokemon, I think. I had sworn that my kids wouldn’t watch Pokemon but somehow we checked out a video from the library and they won’t stop talking about those weird little creatures.
Anywho- I showered and fed the kids cereal. Lucas mentioned that we needed to feed the fish so I got the fish food out and unscrewed the top. I took a step by the counter and instantly screamed when I stepped on something mushy. At the same instant I somehow tossed the fish food up and the counter was covered in millions of those great little flakes. Fun.
Turns out that it wasn’t a dead animal or poop in the floor (like I had first suspected) but it was a little puddle of applesauce. I was relieved that it wasn’t something grosser. But it was still yucky to step in!
The rest of the morning went well and we headed to the library and to taco bell for our usual play time/lunch time/ quiet time for me. This week, I was smart enough to take a book along. (my next Stephanie Plum adventure…Ten Big Ones) I managed to read two chapters and still watch the kids while they played.
It’s cool to have kids that can entertain themselves…. Even though they spill stuff.

First Day of Spring??

Back to our routine today. Last week was an “off” week since the kids spent some time in L’burg and I assisted at school on Wednesday.

We dropped D off at school and went to the gym. Still LOVING my body step and body pump classes. It’s almost time for the renewal of my membership… I’ve got to weigh the pros and cons. So far I’m in big favor of it. If I pay in full- it averages to $20 per month…. You sure can’t beat that, eh? Another reason to get our taxes mailed off.

[The best reason to mail our tax forms is to be able to send our down payment to my parents for this year’s beach house! (I haven’t forgotten!)]

Looking forward to a scrapbooking event on Friday and Saturday. I’m a big fan of getting away from the family for a while and getting caught up! Yay!!

Side note: The story of St. Patrick can be found in the Veggie Tale video : Sumo of the Opera.

Happy Spring! I'm anxious for that spring weather to arrive!

St. Patrick's Day

Earlier this year I learned a little about St. Patrick from watching a Veggie Tale Video.
I can’t believe I didn’t know anything about this guy in my past.
What I’ve learned… in a nutshell… (if he is portrayed correctly in our DVD)
He was born in England and kidnapped by pirates at a young age.
He was sold into slavery and sent to Ireland. While in Ireland he kept his faith even though he was surrounded by paganism. After many years, he left Ireland and returned home. He pursued an education and became a bishop. All the while, he still had a heart for the folks back in Ireland. He returned to Ireland and spent the rest of his years telling the Irish people about Jesus. He was a great evangelist of his time and he is considered to be the person who introduced Christianity to Ireland.
Pretty cool, eh?

In honor of St. Patrick, we all wear green today (the color of Ireland because their grass is supposed to be super duper green) and we all eat green food… right??

How’s this for a St. Patrick’s Day dinner?
Grilled chicken (dyed green)
Green beans
Green mashed potatoes
Crescent rolls with a splash of green
Caesar salad
Kiwi
Followed by:
Sugar cookies with green frosting and green sprinkles
Green sherbet

Yummy, eh?

Happy Friday!

afternoon routine

I have currently been relaxing during my spare time. For the past few days, I have done my "chores" and then I read briefly and take a nap. I'm not always this free in the afternoons and I am enjoying it while I can.
I am pretty much addicted to the Janet Evanovich books. She writes about a bounty hunter chick named Stephanie Plum. I've never read novels as fast as I've read these. They are the type of books that are hard to put down...even for me!! They are fast and funny.
I eventually pry myself away and take a short nap before the kids wake up.
Yesterday we all managed to sleep until T came home at 5:15!!
So... I'm off to work on my new nap time routine. I'll let you know how long it lasts...

thursday

Not much to blog about these days. I’ve been at work Monday –Wednesday nights. Same old stuff during the days. Preschool, library and gym.
Today was a nice day. I slept in till almost 9! The kids woke up and watched the Rescuers Down Under.
We visited some friends after lunch. The boys enjoyed running around outdoors and yelling at the cows. I enjoyed some adult conversation.
T and I have a date night tonight. I am thinking of actually heading into town. We haven’t been into “town” in a really long time. Maybe eat at Ruby Tuesdays and walk around Old Navy. Or maybe eat at the downtown mall and walk around there. The weather is beautiful today. A little cloudy and breezy but very warm.
I got some scrap booking done this afternoon. I’m so glad to have lots of pictures printed and ready to throw in the book. Really relieved to have the pictures off of our computer. I’ll never try the digital thing again… the story about my angst could be a whole different blog. Ugh.Looking forward to Friday and “Ladies night”! It will be good to see friends and family.