Better!

The Princess is feeling better tonight. she actually ate something and drank quite a bit. I'm so relieved. You know, she can make me crazy with all her energy, but I surely have missed it the last few days!

Rainy Days and Tuesdays...

It's raining...again... I do love the rain, in moderation, but my heart feels gray and gloomy right now and needs some sunshine.

The Princess is STILL sick. She looks terrible, her eyes have huge circles underneath them and she just looks so tired even though she's sleeping a ton. She's been having a headache on and off and a tummy ache. I think she's lost about 5 pounds already on her tiny little frame. It's breaking my heart. A call to the doctor will be happening this afternoon is she doesn't perk up by then.

My spirit is also gloomy because of a family problem. Extended family, but still family. And I don't know how to solve it and remain true to myself and what I believe. And it hurts. It hurts not only me, but my husband and my children as well. Pray for peace in this situation if you would. I'm certain that prayer and grace and forgiveness are the only answers to this situation.

Poor Baby!

The Princess is sick. Sicker than I think I've ever seen her. She was up at least once an hour from midnight until 9 am when she finally came out to the couch. She's so pale and lethargic. She's not holding anything down, even ice chips at this point. She's also very sad as she had a birthday party to go to today. It's really the first non-relative or mom's friend birthday party she's been invited to and she was soooo excited to go. Not to mention it's at the gymnastics studio which she loves! She's finally sleeping now and before she fell asleep she asked for a bath, so we'll be doing that when she wakes up. My poor girl...

Amazed

My darling girl is 12 today. 12...12...12!!! I'm shocked, stunned, amazed. The time has flown faster than I could ever have imagined it.

I remember so desperately wanting to be pregnant. All around me people were having babies. I wanted another one. We tried for months. I remember when I found out. Calling her daddy on the phone and crying and crying. There was no way I could wait until he got home from work to tell him.

I remember my husband calling his parents. Mark told them we were going to have a baby. I can still hear my mother-in-law screaming with joy even though Mark had the phone!

I remember the ultrasound. Finding out she was a girl. The first girl grandbaby. A baby sister for the teenager (who was 3 at the time).

Her birth. Scary. Very long and frightening. Her heartbeat dropping drastically with every contraction. The entire NICU team of doctors waiting in the delivery room. Her entirely purple body when she was born. The cord wrapped around her neck and arm. Then she cried and was fine.

Holding her for the first time...whispering to her how long we'd been waiting and how happy we were that she was finally here. Telling her about her brother who was waiting to meet her. Watching her daddy hold her for the first time. Her perfectly shaped rosebud lips. Her porcelain skin.

Her brother meeting her, loving her, kissing her and always taking care of and being protective of her.

The first night in the hospital when ALL She wanted to do was nurse. There was no sleeping that night, or for many after.

She was not a good sleeper, but she was an amazingly happy, beautiful baby. She had no neck when she was born. Just rolls and rolls of chins. Gradually she lost those extra chins and was a very petite little girl.

When she first walked. From me to her daddy. 10 months old. 15 pounds. Size 2 feet.

The way she used to say her name "I'm First Middle Last name and I'm cute!" She was 2.

Her first day of preschool, the day after her baby brother was born. She loved having a new baby, and she loved going to preschool!

Her first day of Kindergarten. Such a beautiful sweet, smart girl.

Her baby sister being born. She was in the delivery room. She was 6 years old. And so excited to have a SISTER!!! She's been the best big sister ever imaginable. She adores her little sister.

Seeing her with the same two best friends since 1st grade. They are quite the trio.

Seeing her dance and cheer. My heart swells with pride.

Knowing how she touches people. She's a tender, kind soul. Everyone who spends time around her loves her. Teachers, classmates, friends, and especially us.

We couldn't be prouder or more honored to be her parents. She's a treasure and we cherish her so.She's a blessing in every way. We have so much fun together, and though I know that the day may be coming when she's not all that thrilled with me, I am enjoying the delightful time we have together now. Happy Birthday Precious Girl!

Friends!

Today was SB's birthday celebration with her friends. She choose just to have her two best friends this year as we had 15 girls last year. None of us was up for that again!
I picked the girls up from school, took them to get their pictures taken together, dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, shopping at Target, where they all bought matching shirts, ice skating at Polar Ice, where their school was having a skate night, and now home to watch a movie and do manicures.

SB's friend who is a boy, who happens to have adored her since 2nd grade, and she him, gave her a gorgeous necklace for her birthday tonight at skate night and many of her girl friends were there and brought presents as well. So she had a lot of fun and felt much loved, as always! Tomorrow is the family party which she shares with her cousins who have birthdays coming up soon. The party just happens to fall on SB's actual birthday this year. Lots of celebrating this very special girl going on around here!

Why???

I honestly am getting more and more afraid to drive in this city. I drive a lot every day and I see many things that make me shake my head, but what I saw today was terrifying!

We were eastbound on a major street in the left lane near the intersection. There was a low concrete median between the east and westbound lanes of traffic near this intersection and a left hand turn lane. On the westbound side of the median, an accident had just occurred. Pretty minor, but still the back car had a crushed hood. A woman getting in to the left hand turn lane on my side slowed down to make sure there were no injuries. A huge truck behind her started laying on his horn and honking like crazy at her, even though the light was red, so it wasn't like there was anywhere for him to go anyway. The light is still red and she's still creeping along, when suddenly, the big red truck goes over the median into the westbound lanes of traffic and goes around and cuts in front of the woman. All in order to sit at the red light. In order to gain one car length. In order to save two seconds, this idiot in his big truck put his life and the lives of countless others in danger. It was honestly one of the scariest things I've ever seen while driving. I just don't understand why people think that whatever they have to do, wherever they have to go is so much more important than anything else going on. It boggles the mind and makes me intensely frightened to drive myself, let alone ever let my children drive.

In other not so pleasant news, we found out yesterday that a good friend of my husband has a 9 inch long mass wrapped around a bone in her arm. This was discovered during a chest xray for bronchitis. This woman is so amazing. She has numerous children, many adopted. She and her partner are foster parents to countless children. They are amazing people and give so much of themselves to others. Hopefully this is something that has been caught early enough to be taken care of. Please pray...

And pray for my mom. She' turning 60 in February. At her last physical they found something that may or may not be a problem. She'll be having an outpatient procedure done on March 2nd to determine how serious the issue is. I'm pretty certain it's nothing, but this is my MOM! I need her to be okay...

ARGH!

My heater is clunking again! I heard it in the middle of the night, but it was still heating so I ignored it. I'm not sure it's still giving heat now, but it clunks every 3 minutes or so. Hopefully the guys will get back out here soon. I think we may be in for a new unit! Praise God for Home Warranties!

"No YOU'RE a purple tree!!"

The title comes from a bickering session between my eldest child and my youngest child on the way to take him to school this morning. He went in late after an eye appointment so it was just the two of them bickering back and forth. I won't tell you which one of them actually made the above comment.

What a weekend! SB's room completely taken apart, painted, new shelves put up, and put back together between Saturday morning and last night in time for bedtime. My husband rocks! I do a lot of the painting, but he gets all the detail work and the heavy stuff. He works fast! She'll get her new bedding and some other things for her room on her birthday on Saturday. The Princess and I are working on painting some picture frames today and I have some pictures of SB and her favorite people waiting to be picked up at Costco. She loves the new paint job and is really anxious to see everything else. I, of course, get great joy from teasing her about not seeing it until Saturday. Teehee!

You can thank me

for the rain. No, no rain dance, but I did move all of SB's furniture outside last night so I could paint it today. Luckily Mark called me on his way to work and said it was beginning to sprinkle, so the teenager and I moved everything back in.


You're welcome!

And the crowd goes wild!

Finally, after 4 days and 3 very long nights with three kids on my bedroom floor, we have heat. This morning ended up being 4:30 this afternoon, but whatevah! I will be rejoicing in the dark silence that is my bedroom tonight while the children are nestled all snug in their beds!

Scary Evening! Heat! Randomness!

So, the kiddos and I are all out in the family room watching American Idol last night. Mark was in the bathroom. Suddenly, the kids and I hear the teenager's bedroom door close. Not just close, but click shut. The teenager jumps up and herds the kids and I to my bedroom which is right off the family room. Sb picks up the phone to call 911 if necessary. The teenager goes to the kitchen and grabs a butcher knife. He peeks around the corner and says "There's someone in my room" because he can see the shadow moving under the door. He goes down the hall and busts open the door. And the dog comes running out as fast as he can. How the dog shut the door is beyond me, but we all got quite the adrenaline rush!

Then, we're back to our program, all sitting watching while Mark is working on his laptop, when the doorbell rings. At 8:30. our doorbell rarely rings that late, and the teenager is grounded, so we know it's not his friends. My heart is beating like crazy again. But it's the heating repair person, coming to replace the motor on our heating system. Which he did...and then came down and told us the news that the fan blades have somehow welded themselves to the old motor so those need to be replaced as well. So he'll be back first thing in the morning. Which must mean something different where he comes from because it's 1:22 in the afternoon and he hasn't been here yet. But, we've managed to stay warm enough and we have a home warranty still so we only pay $50 no matter what is wrong with it, so i guess we have to have a little patience!

We're redoing SB's bedroom (which she shares with the Princess) for her birthday. Painting this weekend and then she's getting all stuff for her room for her birthday. It should look awesome when it's done, but today I have to go in and take down all the crap on her shelves and desk and hutch so that I can repaint them tomorrow. Some of the stuff has been in the same place since we moved in 5+ years ago. Should be fun!

Geniuses Abound!

Bragging mom here...It's report card day...We're 3 for 3 on stellar report cards! Woohoo!
"FE is delightful". "The teenager is a pleasure to have in class". "Sb truly is a pleasure to have in class. And, SB? Keep on being you. You're wonderful!"

We're having a special homemade chocolate cake to celebrate! A reward for mommy and the kiddos!

Disrespect...

Something is troubling me greatly. I've talked to my friends about it, I've talked to my husband about it...I just don't get it.

I completely understand that there are unhappy marriages out there. I understand that there are husbands that are not as amazing as mine. I got lucky, yes, but I do my fair share of making our marriage work as well. As Dr. Phil says "Marriage is not 50-50, it's 100-100." Giving 100% of yourself as often as possible is really the way to make a marriage work and last. I would never be disrespectful of my husband, particularly not in a public forum.

But, there are some women out there in blogland who use their blogs to rip their husbands. Or, if not a ripping of their husbands, use their blogs as a forum for talking about their crushes on other men, their past love affairs, etc. Or post photos of scantily clad men on their blog. To me? That's so disrespectful to your marriage and the man who fathered your children. As my husband said? A guy doing the exact same thing would be labeled a chauvinist, a pig, sexist, disrespectful of his wife, etc. But a woman? People are laughing about it. It really disgusts me. and another thing? I surely don't want my daughter, or any of my children, seeing their Mama being disgusting and disrespectful to their father. Some role model.

So Cold!

I am freezing...and lucky us...our heater broke down this morning! Since we're having the coldest winter in forever, every heating/cooling place is beyond busy and we can't get anyone out here until Wednesday!!! If you don't hear from us, it's because we've turned into giant Popsicles!!!

Happy Bithday!!

to me!! I've had a lovely day so far, and a lovely day yesterday.

My morning yesterday started with sleeping in while Mark got up and took the kids to school. I then got a massage, went shopping, had lunch with my friends, went to the kids' school and judged the spelling bee, came home to a super clean house, all the laundry done, refrigerator cleaned out, bathrooms cleaned, floors vacuumed and mopped!, went to dinner and a movie! This morning I woke to banana pancakes, cards, gifts, flowers, balloons, went bike riding, played basketball, will at some pizza soon and watch some football, and go to dinner later with my mom and brother! Tomorrow we'll have dinner with the in-laws before church. All in all, a lovely birthday weekend! I'm so blessed and feel so loved! Isn't that how you should feel on your birthday??!

Enjoy YOUR weekend, and don't forget to come by my new photo blog to see the first day of my Project 365!

I'm a stalker

Yep, that's right, but at least I admit it...AND, I daresay no one finds me objectionable. Snort!

Anyway...I'm copying Karin and doing my own Project 365 on my new photo blog, Pixel Dust. I'll be starting on Saturday, which is my birthday! Special thanks to Karin for designing my new banner over there as well as letting me copy her brilliant idea!

Praise God!

If you remember this post, you'll know we were in a world of emotional pain and distress. Well, that's pretty much over. Things have worked out pretty fairly and justly, I think. Thank you for your prayers.

Fashion

So, I admit it. Getting dressed is always a bit of a challenge for me, and I'm an outift shopper. Like, I have an occasion coming up so I shop for an outfit at the last minute and end up buying something that I wear once. I also feel frumpy a lot. I see all these stylish moms and just think, "I wish I could look like that", but I never knew where to start or what to do. Well never fear, Friday Style is here. Brought to you by Susan of Friday Playdate fame, this style blog will change your wardrobe if it needs changing. Susan offers information on the basics, even for mommies who stay home, but still want to look and feel great. I have learned so much, just in the short time she's been writing the style blog. And yesterday, I went shopping and picked up a few of the basics. This morning, even though it was was early and I was only taking the kids to the dentist and school? I did not wear sweat pants or sneakers. I put together some things like Susan had suggested. I looked put together and felt so much more confident, not like a frump!Thank you Susan!!!

6:45

That's what time I have to leave the house in the morning. With all four children. Why? To go to the dentist of course!

The children go to an extremely busy pediatric dentist. This is the pediatric dentist to the "stars", so to speak, in Phoenix. We've gone there for 14 years, since the teenager was 2 years old. We started there because the office is right upstairs from where my mom's office used to be. By the time she moved, we had been there for 8 years or so and it seemed silly to move. Did I mention the half hour drive to get there? But, the orthodontist is in the same office! And, we get an ENTIRE appointment time to ourselves since all four kids go at once! But, I have to make the appointment two months or more in advance. So we take the first one of the day. Which seems fine until the night before the appointment when I remember that we need to leave at the time the kids normally get up!

Monday

Clever title, 'eh?

The kiddos are back at school today, except the Princess who goes back tomorrow. I'm going to have to have a talk with her teacher though. It seems, as we learned over vacation, there's someone bullying my baby. This little girl doesn't like that The Princess is playing with the other girl's friend and so I guess has been kicking and pinching The Princess and calling her "Ugly Face". My kids attend a school where bullying is strictly against the rules and dealt with very harshly, so I've had no experience with this, BUT I do know, from conferences and just from experience with The Princess, that she is friendly and gets along with EVERYONE. Her teacher made a special note of this, so I know she's not doing anything to cause this problem. but, i won't allow my baby to be hurt, physically or emotionally. I am MOMMY, hear me ROAR!

I'm feeling awesome today. I think this might be the first time EVER that I have not cried when the kiddos went back to school. Not because I wanted them to go back, but because we had such a lovely break and so much fun that I feel satisfied for a while. And I was ready to get back to routine. SB has a game today and dance and we have Generations, so we're back full blast already, but that's okay. Busy feels good.

Happy Birthday...

My Grandma would have been 78 years old today. I miss her so, but I know she's having an awesome party today and everyday!

I've never seen anything like it...

You know my family loves to go to the movies. We go a LOT! The kids and I went with my mom yesterday and I saw something I have never seen before. Never. I've seen kids in movies I wouldn't allow my kids to see, I've had kids kick the back of my chair or pull on it, I've heard kids and adults talking through movies, I've heard cell phones ring. I even heard a kid get slapped in the face for crying during a movie once. We take our kids to the movies because they know how to behave. they sit and watch the movie. And? if they didn't? We would take them out. I think they know that even though it's never been an issue. But they have ALWAYS, since they were really little, gone with us and behaved very well.
Yesterday, at our movie, I saw a mom and dad come in with three children, and the mom was hugely pregnant with another. The kids were probably all under the age of 5. They sat up the stairs, maybe 6 or so rows behind us. Before the movie started, the middle child, maybe 3 ?, was crawling down the stairs. No one was following behind him or coming to get him or walking with him. By the time the movie started, the kid was jumping down the stairs and making noises. During the movie, he ran in and out of the theater no less than 5 times, jumped up and down the stairs several times, ran to the front of the theater and ran in front of the screen, hung on the rails and crawled under them. Through the whole movie. And not once did any parent come down and get him, follow him, anything! They just let him do his thing. I was really appalled by the entire incident. I mean, there were two parents there. One of them could have taken this kid out while the other watched the movie with the other kids, or maybe they just needed to get the kid and make him sit down. I am firmly of the opinion that your children live up to the expectations of behavior you set for them. We've always taken our children to the theater, live theater and movies, so they've known how to behave, but we had to teach them that. These parents were obviously not doing any teaching.

I survived!

I only ended up with 7 kiddos here yesterday, but a good time was had by all!
Today the kids and I are headed to lunch and a movie with my mom. That should be fun!

We're going to see Night at the Museum. SB and FE have both seen this movie twice already, once with us and once at separate birthday parties. They want to see it again. It is a GREAT movie. Loved it!! If you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for???? (Rochelle, this means you. You would LOVE it!!) Best line in the movie? When the cowboy (Owen Wilson) says to the Roman Guard in the middle of a battle "I ain't quittin' you!".

In other news, I made some money this week!! My FIL had me sell some tickets to the BCS National Championship Game for him. He said he would give me a commission for selling them, but my FIL is not always willing to part with his money, so I wasn't expecting much. But? The tickets sold high and he gave me 10% of the money!! Enough for me to go get my hair done!! Woohoo!!! I'm loving him right now!!

Would you like some cheese with that whine??

I KNOW I'm spoiled, okay, so if listening to me whine doesn't work for you, feel free to click the red x in the corner!

Mark goes back to work tomorrow and I'm sad. We always have such a lovely Christmas break and I always hate it when he goes back, so there's no difference this year, except he's going back before the kids do. The kids and I have plans, so it's not like we won't be doing anything, but I love having Mark at home...AND this weekend is Generations so it ruins the end of the whole break. Bah! Okay, I'm done whining!

We had a lovely trip to the zoo today and then went to the library as a family. I'm reading Bridge to Terabithia. There's a movie coming out and the kids really want to see it, but I keep reading people saying how much the book ruined them and shattered their childhoods so i felt like I should give it a read.

All of the kids have friends coming over tomorrow so the house will be full and busy. They were all asking, so I thought we'd just get it all over with at once. I think we'll have 9 kids here for lunch. Hmmm...what was I thinking??!!