Whatnot Wednesday (picture edition)

What Kyle does for fun, part two

Chloe already knows how to wash the dishes, made a huge mess but was extra cute

Jack weed-eating, I'm sure Daddy is counting down the days till it's for real!

The water rocket, it was fun, but the heat made me go in early

what to do when it's 100 degrees at 10 in the morning?

being sprayed with water wasn't her favorite

a doughnut date with Daddy

I had no idea she was old enough for this type of thing, good Christmas gift ideas

Elizabeth, this one's for you, me with my socks on my hands for pre-school graduation

In my search for my first day of Kindergarten pictures I found these, first day of 1st grade (and 1st day of pre-school for my sisters).  My youngest sister on the left is cracking me up with that pose and look on her face :).

Happy Tuesday!

Look what I just found out my computer can do, I know I'm a little late to the party, but how much fun!  Plus I look so much better in color than I do in the mirror, I think I might demand all pictures of me be taken in "pop art" mode from now on, what do you think?

Tonight I'm heading out to a women's event at my church, it's the first time I've gone to something by myself since Chloe came home.  I guess I was a little excited about it, I showed up last week, turns out I was the only one that excited, not a soul there :).

My rules for preparing for vacation

We have a big road trip coming up this month.  In case you have one of your own coming up I thought I'd pass along my rules for getting ready for vacation.  How about you, do you have any rules to add?

1. After finishing your last load of pre-vacation laundry, do not wear a single piece of clothing you like until vacation begins.  All possible clothes you like must be saved for when deciding what to pack.

2. This means it's time to bust out your ugliest sweat pants, because 1) you won't be packing those and 2) you must wait till the last day before vacation to shave your legs.

3. Since you will be seeing family, it's time to paint your toe nails and finger nails, this way they'll never know that in your real life you look like a slob most of the time.

4. Buy all new toiletries to take with you and while you're at it buy something random that you would normally not buy and totally don't need as a treat for pre-vacation prep.

5. Make lists, approximately 17 of them, scatter them all over the house, lose them, re-start them until you are sure you are losing your mind.  In the end pack up every item in your house that you, your husband, or your children have used in the past six months, that should cover it.

6. Go to the library, check out enough books to read over a 9 month period, and bring them all, you never know when you might not like one of them and need to change books.  Also for variety bring magazines and the child raising books you're reading.  Tell yourself that you'll have tons of time to read, so this is necessary.

7. Dream about your vacation and begin to get excited.  This is important: make sure to dream about your vacation as if you do not have a 1, 3, and 5 year old who have a long road trip ahead of them, not to mention will require the same amount of attention everyday of vacation that regularly makes you so tired you feel like you cannot get off the couch in the evenings.

8. Unpack the suitcase that Kylynn packed for herself, re-pack with appropriate clothes and shoes that aren't ballet shoes.

9. Try to finish your packing and realize that half of it will have to wait until your way out the door, because it is needed for eating/sleeping/living.  Because these are the most important things for your trip put sticky notes around the house saying, DO NOT FORGET: blankies, fans, cups, medicine, booster chairs....

10. Make brownies, from scratch, because if you are going to spend two days in the car with your loud/whining children you will NEED brownies to survive.

11. Eat up all the food in your house, avoid grocery shopping it would all just go bad while you're gone, avoid eating out because you're about to do a lot of that.  When you run out of food the day before you are to leave, open the fridge and stare, repeat as many times as necessary.  When you become famished eat the brownies that you made for the trip.

12. Give up on ever packing while your children are awake, decide instead to return to daydreams of child-free vacations.  I hear that the anticipation of vacation can be as gratifying as the vacation itself, and lets face it with small children the anticipation is much better than the reality.

Surprise...you need to show up

I had this great idea.  Really it was a good one and in my mind I had it all planned out perfectly, the way everything would look (beautiful of course), the way all the food would taste (amazing!), the way the mommies-to-be would respond (breath-taking surprise).  This was the plan: we would have a surprise baby shower for the two couples in our home group that are due to have babies in the next month.  Everyone was totally excited, the gifts were bought, the cake was made (not by me, but by my amazing and talented friend), the plan was in place.

All week I had been praying against the worst possible scenario, that the guests of honor would not show up to their shower.  God assured me that He was in control, I believed that they would be there, at least somewhere down deep I did, but I had a hard time holding onto it for the hours leading up to the surprise shower.

First we get an email.  Couple #1 cannot make it, the mother-to-be is understandably tired and needs to rest.  So it's decided that since we've already been calling that couple all week "just to make sure everything's okay and they'll be there on Sunday" that it's time to let the husband in on the surprise.  He says he'll definitely be there and his wife will come if she's feeling okay.  I'm holding onto God's promise by a thread.

Then I get the call.  Couple #2 calling to say they can't make it.  I begin to do some kind of crazy begging/praying to God and while I'm on the phone with them, the grandmother calls to say she can watch the kids and they say they'll make it after all.  Someone once told me, God is never late, but He's never early either.  I cannot tell you how true that is, so very, very true.

Now let's take a moment to give you a glimpse of what's going on in my house as I try to get ready for a shower that may or may not include pregnant women.  In order to get ready I am trying to do the following things: cook snacks for the party, clean the house, decorate the room, wrap the presents, potty train a 3 year old, feed my children every 15 minutes, break up fights, discipline a five year old, soothe a one year old, remain sane. My hubby, whom I love, really I do, but who sometimes I want to throw a shoe at decides that he'll just run out and take some friends of ours (who don't own a car) shopping.  So he was gone ALL AFTERNOON and got home an hour and a half before the party.  Have I mentioned I love him, okay, just checking.

God kept nudging me all afternoon to trust Him, to really, actually trust Him.  To believe that He could not only bring the guests (all four of them) but He also knows how to make snacks, clean houses, and raise children.  Perhaps you are all further along in your walk than me, but I am always shocked at how hard of a time I have with trusting God with the small things, I mean trust you to get my house clean...really You care about that?

I managed to remain mostly sane and almost calm with the gentle reminders He was giving me.  And in the end it was a wonderful baby shower, the house was good enough, the food was (dare I say it) amazing, the gifts were wrapped, and every single expectant parent was there, along with the rest of our home group.  It turned out that both husbands had to be told in order to get them there but the wives got to be at least a little surprised.  It apparently wasn't part of God's plan for the mommies-to-be to be surprised He had a much better plan, they went home knowing that they are loved and that they are part of our family.

She's a graduate

Kylynn had her pre-school graduation this week which made me think to the first time I got to wear elbow length gloves.  At my pre-school graduation I wore knee-socks on my hands, really it's a true story.  I really loved Miss Piggy, what does that say about me?, and I loved her elbow length gloves.  I thought that my pre-school graduation was a fine enough event for me to need such gloves, but my mom disagreed.  Never one to be deterred by a mother's no, I snuck some knee-socks in my backpack and apparently the teachers thought it was too funny to stop me.  I wish I had the pictures here at my house but they're at my parent's, I can tell you that in those pictures it is clear that I fully believe that, 1. I look very good and 2. there's no difference between elbow length gloves and knee socks.  There is not a hint of embarrassment on my face.

Pre-school graduations are at the same time silly and exciting.  As a parent watching you catch yourself feeling sentimental over this school she'll never go to again, these friends she won't see anymore and then you snap out of it and realize, she's four and she doesn't know the difference.  All the same I was glad for the chance to make her feel special, to remind her that it's a big deal to be starting kindergarten next year and to remember all she's learned this year.

I'm perhaps the only parent who actually watched the event, the rest of them spent the entire time viewing it through their camera lens and since that was Kyle's job, I figured I might as well enjoy what was before me at that moment.  They began with a play, Kylynn played someone from the orient, which I thought was rather appropriate.  They then sang us several songs, said a Bible verse, and of course "graduated."

The kids did such a great job, the play was done really well and the set and the costumes were amazing, way more than I was expecting.  Afterwards we got to look through their scrapbooks and of course eat some cookies, which Kylynn told me before was what she was looking forward to the most, she's apparently not one for sentiment :).

I'm not that frugal...

Yesterday I headed out to the dollar store, with two cranky kids in tow.  I like the dollar store if I'm in the right mood, it's a bit like a treasure hunt.  There is always something good to be found, sometimes more than others, but you have to be willing to look past a lot of junk to find the treasures.

I needed some Christmas ribbon, and I looked and looked, knowing they must have some, but not finding it anywhere.  On my search through the store I found these adorable kids drinking glasses.  They had different Disney characters on each of them, and were perfect for Kylynn to use.  I thought they were adorable, but knowing that I run my dishwasher (because it's full) everyday, contained myself and bought up four of them.

I got home and wanted to put them in the dishwasher I was about to start and went to remove the different stickers, thinking it said something like "dishwasher safe".  Um, no, it said, "WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm."

I think I'll pass, I'm frugal and all, love a cute glass for a dollar, but not frugal enough to give my children glasses containing a chemical that can cause reproductive harm!  The good news, they did have Christmas ribbon, I saw a man with some in his cart and he helped me find it, thank goodness for the kindess of strangers they were hiding that stuff!

If anyone knows where I can find cute disney glasses that won't cause harm to my children let me know, Kylynn was crushed to lose her princess glasses.

How to make Christmas cookies

Step 1: Realize that all the days dishes are blocking the counter you plan on using, do the dishes.  Don't forget to listen to your daughter whine that you're supposed to be making cookies, while doing dishes.

Step 2: Hear that your son is up from his nap and you need to go get him before making cookies.  To appease daughter show her how to place a small amount of sprinkles in each of the 5 bowls, explain clearly that you put just one type of sprinkles in each bowl, also explain three times how little you need in each bowl.

Step 3: Come downstairs with son to find this, in. all. five. bowls.  Notice that all your sprinkles that should have lasted you a good three years are now gone.  Breathe in.  Pray.  Talk to daughter about disobeying.  Decide that Christmas cookies don't have to be perfect and move on.

Step 4: Decide that before you make the cookies you should wash son's blanket, after all he'll be having fun making cookies and shouldn't mind at all.  Start washing machine.  Comfort hysterical child, when that doesn't work bribe him with food.

Step 5: Read ingredients and directions, realize you are missing one ingredient and call hubby to pick up on way home from work.  After all it is now 5pm and you are yet to start actually making the cookies.  To appease rightly frustrated daughter, bribe her with food.

Step 6: Get missing ingredient from hubby and actually start mixing some cookies.  Since it is now so late you will need to get dinner going at the same time.  Place meat on the stove to cook.

Step 7: Take daughter's picture with cookie cutters in hand, even though this recipe doesn't call for cookie cutters, because daughter feels the need to accessorize in pictures.  Roll cookies into balls, and allow daughter to roll in sprinkles, continue to cook dinner while daughter takes forever rolling in sprinkles.  Place beans and corn on the stove top to cook.

Step 8: Place cookies on baking sheet covered with parchment paper, and flatten with the bottom of a glass, try a few glasses till you find one that actually flattens.  Allow daughter to lick the spoon, then stop her when you catch her eating the bowls of sprinkles with a spoon.  Throw away all but one bowl of sprinkles that did not get slobber on it, make a mental note to buy more sprinkles before next Christmas.

Step 9: Take cookies out of the oven, set on stove top next to meat, corn, and beans that are cooking on a gas stove.  Call husband when you turn around and see that the parchment paper is on fire, when husband thinks it's no big deal and goes up stairs, yell for him more franticly till he comes down and saves the day.  Make a mental note not to place cookie sheets with parchment paper on the stove top while the burners are on.

Step 10: Clean the ashes off of the cookies.  Scoop the ashes out of the corn.  Move the cookie sheet and turn back on all the burners so dinner can finish up.  Give up on ever having a clean kitchen again.

Step 11: Serve cookies for dessert after dinner is served at 7:30 that night.

Step 12: Have a glass of wine before you have to tackle cleaning that war zone that once was a kitchen.

Big love

I awoke this morning to this beautiful bit of goodness (I took the bite, I'm impatient, especially when it comes to doughnuts).  After ten years, he knows, if you want to communicate love to me do it by leaving me a chocolate glazed doughnut waiting for me in the kitchen.  Perhaps that's a bit specific, I do experience love in other ways too, but you know what I mean.  Chocolate=love, doughnut=love, chocolate doughnut=really big love.

My sweet hubby, who has been busy, busy these past six months few days, decided to use his time creatively and take Kylynn on a daddy/daughter date in the morning before us normal people are awake.  They had doughnuts and kool-aid and Kylynn talked and talked, I'm sure, while Kyle barely got a word in edge wise.

Kylynn (can I tell you how much I love this fashionista, look at how she buckles her belt on the side, love it!) had a breakdown this morning because, in her words, "but I need to share Jesus with Jack mommy."  Talk about pulling out the big guns in an argument, geez.  Jack had said that Daddy made his boo-boo all better, and Kylynn needed him to understand that no, only God makes boo-boos better.  This began a back and forth of, no daddy!, no God!  And when I told her to stop arguing with her brother, she laid that one on me.  Oh, the pressures she puts on herself, she is definitely her father and I rolled into one up tight little girl.

Jack has gotten wind that his third birthday is 3 months away, and unfortunately my theory is holding up.  Terrible twos-some silly rhyme made up that has nothing to do with reality, terrible threes-oh golly hold onto your hats.  The boy will say no to things he really wants, just so he can say no, then he has to come back and change his mind, because what child doesn't want chocolate milk.  He has also decided that as of now he will take no more being pushed around by Kylynn, not gonna have it!  He also gets mad at her if she looks at him, tries to talk to him, breathes on him, or thinks about him.

The good news, Kyle found a secret cubby in our coat closet, under the stairs where the kids can be locked up play.  I'm hoping that they'll soon spend some more time in there so I can think clearly enough to cook some dinner, or catch up on a chore or two.  So far they just stayed in their long enough to decide they wanted everything in the Christmas toy catalogue that came in the mail and then came out to tell me all about it.

This is my life and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy every crazy minute of it.

The ballots have been counted

So I have gotten my first award for blogging, okay it's really more of a shout out from a fellow blogger, but it still made me happy.  It especially made me happy because my new blog friend Elizabeth gave it to me.  Elizabeth blogs over at Romans 8:15 and she has one biological son and one son that joined their family through (Korean) adoption.  So we've got that in common, but we've got even bigger things in common, like how I wouldn't have to explain to her how Edward Cullen caused me to be a neglectful mom for the two weeks I spent reading the Twilight series.  She has adorable kids, a haircut I wish I could pull off, and most of all she is real.  Every time I click over to her blog, I feel like I've had one of those really good talks with a girlfriend, you know the ones where you finally tear down the walls and just tell the truth, Elizabeth tells the truth about her experience with adoption, about how hard it can be and then just as quickly how wonderful it can the next minute.

Here are the guidelines:

• Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
• Share 7 things about yourself.
• Pass the award along to 7 other bloggers who you recently discovered and think are fabulous

7 things about Jenny:

1. I believe on beautiful days, like today, where the temperature finally catches up with the calendar, in throwing open every window.  I believe firmly that those windows should stay open through the night, even if it gets into the 50s, so that you can finally use your comforter again.  I believe on these days that every possible activity should be done outside.

2. I coupon.  I am not a master-couponer but I understand how they do it.  I do match sales and coupons, but only on those things I will use, I do plan my meals around what is on sale to a point, and I do stock pile things that I can get for free or near free when I get the chance.  I manage to save around 25 to 30% off of my bill every week doing these things.  If  you live in a big city and don't use your coupons, I would LOVE to have them, send them to me!

3. The grass is always greener when it comes to my hair.  I seem to constantly go from this hair cut:

to this hair cut:

and back again.  I always like my hair more when it is short, but for some reason seem to forget that and see how beautiful celebrities' long hair looks and grow it out for a year, then sure enough as soon as it's long again, I can't wait to chop it all off.  I have issues.

4.  When I was 5 and graduating from pre-school I wore knee-socks on my hands.  Yes, you read that right.  You see I had a thing about Miss Piggy.  I thought she was beautiful and I especially loved the clothes that she wore.  Here purple ball gown, with the elbow length purple gloves, and pearls was my favorite.  So when it came time for a major event in my life like pre-school graduation, I thought something similar to Miss Piggy's ball gown was in order.  My mom wouldn't get me elbow gloves, she's normal like that, so I snuck some knee-socks in my back pack, and the rest is history.  

5. When I was in high school I had a thing for Elvis.  I really cannot explain this, it seems very odd to me now, but I thought he was "hot" (the young Elvis, not the old one) and I liked his music.  Of course millions of women agree with me, it's just that most of them actually lived while Elvis was alive, where I was born the year after he died (as I know from one of my many Elvis posters, I had hanging on my walls).

6. I have a degree in Sociology, I loved every minute of earning that degree, the classes I took made me want to get to keep learning for the rest of my life.  The problem is I don't want to do the things that one might do with a sociology degree.  It is only now in my 30s that I think I know what career(s) I could enjoy and I wonder how anyone can at the age of 18 decide well what they are to do for the rest of their lives.

7. I don't watch much TV, but every show that I watch (save one) is a reality show.  Some people feel this is something to be ashamed of, but I really couldn't care less.  These shows are like little documentaries (ok not really) which I also love and I really, really love watching and learning about people (see #6 above).  We don't have cable so these are the network ones that are relatively clean and watching them are some of the highlights of my week.

7 bloggers I would like to give the Versatile blogger award to (okay I only can think of 5, so 5 it is):

• Charissa over at Highs and Ludlows, who writes about her life raising three girls (including one set of twins).  She loves me in real life and her blogs always make laugh, she is the craftiest person I know and she makes it all look easy.
• Shannan over at Flower Patch Farmgirl, who writes about her life in the country, their journey God has called them to to simplify their life, and her three adorable children.  I cannot tell you enough how much you will enjoy her blog, she is the real deal when it comes to writing, her pictures will make you want to go stay with her, and her style is enviable.  She also is a fellow adoptive mother and right now is doing a series on Tuesdays to tell their story, such good stuff!
• Pioneer Woman.  Ok, I know, everyone already knows who Pioneer Woman is and she would never know that I have bestowed this award on her seeing how she gets around 50,000 comments per post, but I love her, love her cooking, love her pictures, love her humor.
• Heather over at Sit a Spell, who writes about their new journey living and serving in Haiti, her passion for fair trade, living on less, healthy living, and serving God in every area of their lives.  Check her out she will challenge you in a good way.
• Emily over at in the hush of the moon, who writes beautiful, beautiful words everyday.  Her style always leaves me transported away to whatever place and time she is telling us about today.  She also started imperfect prose on Thursdays, check it out if you want to link up.

Ok so I think that does it, check some of these ladies out, many of them have become part of a community for me where I can be encouraged and lifted up, when I share a little back and forth with these women I remember that there are other people out there who are making these same life choices God has placed on my heart.

Grocery store confessional

We've crossed some kind of threshold in my family now and a trip to the grocery store with both of the kiddos is no longer a terrifying thought.  Kylynn no longer fits into the cart and has to walk so there is a lot of, "put that down, please" going on, but she is actually sometimes helpful and always entertaining.

The other day we were walking around the grocery store and Kylynn was talking on an old cell phone that is now a toy.  She would say both sides of the conversation, "Hi, Audrey how are you doing"  "Oh, I'm good"  "That's good, actually we're at the grocery store"  "Oh that's nice, what are you buying"  "Well, I want to get strawberry ice cream, did you know that when I grow up I'm going to be a ballerina, a mommy, a baby doctor, and a teacher!"   And so on, you get the idea.  This guy was walking by us and he looked at her so confused as to whether or not she was actually a four year old with her own cell phone walking around the grocery store talking, I could see it in his eyes, the thought, "is this what our world is coming to."  In case you too are wondering that, the answer is yes, but not with my family so don't judge me, it's just a play phone.

The trip usually goes pretty well as long as I have a good bit of resistance built up to Jack's whining, he is really into whining these days and can do it for a few hours straight, no problem.  The check out lane is the hardest part, I never noticed how many items they put down on the kids' level to drive their parents crazy tempt them.  I spend a lot of time saying no, you cannot have a barbie coloring book, no you cannot have a new movie, no you cannot have a lollipop, and Kylynn please come back over here.  All the while ignoring Jack's whining and unloading my cart.  But all in all it's a good trip and I hope to get all my grocery shopping done before baby #3 comes home, because I cannot imagine what that would be like, I'm getting hives just thinking about it.

Oh, it has just come to my attention that I will still need to purchase food after having three children, I need to go and think that through.  But I'll leave you with a walk down memory lane, back when times weren't as easy.

I apologize (Originally posted April 2008)

I owe some people an apology.

Have you ever seen the show "Super Nanny"? It is a great show and I think the super nanny is wonderful and quite talented at child rearing techniques. I watch it from time to time and even did so before I had a child myself. That's where the apology comes in. I used to watch the show and go, who are these people! Who can't control a two year old, after all you, the parent, are bigger, stronger, and smarter than a two year old! I passed judgement on them and decided that they were "bad parents". I most sincerely apologize.

A few days ago, I took my little two year old to the grocery store. She wined the entire time, causing me to begin to become frantic and lose my mind (we were there almost two hours!). She whined and demanded a cookie, I went to the other side of the store and gave her one, just for a few minutes of peace. 

She took off her seat belt and laid on the floor of the "car" shopping cart, I kneeled down and begged her to please let me put the seat belt back on her, I apparently sounded as stressed as I felt, because a police office and his partner came down the aisle and stood there and watched me until I got her situated (that didn't help with my stress level). 

She knocked down an entire box of taco seasoning packets and as I bent down to try and pick them all up, I considered laying down on the ground and crying for a few minutes, but decided against it. I had two employees come up to me and ask if I needed any help finding things, because I was staring into space trying to think about which product was cheaper, but not able to concentrate due to her whine/scream. I may have developed a fear of going to the grocery store with a child (does that have a name?). And I am sure that anyone who watched how I dealt with Kylynn, thought, that lady needs to go on super nanny, she can't control her little two year old!

Considering that this is not how my days normally go, I don't think I qualify for super nanny. But the point is, raising children is so much harder than it looks, and two year olds may be smarter than we think :) Now I know, I will never again look at someone else's parenting and say, "I will never ..."

8 simple steps to remove hot pink nail polish

Step by step instructions for cleaning up a bottle of hot pink nail polish which has broken all over your kitchen floor and oven, after being shaken about by a four year old girl.

1. Pick up Kylynn and remove her from the scene of the crime, she has no shoes on and you do not want her to get glass in her feet, more importantly you do not want to her to hear the words that are screaming in your head. Make a mental note that cleaning this up is not going to help your migraine.

2. Go to grab a work towel, on the way there take time to pray that God would have mercy on your beautiful tile floor and stainless steel oven, that you've only got to enjoy for one year and you know your husband would not pay to replace for another 30+ years.

3. Begin to wipe up the polish with the towel, clinch jaw when you realize that it is not just going to wipe up. Yell at your kids who are fighting over the couch that could easily fit ten of them. Go upstairs and grab some nail polish remover.

4. Begin using the nail polish remover on a new work towel, praise God when you realize it appears to be working. Send Kylynn to her room because they can't stop fighting and she is the one who will listen when being sent to her room, when she challenges the fairness of the situation, yell at her, "I'm cleaning up your mess, so I really don't care who was doing what I can't listen to you fighting anymore, go to your room!"

5. Begin the very long process of scrubbing up the hot pink polish that is on the floor and oven, while trying to ignore your headache, make a mental note to change Jack's diaper after your done with this. Hear Kylynn disobey you and come back downstairs, tell her in your meanest mommy voice to go back to her room and wait there for her spanking.

6. Spend 30 minutes scrubbing up the polish, it will take extra work to get it off the oven and the grout. Keep looking everywhere, because the tiny specks will never seem to end because when a bottle breaks open on a tile floor it flies Every. Where.

7. Put towel number one in a plastic bag and throw it all away. Put towel number two in the load of work towels that you washed yesterday and forgot to dry, re-wash load.

8. Tell Kylynn she is never allowed to touch another nail polish bottle, For The Rest Of Her Life!

A bar fight over Lee Green Wood

I love being an American, it is something I am proud of, it is something I realize is a great blessing, but once upon a time I got into a bar fight because I apparently didn't show my patriotism in the appriopiate Texas manner. I truly didn't know any better, where I grew up, the national anthem was the national anthem, and country songs were well country songs.

It was memorial day weekend 2005. Kyle and I had booked a last minute vacation to Fredericksburg, TX, back before kids when you could just up and plan a trip at the last minute. We had a wonderful trip, it is to this day one of my favorite weekends with him. I remember at one point we were talking about how long it was taking us to get pregnant and he assured me that he would make sure I was a mother, no matter what lengths he had to go to, he would get us a baby. It was short and sweet, and it was probably our first discussion where it was understood that we would adopt someday.

But I'm getting off track here, back to my story. We spent this particular day walking around all the shops in town and that night we were plum tired out. So we went to this bar/restaurant that had a live country band playing music that night. We ordered some drinks and some nachos and took a table in the front/middle of the room. The band was really good, the drinks were good, and the nachos were excellent. The band started playing "Proud to be an American" by Lee Green Wood. Now I like that song very much, I think it has a wonderful message, and I admit it, it has even brought some tears to my eyes when I've heard it at the right moment. It's a good song, but that was really as far as I took it.

Then it happened. Some people off to the side of us stood up, they might have taken off their hats too, I couldn't see, anyways this song made them feel like they would like to stand up in honor of what it was saying. Ok, I get that, I didn't really feel the need to stand up, so I kept eating my nachos. Then another person stood up, and I could hear another few hesitantly stand up, crowd mentality was taking over, they didn't know why they were standing, but if everyone else was going to stand then they would too.

At this point we can't see most of the room but we can feel that most people are standing up. Kyle leans over to me and says, "Do you think we should stand up?". I tell him no, it's not the national anthem, it's a country song, my feet are killing me and I'm going to sit here and enjoy my nachos. So that's what we did.

Well it turns out that we were indeed the only people in the room that didn't stand up and after the song was over the band took a break, providing an awesome opportunity for some redneck fool lovely man to come up and harrass us. So he saunters over and says, "I see you didn't stand up during Proud to be American, what, you some kind of Iraqi lovers or something?"

I was mad, no I was livid, Jesus was not winning the battle right then and I was ready to give him a piece of my mind about what kind of idiot thinks I'm somehow less patriotic because I didn't stand up for a country song and further more how much indeed I do love Iraqis and isn't that why we're there anyways, then maybe something good could come out of....

But after I said about one and a half words, Kyle stopped me, with a voice that he rarely uses but one he knows I'll listen to. He then looked away from the man until he left. I then decided to go to the bathroom in an attempt to calm down. This apparently was not very successful because on the way out I saw the redneck fool lovely man again and couldn't help but give him a dirty look (I still wasn't going to let Jesus win this one). He said something like, "You got a problem with me lady." To which I looked at Kyle and saw that I either walk away now and let us leave or he was going to get in a bar fight of his own to defend my honor. So I left.

I know, it's not really a full out bar fight but it's the closest I've ever come. Of course that redneck fool lovely man ruined that beautiful song for me, now everytime I hear it, I think about exactly what I should have said to him, for the record here it is.

"Sir, I'm sorry if I offended you by not standing up during that song, it was not intentional, and I very much am proud to be an American. But really I am a hundred times more proud to be a follower of Jesus, so yes I am an 'Iraqi lover' and my prayer is that the outcome of this war is a country where the Iraqi people can live in freedom, especially the freedom to worship the One true God."

Jesus always wins me over in the end.

Intervention

Hi...I know, I know, I've been absent all week. The thing is, every time I turned on my computer this week (and it was a lot, trust me) I had something very important I had to do and so I never made it over to the blog.

What was I doing, you ask. Um...I'm not sure I want to tell you. See I don't want people to think the topic of my blog has changed. And really, if I'm being really honest, I'm afraid if I tell you, the people who truly love me might stage an intervention.

Ok, Ok, out with it. All week I've been reading Midnight Sun. It's the fifth book in the Twilight series, that was never finished due to it being leaked on the internet. But the author, released a copy on her website for fans to read.

And this is what I've become, a weird, Stephanie Meyer stalker. I read every outtake on her website and of course the entire Midnight Sun copy, and I hate reading on the internet.

The good news is, it's done. She said she will no longer finish Midnight Sun due to it's being leaked. And I'm now convinced I've read all the material there is to read in regards to the characters in Twilight. I am both sad and relieved all at the same time.

This week, as I come down from my high of getting just a little more of those characters, I will return to normal. I will blog regularly, I will blog about my children and my life, and I will not blog about vampires or other teen romance stories.

I may however see if there are any local support groups for Twilight addicts, to avoid the need for an intervention.

Camping for Mother's Day and other surprisingly fun times

We went camping this weekend. And I was being a brat about it, I didn't want to go, I didn't want to do all the work that leads up to it, that makes camping (especially with toddlers) so hard. The shopping, the planning, the packing, the prep work, if you've been you catch my drift, you spend the week before a camping trip in a constant state of "preparing." Constantly asking yourself, what items do I use in my day, what cooking utensils are necessary to prepare these meals, what can I bring for Jack to eat since he's so picky, what if this happens, what if that happens?

So Kyle got sick of listening to me complain (who hasn't) and said that this trip he was going to take over all above stated planning. And he did, he planned the meals, shopped for them, prepped the food, and did all of the packing besides clothes and some odds and ends.

So off we went on Friday afternoon, with me convinced that for the first time ever we didn't forget anything. I was still dreading the long nights with the kids in that tent, but I was unwinding and starting to enjoy that feeling of realizing I get to spend a whole weekend alone in a quiet place with nobody but my three favorite people.

Then we arrived and well, the thing is, we really did pack the best we ever had. Into our various totes we had everything we needed, the only problem was one of the totes was two hours away in our kitchen, instead of in the bed of our truck. I waited for Kyle to freak and remained calm, I've learned over the years that you have to take turns having break downs and I figured it was his turn.

Then the most amazing thing happened, he stayed calm and said, ok kids we'll go down to the creek to go swimming, Mommy will run to HEB and get the food and sunscreen we left behind and everything will be okay. That's when I decided that if he was going to be calm, then I was going to take my turn at freaking, I cried a little bit, but soon was back from HEB with all we needed for the weekend in time to cook dinner and enjoy our weekend.

From then out it was a perfectly lovely, relaxing weekend and trust me no one is more surprised by that then me. There was the whole snafu with an animal running away with my bra Friday night, but he returned it by Saturday afternoon (ok, fine actually it was in the tote the whole time, but when neither of us could find it, that was what we thought had happend). We ate good, we rested, we hiked, we swam in the creek, we saw beautiful waterfalls and Kylynn went through a free program to learn to fish and caught her first fish, we had a blast and really loved McKinney Falls.

Of course I can say all of this because the weekend had the theme of Kyle doing absolutely everything, while I read a book, I didn't cook a single thing or touch a dirty dish, it really was what I've always dreamed of for mother's day.

Sunday we got up and went on one last hike and Kyle gave me my mother's day gift and then told us we were going out to eat to Macaroni Grill on our way home. Well I love Macaroni Grill and it sounded just lovely, the only problem was we looked like hillbillies who had come to town to eat at a restaurant for the first time...jeans, t-shirts, dirty from living outside with no baths for three days, I'm sure we smelled. But they let us in, I got over my embarrassment and it was a lot of fun.

Driving home I couldn't believe that I had ever dreaded the weekend, that I would waste my time complaining about the gift of time with my family. In the end I learned the lesson that God was gently telling me all weekend, that nothing else matters, not a tote of food, not a missing bra, not loss of sleep, just my family. That each moment I have with them is a gift, that a weekend filled with those moments of mommy watch this, and mommy can I hold your hand, and mommy look what I found for you, are the moments that make life worth living.

There will be no more complaining about our camping trips from me (honey, you may want to print this out and silently hand it to me next fall). I'm all about a weekend of uninterupted time with these people that make my heart ache because I love them too much.