First Steps

Earlier this week, Aulora took a tiny little step. Her foot moved maybe half an inch. I wasn't sure if it could really count as a step or not. But today that sweet baby for sure took a step. It was still on the small side and it was only one, but it was a step! She's really been trying so I'm sure she'll be walking in no time. Yea little girl! =)

A Great Dinner

For dinner we grilled steak and had baked potatoes and corn tonight. It's one of our favorite meals and everyone always enjoys it except for, you guessed it, Julia. I seriously thought I was in the twilight zone tonight though. Before we sat down, Julia came and told me that she was going to try her steak and if she liked it she would eat it allllll up. I didn't really believe her.

We sat down and I gave her the benefit of the doubt by putting a bite of steak on her plate with her other food. Without hesitation she put it on her fork and put it in her mouth. She went on and on about how yummy it was. We told her it would help give her good ballerina muscles so then she wanted another bite. Wow! She even tried her potato and ate some of her corn. Are all of our efforts to get her to try new foods finally paying off? It was such an an enjoyable meal.

(Except for the part where Daddy's hand stuck to the cracker package which in turn knocked over his coke. The coke spilled all over the table under all the dishes and through the cracks and even onto the plate of steaks. This was before we had started eating. Someone was bound to spill though because I had just mopped the floor. Isn't that one of Murphey's laws? I think the coke made the steaks even better. Not sure.)

The kids are now in the living room enjoying a special movie night with popcorn and chocolate milk. I love Friday nights! I miss the days of not having a child in school. Life really changes quick once kindergarten rolls around.....

Life's Not Fair

My mom is going to The Mall of America, the biggest mall in the country (maybe in the world too? I don't know), this weekend. She took two big empty suitcases with her on her trip. Do I need to expound?

Think of me, Biggie.

Photography Deal

I thought I would post this because it's such a great deal and someone may be interested. John David's school is having a fundraiser for their journalism department along with Tommie Huffman Photography. For $29.95 you can get a mini photo session (about 20 minutes long) and an 11x14 or 3 8x10s of any one pose that you choose. The certificates are good for one year. You can go to the Tommie Huffman website to see some galleries of their work. Really good stuff. We aren't selling these for John David so there's no pressure from me. I just thought it was a great deal. =) If anyone wants to purchase one you can call the school office.

http://thuffmanphotography.com/

Here's To Slobbin'

Ok, I slobbed the morning away. It's 10:40 and we're in pajamas and the beds aren't made. I still had to get up early to take Little to school so it wasn't a total sloth of a morning - wish it had been! I think I'll post a list of the things I'm going to do to my house today just to make sure I'll do them.

• make beds
• clean bathrooms
• clean vacuum
• vaccum
• dust
  
• take a nap (can that go on this list?)
• finish up the laundry
• take another nap (not likely, but it can still be a goal)
• make dinner

So there you have it. My to do list. My momma taught me - "Plan your work and work your plan." So I guess I better go get to work now.

Trying to Make Up For No Posts

My lack of posting is irritating. I'm annoyed with myself. I have things to post but they all seem to take too much energy to put up. So the popular bullet points are back today......

• My house is still for sale. Thinking about lowering the price. Not sure about it.
• My house is still clean. Have you ever kept your house immaculate for 2+ weeks? This is a feat even for Martha Stewart, surely. I want to slop around for just one afternoon. Then I'll get back on it. Promise.
• Took Aulora to the doctor about 3 weeks ago for shots. She picked up germs and has been sick ever since.
  
• Finally took her back to the dreaded germ pit today. I must have told Julia 100 times not to touch anything so she wouldn't get sick. I'm sure all the other parents thought I was a snot or a total germ freak. But they don't know how yucky it is to have your 3 kids passing around the same cold for 3 weeks.
• Aulora has an ear infection, a cold, a cough, and an eye infection that started yesterday.
  
• John David just fed the dog chalk. I don't know why, but it was apparently very funny.
• Granny is wearing a bathing suit while she's dancing with Jesus in heaven. That's what Julia says.
  
• My house phone is dead. What's up with Suddenlink? Their new name should be Suddenstink. Anyone want to second that?
• I made chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes for dinner last night. Even made a pumpkin pie for dessert. I think my husband likes me.
• My gravy turned out good. Quite the accomplishment.
  
• I'm on a never ending quest for brown dress shoes for my girls that don't cost $40+. I think this may be mission impossible. Whey do shoe makers think this is not an important thing for little girls? Dillards has some but they have yet to go on sale (which means I have yet to do more than drool in passing). Has anyone ever used Zappos.com? Tons of shoes and free shipping both ways. They have several cute brown shoes. Don't ask how much.
• The roast in the oven smells soooo good. Is it time for dinner yet?
  
• My kids are trying to get back in the house. When the door failed John David figured out they could go through the window. I need a better security system to keep them out.
  
• For lunch I had a plate full of raw vegetables with some ranch dip. Aren't you proud? I really just wanted pie.
  
• I think we finally conquered lice in our house. Those "slice bugs" are "very sneaky" and heaven help you if you ever get them. I wonder how long it will be before I stop checking Julia's head every time she scratches it.
  
• Is there a reason why it's mid October and it's still almost 90 degrees?
  
• A - I love your new kitchen and dining room. Next time I read your blog at 6:45 in the morning I'll leave a comment.
  
• My kids are rioting in the kitchen. This post is officially over......
  

Granny's Dancing with Jesus

Granny has been dancing through heaven's streets since about 11:00 this morning. It's always sad to lose someone but when they have lived that many years, you know they are just ready to go see Jesus. Granny turned 101 this past June and was still very healthy. She didn't go through a lot of pain - her body just shut down and she went quietly. Her funeral will be Monday morning in Snyder. Don't worry if you don't know where that is. I never knew before I married into this family.

Where We Are

John's grandma, Granny, is not doing too well. She is 101 years old and has always been pretty healthy. Amazingly healthy, actually. She only went to a nursing home within the last couple of years. We got a call yesterday saying that there was a good chance she wouldn't make it past the night, so we packed it up and came over. We didn't get in until about 8:30 since we waited for John to finish his classes. After one quick errand, we went straight to see her. She is skin and bones and very jaundiced. But do you know that she still requested her nightly dessert of vanilla ice cream from Braum's? She's so funny! Now, if it were me, I would want chocolate, but whatever. I made sure John David knew what I wanted him to bring me every night when I was old. I hope my kids take care of me as well as John's parents have taken care of Granny! I'm sure they will. =) Anyway, she's still hanging on so I don't know how much longer we'll stay. We'll probably take advantage of our time here to go and check out John David's new school. Hopefully we'll be back home before he misses too much school there. And hopefully we'll get an offer on our house soon! There will be an open house on Sunday. You should all go and pressure the people who are looking. Make them think you're about to put in an offer and they need to hurry and put one in before you do. Like we did at the garage sale. hehehehe

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Yesterday wasn't really a bad day. It was just filled with annoying, frustrating, and tiring things. I will say though that I never got grumpy about it. It just was what it was and I dealt with it.

Our house was being shown at 11:00 yesterday morning, so I had to make sure everything was perfect and smelling good. I left with the girls at 10:59 and we headed out to run some errands. One of our objectives for the day was to find new boots for Julia since her feet have grown since last year. (Did you see her Sunday running around without her boots on? They fit when we left home but by the end of church she had little blisters on her heels. Poor baby.) This part of the day wasn't too bad since we got to go to the mall. The boots we really wanted were at Dillards and they were only $50 each. That's not too expensive, is it???? Needless to say, we kept shopping. =( I haven't quit thinking about those beautiful boots though. We were able to find some black ones elsewhere, but as for brown we had no luck.

We ate lunch at Chickfila. I LOVE Chickfila but I have to tell you - this was a really disappointing sandwich. It had grissel (how in the world do you spell that? my red line underneath the word won't go away!) and another really weird part that you couldn't even bite off. I'm sure I looked totally classy trying to eat this thing.

We headed home for a short play time before going to get John David. Normally it takes 5 minutes or less to get to his school. It took me 15 minutes yesterday. I sat at the light to get out of our neighborhood for a good 5 or 6 minutes, no lie. Just as it was finally going to turn green a boy on a bike rides up to the corner. The crossing guard got up and pushed his magic button to make all the lights red. When the boy finally made it across, my green light time was done and it was back to green for the other direction. Oooohhhh, I was hot. I maneuvered around and went through the light the other way. I was careful NOT to give our friendly crossing guard an ugly look since I know it wasn't really his fault. It just felt good to be mad at somebody.

I was finally almost to the school when I got to the weird intersection - too hard to explain. The point is that I had a stop sign and the other ways didn't. A school bus was sitting there in the road with its stop sign out when I got there. As it sat there forever, letting all the kids out, the cars were backing up behind it. By the time the bus left, there were so many cars I had to wait for. And of course, many of them got in front of me in the pick up line for school. Deep breath......Inhale....Exhale........

Came home and put Aulora down for a nap. Yea, I get to rest too! Nope, it just wasn't meant to be. Julia spilled lemonade and I got to mop my freshly mopped floor instead. =)

Got dinner started. John called and said he was having problems with the truck - again. He was stuck an hour away and didn't make it home until almost 10:00 last night. So dinner for me and the kids was Totinos pizza. Yum. (Can you hear the excitement in my voice?)

I bathed the kids and as I was drying off Julia I checked through her hair for lice - as has become our ritual since we've battled it lately. I just treated her again on Monday because I found some. We washed everything and sprayed what we couldn't wash. But lo and behold, there were those stupid bugs - again. So after putting John David and Aulora to bed, Julia and I had some quality time treating her head for lice. This is no small thing when your child has as much hair as she does. We didn't finish until almost midnight.

By this time I was starving. I opened the microwave and realized that I had left the chicken breasts in there from defrosting earlier when I was going to actually cook something. There must have been a hole in the bag because there was chicken juice ALL over my microwave. It dripped all over the counter as I was cleaning it up. What a big mess.

As dinner #2 was heating up, John and I acted like monkeys and checked each other for lice. We were clean - yea!!!

My day finally ended with a leftover steak and potatoes from Logan's in bed while watching Law and Order. Not such a bad ending, huh? When it was over, I just rolled over and went to sleep. Didn't even brush my teeth. Yup, that's what I said. And it felt soooo good. =)

My Baby Girl

I actually took this picture on her birthday and never put it up.
What a sweet, sweet girl.....

Thoughts About This Day

I haven't posted anything about today at church because it's hard to put into words all that I felt. I've procrastinated all day and now I'm tired. There's no hope of saying anything remotely eloquent now! I'll try anyway.....

It was a day full of so many emotions. I would have worn water proof mascara if I owned any, but as it was, I just had to be tough. I did pretty good. Esther made me cry as we talked about our girls and how they would miss each other. She handed me the notebook Julia was going to use when doing "school" with her little A. I remember so well moving when I was a child and how sad it always was to leave behind friends. No doubt, Julia will be fine and will probably be so excited about everything new and being there with her Gran and D that all the sad things will fade away, but it breaks my heart for her. And for her little friends. They are such a tight little bunch. I would love to see them actually grow up together. How cute would that be???

I didn't cry again until Pastor called John up to preach for the last time. That moment brought a rush of emotions. The slide show of pictures along with the music also brought tears until I realized how slow it went. That was annoying so I was able to stop crying. I for sure wasn't crying when the swimsuit calendar type picture of A and I came up on the screen. Anyone on our half of the sanctuary surely heard A exclaim, "Oh my Lord!" So thank you, Missy, for that little shock. Don't ever do that again! =)

So many people hugged us and spoke kind words. You realize just how much you care about people when you are saying goodbye to them. We were blessed beyond measure with cards and even some monetary gifts. We're so thankful for all of that. The beautiful picture Lana chose for us and the Bible were incredible too! I tried to put the picture up on my mantel but it wouldn't work. =( So it will have to wait until our next home to get hung. But I love it. And there are fresh flowers all over my house. It's probably not a bad problem to have so many flowers you're just not sure where to put them all.

It's surreal that this chapter of our lives could really be closing. Seven years is so very long and so very quick all at the same time. We've done some things great and some things horribly. You learn a lot in seven years, that's for sure.

We're so excited about the new things we get to start soon. It's an incredible feeling to know that you are smack dab in the center of what God has planned for you. The peace and joy and sheer contentment are beyond compare. I have some scriptures that have been carrying me through what has been quite the roller coaster ride lately. I'll share them in a later post.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this a special day for us. It was the perfect day that will stay a sweet memory in our hearts forever. Thank you, Lana, for taking pictures and for the beautiful gifts. We will never forget our family in San Angelo........

Easy Street

The huge leftover cake was sent home with us today from church. It was sitting on our fooseball table in the box and wrapped in saran wrap as well. John was leaving to go hang out with Jeremy and decided to take cake with him. "Just take the whole box," I told him. "No, that's too much trouble," was his reply.

• He proceeded to go to the kitchen and get a cookie sheet.
  
• He then meticulously lined the sheet with foil.
  
• Then he got a butcher knife and cut the cake in half.
  
• It was not easy getting half of the leftover cake onto a cookie sheet, but after a bit of a struggle, he managed it.
  
• Then he rewrapped the original cake. Next he wrapped the cake on the cookie sheet.
  
• Then he noticed that he spilled crumbs on the floor doing all this so he got out the vacuum and vacuumed them up.
  
• Since he already had the vacuum out, he did the rest of the den.
  
• He wrapped the cord as only a perfectionist would and put the vacuum away.

Presto! Easy as pie (or should I say cake) he was ready to go.

Can someone please tell me why in the world all of that was easier than just taking the whole thing??????? He is such a funny, funny man! =)

Little Miss Chievous

A little while ago, I went to see exactly what Aulora was doing since she was being quiet. She was supposed to be playing with the toys in her closet (No, I do not shut her in there. I open the door wide for her to go in and play.) As I peeked in her room, this is what I found.....

She knew I was standing there, but did not want to turn and look at me. She turned her head and looked out of the corner of her eyes but that was it. She then slowly started picking up all the wet wipes she had gotten out and putting them back in the container, keeping an eye on where I was the whole time.

She wasn't quite sure if she should be playing or not
as I was standing there looking down on her.

Once she saw that I wasn't mad, she was smiling again and showing me her mess. How could I get mad at such a cute little face???

John David's New Love

My son has a strange obsession. It all started when we went to Lin's Chinese Buffet a couple of weeks ago for the first time. He was ecstatic to see that there were crab legs on the buffet. So all through lunch we had to have crab legs walking around the table and trying to crawl on our arms. It was funny and amusing.

Later that day, we were all relaxing at home and I kept smelling a horrible smell. We had a guest over who was using the restroom so I figured it was coming from there. I got out the air freshner and sprayed as much as I could before the guest came out of the bathroom. It didn't help much. This smell was just GROSS.

Church was that night so we all got ready and headed up there. Afterwards, I was talking to John David's JBQ teacher about the night. She was laughing as she explained that during their practice, her husband noticed John David kept offering the other kids something to eat. Come to find out, he had tucked that crab leg in his pocket and taken it to church with him. He got hungry and proceeded to pull out crab meat to eat. I don't think his friends were very impressed as they didn't want any.

It was about that moment, as he was proudly pulling that crab leg out of his pocket to confirm his teacher's story, that I recognized the terrible smell from earlier at home. Do you realize how horribly nasty crab legs smell? Especially as they sit longer and longer at room temperature? It was so awful.

Last night we ate at Lin's again. John David put crab legs on his plate again. The crab legs tried to crawl on me again. And once again, one crab leg made its way out of the restaurant and into our van, where the stench made me sick to my stomach. He put it in the freezer and he's planning on taking it to school on Friday for show and tell. His poor, poor teacher........

The Perfect Oil Change

Usually, we go to Wally World to get the oil changed. Sometimes it's fast, sometimes it's not. Today the van needed gas, a wash, and an oil change though, so we went to Town and Country Total Car Care. What a great thing! For $29.99 you get an oil change and the best car wash package. Plus, you get to wait in the nice waiting area that has the playground for your kids and they give you cards for free drinks too! Also, you can save up to 10 gas receipts for up to $10 off your oil change. That makes it only $19.99 - the same price as Wally World.

I was happy. My kids were very happy. And I didn't have to go to Wally World - again. Love, love, love it.........

No, Town and Country did not pay me to advertise for them. =)

See You Later Bad Grade

Well, after fighting the urge to respond in the parent's comment portion of the progress report with "Interesting Teacher", I expressed my concern over a couple of things. The main one being the spelling grade. His grade was a 70 and he can always spell his words perfectly. I figured out that they were counted incorrect if the cursive wasn't perfect. It seems unfair to dock his spelling grade for that instead of his handwriting grade. I suggested that she at least let them take the test in cursive and print so she could see if they did indeed know how to spell the words. She liked that idea, especially since he's by far not the only child who hasn't mastered cursive. (Hello? What first grader has mastered cursive anyway???)

Guess what his spelling test score was today??? 110! He would have had a 70 except that she had him come up and orally spell the 4 words that would have otherwise been wrong. He also spelled a bonus word correctly that they hadn't studied and only 3 other kids in the whole class got it. I told ya' - he's a smart boy. (And in his defense, his cursive isn't even that bad. He just has trouble with b's and there have been a lot of b words lately.)

Plus, he had happy faces every day this week except for yesterday. He got his name on the board because when it was lunch time he made a little trumpet with his hands to announce it. His teacher apparently thought that was not appropriate. It just made me laugh. =) Don't worry, I didn't tell him that......

Just to clarify for those of you who have posted comments - he is not at a public school. He's in a Christian school and his teacher is a Christian lady. She does only have one child though and it's a teenage daughter. I think everyone should have at least one very creative, energetic son. It develops great patience and understanding. And it's lots of fun!

Early to Bed

The kids were all in bed by 7:50 last night and we were in bed at 8:30! I would have been in bed by 8:00 but I wanted to use my new shower again. Oh my goodness is all I can say. We didn't go to sleep right away since so many new shows have started this week and we had already recorded some. So we watched 2 of our favorites and then I closed my eyes and went to sleep. It was heaven.....

Memories.....

Tonight was our last youth service. It's still fresh in my mind so it's sweet yet painful. I wanted to capture my thoughts before I forget them.

We have so many memories - some bad, but most of them good. We got to see 2 whole classes all the way from 7th grade to 12th grade. It's hard to leave some of them at the beginning of their senior year.

Tonight, we had one last time of praise and worship together. Of course, we sang Montana (I think that's how it's spelled) - the spanish song about how our faith can move mountains and everyone gets to dance. How many years have we done that song??? And we did History Maker, which now holds new meaning since it talks about being a speaker of truth to all mankind. We're on a mission to be truth speakers, you know.

Jeremy Lopez spoke some encouraging things to the teens. Then they were supposed to have a roast, but I don't think any of those teenagers were old enough to know what a roast is. So instead, they all ended up speaking loving words, special memories, funny stories, and reasons why they loved Pastor John so much. I know he's not perfect - he knows that too - but he really does love those kids. And they know it too. It was hard not to cry as big teenage boys got up and spoke about how they had never had a father figure in their life until they met John. Or when a girl would say that he was the reason they started coming back to church. And it was amazing how big a role fine arts played in so many of their lives. I don't think we even realized it at the time.

I hate goodbyes and I wish we could just skip all of this part really. The hugs are good and you want some last memories, but it hurts too much. Part of me just wants to pack it up and go right now so all of this hard part can be over.

I can't imagine what our lives would be like if not for these seven wonderful years we've had here with our "kids". They've frustrated and exasperated us time and time again, but eventually it's always worth it when you see what wonderful people they become. Not that we get to take all that credit. Some of them have parents that played a big role (although it's sad how many of them do not have parents that are involved in their lives) and of course there's God. But just to know that we had some part of what they have become and are still becoming is a good feeling.

Ministry is so hard. Lots of times it stinks. The money's not great and the hours are ridiculous many times. People are always at your door or on your phone. You're not allowed to be human, and if you are then people are offended. Then there's the people who don't think they can be your friends because you're the high and mighty, holy and anointed youth pastors. (Ok, that's just funny. Do you know what youth pastors do? Have you seen the games we play???) The point is, it's not easy. BUT....

I wouldn't trade these seven years for anything else. We have grown. We have found beautiful friendships. God has blessed us in so many ways that it's hard to even think about the hardships of it all. It's so worth all of it. John has said for seven years that he has the best job in the world. I often just looked at him like he was smoking crack. But he was right. We really did have the best job in the world. What wonderful memories we're taking with us.......

Progress Report

I am so incredibly frustrated, aggravated, and upset right now. I should probably take a few minutes to calm down, but blogging is how I'm going to calm down this time.

I just picked up John David from school and in his folder was his progress report. Now, I'm not stupid or naive - I don't expect that he will come home with glowing reports on everything and 100's in every subject, but this is getting ridiculous. He's making an 80 in reading. Have you heard my child read? His teacher has even commented on what an amazing reader he is for his age. We do his reading homework every night too, so what in the world is that about? And a 70 in spelling. He's never made less than an 80 on a test and we turn in his spelling practice sheet every day. I just don't understand the low grades when we do homework and the papers he brings home are 80 or above - usually in the high 90's.

Then, what really ticks me off is the comment the teacher left in the space provided. "Interesting child." That's it. Even when a child is horrible, aren't you supposed to come up with something nice to say? And good grief, my child is not horrible. His name has only gone on the board once or twice in the last 2 weeks.

If we were staying here the rest of the year, I would have already scheduled a conference with his teacher to see what's going on. As it is, I really just want to pull him out after this week and homeschool for one month until we move.

I don't want to be one of those parents who has an awful child but doesn't even know it. I'm perfectly aware that his behavior isn't always pristine, but I just keep thinking to myself - Is he really THAT bad? If he were that bad wouldn't he be going to the office or at least getting his name on the board? I just don't get it. I want my son to have a teacher who thinks more highly of him than, "Man, that child is interesting."

I truly hope that we will find a better school situation when we move.....

Terrorist Julia Strikes Again

Don't be fooled by the cute little exterior of our second child. She is sweet as can be, but boy is she mischievous. John David has been working for hours almost everyday building his lego sets. They are his pride and joy. He is halfway to his goal of being a "lego champion" according to him. (You can't really be a champion until you are at least 9 years old because then you can build any of the sets, don't you know.)

Every night, whatever he has built gets set on the top of his bookshelf beside the bunk beds. The bookshelf isn't too very tall so it's accessible to Julia as well. After I put her in bed on Monday night, she apparently got up and got his lego creations. She then proceeded to play with them and sleep with them. Poor John David. The next morning was not pleasant when he discovered what she had done. Most of his efforts were now strewn in pieces about Julia's blankets. He was very certain to make sure that if she did that again, she would have a spanking. Luckily for her, she did not repeat her skunkiness last night. I think I instilled some fear in her. =)