Thanksgiving 2010

We're blessed to have family only 2 hours away. This year we were so glad to be able to spend Thanksgiving with Waylon's cousin Amber (and Zach and Bella), in Louisville. The kids were looking forward to it for a while. I don't want to forget the random questions that Ryan asked about Amber before we went to her house....
- Can Amber talk?
- Does her cat talk?
- Does Amber have a dinosaur potty?
- What color is she?
We stayed up way too late Wednesday night playing Apples to Apples. I woke up to the smell of the meat cooking outside in the smoker. Waylon and the kids were all up, and I feel back asleep, and slept in late for the first time in years. We cooked some awesome food - a little different from the traditional Thanksgiving meal at Granny's house - but it was really good. I've discovered that weight watchers has some awesome recipes that don't taste like cardboard after all....I'm gonna try to add some of them to our menus now.
After all the fun, we left, going the back home a way that Waylon had his heart set on. He was wanting to take the backroads all the way back to Cincinnati - but a storm ruined our plans and we headed for the interstate as soon as we could.
So that was our Thanksgiving - fun times, fellowship, and some great food! I'm so enjoying this relaxing 4 day weekend!!

Breaking In

The other night was cold and rainy. We had just gotten home. In my usual frenzied state of mind, I hurried to get the kids out of the car, and Waylon handed me the keys while he grabbed the groceries. I threw them down in Ryan's car seat, locked the door, and we headed toward the house. When we got to the door, Waylon said..."Where are the keys?" "You have them." I answered.

I walked back to the car with a horrible gut feeling...and yes...I realized that I had locked the keys in the car. What do you do late at night with no keys to your apartment? Fortunately, we didn't have to call anyone or have to stay outside all night. We thought we'd give the balcony door a try. I had forgotten to lock the balcony (do you notice a trend here?), so Waylon lifted me up over his head, I grabbed onto the bars and somehow was able to climb over the balcony.

So I'm glad we got locked out. Waylon and I had a great laugh, and made a fun memory.

Some cute quotes

Ryan and I were sitting in the van waiting on Waylon and Nathan to come out of a store. Someone in the parking lot was yelling loudly. I asked "Who is that?!" Ryan answered me..."I think its a tee-ager."

Nathan was picking out a coloring book last night at the dollar store. He picked one out and said "Look! This one has super heroes, and superman...this book is SUPER-COOL!"

Nathan's Biggest Interest

Nathan is getting to be pretty vehicle and heavy machinery savvy. He loves riding down the road and going for walks in Cincinnati, because there is always something to see that is out of the ordinary. We were watching a video that had bulldozers and stuff like that in it, and I asked him about one of them..."Is that a bulldozer?" "No, Mommy. It's a front-end loader!" Well duh, what was I thinking!? :) I learned something new from my 3 year old. I'm still not sure what an excavator is....But he loves those too.

My Tenderhearted Little Guy

Ryan is so sweet. He cares about how people feel, even at such a young age. If Nathan gets hurt, he give him a hug, or if Nathan is upset, Ryan asks, "Happened, Nathan?" The other day, Ryan was sitting in my lap, and we were watching cartoons. Something sad happened to a little girl on there, and she was crying while she told her friends her sad story. I looked down at his face, and he was watching intently with tears in his eyes. It was funny, but I've never seen someone as young as two be so empathetic! Nathan and Ryan are such blessings! Our family needs the sweetness of Ryan and the enthusiasm of Nathan. The Lord never ceases to amaze me.

Happy Father's Day!!!

My husband is not only a wonderful husband. He is an amazing father. He loves his children, and is bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He is loving, kind, patient, and wise. No matter how busy he is, he makes time for them....playing with them, teaching and training them, and just being there, to give a hug whenever they need to be held.

I have a hubby who loves me, and is a great leader of our home. I've seen him stay faithful to the Lord, even when circumstances were very hard. Just observing his faithfulness to the Lord encourages me, and I know it will make a difference is our children's lives!

I'm very thankful for my Dad. He's been my Dad since I was five years old, and I've been blessed. He always patiently answered the million questions I've had. When I worked with him at his Texaco station, I saw him tell many people about the Lord. He never hesitated or seemed nervous...it was just an overflow of joy in his heart that had to come out. He always treated my mom with love and kindness, and was a great dad to my brother and me. I don't remember hearing him raise his voice one time. I'll never forget the influence he had on me when I was growing up.

I can't leave out my father-in-law! Before I was married, I heard tons of in-law jokes, but they're so not true! ;) I love being around my in-laws! We always look forward to visits down south, and for one of his Dad's trucks breaking down in Cincinnati.  (kidding, kidding! We've enjoyed the visits though!) Anyone who knows him, knows he is crazy about his children and grandchildren.  He's the type of person who is very caring, and if you need something, will do everything he can to help you. He's been a blessing to us so many times. We all love him and appreciate him.

 Happy Father's Day!

The Lord's Provision

I'm so amazed how the Lord has provided for us, I just have to share it. Due to some unexpected expenses this year, money has been really tight.....the past two months especially. Vehicle repairs, car payments, and trip after trip to MS/TN had wiped out all of our savings, plus some. Last week I was worried about having money to buy any food the next couple of weeks.

Well, I rarely get to do diaper studies for P&G...maybe once every 3 or 4 months, but last week I had emails for two studies this week. I went to one Wednesday, but didn't get chosen. They still gave me a $30 gift card for showing up. Today I went for my second study. When I went to pick up my diapers the lady said my name wasn't on the list, there was a mistake. Next week is when I am supposed to do one. She paid me the full amount anyway! And I have another study next week for pull-ups...for both boys! :) That's 4 studies in 2 weeks!

Last night I told Waylon that I didn't have any lunch for him tomorrow. I could have made something for him from scratch, but he said he wanted to just go without anything and pray for his food today, and he'd call me at 3 and tell me what he ate. I don't think I would have done that, but he called at 3 and told me he had LaRosa's for lunch. Some ladies he worked with had ordered from there, and had some leftovers and asked him if he wanted them. There were plenty of leftovers too. LaRosa's is much better than my turkey sandwiches or hotdogs! That was so neat see.

Waylon applied for an office job within the company he's working for a few weeks ago. We've been praying he would get it, since it's a 40/hr week job instead of 50/hr a week, and today we found out that he did! He said that would have to make $xx an hour to make the equivalent of what he is making now with 50 hours, and we found out that he will, plus a little extra!

Something else....MCA's homecoming was at the same time as RU tonight. After RU, Waylon went over to the fellowship hall to tell the leader of the teen department that one of the teens that had been out of church for a few months was at RU tonight. While he was there, Bro. Chad asked him if he wanted any leftover spaghetti. He gave Waylon a big tub of spaghetti sauce and meatballs, noodles, bread sticks, salad, and cookies. I couldn't believe it. It's enough for three or four meals for the four of us.

It was amazing to see the Lord do all of that today, and work out the details so we knew it was from him. It was like he was waiting until this day to remind us, I love you...Just trust me.

As White As Snow

When we first moved to Ohio, I was really amazed at the snow. I still am. It is so bright that I feel like I need sunglasses to go outside. Little crystals of clear ice piling on top of each other create the illusion of pure white. 

Seeing the snow really makes the verse in Isaiah more meaningful to me - "...Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow..."

HUG!

Ryan has started something new. Every time he does something he knows is wrong, he runs to me with his arms open and says, "HUG!". He hugs me and gives me a kiss. It's hilarious, but it makes it a lot harder to discipline him after that.

Nathan's Birthday

My sweet little boy turned three yesterday! Our friends' son, Jackson, was born on the same day, so we had a double birthday party for them.

Cute Question

Nathan was sitting in my lap examining my earring, and asked, "Mommy, do you have holes in your ears?" I told him yes. His big brown eyes got even bigger, and with a really concerned voice asked me, "Did somebody shoot you?"

My Little Helper

I live with three people who like things to be really clean. Thankfully, Ryan is a great little helper for mommy. The little one year old is amazing - if he walks by a mess, he stops whatever he is doing and cleans it up! He never complains, just cleans it up quickly and quietly, and then continues with whatever he was doing.

This is a challenge sometimes though. If there is paper left out, he puts it in the garbage - even if it's mommy's coupons, or a bill...etc. If clothes are left out, they are put in the dirty clothes, even if they are clean and about to be put on by the person who gets out of the bath/shower. But it's a good thing...he keeps toys cleaned up, and is willing to help if I tell him to. I know one of these days he'll stop throwing bills away, and I'm really going to enjoy the help! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today has been a really good day. It started out by me sleeping in. Ahhhh, that was so nice! Not something I get to do often. Waylon got up with the boys. I guess Ryan was worried about me being hungry, so he brought me breakfast in bed - a "beena" (banana).

The four of us celebrated Thanksgiving today at home, and we're heading down to Tennessee and Mississippi on Friday night after RU. As busy as life is, it was nice to have a relaxing day with my husband. I've missed my mom terribly, since today brought back memories of last Thanksgiving. I'm so glad that the Lord is my Comforter.

We had a good little Thanksgiving meal. Waylon made a delicious green bean casserole and the sweet tea, and Pillsbury made the crescent rolls. :) We also had creamed potatoes, peach cobbler, and of course the turkey. After all the hard work and everything was cooked, Waylon said "I can't wait to go out and  eat tomorrow!"  (IKEA's famous Swedish meatballs are $1 a plate, so how can we turn that down.)

We're looking forward to seeing everyone the next few days!.....

Rainy Day/ Too Cold to Play Outside Crafts

I don't want my boys to want to watch cartoons all day, so I look for crafts and things for them to do during the day. If you're a mom you'll probably like these too. They take like 5 minutes to make and my kids love them. Here are two favorites....

Homemade Play Dough 

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups boiling water

Mix the top 3 ingredients together and pour in the boiling water. Add food coloring and knead it several times. You could use a packet of Kool Aid instead of food coloring.

Finger Paint

This is too easy. I'm sure there are better recipes on the internet, but I just mix two parts water and one part flour and put in on the stove, heat it a little and stir it like you would gravy until it comes out in a finger paint consistency, then add food coloring. It's a little messy, but they LOVE it.

Potty Training Progress

My 2-year-old (nearly 3!) is very unique. I think he's a little ahead of average on some things....he very articulate with words, knows the alphabet and is starting to pick up on reading....but he's been really behind in something. I have diagnosed him with potty-phobia. I have been trying for months and months to get him to even sit on the potty, but whenever he got even close to it, he screamed. Not one of those rebellious screams, but a fearful scream. I have gotten tons of advice on how to go about potty training him for other moms, and checked out books at the library...nothing worked for me that had worked for other people.

His Mammaw got him really liking cartoons, especially "Go, Diego, Go!" I found Diego episodes on a website, and told him he could watch it if he sat on the potty and watched it. It actually worked! So I gave him lots of juice and chocolate milk, and he went on accident the first time. Then had an accident off of the potty....and he likes everything to be very clean, especially himself. I told him to sit on the potty next time and he wouldn't get messy, and he did it! Wow! *sigh of relief* I'm so excited. Now Ryan is taking his diaper off all of the time and sitting on the potty...lol. I'm thinking he won't be as hard. Maybe they'll both be trained really soon.

My Crazy Day

Our family recently caught a stomach virus. It hit me yesterday evening. For some reason I had a much worse case of it then everyone else. In the middle of last night I was just sitting in the floor and my stomach was hurting very badly. I told Waylon I felt like I was going to pass out, and a few seconds later I was completely out. That was actually the second time that I passed out in the past couple of weeks, and Waylon was kind of tired of it happening, and told me to make a doctor's appointment first thing in the morning. So I was able to get one early this morning. She took my vital signs laying down first, and then standing up. Her eyes got wide, and said "is this thing picking up correctly", and she put the stethoscope to my heart and said, "yeah, it's real" (...that wasn't the most comforting thing to hear! lol) They did an EKG, and my heart was normal, but she said I was probably severely dehydrated and that I'm going to the hospital. I was like "Can I just drink some water?" =). Of course she said no, and strongly advised me to go to the hospital.

I got there and the nurses had a similar reaction to my vital signs. They gave me 2 1/2 liters of IV fluid with some nausea medicine. (uhhh, IVs....the reason I didn't even get an epidural when I was in labor with Ryan.) I left the hospital after that, and thank the Lord, a friend watched the boys for us this afternoon. I'm feeling much, much better now. :)

Brotherly Love

One of the sweetest things for a mom to see is her children being best friends. Of course they aren't always perfect angels towards each other, but they really love each other so much. Today they were sitting by each other watching cartoons, and every few minutes Ryan would give Nathan a hug. If Nathan gets hurt, Ryan cries. Whenever Ryan has a problem, Nathan always has a solution for it and tries his best to help him. I'm glad they are so close in age, because they can enjoy that close fellowship with each other. These little guys are such a blessing!