A few of my blessings

1. Getting the travel to Eastern Europe for the 1st time ever on a Mission Trip. It was a great trip and I learned so much and met so many really great people. And it made it even better that I was there with Jamey, Luke, Sara and my mom. My mom was SUCH a trooper. I hope to travel abroad with her again soon. The trip was made possible by a person who wished to remain anonymous, but whose gift to me and Jamey impacted far more people than he could ever realize.

2. Having really good neighbors. Neighbors that will let my dog in and out when I am out of town so I don't have to board her. Neighbors who will babysit and will come down for a chat and never once judge me on the condition of my house.

3. A fabulous husband. I came home from grocery shopping today to an empty house. I look out into the back yard and he has them engaged in a full on game on Teeball. What a great father. Makes me love him so much more each day which doesn't seem possible. He will do potty duty, children's church and patiently let the kids "help" him with a Wii or Playstation game. All kids should be this lucky...

4. Great family - a brother and sister in law that we are actually FRIENDS with - imagine that. In laws that love my kids. A sister in law who spoils my kids rotten.

5. My mom

6. a Job that is as secure as it can be in today's economy. We are by no means financially well off, but we can pay our bills and have a bit left for fun. And that is fine with me. I also have some of the best coworkers I could hope for...

2 days til Christmas. We are very excited and not quite ready. But Christmas will come no matter what is done and not done. :) And I say, bring it on.

Merry Christmas!

Uncle L and Stephen at the park over Thanksgiving


Ms. French (Jamey's grandma) made Ansley an apron with a matching apron for her baby doll. Ansley LOVES it.


I love the expression on Stephen's face as he runs...


Here are the kids blowing out birthday candles on their desserts. No birthday cakes this year! Neither of my kids likes cake. So brownies and cookies it was. Nice on my pocketbook too!



Ansley and her friends with Leighann at the birthday party. The COLD birthday party.

Christmas Through the Rain

Getting two kids out the door each morning in a reasonable amount of time is no easy task. I realize that many a mom and dad have done this long before I became a parent, but the job is nonetheless daunting even after both children got a good night’s sleep the night before and have awakened in a semi-good mood in the predawn hours of the morning. But add pouring rain to the mix, and time is the enemy. “Hurry, Hurry!” I tell the kids. “Eat, eat. We need to leave early with all this rain.”

The shoe search seems to take precious seconds longer this morning. I struggle to suppress a harsh tone as the thunder and lightning thrill my kids at the window. Rushing my kids to the car in the darkness of a full on thunderstorm, I do an inventory: backpack, lunchbox, extra clothes for the little one, phone charger. My kids are 100% dry, but my feet were not as lucky.

I sigh loudly and we are finally ready to go. And we are late.

And then, I am given a reminder:

“Look, Mama!” I hear my 5 (almost 6 year old she is quick to remind us all) from the backseat. “Aren’t you glad it is raining? We can see all the Christmas lights in the morning time today since it’s so dark out from the rain!”

We spend the car ride looking at all the Christmas lights between my house and the babysitter, pointing out our favorite displays that are shining through the sheets of rain.

The rain beat down on the car. The thunder rolled and the lightening crashed, but the spirit of my precious children was not shaken. They found joy in the morning drive to school.

What a lesson for me.

I certainly don’t have to list the many burdens we all face on a daily basis: illness, paying bills or buying groceries, layoffs, pressure and opinions from the people around us, loneliness, regret, fear. But seeing the light through the darkness means we have hope. We have hope that we are more than the problems that cause us to lose sleep at night. We have hope that we are more than illness that might have taken over our bodies or the overdrawn checking account giving us a stomachache. Having hope does not mean we live in denial. We know the problems are there and most people will face them scared or not. But when we can see, as a child, the light through the darkness, we can relax for a moment. We can breathe in the joy and it can help us get through the day, the hour, the moment.

I pray that you see the Christmas lights through the rain this season.

And I pray I will do the same.

Dear Santa....

Ansley has been asking for a few CDs for Christmas - The Taylor Swift one (of course) and another one with the "Monday" song. I could not for the life of me figure out what "Monday" song she was talking about...

Then yesterday, on the ride to school, we were listening to the 90s station on satellite radio (she is forced to listen to this station quite a bit) and the Cure song, "Its Friday, I'm in love" comes on.
"That's it mama!" she says, "That's the CD I want!"

So Dear Santa, please bring my baby a Cure CD for Christmas...


We had a great time in North Carolina with L and S. It was remarkably relaxing minus the never ending car ride home. I will post some pictures when I can.

At one point while we were there, we were out running around town and L and Jamey were going to run into the Class Six on base to buy a few things. Stephen wanted to go in with them. Jamey says to him that it just a store for daddies - that he should wait in the car with Mom.

Jamey and L go into the store and I look back and Stephen is on the verge of tears. "They will be right back," I tell Stephen. He looks at me with big sad eyes and says, "But I don't WANT a new daddy from the daddy store - I want MY daddy."

Bless his heart :)

Happy December everyone! The tree goes up tomorrow night. Hooray!

little hats....

Almost 3 years ago, Jamey and I were packing up a 3 year old little girl and a 4 week old baby boy for a trip to see my brother in Georgia. He was stationed at Fort Benning at the time and was still a newlywed. We has a great time with them, and as much as I didn't want to think about it, I knew that within a few months, he would leave for at least 18 months in Iraq.
We planned a trip to Calloway Gardens to see the Christmas lights they have each year - Think Bellingrath Gardens more on a Disney World scale. It. was. freezing. My parents traveled with us and Jamey and my mom took turns snuggling a tiny 3 year old body to share some warmth. She loved it. She loved roasting her marshmallows. She loved going on the tractor ride and seeing all the lights. We sang Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer which was her absolute favorite song at the time. And all the while, I carried a tiny 8 pound bundle of precious babyness in a sling under wraps of jackets and scarves. He was very happy to be right there, to nurse as he wanted (nursing is a big passion for me for those who do not know) and he stayed snuggly warm the whole night. I nursed him throughout most of the hayride and I am pretty sure 99% of the other people on the ride had no idea of his existence. His little head in a little hat. I love baby hats.

Tonight I am packing for North Carolina. Again, we are headed to see my brother and his wife and spend Thanksgiving together. This time, thank God, he is not leaving for Iraq soon (that I know of) but they are leaving soon for a 3 year Germany placement. I try not to think about it too much. Of course, we are excited to go and visit them, but I am going to miss them being in the same country with me of course.

I was pulling out winter clothes - scarves, gloves, hats - and discovered I had not one single hat that would fit the head of my big three year old boy. And let me tell you, that was one of those moments....

He has a cold right now. He is as stuffed up as he can be. But he wants kisses before bed and I am happy to oblige. He says to me sort of but mostly to himself, "Who is my friend? Sisi, Mommy, Daddy. Dis is my friends. And Hoho - Hoho (he means Santa) is my friend when he brings me a good boy toy. And Eli. Eli is a baby. But he wants to sleep in my bed, but him can't."

Little hats that don't fit...big boys telling me wonderful stories...

Slow down, Time...slow down.

Pictures by Melia - great as usual

30th birthday and other happenings

Well, it finally happened. As Melia said, it was inevitable. I turned 30 yesterday. And it wasn't so bad really. I had a fantastic weekend at the the Grand Hotel in Point Clear. This was my birthday surprise from Jamey and it was really exactly what I wanted. We didn't have to drive 10 hours to get there, or take an airplane. The trip was short but I might as well been in another part of the country. I enjoyed my time at the spa in the quiet room. (Which by the way, while I was in the quiet room, I was asked by another girl, "What are you supposed to do in here?" "Um, I think be quiet. See the name on the door?" She was still very confused and I quickly went back to reading).

I came home Sunday around noon to a wonderful surprise Tinkerbell party put together by my family. Elizabeth made a fantastic cake and really scrumptios chocolate covered strawberries. Yummmm

But yesterday, myy actual birthday started out much differently than I expected. We had a family from our school (2 kids and their mom) in a car accident right near the school. It was bad. Three of us from Haskew rode up to the accident site just to make sure the girls were not there alone and scared. Thankfully their family lived very near and were already there. The girls were ok, but their mom was injured very badly and was taken by helicopter to USA where she will remain for a while. It was very hard and I wasn't aware of how affected I was by it until about an hour later. All I could picture was those 2 babies (ages 6 and 8) watching their mama be cut out of a mangled steel mess that used to be a car. The fireman mentioned to me as we were leaving and the helicopter was landing, that those girls may not have survived if they had both been in the front seat.

Life is so precious...

And to see those men and women, the paramedics, the officers, the firefighters all come together and work to free her from that car. They were all someone's mom or dad or sister or friend, and they came at the sound of an alarm to help this family.

Back at work, my sweet friends had a little party for me, and I really enjoyed being with them. And last night we ate spagetti and Rice Krispy treats (or as Stephen calls them - Rice Christmas treats) and I enjoyed my night with my kids.

Im glad to be 30. Now lets see what happens next....




On a side kiddo note - Ansley asked for a TV for her room for Christmas. I was telling her that she should probably ask for another present b/c she is not old enough to have a tv in her room yet.
She said, "If we had a playroom, I could put one in there." and I said, "Yes, maybe we could."
"Why don't we have a playroom?" she asked me.
"Well, we just don't have an extra room." I replied.
"But when you have a baby, where will we put it?" She asked.

Before I could answer that there is NO baby #3, Stephen said very confidently, "We give that baby to Meela" (his version of Melia). Guess Stephen's vote on the topic of baby #3 is pretty clear. :)

Stolen from a blogging friend...

Ok - usually I talk about my kids and that is about it. So tonight, this is about me. :) Here goes...

Hobbies:
1. Ok, does facebook count? i really do enjoy talking to people and knowing what they are up to these days. Maybe its b/c I am nosy, I don't know. But I have reconnected with several really good friends from high school and its like we never spent time apart. So I say, facebook haters can just get over it :)

2. reading - I love to read books, magazines, cookbooks, newspapers. Just about anything.

3. I was not cut out to be a stay at home mom. Maybe if Jamey made millions and money was no object, I might not work at all when the kids were really little but I need structure. I like using my college degrees. I like getting out and helping people. I don't feel guilty for liking my job. Now, part time would really be ideal. Time to get chores done at home but still having that time at work would be so perfect. But, since that is not a possibility, off to work I go. I have been very blessed to have loving people care for my kids as babies in their homes and I think that really helped. Stephen has a wonderful lady who keeps him at her home and he loves her. This is his "school" time and it works for us.

4. My house is perpetually messy. We get it straightened just when company is headed our way. There is no nastiness mind you. We don't live in filth. But my kids PLAY in my house. They are very much allowed to build train tracks down the hallway and under the table. To build forts out of the couch. My kids have great bedrooms and I do encourage them to play there too, but our house is where we LIVE. It is not a picture out of pottery barn (in fact I think I might give the Pottery Barn people a headache.) But oh well.


Well, I was going to try to avoid mentioning my kids - and that didn't happen. Oh well. :) They are a part of me so it is hard to leave them out of my writing.

Here's to a 2 day work week thanks to Ida and Veteran's Day.

Ready or Not...

Here comes Ida and my baby boy is now 3...

So far in the last 48 hours, Ida has done exactly what she wanted to do. When I got up this morning for work, Louisiana and Florida had declared states of emergency. Florida schools were out, Mississippi schools were out, and Baldwin County schools were out. Mobile County schools were in. And this was fine with me, bc that means we have one less day to makeup later in the year. The storm was also headed to Florida.

And now, it is headed for Mobile. Alrighty then.

Jamey and I can barely keep our eyes open. My children had nice long naps today and have enough energy for a classroom of kindergartners. But they are playing sweetly. Hopefully it lasts. It is 4 oclock in the afternoon and it is almost dark outside. Sleepy, sleepy!

And hurricane traditions continue, as I have begun eating my way through this storm. Watch tv, eat, play on the computer, read a few books with the kiddos, eat some more.

Today is also my little man's birthday! Happy Hurricane Birthday Stephen! My mom was nice enough to bring Stephen doughnuts this morning so that was a nice treat for all of us.

Here are a few pictures of today's weather and Stephen's little party that we had yesterday afternoon. He was in deep thought here about his birthday cupcakes...



Decorating cupcakes - Annabell, Leighann and Ansley playing baseball
Eli was very excited to be at the party.

Ready to party!

Dancing without any music

We took the kids to the Greekfest last night and we all had a really great time. I need to post a picture of Ansley in her wrap she bought. It is bright turquoise blue and has dozens of little gold "coins" hanging from it and when she gets going, the sound is a lot of fun.

We ate and shopped. And the highlight of the night, of course, was the dancing. Our preacher had a sermon recently entitled, "Feeling free to Dance" or something like that. It was basically encouraging us to be free in how we choose to praise and serve the Lord. No one way is right or wrong necessarily. He talked about watching his own toddler son dance freely with no worries as to who was watching or what they were thinking.


Thank is exactly what I witnessed last night, but with one more element. I saw my kids, and dozens of other very happy children, dance and leap and twirl as the band played. As the band concluded its song, the adults around the stage and dance floor began to clap, but the children ON the dance floor took no notice that the music had even finished. They continued to laugh and swing and spin and jump. The music was merely a backdrop to their joy.

That is the joy I feel at being a mother. I love watching them dance with no thoughts of insecurities or worries. They are happy and safe, but what they know is that their mommy is sitting right at the edge of the stage watching their every move. Every time they turn to look for me, so that I will acknowledge their dancing, they smile and wave and blow kisses. With hundreds of people around, this was a moment I will remember for always. Watching my babies hold hands and dance barefoot for all to see spinning until the collapse in a pile of giggles and hugs. This is life. This is life celebrated in the moment. I am blessed.

A chance to help

http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/11/03/2117976.aspx

When you have a moment, read this article and watch the video. My mom and I are doing what we can to support the girls in this orphanage. We hope you will join us!

Surely, there is something we ALL could give.

Learning the Language and A fond farewell

I absolutely LOVE listening to Stephen talk. Watching him think about the words he wants to use. I love that right now prepositions are interchangeable to him. For example:

"Fly me as an airplane mommy!" This is what he tells me each night when I tell him it is time for bed. Right now, he has decided that sleeping on the floor is better than sleeping in a bed. And as he sleeps all night there and wakes up happy, on the floor I let him sleep.

We have done really well with getting rid of all the sippy cups in the house recently. He was pretty much off of them (the kind you suck on - not the straw ones) but if he was stressed or tired, he wanted one even if it just had water in it. After a sermon from the pediatric dentist (who I love and fear at the same time) about the horrors of rotting teeth, braces and other scary monstors, I decided to throw all sippy cups away. Temptation would be kept at bay. No matter the pleading, the negotiating, the tears, the sippy cups would be gone.
What. Was. I. Thinking.

No, I am just kidding. It has not been bad. He knew the dentist said to stop sippy cups, but he has still voiced his disapproval of this banishment.

"I love you mama" he says.

"I love you too baby" I say back to him.

"I love the Wiggles, an I love Disney World. Do they have sippy cups in Disney World?"

I tell him, "No baby, no sippy cups in Disney World."

Stephen says, " Not even on the Magic Carpets?"

I reply, "No, not even there."

Stephen with a furrowed brow: "Hmm.. that is sad."


Goodbye sippy cups! You have served us well.

Halloween 2009

a few disney pics...more later

We had a great time in Disney. I have yet to really go through my pictures to pull out the best ones, but here are a few. Above is our picture with the Queen of Hearts and the White Rabbit. And below is a picture from Donald's Dance party during the Halloween Party in Magic Kingdom. Let me say, this was the BEST time to go to Disney. My kids had a blast (and so did all the adults!) I love this picture in particular because of Ansley's hand on Stephen's back. She instinctively put her hand up when he was a little nervous about dancing with Donald Duck. My little Dorothy and her friend the Lion.
I had a Scarecrow costume but it was about 20 degrees TOO HOT to put that sucker on, but Jamey and I did bring hats into the park for the Halloween Party. I was the scarecrow and Jamey was the tin man.
Here is Ansley hula hooping on Main Street.
And by midnight, they were done. They were fading about 11 that night, but we kept plugging along. Miraculously, we had not a single meltdown or tantrum the entire trip. I am really blessed with 2 great kids.
I will post more pictures soon.

Doing Hard Time...

Ansley's Fall Festival at her school was last Sat. It is a great little school that does so much for the kids there. One of the booths was a "jail" where you could pay to have someone arrested and then someone else could pay to bail them out. As soon as Ansley figured out what it was, she couldn't wait for Steve to get there so she could have him arrested.

She giggled and laughed as she plotted with her Daddy to have Steve arrested.....All was fine and dandy until we realized Stephen had absolutely no idea it was for fun. He saw his Grandad get handcuffed (albeit by a skinny little 14 year old) and Stephen lost it. He cried and sobbed, saying" Don't take my Grandad away to the jail." I think people started to think that perhaps Steve was carted off to jail on a regular basis!

And my children seem to have this inward connection of emotion and as soon as Ansley realized Stephen as upset, she started crying too. So the kids were crying while Steve was locked into the jail. Almost immediately a cute little teenage girl bailed him out and Stephen seemed to realize that it was NOT Mobile Metro Jail, we were able to continue our fun day at the fall festival. Whew - glad that we are not bailing Steve out of jail very much. My sweet little man just could not take it.

Here are a few pics of the criminal (notice Ansley's face in the 1st pic - NOT HAPPY) and then Ansley with her friends on the hay ride. Moods were much improved by that point.




PS - This time tomorrow we will be on our way to the Magic of Disney World! (But Shhhh, my kids don't know we are going) Have a great weekend!

Some of my favorite people...

Luke and Sara were in town this past weekend which was great b/c it was also my mom's birthday. It was a busy weekend but lots of fun. We miss seeing Luke and Sara now that they live in NC! They will not be back until Christmas.
In the pic below, Ansley is not, as you might think, smoking a cigar. She is chewing on some good old fashioned raw sugar cane. And loving it. Stephen, not so much. He spent 20 minutes spitting out minuscule peices of sugar cane after taking one small taste.
Ansley helped decorate my mom's birthday dessert with Aunt Sara.

Tv TIme

Jamey and I pretty particular about what we let our kids watch on tv. We watch the Disney Channel and lots and lots of PBS. Although lots of Ansley's friends have started watching things like Hannah Montana and ICarly, she doesn't. Not yet anyway. She has not asked to watch it and I have not offered. She is 5. There is plenty of time for that later. We don't watch Spongebob in our house either. I am certainly not saying all kids should not watch it - but it just doesn't fit in our house. Things like the phrase, "duh" and crude jokes will one day inevitably sneak into my kids world, I know, but for now, this is the system that works for our family.

That being said, Jamey and I were watching Criminal Minds the other night. Both our kids know that when mom and dad say "This is not a kids show" - they have to go play in their rooms or watch a video in my room. In all honesty, this may happen once a month as our TV pretty much is on football or HGTV. The clock read 8:57 so Criminal Minds had maybe 60 seconds of show left. In walks Stephen who looks up at the TV in time to a man shoot another man right in the chest from about 6 feet away. Great.
Stephen and Jamey looked at each other.
'That was a bad man." Stephen said.
"Yep", said Jamey.
"Him has a shootin' thing." said Stephen.
"Yep, he did." said Jamey.
"When I grow up, When I grow up, When I grow up" (At this point both Jamey and I are waiting to hear that when Stephen grows up he will have a shootin thing, BUT)

"When I grow up, I will be a daddy and wear big shoes and have a tall truck." And then he runs off to find his sister for a new game.

5K is tomorrow!!!Thanks for the encouraging notes!!

Countdown to 5K

This Saturday I will run my very first "race". I put the word race in quotes, b/c I am pretty sure I will be racing no one as I drag my butt across the finish line. Nonetheless, I will be there and I hope I can finish in a somewhat decent time for a girl who has never done this before.

We have been running and doing zumba at school for weeks so I hope I am ready.

Luke and Sara are coming in town and I was REALLY hoping Luke would run it with me - but he has another commitment. But there are about 7 or 8 or us from work doing it together so I hope we can encourage each other over the hills of Langam Park.

Stephen took a field trip with the lady who keeps him today. They went to the library for storytime and then to Chickfila - I can't wait to hear about his day when he gets home.

Last night, he threw his shoe in the truck while Jamey was driving. So when we got home, he had to go straight to bed. It was late anyway, so it really wasn't much of a consequence. But in his mind, we had sentenced him to a horrible fate. As he lay in his bed (fake) crying, he wouldloudly say, "I a punished boy!" Hilarious.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Wedding weekend...

We spend most of this weekend involved in wedding activities for Jamey's cousin Amanda and her sweet new husband Alex. They are now off to enjoy beautiful fall weather in the mountains of Tennessee. Both Ansley and Stephen were a part of the wedding party. Ansley was a flower girl with her sweet little cousin Brylee and Stephen was the ring bearer. Ansley of course, loved all that being a flower girl involved - the dress, the hair, the having your picture taken a zillion times, the shoes that sounded like tap shoes on the floor in the foyer of the church. She did a great job - both little flower girls did a great job. This is actually her 4th time being a flower girl so I think she has it down pat by now.

Stephen, on the other hand, was about as oblivious as he could be about his participation in the wedding. During the rehearsal Friday night, he at one point spiked the pillow like a football on the field while he walked down the aisle. Although most of his uncles and boy cousins thought this was hilarious, I was a little concerned about a repeat "spiking" of the ring pillow during the main event on Sat. We arrived at the church at noon on Saturday for pictures and attempted to put his little 2 year old body in a tuxedo.
"Why, Mommy?" he asked me, "Do I have to wear these hard clothes?"
"Because you look handsome and you are my big boy" I told him.
"But I really like my unnerwear -can I jus wear my cars unnerwear?"

We did eventually coerce (ok, I will admit we BRIBED) him into the tux. He was not happy about it, but there was no screaming and no tears so I was taking what I could get. For every picture he took with a somewhat decent expression, he got a goldfish cracker. We also very quickly figured out that if we took off the jacket, he was a much happier participant. 30 minutes before the ceremony, he was fading fast on the back pew of the chuch - a tantrum and/or nap were clearly on the horizon. Now enters my mom into the picture who takes Stephen in her arms and while sitting with him on the back rown of the church, whispers a story about a dragon and a lost but brave little boy into the ear of my very attentive 2 year old. With music playing, guests arriving, bridesmaids rushing about - the two of them sat together in their own little world of dragons, forests, secret keys and brave little boys - and Stephen was soothed. He was happy and content and forgot that we had put him in a tie and vest and rented pants that were stiff with starch. At 3 o clock, when it was his turn, as everyone in the church turned to watch, he followed his sister and cousin down the aisle with me waiting for him at the end. He made it the whole way down the aisle swinging the pillow and with his cheeks puffed out with air - but he made it to me and was very proud of himself. I was very proud too. He walked down that aisle with no jacket and no socks ("don't like the socks touching me") - but he looked perfect.

My sweet little man, my big 5 year old Ansley, and my husband who I do actually love more today than I ever thought possible..this is my world. I am lucky.

Stephen the Pirate

Poor Jason never stood a chance....







And one of Ms. Ansley throwing confetti -