Baby on my mind

I sit and replay a conversation I had a few days ago about a friend's adoption progress. I was so happy to hear that they had been picked by a mother and after a long process are finally getting to become parents.

Pure joy I tell ya. 

And then that night, as I thought about it some more, imaging their joy and excitement, nervousness, thankfulness, a full range of emotions...I thought and wondered and questioned my own emotions...

about why I was able to be so happy for them, and why was I not getting anxious about our own process, did I even care about our own process?  Was I thinking about it enough? How come I wasn't getting fidgety about having to wait an unknown amount of time?

Being analytical  is so annoying sometimes. :~)

Lots of thoughts and questions were strumming through my mind. I allowed myself to thoughtfully think on each one.

And as I sat there the one word that kept coming back to me was PEACE.

I'm not anxious about not getting phone calls because I'm at peace that one will come. I don't dwell on when it's going to happen, because I'm at peace that eventually it will.

Never.in.my.life have I EVER experienced this kind of deeper than bone deep peace. It's hard to even describe. Words come up so short to describe something that I feel in the deepest part of me. This kind of peace. There are hardly words and the words I do have still don't do it justice.

It just permeates every fiber of me. It's the peace that I could never muster up on my own no matter how hard I tried. This peace comes straight from the Source. It's His peace. And in His peace there is no anxiety or worried thoughts.

But while there is no anxiousness or worried thoughts there is this anticipation brewing inside of me. An anticipation for what is yet to come. For a promise from the Lord.

An anticipation to once again take my hands and comb through a little babies hair after a bath in the sink (well, I can't be so sure about the hair part, my girls were especially gifted in that department. )



an anticipation to pier over the side of our bassinet and see a baby in baggy pants just waking up


an anticipation to wedge our baby in the corner of the couch and subject to lots of picture taking

an anticipation to snuggle with a sleeping baby on my chest

an anticipation to pull those baby mittens out of the closet and put on tiny hands 

an anticipation for just more of this

I am peacefully waiting. Knowing that at the God appointed time our next child will be born into this world for our family. I move forward waiting in peace, but great anticipation...I am ready.

Sydaleigh's swing dance partner

(can take ~60 seconds to load)

I let her do this when he's bad. :~) 


(don't know what the other videos are on the bottom-couldn't figure out how not to link to them.)

20 days to go!

In just 25 days I will be turning in my tickets on Broadway...

 

and feasting my eyes on this!

 It's gonna be amazing! 

Whoa.Whoa.Whoa.

I was 'funnily' informed from another mom while I sat on the bleachers waiting for Syd to finish up her swim lesson, that her son....oh dear....*breathe breathe*....that her son is going to marry Sydaleigh.

*eyes bulge*

Aww come on! Say freakin' what?!

She thought it was hilarious! I had to quickly cover my petrified "oh crap Bambi caught in the headlights look" before she could see the panic. 

Sydaleigh is only 4 and already it is starting! Really? REALLY?????

I don't remember giving any boy permission to think it's okay to be marrying my daughter. I'm suppose to have like, I don't know, 10, 20, 30 years before I had to start worrying about boys.

Well great. That's.just.great.

And he was all up in Sydaleigh's business during that last five minutes of swim lessons. Squirting her, chasing her, dumping water on her head....yeah, don't think I wasn't watching him after that, 'cause I was!

I've got my eye on that boy, and every other one out there too.

Gonna have to be on my guard a little bit earlier than expected now I guess.

Great. great.great.great.

Sick, sleep deprived, and stir crazy

Oye. What a weekend. Actually weekend plus one, as things started to take a turn on Thursday.

Marvelly came down with something late late Wednesday night. Fever, stuffy nose...that's it.

I figured it would last 24 hours. I don't know why I figured that, but I did. Poor kiddo ended up fighting that fever for over 48 hours straight. Which in perspective isn't that long, but when you're sleep deprived and tending to a sickling, it's long. Like, really loooonnnggg. And Marvelly can.not sleep when she's sick. She falls asleep and then wakes up every 5-10 minutes in a cycle that lasts all night.

I figured she was in the home stretch late Friday night. It appeared her fever broke in the evening, but ended up coming back during the night, however; by the time morning light came into view her fever was finally gone.

Thank goodness.

Despite not getting much sleep Thursday and Friday I couldn't sleep past 6am Saturday morning. I had a long awaited hair appointment at 8:30 so I figured I'd just get up early and get some things out of the way that I hadn't gotten done the past two days with Marvi being sick. So, I quietly sat on the couch and did my bible study...just me, Him and the morning light slowly creeping in. And then I made a grocery list to go shopping for after my hair appointment.

The family woke up a little bit later. We do breakfast, get the girls settled and I head out the door.  Ahhh, after a long two days I'm slipping away for a couple hours of solo time. But half way through my hair apt. Isaak calls saying that Marvelly is now throwing up so I better come home so we can take her in.

Ugh, I guess she wasn't in the home stretch after all.

Poor kid. She hadn't eaten much the past few days anyways, and now what little she had eaten, all came up anyways. I hurry back home from the salon, pull in the driveway, Isaak puts Marvelly in the van, and I pull back out and drive her to the urgent care. Little munchkin is such a joy even when she's sick. She told me the whole way there how she threw up on the floor and how Daddy called me. Bless her heart. I just love this girl.

She's acting fine when we get to the Dr's, but as she was sitting on the couch waiting to be called back, she got that look. That look that says I have maybe 5 seconds before she vomits all over the place.  I pick her up dash to the nearest trash can and as soon as her head was over it she let it go. 5 seconds indeed. I swear no body's faster than a mom in a hurry for her kids.We're speed lightning!

Thankfully we were the only ones in the waiting room at that time. :) The doctor told me she just had some kind of virus, and that the vomiting was due to the virus working its way down. Lovely. But thankfully that was the last time. She was able to hold everything down the rest of the day.

But oh, oh Saturday night. I don't know what was wrong with her Saturday night. I assumed (seriously, you'd think I'd be smart enough to never assume anything ever again after having kids!) that she would get a great night's sleep, no fever, vomiting seemed to be passed, I thought her poor body would practically be in a coma. Ah, no. Same thing. Would fall asleep and then wake up tossing and turning and fussing every 5-10 minutes. She did that until one o' clock in the morning and then she finally settled for the night. But then I couldn't fall asleep until almost 4am and got up at 7am.

Oh my, what a weekend. But even with all the sickness and sleeplessness there were some highs

#1- me and Sydaleigh got in mucho coloring time together while Marvelly laid in my bed watching t.v.
#2-Kristine brought us over some much needed snacks since I had no time to go to the store. Bless her!
#3-Got my NY hair cut
#4-got in some good "night" walks with the girls, their new favorite thing
#5-organized the "office", aka bathroom with my desk. :)
#6-was able to show Sydaleigh how to give a cat a bath, on purpose
#7-remembered how much my body dislikes sleeping on the floor...okay that last one really doesn't count as a high.

Anyways, it's Tuesday, and all is well on the sick front. So glad that weekend is behind us.

And because a post is always more fun with pictures, here is poor Anna getting a much needed bath after Sydaleigh pleaded and pleaded to give her one.

don't let her fake look of malice fool you, she was actually purring.

And me and the girls out for our night walk. It's a Mimi thing. They dig it.

Huh, funny how that worked out

I was JUST talking to Isaak a few days ago about this possibility...

"if we still haven't been picked for a child by the time the end of January comes, what should we do about the P.A. program? Should you risk still applying, stepping out in faith that the Lord will bring a child before we have to leave here next Fall? Or should we hold off on applying until the Lord brings us a child?"

"If I apply and get accepted, I couldn't turn it down. If we didn't have a child by the time we left, I would have turn down my acceptance, and then it would sabotage me ever getting into the program again." (Isaak)

We feel the Lord is leading us to two things right now.
#1. adopting a child here in Nebraska
#2. Isaak changing career paths and entering into the medical field.

The problem is that #2 has the potential to happen before #1. And if #2 happened before #1 it could mess up our chances to adopt and for Isaak to become a P.A.

I've been thinking on this on and off in passing for the past couple of days. Not worrying, just "hmm, I wonder how this is gonna all work out," kind of thinking.

And then Isaak calls me this morning and says,
"Well, I can't apply for the P.A. program in January."

"Really? Why not? What happened?" (God happened, :~) ).

"They changed the requirements (two months away from deadline) and the class I need I won't finish in time to apply."

The class, medical terminology, used to be a recommendation, not a requirement. Isaak had already signed up to take it December 1st, winter quarter (the first time it's been available for him to take this whole year) and he won't finish the class until March. He will be a month and a half too late.

Except, Isaak won't be late at all. God's plan is never late, it's always in His time. Gosh I love this...makes me chuckle seeing how God worked this out for us. We didn't have to do a.ny.thing. He took care of it all before we ever had to. Before there was ever a choice, or an ultimatum, or a "what should we do?" moment. Before our plans to follow both #1 and #2 could get hindered, God took care of it. He took #2 off the table completely for right now, so that we can focus on planning for what He's called us to first. Our #1. #2 is still there...it's just #2, and that will have to come next. And we are so okay with that.

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."  Prov. 16:9. He has not only given us dreams, but He has given us the steps to get there. Simply amazes me. Every detail, He was mindful of every.single.detail.

^"The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever." Isaiah 32:17

Total confidence in God. And total peace. I stand amazed. I love it when God happens. :~)

Poor baby

Marvelly is sick.

Poor little munchkin has been fighting a fever all day, and will most likely be fighting it all night as well.

Me + Marvelly + fevers= paranoid momma.

And her fever has been a high one, up to 103 degrees, and only hovering a wee bit below that even with meds. Which then makes me hover. A lot. I caught myself just standing over her, watching her, for a loooong time this afternoon while she slept on the couch. I couldn't pull myself away, and when I did it was never far, like as far as the dining room, and in my house that is all of like 6 steps, maybe 5. :)

Praying her body kicks this thing in the bud tonight.

I hate seeing her like this

That would be a cooling gel on her forehead, and frozen peas on her feet. I don't take chances with fevers anymore.

A reflection on the last 10 years

There's two songs that come to mind when I sit back and replay the last ten years of my life over in my mind.

"Don't know where to begin"....

These two songs are a pretty accurate account of my life since getting married way back in 2000.


"God Your love is enough
You will pull me through
I'm holding onto You
God Your love is enough
I will follow You"

I made a commitment on the alter this day 10 years ago with Isaak. But Isaak wasn't the only one standing next to me. He wasn't the only one holding my hand when I pledged my love forever. There was a third party. And He stood with us that day, and has every day since then.

If anything is true of my marriage and life, it's that God has saw me and Isaak through every storm. Through every high and every low. Every time. No exceptions.

Ten years ago, I was young, and naive, and I had grand romantic notions of marriage, and life, and happily ever after.
  
"Its like my world's caving in
And I try but I can't...control my fear.
Where do I go from here?"

And then all of a sudden...life gets real, real fast. It starts raining. Then pouring. Then flooding. And before I knew it I was getting washed away in the storm.

"sometimes its so hard to pray
When You feel so far away
But I am willing to go
Where you want me to
God, I trust You."

I didn't think for a second when I was 18 that I would have to re-visit my commitment, and re-visit it again, and again and again. Recommitting myself each time a storm blew in and threatened to wash it all away.

"There's a raging sea
Right in front of me
Wants to pull me in
Bring me to my knees
So let the waters rise
If You want them to
I will follow You
I will follow You
I.will.follow.You"

And I did. I followed Him. I stayed and followed Him in this that He called me to. But following Him is not always easy. In fact, it's down right hard. Sometimes it took everything I had just to follow Him, and keep following Him. It seemed at times like it would be so much easier to run for the hills. To give up. And, left up to me, I would have. I would have buckled under the pressure. There were so many times that I didn't have the strength in me to persist. So, He gave me strength. There were so many times when I lost hope, but He was there to restore it. When I needed encouragement, He was there to cheer me on. He supplied everything that I needed. He always does.

"I will swim in the deep
'Cause You'll be next to me
You're in the eye of the storm
And the calm of the sea
You're never out of reach"

The current was strong. Most, if not all currents are. But it's not the fact that a current is strong that throws us off. It's that you can't see a current. It lurks down below, ravaging and wrestling and churning beneath the seemingly calm surface. And it will suck you in without notice. And in a moments time....you're fighting to survive, to live, and to breathe.

And every time the current started to unleash its wrath, and I was too exhausted to swim, He was there...
"Give me you hand" He would say.
"I can't. I'm slipping. The current is too strong." I'd tell Him.

"I am stronger than the current. You just have to reach out, and I will take hold of you. I won't let you slip away."

And He never did. Not once.

No matter how fast the storms waters would swoop up and pull me in; He never let go of my hand.  Every time it felt like I was drowning, He was there to give me air. When my feet had no solid ground left to stand on, He was my life vest, ensuring I didn't sink.

"Oh no, you never let go
through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, you never let go
In every high and every low
Lord, you never let go of me."

These past ten years have taught me a lot. I've learned so much about myself, about Isaak, about marriage, about compromise, about fear, about joy, forgiveness, loss, healing, and laughter, parenting, insecurities, and confidence, and a endless whirlwind of other things that come when God takes a life, points it towards something new and unfamiliar, and challenges you to follow Him into it.

But......

more than A.NY.THING else I have learned these last ten years, I have learned of God's complete and utter faithfulness.

He is faithful to love, to restore, to comfort, and to provide.

"God, You know where I've been
You were there with me then
You were faithful before
You'll be faithful again
I'm holding Your hand."

So, looking back...I say... let the waters rise. If You want them too. I can't keep the storms from blowing in, but I know what to do when they come.

For years I was scared of them. Scared of the rising tide and rushing current and crashing waves. But You never let us drown. And if you brought me to it, You can bring me through it. And no matter how quick the waters recede, we will stay by your side, clinging to You.

"You were faithful before. You'll be faithful again."

Joshua 24: 14-16 "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."  

Period.


John 12:26 "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."

And we will. At all costs.

At the cost of my pride, I will follow Him.
At the cost of my comfort, I will follow Him.
At the cost of my own will, I will follow Him.

I will never stop, because I've seen His faithfulness, and He's worth putting my trust in.

So, today I celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary. I celebrate the great times that have been really great and I celebrate the hard times that have been really hard. I celebrate it all. 

Happy Anniversary Isaak. I look forward to sailing in the storms with you these next ten years and beyond.

Bloom y'all

We went to our favorite little farm today. This place never gets old, e-ver. Even the name is adorable, Bloom Where You're Planted. I mean, c'mon, can't get any sweeter than that. One of these years, likely many many many years from now when me and Isaak settle down somewhere longer than the three or four years the Air Force keeps us somewhere...we are going to have a place of our own, and we are going to name it. I don't know what yet, but our place will have a name. And it will be welded into an iron gate at the entrance to our property. Maybe Avalon, and we can have a small apple orchard, or perhaps something more realistic for me like one or two apple trees. Or something else. I don't know. I have plenty of time to dream this one up. :~)

But back to today....

We haven't been to Bloom during the fall in two years. We came here this year at the beginning of summer, but not a whole lot was going on then. And besides, it's just a lot more fun to come in October when they have the Corn Pit filled, the tracker going for hay rides, and the pumpkin patch is in full bloom and ready for pickin'

As the girls were playing in the corn pit my mind instantly went back two years (okay one more day dream)....remembering the last time Marvelly sat in this pit, she wasn't even one yet, and I had to watch her like a hawk to make sure she didn't eat and choke on any of the corn, or hay. Sydaleigh was 2 and still in diapers.

now, they stand side by side. simply amazes me.  Oh the difference two years can make. :~)

we had some serious corn angels  going on. 

 

It's so nice to leave the "toys" at home and embrace nature as play...

It's not everyday and everywhere that Sydaleigh gets to bench a zucchini the size of Marvelly. 

And it's not everyday that we get this much face action with horses (me and Marvi girl had some matchy matchy going on-she's such a mini-me, well, they both are really. )

Gosh I love Nebraska. It has a few drawbacks, but for the most part, we dig it.

oh, and these people are pretty cool too. 

Happy Anniversary Melissa!

I now our anniversary is not officially until October 13th, but I wanted to give this to you early.  I finished it and wanted to share it with you as soon as it was completed.
The last ten (yes its been ten years) have been the most exciting, exhausting, fun, sad, loving, angry times of my life.  You balance me out and make me a better husband, father, and man.  I am a lot less without you.  Thank You for being my wife and staying with me, even when that little voice inside your head told you to "run away, very quickly"  I love you Melissa and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you. I hope its not too long, but its worth it.

10th - making a free slideshow

Fall and ramblings

When I think of Autumn, this, to me is what it should be. It's my favorite kind of fall. Crisp in the morning, warm enough in the afternoon to go outside without a jacket, and then crispy again when the sun goes down. 

This is our fourth fall in Nebraska and the first time since we've lived here that's it's been this nice. It hasn't rained in over a week, maybe two, so the ground is nice and dry. It's slowly starting to get blanketed with leaves from our tree. Although, most are being blown into our neighbors yard at the moment, who don't have a tree...so it's only fair. :)

The wind has been tolerable, actually, down right pleasant. Which is usually never the case around here. We have horrible bone chilling wind in Nebraska starting in the fall. It's really always windy, but in the summer who cares. It's when it starts to get cold that you don't want to go outside with an inch of skin showing or it will be chapped within 10 seconds of exposure. But, the wind has been slow, and mild, and bearable, and I like it. It helps that the sun has been free to shine without interruption from the clouds for over a week as well. Everyday, a beautiful cloudless sky, bright sun, mild wind, moderate temperatures. I'm taking it all in. Grateful every day for the pleasantness of it all. I'm not expecting it to last, so I'll take it as long as we have it for. 

We bought our first pumpkin of the season on Sunday. Isaak had carving duties and the girls had painting duties. Isaak loves pumpkin seeds, really seeds in general. So he carefully pulled out all the seeds, separated them from the goo, and then baked them in the oven till the whole house smelled all warm and pumpkin like. We got Sydaleigh to reach into the gooey hollow pumpkin one time, and that was it. Marvelly wasn't about to stick her hand in there at all. She will touch any spider within her reach, but pumpkin goo, nope.

We had a five minute picnic last night. Sydaleigh picked the side of the house to set up our picnic, but within a few minutes we all headed back indoors. Because the weather is crispy in the mornings and evenings, but warmer in the afternoon, the poor bugs can't decided whether to come or go. So, we are having mosquitoes issues right now. Oddly enough. They're likey trying to get their fill before the weather gets serious and they get dead. And within a couple minutes of eating we were getting swarmed by them. But I'm wondering where all our ladybugs are? We still have mosquitoes, but no ladybugs, and this time of year we're normally covered head to toe in them. I hope they come soon, they're actually a bug I like.

I also made homemade rolls for the first time last night. Fall is the best time to bake. I like to bake year round, but, still, something about the crisp fall air just begs to filled with the fragrant smells of baking goodness. This roll recipe is a keeper; semi crispy outside and delectably soft on the inside. Total yumminess. And easy too.

2 1/4 tsp. yeast

1/4 C. warm water

1 egg (beaten)

2 Tbls. sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

1 C. milk

3 Tbls. butter

3 C. flour

whisk yeast in warm water until dissolved. heat milk and butter in microwave bowl for 1 minute. while milk/ butter is warming....whisk egg, sugar, and salt into yeast. whisk in 1 C. flour and milk/butter. switch to spatula and stir in 2nd C. flour. Add 3rd C. flour. dough will be wet and sticky but pulled away from sides of bowl. Lightly flour a counter surface and knead dough for 6-7 minutes. Add flour ever so slightly if it sticks to hand or counter. pour 1/2 tsp oil into bowl and coat dough in it. cover and let sit for ~1hr. or until doubled in size. punch down dough and spread onto counter. cut into 12-15 pieces and roll into a ball. place on cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

I found this recipe in a tutorial online, and I was writing down the recipe as they spoke, so there is no written online recipe for me to easily link to, which is why I wrote it out. I better write it down in my recipe book book before the scrap paper I wrote it on disappears, as tends to happen quite a bit.

I can't believe it's October. Just five super short weeks until we head to the east coast where pure goodness awaits us. Mimi, the coast, more Mimi, more of the coast, NYC, D.C., friends, family galore, the beach, sky scrapers, hotels...ahhh. So much. My heart is very full right now. October is a very full month for us which is why it's going to fly by. Every weekend and weekday is packed. We have birthday's, baby showers, dining out's, fundraisers, 10th wedding anniversary, field trip, school and the array of other little odds and ends that fill up our days and nights. I just hope that when November gets here October didn't go by so fast that I'm not prepared to leave.

God is good. And He has blessed my life. Even in the hard days, and moments where I feel overwhelmed and burdened, I am so aware of His goodness.

School life so far

We are one month into the preschool year and I think I've finally gotten down this whole school thing.

I was worried, very worried at the beginning that I wouldn't be able to keep it all together and I'd be running totally frazzled looking like this...

(Doc Brown aka Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future).....

I'm really trying to be more intentional with our time, so that way I don't end up looking like Doc- mouth wide open, totally lost and stupefied.

So thankful that's not the case. I really dreaded the thought of turning prematurely white and freaking out my kids. Although I have been known to make that face occasionally.

But, we've got this down. For the most part anyways. That's not to say that our days didn't all of a sudden become a lot more busy, because they did, but I am managing the extra hecticness of it all. The gym days, the swim days, the volunteering (oh yes I am-I showed up in my bathing suit ready to assist in swim day on Friday!), keeping track of papers, days off, show and tell every week, and on and on it goes.

We have a morning routine, our route to school down to a science, making the most of my personal time with Marvelly in the mornings, and reconnecting with Sydaleigh in the afternoons. I have made it a goal over the coarse of this 10 week bible study we're going through to have dinner planned ahead of time, which has been huge for me. Especially with the extra stuff that school brings into our picture I needed order in the evening, and dinner for me is key.

Sydaleigh is really loving school and is making so many new friends. And she just started swim lessons each day after school this whole month. Me and Marvelly are loving our time together. Isaak took the day off yesterday just so he could bring Syd to school and pick her up. So, we're handling it. It's not perfect, but we're doing pretty good. So far so good I'd say.

Gifford Farm

At the end of a long long long dirt road, in the middle of what seemed like no where, rested a quaint little farm.

The farm boasted of horses, cows, and chickens. Pigs, sheep, bunnies and little baby chics.

It had a pumpkin patch, hay rides, horse rides, cookie decorating, and a lovely little play area filled with nature activities for the kids.

All yours for only for the suggested donation of $2.

What a precious little farm. I didn't even know it existed, no doubt being overlooked in way of the other bigger, more publicized farms around here.

Sounds great. Sounded great before we went.

And, then we get there. And quickly realize that this is the most expensive free farm ever!

The suggested donation did not say suggested on the sign when we got there. And then the suggested donation was no longer a flat $2, but now $2 per person. Plus you had to pay extra for the horse rides. The hay rides. The cookie decorating. The pumpkin patch. All of which was made assumed to be free in the newsletter. That was one deceiving newsletter. I'm surprised they didn't make us pay to look at the animals. And they weren't nice about it either. When asked if we had to pay for the little kids to ride the hay ride, they bark back, "if they're old enough to walk you need to pay for them." Well dang! Rude too. So much for suggested and so much for free and so much for nice. 

We will not be going back there. But, ya live and learn. And now we know...always go to Bloom Where You're Planted, the best little farm around.

*(okay, I know that $2 per person to get into a farm during Fall is not that bad...but it's the principal. The principal.) :~)

Take Zap girl's night!

We had a blast Friday night! So many friends, and new friends, were able to come out, I just loved it! There was so much laughing. So much eating. And so much shooting it was insane.

First, we geared up by eating at this tiny little San Salvador restaurant called Latino. Very small. Very very small. But oh so yum-may. It had the best black beans I've quite possibly ever eaten; I just wanted to suck them up in my straw and drink it!

I tried pupusas for the first time, which were good and will be my next endeavor in the kitchen because I will learn to make those. I still don't like plantains-yeah, they just taste weird. I don't think I will ever liken a taste for those smallish banana wannabes.

After a long, long, long button busting dinner, we headed to Zzzap! And all I have to say is that it's a good thing we don't have some sorta image complex because we had to look so ridiculous. A bunch of grown women with these huge glowing vests strapped to our chests running around like a bunch of banchees shooting each other with laser guns! Ohhh yeahhhhh!

Two incredibly funny honorable mentions from the night was Liz trying to play Bathroom Makeover and fix the clogged toilet in the Zzzap restroom. Ewww. And ewww. Only Liz. :~) Oh, and looking up to see her shirt busted open, unbeknown to her, and trying to reveal her lady parts. Twice. (excuse me....buah ha ha ha ha ha!!! )

Ahh. So so so fun. Oh, and there will be a rematch in the near future. I've got some moves that I be needin' to bust out.

It's coming

Today it's pictures of Ariel taped to the door.....

tomorrow I'm going to blink and it will be posters of boy bands and cute tween movie stars. Lord help us when that day comes! My walls were covered with everything from hockey stars to New Kids on the Block, and from the looks of it, I don't think we will escape our girls doing the same.

Bunnies and new neighbors

We got some new neighbors last weekend in the duplex next to us. It seems lately that when someone moves out of their house it does one of two things....it either sits empty for forever, or a single, active duty person will move in with no kids, no welcome mat, no nothing. I would hardly be able to tell the difference between their home and the empty one if I didn't see their cars come and go every now and then.

So we were greatly surprised when we saw a mini van pull into the drive way next to us. Oh my! That was not only fast, but they're sporting a mini van! Score!


(okay, I am.not. anti couples with no kids, or singles, or whatever...but it is nice to have neighbors who are family oriented, come out of their house and socialize, and don't have some weird Burbs identity crisis thing going on....I'm just sayin')

Well, it turns out our new neighbors don't have kids...yet. But they do have bunnies! Two in fact! The next best thing to having kids to play with my kids, is having animals to play with my kids. 


I've heard lots of talk lately about bunnies, and when can we get bunnies, and lets play bunnies, and when can we see the bunnies, and everything is about the bunnies.

 























Flash forward to today (I started writing this last week :~) and the bunnies are no more. One died and they let the other go. But they were fun to pet while it lasted. and we still have great new neighbors and I'll take that over bunnies any day. And in true kid fashion, they don't talk much about the bunnies anymore. Now they're back to wanting a dog and naming him Steve. Which will still not be happening any time soon. :~)