Big News!

It's not April Fool's...

It's not Wacky Wednesday...

We've been suspecting something for a month or so...

Can you guess what our big news is?

The kids are so excited, and so are we!





Nope, you're not seeing things.

Two pink lines.

But wait a second...

That's not mine!

It belongs to someone else in our household.

Remember this sweet little thing?

(The kitten, not the girl!)


Yep, that's right! Isabel is going to be a grandma!

Which means that I'm going to be a great-grandma?

Um, let's modify that...I think we'll all just be family!

Autumn is just so adorable, and a lot of our friends have already said they would love a kitten. When I was little, I wanted to have a cat with kittens more than anything, but I was never allowed. So when Isabel begged, I relented pretty quickly. After this litter, it's off to the vet we go to get her fixed; until then, we are going to enjoy experiencing this little miracle!

Flu, flu, go away...

I was going to write a big ole post about how tired I am of the media making swine flu sound like the next Armageddon.

I was going to write about how irritated I am that my hospital made it mandatory for ALL employees to get the flu vaccine this year. (I don't like being told what to do, if you hadn't already guessed).

I was going to fuss and vent and whine. But I changed my mind. Instead, I'm going to ask you: have you been vaccinated for the flu this year? Are you planning on it? Would you get the swine flu vaccine if it was ready? Am I the only paranoid person around here who thinks that the powers that be could put just about anything into a syringe and tell citizens it was for their own good, and those citizens would just nod their heads and line up outside their local Walgreens?

Please tell me I'm not alone. (Or that I obviously need to stop reading Dean Koontz...)

Loving Fall (and my boy)

What is it about this time of year?

I love fall, for the change of the seasons. The cooler weather. Open windows and the scent of fallen leaves and fires burning.

I love fall, for the mums and cornstalks and haybales and pumpkins adorning the homes in my neighborhood.

I love fall, for my birthday and my wedding anniversary and a trip to Hocking Hills with my sister and our husbands.

I love fall, for how much my kids enjoy getting out the fall decorations and planning their Halloween outfits. This year, Gabe picked out a Haunted House cookie house that we could decorate. And although I held a low expectation of how it would turn out, the end result rather surprised me...

Of course, the thing has only been up for one week and already the roofline is bat-less and the little green balls are nearly all picked off. At least we had a great time making some memories together. (I'll keep you posted if Gabe can't resist the temptation to take a bite; it will probably involve some photos of a trip to the dentist's office...those cookies are hard as a rock!)

Five Little Words

My sweet friend, Suzann from The Olive Cottage, did a post this week based on five words. I liked it so much, I asked her to "assign" me five words. My words were faith, growth, ability, love and dream.

FAITH. Many people shy away from speaking about their faith, whether they're unsure of where they stand or are just afraid of offending others, I don't know.

I did not grow up in a church. I knew very few Bible stories, and only went to Vacation Bible School in summers with friends. When I met Joe, one of the things I loved about him was his faith. He DID grow up going to church, and knew a lot about Jesus. Once we were married and had our first baby, I knew that I wanted to be saved. I went up to the altar (with shaking knees but a determined heart) and confessed my faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. A couple of years later, after learning more and growing spiritually, I was baptized.

We have since changed churches, and now attend a United Methodist church, full of people from all walks of life, who are trying hard to be good Christians, reaching out to others in need and trying to find their way in this life filled with hardships and trials.

The one thing I try most to do with my faith is act in a way that allows others to see Christ shine through me. I don't always succeed. Some days I'm crabby (I'm human, for sure). But I do try, each and every day.


GROWTH. Physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual. I could go on and on, but I won't. The most evident kind is physical, and none more obvious than with the growth of my babies. When they're little, people tell you how fast this time will go. I remember being mired in the pit of having two babies in diapers, sleepless nights and ear infections and doctor visits galore, thinking "this time is NOT going fast enough! They have no idea what they're talking about!".

Okay, now that my baby is five years old, going to preschool and riding a two-wheeler for heaven's sake!, now I believe them.

I blinked, and they went from baby to preschooler to sixth grader.

I now have toothpicks in my eyeballs, so I can't blink anymore. I want this time right now to last longer than a minute. Elijah is 11, Isabel is 9, Gabe is 5, I am 35 and life is so good.

From this:

to this, in the blink of an eye:

ABILITY. My kids have taught me so much about ability. When they're babies, you have to do everything for them. And you get into that habit so much that you don't realize when it's time to start letting them do for themselves. I love being a mom. I love doing for my kids. At some point, though, you have to let go, and teach them to start doing for themselves. And it's amazing how much they can actually do. And how proud they are to be able to do it. Now I always check myself to make sure I'm not doing too much for them, so they can feel that satisfaction that comes from a job well done.

Elijah is the perfect example of this. He has wanted to play tackle football for years. He tried back in the fourth grade, but he wasn't ready (and neither were we). When he begged and begged and saved up his own money, I relented and let him try again this year. And he is so proud of himself. He is not loving it (they have yet to win a game), but he is determined to stick it out (paying out of your own pocket will do that, I guess). And for that, I am so proud. He works his heart out at every practice, and goes to his games in the hope that he will actually get the chance to touch the football that time. I admire his spirit!

LOVE. You already know how much I love Jesus, and my babies. Now I'll tell you a little about how much I love my husband. Some days he makes me crazy (and I'm willing to bet he'd say the same about me). But every day I know I am blessed and living this dream life of mine because of him. He led me to Christ. He gave me my babies. And he has stood by me every single day for the past thirteen-plus years. We are still able to laugh together and enjoy each other's company, and that speaks volumes. Joe, you will always be the man for me.

DREAM. Like I said, I truly feel like I am living my childhood dream. I have a great job that I love (most days). I am a wife, and a mom. I have friends dear to my heart. Every holiday and many days in between, I am surrounded by a fun and loving family. My dream now is that each of my kids will find their way in this world, and be able to say the same thing when they are 35.

Suzann, did you have any idea this would be such a long post? Yeesh!

Anybody else want five words? Let me know, and I'll give 'em to you.

Crabby Pants

I woke up on the crabby side of the bed this morning.

It is wet and oh-so-muggy outside, but not hot enough to justify turning on the a/c.

Aunt Flo came to visit a week early, and I was unprepared.

Not enough sleep, not enough hours in the day, too much week at the end of the money.

*sigh*

In an attempt to get out of this crabby mood, I decided to list ten things that make me happy RIGHT NOW.

1. Cinnamon roll and a steaming cup of coffee for breakfast.

2. Joe, for getting the pack of said rolls from Cinnabun when he was out running errands.

3. My freshly mown lawn (thanks again to Joe).

4. I don't have a headache (Aunt Flo usually brings one with her when she visits).

5. My computer was fixed, for free (um, thanks to Joe once more).

6. I'm surrounded by my scrapbooking things right now, as my laptop is currently in my craft room.

7. I like my hair (not at the moment, but it's been fixing rather well this past two weeks).

8. After working this evening, I'm off until Sunday night.

9. Isabel and I are excited to run in our first mom-daughter race this Saturday, to kick off our town's Applefest celebration. Race, first. Apple fritters, second. Yum.

10. My cupboards and freezer are filled with good food that I can use to feed my family (the meal plan is working quite well).

I'm almost better now.

Methinks one more cup of coffee then an hour spent with Gabe, scrapbooking and reading and just giggling, will make Mr. Crabby vacate the premises. Too bad he can't take Aunt Flo with him...

What do you do when you're feeling crabby? What are a few things you're happy about today?

Joy of preschool

Gabe is learning all sorts of new things at school.

How to write his name.

The letters of the alphabet.

Counting to twenty.

And funny new phrases.

Like, "That's just lame."

And, "You're such a lardo."

My personal favorite, one that had me on the ground holding my stomach in laughter...

"What in tarnation is on my penis?!"

(For the curious, it was a wrinkle. He thought it was poison ivy. Whatever.)

Man, I love preschool!

Under attack

My laptop is under attack.

Somehow a virus snuck through the Firewall and has hijacked my computer.

Joe tried to find the little bugger and exterminate it, but when I rebooted this morning, I had a bunch of new shortcuts on my home screen. Shortcuts to porn sites, with naked pictures on the button.

Great. In a house with three little kids, that's exactly what I want on my computer screen.

I'm not sure if that virus was one of the Facebook ones that people were talking about. Just in case, I am on hiatus from FB. And I am praying that Joe can restore the innocence of my laptop. And that all of my photos saved on my Memory Book harddrive are safe.

Has anyone else faced this problem lately?

Not Again, Please!

I was recently tagged by a new blog friend, Julia, aka Brainella the Librarian. I haven't done one of these in a while, and liked the simplicity of this one. However, I did have to actually sit down and think about it before I posted it.

The title is "Ten Things I've Done Once in My Life which I Wouldn't Want to Repeat, Ever".

Here goes...

1. Get a cavity filled, without being numbed ("It'll only take a minute," my dentist said, "it's such a small one").

2. Make the decision to withdraw medical treatment on a loved one (my dad). Hardest decision ever.


3. Eat shark (paid for that one for hours, sitting on the throne).

4. Visit Belize (filthy dirty, scary times, yucky food, not impressed).

5. Experience the loss of my home from a tornado (I was 16 years old).


6. Fight with my husband about money (um, probably won't be the last time...just sayin').

7. Drive through a blizzard to get to work, only to have to stay for two straight days to take care of patients.

8. Lose my child at Disney World (only for a few minutes, but that was enough to last a lifetime!).

9. Wrestle an insanely strong man with DT's (alcohol withdrawal) in the ICU, all night long.

10. Clean up gallons of liquid stool from a morbidly obese patient (I love my job, truly I do!)

So, there you have it...my list of never-to-be-repeated (hopefully) life experiences.

Wanna play along? Either leave your best ones in my comments, or do a post of your own (make sure you let me know, so I can come by and read it).

The Difference a Year Makes.

Amazing, isn't it, the difference a year can make?

For example, this time last year, Gabe was entering preschool for his premiere school experience.

He loved preschool, so much that he cried everytime we came to pick him up.

Every other day or so, I would get a progress report from Mrs. Edwards, updating us on Gabe's status.

"Sometimes Gabe likes to tackle friends."

"Sometimes Gabe doesn't like to follow directions."

"Sometimes Gabe decides that he'd rather play than learn his ABC's."

Could you read between the lines there, as in "Your boy is a stinker and preschool is quite the struggle for him"?

Despite a rough start, we perservered and ended up having a great year.

Fast forward to this September...

I'm excited to send Gabe to Young 5's, a preschool class especially for kids who are too young (in many ways) to start kindergarten. I'm especially excited to have all three of my kiddos in school for at least part of the day (imagine all the scrapbooking I'm gonna get done!).

Gabe was excited, despite the looks of it:


By the time I dropped him off, he wouldn't even pose for a picture...

There are seven other kids in his class, including two friends by the name of Calvin and Jack. Mrs. Tunison and Miss Shannon are his teachers. (Calvin adores Gabe, can you tell? He's small for his age, Gabe is tall for his...they make the cutest pair!)

At the end of the first week, I asked Mrs. Tunison how Gabe was doing. Specifically, I asked, "Is Gabe being a good boy?".

She looked at me in disbelief, wondering what on earth would make me ask that question.

"He's great!", she said.

No reading between the lines, no apologies necessary for the behavior of my exuberant boy.

He's doing just great.

Something nice to say...

You know the old saying, 'If you don't have something nice to say, then don't say anything at all'?

Yesterday at Sunday School, my women's group went around the circle introducing ourselves with directions to "say something nice about your husband".

Talk about being put on the spot!

My "something nice" about Joe was that he always takes good care of the lawn.

Since then, I have thought of other things. (It's good to focus on the positive!)

One thing that I love about Joe is his dedication to his job. After working in management for many years, about six years ago, Joe decided to make a change. He became a substitue teacher while earning his education degree and eventually became a high school math teacher.

He works for our county's alternative school, teaching troubled youth who are at their "last resort" school before getting kicked out altogether. You can imagine how challenging this must be. Despite the challenges, I never hear Joe complain (other than about waking up so early). He goes in five days a week, nine months a year, carrying his positive outlook to school with him, trying to make a difference in these kids' lives.

I'm so proud of him! He has chosen a career which allows him to spend lots of time with his family (afternoons, holidays, summer vacations), even though it doesn't pay a lot of money. And although more money would be nice, I'd rather have it this way anyday of the week.

Next time I'm put on the spot to say something nice, I'll be prepared...I'll just refer them to this blog post :)

Now it's your turn: go on, it feels great to be nice!

pity party

it's Sunday afternoon.

beautiful day outside.

gotta get ready for work, all 13 hours of it.

while my family is all snug in their beds catchin' zzz's, i'll be patrolling the units of the hospital, making sure all is well.

i don't mind it while i'm there, but thinking about it ahead of time makes me grumpy.

i know i am blessed to have such a great job.

but sometimes being a stay-at-home mom sounds so inviting...

especially when i'm walking the halls at three in the morning.

what will you be doing at three in the morning?

(make something up if you have to; it'll make me feel better.)

Heartbreaker

Last year at preschool, this little girl had a big crush on Gabe...

She has moved on to greener pastures (kindergarten), while Gabe is in a new Young 5's class for kids not quite ready to leave preschool.

Apparently a new girl has taken notice of my olive-skinned heartbreakingly handsome boy.

When I picked Gabe up from school today, I was asking him about his day.

Me: So, who did you play with at recess today?

Gabe: Well, I like to play with Calvin and Braden, but this girl, Gracie, kept wanting to hug me.

Me: Hug you?

Gabe (with a shrug of the shoulders): Yeah, she hugged me, like, fibe times. She hugged my guts right up to my heart! She lubs me, I think. Can I have a snack?

And so it begins...

Meal Plans

You may remember my discussion about starting a meal plan for my family.

I went to the library, checked out some cookbooks, made a list of the recipes that sounded good, then got down to business deciding which meal to have on which day.

I do one week at a time, and post the plan on the refrigerator for all to see.

We're on the second week, and it's going fairly well. I like knowing what I need to set out to thaw in the morning, I like having all the ingredients ready, and I can plan my time according to what I'm planning to prepare.

The bonus of this meal planning has been that the kids know in advance whether they're going to like dinner or not. They have time to prepare themselves for the torture that is (gasp) beef stew, or the excitement that is breakfast-for-dinner.

It is really difficult to try out new recipes on these folks, though. I have made a deal with them, to make it easier. I will only try one new recipe per week, and it will be followed by a well-loved meal the next day.

Last week the new meal was chicken piccata. It was a huge hit.

This week, pasta with shrimp. Isabel had a stomach flu, Elijah doesn't like shrimp. But Gabe, Joe and I loved it.

With busy schedules, football practice and Girls on the Run practice, family dinners have a high potential of falling to the wayside. I am fighting this tooth and nail.

Anyone else doing a meal plan? Even cooking dinner? Any other Rachael Ray wannabe's out there?

Happy Tuesday!

Thanks, Kay (my sweet MIL), for sending me this funny to start off my week. After spending the day cleaning and organizing, then going to work all night, I needed a good laugh. You're the bomb!

Hope you get a chuckle, too. Lula, I have to say, I thought of you while writing this post. Only because of the iPod, though, I swear...

"I was in the restaurant yesterday when I suddenly realized I desperately needed to pass gas. The music was really, really loud, so I timed my gas with the beat of the music.

After a couple of songs, I started to feel better. I finished my coffee, and noticed that everybody was staring at me....

Then I suddenly remembered that I was listening to my iPod."

Man, you've gotta love Maxine!

The day has come.

Labor Day in Cincinnati has always meant one thing...

The annual WEBN Fireworks production held on the banks of the Ohio River. Over forty minutes of incredible pyrotechnics set to music. Thousands of people crowded together to ooh and aah over each explosion.



Did I mention thousands of people?


The party usually starts before noon on Sunday, with people competing for the best spots to see the show and hear the music.

The fireworks don't start until after dark, which these days isn't until after 9pm.

That's nine hours of partying before the party even starts.

Let's just say that by the time the first shower of sparks lights up the skyline, the ratio of sober to drunk goes from a 3:1 to about a 1:150.

I admit, I have been part of the partying crowd many times.

I have witnessed men peeing in the streets...


and a host of other things too crazy to mention on my mommy blog.

The question I have is this:

At what point was it that a night of drunken firework-and-men-peeing-in-the-streets-watching went from fun to, well, not so fun?

Driving downtown. Finding a parking space. Hauling the cooler and blankets and bug spray and jackets and snacks from said parking space through the city streets until you find the ultimate spot. Worrying about someone stealing your spot while you go drop a small fortune in the booths that line the river. Worrying about drinking too much and having to find a port-o-let without a mile-long line to pee in. Worrying about having to shield your child's eyes from the sights of men peeing in the streets. Finally getting to see the fireworks, only to have your child be scared to death of all the noise.

I haven't been to the fireworks since I had kids, simply to avoid the above scenario. A cookout with friends in our very uncrowded and uncrazy hometown sounds like a much better time.

Man, when did I get this old? I never thought this day would come...

A girl like you

Isabel, if I haven't told you lately...

I feel so blessed to have a girl like you for my only daughter.

When I got a call from your new fourth grade teacher yesterday, it warmed my heart to hear her tell me what a wonderful and sweet student you are, and how much she loves having you in her class already (this was only your fourth day of school!).

It set me to thinking about all the different roles you play, and how you touch so many lives at just nine years of age.

You are a kind and generous friend and student.


You're the best daughter any mother could ever hope to have. You are always asking me if I need any help around the house or with Gabe, and you never complain when I give you a task to do. You are so even-keeled and sweet, rarely in a bad mood. (And you don't even fuss when we make you go to Elijah's football games.)


Your younger cousins absolutely worship you. Katlyn wants to be just like you, and when you generously give her your outgrown clothes and toys, she treasures them (like I used to with my big sister, Rhonda). I love the way you show Katlyn and Kylee so much attention, and how you want to be a role model for them.

You are the best sister to your brothers. Most of the time, you are able to get along and have fun with your older brother, even when he's being a booger. And the way you are with Gabe...he knows how much you have loved him from the start, and he loves his "sissy" right back.

Isabel, I am loving watching you grow from a sweet little baby into this wonderful young girl you are becoming. Jesus' light shines through your eyes every single day, and all of us are blessed to have you in our lives.

I love you, honey.

Love,

Mommy

Sibling withdrawal

Poor Gabe, he is suffering from an extreme case of sibling withdrawal today.

He woke up this morning so sad to see Elijah and Isabel getting ready for school.

"They have to go again?!"

Gabe doesn't go back to school until next Wednesday.

I have a feeling it's gonna be a lonnnnng week. Right now he's begging me to play Star Wars on Gamecube.

Did I mention I don't like video games, mainly because I suck at them (other than Rock Band, which I can seriously kick butt at)?

I have a lot of housework and projects calling my name. I think they're gonna have to wait another week, though. Luke Skywalker needs my help...