Mission Accomplished

I shot up out of bed at 3:20 this morning, washed my face and brushed my teeth and threw on a sweatshirt and jeans. Didn't care about bed head. My friend Tracey pulled up in her van at 4:00 and brought her boys in and we nestled them in bed here with my boys. Eric agreed to watch the kids for us so we could go SHOPPING!!

We were on a mission to get this one particular item that she wanted to give her husband for Christmas before he goes to Iraq. We arrived at Toys R Us at 4:30 a.m. and got in line. Actually, the line wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, and no line seems long at all after standing in line for 7 hours to get into the Star Wars Celebration merchandise store.

As the crowd rushed in at opening time, before we even got into the store, a lady came walking out announcing that the item we were after was already sold out. Tracey and I were disappointed, but we decided to go on in and see what we could find for the kids. We found some really good stuff at outstanding prices, and only stood in line to check out for around an hour, spending a total of about two and a half hours in the store. It was fun to just visit with each other and the people in line around us.

We grabbed some breakfast on the go and headed to Target next. We found more great bargains and were really excited that this other thing Tracey hoped to get wasn't sold out yet. It felt really good to have most of our Christmas shopping done already, and we saved a lot of money.

After grabbing a Starbucks on our way out of Target, we noticed that Office Max was right next door. It had advertised that one special item we were hoping to get, so we thought why not. Of course when we got inside they told us that it had sold out within the first 30 minutes after the store opened. We were down-hearted but thought it just wasn't meant to be. We decided to head home, where we'd make one more stop at Radio Shack before calling it a day.

As we pulled into town, I watched the Home Depot sign, Best Buy sign, Office Max sign go by. Tracey and I both commented on how that new Office Max in town was now opened. I asked her if she wanted to stop there real quick, and I could just run in and ask if they were sold out of that special item we woke up at 3:30 for. She was hesitant and figured they'd be sold out but said sure.

I ran in and found the first employee I saw. " I don't suppose you have any Zunes left?" He said they did. "Where are they??" My heart was racing. It was 11:00 a.m., the sale had been going all morning, surely they were out of the brown Zunes on sale for half price. The sales associate pointed to the back left corner of the store. I raced over there. I found the Zune section. There was one black one sitting there, not on sale. Only the brown ones were for sale.

I hustled backed to the guy with the black Zune in hand. "I don't suppose you have any more Zunes in the back?" He said they did. "Any BROWN ones back there?" He checked. They had two! "Could I please have one?" I sure could! I was thrilled! I let Tracey know right away.

It was meant to be! After all that early morning seeking, at the tail-end of all the sales, we just happened to find a Zune that was on sale for half-price, an item that pretty much sold out everywhere else we looked within the first 15-30 minutes of the store opening. Really incredible, actually. I don't know if Jesus thinks Black Friday is bad and thinks it encourages everyone to be greedy, but I was thanking Him for providing that Zune. And thanking Him for the really awesome time I had with Tracey.

We pulled into my driveway, and I hid the gifts I got for the kids in Eric's trunk. When we went in the house, Eric was sitting in the chair watching t.v. The kids were downstairs playing in the basement. The house was CLEAN. He had cleaned the living room AND kitchen, did laundry, and he made the boys French toast too! And, I found out that even though we thought all the kids were sleeping when we nestled them in and left at 4:00 a.m., they actually woke up about 20 minutes later and were playing hide and seek in the dark on the stairs. Eric got them settled back in and back to sleep. What a HERO!

Today has been an absolutely awesome day. I had sooooooo much fun with Tracey. Tonite we'll see their family again as we celebrate Owen's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. Ski ball tournament!! It just couldn't be a better day!!

I Did It!

It certainly isn't glamorous, but I did it! I managed to time everything just right, didn't burn anything, and most of all I had FUN! It really was fun!Well, I ALMOST didn't burn anything. Looks like I also have the Curse of the Brown 'N Serve Rolls that you wrote about on Tuesday, Linda...

Ethan Loves Chicken

Got My Bird!

And I went big! As I was putting that little 10 pounder in my cart, I felt like we wouldn't have much for leftovers, and I want LEFTOVERS. With this lovely little 16.48 pounder in my fridge currently thawing, I think we'll have leftovers.

I'm sitting in the van right now. Having an attached garage is a wonderful blessing. It's cold and awful outside, but relatively warm in the garage. I'm in the van because poor Emily has the most horrible cough/icky nose that any of my kids have ever had. She is sleeping so soundly in her car seat that I just couldn't wake her up and make her try to sleep while laying down. I'm taking her in to the doctor at 3:45. And I have to pick the boys up from school in 30 minutes, so why not ramble on a little?

When I announced that I got my bird, it took me back the last few years when I'd go turkey hunting with my dad in the spring. I didn't shoot the bird with a gun, that was dad's part. My part was to get it all on video camera. And I loved it.

Dad and I would march out into Uncle Joe's land at dark thirty in the morning. We'd go to our spot that dad took time to scope out (which always seemed to be the same spot). We'd get settled in, dad's gun and my camera ready to go.

It was so peaceful to see the colors pop out as the sun came up. We'd even get visits from various wildlife as we waited for the turkeys to come into view. More than anything, dad and I just love being out there, observing, taking it all in.

Dad would use his call and I'd sit as still and quiet as I possibly could, all decked out in camo. Before long, we'd get our bird.

It has always been hard for me to observe the kill, but it helps to know that my dad isn't out there hunting for a trophy. I grew up eating pheasant, duck, goose, deer, rabbit, and fish fish fish. I love it and miss it. But more I miss being out there pheasant hunting and turkey hunting with my dad. It reminds me of the Indians, I picture an Indian boy out there with his dad making his first kill. Except I'm not an Indian or a boy. But I love being out in God's creation, especially with my dad.

Rising to the Challenge

I'm doing it. I'm going to the store right now to buy a turkey and all the other stuff for Thanksgiving dinner. This will be our little family's first time celebrating, just us. It'll be my first time making a big turkey. I'm looking forward to the challenge! My mom and my mother-in-law have full confidence in me, but I'll have some boneless skinless turkey breasts on hand as a back-up just in case.

Wrestle Mania

Dance Dance Bubblution

Emily has figured out how to open the kitchen cabinets. Her favorite is the tupperware cabinet.


I was upstairs putting laundry away, and I could hear the boys were up to something in the kitchen. I figured they were sock-skating on the wood floor, or wrestling, or something. This just cracks me up. I came downstairs and saw this:

The boys were stomping and dancing on bubble wrap! It still makes me laugh! I asked them where in the world the bubble wrap came from. They said Emily found it in one of the cupboards. I forgot I used bubble wrap to send a gift in the mail and shoved the leftover roll in a cupboard just to get it out of the way. Emily found it!

Jibber Jabber

Okay, this is my first video post. It's kind of long and boring at the beginning, but if you can hold out till the end it get cute. I was hoping to catch Emily jibber-jabbering like she usually does, but instead I was pleasantly surprised with her saying Mama and waving bye-bye for the first time! When you hear me saying, "Wow" I'm expecting her to copy me, she says "Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!" all the time. Well, she didn't do that :) Instead she said Mamamama! YAY! And even better, she waved bye-bye!

Strength Will Rise

I recently discovered His Girl and loved how her whole family worked together to very quickly get a bunch of housework done. I need to know her secret, especially the part about how she got her kids to do it without complaining. That is awesome!



It makes me realize that the time has come. We have to get our house on the market SOON, we're shooting for before Thanksgiving. And I need help.



How do I keep my wood floors clean??? Emily is 11 months old now, and she's learning to eat people food (I guess I should say table food, she's not a puppy haha!). Also, she's still crawling, so I often find little finger paintings all over the floors where she drooled or spit up and played in it with her hands. It's cute for me, the mom, but I don't think a prospective buyer will see the beauty in it.



So. What are some secrets to keeping those floors shiny new every. single. day? And how do I get my 5 and 7 year olds to scrape the globs of toothpaste out of the sink every. single. morning. after they're done brushing? And...



Oh I could go on and on. I do have some secrets of my own from last year when we moved. I remember being 9 months pregnant, loading baskets full of laundry, clean or dirty, into my car, along with any other clutter that I just didn't have a place for so that a realtor could bring someone through the house.



It's funny to look back. I did this a year ago when I was pregnant, then some more with a brand new baby. Here I am today, not pregnant, but it's harder. I have more house to clean and a crawling tornado to keep up with. But you know what? Just like we said last year, it is what it is. If those floors aren't shiny, well, then it is what it is. And we will still move. And the company Eric works for will buy our house if it doesn't sell in 60 days.



But that doesn't mean I get to slack off. I have to try...



Jesus helped me last year. He'll help me again this time around. Last year the song that pulled me through was Let Your Joy Be My Joy from a Women of Faith soundtrack. This year, it's Strength Will Rise by Lincoln Brewster. Of course, there are many many more uplifting songs, but it seems I've connected the current days to this song.



You are the everlasting God, the everlasting God, You do not faint you, won't grow weary. You're the defender of the weak, you comfort those in need, and lift us up on wings like eagles. Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord...

10-20-30

This is a meme going around. I thought it'd be fun to reflect.

10 years ago, I was in my second year of teaching second grade. Eric and I were living in our dinky apartment, and we still had that really awesome green couch. Eric was an underwriter. That summer, we had taken a vacation to Yellowstone, since we weren't able to go on a honeymoon because Eric had to work. Was 1997 a big year for Star Wars? I can't remember if we spent any time waiting in line for something Star Wars that year...


20 years ago, I was a freshman in high school. I still remember what I wore my first day! A yellow shaker sweater with white shorts and white moccasin-type shoes. I had a perm, short and kinda curly. I was really into teal and royal blue colored mascara and shimmery pink lipgloss. I was just starting freshman basketball, good ol' six-on-six 20 years ago at this time. I didn't have a boyfriend but had a huge crush on Troy Moats, this guy in my French class. I think he's an optometrist now? I ended up going to prom that year with a trumpet player I made friends with in band. I remember he was very outgoing. I was super shy. I loved loved loved my freshman science class, especially studying microfossils.


30 years ago, I was five! I'm not sure if I was in kindergarten yet. But I do remember kindergarten. I remember Pooh Corner, this little reading nook the teacher made. My favorite thing was to sit in there and read. I was already reading independently in kindergarten, I have no idea why. Must have been Sesame Street and Electric Company, plus the fact that my mom read to us a lot. I remember my kindergarten reading book, it was called "Hellicopters and Gingerbread Men." I remember telling my teacher that I wanted her to call me "Pepper" instead of Andrea. She told me that wouldn't work, because then she'd have to call my brother "Salt." I remember kindergarten had a play-kitchen and dress-up area. I never liked to play kitchen or house or dress-up. I liked the little balance beam she had set up in the room.


My favorite season in life so far has been right now. Being married to Eric, having our kids, taking care of them, being involved in our church. I love it.

My Boys

Yesterday, our church had a HUGE Christmas Craft Bazaar. The entire gym was packed with vendors. I was absolutely amazed, how do people make this stuff? And why can't I do that? I'm just not gifted in the area of crafts at all. It was so fun to see all the people, and I was able to help out by sitting at our Pray and Play table to sell crafts that the other moms in our group made.

They had a kids' area in part of the building with games and even a shop for kids to buy presents for their families. The boys spent the whole morning in the kids' area while I worked at the table. It was absolutely precious. Owen spent pretty much all of his tickets on buying gifts for Emily, Eric,and myself. For some reason, he omitted Ethan... And then Ethan used his tickets to buy himself stuff, "Because they had really cool stuff there, Mom!" I just thought it was so cute. It just shows how they are two different boys at two different ages of development.

Sometimes I can't wait for those two to get older, I can't wait to see who they'll be, the kinds of conversations we'll have (hopefully they'll still want to talk to me). I hope that we'll be able to go camping, hiking, kayaking, all kinds of outdoorsy activities. I hope that they'll be best buds with each other all their lives. I hope all our families will be able to stay near to each other.

Radio

After reading Linda's post about Amy Grant, I got to thinking about how Christian music has changed my life and impacted my relationship with Jesus.

It started I'm thinking back in 1995 or maybe '96, when Nate and Heth sent me a Jars of Clay cd. I'd never heard of them, and at the time I was listening to pop stations on "regular radio." My first reaction after receiving the cd was, "Oh." To begin with, I didn't have a cd player. I was still using cassettes. Secondly, I'd never heard of Jars of Clay. I decided to keep it and traded it in for a tape.

I really wasn't all that impressed my first time listening, mostly because I didn't know any of the songs. But because it was a gift from my brother, I kept trying. After a few days, I started to remember lyrics and found myself singing along. Before I knew it, I was obsessed with Jars of Clay, listening over and over again. I was so excited when they came to Perry for a free concert! Eric and I went, and even sat right near the band at the local Pizza Hut!

From there, it just boomed. I discovered the local Christian radio station, it played all kinds of really good music that paralelled secular bands. I remember taking the 30 Day Challenge. "Listen to our station for 30 days, and we GUARANTEE you won't ever listen to another station again!" Yeah right...

Well, I took the challenge, and they were right! The music was so uplifting and encouraging, there was no going back for me!

I've found 5 different Christian stations here. They range from encouraging talk-shows to good old fashioned hymns (organ included!) to soft and mellow, to heavier stuff, to really heavy sounds-like-they're-belching-in the-mic kinds of stuff. I flip between them all depending on my mood.

One really wonderful thing is that many stations can be listened to online. Two I listen to online include KZZQ and RadioU.

Warm and Cozy

I love our fireplace~I usually sit or lay on the floor right in front of it. I love the warmth and the glow. I'm going to miss it when we move. Hopefully we'll find a house with another fireplace.

We can't let Emily be free when the fire is turned on, but the pilot light alone doesn't generate enough heat to burn her.


Last night when Eric got home from work he lit the pilot light and got it going. We ate supper and the kids wanted to play a game. We usually play at the table, but Eric suggested we sit by the fireplace. I put Emily in her exersaucer and we all sat on the floor and played Sorry. When the game was over, we put the kids to bed and watched t.v. Eric fell asleep almost immediately, laying right in front of the fireplace. I ended up watching a movie with Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon called "Anywhere But Here." It was such a cozy evening.

Bearing the Shame

It's been a busy day. Just today I've had the drywall guy come in and sand where he touched up different areas of the house, the garage door guy came to repair the garage door after I back into it while it was still halfway down, and then the appraiser came to measure and take pictures of the house so we can get it on the market.

It's so wierd. What do you do when you have people working in your house? Do you follow them around? Watch t.v.? Check email? Read? Is it okay to eat in front of them if they are there over lunch time? I've had to leave countless strangers alone in my house while I either run Ethan to school or pick both the boys up when school is over (and for at least a half hour at that, 15 minutes there, 15 minutes home).

Well, something interesting happened today while the appraiser was here. I was holding Emily, and we were watching what was going on behind our house. They built a new home, and a guy was running a little bulldozer thing all over the lot to smooth out the dirt. Not so interesting, I guess, but it was cool to see him turn instantly at a 90 degree angle with that thing.

I stood there holding Emmy for a good 20 minutes or so, watching the bulldozer go back and forth. As I was sort of spacing off and trying to figure out how he turned so quickly, I just kind of sort of passed gas in a really big loud smelly way. I didn't think much of it (I come from a gassy family. Our motto is "It's better to bear the shame than bear the pain." You've heard that before, haven't you?) Then I heard "beep beep" coming from upstairs. It was the appraiser's special measuring tool. I forgot the appraiser was there! And the way sound bounces around in this house, I'm sure he heard me. Almost certain he smelled me.

He came downstairs and commented on how cute and smelly (I mean smiley) Emily was, asked how old she is, etc. all the while I was trying with everything in me to NOT bust out laughing.

Favorite Things

Heth said when you don't have anything to post, post pictures...

Check it out. I actually snapped the picture when the door stop was bent down as Emmy boinged it.

All Better!

I took Emmy in and had them try to fix her bangs. She's still sporting that Martin Luther look, but he was a pretty cool guy, and Emmy's hair will grow.

Emily, Honey, I'm So Sorry

I promise I will never try to cut your bangs again.

Just a Thought

As I was typing that previous post, I could hear Emily in the living room playing with something that sounded like a box. I figured she'd gotten into her tub of toys.

Just now, I peeked over the counter at her, and she was pulling the baby wipes out of the container! I just kind of said, "Emmy...no no..." in a cute "I'm gonna getcha" voice. She smiled really big, giggled, and tried to crawl as fast as she could away from me! It was so cute!

It reminds me of Ethan, when he was about 18 months old, he snuck into the pantry and got a cereal bar out. He came waddling into the living room with it. I said the same thing..."Ethan, no no..." and as fast as he could, he crammed that whole cereal bar into his mouth!! Owen had a similar experience with the dog's Pupperoni treats.


I feel a song coming on, to the tune of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands..." (mom always made up songs about us, I sing the same ones to my kids)

I've got three cute kids...yes I do!
I've got three cute kids...yes I do!
I've got three cute kids...yes I do!
And I love them oh so much....

I Think I've Changed My Mind

Last night was pretty rough for my 5 year old. He woke up twice in the night, scared from that house that turned its garage, driveway, and front yard into a scary graveyard. The house was awful. I didn't even want to go near it. Ethan and I kept right on moving while Eric walked Owen up to get candy.

I cuddled Ethan till he fell asleep. He asked me why people make scary decorations. He said people should make their windows look nice for people. All I could do was tell him he was right and just cuddle him some more.

I love all that candy, too. And it's so cute and fun to see the kids dressed up in friendly costumes. But I don't think it's worth letting my kids see creepy stuff that scares them that they will remember for a long long time.

I remember being in third grade and I saw E.T. It TERRIFIED me. Many people couldn't understand why I was scared of E.T. He was a good guy, a friendly alien, etc.

I knew E.T. wasn't real, but it was my own imagination that got me all scared. I had a night light plugged in under the window, and the shadow the window valance made on the ceiling from it looked just like E.T.'s body from the side, with his neck all stretched out. It made me remember the scene when E.T. was really sick, all powdery white, laying on the floor of Elliot's bathroom, reaching out to Elliot's mom and crying.

I don't know how many days went by that I couldn't sleep because I couldn't take my eyes off that shadow, watching to see if it actually moved, which meant E.T. was in my room! Which meant he'd sneak up on me and stretch his head up over the side of my bed! And maybe he had fangs! And he might show me those fangs and growl at me...and on and on and on my imagination went.

You know, to this day, I can't sleep with my back to the edge of the bed. Maybe it's because of that old childhood fear.

I think our days of going out on the street are over...there are a lot of cute costumes out there, but there's lots of scary stuff, too. If we find a church that has a carnival, we can still dress up and have fun without the icky creepy stuff.