Reality....

Sometimes, I like to choose to not live in reality. I can't remember if I ever shared my "blockbuster" story after I had Marschall. Quick version, I was home from the hospital and was itching to get out for a quick trip. I decided to go get us a movie at our local blockbuster. I felt very light skinny compared to being pregnant. (I'm the one who felt like I could be a bikini model after birth, I felt so light and limber.) Never the less, as I am checking out the cashier asked when my baby was due, I immediately got tears in my eyes and explained that he, the baby, was at home....
I was so upset, as I look back I have no idea why I thought I looked so slim. I was still wearing a maternity shirt and it had only been like 4 days since I gave birth. You see, birthing classes won't tell you that you will have your belly for a while. Not just your extra weight, your actual belly will still look about 5 months pregnant for a good couple of weeks. Maybe they should share that in sex ed, scare the girls with the thought of still looking pregnant while they are holding their baby.
Anyway, I was more than prepared this go round, I even explained to Marschall that mommy will still have her belly for a while. He seemed to understand. Now,I realize I should have set Garrett down too with Marschall. Here is my new and improved blockbuster story.
While I am still in the hospital Garrett comes over to sit on my bed. I am holding Braxton and he says with a cute little smile, "now we will have two babies". I said "what do you mean Garrett"? He points to Braxton and says "that baby and then that baby", pointing to my stomach." I begin to explain that mommy's tummy will still be big for a while, trying to rationalize with a 3 year old. Oh well, I didn't get tears in my eyes. I just keep asking him every now and again, isn't mommy's tummy getting smaller?

True Thanksgiving

I wanted to post this a couple of weeks ago and couldn't find time to do so. I have written to each of our boys and placed it in their baby books. I also felt led to give them each a verse to stand on through life. Here's Braxton's letter.....

Dear Braxton Elliott,

We just finalized your name yesterday (11/9)! We always knew God knew your name, it just took us a while. Wow, this is the 3rd time I've written to a new baby boy of ours. How blessed we are that you are coming to us! We are so thankful for your health and that you are completing our family. We pray that you will be a strong man of God as you grow up- Your brothers; Marschall and Garrett have been so excited to meet you and help take care of you. They will be your true friends for life. We pray that you all will support and care for one another as you grow up. Most of all that you will point each other to life in Jesus- this is where true happiness and contentment lies, nothing else will satisfy. We pray for your protection spiritually and physically. We've loved you since we found out we were having you, our love for you is unconditional. We look forward to getting to know you and loving you the way you need to be loved. We can't wait to meet you. I love feeling your kicks inside me and look forward to holding you and seeing the baby God has been growing inside me. Just know you are special and God has purposely placed you in our family.

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it." 1 Thessalonians 5:23

We're Home!

He's perfect. Braxton weighed 6 lbs 11oz and he is 20inches long. We're tired but happy and so thankful! I'll work on getting a picture up soon.

Braxton Update!!!
This is Joy, Meredith's sister giving updates. We just left the hospital, where Meredith has been on the pitocin since about 10:00am or so. She is doing great, looks good....contractions are get a little more intense, but all is good so far.
I'll give updates as I can!

He's coming, He's coming!!

Tomorrow will be the big day! A little high blood pressure calls for an induction. Personally, I have had inductions with my other two and did great. So I am looking forward to feeling lighter and having my baby on the outside of me!
I will update as soon as I can.

We have decided!!

His name is going to be Braxton Elliott. We both like Braxton and that it can be shortened to Brax.It fit all of my criteria! Elliott is my grandparents last name.
So there you have it, he can come now......

Blame it on the Pregnancy, why not?

I like to think of myself as pretty intelligent, "with it", kind of gal. If that is so then I have no excuse than to blame the following on me carrying another human inside me or maybe it's just my hot husband.
I met Pete for lunch today at Chickie, we were actually talking on the phone to each other as we pulled up in our separate cars. My last words were, I'll just find you inside. I turn off my phone and look up at him approaching my car. I see him, give him a wave of excitement and we proceed inside. We were probably there over an hour or so. As we are leaving I said, "ohhh I must have left my keys in my car, make sure you don't leave me until I find them" I found them alright..... still in the ignition with the car running!!! Yes, ya'll need to be embarrased for me and that you are my friend. I even told Pete I was embarrassed, he had the perfect answer, "You can't get embarrassed in front of me, I adore you." Sweet answer, but still felt like a complete idiot!! And I know even though I am adored, I will be reminded of this from time to time by him. Geez!!!

Election Daze.....

It's here, finally, I'm actually getting a little over it all. I remember thinking months ago "when election day gets here, we will almost have another tax deduction, I mean baby" (do you put your thoughts in quotes?)
I am looking onward to our new baby's birthday.
Anyhow, we do plan to ring in the night with a nice steak dinner, just the two of us. I wanted to have a big bash, it just didn't get planned and it seems everyone in our house has had some kind of sick lately.
I got my free starbucks, (free coffee all day to those who voted, you don't even have to show your sticker) also, Ben and Jerry's is giving away free scoops from 5-8pm tonight.
It's a shame voting only comes every 4 years. I love free things!

PS: In case you are interested.... the word on the street is to keep our eyes on the states of VA and PA, if they both go to Obama then it will be an early night, it will be too hard for McCain to catch up. If one of those states go to McCain then it may go into the night and it might be the morning until we find out who won.

If Only I Brought My Own Chair.....

Well, It's that time of year again. Parties galore..... and not the fun adult kind, the preschool kind. My disclaimer..... So you won't think that I'm a horrible mom or just a brat in general, I blame it on the pregnancy.
Garrett had his first preschool party that the parents were invited to. Oh yah! (that is sarcastic) We were invited 1 hour and 15 minutes before preschool was over. (that is precious time to a mom of 2 and huge with child) We were asked to bring our own lunch and come to his class room. All I could imagine was sitting scrunched for 1 hour 15 minutes in their tiny tiny little chairs bringing on one contraction after another. I asked(pleaded) Pete to go, but he was out of town today, I was out of luck. I spent my preschool morning getting ready, packing my lunch and heading back over to the school I just came from almost 2 1/2 hours ago. Pete suggested that I bring one of our green fold up camping chairs. Seriously!? Men are so different. Can you imagine me, 8 months pregnant hauling in my own chair to sit in because I'm too big for theirs? I laughed right in his face and he began to say I was being vain and I said "actually, your right, in this instance, I will say that I am too vain to bring in my extra large chair for my extra large pregnant booty". I will sit and suffer and act like I am thrilled to be there. ( I know, can you say "Bitter... table for one?") Any how, I came, we ate, I was "there" for my youngest. All is well and I didn't go into labor.
I can't wait til next month... Thanksgiving pilgrim parties for two of them and then there is Christmas and then Valentines then Easter. It's never going to end... I guess it's kind of ironic, once they get older they will be invited to parties and won't want me there and I will be trying to spy and find a way to be involved and squeeze into some place to check on them.

October Fun

No Picture

There will not be a picture but I do want to give you a visual of "can you imagine"...
Marschall had preschool today and I was going to come home and take it easy with Garrett. When we drop off the boys we don't have to take them inside, we just pull up and they hop out. I decided that I wouldn't have to get dressed, it would be a quick trip and I would be home before I knew it. I would only see the director and I was okay with that. So this is a little glimpse to what I looked like...
I had just rolled out of bed, I had on Pete's huge white t-shirt, velour gray workout pants, pink slippers with tacky little rhinestones and my hair pulled back into a mess. Keep in mind I am 8 months pregnant, it takes a lot for me to look pulled together when I am trying. I had spilled coffee down the front of my shirt and had no underneath support on, if you get my drift. I looked beautiful to someone that was half blind and 100 meters away.
We had plenty of time, however we got stuck behind a small wreck. I started to get a little nervous, starting to get anxious of being late. As I was pulling up to the church there was no one around in the car pool line.... no one. I started saying aloud "OH,no, Oh no, this cannot happen, what am I going to do!" Marschall started getting really concerned, I couldn't even address him at this point. I was thinking if I have to take him inside I will die.... just die.
As I peeled a wheel into the car pool line, I was frantically thinking maybe Marschall could just stand there and beat on the door until someone came out. Then my Hallelujah moment happened, the director came out of the door towards my van, (it was like slow motion) and all my fears of vanity washed away.
Whew, I still have on my lovely outfit, I have til 12:45 to make myself look presentable.

Palin Rally



Pete and I dropped in on the Sarah Palin rally at Elon yesterday. We were on our way to Mebane and swung into the rally right as she was getting ready to speak. It was fun, she is quick on her feet with her jokes. It was nice to hear all the cheers and jeers when she gave her speech without having the liberal media in our ears raking her over the coals.
I felt very patriotic and am looking forward to our Election Day Bash!


EARLY VOTING SCHEDULE
OFFICE SITE
DATES, TIMES AND LOCATIONS:

Thursday & Friday October 16 - 17................................................ 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Monday – Friday October 20 - 24............................................... 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Monday – Friday October 27 - 31............................................... 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Old Courthouse - Blue Room Washington Terrace Park
1st Floor, Blue Room 101 Gordon St- High Point
301 W. Market St- Greensboro Thurs. & Fri., Oct. 16-17 ONLY
(see below for remainder of schedule)


ADDITIONAL SITES
DATES, TIMES AND LOCATIONS:
(Authorized by G.S. 227.2(g))

Sunday October 19………………...………………….12:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
Monday – Friday October 20 – 24………………………………10:00 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Saturday October 25....................................................... 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Monday – Friday October 27 - 31............................................... 10:00 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Saturday November 1..................................................... 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Ag Center (Barn) Barber Park- Simkins Pavilion Brown Recreation Center
3309 Burlington Rd- Greensboro 1500 Dan’s Rd- Greensboro 302 E. Vandalia Rd- Greensboro

Bur-Mil Club (Clubhouse) Craft Recreation Center Jamestown Town Hall
5834 Bur-Mil Club Rd- Greensboro 3911 Yanceyville St- Greensboro 301 E. Main St- Jamestown

Leonard Recreation Center Oak Ridge Town Hall Pleasant Garden Town Hall
6324 Ballinger Rd- Greensboro 8315 Linville Rd- Oak Ridge 4920 Alliance Church Rd- Pleasant Garden

Roy Culler Senior Center Washington Terrace Park
600 N. Hamilton St- High Point 101 Gordon St- High Point


Saturday October 25....................................................... 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Monday – Friday October 27 - 31............................................... 10:00 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Saturday November 1..................................................... 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Courtyard at Oak Hollow Mall Friendly Shopping Center (next to Barnes & Nobles)
1000 Mall Loop Rd- High Point 3106 Northline Ave- Greensboro

Gateway University Campus Gibsonville Fire Station Greensboro Coliseum
5900 Summit Ave- Greensboro 218 Piedmont Ave- Gibsonville 1921 W. Lee St- Greensboro

NC A&T St. University Trotter Recreation Center
202 University Circle- Greensboro 3906 Betula St- Greensboro

Desperate Times call for Desperate Measures.....
I need boy name suggestions. It's that plain and simple. We have a few boy names that we like but nothing that is like "Oh my gosh, that is it!"
I will say we seem to be kind of picky. Here are the requirements.....

2 syllables
A last name that can be used as a first name
Would like for it not to start with a M or a G
Something that will go with the middle name James
Remember our last name is Uber, it's a hard one to match something with

Other than that, anything is an option :)
Even send me names that are in your own family, even if you don't like the name I want to hear it!!! either email me or post it in the comments section


Forever grateful......

I hope there is room for one more!

By the way great debate last night. I've yet to mention my love for politics especially in an election year. I've got the bumper sticker to prove it ;)

It's Been a Ghost Town....

I know, how long has it been? Our September has gotten away from me. I have kept checking people's blogs but have not been too inspired lately to write. I guess you can say things have been pretty low key, no emergency trips to the doctor of any sort.
Changing subjects.....I am already eagerly awaiting to start working on my post baby figure. I guess it's because I have been around my sister who had a baby 6 weeks ago and is fitting back into all of her jeans, no mushroom cap or muffin top either. The other day she told me she was released to run (she runs marathons and triathlons and any sort of lons that include moving). She ran four miles the other day and said she wasn't quite back to her 7 minute miles yet. Sheesh! I remember I ran 1 mile in high school and it was under 8 minutes. She reads my blog and I am okay with talking about her somewhat behind her back.
It maybe think of a picture I came across not too long ago. I seriously wonder if she actually carried the child, maybe she had a velco baby bump and had a surrogate deliver for her. Leave it to me and my scenarios, but seriously, can anyone be this skinny after having a baby? I remember thinking right after I had my babies that I felt like I could be a bikini model. Yes, you read that right. You just feel so light and skinny. Now looking back I could have maybe been a bikini model for the "before shot" to some diet plan on TV. I may do that for some accountability, take a before shot before I start working out again and see how far I come over the next few months after having him. That may be a little weird but it would probably keep me moving. I don't diet and will never diet. If I think about watching what I eat I will eat more than I would have in the first place. I like to eat healthy and I don't mind working out, so that will be my plan. I just may need to spend more than 30 minutes at the gym. I will say that I did say "no" to a thickburger my husband brought home, he's evil sometimes. Not really, he always says he likes to see me eat but if I kept those in my diet I would have a mushroom cap forever.

First Day of school 2008

Passing On....

My dear grandmother on my mom's side passed on last week. I've grown up with 3 of my grandparents. They have all lived in Greensboro my entire life. I would spend the night on a regular basis with my mom's parents when I was little. I remember shopping trips, getting to watch Dallas and Falcon Crest on Friday nights, and yummy Saturday morning breakfasts. My grandmother hosted most of our holiday celebrations. She even helped watch our boys when I worked some in the mornings. She was a very present part of my life. I will miss her and there will be a huge absence in our future family celebrations.
Thankfully, she knew Jesus and I think she grew to depend on Him a lot in her later days. Her pastor had met with her a few weeks ago when she was declining rapidly. During her service yesterday, the pastor mentioned that she had picked out the scripture readings and the hymns that we sang. It was really comforting knowing the scripture that was read was important to her and the songs we sang she had worshiped her God to.
After my mom had told me she had died, I began wrestling with doubt. Huge questions began to overwhelm me. I began to say , "Oh Lord, may the new life in heaven be all that we think it is, may it be real and true". That Thursday morning, I asked the Lord to confirm my faith moment by moment. I asked for confirmation that He is who says He is. Big request huh?
A few moments later, I pulled Marschall aside to tell him about his Maw-Maw. I happened to sit down with him in our bedroom, on my grandmother's hope chest she had given me a few weeks ago. As I sat there, trying to explain death to a 5-year old, I was overwhelmed with God's mercy and comfort. I got this picture of hope. Our faith is based on hope in Him; in God's gift of His Son, in His death, in his resurrection and in His return to come back. God has given us His hope through His Spirit. We cannot contrive this through emotion, it is a gift through Him who lives in us that know Him. (Rom 5:5)
So whether my faith waivers or is strong as a mighty tower, He has given me an anchor to hold on to. Hebrews 6:19 says "this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil"... I am holding on tight to that anchor and thankfully when my grip begins to loosen His Spirit in me shows me the "Presence behind the veil". My God is faithful, even to let me rest in Him, on an old piece of furniture that we call a hope chest.
Marschall often asks questions about Jesus; what He looks like, what heaven will be like and when will we get to go? I can't help see the wonderment in his eyes and get excited myself. I am confident my grandmother is experiencing heaven to it's fullest. I take great comfort in knowing she is whole again and is seeing the face of God.

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

Excerpt from the hymn How Great Thou Art

My Disdain for Wal-Mart

I know in the past I have mentioned how much I can't stand going to Wal-Mart. So I am checking out and this tiny tiny girl is ringing me up. She is probably 5'2" and weighs 90lbs and she is pregnant, I am not kidding. I though surely she is maybe 4 months. Even though she was tiny, her belly was definitely round. I was not going to even mention anything to her about her pregnancy... much less mine. Sure enough, she is like "When are you due"?, I casually let out a "whew" and say "November". Then my diarrhea mouth says "when are you due"? She says "October", I'm like
"wow you are so little!". She says "yeah... now I don't feel so bad". Geez, thanks for the compliment, just what I needed after my kid has screamed for 10 minutes not wanting to sit in his seat and the other one has hounded me during the whole shopping trip to get his UNO cards that I promised to buy him. I am done for the day. All done I say. I just want to sit in my bed and eat thickburgers for the rest of the afternoon.

My Poor Baby....

I know it's a little weird to post a picture of your hurt child for everyone to see but I had to do it. Listen to this....or actually read on.
Another long story...made short. Marschall accidentally hit Garrett in the head swinging his baseball bat yesterday afternoon. Yes, he about knocked his head off. We could tell right away it needed attention, more than what I could give. We all headed to the pediatrician. Keep in mind I have a 5 year old, almost 3 year old and I am 6 months pregnant. I don't do well moving fast or being in chaos these days.
Garrett is bleeding and Marschall is crying from feeling so bad. We had our hands full. Pete was able to go with me, thankfully. When you look closely at Garrett's pitiful teary eyed picture (why Pete brought the camera? because he is a sicko.) you will see something purple. One may think it is some sort of bandage, not so much. Instead of stitching his laceration, they glued it together. This is very common with close to the eye cuts. (This is the third time we have had this done). The doctor glued her purple glove to his head over the wound! Why purple, because the doctor was allergic to latex. It couldn't have been a nice beige glove.Seriously, do these kinds of ridiculous scenarios just happen to us? Come on!
Yes, she had to cut her glove off her hand and trim it back as close as she could to his forehead. She said it would just fall off in a few days. However, today Garrett fell trying to walk up the steps and landed on his eye and popped the cut back open. We couldn't see how bad it was because the glued glove was still on his head. I headed back to another doctor recommended by our pediatrician because we expressed our concerns with the wound opening back up. We weren't too thrilled with their laceration work either, so to speak.
The piece of glove is now off and his wound is on it's way to be healed, I think. As long as he can walk erect and stay away from swinging bats.

My Nieman Marcus cookies from TJ Maxx

I'll get to the meaning of my title in a bit. So here's the deal.....I don't like to bake because anytime I bake, I screw it up and it is gross. Let me share what I mean exactly.... I love cooking, with cooking you can always do some "doctoring" as I call it. Add a little more salt, pepper, butter ect to finish off a dish. However, baking you have to be precise, if it says to "sift dry ingredients" you better do some sifting. One time, I made a red velvet cake from scratch and it tasted like a huge ball of flour. I really think it was because I skipped over the sifting aspect of the recipe. With my hectic kitchen, what I mean by hectic is it is not a quite place of solitude, it is hard to concentrate. My kitchen is in middle of everything else going on in our family.
Here begins my latest disaster. On Sunday, my friend Shannon shared some of the ABSOLUTE best cookies I have ever eaten. I drilled her about how she made them and she begins to say,"It is a very simple and easy recipe". She may have even added "that you can't mess up". I'll have to ask her about that later.
She said it is the Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookie recipe. Well, that peaked my attention enough that by today I had looked up the recipe and headed to the store. I said to myself, how hard can cookies be, seriously? Every child needs to remember their mom making homemade chocolate chip cookies. See the pressure!
After the kids were fed, I thought I will go ahead and get these done so the boys can have a little treat before they go to bed. Now if I was a "good mom" I would have let them help me. But I thought, I can't risk them messing up my yummy homemade cookies. Hindsight is 20/20.
I swear I read that recipe 3 times over, used my pointer finger to go over each line of the ingredients and the measurements. To make a very long story short.... In the first batch I realized I left out 1/2 cup of brown sugar. I thought I had my 1 cup measurer out, not so much. So, I take my second dozen that I had not put in the oven yet back in my mixing bowl and throw in the sugar and "re-mix" it, this is probably considered a baking no-no, I would imagine. I am literally praying over my kitchen-aide at this point. (Yes, I have a fancy mixer that I use to screw up all my baking concoctions, I'm sure it is embarrassed to be sitting out on my counter.)The second dozen goes back in, they look better and seem to be cooking well. I glance over the recipe again and realized I left out the salt. At this point all bad words to say have even left my mind. I am dumbfounded and am laughing to myself. I pictured myself sprinkling salt over them as they came out of the oven. My sweet, Marschall, who was none the wiser as all this was going on said my cookies were good. He has a whole dozen he can eat by himself. My positive spin is that they are healthy, they have 1/2 the sugar than regular cookies and less sodium!
So back to my title, I love TJ Maxx. However, you know how you will find a great name brand dress that looks perfect on the hanger, however when you try it on you realize the belt loops are empty because the sash is no where to be found? Yeah, just like my cookies, a little something is missing.

Lazy

I sure have been lazy blogging for a while. It seems I'm on a food kick. I went to the doctor today and to much my surprise my thickburger did not send me over the edge in lbs that I have gained, "whew". I'm still not going to indulge again, though.
Anyway, I am making my all time favorite dinner tonight. It seems fancy and little weird with the raw eggs yolks tossed in at the last minute but it is "super fantastic", as my good friend would say. It's even better if you have left overs the next day. I know of people that have put shrimp with this too and said it is good, I am not a huge shrimp fan. This is from my squeaky voice friend, Rachael Ray, gosh I love her, but I always have to turn down the volume when I watch her. Let me know if you try this! We like things pretty spicy so I always add more red pepper than it calls for. I don't quite use that much garlic either, 2 cloves or so.

Pasta Carbonara

Ingredients:
# Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
# 1 pound pasta, such as spaghetti or rigatoni
# 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat bottom of pan)
# 1/4 pound pancetta (Italian bacon), chopped (I use reg. bacon)
# 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
# 5 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped
# 1/2 cup dry white wine
# 2 large egg yolks
# Freshly grated Romano cheese
# Handful of finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Directions:

1. Put a large saucepot of water on to boil. Add a liberal amount of salt and the pasta. Cook to al dente, about 8 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and pancetta. Brown pancetta 2 minutes. Add red pepper flakes and garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Add wine and stir up all the pan drippings.

3. In a separate bowl, beat yolks, then add 1 large ladleful (about 1/2 cup) of the pasta cooking water. This tempers the eggs and keeps them from scrambling when added to the pasta.

4. Drain pasta well and add it directly to the skillet with pancetta and oil. Pour the egg mixture over the pasta. Toss rapidly to coat the pasta without cooking the egg. Remove pan from heat and add a big handful of cheese, lots of pepper, and a little salt. Continue to toss and turn the pasta until it soaks up egg mixture and thickens, 1 to 2 minutes. Garnish with parsley and extra grated Romano.

I should be ashamed....

So I don't really get too caught up in my baby weight that I gain. Yeah, sometimes I get a little disappointed when I've gained 6 lbs in a month but then other weeks/ months it evens out. My goal is to stay under a weight gain of 40lbs. Which is a pretty generous amount in most people's eyes. But hey I want to be realistic and not a fanatic. With my past pregnancies when I find out I'm pregnant, it is like an automatic 5 lbs jump on me with my positive test.
Needless to say, we found ourselves at Hardees on Saturday. Yes, Hardees. Who still eats at Hardees? We do, we both have an affection for their thickburgers. Those who know us, we always have restaurant coupons.
Of course, I ate my entire burger, I could have also eaten some fries if they had been ordered. I felt immediately guilty. In fact, I just looked up the nutritional value and here is why I should have felt guilty.

2/3lb Double Thickburger 1250 calories 90 grams of fat 2160 milligrams of sodium (were suppose to consume less than 2400mg a day)

So I know, cry me river. Never again.....I have posted about it and now this is my accountability.

PS I guess I need to quit complaining about my wedding rings not fitting because of my swollen fingers, geez!

My Mom to the Rescue....

Ya'll are going to think I'm a little either OCD or maybe a little slow. But when it comes to organization "behind the scenes" I falter big time. When Pete and I got married I was a "stuffer". I would stuff my socks(not matched), my underwear, bras whatever underneath necessity I wore all together in drawers. It was such a rat's nest. Pete gave me the suggestion that he would help. All he did was cut two pieces of a box off and divided my drawers for me. 8 years later that "process" is still working. I still have my little dividers that give me a side for socks (that are still not matched up), but a lot easier to find, an underwear side etc. I say "process" because that's what it is to me. It's an extra step for me to take.
This brings me to our pantry. Oh how I wish I had a before picture. I just didn't think it was that bad and that it wasn't going to look that different. My mom has been helping me to get organized before baby #3 comes. I get overwhelmed easily especially when it gets closer to delivery time. I love things to be orderly I just have a hard time getting there and sticking to it. My mom helped me rearrange all my cabinets. Wow, I didn't realize I was such a stuffer there too. I had casserole dishes with lids that matched other pots that were across the kitchen. You can imagine underwear and socks thrown together X 10.
I explained that as far as the pantry we needed to be real elementary. I wanted bins that were labeled. We have those nice white shelving organizing things that are in every newer home that is built. However, it has been my nemesis, everything falls over and won't stand up. It was like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I kind of had a baking area and pasta area. But Pete could never find anything and so yet another source of frustration. Especially when people or I should say our family keeps the boys I want them to be able to find the snacks etc. So see below. Here it is and I LOVE it. I know it seems a little sparse because I am due to go grocery shopping. I realized this was the best time to organize when I didn't have a lot to pull out. As you can see my mom was way on board with this, her background is teaching kindergarten. Her handwriting and all. I have all of my cleaning supplies up top, along with activities for the boys to do(coloring, play dough etc) and then everything else below is our food. I think another plus to this way for categorizing, I will know what we are are in need of when I am making my list for the week to go to the store.
PS: (I spent $15.00 at the dollar store for all of my bins, I wanted white but I refused to go somewhere else and spend $3.99 each)

Mother of the Year Award

Yes, I most deserve this award. However, it would not be for being the "Best Mother", it would be more of an opposite of the "best mother of the year". Here goes my story...

Marschall hurt his foot, we think on Sat. He woke up Sunday limping. I'm thinking he's being a little dramatic, we tell him it will work itself out during the day etc. Monday we go to the Dairy Farm, he's still limping and it's starting to get a little worse. He is like hanging on me and complaining. I tell him at one point to "pull it together". To my defense there were no real signs of swelling.
I was suppose to take him on a little trip with just he and I to the mountains on Wed. to visit my best friend from college and her kids. I thought I may should take him to the doctor just to clear my conscious. So Tuesday, we go to the doctor and sure enough he had sprained his foot and strained one of his growth plates (whatever that means) it just didn't sound good. I felt terrible and am usually the mother that calls the nurse line anytime there is a fever or a weird bowel movement. This time, I wait it out, tell my child to pull it together and to basically be tough. Oh well, I kept thinking I was thankful it was not broken. If that had been the case I would not have probably shared any of this.

Our Trip to the Dairy Farm

My parents and I went out on Monday (when the weather was 100 degrees) and went to a local dairy farm. I love taking the boys on little mini field trips and exposing them to all sorts of things. Trees for instance, my oldest has asked me before why we only have one tree in our yard. Since then we now have four. I digress.. I thought a dairy farm would be very interesting and the best part we got to taste their homemade ice cream. Which indeed was the best part. Here are some pics. You will notice that you don't see any adult cows, they are shading themselves in the woods because it was so dang hot outside.

We Made It Back!

We had an awesome time. Better than I had anticipated! The boys were such good ages this year for the beach, next year will be a different story but I relished as much as I could with our family of 4 this year. I actually got to read two books, Pete and I didn't have to share a room with a pack n play and a little one and there were no injuries. Usually, within a week's time at home we have some sort of wound to care for. My sweet husband offered me to sneak away for a prenatal massage, which I had that thing booked as soon as I could. Below are some pics of our view and our family.

Beachbound

Talk about my Pocketful of Sunshine(the song that I have playing first), I know I am not 16 anymore, but if I was, I would really like to karaoke to this song. (not that I can sing, but I may have had enough gumption at 16 to pull it off)
The song seems "beachy" to me. We are headed to the beach for a week. We have gone with Pete's cousin and his wife and their 3 kids for the past 4 years. Since we are not just couples anymore and we have 5 kids between all of us, we make the most of it. We basically hole up in our beautiful rented home for the week, play hard all day, get the kids to bed and then comes the real maxin and relaxin. Which for us means, good grilled food, drinks (minus me this go round) and lots of cards and ocean watching. We use to go out to eat, but now with 5 kids, that would just not be a vacation or fun.
The kids are beside themselves, excited, which has made for a real long week. But we are getting there....I will need a vacation just from getting us all packed up and out the door. Pete and I are really going to try and not not have one packing up argument. I don't know if it's just us and our dominant personalities but when we try and load up the car for vacation and keep the kids at bay all heck seems to break loose? You can pray for Sat. am. Good times.

My Three Sons

Yes, it's true another boy for us! I really am excited and a little relieved in a sense. I get to do what I know how to do, raise another boy.
72% of you should not go to Vegas and bet! (See poll ratings)
All of his measurements are good, which I am extremely thankful. I am almost to the half way point. I was trying to get the theme song to the old TV show My Three Sons, but I couldn't find it. Imagine that. Am I the only one that would watch that show on TV Land? I guess I have been destined all along to have 3 boys :)

Isn't she a beaut!

We found a van, however I think it looks kind of SUVish. We looked hard for about 5 days straight and settled on this one. It is made by GM/Montana, Pontiac.
I hope American made treats us well, we were able to get a lot more bells and whistles by not going foreign and a lot less miles on it.

This other picture is our night out from our anniversary. It was kind of a low key night. I am not the most fun pregnant woman but we enjoyed ourselves. We went to Solaris, the tapas restaurant downtown and then to the movies. (It looks like a Marschall took our picture but in reality it was the best we could do with a timed photo.)

SOLD!!!



I don't know how it sold,yeah I do. The car was prayed over/for. I am super excited, it was hard keeping it clean just for a week. Thankfully, it sold and the transaction has taken place. So this means we are a one car family until we find something else. Pete keeps saying, "Look now you can really be at home, barefoot and pregnant". He thinks he is hysterical, not real funny, you see what I have to put up with? Anyway, I am on a mad hunt for a new to us, used van.

7 years of Bliss and 1 year of so so

It is our 8 year anniversary! Yea us!. The title is kind of an inside joke between Pete and I. When people would ask his uncle how long he and his wife had been married, he would reply "35 of years of bliss and 4 years of so so". It's the truth isn't? If your honest, every minute of marriage is not bliss, there are some days or maybe weeks that add up that aren't the best. My thought is, if you didn't have the so so times or even the dreadful times in marriage you couldn't cherish the pure moments of bliss with each other when they do occur.
So here's to many more years my love and I'll even take the so-so times with you ;)
Since it is a Tuesday, which I do not like celebrating big occasions during the week. We will be celebrating on Saturday, nothing too grandiose, I don't think, but definitely a night out. Pete is arranging the baby-sitting and if that falls through I will add that day to the so so part of our anniversary count.

In honor of Joy and Baby Seth

Today, my mom and grandmothers gave Joy a family shower for her new baby that is on the way. Another quaint affair! Brunch was the theme.
Below are some pictures. Oh and the menu, how I love to talk about food. Now, my Grandmother Marschall made most of it. My contribution was the punch and cheddar cheese grits. I got Paula Deen's recipe to make the cheddar cheese grits and they were the best. My mom made a great fruit salad and the secret ingredient, is peach pie filling.

Cranberry Sausage Quiche
Cheddar Cheese Grits
Peach fruit salad
Coffee cake muffins
Pineapple white grape punch
Coffee
Cute little SJM (Seth's initials)cake squares (provided by Delicious bakery)

No Day Like the Present....

I remember my first date with Pete like it was yesterday. Except now as I think back about it, we are not the same Pete and Meredith who sat in deep conversation on the sofa at Richie's. (Richie's was a restaurant/bar that use to be hip and is now no more.) I am sure most people would say the same thing about their own couple history. Marriage changes people over the years, hopefully for the better, but either way the wife becomes more like her husband and vis versa. The change can mean views on politics, raising children, food etc. Obviously, there are issues where couples will butt (?) heads till the day they die. But overall, living with someone, making decisions; you give and take and become more like the other.
I think the hardest thing though is when I see something in Pete that I wish I was more like and for some reason I can't just "change" in me.
When we were on that sofa back in 1999 and no we weren't partying like it was 1999, just talking. Background history, we were set up on a blind date, so basically we knew nothing about each other. So as we sat there talking, there was no gaps in conversation. I was basically telling him how I struggle with knowing what I am suppose to be doing in my life. At that time, some big things I was hoping to get involved in did not work out and kind of messed up my plan for the next year or so. As I look back I was basically throwing up all my junk on this innocent soul. He listened patiently and basically just said "you know the Lord says not to worry about tomorrow, set your eyes on just today". I thought well how pious of him to throw in an actual bible verse. I knew that verse, everyone knows that verse. Big deal. Well 9 years later, I am still not getting it. I am always future thinking, planning, anxiety ridden. I wish I had more of Pete's lack of care about next week or next year. It's not that he doesn't care, he knows/ believes he really can't plan for the unexpected.
Here is how my mind can race in a matter of minutes.... For instance, "we don't live in a good school district, we must think about moving, if we don't move our children will be exposed to all sorts of bad things, if that happens then they may grow up to be drug dealers and never know the Lord. Seriously.... how can I think that all of that is up to me to work out? Pete now tries to say it in different ways to me. "You can't take that all on yourself or we can make all these changes and other junk may happen that you can't prevent". I do get "it" in glimpses. But I want to live "it". I want to just think about today and the gift in just today. It is ironic to me how the Lord works in marriage. Marriage can be messy and irritating. With me, it is usually trying to plan our lives out till we are retired ( We just had an appointment, that I scheduled, to see how on track we are with our retirement).
Usually in the mess, the Lord is trying to get my attention that my spouse can sure show me the things in my own life where the Lord wants me to grow and ultimately change to be more like Him. (Jesus not Pete).
We are two extremes that bring balance to our family. Getting that balance is when we let God work it out and not ourselves. So today is what it is. I will not worry about tomorrow nor about if my boys will go to the right school and not be drug dealers. I know my God is bigger than all my worries and fears, but I have a feeling I don't live that out in my day to day life.

No explanation needed... and no I did not stuff it all back in the dryer!

My Favorite Car


So I had to come up with something to post about and not see that pile of laundry on my blog anymore. (It's still on the bed by the way),
We are taking the plunge and hopefully buying a minivan in the next few months. If I could jam three car seats in the back I would consider keeping it. I have had my Xterra three months before Pete and I got married. (8 years ago). Actually, we bought it together, both our names on the loan and everything. It's very sentimental to me and I'm not that sentimental. I love this car, it feels like a second home to me, literally. I put it up for sale yesterday on Craigslist, I hope Pete will be okay with it. Only kidding. I did do all the leg work to be able to put it on the market. It sure looks good. I took it to Golden touch to have their super duper clean special wash and a detail on the inside. It literally looks like it could be for sale on a real car lot. If you need a good detail and wash it only cost $54.oo and they got into every nook and cranny in that car. Places where I didn't know french fries could fall. As I love to sell stuff I was extremely excited to get it posted. I know it may take several months to get any action, I am willing to be patient, at least patient for me I should say. So we will see......

Imperfectly Beautiful?!!?

Over at Nesting place, the Nester had this grandiose idea for everyone to show their imperfectly beautiful spots in their homes. It is quite fun to scroll through everyone's!
Here goes mine....


I'm not sure I would call imperfectly beautiful but I will say it is all clean laundry and there is a nice cozy guest room when everything is off the bed. That's always the case with my laundry pile of a guest room. We have clean laundry it's just not folded and put in place. Hey I'm glad I have a room where I can hide this sort of thing from most people minus the world on the web.

Now the other picture is a nice stack of clean dishes left over from a shower I did almost 2 weeks ago. I have yet to put them away. I actually decided yesterday instead of putting them away I am ahead of the game. I have another shower I am hosting, this time for my sister, this Saturday. So my dishes are ready to be set on the table. If you haven't noticed I can make an excuse for everything and be A Okay with it!

My Rant.....

I love my little boys. I love to see my husband with my boys. Yes, they can make me crazy.... and insane.... and question my ability to be a good mother. However, I can't imagine our family to be any different. I am having a hard time visualizing anything else but a boy for our next baby. Everybody and their brother is asking if I am hoping for a girl. You want my real answer?
I would love to have another boy, that is the honest truth. I am scared of little girls. I am one, I have a sister, I know how "we" can be. Especially, our early years. Now, I would love to have a grown daughter because our sweet little boys will grow up and leave us and never call their mom except out of guilt.
I am real close with my mom and cherish that relationship. So if I have a choice... I guess I would choose to have a grown daughter, which sounds ridiculous I know, or another boy. The best part I keep reminding myself is that the Lord knows what our family needs. I can't plan this, however, I am very curious though. We hope to find out July 2. I am just now realizing if he/she does not show himself then we won't be getting another ultrasound, due to our insurance. I will be drinking a lot of juice or mountain dew that morning. So, I will be completely 100% pleased to have another boy-period. literally. A girl will be new and exciting and uncharted territory, if this is the case I will need help and lots of advice from all you moms with little girls. My question is will a little girl slide on a slip and slide all day and be okay with grass cuts all over her back and dirty feet and hands? I mean I am just asking because I know nothing different.
Well, I will say I do know one thing that can be easier if we have a little girl she can't get poison ivy on her penis. Yeah, I have experience with this with my 5 year old. Our new rule, "If you have been in the woods, wash your hands before you go to the bathroom".

It Showered!

I just finished (a couple of hours ago) hosting a baby shower for one of my oldest friends. We've known each other since 5th grade! It was such a treat to do this for her. She had given me a wonderful shower when I had Marschall so I felt I had a lot to live up to. Not that friendship works that way, but you know what I mean, I couldn't just do nuts and mints.
I actually packed our family up and went down to Pete's parents house yesterday. Living with two boys and a husband I could not take the risk of re-cleaning our house, I didn't have it in me! After I had gotten everything ready yesterday we made like a fetus and headed out, no pun intended...well sort of.
I came back up this am at around 8:00, how nice it was to be in my quiet clean house for a few moments by myself.
My mom helped me host it and I could not have done it without her! We had 17 guests for lunch. I used real dishes, even since my dishwasher is still broken! I had place cards and even served a little white wine, it was an affair if I do say so myself. I love to hear what people serve at parties and such, so this was our menu

Greek chicken pasta
Sun-dried tomato spread
fresh vegetables
butter biscuits with strawberry jam
Grape and pecan fruit salad
And an almond raspberry cake from Delicious bakery

It went great and I will still probably be recovering tomorrow. (There is nothing special about the living room, I just wanted to take a picture of it to be able to remember it can be this clean.)

Some things never change....

And it is HIM who I cannnot not change. So I have been feeling pretty proud of myself today. The last few days I have been feeling pretty good. I did 3 loads of much needed to do laundry. Pete came home and I was trying to share my productivity with him. I know he was shooting some indoor baskets with Garrett so he was somewhat distracted. ( Even though I can be cooking dinner, helping one of the boys and holding a complete conversation all at the same time, I won't mention it outside of parentheses;)
Back to my story.....

ME: "We have nice clean sheets to sleep on tonight" (which is a luxury even when I am not struggling doing the laundry)

PETE: "Oh okay"

ME: "You didn't hear me, did you"

PETE: "uh- huh"

ME: "No, you didn't"

PETE: "Yes I did"

ME: "Repeat back to me what I said"

PETE: "You got brand new dollar sheets"

Again, change is not a coming around house anytime soon. GEEZ......
(I told Pete I was going to tell on him, so I feel very validated, justified and all that and then some)

The "Look" He Gives...

After I had been woken up for the third time last night from Garrett, I got to thinking. Thinking in the middle of the night can be dangerous. Sometimes I wake up and wonder "Why did I waste so much of my brain energy in the middle of the night"? I had this whole scenario that it would be fun to install little security cameras in our house. And this would not be for an intruder. It would be for all the crazy things that my kids do through out the day that no one would completely understand unless I had the evidence.
You know how Michael Scott from the Office is a nut case and all Jim can do is give that awesome look at the camera? His look says it all..."How is it that I have a boss that gets away with this stuff?" and How is it that this is my life everyday?" and "Seriously?"..(you have to be a Grey's fan to know the inflection of that one.)
That's how I feel throughout the day when my kids are driving me bonkers about different things or when I hear "ohhhh look what happened"..... So anyway that's all, I miss the Office and wish I had a camera to look into every so often to feel justified with all the actions that take place throughout my day.....

PS I have my own little Office dance that I do every time the theme song comes on, Pete wishes he had a camera to look into every so often concerning me.

And we're live.... or at least I am.

Seriously.....

It has been 2 weeks and 3 days since I have been computerless, phoneless, and dishwishareless and oh yeah ice makerless. The most random irriatating things happen to us. It's never a tragedy, thankfully, just bizarre. One Monday I was upstairs folding laundry(sounds good, huh? I think I was really watching tv for a moment or two). And the lights flickered and all my favorite electronics went kaput. Some big power surge went through our house and broke not only a few very expensive items but broke my sanity too.
Anyway, I learned I can be out of touch for a while and still make it through the day. The hardest part was not keeping up on my celebrity news, had no idea Ashlee Simpson got married except from buying the people magazine last weekend. I have my ways and I will not be stopped.
Anyway, if I email any of you regularly and you want me to be able to stay in touch... will you email me at muber@triad.rr.com. So I can create a new contact list for my new computer and I will add you to the list. We're not sure yet if we can access anything from our old hard drive.
I gotta run for now. I have both boys in a little camp this week at Marschall's preschool. So I get to play in the mornings for a few hours till Friday and then our summer sets in. Long hot days filled with a boy, a toddler and a grumpy pregnant mom. Oh yeah and I think the Lord blessed you with my blogging absence. I have been one complaining, throwing up, and irritated girl these days. Good times.
I will spare you the details.

Houston, we DON'T have a signal....
This is Meredith's sista here (*hi!*) letting the blogging world know she will be out of commission for a while. Wouldn't you know that with all the bad storms lately, their neighborhood got struck and they are down....no phone, no internet, no dishwasher (yikes). So if you see a flare thrown up from Meredith's corner of the world, it is probably just her saying hi ;)

And Baby makes Five....

Yes, you read that right!
We are moving into becoming a family of five. I am almost done with my first trimester. (10 weeks and 2 days, but almost done with first trimester sounds like I am a lot further along!)
We had always talked about having a third baby and a surprise to us... baby came along sooner than expected!
Needless to say why my blogging has fallen off the face of the earth. I go through my day clearing paths just to walk in our house. Pete actually had the gall to say he realized how much I do around here.(Because our house looks like a tornado has hit since we found out about the pregnancy)I think I'll take it as a compliment though because I know someday soon I will feel better and I will pull myself together and life will get back to the way it was. Beautifully clean house with everything in order.... yeah right.
So what does having third baby mean to someone who likes life very ordered and routine? I can't imagine it is going to get easier. But I am up for the task through the help of God's good grace. Who says orderly, routine, and clean is any fun? I think I must change my expectations, to spontaneous, chaotic and messy. I bet I will meet those with flying colors.
I been thinking a lot about this new birth. I am hoping it will change me for the better or I should say that God will use this pregnancy and new life to make me more like Him. I get caught up a lot into my routine and change is very hard on me. I make it hard on myself, to be honest. I like to buck change, flee from it and ignore it. So to think that this new life was unexpected, it's bringing about a whole a lot of change and anxiety. For me, change means I will have stop my agenda and adhere to something new and unknown. I will have to work at it and adapt. A very wise friend wrote the following to me in an email... "There is a microscopic bundle of protoplasm growing inside you and right at this minute, cells are amazingly finding their correct spots to grow to become toes and lungs and hair follicles and eyes. He doesn't need your help to make this happen; He simply wants you to "be" so He can do the work." (FYI, God is the "He")
I don't have to do anything, so to speak, for this new life to grow. I can rest in Him and allow Him to create another one made in His image.
That's all, it's almost my bedtime.

An Almost Spare.....

5 Years Ago Today....







A lot changes in a little one over 5 years. I am so thankful we have Marschall Thomas Uber. May God bless your next year of life!

This Little Piggy Went to Market....

We are renting our house out for Market, so I have been a little out of pocket blogging. It takes a lot to get ready for this. We have family that rent their house so they gave me all the inside information on what to do. Basically, make our house look like we don't live it in. No cruddy corners, cleaned out drawers and closets. Fresh crisp towels( I had to go buy new ones, no one would want to use the ones we have), clean out refrigerator etc. etc. Can you imagine? We have two children that have dirty hands all the time! As I type, my house is as clean as it will ever be again. It almost doesn't feel like our house any more. I will admit that I have a "Monica closet". Did you ever see the friends where Monica, the clean neat freak had a dirty little secret? The closet that no one could go into, it was so stuffed with junk that it about self-imploded. Well, that closet is in Marschall's room. As I started to panic on Sunday before our people were coming, I started throwing things in his closet, dirty clothes, clean clothes, hampers, toys, towels... you name it got put it there. Surely, our people won't go snooping, if they do...a self made bomb may go off.
This is the first time we have done this. So far, it has been a good experience. Our people are only staying 4 nights, so it is not too labor intensive this week. We are all staying down at Pete's parents house, which is actually a little treat. We have a ton of help with the kids and meals!
I use to say I wanted to run a bed and breakfast, not so much anymore. I really don't like handling other people's dirty towels and making beds that other people have slept in. Don't get me wrong, they are very clean. I don't know, maybe I am a germaphobe. I just like our own germs and dirt.
Well I gotta run before the place goes to pot again.

The Shindig

We are back from our yearly couple's beach trip. We didn't go the first year it was started. I think we slid our way in because another couple couldn't go one year, we're okay with that, as long as we keep getting invited!
It was originally started for our friend Kim's 30th Birthday, her husband wanted to bless her and have others bless her with coming together for a big celebration. It was also a way for husbands to show love to their wives. They even had T-shirts with the Ephesians verse that speaks of husbands loving their wives at Christ loves the Church. I saw how the theme of love really played out this weekend. However, the couples we were around, love each other with Christ's love I think on a daily basis. There has been a lot that most of the couples that we went with have been through. I feel blessed to even see a glimpse how Christ has worked in and out of their marriage and families. God has been good to my friends and He will continue to be good. I take great peace in knowing that He is in control and is gracious with His love, His providence and His power. Here are a few pictures below before we went out to our fancy dinner.
Oh and my friend's like to eat, and I mean eat good, that is one of the reasons we keep coming back!

Sunday is coming.....

I was thinking about Easter and what I wanted to post about. I read Beth Moore's post today and thought she shared the hope I desperately believe. No matter our circumstances, our trials, our joys, our sufferings He is alive and in the midst of those who call upon His Name. The context of the below quote from Beth Moore is about some of her blog friends commenting on how they are doing, just in general. How life is going for them. Some difficult things were shared that I pray that I will never have to go through. Some great joys were shared too.... She sums all of it up with her following thoughts.....

"And Christ is watchful and active and overflowing with unabashed, unbridled affection over every single one of them. As Present in one as any other. As purposeful in the life feeling the least purpose. The most exhaustion. He still raises the dead. Saves the lost. Heals the weak. Sets prisoners free. He never misses a tear. Never let’s us go. He was lifted up so we could be drawn to Him. Killed so we could live. Beaten so we could win. No matter what stone seems to have you entombed, He can roll it away. Nothing can stay in the grave when God has resurrection on His mind. And, Sweet Thing, God has resurrection on His mind right now.

He had it on His mind with every beat of that hammer on the nails penetrating Christ’s flesh. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Death never gets the last word. Not even the death of relationship. Respect. Well-being. Health. God cannot – will not – leave well enough alone. His business is life and life at its liveliest. Loveliest. May He roll away every last thing that is stifling His effervescence in us. He never promised that life here would always be fun but He mighty well promised that life here could always be full. Every single ounce of power expended on the Cross is yours in Jesus’ Name. Ask Him what that means. How you draw from it. That’s what I’m doing today. Like you, I’ve had innumerable blessings and unforgettable moments of late. Like you, I’ve also had my own heartbreaks, disappointments, and worries. Felt weary to the bone. Frustrated to the core. I’ve cried, too. Thought I was fed-up with some things, too. Wondered if I’d ever change, too. Then comes Good Friday. The violence that says something’s about to be different. That causes our earths to quake. Then comes the Saturday wait that seems an eternity long. Then, finally, FINALLY comes Sunday morning…long before dawn. By that time the Father has waited long enough. And stones begin to roll.

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us ALL our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 3:13-15

Some of us are burdened and weary because we never have allowed ourselves to feel the full and free forgiveness of the Cross. What if today you believed it? What if today you believed Him? What if you finally let it go? What if today the deadness in us could no longer resist the sound of Christ calling us forth from the tomb? What if we decided to get up and really live?"


AMEN!! (That's my contribution)

"Honey, why do you think your stomach hurts?....."

Marschall "Well I think I ate too much food"

Me "What have you eaten?"

Marschall " Hotdog, chips, cake, peanut butter & jelly sandwich, banana,
yogurt and some chocolate candy"

Me "Did they serve you lunch at school? I had feed him the peanut
& jelly, banana and yogurt once he had gotten home)

(His preschool is over at 11:50, they usually eat "snack" around 10:30")

Marschall "No, that was my snack".

Me "Marschall, a hotdog, chips, and cake is not a snack, that is a meal.
How about next time you tell me what you have had at school to eat
before I fix another lunch for you. That way your stomach won't hurt.

Marschall "Yeah.. I will". (As he sits on the toilet for the second time today)

I've been tagged

I have been tagged by Melissa. I am suppose to share 7 strange things about myself..... Here goes

* I am an impulse buyer, however, I am the queen of returning things. I almost get more joy purchasing than actually keeping.

* I hate having clutter, we have a junk draw that I clean out every so often; without hardly looking at what is in the draw I will chuck everything into the trash.

* My aim in life is to be as cozy as possible. I love big blankets, big fleece pants and tons of pillows. Sounds attractive, huh? I love making the boys cozy too, with warm drinks and a cozy sofa pallet to watch their favorite movie.

* I love checklists, I will make a "to do" list that actually has the action to make another list for something else. Like "Create beach trip list".

* As Melissa mentioned buffets, I feel I have let the system down if I don't at least go back 3 times to a buffet, hence why I hate buffets, I feel terrible for the rest of the day.

* I cannot not wear mascara.

* I like reading magazines from back to front, I will even peak at a back of a mystery book to see if I can glance what the ending is. I don't like surprises.

His Best Buddy

My 4-year old's best friend drives a car, he's married and has children. I am asked through out the day when is "he" coming home? When I tell him "he" is on his way home from work, Marschall runs to look for him out the window. He has the rest of the evening planned for what he and his best buddy, (which he refers to him often) will do together. I get to witness a very special relationship. I am so thankful Marschall has the kind of dad he does. I see Pete longing to be home with his boys too. He gives me the call, "On my way, love, tell them to get ready". Usually, get ready means, they will have "the best fight ever". They wrestle...a lot. Sometimes I think someone may fall through the floor upstairs.
I caught a glimpse yesterday into my 4 year old's mind. How much he yearns to be like his dad and just "be" with his dad. I took a double take yesterday and wanted to capture this memory. Marschall had gotten his baseball mitt, his ball, bat and most of all his dad's mitt together. That was his "plan" for the evening, an old fashioned game of baseball with his dad. Supposedly, Marschall had the best hit ever and I guess his dad threw the best pitch ever. I sure do love having boys around, all three of them.

Yum-O

For Valentine's, we had a nice quiet evening (after the kids were in bed), at home eating a huge take out dinner from our favorite Thai restaurant. I have been salivating a "do over" ever since. We went all out that night.
Tonight, I just wanted a sample of that awesome food again. So, instead of spending $38.00 on it today; I went by during lunch and got almost everything that we had for our special V-day night but at the lunch prices! I spent $15.00 and it included fresh spring rolls! I am always looking for a deal and a way to get what I want just by being smarter and getting it cheaper! I am very pleased and suspect it will be just as good as it was a few weeks ago, especially knowing the deal I got! Don't get me wrong, I really am not always the kind of gal that minds the budget. I now feel I have an extra $23.00 to spend on something else. Not really true and I am sure I would get slapped on the wrist by Dave Ramsey.

Was anyone else Dancing?

First, let me clarify, I do not watch Oprah everyday. However, I did tune it today and Rick Springfield was on. The only reason I know him is from the song "Jesse's Girl" back in the 80's. I was hoping by the end of segment he would sing the song and Oh did he! I found myself singing and dancing,(as I was holding Garrett). Marschall looked at me like I was nuts... yet he is still muttering, "how can I get a woman like that....."
If you have no idea what I am talking about please don't bother to tell me, I know I am old. I have a not so secret desire to sing and dance. I am seeing a pattern here; Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, my secret karaoke machine, just kidding about the karaoke machine... I can wish.

PS A little Rick Springfield trivia.....He said that the song is a true story about a real girl, however the guy's name was Gary not Jesse. He said Gary's girl just didn't quite make the cut.

Our Wild Nights

So it has been almost 10 nights that our two and half year old has not woken up during the night, (minus one night). I do have hope. It's been a great week and a half, energy wise. I feel like the dark circles I have had for two and half years may start to diminish. However, last night was a different story. Garrett played a trick on us....and not a very funny one. I think he knows what he did and even snickered to himself at midnight last night. As midnight rolled around, we went from being dead asleep to both of us sitting straight up in bed. We basically begin arguing over what sound it is we are hearing. It was a sound that had a certain pitch and beat. It was high pitched, it was loud and it was not going away. We figure it out it was an alarm clock. In the past, we have never really used it for it's alarm capability. You know why we have not used it for it's alarm? Because we never could remember how to set it. We would inadvertently set it for "naps" and it would go off during the day and give me a heart attack, then in the mornings we would sleep through the time we needed to get up. Since then we have just set our TV alarm and have woken up to that.
We couldn't figure out how to stop it other than hitting snooze which is what Pete did at first and then we woke up again 5 minutes later. (I am still holding on to a little anger this morning as I type this.) After 5 more minutes of arguing and both of us trying to stop the madness; I find myself under our bed trying to unplug the blasted the thing. As I am reaching for the alarm cord as Pete is wiggling it, of course, I unplug the lamp at first and not the alarm cord, so I can't see what I am doing. Finally, get back in bed, my heart is racing like none other. As I am lying in bed trying to get down from my adrenaline high I am realizing that our sweet little babe had been hanging out in our room with Pete earlier. He must have have been pushing buttons and set the alarm for us at midnight. I guess he figured I still needed to get up even though he didn't want to be my alarm anymore.

Picture it

Whenever I read peoples' blogs, I often wonder what their surroundings look like. I decided to take a picture of my blog room. It is our office. Already at first glance it looks like I have a picture that needs to be straightened. I am neurotic for having to have straight pictures. If I go to someone's house and I see a crooked hanging picture, I will straightened it right behind their backs. Anyway, that's all, a little peak into my stomping grounds. I must do something with those tangled cords underneath the desk. I decided to put a brown pillow in front of them, hope it doesn't start a fire....

Wow!

Great interview, I can't figure out how to host the video from here, so a link will have to do.

Road Trip

What does every good road trip need? I came across Garrett's little tricycle we keep in the house. It seems he packed all his necessities for all his trips around our kitchen island; a teddy bear, a drink, a gun and Beth Moore's, Praying God's Word Day by Day. To be honest, in our house, he probably needs all of those.

X-Men Underwear

It's rainy here and cold. We went out for a little while, to Big Lots. I love me some Big Lots. There are not too many places where you can buy both deodorant and a mattress. We headed out, after, I purchased, a lamp, deodorant, Hanes underwear for my hubby and then some X-Men underwear for my 4 year old. I got in the car, everyone buckled in and realized my 4 year old was still holding his underwear. We did not pay for it. I would never think twice about keeping it, the thing I get tempted by is the thought to have to take it back in the store with the kids in tow. I would not leave the kids in the car, especially in our Big Lots parking Lot. I already saw some creepy guy in there and my scenario of him kidnapping us in the parking lot was all too real. (I'm the queen of scenarios)I drove back up to the front of the store,decided to run in and throw the underwear down on the counter. As I am running out, I pretty much yell, "We did not pay for this, my child took it with him out of the store". The cashier is trying to act like maybe I did pay for it, and starts asking me to check my receipt. I am yelling, again, "no, we didn't". I am basically having to get stern with her to say keep your underwear! Geez
This leads me to another almost stealing scenario... but not really. A few months back I was in Wal-mart, bought a ton a of groceries, paid for them and left. I had my hot commodity of Diet Coke under the basket. I got home, realized I did not have it, doubled checked that I paid for it. I had indeed paid for it but remembered I must have left it under the basket in the parking lot. I go back to Wal-mart with my receipt to the customer service and explained what happened. The cashier told me to go get another 12 pack and bring it back up to customer service to check it out again. I had already waited in line to tell her I needed to get what I had already paid for, I was not going to do it yet again. You know me and Wal-mart, we have a love/hate relationship.
I decided it was ethically okay, just to grab my diet coke that I had really paid for and leave. I would not stand in line again. I was perfectly ready to give an answer if someone decided to question me, I had my receipt. I went to the end of the store picked up my diet coke and walked out the door, no questions asked. I know, I dare to live on the edge. I am not a rule breaker, I see it as I just have common sense without a lot time to wait in lines and I wanted my diet coke for the week.