DADDY DAY!

The day has finally come!!! My dear husband is HOME for Christmas! It's so great to have him back! The kids were so excited from the moment they woke up this morning and you should have seen their little faces when he walked off his plane. You couldn't scrub the smiles off!!! They had so much to tell him and wanted to be next to him at all times. It's going to be a most memorable Christmas for our family.

It's been a while

Been a while since I've seen my husband that is. And today I get to see him again! I'm off to Omaha to meet up with him for a few days and then he'll be coming home on Monday. The kids can hardly wait...it's been 6 months since they've seen their daddy. The song "I'll be home for Christmas" gets me misty eyed every time!!!

Christmas Cookie Extravaganza!

So I wanted to bake cookies with friends this year and when I mentioned it Mrs. B had a fabulous idea to use several kitchens and pair bakers up so we could put more ovens to use at one time. I thought the idea was great so we tried it out. There were 7 cookie bakers. We worked our magic in 3 different kitchens and then all came together at my house to swap. All the cookies turned out fabulously! I especially love the hazelnutty, chocolate dipped sandwich cookies! But they were all Martha worthy for sure! This is definitely a new tradition I'd like to carry on. :) Thanks friends for a wonderful day!!!!

My Little Elves

This is hilarious! Thanks Kiwi and Polkadot!!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1160576565

I've been tagged

So Mrs. Polkadot started tagging people to post their favorite song. My Little Garden tagged me several days ago...better late than never, right.
There are so many songs that minister to my heart it's hard to choose just one...but I've always loved "His Eye is on the Sparrow" and it seems especially relevant to me these days. Here's the story behind the song:

Early in the spring of 1905, my hus­band and I were so­journ­ing in El­mi­ra, New York. We con­tract­ed a deep friend­ship for a cou­ple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doo­lit­tle—true saints of God. Mrs. Doo­lit­tle had been bed­rid­den for nigh twen­ty years. Her hus­band was an in­cur­a­ble crip­ple who had to pro­pel him­self to and from his bus­i­ness in a wheel chair. De­spite their af­flict­ions, they lived hap­py Christ­ian lives, bring­ing in­spir­a­tion and com­fort to all who knew them. One day while we were vi­sit­ing with the Doo­lit­tles, my hus­band com­ment­ed on their bright hope­ful­ness and asked them for the se­cret of it. Mrs. Doo­lit­tle’s re­ply was sim­ple: “His eye is on the spar­row, and I know He watch­es me.” The beau­ty of this sim­ple ex­press­ion of bound­less faith gripped the hearts and fired the imag­in­a­tion of Dr. Mar­tin and me. The hymn “His Eye Is on the Spar­row” was the out­come of that ex­per­i­ence.

Civilla Martin

The next day she mailed the po­em to Charles Gab­ri­el, who sup­plied the mu­sic. Sing­er Ethel Wa­ters so loved this song that she used its name as the ti­tle for her au­to­bi­og­ra­phy.

---

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain

I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain

First Day of School: Take Two

This may come as a huge surprise to many of you but recently Bob and I have been talking about putting Abigail and Joshua into school. It's just been really tough, even with the tremendous amount of help I've received from our church family. Over Thanksgiving the final decision was made to send them back to Temple Baptist Academy and they started yesterday. They were both so excited and had a fantastic first day! I think this will be better for all of us, considering Bob's deployment.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged us, and continues to do so during this time!

Giving Thanks for Family

We had a wonderful time in Wyoming with my extended family! My aunt put the kids right to work in the kitchen when we arrived. They peeled sweet potatoes and made the yummiest rolls I've ever tasted! On Thursday we enjoyed the company of family and all the delicious food! It was so good to see everyone again. Abigail was our photographer and took over 100 pictures! Uncle Johnny surprised Joshua with a face full of ready whip, Chloe tried to teach Madison how to crawl and Josiah just did his 2 year old thing. On Saturday we went to Great Grandma and Grumpa's house. The kids all got to pick a small afghan to take home that Grandma had made. I enjoyed long conversations and late nights with my aunt and too many candy apples and dipped pretzels! :) Even though we were missing Bob we had a great Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving and Christmas all in one weekend!

This is our rendition of the Thanksgiving Turkey Cookie. I can't take credit for these cute little gobblers...Bob's Aunt Sharon taught me how to make them. :) They're fun to make and even more fun to eat!
This afternoon we decorated our tree. Abigail was begging for the tree to go up and I promised we would so this is the first time ever that our tree has gone up BEFORE Thanksgiving! It's alright though...I like it too. I love sitting in the room with only the tree lights on at night. There's just something so cozy about it. Can't wait till Bob's home to enjoy it with us!
Tomorrow we're headed north to be with my grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins for Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to seeing them all again.
I hope you enjoy this special time of being with family and friends and take time to thank God for all the many blessings He has bestowed upon you...indeed we have much to be thankful for!

PS- Josiah also "helped" in decorating the tree...he was just taking his nap when I took the picture. I'll add one of him soon. :)

I'm such a loser!

So often I write about momentous days in the kids lives but today was a momentous day in mine...I went to my Weight Watchers meeting and I've reached a weight loss of 70 lbs! That's the equivalent of my two youngest children plus a 10 lb bag of potatoes!!! I'm utterly amazed that I've been able to do this. It's something that I've always wanted but have never been able to reach a goal weight and stay there....granted, the entire time we lived in Dayton I was pregnant. But I've been dealing with my weight since I was a child. I was the cute little chubby girl. I remember shopping at Sears for dresses and having to go to the "Pretty Plus" section...I hate the pretty plus section. And my sister and I had these walking dolls. They were like 3 foot tall barbies. My sister's doll had the pretty hour glass shape, rosy cheeks and pink lips but mine had a round face and a tummy to match. I think I realized the difference even then...I chopped all the hair off my doll! I don't know who bought us those dolls but did they think I wouldn't notice the difference between the two??? Hello!
In high school I weighed over 200 lbs but I was on the pom pon squad all four years. I did lose some weight when I went to college but I was still heavier than a doctor would recommend for a person my height. I'm not sure why I've been so successful this time. I think I've finally figured out how to think like a thin person (at least most of the time). And yet there's still this part of me that looks in the mirror and I think, "That can't be me...can it?" I still battle mindless eating and it's a tough battle to win because my greatest time of temptation is at night after the kids go to bed and there's no one to talk to and I'm bored...so I eat.

I have found that I really enjoy exercise. Maybe because it gets me out of the house by myself (Thanks Katie!). I can just go and do my thing. I'm proud to say I can run 4 miles now. I don't know how people do marathons...or why they would want to??? But I find shorter distances invigorating! Exercise is key to keeping the weight off! I was able to lose a good deal of the weight without regular exercise but towards the end I had to get moving and I know that if I don't keep it up now, the pounds will sneak back on. I'm addicted to the scale too. Have you ever seen that oatmeal commercial with the people chained to their scale...that's me. I have to know what the scale says, sometimes several times a day. But really I don't think it's a bad thing because it helps me keep on track. If I see it creeping I know I need to buckle down and drop a few pounds again. The thing is that now I know what it feels like to be a thinner person and I like it...better even than the taste of chocolate and peanut butter! :)

Below I've included a little walk down memory lane, just so you can see where I'm coming from.

8 years old


8th grade (it was still the 80's!)


senior picture


fast forward 9 years

Now that's a bargain for me!

Some time ago an experienced mom told me that she always goes shopping for marked down costumes after Halloween. It's a most fabulous idea since most kiddos love to dress up and most costumes are priced outrageously high. So on Tuesday I went to Target and found their costumes on sale for 90% off!!!! I was so excited. I got each of my kiddos a costume and they were $0.50 each!!!! HOW FABULOUS! I love mommy tips!!! :)

Isn't it ironic?

Last night as I was leaving our church Covenant Group meeting my dear pastor said, "Can you make it through one more night?" I assumed he meant that I would make it through one night and then the next day I would tell myself, "Just make it through one more night." I told him that I didn't have a choice. But of course by the grace of God, I'll make it through one more night and then one more and then one more...
The story gets ironic at about 1 am. Chloe started crying and when I went to check on her Abigail said, "She's puking." Being on puke patrol as a single parent poses a dilema...do you stay with the child or take care of the mess??? When Bob is home and we have a sick kiddo, I ask him, "Do you want the kid or the mess?" He always chooses the kid but I always ask anyway. So I had to improvise. I got Chloe into the tub and left her there while I changed her sheets. She just happens to be my child who hates being in the tub anyway so she was crying the entire time. It all ended up being okay. She settled down but ended up wanting to sleep with me...not that I really wanted a pukey kid in my bed but I agreed because I just wanted to go back to sleep! In the end I think it was just a case of "too much weekend". She had no fever and never threw up again. I'm so glad for that because I just don't think I could handle a house full of puking kids right now. But then again, I guess if they were all puking I wouldn't have a choice. Just when we think we can go no further, when we think we couldn't handle one more thing...one more thing happens. But God gives us more grace and we do make it through one more night.

I remember the day you were born...

November 4th, 2002. My mom was visiting and also our friend Jackie had come to visit for the weekend. My mom and Abigail and I had to take Jackie to the airport in Columbus, OH. During our drive back to Dayton I said to my mom, "Just so you know, I'm having contractions." I wasn't too worried because later that afternoon I had a doctor appointment so I knew we'd find out if anything was really going on. At 3 pm Bob and I went to my appointment. The doctor checked me out and said, "You're dilated past 4 cm. You're in active labor. We can check you in right now." I wasn't ready for that...I hadn't even packed my bag! So I said I would go home and come back soon. We went home and I got my stuff together. As we were eating pizza for dinner Bob informed me that he had a flag football game that night and he was supposed to be the quarterback...if he didn't show up they might have to forfeit! He pleaded with me to wait to go back to the hospital until after the game. I was slightly upset but agreed. He reminded me that the hospital was right across the street from the football field, so if things got crazy we could rush right over there (he had really thought this out).

So we dropped Abigail off with friends and headed off to the game. Mom and I sat in the car while Bob played. I took a picture of him just so that I would always have evidence that he really did play football while I was in labor. So labor was getting pretty intense at this point (contractions 2 minutes apart) and the game finally got done, but Bob didn't rush right to the car...he was standing around talking! My mom got out and yelled to him to come right away. We were at the hospital less than 2 hours and Joshua was born! Our boy was 9 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches long. He has been energetic and fun from the get-go. I don't suppose there's any slowing down either (no there's not...I just saw him outside...hanging from the top of the lightpost! EEKK!!)

MONSTER TRUCK BIRTHDAY

Today we celebrated Joshua's 5th birthday MONSTER TRUCK style! I made a truck cake, we played pin the license plate on the Monster Truck and Red Light, Green Light and our friends and family were VERY generous with gifts! One of the boys said that Joshua got more for his birthday than he got for Christmas!
It was a little on the crazy side because I invited quite a few friends from church and the neighborhood, it was maybe a little too crazy...but I really do think the kiddos had fun, so that's good. Joshua loved all his new toys and can't wait to have his friends come over to play with them.
As I was cleaning up I was thinking about it all and I realized how much I missed Bob today. We're a good team, especially when it comes to parties. I cook and he keeps the kiddos busy with games. I help the kiddos blow out the candles and open gifts and he takes the pictures. I do the dishes afterwards and he takes care of all the trash. I guess it's hard for both of us...for him because he's missing it all and for me because...he's missing it all.
Aside from missing daddy, the party was a success! Joshua even wants to keep the Monster Truck I drew for pin the license plate on the truck. Before he went to bed he went and found the poster and stuck it on his door. He said that he was going to keep it there forever! It just makes me smile, some day he'll know how bad my drawing skills are, but for now he thinks it's really cool! :)

A friend of mine...

My good friend Kathy, who I met while at Wright-Patt has been blogging for a while but I forgot to put a link to her page on mine. She's an amazing mom, homeschooler, and friend. Check out her page "Joyful in Hope".

Cooow Cake

We celebrated Josiah's 2nd birthday on Saturday with a barn themed party. I made a cow cake and the best part of the entire thing was hearing Josiah say, "coooow cake"! He kind of stretched out the -ow part of cow and it was really cute!!!! It was a great time with friends and the kiddos all had fun. The only thing we were missing was daddy!!!!!

Oh the farmer and the cowman should be friends...

We went to a costume party on Friday night and the boys went as a farmer and a cowman. The girls were princesses of course. It was fun but included too much junk food for the mama!
You get serious bonus points with me if you know where I got my title!!! :)

Good Night Moon

The moon was beautiful tonight. It was full and looked so huge as it rose above the mountains. My picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice; it had that mysterious moon look. There was a touch of pink in the sky and on the mountains...wish you could have seen it in person.

Little Individuals

Chloe has discovered her inner diva...this could be trouble!



Abigail has been sporting the do-rag look.

Joshua's taking young ladies out for a spin.


and Josiah's just trying to keep up with them all!
Then again, so am I! :)

Happy Birthday Dear Baby

Two years ago today my little guy was born. It seems like it was yesterday he was my not so tiny baby and now he's talking and riding bikes and climbing on the counters and jumping off the couch. But no matter how big or how old he gets he'll always be my baby!

Misadventures in Mommyland

It all started around 4 pm yesterday. I was babysitting the neighbor's kiddos so I had 2 extras in the house. Chloe, who is wearing panties these days had an accident (the more unpleasant kind of the two) so I was just walking to the laundry room with her clothes and Joshua and Abigail walked in the house covered in mud. You see the other day we got a new kids magazine in the mail and it had a story about how animals use mud for sunscreen, to keep the bugs away and to keep cool. So Joshua decided he needed some sun screen too and Abigail "massaged" him with mud. I shewed them out of the house and hosed them down. I sent Abigail to the tub and decided that I'd give Joshua a haircut before I sent him to the shower. This is the boy who sits like a statue at the barber shop and never makes a peep...he cried and fussed the entire time I was clipping. While I was doing that the neighbor came to pick up her kiddos. Then I came inside and put Joshua in the shower. Josiah was wanting to get in the tub with Abigail so I put him in to play. Then a different neighbor came over for a few minutes. While we were talking I was hearing strange noises from the bathroom where Abigail and Josiah were. I went to check on them and they were dumping cups full of water out onto the floor, something a 6 1/2 year old should know is wrong!!! Well there was about an inch of water covering the entire bathroom floor! And I don't have a shop vac that can suck up water...so I had to soak it all up with towels. Thankfully the bathroom is not that big. By this time it was 5:30 and the troops were getting hungry. I finally got some dinner started. Things slowed down a bit after dinner and we finished the night with a story and a pretty uneventful bedtime.
So the afternoon was pretty crazy and a little stressful but now that it's all over it's quite funny. It's strange how life works that way....once you are out of the moment you realize it wasn't really as bad as you thought it was while it was happening.