HOPE IN MY POCKET

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Catching Up - November 2010

Hey There! Yoohoooo....it's me. The keeper of this bloggy. I am here, just living life more than writing about it. I wish I could just strap a video camera/blog updater to my head like in those Xtreme sports and document my life. Moments like this would be captured:

My morning started off yesterday by prying about 20 matches out of each of the boys' hands all the while scrambling around on my hands and knees picking up about 400 off of the floor. I had Harper helping me pick them up while I was fishing them out of the boys' mouths. Harper kept me calm saying, 'Those silly boys...trying to eat matches!' In my mind I'm freaking out, I'm sweating, trying to keep calm, but feeling out of control...her little voice brought it back to a lite level and actually made it funny. I got all 475 (we've used maybe 25 matches) off the ground and out of the boys' mouths. None were ingested... praise the Lord! And you may be thinking where was I during the whole scattering of the matches...in the living room tying Harper's shoes (our living room and kitchen are connected!). Those little guys are quick and they work together. This will be much effective one day. Just right now, it is causing my blood pressure to spike and me not to blog (and do many other things).

However, the little angels are all sleeping right now, there is a ton of snow on the ground, and I should be working out (great motivation for sitting still and blogging). I am so ridiculously sore after doing my workout video yesterday, that the thought of doing a squat is complete torture. So, here I sit blogging (and eating 2 cinnamon raisin cookies that I made this morning! Delish!)

There is so much I have to update on since my last post. Let's see..

It was October 2010 when we left off... the boys' had started walking, and they have swiftly moved into running. They are such cute little guys and are true toddlers now. They turned 18 months on January 16th (side note confession: I sometimes forget their birthday! I want to record July 20 as their birthday because that was the first day my Dr. told me that they would be born. Then, she said we could move it up due to something (positive) that I can't remember...so that was the date (originally) that was written on my heart. Let's just hope I don't write the wrong date on something that is important! lol) I'm pretty sure they all weigh more than Harper now. Crews and Harper might be close in weight, but we'll see. They go to the Dr on the 20th &21th (separate appointments now...cannot imagine taking three boys to the Dr at the same time now! *shudder*) update: here are their stats from the Dr - I can remember their percentages, not the actual weight or height!
Warner: 80% weight & 97% height
Crews: 75% weight & 97% height
Maverick: 85% weight & off the chart for height - ha! ha1

Harper is doing well. Loves 'pretty school' (as she still calls it). She has been such a little helper lately. We had a blast making cookies, and decorating gingerbread houses, coloring and enjoying our white Christmas! But more of that later...

Our Thanksgiving festivities started out the 17th of November when Dad, Leslie, Ryan, Reba, Nancy and Will all came to visit! While we didn't eat any turkey, we had a great time playing some made up indoor version of volleyball and hot potato, shopping in Franklin, and eating. It was great to see them and spend time with them! I can't believe I didn't take any pics of their time here!

D, L, R&R left on Friday, and my Mom flew in Saturday to do a mini-thanksgiving with us & Nancy and Will. N & W were here for a youth pastor's conference, so they were gone during the day, but had time to sneak in some snuggles.

(Uh, yes, Harper still has a paci. We are slowly detoxing. Will soon pull the plug (literally) at night too) We had a great time together hanging out. It is always such a blessing for me whenever we have family come to visit as I have sooo many extra sets of helping hands! I was able to do so many other little projects since family was taking care of the little tots. Monday, we had our mini-Thanksgiving that turned into quite a feast. So yummy! We cooked all morning, taking turns in the kitchen. The meal was all ready around 2, and we all the adults got to eat in peace b/c it was smack in the the middle of naptime! So great! We fixed all the littles a plate when they woke up. Family and good food are such blessings. Mom, Nancy, and Will flew out Tuesday morning.

After dinner, we attempted to have a photo shoot with the kids. Not such a great idea - as it was similar to letting cows out of the barn. All 4 ran in different directions!! Good thing we had 5 adults to chase! It was like they had been freed for the first time. Oh wait, it was the FIRST time! They can all walk now!

Thanksgiving was fun as we went to GA for a few days. We drove through the night on Tuesday & arrived at 2am Wednesday morning. Driving through the night did not help the screaming children at all. The good news was that we could put them to bed right away & not deal with crankiness until bedtime. Honestly, the car was a very small and very loud place to be at times, but we survived. Portable DVD players are awesome! We drove Tuesday night, recuperated Wednesday, then drove 2 1/2 more hours on Thursday to Alabama for Thanksgiving. We had a great time with family - saw Chris' grandfather (little ones great grandfather!), extended family, ate yummy food, and let the kids play in the yard a while. We left around 5:30pm and it was the only silent trip we had b/c the kids slept the whole way home since they didn't have naps! It took me back to the days when Chris and I were first married and it was only us in the car. It was weird and memory evoking. Friday, we recuperated from Thanksgiving & went to visit some dear friends that night. Saturday we had a mini-reunion with dear friends at church. Jo opened her home to all these sweet people, and it was wonderful to see so many faces that we love! No one had met the boys yet, so while very over-stimulating to the boys, we had a great time! (During the fun, Warner ended up busting his eye/cheek on a chair and breaking out in hives due to antibiotics. Poor little buddy is one tough cookie.) We all took naps after that and then drove back to TN that night. Last hour in the car, all 4 kids screamed & cried. I almost cried when I saw our house! Yet, we survived and have great memories and stories to tell from it! ( I took no pictures in GA. I forgot my camera)

Here are some pics of what we are up to these days...

sunglasses that make us look like the three blind mice.

~~eating~~ drinking yogurt even though we know perfectly well how to use a spoon.

It's the small things, really.

Next up...December. I should have that up by May. I kid, I kid.

Love,
ML

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

October 2010

Hellleeeww!!! How has your October been? Ours was just fab!

Let me see if I can recap it. Pictures must wait, though. Chris and I are trying to figure out storage of all of our pictures. How do yall do it? Here is what we are thinking...

1. Put most of the pics we have on our computer onto our external hard drive, as well as Picasa online.

2. Then delete them off our our Mac to make room for all the other ones (i have about 600 fun memories on my camera as we ~~speak,~~ type/read)!

3. Try to keep this up anytime I download pics onto our computer. I just hate to think all of our pics would be lost. Our "puter" is gettin' old (well, it's 5 years old) and the thought of it crashing has crossed my mind a lot!

Onto the month of October...
The month started off with our birthday celebrations! Chris turned 30 and I turned 29! My b-day was pretty low-key. My mom was in town and she took me shopping at Anthropologie and then we went to Whole Foods to get my mini- birthday carrot cake - yumm!!! Chris turned 30, five days after me. Our sweet friend, Arica kept the kids for us that night. We went out to a yummy restaurant - The Post and Beam - a farmhouse built in the 1800's converted into a culinary delight. Then we got a hotel room for the night. It was so nice to not be woken up during the night AND to be able to sleep in and have a yummy breakfast (that I didn't cook or clean up!!)

The next weekend, Chris, Harper, and I flew to Raleigh, NC to see Dave Ramsey LIVE with my mom, Nancy, Will, Johnny, and Meghan! Mom had gotten us these tickets as early Christmas presents. If you read my sister's blog, you know that she and Will are HUGE Dave Ramsey fans! They have rocked the baby steps' socks off over the last 3 years. I honestly would applaud them on the side, but think there would be NO WAY we could do this due to our family's rapid growth. I always thought it was a cool concept, but didn't know how we would do it! Well, after this awesome day with family, we learned SOOOO much, and have now gotten on the baby steps train! Which led to the craziness of the next few weeks. Go HERE to read about the baby steps.

Harper, stayed with Dad & Leslie, Ryan and Reba while we were at the event. She had a blast playing with them and her cousins, Kyler and Niko!! Chris and I flew home on Sunday morning, and Harps stayed with mom and Nancy over the next week. While she was away, I had 4 1/2 days with just the boys. And since they were still taking 2 naps a day (they just dropped that precious morning nap), I had two, 4 hour periods of hard work getting ready for our garage sale. When we went to the Dave Ramsey event, we went with a little debt- but it is still debt! (side note: One couple that was there had paid off a RIDICULOUS amount of money ($600,000)!!Dave's baby steps work!!) So, when we got home, we were very motivated and got a crackin'! We put stuff on craigslist, and then had a ginormous yard sale last weekend! And guess what??!?! Just with that intense 'gazelle' (Dave Ramsey peeps will get that term) focus,

WEEEE'RRRRREEEE DEEEEEEBBBBBTTTTT FFFFFRRRRREEEEEE!!!!

Once we actually get the last debt paid (we have the money, just haven't handed it over yet), I think we are going to call the show!! Listen in for us! :-) We are now working on baby step 3...saving to have 3-6 months of expenses saved in the bank to provide for our family should a rough patch of life be thrown at us, we wouldn't have to go into debt. I do have to say, it is a balancing act to let this new way of life not become something you worship. We have to remember that it is God who provides for our every need! He is the one on the Throne! We are just trying to be smart with our money, tell it where to go, how it will be spent, so that we honor God with it, and one day Give Give Give

After the yard sale last weekend, we have been in recuperation mode this week. Everyone has had runny noses, feeling yucky, low grade fevers, etc. I even had a complete tear-filled breakdown over the grocery list/budget because I was so tired! This weekend, we are looking forward to hunkering down, watching movies, having family time, etc.

Oh, the other BIG news.... all three boys are walking now!! Maverick was first, followed by Crews about 2 weeks later, then Warner (who once made up his mind caught up to Maverick's skill level really fast!). Crews is still deciding what mode of transportation he likes best - walking or monkey crawling. He still does a little of both. All the boys finally got their 1 year molars in, so life is gooooood!

Harper is loving her 2-day preschool. She is learning so much, and dearly loves Miss Judy and Miss Cynthia. She will 'pretend' call them all the time, and ask if they are at the grocery store or at home - lol! I love seeing her imagination develop as she plays with her babies or ponies. She is so fun, and tells me daily, 'Mommy, I love you so much, you are my best fwiend. ' Precious girl!

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! We are doing great!

Hopefully, pics will come soon :-)