Monday, May 11, 2009

Not Me Monday!


So with MckMama settled back in at home in the Thawed Tundra, and doing Not Me Monday again, I figured I might as well join her! You can visit her and her sweet family here MckMama. And you can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

As for me and what I have not been doing this past week, well...

I didn't stay up way to late on my girls weekend last weekend, who would stay up until 5:30am with girlfriends, not me, that's insane! And on said trip, I did not laugh so hard I cried more times than I can count!

Last week while standing in line at the grocery store, I did not pick up a smutty magazine and slip it in amongst my groceries to catch up on the celeb gossip, I would never do that, such a waste of money!

When our school district announced on Monday that school was canceled for the next 10days due to the swine flu, I did not think it was a cruel joke someone was playing on me...after all, I love spending extra time with my children. And when 2 days latter they announced they were re-opening 7 days early, I did not jump for joy!

On Wednesday, I didn't back out of going to the gym because I was still sooo tired from my girls weekend (yes, days latter...still tired), that I thought if I went to the gym, I would literally pass out from exhaustion and would be very embarrassed being carried out by paramedics because I was too tired to walk out myself.

Last week I did not question whether God was answering a prayer I have been praying for years, who would question God after all? And I'm not in denial that this is really God answering my prayer, just because it's not happening exactly the way I prayed for, or in the manner which I prayed for! Didn't question it or stay in a state of denial at all!

Now that I have that all off my chest, *sigh of relief* I feel much better! Who can't use a dose of brutal reality...Not Me!

Do Not Drink and Read...


I often find myself wondering "why me" when it comes to some of the antics my sweet children pull around here! I really was a mild mannered, well behaved child, so I'm not sure exactly what I'm being paid back for from my childhood (it's been talked about that maybe it's meant for my husband, but he's not the stay at home parent that actually gets to witness it all). Now, once I hit high school, I sadly can't say the same thing, and am well aware that once my own offspring reach those lovely teenage years, I better hold on and brace myself ( I might want to warn my hubby about that too!)

Looking into their baby blue eyes surrounded by those sweet faces, you would never guess some of the trouble they can stir up, I myself find it hard not to smile and start laughing more often than not, once I see their face staring up at me...which does not help relay your message of seriousness as a parent! What exactly could they possibly do you ask? Well, how about the time my sweet baby boy peed in my fridge one afternoon? Yes, you read that correctly...peed in my fridge! Apparently, he was sleep walking while napping in the playroom, my hubby and I were sitting in the living room and he asked me "do you hear water running?", I got up to go see what he had heard. Upon entering my kitchen and not believing my eyes, I began to laugh so hard that I could not even stand up, and being quite pregnant, almost peed on the spot myself! What I saw was my little son standing in front of the fridge, door wide open, pants around ankles, aiming a stream of urine straight at the bottom of my new fridge! I could not contain the stream of tears running down my face from laughing so hard! My son finished his business, pulled up his pants, and returned to the playroom. It was quite apparent by the dazed, blank stare on his face that he had no idea what was going on! So, me, my bottle of Clorox spray and roll of paper towels got to work! I won't even go into the time he decorated the ENTIRE living room with an orange crayon, furniture and all!

I'll admit that he's the mild mannered one of the bunch most days, my sweet princess on the other hand, well, she has trouble written all over her beautiful face! She's the one that has had me picking up frozen broccoli all over the house from her "cook it", covered several of the window panes on the back door with mud, climbed the outside of our stairs and pulled her body through to the other side leaving her head stuck in the railings, and most recently smashed several eggs in the garage and tried to set our home ablaze! Yes, ablaze! (And this all in two short years!)

Last week she decided to try and cook some shoes for herself. By the grace of God, I was very near her when this happened and was able to save us all! Like most days, she decided to empty my cabinets for me in the kitchen. She had plastic bowls and such strewn all across the house, she had my rice cooker out and she pulled the toaster out as well. The toaster is where we find the trouble for the day! Laineybug decided to go and find her little fluffy, white, bling bling, house shoes that my mother got her for Christmas (no more of those mom). And hey, look, I have two shoes, and the toaster has two slots on it...must be to put my shoes in! (Or at least that's what I'm going to assume her thought process was on this one!) Now, normally, I wouldn't freak out about her playing with the toaster because I keep all of our outlets covered, so I giggled about what she was doing and continued on with my business in the kitchen.

A few moments latter, Sheldon came into the room and began to observe what his baby sister was doing... at least he told me he was just watching! Within seconds I realize that I smell smoke. I look up and see my two youngest children huddled by the back door, starring into my toaster ( need I remind you what's in the toaster at the moment). After losing my train of though for a split second, I come to my senses and notice that, "OMG, it's plugged in!" I run over and quickly yank the cord out of the wall, yelling some things that I won't repeat at the moment, daringly reach into each slot of the toaster and pull out two, smoking, melting, fluffy white house shoes! All the while, my small children look at me with a blank stare!

I could not believe what had just occured! See, we had a visitor earlier that day who had used the outlet, which is why it was left uncovered, not that I put blame their, I should have checked it. And so of course, my children seized this rare opportunity and plugged in the small appliance, and naturally turned it on to toast some house shoes for an afternoon snack! Laineybug later said of the melted shoes," I broke shoes, buy more at store" as she threw them into the trash can!

Yes, it's in the many moments like this that I ask myself "what did I ever do to deserve this?" And of course, I smile and think, I wouldn't have it any other way!

P.S. I warned you in the title not to drink while reading this, so if you now have a drink spit out on your monitor, I hold no blame ;)

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Don't Cry Over Spilled...Everything!


If I were to cry over spills around here, I would drown in my own tears! My spirited little girl, surrounded by older children, of course wants to drink out of a "big girl" cup. Just like her older siblings do! She often follows me to the cup cabinet, after asking for a drink, in order to make sure that she makes it clear to me that she wants "dat one!" As she points upwards to a specific cup, never the sippy cup that I'm grabbing for, she is quick to tell me "no, dat one!" We go through this a few times as I try to coax her into a lovely, spill proof sippy, which she will have none of! After several failed attempts to change her mind, I oblige, not wanting to hinder her from being the big girl she wants to be. When I finally grab a small "big" cup, she smiles and tells me "mmmhhh, dat one!" Mommy's such a sucker for a cute face!

As I put a tiny amount of her drink of choice into the cup, I tell her "don't spill it, it will be all gone!" Ha, I laugh at myself! Like looking into a crystal ball, I know that soon, I'll be cleaning it up off the floor! Sure enough, within minutes I'm on my knees, bottle of cleaner and paper towels in hand, wiping up the sticky mess. *SIGH* What's a mom to do? I try not to think about the fact that this is the third spill I've cleaned up so far today, or the fact that I was asking for it by not giving her a lid, or that I wish I had someone to clean up after me. I instead think about how thankful I am that God gave me this small child to raise, how she's growing up so fast and someday won't need me to clean up after her, that for her, this is part of a learning experience.

As we approach this Easter weekend, it reminds me of how God gave his Son to clean up after us all! That no mess I ever have to clean up, will compare to the mess Jesus cleaned up when gave his life on the cross for you and me! And that I continue to be covered in grace, as I'm sure to continue making messes. So, as I clean it up, I try to breathe and remind myself that this is the only time she'll be little, and cleaning up this tiny mess is just a small part the blessing God gave me in this small child!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him, should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

"Her children rise up and bless her." Proverbs 31:28

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Month in Review- March

I figured this would the best way to wrap up the month of March 2009 in our household! As always, it was busy and full of fun, excitement, laughter, tears, blessings, and of course a fit or two each day!

We started the month out with Zack's 10th birthday


Laineybug had her first trip to the ice cream truck! As you can see, she REALLY enjoyed her Power Puff Girls Ice cream!



Before school let out for spring break, we had chilifest! It's the annual school chili cook off, and family picnic. It was cold and rainy, so we ended up picnicking in the school.




Technobug-Laineybug discovered Mp3 players! I couldn't keep from laughing when she emerged from the playroom with a beanie on and earphones in her ears, dancing and singing to the music!



A rare moment captured in time!


And lastly, Sheldon and Delainey took a quick morning trip to the always loved, duck pond! Luckily, this time Delainey managed to avoid being bitten by a goose, however, she did make sure I remembered that they did indeed "bite you," last time we were there, and of course when she says "you," she means "me" lol!




So that was March for us! April is sure to be just as great!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Not Me Monday, Stellan Style


Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

My heart goes out to this sweet family! If you don't know the whole story about baby Stellan, please go to his mommy's blog, it's an amazing story of heartbreak, hope, miracles, and awe inspiring faith in God! I wish there was something I could do for them, I'm praying of course, but yet, I still wish I could do more. So, in honor of Stellan....here's my "Not Me Monday!" Stellan Style!

I did not get pissed along with MckMama last week, or understand why she was so angry, no way, no how!

I did not question God why this is happening to this poor baby and his family.

I did not go through and read almost all of MckMama's posts from when they first found out baby Stellan was sick, after I learned about this sweet family a few weeks ago.

I do not tear up every time I read an update on baby Stellan.

My heart did not melt when I saw the picture of Stellan sleeping safely with his central line!

I did not love the pictures MckMama posted of her other MSC and what they've been up to.

I did not rack my brain trying to come up with an awesome way to spell Stellan for him.

I did not pray for this sweet baby every day.

I did not pray that MckMama continues to stand strong in her faith which has carried her this far.

I do not know that God can work a second miracle on Stellan's tiny heart in His own time!

Never a Dull Moment

Sunday morning my husband was kind enough to let me sleep in while he took the kiddos downstairs with him. Although this was bliss for me, it turned out to be the opposite for him! After waking up and drifting back off several times, I awoke when he opened our bedroom door and said "Sheldon just threw up!" I groggily got up out of bed and headed downstairs a few minutes later...it's going to be a great day!

As I rounded the corner from the bottom step our youngest son looked at me and confirmed that he had indeed thrown up, and then said "I told you dad," followed by Delainey repeating "told you dad!" My poor husband was cleaning the floor under our kitchen table and the char in which Sheldon had been sitting. I, of course, questioned the whole situation a little confused.

The past few weeks Sheldon has been a little obsessed with his Nintendo DS, and apparently, as soon as he woke up Sunday, wanted to get right on it and play. When breakfast was ready, he was asked to put it down and come to the table to eat. He did, but as he was sitting there he started to complain that his stomach hurt and was not eating. His daddy told him that he wasn't going to play his DS or go to his friends house without eating breakfast! You see, Sheldon frequently rushes through things or doesn't finish them in order to get back to his DS sooner, so of course, daddy assumed this is why he wasn't eating!

Sheldon reluctantly continued to eat, all the while saying his stomach hurt, while daddy was telling him to finish, he didn't have that much to eat anyway. So, as Sheldon got down to the last bite or two, my husband got up to go and get something out of the fridge. When he turned to come back to the table, there was our son, his breakfast reemerging!

My poor husband was instantly struck with guilt...his stomach really did hurt! And of course, Sheldon said "I told you dad," making him feel even worse, and left the table to go pick up his DS. He felt the guilt, that I've felt many times, of not believing that your child is sick when they really are. They say it so often that it's sometimes hard to know if they are telling the truth or not, like just a few weeks ago when I told Sheldon that the doctor better find something wrong with the ear that he said hurt, after all, I had to take 4 kids with me just to go to the doctor, and he did not appear sick at all, bouncing around the room and what not. Of course, he did have and ear infection, and I felt about 2 inches tall!

So, in our never a dull moment household, we ended the weekend with a case of the stomach bug, which I'm now praying off of the rest of us! And my poor husband now shares a spot with me in the guilt ridden parent hall of fame!

Friday, March 27, 2009

When do you pray?

My husband has asked me on several occasions, "when do you pray?" My answer is always short and sweet, "everyday, all day!" You see, as a stay home mom of 4 children, and a home daycare owner with 3 children that I care for daily, I couldn't make it through each day without praying! My days start long before the sun even thinks about shining and end long after the moon has reclaimed it's spot in the night sky. So prayer is often what gives me the stamina to sustain my long days. Sadly, it's not often down on my knees praying that I know it should be, it's throwing out one or two line prayers to God every few hours...or sometimes every few minutes!

My first prayer of the day is usually as I'm rolling out of bed at 5:30 am, "please God, get me through this day!" The next is usually not too far behind when it's time to wake my kindergartner up, he's the one that on most mornings thinks the best way to start the day is with a little fit! He will whine and cry, telling me how boring school is, and how much he misses me, that's is so unfair he has to go, and on and on. I then find myself praying for God to give me patience with my son, as for some reason he fails to understand I still have about 40 more things to do before we leave the house! Throughout the course the my day my prayers continue for fairly common things, praying for discernment, more patience (that pretty much and all day prayer), energy, time management skills, for my family and things like that.

Lately though I have found that my recent daily prayer is for change. I've been asking God to change me, for I know He's the only one who can! To change me into the daughter He wants me to be too Him, to change me into the wife He wants me to be to my husband, into the mother He wants me to be, into the person He intends for me to be. This prayer is fairly new to me and I'm excited to see where it takes me, for I know with God in the lead, it will take me through some awesome changes!

So, yes, I really do pray all day, everyday! It's one of the things that sustain me and keeps me grounded...how about you, when do you pray?