Christmas Eve

Well, here we are on the backside of Christmas, and we survived. It was a frantic, stress-filled, wonderful Christmas.

Overall, other than a couple of minor bumps in the road, we had a great Christmas. Christmas Eve we had both of our mothers (both of our fathers are deceased for those in cyberland who do not know), one of my brothers and a friend join us for dinner and exchanging of gifts.

Everyone who comes to our house Christmas Eve is given a personalized ornament to hang on the tree. That is, if they can find a branch to hang theirs on. We may need to add another tree in the future.

This is also when the children open the gifts from those present, including us. Everything went well with that, even with my observation that I spent how much time wrapping presents only to have all the paper off within 10 seconds.

Bruce seemed a little put out that the children seemed more excited about their t-shirts from Wally World than they were about the big present we gave them. At least they weren't making a big deal out of the boxes.

Jonah enjoyed entertaining those gathered with his enjoyment of his sisters' new dress-up clothes (shhh...don't tell Bruce I put that in here).

After dinner and presents, the children sprinkled the lawn with reindeer food (compliments of Nana) made cookies for Santa and prepared his plate and drink. Usually, Santa can find a serving of Cheerwine in his cup at our house, but this year the girls opted for juice.

After leaving Santa's treat out, we made a picture in front of our tree while in our Christmas p.j.s, except for Bruce who decided not to wear Christmas pajamas this year. (Can we say bah humbug?)

Please pray for this little boy

I have been following the plight of this little boy for a few months now. Things are not looking good for him. Please pray for Ethan Powell. Here is his website: http://www.ethanpowell.com.

Two funnies from yesterday

Yesterday was day two of no school and the girls had already had two fights by 10 a.m., one with Adriana storming off and telling Cara she wish she was not her sister.

I was on the computer when Adriana came up to me and said she was not going to Disney if Cara was going to Disney, but she would go if Cara were not going.

Mmmm...so I told her, "That's fine, I'll have Daddy call Nanny when he is home to see if she will stay with you. You need to let me know for sure because I need to cancel your reservation for breakfast at Cinderella's castle since we have to prepay for it."

She thought for a minute. Her reply? "I know what, I'll be nice to Cara and see how that goes." Think she's onto something?

The second funny, and I probably should surrender my mommy card, but it was a classic. We went to a local mall that none of us had ever been to before. I was near it and was just curious what it looked like, so we went.

The mall was small. We walked around it in about 10 minutes. Santa was there and the children saw him from a distance, but didn't talk to him because we have already had that visit.

Of course, a few minutes later the girls started picking at each other and starting to whine.

As we were getting ready to leave, I needed to go to the bathroom which was behind some heavy steel doors and down a long hallway. The girls evidently didn't know where we were going and asked where we were headed. Off-handly, I said, "I think Santa's office is down this hall and I might stop in to tell him how you are acting."

That set off the alarms in their heads. Adriana didn't panic as much as Cara, but at first they were acting like they didn't believe me that he had an office, so I said, "Let's go see."

Poor little Cara went into a panic and started trying to get out of the hallway and she even started crying a little (okay, I did feel bad at that point). They both begged and begged not to go to Santa's office. I finally told them we were going to the bathroom, and not the office.

We went to the bathroom and when we were finished a mall worker was waiting outside to clean the restroom. We went back inside to check to make sure we were the last people in there, and we were. I told the girls that he knew Santa and I am sure he would tell him what a big help they were.

Damage reversed, and, no, Cara didn't wake up crying in the middle of the night this time.

Now, don't think that we are cruel to our children and emphasize Santa over the real meaning of Christmas, Christ's birth. They know that and understand that to the best of their abilities at their various ages. When they misbehave, we emphasize that we are not happy with their actions and God is not pleased with their actions. It's just fun to yank their chain a little at this time of the year. We have to have something to work to our advantage when they are so wired with excitement.

Bring on the sickies

One of our time-honored family traditions at Christmas is for at least one of us to be sick on or around Christmas. The first year Adriana was hear, I think all three of us were sick, the first year Jonah was sick-projectile sickness and so on.

I guess this year is my turn. Last night, my nose started running and my throat is feeling sore. My left ear has been stopped up since I was sick last month. My father was deaf in his left ear all of my life, now I know how he felt. Pretty aggravating. Ugh! Hopefully, none of the children will get it, but Jonah's nose has been running, so that is highly doubtful. And, Adriana started coughing pretty bad this weekend. Ugh!

Our mothers and one of my brothers always join us on Christmas Eve. Maybe we are allergic to them? Hmmmm...just a thought.

Cara's nightmare

Cara woke up crying Saturday night. She was sobbing pretty hard when Bruce went to check on her. I heard him in the monitor ask her what was wrong. Her reply, "I was dreaming I got hickory switches for Christmas."

Okay, like my children even know what a hickory switch is and how it is used.

Cute story

Bruce told me that on Saturday Cara told him she didn't want to go to church because she didn't want to see Cody (her boyfriend). Bruce told her that she needed to realize that in our family, as long as you live with Mama and Daddy, you will be in church on Sunday.

Jonah was nearby, and after Bruce said that, he said, "I want to go live with Nanny." hehe! Of course, Bruce said, "I hate to tell you son, but if you go live with her, you still have to be in church on Sunday."

The Riot Act

Sometimes reading them "the Riot Act" does work! After church on Sunday, we were on our way to a Christmas drop-in at one of my Weight Watchers member's house. She lives in a very nice neighborhood in our town.

When she invited us to this event, she told me to bring the children because she wanted to show them her Disney room. She has been very helpful as we have been planning our trip.

Before we arrived at Elyse's house, I had a "prayer meeting" (as my mother calls it) with the girls and told them what we expected of them and how they were to behave.

When we arrived, a lot of people were there. And, because Elyse and her husband live in a retirement community, ours were the only children there. We were there a little over an hour.

I have to say, overall, they did fabulous! Even Bruce must have been listening to the Riot Act, because he did okay, also.

Christmas party

Adriana's class had a Christmas party yesterday afternoon. Bruce came home for lunch and kept Cara and Jonah so I could help her teacher with it.

I became the pizza delivery person. Mrs. L. asked if I would mind picking up 10 pizzas for three of the first grade classes. I picked those up and headed to the school. I told Bruce I needed one of those pizza delivery signs on top of the car.

In the classroom, I helped hand out the party items, and talked some with the teacher. I also took some pictures, of course, but Adriana tried to avoid the camera. Some of the children called my by another mom's name because she is in there a lot, too. She is also a good friend of mine, so I told them I didn't mind.

The party lasted until time for recess, and Adriana said she wanted to stay to go outside. We went outside and enjoyed the high 70s weather we had yesterday.

As we were leaving to go home, Adriana wanted to stop by the Santa Shoppe and get her teacher a present. The Santa Shoppe is something that is held by the PTO. They have a room filled with various gifts in all range of prices. Most of the items are less than $3.

Adriana sprung the Santa Shoppe on me, and I didn't have any cash on me, so I tried to convince her to go home and use the gift I had already purchased for her teacher. She insisted on going in, and since I know something picked out by her would mean more to her teacher, we went in the shop. She settled on an ornament and I got ready to write a check for $1.85. I was grumbling to my friend that I mentioned above who was running the register that I was about to write a check for that amount. She said she probably had that amount on her if I wanted to borrow it. After she rang it up, it was only $1.10. I was able to find 60 cents in change, so I owe Chris 50 cents. I guess the PTO ladies need to keep a running tab for me and I can settle up every once in a while.

Last night, Adriana made the sweetest card for her teacher to go with her present. She drew a heart, and on her own wrote "I love you". I think her teacher will be pleased.

Surprising Adriana

A few weeks ago when we were preparing for our yard sale, I surprised Adriana at school by having lunch with her since I was home alone. I told Bruce I thought that would be good idea for him to do sometime, so we talked about him doing before the school is let out for Christmas break.

He asked me if I knew what was on the menu for yesterday, and I tried the Internet and the local newspaper, but was not able to find out. He left work earlier than he normally does for lunch because Adriana's class goes to eat at 11:05. This is also near the time that Cara gets out of school, so we basically passed each other.

Cara's teacher assistant said something about turkey and dressing being served for lunch. Great news for Bruce! Dressing is probably his most favorite food. I called him on his cell phone while he was waiting and told him that he was in luck. He then asked if we wanted to join them. At first I said I thought we were going home, but I quickly changed my mind when I thought I would not have to make something. Yeah!

Adriana was very surprised. Her class made room for all of us beside her. Cara sat beside Adriana, and Adriana was on the end of the bench. Bruce said something about sitting beside her, but she told him she would rather have Cara beside her. At least they weren't fighting!

Jonah didn't eat anything, and I think Cara barely ate, but Bruce finished his whole plate and then some. I have to say, the food was very good. And what a great deal! All five of us ate for less than $9, including drinks. Students get to eat for $1. I can't make a meal for anywhere near that, so Adriana usually gets the meal at school.

Church Christmas program

We had our church Christmas program Sunday night. The children were not a part of it as they have been in the past. I wanted them to be, but for whatever reason most of the children were not a part of it this year. I have to admit, I was glad not to have practices to go to this year. I am not sure where we would have put that in our schedule.

After the program, we had refreshments and the Christmas tree where some presents were given out. For some reason, people at the church think our children do not have enough toys so they like to lavish them with even more. Another reason why we have cut way back this year. We could get our children nothing for Christmas, and they still would make out like bandits.

I do have to say I was proud of Cara. Her name was not called until almost the very last, so she had to sit there and watch while her sister and brother received and opened their presents. She never once said anything about where's my present or whined about it. She seemed to be enjoying just watching them open theirs.

Parade, trees and Santa

On Saturday was our town's annual "Holiday on Main" which includes the Christmas parade.

Both girls were in the parade, Cara with her class and Adriana with her Girl Scout troop. This meant that we all ended up in the parade because Bruce and I volunteered to walk with the groups. Bruce went with Cara's class because he said something about it looking better than walking with the Girl Scouts and I went with Adriana's troop.

The parade route ended where children could visit with Santa afterwards. As soon as the girls' groups finished the parade, we got in line so the children could see Santa. And, we were the first in line. Yeah!

All three of them did beautifully with Santa. I was concerned about Jonah, but he walked right up to him and sat in his lap. I was also able to get some decent pictures of the visit.

After visiting with Santa, we went to pick out our Christmas tree. I had great visions of going to the tree farm where we went last year and spending another long afternoon picking one out. That was not to be, but for a good reason.

The private school here was selling trees, and one of Bruce's co-worker's mother had donated some money for an extra tree. The co-worker offered to us, and Bruce being the frugal (ahem, cheap) person that he is, we decided to take her up on the offer. The best part was they were selling the trees in the empty lot right next to our house. The guy helping us offered us free delivery without a problem.

The tree is a beautiful fraser free tree. We set it up and gave it a few hours to let the branches fall before we started decorating. I was also in the midst of baking for the church Christmas program the next night, so we waited a while.

After a sugar rush from the baking which was not too pleasant (on my part, not the children's), we finally got down to the decorating. It went well for a few minutes until Jonah decided he liked the crashing sound of glass balls breaking. I think three were sacrificed. I really didn't mind that those ended up broken, because they were cheap ornaments I bought when I was living by myself. This is the reason the sentimental nice glass ornaments we have bought through the years will stay off the tree for a while. After we cleaned up the mess, Bruce and Jonah went to watch football.

The girls didn't last much longer than that. They hung a few ornaments and then they started getting distracted. So, we ended our session and I finished decorating the tree on my own.

I left the ornaments where the children had placed them, so the tree definitely droops in places, but it looks great.

Shopping, ugh!

We had a busy weekend this past weekend, and Adriana is still paying for it. She gets tired very easily, and takes several days to recover. You would think we would have learned that by now, but we haven't.

On Friday, right after I picked Adriana up from school, the children and I headed to the nearest city with a Wal-Mart which is about 30 minutes away. I was trying to finish up our Christmas shopping, and I don't want to wait too much longer to complete it.

I explained to the girls that I needed them to cooperate and help me shop. That lasted for about 15 minutes, tops. Something about having all three of our children together throws off the balance of the universe. Two together, no matter which two, no problem. Throw the third one in there, and all sense of sanity is lost.

The girls started picking at each other and wanting to play with Jonah. They also were trying to play with each other in the aisles, which was not helping matters.

I called Bruce's office to talk about dinner plans and the person answering the phone asked me how I was doing. I told her that I would rather be dipped in honey and fed to the bears than go shopping with my children.

Nevertheless, we survived three stores, including Wal-Mart and dinner.

The Christmas links are back

When I was growing up, one thing I loved to make during Christmas time was the Christmas chain. My mother would help me make a chain out of construction paper links. The links represented however many days were left until Christmas.

I finally remembered to do that this year with our children. So, on Monday we made paper chains to represent the remaining days until Christmas.

Now, if I could only get those chains not to shorten so quickly. Think if I add links back that would help?

Peace on earth

These are our sweet cherubs we came home to Saturday night.

All I want for Christmas is my front tooth

One of Adriana's top two front teeth came out on Saturday. Of course, she helped it a little with the apple she ate earlier in the week.

The children's choir director told me Friday night her tooth had been bleeding. I told her that it didn't help matters that Adriana had been trying to get that thing out all week.

A boy in her class has been telling her all kind of stories about the tooth fairy. Of course, she didn't turn down the money the tooth fairy left under her pillow.

We had a date

Bruce and I were able to enjoy a date Saturday night. As a part of my Christmas present, he purchased two tickets for us to a Point of Grace "Winter Wonderland" concert and secured Nanny's (his mom) babysitting services. We were supposed to go out to eat also, but were not able to so we had Wendy's drive-thru instead.

We had a wonderful time. Point of Grace sounded great and I enjoyed being able to relax. Going to a Christmas concert has been a highlight for me for many years, but for the past few I have not been able to do so. This was such a great way to welcome in the season.

I think my favorite part of the whole evening didn't involve singing, though. Point of Grace is partnering with Compassion International to help raise awareness about children in poverty stricken areas in the world. During the concert, the members of POG presented a video about a trip they made to visit children they sponsored through Compassion. Then, volunteers with Compassion passed out information about children to those who were interested.

For years, I have wanted to sponsor a child through an organization like this. For one reason or the other, I have not up until this point. I didn't raise my hand when the volunteers came around because I had not discussed it with Bruce beforehand. Right when the intermission started, I told him I wanted to sponsor a child. As someone in our church said about her husband, I consider him the conservative one, so I waited for his reply. He told me he was all for sponsoring a child. He said, and I agree, that we can stop giving our children so much and help some other child in the world. Yes, we have been guilty of giving our children too much. I will admit that.

Almost as soon as Bruce had finished speaking, I jumped up and practically ran to the Compassion table to find our child. I said a quick prayer to the Lord to show me the right child. I wanted a little girl who was six years old so Adriana could relate to her. I found her! She is a six year old girl who lives in a family with three children. She lives in Africa. She also had on a pink dress in her picture, which is Adriana's favorite color. I came back to Bruce and told him I found our child. As I told him, I had wanted to have four children, but we settled on three. Now, I feel like we have our fourth.

The next day, I told Adriana about her and she was so sweet about it. Our sponsored child is not presently attending school. Adriana said she hoped she could go to Mexico and speak Mexican because she knows children in Mexico go to school. I told her I thought that might be a little far for her to go.

Now, I debated about writing about this in the blog because I don't want to come across as being like those in the Bible who prayed for show, but I am hoping that maybe someone who reads this might think about sponsoring a child, also. If you do decide to sponsor a child, Compassion is a wonderful organization. Everything I have read about them since points to a well run Biblical-based organization. I am going to try to post a link for them on the front page of the blog.

Our own personal superstar

First, let me say, whew we still have our children, so I guess no one has called child protective services. Thank you!

Now, onto our scheduled blog time. Adriana has been participating in a children's choir at a local church and this past Friday they had their Christmas performance. They did fantastic! And, I am going to be partial and say Adriana was the star of the show (at least in our eyes).

When I asked her what her role in the play was going to be, she said, "I'm an angel like always." She has been an angel in almost every church play in which she has participated.

My only complaint, and it is a small one, is I didn't get to video record the performance. I was close enough and had a perfect spot, except I had the church organ in front of me. Of course, Adriana stood behind the organ and all we could see was her head, so I didn't even bother trying to record it. I did get some still shots of her when they did the manger scene. So, here is one for your enjoyment.

Soda cracker candy

I have to share this recipe with everyone:

Chocolate Saltine Bars

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 package saltine crackers
1 package (2 cups or more) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven on 375. melt brown sugar and butter until boiling. Line up saltines in a tight single layer on a foil covered cookie sheet. Pour boiled liquid over the top. Put in oven for 8 minutes or so, until bubbly. Pour chocolate chips evenly over the top put back in the oven for 2 more minutes. Once soft, spread the chocolate with a spatula. Cool in freezer. You can also sprinkle crushed peanuts on top or crushed candy canes to be more festive. Break it up into small pieces once it is frozen.


Okay, now that you have read the ingredients and have seen the real title, I will tell you what it is called in some of the circles I keep. It is called "Christmas Crack" and a lot of women get a kick out of being hooked on "crack" candy.

Now, that I have shared the recipe with you I will tell you that I made a batch this week. (Shhh, don't tell my Weight Watchers members.) The stuff is heavenly. It is like a Heath bar or Skor bar. Yum!

Now that I have told you that, I have to share a story with you at the risk of child protection services knocking on my door or our local friendly police, but it's too funny not to share.

I have had this "crack" candy in the house all week. I was asking Cara the other day what she thinks we should get Daddy for Christmas. Her reply? "A bong." (Now, for all you sweet innocents out there, google bong and see what you come up with.) Then, she proceeded to name everyone in our family and said we need to get them a bong. For the record, when she says bong, she really means bone. Now, I don't know why she thinks everyone in our family needs a bone, but that is certainly better than a bong.

Poor Bruce, I had to explain what a bong is to him. And, he grew up during the '70s.

Let's just hope she doesn't say, "We're getting Daddy a bong for Christmas" when we are at church.

Tigers win! Tigers win!

It was a hard-fought battle, but the Tigers triumphed over the Gamecocks.

Bruce said before the game, we can forgive losing the ACC title, but if Tommy messes this one up, he might as well pack his bags.

Once again, Tommy gets to keep his job.

Black Friday shopping

I think he's crossed over to the other side. Mr. "I'd rather pay full price than get up at 5 a.m. to save a few bucks" has now realized the thrill of the hunt.

I had been keeping an eye on the Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) ads on the Gotta Deal website and had pretty much decided that I would not head out until around 7 a.m. or so this year. That was until Bruce saw the Black Friday ads on Thanksgiving Day.

I asked him if he would mind going to get me a newspaper since I was busy with Tom (see previous post). He went to get one, but came back a few minutes later because he needed more money. That should tell you something about a paper when it costs more than 50 cents during the week.

We both flipped through the paper and started perusing the ads. We had already completed a good bit of shopping for ourselves the day before shopping. Bruce needs some new shoes and he "bought" some for me to give him for Christmas when I noticed that he needed not only dress shoes, but some tennis shoes as well. While searching the Black Friday ads, he zeroed in on a pair of tennis shoes in a Shoe Carnival ad that were a very good doorbuster price. The ad said they were going to open at 5 a.m. and the first 100 customers would get a $10 gift card.

So, 4 a.m. rolled around and up I went. (Bruce has said he is amazed at how someone who hates mornings at much as I do can get up ready to go on Black Friday and the day after Christmas.) At 4:30 a.m., we were on the road. We did get in on the $10 gift card deal and we also had a coupon for another $5 off our total. We were able to get two pairs of shoes for $21. Pretty good deal, if you ask me.

After leaving there, we stopped to get me a hot chocolate at Panera Bread and then headed to see what the crowd was like at Target. Once I saw the line, I remarked to Bruce that I wasn't going to set foot in that place. Wally World price matches, and I was mainly wanting the Polar Express DVD anyway. He seemed quite pleased with that decision.

Next stop was Chick Fil-A for a biscuit. We were able to walk right up, order and sit down. Right after that, they got very busy, very fast. Everyone was nice and friendly, though, and seemed to be enjoying the shopping experience.

From there we went to Walgreen's, which is the main place I wanted to go. Now, I can't say what I was going there for because someone who reads this may be getting one of the items. Let's just say we were successful.

We then stopped at Michael's to get some things for children's church and projects for our children to do during Christmas. Then, we headed to a Wal-Mart in that town that is away from the main shopping area. We had already stopped at the other one, and they were out of the items we were pursuing. At this one, we were successful, found a couple of items and the Polar Express DVD which they price matched. We didn't find one item, but I found it at another Wal-Mart on the way home. We have decided in the future we are going to go straight to the second Wal-Mart on Black Friday if we need anything from there.

Overall, it was a good day, and we were back at Nanny's by 10:30 a.m. Next year, hopefully, I can convince Bruce to sleep in and not be in such a hurry to get those bargains.

Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving. We went up to Bruce's mom's and spent a few days there. The children love to go to Nanny's house because she has a big yard they enjoy. In fact, all week Jonah kept saying, "We go to Nanny's house" because he kept thinking we were going right then.

I volunteered to make the turkey. Don't know exactly why I did that, I have never cooked a turkey in all my life. I decided to brine it using an Alton Brown recipe from the Food Network. That took some work, and ingredients that we don't have in our pantry or at the local grocery store.

After the children and I got to Nanny's house (Bruce came later because he had a meeting), I watched a little bit of the news and the traffic report. Deciding that the traffic on the interstate was worse going south than it was going north, I decided to go a little north of her house to get a couple of more ingredients for the brine. Wrong move. The traffic was awful. Somewhere along the way, the north traffic became worse than the south traffic. Even so, I was able to get to my destination and get the ingredients. I also managed to stop at a Christian bookstore and purchase a couple of pre-Thanksgiving specials. This was Tuesday.

Wednesday afternoon, I started "Tom" to brining. The recipe called for six hours, but ours went longer because I was not going to get up in the middle of the night to turn Tom over. After brining him, I put him in my handy dandy roaster oven for what I thought was going to be four hours. He was done in less than two and a half! We managed to keep him warm until time for lunch.

Tom must have been good, because Cara had about three or four helpings. This is saying something because she is a very picky eater. She kept saying, "More turkey." We gladly kept getting her more.

That night, we went on our second annual (and possibly, last) trip to see some Christmas lights. We took the children last year and they loved it. They laughed the whole time and begged to go around several times. This year, not so much. Cara was very excited about going and kept asking when were we going. While we were driving through, we said something about going to McDonald's afterwards and getting an ice cream. (Yes, McD's was open.) That was all it took. Forget the lights, they wanted ice cream. We made them go around a couple of more times, anyway.

I remarked to Bruce that may have been the shortest lived family tradition. All in all, it was a good day.

Sports banquet

The girls had their end of the season soccer banquet recently. They both received trophies for their participation during the season. This is one of the reasons why Adriana used to think she won everything, because she has about seven or so trophies.

Keepsake for the Heart

Jonah was so sweet yesterday and was very affectionate, which is wonderful compared to the twoness that has been coming out lately.

He and I went to the grocery store right before picking Cara up at school. While we were in the check-out line, a man walked up behind us. He noticed the man looking at him, and without prompting, Jonah hugged me and told the man, "I love my mommy."

Aaaahhhhh!

Forgot to add the best part of Saturday...(at least to Bruce)

Clemson won, Carolina lost. Tommy can keep his job. Enough said.

Operation Christmas Child

As I mentioned in the previous post, Adriana is a member of a children's choir at a local church (not at ours). She recently had a performance on a Sunday night that I tried to post video of, but was unable to do so.

After the children performed, a presentation was made about Operation Christmas Child which is run by Samaritan's Purse, Franklin Graham's organization. This church was collecting boxes for at lease the second year in a row.

Adriana sat with us while the video was being played about children all over the world who receive a shoebox filled with goodies that people have donated. She told me she wanted to do that. We actually participated last year, but she said she didn't remember it. I told her she may have to give something up this year that she may want for Christmas so we can afford to do it. She said she didn't mind and she wanted to put one together.

A wise friend once told me that after all she had been through her first couple of years, she will probably have the gift of mercy. And, that is so true. She has a very sensitive heart and she is emotionally moved more so than a lot of children her age.

I told her we would do it, and Sunday was the deadline for the boxes. We went to Wally World, picked out a plastic shoebox which she carried it all through the store while we picked out things to go in it. She decided to make one for a girl 5-9 years old. We included a picture and a letter in the box. We then gathered as a family and prayed over the box. Adriana then said a sweet prayer herself over the box for whomever may receive it.

Now, I am caught up!

Almost there with catching up...

This past Saturday Adriana stayed home with me while Cara and Jonah went with Bruce to his mother's to help her sell his father's tractor.

We had planned to go to a local church to attend the fall festival there. Adriana is in the children's choir and I attend a ladies Bible study there.

Cara was going to go with us and had even been asking me what color the ponies at the pony rides were going to be. She wondered if they were going to be purple like the My Little Ponies someone gave her for her birthday. At the last minute, she decided to go see her Nanny.

The festival was not until the afternoon, so Adriana and I hung out together until then. The hanging out turned into cleaning because Adriana was anxious to help clean and I was getting rather tired of the way the house was looking.

And then, I really looked at my refrigerator. Eek! I had to clean a drawer out with the salad makings that never quite made it into a salad, which led to throwing food out, which led to shelves being cleaned, taken apart and put back together, which lead to the door being cleaned, you get the idea. Something that needed to have been done a long, long time ago.

I was on a mission and it had to get done before we went to that festival. I worked my way from the down up. Don't ask me why. I know from top down would be better, but I don't work that way.

About halfway through, Adriana decided she wanted to rummage through the fridge. She pulled out pickles, yogurt and I can't remember what else. Made her a nice little snack and then left it. After it had set a while, I told her to come back and throw it away or eat it. She proceeded to try to put the bowl loaded with pickle juice and pickles into the fridge. You guessed it, it spilled. I cried. I tried not to get too upset because she had been working with me for most of the day. So, she got to work with me some more.

After she went back on her merry way, a can of drink fell off a shelf and somehow was punctured and spewed on the shelves that had just been cleaned a second time. And then, I touched one of the refrigerator bulbs with my dishcloth, and it exploded. I almost literally threw in the towel. Almost, but I did get it finished.

No before pictures of the refrigerator. I can't do that to anyone.

We did get to the fall festival and Adriana was able to ride the pony which was brown and not purple.

After we came home, Adriana and I both did our fair share of coughing, so I think we both definitely have allergies.

The stinking pumpkin

I forgot to add about our stinking pumpkin. The children and I went to our local pumpkin patch (Wal-Mart) after Cara's traumatic time at the doctor's office.

Adriana picked out a small pumpkin to paint, and Cara being Cara said she didn't want one but decided later she did. So, she shared Jonah's that I picked out for him while he was busy head bobbing in the shopping cart. I had to reach for a pumpkin while holding his head.

We also picked out a big pumpkin to carve. All was well, so we thought. This was on Friday. We went to carve the pumpkin on Tuesday only to discover it had started going bad. It smelled and was starting to get mushy on top.

We decided to carve him and light him up in our kitchen. Since we were not going to be home on Halloween night, we just plunked him straight into the trash. I guess that is better than leaving him outside until we remember we have a rotting pumpkin outside.

I had planned to save the seeds and toast them because Adriana loves toasted pumpkin seeds. She didn't get any last year because somehow they feel off the stove while I had them up there to dry out. Now, she won't get any this year because of the stinking pumpkin.

Maybe next year.

Fall Festival at church

We had our fall festival at church last Saturday. (Or as Cara calls it, fall festibul.) We had a great time, except Bruce wasn't able to attend because his uncle had passed away and he went three hours away to preside over the funeral service.

His Uncle Clifford was a great man who loved children. I will miss seeing him at the family reunions, but he had lived a good long life and he was ready to go home to be with Jesus.

We debated going with Bruce to see his aunt and cousin. We would have gone down the night before, but we finally decided against it. Adriana gets worn out so easily, and she really wanted to go the festival. If we had gone with Bruce, we probably would not have made it back in time to go to the festival.

Back to the festival, we had a good time with the games and the cake walk. That day was rather busy because I had all three to myself and had some running around to do before the festival. Plus, I decided to make a dessert that www.allrecipes.com said would take about 30 minutes, but it probably took more like an hour and a half. And, I decided to make two cakes for the cake walk in case both girls won the cake walk. I wanted them to have a cake to choose that I knew they would love.

At the festival, the church decided to have a Pastor and Family Appreciation Day. They didn't know that Bruce might not come to the festival, so I had to relay all the information when we got home. When all was said and done with all the gifts and gestures of appreciation, the church provided about a week's worth of meals for us and then some. Very nice, especially this month. The Lord still amazes me with how he provides.

Honors Day

At the risk of sounding like a bragging parent, Adriana made the "A" honor roll at school. Here she is with her principal right after receiving her award. Yeah, Adriana!

Halloween night

Okay, so what's the preacher's kids supposed to do when Halloween is on a Wednesday night and they are normally at church? Not skip church, of course, so they improvise.

We are normally at church on Wednesday night unless on of us is sick. We don't have a children's program on Wednesday nights, so the children and I usually go for the meal and then the children play in the nursery while Bruce has Bible study.

I kept trying to come up with a way that the children could still enjoy trick or treating and be at church. At one point, I thought about taking them into town after we had finished eating. The problem with that idea is the church is in the country, and by the time we drove there we would need to turn around because Bible study would be ending.

What to do? What to do?

I finally came up with the idea that I would take some candy with us and their costumes. I let them dress up and asked the adults to give them some candy while the children went around the table saying, "Trick or Treat." Everyone loved it. The adults had the best time. Jonah was so cute and Cara kept giving the candy back as she went around the table. Adriana was hesitant at first, but she finally joined in without her wig.

Still catching up and then I'll be caught up, I hope

I had planned to write another post last night, but this little congestion bug I have had prevented me from doing such.

The girls had a "Vocabulary Parade" at school on Halloween. This was the deal-they were allowed to dress up as a "word", but they were not allowed to wear their Halloween costumes to school. ??? Still trying to figure that one out.

Cara went dressed as a rabbit. She wanted to go as a tiger, but I couldn't find our tiger ears we have around here. I did find the bunny ears, so I convinced her to go as a rabbit. When I went into my closet off of our bathroom to get cotton balls for her tail, I found an unused white shower puff. Viola! Great tail.

Adriana went as the color pink, and since she loves the color pink, that was not a problem to come up with at all.

I went to the school to watch the parade and I had a little bit of a problem because both girls wanted me and were getting upset because I would not sit with them. Cara actually cried, and Adriana cried going down the hallway because I didn't have money to give her for a popsicle at lunch. I saw the mother who was running the popsicle booth and she told me they were a quarter. She said she would be glad to "cover me" and don't worry about reimbursing her. So, I am indebted to Becky for a quarter.

The Halloween Festival

Our town has a festival every year on the Saturday before Halloween, which this year was the same day as Cara's party. I scheduled her party early so all the children would be able to go.

In between Cara's party and the festival, our children attended another party for one of the girls' friends. At that party was a bounce house that the children could not be dragged out of. And, Jonah had a fun time "flirting" with the birthday girl's older sister who is a teenager. What is it about my children and older crushes? Think they have learned something from their mom?

We had to leave that party before the presents were open so they could get home, changed and up town to trick and treat. The event is really neat in that some of the downtown merchants stand outside while children walk up and down the street trick or treating. This was going to be the only opportunity our children had to participate in door to door trick or treating this year, so we tried to make the most of it.

Adriana was Hannah Montana, of course. She was a homemade version, with a scarf I made the night before. It was crudely made, but it was a scarf nonetheless. I was afraid no one would know who she was, but plenty of the children knew. We had issues with her wig, but she wore it.

Cara was Dora the Explorer, of course, too. The best part of her get up was she did not need a wig with her already cut Dora the Explorer hairstyle.

Jonah was a monkey. He was supposed to be Boots (Dora's monkey), but it wasn't a Boots outfit. It was actually a very hot thick monkey outfit that he sweated profusely in. One day costume manufacturers are going to learn it is just not that hot in the South at Halloween.

After trick or treating, we gathered in this area of town where games and a costume contest were going on. None of ours won the costume contest this time, but they had fun. Bruce took Cara and Jonah home after the costume contest because 1. Jonah was burning up in his costume and 2. Cara was worn out.

Adriana stayed with me while I took pictures for the newspaper. And, she stuck around to play the Go Fish game a couple of times. (That was one of my favorites when I was younger, too.) We also tried guessing the amount of candy corn in a jar, but we were both way off. I think Adriana really wanted to win that, but she didn't seem too disappointed when she didn't.

Adriana kept asking me about the haunted house and why I had never taken her in there. Yeah, right, like that's going to happen. I tried to explain it to her, including a lesson on hauntings and why they are not real. We even got to throw a quick lesson in there about what happens to your soul when you die if you are a Christian (so Halloween can be used to our advantage). She finally realized that a haunted house may not be the best choice for a six year old. On a side note, while we were at the festival, buzzards were flying over the haunted house.

Needless to say, they all went to sleep pretty quickly that night.

Cara's birthday party

Cara had her birthday party on Saturday, Oct. 27 at a local bowling rink. She had a very few friends and a few family members there.

The bowling was scheduled to go on for an hour, but the younger kids quickly lost interest. The older kids went the full hour, though.

This was Jonah's first time bowling and he had a blast. He also scored pretty well, thanks to Daddy's help.

After the bowling, we went into a party room, had pizza and Dora the Explorer cake, of course. Cara received plenty of more Dora items, so she was pleased.

Her big gift from us was a Dora bike and from her siblings she received a Dora cash register. Of course the cash register is just lovely with all the different pieces that go with it. (Note sarcasm.)

Sorry for the interruption to your scheduled programming

I have been away from the blog. I apologize. I will try to do better. Oh, yeah, Christmas is coming up. Forget it. But for now ...

I have lots to update and I am going to try to do so over the course of this weekend, but here is a little for now.

Cara and Jonah both had well child visits two weeks ago. Cara weighed in at 33.5 lbs. and was 39 1/4 inches tall. Jonah weighed 24 3/4 lbs. and measured 34 3/4 inches. His head circumference was 19 5/8 inches. They both did well during the visit, and their doctor said they both were developing fine. She was particularly impressed with Jonah's speech and could understand him. She said by the two year mark, children should be combining two words, but Jonah is actually combining a lot of four and five word sentences, sometimes more. Speech seems to be our strong suit in our family, imagine that.

Cara was a trooper throughout the shots ordeal. Jonah was not scheduled for any, but I had all three of them scheduled for flu shots. This meant that Cara was going to get five shots. Dr. G. said we could break the shots up into more than one visit, but I feel like with mine, if you have them on the table, go ahead because it may not happen again.

The nurse started with Jonah and gave him his shot. He did great. He cried a little but then was over it. Poor Cara was next. Bruce had come in during the middle of the visit and he helped me hold her down along with another nurse. I held her hands and just kept telling her how much I love her and that I was sorry we had to do this. She screamed and cried, of course. I can't blame her, that was a lot at one time.

She was so funny when we were leaving. She kept crying and wailing throughout the office. She had her legs stuck together and was walking very slowly. Bruce and I both tried to tell her that the more she walked, the quicker the pain would wear off. She wasn't buying it.

On the way through the hallway of the office, she was saying, "I don't like the flu and I don't like the flu shot." Everyone was grinning and kind of laughing in a sympathetic way. I saw her doctor laughing when Cara said, "Maybe a Dora sticker will make it feel better." (The doctor's office gives out stickers at the end of the visit.)

We went to lunch right after that, and she was still going strong. She had everyone in the restaurant feeling sorry for her. She finally calmed down somewhere during our meal, but she was still walking slowly when we left. I think she finally stopped after our second stop after that at Wally World.

While we were at the doctor's office, Dr. G. noticed Adriana was coughing and she offered to check her lungs. I had taken her in the week before because of her cough, and one of Dr. G.'s partners listened to her. Then, the partner said she thought at one point she may have heard some crackling, but she didn't hear it again. When Dr. G. listened, she heard a lot of crackling. So, we did a nebulizer treatment on her in the office, and the doctor listened to her again. She said it cleared her up, so she didn't think it was walking pneumonia or that she needed a chest x-ray. Whew! Dr. G. did say we were to continue the treatments and bring her back in a week. She didn't get a flu shot that day.

I took Adriana back a week later and the doctor said she sounded much better. Dr. G. and I talked about keeping her on nebulizer treatments or an inhaler for the winter months since Adriana tends to have problems with her lungs during the cold months. We decided that an inhaler was probably the best option, so until March she will use an inhaler twice a day.

The field trip

I went with Adriana's class on a field trip last week. The entire first and second grades went to a local university to see a children's musical. It was very good, and all the children did so well about listening and paying attention.

While we were on the trip, I noticed I was the only parent not directly associated with the school who went on the trip. A couple of the activity teachers went and then the grade teachers were there.

I felt a little out of place. I just didn't think about the teachers not needing parents to go, and Adriana's teacher said she had me down to go. In the past, Adriana's teacher always had several parents go on field trips.

We had a slight problem finding someone to watch Cara and Jonah while I was gone, so I told Bruce that I may not go on field trips in the future.

Adriana was asked me sometime later if I was going to go on field trips in the future, but I told her I don't know and I told her my reasoning behind my decision. She got upset and started crying, telling me she likes having me on the trips. I consoled her by telling her we would have to see.

So much to write

I have so much to write today and get caught up on, but I am just going to try to take it one post at a time.

Last week, I was going to write about my struggles with getting Adriana to do her homework, but let's just celebrate the fact that on Thursday I picked up her report card and she made all "As"! Yeah, Adriana. We are so excited for her.

Cara also had a "report card". Her report card is not a graded evaluation, but an evaluation with different ratings based on the Montessori concept. Her teacher told me that, academically Cara is right on target and doing fine, but she struggles with following the classroom rules. We just need to be consistent and follow through with her. I am going to try a reward chart with her like we did with Adriana last year. Hopefully, that will help.

All in all, we will call these good reports.

The 80s revisited

This weekend, the girls went to a birthday party at a local roller skating rink. This was Cara's first time on skates, and Adriana's first time on skates indoors. They had a little trouble staying up, to say the least. Cara was willing to try more and was doing pretty well on the regular skates. Adriana finally would try more when she got with a couple of her friends from school.

One of the other mothers informed me the rink had beginner skates, and I asked the girls if they wanted to try those. They did, so they both got a pair. I had to stuff Adriana's foot in them because her foot was almost too big, but we were able to get them to fit. After putting those on, they both had a blast and I had to pull them off the floor so we could leave.

While our children were skating, or attempting to skate, a couple of the other mothers and I started talking. All three of us are about the same age and we talked about when we would go skating when we were younger. For those who don't know, I skated religiously for a few years. Every Saturday from 2-5. The other mothers said they skated regularly, too. I told them that not only had the looks of the rink not changed in 20+ years, but obviously the music had not changed since we heard "You Drop the Bomb on Me" and "Celebration" blaring. And, one of the other moms looked around and said, yeah, and there was always that one guy who was a good bit older who hung out with the younger crowd. She said you never knew whether he was a pervert or not. I laughed so hard, because it was so true.

We apologize for the drought

Apparently, the drought is our fault and we apologize. All summer we kept saying we were going to have a yard sale, and we didn't. We finally got our act together and had one this past weekend. We scheduled it for Friday and Saturday. Of course, on Friday the rain came, so evidently we are the reason the drought has taken place.

Bruce's mom had asked him what we were going to do if it did rain. He told her we will keep scheduling the yard sale every weekend for a whole month because we need the rain so badly.

The yard sale was a learning experience. It was fun, and Adriana definitely had a blast. She and Cara were supposed to have a goodie table set up. Cara didn't really work it, but Adriana stayed with us the whole time. She sold out of product! She had brownies and drinks for sale. On Saturday near the end of our sale, she told one of our friends who is a police officer (the police department is right behind our house) that she only needed to sale one more pack of brownies to go to Disney World. he came right over and bought the pack from her.

Money wise, Bruce was pleased with how we did. Product wise, we still have too much junk left! Now, we can't decide whether to donate it all, e-bay some of it or try to have another yard sale in the spring. I just want the stuff gone. I am ready to straighten this place up and having it not look like a bomb went off.

Our mothers came down to help us. Bruce's mom came to watch Jonah and, as it turned out, Cara, while we were outside, and my mom came to help us out/be a blessing/shop as the cashier.

We made a little money off our girls and my mother. My mother found a few things she liked and bought them. We made money off of Cara before the sale even started. When I brought toys over from the apartment to sale, she saw a roll a rounds dinosaur that was Jonah's which they haven't played with in a while. He also had a hippo that we were going to sell. She kept telling me she wanted didn't want to sell the hippo, but she really meant the dinosaur I found out later. I told her I was planning on selling it and I asked her how much she was willing to pay me for it. She said five dollars and then said 20 dollars. I told her I would take five and she was more than willing to give it for me. So, she bought back the dinosaur. I also let Adriana buy back three dolls she saw we had out for the sale and she bought a praying hands figurine that she liked that I think Bruce made when he was in Bible school.

Bruce was a little put off that I let them buy those things back because he said we need to get rid of the junk. I agree with him, but I said I was going to allow them to buy only one thing back (I know, I went over that with Adriana), and they were going to have pay. I was hoping they would learn a little about shopping and being appreciative of something that was "theirs".

The funny thing is, the money is going to go right back to them for our trip because we told them any money we made off toys would be theirs.

I meant to take pictures, but I forgot until after we were completely packed up. Stay tuned to see what we do with all the junk.

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

We had another birthday today (Sunday). Cara turned four today! We had a rather busy day with church and Adriana had a children's choir performance tonight.

Cara woke up all excited that today was her birthday. She popped out of the bed early, which is not like her at all. We went to church and several people told her Happy Birthday and she told several people it was her birthday.

After church, as a part of her present, we went to Pizza Hut where we at lunch with a family from our church. One of the sons in the family is Cara's "boyfriend". (He's 13 years old.) Somewhere along the way this year, she attached herself to Cody and has declared that he is her boyfriend. The only problem is, whenever he is around, she clams up and won't talk to him. Those who really know Cara know that she is not like that at all. We had a great time, and Cody is a wonderful sport about the whole crush thing.

She blew out her candle on a cupcake at Pizza Hut and opened a present from the other family. It was a purple Dora hat and mittens. Perfect!

After we got home, she opened a present from us and one from her sister and brother. From us, she received a Dora dance costume to wear for Halloween. She acted like she didn't know she was getting it even though she was with me last night when I bought it. I guess she is easily tricked. She also received a Dora dress-up armoire from Adriana and Jonah. Now, she needs Dora clothes to fill it.

I made more cupcakes tonight for Cara to take to school tomorrow for snack time. I panicked when I realized I only had two eggs left, but I needed three. In the woods here, we don't have all night grocery stores or Wally Worlds. The closest place to go would be at least 30 minutes away. I improvised and took out about a third of the butter and mix. I only needed about ten cupcakes, so it worked out beautifully and the cupcakes looked fine. I figure they are for a bunch of 3 to 5 year olds anyway. They will probably only take a couple of bites out.

We have had a busy weekend, and I have lots to write, but that is going to have to wait for another day. Mama's tired.

My son, the cat, or why I was updating the blog at 3:30 a.m.

Sunday night/early Monday morning I woke up with quite a jolt. I normally do not wake up from sleeping unless something major happens, like my being sick, a child's sickness or a child running into the room.

Sunday night was a different matter. Right after I woke up I remembered I was having a very strange dream. The dream involved Adriana and Cara's former dance teacher, a Christmas party, picking up presents for my nephew and nieces and Jonah.

Now, for the part about Jonah and why I woke up. In the dream, I carried Jonah with me to a party the dance teacher was having in a building that was also an apartment building. I went to see some people that I did not know who were living in one of the apartments. Something happened, I can't remember what, but I think I remember their child took something of Jonah's. I got kind of huffy, said something sarcastic and left. Imagine that?

When I left, I couldn't find Jonah and started calling for him. He was nowhere to be found. I kept calling, and finally four or five black and white cats came up to me. (They looked similar to a cat my father/I had a while back.) I then became confused because I didn't know which one was Jonah. That is when I woke up. I jumped out of bed and went to check on Jonah who was sleeping peacefully in his bed. I couldn't go back to sleep.

Evidently, I awakened Bruce and he asked if I was okay. I told him about my dream, and that I didn't know which bothered me more, the fact that he turned into a cat or that I didn't know which one he was. I told Bruce that I had to check on him, and he laughingly asked me if he purred when I checked.

Bam! It hit me. The reason I had the dream that he turned into a cat. The night before, I was holding him and for some reason he started saying, "Meow" and something right before he said it. We were in the kitchen, and Bruce asked me what he was saying. I listened closer. He was saying, "I'm a kitty-cat. Meow!" I kept telling him he was not a kitty-cat, and he just laughed.

The Project

Adriana had a project due at school recently that was worth two Social Studies grades. Her class had been working on an "All About Me" unit and were to complete a timeline about their lives. We received the information on Tuesday and it was due on Friday. Eeek! Needless to say, I panicked a little.

She was to include at least five events from her life with pictures or drawings. We decided on pictures. I frantically searched through pictures and found ten that I thought would be good to include. Those pictures included when she was born, when she started sitting and walking, both times she became a big sister, when she started school, when she lost her first tooth and when she got her crown on her tooth (her idea).

The only night we had to work on it was Thursday night, and Bruce had a meeting that went over at the office, so he was late getting home. When he came home he apologized because he knew we were supposed to work on the project, but actually we had already started and Cara and Jonah didn't bother us too much.

The teacher kept emphasizing neatness counts and that we were to work on this with her. I was kind of stressing about the neatness part because Adriana's fine motor skills are not as developed as her classmates, so her handwriting is not as neat. She did really well on it, I think.

We taped down the pictures and I wrote out some ideas for some sentences for her. She copied them and we made a few changes along the way. Near the end, she became a little frustrated and started crying which about broke my heart. I think she was very tired, but I encouraged her by saying we were almost finished and then she could rest. I let her use some of my scrapbooking stickers to decorate the project train, and she really loved doing that. (Finally, those scrapbooking supplies come in handy.)

Of course while we were working, she started asking questions that she already knew the answers to, like "why was I born early?" "Why didn't I walk at one like other children?" She didn't seem sad by all of that, which is what I was concerned about when she shares it with her classmates. You never know how children this age will react, and I was concerned they might not believe her or make fun of her because of her delays. I think she will be fine, though.

A few nights later she did say to me, "I am glad you had me." I almost cried.

The actual party

The birthday boy's actual "Thomas the Train" party was this weekend at an area zoo and park. The only people who attended were our mothers, one of my brothers and the five of us. I have to admit, I did kind of like not having to worry too much about keeping a bunch of other children entertained and making sure everyone was having a good time.

The weather was nice and everyone did seem to have a good time overall, except Adriana at first. After we had visited the zoo, we went to the park for the cake and presents. I am not quite sure what happened (hum, maybe I need to pay more attention to my children since that seems to happen a lot these days), but I looked up and my brother said something about Adriana falling into the mud. I looked at her, and sure enough, she was covered from head to toe with mud. Thankfully, we had a change of clothes with us and Bruce was able to get her cleaned up enough. She was so upset, and she apologized to us several times for falling in. We reassured her that we were not angry at all and that accidents happen.

Jonah enjoyed the zoo, and he especially enjoyed his "cake". He enjoyed it so much, that the next day at church that was the very thing he mentioned to the person who kept him in the nursery. From his sisters, he received a bubble lawn mower which Daddy prayed would really cut the grass. And, from us he received a train table that I found at a wonderful bargain recently. The girls are itching for me to put it together, but I haven't been able to so far. Maybe this weekend.

An important life lesson learned: don't give your almost four year old a box of Nerdz while you are driving. Trust me, just don't.

Here are a few pictures to enjoy.

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!

Yesterday (Wednesday), was Jonah's second birthday. I know it is an old saying, but time sure has flown. Bruce and I were talking last night about how he has been with us for two years, but it seems like forever and we could not imagine life without him or his sisters. And, then Bruce said, "And I could not imagine life without you." Gotta love that man.

Back to Jonah. Yesterday was kind of busy with church and the girls in school, so we didn't have too much time to celebrate. He did open a couple of presents right before we ran out the door to go to church. The present Bruce and I gave him was a Pooh bear that knows his name. He loves it! The girls kept trying to get it from him, but he kept telling them no.

The girls and I made him a cake that we took to church. The whole time we were eating, he kept saying, "My cake." We finally let him have it. We sang to him, and he blew the candles out without a problem. And, everyone ate the cake without a problem. Duncan Hines gets every one's approval.

Saturday we will have his birthday party with a few more family members at a zoo. Hopefully, the rain will stay away.

And a great sadness came upon the land...

Clemson lost their "golf" game yesterday, need I say more? The men of this family are in mourning today. Don't bring up the game, trust the women of this family, just don't.

Of course, Coach Bruce had the whole game figured out. If they had only listened to him.

Okay, I have to add this about the other night...

God was working when Cara busted her lip. No, He didn't make her bust her lip, but this is what happened the day of the game. Bruce thought he had a meeting after work in the next town over, and because of that he should not have been at the game.

Bruce called someone that afternoon to double check that he had a meeting and that person said, no, it wasn't that night. So, Bruce was able to go with us to the meeting. I was so relieved because trying to juggle three, especially Jonah, can be a little difficult.

On the way to the game, I was thinking about how God works and we don't even realize it sometimes. The next day I was telling Bruce about what I was thinking and that I was so glad he was at the game because I could not have taken care of Cara and Jonah at the same time. Some of the people from our community were there, but that's just not the same as a parent.

People may believe that coincidence played a role into Bruce being there, but I know differently. Thank you, Lord.

Morning After

This what Cara's lip looked like this morning. A little puffier, but not hurting as much. She did get a new Dora doodle pad from the book fair and a homemade grape Icee out of the ordeal, so she is a happy camper. And, she is loving telling everyone we see about her busted lip she received playing with the Fire Ants (that's the soccer team's name).

Second verse, same as the first

Busted lip-4, Jonah-0, Cara-0; busted head-1, Mommy-0, need I say more? Cara had a little accident at the soccer game tonight. Bruce and I don't know much about what happened because we were trying to keep an eye on Jonah while he was playing in the dirt. I turned to look back at the game, and I saw a couple of kids on the ground and one of the coaches carrying Cara off the field. She was obviously crying and I went to console her.

The closer I got to them, the more I realized she was hurt. Then, I saw the blood. Lots of blood, pouring from her mouth. Her coach gave me a wipe and I tried to clean it off, but it kept coming. I looked over at Bruce and told him I needed some paper towels. He went to go get some and some ice while I took her to the bathroom. A nice lady from the opposing team followed me and told me she was trained in First Aid (for the record, I am too, but you know how kids do better for others in situations like this). I think Cara finally let her check, but she would never let us feel of her teeth which was what I was concerned about the most. We finally got the bleeding to subside and we went back to finish watching the game where all the fans clapped for her when she returned.

I think the saddest part of the whole situation was that Cara was really playing hard tonight and enjoying the game. On the way to the restroom she said to me, "I'm not going to get to play soccer anymore", and was so sad about it.

Well, she was sad also when she was trying to go to sleep and said she couldn't because she couldn't suck her thumb. I finally convinced her we needed to be quiet so Jonah could go to sleep, and she was out within 30 seconds.

I think I am going to pack an icepack in Adriana's bookbag today just to be on the safe side. And, don't bother looking up DSS' phone number, I have it ready for you. At least this gets my head bumped down the page.

For the record, my mother took almost 24 hours to call the other night after my injury. Let's see how long before she calls about this one.

Busted lip-3, Jonah-0; Busted head-1, Mommy-0 (WARNING-not for the squeamish)

Okay, so I sit here with a slight injury due to my maddening pace of trying to go through 7 years of combined stuff in just a few days. This morning, I put together the kids' new swing set that I got for a great deal (where's Howie when you need him?). That took me about five hours total, with a couple of breaks and time to reflect on the goodness of life (okay, to be honest, at the time when I realized that I had put the bar that attaches to the slide on the wrong side, reflecting on the goodness of life was not on my mind).

Now, I had the camcorder in hand as the girls came out to see their surprise (Jonah was asleep). The girls came out, played on the swings and slide for as long as it took me to put it together. Maybe that's stretching it a little. More like 10 minutes, then they were back to the sandbox, the playhouse and their Fred Flintstone cars. Oh, well, at least the "pop paper" (bubble wrap) as Cara calls it brought a little pleasure.

While the children were enjoying playing in the yard, Bruce brought me some totes from the "repartment" (another Caraism) to go through for our colossal yard sale. I sorted through clothes to keep, sell and consign. After going through several totes, I decided to go over to the apartment and try to sort through things myself. I managed to pull out several car seats, some bigger toys and a bunch of stuffed animals. I was so motivated to get more done, that I turned on the air conditioner in the apartment and told Bruce I was going to work over there for a while. That was until the accident.

The living room of the apartment does not have an overhead light, and I went to plug in a lamp so I could have some light since it was late afternoon. I found an outlet by this metal bookcase we have over there. It has glass metal doors on the shelves, and we have always left those open because we are never over there. I reached down to plug in the lamp and started to raise up. I hit my head on the corner of one of the doors. I have to say, I was not reflecting on the goodness of life at the time. I reached up and discovered that I was bleeding. I went back over to the house and rang the doorbell since I locked the door behind me and didn't take my keys. I know as a mother you are not supposed to let your children see you upset, but by the time Bruce came to the door, I was in tears. (And we wonder where Adriana gets it from?)

Bruce evaluated it, said it was a good gash, but no stitches would be needed. (I am always telling him he needs to go ahead and hang a shingle outside our door.) A few checks from the children and a hug from the oldest, and I was much better, although I did feel like I was going to pass out when I stood up.

Needless to say, that was the end of our clearing and cleaning today. I took a nice hot bath while Bruce played Mommy for the evening.

Now, if this had happened to one of the children, pictures would be taken, of course, so here's one of my head. And, do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your own head? Let's see how long before I hear from my mommy after she sees this.