My Sweet Daughter

Just a quick blog about how absolutely sweet my daughter can be! I asked her if she was done playing with her playdough (the foam kind that is non-staining) and if she needed help putting it away. She said that she needed some help and brought it to me to put on the lids. So, I watched her put it away on the hutch where we've been keeping it. A little while later I noticed that two of the six containers (3 of her's and 3 of Benjamin's make up the six total) were gone. I asked Rachel where they were and she held up her hands and said in her sweet little voice, "Well, David didn't have any so I took some up and put it in his room for him so he would have some to play with. I was just sharing, Momma." (David is my brother who is 35 and mentally handicapped) Now, isn't that just the sweetest?!!!

Laughing at Myself

Funny Pictures

Do you ever listen to yourself while you are saying something to your children or just after you've said something to your children? I did that the other day. I was trying to get my kids herded into the car and into their car seats and also get my mother's wheelchair in the car as well. Normally they are very good about holding on to my hands and watching where we are going. We look both ways...that whole bit, but not this day. They were so hyper and we were in a busy parking lot. They were skipping, jumping and singing at the top of their lungs. I was walking with them hand in hand out to the car (it's amazing that you can be sweating in 20 degree weather when you have to deal with your children). We got to the car and Benjamin rips his hand out of mine and starts twirling around in the next parking space. I was afraid that he was going to dart out in front of a car, so I urgently told him to come over to the car.

"Weeellll, I have to be Superman right now." he stated without looking at me and continuing his twirling and running around in circles.

"You just can't be Superman in a parking lot!" I laughed about this later thinking that if anyone had heard just that line, like walking into the middle of a conversation, it would've struck them funny, at least, it would've me! :)

My Princesses

Glitter Disney Graphics

I now know what it's like to have a princess ballerina roar like a tiger at me. Too funny!

The other day my daughter was playing dress up with some of her princess clothes. My son decided to be funny and dress up too. He was and is funny and even "bibbity-bobbity-booed" me with my daughter's wand (although I think it's actually a scepter from Beauty and the Beast, but it worked).

He's hysterical!

The Little Nasty

After we got home from church this morning, we had lunch and then put the kids down for a nap. I always make them take a nap on Sundays because they are cranky if they don't! :) Well, Rachel wanted me to tell her a story about the little nasty named Benjamin (my son's name!). I had told her a story a couple nights ago about a little girl who meets a troll who is a troll because he's mean and nasty which evidentially she equates with her brother. LOL So I did tell her about the mean and nasty troll whose name is Troll, not Benjamin, but he gets a new name when he becomes nice and kind - yes, you guessed it, Benjamin! Kids are so funny!

Christmas 2007

In the midst of a fog...Parenting is like Psychological Warfare

So last night my daughter, Rachel, woke me up about 2:00am telling me she was scared. I let her get inside the bed with me and snuggle. Normally she goes to sleep right away, but not last night.

Mental note to self: no more afternoon naps for Rachel!

After struggling to get comfortable, she finally settles in between Joel and me. Several minutes passed and she started to try to kick the covers down. She was apparently getting too warm for her taste. Joel prevented her from kicking the covers down stating that he was cold. "But Daddy! My feet are sweaty!" She started crying in frustration.

I moved her over on the other side of me, so that I was in the middle. We settled down to what I thought would be a quiet rest of the night. I don't know how much time had passed because I'd actually fallen asleep when I heard this small voice say, "Momma, my fingers aren't bony." The fact that I was asleep hindered me from replying right away. So she stated it again, more loudly this time, "Momma, my fingers aren't bony."

Through the fuzz of sleep in my mind came a thought, "You're right. They're perfect the way they are."

Satisfied with my answer, Rachel quieted down for minute. Enough time had passed for me to be on the edge of sleep once again, "No, they're not!" As if this thought needed more assurance in her mind.

My right eye popped open, startled. "You have beautiful little hands and fingers, Rachel."

"Yea, I do." Came her reply with a matter a fact sigh.

I heard a grunt, a snort and a chuckle from my husband beside me. I thought he'd been asleep, but he had quietly been listening to our conversation. "Deep ponderings for the middle of the night." He stated quietly, a smile in his voice and with that he rolled over. Within minutes he was asleep, softly snoring.

I waited expecting some sort of follow-up with this line of thought from my daughter. Hearing nothing, I began to drift into sleep once again. Again, I don't know exactly how much time had passed when I heard, "It looks like a horse."

"What?" I couldn't think. I was sure I hadn't heard correctly. Was she talking about her fingers again? I hoped not.

My daughter sighed impatiently, "The thing on the floor. It looks like a horse."

"Oh, okay." I replied. Good! It's not her fingers. Then a question formed in my mind, "What thing on the floor?" It might be a bug!

"That thing!" She replied, as if no other explanation was needed.

I couldn't stand it. I had to take a look. I got my glasses on and turned on the light, squinting at the general area of where her non-bony finger was pointing. I tried to focus on the small object. Relief flooded me when I realized it was a small part to one of her toys. I flipped off the light and tried to get comfortable.

A minute later Rachel said, "I have to go to the bathroom!"

I tried not to be irritated, but I was getting there quickly, "Okay, go ahead and go."

"I can't! I need the light on."

I reached up and turned on the light I had moments before flipped off. "There, now, please hurry!"

Happily scampering toward the bathroom, she cheerfully said, "Okay!"

I switched the light off once again and rolled over. Once my eyes adjusted to the dark, I realized my husband had a smile on his face. I sighed and asked him, "Are we being trained for the military or perhaps the CIA?"

He laughed, "You mean like training for psychological warfare?"

"Yes."

He laughed harder. "It feels like it, doesn't it?"

Maybe I should stop watching 'The Unit' or reruns of 'Alias' before bed.

Christmas Daze

All this past week as been a very busy one, as is normal for this time of year. Monday night, I went to my WMU (Women's Missionary Union) meeting. Tuesday night, my ladies' Bible study group went shopping for a family that we are helping for Christmas.

Wednesday night was church and the children's Christmas party. Rachel got a doll that drinks from a bottle that makes sound as she does. She named her Haddon Esther and we call her Esther. I have no idea how she came up with that name combination, but she did, all on her own. Benjamin got a truck that lights up and moves; however, it's gotten a lot of play time, so it's pretty much warn out now. Sad, but true!

Thursday afternoon we went to the Movie Tavern with Joel's work group for their Christmas party. We went to see Fred Claus, which is cute. The kids had a blast! We were supposed to go with the children's group at church to go through the KY Horse Park to see their lights, but we were just too tired by the time we got home.

Friday afternoon was my dad's work Christmas party. They had a Santa come in for the kids as well as face painting. Rachel was a Christmas butterfly and Benjamin was a tiger. As one shopper put it later that evening, he was in character. *Sigh* Boy, was he! Anyway, then that evening we went to pick out 2 gifts for a 5 and 6 yr old boy and girl respectively at the local toy store. I wanted the kids to go too and pick out the gifts for children their age, so they could understand the idea of giving. I was so proud of them. Rachel picked out a Dora Fairytale Doll and carried it around the store, put it up on the counter when we were ready to pay and looked up at me and said, "My girl will like the gift I picked out for her!" Benjamin did the same as he picked out a Sponge Bob watch and Sponge Bob paint set for the little boy. All was fine until we actually started to leave the store. Benjamin was not ready to go yet and started roaring at me, at Joel, at whoever was around him. Remember, he still had his face painted like a tiger. Hence the reason that the shopper stated that he was "in character".

Saturday afternoon Joel and I each got our hair cut and then finished some shopping at Wal-mart (always a fun experience during the Christmas season).

Now, tonight, we have their Children's Christmas Program - The Gift - at church. I'm looking forward to getting some good pictures out that one! One thing my kids do very well, well...okay, two things: ham it up and sing loud!

Thanksgiving 2007

Kiddie Korner

I am now writing the "Kiddie Korner" articles for an online magazine starting in the December 2007 issue. I am excited about this new venture. If you would like to check it out, please go to http://www.heartbeatthemagazine.com/ or see My Favorite Links and click on the HeartBeat Magazine link. Let me know what you think!

Not a Morning Person!

My daughter, Rachel, is NOT a morning person. It doesn't matter what time I wake her up or how I wake her up, unless she just wakes up herself, she is not ready so I have to decide whether it's worth it before waking her. She didn't use to be like this. When she was younger, you could wake her up however and whenever you wanted and she was always smiling. What happened? Sometimes I think we have skipped over childhood and gone directly to teenage years (as I stated in an earlier post).

Benjamin, my son, on the other hand, is as cheerful in the morning as he could be! It's freaky friday at my house everyday when morning comes around because my son used to be the opposite! He was the one who was grumpy and nothing could go right. *Sigh*

Anyway, I was dressing Rachel this morning. This is something that she knows how to do and usually does, but I woke her up and she was, "Too tired right now!" Everything I did was wrong and she was rubber baby which made it very hard to dress her. She wanted to be held but then I accidentally pulled her hair, setting her "off". It should have set her "on" because she was already "off" to begin with, but what do I know?!

I was trying to hurry and still have patience (hard for me!) at the same time. I finished dressing her and then dealt with her hair for a moment. I HATE that part in the morning (no pun intended)! She was crying and fussing and flopping down on the bed, so I thought I'd try to calm her down by holding her. I held her in my arms and looked down into her little face which had stopped crying. She was just looking at me with a slight scowl on her face as I talked quietly to her, telling her the things we were going to do today when all of the sudden she asked a question, "What color is your nose?"

WHAT?!!! How do you respond to that question? And not to mention that it completely breaks your train of thought! So I asked her, "What do you mean, what color is my nose?"

She heaved a big sigh, still scowling, "I mean, what color is your nose?" as she poked me on the tip of my nose with her little finger.

Puzzled, I replied, "Skin color."

"Oh."

And with that, she got up, smiled and went upstairs happily. Do you think that's her way of distracting me so I'll stop talking? Hmmmm...

November 2007 - Fall Family Fun

We took a trip just down the road to the Cardome Center yesterday. We did this last year about this time and got some really nice pictures of the kids. This year was the same and I thought I'd share some of the pictures with you all.

I entitled this one "Best Friends".

This next one I just love! Joel had knelt down to fix Benjamin's jacket and I got the picture of them once he was done - giving Benjamin a hug. I just love seeing Benjamin's little eye peeking from Joel's arm. You can see he has a smile on his face.

I got a couple of cute pictures of Rachel and Benjamin walking and running together down a path to the trail where we went walking.

We also went into the Japanese Garden area of the park and got some cute pictures there.

They had so much fun playing the rock garden and walking past the water fall. They enjoyed just running along the path. Kids are so easily amused sometimes. Although, put a camera in my hand and give me some time with my kids and I'm amused and just lovin' it!

Hope you've enjoyed seeing some of our Fall Fun!

Christ our Mercy Seat

Many of you know that I am going to a women's Bible study entitled A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place. It's written by Beth Moore. If you have not done any of her Bible studies, I urge you to get involved in one. God has truly gifted her and no matter which one you do, you will indeed be blessed!

We are coming to the close of this Bible study and I'm going to be sad to stop studying the Tabernacle and its earthly representation to us of a heavenly reality. It is incredible what I have learned about the Tabernacle of the Old Testament and its representation for us of Christ's atonement of our sin. I feel so blessed, awed and humbled to have God reveal to me this Truth. How God loves us!!!

It amazes me the order and detail in which He creates everything. Picture this with me: God watching the Tabernacle moving in the wilderness after the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. The different tribes were set up around the Tabernacle so that as He would have looked down upon it, He would have seen the image of the cross. Then, as we move forward in time, picture with me Christ being our veil, a covering for us. And on the day of crucifiction as the veil in the Tabernacle was torn, Christ's body was also torn. For me, for all of us! How heartbreakingly beautiful that God loves us that much!

My Preschool Teenager

My 4-year-old daughter acts like a little teenager. She is always telling us what we should and should not do, what makes her happy and unhappy, and is starting to slam doors for emphasis. She has learned recently that slamming doors will not be tolerated and she will have to close any door she slams quietly 5 times for emphasis. Ha! But then she is sure to tell me that she is "very not happy with me!". *Sigh*

I wasn't really prepared for a teenager so quickly in my life. We spend our children's first years trying to get them to say words and express themselves and then, WHAM!, they start smarting off. Ugh!

Rachel has also learned that smarting off can get her a mouthful of soap. She also expresses that she is "very not happy" with me after she spits the soap out and stops crying enough to tell me. It's pitiful, I know, but necessary. This, I seem to explain to her often through our days.

You know, when I was a child, I can remember thinking how glad I would be to have kids so that I could discipline them instead of having to be the one being disciplined. As an adult and a mother, I now realize how silly this notion was. It's often exasperating and exhausting to discipline my children. I hate having to tell them over and over the same things. I know they can't forget that quickly. And I can't help thinking to myself, "Is this what God feels when I do the same sins over and over again? Does He feel like He's banging His head against a brick wall?" Of course not, I know, but it does make me realize my need for a Savior and for my Heavenly Father. I just hope that I can get that realization through to my children as they get older.

The Ballerina and Superman

Last night was Trick-or-Treat. We had such fun!

Rachel decided that she would be a ballerina WITHOUT wings. She had wings last year and would have nothing to do with them this year. And being a girly girl, she always wants make-up. It's, in her opinion, one of the best things about playing dress up. I agree. I messed up some of her eye make-up though and it smeared a little, so I painted on a red lipstick heart with glitter right under her right eye to cover the spot I couldn't seem to correct.

Benjamin has been waiting to be Superman for a very long time. He is fully convinced that he can fly (it's more like jumping, but we're not supposed to notice that) as long as he has that suit on. He has built up his endurance and pain tolerance by running around the house watching his cape flying behind him and running into walls, door jams, etc.

We saw kids with a variety of costumes, of course, and Rachel, being the social butterfly that she is, would call out to them and say, "Hi, _____!" We met Cinderella, Jasmine, Thomas the Train, Kitty Cat, Scary Boy, Super Lady, Monster Thing and Sparkly Girl, among others.

Benjamin thought it would be fun to blow out candles wherever it was applicable. Why is it that wherever we go, there are always apologies on my part necessary?

We also went over to our friends, Greg and Deanna's, house. Their dog, RJ, was dressed up as a spider. A very relaxed spider. A glow-in-the-dark very relaxed spider.

By the time we started for home, Rachel and Benjamin were moving like zombies. They were weaving about with a glazed look in their eyes and tripping over their own feet. I have to admit that I was pretty tired myself. But they perked up once they got a bath and then crashed once we snuggled on our bed to watch a show. So Joel carried our ballerina and I carried our superman and we put them soundly in their beds.

Blowed Up

As we do every year, my family has started fighting the seasonal allergies. It's come a little late this year because of the warm weather that hung on until just recently. My son seems to suffer more with allergies (congestion, sinus drainage, etc.) than his sister, but they both have their share of "burgers" (what they so delicately call the crusties in their noses).

Saturday morning I heard my son getting out of bed sniffling and snorting. He turned to me and hoarsely stated, "I got burgers in my nose again, Mom."

"So I hear," I replied. "Let's blow your nose."

In the 2 seconds it took me to respond to him, he had gotten enveloped in cartoons. Getting anything done at this point takes a lot of fast maneuvering and prayer. He's very good at dodging me as he has incredible peripheral vision!

With a sigh I started toward him with a kleenex. I sat quietly down beside him as if interested in the cartoon and whipped out my kleenex. Swiftly positioning the kleenex over his nose, he slid deftly from it, his eyes not leaving the television. With a small grunt of frustration, I started positioning the kleenex again, this time from the opposite side. I noticed Benjamin glimpse at me from the corner of his eye and move away. So, of course, I had no other choice but to grab him by the back of the head and position the kleenex. "Aaahhh!" he yelled, "I can't see the TV!"

Ignoring that statement, I said firmly, "Blow!" (Fortunately for me this time the task turned out to be relatively easy.)

Gathering up all the wind from inside of him, he blew. Man, can that kid blow! I'm surprised that he hasn't popped a blood vessel in his eye yet. Anyway, we continued with the other side and got that over with. Then, I told him to look up so I could check the inside of his nose. I guess I took too long because with his little face turned up toward the ceiling he said, "Mom! It's all blowed up!"

Hmmph! Go figure!

Taking a Ride Around the Bluegrass

Mom and I took the kids driving around some of the back roads of Lexington the other to look at the beautiful scenery. Here are some of the pictures I took:

Some of the pictures were taken out of the car window, so it may have a slight glare on some of them.

My friend Greg

So today a friend of mine, Teresa, and I went to the home of another friend of ours, Greg. He has Alpha One Antitrypsin Deficiency which causes him a lot of trouble breathing. He only has 23% of his lungs to breathe with and has to be on oxygen all the time. So Teresa and I went over to his house to help him by doing some of the things he can't do, like clean.

He's such a positive, loving and caring person. I love being around him. He's a lot of fun, great sense of humor, all smiles! Last Friday night my husband, a friend of ours, Patt, Greg and I all went to an Alpha One social, a dinner cruise on the Ohio River. It was so much fun!!! We had a blast! It was all paid for and all we had to do was show up! We ate dinner, talked, walked around the boat, laughed and sang.

Greg is truly one of the sweetest people I know. He makes others feel good just by being around him...he's like a ministering angel here on earth. He's a blessing to everyone who knows him and a good friend. I feel so blessed to be able to know him!

Whoever said that two's are the terrible years?

Terrible Two's - I don't think so! Anyone who says that two's are terrible, hasn't lived with my sweet, precious, ornery, defiant children. I'll admit that the defiance starts around that age, although I think with my daughter the word "no" came out much earlier. But my three year old son looked at me the other day and screamed, "No, I don't want to!" at the top of his lungs. I'm concerned that he may get nodules on his vocal chords before I can "cure" him of his screaming.

The last couple of days have been dubbed (by me) "The Testing of Mommy". I've never had part of me that just wanted to sit down on the floor and throw a temper tantrum myself until just recently and have the other part of me just shake my head in disbelief with mouth wide open, jaw to the floor, that these are my two children who are acting like this. Tuesday, as I was getting ready to leave for Bible study, my son dumped coffee grounds and salt on the kitchen floor. Fortunately my husband had just walked through the door, so he got to deal with it - I'm not sure that I could've constructively dealt with that at that moment.

Anyway, before I left, I called my children into the kitchen and asked them if they had made this mess. Rachel just forlornly looked at the floor knowing that she was about to be in trouble, AGAIN, and Benjamin, just nodded his head and said, "Yep! I did this!", looking at me straight in the eye. At least he was honest this time, most of the time he tries to cover it up. So I turned to my husband and suggested that he deal with their punishment since I neither had the strength nor the time to deal with them (picture the back of my hand laying against my forehead just for dramatic effect). He nodded with a grim look on his face as I started putting away dishes from the children's dinner. Benjamin just looked up at me with a small smile on his face and said, "You hafta say Fo' Cwyin' Out Woud, Mommy!" Sighing in exasperation and amusement I just nodded my head and said, "Yes, for crying out loud, Benjamin." (I apparently say this more than I thought) He proudly smiled, nodded his head and said, "Yep, that's it!"

Good grief!

All Things Beautiful and Boy

My son just fascinates me! He can be serious, quiet, intense in what he's doing one moment and silly, giddy and teasing the next. One of the things he loves to do is tease his sister. No matter if in his teasing he is telling the truth or not, it is the way in which he says things that completely harrasses her! For instance, the other day they both had suckers - hers was red and his was blue. In the midst of eating his sucker, he looked over at her and said, "Mine is re-eh-ed!" in a sing-song voice. It droves her nuts! Completely, absolutely nuts! He kept at it with a little smile on his face, tilting his head back and forth as he said it. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and said it again and again, driving her and me to the brink of insanity. It's so hard not to laugh though. Over such a simple, pesky little thing, she becomes so angry to the point of tears! Oh, annoying little brothers! You got to love them! I had one and I know anybody who does was probably annoyed just like that.

Don't get me wrong, Rachel does her share of antagonizing too. She knows just what buttons to push and when to push them with a little smile on her face also. She's getting better and better at it every day. She loves to put on girly clothes and prance around the house in them. Most of the time he joins in the prancing just to play with her; however, sometimes he feels it necessary to don some of those girly clothes himself in order to prance just right. My daughter will look at him and smile, stating that he can't wear her things because they are for princesses only. Why that drives him nuts, I don't know! He never wants to wear her things at any other time except when he can't or when she won't let him. It's ridiculous! She usually consents to let him wear the hoop skirt to her Cinderella dress.

I just laugh because my son then happily runs around in overalls, a hoop skirt and cowboy boots and even sometimes a cowboy hat, fighting with a makeshift sword or gun he's fashioned out of one of his other toys. He's a hoot!

A Wonderful Father